《Mystical Journey》


 1 The Beginning 1

    Boom!!


    Luo Jing¡¯s head was rumbling.


    Boom!!


    His head once again rumbled as his body violently jerked before falling down. Boom!


    His head smashed onto something hard, causing him to grimace in pain.


    As he slowly opened his eyes, he could only see a dim, blurry background. In front of him, a silhouette was moving back and forth, as if it was busy closing the window and cleaning up the room. Next to the silhouette was a window; lightning flashed outside, brightly illuminating the room as if it were day.


    "Oww¡­"


    Luo Jing moaned as he tried to raise his hand to rub the back of his head, but his body wouldn¡¯t move: a mixture of pain, itching, and numbness had left it paralyzed. It was as if his limbs didn¡¯t belong to him; they firmly laid on the ground beside him like four wooden sticks.


    "Am I dead?" His mind was still chaotic. He had a flashback: while taking a shower, he had accidentally touched the power outlet with his wet hands, electrocuting himself in the process. With his own eyes, he watched as a burst of blue electric current emerged between his finger and the sockets, and after which came a pungent smell of burnt flesh as he lost consciousness.


    His head was in a daze; it seemed like all his memories had turned to mush.


    Luo Jing opened his eyes as much as he could, trying to figure out what was going on around him.


    "Thud!"


    After another violent rumbling, his head hit the headboard of the bed, filling him with yet another outburst of unbearable pain as he passed out soon after.


    Nobody knew how long it had been, perhaps one day or perhaps several days, when he finally regained consciousness and could feel his body once more.


    He heard the soft sound of a door closing.


    "Has mother left already?" A girl¡¯s voice asked.


    "Yes, she ate breakfast before us and went out to get some groceries. I¡¯m going to leave to visit your auntie soon as well." The familiar voice of a man answered, followed by silence.


    Luo Jing found himself in a small bedroom. In front of him was a reading desk. He was holding a black pen, writing something on a piece of white paper. A bright light shone from the window to his right; light rain showers fell outside, and the roof of the residence building across the street was soaked through.


    Suddenly, like a flood breaking out of a dam, a huge and complex wave of thoughts rampaged into his mind.


    He unconsciously groaned and gripped his forehead with his hands. Countless new memories swarmed into his brain.


    "Garen? My... my name is Garen? Have I traveled to an alternate reality?"


    He couldn¡¯t think about anything else; still bearing a headache, he started exploring the memories that had just flowed into his brain.


    This world was similar to Europe prior to the Nuclear Age. There were cars, planes, and firearms like guns and cannons, but weapons of mass destruction had not been developed yet.


    His new identity was a boy named Garen from a middle-class family. He was 16 years old and his parents were employees of a rubber company. He had a little sister called Ying Er. The lifestyle was like that of the 20th century Europe, but the memories of his family and his own appearance made it clear that this place was definitely not on Earth. Both Garen and his sister were born with dark purple hair and eyes the color of wine. Their hair color was passed down from their father and eye color from their mother. He¡¯d never heard of anyone born with these hair and eye colors on Earth. Furthermore, in Garen¡¯s memories of history, the most powerful countries in the world were not China, the United States, or Russia. Instead, they were the Yalu Confederation, Weisman Empire, and the Republic of the Tulip. Just like Earth, there were a few hundred other countries of varying sizes and governments.


    Asides from the difference in names and lifestyle, things were very similar to Earth. People who lived here received education as well, starting from elementary school, then middle school, and finally college. Right now, Garen was attending the third best high school in the province, Shengying Nobles Academy. It was the first year of school. During the school break, Garen was sick in bed with a fever and actually died, just as Luo Jing died in his world and ended up here.


    Still collecting his memories, Luo Jing started to change clothes. When he snapped out of his trance, he found himself in a small and tidy room, eating a soft cherry cake on the dining table. The palm-sized cake had a creamy-yellow color, and was decorated by a ring made of whipped cream with cherries on top.


    Luo Jing¡¯s mind was still going through Garen¡¯s memory. Although they were attending a nobles¡¯ academy, their parents were barely able to pay the fees by living frugally and working overtime. In order to let both their son and daughter attend this academy, all expenses at home were cut to the bare minimum: their parents didn¡¯t buy new clothes or jewelry, the handsome bonuses and the salary from the rubber company were all used to pay for their tuition.


    Unfortunately, the two children weren¡¯t particularly gifted when it came to studying. Thus, no matter how hard they tried, their rankings and scores were always in the lower half of the class rankings. In the academy, the other students all came from well-off families. As a result, the siblings started feeling inferior compared to their peers, and that affected their once optimistic personalities. Garen became an introverted "weirdo", and Ying Er became taciturn.


    "You are heading off for school soon, don¡¯t fight with your friends, work hard and try to get into a good college." The father, Mr. Lombard, sat across the table and urged him while eating his plate of salad. "And you Ying Er, don¡¯t read those fiction books all day, school subjects are your priority."


    "Alright Daddy," Ying Er replied. She sat at Luo Jing¡¯s right side, wearing a fine white girdle waist sweater. A white corsage on her chest outlined her immature yet fine body line. She was wearing a deep purple bouffant mini skirt and her legs were covered in black leggings. While Ying Er was eating the cake, her two small black shoes were pointed inwards, her head was down, and she looked submissive.


    Luo Jing silently ate the cake and drank a sip of milk from time to time. He looked at his sister¡¯s dress: it flaunted a glowing black silver pin on her chest that looked like a wreath surrounding a logo. This was an indication that she was a student of Shengying Nobles Academy.


    He looked at his own clothes: a slim-fit white shirt which had black and silver stripes on the cuffs and neckline. The lower body was also a pair of slim-fit black trousers, paired with black dress shoes. His uniform looked striking yet delicate.


    The siblings both had very average appearances, the only highlights being their purple hair and their wine-colored eyes. The sister looked ordinary, with some freckles and acne on her face. Garen himself had messy hair, and his eyes looked empty because the sockets sank deep into his face, giving the impression that he had been sick for years.


    Luo Jing wasn¡¯t able to absorb most of the information from Garen¡¯s memories until after breakfast. The siblings helped in cleaning up the dishes before going back to their rooms to get ready for school.


    "Brother, have you seen my history textbook?" asked Ying Er loudly from her room.


    "Nope," answered Luo Jing, or should we call him Garen now, thoughtlessly.


    He was also preparing his textbooks. History, geography, etiquette, math and other various subjects; they had more subjects compared to the high schools on Earth. There were even swordsmanship and archery textbooks among them. Garen let out a relieved sigh after shoving all the books inside the black backpack. He walked to the window and pushed it open, letting in a moist and cool breeze.


    Outside the window was an open space between two residential buildings; the ground was covered with a black and gray checkerboard pattern. To the west of the field, some people were lining up behind a brawny man with a sign. The crowd was slowly gathering, and it seemed like they were going somewhere. The letters on the sign spelled ¡®Collins Wins¡¯.


    Just below the window, on the first floor of the building where Garen lived in, a woman walked out while pushing a grayish yellow trolley. It was filled with utensils and cooking materials for making crepes.


    "Whoosh!" A white bird flew in front of his window and made a few turns before disappearing again.


    Entranced by the bird, he suddenly snapped out of his daze, realizing that he was really in a completely different world now, standing on the fourth floor of a building in a totally different environment from the China he knew.


    Most people outside had either blond or silver hair, while some had red hair, and their eye and skin colors varied greatly. The language they were speaking and writing in was an alphabetic language like English. Having obtained the memories from before, Garen was able to understand it.


    He was no longer the adult man on planet Earth, but an ordinary boy of only sixteen years of age, with an ordinary family, look, and background. Along with that, there was also his weak and ill body. His parents worked every day, from dusk until dawn. He and his sister came home from school once a week and, between school and home, life was boring and linear. He just had to graduate from high school and take part in the national examination. If he was lucky, he¡¯d get into a decent college, have a good degree, and find a well-paying job in the future. He was one among thousands of students that would take the examination.


    Their parents¡¯ greatest expectation for them was to have a decent job.


    "If this kid weren¡¯t sick and ill, I might not have successfully traveled into this world," Garen thought with a wry smile. He had a feeling that earlier in the carriage during his coma, it might have been the body of Garen instinctively resisting Luo Jing¡¯s consciousness. If Garen had a healthy body, he might have prevented Luo Jing¡¯s spirit from ever possessing it.


    "From his memory, this world should still be in the era just before World War II, without large-scale weapons of war; this is a world similar to mine before the emergence of nuclear weapons." He carefully thought, "This isn¡¯t what I imagined. There¡¯s no magic, no energy, not a XianXia world, not even a small trace of supernatural events."


    Thinking of this, he didn¡¯t know what to do. When he found out he had traveled to an alternate reality, he had some small expectations. But after scrounging through Garen¡¯s memory, he realized that this world was merely one that was decades behind in technology.


    "Oh well, let''s take it step by step, recuperating is of utmost importance right now." Garen raised his arms, which were skinny like bamboo sticks, and a helpless smile showed up on his face.


    Bringing their respective backpacks, the siblings walked outside together and closed the door. Garen walked in the front with garbage bags in his hands, and as they stumbled down the stairs, he carefully observed the other households and the situation of this era: the staircase was dark, each floor only had two households, and every one of them had a brass mailbox on the left side of the door, with names engraved on them. They looked quite old.


    The residents going in and out were wearing tidy and elegant suits and dresses. Although they had very tired expressions, they moved in a hurry and kept their backs straight; it was natural to say that they just had very fast-paced lives. Only a small number of households were in poor condition, and some were rented by street vendors.


    The two walked out of the staircase in silence. Garen disposed the garbage and looked at his sister to his left. Ying Er was a few inches shorter than him, and she was brought in by his stepfather after Garen¡¯s father had passed away. Thus, they were not blood-related, although the two had the same hair and eyes. The relationship between them was not close, not any better than normal friends.


    As usual, the two got on the school bus, which was already littered with a few students.

 2 The Beginning 2

    Garen found a seat in the back of the bus next to his sister. He glanced at the students sitting in the seats in front of them and saw that everyone else was also wearing Shengying Academy¡¯s uniforms. The girls were dressed like his sister, wearing a white t-shirt paired with a black miniskirt and black leggings.


    On the other hand, the boys were wearing stylish slim-fit white shirts, black trousers and black shoes. They looked neatly uniformed.


    The students were chattering in groups, with laughter all around them.


    Not long after they stepped on, the bus stopped again, and two more students from the academy came in.


    After many stops in the same manner, two handsome boys hopped on while chatting; one of them was tall and slim, while the other had a sturdy build. Both looked confident and classy, and they immediately drew the attention of the girls on the bus.


    Garen sat next to his sister and saw her unconsciously staring at the two guys that just boarded the bus. He was comparing himself to them but shook his head helplessly. He looked at them just once more before withdrawing his eyes.


    There were too many ordinary guys like him sitting at inconspicuous corners on the bus; compared to those two, they were merely foil characters.


    Garen watched as the scenery outside the window flew past. Street lamps stood one by one on both sides of the tidy streets. The surroundings were mostly composed of ordinary-looking concrete houses, but occasionally he could see some white marble buildings. The architectural style was a bit similar to the Europe¡¯s. From time to time, there were cars speeding past the bus.


    "Mom and dad told us not to go back home next week, so we need to spend the weekend at school. The company assigned them to a business trip, and since they might not come back this week, they told us to take care of ourselves," said Ying Er in a low voice.


    "Got it," he nodded and replied in his usual tone. "Oh right, your rank went up after the last exam. Dad bought you a teddy bear right?"


    "So what?" Ying Er turned her head, "If your grades went up mom would get you something as reward too."


    Garen smiled and stopped talking to her. Unexpectedly, he noticed that five red transparent numbers slowly emerged in the bottom part of his field of vision.


    Garen restrained his smile. Shocked for a moment, he looked around, but no one had noticed his peculiar behavior. Those who were laughing continued, those who were chatting carried on with their conversations. Beside him, Ying Er pulled out a history textbook and started silently memorizing.


    "What is this, is it the benefit of traveling to an alternate reality?" Garen had read many webnovels before, and some mentioned that people who traveled to alternate realities would have gifts bestowed upon them. He just thought he didn¡¯t receive any, but after a while, something unnatural showed up. There were red symbols that apparently only he could see.


    He focused on the five symbols at the bottom of his vision, and his lips moved silently as he read the information: "Strength 0.31, Agility 0.22, Vitality 0.27, Intelligence 0.32, Potential 25%."


    Right after he finished reading them, a short and brief memory suddenly surged into his mind.


    Garen closed his eyes and stood still on his seat. A moment later, he slowly opened them back, enlightened. "I changed and gained superpowers as a result of electrocution and transmigration?" He clearly remembered the whole process of how this power came to be after the mutation, countless coincidences and complex unimaginable changes occurred before this ability was created.


    "When the Potential attribute reaches 100%, I can increase one of the other four attributes?" Garen was puzzled and looked at the 25% Potential, but still could not believe it. "Isn¡¯t this the same as playing RPG games? I can choose which of my attributes I would like to increase in real life."


    Garen was aware that in this world, the technology was behind, and thus melee weapons were still used together with firearms. Therefore, if this ability could really improve his attributes, his future would be unimaginable compared to ordinary people.


    "But, this isn¡¯t just an illusion, right¡­" Garen thought with a mocking smile, "Maybe I¡¯m going crazy thinking about getting a superpower."


    The bus suddenly stopped.


    "We¡¯re here, everyone get off the bus." The driver was a man with hard whiskers, he was yelling with his body turned around.


    The students started getting off the bus one after another. Ying Er pushed Garen lightly to bring him back from his daydream and got off the bus first, carrying her backpack.


    A line of black school buses was parked near the edge of a huge green lawn, while students of the Shengying Academy were continuously moving toward a group of buildings at the other side, all dressed in the same uniform, white at the top and black at the bottom.


    At the far end of the lawn stood a swath of buildings. The main building had a white dome with yellow patterns, and around it there were towering buildings with dozens of floors with white domes and dark yellow patterns. In the distance, one could vaguely see large buildings with similar architecture styles. Many students were moving between them, and among them there were some teachers wearing black uniforms.


    On the edge of the lawn, a skinny boy walked away from one of the buses. He had purple hair, red eyes, and an overall pallid appearance. He looked listless.


    Garen roughly glanced at the academy¡¯s facilities. Looking behind him, he saw a ring of tall white fences surrounding the academy. The buses came in through a white arched gate and were leaving the campus after dropping off the students.


    "This is pretty much like the schools on Earth." Garen followed the other students toward the buildings across the lawn.


    "Garen is from Grade 9, class 2¡­" He moved based on his memories, quickly following the crowd to the left side of the vast campus. He stopped in front of a trapezoidal building and walked up the stairs.


    The second classroom on the second floor had the brass tag, Grade 9 Class 2, hanging above it.


    Garen followed two boys into the class and walked toward his seat near the window in the back of the room. He threw his backpack inside the desk¡¯s compartment and began thinking about the five attribute symbols at the bottom of his vision. Since he had only been here for one semester and he was introverted, he had no friends in the class.


    The first class was mathematics; the professor was a middle-aged woman with a stern face. The material was only of elementary school level. Garen listened for a few minutes and continued minding his own business. The class after that was language, which taught them the language and writing as well as literature of this country. Garen didn¡¯t bother listening.


    The third class was etiquette, but instead of paying attention, Garen was testing the connection between the attributes and his body -- when suddenly, the Potential attribute number in his vision shook, drawing his attention and making him flinch.


    Shocked, Garen looked around the class, but no one had noticed it, so he raised his head and looked at the podium.


    At the front of the class, the etiquette teacher was holding an open rosewood box, which had various gems and jewelry inside. "One¡¯s own appearance is also a representation of how much respect you have for the people you interact with, and jewelry is one of the key factors in improving one¡¯s image. Last class we talked about gold and silver jewelry, and today we will be going over how gems and diamonds are used in fashion."


    The etiquette teacher was a man wearing an elegant beard and glasses. His expressions were meticulous, giving a natural and elegant vibe. "Now you will pass on these gems and observe them one by one. Nobles are not just wealthy in the materialistic way, more important is the nobleness in your heart. Self-discipline, elegance, self-esteem, responsibility, courage, and so on, together with a good image and quality attire. Combine all of these and you can call yourself a noble. If one¡¯s only pride is in his lavishness and wealth, then he is merely a parvenu."


    Garen sat in the back of the room watching as the box was passed on for the students to see. Before he could react, the numbers on the bottom of his vision started changing. The last attribute, Potential, started slowly increasing from 25% to 26%, like the second hand on a clock moving up.


    He paid attention to his classmates as they passed on the box; most of them were just casually glancing through them since they were obviously used to gems and jewelry like these. Only a few students seemed excited when they held the box, as they were the ones from the not so well-off families.


    After waiting for long ten minutes, the rosewood box was finally passed to the chubby kid wearing glasses in front of Garen. He roughly flipped through the contents, and then handed the box to Garen. "Here you go."


    "Thanks." Garen carefully received the box. The moment he held it in his hands, he felt his body becoming numb, with a tingling sensation that started on his fingers and flowed through his body like the steady flow of cold air inside a fridge.


    Garen quickly put down the box and fiddled inside with his hands until he found a black and red pearl. "That¡¯s it¡­" He picked up the pearl lightly, and the cold flow became stronger.


    At the bottom of his vision in the attribute pane, the Potential percentage jumped up crazily like it took drugs, within ten seconds, from 26%, it rushed to 50%, then 80%, and 100%.


    As the number reached 100%, Garen felt the black and red pearl in his hand dimmed, as if it had aged.


    He quickly put the pearl back into the box, and passed it to the last student on his right-hand side. Even then, the box had been in his hands for quite some time.


    The student to his right was a redhead girl with a ponytail. She looked at him with a frown, took the box and immediately passed it on to the guy in front of her, without even glancing at the jewelry.


    Garen knew this girl; her name was Ai Fei. Like him, her family was not well-off, but unlike him Ai Fei had good grades and great self-discipline; it could even be said that her personality was somewhat rigid. They were also a little similar in that they didn¡¯t have any friends.


    He didn¡¯t bother with the girl since his focus was on the Potential percentage that only he could see. An unknown flow of air was hovering in his eyes, but it only started after he achieved 100% in Potential. He had a feeling that if he focused on one of his attributes for three seconds, this flow of air would jump onto that attribute, increasing it.


    "So it really wasn¡¯t my imagination¡­ I really got this superpower!" Garen was excited; after living for decades, he unexpectedly achieved his childhood dreams of having superpowers. Even with his temperament, it was a little unnerving.


    "Then, which attribute should I put this flow into?" Garen¡¯s eyes cruised between the four attributes.


    Strength, Agility, Vitality, and Intelligence.

 3 The beginning 3

    The class was about to end but Garen still hadn¡¯t decided on which attribute to enhance. At this point, he finally believed this supernatural ability was actually real.


    "Riiiiiiinnngg"


    After the crisp sound of school bells, the etiquette teacher collected his rosewood box and left the classroom. The class went from complete silence to chaos.


    Garen remained seated in his desk, startled by the mess. He straightened his back and let out a relieved sigh. Suddenly, he felt his belly deflating and quickly covered it with his hands. A sense of hunger -- never felt before -- came from his stomach.


    He bent down and looked around, checking to see that no one was looking at him. He reached into his pockets and took some blue papers out, each of which had either the numbers 1 or 5 printed on them. Counting the bills, Garen slightly knitted his brows.


    "Only fifteen dollars to spend... this is far from enough for one week. Also, I remember eating breakfast just now, but when the potential reached 100% I started feeling hungry again. It seems like the potential wasn¡¯t just draining energy from the gem, but also from my body¡¯s digestive system."


    At that moment, someone patted him on the shoulder. "Garen, same old spot for lunch?" A young male voice came from behind him.


    Garen turned around and saw the white-skinned hand of a freckled boy laying on his shoulder.


    "What old spot?"


    "The one close to the windows." The boy¡¯s name was Kalidor, one of the students Garen was most acquainted with in his class.


    "Last weekend the cafeteria had jasmine tea and dim sum. I wonder what¡¯s on the menu today?" Another teenager joined them and murmured, "If they still have that specialty dark purple fruit jam, I¡¯m ordering it."


    "All right, I¡¯m going to get the goat milk for everyone, so give me your money. Five bucks each." Kalidor extended his hands. All the students had the habit of drinking hot goat milk before lunch.


    Right after Kalidor reached out, a dozen students gathered around him one after another, placing five dollar bills in his hands.


    "I¡¯ll have one!"


    "I¡¯ll have one too."


    "Same for me¡­"


    These students were nowhere to be seen just now, but when they heard someone was willing to fetch the milk, they all showed up out of the blue.


    Kalidor counted the money in a hurry. "There¡¯s money here for twelve people... Garen, don¡¯t you want milk? In case you want something else I can bring it for you instead of the milk."


    "It¡¯s okay, you know I don¡¯t like goat milk." Garen quickly refused. He pretended to look indifferent, but the truth was that he had no money, so even if he liked it he had to say he didn¡¯t. The small amount of money he had was to be spent on more essential things. After all, the old Garen had always used that pretense as an excuse for not buying milk, so the new one just followed his lead.


    However, Kalidor had no idea of his true thoughts and always just believed that he didn¡¯t like goat milk. "Come on! Try it once, it¡¯s delicious! I can bring you one. What are you afraid of?"


    "It¡¯s okay, I really don¡¯t like it." Garen refused again.


    "Try it man, it¡¯s great!"


    "No thanks, I¡¯m good. You guys go ahead!"


    "Fine then¡­" Kalidor shrugged his shoulders and jogged out of the classroom.


    After a little while, the students chattering all had a carton of goat milk in their hands while Garen had to pretend he was focusing on his school work. He lowered his head and started taking notes. Over the last few days, he had started exercising more frequently. The amount of money he had on him was far from enough to satiate his new highly active metabolism. As he smelled the fragrance of the hot milk, his belly started growling again. Fortunately, the loud chattering noises covered it up and no one heard it. He shook his head helplessly, then suddenly noticed the girl on his right, Ai Fei.


    Just like him, Ai Fei was pretending to be studying with her head lowered. She strained as she sucked her stomach inward in an obviously unnatural position, trying to prevent her belly from making a sound.


    Ai Fei seemed to have noticed someone staring at her and looked over. When their eyes met, both Garen and Ai Fei blushed. They roughly understood that they were in the same situation and thus a sympathetic feeling rose between the two.


    After drinking the goat milk, Garen and the other boys left toward the cafeteria, laughing and chatting.


    The cafeteria stood in the center of the academy, surrounded by student dormitories. It had the shape of a black cube, with each side containing an entrance. Students were constantly coming in and out through the doors. One could smell the sweet scent of cakes and bread, and hear the noisy students long before walking inside. Garen ate the free lunch together with his acquaintances, finally satisfying the ravenous hunger in his belly.


    Following the crowd out of the cafeteria, Garen raised his head and looked up at the clear sky. The bright sun shone on his face and he felt a burning sensation. "This place really lives up to its name as one of the top 100 schools in the nation. Shengying Nobles Academy probably has the best food among all the ones in Huaishan City¡­ The class schedule is different in the afternoon, school would be out at three. I could go to that place and test the effectiveness of my abilities."


    Looking again at the five symbols at the bottom of his vision, Garen¡¯s eyes glimmered with anticipation. He started recalling all the information he had about the local geography. "I have to check out the details of my surroundings¡­" Thinking of this, he looked around, picked a direction that looked vacant, and marched off in big strides, quickly disappearing among the buildings.


    ********************


    The orange and oblique light of dawn shone above Huaishan City, dying the large complex of buildings red. Some high-rise buildings with pointed and domed roofs reflected the sunlight like mirrors. A breeze of warm air gusted through the city.


    In the south district, next to the streets west of the well-known Shengying Nobles Academy, there stood a spacious courtyard built with redwood. In front of the yard, there were simple houses while the back had two huge training grounds.


    On the corner of the yellow training ground to the left, some youngsters in yellow uniforms were hitting the training dummies under the shade. The sound of impact rang out ceaselessly. A young man in white uniform was walking between them with hands in his back, correcting the boys when they made mistakes. One of the young men stood on the outer rim of the grounds, under the shadow of the surrounding trees. He had purple hair and wine-red eyes. It was Garen, who discreetly left Shengying Nobles Academy after lunch to come here.


    This was an ordinary dojo near Shengying Nobles Academy, which specialized in teaching basic martial arts. Garen and two other classmates joined the dojo out of pure impulsiveness; they only wanted to practice martial arts because they noticed that the students practicing here all had a sturdy body and wanted to look as fit as they were.


    Garen was sluggishly whacking the wooden dummy in front of him. The dummy was as tall as a person and had a dark yellow body covered with rubber. Even if he hit it with great force, his hands would not feel any pain.


    After a while, he took a break. "According to Garen¡¯s memory, it wouldn¡¯t be wrong to say he didn¡¯t have much talent, but he did work very hard at this dojo. He had practiced the White Cloud Dojo¡¯s basic combat techniques countless times. However, his talent and his body were just terrible. In this world, without Qi or special abilities, anything would be meaningless if one¡¯s body was too weak."


    Leaning against the stout wooden dummy, Garen panted lightly and organized his thoughts. "In the White Cloud Dojo, the dojo master was rarely seen. The ones teaching the techniques are usually the dojo master¡¯s disciples who have mastered the basics. The one teaching us¡­" Garen¡¯s eyes landed on the young man in white uniform, "¡­is Luo Ya, and there is another girl named Sharmilla."


    "The basic combat techniques I learned should be good enough, but my body is too weak, making it impossible for me to stand out among the others."


    Garen had something planned in his mind. As he was thinking about this plan, he started exercising his body again, following the routines he already knew by heart.


    A few minutes later, from the far side of the training ground, a girl in a white uniform with a ponytail hastily walked over and talked with Luo Ya, who was standing among the students. Luo Ya decisively walked toward the exit, giving the impression that someone was waiting for him outside.


    The ponytail girl in the white uniform was Sharmilla, who was now covering for Luo Ya. Most of the students were familiar with her, so no one questioned the substitution.


    Garen glanced at Sharmilla. Her slender legs were her greatest pride. She was tall and had a slim waist, with white skin and a charming face. In the continuous demonstration of the correct positions and movements of the techniques, her chests bounced slightly, showing amazing tension and suppleness.


    A lot of boys who were practicing peeked at her now and then. Some of them seemed to be hitting the training dummies much harder than before. One of the students made a mistake on purpose and was spotted by Sharmilla. She scolded him with a smile and flicked his forehead.


    "I love it when assistant Sharmilla is teaching us. This is the best!" The two boys next to Garen mumbled. Garen, of course, did not waste his time replying. "I didn¡¯t save my money to look at pretty girls. I came here to practice combat skills."


    "All right, pick a partner and let¡¯s start one-on-one training. We¡¯ll rank everyone later. Same exercises as usual, the five who place the worst will clean up the field." Sharmilla raised her voice and announced.


    Garen¡¯s movements gradually died out and he squeezed the dummy¡¯s arm in anger. In the dojo, they had to do one-on-one ranked combat daily. Garen was consistently one of the people cleaning up the grounds since he rarely won a match, and thus could never relax after the training sessions. He was one of the worst among the twenty students in this class.


    Hearing that ranked sparring was about to begin, his eyes landed on a girl with short silver hair. He had lost to this girl last time, once more joining the ranks of his fellow cleaners.


    On the other hand, the girl did not notice his gaze. She was focused on chatting with a female friend of hers, occasionally laughing out loud.


    Sharmilla inspected the students, nodding satisfied at the growing eagerness in their eyes. "The combat techniques of our White Cloud Dojo are simple but effective. Even an ordinary person can instantly use forces up to 1.5 times greater than his original strength if they master this technique, but only five among them have mastered it. We will observe them for a few more days, but if no one else improves we¡¯ll have to pick two among these five and teach them better techniques, promoting them to elite students."


    It was clear to her. No matter how much one practiced the basic combat technique, the effectiveness of the strength amplification was at most 1.5 times, and the training results were also very limited. Moreover, it was hard for ordinary people to master the technique. Only those who were truly interested in martial arts and had great perseverance could go one step further while the rest simply did not have enough willpower to practice advanced martial arts. Most dojos used this method to pick out the talented students for training.


    Garen started preparing for the upcoming battle by reviewing the basic combat techniques and warming up his body while focusing his vision on the five symbols. "I should be able to use the basic combat technique to train my body while speeding up my growth with the help of attribute enhancements. This way, I have faith that no one would be able to surpass me in training speed. I wonder just how much the attribute enhancements would change my body¡­"


    He carefully went through the five symbols in his vision. Strength 0.31. Agility 0.22. Vitality 0.27. Intelligence 0.32. Potential 100%. Garen¡¯s focus switched back and forth on these five attributes, but no extra information from his memory showed up, so he stopped, disappointed.


    "Okay, let¡¯s begin," Sharmilla¡¯s voice echoed over.

 4 The Beginning 4

    The martial arts dojos in this world were similar to the taekwondo dojos back on Earth. Their primary purpose was to promote physical exercise and workout. There existed a dojo ranking system, but most dojos were basically superfluous and non-lethal, aside from those high-ranked traditional ones. The ones not fighting for the top rankings were only useful for exercising and for showing off.


    In this culture, martial art was similar to music or dancing, a part of the regular educational curriculum aimed at making the children more versatile and well-rounded.


    Garen followed other students and spread out into pairs. Facing him was the same girl from last time.


    She had ordinary looks: a slim waist, flat chest, and her silver hair glimmered crimson under the fading sunlight.


    "Rank 15, Daris."


    "Rank 16, Garen."


    The two stood facing each other, then greeted by using their ranking and names.


    "Begin!" Sharmilla yelled.


    Garen and Daris stopped worrying about the other combatants and focused entirely on each other¡¯s movements. The basic knowledge passed onto them did not contain any special moves or advanced fighting techniques. It was only a simple exercising routine and the Explosive Force Technique. In Garen¡¯s memory, there were no special fighting moves; the so-called combat training was just two people fighting based on their own combat experience, with the only difference from any other fight being that they could use the Explosive Force Technique, thus allowing their strength to be heightened for some attacks. In fact, this was the dojo¡¯s sole purpose in having a one on one combat training. The main goal was to test their students¡¯ raw strength and potential.


    At this point, Garen stopped thinking superfluous thoughts. He pounced onto Daris and threw a punch towards her left shoulder. He had not used the attribute enhancement yet, wanting to see how strong his body truly was.


    While his fist was still in the air, Daris dodged to the right and swatted Garen¡¯s chest with her shoulder. Neither of them was very agile and so Garen could easily react to the counter attack. He turned his body and tackled her with his own shoulder.


    After a loud bump of shoulders clashing, both backed off a few steps. They then both charged and ended up in a grapple. Like before, they threw punches at each other without any form or routine. In the previous fight, Garen had been exhausted after wrestling for a while, which led to his defeat.


    However, this time Garen made use of a brief gap when the two split apart and were both gasping for air to focus his attention on the five attributes at the bottom of his vision, stopping for some seconds on Strength.


    "Clink"


    A quiet sound ringed inside his head. Garen felt his muscle swelling up. In a blink, he felt as if he had grown larger.


    Looking again at the Strength attribute, the number had increased from 0.31 to 0.41.


    "This incredible change was the result of just an increase of 0.1 points?"


    Garen¡¯s heart skipped a beat, and he looked at Daris who was still panting.


    Without a word, he charged forward again, but this time he bent his legs and applied a heavy force against the ground to gather momentum. The result was a distinct increase in his speed.


    His strength turned to force, and force turned into acceleration. It was an abrupt change that Daris could not have foreseen. She tried to dodge to the side like the last time, but it was too late: she was tackled by Garen while her balance was off.


    Daris sat on the ground after being knocked over with a flip. It seemed she could not get up. She gasped for air with a stunned expression. Her eyes were filled with shock and disbelief as she stared at Garen.


    "Huff¡­ You¡­" She was panting heavily, "You actually still have¡­ this much strength?"


    Garen clearly felt the changes that took place in his body, and he was joyous but also confused. With no time to check on Daris, he went back to Sharmilla to record the combat results.


    Sharmilla had noticed Garen¡¯s sudden burst of strength. Even though Garen had a weak body, he was one of the five students she had noticed this time. After recording the results, she nodded at Garen with a smile, "Go rest for now."


    "Yes, assistant Sharmilla." Garen wiped away the sweat with his sleeve and sat on the ground to take a break. Half of the students were sitting on the ground like him, waiting for the others to finish their fight. Watching the matches taking place under the shade, Garen slowly felt the full effects of the growth in his strength.


    He raised his skinny arms, shockingly discovering a trace of contour of muscle, instead of the skin and bones from before. "Just by enhancing Strength by a tenth of a point I¡¯m already much more powerful. My strength has increased at least by a third. Now, at the very least, I think I would rank 15th among the students, but probably not much higher. This is still a great improvement compared to before. What kind of changes would other attributes bring? Agility, Vitality, and Intelligence¡­ If these attributes could enhance my body in the same manner¡­" Garen¡¯s heart was filled with anticipation. "It seems I have to find the reason behind the increase in potential. If I can keep enhancing the strength attribute, I could probably join the dojo as a disciple. Then I would receive a handsome stipend from it."


    *******************


    The increase in strength did not bring many changes to Garen¡¯s school life, other than the fact that now he eats a lot more. He stopped caring about school work, focusing entirely on grasping the true essence of the attributes. In order to continue filling the Potential meter, he started paying attention to the jewelry and gems that the girls were wearing. Also, after school, he would go to jewelry stores and pretend he wanted to buy something. After visiting every single jewelry store in the city, Garen had only found items that could increase his potential meter at a thrift jewelry shop: one was a sapphire and another was a tiny ruby on an earring. After touching these gems, his Potential meter raised to 89%. Unfortunately, he did not find any more special gems similar to those after the earring. Garen, by now, had also discovered what appeared to be a rule for the gems that could fill his potential meter: they had to be antique items from a long time ago.


    *********************


    "Hey Garen, wanna visit Jaderipple Lake with us this weekend?"


    A few students gathered on the rooftop of one of the school buildings. They were hanging out and chatting near the railing, overlooking the school.


    The morning sunlight was cool and pale, softly shining on their bodies without much warmth.


    Garen was there as well, leaning against the railing. Kalidor and two youngsters he had just met were with him. Their names were Jake Reese and Fayne. There were also three other girls, Ai Fei and two of Fayne¡¯s friends. The seven of them had just gotten to know each other this week.


    "Jaderipple Lake? Where is that?" Garen asked Kalidor.


    "It¡¯s near the paper mill in the suburbs. We¡¯ve only been there once. There were tons of swans at the lake, along with many other types of birds. And... you know¡­" With a sinister smirk on his face, Kalidor made an eye gesture at the girls who were merrily chatting behind them


    "The point is, it¡¯s a desolate wildland¡­" Jake added from the side. This boy looked quite mature with his short red hair and tanned skin. He looked like a candid fellow, but in truth, he had tricked and hurt a lot of girls¡¯ feelings with his honest appearance.


    "Easier to get things done¡­" Garen added, and the three of them laughed maliciously.


    Kalidor winked at Fayne. "It will be every man for himself, so don¡¯t blame me... There will be more girls this time, but Fayne and the two girls who are friends with him are going as well."


    Garen shook his head. He had met Fayne¡¯s friends some time ago. Fayne was from a wealthy family and the girls he brought were very pretty. However, last time they were together those girls all hung out solely among themselves, completely segregated from the impoverished students. They didn¡¯t bother talking to them even after Fayne introduced the groups to each other.


    "If it¡¯s like the last time, then forget it." Garen replied, "I don¡¯t have much spare money left anyway and don¡¯t want the trouble, you guys can go by yourselves." Garen had grown some muscle in the last few days, so he did not look sickly and skinny anymore. His body had become more muscular and manly.


    "It¡¯s fine. I can pay for your share, no problem." Kalidor said as he slammed Garen¡¯s shoulder. "Everyone traveling together is more fun. What¡¯s the point of sticking around by yourself? If we don¡¯t hang out often, we¡¯ll become distant. What¡¯s going on, you don¡¯t like the gang anymore?"


    "You¡¯re paying for me again? Last time was¡­" Garen was speechless.


    "Forget about all that, so do we have a deal? We¡¯ll meet at the Academy¡¯s front gate at 9 A.M., you guys good with that?"


    "Of course."


    "I¡¯m fine with that."


    The others had all agreed, and Garen was forced into an accord by Kalidor. Even though he really didn¡¯t want to go, he couldn¡¯t resist in the face of Kalidor¡¯s overwhelming enthusiasm. He was under the impression that if he didn¡¯t go, Kalidor would break up their friendship.


    After settling on the time, they asked the girls to come, but Fayne¡¯s friends had things to do and declined the invitation.


    Only Ai Fei stood on the rooftop, with her right hand holding down her mini skirt. The place she was standing on was very windy, making the hemline of her skirt flutter in the wind. Ai Fei held her skirt with an uneasy expression, afraid of a wardrobe malfunction. Even though she was wearing leggings, an upskirt still was one of a girl¡¯s most feared embarrassments.


    Hearing the invitation to Jaderipple Lake, Ai Fei looked to Garen first. Ever since the goat milk event, the two had been feeling like they had a lot in common.


    "Garen, are you going too?" She asked.


    "Well¡­ Fayne promised that if I go, he¡¯d let me see his family¡¯s jewelry collection¡­ You know, it¡¯s my hobby now."


    Ai Fei nodded and slightly furrowed her brows. In the last few days, she had been paying some attention to Garen. She thought that this young man was different from the others. He was a lot more mature and prudent than the other boys, and his family was also financially similar to hers.


    "Wouldn¡¯t that leave your sister alone at home?"


    "She¡¯s going to practice at the archery club. Apparently, she¡¯s about to join a competition. Her school performance might be lackluster but she sure is good at archery," Garen explained. He had to agree this time because he knew that Fayne¡¯s family had an antique jewelry that could not be purchased elsewhere. It was very ancient, similar to the teacher¡¯s black and red pearl he had absorbed the energy from earlier.


    In order to enhance his abilities, he could not decline this invitation. The last enhancement to strength allowed him to reach rank 14 in the White Cloud Dojo¡¯s class. After researching ways to fill his Potential meter, Garen found that this world was not as simple as he thought...

 5 The Outing

    Chapter 5: The Outing


    Jaderipple Lake. Clear blue waters, lush green mountains, and glistening yellow stones. A few white birds slowly glided above the lake. A cool wind whistled through, making the surface of the azure lake ripple, blurring the reflection of the endless mountain range on the water.


    The boys walked along the stone-filled riverbed and soon found a great spot for a picnic. Then, they began taking out tools and food from their backpacks.


    Garen looked at the girls seated in the shade. Aside from the ones they already knew were coming, there was also a gorgeous surprise in the form of a girl named Felicity. This dazzling beauty¡¯s white dress fluttered in the wind, and her blond hair was tied together and hung over her left shoulder. Her crystal clear skin was gleaming with a halo, and her eyes were filled with aloof loftiness, like the clearest sapphire in the world.


    Withdrawing his gaze from her, Garen looked at himself, Kalidor, Fayne, and Jake. None of them knew how to dress up. Their attires were completely mismatched, comprising solely of various dull colors like beige, gray, white, and black. On top of that, the clothes they were wearing were cheap, making them look like a ragtag army of bandits. He had not felt this way before, but after comparing the boys to the girls on the other side, he could not help but acknowledge the significant difference.


    "That girl is Felicity. Fayne¡¯s friends invited her to come. She looks so elegant..." Kalidor said in a low volume while stacking the firewood together.


    "Tsk, tsk¡­ I haven¡¯t seen anyone with an aura like that in the academy." Jake lowered his voice and added, "Imagine if you could have a girlfriend like that."


    "She''s my cousin¡¯s friend, so I don¡¯t know her either. You guys should keep it down," Fayne explained on the side. "I didn¡¯t know my cousin would invite her, I told her to come with her other friend." He shrugged.


    Garen smiled and squatted down with them, fixing the messy firewood. Compared to the pure and spotless Felicity, the boys who were working with muddy firewoods were from a completely different world.


    "Want to play poker?" Kalidor leaned over and asked. The poker he mentioned was a game loved by children from poor families. The cards were made by folding paper and pinching holes on them. The rules were very similar to the game Garen knew on Earth.


    Garen, Jake, and Fayne saw him pulling out some old poker cards and they got excited. "Let¡¯s go, what do we use for stakes?" said one of them.


    "Let¡¯s use these roasted fish and kabobs! One per hand."


    The few kids sat on the ground in a circle and began playing atop a white rock. It wasn¡¯t long before they became heavily immersed in their game.


    Felicity stood in the shade, watching the boys playing poker in the middle of the muddy riverbed. Her sapphire eyes did not have any trace of discrimination, but they still put her on a level above everyone else. She was from a different social class compared to the students in this small city. Originally, she was just passing by, but after the invitation of her friends and classmates, she agreed to come out for some fresh air.


    A girl with short red hair came up to her and watched the boys together. "Fayne is my cousin, albeit a very distant one. The students here like to come out at night and set up a campfire to have a barbeque. Are you interested? I could introduce you to them."


    "No thanks, that looks dirty¡­" Felicity frowned. "I¡¯m just here to get some fresh air, it would be great if I could have some quiet time alone."


    Garen was playing poker with the guys and noticed their eyes unconsciously wandering off towards the girls. He thought it was funny, so very discreetly, he took an extra card when it was his turn. He glanced at them but they were oblivious. He repeated this a few times until he finally showed his hands. "Sorry boys, I won."


    "Wha¡­?" The others looked confused, their mouths agape.


    Garen smiled and carefully stacked the cards together. Seeing his friends¡¯ expressions, he thought of the old Garen in his memory. Before he traveled here, Garen used to get into arguments with his sister all the time. Furthermore, he would get knocked on the ground in just a few seconds every time, without any chance of retaliation.


    Ying Er was not as fragile as she looked. She was great at all sports, martial arts and archery. He had been bullied by Ying Er ever since their parents married. He was three years old at the time, and Ying Er was only two.


    However, Garen used to fail at everything, be it playing cards or anything else, because he doubted himself and didn¡¯t understand how to be flexible. And these failures continued to destroy his self-confidence, forming a downward spiral. Part of the reason why he decided to practice martial arts was because he couldn¡¯t best his sister in fights.


    Going back in his memory, he remembered he had cried once after Ying Er had beaten him in middle school. Garen¡¯s smile convulsed.


    "Beaten to tears by his own sister when he was already ten years old¡­ This is a whole new level of shame¡­ And he secretly wept in his room... No wonder the two had a bad relationship¡­" Garen was suddenly regretful of possessing this body.


    *********


    "Shoo!"


    The black-feathered arrow launched from the bow accurately pinned itself on the edge of the bullseye. Ying Er was wearing a white archery robe. She slowly lowered the bow and sighed. "My form is still not steady enough..."


    "You are already doing quite well from this distance," said the girl with blue hair standing next to her. "If you can keep this up, the next Vice President of our archery club will be you."


    "Thank you, senior sister!" Ying Er answered her with respect.


    Each of Shengying Academy¡¯s student organizations worked differently. Students from higher grades were allowed to partake in the academy¡¯s administrative positions, and they were not only the head of student organizations, but also in charge of managerial decisions within the academy.


    The girl in blue hair nodded. "Also, about the fight last time, I¡¯ve taken care of it. You should try not to let that happen again. At least, don¡¯t hurt people that badly, since it¡¯s hard to keep these things under control."


    "Thank you so much, president, I¡¯ll try to keep it down." Ying Er apologized again; she knew that the president had great expectations and constantly took care of her. Ying Er was someone who could be persuaded by reason but not cowed by force. She had always felt guilty towards the president. She knew that if it weren¡¯t for all her fights with the other students, she would have already been promoted to vice president of the archery club by now.


    "But the fight last time was because¡­"


    The blue-haired girl heard her response, nodded, and left to check on the other members.


    Ying Er continued to practice on her own. After a few minutes, a brunette girl came by and whispered something to her.


    Ying Er¡¯s face turned red. "It doesn¡¯t matter how useless he is, he¡¯s still my brother! Whoever dares touch him is disrespecting me as well! Let¡¯s go!" She put down her longbow and fiercely ran out of the archery dojo still wearing her white robe. The tomboys that were inside all followed her out, almost as if she were the Don of an all-girls mafia.


    The president of the archery club saw this and shook her head helplessly. "How many times has it been¡­ I wonder if she has a brother complex¡­ everytime someone mentions him¡­ Ling, go watch her and don¡¯t let her get into trouble. She¡¯s our best hope for the competition that¡¯s coming up. Don¡¯t let her beat them up too bad or she might get disqualified."


    A short girl with red hair next to her nodded and jogged out without saying a word.


    Other members of the club were well used to this and thus went back to practicing. A few of them shook their heads and smiled. While obedient and cute in front of her seniors, she was a violent and terrorizing figure to strangers. Ying Er¡¯s temperament was well-known among senior members of the club.


    ***************


    The sky was clear and blue, with only a few plumes of cloud hanging on the edge of the horizon.


    Garen sat on a white rock with a handful of kabobs turning in his hands. The delicious smell of spice permeated over the fire. Some oily bubbles flopped on the golden and crispy surface of the roasted meat.


    He laid the kabobs on the barbeque racks and looked at the others. They were all busy sprinkling spices over their kabobs. He stood up and strolled towards the lake, then squatted down and scooped a handful of water. He smeared the water on his face to wash off the soot from the fire.


    As the cold lake water splashed on his face, his spirit lifted.


    Garen looked behind them, but the girls had wandered far off. They were gathered far away on the riverbed, and were putting down some snacks and beverages over a white picnic blanket.


    He exhaled deeply. "So many days have passed in the blink of an eye¡­" He glimpsed at the attribute pane at the bottom of his vision. Agility and Vitality were increased by 0.01 each, but this was the result of his own exercising, since his potential meter was stuck at 89%.


    "Only 11% short. I¡¯ll see if Fayne¡¯s jewelry is effective. If not, then I must find another way¡­ Jewelry with potential is too rare. I wonder what kind of background the black pearl the etiquette teacher brought, to be able to fill the potential meter by a whole 100%."


    As the cold wind howled, Garen felt the chilliness on his back. He decided to go back near the bonfire.


    "Far ahead on the river bank is the paper mill, where my uncle works. Do you guys want to go visit?" Kalidor pointed to the river by the lake.


    "What¡¯s so interesting about paper mills¡­" Fayne was saying something when suddenly, a scream came from afar and lingered in the air. The girls seemed to have encountered something horrific.


    The boys looked over to where the girls were supposed to be having their picnic. Two of them were on the ground, slowly backing away from something. One had already run off, too scared to get close to whatever was there. Felicity was one of the girls who fell.


    "Something must have happened, let¡¯s go!" Garen was the first to react, but the others followed a second later, throwing their kabobs away as they rushed over.


    Among the pebbles of the yellow riverbed, a black and purple snake held its head high, spitting its forked tongue. Two girls lay on the ground, backing away in complete terror, one of them with a bloodstained bite wound on her calf.

 6 The Establishment of a Subjec

    Chapter 6: The Establishment of a Subject


    "It¡¯s a Panaja Snake, a highly toxic amphibious snake! We need to get the poison out right away!" Garen instantly reacted and quickly recognized this type of snake. He had not been just blindly living his new life all this time; he had already memorized most of this world¡¯s common knowledge. On top of that, the young Garen who grew up in the countryside had previously dealt with this type of snake before.


    As soon as he finished talking, he kicked a cobblestone.


    Bang!


    The stone landed beside the black snake. The snake immediately slithered into the stream out of fear, leaving behind only a trail of ripples as it quickly disappeared.


    "How do I detoxify the venom!?" sobbed Fayne¡®s cousin Enna, the only girl who had not been bitten.


    "Rinse it with water, find some poplar leaves, then chew them to bits and apply them to the bites!" Garen yelled.


    During this critical time, all the students were overwhelmed. This clearly contrasted the calmness Garen had as a mental adult. He directed the boys to acquire poplar leaves and asked the girls to help clean the bite wounds and squeeze out the venomous snake¡¯s blood. Everything was dealt with rather quickly. The girls who were bitten seemed distraught, but they held it in.


    Felicity stood up from the ground, groomed her messy hair, and adjusted her skirt. Looking at the well-composed Garen, she was a little surprised.


    "I will remember how you helped out my friend today," she calmly said as she helped stabilize her friend with her arms.


    "It¡¯s not a big deal." Garen shrugged. With his mental age that was a few decades old, he naturally didn¡¯t mind. "Of course, if you really want to show your appreciation, I appreciate antique jewelry. If you have any, I would love to borrow and admire them."


    His gaze was softly placed on Felicity¡¯s white neck, where a dark blue, almost black leather cord hung.


    Just as he was getting closer, the Potential Meter appeared in his lower field of vision. The meter jumped by another two units, from 89% to 92%. He was certain that Felicity had a Jewel of Potential. This jewelry could be superior in quality compared to the black pearls.


    "Jewelry?" Felicity softly frowned.


    Fayne, who was on the other side, came over to explain, "Garen really likes jewelry from ancient times. Originally, he didn¡¯t want to come, but I promised him that I would show him the jewelry my family passed down. If I didn¡¯t make this promise, then this guy here would have definitely not shown up!"


    "Do you want to be a jewelry appraiser or something?" Felicity asked. She thought about it for a second, then reached behind her neck with her two hands and unbuckled the dark leather cord.


    Only now was everyone able to see the pendant attached to the cord. It was a diamond-shaped blue crystal the size of a fingernail. Surprisingly, inside the crystal was a tiny silver halo.


    "This was an antique I bargained for a while ago. This is what you¡¯re interested in, right?" Felicity handed the crystal to Garen.


    Garen took the crystal and examined it. It did not appear to be very valuable other than the fact that it looked very antique.


    "It¡¯s very pretty¡­"


    The moment his hand touched the crystal, however, he felt a breath of burning heat surging out of the crystal and into his fingers.


    The Potential Meter in his peripheral vision was skyrocketing.


    92%...98%...103%...132%...177%...181%!


    The Potential Meter gradually started to slow before stopping at 181%.


    Looking at the crystal in his hand, Garen felt as if something within the crystal had gradually disappeared despite the lack of any physical change. Working hard to suppress the exhilaration, he carefully handed the crystal back. "This is a really nice crystal. If possible, can I hear the backstory of this piece of jewelry?"


    Felicity took the crystal, paused in surprise, and asked, "You know what it is?"


    "Know what? Does this thing have some sort of story?" Those who finally finished tending the snake wounds were beginning to relax. When she saw that the two people were talking among themselves, the red-haired girl suddenly felt intrigued. She walked over and joined the conversation.


    "It has a little bit of a story." Felicity nodded. "The crystal¡¯s name is the Halo of Tragedy. Legend has it that those who wear this pendant will run into all kinds of misfortune and eventually die an unnatural death, but I do not believe in these superstitions. However, I am very interested in these types of things, so I paid a lot of money to buy it. I¡¯ve been wearing it ever since, but there are many forgeries of this Halo of Tragedy, and I am not even certain that the one I have is real."


    Garen nodded his head. Behind this crystal was actually such a widely spread background story. The two Jewels of Potential he had absorbed before also had tales of superstition behind them. This added another conjecture to his theory: only jewelry with supernatural backgrounds would have Potential.


    "You sure have a lot of courage. What if the rumors are true?"


    "All the previous owners have died of unnatural causes, so is it real or fake?" Two girls, revitalized from their wounds, crowded Felicity to ask more about the crystal.


    Garen, having consumed the potential, walked to the stream alone and pretended to wash his hands and face.


    "I have already tested my strength the last time I did this and there really was a huge change. I wonder what kind of element I will receive today?"


    In his vision, the four attribute bars rose.


    "Physical attributes are my weakness, but fitness, strength, and agility can easily be improved with training. Intelligence, however¡­ I¡¯m not sure how much it can affect me."


    Pausing for a moment, he placed his gaze on the strength, intelligence, and fitness bars.


    "I think that spreading out my potential points wouldn¡¯t yield great results; it would just make me into an above average but normal person. To really create an advantage, I must specialize. Since I¡¯ve already added points to strength, adding to it again is one way to go. But¡­ if only I could split the points and add them¡­"


    As soon as he had that thought, the flow of essence that was twirling inside his brain split into three different segments and entered into each of the three elements: Strength, Agility, and Intelligence.


    Garen felt his body rattle as a strange numbness crazily descended from his head down to his back.


    After a few seconds, his body returned to normal.


    He felt like his upper body increased in strength and toughness. His mind also instantly became a bit clearer. Suddenly, he could think through and answer questions from his academic studies that had eluded him before.


    He took some time to adjust, then peeked at the meters that displayed the different attributes.


    Strength: 0.44, Agility: 0.23, Fitness: 0.31, Intelligence: 0.36, Potential: 81%.


    Strength increased by 0.03, Fitness by 0.03, and Intelligence by 0.04.


    "They increased the points evenly!" Garen paused. "What¡¯s the use of intelligence though?" he wondered as he examined the condition of his body.


    The Shengying Nobles Academy used a standard noble¡¯s curriculum. In other words, they specialized in developing geniuses. As long as the student had one particularly strong area, they could be accepted into the Academy even if their other areas were weak. However, Garen had no plans to attend Shengying Nobles Academy. That was a path paved out for the children of power, who had no worries about food or clothing. Ordinary students tended to improve their overall performances and apply to prominent schools.


    To do so, the student had to be proficient in every element.


    *******************


    Night time.


    A little community on the south side of Huashan City, inside a red-roofed condo.


    Garen sat in front of a desk in his room, his purple hair and burgundy eyes glowing dimly as he used the faint yellow lamp light to read the book in front of him.


    The thin pieces of paper gently stuck onto his fingertips before turning and falling down again, soft and smooth. The book placed before him was a social history book.


    Dong¡­ Dong¡­ Dong¡­


    A dull clock bell faintly tolled outside the window.


    Garen glanced outside. The building across from him was pitch black without a single ray of light. "Is it already midnight? Good timing, I finally just finished using the effects the potential had on my intelligence¡­"


    A clicking noise came from his sister¡¯s neighboring room. It was the sound of her flicking off her light.


    Garen stood up and laid down on his bed. His two hands supported his head.


    "My general memory abilities improved by a small amount. The time I need in order to logically assess a problem also decreased. But most importantly, my mental math speed has been greatly enhanced¡­ I even reluctantly learned some fundamental knowledge in regards to my least favorite subject, social history. If we calculate based on the rules of this game system, I am currently only at the entry level for social history. There should still be three more stages: intermediate, advanced, and formal disciple."


    As soon as he had these thoughts, the bottom of his peripheral vision flashed and a new symbol appeared flashing above the five attributes. Garen froze.


    "Ah, sh*t, even this is allowed?" He jumped out of his bed and stared at the newly formed symbol without a word.


    A light red symbol could clearly be seen in the bottom of his peripheral vision.


    Mastery level of skill ¨C (Social History: Elementary. Conditions required to meet goal: Intelligence level exceeds 0.34)


    Garen repeatedly read this line of writing in awe for a full ten minutes before he was certain that these new symbols were real.


    Similar to the other elements, it had a tiny symbol that could easily be missed if one was not paying enough attention. When he was not paying attention, these red symbols faded into a half-translucent status and did not obstruct his vision at all.


    Additionally, after these new symbols appeared, Garen recalled information from the social history class. He could easily remember up to 70% of the content as if it was deeply imprinted in his brain.


    "I only started studying this course today, yet I have almost achieved almost total recall of all its contents¡­ I guess that this is the advantage of adding points to intelligence. With the differences in subject difficulty, I suppose the intelligence requirements also differ. The necessary intelligence levels also change based on the extent of subject comprehension."


    Garen had no desire to sleep after that. He turned and started to gather textbooks for all the subjects.


    He read through every single book, one after another.


    Half an hour later¡­


    "The condition required to establish a subject is to thoroughly finish reading a textbook. The previous Garen used one year to grasp a single subject, the study of ancient Chinese history¡­ it¡¯s also only at the elementary level."


    Sighing deeply, Garen was speechless at his former self.


    He watched the symbols in his peripheral vision.


    Main subjects: (Math: not yet established), (Ancient History: elementary), (Social History: elementary), (Foreign Language: not yet established), (Physics: not yet established).


    Math, ancient history, social history, foreign language, and physics were all mandatory subjects required by the school, with no exceptions. Throughout the entire country, students were required to pass these classes in order to graduate.


    Garen did some calculation and comparison of his skills to his test scores.


    "In the old days, for every ancient history test, Garen bounced between a score of 60 and 70 out of 100. This means that entry level is within this range. If there are no unexpected events, then my social history should also score between 60 and 70. With these kinds of marks, I would place in the bottom 10 in my class."


    "For the prominent universities, according to the average Shengying annual scores, I need to place the in the top 100 to be admitted to a renowned university. To place within the top 100 in a school with a total of 1,000 students per year should not be too hard." He suddenly remembered how Garen¡¯s parents worked overtime every day and only took one day weekends in order to provide tuition for him and his sister. They placed all their hope on the two siblings.


    "To guarantee a ranking in the top 100, my average score for my classes needs to be between 70 to 80. At this rate, if I can reach an average level of Intermediate in all my mandatory courses, I can steadily gain entrance to a university. However, even if I work hard and improve, others will do the same. If the questions the students get on exams are relatively easy, then we must compete based on who is more meticulous."


    Garen slowly and carefully analyzed all these issues, "If I were able to absorb more potential from the heirloom black crystal at Fayne¡¯s place¡­ If only I absorbed a bit more then, I would¡¯ve been able to increase my attribute points again." He felt somewhat regretful when he remembered what happened at Jaderipple Lake.

 7 The Bronze Cross

    Chapter 7: The Bronze Cross


    Garen stopped overthinking and began sorting things out. He took off his clothes and blew out the oil lamp. He then went onto the bed and covered himself with a blanket. In the darkness, he calmed down and fell asleep.


    Dong¡­ Dong¡­ The morning bell kept ringing.


    Bright sunlight was shining over the white bed. Garen was sleeping face up and he opened his eyes slowly. Still a bit dizzy, he took a deep breath and looked outside the window. He then slowly removed the blanket and got off the bed.


    The peeling light red paint on the walls and floors revealed the pale-yellow colored lumber underneath. A silver framed painting of a wheat field was crookedly hanging on the wall. The window on the right was half-open, and the chilling wind whistled nonstop through it.


    Ka-ta Ka-ta...


    Amplified by the wooden floors, Garen could acutely hear Ying Er¡¯s footsteps from the living room. He tried to clear his head by rubbing his temples several times. Garen grabbed the loose part of his oversized grey-white long sleeved pajamas, but there was not much he could do about the bagginess.


    "I haven¡¯t thought too much about it, but why am I still wearing my mother¡¯s pajamas? It just doesn¡¯t feel right¡­" Garen said as he walked towards the window and quietly closed it.


    Below the right side of the window was a street in the district. Several people wearing thick coats were walking by, and one of them even had a boater hat and scarf on him. There was an empty ground behind the buildings on the left side with more cars parked in it than usual. Some of the cars were black, others were white, and the headlights of these antique cars were similar to the eyes of a goldfish.


    "Cars like those look nice, but they have to be cooled down every forty miles¡­" Garen said as he shook his head. He sniffed several times and he could smell the mixed fragrance of fried egg and warm milk. Garen left the window, opened the door of the bedroom and walked into the living room. On the right side of the room, he saw the yellow-white window curtains billowing in the air due to the strong wind coming from outside. On the left side, Garen could see his sister, Ying Er, carefully flipping fried eggs in the kitchen.


    She had changed into a short one piece with a black apron on her waist. Garen could see the white lace on the edge of her skirt and the thick tights underneath; Ying Er also wore a dark purple shawl on her back. Her burgundy pupils intently stared at the fried eggs being cooked in the pan.


    "Just woke up? Go brush your teeth. Breakfast will be ready soon. I bought some fresh white bread and warm milk. Making the fried eggs right now," Ying Er said as she looked at Garen.


    "They are not coming back?" Garen wiped his oily face with his hands and walked towards the washroom. He turned the tap on in front of a mirror.


    plash!


    Water rushed out of the tap. Garen grabbed his red towel and soaked it in the water. He then wrung the towel and pressed it on his face.


    "I told you before, right? They are on a business trip," Ying Er answered.


    "Do you know where?" Garen asked.


    "I think they are going to Delin City... It would take three days for them to get there by the train. Plus the time they will spend on their way back¡­" Ying Er answered while turning the stove off. She put the fried eggs on a plate and brought them to the table.


    "They won¡¯t be back until next week. It¡¯s you and me again this weekend." Ying Er sat down, putting the bread, milk and fried eggs on the table.


    "Let¡¯s eat," she said.


    After rinsing his mouth, Garen put his wooden toothbrush back into the glass and then turned back and left the washroom. Ying Er sat across from him. The rectangular table was made of redwood, and they both had a silver-colored metal plate in front of them. There was a triangle-shaped piece of bread in each plate, and there were some tiny characters marked on them.


    Garen grabbed the silverware and cut off a small piece of the bread. It tasted a bit hard and dry, but there was a hint of sweetness.


    "It¡¯s Saturday. You got any plans for today?" Ying Er drank some milk and asked.


    "Yeah¡­ I want to go to the new antique store in the southern part of the city. It opened on the old Pennington Street," Garen said while eating the fried egg.


    "It¡¯s pretty far from here¡­ We are on Bluetree Street and need to pass through downtown. Then, we need to walk another half an hour. It¡¯s like walking from one side of the town to the other. Why are you interested in the new antique store?" Ying Er was confused.


    "If it¡¯s not important, can you go to the fruit market with me? I also want to check out the pet shops on a street beside the market. You can carry the bags for me," Ying Er said as she took a subtle glance at Garen; she seemed to be looking forward to spending time with him.


    "I want some white pears, my favorite fruit," she added.


    "White pears?" Garen stopped for a second; the old Garen used to love white pears too.


    "Sorry, I really need to check out the new antique shop. It¡¯s important," Garen said.


    "Fine¡­" Ying Er nodded and stopped talking. She decided to focus on the food.


    "It¡¯s fall now, make sure you wear enough clothes. Don¡¯t catch a cold," Garen reminded as he put the rest of the food into his mouth. He gulped it down with a few sips of milk.


    "I¡¯m leaving." Garen stood up and went back to the bedroom to change.


    Ying Er listlessly sat by the table as she watched him leave. She kept stabbing the bread pieces in her plate with the fork.


    Garen changed from his pajamas to a thick black coat and dark blue pants with a black and white scarf around his neck. He looked like a handsome teenager and was no longer thin and weak. However, his gaze looked deep, and his eyes looked like two pure gems with a sparkle of burgundy in the middle. Now, he looked totally different and more mature with the changes to his eyes.


    "When will you be back? How long do you plan to stay in the shop?" Ying Er raised her head up and asked.


    "I will be back before dinner. I have to go now," Garen said as he tidied his scarf. He walked to the door and put on his black leather boots.


    He opened the door, walked out and saw that his neighbor¡¯s door was open. A middle-aged man with glasses turned back and looked at him for a second, but did not say anything. The man was holding a black bag in his hand and closed his door without greeting Garen. Garen knew this neighbor; the tenant, Boris, was the middle-aged man Garen had just met. He never saw the man¡¯s wife, but he knew that the man lived with a 7 or 8 years old boy. Garen barely talked to them and they never greeted him if they saw him around. Garen had only talked to them once since his family had moved here. He introduced himself and greeted them, but they did not have any further conversation. Garen¡¯s family was irked by how impolite the man and his son were.


    Garen carefully closed the metal door, then he rubbed his hands together for warmth. He walked down the stairs and followed the path towards the left, entering a grey road lit by black street lights.


    Outside the district, the streets were between yellow buildings and had black railings protecting pedestrians on the sides. An antique car was driving along the road, and Garen could see the white smoke coming out of the exhaust. There was an ox cart full of fruits following behind the car, and the coachman whipped the ox while yelling from time to time.


    While glancing at the yellow buildings beside him, Garen walked by the railings; each of these buildings was around 7 floors tall and some had their windows open. Others closed their windows tight and put barbed wire on them. The edges of the buildings were round rather than sharp right angles.


    A chilling autumn wind blew through Garen¡¯s hair. He lowered his head and felt his skin numbed by the cold. There were young trees planted next to the railings, however, they were bereft of leaves. As such, Garen could only see the dark, bold branches.


    After walking for about twenty minutes, he started to see more people and cars on the street. He walk passed a bronze sign labeled ¡®Garden Street¡¯.


    Garen turned left at a crossroads, and instead of yellow, the buildings became grey and white with complex designs. These buildings looked luxurious, and there were tall round poles around them. There were also some beautiful sculptures by the buildings, and the black street lamps were decorated with white ornaments on top.


    The sidewalk was almost empty. There was a woman wearing a thick white dress walking her dog, and there were also two old men holding canes sitting on a black metal bench talking in hushed voices.


    Garen tightened his scarf and looked over the building on his left. Garen¡¯s uncle lived on the fifth floor of that building; this uncle of his was the one who helped him and Ying Er get into the Shengying Nobles Academy.


    Garen¡¯s uncle started his business from nothing and worked very hard to build up his reputation. He was one of the richest merchants in Huaishan City, and he treated Garen very well. However, he did not care about girls, so he barely talked to Ying Er.


    "I should visit my uncle on my way back¡­" Garen thought as he walked faster towards the end of the street. He passed a bronze road sign standing beside the sidewalk that read ¡®Pennington Street¡¯. There was a small store at the corner by the end of the street. The arched door of the shop was wide open, and there was yellow light coming out of it. A bespectacled old man was sitting by the yellow shelves, carefully looking at the object in his hand with a magnifier.


    Garen glanced at the top right corner, towards a triangle sign hanging on the white wall. It read ¡®Dolphin Antiques¡¯. Garen walked into the shop and looked around the place. There were more than ten tables in the shop, and there were red fabrics strewn all over the tables and walls, but he was the only customer. Many strange items were put on the tables.


    After entering the shop, Garen stepped on the dark yellow floor and was startled by the ¡®person¡¯ to his right. He looked over and saw an incomplete body sculpture of a kid with curly hair; it only had the head and the shoulders. There was a cuboid stone pole supporting the sculpture from below.


    "What do you need?" asked the old man, who put down his magnifier when he saw Garen enter. The old man¡¯s skin was gray and yellow, while his wrinkled face was full of black freckles.


    "Let me see¡­" Garen panicked for a second, trying to think of a reason for being there¡­


    "Don¡¯t mind me, I am just looking around," he answered after calming down.

 8 Special Ability Enhancements

    Chapter 8: Special Ability Enhancements


    The old man brushed his fingers through his sparse hair. "Look around by yourself. Items on the left side of my shop are personally acquired from the countryside. On the right are heirlooms that have been passed down for generations." He bowed his head and started to examine the tiny object in his hand again.


    The old man wore white gloves and held a soft gold pocket-watch. The back of the watch was open and he seemed to be studying the gears and mechanics of the watch itself.


    Garen first glanced around the entire shop and then began to browse in detail from left to right.


    A long rectangular oil painting hung on the far left wall and depicted a white castle under siege. There were a handful of armored warriors who were pushing towards the castle bearing a red banner. The catapults were constantly flinging giant rocks as oil spilled down the castle walls. Bloody corpses were everywhere.


    Below the oil painting was a circular dark gold metal sheet. It was half a meter wide and a smiling human face bulged out in the center.


    "What is this?" Garen touched the metal sheet. The material was hard and the surface had a rough texture similar to copper paper.


    The old man standing under the bookshelf looked up. "This is the Totem of the Sun God owned by the Crimson tribe from 300 years ago. It¡¯s a very valuable object. Every time the tribe plundered new gold, the wizard of the tribe would paint the metal disc with molten gold. Other than the human face in the middle, everywhere else has been painted over countless times with gold and brass. If you are interested, I can sell it to you for cheap at $35,000." The old man took off his glasses and rubbed the lenses with a soft cloth as he continued, "Not a lot of people know the value of these objects anymore. A few decades ago, when antiques were the trend, I could have sold that for hundreds of thousands."


    "Totem of the Sun God¡­" The corner of Garen¡¯s lips twitched. He knew without looking that this was fake. Not only did the lack of response from his special ability signal this, there was also the fact that if the totem really was worth that much and was really made out of gold, then there was no way it would be displayed here waiting to be sold. If it was actually a huge piece of gold plated metal, any jeweler would be willing to buy it for $100,000. Although the shop owner even gave him a "deal" for $35,000¡­ the total amount of cash he had on hand was only $20.


    On his left, he saw a tall redwood table. On top was a burgundy emblem, a transparent wine bottle, and a silver cup.


    Garen gently touched each of the three items. When he touched the burgundy emblem, the Potential Meter at the bottom of his vision jumped.


    "Hmm?! There¡¯s something up with this!" He quietly turned his body until his back was facing the old man. The skin on his face tensed.


    He picked up the burgundy emblem and inspected it carefully.


    The emblem was in the shape of a cross. The cross was burgundy with gold laurels wrapped around its edges. Garen found that in the dead center of the cross, there was a tiny patch of black paint the size and shape of a fingernail with the letter P carved on it.


    He could feel the powerful concentrated cold qi inside the emblem. Compared to the black pearl and Felicity¡¯s Halo of Tragedy, this one felt many times more powerful. For some reason, however, he could not entirely absorb this energy from the emblem. There was only a thin thread of energy between the emblem and him, with Potential being slowly squeezed out like toothpaste.


    "Before, I could easily and instantly absorb all the potential from the objects I found. How come this time it¡¯s going so slowly? At this rate, if I want to fully consume this energy, I would have to stay here for days." A trace of excitement and disbelief flashed across Garen¡¯s eyes.


    "That¡¯s $6,000," the bespectacled old man said in a deadpan voice while standing to Garen¡¯s right side.


    "$6,000¡­" Garen frowned.


    The old man was wearing all black. Looking at the emblem, he said in a low tone, "I acquired this Bronze Cross Emblem from a veteran family. You sure have good eyes for picking this one out. Out of all the stuff I acquired, this emblem is the most exquisite. It came from the Republic of Mengdiya over 150 years ago. At that time, the Republic of Mengdiya was so powerful that all other countries lived in fear of it. They were able to establish hundreds of colonies throughout the world and half of the land now occupied by the Yalu Confederation was also colonized by them. This emblem was one of the products left from that period of time. I believe it was a reward given to a level two military commander."


    "I¡¯ll look around a bit more¡­ I¡¯m not in a rush." Garen wanted to suppress his desire to purchase it. He knew that if he could absorb all the potential out of the emblem, then he would be able to add more than two points to his Abilities. Unfortunately, he had no money¡­


    The weekly allowance he received was only $20. The difference between that amount and $6,000 was astronomical.


    The old man noticed how reluctant Garen was about giving it up. "I had a soldier coming in last time who wanted to buy it off me, but he didn¡¯t bring enough cash. If you really want it kid, take this opportunity and get it before he comes back."


    Garen¡¯s face twitched. "I¡®ll look at some other stuff first."


    "Alright, up to you." The old man smiled like a blooming chrysanthemum.


    Garen peeked at the old man. "This guy¡­ he obviously noticed that I wanted to buy it and so made up a story to push me over the edge. However, I should be careful. Perhaps there really is someone who has their eye on this. But no rush, if I¡¯m lucky, I can find something else in this shop and absorb potential from it as well."


    He became more determined and began to browse through everything from the tables to walls. Very soon, he had touched every single item in the shop.


    Sadly, the remaining items were regular objects and only the emblem had potential.


    After a while, he again returned to the round table and picked up the cross-shaped burgundy emblem. He examined it for more than half an hour.


    "I don¡¯t have enough money on me at the moment. Do you think you can reserve it for me for now? I will return to buy it later." Garen raised his head and looked in the old man¡¯s direction.


    The old man had long since returned to the bookshelf. He was wiping the dust off his antiques with a soft white cloth. When he heard Garen¡¯s request, he turned his head with a grin. "Of course I can. However, I cannot reserve it for long. The story I told you may seem like a sales tactic, but someone really does want to buy it. There are only three weeks left until he comes back."


    "Three weeks¡­" Garen frowned, "Alright. I will try my best to get the money. What¡¯s the lowest price you can give me?"


    "Since you are a student, I will discount the price and only ask for $5000. That is the lowest and final offer," the old man said as he adjusted his glasses.


    "I will not bargain with you now, but we will talk about it later." Garen didn¡¯t say anything more. He gave the emblem a final glance and placed it back on the table. Then, he walked before the old man. "My name is Garen. May I ask what your name is?"


    "Call me Old Man Gregor. What do you want to ask? I warn you though, I don¡¯t answer sensitive questions for free."


    "I wanted to ask where you purchased this emblem from?" Garen asked with a frown.


    The old man recollected his memories, "I can tell you the answer, but¡­" He extended his arm with a smile.


    Garen watched speechlessly as the old man opened his hand. He took out a $10 bill and put it in the skinny chicken-like hand.


    "Cheap¡­" the old man muttered as he took the money. "I got it from an old abandoned castle in a town more than 60 miles away from Huaishan City. The original owner of the castle was a viscount, but his successive generations were feeble. Nowadays, the highest title in the family is knight. Nobody has been able to maintain the castle for years. As a result, everything in the castle has been bought and sold ¨C it¡¯s practically empty now. If the castle was in a better condition and a better location, it would¡¯ve been bought off a long time ago. The castle¡¯s name¡­ I think it was called Silversilk Castle."


    "Silversilk Castle¡­ can you draw me a detailed map of how to get there?"


    The old man again extended his open palm with a grin on his face.


    "What the eff!" Garen cursed uncontrollably. He took another $10 bill out of his pocket and stuffed it into the old man¡¯s palm. "Can you please hurry!"


    "Of course!" The old man accepted the bill and quickly took out a thin yellow paper from a drawer. He picked up an ink-soaked quill and drew out a simple map.


    Garen scanned the map after receiving it, "Thanks for taking the time. Please wait for me."


    Before the old man could respond, Garen rolled up the paper and marched out of the antique shop.


    After walking on the sidewalk for a while, he reached out and touched his empty pocket. He wanted to cry, but he had no tears. "Even if I don¡¯t buy the emblem and only travel to the castle, it would still cost me $50 to $60¡­ this means I need to save my allowance from this week and next week."


    As he walked, his brain looked for ways he could get his hands on $5,000. He had a faint feeling that the emblem was covered by something, causing him to be unable to truly get in contact with it and absorb all of its potential. If he wanted all the potential, he would have to scrape off whatever was covering it and reveal the actual object. The issue was that he could not afford it and therefore could not damage it by scraping.


    Looking at the light red numbers in his lower field of view, the Potential Meter had broken through to 101%. A cold wave of air lingered around his brain. now, he could add points to any attribute at any time.


    "There is no rush. I stood there for so long, yet I absorbed such little potential. If I want to absorb substantial potential from the emblem, I would need to stand there for days. There is no way Old Man Gregor would allow that." Garen recalculated the estimated total potential from the emblem and felt a flame burning in his chest when he realized that there should be at least five points.


    "I can try to try to get money and come here every day to absorb its potential. Small portions will eventually add up. There is no way I can¡¯t finish consuming its potential!" He silently decided.


    Walking to the entrance of Pennington street again, Garen raised his head and looked over at his uncle¡¯s house.


    Coincidentally, the arched window was wide open. A chubby middle-aged man was standing beside the window and was looking down. "Garen is that you?" The man had a very common face with very thick black eyebrows and gave off a tough vibe. "I haven¡¯t seen you in so long. Hurry, come up!"


    Garen didn¡¯t expect to actually see his uncle. He merely nodded, walked around the stone column, and entered the half-open wooden corridor entrance.


    The corridor led to a spacious lounge. The floor was covered with black carpet and a white stone statue of an angel was placed in the center. The wings of the angel were spread wide, as if ready to fly.


    Garen entered from the left side stairs, jogged past a few people, and quickly reached a red metal door on the left side of the fifth floor.


    Dong, dong, dong.


    He reached out to open the door.


    Immediately, the door creaked open. Uncle Tyr was standing in front of the door wearing a white dress shirt and black dress pants. "Hurry in! The fireplace is lit."


    "Okay." Garen passed the door, changed into slippers, and walked into the room with his uncle.


    The room was covered with light yellow wallpaper and there were oil paintings after oil paintings on the walls. Most of the paintings were not of Uncle Tyr, but were of his wife, Windsor.


    After a few minutes, Garen stood by the window, listening to his uncle talk about recent local news with a bearded guest.


    In the middle of their heated conversation, Uncle Tyr suddenly fixed his gaze onto Garen.


    "Garen, if you want to make a difference in the future, you must remember one thing: read lots, explore lots, and think lots. The fundamental principle is to speak less, but act more." Uncle Tyr removed his cigar and gently flicked it into the ashtray. "You are in high school now, you will be going to university in the future, and then you will start your career. Whether it¡¯s about your academic career or your professional career, it¡¯s good to remember this piece of advice."


    "Also, hang out with Lombarth and Phelia more often. You are all around the same age and will be cousins for life. These days, they are always playing some chess war game. They don¡¯t do useful stuff anymore. You should talk some sense into them."


    Uncle Tyr had been managing his own business for a long time. There were very complex relationships between the legal and illegal means. Even though he appeared to be an ordinary businessman, he actually had a lot of interests in other aspects and even had a gun permit.


    Garen looked down and nodded continuously. He knew that even though his uncle looked very kind, in his bones he was someone stubborn and paranoid. He hated others disagreeing with his plans since he had a very strong sense of individualism.


    The bearded man laughed as well. "This is your nephew? Nowadays, young people have such valuable resources. Thinking back to our days, we did not grow up in such a nice environment."


    "Exactly, the environment is so good they have forgotten how to treasure it," Uncle Tyr laughed helplessly and returned to discussing business news with the bearded guest.


    Garen stood to the side and listened to the two adults having their discussion. Internally, he was looking for ways to acquire that $5,000. Usually when he visited his uncle, he would receive allowances ranging from a high of a few hundred dollars to a low of $80 to $90. The distance to $5,000 was still too far.


    Garen had no plans to ask for money from his uncle anyways. If he did, this would be his first time asking and he might need his uncle¡¯s help for a second or third time after today. While it might be possible the for Garen to get some money from his uncle the first time, if Garen did this multiple times then his uncle would stop accommodating him regardless how much his uncle liked him.


    "I have to find a way myself..." Garen thought of the Dojo. "If I can successfully gain entrance to White Cloud Dojo, then every month I can get a small monetary reward. Usually it¡¯s $2,000. This is one source of income. Additionally, the school offers lots of scholarships for a total of ten grand. There are two more months till the end of the semester, but there is no way I can get the scholarship with my current level of learning unless I can get ability enhancements. Other than for ancient civilization and history, I have yet to achieve the minimum level of the intelligence requirement. I can only memorize and understand everything after achieving this minimal requirement. Otherwise, I have to follow the normal rules and slowly study."


    Suddenly, a thought flashed across Garen¡¯s brain, "There are archery and swordsmanship competitions! Out of the two, Ying Er will participate in one. Top three are awarded and even the third place wins $10,000, but I¡¯m not sure how good Garen is at archery and swordsmanship?"


    As soon as he thought of this question, he saw that the symbols were slowly changing at the bottom of his vision. Soon, it changed into three elements: Swordsmanship, Archery, and Basic Boxing.


    Swordsmanship: Elementary. Archery: Elementary. Basic Boxing: Elementary.


    "I wonder if I can add points to these abilities¡­" Garen speculated.


    He tried to concentrate on the swordsmanship element. Inside his brain, waves of air were pouncing around, waiting to spew forth.


    "It¡¯s possible!!" He immediately stopped the flow of air, shifted his focus, and repressed the excitement he was feeling.

 9 Change

    Chapter 9: Change


    Garen calmed down and stood there listening to the conversation between the two. It was almost noon and was getting brighter outside.


    Uncle Tyr finally stood up and saw the customer to the door.


    "Uncle, I have to go now," Garen said while taking his scarf off the clothing stand.


    "It¡¯s still very early. You can leave after lunch if you want," Tyr said, turning back to Garen.


    "You rarely come to visit and Lombarth will be back shortly. You could have a chat with him," he continued.


    "Maybe next time. Ying Er is waiting for me at home." Garen smiled.


    "I promised her that I will be back for lunch," he added.


    "Fine¡­ Stay safe." Tyr chuckled. He patted Garen¡¯s head several times.


    "I will," Garen said.


    Garen put on his shoes and was about to leave. Suddenly, some warm paper was shoved into his right palm. It was a stack of hundred dollar bills. Garen turned back and saw his smiling uncle.


    "Take it. I haven¡¯t seen you in a long time. It¡¯s just some pocket money. Make sure you work hard in school," Tyr said.


    "I will. Thank you, Uncle. Goodbye." Garen smiled and bowed in gratefulness.


    "Come and visit me more often whenever you are free," Tyr said.


    "I will."


    Garen said goodbye and walked down the stairs. He went back to the first floor, where he saw a blond boy wearing a tight white suit standing in the middle of the hall as a torrent of people walked past him. The boy was by a sculpture of a white angel. He saw Garen coming down the stairs and raised his eyebrows.


    "Garen, get over here." The boy waved one of his hands while holding a white ball in the other. He dribbled it as he chatted with a black-haired girl who was next to him.


    Garen knew the boy. It was his cousin, Lombarth, the son of Tyr. He never liked Lombarth and hated his cousin¡¯s self-centered and arrogant personality. Garen scowled and walked toward Lombarth, stopping when he stood about two meters away.


    "What did my dad say to you?" Lombarth leaned toward Garen and asked with a light tone.


    "Nothing special. He asked me how I was doing recently. I have to go if you have nothing important to say," Garen answered softly.


    "Why are you nervous? I am your elder. Could it be that my words are annoying you?" Lombarth raised his eyebrows again and looked at the girl beside him. He felt like he was challenged by his younger cousin.


    "I am leaving if you really have nothing else to say. It is lunchtime and Ying Er is waiting for me at home." Garen did not want to waste his time on Lombarth, so he walked toward the exit. He felt a bit speechless.


    "Hey! I am your elder! Stop right there!" Lombarth yelled angrily.


    "Lombarth, do you really want to do this?! You don¡¯t want to mess with me!" Garen turned back and frowned as he raised his voice. Although the old Garen was weak, the new Garen would not back down from a situation like this.


    "Ha¡­ How dare you speak to me like that? I will teach you what respect is!" Lombarth suddenly tried to slap Garen¡¯s face. He applied martial force to his palm. The strength of the slap was doubled with the use of his combat techniques.


    Lombarth, with a roar, motioned toward the left side of Garen¡¯s face.


    *Pa*


    Garen used his palm to block the attack, their palms colliding with each other in mid air. Their strength level was similar, neither had an advantage during the exchange.


    Garen was a bit surprised that his playboy cousin knew any martial arts, but he himself had already reached the first level of professional martial artistry. He applied more force into his palm and angrily pushed it toward Lombarth.


    Unable to handle this counterattack, Lombarth took the hit and toppled sideways. He crashed into a middle-aged man beside him and he flushed in embarrassment. Lombarth looked at his right hand, which was already swelling.


    It hand burned with a fiery pain and he could no longer raise it.


    "Good¡­ Garen¡­ You are pretty good!" Lombarth said and looked at the girl beside him again.


    "You just wait, I¡¯ll make you pay for this!" he yelled.


    Garen decided not to waste any more time. He knew that although Lombarth probably learned some martial arts growing up, that there was no way Lombarth could fight him. Garen had bitterly trained himself with incredible fervor. Even if Lombarth wanted to send someone else to beat Garen up, Tyr would never allow such a thing to happen.


    "Save yourself some time. I can¡¯t imagine how disappointed my uncle will be if he sees you fight like this," Garen said as he exited the hallway through a small wooden door. From behind, he could still hear Lombarth crazily yelling curses at him.


    Garen returned to the district by the way he came. There were more people on the main road than before and he spent about half an hour getting back to Bluetree Street.


    He entered the district; the fourth building on the right with a red roof was his home. There was an old gentleman walking down the stairs slowly with a cane in his hand. The stairs were narrow, so Garen stood to the side and waited for the gentleman to exit the building.


    The gentleman gave him a friendly smile, but did not say anything. He walked straight toward the parking lot on the right. Though the gentleman needed to support himself with the cane, he was walking carefully at his own pace. His crisp black suit gave him a solemn aura as he walked away.


    Garen withdrew his gaze and stepped onto the stairs. He went up the dim stairway and heard footsteps from above, and he peaked through a gap in the stairway. He saw Ying Er walking upstairs slowly, it seemed she was carrying something very heavy.


    "Ying Er!" he yelled.


    "Garen? You¡¯re back? Come help me. I bought a bunch of white pears." Ying Er heard the voice, put the groceries down onto the ground, and peeked through the stairway back at Garen. She was still wearing her black dress, the hem of her skirt barely covering her thighs.


    "Coming." Garen started to move, but from his angle, he could see something white through the black tights under Ying Er¡¯s skirt. He started to blush.


    "You fool, stop acting like Lombarth!" Ying Er realized where he was staring at and started to blush as well. She immediately closed her legs tightly.


    "You should¡¯ve been careful in the first place!" Garen tried to explain and ran toward her. He held the wooden yellow basket above his chest, holding about 20 fist-sized white pears in it.


    "Am I not being careful?!" Ying Er yelled with arms akimbo.


    "Let¡¯s talk after we get back home!" She realized she was being too loud and looked around to make sure that no one else was there.


    Garen shrugged his shoulders and stepped up the stairs again. Ying Er opened the door with her keys and they quickly entered their home. Garen put the basket down from his hands and ran away after changing his shoes.


    *BANG*


    Ying Er slammed the door closed, and raised her fists while still blushing.


    "You are dead, Garen!" she yelled and rushed toward Garen. She was faster than Garen, even after his hard training


    Ying Er started to chase Garen in the living room. After about ten seconds, Garen was tripped by Ying Er and fell down hard to the floor


    ¡®She knows intermediate level martial arts¡­ and it¡¯s even trained using some Secret Art.¡¯ Garen thought while staring speechlessly at Ying Er. Even though he did not use any martial arts and wasn¡¯t being serious, he could still tell how strong his sister was just by watching her moves. Ying Er¡¯s martial arts were more about speed and dexterity, while the White Cloud Dojo¡¯s arts were more about bursts of strength. Ying Er had probably already reached the intermediate level.


    Different dojos had different focuses when developing their basic martial arts. Some focused more on strength, some focused more on bursts of damage, some on agility, and some had buffs to stamina, dodging skill, or innate resistances. Their basic martial arts had different names, but were just used for common fights, unlike Secret Arts.


    Secret training arts referred to special ways of exercising the body, and different dojos usually developed different versions. For example, the basic martial arts from White Cloud Dojo was not its secret arts, it was just a strength burst technique. Compared to basic martial arts, secret training arts would only be passed down to the true disciples. If these disciples kept exercising their bodies with the secret training arts, most of their attributes, such as strength, burst, agility, resistance, and flexibility, would be constantly increasing.


    Garen heard that the disciples of White Cloud Dojo showed their strength during various competitions and that their secret training arts were probably developed to increase their strength. Ying Er¡¯s speed was ridiculously fast, she had probably used some sort of special training arts to attain this level of speed.


    Garen stopped musing and turned his head to the side. From his previous angle, he could again clearly see what was under his sister¡¯s skirt. Garen could see Ying Er¡¯s long, slim legs through her sheer black tights.


    "Of all the people to take after, why do you decide to be so much like Lombarth!" Ying Er was breathing heavily as she kicked Garen in the chest. Garen¡¯s coat was thick, so Ying Er was not worried about him getting too hurt.


    Garen blinked his eyes and suddenly fiercely pulled at her feet with his hands.


    *PONG*


    Ying Er fell on his body and they both groaned in pain.


    Garen could smell the girl¡¯s fragrance and her soft breast pushed at the area above his chest. Garen somehow felt a little excited.


    "Come on!" Garen stood up while rubbing his stomach.


    "What are we having for the lunch?" he asked.


    Ying Er was not paying attention to Garen¡¯s movement and accidentally fell on his chest. She was going to blame Garen, but she started to blush again after realizing she was right above his chest. Garen was much stronger than before and she could feel his chest muscles. Unlike the last time he was tripped by his sister, Garen acted like he did not care instead of getting angry. Ying Er felt surprised after hearing Garen ask her about lunch and she hesitated for a second before standing up.


    "I made sweet bean cake, onion pancakes, and coconut with sweet melon soup," Ying Er answered as she brushed some dust off her dress.


    Rate Translation Quality


    Chapter 10: No title


    Garen gradually noticed the change in his sister. His adult consciousness allowed him to sense that Ying Er treated him slightly different; she seemed to take his every word very seriously. She was very careful with her actions when they were playing tag earlier, using only a very slight amount of force, as if she was worried that she might hurt him. That was how he managed to sneak an attack on her and take her down in the end.


    "Have some lunch first. Making breakfast and lunch, going out to buy fruits, it''s been a tough day for you, Ying Er." He reached out a hand to pinch his sister''s cheek. There seemed to be much less acne and freckles on her red face recently; it felt soft and smooth to the touch.


    "Ugh, you!" Ying Er slapped away Garen''s hand. "Did you take the wrong medicine? Since when did you know how to show concern towards someone else?" She quizzically looked at Garen. Although she usually tried very hard to pretend as if she wasn''t close with her brother, in fact, she was constantly concerned about everything related to Garen in secret.


    Garen''s heart skipped a beat. He realized that he had gone slightly overboard with his change in character; he immediately retracted his hand without saying another word. "Can''t I have grown up? Do you have to act all shocked? Come on, let''s eat."


    After a rushed meal, the brother and sister duo worked together to wash the dishes, then quickly went back to their respective bedrooms, both seeming slightly off. Ying Er kept feeling as if there was a gust of wind under her skirt ever since she was accidentally exposed, and she constantly felt uneasy in front of Garen. They were step-siblings after all; a relationship built through the fusion of two single-parent families was not considered to be blood-relations.


    Garen, on the other hand, was rushing back to his room to further ponder about Attribute Enhancements.


    Standing by the window, he quietly stared at the pale red Attribute data in the lower part of his field of vision.


    "If skills can indeed be enhanced, I will be able to participate in the tournament within a short period of time and win the large prize pool if I enhance my archery or sword skills. My only worry is that it would stick out like a sore thumb if a student that seldom practices suddenly participates and wins the award. Putting aside what others might think, Ying Er knows my situation well. She is aware that I don''t usually practice my archery or sword skills." He rested his hand against the glass window pane.


    "If that''s the case, this idea with archery and sword skills won''t work. But what about the White Cloud Dojo? I''ve always been attentive to the Dojo''s training. If I dove into the tournament, people would assume I have steadily accumulated the skills through observation, and it would attract less attention. Moreover, the Dojo isn''t the Academy; it''s an independent party. It wouldn''t attract much attention even if something unusual or exceptional happened there. It''s just that the prize money is a little on the low side¡­ I could approach the Dojo and inquire whether there are any inter-dojo tournaments. Those offer much more prize money than internal tournaments! Now that''s an idea!"


    He lightly grazed his hand over the surface of the glass; it was smooth and cool to touch. "If that''s the case, I''ll pay a visit to the Dojo this afternoon and ask a trainer about the general situation."


    After resting in his room for a bit, Garen quietly walked out. When he walked past his sister''s room, he saw Ying Er lying on the bed, cheeks rosy and sleeping soundly, and decided not to bother her.


    He gently put on his scarf and coat, then changed his shoes and walked out the door. Walking out of his cul-de-sac and grasping the 300 dollars from his uncle in his pocket, Garen hailed a black carriage and stepped into it.


    "To the White Cloud Dojo."


    "It''s ten dollars yeah?" the driver turned around to confirm.


    "Yup, just go." Garen nodded in consent.


    Sitting in the carriage and looking out the right window, he could see buildings with pale yellow walls swiftly pass by one after another. A few minutes later, after turning a corner, the streets gradually became deserted. The previous scene was replaced by solemn, gray buildings. Shops with round arch doorways formed a row, all of them selling clocks and sundries.


    Garen looked closely at the Skills section in his field of vision.


    Fighting skills: Amateur. Archery skills: Amateur. Sword skills: Amateur.


    "If I can pass the assessment and train in the Secret Arts of White Cloud Dojo, I can enhance my physical quality. Couple that with my Attribute points to concurrently increase my power, the effect of my training would be exponential compared to that of my peers!" His wine-red eyes narrowed slightly, indicating a trace of anticipation.


    "If I keep using Attribute points to enhance a single skill, I wonder what the maximum level of increase would it reach. It''s been said that different people have different talents, leading to great disparities in the effect of training in the Secret Arts. This could help conceal the fact that I''m enhancing my skills with Attribute points. This way, even if the level of the training method is slightly inferior, it would still be able to match up to top-level training methods. Now, my only hope is that Attribute points can enhance training methods like they enhance personal qualities.


    Recalling whom he could inquire with at the Dojo, Garen could only come up with three people: Sharmilla, Luo Ya, and the girl with short and silver hair that he trained with.


    There was one that left a deep impression though: the best in their batch, Erwin. He would always achieve high rankings with overwhelming skills. In addition to that, he had a mild attitude, was very humble and was well-brought-up. If there was someone with a hundred percent chance of being a Formal Disciple of White Cloud Dojo, it would be Erwin.


    "I could go to Erwin. This guy would definitely be training in the Dojo even if it''s the weekend, no exceptions. Moreover, he would definitely be clear about these things," Garen thought. He has heard of grand inter-dojo tournaments where the cr¨¨me de la cr¨¨me of Galantia Province - in which Huaishan City is located - were chosen, and were presented awards and medals by officials. "This tournament is a great way for dojos to avoid vicious competition, exhibit their talent pool and solidify their social status. The annual grand prize is almost never below 100,000 dollars, and the winner will qualify for the national tournament."


    While Garen was busy sorting through what he knew, the carriage gradually slowed down to a stop.


    "Sir, the White Cloud Dojo," the driver''s words interrupted Garen''s train of thought.


    "Yes, very well." He dug some notes from his pocket and handed it to the driver. Once he received his change, Garen immediately leapt off the carriage.


    The streets were narrow, giving a messy and complicated impression.


    The ground was paved with gray and black pebbles, which made it uncomfortable to step on. The heights of the buildings on both sides of the street were varied; there were red ones, gray ones, and pale yellow ones. There was a variety of patterns too: squares, triangles, plaid, wavy arcs, etc. It all looked a mess. Ten odd steps from Garen, a khaki-yellow bell tower stood in the middle of the street; at its base, a round and arched doorway allowed pedestrians through.


    A smattering of pedestrians continuously went in and out from the doorway.


    There was a white wooden board on the left side of the doorway displaying a paper notice. Two people were standing there reading it.


    Garen walked over to the notice and checked it out.


    "White Cloud Dojo Notice on Recruitment over the Holidays: Under-18 applicants with a student card can enjoy half-off student fees. The specific adult fees schedule is as follows: ¡­"


    One of the people reading the notice was a freckled teenage boy who frowned after he read it. "Let''s go, Jim. Martial arts training is too exhausting, and it''s not as if it would serve any purpose. No matter what arts you train in, a shot from a pistol would still take you down in an instant."


    The other boy shook his head and both walked past the board through the doorway, leaving Garen standing there alone.


    To the right of the notice was the fa?ade of a building with a grayish-white steeple. Mahogany strips were affixed to its main entrance like a spider web. The mahogany door at the entrance was wide open, displaying the deserted scene beyond: a lone student wearing khaki-yellow robes was sweeping inside.


    Garen browsed the contents of the notice, then immediately walked towards the entrance to the right.


    The student who was sweeping looked up at him, but kept silent.


    Garen went through the main entrance, the middle hall, past the khaki-colored courtyard, and headed directly towards the innermost row of short buildings.


    The row of short buildings at the edge of the courtyard formed a straight, dark gray line. Garen walked towards the entrance of the leftmost house. The sound of people hitting sandbags came from inside the room.


    He gently opened the door. It was quite dark and empty inside, with only four black sandbags hanging on the wall at the far end. Two guys and a girl were each hitting a sandbag at a fast pace, and there were three students by the side holding towels and the like for them.


    An endless stream of thumps could be heard.


    Garen''s entrance went almost unnoticed. One of the students holding a white towel turned around to look at him, and then proceeded to ignore him. This was the gym where any student could train in, but with relatively high specifications. The sandbags here were extremely heavy, only suitable for Formal Disciples to train with. If normal disciples tried to train with these sandbags, they would probably hurt themselves.


    Garen''s sight swiftly fell on the leftmost boy.


    The boy''s upper body was bare, and the bronze muscles on it were distinct. Sweat poured down his back and drenched his gray shorts. He was completely focused on the sandbag in front of him, punching it at a moderate pace, only causing it to tremble slightly at every punch.


    Garen walked over and waited patiently by the side.


    More than ten minutes later, the boy stopped. He wiped the sweat off his face and combed his short, pale yellow hair - completely drenched in sweat - backward. He yanked a black towel off the rack to the side and started wiping his sweat.


    "Senior Brother Erwin, I''m Garen, one of the students in your batch. Can I ask you something?" Garen took the opportunity to step forward and said aloud. The room was filled with punching sounds; he wouldn''t be heard if he didn''t speak up.


    "Garen? Oh¡­ I know you." Erwin put down the towel and gave a kind smile. "Just ask anything you want. We''re batchmates, no need to stand on ceremony."


    "I''d like to inquire about the student tournaments."


    Ten minutes later¡­


    Garen came out of the room with a good general understanding of the tournaments. One had to first participate in the dojo''s internal tournament and get a good ranking in order to participate in the tournament jointly organized by two neighboring cities. The winners would then be selected for the provincial tournament, which would eventually lead to the national tournament; the multiple stages formed a ladder-like hierarchy. Additionally, only the internal and inter-city tournaments would be held within a span of three weeks from start to finish; the rest would be held in the next year or in the year after that.


    "But it''s good enough if I can get my hands on some prize money. The first prize for the city tournament this time around is 10,000 dollars, 5,000 for the second and 2,000 for the third. I''ll be able to resolve this money issue as long as I get second place."

 10 No title

    Chapter 10: No title


    Garen gradually noticed the change in his sister. His adult consciousness allowed him to sense that Ying Er treated him slightly different; she seemed to take his every word very seriously. She was very careful with her actions when they were playing tag earlier, using only a very slight amount of force, as if she was worried that she might hurt him. That was how he managed to sneak an attack on her and take her down in the end.


    "Have some lunch first. Making breakfast and lunch, going out to buy fruits, it''s been a tough day for you, Ying Er." He reached out a hand to pinch his sister''s cheek. There seemed to be much less acne and freckles on her red face recently; it felt soft and smooth to the touch.


    "Ugh, you!" Ying Er slapped away Garen''s hand. "Did you take the wrong medicine? Since when did you know how to show concern towards someone else?" She quizzically looked at Garen. Although she usually tried very hard to pretend as if she wasn''t close with her brother, in fact, she was constantly concerned about everything related to Garen in secret.


    Garen''s heart skipped a beat. He realized that he had gone slightly overboard with his change in character; he immediately retracted his hand without saying another word. "Can''t I have grown up? Do you have to act all shocked? Come on, let''s eat."


    After a rushed meal, the brother and sister duo worked together to wash the dishes, then quickly went back to their respective bedrooms, both seeming slightly off. Ying Er kept feeling as if there was a gust of wind under her skirt ever since she was accidentally exposed, and she constantly felt uneasy in front of Garen. They were step-siblings after all; a relationship built through the fusion of two single-parent families was not considered to be blood-relations.


    Garen, on the other hand, was rushing back to his room to further ponder about Attribute Enhancements.


    Standing by the window, he quietly stared at the pale red Attribute data in the lower part of his field of vision.


    "If skills can indeed be enhanced, I will be able to participate in the tournament within a short period of time and win the large prize pool if I enhance my archery or sword skills. My only worry is that it would stick out like a sore thumb if a student that seldom practices suddenly participates and wins the award. Putting aside what others might think, Ying Er knows my situation well. She is aware that I don''t usually practice my archery or sword skills." He rested his hand against the glass window pane.


    "If that''s the case, this idea with archery and sword skills won''t work. But what about the White Cloud Dojo? I''ve always been attentive to the Dojo''s training. If I dove into the tournament, people would assume I have steadily accumulated the skills through observation, and it would attract less attention. Moreover, the Dojo isn''t the Academy; it''s an independent party. It wouldn''t attract much attention even if something unusual or exceptional happened there. It''s just that the prize money is a little on the low side¡­ I could approach the Dojo and inquire whether there are any inter-dojo tournaments. Those offer much more prize money than internal tournaments! Now that''s an idea!"


    He lightly grazed his hand over the surface of the glass; it was smooth and cool to touch. "If that''s the case, I''ll pay a visit to the Dojo this afternoon and ask a trainer about the general situation."


    After resting in his room for a bit, Garen quietly walked out. When he walked past his sister''s room, he saw Ying Er lying on the bed, cheeks rosy and sleeping soundly, and decided not to bother her.


    He gently put on his scarf and coat, then changed his shoes and walked out the door. Walking out of his cul-de-sac and grasping the 300 dollars from his uncle in his pocket, Garen hailed a black carriage and stepped into it.


    "To the White Cloud Dojo."


    "It''s ten dollars yeah?" the driver turned around to confirm.


    "Yup, just go." Garen nodded in consent.


    Sitting in the carriage and looking out the right window, he could see buildings with pale yellow walls swiftly pass by one after another. A few minutes later, after turning a corner, the streets gradually became deserted. The previous scene was replaced by solemn, gray buildings. Shops with round arch doorways formed a row, all of them selling clocks and sundries.


    Garen looked closely at the Skills section in his field of vision.


    Fighting skills: Amateur. Archery skills: Amateur. Sword skills: Amateur.


    "If I can pass the assessment and train in the Secret Arts of White Cloud Dojo, I can enhance my physical quality. Couple that with my Attribute points to concurrently increase my power, the effect of my training would be exponential compared to that of my peers!" His wine-red eyes narrowed slightly, indicating a trace of anticipation.


    "If I keep using Attribute points to enhance a single skill, I wonder what the maximum level of increase would it reach. It''s been said that different people have different talents, leading to great disparities in the effect of training in the Secret Arts. This could help conceal the fact that I''m enhancing my skills with Attribute points. This way, even if the level of the training method is slightly inferior, it would still be able to match up to top-level training methods. Now, my only hope is that Attribute points can enhance training methods like they enhance personal qualities.


    Recalling whom he could inquire with at the Dojo, Garen could only come up with three people: Sharmilla, Luo Ya, and the girl with short and silver hair that he trained with.


    There was one that left a deep impression though: the best in their batch, Erwin. He would always achieve high rankings with overwhelming skills. In addition to that, he had a mild attitude, was very humble and was well-brought-up. If there was someone with a hundred percent chance of being a Formal Disciple of White Cloud Dojo, it would be Erwin.


    "I could go to Erwin. This guy would definitely be training in the Dojo even if it''s the weekend, no exceptions. Moreover, he would definitely be clear about these things," Garen thought. He has heard of grand inter-dojo tournaments where the cr¨¨me de la cr¨¨me of Galantia Province - in which Huaishan City is located - were chosen, and were presented awards and medals by officials. "This tournament is a great way for dojos to avoid vicious competition, exhibit their talent pool and solidify their social status. The annual grand prize is almost never below 100,000 dollars, and the winner will qualify for the national tournament."


    While Garen was busy sorting through what he knew, the carriage gradually slowed down to a stop.


    "Sir, the White Cloud Dojo," the driver''s words interrupted Garen''s train of thought.


    "Yes, very well." He dug some notes from his pocket and handed it to the driver. Once he received his change, Garen immediately leapt off the carriage.


    The streets were narrow, giving a messy and complicated impression.


    The ground was paved with gray and black pebbles, which made it uncomfortable to step on. The heights of the buildings on both sides of the street were varied; there were red ones, gray ones, and pale yellow ones. There was a variety of patterns too: squares, triangles, plaid, wavy arcs, etc. It all looked a mess. Ten odd steps from Garen, a khaki-yellow bell tower stood in the middle of the street; at its base, a round and arched doorway allowed pedestrians through.


    A smattering of pedestrians continuously went in and out from the doorway.


    There was a white wooden board on the left side of the doorway displaying a paper notice. Two people were standing there reading it.


    Garen walked over to the notice and checked it out.


    "White Cloud Dojo Notice on Recruitment over the Holidays: Under-18 applicants with a student card can enjoy half-off student fees. The specific adult fees schedule is as follows: ¡­"


    One of the people reading the notice was a freckled teenage boy who frowned after he read it. "Let''s go, Jim. Martial arts training is too exhausting, and it''s not as if it would serve any purpose. No matter what arts you train in, a shot from a pistol would still take you down in an instant."


    The other boy shook his head and both walked past the board through the doorway, leaving Garen standing there alone.


    To the right of the notice was the fa?ade of a building with a grayish-white steeple. Mahogany strips were affixed to its main entrance like a spider web. The mahogany door at the entrance was wide open, displaying the deserted scene beyond: a lone student wearing khaki-yellow robes was sweeping inside.


    Garen browsed the contents of the notice, then immediately walked towards the entrance to the right.


    The student who was sweeping looked up at him, but kept silent.


    Garen went through the main entrance, the middle hall, past the khaki-colored courtyard, and headed directly towards the innermost row of short buildings.


    The row of short buildings at the edge of the courtyard formed a straight, dark gray line. Garen walked towards the entrance of the leftmost house. The sound of people hitting sandbags came from inside the room.


    He gently opened the door. It was quite dark and empty inside, with only four black sandbags hanging on the wall at the far end. Two guys and a girl were each hitting a sandbag at a fast pace, and there were three students by the side holding towels and the like for them.


    An endless stream of thumps could be heard.


    Garen''s entrance went almost unnoticed. One of the students holding a white towel turned around to look at him, and then proceeded to ignore him. This was the gym where any student could train in, but with relatively high specifications. The sandbags here were extremely heavy, only suitable for Formal Disciples to train with. If normal disciples tried to train with these sandbags, they would probably hurt themselves.


    Garen''s sight swiftly fell on the leftmost boy.


    The boy''s upper body was bare, and the bronze muscles on it were distinct. Sweat poured down his back and drenched his gray shorts. He was completely focused on the sandbag in front of him, punching it at a moderate pace, only causing it to tremble slightly at every punch.


    Garen walked over and waited patiently by the side.


    More than ten minutes later, the boy stopped. He wiped the sweat off his face and combed his short, pale yellow hair - completely drenched in sweat - backward. He yanked a black towel off the rack to the side and started wiping his sweat.


    "Senior Brother Erwin, I''m Garen, one of the students in your batch. Can I ask you something?" Garen took the opportunity to step forward and said aloud. The room was filled with punching sounds; he wouldn''t be heard if he didn''t speak up.


    "Garen? Oh¡­ I know you." Erwin put down the towel and gave a kind smile. "Just ask anything you want. We''re batchmates, no need to stand on ceremony."


    "I''d like to inquire about the student tournaments."


    Ten minutes later¡­


    Garen came out of the room with a good general understanding of the tournaments. One had to first participate in the dojo''s internal tournament and get a good ranking in order to participate in the tournament jointly organized by two neighboring cities. The winners would then be selected for the provincial tournament, which would eventually lead to the national tournament; the multiple stages formed a ladder-like hierarchy. Additionally, only the internal and inter-city tournaments would be held within a span of three weeks from start to finish; the rest would be held in the next year or in the year after that.


    "But it''s good enough if I can get my hands on some prize money. The first prize for the city tournament this time around is 10,000 dollars, 5,000 for the second and 2,000 for the third. I''ll be able to resolve this money issue as long as I get second place."

 11 Secret Method 1

    Chapter 11: Secret Method 1


    After leaving the judo, Garen was waiting for a carriage in front of the entrance.


    "Mister, would you like a newspaper?" A young boy wearing a gray cap walked over with a stack of newspapers in his arms and held out a newspaper to Garen.


    "Newspaper?" Garen thought for a while, grabbed the newspaper, and handed over a dollar from his pocket.


    "Thanks." The boy left to continue looking for the next customer.


    Garen shook the grayish-white newspaper and spread it open. An enormous black headline suddenly appeared in his sight.


    "Tensions between Weisman Empire and Republic of the Tulip increasingly apparent!! The stance of the Confederation will become important."


    He frowned and continued to look at the other headlines.


    "The Chairman of the Confederation will conduct an ordnance inspection of the armed forces on the 19th at nine in the morning."


    "Shocking massacre in the Western Alliance, owner of a manor and 42 other people murdered."


    "Fascinating archaeological discoveries of historical remains found in Stonecliff Continent."


    Rustling the newspaper, Garen was just about turn to the next page when a pedestrian bumped into him. A page of the newspaper fell out, revealing a black and white photo.


    It was a dark wheat field with a slanted scarecrow alone in the middle, surrounded by a sea of black wheat.


    There was a caption below the photo.


    "Shocking discovery of a purple wheatfield in the Southwest Province."


    Garen carefully looked at the photo; very subtly, he actually felt a trace of movement from his supernatural ability.


    He scanned through the content below, and the name of a location appeared in his eyes.


    "Mason Farm"


    The sound of a carriage approached from a distance, and Garen quickly rolled up the newspaper and raised his hand to hail it.


    The grayish-black carriage slowly stopped in front of him.


    "Go to Bluetree Street."


    "Yes, sir."


    ****************


    "After the Border War 15 years ago, the world has reverted back to a peaceful state. As one of the superpowers of the three continents, it is our historical duty to maintain world peace..."


    The geography lecturer was standing on the podium, giving a history lecture filled with his own opinions. The adorable bald elderly man was vigorously waving his arms while turning back from time to time to chalk down important key points.


    Within the white classroom, Garen was sitting in the back row by the window with his chin resting on his palm, flipping through the geography textbook on his table.


    The entire textbook was white except for the cover, where a black flying bird was printed in the middle. It was the flag of the Yalu Confederation. The four characters on top of the image meant geography.


    Garen flipped through the front pages in the images section and stopped at the page with the world map.


    The white rectangular area represented the ocean; three irregular gray lands were floating in the middle of the ocean.


    The three lands formed a ring pattern with a tiny gap in the upper left corner.


    The upper strip of land was labeled Stonecliff Continent, the bottom left was Azura Continent and the bottom right was Fivestar Continent. These three continents were surrounded by countless islands of various shapes and sizes.


    Garen''s finger slowly and steadily glided on the Stonecliff Continent and finally stopped at the middle part of the continent, slightly to the left. There was an irregularly shaped land in that location, labeled as Yalu Confederation.


    This region was close to a third of the entire Stonecliff Continent.


    "This world sure is strange... Even though planes exist, no one has been able to explore the entire world. The continents are entirely surrounded by water with no end in sight. All of humanity revolves around the three continents, and the surface area is equivalent to all of the continents on Earth combined, if not more."


    Garen flipped to the next page, glanced through it and looked out the window.


    A group of people was setting pole flags on a field at a distance away. It seemed like they were preparing for some sort of activity.


    The late afternoon sunlight with a hint of redness shined onto the field, covering the dark green surface with a layer of golden red.


    It had been three days since Garen returned from the dojo. He already applied during the audition at the dojo, and all he needed to do now was to wait for the results.


    If he passed, he would directly become a formal disciple of the White Cloud Dojo; he would be able to learn a Secret Method and even receive a monthly allowance.


    Ting...


    The sweet sound of the school bell rang out, marking the end of the class.


    The geography teacher clapped his hands to get the class¡¯ attention.


    "Well, today''s lessons end here. I hope that everyone reviews after going back. I will be checking next lesson. Lan Ruo, thank you for your hard work."


    "It''s nothing."


    A black haired female student with twin ponytails stood and nodded. She then left her seat and waited for the teacher to leave before she rapidly wiped the writing on the blackboard.


    The girl had a pure and cold disposition. She had an oriental look with large black pupils; her bangs slanted diagonally downward across her forehead, and her skin was fair and delicate.


    Garen knew her; there were only twenty-five students in the class¡ªthere was not a single person who didn¡¯t know her.


    Lan Ruo was in the top three in academics in the class and top five in the entire grade. She was pretty and pure like a flawless ceramic doll, and her skin was as tender as milk jelly.


    It was just that she had an indifferent personality and barely spoke to her classmates. Other than the basic greetings, she would always silently look at the person trying to start a conversation with her. Faced with her large eyes and expressionless face, they could only give up and leave.


    "Have you seen Fayne?" Kalidor approached Garen from the front rows. With a head full of yellow hair, he wore a white shirt and yellow leather vest with a sapphire necklace hanging around his chest. With his thin frame and fashion, he looked extremely flamboyant.


    "Fayne? We only just got off class and he''s already gone. Why are you looking for him?" Garen puzzledly asked. "That guy''s probably messing around with some girl somewhere."


    "Since his elder cousin came, let''s gather for lunch later. She''ll be bringing a female friend with her, so it''ll be me, you, Fayne and them. We''re all in the same grade, and I heard that they''re from an all girls'' school." Kalidor raised his eyebrows.


    "So what if they''re from a girls'' school? I need to go to the dojo later, so I can''t make it."


    "Why are you missing out on such a good chance?"


    "I''ll go the next time, really." Garen shrugged his shoulders. "This time, I really have something to do."


    "You rascal... This is such a good chance!" Kalidor muttered to himself as he left the classroom.


    Garen was speechless as he shook his head. After tidying up the book on his table, he stood up and walked out of the classroom with his black cloth bag.


    ********************


    Twenty minutes later...


    White Cloud Dojo Martial Coliseum


    Within a dim and spacious redwood hall.


    A bald elderly man sat cross-legged on the floor with a burning fireplace at his back. The red flames were continuously propelled outwardly, creating a crackling sound.


    There was no lighting, only the red glow of the fireplace.


    Over ten youths in white clothing sat cross-legged in front of the elderly man on the floor. Each of them had a solemn expression on their face as they looked at the elderly man.


    "Congratulations," the bald elderly man slowly said. "You''re the latest batch of official disciples this year."


    No one said anything, but their breathing became slightly heavier. Among them, the oldest was eighteen years old and the youngest was fifteen. However, without any exception, joyful expressions appeared on all their faces.


    The elderly man noticed it and slightly nodded his head.


    "When you become a formal disciple, the greatest benefit, other than not having to pay tuition fees, is that you''ll be taught a Secret Method of Martial Arts."


    "Secret Methods of Martial Arts are an absolutely undisclosed secret within each and every sect and dojo. So before we begin, I hope that you will be able to uphold the agreement that you just signed."


    The elderly man took out an ancient yellow scroll from his black gi and gently spread it open on the floor.


    "Starting from the first person on the left, come up here and look at this once, then step back."


    The leftmost person was a girl who was sitting in a cross-legged position. As she stood, she walked to the front to pick up the scroll. After giving it a glance, she immediately returned to her original position. Then the second, third...


    Each of them took less than ten seconds to finish reading.


    Sitting in the rear was a purple-haired boy with red eyes: it was Garen who had rushed here directly from school to receive the Secret Method of Martial Arts. He was wearing a white gi with both of his hands on his knees, staring at the students who had seen the scroll.


    It was soon his turn. Garen stood up and walked to the front. He knelt in front of the elderly man, picked up the scroll and carefully looked at it.


    A human figure was drawn on the light yellow scroll: the figure was posing in a weird posture-- similar to the horse stance -- emanating a rich and special hidden meaning.


    Garen looked at it once and easily remembered it. At the same time, he detected a light fragrance from the scroll. It was very faint and similar to the smell of honey.


    As he returned to his position and sat down, he suddenly felt sleepy.


    "Now, take the posture shown on the scroll. Take note of that particular hidden meaning," the bald elderly man''s voice clearly sounded out.


    Everyone stood up, spread out and began to imitate the posture shown on the scroll.


    Garen followed suit as well: his arms were thrust to the front while tiptoeing on one leg and on his heels with the other.


    After taking the stance, the skill section at the bottom of his field of vision suddenly changed. A new skill actually gradually appeared: White Cloud Fundamental Secret Method: Elementary.


    Garen felt a warm sensation slowly converging in his chest and abdomen, then spreading to his four limbs. His entire body rapidly entered into a comfortable state.


    Within the attribute column in his field of vision, his strength attribute slowly started to change. It jumped from 0.44 to 0.45.


    The elderly man''s voice sounded out again.


    "Do you feel a pleasant feeling spreading throughout your body? It means that you have already successfully learned our White Cloud Secret Arts. In the future, use this pose to meditate. This Secret Method will increase your strength based on your physical condition and talent. This Secret Method has three stages: the beginning Heat Stage, intermediate Frost Stage, and finally Heatfrost Interchange . Every time you move to the next stage, it will increase your strength to a certain amount. If a normal person were to reach the highest level, their strength will increase to twice their original strength. Of course, it would take a while to reach that point.


    "In addition, the growth of the Secret Method is progressive. There are also some restrictions when training with this method: do not train when you''re too tired, do not train when you''re too hungry, do not train where there are lots of distractions..."


    Garen was sitting in the back, listening to the key points explained by the elderly man. As he continued to hold the posture, he was experiencing a pleasant feeling throughout his body due to the increase in blood flow.


    He continued to listen to the key points as he monitored the attributes and skills section at the bottom of his field of vision.


    After thinking for a while, his line of sight finally focused on his newly gained White Cloud Secret Method.


    After a few seconds, a burst of energy suddenly rushed into the skill.


    The display status of the White Cloud Secret Method gradually changed, from elementary to intermediate.

 12 Secret Method 2

    Chapter 12: Secret Method 2


    Humm!!


    In the instant the change was completed, Garen felt a tingling sensation throughout his entire body. Suddenly, his blood flow increased, and the pleasant feeling from just now abruptly changed to a cool and refreshing feeling as his heart rate accelerated like a rapid drum beat.


    At the attribute column at the bottom of his sight, his strength attribute was once again changing. From the initial 0.45, it gradually changed to 0.46, then to 0.47, 0.48, 0.49 to 0.5!! The number stopped at 0.5 and, at that moment, Garen felt that all the muscles in his body were screaming in pain; from various parts of his body, a powerful force rushed out.


    His arms, legs and chest were all slightly enlarging.


    Puff...


    Garen could not help but exhale, the air that he breathed out was slightly hot.


    At this moment, the elderly man''s voice sounded out again, "After training, use the Secret Method of our dojo together with the basic fighting techniques. A special technique to exert force combined with the Secret Method training will allow you to achieve the most explosive output. You will experience the benefits yourself in the future. Each stage will experience a different level of explosiveness."


    "At most, a normal person''s instantaneous peak force is around 200 pounds. By training using a Special Method and the use of an Explosive Force Technique, your strength will be able to reach this limit and might even exceed it.


    "And so!"


    The elderly man stood as his eyes swept through the students.


    "There are no shortcuts in martial arts! There''s only diligence! Sweat! Effort!! As long as you put in enough effort, you can compensate for your lack of talent!"


    "Yes!" Everyone could not help but shout out loud.


    The elderly man nodded in satisfaction, took out a piece of paper from his pocket, then walked to the wall and pasted it on. Then, he walked out of the hall and closed the door behind him.


    Garen''s entire body was bulging, and his blood was flowing at a high speed. However, he did not feel cold in the slightest. He breathed out once more and slowly recovered from the posture; he rested while standing still. Everyone around him was caught up in the excitement and did not notice his strange demeanor.


    The wooden hall was filled with clamor; students who were familiar with each other were asking each other about their experience regarding the Secret Method.


    "Hey! Garen, how are you feeling?" Feeling a tap on his shoulder, Garen quickly turned around and found Erwin standing behind him.


    "There''s a pleasant feeling throughout my entire body; it feels similar to how it feels after going for a run!" Garen quickly replied, "Senior Brother Erwin, how about you?"


    "You can just call me Erwin." There''s a trace of excitement in Erwin''s expression. "I feel the same way you do. Also, I heard that after training using the Secret Method, our Explosive Force Technique will be even stronger. Moreover, the stronger our body is, the more powerful our peak force will be! My original strength was around 120 pounds, but I think I''ve reached 200 pounds with this Secret Method! This is a normal man''s limit!


    "It''s just that starting from 160 pounds, it gets even harder the more we train. In order to exceed 200 pounds, every slightest improvement requires a lot of hard work and effort."


    "Senior Brother, since you have a strong foundation from the start, your situation is better than ours." Garen helplessly shrugged his shoulders. "I am content as long as I can reach your standard."


    "That''s simple." Erwin patted Garen''s shoulder with a smile. "With a weak foundation, you''ll find that you will improve quickly from the start and only slow down much later. Since there¡¯s a limit to the human body, it only gets harder towards the end. In our White Cloud Dojo, the highest record is 250 pounds."


    "250 pounds?" Garen quietly noted down this number. "Where can we test our strength?"


    "The headquarters specially made sandbags with different weights so that we can test our strength. We can roughly estimate our strength based on how far we can hit the sandbags," Erwin explained.


    "Why don''t we go and try it out?" Garen was eager to try.


    "That''s right, Senior Brother Erwin, let''s go and try it."


    While the two of them were talking, two of the students approached and introduced themselves. The boy was Khairul and the girl was Rodelisa; they were in the same batch as Garen.


    "Sure, let''s go and test our current strength!" Erwin was interested as well. He brought the three of them out of the wooden hall and traversed through the red wooden corridors. They soon passed by a rectangular sports field made of white stone and entered a black courtyard built on its edge.


    Within the courtyard, five black sandbags of different sizes were hanging on a black metallic frame. On its right, there were many old boxing gloves on a wooden shelf. There were already some students around the sandbags testing their strength.


    Garen looked at all of the sandbags; from left to right, they were labeled: 120, 140, 160, 180, and 200. The five sandbags each corresponded to a different weight. A white line was drawn behind the sandbags; it was there for validation. Only when the sandbags crossed the line after getting hit would the force of the blow be considered as meeting the corresponding weight.


    At that moment, a group of people had already given it a try, and no one managed to hit the sandbags far enough to reach the white line. They could not do it even with the lightest 120 pounds sandbag.


    Soon, a slim and flat-chested girl with short silver hair walked out of the crowd. It was the girl that competed with Garen for the 15th placing: Daris. Daris stood in front of the 120 pound sandbag. She breathed in deeply, took a step back and pulled her right fist back. Like a coiled up spring, her pose was impeccable, and she had a solemn expression on her face.


    Following her movements, the surroundings quieted down. Everyone was attentively looking at her to see how well she would do.


    "Judging from her flawless posture, she must have trained before," Erwin whispered to Garen. "I heard that her family runs a dojo as well. It''s just that after her father passed away and her mother fell sick, there was no one to take over, and it was difficult for the the dojo to continue. She joined the White Cloud Dojo to make a name for herself, and once she gains enough fame, she''ll be able to revitalize her family''s dojo."


    "Isn''t she only sixteen or seventeen years old? It must be hard for her to take the responsibility of her entire household on her shoulders." Garen slowly nodded.


    Hah!!!


    Suddenly, Daris charged forward while wearing the old gloves, her right fist striking out in a straight line and brutally hitting the black sandbag.


    Bang! Ow!


    Daris was struck by the sandbag as it swung back, causing her to fall onto the floor. Her eyes reddened and welled up with tears.


    The surrounding students all burst out in laughter.


    "From her posture, you wouldn''t think that she would only reach a third of the distance..."


    "Shouldn''t the requirement be lower for a girl?"


    The sandbag made a whooshing sound as it swung and continued to wobble around.


    Another boy went up and tried; he looked muscular and was a head taller than both Garen and Erwin.


    With a dull thud, the boy struck the sandbag and it covered most of the distance and was only a small distance away from the white line. "It was so close to reaching 120 pounds." He shook his head and walked off.


    "I''ll go!"


    The boy next to Garen, Khairul, managed to reach half of the distance. The girl, Rodelisa, managed to reach a third of the distance.


    "Aren''t you going to try?"


    "I''ll continue watching first." Garen nodded. He did not know his current strength either, but he was slightly expectant as well after greatly improving.


    "Then, I''ll go first." Erwin walked towards the sandbags as he rolled up his sleeves.


    Bang!!


    Erwin easily crossed the white line for 120 pounds. With an easygoing expression, he warmed up his fist in a relaxed manner.


    The spectactating students immediately quieted down; all of their attention were attracted. This was the first new student that easily passed.


    Daris was also standing in a corner looking at Erwin; in her eyes, envy was written all over.


    "Senior Brother, good luck!"


    "You can do it!"


    Garen and the other two loudly shouted.


    Erwin smiled and walked to the front of the 140 pounds sandbag. He took a standard fighting stance and breathed in deeply.


    Bang!!


    The black sandbag immediately swung up, flying over most of the distance before easily crossing over the white line.


    Then, it was the 160 pounds sandbag; with a dull thud, there was still a little distance before the sandbag could reach the line.


    Erwin shook his head with a smile. "I can''t do it, this is my limit. I¡¯ve already tried many times before. I had a breakthrough today only because of the Secret Method; I couldn''t even reach 140 pounds before."


    "I''ll give it a try as well." Garen walked forward and stood at the 120 pounds position. Wearing the gloves and not using any techniques, he immediately took a pose and breathed in deeply.


    "I''ll use three quarters of my strength." He slowly relaxed the muscles in his arm, estimating three quarters of his strength.


    He tightened his fist.


    Bang!!


    The black sandbag immediately flew out; there was still a little distance before it could cross the white line though.


    Even though his fist was wrapped inside the gloves, Garen could still feel a numb sensation in his hand.


    "Not bad!!" Erwin loudly cheered. As a lifelong martial artist, he could tell that Garen did not put in all of his effort into that punch. If Garen had tried his best, he would easily break through to 120 pounds. Previously, Erwin thought that this junior brother would not be able to do it, at least not within such a short amount of time. "As expected, youngsters still in their puberty are scary..." Erwin was speechless as he shook his head.


    Among the other students, the previous few that almost passed looked at Garen''s physique and did not want to admit defeat; they got ready to start trying once more. All of them made up their mind to break through to 120 pounds that day.


    The rest of the students were still quite lacking. Some of them started to gather around the students with better results to ask them about force exertion techniques, while the rest slowly dispersed.


    Daris bit her lower lip as she stared at Garen. "He wasn''t as strong as me previously... Yet, he has grown so much within a month! How is this possible!?" She recalled training day in and day out just to inherit the dojo, but she barely reached the standard of an ordinary girl due to having a weak physique from birth. Along the way, she shed a lot of tears and suffered a lot. In that moment, she suddenly felt wronged from the unfairness of this world.


    Garen relaxedly stretched his hands and neck as he estimated his current level. "If I use all of my strength, I should be able to easily break through to 120 pounds. However, 140 pounds should be quite difficult. My actual strength should be much lower than Senior Brother Erwin."


    From within the entire White Cloud Dojo, Erwin''s level was superior among the new disciples. However, he had reached the limit of his physique, so he would need to put in a lot of effort to make any more improvements.


    The strength of ordinary formal disciples was around 160 pounds, while the stronger ones were disciples that had been training for a long time. The highest 200 pounds could only be reached by the dojo master; that was the limit of adults. At least, that was the limit of adults in the confederation.


    The fact that Erwin was able to get close to the limit of an adult by the age of 18 was obviously the result of long-term training. And since Garen was able to reach 120 pounds by 16 years old, it was clear that he was within the upper tier among his peers.


    Furthermore, he had yet to use the second stage of the Secret Method after comprehending it. When combined with an Explosive Force Technique, his strength would greatly increase, and he might even be able to reach 140 pounds.

 13 The Beginning of the Beginning 1

    Chapter 13: The Beginning of the Beginning 1


    Coming out of the ring satisfied, Garen removed his gloves and walked to Erwin''s side.


    "Looks like I''ll be able to catch up to you very soon, Senior Brother Erwin."


    "You think you¡¯re the only one improving?" Erwin threw him a look of feigned contempt. "Alright, let¡¯s put this topic aside. You have to go home for dinner later, right? It¡¯s quite far from here to the city center, so head home then or else you won¡¯t be able to find transportation later."


    "Okay, I''ll be leaving first then." Garen was aware of the situation too. He greeted two other people on his way out the door, walked past the courtyard and exited the main entrance of the Martial Colosseum with a few other students.


    White Cloud Dojo was just a dojo in Huaishan City. It had two branches and a main Martial Colosseum. Both branches were within the city, and only the main Martial Colosseum was located in the outskirts, which was quite a distance from Bluetree Street where Garen lived.


    After finally managing to hail a carriage, both Garen and another female student going the same way squeezed into it. The carriage started heading down the gray cobblestone road towards the city center.


    Sitting on the right side of the carriage, Garen reclined on the leather seat, closed his eyes and rested with his head tilted slightly upwards. The crisp sound of hooves on cobblestone could be heard incessantly.


    The girl beside him took out a book and started reading it page by page; the sound of pages turning came at regular intervals.


    In a daze, Garen slowly fell into a half-asleep state.


    Some time passed. There seemed to be a slight commotion going on nearby. He gradually woke up and looked out the carriage window.


    The black-haired girl beside him also turned to her side to look out the left window. A group of colorfully dressed children were playing chase and ran past the side of the carriage. These children, seemingly from Zhejiang, each had an assortment of red, yellow, and green gift boxes in their hands.


    "Ahh, it''s Children''s Day today." Garen realized.


    "It was yesterday, but some families choose to celebrate it a day later. That way, it''s less crowded and probably safer for the kids." The black-haired girl turned around to face the front of the carriage again. She took a glance at Garen and asked, "Where are you getting off?"


    "I''m getting off at Pennington."


    "It''s already Blacktree Street here. We''ll be at Pennington soon."


    It was then that Garen noticed the buildings passing by outside had become gray ones; the walls of each engraved with reliefs. Both sides of the road were each lined with a row of candlenut trees.


    "Thanks for the reminder. The corner of Pennington is just up ahead. Sir, if you could just let me down here?"


    "Of course."


    The black carriage slowed down to a stop at the corner of Pennington. Garen stepped off the carriage and paid the fare. Afterwards, he straightened his clothes and started walking towards Dolphin Antiques at the corner of the street.


    A ray of scarlet sunlight shone in and lit the whole antique store a warm shade of red.


    The old man was once again sitting in front of the bookshelf directly facing the entrance, and had dozed off at the desk.


    Garen walked through the door without disturbing him, and directly headed towards the left side of the store with a sense of familiarity, to where the Bronze Cross Emblem was placed.


    He picked up the emblem and examined it. There was a thin layer of glimmer on it, but that didn''t matter. Holding the emblem, Garen''s attention shifted to the Attribute Pane in the lower part of his field of vision.


    Although 100% of the Potential Attribute had been used up, several days of continuous "accumulation" had made Garen¡¯s Potential rise to 47% once again.


    "You again, kid?" Old Man Gregor spoke from behind him, "You''re here to see it everyday. If you like it so much, why not just buy it so you can look at it all you want?"


    "Am I not already trying to save up? Do you think it''s possible for me as an ordinary student to casually come up with such a large sum of money?" Garen refuted without turning around to face him.


    "It''s up to you. Your presence makes my shop seem livelier anyway. But rules are rules, it''s 10 bucks an hour."


    "Yeah, yeah¡­ You''re really obsessed about money." Garen was rendered speechless.


    He dawdled for more than an hour holding the emblem, while the sky outside gradually darkened. Garen reluctantly put the emblem down after seeing his potential increase slightly at an infuriatingly slow pace.


    "Remember to take good care of it. I''ll be back!"


    "Yeah! Scram kid, you''re even more long-winded than me!" The old man impatiently waved his hand and continued, "It''s time for me to close up anyway."


    "No wonder you don''t get any business here." After multiple interactions, Garen was already familiar with the old man''s temper. Initially, there was still a veil of civility between the two, but after growing more familiar, both just let it all go and spoke their minds.


    ***********


    More than two weeks had passed.


    Garen resumed his normal routine in the academy, travelling between the antique store and the dojo day in and day out. His Potential steadily increased past 100%, allowing him to allocate new Attribute Points again.


    It''s just that he hadn''t decided on what to add the points to. Originally, he meant to raise his grades in a few subjects, but unfortunately, not all skills could be enhanced with Attribute Points.


    Only a few special skills allowed such enhancements, and not others; for example, National Studies and Foreign Languages. The high-grade learning materials for these subjects weren''t even distributed, and Garen had no relevant memory of them, so naturally, he couldn''t understand any of it.


    It dawned on him that his Attribute point enhancements could only work on skills and subjects already within his field of knowledge.


    Simply put, if he was taught a level of the White Cloud Secret Method but had no clue about its further levels, he would need follow-up training before he could enhance it. So, under such circumstances, he wouldn''t be able to compel an Attribute point enhancement since his memory bank didn''t have the blueprint for further enhancements.


    Attribute Points and his Unique Skills, as Garen concluded, were more like means with which to substantially develop, mine and utilize his potential, expressed in the form of skills and levels. They were not like skill points in a videogame that allowed him to learn new things instantly.


    Therefore, to enhance a skill, one would have to have a comprehensive understanding of the content of the next skill level. Leave something out, and the skill couldn''t be upgraded.


    Putting aside his own development, his relationship with his sister Ying Er seemed to have changed. Ever since that odd session of playful slapstick the other day, Ying Er would be in a hurry and wouldn¡¯t say much every time they interacted. What happened? Garen wasn''t sure what was going on with Ying Er. He just felt that things had become more awkward than before. After meals, she would clear the dishes quickly, then dash back to hide in her room, not speaking to Garen anywhere near as much as she used to.


    In the blink of an eye, midterms were approaching fast. Confederate schools had three semesters in a year, so each semester was quite short. Ying Er''s archery tournament was about to begin too.


    Garen did some light reviewing. Only the exams in third year of high school were important anyway, so he didn''t really bother about the other semesters. It''s not as if university was the only option. Moreover, Mathematics and Physics here were effortlessly simple. It took him a mere ten days to boost his mastery of both subjects to the advanced level. He even managed to attain elementary level for both National Studies and Foreign Languages through rote memorization.


    After enhancing his intelligence, his memory and comprehension had improved as well. Pairing that with his adult consciousness and mind, this made his results far better than that of the previous Garen. If not for the fact that his focus wasn''t on studies, he would probably be on par with the top students.


    ****************


    The afternoon sun shone on Pennington Street at an angle which cast long silhouettes on the street. Both sides of the street were deserted, and only a few pedestrians passed by, all with thick windbreaker jackets on.


    Two black cars were parked by the side of the road. The polished surface of the car bodies reflected a pale yellow glow. In one of the cars, the driver could be seen sleeping soundly at the wheel.


    On the right side of the street, a purple-haired boy with burgundy eyes was rubbing his hands together and striding along in a hurry. His hair was slightly long, extending from his temples to his chin. His purple hair wrapped around his face, occasionally being blown backwards by the wind. He was wearing a light gray sweater and trousers, which accentuated his porcelain white skin.


    The boy looked up at the advertisement banner on a distant building.


    The red banner read: From 21st to 25th of September, Elizabeth Jewelries Autumn Bargain, Discounts ranging from 50 - 90 %.


    "It''s already September? Time sure flies¡­" Garen quickened his pace. He was on his way to the antiques store. It was already a few days past the time limit that the old man had mentioned. Because he had only just been freshly selected as a disciple at the dojo, he could only participate in the internal tryouts in the next quarter; there was no way he could make any money from tournaments for now.


    He didn''t have the money, but the other buyer that Old Man Gregor mentioned hadn''t appeared either. Garen felt at ease and justified to continue making one to two hours of contact with the emblem every day to absorb more Potential.


    "Enhancing skills with Attribute Points still isn''t as worthwhile as using it on my own Attributes," Garen carefully analyzed, "Skills can be improved through mastery. Unless it''s a difficult skill to improve, using Attribute Points on my own body would be better. Improvements like these are long-term enhancements. If I used a few Attribute Points on Physics or Mathematics just to make it easier for myself to attain an advanced level, it would have been a waste. The most that would have achieved was saving me some time. It would be more worthwhile if I used it on the difficult-to-improve White Cloud Secret Method¡­"


    Garen glanced at the Attribute Pane in his lower field of vision.


    Strength, enhanced by two points, was now at 0.52. Potential was at 124%.


    "I obtained the improvements in strength by training in the White Cloud Secret Method, and partly through daily strength exercises. Moreover, since gaining Attribute Points seems to have the effect of fortifying and maintaining the body, my strength won''t decrease from lack of training."


    He glanced at the Skills Pane.


    White Cloud Secret Method: Intermediate. Fundamental Combat Skills: Elementary. Explosive Fist Arts: Uninitiated.


    "Explosive Fist Arts, the fighting technique that only Formal Disciples can learn upon initiation, as well as the intermediate level White Cloud Secret Method - I could use Attribute Points to enhance these." Garen hesitated. "Explosive Fist Arts can raise the strength of the whole body to its highest limit, and the strength of the fists can be increased by threefold; it is the upgraded version of Fundamental Combat Skills. Generally, it takes two years to master the basics, at which point the skin would harden and hitting a sandbag with gloveless bare hands wouldn''t cause any injury, whereas the White Cloud Secret Method is the basis of all fundamentals, capable of producing exceptional results if accumulated throughout a long period of time. It has been said that it takes more than 10 years to reach the advanced level, and one would have to possess extraordinary talent¡­" /


    Garen was particularly interested in the martial arts of this world now. It was very similar to the national martial arts on Earth in his previous life, but was much more commonplace than the latter. Even though both were difficult to train in and apply, this wasn''t a problem for him because he had his special ability.


    He had wanted to learn martial arts to strengthen himself in his past life, but he lacked the conditions to. Now that all the conditions were met, naturally, his interest has piqued; it was almost as if he had become obsessed with them..


    "Fortunately, I have the emblem, which allows me to accrue Attribute Points. Following this progression for enhancements, I''ll enhance the White Cloud Secret Method first, then boost my Explosive Fist Arts to the most advanced level. By then, I''ll be able to reach the upper tier of the entire dojo! Even the Dojo Master of the White Cloud Dojo himself had merely attain the third tier in his Explosive Fist Arts and advanced his White Cloud Secret Method by another level, although it wasn''t a full mastery."


    "As long as I keep using the emblem to aid my enhancements, I can boost my martial art skills to a level similar to that of the Dojo Master with just five Attribute Points!"


    Snapping out of his excitement, Garen had reached the corner of Pennington. Unusually, the entrance of Dolphin Antiques seemed a bit messy today.


    He quickened his pace and walked into the store. He was greeted with a shock.


    It was chaos inside: antiques and broken debris were strewn all over the floor, it was all a mess.


    A man and a woman, both clad in windbreakers, stood at the store entrance while interrogating the old man.

 14 The Beginning of the Beginning 2

    Chapter 14: The Beginning of the Beginning 2


    The man appeared to be 40 years of age. He had a cute little mustache above his lips and an overall mature-looking face. He wore a black top hat and his black trench coat draped down all the way to his ankles. The one thing that caught Garen¡¯s attention was the black pipe he had in his hand. He was smoking patiently with a frown on his face; white fog shot out of his nostrils from time to time.


    The woman standing beside the man was very pretty. She was around the age of 20 to 30 with her light blonde hair in a ponytail. Her entire appearance was elegant and clean, and her white trench coat was spotless without the slightest hint of dirt. With her delicate and beautiful porcelain-like face, she seemed like a professional who was decisive and simple.


    The arrival of Garen did not catch the attention of the three people in the room. He walked softly until he was beside the old man and eavesdropped.


    "¡­Then, the time of the crime should be last night. The exact time has to be deduced based on the evidence at the scene of the crime," the man rubbed his chin and said in a low voice.


    "That¡¯s right," the old man answered in a low voice as well. "That is the situation as I know it. I have told you everything I know. Oh, this is a regular customer of mine, Garen."


    The man checked out Garen from head to toe, then nodded. "Can I ask you a few questions?"


    "Sure, no problem," Garen responded hastily.


    The man asked Garen about the condition of the shop last night, then began to wander around the store with the lady in white.


    Old Man Gregor was kneeling on the ground, picking up the scattered old books. He was quietly cursing the thief.


    "Old man, you were robbed?" Garen kneeled down as well and helped to pick up the books.


    As soon as "robbed" was mentioned, the wrinkles on Old Man Gregor¡¯s face twisted into a lump. "I was not feeling well today, so I decided to only open the shop in the afternoon. You know me, I definitely wasn¡¯t opening the shop just for you. Who would¡¯ve expected that as soon as I walked in, I saw¡­"


    The old man and the young man got along strangely well. When they chatted, they forgot about the age difference and formed a cross-generational friendship. Garen felt warm on the inside. He knew that the old man actually felt fine and had been for days. The old man always opened the shop for him in the afternoon before his visit and closed the shop right after he had left. He did not care about money at all. He knew that Garen was simply coming to see the emblem, and therefore opened the shop exclusively for him.


    Old Man Gregor was too lonely. He wanted to find something to do to kill time and, perhaps, bickering with Garen was one of the most interesting times in his day.


    "Which things are missing?" Garen was suddenly worried, as he remembered the Bronze Cross Emblem.


    "Some stuff went missing, including the Bronze Cross Emblem you like so much." The old man had a long face as he confirmed Garen¡¯s worries.


    "F*ck!" Garen¡¯s expression changed. "Are you sure it¡¯s lost?" Suddenly, he remembered something and immediately suggested, "No, I think you may have missed a spot when you searched. The emblem was so small. There are so many things here. Maybe it fell in a corner somewhere." He quickly cheered up.


    "There is no need to search again. The emblem is definitely lost." The old man shook his head. "I already searched everywhere before you came¡­"


    Garen was silent. The emblem was essential for him to improve his potential. He had searched the entirety of Huaishan City, and the Bronze Cross Emblem was the only thing that had the potential for him to absorb. Now that his sole source of improvement was lost, the perfect life and the bright future Garen had planned suddenly darkened.


    The two of them kneeled onto the ground, not sure what to say now.


    "Who are those two?"


    "They are federal detectives who are investigating the serial thief case: Dale Quicksilver and Miss Si Lan. They are here to help solve the case," the old man informed Garen in a whisper.


    In this world, crimes were normally solved by detectives. Famous detectives and policemen had the right to investigate crime scenes immediately after crimes were committed. Since most cases were solved by detectives, famous detectives had a high societal ranking.


    Garen nodded and observed the interaction between the two as he picked up more books.


    The two of them wandered around for a long time when Dale Quicksilver finally broke the silence.


    "This is definitely the doing of the Golden Hoop! The style of the crime is exactly the same as Navici!" He gently touched the edge of a table and sniffed it under his nose.


    "This guy ran away quickly!" Miss Si Lan frowned.


    "Si Lan, remember what I said the time we solved the Light of Wendini case?" Dale Quicksilver asked suddenly.


    "Sir, you mean?"


    "Yes"--he then turned his body around--"If the Golden Hoop appears, the two of you must remain calm and not provoke him. This criminal is atrocious, do not anger him! Any carelessness will result in casualties! He is a retired officer from the special forces."


    "Not an issue!"


    "Of course!"


    The old man and Garen quickly stood up and answered.


    "We did not come all the way from Navici for fun. This time¡­ we will not let you get away again!" Dale Quicksilver turned around and mumbled. His gaze became strangely profound, "Si Lan! Inform the White Eagle at once. Tell them there is no need for further investigation, say that we already caught the tail of the criminal!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    Dale Quicksilver shook his trench coat and walked toward the front door in big steps. Si Lan followed after him closely.


    "Sir, should we wait for the White Eagle before we make any move? Out of all the cases we have dealt with, the Golden Hoop is the most dangerous. This is also our first encounter¡­"


    "No, it will be too late if we wait for them to take action¡­" Dale Quicksilver raised his head and stared at the flaming red sunset sky. "Relax, nothing is going to happen¡­ No matter how dangerous, he is just an ordinary person. All human beings have a weakness!"


    "Don¡¯t you think this is too risky¡­ after all, the Golden Hoop was an officer in the special forces. He had received formal training and can easily defeat five to six adults empty handed," Si Lan¡¯s face was still frowning.


    "Don¡¯t worry. We are not going to personally attack him," Dale Quicksilver smiled kindly and pinched Si Lan¡¯s cheek. Si Lan blushed and lowered her head. "Alright, let¡¯s go back."


    "Yes, sir."


    With one person in front and other in the back, they marched away.


    Inside the shop, Garen sat down in a chair and watched their backs until they were gone.


    "Old man, who¡¯s this Golden Hoop? Is he famous?"


    "He is a serial thief and killer. Have you not been paying attention to the recent news? There have been multiple instances of stealing and murdering all over the country. I¡¯m lucky that I didn¡¯t have to personally face that Golden Hoop¡­" Old Man Gregor, who was cursing just moments ago, was rejoicing, "I heard that the Golden Hoop was once surrounded by police. He wounded two policemen with a gun then casually ran away by hiding himself in a crowd. The only wound he received was during a brawl with a policeman when a bullet brushed against his arm."


    Listening to the old man, Garen faintly felt that this was not the first time the Golden Hoop and Dale Quicksilver had had a feud.


    "A few days ago, in a manor down at the countryside, Dale Quicksilver¡¯s friend had a brawl with the Golden Hoop and was close to arresting him," the old man added.


    Garen squinted his eyes and saw that at the end of the street, Dale Quicksilver and Si Lan were negotiating with a strong looking man in black. The man had a tense gaze, bulky muscles, and movements that exposed him as someone who knew Martial Arts.


    "Is Dale Quicksilver¡¯s friend that person?" He pointed toward the sturdy man.


    The old man peeked in the direction. "Yep, that¡¯s the friend. He was in the shop moments ago."


    Garen nodded. From the man¡¯s body language, he could tell the man¡¯s combat level.


    "Based on his body type and his aura, he is most likely an ordinary adult who has above average strength. He probably trained in military style combat, and it is possible that he knows special explosive techniques too."


    Because of the instinct acquired from training, Garen could naturally compare the differences between the man and himself. "If we had a battle, I do not have nearly as much practical experience; however, strength-wise, I am definitely stronger than him! The strength of an ordinary adult, converted into numbers, is 0.5, and I have long surpassed this number. If I focus all my energy on special explosive techniques, I will win in strength by a landslide. Therefore, if the Golden Hoop is similar to them¡­"


    Garen again focused on the skill panel in his vision.


    "Only I am different than others. I can attribute points to different attributes. My actual strength does not match my physique." He had observed everyone else in the Combat Center, and everyone was the same. The heavier and bulkier physique someone had, the more muscles they had and the stronger they were. He was the only exception. He had an ordinary physique, but if he decided to explode all of his energy, he could easily surpass the limits.


    *************************


    "Bang!"


    After a dull impactful sound, Garen punched hard at a 180-pound sandbag, which swayed over the passing line.


    He was shirtless. His white, sturdy muscles were quivering on his body. He was not wearing any gloves; instead, he was hitting the sandbag with his bare fists. It was evening; the boxing room was empty except for him.


    "After only two weeks, I can easily punch 180 pounds. White Cloud Secret Arts mixed with Explosive Fist Techniques sure is amazing."


    Garen grabbed a towel and wiped the sweat off his face.


    "No wonder White Cloud Secrets Arts is a closely guarded secret art. It is the most fundamental art you could learn from the White Cloud Dojo. By now, the students who started training at the same time as me are far behind me. The level needed to attain Intermediate Secret Arts in addition to its growth speed are also higher than others too. On top of that, the first time I used the Secret Arts, the results were so great that I was able to upgrade it. Hmm¡­ I guess that in the future I will never be able to achieve such great results again. I can¡¯t believe I was able to combine the use of the medicinal aroma and the Secret Arts to achieve a score above 0.5."


    When he was just starting to learn the Secret Arts, the old man from that day took out a secret art scroll that faintly had a medicinal aroma. It was the type of aroma that mixed well with the incense in the fireplace, stimulating deeper comprehensions during Secret Arts Training.


    He again posed in the stance required for the White Cloud Secret Arts, and a surge of cold air slowly extended from his chest to his limbs. Muscles from his entire body were pulsing to the rhythm of his heart.


    The body adjusted the most and improved the greatest during the first time a secret method was used. That day, Garen only adjusted slightly, but he was already able to handle the 120-pound weight. Now that he had recovered, his strength increased again. He was now able to utilize all the enhancements he received.


    To exceed 180 pounds was not a difficult task.


    Standing in the stance dictated by the Technique, Garen¡¯s attention was again focused on the skill panel.


    "The Explosive Fist Technique is the real combat method in the Dojo. It is not a technique that only looks impressive. If I can successfully master the Explosive Fist Technique, then I can truly start my ranking tests. If I can get a ranking, then I can start teaching at a Dojo and receive better salaries¡­ Then I can start collecting jewelry that contains potential."


    Garen was again calculating inside his head. Feeling determined, he shifted his vision onto the Explosive Fist Technique.


    "This is the one!"


    Following his exclamation, the surge of cold air was sucked out of his head and squirmed onto the location of the record of the Explosive Fist Technique in his vision. The word "Uninitiated", finally, jumped slightly and abruptly changed into Elementary.


    Instantly, Garen felt his body tighten as if a waxy liquid was being produced by his internal body. The liquid sluggishly seeped through his skin and covered it.


    "Boom!"


    Inside his brain, a loud noise rumbled.

 15 The Inciden

    Chapter 15: The Incident


    All of a sudden, Garen felt like half of his body was frozen in frigid ice while the other half was scorching hot. He felt an overwhelming dizziness, as if someone was continuously pummeling on his head with a hammer.


    Bang! Bang! Bang!


    He could hear his heartbeat. Beat by beat; it pounded like a war drum. With every heartbeat, the streams of ice and fire began to merge together.


    The freezing and scorching streams of blood intertwined, but remained distinct. They formed a delicate spiral inside Garen''s body and began to flow rapidly.


    Within the training hall, the serene moonlight scattered through the high windows. It created a delicate white cloak on Garen''s body.


    His face flushed like a cooked shrimp as he stood blankly in front of the sandbag. Steam began to rise from his hair, his body, and his pants as his sweat evaporated.


    He didn''t know how much time had passed.


    Ka!


    He slowly twitched his body. A loud, crisp sound resounded from one of his joints and echoed across the room. Subsequently, all his joints began to repeat the same sound as if popcorn was being popped.


    His mind finally regained consciousness. The first thing he did was to walk in front of the 200 pounds sandbag. He lifted his right arm and took in a deep breath.


    Peng!


    The sandbag flew in the air and passed the qualification line. The remaining force of the swinging sandbag forced the metal frame to squeak. Garen stabilized the sandbag after it flew back.


    [My strength increased again¡­]" He opened his right palm to examine his skin. His palm was covered by a crystallized texture which felt like a glove. Unlike before, he did not feel any pain hitting the sandbag.


    The status under his vision also changed.


    His Strength grew from 0.52 to 0.53, while his Vitality also increased from 0.31 to 0.33.


    [When I combined this with Explosive Fist Arts, my skin''s durability increased quite substantially.] He rubbed both of his hands as he scanned the training room. He saw a wooden rack at the corner filled with weapons. Sword, shield, broadsword, heavy sword, dagger, axe, and hammer. The rack had everything.


    Garen approached the stand and grabbed a silver dagger. He gently lifted the dagger. Under the pristine moonlight, the dagger reflected a silvery shadow. The tip of the knife was blinding with its sharp edge.


    He lightly slashed the back of his hand with the dagger.


    Zzzp... It felt like he had slashed hard leather, and only left a slight white mark.


    [Indeed... The Explosive Fists Arts can increase the body''s durability! No wonder the procedure included tempering the body against wooden stumps.]


    He was genuinely surprised. He began to increase the force exerted on the dagger, starting from one pound of strength. Two pounds... Three pounds... Five pounds... Ten pounds... 15 pounds... 20 pounds!!


    All of a sudden, the skin under the dagger revealed a small cut, barely penetrating to the muscle underneath. The dagger was lodged inside, completely unable to move. Garen felt pain and quickly pulled back the dagger.


    [Around 20 pounds of force is required to barely penetrate my muscle. The Explosive Fists Arts are indeed powerful. No wonder it takes years to train and master even with the help of natural talent, and no wonder White Cloud Dojo is renowned for this skill.]


    Garen had tested his durability with his relaxed muscle, but if he flexed, 20 pounds would not be his limit. He gave this a slight thought, then tested it. He started with a force of 20 pounds and increased it to 50 pounds before the dagger finally pierced into his muscle.


    [This is almost equivalent to the Body Hardening Technique. It''s incredible!]


    He placed the dagger back onto the wooden rack. As he loosened his muscles, blood began to emerge from his arm, but it immediately clotted.


    He looked downwards at the 24% remaining Potential. Garen tidied up and dressed, then took the key beside the sandbag and left the training hall.


    Any official student had the right to use the potential testing equipment in the secondary hall. Therefore, every official student had a key to the hall.


    As Garen left the secondary hall, he could not spot a single soul on the street. The cold breeze carried a newspaper from the distance as he began to jog through the night. Garen had become accustomed to this habitual exercise.


    It was almost 10 o¡¯clock. The street was not in a crowded area with a large population. Garen took the desolate route for an easier jog. In ten minutes, he only spotted a few people.


    The dim yellow light shoneined on the peaceful street. Garen¡¯s footsteps echoed in the wind with the occasional wooden clap from a shop closing in the distance.


    Beep!


    A loud beeping noise came from the dark street across the corner. Garen moved from the middle of the road to the left side as he saw a black antique vehicle approach him from his right side. The bright yellow headlights blinded him for a brief moment when the car made a turn. He tried to block the radiance with his hand.


    Just as the car passed him, a number in his vision suddenly changed.


    [My Potential is going up!?!]


    He immediately turned and ran to the car. The Potential Meter increased from 23% to 45% as soon as he turned around.


    The only thing in his mind was to stop the car.


    "Please stop!"


    Garen dashed in front of the car and yelled with his arms wide open.


    The cars in this world were slow to begin with. It didn¡¯t show any sign of stopping after being blocked as it headed directly at Garen.


    "F**k!"


    Garen sidestepped to avoid the car as he began to chase the vehicle.


    "Finish him."


    Faintly, he heard a woman¡¯s voice in the car.


    Bang! The car door suddenly opened and directly hit him on the flank. A pitch black dagger silently darted at Garen¡¯s stomach.


    Garen¡¯s heart abruptly jumped as he subconsciously grabbed the arm behind the dagger. His left hand naturally punched the door window.


    Bang!


    The arm that held the dagger snapped like dried branches. The red muscle and white ligament tore as blood spilled all over the car.


    Simultaneously, the car door window easily shattered. Between the tiny glass shards, Garen¡¯s left hand directly punched the passenger¡¯s head. The person¡¯s face caved in when the forceful impact landed. The shape of his face changed as his nose, eyes, and mouth jumbled together due to the violent force. Stained with blood, white bone shards collided audibly against the windshield.


    Garen was shocked.


    So was the person still driving.


    The car continued to move forward. Garen wrenched the front passenger door wide open as he dragged the car to the side. A graceful looking body fell out from the open door. It was the physique of a young woman with an attractive figure.


    The girl¡¯s body dropped in front Garen with her face completed disfigured. It was like ketchup mixed with tofu. Her right arm, which held the dagger, hung limply on the side of her body. A black trench coat accented her exquisite figure. From the side, it was easy to see her charming cleavage. From her appearance, she was a young lady.


    Under the pungent smell of the blood, he sensed the light fragrance of perfume.


    He looked at the body in front of him before blankly staring at the car in the distance. He felt he could see the features of the man driving, along with his cold, bloody stare.


    [I just killed somebody¡­] He stared at his brown pants, now stained with blood, Garen felt a sudden fear from the bottom of his heart.


    "I just killed somebody¡­" he mumbled under his breath as he looked at the woman¡¯s body.


    Abruptly, he scanned his surroundings on the empty street. After he made sure that no one saw him, Garen immediately took off running.


    The frightened and rhythmless footsteps resonated in the distance.


    After he rushed home, he dashed straight into his room without a word.


    "Brother, I¡¯ll leave your allowance for next week on the dinner table..." Ying Er walked out of her room. Dumbfounded, she stared at Garen who stepped in front of her. Her face turned pale and she stopped in the middle of her sentence.


    Bang!


    The bedroom door shut.


    "Garen¡¯s back? He didn¡¯t shower after his jog?" their mother Betty asked, opening the bedroom door.


    "Yeah Garen, did you exercise again?" Garen¡¯s step-father¡¯s voice transmitted from the bedroom.


    "Mhm, he seems to be rushed today for some reason. I didn¡¯t even see him before he got back to his room," his mother complained before she closed the door again.


    Huff¡­ Huff¡­


    Huff¡­


    Garen leaned against the door as he caught his breath. His face was an ashen white as his pupils dilated and contracted. The image of the split second when he killed the girl replayed vividly in his head. The shattered bone shards, the crimson red blood, the crooked broken arm, and the pair of wide bloody eyes.


    "Nobody was there." He tried to remember his surroundings. There was no one on the street due to the isolated location. The streetlight was dim and the headlights were not shining on him.


    He reevaluated the situation before he mumbled, "Nobody saw it, except for the guy driving."


    Garen learned how to control his excessive strength gain through continued training, but in that dire situation when his life was on the line, he thought that it wasn¡¯t enough to just defend and his uncontrolled power was brutal.


    The result was that the opponent could not be more dead.


    Dong! Dong! Dong!


    "Brother, are you okay?" Ying Er¡¯s voice resonated through the door.


    "Don¡¯t worry; I¡¯ll be out in a minute after I change." Garen tried to respond in his usual tone.


    "Mhm, then I¡¯ll boil the water for you first?"


    "Okay, thanks."


    Her footsteps faded into the distance.


    He tried to calm down his rapidly beating heart. He changed into his bathrobe before he grabbed his uniform and balled it into a lump, careful not to expose the parts with blood before walking out of the door.


    Boo!


    "What are you doing !!?" There was a figure in front of the door. It was Ying Er in her school uniform.


    Reflexively, Garen wanted to close the door, but Ying Er put her foot in the doorway. Without much time to think, he dashed to his bed, threw his bloody clothes underneath the mattress, and sat at the edge of the bed.

 16 Accident 2

    Chapter 16: Accident 2


    Bam.


    The door of the room closed. Ying Er walked in with a look of suspicion, her red eyes scanning the situation inside the room.


    "What kind of mischief are you up to again?"


    "What mischief? My trousers weren''t pulled up, and I didn''t expect you to be standing at the door, so I just blocked it for a while." Garen combed his hands through his hair to massage his numb scalp.


    "That''s not true! What''s that under your bed?" Ying Er''s sharp eyes immediately spotted the suspicious trace. She walked a few steps forward and stood facing Garen. "Move aside, I want to find out what disgusting things you''ve been up to!"


    "What are you trying to do? It''s late, stop playing," Garen said with a deliberate frown.


    "Move aside!" Ying Er was one of those who ignored everything once her temper got the better of her. When she saw that Garen wouldn''t budge, it fueled her suspicion further.


    "Stop it!"


    "I said, move aside!" Ying Er''s voice deepened as her expression became ice-cold. "Looks like you didn''t learn a lesson the last time¡­"


    Garen¡¯s complexion slightly changed. "The last time" was the previous Garen; he tried to hide his collection of dirty magazines, but Ying Er found them and beat him up till he cried. Even though it wasn''t actually him who experienced that shameful incident, it was enough to make him choke.


    But no matter what, the clothes underneath his bed absolutely could not be discovered!


    When she saw that he continued to keep silent, Ying Er''s expression turned uglier.


    "Looks like this time around, I''ll have to give you a lesson you won''t forget!" She started cracking her knuckles.


    "It''s not what you think, trust me!" Garen looked up into Ying Er''s eyes. He had just killed someone by using too much force, and the last thing he wanted to do now was to fight his sister. He was worried that he might accidentally do it again¡­


    Ying Er stared into his eyes and realized there wasn''t a sliver of embarrassment or anger in them for being exposed, but instead a hint of sincerity.


    Both stared at each other for a while.


    Ying Er slowly breathed a sigh of relief.


    "You''re sure?"


    "I''m sure!" Garen replied in haste. "Apart from this one thing, I''ll agree to whatever you want."


    "Fine. I''ll ask you a few questions. If you can answer me truthfully, I won''t bother you about this," Ying Er paused.


    "No problem!"


    "Do you like dad?"


    "Of course I do. That''s easy."


    "Do you like mum?"


    "Of course."


    "Do you like uncle?"


    "I do."


    "Do you like Ai Fei?"


    "Of c... Who''s Ai Fei?"


    Garen took a deep breath. "Good thing my reaction was quick¡­"


    The palpitations that he suppressed earlier resurfaced. Seeing his sister''s expression finally turn bright again, he felt as if he just escaped the clutches of death. He would have never thought that she knew Ai Fei, the prettiest girl among the female students around him.


    "Alright¡­ I''ll spare you this time. But if you bring those disgusting things in here again, don''t blame me¡­" A satisfied smile broke across Ying Er''s face. "Okay, I''ll go out now. Rest early."


    "I know, I know. Alright, you get some rest too¡­" Garen breathed a sigh of relief. "See you tomorrow."


    "Yup, see you tomorrow¡­ you wish!" Ying Er cried out. She pounced over and slid under the bed in a flash.


    Garen hurriedly crouched down and followed suit, reaching for his bundle of clothes.


    The bloodied clothes were shoved deeper under the bed by Ying Er''s vigorous movements; he could barely reach them.


    "What¡¯s in the clothes? Tell me!" Ying Er squeezed further under the bed, trying to grab the bundle of clothing.


    "It''s nothing!"


    "If I catch you, you''re dead meat!" Garen clung onto both of Ying Er''s legs while she crawled forward in an attempt to break free.


    Garen put his weight on her from behind, but he didn''t dare to exert too much force, so all he could do was keep a light hold on her. Incidentally, he exerted too little force; Ying Er managed to free herself, and she lunged forward.


    Bang!


    "Ouch! That hurt¡­"


    Ying Er hit her forehead on the underside of the bed, and her body curled back.


    Behind her, Garen suddenly felt that his head was stuffy¡ªhe was inside his sister''s skirt.


    Round buttocks covered by black pantyhose were inches from his face; he could even see a hint of white underneath. His nose almost touched the skin of her buttocks.


    The smell of girly fragrance mixed with a hint of sweat wafted into his nasal cavity, instinctively causing him to inhale.


    At that moment, both were completely frozen.


    In front, Ying Er didn''t dare to move a muscle. A blush spread over her face, neck, and the entirety of her body.


    She could distinctly feel Garen''s face on her bottom¡ªhe had probably seen everything under her skirt.


    Garen''s mind was in a state of chaos. The most attractive part of a girl''s body was all of a sudden right in front of him, and he didn''t know how to respond.


    Knock knock knock.


    Someone knocked on the door.


    "Are you two done playing in there? Time for you to wash up and go to bed! You have class tomorrow!" their father, Eisen, shouted from the doorway.


    Both their hearts skipped a beat. It was nerve-racking.


    If their father saw them in this state¡­


    "Yup, almost done!" Garen snapped out of it and frantically shouted in reply.


    They waited until the footsteps of their father leaving gradually faded.


    Garen leaped out from under the bed in an instant.


    He was then followed by Ying Er, with her hands covering her buttocks. Her face was red as she hung her head low; she didn¡¯t dare look at Garen.


    "I''m off to bed," she mumbled softly, then quickly opened the door and left.


    Garen took a deep breath and sat on his bed. At this moment, he felt a strange calm wash over him.


    That bout of ambiguous tension had oddly suppressed his anxiety and panic from the previous event of having killed someone.


    There was still a faint aroma of Ying Er in the room. Garen sat on his bed until the lights in Ying Er''s room went out. He then went out to find a clothes-drying pole and used it to hook the bloodied clothes out from under the bed, then crept into the bathroom to wash them.


    ****************


    A week later.


    "Hey, old man, what''s the latest? Any new stock that''s particularly good? How about letting me have a look?"


    Garen sat bored beside the table, fiddling with a golden button. Apparently, it was from the clothes of the famous Agate Queen who lived three hundred years ago.


    "New stock? What new stock? That burglary cleared me out!" The old man was fumbling at the bookshelf. "That''s right! I have a book here that you might appreciate. Think of it as the reward for comforting this old geezer in my moment of crisis."


    "What book?"


    "You''ll see."


    The old man continued rummaging through the bookshelf. Then, he took a stool and stepped on it, pulling out a large black hardcover book from the topmost shelf.


    "Here, take it." The old man struggled down from the stool and handed the book to Garen.


    Garen took the bulky black brick from the old man and wiped a thick layer of dust off the cover, revealing some unknown black text.


    He turned to the first page.


    In that instant, Garen''s pupils shrunk slightly.


    A huge gust of cool current poured into his palm and flowed to his head through his arm.


    "Potential! It''s Potential! So¡­ so much energy!"


    He didn''t know how to react. There wasn''t any indication when he first held the book, but when he opened it, he started absorbing Potential.


    His heart beat unnaturally fast. Garen glanced over the rapidly increasing Potential figures at the bottom of his vision and looked directly at the content on the page of the book.


    The yellowing pages were crammed with an unknown text. Garen flipped through the book page by page. Some black-and-white sketches were occasionally interspersed in between the text.


    The pictures were mostly weird, irregular geometric lines, which looked as much like a design for a mechanical contraption as it did a map for a complex terrain. They were densely marked with text and tiny symbols.


    Garen didn''t have a clue what the content meant, but that didn''t stop him from absorbing Potential from the book. Turning it page by page, time slowly crept away.


    Half an hour later¡­


    Garen slowly closed the book and let out a long sigh.


    "Finished going through it?" The old man squinted to look at the cover carefully; a trace of disappointment flashed over his eyes.


    "Yeah, done. This is definitely a precious ancient antique!" Garen definitively said.


    "You don''t say." The old man seemed to relax a bit more, as if relieved of a burden. "Alright, I''m closing early today. You go ahead, I still have something to take care of."


    Garen took a look at the sky outside. The sun had completely disappeared below the horizon, and only a residual trace of red stained the clouds.


    "Fine, I''ll be leaving first then. See you tomorrow."


    "Well, beat it kid!" the old man jokingly added.


    "Oh yeah, how''s the progress with Detective Quicksilver?" Garen turned to ask.


    "There was an explosion in Kyora Town just outside the city, and Detective Quicksilver was injured. He''s in the hospital now." Old Man Gregor shook his head and sighed. "Even the famous Detective Quicksilver has faced a setback; looks like there''s no hope of getting my belongings back now."


    "That''s not necessarily the case. I looked up Detective Quicksilver, he''s no ordinary guy. The mystery of the stolen million-dollar oil painting in New Zealand, the nine serial killings in West Riyadh, and cracking the case of the torch legend, etc. The guy keeps facing new opponents, and keeps heading to new places to solve riddles; you can tell he enjoys solving cases. From how I see it, this golden bracelet won''t be an exception," Garen comfortingly said.


    "Thanks for your kind words. Get going now, I need to close up." The old man waved his hand to rush Garen out.


    "Alright." Garen walked out of the store carrying his bag.


    He looked at the Potential points at the bottom of his vision.


    Potential: 179%. It was around 58% initially, and that was due to the increase after meeting that car on the night he killed someone.


    "That book¡­" Amidst his delight, his eyes showed a trace of doubt. "Something feels off."


    ******


    After Garen left, Old Man Gregor closed the front door and went back to sitting in front of the bookshelf. He opened the black hardcover and gently caressed the pages as a complicated expression emerged on his face.


    It wasn''t after a long while before he finished looking through the entire book.


    "I should have known this would happen, but surprisingly I can''t help but want to cling on to something¡­"


    The old man shook his head and slowly closed the pages.


    He kept turning the pages until he finally closed the cover. The black text on the cover had turned dark red, as if fresh blood had flowed through each stroke and coagulated.

 17 The Gathering

    Chapter 17: The Gathering


    Ever since the day he killed someone, Garen had been waiting for the other person¡¯s next move. He remained near the proximity of his home and mindlessly wandered around the school. After he had become completely familiar with the surrounding area, he increased his vigilance. He didn¡¯t know when that pair of crimson eyes would appear once again.


    After all, no master would let the murder of their men be without consequence.


    Ding.


    The crisp chime signaling the end of class shook Garen out of his daydreaming.


    He sat at his desk, stretching his neck, and looked around.


    Most of his classmates sat in place and stretched, some of them walked around the room, and some began to yell at people to purchase items.


    The entire class had become raucous immediately after class.


    "Are you going to the competition? Garen?" With a brown blazer, Kalidor sat in front of Garen¡¯s seat. He pushed a slim boy to the side. "Sorry, let me squeeze in a little bit."


    The youth mumbled a bit but didn¡¯t say much.


    Garen looked at him, speechless.


    "It¡¯s the archery and sword art competition right? I don¡¯t have any plans to compete right now, but my sister will be part of the archery contest. I will be there to cheer her on. Where did Fayne and Jack go?"


    "I don¡¯t know. Those two were acting pretty suspicious right after class. Who knows where they went?" Kalidor shrugged. Because of his peculiar taste in fashion and carelessness in appearance, not a lot of people enjoyed his company. In a similar vein, due to Garen¡¯s low-income family background and cold personality, only someone as bold as Kalidor got along with Garen.


    Therefore, the two had a closer relationship compared to Fayne and Jack. Including Ai Fei, they were a five-man gang. The closeness in their relationships, however, differed.


    "I will only be there for the archery competition." Garen didn¡¯t give it too much thought. He felt quite distant from the contest at school because of how dull it usually was. Maybe it was because he had already fought someone to the death, but to him, the competitions were as boring as it could get.


    Kalidor pouted as he displayed an expression that said ¡®I knew you were going to say that¡¯.


    "Since you have time right now, I need you to help me with something." He looked around and dragged the studying Ai Fei look to the side.


    "What are you doing?? I¡¯m studying."


    "You¡¯ll know once we get there."


    The three gathered together and Kalidor began explaining the situation.


    Because a friend of his was back in town, he wanted to bring the two of them to their reunion.


    Garen and Ai Fei were his close friends at school, so he wanted them to be there. Since Fayne and Jack¡¯s girlfriends needed to be at Xu Xiao¡¯s competition, they could not attend due to the conflict in their schedules.


    "All my best friends are attending the gathering. My big brother, whom I respect the most, is hosting it. You guys have to come this time! Just treat it as a favor for me."


    "Why do you need us to be there at the gathering?" Ai Fei was puzzled.


    "My family found me a girl that I am supposed to get engaged to. I want you guys to give me some opinions at this gathering¡­" Kalidor said in a shy tone.


    "Engaged¡­" Ai Fei and Garen wereas shocked at the news.


    "How old are you, to be getting engaged now¡­" Garen had a peculiar expression.


    "16 years old, is there a rule that says I can¡¯t be engaged at 16?" Kalidor asked defiantly.


    Garen paused for a moment.


    He wanted to ask Old Man Gregor to see the book again. But the old man had become increasingly stubborn for some reason, so his answer was always no. The Dojo was about to pay out its student allowance as well as host an internal competition to finalize the standings. He also needed to keep his guard up against the man with the bloody eyes. After all, he did kill someone of theirs.


    [The good thing is that there¡¯s no news related to the murder that day yet. After the police took care of the crime scene, the detective couldn¡¯t find anything useful. The technology is too behind in this world. If it happened on earth, they could easily use surveillance to identify me as a prime suspect.]


    Garen was glad that chaos filled this barely industrial world.


    [Even on earth, there are still plenty of people who committed murder but still remained free. Without the assistance of technology, who knows how many truths are still hidden in the darkness. No wonder a detective like Dale Quicksilver can have such a renowned reputation here.]


    He was not afraid that they would find his family. It was dark that day, so it was hard to recognize his face. Nobody knew that he went to the dojo through that desolated street either. Without a name as their lead, it would be impossible to identify someone in Huais Shan City out of the tens of thousands of people that lived there. It would be as difficult as searching for a needle in the vast sea. There was no way they could trace any of this back to his family.


    After giving it a thought, he felt it was necessary to relax for a bit. A gathering of his friends would be an excellent choice. If he continued to suppress himself, he would go insane before the enemy even showed up.


    "The competition starts in a couple of days. Let me be clear, I only have time for the archery competition."


    "It¡¯s only for a few days, don¡¯t worry, we won¡¯t miss your sister¡¯s competition." Kalidor gave Garen an "I understand" look.


    "I don¡¯t have any problems, let me know when we leave." Ai Fei concurred without hesitation.


    "Okay, oh Ai Fei, can I borrow your physics homework?"


    "Why don¡¯t you ask Garen?"


    "His handwriting is horrendous."


    "Go screw yourself! Your writing is uglier than mine, yet you don¡¯t see me complaining!"


    Not only Kalidor, Garen himself also regularly copied homework off of Ai Fei. He didn¡¯t know every subject, especially in Foreign Languages. They were learning the renowned ancient Mengdiyan language. The language was incredibly difficult to pronounce with its tongue-twisting syllables. The abrupt tone combined with the peculiar sound made it impossible to memorize.


    After attempting multiple times yet still only managing to achieve a score of 30 on his tests, he ultimately gave up on the language altogether. She was the only girl in the gang of five, and was also gorgeous to boot. Ai Fei was the catalyst and core to their desire to study. She could solve any problem they had.


    *****************************


    Three days later.


    In nightfall, Garen and Ai Fei followed Kalidor to a hotel in the downtown of Huai sShan City.


    "We are here," Kalidor said as he led the way. Behind him, Garen was in a black shirt, and Ai Fei was dressed up in a light pink dress.


    Above the hotel, a sign named: Mila¡¯s Night Star hung in the night sky. Below the name hung ten incandescent light bulbs. Light bulbs were not too common in this world due to the rarity of thin wiring and cost. Only the wealthy families could afford them.


    A continuous wave of cars stopped in front of the luxurious rectangular door as they dropped customers off.


    "My brother is a great guy; I¡¯ll introduce you guys once he is here." Kalidor looked excited. "He created a business by himself in the Eastern Sea province!"


    "Look how happy you are. It sounds like you¡¯re going to meet your believed." Garen responded as he followed. Ai Fei giggled beside him.


    "Can you say something nice for once in your life?"


    A waiter greeted them as they walked through the door. After politely asking for their names, he led them to a grand hall on the second floor.


    As they approached the hall, Kalidor waved at the teenagers in the hall. He looked quite popular amongst them.


    "Why don¡¯t you go and say hi? We¡¯ll make ourselves comfortable here." Ai Fei saw that Kalidor was struggling to keep up with all the conversations and understandingly offered.


    "Okay, I¡¯ll be back in a moment. There are drinks on the table, make yourself comfortable¡­" Before he finished his sentence, Kalidor was dragged away by a short-haired man.


    Garen shrugged. He started to think as he watched the group of people inside the hall. As soon as Kalidor entered the room, he became the center of attention. His background was not as simple as he had claimed before.


    "Let¡¯s walk around. It looks great in here."


    "Mhmm."


    A graceful man was standing at the corner. His flawless skin and athletic figure almost resembled a woman¡¯s. The fit white suit made him look appear extremely delicate and elegant. He casually chatted with the people surrounding him.


    "Kalidor, we haven¡¯t seen each other for a while. Why are you not saying hi? Who was the person that consistently yelled ¡®brother, brother¡¯ behind me?" The man saw the three of them approach and gave Kalidor a light punch.


    His friends around him also giggled along.


    "Brother Weimar, I am here. I came as soon as I saw your telegram. I didn¡¯t dare stop for even a second," Kalidor said with a sour face.


    "Okay, stop acting. I know you too well for your tricks to work! Let me introduce you." Weimar said to the group of friends around him, "Noble Stallone¡¯s only child, Kalidor. The rest are old friends, but let us introduce ourselves to the two new friends here today."


    He pointed at the blond boy and the girl with yellow pupils.


    "William; his father, General William, is extremely close with Uncle Stallone. She is Jessie; the Kaifei International Hotel Chain is owned by her family."


    When he introduced Jessie, he winked at Kalidor. Kalidor immediately knew that she was the girl that his family found.


    "Since you guys are Brother Weimar¡¯s friend, you guys are my friends as well. If you guys ever need anything in Huais Shan, don¡¯t hesitate to find me." With a forthright statement, Kalidor pumped his chest.


    William nodded without saying a word.


    "Then I¡¯ll have to count on you here." Jessie smiled at him as she returned a wink.


    "No problem."


    "Why don¡¯t you introduce your friends to us?" Jessie looked at Garen and Ai Fei in the not-far-off distance.


    "They are all my friends from school. The person with purple hair is called¡­"


    "That¡¯s okay, let¡¯s grab something to eat. I¡¯ll have to meet some other friends. You guys keep chatting."


    Weimar interrupted him. Then, with a smile, he walked into the crowd with a blue-colored martini.

 18 The Gathering 2

    Chapter 18: The Gathering 2


    Kalidor was stunned. He wanted to continue introducing his friends, but Jessie brought up a new topic to stop him right away. It was quite obvious that none of them cared about Garen and Ai Fei¡¯s names. They could tell that they were not in the same league as the others just by looking at the way they dressed.


    Weimar walked up to the stage in the center of the hall and announced the beginning of the feast. He told everybody to enjoy the banquet. All the youngsters raised their glasses of wine or juice and laughed. After some emotional speeches, Weimar got down from the stage and returned to Kalidor¡¯s side. The band took his place.


    "By the way, Wei Sijia just left Kinstria. Her flight passed Huaishan City, so she decided to take a rest here. I invited her today; she¡¯ll drive over later. I guess she must be on the way now. Let¡¯s finish eating and then go get her." Weimar drank some of the Blood Wine in the glass.


    "So soon?" Kalidor frowned. "I have friends here¡­"


    "What does it matter? I¡¯ll go explain to your friends and let them go home by themselves. It has been too long since our last gathering. It is such a rare opportunity this time."


    "How about we take them with us? They are all my friends, and we can introduce them to the others," Kalidor hesitantly said.


    Weimar showed an indifferent smile on his face.


    "Kalidor, I hope that tonight it will be just a night of old friends. I don¡¯t think it is a good idea to bring others involved." He saw Kalidor hesitating, so he continued, "I thought you liked Wei Sijia the most? Now that she finally got a chance to come, you don¡¯t even want to welcome her in person? We only have four cars and we don¡¯t have seats for them if you don¡¯t come."


    "Come on, don¡¯t screw it up. If you feel that it¡¯s too difficult to talk to your friends, I will do it."


    Kalidor was quiet. He suddenly regretted that he had invited Garen and Ai Fei to the party. He didn¡¯t know that his Brother Weimar, whom he had always been respecting, would become so unreasonable¡­ Suddenly, the great image about Brother Weimar in his heart started to become dim. But no matter what, they were still friends who grew up together.


    "I urh¡­ Let¡¯s see what happens next," he answered in a low and hesitant voice.


    Weimar frowned as the smile on his face gradually disappeared. He tapped on Kalidor¡¯s shoulder and said, "Just think about it."


    Garen and Ai Fei had been hanging around the food table and eating since they got in the hall.


    They knew nobody except Kalidor in the party. Aside from them, there were also other new arrivals. They were about seventeen and eighteen years old, and always got a warm welcome from their friends in the party.


    They were the only two who didn¡¯t know anyone else. They just watched as people talked and laughed in their own small groups, causing them to feel out of place.


    "Let¡¯s just eat since we can¡¯t feel at ease. Kalidor¡¯s surrounded right now anyway. We can¡¯t let him leave all of his friends to just accompany us, can we?" Garen talked to Ai Fei in a low voice, then picked a plate and walked away to get more food.


    Ai Fei truly felt uncomfortable just standing there. She listlessly walked to the food table and learned to pick up a plate like the others did. Cautiously, she used a spoon to drink the soup in her bowl.


    Except Ai Fei and Garen, everybody was either rich or powerful. All those people in this shiny and luxurious banquet hall were so dazzling.


    Compared to them, the two-hundred-dollar dress and the one hundred dollar boots on her were very conspicuous and out of place. She had seen most of the food on the table before at the supermarket. They were very expensive, and any dish cost much more than all the clothes on her.


    Hah¡­


    A laugh sounded beside her.


    "Dear sister, that soup is not for drinking. It is for rinsing the mouth." A young girl couldn¡¯t help laughing.


    A blush appeared on Ai Fei¡¯s face as she almost choked. She put down the plate and took a napkin to wipe her mouth.


    "I¡­ I recognized it wrong¡­" Even her neck turned red; she kept her head low and didn¡¯t dare to look up at the girl.


    "That is such an obvious pot of soup¡­ You do know what a rinsing soup is, don¡¯t you?" That girl laughed again. Another young girl walked over and whispered to her, and then they both laughed while covering their mouths.


    Ai Fei just stood there with her head low, her face and neck red, feeling as if she was burning up. She didn¡¯t know whether she should leave or stay, wishing she could just bury herself into the ground.


    "What does it matter? Is the rinsing soup so poisonous we can¡¯t even drink it?" Garen walked over and spoke with a frown.


    He was also wearing hundred-dollar clothes, but he didn¡¯t feel restrained at all. In his eyes, those young guys and girls were all some little chickens he could easily defeat. After murdering someone, he now had a different attitude towards ordinary people. Especially when he thought of the fact that the price of a life in this world was so low, he settled down a bit. To him, the only thing that mattered was strength.


    "It¡¯s just some rinsing soup. I like it too. What¡¯s so funny?" Garen filled a bowl and drank the entire thing in one big gulp. The rinsing soup tasted a bit sweet with a minty flavor, and was not that bad for a drink.


    "It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s fine¡­" When the girl saw that Garen was so at ease about it, she felt that it would be embarrassing for her to continue making a big deal. She looked at Garen and Ai Fei with a strange expression before saying, "Please go on¡­" The two young girls slowly walked away. They couldn¡¯t help laughing again as they walked further away.


    Garen frowned. Once he saw the girls were gone, he looked at Ai Fei.


    "Alright, ignore what other people think. Do whatever you want to."


    Ai Fei nodded in silence.


    "Should we go to Kalidor and tell him we feel like leaving? It¡¯s a decent place, but the people in it are not," Garen casually spoke as he shrugged his shoulders.


    He looked at Ai Fei, and the latter, still red faced, meekly nodded. She was so embarrassed that she didn¡¯t even look up. Speechless, Garen turned around and walked to Kalidor.


    Kalidor was talking to a girl with a pair of bright eyes. They were just idly chatting. Most of the time, the girl would be the one to bring up a topic, and Kalidor would just perfunctorily answer her. When he saw Garen walking over, he knew that he was finally about to be saved.


    "I may need a word with my friend over there. I think he needs to talk to me. Excuse me." He finally had an excuse to get away, so he said so and walked to Garen.


    "Hugh¡­"


    Kalidor took a long breath out as he approached Garen.


    "See? That beautiful girl with long dark golden hair is the one I am engaged to. What do you think?"


    "Not bad. Isn¡¯t she good?" Garen confusedly said.


    "She is too good¡­ I feel useless when compared to her¡­" Kalidor looked frustrated.


    "Alright, I am just here to say that Ai Fei and I are going to head out. You should just spend more time with your friends."


    "I was thinking about introducing you to¡­" Kalidor didn¡¯t finish. He turned silent for a moment, and then said, "Well then¡­ I will see you off."


    "No need, we are good. I¡¯ll walk Ai Fei back first. Anyway, I go for a run every night, and I¡¯m used to it. But in reality, you shouldn¡¯t have invited Ai Fei and me tonight, right?" Garen said as his voice turned less and less audible.


    Kalidor¡¯s expression gradually turned dull.


    "I am fine, but you know Ai Fei¡¯s family; they¡¯re even worse off than mine. She was recruited as a special excellence student and being here definitely made her nervous. Just now, she even drank the rinsing soup. She¡¯s a girl you know¡­."


    "It¡¯s my fault," Kalidor spoke in a low voice. "I thought it was just a few people talking freely. I thought it would be simple, but I didn¡¯t expect it to be so big¡­"


    "You shouldn¡¯t blame yourself, you¡¯re just too kind. Alright, we are off. Enjoy your time." Garen patted his shoulder and ended the conversation. Kalidor opened his mouth as if about to say something, but couldn¡¯t manage in the end. He could only watch as Garen returned to Ai Fei¡¯s side before leaving with her through the back door in the small hall. Asides from Kalidor, no one else paid them any attention.


    Garen and Ai Fei left the hotel; they walked along the roads of suburbs, beside them were cars running past.


    After that humiliation, Ai Fei looked like another person. Along the way, she didn¡¯t utter a single word.


    "It is fine. Don¡¯t think too much about others¡¯ views. After today, they will never show up in our sights again, and we will eventually forget each other." Garen was comforting her. "And don¡¯t blame Kalidor. He is just a fool. He didn¡¯t think about such a situation."


    "I don¡¯t blame him." Ai Fei tidied her ponytail. "It was my fault for being ignorant. Why should I blame others?"


    "Don¡¯t think too much about it." Garen tapped on her shoulder. "You are still who you are, same as who you were. Don¡¯t let such a tiny thing affect your happiness." The truth was, he had accidentally discovered Ai Fei¡¯s secret when he was hanging around in the city earlier.


    The stubborn girl had a mother who was seriously sick at home, and her younger sister and brother were depending on her too. Her father left home because of his gambling debt. She had to gradually pay it on her own. Luckily, she won the scholarship every year as a special gifted student in the Shengying Nobles Academy. She could use that money on her family, and she also worked after school to make more. All the money she earned was only barely enough to pay the tuition fees of her brother and sister and the medical fees of her mother.


    The girl had been working so hard. For other students, it might be boring to study in school, but for her, it was a god-given time of relaxation.


    "Alright, don¡¯t be depressed¡­" Garen was just about to talk when he caught a familiar outline of a figure in his peripheral vision, making him quickly avert his eyes. "Come on. I need to go home after I send you back."


    "Don¡¯t worry, I can go home by myself. You don¡¯t have to come with me." Ai Fei shook her head. Subconsciously, she looked at Garen with suspicion in her eyes. "You can go, I¡¯m fine."


    Garen knew that she didn¡¯t want people to know the real situation of her family. He had things to do now anyway, so he nodded. "Ok then. You take care of yourself and just go straight home. Don¡¯t hang around outside too long. It may not be safe."


    Ai Fei quietly nodded. She took a left turn at the corner of the road.


    Garen stood behind her watching her off. When he saw her disappear in that corner, he tidied his collar and walked to a dark alley on the street. After a while, he disappeared into the shadows.

 19 Exclusion 1

    Chapter 19: Exclusion 1


    After being followed by Garen through the alley for a while, the black shadow in front suddenly turned left and ducked out of the alley.


    Garen avoided a puddle and continued his pursuit with light, careful footsteps. No matter what, he had to figure out the background of the person he killed the other day, whether they would be able to trace his identity or not. At this point, it wasn''t just about Attribute points but, more importantly, about the safety of his family and himself.


    He turned into a dirty alley even narrower than the last one. The sound of a man arguing with a woman could be heard from the apartments above. The whole alley was filled with the stench of rotting food and waste.


    The person in front was kneeling beside a garbage bin with his hand inside it, digging for something. There were two homeless people sleeping soundly on either side of him.


    Garen quietly stood at the corner of the alley and peered into it, borrowing the faint light radiating down from the block above.


    After a while, the person rummaged through the bin and dug out a black leather purse. He stuck his hand inside the purse, felt around a little and pulled out a small bronze key. After pocketing the key, he quickly looked around and continued to move forward.


    Garen retracted his head and hid behind the corner wall when the person turned. He slowly stuck his head out again after waiting for the sound of the footsteps to fade away.


    Without warning, the moment he stuck his head out, Garen felt a stabbing pain in his waist.


    He reflexively swung his right elbow backward.


    Bang!


    Someone let out a muffled groan. The elbow strike had left them staggering. The person tried to turn around and escape, but only managed a few steps before stumbling onto the ground. They struggled a few times to get up but failed.


    Garen¡¯s heart was thumping, but it was already his second real fight. Coupled with the changes in his mentality previously, this time was completely different from the first. He wasn¡¯t as panicked compared to before.


    He suppressed his nerves and took a few deep breaths. He examined his waist where he was stabbed: there was a tear in his clothes, apparently caused by a small dagger-like weapon, but his skin was uninjured.


    "If it wasn¡¯t for me learning Explosive Fist Arts for self-defense which solidified my body to an extent comparable to the Body Hardening Technique, that stab would have killed me." Garen looked at the tear. It was right at where his kidney was. A shiver ran down his spine.


    Garen walked up to the man on the ground. The man held a black dagger in his right hand. His clothes were dirty, as if they hadn''t been washed in a long time. He looked like an ordinary homeless person.


    "You won''t be able to live for long now. Master James will avenge me!" The man let out a low sinister laugh and glared at Garen with his beady green eyes. A trace of blood spilled out from the corner of his mouth, his head bent askew, and he was dead. There was a hint of black in the blood that spilled from his mouth: poison.


    The man had committed suicide before Garen could manage to even ask about the situation. Garen crouched to check his pulse and breathing: he was indeed dead.


    Garen felt like he had been dragged into a war between two forces. The man had mistaken him for a member of the opposing force, and committed suicide without a second thought just to prevent himself from leaking any information.


    The harshness and cruelty of this warrior, so ready to die, made Garen shudder.


    "He probably wasn''t sent to specifically tail me. The person in front must have come to retrieve something, and this guy here was probably sent to kill me after he realized that I was following that person. He could also be a spy from the other organization¡­ Seems highly unlikely that I''ve been exposed." Garen breathed a sigh of relief after analyzing the general situation. It was clear that his accidental killing had been mistaken for a deliberate act committed by the opposing side.


    "No wonder when I stopped the car the man so decisively ordered for me to be killed. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time¡­"


    The more Garen thought about the situation, the more he realized that these were the facts.


    He looked around him, there was no movement. The snoring of the homeless men and the arguing voices from the block above could still constantly be heard, with some feral cats in heat making mating call sounds from time to time.


    Garen bent over to examine the assassin and found a gold coin with black and gold stripes in the inner pocket of his coat. Without taking a second look at it, he shoved the gold coin in his pocket and left the same way he came.


    He crept out of the alley when the crowd thinned. He acted as if nothing had happened and went around the city center in circles. It wasn''t until the bell tower in the city chimed the end of the hour that he jogged home in a hurry.


    Creak¡­ Bang.


    Garen shut the front door, changed into slippers and went into the living room.


    The oil lamp in the living room was lit. His father, Eisen Lombard, was reading the newspaper on the sofa with his legs crossed into a figure four. He was wearing black pajamas, and there was a slight twitch in his brows.


    Eisen was a plump middle-aged man with messy indigo hair and a full white beard; he looked like a passionate football coach.


    When he saw that Garen was back, he lifted his plump face and gave him a little nod, but didn''t say a word.


    "Where''s mom?" Garen tried to act naturally as he removed his jacket and hung it on the coat rack by the door.


    "Since it''s a holiday, she''s gone to the block across the street for coffee at Madame Cadney''s," Eisen answered casually. "You only came back after the bell chimed. Don''t stay out for too long next time, it gets dangerous outside when it''s late. There have been a few murders in the city recently. They''ve all happened in places where there were very few people about. Do take care to avoid such places."


    "Yeah, I know. I heard some of my schoolmates mentioning it." Garen nodded.


    "Especially you, always running around in places with very few people."


    "Okay."


    "Be careful when you¡¯re walking around. Your sister has just gone to bed. She has preparatory practice for the tournament tomorrow." Eisen put down the paper, finished his coffee and said, "Since you''re back, I''m going off to bed too. Don''t wait up for mom, she''ll probably be out late."


    "Alright." Garen rested on the sofa for a bit, drank a glass of water, and watched his father close the bedroom door behind him. He waited for a while longer until he heard the lights go off inside the room. He then got up, washed up, switched off the living room lights, and went into his own room.


    He sat by his desk and switched on the desk lamp. Then, he carefully took out the dark gold coin from his pocket and examined it under the light.


    The gold coin was the size of a walnut and was as thick as a normal coin. Engraved on the face of it was a double mast galleon in full sail against the wind. Above the galleon was a snake with its mouth open, ready to bite.


    On the bottom of the coin was a number: 1521.


    On its flip side was a knight''s suit of armor. A sword ran through the armor from within, angled upwards, and a helmet hung from the tip. A garland encircled the whole armor.


    Garen rubbed on the coin repeatedly. He could make out a dark golden color beneath the black paint from a few spots on the flip side of the gold coin.


    As he pressed a finger to the dark gold spots, and the Potential on the bottom of his vision jolted.


    From 179% to 180.


    And then it stopped moving.


    "That''s it?"


    Garen silently put down the gold coin.


    Ever since he¡¯d accrued a few Attribute points at the old man''s place, he hadn''t used any of them, but instead saved them for the time being.


    He originally intended to add them to the White Cloud Secret Method, but later considered that it would probably be better to add them to the Explosive Fist Arts. After all, that was the technique that would give the best results in a short amount of time. On top of that, he hadn''t been successful in getting anything out of the book ever since he borrowed it from the old man, which made him even more reluctant to use the rare Attribute points on anything.


    "I thought I could find something substantial on him. For a member of an organization that¡¯s stolen so many antiques, all he had on him was a gold coin. Should I deem him a side character in the grand scheme of things?"


    He shook his head, then hid the gold coin in the desk drawer.


    "Since this is a misunderstanding, it should end here. I can''t keep getting dragged into it." Recalling how he was stabbed without warning earlier, he broke into a cold sweat.


    "If I hadn¡¯t trained in Explosive Fist Arts which hardened my skin, that stab could have killed me. Fortunately, he was weak. If it were someone stronger, and with some poison on the knife¡­"


    When he thought of this, a shiver ran down his spine.


    "I''ll just stay focused on going to school and practicing martial arts. This business is too dangerous. It''s better if I just leave it to professional detectives like Dale Quicksilver."


    He made up his mind not to meddle in this matter anymore. The Bronze Cross Emblem was valuable, but there was a new source of Potential from the Old Man. Thus, even though he could no longer get any more regular absorption from it, Garen''s desire to get the emblem back gradually faded.


    "I''ll use the last bit of Potential on the White Cloud Secret Method. The sooner I add to it, the faster my strength and physicality can begin to increase."


    He pondered for a second, and finally cast his line of sight onto the White Cloud Secret Method in the Skills pane.


    Slowly, the stream of qi from his brain flowed out and entered one of the items under the White Cloud Secret Method.


    The words gave a shake and gradually blurred, upgrading from ''intermediate'' to ''advanced''.


    Snap!


    A crisp sound rang through his brain. The ''advanced'' instantly blurred and reverted to ''intermediate''. A current flooded back into Garen''s brain.


    "What''s going on?" He frowned and carefully reviewed the Skills pane.


    A new symbol had emerged after ''White Cloud Secret Method''.


    Even though he didn''t know how to pronounce it, Garen strangely understood its meaning: "Information Incomplete".


    "It seems that the teachings of the Secret Method were incomplete. The key to the advanced Secret Method should be in the hands of the dojo masters and key disciples," Garen deduced the truth of the matter.


    He thought about it, then focused his sight on Explosive Fist Arts. Similarly, after the Attribute points were added to it, the words blurred then reverted to ''elementary''. There was a new symbol after it, the meaning of which Garen again immediately understood.


    "Does the intermediate level of Explosive Fist Arts require external drug stimulation as a simultaneous therapy? Otherwise, it would harm the body and mind¡­" He was well aware that, to have been initiated in Explosive Fist Arts without any assistance, was extremely fortuitous.


    It would be the same for the White Cloud Secret Method. The dojo would naturally want to maintain certain core elements within their control. It''s not likely that they would give it all away in one go, otherwise they wouldn''t be so established.


    "So it seems that, to enhance my martial art powers, I have to elevate my status within the dojo." Ever since he transmigrated here, almost all of his time had been spent on his fascination with martial arts. Something that he could only dream of on Earth, he could actually be exposed to here. This had always made Garen excited. And now that he understood the importance of martial arts and the security it provided, his pursuit of it had become more fanatical.


    Although he was encountering some problems, he wasn''t too concerned. As long as he could participate in the dojo''s internal qualifying tournament, he could attain a good ranking and gain the attention of the high-level core figures.


    "Since I can''t add to Skills, I''ll just add to my basic Potentials." He shifted his sight and lingered on the basic Potential pane.


    Strength: 0.53. Agility: 0.23. Physicality: 0.33. Intelligence: 0.36.


    "I''ve added to Vitality, Strength and Intelligence before. I should just add to Agility this time, and check out what effect that has." Garen held a "might as well add to it" attitude toward Attribute points.


    Compared to his ordinary peers, he would have a better starting point no matter which items he added his Attribute points to.


    After all, he had an ordinary body enhanced by Attribute points.


    On top of that, the stabilizing effect of Potentials meant that once he reached a certain level of a Potential, even if he didn''t really train much, the body could still maintain the Potential at its peak and wouldn''t regress. If he didn''t practice martial arts to build up his physicality under such favorable circumstances, even he felt that it would be a sinful waste.

 20 Exclusion 2

    Chapter 20: Exclusion 2


    "The physical test results are out. The results detail resilience, resistance and physical tenacity. Strength decides explosive power, physical strength, and body shape. When intelligence goes up, it becomes much easier to learn. Now, all that¡¯s left is agility."


    He focused on the Agility icon.


    Soon, it jumped to 0.33 from 0.23.


    Within the instant during which the number changed, Garen felt his body turn lighter. His sight turned dim, and his brain was blank as if many things had been moved out of his body.


    He felt like he had taken off a heavy iron suit. His body became incredibly light, and he felt like he could jump onto the roof with just a single stomp on the floor.


    "From what I have concluded, the different attributes of ordinary people should only be around 0.3. Originally, my speed was lower than the others, and that¡¯s why I ran very slowly. These numbers are hard to measure though. It would have been better if all these numbers could be converted with a normal human¡¯s abilities as 1 instead."


    As soon as this thought crossed his mind, the numbers in his sight began to gradually change.


    After more than 10 seconds, the numbers had completely changed.


    Strength: 1.77; Agility: 1.10; Vitality: 1.03; Intelligence: 1.20; Potential: 80%.


    "So the display will change according to the desires I have in my mind. I guess my strength should be over one and a half times the strength of ordinary people. No wonder I could break a thick glass plane and pass the 200-pound sand bag challenge so easily ."


    He turned off the light and opened the window for some fresh air, after which he took off his clothes and lay on his bed. With his entire body filled with the feeling of lightness, he eventually stopped thinking and, very soon, he fell asleep.


    He didn¡¯t know how much time had passed since he fell asleep. When he woke up and opened his eyes, he suddenly heard the door of his room being opened; a short figure slid in and stood beside the door, quietly looking at him. It was Ying Er.


    She was wearing the school uniform, which had a short skirt. On her slim waist was a silver zipper. The skirt was only enough to cover her thighs, and her black pantyhose was obvious.


    "Brother, in fact¡­ In fact¡­ I¡­"


    Garen drowsily got up.


    "Ying Er? What are you doing here so late?" He looked at his sister on the bedside. Under the moonlight, he felt that his sister seemed to be more beautiful and purer. When she unconsciously grabbed her short skirt with her head low, all he could see was the pink on her face.


    "Brother¡­ You¡­ don¡¯t get close to other girls¡­ Can you do that?" Ying Er¡¯s voice was as small as an ant.


    "Are you talking about Ai FeI? We¡¯re just friends." Garen thought about the night when he walked Ai Fei back. With the suspicion in Ai Fei¡¯s eyes while she looked at him, he knew what she meant.


    It looked like Ai Fei suspected that Garen liked her, and that that was why he always protected her. Because of that, she didn¡¯t allow him to send her home. It wasn¡¯t simply not letting others know her home address; it was also turning down his pursuit.


    "I¡¯ve just been turned down. Now, my sister is expressing her love to me? Ying Er¡­ Only you are so naive to think that your brother is the best. You think all girls will like me, like I will be snatched away from you at any second. Well, not every girl thinks so." Garen felt bitter in his heart.


    "So is it that woman who keeps on pestering you? Annoying¡­!" Ying Er curled her hand into a fist. "As long as you promise me you will never talk to that Ai Fei anymore, I will¡­ I will stop beating you up."


    Garen twitched his mouth and didn¡¯t say anything. He felt the words "stop beating you up" were so weird when they came out of his sister¡¯s mouth.


    Ying Er didn¡¯t get any response. She lowered her head a little bit more, thinking that Garen was refusing.


    "As long as you promise¡­ Then I will¡­ I can¡­ I will let you¡­"


    She stepped ahead, took his hand, and slowly pulled it beneath her skirt.


    Garen was frozen in place. From his right hand, he felt a warm and moist feeling that engulfed his entire body. His blood began to boil and, with his body''s rising temperature, a thirst overwhelmed him. His private part was as hard as an iron stick, causing him to feel a bit of pain.


    Finally, he couldn¡¯t hold it!


    "Ying Er!" He finally couldn¡¯t help it anymore. He suddenly sat up and grabbed his sister¡¯s waist with his other hand.


    "Bang!"


    "Ouch¡­"


    Garen opened his eyes.


    "Which ceiling is this¡­" He looked confused. He reached out his left hand and found his fingernails were bloody. "No¡­ It should be a familiar ceiling, the new me is just still not used to it yet¡­"


    "So it was a dream¡­ I was wondering how Ying Er¡¯s personality changed so much. She actually came to me late after midnight." He looked at the ceiling, a red background with black lattices. He felt so lazy that he didn¡¯t want to move, and he was also a bit disappointed.


    While the cold wind blew into the room through the windows, his bed felt warm and cozy. Inside and outside were two seemingly different worlds.


    "I guess I have been infected by this world¡­ In this world, relatives further than three generations could be married. Let alone Ying Er, my sister who is not actually my real sister. It is quite normal that I imagine something about her."


    He slowly took away the quilt and looked at the nightstand. On the edge of the table was a scratch; it must have been his nails that made it.


    He got up from the bed, grabbed his clothes, and put them on. He added a cotton underclothes under his shirt; it appeared a formal suit of long pants and black coat.


    "Mom, there is a hole in my clothes. What should I do?" There came his sister¡¯s voice from the living room.


    "Take it to Mark the tailor. Your brother¡¯s clothes were ripped yesterday. Get them done together." The voice of his mother, Vania, sounded.


    "¡¯Nia, hurry. We have to go. The company car is about to arrive," his father urged. "Where is my tie? My red one!"


    "In the closet."


    "It isn¡¯t there."


    "Then use the black one!"


    "Fine, so be it. Move faster!"


    "Ying Er, please come and help me with the zipper on my back. It¡¯s jammed!"


    "Okay, mother."


    Garen opened the bedroom door and stood beside it.


    In the living room, his father, Eisen, was busy with his tie, and his mother was putting on a long dress with his sister¡¯s help.


    "Are you up, Garen? Our breakfast is bread, milk and an egg for each of us. If it¡¯s not warm enough, put it into the oven for a few seconds. We¡¯re leaving now, we¡¯re going to be late." His mother zipped the dress and tidied it up. She rushed out through the door with her bag in hand.


    "Hurry and eat, then go to school. I¡¯m off!" Eisen left too.


    Bang.


    The door was closed.


    His sister took a breath out and turned around to look at Garen.


    "Hurry up and go wash yourself. We¡¯ve got a bus to catch after breakfast. It is almost seven!"


    "Okay." Garen walked to the washroom. He twisted the faucet and splashed some cold water on his face.


    The water made his skin tense up. He didn¡¯t feel sleepy at all anymore.


    "Today is the day of my competition. Promise me that you will come and see me," Ying Er shouted from outside the washroom as she dressed up. "If you dare go watch the girls¡¯ swimming game like you did last time, I¡¯ll make you beg for mercy!" She raised her fist and shook it.


    "Alright, alright¡­" Garen helplessly shook his head. He had been living for dozens of years, so how would he be controlled by the emotions of a young boy? The dream must have been a reflection of a memory from his past.


    Hmm, it must be.


    Facing the mirror, he tried to convince himself.


    In that mirror, there was a young man who had dark purple hair and red eyes. His skin was pale and exquisite. There was nothing like a pimple on him. He was also emitting a natural sense of confidence and vigor.


    "Come on, stop it. Let me use it!"


    Ying Er brushed up close to him from his right. She moved her head so that both she and Garen could use the mirror at the same time. She cautiously tidied her hair before looking at Garen¡¯s face. All of a sudden, a blush appeared on her face.


    "That face in the old days was a lot safer¡­" she murmured.


    "What did you say?" Garen didn¡¯t hear what she said.


    "Nothing, hurry up."


    It was still the same life: catching a bus, attending a class, and eating. There would be a competition in the afternoon, so the classes were cut short.


    Garen followed the students in the school to the outdoor shooting field.


    ***


    Students from different classes gathered together and formed groups one after another. Some of them even raised their hands holding wooden sticks with banners saying "XXX Go For It". Some of them actually started yelling like a cheer squad.


    The shooting field had two parts: the arrow targets and the shooting fence. The participants needed to shoot from the fence while aiming at the target on the other side. Their scores depended on the rings they would shoot.


    Garen found a place on the left to watch the competition. There were some students and teachers around.


    The sunlight seemed pale, and the temperature wasn¡¯t too high.


    Garen waited for a while. After three groups of people, it was finally Ying Er¡¯s turn.


    She was wearing a clean white shooting robe with a black pant-skirt. It looked like an ancient Chinese dress with black and white colors. She was wearing a pair of yellow gloves and, with one hand, she held a brown wooden bow which was over a meter long.


    She slowly walked to the other two players; both of them were standing still on three shooting spots. They put on a brown leather chest plate, which covered half of their chest.


    "Here comes Ying Er from Class 6 Grade 1, Ilya from Class 7 Grade 1, and David Jones from Class 8 Grade 1. Ying Er from Class 6 is an outstanding player in the Department of Archery. Yi Li Ya has won a medal in a competition in the city. David Jones has just began competing, so it must be quite a challenge for him this time¡­"


    While holding a speaker, a teacher was loudly commentating.


    "Elizabeth from Class 7 Grade 3 has shot five tens. A peak record like that is nearly impossible for others to break. Now, let¡¯s see whether Ying Er or the next up Su Man can break the record."


    Standing from afar, Garen looked at his sister, and Ying Er also looked back at him. He hurriedly smiled and waved his hand.


    Ying Er felt calm. As the preparation sounded, she slowly raised and drew her bow.

 21 Core 1

    From afar, Garen could see three contestants, including his sister. They gently released their bowstrings. Three lines of shadow flew out and nailed their targets.


    His eyesight wasn''t that good, but he managed to see that the arrows of the other contestants were slightly off the mark and Ying Er''s arrow was much closer to the bull''s-eye.


    Cheers and boos roared from the crowd. Class 6, Ying Er''s class, cheered the loudest.


    The competition continued into the second round, followed by the third¡­


    Garen didn''t understand the rules at all. He just kept hearing the crowd cheer every time Ying Er fired an arrow. The classmates from Class 6 and all the female students were yelling Ying Er''s name. It seemed that she was quite popular in school and not as subdued as when she was around their parents.


    The archery event took more than an hour to complete; Garen kept yawning while he watched. When the time finally came for him to take the dojo test, he bid his sister goodbye and squeezed through the crowd behind him towards the exit.


    Coming out of the crowd, the other parts of the Academy that were used for daily teaching seemed deserted. Occasionally, students and teachers would rush past while moving equipment, apparently to prepare for some sporting event.


    Garen looked up at the sky. The sun was pale and its rays didn''t provide any warmth. When an autumn breeze blew at him, a chill went through his body.


    Heading out from the slightly deserted school gate, he turned towards the street where the dojo branch was located.


    White Cloud Dojo had set up this branch dojo right by the street where Shengying Academy was situated. Many of the martial disciples were from the Academy. Combat was regarded as a part of the comprehensive development of quality education, so the Academy had no objections.


    He took out the key and slipped into White Cloud Dojo through the main entrance. There was a mix of young and old people in white clothing sitting in the front hall. One of them was an instructor that Garen had seen teach before, the pretty Sharmilla.


    Garen didn''t know any of the others.


    The seats in the front hall were usually reserved for the management personnel of the branch. Even though disciples were not specifically prohibited from sitting there, there were only those few seats when entering the front hall, so it would be unseemly for juniors to take up that space.


    Garen gave Sharmilla a polite nod, then headed towards the courtyard through the left corridor. He didn''t enter the courtyard, but continued walking left under the eaves. He came to a stop in front a small room with a white door and gently knocked on the door.


    "Come in, it''s not locked," a young man''s voice answered from inside.


    Garen opened the door and walked in.


    The interior resembled an office archive room. A gentleman sat behind a desk. He whirled a pen in his hand, as if deliberating on a problem.


    "Yes? How can I help you? The registration deadline has passed. You''ll have to wait until the next quarter if you want to register." The man didn''t look up from the documents in front of him.


    "I''m not here to register. I''m Garen, one of the branch students chosen to be a Formal Disciple some time back." Garen walked over to the desk, took a chair and sat down. "I''m here to apply to be a Formal Dojo Disciple."


    "Oh that. That''s simple. Fill out this form right here."


    The man handed over a form with a table of details to be filled in: name, age, family, etc.


    Garen took a pen and smoothly began to fill in his personal information. A faint burst of cheering could be heard coming from outside while Garen was filling in the form. It sounded like some disciples had started a duel while the crowd looked on.


    Garen turned around for a look. Peering out from the open door, he could perceive a few onlookers applauding and cheering.


    "Those little bastards outside are betting on a fight. The losers will have to treat the others to dinner tonight. Don¡¯t let them distract you, just fill out your form," the man said with a smile.


    Garen quickly filled out the form and handed it to the man. He saw the man review the details once, then pick up a seal and stamp the form.


    "It''s done. Take this down to the Martial Colosseum and hand it in together with the $1,000 application fee to the Financial Department, then wait for further arrangements."


    "Okay, got it. It''s just as well that I haven''t received my stipend yet. I could directly credit from that." Garen stood up and left the office. He headed back under the eaves, form in hand, while looking at the crowd gathered around the courtyard.


    The sounds of punches and kicks kept coming from the middle of the crowd. Garen peered in through a gap. One of the combatants fighting was a boy from his dojo class, whereas Garen did not recognize the other one.


    There was nothing interesting about the way they fought. They were only slightly better than Garen; they should be normal students from the branch.


    He kept to the path and turned into the front hall. The people who sat there earlier were all gone, with only a young student sweeping inside.


    Without another thought, Garen walked out of the dojo and headed back toward the Academy. The tournament was still in progress, but the focus had switched to a girls'' swimming competition. The girls in swimsuits attracted catcalls from the crowd.


    Without a second look, Garen took the form and headed out from the Academy. He hailed a carriage and directly headed towards the Martial Colosseum.


    *******************


    Ten or so minutes later¡­


    "There are three people applying for the Formal Disciple certification today. I''ll remind you in advance that if your application doesn''t go through, the money you paid won''t be refunded."


    In the white courtyard, a middle-aged man with a handlebar moustache clad in black clothing was speaking loudly to the three youths in front of him.


    "Understood!" shouted the three aloud.


    From left to right stood a black-haired girl, Garen, and a brawny man. All three of them wore white Taoist robes.


    "The test is very simple. Hold me off for half a minute and you pass," the mustached man calmly said. He had his hands crossed over his chest, inadvertently exposing his strong chest muscles and some black hair.


    "Half a minute?" The three of them were stunned. They knew that if the man was confident enough to say that, he must have something up his sleeve.


    "Don''t worry, it''s actually just to test your overall quality," the mustachioed man said casually. "Who''s first?"


    "I''ll do it."


    The black-haired girl was the first to step forward.


    Both didn''t exchange any courtesies. They stood their ground, their eyes met, and they abruptly started.


    The mustachioed man took a forceful step forward and the ground shook slightly. He adopted a bow stance and deftly punched straight forward, not showing any of the delay that White Cloud Dojo trainers usually exhibited.


    The girl didn''t manage to dodge in time and the punch glanced off her shoulder. When she was ready to counter attack, another punch followed, so she could only hastily evade.


    In huffs and puffs, one attacked and one evaded. This continued until they went in a full circle. Finally, the black-haired girl gave a loud cry and fell to the ground.


    The mustachioed man reverted to a resting position and stood still, not the slightest bit out of breath.


    "About 17 seconds." He shook his head.


    "Thank you for your direction, Senior Brother." The girl clenched her teeth, got up, and gave a bow. She then stood aside, ready to see the other two take the test. It was obvious that she wanted to see others'' performance after her own failure.


    Having acquired the Secret Method and Explosive Fist Arts not too long ago, it was very clear to Garen that it should have been impossible for him to instantly apply them. Someone who was able to learn the Explosive Fist Arts in a few weeks wasn''t a genius, he was a monstrosity!


    For this test, he was prepared to use only the minimum amount of power to pass.


    Garen took a look at the brawny man whose brow was furrowed, as if realizing the difficulty of the situation. Those able to participate in the test were extremely confident students from the branch dojos; all of them had learned the Explosive Fist Arts and White Cloud Secret Method.


    It was unclear what level the man¡¯s White Cloud Secret Method was at, but his training in Explosive Fist Arts seemed effective. His muscles and skin had a particular characteristic to them, which looked similar to what an elementary level of achievement would produce.


    Earlier, the girl completely lacked this characteristic and purely relied on a mishmash of techniques complemented by her reflexes.


    "My turn." Garen didn''t want to waste any more time so he stepped forward.


    The mustachioed man glanced at him and seemed slightly impressed.


    "You''re a new disciple who has just been taught fist arts. Not only did you not lose confidence after witnessing the previous challenger, but you still maintain a fighting spirit. Not bad, not bad."


    "Confidence can''t be judged by appearances," Garen replied calmly after taking a deep breath.


    "Very well! Shall I begin?"


    "Please."


    Garen stood in place. The mustachioed man''s waist sunk low as he took a step forward and threw a quick straight punch again. Somehow, Garen instinctively knew that this punch was easy to dodge.


    He didn''t give it another thought as he turned his body sideways to the right. The punch missed. Garen had planned to grab his opponent''s shoulder to do a takedown, but he didn''t expect the man''s fist to recoil and spring forward like a snake to punch straight towards his shoulder.


    There was a ''shwiff'' and Garen didn''t manage to evade this time. The punch grazed his shoulder and he felt a slight burning pain.


    Before he could catch his breath, another punch flew straight at him. This time it hit his right shoulder.


    Garen was determined to face the attack head on, but was worried about revealing his level of Explosive Fist Arts, so all he could do was endure and dodge awkwardly to the side. However, he had never learned any practical dodging skills and was used to facing attacks head on. Although he was able to clumsily escape the full brunt of the punch with his dodge, he was still grazed by the side of the fist.


    Fortunately, his skin was tough enough. His elementary level of training in Explosive Fist Arts had hardened the skin cuticles all over his body. The graze caused a lasting numbing pain, but he was otherwise alright.


    "Eh?" the mustachioed man sounded perplexed. His punches incorporated a certain level of the Explosive Fist Arts so that recipients would not only feel pain, but would also be numbed to the nerves. Consecutively, he had hit the boy in front of him twice, yet the boy seemed fine and was still able to continue dodging.


    Seven to eight seconds had passed.


    [This boy has potential. His physicality seems good. He has a strong constitution for someone his age.] The man had an idea and wanted to test Garen. He retracted his fist and instantly threw it out again with increased speed.


    As he threw the punch, a faint snap came from the sleeve as it tightened at his wrist.


    This punch was aimed to hit Garen squarely in the right shoulder and it was twice as fast as previous strikes so Garen wouldn¡¯t be able to dodge it even if he saw it coming.


    Wham! Garen fell back three steps, standing on the spot with his face slightly flushed. When he tried to raise his right arm, he realized it was completely paralyzed.


    "Ten seconds." The mustachioed man went back into a resting position and stood straight, a trace of disappointment in his eyes. He had a bulky build and his footwork seemed sluggish, but when he actually fought, the explosive speed of his fists was extraordinarily quick.


    "Next. Let''s get this over with."


    The brawny man clenched his teeth and stepped forward.

 22 Core 2

    Garen walked to the side helplessly; he knew that his performance definitely did not qualify. There was a huge difference between half a minute and ten seconds. Previously, he was confident that he would become a high-class disciple after he learned the Explosive Fist Arts, but he didn¡¯t expect that an examiner would be this strong. He thought to himself,


    [Even if I fully unleash my power and fought without holding anything back, I still wouldn¡¯t be able to defeat him.]


    The opponent¡¯s attacking speed was too fast, his strength was high, and the attack carried some kind of paralyzing effect. If someone was struck twice in the same location like Garen, then the result would already be determined at that point.


    Bam! Bam!


    Like Garen expected, the brawny man who went up next did not make it past the thirty second mark either. The man clutched his shoulder and got off of the stage.


    The man with the mustache was at ease; he didn¡¯t even sweat. He relaxed his fists and lightly said to the three people, "Ok, the test is over. Your scores are far from qualifying. You guys still need to work hard. You are now dismissed."


    At this point, Garen realized that the examiner didn¡¯t even use his full strength; fighting the three applicants was like a walk in the park for him. Garen tried to estimate the man with the mustache¡¯s level and strength.


    [He¡¯s probably reached the maximum adult physical strength limit just like me, but he is way faster. His Explosive Fist Arts can¡¯t be at the elementary level, it must be at the intermediate level or above. From his status, it seems like his White Cloud Secret Arts is also at the intermediate level or above. He is also very, very skillful in terms of fighting techniques.]


    After comparing himself with the mustache man, Garen felt a little bit better.


    The black-haired girl on the side stepped up when she saw the test was over.


    "Teacher, can you tell us what level of fighter you are right now?"


    "What level?" The man with the mustache smiled as he smoothed his wrinkled clothes. "Do you know how fighters are ranked?" he asked.


    The black-haired girl nodded and said, "I only know the Grandmaster of Combat rankings that the Confederation uses."


    "That doesn¡¯t count. That¡¯s only the ranking for fake exhibition matches," the examiner said. He became a bit excited and continued, "I will tell you guys the ranking system that we have in our circle."


    He pointed out three fingers.


    "The first level are ordinary people who know a little fighting technique, or people who are interested in learning. This level also includes special forces from the military who are able to easily take care of one or two hooligans. We call this level Amateur.


    "These amateurs are probably our dojo¡¯s primary source of income, right?" The brawny applicant continued where the man with the mustache left off.


    "That¡¯s right. Because these hobbyists are excited to train, they are willing to spend money, just like how you guys got started. Also, the masters in our industry would sometimes be invited to teach at an influential or powerful amateur¡¯s home, which is how the network in the industry originated. When a master is looking for a disciple, potential and physical requirements are only part of the equation; family background is also very important.


    "That makes sense," Garen nodded. "It¡¯s impossible for a master to teach people for free and also offer free food and accommodations. After all, masters are people too and still need money to live."


    "I know some of it." The black-haired girl continued, "Our White Cloud Dojo operates like this and our Dojo Master is a wealthy merchant who runs a huge corporation.


    "You are all formal disciples and you guys might teach other people martial arts in the future. Therefore, I¡¯ll give you guys some hints." The man with mustache nodded as he said, "There are two types of disciples you should look for."


    He pointed out his index finger.


    "One is the disciple who has a robust background with either money or influence. These type of disciples are there for the purpose of coverage and increased influence in the industry. They don¡¯t have to be strong, but they have to be beneficial for the master¡¯s brand."


    Then he pointed out the second finger.


    "Next, there are the real inheriting disciples. The key traits to look for are potential and the fundamentals. They should be taught with all care since they would need to step up in the future when the master gets old and weak and can¡¯t fight anymore. They need to be strong to maintain the reputation and the status of the dojo brand in the industry, so the brand doesn¡¯t become a stepping stone for other people.


    "The selection process for heritage disciples is very rigorous; it''s very different from teaching other disciples. Many heritage disciples came from bad family backgrounds, so the master needed to be there to cultivate them. This kind of master-disciple relationship would be the most solid; it would be very close to a parent-child relationship. Eventually, the strongest heritage disciple would inherit everything that the master had. The other disciples would become the backbone of the brand.


    "Therefore, you guys have to pay attention to these criteria when you¡¯re looking for a disciple. If you want to cultivate disciples properly, you have to have money and resources."


    After he said that, the man with mustache fell silent for a moment and seemed like he was recalling something.


    "Right. We were talking about the ranking for the fighters, how did we end up here?" He quickly snapped out of it. He smiled and said, "Let¡¯s focus on the rankings. Amateurs can be considered at the bottom. One level higher would be the professionals; the professional fighters who were trained from a young age. This becomes more complicated and ranges from people who are able to fight off three to five hooligans to people who are not afraid when faced with a dozen people to a few dozen people. As long as firearms are not involved, fighters in this rank can handle it. No one knows how strong someone is in this rank unless they fight them first hand. Most people can only estimate someone¡¯s strength by using their fame and influence. Oh, the Confederation¡¯s five ranks from A to E also applies here. For example, I¡¯m considered an E rank. The letter ranks represent the degree of ability."


    "The smaller ranks within the amateur level are ranked from 1 to 9. Letter ranks are only used when someone is at a higher rank than amateur.


    "Above the professionals, there are the Dojo Masters. People rarely achieve this rank in the industry. You are not a Dojo Master if you simply open up a Dojo; it¡¯s more complicated than that. Dojo Master represents a completely different level.


    "Are people in this rank the same people who are able to break a gigantic green boulder with one punch?" The brawny man¡¯s eyes shined.


    "Hehe¡­ that is the story of Dojo Master Rizal who has the nickname of Belligerent Fist. You are roughly correct. At this level, they have reached the peak of human potential and are at an unimaginable level. Dojo Master Rizal can¡¯t block a bullet with his body, yet his defense is considered one of the best in the industry." The man with the mustache laughed, "You could never reach that level, but it¡¯s because of these fascinating stories that we are motivated to train and practice our skills, is it not?"


    "My goal is to become someone like Dojo Master Rizal and stand at the very peak!"


    "So could someone on the Dojo Master level beat one hundred people alone?" The black-haired girl asked another question.


    "If the hundred people are just thugs, then Dojo Master could beat them easily one after another. Dojo Masters could probably also beat them if they all come at the same time. Top ranked masters don¡¯t have any obvious shortcoming in terms of speed or endurance. The people with obvious shortcomings have already died in real fights." The man with mustache shook his head as he sighed.


    "Alright, you guys can go now. Come back after you guys practice more." He waved his hand and said, "Just soak the part of your body that got punched with hot water and the numbness will go away."


    "Ok!" The three of them replied individually. Although they didn¡¯t pass the test, they were a bit excited after learning a lot of industry secrets that outsiders did not know.


    It was Garen¡¯s first time hearing this information about the Martial Arts world, but he felt it was very similar to the Martial Arts world on Earth. He pretended to be excited by this knowledge as he thought about his current situation and started to walk away.


    [Looks like I have to become one of the two types of disciple this man talked about in order to get the core teachings. I have no hope of becoming the first type, but the second type is possible; the difficulty level is just a bit high.] Garen thought to himself.


    "Hey, young man named Garen, wait a second!"


    He heard the examiner shout.


    Garen was surprised, but he turned around instantly.


    "What do you need?" he asked the man with the mustache, who was walking towards him, perplexedly.


    "You passed, why are you walking away?" The man with the mustache was also confused.


    "My scored passed?"


    Garen was shocked.


    "Yeah, you are only sixteen, your requirements are different compared to theirs. Couldn¡¯t you tell that they are adults?" The man with mustache smiled and said, "You are the only disciple who passed the test these past few years. Which branch are you from? Who is your instructor?"


    When Garen quickly realized what was going on, he was delighted.


    "I¡¯m from the Shengying Academy branch, my instructors are Sharmilla and Luo Ya."


    "Your body is quite strong." The man with mustache squeezed Garen¡¯s shoulders. "After some training, you are already about rank 4 or 5. You are fine even after taking two punches from me, especially the second punch. Yet you have fully recovered already. From the data that I read, you were still thin last month, but you grew a lot."


    Garen on the other hand just smiled, he didn¡¯t know how to explain everything.


    "Ok! Kid, you have a good foundation. Let¡¯s go, come with me and meet your senior brothers and sisters. I didn¡¯t expect that I would accept another disciple in my fifties." The man rubbed his mustache and said with a smile.


    "Accepting disciple?" Garen was surprised. "Are you the Dojo Master Fei Baiyun?!!" He thought the man was only a regular examiner.


    "Why? I don¡¯t look like him?" the man with mustache said with a semi-smile on his face.


    "No, no¡­ You just look too young. You look like you are in your forties and I heard that the Dojo Master is in his fifties," Garen quickly spilled out the truth of what he was thinking.


    "You little punk¡­" Dojo Master Fei Baiyun rubbed Garen¡¯s hair and felt speechless. "I have nothing to do at this age, so I decided to come to the Dojo and test disciples with the hope to find some disciples with high potential. Surprisingly, I actually found a few in the last dozen years; they are your senior brothers and sisters.


    "Also, you were trying to hide your full strength earlier. There is no need to hide your tiny amount of strength. You are not at that level yet. When you meet your senior brothers and sisters, don¡¯t do that or it would only make them laugh, especially your senior sister. For the purpose of practice, she has beaten a dozen full grown white bears to death."


    The mustached man laughed.


    "White bear¡­!!" Garen was defeated by this information. He had only read about this creature in books. A white bear was about a man¡¯s height when it stood up and its rough skin was very thick. This skin could not even be penetrated by a bullet from afar and could only be pierced at close range. It had about a ton, or 2,000 pounds, of strength. The senior sister that he hadn¡¯t met yet was able to beat a dozen white bears to death? It was unimaginable!


    "Of course it¡¯s not like what you think. They didn¡¯t attack her at the same time. She only fought one bear at a time. The white bear isn¡¯t very fast, so if you could dodge its attack, you could win easily by counterattacking. However, none of your dodges can fail or else you could be killed. Only under this life-threatening pressure is your senior sister able to improve quickly," the man with the mustache said with deep feelings.


    "Let¡¯s go. I will introduce you to them. I know about your family background as well. You don¡¯t have to host a fancy ceremony or anything. I will invite some of my friends in the industry to come as witnesses for a simple acceptance ceremony. The Dojo will pay for all your training related expenses so your family doesn¡¯t have to worry about the cost. After your parents witness the ceremony, you will officially become my formal disciple.


    "Ok, master!" Garen nodded seriously. Although he knew that he could reach this formal disciple level, he didn¡¯t expect it to happen so fast.


    Life in the true Martial Arts World of this era was about to slowly unfold for him.

 23 The Core 1

    "This will be the first time that I can actually enter the real martial arts circle!"


    Garen was excited. After all, he loved martial arts when he was on Earth, but didn¡¯t have the opportunity to train and learn when he was young. Now, with this opportunity as the beginning, his lifelong most cherished dream was about to be realized.


    "The only thing a bit strange is that some people have names similar to Chinese names, like the name Fei Baiyun. It sounds like a Chinese name. He even seems like a grandmaster of combat who went to western countries to teach martial arts."


    Garen followed Fei Baiyun as they walked under the eaves of the roof. Garen couldn¡¯t hold the thoughts in his mind any longer, so he asked, "Master, you¡¯re not of the Confederation, right?"


    Fei Baiyun nodded as he smiled. "You can tell? Yeah, my name is pretty different from the names here at Yalu Confederation. I wasn¡¯t born in the Yalu Confederation, I¡¯m from a huge empire at the east."


    "East? Like from Republic of the Tulip?" Garen asked.


    "No, it¡¯s a place very far away, very far that not even planes can get there. Only huge ships can¡­" The smile on Fei Baiyun¡¯s face slowly disappeared, only to be replaced with a tinge of sorrow. "We were only able to reach this place because we were very lucky. I can¡¯t even return now. Enough of this, we¡¯re almost there. Be careful not to get hazed by your senior brothers and sisters," he said.


    "Oh¡­ok¡­" Garen answered. However, he was still thinking of the modern China back on Earth. The two of them walked into the lounge and started heading up the side stairs to the second floor. Garen saw the two disciples who had participated in the test with him in the lounge talking with a blond man. The black-haired girl turned around and looked at Garen, traces of envy apparent on her eyes.


    The other strapping man shrugged his shoulders and said, "Don¡¯t feel envious. If you have time to envy someone, you are better off training more and then fighting for your entrance qualifications next time."


    "We are all getting older¡­ There¡¯s no chance." The girl shook her head and said, "This is the last time that I¡¯ll be here. My parents are sending me abroad to Cisilyn to study Business Management. The only time I can come to the Dojo would be during long breaks. This little kid must have passed the test. What¡¯s his name again?"


    "I just saw it moments ago. I think he wrote Garen on the data sheet." The strapping man also turned around to look at Garen.


    "Alright, alright. People like us can never devote 100% of our time and energy into training. We are still able to live how we want to live at present, but when we get older, we¡¯ll have to accept the arrangements from our families. Therefore, not qualifying could be considered as something good. We won¡¯t regret this after all." A helpless expression popped on the blond man¡¯s face as he said, "I¡¯m really envious of senior sister Rosetta¡­"


    The three of them fell into silence for a moment as they heard the name Rosetta.


    Garen vaguely heard their conversation and looked at them. He just saw the black-haired girl raising her fist at him, cheering him on.


    He nodded back as he smiled and gestured an "OK" sign back. He then quickly followed Fei Baiyun to the second floor.


    The second floor was a wide, open hall. A layer of dark brown carpet was laid on the ground, and a huge grey circle was drawn at the center of hall.


    On the four corners were a couple of red wooden cylinders that supported the roof.


    What was strange was that there wasn''t a column at the center of the room to support the roof. The ceiling of the hall looked like two slanted flat boards leaning against each other such that it looked firm and aesthetically pleasing.


    There was a huge black and white oil painting at the end of the hall. Garen saw it clearly as he was walking up the stairs. The painting was of a huge white ship sailing across the waves and tides in the ocean.


    Under the oil painting were a few tables and chairs made of redwood. Two people in black uniforms were chatting there; one of them was standing while the other was sitting on a chair.


    The one standing was a girl that looked in her twenties. Her dark brown hair was tied into a ponytail, which was draped over her shoulder. She was wearing a pair of tight black shorts and a camisole under a vest, her fair-skinned, slender arms and thighs fully exposed. What was intriguing was her big chest under the camisole. Its size made it seem as though the zipper of her vest would break anytime.


    The girl leaned against the wall. From afar, Garen could see her facial features that made her look very valiant. Her lips most especially, the way she spoke was concise and persuasive. She was definitely someone who was straightforward and powerful.


    The one who was standing was a white-haired man. He was also in his twenties, but he looked ordinary and had a fatigued countenance. He was the kind of person whom you couldn¡¯t easily recognize on the street. However, his arms were quite lengthy to the extent that when he was seated, his hands could effortlessly touch the ground. It gave people an feeling of incongruence.


    Both of them stood straight and walked toward the stairs as they saw Fei Baiyun taking someone up here.


    "Master, you found someone after the test today?" The brown-haired girl was surprised, her curiosity evident as she observed Garen carefully up and down.


    "I finally found someone with high potential. His foundation and work ethics are both above average. I will stop taking disciples after this last one." Fei Baiyun laughed as he sat down on a chair. "His name is Garen. He will be your junior brother from now on."


    "Last one? Hehe! Finally someone who is younger than me!" The white-haired man said with a villainous smile on his face, "I¡¯ve been waiting for this day for so long. All the senior brothers and sisters had been bullying me whenever they got bored, and I wasn¡¯t even allowed to fight back! Now it¡¯s finally my turn."


    "Look at you! Do you think you are getting bullied just because you are the youngest?" The brown-haired girl knocked him on the head half-angrily.


    "Alright, alright. Introduce yourselves. All four of you will be helping and relying on each other from now on. I won¡¯t be taking any more disciples in the future after all." Fei Baiyun smiled and said with his eyes half-squinted.


    The brown-haired girl nodded and said, "I will go first."


    She looked at Garen who was standing obediently at the side and said: "My name is Rosetta, the first disciple of the master. I will be your senior sister from now on."


    The white-haired man put away his ridiculous smile and said, "I¡¯m your second brother Joshua¡­"


    "Second brother? Screw you!"


    A tough, gigantic, towering man quickly rushed up the stairs. His voice was as deep as thunder, and he had a white tiger tattooed on his upper body.


    "Hey, little Josh, since when did you become the second brother here? Why haven¡¯t I heard of it?"


    "Eh¡­ Isn¡¯t this our strong, handsome, invincible and charming second brother Farak?" Joshua shivered as he hid behind his senior sister.


    "I said third brother. You must have misheard it! Misheard¡­ Hehe." A timid expression appeared on Joshua¡¯s face, as if he was a mouse who had just met a cat.


    The towering Farak ignored Joshua. He walked up to Fei Baiyun and clenched his fists to salute. "Master, I heard that you just took in a junior brother; I came here just to meet and welcome him."


    "Come, let¡¯s all sit down."


    Fei Baiyun was most proud of his second disciple Farak. Farak was only in his twenties, and yet he was already at level 3 in terms of the White Cloud Secret Arts. His Explosive Fist Arts were also at level 2. With the herculean strength that he was born with, his combat ability was off the charts. Farak, at this point, wasn¡¯t weaker than Fei Baiyun when he was at this age. Although Farak still couldn''t beat his disciple Rosetta, Farak¡¯s strong physique and his direct fist-to-fist combat style was the most compatible with everything that White Cloud Dojo was teaching, and it was the style that Fei Baiyun really favored.


    "Your junior brother just became my disciple, so he hasn¡¯t learnt anything yet. You guys should bully him less." Fei Baiyun stretched his neck as he said with a smile, "After a year or two, he will be in a much better shape."


    "Nothing wrong with that. Junior brother, just come and ask me if you don¡¯t understand anything! I have a lot of experience in evasive maneuvers." Rosetta smiled with her arms crossed in front of her chest.


    "I specialize in heavy punches. You can come and ask me if you don¡¯t understand anything in terms of explosive strength." Farak patted Garen¡¯s shoulder.


    "And me, your third brother. If you need any help, just come and find me at Huaishan. But if you are at any other place, then I can¡¯t do anything about it¡­ Hehe."


    "Now, we are all brothers and sisters, so there will be more opportunities to get to know each other in the future. How about we go and celebrate now?"


    The conversations were very intimate. Although Garen was the weakest of them, none of his senior brothers or sister looked down on him. All of them were the disciples of the master and were so intimate that they looked like a family.


    Bam! Bam! Garen got patted by the powerful palms. He was fortunate enough to have achieved the elementary level on the Explosive Fist Arts. Otherwise, his body might not be able to take the full brunt of these pats on the shoulders.


    "Let¡¯s go to Worcester Restaurant; they have some great seafood. The dishes there all taste amazing." Rosetta suggested.


    "I will pass this time. You young people are able to have more fun together without me." Fei Baiyun smiled as he shook his head. "I have some other plans already. I have to meet up with an old friend."


    "Okay then. We will just hang out with ourselves tonight. We¡¯ll treat Master some other time!" Rosetta waved her hand as she said with the temperament of a senior sister, "Let¡¯s go test Junior Brother¡¯s foundation!!"


    "I like it!" The third brother Joshua said as he peeked at Garen with "malicious intent".


    "Don¡¯t bully the junior brother!" the towering Farak smacked his palm on Joshua¡¯s head and rubbed his hair. "He just became master¡¯s disciple! He is not there yet!"


    Garen stood on the side and watched his senior brothers and sister messing around until Fei Baiyun stopped them; he was smiling the whole time.


    "Okay, who is first? Make sure you don¡¯t use your full strength."


    "I will go first." Joshua was excited. Although he was in his twenties, he was still acting like a kid.


    He stretched his black uniform and walked to the center of the hall. He then lowered his right palm and gestured Garen to come.


    Although Garen wasn¡¯t too sure what it meant, he knew that this was some kind of test to reveal his full strength, or it could be to see where he ranked among the four of them. The most important reason of all, however, was probably to show him how strong his senior brothers and sister were, so as to properly establish their positions as his Seniors.


    In a dojo, Seniority was established by fighting, not talking.


    Garen walked up to the center of the hall and faced third brother Joshua.


    He put on a simple boxing defense pose. He didn¡¯t know anything about proper combat, so he could only use this most basic boxing stance which could help him exert his full power.


    Joshua smiled, letting Garen see all of his white teeth. "Be careful, I¡¯m attacking!"


    As soon as Joshua finished the sentence, he leapt forward and aimed his right palm at Garen¡¯s right elbow. This attack was so fast that it created a ¡®Whoosh!" sound.


    This strike was average in terms of speed and power in an outsider¡¯s view; it looked like a simple greeting that friends would give each other.


    But it was different in Garen¡¯s eyes.


    Although this palm strike from Joshua wasn¡¯t fast, it gave him a flexible and agile feeling. Garen¡¯s instinct told him that if he tried to dodge this strike, this strike would quickly change trajectories and follow his body tightly.


    From the wind that this palm strike generated, Garen felt that the strength in this strike wasn¡¯t weak at all.


    Many thoughts went through Garen¡¯s mind, but he didn¡¯t overthink the situation. He took this strike head-on, but he also suppressed a part of his strength just like what he did during the test with Fei Baiyun. He only exerted about 140 pounds of force.


    At the same time, he swung his arm from the side and slapped at Joshua¡¯s approaching palm.


    Pia!


    "Eh? Junior Brother¡¯s reaction is very quick!" Senior Sister Rosetta was surprised as she suddenly stood up from her chair. "Although Joshua¡¯s speed isn¡¯t that fast, most people in our White Cloud Dojo couldn¡¯t really spot his attacks clearly. I didn¡¯t expect Junior Brother to react this fast and block the attack before it reached him. His vision and body reaction are far superior than average disciples."


    "Of course," Master Fei Baiyun laughed proudly. "This is where his talent lies, and he is sly enough to hide some of his strength. White Cloud Secret Arts is the technique that we practice at White Cloud Dojo. Although it could result in a substantial strength increase, speed and reaction times would be negatively affected. Therefore, the key reason why I took your junior brother in is because of his talent and potential in speed and reaction time. This way, his natural abilities will cover up the shortcomings of White Cloud Secret Arts."


    "Master, you are right. Disciples from our White Cloud Dojo have always lost in speed compared with other Dojos." Rosetta calmed down and agreed with Fei Baiyun.


    In combat, after Garen blocked the first palm strike, he kept on consciously trying to block and parry the palm strikes coming from all angles. These strikes struck his body and made continuous hard slapping sounds.


    Every time a palm landed on Garen¡¯s body, he would feel a numbing sensation of weakness dispersing into his body.

 24 The Core 2

    His agility, eye speed, and physical reaction were all fast enough to match the fist¡¯s speed. However, he usually could only block the first punch before the change in attack method left him defenseless.


    After being whacked more than ten times, Garen staggered a few steps backward . To be beaten up repeatedly without a chance to counter attack made him very depressed. When he finally stabilized his body, he hastily pushed forward with his palm.


    There was no technique involved with what he was doing. It was a simple and plain strike in the form of a palm. It received the powerful palm from Joshua head-on.


    Bang!


    The two palms clashed together with great force.


    Garen turned his foot and fell back more than 10 steps. His face turned white and, for a moment, he could not catch his breath.


    All he felt was a surge of heat that spun around continuously in his chest. This heat was trapped inside and could not leave his body. The middle of his right palm was boiling hot and as red as a lobster.


    Looking up, he saw Third Senior Brother Joshua walking over with a worried look.


    "Are you okay Junior Brother? Just now I got lost in the moment and forgot you were underage. I used a little bit too much power¡­"


    "It¡¯s okay¡­" Garen had felt Third Senior Brother restrain his strength when he realized something was wrong. As a result, Garen was not wounded at all. Garen lifted his right arm, "My blood is just a little congested."


    Just now, he estimated that Third Senior Brother¡¯s palm strength definitely exceeded 180 pounds. Looking at Joshua, Garen was sure that that was not even Joshua¡¯s limit. Joshua was also definitely a freak who could surpass 200 pounds.


    "Joshua¡¯s strength is around 300 pounds, the weakest one out of all of us. My strength is about 350 pounds. Your Second Senior Brother is the strongest. He was tested two days ago and his strength is above 450 pounds," Elder Senior Sister Rosetta walked over. She grabbed Garen¡¯s arm and massaged it slowly.


    "Martial arts does not comply with the idea that the stronger you are, the more likely you are to win." Second Senior Brother Frank rubbed his chin. "Rosetta, you have already surpassed Stage E of training. I am still stuck at Amateur Stage Nine."


    "You are lacking in agility. Having only strength is not necessarily a good thing. It slows you down because you are so heavy." Rosetta pinched Frank¡¯s arm with a smile on her face. "Look at all the fat on your body. When we hang out tonight, we will have to order extra meat just for you."


    "That¡¯s because I¡¯m consuming a lot of energy now," Frank shrugged helplessly. "Next, let me test the extent of our Junior Brother¡¯s skills. At the same time, we can roughly evaluate the highest stage our Junior Brother can achieve."


    "Sounds good. After all, you are one of the judges in our city that determines the Amateur Martial Arts placements," Rosetta agreed while nodding.


    Frank, nicknamed Eiffel Tower because he was two meters tall, stood in front of Garen and forcefully pushed Joshua away. Joshua speechlessly ran to the side and sat down to watch the battle.


    "Junior Brother, you better beat him up good!" Joshua waved his fist and softly encouraged.


    "Senior Brother, you got our roles mixed up¡­" Garen smiled bitterly.


    Everyone in the group softly laughed.


    "Please." Frank stood barefoot on the ground. He casually swung his arm and released a wave of wind that made a mess of Garen¡¯s hair, despite a distance of four meters between them.


    Garen knew that these Senior Siblings were fully grown adults. Not only had their strength reached the usual limit, but the synergy between the Explosive Fist Arts and other techniques raised their peak strength far beyond the standard maximum value. After all, the standard value was set based on an average adult male.


    Therefore, everyone here was much stronger than him. At times like this, not displaying any personality defects or bad habits was more than enough. Winning was simply impossible for Garen.


    Comprehending this, he inhaled deeply. He expanded his chest and held his breath.


    Side step! Straight punch!


    Bang!


    The fist hit Frank¡¯s body heavily. It felt like the punch landed on a rubber car tire that was sturdy but elastic. The powerful rebound caused Garen to retreat four to five steps.


    Feeling this shocking resistance, Garen was aghast.


    "Your guess is correct. The technique I practice is the Mammoth Secret Technique," Frank replied with a smile. "The Explosive Fist Technique is a basic technique in our dojo. It is an iconic technique that enhances the user¡¯s explosive power. Of course, it also makes the skin more durable. The real Secret Method of our dojo is the Mammoth Secret Technique. This is a secret technique that we do not pass down publicly."


    "A secret technique?"


    "Yes, every dojo has exclusive martial arts skills called secret techniques that they selectively teach. In White Cloud Dojo, the Explosive Fist Technique cannot be considered strong because most dojos have similar techniques. However, the Mammoth Secret Technique is different. It is something unique that only we have and other dojos don¡¯t. This technique allows the user to defend himself while enhancing muscle strength," Frank explained patiently.


    "Now I will use one-tenth of my power to attack you. You should try to block me."


    "Alright."


    Garen readied himself in a guarding position as he concentrated fully on the opponent. All the strength in his body converged. He knew that even if he unleashed all his strength, in front of his Second Senior Brother, he was considered to be the same level as a bean sprout. He could easily be destroyed with one wave of his Senior Brother¡¯s hand. However, during these times, he especially needed to be careful and not expose his secret.


    No matter how much talent one has, it was impossible to perfect the White Cloud Secret Method and elementary Explosive Fist Technique within a month. To successfully do so was beyond the capabilities of a genius. Only a freak or a monster could achieve that.


    The moment someone dug deep into the issue, they could find out about his secret abilities.


    Frank stretched out his right arm and grabbed Garen¡¯s right shoulder with his big hand. Like a handheld folding fan that was blasted down by a strong gust of wind, Frank pushed down.


    The two of them stood together. One was unmistakably gigantic, the other was extremely petite. It was like an adult capturing a kid.


    The speed of the palm was not that fast, but the way it moved seemed inescapable. The giant hand was quivering nonstop, as if at any time it could swing in any direction it wanted. This feeling of uncertainty clouded Garen¡¯s judgment and he had no idea which direction to dodge if he wanted to evade.


    Helplessly, he mustered 140 pounds of strength and met the palm with resolution.


    After he struck, Garen felt like he hit a metal plate. The throbbing from the collision greatly pained his hand. A strange wave of power pressed down from the top of Frank¡¯s hand. It wasn¡¯t exactly heavy, however as soon as Frank¡¯s palm contacted with Garen¡¯s, a forceful shivering and numbness extended down Garen¡¯s arm.


    Subconsciously, to resist this numbness, Garen unleashed all his strength and ruthlessly pushed forward with two hundred pounds worth of strength.


    The result was the same.


    Flopping, he fell on his butt to the ground. His entire body was numb and he had no strength left in his body.


    Frank nodded in approval and retracted his hand.


    "Your physique is not bad. If you learn some fundamental combat arts and do not conceal a part of your strength, then achieving Amateur Stage Six is no problem."


    "Really??" Garen lowkey celebrated. "Stage Five amateurs can earn five to six thousand monthly if employed¡­" He then bitterly smiled. He thought that he could battle equally with these Senior Disciples if he used all of his strength. However, the result was all the same because of his weak abilities.


    "Only five to six thousand could make you this happy? Are you in need of money?" Fei Baiyun walked over and slapped the top of Garen¡¯s head.


    "I have something I want to buy." Garen then suddenly remembered that the emblem was gone. The happiness he felt died down.


    "Before your Senior Disciples, you dare to hide your real strength? Did you know that your Second Senior Brother was born with monstrous strength before he was introduced to martial arts? At age 15, he had 200 pounds of strength, a height of 1.9m, and doubled your Elder Senior Sister in size. So you were born with more strength than a regular person, what¡¯s there to hide?" Elder Senior Sister Rosetta teased.


    Garen was speechless. As long as nobody found out about his unusual level in the Explosive Fist Technique and the Secret Method, he was okay.


    Behind him a few people dragged out chairs and sat down. The three Senior Disciples began to discuss the details of the recent practice just now.


    Elder Senior Sister advised on aiming only to hit the vitals of the opponent using speed and explosive force. Hitting the fatal areas of the opponent was the easiest and cleanest way to win a battle. Therefore, she taught Garen that in order to kill with one attack, he must pay attention, dodge, and respond to the opponent¡¯s explosive power. It would most effective for him to concentrate all his time and energy on improving only one area.


    Second Senior Brother advocated for overall strength. He lectured Garen to exercise his whole body because if he was able to fully improve physically, he could face any situation with ease.


    Third Senior Brother believed in survival before anything else. If one cannot beat the opponent, one should run. He believed that practicing martial arts just to strengthen the physique was enough, therefore there was no point in fighting to the point of injury or death. It would be unpleasant to ruin relationships between people and enemies would only accumulate if one always fought every battle to the end. Based on his beliefs, the more friends the better, since everyone would live in harmony that way.


    Third Senior Brother¡¯s beliefs were unanimously despised by everyone else. Elder Senior Sister and Second Senior Brother¡¯s debate over who was right became more and more heated. In the end, they could not reach a consensus and ended up battling it out physically.


    After a few rounds that lasted for more than 10 minutes, Second Senior Brother was eventually defeated, though he did not admit defeat. It was obvious that his strength exploded too quickly and he was very afraid of hurting Elder Senior Sister. Because of his thick skin and fat, he was instead punched repeatedly, losing the battle.


    Garen watched from the side with cold sweat spilling out of his pores. Only when these Senior Disciples battled each other did he realize their true strength.


    He was terrified that he would be helplessly slaughtered in seconds the moment he went against any of them.


    Eldest Senior Sister was the strongest, yet still was only at Stage E, so it was difficult to imagine what higher staged seniors could do.


    "Alright, alright, everyone stop," Fei Baiyun announced while loudly clapping. He looked at Garen and said, "Don¡¯t think too much. The reality is that the higher you go, the harder it is to step into the next stage. Those above the E Stage usually have a better understanding of the laws behind these techniques. Those big dojos are all the same. Strength like your Second Senior Brother¡¯s can be placed at the medium to upper class anywhere."


    "Those who achieve higher stages are usually stronger when it comes to special Secret Methods. For example, I know about a type of Secret Method that could instantly accelerate and achieve unmatchable speed for the user. Combine that ability with a sharp weapon and a high-quality killer secret technique is created. Different techniques have different effects based on different environments and the influences around them. In our White Cloud Dojo, we were enlightened with the Mammoth Secret Technique from the inspiration of the mammoth."


    Garen knew that his real abilities were nothing before his master and his Senior Brothers and Sister. Everyone here was considered to be great figures within the martial arts community. Although Garen did not know how they would fare in real battles, regular people could not kill his seniors even if they had guns, unless they attacked vital areas.


    Fortunately, his master and Senior Disciples did not even consider the fact that he had already advanced the White Cloud Secret Arts to the second stage. If he could reach stage three, then he could improve his strength attribute again.


    None of this was actually important. From the Senior Disciple¡¯s conversations, Garen learned that the White Cloud Secret Arts was used to enhance strength. With every increase in level, it could forcefully improve the strength attribute. However, the end result was already determined at birth.


    The higher a person¡¯s natural talent was, the greater the increase in strength, and the stronger the total strength.


    Second Senior Brother was a perfect example of this. He was born strong and trained the White Cloud Secret Arts to a high level. Coupled with the Mammoth Secret Technique, his strength grew to a frighteningly powerful level.


    The key point was that Garen¡¯s strength attribute could be improved infinitely by his special ability. Therefore, he could reach the same level as his Second Senior Brother despite his lack of natural talent.


    Compared to Elder Senior Sister¡¯s style of hitting the vital points of the opponent, Garen was leaning more toward Second Senior Brother¡¯s straightforward style of being holistically trained. With this method, there would be no vital weakness. No matter how critical the situation becomes, his fighting style could face it easily and effectively.


    Even now, Garen¡¯s heart was actually still filled with fear and insecurity toward this world. These emotions, along with his crazy passion for martial arts, made him more than willing to devote all his energy into training.

 25 Abilities 1

    After exiting the Dojo, the few Seniors came out for food and drinks. As Garen was practically force fed alcohol and had gotten somewhat tipsy, he was afraid to go back home and be punished for underage drinking.


    Since his Senior Siblings bombarded him and requested him to drink, Garen had no choice but to give them the satisfaction and comply. Any one of them there had the ability to disable him with one hand.


    After finalizing plans for next week¡¯s Acceptance Ceremony, Garen finally managed to get out of the hotel. He wandered down the city roads at night to digest the alcohol.


    As he walked, his head felt heavy while his feet felt light. After roaming the streets for a long time, he unknowingly returned to Pennington Street.


    The moonlight was like a white veil that draped down, the entire street appeared milky and misty.


    Faint lights peeked out of the windows in the two buildings on the side. People¡¯s shadows moved from time to time beneath the faint yellow light, and a piano was dimly playing; its beats were crisp and a little choppy.


    Garen walked along the right sidewalk. Gusts of cold wind blew onto his face, clearing his foggy mind.


    In front of him, a black double carriage approached. On the carriage, the hanging horse lights shook from side to side, shining bright enough to see only the rider¡¯s silhouette.


    The carriage passed by Garen before turning into the corner and disappearing. Then, there were only the occasional echoes of breathing sounds from the horse.


    Garen buttoned up his collar and quickened his steps.


    Walking to the end of the road, he stood before Dolphin Antiques. He originally only wanted to clear his mind and walk around this area; however, the light in the antique store was still on.


    Walking in front of the door, he knocked the door.


    "Open up old man!"


    The door creaked.


    On the metal door, a round hole opened. The old man¡¯s smiling face was now visible along with his sparse and messy white hair.


    "Ah it¡¯s you bastard," he sniffled and smelled the alcohol, "You dared to drink at your young age!"


    The old man hurriedly opened the door and let Garen come in.


    "Ughhh¡­ Old man, do you have anything that can sober me up?" Garen¡¯s head still felt heavier than his feet, like he was walking on a cloud. He tried to walk in a straight line yet his body kept on falling to one side.


    "I own an antique store, not a grocery store." The old man sat down, he seemed to be taking pleasure in Garen¡¯s pain. Turning his head and glaring at Garen, he said, "You¡¯re scared that your family would notice that you¡¯ve been drinking. That¡¯s why you¡¯re wandering outside trying to sober up, am I right?"


    "How did you know?" Garen sat on a red-clothed stool, after moving the fake antiques on top of a table nearby, and massaged his temples.


    "It¡¯s very obvious just from looking at you. I was about to go home, but since you¡¯re here, I will stay a bit longer. These days, it is not very safe in the city at night. You should be careful and don¡¯t stay out too late."


    "I know, I know, don¡¯t worry," Garen dry coughed, "Old man, do you have any water here?"


    "In the room at the back. You get it yourself, I¡¯m too lazy to take care of you," Old Man Gregor was sitting at his desk writing something to help with the criminal case.


    Garen wobbled his way to the only other room in the shop and poured himself a cup of water. The moment the cold water entered his stomach, he felt better.


    Returning to the main room, he dragged out a chair and sat down beside the old man at the table.


    Under the influence of the alcohol, Garen asked the question he had been wanting to ask for a long time.


    "Old man, where is the book you showed me last time? Can you let me read it some more?"


    Old Man Gregor bit the feather on the end of his pen, pretending not to hear.


    "Hey old man, did you hear me?"


    "I heard you! Why are you being so loud?" Old Man Gregor waved his hand, "Even if I give you that book, it would be useless. Without that ability, no matter how many times you read it, the result will be the same."


    "Says who? That is because I didn¡¯t read it carefully last time," Garen non-sensibly said, "If you give it to me this time, I will for sure read it very carefully!"


    "You bastard sure know how to pick items. Do you even know how high the market price is for that book? If you damage it, you couldn¡¯t afford it even if you worked through your next life," the old man sneered.


    "It¡¯s calling showing appreciation, do you understand? I simply appreciate antiques! It¡¯s not like I asked you to gift it to me," Garen said. Nowadays, he came over to bicker with the old man every day. Even if he didn¡¯t want to see that book, he would be requesting some other stuff from the old man.


    "Also, what kind of ability do you need to read a book?"


    "No ability means you have no abilities."


    "You don¡¯t understand," the old man nodded in satisfaction at his own writing, "Dale Quicksilver has some conjectures about the robbery."


    "What conjectures?"


    "They¡¯re investigating a crime in the rural area right now. They found a clue that indicates that the stuff stolen in my shop is still in the city. Though they are still investigating, I have hope that most of the stuff will be returned to me."


    The old man put away the pen and paper on the table and capped the ink bottle. He glanced at Garen, "Also, stop thinking about the book, I mailed it to a friend a while ago; it¡¯s no longer here."


    "Then do you have anything similar here? I¡¯m only interested in stuff similar to the emblem and that book."


    "You mean you like objects that have troublesome stories behind them?" the old man asked in shock.


    "Troublesome stories?" Garen was a little stunned.


    "The Bronze Cross Emblem belonged to generations of wastrels. The entire family¡¯s savings were all wasted by them. The book has a similar story. They are all objects that ruined their owner¡¯s life!" the old man sobbed a little and exclaimed.


    "Objects with troublesome stories eh?"


    Garen was deep in thought.


    After walking out from the antique store, he sobered up a little and pondered this problem.


    "If potential can only be found on objects with troublesome backstories¡­" he remembered the Halo of Tragedy from a while ago, "Then what kind of potential did I absorb from those objects?"


    Without realizing it, he found himself walking on the sketchy road that led him home. The houses on the two sides were scarce, clearly displaying the black and green mountain and the empty forests behind the houses.


    "This is the road¡­"


    He froze. Looking at his surroundings, he suddenly realized that it was the road where he accidentally killed a person for the first time.


    The white and gray sidewalks were rutted and uneven. The road in front also had a dark red bloodstain that was clearly visible, but he wasn¡¯t sure if it was from the murder last time. There was not a single person around, only a white car¡¯s front lights were flashing from far away.


    Garen hastily walked past the puddle shaped bloodstain. After so long, the stain had completely dried. Mixed in it were a few strands of thin and long hair.


    Cold wind kept pouring down his neck, he suddenly felt cold.


    Marching forward a few steps, a person appeared from the left alley and swiftly ran towards Garen¡¯s direction.


    This person was wearing a black trench coat and a round hat, and the sound made by the person¡¯s boots were rapid and snappy.


    Garen shifted his body to make room for the person to pass.


    As if drunk, the person crookedly walked straight into Garen.


    "Watch out," Surprised, Garen extended his arm to stabilize the person. Suddenly, he seemed to see a spark of yellow light piercing through his belly. His stomach felt a pinch like he was bitten by a mosquito.


    He felt no sense of danger, no shock and or fear. Garen was stunned at first then his heart felt cold. He realized what was happening immediately and extended both of his arms to tightly squeeze the person against his chest.


    "Who sent you here?"


    The bones creaked and cracked as they broke one by one. The person slumped and relied on Garen for strength. Losing all ability to resist, both of the person¡¯s arms and multiple ribs were broken by Garen.


    The eerie thing was, that person still tightly hugged onto Garen without a word.


    Garen, holding onto the person, was about to ask some questions when he saw a silhouette from the faraway alley pointing something at him.


    A shiver escalated for his foot to his brain, a surge of terror that he¡¯s never felt before overwhelmed him.


    Garen felt like the tip of a knife was placed on his nose. The closeness to danger made him numb.


    Borrowing light from the moon, he was pretty certain that the person had faint red pupils and was holding a black gun.


    Bang!


    A crisp and loud sound.


    Simultaneously, as Garen saw a spark, he also felt a small hot object entering his chest with precision. The person he was holding also shuddered, as he too had been shot.


    His chest was burning as if the skin had been scraped off.


    "They¡¯re even using guns now!" Garen didn¡¯t have time to think to push. He pushed away from the person on top of him and mimicked what he had seen in movies by making a fancy jump to the left. "Bang, bang!" He dodged two bullets.


    Using his newly increased agility attribute, his reaction and physical speed were a little faster than his opponent.


    The bullets almost hit his calf but instead created two yellow sparks on the ground.


    Protecting his face with his arms, Garen was no longer afraid. Rather, he felt a mixture of excitement and astonishment.


    He knew that the bullet went through a body before landing on him; therefore the damage was minimal and only resulted in dead skin being lodged inside him muscle. From that analysis, he roughly estimated how much damage each bullet could cause him. As long as his vitals weren¡¯t hit at a short distance, he would not die at this scene.


    After dying once, Garen had absolutely no fear of death anymore. He felt his heart beating crazily fast, but heavy and strong. All the strength in his body exploded out of him.


    After three shots, he ran towards that person while protecting his face with his arms.


    The person hiding in the alley thought the first shot had already killed him. The other two shots were only fired to make sure of that. The person thought Garen would have no more strength, let alone having that explosive force.


    The distance between the two wasn¡¯t far, only about ten steps. Dodging three shots, Garen aggressively dashed toward the person who panicked and raised his arm to shoot again.


    PA!


    Garen slapped the person¡¯s hand, sending the gun flying for 20 meters before finally rolling down to the middle of the road.


    Garen grabbed this person¡¯s neck with one hand and punched the stomach with the other. A black shadow flashed and sliced across his arm.


    Garen felt pain in his right hand, and looking closely, he saw the opponent was holding in the back of his palm a dark blue dagger. The blueness of the blade eerily shone under the moonlight.


    Garen looked at his wound. The cut on his right hand was starting to turn blue.


    "Poison!" Waves of coldness unexpectedly emerged from his heart.


    He wasn¡¯t sure what weapon the opponent held since it so easily cut through his skin. He also didn¡¯t know what poison was applied to the blade; however, the numbness and itch he felt on his wound meant it was not a regular poison.


    Garen suddenly remembered his sister Ying Er, who was studying at home. He remembered Old Man Gregor who fooled around every day in his antique shop. Finally, he remembered the martial arts he had found and planned to master in this lifetime.


    He didn¡¯t want to die. He only traveled to this world a while ago and had just adjusted to the life here. He didn¡¯t want to die! Not when he finally had the chance to live again!


    "If you want me to die, I¡¯ll drag you down with me!" Garen snarled, he charged forward, held onto the person¡¯s hand that was holding onto the dagger and slashed in the opposite direction.


    Whooshing, the person¡¯s chest was deeply cut, and a loud scream filled the air.


    The voice was that of a woman.

 26 Ability 2

    The black trench coat was slit right open exposing the bandage covering the chest area underneath. The dagger had made a terrifying palm-sized wound.


    "If you don¡¯t want to die then give me the remedy!" Garen held the woman¡¯s neck with one hand and almost lifted her into the air. "If you want me to die instead? I¡¯ll finish you first!"


    The bloody-eyed woman hung in the middle of the air. Her hand desperately tried to hold onto Garen''s arm and break free. Her other hand reached into the inner pocket of the trench coat and found a small yellow package.


    Garen violently wrestled it out of her hand.


    "I¡¯ll use it on you first, of course, if you are the type that is not afraid of death, I can also throw you on the street naked. I am sure those homeless people would not mind some free enjoyment." The poison began to overwhelm Garen as his breath shortened. He broke the package with an open hand and pushed the powder inside against the woman¡¯s chest.


    "No¡­ Eat it¡­" The woman barely made out of a few words.


    Garen put her down and squeezed her face as he poured half of the powder into her mouth before stopping.


    "Cough¡­" The woman coughed as soon as Garen let her go. It looked like she was about to cough her lungs out but was afraid to spit out the powder. She covered her mouth and swallowed all the powder before she sat straight onto the ground, she wearily looked at Garen.


    Garen felt the numbing sensation spread over half of his shoulder and knew that the poison was taking effect on his body.


    When he confirmed that the woman had no negative symptoms, he tried to fight back the poison a little longer before he finally was certain and chugged the entire powder down his throat.


    The yellow powder tasted sour with no odd flavor. It melted immediately as soon as it entered Garen''s mouth.


    "Go!" Garen lifted the bloody-eyed woman as he began to jog forward.


    Ten minutes later, they arrived at a grass field on the shadowy side of a desolate hill.


    Garen leaned against the tree and left the woman by the side as he sat down to rest. He raised his arm to see that the blue wound was fading. The numbing sensation still remained.


    Under the shadows of the tree without the cast of moonlight, Garen finally had the time to carefully examine the hostage.


    Her silver-white hair scattered across her shoulder. The delicacy and beauty on her face cast a slight hint of nobility vibe on her. Her figure was graceful with her slim waist to what appeared to be a perfect figure.


    "Be honest, who are you? Why did you attack me?" Garen asked emotionlessly as he sat on the side. Without the help of a gun and given her poor combat ability, he was not afraid that she would be able to escape.


    "You killed our man last time, of course we would have to find you," the girl regained her breath and answered. "There¡¯s nothing you can do even if you catch me. I will not reveal any secrets."


    "Why would I want your secrets?" Garen felt the last numbing sensation disappear from his wound and felt relieved. "If I told you that the last time I killed your man was only an accident, would you believe it?"


    "Do you think that¡¯s realistic?" the woman said mockingly. She stared coldly at him, "Enough is enough, the reason why you caught me is to f*ck me; as long as you don¡¯t throw me to the homeless it¡¯s fine."


    Garen knew too well that if such a beauty were to be left in the hands of the homeless people, within one night the news next morning would report a naked body found beside the garbage dump.


    "You woman..." Garen approached her as he began to touch the woman¡¯s body.


    She leaned against the tree slanted. She didn¡¯t resist his hand movement as she chose to close her eyes.


    But what surprised her was that Garen only searched all of her pockets and grabbed a few items before retrieving his hand.


    "I would assume that your position within the organization is quite high? It would not be worth it for me to kill you right now." Garen pondered with a black gold coin in his hand. "Tell me where did you put the stolen artifact?"


    "You are also looking for that?" The woman shockingly glanced at him, "We searched the item, but it¡¯s not within the city."


    "Just tell me where it is."


    "You can find it if you go alone," she sneered. "I thought you belonged to the other side, but it looks like it¡¯s only you alone." Through a few sentences, she was able to accurately guess Garen¡¯s background.


    "To be honest, the person you killed was not important at all. Since you can¡¯t find the item either, why don¡¯t we cooperate?"


    Garen raised his eyebrows. "Do you think I¡¯d believe you?"


    "If only Jia Ti had been by my side, and if I hadn¡¯t believed that I would have been safe with a gun, do you think you could have gotten within two steps of me?" the woman laughed with an icy tone.


    "Then why did you shoot first?"


    "I will always make the first move!" she arrogantly said.


    "You only guessed I belonged to the other side, what if I wasn¡¯t?" Garen¡¯s voice turned cold.


    "I¡¯ll just tie you to a rock and throw you in the river after I killed you, no one would ever find you again," she didn¡¯t directly respond, but her answer was clear. She would not let any victim escape even if they were innocent.


    After a pause, she continued.


    "Since I asked to partner up, then I have my ways to make you believe my genuineness. With your ability, you are at least a level four to five fighter. It is also mainly because of how strong your body is; a bullet can¡¯t even go through you. If you work for me¡ª"


    "No way it will happen!" Garen interrupted her. "I won¡¯t work for you. I almost killed you, so you must want to kill me too in your heart."


    She laughed, "Your combat style is fairly similar to the White Cloud Gate¡¯s, with a powerful explosive force which makes it difficult to avoid. But with such impeccable body condition at a young age, you must have trained a unique body strengthening technique. You can let the other side know to contact me and make a promise. The White Cloud Gate is not a small force within the city."


    "The White Cloud Gate is also a part of this? It¡¯s known within your circle?" Garen was slightly surprised.


    "Renowned is an understatement," she sneered again. "In Huai Shan, Dojo Master Fei¡¯s words are the governor general¡¯s words. Especially in the shadows, he is similar to the underground emperor. Anyone who dares to challenge his supremacy is dead."


    "Let¡¯s go to the Dojo then." Without hesitation, Garen grabbed her and dashed toward the White Cloud Gate.


    *****************


    Twenty minutes later.


    Fei Baiyun sat at the practicing hall on the second floor. He took a sip out of the coffee. He peacefully looked at the two people in front of him.


    "This is not a big deal at all. It was just an accident that you killed one of their men." His vision settled on the silver-white woman with a ponytail. "Grace, how¡¯s your mother, Madame Yalan, doing? The last time we met was years ago."


    "Thank you for asking Dojo Master. My mother has been doing fine," she answered terror-stricken. She kept her head down afraid to look at Fei Baiyun. She had thought that Garen was only an ordinary trainee within the White Cloud Gate. Maybe he would be an actual Disciple, but even then it wouldn¡¯t have mattered.


    But as soon as she arrived, she realized that Garen was the Dojo Master¡¯s Formal Disciple. Cold sweat began to drip as soon as she understood the situation. She knew how powerful Fei Baiyuan was in Huai Shan, especially for someone who lived in the shadows, and yet she almost killed his Formal Disciple.


    Garen who stood by her side saw her sides drenched in sweat.


    "This thing is not a big deal at all." Fei Baiyun took another sip of the coffee. "But since you used a pistol, then the nature of this accident is now different."


    Grace lowered her head further.


    "We¡¯ll provide any form of compensation for you! This is our mistake."


    "Since my disciple is running short on money, you can help him a little. Also, the artifact that he is looking for from you guys, return it at the same time."


    "Lastly, and most importantly, Garen himself has to agree to settle this."


    "We agree to all the conditions! We¡¯ll do the best we can!" Grace said genuinely, "We¡¯ll do the best to serve Master Garen."


    Garen shook his head, "All my requirements are included, if you want to provide more compensations then give it to my master and my elder apprentices." He understood that if it were not for Fei Baiyun, this woman would have given him more trouble.


    "You." Fei Baiyuan pointed at Garen and started laughing, "I just went to a gathering with the governor and you brought back a wonderful gift for me. This is only because we haven¡¯t released any information regarding you joining the White Cloud Gate as a Formal Disciple. In a few days, no one would dare to cause trouble for my disciple."


    "Grace is pretty unlucky this time. She mistakenly thought Garen was the opponent¡¯s hitman. But I am curious as to why you wanted to stop their car?"


    "I saw the stolen artifact that I wanted," Garen rushed to explain.


    Grace, with a deep resignation, "You just became a Formal Disciple. I¡¯ll admit that I was unlucky this time. If it had been a bit later, I would not have ordered to kill immediately if I had seen the face."


    "That¡¯s enough Grace. You have to repay for the mistake you made. Once Garen is satisfied, you¡¯ll be free."


    Fei Baiyuan stated with a soothing smile on this face. "But if I hear you that you are not genuine enough¡­"


    The words sent a shiver down Grace¡¯s spine as she immediately answered.


    Fei Baiyuan¡¯s appearance may have suggested that he looked calm and relaxed, but if he was angry¡­ It would be normal for him to murder entire families and even go after the relatives in their hometown.


    The underground emperor always believed in leaving no risk behind. Once he identified his enemy, from the children to the grandparents would have no way to escape under his dark reign.


    "Ok, you can go now," Fei Baiyuan waved his hand as he dismissed Grace.


    With respect, Grace immediately dashed to the stairs.


    Garen sat straight with his head lowered.


    "Master¡­ I have caused you trouble with this incident."


    "There is no trouble. I want you to know that your senior sister and brother all have their enterprises, or better described as forces, and are tightly knit with the Dojo. Together we are a strong force not to be undermined," Fei Baiyuan stood up as he said peacefully.


    "I planned to tell you about these things later, but I didn¡¯t expect that you were already involved with this. Today when you faced the pistol and escaped, you must have had a lot of thoughts."


    "Yes." Garen nodded his head deep in thought.


    "We practice martial arts not only because it strengthens our body. You¡¯ll encounter similar incidents in the future. You¡¯ll have to learn how to handle these incidents. There is also another thing I didn¡¯t tell you." Fei Baiyun paused.


    "I originally had seven formal disciples."


    Garen was shocked, but then he quickly realized as he felt his heart drenched in ice.


    He understood his master¡¯s words.


    Only three were left out of the original seven Formal Disciples. The other four were either dead or had other accidents.


    "Grace will be your practice dummy for the Critical Fist Technique as part of her punishment. It will take her years to recover after. That¡¯s all for this incident. Keep in touch with her after this; it would be up to you to see if you can convince her to join your force."

 27 Speechless 1

    "Go to the treatment room to treat your chest wound." Fei Baiyuan left a few words before he casually strolled downstairs.


    Garen stood in place as his expression changed. He didn¡¯t make a sound.


    He watched his master went downstairs as his figure disappeared around the corner. He waited for his footsteps to fade away before he gently stretched the cloth around his chest.


    A copper bullet was embedded in the left side of his chest near his heart, penetrating his pale skin about one centimeter deep.


    He dug the bullet out with his hand as the wound on his chest immediately contracted. The edge of the wound was a little burnt with only a sliver of blood flowing.


    "So this is a bullet..." He gazed at the bullet in deep thought.


    He went downstairs and asked the doctor at the White Cloud Gate to treat his wounds before he slowly walked out of the dojo¡¯s main gate.


    On the empty streets, a few patrol police dressed in full black strolled in front of the dojo. They were talking and laughing as they held a dim oil lamp.


    A group of men in gloomy factory uniforms sat on a set of stairs across the street. Drunk from alcohol, they kept their hands their pockets. Garen didn¡¯t know what they were talking about.


    "There¡¯s a clothing factory near here that manufactures jackets and cotton clothes,"a male trainer said casually as he passed by Garen. He glanced at the clothes Garen wore.


    "Hey man, you¡¯re training pretty late. Where are you going? Do you need a ride?"


    "That¡¯s fine; I¡¯m waiting for someone." Garen smiled as he pointed at the black car in the front.


    The car window rolled down as Grace¡¯s delicate face appeared.


    "Not bad!" The male trainer laughed a bit and patted Garen¡¯s shoulder without saying anything else. He then approached the other parked car.


    Grace stepped out of the car and walked in front of Garen.


    "Garen¡­" She momentarily didn¡¯t know what to call him as she hesitated.


    "Just call me by my name." Garen shrugged, "Let¡¯s leave and head to my home. I¡¯ll listen to your situation on the car."


    "As long as you are pleased, we¡¯ll provide any compensations!" Grace adopted a pleading look.


    "I didn¡¯t dare to explain in front of the Dojo Master, but the actual situation is that we are not the


    only ones who stole the artifacts. In Huaishan City there¡¯s another company competing with us in this area."


    "No rush, explain to me in detail."


    Grace looked at Garen¡¯s expression and slightly relaxed since as he didn¡¯t seem to be irate.


    Once the two got in the car and closed the doors, Grace slowly started the car as the antique vehicle began to lurch forward. Amid the rumble of the engine, Garen sat silently in the passenger seat as he stared at the retreating scene of the night.


    The light fragrance of Grace¡¯s perfume whiffed into his nose. The street lights cast shadows across his face one by one. His previous excitement finally calmed.


    "I am part of the Manuyllton Corporation, one of the three biggest gang-related companies in Huaishan. One of the other two companies has no common business areas with us, but the Blackplume Corporation also accepts hiring missions and the selling of restricted items like us. They are the ones that escalated the tension between us," Grace explained as she drove.


    "Restricted items and hiring missions? What are these?" Garen lowered his voice.


    "Restricted items include firearms, artifacts, and drugs like rainbow candy. Hiring missions include, robbery, or even murder. This is nothing surprising and a lot of gang-related companies are similar. These two areas offer the most lucrative profits, while the primary operations of the company act as a cover. The money from the legitimate business is only considered a bonus."


    Grace started to feel less tense.


    "Your company is called Manuyllton Corporation? What¡¯s the size of the company?"


    "There are approximately 50 people that act as the core. The other supporting individuals total to less than 200 people. I am middle to upper management and in the middle of the pack. But don¡¯t worry, with Master Fei, the upper management will do anything to compensate you. I am certain about this point."


    "Do you still have the artifacts with you from the first time we met?" Garen asked as he remembered the Potential increase from when he tried to stop the car.


    "The artifacts are still there and in one of my houses. Do you want them now?"


    Grace let out a sigh of relief as she was afraid that Garen wouldn¡¯t ask. But since he asked, the problem became much easier. Garen was clearly new to the scene, but with the backup of Master Fei and his three seniors, even the boss of the corporation would not dare shortchange the compensation.


    "Now would be the best time. Where do you live?"


    "Downtown, beside the central park."


    "Not too far, let¡¯s go grab the artifacts and then I¡¯ll go home. This is part of the compensation." Garen nodded.


    "Then the other compensation¡­"


    "Let¡¯s not rush this. You have some means of selling artifacts in your company right? Maybe I¡¯ll have to ask you for help in the future," Garen said without any fluctuation in his voice.


    "No problem, I¡¯m at your disposal." Grace immediately nodded.


    After a short while, the car slowly stopped in a downtown area with a circular park. Grace got out of the car and entered a white building on the left side. She ran out after a few minutes.


    Once she got in the car, she placed a black bag in front of Garen.


    "These are the artifacts we found in the city. There are a total of three items. Are these what you¡¯re looking for?"


    As soon as Garen touched the bag, streams of coldness flowed from the bag into his body.


    Joy emerged in his heart as he opened the bag without much of an outward reaction. Inside was a white rectangular wooden box with a shade of yellow. The lock was open.


    As he lifted the cover, there were three cross emblems sitting inside on the black velvet cover. From left to right, there was a bronze, a burgundy, and a silver-white artifact.


    APM


    The three emblems had the same design, only the letters in the middle were different. They were A, P, and M.


    Garen immediately recognized that the burgundy emblem was the one lost by Old Man Gregor. It was also the one that had Potential.


    The moment he opened the box, an enormous amount of Potential flowed evenly into both of his hands. The cold streams flowed directly from the veins in his arm, past his shoulder, and across his neck before they concentrated around his eyes.


    Garen clearly saw the Potential Meter in his visual field increase steadily.


    From 80%, it rapidly rose to 90, and then to 100, 110, 120, 128, 133.


    In the few minutes since he had opened the box, his potential skyrocketed to above 200%.


    At this moment, the stream of energy from the box began to slow down.


    Garen then felt a source of potential from the burgundy cross emblem in the middle, the same artifact he had discovered at the old man¡¯s antique store.


    While the burgundy emblem continued to release potential slowly but steadily, the other two emblems had released all of their potential.


    He gently touched the bronze cross emblem¡¯s surface as the rough and cold sensation transmitted to his fingertip. He only took this emblem.


    "Nothing else?"


    "No, these are the only things I have with me. Out of the three emblems, only the middle one was collected from the city. The others were transported from other places." Grace rushed to answer.


    "I¡¯ll take this emblem with me. The other requirement is that the rest of the compensation goes to my master. Now take me back."


    Garen responded simply and did not say any more. He slowly caressed the bronze cross emblem.


    "Ok. So when should I train with you?" She looked relieved as her feeling of impending doom subsided.


    "It will start after the Formal Disciple ceremony."


    Grace forced a smile. She had heard about the role of practice trainers at the White Cloud Gate. Certain explosive techniques must be practiced on humans to measure the results. Only a few knew the details about the practice trainers. Rarely would they be healthy without any injuries.


    The best case scenario was to have a few broken bones, while more severe consequences included organ damage. It would take at least a few years to recover, but it was also normal for the practice trainer to be killed. Usually, they would find people who only cared about money and not life. If she wanted to survive this time, it would depend on Garen.


    ******


    The car gradually came to a halt two hundred meters away from Garen¡¯s neighborhood. Garen gently closed the door after walking out of the car. He watched the car turn before it disappeared.


    He raised his right hand and looked at a piece of white paper. The Confederation Bank¡¯s name and an absurdly large number were printed on it.


    "One million dollar bank deposit. Money comes pretty fast." He shoved the deposit slip in his pants pocket and he strolled toward the direction of his home.


    "I am back."


    As he closed the door behind him, the living room was pitch black. Only a yellow light slipped through the door cracks of his sister¡¯s bedroom.


    No one responded.


    "Only two people at home again?" He took a breath before he changed into his slippers and turned on the light.


    He sat on the sofa. A dark yellow wooden cup filled with brewed black coffee was left on the table.


    Thirsty, Garen chugged the coffee. It tasted bitter but sweet as it was completely cold. The edge of the cup had the scent of a cigarette.


    "Father didn¡¯t finish after he brewed it." He put the cup down and leaned against the sofa. He felt the bronze cross emblem in his pocket continue to provide him with potential.


    "I don¡¯t know how much potential this emblem will provide. The other two were finished in just a few short moments."


    He felt joyful as his potential in his vision continued to rise.


    "As long as I have sources of potential, I can continue to grow with the help of Potential points. There is almost no limit. I am confident that I can surpass anyone!"


    Suddenly, the smile that appeared on his face faded.


    He realized that the potential increase had slowed down compared to moments ago.


    The coldness from the emblem continued to flow without any difference in thickness, but the numbers on the Potential Meter began to slow down.


    "What¡¯s going on?"


    Garen sat straight as he carefully examined the increase in potential. From the moment he touched the emblem until coming home now, the potential points had already rocketed to above 300%. Now, however, the rate of increase began to diminish.

 28 Speechless 2

    In the beginning, the Potential meter would increase by one percent every two seconds, but now, it would only increase by one percent every four seconds. Furthermore, the speed of this increase was still regressing.


    Garen closed his eyes to fully experience this change. From his pockets, the Potential flowed into his body, eventually ticking the Potential meter in his eyes. Soon, he immersed himself into the process of increasing the Potential.


    "The density of qi has increased¡­ but the concentration has decreased." Garen opened his eyes as he slowly stroked the emblem in his pocket.


    As the density of qi decreased, the speed of his Potential meter¡¯s increase had also slowed down. Finally, after ten minutes or so, the qi had steadily slowed down. Only a very thin flow of qi was still entering his body, and the Potential meter would only tick once in a long while.


    "Normally, the antiques and jewelry would return to normal after having the qi inside them absorbed, but this emblem isn''t doing that. Does it still have more Potential, or is the absorption of qi just slowing down? Could it be possible that the Potential has already been used up, and the emblem is producing more?"


    Creak.


    The door opened.


    Garen stopped his thought as he saw Ying Er, in her white pajamas, walk in while yawning.


    "Why¡¯d you come back so late?" After the accident from last time, she had become more relaxed around him. However, they still had not spoken much out of embarrassment.


    "I had some business to deal with at the dojo," Garen casually answered in a low voice, completely forgetting to imitate the original Garen¡¯s usual tone.


    "Something at the dojo?" Ying Er was suddenly interested. "What, you finally got expelled?"


    "You really want me to get expelled?" Garen asked back in disappointment.


    "With your strength? I¡¯m not gonna lie, but I can beat you up with one hand and one leg," Ying Er replied with despise in her voice. "Dealing with business; a kid trying to talk like a grown man. What kind of business could you possibly have?"


    Ying Er yawned again after the rant and left to get some water. she went back to her room and turned off the light.


    Garen sat in the living room a little longer before going back to his room after brushing and cleaning up. His Potential meter was still growing slowly, and this absurd situation was out of his expectation. The absorption of qi had all been a one-time thing, and none had this decreasing speed at the end. Turning on his desk lamp, Garen sat in front of his desk and took out the emblem. He touched the emblem and moved his focus onto the attribute panel.


    "This time, the Potential meter increased to 361%, I can use three Attribute points. "


    "Enhancing intelligence would enable me to quickly master some subjects, and my studying ability would probably improve as well. I don¡¯t think this is useful right now.


    The entirety of his last life was spent on studying: he went to college, got a master¡¯s degree, and got a good job. However, that job¡¯s salary was still pathetically low. Studying is only useful in order to reach a higher social class later; it¡¯s more useful in the sense of improving one¡¯s competency. Since he had already received the higher education from Earth, Garen wasn¡¯t too concerned with improving his intelligence.


    "Agility increases the reaction speed for both my body and my nervous system, and, in addition, it would also increase my speed. This is quite useful.


    "Strength and vitality are both fundamentals to the White Cloud Dojo. By enhancing these attributes, my strength, explosiveness, and my body¡¯s resilience and recovery would all improve. These are all great options."


    Garen thought. A few days after the Formal Disciple Ceremony, he would be able to learn both the White Cloud Secret Arts and the Explosive Fist Arts, maybe even the Mammoth Secret Technique.


    At that time, these three Attribute points would come in great use. Using them right now seemed like a waste.


    He carefully estimated the speed of qi absorption right now. "If this speed of absorption doesn¡¯t change, I could probably get one more Attribute point in a week."


    He didn¡¯t know when this emblem would stop emitting qi; if all the qi was used up, it would be hard to find another antique like this in the entire Huaishan City. These antiques were extremely rare on their own, and they could not reproduce qi after absorption.


    After confirming the situation to himself, Garen decided not to enhance his attributes frugally. These Attribute points were precious, so he could not afford to lose them on pointless enhancements.


    "Let¡¯s wait until after the ceremony."


    ************


    The next morning, Garen woke up early and went to school after eating a pear. Ying Er had already left before him; the result of the competition had come out, and today was the day of the award ceremony.


    Garen watched in the crowd and applauded with all his strength as Ying Er stood on the stage and received her third place prize money and award medal. Next to him were a few girls who wore heavy perfume that was cloying to his nose. As soon as the archery award ceremony ended, Garen hastily squeezed his way out.


    "How was your sister, Garen?" Kalidor came out of nowhere and asked, tapping Garen¡¯s shoulder.


    "Third place, kind of expected, her opponents were too strong," Garen replied while covering his nose. "There¡¯s too many people in there, I couldn¡¯t bear the smell. How is Ai Fei, have you seen her?"


    "I apologized to her about the other day, yet she didn¡¯t say anything. What¡¯s going on between you and her?" Kalidor asked in confusion.


    Garen bitterly laughed. "She¡¯s not talking to me either, I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on."


    "Who¡¯s not talking to you?" Fayne joined from the side. "Let¡¯s go over there. Also, Kalidor, I have to warn you about that thing."


    "What thing?" Kalidor froze and asked.


    "Jake told me all about it." Fayne smiled as he put his arm around Kalidor¡¯s shoulder.


    Jake came from the back and tapped Garen¡¯s shoulder. "Fayne is overreacting, it¡¯s not a big deal. Let¡¯s go, Garen."


    "What¡¯s going on?" Garen was confused.


    The four strolled on the path behind the classroom building; on the sides were tall and dense Winter Heron trees.


    These trees were extremely cold-resistant, and their leaves do not fall during the winter. Piece by piece, the green leaves covered the morning sunlight.


    Under the shades, Fayne spoke up in a low volume.


    "Kalidor, do you really know Ai Fei?"


    "She¡¯s all right, a nice and kind girl." Kalidor blinked and asked, "What is it?"


    Fayne hesitated before continuing, "We¡¯ve been friends for so long, I¡¯ll just say it. Ai Fei, she¡¯s a gold digger. To be honest, I don¡¯t think she¡¯s right for you, man." He saw Kalidor¡¯s face changing color.


    "You are different from me. We all know I¡¯m with a different girl every other week, but I¡¯m not invested in them like you do, Kalidor. This is who you are."


    "And, you know where I¡¯m from and my family¡­ I¡¯m used to these kind of things¡­"


    "Okay, enough, I get what you mean." Kalidor¡¯s expression turned gloomy; he didn¡¯t argue with Fayne, because he was already familiar with this friend of his.


    Jake looked at Garen with a sympathetic expression.


    "Why are you staring at me like that?" Garen asked.


    "Don¡¯t you like Ai Fei?" Jake whispered. "You even asked her out and got rejected."


    "What?" Garen was dumbfounded. "I asked her out? And got rejected? Where did you hear this? When did I ask her out?"


    "Ai Fei told her roommates so." Jake glance at Kalidor who was walking in front of them, and then gave Garen an even more sympathetic look.


    "I¡­ f**k¡­" Garen was speechless. These few days, he had been busy at the dojo, without paying much attention to things at the academy. He didn¡¯t expect Ai Fei to gossip to her friends about that night¡¯s misunderstanding. He was only trying to ease her embarrassment at the feast the other day, but Ai Fei misconstrued it as flirting


    And, when he asked to escort her home and Ai Fei refused, that became him getting "rejected".


    "When did I say I liked that girl?" Garen didn¡¯t even want to say her name. He originally thought she was a nice and independent girl, yet he suddenly learned that she could make up a story out of thin air.


    "So Ai Fei and Kalidor are together now?" Garen asked.


    Jake nodded. "Ai Fei went to Kalidor¡¯s dorm room last night and didn¡¯t go back." Jake patted Garen¡¯s shoulder. "Don¡¯t be too upset."


    "Garen, don¡¯t blame Kalidor on this one, Ai Fei approached him first. To tell you the truth, Jake and I knew what kind of person she is; she got in touch with me a while ago and said she had a crush on me. I rejected her, then she started hanging out with all of us."


    "Seems like she¡¯s taking a move on Kalidor after knowing his family¡¯s background."


    Garen was speechless as he looked at Kalidor who was also looking back at him with a guilty expression.


    "Don¡¯t be like this, Garen. A girl like Ai Fei isn¡¯t worth getting upset with." Jake once again patted Garen¡¯s shoulders in an attempt to comfort him.


    "But I honestly don¡¯t even like her!" Garen helplessly explained. "Think about it, with my sister watching all day, how can I be interested in other girls?"


    The three of them didn¡¯t seem to buy it.


    "I didn¡¯t think she was this good at acting. I¡¯m telling you the truth; I didn¡¯t ask her out, she¡¯s not my type. That night, I thought she was in trouble and helped her out. Since we went together, I asked if she needed me to escort her back. She said no, and I went home. That¡¯s it."


    "Don¡¯t worry about it, we won¡¯t look down on you. These sad memories, just let them go." Jake shook his head.


    "Jake and I saw you guys getting really close to her, that¡¯s why we couldn¡¯t approach you these days," Fayne added. "Garen, she¡¯s not worth it, don¡¯t overthink this."


    Garen helplessly shrugged his shoulders; he knew all of his explanations were in vain. "Does everyone in the class know about this?"


    Jake and Fayne sympathetically nodded.


    "Okay¡­" Garen felt a bit confused. "Well, not that I know what kind of person she really is. Who are we going to copy our homework from?"


    "I guess I¡¯ll ask Lan Ruo; see if she¡¯s willing to lend us a hand," Fayne answered.


    "Never mind, I¡¯ll do it myself." Garen shook his head. Seeing the commiserative expression of the trio before him, he felt frustrated.


    "That girl isn¡¯t a virgin," Kalidor suddenly said.


    "That¡¯s for sure." Fayne nodded with a smirk. "Right, Garen, my cousin¡¯s friend, Felicity, came to visit again. She asked if you have time. Apparently, she wanted to ask you something. Since when did you two hook up?"


    "Felicity? That girl who went to Jaderipple Lake with us?" Garen asked. After receiving a positive answer, he was puzzled. "Why is she looking for me?"


    "I don¡¯t know." Fayne shrugged.


    "She must have fallen in love with you at first sight." Jake laughed next to him. "Felicity¡¯s family isn¡¯t just ordinarily wealthy; if you could date her, you don¡¯t have to worry about money for the rest of your life."


    "Do I look like that kind of person?" Garen twisted Jake¡¯s arm and said, "Can you talk like a human being?"


    As they were speaking, two innocent girls approached them, with both of them holding delicate lace parasols, wearing white dirndl dresses; they both looked like daughters of nobles.


    As the two groups approached each other, all the boys including Garen straightened their backs, paying much more attention to their appearances.


    "Garen, your fly is open!" Jake suddenly shouted.


    Right as the two girls looked over, they heard the shout. They both turned around and giggled while covering their mouth.


    Garen¡¯s face heated up as he looked down at his pant¡¯s zippers. Thank god it was closed! He furiously turned around to go after Jake who had already ran far away.


    "You¡¯re dead!"

 29 Surprise 1

    Morning of October 1st.


    White Cloud Martial Colosseum.


    Bright light beamed in from the wooden window, landing on the carpet. Faintly visible dust floated in the air.


    While Garen respectfully stood in the middle of the colosseum, Master Fei Baiyun sat in his high chair with Senior Sister and 2nd Senior Brother standing beside him.


    Third Senior Brother stood to the right, holding a square wooden plate covered in red cloth.


    Both sides of the colosseum had a row of chairs and a dozen men sat scattered in these seats, divided into two groups. They were all wearing white robes with sharp and fiery gazes. Leading them were two elderly men between the age of fifty to sixty.


    "Since you were directly chosen by me as a disciple, the extra etiquette will be unnecessary. Today we are honored to have Master Hurley and Master Hester here as our witnesses. Let¡¯s begin."


    Fei Baiyun nodded towards Joshua, his third disciple.


    "Begin the ceremony!" Joshua shouted. As flippant as he usually was, he did not dare to be glib at events like this.


    Two young girls wearing white robes walked up. One of them held a red envelope, the other held a maroon wooden cup. Each held a wooden plate.


    "Read the code of conduct," Joshua proclaimed.


    Garen straightened his body and picked up the red envelope. He opened the seal and recited the code of conduct inside.


    "Do not disrespect your master; do not be ungrateful! Do not flaunt and show off; do not be arrogant! Do not commit crimes; do not take what is not yours! Do not be conceited or complacent, do not be lazy or procrastinate!"


    "Disciple Garen Lombard promises to follow these rules and make our dojo proud!"


    "Memorize these rules. Do you have anything else to say?" Fei Baiyun looked at him with a smile.


    Garen closed the envelope, then kneeled on the floor.


    After three kowtows, he lifted the wooden cup from the plate and presented it to Fei Baiyun with both hands.


    Fei Baiyun accepted the cup and drank a sip of black tea from it. He then took a feathered pen from Joshua and swiftly wrote down his name on the envelope. He presented the envelope to the two witnesses.


    "Will the witnesses please sign their names!" Joshua shouted again.


    The two elders both smiled and each signed their names on the envelope.


    The bald elder to the left said with a salute, "I didn''t expect Master Fei to have another disciple at his age. He has great talent and a calm mind. Congratulations!"


    Fei Baiyun let out a satisfied smile. "I¡¯m getting old too, Garen will be my last disciple. I will not have the energy for another one. My hopes and the White Cloud Gate¡¯s hope depends on the four of them from now on."


    The past few days Master Fei had been investigating Garen¡¯s background, his personality, and the way he treats people. Fei Baiyun was extremely satisfied with the results.


    Most importantly, Garen¡¯s talent might not be the greatest, but it was worthy of the gate¡¯s martial arts inheritance. At the very least, the Mammoth Secret Technique would continue. Currently, only his second disciple Frank practiced this move and fighters like him were prone to danger every day, leaving his Secret Technique at risk of being lost forever.


    "Brother Fei, what are you talking about? If you are old, what about us? We are about the same age, but I still want to live for few more years and have a few more disciples of my own." The red-haired elder said while nodding his head.


    Fei Baiyun stood up. Behind him on the rosewood table were a few memorial tablets. Words from an unknown language were written all over them.


    "With the sixth generation of our White Cloud Gate under my leadership, let us kowtow to honor our former masters and ancestors."


    Garen kowtowed respectfully toward the tablets. Fei Baiyun watched the obedient Garen and nodded in approval.


    "It is unfortunate that your parents are out of town today. The two masters are always busy, so we had to rush the ceremony. Since the ceremony is finished, you will henceforth be my last inheriting disciple. You will take the Gate¡¯s pride as your own."


    "Yes, Master!" Garen nodded with a solemn and respectful expression.


    "Very well, now you may rise."


    Garen slowly stood up as the ceremony concluded.


    The colosseum was on the second floor of the White Cloud Gate and a crowd of mostly Formal Disciples from the dojo had already gathered at the staircase entrance. The dojo had three types of students: regular, formal, and core disciples.


    Garen had become a core disciple in such a short time, in part due to his talent and young age.


    Fei Baiyun¡¯s White Cloud Gate was different from the other Gates with regards to the process of accepting students because of its status in the city.


    From reading the code of conduct earlier, Garen noticed that the White Cloud Gate was a sect of both good and evil since the code of conduct did not mention anything about morality and ethics.


    Basically, as long as one did not betray the gate and did not do anything that would harm the gate¡¯s reputation, one could do whatever he or she pleased.


    After the ceremony, Fei Baiyun and the other two masters stayed behind to chat, while the other disciples and students left to get ready for lunch.


    Garen followed his Senior Sister and Senior Brother downstairs. Walking behind them, he saw Rosetta¡¯s white tiger tattoo on her naked back. The tiger looked ferocious and the tattoo moved with Rosetta¡¯s movements, emitting a blood scented vigor.


    The tattoo spanned from her back to her chest and across her shoulder. The back of the tiger had a clearly visible blood red spine.


    Upon closer inspection, Garen realized that there was actually a blood red scar on her shoulder. She had tattooed the tiger on the scar, and used it as the tiger¡¯s spine.


    Second Disciple Frank was tall and sturdy, he was speaking with Master Hurley¡¯s disciple enthusiastically. That man was also a bruiser, the two seemed to be just each other¡¯s type. They were also old acquaintances.


    Senior Sister Rosetta was speaking with one of Master Hester¡¯s disciples. The guy seemed to be interested in her and was making a move on her.


    Garen sat next to Joshua as he listened to the boring conversations from both sides.


    The two junior disciples were both the type of people who were unable to sit still for a second.


    "Senior Brother, is it true that Formal Disciples can only get to the intermediate level of the White Cloud Secret Arts?" Garen asked.


    "It¡¯s true because the later levels require some rare medicines and other conditions. Only the core disciples can obtain these medicines from the dojo. Why do you ask? You¡¯ve only learned the beginner level of the Secret Arts and are still far from the intermediate so what¡¯s the hurry?" Joshua was puzzled. "Well, since we aren¡¯t doing anything and you have now completed the ceremony, I suppose it won¡¯t hurt to explain the later stages to you."


    "I¡¯m just curious," Garen laughed. "Any man who is in martial arts would want to know the future direction of his training."


    "You sound pretty mature." Joshua nodded, "From my own experience, the intermediate level of the White Cloud Secret Arts can increase your strength by half. The expert level, which only our Master, Senior Sister, and Senior Brother have achieved, can actually double one¡¯s strength. Our Senior Sister¡¯s strength grew by 100 pounds, and our Senior Brother grew by 150 pounds. The expert level of the White Cloud Secret Arts is the highest level achieved by people from our dojo. The master level was only achieved by the founder who created our gate. I hear that combined with the Mammoth Secret Technique, his strength could really match that of a mammoth!"


    "Force of a mammoth! That would be over two thousand pounds!" Garen was astonished.


    "Nobody has tested it before, but it is indeed very powerful," Joshua said, stroking his chin with great anticipation.


    After some chatting, the Gate provided lunch for everyone, then the two masters left with their disciples. Some other guests showed up at the dojo to congratulate them on the ceremony.


    These distinguished guests included the mayor and the governor.


    With the addition of these other guests, the ceremony was enough to influence all of Huaishan City.


    After the reception, it was already late afternoon. The food eaten at lunch had already been digested and expended as energy.


    After dinner, Fei Baiyun called Garen in front of a small, narrow room.


    A bald and half-naked elder sat cross-legged on the ground in front of the room. His body was full of muscle, his veins were like dark snakes coiling on his body, and his long white beard descended onto his chest. Bowing down and showing great respect, Fei Baiyun went up and whispered a few words to the old man.


    The bald elder nodded, opened his eyes, and looked at Garen, seemingly trying to memorize his face. Then, he closed his eyes again without saying a word.


    Fei Baiyun nodded to Garen and pushed open the door.


    Creeeaaak.


    The door opened to a room shrouded in complete darkness. Fei Baiyun lit up an oil lamp on the wall and the dim light filled the cramped room.


    In the room there were some notebooks scattered between many bookshelves.


    "These are martial arts practice notebooks from our ancestors. You can go through them as you wish. But never mind that for now. Follow me inside."


    Fei Baiyun stopped Garen from opening up one of the notebooks and strode past the bookshelves.


    "This place is safely guarded by uncle Bai, who has remembered your scent. As long as you don¡¯t bring others, you can come here on your own from now on. This is one of the privileges of being my disciple."


    "Yes Master, I understand."


    Fei Baiyun nodded as they approached the last row of shelves. On the last shelf was a red teapot-shaped container.


    Fei Baiyun took down the teacup and emptied into his hand. A small red pill rolled out of the spout.


    He handed the pill to Garen. "Eat it!"


    Garen took the pill, put it into his mouth, and he swallowed it without any hesitation.


    "Master, what was that pill?"


    "Body Enhancement Pill. Your White Cloud Secret Arts is intermediate level already, right?"


    Fei Baiyun looked at Garen with a faint smile. Garen was shocked and didn¡¯t know how to reply.


    "Don¡¯t worry, the beginner level of the White Cloud Secret Arts is the easiest to surpass. In addition to my special herbal medicine incense, advancing in a short time isn¡¯t that rare. Some of our former masters in the gate reached the second level even faster because they had great talent and potential. However, once you reach this level, you cannot advance to the next without specially made medicine."


    He put the red teacup back on the shelf.


    "Remember to come here and take a pill once per day and you¡¯ll be able to improve your White Cloud Secret Arts. This technique cannot be mastered with just practice, but practice is also crucial of course."


    "Yes, Master." Garen held his surprise and replied. He felt like Fei Baiyun¡¯s eyes were like a pair of searchlights and he couldn¡¯t hide anything from them.


    "Don¡¯t try to hide your skills. You are only at the elementary level of the Explosive Fist Arts, which is not that big of a deal. I¡¯ve seen a lot of people like you and in the real martial arts community this is quite average."


    Fei Baiyun spit out all of Garen¡¯s secrets at once. Watching his new disciple¡¯s face of embarrassment, he felt a sense of gleeful satisfaction. If he hadn¡¯t found out this disciple¡¯s secrets, he would not be in such a rush to take him as a disciple.


    As for the "real martial arts community" he mentioned, if there were really that many students easily learning the Explosive Fist Arts, the White Cloud Gate would have taken over the province already. He only said this to make sure Garen wouldn¡¯t be too full of himself.


    Someone with talents like Garen had only appeared once in the history of the White Cloud Gate. He was born a White Cloud disciple, his body perfectly fit with the White Cloud Gate¡¯s techniques, and he had great talent.


    Garen knew his secrets were exposed, so he didn¡¯t say anything else, but laughed it up.


    [ And here I was, afraid I was too exceptional¡­]

 30 Surprise 2

    "It¡¯s fine if you want to hide your true powers. It¡¯s impressive that you reached such a level at your age, and it is probably better for you if fewer people know what you are capable of. It will seem more reasonable if you revealed your skills after several years of training," Fei Baiyun said, patting Garen¡¯s shoulders.


    "Okay, let¡¯s go to the training floor. Today, I will teach you the White Cloud Combat Arts. These skills are not only used in combat, but also used in killing your opponents," he continued.


    "Yes! Master!" Garen was excited.


    **********


    Several minutes later.


    On the second floor of the Martial Arts Hall.


    Fei Baiyun and Garen stood across from each other. The evening sun made the carpet shine scarlet.


    "Your fundamentals are good, so I will teach you the entry level stances first."


    Fei Baiyun stepped forward and raised his right palm, slanting it upwards. He also put his left fist by his waist.


    "This is the basic stance of White Cloud Combat Arts. Take a closer look," Fei Baiyun said with a clear voice. He saw Joshua coming from the first floor and nodded his head. Joshua looked at him and closed off the stairway with a cover.


    "There are four basic skills in the White Cloud Combat Arts: Swing, Rush, Stomp, and Strike. These skills will help you in attacking, dodging, defending, and assassinating during fights. You can use them in whatever order you want. I will show you the Stomp first," Fei Baiyun continued.


    After finishing the sentence, Fei Baiyun stomped forward with a single foot. His body leaned forward and it looked like he put all his body weight on that foot.


    *Pong*


    The floor shook and the noise it made echoed in the hall.


    "And the Rear Stomp!" Fei Baiyun kicked his other foot backward and it sounded like his foot slashed apart the air. Wearing an ordinary pair of flats, his extreme burst of speed and strength made each of his movements look flawless. Garen couldn¡¯t even imagine what would happen to someone if they were standing behind Fei Baiyun.


    "There are two different types of Stomps, one is more about speed,, and the other about strength. You need to combine them with the Explosive Fist Arts skill and use them on your feet. In order to do it properly, you need to harden your blood vessels and your muscles before applying the force to your feet. When you use the Stomp skill, your Qi and blood will be drawn to your bottom half. This will not only hurt your enemies, but will also surround yourself with Qi. You need to carefully manage your breathing and your heart rate while using it," Fei Baiyun said and demonstrated the Stomp several more times. He asked Garen to try it after the demonstration and whispered Garen the secret techniques before letting Garen start.


    It was fine if Garen¡¯s stance was wrong, but if Fei Baiyun found that Garen was not matching his breathing with his heart rate, he would slap or kick Garen. The kicks and slaps actually helped Garen perform the actions properly.


    "There is one universal rule in the White Cloud Gate, and that is Stability. Whatever you do, you do it with stability. You need to make sure your Qi and blood are stable, then apply them onto the skills you use. You will be able to modify your skills and make them explosive this way," Fei Baiyun said.


    "If you turn on the water faucet and block the water with your finger, the water will burst out when you let your finger go for even a bit," he continued


    Step by step, Garen started to focus on practicing the Stomp and tried to make sure his breath matched his heart rate, following everything Fei Baiyun said.


    He was still thinking about the Stomp when he got back home. The White Cloud Secret Arts would bring him incredible power when the skills were combined with the Stomp.


    The White Cloud Secret Arts technique was like an engine, and the higher the level he reached, the bigger the burst of power he would have. Every skill in the White Cloud Combat Arts aimed to increase one¡¯s strength.


    Garen kept practicing the skills he learnt over the next several days as Fei Baiyun taught him all four forms.


    The Swing was all about swinging the feet and arms like a whip. The Rush used the Mammoth Strike to counterattack. The Strike could help Garen reach his peak for a short duration, allowing him to use his arms like knives to stab into the enemy¡¯s eyes.


    There were many possible combinations when using the four forms and different combinations were designed to be used against different opponents. Garen found some useful books in the tiny library room and there was a lot of information written by previous Masters of the White Cloud Gate. Garen found the standard combinations and applications of the four forms and also created some combinations by himself.


    Garen learned the four forms in a hurry and he made sure he could at least reach the standard level. One month had passed since the final exams and he began to think about his attribute points. He finished the exams with no problems, but he was not expecting a high grade. He only wanted to focus on practicing martial arts.


    He could increase the level of the White Cloud Secret Arts as long as he had the requisite medicinal herbs, though it would take some time. The Explosive Fist Arts, however, required tempering the body by beating it with wooden clubs in addition to some special potions. Advancing to the next level of Explosive Fist Arts was not a simple matter of using Attribute points.


    ***********


    The noon of November the 2nd.


    In the White Cloud Dojo.


    Garen was topless; he had recently started training under the sunlight. There was sweat all over his tanned skin.


    He stood in the middle of the training room as two apprentices hit him in the back, chest, and the arms with two arm-sized wooden bars.


    Garen closed his eyes as he tried to move his Qi and blood to the places getting hit in order to recover faster.


    [It¡¯s been a month since I started practicing the White Cloud Secret Arts and the Explosive Fist Arts, but nothing is leveling up. It¡¯d be much easier if I could just apply points to the skills,]¡¯ Garen thought and shook his head. He could still see his attribute bar and his skill bar after closing his eyes.


    There were some changes to his attributes, but on the skill bar he could only see that the Basic Combat Techniques was replaced with the White Cloud Combat Arts. The two skill sets were combined and they were set back to the first level.


    01


    On the attribute bar, Garen could see his Strength and Stamina had both increased by 0.1. His current attributes were Strength: 1.78, Agility: 1.10, Stamina: 1.04, Intelligence: 1.20, Potential: 377%.


    [There¡¯s barely any potential left on the Bronze Cross. One month passed, and I only got about 10%. I need to find some new antiques,] Garen thought, as he raised his hand to ask the two apprentices to stop.


    The two stopped hitting Garen with the bars and were sweating heavily. They put down the bars and sat aside to rest.


    "Garen, you are so strong. My arms are sore and you¡¯re not even hurt!" one of the apprentices said admiringly.


    "Keep training and one day you will be just like me. You will be able to learn the Explosive Fist Arts after you become a Formal Disciple," Garen said while he started to think about the distribution of his attribute points.


    [I don¡¯t need to apply points to the White Cloud Combat Arts since it will level up just from practicing. I thought I could just simply apply points to the White Cloud Secret Arts and Explosive Fist Arts, but it seems that it won¡¯t work. These skills that need external help won¡¯t be leveled up so easily,] Garen thought. He tried to apply points to the two skills many times, but it would not work. The only thing he could do was apply the points to his attributes.


    He still remembered the night he met Grace, how he felt helpless against the pistol, and how fast the poison could travel through his body. Garen made up his mind as he stared at the Strength and Stamina attributes.


    [Stamina increases my resistance, recovery speed, and will also increase my general defense. During the tests, I thought my organs were much stronger than before. The dojo¡¯s arts did not make my organs stronger and I never specifically trained my organs. The effect probably came from the point I applied to the Stamina attribute,] Garen thought. He sat and took a rest, then finally decided to apply all his points to Strength and Stamina.


    He stared at the Stamina attribute for three seconds as it changed from 1.04 to 1.34. Adding one attribute point increased the Stamina by 0.3. Garen could feel heat rush through his whole body; this sensation lasted for about ten seconds.


    When he opened his eyes again, he felt he could see things clearer and that his hearing was enhanced as well. He looked at his right arm and his skin looked denser. Garen touched his skin; it felt silky smooth.


    "You two can leave now, I¡¯ll stay here for a while and will clean everything up after," Garen told the two apprentices. The two were used to situations like this and they knew Garen would stay late to train more, so they smiled and left.


    Garen closed his eyes again, and he stared at the Strength attribute. He applied one point to it and it increased from 1.78 to 2.08. Garen could feel his body getting stronger and the 0.3 increase to Strength raised his total force by 60 pounds, which was a third of a normal adult male¡¯s peak strength. This meant that 0.1 Strength equaled 20 pounds.


    [One more point,] Garen thought, as he was about to apply it to Stamina. Suddenly, something from the skills bar caught his attention. A word changed as he was preparing to apply the point to Stamina.


    "White Cloud Secret Arts: Advanced."


    [What is this¡­ Applying points to my Stamina can allow me to increase the level of White Cloud Secret Arts?!] Garen wondered excitedly.


    [Can I apply points to it now?] Garen speculated. He stared at the White Cloud Secret Arts for three seconds and the status changed again. "Advanced" was no longer there and he saw "Completed" instead.


    There should only be three levels of the White Cloud Secret Arts and the attribute point made it advance to the last level.


    Garen was elated with the result, but he suddenly felt pain when he tried to stand up. His skin, muscle, and bones started to ache. He could feel heat cycling around his chest and it slowly spread to his four limbs. When the heat was almost gone, he started to feel a chill from the center of his chest travel through his body chasing after the vanishing heat.

 31 The Spiral 1

    Garen sat on the chair without moving as hot and cold Qi continuously circulated through his body.


    It was not because he did not want to move, but actually that he could not move at all. As the hot and cold Qi continuously circulated, it would increase with every revolution. Within more than ten minutes, the growth of the hot and cold Qi had actually reached a level where it had spread to his entire body; he could not even distinguish the feeling between circulation and flow.


    As Garen sat on his chair, the muscles in his body alternated between red and white. When they were red, he felt they burned like a cooked shrimp whose shell was peeled. When they were white, he was like a patient that had just recovered from a serious illness.


    After an uncertain amount of time, a crashing noise sounded out.


    Garen suddenly opened his eyes; they were extremely clear, as if a black pearl was embedded within a top-grade red jade.


    Ssss...


    When he breathed in deeply, there seemed to be a faint wind in the room, even his clothes hanging nearby on the hanger were fluttering. The clothes were four meters away and not directly in front of Garen; it was bizarre that they would be affected by his breathing.


    As Garen opened his eyes, he slowly raised up his right arm¡ªit was stiff like a robot¡¯s¡ªhe arduously and slowly lifted it up from the armrest of the chair.


    Kaka... A series of bone cracking noises came from his arm.


    It was followed by the rest of his body: left arm, both legs, chest, and neck. As Garen slowly stood up, his entire body made a series of creaking noises at once.


    "This happened because the sudden increase forced by my special ability was excessive, which caused my physique to improve by too much. If it were those experts that had been training for a long time, the result wouldn''t be this exaggerated."


    He didn¡¯t know how strong he currently was. Even his master and senior sister had only reached the third level of the White Cloud Secret Arts. He was only able to reach the fourth level by forcefully increasing it with his attribute points.


    It was a state that no one had reached before.


    "Even though I¡¯m so strong right now, my body is still not used to it. The increase in strength this time is too large, so it will take me a long amount of time to acclimate. Otherwise, I might accidentally kill someone again." After some thinking, Garen immediately understood his current situation.


    "And I am only physically strong right now, my combat skills are still too weak. If only I could greatly increase the amount of attribute points I have, then I would be able to save the time I need to increase my proficiency and just improve my combat ability."


    Shaking his head, Garen pulled on the clothes on the hanger. However, he forgot to adjust his strength.


    The sound of cloth tearing echoed out.


    His clothes were immediately torn into two.


    He looked at his clothes in surprise: a corner of them was caught on a nail on the hanger. If it was another person, they would¡¯ve stopped when they felt the resistance.


    However, he could not. He was too strong, and thus the little resistance was completely negligible for him.


    "I knew it."


    Shaking his head, he walked out of the room, still shirtless.


    As he walked out of the room, he immediately noticed a group of youths wearing yellow gi in the hall. They were chattering among themselves while a young female instructor was leading them.


    Two of the headquarter staff were standing by the side, greeting them.


    A beautiful woman with a cold aura stood up from a chair nearby. She wore a white top with a matching tight black skirt. She had dark red pupils with dark brown hair combed to the side and glowing, fair skin. Her eyes were slightly squinting as she walked next to Garen, and automatically received the clothes in his hands.


    "They''re the second batch of new students visiting the headquarters this month. What''s wrong with your clothes?"


    This woman of course was Grace. After accompanying Garen in his Critical Fist Technique practice for a month, her internal organs received extremely serious damage and it took a while before she fully recovered. However, her dispute with the White Cloud Dojo was found out by her company. Perhaps it was the company''s arrangement or maybe her own volition, but either way, she became Garen¡¯s personal assistant.


    "I accidentally tore them just now. How is your body?" Garen casually asked. "Even though I intentionally held back during the practice, your internal organs were still injured. Even if you rested for a month, you couldn''t have recovered so quickly."


    "After taking the secret medicine provided by the dojo, I feel much better now. This result is already better than expected, so there''s no need for you to worry."


    The both of them chatted as they walked. They passed by the new students in the hall and headed toward the practice hall on the second floor.


    "You''re more or less a part of our dojo now, so are you still participating in your company''s activities?"


    "Not anymore, my current mission is to take care of your daily life. In fact, I''ve basically been abandoned by the company as a compensation for the previous incident." Grace bitterly smiled, "Master Fei is currently away. The person currently in charge is your senior sister, Rosetta. She''s currently training in the private room, and I am not sure when she will leave."


    Garen nodded and said, "As long as there is no major incident, the external instructors and the management staff can handle it. There''s no need for us to worry about it. Your connections are better than mine, so do you know whether there''s any progress with the case on Dale Quicksilver''s side?"


    "I am not sure, but I heard that detective Quicksilver returned to the Dolphin Antiques that you mentioned previously, these past few days. I don''t know what happened, and the men that I sent didn''t receive any information either. My previous connections were actually the company''s, and since now I don''t have any funds on hand, I can''t make use of the other connections," Grace said with a frown.


    "If you''re looking for detailed information, you could try asking your seniors. They have their own connections and would know more than we do."


    "We''ll see." Garen accepted a white towel that a girl handed to him and wiped the sweat on his body.


    He rested at the practice hall and ate lunch. As it was a weekend, Garen let Grace drive him to Pennington Road and stopped at Dolphin Antiques.


    The furniture within the store had already been changed to black from the original red.


    The old man was still sitting in front of a bookshelf, wearing reading glasses as he carefully adjusted the brass pocket watch in his hands. When Garen entered, he only glanced at his direction without even lifting his head.


    "There''s new stock that just came in, do you want to take a look?"


    Garen looked around the store and saw that there was actually a customer: an elegantly dressed old lady with white hair. From her clothing he could tell that she was not from an ordinary family.


    The old lady was carefully looking at a black necklace in her hands, and she seemed to be slightly preoccupied.


    "Old man, where did you get that pocket watch? It looks like an authentic Buvich, doesn¡¯t it?" He walked toward the old man and sat down on a chair in front of him.


    "What do you mean by it looks authentic? It is authentic!" The old man glared at him. "That old lady is trying to pawn this. I am checking whether the internal structure is original."


    "You''re a pawnbroker as well?" Garen was speechless. "By the way, Dale Quicksilver came back, right? Did he find out anything?"


    He had already obtained the emblem, but did not dare tell the old man. He had come to inquire about Dale Quicksilver''s situation.


    After all, getting the emblem back had something to do with the company behind Grace. Dale Quicksilver might one day trace it back to him.


    Also, during the exchange of information with the old man, he felt that Dale Quicksilver''s recent actions were strange.


    "He''s still chasing after the Golden Hoop. Anyway, I''ve already given up. I didn''t lose much anyway. The Golden Hoop isn''t just an ordinary thief, but a powerful killer as well!" Old Man Gregor put down the pocket watch and wiped its surface with a microfiber cloth.


    Garen''s eyes slightly flashed. "You mentioned the other time that the detective is also interested in troublesome antiques, just like me. What did you mean?"


    "I am not sure. Anyway, he chose a few pieces of those kind of antiques from the ones I had just gotten. I made twice the profit from just reselling it, so that transaction was definitely worth it!" The old man had a triumphant look on his face.


    "He preselected from this batch again?" Garen knitted his eyebrows. It was not the first time that it happened.


    "What? You want it as well?" The old man glanced at him. "I''ll sell it to you as long as you can pay for it. Let me tell you this, it''s not only happening here. Dale Quicksilver has bought all the antiques of this kind that are being sold in the entirety of Huaishan City."


    "So he has collected a lot of them?" Garen''s eyes lit up. "Honestly, I am very interested in these kind of strange and dangerous antiques. They excite me."


    With a loud thump, the old man''s hand viciously landed on Garen''s head.


    "Exciting, your head! You don''t even have an income and you want to collect antiques like him, you wastrel!"


    Garen did not get angry and only laughed. "Oh and where''s that book? You already got it back from your friend, right? Can you let me see it again?"


    "I already said, there''s no point if you have no talent. Nothing will change no matter how many times you look at it." The old man impatiently waved him off. "Alright, hurry and do whatever you need to do."


    "It''s not like it would disappear if you just let me see it once more. Stupid old man, you''re still so stingy." Garen shook his head.


    The both of them happily chatted for a while, before Garen got up and left.


    After a while, Old Man Gregor stood up and closed the entrance of the shop.


    The old lady put down the necklace in her hand and looked at Old Man Gregor with a complicated look.


    "It''s been a while, and you''ve completely turned into an ordinary person."


    The old man smiled, but strangely did not refute.


    "This is fate. This was the choice that I made. I am merely reaping what I sowed."


    "How long do you plan to stay here?"


    "How long? Until they find me, I guess." The old man sighed and sullenly replied, "I''ve been avoiding and escaping from them for so many years..."


    "Are you really fine with spending your days like this?" The old lady calmly said. "We''ve already entered this circle, it''s not possible for us to leave anymore. They''ve already come looking for you."


    "Are you threatening me?" The old man''s expression darkened.


    "I am only here to give you a reminder. They won''t let go of anyone who has come in contact with you, including that boy. "


    "He''s only an ordinary person, don''t get him involved with this!" The old man''s expression became solemn. There was no longer the usual joviality in his eyes, only a slight gloomy sharpness remained.


    "You''re saying that to the wrong person." The old lady walked toward him and sat on the chair that Garen sat on. "He saw that book as well, right? There''s no need to deny it, I heard your conversation. That boy really resembles you when you were younger. He really does..."


    She silently looked at the old man, eyes glimmering like the sea.

 32 The Spiral 2

    Chapter 32: The Spiral 2


    "Perhaps, but he''s still different from me in the end. He can''t do anything without talent..." the old man said sullenly as he lowered his head.


    "Stop being foolish, Gregor. Give the book to me, only I can keep it safe now." The old lady slowly reached out her hand toward the old man.


    Old Man Gregor held his head down and did not say anything for a while.


    "Influence, wealth, reputation. In the end there¡¯s nothing more dependable than your own ability. Gregor, you''ve fallen." There was a trace of pity in the old lady''s eyes. "Time flies; in the blink of an eye, we''re already at this age. And you, who had made the wrong choice, no longer have the right to safeguard it."


    ******************


    Garen was ambling down Pennington Street -- while looking back in the direction of the antique store from time to time -- when he saw the old man covertly closing the store''s entrance.


    "Good lord! That old woman still hasn''t come out, right?" He was stunned. "They''re still so bold at their age? They couldn¡¯t even wait until nightfall... As expected of the vulgar old man..."


    Shaking his head, his mind suddenly conjured a juicy story between the old couple, and goosebumps immediately appeared all over his body.


    "They were making eyes at each other back at the store too, but I didn''t think that they were so impatient that they would immediately start after I left. It seems that the elderly have such needs as well..."


    He ambled along the street with his hands in his pockets. As he watched the ongoing stream of carriages and automobiles, he continued along a small distance until he reached a black sedan and entered the vehicle.


    Grace was sitting in the driver''s seat with one hand on the steering wheel and the other holding a paper-wrapped sandwich. She was eating voraciously; there was no sign of the "cold lady" image she should have.


    While eating, she asked, "Where are we going?"


    "Home. We need to find a way to earn money as well. Grace, do you have any connections?"


    Grace thought for a while and then replied, "I have some, but it would depend on whether you''re willing."


    "Tell me. I haven''t used that check you gave me yet. I can invest using that."


    "The money isn''t mine: I took it out of the company''s accounts. It''s rather appropriate to use as your capital." Grace nodded. "What''s your motive? Are you aiming to start a career or just to earn money?"


    "It''s best to just earn money. Of course, the source should be clean."


    "That''s simple then. The most suitable method would be tutoring using the dojo''s name. Of course, it depends on your master''s reputation. You could ask your seniors to introduce tutoring work to you as well. With your identity, you should be able to easily earn a large sum of money," Grace explained.


    "Oh, that might work. However, I haven''t even mastered it myself, let alone being able to teach others. Are there any other methods?"


    "There¡¯s also Miss Felicity; she started her own auction company. Aren¡¯t you trying to earn money to collect antiques? You can just cooperate with her. Lastly, you could work with my company. My company can pay you a considerable sum every month. It''s just that you might be called up to solve any... problem.. that arises."


    "There''s no need to hurry, let me think about it." Garen knitted his eyebrows. The three methods did not meet his requirements, especially when he found out that Dale Quicksilver was actually collecting similar antiques. He was slightly tempted.


    "It would be great if I could make contact with Dale Quicksilver and look at his collection. The problem is, what kind of excuse could I use to contact him?"


    He looked toward Grace.


    "Do you have a method to contact Dale Quicksilver? I want to take a look at his collection of antiques, but I need a reason to do so."


    "That''s simple. If you tell him that you have some antiques and would like to show and exchange some of your collections with him, he probably wouldn''t refuse if you use our company''s name. Do you need me to make preparations immediately? It''s just that you will need to put on makeup first. You¡¯re still too young, after all," Grace swiftly replied. "As for the antique needed for the exchange, my company will arrange it."


    "Arrange it, see if he agrees."


    ************


    In the next few days, Garen traveled back and forth between the school and the antique shop, behaving completely like an ordinary student.


    However, as the effect of the emblem had become almost negligible, he could only obediently learn martial arts every day from his seniors. White Cloud Combat Arts were moves developed from the Mammoth Secret Technique; its four forms were interchangeable and abnormally powerful. Garen spent every day practicing the moves with his seniors while suppressing his own strength.


    For the past few days, he did not attend classes even when he was at school. He was only waiting for the end of term results to be announced.


    "How did you fare?" Fayne and Kalidor gathered together to check each other''s result.


    "Alright, I¡¯m twentieth in the class, it''s not that bad." Kalidor grinned.


    "How can you even be happy with twentieth place, there are barely even twenty people in our class..." Garen jokingly scolded as he walked over with papers in his hand. "I messed up my foreign language paper. There''s no hope for me: I just answered randomly."


    Kalidor looked at Garen''s foreign language paper: 20 marks were clearly drawn on it.


    "Impressive!" Kalidor gave Garen a thumbs up. "Oh and let''s go to the White Eagle Saloon later. They just imported a batch of purple grape wine! I made the owner keep a bottle for me."


    "I am not going, you guys can go. I have something else i need to do," Garen declined.


    "Again? You''ve been refusing to hang out with us for quite a while now. Just what exactly are you so busy with all day?" Kalidor was slightly unhappy.


    "I really have something to do." Garen helplessly shrugged his shoulders.


    Ever since Kalidor and Ai Fei got together, the gap between Kalidor and Garen grew larger and the group was not as harmonious as before. Even though the two of them intended to mend the gap, the incident with Ai Fei was like a thorn between them that could not be removed.


    Both Fayne and Jake noticed it and tried persuading Kalidor to forget about it. Little did they expect that after Kalidor became enamored by Ai Fei, even the two of them were both left by the wayside.


    "Alright, if you really have something going on, then forget it. It''s just as well, now I can go out with my girlfriend: I only have the first few days of this vacation to play around. My father will probably force me to help him out the rest of the time," Fayne continued.


    Kalidor''s expression only slightly improved after his two friends¡¯ persuasion, but he still angrily left.


    Garen could not do anything about it as well.


    "Garen, are you going to the dojo?"


    "No, I¡¯ve stopped going to the dojo for now. I''ll be staying at home this vacation. It''s another matter." Garen no longer needed to go to the dojo on a daily basis. He had learned everything he could; he only needed to practice on his own.


    After the matter with Grace was settled, his life seemed to have completely returned to normal.


    After chatting with his friends for a while, Garen checked the time. When he realized that it was almost time to leave, he slowly walked out of the school.


    There was a line of carriages and automobiles queueing outside the school to pick up students. From time to time, a vehicle would hurriedly arrive and leave shortly after. Garen slowly walked toward a black sedan and entered it.


    "The arrangements are ready," Grace softly said from the driver''s seat. "Dale Quicksilver has agreed to our request. The meeting will occur at his temporary residence in the suburbs."


    "Where is it?"


    "Canoe Town."


    "Canoe Town? Is there a place nearby called Silversilk Castle?" Garen was slightly surprised.


    "Silversilk Castle?" Grace slightly hesitated. "It seems like it... I''ve never been there before, but Dale Quicksilver seems to be quite interested in that place. He''s currently resting over there."


    "Is his case solved?"


    "It''s not completely resolved. He only found half of the antiques that the Golden Hoop stole. The rest were sold through various channels. Our company was only one of the channels used. I am sure you know about that."


    "That''s true." Garen knew the company behind Grace, the Manuyllton Corporation, was the biggest antique reseller in Huaishan. "How far is the place from here? How long would it take?"


    "We''ll first go to another place to pick up somebody to help you put on your makeup. Then we''ll go to Canoe Town to meet Dale Quicksilver. The meeting time is around 3 p.m."


    "It''s only 11 a.m. right now, there''s still time." Garen nodded.


    He had always wanted to go to Silversilk Castle to check out the source of the Bronze Cross Emblem and see what was special about it. As the strangest and longest-lasting Potential Antique, Garen had wanted to find out the secret behind it. He did not think that Dale Quicksilver would actually be investigating the matter as well.


    "From the looks of it, it''s not a coincidence. He''s collecting Potential Antiques and is even deliberately staying around Silversilk Castle. It would be strange if it''s only a coincidence."


    Garen turned his head to the window and looked outside. With a roar of the engine, the vehicle started to gradually move forward. He could see groups of students on both sides of the road entering and leaving stores. The girls were dressed in short skirts and black stockings; most of them were youthful and charming. The boys were dressed in shirts with long pants and leather shoes; they were lively and slightly charismatic even if their looks were ordinary.


    This was a special aura that only Shengying Academy had; it was not possible for ordinary schools to possess it. Even the clothes that they wore were not affordable for ordinary students.


    There was more than one academy within Huaishan City. There were a few high schools and Shengying was the best among them. It was not just due to having a spectacular score while enrolling annually l -- the environment, the quality of the students, and other various aspects all mattered as well.


    As Garen watched the students from the window, he suddenly remembered his young sister, Ying Er, who had been obediently staying at home for the past few days,


    In regard to the matter of acknowledging his master -- after he told his parents about it -- they personally visited his master''s residence to make up for their previous absence.


    Garen''s parents were simple people. They did not understand the actual status and power of Fei Baiyun. They were only surprised by the seriousness of the whole situation. Fei Baiyun''s residence was not extravagant either. Instead, the furnishing was quite simple.


    His sister, Ying Er, also knew that he acknowledged Fei Baiyun as his master but she did not know about the details. After she found out about the entire process, she understood that it was a formal ceremony and it changed her opinion about him. However, for some reason, her recent relationship with Garen became even colder.


    Clearing his mind, Garen laid back on his seat and glanced downward toward his Skills in the attribute pane.


    "Right now, I am only lacking in actual combat skills. It would be great if I still have any Attribute points. At least then I could just rapidly raise my White Cloud Combat Arts, which would help save a lot of time and energy. I only wish that meeting Dale Quicksilver this time would give me some sort of reward..."

 33 Silversilk Castle 1

    Huaishan City, southern suburbs


    Green mountains and rugged rolling hills were reminiscent of a thick green carpet covering the land.


    On one of the hills scattered several yellow and white dots. Upon a closer look, these were actually small residential houses. These houses were in the shape of cubes, built with cream-colored marble stone.


    The building walls and door frames were covered in green ivy, of which some of had blossomed small flowers.


    Below one of the houses stood two arched gates, inside was a semi-outdoor resting area.


    There were two tables inside, and sitting by the left table were four people, resting and drinking tea.


    Two middle-aged men and two young women sat across from each other.


    The older man had a well-trimmed beard, he was wearing a nice and delicate black suit. He looked around 40 years of age and had a wooden cane in one hand. He lifted the teacup from the table and took a sip.


    "Mr. Kelly has come all the way here to discuss the collection of antiques of misfortune, this kind of enthusiasm is rare nowadays."


    His eyes landed on the middle-aged man sitting across from him.


    The man¡¯s skin was a bit pale. He had blond, curly hair, and a blond goatee, wearing a tidy white suit. He seemed relaxed and elegant. He was much younger, about thirty instead.


    His eyes were the most dazzling, they were like the finest rubies, transparent and crystal clear.


    "I am also amazed by Mr. Quicksilver¡¯s enthusiasm, to not only collecting these antiques and jewelry by yourself, but also looking for their places of origin and background stories.


    The man sighed.


    "Collectors like us, aren¡¯t we all intrigued by these things? The dream life of coming home to a house full of antiques with mysterious backgrounds. It¡¯s like¡­ like¡­"


    "Like our own house and lives had become mysterious, filled with powers unknown to men," Dale Quicksilver added with a smile.


    "Exactly! That¡¯s the feeling!" The blond man nodded. "Life is always so boring, that¡¯s why we long for us, for our lives to be filled with puzzles and mysteries. That is the most interesting part of finding these antiques of tragedy."


    "Indeed." Dale Quicksilver approvingly nodded, his eyes glanced over the man¡¯s wrist, "I unexpectedly came across an antique of tragedy while investigating a case, and I got hooked on collecting them ever since. Time flies by like an arrow, over the past decade, I¡¯ve collected hundreds of them in my house."


    "Hundreds!?" The blond man¡¯s eyes gleamed with light, "That¡¯s incredible! Only a man such as Detective Quicksilver is worthy of these treasures, I¡¯m sure they are completely different from the stuff you had earlier. Anyway, the reason you have come here, is it related to antiques?"


    "Not exactly." Dale Quicksilver shook his head, he took over the pipe from Ms. Si Lan and smoked from it, he slowly blew a smoke ring. "We are here for a well-known criminal in detective business, it¡¯s a serial killer case. The case was settled, that¡¯s why we have time to come and investigate."


    "Is that so? The well-known criminal, would that be the Golden Hoop?" The blond man mused as he pinched his beard. After receiving a positive answer, he continued, "Golden Hoop had committed dozens of crimes all over the federation. I heard that other than you, only one famous detective had met him face to face before. Would you be kind enough to inform me of this Golden Hoop¡¯s story?"


    "I do apologize, it¡¯s not that I don¡¯t want to tell you, I have a non-disclosure agreement with the police department," Dale Quicksilver shrugged, "Well, we might get going soon, I have to go to the Silversilk Castle this afternoon, would Mr. Kelly be interested in joining us?"


    "The Silversilk Castle? I¡¯ve heard of that shabby place over the years of living in Huaishan City, it¡¯s the inheritance of a military officer, he didn¡¯t have enough money to maintain the castle, and he had sold most of the stuff in there," Kelly replied. "I¡¯ve heard that the castle was for sale, but it was too worn out and desolated, visitors had left as soon as they saw it. Are you planning on buying this castle?"


    "Just visiting the place, I don¡¯t plan on buying it." Dale Quicksilver laughed. He turned around and said a few words to Si Lan, who nodded in reply and walked out towards a two-floored house nearby, disappearing behind the green and thick bushes.


    "The vegetation here is rich, and there are no signs of withering this late in the fall, if it wasn¡¯t too far from my home, I¡¯d love to move here," Dale Quicksilver blew another smoke ring and lamented.


    "I agree, that¡¯s why I¡¯ve moved here and never wanted to leave," Kelly replied. He spoke a few words with the blond girl with ponytail next to him, the girl stood up and walked towards the black car parked outside.


    "From here to Silversilk castle is a two-hour drive, it¡¯s almost 5:00 pm now. If we go at this time, we would have to come back during the late night. Or perhaps Mr. Dale was prepared to stay there for the night?" Kelly stood up and questioned.


    "I¡¯ve spent a few nights there the past few days, no big deal. I talked with the castle¡¯s owner Mr. Nusves and paid him some money, I have rented the castle for two months. Since everything in there was already sold or moved out, he didn¡¯t worry about it too much." Dale Quicksilver also stood up, "On another note, you don¡¯t have to bring your car, there¡¯s nowhere to fill gas, we¡¯d be better off riding in a carriage."


    "That¡¯s true, I guess I have to bother you for a few days."


    "No problem, we are all fellow collectors, and it¡¯s hard to find a friend with the same interest. I won¡¯t lie to you, my other friends are not too fond about this hobby of mine. Okay, enough talking, I¡¯ll get the carriage so we can get going soon, I¡¯ll see you in a bit."


    "All right, I¡¯ll be right out."


    Kelly stood next to the table, he took a cup of tea and drank it bottom up. He watched as Dale Quicksilver walked over the grass towards a black carriage coming from afar. Ms. Si Lan was wearing a white trench coat, she jumped off the carriage to wait for him.


    The winding road stretched on, like a gray snake coiling towards the horizon. Far away on the road, two bullock carts filled with golden wheat moved slowly.


    A warm wind breezed over, sending the hems of Kelly¡¯s white suit flying, a relaxed and leisured atmosphere permeated the air.


    Kelly touched his chin.


    "This beard feels so real."


    "Of course it does." The blond girl who left earlier had come back to him. "The road to Silversilk Castle is going to take at least two hours in the carriage, we¡¯ll have to walk quite a distance in the mountain as well. I¡¯m afraid we¡¯ll have to stay there for the night."


    "Mr. Dale said we could stay at the castle for the night," Kelly smiled and said. "Let¡¯s go, don¡¯t let our detective wait too long."


    The girl watched Kelly¡¯s back as he left, her eyes glimmered with suspicion. Even though she knew he was undercover, it was still strange that from all aspects, Kelly was too mature and too real compared to Garen. He didn¡¯t seem like a teenage boy. As if Garen was Kelly¡¯s disguise, and the Garen-turned-Kelly was his true self.


    She shook her head and stopped the thought, quickly followed up. The two walked towards the waiting carriage on the road.


    Before getting into the carriage, Garen snapped a violet flower from the side of the road, he smelled it, and upon closer look, he discovered there were many tiny black bugs near the center of the flower bud. They looked like ants, and the flower was odorless.


    The group of four boarded the carriage, Dale and Si Lan sat in the front row, Garen and Grace sat in the back.


    The riding whip made a crisp snap sound, as two tall and strong horses pulled the carriage forward, the bells on their necks started ringing.


    Noticing the flower on Garen¡¯s hands, Dale Quicksilver commented.


    "The flowers here are all odorless, but they seem to attract a lot of bugs, I wonder how that happens."


    Garen stretched out his index finger and let a bug climb onto it from the flower petal, it tickled his finger. The bug looked like a miniature ladybug, its semicircle-shaped wings flapped occasionally to maintain balance.


    "The origins of antiques of tragedy tend to involve different kinds of unusual phenomenon, this is quite common, isn¡¯t it?" Garen smiled, "If it were the same as any other place, I wouldn¡¯t have bothered to come here. It is a pity that you didn¡¯t bring any of your collections with you, I could have had the luck to take a look at them."


    Dale Quicksilver started laughing.


    "I initially thought you were just a boasting fraud, I never thought you could tell apart the knockoff replicas of antiques of tragedy from the real ones so easily. I didn¡¯t expect to find such a bosom friend at a place like this. I thought I was the only one interested in these things."


    "Same as I." Garen laughed along as he stripped a flower pedal and flicked it out of the carriage. "What is it about the Silversilk Castle that drew your interest? I¡¯ve lived here for so long without knowing anything remarkable about it."


    Dale Quicksilver handed the horsewhip to Si Lan. He took out a stack of papers from his leather bag and handed them over. "These are some documents I¡¯ve collected, take a look."


    Garen took them over, he saw the title of the first page: Castle Owner Found Dead. Underneath the title was a large paragraph of writing, describing how the body was found.


    He flipped to the next page, it was a similar title.


    The third page was the same, except this one had a picture, it was a picture of the Silversilk Castle.


    Three owners of the castle died for no reason, killer unknown. They all died peacefully in their sleep without any trace of a struggle, like old-aged seniors who had lost their last breath. Strangely enough, these three owners were all strong, middle-aged military officers.

 34 Silversilk Castle 2

    "The most recent death was the owner of the Silversilk Castle from about 30 years ago. I am not sure which Antique of Tragedy it is, but I am trying to see just what¡¯s going on there, and I might even find it if I¡¯m lucky," Dale Quicksilver added, while Garen nodded his head.


    Garen knew what an Antique of Tragedy was, and he thought his Bronze Cross was one of them. Although it could barely provide him with any potential, only about 1 point per week, it was better than nothing.


    Garen had no idea why an Antique of Tragedy could provide him with potential, and he wanted to know where the name came from. Those were the main reasons why he decided to travel to the Silversilk Castle with Dale Quicksilver.


    The carriage left the city before noon and arrived at a green and yellow slope in the afternoon. There was a small forest in front of them and the sun was beginning to set. The four got off the carriage and surveyed the forest.


    By the end of the forest, they could see an old-looking graycastle built upon a hill. The surface of the castle had burn marks all over it, and it was completely devoid of plant life.


    Outside the castle, the lawn was surrounded by fences and several trees, but they all looked gray and burned.The castle had three bartizans, and Garen could see many windows around it. However, everything looked black from a distance.


    "This is Silversilk Castle. I heard it caught fire 30 years ago and the next owner had no money to fix it, so now it looks like this. It was pretty sad, since the castle was famous for its garden. The word silversilk came from its beautiful exterior. Before the accident, the facade looked like it was covered with silver silk." Dale Quicksilver said, pointing at the castle.


    "I don¡¯t think that¡¯s possible Mr. Dale. If the accident happened thirty years ago, why does it still have this gray and black appearance. There should at least be some ivies or moss growing on it," Grace speculated.


    "No one knows the reason. Some said the ash stopped the plants from growing, and some said plants just wouldn¡¯t grow there. There were many strange rumors about the castle, but they were all hard to believe," Si Lan said.


    "Did you ever ask the locals about it?" Grace scrunched her eyebrows and asked.


    "No one lives around here. Farmers cannot grow anything on an area like this, and the closest towns are about 30 miles away," Si Lan answered.


    "We will be staying in the castle tonight, right? Do we have enough supplies?" Garen touched his fake beard and asked.


    "We have more than enough. Me and Si Lan have stayed here for days, and the only problem was that we had to travel a long way to get back to the city. The environment here was good, and it was nice to stay in the castle. Let¡¯s go. We still have a long way to walk, maybe half an hour," Dale Quicksilver said as he nodded his head.


    "What about the carriages?" Garen asked.


    "Just leave them here and someone will drive them back. I have everything planned. We took the carriages to get here, but we will have to walk back after we visit. It¡¯s about a four hour walk from here to Canoe Town, the nearest settlement," Dale Quicksilver explained.


    "We will have to stay here for several days I think," he continued.


    "That¡¯s fine. I will enjoy my vacation I guess. Grace, can you go back to the city and tell my family not to worry about me? Just tell them I am staying at my friend¡¯s home and I will be back after several days," Garen said with a light tone.


    "How about letting me drive the carriage back and I¡¯ll leave it in town?" Grace suggested. She knew Garen wanted her to hide the truth from his family. He was still a high school student and did not want his family to be worried about him.


    "Sure," Dale Quicksilver nodded.


    The three watched Grace and the carriage disappear at the end of the road.


    "Let¡¯s go. It¡¯s better if we can get there before the evening," Dale Quicksilver said, shaking the long bag in his hand.


    "I brought my rifle and we can hunt some wild animals for a barbeque," he added.


    "Sounds great! You¡¯re really well prepared." Garen smiled.


    "I brought some spices, tea, and coffee beans. There is a river nearby and we can get some water from there." Si Lan smiled and showed Garen the red pouch in her hand.


    "Let¡¯s see if you can make some good coffee," Garen said.


    "I have some secret techniques!" Si Lan had a mysterious smile on her face.


    "I assume Mr. Kelly rarely goes camping. Unlike us detectives, sometimes we even have to camp in forests when chasing criminals, so we have to be prepared," she explained.


    "You are right." Garen shrugged his shoulders.


    "I only brought some emergency tools, some clothes, and some daily supplies. I am not as prepared as you," he replied.


    "Well, let¡¯s get moving before it gets dark. We need to clean up a room for you. From here on out we¡¯ll have to rely on the oil lamps I brought," Dale Quicksilver said lightly as he looked at the setting sun.


    "Sure, let¡¯s go." The three started to walk towards the Silversilk Castle.


    *****************


    Inside the Castle¡¯s iron gate, Garen could see white ashes on the charred ground. It looked like the road was covered with a layer of soot.


    There were two small triangular fire towers on either side of the road, and there were two braziers on top of them. A metal railing separated the castle from the trees on the outside, but Garen had no idea out of what type of metal it was made from.


    Outside the railings, Garen could see fresh, dark green bushes. Beyond that, everything looked dead. The dying trees and withered lawn made Garen feel a bit depressed.


    The three people entered the gate holding their bags in hand. They followed the dusty road to the door of the castle. The wooden door had a metal frame around its perimeter, and there was a white keyhole in the middle. Dale Quicksilver took out the key and unlocked the door.


    The door opened and Garen followed Si Lan into the empty main hall. He checked around but there were no decorations, no furniture, not even a carpet. It was also dark since the wall lamps were also gone .


    The sunlight entered the hall through the dormer on the side, opposite to the door, and it made the hall just slightly more peaceful.


    "Which room you want? You can pick one and then we need to start preparing dinner." Dale Quicksilver closed the door and put the key back to his belt.


    "Cooking for myself in a castle in the middle of nowhere, this feels so novel to me," Garen said and smiled.


    Si Lan brought him to a room on the right side of the castle and made the bed for him. Garen put a blanket on the bed and was good to go.


    After dinner, Garen could barely see anything in the dark and they did not have enough oil to keep the lamps going, so they decided to go to bed early and explore the castle tomorrow.


    Garen went back to his room and sat on the bed.


    The room was extremely quiet. There was a door sized window on one side, the floor was made from light red hexagonal tiles. There was only a large bed in the room, surrounded by metal racks upon which mosquito traps used to be placed.


    Garen could barely move on the bed as he did not want the rust to flake off the metal bedframe. There was an oil lamp on a chair beside the bed, the only thing that was keeping the room in light. He walked towards the window in his underwear and looked down. He could see nothing but darkness.


    He couldn¡¯t see anything on the lawn; the whole castle was dead still. Dale Quicksilver and Si Lan were sleeping in two different rooms, so Garen was the only one awake in the castle.


    Garen opened the window, and a chilling wind gusted into the room. Garen could hear owls hooting from the forest, barely illuminated by the shining moon in the sky.


    "I should go to bed. I will see what Dale Quicksilver can find here tomorrow. I am not sure if he knows I am undercover. I don¡¯t know if he is a genius or not, but I know he¡¯s observant," Garen thought. He practiced some Fist Arts in the room, before closing the door, and laying down on the bed.


    After a while, Garen turned over on the bed. Strangely, he heard the sound of the door being opened; it sounded like someone had opened it from the outside. Surprised, he sat up and looked at the door. The door was ajar, but otherwise not moving. He got up and closed the door carefully.


    "It was the wind,"¡¯ he thought.


    Garen lay down on the bed and began fell asleep, but the sound of the door opening stopped him again.


    Garen woke up one more time and he grabbed the oil lamp by the side. He stared at the door carefully, but nothing was there.


    "Are you playing with me?" Garen yelled.


    "Dale?" he yelled again.


    His voice echoed in the room, down the grand hall across the castle, and finally back to him. But no one answered. It was still quiet outside.


    Garen put on his slippers and walked towards the door with the lamp in his hand. He closed the door again and locked it. He fastened the door with the latches so that no one would be able to open it again. Garen took a deep breath and returned to the bed. However instead of sleeping, he just sat there and tried to figure out what was going on.


    Suddenly, he heard the sound of someone putting a key into the keyhole of his door.


    Garen stood up immediately and forcefully swung the door open. The noise stopped. No one was outside. He was really confused.


    "I... thought I locked it?" Garen looked at the latches, and was surprised again.


    "I locked the door and fastened all the latches!" he yelled. He was sure he had locked the door, but the door had just opened without any resistance.


    "What the hell?!" Garen yelled. He slammed the door closed and stepped back. His scalp tingled and he stumbled on the corner of the bed.


    "If I find whoever it is that¡¯s pulling this prank, you¡¯re dead!" Garen yelled with anger.

 35 Silversilk Castle 3

    "Kelly! Wake up, Kelly! Come on!"


    Upon hearing the sudden shout, Garen opened his eyes. The bright light in front of him forced his eyes into a tight squint. Dale Quicksilver was anxiously tapping his face.


    "What¡¯s going on? Why¡¯re you here, Dale?" Garen sat up, realizing that the event that had just occurred was only a dream.


    "Why are you asleep down here in the basement?" Dale looked at Garen curiously. "Were you here looking for something by yourself and ended up falling asleep? Didn¡¯t I tell you to wait for me to move together?"


    At this moment, Garen found himself lying against the wall in the basement. Dark and narrow walls made from cold stone bricks surrounded him. The room was completely empty.


    The basement was partially underground. Sunlight spilled in from a window near the ceiling, making this place resemble a dungeon more than a basement.


    "What¡¯s going on? I clearly remember going to sleep in the bedroom¡­" He lowered his head as a wave of excruciating pain rose.


    Suddenly, his heart skipped a beat -- the sound of silence greeted him.


    In the blink of an eye, Dale Quicksilver had vanished right in front of him.


    The room was empty again.


    "Dale?"


    "Dale!"


    Garen crawled up from the floor and yelled again. There was no answer.


    A sharp pain arose from within his head once more, and then he remembered: Dale had woken him up from the basement. That had happened three days ago.


    "Three days ago?" He covered his head, his vision blurry. "What happened? If that was three days ago, what was I doing in these past three days? How come I don¡¯t remember anything? He was right here in front of me!"


    He felt the pain assault his temples again. His mind was in chaos.


    "No, I can¡¯t stay in this castle any longer!"


    He pushed open the door and rushed out of the basement, running toward the castle¡¯s gate through a straight and empty path.


    His footsteps echoed inside the castle.


    ¡®Peng!¡¯


    The castle door was slammed open. He then stumbled through the door and fell down the stairs, tumbling onto the grass.


    ¡®Gasp¡¯


    He lied on the grass, breathless, gasping for air. Suddenly, he felt a sense of drowsiness encroaching upon him. Unable to resist the drowsiness, he passed out.


    Not knowing how long it has been, he slowly opened his eyes. he was still lying on his bed inside the castle.


    "Kelly, are you up yet?" Dale Quicksilver¡¯s voice came from outside.


    "I¡¯m back here again? Was that all a dream?" Garen sat up from the bed. "This place¡­ this place is too strange!" Goosebumps formed all over his body. Even though sunlight was shining on him through the bedroom window, he didn¡¯t feel any warmth. Thinking back, the images in this room seemed more real than those in his dreams.


    "Was it all a dream?" He took a deep breath.


    After getting up, he quickly dressed up and opened the door. Dale Quicksilver was standing there with a surprised look.


    "What¡¯s wrong? You look like you stayed up all night."


    "It¡¯s nothing, just a nightmare." Garen forced out a smile.


    "Nightmare?" Dale Quicksilver laughed. "A nightmare could scare you like this? What happened in it? Come, tell us and grab some breakfast."


    "Fine." Garen rubbed his eyebrows. He knew it was ridiculous. "Although that nightmare was unbelievably real."


    "You go down first, in the main hall downstairs. I¡¯ll lock the doors." Dale Quicksilver tapped Garen¡¯s shoulder. "Seems like I shouldn¡¯t have shown you that document."


    "It¡¯s okay, I¡¯m not so easily frightened." Garen laughed and left for breakfast. He didn¡¯t notice Dale Quicksilver¡¯s gloomy expression behind him.


    ********************


    Main hall


    Garen followed the stairs down to find Si Lan sitting in the corner of the hall. She was drinking a cup of tea, wearing a dark brown hunting uniform. Her blonde ponytail hung from her back, contrasting against her clear skin.


    "Mr. Kelly is up too? You don¡¯t look too well. Did you not have a good rest?"


    "I had a nightmare¡­ it was ¡­ too real." Garen rubbed between his eyes and sat down at the table.


    "Have some tea. I got it from the Garfield Province." Si Lan made an inviting gesture.


    "Thanks."


    Garen lifted a cup of hot black tea and put it up to his nose, smelling the fresh minty scent mixed with a hint of milk cream.


    He sipped from the cup and found that the tea tasted like mint water.


    "What kind of tea is this? Tastes a little weird."


    "I¡¯ve added some other spices so it will help you wake up. One of my uncles is a doctor at Sirius University and he taught me how to make this," Si Lan said.


    Garen nodded. "Not bad, I¡¯m already feeling better."


    Dale Quicksilver came to the table and sat down as well. He took a cup of tea and chugged the tea down his throat.


    "So here¡¯s the plan: We¡¯ll go hunting first, get the food for lunch and dinner, then get some water and clean our equipment. Then we¡¯ll spend the rest of the afternoon investigating the castle and its surroundings."


    "You¡¯re the expert, you make the plans." Garen shrugged.


    "Oh and Mr. Kelly--"


    "Just call me Kelly."


    "All right, Kelly. You said you had a vivid nightmare. Just what kind of nightmare could it be to have exhausted and dispirited you so?"


    Garen drank some hot tea, allowing the hot water, combined with the cool mint flavor, to bathe his throat. The tea flowed into his stomach, filling his body with warmth, and sobered his mind.


    "I dreamed" -- he paused for a second -- "of someone opening my door at night, over and over again every time when I¡¯m about to fall asleep." His eyebrows furrowed. "This is very strange. I¡¯ve never been here before, so I didn¡¯t expect to have this kind of dream on my first night."


    "I remember the documents I showed you contained information about the deaths of the three owners of this castle. It was mentioned that the previous three owners all had nightmares before their deaths. Maybe you were worried after reading that document, causing you to have a nightmare," Dale Quicksilver analyzed.


    "Do we have information on what their nightmares were about?"


    "We don¡¯t know anything about that. I had a dream last night as well. It wasn¡¯t a nightmare though." Dale Quicksilver looked up through the window, his expression told Garen he was reminiscing about something.


    "You are thinking about it again?" Si Lan seemed worried. "It¡¯s been that long, yet you still can¡¯t let it go?"


    "If only it was that easy," Dale Quicksilver laughed, somewhat bitterly.


    Garen was completely silent, carefully watching their expressions.


    After the morning tea, they had some breakfast. The three of them went to prepare their weapons and gear.


    Dale Quicksilver held a rifle and suited up in a military hunting uniform with a top hat. Garen had a half-meter long saber and wore the same clothes he had on the day before, which were completely unsuitable for the occasion. In the end, he also grabbed a sack, ready to help with logistics.


    They cleaned up the dishes and headed out of the castle.


    After locking the door, Dale Quicksilver led them toward the right side of the castle. "There¡¯s a hole in the fence. We can get to the forest through there." He loaded the rifle as he spoke.


    "There aren¡¯t many animals around here. It¡¯s a good thing we don¡¯t have many mouths to feed. Even small prey would be enough for a few meals."


    Garen nodded in reply. He didn¡¯t speak, but instead raised the sack in his hand, indicating that he was going to be taking care of the prey. The rest was on Quicksilver.


    Dale Quicksilver laughed and tapped his rifle without saying a word.


    The three arrived at the right wing of the castle. Located on the black steel fence was a giant hole as wide as two people. The poles on the fence had been destroyed by some force, bent inwards haphazardly.


    Dale Quicksilver carefully sneaked past the gap and waved from the other side.


    Si Lan and Garen followed him through the hole, and Garen almost caught his clothes on the fence.


    Outside the fence was a dark and green forest. Trees around four to five meters tall filled the area, while thick and wild bushes scattered around the ground. A cold aura could be felt emitting from deep inside even before they entered.


    The morning sunlight could not pierce through the dense leaves. Even the warmth could not penetrate through. The sounds of birds chirping continuously came from within the forest, with the occasional noises coming from the bushes as something moved inside.


    "That¡¯s the noise of mountain mice, sounds like big ones." Dale Quicksilver lowered his voice and crouched down, trying not to make any noise. "I didn¡¯t expect to have something good this quick."


    Si Lan smiled while moving behind Dale.


    Even if Garen had never hunted before, he knew not to make a sound at this moment. He tipped his toes and followed behind.


    "Bang!"


    Garen looked forward and saw Dale Quicksilver lower his rifle, smoke snaking from the barrels with the smell of gunpowder permeating through the air.


    "Your aim is pretty good, Dale! How did you hit it so accurately through all that grass? The mouse was moving so fast!" Garen gave him a thumbs up and said, "Looks like we¡¯ll have enough food for today."


    "That¡¯s not enough at all. We¡¯ll have to gut it and skin it. After that, there would hardly be any meat left. We¡¯ll need some more," Dale Quicksilver said, shaking his head.


    Garen had never hunted wild animals before. Although he didn¡¯t know what was going on, he was fascinated by everything. His bad mood from last night¡¯s nightmare improved.


    The three continued to wander inside the forest. Garen followed behind with the giant mountain mouse in his sack. It was quite heavy, around twenty pounds.


    While walking behind Si Lan, Garen checked his attribute pane. The attributes had not changed much, although his strength did grow a tiny bit from the original 2.08 to 2.09. This was mostly as a result of his White Cloud Secret Arts.


    "Many people know about the effects of the level three White Cloud Secret Arts, but no one has reached level four before. I don¡¯t think anyone knows what kind of effect it will have. My martial arts are heading on the right path now, but my Potential Meter stopped growing again. If only I could find the reason behind the increase of potential from the Antiques of Tragedy, I will have a direction to look in, instead of blindly blundering everywhere like I¡¯m currently doing."


    Garen reflected on his current situation while closely following behind Dale and Si Lan. These few days, due to his combat training with his senior brother and sister, he had grown to resemble a real martial artist. This was a change from within, a natural change, caused by his increase in strength and experience.


    After a while, with no new prey in sight, Dale Quicksilver turned around and shouted, "There¡¯s a castle dungeon in the front. Do you want to go check it out? Since we are already close, we can go there to take a break. I think the gunshot had scared the other animals. There¡¯s nothing to hunt around anymore."

 36 Silversilk Castle 4

    "A dungeon? Sure, your call."


    The group continued wandering through the forest after Dale Quicksilver found the marking he made on a tree from before. After being led by a few more of these markings, they arrived at an area of open ground.


    "This is it. Last time I was here, we even had a barbecue at this place." Dale Quicksilver laughed as he strode on the grassland. His facial expression, however, suddenly changed after stomping on the ground a couple of times.


    "Something¡¯s different, someone has been here already! Si Lan!"


    Si Lan hurried to him. She bent down and started fumbling around the ground. Soon enough, she pulled out a metal ring from the soil.


    It was a dark red ring, corrupted by rust resulting from the long passage of time. The color of rust greatly contrasted with its true hue, which showed a glint of silver.


    Dale Quicksilver, who had also been searching on the ground, rushed to Si Lan immediately after she found the ring.


    There, a square wooden cellar door revealed itself as it was pulled up. Chunks of grass and dirt slid off the surface, revealing a dark hole underneath.


    Garen didn¡¯t ask how Dale Quicksilver knew that someone had been here, but seeing the expressions of the other two, he felt a bit nervous as well.


    He walked up to the edge and looked down. The hole was deep and pitch black.


    "I¡¯ll go take a look." Surprisingly, Si Lan was the first to volunteer, not Dale Quicksilver.


    "Be safe." The detective unexpectedly answered her. He nodded at her with a respectful expression.


    "Let me go down instead, this is not a job for a lady¡­" Garen said, feeling hesitant.


    "It¡¯s fine, Si Lan isn¡¯t your usual lady, just watch out for her." Detective answered calmly.


    Si Lan pulled out a white bandana out of nowhere and tied it around her face to cover her nose. She pulled out her black dagger, secured a rope to a nearby tree, and threw the other end of the rope down the hole.


    "I¡¯ll go down first; you guys watch out up here. The trace is fresh, so the person may not be far from here!" Si Lan warned them.


    "We got it, take care of yourself." The detective pulled Garen two steps back, his face even more serious.


    Si Lan grabbed the rope and jumped down, quickly disappearing into the darkness. The rope instantly became taut.


    Ten seconds later, it became loose again, signifying Si Lan¡¯s successful landing.


    "Sir, you better come down as well, there¡¯s something wrong here!" Si Lan¡¯s voice came from below.


    Dale Quicksilver¡¯s stony face turned even darker.


    "If Si Lan is calling for help, it must be very serious. I have to go down myself. Mr. Kelly, the task of guarding this place is on you now. I¡¯ll leave this rifle to you, please don¡¯t go anywhere."


    Garen was slightly surprised. He didn¡¯t know why Dale Quicksilver trusted him so much. However, he still agreed. He still needed something from the detective, so it would be unwise to have any funny ideas right now.


    "Don¡¯t you worry, I won¡¯t move an inch."


    Dale Quicksilver nodded. He handed the rifle to Garen and fixed his belt, organizing the items he had on him. He then slid down the rope into the dungeon.


    After about ten seconds, he was not visible from above ground anymore.


    Garen stood alone next to the cellar door. Holding the double-barreled pipe rifle, he was on high alert.


    Fortunately, there was no movement around him except for the tree leaves rustling as they blew in the wind.


    After a short while, Si Lan climbed out of the hole with a dirty and tired face.


    "There are two corpses down there. It seems they have been rotting for some time already."


    "Corpses?" Garen faked a surprised expression and gulped. "Ms. Si Lan, you¡¯re not joking, are you?" In fact, he had already either directly or indirectly killed two people, and after comprehending his school¡¯s teachings regarding the heart, his mind had become calm and fearless. Two corpses no longer frightened him.


    "No joke, there are two men¡¯s bodies down there."


    Si Lan sat on the grass and stabbed her dagger into the ground next to her. She took out a white handkerchief with a fading red handprint.


    "What is this?"


    "This handkerchief has the perpetrator¡¯s bloody handprint; this is an important piece of the puzzle." She carefully folded the handkerchief and kept it inside a small pocket.


    "These were taken from inside the dungeon. As skilled as Mr. Dale might be, he couldn¡¯t identify them either." She pulled out a few pieces of black objects covered in mud. "He said that this might be an antique. He is still examining the area, so he asked me to bring this to you first."


    "Oh." Garen carefully received the objects and peeled off the mud on them.


    Soon, four small objects were laid on the grass. They were four small iron plates about the size of a knuckle, each of them rectangular-shaped.


    These four objects were thick, and had some indistinct letters carved on them.


    "Well?" Si Lan asked.


    "This antique is useful, quite useful for me." Garen¡¯s face twitched for a second, but it quickly returned back to normal.


    "He said that if you like them, you can keep them as a reward for this unpleasant journey."


    Garen touched one of the plates. He felt the same qi from the emblem, and he shook his head.


    "I¡¯m sure Dale knows how valuable these iron plates are. This reward is too much compared to my work, but I¡¯ll have to accept it."


    He couldn¡¯t put them down since he had them in his hand. Garen glanced at Si Lan, only to see her looking at him with a faint smile, which in turn caused Garen to blush.


    He could not refuse. If he could absorb all of the potential inside these plates, he was certain of having an increment of 10 points in his attribute. He had a feeling that this could even be an antique that supplied continuous qi just like the emblem.


    "This gift is a little too heavy¡­" He gripped the iron plate in his hand. The sensation was akin to one directly holding an ice cube. A biting chill permeated his hand as though it was beginning to freeze his skin, yet it hadn¡¯t done so in reality.


    "This speed of absorption is too slow, it will take months before I could absorb them all."


    Garen looked at Si Lan, his eyes squinting. "I have a check for one million dollars." He took out a bank check from his chest pocket, neatly folded it and placed it next to the plates.


    "If I identified it correctly, this plate is the Black Jade Disk Dale mentioned earlier. A while ago, this disk was auctioned for the price of six million dollars in the Weisman Empire. It¡¯s still quite a bargain for me."


    He paused for a second, feeling hesitant about something.


    "I¡¯ll take it this time, but I owe Dale a big favor."


    He gave her his solemn word. Even in his former life, Garen was one who valued his own promises. Once he swore an oath, he would always honor it and keep his promise.


    This plate was like a great treasure for him. What it brought was not only wealth, but also the enhancement of his attributes. As long as he kept it close to him, it was bound to bring great improvement to his overall strength. He could probably catch up to his senior brothers and senior sister, and even surpassing his master Fei Baiyun, achieving a great leap in strength in an extremely short period.


    "Mr. Dale knew you would accept it, and luckily, you can do him a favor right now to repay him." It was as though Si Lan had already expected Garen¡¯s response.


    "What does he want me to do? I¡¯ll do everything in my power to help him." Garen¡¯s pupils shrank slightly, knowing that Dale Quicksilver might have seen through his cover.


    "Stop the approaching Golden Hoop." Si Lan¡¯s eyes turned fierce, and she said in a low voice, "If you can delay him for half an hour, our help will be here! Of course, it would be better if you killed him!"


    "Golden Hoop?" Garen turned around to look to his right.


    A man wearing a camoflague suit along with face covered with black bandana, and had a golden ring hanging from his right ear was approaching in the grassland.


    "You guys hunted me last time, but now, it¡¯s time for me to hunt you instead."


    The man¡¯s voice was hoarse, which sounded grating and harsh.


    At this moment, Dale Quicksilver climbed out of the hole, panting as he glanced at Golden Hoop.


    "It¡¯s on you, Kelly!" He tapped Garen¡¯s shoulder and made an eye gesture to Si Lan, the two turned around and escaped toward the castle without looking back.


    "Sir, that Kelly¡­ Can he really stop the Golden Hoop?"


    "Gasp¡­ gasp¡­ as long as he can hold him for a little while. I never expected him to stop Golden Hoop to begin with." Dale Quicksilver gasped as he ran, "The Black Jade Disk I left to him is for trading his life, and by Golden Hoop¡¯s rules, he won¡¯t take Kelly¡¯s life."


    "So you had all of this planned out huh." Si Lan was only slightly panting, her stamina seemingly unabated.


    "Let¡¯s keep running, Golden Hoop will catch up to us soon." Gale Quicksilver said as he climbed through the hole in the fence.


    *****************


    Inside the forest.


    Garen collected the Black Jade Disk and slowly stood up. His bones made a series of loud cracking noises. "I owe Dale a big favor, and killing you will repay it. Don¡¯t blame me, blame your own misfortune."


    His body swelled up like an air balloon with his height growing from 1.7 meters to over 2 meters. A strong and violent aura began to emanate from him. His muscles and skin turned from pale white to a leather-like black color.


    Golden Hoop¡¯s expression changed. Under the strong force of Garen¡¯s aura, he was pushed back two steps.


    "Who the hell are you?"


    Garen didn¡¯t answer. Instead, he flexed his arms and reached toward Golden Ring with a grasping motion. His fearsome and muscular arms coiled with purple veins clawed toward Golden Hoop¡¯s head as he crossed a few meters in milliseconds.

 37 Leave 1

    With a sudden and violent attack, Garen''s arm caught the tip of Golden Hoop''s head¡ªand like the giant claws of a vicious beast¡ªhe clasped it tightly as if he were going to crush it.


    This was the Acceleration Technique of the White Cloud Secret Method. Combined with any other action, it could achieve the effect of instantaneous acceleration to create a sudden attack.


    This was the first time Garen had used White Cloud Combat Arts in a real battle. White Cloud Combat Arts required an imposing momentum to it: every single action had to exhibit a crushing force.


    When his palm was about to catch Golden Hoop''s forehead, Golden Hoop produced a dagger out of nowhere and stabbed upwards, aiming for Garen''s wrist.


    The move was swift and agile. The tip of the dagger seemed to instantly accelerate, as if some special force technique was used.


    Whack!


    Garen turned his palm sideways to avoid the blade, then he hit Golden Hoop''s wrist with the side of his palm. With a swoosh, the dagger flew out of his hand and landed in the bushes.


    Golden Hoop took the opportunity to back up a few steps, opening up some distance between them.


    ""


    "You think you can win by force? Fool!" Golden Hoop reached his right hand behind his waist, and suddenly, four small black throwing knives were flung towards Garen.


    Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!


    The four throwing knives flew out in a flash and accurately struck onto Garen''s chest.


    Garen didn''t manage to respond in time. He wanted to cross his arms to protect his chest, but when he raised his arms, the throwing knives had already pierced his clothes.


    The throwing knives merely ripped his clothes and were nailed to his skin, but they didn''t cut through the skin.


    He grabbed one of the knives and threw it at Golden Hoop. A violent whirling sound followed. The throwing knife turned into a round disk and flew straight at Golden Hoop, but he evaded it with ease.


    Garen flung the three remaining knives in succession, but they were all casually avoided by Golden Hoop. This time, Garen took the opportunity to pick up the double-barreled rifle while Golden Hoop was distracted.


    Bang!


    White smoke came out of the barrels as the shot hit a tree trunk and left a black indent. Some leaves and bark fell off the tree like raindrops from the force of the blast.


    Golden Hoop was extremely fast. He started dodging once Garen showed signs of his next actions, which made him impossible to aim at. After a few evasions, he seemed to realize that Garen''s reactions were not as quick as his, and his eyes narrowed into a sneer. His astonishment at Garen''s physical change earlier instantly faded.


    ""


    "I thought you wanted to kill me? Do you think you can?"


    ""


    "Go to hell!" Garen roared. He raised the double-barreled shotgun and flung it at Golden Hoop like an iron bar. Garen''s force caused the gun to give a loud, piercing whistle in mid-air. This was to no avail either: Golden Hoop turned his body to the right and easily avoided it.


    "What''s the use of having a ton of strength? If you can''t hit me, it''s all in vain," Golden Hoop jeered. With yet another dagger in hand, his body suddenly drew close. He did a slight flick with the dagger, then stabbed towards Garen''s wrist.


    Angled upwards, this stab was quick and precise. He had targeted the moment when Garen''s large range of motion created some space.


    "It''s over." A trace of malice flashed across Golden Hoop''s eyes.


    At this instant, Garen squinted as he swung his right arm backwards, avoiding the dagger in a flash.


    The slow pace he had a while ago had seemingly transformed. His right arm flung out like a rubber hose at a lightning-pace and hit Golden Hoop''s left arm.


    The speed of this attack was different from before. Only a glimpse of a shadow could be seen from the swinging arm. His speed had almost doubled!


    Golden Hoop stared wide-eyed. His dagger was only halfway through the stab when he felt a crack in his right arm, which was then followed by a burst of pain. Suddenly, his body turned light as it involuntarily leapt towards the right.


    Wham!


    Golden Hoop crashed into the bushes. After some ruffling, he created a trail in the shrubbery, trampling over a large amount of plant and leaves. He went on for a good seven to eight meters before colliding against a large white rock.


    Garen stayed put and didn''t give chase. As his body gradually restored to its original state, he shook his right arm a little as a relaxed smile broke across his face.


    "You really thought I was slow? Even though I''m not as fast as you, I''m not that slow. I deliberately said I wanted to kill you first, then acted like a clumsy doofus. All of it was to lure you to stay and duel with me, and to make you think that you could get rid of me easily without wasting too much time, with the added benefit of relieving yourself of your hatred towards me. Too bad¡­"


    He slowly walked over. He saw Golden Hoop try to hold his body up from the ground, but his every attempt was met with the same result: he kept falling flat every time. It wasn''t just his right arm; when he was stumbling through the bushes, it was obvious that there was an unnatural distortion in his left arm¡ªit was broken.


    "I am not as fast as you. If you ignored me and directly pursued Dale Quicksilver and his companion, then I wouldn''t have been able to stop you. Good thing you were agitated by me enough to stay put." It was the first time he had used the combat arts strategy taught by Fei Baiyun in an actual combat. The fact that it worked like a charm gave him an immense sense of relief.


    Golden Hoop''s face was livid. Fresh blood slowly dripped from the bottom half of his body. He must have cut himself somewhere when he was stumbling through the bushes.


    "You got hit by four of my knives, but you weren''t¡­ cough, cough¡­ weren''t even injured. Even so, don''t get too cocky. Someone will avenge me!"


    Upon finishing the sentence, purple blood instantly spilled from the corner of his mouth. His head bent askew, his eyes clouded over, and he eventually stopped breathing.


    Garen squinted and quickly crouched down to apply pressure on Golden Hoop''s chest. His body was still warm, but his heartbeat had stopped.


    "Dead? The infamous thief, Golden Hoop, can¡¯t possibly die so easily from my trickery, can he?" He felt that it was all too simple.


    Golden Hoop and Dale Quicksilver had been battling wits for a few years. If he could so easily be dispatched, he should have disappeared ages ago¡ªit wouldn''t be up to Garen to do it.


    Garen gave a puff as he stood up and surveyed his surroundings.


    The forest was quiet: only the fluttering of tree leaves blown by the wind could be heard.


    He crouched down again and started examining Golden Hoop''s belongings and clothing.


    The man had nothing on him except some money and throwing knives.


    Looking at the cloth covering Golden Hoop''s face, Garen frowned. When he removed it, he was instantly shocked at what he saw.


    Under the mask was a half-burnt face with a black scar of the number "102" on his right cheek, as if he was branded.


    "102? Looks like Golden Hoop is not a person, it''s an organization." Garen suddenly felt that things had become more complicated. "That means there is probably someone else pursuing Dale Quicksilver and Si Lan. This guy was just a decoy."


    He stood up, mindfully examined his surroundings, then quickly ran towards the direction of the castle.


    "This Golden Hoop is just an ordinary person with some training in combat arts. Most people could easily impersonate him with a bit of practice. He just knew some Explosive Speed Force Technique. The real Golden Hoop wouldn''t be so simple. "


    Recalling the "102" on that man''s face, Garen felt a heavy weight in his heart.


    "If that number represents a rank or a serial code, that means Golden Hoop is an organization with more than a hundred members. So why would such a big organization dedicate itself to stealing antiques? Purely for profit? Or is there another purpose?"


    From how Dale Quicksilver casually gifted him the Black Jade Disk, it showed that he didn''t know what that meant to Garen. He probably thought that Garen had great skill and also liked antiques.


    Valuable antiques of tragedy like the Black Jade Disk were absolutely irresistible for such a collector.


    But that was Kelly the collector¡ªa fake persona. The real Garen was, in fact, merely a high school student.


    The thought of facing a murderous evil organization like Golden Hoop alone made Garen uneasy, even though he had been training in martial arts for so long. Although he had lived for decades in his past life and he wasn''t actually a teenage high school student, that life was led in a lawful and socially stable environment.


    He quickly ran back. Soon, he was in front of the hole in the castle fence.


    Garen hurried through the hole before turning to a corner and heading towards the main gate of the castle. Suddenly, he glimpsed a flash of light to his right.


    He stopped in his tracks. He focused his gaze towards the direction of the light, and he could vaguely make out a black telescope withdraw into the trees in a distance. The flash of light earlier was the reflection of sunlight off the lens of the telescope.


    "I didn''t think there would be someone surveilling. That means my every move has been monitored." Garen was stunned. "No wonder Mr. 102 said someone would avenge him. This is troublesome."


    He thought he had killed that person in the forest without being seen, and his organization shouldn''t have noticed him. Now, he realized this thought was too na?ve.


    "I''ll just have to find Dale Quicksilver and Si Lan first, then figure it out from there. To be marked by the organization but still remain unclear about the situation, that''s courting death."


    He walked around the side of the castle to the front gates.


    The castle gates were ajar. It was unusually quiet inside; he couldn''t hear the voices of Dale Quicksilver and Miss Si Lan.


    Garen quickly walked through the gates. In the castle hall, the previously set white-colored wooden coffee table had been overturned, and the tea from a glass pot had spilled all over. A clutter of footprints could be faintly seen all around the floor, as if a lot of people had rushed past this place.


    Garen briefly scanned the footprints. Most of them were moist black footprints, with some green moss mixed into them.


    "Someone was here, and they were not alone." He lightened his footsteps as he crept up to the first floor, then he started patrolling the corridors.


    The castle walls and floor were covered in burnt ash, the type that was white with some black mixed inside, like black and white paint that wasn''t fully blended.


    Remnants of half-burnt oil paintings still hung on some parts of the walls along the corridor.


    Walking towards Dale Quicksilver''s bedroom, Garen tried to breathe as softly as possible, all the while listening for movement within the castle.


    It seemed like he was alone in the entire castle; there was no sound. The air was filled with a dead silence and desolation.


    Soon, he reached the entrance of Dale Quicksilver''s bedroom. The iron door was ajar.


    Garen gently pushed it open and went in through the gap without making too much noise.


    There was a white bed in the room, a single sofa, and a large rectangular crate.


    The thick curtains covered most of the windows, only allowing a ray of light to shine in through a small part. The whole bedroom was eclipsed in shadow, and it seemed dark inside.


    The crate was placed at the end of the bed; an oil lamp was still alight on top of it. The dim light from the oil lamp illuminated the parts of the room eclipsed by the shadow of the curtains.

 38 Leave 2

    ¡ì¡ì¡ì382


    Garen treaded lightly into the room. The stale and depressing air made him feel slightly uneasy.


    [This room is too quiet...]


    He could not hear any movement. The windows seemed to have particularly good soundproofing, insulating the room from the outside sounds of birds chirping and the wind blowing. The whole room was oppressively silent, as if there had been someone resting here moments ago who left in an instant.


    Garen slowly walked to the large package at the end of the bed. He was suddenly curious about Dale Quicksilver''s large crate.


    [I thought he said he didn''t bring much kerosene? Why is the lamp lit in the daytime?]


    He reached out to pick up the kerosene lamp.


    Creak¡­


    The sound came from the door behind him. Startled, Garen turned around to see that the door had closed on its own and had been locked from the outside when he was not looking.


    He strode over and tried to turn the doorknob, but it kept clicking without turning. He could hear the footsteps of someone outside running away hastily along the corridor.


    Garen''s face sank.


    [This place is strange indeed¡­] Suddenly, he recalled the information that Dale Quicksilver had showed him. The detective had annotated his key analyses at the end of the material:


    [There was one common factor on the bodies of the victims in the mysterious deaths of the three previous masters of Silversilk Castle: they were all wearing the Bronze Cross Emblem handed down to them by their ancestors.]


    [According to legend, this Emblem was a second-tier military medal awarded during wartime for meritorious achievement. But in fact, according to my research, the masters of the castle had obtained this Emblem as early as two hundred years ago, so it couldn''t have been something awarded during the war which occurred later.]


    At this thought, Garen quickly pulled out the black thread around his neck. A magenta emblem hung on the thread with a letter "P" in the middle. It was the Bronze Cross Emblem that he always had on him.


    The color of the Emblem seemed brighter now, like it had just been polished. There was no sign of it being timeworn.


    "This is indeed the problem!" Garen''s expression was somber as he glanced around the entire bedroom. He yanked the Emblem off his neck, put it into the crate, closed the lid, then rushed to the window in a few strides.


    Crash!


    He smashed the window with his fist.


    All of a sudden, the whole bedroom seemed as if had escaped from a silent film. As though someone had turned off the mute button, everything livened up in an instant.


    Garen had a spooky feeling in his heart, as if danger was rapidly approaching, and he subconsciously did not want to leave through the door.


    He stood by the window and looked down. This was the second floor, more than ten meters away from the grass lawn.


    [I need to get some bed sheets to make a rope. It''s quite high from up here!]


    As he was about to turn around, he suddenly felt someone push him hard from behind. The force was stronger than his could muster, even in his current state.


    Uncontrollably, Garen fell straight out of the window.


    "Who!!" he roared. His mind blanked and his whole body was extremely tense.


    "Hehe¡­"


    A faint laughter came from behind.


    Bam!


    Garen stretched his arms out to cushion his body against the grass. Fortunately, he had a very good physique and he was strong enough. His arms merely suffered from slight dislocation due to the trauma of the fall and his poor arm positioning.


    He rolled over and got up quickly, then turned to look up at the bedroom on the second floor. The curtains were fluttering in the wind, but no one was there. He took a look at the castle gates, but they were now locked shut. The gates that were ajar earlier were now locked from the outside.


    Garen resisted the pain from his shoulder dislocations, took a long look at the castle, then turned around to sprint into the distance.


    He passed the castle fence, but did not show any signs of stopping. He headed directly along the mountain trail that he had come from, rushing to Canoe Town.


    [From that push earlier, an ordinary person definitely would have been killed by the fall. In that position, falling head first, the neck would have snapped. If I wasn¡¯t someone trained in martial arts, I would have been crippled even if I survived!] Garen still had a lingering unease. Fortunately, he didn''t go up to inspect the third-floor bedroom. If he had fallen down from the third floor¡­


    Recalling the report on the previous three masters of the castle, there were multiple incidents in the records about servants falling out of windows to their deaths while cleaning the rooms.


    [I thought those were accidents, possibly due to a flaw in the castle design. But now it seems that they must have been pushed like me!] Garen felt sure of it because the servants had all fallen head first to their deaths,, the exact posture they would have been in if they were pushed.


    As the pain from his shoulders grew, Garen rolled up his sleeves to take a look: they had swollen into a red mass.


    "I need to hurry into town to get treated!" His pace accelerated.


    ********************


    Snap!


    "OUCH!!" Garen¡¯s left shoulder was swollen like a red pastry bun. Baring his upper body, he was sitting at the pub where he previously had tea with Dale Quicksilver.


    A doctor in a grey suit was sitting beside him. He grabbed Garen''s left arm and forcefully shifted it back into place.


    Garen instantly gasped as the pain made his whole body sweat. A crisp ''crack'' came from his joints.


    "Done, it''s relocated!"


    "Thank you very much, Dr. Ash." Garen nodded, then took out a stack of cash notes with his freshly relocated right arm and put it on the table. "Money for the treatment."


    "Very well." Dr. Ash was the veteran healer in town who often treated the locals. Although he lacked a formal license to practice medicine, his bone manipulation skills were very reliable. After all, in small towns like these, most patients were afflicted with similar minor ailments.


    Once he arrived back in town, Garen had immediately paid the townsfolk to call for Dr. Ash. Now his dislocated shoulder is fixed.


    "I''ll prescribe you some medicine. Apply a little to the injuries every day according to the dosage on the label and you''ll recover in no time." Dr. Ash took the money, smiled, and said, "It''s rare to encounter a major patient like you. I''ll gladly take this $1,000."


    "You deserve it. After all, I woke you from your afternoon nap for treatment. Think of the extra money as compensation for your troubles." Garen nodded indifferently. "Sorry to have inconvenienced you."


    "Not at all, not at all." Ash rummaged through his portable small white medicine box and took out a milky white glass vial, then put it on the table after checking the label.


    "This is the ointment that you have to apply every day. Remember not to be too vigorous and you should be fine. I''ll take my leave first."


    Garen nodded.


    "Thanks."


    He watched as Ash carried his medicine box and left, walking along a narrow path before disappearing past the bushes.


    Garen sat at the table, gently lifted the wooden cup, and downed the coffee inside.


    "Boss, another cup!" he turned and shouted into the small building.


    "Of course!" A plump middle-aged man with a black beard came out, carrying a glass coffee pot. He carefully poured Garen a fresh cup of coffee.


    At that moment, two fit-looking farmers carrying hoes walked in and plopped down at one of the tables.


    "Two beers please!"


    The boss hurried inside and carried some beer out.


    Garen sat in place, sensing the constant cool flow of energy from the Black Jade Disk that he had just acquired. For a moment, the pain in his shoulders seemed to have diminished.


    When he was training at the dojo with the seniors, shoulder dislocations were a common occurrence. He could still handle the pain and did not find it too unbearable, so it did not really affect his normal activities.


    While sitting in this small pub , he had recovered enough to reevaluate Dale Quicksilver''s actions.


    [Putting aside the oddities of the castle itself, I didn''t expect Dale Quicksilver to leave the case and deliberately live in a small castle in the countryside for so long. It''s unusual no matter how you think about it.] Garen took a sip of the coffee.


    [But from another perspective, some people from the Golden Hoop had appeared around the castle. Assuming Silversilk Castle was their intended target, Dale Quicksilver might have been after them instead of the castle. Then it all makes sense.]


    [Golden Hoop''s target is Silversilk Castle. Dale Quicksilver tracked them because of the case, and out of random luck I got mixed up in all of it. As someone whose identity is unclear, letting me face the Golden Hoop was a way to test if I was a spy sent by them. There''s probably more to it, but that should be the gist of it.]


    [If that''s the case, where is Dale Quicksilver now?] Garen subconsciously wanted to rub his eyebrows, but couldn''t raise his shoulder. A piercing pain followed and he let out a wry smile.


    Nearing noon, the sun turned red. Business in the pub improved as more and more people came in and the boss brought a few more chairs and tables out to accommodate. Noise filled the entire pub as farmers and townspeople ate, drank, and conversed loudly.


    Garen moved to sit alone in a corner. Unlike the rowdy crowd, he sat quietly on a chair drinking his coffee.


    "Boss, mind if I ask you something?" Garen called out when the boss passed him.


    "What is it, sir?" The plump boss stopped in his tracks. He remembered that this Mr. Kelly was the one who had tea here previously with the gentleman with extraordinary flair. Customers with such elegance were not something the average townsfolk could match up to, so he treated them with a careful attitude.


    "I''d like to ask whether the man who had tea with me yesterday has come back to the town yet?" Garen inquired casually with a whisper. With the detective experience that Dale Quicksilver had, if he intended to hide, he wouldn''t allow himself to be so easily discovered by someone like the boss.


    "He has, he has! He even came here for tea earlier today," the plump boss answered quickly.


    He didn''t expect the boss to react immediately and answer him so definitively.


    "He''s back?" Garen was stunned. "Did he have anything to say?"


    "Oh, no he didn''t. He merely ordered the same black tea as you had yesterday and sat in the exact same place," the boss replied quickly.


    "I see¡­" Garen nodded thoughtfully. Obviously, this spot was a clue that Dale Quicksilver had intentionally left for him, but Garen did not intend to find Dale at the moment.


    [Seems like getting myself mixed up with this detective has been somewhat detrimental¡­ It''s better if we go our separate ways. If what Dale said is true, then he''s tracking the Antiques of Tragedy and the secret contained within. If that''s the case, I can follow in his footsteps anyway since it would be difficult to find the Antiques of Tragedy using the normal routes.]


    [If my speculation proves accurate, coupled with the fact that the Golden Hoop seems to be searching for the same thing, both of them could help me track down the Antiques of Tragedy. I''ll just have to find the right opportunity to approach them and exchange something for it.]


    Garen made preliminary plans for what was to come. Although it had been dangerous, he had managed to benefit. Even though he lost the Bronze Cross Emblem, he acquired the Black Jade Disk. The latter was much more valuable since it still had potential left to be absorbed.

 39 Felicity 1

    When he reached the city from Canoe Town, it was past eight o''clock at night. Garen headed straight home, washed up, and went to bed.


    His parents were not home. They were probably at some work gathering together. His sister Ying Er, who was reading on the sofa, raised the book to cover her face when she saw him come in. He couldn''t figure out what was up with her.


    Garen still felt some pain from his shoulder dislocation even though he had applied the ointment. Coupled with everything that happened at the castle today, he was too physically and mentally exhausted to take notice.


    He had been resting at home for a week. The swelling in his shoulder had reduced, but he still couldn''t do exercises that were too intense, including training in martial arts.


    Garen couldn''t bear to stay at home any longer. His sister was always sulking and didn''t talk to him. Things like computers and television, which could occupy free time, did not exist in this era and world. He took a little change with him and went directly to the library in the city.


    "This is your library card. Keep it properly, and don''t wear out the serial number."


    The receptionist at the lobby service counter handed a black square card over to him with both hands, a smile on her face.


    "Thank you." Garen took the card and glanced at the serial number: 233. "Is the serial number based on the number of people?"


    "Yes it is, sir." The receptionist nodded. "Turn left for general reading, and head right for classics, rare books, and the special and foreign language collections."


    "Okay."


    Holding the card, Garen directly headed down the left corridor.


    It was slightly dark inside the black corridor. On the walls on both sides were yellow wall lamps that dimly lit the whole corridor.


    Only after entering the corridor did he notice two young girls walking in front of him, one in front of the other. The ground was covered with thick black carpet. There was almost no sound of footsteps.


    "There are too few people, mainly because it''s too expensive. 5000 dollars for a card, someone has to introduce you, and you''re only allowed to loan for a month. Most of the people who are really interested in coming here to read can''t afford it, and the people who can just don''t have the time."


    Nodding slightly, Garen followed them for a distance and turned left into a small, narrow room.


    The room was illuminated with a pale yellow light. All the walls were covered by bookshelves, and the densely arranged red-covered books had completely blocked the walls behind. In the room were two single red sofas and a black wooden table full of books.


    Looking straight across from the entrance, there was a door on the opposite wall that led to another room similar to this one, and there was another door opposite of that room, connected to the new room.


    The rooms linked into a straight line like meat on a kebab, door to door, until they reach a corner at the far end. Guests could walk in a straight line through all of the rooms.


    The two girls walking in front of Garen didn''t stop. They kept walking on until they stood in front of the third room.


    Garen retracted his line of sight and scanned the books on the walls. Wooden category signs hung below the wall lamps. The books in this room were history books.


    He kept walking on through to the next room. The second room was geography.


    The third room was dance, drama and illustration arts. The two girls weren''t pretty, but as they stood there with a book in each hand, they looked quite ecstatic.


    The fourth room was mathematics, chemistry, and philosophy.


    The fifth room was marriage, sex, and healthcare. In fact, it was the place where they stored those books.


    The culture in the Confederation was influenced by the Weisman Empire: it was very liberal. Even though there weren''t many of these types of books, but they could be publicly published.


    Inside the room, a 30-odd-year-old woman sat on the sofa immersed in her reading.


    In the sixth room, once he stepped in, Garen noticed a girl in a white skirt with black lace sitting on the sofa. Her pale blonde hair was draped behind her with a white hairband tied in the middle. She looked extremely ladylike.


    "Felicity? You''re here today too?" Garen was slightly surprised but instantly laughed. He walked to the girl and sat down beside her on the sofa.


    "What a coincidence." The girl looked up, showing her delicate and pure face.


    She had porcelain white skin which had a slightly translucent quality to it. Her eyes were big and clear, the dark blue irises focused coolly on Garen. She gave off the impression of a cool young girl, completely different from the arrogant rich girl at the riverside picnic.


    This was her in real life, the mild side that only showed when around recognized friends.


    Felicity sat on a wide comfy sofa. Her petite frame almost sank into it, enveloped by the sofa¡¯s redness. She had a large red-covered book on her lap. The book covered most of her upper body, which made her look dainty and cute.


    But Garen already knew that this pretty girl was the type that was cool on the outside but friendly on the inside, so he wasn''t deceived by her appearance. It was, after all, Felicity who introduced him for his membership at the library. Otherwise, he would not have gotten in because he had no idea about the existence of such a library in the city in the first place.


    Garen switched to a more comfortable sitting position, took a red-covered book from the table and casually browsed it. The book was a record about coats of arms. It had detailed entries about the coats of arms of famous families within the Confederation and throughout the world.


    "Even though it''s a holiday, how did you find the time to come over to Huaishan?"


    Felicity continued to read with her head down. "It''s quiet here, unlike in Manroland, where I''d be bothered by a bunch of flies."


    After they had previously met, they chatted about Jewelry of Tragedy. Garen''s immense interest in Antiques of Tragedy had fueled Felicity''s eagerness to chat about the topic, given that she had always been fond of unique and mysterious antiques and jewelry.


    Felicity could tell that Garen wasn''t the type of person that would deliberately approach her for ulterior motives, so she let down her guard. When it came to her favorite topic of mysterious antiques and jewelry, he showed a very serious attitude and seemed very eager to listen. Felicity couldn''t help but have a good impression of Garen, and the both of them chatted in a small caf¨¦ for five to six hours before reluctantly calling it a day.


    Since then, Felicity had taken the initiative to help Garen apply for access to the library and a library card. Both of them could be regarded as pure antique and jewelry enthusiasts.


    "That must be tiring for you, always hiding." Garen smiled. "Oh yeah, I thought you said you found a new goodie the last time? How''s that going?"


    Felicity put down her book. Her brows furrowed; she seemed frustrated.


    "It''s difficult for me to get my hands on it. The seller wouldn''t sell it, even after I made him two offers. Looks like he is genuinely reluctant to part with the item."


    "What is it?"


    "A lucky bow from the great maritime era¡ªa mermaid bust that has been said to bring luck."


    "A mermaid bust? How much did you offer?" Garen licked his lips and asked.


    "Two-hundred and fifty thousand."


    "For a mermaid bust bow, two-hundred and fifty thousand is indeed a bit low."


    "But this is the maximum amount of cash I can move recently, any more and I can''t afford it. I don''t even have much pocket money." Felicity''s small face looked distressed.


    "Let''s not talk about that then. Oh yeah, any news about the two pieces of jewelry I asked you to help me investigate?" Garen changed the topic.


    "That''s easy." Felicity paused, and started recalling, "Those two pieces of jewelry, one of them is Marceline''s Blue Fantasy. According to legend, it was an antique jewelry created by a master jeweler named Marceline for her lover. The master passed away due to illness shortly after finishing the piece. But peculiarly, the lover wearing this jewelry had continuous good fortune. Soon, he grew from an ordinary person to become a jewelry master himself and became very wealthy. The jewelry in question was displayed in one of his jewelry stores as a store treasure. Later after it was stolen, a series of countless forgeries kept appearing, and this made it impossible to recover the real thing."


    "This person isn''t dead?" Garen was surprised.


    Felicity rolled her eyes at him. "He''s alive and well. Why would he be dead?"


    She enjoyed this relaxed feeling whenever she chatted with Garen. In front of others, all they cared about was her beauty, family, and background.


    In front of this ordinary boy her age, he didn''t care about her appearance and background, but instead valued her most for her knowledge, her understanding of antiques and jewelry, and especially her knowledge of mysterious jewelry.


    "Hehe¡­ I misspoke." Garen gave an embarrassed smile. "What about the other piece?"


    Felicity leaned back, caught a black rope hanging from the wall, and gave it a light tug. "Wait a minute. What do you want to order?"


    "Uh¡­ Cuzzolini Black Tea then," Garen casually said.


    Felicity nodded.


    A while later, a girl in a black-and-white maid uniform entered the room. "Anything I can get for the two of you?"


    "A cup of Tornado Coffee, a cup of Cuzzolini Black Tea, both warm," Felicity ordered softly.


    "Your order is coming, please wait." The girl maid bowed in ceremony then left the room.


    To a side, Garen was laughing at her. "I thought you liked cold drinks?"


    "What are you laughing at?! Can''t I occasionally have a change in taste?" Felicity''s cheeks turned red and started to get defensive. "Do you think I''m copying you?"


    "Yes, yes, yes, I know, I know." Garen kept waving his hand and suppressed a smile. "I understand," Upon saying that, he couldn''t help but burst out laughing.


    "Alright, get serious!" Felicity hit the top of Garen''s head with a book. The force seemed heavy, but it was actually light. "Let''s talk about the other piece, also a store treasure owned by this jeweler. Called Avril''s Eye, it was inspired by a princess of the Weisman Empire named Avril. According to legend, she was blind from birth, but had a pair of extremely beautiful eyes. This piece was named after her eyes. It doesn''t have any mysterious background, but it is said that the piece was blessed by Weisman the Third, in hopes that the princess'' eyes would forever be as clear as the jewelry. Rumor has it that ever since this piece of jewelry went into circulation among the masses, it hasn''t been seen for years, and it''s unclear whether it is even real."


    "It should be real¡­" Garen touched his chin and whispered.


    "How do you know?"


    "Just a guess."


    "¡­"


    Garen smiled then got serious. "Alright, down to business. Last time you mentioned there was a new change in the Halo of Tragedy you bought. What change? Mind letting me have a look?"


    Felicity pondered but did not say anything. At that moment, the maid entered bringing in the black tea and coffee, served it in front of them, and then quietly left.


    Hot steam rose slowly from the brown cups. Suddenly, the room seemed unusually quiet.


    After a while, Felicity started to open up. She frowned and rubbed her temples, seemingly bothered.


    "I can''t put my finger on it¡­ It''s just¡­ it''s just a peculiar feeling. Nothing has gone right recently: my pocket money has been restricted, friends quarreled with me for no good reason..." she paused.


    "You know that I don''t have many friends in the first place. My circle has always been narrow. Ever since I bought the Halo of Tragedy, it''s been like this. Do you think it''s really the effect of that thing?"


    "Where''s your Halo of Tragedy? Let me have a look." Garen started frowning too.


    Felicity''s face went scarlet in an instant.


    "I didn''t bring it with me. I''ll bring it over to you next time."

 40 Felicity 2

    "Felicity!"


    Suddenly, a blond young man wearing a black overcoat walked into the room.


    "Why are you still here? Still researching your antiques and jewelry? Stop fooling around, go home. You have to catch the afternoon train. Quickly go home and pack."


    The young man glanced at Garen who was sitting at the side. He could tell that Garen was close with Felicity.


    "Don''t keep obsessing about jewelries and antiques all day. Can you please apply yourself to something more meaningful?!"


    "Felix, I can decide my matters for myself. I don''t need instructions from you!" Felicity bluntly replied. "Researching antiques and jewelries isn''t meaningful? Doing what I want to do, that''s meaningful!"


    "You!" The youth''s face turned scarlet. "You only know how to talk back at me! You leave the family business unattended, you leave your own company unattended, and you come to this godforsaken countryside to do research about jewelries and antiques! That''s just perfect. You''re doing great! I dare you to not go back today!"


    "So what if I don''t?!" Felicity coldly replied, then turned away to ignore him.


    "Hanging around with these jewelry and antique freaks all day, skipping the family banquet¡­ I want to see how you manage on your own when you get into trouble!" The young man was fuming. His gaze turned to Garen.


    "One moment you''re meeting this enthusiast, the next moment, another. I tell you, Felicity, these people who only know how to research antiques and jewelries, the most they can be in their lifetime is a jewelry appraiser. Hang around these people all day, and see what you''ll become!"


    "Mind your words!" Felicity brusquely stood up. "He''s my friend!"


    "Hmph!" The young man expressed his disdain. "Father already knows about the nonsense you get up to, researching antiques and jewelries all day. He''s not happy. I want to see how you explain yourself to him."


    "That''s none of your business! Don''t think you can lecture me freely just because you''re my brother! How rude!"


    Garen, who was sitting at the side, frowned too. This young man, Felix, was Felicity''s biological brother. His tone seemed to convey his displeasure about his sister''s preoccupation with antiques, and naturally, that made him dislike the person discussing antiques with Felicity as well.


    "Please keep your voices down!" A bespectacled middle-aged maid came in and whispered. "This is a public place. It''s the library. Please keep silent."


    "Apologies." The young man nodded before striding out the room.


    Felicity apologetically smiled at the middle-aged woman. "Sorry about that. How embarrassing."


    The woman nodded and left with a strict look on her face.


    Felicity sat back onto the sofa, her expression distraught.


    Sitting at the side, Garen frowned and said, "Go back first if you''re busy. Our discussions aren''t that important."


    "My brother was rude. I apologize on his behalf." Felicity was slightly frustrated.


    "It''s nothing. I can tell your family seems to disapprove of you researching antiques and jewelries."


    "Yeah. They think I''m loafing around. I''ve been reprimanded for this multiple times," Felicity helplessly said. "My family situation is complicated. My parents allocated more resources to me than others, so my peers aren''t too happy about me. They keep finding trouble with me."


    "You can''t help it either." Garen had known about Felicity''s family background from Fayne.


    That wasn''t any ordinary business family. It was a mega family with ties to the upper class of the Confederation, with assets and businesses across several big provinces. Compared to Garen''s uncle and his master Fei Baiyun, they were on a completely different level.


    Felicity''s family even had their own private militia, and her father was one of the most significant figures in the family.


    They sat for a while before a middle-aged man with a mature look walked into the room. He wore a black suit, had a fit physique, and looked polite.


    "Miss, it''s time to head back. The time you set is up."


    Felicity nodded and sat up straight on the sofa. "Got it."


    "This is my bodyguard, Anchor. I''ll be going first, you take your time."


    "Okay." Garen nodded. He glanced at the man called Anchor, and he couldn''t help but narrow his eyes.


    He got a trace impression of Golden Hoop No. 102 from him, yet he seemed even stronger than Golden Hoop.


    Garen''s took a quick glance at the man''s waist: it seemed to bulge slightly, like there was something stuck there.


    "Someone with his skill, if coupled with a handgun, as long as his marksmanship is not too bad, I''m no match against him. They are veritably a powerful family. Metropolitans are indeed different."


    The pride he felt from his big display of skills earlier instantly evaporated.


    After Felicity and her bodyguard left, Garen sat on the sofa alone. There was still a hint of girly fragrance in the air.


    "If the Golden Hoop that day were good with handguns, I wouldn''t have been able to defeat him so easily. Firearms are indeed the natural enemy of martial art practitioners¡­"


    He sighed and took a sip of black tea.


    "Fortunately, I have the Black Jade Disk. I now have new Attribute Points to enhance myself." He scanned the Attribute Pane at the bottom of his vision. The Strength on it had increased by 0.1 due to the White Cloud Secret Method: it was at 2.11 now. Potential had also increased to 164%.


    "It''s just that this is too slow a speed. Only one point increase in a week."


    He took a look at the Skills Pane. He skipped through the academic subjects and directed his line of sight at the White Cloud Secret Method. He paused on it for three seconds. The White Cloud Secret Method didn''t move; apparently, it could no longer be increased.


    "So it has indeed peaked?"


    "I give up. I''ll just add it to Intelligence. Recently, the situation has been chaotic, let''s see how adding to Intelligence will help me sort it all out."


    He hesitated, then directed his line of sight onto Intelligence.


    Snap!


    A clear force streamed into Intelligence.


    It increased from 1.20 to 1.50 in an instant.


    Garen felt his brain cool over. His stale mind instantly became unusually clear. It seemed that his reasoning, response, logic, and memory were markedly enhanced. However, this kind of enhancement was vague; there was no way to practically compare the effects before and after.


    "According to the standard units that I initially formulated, the average level for an ordinary person would be at 1. So now, I have more than one and a half of an ordinary person''s average intellect. The intellectual restrictions for certain subjects should be gone."


    Under the Skills column, many subjects were restricted to a base value of Intelligence. Without reaching that limit, one could only acquire the skill in accordance with normal progression. Once that base value was reached, one would have photographic memory skills. Any content from a subject would be easily absorbed, thought processes would be quicker, and one would rapidly attain the level of mastery expected from enhancing with points.


    Now that he felt much more clear-headed, Garen started to contemplate the current situation.


    "If I want to obtain Antiques of Tragedy without risk, I could pull out now and let Grace keep track of the case progression of Dale Quicksilver and the others. I could also approach Golden Hoop through Grace''s original company to buy the Antiques of Tragedy. Once they find a new Antique of Tragedy, I could offer them the highest bid possible to get it. My only worry is that I wouldn''t have enough money to buy it. This is a way, but the amount of capital required is huge."


    "I could also come at this from another perspective. I am able to analyze whether an antique is real by absorbing Potential. That way, in respect of Antiques of Tragedy or mysterious jewelries, I have the absolute appraisal authority. As long as I improve on my knowledge and experience of identifying jewelries and antiques, it shouldn''t be difficult for me to become the expert Antiques of Tragedy appraiser for the detective and the others."


    "It is likely that Dale Quicksilver isn''t aware of the Potential within Antiques of Tragedy. Otherwise, he wouldn''t have handed the Black Jade Disk to me so easily." Garen already had dealings with Dale Quicksilver, so he was clear about that key point.


    In others'' eyes, Antiques of Tragedy were just mysterious precious objects backed by a strange legend. In his eyes, they were valuable objects from which he could absorb Potential to strengthen himself.


    "I don''t necessarily have to own them. I could plainly gain contact with the Antiques of Tragedy with my hybrid identity as appraiser and collector. I just need to let both sides, the detectives and Golden Hoop, recognize that I am the only one who is able to identify a real Antique of Tragedy without error. This way, I could stay out of the whole ordeal, yet achieve my purpose."


    It had to be said that since adding points to Intelligence, Garen felt much more clear-headed. He had everything planned in a flash, and he even found a suitable role for himself.


    "Right now, all that''s left is to improve my knowledge of antiques appraisal. The old man should be experienced in this." Garen instantly thought of Old Man Gregor from Dolphin Antiques.


    "Then, there''s the book that Old Man Gregor mysteriously took out the other day. I have no idea what it was. It seems like the old man has secrets of his own, but it doesn''t matter as long as it''s not troublesome."


    As a man of action, Garen stood up and searched for books on antique appraisal in the series of rooms, but unfortunately, there were none. He went over to the right side of the library and searched in the special collections room, but there was nothing there either. It was a pity that there was only a handful of books in the right side of the library.


    Coming out of the library, Garen hailed a horse carriage and headed straight for Dolphin Antiques.


    Sitting in the carriage, Garen had a faint sense of irritability in his heart. He had added so many Attribute points on himself, his strength had reached a high level, but when he met Felicity''s brother earlier, he nevertheless failed to counter his condescending tone.


    Regardless of whether it was at Fei Baiyun''s White Cloud Dojo, or his uncle''s shady company, he was just an ordinary small character in their eyes. Even with the martial art prowess that he was so proud of, never mind firearms, he couldn''t even defeat his Senior Brothers and Sisters; martial arts weren¡¯t a pure contest of strength.


    He slightly closed his eyes to rest them. Hearing the crisp clatter of hooves and the sound of wheels rolling through pavement, Garen recalled everything he had been through since arriving.


    "Even though I have special abilities, I am currently still a common disciple at the dojo, a student at Shengying Academy, and the son of an employee at a common company. I still have to take everything one step at a time; I''m still miles away from being a true great force¡­" He then recalled his encounter at Silversilk Castle, which made him even more conscious of his feebleness.

 41 Entanglement 1

    The carriage slowly came to a stop in front of the Dolphin Antique Store.


    Garen jumped out of the carriage and paid for the ride. He stepped in front of the antique store only to notice that the door was completely closed and that it was surprisingly quiet inside.


    He raised his head to look at the store name and knocked on the door.


    "Open the door Old man!"


    "Coming! I''m coming!"


    A seam appeared in the doorway as it cracked open. Old Man Gregor grabbed Garen as he forcefully dragged him in and immediately shut the door.


    The store was oddly dark. Only a single oil lamp was lit on the table in front of the bookshelves. Under the dim yellow light, there was a brown and red colored miniature hourglass. The fine black sand slowly slid down through the slim aperture and its sound echoed.


    Garen adjusted to the darkness within the room and glanced at the hourglass on the table.


    "What¡¯s this? Your new toy?"


    The old man didn¡¯t respond. He slowly strolled to the table and sat down. The dim light cast on his face highlighted his fatigued and aged expression.


    "A friend gave me this black hourglass. It is used for tracking time and can measure a long period of time with every reset." He shook the hourglass with his hand. "I have already had this for two weeks and only one-fifth of the sand slid down. Don¡¯t you think it is slow?"


    "Indeed." Garen raised his eyebrows as he gazed at the old man¡¯s aged appearance. "Are you alright, old man? You haven¡¯t looked so well recently."


    Garen took a chair and sat beside the table as he adjusted the light for the oil lamp. The room brightened up. "Maybe I am sick." Old Man Gregor smiled, and his perverse nature seemed to have faded. "Speak your mind, why did you make a trip down here? You usually don¡¯t visit me when you are free."


    "I am here to take care of the elderly. I am afraid that no one will take care of a lonely 80-year-old man." Garen laughed, "Oh, where are your children? Relatives? How come I¡¯ve never seen them before?"


    "Who knows?" The old man complained as a glimpse of despair flashed across his face. "Okay let¡¯s talk about something else. What¡¯s happening with you? You wouldn¡¯t visit me if you didn¡¯t have something on your mind."


    "You know me too well." Garen saw the old man¡¯s expression and knew the topic of children probably touched on the old man¡¯s past sorrow. He changed the subject. "I am here to ask for advice on how to appraise antiques and jewelry. Since you have an antique store, you must be knowledgeable in the area?"


    "This is simple!" The old man sat up straight and glanced at Garen. "But..." He extended his palm in front of Garen.


    Pa!


    Garen slapped a stack of cash into the old man¡¯s hand.


    The hand was still extended.


    His face solemn, Garen added $1,000 more to the pile.


    "Old man open your eyes, that¡¯s $1,000 per stack!"


    "I know it is $1,000 per stack, but it takes years of knowledge and experience to build a career in appraisal. My long history in this business would warrant a small cost." Old Man Gregor pocketed the $2,000 dollars with a pleased face.


    "It¡¯s only $2,000. I am going easy on you."


    "Let me teach you about the basics about the appraisal." The old man cleared his throat. "Appraisal includes techniques in a few areas, the first being authenticity identification. The second is determining the age of the antique, the third is tracing the origin, and the fourth is understanding the value of the craftsmanship. All four areas would require an extensive amount of time to learn and practice. Which one do you want to learn first?"


    "Can I learn all of them at the same time? I am confident in myself."


    "Learn at the same time?" The old man looked at Garen under the light. He gazed blankly as his vision seemed to have blurred. "Learn all of them at the same time? Confident? It¡¯s unfortunate, but you don¡¯t have the talent," the old man said, murmuring the last sentence under his breath.


    After Garen improved his physical status, his hearing was also augmented. He overheard the old man¡¯s murmur, but didn¡¯t seem to mind. Everyone had their own secrets and some chose to keep them private.


    "Can I learn about authenticity identification first?"


    "No problem." The old man suddenly seemed interested. He touched his lips as he opened the drawer below the table. He took out a stack of white paper and two quills and then wetted the tips with ink from a jar.


    "Authenticity identification is the most difficult area to master in appraisal. It is dependent on the experience and time spent with antiques." He drew a circle on the white paper and marked the circle with a cross.


    "Do you know what this is?" He pointed at the shape.


    "No. A circle shaped window?" Garen attempted to guess the shape on the figure.


    "It¡¯s a unique symbol that belonged to a master jeweler from the Voyager Era. If you understand this symbol, then it would be possible to deduce the year, level, and category related to this crucial detail. If you don¡¯t know, it would be impossible to identify anything meaningful."


    Garen nodded his head deep in thought. "You are trying to tell me that for authenticity identification, it is not only about the craftsmanship details related to the antique. It is also necessary to use history and special background knowledge to be able to determine whether the antique is authentic or not."


    "Hmm? You are pretty bright and quick to understand." The old man was about to state the key point, but Garen managed to guess it. He looked slightly surprised. "I was about to give you a counterfeit. It would be impossible to determine the authenticity without the unique symbol. But you are quick to realize the critical insight."


    He paused. "Since you already understand, then you know that to identify authentic antiques you must be knowledgeable in history, craftsmanship from different eras, famous master craftsmen, genres, classifications, renowned case studies, manufacturing specifics, and production origins. A lot of times you must combine everything together to reach an accurate conclusion when appraising antiques and jewelry.


    "So the first thing I need to do is to learn the background knowledge?" Garen nodded. "Are there any books?"


    "There are, but books alone won¡¯t help you that much. Take a look at them first, then I¡¯ll teach you about my appraisal experiences and special techniques. Let¡¯s do this step by step. A lot of things are not covered in the books. Other than by sight, you must also use smell, hear, touch and taste in appraisal. Only understanding the theories would be pointless without practical experience, but read the books first."


    The old man dug through the bookshelf and found a white book. "This is <Development of Jewelry>."


    He then grabbed a thicker black book, "This is <Antique Categories and Development History>."


    He stacked the books together and pushed them in front of Garen.


    "Take these home with you, then find me after you are done."


    Garen stared at the two giant books speechlessly. "How long would it take for me to finish these two? It¡¯s at least 1000 pages per book."


    "No rush, take it slow, as long as you finish it within a month." The old man shook his hand. "Now get out of here. I need to clean up and sleep now."


    Garen grabbed the two books. "Okay I¡¯ll come and find you after I finish."


    "Oh, hold on." The old man smacked his head. "You were asking about the other book last time, right? Since you seem to have fancied that book, I¡¯ll give it to you as a small souvenir."


    He dug in his pants and grabbed a small pendant. It was shaped like an open book.


    "Here you go." He threw the pendant over.


    Garen caught the pendant and began examining it. It was only the size of a fingernail. The pendant was delicately crafted with a pitch-black color. The opened book had a peculiar dark red symbol inside.


    "What¡¯s this?"


    "It was a gift from when I bought the book. Just keep it for now." The old man scratched in his pants again as if he were itchy.


    Garen quivered and stuffed the pendant into his pocket "Where did you find this? That¡¯s disgusting. Ok, I¡¯ll go now."


    "Go on." The old man waved his hand with an irritated look.


    Garen came out of the antique shop and waited for a carriage. After none were seen for 10 minutes due to the isolated location of the store, he had to walk toward Pennington street with his books.


    When he passed by his uncle¡¯s place, he looked up at his uncle¡¯s window. He caught a glimpse of Lombarth hastily walking away from the window, leaving the window shaking. It felt like he was avoiding Garen.


    Garen originally intended to visit his uncle, but he lost his interest when he saw that Lombarth was at home. After the conflict with Lombarth last time, Garen felt annoyed every time he saw his cousin¡¯s face.


    "This guy has been quiet lately." Garen had walked a few steps before he heard hasty footsteps behind him.


    "Brother Garen!" A girl¡¯s youthful voice echoed behind him.


    Garen turned around and saw a young girl blushing as she ran towards him.


    The girl wore a white cotton shirt along with a pair of white jeans. The jeans flawlessly traced her graceful and energetic figure. At the age of 14, she didn¡¯t seem to have hit puberty.


    The girl carried a light fragrance that only belonged to a teenage girl. Her short light red hair set an energetic vibe in the air.


    "Brother Garen, you are already here. Why don¡¯t you come up?" The girl was his uncle¡¯s other child, Phelia. In contrast to Lombarth, Phelia always acted energetic around Garen. Because of this, Garen always enjoyed playing with younger kids.


    "I didn¡¯t see you, Phelia." Garen smiled as he gently pinched the girl¡¯s nose. "Why did you cut your hair?"


    "I am learning martial arts right now." The girl performed a rudimentary move.


    "Where¡¯s uncle?"


    "He is hosting some visitors right now. They only talk about complicated subjects. It¡¯s boring there. Can you come up and play with me?" Phelia shook Garen¡¯s arm. "Next time, since Uncle is busy right now. It would be rude of me to interrupt."


    "Also, my father was unhappy when he heard the news about the acceptance ceremony." Phelia lowered her voice. "My father said that he doesn¡¯t want you to waste your time studying martial arts as long you learn enough to protect yourself. It would be a waste of time to put all your energy in it."


    Garen raised his eyebrows. "I thought Uncle would be happy."

 42 Entanglement 2

    "My father said he wanted you to take care of the family business. He was always fond of you, even when you were young. As for Lombarth and I, we are not talented enough to manage the business. If you spend too much time in martial arts, you would fall behind in other areas. He would not object it if it was in the past, but now the times are different. Regardless of how skillful you are in martial arts, a couple of guns would be enough to take care of you," Phelia explained in her father¡¯s tone.


    "Uncle wants me to take care of the business?" Surprised by the comment, Garen questioned back, "How is that possible?"


    "How is that not possible? My dad had already decided on this a long time ago. I don¡¯t care. I¡¯m bad at studying and not talented in martial arts. My teacher said I have no potential. If I can¡¯t feed myself, I¡¯m going to count on you!" Phelia hugged Garen¡¯s arm as she acted pettishly toward him.


    "My father said that among the children in the younger generation, only you could succeed his business to ensure that it remains prosperous. In the hands of Lombarth or me, we would ruin the business in a few years."


    "My uncle has high expectations of me."


    Garen was quite surprised. He had always felt that his uncle cared more for him than an uncle should--almost better than his own children. In his childhood memory, if Lombarth and Garen were ever in a conflict, Lombarth would, for sure, be punished. The favoritism shown was plain to see.


    This caused Lombarth to hold a grudge against Garen. He was extremely unsatisfied by the preferential treatment Garen received.


    "Let¡¯s go, let¡¯s go." Phelia dragged Garen by the arm.


    He could not help but follow Phelia into the door. He had taken a few steps before a grim-looking, towering figure came out of the door along with a couple of strangers.


    "Are you Garen?"


    The teenage boy wore a tight, white shirt with a pair of black pants. The outfit proudly displayed his muscular appearance.


    Garen stopped and glanced at the young boy. "You are?"


    "I am Lombarth''s cousin. I heard you¡¯ve been bullying Lombarth with your martial arts? Is this true?" The young boy stared at Garen with a frown.


    "What do you mean? I¡¯ve been bullying Lombarth? Where have you heard this?" Garen wanted to step in the door, but the young boy intentional stepped in to block him. Garen winced. "That¡¯s enough, I need to go in.""You are also part of the family. It would be inappropriate for a stranger to teach you a lesson. I¡¯m here today to educate you for my cousin." The young boy forcefully blocked the entrance to the door.


    Then, there was a conflict of interest. Due to their inability to manage the assets, the returns from his aunt¡¯s family had decreased over the years, and with that, the center of attention shifted onto his uncle¡¯s new business.


    When his uncle first ventured out, he received an extensive amount of support from his wife¡¯s family to grow the business. Her family was a critical factor in the success and expansion of the business.


    However, his uncle, as the owner, now stated that he would pass the business to his sister¡¯s son, what did this mean?


    Garen quickly realized: It implied that his uncle thought all the youths from his wife¡¯s family were incompetent when compared to Garen. Only Garen could ensure his business to thrive in the future.


    Since the wife¡¯s family invested a lot into the business when it was still in its initial stages, they already considered the business to be a part of their own. The unexpected statement about his sister¡¯s son inheriting the business would displease her family with the decision.


    Garen looked at the young boy in front of him and had an idea.


    "It¡¯s Lombarth''s idea to come and find me right? Ok, enough of this game, don¡¯t block the way. We can chat when we are inside."


    The young boy laughed grimly and twisted his body as he blocked the way again. He put his arms in front of his chest and stared fiercely at Garen.


    Garen frowned. "This is not what you guys think it is. We can chat about it when we are inside. Don¡¯t get used by Lombarth. Don¡¯t believe everything he says."


    He didn¡¯t want to start a conflict with the young boy and the group of strangers, for the size of his family was not to be underestimated. They were not saints and were intertwined with gang-related business. If he received a bad name from this conflict, it would become problematic later on.


    "That¡¯s not what Lombarth said." The young boy with a vicious look slid his body across the door as he obstructed Garen¡¯s way.


    "Are you going to get out or not?" Garen was losing his patience. He didn¡¯t want to play fighting games with a young boy.


    "What if I don¡¯t get out?" The young boy didn¡¯t back away.


    Garen¡¯s eyes turned icy as he extended his right arm out, aiming for the young boy¡¯s neck.


    Pa!


    The young boy launched a side kick into Garen¡¯s palm, generating a loud sound from the impact. Fine dust fell off where they collided. He immediately retreated his leg and performed a roundhouse kick, forming a circle. His foot targeted Garen¡¯s wrist.


    Pa!


    His pants created a draft as it viciously skidded through the air from the kick. The young boy¡¯s move was executed elegantly and smoothly. Both of the two kicks landed in the same location on Garen¡¯s body. It was only after taking two steps back that he was able to stabilize himself.


    "That¡¯s all?" Garen stared at him, bewildered.


    "You!"


    The young boy¡¯s face turned pale as a bead of sweat emerged from his forehead. It was clear that the last couple of moves were not easy to perform; however, when he saw that the opponent wasn¡¯t even forced to budge, he already knew the difference between them.


    Garen glanced at him impassively without even budging. He patted the dust off his palm and entered the wide, open entrance. His palm and wrist didn¡¯t even turn red from colliding with the kicks.


    "Don¡¯t you dare to leave before you explain yourself today!" The young boy burst out hysterically. He dashed as he kicked straight at Garen''s chin.


    Garen¡¯s face turned grim. He pushed his right hand forward as he redirected the young boy¡¯s right leg. After that, he turned around instantly and kicked out behind him.


    Peng!


    Kacha.


    The adult male behind Garen took a side kick to his body and collided with the wall behind the door. He was the young boy¡¯s bodyguard. He had intended to attack from behind, but he didn¡¯t expect Garen to turn around and perform a side kick. A couple of bystanders gasped at the forceful side kick that had directly slammed into the bodyguard.


    The bodyguard¡¯s entire body collided with the doorframe like a sandbag. The sound of bone fracturing was audibly clear. Just imagining the sound was painful. Everyone felt goosebumps shivering down their arms.


    The bodyguard¡¯s arm couldn¡¯t feel a thing as the bones were shattered on collision. He couldn¡¯t even stand up straight. The opponent¡¯s power far exceeded his expectations! He leaned heavily against the door, trying to stand up without being able to do so. The way he looked at Garen changed drastically.


    Garen, who stood across from him, glanced at him with an icy stare, his eyes displaying a boundless sea of emotionless cruelty.


    The bodyguard suddenly felt frightened. He had seen a similar stare coming from his team leader before. He knew that if he made any movement...


    "He will kill me." He froze in place and dared not to move.


    The sudden change not only stunned the young boy motionlessly but also shocked Phelia, causing her to gape with her mouth wide open. No one moved.


    Garen sneered. He knew that the conflict could not be resolved with just this. He walked in front of the young boy and pressed his finger against his forehead.


    "Even your bodyguard is weak. No wonder uncle is passing the business to me. What¡¯s the purpose of your existence if you are so useless? Go die in a ditch."


    Pa.


    His finger lightly pushed forward. The young boy¡¯s head swayed backward as Garen left a red mark on his forehead.


    In front of Garen¡¯s killing intent, his pupils immediately contracted. At the very moment when Garen touched him, he felt as he was about to die.


    "Don¡¯t kill me!" He frighteningly burst out in a cry. He rolled and crawled backward to hide behind a large vase. His eyes were full of fear. Garen smiled and stood straight up; he knew that he had broke the young boy mentally. He would be the boy¡¯s worst nightmare. Even if someone provoked the young boy, he would not dare to bother Garen anymore.


    That was also his intention. The boy had yet to develop a mature metal state of mind. This situation was solved by simply scaring him.


    Since the conflict couldn¡¯t be resolved during the moment when the bodyguard tried launching a sneak attack, Garen was resolute and decisive in his actions; he went with the simplest solution that will solve it once and for all: destroying them mentally.


    "Let¡¯s go, Phelia." He turned his head to look at the girl beside the door. The girl¡¯s lips trembled as she gazed at him. A glimpse of fear could be seen in her eyes.


    When Garen pointed at the young boy¡¯s forehead, she thought he would be killed.


    She had only seen such viciousness coming from her father¡¯s bodyguards.


    When she heard Garen¡¯s voice, she opened her mouth with a slightly hesitant voice.


    "Brother Garen, his name is Delai Xima. He is a professional martial arts practitioner who had passed the amateur stage. His¡­"


    "Don¡¯t tell me that he is a godlike combat grandmaster?" Garen responded speechlessly.


    "He is part of the gang?" Garen frowned.


    Phelia nodded.


    "He is the leader of the outer province gang."


    "You know pretty well."


    "I heard it from my elders during the holiday season. You have to be careful. This is not just a conflict between the younger generations," Phelia said worriedly.


    "Don¡¯t worry."


    Garen nodded. With the Black Jade Disk in his possession now, he is growing stronger by the minute. Even now, standard pistols at a far distance would not be able to damage him; it is only with accurate shooting at close range that pistols would be able to threaten him.


    "The conflict within the family has rules as well. Don¡¯t worry too much, let¡¯s go up and see uncle."


    Garen moved his neck around as it made a crisp sound. The internal conflict within the family permits neither the usage of gang forces nor dishonorable tactics. Most of the competition is based on timing in an honorable fashion. Otherwise, it would not receive the support from the elders of the family.


    He was not interested in his uncle¡¯s business -- with his unique ability, he could easily develop his own business and it would only take time and energy; however, this was not his goal.


    Only with his power would he be able to achieve what he desired.


    "As long as they don¡¯t cross the line, anything is negotiable." Garen licked his lips.

 43 The Way 1

    Garen followed Phelia to the fifth floor and discovered that the steel door by the staircase was opened, with a man in black suit and crew cut hair standing by the side. The man eyed Garen before asking, "You¡¯re Garen, right? Your uncle is waiting for you at the study."


    Garen nodded in return. He then changed his shoes, tidied his outfit and followed Phelia to the study after closing the door.


    Fire crackled inside the chimney by the main hall, and the room was warm from the radiating heat. While passing the main hall, he spotted a girl with a red ponytail delicately sleeping on the couch in her white training robe.


    Garen laid his eyes on her and paid special attention on her arms and thighs before continuing to the study.


    There was a corridor between the study and the main hall, with sides filled with mirrors as clear as the sky. Garen stooped in front of the mirror and, from it, he saw his own reflection staring back at him.


    Purplish-black short hair. Deep red eye sockets. Wearing a black t-shirt that barely covered his jam-packed body. With that slender figure of his, he couldn¡¯t help but give off a robust temperament.


    From the look of things, it was obvious that Garen had been spending time training. It was of great timing that it was during his puberty, causing him to look taller and stronger than before.


    Without wasting any time, Garen pushed open the study¡¯s redwood door. He saw two rows of bookshelves lying on each side of the wall, with a long blackwood table positioned in the center of the room.


    An old man with white hair and his uncle were sitting beside the table enjoying their coffee, and the air was filled by the aroma of their drink.


    Knock. Knock.


    Garen stood still as he gently knocked on the door.


    It couldn¡¯t be more obvious that his uncle had been gaining some weight. His thick black eyebrows wrinkled up, and he seemed to be piling up in his seat caught up in his thoughts. He only turned his head towards the door when he heard Garen knocking.


    "Ah, Garen, I almost thought that you had forgotten me after not visiting for so long! What have you been up to lately? Even Ying Er said that she hasn¡¯t seen much of you recently. You¡¯re not still training at that dojo, are you?" Garen¡¯s uncle said while pointing at the seat across him. "Come take a seat, it¡¯s been so long since we had a conversation between uncle and nephew."


    Garen nodded and spent no time taking his seat. He gave a glance at the white-haired old man while sitting down. From his appearance, the old man must be at least seventy to eighty years old¡ª he had white beard and white hair, and he was wearing a white robe.


    But what really captured Garen¡¯s attention was that, since the moment he set foot in this room, the old man had been eyeing him, seemingly troubled.


    Turning his attention away from the old man, Garen sat up straight and looked at the direction of his uncle.


    "Uncle, I heard that you wanted me to inherit your property. Is it true?" Garen asked, showing his concern.


    "Of course it is true," Uncle Anjer answered as he arched his eyebrow. "This decision has been made since a long time ago."


    He gently tapped his fingers on the table, letting out a rhythmic sound.


    "How do I say this¡­ How about this, I will tell you everything from the beginning. After all, I know that you are not the type of person that is interested in power or money. So, if I don¡¯t make things clear for you, I¡¯m afraid you might not want to accept my inheritance."


    Garen was taken aback, not knowing how to reply. However, it was indeed what his uncle had said, he did not care about having power or money. Perhaps it was because he had an ability that made him ignore these types of possession, or perhaps there was some other reason. but it was definitely what his uncle had said, if things were not discussed clearly, he would¡¯ve prepared to convince his uncle to drop this decision.


    Uncle Anjer muttered to himself before speaking again, "You know the situation of my two children. It is certain that they cannot inherit the property. Be it Lombarth or Phelia, they are playful and immature. They might change in the future, but the chances of it happening is too slim."


    "As for the youngsters from my wife¡¯s line of family¡­ They are too ambitious! Though I have to admit that they have some capability, but I am certain that if they inherit my property, there will be nothing left! What will happen to Phelia and Lombarth then? The efforts that I had put into building this business and network JUST to be handed to them freely? Impossible!"


    Garen nodded.


    Uncle Anjer took out a cigarette and lighted it before continuing, "I admit, this situation must have placed you in an awkward position. For this, I apologize. However, I really don¡¯t want my legacy to be in the hands of someone else! I still have two kids! Yes, Phelia and Lombarth. Though Lombarth always makes me worry, but he is still my child, Garen."


    He stared into Garen¡¯s eyes intently.


    "Since you were young, you showed an outstanding talent of handling a business, and only you can help me stabilize my inheritance. I know that you have never yearned for what I have in life, but think about Phelia. Even though Lombarth never managed to get along with you, but Phelia has always liked you, right? You liked her too, right? I can assure your engagement with her."


    Garen was startled¡ªhe was almost speechless. He had never wanted to divert his attention on other paths, but, as of this moment, he didn¡¯t know how to reject his uncle.


    Moreover, looking into the current situation, it seemed like Uncle Anjer was at the end of his road¡ªonly forty years of age, yet he was already arranging his inheritance.


    Uncle Anjer took a deep puff from his cigar. Not long after, white clouds starts gushing out from his nose.


    "I know it is sudden, but I hope that you can consider this seriously." This time, he spoke as if he was speaking to another adult.


    Garen nodded.


    "If this is your wish, Uncle." Garen narrowed his eyes before continuing, "It¡¯s just that would you mind telling me why are you in such a hurry in arranging this? You are still well in your middle age. Won¡¯t it be too soon for you to worry about this?"


    Uncle Anjer seemed less tense having known that his nephew did not reject him immediately. He took out a small scissor and clipped the cigar before holding it in his mouth. Then, he pointed at the old man.


    "Naturally, I have my own reasons. Come, let me introduce you. This is my old friend, Adonis. He has been the guest of my house lately, and the one sleeping on the couch outside is his disciple, Winnie. You both practice martial arts, so I suppose you guys must have tons of common topics."


    Garen frowned. "Uncle, you still haven¡¯t told me the reason, maybe..." Before he could even finish his sentence, a loud thump echoed out as the study¡¯s door was flung wide open.


    The three turned their attention toward the door, only to find Lombarth breathing heavily at the side, staring at Garen ferociously.


    "Garen! It¡¯s you! It¡¯s you again!"


    Garen frowned again. He wanted to speak, yet he was interrupted once again.


    "Get out!" Uncle Anjer shouted. He stood up as he pointed a finger to outside the door. "Can¡¯t you see that we are having a conversation? Get out!"


    Lombarth was about to speak, but after seeing the expression of his father, he unwillingly slammed the door and left.


    While panting, Uncle Anjer sat down and angrily shoved the cigar into the ashtray.


    "This Lombarth is getting out of hand! Please excuse me, I have to teach him a lesson. In the meantime, why don¡¯t you two have a talk? You two should have some common topics since the both of you are martial artists. I am sure Adonis won¡¯t mind giving you some advice, Garen."


    He then stood up, coughed heavily, before going out from the study.


    A click sound reverberated as the door was slowly closed.


    Garen sat at his seat as he silently stared at the old man sitting opposite him. This old man had been eyeing him with a troubled expression since the moment he set foot in this room.


    Their eyes met, yet not a single word was let out.


    "Young man, your art has drifted from the right path." Finally, Adonis spoke.


    "The right path?" Garen was dazed. Originally, he thought that this old man would tell him his relationship with his uncle, yet he actually decided to evaluate his art instead.


    "To practice martial art is to practice mastering the heart. Your heart has been affected by your own strength," Adonis murmured. "When the convenience of the strength becomes more apparent, you will be more accustomed to it, to a point where you can never get rid of it. And, when you base your art with it, you will only find yourself being a puppet to it! Forever living only to practice martial arts to get stronger!"


    The old man stood up, walked to the window and looked down.


    "Did you think that you can get a sense of security just by increasing your strength?"


    Garen shivered. He raised his head to the old man and asked, "What do you mean?"


    "Don¡¯t let your mind be distracted by strength. The strong will always be strong, and the weak will always be weak." Adonis shook his head and turned his direction toward to door. The door opened and closed, yet no sound was produced.


    Garen sat at his seat, his expression uncertain.


    Hoo-la!


    He abruptly stood up, with his hands gently touching his chest. His muscles were as strong and as hard as a rock, yet the strength he had never gave him a peace of mind.


    ********************


    Thump!


    The blocker Garen held in his hand was being kicked hard. From where he stood, a cloud of dust spread out in all directions.


    A series of blows were furiously struck on the same spot.


    Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!


    In an instant, four sounds overlapped one another. Garen was slowly knocked back, and his hands were almost unable to keep the blocker stabilized.


    Senior Sister Darcia slowly pulled in her fists, letting out a deep breath. Each side of her temples was blood red¡ªa sign only a master in the White Cloud Dojo would show. Cooling down while pulling her fists, the color from her temples slowly faded.


    "It¡¯s your turn, junior." Darcia took the blocker off Garen¡¯s hand. "It¡¯s now your turn to attack."


    "Okay." Garen nodded.


    Both of them wore black robes, sparring on the second floor of the White Cloud Martial Colosseum.


    Thump! Thump! Puff!


    Like two specks of dust, they stood on the middle of the newly retiled brown-red floor. Each blow they traded, wisps of white dust proliferated around them. The sound of their feet screeching against the floor was enough to have someone clench their teeth.


    Garen repeatedly jabbed and swung his fists towards Darcia, but each of his blows were precisely blocked by the latter.


    Darcia seemed to be at ease, and her steps were as light as feathers. The white tiger tattoo that occasionally appeared while sparring seemed as if it was alive during vigorous movements. Her blood red temple, with the sharp eyes that seemed to be smiling, gave off an unusually attractive vibe.


    After continuously sparring for two hundred times, Garen was finally out of breath. He stopped what he was doing, took a few steps back, and breathed heavily.


    "Huff¡­ Senior Sister, can I ask you a question?"


    "It seems that you have something troubling you?" Darcia smirked while walking towards Garen.


    Thump!


    She landed a hard kick on Garen¡¯s chest, sending him to stumble across the room.


    "What you must do now is none other than sparring!" Darcia stood while looking at Garen in disdain. "Confusion, hesitation, indecisiveness, cowardice¡­ Get it out of your head! You¡¯re wasting your time if you still live in your past."


    She raised her leg high off her chest¡ªher posture was similar to a crazed elephant¡ªand mercilessly landed it on Garen¡¯s head.

 44 Direction 2

    Crack!


    The wooden board snapped without effort.


    Garen was finally able to roll to the side at the critical moment. He stood back up and solemnly stared at Rosetta.


    "How can one strengthen one''s mental fortitude, so he can act and achieve his goals subconsciously?"


    Rosetta was surprised, then she started laughing as she shrugged her shoulders. "Don¡¯t let the pursue of power blind your eyes and fool your heart. If you are strong, you are strong. If you are weak, then you are weak. Someone must have told you this theory, right?"


    "How did you know?" Garen was stunned again.


    "What kind of bullshit theory is that?" Rosetta sneered. "I can¡¯t even count how many people I killed who believed it! So ignorant and so rigid! People who train using this trash theory will be trash afterward!"


    She stretched her neck and flexed her lower body.


    "Power is power! The more power you have, the stronger you are, and your mind and heart will be in turn cultivated by it! Invincible confidence is always the byproduct of invincible power!


    "The strong minds were all created by the repetitive self-confirmation."


    Garen paused a little. "So in other words, if I don¡¯t doubt myself and believe that I¡¯m always right, then my mind and heart shall behave the same way, right?"


    "That¡¯s right." The smile disappeared on Rosetta¡¯s face. Her temples were getting so red that it looked like she was bleeding. "Next, I will add some more power so you can really understand the meaning of it."


    "Damn!"


    Garen felt a chill. He knew that his senior sister was about to lose it on him. If he countered her attack directly, he wouldn¡¯t feel good afterward. Last time, if it hadn¡¯t been for his second brother, he would have gotten his ass kicked so hard by her that he would have ended up in a hospital.


    Without hesitation, Garen turned around and rushed away. It was his most practiced martial art style in the White Cloud Combat Arts, after all.


    Bam!


    He stomped his left foot and in two steps leaped toward the staircase. He then jumped down it without looking back.


    He suddenly heard a subtle air-piercing sound. A hand slowly touched him on the left shoulder. Its movement didn¡¯t make any sound. The hand seemed like it belonged to his lover, the movement very soft and gentle.


    Garen, on the other hand, was very anxious. He struck his elbow backward, and his arm shot out like an arrow, the elbow being the sharp arrowhead.


    This Shot Form was the form in the Four Forms that caused the most damage to the body, and it was the form that had the fastest speed and the highest burst power. With the help of special strength utilization techniques, any part of the body could be trained to burst out with power akin to a released arrow.


    At this point, Garen was only able to train one part of his body - his right elbow.


    Pia!


    His elbow strike was easily blocked.


    Garen stomped his feet, and his body continued dropping toward the bottom of the staircase. His speed was a bit faster than usual. He was using his hidden strength, after all.


    The White Cloud Secret Arts that he was mastering were slowly increasing his strength on a daily basis. Although he was at the peak of an adult¡¯s strength¡¯s threshold, his strength was still increasing at a steady pace. It had no sign of slowing down.


    With this small differential in speed, Garen finally escaped the death chase by his senior sister. He firmly landed on the stairway on the first floor.


    In the morning, there were quite a few disciples who were coming and going from the grand hall on the first floor. They all recognized Garen as the Dojo Master¡¯s new disciple, who just joined the Dojo not long ago, when they saw him jumping off the second floor.


    "Senior sister goes by the rule of zero combat under the second floor. I¡¯m lucky that I got down in time." Garen wiped the sweat from his forehand as he calmed himself down. "The senior sister is the most dangerous practice opponent, but she did train my reflexes and reaction time. If I don¡¯t stay cautious all the time, I will for sure be going to the hospital."


    By now, he had realized the mysteriousness of White Cloud Dojo. His master Fei Baiyun wasn¡¯t around most of the time, and Garen had no idea what he was doing. Besides that, from the way his senior sister spoke and her self-told stories, he could tell that she was a horror figure who¡¯d killed a lot of people.


    His second brother was actually a senior member at the Confederation¡¯s Combat Association, and he was one of the examiners for the advancement in the Hobbyist Levels. Garen heard that he also ran some underground businesses. So he was definitely a successful man by all appearances.


    In terms of his third brother, he was the very definition of a kid from a wealthy and politically influential family. His father was the Chief Inspector at Huaishan City. This position was created by the Confederation to inspect all the government officials of the municipal level. It was on the same level as the Mayor, which made his third brother¡¯s father one of the two most influential people at Huaishan City. On top of that, his mother was the daughter of a Count, who was very well off.


    A few days ago, during practice, Garen¡¯s third brother somehow irritated senior sister and got beaten so hard that he had to go home to rest.


    Garen thought his own defense was tough and agreed to practice with senior sister without doing any research. But unexpectedly, after only getting hit a few times by her palms, he noticed that the injured places on his body had already swollen up.


    After fixing up his clothes, Garen called two people working at the Dojo. He asked them where his master and second brother had gone. But as expected, they didn¡¯t know at all.


    Garen drank some hot water and cleaned the sweat off of his body. He decided to wander around the Dojo, wanting to rest a little bit since he had the time.


    His body was getting stronger and stronger. The shape of his muscles was getting harder to cover up by his uniform.


    When he was walking around the field and such, other disciples of the Dojo greeted and saluted him.


    "Ha! He!"


    In the middle of the field, there were three groups of disciples who were practicing White Cloud Combat Arts together. These were the core disciples who were picked from the individual branches. They were all in white uniforms and were very focused on the training.


    Garen was relaxing his body wandering around as he checked his Potential Meter, 155%.


    "It has been more than a week since I went to the uncle¡¯s place. Now I have another potential point that I can utilize. I have to decide carefully on where I want to allocate it."


    He wasn¡¯t planning to use it on any technique. It would be a huge waste to squander it on an ordinary one. It would only make sense if the technique was very hard to master. But at the moment, he couldn¡¯t add the point to White Cloud Secret Arts nor the Explosive Fist Arts. Thus, the potential point was better spent on his own attributes.


    Since White Cloud Combat Arts were the most essential foundation, Garen planned to completely understand and practice it form by form, and not use any potential points to jack the level up. He wanted to see if there were any differences between the techniques that he practiced to level and the techniques that he used the potential points to level up.


    He quickly skimmed through his attribute pane.


    Strength 2.12, Agility 1.10, Vitality 1.35, Intelligence 1.5


    "Long term exercises have increased my vitality by 0.01. My strength has also increased under the effect of White Cloud Secret Arts. However, I feel like 2.2 is the absolute maximum amount of strength that I can reach."


    Garen had a feeling. An intuition sent to his brain by his body.


    It was reaching the ultimate strength threshold, and even White Cloud Secret Arts couldn¡¯t increase it anymore. This ultimate threshold was the congenital physical limit; everyone had their own.


    "Looks like 2.2 strength is my limit. I¡¯m a bit weaker compared to second brother. Second brother¡¯s strength is about 450 pounds, which is an equivalent of 2.25 in terms of attribute points. His congenital physical limit might be higher than mine, but I heard that his strength has not increased in a long time. Could it be that 450 pounds is the peak strength for all humans?"


    Garen thought to himself.


    "I should do some research on my own."


    And he did exactly that. He turned around and went to the library in the Dojo.


    The strong, bald elder was still sitting in front of it. His eyes were closed as he sat cross-legged.


    Garen thought of something and walked up to the elder. "Big master Bai, can I ask you a question?"


    After a solid four to five minutes, the elder opened his eyes. "Go ahead."


    "What¡¯s the peak strength for humans?" Garen asked quietly.


    "Peak strength?" The elder thought about it and said, "In terms of measuring we use here, it should be around 480 pounds. This is the best record in the industry. But since each person has a different potential, we all stop at our own limit despite how hard we train."


    "Then, where do you think my limit lies?" Garen asked, pointing at himself.


    "You?" Big Master Bai carefully observed Garen. "I think your peak strength is somewhere between 430 pounds and 450 pounds."


    "So accurate!" Garen was surprised. It was fortunate that his body grew a lot since he mastered White Cloud Secret Arts, and he was able to hide some of his strength well. Otherwise, this elder might have seen through him.


    After his body changed, his strength instantly reached the limit, and his skin¡¯s defense got a lot better as well. It was one time better than the elementary Explosive Fist Arts. Without hundreds of pounds of strength, no one would able to pierce through his skin with a knife.


    "Thank you for your time." Garen bowed and showed his respect. He turned around and left after he saw the elder close his eyes.


    "Then looks like 2.40 is my absolute peak for strength. If I add the potential points to it, it should increase by 0.3, which is like 60 pounds of strength. But I¡¯m not sure if my limit will be stretched after it is reached."


    Garen was very unsure. If he wasn¡¯t able to stretch out his limits, then it will put a hard cap on his future potential.


    But if his limit was stretched and topped, then his future potential would be limitless!


    "Maybe I should try."


    His eyes landed on the strength attribute.


    The attribute slowly jumped up. It went from 2.12 directly to 2.20. Suddenly, Garen¡¯s whole body became numb. It was if all the muscles in his body begun beating in a rhythm, one identical to the rhythm of the beating of his heart.


    He felt that his temples were beating the fastest, as if some things were about to jump out of them.


    This condition only lasted for about a dozen seconds. Garen looked at his attibute pane after it stopped, and his strength had increased to 2.20. It didn¡¯t go above it, but a new symbol appeared behind it.


    He knew what it was by just looking at it once.


    "So my vitality couldn¡¯t handle too much strength? Looks like I have to increase my vitality at the same time."


    The remaining 0.22 of the potential point that were left after the majority of it was used for increasing strength were allocated to vitality.


    The attribute for vitality instantly jumped from 1.35 to 1.57.


    After adding the potential points to vitality, Garen felt something warm inside his body, as if there was a furnace that continuously baked his internal organs. He could even vaguely hear the ¡®Ziz¡¯ sound that his flesh and blood made.


    The flow of the blood, the beat of the heart¡ªGaren felt an additional feeling on top of those feelings including the compressing of his lungs due to breathing. It was an unprecedented control over his own body.


    Pia!


    After a light noise, Garen was surprised to see the Explosive Fist Arts that were on the elementary level jump to the intermediate level in his technique pane. Another aggressive swelling started within his body.


    Garen almost couldn¡¯t stand and walk normally. He could barely keep himself from falling by leaning against the wall. It was fortunate that no one was around to see him like this.


    He felt that a layer of invisible liquid was slowly secreting within his body. It came from his internal organs, travelled through the bones, muscles, skin and covered the entire surface of his body.

 45 Encounter 1

    Garen fisted his hands as he leaned against the wall. He felt that his skin was getting thicker, as if a layer of hard substance was put over his body, just like when he first reached the elementary level on the Explosive Fist Arts.


    "Such a strong change."


    He stood up straight and felt that his body was much heavier. No, a better word for it would be firmer.


    "The elementary level of Explosive Fist Arts only offered increased defense, but if I remember correctly, the intermediate level should offer the vibration effect. I have to carefully test it."


    He didn¡¯t stop and went directly to the test rooms at the back of the field. He looked around and picked one without anyone inside. He carefully locked it from the inside just to be sure no one would be looking.


    He walked up to the wooden weapon rack and picked up a curved knife.


    Thud!


    He stabbed the knife into his left arm. It didn¡¯t pierce through the skin, stopping at the surface as if it had hit a very hard wooden surface.


    Garen slowly applied more and more force onto the knife. The strength applied to the knife instantly went over 50 pounds, then slowly 100, 150, 160, 170¡­


    Psiii!


    After a slight noise, the tip of the knife went through his skin, and Garen immediately stopped applying the force. He looked at the point on his skin that the knife had pierced.


    There was a very little red dot on his skin, and a tiny bit of blood was slowly flowing out of it. However, it quickly solidified, as if it was an injury that a needle left behind.


    After placing the knife back in the weapon rack, Garen pinched the part of his left arm that got stabbed.


    "170 pounds of endurance and defense. That means that as long as my opponent¡¯s strike with a sharp weapon has less impact than this, I won¡¯t get injured. But if the weapon is dull, then it¡¯ll be much easier to defend against. I think even 200 pounds of strength with such a weapon won¡¯t injure me at all."


    He rubbed his hands together, and they made a vague rustling noise, as if his hands were two rough metal plates.


    "The martial arts at the White Cloud Dojo are very impressive. They must be on the same level as the Shaolin technique: Golden Bell Cover and Iron Shirt.


    "I will specifically test my punches next."


    Garen slowly walked up to a black sand punch bag that was hanging off of a rack. He lowered his back and swung his arm, throwing out a side punch.


    Bam!


    The punch bag swung around, not flying out too much. However, both the punch bag and the rack holding it up shook violently like there was an earthquake. For a time they vibrated aggressively, making buzzing noises.


    Garen drew back his arm and punched straight this time. The fist shot out like an arrow and hit the punch bag right in the center.


    Boom!


    Bang!


    The punch bag swung backward and fell to the ground with the rack. The dust on the floor was sent into the air, and Garen quickly covered his mouth and nose as he coughed.


    After a while, the dust gradually calmed and settled back on the ground. Garen squatted down and made some careful observations.


    The rack was made of metal. It was painted black and was nailed to the ground by long iron nails. Its bottom formed an shape to secure it against impacts from all angles.


    Right now, all the hard iron nails were perfectly pulled out of the floor without any sign of damage on them.


    Garen picked up an iron nail that was about the length of the index finger and looked at the others as well.


    "Is it because of vibration? Apparently, it has this effect on nails, I wonder what kind of effect it would have on humans?"


    He stood up as he thought about it and stretched out his arms and chest by swinging his arms horizontally backward. The jacked muscles on his back were compressed and bumped against each other as he moved his arms. It felt like there were strands of iron chains twisting and intervening with each other under his skin.


    Si¡­


    Hu...


    He took a deep breath as he closed his eyes and recalled the moment when he punched out.


    "It¡¯s a vibration¡­ A strong vibration."


    He threw out a punch into the air, using the Shot Form.


    After he punched out, there was a vague whistling sound.


    "The strength would cause vibrations after it¡¯s used, and transfer a huge vibration in the opponent. This type of attack would deal a great amount of damage to living creatures¡¯ internal organs. I have to find an opportunity to test it out since I¡¯m still not sure where exactly I stand in terms of combat abilities."


    Garen drew back his fist and stood up straight. He stretched his neck and looked at his well built upper body. It was at that moment that he realized that he had turned from a weak teenager to a tough, muscled man.


    "This change is really significant when considering that only a few months have passed by." He pulled on the button of his shirt, trying to cover up his chest muscles.? However, it was impossible. He helplessly resigned the effort.


    "I can¡¯t really use my full strength when I¡¯m practicing with senior sister and brothers in the Dojo. It seems like I¡¯ll have to find other alternatives if I really want to test my real combat abilities. Now, that the situation at the Golden Hoop, Silversilk Castle, and with uncle are all mixed together, it¡¯s very chaotic.


    "I don¡¯t have to worry too much about the situation with uncle. However, the Golden Hoop will soon find out that I had killed that Number 102, and they will certainly come for me again. It will be a great time to see what I''m made of." Garen bumped his fists together as he thought, "Next, I will just have to keep a close eye on Grace."


    Garen shook his head after looking at the sand punch bag on the floor again. He turned around and walked out.


    ************************


    Four days later¡­


    Back at his home on Bluetree Street.


    "Brother, I¡¯m going with my classmates to Jaderipple Lake tomorrow. Do you want to come?" Ying Er¡¯s voice came from next door.


    "Jaderipple Lake again? Who¡¯s going?"


    Garen was thinking about the progression on Dale Quicksilver¡¯s case. He was surprised by his sister¡¯s sudden question.


    "After doing so much and thinking about so much external work, I almost forgot that I¡¯m only a high school student¡­" he thought to himself.


    "Just my classmates, and a few of my best friends from junior high school. We are planning to have a grand barbecue at the lake," Ying Er answered as she combed her hair in the bathroom.


    "What about dad and mom?"


    "They said that they¡¯re going to a dinner party, a celebration party put on by their company. They told us to solve our own problems and eat by ourselves."


    "Again¡­" Garen shook his head. He had nothing to say. It was something that was no surprise to him.


    He sat in front of his desk and started to work on the math questions that he had from school for the break. Temporarily, he threw everything that wasn''t related to his student career to the back of his mind and focused on solving the math problems.


    "Brother, are you going or not?" Ying Er peeked her head into Garen¡¯s room.


    "It¡¯s ok. You guys have fun, I¡¯m not going to go," Garen answered casually. "I¡¯m busy with stuff."


    "Suit yourself then. Peel your own almonds that are on the table in the living room. I¡¯m going out. I have to prepare all the stuff that I need." Ying Er humphed at Garen as she left his room. She also intentionally stomped heavily with her feet on the floor and made loud stepping noises.


    Bam!


    Soon, Garen heard the sound of the closing door. Ying Er had intentionally slammed the door, too.


    Garen shook his head as he sat in front of his desk. "So childish at that kind of age. She is still like an elementary school kid," he thought. Then he immediately went back to doing his homework. After a full hour and a half, he sighed as he raised his head.


    "Although math is easy, there are just way too many questions. Looks like I have to spend some more time on it if I want to finish everything in one sitting."


    Garen closed his practice question booklet that he completed and stood up to rub his lower back. He looked at the clock on the wall, and it was 9:43 AM.


    "It¡¯s about time to go."


    After quickly changing into a T-shirt and a pair of jeans, he grabbed some money and a handful of almonds from the living room table, and walked out of his home.


    He quickly went down the stairs. But as he was about to get to the end of the staircase, he saw a white-haired elder slowly walking down the stairs in front of him. Garen slowed down and didn¡¯t pass him.


    The elder was wearing a delicate, clean black suit along with a black round hat, and held a reddish brown cane in his hand. He was walking down the stairs one stair at a time. He seemed to hear the noise coming from his back and turned around to look at Garen with an apologetic smile on his face.


    "After you."


    Garen recognized this elder as the one who lived in this building. He saw him on a regular basis when using the stairs.


    He smiled back and politely said, "Please be careful, and watch your steps. Don¡¯t injure yourself."


    "I¡¯m in no hurry, just coming out to exercise a little." The elder smiled as he watched Garen walk past him. The smile on his face got brighter and brighter. "I¡¯ve seen this little guy many times. He is polite every time I see him. This is rare to see nowadays."


    Garen felt like the way the elder was looking at him was very strange. He paced himself as he felt a little uncomfortable. After he left the residential area, he walked down Bluetree Street toward the downtown.


    He saw ox carts passing regularly on the road. All were carrying bricks and wood. He could see piles of black ox feces on the corner of the road, and they smelled really bad.


    The human and car traffic on the streets was getting denser and denser as he got closer to downtown. Some of the perfume fragrance coming from off from passing girls and wealthy women who walked past Garen at the cross section covered up the smell of the oxes¡¯ feces.


    When he walked past a street that was full of stores selling clothes and accessories for women, he saw two familiar figures walking out of a jewelry shop on his left. It was Kalidor and Ai Fei.


    They were holding onto each other¡¯s hands, and Ai Fei leaned against Kalidor like a little bird resting on its owner. Both of them were wearing their school uniforms. Ai Fei¡¯s was a dark purple dress, the bottom of which barely covered up her thighs. She also had some makeup on and looked even prettier than usual.


    Both of them saw Garen, who was walking by as well, and were surprised.


    "Garen, it¡¯s you! Such a coincidence to meet on this street," Kalidor greeted with a smile. He subconsciously coiled his arm around Ai Fei¡¯s waist as he saw Garen who was stronger, bigger and more handsome than him.


    Garen smiled back and nodded as he glanced at Ai Fei. "You guys are out shopping? Yeah, it is such coincidence. Did you guys just get here?"


    "We¡¯ve been here for a while already." Kalidor chatted with Garen casually, but his arm subconsciously tightened its grip on Ai Fei¡¯s waist.


    Ai Fei looked at Garen who had changed a lot in the last couple of months. Although she had a slight smile on her face, she felt a little miserable. This great boy in front of her had shown interest in her, hinted that he did like her.


    But after comparing Kalidor with Garen right now, Kalidor was no match with Garen in terms of appearance. In terms of height, Garen was literally looking down at Kalidor. There were also looks, figure, style, and temperament differences.


    "Ai Fei, say hi to Garen."


    She heard Kalidor¡¯s voice, and that brought her back to reality. She quickly nodded at Garen and said, "Long time no see, Garen. How are you doing?" Looking at the tall and handsome man in front of her, the scene of them being deskmates appeared in her head.


    But as she finished asking the question, Kalidor, who was beside her, suddenly reached his hand under her dress and started rubbing.


    Ai Fei kept on smiling innocently, but her body stiffened as she felt Kalidor¡¯s hand. She knew that Garen must have seen it. One of Kalidor¡¯s hands was recklessly rubbing her bottom, and the other one reached out for her chest. It was formed into different shapes under Kalidor¡¯s forceful fingers.


    Ai Fei instantly felt like her body was getting hot, and her face burned. She saw Garen¡¯s slight frown. At that moment, she felt like she was degraded.


    This was in public, on a street with a lot of foot traffic in downtown. Kalidor had recklessly reached into her dress and dared to make it obvious!


    She didn¡¯t dare to resist. She knew what Kalidor was like. He was doing such a thing to directly tell Garen that she belonged to him. His temper wasn¡¯t that good if emotions were involved.


    If she resisted, she knew that it would be over between Kalidor and her.


    At that moment, she felt like a whore. She had been trying to maintain her image one second, but was completely exposed the next. She could feel Garen¡¯s stare, and the looks of other pedestrians on the street. She could feel them clearly! This unprecedented shame and embarrassment made her body shiver uncontrollably.

 46 Encounter 2

    Garen scrunched his eyebrows. Kalidor was not trying to hide anything from him, and Garen knew he put a lot of pressure on Kalidor. Ai Fei lowered her head, and she was scared to face Garen. Many thoughts ran through Garen¡¯s mind, but he knew their relationship had ended.


    "I still have something to take care of. Have fun, " Garen said.


    "Garen, you¡¯re alone, right? Why don¡¯t you join us?" Kalidor got what he wanted, and he stared at Garen with a slight smile on his face. He patted Ai Fei¡¯s butt with his hand, and it looked like he was trying to show his dominance.


    "Sorry, I have to go. I will talk to you later." Garen was a bit annoyed, and he hurriedly left the place.


    Leaving the two behind, he turned to a street, and a red car slowly stopped before Garen. From inside, Grace opened the door and got off the driving seat.


    "Garen, sorry for being late," she said. Grace wore a black suit with a white shirt inside. Her skinny legs were covered with a pair of black stockings, and her long brown hair was silky smooth. She looked cool and pretty with her hair trailed over her shoulders. Grace stood beside Garen, and with both of them having red pupils, they looked unusually like a couple.


    "No worries, I¡¯ve also just arrived." Garen looked around, and he barely saw any pedestrians. There were several children playing at the side of the street, and it looked like they were playing hide-and-seek.


    "How¡¯s the recent situation?" Garen asked.


    "Nothing happened." Grace lowered her head and respectfully answered. She looked like a secretary standing beside her boss.


    "They probably knew who I was working for. It¡¯s probably not a wise idea for us to meet in public like this. They will notice," she continued.


    "It¡¯s fine. They will eventually know sooner or later. Actually, I wanted them to notice. I wanted to communicate with the Golden Hoop anyways," Garen said with a light tone as he rested his back on the car door.


    "I am not alone," he added.


    "Also, once they try to communicate with us, I can use ¡®Kelly¡¯ as a cover to get in touch with Quicksilver. If they are not trying to avenge their members, they are probably trying to cooperate with me. Don¡¯t worry, even if they come to us, we will not be in danger. The Golden Hoop has been around for a while, and they should know how to approach an unknown opponent. Just carry a gun in case you have to fight," Garen said.


    "Got it."


    Grace felt like the words he spoke were not from a 16 years old high school student. She thought she was talking to a 30 or 40 years old man, and she had mixed feeling about this.


    "Am I talking to a genius?" Grace thought. She was an ordinary girl, and she trained very hard since she was young. Working for a gifted 16 years old teenager left a bitter taste in her mouth.


    "What? Get on the car and drive me to the antique shop. Pick me up at 4 p.m. and take me to the dojo after. Don¡¯t screw around, okay?" Garen said.


    "I know!" Grace was a bit speechless; she felt like she was the teenager, and Garen was the adult here.


    "I have a gun!" she added.


    "I know. I know." Garen brushed her off and got into the car. Grace did not know what else she could say, but she remembered how useless her pistol was when Garen jumped on her like a violent leopard, and she felt secured when she was with Garen.


    "You should change your expression from time to time. You are young and cute, so why don¡¯t you at least try to smile?" Garen asked. He sat on the passenger seat and relaxed.


    "Now try it, smile," Garen said.


    Grace tried her best to smile, but she was not even sure if she was actually smiling.


    "Never mind. My bad." Garen buried his face into one of his hands.


    Grace took a deep breath and told herself not to get angry, but she really wanted to kick Garen in the face. She started the car, and they disappeared by the corner.


    Kalidor and Ai Fei walked out of a fast food restaurant by the side, and he pouted his lips towards the direction where Garen disappeared.


    "You saw that? Garen never shows anything off. No one knew he had such a pretty lady with him, and he also had a nice car. Damn¡­ That¡¯s a million-dollar car," Kalidor said. He was a bit jealous; his parents would never give him money to buy such a car. He also saw how the cool beauty followed all of Garen¡¯s orders.


    Kalidor turned back and looked at Ai Fei. She wasn¡¯t as pretty as the lady that was with Garen, causing anger to boil inside him.


    PA!


    Kalidor slapped Ai Fei¡¯s behind.


    "Hurry up! Let¡¯s go home!" He was almost yelling.


    Ai Fei did not say anything. She just followed Kalidor from behind. Kalidor¡¯s temper was getting worse and worse after he argued with his friends. Ai Fei thought she was attractive enough to Kalidor, but she was not sure about that anymore.


    Ai Fei watched Garen and the lady leaving as she felt a lost. She was unsure whether she made the right choice, and she was also unsure whether all her efforts were worth it. She followed Kalidor down the street and disappeared by the corner.


    ********************


    It was night.


    Garen sat in the car and Grace was driving. Silence filled the air, and the light from the streetlights brushed their faces in light. Their pace was slow, and even the carriages were faster than they.


    As they drove into a relatively quiet street, someone suddenly appeared in the middle of the way and blocked their path.


    "Someone is in front of us!" Grace said in a deep tone.


    "It¡¯s one of them¡­" Garen opened his eyes and looked ahead through the window. There was a man standing in the middle of the road, and he looked thin. The man was wearing a grey-white coat, and his hair was short; he looked like a private detective. Grace stopped the car three meters before hitting him.


    Garen opened the door and got off the car. After asking Grace to stay put inside the car, he walked straight towards the man. He noticed the golden earring on the man¡¯s right ear, and it looked the same as the one No.102 had, but the man covered the number with a piece of white cloth.


    "Were you the one that killed No.102?" The man spoke first.


    "I am here to represent the Golden Hoop, and I hope we can have a chat," he said. His voice was dry, and it sounded like he had not drank water for a long time.


    "What? I killed one of your members and you are just trying to have a chat with me?" Garen asked; he was surprised the man did not try to start a fight.


    "Well, you can compensate us in a different way, I believe. We have no intention of making our relationship worse, and we already investigated the incident that happened in the Dolphin Antiques. It was our mistake." He raised his hand and apologized.


    "Also, we believe that you and the detective are not good friends, since he left you behind at the Silversilk Castle," the man continued.


    "True. There¡¯s no point in fighting each other," Garen said as he nodded.


    "I come in peace. We don¡¯t really care about what happened before." The man straightened his back and clapped.


    PAPA!


    Several strong men walked out of the alley after hearing the signal. All of them had daggers or swords in their hands, and they were all laughing. Those men quickly surrounded Garen and his car.


    "You can call me No.101. Although the organization asked me not to hurt you, No.102 was my best friend, and I decided to do a private test on you. I want to check if you are good enough for us to cooperate with you. Also, I want to know how you killed No.102." The man in coat smiled.


    "Ah!" Garen heard Grace¡¯s scream from the car.


    Garen saw that Grace was seized by two strong men, and they were moving towards the river. The other side of the river was apartment buildings, and the embankment was grey.


    "What do you want?" Garen said in a cold tone as his eyes narrowed.


    "I told you already. It¡¯s just a test," No.101 said while smiling.


    "I don¡¯t like being tested like this," Garen turned around as he spoke in a light tone.


    Grace screamed again as she reached the edge of the embankment; she was just one step away from falling to the river. Garen turned back and rushed towards Grace, but No.101 blocked his path.


    "Move aside," Garen said.


    "We will kill your girl if you fail the test, but you have to hurry. I am not sure how long they will keep her by the edge. A weak girl like her won¡¯t be able to handle the pressure for too long,"


    No.101 smiled and said. He clapped again, and one of the men walked towards Grace with a dagger in his hand. He put down the dagger by a Sand Gull and slashed the air with his hand while laughing cruelly.


    "Do what I say, otherwise, we will have to kill your beautiful girlfriend." No.101 laughed.


    "I take it that the Golden Hoop doesn¡¯t really care about me," Garen said and laughed.


    "I thought you guys were smarter than this. I guess I am too naive," he continued.


    "Don¡¯t worry, Grace. I will avenge you if they decided to kill you," Garen said as he looked at Grace with eyes half-opened.


    PONG!


    Once these words were spoken, Garen suddenly attempted to seize No.101. His arm size doubled as he used the Strike Stance; it sounded like the air was slashed open. The veins on his hands were visible, and they seemed as big as an adult¡¯s head.


    "Die!" The muscles on Garen¡¯s back moved towards his right arm like waves.

 47 White Eagle 1

    The ferocious force brought up a burst of wind. Before Garen¡¯s arm connected, the strong pressure from the move already squeezed the air out of No.101.


    Garen¡¯s right arm seemingly grew a few inches as it swelled up. Like a mace, it crashed past.


    Chi!


    His claw slid past No.101¡¯s face.


    No.101 snickered. He easily avoided this attack with a side movement.


    "An attack with this speed, are you joking around with a kid?"


    Garen withdrew his hand as his arm returned back to its original form. He stayed put and calmly stared past No.101.


    On the edge of the embankment, the man who was holding a small blade slumped to the ground. Fresh blood slowly flowed out of his forehead, and a pendant in the shape of a book fell on top of his clothes.


    "You bastard...!!" No.101¡¯s face darkened as he retracted his vision. "I guess I have no choice but to break the rules this time¡­"


    He abruptly teared off his trench coat and threw it away, exposing the black vest underneath as well as his well-defined muscle lines.


    With one hand vertically in front, and with the other hand¡¯s palm facing outwards, he slouched his back. He exhibited a strange style of combat pose.


    "Oh? You practice martial arts too?" Garen expressed his surprise as he watched his opponent position himself. He noticed that his vertically erect right hand had an abnormal skin color¡ªa faint copper red.


    Bang! Bang!!


    Suddenly, the sound of two gunshots came from the neighboring road. It was especially piercing to the ears on this quiet street at night.


    No.101, after hearing the gunshot, peeked at his right. The expression on his face immediately changed, and he quickly relaxed his combat pose.


    "Something¡¯s happening! Everyone, retreat!!"


    The other strong men who surrounded Garen became nervous as well. One by one, they put back their knives and other weapons as they ran towards the neighboring road. They quickly disappeared in the little alleys.


    No.101 coldly glared at Garen for one last time.


    "I will come back for you."


    He tipped his toes, picked up his trench coat, and swiftly disappeared into the alley like a shadowless grey bat.


    Frowning, Garen watched the group of people depart before proceeding to relax his muscles.


    "It¡¯s a shame that my speed is too slow. I could have gotten an opportunity to make a person stay this time."


    He pulled up his collar and quickly walked to the edge of the embankment.


    Clap.


    He grabbed Grace¡¯s right hand, slowly lifted her up, then gently placed her onto the ground.


    "Are you okay?"


    "I¡¯m fine. Thankfully, you scared off that group of people, or else we really would¡¯ve gotten in big trouble." Grace was still shaken up. She glanced at the dead Golden Hoop member on the ground.


    "I cannot believe that the Golden Hoop would try to make a move on me! I am my company¡¯s upper management! Master Garen, please excuse me for a minute. I have to go back and report this incident to the headquarters!" Grace¡¯s face turned cold.


    "Even though Manuyllton Corporation is not as great as the Golden Hoop, but we are not pushovers either!"


    "Alright, you should go." Garen nodded. "I have to go see what is actually going on. Just now, something lured them away. Be careful by yourself. It would be best if you arrange some people to protect you. What happened to your gun?"


    Grace blushed. "Before I could get it out, I was attacked and grabbed from the back¡­"


    "Be careful, I¡¯ll go find out what''s going on." Garen couldn¡¯t help but laugh a little. "What happened to that aggressiveness from when we first met?" As if she was a child, Garen stroked her hair and pinched her cheeks. Then, he picked up the pendant and walked towards the dark alley.


    Even without the transformation of his body, Garen was already more than 170 cm; his natural height made him taller than Grace by a little bit. The way he treated Grace seemed very natural, and both of them completely forgot about their actual ages.


    Grace stood still and bit her lips as her cheeks turned even redder.


    "I told you! Don¡¯t treat me like I¡¯m a child!" She quickly squeezed into her car and took out her gun from her purse. She then turned on the engine and drove towards the company.


    ****************


    Garen walked along the sidewalk into the alley. Very soon, he heard sounds of fists pounding. Between each punch, someone whimpered and moaned.


    "Catch him! Don¡¯t let him get away!"


    "Carlo passed out! Goddammit, this guy¡¯s punches are strong!"


    "Be careful of the gap! Don¡¯t give him any opportunity!"


    A group of men shouted at each other; it seemed like they were trying to attack someone.


    Garen stood in the shadows at end of the alley and looked in.


    On the muddy road, a group of men from the Golden Hoop Organization surrounded two skinny youths. No.101 stood outside of the circle and watched the fight with a cold expression on his face. He remained alert of any noises around him.


    On the ground were three to four adult men, all of whom seemed to have passed out from being punched in the head.


    Garen gasped as he estimated the extent of the injuries these members received.


    "This level of strength is similar to the amount I used when I first killed someone! Could it be that all these casualties were caused by these two children?"


    He moved his gaze onto the two youths.


    One was a boy, and the other was a girl. The boy was handsome, and the girl appeared innocent. They were only around 15 to 16 years old, similar to Garen. However, from the looks on their face, it was obvious that this was not the first dangerous situation they ran into.


    The two of them wore white sportswear. Their backs were against each other, and their stances in proper boxing stance.


    "My father will be here to save me soon!" The boy sneered out of his teeth. "He won''t let you off easy!"


    "Don¡¯t talk too much! Save some strength!" the girl said in a quiet tone. On her waist, a black gun was tucked away.


    No.101 chuckled and speedily walked forward.


    "Let me do the rest. You guys make sure he doesn¡¯t run away. This fella here is the White Eagle¡¯s son. We finally captured him after much work; we cannot let our effort go to waste."


    He marched inside the circle and stood still. One hand vertically shot up as the other hand¡¯s palm faced outside. Then he slouched. He positioned himself in the same stance as before.


    Faintly, Garen noticed that his right hand turned even redder than before. It was as if his blood was congested, and his veins would pop at any second.


    "Kid, I cannot believe you dare to fight me. You¡¯re courting death! If any part of your body ends up paralyzed, don¡¯t blame me."


    "Cut the crap! Make your move!"


    The young boy¡¯s body remained straight as he interrupted his opponent.


    Before he could finish talking, there was a snipping sound.


    A red shadow dashed across his chest. and his white uniform was silently sliced open. A red slash ripped across his wheat-colored skin as blood started to spew.


    After the red shadow faded, it reversed back as No.101¡¯s hand knife.


    The boy¡¯s face whitened. When the red shadow dashed across just now, he sucked in air to tighten his chest. If he had reacted any slower, the knife would¡¯ve cut open his stomach. However, because he inhaled too much oxygen too fast, he was having some difficulties breathing. His lungs felt like they were tearing apart.


    "Silvica! Are you okay?" the girl asked in a panic. "Please be careful! He practices Red Hand Fist!"


    "I¡¯m okay. I dodged!" The boy, Silvica, coughed a few times as he intensely stared at No.101.


    "I have dragged on long enough." No.101 positioned himself in the same stance again. "What I just did was a warning. Now, I will cripple your right arm!" His black pupils gradually turned cold as murderous intent flashed across his eyes.


    Snip! Snip! Snip!


    After three soft sounds, Silvica staggered backwards and quickly dodged two slashes from the hand knife. The third snip landed on his right arm, and red blood quickly dyed his white sportswear.


    "Nice dodge. Let¡¯s try it again!" No.101 was getting angry. "Die!!"


    His right hand violently shook, and, like a chopping knife, he aimed for the young boy¡¯s limbs. Within two seconds, he slashed four times.


    With every slash, the speed increased, and only red shadows could be seen.


    The two youths backed off even more.


    Snip!


    A street light made of stone was hit. With a bang, its concrete base was destroyed.


    Another series of snips rang out. The boy¡¯s right leg could not dodge fast enough and was slashed open. He stumbled and could no longer stand up straight.


    "Silvica!" the girl screamed out of worry.


    Garen stood in the shadows; he was planning on stepping out, but he decided to draw his extended leg back.


    "The White Eagle? Is that the guy with Dale Quicksilver?"


    "If it¡¯s that guy, then it¡¯s a bit troublesome. I cannot let them see my real face."


    He observed his surroundings and took a deep breath.


    Bang!


    Another punch landed on the right-side wall of the alley. A bowl-sized bulge instantly appeared as gigantic pieces of cement were shot off.


    Garen grabbed a piece of cement and squeezed it, causing it turn into a handful of dust. He then slabbed it on his face. Immediately after, his dusty face became unrecognizable.


    "Who is it!" The party heard noises from the alley and questioned.


    Garen slowly walked into the alley and observed the change in the situation.


    During the one moment Garen did not pay attention, the young boy¡¯s left arm was hit. He was now supporting his entire body with just one unwounded leg. The young girl was trapped by another group of people, and the situation was unfavorable.


    No.101 stood with his back against him.


    Hearing the noise, No.101 turned his head and glanced at Garen.


    "It¡¯s you. You want to involve yourself with this too?" Without waiting for Garen¡¯s answer, he suddenly laughed. "Since we¡¯re all here today, we might as well take care of all of you together. "


    Bang!


    The young girl on the side was kicked in her stomach. She wobbled a few steps back and was immediately hit from the back. She fell to the ground hard. Her face turned ashen as she struggled to breathe. The gun tucked in her pants had also shook loose in the process.


    "Eve!" Silvica screamed as he kneeled down on the ground with one knee.


    No.101 turned around and marched towards Garen, completely ignoring the now weakened and defenseless young boy.


    "You had such a good opportunity, yet you did not run away. Should I call you stupid, or should I call you an idiot? I have no idea why our boss sees you as valuable." He pointed at the young boy and girl who were still getting beaten up. "See this? This is what happens when you fight against the Golden Hoop. Even if they are the son and daughter of the White Eagle and Dale Quicksilver, they have to obediently be tortured by us."


    Garen loosened his shoulders. Crisp bone cracking noises were emitted out of his body.


    "You talk so much useless crap. Just fight me. As a gift for what happened before, I¡¯ll make sure you have a relatively comfortable death."


    "That is exactly what I wanted to say." Before No.101¡¯s voice faded, he dashed towards Garen at an incredibly fast pace. The moment he was about to reach Garen, he twirled his foot and turned left for an upper cut.


    Snip!


    Garen felt a pinch of pain in his left arm, and the sound of his clothes being ripped open echoed out. He looked at the wound in disbelief. There was a red imprint on his skin.

 48 White Eagle 2

    "Such a sharp hand knife! My body has already reached the second stage of Explosive Fist Arts. From head to toe, my skin is rougher than a bull and is hard to pierce even with a dagger knife, but one move from his hand knife could leave a red imprint on my skin! This means, if he pierced at the same spot again, he could penetrate my defense!"


    Garen was in shock. This attack was too fast, he could not react swiftly enough. He was blinded for one second, and the next thing he knew his left arm was hit.


    When Garen looked at No.101 again, he already stepped back three meters and was staring at Garen coldly.


    "Another speed type?" Garen¡¯s expression fell.


    No.101 was actually the one who was really in awe. Unbelievably, his hand knife failed to cut through the opponent¡¯s skin.


    "This level of defense! This level of Body-Hardening Technique! I have not encountered this for years! This person has a strong physique! I need to attack his vitals, or else he will not even feel an itch let alone feel pain."


    "His speed is definitely not as fast as me. I could run around and test to see which area is his weak spot!"


    After making a decision, No.101 again stood in his attack stance. He pushed himself forward with one foot and dashed toward Garen. His right hand, hand knife, instantly turned into a red shadow and disappeared before him.


    Snip!


    Garen¡¯s right arm was also hit. He extended his arm to grab the opponent, but he only grasped onto air.


    A pinch on his back immediately followed. He was deeply stabbed.


    "Die!" he bellowed. Both of his arms roused as his muscles expanded.


    "Swing form!"


    His two arms, like two elephant trunks, flung to the right side and formed into a rotation posture.


    Hiss!


    Garen circled on the same spot, but the two arms he was swinging failed to land. Below his feet, his boots scratched out a clear black circle.


    The agitated air around them from the fight blew in all directions, forming a gentle breeze.


    No.101 backed up another two meters. He had taken a short break before he threw himself forward again. The red shadow flashed and ruthlessly stabbed Garen¡¯s lower belly.


    "I will find your weakness!!"


    The hand knife slashed upward and ripped open Garen¡¯s clothes.


    ,


    Bang!


    Garen¡¯s two arms again failed to grasp onto anything. His vision blurred as the red shadow flickered. His lower belly was again pierced by the hand knife, and a wave of dull pain started to emerge.


    "I¡¯m hurt!" He could picture the damage on his lower belly. Even though it was not deep, his skin definitely tore.


    "I must find a way to stop his speed! Or else it will be hard for me to win no matter how good I am at defense."


    His thoughts were interrupted suddenly. His lower left arm felt a pinch of pain. He was hit again.


    "F*ck!" Garen was getting angry, "If only I had practiced my Shot Form to a point where I could utilize it however I wish¡­ you bastard, kill yourself!!!"


    He viciously threw a punch.


    Crack!


    No.101 dodged. His fist hit a wooden board instead.


    The wooden door from a closed shop on the side of the road was punched through. Yellow wooden dust spattered


    everything.


    Bam!!


    Another loud noise, Garen missed again and instead smashed a rock wall. A bowl sized crack bulged in.


    "Is running away like a bug the only thing you can do!! You goddamn monkey!" Garen yelled angry as he threw another punch at No. 101. He dodged easily by lowering his head.


    Pain shot up his right wrist, Garen was getting even angrier.


    "You goddamn gray fur monkey!"


    Boom!


    He missed a step and landed on the concrete, and instantly, a little hole formed. He swung both of his arms and hit the lamp post No. 101 was hiding behind.


    Crack!


    The thigh-ticked concrete lamp post shook after the Swing Form punch. From its center, thin cracks began to form and spread. Small chunks of concrete flung off the post.


    Everyone around them was silenced. More than 10 of the Golden Hoop members were shivering like cicadas. Looking at Garen¡¯s bear like destructive behaviors, their legs felt weak.


    A few of them were already hidden in obscure spots, ready to run away from this place.


    The two youths who were still circled watched the fight between Garen and No.101 in awe.


    "This person¡¯s physical abilities are too strong..." Silvica mumbled, "His muscle defense is horrifying. His body is completely fine after hitting a concrete post! This is terrifying!"


    The girl Eve had secretly sat down beside the boy when the others were too busy being shocked.


    "This person seems to be the rival of the Golden hoop. His strength and defense attributes are way too strong. He probably practiced some sort of Body Hardening Technique or other forms of Arts. Too bad his speed is slow, he cannot move fast enough to catch up with his opponent. We better hide for a while then run away when we see a chance."


    Boom!


    Another shop¡¯s metal iron door was hit and bulged in a round shape.


    No.101 stepped back at lightning speed and distanced himself by two meters. His face was full of sweat, and blood was seeping out of the tip of his nose. It was scratched by a splattered cement piece.


    His chest was violently moving up and down, and his lung was gasping for oxygen. His sweat was rolling into his eyes, but he was too afraid to wipe it off. He gazed at Garen in a deadly stare, terrified that the opponent would find a chance to attack.


    "One punch!" His heart was pumping intensely, a reaction to his need of blood, "If he hits me with one punch!"


    "I will die!"


    No.101 concluded.


    "What¡¯s wrong? Gray-furred monkey?"


    Garen inhaled deeply and walked forward with a cold smile.


    "Are you done already? But I haven¡¯t used up all my strength!"


    His two fists bumped each other, creating a clashing sound similar to two pieces of wood hitting each other. It was as if his fists weren¡¯t made out of skin and bones.


    Bang!


    Suddenly, a gunshot reverberated through the night sky.


    Everyone fell silent.


    The boy and the girl covered their own mouths as they watched the situation unfold before them.


    Members of the Golden Hoop were also observing the scene with a dumbfounded face.


    No.101 had a cold expression on his face. He slowly let go of the silver gun in his hand. White smoke was still dancing around the muzzle.


    "Sorry, I¡¯m not merely a Martial Adept."


    Garen lowered his head and stared at his chest. There, a clear and charred bullet was stuck in the left side of his chest where his heart was.


    Snap!


    He covered his wound with his hand, and his fingers buckled around the bullet.


    A yellow bronze bullet fell to the ground, creating a soft noise.


    Hiss¡­


    Everyone held their breath one by one in astonishment.


    "He¡­ He blocked a bullet!" Silvica watched with his eyes and mouth wide open, "Did I see it wrong?!"


    "No¡­ No¡­" The girl Eve was also in shock, she had no idea how to react, "I have heard that Martial Adepts who have reached the peak stage of martial arts were not scared of guns. But¡­"


    "You mean his martial arts skills have reached the peak!?"


    "No, that¡¯s not it. This person¡¯s Body Hardening Technique is too horrifyingly strong!" Eve swallowed her saliva. Her voice was shaking because of how surprised she was.


    "You¡­ you bastard!!!" No.101¡¯s whole body was shuddering. His expression became twisted as he staggered back even more.


    Bang, bang, bang, bang!


    Then it was just the clicks of an empty gun. There were no more bullets.


    No. 101¡¯s face was pale. He still crazily pulled the trigger.


    Garen looked down at the five holes in his chest. He flexed his muscles, and the four other bullets were squeezed out and fell to the ground.


    "This is it."


    He fiercely marched forward. After a dull sound, he flung forward, and with one punch, his fist landed on No.101, who was still pulling the trigger continuously.


    Bam!


    No.101¡¯s head exploded like a watermelon. His brains splattered out and formed a perfect fan shape behind him.


    Because of that one second of distraction, No.101 wasn¡¯t able to utilize his speed. On top of that, he was already exhausted from the fight before, he did not have enough explosiveness and was therefore knocked out with one punch.


    "He¡­ he exploded!"


    A member of the Golden Hoop was shaking from head to toe. He stepped backward.


    "Ah!!!" everyone screamed.


    Every member of the Golden Hoop scattered and ran away.


    The girl and boy watched every moment of the fight. They were in complete disturbance from the bloody scene before them.


    "Don¡¯t look."


    A giant hand gently covered their eyes.


    Garen withdrew his fist and calmly looked at No.101 who was on the ground.


    "I killed someone again."


    This was not his first time killing someone.


    After his first accidental kill, he felt like his view on life became foggier and foggier.


    "Every time I see those around me with soft necks and other weak body parts, I realized that if I¡¯m not careful, I can gently squeeze, and a life will fade away. Humans have been living so peacefully in such weak shells. Just like ants, even though they are weak, they still have a division of labor."


    He could feel that there was something strange happening to him.


    "Young man, that was not true martial arts!"


    A deep voice appeared from the side.


    Garen turned his face and saw a pair of clear black eyes.


    "Your fist techniques, they have entered the demonic path ."


    It was a healthy looking young man with golden locks. His short hair was like a burning gold flame, prancing in the night wind.


    The young man was wearing all white. His two hands covered the children¡¯s eyes, and he was staring at Garen intensely and calmly.


    "Demonic path?" Garen froze.


    He looked at No.101¡¯s headless corpse.


    "Someone did once say to me that my martial arts have diverged from the righteous path. But what is the righteous path? What is the demonic path? Who draws the line between them?"


    "To pursue strength unscrupulously is the representation of demonic." The blonde man turned the children around and stood up, "Martial arts were a terrifying murder technique created so humans could fight against creatures that were stronger!"


    "It was not meant to be used between the same species! It was not meant to hurt and kill species of your own!"


    "I was defending myself," Garen composed himself and said softly.


    "But you had no need to kill him! You could¡¯ve just wounded him so you could control him!" The girl Eve suddenly turned around and screamed.


    "Eve! Don¡¯t anger him!" Silvica shakily grabbed the girl¡¯s arm out of fear.


    "The martial art you used was created purely with the intention of murdering others. Who is your teacher?" the blonde man asked.


    Garen did not answer. He simply stared at the three of them then walked into the alleyway he came from before disappearing into the darkness.


    The blonde man observed the scene around him. Suddenly, his gaze froze when he saw the concrete lamp post that was almost broken into two.


    "This fist art¡­ Behemoth Gate!"


    An image appeared in his mind. He suddenly remembered the silhouette of the devious and horrifying woman he encountered a couple years back. The woman¡¯s naked back had white tiger tattoos that seemed to be roaring. The tattoo was so vivid it was as if the white tiger was going to lunge in his face.


    "In the future, don¡¯t provoke that person!" the young man returned to reality and whispered to the two children.

 49 The Fundamentals 1

    Dawn.


    Garen was strolling alongside the street next to the river wearing his black coat.


    On his left, sounds of river colliding against the bank could be heard. The midnight wind blended itself with the gloomy surroundings; one cannot help but to feel as if winter was just around the corner.


    Garen had his hands inside the pockets of his pants while strolling; the coat masking the torn shirt that he was wearing inside. He unbuttoned his shirt and looked down on his chest, only to find the red mark on his exposed skin slowly fading away.


    His hands reached to his stomach. Still can¡¯t shake off the pain.


    At the corner in front of the street, an old lady appeared in her gray gown, gently pushing her cart. On her cart stood a cylinder-shaped black container, and on the container¡¯s surface were the words: 2 yuan milk.


    A girl in a thick white fur coat rushed over to the cart. She took out some money and gave it to the old lady. In exchange, she left with warm milk in between her palms.


    Garen tightened his shirt due to the decreasing temperature around him. He too hurried towards the old lady.


    "Can I have one please?"


    "Of course," The old lady answered. Her face wrinkled with age, so was her skirt, but she looked surprisingly neat. She took a small yellow cup from under her cart and put it under the container. She poured the milk into the cup and passed it to Garen.


    He gave the old lady two yuan, carefully holding the cup in his hands, and headed off to the arc just by the corner. The billboards at the each side of the closed shop had coincidentally formed an enclosure that prevented the wind from blowing onto Garen.


    Garen laid his back against the wall, looking at the milk cart that was going further away from him. Every now and then, residents came out of their houses to buy milk from the old lady. She handed them their drinks, they handed her the money, and she continued her journey.


    The scene of him bursting No. 101 with one blow recurred in his mind.


    "I¡¯ve murdered again¡­" Garen closed his eyes, seemingly stuck in recollecting his thoughts. "I was born with a talent that none others have: the ability to swiftly cross the gap others spent years to build. But is it a blessing or a curse? Because of this, I have no progress in sculpting my heart and soul."


    "Abruptly increasing strength, causing my desires to be set loose and spiral out of control¡­ Is this what I¡¯m facing? Am I going down the righteous path or the demonic path?"


    Coming back from his senses, he immediately discontinued his thoughts. He took a sip of the warm milk, the vapor from the drink steamed onto his face. The rich aroma of the milk seeped itself into his nostrils and left him feeling oddly satisfied.


    "The fight with Golden Hoop 101¡­ It was obvious that my speed could not match him, but my strength and defenses were enough to endure his hits. It didn¡¯t matter how many blows he laid on me, one blow from me was enough to seal the deal¡­ Which was also one of the perks of strength-based fighters. Even then, my combat techniques are still not up to class. If my techniques were at a certain level, I¡¯m confident that I¡¯m able to strike first no matter how swiftly he moves. Until I¡¯m certain I¡¯m able to face these types of opponents with ease.. " Garen concluded while taking another sip from his milk.


    "It seems as though the choice I made to strengthen my body first was right. No matter how fast a person is, a bullet is all that¡¯s needed to end a battle. This type of approach is safer, to say the least. Too bad I¡¯m still fighting at the basic level. I still need to focus on solidifying a general move set before moving on."


    He crumpled the cup and threw it into a nearby trash bin after finishing his milk.


    "Now, I¡¯m simply strengthening my body and throwing it onto my opponent to see what happens. Things will be different, though, when my combat skills mature."


    Garen walked out from his hiding spot and headed towards the stone bridge. After crossing it, it took another ten minutes for Garen to reach his house at Bluetree Street.


    From this point on towards the whole area within Bluetree Street was considered as the suburbs.


    Ding-a-ling¡­


    A bell rang from afar, signaling that the clock had struck ten.


    "It¡¯s ten already?" Knowing this, Garen hastened his pace. The hills were especially empty during the night, except for the occasional carriage and cars along the road. It looked as though no one had ever set foot around here during the night.


    After coming out from an intense battle, Garen was exceptionally relaxed, having this silent night to accompany him.


    He walked without a worry along the main street, knowing that no one knew who he was and, naturally, will not have any intentions towards him. If it weren''t a scheme specifically set against him, normal people would be just like chicks on his palm if they went up against him.


    Over at the stone bridge, a few drunkards sat on the floor boasting about their stories. A sharp smell of alcohol ran up to Garen¡¯s nostrils as he passed by.


    Garen had one of his hands on the stone bridge¡¯s rail. The cool rough surface of the cement that he felt from his touch transmitted into an image that was projected in his mind. Suddenly, he felt some pain surging from his chest to his abs.


    Garen was surprisingly calm because he knew it was the impact from the bullet that caused the internal pain.


    He tore off his tattered shirt effortlessly and threw it into the trash bin at the side. He only wore his coat cover his body as he made haste towards the direction of his house.


    Garen didn¡¯t even get far before a white carriage appeared coming towards his direction. The carriage made a sharp U-turn on the main street and followed him slowly. The carriage window slowly wound down, exposing Grace with her tired, yet emotionless face.


    "I have gotten the permission for the application. Now, regardless if it¡¯s the Golden Hoop, if they set foot in our territory, they must follow the rules. They must give a clear explanation on why they ambushed us now," she whispered.


    Garen jogged along beside the carriage. "101 died," he said calmly.


    "Died?" Grace glanced Garen for a second and notice that he was showing no emotion. She immediately understood when she saw the cement powder on his face. "I understand. I will handle it."


    "I received some intelligence this time when I went back to the company. The Golden Hoop dared to order some of their henchmen to kidnap the son and daughter of Dale Quicksilver and the White Eagle. The current status of their children is still unknown. It is obvious there are some motives behind this action."


    Garen regained his breath before speaking, "I¡¯ve already saved the two children. Too bad they weren''t grateful."


    Grace was stunned by his reply. She did not expect so much to have happened when she was not around.


    "Is it¡­ Did they see your face?" Her eyes fixated on the cement powder on Garen¡¯s face.


    "Supposedly no¡­ But still, she is the daughter of Dale Quicksilver. She can easily see through the disguise. She is indeed a tough one." Garen recalled the moment the little girl stood up out of nowhere and questioned his expression.


    "Right, do you know how the factions divide themselves in the martial arts community?" he added.


    "The division of the sects?" Grace was puzzled. "I¡¯m not particularly sure about that, but from what I¡¯ve heard it is separated into two groups: the official ones that train accordingly to build their physique and mentality; and the unofficial ones who train people to morph themselves into a human weapon to take lives."


    "Is that true?" Garen¡¯s eyes light up suddenly. "Then, do you know anyone well-known sects that train using the unofficial way?"


    "Give me a sec¡­" Grace frowned. She went silent for a moment before continuing, "Your master is one of them. There are a few martial artists inside the province that follows this philosophy. It has quite an impact on the underground community there."


    "It seems that they are quite accepted. What about the martial artists that trained formally?" Garen asked.


    "Almost similar, besides the fact that they don¡¯t dwell in the underground community, they are quite in common with the unofficial ones. Didn¡¯t your master or senior mention anything about this?"


    "I¡¯m heading back first. Be careful when going back, Grace."


    "Relax, I¡¯ve gathered enough human resources to deal with this situation." A killing intent could be seen in Grace¡¯s eyes as she continued, "I even have the police department on my side. This time I will give the Golden Hoops an unforgettable lesson!"


    Garen saw the determination from Grace¡¯s eyes so he didn¡¯t bother to continue. Garen passed by the village¡¯s main gate and saw the old guard watching him. The guard then scribbled on a piece of paper, faced down.


    Before going up the stairway, he heard sounds of children crying coming from above, as well as a hoarse male voice coming from the record player.


    Garen skipped a few stairs and got to his floor in no time. The hallway was dark and almost pitch black, so Garen had to move slowly to avoid bumping into anything or anyone. He reached the door, took out the key, and inserted it into the keyhole.


    Ka-chak


    The doorknob unlocked. The inside was dark and silent.


    Garen closed the door softly and changed his shoes before entering the living room. From the corner of his eyes, he spotted a shadow sitting on the couch. He could barely make out the shape of a human under the low lighting


    Garen paused, before slowly realizing the shadow was of his sister.


    "Ying Er? What are you doing sitting here?"


    Ying Er sat silently on the couch facing down; her expression shrouded in the dark. The only light source was the faint light coming from the opposite building, shining through the window onto her.


    Garen noticed that her sister wore a black high-waist skirt with a dark colored bow on her head. She even wore a pair of thick stockings underneath her skirt. She sat unmoved on the couch, without replying.


    Ever since he came to this world, Garen has always cared for his sister. Judging from his sister¡¯s personality, he knew something was up.


    He then shifted himself and sat beside his sister on the couch.


    "What¡¯s up? What happened today? Aren¡¯t you going to the Jaderipple Lake with your friends tomorrow?"


    Grace only replied after what looks like an eternity.


    "I¡¯m not going tomorrow."


    "What happened?" Garen frowned. For Garen, he always thought that the world was different inside and outside the house. To him, home was a place where he could free himself from all his worries. He could only be himself when he was with his innocent sister who only knew how to treat him well.


    Plus, Ying Er was the last one he wished to hurt.


    "It¡¯s nothing, stay out of it!" Ying Er turned her head away. "I¡¯m just a little bit tired that¡¯s all."


    Garen grinned, stretched his hands out to both sides of his sister¡¯s cheek, and pulled.


    "Ah¡­ Owh. What are you doing!?" Ying Er erupted. She tried to pull Garen¡¯s hands away from her cheeks but despite her best efforts, her struggles were ineffective.


    "Don¡¯t worry so much when you¡¯re inside the house. Take some rest. I¡¯m sure after a good night¡¯s rest you¡¯ll be fine." Garen let go of his hands. "Don¡¯t forget you still have me, Pa, and Ma in the house."


    "Do you want me to kill you!?" Ying Er stood, punching and kicking Garen in a completely arbitrary manner. Nonetheless, she didn¡¯t exert too much force to prevent hurting Garen by accident.


    "You shouldn¡¯t look down on your brother," Garen smirked, steadying his body to let Ying Er hit him. "Are you tickling me by any chance?"


    "Gahhhh!!!" Ying Er was truly angered now. "It seems as though you won¡¯t know wrath if I don¡¯t use my true power!"


    Thump


    She threw a heavy punch at Garen¡¯s face.


    "Hey! Not the face!" Garen was caught off guard by his sister. He quickly avoided his sister¡¯s incoming punches, dug his head in between his arm, and hid somewhere in the living room.


    Ying Er followed closely behind him, chasing and trying to beat him. Both of them made a fuss in the living room.


    After quarreling for a while, Ying Er was finally exhausted. She then dropped bum first onto the couch.


    "Huff¡­ It has only been months and already your body has grown bigger. What do you eat every day? It¡¯s absurd!" She caressed her fists. Garen felt nothing, yet her fists were red with bruises


    "I told you I¡¯m practicing martial arts. I¡¯m even a formal disciple of a master. I¡¯m different from amateurs like you." Garen purposely showed off his proud face to his sister.


    "You¡­ are really getting on my nerves!" Ying Er felt a sudden urge to give her brother more beatings. She inhaled deeply, suppressing her urges. "Speaking of which, you had been gone all day for weeks now. What have you been doing outside? Did you found a job outside because it¡¯s the holidays now?"


    Garen scooted over to his sister¡¯s side. "Nothing much, I usually jog around evening, right? Plus, I need to train some of my basic techniques at the dojo. It¡¯s normal if I came home late."


    "It¡¯s not good if you come home too late." Ying Er said, pouting her lips, "And I heard a rumor about you and Ai Fei in school¡­"


    "I swear I¡¯m innocent¡­" Garen was obviously in a predicament. He then started giving a detailed explanation to his sister about what had happened.


    Both of them cuddled up on the couch, chatting away. By the time they came to their senses, it had been two hours past midnight.


    Ying Er sat still on the couch, without any intention of going into her room. It could be seen from her face that she was tired. She sneaked a yawn when Garen wasn¡¯t paying attention.

 50 The Fundamentals 2

    "Are you sleepy? You can go to bed if you want," Garen said. He wanted to go sleep, but his sister was not tired at all. Garen rarely saw Ying Er under the weather, so he decided to stay with her.


    "I am not sleepy at all, I will go to bed later. Are you sleepy?" Ying Er said. She sat beside Garen and put her head on Garen¡¯s shoulder. She could feel Garen¡¯s muscles against her arm, and she felt safe staying beside him.


    "Do you have other plans if you are not going tomorrow?" Garen asked. It was rare for them to sit beside each other and talk for so long.


    "Can¡¯t I just stay at home?" Ying Er said. After thinking for a moment, she then asked, "Or take me to your dojo, I want to watch you guys practicing the skills! Am I welcome there?"


    "Nope." Garen answered without thinking.


    "You¡­!" Ying Er looked irritated again.


    "Don¡¯t! It¡¯s not my rule, and you know I can¡¯t show you the Secret Arts." Garen explained quickly, and he did not want Ying Er to get angry again.


    "That¡¯s true, but how about after the practice? I went to the dojo once and I heard there was a pretty lady driving you there every day. Is that true?" Ying Er asked, and she had a forced smile on her face.


    "Well¡­" Garen did not expect to go to the White Cloud Dojo alone, and she even asked someone there about him. It looked like she already knew about Grace, and it gave him a bit of headache. He knew Ying Er liked him, but it wasn¡¯t due to them being siblings; it was because of something else.


    "Fine. I am tired now. I¡¯m going to sleep." Ying Er stood up and walked towards her bedroom.


    Garen was not sure how to best explain this, because his relationship with Grace was all about underground business. He did not want Ying Er to get involved and wanted his sister to live a normal life.


    Ying Er stood by the door of her bedroom, turned back around, and said, "You are old enough to make decisions by yourself. I think I put too many restrictions on you."


    She did not wait for Garen to respond and just slammed the door shut. Garen shook his head and felt a bit speechless. He decided he would go to bed after brushing his teeth.


    *******************


    *PA*


    "Straighten your fists! If your stance is wrong, you will lose your balance. If you keep going without correcting your stance, your knees won¡¯t be able to handle all the pressure, and they could be damaged permanently," Farak said.


    Senior Brother Farak was standing beside Garen in the Martial Colosseum, and he was correcting Garen¡¯s basic stances. The two looked like an adult and a kid standing beside each other.


    Garen grew taller and stronger recently, but he still looked small comparing to Farak.


    Farak was half-naked, his skin was tanned by the sun, and his muscles were hard like rock. Garen could see the veins on Farak¡¯s skin, with a white tiger tattoo just like the one Senior Sister had, but around his chest where Senior Sister¡¯s was around her back and arms.


    "Besides all the basic attack and defense techniques in Martial Arts, there are also basic training techniques. I¡¯ve told you that these training techniques were developed by the masters, and with these training techniques, you will learn how to use your force without hurting your muscles or bones, how to maximize the potential of your skills, and how to minimize the damage you take. Countless senior members improved the training techniques based on their own experiences, and those techniques are the secret of building your body." Farak¡¯s gray hair was all over his shoulders, and he looked wild but gentle with his white pants.


    "Garen, remember, you must perfect this form. You should make sure your center and your stance are stable. Don¡¯t make any mistakes. You need to be steady, and solid, like a mountain!" Farak patted Garen¡¯s back as Garen was practicing the forms of White Cloud Combat Arts.


    "If your form is not perfect, your knees and shoulders will be damaged by the stress." Farak added.


    "Yes! Senior Brother!" Garen nodded.


    "Some beginners focus too much on the core theories thought they would be able to create their own skills. They thought that their own creations were much better than the traditional techniques, some even said the skills the beginners created were not effective at all without the fundamentals, but that''s only half-correct." Farak watched Garen practicing the form, and Garen looked like an elephant that had lifted its feet.


    "In a real fight, the free-style combat is actually very effective, but using those skills will damage their bodies. If you want to hurt others with those skills, you will have to hurt yourself first. Martial Artists like these won¡¯t live long, though they are good at fighting others," Farak said, and he started to practice the Elephant Form as well.


    "Forms will change with the development of Martial Arts. The forms from the Mammoth Secret Technique and Behemoth Gate you are practicing are new. The Master already improved them, and you need to find the most comfortable stance by yourself while not making any mistakes. You should not let others break your stance easily."


    Farak crossed his arms, and raised them in front of his chest. He leaned forward a bit and bent his knees a little. One of his feet was out in front, and the other was places behind. Farak¡¯s stance looked unbreakable.


    "Human bodies are different from one another, and you need to figure out what suits you the most, then you will have your own perfect stance," Farak said. Garen nodded, and his eyes were half closed. He imagined himself as a mammoth lifting its forefeet in the air, but he realized he was still not steady enough.


    "Keep making minor corrections. Don¡¯t just imitate others. Their stances are developed for themselves, and you still need to find the stance that suits your own body." Garen heard Farak¡¯s voice again.


    "Understood!" Garen started to adjust his stance again.


    "Gates with long histories all have their own stances," Farak said, and he moved to the front of Garen.


    "Besides building your body and helping you reach your optimum state, the stances also have another central role: to fight and to kill." Farak said.


    "Fight and kill?" Garen asked.


    "Yes. All the stances were created for the same purpose. To help you use your combat techniques faster and easier."


    "Every Gate has their own combat techniques, and that¡¯s the reason why the stances are different from one Gate to another. With proper stancing, you will be able to use your skills easier, and your opponent will have a harder time trying to figure out your combos, so you need a stance that can help you unleash skill combos that will fit into any combat situation.


    "Alright," Farak said as he patted Garen¡¯s shoulders, "let¡¯s give the stance a test."


    "Your Four Forms are pretty good already, and you should be able to use them well. Come here," Farak said. Garen nodded and opened his eyes. He then followed Farak to a wider space.


    Using his Mammoth Stance, he said with a light tone, "Attack me. Use any skill you want."


    "Sure." Garen did some preparation and stared at Farak calmly.


    "Ha!" Garen yelled, and he used an overhand punch.


    *PA*


    Farak waved his left hand, and redirected Garen¡¯s attack towards the side. Garen was going for Farak¡¯s waist, but missed his punch after it was deflected.


    Garen did not give up. He kicked out towards the front and used a third of his strength, aiming at the gap between Farak¡¯s arms. He suddenly felt his ankle ache, and his right leg was caught by Farak¡¯s arms.


    "Yoink!" Farak imitated the sound of bone breaking, and he moved his arms a bit. He sounded a little cruel.


    "There goes your right foot. It will be broken in half," Farak said and released Garen¡¯s leg. He returned to the Mammoth Stance again.


    "With this stance, I will be able to defend attacks from most of the angles, the only problem is attacks from the rear, but most Martial Artists have this problem. Remember, never show your enemies your back!


    "A good Martial Artist will never show his back to the enemy no matter what happens!" he added.


    "Understood." Garen nodded. He knew Farak was speaking from his own experience.


    Farak stood straight, smiled, and said, "Most of the time, you have to try it yourself after you know the theory. If you don¡¯t try it yourself, you won''t be able to understand it well, and you won''t be able to use in real fights. I suggest you try it when it¡¯s safe, and help your body memorize it."


    "Senior Brother, what do you mean ¡®try it¡¯?" Garen asked.


    "Go to the Stage Exam. You will see many different styles in the Amateur Stage Exam, and you can practice what you learned there." Farak blinked his eyes and asked, "Your Explosive Fist Arts is good enough for defending, right?"


    "You¡­ know about that?" Garen was surprised and asked.


    "Yeah. You don¡¯t need to hide it. We all know, otherwise the Master wouldn''t have let you do whatever you want. Your talent is the best among us, and we wonder how strong you will become in the future." Farak smiled and patted Garen¡¯s shoulders.


    Farak, Senior Sister, and Junior Brother all knew Garen was extremely talented, and they were willing to see him improve. They never hid anything from him, and they tried to teach all the things they knew to Garen.


    The stronger Garen was, the stronger the Mammoth Gate would be. Though Farak did not really like Senior Sister, they were in a competing relationship and they sometimes argued. However, they would never engage in a real fight. They learned from the same Master so there was no point in them fighting each other. They all wanted the Mammoth Gate to be better, and they would never show weaknesses to the true enemies.

 51 The Beginning of Misfortune 1

    For almost 20 days, Garen practiced the White Cloud Combat Arts under Second Senior Brother Farak¡¯s supervision. Farak corrected all of the mistakes that might cause Garen injury before Farak could spend time on his own training.


    Since Farak¡¯s supervised him in person, Garen could not use the two Attribute Points he had accumulated from all these training days. The abrupt enhancement of power would alert Farak and expose his special ability.


    Boom! Boom!


    In a bright training room, two arm-sized dark iron sticks were mercilessly hitting Garen¡¯s back and chest as beads of sweat splashed all over the cement floor.


    The two strong students wielding the sticks were panting and had no strength left to continue striking.


    "Okay, thank you. Get some rest."


    Garen stood up straight, relaxing the muscles of his upper body.


    "Yes, Brother Garen," said the two students, as if they were just absolved of a severe punishment. They put away the iron sticks and left the room hastily.


    Standing alone in the center of the room, Garen felt the bright sunlight shining through the window and onto his naked upper body, reflecting the glossy sweat.


    Whoo¡­


    Garen let out a long exhale as his muscle gradually relaxed.


    It was lively outside as the indistinct sounds of an accordion drifted from the street, along with loud roars.


    Garen glanced at the window.


    "Looks like the government holding a celebration for completing the central sculpture. It¡¯s surprising that it lasted so many days."


    Garen paced to the window and looked down.


    A group of kids with red shirts, black hats, and small black-and-white striped Federation flags were passing by the dojo in lines. They were looking around aimlessly, and the lines were a mess, but with their cute faces and young skin, they had attracted a lot of people on the street. There were also parents and relatives following them, cheering them on. The scene was chaotic, yet rhythmic.


    There were several long tables placed by the streets, covered with white tablecloths. People were busy setting out fruit plates and cakes on them, but some, including a group of beautiful girls, had already sat down and start tasting. The two students who helped Garen practice were also there, smiling and chit-chatting with two girls.


    Garen couldn¡¯t help laughing.


    "No wonder they were so reluctant."


    "Of course they were. You couldn¡¯t possibly forget which holiday it is today?" Third Senior Brother Joshua spoke from behind.


    Garen turned around and found that Joshua had shaved all the white hair from his head. Now his head was covered with bandages and he was wearing a white suit, which presented a weird scene, since he looked like a monk in a tuxedo.


    "What holiday? Isn¡¯t for the completion of the central sculpture?" asked Garen puzzled.


    "It¡¯s the Carnival! The Carnival!" said Joshua speechlessly while rubbing his bald head. "Have you practiced too much and lost your mind? Hiding indoors to train on your own on Carnival day? This is a once a year event."


    "1230"


    "Carnival¡­" Garen suddenly understood and said, "Every December 30th, I almost forgot¡­"


    He pulled his jacket from the hanger and put it on slowly, covering his powerful muscles.


    "Brother, how do you have time to come back to the dojo? Shouldn¡¯t you enjoy yourself during the holidays?"


    "If only First Senior Sister didn¡¯t beat me into pieces, then you wouldn¡¯t even have the chance to tell me to enjoy myself," said Joshua sourly. "Okay, okay, hurry up. You must have someone you want to see, right?"


    "Yeah¡­" Garen smiled, dressed himself up, and grabbed his key from the shelves. "So excuse me for leaving first. Thank you, brother, for reminding me or I would have missed something really important."


    "That¡¯s more like it! Bring me something nice to eat when you come back," said Joshua, waving his hand.


    Garen stepped out of the training room. He washed off the sweat from his face with tap water and left.


    A noisy and sweltering turbulence blew directly on his face as soon as he stepped outside. Everyone was crowded on both sides of the street while watching the slowly marching parade. A circus troupe passed by as pigeons burst out from magic tricks and soared up into the sky.


    Garen followed the street and went toward Pennington Street. He made a few turns, bought some tarts and two glasses of tomato juice, then he headed to the Dolphin Antiques store.


    It was noon and the store door was open. Old Man Gregor sat on a wooden stool by the door, smiling and staring at some young girls passing by.


    They were dressed in refreshing short red skirts and white stockings. From time to time, while holding up their fluffy pom-poms, these girls shouted out the slogan:


    "Aria School! Forever the best!"


    They were only around 16 years old and passed by the antiques store in a very neat queue, shining with youthful vitality.


    Garen looked at the Old Man on the other side of the street across from the girls. He smiled and held up his food to him.


    Garen really stood out with his tall figure, handsome face, dark-purple short hair, and maroon eyes. He had not stopped exercising and was becoming more robust. Like a heating furance, his Spirit outshined others. Some girls flirted with him, showing great interest.


    "Hello, handsome!"


    A blonde left the queue and nudged Garen a bit. She had her dark blue eyes on him and looked coy. She flicked a note to Garen without anyone noticing and Garen caught it.


    "You are beautiful, but¡­" said Garen. He pinched the note in his fingers, shrugged and shook his head.


    Disappointment flashed in the blonde¡¯s eyes.


    The girls moved away and shouts of slogans would sound out occasionally. It was so packed that Garen had to push through the crowd as he went directly to the antiques store.


    "How are you, Old Man? I mean for the Carnival," asked Garen. He sat down on the stairs beside Old Man Gregor, disregarding the dirt. He passed the tomato juice and tarts to him.


    "Same-old, same-old. Ain¡¯t the girls from Aria School beautiful? You feel tempted? I saw someone gave you a note just now!" said Old Man Gregor with an obscene laugh.


    "Such an old age, yet still a pervert," said Garen speechlessly.


    "Mom!" A little boy ran past Garen and lost his balance. He fell over in front of Garen.


    Garen lifted the boy up. The boy didn¡¯t even shed a tear and continued to rush forward to a beautiful woman¡¯s embrace. The woman gave Garen a gentle smile to thank him and left with the boy.


    "My grandson should be that age if he were still alive¡­"


    Garen could hear the sorrow in the Old Man¡¯s words. He did not reply and simply sipped on his tomato juice. He stared at the lively street, waiting for the Old Man to continue.


    "It was my fault for getting my son and daughter involved. How regrettable¡­" Gregor sipped his juice and murmured, "It¡¯s a pity¡­ but there is no medicine for regret in this world¡­


    "Is there even any sense in regretting?" asked Garen lightly. "Looking back, the only point is to learn from your lessons and grow up."


    "You are still young. You don¡¯t understand," said the Old Man with a smile. He exhaled deeply and said, "When memories of the past occupy half of your life, you will know."


    "Maybe." Garen didn¡¯t pursue the topic further. His face showed no expression.


    "Garen, lad," said the Old Man who suddenly became formal, "Have you been curious why I would open an antique store here?


    "Curious? Why would I be curious? Isn¡¯t it nice living and ordinary life like that?" Garen gave the Old Man an odd look. "Right, do we continue our lessons today?


    "Of course, learning is something you must stick to every day. No breaks," said the Old Man who eventually collected his thoughts and stood up. "Come on in. Today is the Carnival, so I have a special treat for you."


    Mystified, Garen followed him into the Antique store. The Old Man closed the front door. Light came in through the small window above the door and illuminated the room.


    Gregor carried two thick books from the back room and sat at the desk. Pointing at the books and he said, "These two are the textbooks that I will spend most of the time to guiding you through. You can go through them yourself now. There are hardly any errors in them, I¡¯m sure. I proofread them myself very carefully so don¡¯t worry."


    "Thanks." Garen randomly picked one book on the side. The pages were full of red marks and notes, which covered the entire 2,000-page book.


    He switched to the next one. It was the same.


    "I annotated those two books a long time ago. All errors have been corrected. I meant to prepare it for my grandson. Well, who would have known that you¡¯d get to use it first?" said the Old Man.


    Garen smiled. He knew that the Old Man prepared these books specifically for him since the notes were still new. Old Man Gregor only told him that the textbooks were prepared for someone else out of the fear of pushing Garen too much.. Previously, Garen unintentionally mentioned that he wished to have more systematic textbooks. To his astonishment, Gregor actually took out two heavy dictionaries.


    Garen was honestly touched seeing all those densely marked pages. God knew how long it took for the Old Man to complete everything.


    "So these two books are all the rudiments I need to know?" he asked as he closed the book.


    "More or less. The next step is to learn appraisal by hand. To enhance your level, you must feel the object in your hands. Plus, you have to know every detail and the history of all kinds of objects," said the Old Man, who took out a pair of glasses and started polishing.


    Garen nodded. He moved a stool to the Old Man¡¯s side and sat on it with his back straight.


    "Where do we start today?"

 52 The Beginning of Misfortune 2

    "Regarding theory, you¡¯ve mostly understood the basics. You will become an appraiser after understanding these two books and experiencing some practical application. Your mission for today is to start reading these two books. You can even take them back with you if you want. The things that I¡¯ve told you are all in these books. You can come find me again if you have any more questions," the Old Man replied calmly.


    Garen nodded, flipped open the first page, and began reading the book attentively.


    Two hours went by without a notice. Garen let out a long and deep breath, remembering the page number he had last read before closing the book.


    "Old man, it¡¯s already 3 o¡¯clock. I need to go back and celebrate the holiday with my family."


    "Take the books with you. I will be meeting some of my old friends soon anyway. It¡¯ll be better if you¡¯re not around then." The Old Man¡¯s eyes never left the book he was reading. He waved at Garen impatiently, as if wanting him to be gone at once.


    Garen grinned and picked up the two books.


    "Then I¡¯m heading out now. I¡¯ll be back tomorrow."


    "Mmm, hurry up! Seeing you taking your time annoys me." The Old Man didn¡¯t even bother to look up. "Remember to write down the questions you want to ask on a paper."


    "Got it."


    Garen walked out of the shop playfully swinging the books. He turned his head to look at the old man before letting out a smile.


    "Stubborn Old Man, I know you¡¯re celebrating the holiday alone. If you truly have friends, they sure took their time visiting you."


    The streets were filled with flowers and paper confetti. There was also some dove feathers and smashed cupcakes lying around.


    Garen had not even gone far before noticing Grace standing with a stern look beside a car near the entrance of Pennington Street. She seemed to be waiting for him.


    Garen hurried himself over.


    "Did something happen?"


    "Dale Quicksilver is here. He wants my company to help him identify something!" Grace whispered, "Let¡¯s talk in the car."


    Garen frowned. He was a bit startled when he heard that Dale Quicksilver was looking for Grace.


    The two of them sat side by side in the front seats. They cranked the windows closed to dampen the sound of the marching band passing by.


    Grace took a photo from her purse and passed it to Garen.


    "Dale Quicksilver approached us out of nowhere this morning. He took this along with him and asked me to identify it."


    Garen received the photo from Grace. He was clearly shaken by what he saw.


    The photo showed the Bronze Cross Emblem he left at the Silversilk Castle.


    "Is this¡­" He observed the emblem in the photo carefully. The black and white photo was shot at a very close distance. Everything was shown very distinctly.


    "Hasn¡¯t Dale Quicksilver investigated the Silversilk Castle incident thoroughly? Doesn¡¯t he know where this emblem came from?" Garen asked softly.


    "Of course he knows! What he wants to know has nothing to do with the information about the Silversilk Castle." The look on Grace¡¯s face was exceptionally serious. "He wants to know the origins of the emblem ¨C from before the Silversilk Castle incident!"


    "Before!?" Garen felt goosebumps recalling the strange events he encountered during his time at the castle. He almost broke both of his arms back then and he had tried to forget about fleeing with his tail between his legs.


    "Looks like they¡¯re facing the same problem as us¡­" He glanced out of the car window at the marching band. He spotted a kid wearing fake armor and dancing delightfully with a balloon and a badminton racket in each hand.


    Garen closed his eyes. His eyes reflected with a bit more seriousness when he reopened them.


    "So where is our ¡®Detective¡¯ now?"


    "At our company."


    "Let¡¯s go and find him then," Garen replied heavy-heartedly. "If it is as predicted, we could even lend a hand to our detective to know more about what happened to me last time at the castle¡­" he murmured, looking out the window.


    He had a hunch that everything started at the Silversilk Castle.


    "Ok," Grace replied as she started her car and drove slowly toward the crowd.


    ****************


    The scene shifted to a small room in a motel.


    "Hahaha¡­ Mr. Quicksilver, it¡¯s been a while." Garen gave Dale Quicksilver a big hug with a big smile on his face.


    "Indeed it has been a while." Quicksilver had happiness shown all over his face. "Did that Golden Hoop guy bring you any trouble, Mr. Kelly? I had asked some of my men to find you after the incident but to no avail. After all that effort, I can¡¯t believe that you are here, standing in front of me. Such fate we have."


    The detective still carried a smoking pipe with him, along with his black coat.


    Standing beside Dale was a beautiful lady in a white gown with a feather hat. Her arms crossed delicately at her waist, showing off her elegance.


    "This is?"


    "This is my wife, Marianne," Quicksilver introduced.


    "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Quicksilver," Garen nodded while smiling.


    "Oh please, Mr. Kelly, you¡¯re being too formal," Marianne answered sheepishly.


    All three of them sat on the couches, facing each other.


    Garen then took out the photo showing the Bronze Cross Emblem.


    "Mr.Quicksilver, I¡¯m actually a professional appraiser from the Manuyllton Corporation. When I heard that you wished for this item to be identified, I immediately took this matter into my own hands. Time went by so quickly my friend and it has been two months since the last time we met. "


    "Indeed my friend. Such a coincidence, I admit I did not expect that you were working for the Manuyllton Corporation.." Dale smiled before continuing, "Do you by any chance know where this thing came from?"


    Garen frowned after hearing this. He sat silently, looking as if he was recalling something.


    Regardless, the couple was not in a rush. They sat there quietly, waiting for Garen to speak.


    Garen only let out a word after a few minutes of silence.


    "Truthfully speaking, I¡¯m afraid that this emblem is an ancient artifact left by a kingdom from 1,000 years ago."


    "1,000 year artifact?!" The couple jolted from what they had heard.


    "Indeed. 1,000 years ago, there was an ancient kingdom called Natama, located where our federal state is now. There¡¯s very little information left regarding this kingdom. Thus, I based my judgement on the characteristics of this emblem. As for the origins... I¡¯m afraid that I cannot help you with that."


    Garen let out a sigh. The information given was not from Garen, but from real appraisers from the Manuyllton Corporation. He was just pretending like he knew the details.


    "If that¡¯s the case then¡­" The couple exchanged eye contact, both looking worried.


    "But¡­" Hesitation could be heard from Garen¡¯s tone. "I¡¯m not sure if I should tell you this."


    Dale¡¯s eyes sparkled with hope, so he immediately asked, "Mr. Kelly please do not hold back on us. We¡¯ve been through so much together that there¡¯s nothing that you should hide."


    Garen glanced at him and saw the determination from his eyes. He showed a face of determination in return.


    "If that¡¯s so, regardless of whether you guys believe me, I will be telling you two about the other data that we collected."


    He hesitated before continuing, "No, it is not categorized as a ¡®data,¡¯ but more of a hunch that I have." He eyed them before saying, "I think that this emblem is a cursed antique."


    "A cursed antique!?" Dale Quicksilver staggered. He regained his posture before mumbling, "I should¡¯ve known! I should¡¯ve known¡­"


    Mrs Quicksilver was still seated at the side. Sweat could be seen dripping down from her forehead. She was worried about her husband¡¯s reaction.


    "Indeed, this is an antique that brings misfortune." There was some firmness in Garen¡¯s tone. "I have a natural talent for recognizing antiques that are cursed and I¡¯m confident in identifying anything that falls into this category. However¡­ would you mind letting me have a look at the emblem? Before I even came back to the company, the other appraisers had already returned the emblem to you two. I didn¡¯t have the chance to examine it for myself."


    "This won¡¯t be a problem." Dale took out a small black box from his coat, clearly worried.


    Garen received the box and immediately opened it. What rested inside was a burgundy emblem surrounded by black swan feathers. The exact same emblem he had left at the Silversilk Castle.


    Garen placed the box carefully on the coffee table, cautiously picking up the emblem.


    His expression immediately changed the moment the emblem fell into his hands.


    Without a doubt, the Potential residing inside the emblem had grown since the last time he made contact with it. A cold piercing sensation slowly seeped from the emblem into Garen¡¯s body. With the emblem in his hands, it felt as if he was holding ice itself. This emblem definitely had at least a fraction of the Black Jade Disk¡¯s Potential residing in it. Judging by what he felt now, this power had grown at least twofold.


    "Could it be?!" Garen seem to remember a possibility. He raised his head and look at Dale Quicksilver, who sat across from him. "Mr. Quicksilver, you have to answer me this. Did anyone meet any accidents before you two got a hold of this emblem!?"


    "How did you know?!" Dale¡¯s eyes opened wide. He stood up, breathing heavily.


    "Please! Stay calm!" Mrs. Quicksilver ran over to comfort her husband, trying her best to make him sit back down. "Please listen to what Mr. Kelly has to say."


    Huff¡­


    Dale Quicksilver let out a long breath.


    "I apologize for my rudeness Mr. Kelly."


    "It¡¯s alright. Please, call me Kelly. We are friends, right?" Garen nodded.


    "Sure, Kelly. Would you mind telling me how you knew that there were people involved in accidents with this object?" Though Dale Quicksilver sat down, he did not break eye contact with Garen. "This is very important to me!"


    "Did someone close to you have an accident?" Garen did not wait for him to answer before continuing, "I apologize, this is also one of my natural talents. I can properly identify the status of these cursed antiques. It may be related to the fact that I¡¯m fascinated by items like this. It¡¯s an instinct, an indescribable one."


    "Instinct? Good, your instincts are indeed very accurate. Aside from this fascination, I think you were born to become an expert in identifying cursed antiques. Right now I need your help." Dale Quicksilver spoke in a serious tone, "Do you know how to break the curse from this emblem? My friend, the White Eagle¡¯s son is in danger!"


    "In danger?! What happened?!" Garen asked worriedly.


    He owed Dale Quicksilver a debt due to the case involving the Black Jade Disk, but Garen thought he had repaid Dale last time after the rescue. Though he was not particularly fond of Quicksilver¡¯s daughter, Garen still held respect for Dale. Regardless, the Black Jade Disk had helped him through a lot. He still felt that he was progressing from time to time.

 53 Companion 1

    Dale Quicksilver picked up the coffee on the table and had a sip to calm his nerves before speaking.


    "Since the Golden Hoop incident, things have been happening consecutively. Silvica, my old friend the White Eagle¡¯s son, unexpectedly received this emblem by chance. He subsequently got himself into trouble during his time at the Silversilk Castle."


    "What happened?" Garen asked.


    "He fell from the top of the castle." Dale took a breath in and continued, "Fortunately, there was stuff below him that helped to disperse the impact. But after the incident, he fell into a coma and we don¡¯t know which region of his brain was injured."


    Lady Marianne continued from where her husband had stopped and said, "What¡¯s strange is that the doctor performed a full body examination on Silvica and found no damage to his brain. Yet, he still lies unconscious in a hospital bed." She also had a worried look on her face. "If it is possible, we will be glad if Mr. Kelly can lend us a hand."


    Garen frowned, looking at Dale Quicksilver and Lady Marianne. It was obvious that both of them thought of Garen as someone who had extraordinary ability. No doubt they hoped that his "ability" could help him resolve Silvica¡¯s situation.


    "I¡¯m afraid I¡¯m going to disappoint you¡­" Garen had all of his fingers crossed, with a weary look on his face. "I gave a judgment on the cursed antique based on my hunch. It¡¯s not like what you guys have in mind¡­ I¡¯m just a normal person with a natural born talent¡­ but still a normal person."


    "But¡­ What about Silvica¡­"


    "Stop mentioning it, Marianne."


    Dale Quicksilver prevented his wife from finishing her sentence. "I can very clearly see that Kelly can¡¯t help us in any way. He isn¡¯t lying."


    The detective scowled, then slowly returned to being calm and logical.


    "From the looks of things, we still need to know about the origins of this emblem. I have stayed at the Silversilk Castle for so long, yet nothing has ever happened to me. Why did Silvica encounter danger so quickly?"


    "Indeed, this matter needs to be analyzed thoroughly," Garen nodded in agreement. "How about this? I¡¯m quite free during this time of the month, so maybe I can check things out with you guys and give you a heads up if I find anything relevant to the cursed antique."


    "I¡¯ve always thought curses were a myth, but after witnessing how you deduced the situation so accurately, maybe there are some secrets hidden inside this emblem. Screw it!" Dale Quicksilver stood up. "If this cursed antique is really useful and if it¡¯s the root of Silvica¡¯s condition, then we have to take this emblem and experiment on our own to fully understand the situation."


    "Please, let me be the one to do it."


    A male voice came through the window. A white shadow came into the light and a man with a white coat and blonde hair can be seen from the half-open window. He took a seat on a corner of the couch.


    "I¡¯m sure the Golden Hoops are the ones behind my son¡¯s situation! Curses are just some folklore made to frighten kids. This world is full of people trying to deceive others by making up myths and fairytales."


    Garen raised his head and discovered that this guy was the one that showed up beside the kids that night. He still remembered being criticized by this guy for being too violent and that his martial arts swayed onto the demonic path.


    "This is¡­.?"


    "He is the White Eagle, who is also my best friend," Dale Quicksilver introduced him while standing up. In the meantime he reintroduced Garen to his friend, but this time as Kelly.


    The White Eagle used his sharp vision to scan Garen and nodded, "I¡¯m afraid we might need to depend on you this time." He did not recognize Garen as the look-alike disciple of the Behemoth Gate from that night.


    "It¡¯s no big deal. I have endured hardships with Dale before and it is only right if friends help each other out. Plus, this incident involves the cursed antique, which pretty much suits my interests." Garen dismissed the formality and said, "Okay, let¡¯s not waste any time. When are we going to the castle?"


    "How about tomorrow? We gather here at Manuyllton Corporation in the morning and then head off to the Silversilk Castle," Dale suggested.


    "No problem."


    "Sure."


    "Then it¡¯s settled." Dale then reached for the emblem on the table. "I got this emblem from Silvica¡¯s body. I thought that it was suspicious, so I brought it here to be identified. Who would¡¯ve known that things would turn out like this?"


    "My friend, don¡¯t worry too much. Everything will be alright." Garen let out a sigh, while one of his hands patted Dale¡¯s shoulder. There were two reasons why Garen was being so nice to them: one, he sincerely wanted to repay Dale Quicksilver¡¯s kindness and two, he was genuinely interested in knowing the secrets hidden inside the cursed antiques ¨C especially after being affected by it at the Silversilk Castle.


    "If there¡¯s nothing else, then I need to go back home to celebrate the holiday with my family." Garen stood up. "Please excuse me."


    "Please."


    "Please do."


    The Quicksilvers immediately stood up formally.


    "Please make yourself at home you three. I¡¯ll be going now." Garen turned and left the room. The moment before the door fully closed, his eyes were focused on the White Eagle. He couldn¡¯t help but have a weary look on his face.


    "That guy stayed hidden outside the window throughout the conversation and I didn¡¯t even manage to notice him. This guy is definitely not an average joe¡­"


    Grace awaited him at the door and they both headed downstairs.


    "This here is one of the divisions that I¡¯m in charge of. Basically, everything here is at my disposal. The results regarding the situation you want us to check on are already here."


    She handed Garen a copy of the results.


    Garen looked at the results and was thrown deeper into confusion.


    "No obvious scars, the first judgment is a cardiac arrest?"


    "Yes, it is possible that it¡¯s related to poisoning. In a manner of speaking, the suspect has already taken action and, judging by the looks of things, he is very determined this time around. I can¡¯t believe he will strike at this crucial moment, but I¡¯m afraid I cannot assist you this time," Grace said disappointedly.


    "It¡¯s alright. I will investigate this matter with the help of the detective and his friend. It helps that this is according to what we initially intended," Garen replied, winking.


    Grace had no idea what his initial intention was, but she nodded along. "Any preparation needed?"


    "If it is possible, please prepare me a gun." Garen grinned.


    *************************


    Garen reached his home before dawn and spent his evening celebrating the festival with his family. They only had a simple meal and some conversation about each other¡¯s recent situations. He went to bed after washing up. The next morning, he went to the Manuyllton Corporation¡¯s division after applying his makeup. Surprisingly, Dale Quicksilver and the White Eagle were already there waiting for him.


    "You guys are early. Are we driving there?"


    Dale stood beside the White Eagle in front of the building. Marianne and Dale¡¯s pretty assistant were nowhere to be found. Parked beside them was a black sedan with two car lights as big as goldfish eyes ¨C dead goldfish eyes to be exact.


    "I¡¯m driving straight to the Silversilk Castle. Is everything prepared?" Dale Quicksilver opened the door and sat inside.


    The White Eagle and Garen followed suit.


    After the doors were closed, the White Eagle took out some cigarettes from his pocket and handed one to Garen.


    "Thanks, but I don¡¯t smoke."


    "Mr. Kelly, I¡¯m sorry we have to drag you out this time." The White Eagle lit his cigarette and took a puff from it. He lets out the white smoke before continuing, "Regardless of this case being solved or not, I owe you one."


    "You¡¯re Dale¡¯s friend, which makes you my friend as well. There¡¯s no need for such formality between friends. Plus, I volunteered to do this myself." Garren grinned. "I can see that you¡¯re a righteous man and worthy of being a friend."


    "Likewise." The White Eagle smiled in return.


    The car engine slowly warmed up, then they drove onto the streets into traffic.


    After 10 minutes or so, the car slowly drove out of Huaishan City onto a mountain road. The car sped through the withered grass and through the wilderness.


    Inside the car, Garen toyed with his black revolver. Flipping it from front to back and then from left to right, as if he wanted to try it out soon.


    "Kelly is this the first time you¡¯ve handled a gun?" Dale noticed Garen¡¯s actions from the reflection of the rearview mirror.


    "Yes, there¡¯s practically no use for guns within the city, but since we are going out in the open, Grace gave me one for protection purposes." Garen seemed to be fond of his mini revolver. In this world, a revolver can only hold up to six bullets at a time and after a bullet was shot, it reloaded automatically. It can be regarded as a semi-automatic.


    "We should spend some time at the shooting range when we¡¯re free." The White Eagle chewed on the remains of his cigarette and suggested half-heartedly. He took out a white revolver from his waist. "For now, let¡¯s take care of those filthy pests behind us."


    Before he even finished his sentence, he forced open the door and jumped out.


    Bam Bam!


    Two consecutive shots were fired, then the sound of a car skidding as it suddenly braked was heard.


    Screech¡­.


    Dale Quicksilver instinctively stopped the car. He immediately got out from the car.


    Garen, not wanting to be seen as a weakling, also pointed his gun behind him. From the car window, he saw the White Eagle had gunned down one tough henchman, rolled forward, and executed two other henchmen who were hiding behind.


    There were two additional black cars following behind the first car. Six other henchmen came out from their cars and four of them were instantly shot dead by the White Eagle. The remaining two tried to escape by driving off with one of the cars at the back.


    The White Eagle smirked and fired two more shots from his gun.


    Boom!


    The car exploded while trying to make a turn and burst into flames. The smell of petrol mixed with burning rubber wafted over the air.


    The battle was over before Garen even exited the car.


    "Such rapid movement, such precise aiming!" Garen could not help but be impressed by the White Eagle¡¯s killing efficiency.


    Their three faces were red from the glow of the burning flames.


    Dale Quicksilver bent over to examine the corpses.


    "They¡¯re from the Golden Hoop."


    "Filthy pests!" White Eagle spat and swung his white coat to shake off the dirt he picked up from his actions earlier. He noticed Garen getting out of the car and was impressed by how Garen handled the situation calmly.


    "Looks like Mr.Kelly has been through situations like this. I¡¯ve heard that you took care of the man from the Golden Hoop last time right? Care to spar with me some time?"


    "I can¡¯t compete against professionals like you! I¡¯m just interested in ancient antiques and I¡¯m sure you understand we can¡¯t be in this field if we can¡¯t adapt," Garen shrugged bitterly.


    "True. Okay gentlemen, let¡¯s head back to the car. Leave the killing for professionals like me." White Eagle kicked away the corpse at his feet and turned toward the car.


    The other two followed.


    Igniting the car, the three of them drove faster to make up for lost time.


    Nobody said anything inside the car.


    Garen snuck a peek at the White Eagle. The White Eagle may look like a relaxed person, but he was actually always on high alert. Rumor was that he had certainly learned a lesson after they were injured by the explosive trap set by the Golden Hoops. Since then, he did not let his guard down like he used to.


    Dale Quicksilver was focused on driving. From his eyes, it could be seen that he was thinking of something.


    "Since White Eagle is always on high alert, I might as well take a nap."


    Garen decided to rest in his seat. He then slowly drifted away into slumber.

 54 Companion 2

    After what felt like an eternity, the car slowly came to a halt.


    "We are here." Dale Quicksilver¡¯s voice transmitted from not too far away.


    Garen slowly opened his eyes as his gaze extended beyond the car window. On a simple yet beautiful hill, Canoe Town¡¯s two story buildings hid among the mists and decorated the hill. A boy riding in a cow-drawn carriage curiously looked at the black car while passing by.


    "Are we here?" Garen stretched.


    "Yes, after a couple hours of driving we have arrived at Canoe Town. We still have some ragged distance before we reach the Silversilk Castle, but we can¡¯t get there by car." Dale Quicksilver exited the car and stared into the sky. "The weather doesn¡¯t look too pleasant, so we should make our way there as soon as possible."


    Garen followed him out of the car and gazed at the gloomy gray clouds in the sky.


    The wind was picking up in speed as a hint of rain flourished.


    "It is noon, but the sky looks murky. I think heavy rain is inevitable today."


    "Then let¡¯s get there before the rain." The White Eagle switched to the driver seat. "I¡¯ll go park the car. You guys go find a carriage."


    "No problem."


    Collectively, the three tasked with different duties managed to find a driver who was willing to go to the Silversilk Castle at twice the regular fare.


    The carriage hit the road again. It took the group of three another two hours to finally reach the small hill they visited before.


    They gazed at the distant Silversilk castle as they stood on the grassy, dark green hill.


    The castle and its grounds were still shrouded by white ashes. . Some black charcoal was mixed in, which made it look like coffee mixed with baby formula.


    The triangular castle was quiet, casting an uneasy silence. The sound of tree leaves rustling from the forest dispersed to the surroundings.


    Roar¡­


    The booming thunder spread from the dark, overcast sky. It rumbled from the distance, passed over them, , and finally resounded into the horizon.


    "Oh... Is this the Silversilk Castle? It¡¯s got a pretty nice atmosphere." The White Eagle laughed sarcastically. However, his eyes rapidly scanned the area.


    "We are going to live here for the next few days. The police department initially left two people to watch this place, but I told them to leave yesterday. The scene is the exact same as when Silvica was injured." With a serious face, Dale Quicksilver said, "Let¡¯s go. It¡¯s going to rain."


    He took the first step to walk down the hill. The White Eagle followed.


    Garen carefully examined the far left window on the second floor of the castle, where he had fallen after being pushed, then followed them.


    The group of three tread on the dark green hill as if they were three small ants on a giant green carpet. They looked insignificant.


    There was not another soul within the vast tract of grass and forest surrounding the castle. Only three figures approached the Silversilk Castle.


    Kacha!


    Blue lightning broke the sky as thunder roared.


    The three of them sped up to the castle fence. They quickly came through the front gate.


    Dale Quicksilver took out the key to open the door. The White Eagle was examining the surroundings with his eyebrows raised.


    Garen gazed at the castle in front of him with a hint of gloom pervading in his mind.


    Last time, he was pushed and fell out of the second floor window without a clue of what happened. He had not seen a figure when he turned around, but heard a chuckling noise. Now that he was in front of the castle again, the Silversilk Castle was masked by a layer of mystery.


    "If possible, I want to go back to that room again." In the previous life, Garen was not a fearful person. Although goosebumps covered his skin and his head tingled, it made him even more excited.


    [The more I feel afraid and frightened, the more it exposes the weakness in my heart. This world is much more entertaining than the previous one.] The thought crossed his mind.


    Crack!


    The door opened.


    The three of them strolled past the door. Dale Quicksilver slowly closed the door behind him.


    The hall was pitch black. Dale Quicksilver took a torch from the wall and lit it.


    "Should we go separately or together?"


    "Together. It would be problematic if we encounter the Golden Hoop." The White Eagle said with a stern face.


    "True," Garen agreed.


    "Then let¡¯s go the crime scene first. The place where Silvica found the emblem," Dale Quicksilver suggested.


    Garen and The White Eagle didn¡¯t disagree. The three of them followed the curved stairs to the second floor.


    Crisp footsteps echoed in the hollow, yet frightening, castle .


    The three of them hastily entered the room where Garen was pushed.


    With a squeak, the door was forced open. A layer of white dust fell from the doorframe.


    "I thought Kelly settled here last time, but it looks like you didn¡¯t stay in this room." Dale Quicksilver smiled. "Why is it so dusty?"


    He didn¡¯t walk into the room but squatted in front of the door.


    The room looked run down.


    The floor was covered with a thick layer of white dust. There was nothing in the room besides a giant bed, a box, and a chair.


    In the middle of the dusty floor, there was a faint trail of footprints.


    "Those are Silivca¡¯s footprints. It appears that he found the emblem on the bed or on the box and then for some strange reason decided to jump out of the window," Dale Quicksilver said in a deep voice. "I didn¡¯t let anyone touch the crime scene."


    The White Eagle nodded as he also examined the placement within the room.


    Only Garen felt a tingling sensation on his scalp and goosebumps the moment the door opened.


    He vividly remembered that he had entered this room before. Everything in the room was arranged the exact same way as before.


    Yet, there is no way there would be this much dust in the room after a period of just two months.


    The key point was that Dale Quicksilver had rested on this bed before! They even changed the bed sheets for a brand new set.


    Now, the bed looked like no one had used in years and was covered in dust and cobwebs. The bed sheets were a faded yellow color. "Dale, the last time you came with me, didn¡¯t you live in this room?"


    Throat dry, Garen squatted down.


    "How come?" Dale Quicksilver glanced at Garen with a puzzled look. "Only Silivica came in this room before. The dust on the floor is at least a few years old."


    Garen remembered the last time he came into this room and a peculiar feeling that could no longer be suppressed overwhelmed him.


    [Then, which room is the one that I came to last time?] Garen was no longer calm. [Could it be Dale that purposely fabricated this place?]


    He carefully inspected the room as he looked from outside the door.


    Everything was identical. The only difference was that the place was dustier and worn down.


    "What should we do?" He lowered his voice but didn¡¯t tell them the story about last time.


    "Tidy this place up again. We¡¯ll live in the two rooms beside it. I want to see how strange this Silversilk Castle is," Dale Quicksilver said with conviction.


    "How should we organize the room?" The White Eagle looked at Garen. "Why don¡¯t we move a bed and all live in a room together. There is no way I can keep both of you safe at the same time otherwise."


    Garen took a moment to think before he shook his hand. "Don¡¯t worry about me. I¡¯ll sleep in a room by myself. You guys can share a room. The White Eagle can protect Dale. Don¡¯t forget I am not a powerless ordinary person." He showed a slight smile.


    "Okay this works, I want to see the truth behind the Antique of Tragedy!" Dale Quicksilver nodded.


    Kacha!


    Another lightning bolt flashed across the sky. The bright light cast a pale white on their faces. The thunder continued to roar in the distance.


    Splash¡­Splash!


    Giant raindrops hit the windows of the castle and cascaded into a continuous wave of impacts.


    "Who is it!!"


    Dale Quicksilver¡¯s vision sudden focused as he immediately pulled out his pistol and aimed directly behind Garen. The two of them were facing each other and the pistol pointed toward the hallway behind Garen.


    The White Eagle slightly frowned as he didn¡¯t feel anyone behind him. He, like Garen, was also facing Dale. He turned around and asked in a puzzled voice, "What happened? I didn¡¯t feel anyone behind me."


    Garen also turned his head around to see an empty hall.


    "No. I saw a black shadow flash down the hall. It was clearly spying on us," Dale said with a stern face.


    "If it was because of the metal lamp on the right side of the hall, I would not be able to see the person¡¯s shadow."


    "So you are saying you saw a person¡¯s movement through the lamp¡¯s reflection." The White Eagled pondered as he followed Dale¡¯s vision to the copper mounted lamp on the wall.


    Strangely, the bottom of the lamp looked bright without any corrosion.


    "Yes. Let¡¯s stay in a room together. It¡¯s probably safer this way," Dale said with his voice lowered.


    "I don¡¯t mind," Garen nodded in agreement. He looked at the Bronze Cross Emblem around Dale¡¯s neck as caution flashed across his eyes.


    "Perhaps they were from the Golden Hoop. Looks like we have to be cautious now to see what tricks are they up to!" the White Eagle said with a cold voice.


    The three of them moved two individual beds into an adjacent room. They tidied the room up a little before it was habitable to sleep with clothes.


    Garen knew that Dale Quicksilver and the White Eagle did not believe in the power of the Antiques of Tragedy. As long as someone else had control over the information, anything he said before could be impersonated and faked. They thought that the tragedies related to the Antiques of Tragedy were all caused by people.


    Garen wasn¡¯t certain either, but the Silversilk castle was strange.


    [This time it isn¡¯t me that carries that bronze cross emblem, but Dale. From another perspective, I want to see what will happen to the owner of the emblem!] When Garen moved to his bed, he secretly watched Dale Quicksilver.


    Bang!


    A dull thud reverberated through the door as if the wind had pushed the window against the window frame.


    The three of them sat separately on a bed or a chair. They didn¡¯t make any noise as they listened silently.


    The sound of raindrops rose as they smashed against the window. It felt like someone was pouring water profusely onto the window. The howling wind from the other parts of the castle wailed in the hallway as if ghosts were screaming within the mysterious Silversilk Castle.

 55 Rainy Night 1

    The White Eagle held out the pistol and slowly stood up against the wall. He gave the other two a signal.


    The two of them immediately understood and stood up. They grabbed the guns from their waists and opened the safeties.


    Kacha!


    Another lightning flashed across the sky, and the light blinded the entire room.


    The White Eagle pressed his ear against the wall. He was listening to something.


    "Someone is outside." He lowered his voice. "There is more than one person!"


    When his ear left the wall, mists of white dust dropped from the wall with a constant brushing sound.


    "Who is there!" The White Eagle let out a deep roar as he rolled forward. Two bullet holes appeared from the wall he originally stood against. Someone had shot through the wall.


    The White Eagle rushed to the door. He slammed the door open and dashed out.


    Garen and Dale Quicksilver cautiously remained in the room without moving.


    Garen held the gun in his hand and leaned beside the window while staring cautiously at the door. All of the sudden he felt his collar get pulled.


    He turned around to discover the window was open. There was no one that could be seen outside. Rain continued to pour down, blurring the vision as close as a few meters away.


    "What¡¯s going on Garen?"


    "Someone was grabbing my collar," Garen said in a bewildered voice. "Maybe I am just too nervous and got my clothes caught."


    Dale approached the window and peeked outside. "This is the second floor and high above the ground. The window probably caught it. Be careful and don¡¯t stand in front of the window. Even if you can¡¯t see anything in this weather, it¡¯s still dangerous."


    "Got it," Garen responded.


    Bang!


    A gunshot rang in the adjacent room.


    "Let¡¯s go!" Dale dashed out of the door, and Garen followed.


    The two of them rushed to the adjacent room. It was the same room from which Garen had been pushed out. It was empty.


    "White Eagle!" Dale yelled.


    No response. Only the door behind him creaked.


    He turned around only to discover that Kelly, who had followed him, had disappeared as well.


    "Kelly?" He raised his voice. He tightened his grip on the pistol in his hand, and his expression tensed up.


    "The White Eagle! Kelly! Are you guys here?"


    The wind suddenly blew on the half-open door as it gradually opened.


    Creak!


    The noise was oddly disturbing in the quiet hallway among the sounds of rain. Outside the door was a pitch black emptiness, there was nothing visible there.


    Dale felt his hand holding the pistol begin to tremble. He realized something was strange.


    He scanned the room.


    The room was abnormally clean. The spider webs on the bed were gone and replaced with a clean white bedsheet. Multidimensionally shaped tiles covered the floor without a trace of dust.


    The box at the end of the wall was spotless as well.


    "This place is strange." Gloom covered Dale¡¯s face as he deliberately opened the gun¡¯s safety.


    *******************


    Bang!


    Garen followed. He saw Dale dash into the adjacent room. The wind pushed against the door and closed it for a moment before he opened it again.


    "Hmm?"


    The peculiar thing was that he couldn¡¯t see a trace of Dale who was just one step ahead of him.


    "Dale!?" Garen slowly opened his safety and walked into the room.


    The room was littered with dust. Water spilled on the floor in front of the window. Someone stood in front of it with his back turned.


    Garen looked carefully. The person¡¯s clothes resembled the White Eagle¡¯s.


    "Dale?" He questioned with his voice lowered.


    Tatata.


    He heard footsteps behind him.


    Garen turned his head and saw the White Eagle run into the room.


    "Where¡¯s Dale?" The White Eagle asked breathlessly. "Someone was in the room beside us. I didn¡¯t manage to catch them."


    "Dale was beside the window?" Garen pointed at the window as he turned around. He was shocked to discover that the figure had disappeared. It was as if it had vanished into thin air.


    "What happened? I just saw someone at the window!" he said in a deep voice.


    "Could you have made a mistake?" The White Eagled walked over, frowning. He examined the floor by the window. "There are no footprints. There¡¯s no way that someone was standing there."


    "That¡¯s impossible," Garen said firmly. "I am confident that someone did stand in front of the window. Oh right, where is Dale?"


    "Isn¡¯t he with you?" The White Eagled asked with agitation.


    "I just saw him rush into this room, then all of the sudden he vanished! My vision got blocked by the door for less than two seconds, and he was no longer here!" Garen said with seriousness.


    Kacha!


    Lightning painted their face pale white.


    "This is going to be a problem." The White Eagle¡¯s face became sober. He took out a match to light up a torch he¡¯d brought with him. The bright yellow light slowly lit up a small portion of the room.


    All of the sudden, he thought of something. His expression changed as he leaped beside the window and looked down. The dark grass field was empty. He let out a sigh of relief.


    "Dale only came in one step before me!"


    "Are you certain?" The White Eagle¡¯s face was calm as the way he looked at Garen turned vicious. "There is no way he could have left in such a short time."


    "I¡¯m certain!" Garen answered with conviction.


    The White Eagle stared at him without blinking. He tightened the grip on his pistol when he remembered something. He slowly backed away from facing Garen. He retreated to the door and squatted down. The White Eagle used his empty hand and gently touched the ground. Suddenly, his body began to loosen up.


    "You are right. There are three people¡¯s footprints! But one of the people disappeared as soon as he stepped into the room."


    Garen felt a terrified feeling edge into his mind. He took a few steps to check. There were three sets of footprints with one set vanishing as soon as it entered the room. Due to the humidity, the other two sets were still visible.


    Bang!


    A sudden furious wind gusted into the room and slammed the door close. It almost hit Garen¡¯s nose.


    "The wind is picking up its speed." The White Eagle stood up. "I am sorry I didn¡¯t trust you." He apologized as he pushed against the door, it didn¡¯t open.


    "Not a big deal. The door must have locked itself, use the key to open," Garen suggested with a grave expression. He kept alert for any movement in the surroundings. "We need to find Dale now. He may be in dire danger right now."


    "I got it!" The White Eagle nodded and his expression became grim. He took out a set of keys and examined the labels. He picked out one to insert into the lock.


    Creak, creak.


    The key turned a few times in the keyhole. The door didn¡¯t move. The White Eagle pushed again but couldn¡¯t move it in the slightest.


    "Hmm?" The White Eagled paused. "This is not right!"


    "Kick it open!" Garen also saw the problem.


    The White Eagled agreed. He took a step back and kicked the door with full force.


    Bang!


    The door didn¡¯t even shake. Only a flurry of dust fell to the ground.


    "There is something wrong with this room!" Garen stepped back to give his companion more space.


    "Go grab the stuff. I¡¯ll kick open the door. We¡¯ll leave this place as soon as we find Dale!" The White Eagle yelled out, feeling the absurdity of this as well.


    "Ok!"


    Garen sprinted back to the room they¡¯d stayed in before and packed everything together. Just as he was about to leave the door, another sound rocked the place.


    Bang!


    A gunshot was heard from the hallway. Then the sound of the door cracking followed.


    Garen took their belongings and rushed out. The hallway was empty, and silence returned.


    The room beside them was still locked without any signs of damage.


    "Then how did I hear the noise?" His head felt numb as he was certain he¡¯d heard gunshots and the sound of door breaking. But now even the White Eagle was gone.


    "Could it be because of the emblem?" He caught a trace of the cause.


    He stared at the closed door. He knew that if he didn¡¯t do anything, Dale could die in there.


    "Although I have repaid your favor already, but..." He took out his pistol and aimed at the lock.


    Bang Bang Bang!


    Three gunshots and lock was destroyed.


    He tackled the door with full force and opened it.


    There was no one in the room, but the bed was moved out of its position. There was a flight of stairs leading to the first floor hidden on the ground.


    Garen took a deep breath as he walked to the hidden exit and peaked down. From this angle it directly faced the first-floor ground. Dale Quicksilver lay there, motionless on the ground.


    "Dale!" Without any consideration, Garen jumped down. He used a couple of rails to break his fall and landed firmly beside Dale.


    "Dale! Are you okay?" He helped the detective up and checked if he was still breathing. He was.


    The detective gradually opened his eyes, mumbling in drowsiness,"Below me, below me."


    Garen noticed that there was a bronze cross emblem in the place where the detective had lain. It had a visible white scratch mark, most likely done by the detective himself.


    Dale begun regaining his consciousness. He sat up straight and gasped for air.


    "That was dangerous! Just before, you guys disappeared all of a sudden! I managed to find an enormous secret in that room!"


    "Don¡¯t worry about that now. The White Eagle is gone!" Garen said in a stern tone. "I just heard him break into the room, but when I got there, the door was completely fine!"


    "The White Eagle is gone?" Dale looked rather calm. "Don¡¯t worry, he is stronger than both of us. If we are okay, then he should be all right too."


    "What do we do now?" Garen helped Dale to get up. Both of them unanimously agreed not to pick up that emblem.


    "No wonder The Antique of Tragedy is known by its name. I finally witnessed it today." Dale Quicksilver had a perplexed look as he gazed at the emblem.


    He took out a gun and aimed up.


    Bang! Bang! Bang!


    Three straight shots.


    The gunshots sounded oddly unbearable. The noise even supressed the sound of rain outside.


    Quickly, a white shadow sprinted from the second-floor stairs and landed in front of them.


    "Are you okay?" The White Eagle asked.


    "I am okay!" Dale nodded. "I just saw the Golden Loops! They definitely have something to do with this!"


    "Me too! I saw a figure jump from the window and pursued him," The White Eagle said solemnly, "but unfortunately I didn¡¯t manage to catch him. Follow me."


    The White Eagle took both of them out through the gate. They walked to the left side of the castle and into a small hut.


    A dead body covered in black lay lifeless inside the hut. Blood dripped from its chest and rolled onto the grass field before being diluted by the pouring rain.


    "Golden Loop Number 114."


    The White Eagle threw the golden loop at Dale.


    "Golden Loops¡¯ hundred numbered member. Of course they¡¯re the ones causing headaches!" He walked beside the body to examine it. He asked The White Eagle for some specific details before he starting to analyze based on logic and deduction.

 56 Rainy Night 2

    Garen was not listening to their analysis. He was standing slightly behind, alertly surveying his surroundings.


    The two of them were talking at the front, while Garen was paying attention to the rear. Standing at the back, he could see the two of them through the rain¡ªone of them was standing, while the other was squatting¡ªin the pavilion. Their voices were carried to him intermittently by the wind. Garen lifted his head and looked toward the room that they had just come from.


    He could actually faintly see a person standing at the window, but was unable to clearly see the person¡¯s face. The room was pitch black and even the contours of the figure could not be made out.


    Garen was quietly looking at the figure.


    "Let''s go! I found the key to the problem!" Dale Quicksilver and White Eagle walked over and tapped Garen''s shoulder, then headed towards the entrance of the castle.


    Garen quickly followed after them, but when he looked up at the second floor window once more, the figure was gone.


    The three of them walked into the lobby and reached the place where Dale Quicksilver had jumped down previously.


    The detective squatted on the ground, inspecting something. Then he looked at the Bronze Cross Emblem that was still on the floor, as if he was calculating something.


    After a while, he stood up again.


    "Follow me."


    Garen knew that Dale definitely found something. He followed the detective together with White Eagle and the three of them walked toward the back of a staircase on the first floor.


    Dale examined the floor in the corner, then suddenly lifted up a black piece of floorboard, to reveal an underground entrance.


    As the dark, rectangular entrance was uncovered, the thick smell of blood instantly gushed out.


    The three exchanged looks as their expressions changed. Then White Eagle took out a matchstick and lit it.


    Chi.


    Under the dim light of the matchstick, the three finally saw the scene under the entrance.


    The interior of this small cellar was filled almost to the brim with corpses.


    The corpses were all wearing black clothes and golden earrings.


    Even though they were mentally prepared, the three of them were still shocked by the amount of corpses and drew in breaths of cold air. For a while, they did not manage to recover from the shock.


    Afterward, White Eagle was the first to react.


    "They''re all from the Golden Hoop! What''s going on?" He carried out a corpse that was closest to the entrance. "I can''t believe so many people died here! No.89, a two-digit from the Golden Hoop is not that easy to kill!"


    Dale knitted his eyebrows and said, "I only accidentally found the clue. I didn''t think that following it would give me a result like this. It looks like this castle may be more mysterious than we imagined..."


    "He died within a day." White Eagle inspected the corpse and sullenly said, "What should we do now Dale?"


    "There''s still some things that I haven''t understood! Let''s get out of here first!" Dale Quicksilver looked around the surroundings, as if he was checking for the presence of enemies. "This place isn''t safe any more, so we shouldn''t stay here. We''ll go back and contact the police department, then mobilize some men here."


    "What about the emblem?" Garen jokingly said with a low voice. "Don''t tell me that it grew legs and ran back to the room?" He forced himself to laugh due to the slightly heavy the atmosphere.


    However, when Dale Quicksilver heard his words, he became startled. He stood there absentmindedly, as if he thought of something.


    "That''s right!! The position of the emblem! I actually forgot about it! How did I not think of it just now!" he muttered to himself.


    "You guys, follow me!" He suddenly turned around and started to run. As he ran, he looked at the carved reliefs on the walls.


    Garen and White Eagle were baffled, but still followed after him. They moved from the back of the staircase to a room that was like a study.


    Dale moved an empty bookcase aside and knocked on the floor. He soon found a ring and firmly pulled it.


    A large wooden board was lifted up and the pitch black entrance underneath was revealed.


    Dale took a lit matchstick from White Eagle and held it towards the entrance. There was a dark, metallic staircase connected to the entrance that extended all the way down.


    Garen leaned over and looked in. The black metallic staircase extended downward into a very wide chamber.


    Dale Quicksilver did not say anything further and just placed the wooden floorboard to one side, allowing the subterranean entrance to be permanently accessible. Then he tucked his shirt into his pants and went down the stairs.


    White Eagle immediately followed after him, while Garen changed positions and looked down from the entrance.


    The spiral staircase continued all the way down, extending to the bottomless darkness below. It was like a spiral funnel.


    "We''ll go down and take a look first. Please stand guard at the top. Fire your gun if something happens," Dale said softly after turning back.


    Garen nodded. As he looked down at the anticlockwise spiral staircase that extended downwards to a bottomless depths, he felt slightly terrified deep in his heart.


    The other two descended after lighting up a torch, yet the glow that it gave off seemed oddly weak on the spiral staircase.


    Garen thought for a while, then picked up a rotting piece of wood from the bookcase. After weighing it in his hand, he threw it down the central gap of the spiral staircase.


    The piece of wood rolled as it hurtled down, then, there was no sound at all.


    The two that just went down¡ªand had not yet gotten far¡ªstopped. Dale found something, then lit it up and threw it down from the center as well.


    The blazing red object rolled as it hurtled down, illuminating its surroundings as it fell.


    They could only see section after section of stairs as the ball of light fell. The light from the fire became smaller and smaller and traveled further and further. It soon became a tiny dot and completely merged with the darkness. Then nothing could be seen.


    Dale and White Eagle immediately turned around when they saw the result. They soon returned to the entrance and came out.


    "From my estimation, this staircase is at least five hundred meters deep! It might even be deeper!" Dale Quicksilver sullenly said, "The secret of the Silversilk Castle might be inside here and this might be the final goal of the Golden Hoop."


    Even though the two of them only went down for a short time, a thick moldy smell radiated from their body. They were shivering as well and their faces were slightly pale. Garen was only standing next to them, but was able to feel the cold air emanating from their bodies.


    "Let''s get someone to survey it tomorrow! I don''t think the Golden Hoop would be able to properly explore it within such a short time," White Eagle suggested.


    "By the way, I found this thing in my room earlier. Kelly, do you know what it is?" Dale Quicksilver passed over an exquisite ring with a black gem. The ring was silvery but there was some rust on it.


    Garen received the ring and carefully inspected it.


    "It''s nothing. It''s just an ordinary metallic ring, not an Antique of Tragedy. I am not sure what the black gem in the middle is, but it might be a black crystal." Garen had picked up a lot of antique and jewelry appraisal knowledge, so he was able to recognize most materials.


    "It''s something from 50 to 60 years ago," he added.


    "Really? But I feel that this thing might have an important function..." Dale took back the ring and muttered to himself.


    "One more thing," White Eagle suddenly said. "I found that guy from the Golden Hoop hanging on by a thread. The strange thing was that he actually accused us of killing a lot of their guys." He frowned and continued, "But we did not even encounter the people that he mentioned and what''s going with the corpses in the cellar?"


    "It looks like this castle isn''t an ordinary place after all¡­ I didn''t think that there''s actually someone¡ªother than us¡ªwho could cause such a huge loss for the Golden Hoop..." Dale Quicksilver closed his eyes, as if he was thinking.


    "Let''s leave this place first. We need to carefully examine the information on this place..." he calmly said after opening his eyes.


    "Even though I want the Golden Hoop to completely disappear, it doesn''t feel good to be framed like this." White Eagle shrugged his shoulders.


    "There''s nothing we can do for now. We can''t stay here tonight any more," Garen agreed with a nod.


    The three of them returned the bookshelf to its original position and silently left the castle. They jogged in the direction of Canoe Town under the rain.


    In the middle of the night, under the heavy rain, the three figure swiftly disappeared into the darkness.


    The rain drops continued to intensively smash onto the surface of the castle, creating a pitter-patter sound as they collided.


    After two hours, the night deepened and the rain subsided a little.


    A human figure swiftly returned from the same direction the three of them had headed toward. It was Garen in a black outfit.


    His eyes were calm as he changed his clothes and put on a black mask. He jogged back along the original route and circled around the right side of the castle. There was a french window missing its glass panes. Propped by his hand, he easily vaulted through the window.


    He nimbly exited the room and walked to the lobby.


    When he reached the lobby, he spotted a black figure standing at the staircase. The figure was faced away from him, looking in the direction of the cellar with the corpses.


    Garen''s expression went cold, but he could not prevent the sound of his footsteps.


    "Who is it!"


    The figure suddenly turned around and looked towards him.


    Boom!


    A flash of lightning illuminated the earring on her left ear. A large number ten was displayed on it.


    Garen''s gaze went cold and he slowly approached.


    "Since you''re someone from the Golden Hoop, hand that thing over and I can let you leave here alive," he said with a hoarse tone after deliberately altering his voice.


    The figure who turned around was a tall woman with faint purple eyes and her hair tied into a high ponytail. With a frigid expression and tight black clothing, she gave off a cold and pure aura.


    "You''ll let me leave here alive? Ridiculous." The woman icily said, "Are you here for that thing as well?"


    "What do you think?" Garen laughed bitterly as his right arm suddenly swung to his back.


    Bang!!


    A man in black behind Garen was sent flying. After hitting the ground, the mane rolled a few times before crashing into the wall, then ceased moving.


    "I already said, hand that thing over and I can let you leave here alive." He did not even look at the attacker behind him and slowly walked towards the purple-eyed woman. The closer he got to her, the more he could feel the aura of potential exuding from her.


    The purple-eyed woman sneered.


    "Very well, you are qualified to make me fight you."


    She slightly bent over.


    Ssss...


    A long hiss of breathing slowly sounded out. The woman raised her hands and grabbed her own collar.


    With a tearing sound, her upper clothing was completely torn off and revealed her fair, naked skin.


    "I will sacrifice your head to my dead brother¡­!"


    The woman did not mind in the slightest that her naked chest was completely exposed. Her purple eyes faintly became deeper and her hands were clenched together with one above the other¡ªas if she was holding something at her chest¡ªwhile an oval space was left between them.


    "Polaris¡­ Fierce Arts!!!"


    The woman suddenly breathed in once more, then her body rapidly inflated and thick muscles¡ªcovered with blue veins¡ªappeared all over her body.


    Her breathing sounded like a large airbag swallowing and spitting out air.


    Within mere seconds, the cold, slim woman transformed into a muscular warrior who was as large as Garen.


    The muscles throughout her entire body were twisted together, like steel ropes bouncing under her skin. A gigantic airstream slowly expanded from her body as a torrent of scorching air heated up the surroundings.


    "Is that a Secret Martial Art?" Garen''s eyes became more focused. The muscles of his body slowly tightened.


    Huff...


    He took a deep breath and slowly assumed the starting pose of the Mammoth Secret Technique.


    No matter how he saw it, he needed to go through a hard fight in order to obtain this new, accidentally discovered Antique of Tragedy.

 57 Fight 1

    The woman''s eyes were a deep purple, as if a purple liquid was about to seep out of them.


    Bang!


    The ground slightly shook as she stepped forward and charged towards Garen, like an arrow shot from a bow. If seen from above, a straight line was gouged into the floor of the lobby.


    Both of their arms connected with each other as their fists and palms collided, sprinkling tiny drops of sweat onto the ground.


    Bang!


    Garen maintained his blocking pose and was forcefully pushed a few meters back, almost touching the wall.


    Without a word, the woman swung both of her fists forward once more. A series of fierce impacts sounded out. Both of them did not shift positions and exchanged blows while standing in the same spot. The huge force caused the surrounding windows in the lobby to slowly begin to shake and even the sound of the rain was gradually overwhelmed.


    Every time their fists collided, both of their bodies slightly trembled and the faint sound of bones cracking could be heard.


    "Break!!"


    As the woman shouted, a burst of warm air gushed out of her nostrils and her right fist instantly disappeared.


    Garen could not react in time and her fist reappeared directly in front of his chest. With a loud boom, his chest visibly caved in as he flew backwards and crashed into the wall.


    The walls of the lobby abruptly shook and huge amounts of fine dust fell onto both of them.


    The woman sneered.


    "You''re not bad considering the fact that you were able to face me head on for this long while I used my Polaris Fierce Arts."


    With a loud click, the chandelier from the ceiling suddenly fell straight down onto her head. This black chandelier was over a hundred pounds, was entirely made of metal, and the ceiling was over ten meters tall. It would easily kill a grown man if it landed on him.


    The woman looked up toward the chandelier and swung her right fist at it. With a loud bang, it broke in two and smashed into opposite walls.


    She shook out her right hand, though her skin was not damaged in the slightest.


    Garen took the opportunity to stand up and stabilize his body. He sullenly looked at the woman, desperately thinking of a solution.


    [I only discovered the Antique of Tragedy when the cellar with the corpses was opened. I didn''t think that they would be looking for that thing as well. This lady is quite strong...]


    [However, when it comes to the Antique of Tragedy, the more the merrier. Now that I finally came across one, I can''t let it go. Even though she is strong, my Explosive Fist Arts isn''t weak either!]


    He felt his chest was still slightly painful. He took a deep breath and stabilized his body.


    [White Cloud Secret Art!] he shouted in his mind.


    All of the muscles in his body slowly expanded, as if a human shaped balloon was slowly inflated, and he grew from 1.7 meters tall to 1.9 meters. His head seemed a lot smaller compared to his current body.


    "It looks like I''ve underestimated you." He calmly walked back to his original position, facing the woman. The distance between them was only a few meters. "However, I think you''re mistaken. I wasn''t the one who killed your men."


    "You''re not the one who killed them?" the woman sneered. "In a rural place like this, are you telling me that there''s another Martial Adept hanging around?" Her eyes were constantly scanning Garen''s body. As a martial artist who had reached the human limit, her insight had naturally reached the corresponding level. She could easily tell that the man in front of her had already reached the human limit as well.


    "I don''t care where you''re from. Since you''ve messed with the Golden Hoop, you shall experience our endless vengeance!"


    Before she even finished speaking, the woman roared and suddenly charged forward. She moved silently like a gigantic white python, drawing out a fine arc.


    Her fists were like the top and bottom fangs of a python¡ªopening and closing¡ªconstantly changing their position as they bit down toward Garen.


    "Python Stab!!"


    As her fists overlapped, a faintly audible sound due to the air resistance could be heard.


    This was her true killer move: her fists appeared to be the attack, but the true attack was from the metal blades hidden in the soles of her shoes. Even though it was obvious that her opponent was an expert at the Body Hardening Technique, her legs had slaughtered a countless amount of such experts. As long as this attack connected, even the hardest muscles and bones would be pierced through.


    She had previously used this move to puncture through a wooden board that was thicker than her fingers.


    ¡¯


    [I will kill you with one move!] She focused most of her energy into the tips of her toes. Silently, a silvery-white object slowly emerged from the bottom of her shoes.


    Garen sullenly looked at the female figure charging towards him. It was not that fast, but the immense heat blowing towards him was as if a gigantic white python was really pouncing at him. He could even hear its hissing as its jaws opened and closed.


    He slowly rotated his body, facing his opponent with the right side of his body.


    Bang!


    The two of them viciously collided and tightly stuck to one another; neither of them took a step back. As their arms intersected, they were only inches apart and could even hear each other''s breathing.


    Chi chi!!


    The clear sound of cloth tearing sounded out twice and a triumphant look appeared in the woman''s eyes.


    Her legs were viciously wrapped around Garen''s waist and her entire body was coiled around him as well, forming an abnormally amorous position. If she still had her previous beautiful appearance, someone might have the wrong idea. However, as she was tall and brawny at the moment, it looked like two muscular men were wrestling.


    The woman was topless and had fair skin. Garen was wearing a large black shirt and even though his muscles had expanded at the moment, it was still mostly black. That was why the differences between their bodies were exceptionally clear.


    The woman clung onto Garen''s body as the blades of her shoes stabbed into the lower back of Garen''s torso, at the position of his kidneys.


    "Goodbye..." she whispered and laughed.


    Garen suddenly grinned.


    "That''s my line!"


    His right elbow instantly moved forward¡ªlike a black baton¡ªand viciously smashed into the woman''s face.


    Bang!


    The two of them instantly separated, while droplets of blood sprinkled all over the place.


    The woman stumbled backwards. She could not keep her balance and knelt down on one knee.


    "You¡­ You''re actually alright?!" She lifted her head and stared at Garen in astonishment. Blood was coming out of her eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. After receiving the elbow strike, her entire body was still violently shaking. Her ears were ringing as if she was standing inside a large bell that was being sounded.


    "This is Vibration! Damn it! He''s actually an expert that has grasped Vibration!" She could not believe it as she stared at Garen.


    Garen touched the back of his waist and found two light wounds that were faintly bleeding.


    "Too bad¡­ If it was someone else, this move might be able to cut them into them. It''s too bad that your opponent is me."


    He slowly walked toward the woman.


    "Hahaha..." the woman suddenly laughed. "What a terrifying Body Hardening Technique!" As she stood up, her right hand swiftly reached to her back and a silver pistol appeared in her hand.


    "It''s too bad that your opponent is me."


    Her body seemed to have shrunk a little after the close combat just now. Even her muscles were softer than before.


    Noticing this, the woman made a circle with her hands once more.


    "Polaris Fierce Arts!!"


    After fiercely inhaling, her body returned to the previous state.


    "Combat Gun Arts!"


    She charged towards Garen once more, like a white line.


    Garen raised his right elbow again to use his most familiar stance: Shooting Form. Suddenly, he felt a numb sensation at the back of his waist.


    "Damn! There''s poison!"


    With his waist suddenly losing strength, he could not even maintain the basic stance.


    It was too late for him to do anything about it, so he could only use all of his strength to block with his arms raised.


    Bang bang bang!


    A series of gunshots rang out and Garen violently smashed into the wall behind him. Three brass bullets were lodged in both of his arms, the right side of his face, and his abdomen. He could feel a metallic taste in his mouth.


    "Damn it! The handgun was too close, I am shocked!"


    An ordinary bullet would need to stay within a human''s body to maximize the lethality. When fired from such a close range, the penetrating strength was too high. If it was someone else, they would not be too injured and would only suffer a penetrating trauma at most. However, as Garen''s Body Hardening Technique was too strong, the penetrating strength of the bullet only served to pierce his skin and the bullet successfully entered his body.


    The bullet in the right side of his face was originally aimed towards his forehead, but was timely avoided. However, the other two positions were on target. Both of his arms were struck by a punch as well, but it was weak. However, it was just enough to break his stance and allow the bullet to hit his face.


    Leaning on the wall, Garen did not even have time to catch his breath. He saw a white figure viciously pouncing at him as, the silvery blades on her feet drew an arc in the air as they aimed for his abdomen.


    With the poison on the blade, he would definitely die if he was struck a few more times.


    "Damn it!!"


    Garen roared. Though his opponent was slower than No.101, she was still extremely quick and faster than him. At that moment, he could already feel the cold blade touching his abdomen.


    "Since I can''t avoid it, then we''ll see who''s tougher!!"


    "Ah!!!"


    With a roar, his abdominal muscles tightened to trap the blade, his left hand grabbed onto her leg to prevent her from escaping, and he viciously swung his right fist at the purple-eyed woman''s head.


    Bang!!


    "Umph!" The woman was struck in the head by the punch and she reeled back from the blow, splattering blood everywhere."


    The two of them separated, breathing heavily.


    Even though the fight between them did not last long, the situation was abnormally severe. Both of them were heavily injured.


    The woman''s right eye was completely destroyed, her entire body was shaking, and she was bleeding even more from her facial orifices.


    Garen was poisoned, his lower back was getting number, and his abdomen was starting to get numb as well. If the woman was not too weak and the blade was longer, the attack might have directly penetrated his gut.


    Garen was leaning on the wall. It was the first time that he met his match. Even though his opponent''s defense was lower and she had not grasped the Vibration Technique, her power was comparable and her blade could easily pierce his skin and muscles with enough strength behind it. The high defense of the Explosive Fist Arts was nothing for his opponent. With the addition of the gun and poison combination, Garen knew that he would not be able to get that mysterious Antique of Tragedy on this day.


    "I''ve taken a huge loss this time!!" he muttered to himself. Lifting up his head, he saw the woman struggling to stand up. She was holding the silver handgun and was slowly aiming at him.


    Bang bang bang!


    Out of the three shots, only one managed to hit Garen''s right shoulder. The bullet did not even managed to pierce through the skin and only left a red mark before it ricocheted. It made a clear sound as it fell to the floor.


    "Your eyes are finished, hehe¡­ You should have just handed that thing over. You were asking for it." Garen gloatingly laughed.


    "You¡­ Very well!!" The purple-eyed woman took two steps backward, then sagged onto the ground. "Unfortunately, you''re poisoned. So you''ll only... die earlier than me. To be able to die¡­ by the hands of the No.10 Golden Hoop, your death isn''t wasted."


    It seemed that the two punches¡ªusing the Vibration technique¡ªto her head had made her slightly sluggish.

 58 Battle 2

    Garen knew that the vibration was taking effect. The lady standing across from him must have had her insides injured by the power of vibration. His version of the second level of the Explosive Fists Art was unlike that of others. The lady might even have internal bleeding from it. Garen was confident in his actual strength and, if he were to use his it, he might even surpass his third senior brother. A simple gun would not pose any threat to him now. Originally, he planned to sneak out once he had finished searching for the antiques, but he had not expected this purple-eyed lady to discover her henchmen¡¯s corpses.


    Everything was smooth up until this point. Garen had not expected his opponent to be so vicious. The lady did not hold back on him using guns, fists, and even poison.


    "I have to leave here now!" He felt that the numbness in his back had intensified.


    Garen sneered and then closed his mouth. He focused on the upper bracket of the attribute panel.


    The potential bracket was already at 233%, so he still had two attribute points remaining.


    "Physique influences the recovery rate. It might prove to be useful now against poisonous effects."


    In this emergency situation, Garen was running out of ideas. He needed to recover and escape to prevent unforeseen accidents from happening. The enemy body count of men from the Golden Hoop was no joke.


    He fixated his attention and added one skill point to his Physique attribute .


    The Physique attribute increased from 1.57 to 1.87.


    The moment the point was applied to his Physique, Garen felt nothing but tingling all over his body. It only took one second for him to return to normal. He felt the numbness around his back and his lower abdomen start to fade away. He even recovered enough strength to stand up.


    "Effective indeed!"


    He was pleased by what happened.


    "It is not worth becoming like this for a cursed antique! I even started a feud with one of the masters of the Golden Hoop. If I don¡¯t take care of it now, I¡¯ll be in even more trouble in the future!"


    He was determined to finish his opponent to prevent any inconvenience in the future.


    He stood up and began slowly walking toward the purple-eyed lady.


    "How can you still stand?!" The purple-eyed lady covered her right eye with on of her hands. The remaining eye stared at Garen in shock. "How can you still move after taking hits from the Roman Flower King¡¯s poison?!"


    Her whole body was deadened and without strength due to blood loss. Though she could still aim her gun, her effort seemed meaningless against her opponent. She could not even reload and shoot in time due to the short distance from her opponent.


    "This is the end!" An ugly smile could be seen on Garen¡¯s face. He felt his body recovering rapidly. The 0.3 increase to his Physique attribute that he applied earlier had really helped his body. He sensed the numbness almost disappearing from his back and the feeling of pain returned from the injuries to his abdomen area.


    "Hurry! Master has been waiting for a while now!" Hurried steps were heard coming from the outside.


    Garen¡¯s facial expression changed and he had one last look at the lady before deciding to escape. He jumped out from the same window he had snuck in from, turned the corner, and disappeared into the rain.


    The lady had her head down and only let out her breath after confirming that Garen had left the hall. Blood and tears seeped through the fingers of the hand she held over her eye and dripped onto the black tile floor.


    She picked up the clothing that she threw on the floor from earlier and covered her naked chest . Her body began slowly shrinking down, like a deflating balloon. In no time, she returned to her original form ¨C a pretty lady with a petite figure.


    The living room door swung open widely. A man and a woman dressed in suits swiftly came through the door. They were startled by the mess that was left behind and the purple-eyed lady who sat on the floor.


    "Boss! Are you okay!" The tall man rushed over and bowed beside the lady on the floor.


    "Go away!" Thump!


    A muffled sound was heard. The man stumbled backward with his face looking pale. His eyes stared at the sword marks left on his chest. A line was neatly cut across his shirt, with his skin almost injured.


    The woman in a black suit, who was smaller in size than the man, stood aside and laughed at what the man had been through.


    The purple-eyed lady sat up on the floor.


    "Any updates on the tasks I¡¯ve ordered you to complete?"


    "Master, I¡¯ve been to Dale Quicksilver¡¯s house and some of the White Eagle¡¯s hiding spots. Both of them are nowhere to be found. We suspect that they¡¯ve been hiding in some new place ." The woman in the suit bowed before answering.


    The man¡¯s eyes focused on the purple-eyed lady as she wrapped up the injuries to her eye region. He tidied his suit before speaking respectively.


    "I, on the other hand, found both of them! Unfortunately, White Eagle¡¯s friend Black Panther showed up unexpectedly during the search and took both of them with him."


    "A bunch of useless pricks!" the purple-eyed lady roared while rising from the floor. Her right eye had stopped bleeding with the bandage wrapped around it. "You can¡¯t even capture one little White Eagle! I think it¡¯s time for me to ask for new henchmen to assist me. After I finish recovering I, will take care of the White Eagle on my own!"


    She subconsciously glared at where Garen had stood. With hatred in her eyes, she said,


    "If this skilled fighter had not shown up and weakened me, I¡¯m certain that tomorrow would be the death of Lily!"


    "Master 10" The tiny women spoke softly, "your plan is to force Lily into a corner and take care of her. However, Lily¡¯s personal disciple, the White Eagle, was able to escape from Canary¡¯s hands in the previous encounters. This has proven to be a hindrance to the organization¡¯s plan. I personally think that things couldn¡¯t be so coincidental every time. What if¡­"


    "Are you implying that¡­" The expression of the purple-eyed lady dimmed. She glanced over toward the man in black suit. "Canary, do you have anything to say?"


    "Are you suspecting that I let them go intentionally?" the man replied in disbelief. "I have no reason to do so!"


    "I will see things through. Dale Quicksilver and the White Eagle are just secondary. Either of you can go to take care of them. The main mission now is to take care of Lily. She has been an obstacle for the organization for years now. Everything will be easier once we get rid of that old lady. Without her, the puny detective won¡¯t dare to stand against us." Number 10 of the Golden Hoop said coldly, "Be gone now you two! Have the brothers outside take care of the corpses. We leave now!"


    The two did not dare say a word and left the living room immediately.


    Standing in the rain, the man named Canary stared at the sword mark on his chest in dismay. He was not affected by the fact that he was suspected by the woman in the black suit.


    "Lola, Master 10¡¯s Body Hardening Technique has reached the point that not even a bullet can pierce through. What monster did she meet that can be on par with her level?"


    "Who knows?" The tiny woman seemed to be chewing something in her mouth. She answered half- heartedly, "Senior Sister 10 hasn¡¯t been in a situation this bad for a few years now. Things are getting more and more interesting."


    A group of henchmen in black suits moved rapidly toward where the duo were standing. The woman walked forward and started assigning them their tasks. Those who went in the lobby to move the corpses lying on the ground each wore a golden ring on their ear. Their movements were swift and tidy, yet silent.


    *********************


    Garen jogged slowly under the rain. The mist from the rain only allowed him to see within a range of 10 meters of his surroundings.


    He followed the shortcut in the forest that led directly toward Canoe Town. He felt the numbness fading away, yet there was still some left in his body that he could not seem to cleanse.


    Raindrops kept falling on his body. The atmosphere was oddly cold and quiet. The air that he breathed in slowly reduced the heat within his body.


    Vapors emerged from his body, signifying that his body temperature was overheating.


    He wiped his face and smeared makeup all over his hand.


    "The makeup is gone and I did not get the antique either. I should just go straight to the dojo and clean up before heading home."


    He left a note for Dale Quicksilver and the White Eagle before leaving. He decided to head back first and then return to the Silversilk Castle with them tomorrow. This decision proved to be useful in the long run.


    "Lying with the note will definitely raise Dale¡¯s suspicion." Garen jogged while formulating a plan in his mind. "Screw worrying, he will discover my identity sooner or later. Still, who is that lady that I¡¯ve just met? If it wasn¡¯t for the remaining attribute points, I¡¯m afraid I would be crawling my way home now. I can¡¯t believe that there is such a vicious lady within the Golden Hoop. How did the White Eagle face off against them previously?"


    He suddenly recalled the Bronze Cross Emblem he had left in the room on the second floor.


    "Hopefully the Golden Hoop will have a taste of the Silversilk Castle. Hehe." he sneered, before holding his hand over the abdominal injuries and coughing vigorously.


    Ever since he began training, his body strength had been growing more potent. Simultaneously, he perceived that the desire residing in his body was building up like a volcano. It felt as if he could erupt at anytime. The effort put in training combined with his extraordinary ability had provided him tremendous power, yet this power had never got the chance to show itself. It was as if there was a time-bomb planted inside Garen¡¯s heart, waiting to explode.


    Though the injuries he had suffered this battle were unlike any before, it helped to relieve the suppressed force within Garen¡¯s body.


    "I will definitely defeat you the next time I meet you!" Garen shrugged when he recalled the purple-eyed lady. He clearly understood his current condition and was plainly not relieved.


    The moment he tried to laugh he felt the pain surging through his abdomen, killing his mood.


    "Damn it!" He punched the tree beside him to release his anger.


    Crack!


    A tree large enough for a person to hug now had a hole in its body. The insides could be seen covered in whitish-yellow tree sap. Some of it gushed out from the trunk, but was immediately washed away by the rain.


    Garen did not waste his time looking at the tree. Instead he sped up his pace and ran toward Canoe Town.


    After this battle, he could measure his current Potential level.


    With his total strength, he should be on par with the purple-eyed lady, stronger than Third Senior Brother, but far weaker than Second Senior Brother and First Senior Sister. As for the Grandmaster, his strength should not exceed First Senior Sister since he had aged and his power should be waning.


    Garen was excited to find out how his strength would be ranked according to the standard criteria. He decided that he would take the ranking exam to see which rank he can reach after concluding the Silversilk Castle exploration with Dale and the White Eagle.l.


    "E"


    [First Senior Sister and Grandmaster are said to be at Rank E. Anyone who reaches a letter rank is above the normal standard. Judging by this, I think I can be ranked by the amateur standard? I suppose I am not even at lowest letter rank.]


    Garen had some doubt in his heart. He had the impression that First Senior Sister and Grandmaster were beyond what they showed on the surface. They should be at a higher level.

 59 Bodyguard 1

    Chapter 59: Bodyguard 1


    "It¡¯s you again¡­"


    In the plain colored emergency room, Dr. Ash from Canoe Town was sitting besides Garen. He was carefully taking out the brass bullet head from his arm, and slowly putting it in the metal plate on the table.


    Cling!


    The bullet landed in the plate, making a crisp sound.


    "Tsk tsk, the bullet head had gotten bent. You were very fortunate that it went through something else before hitting you, otherwise you¡¯d be dead for sure," Dr. Ash exclaimed. "Last time your arm was dislocated, but this time you got hit by a bullet. Did you meet some bandits?"


    "Yes." Garen nodded. "If I wasn¡¯t this lucky, I¡¯d be done for. All of those bandits were wearing golden earrings. They stole all my antiques as well. If I hadn¡¯t trained in martial arts, I¡¯d be dead for sure¡­ Ouch!"


    He moaned as the bullet in his stomach was removed. Dr. Ash dropped it in the metal plate.


    "Those cursed bandits! The residents of our town also get robbed by them frequently, and we end up having to pay them every time." Dr. Ash shook his head hopelessly. "You should report this to the Huaishan City Police department, a case like this isn¡¯t solved in one or two days."


    He dabbed the cotton ball with alcohol and started cleaning Garen¡¯s wounds. As the alcohol touched his injuries, Garen gritted his teeth to endure the pain.


    After cleaning, Dr. Ash took out a small bottle from his bag. He dipped a cotton swab inside, and a purple colored liquid soaked it, emitting a strong smell like that of a disinfectant.


    Garen endured the pain, watching Dr. Ash anoint his wounds with the medicine.


    His face was bruised white and yellow while his eyes differed in size. One was small and the other big. It was so because of his makeup not getting fully washed off. But at least it was still good enough to cover up his face.


    "Oh and Dr. Ash, I¡¯ve heard that detective Dale Quicksilver has come to Canoe Town. Do you know if he¡¯s still here?"


    "Ah, Detective Dale¡­" Dr. Ash paused to think. "I¡¯m not too sure either, but I did see him and two other people getting on a carriage headed to Silversillk Castle. I don¡¯t know if they¡¯re back."


    Garen nodded in silence.


    After ten minutes or so, Dr. Ash finished dealing with Garen¡¯s wounds. Garen paid the doctor and put on his soggy jacket, ready to leave.


    "Wait!" Dr. Ash stopped him from behind. "You are going back like this? Although it¡¯s not raining outside, your jacket is still wet, you will infect the wounds!"


    "No problem, I have a strong body, I¡¯ll be fine." Garen chuckled indifferently.


    "You don¡¯t care but I care, this is my work!" Dr. Ash mumbled as he treaded inside, shorly after he came out with a grayish suit jacket. "Take this and put it on, don¡¯t wet the wounds! Think about all the time and effort I put into binding them. Don¡¯t forget to return my jacket!"


    Garen smiled and took off his wet jacket and put on the grey one.


    "Thanks, I¡¯ll return it in a few days!"


    "Hurry up and leave, don¡¯t let them see you." Dr. Ash waved his hands impatiently. "Be careful and don¡¯t let the wounds become infected."


    Garen nodded and walked out the door with his soggy jacket in hand.


    It was already dark outside. It must¡¯ve been late in the night. Garen stood infront of the small clinic and gazed outside, listening but hearing no sound of anyone nearby.


    "Woof woof."


    A faint dog bark came from a distance, making the night even more lonesome and quiet.


    The houses on the sides were dark, without any lights. The moonlight shone from above, showering the road with a faint light.


    Garen closed the door behind him and suddenly felt exhausted.


    "After that battle, I rushed here on foot, and then spent half an hour in the clinic. My body seems to be overloaded." He fixed the grey suit and strode along the road out of town.


    The pitch-dark town seemed empty, the houses on all four sides standing like indistinct silhouettes. In the complete silence, Garen could only hear his own footsteps.


    He stepped into a small puddle, and the muddy water splashed all over his pants.


    Cursing under his breath, he continued walking along the street.


    While walking down the road, Garen decided to check his attribute pane.


    "I have one more attribute point, so I have to carefully consider everything before using it this time."


    He reached into his pockets and touched the black jade disk, a stream of cool qi flowed into his skin. Even though it was slow, the value was in its stableness.


    "The enhancement of attributes needs time to precipitate, but the improvements in techniques are immediate. My techniques right now are ¡­"


    Garen¡¯s eyes moved up to the techniques pane.


    His eyes swept past the unimportant skills such as basic archery and swordsmanship and landed on the few special techniques he had learned.


    White Cloud Secret Arts: Max(level 4) Explosive Fist Arts: Intermediate. White Cloud Combat Arts: Elementary.


    The option for White Cloud Secret Arts was in grey, meaning it couldn¡¯t be improved further. Garen had reached a level of mastery that no one had achieved in the history of White Cloud Gate. Currently, only his talented second senior brother could compare to his strength.


    The Explosive Fist Arts were at an intermediate level, the power of this technique was astonishing. During his combat with the purple eyed woman, he had only hit her twice, but these two contacts had severely injured her. Those hits had completely ignored her Body Hardening Technique, going through the surface and directly hitting her insides.


    "People who achieve the level of Vibration are scary. It really is the counter to martial artists like me who are well trained in Body Hardening Technique. I have to be extra careful from now on," Garen warned himself.


    He tried to see if he could enhance the level of Explosive Fist Arts again, but was unable to do so. There were some other requirements before he could enhance it. To level it up from elementary level to intermediate, he had had to take the body enhancing pills from the White Cloud Gate.


    White Cloud Combat Arts, Garen thought about the fight just now.


    "If my body wasn¡¯t strong enough, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to trade with her blow for blow. My combat techniques were too weak, so she could effortlessly block my attacks. If she had been more careful, I couldn¡¯t have hurt her at all.


    "If I had better combat techniques, I could use a completely different fighting style. My resilience is better than her¡¯s, my strength is higher, so I could easily kill her," he thought to himself.


    "My White Cloud Secret Arts have reached mastery, and because of it my muscles got enhanced, and I could double my defensive stats. I could fight blow for blow with second senior brother. My Explosive Fist Art is at intermediate level, only a few in the Gate being able reach this level. I also have exceptional physique and vitality. With these conditions, I still almost lost to her. If I had had the combat skills of senior sister, it wouldn¡¯t have been like this."


    Garen¡¯s eyes gleamed. "The problem is that I have too little combat experience. I could only take the attacks from the enemy and fight back after. If she was another cautious fighter¡­"


    He pictured a fight in his mind.


    The purple eyed woman swiftly circled around him, occasionally dashing forward to promptly slice at his arms and legs. The poisonous blade paralyzing his body in a breeze.


    "It seems that I have great strength but could not put it to use." He held in the temptation to enhance Vitality attribute and put his eyes on the White Cloud Combat Arts.


    Cling!


    The White Cloud Combat Arts jumped from Elementary to Intermediate level.


    Garen¡¯s body shivered. His limbs instantly felt more flexible and alive. It became easier to move them in all directions.


    "The White Cloud Combat Arts at an Intermediate level enables the effortless use of Four Big Forms during combat. Changing forms during combat feels natural and instinctive. I wonder what the Advanced level would be like." Garen moved his body and limbs, feeling like he had complete control over the area within the radius of one meter around him.


    He raised his hand and did a karate chop in front of himself.


    Shoo!


    He instinctively used the Shot Form. The air snapped and made a crackling sound like a firecracker.


    "I could only use Shot Form with my right elbow before, but now I can freely use all Four Big Forms with any part of my body. This intermediate level is indeed stronger." Garen grinned with satisfaction.


    After trying out the speed of his Four Big Forms, he was sure he could now beat two of himself from before.


    "Now if I meet someone who is faster, I¡¯ll be able handle them with my strength."


    He nodded with satisfaction and quickly stepped into the darkness, on the road back to Huaishan City.


    *************************


    It was past 2:00 am when Garen arrived at Huaishan City. He went back straight to the dojo. He asked one of the students to inform his family and stayed at the dojo for the night. The next morning, he woke up early to put on the makeup and headed right back to Canoe Town.


    "Kelly! You¡¯re here early."


    The sky at dawn was not yet bright, but grey and gloomy.


    At the open-air restaurant, Garen sat at a round table with his silver suit. There was a smile in his red eyes. Grace stood next to him, dressed like a secretary, and holding a black notebook in her hands.


    The two silently watched as Dale Quicksilver strolled over with a yawn.


    Garen lifted a cup of coffee from the table and took a sip.


    Dale fell into the chair in front of Garen. "What happened to your face? Why is it banded in gauze?" He drank a big gulp of coffee and asked. "Didn¡¯t you say you were going back?"


    "I accidentally chafed it, no big deal. What about yesterday? Was there any results?" Garen asked.


    "We¡¯ll go again today. The White Eagle has already informed Huaishan¡¯s Police Department. I¡¯m guessing someone should be there by noon. This is a big case with lots of casualties, so it¡¯ll be troublesome. If I had to guess, the Golden Ring must have thought we killed their men, so we might run into some trouble at the Silversilk castle today."


    Dale Quicksilver frowned with worry.


    Garen¡¯s eyebrow flinched as he thought about last night. He was a little surprised about detective Dale¡¯s predictions. His guess on the Golden Ring¡¯s reaction was spot on.


    "What? Are they going to find trouble with the police?"


    Dale chuckled. "You probably don¡¯t know, Kelly, but this has happened more than once." He took out the smoking pipe that he forgot to bring yesterday, lit it up with a match, and sucked on it with great pleasure.


    "Should I get some help?" Grace suddenly suggested.

 60 Bodyguard 2

    Chapter 60: Bodyguard 2


    "That¡¯s not necessary, we have enough hands this time. But Kelly, you really should stay away this time. The White Eagle and I will go with our friend. If something happens, we won¡¯t be able to protect you," Dale Quicksilver told Garen.


    "Don¡¯t worry, I can protect myself. Don¡¯t forget about when you gave me the black jade disk." Garen winked at Dale.


    "I knew you wouldn¡¯t give up so easily, up to you then. We are going to go down that hole and take a closer look. Oh right, take a look at this." Dale took out an old looking yellow paper from his pocket. Garen spread it out and revealed a colored oil painting.


    A man was running forward on a vast grey plateau. The man was headless and facing the opposite direction. A flock of birds were flying out from his neck.


    "There is more on the back," Dale Quicksilver reminded Garen.


    Garen flipped the paper over, and there was another painting on the back.


    A man¡¯s rough and coarse hand reached out from underground. There was a bloody hole in the middle of this hand, and a man in a black robe stood inside this hole.


    At the bottom of the painting was a line written in a language Garen did not understand.


    "The line at the bottom is written in an ancient language, Archon. It means ¡®To bestow goodness of heart upon mankind¡¯." Dale¡¯s face looked serious. "I did some research. You should prepare mentally for this."


    Garen nodded mutely. He had a feeling that things at Silversilk castle could be on a whole different level of trouble.


    Dale drank some coffee and continued, "We found this piece of paper under that hole yesterday. I left as soon as I found it because I immediately recognized the origin of this writing." He paused. "Archon is a language used by one of the most mysterious people in ancient times."


    "Mysterious?" Garen squinted at him.


    "They were always on the dark side of the world, and their powers were mysterious and enigmatic. In ancient legends, they were the symbol of the devil, blood and uncanniness, but no one had ever seen their true faces. They were called the Warlocks."


    "Warlocks¡­" It was Garen¡¯s first time hearing this word.


    Grace mumbled in surprise.


    "Those people in the myths and legends that learned how to use magic?"


    Dale nodded. "Correct. It is said that Warlocks learned their magic from the devil and fear itself, that¡¯s why it¡¯s called magic. In the legends, they would mate with mythical creatures and give birth to offspring with powerful bloodlines. They had control of the demon arts. They blended in with common people, becoming nobles, businessmen, or even travelers. But of course, these were just myths," he concluded. "However, there are numerous people worshiping these Warlocks. It was especially common in ancient times, and I suspect that entrance was constructed by some of those people."


    Garen was originally shocked by the story, but he calmed down after hearing they were merely myths and legends. He remembered the story of Warlocks from Garen¡¯s memory. "I think I have heard of the Warlocks from stories and legends before, but aren¡¯t those all made up? What could these worshippers possibly do?"


    "Ceremonies, bloody sacrifices, making flutes of people¡¯s femurs - these are all actions attributed to them. They¡¯ve formed some kind of cult."


    "If that¡¯s the case, I would have even more reason to follow." Garen licked his lips. "After all, these Warlocks and their magic doesn¡¯t really exist. The stuff down there would be nothing but men¡¯s creation."


    Dale Quicksilver nodded. "I¡¯ve ran into cases like this before, involving ancient cults. And like you said, these things are all man made, not particularly mysterious. They are, however, gory and cruel. And since this time Golden Hoop has a part in it, the situation is more dangerous. These cults may have leftover tools from sacrificial ceremonies. They could be worth a lot of money as antiques."


    "When are we taking action?"


    "We are waiting for The White Eagle and his friend. We¡¯ve asked for some reinforcements from the police as well, so we shouldn¡¯t run into too much trouble." Dale Quicksilver looked at his watch. "It¡¯s 6:40 right now, and they will be arriving before 10."


    "Are we just going to wait around?" Garen asked.


    "It¡¯s nice to have some rest, don¡¯t you think?" Dale Quicksilver laughed. "Don¡¯t worry." He tapped Garen¡¯s shoulder and said, "We have to wait until our expert on ancient traps arrives, or we cannot safely investigate that underground cave. Until then, you can have some free time with your pretty-faced secretary."


    Garen chuckled reluctantly and watched Dale Quicksilver leave the restaurant. As he relaxed in the chair, he felt a sudden warmth and suppleness behind his neck.


    Grace blushed behind Garen, but she did not dodge and let Garen¡¯s head rest between her breasts.


    "In my company¡¯s eyes, I¡¯m now your spokesperson, the key connection between you and the company. If you really want it, I won¡¯t turn you down," she whispered.


    "I don¡¯t like to force it." Garen smiled and stood up. "We¡¯ll be going to Silversilk castle in a bit. It¡¯s very dangerous out there, so you have to take care of yourself. I cannot protect you."


    "Don¡¯t worry, I have made adequate preparations this time. The company has sent someone to protect us, so I¡¯m getting some benefit by staying with you."


    Grace smiled and clapped her hands. "Cynthia, what are you waiting for?"


    From behind the bush outside the restaurant walked out a girl with strong and vigorous body. The girl had a girl-next-door look, wearing a low neck tight dress. This black as ink dress contrasted with her clear skin that looked like gelatin. Her lips were shining pink, and her curly brown hair trailed over her shoulders.


    Garen was a little shocked by her beauty. "Cynthia, are you eighteen yet?" he asked in astonishment, concurrently glancing around the restaurant. Fortunately, there wasn¡¯t anyone in this early. Besides his table, there was only the chubby owner, who was dozing off at the bar.


    The girl¡¯s long and slim legs were especially dazzling. She was wearing a pair of boots that almost covered her entire calves. "The company has sent me to protect you both, and there is another team of men responsible for guarding and security. Don¡¯t you worry, Mr. Kelly, I¡¯m already nineteen years old."


    Her brown eyes were bent slightly, like those of a kitten, making it look like she was always smiling. Her ripe and round breasts along with long and firm legs made her look lively and energetic.


    The girl came to stand next to Garen. "Mr. Kelly, I was sent to be your bodyguard. I will excel at any task given to me. What Grace can do, I can do better. What she can¡¯t do¡­ I am totally up for it as well¡­"


    While she was finishing the sentence, she purposely straightened her back to show off her full breasts, and gave an aggressive look to Grace.


    Grace¡¯s face turned blue. She knew this was the company sending someone to replace her because she could not form a close relationship with Garen. Cynthia was a younger and prettier squad leader. She could fight better and her looks were superior to Grace¡¯. Most importantly, she was trained as a tool to please people with authority.


    "Do you think that there can only be one kind of a relationship between men and women?" Grace asked in a cold voice.


    "Isn¡¯t that kind of relationship the closest?" Cynthia replied, acting cute. She put her finger on her lips. "I can do anything for Mr. Kelly, or let him do whatever he wants to me¡­" She held the chair arm and slowly leaned toward Garen.


    Garen stood up with a wry smile.


    "All right, that¡¯s enough. I appreciate Manuyllton Corporation¡¯s sincerity, but it really isn¡¯t the best time. Cynthia right? How many men did you bring?"


    As he started talking business, Cynthia¡¯s smile wavered and disappeared. "The squad has seven members including myself, sir. They have spread out and started patrolling the area. You can put your trust in us, we are professionals trained by the Weisman Trident Corporation. Your safety is our top priority. Also, after this trip, Mr. Adrian would like to have a word with you."


    "Adrian?" Garen remembered hearing that name from Grace.


    Adrian was the man in control of Manuyllton Corporation. The reason he sent Grace to work for Garen, and had Cynthia be his bodyguard, was to befriend the White Cloud Dojo. Most importantly, Manuyllton Corporation had some conflicts with Garen¡¯s third senior brother, Joshua¡¯s family, who had control of another company in the antiques business. Manuyllton Corporation had been in a disadvantage for a long time, so they might be thinking to ask Garen to ease up their relationships and escape the suppression.


    "It¡¯s about my third senior brother, right?" Garen didn¡¯t know if Joshua would be nice enough to help. "Don¡¯t have too many expectations, these kind of things aren¡¯t decided by Joshua alone."


    "That¡¯s fair." Cynthia nodded, she had a trace of doubt in her eyes. Before meeting him, she thought Garen was just a sixteen-year-old high school kid, who only came to the corporation¡¯s attention because of his martial arts talent. There was no way he could be tenacious enough to withstand her charm. As long as she finished the job and gave him a few winks in bed, everything could be dealt with easily.


    But she didn¡¯t expect Garen to have a completely different personality. His actions and his speech did not look like a high school kid¡¯s, but resembled that of a thirty-year-old man¡¯s. And he was completely oblivious to her seduction.


    Garen nodded back to Cynthia. He knew that everything he had was based upon his identity as the disciple of White Cloud Gate. Be it Grace or Cynthia, they were only respecting him because of his position in the White Cloud Gate and not his actual strength. Although, he had never paid much attention to what others think, with his special abilities and talents, he was destined to get noticed.

 61 Exploring the Entrance 1

    Chapter 61: Exploring the Entrance 1


    After Garen waited for a while with Grace and Cynthia in the small restaurant, a motorcade of black cars slowly drove toward them. These cars came from a distance away from town and traveled along the roadway.


    There were a total of four cars that gradually stopped by the roadside. Policemen in black uniforms stepped out, each wearing a white-rimmed helmet and black leather gloves. The man in charge wore a scarf around his neck. He had a slender physique and his height was accentuated by his black overcoat.


    The man talked in an undertone with Dale Quicksilver and the others who greeted him, then looked toward Garen from afar. After a few glances, he nodded, went back to his car, and slowly headed toward the Silversilk Castle.


    It was then that Garen noticed the White Eagle, clad in all black, from among the people who came from the cars. He stood near a dark-skinned, muscular man. Turning around, he and Dale Quicksilver walked toward Garen.


    "Their men are here, so let''s go together," Garen whispered. Cynthia and Grace didn''t say anything, but both agreed.


    The three of them headed toward Dale Quicksilver''s crowd.


    "The people from the police department have arrived. Let''s follow them and head over together," Dale Quicksilver said in a deep voice as a brown pipe dangled from his mouth. "This is the Black Panther, the White Eagle''s sworn brother," he said as he started introducing the dark-skinned man, who was dressed like a soldier.


    "Nice to meet you." Garen extended his hand to the man and gave him a friendly smile.


    "Likewise." Black Panther grinned, revealing two rows of pristine white teeth. "Your woman, she''s very good."


    "Umm, I think you''ve got it wrong. They are my assistant and my bodyguard," Garen explained, bemused. The two women behind him let out faint chuckles. "This is Cynthia. This is Grace. Cynthia is the head of my security team," he said, acquainting them one by one to the crowd.


    Detective Dale''s assistant, Miss Si Lan, suddenly appeared after they exchanged a few courtesies. She drove to a stop by the side of the road with a horse carriage that had four rows of seats with two seats per row and waited with a smile for everyone to get on.


    "Come on or we won''t be able to catch up to Sergeant Rio in the front," Miss Si Lan shouted.


    Garen''s group of three and the detective''s group of four filled up the rest of the seats. A black car started following them when no one was paying attention. It was filled with youths wearing black overcoats and round black helmets that covered their lowered faces.


    "Are those your men?" Garen looked to Cynthia on his right. The latter nodded with a smile.


    Detective Dale, by merely glancing behind him, managed to figure out their origin based on the way they dressed.


    "They''re from Manuyllton. Your company really values you."


    "Naturally, Mr Kelly is an important figure within the company," Cynthia rushed to answer. To one side, Grace frowned slightly.


    "Cynthia, aren''t you the bodyguard? Don''t you have to be aware of the surroundings?" Grace sneered.


    "Okay enough of this, let''s travel quietly." Garen shook his head, speechless. Whenever there were signs of sparks like these, he would halt them.


    "I am absolutely diligent as a bodyguard!" Cynthia gave a lovely smile, revealing two white canines. "You just wait and watch later."


    While the three of them were chatting in the back, Dale Quicksilver, the White Eagle, and the other two in front frowned.


    "Does this mean the Golden Hoop''s men are in the vicinity?"


    "Yes. According to master, it should be the Golden Hoop Number 10 that has come over. That woman is exceptionally powerful. Her tank-like Body Hardening Technique has almost reached the level of bullet resistance and her movements are like the wind. These skills, coupled with accurate marksmanship, make her a very tough assassin. The average person is just like an ant if they fall into her hands. She''s obviously targeting the master this time."


    "Master Lily should be fine, right?" Black Panther worried.


    "It''s alright, don''t worry. Master was prepared to hide out temporarily, but that crazy woman was seriously injured by a maverick martial arts expert. She''s currently still recuperating and won''t be active for a few months, so we''re safe for now." The White Eagle relaxed and smiled, but his face instantly sank a little. "But we can''t let our guard down, the Golden Hoop Number 10 has two powerful lieutenants, Number 11 and Number 13. Both of them are extraordinarily strong and either one is significantly stronger than I am. If it weren''t for the Black Panther intervening the other time, I wouldn''t have been able to escape safely with the two children."


    "It will be good as long as everyone is safe. Regardless of how skilled they are in martial arts, they can''t withstand this many guns firing at them. We have more men this time, so safety shouldn''t be too big of a concern," the detective consoled everyone. "Fortunately, I let my wife bring the two children to their granddad''s, so I have nothing else to worry about."


    "Sir, isn¡¯t it risky that we''re bringing Mr Kelly along this time? Our investigation probably involves an ancient cult and no one knows what trouble is in store," Si Lan asked in a hushed tone.


    "It was him, the White Eagle, and I who discovered the entrance together. I''ll ask him about it again later. It''s true that there could be unpredictable danger within," the detective nodded.


    At this moment, a cool breeze blew over as the morning sun gradually rose with its light shining on the carriage, a few rays fell on everyone''s clothes and brought some warmth.


    The horse carriage trundled onto a white stone bridge. Ripples constantly formed in the clear green stream under the bridge. Every now and then, red maple leaves from the maple forest by the shore would fall in the water.


    Sitting in the carriage, Garen turned to his side and looked out. The grass hills by the road were covered in trees creating a bright mix of red, yellow, and dark green. There were even a few does with their fawns drinking from the stream on the shore near the bridge.


    Upon hearing the clattering of the carriage, the animals merely looked up, and then continued drinking as if accustomed to the situation.


    Golden ripples formed where the morning sun shined down on the water surface.


    "A little past this stone bridge and we''re within the sparsely populated boundaries of the Silversilk Castle. In the past, this bridge marked the border between the Silversilk Castle estate and Canoe Town," Detective Dale explained. "Brace yourselves, the Golden Hoop won''t give up on the castle''s secrets so easily. They''ve lost a lot of men for this."


    The White Eagle frowned, then hesitantly said, "Sir, I don''t know if I should tell you this."


    "Just say it."


    The White Eagle hesitated for a while. "It''s not really a big deal, but when I saved the two children, I met someone who was an expert in Body Hardening Techniques. He killed a Golden Hoop leader trained in the Red Hand Fist. Most importantly, I saw from his skills that he was probably trained in the arts of the Behemoth Gate."


    "The Behemoth Gate?" The detective frowned. "Even they''re involved in this? Other people might have been mistaken, but you, the White Eagle, wouldn''t be. You escaped the clutches of death during a duel with a Behemoth Gate master, so you must have a deep impression of it."


    "I, on the other hand, think the meeting was pure chance," the Black Panther said in a low voice. "And after all, it didn''t seem like he was malicious. He helped you get rid of your opponent."


    "That''s true," the White Eagle nodded, "but I still don''t know why he would do that."


    "Don''t think too much about it, it was just a coincidence," the Black Panther consoled.


    The carriage kept rolling at a moderate pace. Soon, they reached a hill trail which could only be traveled on foot.


    Everyone stepped off of the carriage and started walking. They passed the forested hill and arrived at the gates of the Silversilk Castle.


    There were policemen scattered all around the castle. By the window of a room on the first floor, the slender sergeant looked out. Beside him was a policewoman andthey seemed to be discussing something.


    A police officer stood guard at the main gates. He walked over when he saw the group approaching.


    "Sergeant Rio is waiting for you inside. We''ve secured the perimeter, but we didn''t discover the body that the detective mentioned."


    "Oh?" Dale Quicksilver frowned. "Looks like someone beat us to it¡­ Come, let''s check it out."


    He took the lead walking toward the castle gates. Behind him were the White Eagle, the Black Panther, and also Miss Si Lan. Garen was last, surrounded by the black suits of all the bodyguards that Cynthia brought along.


    Cynthia received a black shotgun and was checking its sights. Creaks could be heard while she did a firearms check.


    "Have you prepared the handguns and brought the grenades? What about the explosives that I asked for?"


    Her subordinate hurriedly handed her a piece of white paper which detailed the weapons and equipment they had brought.


    Hearing all this, Garen and Grace felt their scalps go numb.


    "Grenades¡­ Explosives¡­ Cynthia, are you here to be a bodyguard or go to war?" Grace murmured speechlessly.


    "Given that none of us here are martial arts experts, what choice do I have? After all, this is the era of firearms. Martial arts expert? Nothing a few more guns can''t solve." Cynthia casually scanned the paper in her hand, nodded in satisfaction, then pointed at a few shorter subordinates.


    "Number 8, Number 11, you guys bring some men to set up an ambush around the slopes. Pay attention to the accuracy range and kill the enemy on sight. The assembled sniper rifles are still out back in the cars. Number 6, you get the equipment ready. Prepare to execute special measures at any time. And you, Number 3, how is the preparation for the explosive packets coming along?"


    "Enough to blow up the whole site," the man called Number 3 joked indifferently.


    "Get everything ready, pay attention to positioning, be more discreet, and avoid being discovered by the police. Even though we have legal gun permits, some troubles are best avoided."


    "Yes, boss." With smiles on their faces, a few black suits dispersed while carrying the large and small crates.


    Garen stood to the side feeling frustrated.


    "If the Golden Hoop Number 10 reappears¡­ Even if someone has the same level of Body Hardening Technique as me and could resist bullets, they would probably be defenseless against explosives and grenades."


    He admitted to himself that he would be helpless if he was faced with more than ten guns. If a critical body part was hit ¡ª weak spots like the ears or eyes ¡ª there would be no escape from death. He also wouldn''t be able to dodge bullets at close range.


    He shook his head. at that moment, as a martial arts practitioner, he felt a sense of loss from being obsolete.


    He kept up with Detective Dale and the group in front.


    They entered the gates, and familiarly made their way to the small room that seemed like a study on the ground floor.


    Dale Quicksilver and the rest, together with Sergeant Rio, were already gathered around the underground entrance, discussing something.


    When they saw Garen come in, Dale and the White Eagle nodded at him and continued the discussion. Dale was talking to a heavily bearded man standing beside the sergeant.


    Garen stood by, listening to Dale and the bearded man conversing in a weird dialect. One asked and the other answered, but Garen could not understand any of it. Only the sergeant would occasionally add a couple of sentences to their conversation and all three of them looked tense.


    Garen walked to the White Eagle''s side and whispered, "What''s the situation?"


    The White Eagle shook his head. "There''s a problem. The expert in ancient traps said that there might be booby traps all over the underground lair. He thinks we should blast the traps with explosives first, rather than sending anyone down. He can''t deactivate all of the traps and¡­"

 62 Exploring the Entrance 2

    Chapter 62: Exploring the Entrance 2


    "And what?"


    "When we came over, the entrance to the lair was open. I distinctly remember that it reverted to its original state when we left. Clearly someone discovered this too."


    Garen started frowning too. "That is troubling, indeed. It could be the Golden Hoop." Suddenly he smelled a trace of fragrance, like sandalwood, but fainter. "What''s that fragrant aroma?"


    "Eh? This scent¡­" Detective Dale paused his conversation with the bearded man. His expression changed. He seemed to recall something.


    Suddenly his face turned and he shouted, "Everyone get out! Don''t stay here!"


    Everyone else wasn''t clear what had happened, but out of their trust toward the famous detective, they instantly ran out of the castle.


    Garen did the same, but he only managed a few strides before all of a sudden he saw stars.


    "Hehe¡­"


    Subtle laughter could vaguely be heard coming from behind him.


    His scalp went numb. He instantly remembered the time he was pushed out the window. It was the same laughter.


    He quickly turned back, but there was no one behind him.


    "Go!" a muffled voice said beside him. Garen felt a force pulling him straight out the castle gates.


    He was shocked. He looked at his surroundings, but everyone who had been around him earlier were no longer there. He was the only one left in the castle. An invisible person seemed to be running in front of him, pulling his hand and swiftly running forward.


    Bang!


    The gates crashed open. Garen felt dizzy and lost his balance, falling on his face onto the grass. In the cool wet grass, a gust of fresh air went into his nostrils, waking him up in an instant.


    Suddenly his vision blurred. A group of people appeared on the grass lawn around him all at once. The sergeant from earlier, the expert, a few policemen, Dale Quicksilver, Si Lan, The White Eagle, Black Panther and the others. Cynthia and Grace lay by his side. They looked dizzy.


    "That was close!" Detective Dale Quicksilver stood up and wiped the sweat off his forehead. He warily turned to look at Silversilk Castle. "I kept thinking that scent was naturally occurring, but now it seems that someone must have intentionally released it. This time there were more of us, so they increased the concentration. That''s how everyone managed to detect it."


    "What was that?" Sergeant Rio stood up from the grass lawn, panting. Everyone else followed suit. Their gaze turned to the solemn looking Dale Quicksilver.


    "I saw everyone around me disappear earlier. What happened?"


    "Me too! I think I heard someone laughing behind me!"


    "Keep calm. Let''s listen to what the detective has to say." The sergeant gestured his hands and the surroundings quieted. Everyone focused on the detective.


    Garen had prepared to ask questions, but hearing what the others had experienced, he suddenly realized that their experiences were identical to his own. He was shocked, and his gaze focused on Detective Dale too.


    "This is a really strong hallucinogenic scent." Dale Quicksilver looked somber. "I¡¯ve read its description in the books, but I didn''t expect to encounter this almost obsolete thing in real life."


    He took a deep breath, looked at everyone around him, and said word by word.


    "Mindtwister Vine. This scent is the hallucinogenic poisonous gas naturally released by the Mindtwister Vine after it matures, which is extinct according the books. It can induce hallucinations of loneliness and fear. The toxic gas released by this type of vine is usually extremely mild, imperceptible to humans. Only certain animals sensitive to smell can distinguish it."


    "Mindtwister Vine¡­" Garen''s eyes narrowed. He recalled being injured after being pushed out the first floor window when he first visited Silversilk Castle. "Looks like someone probably used the scent of Mindtwister Vine to hypnotize me first, and then took used the advantage to push me out the window when I approached it. And The White Eagle and Dale were probably hallucinating from the scent too, causing us not to see each other after we entered the room together."


    "If that''s the case, then someone is intentionally trying to stop us from entering the tunnel?" the sergeant asked in a hushed tone.


    Dale Quicksilver nodded and started discussing the strategies with the sergeant and the booby trap expert.


    On Garen''s side, Cynthia and Grace had both regained consciousness. Cynthia was in fact the one who dragged Garen out of the castle earlier.


    "If not for my prior training in resisting hallucinogenic poisons, I probably wouldn''t have been able to drag you out of there." She smiled at Garen. "Thank me. You would have been in big trouble if not for me."


    "Yes, yes. Thank god you were there," Garen said speechlessly. But it was true, Cynthia had played a significant role ever since she came. If not for her, Garen would have presumably been like the policemen who didn''t manage to run out of the castle in time¡ªpassed out on the ground.


    A group of people stood at the gates but didn''t dare to enter. They merely looked at the two policemen lying on the ground through the gates. No one dared to rush in there, in case they suffered the same fate as the two of them.


    "Quick, look over there!" a policeman suddenly yelled, his finger pointing at the roof of the second and highest floor.


    Everyone looked toward where he pointed. In the second floor¡¯s window stood a person clad in black, seemingly a pale-faced woman. She had a strange smile on her face. Her pupils were dark green, and she drooled from the corner of her mouth from time to time.


    The moment they got a good look at her, the woman instantly disappeared into the shadows behind the window.


    "Use a wet towel to cover your nose and mouth! Water should be able to absorb the hallucinogenic scent!" Dale Quicksilver instructed loudly.


    Everyone immediately took out the water bottles they had with them, wet their clothes, and covered their noses and mouths with it.


    The sergeant was the first to rush in with a handgun. He ran to the two policemen lying within the castle and started examining them.


    "It''s no use. They''re dead¡­" the detective said gravely after walking in. "Hallucinogen overdose, especially at such a high concentration, coupled with internal bleeding caused by a hard blow to the back of their heads."


    Everyone else followed suit and re-entered the castle.


    "We can talk after we''ve captured that woman! I''ll go first!" The White Eagle said coldly. "Black Panther, you look after Mister Quicksilver and Miss Si Lan!"


    "Leave it to me!" Black Panther beat his chest. He watched as The White Eagle sprinted toward the top floor, disappearing around a corner.


    Cynthia too, was holding a white handgun, shielding Garen.


    The sergeant stood up. His face was grim. "Everyone, search! Kill that mad woman on the spot once you discover her!"


    Obviously, the deaths of his subordinates had fired him up.


    "Yes!" All the policemen gathered and pulled out their handguns, all their faces showed a hint of anger and anxiety.


    Everybody was on high alert, and started to spread out across the castle grounds to patrol. More than ten men divided into groups, patrolling every nook and cranny.


    Garen led Cynthia and Grace carefully up toward the first floor. A few steps in, they heard two gunshots coming from upstairs.


    "Arghhh!" a scream came suddenly.


    "Tom!"


    "She ran toward the first floor! Quick, finish her!"


    "Damn it! This maniac is too fast, I can''t aim accurately!"


    "She ran to the stairs!"


    Garen and the other two were at the corner of the stairs when they saw a dark shadow leap from the top, floating like a black cloth, weightless.


    Cynthia''s reaction was the fastest. A white handgun was in her right hand in an instance. She aimed at the black shadow and pulled the trigger.


    Bang bang bang bang!


    She let out four shots in a row. Within a second, all four bullets hit the black shadow.


    "Hehe¡­"


    The black shadow gave a high-pitched laugh, stopped moving, then pounced at Cynthia. It seemed that the bullets had had no effect on her, and her speed was even faster than earlier.


    A chunk of her black shadow split to grab Cynthia''s neck like a black tentacle. It was extremely fast so it couldn''t be clearly made out.


    Cynthia looked calm, holding her gun and not making a move.


    Bang!


    This shot made the black shadow''s head lurch backwards.


    "Arghh!"


    The black shadow gave a piercing shriek. It gave up attacking Cynthia and escaped directly down the stairs. It was gone in a flash.


    Garen did not move in the back. He didn''t want to expose his skills when so many people were watching, The White Eagle particularly.


    Even though he really wanted to help, he refrained.


    "Are you alright?" He held Cynthia by her shoulders. She started, instantly snapping out of a highly-tense state, and gasped repeatedly to catch her breath.


    "So¡­ so powerful! Her speed managed to evade four of my shots!" There were tiny beads of sweat on her nose. "But in the end, wooh¡­ I still got one shot in."


    "It''s a nightmare once martial arts experts get too close. Even if your marksmanship is excellent, it''s no match for a close range martial artist¡¯s skills. Naturally, the reverse is true for long range." Garen nodded. "Come on, let''s go down and have a look."


    Grace stood to a side, speechless. Her marksmanship was quite good, but if she faced such an opponent, she would definitely not be able to react in time and be strangled to death. She wasn''t too impressed with Cynthia''s marksmanship initially, but that spontaneous reaction immediately contrasted their true strengths.


    Pulled by Garen, the three of them rapidly ran down the stairs.


    In the ground floor lobby, five to six policemen had surrounded the woman. They all stood with guns raised and nervously stared at the center.


    The black-robed woman lay on the floor, twitching from time to time. There was a small bullet hole on the left side of her forehead. The injury was deep and had apparently injured the brain.


    Garen''s group, the sergeant and the others all crowded over, including Dale Quicksilver and Black Panther. Everyone was staring at the woman in the middle.


    "She was shot in the head, she won''t last long," Cynthia said casually as she spun her handgun in her hands. "My bullets are custom-made. Their penetrating power is extremely high, specifically intended to deal with these types of martial arts experts."


    Sure enough, after a little while, the woman gave another twitch, then stopped moving completely. Her black hood fell off, exposing a full head of white hair.


    "How old is this woman?" Garen was shocked.


    "At least 80 or 90. I don''t know how she''s been living in this castle for so long," the detective said casually, while smoking his pipe. "Very few people with special constitutions are able to withstand poisoning by the toxic gas from Mindtwister Vine. But long term exposure to the hallucinogenic poisonous gas would make them lose their sanity and act like beasts. This person must have been one of those special ones."


    "What now?" the sergeant asked, looking at the detective.


    "Let''s examine the body, see if we can discover anything from it. Then we''ll enter the lair according to plan," the detective answered, removing his pipe.


    "Alright. We''ll follow your plan."


    "The White Eagle, you protect the expert then. We''ll enter the lair together, and everyone else stand guard at the entrance above." Dale Quicksilver started making arrangements.


    "Sergeant, you bring two men and follow us down. We''ll leave a lookout at fixed distances and link everyone up with the rope we''ve brought."


    "What about me?" Black Panther stepped forward to ask.


    "You stay above ground to protect Si Lan and the entrance."


    "I want to go down too," Garen said, stepping forward. "It''s such a huge underground passage. There must be a lot inside. I can find the most valuable item and bring it up!" This was his initial purpose anyway. Moreover, with the detective and the expert leading the way, he wouldn''t have to worry too much about his safety.

 63 Exploring the entrance 3

    Chapter 63: Exploring the entrance 3


    His initial intention for joining this mission was to find more Antiques of Tragedy.


    "Among the men here, only I can identify the value of these antiques," Garen said in a low voice.


    "It¡¯s not necessary for you to come now. Wait for us to check the surroundings first, then you can join us after we confirm that its safe," Dale Quicksilver replied.


    Garen frowned with hesitation. He had a feeling that if he didn¡¯t go down now, he wouldn¡¯t have the chance. This feeling got stronger after he saw the mysterious green-eyed woman die.


    "I still feel like I should go down. I can protect myself if I follow you guys."


    "Can you really?" Dale Quicksilver turned around and stared at him. "Kelly, you are the antiques expert, your efforts shouldn¡¯t be wasted on the expedition itself. Leave it to the professionals, that¡¯s how this works."


    Garen still felt reluctant. He turned to look at Grace and Cynthia. Both shook their heads at him.


    "Fine¡­ I¡¯ll listen." He knew he probably wouldn¡¯t be allowed to go down anymore. He shrugged his shoulders and walked aside.


    Dale and the sergeant discussed the plan, and the men got ready to go down into the lair.


    Garen stood at the door, leaning on its frame, not knowing what to do for now.


    "To be honest, seeing a fascinating and mysterious place like this, I would want to go down there by myself and reveal its secrets. But ¡­" Grace said, standing next to him.


    "If you were needed, especially for their current mission, I think no one would reject your presence. But I still suggest you do not to explore with them. If this cave has a trapdoor that can seal the only entrance, it would be extremely dangerous."


    As she was speaking, she lowered the wet towel covering her nose and mouth. The gas had fully dissipated by now, and everyone had put down their wet towels.


    "Right, that emblem!" Garen suddenly remembered the Bronze Cross Emblem. He left the detective and his men, and headed toward the lobby.


    A few policemen were still in here, patrolling around while holding their guns. These men were wearing black uniforms with a badge of a silver eagle on the left chest of their jackets. Seeing Garen come back out, they didn¡¯t act surprised. Just casually glanced at him once and moved their eyes off of him.


    Garen tried to remember the exact location of the emblem. He vaguely recalled it being at the dead body of the mysterious woman.


    He approached the body and squatted down. Lightly, he picked it up and flipped her around.


    The body was pushed to the side, revealing the Bronze Cross Emblem that was under it.


    Garen grabbed the emblem and checked it, but didn¡¯t see anything different. The potential qi inside was the same. He felt the increase of potential meter, but it had at most one attribute point left in it.


    "Better than nothing." Garen shook his head and stood up.


    "What are you doing? Who gave you permission to touch the body?" came a voice from a man nearby. The sergeant walked over with a gloomy expression. He was 1.9 meters of height, which was a lot taller than Garen.


    "I just wanted to see if I could find any clues," Garen casually explained.


    "This is police business, not something a common folk like you could take part in. Go rest on the side! Don¡¯t interfere with us!" Sergeant Rio was impatient and waved his hands.


    "Can I watch from the side? I may be able to help," Garen said with a smile. The sergeant¡¯s brusque tone didn¡¯t make upset in the slightest.


    "I said this is none of your business, this is not something a private company could take part in! Get out of here and wait for them to come out!" The sergeant got more impatient. "What¡¯s that in your hand? Give me that!"


    Garen handed over the Bronze Cross Emblem.


    "All right, you can go take some rest." The sergeant took the emblem and breathed deeply. He turned to talk to his policemen in a low voice.


    Garen walked to the side with Grace and Cynthia.


    "Looks like we are done here," Grace said casually. "If I had known this, we wouldn¡¯t have needed to bring this many men over."


    "That¡¯s still to be decided." Cynthia smiled and looked at her wrist watch, then her brown eyes looked toward the hill. She suddenly had a confused expression.


    "What¡¯s wrong?" Garen asked.


    "Someone is coming, my squad sent a signal. Let¡¯s go check it out." Cynthia¡¯s face turned serious, she led them out of the lobby just as a man in black came in from the gate.


    "Captain Cynthia, there are people approaching, quite a few of them! They have lots of weapons," the man whispered.


    "What kind of people? Can you hold them off?" Cynthia asked.


    "Don¡¯t know, but they¡¯re all wearing golden rings in their ears. The guy leading them is wearing a white trench coat!"


    "They¡¯re the men from the Golden Hoop." Garen realized and said, "Did you see the numbers on their earrings?"


    The man in black nodded. "They must all be together, the leader is a number 9."


    Garen froze for a second. He just fought off a number 10 with a loss-loss result, and immediately comes a number 9. By the looks of it, their numbers were based on strength, so this number 9 had to be a lot stronger than number 10.


    "What kind of weapons did they have?" Cynthia asked again.


    "From pistols and rifles to daggers and swords. It¡¯s really strange."


    "Tell the two guys on the hill to stay alert, don¡¯t let them see us. As long as we have the snipers in the vantage point, there shouldn¡¯t be too many problems." Cynthia nodded. "We have the police on our side this time, I dare them to openly strike against the police."


    The others started laughing, but Garen wasn¡¯t convinced. Silversilk castle had to have an important meaning to the Golden Hoop for number 9 to show up so soon after number 10.


    His White Cloud Combat Arts got enhanced to intermediate level, so he was confident that he could fight number 10 without trouble now. Even if she was cautious, he could still beat her with his speed and not trade her blow for blow. But this number 9, there was no information on him. Though he was definitely stronger than number 10. Thinking of this, Garen was a little hesitant.


    Even if the police were with them, the Golden Hoop¡¯s stance¡­.


    "S**t! The signal on the hill is gone!" Cynthia¡¯s face turned cold as she glanced at the hills. "Little Seven, tell the other brothers to get back here! Our enemies might be tough this time!"


    "Yes, captain!" The man in black jogged away.


    "You think your men can handle them?" Garen asked in a deep voice.


    "I¡¯m not sure." Cynthia shook her head. "Our enemy is familiar with sniper tactics! We will cover your retreat."


    "We will notify the sergeant." Grace was nervous too.


    Garen nodded, he turned around and walked toward Sergeant Rio. The tall police officer was discussing the situation of the dead body.


    "Sir, there are people coming, I¡¯m afraid they¡¯re up to no good!" Garen walked up and whispered.


    "Our men didn¡¯t see anything. How do you know?" Sergeant Rio frowned.


    "My bodyguard accidentally saw them." Garen thought carefully before he spoke. "The Golden Hoop is up to no good, but the detective is still in the lair, right? You have to send me to get them out immediately! This is our safest plan."


    "No need, our whole police department is out on this mission. If there really is someone coming, we can handle them without a problem." He waved at a police officer on the side. The man jogged over.


    "Sir, what¡¯s the order?"


    "What¡¯s going on outside?"


    "What? Everything¡¯s normal outside!" the policeman casually replied, chuckling.


    "Are you sure?" the sergeant asked again.


    "I¡¯m sure, you can see for yourself sir. Our men are still on guard at the top of the hill." The policeman took out a pair of binoculars and handed it to sergeant Rio.


    The sergeant took up the binoculars and looked through them at the gate. A policeman on the hill was waving to signal everything was okay.


    "Our expert¡¯s bodyguard said there are enemies approaching, what¡¯s up with that?" The sergeant laughed and handed the binoculars to Garen. He turned around and went inside the lobby.


    Garen put up the binoculars against his eyes and gazed, the officer on the hill was yawning out of boredom.


    "Cynthia, are you sure someone is coming?"


    "I¡¯m sure!" Cynthia replied. "They are hiding in the shadows. My men were hiding at vantage points that could see every corner of the surroundings, and they haven¡¯t sent back any signals in two minutes!" Her face was pale. "They are most definitely experts! Trained in assassination and camouflage techniques! Just as we speak, another two of my men went missing!"


    "What do we do now?"


    "Tell everyone to gather up at a vantage point, such as top floors of this castle! We should be able to hold the castle from the top. I¡¯m already gathering my men!" Cynthia said with ferocity. "We cannot afford to spread out and go outside. Against assassins that are hiding in the dark, we must avoid our shortcomings and suppress their advantages! Otherwise our men will get eaten alive!"


    Right as she finished speaking, they heard a loud command coming out of the lobby.


    "Everyone! Spread out into the woods outside the castle! Report back immediately if you find anything!"


    "F***!" Garen and Cynthia both cursed.


    "This idiot!" Cynthia exclaimed.


    "These well-armed policemen are our main force right now, we can¡¯t afford to send them out to die!" She looked at Garen. "Sir, you have to tell the sergeant to get his men back to the castle! Otherwise we¡¯ll be in big trouble!"


    "I¡¯ll try."


    He knew how dangerous the situation was. Cynthia¡¯s men were all well trained and extremely well equipped. If the enemy could silently take them down, then they would have an even easier time dealing with these policemen.


    Even with his strength he would barely be able to take down number 10 since his wounds hadn¡¯t fully healed yet. So if sergeant Rio and his men ran into the Golden Hoop¡¯s men¡­


    He turned around and walked up to the sergeant again.


    "Golden Hoop?" The sergeant laughed aloud. "You sure?"


    "I¡¯m sure, one hundred percent sure!" Garen nodded. "Sergeant you must¡­"


    "Very well, brothers! Let¡¯s get out there and take out these little boys that call themselves the Golden Hoop! I¡¯ve been longing to meet those rampant bastards. This time I¡¯ll show them the might of the top fifty sharp shooters in the entire confederation! Hahaha¡­."


    The sergeant wasn¡¯t finished speaking when he pulled out his pistol and walked out of the lobby.


    He obviously sensed something was going on and told his men to spread out just as a precaution.


    The policemen answered by flooding out of the lobby, following their sergeant outside. Leaving one man behind to guard the entrance to the lair.


    "These idiots!" Cynthia was irritated. "Face to face combat, the Golden Hoop might not be their match, but they are experts trained in assassination! Sir, leave them be, we have to get out of here! The Golden Hoop must be setting up an encirclement!"


    Garen was also getting a headache from the sergeant and his men. He watched as they went outside and started patrolling the castle, not taking their opponents seriously.


    "Sergeant Rio seems to be confident, maybe he knows a thing or two, let¡¯s just wait and see¡­"


    Peng! Peng! Peng!


    Suddenly, the sound of heavy gunfire came from outside, immediately followed by the policemen¡¯s screams.


    "RETREAT!!"


    "WHERE ARE THEY!"


    "PROTECT THE SERGEANT!"


    "RETREAT, RETREAT!" Sergeant Rio¡¯s voice shouted with anger. In the continuous gunfire, he staggered as two men covered him and backed into the castle. One of the men quickly closed the half of the gate behind them.


    Two more policemen ran in.


    "We must retaliate! These Golden Hoop bastards! Hiding behind the shadows like cowards!" Sergeant Rio furiously reloaded his pistol with ammo.


    Garen followed the sergeant to hide behind an obstruction. Black Panther came out of the backroom after hearing the gunshots. He pulled out his gun and ran to the door after seeing the sergeant¡¯s situation.


    The windows on the first floor were all shattered. Bullets were flying in from the gaps, resulting in chaos in the castle¡¯s lobby. There were four policemen left, bent down behind the door next to sergeant Rio. They all occasionally reached for their guns and made a few blind shots.


    Garen hid behind a statue of an angel, the two women behind him. Cynthia was about to charge out, nodding toward two squad members on the opposite side.


    Bang!


    A bullet hit the edge of the statue, scraping off some rubble from it and barely missing Cynthia.

 64 Exploring the Entrance 4

    Chapter 64: Exploring the Entrance 4


    "Damn it! Their firepower is so strong! How many people did they send?" Cynthia''s cheek was cut by a shrapnel and blood seeped out from the gash. "Stay under cover. Don''t come out!"


    She leaped out, did a forward roll, reclined on the ground and fired three consecutive shots upward, creating a large cloud of dust. She then got up and fired another shot.


    Bang!


    Someone exclaimed outside the door. A black shadow was hit and crashed to the ground. The gunfire seemed to gradually slow down, until it stopped.


    Sergeant Rio roared in anger, extended his arms out, and fired a few blind shots.


    Three groans could be heard coming from outside the door. More people had been hit.


    Garen remained hidden behind the sculpture, listening to the sounds of gunfire steadily becoming scarcer and scarcer. Cynthia and sergeant Rio returned fire while covering each other and were able to gradually suppress the gunfire outside.


    After an unknown amount of time had passed - it could¡¯ve been ten minutes, or maybe fifteen - the shooting finally stopped.


    "Has it ended?" Garen asked, quietly sticking out his head to look.


    The lobby was a mess. Sergeant Rio and his men were all injured. Out of over ten policemen who had come, only two were alive now. The fates of the rest were still unknown.


    The sergeant was shot in the shoulder. His coat was wrecked and half of the white shirt inside was dyed red. He was crouching by the door, gasping hard to catch his breath.


    When Garen looked over, the sergeant turned his face away in shame.


    Black Panther was tending to a gunshot wound on his left shoulder. He held the white bandage with his mouth and was bandaging himself. Cynthia, on the other hand, was with the two remaining men, silently arranging the equipment.


    "Is Radin still alive?" Cynthia casually asked.


    "No¡­ I don''t know. Maybe," one of the men replied absent-mindedly. He took a dagger and gently dug out a bullet from his thigh. There was cold sweat and popped veins all over his forehead.


    "This was a heavy loss. But those guys will figure out a way to hide." Cynthia reloaded the handgun in a swift move, then took out a black shotgun from the backpack beside her and loaded a shell into its chamber.


    "Now it''s up to us."


    Garen recovered his line of sight, hunched his back and crept toward the study. Grace wanted to follow but was held by Garen motioning for her to stay.


    "I''ll be fine going alone, you stay put."


    "Okay."


    Faced with bullets, which would be troublesome to others, he was not afraid. Even though Golden Hoop Number 10 had shot at him yesterday, it hadn¡¯t caused any real injury. He was more concerned about Golden Hoop¡¯s Number 9. He was sure that the real reason the other side hadn''t barged in directly, even though they had an absolute advantage over them, was out of wariness toward him.


    He quietly crept along the corner of the wall toward the study. He crossed the corridor and entered the dark room before straightening up.


    There were several new footprints at the entrance to the cavern in the study. It was clear that someone had followed them in.


    Bang! Bang!


    Gunfire burst out in the lobby again.


    Garen gently pressed on the bullet hole in his lower abdomen. He could still feel a slight pain. Before his wound fully recovered, he could only apply 80% of his true strength. Facing an oppponent stronger than Golden Hoop Number 9, he didn¡¯t want to confront him directly either.


    "Antiques of Tragedy are not a priority now. I need to figure out how to get out of here! I can''t believe the Golden Hoop was brazen enough to directly confront the police force." He started to regret this adventure to Silversilk Castle. He was different from Dale Quicksilver and the others. He was here just for the Antiques of Tragedy, not to investigate the case.


    "I need to think of a way to escape safely¡­"


    BOOM!


    Suddenly, a muffled explosion came from outside. Its force shook the entire castle.


    "Go to hell, you bastards!" Cynthia shouted fiercely from the lobby. It was clear that the explosives set up by her men were detonated.


    Garen relaxed slightly. With the deterrence of explosives, the people outside wouldn¡¯t dare to simply approach. After all, they had no idea how many explosives were buried around the castle.


    "I''ll stay here for a while more, waiting for the detective to come out and leave together. There might be some unexpected gains¡­" He couldn''t leave now anyway. He might as well stand guard at the entrance and wait for Detective Dale and the others. This way he might be able to get his hands on an Antique of Tragedy and then still be able to leave safely.


    Garen was confident that if he wanted to retreat, neither firearms nor martial arts experts from the Golden Hoop could stop him.


    He walked to the entrance. As he was about to sit down for a rest, he felt that the edge of the entrance was a little chilly.


    "Could it be?" He suddenly turned serious. "Could it be that there is wind?"


    He reached out with his head to the entrance and carefully felt around.


    On his palm, he could feel a slight breeze flowing out from the entrance.


    "There is wind indeed! There must be an exit on the other side!"


    Garen stirred, his face instantly revealing his glee. He was about to stand up and go back into the lobby to inform the others, when turning around he saw a black shadow blocking the study entrance. It quietly watched him.


    The shadow had a black hood on. A huge golden earring hung from his left ear, the number ''9'' engraved on it. By the looks of his stature, this was a strong and well-proportioned man. His face was covered with a black mask that revealed only a pair of very beautiful sapphire like eyes.


    "This is the underground entrance?" the man asked softly. His voice was deep, and the accent a very standard confederal one. "He is indeed the famous Detective Dale. We''ve searched for so long but never managed to find it, while he located it as soon as he arrived. This is excellent."


    Garen turned around fully, carefully listening to the sounds from the lobby. The gunfire was still going on. Obviously this person had sneaked in here by himself.


    Without waiting for Garen to respond, the man continued to speak. "Kelly, I heard that you are an expert in appraising Antiques of Tragedy. That''s perfect. Follow me down for a look. If you can prove your talent, I''ll consider sparing your life."


    Garen was stunned. He had just told Detective Dale not too long ago, yet the Golden Hoop had already gotten wind of it.


    The man seemed to think that Garen did not believe him. He reached out with his hand toward the wall on the left and applied pressure to it.


    Crack!


    A slight crack instantly appeared on the wall. It was like a piece of glass that was about to break.


    "This will be your fate if you don''t agree."


    Garen took a look at the wall. He could have produced that degree of splitting too. The castle walls have been in disrepair for years, so the stone bricks were extremely fragile. What he found strange though, was that this Golden Hoop Number 9 did not regard him as a martial arts expert, but instead thought of him merely as a normal expert with a strong build.


    That move on the wall could probably work on most people, but it wouldn''t have any deterring effect on a martial arts expert. Moreover, Garen was the type of martial arts practitioners who were known for their strength.


    "Does he not know that I injured Golden Hoop Number 10?" Garen speculated internally, but said, "Are you the Golden Hoop¡¯s martial arts expert? As long as you can guarantee my safety, I''m alright with it." He was planning to go down anyway.


    "You''ve got some nerve." Seeing that Garen was not afraid, a trace of admiration flashed across the man''s eyes. He nodded, took the lead by walking to the entrance, and went down the stairs step by step. "Follow me. Don''t play any tricks. Even if you have trained in some martial arts, I can finish you off in a few seconds."


    Garen nodded.


    "Don''t worry. I''m very clear about the situation." He followed the man down the stairs.


    Tap tap tap¡­


    Both of them went down the stone steps, and soon they had completely entered the underground space.


    The space was cylindrical. The black stone staircase spiraled down along the wall with white chrome handrails on the side. Garen looked down past the handrails.


    Below him, the staircase spiraled into an infinite darkness, like a screw thread on a cylindrical inner wall. At the center was a small black void; it seemed bottomless.


    When he looked up, the entrance they had entered from was reduced to a tiny hole.


    The screw-thread staircase spiraled clockwise downwards, loop after loop. Strangely, this staircase and its handrails, as well as the surrounding walls, were exquisitely decorated. The walls were engraved with fine vines, and so were the handrails. The stone staircase felt unusually level and solid, like it was built by stacking whole stones together.


    They walked in a single file. The black-hooded man was in front. The back of his hood would flap up from time to time, and a faint fragrance would disperse through the air.


    Garen trailed behind. When he smelled the scent, his spirits lifted.


    "Here, if you''re not wary about the Mindtwister Vine scent, you¡¯ll just be walking to your death," the man walking in front of him said in a low voice. "Stay close. Otherwise I won¡¯t be able to take care of you either."


    "Okay." Garen nodded.


    The two of them walked down, round and round, their surroundings seemingly never changing. If Garen didn¡¯t occasionally look up at the gradually shrinking entrance, he would have thought they weren''t too far in, just going round in circles.


    He wasn''t sure for how long they were walking, maybe half-an-hour or more.


    Garen looked up again. The entrance was completely out of sight now. There was only darkness above. The only source of light around him was the small torch that Golden Hoop Number 9 carried in front.


    The amber glow illuminated up to one loop above and below them.


    The temperature in the stairwell seemed to be dropping too. Garen could see a white mist when he exhaled.


    "How long do we still have to walk? It''s already very cold here. No wonder you wore such thick clothes." Since the detective and the others were trailblazing ahead of them, there shouldn''t be much danger in here. And now since Golden Hoop Number 9 was walking in front of him, he didn''t mind anything at all. He might as well think of this as an adventure. Since he didn''t know the extent of the man''s powers and wouldn''t be able to directly confront him in his current state, it was better for him to conceal his powers.


    "These stairs are endless¡­" the hooded man replied in a low voice. "These are the Infinity Stairs of Ancient Endor, the stone steps leading to the realm of the dead, according to legend."


    "You really believe it''s endless?" Garen asked.


    The man did not respond.


    They continued forward in silence. The walls were black, same as the stone steps, only the handrails were white. They seemed to emit an eerie pale glow under the torch fire.


    It was extremely quiet up and down the stairwell. There was no sign of the detective and the rest who¡¯d came in first.


    Walking downward silently, an unknown amount of time had passed until there was a change of scene in the monotonous stairs ahead of them.


    There was a stone table leaning on the wall to their left, and on it was a square fishtank.


    Sealed. It was half full with water, and some fish could vaguely be seen inside.


    The hooded man put down the torch and went up for a look.


    The water in the fishtank was already dark green, like slimy sewage water. The three to four dead goldfishes inside were not golden-red anymore, but instead covered in dark green, floating dead on the surface of the water.


    "I didn''t expect there to be goldfish in here¡­" Garen was confused. "So deep in."


    "There will be more unexpected things down here," Golden Hoop Number 9 said indifferently. He raised the torch and continued forward.


    Garen walked past the fishtank. He couldn''t help but give it another look, then keep up with the man.


    "Since it''s a fishtank used to keep goldfish, why would it be sealed?"


    "This was a simple ancient ritual. Seal up life, let it slowly die inside until it decomposes completely and fully integrates with the other ingredients. The seal will be broken when the time comes, and the content inside would be consumed. The life, blood, flesh, and soul would all be eaten. According to legend, this was a ritualistic method to attain immortality," the man explained casually.


    "How disgusting." Garen was speechless.

 65 Change 1

    Chapter 65: Change 1


    "Ancient Endor had many such disgusting practices. That was just one of the many inexplicably strange traditions that remains from the history of that grand bygone empire," Golden Hoop Number 9 calmly replied.


    The two did not speak much after that and continued walking downward.


    It was getting colder. A thin sheet of frost started to appear on the white chrome handrails. The breaths they exhaled visibly formed two white strands, then gradually dispersed into the air.


    "Be careful," Golden Hoop Number 9 suddenly said.


    Puzzled, Garen looked at him. Then he looked down to the front of the stairs and discovered a black uniformed policeman sprawled on the steps with a short black arrow pierced through his throat. He was slumped motionlessly against the wall. Blood flowed out slowly from his lower body, dripping bit by bit into the infinite darkness.


    "The temperature is too low so his body temperature dropped too quickly." Golden Hoop Number 9 crouched to examine the body. "But he shouldn''t have been dead for more than twenty minutes. Looks like the detective and the others shouldn''t be too far ahead."


    "If you meet Detective Dale, what do you plan to do?" Garen asked from behind.


    "If he knew his place, I would spare him as well," Golden Hoop Number 9 answered casually.


    As they stepped over the policeman''s corpse and continued on, their crisp footsteps continuously reverberated in the silent space.


    Bang!


    A gunshot rang out from the darkness below, followed by a faint yelp.


    "Quick, run!!" a voice shouted.


    Golden Hoop Number 9¡¯s expression changed. He sped up and ran downward. Garen hesitated for a moment, then jogged in pursuit.


    Detective Dale and the rest soon appeared on the staircase in front of them. Stunned, they stood on the steps and looked down the stairs.


    Garen followed their line of sight and looked ahead. The steps in front were like thin spinning plates, revealing the dark empty space below as they systematically revolved. There was a normal step every five steps, but the rest of the steps were constantly and rhythmically rotating.


    The person who approached had to keep leaping forward. Otherwise, once they stepped on a revolving step, they would immediately drop through, get caught between the revolving stone steps, and be crushed to bits.


    One of Dale Quicksilver''s leather shoes had been clipped into two halves. He was with the White Eagle. The booby trap expert was behind them and a young policeman was protecting Miss Si Lan.


    Apparently, the sergeant had refused the initial arrangement to follow them because he wanted to marshal and command the police force. Instead, Si Lan had volunteered to follow the detective and the others to this place.


    The five of them heard footsteps coming from behind them. When they looked up, they saw that Garen was slowly walking over with a black-hooded man. The man caught their eye due to wearing a black mask over his face and a golden earring engraved with the number ''9''.


    "It''s one of Golden Hoop''s men!" The White Eagle reacted quickly, drew his gun, and aimed at Golden Hoop Number 9.


    "Keep calm." Golden Hoop Number 9 was unfazed as he looked at the group in front of him. "I think our motives should be aligned: we all want to find out the secret of this underground passageway, correct?"


    "So you mean¡­?" the detective asked with a somber expression.


    "Cooperate, of course. You help me explore this cavern and I can provide you with a lot of valuable information. Rest assured, you''ll be at the bottom soon enough." There was an unusual calm in the eyes of Golden Hoop Number 9, without a trace of ripples.


    Detective Dale pondered for a while. No one knew what he was thinking.


    "Alright, you have a deal," he actually agreed.


    Everyone else looked bewildered and even Garen who was at the back was stunned.


    "Word is that Golden Hoop Number 9 is someone who doesn''t break his promises. I trust you." Dale Quicksilver ignored everyone else''s expressions and directly addressed Golden Hoop Number 9.


    "You know me well."


    "Naturally."


    "Let''s move on then." Golden Hoop Number 9 smiled and suddenly lightly rapped the wall to the left.


    Wham.


    The revolving steps before them stopped spinning and froze completely.


    "Great, let''s move on."


    He led Garen directly to the front. When they passed the group of five, the White Eagle and Si Lan looked extremely nervous. They were clearly angry when they saw Garen trailing behind.


    Garen gave both of them a wry smile and shrugged helplessly. It was just as well if he walked together with everyone else.


    At the front, Golden Hoop Number 9 did not seem to mind. He walked on alone at a moderate pace and soon only the amber glow from the torch in his hand could be seen.


    "Why don''t we head back now?" Garen suggested in a whisper.


    "We can''t escape. Golden Hoop Number 9 is extremely swift and silent, so it''s impossible for us to escape." Detective Dale looked calm. "Come, let''s keep up."


    He took the lead in catching up. Everyone behind him looked at each other and could only continue.


    Garen and the White Eagle walked together. As he reported on the situation above ground to the rest of them in an undertone, the atmosphere in the group turned bleak.


    "We''re in a really sticky situation right now. Fortunately, the one we''ve encountered is Golden Hoop Number 9. He¡¯s a relatively unique presence within the entire Golden Hoop organization. If the key was in anyone else''s hands, it would be much more problematic," Si Lan analyzed in a hushed tone. "I''m just not sure what Mister is thinking."


    "Don''t worry about it. Mister won''t be wrong. Let''s just keep up," the White Eagle said while frowning.


    The policeman held the trap expert by the arm. The trap expert was so cold he was shivering and could not utter a word. Both of them tried to warm themselves with the torch fire, but it did not help.


    Since they were now under duress from the Golden Hoop, they did not dare say anything, so they just gritted their teeth and went along.


    It was unclear how long they kept walking down the staircase. Golden Hoop Number 9 would hit and knock on the walls from time to time, as if he was very familiar with the surroundings. They did not encounter any other booby traps along the way and soon the bottom could be seen.


    At the end of the stairs was a small circular open space. On the black floor, there were three gray leather sofas arranged in a triangle and covered with a thin layer of frost. Not far from the open space was a grubby fireplace and the coal inside was also covered by frost.


    There was a bookcase, but it was completely empty.


    When he reached the last step of the staircase, Golden Hoop Number 9 stopped in his tracks. He stood on the step and did not walk down.


    He furrowed his brows and slowly reached out his right hand which had been hidden under the cloak. He slightly flicked his wrist and something black could be seen between his fingers.


    The black object flew out and landed on the black floor of the open space.


    Woosh woosh woosh woosh¡­!!!


    A dense flurry of arrows fired out from both sides, shattering the black object. Countless short black arrows punctured the floor.


    Golden Hoop Number 9 tossed out another black object and triggered another shower of arrows.


    After three consecutive instances, the holes in the walls on both sides finally sealed themselves up, and there was no more movement.


    The crowd behind him was stunned. All in all, there must have been up to 1,000 short arrows released and the tip of each one glowed with a trace of purple.


    "The short arrows have all been released," Golden Hoop Number 9 said casually as he crouched down and removed his hood. Unexpectedly, he had a white rat in his left hand and gently placed it on the black floor.


    The mouse gave a few squeaks and scurried towards the sofas.


    It traveled few steps in before its body suddenly plunged downwards. It sank into the ground. The white rat squeaked wildly, but it was no use. Suddenly, a black wire dragged it up and flung it back into the arms of Golden Hoop Number 9.


    The tail of the rat was coiled with strands of black wire. It would have been easily missed if one did not look carefully.


    Golden Hoop Number 9 gently soothed the white rat, then stood up.


    "In front of us is the Swamp of Malice, one of the booby traps used in Ancient Endor to punish thieves. Only thieves and cowards with malicious intent will be caught in the swamp."


    "What is your motive then?" Detective Dale questioned softly.


    "Of course it''s¡­that." Golden Hoop Number 9 did not turn around, but directly strode down the steps.


    "Wait¡­!!" The booby trap expert was about to stop him, but was dumbfounded when he saw that Golden Hoop Number 9 was still standing firmly on the black floor and had already walked to the three sofas in a few steps.


    In the middle of the group, Garen looked uncertain.


    Just as Golden Hoop Number 9 approached the sofas, Garen suddenly felt a stream of mild warmth permeate through his skin into his body. It was Potential, a small amount of Potential.


    Snap.


    Golden Hoop Number 9 stood between the sofas ¡ª it was unclear what he did ¡ª but clicking sounds slowly came from the black floor.


    Surprisingly, a light gray stone table gradually rose up from the floor in front of the fireplace.


    The stone table was cylindrical and there were four owl sculptures around it. On the table was a black hardcover book.


    There was finally a trace of excitement in the eyes of Golden Hoop Number 9. He strode towards the gray stone table and reached for the black book.


    Bang!


    A gunshot rang out. A smoking bullet hole suddenly appeared on the ground at his feet.


    Golden Hoop Number 9 stood in his place and looked over his shoulder at the crowd.


    "What are you doing?"


    The White Eagle stood in front of Detective Dale Quicksilver with his gun raised and a solemn expression on his face, but he was not the one who spoke.


    The detective''s gaze silently concentrated on Golden Hoop Number 9.


    "If my guess is correct, that book is your ultimate goal. Am I right?"


    "Indeed." The man nodded without hesitation. "I am grateful that you helped us find this underground entrance, but my gratitude is that I let you all go. Since we are on opposing sides, I should directly kill you to rid my organization of trouble. You understand."


    "You can''t kill us." The detective smiled. "The booby traps here are no joke. If my guess is right, that book is the legendary Book of Silence. If this treasure fell into the Golden Hoop''s hands, it would be as if a lion grew wings. The consequences would be disastrous."


    "This book is not for the organization." Golden Hoop Number 9 smiled. His body jerked forward then swayed abruptly left and right. He grabbed the book and leapt from the spot. Like a black bat, he flew up and hung by the side of the upper staircase. With a somersault, he was on the staircase one level above their heads.


    "Don''t move!" Detective Dale halted the White Eagle who was ready to spring into action.


    Suddenly, like a forest of skewers, a dense bunch of black spikes protruded from the ground. The sofas were instantly punctured with numerous holes. The White Eagle was so frightened he broke out in a cold sweat.


    It was only then that the detective looked at the booby trap expert to his side.

 66 Change 2

    Chapter 66: Change 2


    "It¡¯s my fault." The expert¡¯s face turned ghastly pale, he shook his head. "I was one step too slow, the strength needed to activate this trap was slightly higher than my expectations." He looked at the stone floor tile below his feet.


    "Kelly is gone!" Ms. Si Lan suddenly shouted out.


    "He will be fine. No matter who acquired that book first, Kelly will be safe. They both need him to identify the authenticity of it," the detective said, shaking his head.


    "Who are you talking about?" The White Eagle lowered his gun.


    "Behind us, behind Golden Hoop Number 9, there are people following us." Detective Dale whispered, "Let¡¯s get going, keep walking. It¡¯s too cold here, we won¡¯t be able to hold for long."


    "So earlier, you were purposely talking to Golden Hoop Number 9 like that?"


    "Of course I was. Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t realize this fast enough." The detective smirked.


    ***************


    On the spiraling stone stair case, there were two silhouettes sprinting and chasing after one another.


    Someone was held under the arm of the first silhouette. It was Garen in his black suit.


    The one sprinting and carrying him was Golden Hoop Number 9, who had left the scene earlier. His cloak flapped behind him like a dark cloud floating in the air. It covered Garen almost completely.


    Bang!


    A gun¡¯s barrel appeared around the corner of the stone wall, pointing at Golden Hoop Number 9. The silhouette made a few backflips on the railing, landing in front of him, and now stood with a pistol in each hand.


    "I guessed it right, Number 9, you want to keep the Book of Silence to yourself." The man laughed grimly as he blocked the way. He lowered his head and stared at Garen and Number 9 with a sinister smile.


    "So it¡¯s you¡­" Golden Hoop Number 9 put Garen on the ground. "I didn¡¯t expect the organization to be this suspicious of me. They sent you to spy. It¡¯s a pity¡­ I didn¡¯t want to kill anyone."


    "We¡¯ve worked closely for many years, I didn¡¯t want to do this either, but you betrayed us first." A golden ring hung on the man¡¯s left ear, it was numbered 8. He was a rank higher than Number 9.


    Both of them sneered without saying a word, and suddenly grappled each other.


    There was no distinct sound of impact. They fought and tangled together, like two pieces of black cloth twisting and chafing. There was only the sound of friction as they jumped and dashed around the stairs.


    Garen stood behind them on, watching the fight without blinking.


    A while ago, he had let Golden Hook Number 9 take him hostage, so that he could find out where the potential qi was coming from. Now, he had it confirmed, it was from that book in a black cover.


    It was the same type of antique as the Black Jade Disk, emitting Qi slowly instead of releasing it all at once.


    "Should I wait for them to finish fighting and go plunder it then, or should I leave at once and wait for them to come to me for identification?" Garen hesitated.


    The problem with waiting for them to bring the book to him for identification was that the Golden Hoop might have their own ways of confirming its authenticity. Thus, this method might not work.


    He also didn¡¯t want to get more involved in the Golden Hoop¡¯s business. Pretending to be Mr. Kelly was only to find Antiques of Tragedy. But using brute force would risk his own safety, especially since the Golden Hoop already knew he was Garen. This could bring harm to his family.


    "Catch!" Suddenly, a hurried shout came from the front. Garen didn¡¯t get a chance to respond when he saw the Book of Silence hurled toward his face.


    He franticly reached for the book, catching it. A flow of warm qi drifted from the book into his body, and the potential meter at the bottom of his vision started to slowly but steadily grow.


    "Keep the book for now, whoever wins will come to you for identification!" Golden Hoop Number 9¡¯s voice came from below.


    After that, the two Golden Hoop members left Garen alone and fought their way down the stairs. Soon, they were three levels below Garen.


    "Looks like I have to stay here for now."


    Garen cupped the book in his hands. The Book of Silence had a pitch black cover with a white eye printed in the center. He flipped it open and found the cover to be made of stone.


    Garen¡¯s pupils narrowed as he turned to the first page.


    That page contained a drawing. There was a man, a naked man. The weird thing was, the back of the man¡¯s head was connected to a maggot¡¯s body. It looked like a long white tube, and shared the same head as the man. The worm¡¯s body was shining white, reaching down to the man¡¯s thighs, and it was even slowly wriggling.


    "It¡¯s wriggling?" Garen closed his eyes and shook his head. When he looked again, the wriggling motion in the drawing had disappeared.


    The strange man¡¯s creepy green eyes were staring at him as if he was alive. It made Garen feel lightheaded.


    When Garen finally composed himself and was ready to flip to the next page, a shadow flashed in front of him.


    "Give it to me!"


    A strong force gripped the Book of Silence, trying to snatch it from Garen¡¯s hands. Suddenly, another silhouette raced toward Garen and quickly grabbed the Book of Silence by the other end.


    Stunned, Garen instinctively held the book with all his strength. The sound of tearing came from his hands.


    "If I can¡¯t get it, nobody will!" Golden Hoop Number 9 ranted in an exhausted voice.


    The Book of Silence was torn apart under the pressure of being pulled in three directions. The pages went flying in the air. Golden Hoop Number 9 held a short sabre in his hand and effortlessly slashed all the pages into pieces. A fireball emerged from his left hand, instantly igniting all the flying book scraps.


    "Number 9, you¡¯re insane!" Golden Hoop Number 8 tried to stop him, but was one step too slow. His fist struck Number 9, and the latter slowly slumped down against the wall.


    It was a shame that the Book of Silence was destroyed and burned, but Garen did not want to get involved in Golden Ring¡¯s internal conflicts. If he could find an Antique of Tragedy once, it was likely that he¡¯d find another at some point too.


    While regretful, he still backed off a few steps. As the two Golden Hoop members continued wrestling once more, Garen silently left up the stairs.


    "What a mess." He was speechless. "But at least there were some gains. I found the picture of me traveling through an alternate reality. If what that book said was true, I must be the lucky survivor. It had to be at an exact time, and I was lucky enough to be there."


    Things had taken an unexpected turn, and Garen¡¯s primary target was destroyed. He didn¡¯t get the Antique of Tragedy he came for, but instead got into a conflict with Golden Hoop Number 10.


    He looked down the stairs at Golden Hoop Number 9 and Number 8. Number 8 was standing a few steps up, his face distorted with fury. Below him, Number 9 stood with a black stone in his hand. It was the white eye on the cover of the Book of Silence.


    "Hand it over!" Number 8 said as he extended his hand.


    "This is a legendary rune with mysterious power! You think I¡¯ll just give it to you?" Number 9 laughed. "I had plotted for so long, and I¡¯ve finally got what I wanted!"


    Both of them had bloodstains on their bodies. But Number 8 looked quite normal, whereas Number 9 had blood streaming out of his mouth. Apparently, he had serious internal injuries.


    Garen watched as they argued. His heart suddenly missed a beat when he realized that the flow of potential qi had not disappeared with the Book of Silence.


    "Is it because of that rock?" His eyes landed on the white-eyed rock they were fighting over.


    "The book was only about some cult¡¯s legends and nonsense. The real treasure was this rock, you think I didn¡¯t notice?" Golden Hoop Number 9 sneered. "I might not know what it could be useful for, but since it¡¯s in my hands¡­ don¡¯t think about getting it back!"


    Garen knew if he didn¡¯t go right now, he would get involved in their internal conflicts. The more he knew, the more trouble he was in. As the two were still talking, he slowly backed off up the stairs.


    As valuable as Antiques of Tragedy could be, he could not afford to get involved. Unlike last time with Number 10, this time they already knew his true identity.


    Before he could walk further, Golden Hoop Number 9 acted first and erupted into a black shadow, racing up the stairs. Behind him, Golden Hoop Number 8 followed closely. The two were speeding past Garen.


    Number 9¡¯s face was as pale as paper, he couldn¡¯t hold for much longer.


    Garen squinted. To be honest, he had a favorable impression of Golden Hoop Number 9. Since the beginning, this guy had not done any harm to him, but protected him ever since they got into the lair.


    At this moment, Number 8 was sweeping past Garen. His physique was larger than Number 9¡¯s and could not get past Garen¡¯s body on the stairs.


    "Get lost!"


    Number 8 was furious, his hand slapped at Garen with inertia. His fingers were gleaming with blue light; he must have learned a venomous technique. As his hand approached, a sharp and foul odor came with it.


    Garen¡¯s speed might not be faster than theirs, but he was able to block the attack at this range. He hadn¡¯t wanted to fight them since he really didn¡¯t want to get involved, but now that the opponent obviously wanted to kill him, rage surged in his heart.


    "You¡¯re courting death!" Garen growled as he raised his right arm and grabbed.


    Ssss¡­


    His arm instantly inflated and swelled up, doubling in size. His veins and muscles intertwined and inflated to at least a half-meter radius. It didn¡¯t look like a human arm anymore.


    His hand clashed against Number 8¡¯s blue hand like the claw of a bear clashing with the hand of a baby.


    Bang!


    The two immediately separated after the impact, but Number 8 still had the strength to grab Number 9 with his other arm and used inertia to throw him back.


    Number 9 was dragged down and landed next to Garen.


    As the two bumped into each other, Golden Hoop Number 9 reached into Garen¡¯s arms, acting like he was giving something. He then pushed Garen away while shouting, "Take it and go!" He himself immediately turned and tumbled down the stairs.


    "You!"


    Garen froze. Number 9 didn¡¯t give him anything at all, and yelled like this only to mislead Number 8. He looked up at Number 8, who was furiously boring down on him like a dark cloud.


    "He didn¡¯t give me anything!" Garen shouted out.


    "I¡¯ll find out after I kill you!" Number 8 smirked.


    "S**t!" Garen was livid. He hadn¡¯t plan on fighting with the Golden Hoop, but now he was randomly involved. "You idiot! There¡¯s an exit down there! He just wants me to slow you down! You really think he was injured that much?"


    The two clashed with each other again. After the muffled sound of impact, Garen stood still, and Number 8 backed off a few steps.


    "Indeed very strong, like it said in the intelligence report!" Number 8¡¯s face slightly twitched, his left hand was shaking behind his back, but one couldn¡¯t tell it from his straight face.


    "That damned Number 9 framed me! I have nothing against the Golden Hoop! Let¡¯s go down there and deal with him first, then you¡¯ll find out where the antique is!" Garen said, enduring the prickling pain in his palm. He used the White Cloud Secret Arts on his hand, which made the skin too rough to be poisoned, but he still felt a slight uncomfortable numbing pain in his hand.


    "You think I would trust you?" Number 8 replied.


    "I¡¯m coming along, what¡¯s your problem?" Garen was now seriously angry. "I don¡¯t want your stuff, but I can identify the item for you. You know who I am, you know where I live. Even if I run away, there¡¯s still my family and friends. What are you so afraid of?"


    Number 8 stared at Garen for awhile, then finally agreed. "Fine, I¡¯ll trust you this time!"


    "We have to hurry, he must know of a secret exit for him to fall down like that," Garen said ruthlessly. This was the first time he got used and framed by someone else. He quickly ran down the stairs.


    "No s**t!"


    Number 8 twisted and jumped down the stairs after Garen. The two quickly disappeared in the darkness.

 67 Alleviation 1

    Chapter 67: Alleviation 1


    Garen¡¯s current plan was to make use of the excuse of need to identify the eye shaped stone for a while, and keep the stone in his hands a bit longer; that would count as a way to absorb the potential.


    To get away from getting suspected, he voluntarily asked Number 8 to chase after Golden Loop Number 9 with him, because the opponent intentionally pushed the blame onto him.


    No matter what happened, he had to find Golden Loop Number 9 to clean himself from the blame. However, he knew that even if he was clean, Number 8 still won¡¯t let him go; maybe that his identification technique would protect himself, but it wasn¡¯t secure enough.


    "The best case would be that they two kill each other during a fight!" Garen rushed down as a vicious expression flashed though his eyes.


    Golden Loop Number 8 followed behind him closely. He had a small torch in his hand, and he used his cape to block off the wind that might extinguish the fire. The two of them were only about a meter apart; they could barely see what was in front and behind them.


    Soon, a white stone gate that was half open suddenly appeared on the stairwalls. Peeking into it, Garen wouldn¡¯t see anything; it was pitch dark and cold breezes were blowing out of the gate.


    Garen quickly stopped his steps, and caught up on his breath.


    "It¡¯s the natural wind! They probably left from here!"


    Golden Loop Number 8 had thought everything through by this point. He knew that he was tricked. Garen didn¡¯t have to say much; Golden Loop Number 8 dragged opened the gate and entered.


    A few strange expression flashed by Garen¡¯s face as he followed Number 8.


    There was a stone room behind the stone gate. There was a thick layer of dust on the ground, and there was a series of clear footprints leading forward, and these footprints disappeared as they got to wall on the right.


    Golden Loop Number 8 walked up to the wall and rubbed it, however, he wasn¡¯t able to find any mechanisms on the wall that would open up any hidden paths.


    "Shit!" He punched the wall, and it made a loud "Bam" sound.


    "There is still wind! There must be a way out!" Garen said calmly: "We need to find the ventilation exit."


    Number 8¡¯s eyes shined; he was very anxious and didn¡¯t think out that. He started to look for the ventilation exit after he was reminded.


    Garen stood there and didn¡¯t move; he just watched as Number 8 searched.


    What¡¯s the use for the stone? Do you Golden Loop folks know?"


    "Hehe, aren¡¯t you afraid that you will die sooner knowing more?" Number 8 searched as he laughed. It seemed like he suddenly found the mechanism; he lightly pushed into the wall.


    Crack! A small door flipped open on the wall.


    At the moment where the door flipped out, a short sword pierced at Golden Loop Number 8 quietly.


    Tink!


    The short sword hit the barrel on Number 8¡¯s Gun.


    Number 8 took a big step back and raised his gun to shoot.


    Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!


    After four shots, there weren¡¯t any more movements inside the darkness behind the small door.


    "He escaped, we have to chase!" Number 8 roared, but he didn¡¯t move. He looked at Garen who was standing beside him; his intention was obvious, he wanted Garen to go first.


    "The stuff isn¡¯t mine, I don¡¯t really care!" Garen sneered. His strength wasn¡¯t as strong as these two people; with the injuries, he was only able to use 80% of his strength. There was no way that he could win against any one them. If he chased into the darkness, he won¡¯t get used to it at all.


    Although it was also dark in the stone room, but there was still some light, unlike the space inside that little door. At least Golden Loop Number 8 had a torch.


    For a moment, the two of them froze inside the stone room. Number 8 knew that he wasn¡¯t able to order Garen around, but he didn¡¯t dare to rush in recklessly.


    "If we delay it longer, he would be gone!" Garen said coldly.


    Golden Loop Number 8 stared at him, bit his teeth, took of one of the two guns he had, and threw it into the space behind the small door.


    The gun swirled in the air as it entered the darkness.


    Bam!


    After a gun noise, a small red flame lit up darkness inside the door. The gun exploded instantly! At the same time, there was a vague humph sound, followed by staggering footsteps.


    Golden Loop Number 8 sneered. He didn¡¯t say anything and rushed into the door. He used the cape to protect his body against the flame, and disappeared into the darkness.


    Garen didn¡¯t follow up. He saw what happened clearly; Golden Loop Number 8 shot the handle on the first gun using the second gun! The handle of the first gun was filled with explosives, and it acted like a bomb when it was shot.


    Although the explosive was weak, but the sound of the explosive would shock and temporally disable one¡¯s ear in that small space. Golden Loop Number 9 must have been hurt by that.


    Therefore, Golden Loop Number 8 had no time to deal with Garen. He rushed in and chased after Number 9; he had to kill Number 9 before he recovered.


    Garen knew that there was nothing for him to do anymore. He didn¡¯t want to get involved in this in the first place. Since now both of Golden Loops were fighting again, it was time for him to leave.


    As he was about to turn around and leave, he suddenly felt a familiar flow slowly drilling through his skin.


    "This is¡­.. Potential?!" He glanced around in surprise. There wasn¡¯t any light, the surrounding was dark, he couldn¡¯t see anything.


    Garen slowly walked around as he leaned against the wall; soon, he arrived at the place where the potential energy was the thickest.


    He slowly squatted down at the corner of the room; there was a piece of black cloth nailed against the ground, and it was covering something.


    Because it was dark, and it was at the corner, both Golden Loop Number 8 and Garen didn¡¯t see it. The potential energy as very thin at where Garen was standing at; Garen didn¡¯t feel it at all when he was all tensed up. After calming down, he just noticed it. Apart from the Black Jade Disk, there was this source of slowly flowing into his body.


    "Could it be?" Garen¡¯s heart started racing. He slowly uncovered the black cloth, and a white stone revealed itself. The stone was in an eye shape; it also looked like a fish. It quietly laid on the black floor. Garen picked it up and rubbed it. Although he couldn¡¯t see it clearly, but he knew that this was there the potential energy was coming from. From the shape of it, he knew that it was probably that white eye shaped stone.


    "If it wasn¡¯t the potential energy that helped me locate it, anyone else wouldn¡¯t have been able to find it!" Garen quickly put the "white eye" into his pocket.


    He stood up and walked toward the entrance.


    There was still the smell of gas and smoke that came off of the torches left it the air; it was thick.


    "It¡¯s probably the detectives who just passed by."


    Standing at the entrance of the stone room, Garen turned his head around and looked behind him as a sneer appeared on his face.


    "One intentionally framed me, one wanted to kill me casually. Both of them are bad eggs. Unfortunately, I could get rid of them if I¡¯m a bit stronger! I won¡¯t let them get away easily."


    He rubbed the white eye shaped stone in his shirt pocket as he thought of something. At the same time, he quickly ran up.


    After a few minutes¡­...


    A black shadow suddenly rushed out of the little door in the stone room. The black shadow didn¡¯t light up anything; he rushed to the corner of the room, uncovered the black cloth and reached for something.


    The black shadow was stunned as it didn¡¯t find anything. He quickly swepped around with his hands, but he still didn¡¯t find anything.


    "That Kelly¡­.!!" He bit his teeth and said.


    Vague footsteps behind him, and the black shadow quickly stood up and rushed out of the gate.


    As soon as he rushed out, he felt a wind gusting at him as a man jumped at him from the side.


    Bam!


    The two of them instantly separated, and the black shadow hit the gate forcefully. The whole wall shook as a result.


    "Damn!!" He continued his rolling on the floor as he dodged the second attack; the frame of the gate behind him was smashed by a punch, and it let off a deep boom sound. A ton of stone chips crackled down the wall.


    "Golden Loop Number 9, you deserve this!" Garen¡¯s voice sounded in the darkness. "How dare you shift all the blame onto me? Do you think I¡¯m scared of you?"


    Golden Loop Number 9 grabbed onto the handle on the stairs as he tried helping himself up; he was only able to half kneel on the ground. He looked pale as blood flowed out of his ears, nose, and mouth; there were many thin blood streams all over his face.


    He wasn''t practicing Body Hardening Technique in the first place; after getting injured by Golden Loop Number 8, and getting sneak attacked by this, he felt sick to his stomach, and his head felt a little dizzy.


    "Where is it?" He endured the pain and asked with his hoarse voice.


    "It¡¯s on me of course." Garen sneered. "I will give it to the Golden Loop, it will help relieve the tension between us. I will give it to Golden Loop Number 8 later."


    "Idiot." Number 9 suddenly laughed reluctantly. He stood up straight and was about to speak; however, he suddenly opened his mouth and puked up a mouthful of blood.


    The thick smell of bloody instantly dispersed into the space.


    At this time, another black shadow dashed out of the stone room, and appeared in front of the gate; it was Golden Loop Number 8.


    He was holding onto a small torch that was still lit, and the torch barely lit up the surroundings. Under the vague light, the three faces appeared red and looming.


    "Do you really have it?" Golden Loop Number 8 looked at Garen: "Give it to me!" He said as he reached out his hand.


    "I can give it to you, but it has not been identified yet. I think I¡¯m the only one who is able to identify to see if it¡¯s fake or not. You guys know how long it takes to identify."


    Garen didn¡¯t hesitate. He knew that he couldn¡¯t protect this item. Although he didn¡¯t like the way Golden Loop Number 8 talked to him, he threw the white eye shaped stone to him. The latter caught it in mid-air; he nodded in satisfaction after he checked it.


    "It¡¯s ok. I misunderstood you before. This item has no value to you, so you have no reason to jack it. In terms of identification, we will have to bother you on that. Everything here is a big misunderstanding."


    "I only like identifying all sorts of strange stuff. I actually do hope that I could identify the stuff that you Golden Loop get," Garen spoke his mind.


    Golden Loop Number 8 swirled his eyes and said: "The organization is always looking to treasure and protect talented people. The henchmen didn¡¯t know much, and caused a lot of trouble for you; it is our fault. But I¡¯m sure you know that you are on Dale Quicksilver¡¯s side, and a lot people in the organization is not happy about that. But if you Kelly could join Golden Loop, then everything won¡¯t be a problem." He just tested Garen¡¯s strength and was impressed. Since Golden Loop Number 9 just betrayed the organization, a new person had to be added to the top ten Golden Loops, he had an idea.


    The two of them started talking and actually ignored Golden Loop Number 9 who was severely injured temporarily. Number 9 was happy to see that too; he needed the time to recuperate, his body couldn¡¯t handle it anymore.


    "What can I get by joining Golden Loop?" Garen asked as he lowered his voice.


    "Although we are not a Secret Martial Art Organization, we are not a pure Force Organization as well." Golden Loop Number 8 laughed proudly: "Detective Dale knew the reason why we, the Golden Loop exist, but he didn¡¯t tell you."


    Garen squinted his eyes.


    "For us to like collecting this much, someone must need them."


    "When what kind of a person like these Antiques that are stolen and hard to sell? After all, these items are small and incredibly old; they only have minute historic value." Golden Loop Number 8 continued with his hints.


    Garen was shocked.


    "Nobles!" He shouted out.


    "Actually," Golden Loop Number 8 started laughing. "Golden Loop represents not just an ordinary underground force. We are backed by many influential people in high places! Strength is actually our weakest link, what we have is power and influence! There are only benefits and no harms by joining us."


    Garen was relieved, and he knew there weren¡¯t any problems; he said all of that to Golden Loop Number 8 Intentionally. He still had his families, relatives, and master; he wasn¡¯t a single person who was isolated. Although Golden Loop wasn¡¯t scared of Manuyllton Corporation or his master Fei Baiyun¡¯s status and influence, they wouldn¡¯t come and provoke him for no reason, as long as there wasn¡¯t any conflict of interest.


    "No wonder the detectives couldn¡¯t do anything about you guys, so it turns out that Golden Loop¡¯s influence is this strong!" He murmured.


    "We just need an identification expert that could identify ancient and mysterious items. This is your opportunity!" Golden Loop Number 8 was getting more and more satisfied with his idea. All of Garen¡¯s strength, background, and talent were what his organization was looking for. If he was able to add Garen into their organization, then the small conflicts they had prior could be solved easily. So only a few people died? They weren¡¯t any of the top twenty Golden Loops, anyone after the twentieth position were pretty much useless, and their positions could be filled easily! At this day and age, experts and talented individuals are the most important resources.

 68 Alleviation 2

    Chapter 68: Alleviation 2


    "No rush, let¡¯s take care of business first." Garen looked at Golden Loop Number Nine, and the latter instantly tensed up.


    Golden Loop Number Eight sneered as he charged at Number Nine and poked out with his index finger.


    Pssh!


    Weh!


    Golden Loop Number Nine let out a deep "humph" as a bloody hole appeared in his chest.


    Bam!


    His whole body instantly flew backward, went over the handrail, and fell down to the "black hole".


    "Let¡¯s go." Golden Loop Number Eight didn¡¯t even bother looking down. He turned around and began walking up the stairs. "What the people on top want is here, so we won¡¯t have any problems after I hand it in. Identification will be something for another day."


    Garen looked down at where Golden Loop Number Nine had fallen in, but the place was pitch black and he couldn¡¯t see a thing. He quickly followed Golden Loop Number Eight up the stairs.


    "Oh wait, did you guys get any clues in terms of the fragrance of the Mindtwister Vine? Why didn¡¯t I see that particular plant?" he asked as he recalled the strange things he saw at the Silversilk Castle.


    "Mindtwister Vine? That thing is best for creating illusions and killing people. All of them were collected from our people, except for that crazy woman. She still kept some, but not that much," Golden Loop Number Eight said casually. "Okay, I will go up first and retreat with my people. You can come up later, so Dale Quicksilver won¡¯t get suspicious. If you join us, the Golden Loop, then your identity could be a great cover."


    "Ok." Garen nodded. He stood still and watched Golden Loop Number Eight sped up and quickly disappeared into the darkness.


    He turned around and looked back at the darkness behind him. The stairs seemed to extend downward forever, as if they led to the endless abyss. The whole stairway was so quiet that it was frightening.


    "Why did this Golden Loop Number Nine rush in and try to steal this item?"


    Garen still had a question on his mind, but unfortunately, Number Nine was already dead. There was no way that he could still be alive after falling down from a place this high up while already being severely injured.


    After shaking his head, Garen paced himself and ran up the stairs.


    At the very bottom of the staircase, Golden Loop Number Nine laid facing up. Numerous metal spikes extended from the ground, piercing his body. His eyes were open wide, but there was no sign of life in them. His blood slowly soaked into the black soil and solidified.


    *****************


    The Silversilk Castle during the afternoon glowed a warm shade of red under the sunlight during sunset. In the courtyard in front of the castle, a few guards equipped with guns were checking their teammate¡¯s corpses. Their faces were all pale. Some of them were swearing, while others were choking and whining.


    Their captain had a bandage on his arm and stood beside Detective Dale with an ugly expression on his face. The White Eagle and Black Panther were also with them. Grace, in the meantime, stood beside Garen and Cynthia. The latter wasn¡¯t that upset. Her people hadn¡¯t suffered too many casualties. They were within an acceptable margin.


    Garen stood by the side and saw a bunch of detectives making small talk, trying to decide on something. However, he was not interested and too lazy to listen to it. The biggest reward for him in this trip was that he had built a connection with the Golden Loop. If everything went smoothly, he would no longer have to worry about his family''s safety anymore.


    "Unfortunately, I wasn¡¯t of much help this time." Garen murmured. "My original plan was only to follow the detectives and figure out the secret of the Silversilk Castle, though I also wanted to see if I¡¯ll be able get some antiques. It looks like I thought too much."


    "Next time if you want to run around, can you please let me know first?" Cynthia said helplessly. Both her face and body were dirty, but she didn¡¯t have any wounds. It was like a miracle! She didn¡¯t get injured during that intense shooting at all.


    **************


    "Ok, I got it." Garen smiled and said, "We should go back This isn¡¯t the time and place for us to stay."


    He walked directly toward the bunch of people, including Detective Dale.


    After some simple farewells, Garen led Grace, Cynthia and the other people who had came with him towards Canoe Town.


    They returned to Canoe Town in the early evening, the sky had yet to turn dark. Garen jumped into Grace¡¯s car and headed towards the city.


    After getting back to the city, his life gradually returned to normal. Garen threw the situation with the Silversilk Castle to the back of his mind and no longer thought about it. Besides going to the library to read books, he would only go to the old man¡¯s and learn about identification. Though at the same time, he was waiting for the boss of Manuyllton Corporation to find time to see him.


    ***************


    After several weeks¡­


    In a small room in the library, surrounded by bookshelves, Garen was seated down on a red sofa. He looked with concentration at the black hard cover book, which was about the size of a magazine, that he was flipping through.


    There was a cup of coffee on the black table in front of him, but it had lost its heat already.


    "Book of Silence?" a pretty blonde girl asked, leaning against an armrest as she sat on his right.


    Her hair was bound with a black hairband, and she wore a tight, black silk shirt emphasizing her full chest and slender waist. There were many dark red flowers on the dress. The two colors, black and red, gave off an elegant and quiet feel. The skirt had a perfect length as its edge covered her knees.


    "Why do you suddenly want to search for information on this book?"


    This girl was Felicity. She had just gotten back from Manroland two days ago, and had contacted Garen, asking to meet up.


    "I¡¯ve heard this name before, and it sounds strange. I feel like this book is very mysterious." Garen shrugged his shoulder. There was no way that he would tell her the truth.


    "You¡¯re asking the right person for this kind of knowledge." The girl¡¯s eyes opened wide. It was obvious that she was having a good time. "Book of Silence is an ancient book within which mysterious knowledge about the legends is recorded. The most mysterious and ruthless civilization, Ancient Endor, is the place from which the Book of Silence originates.


    "Huh¡­ There are a few mythology books that I want to read. I could take you to go though the books together, and we could see if we can find it." Felicity stood up, dusted her skirts, and said, "Follow me."


    Garen quickly dropped the book in his hand and followed her out of the small room.


    Felicity quietly said something to a maid at the door. The latter nodded and walked at the front, leading the way.


    The three of them passed by a few connected study rooms, and then entered a small door on the left. There was a wooden staircase leading down to the basement behind the door. It was a bit dark. The floor was covered by thick black carpet that muffled all the noise made by their footsteps.


    Garen followed Felicity and the maid. They walked down three floors of stairs, passed through a few gates, and opened a series of locks. After all that trouble, they finally arrived at a large, deserted underground library.


    It was a rectangular hall that was dark and gloomy. There were a dozen so black wood bookshelves, but most of them were empty. There was no one in here, and it seemed very quiet.


    Felicity waved, singalling the maid to leave. After that, she dragged Garen towards a bookshelf on the very right.


    "The books here are centuries old. There are some on mythology, but you have to look for them."


    Garen nodded as he sniffed the air. There was a vague musty smell.


    They didn¡¯t talk after that, each rolling up their sleeves and beginning their search for ancient books.


    There weren¡¯t a lot of them on the shelves, and the books that were there had a thick layer of dust on them. When they took them off of the shelves, they breathed in noses full of white dust and coughed violently. However, Felicity didn¡¯t seem to care about that. Filled with excitement, she started to look for books on mythology along with Garen.


    They started their search from the bookshelf on the very right to the bookshelf on the very left. They did find a few books on mythology, but they could tell that they were full of bullsh*t. The stories in them could only be considered tales for little kids.


    "Most of the books here are left behind by one of my friend¡¯s ancestors. He had taken the majority of the books out, but there were still some that he didn¡¯t clean up. These were left here due to some family reasons, and now are forgotten and abandoned here. If you didn¡¯t bring it up, I probably wouldn¡¯t have even remembered this place," Felicity said in a quiet voice, coughing, as she took out a grey book and slapped the dust off of it. The dust immediately dispersed, prolonging the girl¡¯s coughing fit.


    "No rush, we have time, we can go slow." Garen laughed. He didn¡¯t seem to be impatient at all.


    Time ticked away, second by second, in this dark hall as the fire flickered in the torches on the wall.


    After who knew how long, suddenly, a deep crackling noise sounded in the left corner of the hall.


    A dense cloud of dust was blown into the air.


    "Cough, cough¡­ Cough! Cough! Cough!... Damn! Why did it fall down," Felicity complained as she walked away from the bookshelves. Her entire body was covered in dust. The black silk dress was no long pure black. There was a layer of white dust on the surface, and the girl looked miserable.


    "Eh?" Garen was surprised. "There is a book there."


    He was standing not too far away from the girl. After the bookshelf fell down, he suddenly saw a book fall down from the top shelf. Quickly, he walked up and picked it up.


    After lightly dusting off the dust off of its cover, the book was unveiled. It was black, and its cover page had a set of golden necklaces. The author¡¯s name was at the bottom: Philip Jeffries


    Garen lightly opened the book. The pages were a light yellow color. He could tell that they used to be white, but due to the passage of time now had turned to yellow.


    The first page only had one line on it: "Dedicated to scholars who are searching and studying mythology".


    He turned the page, and there was a simple index on the second page consisting of three parts: Nightmare, The White Color, Ritual.


    There were more detailed tags under each part, and the page numbers were after them.


    "What is this?" Felicity got close to Garen and asked, "Golden necklace? Why doesn¡¯t this book have a name?"


    "No name?" Garen was surprsied. "Yeah, it really doesn¡¯t have a name."


    "There are only two possiblities. One is that this is a personal book. Books are regulated by the National Publications Bureau, and not putting a name is a way to avoid that. These kind of books are assumed to be notes or diaries." Felicity was very knowledgeable. She explained, "But the other one..." Her expression got serious.


    "The other one would be the so-called banned books. They contain prohibited material. Not putting a name on it is also for the purpose of avoiding the National Publications Bureau. Because they¡¯re all banned by National Publications Bureau, they only have the name of the author on it."


    "Banned book?" Garen instantly got interested. He flipped through a few more pages and found that the whole book was filled with symbols and strange writings that he didn¡¯t understand.


    "Let¡¯s go, let¡¯s sit down over there and read it. This book must be a banned book! I¡¯ve never seen a real banned book before."


    Felicity got interested as well. Both of them came to a red wooden table, pulled out chairs, wiped them clean, and sat down. The light on the table was already lit up by the maid. Although it was a bit dim, it didn¡¯t affect their reading.

 69 Shifting Destiny 1

    Chapter 69: Shifting Destiny 1


    Putting the book on the table, Garen continued to flip through the pages.


    The yellow surface of the paper was slightly rough and crisp. The corner of the paper broke off after Garen lightly touched it. It was like an extremely thin template.


    "Be careful, these books are very old, at least hundreds of years old," Felicity said quietly.


    "Okay."


    Garen softened his movements even more.


    After flipping to the fifth page, it was still the table of contents. Garen ignored it and kept on flipping.


    ¡®Hereby I thank my friend, Lady Liana. If it weren¡¯t for her careful correction and sponsorship, this book might not have been published¡­¡¯ After this, the words became blurry like they had been soaked in water.


    Garen frowned and continued flipping. To his surprise, the actual content of the book was crooked black letters that looked like toads. Garen could recognize individual ones, but when jumbled together, they became garbled and meaningless.


    "Could it be¡­ are these special codes? I need to decode it to read the actual content?" Garen said with a frown. He flipped a couple more pages again, but they were are all the same.


    "I think so. When writing down important information, a lot of people design their own codes." Felicity nodded and looked through the book alongside Garen.


    "Then what do we do?" Garen stopped at a random page. From top to bottom, there was not a single paragraph he could understand. All he could try to comprehend were some drawn engineering designs.


    "One of my friends¡¯ grandpa used to use this one method of encryption. I still remember it, so let me try to decode it." Felicity excitedly grabbed the book, took out a pen and started to work her way through the book.


    The girl pushed Garen away and even stole his seat.


    Standing at the back, however, allowed Garen to see Felicity¡¯s perky butt. One of her legs was sexily bent on top of the chair, lifting up her tight black skirt. If he crouched a bit more, he would be able to see what was underneath that skirt of hers.


    "I am relaxed and happy," Garen softly whispered to himself. With a grin on his face, he walked back a few more steps and enjoyed Felicity¡¯s beautiful pose.


    After about ten minutes.


    "Garen, come here, I know what this book is about now!" the girl suddenly shouted.


    Garen walked over in a hurry and sniffed her refreshing natural scent. He subconsciously inhaled deeply. However, seeing Felicity¡¯s serious face, he organized his thoughts and looked at the table.


    On top of the desk was a piece of paper. It contained a small paragraph decoded from the book.


    "I have a general idea of what this book is about," Felicity said with a bit of excitement.


    She flipped to the table of contents and pointed at the page.


    "There are three parts in the book: nightmare, the color white, ceremony. These three parts are in correspondence to the three strange events the author encountered. It tells the boring and difficult journey he went through to try and find answers, as well as the clues he picked up in the end. Basically, this book is a travel journal. A journal detailing the journey of a man who was seeking the truth behind fables!"


    "Travel journal? Does it really have records of the strange events the author encountered?" Garen asked suspiciously.


    "It doesn¡¯t really clarify what exactly was going on. However, the author has recorded that he wasn¡¯t sure since when but he began to repeatedly have the same nightmare. To reach the roots of why he was having it and to ease the pain, he went on a journey to figure out why it was occurring. If it really was just about a nightmare, then it couldn¡¯t be categorized as a strange event. But, at the end of the book, the author seems to have learned something. The way he wrote became a little unclear, it was as if he was tabooing something."


    "Tabooing something?" Garen squinted his eyes. "Can we find some information on the author?"


    "No. From what I¡¯ve noticed, after the author arrived at this one place and came out of it, there was a huge change in the book¡¯s content and it became ambiguous," Felicity explained.


    "What is that place?"


    "Rochwell Empire Library."


    Garen frowned, picked up the book, and flipped through it.


    "Look at the back cover, there is something!" Felicity yelled anxiously.


    Garen flipped to the last page in a hurry. Immediately, a white piece of paper that was tucked between the cracks of the back cover fell out. If it wasn¡¯t for the cover being cracked after such a long time, a knife would have been needed to pry open the cover to get that piece of paper.


    Felicity quickly picked it up and unfolded it.


    On it was written only a single line: Navici Tsunami Mountain No. 174, under the third tree and six meters deep. I left the stuff there. ¨C Charlie


    "It¡¯s a note! Nobody has found it before us, or else this piece of paper wouldn¡¯t still be tucked in the book cover." Felicity was thrilled. "Let¡¯s go check it out! Maybe we can get our hands on something cool!"


    "Navici¡­ Where is this?" Garen had never heard of this place before.


    "It¡¯s at the Jade Mountain Province, on the border of the Confederation. The province¡¯s capital is Navici. The Jade Mountain is a very poor province. It has awful soil and there is a lack of natural resources. Other than an overabundance of sunlight, there isn¡¯t a lot of advantages to that area. Their grapes and honeydew melon are quite nice though." Felicity became even more eager. "What do you think? Want to go? Let¡¯s go together!"


    "Jade Mountain Province is too far from here¡­" Garen was speechless. "If we take the train, it¡¯ll take us a week. Going there and back will take us half a month."


    "What are you afraid of? We have plenty of time." Felicity waved her hand, indicating that she did not mind.


    Garen thought about it for a second. "How about this, let¡¯s decide after a while. I have to go back to school soon and the timing just doesn¡¯t work out. I also have a lot of errands to take care of. Felicity, don¡¯t you have some stuff going on at home too? How can you squeeze out the time to travel?"


    "It¡¯s not that bad." Felicity then remembered something, and her thrilled look faded a little. "You¡¯re right. I do have some stuff to take care of. It might take us a whole month to go there and back. Okay¡­ then let¡¯s make plans for our next break."


    "Sure." Garen nodded without hesitation.


    The two of them studied the content of the book for a bit longer. Both were rather excited. Only when the clock on the wall announced the time with its loud bangs, did the two of them unwillingly stop.


    "It¡¯s almost noon, I have to go get some lunch. There¡¯s some stuff I need to do in the afternoon." Garen stood up and softly sighed.


    "Something to do? What do you have to do? It¡¯s our break, yet you¡¯re so busy all the time. Aren¡¯t you tired?" Felicity finally took her leg off the chair. It was numb from keeping the same pose for so long, and she stumbled, falling backward.


    Without knowing it, her small butt was aimed straight at Garen¡¯s lower body.


    At that moment, both of them froze.


    Felicity¡¯s cheeks slowly turned red as she felt a warm object slowly rising behind her. It suddenly jumped and stabbed her at a sensitive spot.


    She screamed and jumped away as if she had been electrocuted. "You wanna die?" She turned around and cupped her butt with her hands. She stared down at Garen.


    "I-" Garen shrugged. "You were the one that hit me. I can¡¯t control something like that¡­" he responded in a low voice.


    "Go to hell!" Felicity kicked Garen¡¯s lower leg and left angry and red-faced.


    Garen helplessly looked at the white and grey footprint on his leg. This kick didn¡¯t even make him itch. To a regular person however, it would definitely be a kick hard enough to bruise their bones. She was wearing a pointy leather shoe after all.


    "Whatever. I have to go the old man¡¯s place in the afternoon. Ah, Ying Er is the only one nice to me. Even when she fights me, she doesn¡¯t hit hard."


    He dusted off the dirt off his pants and walked out of the library. There was no sight of Felicity. After taking out his card to sign out for leaving, he hailed down a horse carriage and went home.


    Sitting in the carriage, Garen closed his eyes and rested his mind while checking the status of his attributes. This was something he did regularly everyday.


    Strength 2.22. Agility 1.10. Physique 1.87. Intelligence 1.50. Potential 258%. White Cloud Secret Arts: Great Achievement (Stage 4). Explosive Fist Arts: Intermediate. White Cloud Combat Arts: Intermediate.


    "Strength went up a little bit. I¡¯m not sure what to do with the potential I¡¯ve been collecting though¡­" Garen thought about it with a frown.


    "Before I kept on improving my Strength and as a result my Explosive Fist Arts became intermediate level. After acquiring strong defense and solo combat skills, I should be undefeatable in the short term. But if I run into a speedy opponent, then I¡¯m in trouble. With my physique and my grasp on combat, I am considered to be an advanced martial artist. Compared to second senior brother and elder senior sister though, I am still lacking behind by a lot despite my advantage over normal people. I am not sure which attribute I should try to improve next."


    He glanced over the Agility attribute. The number 1.10 hadn¡¯t changed since the beginning.


    "I remember the elder senior sister telling me a few days ago that real masters cannot have any visible flaws. Even if they have them, they need to learn how to compensate for that weakness. My speed right now should be my most obvious flaw. It seems like I¡¯ll need to greatly improve my agility as well."


    After analyzing, he finally focused his view on the Agility attribute.


    After a few seconds, the number jumped from 1.10 to 1.20.


    Another second passed, the Strength attribute hopped as well, from 2.22 to 2.42.


    Garen was somewhat shocked. He looked at his Potential Meter. He had used up all of the potential he¡¯d saved up over the last few weeks. There was 158% left.


    "Why does improving my agility causs my strength to go up?" He was speechless. "Could it be.." He suddenly thought of a possibility. "Even if I want to keep my strength unchanging and only try to increase my speed, the explosive force that results from it will definitely increase as well. This means speed plus strength creates the real explosive force and damage! I think this is the true trick behind these attributes. With a high strength attribute, I can add a little speed to exponentially increase my explosive force and damage."


    He noticed that after the agility attribute went up, another symbol appeared. Looking carefully, the meaning of the symbol naturally flew into his mind.


    "The difference between strength and agility is too big, therefore the two of them affect each other." Garen looked at the other attributes. "If that¡¯s the case, then should I try to even out all my attributes? I shouldn¡¯t be too extreme with one attribute because it will drag down my other attributes too."


    With the little of potential left, Garen didn¡¯t use it up. The potential in the Black Jade Disk had been dying down and the potential inside was less than he anticipated. Because of that, it took longer to absorb the potential and after another time, two at best, there would be nothing left to absorb.


    Sitting on the carriage, he slowly took out the Black Jade Disk form his pants¡¯ pocket. This piece of antique that looked like a tough medal was emitting potential that was as thin as a strand of hair.


    Garen brushed his fingers over this long rectangular small medal and felt the uneven and bumpy words and carvings.


    "After I absorb all of it, I can sell it through a company or through the Golden Hoop. It¡¯ll probably fetch me a lot of money and I¡¯ll be able to use it to find more Antiques of Tragedy." Garen moved around to feel the effects of the change in his attributes. "I guess I won¡¯t go to the old man¡¯s today, but try out my new physique at the dojo. If I don¡¯t familiarize myself, I might screw up in my next combat. I haven¡¯t been that dedicated to going regularly. When I see Master this afternoon, he will lecture me for sure¡­"


    Garen smiled helplessly.

 70 Shifting Destiny 2

    Chapter 70: Shifting Destiny 2


    Afternoon, Pennington street.


    Grey clouds covered the sky, not letting a single beam of light shine through. It was a gloomy day.


    Inside Dolphin Antiques, old man Gregor languidly sat in the chair behind the table. He seemed to be dozing off with his head tilted.


    Suddenly, he heard a familiar footstep from outside the door.


    "Garen?" the old man opened one of his eyes and asked listlessly. "Look at what time it is! I thought you weren¡¯t coming today." He pointed at a white narrow-necked vase with two ear-like handles. "This is your mission for the afternoon, go take a closer look. Give me your appraisal report after."


    Garen walked through the door in a red sports suit. When he saw the old man¡¯s lazy attitude, he rolled his eyes and shook his head in silence. He walked up and reached out to take the vase.


    All of a sudden, he flipped his fingers and launched what seemed to be a black line.


    The black line drew an arch in the air like a flying bug, speeding toward old man Gregor¡¯s forehead like lightning.


    "Ow!"


    It was too late for the old man to dodge, so he slightly tilted his head. Unexpectedly, the black line turned and struck down, stabbing into his left shoulder, and stopped there. It was a thin black needle.


    "Garen, what in the world are you doing?" Gregor got up from his chair, took two steps back and pulled out the needle. He was both surprised and infuriated.


    Garen was shocked. Suddenly, he had a pained expression and staggered two steps back. He spat out a mouthful of blood and his face turned pale.


    "What happened? How are you?" Old man Gregor froze, but then immediately came around the table to hold Garen. His swift movements were completely contradictory to his elderly figure.


    "My¡­ my head hurts..!" Garen¡¯s shouted out in a weak voice, his face twisting with pain.


    "Damn it, it must be those guys! How dare they ¡­ ugh!"


    Gregor¡¯s voice suddenly stopped, his body shuddering next to Garen. He lowered his head and saw a short black dagger stabbed into his belly.


    "You..!"


    Garen sneered as he promptly pulled the dagger out, flipped it in his hand, and backed off a step without making another move.


    "If I wasn¡¯t disguised as that kid, I probably wouldn¡¯t have been able to trick you."


    He pinched the skin on his left cheek and gently peeled off a mask made of human skin, revealing a handsome yet sinister face of a man. "Long time no see, Gregor."


    "It¡¯s you¡­ Sylphalan!"


    Old man Gregor backed off two steps, holding his wounded lower belly. He had a complicated expression.


    "Tell me, where is the thing?" Sylphalan demanded.


    "The thing? Heh¡­" Old man Gregor smiled. "You still haven¡¯t given up?"


    Sylphalan laughed. "I know you¡¯re strong, but there is no way you could escape after getting struck by my Duskhill Needle. Now come on, show me where it is¡­" He slowly approached Gregor.


    Gregor unexpectedly started chuckling.


    "Have you forgotten? No matter how many times you try, you will always eat my dust."


    "We¡¯ll see about that," Sylphalan mocked with a smile.


    *****************


    Phew!


    Garen flung himself at the bed after the shower, his hair still wet. He took a deep breath, the blankets had the most familiar and warm fragrance.


    "I¡¯m so tired¡­" he mumbled. "Got beaten up by master Fei at the dojo, then scolded by mom and dad after getting home. Thank god Ying Er was home early, else it could¡¯ve been worse¡­"


    A tranquil orange light lit the bedroom, dyeing Garen¡¯s white bathrobe a faint yellow. Outside the window, the day was turning dark. It was almost dusk.


    His parents and Ying Er went for a stroll after dinner, but Garen was too tired to go along, so he stayed and rested in his room.


    He laid on his stomach and dug out the Black Jade Disk, carefully rubbing its rough surface with his hand.


    Creak¡­


    The door abruptly opened.


    "Brother, what are you doing with the door closed? Doing something sneaky?" Ying Er walked in holding a glass of water.


    Garen hid the Black Jade Disc in a flurry.


    "Could you knock on the door when you come in?" he complained, sitting up.


    "Knock on the door? For what? How will I catch you doing your sneaky business if I knock?" Ying Er looked like she had just showered as well. Her skin was shining pink from the heat.


    She was wearing a white t-shirt and shorts, revealing her long and slim thighs. She stood at the door, her thighs level with Garen¡¯s face.


    "Didn¡¯t you go out with mom and dad? Why are you back?" Garen asked while trying to avoid peeking at his sister¡¯s legs.


    "I never left. I was just saying that to deceive you, and I¡¯ve finally caught you in action!" Ying Er said with an evil laugh. "If you don¡¯t want mom and dad to know about your fishy business, you¡¯ll have to promise me something!"


    "Promise you something? You think you can threaten me?" Garen replied, acting stubborn. He had nothing to hide, but he was trying to tease Ying Er. "What do you want?"


    Ying Er walked toward Garen and looked down at him with one arm on her hip.


    "What I want is simple!" She hummed and sneered. "That is ¡­"


    Rumble!


    Suddenly there was a thudding sound, and a violent rumbling came after.


    The whole apartment started shaking strenuously, an eerie noise came from afar and numbed Garen¡¯s ears.


    Ying Er couldn¡¯t even stand still. She fell into Garen¡¯s arms, her legs spread out, and sat up straight in Garen¡¯s right leg.


    The two shuddered. Garen warily gripped onto Ying Er, but the latter blushed and ran out of the room in an instant.


    Garen turned around to face up, still immersed in his sister¡¯s refreshing fragrance as she fell onto him.


    "I¡¯ve been quite lucky recently¡­" He lightly chuckled and collected himself. He sat in front of his desk and started reviewing the antiques appraisal knowledge.


    *************


    Suburbs of Huaishan City, inside a forest.


    Old man Gregor covered his stomach and stood facing the burning woods. He quietly watched as the torching flames consumed the trees. The fire reflected on his face, coloring it red.


    "If you still had the book, I might have been a little reluctant, but now¡­" From the searing flames walked out a man, Sylphalan. He had a wound on his left cheek, and blood was slowly streaming out of it onto his chin. "Gregor, you have become mortal ¡­ Your only hope is the sustenance."


    "Even without it, I can still¡­ Cough Cough¡­" Gregor coughed abruptly, his hand was still placed over his abdomen, blood gushing from between his fingers.


    "Weak and powerless, you even lost that book. The once glorious genius has turned into today¡¯s tragic sight!" Sylphalan said, opening his arms. "It really is ¡­. pathetic¡­" he murmured in a poetic tone. "What do you wish to accomplish by extracting your power? Do you want to give it to the boy? It¡¯s no use, he isn¡¯t gifted enough. He is a mere mortal who will easily perish with time."


    "Whoever I¡¯m giving it to, it¡¯s my business. As for that book, I¡¯ve placed it far far away, in a place you would never find¡­" Gregor panted and faintly laughed.


    "We¡¯ve lived together for all those years, brother. Do you really think I don¡¯t know that you would give it to that old hag?" Sylphalan smiled.


    Gregor¡¯s face twitched a little. It was too late when he realized it.


    "I knew it! Haha!" Sylphalan started laughing maniacally. "I was just trying to test you first, but your mind is still as slow as a turtle, even after all these years."


    He stared at Gregor, his eyes full of sorrow.


    "You¡¯ve always put all of your life and power into someone else¡¯s hands. Even until the day you die, you¡¯re still like this. You think I can¡¯t tell how many days you¡¯ve left? Putting all of your vitality into the ritual, only you could do something like this."


    "I was already a useless man, I just wanted to leave a trace of myself in this big world¡­" Gregor had a tearful smile.


    Bang!


    It looked like he had been hit by something invisible; his body abruptly flew out and hit a trunk. Then rolled for a bit.


    "Ugh¡­" Gregor covered his mouth with a hand, but blood flowed out from between his fingers and dripped to the ground.


    "Why are you always this stupid! Why?" Sylphalan ran at him and fiercely hit Gregor¡¯s stomach.


    Bang! Bang! Bang!


    Sylphalan¡¯s feet stomped and kicked, harder and harder.


    It sounded like something hitting a leathered sack, the sound was clear even at the edge of this burning forest.


    "Trace?" He finally stopped. "A scumbag like you wants to leave a trace in this world? Keep dreaming!" At some point during the kicking, his face had turned diabolical. "I¡¯ve made up my mind. I will erase everything you¡¯ve left! All of it!" he roared at the top of his lungs. His face was twisted, purple veins throbbing on his forehead.


    Suddenly a hand gripped Sylphalan¡¯s boot. Gregor desperately raised his head, his face covered in blood. He was completely mute, thick blood continuously welling in his mouth. He stared at Sylphalan with it wide open, unable to say a word.


    "You want me to leave him alone?" Sylphalan stopped raging and regained his calm expression. This time he had a mysterious smirk. "You¡¯re begging me? You are begging me, right?"


    Gregor¡¯s pupils were dilating, his eyes had gone blurry, and he could not see anything. But he kept his grip on Sylphalan¡¯s boot.


    "You¡¯re really begging me?" Sylphalan¡¯s smile turned into a wild laugh. "If you want to beg me, then lick my boots clean!"


    Bang!


    He stomped on Gregor¡¯s face.


    "Lick it¡­ the once glorious genius ¡­ my dear brother.. LICK IT!"


    His face turned diabolical again.


    He stomped and grinded Gregor¡¯s face, again and again.


    Suddenly he froze.


    Old man Gregor, who was dying beneath his feet, really reached out with his tongue and licked his boot.


    An inexplicable emotion filled Sylphalan¡¯s chest. He raised his head and felt a sudden bitterness.


    "It¡­ was¡­ my fault¡­ back ¡­ then¡­" Old man¡¯s voice came from below his feet. "Forgi¡­ me¡­"


    His head slid down to the ground, the last bit of luster gone from his eyes.


    Sylphalan did not respond. He looked at the body at his feet. The cold wind blew and angered the flames in the forest, but they were starting to burn down.


    "Brother¡­"


    Sylphalan silently squatted down next to Gregor¡¯s body.


    **********************


    At the same time, Garen sat at his desk and felt a warmth in his chest.


    He pulled out a necklace from beneath his collar. It was the book shaped one old man Gregor had given him.


    "What¡¯s going on?" He checked it again, but could not find anything abnormal. The necklace was as warm as his body¡¯s temperature.


    He decided not to overthink it, chucked the necklace back beneath his collar, and continued to study the appraisal cases.


    As he stuffed the necklace back, a small line of text appeared on its surface.


    ¡®Ain Gregoria, third life ritual ¨C protection.¡¯

 71 Shifting Destiny 3

    Chapter 71: Shifting Destiny 3


    Knock! Knock!


    "Open the door, old man!" Garen kept knocking on the door of the antique shop.


    It was early in the morning, and there were only a couple workers in blue walking down the street. They saw Garen violently knocking on the door but did not bother to stop.


    "Old man! You still sleeping?" Garen was out of patience and started to yell. He went to bed early last night and wanted to ask Gregor a few questions before heading to the Martial Arts Association for the ranking test, but no one was answering the door.


    "Is he not here?" Garen thought and scrunched his eyebrows. He looked around and made sure no one else was around. He tiptoed and reached the edge of a window with his hand. He grabbed a blue key from the windowsill.


    "I knew it would still here." Garen smiled and opened the door with the key.


    Creak.


    The door opened slowly, and the place remained silent. The floor was covered with a black carpet, and there were several paintings hanging on the wall. The paintings were done in various colors, but mainly gold and silver.


    Garen closed the door, walked toward the wall, and touched all the new items. He shook his head in disappointment. There was nothing that could increase his potential. Garen turned back and walked to the inner chamber.


    It was dark behind the door curtain, so Garen carefully lit the oil lamps on the wall.


    "Old man? Are you alright?" Garen scrunched his eyebrows and looked at the bed. It did not seem like anyone had slept in it. The blanket was still well organized.


    Garen walked toward the bed and put his hand on the blanket. Cold.


    "No one slept in here for sure. Did he go out last night?" Garen wondered. He knew something was not right. He walked toward the front of the shop and sat down on the old man¡¯s chair.


    (P.S. I thought of using Double Gourd Vase with Slender Neck, but amphora seemed more appropriate)


    Garen suddenly saw the dark red stain on the white Slender Neck Amphora. He narrowed his eyes and grabbed the amphora. Scratching off some of the dark red stain with his finger, he smelled it.


    "It¡¯s blood¡­" Garen stood up slowly, a serious expression on his face.


    "I hope the old man is okay¡­" he thought.


    Garen started to investigate the situation and after several minutes he found some more bloodstains on the black carpet. He carefully checked around, but that was the only thing he found.


    "Huh?" Garen found a white rectangular letter lying on the carpet under the table.


    It said ¡®To Little Bastard¡¯ on the envelope. The words were written in black ink, and the handwriting was a bit messy, but still easy to read.


    "It¡¯s the old man," Garen scrunched his eyebrows and opened the envelope. He pulled the letter out, noticing that there was almost no empty space left on the paper.


    ¡®I am on vacation kid! Don¡¯t try to find or contact me. I am good. An old friend invited me, and there are a lot of delicious dishes and nice drinks here. I heard he also prepared beauties for me. Hahaha. Don¡¯t get jealous. I don¡¯t think I am coming back. I opened the shop for fun, and I will leave it to you. You can do whatever you want with it.


    Wait. I taught you how to identify the antiques. You better keep learning. I am counting on you.¡¯


    The letter ended here.


    Garen finished the letter, but his expression did not change. He became even more serious.


    "Old man¡­ You think I will be tricked by this?" Garen thought and took the letter to the table. He lit an oil lamp with a match and toasted the paper carefully over the flame.


    Sentences started to slowly show up on the back of the letter. Garen read the letter again after all the hidden sentences appeared.


    ¡®Garen, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll find my hidden message. But by the time you¡¯re reading this, I¡¯ll probably be gone already. To be honest, you remind me of myself. Though you aren¡¯t talented like me, our personalities are really similar. Well, make sure you take care of the necklace I gave you and don¡¯t lose it. It might help out in a certain situation.


    Also, if¡­ I mean, if you find something is strange in the shop, you need to leave it immediately! If anyone asks you about me, never say you knew me! There is barely anyone who can deal with them in this world. Don¡¯t call the police and don¡¯t seek help from others. It will only put them in danger. Only people with equivalent power would be able to fight them.


    Sadly¡­ You don¡¯t have the talent¡­¡¯


    The message ended here.


    It seemed like the old man still had something to say.


    Garen was breathing heavily while reading the message. He knew something happened to the old man, but he tried not to think about it.


    "They? Old man, who are they?" Garen thought


    There were many thoughts going through Garen¡¯s mind, and he just stood there with the letter in his hands.


    Ka!


    Suddenly, he heard some noise.


    "Who¡¯s there!" Garen yelled. He put the letter down and rushed toward the source of the noise.


    A man was walking toward the backdoor of the inner chamber. He turned back and looked at Garen after hearing his yell. The man looked surprised.


    "Master was right. The kid came back!" the thin man suddenly yelled out.


    "We didn¡¯t come here for nothing," someone else agreed. He then continued, "Take him out and we can leave."


    "Got it. I will take care of him." The thin man laughed and walked toward Garen.


    "Kid, you¡¯re unlucky," the man said, pointing a finger at Garen.


    Boom!


    Some invisible force stopped Garen from moving, and he felt like he was glued to the floor.


    "What is this?"


    Garen¡¯s expression changed. He wanted to raise his arm but he could not move at all. It was as if he was locked between two cement walls.


    "Is this the talent the old man spoke about? That¡¯s their power?" Garen thought. He tried his best to move, but nothing happened.


    Garen stared at the man in front of him and saw there was a black tattoo on the back of his right hand. It looked like a complex pentacle.


    "James Silva, stop playing and hurry up," the man outside the door spoke again.


    "Okay, fine." The thin man named James Silva looked annoyed. He pointed his first finger at Garen again.


    Crack!


    There was a sound of glass shattering.


    The man no longer seemed annoyed. He froze, then slowly looked down and saw a arm jabbed into his chest. The teenager who had been previously restrained was now standing right in front of him with a cold look on his face.


    Boom!


    The thin man was struck again and fell to the floor after hitting the door. He stopped breathing after rolling several meters away. Garen walked out through the backdoor and entered the backyard.


    There were three men in black standing in there, staring at the thin man lying on the floor. For a time, they couldn¡¯t understand what had just happened.


    "It¡¯s Old Man Gregor! It¡¯s him! He¡¯s back!" a man at the left yelled in a shaky tone.


    "Shut up! That old bastard is dead already! He was finished off by our master!" the leading man in black yelled back at him. "Take him out. We need to leave!"


    "I only want to live a peaceful life, why do you have to do this?" Garen had no expression on his face as he looked at the three men calmly. His body started to expand, and his muscles puffed up. Garen¡¯s upper body became twice its original size, and he looked like a demon from the tales.


    "I don¡¯t have the talent? Ridiculous¡­" Garen said.


    BAM!


    Garen leapt forward, the floor shaking underneath him, and caused a hole to appear after landing. It was as if the ground was struck by lightning.


    "Spread out!" the three yelled, but Garen grabbed two of them before they could act. He squeezed the two¡¯s heads with his hands and they exploded. The backyard was splashed with blood and brains, painting a horror-filled scene.


    The last man jumped away and trembling drew out his two daggers. He leaned forward, in a desperate attempt to stab Garen¡¯s neck.


    BAM!


    Garen slapped the man like one would slap a fly. His victim lost his balance and was blown away by the impact. The man hit the wall, dropped his daggers, and remained stuck like a gruesome painting.


    Garen inhaled heavily and quickly walked towards the wall. He then dragged the man by the hair and punched him in the stomach. The man coughed blood and it splashed on Garen¡¯s clothes.


    "Tough guys, huh? Without the invisible force shield, you¡¯re all weak, just like any other normal person," Garen said.


    "Ha¡­Haha¡­" Blood was coming out of the man¡¯s eyes, ears, mouth and nose, but he could still laugh. "You¡¯re done¡­ You still live with your parents, right? And you have a young sister? White Stallion is on his way to your home. If it was not for the Master¡¯s order, I¡¯d be having a great time with the young girl¡­ But White Stallion is worse than me¡­ He¡¯s going to f*ck your sister to death! Hahaha!" the man yelled until his last breath.


    Crack!


    Garen broke his neck without hesitation.


    "Telling me your friend¡¯s location, huh? Don¡¯t worry¡­ He¡¯s going to be there with you soon¡­" Garen said.


    He went back to the ground and rushed out of the backyard, leaving a hole where he came down. With just one step, Garen moved four meters forward and soon disappeared in the morning mist.

 72 Shifting Destiny 4

    Chapter 72: Shifting Destiny 4


    White fog surrounded Huaishan City without anyone taking notice of it.


    From the main street to the back alley, everything was covered in fog.


    Bluetree Street.


    Rows of light yellow covered buildings stood side by side. A man could be seen strolling along the sidewalk in his white suit, playing with the keys circling his finger.


    "This mission isn¡¯t half bad¡­ I can have a rest, even take a break from those three idiots. Also have a taste of a little girl as an extra."


    The man seemed to be mumbling something to himself as he walked with a wide smile across his face. His eyes fixated on the little girl not far in front.


    The little girl was Ying Er, who was leaving her house to buy some stuff. She was wearing a white t-shirt and low-waist jeans with her waist line showing. She had the slim legs and waist that many girls envied her for. Though her chest was not fully developed and her looks were average, but this young body that was rich with youth was the type that White Stallion liked the most.


    White Stallion followed closely behind and couldn¡¯t help but gulp, noticing the movement of her hips while she walked.


    "I should take action once there are fewer civilians around¡­" He counted the distance and resisted his urge to act immediately.


    After some distance, he spotted Ying Er humming while turning right into a narrow back alley.


    White Stallion was delighted by the situation and increased his pace. It could be seen from his face that he could not hold back anymore. A white handkerchief appeared on his hand out of nowhere, coated with something needed for this occasion.


    Clack. Clack. Clack.


    Suddenly, footsteps could be heard coming from the corner ahead of him. Three tall men slowly walked out from the alley, each of them with golden earings of various sizes hanging from their left ears.


    The three men prevented White Stallion from entering the alley.


    "Piss off!" The good-looking one among the three told him. He seemed to be the leader of the group. His expression was dim, obviously in a bad mood.


    This guy in front of White Stallion wore a brown coat with a furry collar and had his hands tucked into his pockets. His hair was bright red, like a fire burning in a fog. The golden earing hanging from his ear was carved with a clear number 6.


    "Puny mortal¡­" The smile on White Stallions face faded. "How dare you to address me in this tone¡­"


    The red-haired man was taken aback. He didn¡¯t expect someone to speak to him in that kind of manner. He let out an awkward smile before speaking,


    "It¡¯s been so long since someone dared to speak to me like this¡­." He took out his right hand from his pocket. "It seems as though you are one of those experts that are tracking me¡­ Would be disrespectful of me if I don¡¯t give them a gift¡­."


    "Cocky¡­ Still, mortals are mortals." White Stallion smirked, reaching out with his right hand to take off his black gloves, revealing the Black Pentagon Tattoo. "I will gouge your eyes out and keep them for my new collection." A mysterious energy began forming around him.


    "You must be looking for a death bed¡­" The two men beside the red-haired man retreated after he raised his hand. Oddly enough, a blood red scar began emerging from below his right eye. It looked like an eye shadow done by a lady, sharp yet enchanting.


    Huff¡­


    A wind blew past, racking up some leaves along the way.


    *************


    Garen was running hastily through the streets, surging past the pedestrians. He had already taken off his shirt and was gripping it under his arm. The upper part of the shirt was stained with blood.


    "Damn it¡­ Please don¡¯t be in trouble!" His face was pale, heart growing more impatient by the second.


    It was a 20 to 30 minutes¡¯ walk to get from Pennington Street to Blue Tree Street, but Garen managed to reach his home in ten. Unfortunately his parents must¡¯ve gone out, as well as his little sister, Ying Er. Garen wasted no time leaving the house and continuing his search along the street.


    He was trying to figure out where his sister might have gone to while running wildly around the neighborhood.


    "She might¡¯ve gone to the market at this hour! Or maybe she¡¯s at a fruit stall!"


    Garen hesitated for a while before deciding to head off to the market.


    The scenery beside Garen started to blur in reverse yet the road ahead of Garen was still clear in his eyes.


    "Pass this crossroad and make a right turn, then I should make a left turn after a few hundred meters."


    Thump!


    A muffled sound came from the empty street in front.


    A blurry figure could be seen flying in the fog. It tumbled to the ground and rolled a few times before stopping in front of Garen¡¯s boots.


    He came to a halt, lowering his head to look at the man lying in front of him.


    A suit dirtied to a point where it was barely recognizable to have been white once. Right now it was only grey and brown due to numerous stains. Even the man¡¯s neat hair was thrown into disarray. However, what was most worth noting was that both of his arms were twisted in an unnatural way, obviously broken.


    Then Garen noticed the Black Pentagon Tattoo at the back of his right hand.


    "It¡¯s similar to those guys¡¯ tattoos¡­"


    He bent over and grabbed the man¡¯s collar, bringing him upward.


    "You¡¯re White Stallion?" he asked. After all that running, his breathing took a bit of minor adjustments to return to normal.


    "It¡¯s you¡­ Hehe¡­ I can¡¯t believe I will die in the hands of a mortal¡­" White Stallion chuckled before letting out his last breath. His eyes slowly faded as his soul began to seep away from his body.


    Garen was stunned by what he had just witnessed. He shook the body for a while before noticing a black shape emerging from White Stallion¡¯s neck¡¯s right side. It was connected with the Black Pentagon behind his right hand.


    Garen tossed away the corpse and let out a breath. He took a few steps forward as he began to see clearer what was ahead of him.


    Three tall men wearing golden earrings sat in front of a narrow back alley with exhausted looks on their faces. Dark blood stains could be seen under the nose of the one with red hair.


    The red-haired man raised his head to look in Garen¡¯s direction after hearing the footsteps.


    "It¡¯s you." He let down off his guard for a moment. "Damn it, I thought there was another monster like him coming!" He scowled while trying to get up using a wall.


    "Might I ask, expert, what kind of monstrous opponents are you facing exactly? I even had to let out my qi-gong because of him! You¡¯re lucky I got here in time or your sister would be in deep trouble by now."


    Garen just nodded along, not knowing what had happened. He noticed that the golden earring on the man¡¯s ear had a number 6 carved on it.


    "I owe you one, Sixth Golden Hoop." He turned his eyes toward the other two. "What about them?"


    "Temporary henchmen, they practice Body Hardening Technique. They helped me block some of the attacks but from the looks of things they won¡¯t live long." The red-haired man shook his head. "I¡¯ll have someone inform their families." He suddenly turned and looked at Garen furiously.


    "I¡¯ve already taken care of this incident for you! Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re still not joining the Golden Hoop? Don¡¯t blame me if I turn against you!"


    Garen was speechless. All he could do now was force a smile.


    "Take this!" The red-haired man tossed a piece of a golden earring toward Garen.


    Garen caught it properly and took a look at it. It was a golden earring with a number 9 carved on it. It was as big as a finger nail and it looked delicately made.


    "Temporary replacement for Ninth Golden Hoop?"


    "Not temporary. Didn¡¯t you almost take care of Tenth Golden Hoop? It¡¯s only natural that you have this ranking." Number Six sneered.


    "You even know this?" Garen was stunned.


    "The trait of your combat arts is too obvious, even your whereabouts are too obvious."


    Garen shrugged, having nothing to say.


    "Alright, go take a look at your sister. I have to ask someone to take care of things here." The red-haired man wiped off the blood stains from around his nose and walked toward the dead corpse.


    Garen picked up his pace and walked into the back alley. This was the shortcut his little sister always took. After getting out of the back alley, Ying Er¡¯s back figure finally appeared within Garen¡¯s eyesight.


    He rushed out, hugging his little sister.


    "Ying Er!"


    Ying Er felt a familiar presence hugging her from behind. She almost dropped the tomatoes and potatoes that she was carrying from the market, startled by this sudden action.


    "Brother! What are you doing! Are you not embarrassed? We are on the main street!" She struggled to get away from Garen but felt the difference in strength between them. Trying a few more times to no avail, she gave up and just let him do what he wanted.


    "Ying Er¡­ I¡¯m so glad you¡¯re fine¡­." Garen held his half-a-head shorter sister tightly in his arms.


    "Fine from what?" Ying Er was being hugged by Garen from behind with her hips awkwardly positioned against Garen¡¯s crotch region. "Let me go or I¡¯m going to be so pissed!"


    "Okay, okay, I¡¯ll let go." Garen also felt the awkwardness and swiftly removed his arms from around his sister. He was relieved to know his sister¡¯s current condition. Most of the passers-by stared at them ambiguously, assuming that they were a in a relationship.


    "Where is mom and dad?" Garen asked, ignoring the attention of the passing people.


    "They went to get some coal and firewood. The winter is coming, we need to have these stuff prepared to avoid getting cold." Ying Er held up the groceries she bought from the market. "It¡¯s your turn to carry this as a punishment for the jump scare just now!" She shoved the sack to Garen.


    "Okay!" Garen was relieved. He felt good at this moment.


    "I have to continue buying groceries. You follow me closely and try not to lose me okay?" Ying Er turned and walked forward, toward the sidewalk not far in front of her. Both sides of the street were full with various stalls selling vegetables along with some housewives who had woken up early to pick the fresh ones.


    Garen carried the groceries with one hand, while tucking away the golden earring into his pocket with the other.


    "I owe the Golden Hoop big this time¡­ Still, at least the safety of my family is guaranteed. If the Golden Hoop¡¯s background is what Number 8 said¡­"


    If it was true, it should be a good thing for Garen to join the Golden Hoop. One thing for sure was that he had to be cautious when he was around Dale and the gang. One false move may lead to them discovering his secret identity.


    Taking a deep breath, Garen realized that he was too lazy to concern himself with this issue. His heart sank when he recalled that the old man had gotten himself into trouble.


    "Judging from the looks of these guys just now, the old man should¡¯ve been a respectable figure in the past. Just his name was enough to frighten them back there. As to the master they were mentioning¡­"


    Cold determination flashed through Garen¡¯s eyes.


    "Whoever brought harm to you, I swear, I will take revenge for you¡­ I swear."


    A sweet and fishy smell suddenly burst from his chest and to his throat. Garen immediately covered his mouth and forced it back down. His entire throat was covered with a sticky smell of blood.


    It was the internal injury he had gotten from forcing himself to fight the three black-suited henchmen earlier on. He didn¡¯t take the time to adjust himself before rushing out from the scene. It was not until 10 minutes after that he took a proper rest.


    If it wasn¡¯t for Garen¡¯s strong physique, and he was like other Martial Adepts, he¡¯d be left unable to move.


    "That power felt like psychokinesis. Its force was really strong. Luckily it was countered by pure strength, but other types of fighters would find it difficult to face. Maybe I can get some evidence from the corpse¡­"

 73 Meeting and Discussion 1

    Chapter 73: Meeting and Discussion 1


    Garen applied direct pressure to his chest and tried to hide his injury. He thought he needed to go to the Dojo and ask for Master¡¯s help.


    "Ying Er, I will have lunch at the Dojo so don¡¯t wait for me. I will take the groceries back home first," Garen said.


    "Dojo again¡­ Mom and Dad are home today," Ying Er said, disappointment etched on her face.


    "Don¡¯t be upset. I heard they got a better job and we¡¯ll be able to spend more time together now." Garen patted his sister¡¯s head and smiled. He asked Master to move his parents to a better position, and it seemed as if Master had already done it.


    Garen¡¯s uncle could do something like this easily, but for some reason he never helped his parents. He arrived home and put everything down, then went straight to the Dojo.


    There were a lot of repairs going on in the city, and many infrastructures were being rebuilt. Garen could see workers and bullock cars that carried materials everywhere. The downtown area had become messy, no longer as clean as before.


    He kept thinking about the three people he met earlier, while quickly walking down the street, and just felt that something was not right.


    "If the invisible force field was the talent the old man talked about before, the key to all the questions would be the book he asked me to read that day." Garen thought he finally found a clue. "After watching me read the book, the old man looked disappointed and said I was not talented. I¡¯ve not seen that book since. It may contain the answers to all my questions¡­"


    Garen slowed down a bit. He saw a pancake stand moving towards him after turning at a corner. The owner of the stand smiled and handed him a small piece of paper before passing.


    Garen stopped for a second and looked at the piece of paper. A Golden Hoop was drawn on it, and there was a sentence written below the graph: ¡¯28-3 Stone Bridge, Willow Street. Urgent.¡¯


    Garen put the paper into his pocket and took a deep breath. He then turned back and crossed the street.


    ********************


    East of the Huaishan.


    A yellow river slowly ran across the city area, and it looked like a wide yellow ribbon dividing the city in half. But it was a dirty one.


    There were many square shaped light-yellow houses on both sides of the river. Some of them were tall and some short. They looked like a bunch of unorganized blocks. Sometimes, people in the houses could be seen through the windows.


    There were many dark yellow stone bridges built over the river. Many pedestrians and cars were going across them. There was a silver black bust standing in the middle of one bridge that was far from the downtown area. The bust with its stand was about three meters tall, and it was a man with a moustache surrounded by flowers.


    There was a bronze introduction panel in front of the bust, and a man in check sweater was standing beside it. The man was about 30 or 40 years old. He had brown eyes and an aquiline nose. With his short grey hair, he looked ruthless.


    A strong young man with short purple hair appeared on the left side of the bridge and slowly walking toward the bronze panel. He was wearing a black sweatshirt, though the shirt was large, it could barely hide his muscles. The sunlight was not strong, but the young man¡¯s arms still looked shiny.


    "Master Nine?"


    Garen heard the voice and looked at the man¡¯s aquiline nose. The man revealed a golden earing he was holding with his right hand.


    "Nine?" Garen scrunched his eyebrows and stared at the man. He then realized he just took over position of Number Nine. "What¡¯s the matter?" he asked.


    "Master Six was checking the retrieved bodies, and he thought you would be interested in the results. He asked me to inform you about them," the man answered respectfully. His voice was low, just enough for Garen to hear him.


    "The bodies¡­ Lead the way." Garen¡¯s expression changed, and he said with a deep tone.


    "Sure, please follow me."


    They went across the bridge and left the downtown area. There were many oxcarts and carriages on the road. Garen barely saw any cars around, just ox feces by the roadside from time to time.


    They crossed two streets and walked into a narrow path beside a small hill. On the other side, there was a black wall separating the living area from the path.


    The two had already left the city area, and Garen could hear insects making noises in the bushes on the side. He followed the man with an aquiline nose and kept checking the surroundings.


    Quack. Quack.


    Garen saw several white-feathered ducks crossing the path after turning a corner. An old farmer with a straw hat was guiding them with a branch. He looked relaxed. Garen and the man went around the procession and kept advancing. They saw an empty ground by the end of the path, and behind the empty ground, there was a small building that was surrounded by green trees.


    The sunlight was blocked by the trees, and the building was covered in shadows.


    "That¡¯s it." The man stopped by the entrance of the building. "This is one of our bases in Huaishan. Please go to the second floor. The other masters are waiting for you there."


    Garen looked at him but did not say anything and just entered the building. A lady with black hair walked out of one of the rooms on the second floor. She looked sexy dressed in a tight leather suit. The lady had a ponytail, and was tall and slim. Her eyes were dark purple, and they caught Garen¡¯s attention.


    The lady was pretty, but she seemed hard to approach. She saw Garen going upstairs and walked back into the room without saying anything. He felt a bit speechless.


    "No.10 is here too¡­ I guess she knows who I am." Garen shook his head and kept moving. There was a strong man standing by the entrance to the second floor.


    "This way, please. According to the rules, please put on your earring," the strong man told Garen.


    Garen nodded and took the golden earring out of his pocket. He hesitated for a second, rubbing his earlobe. He decided to just put it on his left little finger, turned the number side up, and entered the room on the right.


    It was the only room on the right side of the second floor. It was big with a rectangle table, two bookshelves, and several high backed chairs. All of the furniture were made of some red wood. Garen could smell its light fragrance.


    A man and a lady were standing in front of the bookshelves. The lady was Number Ten, while the man was blonde and had only one eye. They were talking about something.


    Number Six and a pale man with a black cape were playing cards on the table.


    "You¡¯re here? We can start." Number Six stood up and laughed, he put down his cards. "Sorry, Number Eight, I win again."


    "Bullshit!" Number Eight cursed. He stood up and looked at Garen. "You¡¯re a bit late," he said.


    "Sorry, I am not familiar with the route," Garen replied, nodding to him. Number Eight had invited Garen to join the Golden Hoop, and he was the only one Garen was familiar with. So he walked toward him and stood by his side.


    "So, what¡¯s the matter?" Garen asked.


    Number Six smiled but did not answer the question.


    He clapped and said, "Okay everyone. We¡¯re here to discuss the thing about the Silversilk Castle. There are five members from the top ten here, and we haven¡¯t met like this in years."


    "Cut the crap!" Number 10 barked, stopping Number Six from saying more unnecessary things. "We¡¯re busy organizing our territories and aren¡¯t here to waste our time."


    "Fine." Number Six scratched his head. "First, I would like to introduce our new member, Number Nine!"


    Clap.


    They clapped their hands several times but no one seemed to care.


    "I still have no idea about the Golden Hoop." Garen shrugged.


    "Take those," Number Eight handed Garen a stack of paper. "Leave them here after you finish reading. Someone will burn them."


    Garen grabbed several pages, and found out they contained the information about the Golden Hoop.


    He read through the information quickly, and learnt some basic knowledge about the Gold Hoop.


    It was a large organization that sold antiques and jewelry. The top ten members of the Golden Hoop created an information network that collected rumours about antiques. If there were requests for certain items, the organization would do whatever they needed to get them for the buyers.


    The top ten members were responsible for the organization, but they were not ranked with the numbers, and they all had their own territories and networks. They joined the organization just to make more profit.


    Each of the top ten members oversaw a certain task: some needed to collect information about antiques while others needed to communicate with buyers. They could buy the antiques they wanted, or they could also get them from the others¡¯ territories. They would work together as long as there were benefits.


    Number Six spoke again while Garen was still checking the information. "Recently, our customers have shown a great interest in Antiques of Tragedy, and Number Nine is an expert of Antiques of Tragedy. He will make sure the antiques we get are real. This is the main reason I agreed to take him in."


    "Also, Number Nine is a Martial Adept, and he is very close to rank E," Number Eight added. "We¡¯ve already voted to confirm his membership and don¡¯t need to discuss it anymore. Number Six, get to the point."


    "Fine." Number Six nodded and looked at Number Ten. She did not seem to care about any of this. "We sometimes make changes to our top management, like Number Seven, who just joined us about two years ago. Well, let¡¯s get down to business." His face got serious.

 74 Meeting and Discussion 2

    Chapter 74: Meeting and Discussion 2


    "Just then, I had a fight with Number Four about that item from last time. You guys are well aware of that. So I was in a terrible mood and received the news from our dependents. They said people are targeting the relatives of the newly joined Number Nine. So I rushed there to unleash my anger. However, I didn¡¯t expect¡­"


    "What did you encounter?" Number Eight asked in a lowered voice.


    "I don¡¯t know." Number Six shook his head.


    The other people focused their attention on him. He had obviously piqued their curiosity.


    "Just be straight forward and tell us. What¡¯s with the hesitation?" Number Ten grimly said. Number Seven beside her calmly glanced over with reticence.


    Number Six closed his eyes and didn¡¯t respond right away. He was instead trying to remember what had happened.


    After ten seconds, he gradually opened his mouth.


    "I originally thought it was releasing the body hardening technique outside of the body, but later I realized it was impossible." He looked at everyone, and even Garen, who was looking through the documents, raised his head to focus on him.


    "I would imagine it was psychokinesis. The guy I encountered must be someone who possessed the power of psychokinesis from the legend!"


    "Psychokinesis?" Number Eight rubbed his chin, pondering.


    "You read way too many novels, Number Six." Number Ten sneered. "I still have a business that I need to negotiate. If you¡¯re telling me something imaginary and fake, you¡¯ll have to excuse me for leaving!"


    "No, what he said is true," all of a sudden said the silent Number Seven. "I have seen psychokinesis before. The world they live in is completely separated from that of normal people. Just like martial adepts, they¡¯re light years ahead of ordinary people."


    "Do you have any evidence?"


    "Unfortunately, no." Number Six shrugged. "There was a black tattoo on the back of the corpse¡¯s hand, but for some reason, it disappeared after death."


    "It¡¯s gone?" Garen put down the documents.


    "Mhmm, completely vanished," Number Six confided. "I got someone to dissect the corpse but didn¡¯t manage to find anything useful. Psychokinesis is one thing I want to remind everyone to be careful of. If possible, collect some intelligence in this area. Number Nine, if you have any information, try your best to notify everyone since it originates from you. You also have to be aware that they are strong, at least the person I met was powerful."


    Garen nodded.


    "The second thing, it¡¯s the white rock eye we have. It already has five bidders. Currently, 56 million is the highest price. The item was acquired through our back office, and the front office has nothing to do with it. Therefore, the money will be only divided among the people that contributed," Number Six explained. "The appraisal will be up to Number Nine. This thing could count as an Antique of Tragedy, and it is said that anyone who keeps the antique in possession for over two months would be overwhelmed with diseases and pain. The book of silence¡­ I don¡¯t know if it is true or not."


    Joyous in his mind, Garen immediately nodded in agreement. "My appraisal is not a problem." He looked at some information and became aware of the difference between the front and the back office of the Golden Loop.


    The front office consisted of the first five numbers, whereas the back office were the latter five numbers. The two sides never got on friendly terms since the relationship had always been strained.


    "That¡¯s good. Now we divide up the money. Number Eight is the pivotal contributor this time and takes home 80%. Number Ten receives 10%. Number Nine and I will each take 5%. Us four will divide the money. Number Seven will take 100 thousand from number eight that received the most as tradition. Is everyone okay with this?"


    "Yes," Number Eight said. "Number Nine contributed a major amount as well and should be rewarded accordingly. If it were not for him, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to acquire the item. I¡¯ll split one-third of my share with him."


    "It¡¯s okay, 5% is more than enough." Garen smiled. "If it can be sold for 50 million, I can receive two million. It is enough."


    "There is no rush. The money is not as simple as it looks." Number Six gestured. "As a newly joined member, you have to prove your worth to the group. Appraisal alone is not enough to assume the position as Number Nine. Everyone must complete a mission when they join which would be beneficial to the organization. It is your turn now.


    Garen slightly raised his eyebrows. "Is this an examination? What kind of mission?"


    "We don¡¯t know yet. But next time when trouble arrives, you alone will have to take care of the problem. This is to prove your ability to handle difficult situations alone as part of the top ten golden loops." Number Six shrugged.


    Unbothered, Garen nodded. "This is not a problem. Also, about those psychokinetic individuals, are there any leads? Regarding their origin?"


    "The only thing we know is that it¡¯s connected to the explosion case in a rural area. As well as the Dolphin antique store¡¯s owner¡¯s mysterious disappearance along with the three bodies found in the backyard."


    "I killed those three people," Garen interrupted him. "Can you help me look for Old Man Gregor¡¯s information? His store should be recorded within certain bureaus. At least his personal information."


    "Let me try. Number Ten is in charge of Huaishan area. You can go talk to her about it." Number Six mischievously smiled at Garen.


    Garen was speechless. He had just injured and almost accidentally killed Number Ten. It would be senseless to ask her for help now.


    "If there are any leads, please let me know as soon as possible."


    "No problem." Number Eight patted Garen¡¯s shoulder. "Don¡¯t be too sad."


    "No need to be sad. I¡¯ll eventually find him, and kill him!" Garen said calmly.


    After the money was split, the white rock eye fell into the hands of Garen to determine its authenticity within three weeks. He took it and left the small cabin while everyone else dispersed separately as well. Only Number Ten stayed behind. It was her place after all.


    ******************


    Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!


    The black sandbag flew higher and higher.


    Garen forcefully smashed the sandbag with all his might, one punch after another. The metal sand inside the sandbag concaved from the excessive force.


    His upper body was exposed, and the sweat dropped down like rainfall. He was only wearing black shorts, and the contracting and expanding muscles gave a sturdy but flexible vibe.


    "From a martial adept¡¯s perspective, you¡¯re doing quite well."


    In the training hall behind his back, Fei Baiyun took a white colored chair and sat down firmly. He had a cup of hot tea in his hand and occasionally took a sip or two.


    "White Cloud Secret Arts, Combat Techniques, Explosive Fist Arts. You have learned it all. The next step is to take it to real combat. You must fuse all the techniques into particular moves and fully unleash your potential. This is what you need to do. In a few days, you¡¯ll go with me to a conference and see the skill level of other martial adepts," Fei Baiyun said in a calm and slow voice.


    "Yes, Master," Garen answered respectfully, stopping his training.


    "There is nothing wrong with hiding your power. It¡¯s just that if you don¡¯t usually fight at your limit, your performance would be below expectations in a critical battle. Although hiding your power would make your opponent underestimate you, there are always accidents. You can never completely hide." Fei Baiyun took another sip of the tea.


    "Everyone at the conference will be martial adepts. You¡¯ll have to remember that you can¡¯t be arrogant just because you have some achievements. The White Cloud Gate is nothing within the martial adept circle. There are far stronger opponents out there. Don¡¯t underestimate anyone because of your mastery in Explosive Fist Arts."


    "Don¡¯t worry Master. I know where my limit is." Garen nodded in agreement. After witnessing Golden Loops¡¯ martial adepts as well as the existence of psychokinesis, his original thoughts of being considered a strong marial adept after a couple of breakthroughs were shattered. His opponents were stronger than ever, and no one was weak. This point alone was enough to eradicate his arrogance.


    "As long as you understand. Now go back and pack a few things. We¡¯ll leave the day after tomorrow. Remember to let your family know." Fei Baiyun smiled, pleased.


    He was extremely satisfied by this latest disciple. As long as he didn¡¯t betray the White Cloud Gate, everything else would be irrelevant. His potential and power were impeccable even compared to Farak. It was unbelievable that he managed to reach the second level of Explosive Fist Arts in just one year time.


    "I¡¯ll only bring you this time. I¡¯ve brought your senior brother and sisters separately before. This is the opportunity for you to expand your understanding of the martial adept world. There will be plenty of opportunities to fight, and you must be prepared for them. Also, you¡¯ll be representing the White Cloud Gate as the core disciple. You have to be cautious of your image."


    "I¡¯ll be leading?" Garen was surprised. "Master, how many people are going this time?"


    "Including you, a total of five people. The other four are selected based on their potential. They are your junior brothers and sisters. You¡¯ll have to take care of them." Fei Baiyun smiled.


    "Ok¡­" Garen was slightly troubled as he had a lot of things that he needed to figure out, which meant he wasn¡¯t in the mood to take care of other people.


    It had been several months since he met with the Golden Loop. He had to return the rock eye within three weeks. He had also saved up four attribute points.


    The Black Jade Disk was completely out of potential now. Garen tried to absorb the potential from the Bronze Cross Emblems at the Silversilk Castle that he got from Dale Quicksilver. However, the absorbing speed was too slow. It was questionable whether he could increase one attribute point in a year¡¯s time.


    Therefore, he only had four remaining attribute points left, and he was faced with the situation where he had ran out of potential that could be absorbed.


    During this time, he used Manuyllton Corporation and the Golden Loop to collect Antiques of Tragedy, except that none could provide the potential at a fast enough pace. He started to suspect that the problem came from himself. Potential generated attribute points, therefore, when he was weak, it was easy to absorb a large amount of potential from any Antique of Tragedy.


    But now, the potential he was absorbing was becoming negligible. A large factor in this could be that he was stronger compared to before, thus, to generate an attribute point a significantly larger amount of potential was required. Therefore, normal Antiques of Tragedy could not sustain his needs.


    A stream of water was ample to fill a cup, but for a jug, it would be minuscule.


    That was what Garen deduced. The stronger his body was, the higher amount of energy would be required. It would only be natural this way.

 75 The Speechless Martial Adepts 1

    Chapter 75: The Speechless Martial Adepts 1


    There were no more sources of potential, as well as no leads to the old man¡¯s death. It all made Garen impatient.


    Adding to it the inheritance of his uncle¡¯s business and the trouble caused by the teens from Lambrath¡¯s mom¡¯s side of the family, Garen was becoming even more frustrated.


    He watched Fei Baiyun stroll out of the practice hall. He glanced at the attributes below his vision.


    Strength 2.43. Agility 1.21. Vitality 1.88. Intelligence 1.51. Potential 498%. White Cloud Secret Arts: Mastery (Level four). Explosive Fist Arts: Intermediate. White Cloud Combat Arts: Intermediate.


    "All four attributes have increased by 0.01. This is too slow." He let out a breath. "The daily exercises and routines are no longer useful for me. Adding attribute points is probably more helpful."


    He gazed at strength for three seconds, and it gradually changed. It increased from 2.43 to 2.63.


    "I can add it again?" Overjoyed by the finding, Garen suddenly realized something was different. "Why did only increase by 0.2?" He carefully examined the other attributes. Only strength had increased by 0.2 while the others hadn¡¯t changed.


    "What¡¯s happening?" He took a deep breath. "I may have mistaken the original stats¡­"


    He didn¡¯t think too much about it and let his vision fall on Explosive Fist Arts. This was the move he was most dependent on. When he fought with Number Ten and later the psychokinetics, it was because of the absolute vibration and defense from this move that he had won.


    The Explosive Fist Arts not only increased defense but also the effectiveness of attacks.


    But after he gazed at it for a while, a few red symbols appeared gradually below the attributes bar as if explaining something. Garen glanced at it, and his facial expression suddenly changed.


    "Attribute explanations?"


    ¡®After the special ability collected information regarding the arts, one attribute point could be used to increase the level of beginner level skills. Two could increase intermediate skills, while advanced skills required five attribute points. The advance criteria had to be met before the skill could be leveled up. The unavailability of leveling could be a result of lacking information.


    Absorbing the same type of attribute over a period would develop resistance within the body. The effect on body condition would decrease.¡¯


    The rows of the symbols were easy to understand for Garen.


    "No wonder attribute points would have less of an impact on the body¡¯s condition. I felt something was odd. It was okay in the beginning, but as soon as the ratio changed... The actual attributes decreased, just that I didn¡¯t notice. After the prolonged period, the decrease became significant enough. But it was only after it became as large as 0.1 that I noticed it."


    His vision focused on the Explosive Fist Arts. A symbol gradually appeared behind this skill, which was the missing criteria to level up this skill.


    ¡®Five attribute points.¡¯


    Garen frowned. The last time the Explosive Fist Arts leveled up was because of the body quenching pill along with the attribute points. To increase the skill forcefully, it would require five points!


    He only had three points remaining.


    "If I knew this, I wouldn¡¯t have added strength." He smashed the wall in regret. "Only missing two points. I need to find a way! But I have to attend the conference in two days."


    The practicality of the Explosive Fist Arts was remarkable. Garen spent over half of his effort on this skill. If he improved this fist art to a mastery comparable to his master¡¯s, his power would change significantly. If added with the fact that Garen¡¯s strength had already reached its limit, he couldn¡¯t imagine how powerful it would be if he achieved advanced mastery of the skill.


    Garen carried his clothes when he left the White Cloud Gate. He stood outside in front of the rows of cars.


    From a black car, Grace peeked her head out.


    "Dale Quicksilver has new information."


    "Oh?"


    Garen opened the car door and sat down beside Cynthia. He glanced at Cynthia who was chewing on something. "What are you eating? It smells awful."


    Cynthia smirked as she spat something black out of the car window.


    Garen focused on Grace again. "What¡¯s the new information?"


    Grace looked at him through the reflective mirror as she said cautiously, "After what happened at the Silversilk Castle, Dale Quicksilver and his companions left the province to Evenia Province¡¯s Blue Gulf City. The case is closed for now. A few of the Golden Loop¡¯s middle managers were arrested. They also received a request for help from the police department."


    "Do you know what exactly it is?"


    "I think it is because of Huaishan City. The explosion case that night along with the murder at the Dolphin Antique Store. Pennington Street is where the high-end communities are located, which makes this a bit trickier. An incident on this scale not only shocked the governor¡¯s office, it even angered the officers on the national level. So Dale Quicksilver and other famous detectives received an invitation to investigate this case."


    Garen frowned slightly. "There are plenty of cases at Huaishan city, and murders are not that uncommon. Why did this one case trigger such a drastic response? There are many cases of homeless men that died in the alleys, but those don¡¯t seem to bother them at all."


    Cynthia, who sat beside him, began to giggle. "You don¡¯t understand. The primary reason is that of the Silversilk Castle. The Golden Loops are too ruthless and cocky as they had the audacity to confront the police department. They even killed multiple police officers which caused a sequence of reactions. An investigation team was created to deal specifically with this case. The antique store murder had also happened during this sensitive period which stomped on the dignity of the provincial police department. It is no wonder then that they are furious over this. They¡¯re certainly playing with fire. However, the newspapers and magazines are more than happy."


    "In this case¡­ the place Dale Quicksilver went to is related to the antique store murder?" Gloom cast on Garen¡¯s face immediately.


    "Yes. Based on the information from the police department in the other province, a similar murder had happened in a small town nearby. There an aged lady who also owned an antique store had went missing. It is rumored that she was connected with the old man from the Dolphin Antique Store. They were communicating through mail," Grace explained.


    "Exchanging letters?" Garen¡¯s expression tensed. "Grace, I need to attend a martial arts conference in two days with my master. I need you to keep an eye on information from Dale Quicksilver."


    "No problem."


    "What about me?" With an uninterested expression, Cynthia leaned over. "Bring me with you, I can warm the bed for you." She pouted with her pink lips and smiled gracefully.


    "I¡¯m going to my master. You¡¯re in charge of protecting my family, is that okay?" Garen pushed her away as he had no energy left to waste time on these things.


    "Wu¡­ This is too heartless. This is the first time I am so proactive." Cynthia pretended to rub her eyes as if her feelings were hurt.


    "Okay, that¡¯s enough." Garen was speechless. "Dale Quicksilver¡¯s ability to trace things is impeccable. Maybe he will find something I need. You have to keep a close eye on him."


    "Okay."


    **************************


    ~~~~


    Two days later.


    Wooooo!


    With a deafening screech of a train horn, a dark red wooden train emitting black smoke gradually came to a halt at a terminal at Huaishang City.


    Around ten people were scattered across the rectangular platform beside the train track. There were males and females, both young and old people. The majority of them carried a suitcase and covered themselves from head to toe with their jackets and trenchcoats.


    When the train stopped, the conductor forcefully pushed open the door.


    "Time to get on the train!" The white-bearded train conductor yelled. "Passengers at the ninth compartment get on the train. This is the train headed to Hela, don¡¯t get on the wrong train!"


    The passengers waiting for the train began to board in a line.


    Among them, there was a young and an old man that carried a red leather suitcase. They both wore black wool coats along with black cap. They were Fei Baiyun and Garen of the White Cloud Gate.


    They blended in among the passengers.


    Garen followed behind his master. He passed the white ticket to the conductor before grabbing the red leather suitcase and stepping on to the train.


    At the point of entrance, the left side was a sealed train compartment, while the right was the exit.


    "Why are you standing there? Our seats are inside, hurry up and don¡¯t block anyone." Fei Baiyun turned his head.


    "Oh." Garen was distracted by the fact that it was his first time seeing such an ancient train, which slowed his actions. He hastened his steps to follow his master.


    The compartment was a dark red color. The grains of wood were exposed inside the compartment. The entire train was made of this particular timber.


    Four seats were divided into two rows, just like the individual rectangles that were scattered along the two sides of the train. The middle was a walkway.


    The compartment was hardly filled with people. The master and student passed five rows of seats before finally stopping at the left side in the middle of the compartment.


    There were already two people that sat there. A male and a female in their teens, and they were falling asleep. The two of them had certainly put some thought into how they dressed as both wore matching white shirts and pants. Judging by their facial features, they were brother and sister. Their hair was also idnetical silver white.


    "Do you want to sit on the outside or inside?" Fei Baiyun glanced at the two people and pointed toward the seats.


    "I¡¯ll sit on the inside," Garen said without hesitation and took the seat.


    Fei Baiyun smiled and didn¡¯t say anything as he slowly sat down.


    The two teens across them heard their voices and slightly opened their eyes. They kept their silence and then fell asleep in the same position.


    Sitting, Garen carefully examined the two people across from him. He noticed that the girl¡¯s hands were covered with calluses and had short fingernails. They looked rough and coarse.


    "Teacher, how long is this train ride going to take?"


    "Not long, about three days." Fei Baiyun took off his hat and tried to pat away the dust.


    "Three days¡­" Garen let out a light breath. He stored the suitcases one by one underneath the chair before leaning against the window without saying a word.

 76 The Speechless Martial Adepts 2

    Chapter 76: The Speechless Martial Adepts 2


    The death of the old man, the dispute between the Golden Hoop and Dale Quicksilver, and the mysterious enemy who had used telekinesis had been attracted because of the old man. These matters appeared one after another, causing Garem to be unable to settle down recently to practice his combat techniques.


    Compared to these matters, the inheritance issue on his uncle''s side, the exchange gathering between dojos, and meeting the chairman of Manuyllton Corporation were just small matters.


    The thing that Garen currently wanted to do the most was finding the true murderer of the old man, and at the same time, the ones who threatened his family. Unfortunately, the telekinesis users who appeared to stop him did not leave any clues. Now, he could only count on Dale Quicksilver''s side to find out more about them.


    "Are you still thinking about that matter?" Fei Baiyun whispered beside him, "Don''t think too much about it. From now on, you need to adjust your condition. This exchange gathering is not just an opportunity for you to gain experience, but also a chance for you to know your ranking."


    "My ranking?" Garen nodded, "Just as well, I also want to know what level I am currently at."


    Wu...


    The train whistled once more, and the sound of the wheels moving against the tracks gradually rang out. As the rhythm started to increase in tempo, the train carriage gradually moved forward with an increasing speed.


    The train carriage was also slightly livelier after some passengers got on.


    Garen recalled the data that his master gave him the day before.


    They were going to Hela City, one of the famous exchange gathering spots for Martial Adepts within their province and its surrounding provinces.


    This exchange gathering was conducted by a local Secret Martial Art sect¡ªthe Celestial Circle Gate. It was also one of the three strongest clans in the confederation.


    More importantly, the Celestial Circle Gate had an influential position within the northern part of the confederation. The main reason they hosted the exchanged gathering was not just for creating an opportunity for interaction between disciples, but to establish a ranking between each sect.


    And during the previous exchange gatherings, White Cloud Gate''s ranking within the Secret Martial Art world was number seventeen.


    The two of them were going there earlier to reserve a strategic position during the exchange gathering. Otherwise, if they went late, the students from the dojo might not even have a place to stay.


    According to the data, White Cloud Gate was within the ordinary martial arts world. However, it was only an unremarkable sect within Secret Martial Art sects that truly possessed ancient inheritance.


    The Mammoth Secret Technique was the foundation of White Cloud Gate. The other techniques: White Cloud Combat Arts, Explosive Fist Arts, or the fundamental wrestling techniques, were all just simplified versions of this Secret Martial Art. It was the most powerful martial art within the entire sect.


    However, within the entire Secret Martial Art world, there were many sects with similar Secret Martial Arts. This type of Secret Martial Art was actually just a fundamental martial art for tempering the body. The training requirements were strict, the training speed was extremely slow, and the external prerequisites required were troublesome. It was only considered third-rate within the Secret Martial Art world.


    As a result, White Cloud Gate was only considered a third-rate sect within the Secret Martial Art.


    Garen recalled the exhortation from his master on the previous day.


    "When we get there, you need to remember to listen more, watch more, speak less, and create less trouble. Our White Cloud Gate is situated in a remote location, and we''re still quite powerful locally. However, we''re only considered insignificant outside, so we can''t rashly get into a dispute with others. Of course, there are many sects like us in the exchange gathering, so there''s no need for you to draw back when you have to display your strength. We might not be able to win against Martial Adepts from powerful sects, but we can still compete for the ranking against small sects."


    For some reason, after recalling this, Garen could not help but think about his senior sister, Rosetta. Garen looked toward his master beside him.


    "Master, what happened when Senior Sister came with you previously?"


    "Rosetta?" Fei Baiyun was originally recuperating while shutting his eyes. When he heard Garen''s question, he slightly opened his eyes. "She was still young when she went with me, around the age of seventeen or eighteen years old¡­ At that time, her foundation was firm, but her talent was ordinary, and I had no intention of teaching her true martial arts. However, Rosetta completely changed after she returned from the exchange gathering and became reticent. Her personality began to change as well, and her talent suddenly improved. In the end, I decided to impart true martial arts to her. It was really strange, but my guess is that she probably received some sort of stimulus during the exchange gathering. Then she started to truly work hard after she went back and exhibited her true talent."


    Fei Baiyun patted Garen''s shoulder. "You''re different. Your talent is much better. You''ll definitely receive a huge improvement if I hand the White Cloud Gate''s Secret Martial Art to you. This is the true foundation of our White Cloud Gate."


    "I will definitely not let you down!" Garen heavily nodded his head. However, he still felt that his senior sister had a weird personality. She always acted mysteriously and was difficult to locate. She would appear from time to time, but no one would not be able to find her when they wanted to look for her.


    Fei Baiyun thought for a while and took out a white piece of paper from one of the interior pockets in his black overcoat. The paper was folded into a small square. He carefully handed the squarish paper to Garen.


    "Since your Explosive Fist Arts has already reached the level of minor achievement, you''ve also fulfilled the basic requirement of practicing the Secret Martial Art. This is the chant. Once you''ve memorized it, swallow the paper. This is the true key to the Mammoth Secret Technique and must not be divulged to others."


    Receiving the piece of paper, Garen did not expect his master to give something so important to him on a train.


    "Practice it on a train? Should I really do that?" He found it slightly unbelievable. "Shouldn''t I find a safe and quiet environment?"


    "There''s no reason why you shouldn''t." Fei Baiyun chuckled. "Various requirements are needed in order for this to work. This piece of paper was specifically soaked in medication. If other people were to practice the chant written on it, they would only become handicapped. Without a sufficiently strong Explosive Fist Arts as the foundation, it''s all pointless."


    Immediately after, he bitterly laughed again.


    "Actually, our martial art is nothing profound in the eyes of other sects. A lot of the larger sects probably have something similar, and the effects would only be much stronger. Only we would act so carefully and think that it is important."


    Garen nodded and was slightly able to understand his master''s helplessness and sadness.


    He looked toward the young people in front and found that they were still sleeping. That was when he softly opened up the paper in his hands.


    There was only a line of words written on the white piece of paper. It was a revision of the utilization method of the second level of Explosive Fist Arts, the Vibration technique. After the revision and combined with White Cloud Secret Arts, a fundamental change would appear in the body. That was the so-called essence of the Mammoth Secret Technique.


    "It''s that simple?" Garen blankly stared at the line of words. He was wondering how difficult and complicated secret it would be.


    "It''s that simple," Fei Baiyun replied. "Eat it."


    Garen was speechless. He looked at the paper once more, then crumbled it into a ball and directly threw it into his mouth.


    The ball of paper had a salty and astringent taste and was slightly bitter as well. After chewing it a few times, he swallowed it along with his saliva. Garen smacked his lips.


    Just when he was about to speak, Garen suddenly discovered the Skill Pane at the bottom of his field of vision had suddenly changed.


    White Cloud Secret Arts and Explosive Fist Arts were gradually blurring. The two skills immediately disappeared, and a new skill gradually appeared. There was a mysterious symbol behind that provided an explanation.


    ¡ª¡ªMammoth Secret Technique¡ª Greatly increases the toughness of skin and greatly increases explosive force. It is a strength type Secret Martial Art that emulates mammoths. There are two levels in total: White Elephant, Mammoth.


    Currently, the state indicated behind the skill was White Elephant level.


    "There''s only two levels?" Garen was startled. "As the true secret technique of White Cloud Gate, there shouldn''t only be two levels..."


    "Your feelings are correct; there are only two levels. This is the true inheritance of White Cloud Gate. To put it bluntly, there''s a lot of things that are only simple secrets. However, these secrets needed countless trials and errors to finally obtain the best result and combination," Fei Baiyun sighed and softly explained, "actually, Explosive Fist Arts does not have a so-called third level. The third level is actually the first level of Mammoth Secret Technique."


    He patted Garen''s shoulder. "Properly familiarize yourself with it. This time, go and take a look at other Martial Adepts. Look at their levels and their strengths, and you''ll realize your current level. Don''t be disappointed when you fail. As long as you don''t give up, there''s a chance for you to make a comeback!"


    Garen solemnly nodded as well. If even Fei Baiyun¡ªwho was far stronger than him¡ªwas saying such a thing, then it was quite evident that there would definitely be many powerful opponents at this exchange gathering. Even Garen was starting to get worried as well.


    "For Master to exhort in such a serious manner, the opponents are evidently not just ordinarily powerful. I definitely need to be careful."


    Setting aside his distracting thoughts, Garen looked out of the train''s window on his right.


    Empty yellow paddy fields continuously flitted across his field of vision. The harvested paddy fields were filled with numerous tiny black dots as if countless wooden sticks were inserted into the paddy fields. Within the center of the open fields, there were bundles of straws stacked into piles. Once in awhile, farmers could also be seen transporting these piles of straws.


    The grayish white sky had some dark clouds, and it seemed like it was about to rain. Two swallows flew across the sky as one chased after the other.


    Garen felt his emotion was gradually calming down and once again looked toward his Skill Pane.


    "I still have three Attribute points. Let''s see if I can forcefully increase this martial art."


    His line of sight landed on Mammoth Secret Technique.


    Three seconds later, Mammoth Secret Technique slowly changed. It suddenly changed from White Elephant to Mammoth.


    "It increased!" Garen''s heart skipped a beat, and he carefully observed the changes in his body. Strangely, he did not feel anything from his body.


    "It definitely increased! Why isn''t there any changes?" He looked at his Potential Pane, and his Attribute points had indeed decreased by two.


    "Could it be that it can still be increased?"


    He looked at the Mammoth Secret Technique and noticed that it did not turn into a gray color, which meant that it could still increase. There was a symbol floating behind it as well, indicating that five Attribute points were needed to forcefully increase it.


    Mammoth Secret Technique was actually just a crucial key that combined White Cloud Secret Arts and Explosive Fist Arts together. It was actually an overall harmonious adjustment to the body. This type of adjustment was very strange, and even Garen was not able to understand the theory behind it. However, it was evident that this adjustment had not reached its limit.


    With doubts in his mind, he looked toward Fei Baiyun sitting beside him.


    "Master, does this martial art really have only two levels? What''s next after these two levels? Is there a possibility of continuing to improve?"


    "I don''t know." Fei Baiyun shook his head. "However, reaching the master level of the Mammoth level is already very troublesome. The glorious period of Martial Adepts is before the age of twenty-five. After we reach twenty-five years old, our body''s functions, spirit, and vitality all start to weaken, and we''re unable to advance to the next level. Putting aside what''s after Mammoth level, no one in the older generations of our White Cloud Gate was unable to reach major achievement before the age of twenty-five. So..."


    "So, there''s a chance to reach higher levels by reaching master level before our spirit and vitality begin to deteriorate?" Garen thought of something and continued.


    "That''s correct. The improvement of Mammoth Secret Technique is very difficult, only your senior sister has a chance. Four years ago, she was at the White Elephant level. Now, she has already reached the Mammoth level and is only twenty-four years old. She''s our White Cloud Gate''s greatest hope..." when Fei Baiyun mentioned Senior Sister Rosetta, a smile subconsciously appeared on his face.

 77 Probe 1

    Chapter 77: Probe 1


    Garen''s heart skipped a beat. If his senior sister was only at the master level of Secret Martial Art, would it mean that he was comparable with his senior sister right now?


    "However, why aren¡¯t there any changes to my body after combining them? In any case, I spent two Attribute points! There should at least be ripples even if I threw it into the water..."


    This was what he was most confused about.


    At that moment, the girl sitting across him opened her eyes and slowly woke up. She sleepily looked toward the master and disciple sitting across her and friendlily smiled toward them.


    Garen smiled back at her.


    "Are you going to Hela City as well?" the girl whispered.


    "That''s right, are you heading there as well?" Garen replied.


    "That''s right, why are you going there?" The girl brushed away her hair that was covering the side of her face. "With your age, are you going there to enroll?"


    "Uh." Garen did not know how to respond. Could he just tell her that he was going to participate in a martial arts exchange gathering? It was actually forbidden to divulge the martial arts exchange gathering to outsiders since it was confidential.


    Seeing that he did not reply, the girl smiled and assumed that her guess was right. From the looks of it, she probably assumed that Garen was a new student being sent to school for enrollment by his father.


    "What about you? Are you going to Hela for a vacation?" Garen asked as his gaze slightly sized up the girl.


    With long silvery hair coming down from her shoulders, the girl wore a white lace dress and gave off the aura of a magnanimous and refined lady. Her skin was fair and tender like it was coated with a layer of white powder. It was fine and smooth to the point where there were almost no imperfections.


    The girl was like a young lady who went for an outing and gave off a very cultured and pure feeling. Even though she was not very pretty, this sort of quiet and graceful aura was abnormally rare.


    Garen was reminded of Felicity who had just left Huaishan a while ago. She was different from the girl in front of him. If you judged her from her appearance, you would think that she was a haughty, dazzling, and beautiful young lady.


    However, he was slightly baffled by the fact that the girl in front of him had coarse hands, which was completely inconsistent with her aura and the way she dressed.


    "We''re not going for a vacation. We''re also going to enroll at the school. However, we''re going there earlier to learn more about the local culture," the silver-haired girl smiled as she replied Garen''s question.


    Garen nodded in acknowledgment.


    "Where did you set off from?"


    "We started from Xining. Before you got on the train, we''ve been riding for over a day and a night." The girl covered her mouth and lightly yawned. "Oh¡­ I am so tired. Even though I''ve been sleeping for so long, I still feel very tired."


    "If you''ve only been sitting like this, then it would definitely be tiring." When Garen saw her yawning, he felt a little sleepy as well.


    As the two of them had no other common topics to talk about, Garen turned his face over to look at the scenery outside of the window. A yellow beetle car was driving alongside the train at the same pace. The driver of the car was a man wearing an army uniform with aviator goggles on. He was glancing toward the train from time to time.


    "That''s the navy uniform of the Confederation. From the badge on his chest, this man should be a lieutenant in the Navy."


    "Navy of the Confederation?" It was the first time Garen saw a regular military personnel of the Confederation, and he could not help but glance a few more times.


    The train gradually surpassed the soldier''s car, and Garen was feeling slightly tired just from watching the scenery as well. He looked beside him at his master and discovered that Fei Baiyun was sleeping soundly with his head tilted to the side.


    Garen drowsily dozed off and slowly woke up after an undetermined amount of time.


    The sky outside of the window had already turned dark, and the interior of the train carriage was slightly noisy. In the middle of the aisle, an attendant was slowly passing by while pushing a food cart.


    "It''s time to eat!"


    Within the train carriage, there was a sparse amount of passengers. Some of them were yawning, while some stood up to buy food, and there were others that took out their own food to eat. Garen even heard children''s voice yelling in a dialect that he did not understand.


    The silver-haired boy sitting across of him had already woken, but he was not as friendly as the girl. He only faintly glanced at Garen and his master and did not converse with them.


    His master, Fei Baiyun, was taking out a small sack that contained some cakes, bread, and two bottles of tea.


    "This is dinner. Take it yourself."


    Garen speechlessly looked at the cakes and bread that was crumpled together and almost could not differentiate between the two. He was completely without any appetite as he looked at it.


    "Master¡­ There''s no reason for this¡­ It''s not like we don''t have money..."


    "What do you know!" Fei Baiyun glared at him. "This is something that someone had kindly made for me! It''s not about the money!" as he spoke, he seemed to remember something, and a slight redness faintly appeared on his face.


    Garen had a slight urge to puke¡­ Looking at an old man foolishly smiling while blushing was indeed a little disgusting.


    However, he still took a lump of cake that looked like bread and a bottle of black tea and placed them on his lap.


    "Master''s second spring..." He already knew who made the food. It was obviously master''s lover.


    He lowered his head and looked at the thing in his hand. Garen was still hungry a while ago but no longer had any appetite.


    The silver-haired siblings sitting across of them were currently eating exquisite-looking buttery apple cakes while drinking coffee from a porcelain cup. The redwood lunchbox contained all kinds of pastries that were neatly arranged. There were red cherries, baked banana chips, pink cream, light yellow sponge cake, and a few pieces of vegetables as decoration.


    Just based on the appearance, it was far superior to the thing in his hand.


    As Garen looked at the lump in his hand once more, his appetite dwindled even more.


    Fei Baiyun, the owner of a gigantic dojo that earned tens of millions per year, was currently eating such a wretched meal on the train.


    Garen could not help but disdainfully look toward his master sitting beside him. He was stunned when he realized that his master had already finished the thing in his hands within a few bites and seemed to be choking as he guzzled the bottle of black tea.


    As Garen looked at the soft and mud-like thing in his hand once more, he firmly decided not to eat it. He lifted up the bottle of black tea and drank a mouthful. Fortunately, the black tea was sweet since sugar was added and his hunger was satiated after drinking it. The only problem was that he had no idea how long that would last.


    The sibling sitting across of them saw the scene and could not help but smile. Even the silver-haired boy was unable to continue pretending to be cold.


    "If you don''t mind, there''s still some pastries in my lunchbox. Please try some," the silver-haired girl softly said to Garen.


    "How could I do that.'' Garen was originally planning to sneak out and buy food with his own money, but he was immediately tempted when the girl pushed the lunchbox over and smelled the rich buttery aroma drifting out.


    They only ate half of the contents of the lunchbox, while the other half of the exquisite pastries were left untouched. The exterior of the pastries was attentively wrapped with a layer of plastic paper, so he could directly pick them up with his hands and eat. It looked clean and hygienic.


    "It''s okay, as long as you don''t mind. I can tell that you forgot to prepare your own food," the girl gently smiled and said.


    Garen sneaked a glance at his master.


    "Since it''s the kind intention of others, just eat it!" Fei Baiyun speechlessly slapped Garen on the head. When he looked at the exquisite pastries within the lunchbox and compared it with what he ate just now, he was feeling slightly imbalance in his mind.


    "Thank you so much."


    Garen gave a hollow laugh and received the lunchbox. He lightly lifted up an almond cake and took a bite. It tasted very aromatic and had a very fluffy texture. There was also a trace of almond flavor mixed inside.


    The pastries within the lunchbox that were as big as his fist were eaten by Garen within a few bites and were quickly finished. He was originally prepared to hand one over to his master, but Fei Baiyun was obviously embarrassed about eating something from a younger generation and benefited Garen.


    He managed to finish all of the pastries in the lunchbox within ten minutes. The siblings sitting across him were dumbfounded as they watched him.


    "It''s much more delicious than what they sell on the train. Thank you very much." Garen placed the lunchbox on the small rectangular table between the seats and gently pushed it back. "Sorry, I couldn''t stop after I started eating..."


    He was already very hungry, and the pastries inside the lunchbox were indeed very delicious. It was the first time Garen had tasted pastries that were this delicious, and they were much better than the ones sold outside.


    "Is it really that delicious?" A smile appeared on the girl''s face.


    "They''re very delicious." Garen nodded. "They''re so much better than the ones being sold outside. Could you tell me where you got them? I''ll definitely patronize the store next time!"


    "It''s good that you like it..." The girl was obviously very happy as she lowered her head in embarrassment and said, "I didn''t buy them. I made them myself..."


    The silver-haired boy sitting next to her was pouting as he muttered, "What''s so delicious about it, is there a need to exaggerate so much? Really... "


    "You actually made them yourself?" Garen was slightly surprised. "How remarkable. With this kind of skill, you can open your own store."


    "You''re kidding!" The girl was slightly embarrassed after being praised.


    The boy sitting next to her immediately rolled his eyes. "You think that it''s delicious when it''s only at this level? What a country bumpkin..." He was in a bad mood as he looked at the muscular and tall young man sitting across of him. Even though there was not much of a difference in their age, there was a sharp contrast when they sat together as the other party was at least twice as muscular as him. Also, the moment he got on the train, he was looking around like he had never been on a train before. When he was eating just now, he was eating so fast that it seemed like he had never eaten anything for over ten years.


    On the other hand, Garen and the girl were vigorously chatting. The two of them had already changed topics from pastry tips to the books they liked and their topics were endless. Next to them, Fei Baiyun and the silver-haired boy were bored and began to doze off once more.


    With nothing to do on the train, they could only take a nap.


    **************


    Two days later.


    Hela City Train Station


    As a screeching whistle rang out, the mahogany train gradually came to a stop.


    With a loud bang, a conductor vigorously pulled open the door of the train carriage. "Passengers bound for Hela City, it''s time to get off!"


    Within the train carriage.


    "It''s time to get off." Fei Baiyun patted Garen on the arm and was the first to stand.


    Garen quickly pulled out a red leather suitcase from underneath their seats and stood up.


    "We''re finally here. Are you getting off as well?" he asked the silver-haired girl. The both of them had become quite familiar after chatting a few days.


    The sibling sitting across them had brought out a small, black leather suitcase as well.


    "That''s right. Actually, we went to Xining for a vacation, and we''re going back home now." The silver-haired girl embarrassedly smiled.


    "I already knew it." Garen laughed and said, "While we were chatting the past two days, you were obviously more familiar with Hela and knew little about Xining. Alright, let''s get off."


    "Alright."


    The four of them left their seats and followed the sparse stream of passengers toward the exit.

 78 Probe 2

    Chapter 78: Probe 2


    There were already several cars waiting near the train station. The silver haired girl walked to a silver sedan and turned to look at Garen and Fei Baiyun and their huge luggage. She hesitated.


    "Their luggage looks really heavy, so they must be new to this place. Should we give them a ride?"


    The silver haired boy opened the car¡¯s door and curled his lips. "Up to you, but be honest with me, you seemed to get along with those two guys from the small town. Do you have a crush on that lubber?"


    "Don¡¯t say that." The girl bluntly twisted the boy¡¯s ear. "So what if they¡¯re from a small place? They seem to be quite well mannered to me. And what crush are you talking about? Are you trying to embarrass your sister over some casual talk?"


    "They don¡¯t look like students checking-in to me. They were hiding something from the way they talked, so they¡¯re probably just some countryside hillbillies here for work. These days a lot of people from the countryside come to the cities to do hard labor." The silver haired boy frowned as he lightly pushed away his sister¡¯s hand. "What¡¯s so interesting about talking to some guys from the countryside? You¡¯re just flattered by their compliments."


    The girl thought so as well, especially since the two men were powerfully built and had rough hands. They had to have done a lot of farming work. But she was intentionally leaving out the topic about their family and occupation. And it was obvious that they were trying to avoid talking about it as well.


    "So what if they¡¯re farmers? What would you eat and drink without them?" She pinched her brother hard again. She then turned to the two strangers. "Where are you headed? Do you need a ride? I¡¯m a local at Hela, and I could introduce you to our town."


    Garen and his master Fei Baiyun were both flattered. It was nice for the girl to offer, but they already had other plans.


    Fei Baiyun blinked at Garen, telling him to deal with his own trouble. He hadn¡¯t interfered with Garen¡¯s and the girl¡¯s small talk on the train. He could see she was well educated, although he didn¡¯t expect for this to happen.


    Garen was dragged out by his master and looked reluctant.


    "Actually, it¡¯s fine, someone is coming to pick us up. But still, thank you very much for your offer."


    The girl did not expect they would reject her, she nodded back. "Fine then, you guys take care. Goodbye."


    "Farewell! Maybe we¡¯ll see each other on a train again next time."


    "Yeah, we might." The girl laughed and winking turned around and got back to the car.


    "What happened? You got rejected?" The silver haired boy gloated.


    "How do you know?"


    "I¡¯m telling you, people like him have big egos. He won¡¯t accept help from a girl, especially a girl that he likes," the boy answered with confidence, sitting in the driver¡¯s seat. "Did he say he has made plans and someone is picking him up? Guys who want to save face all do that. Even if he doesn¡¯t have a ride, he wouldn¡¯t want to disappoint his beauty."


    The girl speechlessly glanced at her brother and got into the car. "Yeah, yeah, you are the all- knowing saint, all right? Most intelligent man on earth. And, I¡¯m not a ¡®beauty¡¯, don¡¯t try to give me a tall hat. Now drive, we should get home and rest. I¡¯m really tired after riding the train for so long." She laid back in the passenger seat, her expression revealing her exhaustion.


    The silver car slowly drove out of the train station, turned at the exit, and merged into the traffic outside.


    Garen turned his gaze from the silver car and looked at his master.


    "What do we do now, Master?"


    "We wait," Fei Baiyun said casually. " The folks from the Celestial Circle Gate are coming to pick us up, so bring out your vigor and don¡¯t let our White Cloud Gate down. Even if we are a small sect, we¡¯re still the strongest in Huaishan City. If we lose our cool, Huaishan Secret Martial Arts get disrespected as well."


    He looked at Garen. "You¡¯re not only representing yourself now, but also thousands of disciples at the White Cloud Gate and the entire Secret Martial Arts community at Huaishan. Your senior brothers and sisters have already graduated, so technically, you are the eldest senior brother at the White Cloud Gate. Don¡¯t lose our White Cloud Gate¡¯s prestige."


    "Yes, Master!" Garen answered sincerely. He vaguely understood his main goal on this trip.


    Fei Baiyun was treating him as the White Cloud Gate¡¯s next successor. He was treating him like a true heir to his mantle.


    Garen adjusted his body form and lifted his spirit. He waited at the station with his master.


    There were less and less passengers getting on and off at the isle. Soon, three young men came out of the entrance. They had great body forms and wore different clothing. The one who walked in the front had a hard-edged aura around him. He had blond hair and blue eyes, his expression cold.


    The blond man approached at a fast pace and stopped in front of Fei Baiyun. The three of them bowed down and saluted.


    "Is it master Fei Baiyun from Huaishan¡¯s White Cloud Gate?"


    "Yes, I am Fei Baiyun, and you must be Jaden. Last time I visited you were still an apprentice to your senior brother. But after all these years, you now take charge of things on your own," Fei Baiyun smiled and answered politely.


    "You are exaggerating, sir, I wouldn¡¯t say I¡¯m ¡®in charge¡¯. This way please, the driver is waiting for us at the exit," Jaden answered respectfully, lowering his head.


    "Very well, lead the way." Fei Baiyun nodded, following Jaden and the other young men.


    Garen strolled along behind his master. A handsome young man behind Jaden took a step back to walk in parallel with him.


    "Senior brother, your luggage looks heavy, let me help you carry it," he whispered and reached out with his hand, clawing toward Garen¡¯s wrist.


    His movement looked like he was trying to help. But in reality, his fingers were held together and fast like a thrusting sword, stabbing toward Garen¡¯s wrist silently.


    Garen¡¯s heart skipped a beat. He knew this was the Celestial Circle Gate trying to probe his strength. Master must have noticed, but did not turn around. He knew this would happen.


    The opponent was too fast, there was no time to react.


    With a faint sound of impact, the young man¡¯s finger hit Garen¡¯s wrist. Both of them froze.


    "So weak." Garen watched speechlessly as the young man blushed. "Is this for real? A mosquito¡¯s sting could be stronger than this."


    The young man¡¯s face was completely red. He raised his head and gazed at Garen with astonishment.


    Both of them were speechless.


    Garen had no words. What should he say, "Wow I¡¯ve heard so much about you, your finger strength is truly unmatched!"? He planned to say this before, but now if he said this, they would think he was sarcastically mocking them.


    "So- sorry." The young man¡¯s face turned white and red. He walked up to Jaden and his shoulders began to shudder. He was crying.


    Garen was out of words again. "I was the one that got hit ¡­ Why are you crying?"


    Fei Baiyun turned around and gave Garen a scolding stare. Garen looked back with an innocent expression.


    "It¡¯s none of my business, Master¡­ I didn¡¯t even hit him back. Is standing still and taking the hit a bad thing to do now?" Of course he couldn¡¯t say it out loud, but he was puzzled in his mind.


    "Isn¡¯t this the Celestial Circle Gate disciple too fragile? ¡­" He looked at the young man again, suddenly seeing his long and slim legs together. There was no gap between them at all, and he had an amazing S curve around his butt and waist.


    He looked again at the youngster¡¯s neck. The skin was white and smooth, and there was no Adam¡¯s apple.


    "So he¡¯s a girl¡­" Garen realized. "Now I¡¯m in trouble."


    Sure enough, Jaden turned around and looked at him. There was fire in his eyes.


    Garen straightened his face and back. He narrowed his eyes and stared back at Jaden, trying his best not to show any sign of weakness.


    The group soon exited the station, and there were three cars parked to the right of the exit. They looked luxurious, and there were even decorative silver linings on them.


    "Master Fei, would you please ride in the first vehicle. I will accompany your esteemed disciple in the second." Jaden respectfully opened the door for Fei Baiyun.


    After settling down master Fei, he came back to Garen.


    "Please."


    "Thank you." Garen nodded, ready to get into the car.


    "Your luggage is a little too big. It¡¯s not easy to fit in there, so why don¡¯t you let me help." As Jaden¡¯s voice came, his right hand turned into a white shadow, jabbing toward Garen¡¯s wrist.


    This move was a lot faster than the girl¡¯s earlier, and it felt powerful too. His fingernails were emitting a sharp, knife-like aura.


    Jaden¡¯s eyes turned cold. His fingers split up, the white shadow turning into five, and simultaneously grabbed toward Garen¡¯s wrist. There was no chance to dodge, Jaden¡¯s hand was like five steel knives slicing down.


    Garen¡¯s face turned cold. His wrist suddenly swelled, and his skin and muscles instantly turned blue and dark. He was ready to take the hit without dodging.


    Bang!


    After a thud, Jaden felt pain in his fingers. But he acted like nothing had happened and took his hand back. He sneered and sat in the front passenger seat.


    Garen looked down at his wrist. It had five distinct white marks. He felt a stingy pain as the attack had almost scratched his skin.


    "Worthy of the the Celestial Circle Gate¡¯s name, this should be fun." Even though he did no use the secret arts to strengthen his body, his resilience at a normal state was extremely strong already.


    Right now, the two were just trying each other out, and the first round was even.


    "Looks like I have to keep working hard, a disciple from the Celestial Circle Gate is this strong. If I faced someone stronger from other places¡­" Garen thought as he entered the car with his luggage.


    "Drive," Jaden whispered to the driver.


    The luxurious silver lined black cars slowly accelerated. There were even two police cars in front of them, whom the traffic avoided dodging in both directions.


    Three cars formed a line and drove steadily forward.

 79 The Exchange 1

    Chapter 79: The Exchange 1


    Sitting in the car, Garen glanced at the driver and Jaden sitting in front. Both were silent. It didn''t seem like they intended to speak.


    He turned to look out the car window. The buildings in Hela City were similar to those in Huaishan City, but taller. Some were even tens of meters tall, straight and boxlike, like huge pieces of stacking blocks. The shadows they cast were massive and black.


    The motorcade seemed to drive from under the shadow of a building immediately into another. Garen could vaguely make out that there were external lifts on the sides of some of the tall buildings. They were those old-fashioned ones made of wood and metal with an extremely slow speed.


    Pedestrians on the streets were fashionably dressed. Some girls and rich ladies even wore slightly revealing clothing, displaying their slim figures.


    The motorcade kept going forward. Time passed. The buildings on both sides became less dense and older. The scene outside gradually resembled Huaishan City, and the pedestrians seemed to dress more modestly as well.


    This was the first time Garen left Huaishan. Previously, he had thought it was one of the more modern places of this era. He didn''t expect Hela City to be so much more developed than it.


    The car slowed as it drove into this area. Soon it turned a corner into an underground carpark within a housing area.


    The car gradually slowed to a halt, and the engine was cut off.


    "We''re here. Please step out," Jaden said in a low voice.


    Garen nodded, pulled the handle and stepped out. He scanned the whole underground carpark¡ªit was filled with silver-striped cars. There were a few still driving in, yet to park, and some with car doors open and the passengers standing around the cars taking in their surroundings.


    The sound of car doors closing echoed around the carpark. His master Fei Baiyun stepped out accompanied by two Celestial Circle Gate disciples. Garen quickly walked over to follow behind his master.


    "This way please." Jaden bowed respectfully, then walked toward the elevators in a far corner of the carpark.


    A few Celestial Circle Gate disciples trailed behind, leading Garen and his master.


    "What a grand display by the Celestial Circle Gate. They escorted us with police cars and sent so many disciples to receive the practitioners of Secret Martial Art from all sects," Garen said.


    "This is normal. The Gate Master of the Celestial Circle Gate has several disciples who serve as senior officials in this province and a few other neighboring ones. He has a lot of soft power," Fei Baiyun explained softly. "You''ll be directed to the student area later. Take care, don''t get into trouble."


    "Yes, Master." Garen nodded.


    They followed Jayden into the elevator.


    The inner walls of the elevator were made of mahogany. It was spacious inside. The floor was covered with a square black rug with "The Celestial Circle Gate" printed in calligraphy on it.


    The few of them were silent inside the elevator. The movement of the elevator could barely be felt.


    Ding¡­


    The elevator announced its stop, and the doors slowly opened. Beyond the doors was a black corridor with stone floor and walls. Every few steps along the corridor, a disciple in a sharp black suit stood in attention, lending a sense of formality to the atmosphere.


    The corridor was linked to others at both ends. From time to time, there would be people in all manner of dress passing through the corridor, escorted by the Celestial Circle Gate disciples. All of them went toward the left.


    Jayden led Fai Baiyun and Garen into the corridor, then turned left into a wider one.


    Garen walked along the passage. He could feel the cold hard stone surface beneath his feet. There was a faint scent of incense in the air.


    He had a vague sense of excitement. It was his first time being at a grand event like this. Putting aside all else, just by looking at the two rows of disciples in black suits standing in attention¡ªsharp and alert, with fingertips like sharp spikes, emitting a faint white glow¡ªone could tell that they were not mediocre.


    His master in front started greeting peers upon turning the corner. It seemed like he had met some close acquaintances. Fei Baiyun put his arm over the shoulder of a short and stout man and walked with him. They greeted each other affectionately.


    Garen lowered his head and looked solemn.


    He walked into a small hall with a circular fountain.


    "Senior Brother, please follow me," a Celestial Circle female disciple walked over to Garen and politely said. She led him away from Fei Baiyun and the rest, toward a corridor on the right. Several disciples from other sects, like Garen, were led toward the same direction.


    They followed the female disciple to the end of the corridor and entered a spacious square black hall which was filled with large mahogany round tables and chairs. A lot of people were already seated inside.


    By a wall in the hall, a few clowns in colorful clothing were performing an act, attracting bursts of laughter from the crowd.


    No one noticed as Garen walked in. The female disciple handed him a sign with ''The White Cloud Gate'' written on it and left.


    He found an inconspicuous corner to sit down and stuck the sign into the placeholder on the table. Full-length windows spanned one side of the hall. Even though Garen sat in an inconspicuous corner, but it was right by the full-length windows. He could look out down below.


    He turned his gaze there. He saw the middle floor of the grey building opposite. There were three more floors below that. That meant that he was on the fourth floor. He could vaguely make out the e Celestial Circle Gate disciples escorting people and constantly walking around in the building opposite. They entered another large hall.


    "What a grand event¡­" Garen couldn''t even begin to speculate how many similar large halls there were, but it was clear that this wasn''t the only one.


    Not long after he sat down, a muffled commotion seemed to come from the corridor¡¯s entrance.


    "Beo is here¡­"


    "It''s Beo!"


    "Such a big reputation. I''d like to see how great this so called ''one of the two stars of the South'' is," a bald man sitting at a round table toward the front right of Garen sneered.


    "One of the two stars of the South?" Garen looked up toward the entrance.


    After a few seconds, a blue-haired youth wearing casual dark blue clothes walked in. He looked indifferent. His eyes, brows and hair were all blue, even his skin had a blue tinge to it, which gave him an ice-cold impression. The youth scanned the hall and walked straight toward the front-most table on the right. A group of people in white automatically stood up and gave him their place. They moved to an empty table at the back and sat down.


    "Thank you," Beo calmly said, then sat down.


    "I can''t believe¡­" a middle-aged man said woefully. He was sitting with a woman of similar age to Garen''s right.


    Garen looked at the sign on their table. It read "Orthogon Sword".


    The man who sighed had black hair, black eyes, white skin and a tall nose. He seemed to be of a mixed race.


    Garen hesitated slightly, then poked his head over and asked, "Sir, who is this Beo? Why is he blue from top to toe? And they call him ''one of the two stars of the South''? Do you mind enlightening me?"


    The middle-aged man was stunned for a moment, then a smile broke across his face. He glanced at Garen''s sign on the table.


    "I see you''re from the White Cloud Gate. Our Orthogon Sword Gate is right by your dojo, we''ve heard of your sect. I''m Raydon. It''s an honor."


    Garen was stunned. He saw a room full of foreign people with all types of hair and skin colors speaking in a Chinese-martial-art-world tone. Even though they were speaking different languages, it still felt bizarre.


    "I''m Garen, brother Raydon. Can you tell me more about the Secret Martial Art scene in the South?"


    "Of course." The man looked like a talkative person. He came over and started explaining in detail about the whole Secret Martial Art situation in the South.


    "Looks like you''re a new disciple. I''ll explain it to you in detail. The strongest sects in the Secret Martial Art world in the South are the Celestial Circle Gate and Crimson Sand Sword. I don''t have to say much about the Celestial Circle Gate. They train in the Celestial Circle Fist. Their fingers are extremely powerful. You will see it in the next few days. Crimson Sand Sword is another large sect. They occupy two provinces in the South, but are slightly weaker than the Celestial Circle Gate. This Beo is currently the most outstanding disciple in Crimson Sand Sword, comparable to Andrela of the Celestial Circle Gate. It is rumored that he has trained in the Secret Martial Art of his sect to a terrifying stage. His true strength has almost surpassed their masters and elders."


    "Surpassed masters and elders? Is it possible? This Beo doesn''t look a day older than twenty-five. His true strength is that powerful?" Garen was slightly surprised.


    "You should know, in the Secret Martial Art world, strong youths have the physical advantage. Experts who are a generation older can only rely on their rich experience. In order to achieve a higher level, if they don''t do it in their youth, by twenty-five or so, they wouldn''t have a chance after that. But before then, it all comes down to talent and effort. Andrela of the Celestial Circle Gate and Beo of Crimson Sand Sword are the type of geniuses who are not lacking in both. Coupled with the best Secret Martial Arts, it wouldn''t be difficult for them to become powerful," Raydon lamented. There was a hint of envy in his eyes. "The body weakens with age. No matter how you maintain it, your true strength would start declining. Such is the law of nature. There is no way of resisting."


    "You have worked hard enough," the middle-aged woman comforted Raydon, gently holding his hand.


    Garen seemed to be deep in thought.


    "So Andrela and Beo are the two strongest people from the South?"


    "That I''m not sure of, but it should be the case." Raydon nodded. "It is a widely recognized fact that Andrela is the top Secret Martial Art practitioner in the South. Beo lost to him in the previous tournament. But from the looks of it now, he seems to have had a breakthrough. It''s apparent that he is prepared to compete for the top spot again."


    "There''s going to be a good show then!" Garen said excitedly. "I haven''t witnessed the true strength of a real Secret Martial Art expert. This is the perfect chance."


    "You look quite young. I''m sure you''re very talented. No wonder your master brought you here to gain experience," Raydon said with a smile. "But you may have gotten the wrong idea. Before they fight, we from the smaller sects would have to duel first."


    "We have to duel first?" Garen was confused for a moment, then instantly understood. "That''s right. If the strongest duel first, who would still want to watch us fight?"


    "It''s great that you can understand that." Raydon smiled and didn''t say more.


    Garen then asked about some common knowledge in the Secret Martial Art world.


    There weren''t many people in the Secret Martial Art world, but every one of them was at a strong level envied by general martial art enthusiasts. Not to mention, there was much sway and power involved behind every sect. With so many of them gathered in one place, even though it was the era of firearms, the government still had to increase the scale of security to be able to provide a timely response if and when conflict arose.

 80 Exchange 2

    Chapter 80: Exchange 2


    Of course, martial artists couldn¡¯t fight against strong firearms. But the forces behind them, the combination of martial arts enthusiasts, their communities and their influence was still a force to be reckoned with.


    The police cars clearing the way was primarily to separate the martial adepts from normal people. After all, some of them were monsters unaffected by small firearms.


    Garen got to know more about the Secret Martial Arts scene from Raydon.


    The Secret Martial Arts scene was divided into the Northern and Southern sects. The Celestial Circle Gate and the Crimson Sand Sword led the Southern sects while the Gramdon Sword Sect led the North.


    It was unclear to them what the situation in Northern side was, but the Southern scene was very chaotic. Small sects came and went every decade. Even some middle-sized sects fell from power. Only the unshakable Celestial Circle Gate and the Crimson Sand Sword thrived on throughout the years.


    The biennial exchange held by Celestial Circle Gate was less of a communication event for all sects and more of a show of power between it and the Crimson Sand Sword.


    Inside the main hall, an opera show started after the clown performance, and after that was a diva battle which made all the men start howling.


    Two divas with hot bodies walked on the stage and started fighting. Whoever lost would strip off a piece of clothing. The blood of male audience sitting below started boiling.


    However, the Celestial Circle Gate had full control of the situation. The two ladies left the stage in their underwear.


    A band immediately followed the fight, and a couple waiters started serving the guests with an appetizing soup.


    People watched the show while waiting for their friends and sect members to gather. As time went by, there were more and more people inside the hall. From ten to twenty people in the beginning to around sixty later on.


    After dinner, Garen and Raydon followed the Celestial Circle Gate¡¯s disciples out of the hall, they crossed the corridor and a garden and arrived at their respective rooms to rest.


    The next morning, they were led to a practice ground for some morning exercises and flexing their bodies. Garen then returned to the main hall with the Raydons, waiting for people from the White Cloud Gate to arrive.


    Raydon¡¯s Orthogon Sword Gate already had a female disciple there.


    Garen was still by himself.


    On stage, the performance from yesterday repeated. After breakfast, Garen waited until noon. Finally he saw his fellow disciples from the White Cloud Gate come in after a few Celestial Circle Gate disciples.


    "Senior Brother!"


    "Senior Brother, how are you here so early?"


    "Good morning, Senior Brother."


    Four young people wearing white training uniforms came to Garen in a line and respectfully greeted him.


    There were two guys and two girls, their ages ranging from fifteen to twenty.


    "I¡¯ve been waiting for the whole morning. You guys are so slow." Garen stood up and smiled. "All right, sit down and get some food. Tomorrow is the main tournament event. You all have to reach your best forms and don¡¯t lose face for us all."


    "Yes!" four disciples replied uniformly as they sat down around Garen.


    Scenes like this had happened for countless sects over the course of a few days. People around them did not care for it.


    The five disciples watched some opera. The main hall was filling up as more people from other sects came in.


    The group was very patient, a disciple from the Celestial Circle Gate had come earlier to hand them the event schedule.


    Garen had already watched the show yesterday, so it was boring watching it again. The other four were not paying attention either, showing great anticipation for tomorrow¡¯s tournament.


    "This is an opportunity for the disciples to show off their strength. They have also formed a tournament ranking among themselves."


    Raydon was sitting close to Garen, the two sects had pulled their tables together. As time went by, they were getting closer.


    "There is a ranking for normal disciples and one for the Secret Martial Arts disciples. Of course the latter is the more important one, but a sect¡¯s overall strength is estimated by the overall rankings."


    "Does the overall ranking include the masters?" Garen asked in a whisper.


    "Of course, but what¡¯s different from the disciples is that the strength of older Secret Martial Arts masters is relatively fixed. They can¡¯t improve too much in a short period of time. Normally these masters only compete once in a few years, which is why the younger disciples are the deciding factors of the rankings."


    "If that¡¯s the case, shouldn¡¯t every sect send out their best disciples to compete?" Garen was puzzled


    "Naturally, but this ranking is not fully representative of a sect¡¯s strength. Some disciples have graduated from their masters, and thus, cannot come to this tournament.


    Which is why the major purpose of this ranking tournament is to find out who is the strongest among the young generation of disciples. Even if it¡¯s rather inaccurate in estimating a sect¡¯s overall strength," Raydon explained.


    Garen then understood. Fei Baiyun¡¯s other three disciples had already graduated. Therefore, they did not meet the requirements of this tournament. Bringing Garen to this tournament was probably also intended to enrich his experience.


    Afterall, this exchange was held once every two years, so he could try again if he didn¡¯t make it this time.


    The White Cloud Gate was already one of the bottom small sects. It wasn¡¯t easy to drop even lower.


    After thinking this through, Garen started chatting with Raydon. The middle-aged man introduced some famous sects and gates to him.


    Usually at Raydon¡¯s own gate, nobody could bear his nagging. Now that there was someone willing to listen to his chatter, it lifted his spirits. Words shot out from his mouth non-stop.


    Garen sat there with him the whole day and learned many things about the Secret Martial Arts world.


    The next morning, Garen led the four disciples from the White Cloud Gate and followed someone from the Celestial Circle Gate. They did not go back to the main hall, but rather headed toward a platform along the corridor.


    The platform was circular, located in an open patio on the ninth floor. Four highrise buildings surrounded it, blocking the scenery.


    The stage looked like a giant white concrete button in the middle of a dark well, strangely eye-catching.


    The area around it was spacious, over twenty sects all had their own sections. They circled around the platform, surrounding it.


    Garen sat to the left of the platform, near the entrance, with the other four disciples behind him.


    He glanced around. All he could see on the four sides of the platform were people¡¯s heads. Each sect had only five people, other than the servicing disciples from the Celestial Circle Gate. In total, there were over a hundred people. All of whom looked very young.


    The oldest he could see were middle-aged men and women. They were around the age of Raydon, less than forty-years-old.


    The Crimson Sand Sword and the Celestial Circle Gate stood on opposite sides of the platform. Beo was in all blue, standing across a one-eyed man on the other side. Unlike Beo, the man was smiling with a mild and polite temperament.


    Garen carefully observed that man. He was the strongest man from the Celestial Circle Gate, Andrela. He didn¡¯t look too exceptional, far from Beo¡¯s dazzling and intrepid appearance, but Garen could tell that the man was extremely self-confident, as if he could calmly face anything in the world.


    Not only Garen, any disciples who were ambitious had their eyes on these two.


    The chaotic platform settled down thanks to the organization from the Celestial Circle Gate¡¯s disciples.


    A skinny elderly man with a long beard jumped onto the platform holding a big brass bell.


    "The ranking tournament officially starts now. We will begin with the lowest ranks from last time. Which sect would like to challenge first?" His voice was not loud, but everyone could hear him clearly.


    Garen took out a piece of paper which listed the rankings of the twenty-seven sects.


    White Cloud Gate was ranked seventeenth.


    "I¡¯ll go first." A man in black clothing jumped onto the platform. He ripped off his clothes and threw them off the stage. "Encore Fist Sect, Laffer Draco. I challenge the Knife Fist Sect!"


    Just then, a flat chested woman rushed onto the stage. "Nola, Knife Fist Sect!"


    Without any more words of greeting, they started fighting. Hitting back and forth, their forms and techniques looked rigorous, but their hits were shallow and soft. The impact sounded weak. Oobviously, they both lacked strength, and their martial arts were focused on technique rather than strength.


    No more than ten seconds later, the man in black was pushed off the stage. The sect he came from sent another disciple up the stage, which also got pushed down quickly. There was clearly a huge skill gap.


    Normally, a match would not last a long time. The slightest mistake could be the deciding factor between people of a similar level. If they were close in strength, the result would depend on their current state of mind.


    Garen sat in the audience and watched casually. The starting matches were only show matches between disciples without Secret Martial Arts.


    Match after match ended on the platform. Some disciples with conflicts also used this place to solve their problems.


    Soon, the White Cloud Gate was challenged by the eighteenth ranked Fighting Association. The challenger was a hot blond girl with blue eyes. She had just defeated her challengers from the nineteenth ranked sect. She had beaten four opponents all by herself and was still able to challenge the seventeenth ranked White Cloud Gate.


    "Let me!" Behind Garen, a sturdy young man stood up excited. "Senior brother, can I go?"


    The young man was middle of the pack among the four disciples. His Explosive Fist Art was not rank one yet, but his skin was still stronger than that of normal people. He was also very strong for his age.


    "Simon, you think you can handle her?" Without master Fei, everything was up to Garen to decide. This was also an opportunity for him to solve problems on his own.


    Simon nodded. "I watched her matches. Although her legs are well trained, her overall strength is weak. I just have to find an opportunity and take control of her lower body."


    "Fine then, don¡¯t disappoint our White Cloud Gate," Garen told him. The overall ranking didn¡¯t depend on this match, but mostly on the Martial Adept disciples. Yet if they lost too many matches, it would still have a negative impact on the ranking.


    "Got it senior brother, don¡¯t worry." Simon smiled, and saluted his three other friends.


    "Get lost, we all know you only wanted to fight because she¡¯s hot." A girl waved her hand speechlessly.


    Simon laughed as he earnestly climbed onto the platform and walked in front of the blond girl.


    Bang! Bang!


    The opponent straight up gave him two side kicks, hitting Simon¡¯s arm, and made a loud thud.


    Simon stood steadily, his face showed a complacent smile.


    "You are too weak!"

 81 Ranking Tournament 1

    Chapter 81: Ranking Tournament 1


    The golden haired beauty did not say anything as she got down to the floor and performed a leg sweep. Her movements were fast and precise. The part where she sweeped towards was extremely accurate as well; it was in the back of Simon''s knees.


    Bang bang bang bang. As the sound of a series of blows rang out, Simon''s expression suddenly changed. He tried to grab ahold of his opponent''s long legs but was easily avoided each time and was repeatedly kicked in the same location instead. His opponent''s speed exceeded his by far too much.


    Even the strongest power was useless if it could not hit the opponent.


    As the two of them fought in the ring, one of them was standing still, while the other was circling around the opponent and kicking from time to time. It was as if an agile monkey was teasing a clumsy bear.


    The golden haired beauty''s leg sweep was abnormally fast each time. Her fighting skills showed that she had a deep foundation. Her accuracy was also very astonishing. As she circled around Simon, the places that she kicked would always be the same five positions. No matter how much her opponent would try to block, she would be able to repeatedly hit the same positions from different angles.


    Pa!


    Finally, Simon fell down on his knees, then could not maintain his balance any longer and fell flat onto the ground with a bang. With his opponent''s foot stepping on his back, he could no longer move.


    "The Fighting Association wins."


    Garen, who was spectating below, knitted his eyebrows. He was bothered by this type of opponents who specialized in speed as well. With his current increase in combat skill as well as his explosive force, he could easily take down any opponents that entered within a certain range. However, the other students were unable to do that. Simon did not even use the White Cloud Combat Arts. He only relied on his talents and the Explosive Fist Arts to fight and could only be made a fool of by his opponent. It was no wonder that he lost.


    "Simon lost, I''ll go!" A tall and slim woman suddenly stood up. "Senior brother." She looked towards Garen.


    Garen glanced at her. "Keling, are you confident that you''ll win? The other party are preparing to change their member as well."


    "No, I can only give it a try. I checked their information beforehand. The Fighting Association was only inferior to us by just a little the previous time. The fact that they''re proactively challenging us this time means that they''re confident." Keling was one of the most elite students picked out from White Cloud Gate and one of the two strongest students. She was also present in the previous exchange gathering.


    "It''s better if someone else goes. You can''t lose here, otherwise it''ll affect our morale." Garen hesitated for a moment, then looked towards another female student. "Jiali, you''ll go."


    "Alright." Jiali was not bashful at all. She stood up and somersaulted into the ring from the side.


    "We''ll let Jiali squander the opponent''s stamina first," Garen whispered towards Keling. Then his line of sight landed on the other muscular male: he was the last candidate of White Cloud Gate. Out of the four candidates chosen by Fei Baiyun, the main force was the two of them. They were chosen to improve their ranking.


    Jiali fought against another student of the Fighting Association in the ring. Even though her legs were sturdy, her opponent''s kicking power was stronger. After a few kicks in the same spot, Jiali immediately fell down and could not get up any more.


    It was just that the girl was born with a strong tenacity. When she fell over, she would get up, doing it three times.


    "The people from White Cloud Gate isn''t much after all. With this kind of level, you''re simply too weak," the male student from the Fighting Association taunted. Before he even finished speaking, he kicked out once again and viciously struck Jiali''s abdomen.


    Bang!


    Jiali staggered backwards and fell down on her buttocks. She could not get up for a while.


    This girl was still struggling and wanted to get up.


    Below, Garen immediately stood up and announced with a frown.


    "White Cloud Gate admits defeat for this match!"


    Ding ding ding¡­ "The Fighting Association wins." the old man loudly shouted while shaking the bell.


    The other female student standing behind him, Keling, quickly went up to help Jiali get down.


    "Are you alright? How does your knee feel?" Keling had a good relationship with her; she immediately took out an ointment and used it on Jiali.


    Garen was standing one side with a frown on his face.


    "She''s even weaker than the external student, senior brother Erwin. I really don''t understand how she was even selected." Back then when he went for the core disciple examination, even the senior brother Erwin who was together with him was stronger than her.


    "And if we''re comparing tenacity, that girl, Daris, who joined White Cloud Gate for her family''s dojo wasn''t any inferior to her." Garen shook his head.


    "Senior brother, she''s the cousin of Keling..." Simon, who was resting nearby, moved closer and whispered.


    Garen finally nodded in realization.


    "Who''s going next?"


    "I will!" Keling stood up while coldly staring at the man standing in the ring. "I will go and educate that trash who doesn''t know how to speak like a human."


    Garen carefully sized up Keling. She was known as the strongest female disciple within the White Cloud Dojo and was indeed somewhat skilled.


    From the luster of her skin, he could tell that her Explosive Fist Arts had almost reached the rudimentary level. Looking again at her posture and movements, there was a strong hint of the Four Big Forms of White Cloud Combat Arts. She actually assimilated the Four Big Forms into her daily movements as training. Her talent was truly astonishing.


    "Your Four Big Forms is very powerful. You should be able to win." Garen nodded.


    Keling was startled that her strong point was actually immediately seen through by her senior brother. She did not think much of him previously, but she was currently alarmed and did not dare to act as carefree as before.


    "I am going!" She slightly bowed towards Garen, then ran a few steps and jumped into the ring.


    Garen did not watch Keling''s match and looked towards the male student who remained silent.


    This last core student was called Rimridor. He was currently the strongest male core student in the dojo. Rimridor''s elbows were slightly sharp; when his arms were folded together, it was like two blades were placed on his knees.


    He was not a new student and had been in the dojo for a few years. He was currently twenty years old. Whether it was the Four Big Forms or the Explosive Fist Arts, he had already truly mastered them. He was different from Garen; Rimridor relied purely on his willpower and perseverance to master this two martial arts. Just by sitting there, he gave others a feeling of a dormant volcano.


    "Rimridor, you''re up next. Are you confident?" Garen was the senior brother in name. Since his master was not around, then it was his responsibility to ask this question.


    Rimridor nodded. "The Fighting Association is not a problem."


    Garen could tell that other than the other Secret Martial Art disciples, Rimridor was not afraid of other ordinary students. If it was not for his age, then he would already be qualified for learning Secret Martial Art.


    ****************


    On the top of the two storey building next to the ring, several semi-circular platforms extended out. On each of the platforms, the Dojo Masters of various dojos were seated.


    Fei Baiyun was among them as well. He was seated on a white wooden chair on the right and was looking at his student, Garen.


    "Fei Baiyun, is that your last disciple that you''ve brought this time?" A man with a red goatee was all smiles as he stared at Garen. "I am not impressed at all¡­ He''s still inexperienced compared to my Shield Strike Gate''s head disciple, Pharo."


    "The ability of someone is not determined by words, Gate Master Chris." Fei Baiyun glanced at him. "Even though Garen is still young, he can calmly and independently handle matters on his own. Regardless of his martial prowess, I am very satisfied with this."


    He originally thought that the sixteen year old Garen would panic when handling such matters when he was not around. He did not think that he would witness Garen methodically handle things in such a mature manner. Little did he know that Garen was actually not an ordinary sixteen year old. Adding his previous life, Garen would be in his forties.


    The man with the goatee snorted and did not continue further. There was no point since he already knew that White Cloud Gate did not have any intentions of competing this time.


    However, an elderly man with dark skin sitting on the other side narrowed his eyes.


    "Old man Fei, let''s set aside this exchange gathering. Your eldest disciple, Rosetta, crippled my second disciple. How are we settling this matter?"


    Fei Baiyun''s expression became cold. He recognized the other party as the Faction Leader of the number ten Double Halberd Fist. He was an experienced veteran from the south.


    "I see that it''s Faction Leader Watson. It''s just that your second disciple, Bessie, is extremely talented and was personally taught by you. How could my disciple, Rosetta, have injured him? Doesn''t it seem unlikely that Rosetta was able to defeat Bessie?"


    "The great detective Fisto has already thoroughly investigated the matter. In addition to the investigation on Rosetta''s movements, it has already been confirmed that it was your eldest disciple, Rosetta, that injured Bessie. All four of her limbs have been crippled. Hehe¡­ How cruel of her." Watson sinisterly laughed.


    "No matter what, I will thoroughly investigate this incident and give Double Halberd Gate an explanation!" Fei Baiyun knew about the severity of the situation. The sort of move that easily cripples others was no longer an orthodox move.


    "There''s no need for that." The elderly man sinisterly laughed once more but he did not continue further and looked towards the ring below.


    Fei Baiyun became sullen. This was not the first time he received accusations. Rosetta had caused trouble a few times before, resulting in an awkward situation for the current White Cloud Gate. A few friendly dojos that used to be familiar with them were gradually drifting apart. They were almost isolated.


    "It looks like I really need to properly investigate when I get back. Right now it''s the exchange gathering between sects, I won''t think about such things for the time being." His gaze landed on the ring below once more.


    Above a circular platform, the leaders of the Celestial Circle Gate and Crimson Sand Sword were seated together and were discussing the performances of the disciples below. The two sects had always been united. Even though there was fierce competition between their disciples, the relationship between the two sects were still friendly.


    The other leaders of various sects had their own social circles and were discussing their own matters.


    Soon, the disciple from the Fighting Association was knocked out of the ring by Keling and was quickly caught by his fellow disciples.


    "White Cloud Gate wins. The Fighting Association has failed their challenge," the old man loudly shouted while shaking the bell.


    Keling did not move from the ring and loudly said.


    "White Cloud Gate wishes to challenge number sixteen White Shark Gate."


    The White Shark Gate was a very strong sect. A female disciple with fair skin and tall figure casually came up and traded a few blows with Keling. Both of them did not want to expend their energies further and simply came to a draw.


    It was obvious that they were conserving their energy for the disciple ranking tournament later.


    These matches were just an appetizer. The true show was the ranking tournament later. It also included the true ranking competition that even disciples of Secret Martial Arts had to participate.


    It was also the focus of the various sects.


    After Keling returned, Rimridor did not wish to participate. His objective was the ranking tournament later as well. Garen simply stood up and announced that White Cloud Gate gave up on continuing their challenge.


    The matches at the beginning was originally intended for ordinary disciples to demonstrate their skills.

 82 Ranking Tournament 2

    Chapter 82: Ranking Tournament 2


    The real focus was on the ranking tournament later. Each sect would send out five pupils and each of their rankings would be aggregated to determine the real ranking of each sect. It was also the stage to find the strongest among the younger generation.


    After that, it was just more matches between ordinary disciples of a few sects. There was basically nothing to see; it was only contests between those using basic skills at the most. Without any Secret Martial Arts, they were only slightly better than general hobbyists.


    Finally, the match between ordinary disciples of Celestial Circle Gate and Crimson Sand Sword ended. The elderly judge raised up the bell in his hand and was no longer listless like before.


    "Next, we''ll begin the official ranking tournament. Each sect will send out disciples to participate as individuals and the overall ranking of each sect will be determined by a fixed formula."


    The old man waved his hand and a few beautiful young ladies appeared. They were wearing short skirts and stockings, while their hair were tied into ponytails. One of the young ladies was carrying a large box as she stood next to the old man.


    "Could each sect please send out their representatives to draw lots! Then head toward your respective rings for your qualifying matches." The old man pointed toward the surrounding buildings. "The rest of the matches will take place within the surrounding buildings. The previous top three sects will automatically enter the finals and need not participate in the drawing."


    Andrela from Celestial Circle Gate smiled toward Beo from a distance, then turned around and walked into the building behind him. He could not be bothered to continue watching the lot drawing.


    Beo snorted and not wanting to be outdone, left as well. The two of them were far stronger than the other disciples. There was no need for them to worry that a new opponent would suddenly appear. They only had each other as opponents from the start.


    Garen was queuing up within the crowd as he watched the both of them leaving. He could feel the powerful confidence and pride from the two of them. He did not understand how strong they were, but he knew that the average person would not be able to ignore all of the Secret Martial Art practitioners there and calmly leave. It was a sign of confidence from having great power and success.


    He could not help but recall the words of his senior sister, Rosetta. "Every single victory will nourish your confidence¡­ and make you more powerful."


    Soon, the people in front of him had drawn their lots and it was his turn.


    Garen walked to the front, then nonchalantly reached into the box and pulled out a lot. The number written on the white paper was 24.


    He stood on one side as the rest of the disciples from White Cloud Gate drew their lots as well.


    "Could the participants who have drawn their lots please proceed to their respective rings. The winner of each match will proceed to the next ring according to the referee''s instructions. Participants that have lost will all return to this ring to participate in another round of ranking. Everyone will be given a chance to challenge any other participant, other than the winner, for their rank. Once the matches has ended, the top ten will proceed with the finals," the old man loudly announced.


    Garen and the rest of the disciples from White Cloud Gate went on separate ways and headed for their respective rings.


    Garen''s lot number was 24. After entering a large building, an attendant escorted him through a series of corridors to a spacious workout room.


    The room was white and was the size of a large conference hall. There was a white, circular ring in the middle and there was ropes surrounding it just like a boxing ring.


    A young female referee in black clothing was already waiting in it.


    There were also some other young people standing in the room, who were there to watch the fight.


    There was also a bald and muscular man¡ªwho was so muscular that his muscles was slightly deformed¡ªstanding next to the ring. He was staring at Garen the moment he entered.


    This man was wearing a black leather pants while his upper body was naked. His muscles seemed to throb along with his breathing and the muscles on his shoulders looked like malformed roots growing out of the ground.


    "Could the contestants please come to the stage," the female referee on the stage loudly said.


    Garen stopped appraising his opponent. He slowly walked to the side of ring and somersaulted into the ring.


    Even though he was muscular as well, there was still quite a difference between him and his opponent. It was like the difference between an adult and a child. His opponent also got into the ring.


    One of them was big and the other was small. On one side, his skin was dark and he was wearing a black leather pants. On the other side, Garen''s clothing was entirely white and his skin was fair. As the two of them stood on the stage, the contrast between them was clear.


    At that moment, a pair of man and woman entered the room as well. They were the two that went to receive Garen and his master: Jaden and that crossdressing girl who tried to sound out Garen but ended up crying.


    "Junior sister, this is the ring of that Garen from White Cloud Gate. This is his first match,"Jaden whispered to the girl while his gaze naturally landed on Garen.


    "This guy is pretty lucky: his opponent looks strong." The girl gloatingly whispered while giggling, "He deserves it for being so arrogant at the station! This time he''s definitely going to suffer."


    Jaden nodded.


    "His opponent is Benjamin, the third Holy Fist disciple from Holy Fist Gate, and has been practicing Secret Martial Arts for three years. Even though Holy Fist Gate''s rank is only twentieth and isn''t strong, the strength of its third strongest disciple definitely isn''t ordinary. If I were to meet this Benjamin, I can only admit defeat as well. I heard that this Garen was only accepted as a Secret Martial Art disciple a while back. The difference between them is very clear."


    "In addition." Jaden added, "That Garen''s defense isn''t bad. He''s definitely going to be beaten up for a long time." After finishing, he could not help but laughed as well. "He''s going to suffer this time."


    Within the ring.


    Garen moved his head from side to side while calmly analyzing his opponent. His opponent''s size was indeed giving him a lot of pressure. This type of body size was already similar to his second senior brother, Farak, and the power is definitely very scary.


    When Jaden and that girl entered the room, he saw them from the corner of his eye. It was obvious that they were there to watch the show.


    "To meet me in the first match, you''re unlucky." The muscular man grinned, revealing a set of pearly white teeth. "My name''s Benjamin, the third holy fist disciple from Holy Fist Gate. You should feel honored for losing to my fist."


    Garen was dumbfounded. His opponent was so egoistic that he was proclaiming his victory before they even fought.


    "I am Garen, disciple of the seventeenth ranked White Cloud Gate. Can we start?" He looked toward the referee.


    Ding.


    The female referee nodded and shook the silver bell in her hands.


    "You may begin." She quickly got off the stage, so that she would not be accidentally injured.


    Garen narrowed his eyes and analyzed this Benjamin.


    This was the first time he fought with a disciple from the true Secret Martial Arts World. He had Mammoth Secret Technique but his opponent had their own Secret Martial Art as well. Obtaining victory depended on the difference between their experience and strength.


    "I''ll test his strength first."


    With his mind set, Garen slowly took a standard White Cloud Combat Arts stance.


    "Go ahead."


    "Your stance isn''t bad, but let''s see how your strength is. Rank seventeenth, don''t disappoint me." Benjamin laughed and walked toward Garen with a boxing stance.


    Chi!


    His right fist extended and instantly disappeared into the distance. It turned into a black line as it smashed toward Garen''s chin.


    It was a simple uppercut but the speed was fast and the strength was strong. Before it even reached, Garen felt a slight blast of wind pressing on the skin of his chin.


    "What a powerful strength." Garen quickly reacted and his stance immediately changed. His right elbow swung forward and accurately arrived in front of the fist.


    Bang!


    As their fist and elbow collided, both of them took a step back.


    Garen narrowed his eyes as he looked at his opponent.


    "He''s very strong; his strength should be close to 2. If this was his normal strength, in addition with the force of impact and speed, he should be able to hit as hard as me. He''s indeed strong. However, I am stronger!"


    His current Strength attribute was at 2.45. Even though his body size did not stand out, the muscle density of his body was extremely high. He might not be eye-catching, but his actual explosive force was far stronger than most people.


    "Kill him, Benjamin! Kill him!" the girl beside Jaden suddenly loudly shouted. Raising up her fist like a little girl, she continously waved. "That fellow from White Cloud Gate said you''re a big piece of shit! He even said that he can beat you using only one hand!"


    "What a dumb way to goad someone, even an idiot wouldn''t fall for it." Garen was speechless. He looked toward his opponent.


    "Uhh..."


    He was even more speechless when he looked toward his opponent.


    Benjamin''s forehead was bursting with blue veins and his eyes were bright red. It was evident that he was really angry.


    "You brat... " He heavily panted. "Tyrant Star!!"


    He suddenly roared. Both of his fists started to darken, turning from a normal suntanned color to a pitch black ink color.


    "I am going to smash you to death!!" Benjamin charged toward Garen like a mad rhinoceros while panting heavily. The stage was trembling under his heavy footsteps, generating a series of disintegrating sounds.


    A straight punch!


    Benjamin''s fist was like a blackened piece of metal as it rushed toward Garen''s chest. It was like a heavy, gigantic hammer was fiercely swung at Garen.


    "Shoot! Charge! Step!"


    Garen suddenly shouted. He lifted his elbow and knocked aside the punch, then his body moved forward and charged into his opponent''s chest.


    Benjamin''s face went pale as his body flew backwards from the impact.


    Garen chuckled as his right leg rose up and stamped forward.


    Boom!


    Benjamin was knocked down from the air and heavily landed on the ring, causing it to shake violently. He lay there with froth coming out from his mouth and had already fainted.


    With three simultaneous moves, Garen was able to knock down Benjamin¡ªwho had already been sent flying¡ªinto the mat of the ring.


    With his White Cloud Combat Art having reached intermediate level, he was already considered a seasoned veteran. Dealing with someone who had not gone through brutal combat was simply too easy for him.


    The intermediate level of White Cloud Combat Art allowed Garen to swiftly switch between his Four Big Forms. He was also adept at baiting his opponents with deliberate flaws in his stance and exploiting that moment to strike. On the other hand, Benjamin''s combat level was still at the beginner level. The difference between them was too large. The fight was already over before Garen even used half of his strength. His opponent''s Secret Martial Art did not have any effects at all.


    The entire hall was silent. The referee, who was standing at the side of the ring, did not expect the fight to end so quickly as well. She was stunned for a moment before she quickly went into the ring and shook her bell.


    "Winner! Garen from White Cloud Gate! The next match will take place at ring no.17!"


    That was when the spectators finally reacted. With the referee''s announcement, a huge uproar occurred. A few members of the Holy Fist Gate quickly went into the ring to check on Benjamin. They breathed a sigh of relief when they discovered that he had only fainted.


    Jaden and that girl were dumbstruck as well.


    "What a high combat level!"Jaden muttered, "Out of all of the disciples that I''ve seen, his combat level is enough to rank within the top ten!"


    That girl who previously goaded Benjamin was dejected at the moment. Even with her level, she could tell that she was not his match.


    Garen got out of the ring and headed toward the entrance while tidying his clothes. Seeing that Garen was heading toward their position, the two of them quickly got out of the way.


    As Garen was walking past the two of them, he glanced toward the girl. He slowly reached out his hand and stopped in front of her neck, then suddenly clenched his fist.


    "Kacha." He mimicked the sound of bone breaking with his mouth.


    The girl shivered and her face went pale. She was like a pitiful little lamb.


    "Little fellow, you''re still too inexperienced." Garen laughed as he left. He followed the attendant standing outside to ring no.17.


    Her senior brother, Jaden was also held down just now by the aura that Garen deliberately emitted. He felt that he would be instantly crushed if he tried to move. He could only watch as his junior sister was being bullied and did not dare to move.


    He was only able to relax when Garen left.


    "Junior sister¡­ Are you alright?" He could tell that Garen did not have any ill intentions against his junior sister. That was just a small punishment for her previous actions.


    Wa!!


    The girl started to wail out loud as tears flowed out of her eyes.

 83 Ranking Tournament 3

    Chapter 83: Ranking Tournament 3


    After exiting the tournament grounds, Garen walked along the black corridor and rushed towards the tournament venues of White Cloud Gate trainees.


    A medical team in white suits in the corridor rushed into the tournament grounds. They put Benjamin who was in the ring onto a stretcher then quickly passed by Garen.


    Garen looked at Benjamin on the stretcher.


    "I won the first round¡­" he mumbled.


    Walking along the corridor through several corners and break rooms, Garen soon reached a small room with a sparse crowd.


    He gently opened the door. The interior had the exact layout as the tournament grounds earlier.


    In the ring, Collin was leaning on the pillars panting. Her whole body felt weak, and there were blood stains all over her face and body. Her opponent was a slender young man with a cool air about him. He didn''t have on him any trace of having been in a fight.


    From the looks of it, Collin could still hang on for a little longer. Even though she was at a disadvantage, but the outcome couldn''t yet be determined anytime soon.


    Garen didn''t stay. He just casually looked at Collin, and let her see him, then decisively turned around and walked towards the other tournament grounds.


    After that, he visited the tournament venues of the rest of the trainees.


    Simon had won easily. He was up against an average opponent whose Secret Martial Art was relying on a burst of pace, but that had been completely inundated by him.


    Carrie and her opponent were difficult to set apart.


    And lastly, Rimridor.


    Garen walked into the tournament venue.


    In the ring, Rimridor silently stood his ground, and managed to strike his opponent to the ground with one punch. He had a blank look on his face, and there was a strange air about him.


    His opponent was a young boy with a short stature. The youth was wounded all over his body¡ªhe must have been struck to the ground multiple times¡ªbut this time he still managed to slowly get up, albeit with some difficulty.


    "You want more?" Rimridor said casually. He was wearing a pair of black cuffs; both his elbows were bent so it made his arms seem like two sharp gimlets. "If we go on like this, you''ll die."


    Bang!


    He adopted a lightning-quick Shot Form and viciously struck the youth''s chest. The blow caused the youth to rebound off the ring ropes.


    "I¡­admit defeat!" the youth struggled to spout those few words out. His head slumped, and he fainted.


    "No fun," Rimridor said indifferently. He waited for the referee to announce his victory, then somersaulted down from the ring and walked to Garen. "Eldest Senior Brother, why are you here?"


    Garen frowned slightly. He sensed an inexplicable temperament on Rimridor, similar to Eldest Senior Sister.


    "Your combat skills¡­were they taught by Eldest Senior Sister?"


    "Yeah." Rimridor casually nodded.


    Garen was slightly worried, but he wasn''t sure why. He patted Rimridor''s shoulder and didn''t continue the subject. "Time to go to the next tournament."


    Rimridor nodded, and followed Garen out, leaving the slightly deserted tournament ground.


    Both of them came out from the door and went their separate ways. Garen found his next tournament venue based on the room number: 17.


    As he reached the corridor of the room, he saw that the entrance was already crowded. Most of them were students wearing tight yellow clothes. Garen wasn''t sure which sect they belonged to.


    Garen furrowed his brow a little, and slowly walked forward.


    Clap.


    The first brawn he touched felt his whole body shudder all of a sudden, and automatically avoided him and gave up his place. Then the second one, and the third¡­


    A series of people, those that Garen touched, all voluntarily parted to let Garen pass. Even they were confused as to why they were giving way to Garen.


    Garen slowly walked into the room through the middle of the crowd, as if it was parted seawater revealing a narrow aisle; it made him unusually conspicuous.


    Inside the room, Jaden and the crybaby girl from Celestial Circle Gate were already there. When he saw how everyone politely gave way to Garen, Jaden was impressed.


    "See that, Long Er? That''s the Vibration that can only be mastered by a true expert! This guy¡­so powerful!" Jaden was in awe.


    "Vibration?" The girl still had tearstains on her face. She stared at Garen menacingly, and was shocked to hear what her Senior Brother had said. "He can master Vibration? Senior Brother, do you not see it? Vibration is a threshold only mastered by the top ten level of experts!"


    "Stop talking. By mastering Vibration, he is already qualified enough to become a contender for top ten! Just watch this tournament," Jaden whispered as he dragged Long Er to an inconspicuous corner. He was worried Garen might make Long Er cry again.


    Garen walked in through the crowd. His strong and tall body was extremely proportionate, his stride calm; his face didn''t show the slightest trace of anxiety of someone about to compete in a tournament.


    "You kid! How dare you shove me!" a brawny man with stubble clad in black roared and shoved Garen.


    Clap.


    His hands were on Garen, but he didn''t manage to move him. He was stunned.


    Clap clap!


    He shoved hard again, twice, but there was no reaction. It was like pushing against a high wall: it was impossible to move.


    "The weak can only rely on such means to win, huh?" Garen looked down at the stubbled man in front of him, and casually waved a hand.


    Bang!


    The brawn crashed onto the side wall like a swatted fly; his eyes rolled and he blacked out.


    Woah!


    The crowd was in an uproar. Everyone avoided him like the plague; no one dared to stand too close to Garen.


    "So powerful!"


    "Margent was dealt with just like that!"


    "This guy is from White Cloud Gate, right? Who would have thought there was someone so strong in the Southern Twelve Gates?"


    Garen didn''t bother looking at the others. He threw away a fine needle: it was the secret weapon that the stubbled man tried to use on Garen, of which he had managed to neutralize. He walked straight to the ring and asked a stunned Celestial Circle Gate referee disciple.


    "Where''s my opponent? Still not here yet?"


    "Uh¡­ You just settled him¡­" Under Garen''s piercing stare, the referee broke out in a cold sweat.


    Garen was shocked. He looked at the stubbled man passed out by the wall, and shook his head slightly.


    "Where is the next round?"


    "¡­You don''t have to move for the next round, your opponent will come over," the referee hurriedly explained. "Your winning time was the shortest. The future tournament venues will be determined by winning times: the shorter time would gain the home advantage."


    Garen nodded, closed his eyes, and sat down cross-legged to rest.


    As he quieted, the whole room slipped into a murmur of discussion. The twenty over people in the room didn''t dare to speak loudly, for fear of accidentally disturbing Garen. Everyone was whispering to their companions, and would look in awe at Garen¡ªsitting by the side of the ring¡ªfrom time to time.


    Jaden and the young Long Er were infected by the atmosphere too: they lowered their voices.


    "An expert who has mastered Vibration¡­ I can''t believe that White Cloud Gate, one of the Southern Twelve Gates, would produce such an expert. I thought this time would be the same as before, and the Southern Twelve Gates Union would just be eliminated. I didn''t expect that there would be someone like Garen."


    Long Er hid behind her Senior Brother, as if she was worried she would be spotted by Garen.


    "So Senior Brother, is this Garen the strongest person in the Southern Twelve Gates Union?"


    "Maybe, if we don''t consider the disciples trained by masters, then he should be the strongest one. The Southern Twelve Gates was originally an alliance of multiple small sects forming a strong force to counter other bigger sects and increase its influence as an organization. Most of the sects within it were of a similar level, but now with the sudden appearance of this Garen, there might be issues with the balance amongst the sects. But this isn''t something for us to consider," Jaden patiently analyzed. "I''ve seen the strongest disciple from the remaining eleven sects, not comparable to Garen at all. This Garen could indeed be the strongest man within the Southern Twelve Gates."


    "The strongest man within the Southern Twelve Gates huh?"


    Garen''s figure sitting cross-legged reflected in Long Er''s clear pink pupils for the first time.


    ******************


    Upon defeating the stubbled Margent with one blow, Garen''s fame was spread by the students who had witnessed it.


    Margent was the elite fighter from Myriad Manifestations Gate. He broke into the final fifteen the last time around, and was the strongest core from the Southern Twelve Gates. Now he had been sent flying against a wall in one blow by Garen, and had passed out.


    This instantly caused a stir amongst the spectators in all tournament venues.


    In that instant, all the disciples from Southern Twelve Gates who had felt ashamed for always ranking low in the tournaments could hold their heads up high. They had always swallowed their pride in front of stronger sects, and held their tongues when they met with trouble; they were always the side to suffer. All because they didn''t have strong Senior Brothers and Sisters to back them up, and it would be impossible for masters to intervene in disciple-level conflicts. After all, others would have stronger masters.


    Natural selection was accepted as an inalienable principle, so the disciples from the entire Southern Twelve Gates were used to such oppression.


    Now that Garen had outshone everyone, this gave all the disciples of Southern Twelve Gates hope. If he could defeat a top fifteen contender with such ease, they could have a good chance at top ten this time!


    "Senior Brother Garen from White Cloud Gate is the strongest man from our Southern Twelve Gates! I heard he easily defeated Benjamin from Holy Fist Gate!"


    "What about the rest of the disciples from Southern Twelve Gates?"


    "All eliminated¡­"


    "It''s all up to Senior Brother Garen now!"


    Within the tournament room, more and more disciples from Southern Twelve Gates crowded in. The tournament venue was packed; there were people everywhere.


    The voices of the students were rowdy. These disciples who had been subdued for too long finally saw hope; they all crowded over to watch Garen compete.


    Garen slowly opened his eyes, and looked at a disciple not far off in front of him.


    "You said everyone else from White Cloud Gate has been eliminated?"


    That disciple nervously nodded.


    "Yes¡­yes, Senior Brother. Seventy to eighty people have already been eliminated. No one from White Cloud Gate managed to enter the third round except you¡­"


    "So that means, I''m the only one left?" Garen wasn''t surprised. He looked over to the entrance: Collin, Simon and a few others were shielding Carrie as they squeezed in.


    At that moment, a stout youth with fat all over his body climbed into the ring. He was wearing a white tank top, tight against his thick layers of fat, like a large stuffed balloon.


    The portly youth seemed to still be chewing something, and swallowed it with a gulp. His eyes stared straight at Garen outside the ring.


    "A contestant from Southern Twelve Gates? How lucky."


    Garen stood up, somersaulted onto the ring and stood his ground.


    The referee rang the bell.


    "Let the tournament begin!"

 84 Ranking Tournament 4

    Chapter 84: Ranking Tournament 4


    "I am Ai Luo of Asura Palm. And you are?" The portly youth had a head of blonde hair; it didn''t look dyed, but instead natural. He reached a hand to brush his blonde hair off his face, and asked earnestly.


    "Garen. White Cloud Gate." Garen raised his hand, put on a Four Major Forms pose, and he instantly sharpened up.


    "I''ll just stand still and let you hit me, how''s that?" the stout youth Ai Luo said, chuckling. "As long as you manage to injure me, you win."


    "You idiot!" Jaden outside the ring covered his eyes as he couldn''t bear to look.


    Bang!


    Garen leapt forward, his elbow straight like a sharp arrow, piercing straight into the fats of the chest and abdomen of the stout youth.


    The layers of white fat started to violently vibrate; fatty ripples formed in the parts that were hit.


    Ai Luo''s expression changed: his face was pale.


    "Go!"


    Garen''s expression was composed. He gathered momentum with a twist of his foot, and thrust his entire body against the stout youth.


    Wham!


    The force caused the hill-like body of the stout youth to fly out of the ring and crash onto the ground, creating a huge cloud of dust as he landed.


    "Declare it," Garen said casually as he straightened up.


    "¡­Yes¡­yes, very well." The referee snapped out of his shock. "The winner of this round, Garen from White Cloud Gate!" He rang the bell hard, but the sound produced by the small bell was too soft; it was completely muted by the gasps from the crowd.


    Jaden stood in a corner with a somber expression.


    "Looks like we underestimated his strength. He is already qualified to challenge Beo of Crimson Sand Sword. Asura Palm is ranked seventh. This stout one was one of their best: he was ranked eleventh in the previous meet. The fat all over his body was his best defense. His Secret Martial Art is the constantly activated tough Ripples of Fat to counteract Vibration. Vibration by average experts have almost no effect on him."


    To a side, Long Er''s petite face turned pale.


    "So¡­so how did he take down the stout guy in such a short amount of time¡­?"


    "His Strength, Speed, and his technique of consecutively concentrating power onto one point; he combined all these to directly break the surface tension and counter the Ripples of Fat Secret Martial Art. What a terrifying fighting spirit!" Jayden explained with a mumble. "His Vibration, his physical coordination, and most importantly the speed of his Explosive Force, is so much more powerful than average practitioners of Secret Martial Arts! I once saw the Secret Martial Art of White Cloud Gate, the Mammoth Secret Technique. Its general effects could not achieve the toughness that he had displayed. Is it possible that he is training in a new martial art technique? Something that''s not from White Cloud Gate?"


    "No! He did actually use the Explosive Force Technique from White Cloud Gate," a male voice could suddenly be heard beside them.


    Jayden and Long Er were both startled. They turned around, and both instantly displayed reverence.


    "Eldest Senior Brother!"


    "Greetings, Eldest Senior Brother."


    Both of them quickly greeted him.


    Standing to one side, was the one-eyed Andrela, who had just rushed over to watch the tournament. He was the strongest disciple of their generation from Celestial Circle Gate, and the most prominent youth martial arts expert in the South.


    He had a black eye patch over his left eye, and a crystal clear, dark golden pupil for his left eye. A head of long, jet black hair was casually draped behind him to the waist. This gave him a mysterious and gentle impression.


    "19, 23, you''re still fresh. With only a few years of training under your belt, it''s natural that you can''t recognize his true style." Andrela looked at Garen in the ring with a trace of admiration.


    "If I''m not wrong, this Garen has mastered the highest level of Secret Martial Art of White Cloud Gate. How terrifyingly talented! Mammoth Secret Technique of White Cloud Gate is merely a third-rate Secret Martial Art; many sects have a similar training method for Secret Martial Arts. I can''t believe he could actually train in a third-rate Secret Martial Art to such an extent."


    "It can''t be¡­ Eldest Senior Brother, you mean to say that, the Secret Martial Art level of this Garen is higher than that of his master?" Jaden asked, aghast.


    "I''m not sure. The true strength of the White Cloud Gate Master is known only to the masters who have dueled with him. But it''s just a third-rate Secret Martial Art, so even if he''s highly trained in it, the power would be limited. Not to worry." Andrela looked at Garen who was resting cross-legged, and shook his head regrettably. "What a shame. If he was discovered by Celestial Circle Gate first, his accomplishments would be unimaginable. Shame¡­ His Secret Martial Art is limited; he has peaked."


    He used the word ''shame'' twice.


    Jayden and Long Er understood what he meant. Garen had trained in the Secret Martial Art of White Cloud Gate to such an extent that his physicality had crystallized. It was impossible for him to change course and train in another Secret Martial Art. Moreover, the limit of a third-rate Secret Martial Art was the level on which Garen was at; there was no way to enhance it any further.


    "So Eldest Senior Brother, in your opinion, what ranking does this Garen deserve based on his true strength?" Long Er asked curiously. With the strongest Eldest Senior Brother by her side, the trauma that Garen caused her seemed to completely vanish: she was instantly more relaxed.


    "It should be the same as Eastern Saintcloth from Quicksand, around fifth or sixth¡ªprovided that the true strength of the rest hasn''t changed much this year," Andrela replied casually.


    "Fifth or sixth?!" Jayden and Long Er were both shocked; they couldn''t believe it.


    Garen did not notice Andrela in the corner of the crowd. It was as if he had an unusual magic: the people around him barely gave him a second look, as if he was utterly invisible.


    Garen was breathing slowly according to the breathing rhythm of the Secret Martial Art to recover his energy. Even though he defeated the stout contender from Asura Palm in one blow, he still expended some energy. He still had to prepare himself to face the next opponent in his prime condition.


    Unfortunately, after waiting for quite some time, his opponent for the next round didn''t turn up. It wasn''t just him, even the referee started to get impatient. He sent a disciple from Celestial Circle Gate to inquire, and found out that Garen''s opponent for the next round was still in the middle of a tough fight. Apart from ongoing duels, some contestants had sustained severe injuries and required rest and treatment. All contestants for the fourth round had to continue waiting. The rest were martial arts experts who had already progressed to the fifth round. According to the rules, it was impossible to arrange a duel with them in that moment.


    "That means I can have a little time to rest for now?" Garen stood up and asked softly.


    "Yes. You have about half an hour to rest. In the meantime, you are free to move about," the referee nodded and politely replied. In the Secret Martial Art world, the strong was always revered. Garen''s true strength had gained his respect.


    "Very well." Garen planned to sit cross-legged again and continue his recovery.


    After sitting only for a while, a disciple from Celestial Circle Gate clad in black handed a note to him.


    "Senior Brother Garen, someone outside claims to be an acquaintance of yours. He asked me to give this to you."


    "An acquaintance?" Garen took the note, opened it, and his eyes widened instantly.


    There was only one line written on the note.


    ''Want to know how Gregor died? Meet me at two o''clock at night. I''ll be waiting for you outside.'' There was even an illustration of a familiar tattoo design below the words: it was the graphic on the back of the hands of those psychokinetics.


    He crumpled the note in shock. Garen''s eyes narrowed; there was a trace of coldness in them.


    "Where is the person who passed you the note?" he asked the disciple who handed the note over.


    "Still waiting outside¡­" Before he could finish his words, he saw Garen jump straight off the ring and dash out the door. The packed crowd around the ring did not impede him at all. He was like a moving reef; the crowd automatically parted wherever he went.


    He was out of the room in an instant. There seemed to be a commotion in the room on the other side; it sounded like a crowd cheering.


    "Shura! Shura! Shura!" The cheers were like the tide, coming wave after wave; the atmosphere was bustling.


    Garen glanced around the corridor. Suddenly the corner of a black cloak at the far end of the corridor caught his eye.


    He arched his body and instantly rushed towards it. He was at the end of the corridor in a few strides. Around the corner was a ten-odd-meters straight black corridor; there were no bends in the middle, but the person earlier had vanished, all in a matter of a few seconds.


    "Traveling twenty to thirty meters in a few seconds¡­" Garen looked at the people walking around in the corridor. He grabbed a female disciple that walked past him and asked, "Did you see someone in a black cloak pass by earlier?"


    "Ouch! That hurts! No! No I didn''t!" the girl repeatedly answered in shock.


    "I''m sorry, I''ve hurt you." It was only then that Garen noticed he was using too much force, so he released his grip on her. "You really didn''t see?"


    "I really didn''t! Who wears a black cloak in broad daylight anyway?" she rubbed her shoulder as she finished replying, then ran off as fast as a rabbit.


    Garen walked on along the corridor. He kept questioning passersby as he walked, but the answer was that no one had even seen a person in a black cloak.


    The other disciples from White Cloud Gate rushed over too, and followed behind Garen.


    Collin wanted to walk up and greet him, but was halted by Simon, who shook his head at her.


    "It must be something important to Eldest Senior Brother. Let''s help him search."


    Apart from Rimridor who was nowhere to be seen, the four of them kept asking everyone they met, but no one had seen a person in a black cloak at all.


    Garen walked into a break room along the corridor. He slowly sat on the bench and wiped the sweat and oil off his face. The note and that corner of a black cloak were haunting him.


    Shouts and cheers kept coming intermittently from the rooms around them: those were the tournament venues of other contestants.


    The other three from White Cloud Gate were also exhausted, so they sat down with Garen.


    "Eldest Senior Brother¡­" Collin looked at Garen worriedly.


    "It''s almost time for the next tournament, right?" Garen looked up, and reverted to his usual calm. "Thanks for helping me out in the manhunt. Let''s get back to the tournament."


    "Okay!" Simon and the rest answered hurriedly.


    Garen stood up and sorted through his emotions.


    Ever since he enhanced his Mammoth Secret Technique to the level of Achieved Mammoth, even though he didn''t feel anything then, eventually he realized that the Achieved level of the Mammoth Secret Technique made his every action more coherent. The Four Major Forms of White Cloud Combat Techniques, Vibration Technique in Strength Utilization under the Mammoth Secret Technique, and Techniques in Fundamental Wrestling Arts had all harmonized into one. It was as if he was a real mammoth: his every move was calm but powerful, and integrated.


    He finally understood the purpose of the Mammoth Secret Technique: it was coordination.


    Coordinated practitioners of the White Cloud Secret Method, Explosive Fist Arts, White Cloud Combat Arts and the like, would be able to meld all the techniques into one, and form a naturally coherent comprehensive force.

 85 The Truth 1

    Chapter 85: The Truth 1


    This coordination was already a hard limit; anything further would just be a slight enhancement. He had understood that¡ªthe Explosive Fist Arts, White Cloud Secret Method, and White Cloud Combat Technique¡ªwere all fundamental parts, like a mammoths limbs. Training in these martial art techniques was like honing the mammoth''s limbs: the stronger they were, the better the foundation, and the stronger the integrated effect of the Secret Mammoth Technique.


    The purpose of the Secret Mammoth Technique was to integrate all these together, to form a real large mammoth. Different people formed different Mammoth characteristics: this was dependent on physical quality, and the level of Explosive Fist Arts or White Cloud Secret Method they have trained up till.


    Garen''s own White Cloud Secret Method had reached an unprecedented level; his Explosive Fist Arts had reached an intermediate level, a minor achievement; his White Cloud Combat Technique was intermediate too. Coupled with the strong physical quality that he was most proud of¡ªa physical quality that was beyond the physical limits of an average person¡ªeverything combined, the Secret Martial Art helped Garen attain a terrifyingly phenomenal level.


    This was just a third-rate Secret Martial Art technique, but had been practiced by him to an unfathomable level with his mysterious special ability.


    Other practitioners from White Cloud Gate would not practice Secret Martial Arts on such solid foundation. Basically they would start practicing it once they had a good foundation of the rest. After all, Explosive Fist Arts and the White Cloud Secret Method were time-consuming martial art techniques. If they only started practicing Secret Martial Arts after attaining a certain achievement in those, it would probably not happen even when the practitioner reached 40 years old. Even the best talents would only be able to attain intermediate levels in Explosive Fist Arts and the White Cloud Secret Method. With their White Cloud Secret Method limited to intermediate level, not even attaining advanced level, there would be too big a difference with Garen''s unparalleled achieved level.


    No one knew the changes that an achieved White Cloud Secret Method integrated into Secret Mammoth Technique would bring about. The role of White Cloud Secret Method in Secret Martial Arts was like the heart of the mammoth, consolidating the power and explosive force of the entire body.


    Garen wasn''t even sure what stage he was at. He just knew that he was stronger than before, stronger than when he went to the Golden Hoop meet!


    He rushed towards the previous tournament venue along the way he came from.


    "Where is Master now?" he asked as he walked.


    "After the next round is the final round to determine the top ten, Master should be here to watch," Collin explained simply. "He should be with the masters of other dojos and sects now."


    Garen nodded and didn''t say more. The incident with the note still weighed heavy on him; he didn''t know who passed him the note, but¡­


    A trace of coldness flashed across his face. Garen sped up. All along the corridor, every disciple from the Southern Twelve Gates would give way to him out of respect.


    "I heard that Senior Brother Garen has been rated as the first person below the previous top ten! And it was Senior Brother Andrela who had personally evaluated this!"


    "Senior Brother Garen, together with Senior Brother Tenstar Ni, have been regarded as the Senior Brothers with the most potential to enter top ten."


    "The next round is the finals. Let''s go get a place, quick!"


    The whispers of trainees would reach their ears from time to time. Garen turned a deaf ear to all of it, but the faces of the other three gradually shone with a trace a pride.


    White Cloud Gate had never been bestowed such an honor. As a small, third-rate sect, its martial art methods were limited; even extremely talented disciples have never managed to reach such a level. Every disciple could only participate for three times consecutively, not to mention there was an age limit. Eldest Senior Sister and Second Senior Brother had passed the age limit long ago, and even they were far from attaining this degree of evaluation when they participated.


    Now that Garen had achieved it, the three of them walked with their heads held high, no longer the same as before.


    After he passed through a few corridors, Garen strode into his initial tournament venue. In the packed room, someone was already waiting for him in the white ring.


    A proportionately muscular youth with a tall flattop haircut resembling a broom, he had white hand wraps on both his hands, and a rebellious look on his face. His upper body was bare, and he was wearing white shorts. He had a shoe only on his right foot; it looked very odd.


    Garen subconsciously looked at his feet.


    When the youth shifted his right foot, Garen realized that the he wasn''t actually wearing a shoe, but instead there was a black shoe-like motif painted onto his foot: both his feet were bare.


    "Senior Brother Garen, please step into the ring," the referee shouted.


    The tournament venue quieted down almost immediately. The crowd gave way to Garen and the other three. Most of them looked expectantly at him, only a few stared rudely.


    Garen strode to the side of the ring, somersaulted into it then stood up.


    "Order of the Iron Fist, Carlos." The youth had a hand in front of his body, and another clenched, resting at his waist: he adopted the horse stance, and put on a solemn posture.


    "Garen of White Cloud Gate." Garen glanced at his opponent, not even bothering to adopt a stance. He looked sideways at the referee and asked, "Can we begin?"


    "Begin!" The referee rung the bell definitively, then somersaulted out of the ring. This wasn''t child''s play: duels at this level were considered to be between experts. A referee like him could be accidentally injured if he didn''t take care.


    As the referee''s voice faded, Carlos threw a fierce punch which arced to hit the right side of Garen''s face.


    The few-meter gap between the both of them was closed by him in one stride. His fist pierced the right side of Garen''s face like a sickle. Due to the extreme speed, only a trace of a shadow could be seen, like the sharp, curved shadow of a sickle blade.


    "How fast!" Garen was stunned. He barely managed to lift his elbow; he could feel a gust from the force of the punch ripple the skin of his face.


    Bang!


    The two were interlocked in a fist fight. Garen blocked with his right arm and threw his left arm out towards his opponent''s face. His arm flung out like a spring; he was using a standard Shot Form. The explosive force of the punch made a whoosh sound.


    Clap!


    Another crisp sound could be heard. All their attacks were blocked by the other.


    Within less than half a meter from each other, Carlos'' spike-like elbow attacked Garen like a storm. Garen blocked his crucial body parts; the rest of the attacks hit his muscles and caused them to quiver violently but the effect soon passed. His skin merely reddened slightly.


    A very frequent ''tap tap tap'' sound like raindrops could be heard.


    Carlos looked grimmer. Even his Vibration couldn''t penetrate the toughness of Garen''s Body Hardening Technique. It merely caused a reddening of the skin; this was something he didn''t expect.


    But to be able to reach this stage in the tournament, his opponent would naturally not be a weakling. He was already mentally prepared.


    "Abrupt Kick!" Carlos roared. His right leg shot up and headed straight for Garen''s chin. Its swiftness transformed it into a grey shadow.


    Wham!


    Garen didn''t manage to react in time, and got hit squarely by the kick; his head jerked backwards from the impact. But with a sly grin, he threw caution to the wind and took the opportunity to grab his opponent''s shoulder with his right arm, and tripped Carlos with a foot.


    There was a muffled thud, and Carlos was held down by him in the ring.


    Garen didn''t hesitate as he followed through with a downward elbow smash.


    There was a loud crash; a small dent appeared on the ring.


    Carlos rolled over and dodged the attack. He rolled a few meters away from Garen and stood up again. He looked fearfully at the dent on the ground. These rings were made from high strength, special grade cement. Apart from a high base cost, this brought with it an extremely tough rigidity, almost ten times that of average cement. Now it had been easily damaged under Garen''s strength.


    "If I didn¡¯t dodge that second move¡­" He let out a low cough. Phlegm surged up his throat, and he felt bursts of piercing pain in his back.


    He turned sideways to spit out the phlegm: it was blood sputum. The blood red goop stuck onto the floor of the ring with a flop.


    "Good fight!" When he got excited, Carlos'' accent immediately turned into a rhotic tone; Garen couldn''t make out the origin of the accent.


    "You''re not too bad either." Garen gave a soft laugh, and temporarily put aside all his worries. "Again!"


    He stomped his foot, angled his elbow forward and dashed towards his opponent like a drill.


    His left elbow complemented the Dash Form. Coupled with the impact of the Step Form, the integrated use of the Four Major Forms was his true transformation after receiving the Secret Martial Art.


    This was the same maneuver he used to defeat the stout youth earlier.


    When he rushed to the front of Carlos, the latter gave a cunning smile then suddenly crouched down and kicked Garen''s lower body.


    Whack!


    Carlos caught Garen squarely in the calf, but his expression immediately changed as he attempted to roll over and dodge, but it was too late.


    His opponent''s calf was anchored like an iron wall. This was the result of a marked difference in strength. Moreover, his straight kick did not actually do his opponent any harm, not even a scratch.


    Was this a bad joke? Usually the power of this kick was enough to rupture two sandbags arranged successively!


    He saw Garen draw his hands to his chest and do an elbow drop, collapsing on him like a mountain.


    It was too late.


    Carlos did not hesitate; he made a ruthless decision.


    "Abrupt Kick!"


    Both his legs suddenly kicked upwards. The tips of his feet were like sharp spikes and stabbed Garen''s chest and abdomen one after the other.


    Wham!


    The two collided hard into each other; the whole ring quaked from the impact.


    The entire tournament ground suddenly fell into complete silence.


    Garen slowly got up and looked at Carlos who was coughing up blood.


    "No matter how fast you are, how fast your rhythm, I just need to hit you once."


    It was only then that the referee rushed into the ring to strike the bell.


    "The winner is Garen of White Cloud Gate!"


    Hurrah!


    The audience burst into a loud cheer; the whole tournament venue instantly became rowdy. Most of the disciples from Southern Twelve Gates were over the moon.


    Garen shook his head as he watched the medical team carry the injured Carlos away. He looked down at his own chest: two red spots were clearly visible, and his skin was slightly swollen.


    "He was indeed an expert who has mastered Vibration, much more lethal than an average person. Any stronger and he would have broken my defense."


    "The next venue is the finals tournament ground, that is the open tournament ground outside. It starts tomorrow morning," the referee on the side cautiously announced. "Today''s preliminaries have ended. Tomorrow will be the finals to determine the top ten."


    "That is to say, I can go back and rest now?" Garen asked.


    "Yes."


    Garen leaped out of the ring. His white clothing was torn and ragged: Carlos'' kicks earlier had shredded his clothes at his chest. He simply pulled off his top and walked out of the room baring his upper body.


    "Eldest Senior Brother, you''re finally in the finals!" Collin, Carrie and the rest were elated.


    "At such a critical moment, where could Rimridor have gone?" Simon moaned softly.


    "That guy isn''t here yet?" Garen frowned, "It''s fine, forget him. You guys head straight back to rest. I''ll take a shower first."


    "Yes, Senior Brother!" the three of them replied respectfully at once. Their impression of Garen now was higher and more authoritative than ever.


    Garen nodded, and walked towards the left side of the corridor alone. Every now and then there would be some disciples from Southern Twelve Gates looking at him in admiration, and give way to him.


    He had defeated Carlos from the Order of the Iron Fist. His reputation immediately reached a prominent height. The Order of the Iron Fist ranked ninth, but Carlos was indeed a top ten contender the last time. Now that he had been defeated, this meant that Garen could benefit from his detriment to advance further.

 86 The Truth 2

    Chapter 86: The Truth 2


    Under the guidance of an attendant, Garen returned to the accommodation arranged by his sect. He entered his own independent room, took off his clothes and walked into the shower.


    He shut the door and gently turned the faucet on.


    Whoosh.


    Cold water rushed out first, but soon the water warmed and steam slowly filled the bathroom.


    Garen stood under the faucet, letting the warm water cascade down from his shoulders. The tense muscles and skin around his body gradually relaxed under the warmth. Hot water drenched his back and flowed to his feet, washing away most of the sweat and stains.


    He wiped his face with his hands and started recalling the developments in the tournament so far. Each of his four opponents had their strengths and weaknesses. The strongest opponent was the last one, Carlos from the Order of the Iron Fist; his true strength was comparable to Golden Hoop Number 9.


    "Now that I think of it, Carlos and Eldest Senior Sister share a similar fighting style: both aim to kill. But compared to Eldest Senior Sister at her current level, he is slightly weaker. Nevertheless, the difference is marginal," Garen contrasted Carlos with the standard of the Eldest Senior Sister that trained with him from his memory, and carefully evaluated it.


    Since receiving the Secret Martial Art, even he himself was unclear what level his true strength had progressed to; he needed a clear comparison.


    "Eldest Senior Sister would not have exhibited her full strength when she was training with me. Based on several daily details, I estimate that she is slightly stronger than Carlos. I could spar with Eldest Senior Sister when I am back to find out the current extent of my true strength. But why didn''t Eldest Senior Sister and the others participate in the ranking tournaments? If they were here, White Cloud Gate wouldn''t be in too low a ranking."


    Garen''s mind kept recalling the actions, strength and other details of Second Senior Brother and Eldest Senior Sister when they were in training.


    Ever since he received the Secret Martial Art, his perspective had completely changed. His strength and martial art techniques have been coherently amalgamated to reach a stage where he could organically combine moves. Naturally, his perspective of former opponents had evolved, and he would notice more than he did before.


    "Eldest Senior Sister and Carlos should be on the same level, and Second Senior Brother is slightly weaker. Third Senior Brother is on the same level as the guy from Holy Fist Gate in the first round. He''s really too lazy¡­" As he thought about Third Senior Brother Joshua, he couldn''t help but shake his head slightly. Practicing martial arts once every three days could still be considered diligent. No matter how talented he was, he wouldn''t be able to accomplish anything if he wasted his talent like that.


    He looked down and gently clenched his fists. After a few duels, Garen could clearly feel that he had become more powerful. There were no specific enhancements to his strength and speed, but his martial arts had become more powerful. He could spontaneously apply the Four Major Forms; they had been ingrained as a natural instinct. He could easily integrate the strength of his entire body in the execution of every move.


    Even though the Strength points in the Attribute Pane remain unchanged, Garen could feel that his true strength had increased by more than one fold. He could probably achieve 500 pounds of explosive force in situ. If it were coupled with the impact of a run-up, the results would be unimaginable even to him.


    "It would probably reach half a tonne¡­" Garen tilted his head upwards and allowed the hot water to directly drench his hair. "What a shame. This seems to be the maximum extent of the Secret Martial Art of White Cloud Gate. I could still progress further, but the Secret Martial Art has peaked."


    Ding dong.


    "Garen, are you there?" the voice of Master Fei Baiyun came from outside the door.


    "I am, master," Garen hurriedly replied. "I''m in the shower. I''ll be out in a minute."


    He quickly turned off the tap, dried himself, hastily dressed then pushed the door open to walk out.


    The door clicked as it opened. Fei Baiyun stood at the entrance clad in black silk clothing. He was wearing a round black hat and small sunglasses. Coupled with his handlebar moustache, he made an oddly delightful sight.


    He let himself into the room and sat down. Fei Baiyun stared fervently at his disciple who closed the door and sat down.


    "Garen, I was chatting to some old friends and heard that you won the preliminaries and entered the finals. You''ve really done me proud this time!" His face shone with glee. "I didn''t expect your true strength to develop so fast after you''ve received the Secret Martial Art! This kind of talent¡­ Looks like I was right in selecting you to be a last disciple!"


    "Well done!" Fei Baiyun patted Garen''s shoulders hard. "I will meet whatever request you have when we get back!"


    "Master, you flatter me." Garen was somewhat embarrassed by his master''s praises.


    "I am clear about what is and isn''t flattery. For you to be able to reach this level in a year, no one would have expected it. Your Secret Mammoth Technique should be at the Mammoth level, correct?" Fei Baiyun lowered his voice and asked.


    Garen nodded. This was not something to hide. The Secret Mammoth Technique purely relied on perception and talent. It was different from White Cloud Secret Method and Explosive Fist Arts; those were fundamentals which required hard work.


    "Indeed¡­" The more he looked at him, the more Fei Baiyun liked Garen. The smile that he suppressed to maintain his dignified image as a teacher couldn''t be contained any longer. His wrinkly face grinned from ear to ear. "Any injuries from the tournaments?"


    "None¡­" Garen replied truthfully.


    Fei Baiyun suddenly stood up and looked at his disciple Garen, shook his head slightly and said, "I can''t believe that a last disciple that I, Fei Baiyun, have admitted in my sunset years, would be such a fascinating character like you. There is still hope for White Cloud Gate¡­"


    He hesitated, looked at the confused Garen, then finally made his decision. He reached a hand into his inner pocket and took out a round indigo metal container and gently opened it.


    The metal box was merely the size of a palm, but there was another small black box within it. Fei Bayun opened that too.


    On a piece of black silk inside the innermost box was a square black piece of paste, even on all sides. It looked insignificant.


    Fei Baiyun looked at it and let out a long sigh.


    "Here, eat this." He put it in front of Garen.


    "What is this?"


    Garen stared curiously at the squarish paste: it looked like hardened black toothpaste.


    "Why are you asking so many questions? I won''t harm you! Eat!" Fei Baiyun urged impatiently.


    "Oh¡­" Garen picked the square paste up and put it straight into his mouth. He chewed a few times; it was sweet and sour, like eating a fruit roll-up. He swallowed it whole. Suddenly, from his mouth to his throat down till his stomach¡ªany esophageal tract that the paste passed through¡ªhe experienced a cool refreshing feeling.


    "Alright, rest well. Good luck in the finals tomorrow!" Fei Baiyun cleared his throat, patted Garen''s shoulder and said as if nothing had happened. "I''ll be off. You take care and condition yourself."


    "Yes, master." Garen nodded respectfully.


    At this, Fei Baiyun gave a contented nod, put his hands behind his back and sauntered out of the room.


    When he was a short distance away from the room, he slowly turned back to look at the closed room door.


    "Bloodboil Pill¡­ Such miracle drugs are better utilized on youths. Don''t disappoint me, Garen."


    He turned around and slowly walked to the far end of the corridor, and soon disappeared around the corner. In that instant, even his silhouette seemed to have aged a lot.


    At the other end of the corridor outside Garen''s room, two other old men appeared. One had a full red beard, and the other had a pale and clean-shaven face, with skin covered in wrinkles and liver spots.


    "I can''t believe Fei Baiyun gave the Bloodboil Pill to that kid. That was his life''s work: in order to collect all the herbs and ingredients, he almost lost his life several times. That is the White Cloud Gate miracle drug, able to cure internal injuries and prolong life, which he specifically intended for self-consumption in preparation for breaking through into the next stage. Now he''s actually given it to this young fellow¡­" the red-bearded old man lamented as he recalled Fei Baiyun''s silhouette walking away. He gently shook his head. "Without the Bloodboil Pill, Old Fei won''t live for long."


    "The accumulation of a lifetime of hard work, all wagered on one disciple. Old Fei is really¡­" the other old man didn''t know how to continue.


    "Life''s like that. Everything is impermanent. Let''s go. The matter regarding Eastern Saintcloth awaits, we have to sort it out soon. This kid doesn''t let us have a moment of peace. He''s getting into trouble wherever he goes!" the red-bearded old man sighed, and turned around to walk away.


    The pale-faced old man took a look at Garen''s room door, inexplicably let out a sigh, and turned to leave as well.


    In the room, Garen was stunned to see the Attribute Skills Pane in the bottom of his vision undergo a slow but sure change.


    Under the Skills column, for Secret Mammoth Technique, the word ''Achieved'' after it gradually blurred, and slowly transformed into a new word: Explosive. But the wording was translucent, as if it hadn''t fully crystallized.


    "What''s this?" Garen was shocked. He immediately thought of the thing that tasted like fruit roll-up that his master had given him. "Could it be some kind of secret medicine? What kind of secret medicine has such a powerful effect?"


    The word ''Explosive'' after ''Secret Mammoth Technique'' floated about and looked unstable, as if it wouldn''t be completed anytime soon.


    Garen didn''t know what would happen. He planned to observe first. This change seemed to be incomplete; maybe it would fully stabilize later.


    After going out for dinner and giving some instructions to a few disciples, he went straight back to his room. He waited until it was dark outside, changed, and asked an attendant for directions to leave the Celestial Circle Gate grounds.


    He went around the perimeter of the grounds and walked to the edge of a deserted forest.


    Garen finally saw a figure in black cloak standing under the shadow of the woods. He stood silently with his back to Garen.


    "You passed me the note?" Confident about his true strength, Garen approached him and asked loudly.


    Whoosh!


    The figure dashed straight into the woods without replying.


    "Don''t think you can escape!" Garen scorned and trailed closely behind.


    The bushes and tree leaves rustled as he ran across. They were sprinting one after the other in the dark forest, but Garen didn''t manage to catch up with him.


    Soon, both of them dashed out of the woods. They had reached the edge of the forest, and suddenly he saw a huge loess stone wall in front of him.


    Four skulls were mysteriously engraved onto the stone wall, side by side. The sound of the wind whistling could faintly be heard coming from the black eye sockets and mouths. Each skull was ten odd meters tall; it was extremely spectacular.


    A wooden suspension bridge linked the forest area to the open area below the stone wall.


    The figure in black rushed onto the bridge without hesitating. Garen followed, and ran past the bridge quickly. An ominous cold current of air constantly poured out from the dark abyss below. The bridge swayed side to side as they ran past, and both stopped at the loess open area below the skull stone wall.


    "Who are you?" Garen stared fixedly at the figure in black.


    The figure in black slowly turned around, and revealed a handsome, apathetic face of a man. His skin was pale; there was almost no blush on his face. A few strands of long, black hair were vaguely exposed around the edges of his cloak.


    "Garen Lombard, the disciple of that foolish brother of mine¡­"


    "Who are you?!" Garen narrowed his eyes as a chill flashed across them. "Do you know how Old Man Gregor died?"


    "How he died?" The man calmly gazed at Garen. "I killed him with my bare hands."


    "And so you shall go to hell!" Garen''s eyes widened. A crater blasted open under his feet as he violently leaped towards the man. An explosive roar like a mammoth trumpet could vaguely be heard coming from behind him.

 87 Turn of Events 1

    Chapter 87: Turn of Events 1


    Peng!


    Garen¡¯s arms stopped in front of the man¡¯s face as if an invisible wall completely blocked his attack. Pieces of broken, transparent debris shot out into the air in a crisp sound like a glass breaking.


    Garen¡¯s distorted face was completely red, he made a fierce inhale and, as his muscles instantly swelled up, he grew from 178 cm to over two meters tall. His arms resembled steel pincers, and he clamped his arms with all his might.


    "Roar!"


    In a cracking sound, the protective screen in front of the man shattered, and the dark blue arms that looked like steel beams scissored towards the man¡¯s neck.


    However, a strange thing happened: Garen¡¯s arms went through the man¡¯s neck without touching anything solid.


    What he cut through was an illusion, and on the ground not far from here, the man slowly appeared again.


    "Brother taught you nothing, did he?" He raised his chin, a trace of disappointment gleamed in his eyes. "I¡¯ve heard reports that you killed a few psychokinetics, and I thought that I would be able to see my brother¡¯s Everlasting Night Stars¡­ but you are just so worthless."


    "Who are you calling worthless?!" Garen squinted his eyes, as he took a breath, his body inflated and deflated as if he was a real mammoth with huge lung capacity. His voice was so strong and deep that the words echoed and lingered in the air.


    He stood on the empty ground, his body had an unnatural purple-black color.


    "Since you are a worthless and incompetent, I will take back what belongs to my brother¡­" The man reached out his hand and pointed at Garen.


    Shoo!


    An invisible force crashed down on Garen like a clump of dried glue.


    Garen suddenly felt that his whole body was immobilized.


    "Trying to chain me up?" A sharp light flashed in his eyes, his arm and elbow stroke to the side with a loud crash.


    A crisp crackle resounded, and the man¡¯s expression changed.


    "A mortal like you¡­" He flicked his finger, another invisible force crashed onto Garen.


    Vroom!


    A giant spherical force field formed within ten meters of Garen.


    The sand and weed on the ground, the daffodil seeds floated in the air, dust fell off from the stone walls, and a few dried leaves were blown airborne by the wind.


    Everything was frozen and restrained.


    Garen was standing in the center of the sphere, his muscles and veins jumped following his heart beat. His heart was frantically pumping blood, and his veins seemed like they were about to explode. His vigorous heart was strongly resisting against the forcefield outside.


    Sss¡­


    His skin had tightened from the pressure, and his heart seemed like it was going to blow up. A faint painful feeling came from his left chest, his heart was failing under the influence of the forcefield.


    The massive force and pressure restrained his body, he could not even breathe, and his face was gradually turning purple and red.


    "It¡¯s over." The man took back his index finger as he slowly walked towards Garen. "Like an insect stuck in an amber, pathetic."


    Crackle!


    Suddenly, an astounded expression rose on his face. "The Layered Levitation Finger¡­ You broke free?"


    Boom!


    The forcefield around Garen was completely shattered, he felt his power and strength exploding like a volcano, his sight went black for a second, and a tearing pain came from his muscles.


    He lowered his head and saw the necklace hidden in his shirt slowly rising up, floating in front of his face. A line of words emerged on the necklace.


    "Ain Gregoria, Third Life Ritual ¨C Protection."


    "Everlasting Night Star¡­ It was on you this whole time. I didn¡¯t expect Brother to leave this on you." The man instantly lifted his cloak, revealing his seaweed-like long and dark hair.


    His eyes were glued on the necklace, this necklace in the shape of an open book was exactly what he was looking for.


    "A treasure like this is such a waste on you." His hand slowly reached out and gripped at Garen.


    Peng!


    Garen wanted to dodge, but as soon as he took two steps to the side, he felt everything go black as an invisible hand was choking him by the neck and prevented him from breathing.


    "The difference in strength is too much!" His heart was mixed with disappointment and rage. "There is still hope!" His hands tightly gripped the invisible hand on his neck, trying to break himself free. His attention turned to the Skill Pane at the bottom of his vision.


    Within the Skill Pane, behind the Mammoth Secret Technique, the transparent and blurry word "Explosive" was gradually turning opaque and clear.


    He had the feeling that when this Mammoth Secret Technique finally reached the point of "Explosive", his body would have a dramatic change. His strength would increase by a large margin.


    "Damn it, come on, faster!" Drops of blood emerged on his face from under his skin from overusing his explosive force.


    At this moment, the man in the dark cloak was already standing in front of him, he reached out and grabbed the necklace.


    "Everlasting Night Stars, it¡¯s mine now."


    Bam!


    Suddenly, a dark blue fist fiercely punched his right cheek.


    Garen finally broke free of the psychokinetic hand and swung a hard blow.


    "Got you!"


    He sprinted over, let out a frenzied roar, and kneed the man in the black cloak who was still staggering.


    Crackle! The sound of stone rupturing came from the man¡¯s body, he froze bending down.


    Garen gave him an uppercut, precisely smashing the location of his heart on the man¡¯s left chest.


    "Pathetic¡­" the man¡¯s voice came from somewhere.


    A massive force smashed into the back of Garen¡¯s head.


    Pong!


    Garen shuddered and froze. His vision went black, and his body felt limp and numb as he lost control of his body.


    The man in the dark cloak in front of him vanished, turning into a giant yellow stone.


    "A mere Hallucinogenic Force Field¡­ could put you on the brink of insanity?"


    The man¡¯s voice came from behind.


    "As soon as you met me, you were hallucinated and indulged in the illusions, then you were attacking the rocks like a madman, thinking I was the stone wall."


    Garen turned around with all his effort, staring at the man at the original spot he was standing on.


    "Who¡­ who are you?"


    "Me?" The man chuckled, "My name is Sylphalan. Pitiful mortal¡­ you don¡¯t even have the right to look at me straight. I have been behind you the whole time¡­"


    Garen¡¯s vision blurred, he couldn¡¯t see the man again, and as he turned around, he saw the man standing right behind him, smiling at him with his cold expression.


    Bam!


    His eyes blurred again, he realized that he was still standing at the original spot, he had not moved an inch, his right fist was on top of his own chest, a strong pain came from his heart.


    In a low thud, he felt pain on the back of his head, Garen limped on the ground without any strength, a foot turned his face around to face the sky.


    "Your master used to lick my boot and begged me to let you go, why don¡¯t you lick it as well? Maybe I could spare you if my mood got better," the man¡¯s voice came with a glimmer of a smile.


    The boot grinded on Garen¡¯s face, and the dirt and the grass mixed with some mud smeared all over his face.


    "Roar!" He suddenly pushed himself up and swung his fist at Sylphalan.


    Bang!


    Garen was sent flying, hitting the stone wall. A few pieces of rubble shattered off the wall and landed on him. He could feel pain from every bone in his body, he was on the verge of collapse.


    The man slowly strutted next to him, he could only see a pair of dark gold linen boots.


    "Die!" Garen suddenly reached towards the man¡¯s feet.


    Bam!


    Another foot stomped on his waist, in the sound of a crackle, the impact broke one of his back bones.


    "A worthless thing like you, I can¡¯t believe Gregor wasted his time on you, what an idiot."


    "Talentless mortals, no matter how hard they try are still just worthless."


    Garen could not speak anymore.


    "I will die if this goes on!"


    He felt himself getting weaker and weaker, he was exhausted and wanted to sleep.


    "There¡¯s no other way¡­ Next time I see you, I will kill you!" Garen stared at the blurry silhouette, his mind was calm. He memorized the man¡¯s handsome and cold face in his heart.


    He didn¡¯t expect to get outmatched like this, he was almost defenseless! From start to finish, he didn¡¯t even know if he had touched the opponent. He didn¡¯t know if he was a friend or foe and underestimated the gap between their strengths, this was his fault.


    Sylphalan¡­ this name was engraved into his heart.


    It was strange, he should be angry, but he only felt calm and peaceful. He had a feeling that the opponent did not really want to kill him.


    "I have to gamble¡­" He slowly closed his eyes, not that he could see anything anyway. His muscle started trembling and deflating. Soon he had returned to his normal body size.


    He slowly started a technique he had learned from the dojo¡¯s library, it was a simple technique that could allow someone to fake his death.


    This was the first time he used it, it was a simple technique, or one could call a trick. This trick was a part of the Mammoth Secret Techniques included in the notebook. One of the predecessors experimented and invented this little trick to save his life.


    When he saw this trick that day, he memorized it just in case of a dangerous situation. It was a simple technique that adjusted one¡¯s breathing patterns. But he didn¡¯t expect to put it to use so soon.


    He imagined all his strength and blood to relax and rest, and gradually flowed into his brain and heart.


    Then he lost consciousness.


    Sylphalan raised his head and gazed at the new moon, his foot was still on Garen¡¯s head.


    "He¡¯s dead?" He boringly kicked Garen again. "His life was so fragile¡­"


    He snatched Everlasting Night Stars from Garen¡¯s neck and put it on his arms. Sylphalan put on the cloak and hid into the dark night.


    Wind gusted by, lifting the hem of his cloak.


    He turned to glance at Garen one last time. His expression looked complicated. He turned around and jumped, his shadow disappeared into the forest like a bird.


    Right as he left, a blurry silhouette approached Garen.


    "Sylphalan¡­ Hehe¡­ you think you could trick everyone?"

 88 Turn of Events 2

    Chapter 88: Turn of Events 2


    After a long while, Garen slowly regained consciousness, everything looked blurry as if something was wrong with his eyes and could barely catch a glimpse of the moonlight with his right eye.


    Someone was pulling him by his hair, and he felt like he was being


    dragged on the floor.


    His vision was too blurry to see anything, after getting knocked unconscious, he felt as if his brain was disconnected with his body.


    Sss¡­


    He could vaguely see the dirt and the sand move below his legs.


    After a short while.


    Whap!


    He was thrown into a deep dirt hole.


    "Universal nerve damage, 80% bones broken, cardiac rupture, internal bleeding."


    "Poor guy, why did you have to piss off people from Immortal Palace. Which one of those crazy bastards isn¡¯t a psycho, yet inhumanly strong?"


    An aged voice came from above the dirt hole.


    "Young man, if you reincarnate in the next life, try to be a common folk, don¡¯t get involved in these things."


    The person exclaimed and started shoveling dirt into the hole.


    Garen laid quietly in the hole and felt his whole body being buried slowly. He didn¡¯t need to breathe, but he was paralyzed and could only feel a small part of his head.


    "I did it¡­ I tricked him." He waited until he was fully buried and hearing that the person burying him had walked away. He could faintly hear the "hoot, hoot" sounds from owls.


    Garen waited a bit more and slowly adjusted his breathing to lift the technique.


    Phew¡­


    He puffed out all the gas waste inside his lungs.


    His body still felt powerless.


    "I should put the saved attribute point to use."


    He had one point of attribute unused, in case something like this happened.


    His focus landed on Vitality, and after three seconds, the last attribute point was slowly added.


    His Vitality went from 1.88 to 2.08


    Vroom!


    In an instant, Garen felt a hot stream from his brain flowing down his spine into his back. The stream spread into every muscle in his limbs like a wildfire.


    The once weak body suddenly regained power. The warmth from his whole body felt comforting.


    He lifted his leg and kicked up.


    Blam!


    The still soft dirt above was kicked open.


    Garen quickly dusted off the dirt that covered his body, even though he was seriously injured, he still had enough strength to clean up himself.


    Climbing out of the dirt and sitting on the grass, Garen looked around himself.


    The dim moonlight shined on the grass, and the shadow of the trees crisscrossed each other on the ground while the night wind stirred up the leaves.


    As Garen sat in the dirt and grass, he felt and itch in his nose and ears, he blew his nose hard, and a few ants flew out of his nostrils.


    "Shit!"


    He quickly found a small branch to clean his ears, a fat worm that looked like a maggot rolled out of his ear.


    This worm was stuck on the inside of his ears trying to bite off some of Garen¡¯s flesh, but his skin had been hardened by the Explosive Fist Arts, so the worm could not even bite into the surface. In the end, it was squashed by Garen¡¯s hands.


    Sitting on the ground resting, Garen¡¯s body gradually recovered. He felt a little strange, there was a numbing feeling coming from his limbs.


    He distinctly remembered that his bones were mostly broken or fractured before he fainted.


    Other than a few ribs that were still not healed, they had almost recovered by themselves without the attribute point¡¯s help.


    He reached and stroked over some of the bones in his body.


    "They are all joined? Is this the effect of Master¡¯s medicine?"


    Even though his bones were set, some of them had grown together without aligning correctly, Garen broke them again, and bearing the pain, the hot stream from the attribute point quickly covered the broken bones and started healing.


    The strange thing was that his regeneration from the attribute point was usually not this strong, but now, it has grown a lot stronger for some reason. The broken bones had healed together after twenty minutes.


    "This has to be the work of that medicine¡­" Garen was sure the medicine caused the quickened healing. "Looks like Master gave me something incredible¡­"


    After resting for about two hours, the bones had fully grown together. As to his nerves, they were the first to recover.


    Garen stood up, dark and bloody sweat oozed out of his skin. It was the congested blood from his internal organs which, after the healing process, discharged from his skin.


    "Sylphalan¡­" he murmured the name. This was his first defeat, and a tragic one, without the help of his master¡¯s medicine and his attribute point, he could still be seriously injured. He might have even suffocated under the ground.


    He started thinking about the words from the old man who had buried him.


    At that moment, within the technique pane at the bottom of his vision, the words "Explosive" for his Mammoth Secret Technique finally condensed and became opaque.


    A strange feeling emerged in his heart. It felt like blood formed a spherical and scorching hot blood ball in the center of his body, the ball radiated hot stream and warmed his body.


    Wherever the hot stream touched, brand new power emerged. His recovery speed had returned to normal, and his injuries had mostly healed.


    "The Immortal Palace¡­" Garen clenched his fists as he lowered his head. "I will find you¡­"


    He covered the hole on the ground again and strode out of the forest.


    ****************


    After getting back to his room, it was already late in the night, Garen took a shower in the bathroom and changed into a white training suit.


    He found it odd that other disciples were not present.


    Garen drank a cup of water on the sofa and relaxed his muscles. He couldn¡¯t deal with Sylphalan at this time, he had to leave the thought in the back of his mind to improve himself, and one day he would be strong enough to go and find him.


    Even though he had a new breakthrough with the Explosive Mammoth Secret Technique, thinking about the opponent¡¯s mysterious moves, he still wasn¡¯t sure if he could beat Sylphalan. It was a type of power he had not seen before, and he needed more preparation.


    "But at least, I know how the old man died¡­" He reached in the collar, to his surprise, the necklace was still there, but the letters on it were gone.


    He snapped out of the gaze and got a little worried.


    "Where did Collin and the others go this late in the night?"


    Suddenly he heard some footsteps nearing... a group of men were approaching.


    Knock Knock Knock!


    "Senior brother, are you there? Have you come back yet?"


    "I just heard the door shut, he might be back!"


    Garen¡¯s expression turned cold, he rushed over to open the door.


    The door cracked open, Collin and Carrie were standing at the door.


    Collin had his fist raised, ready to knock again. He froze for a second as he saw Garen opening the door. Then, he could not hold his tear anymore.


    "Se¡­ Senior Brother¡­ Someone wounded master!!"


    Collin¡¯s voice choked up with tears, Carrie was also crying on the side without a word.


    "What!!" Garen¡¯s eyes shook and asked, "Where is Master now!?"


    "He is at the tournament platform we used during the day!!"


    "Come!" Garen rushed out without closing the door, pulling the two disciples with him.


    ***********************


    Crack!


    "Ahhhh!" Simon¡¯s arm got snapped by a young man with short and green hair, the arm was instantly bent backward and slumped on his back.


    The young man pushed Simon and kicked him on the ground.


    People from different sects surrounded the white platform in the night, the masters of Celestial Star Gate and Crimson Sand Sword sat next to each other, and watched the battle with their brows wrinkled.


    Whispers and chitchat noise came from the crowd.


    "White Cloud Gate is done," the master of Celestial Star Gate, Rolexia, said. "Fighting Association¡¯s president had historical conflicts with White Cloud Gate¡¯s master. To ask for a battle today, he is taking advantage of White Cloud Gate¡¯s distress."


    "There are reasons." The master of Crimson Sand Sword was a handsome man with red hair, he held a glass of wine in his hand without drinking it, appreciating the beauty of the wine¡¯s color through the crystal-clear glass.


    He had a faint smile on his face as if nothing mattered to him.


    "White Cloud Gate¡¯s senior disciple Rosetta defected, second disciple Farak had gone missing during a mission. If I were the president of Fighting Association, I¡¯d chose to challenge them at first instance as well. Not to mention someone had just challenged the Southern Twelve Gates and injured Fei Baiyun."


    "Indeed, when strengths are equal, the deciding factor for victory is the status. Combined with getting challengers previously, the Fighting Association¡¯s President is a wise man."


    Rolexia nodded in agreement. "Now that their master was injured, of the two backbones, senior disciple defected, second senior disciple had gone missing, the White Cloud Gate is over. I heard that Rosetta is affiliated with Behemoth Gate."


    "I¡¯m not sure, but not only the White Cloud Gate but also the Southern Twelve Gates will all take a toll." Crimson Sand Sword¡¯s master shook his head.


    At this time, the green haired man stood with his hands in the back and watched as Simon was carried down.


    "So much for the formidable Southern Twelve Gates. The masters can¡¯t beat ours, disciples are all worthless too!"


    This had caused commotion and noises around the platform, the disciples of Southern Twelve Gates gathered together, surrounding Fei Baiyun and eleven other masters, some of them were unconscious, some were bleeding, some had their arms broken, they were all injured at different levels.


    The disciples hearing what the young man said, though very angry, dared not to speak up. Some other sects had already stepped away from these twelve gates.


    "You!"


    A red haired man was about to rush onto the platform but was stopped by his companions.


    "Don¡¯t! You are no match for him!!"


    Fei Baiyun¡¯s face was pale like a sheet of paper, he slumped in a chair, Simon was taking care of him bearing the pain from a broken arm.


    "Si.. Simon.. Go! Go find your senior brother¡­ Tell him to get everyone out¡­ out of here!" his head was injured, he held on to the last bit of consciousness and ordered.


    "Master! Senior brother can definitely beat that guy!" Simon gritted his teeth and said.


    "Those challengers¡­ are not what I¡¯m afraid of¡­ they weren¡¯t heavy handed with us, and we can recover if we get back¡­ the true danger is our enemies!"


    Fei Baiyun pushed Simon with his shaky hands. "The Southern Twelve Gates have too many enemies, this is not our territory, we must¡­ get back now!!"

 89 Adverse Circumstance 1

    Chapter 89: Adverse Circumstance 1


    "You are right Simon, we must go back now and scatter out in different directions!" A disciple of the Southern Twelve Gates answered with a worried expression. "My master told me to bring you a word."


    "What is it?" Simon raised his head and urged him to go on.


    "Someone might use extreme measures against us! My master warned master Fei to be careful. At this time, it¡¯s every man for himself."


    The disciple hurried out after these words, and only then Simon realized the disciple had a black backpack in his hand.


    At this moment, Simon felt his mind was chaotic.


    Senior Sister Rosetta defected, Second Senior Brother was still missing, and now Master was injured as well. Senior Brother Garen was nowhere to be found either.


    "How great would it be if Senior Brother Garen was here!!" He thought to himself.


    Suddenly, a few silhouettes walked in from the entrance. Leading the group was a tall and young man with a sturdy build with wine-red eyes, wearing a white martial arts training uniform.


    "It¡¯s Senior Brother Garen!"


    "Senior Brother Garen is here!"


    "Senior Brother Garen!"


    The Southern Twelve Gates¡¯ disciples suddenly found someone they could depend on; the surprised cheers gradually spread over the crowd of disciples.


    "Master!" Garen immediately saw Fei Baiyun after entering the platform, lying in an armchair. Garen¡¯s expression changed and he rushed to his master¡¯s side.


    "Master! How do you feel? Are you hurt?!"


    "Get out of here! Take everyone and leave!" Fei Baiyun let out a relieved sigh after finally seeing Garen, his expression relaxed a little.


    Garen checked Fei Baiyun¡¯s pulse and breathing. Everything was normal, so he wasn¡¯t seriously injured. He was only having a hard time speaking due to concussion, thus Garen felt relieved.


    "Is that who they call the strongest among the Southern Twelve Gates, Senior Brother Garen?" The green-haired young man on the stage shouted abruptly. "Looks like the Southern Twelve Gates had put all of their hopes on you. Do you dare come up and challenge me?"


    Garen stood up, glancing at the surrounding crowd.


    The Southern Twelve Gates¡¯ disciples all had their eyes on him, along with that Margent he had defeated and a few other masters who were still conscious.


    Garen sneered and jittered his shoulders, then jumped onto the stage.


    "You are digging your own grave." His expression was ruthless; his eyes became even redder.


    He was feeling down from his defeat earlier, so his anger erupted like a volcano.


    "You sure talk big!" The green-haired young man mocked and dashed forward, instantly closing in on Garen.


    Boom Boom!!


    The two traded dozens of blows in seconds; the sound of their fists and elbows clashing filled the platform.


    Peng!


    The young man¡¯s face turned pale and he stuttered a few steps back while clenching his chest, unable to catch his breath.


    Garen suddenly jumped back, and his whole body came to a stop. He stretched his two hands out like he was holding two invisible spheres. A manic and hot stream came out of his body, caused by his rapidly increasing skin temperature.


    As his eyes turned increasingly red, his deep breath echoed like the calls of a mammoth. He looked like a suppressed bomb, waiting to explode.


    "S***!!" A man with similar green hair sitting below the platform jumped on it and quickly charged toward Garen.


    The masters of the other sects all had grim faces.


    The masters of Celestial Star Gate and Crimson Sand Sword both leaned forward in shock.


    Suddenly, the master of Crimson Sand Sword remembered something.


    "That¡¯s¡­!" If he was already surprised before, now he couldn¡¯t close his mouth.


    Kaboom!


    A loud noise came from the stage. Along with it came the scattered pieces of someone¡¯s clothes.


    Garen¡¯s muscles fiercely inflated and he stood there like a powerful creature from ancient history. His body towering over two meters looked overwhelming. His cold red eyes stared at the green-haired men.


    "Master is out to protect his worthless disciple?"


    The green-haired man held his unconscious disciple in his arms, but he was knocked back ten steps. His clothes were falling apart. He was out of breath and could not speak a word.


    When he opened his mouth to speak, he spurted a mouthful of blood and bent down on the ground.


    "Fine, nice, okay. Garen of White Cloud Gate, I¡¯ll remember this, and you will pay for it some day!!" He let out a sad smile and quickly ran into the crowd with his disciple; he was fast like a swallow flying in the rain.


    Garen¡¯s glanced around the platform, turned back and jumped off.


    "Pack your stuff, we¡¯re getting out of here!"


    "Yes! Senior Brother!" Collin and the others answered. One of them supported Simon while Garen scooped up his master, and they all left through the exit. His body had not fully recovered yet, so he couldn¡¯t keep on fighting. Otherwise he would have tried to force the green-haired master and disciple to stay.


    Just as they stepped out, a stream of blood came out of Garen¡¯s mouth.


    "Senior brother!!" Collin saw this and came up to try to support him, but Garen raised his hand to stop her.


    "We must leave now! If the words were true, we are in great danger. This place isn¡¯t safe." Garen picked up his pace and walked on.


    The group followed behind him. There were a dozen disciples from other sects behind them as well.


    "Why are you following us?" Garen asked with a deep voice.


    "We¡­ We are headed for the same direction as you! Could Senior Brother Garen protect us on the way back?" A silver-haired young man stood out and begged. A few disciples behind him were supporting two elders who were unconscious, they were in the same boat with White Cloud Gate.


    "Follow up then!" Protecting four or fourteen men was all the same, so Garen thought he might as well help these people in need.


    "My name is Rampas, I¡¯m going to represent my gate!" The silver-haired youngster introduced himself.


    Garen nodded mutely.


    The men packed their belongings and asked Celestial Star Gate if they could borrow their cars. The Celestial Star Gate wanted to stay neutral and out of this mess, so they refused the request.


    Inside the parking lot, Garen and the group stood together, staring down at the Celestial Star Gate disciples.


    The leader of those disciples was a blue-haired man wearing a black suit. His arms were exposed and a black cross was tattooed on his right arm.


    "I¡¯m Tenstar Ni. Master gave us orders. No one is to borrow our cars at this moment, so please leave us." The man crossed his arms and drawled.


    "We were invited to join this exchange, but now that we are in trouble you wouldn¡¯t even let us use your cars¡­ you!!" Collin was so mad he couldn¡¯t speak.


    "I¡¯m just following orders. It¡¯s not just you guys, the other Southern Twelve Gates are not allowed to borrow our cars either. Senior Brother has already gone to the other side." Tenstar Ni lowered his hands and clenched his fists. "With Senior Brother here, even your masters dare not make a move. Why don¡¯t you give up now, turn around and walk back to where you came?"


    The Celestial Star Gate disciples behind him had no expression on their faces. Hearing Tenstar Ni¡¯s words, they all lowered their right hand and started stretching their fingers. A thrilling sensation permeated the air.


    Garen stared at Tenstar Ni with his cold eyes. He could feel the opponent¡¯s strength; it was close to his level. If they were to fight right now, the result would be up to fate.


    This is also the reason both sides remained humble since the beginning; the strongest of the two groups both feared their opponent. Having improved his power, Garen could now tell the someone¡¯s strength by their slightest movements and the way they acted and talked. He could feel the threat from Tenstar Ni.


    "Fine! Very well! Celestial Star Gate, I¡¯ll remember this!" Garen turned around. Even though he was confident in his own strength, this was on Celestial Star Gate¡¯s turf, and thus it wouldn¡¯t be wise to get in conflict with them right now.


    More importantly, he was still injured.


    "The challenge must be premeditated, it¡¯s a plot against the Southern Twelve Gates!" Simon said while holding his broken arm. "Why are they targeting no one but Southern Twelve Gates! The masters are either injured or passed out. There must be someone trying to overthrow us!"


    The group quickly left the parking lot and moved away from the cars.


    Tenstar Ni finally felt relieved as he stared at Garen¡¯s back.


    "Mastering a third-tier Mammoth Secret Technique to this level ¡­" Remembering the scene on the platform, he murmured. "It must be¡­ That¡¯s definitely¡­"


    Garen and the group were quickly leaving toward the exit.


    "It¡¯s not the time to discuss that right now. The Twelve Gates are busy with their own affairs. Collin said that every sect is having significant internal problems, is it true?" Garen asked as he led the way.


    "It¡¯s true!" Simon nodded, "It¡¯s obviously a plot against us, and our enemies must have paid off Celestial Star Gate. They might have some secret agreements too! We must be careful!"


    "No matter how careful you are, at times like this brute force is the only way out."


    Right as they left the parking lot, they saw on their left some other disciples from Southern Twelve Gates walk out of the exit from the other parking lot. A middle-aged couple led the way, and their disciples followed.


    They slightly nodded as they saw Garen, and led the way to the left.


    "They are heading toward the military camps. It looks like they have connections within the army! Should we follow them, Senior Brother?" Collin asked in a quiet voice.


    Garen raised his head and looked up. On the floors above them, disciples from other sects were looking at them from the inside. Among them was Raydon couple who were close to him earlier. He was wondering where they were when he was competing in the tournament. It looked like they had received words in advance.


    "If they had the capabilities to help us, they would have done so. Since they have left on their own, obviously they can¡¯t help us. Let¡¯s go back the way we came. I¡¯m curious as to what kind of methods they have prepared for us!" Garen sneered and led the way to the right.


    The white cement road was wide enough for four carriages to ride side by side. The group followed Garen outside the Celestial Star Gate¡¯s front gate, where carriages were parked.


    The white and black horses huffed and puffed, grubbing their hoofs. They were tied to a tree trunk on the side of the road.


    Garen walked directly toward the biggest carriage, which was pulled by four horses and had two rows. He instantly pulled the rope that tied the carriage, tearing it easily.


    "Get on!"


    The group jumped in without hesitation.


    Garen found another large carriage behind the first and organized everyone else to get on.


    "Those are our carriages! What do you think you are doing!" A shouting came from behind.


    Garen ignored the shouting and asked the driving disciple to lash on the horses with the whip. The two carriages quickly turned and sped onto the road. Garen sat next to the driver and squinted his eyes, immersed in his own mind to check his condition.


    After his Mammoth Secret Technique evolved to Explosive level, he was not sure what his current strength was. He only knew he was stronger, a lot stronger!


    A small blood sphere in his chest was spinning and rotating, radiating hot streams into his body. The streams spread out like small creeks and came back after running through his whole body. It was a continuous cycle.


    His injuries were not completely healed but he still had to fight the green-haired man earlier. The strong trait of Mammoth Secret Technique is its explosiveness, but when the user fights someone with similar strength or someone with an even stronger body, this explosiveness would turn into a counterforce and injure the user as well.


    Garen¡¯s injury got worse after this fight.


    "It shouldn¡¯t matter too much." Strangely, the blood sphere in his chest was repairing his body like the attribute points did. "At this rate. I¡¯ll be fine and able to regain my full strength after half an hour."


    Garen estimated and thought to himself.

 90 Adverse Circumstance 2

    Chapter 90: Adverse Circumstance 2


    "Collin, tell me exactly what happened at White Cloud Gate." Garen turned around to speak to Collin.


    "Okay!" The girl cleaned her sweaty forehead. Knowing the urgency in the situation, she tried her best to explain everything with brevity.


    "Right now, Senior Sister betrayed the Gate, Second Senior Brother went missing, and Third Senior Brother could not withstand the situation. The people below our gate have always been ambitious. I¡¯m afraid they might take this opportunity to carve up the gate.


    "This is a terrible situation for us to be in! Master is still unconscious. Also, the Southern Twelve Gates had always supported each other in times of hardships, but now all our allies are paralyzed or have lost contact with us. It must be chaotic at the gate, so we need someone to stand up and take charge of it! Senior Brother, you must get back now and accept the responsibilities."


    "Our enemies won¡¯t let this opportunity slip through their hands. We will surely meet some trouble on the way back!"


    "We¡¯ll have to see how much trouble they could bring!" Garen¡¯s expression was cold.


    At that instant, a group of masked men walked out from the side of the road. Their body sizes varied, but they all uniformly wore black bandana masks. There was a strong warrior¡¯s aura around them.


    These masked men sneered and blocked the road. A skinny woman who was leading them stepped out with a smirk.


    "Fei Baiyun, you didn¡¯t think there would be a day like this, did you?" The voice was dry and hoarse, and her body was young and curvy. She had a great body, but her voice was unpleasant to hear.


    A little further ahead on the road, a few more people came out of the woods. They were in red and white clothing, and none of them were masked. A dozen young men followed behind them. All in all, they looked like a secret arts sect.


    "The Crimson Scorpion Angela went first. Nice, let her test the water for us."


    A short and chubby elderly man, whose nose had been sliced off, squinted his eyes. "We¡¯re not the only ones preying on White Cloud Gate. Countless sects are after the Southern Twelve Gates, since this is a fat piece of meat. If we don¡¯t act fast we might not even get a taste of the soup."


    "We¡¯ve waited patiently for so long. It¡¯s finally the time to take a slice of the cake. Fei Baiyun is still unconscious, leaving behind a disciple who is so tender we can squeeze water out of him. Two of their core disciples have gone missing as well."


    "The White Cloud Gate does not have any chance to resist, we just have to watch out for others." Another woman dressed in white whispered.


    "The Southern Twelve Gates suppressed us for all these years, this time we can finally get rid of them altogether!" The old man said with a chuckle. "Although we¡¯ll have to watch out for Fei Baiyun¡¯s last struggle."


    "No problem, the Fighting Association¡¯s President is right behind us; he is waiting for Fei Baiyun." The woman sneered. "Our Jade Mountain Gate will take care of the others."


    Garen sat on the carriage and carefully observed the road blockers. His eyes glanced through the woods on the side of the road. Who knew how many unknown threats were still hiding in the glooms.


    "You guys keep going. I¡¯ll take care of them!" Garen¡¯s eyes turned cold and he jumped off the carriage without waiting for Collin¡¯s response.


    He strode toward the woman in black mask up front.


    "Give us Fei Baiyun¡­"


    Shoo!


    Garen didn¡¯t say a word. He simply jumped forward and brought his right arm down with a Shot Form.


    The woman was swift; she dodged with a sidestep, and her hands ensnared Garen¡¯s arm. "I¡¯ll break this arm first!" She said cruelly as she infused all her force into her movement. However, just like entangling a steel beam, her arms couldn¡¯t move the opponent even an inch.


    Garen¡¯s arms abruptly exerted a huge force and the woman was sent flying like a jute bag filled with grass. She was knocked into a dozen back flips on the ground, and ended up smashed into a tree trunk. She turned pale and cried out in pain, tightly covering her chest.


    She was unable to speak a word at the moment.


    Garen didn¡¯t stop to analyze the outcome of his attack. He charged straight at two machetes that were thrown at him. With a crackling sound the machetes broke into pieces, along with the bones of three masked men; they were blasted away and knocked out on the ground.


    Garen¡¯s expression was indifferent. His arms expanded to both sides in Shot Form. He caught two masked men¡¯s hair and effortlessly pulled, resulting in two bloody scalps being torn off from their heads. The men screamed in pain, staggering.


    Bang!


    Along with an abrupt gunshot, Garen felt a small pain in his stomach. He lowered his head and saw a copper bullet bouncing off of his skin and it fell to the ground in a series of tinkling sound.


    At that moment, everyone froze astonished.


    "Even bullet can¡¯t¡­ pierce through his skin!!" Someone said in a shaken voice. The men in masks started backing off, horrified.


    Garen whipped over a masked man on his right with his foot. A cracking sound came from the target¡¯s waist while his spine bent back in an unnatural shape as he rolled back on the ground. There was no sound from where he was lying down.


    Garen charged at the masked woman under the tree. He didn¡¯t need to look at her to know she was the one who shot him.


    He used the Step Form and, with a huge thud noise, the woman¡¯s magnificent breasts blew up from under his foot, while a huge hole appeared in the middle of her chest. She died instantly without a whimper. The pistol in her hand slid to the side.


    Garen picked up the pistol and threw it into the carriage, then turned around and sprinted deep into the woods.


    The astonishment had not vanished from the faces of the short elderly man and the woman in white, their disciples spread out into a defensive fan shape. Garen was already charging at them without any emotion.


    Bam Bam Bam!


    With three consecutive thuds, Garen barbarically knocked three disciples into the air. The disciples hit either had their spine broken or exploded into flesh and blood under the impact. Suddenly no one else dared to stand in front of him.


    The short and chubby old man pulled out a short cutlass. His hands glowed blue as he swiftly looped around to Garen¡¯s side and fiercely stabbed at Garen¡¯s waist.


    The woman in white sneered. She wore a silver bladed-knuckle on one of her hands, and thus she ripped her fist through the air, attacking Garen. The fist broke into three different fist doppelgangers attacking Garen¡¯s face, chest, and stomach at the same time.


    Their attacks hit Garen simultaneously, but other than scraping off some of his clothes, they were completely ineffective. The two were both shocked, pushing down their toes in a hurry to try to escape, but it was too late.


    "Double Shot Form!"


    Garen closed his eyes, completely ignoring their attacks, and flicked his fingers as they swept past the two opponent¡¯s necks.


    With two crisp sounds of impact, the old man and the woman both slipped past Garen.


    Without looking behind, Garen once more charged deeper into the forest.


    The two stood in a stupor, a thin line emerged from their neck. Their heads fell from their necks with a thrilling sound of flesh and bones breaking. Blood streamed from their veins while the bodies slowly hit the ground.


    After gazing for a few seconds, their disciples all screamed in terror.


    "This is a massacre!"


    Collin and the crew, who were still on the carriage, watched with faces pale as Garen rampaged through the enemies, anyone who dared stand in the way was blown up into a blood mist, like an air balloon. He was unstoppable.


    Simon and the disciples from other sects were astonished; the gore and blood scared a few girls.


    "Let¡¯s hurry out of here, we are just burdens if we stay!" Simon realized something and whipped the horse hard to speed up the carriage.


    "This level of strength¡­ Senior Brother Garen is so strong!!" The leaders of other two sects, the silver-haired youngster Rampas accelerated as well. He held down the urge to vomit and exclaimed in an envious tone.


    "Senior Brother Rampas, are we safe now?" A cute little girl asked while covering her mouth, her face was ghastly pale."


    "Not entirely. Even though Senior Brother Garen from White Cloud Gate could protect us for a while, we must get back to our own gates later. You have to take charge as the Senior Sister of your sect."


    "The Southern Twelve Gates are in chaos, and our masters have been badly injured." Rampas looked decisive as he glanced at the White Cloud Gate disciples in front of them.¡®¡¯


    Garen raced into the woods toward two slim silhouettes with their hands in their back.


    One of them was a middle-aged man, wearing a tight black leather suit with the word "Fighting" printed on his right chest. His two hands rested on a pair of dark scimitars.


    The other man looked aged and was wearing a loose black training suit, with a short white staff on one hand. The shock from the carnage only left his face when he saw Garen approaching.


    "White Cloud Gate¡¯s Garen! The strongest of the Southern Twelve Gates! Let¡¯s see how much stamina you have!" The old man stepped back, as the middle-aged man came forward to face Garen.


    Shoo shoo shoo!


    Three consecutive blades swung at Garen¡¯s face, two of them aimed at his eyes.


    The man in black suit was ruthless, swinging out three attacks right at the moment he was about to run into Garen. His right knee concurrently tackled at Garen¡¯s lower abdomen with a spiked kneecap that appeared suddenly on his knees.


    "Chain Swing Form!"


    Garen¡¯s upper body spun around like a spinning top. His arms flexed out like the propellers of a helicopter, bouncing back the scimitars and cleaving at the opponent¡¯s neck.


    The spin simultaneously dodged the knee attack.


    Bam Bam!


    The three blades were knocked flying, but the man¡¯s strength was surprising as he only took one step back before he continued his attack by clawing at Garen¡¯s face.


    "Heh!" Garen recklessly punched at the attacker, ready to trade blow for blow.


    He closed his eyes and felt his steel-hard eyelids blocked the opponent¡¯s clawing attack.


    Clang!!


    A sound of metal clashing came as his fist came in contact with the enemy¡¯s chest; something hard was blocking his fist.


    Garen sneered and suddenly pushed down again with even more power.


    Crackle!! Pui!!


    After a loud thud, he heard the middle-aged man spitting blood.


    He opened his eyes and saw his enemy embedded into the tree trunk. A large piece of a metal breastplate was ripped inward, showing a bloody hollow that pierced the body and sunk deep into the tree.


    Without resting for a second, Garen charged directly toward the other man.


    "Cain!! The breastplate was pierced through!! How is that possible?"


    The old man was sweating while holding his short staff. He raised his arms and the staff turned into many shadows that surrounded Garen¡¯s upper body.


    However, the strength and the speed from the attack was far worse than the ones from the middle-aged man. Apparently the man was old and way past his prime shape.


    Garen used a Dash Form, raising his fist and smashing into the old man¡¯s chest.


    Shoo!


    A beam of silver light dashed in front of him, stopping his attack.


    Garen stood still and squinted his eyes.


    "You again?"


    Tenstar Ni walked out from behind a tree with a smile on his face and a silver sword in his hand.


    "You can¡¯t kill him. He is the president of the Fighting Association, an ally of our Celestial Circle Gate."


    "Isn¡¯t the Celestial Circle Gate worrying too much about other people¡¯s problems?" Garen¡¯s voice was low and his face turned cold.


    "Too much or too little, that¡¯s our problem. Do you want to try my sword?" Tenstar Ni¡¯s eyes glowed with ruthless light. As he stared at Garen¡¯s neck, a mysterious aura emerged from his body.


    Garen could feel that threat.


    "Celestial Circle Gate ¡­" He controlled his rage and turned around. He had younger disciples to take care of back in White Cloud Gate, so he could not afford to keep fighting here. Up until now he had not used his secret arts to inflate his muscles, because he wanted to save his stamina for the real danger later. The true threat had yet to come.

 91 The Way Back 1

    Chapter 91: The Way Back 1


    Quickly catching up to the carriage that had already pulled ahead, Garen jumped onto it.


    The two black carriages rapidly ran in parallel on the winding road. The noise of rolling wheels and horse hooves hitting the cement road sounded especially crisp in the quiet surroundings as if these were the only two carriages around.


    With a calm expression, Garen sat next to the driver.


    "This exchange was plotted by our enemies and was a mission against the Southern Twelve Gates as a whole. Our opponent could instantly expose each Gate¡¯s internal weakness and combine this with attacks from the outside. They were able to assemble forces from so many different backgrounds¡­" Garen then thought about his fight against Sylphalan, "Why did it have to be last night? All combat forces have now been eliminated, so they must be planning to overthrow the Southern Twelve Gates ¡­"


    He became even more cautious.


    "With this situation, the hidden masterminds behind this mission will not let us slip away that easily. However, covered by the military forces, our allied gates are running in different directions and the enemy men would have to split up to chase us as well."


    Garen closed his eyes, stopped thinking, and started meditating. In the end, all he could do right now was fight with whoever was in his way. The clowns from earlier were just an appetizer and the real trouble had yet to come.


    Having mastered the White Cloud Gate¡¯s secret arts and transcended to a level no man had ever reached before, he knew his own strengths very well. As exaggerated and powerful as it sounded, even he was not sure of what he could do.


    Garen could only compare himself to the competition he had met recently.


    The only person who could rival him right now would be Celestial Star Gate¡¯s Tenstar Ni. Garen could feel a subtle, yet dangerous, aura from him.


    As Garen traveled on the carriage, he organized his thoughts and prepared his body for the next storm.


    The other disciples were feeling much more secure after Garen had returned. Carrie was in charge of caring for Fei Baiyun, who was still in a coma. She frequently wiped away sweat from his brow.


    "Collin, do you know who our biggest rival is?" Garen suddenly asked.


    "It would be the Fighting Association. Their president has held a long grudge against Master Fei for many years, so he won¡¯t let this opportunity slip by!" Collin seemed worried.


    "Fighting Association¡­" Garen was not worried about the Fighting Association, but concerned about the powers behind them. After all, most of Fighting Association¡¯s forces had been wiped out and the rest would not pose a threat to him.


    ******************


    On the side of the road near the outer edge of the city, an old man with a silver beard and hair stood beside a window on the second floor of a small hotel as he waited for the approaching carriages.


    "Looks like the Fighting Association couldn¡¯t stop these three gates, so we¡¯ll have to do it ourselves."


    "It can¡¯t be helped." In the shadows behind him, a woman with a pale face answered in a low voice. "A small sect like the Fighting Association didn¡¯t have anyone strong to begin with. They were all second to third class fighters and barely able to make a name for themselves. What did you expect from them?"


    While dressed in a black suit, the lady played with a small dagger in her hands. Her suit did not have a left sleeve and her exposed arm revealed a tattoo of a huge spotted python on her pale skin. The dagger twirled and cut through the air, making swoosh noises.


    "Any word from the other squads?"


    The old man nodded. "We just learned that of the ten squads that went on the mission, three of them were unsuccessful. One of them failed because Eastern Pole Gate¡¯s master woke up and struggled with his last bit of strength to fight off our men. In addition to that squad, the squads that faced off against White Cloud Gate and the Lucene Brotherhood also failed. The Lucene Brotherhood¡¯s master was seriously injured, but his second eldest son showed up. This young man had arms harder than steel and he was so fast that bullets couldn¡¯t hit him, so he must have mastered the secret techniques of the Wind of Lucene and the Lucene Steel Fists."


    He paused to take a breath and continued, "White Cloud Gate¡¯s senior disciple Garen has mastered the gate¡¯s only secret technique, the Mammoth Secret Technique. His strength is on par with his master when his master was young."


    "Are they both Grade E?"


    "I¡¯m sure." The old man nodded.


    "Are we going to stop them ourselves?" The woman was starting to doubt herself.


    "No need. We can wait and let others deplete their energy first. Only in times of hardship like this can one see the true strengths of a sect. Just look at the Lucene Brotherhood and now the White Cloud Gate. We should remain patient. What if some other strong force was to intervene? Then we¡¯d be in real trouble." The old man sounded like he was speaking to the woman, but also talking to himself.


    **********************


    In the woods across from the road, it was completely quiet without the chirping of birds or insects. Behind some tall bushes and thick tree trunks, the faint sounds of breathing could be heard.


    There were countless men hiding in this forest by the road.


    This was the last stretch of road before reaching the city.


    Sitting next to the driver, Garen raised his alertness while everyone in the carriages lowered their heads and hid behind the sides. Fortunately, the sides of these carriages were more than a meter tall and more than enough for them to hide behind.


    Garen knew that they would be safe once they were inside the city. After all, those people did not dare to kill in public. This was the best place for them to strike.


    "Protect yourselves with pistols and jump off immediately if the horse gets shot," Garen warned with a whisper.


    "Don¡¯t worry senior brother, we can handle the minions!" Collin responded.


    Garen shook his head silently. Two silver carriages were coming toward them and each had two or three passengers. The driver of the first carriage had a sharp gaze, was well built, and looked like a normal driver from his appearance, but Garen could sense danger from him.


    The carriage behind them seemed to have a normal family. The father was handling the horse, his wife sat next to him, and two adorable young girls laughed and chatted while sitting in the cart behind them. Wearing white ballet dancing dresses and stockings, the girls looked around the age of 15 and must have just left a dancing class.


    Garen frowned slightly. This distance¡­


    The two carriages greeted each other. The driver in the first carriage glanced at Garen, but did not make a move and drove the carriage right past them.


    Garen felt a sense of danger from the driver and thought they would attack. To his surprise, they did not do anything and just passed by. His body tensed up and was ready for any attacks.


    As the first carriage drove past them, all Garen could hear was the sound of horse hooves hitting the road.


    After a few seconds, the second carriage approached them. Knowing that the people from the first carriage were not enemies, Garen let out a relieved sigh.


    Shoo!


    He heard an abrupt, but soft noise. Opening his eyes, Garen slammed behind himself with a backhand.


    Snap!


    "Mmph."


    The woman who had jumped at Garen from behind was hit by Garen¡¯s slam in mid-air. With a crackling noise, she fell like a broken stick of wood as her waist bent back at a 90-degree angle. Blood spilled everywhere as the woman landed on the road and fainted from the pain.


    Sneering, Garen jumped off his carriage to chase after the carriage behind them.


    The carriage wasn¡¯t traveling very fast and the driver was trying to accelerate, but Garen had already caught up and he struck the horse in the head.


    Bang!


    The horse fell right as he hit it and the carriage came to a stop. The carriage¡¯s other horse was startled, pulling at the carriage in a frenzy. Garen slapped the head of this horse, causing it to fall to the ground while frothing at the mouth.


    The two remaining men looked malicious and both jumped at Garen with trench knives since they knew there was no way out. These two were extremely fast as they zig-zagged their way to Garen. One aimed at Garen¡¯s cheek and the other stabbed toward his waist.


    The two trench knives were like slithering snakes as they punctured the air and stabbed toward Garen. The edges of the knives glowed blue, showing that they were obviously poisonous.


    "If the knife cuts into your skin, you are dead!" The two men had the same thought, putting all their might into this attack. The poison they put on the blade was called spider venom No. 9. There was no cure for this venom and one drop of this mixed poison could kill a man in 10 minutes.


    The knives were just about to hit Garen when he suddenly opened his mouth.


    "Roar!" A thunderous roar came out of his lungs. This sudden roar startled the two attackers, slowing down their attacks.


    "Double Shot Form!!"


    Garen¡¯s arms instantly shot to his sides. A terrifying explosive force erupted as his arms inflated like two giant pythons before smashing into the two men¡¯s chests.


    "Chh, Chh!"


    With their chests penetrated like kebobs, the two men stood paralyzed. Garen twirled his arms and threw them onto the road.


    After killing the assassins, Garen strode toward his carriage. As he passed the carriage of the family, the four family members were still stunned. The two yellow horses were horrified by Garen and recoiled, neighing out of terror.


    "Ahhh!" The lady on the carriage screamed aloud, but her husband quickly covered her mouth. The two daughters were petrified when they saw Garen, crawling deeper into the carriage and closing their eyes.


    Garen glanced at them, then walked past them with an unperturbed face.


    He had to use more effort on these men than the people from before. These two men were much stronger, close to the level of Golden Hoop Number 10 that Garen had met before.


    Garen¡¯s merciless, kill on sight method frightened the hidden enemies. The first ones to strike were always people who fought with their lives on the line, yet Garen dealt with them like trivial matters.

 92 The Way Back 2

    Jumping back into the carriage, Garen¡¯s expression turned serious.


    "The minions wouldn¡¯t dare to challenge us now. If we run into more trouble, our opponents will be the ones that are hard to deal with, so you guys should be careful."


    Collin and the group nodded behind him.


    "What about Senior Brother Rampas?"


    "I can¡¯t take care of them forever. Some matters they will just have to face by themselves. I¡¯m not their nanny." Garen replied casually. He looked calm and peaceful. At times of emergency it was very important to be level-headed, but strike down at the opponents swiftly and mercilessly, acting like it was only a breeze. This was meant to frighten the hidden enemies.


    If someone were to attack in a situation like this, then the opponent must be very strong! A lot stronger than the enemies from earlier.


    The two carriages moved one after another and strolled closer to the city.


    The woods on the sides of the road were becoming less and less dense; occasionally they could see small houses. More farmers and passersby could be seen on the sides of the road. Farmers carrying a basket filled with fruits were calling for buyers.


    Not far from where the carriages were, they could already see the taller buildings inside the city.


    "Almost there¡­ As soon as we get into the city, we shouldn¡¯t face any more attacks! Now is the best time for them to strike!" Garen was feeling even more alert.


    Suddenly, a red-haired woman came out of nowhere and blocked the way of the carriages.


    She had an attractive face, and a silver rapier was hanging by her waist. She stood in the middle of the road without speaking a word. However, as she stood there, the horses were startled and started neighing out of terror, and the carriages subsequently stopped.


    "She¡¯s an expert!" Garen thought, squinting his eyes.


    "Where did all these strong enemies come from? I¡¯ve never even seen them before!" Collin bit her lips as she complained, "I¡¯ve done research on all the top martial adepts, but these people today are¡­"


    Garen hopped off the carriage and walked to the front.


    "You are here to cut us off too?" As he walked within ten steps of her, he could feel a sharp and cold aura pinching his face. His sight followed the aura and gazed upon the woman¡¯s rapier hanging on her belt; it was emitting a cold and fierce blue light.


    The red-haired woman drew her rapier with a ruthless expression. Her movement was very strange, starting slow but gaining speed as she pulled. Finally, with a crisp sound the sword left the scabbard.


    "Don¡¯t blame me, I owe someone a favor. Remember the name of your killer; I am Seacroft, it is your honor to die under my Weeping Sword."


    "Seacroft? Weeping Sword?" Garen frowned his eyebrows. He could feel the opponent¡¯s strength was close to his, almost reaching his own level. The blood sphere in his chest was a symbol of reaching this level.


    Anyone who was close to this level had mastered at least one secret technique; they were very hard to deal with.


    A martial adept at this level had surpassed Fei Baiyun¡¯s levels, and thus a regular faction wouldn¡¯t have enough influence to ask for her favor. Garen closely observed the enemy; she was about thirty years old. Anyone who was over twenty-five had no chance of improving any further.


    "If you¡­" Garen heard a sharp and loud screech and was unable to finish his sentence.


    "WEAAW!!"


    The screaming noise was strange and unsettling like the weeping of a baby. Seacroft¡¯s rapier flashed as she thrusted it toward Garen¡¯s left chest. The unsettling noise was coming from the vibration of the weapon.


    The rapier was extremely fast. Just as Garen heard the noise he saw a silver stripe coming toward him; in the blink of an eye it was already at his chest. Unlike prior times, the sword¡¯s cold and sharp aura pierced through his clothes, making his skin grow a small patch of goosebumps.


    The strange noise had affected Garen¡¯s reaction, slowing it down and making him unable to block the attack. Garen kicked up some sand and rubble toward the opponent as he felt the pain on his chest.


    Both of them backed off after the first contact, and similarly stood still and observed their opponent. Seacroft¡¯s face was scratched by some small rubbles, while Garen¡¯s shirt was pierced open and a small red dot could be seen through the big hole on his shirt.


    Without any words, the two charged at each other once again.


    The silver rapier turned into a silver snake, twirling and thrusting against Garen¡¯s fists.


    The rapier hit Garen over and over again, leaving small red dents all over his body. However, it still couldn¡¯t pierce through Garen¡¯s skin. On the other hand, Garen¡¯s fists were easily dodged by Seacroft. The difference in their speed was too big.


    The two continued to battle in circles, exchanging positions several times over a few seconds. The Weeping Sword frequently let out ghost-like screeches. Along with the irritating noise, every time the sword screeched its speed and strength increased, and every time Garen would counter the attack by kicking up sand on Seacroft¡¯s face. As the battle went on, he was getting better at using his techniques in combat; he was a lot more experienced than before. He occasionally let out a war cry to awe his opponent, and Seacroft flinched and slowed down for a moment as Garen shouted, almost getting hit by his fists. She broke into a cold sweat.


    Slowly, Garen became familiar with Seacroft¡¯s routines and used to the Weeping Sword¡¯s screeching noises. He was having a good flow while using the Four Big Forms in his combat; all his movements seemed natural, but with a hint of the Four Big Forms.


    "Step Form!" Garen suddenly charged towards Seacroft. However, she dodged out the attack, and Garen moved past her, leaving his back open to his enemy.


    "That¡¯s my chance!" Seacroft saw an opportunity and took it. She leaped forward with Weeping Sword vibrating and thrust it at Garen. Suddenly, she saw a backhand elbowing from Garen; the strike was fierce like an arrow, filled with explosiveness.


    "Shit!"


    Her expression changed. Because her body was still in the striking movement, it was too late to change directions. She did not expect Garen to combine his techniques together and set up a trap for her. Not that she hadn¡¯t been careful enough, but Garen¡¯s attacks had always been true and to her face, so she didn¡¯t think he would use a fake move to lure her in.


    In the heat of the moment, Seacroft decided to use her secret technique and the ghastly screech turned into a scream. She pulled up the rapier and blocked with it in front of her body.


    Garen was expressionless. He had immersed himself into this battle, and although he felt clumsy using the Four Big Forms before, now he was becoming more and more skilled. He could easily use the most fitting form during battle, maximizing its effectiveness and lethality. This was truly a wonderful feeling.


    His right elbow clashed into Seacroft¡¯s rapier.


    Pow!


    Garen felt a pain in his waist. His elbow tilted and was only able to scratch the rapier by the tip, but the impact still sent Seacroft flying a few meters back. She stumbled with her face pale, barely standing still by supporting her body with the Weeping Sword.


    Garen glanced at his waist, a long copper bullet was stuck inside his skin.


    "There¡¯s a sniper!!" He suddenly realized. Then, he felt something moving between his eyebrows. Someone was aiming at his forehead, so he quickly slanted his head.


    Boom!


    Another loud gunshot, and a blazing bullet instantly flew past Garen¡¯s cheek.


    Seacroft had caught her breath, and began another round of attacks with her sword.


    Garen had to deal with her attacks while constantly watching out for the sniper¡¯s shots, so he couldn¡¯t use his full strength. However, his Four Big Forms were becoming more and more consistent and natural, and his moves followed one after the other marvelously.


    "I have to finish this fight as soon as possible!" He knew he couldn¡¯t waste time on this. Had he been by himself, there wouldn¡¯t be much trouble, but he still had to take care of the younger disciples.


    He used the Shot, Dash, Swing, and Step Form consecutively. It was his first time using Four Major Forms in just two seconds. He felt his Qi clogging inside his body, and his old belly injury started hurting once again.


    Step Form lifted another wave of sand and rubbles onto Seacroft¡¯s face, forcing her to step back.


    "Die!" Garen reached for his foe¡¯s throat with his hand. He was faster than ever before. He created an opportunity at the cost of deepening his injury. As long as he could finish her first, it would be easier to take care of the snipers later.


    Peng!


    Another bullet stroke hard onto Garen¡¯s neck, tilting his body and knocking him off balance. Garen¡¯s hand barely missed Seacroft¡¯s neck, leaving only two blood trails on her face.


    "Damn it!" Garen was furious, both times he was about to finish her off, the sniper interrupted him.


    He inhaled deeply, instantly inflating his lungs. The skin on his chest turned blue and dark under the ragged shirt.


    A thunderous war cry.


    Seacroft¡¯s ears went numb from the loud noise and she became paralyzed.


    Garen took this opportunity and leaped onto her. Dodging out two bullets, he grabbed her head and smashed it against the ground.


    Seacroft¡¯s head cracked open like a watermelon. The Weeping Sword dropped out of her hand and onto the ground. Garen picked up the sword, stood up in a backflip, and started sprinting toward the sniper¡¯s direction.


    He could see him on the second floor of a red building; a bald man was packing up his sniper rifle and preparing his escape.


    Garen leaped up to the second floor of the building. His hand pierced through the man¡¯s chest, and pulled the ribs and flesh inside. In a disturbing noise, the man¡¯s chest was torn open. He screamed like a pig.


    "Boss! Help!!" He cried in terror.


    Garen smacked the man¡¯s head with his palm. The screaming abruptly stopped and his body turned limp and lifeless.


    Following the direction of the sniper¡¯s call for help, he saw another man standing at the corner of the room. He was also bald and had a sturdy body, while his eyes were red like Garen¡¯s. The man was breathing heavily. He was obviously part of the attack earlier since he also had a sniper rifle in his hand.


    Garen¡¯s fury eased down after he killed the sniper. However, upon seeing another sniper in this room, he sneered and rushed toward him.


    Shoo!


    A stripe of silver light crossed in front of his body.


    "Tenstar Ni!" In an indomitable rage, Garen shouted, "Don¡¯t push my limit!!"


    A long and slim sword separated Garen from the bald sniper. Tenstar Ni stood on the side with a face of mockery, staring at Garen.


    "I¡¯m sorry, you can¡¯t touch this man either."


    "You are courting death!!" Garen couldn¡¯t hold it anymore. His muscles swelled as he grew from 1.7 to over 2 meters. The clothes on his chest burst and flew in all directions. Garen was topless. His muscles turned dark and blue as his veins stood out on his skin like coiling black snakes. His body was even bigger than back on the tournament.


    Tenstar Ni¡¯s expression changed.

 93 Tenstar Ni 1

    Chapter 93: Tenstar Ni 1


    A punch!


    Garen¡¯s right arm darted forth like a slithering python, aimed at Tenstar Ni¡¯s head.


    Murderous thoughts emerged in his mind.


    After he had transmigrated to this alternate reality, he had been pretending to be a teenage boy with his adult conscious. He had been under the influence of depression. Training in martial arts gave him a chance to unwind. Every time his strength grew, so did his sense of security.


    However, old man Gregor¡¯s death made him feel helpless and realize how weak he was. As soon as he achieved great improvements with the secret arts, he met Sylphalan and almost lost his life. This raised his sense of crisis once again.


    He didn¡¯t plan to provoke the Celestial Circle Gate, but he didn¡¯t expect them to side with his enemies flagrantly. At this moment, Garen¡¯s depressive emotions erupted like a volcano.


    The blood sphere inside his chest released countless hot streams that circulated throughout his body.


    Bang!


    His fist smashed into the wall, sinking deeply in it.


    Tenstar Ni dodged aside with a serious expression. His sword swirled to make a silver light curtain, blocking possible attacks, and he jumped back with a backflip.


    Bam!


    Suddenly, a cloud of rubble and sand sputtered all over his face. Several rocks smashed into his nose, slicing open a few bloody wounds.


    "Go!" Tenstar Ni closed his eyes in the dust. He raised his left hand and a strand of silver light flashed out from it.


    Clang!


    A short dagger bounced off Garen¡¯s chest, with no effect. Seeing that, Tenstar Ni pulled the dagger back into his hand by a thin thread tied to the hilt.


    "Heh!"


    Garen leaped forward. His right arm still had a fistful of gravel, so he hiked his hand to throw another wave of dust at his opponent. At the same time, his palm smashed toward Tenstar¡¯s chest with a Shot Form.


    His dark blue hand stretched out with inhumanly sharp nails. As the hand moved, a sharp howling filled the air. This howling sounded singular, yet layered, resembling the howling from a mammoth.


    Tenstar Ni¡¯s expression changed again. He raised his hand to block the dust and lifted the sword with his other hand. In this situation where he could not clearly see the attack, his sword flashed as he hacked at Garen¡¯s hand.


    Thud!


    The sword cut onto Garen¡¯s hand and made a thud noise, but it couldn¡¯t stop Garen¡¯s palm from advancing.


    Tenstar Ni gritted his teeth, his face flashed with a blue aura, a clump of dark muscle emerged on the back of his sword hand, the clump was shaped like a cross shaped star1.


    Swoosh! The sword stabbed three times in an instant, and in the fraction of a second, turned ninety degrees and stood up, slashing directly at Garen¡¯s hand.


    Zing!!


    The hand and the sword came in contact. Surprisingly, the sword could not leave a single scratch on the dark blue palm, and thus was bent into a curve.


    Garen¡¯s showed a ruthless expression as he slammed his feet against the ground!


    The stomp blasted sand and debris into the air.


    The sword broke into two pieces with a cracking sound, while Garen¡¯s hand pressed down the weapon pieces into Tenstar Ni¡¯s chest.


    With a heavy thud, Tenstar Ni groaned and flipped over. After rolling for about ten steps he finally jumped back up.


    Three bloody marks appeared on Garen¡¯s right palm; the skin and muscle around the marks were completely scraped off, vaguely revealing the bones underneath.


    He clenched the hand and felt a sharp pain in the center of the palm. There wasn¡¯t much bleeding though, since the blood soon clogged, forming a protective layer around the wounds, preventing the flesh from getting in contact with the air.


    "This isn¡¯t what the Mammoth Secret Technique looks like!" Tenstar Ni hatefully roared. His face flashed red as he spoke; it was a sign that he was seriously injured.


    Tenstar Ni backed off quickly while taking out a small paper bag from his pockets and dumping all the medicinal containers inside his mouth.


    As soon as he gulped down the medicine, he turned around and staggered away.


    "Still trying to escape!"


    Garen followed up closely using Dash Form. He stomped down on the ground with a Step Form, forming a small crater on the ground as his speed suddenly increased and he leaped forward at Tenstar Ni.


    As soon as he started the chase, his eyes were blinded by a burst of flashing light as two daggers came flying to his face.


    With the impressive speed from him dash forward and the daggers flying at him on the opposite direction, Garen had no chance to dodge. Adding up the speed of these daggers combined with his own, the lethality of the enemy¡¯s attack was at least doubled!


    A sense of danger never experienced before took over him. The reflection of silver lights grew larger and larger in his pupils.


    Garen could only close his eyes and try to lower his head. At this moment, a stream flowed up to his eyebrows from the blood sphere in his chest.


    He didn¡¯t expect the injured opponent to hide his ultimate skill until now, turning the tables and putting Garen in great danger.


    "Die!" He furiously threw the Weeping Sword forward.


    The two daggers slashed onto Garen¡¯s eyebrows and immediately hit the bone on his forehead. They were only able to cut two blood marks on his eyebrows.


    Tenstar Ni¡¯s face went pale when he turned around and saw his attacks were not effective.


    He knew his strength wasn¡¯t enough. His full might was only able to cause a small injury to the enemy. He tried everything and still got badly injured, and all of the damage came from a single hit.


    Combining his full strength and Garen¡¯s momentum from sprinting, he should have been able to put an end to this fight. However, he didn¡¯t expect that¡­


    "How do I fight him¡­" He whined mutely, "I shouldn¡¯t have pissed this freak off in the first place! His Body-hardening Technique is ridiculous! I can¡¯t hurt him. All that trouble only scraped off some skin.


    As he turned around he saw Garen throwing a silver sword at him, and along with it came a screeching noise. Tenstar Ni was scared to death. The cross-shaped muscle plumped up again as his right arm turned into a shadow, smacking behind him.


    He blocked the Weeping Sword and sent it flying. The sword sunk deep into the wall beside him, leaving only the hilt to be seen.


    However, the huge counterforce shook his body and slowed him down. Garen saw this opportunity and quickly leaped forward, grabbing Tenstar Ni¡¯s shoulder.


    A grey powder sprinkled onto Garen¡¯s face in a puff; it was the medicine Tenstar Ni used to heal himself.


    The powder smelled spicy and pungent. Garen¡¯s movement slowed down, as he knew it would irritate his eyes. He closed them and whipped his hand forward with Swing Form.


    However, it was too slow and the Swing Form missed the target.


    Tenstar Ni did a backflip and landed a few meters away, but his face was even paler than before. It seemed the use of his cross-shaped muscle technique expended a vast amount of energy, and combined with Garen¡¯s smash to his chest, Tenstar Ni¡¯s condition was terrible.


    "Garen of White Cloud Gate! Just wait, I¡¯ll kill everyone around you!" Tenstar Ni¡¯s malevolent voice came from afar, he turned around and staggered away. His movement looked unnatural, but that didn¡¯t slow him down.


    Garen was rubbing his eyes, which were still blurry from the powder and tears. At that moment he couldn¡¯t clearly see the opponent.


    However, as the voice came, he sneered and smashed his hand into the ground, breaking the rocks and dirt into gravel. He grabbed a handful of small rubbles and fiercely threw them toward the direction where the voice came from.


    His arm swelled in an instant, and his hand sent the rubbles flying in an instant, with the peebles screeching in the air.


    Poof! Poof!


    As soon as the bang was heard several bloody holes appeared on Tenstar Ni¡¯s back and he fell on the floor.


    "Retard! I really wouldn¡¯t know what to do if you didn¡¯t make a sound!"


    Garen grinned hideously and rushed over under his blurry vision, catching Tenstar Ni by his hair.


    "Senior Brother will avenge me!" Tenstar Ni knew he couldn¡¯t escape. He roared as Garen held his hair and smashed his head down.


    Bam!


    To Garen¡¯s surprise, Tenstar Ni¡¯s head was fine. However, as he tried to pull him up he tore his scalp off by the hair. The scene looked horrific and bloody.


    Tenstar Ni quickly climbed forward like an invertebrate mollusk, exhibiting his robust vitality.


    Garen chased up and stomped hard onto his back.


    Step Form!


    Bang! Crack!


    Two sounds echoed together as Tenstar Ni¡¯s spine broke into pieces. He struggled with all his force to turn around and spit an arrow of blood onto Garen¡¯s face.


    This arrow of blood could have killed a common person, but it was completely ineffective to Garen. He closed his eyes and felt a warm liquid on his face, nothing else.


    Garen wiped the blood off his face, aimed at Tenstar Ni¡¯s head, and used another Step Form.


    "Roar!!"


    The neighing sound of the mammoth lingered in the air.


    Boom!!


    A deep crater appeared on the ground. Brains, bones, and blood mixed together, and along with some blue messy hair, they turned into a slimy blend.


    Garen¡¯s right foot and ankle were covered in this mixture. He lifted his foot and started searching on the torso. He found another pack of medicinal powder, two more silver daggers¨Dboth threaded with a thin line¨D, a string of keys and some money.


    As he collected the loot, he opened his eyes as much as he could. The tears had washed away the medicinal powders in his eyes, and although it still felt uncomfortable, he was able to see clearly again.


    He looked around and didn¡¯t see a trace of the bald guy.


    "Escaped huh?" He looked around. He was standing in an open ground behind the two-story building. The building wall was covered in fractures and holes from the fight.


    It was completely silent inside.


    He took a deep breath and looked around to check if there were other enemies nearby. Suddenly, a child¡¯s weep came from inside the building, but something soon muffled the noise. He could faintly hear the horrified breathing of a woman.


    Obviously, a family was still inside, but they dared not make a sound, afraid of getting silenced as witnesses. They kept quiet to pretend no one was home.


    At this distance, a normal person could not have heard the noise. However, Garen¡¯s senses were several times sharper, so of course he could hear everything.


    Shaking his head, Garen looked at himself. His shirt was gone, a line of bullets were stuck at his waist, there were two wounds on his eyebrows and three on his right hand.


    He gripped the bullets in his waist and pulled them out hard. Streams of blood gushed out from the wounds but stopped almost immediately. The blood clogged into a membrane and covered his wounds.

 94 Tenstar Ni 2

    Apart from external injuries, Garen felt some internal bruising as well as a tearing pain. It was clear that he had strained some muscles and injured himself. Most importantly, the blood and Qi orb in his chest had been considerably reduced and had depleted significantly after healing and temporarily enhancing his defense.


    Garen vaguely felt that the blood and Qi orb was overused, it might completely disperse with no way to restore it. This hypothetical situation would cause a drop in his level of attainment and his body strength could be greatly diminished.


    Ever since he attained the Qi and blood orb, his all aspects of his ability had markedly increased. He did not have Attributes to enhance his physical qualities, but his explosive force, defense, reaction speed, comprehension, and so on had undergone significant changes. Even though there were no direct changes to his Attributes, his actual strength had increased by at least one level.


    "Looks like I have to use this thing carefully¡­" Garen''s body gradually shrunk as he reverted to his original state. He took the torn black overcoat from Tenstar Ni''s body and put it on. Even though it was ripped, it was better than nothing.


    Garen took a last look at the body on the ground and let out a sigh of relief. He relaxed his body completely and started to recuperate.


    Tenstar Ni was undoubtedly an expert on par with Garen. The true strength of normal experts would not even hurt Garen, let alone threaten him, but Tenstar Ni managed to do it. If not for the effect of the Qi and blood orb, Garen would have been severely injured even if he managed to kill Tenstar Ni.


    Tenstar Ni''s Secret Martial Art was very strong: it was able to not only increase one''s speed, but explosive force and strength were enhanced to a terrifying level as well. When this explosive technique was used, Tenstar Ni could even effortlessly break through Garen''s defensive Explosive Fist Arts Body Hardening Technique


    If not for the fact that this explosive technique could not be used continuously¡ªit seemed that every time Tenstar Ni did, there would be some backlash damage to his body¡ªit would have been hard to predict the winner of this battle.


    "I''ve really fallen out with Celestial Circle Gate this time. There is still the Eldest Senior Brother of Celestial Circle Gate and number one expert of the South, Andrela. Even his junior brother Tenstar Ni was already so powerful. Andrela¡­ I''m afraid I''m no match for him yet."


    Garen estimated their true strengths and started to be more fearful of the Celestial Circle Gate.


    "Celestial Circle Gate sent snipers, then sent a series of experts in defensive striking. In the end, Tenstar Ni even directly intercepted me and continuously impeded me. His intent was likely to get me agitated so that I would start the fight and give Celestial Circle Gate a reason for a direct intervention. Otherwise, they would have broken the rules if they intervened when they had already expressed a neutral stance. But if White Cloud Gate started it, then they could cover their face with another layer of fig leaf."


    "How hypocritical¡­" Garen sneered. "Looks like you never would have expected Tenstar Ni to die by my hands. If it was not for his own stupidity and vocal provocation, I would probably not have been able to kill him in the end."


    Celestial Circle Gate was different from other common sects. Even on the surface, they had many experts. Coupled with the number one expert of the South, Andrela, and countless other hidden strong powers, they were a huge force to be reckoned with. Even if Garen had a strong self-confidence from his special ability, he felt heavily pressured by having them as his opponent.


    He was not sure how many more experts Celestial Circle Gate had that were the same level as Tenstar Ni, but if they sent two more, he would not be able to survive.


    He was the strongest person of the Southern Twelve Gates, far and away stronger than other students and disciples. Some sect masters were also likely weaker than him. Even with such true strength, it was already so difficult for him to face a somewhat famous disciple from Celestial Circle Gate. There was obviously a gap in their level of martial arts: he had trained in the Secret Mammoth Technique to an unprecedented level, yet barely scraped a win against Tenstar Ni.


    Garen had subtly peaked: he had reached the upper limit of this Secret Martial Art.


    Although the outcome of combat was not purely decided by the level of the Secret Martial Art¡ªit still depended on willpower, strategy, response, and other factors¡ªmartial arts definitely played a large part in it.


    Disciples like Tenstar Ni definitely had not attained the level of Qi and blood orb, but they still vaguely managed to temporarily achieve the true strength of that level with special methods. The Secret Martial Arts and Secret Methods of Celestial Circle Gate could produce this effect. Garen was dismayed and did not know how many more experts Celestial Circle Gate had that were at that level.


    "Enough thinking about this matter. I''ll just head back first. There is no time to consider all these things now!"


    Garen quickened his pace and went back the same way he previously came from.


    Click!


    As he walked out of the shadow of the building, Garen was stunned.


    In front of him, dozens of black submachine guns were pointed at him. Not only that, Garen felt a dozen people focusing their gaze on him from afar: the gaze of snipers.


    Not far away, there were green armored personnel carriers which were shaped like quadrilaterals. Imprinted on the sides, there was an insignia of a black and white striped flag with a black bird spreading its wings on the white stripe.


    This was the national flag of the Yalu Confederation!


    Garen did not dare to move a muscle mainly because of the gaze of the dozen snipers.


    The bullet from the sniper earlier had proven that these powerful rifles could break his defense and cause him a certain amount of harm. If there were a dozen more submachine guns at such a close range, Garen was not sure he would survive.


    In the dense hail of bullets, the wounds from his broken defense would be ripped wider and even he could not escape that reality. It was impossible for a human being to outrun a bullet.


    He quickly scanned the soldiers with submachine guns in front of him. They wore dark green uniforms and round steel helmets, which were also painted green. Each of them was heavily armed from head to toe, with a bullet belt strapped diagonally across their bodies and a grenade bag at their waist.


    "What should I do!?" A variety of measures flashed across Garen''s mind in an instant, but being surrounded by so many guns, it was impossible even for him to successfully escape.


    "Eldest Senior Brother! Run, quickly! They want to kill you!" Among the few people being held hostage in the distance, Collin suddenly shouted.


    She had hardly finished her sentence before Garen suddenly felt a piercing pain between his brows. A chilling sense of danger filled his body and there were goosebumps all over his skin.


    Someone wanted to kill him!


    The Qi and blood orb in his chest bubbled. Nearby, Garen saw a military officer in a dark green uniform with a cruel expression on his face holding up a huge, heavy duty, jet-black sniper rifle and steadily aiming it at him. His hand was already on the trigger ready to shoot!


    Without the slightest hesitation, Garen kicked up a cloud of dust and sand without warning.


    Rat tat tat tat..!


    The sound of submachine guns firing filled the air.


    Within seconds, countless guns started firing. The intense barrage muffled all other sounds.


    Garen stood squarely in place and was stunned to see that the federal soldiers had fallen in front of him.


    Teams of soldiers in brown uniforms surrounded all of the soldiers in green uniforms.


    Compared to the soldiers in green, these soldiers in brown uniforms were obviously better trained. Their every move was calm and precise: there were no unnecessary actions. Each of them had strong Qi and blood and their actions were sophisticated. They were heavily armed and were clearly battle-hardened veterans.


    Next, Garen looked at the sniper military officer in the distance who was lying face down on the personnel carrier. His head was now bent to the side and blood was slowly flowing out from the gunshot wound at his temple.


    "Commanding officer of the Sixth Brigade of the South, Caesar Leon, is alleged to have committed treason, traded in important national intelligence, sold federal arms, privately used military force for personal gains, and so on. He has now been found guilty and shall be sentenced concurrently for these multiple crimes. He was arrested in the name of the highest command in the South, but the commanding officer and his guards did not show repentance and have now been executed by firing squad. All Sixth Brigade soldiers, put down your weapons and await further instructions."


    Calm and collected, the clear voice of a man came from the distance.


    Garen looked toward the direction where the voice was coming from.


    "Yo, Garen! Long time no see." The flaming red hair of Golden Hoop Number 6 fluttered as he smiled cheekily. He was wearing the neat brown uniform of a military officer and black leather gloves. On his right shoulder, a silver patch clearly indicated his rank.


    Silver on black with four stripes and a dot: it was the rank of a colonel.


    Garen let out a long sigh of relief.


    The soldiers around him started to clean up the bodies and opened up a path.


    Garen walked straight towards Golden Hoop Number 6 until the two stood one meter apart.


    "I haven''t even repaid you for the time you helped me out with my sister''s matter. Now I owe you one more," Garen said while somewhat embarrassed.


    "What a coincidence then. I have something I need to trouble you with. If you help me out, I''ll count it as one favor repaid. How''s that?" Golden Hoop Number 6 asked jokingly.


    "What trouble? However, I will have to recuperate for a while first."


    Golden Hoop Number 6 took a look at Garen''s sorry state and injuries. "Of course I will wait until you have recovered. I''m in no hurry either."


    "Then no problem!" Garen agreed.


    "Come on, I''ll arrange a car to send you all back. It''s unwise to stay here for too long. Celestial Circle Gate has a huge influence here. I can only remove one of their assistants."


    "Sir, we discovered the body of Tenstar Ni from Celestial Circle Gate out back," a military officer reported after walking to Golden Hoop Number 6.


    "Oh?" Golden Hoop Number 6 widened his eyes in shock, then looked at Garen with a half-smile. "You''re good, you!"


    Garen smiled wryly and said, "Please stop saying that. I almost died. Did I give you more trouble?"


    For some reason, he vaguely felt that the brown uniformed soldiers around him were looking at him in awe.


    Golden Hoop Number 6 realized it too, and smiled.


    "We practitioners of martial arts, regardless of our characters and personalities, will easily become impulsive due to the continually abundant and strong Qi and blood within our bodies. You have no idea how a military unit with stronger physicality and true strength will cause more trouble. Constantly having a strong power in the body without being able to use it developes into a mentally repressive grievance, so they will easily become impulsive. Since you''ve killed him, that''s that. Celestial Circle Gate won''t fall out with me for such a small character anyway. You have been too inhibited, so this release is also a good conditioning."


    "Stronger people will have problems after being mentally repressed for too long?" Garen had a weird expression. He vaguely recalled Eldest Senior Sister''s insane look.


    "Indeed so. Of course, there are those with strong spiritual attainment who are able to disregard such situations, but they are a rare minority." Golden Hoop Number 6 turned around and said, "Come on, let''s talk on the move."


    Garen nodded. "Let me explain to my Junior Brothers and Sisters first."


    "Very well."

 95 The Return 1

    Chapter 95: The Return 1


    In a small building by the road, an old man and a girl stood by the window inside a dark room and looked down through the opening in the curtains.


    "They are people from the Special Forces. Why are they here?" the white-haired old man asked confusedly. "Who is that military officer?"


    "I''ve seen him once at a banquet. I think he is Colonel Su Lin of the Special Forces. Rumor has it that he''s a useless playboy who only got a firm standing in the army because of his parents. Why is he here instead of in Hotel Pleasant fooling around with women?" the pale girl asked, equally confused. "Looks like he''s a friend of that Garen. Does he intend to buy a hatchet man?"


    "A playboy giving up pleasure activities to lead a troop to this suburb for a rescue mission? Looks like they have a close relationship," the old man said in a low voice.


    "I know about Su Lin''s situation. His parents spoiled him. Whatever he wanted, they would find it for him by whatever means necessary. He has an elder brother managing the family business who is also very fond of him. He is considered the darling of the Mobius family, but he did not live up to expectations. He didn''t apply himself to anything and only knew how to indulge in pleasure-seeking activities," the girl said sarcastically in a hushed tone. "I didn''t expect White Cloud Gate to be involved with this guy. They should consider themselves lucky."


    "It''s great that the power of Celestial Circle Gate has been curtailed slightly. We put in so much effort, but they only want to contribute a little. It''s so unfair." The old man started smiling.


    "But this Garen has concealed himself well. Su Lin''s character has always been arrogant, so spoiled that he doesn''t allow anyone to disobey him. He''s very difficult to get along with. It''s unexpected that he would be able to hit it off with this Garen. Su Lin is famous for being imperious and domineering." The girl looked at Garen and Su Lin downstairs as they chatted happily then boarded a black car under the protection of bodyguards and left. The other White Cloud Gate disciples, along with the disciples from two other sects behind them, boarded other cars and left together.


    "Come on. White Cloud Gate is temporarily safe and it''s even protected two other sects. It''s impossible for us to act here." The old man turned to move away from the window.


    "Wait! What''s that?" the girl suddenly shouted in a muted tone. Her gaze was fixed on a body being carried out from behind the distant building. "Is¡­is that Tenstar Ni? It can''t be!"


    "What?!" The old man raced back to the window and looked down. The body of Tenstar Ni was being carried into a car by a few soldiers.


    In that instant, a chill went down their spines and they exchanged a look.


    Tenstar Ni was dead!


    "It seems that we have underestimated this Garen from White Cloud Gate¡­" the old man spoke slowly in his baritone voice. "Fortunately, we didn''t go down there. Otherwise, we might not have been able to come back alive."


    "The strongest man from the Southern Twelve Gates¡­ is indeed extraordinary! He is already eligible to be ranked as a Grandmaster of Combat," the pale girl murmured. She pulled out a rolled up map from her front pocket and gently opened it. "I''ll make a note of it now!"


    On the white map was an enlarged image of all of the nearby provinces. There were already a few red dots marked at different spots on the map. The pale girl bit her index finger until it bled and forcefully imprinted a blood mark on Galantia Province, which contained Huaishan City.


    "I can''t believe that we managed to witness the entire process of a Grandmaster of Combat breaking though the limits of the human body during this trip. The time spent can now be considered worthwhile," the old man said as he started to get slightly emotional.


    *****************


    On the yellow-green plains, a winding pale yellow road stretched into the distance like a long, thin piece of yellow ribbon.


    A black motorcade rolled along on the road. The motorcade consisted entirely of black luxury sedans. Delicate patterns decorated the car bodies while some protracted sections even had extensions of elegant hollowed floral ornaments.


    There was even a hook-like dark golden ornament erected on the hood of the second black car: it represented the number "6."


    There was ample space inside the car and two youths sat in the rear passenger seats. The youth on the left had flaming-red hair and a handsome face. He wore a brown military uniform with a colonel-rank insignia, was fiddling with a lighter in his hand, and had the temperament of a frivolous playboy. The aloof and serious military uniform seemed mismatched on him.


    The other person had purple hair and dark red eyes. He wore a loose white shirt, his face was calm, and he exuded an aura of peace and serenity. His eyebrows were a strange reddish-black since his original black eyebrows had been replaced by two scars. This added a sense of mystery to him.


    These two fellows were Golden Hoop Number 6 and Garen traveling on their way back.


    Garen turned to look out the window at the yellow-green plains that flashed past. A breeze was blowing and the grass rippled like creased waves. "How should I address you?" he suddenly asked.


    Golden Hoop Number 6 snapped the lighter shut. "Just call me Su Lin. To be honest, you and I, we really¡­ uhm, what''s that Eastern phrase? Have serendipity! Yes, serendipity. Actually, I didn''t intentionally help you the last time. It was by chance that I encountered that incident and it just so happened that I was in a temper, so I dealt with it straightaway. This time, I was busy with another matter when I heard about your situation, so I decided to help you out while I was at it. What''s this, if not serendipity?"


    "I thought you would say you rushed over deliberately to help me." Garen shook his head and smiled. "You''re really honest."


    "Honesty is my virtue." Golden Hoop Number 6, Su Lin, chuckled. "This time, White Cloud Gate should be in big trouble right? Need my help?"


    "We''re indeed in big trouble, but it''s a relatively small matter. The main problem is my Senior Sister¡­" Garen''s expression turned grim at the thought of it. Eldest Senior Sister had always been kind to him. Although she had a strange temper, he didn''t expect her to betray the sect.


    "Regarding your Eldest Senior Sister, I do have some news. She has gone to Behemoth Gate." Su Lin stopped smiling and whispered, "Behemoth Gate¡­ that''s a really vexing organization. Even though both your Methods and Secret Martial Arts share the same namesake, their strength is unimaginably powerful."


    "Behemoth Gate?" Garen pondered. "Are they as powerful as Celestial Circle Gate?"


    "Roughly the same." Su Lin frowned. "The background of Celestial Circle Gate is too strong. They have many alumni disciples in the upper ranks of the federal army and the government. As the strongest sect in the South, there is even a special full brigade in the Confederation specifically trained and led by them."


    "An entire brigade¡­" Garen''s head throbbed. He knew the meaning of "brigade." A complete brigade had at least tens of thousands of well-trained soldiers. This was a relatively strong force even in the context of the entire Confederation. Let alone a "special" brigade.


    Su Lin took a look at him and continued, "Additionally, many alumni of Celestial Circle Gate have joined the National Security Division. They have plenty of experts like Tenstar Ni."


    Garen narrowed his eyes, carefully masking the shock he felt.


    Su Lin continued regardless, "But fortunately you have finally reached a new level." He suddenly smiled. "Not everyone can attain the level of Grandmaster of Combat. Congratulations, Garen."


    "The level of Grandmaster of Combat?" It was the first time Garen had ever heard of it.


    "Yes." Su Lin glanced at the female soldier driving. "This is now an open secret. Your master was probably worried that you would be distracted by this status. That''s why he didn''t want to tell you."


    He paused, then continued, "A so-called Grandmaster of Combat is a martial arts practitioner who is able to train their physical body to the extent of the human limit. Everyone who has become a Grandmaster of Combat possesses tempered skills, a strong body, and represents the extreme pinnacle of humankind. Every Grandmaster of Combat has a quality that they excel at, just like how you are exceptional in your Strength and Defense."


    Garen was silent for a while. "If what you say is true¡ªthat I have entered the level of Grandmaster of Combat¡ªwhy is it that against experts at the level of Tenstar Ni, I can only handle one at a time at best?"


    "That is because you haven''t properly solidified. In the examples of Grandmasters of Combat that I know of, each and every one of them has a tough physical quality and vitality. Their ability to recover is shocking and the true strength that they wield is far beyond the limit that a normal human being can achieve. Simply put, Grandmasters of Combat are top experts who are one league ahead of average martial arts practitioners and represent the extreme limit of the human body¡¯s advancement," Su Lin answered formally. "If my estimation is correct, once you return, you will enter an explosive growth phase in the enhancement of your true strength."


    Garen slowly nodded. What he did not say, however, was that he was already experiencing this enhancement. During the process of fighting his way over here, he had sensed his body become easier to control and using his skills felt more natural. Occasionally, a flood of combat experience would instinctively surface and he would land a phenomenal strike.


    "In that case, you should know a few experts at this level?" Garen asked in a low voice.


    "Indeed I do. There are 42 people who can be considered Grandmasters of Combat and these are only the ones on-record. There are probably more off the record, but there should be about 80 people in total. They are the strongest group of people in the entire Confederation! Normal firearms have no effect on them and only especially powerful firearms can harm them."


    "80 people¡­ How many people are there in the Confederation?" Garen didn''t expect there to be so many more peak experts.


    "The result of last year''s population census was 160 million people. In other words, combined with the older generation of Grandmasters of Combat, you are one in two million. But don''t fret, among these 80 people, more than 50 are senior people from the previous generation. They are advanced in age, most of them have retreated to a life of seclusion, and no one knows how many of them are still alive. The active individuals are the Grandmasters of Combat who have emerged in the past 50 years, which total to approximately 30 people. And that''s the amount when you count everyone on- and off-record."


    Su Lin held the lighter, then repeatedly lit it and put it out again. "Based on the information we have gathered, there are probably 10 Grandmasters of Combat scattered throughout the 13 provinces of the Confederation. Five are from Celestial Circle Gate representing the Southern Alliance and five from the Northern Alliance. It''s evenly matched, but I have a feeling that this has been deliberately decided by both parties in conference. It''s too much of a coincidence that both sides have the exact same total of five people."


    "Five people huh?" Garen started contemplating. "By my count, these five people should be from Celestial Circle Gate and Crimson Sand Sword. What about Andrela?"

 96 The Return 2

    Chapter 96: The Return 2


    "I don¡¯t know. I haven¡¯t seen him in full force, so no one knows his exact ability. But, compared to Tenstar Ni, he should be at the Grandmaster of Combat level. You have to be careful. He is still a novice, so he isn¡¯t considered a Grandmaster of Combat yet. Also, there are at least two or three Grandmasters of Combat within the older generations of Celestial Circle Gate and they are a force to be reckoned with. With Tenstar Ni¡¯s age, he was one of the hopefuls to become a Grandmaster of Combat. Unfortunately, you killed him." Su Lin sympathized


    "If he didn¡¯t die, I would have died." Garen was speechless as he remembered the last fight with Tenstar Ni. If Tenstar Ni had not been so foolish and had ignored his big mouth, Garen would not have had to kill him. Fighters at this level were not ordinary people that would be severely hurt after one punch. The resilience they possessed meant that they were well trained to take hits. Their stamina was also incredible. If they were to advance another level¡­


    A slight tension gripped Garen¡¯s head, but it was more of an odd blood boiling passion. It was the expectation of facing a worthy opponent. Martial artists, especially novice practitioners, all possessed a fervent passion for combat.


    Although Garen had a lot less training time compared to regular martial artists, he was no different. His passion for the arts was as feverish as anyone else.


    From the first moment that he chose the path of martial arts, he did not want to use his special ability to expand his social presence. Instead, he chose to push himself to the limit and become a true martial artist. He wanted to witness the peak that the human body could achieve and challenge to those limits. Fortunately, he had the aid of his special ability.


    He knew his capabilities better than anyone else. He was neither gifted nor talented. Without his special ability, it would have been difficult to enter the martial arts world in the first place. Since he was a normal and ordinary person without any talents, he had to stay dedicated. It was impossible for an individual to achieve excellence in everything and separated effort would only result in overall mediocrity. For example, take two geniuses at the starting point. If one only focused on science while the other studied everything and anything on a whim, the difference would be obvious after a short amount of time.


    As for the one in a century type of genius that could master anything, if that kind of talent only focused on one subject, the heights that could be achieved would be unimaginable. The truth was that with the waves of scientific advancement around the world, subjects were being separated into finer areas of study and it would be nearly impossible to master everything. From the start, Garen knew the type of path he wanted to take.


    "Are there any Grandmaster of Combat level fighters near me?" Garen recollected his thoughts and asked with his voice lowered.


    Su Lin retracted his lighter and gave it a thought. "There is one. Beside Galantia in the Eliza Province, there is a Grandmaster of Combat called the White Eagle Holy Fist, also known as Palosa. He lives in seclusion at the Skylark Mountain Waterfall. If my father didn¡¯t mention it once, I would not have known that an older generation Grandmaster of Combat lived there. The toxic gas and miasma are so thick that normal people would not be able to enter Skylark Mountain. Even the herb gatherers are not willing to venture to this vast and sparsely populated location.


    "There are no others?" When Garen heard this name, he knew that this person was an older generation Grandmaster of Combat that was indifferent to worldly fame and fortune. The chance of conflict with him would be minuscule.


    "There are none. The majority of the Grandmasters of Combat are concentrated within Celestial Circle Gate and Crimson Sand Sword. The heads of Celestial Circle Gate and Crimson Sand Sword are both older generation Grandmasters of Combat, but I don¡¯t know about the others."


    "Do you know the background of Behemoth Gate?" Garen changed the topic to ask.


    "Behemoth Gate is a nefarious organization that secretly recruits and trains young talents. They are mysterious in nature and I don¡¯t really know too much either, but they are certainly not weak by any means. You have to be careful." Su Lin turned serious. "After you go back this time, you¡¯ll have to reorganize the internal structure of White Cloud Gate and take control of the situation. Although Master Fei did not suffer a serious injury, this injury will impact his martial arts due to his old age. White Cloud Gate will be dependent on you."


    "I know." Garen nodded.


    **********************


    Galantia Province Huaishan City.


    Among the forests in the rural areas, the dense and green trees had already recovered from the misery of winter. The morning sunshine pierced through the leaves and illuminated the ground. With the moist air and tiny drops of dew, the forest emitted a refreshing vibe.


    Deep within the forest.


    A square and dark looking courtyard rested quietly within a circle of trees. Green colored vines covered the black stone tiles.


    The courtyard was enclosed by a few two story buildings and slanted stone stairs led up to an entrance on the side. The stairs were a shade of black with moss slightly peeking out from the top corner. The passage of time was evident.


    A bald man with a beer belly stood on top of the stairs. Fat protruded out of his face. He wore a black suit with a white shirt hanging on his shoulder and his hands were on his waist as he took deep breaths. It looked like he was performing a morning routine.


    It was evident that he did not cleanly shave as stubble covered his face and neck. The hair from his sideburns connected to his beard and it was impossible to differentiate which was which. While the man was doing this morning routine, a short-haired man slowly strolled up from the stairs.


    "Mr. Bouvini." The man walked beside the bald guy and greeted him with a lowered voice.


    "Mhmm, do you have any news?" The bald guy shook his upper body and seemed like he was exercising his waist.


    "All the other shareholders support your attempt to take command. It¡¯s just that a few key assets are only known by Dojo Master Fei. The dojo¡¯s relationship with the governor would make this difficult to handle," the man reported in an undertone.


    "I heard that the White Cloud Gate lot safely escaped from Celestial Circle¡¯s territory? They are on their way back?" the bald Bouvini asked.


    "Yes. I don¡¯t have the exact intel as no information has leaked. It is believed that the military has intervened and suspended any information. It¡¯s believed that Dojo Fei was unconscious during the competition and will not recover within a short period of time. Even if he manages to recover, his power will drop by a few levels because of his age," the man hastily explained. "Mr. Bouvini, this is the perfect opportunity. If this opportunity slips away, it will become impossible to control White Cloud Gate¡¯s assets."


    "The other three shareholders have the same intention?" Bouvini asked in an undertone.


    "Yes."


    A thoughtful expression appeared on Bouvini¡¯s face. "Then go prepare first. We have to welcome the dojo¡¯s triumphant return."


    "Understood, I¡¯ll get right on it." The man thought about it before reaching a sudden realization. He nodded and left.


    ********************


    Three days later. In the morning.


    In front of the gate of Huaishan City¡¯s White Cloud Dojo, a fleet of black silver wave cars came to a gradual stop beside the road. The scene caught the attention of pedestrians and they occasionally peeked over. This kind of luxurious sedan was difficult to come by in Huaishan City. Now there suddenly was a fleet of five such cars, which garnered even more attention.


    The car doors opened one by one. A simple stretcher transporting the comatose Fei Baiyun was carried out from the back. Collin and Simon carefully guarded the stretcher as it traveled toward the gate. Garen and Golden Loop Number 6 Su Lin exited their car. They raised their heads to look at the overhanging banner that named the dojo.


    "We are finally back." Garen let out a long sigh of relief.


    "Senior Brother Garen."


    Rampas¡¯s voice sounded from the other side.


    Rampas and delicate girl walked over.


    "We are finally back in Huaishan. It¡¯s also time for Seven Moon Gate and Circling Dance Gate to depart. We are grateful for Senior Brother¡¯s help this time, so here is our contact information and address. If there is anything in need of us, we will do everything we can!" He passed over a slip of paper.


    "Wait a moment. How are the two masters doing?" Garen took the paper and looked behind the pair of disciples. On two other stretchers, the two unconscious gate masters rested.


    "The military doctors have examined them and it¡¯s not a big problem. The unconsciousness seems to be the result of a special technique, so they just need some time before they naturally wake up," Rampas explained. "Also, we have a contact in Huaishan City and we can arrange our own transportation. There is no need to worry about us."


    "That¡¯s good. In that case, so long." Garen nodded.


    "Goodbye Senior Brother Garen." Rampas gestured before he left with his disciples.


    "Senior brother Garen, if you encounter any issues, don¡¯t forget about the Circling Dance Gate. I am Marianne!" The delicate looking girl smiled sincerely before also carrying her master away and departing in the other direction with her fellow disciples. This group met up with a few other female disciples that had heard the news ahead of time and had already been waiting.


    Garen retracted his gaze. As he was about to head into the dojo, Su Lin suddenly whispered to him, "We just received intel that the strongest gate out of the Southern Twelve Gates, Murry Iron Chain Gate, was destroyed by Andrela." With a serious expression, Su Lin said in a lowered voice, "The Celestial Circle Gate heard that Tenstar Ni was killed, which angered their management. So they immediately retaliated and Murry Iron Chain Gate became the victim. Andrela took the lead and officially intervened in the incident where the Southern Twelve Gates were challenged. They eliminated Murry Iron Chain Gate from top to bottom."


    Slightly shocked by the news, Garen responded, "No wonder. Celestial Circle Gate has had the intent to take over the Southern Twelve Gates for a long time and this incident was only an excuse. What about the Crimson Sand Sword?"


    "Crimson Sand Sword is not reacting right now. It looks like they made a pact with Celestial Circle Gate." With a frown, Su Lin said, "This is going to problematic, very problematic. I haven¡¯t managed to come up with a conclusion, so the hidden killer might be someone else."


    "Who is it?"


    "An emerging organization called the Black Mark Association. It¡¯s rumored that they are in an alliance with Crimson Sand Sword and Celestial Circle Gate to end the separated situation in the southern area. They want to form three leading gates to focus their forces against the northern area."


    Garen was silent for a moment before he spoke, "You can go back now. I¡¯ll take care of this on my own. I already owe you a lot, so I¡¯ll handle it this time."


    "On your own? Can you handle it?!" Su Lin asked petulantly.


    "You don¡¯t have to be involved in this situation," Garen said emotionlessly. "There are no other solutions right now. Since Andrela will be here eventually, there is no way I can avoid this. My master is here and so is my family."


    Su Lin stared at Garen fervently, as if meeting Garen for the first time, and it took him a while to open his mouth.


    "You are afraid that you are going to cause me trouble? With just these words, I am your friend! Don¡¯t worry, my troubles are far greater and bigger than yours. If I am by your side, not only would you have to be afraid of the Grandmasters of Combat that can strike at any time, but the assassination organization might also cause you trouble. Are you afraid!?"


    "You really want me to answer with the arrogance that I am not afraid?" Garen was flabbergasted. "That with a background as fearsome as yours, my problem were bigger than yours? No one would believe me if I said something like that!"


    Su Lin shook his head and led the way. He opened the dojo¡¯s door and walked in. "Let¡¯s talk inside. My problems are far greater than yours."


    A bitter smile appeared on his face.


    Garen immediately followed.

 97 Crisis and Secret Methods 1

    Chapter 97: Crisis and Secret Methods 1


    In the next ten minutes, Garen arranged for the doctor and nurse to take care of his master, calmed down the slightly frantic disciples and trainees, and finally let the juniors go to rest. He then asked one of the disciples to find a quiet room to discuss everything with Su Lin in detail.


    The place they were led to was decorated with wooden furniture which gave it a classical vibe. Redwood walls and floor, a wooden table and chair, even the tea cups were made of redwood.


    The two of them sat down across from each other. Two wooden cups, with steam rising slowly from them, were placed in the middle of the redwood table.


    Garen gently touched the missing edge of the wooden table.


    "This time, a lot of the disciples have left. Plenty of places look torn down which are obvious signs of the time when senior sister left. Now the elder senior brother is gone, too, and senior brother is prohibited from leaving. The entire gate feels empty and deserted¡­ But that¡¯s fine, let¡¯s not talk about it. Tell me about what is troubling you."


    Su Lin grabbed the tea cup with a bitter smile. "This is why I need your help. To be honest, when I found you in the first place, I had the intention of looking for a bodyguard."


    "I don¡¯t care about your intentions. The fact that you helped me out twice cannot be understated." Garen interrupted him to stop him from talking. "Tell me about your troubles. I can¡¯t believe that with the force of the organization they can¡¯t protect you?"


    "Golden Loop possesses force only on paper. I¡¯ve gotten into a conflict with an assassin organization, and one of the strongest ones in the world, Duskdune Shura." Su Lin¡¯s face was distressed. "As to how I got into a conflict with them, I don¡¯t even know myself. All I know is that starting from next summer, they will officially take action."


    "Duskdune Shura? Are they powerful?" Garen asked in an undertone. "I¡¯m not familiar with these things, you know."


    "Let me make a comparison for you. Imagine them as disciples from the Celestial Circle Gate with mastery in weapons, special techniques, combat mastery, assassination, plus they never fight in the open and always look for an opportunity to deceive. I¡¯m not afraid of them myself, but I¡¯m worried about my family. They don¡¯t have the ability to defend themselves and can only rely on the protection of others," Su Lin said with impotence clear in his voice. "I¡¯ve used all kinds of excuses to find impeccable protection for my parents, but it¡¯s just not enough for my sister."


    "Does this Duskdune Shura have any Grandmasters of Combat?" Garen took a sip of the tea, not feeling frightened by the information.


    "Yes." Su Lin looked at him. "It¡¯s an elite Grandmaster of Combat that has successfully assassinated ten other Grandmasters of Combat. The organization¡¯s leader is called Duskdune Shura. One of the top two elite fighters in the most recent documentation. Based on it, he is also part of the Immortal Palace Alliance."


    Garen¡¯s hand shook slighlty, and the tea almost spilled out of the cup.


    "It¡¯s the Immortal Palace Alliance again." He originally thought that this organization was strong but secretive, yet they reappeared again.


    "Let¡¯s not worry about Duskdune Shura for now. That can all be taken care of in the future. The most crucial task is to be ready for the Celestial Circle Gate, or else I would not be able to survive this year, let alone the next one."


    "You are right." Su Lin tasted the tea, and his eyebrows furrowed into a frown. "The tea is quite nice, but whoever made it definitely didn¡¯t possess skill."


    He raised his head to look at Garen.


    "The Celestial Circle Gate is indeed powerful. However, everything must follow the same rule. Their force is not powerful enough to break it."


    "You are implying?" Garen locked his vision on Su lin as he asked with uncertainty.


    "I¡¯ll use the name of the military to let my dad announce that you¡¯ll be my sister¡¯s Wushu teacher," Su Lin answered calmly.


    "Wushu teacher. That¡¯s two birds with one stone." Garen¡¯s expression turned peaceful as well. "My guess was also similar. Not only does it preserve the White Cloud Gate, but it also achieves what you wish for."


    "However, before this, my father would need to personally pressure the Celestial Circle Gate. This cannot be done in an instant and will take around ten days. You¡¯ll have to stay strong during this period."


    "Ten days?" His head lowered, Garen stared at the teacup on the table.


    Within it, the slightly red tea gradually spread out in waves to the edges of the cup. "Good, I also want to know how powerful the renowned top fighter from the south is."


    "Confidence is good." Su Lin smiled.


    The two of them sat quietly on their seats without speaking a word. They silently thought about their next steps.


    Knock! Knock! Knock!


    Someone was tapping on the door.


    "Come in."


    Garen looked in the direction of the door.


    It gently opened. Collin, who had changed into a white outfit, came in and stood beside Garen.


    "Senior Brother, Bouvini, who controls the assets, is here."


    "Bouvini?" Garen quickly recalled this person¡¯s identity. "Tell him that I suffered a severe injury and will require healing in peace. Please ask him to take care of master¡¯s assets."


    "Ok, Senior Brother." Collin nodded as he curiously peaked at Su Lin who sat across from him.


    "In this case, I¡¯ll leave as well. I need to head back to take care of the problem with your identity and convince my father as early as possible. It would help in alleviating the severity of this incident. However, this will only be a temporary solution to your conflict with the Celestial Circle Gate. You killed the talent of their younger generation. With how those older guys act as if they¡¯re on top of the world, they will not let you go unscathed."


    "I know, even if they want to resolve the problem, this incident was a detrimental hit to their reputation. It cannot be easily concluded for that alone." Garen was fully aware of the situation he was in.


    "I¡¯ll head back as soon as possible."


    "I owe you for this." Garen bowed at Su Lin.


    "Don¡¯t worry." Su Lin smiled and gently stood up, leaving quietly.


    "Lead Mr. Su Lin on his way out," Garen notified the disciple at the door.


    "Yes."


    Kacha.


    The door gradually closed.


    Garen let out a long sigh. He sat on the chair when all of a sudden a mixture of emotions overwhelmed him.


    "I originally thought that I was just leading an exchange gathering. After it, I would come back and continue searching for the old man¡¯s cause of death. But to my surprise, the Immortal Palace Alliance and the Celestial Circle Gate are connected somehow. There is no way that this is all a coincidence that the moment I was attacked, my master was also injured. The Southern Twelve Gates are in a dangerous situation right now.


    "The Celestial Circle Gate¡­ The Immortal Palace Alliance¡­ An organization of psychokinetics¡­ An organization of martial adepts... How is everything connected?"


    He felt like he was about to be drawn into a whirlpool of complexities and troubles.


    The Celestial Palace Gate was creating a force to eliminate the smaller gates. The Southern Twelve Gates were the first victims, and soon the other gates would be in dire danger as well.


    Garen slowly stood up. He walked to the empty part of the room and gently made a standard White Cloud Combat Arts move.


    Time passed minute by minute.


    Gradually, his furrowed eyebrows began to relax. His spirit echoed the blood flow within his body as it cycled around. He felt calm.


    "All the time, I¡¯ve been reactive in dealing with the unexpected incidents that kept occurring. I¡¯ve been flowing with the tide, uanble to do what I want."


    His whole body began to shake as if he was a tumbler. Left and right, front and back, as he kept on swaying.


    "I have a genuine interest in martial arts, so I¡¯ll have to put all my effort into it. The Celestial Gates, Andrela, Sylphalan."


    Garen didn¡¯t know how everything came falling down to where it was now. All of the incidents weren¡¯t caused by him, but he was a casualty caught in the middle of a landslide.


    Sylphalan from the Immortal Palace Alliance was because of the old man, while the Celestial Circle Gate was because of his master at the White Cloud Gate. Without realizing it, he was suddenly surrounded by powerful enemies.


    "The Celestial Circle Gate won¡¯t allow the Southern Twelve Gates to have any force of resistance left." Garen knew it well. "The crusade on the Southern Twelve Gates is inevitable now. I just don¡¯t know how involved Andrela is in all of this."


    His body came to a sudden halt as if everything paused.


    Peng!


    A crisp but deafening sound.


    Garen¡¯s right fist thrust forward, and a white trail appeared in the air. It was the mark left by the screeching streams of air.


    He remembered the combat techniques he used. The wrong and ineffective moves were being gradually eliminated, and only the practical combo moves remained.


    He suddenly recalled the explosive move he performed at the beginning in the Celestial Circle Gate¡¯s ring.


    One single move to defeat the challenger, and also injure the Grandmaster of Combat and himself. Though, the opponent¡¯s injury was much more critical.


    At that moment he only thought about unleashing all of his power. The blood qi ball in the middle of his body automatically flowed out and formed all his power into one. It then exploded into an unbelievable amount of power.


    He was in a state where instinct and anger mixed together and using his body, in an instance, they gave birth to a new move.


    He tried to relive that moment.


    "If I could master this power so it would be at my command, my sudden explosiveness would increase to another level."


    Garen closed his eyes and stood in the middle of the room. His hands continuously moved to mimic that explosive move.


    The screeching sound of wind breaking echoed through the air. His speed continued to increase. So did his power.


    Suddenly, his right arm pushed forward.


    Clap!


    It made a sound similar to hands clapping.


    In the direction his palm pushed toward, the curtains flew back as if a gust of wind had just passed by.


    Garen stopped with a look of disappointment.


    "Still feels like something is missing compared to last time. Unfortunate. I wish there were more Antiques of Tragedy."


    The Antiques of Tragedy were still his best assurance of improvement.


    Within a year and a half, he successfully trained from a novice martial adept to the level of a Grandmaster of Combat. His power couldn''t be undermined.


    He had mastered the White Cloud Fundamental Secret Method to perfection. In other words, with his explosive fists¡¯ level, it was the highest level anyone had ever achieved. There was nowhere to advance further.


    The White Cloud Gate wasn¡¯t like other powerful gates that possessed more Wushu moves. Mammoth Secret Techniques could only be considered as third tier at best.


    "With my current ability, I¡¯m no match for Andrela. The difference was obvious. Even if both of us are Grandmasters of Combat, the secret methods we use are drastically different."


    Garen pondered as he chugged the tea.


    "There are only two ways: the Antiques of Tragedy or a stronger secret technique. With my special ability, as long as I meet the criteria, I could learn it easily."


    His eyes brightened as he thought of something.


    "Learn easily. Since the White Cloud Gate¡¯s Fundamental Secret Method cannot meet my needs, I¡¯ll find an even lower tier secret method. Perhaps below the third tier, the even worse fourth tier, the lowest tier secret method. With my physical condition and experience, I could easily meet its requirements! Within a short amount of time, those fourth tier secret methods could improve my combat techniques significantly!"

 98 Crisis and Secret Martial Arts 2

    Chapter 98: Crisis and Secret Martial Arts 2


    Garen made up his mind. He remembered seeing low-level Secret Martial Arts in the library of the White Cloud Dojo. Although he didn¡¯t see too many of those, it would be enough for him.


    No matter how weak a secret technique was, there had to be something special about it.


    Garen opened the door and walked towards the library. He did not see many people around in the Dojo; the place was no longer busy. There were only about seven or eight people wandering around, and he could still see the blood stains on the floor.


    Garen didn¡¯t really care, and he headed straight to the library. It took him several minutes to reach the entrance and notice that the old bald man, who guarded the gate, was already gone. He could see the signs of the fight from the walls, and he knew the Elder was fraught with grim possibilities.


    Garen was a bit relieved after he found the method to improve, but he became depressed again after seeing the scene before him.


    He entered the library, and everything inside was still well organized. Although Senior Sister betrayed the White Cloud Gate, she did not touch any of the low-level Secret Martial Arts since she probably had already read everything in the library.


    He closed the door, lit an oil lamp, and started to check the books on the shelves. It only took him several minutes to find all the low-level Secret Martial Arts. Garen put them down on a desk that was used for making copies and sat down. He kept the oil lamp on the side for light.


    There were four books on the desk:


    Iron Body, Dark Iron Palm, Lark Blade and Flame Fist.


    Those Secret Martial Arts were common and almost all the Dojos had them. They were usually taught to the normal disciples, but the White Cloud Gate had the Explosive Fist Arts as the basic and the four low-level Secret Martial Arts were just kept in the library as part of the collection.


    The four Secret Martial Arts were very similar to the Red Hand Fist Garen encountered before. They could not be put into skill combos, and it would take him a very long time to master them, so the benefit wouldn¡¯t justify the cost.


    Although they were put in the library, disciples read them just for fun. Secret Martial Arts like the four could be found anywhere, and they were just like the Iron Tunic that was in almost all the martial arts novels.


    Garen grabbed the Iron Body and opened it:


    ¡®Iron Body can increase one¡¯s body defense. It is an average Secret Martial Arts that can be learnt by taking hits while maintaining a special way of breathing. It is easy to learn, but it takes a long time to master. Five years to complete the Level One Mastery, 10 years to complete the Level Two Mastery, and 15 years to master it. If one could master the Iron body, his body would become as hard as iron, and he would be able to resist small caliber pistols.¡¯


    Garen read through the instructions, but did not find them important and quickly finished the book. It was short, and the training method did not need to be paired with drugs. There were no complex techniques involved, and the person did not need to be talented. The only requirement was the will to handle all the pain during the long training years.


    The most important thing in this whole book was the special breathing technique.


    Garen remembered everything quickly and put the book down. "That¡¯s why it¡¯s called low-level Secret Martial Arts¡­"


    He then finished the other three books, and all of them required a lot of time for one to master. Disciples needed to spend at least five to seven years on the Level One Mastery of those arts. Even more so, Flame Fist required eight years for the Level One Mastery. It had four levels in total, and the required time doubled for each level, which meant it would take 64 years for one to finish the last one.


    "One won¡¯t become any stronger if he can¡¯t master one Secret Martial Art before the age of 25. No one is going to spend 120 years to master the Flame Fist. No wonder no one touches these low-level Secret Martial Arts¡­" Garen wasn¡¯t too happy with what he found, but he still finished all four books.


    He did not realize it was already afternoon.


    Garen closed his eyes, and he could clearly see the skill bar of the light red statuses. He thought for a second, and slowly the four low-level Secret Martial Arts¡¯ names appeared on the skill bar:


    Iron Body: Not Started.


    Dark Iron Palm: Not Started.


    Lark Blade: Not Started.


    Flame Fist: Not Started.


    Various signs appeared behind the four Secret Martial Arts, and those signs told Garen about the requirements for each of them. Only Lark Blade required relatively high Agility, but it was still within the range that a normal person could reach. Garen could easily meet the requirements of all four.


    "The Lark Blade is an Agility Secret Martial Art and requires external support. It doesn¡¯t fit my style. I guess I will start with Iron Body."


    He wanted to use his special ability to see if he could speed up the training process.


    Garen¡¯s special ability could boost up his learning speed significantly. He tried studying history the last time he applied potential points to Intelligence, and he could easily memorize everything he saw. As long as his Intelligence was high enough, and there were no external restrictions to it, he could learn the subject at an incredible speed.


    He wanted to try it on the Martial Arts. It would be very helpful for him if it worked the same as when he was studying.


    The Level One Mastery of the Iron Body required the special breathing technique from the book. Garen needed to imagine himself as an inflated balloon, and once his skin turned grey, he would be able to start the Level One Mastery.


    Huff.


    Garen slowly inhaled as the book said. He needed to inhale once and exhale nine times in a specific rhythm.


    It would take him 20 minutes to finish one set of inhaling and exhaling.


    He stood up and started practicing the special breathing technique beside the desk.


    The first time he could feel his muscles and skin tighten, and they also became denser. Garen was excited about the change and decided to start the second try right away. His muscles and skin tightened again.


    His skin turned red on the third try, and he felt like it was extremely tight.


    He tried the breathing technique six times in a row and felt relaxed after the last try. His skin¡¯s temperature was very high, and he felt like he¡¯d just left a hot bath.


    He closed his eyes and looked at the Iron Body skill:


    Iron Body: Level One (Two Levels).


    "I knew it! It changed!"


    Garen opened his eyes and tore off his collar. He could see his skin turning darker. Although its hardness hadn¡¯t reached the level of metal, he believed he would finish the Level One Mastery after a bit more training.


    "It¡¯s valid!" Garen hit his chest with his fist.


    Bam!


    Besides the normal sound of flesh, there was the sound like hitting a piece of metal.


    "It¡¯s definitely working. I wonder if I can reach the next level."


    Garen tried to use the special breathing method again. However, nothing happened after more than ten tries. He knew he needed to do the hit training and that the breathing technique alone would not do much, but he just wanted to give it a try.


    "I easily learned the fundamentals after I fulfilled all the requirements, but why can¡¯t I apply the method to the basic combat techniques and the basic sword skills¡­ Wait! I already knew the basics of the skills when I was trying to level them up, which means this ability only works when I try to learn the Level One Mastery of the skills or fundamentals. Maybe it only works with the theories that only need to be memorized?"


    Garen recalled the days when he was learning the identification skill with the old man. He had studied it step by step, and his ability had only worked with the first book he read. His identification skill did not level up after finishing the other books.


    His identification skill never leveled up after that. Although he studied a lot and acquired a good amount of knowledge, that skill was still at the first level.


    "I¡¯m probably correct about this."


    Garen was now sure about his guess. His special ability could only help him quickly learn the basics after the requirements were met, which was still extremely helpful when he used it on Secret Martial Arts.


    No matter how weak a Secret Martial Art was, it would still be much stronger than any regular martial art. He could easily finish the Level One Mastery of any of the Secret Martial Arts, and those skills would definitely be useful to him.


    Garen decided to use his ability to learn more Secret Martial Arts since he wanted to know what would happen after.


    "I¡®m not sure if Iron Body will help me become stronger, but I can try it later," Garen thought and started to prepare for the Dark Iron Palm.


    He did not need any external support to learn the Dark Iron Palm. All he required was to learn a special stance and support it with his consciousness. It was a skill that gathered all the venom in his body into his palms, and then allowed him to use it to poison opponents.


    It would take Garen some time, but he started the Level One Mastery with ease. He used the special stance he learned from the book and supported it with his consciousness.


    After about two hours, he felt like his hands were paralyzed, and it meant that the venom in his body had gathered into his fingers.


    Apparently, the Level One Mastery of the Dark Iron Palm would not do too much for him. He only needed to gather all the venoms from his body into his palms. The more Garen practiced the skill the more venom he would be able to handle.


    The technique only had two levels just like the Mammoth Secret Techniques.


    The next one he decided to learn was the Flame Fist, which was different from the other ones. Garen could feel the actual effect of the skill, but the feeling was weak, and Iron Body progressed much faster.


    It was dark outside when Garen practiced several more times, and most of the disciples had already gone back home. Garen did not eat anything besides breakfast and just stayed in the library the whole day.


    "Andrela will be here in ten days. I hope I¡¯ll be able to finish the Level One Mastery during that time," Garen said in a light tone.


    He had three different Secret Martial Arts.


    He needed to do the strike-resistant training for the Iron Body, and he would be able to finish the entry level after that. The other two needed time and he wasn¡¯t sure if he could finish all the Level One Masteries before Andrela came.


    But he was still satisfied with the results. Compared to normal people, his learning speed was already extraordinary.

 99 Seven Moon Gate

    Chapter 99: Seven Moon Gate


    "Since the inception of martial arts, I must be the first one that has trained multiple secret methods at once. A secret method would at least take a couple of years to train and master. The secret method is also martial arts which means that without practice its power would deteriorate due to loss of familiarity. It¡¯s similar to going against the tide. Without a day of practice, three days of effort may go to waste. Without my special ability that can consolidate and reinforce the training results, it would be impossible to train other secret methods.


    "The body¡¯s adaptability is like this."


    He raised his head and scanned the roof¡¯s edge and the starry night. A bright crest hung in the night¡¯s sky as the moon cast a veil with its light.


    "It would be better if I don¡¯t go home now, in case something happens in the near future, and my family will be worried." Garen made up his mind to stay at the dojo.


    The news of his return didn¡¯t leak out as only a few select individuals knew about it.


    He gently let out a sigh.


    The hallway in front of the Dojo¡¯s library was pitch black and silent.


    He strolled along the hallway. He had only taken a few steps when he saw a shadow sitting by the right wall.


    He walked closer to take a better look.


    "Grace?" Garen was surprised by her presence.


    The shadow was Grace in a professional office assistant attire. Her graceful legs were covered by a thick layer of stockings and closed together. She was curled into a ball as if she was in a chilling weather.


    She subconsciously opened her eyes when she heard the voice and looked at Garen in front of her.


    "Garen you are done." Weakness transmitted through her voice. She tried to stand up, but her legs were sore. She lost balance and almost fell.


    Garen caught her still in the air, feeling the fragility of her body. It was burning.


    Grace grasped onto his body with force.


    "Why are you waiting here?" Garen asked gently. "Manuyllton Corporation¡¯s intelligence gathering is impressive. I just got back, and you already know. When did you come here?"


    "Afternoon¡­" Grace¡¯s voice dimmed, and she sounded frailer.


    Garen reached a hand to touch her forehead. It was burning.


    "You have a fever. There are doctors and nurses with the master. I¡¯ll take you there for a checkup. It shouldn¡¯t be a big problem."


    He lifted her by the waist and strode to the room where his master rested.


    The dojo was silent. There was no indication of any light, either. The massive dojo appeared hollow and void.


    It was a short walk before they reached the room at the corner. A nurse was carrying a bucket of water from the room.


    The dim yellow light slipped out past the edge of the door. Simon¡¯s silhouette was dozing off beside the bed.


    Garen carried Grace and with a lowered voice asked,"Ms. Nurse, could you please find some cold and fever medicine for my friend?"


    "No problem." The nurse was an ordinary girl with small freckles on her face, and she agreed without hesitation. "But don¡¯t bring her into the room. The patient in there has not yet recovered, and he may catch a cold."


    "Okay."


    "Put me down!" Grace began to resist Garen''s hand. Her legs kicked, and her face had a vivid redness to it from the fever, which confused her senses.


    Garen shook his head speechlessly as he waited for a while at the door. The nurse he spoke to found another one to arrange a room for Grace. Only then, could Garen find some time and walk into his master¡¯s room.


    Simon drooled as he had fallen asleep with his head slanted to the side against the back of the chair.


    Garen gently closed the door, but the sound was low enough that it didn¡¯t even wake him up. He walked over and tapped on his shoulder.


    "Wooo." Simon slurped up the drool in a hurry. "Se¡­ Senior brother!" When he saw Garen walk in, he was shocked and hastily stood up.


    "Your arm is still in a cast, why are you not getting any rest? Go back to your room and sleep!" Garen told him with a stern face while trying to keep his voice steady.


    "But the dojo master¡­" Simon wavered.


    "I¡¯ll be here," Garen said. "Master hasn''t woken up yet?"


    Simon¡¯s face dimmed. "No, not even once. He has been like this since we returned from the Celestial Circle Gate."


    "He wasn¡¯t injuried that seriously, what¡¯s going on?" Garen frowned with his eyerbows raised.


    "I don¡¯t know, the doctor said that the dojo master¡¯s body is fine. They just don¡¯t know why he is unconscious," Simon replied with an undertone. "The dojo master is going to be okay, right? Senior Brother?" A worrisome expression appeared on his face.


    "It¡¯s going to be okay, I am here, right?" Garen patted his shoulder. "Go rest now, I¡¯ll take care of him."


    "I have only been here for a bit, Collin was here before." Simon laughed feeling a little embarrassed.


    "To be fair, you don¡¯t have to stay here with me," Garen suddenly said. "You are just regular trainees."


    "You don¡¯t have to say that! Senior Brother, we have already made up our minds, and we are going to stay at the dojo. Regardless of the results, the dojo has given us too much. This is Collin and I''s choice. Carrie is different from us because she still has her parents and brother, so we convinced her to go back. Senior Brother, you won¡¯t blame us for this decision, right?" Simon calmed as he expressed his thoughts.


    "Of course not." Garen didn¡¯t know what was the best thing to say at such a moment. "You guys don¡¯t have to do this much."


    "Don¡¯t worry, Senior Brother." Simon smiled. "Collin and I are free from worry. It¡¯s the dojo master that has taught us everything. I¡¯ll go back and rest now, the master will depend on you now."


    "Mhmm, you can go back." Garen nodded.


    He watched Simon slowly left the room and closed the door.


    Garen was deep in thought.


    Compared to Senior Sister Rosetta, the normal core students were more like master Fei Baiyun¡¯s disciples. During the dojo¡¯s crisis, they didn''t choose to leave but instead stayed with the dojo to fight together.


    It was in critical times like this, when the dojo had almost fallen apart, that trust could be garnered.


    Garen silently sat on the chair Simon had used and looked at the master lying in bed.


    "Master, although the dojo is facing the most difficult situation since its inception, there are still some disciples that are worth fighting for and protecting. This is your luck, and our luck."


    Despite being here for only one year, he felt a blood connection with Fei Baiyun who had taught him everything he knew. Fei Baiyun spent all his effort to provide him with the best route for growth. Even with Manuyllton Corporation¡¯s incident, he personally stepped in to solve the issue for him.


    This time only Grace came. The bodyguards and Cynthia were all gone without a trace. The Corporation had clearly seen that the tide had turned and recalled them. When a ship is sinking, this is the obvious choice.


    "If we can go through this crisis together, you shouldn¡¯t disagree with Collin and Simon becoming real disciples, right?" This was his last sentence before letting out a long sigh and closing his eyes to rest.


    Fei Baiyun was still sleeping in bed with faint hints breathing. Maybe he had heard what Garen had said, maybe not.


    ********************


    Due to the secret methods¡¯ teaching rules, only disciples could learn.


    Fei Baiyun had already announced that he would not teach any disciples. So Garen decided to teach himself. The best candidate was second senior brother Farak, but he was out there trying to assassinate senior sister Rosetta without any information.


    Although he was confident in second senior brother¡¯s abilities, Garen was afraid that external forces would be involved.


    For the longest time, the difference between the second senior brother and senior sister was minuscule at best. But he had been going easy on her as his force was too explosive without constraint. Thus, he would often lose against Rosetta. It would be different in a life and death situation.


    Fights between martial adepts of the same level were also dependent on the feeling that day.


    He sat in the master¡¯s room almost until the next morning. Only when a new nurse was about to come in to switch in, did Garen finally leave to train the secret methods.


    He walked around the dojo and gained a better understanding of the situation.


    Due to the riots in the gate, the majority of the core disciples had left. The lower level students were sent home on vacation. The sub-gates only had people to look after the door. Collin and Simon were the only ones left in the gate.


    Only the core disciples knew the crisis the gate was facing. The majority of other students were not aware of the situation. Based on dojo master Fei Baiyun¡¯s reputation, most of them thought that everything would be normal after some time passed. They didn¡¯t know how severe the situation was.


    The dojo that had been once filled with over a thousand people now only had less than ten remaining.


    Not including Garen, Collin and Simon, only a few workers that had been here for years stayed.


    Garen strolled into the dojo while the passing rooms and hallways spoke of the emptiness of the once prosperous White Cloud Gate. Only desolate air and marks of prosperity remained.


    Garen left the dojo and ate breakfast at a store nearby. He then ordered some food for the people remaining and asked for it to be delivered to the dojo. He then returned to the Martial Coliseum on the second floor, where he started to train The Iron Body secret method. It only required one more level which needed an external force to aid the training.


    The Martial Coliseum had a small room with heavy iron balls hanging from the ceiling. They were meant to train against hard hits.


    This was because the White Cloud Gate¡¯s basic Explosive Fist required this condition.


    He stood without any robes in the middle of tens of iron balls. They were the size of a human head, and Garen even added spikes on top of them.


    The dense iron balls were like urchins that surrounded Garen in the middle.


    He inhaled and exhaled before starting to follow the Iron Body¡¯s breathing method.


    After a complete cycle, he began furiously pushing the iron balls around him.


    Dang! Dang! Dang!


    The sound of collision echoed within the room.


    Following immediately after, were the sounds of spikes hitting against Garen. The clanking noise rang like metal impacting another piece of metal.


    Garen¡¯s skin began to darken to a black color, at the same time as it gained a metallic sheen.


    The countless metal balls swung in the room and collided with his body. They would then get pushed back from the force of his body and come back even stronger.


    Every metal ball weighed more than ten pounds. With the added force, the force of the collision was at least over 100 pounds. The spikes made the area of collision decrease, which meant that the force Garen¡¯s body received drastically increased.


    He only felt a tingling sensation that made him want to scratch the place hit. But he knew this was normal.


    He practiced until noon before taking a break to eat. Eat, rest, train. Eat, rest, train. He repeated the same routine again, and again, and again.

 100 Seven Moon Gate 2

    Chapter 100: Seven Moon Gate 2


    Two days passed by in a glimpse.


    Finally.


    Dang!


    An iron ball with a spike smashed against the side of Garen¡¯s face. However, the crisp metal clanking noise made it sound like the ball collided against a piece of indestructible metal.


    Joy flashed across Garen¡¯s eyes as he forced his way out through the waves of iron balls.


    "I¡¯ll have to trouble you for a bit."


    Collin stood courteously at the corner of the room with a black metal spear in his hand. The spear was as thick as a person¡¯s arm and as long as three metal spears, its tip piercingly sharp.


    "Let Grace go first," Collin said, nodding.


    "That works too." Garen didn¡¯t seem to be bothered.


    The two of them walked out of the practice room and into the empty Martial Coliseum.


    Grace was waiting in the middle of the room. She had an assault rifle in her hand. After Garen came out, she looked worried. "Garen, are you sure this is okay?"


    "Don¡¯t worry, let¡¯s start." Garen nodded. "Remember to wear a bulletproof vest."


    He had asked Grace to find an assault rifle to test his body¡¯s defense. His originally strong body¡¯s condition would require testing to determine its strength after training the Iron Body Technique.


    Although Grace had seen Garen¡¯s impeccable physical defense, it was an assault rifle she was holding. The bullets shot from this type of weapon were powerful, piercing and in no way comparable to pistol bullets. She still had her doubts in her mind, but it was for helping Garen to train, so she listened to him.


    She wore a full set of bulletproof clothing, with helmet and gloves, while Collin was asked to hide in a small room nearby.


    She raised the assault rifle and aimed directly at Garen.


    "Should I start?"


    "Begin firing."


    Garen took a deep breath, and his muscles began to tighten. His entire upper body expanded by a full size as if he was a barbarian with a giant¡¯s blood from the legends. He towered over the 170 centimeter tall Grace.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!


    The rapid firing echoed through the Martial Coliseum.


    Garen¡¯s body exploded with tiny sparks, but they faded in a blink of an eye. The bullet impacts made the sound of metal striking metal.


    "Puuuuushhhh!" Garen thrust his palm forward.


    He swiped his palm in front of him. The clanking sound was fiercest there.


    The noise of bullets colliding came to an abrupt stop.


    Grace stared hysterically at Garen, standing not far from her. He calmly extended his hand and faced the ground. A couple bullets dropped down, bouncing lightly up and down.


    **************


    In the White Gate Martial Coliseum.


    Garen stood naked in the middle of the Martial Coliseum.


    Collin and a group of hired men held onto the black spear with the tip pointed directly at his abs.


    Ahhhhh!


    They thrust the spear at Garen at full strength.


    They marched forward with the same rhythm as they used all of their strength to push the black metal spear forward. Their speed increased as they got closer and closer.


    Dang!


    The spear¡¯s tip collided directly with Garen¡¯s abs in a manner of striking a metal block.


    Garen¡¯s entire body shook as he retreated two steps backward before quickly regaining his balance. He pushed back against the group of eight people.


    The vibration he created forced the men to drop the spear. It almost hit their feet as it fell down.


    It was fortunate that Collin managed to grab the spear and slowly put it down.


    The men stepped back. They looked at Garen with eyes full of terror, as if he were an alien.


    "Congratulations, Senior Brother!" Collin exclaimed, seeing that Garen¡¯s abs were perfectly fine.


    "Senior brother¡¯s strength is impeccable! He can definitely beat Andrela¡¯s ass to the ground." Simon laughed hysterically.


    Garen shook his head speechlessly. Simon¡¯s arm had not yet to recovered, but his audacity and cocky attitude had already returned.


    Grace calmly walked over to wipe away the sweat off of him before giving him some salt water to replenish his body.


    Garen took the cup of water and downed it clean. He saw what had happened to him and felt something odd.


    "Ok, rest for a little, and then find more people in the afternoon. You guys will attack from all directions."


    "Understood."


    After seeing everyone¡¯s pressure alleviate, Garen was certain he¡¯d achieved his goal. Everyone was under high duress and fear when they heard the Celestial Circle Gate was invading. But now that he displayed the unbelievable amount of force, it would ease the enormous amount of pressure everyone was holding and calm their minds.


    Although he had officially mastered the entry level of the Iron Body secret method, he didn¡¯t know how much his defence had actually increased. Weapon damage differed, and even between assault rifles, there were significant variances in damage among the different models.


    The assault rifle Grace managed to get was obtained through a network of connections, hence its power was limited. Since those people weren¡¯t part of the military, the assault rifle would be different from ones they encountered on the way back.


    "It¡¯s disappointing that the progress in Dark Iron Palm and Firestream Fist is limited. Looks like it¡¯ll be impossible to master them in a short amount of time. Dark Iron Palm requires the build up of toxins, whereas Firestream Fist¡¯s progress is simply too slow. I must think of other ways."


    He pondered, standing in the same spot.


    "It would be ideal if there are secret methods similar to Iron Body."


    He placed his thoughts someplace else as he approached Collin on the side. With his voice lowered, he said, "Oh, the Twelve Southern Gates are closest to the Circle Dance Gate and Seven Mood Gate. The Celestial Circle Gate is going to be an uphill battle, you guys have to train hard. If you have any questions, just ask me. In the afternoon I plan to visit one of the two Gates and see if I can find something useful from their Wushu collections. Do you know which one of these two Gates has a wider collection?"


    The group quieted down after hearing that the subject took a serious turn. Grace led the men away, so they wouldn¡¯t interrupt the conversation, and used the time to pay them for the services.


    When they heard the question, both Collin and Simon looked troubled.


    "Senior Brother, we are only disciples, and thus, do not have a lot of encounters with these Gates," Collin replied with her voice lowered. "I only know that the Circle Dance Gate is farther away. The Seven Moon Gate is located in the Skylark Mountain at Dinah City, which is near us. The Seven Moon Gate is also renowned as the Seven Moon Corporation. They are a conglomerate that¡¯s known for real estate, heavy metal, crafts and multiple other areas. I am not too sure about the other things."


    Garen¡¯s eyebrows rose slightly when he heard the response. "Do you know something more, Simon?"


    "I¡­ hehe." Simon touched his nose and didn¡¯t respond, only laughing awkwardly.


    "I know something about the Seven Moon Corporation," Grace, who just came over, said. "It has always looked for books to add to their collection. When I was at Manleyton Corporation, I¡¯ve been notified several times about their purchases of related books. They won¡¯t disappoint you."


    Garen nodded. "I will make a trip to Dinah City in the afternoon with the address they provided. Perhaps I will find something useful. Also, the White Cloud Gate¡¯s base is basically non-existent. We better move until second senior brother comes back. If there is any danger after I leave, you guys flee in different directions, so it¡¯ll be difficult to trace you."


    Although he knew that if the White Cloud Gate base was captured, it would be detrimental to the reputation of the Southern Twelve Gates, for the safety of everyone, Garen carefully told everyone to abandon it.


    "Understood, Senior brother, you don¡¯t have to worry," Simon responded. The sentence sounded odd as Collin pinched him.


    "This is a conflict between the martially adept. You guys are in a different situation compared to me. I killed Celestial Circle Gate¡¯s Ni Tenstar, so there is no way it¡¯ll be easily resolved. But the rule is that conflicts stop at the family level, but they will only bother me with the rule. As long as I don¡¯t hide, my family will be okay. If you guys hide, they will not make trouble with your families. If you must run, do so immediately. After I leave, you guys go hide somewhere with the master. Is that okay?"


    "No problem! I can take care of this, I have a mansion in the rural area that¡¯s vacant. I can move everyone there." Grace nodded as she responded. Everyone agreed.


    Garen carefully explained to Collin and the group what was the safest way to handle certain situations. He then answered some questions they had in the Martial Coliseum, and only after that put on some clothes and left the dojo. Even Grace, who wanted to follow was refused. He would have more flexibility going alone.


    The truth was that White Cloud Gate¡¯s true power consisted of only six people, the four brothers along with Master and an elder. All the others were considered mercenaries and had no loyalty, and were a negligible force.


    Now, Master was unconscious, the senior sister had betrayed the Gate, the second senior brother¡¯s presence was unknown, and the third senior brother was prevented from leaving the house to join the conflict in the Wushu world. The elder had also disappeared without leaving any trace behind. The entire White Cloud Gate was left for Garen alone to defend.


    Master¡¯s friends were all people from the Southern Twelve Gates. All of them were in deep water themselves,so none could have the freedom to lend a helping hand.


    The Celestial Circle Gate had clearly indicated they would target White Cloud Gate. Andrela along with his companions were already on their way. Perhaps the Sixth Golden Loop¡¯s Su Lin would waste some of their time, dealying them for a few days, but Andrela would arrive at Huaishan City in a matter of a couple days¡¯ time regardless.


    Garen adjusted his body¡¯s condition, recoverering to full power. The first thing he had to do was ensure that everyone else had settled to avoid the problem in his backyard. Then he would head to the remaining Twelve Southern Gates to assist them.


    He would have greater flexibility if he traveled alone as he would be able to assist other Gates in a hurry. They would concentrate all their forces to defend against the Celestial Circle Gate.


    Of course, searching for lower tier secret methods was also one of his intentions.


    Seven Moon Gate. Skylark Mountain¡¯s Peak, where Seven Moon corporations headquarters were located. There was the address left by Rampas when he left, and it was the destination of Garen¡¯s trip.


    The fortunate thing was that the Seven Moon Gate was only a two hour drive away from Huaishan City. Although close, without this incident, the Seven Moon Gate might not have established a connection with the White Cloud Gate.


    This ancient Gate was far more powerful compared to the White Cloud Gate. The former master in charge was not the strongest within the Gate. In contrast to White Cloud Gate, within the Seven Moon Gate, there were three people at the level of Fei Baiyun! They had a countless amount of disciples, and were far stronger. They were at the top of the pyramid in the entire Galantia province, and ranked second among the Southern Twelve Gates.


    Garen guessed that the reason Andrela came was to target the Seven Moon Gate. He alone would be enough to deal with their conflict. Compared to a behemoth like the Seven Moon Gate, the White Cloud Gate was simply too weak.


    All of the Southern Twelve Gates received a detrimental blow.


    Even before reaching Dinah City, Garen spotted powerful martial adepts rushing to the mountain peak.


    It was likely that the weaker Gates in the Southern Twelve Gates were seeing Seven Moon Gate as the last battleground and concentrated all their forces there. They wanted to use the Seven Moon Gate to preserve themselves.

 101 Change 1

    Chapter 101: Change 1


    In the middle of a vast lush grassland, a white train was moving forward slowly along the tracks; it looked like a white thread in the middle of a green handkerchief.


    In a carriage in the middle section of the train, light was almost nonexistent; only traces of white light shone in through both sides.


    A one-eyed man with long hair down to the waist was silently standing in the dark.


    "Silvard once told me: give up your eyes for a broader world," the man said in a low voice as if he was talking to himself. He had a black eye patch over his left eye, while a sparkling glow faintly reflected on the dark golden eyelashes of his right eye.


    "My heart will tell me what higher realm I intend to pursue¡­" he inexplicably muttered.


    "Andrela." With a bang, the carriage door opened. An old man with green eyes and white hair stood at the door. "Still contemplating? You have reached the level of Grandmaster of Combat for more than a year now. Dealing with an average guy doesn''t require such extensive preparation."


    "It''s alright. I don''t underestimate any single opponent, that''s my principle." Andrela gave a warm smile.


    "Your characteristic is having the fastest speed and strongest penetrating power, which by chance neutralizes the strengths of that Garen. No matter how you see it, you have much better odds of winning." The old man shook his head and continued, "Fine, it''s up to you. Oh yeah, the fine metal blocks for testing that you requested have arrived." He turned around and left without closing the door behind him.


    Soon, more than a dozen people gradually carried in five black metal blocks and laid them out one by one in front of Andrela to form a straight line.


    Each metal block was cast from fine iron and extremely tough, all half the height of a person.


    After laying down the metal blocks, they silently exited the carriage of their own accord and gently closed the door.


    Andrela slowly unsheathed a fine sword from his waist.


    Shiiing!


    A silver strand flashed in the dark then instantly vanished.


    The five metal blocks were punctured in the middle with round holes. The round holes pierced straight through all five fine metal blocks. The edges of the holes were rounded and smooth, and still had a faint redness on them.


    Heat waves gradually dispersed in the air: it was the residual heat created from piercing through the metal blocks at high-speed.


    Andrela looked at the metal blocks calmly. No one knew what he was thinking, but he seemed to be deep in thought.


    Outside the door, the green-eyed elder stood by the carriage window. He quietly watched the grassland scenery passing by rapidly outside. A girl in a crimson dress silently stood behind him.


    "Even though we have confidence in Andrela, but for the sake of precaution, we still have to be well prepared. Are the people from Manleyton Corporation ready?"


    "Yes. According to the report that came back to us, they are ready and have probably gained the trust of the kid from White Cloud Gate," the crimson-dressed girl replied in a hushed tone.


    "That''s good. Prepare them to take action and administer the drug in batches. This drug can lie dormant for three days, that''s when we''ll arrive. Moreover, there will be no signs of the drug after the fact. We can''t lose this time. Defeating White Cloud Gate is beside the point. The main issue is that old geezer from Seven Moon Gate. Andrela needs to conserve his energy. Unfortunately, I''m too old, I can''t personally participate. Otherwise, I could have cleared the path to make it easier for him." The old man sighed with regret.


    "You''ve done enough," the girl said softly.


    ************************


    "Grace? Why are you here?"


    They were in the train station in Dinah City by a busy platform with the crowd coming and going.


    Garen frowned as he looked at Grace in front of him. She hung her head low and was carrying a black handbag with both of her hands; the way she dressed made her seem like a traveling college student. Her white sweater and white jeans accentuated her high breasts and slender legs. Long light blonde hair casually draped over her shoulder, tied with a black hair band in the middle. This was a change from her cool and alluring style; it was now replaced with an air of innocence with a hint of sexiness.


    "I just wanted to follow you¡­" Grace calmly replied. "After all, you''ll need someone to help you deal with sundry matters."


    "Have you arranged with the others?" Garen helplessly massaged his temples.


    "Yes, all done."


    "Let''s go then."


    Garen was speechless. Since she had already come over, he couldn''t possibly send her back.


    Based on the address that Rampas gave them, they hailed a horse carriage, negotiated a price, then stepped into the carriage and rushed straight towards the headquarters of the Seven Moon Group.


    When they arrived at the headquarters building, there were already people stationed in front of the entrance. Apparently, as a local, Seven Moon Gate was very good at obtaining intelligence: Garen was discovered as soon as he had arrived.


    The people stationed at the entrance escorted them into the building without wasting any time and led them straight to Rampas, who was training hard in Secret Martial Arts.


    "I thought, Senior Brother Garen, that you would have come sooner. I didn''t expect you to be late." A white towel draped over Rampas'' shoulder; his body radiated heat as he walked out of the room. He sat across from Garen. The attendant on the side served some aromatic milk coffee.


    "Miss, why aren''t you sitting?" Rampas looked at Grace; he didn''t know what her relationship with Garen was.


    "It''s fine. I''ll just stand," Grace declined respectfully. She silently stood behind Garen and insisted on not sitting down.


    After dismissing the attendant, Rampas sat up straight, picked up the coffee and took a swig. Compared to when he was fleeing danger, now he seemed more confident and had the relaxed and calm manner of a master.


    "Apologies, Senior Brother Garen. All the other elders of the Gate are busy entertaining the masters and representatives from other sects. Now, most of the strength of the whole Southern Twelve Gates is gathered here at Seven Moon Gate, so they''re a little preoccupied to receive you. And since you saved my life, and we''re both familiar with each other, it has fallen to me to entertain you. I hope you don''t mind," Rampas explained apologetically.


    "Not at all. Receiving guests is merely a formality. In these pressing times, I don''t really mind." Garen smiled. "Just that this time I''m here, I''d like to take a look at some low-level Secret Martial Art collections from Seven Moon Gate. We''ve been fighting all the way back. I want to see if I can read more on other Secret Martial Arts to broaden my martial arts perspective."


    "This Secret Martial Art¡­" Rampas seemed to be put in a tough spot. "Senior Brother Garen, you should be clear that Secret Martial Arts, albeit at low levels, are the foundations on which sects are established. On this matter¡­ I''m afraid I can''t make the decision."


    "Just tell me outright what conditions you have," Garen said calmly.


    "I need to consult the Elder Deputy Sect Master. Please wait for a moment." Rampas didn''t want Garen to go home empty handed either. After all, he had witnessed Garen''s powerful true strength along the journey. A Secret Martial Art practitioner with such great potential, the only option was to stay on his good side, particularly in such critical times.


    "I''ll wait for you here then," Garen took a sip of his coffee.


    "Alright. I''ll be back in a moment." Rampas stood up and left from the side door.


    ******************


    "He''s just a junior. For the fact that he escorted the Sect Master back, we''ll give him some money and have him on his way. These small sects keep coming to us for refuge and support. What support? It''s just money they want. Do they think money falls from the sky for the Seven Moon Group? Just a few words, open their mouth and they can get a few million? What a joke!"


    "But Elder, Senior Brother Garen isn''t here for money¡­" Rampas frowned as he tried to draw a distinction. He found Great Elder Cayman resting in the conference room. It was obvious that the Great Elder had been angered by someone; he was furiously chugging his tea.


    "Not money? What then?" the Great Elder was curious, and immediately stopped what he was doing.


    "Senior Brother wants to have a look at low-level Secret Martial Art¡­"


    "What? Secret Martial Art! Ask him to get lost right now!" the Senior Elder stood up at once, infuriated. "Have him leave immediately! Secret Martial Art? Is that something to be requested by a small sect like White Cloud Gate?! Forget about having a look, they don''t even have the right to think about it! What does White Cloud Gate think it is anyway? Nothing but a puny third-grade sect. How dare they threaten us at this hour? They think we can''t fend off Celestial Circle Gate without them? What a joke! Any random Secret Martial Art from Seven Moon Gate would be far more powerful than their Secret Mammoth Technique!" The Great Elder trembled with fury.


    "Great Elder¡ª" Rampas wanted to keep arguing but was cut off by the Great Elder.


    "Say no more. In this incident, the Sect Master was heavily injured and is now unconscious, but I see that you''re safe and sound. Good for you! Very well done! I still haven''t disciplined all of you for that. Now you''re asking for a favor on behalf of someone else?" The Great Elder stood up and furiously walked out the door. He passed through the corridors and was soon out of sight.


    Rampas hastily got up and gave chase, persuading him all the way.


    In a corridor connected to this corridor, Garen walked out of the room with Grace, a terrible expression on his face.


    The conference room that the Great Elder was in was not far from the previous room. With his current physical fitness, having attained the powerful hearing of a Grandmaster of Combat, he could naturally hear every word being said.


    "Let''s go. I thought Seven Moon Gate needed my help, and we could join forces to defeat Celestial Circle Gate, but it seems that they couldn''t care less about a mediocre sect like ours. " Garen said in a calm tone, then turned to leave from the way he came.


    Grace followed closely behind him.


    Not long after Rampas gave chase, he got wind about Garen and Grace''s departure. He instantly knew that this spelled trouble. Apart from overhearing what they had said, there was no other reason that Garen would have left abruptly without saying goodbye.


    He guessed it immediately: Garen must have been impatient when he didn''t return, so he walked out of his room and overheard the conversation in the conference room.


    "Great Elder!" he roared as he couldn''t hold it in any longer.


    The Great Elder walking in front turned around in shock.


    "You''re¡­ shouting at me?"


    The more Rampas thought about it, the more he got angry and felt offended. His face was red with anger as he stood panting in the corridor.


    "Great Elder! Senior Brother Garen has left. Are you happy now?"


    "What gives you the right to shout at me?" The Great Elder''s expression turned somber. "What does it have to do with me, whether he''s left or not?"


    "Senior Brother Garen saved the Sect Master and all of our lives! Is that the way Seven Moon Gate should treat him? Very well! That''s amazing!" Rampas had always thought that the Great Elder had a hot temper but was still good-natured. He didn''t expect him to not know right from wrong in this matter and act out impulsively like this.


    "No one needs his saving! Who begged him to save anyone? What a joke! Saved the Sect Master? Saved all of you?" the Great Elder sniggered. "I''m telling you Rampas, Celestial Circle Gate is powerful, but Seven Moon Gate is no lightweight either. Even without that Garen, would they dare touch any of our people? Even if the Sect Master is unconscious from the challenge, would Celestial Circle Gate dare touch him even once? You know nothing, and yet you dare shout at me?! Do you even know what the true assets of Seven Moon Gate are?!"

 102 Change 2

    Chapter 102: Change 2


    Rampas was trembling in fury. He didn''t want to argue with the Great Elder anymore, so he turned around and stormed off. His father was the Second Elder; his authority within the sect was only one rank below the Great Elder. He wanted to see his own father.


    Unfortunately, regardless of whether it was his father or the other elders he was close with, they were of the same attitude: to ignore without exception. They felt that this was only a minor issue. Garen of White Cloud Gate threatened to obtain the Secret Martial Art collection but failed, then left in anger. Such display was not rare among the many small sects.


    Representatives or Sect Master of these small sects often come over and take advantage of the times when Seven Moon Gate was in need of strength. Money, Secret Martial Art, precious herbs, power and resources, and so on; they''ve requested all manner of favors.


    Initially, Seven Moon Gate received them with the intention of making more friends, but their demands became more and more outrageous as time passed. The whole sect gradually became more indignant and agitated about it.


    Garen and Grace walked out of the Seven Moon Gate building with somber expressions. It was then that they saw a few other people walk out of the building furiously, obviously suffering the same fate as them.


    "Seven Moon Gate, they''re too much!" A fit old man was panting in anger as he walked out of the building accompanied by his two disciples.


    "They are financially sound and have substantial power and true strength. They don''t need common Secret Martial Art practitioners like us. Let''s just pack and leave. The whole Southern Twelve Gates only needs Seven Moon Gate, the other sects are redundant," a group of brawny men said in an off-tone. "It''s not just our two sects that have been driven away these few days. Of the Southern Twelve Gates, only Red Obsidian Gate has been shown meticulous hospitality, whereas the rest¡­ hehe¡­"


    Garen shook his head, speechless. He led Grace to the side of the road, ready to hail a ride.


    "Senior Brother Garen?!"


    Suddenly, the cute voice of a girl sounding surprised came from his left.


    "Is it really you, Senior Brother Garen?"


    Garen and Grace turned around. They saw a pretty girl dressed like a high school student carrying a small white satchel rushing towards them.


    The girl was one of the members of Circling Dance Gate they met on their way back. Even though Garen didn''t have any recollection of her, it was apparent that she viewed the strong and striking Garen with great admiration.


    The girl ran to them. When she saw their somber expressions, she instantly guessed the situation.


    "They are too much! They''ve even rejected Senior Brother Garen! Seven Moon Gate is really¡­" The girl was indignant.


    "You''re from Circling Dance Gate. You''re¡­" Garen hesitated. "Sorry, I have a poor memory¡­" He smiled in embarrassment. On that journey back, everyone from Circling Dance Gate¡ªfrom ordinary disciples to the Eldest Senior Sister leading the group¡ªcompletely didn''t register with him.


    I am Imogen Lilliette from Bodia. I''m a fifth generation disciple at Circling Dance Gate, ranked second! I''m twenty-one this year," the girl patted her chest as she introduced herself with pride. Only when she approached did he realize, her height was only up to Garen''s chest; she looked like a young teenage Lolita, only about 120cm tall.


    Seemingly aware of Garen and Grace''s strange look in their eyes, Imogen Lilliette anxiously emphasized at once, "Twenty-one years old!"


    "Yes, we know you''re twenty-one years old¡­" Garen was speechless.


    "Fine. I''m used to it anyway," Imogen Lilliette said helplessly. Her expression returned to normal and said, "Senior Brother Garen, you''re here for¡­? Anything we can help you with, Circling Dance Gate will be behind you in full force!"


    "Initially, I wanted to take a look at the low-level Secret Martial Art collections of Seven Moon Gate, as reference material. I didn''t expect them to refuse me, so I just left," Garen shrugged.


    "If you don''t mind, you are free to refer to the Secret Martial Art of Circling Dance Gate, including the hereditary Secret Martial Art of our sect," Imogen Lilliette said solemnly. "We''ve heard about the situation at White Cloud Gate. If you need funds, we''ve just raised two million on our end. You can have it to tide you over."


    "You have the authority?"


    "I do! Because this is my mother''s intention," Imogen Lilliette chuckled.


    "This is our first meeting. Thank you so much, Mr. Garen, for escorting my daughter safely home," a calm female voice came from behind them.


    Garen was stunned. He didn''t notice anyone approaching him from behind. He frantically turned his body sideways to look behind him.


    Suddenly, he saw a beautiful blonde with a calm temperament standing behind him. Her smooth blonde hair draped over her shoulders. She had delicate skin and features, and blue eyes as clear as the sea. She was a beauty who constantly radiated a cool temperament.


    Garen was considered calm compared to Grace. She jumped in shock and almost twisted her ankle.


    "Apologies." The blonde lady smiled apologetically at both of them, but it seemed as if she was not used to smiling; her smile gave an odd and awkward impression. "I am Imogen Lilliette''s mother, Jaimea Lilliette, also the current Great Elder of Circling Dance Gate."


    "Why are you all here at Seven Moon Gate¡­" Garen was confused. His nose caught a hint of fragrance, and out of courtesy, he distanced himself away slightly.


    "The headquarters of Circling Dance Gate and Seven Moon Gate are both in Dinah City," Jaimea Lilliette explained. "My daughter and I were just out to buy some sundries and coincidentally passed by. We didn''t expect to meet the two of you from White Cloud Gate. Even though we''re insignificant compared to Seven Moon Gate, but if you don''t mind, why not come over to Circling Dance Gate for a while?"


    Garen quickly thought about it, then accepted the invitation.


    "Yes, that sounds lovely. Just as well we could pay a visit to the headquarters of Circling Dance Gate."


    Jaimea Lilliette had a cool temperament and was somewhat blunt in the manner she spoke, but the way she looked at Garen and Grace was indeed sincere.


    Even though the influence of Circling Dance Gate wasn''t as strong compared to Seven Moon Gate, they didn''t seem weak either. Soon, two slightly old black cars drove over and stopped next to where they stood.


    Garen and Grace stepped into the car at the back, while Jaimea Lilliette and her daughter sat in the car in front. Both cars slowly drove towards the other end of Dinah City.


    Half an hour later, Garen was sitting face to face with Jaimea Lilliette and Eldest Senior Sister Vicard in the middle of a wooden dojo.


    The dojo was a rectangular structure, made entirely of wood. It was slightly dilapidated. The entrance was to the left. On the walls at both ends hung two white paper banners with the words "Martial Arts" and "Dance" written in black ink separately.


    The reddish-brown wooden floor boards were neatly arranged and well-polished, but defects could be seen in some parts of the floor, giving the sense that it was timeworn. Despite being slightly dilapidated, the entire dojo was filled with a faint scent of incense, and there wasn''t a trace of sweaty odor; it was clearly well maintained.


    In front of Garen was a glass teacup filled with Rainflower tea. The reddish-pink tea in the cup looked exquisite. Bits of flower petals were floating in the tea like watery red crystals and the tea had a delicate floral aroma: it was an exceptionally pleasant aesthetic experience altogether.


    "Senior Brother Garen, thank you for your care before." Vicard was the Circling Dance Gate leader that Garen escorted. She looked dainty and adorable now.


    The hosts were both clad in black robes and long black socks. Apparently, it was the standard attire here.


    Jaimea Lilliette motioned to Garen to drink his tea. "Mr. Garen, you saved our Sect Master and several of our disciples, including my daughter. Even though we are a small establishment, we are clear that gratitude should be repaid as much as revenge should be exacted. Secret Martial Art and funds are not a problem. Whatever else you need, feel free to ask for it. I will fulfill your request to the best of my abilities on behalf of Circling Dance Gate."


    Garen was undoubtedly touched.


    "How did you know I needed Secret Martial Art?"


    Jaimea Lilliette calmly explained, "Most people who have visited Seven Moon Gate of late are primarily after these two things. I apologize if I have offended you, but I am only telling it as it is."


    "It''s fine."


    Garen could tell that Circling Dance Gate was not doing very well itself. Despite the fact that the dojo was huge, it was dilapidated to the extent that they didn''t even have the funds to properly maintain and repair it. Even White Cloud Gate was much better off. When he thought about how the headquarters of Circling Dance Gate and Seven Moon Gate were both located within Dinah City, the answer was obvious: the former must have been harshly oppressed by the latter.


    In a case where they were not well-off but displayed generosity out of gratitude, such an attitude was in stark contrast to what Garen experienced at Seven Moon Gate.


    Garen actually felt somewhat ashamed. He didn''t pay much attention to Circling Dance Gate at the time, but just helped them out incidentally. He didn''t expect that it would be this humble female sect that could help him out right now.


    "Actually, we have no need for funds," Garen carefully thought about how to phrase it. "We at White Cloud Gate are not facing a huge problem with funding." This was the truth. The dojo account had tens of millions in funds. These were the sect funds voluntarily passed on to Collin and Simon by the stout Bouvini in charge of finances. Garen wasn''t short of money.


    Upon hearing that they didn''t lack funds, the two from Circling Dance Gate were immediately relieved and felt even more grateful to Garen. It was apparent that they were extremely tight on funds. They haven''t been able to cover their cost in recent years, with the dojo income decreasing rapidly. If it was money that Garen requested, they would have given it to him, but that would have put them in a tougher situation.


    "I''m here not for money or whatever else. I''m here for Secret Martial Art," Garen said formally.


    "No problem. Including our hereditary Secret Martial Art, you are free to study and record all the Secret Martial Art within our library," Jaimea Lilliette nodded in agreement.


    "Hereditary Secret Martial Art is the foundation of a sect, I don''t want it, and I have no need for it. I am merely looking for some low-level Secret Martial Art to broaden my martial arts perspective, for reference," Garen promptly explained.


    "Regardless, I''ll take you to the library at once. How does that sound?" Jaimea Lilliette resolutely stood up and asked.


    "Uhh¡­" Garen didn''t expect her to be so eager. "No hurry. Let''s have a chat and rest for now."


    "Very well." Jaimea Lilliette felt that she was slightly overeager, and slowly sat down again. "Excuse my manners."


    And then it became a question and answer session between the three.


    Garen asked, and they answered.


    They were the type who wouldn''t speak when not questioned and seemed as though they didn''t interact much with people; their tone was somewhat blunt.


    By casually asking a few questions, Garen gathered a general idea of Circling Dance Gate and understood the types of characters within it.


    There was a total of twelve people in the sect, external disciples included. The modest and austere style of the dojo business made it unattractive. Coupled with the fact that they were oppressed by Seven Moon Gate, the entire operation was bleak, and they could barely make ends meet.


    The dojo master in charge of the day-to-day was Jaimea Lilliette''s father, a headstrong man advanced in years. He was adamant in preserving the estate inherited from their ancestors, unwilling to sell the current headquarters and dojo. This didn''t help their poor financial situation.


    Everyone in the dojo, including Jaimea Lilliette¡ªregardless of their external personality¡ª were tough and headstrong characters, all bent on preserving the dojo.


    Originally, as a Secret Martial Art sect and one of the Southern Twelve Gates, they were entitled to a fixed income and certain benefits. This was the key reason Circling Dance Gate joined, and it was this fixed income that kept the dojo in business. But now Lucene Brotherhood, the strongest of the Southern Twelve Gates, has been obliterated. This sect was the leader and organizer of the Southern Twelve Gates. They were in charge of distributing the annual benefits and funds. Without that income, it had become more difficult for them to keep the dojo running.

 103 Variation in Secret Martial Arts 1

    Chapter 103: Variation in Secret Martial Arts 1


    While the three of them were chatting, Grace, Imogen Lilliette, and another girl were preparing sweets and lunch in another clean white room.


    "Grace, you go get some rest. We can handle it here, so it''s fine!" Imogen Lilliette persuaded multiple times, but to no avail.


    "It''s alright. This is part of my duty anyway." Grace gave a weak smile. "But it does seem that there''s nothing for me to do to contribute here. I''ll just go out and buy some daily necessities for the next few days."


    "Don''t worry, just go. But don''t forget the way back. Or should I accompany you?" Imogen Lilliette offered as she peeled a small potato.


    "No, it''s fine," Grace declined.


    "You be careful then."


    As she flicked away the water on her hands, Grace walked out of the kitchen. A trace of gloom flashed across her face.


    She quickly walked out of the corridor into the courtyard, heading straight for the entrance.


    She had barely walked out of the door when a small blue shadow dashed into her arms. She was surprised to find that it was a little blue bird with a white paper bag tied to its foot.


    Grace quietly removed the paper bag, looked around, and gently let the little bird fly away.


    The blue bird was swift and silent in flight, disappearing into the sky in the blink of an eye.


    Grace opened the paper bag. There was a packet of white powder inside, with some inscriptions on the packaging paper. Her face went ice-cold after reading it.


    *********************


    In the afternoon, the sky gradually darkened. With only dense gray clouds and no sunshine, it felt heavily depressing.


    Garen quietly sat in a bedroom at Circling Dance Gate. In front of him was a low square table with five thin manuals laid out on the white surface. There were no names on the manuals. A faint fragrance of ink emanated from them.


    "I can''t believe they''ve gifted me with their entire treasured collection. This is really¡­" Garen didn''t know what to make of it, but he felt appreciative.


    These five Secret Martial Arts manuals were the secret books that he just got from Circling Dance Gate¡¯s underground library. Initially, he had picked out a few to carefully study, but he didn''t expect them to simply hand over all the secret books to him. He further selected a few from the timeworn library and, without discovering anything more, he finally brought all the Secret Martial Arts manuals back to carefully study them in the room that they had arranged for him.


    The entire process took him just over an hour.


    "Of these five Secret Martial Arts manuals, three are Secret Martial Arts tailored to women. I''ll give up on those, but I might still be able to derive something in terms of technical attacks. The remaining two¡­" Garen''s gaze fell to the two books on the right.


    Boulder Martial Arts and Augustus''s Two-Handed Ancient Sword Technique.


    "Boulder Martial Arts¡­" Garen felt that this name was similar to the names of Eastern martial arts. He picked up the secret book and started reading meticulously.


    The image of a white lotus was printed on the pale yellow cover and the words "Boulder Martial Arts" was handwritten in Confederation text on the edge.


    He turned over to the first page.


    ¡®


    "Boulder Martial Arts originates from the East and is a common, highly popular Body Hardening Technique. Upon mastery, it will inflict the powerful effect of anti-Vibration on opponents."


    Garen continued turning the pages. What followed was a concise and direct description of the specific postures for the technique as well as preparation and practicing times. There were no external drugs needed as supplements, but it was very strict regarding practicing times. It started from one o''clock midnight and ended at three in the morning.


    There were three specific levels: they were merely three strange poses. However, the method and route of blood and Qi circulation, as well as the breathing technique, were enlightening.


    On the other hand, the two-handed ancient sword technique book was a martial art that relied on vocalized practice. It had typical domestic characteristics.


    "Too bad I left the Weeping Sword in the main dojo and didn''t bring it here. Otherwise, I could carefully study the features of a martial art involving vocalized practices." Garen gently put down the two books.


    Knock knock knock.


    Light knocks on the door were heard.


    "Please come in." Garen slowly closed his eyes and put his hand on the two secret books, deep in thought.


    The room door gradually opened. Grace came in with two cups of coffee.


    "Garen, I''ve brought you some hot coffee."


    She wore a short white dress. The thin black stockings under her short dress vaguely revealed the white underwear between her legs and her high breasts exposed a wide area of fair skin.


    She gently laid down the saucers on the table by the secret books and sat across from Garen. When she saw that Garen''s eyes were closed, she could not help but show a trace of disappointment on her face.


    She reached to pull her dress down a little to cover her underwear, then put the coffee in front of both of them.


    "Please drink."


    "Leave it there for now," Garen said casually.


    The atmosphere in the room settled down. Garen was pondering a problem, but Grace started to feel restless and uneasy.


    "Grace," Garen suddenly spoke. "Back then, what was the reason that made you decide to follow me?"


    Grace was silent for a while. "Because of the corporation, and also probably because you spared my life."


    "And mostly because my master was the Sect Master of White Cloud Gate?" Garen asked bluntly.


    Grace paused. "Yes."


    Garen opened his eyes and calmly looked at the seductively dressed girl in front of him. There wasn''t a hint of desire in his eyes.


    "Your family is one of the major families in Huaishan City with great influence. Was it what your corporation wanted or what your family requested of you?"


    Grace widened her eyes in shock. Her expression couldn''t help but finally change and her breathing started to become heavier as well.


    "How did you notice?"


    Garen smiled. "When you found me at the station, I noticed that your heartbeat was very fast. You didn''t do any strenuous exercise and you were calm on the surface, but still your heart raced faster in front of me. If it were ordinary girls, I would probably guess that they fancied me, but not you."


    He watched as Grace sat there stone-faced, then continued, "Also, when you came in with coffee, the two coffees had different smells. My cup is obviously impure."


    Grace felt a chill in her heart.


    She looked at Garen smiling kindly in front of her and suddenly felt that everyone had probably underestimated this ordinary 17 year old youth.


    This drug powder was clearly declared by Celestial Circle Gate to have an undetectable scent that could not be sensed Secret Martial Arts practitioners, but it was easily identified by Garen.


    "His true strength¡­ what level has it actually reached¡­" Grace was in a panic all of a sudden. She looked into Garen''s clear, deep, red eyes and bit her lower lip. "How¡­ how do you plan to deal with me?"


    "Your heart rate is fast again." Garen took a sip of the coffee without the drug powder. "You''re afraid? What are you afraid of?"


    When Grace recalled the information that her family had obtained, she suddenly felt that she had been too na?ve. Originally, she had thought that the information about Garen was exaggerated and she had not witnessed it personally, so she did not take it to heart. However, from the looks of it now¡­ Killing dozens of people along the way¡ªall of them elite fighters¡ªit must have been true!


    Garen let out a sigh of disappointment.


    "Actually, if not for the fact that I never fully trust anyone, the chances that your plan would succeed were great. But unfortunately¡­" He shut his eyes as a trace of fatigue showed on his face. "Leave."


    Grace''s eyes opened wide as she looked at him in disbelief. She seemingly could not believe what he just said.


    "You''re¡­ not going to do anything?" Suddenly she recalled the manner in which Garen usually handled things: even though it was not cruel, it was not peaceful either. She did not expect him to let her off on this.


    "Just leave. This marks the end of our relationship. Don''t appear in front of me again. I won''t be so merciful the next time we meet," Garen said calmly.


    Grace''s pale face regained some color. She slowly stood up. When she saw that Garen remained seated, she was delighted.


    "What an idiot! Who lets an enemy who tried to poison them go? No wonder you''ve come back in this sorry state after just one trip! Obviously your stupidity is the cause." She started to relax. Although she did not care for Garen''s compassionate gesture, she only dared to think of some ideas in her head and did not dare to make any wrong moves. Her life depended on it, after all.


    "Celestial Circle Gate is very powerful! You be careful," she said, faking some guilt before leaving.


    She did not wait for a reply. Gently closing the door behind her, she hurried towards the courtyard. It was only after she exited the entrance of the Circling Dance Gate dojo that she let out a quiet sigh of relief.


    "Even though the plan failed, at least I managed to keep my life. I need to report back immediately. There is a great discrepancy in the information we have on Garen!"


    She quickly hailed a horse carriage taxi and stepped on.


    Departing from the main dojo of Circling Dance Gate, she reached a remote corner in the suburbs a dozen minutes later.


    After paying for her ride, Grace stepped off and walked into an alley filled with filthy and smelly homeless men.


    "Get out of the way!" She kicked aside the thigh of a homeless man blocking her path and walked onward with a look of disgust. "Who sets such a place as a contact point anyway?"


    Under the greedy gaze of this group of homeless men, she flashed the silver handgun on her waist and succeeded in frightening the ones with malicious intentions.


    She was muttering as she walked into the depths of the alley. She retrieved an engraving dagger from the corner of the wall and forcefully carved an inverted "V," then stood up and turned around.


    "You!" Blood instantly drained from her face as she backed up a few steps and hit the wall.


    It was unclear when Garen had appeared behind her. He had looked at her with mild interest as she carved the mark.


    "This is your secret contact code?" He walked over and touched the wall. Suddenly a layer of white stone powder showered down. The mark was easily erased.


    "Grace, I treated you as a friend. What a pity¡­"


    "I thought you said you''d let me go¡­" Grace''s heart was beating fast and her entire body was sweating slightly.


    Wham!


    Garen grasped her neck tightly with one arm and held her to the wall. He applied a light pressure.


    Crack.


    With her neck broken, the glow in Grace''s eyes slowly faded away. Her initial violent struggle gradually weakened, before finally ceasing.


    Without a sound and without alarming anyone, she died straightaway in silence.


    "Indeed, I did not intend to kill you earlier," Garen said calmly. "It would be inappropriate if you were killed in the Circling Dance Gate dojo. After all, it''s someone else''s place."


    Unconsciously, after killing so many people along the way, his heart had become oddly calm.

 104 Variation in Secret Martial Arts 2

    Chapter 104: Variation in Secret Martial Arts 2


    "I''ve caused danger to my master and the other disciples by letting them stay at the secret villa that Grace prepared. Someone needs to take responsibility for everything."


    For a while, Garen still had slightly complicated feelings. After all, Grace was someone who had followed him for so long. The feeling of killing someone he was familiar with was different from killing a complete stranger.


    Using his empty hand to search Grace''s body for a while, he found a set of keys, a black leather wallet, a silver handgun and some documents.


    Grace''s figure was so curvaceous that even Garen could not help but grope her large breasts a few times, just to feel even more disappointed. He thought it was a waste that he had to kill such a capable and beautiful woman.


    Fortunately, he was not some sort of perverted noble. Otherwise, he might first rape Grace before killing her, or even keep and train Grace as a sex slave after capturing her.


    He carried her corpse to the dumpster on the opposite side and stuffed it inside. Taking out a lighter from his pants, he lit it up and threw it into a huge bag of shredded paper that was inside the dumpster.


    The dumpster quickly caught on fire that slowly grew larger as white smoke gradually drifted into the air. Then the red flames lit up Grace''s clothes and completely enveloped her corpse within the fire. The fair and delicate skin of her corpse started to turn yellow as oil seeped out from her skin, then her corpse turned black and completely turned into coke.


    The air was filled with a strong smell of burnt meat.


    Garen silently watched as Grace''s beautiful face was completely burned beyond recognition before he slowly walked out of the alleyway.


    There were several vagrants lying in the alleyway and were all knocked out using small stones. With the current strength of Garen''s Vibration that came along with the Mammoth Secret Technique, it was an easy matter to completely knock all of them unconscious.


    The smoke in the alleyway was getting bigger as Garen left. He quickly returned to Circling Dance Gate using the same route he came from.


    He only spent half an hour to go there and back.


    A young girl was holding a broom and cleaning the yard when Garen returned. After politely greeting her, he went back to the room that was arranged for him and sat down at the table with the precious Secret Martial Arts manuals.


    For now, he had to put aside the situation in Huaishan City. Since Grace was a traitor, Celestial Circle Gate definitely knew where he was. He had no intentions of fleeing either. With so many people from the Southern Twelve Gates gathered here, it might be the best location to confront the Celestial Circle Gate and that mysterious organization. If he were to flee to another location, he might jeopardize his master and fellow disciples in Huaishan City. This upcoming war was inevitable.


    The current situation was very simple. As long as he could block Andrela and protect White Cloud Gate, everything would be fine. The other factions would not behave like rats leaving a sinking ship. However, once he¡ªthe final hope of White Cloud Gate¡ªwas defeated, then they would be a sitting duck for other factions.


    Putting aside Grace''s matter, he moved the cooled coffee to one side and started to carefully open the secret manual of the Boulder Martial Art.


    At the same, the Boulder Martial Art selection gradually appeared within the Skill Pane in his field of vision.


    "Boulder Martial Art: Uninitiated (Three levels in total), Learning Requirement: At least 1.00 in Vitality, Strength, and Agility."


    This particular Secret Martial needed at least fifteen years to complete each level. It took a lot of time and the initial learning requirement was high. It was also the main reason why low grade Secret Martial Arts were disfavored.


    On the other hand, the main problem for Boulder Martial Art was that the learning requirement needed Vitality, Strength, and Agility to be at least 1.00, and that was the average for an adult male.


    This meant that only the body of an adult could satisfy the basic requirement for learning this Secret Martial Art.


    The fact that every level needed fifteen years to complete was another important reason. If a Secret Martial Art needed fifteen years to get to the initiated stage and was only an inferior martial art, nobody would be stupid enough to practice it.


    Garen took another look at the description of the result after mastering the Boulder Martial Art.


    "When the Boulder Martial Art has been mastered, the body of the practitioner will be as hard as a boulder. Qi and blood will continuously circulate throughout the body, putting the body in the strongest defensive state all the time. Body speed will uniformly experience a significant growth. This Secret Martial Art was derived from the indestructibility of boulders in mountain ranges. After mastering the Boulder Martial Art, Qi and blood will blend together and become abnormally hard, while tranquilizing the mind. It will have a positive effect on irritable practitioners as well."


    Garen suddenly remembered Jaimea Lilliette. Her cold appearance might have been caused by practicing this Secret Martial Art. He guessed that it might not be entirely from it but could have learned from it.


    "Could this really aid growth in body speed?" Garen was feeling slightly expectant.


    Garen immediately stood up and took a pose according to the first diagram. At the same time, he followed the breathing instructions and the method to adjust his Qi and blood. His mind gradually entered the calm state mentioned by the secret manual.


    However, ten minutes later, Garen suddenly felt a slight itchiness in his chest and abdomen, as if his organs were itching. Soon after more than ten seconds later, his skin and muscles were starting to slightly itch as well.


    It was not really itchy, but was just a slight feeling.


    The situation was similar to what was described in the secret manual. The Secret Martial Art would only consider to be initiated when the itchiness appeared, grew stronger, and finally subsided.


    However, the current itchiness was very weak. Garen came to conclusion that he was practicing at the wrong time. There must be a reason that the secret manual stated that the Boulder Martial Art must be practiced in the middle of the night.


    ************************


    Dinah City railway station


    In the dead of the night, a white, luxurious train gradually stopped at the empty railway station.


    The middle door of the carriage opened and a series of passengers wearing various kinds of casual clothes got off the train. Some of them looked like students, while others looked like tourists and there were even workers and intellectuals among them. There were all kinds of attires, but all of them had one thing in common, and that was they were all wearing a silver cross star symbol on their chest.


    After most of the passengers got off, but three men and two women slowly alighted.


    Among the five of them, only one man was an elderly in his sixties, while the other four were young.


    A long-haired young man was leading the other three as they quietly and slowly got off the train.


    "We''ve finally reached Dinah City. If we didn''t receive the news that Garen came over here, we wouldn''t have to switch to another train halfway through." The long-haired man was slightly shaking his head in frustration. His left eye was covered by a black eyepatch while his right pupil was a rare dark golden. He had waist length hair, wore a black coat and had a mysterious aura.


    "How is it? Andrela, Dinah City is the territory of Seven Moon Gate. Are you confident?" The old man raised his head and looked at the sign¡ªthat displayed the station name¡ªhanging above them within the train station.


    "I¡¯m fine." Andrela smiled and lightly touched the slender sword hanging at his waist that was hidden by his coat.


    "Speaking of which, you''ve been at the Grandmaster of Combat level for quite a while. This time, you might be able to find an opportunity to advance." The old man was feeling slightly emotional and expectant.


    Andrela only smiled. "Grandmasters of Combat are far more superior than normal people and are no longer afraid of guns and bullets. It''s even classified as a non-human realm. There are even some Grandmasters of Combat that believe that they''re no longer mortal and view normal people as ants. Even though that kind of path was powerful, it is not the path I want to walk. That''s why I''ve stopped progressing for so long."


    The old man was slightly surprised. This was his first time hearing this head disciple of Celestial Circle Gate voice out his opinion. "Then what kind of a path are you trying to walk?"


    "Grandmasters of Combat are classified into Righteous and Immoral, and the difference lies in the fighting styles. A Righteous style doesn''t hide its moves and uses momentum to pressure opponents. An Immoral style uses endless amounts of secret techniques. They each have their own merits. I have not figured out my third path. However, I feel that it''s close¡­ Grade D¡­ is not the end..." Andrela''s eyes were flashing with an indescribable gaze. "Martial arts should be endless."


    "That''s our hope as well." The old man patted Andrela''s shoulder with a hint of gratification in his eyes. "To be unburdened by unnecessary emotions, as expected of my disciple!"


    Andrela slowly shook his head. "Master, there are some people and things that were only buried in history. I am not the first Grandmaster of Combat that has walked on this path."


    "I know." The old man nodded. "Let''s go, bring along the glory of Celestial Circle Gate. Nobody will be able to stop you in this war of unification!"


    "That''s what I thought as well." Andrela smiled as he strode out. The other three followed after him, as if they were bodyguards protecting him.


    ***************************


    Late at night


    Circling Dance Gate


    Garen was sitting cross-legged in the center of the cold dojo.


    The muscles in his entire body were slowly wriggling around, as if there were countless earthworms crawling all over his body.


    "Even though I''ve become a Grandmaster of Combat, I still don''t understand true meaning of it." He was constantly adjusting the Qi and blood within his body and also his condition by following the method provided by the Boulder Martial Art.


    "Su Lin once said that a Grandmaster of Combat is a Martial Adept that has reached the limits of the human body in a certain aspect. Their skills have been thoroughly tempered and they no longer have any fatal flaws.


    "However, is it really true that the limits of the human body were just this low? Even though I can withstand a bullet, I am helpless against bombs and artillery shells." Both of Garen''s hands were slowly raised above his head.


    Hah!


    With a low roar, all of the muscles in his body suddenly expanded. It was not the expansion of the Mammoth Secret Technique, but a very little amount of muscle expansion instead.


    "A Martial Adept that has reached the limits of the human body and is also the number one expert of the younger generation, Andrela." Garen''s eyes were faintly filled with a trace of expectation. It was a kind of a true expectation toward an opponent of the same level.


    Suddenly, within the Skill Pane in his field of vision, the Boulder Martial Art selection slowly changed.


    "Boulder Martial Art: Rudimentary Level (Three levels in total)"


    Suddenly, he thought of something.


    Garen slowly stood and slowly performed the Four Major Forms of White Cloud Combat Arts. He was entirely immersed within the limit state of the Mammoth Secret Technique. However, he was not using the special breathing technique of Mammoth Secret Technique, but the breathing technique of Boulder Martial Art.


    It was as if the Boulder Martial Art and Mammoth Secret Technique were reacting to each other. Garen was entirely immersed within the casual execution of the chain combination of the Four Major Forms.


    The Boulder Martial Art selection, that was just displaying Rudimentary Level, immediately started to slowly disappear.


    The strange part was that the Mammoth Secret Technique was slowly disappearing as well. They were replaced by an entirely new Secret Martial Art and a symbol slowly appeared behind it.


    "Mammoth Variant Secret Technique: Explosive Level."


    Garen looked toward the symbol behind it.


    "First level of stabilization of Qi and blood: The integration of Qi and blood within the body can reflect damage back to the opponents. Originated from Boulder Martial Art. Can advance to higher levels through training Boulder Martial Art."


    Reading the meaning of the symbol, he was slightly surprised. "The main effect of Boulder Martial Art is the powerful defense. I didn''t think that its effects could actually stack with the Mammoth Secret Technique. However, the text behind states that it can advance to a higher level through training Boulder Martial Art. However, why isn''t there any reaction from Iron Body? It should be combinable as well!"


    He slowly recovered his posture and focused his attention on the Iron Body selection.


    He suddenly thought of something and slowly performed the Iron Body as he executed the Four Major Forms.


    After a few minutes, Iron Body slowly disappeared as well.


    Then, the symbol behind Mammoth Variation Secret Technique slightly changed. It changed into two: one of them was stabilization of Qi and blood, the other was hardening of the epidermis.


    "First level of stabilization of Qi and blood: The integration of Qi and blood within the body can reflect damage to opponents. Originated from Boulder Martial Art. Can advance to higher levels through training Boulder Martial Art."


    "First level of hardening of the epidermis: Hardness of the skin rises and is capable of resisting injuries from highly sharp weapons. Originated from Iron Body. Can advance to higher levels through training Iron Body."


    All of his Secret Martial Arts that were Body Hardening Techniques were fused together and he was only left with a variant Secret Martial Art.

 105 One Battle! 1

    Chapter 105: One Battle! 1


    Garen slowly lifted up his hand and looked at his palm. His slightly enlarged palm was faintly glimmering with a black metallic luster.


    He felt that the Blood Qi Ball within his body had not release any Qi and blood to assist in the expansion of his body.


    "This feeling is different from when I was using the expanded form of Mammoth Martial Art, but it is still slightly stronger than normal. Since the degree of expansion is not large, I''ll consider this as the first form."


    Garen forcefully waved his arm around, and felt that the hardness of his skin was around half of his defense when he was at full power. At the same time, it was around twice the hardness of his normal state. After mastering Mammoth Martial Art, his defense when using all of his power was four times that of normal situations. This sort of terrifying Body Hardening Technique allowed him to block the attacks of most martial artists using only his eyelids.


    Slowly relaxing his body, Garen''s gigantic body gradually shrunk like a deflated balloon from 1.9 meters to 1.7 meters. Under his normal state, he looked just like an ordinary person that was slightly muscular. It''s just that his powerful physique made him seem more like an adult than a seventeen year old teenager.


    Boom boom boom! Boom boom boom!


    Suddenly, the sound of urgent knocking sounded out from the door of the dojo.


    "Senior brother Garen! There''s trouble, the people from Celestial Circle Gate are here!" Imogen Lilliette''s voice came from behind the door.


    "Celestial Circle Gate! Is it Andrela?" Garen walked over to the locked wooden door and opened it.


    Standing at the door, Imogen Lilliette looked frantic and was still wearing black pajamas.


    "Calm down, what''s the situation?" Garen softly asked.


    "I don''t know, almost everyone from the Celestial Circle Gate is staying a hotel near the railway station. However, their leaders, Andrela and a few others, were nowhere to be found. What should we do, senior brother Garen!?" Imogen Lilliette was slightly at a loss.


    "The Southern Twelve Gates are all targets of the Celestial Circle Gate. Don''t forget about the Seven Moon Gate and the Red Obsidian Gate that joined them. There two sects are definitely not pushovers. Let''s take a look at the result first. There''s no need to hurry." Garen smiled as he comforted Imogen Lilliette, while gently rubbing her head.


    Feeling Garen''s unworried and relaxed mood, Imogen Lilliette began to relax as well and became less anxious.


    Actually, she had no idea why she was so anxious either. When she heard that Celestial Circle Gate had arrived, she immediately panicked.


    "The Celestial Circle Gate is walking the just and honorable path by fairly challenging each sect to a duel. If they want to unify the entire southern martial arts world, they need to comply with the rules or it will all be for naught. So we''ll only need to face them head on and not have to worry about them playing any tricks. After all, the Celestial Circle Gate is very confident of their abilities..." Garen simply said. "If my guess is right, Andrela is currently already fighting with the Seven Moon Gate."


    He was faintly looking toward the direction of the Seven Moon Gate headquarters as an inexplicable gaze flashed in his eyes.


    *****************


    Da da da...


    A series of rapid footsteps rang out as a three-storey hotel near the railway station was completely surrounded.


    The surrounding area was completely quarantined by numerous police vehicles.


    Under the night sky, there was a cold-looking young man wearing black leather clothes. With shoulder length silver hair, a beautiful face, thin waist, and long legs, he expressed an androgynous beauty. If it was not for the fact that he had an adam''s apple and no breasts, no one would believe that he was a man.


    The man was slowly putting on a black and red gauntlet¡ªwith brutish spikes on it¡ªwith a calm gaze


    "Commissioner Karanan, I am relying on you to help out in the quarantine this time," he simply said.


    The middle-aged man with a potbelly standing next to him nodded while smiling. "Chairman Shia is being polite. The fact that I am able to help out the Seven Moon Group is a great honor for me. Not to mention that the governor specifically mentioned that I should fully support the Seven Moon Group in all of your activities. This is also part of our duty as the Metropolitan Police."


    The beautiful man called Chairman Shia nodded. Then without saying anything else, he beckoned with his hand.


    The men dressed in black outfits in the area immediately created an opening for him to pass through.


    Shia walked into the encirclement and looked up the small white building toward the window on the third storey.


    "Shia Ludanni from Seven Moon Gate is here to welcome senior brother Andrela from Celestial Circle Gate. Please come out to meet me."


    His voice was androgynous and was a mixture of women''s softness and men''s rigidity, giving a strange sense of indifference and severity.


    There was no noise at all. Although there were over a hundred men dressed in black surrounding the small building, there was no sound coming from the building at all. Even the policemen outside the perimeter were affected by the nervous mood and lowered their volume.


    There was only silence in the small building and no one replied.


    A sneer appeared on Shia''s face.


    "During the exchange gathering, we really owed it to Celestial Circle Gate. This time, since senior brother Andrela has come to our Dinah City, it''s only natural that we, as the host, should properly take care of the guests. Could it be the fellow disciples from Celestial Circle is unwilling to give Shia this honor?"


    There was still no reply from the small building.


    Shia''s face slightly contorted in anger.


    "Since senior brother is unwilling to come out on your own, then I''ll just have to personally invite you!"


    A few of the men dressed in black slowly drew out black daggers as cruel sneers appeared on their faces. They were the most elite of the core teams within the Seven Moon Gate. The reason why the Seven Moon Gate was able to develop so much and obtain the best territories in the entire province was due to the efforts of teams like theirs.


    As the sound of light and hurried footsteps rang out, more than a dozen men dressed in black charged toward the entrance of the small building. Before they could reach it, a silvery flash of light suddenly appeared, drawing a semicircular arc in the air.


    The men all groaned at the same time and flew backward. There was a slit that was sliced open on each of them, but it was only their clothes that got cut and not their bodies.


    At the entrance of the small building, a man with reddish purple hair slowly walked out. He was wearing a white outfit with a silver cross star symbol on his chest.


    "If you want to see our senior brother, you need to get past us." He calmly stared at Shia who was standing at the front as a trace of severity flashed in his eyes.


    "I am one of the Four Circles of Celestial Circle Gate, Xin Luo," He slowly announced his name. Immediately after, two other figures slowly walked out from behind him. One of them was a tall woman and the other was a short and thin boy.


    "Xin Luo?" Shia''s eyes narrowed into a straight line and his entire being was both sharp and cold. "I''ve long heard that the Four Circles of Celestial Circle Gate has always been four people. Why is one of you missing?"


    He knew very well that the Four Circles of Celestial Circle Gate were the four strongest disciples below Andrela. They were also the most promising candidates to vie for the position of senior brother and were definitely not weak.


    The moment he mentioned that matter, the faces of the three turned slightly ugly.


    "Tenstar Ni getting killed was his own fault for being unskilled. Since you dare to speak that way about Celestial Circle Gate, let''s see how strong you are!"


    Before Xin Luo even finished speaking, he applied force to his legs and started spinning to the left¡ªlike a spinning top¡ªinto the surrounding teams of men dressed in black.


    Ding ding ding!!


    A series of clashing between metal sounded out as half of the men in black were injured by the black shadows of the sword. Only a few veterans were able to timely parry the thin sword.


    More than a dozen of the men dressed in black did not retreat, but attacked instead. They were unafraid of getting cut by the thin sword as they stabbed toward Xin Luo with a dagger in each of their hands.


    Ahh!!


    One of the men dressed in black suddenly retreated while clutching his right hand and screaming in pain. His right palm was sliced off at the base of his wrist and blood was rapidly spraying out like a fountain. Two men from the back immediately arrived to take care of his wound.


    "Step aside! Let me do it!" Shia''s expression went cold and he suddenly rushed out. The gauntlets on his hands drew a dark red line in the air.


    At the same time, the men dressed in black suddenly spread out, creating an opening in a well-trained manner that was just enough for one person to enter.


    Shia punched toward Xin Luo''s chest with his right hand that was clenched into a fist, while silently aiming for Xin Luo''s abdomen with his left hand formed into a spear-hand while hiding it behind his right hand.


    This was Seven Moon Gate''s most famous Yin Interception Finger. Once it made contact with a person''s body, it would cause the blood vessels to burst and create an internal hemorrhage, while the skin remained unharmed.


    Shia''s fingernails on his left hand were slightly purple and gleamed with a strange luster. Hidden below the gauntlets, they were like a venomous snake hiding in the shadows and were both malicious and covert.


    The two of them instantly collided together.


    Kacha!


    The black shadow of the sword clanged as it struck between the spikes of the gauntlets and was twisted into pieces by the spikes.


    Shia''s Yin Interception Finger¡ªthat was aiming for Xin Luo''s abdomen¡ªmissed as it was parried away by a knife hand from above.


    Both of them each took a few steps backward as a fearful expression flashed across their faces.


    "No wonder you dare to show up with so few people. Very well!" Shia''s expression did not look well. Even though he had the upper hand, Xin Luo was only weaker than him by a tiny amount. They were both stuck at the level right before Grandmaster of Combats and there were two other exponents at the same level as well. Not to mention, there was still Andrela after them.


    He was originally planning to quickly get rid of these people and directly recruit Andrela. He did not think that...


    "As expected of the Celestial Circle''s Four Circles! Attack them!"


    He suddenly beckoned and the hundreds of men dressed in black in the surrounding immediately surged forward.


    ***************


    Puff...


    Garen heavily breathed out.


    Ever since he returned to Huaishan, he had been thinking about how to perfect his martial arts system.


    He had always been walking the route of focusing on strength and defense. However, this type of route lacked speed. Once he met an opponent who was much faster than him, he would be stuck in a situation of getting beaten up. Even though he had yet to meet such an exponent, it did not mean that it would not happen in the future.


    A perfect martial art system should be able to deal with any kind of situation. An excessive shortcoming was just a fatal flaw.


    When faced against Sylphalan''s illusionary power previously, he did not have any way of dealing with it either.


    This was his weakness and weaknesses needed to be overcome.


    "Speed¡­" Garen was sitting cross-legged in the dojo. The morning sunlight was gently beaming on him, plating his topless upper body with a layer of light golden glow.


    He got up early in the morning and started to adjust his condition. Since Celestial Circle Gate had already arrived, a battle could occur at any time. This was a battle in front of everyone and if he lost, it would imply that the White Cloud Gate that he was representing had lost.

 106 One Battle! 2

    Chapter 106: One Battle! 2


    For a martial arts sect, reputation was extremely important. Losing signified lesser skills, and practitioners naturally gravitated toward stronger martial arts, rather than picking weak ones. In the case that the reputation of losing was to spread, White Cloud Gate would be finished.


    All sects, regardless of size or strength, would not generally want to compete throughout the entire sect to conclusively determine the stronger sect. If met with such a situation, someone must be picking a fight.


    The real strength rankings may be an open secret, but publicly determining it would be interfering with the livelihood of other sects. Such an action would invite lethal revenge.


    So, Andrela instantly led some people over after Ni Tenstar was killed and challenged the headquarters of the Lucene Brotherhood to restore the reputation of Celestial Circle Gate. Externally, they could claim that Ni Tenstar was not fully trained in his martial arts and then prove that it was not the martial arts of Celestial Circle Gate that was weaker than the opponent''s martial arts. Instead, it was due to the practitioner''s own insufficiencies and inability to fully absorb his teachings.


    Garen was clear about the consequences of this duel, but the other side must have learned the whereabouts of his family members and his master: it was an invisible threat. Killing a spy from the Manleyton Corporation was nothing since the whole company was merely their tool; it would not help solve the plight.


    This was the power of Celestial Circle Gate: to be able to force their opponents to wait in place and accept the challenge.


    "A sect which was able to survive until now must have challenged many other sects. That was probably how they obtained their collection of rare Secret Martial Art tomes. The low-grade sects which lost these challenges could not carry on locally, so their only choice was to leave their base and continue surviving somewhere else."


    Garen recalled several things that his master Fei Baiyun had mentioned when he was giving him guidance in martial arts. One of them was about the reason the ancestors of White Cloud Gate moved overseas to the Confederation. After being challenged by a local expert and suffering defeat, all they could do was move away to a place where no one knew them and start from scratch. There was no way to keep the original dojo running once their poor reputation spread.


    "If you want the break the reputation of White Cloud Gate, you''ll have to get my permission first." Garen closed his eyes and started thinking about measures to counter a faster opponent.


    "When he has attained a qualitative boost in his speed, my speed wouldn''t be able to keep up. All I can do is maintain the status quo. As long as I determine the opponent''s target of attack, regardless of how he changes, all I need is to protect myself. Defense is simple, but to be able to successfully attack the opponent will prove difficult. I can''t keep up because he will be too fast and I can''t enhance my Speed with Attribute Points anymore¡­"


    Garen began envisioning a high-speed opponent attacking him from all angles and imagined possible counter moves and ways in which he could successfully attack his opponent.


    "The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. And that aspect¡­ Maybe I can figure out a way from these two aspects¡­" He moved his body slightly, then fell into deep thought again.


    After a while, he got up and walked out to the yard. He stood silently still in front of the rockery pond.


    ****************


    Seven Moon Group.


    Andrela calmly stood in the pale gray ring. The fine sword in his hand gave off the crisp sound of tinkling silver bells. The tip of the sword was vibrating swiftly and this created a sound like chimes fluttering in the night wind.


    He quietly looked across at the group of people holding up the old man, who was dealing with his wounds.


    "Seven Moon Gate, let me face your true expert. I have no patience to waste time with you."


    "You!" Pffft!


    The old man spat out fresh blood as he pointed at Andrela, trembling in fury.


    Shia was supported by two disciples clad in black. He had blood all over his face and his right arm dangled gingerly from his shoulder as he stared fiercely at Andrela. Around him were Rampas¡ªhis face white as ash¡ªand a group of middle-aged men and women clad in red. This group of people came from Red Obsidian Gate, had just arrived, and looked nervous. Some of them, who wielded daggers in their hands, were trembling slightly. They rushed over after they had gotten wind that Andrela had appeared to challenge, but the scene that greeted them was of the Seven Moon Gate Great Elder being stabbed by Andrela.


    Everyone heard a clear ringing, followed by a flash. The Great Elder groaned as blood spurted out from his right chest and he collapsed to the ground. They did not even see how Andrela retracted his sword.


    "Our strongest expert is Great Elder Kudo Slant! You are strong Andrela, far beyond our expectations. But if you intend to humiliate us with such a crude reason, we at Seven Moon Gate would rather fight you until the end than see you prevail!" Shia, the strongest of the younger generation at Seven Moon Gate, roared in fury.


    "Humiliate?" Andrela waved his sword and the ringing stopped. "The path to the Dao is so difficult. Do you think I would devote my time to humiliate garbage like you?"


    His looked like his usual self, with a serene glow in his eyes. But in a moment like that, serenity merely conveyed an ice-cold impression.


    "Seven Moon Gate¡­ What a disappointment¡­" He leapt out of the ring. Xin Luo and the other two stepped forward to keep up. "Forget it. I have wasted too much time. Let''s go straight to Circling Dance Gate."


    Pffft!


    The Great Elder spat more blood out from his mouth. He initially wanted to say something, but was hindered by blood flowing back into his throat. He was so enraged that he fainted straightaway.


    The faces of the Second Elder and the others were livid. Some were firmly held back by their peers, who were afraid to let go lest they walked to their deaths.


    Andrela and the other three walked out of the Seven Moon building. An Elder from Celestial Circle Gate was waiting for them with some men outside.


    "Settled?"


    "Settled." Andrela grinned.


    "They were not comparable. Eldest Senior Brother settled it in minutes. Such garbage is only a waste of space," the girl beside Xin Luo said in contempt.


    "Weren''t you injured earlier, Iona? If Eldest Senior Brother hadn''t interfered¡­ Heh," a short boy snickered.


    "At least I held my ground for a bit. What about you? A midget is indeed a midget. One blow and you were out of the ring."


    "Let''s go. Off to Circling Dance Gate." Andrela did not say more. He turned around and went into the car.


    He held more and more sway now. One sentence and both of them were silenced. They separately got into the black car.


    The onlookers from other sects waited until the car from Celestial Circle Gate drove off into the distance before starting frenzied discussions in clusters.


    At the same time, a large group of people poured out from the entrance of the Seven Moon building. Shia, Rampas, and the rest were carrying the Great Elder who had just regained consciousness. There was also the group from Red Obsidian Gate led by their Sect Master.


    "Come, let''s go to Circling Dance Gate!" Shia snarled as he watched the black motorcade drive away.


    Seven Moon Gate was different from other sects because they had a solid foundation as a group and would not be annihilated merely by a fall in reputation.


    A white motorcade arrived and they boarded.


    Rampas sat with his father, the Second Elder.


    "Rampas, you were one of the disciples at the exchange gathering. What did you think of Garen from White Cloud Gate?" The Second Elder was a stern-looking middle-aged man with short black hair and white sideburns. He looked deeply troubled.


    "Senior Brother Garen, he''s a very powerful person," Rampas candidly recollected. "He has a strong Physique! He''s the type that uses Strength as an advantage."


    "The type that uses Strength as an advantage?" a trace of regret flashed across the Second Elder''s eyes. "Unfortunately, I didn''t take it seriously when you came to me, but Seven Moon Gate is not a plain martial arts sect. This defeat would cost us some loss at most, yet it wouldn''t affect us too much. We don''t rely on martial arts to support the entire group. Forget it. Since we''ve offended him, even though it''s our fault, let''s just put the matter to bed."


    "But¡­!" Rampas seemed to want to continue, but was halted by his father.


    "We at Seven Moon Group can''t possibly humble ourselves and apologize to a plain martial arts practitioner. You do not understand the Great Elder. If it were up to me, I would be willing to do it. But the Great Elder has the authority now. Even if he knew that he was wrong, he wouldn''t apologize," the Second Elder sighed. "He is a man who would rather die than admit fault."


    Rampas was speechless. A surge of indignation pent up inside him without release.


    Horse carriages from other sects trailed the Seven Moon Group motorcade. Everyone knew that the decisive battle between Celestial Circle Gate and the Southern Twelve Gates was at Circling Dance Gate. This decisive battle was a golden opportunity to openly witness Andrela''s true strength. Celestial Circle Gate had no intention of stopping them either: this was a golden opportunity for them to showcase their true strength.


    Andrela had defeated Seven Moon Gate effortlessly. Red Obsidian Gate was too scared to even make a move. Celestial Circle Gate''s foundation of power was firmly established.


    The final step was to settle the score with Garen from White Cloud Gate.


    The mighty motorcade formed a long chain and stopped in succession in the open spaces and streets around Circling Dance Gate.


    The locals in Dinah City thought that some official had come for an inspection and a crowd of onlookers formed in the periphery. The city police sent a large number of officers for security. They put a cordon around the area and refused to allow non-martial arts practitioners within 500 meters of the Circling Dance Gate premises.


    Only residents within the cordoned zone who were already at home had the opportunity to witness what happened inside.


    The black motorcade of Celestial Circle Gate slowed to a stop at the entrance of the Circling Dance Gate courtyard.


    The reddish-brown wooden door was shut tight.


    With the sound of car doors closing, Andrela and the rest stepped out of their cars.


    He looked up at the black plaque above the courtyard door. The words "Circling Dance Dojo" was clearly visible on it, but some black paint around the edges had come off, exposing the brown wooden material underneath.


    Andrela had changed into a new set of clothing, wearing a black shirt and long trousers. His long hair reached his waist and he had a grin on his face. If not for the fine silver sword at his waist, he did not appear like he was here to challenge anyone and looked more like a visiting friend.


    He gently pressed the eye patch over his left eye. With a creak, the courtyard door opened.


    Beyond the open door, he instantly saw Garen standing in the courtyard, with his back to him.


    Garen shut his eyes tightly, mildly conditioning the muscles of his entire body. He was in a peculiar subtle state and in the best form he had ever been in his life.


    "Andrela of Celestial Circle Gate?" he asked softly.


    "Garen of the Southern Twelve Gates?" Andrela asked in soft tone too.


    Without the slightest hesitation, he unsheathed his sword and transformed into a black shadow rushing towards Garen.


    Garen turned around and opened his eyes. His stature rapidly expanded.


    Both approached each other at breakneck pace. Suddenly the sounds of wind bells chiming and a mammoth bellowing could be heard.


    In that moment, both their faces lit up with a smile. It was anticipation!

 107 Victory! 1

    Chapter 107: Victory! 1


    A huge crowd gathered around the courtyard of the Circling Dance Gate; some martial artists had even jumped onto the walls for a good spot to watch the fight from. Others who were watching the fight were the inhabitants of the tall residential buildings in the vicinity.


    The members of the Celestial Circle Gate stood in front of the courtyard, and following behind were the Seven Moon Gate and the Red Obsidian Gate.


    The few girls of Circling Dance Gate stood at the entrance of the wooden door of the dojo.


    Everyone¡¯s sights were nervously pinned on the two people in the middle of the field.


    Andrela rushed towards Garen, his figure creating black lines. He plunged his sword in.


    Ding ding ding! A series of metallic clashes rang out violently. In a flash, numerous sparks erupted from the rapier on Garen.


    Hu!!


    Andrela did a backflip and jumped away, narrowly missing Garen¡¯s hand chop. The green and black arm, as thick as a concrete pillar, crashed onto the earth on the ground.


    Bham!


    The fine, grey dirt exploded violently, as though a bomb had gone off. The huge amount of grey dirt, under the intense force, turned into countless of shrapnels which flew ruthlessly towards Andrela.


    With another rain of little tinkling sounds, a big mound of earth and mud had all come before Andrela and defended him...


    A silver mirror seemed to have materialized in the air before him in that instant. Blocking all the finely crushed dregs.


    Chik!


    The silver mirror disappeared, turning into a rapier pointing towards the ground.


    Having had their first turn against each other, they resumed their positions, a few meters away from each other.


    Garen lowered his sight to look at where he had been stabbed. Dabs of blood had appeared indistinctly on the skin there. Clearly, some tiny blood vessels had been cut.


    "You are able to hurt me, surprisingly... Not bad... You are indeed the opponent I have been waiting for!" The corners of his lips curled into a deeper grin unconsciously. A surge of turbulent emotions shook in his chest, ready to erupt at any time, like boiling hot lava.


    Andrela held his sword, as though he had yet to make a move, standing in his original position, his long hair flowing.


    "One who can receive a full-strength blow from my sword in my normal state. You are definitely the person who killed my brother." He spoke slowly, in a low voice, but his tone did not weaken and was heard by everyone clearly.


    "Tenstar Ni is your brother?" Garen was stunned but he immediately recovered. "No wonder you have come in person, I see that this is the reason. As for killing Tenstar Ni, I do not regret it. It is difficult to avoid getting hurt or dying in a contest of combat. If you wish to avenge him, I stand here. Come and kill me yourself, if you can."


    There was a flash in Andrela¡¯s eyes.


    "Life and death are inevitable on the path to the truth. What a pity. If we had not met under such circumstances, we could have been really good friends... Although now, I still do not wish to kill you..."


    He lifted his rapier; a greenish black piece of muscle, shaped like a cross, protruded suddenly from the back of his hand, exactly the same as had happened with Tenstar Ni.


    *****************


    "Big brother is using his secret weapon already?" At the Celestial Circle Gate, Xin Luo exclaimed, somewhat astonished, "He should not be needing to use this against Garen, right? Even if he can¡¯t pierce through the other parts of the body, but he should be able to pierce through the ears and the eyes, no?"


    "What do you still not understand?" The Elder, standing on the side, said in a deep voice, "Take a closer look at Garen¡¯s stance."


    Xin Lo and the other two took a moment to look over, with fixed concentration.


    Garen¡¯s entire body had formed a strange V shape; at the same time, both his arms were slowly moving, continuously in a gentle motion. His entire body had blended into one harmonious figure.


    Wisps of white vapor were released from his nostrils, surrounding his body in vague, blue forms, flowing slowly. From afar, he looked as though he was shrouded in the body of a huge, white elephant. Every slight movement he made came with the faint sound of a mammoth¡¯s neigh.


    The expressions on the three people shifted slightly.


    "Such powerful bravery!"


    The Elder nodded, looking grave and solemn.


    "His secret weapon is to unite his body into one; the blood qi of his entire body becomes incomparably sensitive. No matter which point you attack him at, it will be deflected easily by his excellent combat skills. After all, however fast you are, can you be faster than that slight move of the shaking of his head?"


    He watched the strong and ferocious Garen from afar: "Looks like everyone underestimated this young lad from White Cloud Gate!"


    On the other side of Circular Dance Gate, a few people, including Jaimae Lilliette and Imogen Lilliette, had become solemn after seeing this scene.


    "These two people have such strong bravery!" There was an uncontainable shock on Jaimae Lilliette¡¯s face. "Indeed! Garen has indeed become an Ultimate Adept of the Grandmaster of Combat!"


    "Mummy, what is bravery? Senior Brother Garen looks so powerful, but that Andrela does not look weak either. Will Senior Brother Garen be alright?" Imogen Lilliette asked in a small, anxious voice.


    The other disciples also looked to the dojo master doubtfully.


    "Bravery is the combination of a martial artist¡¯s physique, technique, spirit, released as a single aura. Or, it can also be called a sort of threat! A sense of danger! You should know, every living being has natural responses to danger. As for elite martial artists, they have a method to blend everything in and of themselves together, giving off a fierce, threatening feeling. This method is called bravery. When you see a venomous snake, would you feel that it is dangerous, highly toxic? Your entire body would then be nervous. This is a similar principle."


    Jaimae Lilliette watched the two people in the field, with mixed emotions reflected in her eyes.


    "As for excellent martial artists, having such an ability lets them display their strength, and can even achieve an exaggerated effect without having to resort to battle, making their opponents desist from having thoughts of retaliating! This is to achieve victory without having to fight. Look closely at that Andrela."


    Imogen Lilliette and the rest paid close attention to Andrela for a moment, and indeed, vaguely discovered that his long black hair was flying all around his body; there was a delicate sound of windchimes echoing slowly around his entire body. At the same time, both his arms were raised up before him, making a strange hand gesture. It gave them a very weird feeling.


    "It looks a bit like a black cross!" Imogen Lilliette blurted out.


    The two people in the courtyard, one a giant, white elephant, and the other a black cross, were facing each other; a huge horrifying and threatening aura was spreading out, unrestrained. Some martial adepts nearby had a momentary misconception, as though even with the great distance between them, they were still in danger at any given time. They automatically retreated, one after another, only relaxing when they had backed off quite a bit.


    The members of the Seven Moon Gate, furthest in the back, were the ones watching the confrontation between the two people in the field with unusually mixed feelings right then.


    The Second Elder, leading the team, stood at the forefront. Next to him were Shia and Rampas.


    "This is bravery¡­!" His voice was dry, "Bravery that only an elite martial artist can have."


    It was not only him; all the other higher-ups of the Seven Moon Gate had complicated looks in their eyes; they were all the higher-ups whom Rampas had pleaded for mercy before. Now, looking at Garen¡¯s terrifying and humongous bravery, they were momentarily rendered speechless by an indescribable, mysterious feeling.


    "That¡¯s Senior Brother Garen! No wonder the news from the exchange gathering states that he is the most powerful one amongst all of us in the Southern Twelve Gates!"


    "With him, we the Southern Twelve Gates will not sink!"


    "Senior brother Garen!" A disciple shouted.


    "If only I can be as strong as Senior Brother Garen!"


    Most of the disciples of the Seven Moon Gate were ignorant, and were still exceptionally excited, all looking proud of Garen.


    "Elder, why didn¡¯t Senior Brother Garen rest with us at Seven Moon Gate when he came to Dinah City? After this contest is done, how about you invited him over to give us some tips on martial arts?"


    "Oh yes, Elder, it¡¯s not every day that we Southern Twelve Gates has a master who can fight the number one of Celestial Circle Gate. We must invite him to be our guest at the Seven Moon Group!"


    The emotions of the disciples, who had been shamed by Andrela, had burst out all at once; now seeing that Garen could face off directly against the Andrela who had defeated even their Elder, their excitement was on fire, as though it was a senior brother from their own Gate who was in battle with Andrela.


    Seeing the excited disciples, the Second Elder and a few of the higher-ups were temporarily speechless, unable to voice out their concerns.


    Were they supposed to tell these disciples directly that, this Senior Brother Garen of yours had actually come over to the Seven Moon Group before, only that we had completely disregarded him and chased him out the door as though he had been a beggar?


    If this got out, not only would their reputation crumble in an instant, but even the image of the entire Seven Moon Gate would receive a great negative impact.


    Rampas watched the excited looks of the fellow junior brothers and sisters around her with an emotional heart; even the strongest Junior Brother Shia was gritting his teeth and staring at Andrela, and at the same time, giving Garen encouragement.


    There was an unspeakable surge of emotion in his heart, for a moment; it caused his eyes to tear up a little.


    "Shut up!!"


    There was a sudden roar.


    The entire Seven Moon Gate immediately fell silent; everyone¡¯s sights were set on the Great Elder on the stretcher at the back.


    The Great Elder had changed into a set of clean, white clothing, and at the moment he was so angry that his face was completely red, and his beard was shaking.


    Shiang!!!


    With a loud crash, a terrifying, great howl sounded out from the Circling Dance Gate courtyard.


    It was like the howling of a mammoth into the skies.


    The Great Elder was shocked by the sound; he had initially wanted to speak, but instantly, a gulp of air got stuck in his throat as his eyes rolled over and he fainted.


    Every martial artist in the area had their eyes focused on the two people in the courtyard.


    The crazy howl of the mammoth was still erupting and had not stopped. Those were the fierce noises made by Garen¡¯s arms and entire body piercing through the air.


    Garen stood, unmoving, his white, strong upper body surrounded by a black flow of air which was swirling around him wildly. That was the optical effect caused by Andrela being too fast.


    The two of them, one unmoving and one striking, were in a crazy tangle.


    Every stab of Andrela¡¯s sword landed clearly on Garen¡¯s body, but at most had drawn only a bit of white mark. The attacks occasionally went to his eyes and ears but were easily deflected or blocked.


    Furthermore, Garen¡¯s body now was slowly swelling up; although it had not reached its full strength, it had reached a point where the Boulder Martial Art was about to burst out. His height, which had originally been 1.7 meters, was now almost 1.9 meters. His entire person had become stocky and imposing, like a beast; just moving simply about was enough to move the airflow and disturb his opponent, and at the same time, he could even hit out a noise not unlike the roar of a mammoth.


    But he was completely unable to catch up with his opponent¡¯s speed, and could only tightly cover up his vital points. As for the other parts of his body, he depended on the hardening of his skin and the stabilizing his blood qi to harden himself up. It was all he could do to forcefully maintain this condition, undefeated but also unvictorious.


    The clear sound of the wind chimes rang faintly in the midst of the roar.


    This deadlock was not maintained for long; the black lines drawn by Andrela instantly pounced off, and landed on the rockery of the courtyard, crouching down. His long black hair fell gently onto the greyish white rock, like a satin cloak. The silver rapier was pulled to his side.


    The calm fire in his eyes had increased, which was unusually conflicting.


    "Looks like ordinary swordsmanship has no effect on your body¡¯s defense now. Be careful, this next sword is one of my three great secret swords. I hope you do not die to this..."


    Garen moved both his arms, and once again, subtle airflow roars began to permeate around his body. "Three great secret swords? You are indeed the number one of the young southern generation! Definitely much stronger than the typical garbage!"


    The corners of Andrela¡¯s lips curved up gently again. His long rapier moved steadily, seemingly slow but actually rather quick, and drew the silver outline of a fan.


    "Celestial Secret Weapon..."


    He jumped up lightly and flew towards Garen.


    "Bright Moon!"


    Clang!!!


    Immediately, silver moonlight shone in between him and Garen.


    The silver moonlight was so bright and glaring, that all light in the area seemed to be sucked in, condensed together before erupting in a flash.


    All the spectating martial artists were speechless; they dared not even breathe heavy, afraid of breaking the beautiful, silver-white crescent moon in the courtyard.


    Two crescent moons flashed in both of Garen¡¯s eyes momentarily; the silver light pierced his sight. He was completely unable to see.


    Instinctively, he raised up both arms before his head.


    An extremely sharp, icy cold breath hit him outside of his arms. In that instant, Garen felt a sharp pain in his arms. He did not even think.


    A roar erupted from his throat.


    Roar!!!


    A violent howl exploded instantly.


    The courtyard was shaking, the ground was also shaking! Every martial artist was shaking, and even the dojo house began to make a creaking sound, huge clouds of dust fell with a swish.

 108 Victory! 2

    Chapter 108: Victory! 2


    Everyone at the place, including the people from Celestial Circle Gate, Red Obsidian Gate, and other Martial Artists around, felt the ringing in their ears. They were suddenly paralyzed and lost all their strength.


    Waves rose in the pond, and several red goldfish jumped out of the water.


    BOOM!


    The two in the courtyard separated.


    One man was blown away toward the wall at a high speed, but he quickly shifted his position mid-air, landing on his feet against the wall to reduce the impact. He reached the top of the wall and stood on it firmly.


    It was Andrela, a sword held in his right hand, which was trembling. Blood was dripping down its sleeve, and it fell to the ground quietly.


    "They don¡¯t call you the strongest Martial Artist of the Southern Twelve Gate for nothing." Andrela¡¯s voice was low, and he sounded excited.


    "You are pretty good too." Garen stretched his arms. There were two narrow sword cuts on the outer side of his arms, and blood was spurting out of them in two red lines.


    "Secret Sword Art Bright Moon, huh? Impressive." Garen licked the blood off his arms with a ferocious expression on his face. "I am surprised¡­ However, it¡¯s not enough."


    "True." Andrela smiled. "You are a worthy opponent, and I will show you the second skill of my Secret Sword Arts."


    The people watching the fight were still in shock. The fight between the two were on a different level, a level that human beings could not even imagine. Garen¡¯s body was incredibly strong, while Andrela¡¯s Secrect Sword Arts were terrifying. In addition, the two¡¯s speed was so fast that the crowd could barely see their actions.


    Everything happening in the fight was new to the Martial Artists here.


    They heard the two¡¯s conversation and realized that they hadn¡¯t yet shown their true power. Even though, the skills the two displayed made most of the strong Martial Artists here speechless.


    "They are¡­ so strong!"


    "I thought I was strong, but I never knew there were Martial Arts with such power!" Seven Moon Gate¡¯s Shia looked at the two, and the passion in his eyes could almost melt iron.


    "Those are the Grandmasters of Combat." The Second Elder spoke in a light tone.


    "Shia, Rampas, you two are the hope of the Seven Moon Gate. Watch how they fight carefully, and I am sure it will help you a lot in the future."


    In the courtyard.


    Andrela slightly swung his blade.


    It suddenly started to vibrate, many silver light dots appearing at the point of the blade, and they were bouncing in the air. Andrela jumped off the high wall and charged toward Garen. He was slower than before but still much faster than Garen.


    There were many silver light dots floating around Andrela, and as he charged forward, those silver light dots started to gather together. They converged at the point of the blade and became three large silver dots.


    "Three Star Convergence!"


    The three dots at the point of the blade became one, and the final dot was flashing. Andrela stopped charging when he was two meters away from Garen. Strangely, the silver light did not stop and went straight toward Garen.


    A silver tiny light dot appeared on Garen¡¯s chest and disappeared in a second. Andrela¡¯s attack penetrated his skin and muscle, a drop of blood appeared on Garen¡¯s chest, but started to flood with red right after. Garen held the wound with his hand, feeling a severe pain coming from his chest.


    "What a strike¡­" Garen looked surprised. "I didn¡¯t even have time to defend. The burst of speed at the last second was unbelievable."


    "Unfortunately¡­ It is still not enough¡­" Garen inhaled deeply and a great amount of heat started to come out of his body.


    His body was getting larger, and taller!


    His height increased from 1.9 meters to about 2.3, and he was much taller than Andrela after the transformation. Some of his muscles changed to black, while the rest became green. He turned into a giant within seconds, and his arm had the size of a normal person¡¯s leg.


    Veins twisted in his body, and they looked like numerous venomous green snakes.


    After seeing Garen¡¯s transformation, everyone¡¯s expression changed.


    The Martial Artists, girls from the Circling Dance Gate, and people from the Red Obsidian Gate, the Celestial Circle Gate, the Seven Moon Gate, were all staring at the horrifying black-green giant, Garen.


    "This is the Master level of Body Hardening Techniques¡­ I only heard about it from the tales¡­" One of the Martial Artists in the crowd said in a shaky tone since not many people in the world could recognize the changes happening to Garen.


    "Changes like this will only happen to people that master Body Hardening Techniques!"


    "Garen from the Southern Twelve Gates! This battle will become his masterpiece!"


    The crowd got noisy and excited.


    The Three Circles and Elders of the Celestial Circle Gate looked nervous. They thought that the one from the Seven Moon Gate was strong and Garen was just an average Martial Artist, but they did not expect him to be so strong.


    "Master level in Body Hardening Techniques! We are in trouble!" The Elder said and stared at Andrela. "Andrela¡­ How are you going to deal with his legendary Body Hardening Techniques?"


    "Senior Brother will never lose!" A tall girl of the Three Circles said in a serious tone.


    "Fight! Senior Brother!" Xin Luo yelled.


    The Second Elder of the Seven Moon Gate was surprised, but he looked full of excitement.


    "Master level in Body Hardening Techniques. I didn¡¯t expect that¡­"


    "Let¡¯s see what Andrela is going to do! Garen is invincible!" The Junior Brothers, Senior Brothers, and the Elders were all surprised. Rampas finally felt elated.


    At the entrance of the Circling Dance Gate, several girls just recovered from the shock and saw Garen¡¯s changes.


    "Get him! Garen is the best!"


    Imogen Lillette yelled excitedly.


    "What are you going to do now? Andrela." Jaimea Lilliette was looking forward to seeing Andrela¡¯s next action, so she stared at him.


    Everyone at the place was staring at Andrela, wanting to know what he was going to do next.


    Andrela was wearing black, and he looked like a kid in front of Garen. It was like a kid trying to fight an adult: weak.


    Although the sword in Andrela¡¯s hand was about 1.5 meters long, but it looked like a toothpick when compared to Garen¡¯s body, about to break at any moment.


    Bam!


    Garen clapped, creating a loud sound. He was also staring at Andrela, looking forward to his opponent¡¯s next skill.


    "This is my true form, Andrela! Come get me, for your brother, for the fame of the Celestial Gate, and for the Extreme Martial Arts you¡¯re always pursuing!"


    Andrela had a surprised look on his face, but unlike the others, he did not fear Garen, not at all! He was just surprised and excited to see something he had never seen before.


    "The Master level in Body Hardening Techniques¡­ Garen... Your name will be heard in the whole Southern Martial Artist World!


    "You are right. Even though it¡¯s a pity, but one of us has to die today. It¡¯s either you or me." Andrela calmed down. "I thought I¡¯d never meet a worthy opponent, and then I met you¡­"


    Andrela raised his sword in the air.


    "I will show you the strongest Sword Art created by myself!"


    "Secret Sword Art!"


    "Blink!"


    Chi!


    After hearing the light noise, Garen felt pain coming from his back, and Andrela had disappeared from in front of him.


    He turned back immediately and saw Andrela standing there firmly. Andrela lowered his sword slowly, and there was blood on the point of his blade.


    "Such speed¡­" Garen¡¯s pupils constricted. "My eyes can¡¯t catch movements like that¡­ but I don¡¯t think you can use that skill with ease."


    Garen could still feel the pain coming from the centre of his back, but it was not a big deal.


    "If you¡¯d used it on someone else, he would be dead for sure. Unfortunately..."


    "... it¡¯s you." There was a bitter smile on Andrela¡¯s face.


    Garen nodded. "When I¡¯m in this form, any damage I take will be partially reflected. Your Blink was done at full speed and strength, so the reflected damage must be high. I guess your wrist bones have already fractured a bit, right?"


    Andrela¡¯s bitter smile disappeared. "I can still try one more time."


    "Your last attack was at full speed and strength, but it barely hurt me, and you want to try again?" Garen looked at Andrela calmly. "Also, I can¡¯t promise you will survive my next attack when I¡¯m in this form. Each of my attacks come with vibration, and it is the essence of my Mammoth Secret Technique."


    Garen shook his head. "Stop. I don¡¯t want to kill you."


    "It¡¯s fine. I¡¯m willing to give up my life as long as it¡¯s worth it. The Extreme Martial Arts are the purpose of my life." Andrela raised his sword again, and Garen could see the passion in his eyes.


    "I will respect your choice." It was the first time Garen had met someone who would give up his life to pursue the Extreme Martial Arts.


    Garen closed his eyes, and his body started to tremble. It looked like he could move to any angle he wanted, and he was trying to prevent Andrela from attacking his weaknesses, such as ears and eyes. He focused his defense on those parts.


    "Secret Sword Arts¡­ Blink!" Andrela disappeared with the last word.


    Garen¡¯s muscles suddenly retracted and became very dense. He also raised his arms.


    "Consecutive Swing Form!"


    His body started turning, and his arms were swinging like a wheel. He was chopping at all the angles with his hands.


    Chi!


    Andrea¡¯s sword appeared in front of Garen¡¯s eyes and ears, but he did not find any chance. He then aimed at Garen¡¯s right armpit, trying to stab his sword into it.


    Boom!


    At that moment, Garen hit Andrela¡¯s left shoulder with his hand, and Andrela was blown away by the impact.


    "Celestial Circle Gate lost!"


    Everyone had that one thought in their mind after seeing what had just happened.

 109 Farce 1

    Chapter 109: Farce 1


    Wham!


    Andrela''s body hit the half-open door hard, and with a ''crack'' he broke the wooden door and skidded far across the floor. He finally stopped after almost hitting the martial arts practitioners watching the fight.


    Garen stood silently in place; his scarlet eyes seemed to emit a fluorescent glow. He silently looked at Andrela who was lying on the ground in a distance.


    He had already tried to restrain himself as best he could. Unfortunately, he was completely out of form and his strength was too violent. Even if he only struck a shoulder, the force would be enough to cause turbulent shocks.


    This was the essence of the Secret Mammoth Technique: explosiveness.


    He looked around him. The whole room was quiet. Any martial arts practitioner who met his gaze would subconsciously look away.


    His gaze swept from the martial arts practitioners on the fence, to Circling Dance Gate, then to Red Obsidian Gate, and finally fell on the group from Celestial Circle Gate.


    Those from Celestial Circle Gate fell into a dead silence. They had a blank look on their face, as if they hadn''t managed to process their Eldest Senior Brother''s defeat. Only Xin Luo and the other two disciples rushed to support Andrela up from the ground.


    The Elder who led the group stared fixedly at Garen without avoiding his gaze. There was no hatred or anger in his eyes, just slight disappointment.


    "Do you know the real purpose of our trip, Garen of White Cloud Gate?" he suddenly said aloud. His voice seemed to stand out distinctly in the sea of silence.


    "Our trip here was to¡­"


    "Master!" Andrela''s voice cut him short.


    He stood up with the support of his Brothers, and maintained his balance by using his sword as a crutch. Even though he looked pale, apart from the wound on his shoulder, he didn''t seem to be too severely injured.


    But everyone knew that he was merely putting up a strong front. After being struck by Garen who had transformed into such a terrifying size, no one would have been able to withstand it.


    "A victory is a victory, and a defeat is a defeat. There is nothing more to say." Andrela clutched his shoulder with his other hand, and was prodding around the circumference of the injury with his fingers in a compact and swift manner; it looked like a type of healing Secret Martial Art. It was apparent that after his continued prodding, the injury and pain on his shoulder seemed to gradually reduce. Even the way he spoke seemed more relaxed.


    "I can''t believe you actually showed mercy, Garen." He calmly looked at Garen in the courtyard. "About my brother''s death, I won''t pursue it further. I owe you a life. You''ve killed Tenstar Ni, so we''re now even. Next¡­" He turned around slowly¡ªunexpectedly with his back to Garen¡ªto face the crowd behind him.


    "We should carry out the real purpose of our trip."


    Members of Seven Moon Gate blended in the dense crowd. The Second Elder, Rampas and the others were surprised to discover at this point that Andrela was facing in their direction!


    "Young man, you''ve got some nerve."


    A thin and short figure gradually emerged from the crowd of members from Seven Moon Gate. The strange thing was, before he walked out, no one actually noticed him standing in the crowd.


    He was a skinny old man in dark green robes, a bamboo hat covering his face. His height merely reached the chest-level of everyone around him, but he exuded an air of violence and danger.


    When he walked out, everyone around him instantly crowded backwards, as if they had encountered a poisonous snake. Some who had weaker willpower even looked terrified and were screaming in fright.


    Just as the old man emerged, the Great Elder from Seven Moon Gate followed closely behind. His injuries seemed to have been alleviated; he looked healthier.


    "Since you made a formal challenge based on the rules of the martial arts world, I''m following the rules too. Hmph! You''ve injured so many of our people, do you think you can leave Dinah City just like that?" Sarcasm was written all over his face.


    "Regardless of whether it''s the Secret Martial Art world, or the sway that Celestial Circle Gate holds in the military, this is Galantia Province, not your own neighborhood. You think you can be as rampant as when you were at the exchange gathering?"


    Everyone was baffled; they had no clue where this old man came from. Even the people around Seven Moon Gate were confused, but based on the look of the Great Elder, obviously this old man was a secret force within Seven Moon Gate.


    And from his Bravery, it was apparent that he was a Grandmaster of Combat from the previous generation.


    But everyone understood the motive of the Great Elder of Seven Moon Gate now: he brought a group here to stir up trouble. And they purposely waited for the moment when Garen and Andrela were both injured to take advantage of the situation.


    "Mr Mallone, I''ll trouble you to handle these people from Celestial Circle Gate," the Great Elder calmly said to the old man in a hushed tone.


    "You''re too modest, General Bert," the old man replied the Great Elder in an oddly polite manner. "You helped me out a great deal the last time. This is just a small matter in comparison. As Grandmasters of Combat, I''m interested to see what experts have emerged from the next generation."


    His gazed shifted to Andrela who was barely standing.


    "Kid, seen as you''ve just dueled with someone and lack strength, I''ll make the first move. I''m telling you in advance, this move is a simple move I created by casually observing the cosmos; I''ll just be using ten percent of force. If you can''t even withstand it, I''ll have to take your title of ''Top Youth Expert in the South''."


    Upon those words, without waiting for Andrela to respond, the old man Mallone took a deep breath, dug out a red pill from his pocket and put it in his mouth. He chewed a few times and swallowed it. At the same time, the violent Bravery on his entire body became stronger, and everyone could faintly hear the hissing of a poisonous snake.


    He bent his knees slightly. His face was pale then red intermittently; his hands were swollen to a larger size and were a bloody red. There was a faint revolting stench in the air.


    "Red Python Fist! Poisonous Bite!" His figure approached Andrela at a moderate pace. At every step forward, the stench from his fist became noticeably stronger. His face was reddening too; apparently it was the embodiment of an extreme flow of Qi and blood.


    Shameless!


    This was the thought that crossed everyone''s minds at that moment.


    Putting aside the fact that he took advantage of Andrela when he was heavily injured, he found an excuse to make the first move as a pre-emptive strike, and even increased the power of his fists. And yet he claimed that it was merely a simple move, and that he''s using ten percent of force!


    Also, youth, it''s YOUTH! How could you claim to be a youth? Look in the mirror, you''re way past 50!


    "Fuck! This is his idea of a simple move? Only someone retarded would believe that!" a crude martial arts practitioner couldn''t help but curse out loud.


    "Could you be anymore shameless? Ten percent of force? Red in the neck and face and you claim it''s ten percent of force? Who are you trying to fool? Fuck, I can''t believe there¡¯s a freak like you at Seven Moon Gate!"


    "I know that pill! It''s Blood Surge Pill, a high-grade secret medicine that can increase the strength of the fists and speed within an hour!"


    "Shameless!"


    "Scum of the martial arts world!"


    Everyone around couldn''t stand it any longer, and started berating him.


    Even members of Seven Moon Gate bowed their heads and gave way, their faces feverishly red.


    Rampas and the Second Elder were traditional martial artists. When they saw how shameless the man that the Great Elder had invited out was, they were humiliated; it was a complete disgrace to Seven Moon Gate.


    The old man Mallone was unfazed, and kept walking towards Andrela menacingly.


    Of the Celestial Circle Gate members, three slowly stepped forward and shielded Andrela. They looked at the old man Mallone, expressionless.


    "Move aside. You can''t shield him." Andrela had figured out his opponent''s true strength; he was equally a Grandmaster of Combat, and not a low level one at that. This person was one of the true hidden strengths of Seven Moon Gate, and also one of the targets of his trip. It''s just that he didn''t expect himself to be injured to this extent from his fight with Garen.


    "It¡¯s alright! Eldest Senior Brother, you have a rest," Xin Luo whispered. "We''ll handle him for you." He had always been the leader among the few of them, and this time he was the first to reply too.


    In that moment, on the grounds:


    "Does Seven Moon Gate only know such despicable tactics?" the Great Elder of Celestial Circle Gate sneered.


    "At least it''s better that Celestial Circle Gate drugging opponents." The old man Mallone chuckled a couple of times, then didn''t speak anymore.


    "Drug?" the Great Elder of Celestial Circle Gate was surprised. But before he could react, the old man Mallone accelerated instantly¡ªleaping every few steps¡ªand dashed towards Andrela.


    Wham wham wham!


    Three consecutive ''whams'' and the three members of Celestial Circle Gate were struck aside. They rolled over sideways, their faces red. It was a sickly purplish-red; obviously they had been poisoned.


    The old man started sniggering, and motioned his palm to strike Andrela''s chest. The poisonous snake hissing which surrounded him became louder, and brought with it a gust of revolting stench.


    Chhh!


    A dart flew towards his neck.


    "Nuisance!"


    A murderous gleam flashed in Mallone''s eyes. He hit the dart mid-flight and sent it propelling back towards where it came from.


    One of the three members of Celestial Circle Gate¡ªthe short youth¡ªlet out a dull cry. His left arm was pinned to the ground by the dart.


    Andrela looked on calmly as Mallone''s scarlet palm approached. He raised his sword. Although he was weak, he strenuously traced three specks of silver light with the tip of his sword then made them converge.


    Crack.


    He heard his own shoulder fracture; that was the side effect of forcefully using a secret sword.


    "Three Star¡­Convergence!"


    He thrust the sword forwards and directly stabbed Mallone''s red palm.


    With a ''creak'', the sword was instantly bent.


    "You can''t even withstand a random move of mine, what ''Top Expert of the South'' are you?! Looks like today is the day that I, Red Python Fist Mallone, make a name for myself! Hahahaha!" Mallone was finally unable to restrain himself and started laughing maniacally.


    Suddenly his expression changed. He sensed something from his front left flying towards him at a high speed. The force of it brought about a sharp whizzing sound. Hastily, he shifted his palm to block in that direction.


    Wham!


    A dull thud.


    "What the..! What was that?!"


    Mallone''s body flew backwards diagonally, his scarlet palm blocking a small white pebble.


    The pebble was rotating at a high speed in the middle of his palm. The violent friction gave off a burnt smell. The immense force caused his body to skid backwards for a dozen steps before stopping.


    His feet had created two visible black skid marks on the ground.


    "A pe¡­pebble?!"


    Mallone was stunned. He clutched the pebble in his hand, incredulous, and quickly looked towards the direction where it came from.


    In the courtyard, Garen''s eyes were shut, and a wisp of green smoke was rising from his right hand. It was obvious that the pebble was thrown by him.


    "You''re a Grandmaster of Combat too, right?" Garen put down his hand, "Just happens that the last duel didn''t cure my itch for a good fight. Come, fight me."


    "Kid! Do you know who I am?!" Mallone threw away the pebble in his hand, and a sneer showed on his face. "I am the legendary unbeaten Red Python Fist Mallone!"


    "I was merely out of form earlier. Forget it. For Celestial Circle Gate Master Lourdannon''s sake, I''ll spare you this time. Don''t let me see you again! The next time we meet, don''t blame me for being merciless!"


    He scoffed twice, then leaped into the crowd and disappeared.


    Garen''s face twitched; he wanted to say something, but couldn''t manage a word.


    "Mallone¡­So that''s him!" the Great Elder of Celestial Circle Gate was speechless. "His nickname had always been Dwarf Red Rat, since when did he become Red Python Fist? No wonder he looked familiar."

 110 Farce 2

    Chapter 110: Farce 2


    All the martial arts practitioners were in a bustle.


    After witnessing Seven Moon Gate''s hidden force being a despicable Grandmaster of Combat like Mallone, they started to look at members of Seven Moon Gate strangely.


    Disciples and students of Seven Moon Gate wanted to hide their faces in shame; they were red in the face and ears and hung their heads low.


    Even the Second Elder and several senior officials from the corporate group couldn''t stand the shame, and turned to leave with their people.


    The Great Elder had green veins popping out on his pale face. He was a retired confederal general¡ªnot one of those casual officers¡ªbut a real military commander with widespread influence and immense power. When he came into contact with Mallone and other martial art practitioners, hearing how Mallone toots his own horn, he didn''t think much of the other so-called "Grandmasters of Combat". He had a Grandmaster of Combat by his side too, who was the strongest of them all, the unbeaten Red Python Fist Mallone.


    Just from his title you could tell he was powerful. Coupled with witnessing Mallone easily defeat competing martial arts practitioners, including two famous ones, the Great Elder who initially had doubts became more confident, and didn''t doubt the veracity of Mallone''s title.


    Now, he couldn''t believe that Mallone actually fled on his debut!


    Suddenly gazes of disdain were directed at him from all around; the din of chatter sounded like buzzing bees.


    Puff!


    The Great Elder spit out a mouthful of blood, and fell over backwards.


    "Spitting blood again¡­ This old man only knows how to spit blood!" the elder from Celestial Circle Gate was speechless. "If not for my martial arts being abolished, I wouldn''t be able to help myself in giving him two good slaps!"


    "Elder, I think he won''t make it this time¡­" Xin Luo, who had just gotten up, whispered beside the elder.


    Sure enough, the disciples from Seven Moon Gate all rushed over in panic.


    "The Great Elder has passed out in shock! Quick, get him to the hospital!"


    "Send him to the military zone general hospital! Who has any acute medicine? Quick, someone perform CPR!"


    "Apply pressure to the heart, quickly!"


    In the commotion, members of Seven Moon Gate finally carried the Great Elder¡ªwho had temporarily regained consciousness¡ªand made a swift exit.


    Rampas anxiously stayed by the Great Elder''s side. Even though he had an altercation with the Great Elder because of Garen, the Great Elder had always taken good care of him.


    Before he left, he turned around to look at Garen who was standing silently in the courtyard; there was a complexity in his gaze.


    The Seven Moon Gate who had arrived aggressively suddenly became a farce.


    Everyone''s gaze quickly fell back onto Andrela and Garen.


    "I owe you my life," Andrela took a deep breath, swiftly took a pill handed to him by the girl from the group of three Celestial Circle Gate members, and swallowed it.


    "Rest assured, in my honor, my faction in Celestial Circle Gate won''t find trouble with you from here on out. Also, I will give you a full explanation. You have to be careful, the Black Mark Association and the Gate Master won''t let this go peacefully. Finally, this defeat, I will claim it back."


    Garen didn''t say anything. His body relaxed, and he gradually shrunk to his normal state.


    He looked on as members of Celestial Circle Gate gradually left carrying their injured. He walked to the pond in the courtyard; the goldfish in the pond were swimming about without a care in the world.


    Jaimea Lilliette and the others from Circling Dance Gate walked over. Taking in the messy courtyard, they didn''t say anything, but merely looked at Garen.


    Phew¡­


    Garen let out a long sigh. Suddenly he felt an immense sense of relief.


    The spectators gradually dispersed. The Master of Red Obsidian Gate begrudgingly led his disciples back.


    The unification plan of Celestial Circle Gate and Black Mark Association had been completely halted by Garen.


    As long as Garen was at Southern Twelve Gates, it wouldn''t be so easy for Celestial Circle Gate and Black Mark Association to unify all the forces. After this battle, Garen had become the emblem of Southern Twelve Gates. The leaders of the sects that left had a clear idea of the situation now; they had only two choices.


    One was to maintain the existence of their sect and align with Garen for refuge. The second was to dissolve their sect and merge with the Black Mark Association.


    No one wanted to dissolve their sect and merge with Black Mark Association to be managed by someone else. After all, these were martial arts inherited through the years. Each sect had their own beliefs and ideals, which was not something they would simply give up over some benefits.


    Now, as long as Garen didn''t fall, Southern Twelve Gates would not completely fail as the obstructive force against unification.


    As time passed, the crowd dispersed from Circling Dance Gate. Even the police maintaining security had left in their police cars. The lockdown on the area had been lifted and traffic resumed.


    The girls at Circling Dance Gate bolted the broken door in the courtyard. Garen retrieved a checkbook from his room, wrote a number on it and handed it to Jaimea Lilliette.


    "This is for the damage caused to the site during the fight. Take it."


    Jaimea Lilliette wasn''t sanctimonious. She really needed the money now. She received the check and looked at the number on it: one million!


    "How generous."


    Garen smiled. "This matter with Celestial Circle Gate is temporarily resolved, I should return." He had slowly been removed from the sphere of an ordinary high school student. Coupled with the fact that his mental age was far beyond the seventeen years of a high school student, there was no point in going back to school anymore.


    Moreover, there were loose ends that needed tying up. Celestial Circle Gate and Black Mark Association had merely retreated temporarily. The matter with Sylphalan remained unresolved. Members of the Immortal Palace were unusually mysterious; they were untraceable.


    Garen was sure that Sylphalan didn''t intend to kill him, but he seemed to have taken something from him in their previous encounter. He checked for a long time, but didn''t discover what was missing. All he could do was keep wondering.


    He didn''t know why Sylphalan wanted to draw him out. It could be part of Black Mark Association''s plan; it could be something that he had on him; it could be some other reason.


    What he could sense, was the complex and inexplicable attitude Sylphalan had towards him.


    Then there was the issue of supporting Southern Twelve Gates, and Su Lin''s matter.


    Apart from those two things, there was still the matter of relying on Detective Dale to track down the Antiques of Tragedy. Dale Quicksilver and the others were still in Blue Gulf City, Evenia Province investigating this case.


    These three aspects of matters seemed independent, but had a common thread.


    That is, Immortal Palace seemed to be involved behind the scenes in all of them.


    What Garen needed to do was investigate each matter thoroughly, and in the process, continually search for Antiques of Tragedy to enhance his true strength.


    That was his current purpose.


    "Are you going back?" asked Imogen Lilliette, a hint of disappointment in her voice. "Can''t you stay for a while longer to give us guidance?"


    "Next time, hehe," Garen detached from the mode of Grandmaster of Combat, and replied with a grin.


    "So when are you leaving?" Jaimea Lilliette, in contrast, asked casually.


    "I''ll need to trouble you to help me buy some clothes." Garen awkwardly pointed at his bare upper body; even his white pants were soiled. "Walking out like this doesn''t seem too appropriate."


    "Yes, indeed." Although Jaimea Lilliette still maintained an unusually cold attitude, but the way she looked at Garen had very much softened.


    **********************


    The battle at Circling Dance Gate shocked the entire martial arts world in the South.


    The principal person at Celestial Circle Gate, Eldest Senior Brother Andrela, had been defeated by Garen of White Cloud Gate in a direct confrontation. This meant that the momentum in unifying the Southern martial arts world had been halted.


    There were currently seven major sects within the Southern Twelve Gates. Apart from Seven Moon Gate which had suffered a drastic decline in power due to the plunge in their reputation, the other five major sects combined with the rest from Southern Twelve Gates had spontaneously formed a coalition organization to counter the rise of Black Mark Association. This organization held the top expert of the South, White Bird Holy Fist Palosa as their leader, and was acknowledged by Palosa. Coupled with the reputation of Garen of Southern Twelve Gates defeating Andrela of Celestial Circle Gate, the fame of both Palosa and Garen gathered a large group of people with noble aspirations who had long resented Celestial Circle Gate, Black Mark Association and Crimson Sand Sword.


    Moreover, this organization had inadvertently obtained a ''no-intervention'' policy from Celestial Circle Gate and Crimson Sand Sword. Under the situation where external forces maintained a neutral stance, the battle with Black Mark Association was extremely intense. Formal martial arts challenges between the two sides constantly emerged, but none at the level of Grandmaster of Combat. However, both sides kept urging companions to join in the fight, making the scope of the battle larger and wider, and the intensified conflicts elevated.


    After a period of stalemates, the organization officially announced the establishment of a unified force named ''Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate'', implying that it was the supreme fist arts sect of the South.


    While Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate and Black Mark Association were battling, Garen returned to Huaishan City to handle things at school. He applied for a temporary suspension and started sorting out the affairs of White Cloud Gate. But the first person he had to face was the person in control of the assets of White Cloud Gate, Bovini.


    *********************


    Huaishan City


    At a building downtown.


    In an extravagant room.


    Garen and Bovini sat across from each other, a cup of hot coffee in front of each. The strong aroma of coffee slowly filled the air.


    Garen didn''t speak. He was invited by Bovini to come.


    Sitting on the couch, he recalled his time since transmigrating here. He had experienced an infinitely more interesting life than in his past life on earth. It was no longer dull, no longer boring, no longer repeating a mechanical, monotonous life, and was no longer submersed in the monotony of life to the state of depression, deterioration and finally, rot.


    He ran his fingers on the delicate texture of the white porcelain cup; he could only feel the slight warmth of the hot coffee through the wall of the mug.


    Garen snapped out of his thoughts, and looked up at the bald stout man sitting opposite him.


    "Mr Bovini, you''ve invited me here to¡­?"


    Bovini had a relaxed smile on his face. He took out a document which he had put to a side and placed it on the table beside Garen.


    "Mr Garen, these are the various properties transferred to your name, with asset valuations by the valuation company on the side. Please have a look."


    "Transferred to my name?" Garen was slightly stunned.


    "Of course." Bovini slowly took a sip of coffee. "You have been through hell and back for White Cloud Gate and made such a huge contribution. Transferring some properties to your personal name is no big deal. I imagine even if Master Fei woke up, he wouldn''t blame me for such a trivial thing."


    Garen instantly understood what Bovini meant.


    All the properties of White Cloud Dojo were under Fei Baiyun''s name. It didn''t mean anything to him. It was his master''s assets, he couldn''t utilize them, and didn''t even have the right to manage or intervene. Now that White Cloud Gate was withering, he was the only one left to call the shots. Bovini''s intent was to invite him to the dinner table splitting the assets of White Cloud Gate, and shut his mouth by offering him some practical benefits.


    "Mr Bovini, I think you have misjudged me," Garen couldn''t help but laugh, and shook his head slightly.


    Bovini''s expression remained unchanged; he maintained a passive smile.


    "It''s alright. We can discuss this slowly. We''ll find a common point of exchange eventually."


    He calmly took out a stack of documents from the briefcase by his side and put them in front of Garen.


    "Please have a look first."


    Garen picked it up and glanced at it. The documents were the asset transfer agreements for the casino, factory and antiques trading company under White Cloud Gate respectively, all effective upon his signature. Attached were the asset valuation report and a Confederal Industrial and Commercial Bank check¡ªthe amount written on it was 20 million dollars.

 111 Cleaning 1

    Chapter 111: Cleaning 1


    "What do you mean by this? Are you trying to bribe me?" Garen put down the documents and asked calmly.


    "How can you call it a bribe?" Bovini smiled. "This is just a simple exchange, where we each get what we need. What do you think?"


    Garen smiled too. He felt a sense of contempt and absurdity.


    "What a pity. Maybe you think that without the White Cloud Gate, you can become independent and completely control all the assets. But I''m not interested in getting involved in your business."


    Bovini''s expression changed a little. "So what you mean is¡­?"


    "I''ll take these." Garen stood up and collected the transfer documents. "Alright, it''s settled then. I still have other matters to attend to. I''ll make a move first."


    As he watched Garen''s figure slowly walk out the door and leave, Bovini''s face showed a trace of confusion.


    "Did he agree? Or¡­? Forget it, as long as he''s taken the documents, it''s fine." He gradually felt more reassured.


    After exiting the building, Garen walked straight to a red horse carriage stopped by the roadside.


    Inside the carriage sat a black-haired youth wearing a grey overcoat.


    "It''s up to you now, Jim." Garen stepped into the carriage and patted the youth''s shoulder. "We have to let Bovini realize that he can''t do anything without us."


    "As the local manager for Golden Hoop, this is my duty. Since Mr. Six told me to obey your every order before leaving, I certainly will not reject," the youth said calmly. "Nonetheless, the procedures at school are done, what do you plan to do next? To tell you the truth, Golden Hoop''s forces locally are mediocre. The most we can mobilize is thirty to forty people. The plan cannot work by relying on us alone."


    "What''s going on? I thought you could previously mobilize a lot of people in a short amount of time?" Garen asked, confused.


    "It''s all because of you," the youth complained. "Our local operations have been suppressed to the limit. My application to manage Huaishan City seems like a mistake from the start. No, I need to start applying to be transferred to other cities. Staying here around you is too problematic."


    The youth Jim was the local ordinary staff manager for Golden Hoop, also known by the titles of intelligence chief, periphery administrator and so on. Apart from the ranked Golden Hoop members, the remainder periphery Golden Hoop members¡ª technically nobodies¡ªare assigned under him.


    From an external perspective, he was considered the leader of two local groups.


    "It doesn''t matter. As long as the goal is achieved."


    Garen smiled. The carriage began to move. The driver was from Golden Hoop too, but he completely ignored the conversation between the two people behind him.


    "I''ve been back from Dinah City for more than twenty days. If I had waited for Su Lin to help me out of the tight spot, I would probably be long dead. Any news from Number 6?"


    "Mister will arrive in Huaishan today, if the trains are on time," Jim said in a hushed tone. He stretched his wrist out to look at his watch. "It''s now 11 o''clock. He should arrive at three. And plus, you can''t say that. Mister was relieved when he heard that you managed to get yourself out of that tight spot, which is why he didn''t go out of his way to make a trip over. Otherwise, he would have been here within ten days. The reason he''s delayed his trip was merely to help you tie up the loose ends."


    "So.. I should thank him?" Garen was speechless.


    Half an hour later, the carriage slowly drove to a small, remote restaurant. The restaurant was desolate; barely a handful of people were dining inside. The only customers dining were youths wearing white robes. They were the branch students of the reopened White Cloud Dojo.


    Garen stepped off the carriage and walked into the small restaurant.


    A girl in a green dress who was bored inside immediately greeted him. The girl was slim and had large breasts. She looked quite pretty, and gave off an impression of innocence and charm.


    "I''ve reserved the private room for you. Please follow me."


    "Thank you." Garen had been dining here recently. The restaurant was small; there was only one main area and one private room. The owner who managed the place was a middle-aged man. The girl responsible for cleaning up was this thirteen-year-old girl in green dress he adopted. Additionally, there was the chef he hired. Father and daughter ran the restaurant near the dojo branch, and relied on business from students to make a meager living.


    Their food wasn''t very good. It was average, but more importantly it was clean. And the beautiful and adorable figure of the girl was pleasing to the eyes too.


    Garen was wearing jeans and a white t-shirt, his strong muscles tight against his clothes. Below his indigo hair was a pair of clear dark red eyes. His actions and words conveyed an inexplicable authority, as though his physical stature was oppressive enough to crush opponents with weaker willpower.


    When the green-dress girl first stood in front of Garen, she actually felt weak at the knees and didn''t dare to look up into his calm red eyes. It was the type of strong confidence which gave him the ability to stay calm in the face of any situation.


    Garen followed the girl into the only private room. Since he entered the restaurant, everyone else seemed to quieten in his oppressive presence. It wasn''t until he completely entered the private room that they resumed their loud chatter. The gaze of a few youths curiously followed him into the private room, then slowly retracted.


    After walking into the clean and tidy private room with red walls and sitting down on a wooden yellow chair, Garen ordered a few familiar dishes. The green-dress girl hurried out of the room to prepare them.


    As the door closed, he could vaguely hear her let out a deep sigh of relief.


    Garen smiled helplessly.


    "Ever since that battle with Andrela, my Bravery is getting stronger. Even if I concealed all of it, it would still unconsciously affect others. How troublesome."


    "Some people want it but can''t have it, yet you complain that it''s troublesome," Su Lin''s voice came from outside the door. He pushed the door open to enter. He was wearing an ordinary black t-shirt and jeans, similar to Garen''s. But his physique was slender, which gave the impression that he had a gentle temperament. The only imperfection was his eye-catching red hair which ruined the whole look.


    "I saw you come in, so I followed."


    "I thought you said you would only reach at three o''clock?" Garen casually asked as he watched Su Lin walk to the chair by the table to sit down.


    "That was a ruse. If everyone could easily grasp my whereabouts, then there would be absolutely no security at all," Su Lin smiled as he sat down.


    "Have you settled things with your parents and sister?"


    "They are under my uncle''s care. They shouldn''t be involved in our world." Garen shook his head. "They should be allowed to just lead a quiet life. The Manleyton Corporation has retreated from Huaishan, the whole city is now under the control of our family. Covertly protecting the safety of a few people shouldn''t be too much trouble, right?"


    "According to the rules, they are indeed not in much danger. Even though you''re getting more and more famous in the martial arts world, but you''re still relatively unknown in other areas. The possibility that your family is targeted is low. After all, no one would dare break the rules. Whoever starts the fight would have to expect an opponent without scruples. With your current true strength, even if you retreated behind the scenes, Celestial Circle Gate would probably still be concerned," Su Lin chuckled. "But the stronger your true strength, the more useful it would be for me."


    "How are the state of things now? The specific situation," Garen poured some cheap black tea for the both of them, took a sip and asked.


    "The state of things¡­is a little complicated. But it''s simpler after a detailed analysis," Su Lin paused, seemingly thinking about how to phrase his answer.


    "Currently, three forces in play have been determined, you excluded. Celestial Circle Gate is with Crimson Sand Sword, Black Mark Association is a force on its own, and Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate another."


    "Celestial Circle Gate and Crimson Sand Sword are not homogeneous with Black Mark Association. Even though they have formed a temporary union, but the pie that is the Southern martial arts world which they¡¯ve jointly broke up, they each want a piece. So they''ve been expanding wildly and challenging others along the way. Members of Black Mark Association almost got into conflict with members from Crimson Sand Sword. It seems that in the process of integrating the South, they are using the opportunity to expand their own influence. All three forces seem to be competing against each other. "


    Su Lin paused and glanced at Garen who was listening attentively." Celestial Circle Gate has temporarily retreated because of you. Andrela has played a big part in this. He has openly declared that he owes his life to you. Everyone understood what he meant. Even if you''ve killed Ni Tenstar, but anytime you are in danger and need help, the branch that he, Andrela, commands, will instantly come to your aid. All to repay the life debt that he owes you. No one doubts the authenticity of his words. Rumor has it that when he said those words, Andrela was publicly slapped by the Celestial Circle Gate Master, and was heavily injured to the extent that he vomited blood on the spot. But this did not diminish his respected status and influence in the eyes of other disciples. So to avoid internal conflict, Celestial Circle Gate won''t take any action against you. But that''s not the case with Black Mark Association.


    "What about the other two forces?" Garen was clear about the consequences of saving Andrela. This was a man who took his promises seriously; he didn''t easily offer promises, but once he had promised something it will be honored. So he had already anticipated Celestial Circle Gate''s attitude from the start.


    "Black Mark Association seems to be indifferent. They are of the opinion that Andrela''s true strength was being exaggerated, so they are not taking it seriously. And naturally they do not think much of you, the person who defeated Andrela. They have produced three Fist Master Grade experts internally. I predict that you will face them sooner or later. Crimson Sand Sword, on the other hand, are fully aware of Andrela''s true strength before he was seriously injured, so they will be more restrained in their attitude towards you. Lastly, Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate. Merely established for a dozen days or so, they are simply referred to as Southern Holy Gate. Due to personal emotional involvement, three people stood up against the three Fist Master Grade Grandmasters of Combat from Black Mark Association. Initially, these three were not experts from the South, but because their acquaintances were injured by Black Mark Association, so they are now involved formally as a major force against them. They are styled as Divine Marshals by members of the Southern Holy Gate, collectively known as the Three Divine Marshals!"


    "The Three Divine Marshals? What an impressive name. But how is their true strength?" Garen murmured.


    "I''m sorry, you are one of them," Su Lin giggled as he said it.


    "Huh?" Garen was stunned. "Me?"


    "Yeap," Su Lin suppressed his laughter and nodded. "You are the strongest among the three in Southern Holy Gate, one of the Three Divine Marshals: the Mammoth."


    "So I''m named after my Secret Martial Art? I thought they would give me a better nickname," Garen sounded disappointed. "But out of the blue I''ve become one of the so-called Three Divine Marshals, I''m really speechless. They''ve set a position for me without me even knowing about it."


    "It can''t be helped. It wasn''t easy for Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate to find a Grandmaster of Combat who is able to oppose Black Mark Association in a short amount of time. You are merely filling in to make up the numbers, just like White Bird Holy Fist senior who was summoned to hoist the banner. Anyway, there is no disadvantage to you, just accept it." Su Lin shrugged.


    "Now, I believe it''s time for you to help me?"

 112 Cleaning 2

    Chapter 112: Cleaning 2


    "No problem." Garen nodded. "Before that, I need you to help me locate Senior Sister and Senior Brother. Also, I need to make sure the situation in Huaishan City is under control. There are still some things I need to take care of."


    "Sure, I can help you with that. I will talk to the authorities. You don¡¯t need to worry about anything after those mice are dealt with." Su Lin smiled, he was in a good mood.


    "We need to finish Manleyton Corporation and Bouvini off. I¡¯ll send you some people to do the management if you want. Also, what about your uncle?" he continued.


    "I will handle it," Garen said with a light tone. He was much stronger than before, and with the help of Su Lin, he could easily handle all of those issues.


    However, Garen had never told his sister and parents about what he was doing. They thought that he went on a trip with Master Fei Baiyun and had no idea how bad the situation was.


    Su Lin knew Garen had made up his mind. "Finding Rosetta and Farak may take some time. They just disappeared without leaving a trace."


    "It¡¯s fine, just keep searching while I am away." Garen knew it was impossible to find them in a day or two.


    "Sure."


    The dishes finally arrived. There were several Asian style pan-fried dishes served with rice. Although the flavor was average, the food was to Garen¡¯s taste.


    Su Lin was efficient. He led his special army to Manleyton Corporation, accused them of Antique Scalping and arrested whoever was left there. Someone had passed a message earlier to several elites of the corporation, and they escaped before Su Lin¡¯s team arrived.


    **************************


    Ten days later.


    In a deep forest outside Huaishan City.


    The last force of Manleyton Corporation was surrounded in a mansion. There were many gunshots going on at the place. Su Lin and Garen stayed behind the guards, surveying the white mansion from a distance.


    "Our people are having trouble breaking in. It is probably the last force Manleyton Corporation has, and there are many elites inside it. They are doing a pretty good job of defending their position." Su Lin smiled and looked at Garen. "How about we just wait here until they decide to surrender? I don¡¯t want to lose anyone in my team."


    "I will do it myself I guess." Garen looked at the rifles sticking out of the windows and shook his head.


    He did not wait for Su Lin to respond and just walked straight toward the mansion. His body kept inflating while walking, so Su Lin ordered his soldiers to stay out of Garen¡¯s way.


    "Is this guy trying to die? He¡¯s not even wearing a bullet proof suit. Who the hell is this guy? A superhero? His body is inflating?" One of the young soldiers behind the tree said in a light tone, mocking Garen.


    "Shut the hell up!" Another soldier beside him slapped the young soldier¡¯s head. "You¡¯re talking about Master Garen. He¡¯s one of the three Divine Marshals from the Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate. He can easily deal with those punks."


    "Tsk, I don¡¯t think he can resist bullets." The young man was not convinced, but he decided not to argue with the leader and lowered his head.


    "Dumbass."


    Garen did not hear their conversation. He kept on walking toward the mansion¡¯s gate.


    "It¡¯s Divine Marshal Garen!" Someone inside the mansion yelled in a shaky tone. He sounded desperate and scared.


    "Bring it on!"


    "We can¡¯t just sit here and wait!" several others yelled.


    Suddenly, the place became deathly silent.


    There were no gunshots going on anymore.


    Garen stood in front of the white iron gate, but he could not sense anyone pointing a rifle at him. After becoming a Grandmaster of Combat, Garen¡¯s sense was keener than before, and he could easily find the people that weren¡¯t hiding their intention to kill. To him, it was as easy as finding a shining dot of light in the dark.


    Su Lin¡¯s soldiers stopped firing after the mansion became silent. They were confused, and some of them were trying to peek inside through the windows, but did not see anything moving. It seemed like the Manleyton Corporation¡¯s last force had already given up.


    "What¡¯s going on? They surrendered?"


    "I don¡¯t know, they aren¡¯t firing anymore."


    "Let¡¯s wait for orders."


    Garen stood in front of the gate quietly, his body still inflating to 1.9 meters tall. Although he was still weaker than in his final form, his defense was already incredibly high.


    It was quiet.


    Sunlight penetrated the leaves that were falling from the tree, and the wind blew them away. After the gunshots stopped, Garen could hear birds twittering and insects chirping.


    Hoo!


    Several dry leaves dropped down from the tree again due to the wind. Garen slowly reached out to the handles of the gate.


    Boom!


    As Garen¡¯s fingers touched the handle,Manleyton Corporation¡¯s force started firing again.


    Garen rushed forward, bullets were coming toward him from all angles. The noise of gunfire suddenly returned, and he could barely determine where all the gunshots were coming from. Garen crashed through the white iron gate with his fists. It broke into pieces and collapsed inward.


    Garen was locked on by four enemies, and they kept firing toward him.


    Dan!


    Garen was in the line of fire, but he kept stepping forward. He travelled more than ten meters after three steps. A one-eyed man had a submachine gun in his hands right in front of Garen, and Garen hit the man in the face.


    Crack!


    The man¡¯s head exploded, and he dropped his gun to the floor. Garen did not stop. He found the other three and finished them all, then looked for more targets. Although his speed was slower than the best Martial Artists¡¯, he was still much faster than normal people.


    The bullets did no damage to Garen. It was like they were hitting a steel plate.


    Finally, Garen found the last elite of Manleyton Corporation. The man was choking with tears in his eyes. He saw Garen coming for him, the horrifying shadow getting bigger and bigger in his sight.


    The elite had a crazed look on his face, and he was laughing.


    He quickly took something black out of the pouch on his waist.


    "Let¡¯s die together¡­ heh¡­ together¡­" The man pulled the ring off the grenade and held it in his right hand. Garen stayed calm. He chopped off the man¡¯s right wrist with his hand right after he figured out what the man was trying to do.


    Pon!


    The man¡¯s right arm detached and flew to the corner, blood splashing all over the ground.


    Boom!


    The grenade exploded, and mud was everywhere. Garen could smell the gunpowder in the air.


    Garen took the man by his throat and lifted him up. The crazed man took out a pistol and kept shooting at Garen¡¯s chest.


    "Grasping at straws." Garen broke the man¡¯s neck without applying a lot of force. He put down the body carelessly and walked inside the patio.


    There were still people shooting at him from the second floor, and some were even throwing grenades at him.


    Pon!


    Garen only blocked the grenades that went close to him. Although there were explosions all over the place, the further ones were of no threat to him.


    Garen stood in front of the mansion and pulled the lock out of the door with his fingers. He then pushed the door open and entered the mansion. The gunfire inside stopped, and Su Lin¡¯s soldiers started firing to suppress the enemy.


    Several of Su Lin¡¯s elite soldiers followed Garen, splitting into two groups after entering the building. Garen stood by the entrance and looked at the second floor.


    Pon!


    A bullet hit his eye lid, and it sparked a bit. Garen had closed his eyes right after seeing the enemy was about to fire. The scene made the soldiers around him speechless. No one had ever seen anything like this before.


    "I want that one alive," Garen spoke in a light tone.


    "But¡­" The lieutenant¡¯s voice was shaking. It was not the fear that made him shake, his body was just naturally reacting to danger.


    Garen did not wait for the lieutenant to finish his words, he just entered the first floor of the building.


    He saw a large living room first. Everything was white here, and he saw several religious sculptures in the room. On the left, there was a spiral staircase that was connected to the second floor.


    The soldiers that had entered the building with him were already fighting by the stairs, judging by the sound of gunshots he could hear.


    Garen did not stop, he kept going upstairs.


    Before he could reach the second floor, the staircase collapsed, and lime was blown into the air. Garen fell to the first floor. He raised his head and looked at the second floor.


    He saw several people, Cynthia among them. The elite bodyguard captain of Manleyton Corporation was hurt, and there was blood on her face.


    "I¡¯m done¡­ I am Assassin Bichurin¡­ I can¡¯t just die like this. This place is narrow, and there is no audience. There is nothing around here! I didn¡¯t even find a worthy opponent¡­"


    There were only four enemies guarding the stairs and the windows.


    The leader was a middle-aged man with a scar on his face. He finished his sentence and drew his scimitar. He was ready to engage.


    Cynthia had no expression on her face. Although she was hurt, she looked calm and was even whistling.


    "I am so dead¡­ Divine Marshal Garen of Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate¡­ I knew it! I knew I should not have stayed with you guys! Wah¡­" A tall handsome man was crying like a baby and trembling in fear.


    "Kaiser, you weak ass bastard! Why don¡¯t you find a way to deal with that monster if you have the time to cry!" The last woman in black yelled, holding submachine gun in her hands.


    There were bodies everywhere on the second floor. The blood was dripping off the stairs, and the fishy smell in the air made people sick.

 113 Cleaning 3

    Chapter 113: Cleaning 3


    Cynthia looked at the strongest of the captain-rank companions around her. Three out of seven were killed, only these four were left. Last time, when she was companions with Garen, she didn''t think anything of it. Now that they were opponents standing in front of each other, she felt the suffocating and terrifying pressure.


    It was like facing a dozen-storey tall dark blue wave. It was the terrifying pressure of realizing that there was no way to dodge, no escape, and direct confrontation would only result in being devoured and drowned!


    The dark blue wave that covered everything in sight was advancing towards her; even her breathing started to quicken, and her body temperature fell.


    Clap!


    Cynthia fiercely gave herself a slap, and instantly snapped out of the illusion of pressure.


    "Am I breaking?" she muttered.


    Only someone who was about to suffer a mental breakdown would experience such illusions. She went through death training before when she was very weak and had experienced it once, but it wasn''t as terrifying as the suffocating pressure from downstairs.


    Hrfff¡­ Whooo¡­


    She hung her head low and started taking deep breaths.


    "It''s going to be alright¡­ It''s going to be alright¡­ I can do it. I will definitely be able to find a way to break through. Definitely!"


    **************


    Downstairs.


    Garen looked up at the broken steps on the staircase leading up to the first floor and frowned. He turned around to look at the military captain awaiting his orders.


    "Break through it."


    He pointed at the ground floor ceiling.


    Bang bang bang bang!


    Dozens of submachine guns were raised and fired towards the ceiling.


    This was a small building constructed with cement-bonded wood fiber. The partition between the ground and first floor was not completely concrete; it was effortlessly punctured under the powerful impact of the submachine guns.


    A large number of bullets shot through the first floor flooring like rain drops and ricocheted within the small living room on the first floor.


    Crash!


    A large celadon vase in the corner of the room was hit by a stray bullet and shattered into countless pieces.


    Cynthia and the others crouched closely together in a corner and tried as much as possible to reduce the surface area of their bodies, but two of them were still hit multiple times to the extent that they resembled hornet''s nests. The space on the first floor was limited; there was no way to effectively avoid the gunfire.


    Cynthia and the captain could be considered the strongest two among all of them. In haste, the method which they chose to evade the bullets was the most effective, so they didn''t suffer much harm. One got hit in the face, and the other in the left shin. At least compared to the other two, they were already very lucky.


    Huff¡­ huff¡­ huff¡­


    Their heavy breathing was clearly audible in the quiet space.


    "Cynthia."


    Garen''s voice came from the first floor.


    "Killing you would be as simple as crushing an ant to me. Surrender, and both of you can live in this situation. I acknowledge your true strength," Garen downstairs looked up towards the first floor and said calmly. He was indeed making the offer out of appreciation of talent.


    The operational model of Manleyton Corporation differed from other companies. To prevent the concentration of power at the upper tiers, all staff would transfer teams from time to time. Constantly scattering and constantly changing, the relationship between members was detached. This was the reason he dared to solicit the other party after killing so many people from Manleyton. Moreover, White Cloud Gate currently lacked elite talent that completely belonged to him.


    "It seems, among the Three Divine Marshals, you are the most mediocre one." Cynthia didn''t speak. Instead, it was the other old man''s voice that came from above.


    Garen gestured for the soldiers to spread out, and addressed the people on first floor alone.


    "From the sound of it, you''ve met the other two Divine Marshals?"


    "Of course. They are strong and cruel. Anyone confirmed as an enemy would face their full wrath," the man replied. "But you''re different. You would alter your benefit analysis based on your mood or some other reason and come up with the best solution. Am I right?"


    Garen unconsciously smiled.


    "Not bad. You are indeed worthy of being a talent who has survived till now. If you join White Cloud Gate, I will assign you to a suitable position. Choose: join, or die."


    "The alternative of refusal is death. This is your idea of a choice?" Cynthia said sarcastically.


    "Death is equally a choice." Contrary to Cynthia, Garen nodded calmly. "Well, it was your corporation that betrayed me first. A force that is familiar with my details, expecting to safely escape my sphere of influence. Don''t you think that''s too na?ve?"


    The first floor remained silent. After a while, the sound of two guns being dumped on the ground could be heard.


    Garen put his hands into his pockets, turned around and headed out the door. He had his answer from the way they breathed.


    "Go upstairs and bring the two of them down. Give them medical treatment and a good rest."


    "Yes, sir." The military captain quickly saluted Garen. Speaking to Garen at spitting distance, he recalled the outrageous scene earlier. The captain had already listed Garen as someone he would absolutely not provoke.


    Su Lin walked in from the courtyard.


    "It''s over?"


    "Yes, it''s over here." Garen nodded. He removed his torn t-shirt in one swift move, and changed into a t-shirt of the same style handed over to him.


    "You''re not worried they''ll trick you?"


    "It''s fine. The risk of loss is inevitable if you want to reap the rewards."


    "Next, you plan to¡­"


    "Let''s check on Bovini," Garen said calmly.


    "He''s now half alive after being tortured by the ''triad'' members," Su Lin was delighted about Bovini''s misfortune.


    "It can''t be helped. Nobody asked him to declare leaving White Cloud Gate. Property incapable of being defended are naturally alluring pieces of meat. What a pity. If Mr Bovini was still part of White Cloud Gate, I would offer my full assistance in punishing those unruly ''triads''. But now it''s none of my business." Garen smiled.


    "Sometimes I wonder if you''re really seventeen." Su Lin was speechless and started smiling too.


    "There will always be people who are considered geniuses in this world. Unfortunately, I''m one of them." Garen boasted without blushing.


    "Brag on, you!" Su Lin patted him, speechless.


    The two of them walked towards the direction they came from, and soon disappeared into the woods.


    ********************


    A few days later.


    Garen was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the White Cloud Martial Colosseum, his eyes closed.


    Across from him, also sitting cross-legged on the floor, were Collin and Simon. The entire Colosseum capable of accommodating 200 people was empty apart from them.


    Recently, Garen had a growing feeling that his martial arts had gradually entered a stage where it couldn''t be explicitly assessed. The Qi, blood and spirit of his body were completely in sync, as if all of his previously latent true strength was gradually being explored and utilized.


    "The human body is a large treasure trove," he slowly spoke. The two people opposite him were instantly invigorated and listened attentively. It was a golden opportunity to be able to receive personal guidance from the current Garen.


    "Even if it were an average person, as long as he is able to thoroughly tap into his potential, they can exhibit amazing power too," Garen said softly with his eyes closed.


    "The method I''m teaching you is to be used in training exercises. Spend half an hour a day meditating, and consciously perceive the favorable and unfavorable factors generated in training within your entire body."


    "The Secret Martial Art of White Cloud Gate is sufficiently intense, but lacks solidification. This is something that I have only recently realized. It''s difficult to find a suitable Secret Martial Art to aid in solidification in such a short amount of time, so I''ve chosen to use this method. Focus on your meditating for half an hour. There will be students to remind you when the time is up."


    "Yes, Eldest Senior Brother," they answered in tandem, and closed their eyes. They would never doubt Garen''s words, because his actual personal progress was already evidence that the method was effective.


    Garen slowly got up and headed to the basement of the Colosseum.


    Simon and Collin were two core disciples that he had been devoting his time and efforts to coach recently. There were many core disciples at White Cloud Gate, but they were the most distinguished. If he wanted to successfully train two right-hand men in a short amount of time, they were his best hope.


    Fortunately, both of them were aware that it was a critical period for White Cloud Gate¡ªwhich needed the backing of powerful forces¡ªso they have progressed rapidly. They weren''t lacking in foundation skills in the first place, so now under Garen''s personal tutelage, they have naturally improved by leaps and bounds. They had exceeded their peers and were now on par with adult Martial Adepts.


    A few days ago Simon even went for a test; his Amateur Stage had reached Stage Six. This could be considered a qualified level even among adult Martial Adepts. After all, Second Senior Brother Farak was only at Amateur Stage Nine.


    In comparison, Collin was similar. Both improved at a perceptible pace.


    But Garen was able to see that Simon''s limit was at Stage Seven. He had lost an arm, and any further training would be impeded by this inherent defect. If in future he didn''t possess extremely strong willpower to persevere, this would be it for his entire lifetime.


    Collin, on the other hand, could still improve. Since they returned, he had taken them both as disciples. Under his unreserved tutelage, coupled with Collin''s immense potential, she could probably reach Eldest Senior Sister''s level by 25 years old.


    Of course that referred to Rosetta''s true strength on the surface, after concealment. Her actual true strength was unknown, even to Garen. After all, he had never seen her fight with full strength before.


    In estimation, Master, Eldest Senior Sister, and Tenstar Ni, should all be at the level on the brink of Grandmaster of Combat, that is, the peak of Grade E.


    Of these so-called "grades", Grade D is the limit. Anything above that was not used to assess humans.


    In other words, this alphabet grading was originally used by countries to grade firearms.


    Grade E was for handguns and other small firearms, Grade D was medium-sized firearms. Going up the scale would be weapons that were even more powerful.


    This was merely because martial art practitioners unwilling to be phased out by the times refused to withdraw from this stage of history, so they graded their own martial art powers with firearm gradings, all to prove that martial arts could reach a level not inferior to firearms. But alas, the highest could only be Grade D.


    When he reached the staircase at the entrance, Garen turned around to look at the both of them.


    "In the near future, they could both thoroughly stabilize the standing of the dojo locally," This so-called stabilization referred to the average daily challenges, teaching, training, explaining and similar tasks.


    "You are planning to leave?" At the bottom of the stairs, Cynthia was leaning on a wall flipping a sharp dagger. She tossed the dagger upwards¡ªit spiraled into a round silver wheel¡ªthen accurately caught the handle in her hand as it landed. The sound of the blade cutting through air could be heard.


    "Where''s Jack?"


    "The car is ready. We can head over straightaway." Jack was the scar-faced captain who had surrendered together with Cynthia.

 114 Cleaning 4

    Chapter 114: Cleaning 4


    "Alright. Let''s go see that adorable chubby Bovini first. I haven''t seen him for a while, I quite miss him," Garen couldn''t help but laugh.


    "Miss his money, you mean?"


    Cynthia looked contemptuous.


    Garen didn''t mind. Both of them walked out of the stairwell one after the other. The students around them stared at them in awe as they exited the main dojo and stepped into a white horse carriage.


    "Oh yeah, how is Master now?"


    "Very well. His body is well maintained. But for some reason, he just hasn''t woken up all this while." Cynthia had now become Garen''s full-time secretary, replacing Grace''s original role. This was the initial purpose for which the corporation sent her. Ironically, it wasn''t achieved then, but achieved now after she has left the corporation.


    "He hasn''t woken up all this while?" Garen frowned. He suddenly thought of the illusory tactics that Sylphalan previously used. "Could it be them?"


    "What did you say?"


    "Nothing, let''s go," Garen snapped out of his daze and said calmly.


    Ever since defeating Andrela, his mind possessed a kind of fearless and strong confidence, as if there was nothing to fear in the world, and in the face of everything his body would be able to adapt seamlessly and he could confront it head on.


    This was the characteristic of his strong Qi and blood, to the extent that it was at a non-human level. He wasn''t sure if other Grandmasters of Combat felt this way, but it was apparent for him.


    The horse carriage moved slowly, and the street on both sides gradually moved backwards.


    It was now early spring. On the streets of Huaishan, some farmers carried baskets of fresh vegetables for sale.


    The surface of the streets was wet; it was obvious that it had rained yesterday.


    Soon, their white horse carriage stopped in front of a black marble building.


    The chubby Bovini was smiling ear to ear, standing at the entrance with some people. There were bruises all over his face and body. A piece of white gauze was stuck to his forehead, and one of his eyes was so swollen it couldn¡¯t open.


    "Welcome, welcome Mr Garen. The directors and I have been waiting for you for a long time."


    The rest of the people around him started guffawing. Every one of them was like him, bruised all over; they looked extremely awkward.


    Garen calmly said from the carriage, "You have to understand, some things are not yours to keep. Hand it over obligingly and leave Huaishan. In view of our previous friendship, I''ll decide on behalf of my master: I won''t pursue this matter further."


    After he finished speaking, his gaze turned to Cynthia who was sitting by his side.


    The latter nodded, held her handbag and stepped out of the carriage.


    "Leave it to me over here. You get going. I will properly handle all the transfer documents," Cynthia said assuredly.


    "Just transfer it all back under Master''s name." Garen didn''t need these properties. With his current status, if he wanted to make money right now, it would be a walk in the park.


    "Understood."


    "I''ll make a move first then. Uncle is still waiting for me."


    The horse carriage slowly started moving again, taking Garen to the other side where Pennington Street was.


    His uncle''s family on his wife''s side had already been dissatisfied about inheritance matters for quite some time now.


    Now that he''s heard about Garen''s return, his uncle immediately sent for him to meet the elders from that side of the family.


    Compared to his uncle Anjer, the likes of Bovini were simply feeble nobodies.


    Anjer''s company footprint spanned the whole of Galantia. Even in the province they were considered a large infamous criminal group. There were even rumors that they took over an assassin-and-bodyguard type of business.


    ****


    It was equivalent to the magnified version of Manleyton Corporation. Smuggling, drugs, gambling, arms, Anjer''s company would do whatever generated a profit. Of course, they have cleaned up a lot over the years. Technically speaking, the fact that White Cloud Gate could achieve their previous status in Huaishan was merely because Anjer didn''t try to control it. It was a power he chose to give up on the consideration of cleaning up.


    Compared to all these industries, selling antiques was just a negligible source of income, a way to distribute some excess wealth to other local companies.


    This time even Garen''s uncle knew that he was coming back. It could be said that, after Bovini and the rest were humiliated by Golden Hoop, the fact that there wasn''t any revenge or life-and-death battle, was partly to his uncle''s credit.


    So Garen attending this gathering was also a show of gratitude on behalf of White Cloud Gate.


    On the matter of the competition for the industries under the control of Anjer''s company, this problem was slightly more troublesome.


    The other party was not to be underestimated. Anjer''s company was a group that spanned a dozen cities, more than half of the province. Their immense power and influence was comparable to that of Seven Moon Gate.


    Of course, this was simply referring to low and middling strengths. The comparison would be less clear if it were higher-end martial art practitioners. But to be able to survive until now is definitely not an easy feat.


    Garen analyzed his uncle Anjer''s situation along the journey.


    Since his childhood, Anjer Group seemed to have always been stable and unusually peaceful; there didn''t seem to be any major complications in its development. This was obviously the embodiment of substantial power.


    It was obvious that his uncle was not as simple as he seemed. What could be certain was that behind his uncle was a strong power belonging to him, shielding the entire group at all times.


    And based on his uncle''s lack of understanding and exposure towards the martial arts world, it didn''t seem like the power of martial art practitioners.


    Garen recalled his past. His uncle had always expressed disdain at martial arts, but he did have a martial arts expert friend over as a guest.


    Inviting Garen over this time, it was apparent that he wanted him to gain recognition from his wife''s side. Obviously the other party still had influence over the group. Even though it wasn''t enough to affect his uncle''s decisions, but if something went wrong there, there would still be a certain negative impact.


    Sitting in the carriage, Garen fully considered all the factors, then slowly closed his eyes to rest.


    Ten or so minutes later, the carriage slowed to a stop at the end of Pennington Street, coincidentally not far across from where Dolphin Antiques used to be.


    There was a garden-style private bungalow which was uninhabited all year round. He didn''t expect it to be his uncle''s property.


    The white bungalow was surrounded by a green garden and pink Chinese roses, fenced in by a wall with white vine motifs on it.


    On both sides of the white pebble trail leading to the bungalow were large patches of green grass, where two children were playing chase.


    To the left of the three-storey white main building, a black patio umbrella was erected in the garden. Below it was a round table and four chairs. The three fair ladies in long dresses sat there chatting and drinking coffee. They had on black or white round hats with different colored feathers and were chatting casually; the whole affair seemed composed and elegant.


    Looking into the main building from its open main door, he could vaguely make out some men wearing elegant suits talking to each other in clusters of twos and threes. Some were holding red wine, some were smoking, and there were even some who were taking notes with pen and paper.


    Garen could hear some music from afar. It was piano and violin music.


    At the main door, the two bodyguards clad in black standing guard at the door stepped forward and bowed respectfully to Garen.


    "Young Master Garen, the director is waiting for you inside. Please come in." Someone behind immediately led the carriage to park elsewhere. The white carriage was not dreadful, but compared to the luxury cars parked around the bungalow, it seemed shabby and insignificant.


    Garen frowned. He looked at the black jeans and black t-shirt he had on, although they matched well, the workmanship and material seemed ordinary, and didn''t go well with such occasions.


    "It''s okay. The director has prepared an attire," one of the bodyguards said in a hushed tone. Garen could tell that he wasn''t someone in charge of standing guard at the entrance, but someone who had purposely came out to wait for him. "Please follow me."


    "Very well."


    Garen followed the bodyguard and changed into a black slim suit, with a dark red tie around his neck. His indigo short hair had been tidied up. Coupled with his beautiful cool red eyes, he exuded an indifferent and elegant charm. Only the glow that occasionally flashed across his dark red eyes¡ªwhen he was watching others¡ªwould convey a vague sense of vastness.


    It was a temperament created by his strong martial arts power resulting in mental and physical sublimation, a sense of standing on a higher level overlooking ordinary people.


    Garen evaluated his look in the mirror. When he saw the immense Momentum in his eyes, he furrowed his brow.


    Facing the mirror, he made some adjustments and restrained his inner state.


    It was only then that the indifference in his eyes gradually faded away.


    "No matter how powerful a martial arts practitioner is, they are vulnerable in the face of firearms. It was now the era of firearms, and the era of ordinary people. Being overly affected by this Momentum would only make one more and more arrogant. One has to be vigilant," he reminded himself. Although bullets weren''t a threat to him now, but explosives and artillery shells were a different matter. Even if he could withstand the blast, the immense impact would still cause instability in his Qi and blood.


    Even though he had never experienced it, he vaguely felt the danger of it.


    Momentum was one of the byproducts of Bravery, generated from the absolute confidence in oneself. Different from Bravery, the existence or non-existence of Momentum wouldn''t affect much. Moreover, Momentum with a poor foundation would lead to self-aggrandizement, which made one vulnerable.


    Bravery was not the same; it was the basis of Momentum. Astute Grandmasters of Combat had to cultivate their Bravery, something akin in nature to a force field. It wasn''t merely linked to martial arts strength; it was also related to one''s spiritual cultivation. It was the amalgamation of strength, Qi and spirit.


    Bravery was something all Grandmasters of Combat had. If one''s Bravery was suppressed by their opponent before combat, Qi and blood wouldn''t be affected, but the spirit would be affected by negative emotions like shock, hesitation, panic and so on.


    Once the spirit is unstable, moves will not be as intense and reactions will be slower. In critical moments, one would fall into temporary hesitation, leading to a delay in response and entering a vicious cycle of reduced pace. Eventually, one would lose the upper hand and regret bitterly.


    Whereas once one manages to crush their opponent''s Bravery, they can attack their opponent in a complete state with strength, Qi and spirit as one, and completely quash their opponent physically and mentally. In the end, their opponent''s defeat would be the only result. An opponent defeated in this way would not even have the intention to make a comeback: it was a complete collapse of one''s soul and self-esteem.


    This was the fundamental power that a strong Grandmaster of Combat with remarkable Bravery had.


    A truly superior Grandmaster of Combat had to have remarkable Bravery.


    Apart from the boost that his special ability and Attributes gave him, the factor that really gave Garen an edge over other talented practitioners, was that his actual age was more than 17 years old, as well as the experience from his past life.


    In his past life on Earth, he had lived to more than 20 years old. Environment and level decides the experiences to which one is exposed, and ultimately determines a person''s maturity. These extra 20 years of experience coincidentally made up for the shortfall in his level of spiritual accomplishment to become a Grandmaster of Combat.

 115 The Conclusion 1

    Chapter 115: The Conclusion 1


    Remembering these, Garen could not help but be reminded of Andrela.


    "As for me, at that age, Andrela had already entered into the rank of Grandmaster of Combat. I don¡¯t know how much he has had to sacrifice, how much he has experienced. No wonder his spirit feels a bit abnormal. Perhaps it¡¯s only because of such focus and extremism that has allowed him to entered into such a high level at such a young age. Compared to me, I can be said to have cheated my way in¡­" He was very aware that he was not some gifted being.


    Reminiscing all the young masters that he had met, only Andrela had gone into the Grandmaster of Combat level. Even the performance of Beo from the Crimson Sand Sword was only close to the Grandmaster of Combat level. It was clear that he lacked the bravery. His martial arts cultivation might have been perfected, but his soul cultivation had not yet been achieved.


    Tucking away his thoughts, Garen straightened up the suit he was wearing, and walked out in great strides from the wing towards the main entrance of the great hall. Uncle Anjer had already been standing by the door, coming to greet him.


    "There might be a bit of trouble later. On the surface, for my sake, they will not cause you any trouble, but as for any issues with the juniors, I have no reason to interfere, so it is up to you. I have also arranged for Venia and the others to follow you. Take care of your own safety, do not rely on the fact that you¡¯ve trained in the martial arts to pick a fight with them. Do you understand?" His uncle exhorted in a low voice.


    "I understand, uncle." Garen nodded helplessly in response.


    Only then was Anjer satisfied, and he reached out to pat his head, "It¡¯s been a while since we¡¯ve met, you¡¯ve become taller again. It¡¯s only been a little over a year, and you have grown so strong. That bean sprout in the past has totally vanished. Not bad, not bad."


    He caressed Garen¡¯s hair, laughing loudly. Garen, helpless, could only let him pat as much as he pleased.


    "Alright, follow me in. Make sure to be a bit more polite, everyone inside is a dignitary, much stronger than your background as a master. Establishing good connections will be beneficial for you in the future."


    "Okay." Garen could only nod and agree.


    Just as they walked in through the doors, he saw the local governor of Huaishan City, Boravil, in the corner, who was laughingly chatting away with two middle-aged, goateed men, completely in character as an accompaniment.


    "It looks like they are really not typical people." Garen was momentarily curious about his uncle¡¯s hidden societal influence.


    The strongest force he had encountered in the martial arts world were the Celestial Circle Gate and Sun Lin¡¯s clan. Only, he did not know which level the ten or more people in this great hall belonged to in comparison.


    However, these all remained mere thoughts; he still obediently followed after his uncle, putting on the polite and demure look of a junior.


    Not far away, two middle-aged people, a man and a woman, were watching Garen and Anjer walk through the doors attentively.


    "That is the future heir Anjer has chosen?" The woman was wearing a red, sleeveless dress, body-fitting and had a high collar; with a neat, golden ponytail tied to the side, and long, narrow blue eyes, she gave off a sharp and noble allure.


    "Anjer has been working hard for a huge chunk of his lifetime. This time, he has more or less decided to retire after all the success he has achieved. However, his industry is neither here nor there. It won¡¯t be easy for him to retire completely." The man had his arms crossed. There was a little blonde goatee on his chin, and his short hair was combed to the right; he looked unusually mild mannered.


    "Actually, after the banquet this time, all cards would be on the table, yes? Then I¡¯m guessing that there will be news tomorrow."


    "Let¡¯s wait and see." The woman laughed lightly. "Compared to this Garen, I am more inclined towards the Delai Xima and Vaeneris there."


    "With just the support of Anjer, even if this Garen is of no use, he is still a formidable contender. A bit more time can still be stalled. Oh, right. Between Delai Xima and Vaeneris, who do you support?" The man asked in a low voice.


    "Depends on the situation. Both are young leaders of the next generation, with authoritative support behind them." The woman said very nonchalantly, "Are you thinking of pulling me over to support Delai Xima again? He might be very outstanding, but he is not the type that I admire. I don¡¯t have to say much more."


    "So you have noticed." The man smiled bitterly. "Cheers."


    "Cheers." The woman smiled, pretending to raise up her wine glass and clink it against the man¡¯s.


    Garen followed after his uncle, politely answering the questions from the elders all the way. Various appraising eyes continuously focused on him.


    As he smiled and hurried forward to the thirty-plus year old man in front of his uncle, nodding in response, he swept his gaze quickly over uncle Anjer¡¯s face.


    He did not know just how much of uncle¡¯s help he had received as he was growing up. Even his sister and himself were enrolled into the academy simply because of his connections here. Although his uncle¡¯s sexist opinions were rather bad, but it was really nothing for him to complain about. Only, what was causing him confusion now was this sudden desire to pass on the business to him.


    This was so unexpected.


    Last time, he had fought for it to the utmost of his ability, but his uncle¡¯s attitude had remained firm. However, even if Lombarth was not trying hard enough, he still would not be so willing to pass all the assets to Garen.


    And uncle was only about forty years old this year¡­


    Thinking about uncle¡¯s age, there was an increase of profoundness in Garen¡¯s eyes.


    "Brother..."


    Suddenly, a weak voice sounded from behind him.


    Garen was slightly startled, and turned his head to see his sister Ying Er standing behind him.


    "Why are you alone? Where is mum and dad?"


    "They did not want to come, so they rejected the invitation." Ying Er was wearing a black dress with a drawstring waist; the skirt reached her knees, and there was a black hairband tying up her long, waist-length hair. Her lips were pink, and her eyes glistened with brightness. It was obvious that she had been dolled up by professionals.


    "Rejected?" Garen was stunned. Although he had known since he was young that his parents and his uncle were not on good terms, he had not imagined it to be this bad.


    Ying Er walked over to Garen¡¯s side and stood next to him, greeting uncle Anjer.


    Anjer smilingly nodded in response.


    "It¡¯s been a long time since you siblings have met. Have a good chat between yourselves." He patted Garen¡¯s shoulder. "In a while, when I ask for you, come over immediately. Don¡¯t dawdle."


    "Okay."


    Garen could vaguely feel the predicament that his uncle was facing now. He nodded resolutely.


    "Brother, what is going on?!" The moment their uncle left, Ying Er immediately spoke and asked; her eye were filled with doubt and a bit of concern, as well as a sliver of confusion and unfamiliarity. "How could you came back and did not even check up at home for a bit? And how is uncle able to have such great influence?"


    Garen led her to a corner and found two quiet seats. The two of them sat down.


    "To be honest, I am also not clear about the situation here. Uncle suddenly wants me to take over his business. I am completely unprepared." Garen himself was in doubt, "However..." He had a vague guess, but did not speak it aloud. "Forget it. Let¡¯s hope that I can get through tonight. Don¡¯t you bother with these things. It¡¯ll be alright as long as I¡¯m here."


    "But why didn¡¯t mum and dad come over? I heard that you were here, brother, that¡¯s why I hurried over. Otherwise they wouldn¡¯t have let me." Ying Er could not understand. She suddenly felt as though her parents and the brother who was just right in front of her had all become strangers now.


    "They did not come here. Is it because they were unwilling?" Garen was thoughtful. "In a while I¡¯ll go back and take a look. I¡¯ve also just returned, the dojo the master was heavily ill, so I had no time." What he said was the truth; originally, before he had settled everything completely, he had not been planning to go home. He did not expect to meet his sister here.


    "Then come get me in a while, don¡¯t slip off by yourself!" Ying Er felt totally uneasy at such a banquet, and unconsciously stuck closer to her big brother.


    "I know." Garen laughed, and leaned on the sofa casually.


    At the cocktail party, some wealthy dignitaries were complimenting each other; there was a struggle amidst their words, both openly and covertly. They had hidden agendas. It all looked to be the same old thing, but in reality, the danger was real. Being the slightest bit careless at the cocktail party could mean offending some narrow-minded people, and getting oneself into trouble. If caught just a bit unaware, one could leak out some vital information about oneself. So everyone was extremely reserved and polite; every sentence was carefully worded.


    After sitting about for a while, Garen and his sister saw their uncle waving at him, not so far off.


    He hurriedly got up and walked over.


    "Mr. Pand Di, this is my nephew, Garen. How is he? Easy on the eyes, yes? Garen, where is your greeting?" Anjer smiled and patted Garen¡¯s shoulder. The other person was a huge client of his corporation, not to be taken lightly. He was also a very huge threat.


    "An honour to meet you, Mr. Pang Di." Garen smiled, stretching his hand out to him.


    The grey-haired man named Pang Di gave Garen a cold look.


    "Hello. However, although Anjer recommends you, my impression of you is not so good. Of course, if you can satisfy me in the future, I might change this opinion of mine. Who knows."


    "Mr. Pang Di." Anjer interrupted from the side in a deared voice, "What do you mean by that?" His eyes flashed as he fixed them on the man. His nephew was being accused in front of him; naturally he could not just ignore it.


    "No meaning whatsoever." Pang Di smiled, "Anjer, we have worked together for so many years. To be honest, I am quite disappointed in your decision this time."


    Standing at the back, listening to these callous words that made him look bad, Garen, however, did not feel strange about it at all.


    The few dignitaries who had come over just now were also like this, albeit they did not express it as forwardly as he had.


    Only, he had never intended to take over his uncle¡¯s industry. Uncle was still young, and wanting to retire at such an age¡­..


    He suddenly stepped forward, and, with a smile, politely asked Pang Di: "Then what can I do to give you that satisfaction?"


    Pang Di was slightly startled, as though he had not expected Garen to suddenly step up and speak. He turned his head and looked at Garen closely. Before breaking into a sneer.


    "Do you know anything about business science? How much do you know about classic case studies in the market?"


    "The information in the regard is, in the end, only information. I am very confident with my ability to learn. I¡¯m sure you have also gone through my relevant data?" Garen said calmly.


    Pang Di was still sneering.


    "So what? You¡¯re only a newbie who has stood out, you are not the rightful heir, and your network is far less impressive than the other two candidates. If it weren¡¯t for the support of your uncle, what right do you have to stand here and speak to me? You¡¯re only a common student who can¡¯t even get through the door."


    Garen raised his eyebrow.


    "Who hasn¡¯t stood up from the basics? There is some bias in your words, sir. I don¡¯t know what your requirements are for heirs, but believe me, if you choose me, I am confident that I can do it."


    "You are very confident? You think you can definitely surpass the other two candidates?" Pang Di laughed.


    "If I can, would you support me, then?" Garen said coldly.


    "There¡¯s no ¡®then¡¯. I simply don¡¯t like you. Although I don¡¯t know how a mere nephew you like could obtain Anjer¡¯s approval, but it has been the custom that the industries are passed down to the rightful first born. Don¡¯t try to use such small tricks to snatch what is not yours. No matter what you do! I will never agree to you being the heir."


    This was what they really thought.


    Garen finally understood.


    All these people believed that he had been flattering his uncle on purpose, with the intention of obtaining the family fortune using dirty tricks.


    Although he had never wanted to be a part of his uncle¡¯s business, this man¡¯s words were really quite irritating. However, he had only spoken to him because he had wanted to understand his passionate stand and attitude.


    Only, Pang Di¡¯s refusal to listen to anything they had to say, had caused him to feel a bit indignant.


    "Actually, I really want to say this too. I don¡¯t really like you much either." Garen retorted sarcastically. "Isn¡¯t it a bit too early for you to interfere with my uncle¡¯s decision?"


    "Anjer¡¯s issue..." Pang Di¡¯s face turned cold.


    "Alright, Garen. That¡¯s enough." His uncle¡¯s face had become solemn.


    Pang Di harumped coldly, and as he brushed past Garen, there was a sliver of fear on his face. It was obvious that he knew something about Garen, and walked off immediately seemingly in respect for Anjer.


    Although, amongst the gentlemen on the scene, no one was afraid of anyone, and everyone was equal, but he did not need to see Anjer¡¯s displeased expressions at all.


    "Alright. Garen, don¡¯t you get upset as well. Pang Di¡¯s eldest son supports Vaeneris. Delai Xima and Vaeneris are two representatives of the younger generation from my wife¡¯s side. In a while, you shall go down and meet with them privately."


    Anjer knew his nephew considerably well. The recent case with the Manuyllton Company, although he was not clear about the process, but he knew the result very well. Garen had, with connections to the special forces that he had borrowed from who knew where, single-handedly gotten rid of the entire Manuyllton Company. This had caused him to see Garen in a new light. That was why he did not wish for Garen to have hatred towards Pang Di over this matter. After all, he was still a good friend who had partnered with him for many years.


    "It¡¯ll be fine, uncle." Garen smiled. "How about I go and meet my peers now?"


    "That¡¯s good too. Let me send someone to go with you." Anjer pondered for a moment, and felt that the attitudes of the guests on top were so-so. The advantage obtainable for Garen here was too small, so he might as well let him meet the other juniors downstairs.


    Very soon, under his uncle¡¯s arrangements, a slender man wearing a dark blue suit followed Garen from behind. An attendant brought the two of them out of the banquet hall, and through a sidedoor, entered into a smaller parlour.


    The small parlour could only contain about a few dozens of people. The walls and the ceiling were all light yellow, and the floor was covered with white sheepskin rugs. The lamps on the walls emitted a warm, yellow glow.


    Spread around the parlour, here and there, stood and sat over twenty young men and women.


    A big group of them were clustered around two people, the rest were standing in the corners in twos and threes, completely unassuming.


    The moment Garen walked in, he immediately saw the two exceptionally eye-catching central figures.


    On the left was a young man with thick eyebrows, looking very experienced. There was a glass of dark liquor perched in his hand, from which he occasionally took sips. He was listening to what his companion had to say, but there was a bit of a distant look in his eyes. From the conversations around him, one could vaguely hear the others calling him Delai Xima.


    The man on the right had short blue hair and dark eyes; there was a faint, thin and long scar on his forehead. He was the complete opposite of Delai Xima¡¯s quietness; he had complete control on the conversation. Although he was smiling, he still gave off a threatening, aggressive vibe.


    When Garen walked in through the door, he immediately caught the attention of some of the people there.


    "Garen! You finally have the balls to come out!" The mature man next to Delai Xima suddenly stood up and straightened himself, speaking casually. "Xima, wasn¡¯t this the guy you saw back then?"


    Hearing this, Garen was surprised, and took a closer look at Delai Xima¡¯s face. He suddenly remembered the young man in the white shirt that he had met at the doors of his uncle¡¯s house. How long had it been that he had become so matured?


    Pap!


    The wine glass in Delai Xima¡¯s hand had suddenly fell to the floor, and was smashed into pieces. The calm and the nonchalant look on his face had disappeared without a trace; in a moment, his face was drained of blood. Both his eyes were locked on Garen, vacant. It was obvious that his mind was now blank.


    It was only after the people around him had shook him up, that he came back to his senses.

 116 Finish 2

    Chapter 116: Finish 2


    "Yea¡­ That¡¯s him!" His voice was shaky, but calmed down after taking a deep breath. "Brother¡­ It was him who almost killed me last time! It was very close!"


    He stepped back and hid behind the mature-looking man.


    The two looked identical, but his brother had an aquiline nose and looked cunning. Garen stepped forward with a smile on his face, and Delai Xima stepped back in fear.


    "No! Don¡¯t come any closer!" Although the young man looked more mature than before, he still remembered the horrifying experience Garen had given him that day. He tried to run but he was so nervous that he tripped over himself.


    "Huh? Am I scaring you?" Garen smiled and grabbed a glass of black wine from the table at his side.


    The room was silent, and most of the people were staring at Garen, but he did not seem to care.


    "I¡¯m Delai Ando. I think you have heard of me before." The mature-looking man did not even look at his brother who was hiding behind him. "I¡®m here to make you pay for what you did to my brother last time."


    Garen glanced around. His plan was to come here and finish whatever was left on his uncle¡¯s side, and he really did not want to waste his time on these people. However, they had great power in their hands, even his uncle had to think twice when dealing with them.


    In the end, it was a good opportunity for Garen to learn of their backgrounds.


    "I¡¯m not going to take over my uncle Anjer¡¯s business. However," Garen said, seeing the surprised looks on those men¡¯s faces, "I hope someone will at least explain to me what is going on here?"


    "I saw you talking with my father not so long ago, didn¡¯t he tell you about it?" Delai Ando stood in front of his brother. "Didn¡¯t uncle Pang Di mention it to you? I don¡¯t trust you. You¡¯re doing everything you can to try and take everything from me, and you don¡¯t even know about it?"


    Delai Ando stopped for a second and sneered. "I don¡¯t know what you are planning to do, but uncle Pang Di won¡¯t allow it to happen. Also, I still need to make you pay for what you did to my brother."


    "Alright, what are you going to do?" Garen stared at the man in front of him curiously.


    "You will know after the party." Delai Ando sneered again.


    "Why wait? Show me what you got!" Garen stood up and tried to grab Delai Ando.


    Garen was extremely quick, and no one had expected him to start a fight right here and now.


    He was aiming at Delai Ando¡¯s neck and made it look very easy.


    Bam!


    Two men kicked Garen in the back, but they did no damage to him.


    Another two men blocked Garen¡¯s path, but they fell to the ground after he touched them with his palm, and Garen grabbed Delai Ando easily.


    Clack!


    A black pistol appeared in Delai Ando¡¯s hand, and he pointed it at Garen¡¯s forehead.


    "You want to fight, huh? You are dead!" There was a grim look on Delai Ando¡¯s face, and he turned off the gun¡¯s safety.


    The situation got intense. The young men in the meeting room had no idea what they should do at the moment, and no one talked. They did not want to make Delai Ando angry. If he pulled the trigger, the people in the large meeting room would definitely hear the noise, and no one would be able to take the responsibility if that happened.


    "You are as foolish as your brother," Garen said in a light tone. He startled Delai Ando with the shockwave from his hand, and the man dropped his gun to the floor.


    Delai Ando felt like he had just lost all his strength, and Garen could see how shocked he was from his eyes.


    "How dare you!" Delai Ando yelled.


    Crack!


    Garen hit Delai Ando¡¯s right arm with his palm, and broke the man¡¯s bone. Everyone in the room shivered after hearing the sound of bones breaking.


    "Ahhh!"


    Delai Ando screamed in pain.


    "Let him go!"


    Suddenly, someone tried to stab Garen¡¯s right arm with a black dagger.


    It was Delai Ando¡¯s body guard. Although it was a fight between the Young Masters, Garen had went too hard on Delai Ando. The bodyguard thought if he did not act now, Garen would do something even worse to his charge, and he would be in trouble after.


    Bam!


    The bodyguard¡¯s wrist was hit by Garen, and he dropped the dagger to the ground right after. He backed off immediately, but he still lost his strength and fell to the ground.


    On the other side of the room, the young man named Vaeneris started to clap. He was smiling, and it looked like he was praising Garen. He and several other teenagers were protected by more than ten bodyguards in black suits. They formed a circle around the teenagers.


    Garen had no idea when they had entered the small meeting room.


    Delai Ando¡¯s face was pale, and Garen just dropped him to the ground.


    "Who are you? Vaeneris?" He slowly walked towards the young man.


    Vaeneris¡¯s expression changed, but he quickly calmed down and backed off a bit. The bodyguards seemed nervous when Garen moved toward them and moved even closer to the teenagers.


    "Garen, Mr. Anjer¡¯s situation is bad, and he does not have much time left in this world. Our fights here will not affect the right of inheritance."


    "He is dying?" Garen scrunched his eyebrows.


    The clean meeting room was in a mess after the fight. Wine, broken glasses, chairs, tables, bodyguards and Delai Ando were all on the floor.


    Delai Xima hid himself in a corner, his face pale as he looked at Garen in fear. Delai Ando had passed out due to pain, and several other teenagers were staying as far from Garen as they could, not wanting to get involved in this.


    "I will inform father about what just happened here. He broke his relative¡¯s bone! Let¡¯s see how he can get the inheritance after the rumor spreads!" a young man with grey hair said in anger. He stood right beside Vaeneris, staring at Delai Ando¡¯s broke arm with fear in his eyes.


    "Westin! Are you alright?" The door of the meeting room was pushed open, and several people rushed in. One of them was Pang Di. He rushed toward the young man with grey hair and started to check on him.


    Garen did not really care. He glanced around and saw that none of the bodyguards that followed the people into the room were strong. Most of them were just amateur gunmen.


    Garen¡¯s uncle walked through the door with a calm look on his face and went directly to Garen.


    "What happened? Are you alright?"


    "I¡¯m good." It was acceptable as long as no one was killed in the fight. That was the bottom line for a fight between family members.


    "Uncle, just tell me the truth. How¡¯s your condition right now? I heard about your illness already," Garen asked in a light tone, narrowing his eyes.


    Anjer looked at Garen with a bitter smile on his face.


    "How did you know? I¡¯m not sure actually. My doctor told me I have half a year left."


    "You never told me before."


    "I really had no idea about my condition." Anjer was searching through his memory. "About half a year ago, I was diagnosed with body hypofunction. I don¡¯t even know why I suddenly became ill. Well, that¡¯s not for you to worry about. Let¡¯s go upstairs."


    Garen nodded, and he started to check the clothes and accessories his uncle was wearing. He found a black jade ring on Anjer¡¯s left first finger.


    Garen was a bit confused, and he touched the surface of the ring after seeing it on Anjer¡¯s finger. His expression changed as some soothing light Qi flowed into his body. Although it was weak, the flow was stable. However, it was too weak for Garen. It would take the ring years to increase Garen¡¯s potential meter by ten percent, and that was not helpful at all.


    The ring was an Antique of Tragedy, and its surface was coated with a sort of isolation paint. If Garen had not touched it, he would never have found out it was an Antique of Tragedy.


    "Uncle, how long have you been wearing the ring?"


    "This one?" Anjer wondered why Garen suddenly asked about the ring, but he still answered right away, "Two or three years maybe, why? I think I purchased it from a secret organization."


    Garen immediately thought that it might be the Golden Hoop.


    "It can¡¯t be¡­" There was a strange look on his face. "But if it¡¯s not in the special location it originated from, it wouldn''t do any harm. I think I got this point right. This ring¡­" Garen started to think.


    "Uncle, do you know if anyone did something to the ring after you obtained it? Or did the ring change after you started wearing it?"


    "You think this ring makes me ill?" Anjer was not convinced. "Nothing happened to it I believe¡­"


    Garen scrunched his eyebrows, ready to speak, but he was interrupted by Anjer before he could say something else.


    "It can¡¯t be the ring, but I will take it off if you think it¡¯s the problem."


    Anjer was happy that Garen was so thoughtful.


    "Sure." Garen smiled. In the whole southern area, the Golden Hoop was in charge of selling the Antiques of Tragedy, so this ring must be from them as well. Although Garen was not sure if the ring was the reason why his uncle got sick, it was still better for Anjer to stop wearing it.


    Right after Anjer took the ring off his finger, Garen could feel Anjer¡¯s Qi start to increase, and it was much better than before.


    "That¡¯s the reason then¡­" Garen was surprised.


    "Uncle, I actually like this ring a lot, would you mind giving it to me?" Garen asked.


    "If I give you the ring, will you take over my business?" Anjer laughed.


    "You are still young, uncle, I will take over when you really want to retire. To be honest, I think the doctor wrongly diagnosed your illness. Their equipment could be faulty, and they probably need a new set."


    "I hope so¡­"


    Garen looked at the ring his uncle handed over to him, and he knew Anjer felt much better after taking the ring off. He felt relieved after proving his assumption.


    Garen left the meeting room with Anjer since he didn¡¯t want to spend more time playing with the teenagers behind him. There was one thing he needed to do before leaving, though, and it was arranging another date to meet with that young girl.


    Garen needed to help Su Lin first, and it was his priority at the moment. Also, he needed to tell his family about what he was doing. He would have to lie about its dangers since he wouldn''t want them to worry too much about him.


    Garen needed to find a new excuse.


    He had no idea how he should explain everything to his family, and he almost got a headache only thinking about it. He was uncertain of how long he would be away from home this time, too.

 117 Eliza - Harmony City 1

    Chapter 117: Eliza - Harmony City 1


    Coming out from the small living room, the banquet hall was still as lively as before; the band of violinists comfortably and elegantly played their violins, and in the merry music, a group of dignitaries continued on with their socializing indifferently.


    As though they had not heard the scream of despair just now at all.


    Garen and his uncle walking out from the small living room with a few bodyguards only attracted the attention of a few people. Other than that, there was no other response.


    He swept his gaze over the entire hall, and unexpectedly saw his sister sitting on the side, somewhat frantically looking over in his direction; their eyes met coincidentally.


    "It¡¯ll be okay." Garen gave Ying Er a reassuring look.


    The banquet went on as usual; as the host, his uncle went onstage to speak a few words. After that, a few other important people went onstage to speak. Everyone joked about them and a few courtesans. The atmosphere was ambiguous and reserved.


    Garen walked over to his sister and sat on the black leather sofa, taking a light sip from the glass of dark liquor in his hand. It was sour, kind of like sour plum wine.


    "Brother..." Ying Er looked at him with a worried face, she opened her mouth to speak but she was not sure what to say.


    "It¡¯ll be fine. There was just a bit of a conflict in there just now, nothing to do with me." Garen gave her a reassuring smile. "Come to think about it, it¡¯s been so long since the two of us had sat down quietly and chat."


    "Yes... It¡¯s been a long time." Ying Er lowered her head. "I¡¯ve already felt it very early on. Brother, you¡¯ve become so mysterious. I don¡¯t know what you do everyday. I can¡¯t even see your shadow."


    "What else would I be doing? I¡¯m only following the dojo and joining exchange gatherings. There¡¯s nothing else besides that. Don¡¯t worry, if..." Garen had not finished speaking when his face suddenly became stiff; his eyes squinted slightly, before returning to normal. He changed what he was about to say, and continued. "If anything happens, I will definitely tell you. Oh right. Master has fallen sick recently. I still need to handle some stuff for the dojo. You know, after all, that I¡¯m the master¡¯s last disciple."


    Ying Er nodded as though she understood.


    ********************


    Click.


    In the highest level of the building a short distance away from the banquet hall.


    A masked man in black carried a black sniper rifle about two meters long, and was surveying the situation in the banquet hall opposite of him through the rifle scope.


    His left hand adjusted the direction of the barrel, while his right hand reloaded the rifle lightly.


    The bullets were golden yellow. They were very thin and sharp, like a straight, golden loach. Soft clicking sounds were made as these bullets slid into the bore of the rifle.


    "Sting, there¡¯s no need to be so nervous. He¡¯s just a fellow who had been trained in the martial arts." Behind him was a man with short, silver hair, who spoke drily. He was playing around with a folding knife, wearing the same mask on his face; judging by the crystallic, deep-blue eyes and the handsome shape of his face, his disposition and looks were extraordinarily magnificent.


    "Every dangerous person requires my alertness." The man carrying the rifle replied coolly. "Since we¡¯ve taken the money, we are responsible for the client."


    "Oh please, we are mercenaries, not professional bodyguards. Can you not be so dedicated? I¡¯m afraid that Jia Loran will be looking for you to discuss the matter of you stealing their business." The silver haired man said, very amused.


    "This can be considered a summit of the provincial leaders. Don¡¯t underestimate this." The dark shirt man responded unemotionally. "This fellow could have been well trained to fight, and might not be weak."


    "Are you talking about the martial artists? Do you think that there is a martial artist who can get rid of their opponents two miles away? I seem to remember, my last record was 2.3 miles¡­"


    "2.6," The dark shirt man added on abruptly. "You are still far."


    The silver haired man gave a dry laugh.


    "I¡¯m talking about Dan Ke Tang, you are the professional who single-handedly killed Dan Ke. How can you compare yourself to such a small fry as me? Isn¡¯t that an insult to you? Within a mile, your special bullets can pass through an armoured vehicle."


    The dark shirt man did not speak anymore, but watched a figure sitting by the right side window in the banquet hall through his circular rifle scope.


    That man was holding a glass of dark liquor, drinking slowly while casually chatting with a young girl.


    This man was Garen.


    At that time, Garen could vaguely feel an extremely sharp aura locking fixedly upon himself.


    He was sure that it was a firearm!


    But never before had a firearm been able to cause him to feel so strongly threatened.


    As he chatted away with his sister, the muscles in his entire body tensed up slightly. It could take a shot at him anytime.


    Slowly, not more than a few moments later, this aura gradually moved away. He was then able to relax and breathe easily.


    Just as he had let out a sigh of relief, suddenly, there was a small scuffle in the banquet hall.


    "Don¡¯t come over here!! Don¡¯t come over! Don¡¯t you hear me! I¡¯m telling you to stand still!" A somewhat crazed voice of a man came from the middle of the banquet hall.


    Garen and the guests from the surrounding corners all stood up, and looked to the center.


    A young, golden haired man dressed in a white suit was holding a white handgun, holding it against the neck of a middle-aged lady.


    What was mystifying, was that the middle-aged lady¡¯s face was cold; there was not a hint of panic on her face, as though this was not the first time she was going through such a fuss.


    The guests around them also did not look at all nervous. Some of them had even put their heads together in a whisper, a cold, uncaring look as they watched what was going on.


    "Elena... Do you need our help?" A golden haired girl, wearing a red, sleeveless gown, stood out and asked casually. Her long ponytail was swept over her shoulder and fell from her neck all the way to the front of her chest. Her eyes were narrow and sharp, giving off a stinging, beautiful aura.


    The woman who was being held hostage shook her head.


    "Dante, I did not think that you¡¯d do such a thing."


    "You did not think? Ho¡­ Ho ho¡­ For that man, you can throw aside anything, you can give up everything... What would I not be able to do?!" The man in the white suit said in despair. He slowly tightened his grip on the trigger of the handgun.


    Bang!


    In a moment, there was a round, bloody hole the size of an egg on the back of the man¡¯s hand, which was wielding the gun. The hand was not the place with the bloody hole; right on the man¡¯s sternum was also an egg-sized hole of blood.


    His hand and his chest had been pierced through at the same time. The hand that wanted to pull the trigger could not move anymore. The handgun slipped to the rug on the floor quietly.


    "All hail... Black Flag Gang!!" He struggled to scream out his last words; a hissing sound, like a balloon¡¯s air being let out, was emitted from his mouth. It was somewhat hoarse. Finally, he fell to the floor. Fresh blood flowed out of his chest in spurts, and dyed the white rug on the floor red.


    Garen, who had been standing on the side, pulled his sister into his arms before she could see anything clearly, covering her eyes.


    He looked to where the bullet had been shot from, and for a moment the pupils of his eyes constricted.


    This bullet had pierced through the wall before passing through the man. The wall was a cement wall of approximately ten or so centimeters; to be able to pierce through a wall of such thickness, and then piercing through a man, before leaving a deep, black hole in the rug, the bottom of which could not be seen. This threat¡­.. This decisiveness of the blindshot¡­


    "This is the power of a true elite sharpshooter, partnered with a powerful rifle." His uncle, who had been nearby, walked over, and stood next to him, speaking in a low voice. "Garen, you can use martial arts to strengthen yourself, but if you really wish to kill your enemies, the strongest martial artist can never defeat a bullet of this caliber."


    He patted Garen¡¯s shoulder, and took a deep breath.


    "Sting is an elite mercenary in my service, and also the secret personnel that watches over the safety of this event. There are over a hundred of elite sharpshooters like him in the entire federation. They can kill their intended target from a few miles away. An elite Grandmaster of Combat, they say, is not afraid of an ordinary bullet, but... This is not the age of martial artists anymore..."


    Garen was silent.


    He knew that it was impossible for him to overcome an elite sharpshooter of this sort, and this bullet of such penetrating power. This was already comparable to Adrela¡¯s full strength attack with his sword, the Three Star Convergence. It might even be more powerful. With such a powerful bullet, without even talking about better bullet, if some poison were to be brushed onto the bullet, he would be killed on the spot.


    "Come. Help me." Uncle Anjer had already known about Garen¡¯s talent in martial arts, but firearms were not something that martial arts could defend against.


    "I still have some matters to deal with. Let me think about it for a while, uncle." Garen said casually.


    "Alright, but you had better be quick." Anjer felt like his nephew¡¯s tone of voice had finally relaxed, and he nodded his head somewhat relieved. Casting an indifferent glance at the Ying Er in Garen¡¯s arms, he turned around and left alone.


    "Ying Er, something has come up. I¡¯ll need your help later to persuade mum and dad."


    "What thing? Just¡­ Just now, what happened? How¡¯s the man? Brother?" Ying Er asked doubtfully. She had already guessed it a bit, and her voice was slightly shaking.


    Garen looked to the top floor of the opposite building, and his vision seemed to pass through the walls, seeing a black figure propping up a long rifle, crouching quietly there.


    "Nothing. Be obedient, don¡¯t open your eyes."


    *****************


    On the rooftop.


    Sting slowly stowed away the heavy duty silencer, his dark eyes finally peering through the scope to take a look at Garen. He kept having this feeling that the young man seemed to have discover his position.


    "What now?" The silver haired man asked, squatting on the side.


    "Nothing. Let¡¯s go, on to the next point. The Black Flag Gang would not have only sent this small fry." Sting stood up and said coolly.


    "That¡¯s true. I heard that lunatic has been hanging out with Duskdune Shura¡¯s men. Who knows, there might be unexpected people turning up." The silver haired man somehow had something out of nowhere and popped it into his mouth, chewing away.


    "Duskdune Shura... Those guys who fuse martial arts and firearms together?" Sting was slightly stunned for a moment, "I heard that elite Grandmasters of Combat can tank bullets. Their speed is incredible, and their ability to fight in close combat is extremely strong. Perhaps I will get the chance to see this for myself this time."


    "No one can defeat you, you are our trump card!" The silver haired man patted his partner¡¯s shoulder heartily. "The Black Flag Gang definitely could not have imagined that you would personally strike this time."


    "Let¡¯s go." Sting said indifferently, as he turned around and walked into the darkness.


    *****************


    After leaving the banquet, Garen made a trip home and told his parents in detail about the situation of the dojo. Unexpectedly, someone had already talked to his parents concerning his studies and the reasons behind the subsequent arrangements.


    After some enquiries, it was actually the people from the Golden Hoop. They had told his parents that Garen would immediately go to the capital of Eliza Province, Harmony City, and enroll for classes, jumping a few grades ahead. Furthermore, it was an entry exempted from the entrance exam requirements into a private university¡ª the Matra University. It seemed that it was because the antique appraisers¡¯ requirements had been fulfilled, and he had achieved the recruitment standards of this university. That was why they had issued an invitation especially for him.


    His parents at home had even received, earlier on, the special invitation by the antique appraisers at Matra University. They were so excited when they had heard the news, and kept on advising him not to keep on going to Uncle Anjer, and he must be independent. That sort of thing.


    Garen and his sister¡¯s original plan to persuade them ended completely without a hitch.


    Next up was one small issue to be solved.


    He needed to bid his Circular Dance Gate friends and the classmates and teachers who were close to him farewell, and go to the telegraph office and send a telegram to Miss Fanny Cindy, to inform her about him leaving to jump grades and enrolling into a university.


    Finally, a few days later, he finally stepped onto the train heading towards the capital of Eliza Province.


    *****************


    In the reddish brown train carriage. The train attendants and the guests came to and for. It was a bit noisy.


    Su Lin and Garen sat opposite of each other; the two men were quietly looking out at the scenery outside flitting past quickly.


    On the seats to their right, three young men were playing cards. The seats in front were occupied by a pair of young couple with a baby, and were coaxing the baby to sleep. Behind them, there were a few young men and girls who looked like university students, reading thriller novels and horrifying experiences. Their voices were rather loud.


    The faint, white morning light shone in through the window, but the inside of the carriage was still very dark and grey. The skies were overcast with grey clouds, and occasionally there was a faint sound of thunder.


    Su Lin gave Garen a look. "So sorry to trouble you this time."


    "Don¡¯t talk about these things between us." Garen said coolly. "Tell me your situation."


    "Me?" Su Lin pondered for a moment, "My parents still don¡¯t know about me. In my eyes, I¡¯m only a toff, the second young master who just knows how to eat, drink and have fun. My parents still have my big brother. Even though they really like me, and whatever I want, I get, but this is not what I want. If it¡¯s not because martial arts has given me the opportunity to train my inner self, I might really still be a young master who only knows how to have fun now. Even though they have already prepared every safety measure perfectly for me, I still want to prepare a core layer of protection. You and another friend of mine. I have not revealed your identities to my family, I¡¯ve only said that you¡¯re my friend, so in case there¡¯s any sudden development, you can still be covert and do what you¡¯re supposed to." He sighed, "After all, my reputation outside is not really good. They don¡¯t care about my squandering, even my family isn¡¯t clear about my background, not to mention outsiders. So you guys are my final trump card!"

 118 Eliza, Harmony City 2

    Chapter 118: Eliza, Harmony City 2


    "Why aren''t you telling your family the truth?"


    Su Lin kept silent and didn''t reply, a complicated expression on his face.


    Seeing that he was reluctant to talk about it, Garen paused then said, "Let''s change the topic. How did you get into this much trouble?"


    Su Lin frowned.


    "I don''t know."


    He scraped his index finger on the surface of the small table, which started creaking from the friction.


    "If my friend in the mercenary industry hadn''t passed me the information, I wouldn''t have known what killed me. I''m guessing the opponent''s motive should be to take a strike at my father and brother by killing me and my sister." At this thought, he started lamenting, "Duskdune Shura¡­ How unsparing. That is a group which dares to proclaim themselves as one of the strongest assassin organizations. If I hadn''t realized in advance and secretly tipped my family off, I''m afraid I would have really been killed this time. But this time, no one would have thought that a good-for-nothing playboy would have an additional extraordinary identity. Originally I didn''t want to reveal it, but this time they''ve forced my hand."


    "Duskdune Shura! How dare you threaten my beloved family members? I want anyone who dares come near them to be annihilated!"


    At the mention of this name, his voice became very low, and a chill showed on his face.


    "Garen, it''s all up to you now," After witnessing Garen''s terrifying strength, he was extremely confident in him.


    "Don''t worry. I''ll do my best," Garen said in a deep voice.


    The both of them stopped speaking and fell silent.


    The train gradually stopped. Some people alighted while new passengers boarded.


    Both of them sat in a cluster of six seats; four were still vacant. Soon, three youths boarded and sat with them.


    Garen and Su Lin shifted slightly inwards to make space for them.


    They were two boys and a girl. The only girl looked about 18 or 19 years old. She was very pretty, with a slim figure and long pale blue hair which was smooth and shiny like top-grade silk. Only her dressing seemed common.


    Of the other two boys, one dressed extravagantly and was quite handsome, but he was slightly thin. He had a bourgeois air about him.


    The other one was dressed ordinarily. He was well-built with dark skin, and there was constantly a gentle and polite smile on his face. He seemed to be from an average family.


    The two boys sat next to Su Lin and Garen respectively, while the girl sat on the outermost seat.


    In the presence of outsiders, Garen and Su Lin refrained from continuing their previous topic, and temporarily fell silent.


    The both of them were traveling inconspicuously. They had their make-up artist conceal their extraordinary temperament as much as possible. Even Su Lin''s overly handsome face had been covered in unhealthy colors, and he looked much paler. His clothes were swapped for the jeans and t-shirt of ordinary youngsters, nothing special.


    When the three youths sat down, they glanced at Su Lin and Garen then didn''t pay them any attention. After settling their luggage, they sat down and started to take out their prepared meals.


    The well-built boy and the girl brought ordinary white bread and wheat crackers stored in plastic containers, paired with a small bottle of plain water that they had each brought. This was also the most common meal combination for most people on the train.


    On the other hand, the thin boy took out cookies and milk, and small pieces of tiramisu cake.


    "How pretty¡­" The girl saw the pieces of cake made into the shape of small animals and were instantly attracted by them.


    "Eileen, Jeff, have a taste." The thin boy smiled, quite pleased with himself. He put the cake box on the small table, and deliberately placed the part of the cakebox labelled with the branding to face the most conspicuous angle.


    "I''m alright," the well-built boy gave a stiff smile and continued munching his wheat crackers. He seemed uncomfortable with the gap in their family situation.


    The girl noticed the stark contrast too, and smiled awkwardly, "No, thanks, Sharman. You eat it. I''m fine with just this."


    "Don''t stand on ceremony." Even though the thin boy had his faults and liked to show off, he was still quite sincere. He felt bad that he was eating well but his companions weren''t, so he split the cake into three with tweezers, and stuffed one each into their lunch boxes.


    "It''s nothing fancy, let''s eat it together. I have milk here too, I brought extra." He piled the milk cartons on the small table.


    The other two felt embarrassed initially, but gradually let it go. The thin boy, Sharman, changed the topic and talked about interesting incidents on the last trip. The three of them chatted while eating; the atmosphere was warm.


    Back on this side, Garen and Su Lin were slowly drinking some plain water and didn''t eat anything. They quietly listened to the three of them chatting.


    Maybe he felt embarrassed that only they were eating, the well-built boy, Jeff, touched Su Lin''s arm.


    "Buddy, did you forget to bring food? Have some." He distributed some wheat crackers and cake and put it in front of Garen and Su Lin.


    "Uh, you don''t have to, thanks. We''re not hungry." Su Lin didn''t expect him to be so generous.


    "I feel self-conscious that we''re eating over here and you''re over there just watching us," Jeff smiled and said frankly. "Oh ya, are you two traveling together?"


    "Yeah. The three of you are together too? Attending university in Harmony City?"


    "Yup. We''re students from the St Azure Art Academy. We''re reporting for the start of term."


    "St Azure, that place¡­I used to go there¡­"


    Su Lin casually chatted a little with him, then stopped talking and just listened.


    Garen didn''t really understand the content of their conversation and couldn''t get a word in, so he merely sat to one side and listened quietly.


    He listened for a while and started to feel bored.


    "I''ve heard that Harmony City is famous for its music events. It wasn''t originally called Harmony City, but it was later changed to that," Garen recalled some Geography trivia he had learnt before.


    "Indeed." Su Lin nodded, "There are three types of music events in Harmony City: large-scale ones, salon-style events and private concerts."


    "I''ve been to the large-scale ones. It feels very comfortable," the girl Eileen continued. "You seem to have a strong physique, you must like to train? Your body should be very healthy, right?"


    Her words were directed at Garen.


    "I''m alright, I guess." Garen smiled. His physique was indeed quite buff compared to his peers.


    "I''m so jealous. The weather has been really unpredictable this season; it''s so easy to catch a cold if you don''t take care. The last time I went to a concert I caught a cold which developed into a high fever, and it took me a long time and a lot of rest before I recovered," the girl said helplessly. "Have you been to a concert?"


    "Uh¡­no." Garen shook his head. He couldn''t tell the sound of a violin from the sound of an erhu, let alone been to any concerts.


    "Lakeland"


    "I went to a concert at the Lakeland Convention Center, it was a violin solo. I felt it was mediocre. Ever since Auter has been back from Weisman, his form has been getting poorer," the thin boy, Sharman, continued. "If you''re interested, you can buy box tickets. They''re only slightly more expensive than ordinary tickets, but there are staff who tend to a fireplace in the box, it''s much warmer."


    "Forget it. The money savings could be used for a lot of other things." The girl stuck her tongue out cheekily. "The tickets are expensive in the first place; I wouldn''t be willing to buy box tickets."


    Sharman smiled as he looked at Garen and Su Lin. "Compared to Auter, Cusey Freita''s piano is much more pleasing to the ears."


    "You like Cusey''s piano too?" Said one of the three people who were playing cards to a side, a youth in a white shirt sat over in interest. The Confederate Legislative Council has passed a document to regulate the scale of musical events, and Cusey was one of the people who have been asked to rectify it. It''s still uncertain how that will affect his form."


    "Did they pass such a document?" The other people playing cards also came over to chat. A curly-brown-haired girl looked towards the white-shirt boy. "Where did you hear that, Hershey? From your dad?"


    "It was the news that came out after an executive of the province, Mr Harris, came over some time ago and went fishing with the governor. Dad was at the governor''s office handling the document. After a few days, your mother''s department will receive the notice too. I''ve just known it a little earlier."


    "Executive Harris?" Su Lin suddenly said. He looked stunned.


    "Ordinary people probably haven''t heard of him." The white-shirt youth took a look at him. "Working his way up from the municipal general department, it merely took him ten years to reach the sub-provincial level. He''s the rising star among officials in Eliza now."


    "That''s not the point. It¡¯s Mr Harris! He''s the youngest sub-province official, tsk tsk. Has your dad met him before? How is he like?" the girl asked curiously.


    "He''s never met him in person. I''ve heard he''s a very serious man." The white-shirt youth smiled and seemed pleased with himself. "About the thing I mentioned earlier, those are documents coming down from the central government, to the province and then the city. It can''t be wrong."


    The three people here were listening to the other three chatting, and couldn''t get a word in edgewise. Their level was too high for them, and their topic wasn''t a common one that youths their age would be exposed to, even relating to policy from the Governor''s Office.


    "k3"


    Perhaps they were too absorbed in their conversation, and after gaining face in front of a pretty girl like Eileen, the white-shirt youth named Hershey got enthusiastic. "How about this? It''s lunch time. Let me treat everyone to a meal in the restaurant! Don''t say no. Whoever refuses is not giving me face! The taste and grade of the meals at the restaurant on K3 trains are fairly decent. I''ve eaten there many times."


    He pointed a finger at the five of them on Eileen''s side.


    Su Lin politely refused.


    The others found it hard to refuse such generosity, so Eileen and the other two followed Hershey towards the carriages in the front of the train. Among them, Sharman who originally had some sense of superiority had been suppressed to an intimidated state. He seemed shy to even speak loudly.


    The six of them left temporarily.


    Only Garen and Su Lin were left in their row of seats. The surrounding became quiet all of a sudden.


    Garen looked at the odd expression on Su Lin''s face.


    "Is something wrong?"


    "Nothing." Su Lin snapped out of it. "Seeing youths their age, I feel very old. I wish I could go back to the time when I was young¡­"


    "You''re not too old yourself¡­" Garen was speechless.


    "43"


    "Oh ya. I''ve arranged your accommodation for you. It''s a newly acquired property at 43 Garden Street. Someone will deliver the keys when we alight. What type of car do you want?"


    "I don''t have a driving license."


    "One order and it''s settled."


    "Then give me whatever''s the most expensive," Garen threw all air of courtesy to the wind.


    "S7"


    "You don''t stand on ceremony, do you!?" Su Lin jokingly punched Garen and said. "I''ve give you my current Rossland S7. With a market price of 12 million, you''ve got a steal there!"


    "Oh yeah. Why did you have a strange expression on your face earlier? Did you still have the nerve to show off and compare yourself to these kids?" Garen asked.


    "Do you know who that Executive Harris that they mentioned is?" Su Lin questioned.


    "Who knows!" Garen rolled his eyes.


    "He''s my brother."


    "¡­"

 119 Assassination 1

    Chapter 119: Assassination 1


    "Your brother is very well-known¡­" Garen shrugged. He didn''t know what to make of it.


    "He''s always been like that," Su Lin murmured. "Excellent, serious, dignified. He can even have a face-to-face confrontation with father. When I was young, I would often hear them arguing in the study."


    "You have a happy family." Garen took a sip of water.


    "Indeed." Su Lin reverted to his normal self and smiled. "But now someone is trying to destroy this happiness."


    "Kill anyone who tries." Garen smiled. He didn''t speak after that.


    Soon, designated waiters served them the prepared dishes and drinks. The dishes looked visually appealing and delicious. Chicken, duck, fish, geese, all kinds of meat were readily available. At the sides, there were attendants waiting with more dishes.


    Garen got up and glanced around the entire carriage: it was empty except for a gray-haired old man at the other end receiving similar treatment. The old man saw him and raised a glass to toast him with a smile.


    Garen smiled back at him and sat down. He looked at Su Lin across from him having a bite of meat mixed with a mouthful of wine and chewing it in his mouth; it felt weird to Garen.


    "Seeing you eat, I don''t know why but I always feel repulsed."


    "I don''t look like someone from a rich family, right?" Su Lin wasn''t bothered, and kept chewing while he mumbled. "It''s normal. I would never change myself just because of other people''s opinion. That''s my principle."


    "It''s a good principle to have." Garen nodded. When he saw that one of the dishes had changed, he started eating too.


    Su Lin had a large appetite, but his wasn''t small either.


    Ever since he reached the limit of Secret Mammoth Technique, his appetite had increased dramatically. Seven to eight pounds of meat in a meal was a walk in the park. Converted to Earth units, that was five to six catties. This was excluding bread, soup, vegetables and other dishes.


    The train chugged on, slowly and steadily. Every day, Garen and Su Lin chatted or listened to the youngsters around them. Every meal, they would avoid eating with others in case their immense appetite alarmed them.


    After a week, they finally reached the heart of the Eliza Province, Harmony City.


    Jumping off the train from the carriage doors, Garen suddenly saw Su Lin''s body tense up and he was standing still in front.


    "What''s wrong?" The station was so loud and noisy that Garen had to raise his voice.


    "It''s here." Su Lin turned around. He was holding a black card about the size of a playing card between his index and middle fingers; a ''J'' was printed in the middle of it.


    "Duskdune Shura''s black card."


    "Weren''t you already mentally prepared?" Garen smiled. He was far from being that ordinary person from Earth. Confronted with any challenge, he was confident he could face it himself. When he heard that Duskdune Shura''s card had arrived, he had a sense of eager anticipation instead. He had come to terms with it: even though firearms were capable of threatening martial art practitioners, he had special abilities and was a unique specimen gifted with infinite possibilities¡ªmaybe he could break through that limitation in the near future.


    "That''s true. Let''s go. But I''m guessing father and the others should already be aware about the appearance of the black card." Su Lin gave a wry smile.


    Sure enough, right after he said that, a large group of people walked towards them from the station entrance¡ªall soldiers in brown military uniforms. The leader of the group, a male officer, walked up to Su Lin and saluted him.


    "Captain Su Lin, following the orders of the Commander, we are here to escort you back to the manor."


    Garen looked as Su Lin silently shrugged and turned around to give him a wry smile.


    "Come on," he said as he turned around and walked towards the convoy of military vehicles parked in the distance, surrounded by the soldiers.


    Garen followed close behind, and was protectively surrounded by several soldiers too.


    The travelers around them were astonished and confounded; each had their own theories about what was going on.


    At the sight of Su Lin and Garen being escorted away by a large group of soldiers, Eileen, Sharman and the others who were still in the carriage were left speechless.


    The faces of the three rich kids who were bragging about their family backgrounds and wealth started to redden in embarrassment. Compared to them, it was obvious that Su Lin and Garen were the truly eminent characters. To think that they were boasting about their family connections and whatnot in front of them¡­


    *******************


    At the edge of a lake near Harmony City.


    Amidst the dense green trees by the lake, there was a square black-roofed estate.


    Double-storeyed steeple buildings formed an incomplete square; the gap in the square was the driveway which led to the estate.


    The entire estate was surrounded by a metal fence, with a white gate in a gap to facilitate entry and exit.


    Weak rays of sunlight fell on the roofs of all the buildings within the estate, and off the glass, faintly reflecting the light outwards.


    At noon, a motorcade of dark green military vehicles drove along the driveway into the vast estate.


    The motorcade comprised of four cars. They slowed to a stop at the edge of the lawn in the middle of the estate.


    Car doors opened then banged shut as a large group of soldiers dismounted and dispersed. Only two officers were left escorting two youths to the white marquee in the middle of the lawn.


    Of the two youths who stepped out of the car, one had flaming red hair and a handsome face with clear skin. He had a small golden earring on his ear.


    The other had indigo hair and was well-built. He took in his surroundings after stepping out of the car, as if it was his first time there: it was Garen who had just arrived from the train station.


    "Garen, let''s go meet my father together first," the youth with flaming red hair said to him.


    Garen nodded, and walked towards the marquee together with Su Lin.


    On the lawn outside the marquee, a tall and sturdy man raised a brown golf club and mimicked hitting a ball from time to time; he seemed to be practicing.


    The man was wearing white casual clothing. His hair was completely white and his forehead was balding. He had a healthy complexion and his eyes were calm but determined, conveying a resolute temperament.


    The man was somewhat portly. After he completed a swinging action, he leaned on his club and stood there looking towards Su Lin and Garen.


    "Father, I''m back. This is my friend Garen. I''ve invited him over to stay with us for a while. He''s a very close friend of mine," Su Lin stepped forward and took the initiative to speak first.


    "This is my father Crohn. You can call him uncle."


    "Hello uncle. I''ve taken the liberty to visit you. I apologize for disturbing," Garen greeted politely.


    "It''s fine. I see that you''re different from those other guys. I hope that Su Lin has more proper friends like you and gets into less trouble outside." Crohn nodded and gave Garen a friendly smile.


    "Oh yeah. Don''t go out and about for no good reason. Did you receive a black card with a ''J'' printed in the middle?" he turned to ask Su Lin.


    "Card? You mean this?" Su Lin took out the card and handed it to his father.


    Crohn took the card. A trace of severity flashed across his eyes.


    "Sure enough. Alright, you show Garen around, as long as you keep to the area around Lake Saima as much as possible."


    "I know, don''t worry. The area around Lake Saima would be fun enough for us." Su Lin smiled and waved. "Come on Garen, I''ll bring you to your temporary residence."


    They bid Commander Crohn goodbye and strolled around the estate for a while. Su Lin passed Garen the keys to the house he had prepared for him as well as the car keys, then instructed him on matters related to car maintenance. Only after that did things settle down temporarily.


    "Putting these aside, you''ll stay at my home for this period of time. It''s not officially the start of term yet. You can move out once school is back in session. Any problems?" Su Lin started arranging matters.


    "None. But I need to take a look at the layout and location of the house, and maybe get some daily necessities."


    "Don''t worry. It''s right by the university, and well-stocked with all the daily necessities. After this, I''m going to introduce you to another friend of mine, who will also be our companion in this upcoming period," Su Lin said mysteriously.


    "Companion?"


    Garen was very interested in this other person who was comparable to himself. It was conceivable that a person capable, in Su Lin''s eyes, of joining the ranks to counter Duskdune Shura, would absolutely not be an ordinary person.


    Holding on to his expectation, Garen followed Su Lin to check out the house. There weren''t any problems with it. It was a beautiful white villa, and the expensive Rossland was parked in the garage.


    Then it was paying a visit to this new friend who was going to join their ranks.


    *****************


    Harmony City slums.


    Clusters of dark gray buildings were packed together densely; some were even leaning and threatening to collapse.


    Garen and Su Lin passed through an alley between two leaning buildings. On the ground floor of the buildings were dirty shops and ordinary housing for the poor. Clotheslines with laundered clothing hung above the alley; some of the clothes were still wet and dripping with water, emitting a strong smell of soap.


    The walls on both sides of the alley were plastered with all kinds of small advertisements: mostly housing rental, high-interest loan, and hiring notices. Some parts even had advertisements directly written in green and red paint; it looked like children''s graffiti.


    In the depths of the alley, the sun couldn''t reach them¡ªthey were shrouded under the shadow of the buildings. The ground was damp; it was in a constant state of humidity all year round.


    Garen and Su Lin walked along the alley and were aware of the curious gazes of local residents they got from time to time. Some harsh coughing noises could vaguely be heard coming from the residences.


    Su Lin carefully stepped over a dirty puddle. "I haven''t been here in a long time. The city has been carrying out preventative measures against an epidemic. They say it''s a new strain of influenza, more problematic. People with poor personal hygiene are the most vulnerable group to be infected. I hope that guy isn''t infected."


    "I guess not," Garen casually replied. He saw a bedraggled young boy sitting at the entrance of a shop to his left. The boy was weaving something using pale yellow grass. "Why doesn''t he live in a better environment?" Garen asked logically.


    "No particular reason. It''s just how he is. This is where he grew up," Su Lin whispered. He turned a corner in front and walked towards the right. "We''re here."


    Garen followed him and turned the corner into a forked alley. There was only a small shop selling hoes and iron farming tools at the end of it. The shop was somewhat dark. Two silhouettes could vaguely be seen busying inside.


    Garen followed Su Lin to the entrance of the shop.


    "Is anyone in?" Su Lin shouted.


    "How can I help you, sir?" A young man in mud-colored linen clothes walked out. He was holding his sleeves with his hands, revealing the burn scars on his arms.


    "Where is your boss?"


    "May I know who''s asking?" An elegant young lady walked out of the shop. She wore a drab gray skirt, but her high breasts and vivacious figure revealed her youthful charms.


    "Why are you looking for my father?"

 120 Assassination 2

    Chapter 120: Assassination 2


    "I am a friend of your father''s. Ask him to come out and see me, he''ll know," Su Lin said with a smile.


    Garen stood to a side an observed their exchange silently. Suddenly he heard faint footsteps. When he turned around, he saw the boy who was weaving earlier cautiously stick his head out from the end of the alley in curiosity and look over. His small dirty face had a wooden sense to it. Two streaks of transparent sticky mucus flowed from his nostrils; he sniffed hard and the mucus was retracted back into his nose.


    He took a look at him then ignored him and turned back around. Su Lin had already asked the girl.


    The two of them were led into the shop and offered two chairs¡ªthe cleaner ones of the lot¡ªto sit down on.


    Soon, a middle-aged man with a full-faced beard pulled aside the tattered cloth partition separating the inner part of the house and walked in. He looked like an honest fellow. His face was calm and indifferent, his gaze complex with the vicissitudes of life; obviously he had been through a lot.


    When he walked out, the impression he gave was no different than that of a common blacksmith.


    Honest, straightforward, strong, crude, and of course, he had oil stains all over him.


    The first thing that the man saw when he walked in was Su Lin sitting on the chair. He furrowed his brow slightly. He wiped the oil stains off his hands on his clothes, walked over and sat down in front of Su Lin and Garen.


    "It''s you? Once I saw you, I knew my peaceful life was over. Tell me, what do you need my help for?" His sized Garen up and seemed to have doubts.


    "Come on. I had a hard time getting that promise from you before. If you went back on your word, I''ll be suffering a big loss. To think for your sake, I had to¡­"


    "Alright, just come out with it. What do you want?"


    Su Lin was cut short by the man, and didn''t manage to finish his sentence.


    The young boy and girl stood to one side and were left confused by the conversation; they had no idea what was going on.


    Su Lin looked at them, and knew that the man had no intention of hiding anything from them, so he spoke his mind.


    "I''ve run into some trouble."


    "What kind of trouble?" The man leaned forward, and took his outer coat off.


    "Duskdune Shura."


    The man abruptly stopped what he was doing.


    Silence filled the air.


    The man didn''t speak, Su Lin didn''t speak, and neither did Garen.


    Affected by the atmosphere, the boy and girl standing to a side didn''t dare to breathe too heavily either. They looked puzzled; the girl even seemed vaguely excited.


    After a while, Su Lin spoke again.


    "What''s the matter? The Eight-Arm Dragon King of yore is now speechless at the mention of Duskdune Shura?"


    The man''s eyes flashed.


    "What''s the use of reminiscing about the past?"


    The Eight-Arm Dragon King!


    Garen sitting to a side was instantly stunned. He had never heard of this title, but to be able to carry such a name was proof enough of his terrifying true strength in the past.


    Regardless of the field, for one to be called a king, they were definitely no plain characters. Not to mention he was acknowledged by Su Lin as an absolute companion in countering the impending attack from Duskdune Shura!


    When he saw the man evade, Su Lin didn''t let up. "You''re really able to let go of that thing with Duskdune Shura before? I don''t believe it."


    The atmosphere turned somber again.


    The youths were mostly confused, but caught the gist of it. The old man in the shop must have been a powerful big shot in the past. He merely resided here because of some kind of grudge. These two people in front of them had obviously come to ask the old man to come out of retirement.


    "I thought I could live peacefully till I died of old age. I didn''t think there would be such a day¡­" The middle-aged man let out a long sigh. "Unfortunately, I have let it go entirely."


    At these words, Garen saw Su Lin''s face turned unpleasant.


    "You''re joking?" his voice became very deep. "What about the promise you gave me before? Also, could you bear to see your daughter and apprentice toil on in mediocrity, forever living in this dingy corner till they die?"


    The Eight-Arm Dragon King was unfazed. "I will not go out. But owing to my previous promise, I will give you a satisfactory explanation."


    "Explanation? What further explanation can you offer?" Su Lin said coldly. Suddenly, he took out a piece of something from his front pocket: it was part of an unknown ornament, like a brass hoop. It was cracked at the bottom.


    At the sight of this, the Eight-Arm Dragon King''s eyes immediately widened. "Why is this with you?" his voice became unusually frigid. In contrast to his calm and passive demeanor a moment ago, he became frantic and dangerous in an instant.


    "Don''t you bother why it''s with me," Su Lin sneered. "I¡­"


    Snap! The words had barely left his mouth.


    The Eight-Arm Dragon King erupted instantly. He drew two machetes out with both hands and hacked at Su Lin''s arms with a swoosh.


    Chhhh!


    The blades froze to a halt inches above his skin.


    The Eight-Arm Dragon King lowered his head and saw a large hand clutching his throat.


    Bang!


    He instantly flew backwards into a pile of debris, and broke numerous items as he went.


    Garen gave a cold scoff and retracted his arm.


    "Ridiculous."


    Su Lin only managed to react then, and started to break out in cold sweat. Although he could hold his own, compared to a Grandmaster of Combat, he was definitely not as good in close quarters. Even Garen, who wasn''t fast, had quicker reactions than he.


    "This is your so-called expert?" Garen frowned at Su Lin. "Weak."


    Su Lin gave a wry smile, and was about to speak.


    Suddenly a click could be heard.


    Garen''s pupils narrowed; a sharp sense of danger overwhelmed him. He turned around immediately to look at the direction he sent the Dragon King flying.


    In the dark, four sleek black rifles were steadily aimed at Garen''s head and all around his body.


    The Eight-Arm Dragon King stood by the wall with an icy gaze. He had two sniper rifles in his hands and two at his feet.


    Four heavy duty rifles were aimed at Garen and the directions in which he could dodge.


    These four guns gave him a strong sense of danger; they were obviously not to be trifled with.


    The atmosphere in the room froze for a while.


    "You could try firing at me," Garen said slowly. "Within ten steps, let''s see if you kill me first, or if I break your skull open."


    The Eight-Arm Dragon King retained his icy cold gaze.


    He could tell that Garen was serious. An unprecedented sense of threat continuously stimulated his nerves, like needle tips constantly piercing on his skin. The subtle pain surged throughout his body like a tide.


    "The distance¡­is too close¡­"


    They were clear that, twenty meters away, the Eight-Arm Dragon King was stronger. Within twenty meters, Garen was fearless. Both represented strong threats to one another.


    The atmosphere became more distressing and grim by the minute. The youths stood far away in a corner; they looked helpless. It wasn''t just them. Even Su Lin didn''t expect the situation to change so abruptly.


    He was the only one who was clear about their strengths.


    Both of them were at the peak in their respective fields, whether it was the Eight-Arm Dragon King or Garen. To really determine a winner, harm would definitely be done to both.


    "Alright, alright. For my sake, let''s each give in a little. Yoda, I will tell you how I obtained the item. It has to do with Duskdune Shura."


    Yoda, the Dragon King, gave an apathetic scoff, then slowly moved the guns away.


    "Nobody has dared to threaten me like this before." He looked at Garen, a hint of coldness flashed in his eyes. "You are unwelcome here."


    Su Lin looked at Garen, his eyes pleading.


    "I''ll wait for you in the car."


    Garen nodded passively, turned around, and walked out of the shop.


    At this, Su Lin let out a long sigh of relief.


    He should have foreseen that two people with such aggressive characters put together would definitely cause problems.


    Both of them had absolute confidence and pride in their respective fields, and couldn''t stand to be provoked. They were like barrels of gunpowder, catching fire with a spark. Fortunately he had a good relationship with Garen, and the latter gave him some face.


    He understood that the Eight-Arm Dragon King merely wanted to frighten him so that he would give up the item. He didn''t expect Garen to believe the threat and act on it. And from then on, both of them wouldn''t see eye to eye.


    "Looks like I''ll have to split them up to handle things. Otherwise, we''ll have an internal fight before Duskdune Shura''s forces even arrive." Su Lin felt helpless. "This can''t be helped. The more powerful one is, the more confident they would be, to the extent that everything revolves around them. This was the absolute confidence established from long-term success and victory. Therefore, any such person would have absolute certainty about themselves."


    The Eight-Arm Dragon King was such, and Garen was no different. Greater achievement determined stronger confidence.


    "What''s the deal with that guy?" the Eight-Arm Dragon King asked after Garen left.


    "Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate, Divine Marshal Garen. He''s someone I hired as a temporary aid, and also a good friend of mine. Originally, I thought you could get along peacefully and complement each other¡­ Looks like it was wishful thinking on my part," Su Lin helplessly sighed.


    "Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate? The one from fifty years ago?" The Eight-Arm Dragon King was stunned. "Divine Marshal, hmph¡­ What an obnoxious title! Obviously it''s corresponding to the four Royal Generals of the past!"


    "It was probably re-established by the older generation. You should know, whoever is named a Divine Marshal would definitely be a pre-eminent expert. And all in the name of White Bird Holy Fist. I trust you remember the Holy Fist White Bird from before?" Su Lin explained.


    "Naturally¡­" The Eight-Arm Dragon King nodded. "That was the pinnacle of an era. But to be able to make me feel such a strong sense of threat, Divine Marshal¡­He deserves that title"


    "Speaking of which, do you want to join Golden Hoop? You can consider it as paving a future for your apprentice and daughter." Su Lin didn''t show any trace of the hostility from earlier, but instead seemed like someone who hadn''t seen their best friend in years.


    He knew clearly that, in terms of defeating an opponent in a direct confrontation, Garen was absolutely much stronger. But in terms of secret assassination methods and eliminating bodyguards, the Eight-Arm Dragon King was far and away more superior to Garen.


    Each had their strengths.


    If they could complement each other in action, they would become a force to be reckoned with!


    But unfortunately both clearly didn''t see eye to eye.


    During his youth, the Eight-Arm Dragon King encountered Duskdune Shura, who had the combined skills of martial arts and firearms. In contrast to average assassins, he was clear about how terrifying the combined force of martial arts and firearms could be, so he would pay attention to happenings in the martial arts world.


    "Forget it. You wait here for a moment. I''ll give my apprentice and daughter a brief explanation." Yoda finally made up his mind, especially after being provoked by Su Lin and Garen like this. Garen had become a Divine Marshal of Holy Fist Gate at such a young age; this truly highlighted how old he himself was.


    At this thought, he motioned his apprentice and daughter¡ªwho were timidly standing a distance away and looking at him like a stranger¡ªto come to him.


    "Piccolo, Nissyan, come over, I have something to say to you."


    *******************


    Garen walked out of the shop, and saw the boy with a runny nose stand in a corner and looking at him blankly again.


    He put both his hands in his pockets. His face was grim; the strong Momentum on him was enough to make any adult frightened. But the little boy¡ªalbeit trembling from head to toe¡ªcould still persist in holding his gaze.


    Crisp footsteps could be heard from leather boots hitting the ground.


    Garen walked to the boy, and looked down at him.


    "Kid, why are you staring at me?"


    "I¡­I want to learn from you¡­how to fight," the boy looked up and said, as he inhaled the mucus back into his nose.

 121 Assassination 3

    Chapter 121: Assassination 3


    Garen was slightly stunned, and suddenly felt a strange sense of uneasiness. The sentence reminded him of the life he used to live on Earth.


    The gloomy Momentum around him gradually dispersed too because he was distracted.


    He straightened himself up and looked down at the boy in front of him.


    "Why not find someone else? Why did you specifically find me?"


    The boy finally started to relax after the Momentum dispersed, and he stopped trembling. He looked up at Garen.


    "Because I feel you''re¡­the most powerful!"


    Garen''s mood inexplicably lifted.


    "You have a good willpower," he deliberated, "if you can pass my test, I''ll consider accepting you."


    He raised his right arm and swung it backwards.


    Chrrrh!


    The sound of cloth being torn could be heard.


    "Do this action a thousand times every day, use all your might. Seven days later, if you think you''ve achieved it, come to this address." He whispered the address of Su Lin''s manor.


    The boy saw it only once; the action was fairly simple. It was mainly about perseverance.


    In actuality, Garen just set a random test. He took a last look at the dazed boy.


    He was mumbling the address repeatedly while starting to practice the action he had just learnt.


    Soon, Su Lin walked out of the shop. He looked at Garen confusedly, and then looked at the dazed boy.


    "Come on, let''s head back."


    Garen didn''t bother to explain either; he just followed him and walked out of the alley.


    That action was a simple use of the Swinging Form. If the boy could really stick to it, one week later his right arm would swell and itch due to a congestion of blood, and the joints in his arm would be damaged.


    This would depend on whether he was obedient enough to practice this action with all his might.


    Because this action wasn''t beneficial to him in any way and was merely part of the test, when the time comes, if the injury to his arm wasn''t serious, it would prove that he didn''t do as instructed.


    Of course, if it was indeed as Garen expected, he would treat his arm and temporarily receive him as a disciple.


    Without further delays, Garen and Su Lin took the car directly back to the estate.


    **************


    The subtle sound of tea being poured into a white jade cup could be heard.


    Magenta flower petals would pour out with the tea from time to time, emitting the fragrance of clivias. Underscored by pure flawless white jade, the magenta seemed unusually pure.


    "Please, have some tea."


    A purple-haired girl put the teapot down and gestured at the piping hot tea.


    "Thank you."


    Garen and Su Lin were sitting side by side on a bench. The purple-haired girl sitting across from them was Su Lin''s sister, Aris.


    The girl inherited the good genes of Su Lin''s family. She was pretty, and had a serene and vintage aura about her.


    Her long purple hair was combed into bangs towards the right, and tied into a ponytail at the back. It was neatly done up, without a single frizz in sight. She wore a black dress with purple motifs on it. Her figure was slender and proportionate; sitting in the chair with her legs together and angled sideways, she was a typical aristocratic young lady.


    When she raised her teacup to drink, her actions were delicate: she merely took a sip as the teacup touched her lips.


    "I''m truly surprised that my brother has such a proper friend like you, Mr Garen," Aris said with a smile.


    "Uhh¡­" Garen didn''t know how to reply. It was obvious that in his sister''s impression, Su Lin was extremely shallow.


    Su Lin sitting by the side could only smile awkwardly.


    "You don''t have to mind." Aris smiled. "Alright Su Lin, I''m assuming this visit isn''t just to introduce me to Mr Garen?"


    "Of course not¡­" Su Lin chuckled. "It''s mainly to see how you''ve been. After not seeing you for such a long time, even I would miss my beautiful sister."


    "Don''t go out and about for no good reason," Aris said in a hushed tone. "Settle yourself at home for the time being."


    "Actually¡­" Su Lin paused, "haven''t you always wanted to learn authentic combat martial arts? Garen is the martial arts coach I''ve hired for you."


    "Martial arts coach?" Aris was slightly surprised. "You''ve hired a¡­ At this time¡­?" She seemed to have figured something out, but stopped short of saying anything, and started to scrutinize Garen.


    But when Garen wasn''t applying the Body Hardening Technique, his body merely seemed well-built, and wouldn''t exhibit any distinctiveness. He had long curbed his Momentum; this would help conceal it from Duskdune Shura in their encounter.


    Aris was an ordinary person who had never trained in martial arts before, so she couldn''t tell.


    She frowned, but didn''t reject.


    "Mr Garen, where do you work?"


    "Oh it''s nowhere special. I''m just a trainer at a dojo in a small town," Garen replied casually.


    Su Lin sitting to a side cut in by replying, "Garen is a good friend of mine, someone I really trust. I would worry if anyone other than him were to be your coach!"


    Aris wanted to decline, but Su Lin''s burst of interruption and debate made it seem as though she would be disowning him as a brother if she didn''t accept Garen as her coach; the consequences were severe.


    All she could do was agree to let Garen teach her martial arts.


    Garen observed from the side. He felt that the relationship between this pair of siblings was reversed. Aris was playing the role of an elder sister instead: she was mature, courteous and graceful. She handled things decisively without drawing it out.


    Su Lin disappeared after he left Garen with his sister, probably out fooling off.


    Garen and Aris were left sitting face-to-face in the tearoom. A maid refilled their tea for them.


    "So¡­ Master Garen, I''m over 18 this year. To start training in marital arts at such an age, would there be any problems?" Aris began asking the most basic questions.


    She truly took Garen as her martial arts coach. In their casual conversation, the martial arts knowledge that Garen presented was passable.


    "In doing fundamental training, age doesn''t matter," Garen replied. "Even though you''re starting out late, but you''re still young; you still have the potential to develop. Don''t worry too much."


    "I''ve always wanted to learn authentic martial arts. Where should I start? To tell you the truth, we have quite a number of dojos locally, but I''ve been hesitant all along," Aris sighed. "Martial arts can improve physical fitness and exercise the body and mind. My body has always been weak. Please see if you can devise a suitable training plan for me."


    "No problem," Garen nodded. "Since I''m your martial arts teacher, this is part of my duty."


    "I''ll trouble you to do it then. How about a salary of 5000 dollars per week?"


    "That''s very high."


    Garen understood that to mean he was not welcome, so he stood up, bid her goodbye and left the room under the directions of the maid.


    Aris lifted her teacup and blew at the rising vapor. She glanced at the motifs etched on the side of the table.


    "Colonel Moen, is there news on Duskdune Shura? What made you come over personally?"


    In a dark corner of the room, a military officer in black appeared from behind a bookshelf. The faint sound of a trapdoor automatically closing came from behind him.


    "Duskdune Shura has made a move. The latest information from the intelligence bureau is that he''s sent 20 men, split into two groups, directly headed to the estate. It''s unknown what method he''s employing. Our men failed to trace their whereabouts." A silver scythe hung from the military officer''s waist: it was long, with the breadth of a longsword, and there was no sheath. This lent a cold and piercing air to him.


    "How soon are they expected to arrive?" Aris rubbed her temples to ease her headache.


    "Within this week," Officer Moen replied in a hushed tone.


    "So father has sent you to protect me for the week?"


    "Yes." Moen nodded.


    "And about father and brother¡­"


    "You needn''t worry. There is a separate arrangement for Commander."


    Aris nodded.


    "As one of the three strongest special agents in the Southern Military, even you have come over. I''m assuming there are sufficiently strong guards protecting my father and brothers?"


    "Yes. Colonel Turnery and Colonel Von Eckardt have arrived. Also, the Commissioner, Major General Wellington, is having tea with the Commander," Officer Moen calmly replied.


    "Even the Commissioner of the Special Agent Bureau is involved? That''s right, father is the Deputy Commissioner. If something were to happen to him, it would be a huge embarrassment."


    "What a grand setting¡­ Of the individual military elites within the entire Southern Military, more than half have gathered here." Aris started to relax a little. "It seems that everything is ready. Alright, I''m fine here, you can busy yourself elsewhere."


    "Please take care." Moen bent over slightly and gave an elegant bow, then turned around and left silently through the secret passageway.


    "Luna."


    "Miss?" the only maid in charge of serving tea replied.


    "The one I''m worried about most at the estate is my brother, Su Lin. You stay with him for this period. If he wants to go out, stop him and don''t let him out."


    "Yes, Miss," the maid nodded in agreement.


    "I can''t believe he still remembers that I like martial arts, and actually hired me a trainer. I merely mentioned it casually back then, but he actually took it to heart." Aris smiled, and her gaze softened.


    "Oh yeah. What do you think of that Mr Garen?"


    The maid deliberated and said, "He has solid foundational skills, but we are trained in military combat arts, so I am unclear about traditional schools of martial arts. I can only tell that he''s not a fraudster. From his temperament and age, he seems to be a core disciple who has inherited proper training. But Miss, why don''t you train in military combat arts with us? These are the practical combat skills actually adapted to fight and kill."


    "Traditional martial arts has its advantages. My purpose for training in martial arts is not to fight and kill, it''s to condition my body. Even though the practicality of traditional martial arts isn''t strong, it''s very good for training the body. That is something military combat skills lack. Forget it. You may go down now. Also, have Annie and the others focus on protecting Mr Garen. I''m guessing he''s trained in typical traditional martial arts and would perform poorly in actual combat. Make sure you protect him well, it would be bad if something happened to brother''s guest."


    "Yes, Miss."


    *********


    One standing and the other sitting, Su Lin and Garen were skipping pebbles by the lake.


    "What is the current situation? When we were heading back, I noticed that security has been increased," Garen inquired in a hushed tone.


    Su Lin flung a pebble out: it skipped nine times on the surface of the lake. He smiled in satisfaction.


    "All my dad''s old partners are here. The four most powerful people in the Southern Military; Commissioner of the Special Agent Bureau, Wellington; and the strongest three selected from hundreds of thousands in the military, three special Colonels. It seems that, in order to deal with this trouble, dad has made countless promises."


    "The four most powerful people in the Southern Military? How powerful?" Garen was somewhat sensitive towards such claims.

 122 Assassination 4

    Chapter 122: Assassination 4


    "I don¡¯t know actually. There¡¯s no one to compare them to. They are strong for sure, and we probably don¡¯t need to do anything this time." Su Lin laughed breezily, "I heard about the Spy Agency when I was very young. The Spy Agency is a special department in the federal government, and its members are all very strong. They¡¯re in charge of solving the special cases all around the country."


    "Sounds good." Garen nodded, "It¡¯s great if the only thing we need to do is watch, also, when will the disgusting old gunman get here?"


    "Disgusting old man? You mean Yoda, the Dragon King?" Su Lin was speechless, "He said he¡¯d rather take actions alone. He will be here when he thinks it¡¯s necessary."


    "I hope he¡¯s not just too scared," Garen scorned.


    "¡­" Su Lin had a bitter smile on his face, "Well, I will assign everyone¡¯s tasks, you go take care of my sister, and I will stay with Yoda. What do you think?"


    "Sure, I am a ¡®Martial Arts Coach¡¯ anyways."


    "That was not just a name¡­ I actually wanted you to teach Aris some things." Su Lin shrugged.


    "She¡¯s too old for that." Garen shook his head, although he was only 17 years old, the Secret Martial Arts made him look like he was more than 20 years old, and he had a mature-looking face.


    "Just do whatever you can." Su Lin knew age was the problem, "I¡¯ll go check on Yoda. Tomorrow is the deadline marked on the black card, Duskdune Shura had their rules, and they will take actions anytime between the second to the seventh day you receive their black cards."


    "Got it."


    Garen skipped a stone, and it bounced off the surface for more than ten times. He stood up after watching Su Lin leave the lake and walked into the manor.


    "I haven¡¯t improved since the meeting¡­" He felt a bit disappointed.


    Garen¡¯s progression slowed down after he became a Grandmaster of Combat. Without obtaining new Antiques of Tragedy, he could not increase his attributes and level up his skills.


    At the moment, Garen could only practice the low-level Secret Martial Arts he acquired a while ago.


    Th Firestream Fist and the Dark Iron Palm, he could probably increase the levels of those two Secret Martial Arts. However, the accumulation of venom for the Dark Iron Palm was way too slow. Garen raised his hands and looked at his palms.


    Unlike the other parts of his body, his hands looked a bit dark.


    Garen looked at his skill bar, "Dark Iron Palm: Entry level not reached."


    He had no idea how much venom he needed in order to reach the entry level, based on the normal training duration of low-level Secret Martial Arts, Garen knew it was going to be hard.


    The Firestream Fist was also about the hands, and its progression was slower than Dark Iron Palm. Garen had not yet reached the entry level of Firestream Fist as well, and he really could not tell the difference between now and when he just started.


    He was a bit nervous, but he calmed down quickly. Garen needed to stay calm to reach his full potential.


    "I can¡¯t increase my attributes, and the low-level Secret Martial Arts are not progressing well¡­ Should I go to other sects to collect some Secret Martial Arts that are easier to learn?" Garen scrunched his eyebrows.


    After the battle with Andrela, Garen knew he had already reached his limit, and he needed some special methods to help him reach the next level. His plan was to collect low-level Secret Martial Arts from different sets, but he knew Su Lin¡¯s matter was urgent, and he needed to help Su Lin first.


    Garen thought he could at least level up the Firestream Fist and Dark Iron Palm but, although he spent a long time on them, nothing happened. He started to think the problems were on the Secret Martial Arts themselves because he had already done everything he could.


    "Maybe I need special talents to level up those Secret Martial Arts?"


    He closed his eyes and stared at the skill bar. There were no special signs behind Firestream Fist and Dark Iron Palm.


    "If that¡¯s not the reason, then there must be missing pages of Secret Martial Arts I obtained, and the books in the Dojo are not complete. There must be some key requirements for those two Secret Martial Arts, just like the Explosive Fist Arts and White Cloud Secret Arts, I needed to consume the Body Quenching Pill which was not written in the book. Such requirements are probably passed on by word of mouth." Garen recalled how fast he had learned Boulder Martial Arts and Iron Body, he was sure the Body Quenching Pill helped him a lot.


    "I need to find the missing pages quickly, those low-level Secret Martial Arts can be found everywhere. I need to visit other sects after the things here are done."


    About the sects that were holding Secret Martial Arts, Garen remembered the new organization founded not so long ago, Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate, and he was one of the three Divine Marshals there.


    "I¡¯m a member of it, and I think it¡¯ll be fine if I want to check the normal Secret Martial Arts stored there. The Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate was the combination of many different sects, it must have something valuable in its library."


    Garen suddenly had the urge to go to the Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate.


    "Also, White Bird Holy Fist Palosa is there, and I want to see how strong his legendary Fist Arts really are!"


    The Holy Fist!


    His Fist Arts were remarkably strong that people considered him as a saint.


    If it was called Holy Fist, it must be much stronger than average Secret Martial Arts.


    White Bird Holy Fist was one of the top Fist Arts Masters in this era, and Garen felt excited that he had the chance to actually meet Palosa in person.


    "After this is done, I will head to Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate!" Garen made up his mind.


    *******************


    For the next several days, Garen trained with Su Lin¡¯s Sister Aris every morning and taught her some basic training techniques. Those techniques were developed by the elders, and they could be applied to almost anyone.


    Those techniques were the foundations in the Mammoth Gate, people would not be able to practice them properly without being coached by someone from the gate, and they were mostly used for exercises.


    Every single action mentioned in the techniques were important, and Aris needed to meet the standards of those actions. The techniques could help Aris strengthen her body and avoid injuries during the training.


    Garen was coaching her and made a special plan for Aris. He considered how much exercise Aris could do per day, and how strong her body was at its current state.


    Garen decided what she ate every day, and he also crafted the medicine used to treat general injuries for her. Also, Garen was trying to apply mild venoms on his palms in order to level up Dark Iron Palm, he used things like poisonous insects and plants. However, nothing worked.


    Garen was sure the Secret Martial Arts he obtained had missing pages, and he needed something else to help him meet the requirements.


    He also practiced Firestream Fist every day based on the standard techniques, he knew he was progressing, but it was so slow that he might as well ignore it.


    Garen thought it would take him years to reach the entry level at this rate, and it seemed Firestream Fist also had some special requirements for him to be able to speed up the process.


    Five days passed, and he did nothing besides coaching Aris.


    Finally, Su Lin sent Garen a message on the last day of the deadline.


    ********************


    On top of a hill not so far from the manor.


    A middle-aged man dressed like a noble stepped on the leaves that dropped from the trees, he was surveying the manor and the lake.


    The man¡¯s blonde hair was a bit dark, and it spread out over his shoulders. His pupils were pink and beautiful, and they were almost glowing under the sunlight


    The man had a black whip rolled up in his hand. He looked like a nobleman that was about to go hunting.


    "This is Crohn¡¯s manor?"


    "Yes." A man with mask appeared behind the tree on the right. He was wearing green, making him hard to be detected in such environment.


    "Crohn and Belfatalia are two of the top commanders in the south, and they are both Lieutenant Generals. I think they already know we are here because there are people from the Spy Agency currently in the manor."


    "That Spy Agency?" the man in green wondered. "How much did they spend on this? I heard about the infamous federal agency a long time ago, and I never expected to actually see them in person. Is Director Wellington here too?"


    "Yea."


    "Let¡¯s wait for everyone to arrive then. All of our member are here this time. Whatever, I am not the one giving orders now, and I will let Duskdune Shura worry about all this," the man said in a light tone.


    "Wellington¡­" another deep voice came from behind.


    "The last time I saw him was 30 years ago." A man in a black cloak appeared from the shadows.


    "You are here? Duskdune Shura. What¡¯s the plan?" the man with pink pupils leaned to the side and asked.


    "Nothing special. We go in, take out the target, and leave," Duskdune Shura spoke in a light tone.


    "Are you kidding me?"


    "I will do it myself this time."


    The man with pink pupil hesitated, he wanted to say something, but he decided not to.


    "Let¡¯s wait for everyone before going in. Crohn ignored my offer, and that¡¯s what he will get." Duskdune Shura stared at the manor down the hill.


    "Actually¡­ I have a question," the man with pink pupil said. "Is it really worth it? You need all of us to join this mission just for the thing you talked about?"


    "You don¡¯t understand. I will explain after everything is done," Duskdune Shura responded.


    The man stared at Duskdune Shura, and the atmosphere got heavy. He spoke again after a while.


    "Fine. I hope you have a good reason for this."


    "I will do whatever you tell me to do. That¡¯s what I promised," a cold female voice came from the top of the tree.


    A lady with green hair was sitting on the branch, she was wearing a white eyepatch, and her other eye was open.


    "You won¡¯t be disappointed," Duskdune Shura muttered, "let¡¯s move."


    He started to head down the hill.


    The man with pink pupils followed him in the back, and many green shadows were moving from both sides of the bushes, but they barely made any noises.


    "Golden Sword Throne¡­ Duskdune Shura, I hope you don¡¯t lose yourself," the lady on the tree mumbled.

 123 Heated Battle 1

    Chapter 123: Heated Battle 1


    Inside the manor.


    Su Lin stood by the window and crossed his arms, he was looking outside.


    "They are here. They didn¡¯t even disguise themselves!" His eyes were filled up with excitement and expectations.


    "Show me what you got, the former Royal Generals of Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate¡­"


    As a Martial Artist, he wanted to observe and pursue higher-level skills.


    ********


    Inside the changeroom.


    Garen was putting on the tight black coat, but he suddenly stopped.


    "The enemies are already here, and you are still wandering around?" he turned back and spoke in a cold tone.


    "You should worry more about yourself and don¡¯t get killed by the former Royal Generals!" Yoda, the Eight-arm Dragon King, sneered and walked out of the shadow. There were eight heavy sniper rifles on his back, they looked like peafowl tails, and it was almost like there were wings on his back. People would feel scared just by looking at the man.


    "I hope you know more than just talking." Garen put on his clothes, turned back, and left the room.


    "Same to you!" Yoda stopped saying anything. He turned around and disappeared into the shadows again.


    Garen closed the door slowly and walked toward the exit of the hallway quickly.


    ********


    About several hundred meters away from the manor.


    Under the sunlight, leaves were dropping down the tree.


    Suddenly, several black projectiles were thrown toward the manor.


    *BAM BAM*


    After the gunshots, those black projectiles exploded and turned into fireballs.


    At the same time, the guards hiding inside the manor were hit, they groaned and fell to the ground. Fresh bullet entry wounds decorated their foreheads.


    *WUUUUUU*


    The alarm was triggered right away.


    *BOOM*


    The gate of the manor was blown away by a fireball, the flame dropped to the guards behind it like liquid, and they started burning.


    Those human torches groaned and struggled before falling to the ground.


    Three black shadows flashed into the manor as the gate opened, they looked like three black strings.


    *BAM*


    One of the black shadows opened fire and multiple shots were fired within a second.


    Snipers on the roofs were hit all at the same time and were all taken out.


    Machine gunners started firing as well, but they were all dealt with after the first rounds were finished, and the only thing they actually did was making mud splashes.


    Two teams of soldiers appeared on both sides of the building and were rolling to dodge the projectiles, but their foreheads were hit halfway and they died instantly.


    Three black shadows stood in the middle of the manor¡¯s lawn. They were all wearing black cloaks. From head to toe including their faces, they were covered in black.


    Dozens of soldiers followed them into the manor. They all had submachine guns in their hands, wearing green suits and masks. Those soldiers started trading shots with the guards inside the manor quickly.


    "Proceed as planned," the first black cloak said in a hoarse voice.


    "They are hiding at different positions, and they are far away from each other. Many guards are protecting them. I am not sure what they are planning, what should we do?" another black cloak said in a low voice. There was a lot of gun firing going, but they could still hear each other¡¯s voices.


    "They are trying to hit us from multiple angles maybe. If they want to play hide-and-seek, we can do it as well. Let¡¯s separate from here," the leading black cloak said. "They were trying to distract us with the guards and exhaust us. They¡¯ve probably already regroup. We need to move before more guards show up."


    "Don¡¯t worry. The manor is huge. At this rate, it will take them several minutes until they can meet up with each other, and that¡¯s more than enough time for us," the last black cloak was a woman, and she said the words in a cold tone.


    "Move! Fire the signal after you find the target!"


    They moved toward three different directions before the final word left his mouth. Right after they left, a black grenade dropped to their wherever they just were and exploded.


    ********


    Inside a stone house beside the river.


    Su Lin¡¯s sister Aris was drinking flower tea with Garen beside a table.


    One side of the stone house was open, and dock stairs were built beside it. Waves were hitting the white stone stairs occasionally, sweeping some green water plants to the shore.


    Rays of sunlight hit the surface of the lake and reflected back onto their faces. The lake glinted in the sun, and it was glaring.


    "I love afternoons, so relaxing¡­" Aris lied down on the wicker chair, her beautiful hair spread out on the white pillow, and there was a lazy but sexy expression on her face.


    She used her slim fingers to block the reflected sunlight, "I want to take a nap¡­" her voice lowered down.


    "Well, no more than half an hour. If you really want to sleep, I can wake you up when it''s time." Garen sat on the side, sipping a cup of red flower tea. "We began the training several days ago, and you already got tired. Now I know why you can¡¯t even reach the entry level."


    He looked at Aris, "You need the perseverance to practice Martial Arts, without that, it will be hard for you to get the hang of it."


    "But I want to sleep¡­" Aris got familiar with Garen, and she was not acting like a gentle girl anymore, she always had a lazy but sexy look on her face.


    "Ladies always need more sleep!"


    She turned to the side and stared at Garen in curiosity.


    "Master Garen, are you looking for a girlfriend now?"


    "Nope." Garen shrugged, "Don¡¯t try to change the topic."


    "But I¡¯m really tired¡­" Aris started acting like a spoiled child, "I need to take care of my skin, comb my hair, read books, and work every day. I need to make sure I have enough sleep so my skin will stay elastic."


    "But if you¡ª"


    *BOOM*


    Garen¡¯s words were interrupted by an explosion, and he heard the alarm right after.


    He looked at the direction of the manor in shock.


    "Don¡¯t worry. They are probably doing the military exercises again." Aris laughed nonchalantly, but the laziness in her eyes was replaced by some sharpness.


    She stood up, left the chair and looked at the direction of the manor. Aris had a glance at a pattern on the stone house¡¯s right side corner, and the pattern rotated by itself without making any noise.


    He finally came¡­ Duskdune Shura.


    Aris slowly combed the hair to the side of her face with her fingers and tied it up. Although there was a smile on her face, her eyes were not laughing at all.


    "Master Garen, let¡¯s move. If we don¡¯t go to the special soundproof room, the military exercise will bother us. It¡¯s usually very noisy."


    "I¡¯m fine with that." Garen stood up.


    *Poof*


    A strange light sound came from outside the door.


    The pattern at the corner rotated again, and Aris stopped moving after seeing the change.


    "That¡¯s was fast!" Her pupils contracted a bit. The rotation of the pattern meant the enemies were already here, and Colonel Moen, the one in charge of her safety, was already fighting them.


    Also, it meant that the enemies had already surrounded them, and Colonel Moen wanted Aris to stay in the house and wait for further updates.


    The original plan they had was meeting up in a certain location after the alarm was triggered. They were not so far from each other, and it would take them several minutes to reach the place.


    However, the enemies were fast, and they were already here before Aris could move.


    "Actually, I¡¯m still tired. Let¡¯s sit down and have some more rest." Aris smiled and sat down slowly.


    Garen sat down as well, he narrowed his eyes and knew something was wrong.


    *******************


    *CHI*


    Colonel Moen slowly returned the spiked chain back to his hands.


    The end of the chain was pinned to a green masked man¡¯s throat, stained with blood dripping down. The chain shivered and returned to his hands like a silver snake.


    After the chain had returned to his hands, he glanced around.


    There were more than ten dead bodies of the green masked soldiers lying on the ground beside the lake, their heads, throats, or hearts were impaled by the chain.


    Blood was all over the ground, and the yellow shore almost turned red.


    "Sir!" two soldiers in brown suits ran to Moen and saluted him, "All enemies have been eliminated! What are your orders?"


    "Good," Moen looked at them, "How¡¯s the situation in the manor?"


    "Everything is proceeding as planned," the soldiers answered immediately.


    Moen was going to say something else, but his expression suddenly changed and rolled to the left.


    *BAM BAM*


    The two soldiers fell to the ground after getting shot in the heart.


    Moen fired two times without looking, he then quickly rolled again and stood up.


    The enemy was right behind him after dodging the bullets. The enemy changed his position as Moen stood up, and he managed to stay behind Moen the whole time.


    Moen turned around again and fired four times with the white pistol in his hand, he was aiming at all the possible angles the enemy could hide.


    He quickly backed off after firing his pistol and dodged two bullets from the enemy.


    "Silenced pistol? There is more than one enemy here!"


    He kicked some sand into the air and threw out a black grenade sneakily.


    He jumped forward and started rolling again.


    *BOOM*


    The grenade exploded behind him, sand on the shore was blown into the air and dropped down like rain.


    Moen quickly got up and threw his chain toward the front.


    *Clank*


    The thorns on the chain were blocked, wrapped on the silencer of the black pistol.


    In front of Moen, there were two twin girls that looked exactly the same. Their eyes, hair, and tight suits were all green, and they both had beautiful faces.


    "How did you manage to stay alive?" one of the twin girls said in a deep tone.


    "Don¡¯t worry. Let me deal with him, and I¡¯ll let him know, me, Master Sayman, is the No.1 in the green team!"


    A tall man in green cloak approached Moen from the side.


    "The Royal Generals will know how brave I am." The man named Sayman had a strange expression on his face, and it seemed like he was expecting something.


    Moen backed off and returned the chain to his hands.


    He had a serious look on his face and waved his hand.


    Teams of soldiers in brown walked out of the bushes, they all had gun in their hands, and there were about a hundred of them here.


    They surrounded the twin and the man in the middle.


    "Kill them all!" Moen ordered.


    He quickly moved backward and stood behind the soldiers.

 124 Heated Battle 2

    Chapter 124: Heated Battle 2


    In the middle of the manor.


    Dadadada!!!


    Multiple machine guns furiously fired out a frightening rain of bullets.


    The deafening sound of gunfire in the manor made everyone''s eardrums ache painfully.


    In the center, there was a two-story mansion.


    Su Lin''s father, General Crohn, stood side by side with a blue-bearded bald man on the second floor in a room with French windows. They quietly surveyed the scattered battlefield.


    Both of them were dressed in black army general uniforms. They stood straight with their hands clasped behind their backs. Two calm, beautiful assistant officers stood behind them.


    "This is not looking too good," Crohn said in an undertone as he looked over at the blue-bearded man. "Descon, perhaps we have to do it by ourselves."


    "If the two leaders must personally take care of this, then it would already be a negligence of duty on their part." The blue-bearded Descon was emotionless. "Duskdune Shura, renowned as one of the top three assassination organizations. If they were to die facing these assassins, it would be a blessing for the Confederation."


    "You are this confident in your subordinates? I heard that after I left, you managed to scout some new talents?"


    "Not through scouting, it was through courting. You know that the guys at the special agent bureau joined because they had too much bad history with the state. Talented people without a bad record would never join." Descon explained, "The new recruit is an infamous, wanted outlaw from the Seluja Confederation, which makes this a good opportunity to test his skill. As the strongest assassination organization in the Stonecliff Continent, Duskdune Shura have already been encountered multiple times. It would be a good opportunity to gauge their strength."


    "That¡¯s a good point," Crohn nodded, "but I am still worried about my son and daughter. Even though I sent some help there, I don¡¯t know if the help will arrive in time." A glimpse of worry flashed across his face. "Duskdune Shura¡¯s speed is remarkable."


    "They¡¯ll have to face this eventually as it is their adventure as well. Without hardships, there would be no growth. As parents, the only thing you can really do is worry," the blue-bearded man exclaimed as he stroked his beard.


    "All of your children are accomplished, but it is a pity. If Canou was still here¡­" His eyes dimmed down.


    "That was an accident. Don¡¯t think too much, it¡¯s part of what we do." Crohn quickly changed the topic. "Oh right, New Pacific Corporation has recently announced that they conquered a route to the east. I don¡¯t know if this is real or not. Do you have any insider information?"


    "Hmm¡­ New Pacific have always been accountable to the Blue Parliament, so I can¡¯t intervene as part of the Red Parliament. But I have heard from Senator Taniyas that New Pacific did in fact established a relatively new sea route to the ancient east."


    "Mhmm. The porcelain from the East, spices, and handicrafts are among the most expensive luxuries. With the establishment of a stable route, New Pacific Corporation would be the center of attention for a long time," Crohn exclaimed. "If it is possible to establish a trade relationship with the giant ancient kingdom on the other side of the sea, it would be immensely helpful to the Confederation!"


    "Don¡¯t think too much yet and focus on solving the problem at hand." Blue-bearded Descon lowered his voice as he slowly turned around to the direction of the door. "Let¡¯s go take a look?"


    "Lead the way." Crohn smiled and followed.


    **************


    Pa¡­ Pa¡­ Pa¡­


    In a dark yellow office in another part of the manor.


    Su Lin spun around in a black leather chair as he played around with a silver pistol. The gun¡¯s barrel was extremely long and wide, while the metal surface looked brand new and gleamed with a bright, reflective, silver light. The handle of the gun was made of wood and featured an upright roaring brown bear carved on it. The letters "KZ" were engraved on top.


    "This pistol is so damn sexy!" Su Lin could not stop playing with the gun.


    Yoda, the Eight-Arm Dragon King, sat on a wooden chair beside the table with his legs crossed. He had a long-stemmed bronze pipe in his mouth as he continuously breathed out rings of smoke.


    "As long as you like it. This is my specially crafted, upgraded version of the Seline Pistol."


    "It uses Denuda bullets with engravings. Among special bullets that use purple explosive, its power is not to be underestimated."


    "Purple explosive? Damn! You can even get your hands on these types of prohibited items and you have the audacity to say you live in seclusion!" Su Lin disdainfully glanced at the Dragon King. "With the addition of purple explosive, is this the type of bullet that¡¯s used to hunt devil girls as the rumor says?"


    "The church has used this type of bullet to hunt down devil girls from what I know, so you could say that. It was different in the past though, so time may have changed a few things." He took a deep drag from his pipe as he jubilantly closed his eyes. "This gun¡¯s effective range is 800 meters, so you¡¯ll have to make the judgement. Make sure that when you use it, you don¡¯t shoot people that are lined up or you will have to bear the consequences when it penetrates multiple people."


    "800 meters!!" Su Lin almost dropped the pistol on the carpet. "Are you saying this is a sniper rifle?!"


    "No sh*t! If some powerful individuals wore bulletproof vests, the combination would be impossible to penetrate even with a sniper rifle. If I didn¡¯t have anything to offer, how could I be called the Eight-Arm Dragon King?!" Yoda answered in slight annoyance. "Be careful of the recoil."


    "I already have a terrible feeling about this," Su Lin mumbled.


    "The bullets are specially designed and can only be fired five times. Don¡¯t waste them as these types of explosive rounds are hard to find. This is a potent weapon designed to fight against powerful individuals."


    Su Lin felt the weight of the hefty pistol in his hand as a frightened feeling emerged in his mind.


    **************


    Bang.


    Beside the lake, a red flare exploded in the sky.


    Fallen Confederation soldiers in yellow uniforms were scattered across the beach. The blood followed the trail of bodies and gradually drained into the lake. A majority of the lake was already colored red.


    The twins in green stood quietly at the river bank. Although both of their arms were slowly bleeding, their eyes were full of defiance.


    The man named Sayman tried to catch his breath standing in front of the twins with his gaze locked on the Confederation Colonel Moen.


    "Woo¡­ So it is you! Silver Snake Moen! You became a pawn for the Special Agent Bureau! I didn¡¯t imagine this!"


    Colonel Moen¡¯s body was full of bloody cuts that looked like they were inflicted by a dagger like weapon. His yellow uniform had already been stained a red color.


    The battle was too fast and was decided in a matter of seconds.


    The twins had wielded two guns that, at a glance, looked like assault rifles and fired rapidly. Each bullet was incredibly accurate and wiped out the hundred elite soldiers.


    But it was not without repercussions. Both of their arms suffered grievous wounds and they could no longer use weapons.


    Moen and Sayman¡¯s clash immediately resulted in them using their strongest moves as they wanted to finish the opponent in the shortest time. Unfortunately, because Moen lost focus due to losing his soldiers, he was cut despite being equally skilled compared to Sayman.


    "I didn¡¯t think it was you either." Moen sneered, "Black Feather Blade Sayman, it¡¯s a pity, but you all have to die here."


    He already heard the hasty footsteps of additional soldiers coming to his aid.


    This place was surrounded by soldiers already.


    "I also feel pity. If you had joined Duskdune Shura, you wouldn¡¯t have died here." Sayman suddenly squinted his eyes as he smiled.


    Moen paused slightly as he wanted to say something.


    Suddenly, he felt that someone was standing behind him. Then, he felt a sharp pain in his chest as the world began to spin around him. He flew out and crashed on the beach.


    "How is this ¡­ possible!"


    Moen did not understand. When his body was spinning in midair, he saw a figure in a black cape standing behind him.


    He was a Special Agent Bureau Colonel that could defend against bullets! The keys to guarding against gunfire were strength and acuity in the five senses. Then, to change position and finish the enemy before they could even pull the trigger.


    With such powerful senses, Moen only realized his opponent was behind him when the enemy was inches away.


    Bang.


    Moen¡¯s body crashed on the beach as blood began to emerge from his chest. His eyes widened as if he did not understand why. The man in the black cape stood at the same place.


    "You all are too slow."


    Sayman and the twins did not dare to respond as they lowered their heads.


    Rapid footsteps were approaching, but it was not confederation soldiers in yellow. Instead, it was masked killers in green.


    Two middle-aged individuals, a man and a woman, led the way while wearing a different uniform, but of the same green color.


    "Marshal, we have taken care of the situation," the middle-aged man reported as he came to a standstill. He confusedly looked at Sayman and the twins. "What did you guys get yourself into?"


    "We met the Silver Snake from before," Sayman answered in a resigned tone as he pointed at the body not far away. "He is a Colonel of the Special Agent Bureau. If it was not for the Marshal¡¯s arrival, we would have been in trouble!"


    As they were talking, the black caped man walked to the small stone house.


    From the time that the assassins started attacking to Moen¡¯s death, it all had happened within half a minute. These rapid actions did not take much time at all.


    **************


    In the stone house.


    Aris sat quietly on a deck chair as her eyes occasionally glanced at the flower pattern on the wall. Just when she had sat down, the sound of gunshots began to reach the room.


    She was hesitant about whether she should leave immediately by herself or wait for the Colonel¡¯s return.


    The secret tunnel could only be opened once before it was locked down. This design was to prevent the enemy from chasing.


    Within half a minute, the gunshots died down.


    Aris knew that there were hundreds of soldiers hidden outside. Although she heard some screams, the only logical explanation for everything suddenly ceasing was that the enemy must have been eradicated! Even Duskdune Shura could not resist a force comprised of Colonel Moen along with a hundred soldiers head on right?


    She glanced at Garen on the side as he poured another cup of tea.


    "Hmm? Is the drill over?" Garen lowered his voice.


    "No, not this fast." Aris smiled as she was just about to explain to him.


    Suddenly, the stone house¡¯s door gradually opened.


    A figure in a black cape stood silently in front of the door.


    Aris¡¯s pupils suddenly contracted as she felt her body freeze. Without thinking, she stomped her right foot as a dresser suddenly opened, exposing the dark underground tunnel passage.


    "Go!!" Aris loudly screamed as she jumped into the passage, but she did not hear the sound of Garen following.


    "Sorry, no traffic through here."


    She heard Garen¡¯s calm voice.


    Garen slowly stood up as he directly faced the open door with his body blocking the closing passage.


    "It is you, Divine Marshal Garen," another voice said in an undertone.


    Aris¡¯s eyes popped. "Brother Garen." All of a sudden, she realized what her brother, Su Lin, had intended.


    The intruder slowly lifted the cape exposing a face with pink pupils.


    "Now let me see, Divine Marshal and Royal General, who is the ultimate conqueror!"

 125 Heated Battle 3

    Chapter 125: Heated Battle 3


    Boom!


    In the manor, a black cape suddenly stopped. In front of him, a large amount of flaming debris exploded everywhere. The bright yellow flame removed all the shadow under his cape as a beautiful yet cold female face appeared.


    Not far from him, more than ten killers in green were killed in the explosion. A few lucky ones survived, and only their limbs were blown off as they crawled on the ground to escape from the fire.


    "Third Royal General Charlotte."


    From a hidden window not far away, the Eight-Armed Dragon King locked onto the caped woman as he said in an undertone.


    "I can¡¯t believe the Duskdune Shura is using this much force. What did your dad get himself into that made them attack with full forces without considering the consequences?" He turned around at looked at Su Lin behind him.


    "I don¡¯t know, I hope it''s not like he killed their family or anything like that." Su Lin shrugged.


    "Whatever, the hidden bombs are probably not going to be effective. This guy¡¯s instincts are too sharp! Leave first, I¡¯ll do it myself." Eight-Armed Dragon King Yoda bit onto his smoke pipe and began to check and load his sniper rifle rounds one by one.


    "Are you sure? One person. A Special Agent Colonel is protecting here on the outside, there is no way they get in here that fast." Su Lin looked rather relaxed.


    "The scary thing is that she doesn¡¯t need to go through the door," Eight-Armed Dragon King said quietly.


    Su Lin walked over to see outside when he spotted that Third Royal General Charlotte was gradually taking out two black barrels from under her cape. She slowly assembled them together to create an odd looking gun with a barrel sized of a fist.


    "What is that¡­"


    "Damnit." The Eight-Armed Dragon King rapidly lifted up a sniper rifle as he aimed at Charlotte and fired.


    Boom!


    The black cape in vision suddenly exploded as the upper body shattered into pieces of meat. Only the lower half walked a few steps before falling over.


    "That¡¯s it?" Su Lin was shocked.


    "Still too early!" the Eight-Armed Dragon King sneered. "Let¡¯s go! She has already found this place! That¡¯s a fake."


    He dragged Su Lin and left.


    From an underground entrance in the corner at the right side of the room, they ran in before the entrance quickly closed.


    Bang!


    The door was kicked open as a black cape dragged a Colonel in. She scanned the room before her vision locked onto the entrance at the corner of the room.


    Boom!


    Another loud noise and flames suddenly erupted and emerged from the closet, table, floor, and the ceiling. Flames burst out from everywhere in the room.


    The room turned into a sea of fire.


    At the tunnel beside the room, a black cape crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. She looked at the room emerged in flame before quietly walked away.


    *****


    In the underground tunnel.


    "Hello, didn¡¯t you say I¡¯d go in alone while you¡¯d stay behind? Why are you running with me!?" Su Lin looked at Dragon King Yoda running in front speechlessly.


    "I am running because I am going to help other places." Yoda smiled, "If my guess is correct, that bastard has already entered the death trap. Two fakes already died, even she can¡¯t be overzealous now."


    Bang!


    A depressed explosion echoed from the back as the ground shook.


    "Look. She is done." A cheerful smile emerged on Yoda¡¯s face.


    ************


    In the tunnel.


    The black cape stood at the same place silently, not making a single move.


    The exploded room burned not far behind from her as the sound of wood burning and crackling was occasionally heard.


    Tiny droplets of sweat appeared on Charlotte¡¯s face. Her beautiful eyes were constantly scanning her surroundings.


    "This setup. Only you, Yoda," she mumbled as her body didn¡¯t dare to move a single inch.


    She knew that if she moved slightly, the hidden bombs would all explode. She didn¡¯t know the nature of the mechanisms. Sensor? Time? Pressure? Trap?


    But she knew that if she moved a single step, whether to the front or the back, she would immediately trigger the bomb.


    No one could undermine Eight-Armed Dragon King Yoda¡¯s bomb.


    Her eyes focused as she suddenly realized that her body was surrounded by tightened transparent silks.


    The silks were tightened like metal wires and filled the room. It was like a silkworm''s cocoon as it completely covered her.


    She knew that if she touched any wire, it would start a chain of violent explosions.


    Countless silks created a human-sized space exactly where she was standing. This was the only place where she could avoid any of the silks.


    Splash.


    A droplet of sweat fell down on the ground.


    "Pity, but you are underestimating me." A hint of arrogance slowly emerged on her beautiful face.


    *****


    Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!


    Four sniper rifles simultaneously fired at all four directions.


    Yoda had two on his hands, two on his feet. His feet naked as his toes were as agile as his fingers. They freely adjusted the direction of shooting.


    Every shot from the four sniper rifles would accurately take away four lives.


    Su Lin stood behind him along with a young man in a Colonel uniform who was responsible for protecting Su Lin. The person that had previously died was a fake.


    The two stared hysterically at the Eight-Armed Dragon King¡¯s performance.


    The three stood on top of the three-story building.


    Bang Bang Bang¡­ amongst the heavy gunfire, Yoda ecstatically roared.


    "Haha! Go die! Die!"


    The faint gray smokes filled his surrounding as it gave a bloodthirsty taste.


    Suddenly Yoda rolled.


    A black dot dropped from the sky.


    Peng!


    A black spear pinned where he was standing before. The silver tip penetrated deep into the concrete floor.


    "I knew I wouldn¡¯t get you, Charlotte." Yoda stood up as he moved to the edge of the building calmly.


    Bam!


    The black hook suddenly appeared from the edge of the building as a person hopped on top.


    Black cape, as the head was not covered, a beautiful yet cold face appeared, and one of her eyes was hidden behind a white patch. She retracted the black hook.


    "Yoda, I haven¡¯t seen you in a while, you are still this sinister. Too bad, I am within twenty meters of you. Should you give up or should I personally end you?"


    "Isn¡¯t ¡®sinister¡¯ the definition for you?" Yoda sneered. "You should be the one giving up."


    His hands shook.


    Crack crack crack¡­


    The cracking sound filled the top floor.


    The eight sniper rifles on this body simultaneously divided into two arcs as the gun barrels all pointed directly at Charlotte.


    "Do you know why I can be called the Dragon King?" He began to laugh.


    "That¡¯s because no one can beat me when I have eight rifles. Therefore, I am known as Eight-Armed Dragon King!"


    Charlotte froze in place without moving a single inch.


    She was extremely focused as the eight rifles were all equipped with special explosives and bullets with rapid firing speed.


    She had originally thought that Yoda¡¯s name was just an exaggeration, but she didn¡¯t believe it was like this.


    She noticed that Yoda controlled the eight sniper rifles with his special transparent silks.


    "Let me see how much strength is left of the original Royal General." Yoda groaned as two barrels combined to fire simultaneously.


    Bang!


    Garen and One of the Four Royal General separated as both took steps back.


    Pieces of clothes and dust from their impacts still scattered in the air.


    Within the stone house, Garen finally heard the tunnel closing behind him, and a smile appeared on his face.


    Without thinking, he suddenly bumped left as broken stones scattered.


    He broke the wall and fell in the water.


    Boom!


    The stone room exploded in a second and was completely engulfed in fire. The reflection colored the lake into a dark red.


    Garen just walked out of the lake before a black shadow dashed at him.


    "Double Star!"


    Two blue lights shined from the black shadow and flew directly at Garen¡¯s chest. It was the light from the reflection of the daggers¡¯ tip.


    A grimace showed on the Pink Pupil Royal General¡¯s face. Both of his arms were fake as two crescent-shaped daggers popped from below. From the blade, it was obvious that it was made through multiple materials combined together.


    The two chilling stars fiercely stabbed in Garen¡¯s chest.


    Bang!


    Garen¡¯s body leaned upward as the dagger was popped away.


    "Slash!"


    Pink Pupil Royal General whipped his hands as he released a cloud of gray sands which completely submerged Garen.


    He then stepped backward.


    Bang! Bang! Bang!


    Countless amount of bullets fired directly at Garen. These gray sands were explosives and were instantly ignited. The explosion''s red flame engulfed Garen.


    The shooting lasted for a few seconds before it stopped.


    Where Garen stood was completely covered in smoke and nothing was visible.


    "Don¡¯t play these boring tricks again."


    All the sudden, Garen¡¯s voice gradually appeared from the smoke, calm and collected.


    Pink Pupil Royal General¡¯s eyes slightly contracted, and he gazed onto Garen walking out of the smoke.


    This strong man¡¯s body looked like steel plates with the light black color, his body size seemed to have increased. He slowly walked out of the smoke as his upper body was completely naked. There was not a single sign of injury on his body.


    "Impeccable Body Hardening Technique!" Royal General¡¯s voice lowered. "Looks like normal weapons are useless against you. Too bad Charlotte is not here."


    "Charlotte? Another Royal General?" Garen confusedly asked.


    Bang!


    Another bullet fiercely hit his right eye. The moment the gun fired, Garen closed his eyes, and his eyelid bounced away the bullet.


    "Annoying little bugger."


    He waved his right hand.


    A killer in green not far away was frightened as he held his neck, a blood hole appearing on his neck.


    The entire battleground was silent. A bullet couldn¡¯t even penetrate his eyelids!


    This terrifying Body Hardening Technique must have reached human¡¯s limit?!


    Royal General¡¯s face twitched as he unknowingly stepped backward.


    Garen scanned around.


    "Too many buggers... let¡¯s clean up the battlefield first."


    Before his voice died down, Pink Pupil Royal General suddenly felt a fearsome aura exploding within him.


    His face paled as a frightening thought flashed across his mind.


    "Lori! Run!" he suddenly used all his energy to scream out.


    Boom!


    A wave of terrifying aura completely engulfed him in a glimpse.

 126 Heated Battle 4

    Chapter 126: Heated Battle 4


    Two twin girls heard the scream and unwillingly flipped backward and blended in with the forest. It seemed that something had pulled them into the forest.


    Inside the forest, another slender shadow stood. It seemed to be a woman.


    The twin girls finally realized what was happening and stared at the fearsome aura by the sandy beach.


    The Pink Pupil Royal General was standing there along with the large group of killers in green.


    Looking afar, Garen felt the air around him moving in twisted ways. As if something below the ground was howling, there was a horrifying noise of shaking.


    Both of his eyes were glowing with the color of blood. It was a premonition.


    The twins¡¯ bodies started to shake lightly. A deep insane fear was pouring out of their hearts and was trying to take control of their bodies.


    "With opponents like this¡­ How is it possible that we win!!??"


    Bang bang bang!!


    Machine guns, pistols; bullets were crashing against the frightening silhouettes, yet sparks were flying. It was absolutely useless.


    Just as they were taking out the grenades, they exploded after being hit by the thin sands Garen threw out. In an instant, blood and human skin went flying. Even Sayman could only try and shield himself from the powerful aura. Tiredly, he only dared to shoot his machine gun from a far distance.


    Only the Royal General dared!


    He crazily dashed towards the opponent, wrapping himself tightly with faint auras in order to protect himself.


    The twins¡¯ bodies were starting to shake harder.


    "Don¡¯t look! This is an illusionary mental stress! It only affects your thoughts. Don¡¯t look at him directly!"


    A pair of delicate white hands simultaneously covered the two girls¡¯ eyes.


    Bang!!


    Bang!!


    Bang!!


    Garen stood where he was in silence. He pitifully looked at the Pink Pupil Royal General, who was continuously being bounced back by the counter quake. On the ground, on the sand, the opponent¡¯s blood was splashed everywhere. The serious injuries were caused by the counter quake created by the changed Mammoth Secret Technique.


    "Time flies," Garen stood there, unmoving. He calmly stared at the Pink Pupil Royal General, who was having difficulties standing up.


    "This is your aura?" He watched as his opponent tightened his body. it was only enough to protect one area of his body.


    The sound of bullets continuously shooting out of guns started ringing again. Garen¡¯s body was flashing with golden sparks. However, nothing could stop his footsteps.


    Step by step, he walked toward the Royal General, leaving a trail of fresh footprints. He stood before his opponent.


    "Maybe I am too na?ve. Time is unkind. No matter how strong someone is, will become weak as time goes on," in reality, he knew very well that his aura became stronger after he fully consolidated his improvements after becoming the Grandmaster of Combat. In other words, he got stronger.


    Hu¡­hu¡­


    The Pink Pupil Royal General breathed heavily.


    "It is true that my capability is only half of what it was like during the full blooming stage¡­ If I still had both of hands¡­ I would beat you up so bad your mother wouldn¡¯t recognize you!!" he cursed.


    "Your power then is only twice the power you have now?" Garen was disappointed.


    "Ah!!!"


    Instantly, a green shadow appeared behind Garen. With the army knife he had in hand, he tried to pierce through Garen¡¯s left year.


    Moo!!!


    The horrifying sound of an elephant growling rumbled beside the two people¡¯s ears.


    Garen¡¯s body swelled up crazily and reached two and a half meters high. His muscles knotted together and tightened, just like rows of steel bars.


    A giant amount of aura solidified around him and formed into an illusion of a growling white mammoth.


    The black army knife froze right beside Garen¡¯s left ear.


    The blade was shaking.


    Blackplume Sayman was shaking uncontrollably.


    His eyes were watering and his nose was runny, yet he didn¡¯t dare to wipe them off. He held the army knife with both hands and used all his strength to try and pierce through. However, it was as if the knife has been solidified. It stayed motionless.


    "M¡­Move!!" Sayman finally cried out. It appeared that he remembered a similar experience from before. His tears rolled down his cheeks continuously.


    Bang!


    The blade pierced through.


    Garen was astonished. So was the Royal General on the ground.


    In the forest not far away, the slender woman was also in shock.


    The left-over killers on the battleground also froze in surprise.


    "We won?"


    Pia!


    The army knife fell to the ground weakly. Everyone¡¯s heart dropped.


    Garen was expressionless. Not a single drop of blood dripped from his ear.


    "What a shame."


    Single shot!


    Chi!


    Garen¡¯s arm entered through Sayman¡¯s chest and exited out the back.


    "Jency!!"


    At that moment, Pink Pupil Royal General aggressively pushed forward. His auras were seemingly howling like an owl. With two hands holding onto the knife, he swung toward Garen¡¯s soft skin around his chin.


    Taking advantage of Garen¡¯s one split second distracted state, he stabbed. This stab took all of the Royal General¡¯s strength. It was the best move he knew that was derived from the Star Fist, incorporating three different sources of strength with each source releasing power at a different time. In the end however, they would all converge at the tip of the blade and release with three times the normal strength.


    Rather than saying he stabbed with the knife, it was more like he shot out the knife with two hands, then he used the technique to speed up the knife two times.


    The Royal General put his palms together and pushed up the knife toward Garen¡¯s chin. Immediately, the sword¡¯s handle spat out blue and purple flames. He sped up the knife for a fourth time with another push!!


    This stab was like a silver and blue vertical line that flashed across Garen¡¯s body, as if it was going to slice Garen into two halves.


    "Die!!"


    The Royal General, at this very moment, felt like he had reverted back to his most powerful days. This attack was strong enough to have been the best move he had ever made.


    The price he paid after one attack, was that he had no more strength left for any more attacks.


    "If I can kill this guy then I am okay with it!" looking at the knife blade pricking Garen¡¯s skin, his eyes were filled with anticipation.


    Dang!


    The Royal General¡¯s expression turned into desperation.


    Garen was looking down on him. His right hand blocked that attack.


    "If you used this attack while you were in full bloom stage, I might¡¯ve been badly wounded. Pity¡­"


    The Royal General opened his lips to say something. Yet no words came out.


    He silently sat on the ground. His eyes, ears, nose, and mouth were all seeping with fresh blood. The effects of the counter quake ensured that he no more chance of survival.


    "This move was called Jency? Only one move¡­no wonder you are a late Royal General," Garen extended his index finger and pushed his opponent¡¯s forehead lightly.


    Puff.


    The Royal General collapsed onto the ground and never breathed again.


    This move was a little too aggressive. Garen had to block it with his hand. Even with changed Mammoth Secret Technique, he still had areas of weakness. He had no choice but to shield himself with his hand.


    When he turned up his right hand, Garen saw the blood flowing out of the center of his palm. He was finally wounded.


    The Royal General was already over 50 years old, yet he still had such strong abilities and was able to sustain his youthful look. On top of that, he was able to cause slight damage to Garen.


    With these facts in mind, it was no wonder he had the title of a Royal General.


    Casually flicking, he threw out a fistful of small rocks. The killers in green reduced in numbers again.


    Under the stress and pressure of the aura, these killers were as tiny as ants to Garen.


    After killing everyone, Garen slowly dispelled the conditions of being in the third stage and reverted to his original form. He glanced at the forest. People in there had long escaped without leaving any trace.


    He walked back to where Pink Pupil Royal General was, and searched his body.


    A wallet, a piece of ID that could¡¯ve been fake, some white napkins, a few black medal cards. Finally, there was also a small notebook.


    He hurriedly put everything together and casually flipped through the notebook. On it was pen written notes of training as well as his experiences. Because the battle was still going on in the manor, he didn¡¯t have time to look through it carefully. Garen stuffed it into his pocket.


    His pants were specially made by Su Lin, who added special protection on them. This was why he didn¡¯t have to leave this place butt naked.


    Also why he had a useful pocket.


    After he took care of the stuff, Garen picked up a random machine gun and jogged toward the manor.


    Over there, the sound of gunfights was still ongoing. The battle between the Confederation army and the group of killers was getting more and more intense.


    "I wonder how the situation is. I must find Su Lin and them fast."


    Bang!!


    Yoda shot three guns into the air, aiming at Charlotte, The Third Royal General.


    The three bullets each landed on different areas of the body. However, Charlotte¡¯s elastic like body twisted and turned, dodging them all. She then landed on a pole on top of a roof.


    Charlotte was getting frustrated and tired. She had long thrown away her black cape. Inside she wrote a red and bulletproof bodysuit made out of stretchable elastics. The bodysuit blocked the bullets a few times, hence why she was not hurt.


    "Not bad!" The Eight-Arm Dragon King, Yoda, said with a smile. With one hand, he smoked his cigarette as his left hand reloaded his gun impatiently.


    He had eight guns in total and he shot them in turns. This forced Charlotte to dodge and run tiredly and gave her no opportunity to get close to him. His best move was how he was able to aim all eight guns at once. Though these kind of explosive moves were not sustainable as they came with a period of weakness right after he used the technique.


    Charlotte hated that move despite her passion for weapons. It was because Yoda had appeared to be relaxed this whole time, yet he was highly alert. He gave her no window for attack and this made her frustrated. Her guns were different from Yoda¡¯s. She chose not to use them but if she did, he would definitely be shot!


    The two fell into a stalemate.


    Su Li, who was hiding behind the stairs at the entrance, exhaled in relief.


    He invited Garen and the Dragon King over to try and stall the strong opponents. The others could be defeated with his father¡¯s power. Under this plan, there then were only Duskdune Shura and another Royal General. Their capabilities had thus decreased greatly because of his plan.


    "As long as Garen can hold off the first Royal General, then we have a chance at winning," Su Lin calculated in his head.


    Duskdune Shura was different than other criminal organizations. They had their unique arrogance. Even though they called their murders assassinations, in reality, they killed their targets face to face as a way to let the world know of their horrifying ability of combining weapons with martial arts.


    Their group of people think of Duskdune Shura as their leader and fully believed that the combination of martial arts and machine guns was the ultimate path to preserve martial arts.


    Also, this was the only path old martial artists could choose, as their physical abilities became drained.


    This was what they were trying to prove.


    They wanted to prove that traditional martial arts would not be eliminated by time!


    Yoda and Charlotte pranced again to find the best opportunity to attack each other.


    The two of them were seemingly drawing circles on the roof top, twirling with each other.


    The sound of Yoda¡¯s gun firing decreased as time went. It was replaced with the sound of the fast movements of the silencer.


    Charlotte was in the same position. The two of them started a silent game and contest.


    They belonged to the same generation, and they were their generation¡¯s most powerful top talents. Before, they had never had a face to face battle before. Now, they had the opportunity to battle and decide who lives and who dies.

 127 Peak 1

    Chapter 127: Peak 1


    Bang!


    This time it was Charlotte who opened fire.


    A cluster of sparks created a small pit on the ground beside Yoda, and gravel was blast into the air, forcing him to dodge the gravel with a somersault.


    Charlotte was holding a magenta handgun, but it was larger than an average pistol by one size; smoke was coming out of the muzzle.


    Missing her shot, she stored her handgun and disappeared from the spot in a flash.


    Two more gunshots were heard. Two small pits instantly appeared where she had just left.


    Yoda was sweating from his forehead, but he didn''t dare to wipe it.


    He had some information on Charlotte. Once part of the four Royal Generals, her most prominent characteristics were her strong intuition and agility. Her flexible body was capable of making various incredible attacks and evasions.


    But this wasn''t the most troublesome issue.


    The most troublesome issue was Charlotte''s Secret Martial Art, Ten Fingers Flying Needles.


    This was a hidden weapon method which used fine needles as hidden weapons, where a layer of compound toxin had been deftly coated on the needles.


    Once a person was abraded by the needle, they would definitely die of poisoning. Even Charlotte didn''t have the antidote.


    Additionally, the special structure of the flying needles was such that they were silent when thrown.


    "Looks like we''ve really suffered miserably this time¡­" Yoda murmured in a hushed tone. He tugged on a thread; eight sniper guns gave a slight jerk, and let out subtle clicking sounds, as if something was being adjusted.


    This was the true mystery that Yoda, the Dragon King had never revealed. No one alive knew about his true secret. But now he didn''t intend to hide anymore.


    At the same time, Charlotte, who was standing at the edge of the roof, suddenly felt a numbing sensation on her scalp. Without any time to wonder, she leaned backwards and fell towards the ground.


    Wham!


    ***************


    Garen stopped in his tracks and looked into the estate in the distance where the sound had come from.


    The gunfire over the estate was gradually dying down. It was obvious that the fighting was coming to an end.


    This dull gunshot was entirely different from previous ones; it gave one a strange sense of unease.


    Garen scanned his surroundings. On the ground, there were bullet holes and blood everywhere, and the bodies of soldiers and assassins were scattered all over. Some buildings and houses were burning; the fire burned the wooden material within, and let out constant blasts.


    The entire elegant estate had now been reduced to a dead zone. The stench of gunpowder and blood filled the air.


    Garen stepped over two bodies which had died intertwined in a fight. He frowned slightly.


    Although he had experienced many killings and had fresh blood on his hands, he still felt a faint disassociation from reality when he saw this tragic small battlefield.


    In his past life, he was merely an ordinary youth, an office worker. Since he arrived in this world, he started pursuing martial arts but had unwittingly reached this juncture.


    He was a strong Grandmaster of Combat spawned from special abilities. He was already ranked at the peak level in the martial arts of this world. From an ordinary person to a Grandmaster of Combat capable of killing someone by lifting a finger, this huge leap was something he could never have imagined in the beginning.


    Walking in the estate which was quieting down, he could only hear gunshots from time to time in the distance.


    Suddenly, Garen saw a body which was severed at the waist by machine gunshots. It was a male soldier. His eyes were wide open as if he had not even figured out what happened.


    This type of machine gun was the heavy duty type of machine gun mounted to the ground. Garen scanned the bullet holes on the ground and made a rough estimate.


    "If five heavy duty machine guns fired at me all at once, the impact would probably impede me from going forward. Such is the power of firearms¡­"


    He sighed and jogged towards the lawn in the middle of the estate. That was the agreed final meet-up point: Aris, Su Lin, the Dragon King and the others would run there to gather.


    It was because the Commissioner of the Special Agent Bureau, Su Lin''s father and all the most powerful people were all gathered here.


    Not long into his run, he casually handled a few surviving green-shirt assassins along the way. Soon, he arrived at the lawn in the middle.


    A large area on the lawn looked like it was dug up by an excavator: the green grass had been replaced by black soil, and the ground was full of traces of explosions.


    Garen walked to the edge of the area which had been dug up, crouched down and examined the soil.


    "What a fierce fight!" he murmured.


    "It is inconceivable for a 50-60 year-old expert from the previous generation to have such a powerful explosive force." He was himself a Grandmaster of Combat. Naturally he could make out traces of the fight from these residual markings. "Compared to that Royal General, they are two different people!"


    Clap!


    A clapping sound came from the distance.


    Without hesitation, Garen stood up and dashed towards the direction of the sound. There was a small isolated chapel with a silver cross on top of its white spire.


    He banged the chapel door open. Garen stopped in his tracks; his expression turned.


    The large domed hall within the chapel was a mess.


    Su Lin''s father, Lieutenant Crohn, and a bald man with a big beard, were half-lying in two corners respectively. Both were bloodied, and there were human limbs and organs on the floor everywhere around them.


    The red carpet turned a darker shade of blood red.


    Apart from the two of them, Aris and a few guards with a terrified expression on their faces were standing guard in front of the two generals. Their hands holding the guns were trembling as they stared fixedly at a black-cloaked figure crouched in the center of the red carpet.


    "Someone is here again?"


    The black-cloaked figure stood up, his voice hoarse. Some blood slowly dripped from the black leather boots at his feet; apparently, he was injured too.


    Garen squinted and was about to speak when suddenly, by the side of a wall not far from him in the chapel, the ground started to open up and three people appeared: it was Su Lin, Yoda, the Dragon King, and the Colonel.


    "Duskdune Shura!" Yoda, the Dragon King noticed the black-cloaked figure in the center as soon as he appeared. After taking in his surroundings, his expression turned.


    "Yoda, long time no see." Duskdune Shura looked towards the Dragon King; his tone was passive and composed. "What a pity. In the end, you are still standing opposite me."


    "After all these years, you should have killed me long ago," the Dragon King curbed his expression and replied coldly. "Too bad you didn''t."


    "Where''s Charlotte?" Duskdune Shura asked all of a sudden.


    "She fled after being injured by me. She won''t return to support you anytime soon. Yoda gave a tug, and eight heavy duty sniper rifles spread out into the shape of a fan and aimed at Duskdune Shura and his surrounding area.


    "At this point in the battle, the outcome has been determined." Duskdune Shura shifted his gaze to Lieutenant Crohn who was leaning on a corner wall. "Hand it to me, Lieutenant Crohn."


    "I didn''t expect your gun skills to be as terrifying as your martial arts skills. You truly live up to being the leader of the strongest assassin organization," Crohn sneered. "You can have it, but it''s not here. It''s somewhere else a distance away from here."


    "My martial arts has reached a maximum limit," Duskdune Shura calmly said. "No martial arts expert in the world is a match for me. Even Palosa is stagnant at my current level."


    He spoke calmly, with a domineering tone that seemed to say ''who else but me''.


    "I have reached an extraordinary stage, but unfortunately¡­I''m still unable to resist the tide of time." He held his head up high, and finally removed the hood of his black cloak.


    This was a thin, white-bearded old man. All his hair had turned white, his eyebrows too. The strangest part was, even his pupils were white!


    His face was wrinkly like the bark of an old tree. It was obvious that he was past his prime; he was at least 70 to 80 years old.


    "Golden Sword Throne, the key to unlocking a legendary higher level of martial arts. It''s now my only hope." Duskdune Shura gazed calmly at Crohn. "I am almost 80 years old. I don''t have any more time to ''find my path''."


    "Why are you still talking?" Garen cut him short, then stepped forward and said, "Win or lose, we''ll have to fight to know!"


    Upon finishing his sentence, he dashed towards the old man and stomped hard on the ground with a Step Form.


    The whole chapel reverberated; the gigantic sound wave threatened to crumble the building.


    Everyone''s eardrums sensed a deafening sound, a soft, incessant buzzing. It was the effect of temporary deafness.


    Garen was seen sprinting towards Duskdune Shura, and the vibration of air around him sounded faintly like the roar of a mammoth. When he raised his palm to strike downwards, a whirring sound like an elephant flinging its nose could vaguely be heard.


    When he entered, Garen had already sensed a powerful, invisible aura faintly suppressing the entire chapel. The shadow of a lion crouched within Duskdune Shura. It was a spiritual shadow formed from strong Bravery. If Duskdune Shura didn''t let it out, an average martial arts practitioner would be unaware of the situation.


    But Garen sensed it as soon as he entered the chapel. This person''s Bravery was almost on par with his own. It was impressive that, being almost 80, he had managed to maintain such a strong Bravery.


    This aura was much stronger than Andrela''s. It was comparable to his current form.


    "Junior! You think you can take advantage of my injury?" Duskdune Shura sneered and turned around. "It''s delusional for a fresh Grandmaster of Combat to think he can challenge an elder. How reckless!"


    His brought his hands together and placed them on the side of Garen''s palm striking at him and gently hit it.


    Clap!


    Garen was stunned. That knife-like strike contained most of his strength. It was actually deflected by his opponent with a gentle tap.


    Bang!


    A bullet hole appeared by the side of Duskdune Shura''s feet; he managed to easily evade it by an inch.


    This 80 year-old man reached a palm out at a moderate pace, but it was unavoidable. It rattled Garen''s Shot Form on his other arm, and tapped his chest.


    "Lock!" he shouted in a low voice.


    Garen''s body seemed like it was struck by lightning, and instantly froze in place.


    He felt as though his chest had stiffened all of a sudden, and didn''t respond to his actions. It was as if flesh and blood had been transformed into cold, hard stone.


    "Young man, you don''t win in martial arts by relying solely on strength."


    Duskdune Shura took a step backwards; his face was calm.


    "Talk to me when you actually win!" Garen gave a cunning laugh. His body suddenly inflated; he grew from 1.7 meters to 1.9 meters.


    Shot! Step! Swing!


    All three forms combined!


    Garen Shot his right elbow out and stepped with his feet; the ground shook slightly. His arm transformed into an arc, and his Shot Form was converted into Swing Form in an instant.

 128 Peak 2

    Chapter 128: Peak 2


    This elbow strike combined the explosive forces of both Shot Form and Step Form, coupled with the huge range of attack and rotational force of Swing Form. It was a powerful blow, and Garen struck with all his might.


    Even an armored tank would be instantly wrecked.


    The strong gust from the force blew against Duskdune Shura''s beard. His expression didn¡¯t change. He stretched both palms out and¡ªalthough it seemed slow, it was in reality, extremely fast¡ªtapped the underside of Garen''s elbows.


    Tap tap! Two crisp sounds were heard. Apparently, his knuckles dabbed at the underside of Garen''s elbow twice.


    The originally violent and strong elbow strike was instantly elevated. It deviated from its original trajectory and flew over Duskdune Shura''s head.


    Bang!


    Another palm hit Garen''s chest.


    Garen took two steps back, and a strange expression was on his face. He looked at Duskdune Shura''s methods and recalled the numerous unique small sects in his past life on Earth.


    "You''re using Gentle Fist?"


    "Gentle Fist? I guess you could call it that." Duskdune Shura calmly nodded. "This phrase is a good summary of it. To be able to become a Grandmaster of Combat at such a young age, it must not be by chance."


    He stood with his hands behind his back.


    "This is Spiritual Hoop Fist of my own invention. It''s the most appropriate counter against Body Hardening Technique experts like you who only know how to use brute force."


    Garen touched his chest. The stiff tension that he had relieved by inflating his body with the explosive Body Hardening Technique had now re-emerged.


    His chest felt frigid; it seemed to have been drained of sensation again.


    "It looks like I can''t deal with you without using some real skills."


    Garen took a deep breath. His body vibrated suddenly and started inflating again.


    He grew from 190cm to 245cm!


    He was now two heads taller than Duskdune Shura. Facing each other, the contrast was stark, like an adult and a child.


    "The peak of Body Hardening Technique¡­" Duskdune Shura''s expression changed slightly. "You¡­" He had barely started his sentence when he saw Garen''s palm reaching over to grab him. Like a fan coming down at him overhead, the hand blocked most of the light from above. He hurriedly raised his arms to block.


    Wham!


    This muffled sound made everyone in the chapel dizzy.


    Su Lin stood with his sister and father. All of them huddled close and were protected by the soldiers, colonels, and a few military officers.


    When they saw Garen frighteningly expand to twice his original size, they were instantly stunned.


    "So¡­ so powerful!" Aris covered her mouth and gave a low cry. She didn''t expect Garen¡ªwho merely looked quite buff¡ªto suddenly transform into such a terrifying size. He swiped at the skinny old man like an eagle preying on a chick. This was too stark a visual contrast.


    Aris could already visualize Garen smashing the old man with a palm.


    "The peak of Body Hardening Technique?" Crohn exchanged looks with his big-bearded old partner, and they both saw a trace of shock in the other''s eyes. They had trained in some traditional martial arts before, but never imagined that martial arts actually had a Body Hardening Technique with such a terrifying effect. Just by the look of his size, they could guess the intensity of strength of his palm strike now.


    "It seems that we have underestimated traditional martial arts before. In close combat, the efficacy of martial arts could match elite gun skills!" The thought flashed through Crohn''s mind.


    Su Lin stood stunned by his sister''s side; he felt a strong sense of impact at this sight. Even though he had heard rumors about Garen previously, it wasn''t as shocking as personally witnessing it.


    But these weren''t even the main reasons he was stunned.


    The main reason was that Duskdune Shura¡ªby raising his arms in defense¡ªhad managed to firmly block the palm strike!


    After the loud muffled sound, Duskdune Shura''s legs had sunk into the cement floor, almost knee-deep.


    Growl! Roar!


    The sounds of a mammoth growling and a lion roaring mashed together and reverberated ferociously.


    As a martial arts practitioner, Su Lin could clearly see that in the duel between Garen and Duskdune Shura the aura on both of them fiercely entangled and clashed like a mammoth and a lion.


    A snap was heard, and both of them were instantly separated.


    Duskdune Shura pulled himself out of the ground, leaped a few steps backward, and stood firm. Now, there was shock and doubt in his eyes when he looked at Garen.


    "What kind of Body Hardening Technique is this? I have seen all the prevalent Body Hardening Techniques, but I''ve never encountered yours!"


    "White Cloud Gate, Mammoth Secret Technique!" Garen wasn''t exactly comfortable either. The moment he struck at his opponent''s arms, the terrifying counter-vibration force generated by his opponent in that instance had unsettled his Qi and blood; he felt a faint sense of fatigue.


    All Grandmasters of Combat who were Elite Fist Artists grasped the essential skill of close combat: counter-Vibration. It was obvious that his opponent''s counter-Vibration was one league above his own.


    Clang!


    A bell rang outside the chapel.


    Duskdune Shura''s face sank.


    "Hand it over! Otherwise, be prepared to die!" He suddenly turned to stare at Crohn who was heavily guarded. His terrifying Bravery started to expand and superseded Garen''s in an instant; it heavily suppressed Crohn and the rest.


    Crohn looked grim. He scanned the room and deduced that the situation wasn''t going in his favor. Without hesitation, he proposed. "Duskdune Shura, with your martial art skills, there is no need for you to endanger yourself in battles like these every day. Why don''t you join the Special Agent Bureau? The Confederation will soon carry out a reorganization of the special experts. By then, I''ll be the first minister of the Special Agent Department. If you join us, I can promise you a position as the deputy minister!"


    Duskdune Shura threw a look of disdain at him, like a tiger staring at a pig, and then utterly ignored the raging Crohn.


    "Time is running out, I need to finish this quickly!" His gaze fell on Garen who was blocking the exit, and he could sense Yoda was hiding in the dark. Yoda, with his guns loaded, had been waiting for the right timing. Compared to opening fire, this gave Duskdune Shura a stronger sense of restraint and threat.


    "I can''t believe I actually encountered someone with the peak of Body Hardening Technique here! Unfortunately, I''m running out of time." Duskdune Shura looked at Garen, a trace of admiration flashed across his eyes. "Move aside, young man. I have no intention of killing you!"


    Garen was now experiencing what the Pink Pupil Royal General felt. His opponent''s aura was like the ocean, encapsulating his own Bravery in waves. His aura was restricted to his own body. He restrained his aura and monitored Duskdune Shura''s every move as he felt like he was a flying insect, stuck on a spider web.


    He had a bad feeling about the situation.


    The Mammoth Secret Technique was a supreme Body Hardening Technique fortified by layering the skin hardening on one level, and Qi and blood stabilizing the other; despite the layered fortifications, his opponent completely disregarded it.


    "You are indeed a top martial arts expert of the previous generation. But you''re still not good enough to have me move aside!"


    He had always wanted to see what the next level of martial arts looked like. Now that it was in front of him, naturally he refused to retreat. Moreover, he had heard rumors about a link between Duskdune Shura and the Immortal Palace Alliance; it was impossible that he would let this opportunity slip.


    Duskdune Shura narrowed his eyes. A hint of danger emanated from him.


    Clang!


    The strike of a bell could again be heard coming from outside.


    Duskdune Shura was startled. At this moment, thunderous gunfire broke out.


    It was Yoda!


    Eight sniper rifles simultaneously fired, all aimed at the positions that Duskdune Shura could possibly dodge towards.


    Suddenly, Duskdune Shura''s body shortened. His entire body size had shrunk by one fold, turning him into a dwarf. He gave a muffled cry; obviously, he had been injured.


    "You''re gonna pay!" With a roar, Duskdune Shura swung an arm out; there was a purple handgun in his hand and he started firing it.


    Bang!


    Yoda, who was concealed in the distance, let out a cry of pain. His right shoulder was hit and the wound was bleeding.


    At this moment, Garen stomped his foot and started spinning his arms.


    Serial Swing Form!


    "The first Dragon Gate!"


    At the same time, Duskdune Shura gave a low growl as his entire body inflated by a few folds of his original girth. There was a murderous look in his eyes. He pointed a finger and stabbed it towards Garen''s Swing Form arms.


    He intended to fight brute force with brute force!


    Then another gunshot was heard.


    Yoda had fired another shot while struggling.


    Duskdune Shura was late to react. He was in the midst of a duel with Garen so he could not evade in time. Suddenly, his body had swelled to quadruple its original girth! He had transformed into the body of a muscular and fit man, only slightly smaller than Garen; he too had attained the peak of Body Hardening Technique!


    Bang!


    Garen felt a pain in his arm and saw the murderous look in Duskdune Shura''s eyes as the latter leaned in and gently struck his chest with a palm. That last shot had no effect on him whatsoever.


    "The second Dragon Gate!"


    Wham!


    Duskdune Shura struck Garen in the chest with his palm and then, with a swivel, appeared behind Garen.


    "The third Dragon Gate!"


    A backhand slap hit Garen on his left shoulder blade with a whack.


    The three palm strikes seemed heavy, but Garen didn''t seem to budge even the slightest after being struck consecutively.


    What the others couldn''t see was that Garen''s whole body felt like it had been frozen by something; he couldn''t move a muscle, and the Qi and blood in his veins seemed to be blocked and couldn''t flow freely.


    His heart pounded fiercely; his body seemed to tremble with each heartbeat. An intense dullness, palpitations, and nausea¡ªall these negative states¡ªsurged towards him in that instant. His heart felt like it could explode at any moment.


    He staggered a little and was almost unable to stand firmly.


    "The last palm: the fourth Dragon Gate!" Duskdune Shura coldly raised his right palm, and struck hard towards Garen''s forehead; Garen stumbled and evaded it awkwardly.


    Bang!


    Another gunshot.


    Duskdune Shura''s expression changed slightly. He retracted his hand and took a step forward.


    A large amount of cement slag sputtered from the ground behind him; he whacked it with one hand and it instantly transformed into a secret weapon and enveloped towards Yoda, the Eight-Arm Dragon King in the shadows.


    Yoda didn''t manage to react in time. All he could do was block with a rifle in front of his body. He was injured in a few spots, but fortunately, his vital parts were unharmed.


    "Seven Dragon Gates! Duskdune Shura¡­ You''ve finally¡­managed to attain it!" He watched with his bloodshot eyes as Duskdune Shura darted out of the chapel in a few leaps. Unable to hold it in any longer, he covered his mouth and coughed up mouthfuls of fresh blood, which flowed through his fingers.


    Garen fell to the ground embarrassingly. He wanted to stand up, but couldn''t exert any considerable amount of strength.


    "If I had encountered this person alone, I would have been dead!" In that moment, he could still calmly analyze his and his opponent''s true strength.


    He supported himself up and half-knelt on the ground. His gaze tracked Duskdune Shura as the latter darted out the door.


    "Is this the true strength of a martial arts practitioner at his peak? He exhibits such a powerful true strength even though he is pushing 80!" He thought he had reached the peak of a martial arts practitioner; he couldn''t believe he just encountered a supreme expert like Duskdune Shura who was far stronger than he was.


    When he and Yoda arrived, Duskdune Shura had defeated two generals from the Special Agent Bureau and massacred a large number of siege troops; he had obviously been injured. Afterward, he dueled with Garen¡ªusing brute force¡ªand was hit twice by Yoda''s opportune shots.


    Even so, he still managed to apply Explosive Force in the end and almost killed Garen. Moreover, he seemed like he was rushing off somewhere. Otherwise, everyone here would probably have died!


    Duskdune Shura didn''t even use his full force, and it was likely that he was only slightly injured.


    Garen''s heart was filled with an inexplicable sorrow.


    Duskdune Shura was also a Grandmaster of Combat with peak Body Hardening Technique like him, and in fact, was even more skilled!


    "If he had applied Explosive Force earlier, and we dueled in our peak states¡­ I would have been killed in an instant¡­" Garen felt bitter about it, but more than anything, he was excited!

 129 Notes 1

    Chapter 129: Notes 1


    Clang!


    The strike of a bell could again be heard coming from outside.


    Duskdune Shura''s figure finally disappeared into the distance.


    At the same time, the assassins in the estate quickly retreated too. Obviously, Duskdune Shura did not intend to go all out against the Yalu Confederation. That was the reason they halted their attack right at the moment when they had the absolute advantage and did not kill the two generals.


    With some difficulty, Garen stood up. After a while, his strong physical constitution and Body Hardening Technique had an obvious effect¡ªhe was recovering much faster than the others.


    He turned to look at everyone else inside the chapel.


    Some soldiers who were unharmed were carefully placing the two generals on stretchers. Aris and Su Lin were crouched beside the Eight Arm Dragon King. Yoda''s injury was extremely horrifying: his shoulder was directly punched through, leaving a fist-sized wound. The bones and flesh within had all become minced meat. At this moment, his face was pale as he leaned on the wall and allowed the medical staff to deal with his injuries and stop the bleeding. When he realized Garen was looking over at him, he was actually still in the mood to stare back.


    "What are you looking at? I''m not dead yet!"


    Aris hurried over to Garen''s side. At the sight of Garen''s chest¡ªwhich had been injured in the duel¡ªshe was tempted to reach and touch it but didn''t dare to in case it would hurt him.


    With tears in her eyes, she asked worriedly, "Are you¡­okay?"


    "It''s nothing. My true strength is much stronger than a certain old man in denial." Garen directed a cold sneer at the Eight Arm Dragon King.


    He couldn''t stand someone Yoda. It was obvious that Yoda''s true strength wasn''t up to scratch and he was old, but he still thought he could be arrogant like when he was young. He genuinely believed himself to be the best in the world.


    Combined with the fact that his martial arts attainment was terrible, but he still managed to be on par with Garen by relying on firearms, this irritated Garen.


    "Do you want to die?!" Yoda was obviously agitated: he quickly stood up and rolled his sleeves.


    "Come on! I''ll stand in place for you to hit me. If you can injure me without guns, you win!" Garen replied.


    "You! Cough cough¡­" Yoda was angered to the point that he almost vomited blood. "You bastard!"


    "Alright, alright. Let''s not say anything harsh." Su Lin hurriedly stood in between them. He looked frustrated.


    "Both of you are at the top of your field, there''s no reason to break the peace just because of a little spat," the purple-bearded bald man on the stretcher spoke. "I have a humble suggestion, why don''t the both of you¡­"


    "Forget it. I would never join the Special Agent Bureau. It''s easier to be alone and free," Yoda rejected instantly.


    "You''re not giving it any further consideration? Joining the national force is better than going it alone¡­"


    "No, I don''t. To each their own." Yoda shook his head without hesitation.


    The purple-bearded man and Lieutenant General Crohn were disappointed as they exchanged a look.


    Compared to Garen who directly confronted Duskdune Shura, they actually respected the Eight Arm Dragon King, Yoda more. Talents like Yoda are able to multiply their combative efficacy in proportion to the increase in the power of firearms. Even merely by controlling guns now, he had such great power. If he used more powerful firearms on the battlefield, it would be unimaginable. It would almost affect a small-scale war.


    Whereas talents like Garen, no matter how powerful, the most he could do was engage in special combat, assassinate, or be the vanguard of a guerilla attack from behind the enemy. He could not compare to the magnified version of the Dragon King, Yoda. But regardless, courting such talent was still necessary.


    The two men halted the people who were carrying their stretchers, and their gaze fell upon Garen who was standing by the wall at the entrance.


    "So what about Mr Garen right here? Are you interested in joining the new Special Agents Bureau to be established?" The purple-bearded man knew that he had made Garen feel left out earlier, and started to compensate for it. "If you are willing to join, arranging a deputy minister position for you would not be a problem."


    "My apologies, I am not in pursuit of such things." Garen shook his head. His face was equally pale. After being hit consecutively by Duskdune Shura, he still felt that his body had not fully recovered its smooth flow of Qi and blood.


    "Is that so?" Crohn shook his head with slight disappointment. "Fine, then. Since it is so, we won''t force the issue. Both of you have been heavily injured, you will need to recuperate. The estate will be under heavy security 24 hours a day from here on out. Just tell me if you have any requests with regards to safety or medicines."


    He was aware that many martial art practitioners had their own method of healing which was more effective than common methods, but it required different drugs than what an average person would use.


    These failed invitations were not unexpected to them either. Shifting the point of view from their actual willingness to join the government to the perspective of playing hard-to-get, even if they had intentions to join, they would not agree so quickly either.


    Anyway, since both of them were friends invited over by Su Lin, even if they were unwilling to join, they would be convenient to contact in future. The two of them could be considered a strength that sided with them.


    After the fierce battle, a large number of support troops and medics arrived and started to clear the battlefield in an orderly manner.


    The fighting within the estate merely lasted for less than twenty minutes, but the number of casualties had reached hundreds. There were corpses and body parts everywhere on the ground and blood flowed downstream. Under the hot sun, some areas had already attracted buzzing flies.


    The supporting troops which had rushed over were nervous at the sight of the battlefield. Fortunately the General was safe; otherwise, this would have been the biggest scandal since the founding of the Yalu Confederation.


    Two generals from the Special Agents Bureau responsible for special force talents and elites forced into a crushing defeat by an international assassin organization and killed in battle.


    This would deal a fatal blow to the reputation of the Confederation.


    It was akin to a police chief being burgled in his own home.


    If the rumor spread internationally, the true strength of the Confederation would naturally be despised by other countries. They might even see the Confederation as a weak force and send troops over to cause trouble. At that point, even if it wasn''t a weak force, it would still be reduced to one.


    Supported by two medics, Garen was no longer tense and gradually relaxed.


    Just as he relaxed, he felt dizzy; fatigue poured into his head like a tide.


    "Give me a quiet room. I want to rest," he said softly.


    "No problem," without waiting for Su Lin to reply, Aris spoke first.


    Garen felt that even his hearing was muffled, and he couldn''t hear clearly. He didn''t know which martial art Duskdune Shura''s fist strike belonged to, but he was in a very bad state right now, and he desperately needed to recuperate.


    It was his first time experiencing fatigue.


    This was unimaginable. In past combats, regardless of the opponent¡ªeven an expert Grandmaster of Combat like Andrela¡ªhe could still maintain an unwavering spirit, and almost couldn''t feel the limit of his endurance.


    But now he felt extremely tired.


    His heard Aris saying something, but couldn¡¯t clearly make it out. He barely managed to maintain a clear consciousness while allowing a few people to support him. He was carried on a stretcher to a room, where he finally fell into a deep sleep.


    *********


    An unknown amount of time passed.


    Garen slowly came to.


    He opened his eyes. He was lying on a large round bed surrounded by pure white plush, as if he was lying in countless white feathers.


    The ceiling was covered in pastel purple wallpaper with flowers and organic patterns engraved along the edges; it was exquisite.


    He took a deep breath. The bed was filled with a subtle fragrance which smelled floral, but was more like the smell of a woman''s body.


    Garen turned to look at the bedside. Sitting on a curved chair to the right of the bed was a beautiful and elegant girl with purple hair. Her long purple hair was tied into a ponytail and her fringe was combed to a side. She exuded a combined sense of innocence and charm.


    This girl was Su Lin''s sister, Aris.


    She seemed very tired: she had dozed off with her head tilted to one side. This was inconsistent with her usual elegant image, but it gave Garen a more authentic sense of intimacy.


    In addition to Aris, there was a basin of clean water for freshening up on the purple bedside table with a black towel soaking inside.


    "You''re awake?" In a daze, Aris saw Garen open his eyes. She hurriedly stood up. "How are you feeling? Master Garen?" she asked nervously.


    "It¡¯s alright. I can condition myself." Garen felt that his lower body had recovered by a great deal. "That fist strike by Duskdune Shura was likely a type of martial art with temporary effects. Coupled with my strong Physique, I should be fine now."


    He supported himself up and leaned against the headboard.


    "This is¡­?" Garen had just realized that the layout of this room was very gentle and delicate, full of floral patterns and designs. A subtle fragrance filled the room. The most conspicuous thing was a pink sofa in a corner of the room. It was shaped into a pink hippo taller than an average person. The back of the hippo was the backrest. It looked na?ve, and was extremely cute.


    "This is my room." Aris gave a weak smile. "All the rooms are filled with injured soldiers, so I decided to let you rest in my room. You don''t mind, do you?"


    "Of course not." Garen paused, then smiled. He vaguely felt that, after this battle, Aris''s attitude towards him seemed different.


    He turned to look out the window. It was bright outside; a faint bluish-white ray shone on the windowsill.


    "Can I get a glass of water?" Garen was parched.


    "Of course." Aris hurriedly poured a glass of water from a delicate purple flask and handed it to Garen.


    After two full glasses of warm water, Garen gradually felt relieved.


    "What''s the situation now?"


    "It''s fine. The estate is managed by my brother now. The Parliament is furious about this terror attack, so now this place has been stationed with thousands of soldiers inside and out. Three generals are rushing over too, to guarantee our safety, and to track the whereabouts of the terrorists."


    She paused for a moment, her beautiful eyes looking elegantly into Garen''s.


    "We really owe you a huge debt of gratitude this time, Master Garen. Without you, I''m afraid we would have been in deep trouble."


    "Su Lin helped me out with a serious issue before. Don''t mention it." Garen waved a hand.


    "That''s right. Father says, if you wake up and feel fine, to request your presence at the conference room. There''s an urgent matter. It''s about the Golden Sword Throne."


    "The Golden Sword Throne?" Garen narrowed his eyes. "This is what Duskdune Shura is after, isn''t it?"


    "That''s right. Father says he will reveal everything. Duskdune Shura''s attack means that this isn''t a secret anymore."


    "Alright then. I''ll have to recuperate for a while." Garen nodded.


    "I''ll head out and leave you to it." Aris was very considerate and took her leave. She understood that tough martial arts practitioners didn''t like to be disturbed when they were recuperating.


    Garen nodded. After seeing Aris leave and close the door behind her, he slowly shut his eyes.


    The Attributes Pane in his lower field of vision was unchanged and maintained its original stats.


    ''Strength 2.64; Agility 1.22; Physical quality 2.09; Intelligence 1.53; Potential 98%''

 130 Notes 2

    Chapter 130: Notes 2


    "There''s just an average increase of 0.01 in Attributes. I still need 2% more to enhance my Potential, just short by a little. Too bad there aren''t any Antiques of Tragedy for me to absorb Potential. Antiques of Tragedy¡­ What secret lies within these objects?" He had been unable to figure out what the Potential within Antiques of Tragedy actually was. He merely speculated that the more an antique was associated with a dangerous and bloody ancient legend, the more Potential it contained.


    "It''s unfortunate. If only the ring in uncle''s hands was stronger, I could wear it for a few months to top up that final 2%. But if it were stronger, there would probably be problems before uncle could wait for me to realize it." The level of the ring was too low; it was essentially ineffective for him. He would probably have to wear it for a few years before there was any effect. He might as well approach the issue through Golden Hoop.


    "I wonder if this Golden Sword Throne contains Potential. If an antique with a widespread legend could be an Antique of Tragedy, why were the similar antiques that I later found completely useless? Is it that only objects which are able to bring the collector misfortune contain Potential?"


    "Forget it, I shouldn''t think so much. This matter is unfinished. I will know when the time comes."


    He stopped thinking further, and looked at the current Skills Pane.


    ¡ª¡ªSecret Martial Art¡ª¡ª


    Mammoth Mutation: Explosive (Top level), Skin Hardening Level One (Iron Body), Blood Qi Stabilization (Boulder Martial Art).


    Dark Iron Palm: Accumulation has not reached rudimentary level (accumulation of physical toxins Level Two)


    Firestream Fist: Weak progress (Level Four)


    "Duskdune Shura should have no idea that I killed a Royal General, otherwise he wouldn''t have talked so much nonsense in the end, and would have just ended me directly. I''ve escaped this time, but the next encounter would be troublesome."


    "Now that I''m caught up in this whirlpool of trouble, I can''t leave to find low-level Secret Martial Arts. But even though I can''t, that doesn''t mean Su Lin can''t! I could maybe seek his help in finding some low-level Secret Martial Arts for me to train in."


    The ones most valuable to him were those inferior Secret Martial Arts that required little external criteria. Generally, for middle- or high-grade Secret Martial Arts, the higher the level, the more powerful it was, the less restriction it posed, the more it required external conditions to supplement it. Those would be unfavorable to his training.


    He got out of bed and put on the prepared clothes by the bed. Garen suddenly saw, at the bottom of the bed, the martial arts notebook that he had previously found on the body of the Pink Pupil Royal General. He picked it up to browse.


    On it were notes about the confusions the Pink Pupil Royal General faced in his martial arts training and the eventual solutions that he came up with. It was like someone recording their own difficulties, then focused their energies to conquer them.


    Initially, Garen was merely browsing casually. He didn''t expect to be unwittingly absorbed in it.


    Much of the notes recorded some unexpected deficiencies and difficulties of martial arts. Garen had encountered many of them and had yet to encounter many more. Most of them contained solutions on the back.


    It was then that Garen realized the value of this notebook. Because of his lowly origins from a low-level small sect, a lot of his martial arts experience had been unable to reach a certain height. This notebook could coincidentally make up for a portion of his deficiencies.


    This also made him realize why his physical qualities and Attributes hadn''t had much progress after all this while.


    In other words, if it were not for his inherent special ability maintaining the solidification of his physical qualities, maybe he would have experienced a decline in quality long ago.


    "Although its usefulness for me isn''t that great, it would be very accessible and helpful for the average person learning martial arts." Garen looked at the book satisfactorily. This was an unexpected gain.


    Unintentionally, he turned to a page about difficulties in Secret Martial Art training.


    ''Attempt to train in cumulative low-level Secret Martial Art, failed, extremely poor progress! Why?'' This was a problem faced by the Pink Pupil Royal General. It was exactly what Garen was facing.


    He started to look more serious.


    He gently turned to the next page. The line of words recorded on it initially made Garen''s heart skip a beat, but when he instantly saw the lines underneath; his lips couldn''t help but curve upwards slightly.


    Dense black wordings were clearly recorded on the pale yellow paper.


    ''Cumulative low-level Secret Martial Arts are mostly incomplete. Here I have collated the deficiencies of some common Secret Martial Arts.''


    ''1. Dagger Fist: Boil safflower petals in water and apply the solution to both hands. Method identical to previous medication.''


    ''2. Buzzbeck Arc Sword Skills: Need to forge a special hilt for continuous practice. The hilt design is as follows¡­''


    ''3. Odin Steel Fist: Need to use spiked board together with the medication for Level One Fist Arts in training.''


    The more Garen read, the more he felt satisfied. Not for the deficiencies of the many Secret Martial Arts that he had never heard of, but because he actually found the practicing deficiencies for the two low-level Secret Martial Arts he was training in: Firestream Fist and Dark Iron Palm.


    ''31. Dark Iron Palm: Need to be upside down when practicing.'' After reading this short line of content on the deficiency, Garen searched his memory and recalled the method of training for Dark Iron Palm, and was instantly enlightened.


    Those training methods that seemed strange, if practiced upside down, would instantly make sense from the perspective of martial arts concepts.


    He turned a page, and read on.


    ''38. Firestream Fist: A Secret Martial Art that is relatively more time-consuming. Practice needs to be complemented with hot iron sand. Strike and stab fists into a basin of iron sand in the initial stage, which can later be replaced with real charcoals. See illustration for specific training method.'' On the back were a few clearly drawn illustrations for practice methods and stages. It covered every stage of practice for Firestream Fist.


    Garen could not help but give a low laugh.


    "Finally, I am able to complete these two low-level secret Martial Arts even if I don''t go to Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate!" This bounty eased the depressed mood he had experienced from his injury and defeat.


    "Practicing upside down, hehe, I''d like to give it a try." Garen was impatient to give it a go immediately. His sudden excitement caused him to feel a dull sensation in his chest.


    "I have not recovered yet. Duskdune Shura is powerful indeed. Such a light strike has caused me prolonged negative effects." A chill ran through Garen''s heart. He recalled Duskdune Shura''s tactics and his high spirits were calmed once again.


    Knock knock knock.


    "Mr Garen, Master requests your presence in the conference room. Breakfast will be served there too."


    "Alright," Garen replied aloud. He quickly straightened his clothes and glanced at himself in the mirror.


    His strong, fair body was evenly toned and muscular. There wasn''t the slightest flabbiness and no muscles seemed overly uncoordinated.


    His purple hair was somewhat long and almost covered his eyes. It draped at his shoulders, and seemed slightly frizzy. The faint dark red tone gave others a sense of cool toughness.


    Wow.


    He put on a black shirt and a white suit, and allowed his shoulder-length hair to hang freely. Garen tugged the shirt collar and looked at himself in the mirror.


    The man in the mirror gave off a sense of wildness, as well as a trace of cool and strength. His chin was slightly lifted. He could give others a strong sense of fear and oppression without saying a word.


    "Unconsciously, I have become like this¡­" Garen swept aside the hair covering his vision.


    He gently touched his chest; there was still a slight numbness.


    "Duskdune Shura¡­"


    He stowed the notebook, turned, and left through the door.


    *****************


    Estate Conference Room


    A yellow boardroom-style table was placed in the middle of a small room with pale yellow tones, with a few black leather chairs surrounding it.


    Above the table, a square-ish lamp hung from a black wire, emitting a soft, yellow light.


    Su Lin and his father, Lieutenant Crohn sat in the main seats by the curtains. They were clad in black suits, slowly sipping coffees.


    The Dragon King, Yoda sat with Su Lin. He looked calm, and was casually drinking coffee too.


    A gloomy-looking old lady sat alone at the other end. This old lady was also wearing a military uniform. The golden badge on her shoulder shone with three silver stars and a pair of crossed swords. It was the symbol for lieutenants.


    "Apologies, I am late." At the opened door, Garen slowed his pace and entered. He glanced at everyone inside, then sat directly beside Su Lin.


    "No worries. Your injuries are not light." Crohn gave Garen a friendly smile. In that moment, after a suitable change of attire, Garen''s temperament perfectly embodied his powerful true strength and Bravery.


    Su Lin and Yoda looked at Garen, shocked. After the battle with Duskdune Shura, Garen''s initial strong Bravery had become more restrained, and the impression he gave now was akin to a volcano hidden beneath the seabed. It wasn''t like before, where the sight of him would be associated with strength, power, and pulverization!


    He was indeed worthy of being deemed a martial arts expert capable of directly countering Duskdune Shura in a short amount of time.


    Crohn was silently impressed. He pointed at the white-haired old woman sitting alone.


    "Allow me to introduce. This is the person in charge of the Special Response Unit newly established by the Confederation, Lieutenant Lenny. "


    The old woman, Lenny, nodded dully at the three of them, not saying a word.


    "Lieutenant Lenny is the main person in charge of tracking and following-up on this terrorist attack. She is interested in your understanding of the situation, and hopes that you can provide her with some information on Duskdune Shura. Of course, I too will reveal the source of conflict between myself and Duskdune Shura."


    "No problem," Su Lin was the first to respond.


    "I have some reservations about matters related to my personal privacy, but rest assured there will not be any impact on this incident," Yoda answered lazily.


    "I have no opinion either." Garen nodded.


    Crohn nodded in satisfaction.


    "In that case, let me start."


    He gestured for the guards to shut the door, then glanced around the room once.


    "Actually, no one knows what the essence of the Golden Sword Throne is apart from its maker, including myself, its owner."


    He broke off, then continued.


    "When I went to the ruins of Nabudas Empire on the Fivestar Continent, I acquired a golden ornament from the chief of the indigenous tribe there. It looked like a sword pierced into a throne-like ancient stone. It is merely the size of a palm, almost like a pen holder. I didn''t expect it to be the legendary mysterious Golden Sword Throne."


    "Fivestar Continent is different from Stonecliff Continent where we are at, as well as Azure Continent. There are many backwards and ancient areas there, so it''s not surprising that they had a golden ornament like that. How do you know that the ornament is the Golden Sword Throne?" Lieutenant Lenny asked.


    "Hold on. Can you explain what the effects of the Golden Sword Throne are, specifically?"


    "This was confirmed by my daughter, and also by Duskdune Shura. As to its effects, it is said that the secret to the inheritance of an ancient and powerful martial art is hidden within. It has also been said that it was an object used by medieval warlocks to curse souls. There are also rumors that the Golden Sword Throne is the key to a mysterious ruin, and the person who accesses the ruin will obtain a gift from the devil. These are all different words telling the same story. I, too, am actually unsure of its true secret," Crohn explained. "Originally, I wasn''t too concerned about it, and viewed it as a nice collectible. I didn''t expect Duskdune Shura to contact me about trading for it. You must understand, terrorist organizations like Duskdune Shura''s, if able to be eliminated, would be a fortunate event for the Confederation, and for the three continents, so¡­"


    "So you used it as bait and mobilized the entire Special Agents Bureau, all to capture Duskdune Shura. What you didn''t expect was for the opponent to be too strong, resulting in our current situation?" Yoda interjected.


    "Indeed. My estimates were miscalculated, causing such a big casualty. It is indeed my responsibility," Crohn let out a long sigh.


    "Even the entire Special Agents Bureau couldn''t stop Duskdune Shura. If not for your son, Su Lin soliciting the help of two elite experts, I''m afraid you would have been killed in a miserable defeat," Lenny said casually.


    "I am miserable enough." Crohn shrugged helplessly. "The reason I invited you all here, is mainly because we have discovered the location of the ruins where Duskdune Shura is headed. We are hoping that you would assist our military forces in killing the leader of this terrorist organization. Even though we are reluctant, we still have to admit that perhaps only with Garen and Mr Yoda, combined with the military, can there be a chance in suppressing Duskdune Shura."

 131 Practice 1

    Chapter 131: Practice 1


    Yoda coughed twice.


    "I won''t be able to make it. The injury on my shoulder would take a few months to heal."


    "I have been remiss in my considerations," Crohn nodded to show that he understood.


    Garen contemplated for a while.


    "I need to recuperate too. I can''t fight immediately. Even if I did, I would be no match for Duskdune Shura. Although I''m unwilling to admit it, Duskdune Shura''s martial arts have reached a peak level."


    The atmosphere in the room was temporarily subdued.


    Crohn sighed. He gestured for the soldiers to open the doors. Several maids entered to serve breakfast: a type of pale blue baguette paired with some apple slices, large chunks of pineapple, and a cup of unknown red drink which was fizzing.


    Everyone didn''t speak much. They just silently started having breakfast. Only the sound of knives clashing with forks could be heard from time to time.


    Garen ate silently, while at the same time carefully estimating Duskdune Shura''s true strength, as well as the time he needed to recover from his injuries.


    "Duskdune Shura painstakingly schemed to get a hold of the Golden Sword Throne, it''s apparent he has a certain level of confidence in succeeding. I wonder how much any of you knew about Duskdune Shura before?" Crohn asked in a hushed tone.


    Garen was the first to shake his head, expressing ignorance.


    Su Lin shook his head too. He merely shifted his gaze towards Yoda, the Eight-Arm Dragon King.


    Yoda had thick bandages on his shoulder. He swiftly reached for the food on the table with one hand and stuffed it in his mouth.


    "Don''t look at me. I''m not too clear about it either. Duskdune Shura and I are experts of the same generation. This organization was something he joined or established later, I''ve just heard about it for a long time."


    Even though they knew his words were not entirely reliable¡ªit wasn''t that he didn''t know, he was merely reluctant to reveal what he knew¡ªSu Lin and the rest didn''t force the issue.


    Garen finished the drink in one gulp, and gently put down the cup.


    "In fact, regardless of what motives Duskdune Shura harbors, regardless of what ruins he''s gone to, it''s impossible that he doesn''t reappear. When he emerges from the ruins, we''ll know what he really wants. What we need to do now is figure out how to deal with him. Previously, we had so many people but were still defeated. If we had to do it again, based on the true strength and power we have here, do you think we would actually be able to hold him off?"


    Upon hearing Garen''s words, everyone fell silent.


    Only Lieutenant Lenny who had just joined them frowned.


    Garen shook his head.


    "I''m just a martial arts practitioner; I don''t want to get too involved. Whenever you come up with a plan to deal with Duskdune Shura, Su Lin, you just tell me. I need to go down to recuperate now. Regardless of what the plan is, now everyone is injured, and won''t be good for anything if we don''t recover. Excuse me."


    He stood up, turned around and left through the door.


    Walking through the red-carpeted corridor with soldiers standing guard along it, Garen exited the small building.


    The sky was bright outside. Small patrol motorcycles would come over from a distance from time to time.


    The originally empty space in the estate was now full of patrol guards in yellow uniform. Temporary security fortifications were built in corners which were easy to defend and hard to attack. All around the buildings, on the roofs, were patrol guards on duty.


    The whole estate had transformed into a large military camp.


    Garen took a deep breath. The smell of smoke and blood remnant from the battle yesterday still filled the air.


    He strode towards the lake outside of the estate. He planned to have a good rest and go for a swim to relax.


    Suddenly, a guard wearing a yellow helmet ran towards him from a short distance away. He stopped in front of Garen and saluted him.


    "Mr Garen, a young boy is asking for you outside the estate. He refused to leave no matter what."


    "A young boy?" Garen instantly recalled the kid with a runny nose he met near the home of the Eight-Arm Dragon King. "Could it be him?"


    "Thanks for informing me. Please lead me to him."


    "Certainly. Please follow me." The guard nodded, turned around, and jogged towards the entrance of the estate.


    Garen followed at a moderate pace. His one stride equaled two to three of the guard''s. It looked as though he was striding casually, but in fact his pace was not slow.


    Soon, going past the heavy defense, in the temporary guardhouse constructed on the right side of the entrance, Garen saw the young boy with a runny nose.


    The boy looked pale. Both his arms were swollen beyond recognition, almost double their original size, like he had two adult arms affixed to his shoulder. He was wearing a sleeveless gray linen shirt and his hair was messy like a chicken coop.


    Once Garen walked in, he recognized the kid who had previously asked him to teach him how to fight. But what made him speechless was that the kid had a burden with him: an adorable petite young girl.


    When he saw the young girl, Garen squinted.


    The atmosphere in the entire guardhouse became somber. A terrifying sense of oppression lingered overhead like dark clouds, as if the sky was about to collapse on them.


    It wasn''t just the boy, even the two guards supervising by the side shivered, and almost pulled out their guns in alert.


    This was the strong sense of oppression that Bravery had towards all living beings; it was their biological fear towards danger and predators.


    The boy was trembling from head to toe, and his face seemed paler than before. His chapped lips were almost bleeding.


    "Shenanigans!" Garen sat in a chair and looked at the boy and girl indifferently, without a hint of compassion in his eyes.


    But the strange thing was that, when everyone was trembling in fear, the expression of the pretty little girl who had a pitiful expression on her face changed, from one of terror and panic, to a calm and sly look. A trace of surprise flashed across her face.


    "How did you discover me?" Her voice was clear and subtle, like a bird call.


    "Looks like it was you who instructed him previously¡­" Garen didn''t give a straightforward answer. He stared fixedly at the girl. "I wondered how a young kid could have possibly noticed my true strength. You''re so old yet you pretend to be young. It''s really my first time encountering a martial arts practitioner like you."


    "Bastard! What do you mean by ''old''?!" The girl''s gaze changed; it looked as though she had been stabbed in a sore spot. "Don''t you recognize the virtue of respecting your elders and caring for the young?! If this kid were not unsuitable to inherit my martial arts, do you think I would have specifically asked him to find you?!"


    The girl''s words instantly shocked a few guards around them. They swiftly drew their guns and aimed at her.


    "Keep calm. She''s merely an expert trained in a unique martial art." Garen raised his hand to calm the guards down. "Please leave us. I want to have a proper conversation with them."


    "I''m sorry. Towards unknown foreigners, we have to supervise the whole process. This was the highest command given by Lieutenant Lenny," a captain walked in and said calmly. "Mr Garen, please don''t put us in a tough spot." Upon entering the guardhouse, he felt a strange sense of danger triggering the hair on his body to stand on end, and his hand subconsciously clasped the gun on his waist. He stared at the strange little girl.


    Garen shifted his gaze to the young captain.


    ""


    "It''s fine. I understand your difficulties. We''ll speak outside then."


    He retracted his Bravery, and everyone instantly let out a sigh of relief.


    He stood up and walked straight out of the guardhouse towards a small forest outside the estate.


    The boy, led by the little girl, followed closely behind. The three soon disappeared into the woods.


    Walking at a fast pace for a distance until they couldn''t be discovered, Garen turned around and stopped walking.


    "Well, who are you and what are your motives?" Garen calmly looked at the girl behind him.


    This seemingly adorable and petite girl who looked no more than eight or nine years old gave him the sense of an old monster inhabiting a child''s body; she was definitely not an ordinary martial arts practitioner.


    The girl''s height only reached his waist. She was wearing a shabby currant strappy dress. Her maroon long hair was straight and smooth, with horizontal bangs on her forehead. On her feet were thick black cotton socks and red leather boots. Her skin was supple and fair as snow, and her wine-colored eyes were blinking.


    Walking through the woods thick with foliage, she had a skip in her step as her long hair fluttered with her every move; it gave the impression of innocence and charm.


    But ever since Garen attained the level of Grandmaster of Combat, he had stopped judging people by their appearances alone.


    ""


    "What are your motives?"


    He silently looked at this strange little girl.


    "You can call me Celine. My motive is simple. I want you to receive Erudas as your disciple," the girl Celine skipped the nonsense and got straight to the point. "Originally, I didn''t intend to expose myself. But to be on the safe side, I think it''s better to be honest, in case it would affect future relations."


    Garen glanced at the gullible young boy who followed behind her.


    "I''ve heard that, in the Secret Martial Art world, there is a type of Secret Martial Art that shrinks the body to reduce the loss of spiritual essence in order to prolong life. I didn''t expect to actually see an example of it."


    """"


    "I''m glad you recognize this old lady''s power." The girl proudly raised her chin. "I intended to accept him as my own disciple, but my martial art does not match him. That day, I saw you at Yoda''s house and realized that your martial arts style fits this kid''s characteristics perfectly. Most importantly, Erudas seems to be determined to follow you. He was actually foolish enough to complete the training as you instructed!"


    At this point, she looked as if she had a headache.


    "I have just witnessed Duskdune Shura''s true strength, rumored to be the peak of the previous generation. I wonder what your true strength is like," Garen changed the topic and said casually. He began to slowly gather a surge of strong, terrifying Bravery.


    The large amount of Bravery surrounded him, and condensed into the invisible shadow of a mammoth.


    No roars, no movement, the mammoth just silently shrouded over Garen. It stood there with a murderous look in its eyes.


    An invisible pressure fell on the girl, Celine''s body.


    "Duskdune Shura¡­You''ve actually met him before?" Celine was shocked. Her petite body somersaulted away as she gently evaded the oppression of Garen''s Bravery.


    Garen narrowed his eyes. She had evaded the oppression of his Bravery with such ease and avoided a direct confrontation with him. It was apparent that she was no ordinary character. To be able to accurately sense the speed and extent of the Bravery oppression of another martial arts practitioner, she must have been a Grandmaster of Combat with Bravery of her own.


    He gradually raised his right arm, ready to fight.


    "Keep calm! It''s not your style to bully children at random, is it? If it were to get out that the Divine Marshal of Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate bullied a seven year-old little girl, sob sob¡­" Celine''s expression turned in an instant. Tears streamed out of her eyes. She tugged her clothing down a little to reveal her fair shoulder and started screaming, "Ra¡­!"


    Clap!


    Garen''s face twitched as he rushed over to cover her mouth.

 132 Training 2

    Chapter 132: Training 2


    Celine struggled for a while, but Garen¡¯s strength was much stronger than hers, so she failed to escape.


    "Help! He¡¯s trying to¡­" Garen put his hand over her mouth and greatly muffled her voice, but he could still understand what she was trying to say.


    Garen¡¯s head ached. People would consider him a pedophile if they saw what he was doing to this little girl and he did not know how his parents and sister would think of him.


    "Let me go¡­!" Celine shouted.


    "Stop saying random sh*t and I¡¯ll let you go." Garen felt his temples were throbbing.


    "I won¡¯t say it anymore!" Celine nodded like a chicken pecking at its food.


    Garen slowly released her after hearing her words.


    Celine wiped the dust off her clothes and stepped back. "Pervert!"


    Garen¡¯s expression changed again. "Well, I already gave you the chance¡­" He spoke in a gravelly tone and pounded his fists against each other several times.


    "Fine, I¡¯ll stop." Celine finally had a serious look on her face. "You were planning to take Erudas in even if I didn¡¯t come, right?"


    "You already knew?" Garen nodded. "He has talent and perseverance. Actually, if he¡¯s trying to learn from me, perseverance is much more important than just talent."


    He stared at Celine. "I think you already knew a lot about me, but I still know nothing about you."


    Celine hesitated for a second. "I¡¯m the heir of the ancient Martial Arts, Neptune Fist, and I think you already know that I¡¯m much older than my appearance. I used the Essence Locking Techniques to keep myself in a peak state. As an apology, I can give you the secret techniques if you want.


    "Neptune Fist¡­" Garen scrunched his eyebrows. "I didn¡¯t know that there was still a heir of that sect."


    "I¡¯m the last one," Celine answered in a light tone. "By the way, I¡¯m still a virgin."


    Garen was speechless. "Well, I don¡¯t care about that! Please don¡¯t change topic or else I can¡¯t follow."


    "Virgin Grandma, someone¡¯s coming," Erudas suddenly said.


    Garen was surprised and had not noticed the footsteps until Erudas told him.


    He turned around and stared at the young boy Erudas. "Your sensory perception is keen¡­ I didn¡¯t notice at all¡­"


    Garen thought for a second and glanced around. He noticed that Celine was getting nervous.


    The footsteps were getting closer, he could hear people swearing, and the tension was building up.


    "Follow me," Garen finally spoke. He turned around and walked toward the manor. Celine felt relieved, grabbed the boy, and followed behind Garen.


    ****************


    After resting in Su Lin¡¯s manor for three days, Garen felt much better and had recovered from the injury.


    Angela asked for a courtyard close to the lake and moved in. Garen spent most of his time training the Mammoth Secret Technique and he wanted to make sure that his body was in the best condition. He also started preparing the equipment needed to learn the Firestream Fist.


    Celine and Erudas stayed with Garen the whole time and did not go to any other places. They lived in a temporary tent beside the courtyard and the army brought them supplies every day.


    Garen helped the boy recover by invigorating the blood circulation around his arms, but Garen did not mention anything about teaching him Martial Arts.


    However, it seemed like the two did not care. They looked happy living in the tent provided by the army and probably had not had a good rest in a while.


    It was afternoon, the setting sun decorated Lake Saima with rays of red sunlight, and the golden reflection on the surface of the lake was breathtaking.


    Inside the rectangular yard beside the lake, Garen dangled from a black iron frame. Garen¡¯s hands and face turned purple due to the exertion.


    He inhaled deeply and his stomach rose. The purple color disappeared slowly from his face and hands as he inhaled.


    Hoo!


    Garen exhaled all the air in his torso and started hitting his palms with his fingers. This repeated process was how he learned the Dark Iron Palm. In order to practice this low-rank Secret Technique, he had to hang from the frame.


    The Dark Iron Palm was a low-rank Secret Technique and a lot of people tried to learn it. Martial Artists or people who were just interested in Martial Arts would try to learn it after obtaining the Secret Technique. No matter how weak a Secret Technique was, it would still be stronger than average Martial Arts.


    Of the many people that practiced the Dark Iron Palm, the best of them had palms harder than iron and their palm skills could deal damage with their evil power. However, they were only slightly stronger than normal Martial Artists.


    Low-rank Secret Techniques were created by Martial Artists that broke past their limitations. The Dark Iron Palm was a bit better than the Iron Body because it could convert the toxins and useless substances in the body into evil power.


    By practicing the Dark Iron Palm, Garen could better maintain his health. Garen kept repeating the procedure and would hit his fingers against his palms every time he exhaled all the air from his abdomen.


    His long purple hair blocked his view, so he decided to close his eyes and check the skill bar. After practicing the basic training method for a while, some changes finally occurred to the bar.


    The row for the Dark Iron Palm started getting blurry.


    "Finally¡­" Garen was excited. He started practicing this morning and finally made some progress by the afternoon.


    The words behind the Dark Iron Palm changed quickly: "Dark Iron Palm: Beginner Level (Two levels in total)."


    Garen felt something heavy and muddy inside his body that quickly travelled toward his hands. His body was relaxed but his hands became heavy.


    He opened his eyes and looked at his palms. Garen¡¯s hands had already turned grey as if they were soaked in ink.


    Garen looked at the attribute bar unintentionally and noticed that some of the attributes had changed as well.


    209215


    His Stamina increased from 2.09 to 2.15.


    "Nice, I didn¡¯t expect the Dark Iron Palm to help increase my Stamina," Garen observed his hands carefully.


    "I wonder how much damage it can do. Let me give it a try first." Garen looked around and found a small white tree at the corner of the yard.


    Garen reached at his feet and untied the rope. He landed on the ground and walked toward the tree quickly.


    He raised his palms and pressed them against the surface of the tree. Nothing spectacular happened, but there were two black handprints left on its surface after Garen lowered his hands.


    Two black ants were climbing up the tree and they slowed down right after reaching the handprints. Their legs trembled, their bodies curled up, and then they fell from the tree after several seconds.


    "That¡¯s the poison from the Dark Iron Palm?" Garen glanced around. "I need something more than the ants. Umm¡­"


    Angela called the guards and asked them to find some cats or dogs. Then, Garen started forcing them to touch the handprints on the tree. The handprints disappeared after killing a dog.


    Garen finally had a general understanding of the strength level of the poison from the Dark Iron Palm. "Way too weak. Killing some small animals is the best it can do. Maybe it¡¯ll work on a normal person, but all of the Grandmasters of Combat have high resistance and Dark Iron Palm will do no damage to them."


    "Well, let me see what the Firestream Fist can do." He asked the guards to bring him the equipment for practicing the Firestream Fist.


    It was a whole basin of black iron sand and the basin was placed above a large pot of burning charcoal. Garen stood in front of the basin and rolled up his sleeves.


    "The Mammoth Secret Technique can be combined with the Iron Body, but I¡¯m not sure if the Dark Iron Palm can be combined with the Firestream Fist. I hope I still have some Attribute Points left. If I do, I¡¯ll be able to level them up to the highest level!" Garen shook his head and stopped thinking. He quickly put his hands into the sizzling sand and then immediately took them out. Garen kept repeating this process.


    He also used the special breathing and blood circulation methods from the Firestream Fist technique to ensure that the blood flow in his body was correct.


    Garen¡¯s hands slowly turned reddish. Although he reached the master level of body hardening techniques, his hands were still burning after constantly contacting the heated sand. His skin had turned black due to the Dark Iron Palm and the resulting dark red color looked like rust.


    The size of his hands doubled and dense maroon patterns slowly rose from the skin of his hands.


    He could feel the heat from his hands and a chill rushed down to them from his brain. This chill started to slowly neutralize the heat from the iron sand.


    Garen closed his eyes and stared at the skill bar. After a while, changes appeared to the row with the Firestream Fist.


    The text became blurry: "Firestream Fist: Beginner Level (Four levels in total)."


    Another change appeared on the skill bar after he reached the beginner level of the Firestream Fist. The Firestream Fist and Dark Iron Palm¡¯s text became blurry at the same time.


    "I knew it! The Firestream Fist and Dark Iron Palm were all Secret Techniques that train people¡¯s hands. Learning them together will create a new combination, just like the time I trained the Iron Body and Boulder Martial Art!" Garen stared at the changes with excitement. This was the reason why he had decided to learn these two Secret Techniques first.


    The Firestream Fist and Dark Iron Palm disappeared from the skill bar simultaneously and were replaced by a new skill.

 133 Clarity 1

    Chapter 133: Clarity 1


    The new skill finally appeared clearly.


    ''Unnamed - Mutation Firestream Fist: Level One (of Four), Firestream Fist skills blended with Dark Iron Palm, eliminating impurities and toxins by applying heat from the inside and out, while enhancing Vitality and heat resistance. Attacks on enemy will produce heat poisoning. Training is conducted by alternating both skills to advance.''


    "So it''s based mainly on Firestream Fist, blended with Dark Iron Palm?"


    Garen was deep in thought. Previously, it was the same for Mammoth Secret Technique, with Mammoth as the basis blended with other Secret Martial Arts. It seems that the current situation is similar.


    "Nomenclature-wise, since it''s a combination of Dark Iron Palm and Firestream Fist, then the name should consist of half of each. I''ll call it Dark Crimson Technique then."


    As the thought flashed across his mind, the new skill on the Skills Pane quickly changed from ''unnamed'' to ''Dark Crimson Technique''.


    His special ability let flow a continuous refreshing stream of Qi into his hands. Garen could clearly feel his hands were being fortified at an alarming rate; it was obviously the effect of Dark Crimson Technique Level One.


    Chhh!


    He immersed his hands simultaneously into boiling hot iron sand, and didn''t bother removing them.


    The hot iron sand pressed on the skin of his hands; his palms felt a numbing sensation.


    The part of his forearms above his palms was gradually reddening, with blue veins popping up. Qi and blood kept coursing through his palms at a high speed.


    After 10 full minutes.


    Garen suddenly took his hands out and laid a backhand on the wall behind him.


    Sizzle¡­


    A gust of white smoke instantly effused from the wall. The wall covered in green moss was imprinted with a black handprint, and there was an unpleasant burnt smell in the air.


    "Dark Crimson Technique¡­ Level One can withstand temperatures of about a hundred over degrees. Such a high temperature can be achieved by transferring Qi and blood to the palm, amazing!" Garen was secretly impressed. "This is merely Level One. If I can raise it to higher levels, combined with my mutation Mammoth Secret Technique and Body Hardening Technique peak, then I''ll be able to kill and injure at will!"


    He retracted his hands, walked to a basin of water on the left of the fire basin, and put his hands in it.


    The clear water in the cool basin slowly emitted a sizzling sound, and a waft of water vapor drifted upwards. Garen''s fists gradually returned to its normal pale tone.


    He removed his hand and used a little bit of force. Blood flowed through his palms as it regained its temperature, and once again emanated a scalding heat. Both palms instantly turned from white to a pale red.


    From afar, his hands merely looked like they were filled with blood in the veins, and nothing seemed abnormal; it could very easily be concealed.


    "This tactic could only increase deadliness in close combat, effective only when I am able to have physical contact with the enemy. Unfortunately, the biggest disadvantage of low-level Secret Martial Arts is that there is no corresponding combat skill to match with them."


    Garen recalled the scene of confrontation with Duskdune Shura. "If I had mastered Dark Crimson Technique then, I could have caused additional damage to him in the direct confrontation, and deterred anyone else from having direct confrontations with me."


    At that time his hand-knife strike collided with Duskdune Shura directly. If he could have used Dark Crimson Technique then, he could have injured him by surprise.


    "Dark Crimson Technique shall be my concealed skill, just to increase deadliness by dealing a surprise strike."


    He relaxed the Qi and blood in his palms, and they were gradually restored to his original pale skin tone.


    He tugged on a coat and put it on then walked to the entrance of the courtyard, opened the door, and exited. On the riverbank were the short and tall figures of Erudas and Celine; the former seemed to be telling the latter about something.


    When both saw Garen come out, Erudas immediately scuttled over.


    "Master! When can I learn your martial arts?"


    "Don''t call me Master. You''re not my disciple yet." Garen was clad in white casual clothing. His long hair was messy and loose, with a hint of red visible between the strands. Coupled with his tall and muscular physique, merely by standing in front of the both of them, he exuded an immense sense of oppression.


    He glanced at Erudas''s shoulders; it seemed to have completely recovered. Obviously, it was related to the help from Celine throughout this time.


    "Looks like you have almost recovered?"


    "Yes, Master!" Erudas replied loudly. His small body stood straight. He had cleaned himself up too; he looked much better than at their first meeting. He had defined features, and his short copper-brown hair paired with his delicate white skin showing a tinge of a blush, made him seem like a doll.


    "Today, I''ll first teach you about something fundamental," Garen said calmly. He put his hands, one after another, on his chest. One hand grasped tightly while the other held on loosely; his legs were in the bow stance.


    This was the combat stance that he had revised from White Cloud Combat Arts of White Cloud Gate and perfected.


    "This is the initial hand pose inherited from my original sect. It is able to handle attacks from all sides except the back in the shortest amount of time. Let me tell you something important in advance. Martial arts practitioners absolutely should not allow themselves to have their backs facing their enemies. Apart from certain special combat techniques, common martial arts from general sects adhere to this taboo."


    "Grandma Virgin told me that before too," Erudas replied innocently. "I''ll be powerful as long as I start out with this pose?"


    "Because you''ve saved some time needed to raise your hands to attack. Just like¡­this!"


    Chshh!


    With a spin, Garen''s right arm axed horizontally like a butcher''s knife in a Swing Form strike directed at Celine, who was standing with her body facing sideways.


    His arm was like a blade, creating a hissing sound as it cut through air.


    Wham!


    A section of wooden log was broken in two, and the pieces fell to the ground.


    Celine flipped backwards, and evaded the strike with grace. She landed steadily on top of a large white rock nearby; she looked fazed.


    "What are you doing?! Don''t you know that you should respect your elders and love your young?!"


    "Erudas, watch carefully."


    Garen disregarded care and quickened his pace forward, his stance instantly converting into Shot Form. His slapped his right palm forward.


    "This is Shot Form!"


    Wham!


    The rock cracked at his palm strike, and bits of rubble flew in all directions. Celine barely managed to evade with a jump, and was shouting in anger.


    Garen curved his right arm, and let his right hand swing outwards swiftly like a whip.


    "This is Swing Form!"


    Crack!


    A small tree in the woods by the lake, with a trunk as thick as an arm, crashed to the ground.


    Celine was scampering about as she was chased by Garen.


    "You bastard! You only know how to bully underage girls! Ahhh!" Almost hit by the falling tree, Celine''s face was flush with anger as she ran off into the distance, cursing all the way.


    Garen reverted to a normal pose, turned around, and gently exhaled. Those few strikes were all made in one breath, but it was over before he had time to exhale.


    "Stances are the postures that make it easiest to attack and defend. If you were to casually stand straight, then the distance it takes for your arm to be raised is much larger than if you were already adopting a stance. Don''t belittle this minute amount of time saved. In a real fight, it may come down to this little bit of distance."


    "Yes, Master!" Erudas replied loudly even though he didn''t fully comprehend what he heard. After seeing Garen''s powerful and tough attacks earlier, his eyes gleamed in admiration.


    "From today onwards, stand in this stance every day, until you can''t hold it any longer, until your knees tremble!" Garen said calmly.


    "Yes!"


    Garen nodded. This kid had some decent talent, was resilient, willing to endure hardship, and even obedient¡ªhe would do whatever he was told¡ªthis was the ideal disciple. Even if Garen didn''t have any intention of receiving a disciple at the moment, he couldn''t help but give him a few pointers now and then.


    When he saw Erudas begin to create the stance on his own, Garen corrected his mistakes then directly walked towards Celine standing in the distance.


    "Come with me."


    Celine stared at him fiercely, hesitated, but still followed.


    The two of them walked to a set of stone table and stools in the woods, where Garen sat down naturally.


    "The descendant of Neptune Fist, it is said that your Neptune Gate was a crucial great sect in the North. In ancient times you almost separated to declare your own duchy. I''m sure you must be privy to a lot of secrets?" he took the lead to speak first.


    Celine jumped onto a stone stool and crouched on it.


    "What do you want to know? Let me be clear upfront, I don''t know much either."


    "I want to know about Duskdune Shura. He defeated me using a type of martial arts called Dragon Gate. What is that?" Garen asked his first question.


    "Dragon Gate?" Celine''s petite face wrinkled. "You''re sure it''s Dragon Gate?" Her expression started to turn serious.


    "I''m sure. The names that he exclaimed were ''the first Dragon Gate'' and so on, from first to fourth. Every strike that hit me completely paralyzed my body, it was strange." Garen was fixated on this point. His Body Hardening Technique was based on the principle of flowing Qi and blood, yet his opponent''s Dragon Gate could actually paralyze the body and control Qi and blood¡ªit was like the bane of the Body Hardening Technique.


    Celine became silent, seemingly recalling a memory.


    The night breeze made the leaves in the woods rustle, and brought with it a slight chill. The rays of sunset shone through the leaves at an angle on the ground, tree trunks, the stone table and chairs, and the two of them. There was a vague sense of beauty like a painting of maple woodlands.


    Celine stretched her fingers out to gently brush away the fallen leaves from the white stone table. A yellow beetle gently climbed her index finger.


    "Seven Dragon Gate is rumored to be an ancient martial art that is a unique general sect martial art. I do not know the specific methods of training in it, but it is very powerful."


    She paused, then continued, "The unique characteristic of Seven Dragon Gate is that it continuously increases in power."


    "Starting from the first Dragon Gate, the second, then the third. If a person was continuously hit by all of it, the power of each fist will continue to increase. At the same time, it is capable of obstructing the flow of Qi and blood. The further it progresses, the more it is capable of slowing down the movement of the opponent, to the point of complete paralysis. This is an extremely terrifying consecutive-strike martial art. I can''t believe Duskdune Shura has actually mastered it."


    Garen''s brow twitched. "We''re equally Grandmasters of Combat, but he is so much stronger than me!"


    "EDDC"


    "''Grandmasters of Combat'' is merely a collective description of a select few martial art practitioners who have reached the human limit. Naturally there would be stronger and weaker categories within. It''s only normal," Celine said matter-of-factly. "Now there are these so-called Grade E and Grade D categorizations. Those are the levels used to categorize the strength of firearms. In actuality, almost all Grandmasters of Combat are Grade D, including you. One level higher would be Grade C, which is currently the category for special unit weapons, such as special gunpowder and powerful weapons made from special materials. These are incapable of being defended by Grandmasters of Combat. Perhaps only a very small number of Grandmasters of Combat can achieve this level. Duskdune Shura might be one of them."


    "Then do you know about the existence of people with supernatural abilities?" Garen asked in a low voice.


    "Supernatural abilities? You mean telekinesis?" Celine was shocked. "You''ve encountered such people?"


    Garen nodded.


    "In my years of wandering, I''ve encountered them multiple times too. Those people are very mysterious. They have developed strange abilities through telekinesis, and view themselves as beings transcending mortals. But in actuality, they are merely poor souls from failed experiments, detesting the world because of a tragic incident," Celine said softly.

 134 Clarity 2

    Chapter 134: Clarity 2


    "The experiment failed? What happened?"


    "I don¡¯t know. Several dozens of years ago, a group of people escaped from a human subject research center. I¡¯ve seen telekinesis before and I knew they were strong, but that¡¯s all I know." Celine shook her head.


    "Last question, do you know anything about the Golden Sword Throne?" Garen asked in a light tone.


    "What¡¯s that?" Celine looked confused.


    Garen stood up. "That¡¯s all I wanted to ask. I don¡¯t know what happened between you and that little guy and I don¡¯t care. However, if you want me to stay with you and protect you, you should at least pay me."


    "I already prepared something for you." Celine sneered. She took a black scroll out of her pocket and threw it toward Garen.


    Pah!


    Garen carefully caught the scroll and looked at it. There were several tiny words printed on the surface of the scroll: "Essence Locking Technique."


    "That¡¯s the payment."


    Garen stared at her for a second, turned back, and left with the scroll. He returned to the courtyard and finished his dinner before receiving Su Lin¡¯s message.


    He quickly headed to the meeting room inside the manor. Garen had promised Su Lin that he would help to fight against Duskdune Shura, so he would not leave the manor before it was done.


    Most of the others had already sat down in their seats by the time Garen entered the meeting room. Yoda, the Eight-Arm Dragon King, was not here and his seat was taken by a tall slim blonde lady wearing a tight black leather suit. Garen could see that her breasts were covered by black bandages through her open collar. The lady was not wearing underwear and was quite alluring.


    "Let me make an introduction. This is Miss Mayer Iriland, an international police officer, " Su Lin said after standing up. "She¡¯s here for Duskdune Shura as well."


    "She¡¯s trying to track down Duskdune Shura?" Everyone in the room looked surprised. Duskdune Shura could easily escape when surrounded by many special agents, yet Mayer was trying to track him down alone. They thought that Mayer must be someone special.


    The two generals, Su Lin, and Aris all stared at the lady. Her face was not that attractive, she showed absolutely no expression, and it seemed like she did not want to spend too much time with strangers.


    "It seems like I¡¯m late. I think everyone here has already heard about how strong Duskdune Shura is, so I¡¯m not going to go over that again. Based on a telegraph I obtained from Kandivella, at the borders of the Yalu Confederation, Duskdune Shura has already arrived at the ruins of Kandivella." She gave everyone in the room a cold look.


    "Everyone, as an officer of the international police, I hope you can follow my orders so we can catch Duskdune Shura together. I heard that there is someone here that can fight against Duskdune Shura one on one. Please stand up."


    The others immediately began to stare at Garen. Garen scrunched his eyebrows. Although he was not happy, he still stood up.


    "Try your best to slow down Duskdune Shura and create space for my people. Follow my orders when we start the mission," Mayer said in a calm tone.


    "Wait," Garen stopped her, "my sole purpose is to protect my friends. I don¡¯t care about other things."


    "Please notice that I am not asking. I¡¯m giving you an order and you have no right to disobey it." Mayer furrowed her eyebrows. "I¡¯m an officer from the international police and I have the authority to give orders. You can sit down for now."


    "Orders?" Garen sneered. "Who the hell are you?"


    The two generals had bitter smiles on their face. While Su Lin and Aris sat by the side, they also did not know how to deal with such a situation. Su Lin was trying to ask Garen to calm down by signaling with his eyes.


    Mayer¡¯s expression did not change and it seemed like she had already expected a situation like this.


    "Mr. Garen." She took out a pile of information sheets and put them down on the table.


    "These are the records of the murders you have committed since you debuted. You killed about 35 people, directly or indirectly. You can choose not to follow my order. and I¡¯m willing to shoot you to death for all the murders you committed.


    "Are you threatening me?" Garen narrowed his eyes.


    "I¡¯m not. Actually, I¡¯m giving you a chance." Mayer stared at Garen calmly. "Follow my order or die. Your choice."


    "I choose to kill you!" Garen grinned and pulled the door off the wall.


    BOOM!


    The door was about two meters tall and it flew toward Mayer while spinning like a fan blade. Garen¡¯s aim was accurate and the door did not hit anyone else.


    CRACK!


    Mayer used a high kick and easily smashed apart the entire door. She quickly turned and did a side front snap kick toward Garen¡¯s head.


    Her long leg drew an arc in the air and a silver blade popped out from the bottom of her high heel. She aimed at Garen¡¯s temple.


    Strangely, Mayer¡¯s side front snap kick was vibrating intensely, as if she could change the direction of the kick at any time she wanted.


    Su Lin held Aris¡¯s arm and retreated with her. He knew how strong Miss Mayer and Garen were. Although Su Lin was a great Martial Artist himself, he still did not want to get involved in this.


    BAM!


    Garen hit Mayer¡¯s dagger with his palm. The dagger broke and pierced the ceiling.


    BAM BAM BAM BAM!!


    The two kept trading hits, with Mayer using an array of different kicks with her slim legs. Garen blocked most of her attacks but was still hit in the chest several times. Mayer was much faster than him.


    They already left the meeting room and the fight had moved into the hallway. The guards did not know what to do and decided to stay away from the two combatants.


    "Axe Kick!" Mayer yelled as she raised one of her legs high into the air and kicked down vertically as quick as lightning.


    BANG!


    "Naive!" Garen grinned, grabbed her leg, and swung her toward the wall.


    *BOOM*


    Garen suddenly stopped moving and it was almost like time had paused.


    He grabbed Mayer¡¯s right leg and was about to smash her against the wall.


    Mayer held onto a wall lamp tightly with her left leg still planted on the ground. Her face turned pale and she bit her bottom lip hard, but there was still no expression on her face. Mayer was breathing heavily and she had not expected Garen to be so strong.


    Garen looked at a head-sized hole in the wall beside him as dust sprinkled down to the ground.


    "Old man, what the hell?" He looked at the other end of the hallway.


    Yoda, the Eight-Armed Dragon King, wielded a black heavy sniper rifle in his hand and he was aiming at Garen. Yoda¡¯s face flushed and he looked furious.


    "Let Mayer go. I don¡¯t care about the others, but I will f*cking kill you if do anything to her! Don¡¯t even try!"


    Garen gave Yoda a cold stare. "You really want to die."


    A strong aura spread through the hallway as Garen¡¯s body started expanding. At this distance, he was sure he could kill them both after taking one hit from Yoda.


    "Go away Yoda! I don¡¯t want you to help me!" Mayer yelled. It seemed like she was not appreciative of Yoda¡¯s support.


    "Yoda! Garen! Stop. For the God¡¯s sake," Su Lin said suddenly. "Miss Mayer, it¡¯s a misunderstanding. Let¡¯s calm down. We should work together to fight against Duskdune Shura."


    "Alright, calm down everyone." Lenny walked out of the room with her cane. "Miss. Mayer, I understand that the international police has the right to give orders, but Garen is not a part of your system and he doesn¡¯t like being ordered to do things for you. You know what, how about we let General Crohn give out orders this time? He knows the situation very well."


    Garen released Mayer¡¯s right leg. He did not really want to kill her, but he simply disliked her arrogance.


    The generals did not want to get involved in this fight. Yoda¡¯s presence made him want to kill Mayer and Su Lin immediately stepped in after realizing what Garen was going to do. Su Lin did not want the situation to get worse at the point.


    "Cunning old prick," Garen mumbled. Mayer¡¯s leg was injured and she was having trouble walking away. She had previously given Garen a hard look the whole time while she was speaking and Garen needed to assert his dominance. Otherwise, Mayer would think he was scared.


    Garen did not want to waste time anymore, so he turned back and walked out of the building.


    "Garen, wait." He heard someone¡¯s voice coming from behind.


    Su Lin quickly caught up and put his arm on Garen¡¯s shoulder.


    "Sorry, there¡¯s nothing my father can do at the moment, so we had to let you deal with Mayer. She was always so arrogant and we needed to make sure she did not mess up our plan."


    "I understand. Mayer was trying to flaunt her skills by fighting me, but she did not expect me to be so strong. Her combat skills are good and she¡¯s a Grandmaster of Combat. She must be strong since she¡¯s going after Duskdune Shura." Garen crossed his arms and laid his back against the wall by the exit. "What¡¯s her relationship with Yoda?"


    "Yoda has been chasing after her for many years¡­" Su Lin had a bitter smile on his face, "However, Mayer doesn¡¯t like him at all. That¡¯s all I know about them. She¡¯s one of the registered Grandmasters of Combat in the federation. Her kicking techniques and tracking skills are incredible."


    "Well¡­" Garen was speechless.


    "You did very well last time and we¡¯d be dead without you. We¡¯ll take care of Duskdune Shura later. They already learned how serious the matter was and they will send more people here. There is one more thing. I need you to go to a place with me and we will be finished after that. What do you think?" Su Lin spoke calmly.


    "Sure, no problem." Garen did not hesitate.


    He owed Su Lin two favors, the one for his sister and one for the time he got surrounded by the enemies on his way back. He had not yet reached the Master Level of his Body Hardening Techniques at that time and he would have taken some serious damage without Su Lin¡¯s aid. The government was pursuing him as well and the situation could have become much worse.


    These were the reasons why Garen decided to stay with Su Lin first before going to the Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate to obtain the secret techniques. Garen wanted to keep his promises and Su Lin was his friend.


    "Let¡¯s go. We will drive there." Su Lin patted Garen¡¯s back and walked toward the parking lot.


    After several seconds, Garen saw Celine appear out of nowhere and she landed on his right shoulder.


    "Get off me." He scowled.


    "I¡¯ll go there too. I need you to protect me," Celine responded in a cute tone, while sitting steadily on Garen¡¯s shoulder.


    "Fine. Come with us." Su Lin looked at Celine and smiled, "There is no point in hiding it anymore."

 135 Hunted 1

    Chapter 135: Hunted 1


    Howl¡­


    A white line cut through the middle of the vast sandy plains, extending into the distance beyond the horizon.


    A silver car was slowly driving on the white line. Silver patterns were engraved on the side of the car; it looked exceptionally luxurious.


    The car quickly reached a flat land. The back of the car kept blowing up sand and dust, which made it seem like a yellow tail.


    From above, this flat piece of land had a few tiny yellow balls on it, arranged in a whirlpool shape.


    The car slowly stopped at a ball on the outermost rim.


    After a series of car doors opening and closing, three youths alighted from the car: two adults and a child.


    The two adults had different images. One man had flaming red hair and looked handsome. He looked like a playboy who enjoyed women and drinking.


    The other man was tall and well-built. His dark purple hair draped over his shoulders. There was a hint of coldness in his ruby eyes. He had an arm across his chest, and on it sat an adorable little girl.


    "What is this place?" The tall man was Garen, who had followed Su Lin out. He gently shook his arm to allow Celine to dismount.


    "Somewhere on the edge of Thakanriknar Desert, I''m not too sure either. I''ve merely followed father''s instructions to find this place," Su Lin said while shaking his head. "Let''s go. The thing I''m looking for is in the middle."


    He took the lead and walked towards the center of the round whirlpool formation.


    Garen and Celine followed closely behind.


    The three of them advanced inwards in a straight line along the gaps between the balls of the round whirlpool formation.


    From time to time, Garen would touch the balls as he passed by. They felt cool and hard to the touch, and rough too; there were a lot of honeycomb-like holes on the surface.


    These balls were all two meters tall and entirely dark yellow, almost inseparable from the sand that it stood on.


    The three of them reached the center of the round formation. In the middle was a three-meter-tall yellow ball, the largest of the lot.


    Su Lin stood in front of the ball, constantly groping for something. Soon, with a gentle press of his palm, a round piece of yellow stone block the size of a fist gave way with a click, and revealed a deep, dark hole beneath.


    He reached and groped for a while, then gently took something out: it was a black bundle of cloth.


    He swiftly opened the bundle. There were remnant pieces of yellow pebbles inside, and nothing else.


    "I can''t believe we still haven''t found it," Su Lin sighed and turned around. "He is indeed Duskdune Shura. He managed to eliminate so many locations to find this place merely based on father''s lie."


    Garen walked up from behind.


    "What is it that you''re looking for?"


    "The real Golden Sword Throne was hidden here by father," Su Lin explained. "But now it''s been removed. This gamble with Duskdune Shura, no matter how you look at it, father has lost. Only this piece of black cloth which was wrapping the throne is left."


    Garen ignored the deeper meaning of his words and other circumstances. Suddenly he narrowed his eyes and stared at the black cloth bundle in Su Lin''s hands.


    He slowly reached out to take the black cloth bundle from Su Lin''s hands, just like how one would take something for a casual look.


    At the touch of the black cloth, a refreshing stream instantly flowed from the bundle into his fingers.


    Garen trembled slightly, then inconspicuously started to pretend opening up the cloth to inspect inside.


    The stream from the black cloth continuously flowed into his fingers, then along his palm, shoulders, chest, and finally into his brain.


    Within seconds, the stream from the black cloth instantly weakened and disappeared.


    He could suddenly feel in his hands the scalding heat of the cloth from being baked in the dessert for too long.


    "Let me have a look," Celine said excitably.


    Garen casually threw her the black cloth. He vaguely heard Su Lin say something, but he couldn''t hear clearly anymore. His entire attention was concentrated on the Attributes Pane at the bottom of his vision.


    ''Strength 2.64; Agility 1.22; Vitality 2.15; Intelligence 1.53; Potential 112%''


    Potential at 112%!


    "Sure enough¡­it really is Potential!" Garen was delighted. "Finally! Finally I have new attribute points!"


    It had been too long since he last acquired new attribute points, he couldn''t even remember when it was. During this time, his enhancement had all been due to his training in Secret Martial Arts.


    "Garen, Garen?..." Su Lin''s voice came from beside him.


    Garen snapped out of his daze, and looked at Su Lin who was looking at him puzzled.


    "Sorry, I was thinking about something and zoned out."


    "So now are you planning to go back to Huaishan or¡­?"


    "I''ve changed my mind," Garen said in a low voice. "I want to track down Duskdune Shura with you."


    "Oh?" Su Lin was mildly surprised.


    "Come on, let''s head back." Garen turned around and walked straight towards the car.


    He didn''t care what Celine and Su Lin thought. He got in the car and, with his back on the seat, closed his eyes as if he were sleeping. But in actuality, he concentrated all his attention on the Attributes Pane and Skills Pane.


    His current situation was clear at a glance.


    ¡®264 122 215 153 112%


    ''Strength 2.64; Agility 1.22; Vitality 2.15; Intelligence 1.53; Potential 112%


    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª Secret Martial Arts ---


    Mammoth Mutation: Explosive (Top level) Skin Hardening Level One (Iron Body); Blood Qi Stabilization (Boulder Martial Art);


    ¡¯Firestream Fist: Level One (of Four)''


    "There are a few options now. The first is to enhance the effect and level of Mammoth Mutation Secret Martial Art. Another is to enhance Iron Body and Boulder Martial Art, which are now at rudimentary level, to Level One. This would also have a similar overall effect to enhancing Mammoth Mutation Secret Martial Art, but the specific effects of enhancement would be unclear."


    "The there''s enhancing Firestream Fist from rudimentary level to Level One. It only requires a little attribute points. The question is whether it''s worth using the points on this attribute."


    He started to hesitate.


    There were a few mysterious symbols on the back of the Skills Pane. It represented the clarification on the attribute points required to forcibly enhance skills.


    ''Attribute points can enhance low level skills by one level per point, and mid-level skills forcibly by one level every two points. For high-level skills, five points are needed to enhance one level, not to mention the need to meet skills learning and enhancement requirements. Failure to enhance might be due to incomplete data collected.''


    Initially, his Mammoth Secret Technique was supplemented by the wad of paper soaked in medicinal water, and after that aided by his Master, Fei Baiyun¡¯s medicinal pill. Otherwise, he would have to honestly practice and train sequentially to enhance it, or rely on adding attribute points.


    "Practicing Secret Martial Art is unusually difficult¡­" Garen suddenly gave a long sigh. He considered the progression of Secret Martial Art difficult even with his special ability and conditions, needless to say how it would be for other martial art practitioners.


    Most martial arts practitioners were the same. Even if they had talent and trained diligently for 10, 20 years to achieve a hard-earned Secret Martial Art, they would still be helpless in the face of firearms. This bitter sentiment was perhaps only understood by Secret Martial Art practitioners who have trained hard to hone their craft.


    At this moment, Su Lin and Celine had gotten in the car as well. The car slowly started, turned a corner, and headed back towards the direction they came from.


    The three of them did not speak in the car.


    Garen kept considering which skill to add the attribute points to. He obtained these points after much difficulty, it was a world of difference compared to the attribute points he easily obtained before.


    Attribute points are easy initially but would gradually become difficult. After his body developed resistance towards most Antiques of Tragedy, it had become more difficult for him to easily obtain Attributes. Unfortunately, he had understood this too late.


    After final consideration, Garen¡¯s vision finally fell on Agility.


    So far, he had realised in his battles with myriad experts, that the defence of his peak Body Hardening Technique was sufficient, but he seemed to always have to put up a forceful resistance because his speed was unable to keep up with his opponents¡¯.


    In his martial arts journey, the most important skills were Strength and Vitality, followed by Agility and Intelligence.


    "My defence is sufficient for now. Even if faced with Duskdune Shura¡¯s Dragon Gates, as long as he doesn¡¯t engage anything above the fourth Gate, it wouldn¡¯t cause me much harm. So now the most important thing is to add to Agility and Intelligence. If I can¡¯t keep up in agility and speed, that means I would constantly not be able to keep up with the enemy¡¯s position. The enhancement of Intelligence would also benefit me in terms of my grasp of the situation. But for now it¡¯s better if I enhance practical true strengths.


    He looked at that bit of hard-earned Attributes and finally made up his mind. He cast his vision firmly on Agility.


    On the Attributes Pane, the value for Agility gradually blurred and changed from 1.22 to 1.52.


    "Huh? Attribute points have reverted to increasing by 0.3 every time?" Garen was slightly surprised. He instantly noticed that, as Agility was enhanced, Strength followed suit, and gradually changed from 2.64 to 2.66.


    Just as he finished adding Attributes, Garen instantly felt as though his body was about to float. Obviously it was caused by a large-scale increase in Agility.


    The enhancements gained from the addition of 0.3 to Agility in one go, for a Grandmaster of Combat who had precise control of his body like Garen, were exceptionally great.


    He closed his eyes and felt the change which made his entire body feel light.


    Originally he planned to split the Attribute points up and add some to Intelligence. After all, the enhancement of intelligence would eventually have a trickle-down effect on all other aspects. But in the end he gave up on that idea. The effect of the Intelligence Attribute, based on his prior analysis, was the integrated enhancement of comprehension, analysis and memory. But for someone like him who was able to directly and swiftly grasp the basics of academic subjects as long as the Attribute requirements were satisfied, that wasn¡¯t very important.


    Intelligence was like a skill in martial arts: indispensable, but would only play a role in a situation where the gap between strengths wasn¡¯t too wide. Under absolute Strength, any skill or strategy would be superfluous.


    After all, the more concealed and meticulous a plan was, the more it required a precise linking of every moving part; a mistake in any one part would result in the complete collapse of the plan.


    And most importantly, he was not aiming for victory in the grand scheme of things, but was instead in pursuit of the true purpose of martial arts. It was the same reason he was passionate about martial arts¡ªhis goal that he carried over with him from his previous life on Earth¡ªto break through the human limit and achieve evolution.


    The purpose of martial arts, apart from combat and killing, was to break free from the shackles of human limit, and achieve personal evolution. This was also the limit that many Grandmasters of Combat in this world were pursuing.


    Garen was familiarising himself with the changes to his body. He reached a fist out and repeatedly opened and clenched it.


    Learning from the words and deeds of Fei Baiyun, Farak and Eldest Senior Sister, he had now become more firmly set on this goal.


    The car was slowly turning around. They were further and further from the round whirlpool formation behind them, until it disappeared beyond the horizon.


    In front of them to the right, a stationary white car appeared in the distance, its headlights reflected the blinding sunshine like the eyes of a goldfish. A man stood in front of the car. He was a bearded man who wore a white cloak and wrapped himself up like an Arab. He was leaning on the front of the car bonnet and doing repairs. The car constantly emitted black smoke and strange clunking noises could be heard from time to time.


    Su Lin drove past the bearded man.


    Outside the right car window, a caravan of camels carrying loads could vaguely be seen cutting through the desert in the opposite direction. Dark-skinned men swayed as they rode the camels and marched on forward. A breeze brought with it the crisp sound of camel bells from the distance.


    In the car, the three of them were quietly admiring the scenery outside.


    The endless stretch of yellow desert gave the illusion that it was delicate and smooth under the sun, like top-grade fine porcelain.


    Su Lin gradually slowed the car; the sound of the engine became much softer.


    Snap.


    A small grey figure stepped on the car window then rapidly leaped over the car, from right to left. It landed on the sand to the left of the car and swiftly ran into the distance.


    Only after it was a distance away did the three of them clearly see that it was a small animal similar to a cat, like a kitten with rabbit ears. Its body was covered grey fur. Compared to a cat, its ears were much larger, much longer, and were constantly wiggling.


    The eyes of this little guy narrowed into slits as it ran; its four little legs moved without pause, but it was still very stable.


    "Bat-eared fox. A common small animal." Su Lin looked speechlessly at the four tiny paw prints left on the car window.


    "Isn¡¯t this area close to the entrance of the desert? I didn¡¯t expect to see a bat-eared fox," Celine lamented.

 136 Hunted 2

    Chapter 136: Hunted 2


    Garen sat to a side and didn¡¯t speak. He was still quietly experiencing the changes to his body brought about by the enhancement to Agility.


    The car continued to move forward. Not long after, Celine suddenly turned around to look out the back of the car.


    "Someone is following us from behind."


    Su Lin looked into the rear-view mirror and was slightly stunned.


    "Followed? I don¡¯t think so. I checked carefully before we set off."


    Vrooom¡­


    The sound of an engine coming from behind the car got closer and closer.


    Wham!


    The car was hit hard once. It started shaking violently and they were almost thrown off course.


    "Damn it! We really are being followed!"


    Su Lin had an idea. He hurriedly turned the steering wheel to evade the tailgate.


    Wham wham!


    Two more crash sounds. Two black cars flanked them from the right and left. The rear-view mirror broke off in the crash.


    "What the¡­! Where did these guys come from?! My limited edition Bolshoy!" Su Lin glanced at the broken rear-view mirror with a pained expression. He was frantically turning the steering wheel in an attempt to escape from the flank attack.


    Wham!


    A loud crash came from the side again. The right side of the car was instantly dented and almost hit Garen who was sitting in the back passenger seat.


    "Find somewhere to stop the car!" Garen shouted in a deep voice.


    "I¡¯m trying to!" Su Lin was panicked too. In this kind of situation where the car was flanked, the cars behind would crash into them if they stopped. It would be difficult even for him to sustain such an impact.


    If the timing wasn¡¯t right, the car might even flip.


    Wham! Wham wham!


    Three consecutive crashes made the car shake violently; it started spinning like a top from the impact.


    Garen and the others inside were dizzy from the spinning. Garen was relatively fine; Celine and Su Lin¡¯s heads bumped onto some hard parts in the car.


    Rattatatat!


    The rear windshield broke with a crash. Garen shielded Celine with his body and held her down on the car seat. Bullets continued to strike the interior of the car and golden sparks could be seen from time to time.


    "Damn it, it¡¯s a light machine gun!" Su Lin shouted.


    "Find a chance to stop the car!" Garen roared. The sound of the machine gun was too noisy; they couldn¡¯t hear each other clearly.


    "I¡¯m trying!!" Su Lin replied loudly. He leaned over the steering wheel to steady it. Under these circumstances, Garen would probably be fine, but Su Lin and Celine definitely didn¡¯t have such a strong peak Body Hardening Technique. They would be badly injured if they got hit a few times.


    Wham!


    It was another crash. The black car to their right closed in on them. A man in black clothes pulled out a black rifle and aimed it mercilessly at them.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!


    A cluster of bullets hit the silver car.


    Su Lin stepped on the brakes as hard as he could, but the car¡ªclipped by the three black cars¡ªcontinued to spin and zoom forward.


    Suddenly, a large hand reached in from behind and held his head down.


    With a bang, a cluster of bullets broke the side window and flew over the large hand. A few bullets actually hit the back of the hand, and blood spurted out from it.


    "Damn it, I can¡¯t stop the car! What cars are they driving anyway? The horsepower is so big!" Su Lin started cursing. The brakes under his feet had been completely rendered useless.


    He took out a handgun from his waist and wanted to shoot out of the car, but there was no chance.


    Garen was just about to stick his head out and jump out from the broken car door when, with a bang, a cluster of bullets suddenly shot in from the hole on the door and hit him squarely on the body. The immense impact shook his entire body and he was shot back into the car.


    "Damn it!"


    Garen grabbed a piece of debris from the car door and flung it out of the car.


    With a whoosh, the debris shot out spinning.


    Bang!


    A cluster of bullets hit the car door debris and actually sent it flying backwards. It hit Garen¡¯s chest with a bang.


    Bang bang bang bang!!


    A stream of violent gunshots continuously greeted Garen¡¯s body; the impact completely prevented him from getting up. His body started to get warmer as the temperature rose; it was the intense heat generated from the impact and friction of the bullets.


    Garen was completely pinned down as shot after shot of shotgun pellets forcefully struck his body.


    "Stop the car!" Garen roared.


    "The brakes have failed!" Su Lin punched the steering wheel hard.


    Garen barely raised his head again when¡ª


    Bang!


    ¡ªanother shot hit him hard in the face.


    "Go to hell!"


    Crank!


    He tore out the entire rear passenger seat and flung it at the black car to the side.


    With a thud, one of the black cars on the right started flipping at the impact of the sofa and veered off the road, rolling down the sand dune by the road.


    With a boom, the car suddenly exploded. The few men in black clothing who had just leapt out of the car were engulfed in flames.


    The two other black cars were shocked and didn¡¯t dare to stay too close anymore, backing off a distance.


    "Are you alright?" Su Lin asked loudly.


    Garen took a breath and was about to reply when, suddenly the edge of his eye caught sight of something behind them, and all his hairs instantly stood on end.


    "Fuck! It¡¯s a rocket launcher!" He didn¡¯t have time to think beyond that; he merely felt a chill run down his spine. "Jump!"


    There was a low roar.


    He was the first to jump out of the left side. He rammed the car door off with a bang; Celine and Su Lin followed him out.


    Boom!


    The silver car transformed into a ball of flames and exploded.


    The three of them rolled for a distance on the sand. The black cars sped forward from the force of inertia before they halted to a stop a distance away.


    Garen had just managed to raise his head when he saw a group of people alight from the black cars. Two of them were carrying rocket launchers and were already aiming towards Garen and the others.


    A terrifying sense of threat surged towards him.


    Without second thought, he grabbed the petite Celine and jumped out a few meters in a side leap.


    Boom boom!


    A large amount of sand and dust was blasted into the air and sprayed down all around like raindrops.


    Garen grabbed Celine and rolled down a sand dune, finally avoiding the sight of that group of people.


    They kept on rolling for quite a while until they were dizzy before stopping motionless at the base of the dune.


    "Pfff! Pff pfff!"


    Spitting out the sand in his mouth, Garen rolled over and stood up. He picked the dizzy Celine up with one hand and slapped her across the face a few times.


    "Wake up! This isn¡¯t the time to faint!"


    Celine¡¯s face was red hot from the slapping, but it managed to wake her up.


    "You bastard! How dare you slap me?" She struggled to break free from Garen¡¯s grip, but to no avail. After that bout of rolling, she was dizzy and weak, completely unable to exert any force.


    Garen stood up and looked up at the peak of the dune.


    "This is the first time I¡¯ve been chased into such a miserable state!"


    "Bastard¡­they¡¯re after me. I¡¯ve implicated you in this!" Celine coughed for a few times.


    "You stay here! I¡¯ll go check on Su Lin," Garen said, and immediately started to climb the dune.


    As he reached the top, he saw Su Lin walk towards him, also covered in sand.


    "Are you hurt?" Su Lin asked loudly.


    Shaking his head, Garen walked towards him.


    "Where are the people who attacked us?"


    "They¡¯re all gone." Su Lin pointed towards the distance. Two black dots could be seen in the distance: it was the two black cars escaping. "They were obviously after you or Celine. They targeted all their firepower at you! Damn, even the KTR rocket launchers are out! I¡¯ve only heard of this being the new product developed in Weisman, I can¡¯t believe they dare use it blatantly in such a place! My 36 million dollar limited edition Bolshoy!"


    Su Lin was obviously very irritated, with the pain of losing his car shown across his face.


    "This is not the time to be worried about your car! Alright, I don¡¯t think they were after me. They should have been going after Celine."


    Garen carefully recalled the situation earlier. It felt like all the firepower was directed at Celine.


    It was indeed like she said: those people were after her.


    Clang!


    Suddenly at the bottom of the dune, a piercing metal clanging sound came from where Celine stood.


    Garen and Su Lin looked downwards. They saw Celine and a person in black clothing fighting each other. In a distance, there were three other figures cloaked in black rushing towards Celine.


    "We have to save her!" Su Lin said in a low tone and rushed down the dune.


    Garen was slightly slower, but followed behind.


    Clang!


    Celine¡¯s petite face was serious. She did a back flip and landed on the sand. There was something in her hand that seemed to be capable of forcefully resisting her opponent.


    "You again¡­" With a tiny hand, she gently pulled from her waist a silver belt¡ªmore than two meters long¡ªand flicked it hard. The silver belt produced a series of crisp cracking sounds and transformed into a straight, hard rod.


    Two whooshing sounds were heard, and two metal blades appeared at the tip of the rod. The belt had transformed into a trident-like exaggerated weapon in the blink of an eye.


    Celine waved the trident around, and drew a few silver lines in the air with it.


    Bang!


    At the sound of a gun, a cluster of bullets hit her squarely in the back.


    Clanging sounds could be heard from the collision. The yellow sand around them strangely sprayed up and a large amount of bullets were repelled and hit the ground. The yellow sand and dust enveloped Celine.


    Chhh.


    Not far from Celine, a young man with long, white hair pulled out two daggers from his thighs and ran straight into the sand without hesitation.


    "Stop the other two."


    "Yes!"


    The three figures clad in black nearby turned around and leapt at Garen and Su Lin without hesitation.


    The white haired youth dashed towards Celine: his footsteps on the sand became more and more rapid, faster and faster.


    Hiss!


    A black mark suddenly appeared under his leather boots where he stepped on the sand.


    The youth instantly combined his daggers into a short knife. Celine''s petite figure reflected on the blade.


    "One flash!" the young man shouted as he rotated his body and slashed a silver-white mark with the blade.


    Chhh!


    Clang!


    A bang was heard.


    The yellow sand scattered from the shock, turned into a rim of yellow stripes, spread out in all directions, and gradually dispersed.


    The white-haired youth who was holding the short knife, was elbowed hard into the ground.


    The sand and dust dispersed to reveal Celine holding the trident.


    Her head of copper-brown hair fluttered in the wind. It was as if Celine turned from a child into a mature teen. She gripped the trident in one hand, and covered her chest with the other. Her legs were long and her waist was slim; her pale translucent skin had a jade-like luster when it reflected the sunlight.


    "Neptune Fist, Myriad Water Jasper Technique!"


    Celine was overlooking the white-haired youth from a height; her eyes seemed to contain the roaring and rolling waves of a vast ocean.


    She flipped the trident pressed on top the youth''s head.


    Clang!


    Blood spurt out from countless wounds on the white-haired youth''s body. He had a look of disbelief in his eyes.


    More than a hundred wounds tore the skin of his entire body. All his arteries burst and blood squirted out, as if overwhelmed by some immense pressure.


    "You¡­actually¡­are able to¡­" Before he could finish his sentence, he fell backwards and died.


    Celine retracted her trident and concentrated her gaze on the weapon in her hand. The turbulent shade in her eyes quickly calmed down.


    Pfff!


    She quickly covered her mouth, but still could not prevent a mouthful of blood from spilling out. The viscous blood dripped from the edges of her palm.

 137 Sin Gerro 1

    Chapter 137: Sin Gerro 1


    "You alright there?" Garen asked walking towards Celine, carrying two the men in black.


    "Well, you''ve grown, haven''t you?" He added, glancing at Celine¡¯s matured hourglass body with a hint of mild surprise.


    What used to be children''s clothing had now morphed into a few strips of cloth, barely covering her important parts. The cloth again threatened to fall off just as Celine was about to cover her mouth. Startled, she quickly reached for her clothes and clutched them tightly.


    "I¡¯m fine. You don''t have to come any closer!" Celine panicked slightly and whipped her trident off the ground, bringing with it a large amount of yellow sand.


    The whirlwind of dust and dirt blocked Garen¡¯s vision, and as the sand slowly fell to the ground after some ten seconds, Celine had reverted back to her usual six, seven year old childish look with her ragged, oversized clothes . Her body was covered in blood and she carried a pale white look on her face.


    With a gentle push off the ground, Celine leapt up into the air and sat on Garen¡¯s right shoulder. The trident in her hand had shrunk back into its original shape, resting on her waist.


    Garen furrowed his eyebrows.


    "You''d better explain everything when we get back, or I¡¯m afraid I¡¯ll have to toss you out."


    "It¡¯s just a combination of the modified version of the Contortion Technique and Essence Locking Technique. I can¡¯t maintain my real body for long, it''s seriously injured. In any case, I can only move about freely in this state." Celine answered, softly.


    Garen looked down at the corpse and said. "And what of these people?"


    "They were sent by an old enemy of mine. They just want me dead." Celine finished, her expression slightly forlorn.


    Garen squatted down to examine the white haired corpse.


    It seemed as if it was gored by hundreds of knives simultaneously; dense, fresh wounds covered the corpse, leaking blood that dyed the sand on the ground crimson.


    "One of my secret techniques, from the Neptune Fist. Myriad Water Jasper Technique. It¡¯s too bad I can¡¯t use it very often." Celine said plainly.


    Garen didn¡¯t reply her. He fished a card out from the corpse, and on it bore a symbol: the seven of diamonds.


    "Did you find anything?" Su Lin asked as he hurried over from afar. He was holding up another card: the 3 of diamonds. "I found this."


    "Was it on the body of the assailant?" Garen asked.


    Su Lin nodded.


    "It¡¯s the Poker Organization, from Weisman. I''d heard of them in the past, but I hadn''t expected to see them within the federation."


    "Poker Organization¡­ ? Do you have any concrete information on them?" Garen asked softly.


    "It will take time. These people had the balls to attempt to kill us. They''re not getting away with this, not on my watch." Sulin let out a cold laugh. "I will investigate this Poker Organization once we''re done with the Duskdune Shura incident.


    "Are you sure?"


    "This isn''t Weisman, and they dare to act wildly here! Do they suppose they''re the Duskdune Shura, then? " Su Lin mocked. "Whoever touches me means to pick a fight against the Belfatalia household! They''re picking a fight with the whole Special Agent Bureau and the government!"


    "No one would come out unharmed when they go against the government!"


    Garen¡¯s lips twitched ever so slightly, as if he wanted to say something, but held his tongue.


    "For now, we need to take care of the Duskdune Shura first, it''s a matter of the Federation¡¯s prestige-." stated Su Lin.


    "Whatever the case, we should head back fast. We''ll need to walk back or hitch a ride, since our car is blown to pieces." Celine said as she cut off Su Lin.


    Su Lin nodded. "And about that other issue, you''d better see it through to the end." he added.


    "Don¡¯t worry. I''m not going anywhere." Celine replied, curling her lips


    .


    ****************


    Thud.


    Tea cups were set softly onto a black wooden table.


    Two siblings, Celine and the Aris took their seats side by side on the same row, and opposite them were Garen and Su Lin.


    The four of them sat in a small study room opposite each other. Celine, bored to tears, flipped a large, black book endlessly, as if looking for something among its pages.


    To her side, Aris was fiddling with a red raindrop shaped gem, not bothering to raise her head up and look at Garen at all.


    Su Lin and Garen were gazing out the clear study window to their right, where an innocent looking plain sat just outside the building.


    Yoda, the Eight-Arm Dragon King was scolding Erudas loudly, whip in hand.


    "Straighten your god damn arm!"


    "Yes, sir" Erudas replied loudly.


    "Don¡¯t stick up your ass!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    Crack! The sound of the whip rang through the air


    "Do you understand human language, you brat? Don¡¯t stick up your ass! Do you understand?!"


    "Yes, sir!!!"


    "My fucking God, could you be any more stupid!?"


    Yoda seemed to have take a sudden interest in scolding Erudas, who was standing outside, upside down, on his head. It seemed like Yoda was teaching him Gun Art.


    The sound of endless rambling permeated through the window into the study room.


    Garen broke his gaze and looked at Celine. The girl was smirking as she looked out the window; it was very likely that she had something to do with it, as well.


    "We have news of the Duskdune Shura, by telegram. I called you guys over the moment I received the news." Su Lin tapped the table rhythmically.


    "Let¡¯s hear it." Garen was very interested in the Duskdune Shura. To be more precise, he was interested in the Golden Sword Throne, currently in the enemy¡¯s hands. He could imagine the huge potential it would bring; there were still remnants of the Antique of Tragedy¡¯s power left inside the black cloth. This might be his first time coming across an Antique of Tragedy with this amount of potential.


    Su Lin glanced sideways at Garen, puzzled at his change of attitude at the mention of the topic. However, he didn¡¯t think much of it.


    "The Duskdune Shura were last seen on a road towards Sin Gerro."


    "Sin Gerro?"


    Not only Garen was surprised, Aris seemed taken aback as well.


    "That one near Xi Fan Province..? That Sin Gerro?" Aris asked in a low voice.


    "That¡¯s the one."


    "They¡¯ve crossed the border, then.. Sin Gerro is pretty much half sealed up at the moment, it¡¯s going to be tough; although the place is tiny, it¡¯s rich with trade. It receives much more income than the federation" Aris said as she furrowed her eyebrows.


    "I know of this, too." Garen nodded his head. "I¡¯ve heard that Sin Gerro deals in ores and gems. To think the Duskdune Shura would bring the Golden Sword Throne to such a faraway place."


    "The federation has assembled a small task force, codenamed Slash. Within it are people who are proficient against the Duskdune Shura. All of the experts in the southern region that we could gather have all been called together" Su Lin explained. "I have seen what the Grandmasters of Combat can do, so we¡¯ve invited two of them into the force. One of them is from Crimson Sand Sword. Garen should have heard of them before."


    "Oh? The Crimson Sand Sword? Could it be Beo?" Garen asked curiously.


    "It is. One of the twin stars of the south, the strongest martial artist in the Crimson Sand Sword, surpassing even the Great Elder and Founder. Rumor says that he¡¯s on par with Andrela." Su Lin nodded in agreement.


    "And what of Andrela?" Garen asked, as he recalled the days fighting alongside that man with such talent.


    "I heard that he had an epiphany after the match with you. He went deep into the mountains to further his training, and no one knows of his location at the moment. That guy is obsessed with martial arts, he¡¯d stop at nothing to pursue it." Su Lin said, voice filled with emotion


    "He¡¯ll be at a different level once he resurfaces." Garen beamed with confidence. "I¡¯ve learned a lot from that fight as well. If not, I wouldn¡¯t have stood a chance against the Duskdune Shura in battle."


    In actuality, Andrela was more talented than Garen was. If not for his own innate talent, he confessed that he would be no match against the rate at which he is improving.


    "So where does Andrela stand among the Grandmasters of Combat?" Unaware of just how strong Andrela was, Garen took this opportunity to ask.


    "I know this! I look up very highly to Master Andrela" Aris exclaimed, butting into the conversation. "I would have entered the Celestial Circle Gate if not for my love of the sword arts."


    She cleared her throat.


    "Master Andrela¡¯s sword art has already far surpassed the Celestial Circle Gate¡¯s elites, with the exception of Rolexia. As a Grandmaster of Combat, he is currently sitting well above average. To be precise, he is one of the best in this generation, save for the elites from the previous generation. Oh and of course, you¡¯re currently the strongest Grandmaster of Combat in this generation Master Garen."


    "What I wanted to know was against all of the Grandmasters of Combat, including the ones from the previous generation." Garen bellowed in laughter, shaking his head.


    "Andrela. I met him a year ago."


    Celine¡¯s voice spoke up, from the side.


    She gently closed the book in front of her and closed her eyes, as if reliving a memory.


    "Even if the previous generations were included, his prowess is, without a doubt, one of the best. Assuming the Grandmasters of Combat are separated into four categories - Lower, Middle, Upper and First Class Ranks, he will probably stand at the edge of the Middle rank, skirting the Upper rank. He is climbing to the Duskdune Shura¡¯s level at an incredible pace." Celine explained. "After that match with you, he would likely be at the Upper rank."


    Garen¡¯s heart leapt in his throat.


    "Duskdune Shura¡­ Is it even possible for a human to attain that kind of level?"


    "It¡¯s plausible. Duskdune Shura have been considered the pinnacle of martial arts for a long time. No one is stronger than them. Among us humans, they are known to be the best." Celine finished. Her gaze then fell on Garen, eyes brimming with emotion.


    ""Andrela is improving at an incredible rate. Aren¡¯t you worried Garen?"


    "What¡¯s there to be worried about?" Garen asked, holding unease.


    Celine¡¯s lips curled into a sly smile.


    "Your secret martial art but a low grade third rater - the White Cloud Mammoth. Under such a poor foundation, you¡¯ve managed to reach a level so high that people have thought it impossible; but that¡¯s the limit. There¡¯s no way to get any better than you are now. Can you live with that?"


    Everyone could read between the lines written by Celine. The duo became the focal point of the occupants in the room.


    Garen was silent.


    He knew; the White Cloud Secret Art had indeed reached its theoretical limit. He had stretched this secret technique to the extreme limit, so much so that even the founder of the White Cloud Gate himself was no match for him.


    As he was now, he was imprisoned by his own secret technique.


    Its grade was simply too low.


    "If you had a higher level secret technique like Andrela of Celestial gate, you might be able to reach Duskdune Shura¡¯s level as well." Celine¡¯s voice had a slight tone of temptation.


    "What are you trying to say" Garen looked at her calmly.


    "Why not be the Dragon King of Protection of the Neptune Fist?" Celine smiled with cunning. "I can give you an even stronger secret technique."


    Garen furrowed his eyebrows.


    It was certainly a tempting prospect. A stronger secret technique would mean a brighter future.


    However his mind was on the the promise between him and his teacher, Fei Baiyun. The White Cloud Gate had nurtured him, brought him where he was. With the Founder unconscious, he had a great responsibility upon him.


    "I regret to say," Garen answered decidedly, "that I will not learn the Neptune Fist."

 138 Sin Gerro 2

    Chapter 138: Sin Gerro 2


    Celine¡¯s face fell.


    "My Neptune Fist is one of the best in the history! The secret techniques are ahead of its generation; the pinnacle of secret techniques! With the amount of talent you have, you can achieve what nobody has achieved before. You might even achieve what the Duskdune Shura are trying to obtain! I am giving you the opportunity to reach the pinnacle of martial arts, the opportunity to improve further from there onwards! You''re not even considering it?!"


    "Don¡¯t waste your time. My mind is made." Garen replied flatly.


    "Fine. You are still young anyway. There are plenty of chances to regret afterwards " Celine said in a low voice.


    "Forget about the secret technique for a minute; when do you plan on leaving?" Su Lin asked.


    Celine immediately looked elsewhere and whistled.


    Su Lin immediately knew that this girl had taken fancy to this place, was trying to use it as a shelter.


    "Celine." Garen¡¯s deep voice boomed. "As the successor of the Neptune Fist, besides your own Neptune Fist, surely you know of other lower grade secret techniques right?"


    "Low grade secret techniques? I know a whole bunch, why are you asking this?" Celine lowered her head and asked out of suspicion.


    "Don¡¯t you feel that you need to repay us somehow since you¡¯re treating us as bodyguards right now?" Garen asked as he glanced at Su Lin, looking at him for support.


    "Yeah that''s right. We never agreed on letting you stay with us. You¡¯ll only bring us trouble." Su Lin nodded repeatedly.


    "If you do not want us to leave you behind when we¡¯re in trouble, you should give us something in return, right?" Garen sneered.


    "You want low grade secret techniques?" Celine asked. "Why do you need low grade secret techniques? What use are they?"


    "I won¡¯t object if you want to fork out secret techniques with higher grades, but would you want to? " Garen shrugged.


    "Fine." Celine replied happily after some consideration. "What kind of secret techniques would you like? Of what type? I have quite a few secret techniques under my Neptune Fist. Let¡¯s see what you have in mind."


    "But I''ll have to warn you first; once you''ve decided, a long period of time is required to master it. Your rate of progress will plummet once you reach the age of 25, and will only get harder from then on. You have to get the basics down pat first, before anything else. The higher the grade of secret technique the better it''ll be for you, and the highest I have with me is the Neptune Fist Fundamental Secret Method." She added on.


    "Your highest grade secret technique? Is it stronger than Master Andreas?" Aris asked out of curiosity.


    "Definitely." Celine proudly replied. "In addition, I can only give one set to Su Lin and Garen. My Neptune Fist¡¯s secret technique is not free after all."


    "Fine. I want a secret technique that''s based on hidden weapons." Su Lin voiced out immediately.


    "I want one that is based on palm strikes." Garen added on.


    "Hidden weapons and Palm Strikes? No problem." Celine nodded her head. "Have you made up your mind? This will be the compensation for protecting me and Erudas. You''d better be sure!"


    "Of course." Su Lin answered without any hesitation.


    Garen nodded in agreement as well.


    "The grade better be good."


    Celine nodded her head with some finality.


    "Don¡¯t worry, I will give you the basics first. I''ll teach you guys the level 2 once you have mastered level 1. Figuratively speaking."


    "Alright! Let¡¯s do this now, since the Slash organization is set to leave this afternoon." Su Lin said as he couldn¡¯t wait anymore.


    "There¡¯s no need to rush, I''m sure they won''t be able to touch the Duskdune Shura even if they''re there. He''s on another level of cunning. I know a bit about him, and of the situation at hand. It¡¯s most likely correct." Celine curled her lips as she explained. "I''ll let you decide on the secret technique first. Alright, tell me what you''d like to learn. What path will you take?"


    Half an hour later¡­


    Both Garen and Su Lin went back to their own rooms and started packing for the trip with the task force.


    On their hands were two pieces of paper, both packed to the brim with information on their respective secret techniques.


    Garen half-sat, half-laid down on his bed, studying the first page of his paper on the first line, the name of the secret technique was written clear as day.


    ¡®Red Jade Secret Method¡¯


    It was a full set, consisting of different kinds of palm strike techniques. It even had guidr to achieving the special effects of the secret technique.


    It was similar to the Mammoth Secret Technique containing the White Cloud Combat Technique and Explosive Fist Arts. They come in a set.


    Garen flipped to the annotation section in the last page.


    ¡®The Red Jade Palm, once mastered, instills the palms with extreme heat. Combustion of any object is easily attainable when combined with proper palm techniques, an the heat of palms has very high penetration and is thus able to disrupt the temperature balance of the enemy¡¯s body, killing the enemy silently.¡¯


    This Red Jade Palm was catalyzed off a subspecies of poisonous snake known as the fire jade snake. Its combat techniques were classified into wrapping, biting and twisting.


    These three techniques were mainly used for evasion, attack and defense.


    Garen gazed at the skill progression tree in front of him.


    A technique from the Red Jad Palm had manifested on the paper.


    ¡®Red Jade Palm: Not Learned (Three levels total) Requirement : Strength 0.7, Agility 1, Constitution 1.5, Intelligence 0.9. Requirement met. Do you want to learn this technique?¡¯


    "Looks like constitution is the main attribute for Red Jade Palm. One needs at least 1.5 in order to be eligible to learn it. In other words, only the trained professionals are eligible to practice this technique." Garen thought to himself.


    Garen¡¯s stared at the ¡®yes¡¯ symbol for 3 seconds as the notification to learn Red Jade Palm popped up.


    With a searing zap, the symbol disappeared.


    The paper that was in front of him had, like a scanner, been transferred into his head. His understanding of the technique rose in quick succession, as if he had been studying it for a long period of time.


    "Alright then, let''s start with the basic breathing technique!"


    Breathing technique, specific posture and even musical rhythm were a must during practice for any secret technique. The higher grade secret techniques may even require external energy as a catalyst. The Red Jade Palm was considered to be a second rate secret technique that was a grade higher than the Mammoth secret technique. It was one Celine wracked her brains to pick; one that did not require any external support.


    For all its advantage of not requiring a catalyst, it had one caveat: it was incredibly difficult to master.


    This secret technique was the type that required some blood and sweat.


    Garen calmly matched his breathing with the technique. Breathing rhythmically without pause, his huge lungs inhaling and exhaling large amounts of air. A hissing sound began to echo around the room. As if there were snakes in the room, poised to attack.


    It was morning, and he needed to head down to Sin Gerro with the Slash task force to eliminate Duskdune Shura in the afternoon. Although Yoda would not be with them this time around, the line-up was still very impressive; much stronger than their previous attempt. Although Garen hadn¡¯t seen Beo in action before, he knew that he was no ordinary Grandmaster of Combat. With them were 2 more Grade D professionals, who could go toe to toe with himself, as well as members of the international police. There were also some from the Special Agent along for the mission.


    Garen confessed that with this line up, with Beo singlehandedly locking him in place, in addition to the sheer firepower within the team, even Garen would be humbled.


    Now that he had obtained a new secret technique, one that is of a higher grade than his own Mammoth Secret Technique, training was imperative in increasing his power.


    "Now if I had the Golden Sword Throne¡­" Garen¡¯s eyes were brimming with energy. The Golden Sword Throne had become his number one priority, as it would greatly improve his physical attributes and technique levels at an incredible pace. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity!


    ********


    Sin Gerro.


    The Needle Green Pine Forest Ocean Park; a place covered in sweeping lands of greenery. In its center was an almost mirror-like pond, along with a river that partitioned the land with its meandering banks.


    It was like drawing a landscape on a green coloured handkerchief


    Within the forest lies a small, white road, penetrating through the forest. There was a signboard at the entrance, written in the Gerro language: Lake Road.


    The center of the Lake Road was about 300 meters away from the entrance--


    The sun blazed overhead, seeping through the cracks in the forest canopy, bathing swathes of land that littered across the uneven land in pillars of glorious sunlight.


    Monochrome police cars were lined up in the forest clearing, flash lights in strobe; uniformed policemen were stringing a perimeter of yellow tape, and others were surrounding a deep crater at the center of the clearing. Camera flashes mimicked the police lights as flashes of strobe lights accompanied the shutter clicks of pictures being taken. Still others were furiously jotting down points on notebooks.


    The sound of buzzing engines could be heard nearby, as another police car pulled up short of the yellow tape.


    Three young policemen, two male and one female, exited the car with a rhythm of thumps of doors closing. They were dressed in plainclothes, the badges in their hands shining as they reflected off the sunlight.


    "Officer Joseph from the Emergency Agent Department. These two are my colleagues. Please let us through."


    The officers on duty looked at his police badge and immediately let him through, responding with an air of respect and reverence.


    The man called Joseph was dressed in a black leather shirt. He had pale yellow skin, large eyes with thick eyebrows, and deep eye sockets typical of workaholics who work in the office. He bore a very stern look on his face.


    He brought his colleagues toward the pit and knelt down to take a better look.


    Inside the pit was the blurry outline of a male corpse, one half of its body nowhere to be found. It was as if something had torn it apart from its right shoulder to his right leg. Where his body would be, there was only soil, dyed red with blood.


    "Identity of the deceased?" Joseph asked as he stood up.


    "We¡¯re still investigating. We can determine its identity by backtracking his time of arrival, and by matching his attire with ones of other places. However, we require more time." The policeman answered.


    "Any witnesses?"


    "None. It was as if there were wild animals moving about in the surrounding area. We think it was an attack by one of them."


    Joseph massaged his own temple.


    "Were there any forest rangers nearby?"


    "Thomson has been looking. It might take a while for him to find one." The girl who came together with him spoke softly.


    "This is the third incident within three days!" Joseph murmured.


    "Are you ok, Joseph?" The girl beside him hugged him lightly and kissed him on the cheek.


    "I¡¯m alright, Annie." Joseph returned her kiss.


    "Sir! I¡¯ve found something!"


    Joseph rushed to where the policeman was shouting; it was a green field under a big pine tree.


    A white identity card sat serenely on the grass, unmoving.


    Joseph knelt down, and wearing a rubber glove, picked the card up.


    "Bring it back and perform a fingerprint scan."


    "Yes sir."

 139 Tailing Behind 1

    Chapter 139: Tailing Behind 1


    Garen was standing in the bedroom, his hands drawing circles slowly in the air, like he was stirring something.


    Slowly, he pushes his hands out in front of him and halted. He kept his arms the moment both of his palms glowed a deep red.


    "Success. The Red Jade Palm¡­ What an incredible trick. I¡¯ve the basics down, but for this to be used in combat still requires some practice. All I can do now is train."


    Although he was among the ranks of the Grandmasters of Combat, making his combat skill far superior than that of a commoner, practice was still needed to bring the most out of any secret technique, especially in combat.


    Garen relaxed his posture. He was excited to see what the Red Jade Palm would bring in the future.


    He took a look at the skill progression tree again. The Dark Crimson Technique had disappeared as it was combined with the Red Jade palm.


    ¡®Red Jade Palm: Learned (Level 1), Fire Strengthen Grade 1 (Dark Crimson Technique), Vitality Strengthen Grade 1 (Dark Crimson Technique)¡¯


    "How strong is the Red Jade Palm in combat, I wonder, on top of being enhanced by the Dark Crimson Technique." Garen slowly re-adjusted his blood flow, and released himself from the practicing state for the Red Jade Palm.


    He never got a chance to use the enhanced Red Jade Palm during actual combat. However, he knew that his destructive power would definitely be much stronger than it was before. He had a hunch as to how powerful the Dark Crimson Technique was. He even had obtained a technique enhancement and another set of technique that had strong palm strikes, which was a higher grade than the White Cloud Combat Technique.


    He still needed 0.3 Agility to be eligible for enhancement.


    Garen could feel that his strength had increased. In the realm of the Grandmaster of Combat, most of them had already maximised their physical attributes, and it would be incredibly difficult to further them from then. In this realm, the difference between the strong and the weak were defined by the prowess of the technique, fighting state, experience and techniques. As the Grandmasters of Combat¡¯s physical attributes required a certain quality to maintain at the highest level, they needed to spend a lot of time each day to maintain their body states. If they hadn¡¯t put in the effort, their body attribution would without a doubt regress.


    Only Garen, who had an almost terrifying innate talent, could prevent any regression on his physical attributes without training. He could even rely on these attribute points to reach peak physical state.


    This was an almost unthinkable method of improvement.


    The difference a small point of physical attribute would make to your physical abilities was massive. In the eyes of the Grandmasters of Combat, any small advantage was considered a gorge in terms of battle strength. These small differences could determine life and death, victory and defeat during battles.


    What more, then, would 0.3 Agility points be!


    Garen packed his shirt and gathered his thoughts, and, swinging the door open, went out of the room.


    Nearby, Su Lin was talking to Yoda, his back resting against the corridor wall.


    Celine was hitting Erudas with a stick as she was giving out instructions. For some reason, she seemed very interested in him.


    "Ready?" Celine turned around and asked Garen.


    "All set." Garen nodded his head. "But, are you going as well?"


    "Of course. You guys won¡¯t stand a chance capturing Duskdune Shura if I were absent. He¡¯s not a simple as you might think." Celine replied.


    "When are we moving?"


    "We will let the people from Slash leave first." Celine glanced at Su Lin nearby.


    A few people were going about with their business in the open lot beside the small building, as this was a rather large alley between the two buildings, it was repurposed as a small training ground.


    After a while, footsteps of the soldiers and the humming of car engines could be heard coming from the manor.


    Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned their attention to the manor, walking to the manor entrance, and into the garden driveway to see what was going on.


    A large number of soldiers and military vehicles were being mobilized out of the manor, and at the center of the fully equipped military men stood a white vehicle.


    At this moment, four people dressed in different attire boarded the vehicle, among the


    four were martial artists, military officers, and the most eye catching of all of them was a young man with blue eyes, blue hair and even eyebrows.


    This man was in blue attire and had a blue sword by his waist, as he gave off a cold and cruel aura.


    Garen recognized him in an instant as he saw him.


    "That¡¯s Beo! He finally broke through! The last time I saw him he was still behind Andrela. He managed to do it in such a short time!" Garen was shocked.


    "He¡¯s still not as fast as you!" Su Lin shook his head. "Beo must have been agitated by you and Andrela. I heard that he wanted to challenge you after that duel you had, when the time was right. He obviously thinks that he¡¯s still not strong enough to do it though, since he hasn¡¯t approached you even though he knows that you¡¯re here."


    "Which means that when he challenges me, he¡¯ll believe himself to be above Andrela then." Garen said softly.


    "He¡¯s not called the number one martial artist from the south in this generation for no reason. You¡¯d better not take other challengers lightly." Su Lin said as he looked at Garen.


    "Please lead the way, Celine since you said you know where to find the Duskdune Shura." Garen told Celine.


    Celine frowned at the Slash team, as if deep in thought.


    "There¡¯s no need to rush. We¡¯ll follow them from afar. This is considered a personal investigation since we are separated from the team, we have freedom of movement. I¡¯m sure those two generals know, and agreed to this. They obviously want to have us as an insurance since we will be in the dark from all these parades. Plus we have Garen if all else fails.


    "That¡¯s alright, I¡¯ll leave it up to you then." Garen said as he shrugged his shoulders.


    "The only problem is, what should we do if we meet Duskdune Shura again?" Su Lin asked with some apprehension.


    "Let me handle it when it comes to that" Garen added. "I¡¯ve learnt a lot after the match with him the last time. We should be fine as long as we don¡¯t get hit by his Seven Dragon Gate Combo."


    "Indeed." Celine nodded her head in affirmation. The party looked at the car slowly leaving the manor. Only when it could no longer be seen did they start for their own journey.


    "Alright, it¡¯s our turn to move out. Be careful if you meet Duskdune Shura. We¡¯re not here to have a death match with him."


    "That we¡¯ll be sure to do. Alright. I¡¯ll go and prepare us a car and we¡¯ll head straight for the airbase."


    Su Lin was the first to exit, followed by Garen with Celine on his shoulder.


    Only Yoda and Aris were left to note their departure. Aris¡¯ eyes gleamed with a hint of worry.


    "Brother is the weakest among them all. Why did he want to go and join in the fun?"


    Yoda smiled, "Don¡¯t worry. Although Su Lin lacks strength when up against a Grandmaster of Combat, but he is considered a very strong opponent for a commoner. And with a trump card up his sleeve, he¡¯s not to be trifled with."


    "A trump card?" Aris looked at Yoda curiously.


    "In the words of some, he is a talented person¡­" Yoda replied.


    **********


    13th May 2987


    Sin Gerro - Pinehill City


    One day later¡­


    Bang!


    In the meeting room in Pinehill City, Beo, his face full of rage, slammed his palm onto the desk. His equally fiery eyes were staring at the cops in the room.


    "Let the people in this room be my witnesses," Beo said word by word. "There will be a big incident tonight!"


    "Please calm down Beo." A middle-aged police officer who was sitting in the master seat said. "We don¡¯t have any evidence or any clues, and you want us to approve mobilization of the special forces to lock down the central building? You have to understand that that area is the Pinehill City¡¯s central. It would affect the whole city if there were any movement there! This is no child¡¯s play!"


    "Executive Jayne, I¡­"


    "Save it, Beo. I know you¡¯re talented, but you are clearly being too rash about this incident. I think you should take some rest, since you¡¯ve lost your cool over these three cases." Officer Jayne said flatly, before standing up to leave the meeting room.


    Tch.


    A fat, white policeman opposite of Joseph stood up and glanced sideways at him, as if he wanted to burst out laughing.. "Don¡¯t be angry now, Sir Joseph."


    Others in the room laughed and shook their heads.


    "A murder in the central building? Hah! This is the funniest thing I¡¯ve heard this year." A tall and lanky policeman sneered at officer Joseph as he walked past.


    Soon, Joseph is the only one left in the meeting room.


    He stood, fists clenched, silent without a word.


    "Remember, Joseph. You¡¯re different from the others. The world you see is much more than the others. That is your ability¡­ It is the ability of the Hilarita Household."


    Grandfather¡¯s last words appeared in his mind once more.


    "Listen closely¡­ close your eyes.. and listen¡­ those words in the night¡­" Grandfather¡¯s weak yet firm speech echoed in his mind once more.


    .


    "Joseph unconsciously closed his eyes and listened closely with his ears.


    Ding¡­. Ding Dang¡­ Ding¡­ Ding Dang¡­


    The sound of a gramophone in the distance floated into his ears. Along with it came sounds from the gentle breeze and leaves rustling outside¡­ the low rumble of a car engine, footsteps along the corridor. He could even hear the sound of his own breathing, his heartbeat, blood circulating in his veins.


    Joseph focused on his hearing, and slowly, his surroundings drowned into the background, with the exception of a piece of soft music.


    The muddy music started to clear up, and the static within came along with it, louder and louder, louder and louder.


    Bzz... Bzz Bzz¡­ Bzz¡­ Bzz Bzz¡­


    "That¡¯s...." Joseph furrowed his eyebrows.


    The music faded into another piece once again. A small, hushed voice emerged from deep within the static, having a conversation with itself.


    Bzz.. Ahh!!... Bzz Bzz¡­ My beloved¡­ Dear.. Bzz.. Come to my side¡­ No!!... My love¡­ Bzz¡­


    The rather sweet conversation had suddenly turned into a bloodcurling scream. It was inexplicably strange.


    Joseph was drenched in cold sweat. He opened his eyes, and a girl with a pale face was staring at him.


    Woah!!


    He was so startled that he took two steps back. He blinked, and then in front of him was nothing but a quiet, empty room.


    He almost fell on the chair, his hands running through his hair. After a few lungfuls of air, he shook his head in disbelief


    "She¡¯s going to appear whenever you close your eyes. That¡¯s the price you pay for listening¡­" He spoke softly to himself.


    He quickly stood up, grabbed the dossier on the table and stormed out the meeting room.


    He couldn¡¯t idle by and let a tragedy occur.


    Even if no one were to support him, he still had two of his colleagues!

 140 Tailing Behind 2

    Chapter 140: Tailing Behind 2


    Click!


    Joseph, loaded the gun, a look of determination on his face.


    "We need to stop them! They are planning to hold a grand hunting ceremony tonight at midnight sharp. We have to be there before then or else the whole Pinehill City will be in danger!"


    Under the yellow lighting of the basement, there were two others, one female and the other male, armed with guns looking at Joseph.


    "Have you gone nuts, Joseph!!" Johnson¡¯s eyes were filled with both shock and worry. "The central building will be fine. The police have already sent people there in case anything would happen¡­"


    "Listen, my partner!" Joseph raised a hand to his shoulder. "Do you trust me?" He stared directly into Johnson¡¯s eyes.


    "Of course! We¡¯ve been by each other since we were kids, and you¡¯re the best friend I have!" Johnson replied with affirmation


    "No one believed me! Not a single one!" Joseph took a big breath. "I know this is absurd. I beg you Johnson, my best friend, and Annie, my beloved! Just for this night. We need to stop them tonight!"


    "Stop what?" Annie butted in. "I believed in you Joseph but what can we do for you?!" Her eyes overwhelmed with worry and love. "You¡¯re not shouldering this on your own! You still have us!"


    Joseph took in a few lungfuls of air and whipped out three small brown leather pouches from his waist. He gave everyone one each.


    "Bring this with you! Remember that! Do not let this pouch leave your side no matter the reason! Bring it with you whenever and wherever! Do not lose the pouch! The enemy we¡¯re facing is nothing like we have ever faced before! No one can go against them without this!"


    "What is this"? Annie asked as she shook the pouch. She could barely hear some water sloshing inside.


    "This is holy water. We can restrain them with it. If we have this with us, they¡¯ll be weakened if they come within 10 meters.. Please do not leave this without you at all cost! Please!"


    "Are we entering some horrifying Sci-Fi novel?" Johnson joked. "Do you need me to gather a few more people? My cousin is a professional boxer! Ameteur level six! He¡¯s the local¡¯s boxing association¡¯s vice president, too!"


    "It¡¯s no good. I¡¯ve tried getting help from others but it¡¯s no use." Joseph shook his head. "They¡¯re not human¡­" A bead of cold sweat escaped his brow as he recalled the scene.


    Annie and Johnson looked at each other; they both knew, from Joseph¡¯s voice, the pain he was in.


    *************


    Hum¡­


    It was the afternoon, and the sky was grey and cloudy.


    The green mountains and hills covered the landscape like a carpet, and in between was a river flowing freely, just like yellow silk across the land, stretching to the distance.


    A white, four-winged plane glided serenely above the greenery, its engine producing an incessant rumbling sound.


    The airplane flew over a waterfall at the river mouth; the roar of water crashing into the valley below echoed above, shooting large amounts of vapor so high it seemed like it could brush the plane¡¯s bottom hull.


    The airplane¡¯s side door was ajar and in it was Garen, wearing a T-shirt and jeans, looking at the river below.


    "Where is this?" He asked loudly.


    The pilot was, surprisingly, Su Lin. He had styled his fiery red hair into ordinary bangs, and he had a golden earring on one of his ears. He was whistling a melody that was slightly off beat.


    "We¡¯re just outside Sin Gerro. There¡¯s a private rest stop half an hour away from here and we can take a rest there, and at the same time refuel the plane."


    "It¡¯s so beautiful¡­" Celine looked down at the giant waterfall from the other door. "Is this the Great Waterfall Shifariya? The one located on the borderline of the Federation and Sin Gerro?"


    "That¡¯s the one. Based on our current speed, we still have about three hours before we reach the place Duskdune Shura was last seen; Black Rock City." Su Lin replied.


    "You don¡¯t have to come with us, you know. This operation is highly dangerous." Garen said as he looked at Su Lin.


    "Don¡¯t worry. Don¡¯t you look down on me. Although I¡¯m not as strong as you, I¡¯ve no problem running away when my life is in danger!" Su Lin smiled, rows of white teeth lining his mouth.


    "I can smell the scent of the Slash team." Celine twitched her nose and said suddenly, "It¡¯s fresh; the Slash team left was less than half an hour ago. They should have taken off again based on the height of the smell. Judging from the timeline of our path, they should havetook off from the place Su Lin mentioned, 30 degrees North East from us."


    Su Lin whistled and said. "Are you that accurate? Looks like the puppies ought to be ashamed!"


    "Go to hell!!" Celine shouted in anger as she choked Su Lin by his neck.


    The airplane jerked up and down violently for a moment.


    Garen shook his head calmly throughout the exchange, choosing to remain silent.


    Since their journey from the manor, Su Lin and Garen witnessed Celine¡¯s true ability. She had an amazing sense of smell.


    Celine had memorized the scent of all the members of Slash and Duskdune Shura, hence there was no need for them to tail the team from behind too tightly. She could smell them as long as they were not an hour or a specific distance apart from each other. In addition, they also knew the Slash team¡¯s route, so it was impossible to lose them.


    As Garen had gotten tired of the view below, he closed his eyes and started his breathing technique for the Red Jade Palm, and begun his practicing his secret technique once more.


    If he could obtain more attribute for the Red Jade Palm he had learnt yesterday, he could greatly enhance the effect of the Red Jade Palm to an unimaginable level. This was the only thing Garen was excited about.


    Recently, he realized that superimposing low grade secret techniques was not necessarily a good thing.


    He managed to obtain another secret technique, be it the lowest grade, from Celine. It was a secret technique that involved kicking. Regrettably, this secret technique required a body with high flexibility. Although Garen had learnt the technique, it was merged together with the Mammoth Secret Technique and there has been no change since.


    He suspected that it was because these two techniques were of opposite nature, or most of the techniques were the same, which had no help to the Mammoth Secret Technique.


    Garen then went to Celine again and ask for secret techniques that were body enhancement in nature but to no avail. There were little secret techniques that did not require external assistance. It was impressive of her to be able to recall so many from her memory. Garen had no choice but to go inquire about one at the Southern Sky Holy Fist headquarter.


    "But before all that, I need to obtain the Golden Sword Throne." Garen eyes were brimming with fire. "The Golden Sword Throne is useless to most people since it would lose its primary purpose upon usage. I might be able to get my hands on it when the Slash team is dealing with Duskdune Shura. But first..."


    He clapped his palms and they were bright red for an instance.


    "I have finally learnt the Red Jade Palm. With the body enhancement from the Mammoth Secret Technique and the effects from the Red Jade Palm, I really want to know which one is stronger when we clash, my Mammoth Secret Technique with the Red Jade Palm or your Seven Dragon Gate!" It was without a doubt tempting to every fighter to challenge a Grandmaster of Combat of the highest level from the previous generation.


    A fighter¡¯s aim was to be able to improve, to evolve and constantly challenge the limit of one¡¯s own body. This was what it meant to be a true fighter.


    Garen was no different. There were too little people who could go up against him, and Duskdune Shura had showed him the power of the ancient and mysterious secret technique, the Seven Dragon Gate.


    As both of them were strong in body hardening technique, Duskdune Shura had a much softer strike than his. Although the Seven Dragon Gate was not that strong, the crazy ability to stiffen others was definitely the big killer.


    Garen¡¯s main plan was to go head to head with the Duskdune Shura. He wanted to see how strong his Mammoth Secret Technique¡¯s maximised body hardening technique superimposed with the Red Jade Palm and the enhancement of the Dark Crimson Technique was. Furthermore, he had added 0.3 agility points into his attribution. Garen clearly felt that he could keep up with Duskdune Shura¡¯s attacks now.


    Duskdune Shura¡¯s attack was not considered fast among the Grandmaster of combats. He didn¡¯t have strong powers and high defense as well. However, as every aspect of his attributions were moulded together, it reached such a perfect balance that there were practically no flaw in it.


    He was faster than the strength based fighter, and stronger than a agility based one. He also had techniques that could bypass any defense.


    However, no matter how strong he was, he was too old to fight for any extended period of time. Even in this state, Garen was not confident that he could win against his opponent. He wouldn¡¯t dare to fight against Duskdune Shura if Celine hadn¡¯t taught him a little trick to counter the Seven Dragon Gate.


    Half an hour later¡­


    The white airplane descended slowly as it landed on a strip of parking apron caked with mud. It slipped on the brown mud for a few hundred meters before finally coming to a stop.


    The airplane¡¯s propeller spun its final rotations with a whiz before coming to a halt.


    The parking apron was a gigantic reddish brown circle. Soldiers in dark green uniforms came rushing into it to the airplane. One of the soldiers had a small notebook on his hand and he seemed to be noting down the airplane¡¯s serial number of sorts.


    Another soldier dismounted his horse, and hurried the still running soldiers rushing to the plane.


    "Sir, how much fuel do you need?" He ask Garen, who jumped off from the airplane.


    "Ask the person behind me. I know nothing about these things." Garen shrugged his shoulders.


    Su Lin was the next one who jumped down from the plane.


    "Glenz number 7, max it out as, we will be heading off shortly. Do you have any food here?"


    "Definitely, but we only have local dishes here." The soldiers grinned as he rubbed his hands and said, "We can find a couple of native girls as well..."


    "Native? Are there still native people here?" Celine jumped down from the airplane shortly after as she combed her long hair.


    "Yes. The Surian Forest is huge, and there are a lot of primitive tribes living in it. We managed to capture a few native women¡­" The soldier shut his mouth up as soon as he saw the little girl.


    "I will go and settle the preparations..." He smiled embarrassedly and turned away.


    Su Lin nodded his head as he looked at the soldier walked away.


    "This parking apron is built by Sin Gerro and the Edge Security Company. It looks quite fancy here."


    Garen looked at Celine.


    "What , have you notice anything?"


    Celine looked confused as her nose twitched again.


    "They¡¯ve separated."


    "Which direction?" Garen asked further.


    "Slash and Duskdune Shura have separated. Both of them are heading to different locations." Celine looked up at Garen¡¯s face. "Who should we follow?"


    This was the time for the strongest, Garen, to lead the team.


    Su Lin looked at Garen, as if he wanted him to make the decision as well.


    "We¡¯ll follow Duskdune Shura." Garen hadn¡¯t expected this at all. He took a deep breath and said, "The Slash team will definitely realize this sooner or later. We will definitely gather together if we follow Duskdune Shura now."


    Both Celine and Su Lin agreed to his proposal.


    "Let¡¯s move once we had something to eat and finish refuelling" Su Lin immediately arranged the plan. "Let¡¯s catch up to Duskdune Shura before the sun sets."


    "Is that even possible?" Garen looked at him skeptically.


    "No problem! This plane is my beloved limited edition collective series number 1043,


    Daphne!" Su Lin¡¯s smile was so bright that even his teeth peeked out from behind his lips.


    "How many limited edition items do you have?" Garen was speechless.


    "This will never be revealed to the public, just like a girl¡¯s age." Su Lin patted his shoulder as he walked towards the row small houses next to the parking apron.


    "Are you guys going to call some girls later?" Celine asked Garen.


    "Yes¡­"


    "Give me two of them as well."


    Garen was lost for words as he looked at Celine, who then jumped onto Su Lin¡¯s shoulder.


    "Just joking. Haha¡­" Celine burst out in laughter the moment she was far enough away from Garen.


    Hopeless, Garen started in the same direction.

 141 Night 1

    Chapter 141: Night 1


    After filling up their stomachs and the fuel, Garen and the team continued their journey tracking Duskdune Shura through his scent.


    The White airplane flew above the sea of a forest for at least 2 hours until a white road could finally be seen. The number of lanes gradually increased until it¡¯s so complex that it looked like a spider web.


    The sky was slowly getting darker.


    The plane descended slowly as it followed the directions from the airport¡¯s control tower and approached a gray, oval-shaped airport.


    "This is the place. Duskdune Shura landed here!" Celine said with affirmation.


    Garen and Su Lin looked down at the airport and saw seven to eight airplanes of different sizes parked. Four of them were a small airplanes, one of them was pure blue in color whereas the rest were either brown or white.


    Celine pointed at the blue airplane.


    "That¡¯s the plane. He must have left less than half an hour ago!"


    "Let¡¯s land here and we will tail him right away!" Garen said.


    Without any hesitation, Su Lin quickly lowered the plane. At the same time, there were already people at the airport waving a white flag to indicate the landing position to Su Lin.


    ******


    Sin Gerro


    In the forest of the Pinehill City¡¯s suburbs.


    Night.


    Noises among the trees could be heard periodically coming from the forest. An owl¡¯s hoot came from the distance and the crescent moon was silently sitting in the sky, bathing the place in soft moonlight.


    The dark green pine trees stood as tall as towers. Even the shortest one was about twenty to thirty meters. They stood pencil straight, like sticks potruding from the earth.


    Although it was very spacious between the pine trees, the whole area was covered with dense, greenish yellow weeds.


    Inside the forest, there were three dark figures wandering about carefully, going deeper in.


    "Be careful, hold my hand Annie. And don¡¯t step there! You¡¯ll leave a footprint." A male voice whispered.


    "Joseph, what does this place have to do with the incident at central building?" Another man out of the three figures asked.


    "We can¡¯t stop them if we don¡¯t come here." Joseph looked his partners and continued, "The beasts will perform a hunting prayer, and the central building is the location for the hunting ceremony! We need to destroy their altar after they leave this place!"


    "Altar?"


    "Yes. Their ritual will be broken once the altar is no more. Hence it would be meaningless for them to keep hunting!" Joseph said with confidence, although his voice was shivering.


    Annie held his hand tightly.


    "Don¡¯t worry Joseph, we will be fine¡­"


    In truth, Annie and Johnson did not believe anything about the hunt or the prayers. They only believed in Joseph and followed his leadership. Although they didn¡¯t believe in the beasts, they knew something was going to happen, looking at Joseph how sure Joseph was.


    This was because Joseph was different, he was special.


    Hoo!!


    Out among the dense forest, a bonfire emerged in the spacious clearing between the pine trees. There was a big cattle skull on top of the bonfire. It was about for to five meters high and three two four meters wide. It seemed to be created from a multitude of bones.


    The bonfire was getting stronger and stronger, it was so huge that the flame shot almost three meters high. There were fuzzy figures surrounding the bonfire; tanned male and females who were tall and muscular.


    The males were bare from the waist up, whereas the females had a black cloth covering the chest. They wore black jeans below their waist, where long hairs spread wildly. Black marks could also be seen on their face.


    The fierce fire reflected a similar expression on each of them. They took turns stabbing their own arms with a small knife, and smeared their blood gently onto their face.


    After they had finished smearing their faces.


    "It has been five centuries since the hunting tradition had been passed down before us." An old man who stood by the bonfire whispered. "Do not forget our ancestor¡¯s pride. Remember what I have just said."


    "Elder, where are the damned hound bugs? I smelled their scent behind earlier." A strong man with braided hair asked.


    "They have left, which is why I took this opportunity to organize the hunt, so that we will not be disturbed." The elder replied.


    "I would have killed all of them if not for the holy water! These damn bugs!" The braided man replied gloomily.


    "Who is it!! Who¡¯s there!" The Elder¡¯s nose twitched as he smelled something. His head was facing at where Joseph and his two colleagues were hiding.


    Bam!


    A gunshot rang across the forest.


    One of the figure beside the bonfire went down, but the rest of them spread out and came running towards them.


    Bam Bam Bam!!


    Three more gunshots were heard. However, it hadn¡¯t come from Joseph¡¯s party, but from the other side of the forest. In an instant, more than ten people with black coats came rushing out of the forest.


    In their hand were hand grenades. In quick, swift motions, they kept throwing the grenades towards the bonfire.


    Boom~~~!!!


    The man who was initially shot stood back up all of a sudden, as his body started sprouting large amounts of black fur. In a blink of an eye, it had became a humongous wolf. The black wolf howled and ran towards the people with black coat in a rage


    The crack of gunshots rang again and again, but the black wolf managed to dodge a lot of the bullets.


    Ah!!


    One of the man with the black coat was taken down as half of his body was ripped apart by the black wolf¡¯s claw. As the wolf sunk his teeth into his victim, the man¡¯s grey matter was torn open.


    Soon, chains of howls rose through the forest floor. The remaining people near the bonfire had transformed into werewolves, and all of them rushed towards the men black.


    "Damn! It¡¯s the Thukk Tribe!!" The leader of the black coat panicked slightly.


    Soon more people in black were shredded into pieces by the werewolves. At the same moment, others started screaming as black smoke rose from their bodies. They shrivelled and dried rapidly; some fell off and died with teeth still sunk deep into flesh, and became a puddle of black water.


    "It¡¯s the Thukk Tribe! Everybody retreat!!" The leader of the black coat started to panicked as he shouted. They hadn¡¯t enough holy water. The Thukk Tribe is much more resistant to the holy water compared to other similar species. The amount of holy water needed to purify one Thukk Tribe members could purify three other ordinary werewolves. These beasts¡¯ true potential would be unleashed once there was no holy water nearby. They would be twice as strong! The Thukk Tribe was unstoppable once they were not restricted.


    "Retreat! Retreat!" The group of men in black fired their guns as they stumbled backwards Under the lead of the braided werewolf, werewolves continued their onslaught. Both parties were at war inside the Pine forest with both parties sustaining heavy casualties.


    *******


    On the other side of the pine forest.


    Garen and Su Lin were following Celine closely as they moved deeper into the forest. If not for the night sky, the three of them would have looked like tourists with their attire.


    Celine kept sniffing with her nose as she lead the way.


    "Duskdune Shura went through this place. He must be right in front of us."


    "You have brought us through a lot of detours already. We¡¯ll go directly to the Ancient Ruins tomorrow if we can¡¯t find him." Su Lin yawned as he replied.


    "Absolutely not. We will definitely lose him if we don¡¯t can¡¯t find him now. I wasn¡¯t sure at first, but I¡¯m confident to say that Duskdune Shura is definitely not heading to the Ancient Ruins. He had other objectives!" Celine affirmed.


    "Other objectives?" Garen was confused.


    "There¡¯s someone in front!" Celine lowered down her voice as she focused ahead.


    A man with a black coat walked towards them slowly out of the darkness..


    "Who are you people? Up ahead is a protected area of the national security agency. You may not enter." The man said as he furrowed his eyebrows.


    Garen and the rest were skeptical. Garen kept took a stepped in front as Celine and Su Lin slowly backed off.


    "Did you not hear what I just said? It¡¯s very dangerous up front! You may not proceed any further! And you! You too! Leave this place immediately!" The man in black coat said to the big pine tree in front of Garen and his gang.


    A humanoid figure slowly came out from the branches of the pine tree. His gaze was calmly focused onto Garen and the gang.


    Garen and the gang stared back at him in the same manner.


    THe four of them did not bother to pay any heed towards the arrogant man in the black coat, as all of their attention was now focused on each other.


    "You people are persistent." Duskdune Shura spoke under his cloak. His voice was hoarse and deep.


    "Hand over the Golden Sword Throne. Though I know that¡¯s probably not happening, I¡¯ll say it anyway" At this moment Garen had became the leader of the three man group as his vision was tightly locked onto Duskdune Shura.


    This man had once defeated two generals from the federation when he was heavily surrounded. He was the at the pinnacle of strength, being able to escaped from an ambush from all directions.


    Although he had became stronger, he did not dare underestimate his enemy.


    "You¡¯re here for the Golden Sword Throne as well?" Duskdune Shura was amused, "Do you think you can stop me all by yourself?"


    "I won¡¯t know if I don¡¯t try." Garen replied.


    "Hmph!"


    Duskdune Shura sighed before he pointed his toes and swiftly leapt backwards, disappearing into the darkness.


    Garen immediately went after him. With his speed increased by 0.3 points, he was as fast as Duskdune Shura.


    Celine and Su Lin were not slow either. They followed Garen closely from behind and disappeared into the darkness with him


    The man with the black coat was left alone in the dark, in a rage.


    "A trained fighter? Does being a fighter make you all that? This is no longer my business. You guys are the one who did not heed my warning. Even a fighter would have the same fate if you do not have holy water! These beasts had already killed dozens of fighters! You guys are digging your own grave!"


    *************


    Deep inside the Pine Forest.


    Joseph¡¯s party watched the battle between the men in black and wolves in terror. Blood was shed from both parties. It was a scene of horror. This was especially so for Johnson and Annie, having not seen anything like this in their lives. They were so rooted in fear they failed to move even an inch from where they were.


    "Jo..Joseph.. Tell me¡­ What¡­ What is going on?? Am I dreaming?" Johnson stuttered as he asked.


    "This is reality Johnson. If I¡¯m not mistaken, these men in black coat are there Demon Hunters. The enemy they are facing now are the legendary werewolf clan."

 142 Night 2

    Chapter 142: Night 2


    "Werewolves!" Annie and Johnson had thought about that possibility, but it was still hard for them to accept that fact.


    "Werewolves are strong and resilient, and their ability to kill is terrifying. Humans were once their slaves in the Ancient Era, and were only kept as livestock. That is until we discovered Holy Water." Joseph explained, "Holy Water greatly weakens the werewolves, reducing their strength and vitality to a level us humans can handle."


    "You mean¡­ this?" Annie held up the pouch Joseph gave her earlier.


    "Yes, that¡¯s it, keep it safe. Now that you¡¯ve seen all these, won¡¯t you believe me?" Joseph wanted to let his close friend and girlfriend truly believe in him. Only after seeing it with their own eyes will they believe in something this ridiculous. The Demon Hunters1; well, that was a coincidence.


    "The strength of humanity comes from our ability to utilize tools." Joseph whispered, "Okay, now that the Demon Hunters are here, we should retreat."


    It was Johnson and Annie¡¯s first encounter with so many corpses at the same place, both of them were pretty shaken up, so they didn¡¯t protest.


    Slowly, the trio started pulling back.


    In that exact moment, a silhouette charged past them toward the battlefield between the werewolves and the Demon Hunters.


    In the blink of an eye, another silhouette chased after the first one, dashing past the three.


    "You want the Golden Sword Throne? You¡¯ll have to catch me!" A deep, gravelly voice challenged. It was from the first silhouette.


    "Hmph!" The second silhouette snorted with disdain, then accelerated abruptly.


    "Oh? You¡¯re faster than the last time we met!" The man with the gravelly voice had a hint of surprise.


    Joseph and his companions looked on, stunned by the two silhouettes who rushed toward the battlefield.


    "Are they Demon Hunters too?" Johnson asked, as softly as he could.


    "No, they¡¯re not. They don¡¯t have the fragrance of Holy Water on them! They are human fighters." Joseph furrowed his eyebrow.


    Arooooooooo!


    A werewolf with black fur howled and glared at the newcomers, Duskdune Shura and Garen.


    "Fighters? Heh heh, I haven¡¯t had fighter flesh for a long while now! You must have a death wish to come near here without Holy Water." The werewolf blitzed toward the two fighters.


    In the same moment, Garen caught up with Duskdune Shura.


    They collided and dashed forward together.


    Thud!


    Garen parried Duskdune Shura¡¯s attack with his arm.


    "Single Shot Form! Swing!" Garen shot his right arm, aiming at Duskdune Shura¡¯s chest, like a cobra lunging for its prey. As soon as he closed in, Garen¡¯s arm jerked upward into Swing Form, stabbing at Duskdune Shura¡¯s chin with five fingers kept straight in the shape of a cleaver.


    lap!


    Duskdune Shura diverted the attack with a slap, and returned an attack with his other palm, to which Garen met with his own.


    Thud!


    Garen grunted and fell back, just as the black-furred werewolf pounced at him in a bloodlust.


    "Out of my way!"


    Thud! Rip!


    The black-furred werewolf was torn into two halves, spilling blood all around the ground. Without wasting a breath, Garen rushed at Duskdune Shura again.


    A sound of a heavy thump echoed. Both Garen and Duskdune Shura landed on a patch of grass. After regaining their balance, they hacked at each other again, echoing thuds and thumps and thwacks, like the sound of shotgun blasts reverberating throughout the woods.


    The battle between Demon Hunters and werewolves was stopped by the two newcomers in the centre. There were stray bullets that hit both of them, but every single bullet was repelled, creating golden sparks.


    Every creature around the area was astonished beyond comprehension.


    The werewolves stopped attacking, as did the Demon Hunters. Including Joseph¡¯s group, all three parties were blankly staring at Garen and Duskdune Shura¡¯s fight.


    The two people in combat ignored everyone else, fully focusing on attacking each other. Whatever that got in their way was destroyed.


    One by one, pine trees thicker than a human¡¯s embrace fell, leaving behind holes and craters of different sizes, as if it had been hit by bombs.


    Thwack!


    A figure got hit and swooped across a tiny glade, only dissipating his momentum after he hit another pine tree. It was Garen. His shirt was torn and shredded, and even the trunk of the pine tree he landed on cracked, but he looked as if he wasn¡¯t hurt at all.


    Scoffing defiantly, Garen leapt toward his opponent. The two engaged in another round of combat.


    Whenever Garen hit anything, he would leave behind rips and intense shaking, meanwhile Duskdune Shura would slash everything he touched in half. When they clashed, it¡¯s as if they were armored to the teeth, wielding extraordinary weapons of their own.


    "Excellent! You deserved your title as the Champion of the era! I approve of your strength." Duskdune Shura leapt backward and landed softly on a fallen tree trunk more than ten meters away.


    "If you want the Golden Sword Throne, come to the Dahl Falls. I will be waiting for you there."


    "Don¡¯t you dare run away!" Garen¡¯s eyes was wild with excitement. During his battle with Duskdune Shura, he felt his mastery over Red Jade Palm growing. If he had continued using it for the fight, he has no doubt he can master it in no time. Granted, the fact that he had affinity to special abilities on top of his understanding in Grandmaster of Combat techniques helped, but undeniably, only actual combat experience can deepen his mastery over combat abilities.


    Without hesitation, he dashed toward his enemy.


    Duskdune Shura promptly dropped into the crowd of werewolves.


    Whack! A soft clap.


    A werewolf stumbled out toward the pursuing Garen. Even he was in bewilderment about his action.


    Wham!


    The werewolf was whipped away with a Swing Form and fell at least ten meters away, half his body was torn apart, leaving his flesh and blood in a gory mess. The werewolf could only whimper on the ground.


    The werewolves, and even some of the Demon Hunters shuddered.


    "Do you really think you can stop me with this pile of garbage?" Garen had a flash of fury in his eyes.


    Garbage?!


    "How dare you!" The werewolves, and even the elder werewolf was angered by this show of arrogance. "Without Holy Water, you are but-"


    He couldn¡¯t finish his sentences as Garen shot him a glare. He only felt a pressure made of fear forced upon him.


    Garen¡¯s eyes flashed red, the space around him bent, unfolding a gigantic red-eyed mammoth tens of meters tall. The air around him wheezed loudly, as if it was going to swallow everything within dozens of meters.


    The elder werewolf turned pale and trembled uncontrollably, unable to hold his werewolf state, he collapsed on the ground kneeling.


    "We are¡­ the great¡­ Thukk Tribe!" The elder struggled, trying to stand up, but he couldn¡¯t move a single hair. His bones cracked under the pressure.


    To other people, Garen only glanced over at the elder, and he immediately reverted to human form and kneeled on his own, as if he¡¯s being bound by some invisible force. He looked like he¡¯s trying to get up but completely lost his strength.


    Duskdune Shura hid underneath his cloak, shielding his facial expression. He kept lobbing werewolves after werewolves toward Garen, like they were cargo unworthy of cautiousness. At the same time, he¡¯s swiftly retreating from the battlefield area.


    Thud! Thud! Thud!


    Garen kept swatting werewolves aside, growling, trying to give chase, but at critical moments another werewolf would appear in his path, significantly slowing him down. In addition to that, he was already slightly slower than Duskdune Shura. It wasn¡¯t long before Duskdune Shura completely disappeared into the darkness.


    "Grr!" Garen hit a tree with his palm out of frustration. The trunk crackled, and without a warning, wooden slag started pouring out as though it was sand. A white notch appeared on the thick tree trunk where Garen hit it, and it started to lean toward the other direction and fell with a loud bang.


    Most of the Thukk Tribe was hurt in Garen¡¯s pursuit of Duskdune Shura. As werewolves, they have accelerated healing, so by now, some of the lightly wound had already healed. Silently, they retreated to the far end of the woods, taking the elder werewolf and the bodies of the other werewolves with them.


    At some point during the chaos, Celine and Su Lin sneaked beside Joseph¡¯s party, stayed till the aftermath of the battle.


    Gawking at Garen from afar, Su Lin smiled wryly. "Garen is even stronger than before, he wasn¡¯t that fast just a while ago."


    "He¡¯s a monster!" Celine is speechless.


    "Duskdune Shura seemed to have acknowledged Garen¡¯s capability as a fighter; none of them used their full power though. Who would win if they did, I wonder?" Su Lin shook his head.


    Joseph and his companions dared not move, in case they were found out by the two newcomers. They were so shocked at overhearing Su Lin, Joseph even swallowed his saliva.


    "If this isn¡¯t their full power, what is?"


    Joseph lightly kneaded the water pouch they brought, questioning the truth of the world for the first time.


    "Didn¡¯t granddad say it was impossible for humans to fight the evil creatures without Holy Water? Was I hallucinating or has the world gone mad?"


    "You three have been observing for a while, didn¡¯t you? Don¡¯t you want to come out and say hi?" Su Lin turned toward Joseph unexpectedly with a knowing smile.


    Most citizens from Sin Gerro and some smaller countries around it commonly use the Confederation language, barring some minute differences in accents and dialects. To be more precise, the Confederation language is the lingua franca of the whole Stonecliff Continent.


    Joseph finally stood up, forcing a smile to his face. Johnson and Annie followed.


    Once Garen accepted the fact that he wouldn¡¯t be able to keep up with Duskdune Shura, he unwillingly turned back heading toward Su Lin.


    He wasn¡¯t expecting to keep Duskdune Shura down anyway, he just wanted to test his improvement in his fighting ability.


    As he thought, if he weren¡¯t using the first and second stages of Body Hardening Technique, instead relying only on his normal state to fight Duskdune Shura, he would have been at a disadvantage, but not hurt. Red Jade Palm made up for the weakness in his fighting technique. Even if he couldn¡¯t use the more precise skills during the fight, he was starting to get a grasp on the technique used against him.


    Frankly speaking, if he decided to kill Garen, Duskdune Shura would not be able to get away unscathed.


    Duskdune Shura was also aware of this fact, which is why he left as soon as possible.


    More importantly, Garen finally confirmed that the Golden Sword Throne was indeed with Duskdune Shura, as well as the many potential uses the Antique of Tragedy has! Garen completely verified that in this battle.


    Translator''s Thoughts


    J_Squared J_Squared


    Translator¡¯s Notes


    1	ÁÔħÈË lit. people who hunt demons/magic depending on context. I¡¯d say this is about Demon Hunters

 143 Coincidence 1

    Chapter 143: Coincidence 1


    Garen restrained his overflowing Bravery and returned to Su Lin with haste.


    "He¡¯s truly a Master, that Duskdune Shura, even at my current level, I still can¡¯t beat him." He sighed, "Oh right, what were those monsters called? Werewolves?"


    "They are. Have you seen them around?" Joseph answered timidly. His two companions were so intimidated by Garen¡¯s show of power, they subconsciously took a step back.


    Garen quickly scanned through the three strangers slightly warily. He was going to question them when Su Lin interrupted and introduced them.


    "They were going to launch a sneak attack on the werewolves¡¯ altar to prevent them from completing the hunting ritual. These people were innocent."


    "Werewolves? They really are werewolves?" Garen¡¯s eyebrows furrowed. Now that he knows werewolves exist, it would be a sensible opinion to conclude that vampires and other evil creatures exist as well. If vampires exist, what could be next? Holy churches like in those fantasy novels and movies on Earth?


    A series of thoughts came to him almost simultaneously. Back on Earth, he has had his fair share of movies consumption.


    "What? Have you met them before?" Joseph was slightly taken aback by Garen¡¯s seeming nonchalance. He still held himself quite well against Garen compared to his other two companions.


    "Nah, I¡¯ve only heard about them. Let¡¯s look for a place to talk, I need some answers from you guys." Garen noticed the people in black cloaks heading toward them. "Actually, maybe it¡¯s better for me to ask them."


    The black cloaked leader took off the hood, revealing a middle-aged lady with scars on her face.


    "Brave fighter friends, we are of the Jiu Gu Clan1 from nearby forest. May we have the honor to invite you for a brief conversation someplace else?"


    Everyone, including Su Lin, Celine, as well as Joseph and his companions turned to Garen, who raised his eyebrows out of curiosity. "Lead the way."


    The leader nodded, "Please, this way."


    *****************


    Half an hour later, in a manor near the pine woods.


    In a dimly lit room with a minibar, the scarred lady stood behind the redwood bar counter, expertly mixing cocktails with a shaker.


    Garen¡¯s group and Joseph¡¯s group took their own spots in front of the counter, some of them standing and some sitting. Joseph and his companions sat separately from Garen, talking to a young and pretty woman.


    The flames in the fireplace crackled, sending warmth to every corners of the room.


    "In other words, you don¡¯t know anything about any non-human races other than the werewolves?" Garen asked with a slight disappointment.


    "Exactly that." The middle-aged woman nodded, "Call me Yarmdo, by the way. Our clan has been in a feud with the werewolves for a really long time. Most of the time clashes only happen within the Sin Gerro area. I¡¯m not sure about other places though. Within these woods, according to our correspondence with the other gathering spots of our clan, there have only been werewolves. The other creatures probably only exist in mythology¡­" Yarmdo the clan leader looked at Garen with intrigue.


    Garen nodded, unsure of how to respond.


    He assumed vampires, dark sorcerers, or holy churches exist, like those stories he had heard on Earth. He didn¡¯t know there were only two forces fighting against each other.


    One side of that is the werewolves who hunts humans for food. The other side is the Demon Hunter clan, fated to put up resistance against the werewolves.


    Both sides have been in a feud for so long, no one remembered what fuelled the initial battle that became the current racial war.


    Sensing no response from Garen, Yarmdo continued.


    "The Jiu Gu Clan were divided into three subclans, each fighting a werewolf tribe at different places. But the werewolves are powerful. The ones that we encountered today were only a really small pack. They were having a hunting ritual, which is their counterpart for coming of age ceremonies, so those were mostly underage werewolves. Even so, we were having a hard time defeating them."


    Yarmdo stared at Garen earnestly, and glanced toward Su Lin and the Joseph trio.


    "If you would allow me, I¡¯d like to formally invite you to join our Demon Hunters clan with my utmost sincerity."


    "I¡¯m really sorry, but we were only passersby to this country, pursuing a wanted criminal. We can¡¯t possibly stay to help with your battles." Su Lin noticed a slight frown on Garen¡¯s face and immediately understood his concerns. In addition, their original plan did not include stopping a god-knows-how-long feud. He stepped in to reject Yarmdo¡¯s proposition.


    "Without our means of concealment, the werewolves will hunt you down. Only by laying low in here can you get rid of the scent they track with." Yarmdo explained, "All those werewolves Mr. Garen killed had left him with their scents. If he returns to the woods now, the werewolves will be able to track it and send much stronger adult hunters after him."


    She looked into Garen¡¯s eyes directly.


    "Mr. Garen, I know you are capable, but you are only one person. The werewolves are strong beyond your imagination. The have two High Elders, not the kind you met today, who are truly at the prime of their hunting years. Their strength is far beyond your standard werewolves, and they also have the Wolf King Worthman. Our clan had been oppressed for far too long because of those werewolves. Right now, they are hiding in the human society, we can¡¯t even track them if they don¡¯t show up during certain times. They have acclimated to the human society so well that all of them are masters in assassination."


    "I¡¯m truly sorry, we really have our own mission, so it¡¯s really impossible for us to stay here longer than necessary." Garen shook his head.


    "A mission? Do you mind telling us about it? Maybe we can help with the information you need." Yarmdo knew she wouldn¡¯t be able to convince Garen right now, no one would offer help with nothing to gain.


    "Do you know about the Golden Sword Throne?"


    "Golden Sword Throne?" Yarmdo shook her head, "It¡¯s my first time hearing about it."


    "What about the Dahl Falls?" Garen asked


    Yarmdo¡¯s eyes widened. "Dahl Falls?"


    "You know about the place?" Garen wasn¡¯t expecting a reaction like that.


    "Yes, um¡­ That¡¯s the hunting ground of the High Elder Vitar. Please wait a moment, I¡¯ll go get a map. That place is hard to get to for normal people." Yarmdo swiftly poured out the cocktails into several shot glasses and moved them over to Garen¡¯s trio. She left the room with vigor.


    Garen and the other two took the cocktails. Su Lin took a whiff but didn¡¯t drink, Celine on the other hand sipped it slowly.


    "It was not bad." Celine commented, slightly bored.


    Garen walked over to the walls, inspecting the weapons and armors hanging on the blackstone wall.


    These are tools the Demon Hunters employ to fight against the werewolves.


    "In the movies on Earth, demon hunters2 would normally use silverware to fight werewolves, apparently silver suppresses their ability to heal. I wonder if it¡¯s the same here."


    He recalled the little information he had while removing a black crossbow to examine.


    The crossbow was black all-around and has a T-shaped body. The grip was wrapped with a yellowing white cloth, giving it a rough finish. Through the cloth Garen can feel the coolness of the crossbow wood. It was not loaded.


    Garen turned it over to look at the bottom part. There was some symbols engraved on the foregrip that Garen is not able to recognize.


    "That¡¯s the Ancient Endorian language. According to hearsays, these Ancient Endorian scripts have the ability to summon mystical forces, so a lot of religious texts would make a reference to it." Su Lin explained softly.


    Garen nodded and put the crossbow back on the wall.


    The other weapons on the wall are mostly strongbows and firearms, there¡¯s no sign of any silverware at all.


    Garen sighed regretfully. From the looks of it, the werewolves here were not weakened by silver.


    He had always been interested in these mythological creatures, but right now, his main mission was to recover the Golden Sword Throne from Duskdune Shura. When he was extended the invitation to join the Demon Hunters, he had thought about it, since Yarmdo was being nice. Considering the long history with the clan, he might even get a good treasure with Potential.


    One by one, Garen started examining the items on the wall. Of all nine items, most are decorative, there was none that he can find Potential in.


    "What do you think of these weapons?" Yarmdo was back with a map made of sheepskin leather.


    "They were alright. They should be pretty powerful, combining firearms and ancient knowledge."


    "They would be decent if they were used against humans," Yarmdo shrugged. "But they don¡¯t seem to do a lot on werewolves. Even High Elders would be too much for us to handle, not to mention the Wolf King Worthman. Fortunately for us, they had some infighting problem and got hurt, that should set them back a few years to heal."


    "Don¡¯t werewolves heal fast?" Celine interrupted.


    "Not when it¡¯s hurt with the claws by one of their kind." Yarmdo explained.


    Garen nodded.


    "I was wondering if your clan collected any antiques from all these years battling the werewolves. I mean, I had some experience appraising antiques, and am interested with what you have. Is it okay if I take a look?"


    Sensing Yarmdo¡¯s confusion, Garen added, "Anything from old equipments, trinkets, to things taken from the werewolves for keepsake will do."


    "Of course. Sometimes we do loot the werewolves we kill for keepsakes. Sort of like a collection. We have a lot of those." Yarmdo agreed without hesitation.


    "This is a map of the areas nearby, think of it as an appreciation for helping us with the wolf pack just now," She held the map out toward Garen.


    "Mr. Garen, it is my duty to warn you, even though you are stronger than any of us, you shouldn¡¯t underestimate the capabilities of the High Elders. If there¡¯s anything we can do to help, just come to us Jiu Gu Demon Hunters."


    "Thanks." Garen knew this was an attempt to gain his favor, but he played along just to be nice. At least he¡¯ll have the locals¡¯ help.


    Checking the map, Garen learned about the situation in the nearby Pinehill City from Yarmdo. After receiving a bagful of trinkets, Garen¡¯s trio was eager to start chasing after Duskdune Shura to the Dahl Falls.


    On the other hand, the other three, Joseph, Johnson, and Annie, built a solid connection with the charming young Demon Hunter, and were not planning to leave anytime soon, especially when they¡¯ve just experienced a bloodshed. Without a proper ability to protect themselves, they severely lack security for their safety. Therefore they¡¯d decided to stay the night instead, waiting to be sent home by the Demon Hunters in the morning.


    Joseph stared at Garen¡¯s silhouette in the night and pondered. "Don¡¯t they feel just a tiny bit of fear against the werewolves? The leader killed so many of them, the werewolves must be huning for him everywhere."


    "No idea, but they were much stronger than we are, maybe that was the source of their confidence. The leader probably as strong as my grandmother," The young Demon Hunter admired, "I wish I could be as strong as that someday."


    "What were they thinking, leaving so late?" Annie asked, whispering, "However strong they are, they are only three people, can they even fight against so many werewolves at once?


    "Who knows." Joseph shrugged. Gawking at the three leaving shadows, a curiosity grew inside him.


    He shut his eyes and started to listen carefully.


    In the darkness, an image of the outer world slowly emerged in his sight. He zoomed in toward the departing trio, and focused on Garen alone.


    "I want¡­ to hear his past¡­ his thoughts¡­" Joseph concentrated on his intention.


    Boom!


    A deafening toot blared as if it was right beside him. A gigantic red-eyed white mammoth appeared beside Garen, roaring loudly.


    Joseph shuddered in fear, his connection with the Garen severed.


    Translator''s Thoughts


    J_Squared J_Squared


    1.	¾Ã¹ÅÒ»×å, lit. Long-standing Ancient Family


    2.	Here the term ¡°demon hunter¡± is not specific to this story, so the term is not capitalized.

 144 Coincidence 2

    Chapter 144: Coincidence 2


    Night time.


    In the woods.


    Garen stopped advancing. He frowned and checked out the area.


    "What is it?" Su Lin asked in puzzlement.


    "I think someone¡¯s spying on us." Perplexed himself, Garen answered with uncertainty, "Let¡¯s go. We have to catch up with Duskdune Shura. Celine, can you lead the way, please?"


    Celine nodded and started pacing.


    All of them are able fighters, even if Su Lin, as the physically weakest person in the group, may not be able to beat Grandmasters of Combat, but he definitely can hold his own weight against normal combat experts. And with Celine, even Garen wasn¡¯t completely sure what her trump card is, given her many many talents.


    Within the group, Celine was leading the path, Garen was cross-referencing the map with the environment with Su Lin¡¯s flashlight, adjusting their directions whenever needed so they won¡¯t run into a dead end.


    After leaving the manor, the trio followed the shortest path, heading straight to the redwood forest outside of Pinehill City.


    Right after they have left the woods, a few brown wolves slowly emerged from the woods and smelled the grass patch.


    "They¡¯re out from the Demon Hunters¡¯ area." A brown wolf growled in perfect Yalu language with a Pinehill accent.


    "They certainly ran pretty fast. Continue after them. The High Elder gave his order, no matter who they are, if they ruined the hunting ritual, they must pay the price with their lives!" A larger wolf replied with ferocity.


    The brown wolves disappeared into the wilderness, heading directly opposite from the one Garen picked.


    A person with black cloak stepped out of the woods, his hand still holding an emptied small vial, he obviously helped Garen redirect the pursuing werewolves.


    *****************


    Garen was holding the sack with one hand and taking out the trinkets one by one.


    A white necklace made of wolf teeth, a werewolf claw, a pair of wolfskin gloves, a wooden wolf sculpture, a nude sculpture of half beautiful woman, half wolf¡­


    Garen speechlessly threw that away.


    "Okay, gross." Su Lin is as speechless as Garen.


    Garen pulled out a wolf penis next¡­


    "Okay, why do I even bother hoping for good things anymore¡­" Su Lin covered his face with his palm. Some things are better not seen.


    Again, Garen threw it away and started digging through the sack. At least this one is less inappropriate. It¡¯s a stone slab drawing of a giant wolf. Garen perused it with the flashlight.


    Every body part of the giant wolf was annotated by lines.


    "Would be nicer steamed¡­ Needs pepper¡­" Once Garen made out the words, he rolled his eyes and flung the stone slab as hard as he could. There wasn¡¯t much left in the sack.


    "No wonder they bagged it with a black sack instead of a translucent one, it¡¯s so embarrassing!" Su Lin teased.


    "I¡¯m bored anyway, might as well go through it for fun." Garen shook his head as he suddenly touched something chilly. A strong gust of energy flowed in through his index finger.


    Garen shuddered and went wide-eyed.


    It¡¯s an Antique of Tragedy! It¡¯s full of Potential energy!


    This Potential flow only sustained for a few seconds before dying down and disappearing.


    His grabbed the item, it felt like a box, and fished it out of the sack. At the same time he glanced at his Potential Point at the bottom of his field of view.


    ¡®Potential 105%¡¯


    "I got another stat point!" Garen felt a rush of euphoria. He had just earned a point not long ago, he wouldn¡¯t have expected to earn another point so soon after. "No wonder they always said to go out more!" Without hesitation, he added it to his Agility.


    With the extra 0.3 in Agility, Garen¡¯s body felt so much lighter, he can feel the changes in his body. His brain produced a cool breeze toward every nook and corner of his body, lightening his movements.


    He raised his arm, it felt much lighter than usual.


    Right now his Agility stat is 1.82, Potential Point is down to 5%.


    "My speed earlier was still slightly slower than Duskdune Shura, but now I¡¯m confident to be as fast as he is!" Garen inspected the changes within his body with satisfaction. While the breeze from his brain stopped after a while, his body felt as if he¡¯s floating, like he had dropped off a heavy load.


    Keeping the box that gave him Potential in his pocket, Garen touched the two remaining items. No response. He lobbed them aside.


    "What¡¯s that?" Su Lin noticed the box Garen had kept.


    "Not sure. I think it¡¯s a jewelry box." Garen took the box out and examined it again. He shined the flashlight at it, revealing patterns that look like scribbles children made.


    "The craftsmanship is bad, but it feels like treasure of some sort."


    "Better than nothing."


    "True." Garen smiled playfully and threw the box to Su Lin, "Take it, I think you¡¯ll find it interesting."


    "Sure," Su Lin caught it. He opened the box, it didn¡¯t make any sound, "It doesn¡¯t look like a jewelry box," Su Lin pondered, "There was nothing in there."


    "The treasure is the box itself, so it doesn¡¯t matter what¡¯s inside." Garen shrugged nonchalantly.


    The pair didn¡¯t say anything more, and chased after Celine.


    Celine paced speedily while sniffing, occasionally she would make a turn. The trees got progressively shorter and more concentrated.


    The three shuttled through the woods, noticing the gradual reddening of the woods. The leaves on the ground were either yellow or pale red.


    Moving a little further, even the leaves on the branches turned red. At this point, only rarely would they see some dark yellow among a layer of red leaf litter. The rising sun slowly scorched the eastern clouds, burning through it, and blessed the woods with beams of morning ray.


    ************


    The spot where Garen cast aside the black sack.


    Several brown-furred werewolves leapt out of the trees, landing beside the discarded sack.


    A werewolf grabbed the bag and sniffed.


    "They got away again! Humans are so cunning."


    "I refuse to believe that I can¡¯t catch up to them! Those damned foodbastard, how dare they stop the hunting ritual of the Thukk Tribe!" Another werewolf grunted. "According to where teams One and Two, they seemed to be heading toward the Dahl Falls!"


    "Very likely. If these outsiders dared to even step foot in High Elder¡¯s hunting ground, there¡¯s only a certain death for them. What good is being strong alone, we can mob them to death! Gather all the hunters nearby! We¡¯re swarming them at Dahl Falls! They will not be spared!"


    ************


    In the Redleaf Woods.


    Garen was speeding away from Dahl Falls.


    "Celine, are you sure this is the way to the Falls?" Garen raised his suspicion.


    "Trust me, it is!" Celine replied calmly.


    "But why do something feels wrong?"


    "Well my nose was filled with too many smells and I can smell very well now, but my direction is definitely correct!" Celine announced proudly.


    "Okay." Garen decided to trust Celine, she lead them straight to Duskdune Shura after all. Compared to the map, he trusted Celine¡¯s olfactory sense better.


    Su Lin only shrugged, expressing his indifference.


    The trio disappeared into the woods.


    **************


    Two hours later¡­


    In the woods surrounding Dahl Falls.


    "How are they not here yet?"


    "No idea, but patience is key. According to their paths earlier, they are no doubt heading this way." Two brown-furred werewolves conversed softly in the bush.


    "Tell the others to be patient too, they will appear sooner or later, this is after all their destination."


    ***************


    Two hours later¡­


    Garen and the other two stared at the muddy marsh in front of them, speechless.


    "What is this place?"


    "I think¡­ we are lost¡­"


    Su Lin¡¯s eyes twitched.


    "It¡¯s not my fault! It¡¯s Duskdune Shura! It has to be him, he was worried the werewolves might catch up to him, so he used some sort of powder to lure them away! I got duped!" Celine protested. As soon as she realized they were lost, she had a possible explanation.


    "So what do we do now?" Garen asked Su Lin, defeated.


    "We look at the map, find ourselves." Su Lin shrugged.


    ***************


    Three hours later¡­


    Dahl Falls.


    "Leader, how are they not here yet?"


    The leading brown-furred werewolf thought really hard. He froze as realization washed over him. Slapping his knee, he groaned, "Fuck"


    "What is it, leader?" The werewolf beside him asked, worried.


    "It¡¯s a trap! They must have tricked us, leading us here to Dahl Falls while they escaped the other direction!"


    "So what do we do n-"


    "Everyone go after them, now! We have to catch those cunning bastards!" The lead werewolf sprung up.


    In just a minute, a huge swarm of werewolves dashed out of their hiding place, surging toward the opposite direction of the path to the Dahl Falls.


    Not long after they were gone, in the hidden path of the woods near the Falls, three people appeared.


    "Finally¡­ I can hear the Falls¡­" Celine exhaled feebly, "That sly fox Duskdune Shura, he anticipated our every move¡­"


    "Not only us," Garen examined the pawprints left by the werewolves, "It¡¯s too much of a coincidence, these werewolves only left a moment ago."


    "This is not a coincidence." Su Lin frowned, "He figured out how Celine tracked him. This is a setup, he lured the werewolves away so we would go in alone. He doesn¡¯t want to expose the secret in here!"


    "How do you know?" Garen asked, baffled.


    "Precisely because there¡¯s too much of a coincidence, Duskdune Shura used something to lure those wolves away." Su Lin explained with a serious look on his face.

 145 Twist of Fate 1

    Chapter 145: Twist of Fate 1


    Garen scowled, looking around cautiously. "Looks like he did set this whole thing up to make sure we enter. What is he trying to achieve?"


    "Your guess is as good as mine." Su Lin shrugged, "Let¡¯s go then. The Falls is right in front, let¡¯s find out how he planned to usher us, shall we?"


    Garen nodded, the three of them slowly approaching a tiny waterfall within their sight.


    The waterfall was like a quadrilateral white silk embedded in the middle of a vast green made of grassy fields and pine forests, on its right was a ruins full of oval white stones.


    Grayish-white stone houses splattered all over the ruins. Destroyed walls and thriving weeds formed a harmonious concerto of gray, white, and green.


    The trio walked past the waterfalls to slowly make their way up to the ruins. Garen replaced Su Lin as the group¡¯s pathfinder.


    He looked around, none of the three-story houses were spared from the destruction. All the windows lead to separate pockets of gloomy lifelessness.


    "This used to be a small town¡­ from decades ago, it seems." Garen muttered, "You can tell by the weathering of the structures and the density of the weeds."


    "That¡¯s right, more specifically, about fifty to sixty years ago." Su Lin pointed out.


    Garen peered at him, "You can tell?"


    "Don¡¯t underestimate me. I¡¯m a genius with five university degrees!" Su Lin beamed.


    "Now that we¡¯re here, what¡¯s next? Duskdune Shura wouldn¡¯t leave us hanging if he went through all that trouble to lead us here." Celine interrupted the banter, "Let¡¯s split up to look for clues?"


    "Not necessary." Garen turned toward a small alley between two houses on his left. The alley was dim and muted leading to the unknown. The only things visible at the other end of that alley were sinopia-colored boulders and mossy grass.


    "Can you smell anything?" Garen inquired from Celine.


    "Nuh-uh, still too mixed up to tell." Celine shook her head.


    "This layout¡­ it looks like the Ancient Endorian¡¯s. A town that was only abandoned several decades ago, using Ancient Endorian infrastructure? Smells fishy." Garen mused.


    "Duskdune Shura lead us here, so it must be one of his schemes," Celine speculated, "Do you think the secrets of Golden Sword Throne is hidden in here?"


    "Beats me." Garen was not convinced, "What has Golden Sword Throne, from the Nabudas Empire of the Fivestar Continent got to do with Ancient Endorian civilization of the Stonecliff Continent?"


    "Let¡¯s search for more clues." Su Lin suggested.


    "Like you said, the infrastructure here is similar to the Ancient Endorian¡¯s. If it really is connected to the Ancient Endorians, we¡¯ll need to look at the layout of the whole town." Garen recalled. "I need more information to identify the important areas in the town. Can you two do me a favor by counting the number of buildings in town, as well as finding a pattern of their distribution?"


    "Sure, let¡¯s split up." Su Lin nodded, "Be safe, Celine."


    Celine retorted, "I can easily beat two of you, Su Lin. You¡¯re the physical weak link, remember?"


    Speechless, Su Lin partitioned the town into two parts, and went in different ways with Celine to check out the geography of their areas.


    Garen stayed back to scrutinize the details of the infrastructure.


    He pressed him palm gently against the wall, against the weird grayish-white moss. They feel damp, and slightly cooling.


    Returning to the ruins, it was pin-droppingly silent now that both Celine and Su Lin have gone far.


    Garen strolled torpidly. "If it¡¯s following the Ancient Endorian layout¡­" He recalled the knowledge about ancient architecture he learned from the old man Gregor, deep in thought. "Maybe¡­ over there!"


    He sauntered along the path between houses and circled the ruins from outside until he arrived at a clearing with a collapsed metal fence. It was filled with platinum gray rubble. Weeds with different shades of green sprouted between the rocks, filling the area with a barren tranquillity.


    Garen entered the clearing through an opening, stumbling ever so slightly every now and then.


    The stones on the ground were extraordinarily smooth, only some crumbled and some fallen.


    Garon took another few steps, as if to triangulate the clearing, and finally stopped beside a crooked gray stone.


    Before he could crouch down, he hesitated and glanced toward the town ruins.


    Both Su Lin and Celine were hustling toward him.


    Celine was the first to arrive, and reported, "There were twelve buildings here."


    "It¡¯s a triangle, a very proper triangle. Isn¡¯t that spooky?" Su Lin continued, clearly in discomfort.


    Garen nodded, his eyes glazed as a donut, and stood there motionlessly.


    A few minutes passed before he finally recovered.


    "I get it now." He looked down in search for something. Not long after, he stood in a tiny clear space devoid of rocks and rubbles.


    He crouched and started grazing the ground. Finding something, he pull it free of the grass.


    Snap!


    In Garen¡¯s palm there was a black metallic ring, attached to something before being pulled free.


    "According to the Ancient Endorian style," Garen tried evoking his knowledge. It¡¯s only after the old man Gregor¡¯s death that he realize that the knowledge the old man gave him were all hidden secrets that no one will ever find in bookstores. Those are the knowledge no other appraiser will find out on their own.


    He perused the very fine script on the ring, stood up, walked for about ten paces, and stood still.


    "This was a graveyard." Garen whispered to Su Lin and Celine. "Follow me." Both of them were already heading toward him as he said that.


    The trio arrived at the edge of the graveyard, beneath a tree.


    Grazing the ground once again, Garen dug out some dirt, exposing a rectangular stone tablet with words engraved on it.


    ¡®Eyham Vent, May Your Spirit Rest In Eternal Peace. 2867.3.1¡¯


    "This is someone¡¯s tomb from Year 2867, we are in Year 2987, this was buried 120 years ago!" Su Lin frowned disapprovingly. "What on earth are you doing Garen?"


    "This is the key to this riddle," Garen held both sides of the tablet, "I wanna open it." He forcefully lifted the tablet and set it aside.


    Garen peered into the casket. It wasn¡¯t a human remains as they thought it was, but a hole leading deep into the earth. Chilly air and odor poured out of the dark rectangular hole. It smelled like rotten eggs.


    "Wow, you¡¯re good at this appraisal thing!" Su Lin whistled, "You found the ruins of an ancient civilization!"


    "Meh, this is just a traditional tomb from a long time ago, they used to store the deceased in a tomb cellar like this." Garen explained, unamused. "A long time ago, it was also very popular in the Stonecliff Continent. People believed that even after death, the souls would still need to perform daily routines, so they would base their tombs on a cellar for the living, they even have living rooms, bedrooms, and storage rooms."


    "Tsk, I thought there was a huge discovery," Su Lin said dejectedly and pulled out his flashlight, "Lemme see."


    He stood in front of the hole and shined his flashlight into it, causing some of the mud and dirt to fall in. Su Lin cautiously leaned over and looked down into the hole.


    Srrrt!


    From within the hole, a black thread shot unexpectedly toward Su Lin¡¯s face.


    "Watch out!" It was too late for Garen to block it due to its speed. It was a black thorn with three sharp edges, spinning at high speed aiming for Su Lin¡¯s forehead.


    Garen tried to block it with his own body, but it was too late.


    Gah!


    Su Lin stumbled backward and fell sitting on the ground. His hands were covering his face, panting heavily.


    "What¡­ what on earth!" Even his speech slurred. Just that instant he thought he was going to die.


    Having realized that Su Lin avoided a death trap, both Garen and Celine sighed in relief.


    Releasing his hands, a red scar emerged beneath Su Lin¡¯s right eye, adding a sense of allure to his already charming face.


    "Thank goodness I had a hunch and evaded, or else I¡¯d be dead by now." He was still trembling, the red scar beneath his eye slowly faded away.


    "As long as you¡¯re okay. What¡¯s that under your eye?" Garen inquired.


    "It¡¯s a Cryptic Secret Technique that I learned, it has a little side effect, so I can¡¯t use it so often." Su Lin smiled wryly. "It¡¯s just the beginning! I can¡¯t believe they made me use my trump card already."


    "Cryptic Secret Technique? It¡¯s the kind that simplifies some of the application method in some Secret Techniques for normal fighters. A lot of stronger non-Martial Adept fighters will learn a little at some point." Sensing Garen¡¯s confusion, Celine explained. "Of course, these sort of Secret Methods are less powerful than the full version, and most of them will have some sort of side effects."


    Comprehending, Garen nodded, "Alright, if I¡¯m correct, this tomb should have a lot of Ancient Endorian secrets. I think Duskdune Shura lead us here to make us solve the mystery of the Ancient Endors."


    He raised his arm toward the black hole and felt a cool draft from inside the cave.


    "This is not just a normal tomb, it probably have other entrances. Usually a tomb would only have one entrance."


    "You¡¯re saying this is an underground pass?" Celine¡¯s eyes widened with glee.


    "Very likely." Garen tossed a stone into the cave, and swung his arm on top of the entrance. After confirming that there¡¯s no further traps, he declared, "Okay, it¡¯s safe now. The poisonous gas should have dissipated about now."


    "Are we going in?"


    "We have to. If my assumption is correct, this entrance will have a Testament of the Dead who entered the Ancient Endorian ruins." Garen replied. "It¡¯s the law of the Ancient Endor."


    The three people carefully shined the flashlight into the cave again, revealing a silvery gray staircase which extends downward.


    On the right side of the staircase, there was a white stone pillar, with oval red stone in an exquisite stone bowl. The stone is as huge as a fist, with carvings of symbols and fine patterns.


    "That¡¯s the one, I¡¯ll recover it." Garen carefully stepped onto the stone staircase, advanced toward the pillar, and reached for the stone bowl.


    Ding ding!


    Two clear dings echoed as something struck the back of his palm, two thorns like the one that attacked Su Lin shot down from above, hitting the back of Garen¡¯s hand and made a golden spark.


    "What a force!" Garen focused and continued reaching his hand over to grab the bowl.


    Pssst!


    Garen withdrew his hand by instinct, his index finger started to smoke, releasing a odor of burnt skin.


    He looked at his finger, the pulp of it was charred, as if the whole area has been broiled with high temperature.

 146 Twist of Fate 2

    Chapter 146: Twist of Fate 2


    "What is that? How¡¯s your hand?" Su Lin turned his attention toward Garen at the same time with Celine.


    "Some kind of strong acid¡­" Garen shook his head to indicate that he¡¯s okay, then exited through the entrance. "Didn¡¯t think this Testament of the Dead would be so hard to recover¡­"


    Garen¡¯s face scrunched up and turned to the west side of the town. Celine and Su Lin stood up at the same time, facing the same direction.


    "Duskdune Shura. He¡¯s here." Celine sniffed the air and murmured.


    "They¡¯re not trying to hide. Here they are." Garen stated calmly. "Take care of yourselves."


    Two silhouettes with black mantle appeared from the pine forest in the west. They stopped after arriving at the outskirts of the graveyard, silently observing Garen and the others.


    "Duskdune Shura," Garen stepped up and asked, "Care to tell me your true intention? What secrets exactly does the Golden Sword Throne hold?"


    He can sense the immense Bravery these two people possess. Duskdune Shura is, without a doubt, a powerful force, but what¡¯s surprising is the other person also has power comparable to him. Garen didn¡¯t have a good feeling about that.


    Now that his speed has vastly increased, he wouldn¡¯t have any problem protecting himself, but Celine and Su Lin would be in trouble. If the opponent really wants to harm them...


    Synchronized, Duskdune Shura and the other person took off their hoods, exposing their facial features.


    Duskdune Shura still looks the same with his time-ravaged features and wrinkles. The other person, however, looks pretty, but expressionless.


    "A woman?" Su Lin looked confused, "No, he¡¯s just androgynous."


    Garen studied the new person. He looks just like the Ice Queen, the only things that gave him away are his Adam¡¯s apple and flat chest. He had a rapier at his waist, and his snowy white hair was kept short, his eyes in the shade of lava.


    "I am known as the Flamingo." The man said to Garen nonchalantly.


    "Flamingo?" Su Lin and Celine gave each other a look, it doesn¡¯t sound like a name, more a nickname.


    "Duskdune Shura said you are qualified to enter the ruins, so he gave you the exact location." Flamingo explained calmly. "I do, however, require to do a little test on your qualification."


    "Test? How?" Garen eyed him suspiciously.


    "Defend yourself from me for one attack." Flamingo slowly pulled on his rapier.


    A black shine came quickly.


    Clang!


    Before he finished his sentence, Flamingo appeared before Garen, his black rapier hacked at Garen rising forearms.


    Like an electric saw cutting metal, sparks flew and the sound of metal grinding clanged!


    Both Flamingo and Garen faced each other, slightly surprised at each other¡¯s power.


    Flamingo suddenly smirked.


    Zing!


    The rapier bent and bounced away.


    "Rend!"


    A black shine.


    Bang!


    The spot Garen was standing on now has two deep trenches. His right arm was protecting his chest, his left was pushing Su Lin standing beside him away. He himself was pushed a whole two meters back by that sudden attack.


    Garen saw very clearly that in the split second, the black rapier had slashed him five consecutive times at the exact same spot. This is about the same level of control as Andrela¡¯s Secret Sword Technique. Moreover, this guy¡¯s as strong as an ox!


    "My turn!" Garen¡¯s face darkened with rage. He was readying his attacks when he suddenly lost his enemy.


    "Not bad," Flamingo lightly landed beside Duskdune Shura. The black rapier was back in its sheath without anyone noticing. "He definitely qualified."


    Duskdune Shura shot a glance at Garen.


    "Thanks for this time, you¡¯re the only one with some free time after all."


    "Don¡¯t sweat it," Flamingo said, "I owed you that much."


    Flamingo bounded forward, dashing toward Garen again, the golden-redness in his eyes becoming more intense.


    He isn¡¯t extraordinarily fast, but somehow has a weird tempo to his movement, like the pumping of the heart. With every beat, his body would blur out just enough.


    "Step aside!" Garen grunted. He guessed his intention and stepped aside to unblock the entrance to the tomb. Su Lin and Celine evaded as well.


    Flamingo no longer acknowledged any of the trio, he jumped and disappeared into the tomb, like a bird in a swoop.


    A shadow, Duskdune Shura, darted after Flamingo, and disappeared into the darkness as well.


    A third mass disappeared. The Testament of the Dead. Garen felt a slight moroseness he couldn¡¯t put into words.


    "Flamingo¡­ Another Master like Duskdune Shura¡­ Celine, any idea who he is?"


    Celine¡¯s face was dark with seriousness, she nodded. "I recognized him. One of the top Grandmasters of Combat from the previous era, same as Duskdune Shura. Him, Duskdune Shura, and White Bird Holy Fist, the three of them were the strongest fighters in the whole Confederate, no one were able to surpass them. The strange thing is, he¡¯s almost seventy years old, how does he still look so young? Even the Essence Locking Art couldn¡¯t produce such ridiculous effect!"


    "Another old geezer." Su Lin had no words. "I heard Duskdune Shura joined a secret group, the Immortal Palace Alliance. That guy isn¡¯t one of them, is he?"


    "It is possible." Celine confirmed, "I¡¯ve heard of the Immortal Palace Alliance, there were five of them, every single one of them were abnormally strong."


    "Garen, what do you think? Are you confident?" Su Lin turned his attention toward a brooding Garen.


    "What he used¡­ what he did, is not only martial arts¡­" Garen was deep in thought. "And his Bravery is as strong as Duskdune Shura."


    "Not only martial arts? What are we even doing here?" Su Lin exclaimed. The two of them followed Garen here to track Duskdune Shura, but they never planned to fight Duskdune Shura directly! Duskdune Shura even had a helper this time!


    "Don¡¯t be rash to go inside." Garen shook his head. "We¡¯ll wait for the Slash Brigade to arrive! If Duskdune Shura wanted to kill me, he¡¯ll have a severe price to pay, but since he has a helper of the same level, I have no idea how it would turn out. We¡¯re not here to court death."


    "Then we should wait. We¡¯ll look for a hiding place." Celine suggested, "This is the Werewolves¡¯ area, I can find a way to avoid detection, but I need some place clandestine."


    "What about the houses in town? We can stay a night over there." Su Lin proposed. "I think the Slash Brigade should be here soon enough."


    "I¡¯m fine with that." Garen agreed. He does not fear Duskdune Shura, but it would be tricky with Flamingo on the playing board.


    "What do they want anyway? What¡¯s the secret behind the Golden Sword Throne? What Flamingo did just now is definitely not martial arts!"


    "Celine, does the Neptune Fist have any record on it?" Su Lin looked to Celine for answer. As the last successor of a powerful martial arts school, Celine has the most authority.


    "I think so, but I can¡¯t recall anything right now, sorry." Celine frowned, "Let¡¯s find a place to rest. I might know what they are looking for."


    "Oh?" That caught Garen¡¯s attention.


    With Flamingo¡¯s help, his hope of getting his hands on the Golden Sword Throne is even slimmer than before. He could only hope for the Slash Brigade¡¯s arrival, and look for opportunities when a fight breaks out.


    Now that the two insanely strong people were down there, he dare not be so reckless to go in alone even though there may be Antiques of Tragedy in there.


    The trio quickly left the spot, leaving behind the open tomb, and found a three-storied building for the night.


    The floor, the walls, the handrail of the staircase, everywhere was covered with chalk and dust, as if it was lined with a furry gray carpet.


    They swiftly cleaned up one of the least damaged room in the top floor, prepared the flint and tinder, made fire, heated up the deep fried pancakes, and cooked a meat mushroom soup.


    While they are dining, the three of them started discussing about the tomb.


    Garon sat quietly while listening to Su Lin and Celine¡¯s analyses and guessworks, letting them take control of the tactic discussion.


    He sat on the ground, looking into the fire while deep in his thoughts.


    "Celine, tell me honestly, monsters like Duskdune Shura and Flamingo, how many are there in the Confederation?" Su Lin sounds as if he¡¯s arguing with Celine.


    "I counted, including the people from Immortal Palace Alliance, not counting people who wield firearms, not more than four." Celine replied softly.


    "¡®Not more than four¡¯, but two were here for the Golden Sword Throne."


    "Flamingo, Duskdune Shura, Palosa, these three are from the same era, they must know something between them, about the Golden Sword Throne. That¡¯s why they¡¯re here together, I suspect they¡¯re all from Immortal Palace Alliance." Celine was unusually calm.


    "Not necessarily true, Maybe they¡¯re just good friends. My father¡¯s case shook the whole Confederation, half the higher ups probably already knew about it, it¡¯s not that hard to find out. That Flamingo dude must have gotten some news from somewhere before coming. I propose that we leave immediately, if we stayed here it¡¯s only gonna get more dangerous." Su Lin frowned.


    "You wouldn¡¯t know, but Grandmasters of Combat like Duskdune Shura and Flamingo, once they approved of Garen, they will not reject his participation. Moreover, people of their stature and their pursuit of the ultimate, they have their own pride, it is impossible for them to jointly attack a weaker person!" Celine reasoned. "So we¡¯re actually really safe."


    "It¡¯s true that I don¡¯t know about their pride. What I do know, is if they actually joined forces, we¡¯re dead!" Su Lin disagreed strongly, "I won¡¯t bet my life on other people¡¯s pride!"


    Celine bit her lower lips, it¡¯s obvious she¡¯s hesitant to leave, but she couldn¡¯t find a better reason to convince Su Lin of otherwise.


    After a good ten minutes of silence, she spoke again.


    "In Neptune Fist, there¡¯s an ancient folio with the record of a secret treasure of Ancient Endorian civilization."


    "Did you just recalled that, or are you finally willing to share that with us?" Su Lin crossed his arm in front of his chest, not feeling the urge to touch any of the food. He looks upset at Celine¡¯s secrecy.


    "Secret treasure of Ancient Endor?" Garen lifted his gaze toward Celine.

 147 Weird 1

    Chapter 147: Weird 1


    Celine nodded her head


    "Yes," she said as she bit her lip, as if she was still uncertain.


    However as she made up her mind, her expression started to relax.


    "Whatever I¡¯ve told you here, please don¡¯t spread it. Regardless if they are your friends or relatives, you mustn¡¯t tell anyone anything. Can you do that?" Celine asked sternly.


    Garen and Su Lin both looked a little shocked upon hearing that.


    "Is it really that serious?" Garen asked softly.


    "Of course," Celine nodded, both her eyes still looking weirdly serious.


    "Alright, no problem," Su Lin nodded in agreement.


    "I also have no issue with it. Alright, now would you please tell us what is the matter?" Garen too felt something was wrong with the way Celine was acting.


    "Actually... Duskdune Shura is probably here because of this. The Golden Sword Throne is supposed to be a key, a key whose presence can only denote danger and opportunity."


    Celine started to recount from memory,


    "This world of ours is incredibly big, bigger than anyone can ever imagine. Even if a man were to take a modern day jet plane, fill it with infinite amounts of fuel, he will still not be able to fly to the end of the ocean. Therefore sometimes it is possible to find some inexplicable places not previously known to anyone before. Found at random, most of these places tend to have existed for a very long time, and within these ruins: sometimes one would find artifacts from millennia ago, or even phenomena not explainable using conventional logic.."


    "Artifacts from millennia ago? So what exactly does this have to do with the Golden Sword Throne? Just tell us already," Garen frowned.


    Celine nodded,"Alright, I¡¯ll skip the unimportant introductions and get down to it. The Golden Sword Throne, is from a mobile ancient ruin that the Ancient Endorian and Nabudas Empire have both explored before. The Golden Sword Throne is actually a relic key retrieved from within the ruin."


    "What is within those ruins?" Garen asked directly.


    "The legendary Blood of Secrets, some say it is the key to immortality, others say it gives tremendeous power. Nobody really knows or agrees on its true nature, but one thing is for sure: this item is incredibly valuable," Celine explained, "The locations of these ancient ruins are usually very hard to predict and pin-point. The times in which they appear are also not set. If it isn¡¯t for the Golden Sword Throne, it would be next to impossible to open the entrance to the site."


    "What you mean by that is..."


    Celine nodded again, "Exactly, there are all kinds of ancient ruins, and each of their contents are vastly different from the other, it¡¯s as if every ruin contains traces of the existence of a different civilization from the others. However one thing is for sure, each and everyone of them contain their fair shares of dangers and opportunities. Each ancient ruin contains a plethora of items of different values, we call these items ¡®Secret Treasures¡¯. The ancient ruin in which the Golden Sword Throne used to reside, was found and explored by the Ancient Endorians a long time ago, only to be explored by the Nabudas Empire shortly after as well. It is believed that the ancient ruins still exist, in fact there is even the possibility that those two great civilizations might have left some souvenirs in there during their time within. But for whatever it is worth, because of their explorations, the Golden Sword Throne became known to be related to the Blood of Secrets. In fact, since then, Ancient Endorian Ruins and the Golden Sword Throne practically became the pronouns for the Blood of Secrets."


    The trio fell silent after, as Garen and Su Lin tried to swallow and digest what Celine just told them.


    The bonfire continued to burn, as it slowly got smaller and smaller. The room¡¯s illumination also started to get darker, the stars in the sky outside the window also started to become visible, as if they¡¯d just woken up.


    Celine looked at the both of them,


    "Well? Do you still plan to leave?"


    The both of them were still silent.


    "There might be lethal dangers inside the ancient ruins, but there could also be opportunity. Some say that the ancient ruins hold strange weaponry and armors. You might even find mysterious animals in there. Some people even suspect that these ancient ruins are what¡¯s left of a dead civilization,"


    Celine added.


    Garen stood up, and looked outside.


    "Let¡¯s wait till the Slash Brigade gets here. I suspect that Duskdune Shura baited us here for something malicious. The Slash Brigadewill definitely find us here eventually, maybe even the werewolves will find us."


    "Just count the hours, those werewolves have probably already made out our tracks." Su Lin nodded, "They might just show up anytime now."


    The trio then fell silent once more. After they finished eating, they started searching the house for some broken furniture to pile up against the windows. This way, the light from the bonfire would not be visible outside. Then they all fell asleep around the bonfire.


    Not sure how long after...


    BANG


    Garen opened his eyes, half awake, he looked at the bonfire in front of him. He thought he had heard something.


    BANG.


    The bonfire made a small crackle again, small sparks flew up from underneath it. The bonfire was long out, the only light one could make from it was the soft red glow of hot charcoal.


    As for Su Lin and Celine: one of them was dead asleep against the wall, while the other had made a small bed out of some stacked clothes on the floor, she too was dead asleep. Her face illuminated a faint red by the embers.


    Garen was the only one awake.


    He got up quietly, and went around the furniture, where he then stood beside the window and looked down.


    Icy cold winds blew from the jungle outside, and with the winds came sounds from far far away.


    Garen tried to look faraway, to the presumed source of the sounds.


    Beyond the black ocean of trees, there were some specks of yellow light moving about. Now and then, one would be able to make out the weak banging of gunshots and wolves howling.


    "Someone¡¯s coming¡­" Garen frowned, and sprinted back to the bonfire to wake Celine and Su Lin up


    "Wake up! Someone is coming, stop sleeping!"


    Both already well prepared mentally, Su Lin and Celine darted up awake. Without even saying anything, they both cleared their heads, found their water bottles and took a gulp, then went to the window together.


    Celine sniffed the air carefully.


    "There¡¯s the scent of werewolf, and also the scent of humans. There is also the scent of blood and gunpowder. Looks like they must have started fighting"


    "Can you tell what kind of blood it is?" Garen asked softly.


    "What do you think my nose is? That I would be able to tell where the blood came from?" Celine rolled her eyes at Garen.


    "Leave that to me," Su Lin took out small telescope from her bag and pulled it to look at the source of the speckles of light.


    Immediately, her face turned into a whole new shade of seriousness.


    "It¡¯s the Slash Brigade!" They¡¯re fighting with the local werewolves! It seems to be quite a big fight!"


    "Let me see," Garen took the telescope from her and took a look for himself.


    Within the telescope¡¯s sights, he saw dozens of werewolf corpses littered about the light, while the Slash Brigade ran alongside the source of the light. Many amongst them looked like there were injured, obviously from being surrounded and then attacked by the werewolves. There was also Beo in the group. That usually stern cold blue haired genius, it seemed like for once he was looking absolutely miserable, and he definitely looked like he was having a tough time fighting the ambush of werewolves from every direction around him.


    "It¡¯s the Slash Brigade, they¡¯ve finally gotten in over their heads, they actually walked directly into the hunting area of werewolves. It doesn¡¯t seem like they even thought of approaching it with some sort of strategy or tact, they just overconfidently walked right into it!" Garen shook his head, "no surprise that they would come into conflict with the local werewolves."


    "Should we go help them?" Su Lin asked.


    "What do you think?" Garen shook his head again, "If it were the werewolves that we encountered earlier, there wouldn¡¯t be any need for our intervention, but from what I see here, these werewolves are way more powerful than the ones before."


    "You mean they might be in serious trouble then? Sure we don¡¯t want to go help?" Su Lin took the telescope and observed the scene once more.


    "Not necessarily, they will eventually enter the ancient ruins. The Slash Brigade probably just made a mistake, they¡¯ll catch up soon enough, I doubt werewolves would be able to slow them down at all." Garen decided, "When they resume their journey, we will enter right behind them."


    "Made up your mind on entering?" Celine didn¡¯t seem convinced.


    "Mm, I have decided. With the Slash Brigade leading the way, we will be much safer," Garen nodded with certainty.


    "I better not go." Su Lin thought, and shook her head, "my presence will just slow you both down. Better if I just wait here until you both made it out and then rendezvous with the Slash Brigade after."


    "That works too, who knows what dangers await us within. We might not be able to take care of you amongst all of that," Garen nodded in agreement.


    "Then let¡¯s wait." Celine said softly.


    The trio continued standing beside the window, staring into the distance as the small speckles of light grew brighter as the came closer in their direction.


    Slightly over ten minutes, the lights arrived at the outskirts of the village. Everyone in the squad looked like a mess, only three were left, one was missing. In this small squad, two of them were holding torches. It seemed, for now, they had repelled the werewolves.


    One of the three who remained cursed the werewolves aloud, while another was using the bark on a tree near him to rub off the blood from his machete.


    Under the observation of Garen¡¯s trio, the Slash Brigade went straight for the entrance to the tomb.


    Very quickly, they found the already opened entrance to the tomb, they hesitated for a second, and then one by one the Slash Brigade disappeared into the entrance along with their lights.


    Obviously, they had known about this entrance all along judging by the way they found it without any delays.


    "Let¡¯s go."


    Garen turned and led the way down into the tomb entrance. Celine jumped, and landed right beside him, following him in.


    "Please help watch over the entrance for us, just find something to cover it up."


    "No problem," Su Lin answered quickly.


    Garen led Celine back to the side of the tomb entrance once more, this time without hesitating, they both went down the stairs.


    The rocky stairs were long and deep, leading down to a rock corridor that was definitely not a tomb. The corridor was long, dark and tight, every ten steps or so there were opposing holders for torches on the walls.


    Garen turned on his flashlight and shone the way ahead. The corridor seemed to lead downwards endlessly, towards an unknown destination.


    "Celine, pay attention to the scent of the Slash Brigade in front of us, make sure we don¡¯t get too close to them or else they might find out we¡¯re tailing them," Garen noted.


    "No problem, just leave it to me." Celine nodded, "But why don¡¯t we just rendezvous with them?"


    "In these ancient ruins where there might be some secret treasures, we cannot trust anyone," Garen shook his head in disagreement.


    "I thought you were planning to catch up with them." Celine looked at Garen as she continued to walk.


    The duo walked and stopped now and then to make sure there weren¡¯t any traps. Sometimes they would find steel needles stuck to the ground, obviously from traps triggered by the group in front of them.


    The most well known symbol of Ancient Endorian culture, is their ability to connect earth and hell with their infinite stairs. The duo walked for over half an hour before they finally reached a brown door. It was ajar, and from the dust prints on the floor, one could easily make out a fresh set of footprints.


    What was intriguing, was that there were two line of texts carved onto the walls around the door.


    Garen leaned closer and shined it with his flashlight carefully.


    "Be careful of sprites."


    He read it softly, the walls were full of Endorian words, he could only roughly make out these few.


    "What does it mean?"


    Ra

 148 Weird 2

    Chapter 148: Weird 2


    Celine shook her head, she didn¡¯t understand what it meant.


    "Let¡¯s go, for whatever it¡¯s worth, the folks upfront have already cleared the way by going ahead," Garen walked into the door.


    Behind the door was a room about the size of a small house¡¯s living area. The walls of the room were decorated with carvings of weird faces, some crying, some in fear, some stern faces etc.


    All around the walls of the entire room were filled with these stone faces. It was as if they had protruded out from within the walls and were trying to escape, hundreds, if not thousands of them.


    Celine couldn¡¯t help but inch closer to Garen as they walked carefully towards a pair of massive stone doors on the opposite side of the room.


    The right door was ajar, obviously someone had already walked into it.


    As the pair walked into the door.


    SHHHHHHAAAAA


    Tens of metal needles suddenly shot out from every direction in the corridor beyond, blocking the way forward.


    Garen pulled Celine and took a step back.


    SHHHAAAAAAA


    The needles shrank back into the floors and walls, once again revealing the dark and seemingly endless corridor.


    "Be careful, it looks very dangerous," Celine reminded, "I smell a horrible stench coming our way."


    "A stench?" Garen was stunned hearing that, and he started paying a lot more attention to the walls on both sides of the corridor.


    On each side of the wall was a small hole about the size of a fist. From within each of those holes, a wormlike creature that glowed a dark green hue started to climb out. When both wormlike creatures finally made their way out, they revealed locust-like wings from their body and started flying; then only the duo could make out their full appearance.


    These weren¡¯t just worms, they were little girl-like things that had dark green skins covered in smooth insect scales. While they had a slender and potentially attractive body shape, their faces were a total turn off as they looked incredibly sly and evil, not to mention the horrible stench.


    The worm-girls flapped their wings rapidly, and made insect like noises. They were headed straight for Garen and Celine. As they got closer, they opened their mouths to conjure some sort of an evil smile, revealing a set of saw-like teeth.


    "Sprites!" Celine took two steps backwards, hoping to pull away from them, "these must be the legendary sprite, be careful! They have very sharp teeth!" She slowly pulled out her belt, her gaze never straying away from the two sprites.


    "Sprites?" Garen was at a loss for words, these abominations looked absolutely hideous, and yet they still had such cute names, surely their appearances did their names no justice.


    "Garen you focus on protecting me! Sprites especially like eating little girls, they¡¯ll definitely focus all their attacks on me!" Celine yelled in fear.


    "Ha?" Garen only just noticed, the two sprites only paid attention to Celine with their gazes of greed and lust.


    WHOOSH


    The two sprites suddenly pranced on Celine. They didn¡¯t even bother with Garen, they just circumnavigated him by flying around his left and right.


    SLAP!


    Garen reached out his right hand and very swiftly caught one of the sprites. With his left hand, he flicked the other sprite with his finger, sending it on a collision course with the wall.


    Grabbing the sprite felt just like grabbing a typical beetle. Their body had no warmth whatsoever.


    "Just like a typical insect, so weak," Garen frowned.


    "Be very careful, sprites have a really resilient body structure, the Neptune Fist have records about them in their books, documenting how they¡¯re very hard to kill!" Celine quickly reminded, "no matter if you burn, drown or stab, whatever you do, you will never be able to completely get rid of them!"


    "Wow, that¡¯s something," Garen¡¯s frown grew deeper.


    On the other side, the sprite that had been struck to the wall got back on its feet and was now back in the air. This time, it was onto Garen with deadly speed.


    SLAP!


    Garen swung his free hand and slapped that sprite to the wall, then he squashed it against the wall to be sure.


    BANG!


    The part of the wall which met his hand sank in around his palm, a great amount of dust fell from that spot and around the corridor.


    As Garen lifted his palm off the wall, the sprite underneath was unscathed, looking only a little dizzy.


    "They¡¯re really strong indeed!" Garen finally realised.


    KA CHA!


    He suddenly felt a sharp pain on his right hand, and quickly let go of the sprite he was clenching in it.


    As he pulled his palm back, he saw a small wound cut open by the teeth of the sprite. They definitely had some really sharp teeth, seeing how they were able to bite through his tough skin with ease.


    "Let¡¯s just run! Head straight towards the needles!" Celine drew her belt in one quick motion, whipping the now free sprite, sending it into a dizzy spell like its other half.


    Garen followed closely behind Celine, running towards the spot where the needles protruded earlier.


    SHHAAAAAAA


    The needles protruded from every part of the walls and floors again, but this time, Garen mustered his might and kicked right into one of them. With a loud snap, it broke into half, revealing a small space for the two of them to run through, and away from the sprites.


    They sprinted for a while, encountering many junctions along the way, but each time Celine wouldn¡¯t even hesitate, she would sniff the air for a split second, then continue forwards.


    After a long run, and a few more flights of stairs, they were finally stopped by a massive black arched door measuring at least 10 meters in height. Like the other doors from before, it was also ajar, revealing a spacious black stone hall within.


    The black stone hall was brightly illuminated, in its centre, there was a black altar with a silver double-edged sword stuck into it.


    The double-edged sword was about the width of a palm, and on it there were carvings of fist sized symbols. On its hilt were two sprites smiling and hugging each other carved into it in perfect uniformity.


    Suddenly they heard some low hums and loud banging noises coming from within the hall.


    BANG!!!


    A massive living thing was thrown against the arch of the door, shaking the ground around the hall as it landed, and raining more dust onto its inhabitants from the ceiling.


    When the dust cleared, Garen and Celine finally make out what the massive thing was.


    It was actually a giant sprite towering over 5 meters in height!


    It looked just like the sprites from before, greenish body, with full breasts and a slender body. All across its naked skin was covered in tough green insect scales, its mouth filled with sawlike teeth and a face that was insidious beyond belief.


    SHHHHHHHH


    The giant sprite roared, and got back on its feet almost immediately.


    Garen and Celine hastily ran into the door.


    Within the hall, Duskdune Shura and Flamingo were standing calmly on one side of the altar, Flamingo wielded the black sword, and was fending off combined attacks from Beo and another person.


    The three of them were engaged in an intense fight, making sounds like a hurricane had struck.


    BANG!!!


    Beo was sent flying to the wall after being slashed by Flamingo, as he slowly slid off the wall, he started puking blood, looks like he was injured pretty badly.


    Flamingo swung his sword around casually, and a silver circle of light appeared in front of him.


    CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!


    Another bearded man dressed in military fatigues wielding a short axe stood in front of the silver curve, his body suddenly shook violently, small red spots suddenly appeared underneath his skin, as if he was having a bad case of goosebumps.


    "Crack!"


    Flamingo rose his sword and slashed it downwards.


    BANG!


    Another low hum, and the bearded man too was sent flying backwards. He rolled on the ground for a while before finally ceasing and lying flat, his axe flew around and landed in the side of his head with a loud crack.


    Garen and Celine also noticed a woman in a suit sitting against the wall in the hall. Her face was incredibly pale, and her chest was pierced through by a dagger, pinning her against the wall as her blood dripped into a puddle on the floor.


    Yet despite this, she was still alive, and still struggling to pull the dagger out of her chest.


    As Garen and Celine entered, everyone ceased in their steps and took notice of them.


    SHHHHHHH!!


    The giant sprite flapped her massive wings, with a strong gush of wind she pranced towards Flamingo. She waved about her fingers which were tipped with incredibly sharp nails, almost dagger-like.


    CLANG!!


    Flamingo¡¯s eyes glew a golden red, the sword in his hand didn¡¯t even move, but in front of her a silver cross appeared in response to the sprite¡¯s attack.


    A bright spark bursted between the cross and the giant sprite, sending the giant sprite and Beo flying backwards to the wall again. As they hit the wall, cracks in the stone wall were left in their wake.


    The giant sprite was now dizzy, and was unable to get back on her feet.


    Flamingo grimaced, and swung his sword in a circular motion with one hand, turning his gaze to Garen and Celine. He had obviously just easily fended off the attacks of Beo¡¯s squad, and along with it, conveniently took down a grumpy giant sprite.


    Garen noticed that from the beginning till now, Flamingo had not even bothered to take off his black cloak, he¡¯s been fighting with only one hand this whole time. In other words, these skilled warriors paired with a legendary being are so powerful that normal folks don¡¯t even deserve their need to be serious in fighting them.


    "Take care of yourself," Garen said softly to Celine before striding confidently towards Flamingo.


    "What¡¯s up? Are you here for the Sword of the Sprites and the Blood of Secrets too?" Flamingo looked at Garen doubtfully, "The Blood of Secrets requires a certain brewing process to work. So even if you get it, it¡¯ll be useless to you. Only members of the Immortal Palace Alliance have the recipe, therefore only if you join us would you be allowed to use enjoy the Blood of Secrets."


    Garen shook his head, "I¡¯ve only just heard about the Blood of Secrets, I honestly have no full picture of what¡¯s going on here." He looked around at everyone in the hall, Beo and gang were either knocked out or heavily injured.


    "Then why did you come in?" Flamingo was now intrigued, "You should know that only grave danger awaits you here right?"


    "Of course," Garen nodded, "My objective is simple, and since you¡¯re a member of the Immortal Palace Alliance, could you please tell me where is Sylphalan?"


    Duskdun Shura and Flamingo stood stunned, they exchanged looks and didn¡¯t utter a word. Flamingo¡¯s originally calm face also suddenly turned distressed.


    "Syl...phalan¡­.what business do you have with him?" Flamingo was silent for a while, then said this.


    Garen didn¡¯t reply, he merely stared at him silently. He knew these two definitely knew the location of Sylphalan. After the many rounds of fighting the group, while Duskdune Shura and Flamingo looked absolutely unscathed, they must have at least suffered some damage or at least exhausted their energy. Hence Garen was confident that if he tried, he could at least inflict heavy damage on them should a fight erupt. Not to mention compared to Beo, right now Garen was closest in terms of skill level to the two of them.


    "Screw it, Flamingo." Duskdune Shura suddenly spoke, he slowly walked up to the altar and lightly pulled out the Sword of the Sprites.


    SHHHH¡­..


    With a soft sound, the Sword of the Sprites was slowly pulled out from the altar.


    "We¡¯ve achieved our objective for this time, you can have the sword. There isn¡¯t what I want here. Let¡¯s go."


    Duskdune Shura turned around and left straight through the door.

 149 Secret Sword 1

    Chapter 149: Secret Sword 1


    Flamingo frowned for a bit.


    "Hmm, alright. What about the Blood of Secrets."


    Duskdune Shura turned the Sword of the Sprites around, and softly popped open the tip of the hilt. Turns out the tip of the hilt hid a small little container, and within it poured out a miniscule amount of dark red blood.


    Duskdune Shura skillfully poured the blood into a glass bottle he had in his other hand.


    "Here it is. Let¡¯s go, I don¡¯t think this is enough for us to make one portion."


    "That will depend on how pure the blood is." Flamingo shrugged, and suddenly swung his sword around his back, hitting the now recovered giant sprite, sending her flying once more, and half fainting again.


    "Have the sword!" Duskdune Shura threw the Sword of the Sprites to Flamingo.


    Catching the Sword of the Sprites, Flamingo threw away his original weapon and stroked its length with his hand.


    "Worlds Will Moan, Sprites Begone!"


    HUUMMMMM


    The runes on the Sword of the Sprites started glowing along the path his hand stroked. One by one they glowed a bright red until the entire sword was glowing and shaking, making the sound of a low hum and transforming into a bright red longsword.


    The red glow from the sword was so bright it illuminated the surroundings of Flamingo until even Flamingo himself was a bright red.


    "This is¡­.!!" Garen took a few steps back, his face now filled with rare fear. He had seen great warriors like Duskdune Shura, and he has also met skilled swordsmen like the Eight-Arm Dragon King. Heck, he¡¯s even met powerful werewolves that were only known to legends; yet now, for once, he was afraid.


    Flamingo brandished the sword in his hand like a magical light show, it was of such magnificence that Garen couldn¡¯t help but skip a breath now and then. The sight, was truly one to behold, almost like magic!


    Flamingo grimaced, and raised the sword high up.


    "End!"


    The red light suddenly reached a scorching brightness, Flamingo lightly swung it.


    SLASH!!!


    A bright red curve formed from that swing, and it started to fly towards the giant sprite. The sprite seemed like she was trying to escape, but she simply wouldn¡¯t move, and could only watch in despair as the red curve came close and slashed through her waist.


    Without a sound, the sprite started falling into two pieces separated between the waistline, and fell onto the ground. The parts where her waist used to be was now two clean cuts, smooth like polished metal.


    The red curve also dimmed out and disappeared after the slash.


    The Sword of the Sprites in Flamingo¡¯s hand also dimmed out. His face looked like he was incredibly tired, it seems that the sword consumes a great amount of energy to wield.


    Celine was now completely stunned, she could only stare at the Sword of the Sprites with silent alert.


    "Should we still try to pick a fight?" She whispered to Garen


    He hesitated, and observed the duo before responding in doubt.


    "This is not right."


    He walked up and blocked the exit of the duo.


    "What? Do you want to fight us?" Flamingo looked at Garen doubtfully. Flamingo didn¡¯t look as chill as he was before, his fight with Beo¡¯s Slash Brigade trio earlier definitely injured him internally. He¡¯s not a user of hard Qi, and had obviously been injured by a good amount of heavy firepower. Not to mention he had just used his remaining energy to use the Sword of the Sprites to rid the giant sprite, he must be heavily injured now.


    Garen took a look at the Sword of the Sprites in Flamingo¡¯s hand, he was definitely still heavy hearted.


    "Well, you seem to have sustained some pretty heavy injuries, so I will not fight you. Duskdune Shura, my request is simple, tell me what¡¯s the use of the blood and give me the Golden Sword Throne, it is the relic key for this area."


    Duskdune Shura¡¯s old face made no expression, "Nice observation skills, I¡¯m surprised you could tell we¡¯re heavily injured."


    "Just give it to me, I would rather not take advantage of your situation now, but consider this time as a bad miscalculation in your strategy. I¡¯m not sure why you wanted to bait us in here, but this does not affect my need to achieve my final objective." Garen stepped up, his eyes slightly drooping, his body emitted a surge of intimidating energy. He was adjusting his stance and summoning his hardening Qi, he wasn¡¯t sure if the Sword of the Sprites in the hands of Flamingo could cut him, but he was willing to try.


    Should a fight break out, for sure both sides would end up heavily injured. Garen might be unscathed for now, but he was still outnumbered, so even though the both of them are heavily injured, he still doesn¡¯t stand a healthy chance.


    Duskdune Shura started laughing.


    "I¡¯ll let you win this time." He straight took out the palm sized Golden Sword Throne and threw it at Garen, "What a pity, if it wasn¡¯t for those rascals messing up my setup outside, perhaps we could have¡­...Ah screw it, let¡¯s not talk about it. We will meet again, goodbye."


    "Goodbye." Garen caught the Golden Sword Throne, and smiled for abit. He gave way and watched as the two of them left in a single file.


    "Let¡¯s follow them out," Garen turned around and told Celine.


    Celine nodded in agreement.


    The two of them turned around to look at everyone around the room, after a short moment of hesitation, Garen lifted a member of the Slash Brigade in each of his hands, and took quick steps to follow up with Duskdune Shura and Flamingo.


    "Be careful, if I¡¯m not wrong, coming in may have been easy, going out is most likely going to be tougher." Celine reminded Garen.


    Garen nodded, and at this moment Beo and the bearded man in his arms started to come to.


    "That rascal Duskdune Shura, I WILL KILL HIM ONE DAY!" The bearded man moaned softly as he slowly awoke.


    "You better take care of yourself first," Garen said, "So many of you versus the two of them, not to mention you even had a giant sprite on your side, yet they still managed to leave in one piece."


    "Let go of me!" the bearded man yelled, "Who do you think you are? Do you even know how powerful Duskdune Shura and Flamingo are?!"


    "What¡¯s wrong with you? Garen saved you, and yet you don¡¯t even thank him!" Celine glared at him sternly.


    "I could¡¯ve easily made it out with or without his help!" the bearded man groaned. He struggled out of Garen¡¯s grasp and took a few clumsy steps away before finally standing straight. Despite his face looking a little pale, he seemed to have regained his mobility.


    Garen looked at him with slight, but he couldn¡¯t give a damn, and continued walking until they reached the needle barriers where they encountered the sprites earlier.


    Now they could only see the corpses of the two sprites, their bodies nicely sliced through the waist like the giant sprite earlier.


    Garen knelt down beside the corpses and gently picked up one half of a sprite¡¯s corpse.


    As he touched it, the corpse instantly disintegrated into black dust all over the floor, leaving only its wings. Each sprite had two pairs of locust like wings, Garen thought for a moment, and decided to take two pairs for himself, pocketing it, he quickly stood up and left.


    By this time, the bearded man was nowhere to be found.


    "This ancient ruin doesn¡¯t look dangerous at all!" Garen said to himself as he rushed out.


    Celine jumped and hung onto his shoulders.


    "The biggest problem with the sprites¡¯ ruins is the giant sprite, but since Duskdun Shura and Flamingo took care of that for us, we should be set. If you tried coming alone it might¡¯ve been a different story."


    "So why did you come here? Don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s because of pure curiousity."


    "Nothing much really, it¡¯s just that I¡¯ve read about the ancient ruins for the longest time, and I really didn¡¯t want to miss the opportunity to see one for myself. If I didn¡¯t come, I would¡¯ve never seen things like the sprites, and not to mention that weird magic work of Flamingo¡¯s new sword."


    "You¡¯re right, if you hadn¡¯t seen it for yourself, who would¡¯ve believed that Flamingo would gain abilities like that?" Garen felt a little grateful as well.


    The two of them continued to rush ahead, the corridor seemed to pass behind them, as their talking didn¡¯t slow them down at all.


    "But why aren¡¯t the others anyhow interested in the sprites?" Garen was baffled, "And why did they leave so quickly?"


    Suddenly his eyes opened wider than before, as if he just had an epiphany, and Celine too did the same, they both looked at each other.


    "THE RUINS MUST BE A TRAP!" Celine yelled.


    Without another thought or word, the duo sped up and sprinted even faster towards the exit.


    With Beo in one hand, and the Golden Sword Throne in the other, Garen felt a cold breeze coming from the Golden Sword Throne, it made him feel incredibly uneasy. The process of which he obtained the relic key was way too easy, from Duskdune Shura fighting with the Slash Brigade, to all the traps and obstacles being removed by them, plus ending up with being able to pick up the Golden Sword Throne without the slightest effort. It was all too fishy. The members of the Immortal Alliance are never this friendly, it seemed like they were intentionally giving the relic key to Garen.


    "I hope nothing bad happens."


    Very soon, Celine and Garen made it to the very first ghost faced living room.


    WHOOSH


    Just as they entered, they saw Duskdune Shura and Flamingo leaping to evade a massive blade¡¯s slash.


    Flamingo held onto the glowing Sword of the Sprites firmly as it glowed a bright red, and he stared sternly at the other side of the living room. It wasn¡¯t just him, but there was Duskdune Shura, the bearded man, and some strangers of unknown origins.


    Everyone was spread apart, staring at a shadow in the middle of the living room.


    "Five more minutes until the ancient ruins collapses! We do not have time, Garen! Quickly come help! Or else we might all not make it out!" Duskdune Shura was the first to notice Garen¡¯s trio arrive.


    "What¡¯s going on?!" Garen turned his gaze to the shadowed figure in the middle, then he was stunned.


    That being was about the height of a human, with green scales all over and the looks of a sprite. Except that this one didn¡¯t have any wings, and was wielding a green equivalent of the Sword of the Sprites.


    By the looks of everyone, it seems like this was a truly intimidating fellow.


    As if he could make out the puzzled look on Garen¡¯s face, Duskdune Shura explained, "Originally I was confident I would be able to fight these damned sprites, except we got injured by those rascals earlier, now we can only face this ourselves..."


    CLANG!!!


    Duskdune Shura took a backstep, evading the slash from the sprite, the sword landed on the ground, leaving marks where it meets the ground.


    BANG BANG!


    After two loud gunshots, the sprite got shot in the head, and its body disintegrated into many little sprites, flying about, and attacking whoever they find in their path.


    Garen tried to keep his calm, these little sprites¡¯ sharp teeth can easily bite through his hardened skin, if he doesn¡¯t pay attention he might lose it.


    "Now I¡¯ve achieved my objective, I¡¯ve acquired the Golden Sword Throne, there¡¯s no need for me to be involved in this; I should find a way out as soon as possible"


    He turned his gaze to where the exit stairs would¡¯ve been. What was weird, was that there was no door now, it was as if the exit never existed in the first place.


    During this short time, Duskdune Shura swept his palm and hit two sprites in front of him, Flamingo followed in sync and slashed them into four clean pieces. Their actions drew the attention of most sprites.


    The bearded man on the other hand swung his dagger around blocking the attacks of the sprites. His face was a pale white, his arms were also numb from the continuous attacks, but suddenly he had an epiphany, and pulled out a black grenade.


    "Fuck this! If I¡¯m dying, we¡¯re all dying together!" He pulled out the safety ring and threw the grenade to the middle of the room.


    Duskdune Shura and Flamingo rapidly retreated to the corner of the room, Flamingo¡¯s Sword of the Sprites kept drawing new red curves in the air, slicing every sprite around him, and making some sort of a half circle defense line between the two of them.


    The two of them noticed the bearded man¡¯s action, but they stood unfazed, and only smirked.


    Instead it was the trio that just got in that were shocked, one of them quickly took out his gun and aimed it at the bearded man, but it was too late.


    "You¡¯re insane!" Celine was the first to notice this, and quickly ducked to hide behind Garen.


    Using a grenade in a crowded and tight room like this, even the shockwave alone will be able to cause serious damage to everyone. The bearded man intends to bring everyone down with him!


    "Stay safe now! Duck!" Garen too saw the grenade, he took a deep breath and expanded his entire body, before he reached his maximum expansion, he pulled Beo and Celine behind him.

 150 Secret Sword 2

    Chapter 150: Secret Sword 2


    RUMBLE!!


    A loud crash.


    A massive fireball blew up inside the living room, red light illuminated everywhere and everything in an instance. Hot air from the fireball gushed out in every direction.


    Garen could only feel the red light as he tightly shut his eyelids, but his ears rung from the shockwave, so he couldn¡¯t hear anything. He could only feel a numbness in his head as immense heat wrapped his body and burned him in every exposed spot of skin.


    "I¡¯m hurt!!!"


    He couldn¡¯t spare time to think, so he started rolling on the ground.


    When he opened his eyes once more, half of his clothes were still slightly on fire, the smokes from embers on his shirt were rising from as they sought to burn it all.


    He quickly ripped his shirt off and stepped on it to put out the embers.


    Smoke filled the living room, nobody could see anything clearly. There were two spots on the ground that were still visibly on fire.


    "Are you alright?" He turned around to check on Celine and Beo. Save for the dust filled face, Celine looked pretty alright, while Beo was shook awake by the shockwave and stood up with a loud moan.


    "I¡¯m alright! That madman! How could he use a grenade in a place like this! While he may not cherish his life, I cherish mine!" Celine said while spitting out dust and dirt from her mouth.


    Garen scrunched up his face as he suddenly heard the sound of low rustles coming from the living room.


    He looked about the room trying to determine the source and saw everyone as the smoke started to clear.


    Duskdune Shura and Flamingo were still standing right where they were before, unscathed and untouched by the explosion.


    The trio that just came in were in a worst state, all of them were bleeding from their ears, one of them lost a chunk of flesh on his right arm, whilst all three of them were all still on fire and desperately trying to put it out.


    The bearded man, strangely, was also barely injured, he climbed up and looked at everyone coldly.


    At this moment they realised the rustling sound was coming from the ground.


    A large amount of sprites burnt to black were on the ground, not dead. In fact despite being charred, they got up almost immediately into the air and regrouped into the form of a man sized sprite.


    "Everyone be careful! If we don¡¯t deal with this fucker we¡¯ll never get out!" Duskdune Shura belowed with a serious tone.


    "No wonder you baited all these warriors here!" One of the trio, who was a blonde girl, yelled back angrily.


    In this moment, the sprite seemed to be fearful of Duskdune Shura and Flamingo, it turned around and instead tried to kill everyone else. This asshole was not afraid of guns or swords, its body was hard beyond belief and even if one were to slice through, it¡¯ll just dispersed and reassemble. This was true immortality!


    The bearded man had just thrown out a grenade, and was obviously the number one target for the sprite. The sprite ran straight for him, without even much effort it sliced the bearded man¡¯s dagger in half. It was only when he cowardly ducked and rolled on the floor was he able to evade their attack.


    "If I survive this, I will remember this day where you saved my life."


    Beo unsheathed his sword and ran towards the sprite to help the bearded man.


    Garen evaluated the situation of his own body, while his skin suffered some light burns, he wasn¡¯t hurt too bad that it would affect his ability to fight.


    "What now? Even grenades can¡¯t touch this fucker!" Celine asked him softly from behind him.


    "No rush." Garen shook his head, "For now it is no threat to us, let¡¯s just observe the situation."


    The sprite was definitely powerful, while it didn¡¯t pose a threat to Garen for now, he still had to be careful.


    "Garen, are you not going to do anything?" Duskdune Shura noticed his inaction, "If we don¡¯t kill it, none of us are getting out!"


    Garen squinted his eyes in intimidation and took a sweep looking around the room, "If even you folks can¡¯t handle him, how will I stand a chance?"


    ""As long as we can chop off the Sword of the Sprites from the hand of this sprite, its ability to regenerate will be impeded. We need you to help suppress it, I¡¯m carrying the Blood of Secrets. If I get taken down and this asshole gets its hands on it then it¡¯ll be impossible to defeat." Duskdune Shura responded with a stern face.


    "Alright," Garen wasn¡¯t sure if he was lying or not, but one thing was for sure: they were all stuck here without an exit, and if he¡¯s right then this could be a way out. Plus, Garen had long wanted to test the abilities of this fellow.


    He stepped up, staring at the human like sprite.


    The sprite seemed to have sensed something, it stopped in its steps and turned around, it clenched and unclenched its mouthful of sharp teeth, staring in intimation at Garen behind it.


    "Watch out!" Celine yelled from behind Garen.


    Garen nodded.


    BANG!


    There was a light shook of the ground as the humanlike sprite ran towards Garen, the air around it made a loud hum as it passed through the living room.


    WHOOOSH


    The loud tear shook the whole room.


    Garen dashed right at it, he put his five fingers in his right arm together like a blade and pointed it straight at the head of the sprite. He was mustering such strength that the veins on the pack of his palm protruded like steel cables.


    "THROW ! !"


    Garen¡¯s hand blade turned and became a palm facing the incoming Sword of the Sprites wielded by the charging humanlike sprite.


    BANG!!


    The two of them crashed into each other, the sprite was lifted into the air within a split second and thrown back like a kite on a draft, the great force plus the shockwave made it impossible to disintegrate into little sprites.


    "Do it now!"


    Duskdune Shura made low growl, and took a step back.


    A red line flew from his back and it welcomed the backwards flying sprite coming in his direction.


    SLASH!


    The body of the sprite was instantly sliced into half, spinning towards the wall on the right.


    Ah!!!


    The sprite made one last moan in pain, before disintegrating into millions of specks of dust.


    With a loud clang, Flamingo sheathed his sword and pulled out the Green Sword of the Sprites from the wall.


    Garen meanwhile was breathing deep breaths on the other side of the room.


    "Alright, let¡¯s go."


    He led the way headed in the direction of Duskdune Shura and Flamingo, as the wall behind the duo opened to reveal the exit staircase.


    Celine leaped and hung onto Garen¡¯s shoulders.


    Beo, the bearded man, and the other three were shocked beyond belief.


    A monster they had no logical way of defeating, was completely annihilated within a few seconds. Everyone who was able to make it this far was the best of the best, or else they wouldn¡¯t have been able to survive till now, however after seeing what happened just now, they were all shook.


    That sprite had fought them all, they were very aware of just how powerful it was, and yet Garen had only used one palm technique and he sent it flying across the room, in fact he was able to do it with such skill that it didn¡¯t disintegrate. Not to mention the way Flamingo cleaned up the end with a slash of his sword, it was of a whole different level.


    "You have become much more powerful," Duskdune Shura said to Garen who was walking beside him now.


    "It¡¯s just that I became quicker," Garen admitted timidly as he headed straight for the exit, "This time I¡¯ll let you go, but next time I will defeat you head on!"


    "I look forward to seeing you try," Duskdune Shura grimaced.


    Flamingo looked at Garen with suspicion, thinking of something nobody knew. From the moment Garen mentioned Sylphalan, Flamingo has been acting weird, in fact he seemed to have been less cocky since then.


    After this whole expedition, Garen felt pretty fulfilled. He had achieved half of his objectives, firstly was the acquisition of the Golden Sword Throne, second was that he was able to indirectly fight Duskdune Shura. Sadly Duskdune Shura was heavily injured this time, so it wasn¡¯t a fair fight, and even if he wasn¡¯t, he was still covered by Flamingo. With the two of them present, Garen had zero confidence in being able to hold up in a fair fight.


    **************


    Outside the tomb


    Packs upon packs of Werewolves started surrounding the entrance to the tomb. Everywhere around the forest was filled with large wolves and Werewolves. Their leader, a tall and buff werewolf with black mane that looked like a lion¡¯s mane, stared at the tomb¡¯s entrance with his brows tightly held together, thinking of something.


    Not far away, in the village and between the houses, Su Lin had somehow started walking with Joseph and were trying to sneakily observe the spot surrounded by the Werewolves.


    "How¡¯s the situation like?" Su Lin asked Joseph softly.


    "Can¡¯t tell, it¡¯s too far."


    Joseph shook his head, "The wolf kind lost so many of their members, they definitely won¡¯t let this go easily, this is a matter of vengeance for them so they seem to have brought a large number and surrounded the perimeter."


    "What an annoyance. We don¡¯t even know when Garen and the group are coming out," Sulin said as she frowned, "The Immortal Palace Alliance members are just here for the Blood of Secrets, but the Slash Brigade wants to kill Duskdune Shura plus some unknown objective of theirs. What does this have to do with Garen? Did he go in just so he could fight Duskdune Shura? Not to mention Celine..."


    Su Lin really couldn¡¯t figure out why Garen went in. As for the still mysterious Celine, he even had less of an idea.


    Although it looked like Garen was here to settle a score with Duskdune Shura, but in reality it seemed like he had other intentions, and Su Lin knew of this.


    Garen that rascal, he went from a mortal to gradually growing his strength level by level, and then gaining respect in the martial arts communities. After which within a short time he started defeating greater and greater opponents, becoming stronger and stronger until he fought Andrela and became affirmed as the champion of the 12 Gates of the South, then recognized by the Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate as their official Sky Warrior, he was certainly an incredible force.


    He had seen Garen from his early days, and had been there for him every step of the way. In fact, he even managed to get Garen to owe him two favors. This time Garen had invited him to help pursue Duskdune Shura, but by the way things were looking right now, he was just baffled.


    "Whatever it is, just don¡¯t get in trouble!" Su Lin muttered to himself in worry.


    "They¡¯ve come out!" Joseph exclaimed softly.


    Su Lin quickly turned to look at the tomb entrance, the sky was slowly lighting up, and he could almost make out the situation.


    At the entrance of the tomb, Garen carried Celine and walked out slowly. He had some burn marks on his, but his expression still looked like he was pretty chill, obviously everything was alright.


    As he noticed the surrounding Werewolves, he expression sank, and he just stood there silently.


    Very soon, another two more people protruded from the tomb entrance, it was Duskdune Shura and Flamingo, one behind the other, walking out calmly. Their mere presence created a ruckus in the Werewolves.


    The leader of the pack howled with his head in the air.


    Ahhhooooo~~~~!


    The sound was one of despair and anger, it looked at Duskdune Shura and Flamingo with a deadly glare, as if it was about to explode anytime now.


    A large pack of Werewolves prepared to prance on the two of them, the deep growls and howls of the Werewolves filled the air, it sounded and looked like there were hundreds upon hundreds of them.


    Garen squinted at the two of them standing beside him, and took a step away so he at least had some distance.


    "Looks like their issue with the Werewolves are much larger than mine..." He lifted the side of his lip in a sly smile, looking right at Duskdune Shura.


    If given the chance, Garen definitely wouldn¡¯t give up the opportunity to kill Duskdune Shura. Although he didn¡¯t have any sort of deadly vendetta against him, but Duskdune Shura did try to kill him once, and Su Lin also wanted Duskdune Shura dead for something else.


    Not to mention, he was incredibly interested in the vial of Blood of Secrets being held by Duskdune Shura.


    Long, despaired howls welcomed the sunrise, Duskdune Shura could feel Garen¡¯s uneasy and unfriendly glare from behind him.


    "Well this is tricky." He knew that if he gave Garen the right opportunity, Garen wouldn¡¯t even think twice about ending his life.


    "Flamingo, looks like I¡¯m going to need your help to keep these Werewolves busy. I didn¡¯t expect that amongst the Werewolves there would someone who would be unaffected by my tricks," Duskdune Shura said to Flamingo under his breath.


    "You sure you can take on the one behind you? In the state that you¡¯re in?" Flamingo frowned in response.


    "Even if I can¡¯t, I must!" Duskdune Shura smiled slightly, "I have not felt exhiliration like this for many many years."


    "I¡¯ll leave the Werewolves to you." His face resumed its usual demeanor.


    "Leave them to me." Flamingo unsheathed his longsword, welcoming the arrival of the Werewolves.


    Duskdune Shura turned around and faced Garen.


    "By the looks of it you¡¯re not going to give up this opportunity are you?"


    "I¡¯m glad you understand." Garen smiled.


    RUMBLE!!


    Both of them took off in a flash, leaving a crater in their wake. Two shadows dashed towards the woods one behind the other.


    "Today will be the day of your death!" Garen increased the velocity of his feet, and sped up with a loud bang.

 151 The Chase 1

    Chapter 151: The Chase 1


    "They¡¯ve started fighting!" Joseph said,"Su Lin, those two freaks are fighting!"


    "One of them is my friend¡­," Su Lin corrected him,"could you please not call him a freak?"


    "Oh...I¡¯m sorry, I was too excited."


    The two of them could see Duskdune Shura leading with Garen in the chase as they dashed into the formation of the Werewolves. Like two bulldozers, where they hit the formation, Werewolves were sent flying. Even someone far far away could hear the sunken footsteps.


    Very quickly, they disappeared into the shadows.


    Soon, a small group of people emerged from the tomb entrance. First off it was the three strangers who had just entered, then there was the bearded man and Beo, everyone in this group looked like a pile of mess.


    Upon seeing what had transpired outside the entrance, the group quickly ran to stand with Celine, in anticipation of an attack from the Werewolves.


    What was interesting however, was that only a few Werewolves attacked them, while the majority instead were headed towards Flamingo.


    At this moment, Flamingo was attracting everyone¡¯s attention.


    He seemed to be chanting something, and as he did, he would stroke his sword ever so softly, and wherever his fingers touched the sword, it would glow in red. In total, nine runes started glowing bright, lava red.


    *************************************


    Bang!!


    Garen and Duskdune Shura¡¯s arms hit each others, some bits of loose cloth was sent flying.


    The both of their arms kept colliding, as the fought furiously, letting out sounds like thunder each time their arms collided. As they fought like a hurricane, they slowly pushed their way out of the Werewolves¡¯ formation as well.


    "You cannot kill me," Duskdune Shura suddenly produced a hand knife technique with his right hand, which was blocked just in time by Garen.


    "How can you be so sure if you don¡¯t let me try?" Garen smiled.


    Pow!!


    The both them retreated away from each other, creating a small distance between them.


    "First Dan!"


    Garen put his foot down, and the ground shook violently, his body suddenly expanded. He gestured his right hand into a hand knife and went straight towards Duskdune Shura.


    Bang!!


    His hand knife hit a tree instead, littering wood shavings all over the floor. The tree shook slightly, and the top of it started slanting by a bit.


    Duskdune Shura had evaded his attack by moving to the side, his face was hit by one of the bigger splinters, and it was obvious he was hurting a little from it. This made his expression change.


    "Increase in speed seems to have also increase your strength. If that¡¯s the case..."


    He too put his down onto the floor, drawing a weird curve shape with it, he was neither quick nor slow, but just fast enough to evade Garen¡¯s second hand knife attack.


    He turned around, and revealed his right palm, which by now had some sort of a black mark on it in the shape of a V, like someone had painted it on with ink.


    "The first Dragon¡¯s Gate!"


    Bang!


    Garen¡¯s face dropped, he thought he had evaded it.


    He was certain he had seen himself evade it early, but still somehow he got struck. He felt a his right waist going numb, just like the time he first got hit by a palm technique.


    "Fuck!" Garen didn¡¯t want to believe in this witchcraft, so he returned with another palm,"I refuse to believe you hit me!"


    Since he couldn¡¯t evade it anyways, he decided to repay pain with pain, and released his fury onto Duskdune Shura.


    However, he only managed to hit the seems of his clothes.


    "Second Dragon¡¯s Gate!"


    Again it came, when he heard Duskdune Shura¡¯s voice, Garen hastily retreated.


    "Serial Swing Form!"


    Both of his palms rapidly drew up a circle.


    However, once more, Garen saw his Serial Swing Form hit nothing but air!


    Just as he was about thit Duskdune Shura¡¯s arm, his opponent suddenly twirled downwards, and sneakily evaded the collision, then lightly slapped Garen¡¯s stomach.


    Pow !!


    "What is happening?!" His pupils dilated, he could only feel numbness in his waist and nothing else, his internal energies were also starting to get messed up.


    "Third Dragon¡¯s Gate!" Duskdune Shura announced, with a quick turn of his feet, he was suddenly behind Garen, with his back against him, he hit Garen¡¯s tailbone with his right palm.


    "Second Dan! Rush Form!"


    Garen scrunched up his face, his body expanded even more now as it started turning into a sinister green and black colour. He rushed forward with his shoulders, aiming directly for his opponent¡¯s chest.


    But that weird, sinister feeling from earlier came back once more. Duskdune Shura evaded Garen¡¯s attack with a simple turn of his feet, and hit Garen in his tailbone again.


    Bang!


    Garen staggered forward a few steps, where his foot had stepped on, he raise grass and wood shavings into the air, creating an opportunity for him to pull his distance away from his opponent.


    The two of them now once again stood facing each other in the same distance as before.


    "Final Hit!" Duskdune Shura rushed towards Garen, his body now turned into a black shadow, his arms were like electric from an eel, the speed much much faster than the previous three hits.


    "Bring it on!!" Garen bellowed, sounds of a python hissing suddenly started appearing around him, he tried to block with both of his arms.


    But they were no good, the opponent¡¯s palms easily slipped past his Red Jade Palm¡¯s protection, and made their way towards Garen¡¯s chest.


    "Double Shots Form!"


    At this moment, Garen focused himself, both of his palms shot out like lightning and went straight for Duskdune Shura¡¯s chest. The breeze around them shifted from a soft blow to a loud tear in the sky.


    Since he couldn¡¯t evade it anyways, might as well stop trying to evade and just return pain with pain.


    "It¡¯s useless," Duskdune Shura, barely flinched, and continued forward.


    Bang!


    Duskdune Shura somehow evaded Garen¡¯s attack again, he now landed both his palms on Garen¡¯s chest. As the force and shockwave settled into Garen¡¯s chest, he paused for a moment, then he was sent flying backwards.


    Sensing the response from his palms, it wasn¡¯t enough! Duskdune Shura focused his sights on Garen.


    Without a moment of hesitation, Duskdune Shura jumped up in a split second and was suddenly flying in parallel with Garen¡¯s backwards flying body!


    "Go back down onto the ground!"


    His gestured to elbow Garen with his left hand, as it expanded and turned black, like a concrete pillar it hit Garen in the abdomen.


    Boom!


    Garen was sent straight to the ground, forming a crater around where he landed.


    "The Fifth Dragon¡¯s Gate! It is finished." Duskdune Shura lifted his right palm.


    Garen was not done.


    [I refuse to believe I can¡¯t hit you!]


    "Red Jade Palm!"


    Bang !


    The pine forest was filled with the sound of strong winds rushing through them, in between the leaves rustling and trees moving, there were still the occasional tweet from a bird or two.


    Everything seem to have sunk into silence in a sudden, leaves from the pine trees fell like rain.


    Meanwhile in the crater.


    Garen and Duskdune Shura¡¯s right palms met each other, but neither were moving.


    Suddenly, both of their bodies started shaking violently, the vibrations were being sent back and forth each other¡¯s bodies, this was a highly advanced technique of defensive vibration only mastered by the greatest warriors.


    Duskdune Shura¡¯s face paled, he suddenly took three steps backwards.


    Bang, bang bang, each step he made left obvious footprints in the ground.


    The edge of his lips opened slightly to let out a small streak of blood.


    "Fuck me¡­."


    Garen slowly got up, his face now forming a sly smile.


    "How is this possible?!" Duskdune Shura¡¯s eye opened wide in disbelief. "How could you... how could you still move?!"


    After being hit by his first four out of seven Dragon Gates, no matter how strong one¡¯s Body Hardening was, it would still require at least ten plus minutes to get up, let alone move like this! He simply couldn¡¯t comprehend what was transpiring before his eyes.


    "It¡¯s quite disappointing," Garen moved his body like nothing had hit him,"in reality you only managed to seal two of your palms. My second Dan can manipulate all of my inner energies, creating a high speed metabolism to tackle arteries that are sealed. Plus a little bit of assistance from some blood boiling. Not to mention, you didn¡¯t use enough energy..."


    Garen pulled the remaining cloth on his upper body with one hand, revealing his statuelike muscular upper body.


    With his long purple hair casually draped over the shoulder of his muscular body, Garen¡¯s both eyes suddenly glowed a bright red.


    "This¡­...is the real ¡®finishing¡¯"


    Bang!


    Before his last word dropped, Garen made a strong stomp on the crater, and dashed towards Dushdune Shura in a split second.


    The both of them collided into each other, their arms exchanging attacks, releasing loud bangs over and over again.


    Duskdune Shura was visibly moving backwards, as he tried hard to defend against Garen¡¯s endless attacks.


    Ka Cha!


    One of the pine trees was chopped by Garen¡¯s hand knife, like a thin bamboo tree¡¯s stem being sliced, it fell onto the next pine tree.


    The both of them fought while moving about the pine tree forest, as they moved further and deeper into the forest.


    "Red Jade!"


    Garen¡¯s two palms suddenly glowed red, and moved in parallel towards Duskdune Shura.


    With a loud bang, Duskdune Shura¡¯s both arms tried to block the attack but he was still pushed back for ten plus steps. By the end of those ten steps, he spat out some blood.


    With his back against a nearby pine tree, Duskdune Shura could only feel a strong burning sensation from the parts of his arms where he had used to block Garen¡¯s attacks. As he lifted them up close to inspect, he noticed that they had started to form blisters like they had been burned by fire.


    "This is...Firestream Fist??!! You...you...were able to master hardening techniques and still perfect this level of Second Secret Techniques!!??" Duskdune Shura¡¯s face was filled with disbelief.


    Garen smiled a little.


    "You were actually able to recognise it," since the opponent had mistook his Red Jade Palm for Firestream Fist, he decided to play along. It was true that Red Jade Palm had absorbed the attributes of Firestream Fist and Dark Iron Palm, in fact it was an enhanced version of both.


    "Again!"


    "Red Jade, Single Shot Form!"


    Garen dashed forward, his right palm extended.


    His entire right palm glowed red, releasing a great amount of heat, like iron burned to red, it aimed straight for his opponent¡¯s chest.


    "Dragon Overturns Ocean Technique!!" Duskdune Shura yelled at the top of his voice, his face flashed a bright red, obviously showing he had used some sort of secret technique to trigger a hidden ability.


    A low rumble started ringing in Garen¡¯s head, as if a massive masculine lion had appeared in front of him and was about to prance on him.


    "Bravery Repression technique? I know that too!" Garen scoffed, suddenly a strong aura of courage appeared around him, the formless energy concentrated to form a massive white elephant charging towards the lion.


    Bang!! Both apparitions disappeared at the same time.


    Duskdune Shura fell backwards like a kite that just had its string cut, his mouth still spitting a massive amount of blood mid air, as his face turned a deadly pale.


    Da! Da! Da! Da!


    A string of gunshots echoed, a massive amount of bullets landed on Garen, creating a ton of sparks, forcing him to take a few steps back. This machine gun¡¯s bullet felt weird, it was incredibly strong, and even when it hit the body of Garen it felt like a string of needles had stabbed him.


    "Run!" A sound came out of nowhere.


    While Garen was still suppressed by the machine gun, Duskdune Shura immediately made a roll as soon as he landed and got back on his feet to run towards the depth of the pine forest.


    When the gunshots finally stopped, Garen got back to his senses and noticed Duskdune Shura had ran, he quickly made chase.


    "Running away already? You aren¡¯t even done letting me experience all the forms of Seven Dragon Gate!"


    With one running and the other chasing, the both of them ran even further away from the Werewolves¡¯ formation, the elevation around them increased, it seemed they were headed uphill.

 152 The Chase 2

    Chapter 152: The Chase 2


    It was hard to determine how much time had passed beneath the blazing sun. Garen, who had just increased his speed, was slightly faster than Duskdune Shura¡¯s secret method. Their journey eventually took them to the edge of a sheer cliff.


    At this point, they were so far away from their initial location that it was impossible to tell just how far they¡¯d traversed.


    The cliff shot up from the earth below, a face of white contrasted against a surface of dense, dark green pine trees densely clumped together.


    Both of them stood firmly on the rocks found in between those pine trees.


    Duskdune Shura was standing up above cliff with Garen just below him.


    "Not running away anymore?"


    Duskdune Shura wiped a blood stain off his cheek.


    "Do you want the Blood of Eternal Life?"


    Garen was taken aback at the sudden comment.


    Duskdune Shura laughed and said.


    "You and I both stand at the edge of body hardening technique. In this world, how many others are there just like us? Why must you fight me?"


    "You almost killed my friend¡¯s family, as well as I. This is my reason." Garen shook his head as he explained. "We hold no grudges against each other. Perhaps we can even be friends in another world. If only¡­"


    "Yes¡­ If only¡­" Duskdune Shura sighed in accordance with him. He then raised an arm and revealed the blisters that covered all over his hands. It was the effect of the Red Jade Palm. "Have you met Palosa?"


    "What about him?"


    "The current you reminds me of him in the past." Duskdune Shura brought past memories to mind. "Palosa was like you before he became the Saint of Fist Technique, undefeated among the younger generation. He was not much weaker than the Grandmaster of combat of the older generations as well. Unfortunately¡­"


    "Unfortunately what?" Garen stared at him calmly.


    "Unfortunately you¡¯re not as magnanimous as he is."


    Garen¡¯s eyes narrowed.


    "Are you implying that I¡¯m taking advantage of your injury? Isn¡¯t it logical to make good use of an opportunity presented before you?"


    "You¡¯ll never surpass him." Duskdune Shura said with a gentle smile, pointing his toe and leaping backwards, landing on the very edge of the cliff.


    "It¡¯s plain logic to grab hold of any means to an end. If that were not the case wouldn¡¯t have become what you are today.." Garen followed him closely upward. "That was your friend was it not? I¡¯ll send him to your way once I¡¯ve finished dealing with you."


    "You don¡¯t understand." Duskdune Shura shook his head slowly. "That is the difference between you and I."


    His head tilted to look at the vast blue sky.


    "The undefeated and the unconquerable. No one is a match for him as long as he lives, be it the top of this generation or the next. I look forward to our next encounter."


    He smiled and fell backwards, disappearing beyond the edge of the cliff.


    Garen, in shock, swiftly rushed to the top, his gaze following the sheer drop.


    His eyes met Duskdune Shura gripping his black sword with both hands, blade sliding down embedded into the cliff wall. A deep gash followed his wake as he screeched downward.


    There was another black knife further down the cliff. Mimicking his previous action, Duskdune Shura swiftly went down the sheer cliff of a few hundred meters. Two jet black horses met them on the cliff floor.


    The person in a black coat on one of the horses looked up and stared at Garen.


    Garen could see his opponent¡¯s face from afar.


    It was the face of a beautiful woman, an eyepatch covering one of her two eyes.


    "King Charlotte the third¡­ " Garen muttered. "It must be you in the forest just now. Unfortunately, you¡¯re too late. How much can Duskdune Shura recover with his current age?"


    Duskdune Shura had heat injected into his body by his Red Jade Palm. In a further aggravation of his injury, he did not have the time to treat his wound as he was being pursued for an extended period of time. It would definitely leave a mark for someone his age.


    Garen started toward the way back, as he knew it would be pointless to keep up the pursuit.


    He needed to get back to Celine and Su Lin immediately. Although the werewolf clan¡¯s target was Flamingo and not them, there was no guarantee that they would escape the crossfire unscathed.


    Garen put his hand into his pocket and fiddled with the Golden Sword Throne along the way back. This item the size of a pen holder was unharmed during the intense battle as he was keeping an eye out to ensure it was kept out of the way.


    Garen¡¯s mind flowed like a pleasant, incessant breeze into his mind.


    His attention was on the attribution table, which was shaded in maroon while on the journey back.


    His attribute points kept increasing at a steady pace. Although it was not as fast as the time he touched the Antique of Tragedy, it was still a considerable rate.


    After the intense battle with Duskdune Shura, his potential stats were at 200%


    ¡®Strength 2.66, Agility 1.82, Vitality 2.15, Intelligence 1.53, Potential 214%.¡¯


    "It looks like I wasn¡¯t even strong enough to keep a heavily injured Duskdune Shura. He must have been horrifyingly strong in his prime. He is indeed the best in his generation." Garen felt a twinge of helplessness in his stomach.


    "Should I increase my attributes first or my secret technique?" He hesitated. He currently had two secret techniques, the Mammoth Secret Technique and the Red Jade Palm. The remaining secret techniques had been absorbed by the two primary techniques for an enhancing effect.


    "With the Red Jade Palm, I can barely manage to injure Duskdune Shura if used as a surprise attack. However, even so the damage isn¡¯t heavy enough to determine the battle¡¯s outcome. It could be used as a normal combat technique with an additional effect. If I can amplify the Red Jade Palm, its effect should be much stronger than the Mammoth; the only problem being that the remaining training lies with Celine. It might be troublesome if she finds out that I mastered the Red Jade Palm in such a short amount of time."


    Garen hesitated.


    He felt the limitless flow of energy emanate from the Golden Sword Throne.


    "Whatever. I should stabilize my injury first. I definitely had some internal injury from Duskdune Shura¡¯s last punch after he sealed me with two of his Seven Dragon Gate punches.


    He quickly focused his vision onto Vitality in his attribution stat.


    0.3 points of Vitality were added instantly, jumping from 2.15 to 2.45.


    His whole body temporarily numbed. He started feeling an itch within his bones and a cold breeze flowing out from his brain onto his whole body. It felt as comfortable as taking a cold bath in a hot sunny day. The internal injury he had on the palm of his hand quickly faded as well.


    "There are a few points left." Garen felt the increasing flow of potential flowing but didn¡¯t use it after some deliberation.


    There was no difference between adding the attributes and improving the body¡¯s potential in the long term. He will definitely become stronger and stronger in the future. He would be extremely powerful even in his normal state.


    Increasing the skill level of a secret technique grants the practitioner an immediate boost in strength. However, the power of the secret technique is not limitless, and once capped would be very difficult to increase any further in the long run. Though secret techniques could be combined to achieve an even greater effect, realistically, the power level was fixed, and one would be less than powerless when stripped of his secret technique.


    The main point was that with good innate talent, one was able to surpass a majority of fighters, no matter the secret technique. The foundation of one¡¯s body surpasses that of any secret technique.


    The increment of the secret technique might improve the body¡¯s quality but it could be limited as it was still dependent on the prowess of the secret technique itself. It would only see a dramatic increase in its early stages.


    One was preparing for the long run, one was preparing for what was ahead.


    "I¡¯ll think about this once I collect more points." Garen resisted his impulse in using the attribute points as he sprinted into the Pinehill forest.


    Soon, the grave of the ancient ruins behind the abandoned village crept up from the horizon. The innumerable corpses of the werewolf clan began to come into view.


    The leader of the werewolf with the black mane could be seen hanging above a big pine tree with a silver sword nailed into its body.


    The landscape was showered with blood; the ground a blend of crimson and grass green.


    Blood was prevalent across the scene. Werewolf corpses were strewn across the ground, Some beheaded, corpses still. Yet others were split into half from head to toe, and some were cut clean from the waist. The ways that the werewolves died rivaled their many corpses.


    Death reigned the field.


    Garen felt like he was stepping onto a thick wet carpet as he trudged onwards. His boots would ripple with the sound of water as his feet made contact. It was none other than the sound of blood.


    The smell of it was so strong that Garen furrowed as he walked past through the sea of corpses to the entrance of the grave.


    It looked like it had been caved in; the entrance was blocked with gravel.


    "Su Lin!!"


    Garen shouted.


    "Celine!!"


    His shouting continued as he walked towards the village¡¯s houses.


    "Su Lin, Celine! Are you guys dead yet?!"


    Soon, Garen went back to the building that they were hiding in. It was completely silent inside. He trotted towards the staircase and went upstairs.


    He went up to the second floor, and then the third floor and finally to the room they were all initially hiding.


    The door creaked as he opened it.


    On the ground laid three bodies. Celine and Su Lin were among them. There was another young man who seemed like the policeman that he met from the Demon Hunters.


    All three of them were supine; whether they had any injuries was a mystery.


    Garen knelt down to examine them closer. They were merely unconscious, and apart from torn garments, there were no physical injuries at all.


    He was relieved to see they were unharmed. He walked to the far end of the room and begin kindling a fire with several pieces of wooden furniture and a piece of flint he had in his bag.


    He used a metal can to boil some water as the fire burned.


    He sat silent, waiting for the trio to come to.


    After a while, with a painful expression on her face, Celine was the first one to moan as she slowly got up from the ground.


    The first thing this fellow checked was her shirt when she got up.


    She had the same white tee shirt and jeans as Garen, except it was torned and holes could be seen everywhere.


    "When did you return?" Celine looked at Garen who was sitting in the corner.


    "Not long ago." Garen poured out the hot water into a paper cup and blew gently as he waited for the water to cool down. "We¡¯ll wait for the other one to wake up and leave. The werewolves will never stop now that so many of their kind had died. We better not get caught up in this."


    He noticed a few fresh cuts from Celine¡¯s shirt and asked, "You fought?"


    Celine rolled her eyes. "Of course I did! Those two would be dead otherwise! That sword wielding Flamingo person is too strong¡­"


    Traces of fear still lingered as she recalled her fight.


    "His sword technique was inhuman!! There were red beams coming out from his sword as he simply waved the sword around. The red beams cut down whatever was in its path! It was horrible." Celine caressed a singe mark on her supposedly white belt.


    "This was where I managed to block Flamingo¡¯s sword strike. We were lucky he did not use that crazy sword technique often and used ordinary sword techniques most of the time."

 153 The Journey Back 1

    Chapter 153: The Journey Back 1


    "What of the werewolf clan?" Garen asked as he drank the hot water he had poured"What of the werewolf clan?" Garen asked as he drank the hot water he had poured out a while ago.


    "A lot of them died. In the end there was a white werewolf with claws that were a meter long, which looked like some sort of a weapon. He fought with Flamingo, but the both of them took it somewhere else not long after. I used up my remaining energy bringing these two here after that and passed out. I don''t know what happened after that"


    She gave the two fainted men a few quick presses as if she was trying to relieve their dizziness. She then got up and sat beside Garen.


    "Oh right. The white werewolf was really strong! He was standing toe to toe with Flamingo. He should be the leader of the werewolf clan. I¡¯ve heard that highly skilled werewolves are going after Flamingo as he had killed an important figure in the clan."


    "Flamingo was heavily injured." Garen shook his head, "The white werewolf might have noticed this and didn¡¯t want to retreat because it would be hard to have his revenge if Flamingo fled."


    At this moment, Su Lin and Joseph were slowly coming to.


    "Alright let¡¯s go. This place is reeks with blood and will definitely attract a lot of people. We should leave immediately." Garen calmly said as he stood up.


    "Where are we going?" Celine jumped and landed her small, dollish body on Garen¡¯s shoulder.


    "Please stop sitting on my shoulder all the time." Garen frowned.


    Celine¡¯s pants were tattered, and exposing a good half of her hips and buttocks. It felt completely different when she sat onto her shoulder with her bare skin touching him.


    He would have felt nothing if she really had been a young girl. This girl however obviously wasn¡¯t; and on top of that she had an amazingly hot body when transformed.


    "Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re interested in this young girl¡¯s body?" Celine smiled slyly. "I might be able to satisfy that.. since it¡¯s you we¡¯re talking about~~"


    "I see you¡¯re still talkative even when heavily injured." Garen shook his shoulder and Celine almost fell down as she weakly moaned in pain. She had a severe internal injury, so severe that she had trouble balancing herself.


    "My body is weak and small, please be gentle with it, now~~" Celine quickly balanced herself and spoke in a weak voice.


    "Keep this up and I will throw you off my shoulder." Garen was tired of her fussing and started to pack up his things. Celine decided to hold her tongue from then.


    Su Lin and Joseph were still lying on the ground, still disorientated. Garen walked towards the duo and scooped them both up with one hand, and proceeded to leave the room thereafter


    Both of them were clearly confused, it was as if they weren''t fully conscious.


    "Hey! What the-" Su Lin struggled drunkenly as he tried to release himself from Garen. However he couldn¡¯t move an inch under Garen¡¯s clamped hand.


    Garen ignored their writhing and quickly went down stairs, as he looked at the grave¡¯s direction that was bathed in fresh blood.


    "We should get ourselves a souvenir since we¡¯re already here."


    ""What kind of souvenir are you looking for?" Celine asked curiously.


    Garen didn¡¯t reply her. He walked back to the battlefield filled with werewolf corpses and stood in front of the black werewolf leader.


    The black werewolf was nailed onto the tree with his chest wide open, revealing solid, black muscles.


    Garen put down both of them and reached his hand out towards the black werewolf¡¯s right claw and pulled it. With a click, the black werewolf¡¯s claw was torn from the body. Garen carefully put it away on his person.


    "A sharp claw from the black wolf and the sprite¡¯s wings. I should find a collection room to store these things. Not everyone comes across these everyday." Garen smiled. "Let¡¯s go."


    At this moment, almost sober, Su Lin and Joseph saw again the desolate, blood soaked scene, limbs and body parts strewn everywhere. Both of their faces went pale, even though they had just seen it awhile ago.


    "Let¡¯s go to the nearest city from here, Pinehill City. Duskdune Shura managed to escape. How are the people from Slash doing?" Garen asked as he lead the way.


    "The Slash team should be heading back now. They took the opportunity to escape amidst the werewolf clan¡¯s fight against Flamingo. They ran faster than us." Celine said, her voice slightly down "So, we just head back?"


    "Do you have a better idea?" Garen replied coldly. He climbed one of the village¡¯s buildings and looked toward the horizon, trying to figure out which way was the way back.


    "I really don¡¯t get why we came here in the first place." Celine said helplessly.


    Su Lin smiled wryly as he looked at Joseph who was just beside him.


    "What do you plan to do now?"


    Joseph mimicked the smile on his own lips.


    His original plan last night had been to disrupt the werewolf clan¡¯s hunting ceremony and end it for good. Never in his dreams did he expect to be involved in this strange incident. He felt like he became a main character after being an observer for the past twenty years.


    "Let¡¯s talk about it when we go back. My family and friends are all in Pinehill City. No matter how powerful the werewolf clan is, I doubt they would attack the city when the Demon Hunters and garrison are on the watch.


    "You never know." Su Lin shrugged his shoulder. "It¡¯s impossible to distinguish between a normal human and a werewolf before they transform. No one would be able to expect their ambush from within the city. In either case, we need to head back now. Come to the federation when you get the chance. Don¡¯t go bailing out on me now!"


    "I know. I know."


    They walked into Pinehill forest. through Dahl the Falls in the direction of Pinehill City. Celine was in charge of looking out for danger from their surroundings.


    Garen was silent all the way through as he felt the endless flow of energy enter his body.


    They managed to arrive Jiu Gu Clan¡¯s territory in dusk.


    The clan¡¯s female leader greeted them with much hospitality as she let them rest after the long journey.


    However, they kept pressing on shortly after, arriving at a hotel in Pinehill City sometime after 9pm.


    **********


    The next day, dawn.


    Garen was sitting on a sofa on the second floor of the hotel, which was beside a small red table. On top of it was a cup of black coffee.


    Garen had sat on the sofa after a shower. He then poured a cup black coffee for himself and knocked it back swiftly.


    Knock knock.


    "Come in; it¡¯s unlocked."


    The door slowly opened as Celine, in her white pyjamas, came into the room rubbing her eyes and yawning at the same time.


    "Where is Su Lin?"


    "He went to the telegraph station early in the morning to arrange a flight for us from the Federation. Right now¡¯s a good show of just how important he is. We would have had to take a flight from the nearest big city away Pinehill City if it were not for him, but with him around, we leave this place whenever we want."


    Garen drank his warm, bitter coffee again. The concentrated aroma of the coffee dissolved across the room it disappeared past his lips.


    There was a T-junction just outside of the hotel, pointing at Pinehill City. The sun was still in slumber, and yet a blend of horses and carriages rang through the streets.


    "We met sprites and demon hunters yesterday, and right after that is a normal day. It felt like I was in a dream." Garen shook his head as he spoke.


    "Do you feel uncomfortable seeing normal people with special abilities everywhere?" Celine pulled a stool in front of Garen and sat down on it.


    "I can manage that, but that Joseph from yesterday had a strange look on his face when he returned. It felt like he had got a new life or something." Garen recalled that man¡¯s strange expression the day before.


    "Looks like the clan of werewolves have somethi.ng restraining them from revealing their identities to ordinary people. But what could it be." Celine was slightly curious.


    "That¡¯s not our business in any case. Duskdune Shura was heavily wounded by me, and he won¡¯t be at his peak anymore, even if he recovers. But even that might not be the case, what with that Blood of Eternal Life he was talking about.." Garen didn¡¯t know what it was.


    "Don¡¯t worry so much about it. We didn¡¯t come here specifically to kill Duskdune Shura." Celine curled her lips. "That¡¯s the Federation¡¯s job. All we need to do is stand by the sidelines and wish them luck."


    "That¡¯s true. Well, whatever. That¡¯s the end of that."


    "Indeed it is." Su Lin barged into the room. He was dressed in a white shirt with a black windbreaker and black trousers, carrying good amounts of swagger with his eye catching red hair that complemented his handsome face and golden earring on one of his ears.


    What¡¯s even more shameless is the cologne he had on. It¡¯s strong smell invaded the room as he entered.


    "What do you think about Suya¡¯s number thirteen blue demon aroma series I just got from the perfume store?" Su Lin asked with a charming smile on his face. He could have seduced many a girl with that.


    "It¡¯s disgusting." Celine replied as she immediately covered her nose.


    "No way¡­" Su Lin¡¯s expression immediately disappeared. "Alright alright. I¡¯ve received news a while ago; we¡¯ll end the Duskdune Shura operation here, as another international criminal was involved in it: Flamingo. Flamingo¡¯s threat level is one step higher than Duskdune Shura¡¯s, and this incident had shocked the whole International Police Joint Organization. They¡¯ve sent a team to investigate this matter yesterday, and confirmed that Duskdune Shura was heavily injured, whereas Flamingo sustained minor injuries. The pair was confirmed to have accomplices with them.


    "Does that mean the International Police Joint Organization is going to handle this situation for good?" Garen whispered.


    "Yes, our Slash team from the Federation will only provide support for them. Our focus now has shifted beyond just Duskdune Shura, but also an even more dangerous criminal, Flamingo." Su Lin answered solemnly. "You may not know this, but Flamingo is that guy with that sword that emitted red beams. He was involved in a major crime in the Republic of the Tulip a long time ago, where he murdered three generals, twelve field officers and almost the whole army¡¯s upper echelon in a single night. The Republic of Tulip has been trying to kill him for the past thirteen years, but to no avail."


    "That ferocious!" Celine was shocked. "The Republic of the Tulip is the country with the strongest military in the world, and they still couldn¡¯t do anything about him?"


    "Nothing. Rumors say that he once destroyed five tanks with just his sword." Su Lin shook his head.


    "Tch¡­" Celine was speechless, but suddenly turned her head and looked at Garen.


    Garen then shook his head. "Even I can¡¯t penetrate through a tank¡¯s steel armor. It¡¯s much easier for him since he uses a sword."


    "Both of you are monsters. Although you¡¯re weaker than him, you¡¯re not that far off." Celine started to laugh. "Well, I¡¯m counting on you to protect me, then. You are Erudas¡¯ mentor, surely you wouldn¡¯t let him die while you watch from the sidelines."


    "Speaking of which what have you done? What¡¯s the connection between Erudas and the Poker Organization? Are you planning drag me into this without any rhyme or reason? That¡¯s not happening" Garen said as he scowled.


    "It¡¯s not a big deal, really. I foiled one of the Poker Organization¡¯s plans in Weisman and saved Erudas. They have been trying to kill us ever since. That¡¯s it." Celine summarised.


    "I will deal with the Poker Organization. I haven¡¯t repaid them for attacking us yet." Su Lin started sneering. "Be it from the organization or a household¡¯s point of view, their actions are obviously blatant provocation."


    He paused.


    "I have already arranged for a direct flight back to the Federation in the afternoon. At least we didn¡¯t go home without gaining something; we have learnt about demon hunters and the like."


    "Then we shall take a good rest and leave in the afternoon." Celine took up the coffee pot and drank directly from it. Garen wanted to stop her but wasn¡¯t able to in time.


    "Would you like some?" Celine asked innocently as she deliberately licked the coffee pot with her tongue.


    "Forget it. Go ahead..." Garen gave up on the idea of having another cup of coffee.


    "It¡¯s an indirect kiss you know~~~" Celine tempted him.


    "Not interested¡­" Garen stood up and walked to the window and lfet her to her own devices.


    "Oh right Garen, The federation started their exam yesterday." Su Lin butted in, seemingly out of nowhere.


    "Exam?" Garen was slightly stunned. "That fast¡­"


    "Yeah, and we¡¯ve known each other for nearly two years¡­" Su Lin nodded his head.


    Garen was staring at the intersection street below and didn¡¯t reply.


    The Federation exam was equivalent to the college entrance examination which was one of the main examinations for college students who were keen on entering university. His sister, Ying Er was participating in the exam today.


    "We should be able to get back in time. Don¡¯t worry about it, I¡¯ve arranged for the fastest airplane we have." Su Lin walked over and patted his shoulder.

 154 The Journey Back 2

    Chapter 154: The Journey Back 2


    Garen shook his head and smiled wryly. "I can¡¯t believe I¡¯ve forgotten about this¡­"


    Su Lin didn¡¯t say another word. He stood there beside him and watched the intersection traffic below the building together.


    The room gradually became quiet, only the sound of Celine blowing at the coffee pot could be heard.


    A long while later.


    "What do you plan to do once you go back?" Celine asked the two of them from behind. "Su Lin, if you can help me sort out the Poker Incident and help me recover my body, I promise I will help you twofold, no matter what it is."


    "Are you serious?" Su Lin swiftly turned around and asked her. He knew exactly how strong Celine was. Although she was not as strong as Garen, she was not that far behind. He estimated that she was as strong as Yoda.


    "Of course."


    "Alright. I¡¯ll arrange for everything once we get back." Su Lin nodded.


    "My injury is very tricky to handle, and I¡¯ll need to borrow your father¡¯s authority." Celine was being serious, which was a rare in itself.


    "Don¡¯t worry about it." Su Lin smiled.


    Garen knew everything about Su Lin, as both of them were members of the Golden Hoop*. Su Lin was actually the general manager of the Golden Hoop group of the southern region. He even had the final say in the decision of the examination tasks. Garen smiled once he heard him, as Su Lin could probably solve the whole thing by just making use of the Golden Hoop¡¯s resources.


    *Refer to Translator''s Note


    "Speaking of which, what should I do with my examination task¡­"


    He looked at Su Lin. His mind couldn¡¯t escape the issue; his entrance to the Golden Hoop would concern his power and authority, and was the only way for him to not rely on Su Lin in this aspect. It would also have benefits for his dojo, obtain protection for his family members, not to mention a fixed amount of salary annually as well.


    "It¡¯s alright. You¡¯ve been a great help to me this time round, so I¡¯ll just accept this incident as the examination task instead." Su Lin replied readily. "You should wear the golden ring at all times for ease of recognition once you have officially joined us."


    "No problem." Garen nodded.


    Celine didn¡¯t ask any questions, though the two hadn¡¯t seemed to plan to hide it.


    The three of them were shooting the breeze inside the room. Su Lin¡¯s perfume was scathingly criticised by the other two, and Garen avoided mentioning the Golden Sword Throne at all, as if he had already forgotten about it.


    However, Garen understood that Su Lin had deliberately chose not to mention the Golden Sword Throne as he had already figured out that Garen really needed it.


    "The item is in my care. Is it alright if I return it to you a year later?" Garen initiated the topic. He estimated that he needed a year to absorb all the potential from the Golden Sword Throne.


    "You decide on that, since you¡¯re the one who fought for it. That thing is no longer important anyway, it was only meant to be a research object for the officials." Su Lin shrugged his shoulder since he didn¡¯t care much about it.


    They chatted a bit more, and before they ran out of time, Garen went out to an art shop and bought gifts for his sister, parents and uncle.


    Sin Gerro produces a myriad of ores and gems. Garen picked a blue jade gem for each of his parents, as there was a lasting superstition that it had properties that relaxed one¡¯s body. He picked a amethyst corsage for his sister for its minimal design and elegance.


    As for his uncle, he went with a model of a wooden ship with two masts. The work towards the model was detailed and of high quality, which set him back twenty-something thousands dollars. After that, he simply bought a bunch of snacks as souvenirs for everyone remaining.


    The three of them then gathered back at the hotel in the afternoon and headed straight to the airbase nearby via a shuttle carriage.


    It took them only 8 hours to get back, even though it took them close to 2 days when they came rushing to Sin Gerro. They laid over twice and finally arrived at the Huaishan City Airbase in Galantia Province.


    Garen got down from the airplane, while Celine and Su Lin continued their journey to their manor in Harmony City, since he still needed to heal Celine and sort out her incident with the Poker Organization.


    Garen arranged for himself military transport and went back to the city area.


    It was already 10pm when he arrived home.


    *******************


    The clouds swallowed the moon, leaving behind a pitch black sky. The whole of Huaishan City gradually settled down into peace and quiet.


    A black carriage slowed down near the front of a residential area in the bluetree district and came to a stop.


    It was marked with a black bird, its wings spread wide. It was the emblem of the flag marking it as a military carriage.


    The driver was a young female soldier. She went to the back and knocked on the carriage frame after she had halted the two black horses.


    "We have arrived sir."


    "Oh. We have?"


    Garen carried his baggages of varying sizes and got down from the carriage.


    "Thank you very much, Sergeant Anli."


    "It¡¯s nothing. I shall pardon myself now."


    "Right."


    The carriage took a U-turn and rushed off where it came from, and soon disappeared into the darkness of the unlit street. The faint light of the horse carriage was the lone visible thing in the distance.


    Garen turned around and walked towards the gate, and saw a drunk, bald security guard sleeping soundly on a chair in the security booth.


    He walked along the familiar community area and he could occasionally still spot a few homeless men snoring just beside the walls under the yellow street light. There were also people who were busy commuting to their night shift job.


    He walked towards the building into the staircase and started climbing up a floor at a time. Occasional arguments from within apartments and music leaked out of the walls as he climbed. He stood at his house¡¯s front door after reaching the fourth floor.


    A nameplate could be seen hanging at the side of the copper red metal door stating: Eisen Lombard - Jody Vania.


    Garen rummaged through his person for his house key and realized that it had already dropped at some unknown location during his journey.


    Knock Knock Knock.


    He had decided to knock on the door instead.


    "Coming! Just a minute!" His sister Ying Er¡¯s voice came from inside the house.


    Then came the rapid footsteps.


    The door was opened after a period of silence.


    "Brother!" Ying Er obviously had seen Garen through the door¡¯s peephole as she embraced him the moment she opened the door. She was hanging onto him by the neck. "When did you come back?"


    "I came here the moment I got down from the car. Alright, don¡¯t mess around anymore, I¡¯m still holding my luggages." Garen¡¯s big and strong body was the size of two or three Ying Ers. It didn¡¯t matter to him at all that she was freely hanging herself by his neck.


    It was just that her body had started developing, and he could feel the tenderness of her still developing, petite breasts as they squeezed against his body.


    With Ying Er hanging onto him, Garen took off his flip flops and entered, closing the door behind him4.


    "Where¡¯s mum and dad?" Garen asked as he placed the luggages at one corner of the living room.


    "Mum and dad got promoted to the management level in the company. The situation is a little bit tense lately and dad says that the rubber industry will be impacted by it. There is a sudden surge in order to and from the military, and both of them are busy dealing with it."


    Ying Er was unusually hyperactive and it took her a while to get off Garen.


    "Brother, didn¡¯t you enrol in Mantra University? Where do you find the time to come back? I heard that there¡¯s still quite some time before the holidays." Ying Er asked curiously.


    "I finished my courses early and I didn¡¯t have anything better to do afterwards. So I decided to apply for a school leave. Don¡¯t worry about it."


    "Is university exciting?"


    "It¡¯s alright¡­"


    Both of them were sitting on the sofa as they started having a conversation. Ying Er was saddened when Garen asked her about the college entrance examination.


    "It¡¯s finished. I flunked my first mathematics paper¡­" The little estrangement she felt with Garen over a long time apart was gradually washed away. Ying Er frowned when the examination topic was brought up.


    "If only I was admitted under the university¡¯s recommendation like you were¡­"


    "Recommendation¡­ Uh¡­" Garen almost forgot how he was admitted into the university. He was recommended by the university because he had specialised knowledge in identifying antiques. However in actuality, everything was Su Lin¡¯s arrangement and Garen was in the dark.


    Ying Er kept the conversation flowing endlessly, as if she was getting more and more cheerful lately. She told Garen everything, big or small, after he left the house.


    From Ying Er¡¯s account, Garen had come to find out that there were more guests than the last time he came back. His parents were promoted and had befriended a few big shots of the industry. They even attended the city¡¯s upper class banquet parties in certain occasions.


    "How is my master doing?" Garen asked.


    "Dojo Master Fei was getting better. Everyday, he is conscious for a short period of time. Mum, dad and I had visited Dojo Master Fei too." Ying Er answered readily. "Oh right brother. Dojo Master said that you should go and visit him once you returned as he had something to tell you."


    "Oh?" Garen frowned a little bit. "I will visit him tomorrow then. I went overseas with my friends for a short trip before coming back here, and I¡¯ve gifts for master and you guys."


    "A gift?! I like the sound of that!" Ying Er swiftly ran towards the luggages. "Which one is mine which one is mine?"


    "Let me get it for you." Garen walked there and handed out an oval shaped box which was wrapped in a black fur.


    "This is for my dearest sister Ying Er." Garen smiled as he placed the box into Ying Er¡¯s hand.


    "Thank you brother!" Ying Er blushed as she tiptoed and gave her brother a good kiss on the face out of the blue. Garen couldn¡¯t help but to feel stunned as the lady¡¯s tender lips brought upon a faint body fragrance.


    "Alright alright stop fooling around."


    "You¡¯re not that much older than me. Why are you behaving ahead of your age?" Ying Er wasn¡¯t aware that Garen had become more and more matured as time passed. He wasn¡¯t like his old self, where he would submit himself to her and let her bully him. It was a sudden ,unknowing change.


    When Garen treated her like how other elders treated her, she couldn¡¯t help but to feel annoyed.


    "I wonder when you became like this." Ying Er pondered.


    Garen looked at her acting mischievously and pulled her cheek with an outstretched hand.


    "Where is your mind wandering? You should go check out the gift in your room."


    "Stop pulling! No one would want me if I became fat!!" Ying Er quickly struggled. "I¡¯ll hold you responsible if no one wants me!" She carried the small box and entered her room after she struggled out of Garen¡¯s grip.


    The living room quietened down and he could hear her sister¡¯s faint humming in the bedroom.


    Garen sat down on the sofa and closed his eyes, wiping his face with both of his hands.


    "Su Lin¡¯s matter regarding the Celestital Circle Gate Black Mark Association¡¯s foreign aggression should be taken care of by now."


    "It¡¯s time to take care of the internal issues." A cold gaze radiated from his eyes.


    Translator''s Thoughts


    J_Squared J_Squared


    It is unsure whether the Garen is part of the Golden Hoop as the following few paragraphs suggest that he is not.

 155 Minor Changes 1

    Chapter 155: Minor Changes 1


    The senior sister apprentice rebelled, the elder and second master were missing. The White Cloud Gate broke down because of one person¡¯s rebellious intent. Garen had decided to resolve this issue once and for all, bearing to the fact that there was no more foreign aggression.


    However, he had to check out the city¡¯s mess before anything.


    He could take it slow, since he had obtained the Golden Sword Throne. This meant that his strength would increase over time, and he could use this time to deal with his internal affairs.


    Sitting on the sofa, Garen unconsciously recalled the words Duskdune Shura said at the cliff.


    "The undefeated and the unconquerable. No one is a match for him as long as he lives, be it the top of this generation or the next." The words which were spoken by Duskdune Shura kept floating in his mind.


    "What I lack¡­" Garen placed his palms together at his forehead and went into deep thought.


    "Brother?"


    "Ying Er¡¯s voice came from ahead.


    "How do I look?"


    Ying Er was in a black dress with an exquisite purple flower brooch. The dress showcased her hourglass body as she spun in circles on one spot.


    Garen raised his head up.


    "Very beautiful." Garen laughed, "What paper are you having tomorrow?"


    "Physics, and I¡¯m very confident about it!" Ying Er smiled proudly.


    "You should sleep early since you have to wake up early tomorrow. Have you showered?"


    "All done!" Ying Er hummed as she hit her chest with the back of her hand. Although the exquisite purple flower brooch was not eye catching, it had a faint beauty about it. It was a perfect match for her.


    "Go ahead and rest early." Garen pinched her cheek.


    "Okay~~~" Ying Er went back to her bedroom with a sweet smile on her face.


    Garen sat on the sofa alone and waited for his parents to come home, as he pondered on Duskdune Shura¡¯s words in his head.


    A short while later, the sound of a car engine came from below. The sound disappeared after a while, followed by the sound of ar doors closing.


    After a few minutes, the sound of keys clinking behind the door.


    Garen stood up and walked towards the door as his parents came in.


    "Dad, mum."


    "Garen?!!" Both of them were stunned and surprised.


    "When did you come back?" Mother went closer and pinched Garen¡¯s face with both her hands, "I think you¡¯ve got thinner¡­"


    Father Lombard was slightly butthurt as he saw Garen¡¯s arms as thick as a leg and his strong, muscular chest.


    "This guy grew at least 10cm! In which part is he supposed to be thin?! His chest and arms are all muscles!"


    "Is that so?" Mother Vania became suspicious.


    "Let¡¯s come in and talk." Garen closed the door as he took the baggage from his parents hands and placed them in the living room.


    "How¡¯s life in university? Are you used to it? Do you need more money to support your lifestyle? And how is your relationship with the lecturers?" Mother immediately bombarded him with questions the moment she entered the house.


    Since Garen hadn¡¯t been to the university at all, he had no choice but to describe his university life on Earth. He couldn¡¯t tell it in detail however as he did not want to be seen through.


    His parents finally let him go after he fed them a bunch of nonsense.


    Garen took the opportunity and asked about his master¡¯s condition.


    "Dojo Master Fei¡­" Father Lombard frowned. "Things don¡¯t look good according to all of the experts from Yang Liu."


    "What¡¯s happened?" Garen was stunned as even the experts Federation¡¯s Yang Liu City couldn¡¯t do anything to improve the situation.


    "You¡¯ll understand when you see him tomorrow." Lombard shook his head. "It¡¯s not something you can imagine if you don¡¯t see it with your own eyes. Sigh¡­ Dojo Master Fei was very wise¡­ I hadn''t expected this at all. We hadn¡¯t known at all at first, but we now know that the dojo master of the white cloud is considered a very strong person in this city."


    "Alright let¡¯s not talk about this any further. Let our son visit Dojo Master Fei tomorrow since he gave his all to cultivate our son." Mother Vania butted in. "Oh right Garen. Are you and Mr. Bouvini¡¯s daughter considered close friends? You should thank her father on behalf of us for helping your father out. If her father hadn¡¯t lent a helping hand, your mother and I would not be promoted; it¡¯s all thanks to him."


    "Mikaela? Bouvini?" Garen understood. "Okay, I do know Bouvini. I got to know him before Master was in trouble. I¡¯ll visit them after visiting master. Don¡¯t worry about it."


    "Alright. Speaking of which, we¡¯ve met Mikaela before as well. Although she is not too beautiful, she is quite elegant. If you¡¯re interested¡­." Mother Vania¡¯s eyes were beaming with light as she talked about it.


    "Eh, forget about it." Father butted in. "Mikaela is only ten years old. Isn¡¯t it a little bit too soon¡­"


    "Who says it¡¯s too soon! It would be over if they engage earlier. What are you worried about? Even Mr. Bouvini pushed his intention to us. We¡¯re just commoners, and there¡¯s nothing that they can gain from us. Furthermore, there are a lot of twelve year olds getting married as well and they can go to the church in a year or two!"


    Garen started breaking into cold sweat as he listened. Twelve years old! Getting married at this age was definitely too young even if it¡¯s the tradition of this era. Garen couldn¡¯t believe what his mum just said.


    "Let¡¯s be patient. I have to visit Mr. Bouvini in a few days, and there would be complications in giving birth since their daughter is too young."


    Vania put off the idea of engagement after some persuasion from both father and son.


    Being engaged to a 10 year old girl¡­


    Garen was covered in goosebumps as he thought of it, since he was not a pedophile. In addition, the first person that appeared in his mind was Celine. Although both of them have the body of a young girl, Celine would be a better choice since she had a great body when she was grown up.


    After a casual conversation with his parents, he passed them the gifts and went to take a shower. After wiping his body, he proceeded to change into his own clothes that he had brought.


    As his body grew bigger in a short time span, all his clothes in the cupboard were too small for him. Fortunately, he thought of this beforehand and bought a few clothes while he was shopping for gifts.


    He went into the room, turned off the light and laid on the bed.


    The watch bell and the sound of a train departing could be faintly heard in the distance outside.


    It was the new train tracks nearby.


    Garen slowly closed his eyes and went into deep sleep.


    He then woke up from his dream in the middle of the night.


    Garen blinked a few times as he got up. He looked outside the window and saw pure darkness. It was still midnight.


    He took off his blankets and sat by the bed wiping his face. He was restless, Duskdune Shura¡¯s words still pervasively invading his mind..


    He instinctively felt that Duskdune Shura did not say those words baselessly.


    He wouldn¡¯t have pursued the heavily injured Duskdune Shura if he had been completely unharmed.


    "White Bird Holy Fist¡­" Garen muttered. He went back to bed after he took a deep breath, while the energy of Golden Sword Throne inside his pajamas kept flowing into his mind.


    The root of his talent was located on his head, a special ability that only a small handful amount of people have. According to his own estimation, it would be rare to find a single digit amount of people among the billions on Earth who had similar abilities.


    According to his speculation, this special ability was formed based on his spiritual structure, body structure, the arrangement of the nerves etc. No one would have the same special abilities, just like how there wouldn¡¯t be two exact copies of a single leaf in nature. There would be a great difference for every small small deviation.


    He still was not sure whether if it¡¯s this special ability that allowed him to maintain this spiritual bridging, or if it was the bridging that caused him to obtain his special abilities.


    "These questions are just dogs chasing their tails.." Garen thought as he focused his vision on his own attribution and skill panes.


    ¡®¡¯Strength 2.66. Agility 1.82. Vitality 2.45. Intelligence 1.53. Potential 1256%.


    Secret Martial Art.----


    Mammoth Variation: Explosive (Maximum Level), Epidermal Hardening Grade One (Iron Body), Blood Qi Stabilization Grade One (Boulder Martial Art).


    Red jade Palm: Learned (Mastered Grade One), Burning Strengthen Grade One (Dark Crimson Technique), Vitality Enhancement Grade One (Dark Crimson Technique)¡¯


    "I have so many points already¡­" Garen was stunned as he realized going overseas was a worthwhile trip. The Golden Sword Throne had lived up to its name and it was worth the risk entering the ancient ruins.


    He carefully felt for the rate of the potential flow from the Golden Sword Throne and even though it was much weaker than last time, he would still gain something every week which was much better than nothing compared to last time.


    "12 points¡­" Garen had never obtained so many points at one go.


    "Should I increase my attribution or max out my Secret Martial Art first?" He was in a dilemma.


    With this many points, he could either push one of his Secret Martial Art to the limit, or pour everything into the attribution pane. Although it was limited to the user¡¯s body limit, it should be enough to increase his attribution to an appalling height.


    He remembered that he would kept spending all the points on attribution when he was still practising the Mammoth Secret Martial Art. He had at least spent 12 points on attribution and not only did it give him major special effects for his secret martial art, it also gave him a complete combat skills to face every complicated situation.


    If he poured all his points into attribution and added nothing in his secret martial art*, it was estimated that it was highly likely that any normal martial artist with a powerful weapon could beat him down.


    *Author probably reversed attribution and secret martial art.


    "It¡¯s unfortunate that there are pros and cons in increasing the level or martial arts¡­ If only it could break the limits of the user¡¯s body. I should just max out my attribution first."


    Garen first focused his vision onto strength.


    Unfortunately it had already reached its limit, as it wouldn¡¯t budge. He then moved on to agility.


    One point of attribution was converted into 0.3 and added onto it. Two points added. Three points added¡­


    Agility increased steadily and stopped at 2.72. It had reached its limit.


    Next up is Vitality.


    It increased from 2.45 to 2.65, which was less than one attribution point. Garen had no choice but to add the remaining 0.1 point into intelligence.


    He continued increasing his intelligence attribute.


    It increased steadily from 1.63 to 1.93, 2.23 and finally hovered 2.53.


    Just like that, all of his attribution had reached his body¡¯s limit. He had 5 points left as he used up 7 points to max out his attribution.


    The attribution pane had became larger as well as if it had been upgraded.


    ¡®Strength 2.66, Agility 2.72, Vitality 2.65, Intelligence 2.53, Potential 556%.

 156 Minor Changes 2

    Chapter 156: Minor Changes 2


    Garen was too tired to continue racking his brain, and due to the huge increment to his attribution, especially agility and intelligence, he felt like his whole body was burning up, and he felt a pain which could be described similar to being penetrated by countless of needles in his muscle as they contracted. His vision was clouded as his felt his brain was on fire as well.


    He was drowsy as if he was inside the hottest sauna in the world. The weird thing was that he was not sweating at all. His muscles were stronger than ever, and there was no major change in his body figure either. However, cackling noises came out from his body as his body figure started to become more and more symmetrical and streamlined.


    Garen woke up after some time had passed.


    Thy sky outside had already turned into a bright gray.


    He laid on the bed with his eyes open and noticed his long dark purple hair had been untied, spreading over the pillow like black lines of silk, bright and flowy. The whole room was faintly covered in a funny smell.


    Garen slowly got up and gently moved his body. A string of snapping from all over his joints could be heard as he shifted.


    He opened the window to let in some fresh, cold air from outside after he got up from his bed.


    His mind was as clear as if he had just chewed on a mint, and all his thoughts were as fast as the flash from an electric spark, having no delay at all.


    "All the attributions are at its limit¡­ and I¡¯m left with 5 points. Now I need to figure out how to go beyond the limit." Garen¡¯s mind was never this clear before.


    "Going beyond the limits has always been the goal of every fighter. The White Bird Holy Fist, Palosa of the Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate is the strongest in this aspect. Perhaps I can learn something from him. I will visit the Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate once I¡¯ve dealt with my internal affairs."


    Determined, he immediately walked towards his study desk and absentmindedly picked out a science textbook. He started experimenting the changes of his body, especially in the intelligence aspect.


    After half an hour, he roughly had a clear idea of the effects of his maximised intelligence.


    "Logical thinking is much clearer, memory capacity has increased dramatically, reasoning and analysis have become much stronger as well. The main effect of the intelligence attribute has on the body is the short-term memory. Usually, a normal person can only memorise five to seven lines of sentences in a short amount of time and this is without the effects of any enhancement in memorization. However, I currently¡­"


    Garen opened a random page and scanned through its content. He then closed his eyes and he could clearly see the whole content that was in that page.


    "10 lines¡­ It¡¯s a very strong effect! Furthermore, the contents from the short term memory can be converted into long term memory in an instant due to the fast reasoning speed. I can now remember and understand everything even if I skip the typical learning conditions." One page of information was quickly understood and stored into him as long term memory.


    "There¡¯s also the ability of calculation..."


    Garen noticed that he could easily solve complicated mathematical questions with ease. Answers would simply float in his head as he immediately understood the question when he saw it.


    He picked out a simple mathematical equation which contained four fundamental operations, with the exception of the equation being undetermined or divided by zero. His brain would immediately calculate the question as he glanced at it and he was able to calculate the last five digits of the answer every second. He managed to do so purely by brute force mental calculation, without any other instruments or techniques.


    This ability could be improved tenfold if he did make use of some simple mathematical techniques.


    "Intelligence mainly improves the reasoning, memory and calculation of the user. As for creativity¡­ nothing much has changed." Garen understood that creativity was based on the amount of content in the memory and the frequency of the sparks that could be produced from as information colliding into each other.


    "In short, I have a photographic memory and react faster than normal people. I can easily grasp the important points of a question and solve it with a strong logical reasoning. This is the effect of increasing the Intelligence." Garen concluded.


    "Next up is Agility."


    He moved his body for a while and pulled out a punch out of nowhere.


    Bam!


    A low pitched noise was cracked from the compressed air. His right knuckle was moving in and out swiftly like a snake.


    "What amazing speed! This far surpasses Duskdune Shura¡¯s attack speed! It¡¯s even slightly faster than Andrela¡¯s normal attack speed." Garen compared to his past opponent, Andrela, who was the fastest among them.


    Andrela¡¯s blink gave him a lasting impression. None of the grandmasters of combat were even close to his attack speed, including even Duskdune Shura or Flamingo. Although Andrela was not stronger than these two, he was the fastest in speed.


    "Maybe if I were to compare it with Blink, I am still slightly behind. It must be the kind of secret art that heavily damages the opponent in a short amount of time."


    Garen felt his body was more agile as he raised his hands and feet. He was sure that his body could react faster compared to last time. It was obvious that Agility had greatly increased his body¡¯s speed.


    Huff¡­


    He gently exhaled.


    "I am now¡­. Much stronger!"


    He was at least twice as strong as his former self! He wasn¡¯t physically stronger, but stronger in terms of speed and intelligence; this would allow him to make the best decision and react in the shortest amount of time.


    "I have the confidence to go against Duskdune Shura even when he is in his prime now!" Garen assessed his current state and concluded that he was better than ever.


    As he wore the dark red shirt and jeans that he had brought back, Garen suddenly realized a pendant was hanging by his neck.


    It was a pendant shaped like an open book and it was as warm as the human body.


    "The old man¡¯s pendant¡­" He frowned as he walked towards the mirror and stood in front of it.


    His dark purple hair which was at shoulder length was like lion¡¯s mane when it was messy. His dark red eyes were sharp as a knife, exuding a sense of aggression. His simple facial features had become charming.


    His body was as strong as ever, but was more symmetrical now. His dark red shirt was tighten by his muscle profile. Garen adjusted his gaze to give more gentleness and less aggression.


    He tied his hair up into a pony tail with a black rubber band that he found. He immediately looked much less aggressive with these small touches.


    After getting used to his body in the room post-attribution-increase, Garen soon heard footsteps coming from the living room.


    As he opened the door, he saw his sister Ying Er busy wiping her face with a bread between her lips, as she chewed and tied her shoes by the doorstep.


    "I¡¯ll send you." Garen quickly washed his face and brushed his teeth in the washroom.


    "It¡¯s okay. I have to go now and the school bus is here to fetch me." Ying Er jabbered as she chewed her bread.


    "It¡¯s alright. I will go with you." Garen spitted the foam out of his mouth and quickly wiped his mouth clean as he walked towards the doorsteps. On his way he picked up the things that he brought back. "I have to go out as well. I¡¯ll send you there."


    "Alright then. It¡¯s so rare for you to be so proactive." A hint of joy flashed in Ying Er¡¯s eyes as she looked at her recently grown up brother Garen in fascination.


    Garen was the brother that had belonged to her alone before. However, the current Garen was the brother that was no longer hers anymore, but he became better and more reliable than before. He was concerned about Garen regarding his sudden change but she eventually accepted it.


    Two of them greeted their parents who just came out of their bedroom and went downstairs as they locked the door.


    The other occupants downstairs were not awake yet as it was still early.


    Ying Er walked at the front while Garen followed behind as both of them quickly walked down the stairs.


    "There should be a lot of parents in the school bus. There will be some of my friends as well¡­" Ying Er couldn¡¯t help herself but glanced at Garen. She looked like she wanted to continue speaking but had decided otherwise.


    "I¡¯m ok with that. What are you worried about?" Garren replied helplessly. "Let¡¯s walk faster. You¡¯ll be in trouble if you miss the school bus."


    "Right, right." Ying er sped up as well.


    Both of them walked out of the residential area coming out from the staircase, where a black bus waiting at the entrance. The words Shengying Nobles Academy were written on the side of the vehicle.


    The girls on the bus were wearing the same outfit as his sister; a white, short sleeved shirt combined with a super short skirt and black pantyhose. On the other hand, the boys were wearing white shirts and black jeans paired with leather boots. The attire was the same as what Garen wore when he woke up in this world.


    It was the same view when he first got up the school bus.


    Garen covered his sister as they got up the bus. There was another guy in the Shengying Nobles Academy attire who got up the bus in this district area as well.


    There were about at ten students in the bus. Their respective parents, or cousins were accompanying them.


    "Ying Er! Here!" A female voice came from the back seat. It was a girl with a red ponytail hair with a middle age woman beside her. The young lady had her bag placed on the seat beside her.


    "Xiao Ling!" Ying Er quickly went to the back of the car as she pulled Garen along.


    ""Good day President Ying Er." "Good Morning President Ying Er." "President."


    Almost half of the students knew Ying Er as they stood up and greeted her with respect. Everyone looked curious as they saw Garen standing behind her.


    "President?" Garen looked at his sister skeptically. This was when he realized his sister was not a timid and lovable little woman that she had portrayed in the house. She had a cool and confident aura around her with a soft and gentle smile.


    With just a simple change, she looked sharper and faintly dominant.


    He had to reassess his sister¡¯s social standing.


    Her waist length dark purple hair was silky smooth and there was no split ends at all. The freckles on her oval face had long disappeared, leaving behind white, tender skin and a sharp chin. Her dark red, crystal gaze was calm and confident, but cold at the same time.


    She gradually evolved into an hourglass body figure, as well as a pair of long and slender legs. Although she was much shorter than he was, she was considered tall among people her age.


    Ying Er stood out inside the bus.


    Ying Er blushed as she noticed her brother¡¯s gaze and felt shy in front of her peers. It was a rare scene.


    "I became the President of the Bowmanship Club two years ago." Ying Er explained softly.


    "That¡¯s very unexpected." Garen shook his head. Judging from the student¡¯s respect and admiration, it seemed like Ying Er had did well for the past two years.


    The duo walked to the back of the bus and Ying Er sat beside Xiao Ling whereas Garen sat on an empty seat in front of her. He politely nodded at Xiao Ling¡¯s mother as a greeting.


    Conversations regarding his identity could faintly be heard among the students in the car.


    As Garen looked out the window, he realized that Huaishan City had slightly changed within the past two years. A few new buildings had been built, and the familiar jewelry shop he always saw had now become a pie shop.


    After a while, the bus stopped and four students came up with their parents.


    One of them, a handsome boy with gold hair, scanned the bus with his eyes and stopped at Ying Er.


    "President Ying Er!" He quickly walked towards her as he grinned. One of the female students naturally got up and gave up her seat to him.


    "Nesari." Ying Er frowned slightly as she calmly smiled. "Are you not commuting via your personal car again?"


    "The car is still being fixed." The golden haired boy sat beside her with admiration written all over his face.

 157 Traitor 1

    Chapter 157: Traitor 1


    "Your friend?" Having understood the boy¡¯s intention toward Ying Er, Garen turned to her and asked.


    "Yeah, he¡¯s a classmate." Ying Er smiled at Garen apologetically, not wanting him to misunderstand.


    Nesari did, however. He shot Garen a look steeping in jealousy. "And this is?"


    Garen glanced at him. "So I heard you¡¯re Ying Er¡¯s friend? I don¡¯t think friends of opposite sex should sit too close to each other, don¡¯t you think so?" He subtly switched his gaze into a darker undertone, slowly piling a veil of intimidation onto the boy.


    Nesari shuddered uncontrollably. His face paled abruptly and moved beyond paleness into shades of emerald. Struggling to speak, he find himself making creaky sounds, but no words came out, causing him to go into panic mode as his tears and snot dripped wildly. It was embarrassing to say the least.


    "What have you don-" Nesari¡¯s middle-aged bodyguard scowled and stood up, trying to block Nesari from Garen¡¯s direct line-of-sight and to stand off against Garen.


    "Yes, what are you trying to say?" Garen interrupted him.


    The bodyguard couldn¡¯t finish his sentence, as his heart jumped and he started sweating like a sinner in church. He felt goosebumps creep down his spine and torso. It felt as if he¡¯s wobbling on the edge of a cliff, the fall happening at any second. His senses of danger and crisis seemed almost real.


    "We¡­ we¡¯re sorry!" The bodyguard forced the words out and pulled Nesari out of his seat. They escaped to the front of the bus, not even attempting to look back.


    Ying Er and another girl Xiao Ling stared at Garen curiously.


    Garen shrugged.


    "That kid decided to turn over a new leaf after our lovely talk."


    "As if! Don¡¯t bully people just because you know a little martial arts." Ying Er guessed the truth.


    "Doesn¡¯t matter, if the boys who want to be with you can¡¯t get past me, how can I trust them to take care of you?" Garen smiled gently.


    Ying Er blushed into a sakura pink and lowered her face.


    Xiao Ling beside her curiously eyeballed them both one after the other.


    All the other students in the bus stared at Garen in a gossipy manner, guessing the relationship between him and Ying Er. Soon, his identity as Ying Er¡¯s brother surfaced. More and more student got on the bus on the way to school, and this incident spread like wildfire.


    The strong-headed and cool Ying Er, as the president of the Bowmanship Club, was very eye catching, the difficulty of capturing her heart is unusually high. Furthermore, it was rumored that she has an obsessive admiration for her brother. Now that her brother finally appeared, people finally realized Ying Er¡¯s strong-headedness is like a delicate dandelion when compared to Garen. When both of them sat together, it¡¯s as if one is a boulder, the other is a flower.


    Ying Er¡¯s brother sat on his seat casually, but he gave out an air of a dangerous beast ready to attack. His imposing frame might as well be a blind, shielding Ying Er and everyone behind her.


    Every time someone glanced at the back, his commanding figure would be the first one they gazed at before darting away in fear that he notices.


    Xiao Ling leaned against Ying Er, she felt the suppression as much as the others do.


    "Oh no oh no¡­ Ying Er, your older brother looks too fierce, none of the guys who came in after us dared to even wave at the people in the back seats¡­"


    "Really?" Ying Er looked confused, "My older brother is very mellow." She didn¡¯t even noticed anything wrong, she only felt that everyone in the car were behaving really strangely.


    Accompanied by the quirky atmosphere, the bus finally arrived at the examination hall, it was the school area of a vocational school.


    After everyone alighted the bus at the examination hall, Garen waited outside the cordon as he watched his sister enter the hall. It was only after that he turned around and walked to the White Cloud Dojo.


    Compared to Harmony City, Huaishan City is too small. Before half an hour was up, Garen already arrived at the entrance of White Cloud Dojo.


    The clock tower at the side is still standing strong, the archway underneath it still receives countless pedestrians everyday.


    The bakery opposite of the dojo is still there as well, with its bald owner crouching and writing the menu for the day on signboard.


    At the entrance of the dojo, a pupil with yellow shirt was sweeping the ground before noticing Garen.


    "Excuse me, who is it that you are looking for?" The male pupil looked about 15 or 16 years of age and was still quite new, he didn¡¯t recognize Garen.


    "First senior brother! First Senior Brother Garen!" A voice exclaimed behind Garen, stunning the pupil sweeping the ground.


    The pupil abruptly snapped out of his trance and greeted Garen.


    "Simon, it¡¯s been a while." Garen turned around and saw a guy stepping out of a red car.


    Simon kept a buzz cut and looked fit, it seemed he recovered quite well, one wouldn¡¯t be able to tell which arm he even fractured.


    Meeting Garen again, Simon was ecstatic, he hastily got in front and Garen and stood still.


    "Welcome back!" He eagerly bowed at Garen.


    "Where¡¯s Corinne*?"


    "She¡¯s still at the hospital, we are taking turns to take care of Master." Simon scratched the back of his head. "In case Black Mark Association decided to harm him."


    "Good job," Garen patted him on his back, "I¡¯ll take over the situation now that I¡¯m back.


    "Yessir!" Simon looked like he had been relieved of a huge burden. Garen¡¯s return gave him a huge boost of confidence. As of now, the whole of White Cloud Gate is supported by Garen¡¯s fame alone, otherwise any sect would be able to challenge and kick the White Cloud Gate to the ground.


    In Garen¡¯s absence, Simon and Corinne handled all the general affairs of White Cloud Gate, although the stress has constantly made them feel like they couldn¡¯t breathe. If it wasn¡¯t for the growing fame of their Senior Garen who even got invited as Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate¡®s Sky Warrior, White Cloud Gate probably wouldn¡¯t been able to last this long.


    Even then, a lot of the peripheral forces of White Cloud Gate had broken away, preferring to go under under sects.


    After all, having a strong fighting ability doesn¡¯t equate to having strong managerial skills and resourcefulness. Garen is a young man who¡¯s barely even 20 years old, no one was confident about his ability to manage the business. Some former business partners of White Cloud Gate thought of that before they decided to secede.


    In short, White Cloud Gate was much weaker than what it used to be, but because of that, it¡¯s also more refined and simpler, having been supported solely by Garen¡¯s fame.


    "Do you wanna talk in the dojo?" Simon produced the key to the dojo from his pocket.


    "No need, let¡¯s go to the hospital in your car. I wanna check on Master." Garen declined the offer.


    "Okay."


    They turned around and went in the red car.


    Simon started the car, still rambling on about the current events from when Garen left.


    "...and so I wanted to get even with Bouvini, but Corinne said he turned over to the light side, everyone makes mistakes after all. And about the thing with the governor, they were doing this civility spot check, the dojo¡¯s business was affected as well. If it weren¡¯t for Third Senior Brother Joshua¡¯s contact through his father, the dojo would probably still be under seizure¡­"


    Simon¡¯s mouth was like a loose tap, spilling the news and gossips without stopping.


    Garen, on the other hand, didn¡¯t even need to talk. He only needed to respond once every so often so Simon to spill everything.


    The two managed to recap almost everything recent during the drive.


    "Oh right, the people from Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate came looking for you. I heard it¡¯s about the division of jurisdiction areas."


    "Jurisdiction areas?" Garen furrowed his brow, "Let¡¯s talk about this another time."


    From the side windows, a huge white building stood in the middle of a row of houses. A signboard, The Anning Mann Hospital.


    The two mixed in with the crowd entering through the hospital gate. Simon lead Garen to the second floor with relative ease into a pale blue corridor with a peaceful and sterile atmosphere. Walking to the other end, Simon knocked softly on the door on the right and entered.


    "How are you back here? Aren¡¯t you supposed to open the dojo for the day?" A girl in the room stood up, surprised.


    The girl is tall and had a sunkissed tan, she¡¯s not gorgeous, but she¡¯s surrounded by a heroic air. She had a luscious figure, with a well-endowed chest that bounces with her movements. She gave off an almost indescribable allure.


    Her long black hair was tied into a ponytail, hanging behind her. Most obviously, a thin red scar lashed across Corinne¡¯s right cheek, adding to her ferocity.


    "Corinne, First Senior Brother is here!" Simon chuckled and stepped aside, letting Garen in.


    "It¡¯s been a long time." Garen entered the room and looked at Corinne by the bedside.


    Corinne¡¯s eyes reddened. She stood there stunned, and immediately covered her mouth, sobbing uncontrollably.


    "You¡¯ve done a great job¡­"


    Garen understood the amount of stress the two had to endure since his absence. He approached Corinne and ruffled her hair, feeling slightly apologetic.


    "Master¡­ Master is¡­" Corinne was so upset, she couldn¡¯t talk.


    Garen saw the condition Fei Baiyun was in since he entered the room.


    Fei Baiyun¡¯s whole body was covered with a white blanket with only his head poking out, but even from his head Garen could tell he wasn¡¯t doing well.


    His body that used to be healthy is now skinny and bony, and looked like a skeleton wrapped under a layer of skin who¡¯s sleeping on the bed.


    Hearing the noise in the room, Fei Baiyun struggled to open his eyes. Seeing Garen at the side, a sign of excitement flashed in his eyes.


    "Garen¡­ you¡¯re¡­ back¡­"


    "Master," Garen crouched at the side of the bed. He noticed Fei Baiyun¡¯s ailing condition and felt slightly downcast. "I¡¯m back."


    "Good¡­" Fei Baiyun wrestled with the words, "You¡¯ve grown¡­ stronger¡­" He raised his scrawny arm toward Garen¡¯s face.


    Garen grabbed his arm promptly.


    "Master was holding out for your return all this while. Now that you¡¯re back to tie up the loose ends, he¡¯ll be glad." Corinne stood beside Simon, her eyes still red from crying.


    "If there¡¯s¡­ a chance, go to the East¡­ That¡¯s where White Cloud Gate¡¯s... root lies¡­" Fei Baiyun uttered slowly and with a lot of pauses.


    "Yes, Master." Garen nodded, his hands still clutching Fei Baiyun¡¯s. "Rest, Master, don¡¯t speak too much."


    "I know my own condition¡­ I don¡¯t have much longer." Fei Baiyun¡¯s speech started to become smoother, as if he¡¯s experiencing a terminal lucidity*. "White Cloud Gate is now under your care. The Elders are gone, the two other¡­ disciples I had were not¡­ dependable. I didn¡¯t think it would come down to my youngest disciple¡­"


    Translator''s Thoughts


    J_Squared J_Squared


    1. Used to be known as Collin. I decided to change the name to fit the character¡¯s gender. Will be known as Corinne hereafter and future chapters.


    2. Terminal lucidity. A moment of mental clarity shortly before death.

 158 Traitor 2

    Chapter 158: Traitor 2


    "What are you trying to say?" Garen didn¡¯t show any sorrow in his eyes. Life and death, old age and sickness are normal for human being. He had already experienced it once in his past life, and after experiencing Old Man Gregor¡¯s death, he only felt calmness this time.


    Suddenly, Fei Baiyun grabbed his hand and started to tremble violently, as if he was hit by a bout of hysterics. Even the bed started to shake.


    Trembling, he stuffed a Blackwood Ring into Garen¡¯s palm.


    "Master!"


    "Doctor! Doctor!"


    Worried, Corinne and Simon rushed outside to get a doctor.


    Fei Baiyun did not care much for his health, his gaze toward Garen was as sharp as a knife and as bright as the sun, and his hand gripped Garen¡¯s with the strength of an iron plier.


    "Rosetta¡­ Find her¡­ Kill her!"


    Fei Baiyun forced out the sentence before he tremored fiercely and jerked backward. Eyes rolled back, he fell onto the bed. Dead.


    Garen gently closed his eyelids with his palm and stood up.


    "Don¡¯t worry."


    He looked at Master Fei Baiyun, who no longer have a pulse, feeling a dark calmness wash over him.


    "I will avenge you."


    When Corinne and Simon returned with a doctor, Fei Baiyun had completely flatlined with no possibility of resuscitation.


    Corinne and Simon went silent, grieving. In the period when they took care of Fei Baiyun, it was hard, but whenever he¡¯s conscious, he would give them nuggets of guidance which helped a lot.


    "Any news about Rosetta recently?" Garen asked suddenly.


    "First senior brother¡¯s friend had news of First Senior Sister Rosetta.* She was spotted at the Swan Lake in Lake Shore West City." Corinne answered with her eyes reddened by grief.


    "Let¡¯s go, it¡¯s time for White Cloud Gate to clear out the bad seeds."


    Garen marched out of the hospital room, his face projecting a dense killing intent.


    Simon and Corinne glanced at each other, and followed closely.


    ****************


    The burial for the Founder of White Cloud Gate, Fei Baiyun, was held in modesty. There were only a few older visitors, including some master pugilists of yesteryear with better relationship with Fei Baiyun. The rest were comprised of Garen¡¯s associates, Su Lin¡¯s people, representatives of The Golden Hoop, Seven Moon Group, Circling Dance Gate and others.


    At the burial ground, the sky gloomed, and the rain poured heavily.


    The coffin was transported to Huaishan City Cemetery.


    Garen was dressed in a black suit, he held an umbrella above him, watching the burial ceremony in silence.


    The invited nuns from the monastery sang their requiem resoundingly while two strong men lowered the coffin slowly into the tomb. A bunch of white lilies were placed on top.


    Rain clattered on the black umbrella.


    Garen held a taut expression on his face, the free hand was inside his pocket, softly caressing the Blackwood Ring.


    Corinne and Simon stood behind him, holding an umbrella each.


    Third Senior Joshua was there as well. He looked remorseful. It was not clear when he arrived, but he stood there, wet, without the intention to get an umbrella. He looked at the coffin quietly.


    "Third senior brother." Garen looked at Joshua.


    Joshua nodded, took a step forward, took the shovel that was handed to him, and walked to the side of the tomb in the rain.


    Shrrt!


    He shoveled some dirt and slowly drizzled it onto the coffin.


    Garen noticed Third Senior Brother Joshua¡¯s left arm was slightly crooked, as if he was hurt. He also knew about the damage Joshua suffered in his absence, when he protected the White Cloud Gate, against the wishes of his family, and was surprised by a sneak attack during a fight with the Black Mark Association. It was still healing.


    After the first shovel of dirt, the people around the tomb started filling up the hole shovel by shovel.


    White Cloud Gate¡¯s members watched in the rain, utterly silent. Farther away, there were the plump Bouvini and his gang, the branch manager, the main hall¡¯s pupils, and some newly signed up disciples of Simon and Corinne.


    Even farther away were the other guests who came for the funeral.


    Garen watched as the dirt rained on the coffin, his heart calmer by the second.


    "The airplane you wanted is ready," The representative from the Golden Hoop whispered behind Garen, "This is a public resource. On a separate note, your authority allows you to mobilize up to fifty men from any nearby army camps, as well as firepower below Grade C."


    He passed an identity document to Garen.


    "This is yours, please take care of it. Use public resources reasonably to strengthen your influence. Your strength will influence the strength of the Golden Loop."


    The old man with a hooked nose bowed slightly to Garen before stepping aside. He placed a bouquet of white roses in front of the tomb, gave it a salute and left.


    The other funeral guests would offer a word of comfort to Garen without exception.


    Garen peeked at the identity document, it was a document secured with a piece of crystal. In the middle of the black hard cover, there was the national miniature bird emblem engraved.


    Flipping open the cover, the inner pages were padded with black felt.


    The page on the left was the national emblem and the logo of the National Security Division.


    The page on the right was his half body shot, as well as a serial number: No. 9.


    Keeping the identification hidden, Garen stood on the side, observing each guest as they pay their respects.


    I wasn¡¯t long before Su Lin¡¯s people was up next.


    She was a young and beautiful, yet cool-looking woman. She dressed like an office lady*, her long blonde hair flowing past her shoulders, her body curvy where it needs to be.


    She approached Garen and shook his hand.


    "The news you asked for. Rosetta is still at the Swan Lake."


    "Thank you." Garen murmured.


    "You¡¯re welcome."


    *********************


    Lake Shore West City, several hundred kilometers from Huaishan City, Swan Lake.


    The sun was setting, painting a dark golden shine on the irregularly-shaped, jade-colored lake.


    Scattered around and in the lake were bunches of golden reeds and weeds, a few white swans lazed around on the surface of the lake.


    At the bank by the shore, a man and a woman in police uniform squatted awkwardly, drinking the lake water with their palms. Their faces were muddy, their faces unrecognisable.


    In the woods not far behind the two stood two other people in black cloaks. At the back of the cloaks, a white arc arching upwards were sewed in.


    "How are we dividing for this mission?" One of the black cloaks was a woman.


    "We get one half each. After that we¡¯ll take another mission, I should be able to get what I wanted." The other cloaked figure is a man. "Of course, if you become my woman, I can give you half of what I own."


    "This is the Lake Shore West City, your old nest. If anyone from the Crimson Sand Sword found out, you¡¯ll run home crying." The woman teased, unamused.


    "They won¡¯t be able to catch me anyway. Better take care of your own problems. White Cloud Gate is not far from here. Sky Warrior Garen, tsk tsk, that¡¯s an incredible title." The man retorted, unwilling to lose. "Maybe then you¡¯ll even accept my offer, one night for every help."


    "Hmph." The woman did not say anything more, "The stuff is on their hands?"


    "Maybe they¡¯re going to get it somewhere."


    "Now if the Immortal Palace Alliance look the other way, every other people has been dealt with, no one would help them stop us Behemoth Gate." The woman spoke in a low voice. "Following them would lead straight to the thing."


    "Anyone who tries to stop us, we¡¯ll kill them." The man said unaffectedly.


    Before he finished his sentence, the two police seemed to have drank enough. They stood up and took off speedily, anyone would know they¡¯re trained in martial arts.


    The two black cloaked figure immediately chased after them.


    **********************


    After Garen meted out some issues with White Cloud Gate, his return forced some of the less stable forces into hiding, the stress Corinne and Simon faced decreased dramatically.


    He explained to his family about taking over the White Cloud Gate now that he is officially the new Master of White Cloud Gate. His family didn¡¯t feel much of a difference, but they were curious how the youngest Garen could take over the dojo. They got the news later and didn¡¯t show up at the funeral.


    No matter what happened, Garen seemed less and less familiar to them. From not realizing the importance of White Cloud Gate, they slowly resorted to a stunned silence after learning about the guests at the funeral.


    White Cloud Gate, more specifically Garen¡¯s influence is far too much for them to handle, it surpasses the definition of a mere dojo caretaker.


    Suddenly, they realized, like Garen¡¯s uncle, couldn¡¯t see through Garen at all.


    But no matter what, after being exposed in the funeral, Garen¡¯s name spread throughout the Huaishan City, becoming a fad of its own. Anyone who knows anything about the modest funeral talked about how it¡¯s simple, but full of surprises.


    Garen who was in the lead became famous overnight, even the Governor noticed and paid attention on this event, sending someone to deliver a wreath and a eulogy.


    Following the funeral, anyone who paid attention would have known that Garen¡¯s social network even extended beyond Huaishan City, as even influential organizations from nearby cities sent representatives to attend the funeral.


    His network radially covered over half of the Galantia Province, even the powerful son of the Seven Moon Group, Rampas, came to grieve Fei Baiyun¡¯s death after.


    Because of the Seven Moon Group¡¯s misdecision after Garen and Andrela¡¯s battle, the board of directors unanimously voted to release the former chairman, Great Elder, from his duties, and elected Second Elder, Rampas¡¯ father to succeed him. The Seven Moon Group¡¯s reputation dropped significantly in the martial arts community. Fortunately, their businesses had a strong foundation and were not affected considerably.


    The election of Rampas¡¯ father elevated Rampas¡¯ status, and as Rampas was already siding with White Cloud Gate, his naturally has to appear in person to grieve.


    However, to the people who don¡¯t know about the martial arts community, his appearance was more than shocking.


    At this turn of event, Ying Er¡¯s admiration to her brother only grew. Shengying Nobles Academy even listed Garen on their Wall of Fame, and even wanted to invite him to give a speech. However, this all happened during Garen¡¯s flight to Lake Shore West City on the military plane.


    Along with him, Garen brought Corinne, Simon, as well as Third Senior Brother Joshua. Aside from the core disciples whom Garen personally picked, two sharpshooters were arranged to take care of Joshua¡¯s safety, one of whom reminded Garen of Yoda.


    Who¡¯s Yoda? He was the best gunman of the generation!


    It just happened that he was planning to talk to these two about the level classification of marksmanship in the plane.


    Translator''s Thoughts


    J_Squared J_Squared


    1. Might be a typo, but the original text said ´óʦÐÖµÄÅóÓÑ, which translates to first senior brother¡¯s friend. But previous chapter had Simon call Garen first senior brother. Translator is as confused as you readers.


    2. Office Lady, shorthanded ¡°OL¡± in the original text. It supposedly refer to any business women who display one or more of the following attributes: intelligent, fashionable, professional, elegant, and has a high income. On the other hand, there appears to be some sort of OL fetish that some Chinese readers are into.

 159 Prodigy 1

    Chapter 159: Prodigy 1


    The buzzing of the aircraft echoed unceasingly in the cabin. On the side, a constant tapping signified the constant working of the telegram machine.


    Garen sat on the starboard-side of the aircraft, wearing a golden earring on his left ear. It was snapped onto his earlobe, as the pins on it were not able to pierce his skin.


    He touched the earring, it was engraved with a number 9 as an indication of his status in the Golden Loop. Whenever he accesses Golden Loop¡¯s resources, he¡¯d need to show the symbol before his subordinates can identify and follow his orders.


    The aircraft wasn¡¯t large, it¡¯s only enough for a dozen people to fly in.


    The pilots were two Golden Loop members in black, they also wore the golden earrings, but the numbers engraved on them were three digits.


    Third Senior Brother Joshua sat beside Garen, both his bodyguards sandwiching him from his front and back, protecting him.


    The other people from White Cloud Gate like Simon, Corinne and other core members sat at the back. Between the core members, two figures were extra noticeable.


    A lady with a girly youthful appearance, Cynthia, wore a simple T-shirt and jeans. She let her hair down to her shoulder length and sat by the window, humming. Sitting beside her was Jack.


    Both of them were beaten by Garen in Huaishan City when they were still Manuyllton¡¯s lead captain.


    When Garen was absent from the city, even though they didn¡¯t join the dojo, they regularly interflowed with Simon and Corinne, even some pivotal information were provided by them.


    Bringing them on this trip was to enlist their help to protect the newly formed core disciples of White Cloud Gate who had never seen firearms.


    "Third senior brother, do you know anything about Gun Arts?" Garen turned toward Joshua. He had always been curious about Yoda¡¯s discipline.


    "Gun Arts?" Joshua frowned, "The Will Brothers my mum hired for me were experts in Gun Arts, it¡¯ll be better if you ask them, I don¡¯t know much about Gun Arts."


    He paused, "Are you saying that traitor Rosetta may use Gun Arts against us?" His face darkened.


    Garen looked at Joshua and knew, all his focus was set on seeking revenge from Rosetta, the First-senior-sister-turned-traitor. Everything he came across, he would associate it with vengeance, so Garen stopped asking. He turned to the sharpshooter who reminded him of Yoda.


    The sharpshooter is a bald man with a deep tan complexion, he wore a pair of silver framed glasses which makes him look a little like a professor.


    "I¡¯m Morden Will, my friends call me Morden."


    Garen nodded, "Okay then, Morden, about the Gun Arts, how do you manage to train yourself to such degree of skill? Skip the denial part, I can tell, you already attained a high level of expertise."


    A look of surprise flashed in Morden¡¯s eyes, he grinned.


    "You have a good judgment, sir. Actually, I¡¯ve had a breakthrough only recently, and it felt like I went in an unknown, uncharted territory. I didn¡¯t know you could recognize it."


    He contemplated for a while, looking for the right words.


    "How do I say this? Gun Arts is actually similar to Martial Arts, the only difference is we lack the defense module, focusing instead on the attack and evasion modules."


    "Can you describe what it was like when you train?" Garen¡¯s curiosity was piqued.


    "Of course," Morden paused. "In the beginning, we practiced with static targets. It¡¯s those with bullseyes that are not moving. When we¡¯re practicing, we also look for the guns that are most suitable to us. It could be standard issue guns or customized guns, the only thing is that it should fit you like a glove. After having found the gun you are most suited to, as well as achieving 90% accuracy with a static target, this is level one."


    "Level two is next. It¡¯s about getting used to the maximum firing range of your gun. If you¡¯re able to keep half your accuracy while aiming at maximum firing range, and separately hit a moving target with 90% accuracy, you¡¯ll be in level two."


    "Level three is when you find what you¡¯re best at. With the foundation you had in the previous two levels, you will develop your evasion skills, until you are able to avoid at least half of the bullets from gunners of level one and two. At the same time, you will learn about all the qualities of all firearms, the strength and weakness, bullet trajectories from all kinds of bullets, identifying bullet marks, the different usage of different gunpowders, you¡¯ll learn it all. You will also have the ability to customize bullets and modify your guns.


    In this level, your gun will become even more suitable to you, its abilities easier to wield and allows the gunner to excel." Morden had a sense of pride on his face. "I¡¯m in this level. Even if there was a hail of bullets, as long as there aren¡¯t any stray bullets or too many people, a level three gunner wouldn¡¯t have too much of a danger. Of course, there will be degrees to which you are proficient in level three. Different firearms will produce different effects in different environments, in addition to the number of guns you¡¯re dodging, your familiarity with the environment, and your willpower, tactics, reaction speed, all these can become a vital point to winning a battle.


    "Just like Martial Arts, right? Is there a higher level?" Garen inquired calmly.


    "There is," Morden nodded, "Level four, that is a legendary state. Controlling multiple guns at the same time, having 360-degrees vision with no blind spot, being able to swiftly attack enemies before they¡¯ve even moved. This level, is when you can fight a Grandmaster of Combat head on. One of the strongest was a Gun Arts Master who appeared a long time ago - Yoda, the Eight-Arm Dragon King. It was said that he was able to use Gun Arts against a Grandmaster of Combat. Unbelievable."


    "A Gun Arts Master who fought against a Grandmaster of Combat¡­ That really was something." Garen nodded.


    "You¡¯re not a gunner, you wouldn¡¯t understand." Morden shook his head, "The ability to fight a Grandmaster of Combat head on, it means that the gunner must be able to keep up with the speed of a Grandmaster of Combat. As you would know, a speed-focused Grandmaster of Combat can cross a dozen meters in a blink of an eye. Without the speed to match, your head would roll before you could set up your gun."


    "In other words, the Eight-Arm Dragon King at least has the eyesight and the speed of a first rated Grandmaster of Combat? That Yoda is not a Grandmaster of Combat, how did he acquire an eyesight and reaction like that?


    "He must have a series of secret training method." Morden admitted his ignorance on the subject. "This is only an example of a single person against a Grandmaster of Combat. Of course, Grandmasters of Combat are strong, but they still wouldn¡¯t be ablt to take on multiple firearms by themselves. I think you should train for a little Gun Arts, combining that and your Martial Arts, you would be a lot stronger.


    Everyone was silent for a moment.


    Garen glanced at everyone around him.


    "How long did it take for you to reach level three?"


    "Three years if you¡¯re talented, but everyone has different limits. The heights to which everyone can reach is different." Morden said with a cocky air. "If you¡¯re not talented, then you¡¯ll need time and loads of bullet. Usually about twice the time, at least six years."


    "Are there a lot of level three gunners?"


    "One in a thousand."


    Garen was deep in thought, it¡¯s not that the ratio was low, on the contrary, the ratio was too high.


    If it only takes several level three gunners to mob a slower Grandmaster of Combat to death, there are a hundred and fifty thousand soldier in the Confederation, how many gunners would there be? Amongst those, how many are level four?


    This is an unknown.


    Garen can now understand how Duskdune Shura was hurt badly by the Slash Brigade.


    This is the power of the government.


    If there¡¯s an unknown number of Gun Arts Experts in the Confederate Army, what about Martial Arts Experts? How many are there in the world?


    A silence lingered in the cabin for a while. Everyone was plunged into a muted poignancy. This is the tragedy of Martial Arts.


    Firearms are superior in destructive power, compared to Martial Arts which is difficult to master, firearms are far more common and easier to learn and use.


    The rest of the journey was spent in silence and contemplation.


    By the time the aircraft arrived at the Lake Shore West City, dusk has fallen.


    The Golden Loop arranged for everyone to rest in a luxurious hotel, it even had a Practice Room for people to train their bodies.


    ******************


    Thud!


    Cynthia¡¯s foot landed on Garen¡¯s torso, dispersing a cloud of white dust. She tried disengaging, but her right leg was caught with a slap from Garen.


    "The first thing you need to do when practicing Mammoth Secret Technique¡­ is get used to beatings!" Calmly, Garen swung Cynthia¡¯s leg to the side.


    Bam!


    Cynthia was flung across the room and crashed onto the wall.


    She grunted. After regaining her balance by stepping backwards, Cynthia charged forward fiercely, a small blade shot out from below the sole of her foot, and kicked upward.


    With a shwing, the blade grazed in front of Garen¡¯s nose, missing by a mere inch. Slashing air, Cynthia was suddenly hit by a sense of dread. Sure enough, her inner thigh was met with a great force. Her whole body fell backward.


    Thud!


    She sprawled on the ground lined with a rubber mattress. Struggling to get up, but her body didn¡¯t seem to obey.


    She looked up to see a sneaking Jack being thrown beside her, landing heavily and unable to move.


    Both of them were glistening with sweat and looked awkward, their clothing drenched.


    Garen slowly approached them.


    "Not bad, you¡¯re so much stronger than you were before. With firearms, you should be able to take on fighters below the level of a Grandmaster of Combat."


    Cynthia hadn¡¯t given up trying to stand up, but her control over her body was minimal.


    "Weren¡¯t you worried that I will surpass you if you keep letting us do sneak attacks? I will still kill you!" She stared at Garen, her face lined with defiance. "You are only older than I am by a little. If you can become so strong within that time, I can too!"


    "¡®Under the same conditions, I will not lose to anybody!¡¯" Garen stated matter-o-factly, "This was the words you once said, which is why I promised to give you the best conditions to train, even the supplements and resources¡­ If you really can do it, then do it. I will be waiting for you to achieve that. But, as long as you have not reached that goal, you will be my subordinate.


    "Rest well. We will depart tomorrow morning."


    He strolled past the duo by their side and exited the room. The suffocating ambience that was permeating the training room disappeared alongside him.

 160 Prodigy 2

    Chapter 160: Prodigy 2


    Cynthia gasped loudly, and finally started to pant. Her sweat slowly dripped from her temples.


    "Garen is becoming more monstrous day by day," Jack on her side expressed with a wry smile, "Even looking into his eyes would scare me. I didn¡¯t even feel that when I faced a fort full of machine guns, let alone standing up to him like you did."


    "He¡¯s not that much older than me!" Cynthia squeezed her words out resentfully, "I can¡¯t forget the way he forced me into desperation! No matter where, I will be number one! The assassination training camp, the intensive training camp, even in the company! We¡¯re the same age, why does he get to be so much stronger!"


    Recalling the speech she heard on the plane, her hope reignited.


    "You heard the guy, as long as we reach level 4 in Gun Arts, there will be a chance for us to harm a Grandmaster of Combat. If I combined Martial Arts training with Gun Arts, my power will increase exponentially!"


    "You¡­" Jack didn¡¯t know what to say, so he laid on the floor, letting his sweat drip on the ground.


    Lake Shore West City, Red Sand Sword Gate main branch.


    An ancient oriental quartet yard, surrounded with brown walls and covered with cinnabar red roof.


    In a wide wooden training hall, five people in red were lighting the incense at a drawn picture with utter respect.


    The leader was the current Red Sand Sword Gate¡¯s Master, a handsome man with his red hair hanging past his shoulders. After offering the incense, he caressed his sword by his waist, and turned around to face the four Elders by his side.


    "Elders, the traitor is back."


    Out of the four Elders with white hair, one immediately gnashed his teeth in anger.


    "That traitor dared¡­!"


    The other three Elders, two older men and an older lady, didn¡¯t wear any expressions on their faces, the ambience of the room was extra heavy.


    "Who will fight against him?" The Master gave each Elder a once-over.


    The Elder who spoke earlier shut up.


    Silence.


    The four Elders didn¡¯t dare to speak.


    The Master sighed, "Don¡¯t you all hate him to his bones? Now that he¡¯s here, why are you quiet as a mouse?"


    Again, silence.


    The Master looked aside in disappointment, not knowing what to say.


    "Master, Clark is too dangerous. I recommend we should kill him together, no need to follow whatever duel commandments." An elder murmured.


    "Elder Kane is right. We should all join forces and utilize all the power we can get, we must keep this disgrace here!"


    "I propose to have five of our finest disciples join the mission. We¡¯ll also get the chairmen from the branches to help, us Elders will support from the sideline."


    "We can set up an ambush with firearm squad."


    Each of the Elders started to discuss with vigor.


    "Stop," the Master beckoned helplessly. "What about Beo?"


    "Still at bedrest. He was hurt quite badly in this mission with the Confederation." An Elder answered.


    Clark. The disgrace and blemish of Red Sand Sword Gate.


    He was the strongest prodigy Red Sand Sword Gate! With only three years, he managed to grow into a Grandmaster of Combat from someone who has no foundation.


    He was revered as the Palosa of Red Sand Sword. His seniors and elders gave him full attention, determined to make him the best that he can. When his fame began to rise, Andrela was still in his fundamental studies.


    Clark laid a strong foundation for Red Sand Sword Gate¡¯s growing influence and power. He mastered the strongest Secret Martial Art of the Red Sand Sword Gate, the Red Silk Secret Sword Technique* and brought it beyond the limit to a new heights. With that, he surpassed his elders and became the strongest person in the whole of Red Sand Sword Gate!


    He had led the disciples of Red Sand Sword Gate into conquest battles, no matter head-on attacks or ambushes, he was able to come out victorious. Clark¡¯s fame had reached its peak in history by that point.


    Regretfully, Clark, at his peak, hadn¡¯t been able to go further, he can no longer see a better future if he stayed in the Red Sand Sword Gate.


    The repetition of leading conquest and gaining fame was wearing Clark off. Finally, that weariness exploded. One day, five year ago, he defected.


    Under the persuasion of the Behemoth Gate, he killed his master and his beloved senior sister. Anyone who tried to stop him, whom he loved, he killed them all.


    That¡¯s the motto of the Behemoth Gate - Unfeeling, Uncaring.


    The first condition was to defect. The second, to kill someone they loved.


    These are the conditions to joining the Behemoth Gate, there was no turning back.


    Red Sand Sword Gate changed in a single night. Everyone who went after him were either killed or badly hurt. The whole sect fell off its throne and was eventually succeeded by the Celestial Circle Gate.


    "No one was able to kill him." Recalling his own memory of chasing after Clark, an Elder¡¯s face switched between helpless, sorrow, pain, and fear.


    "That¡¯s right." The Master also sighed, "He had already surpassed me, he only defected because he wanted to pursue a path to power. I have no idea how strong he has become."


    "We can ask Celestial Circle Gate for Andrela¡¯s help." An Elder advised.


    "It¡¯s too late, he won¡¯t be able to make it in time. Moreover, Andrela is strong, but still not Clark¡¯s opponent." The Master shook his head. "Even I wouldn¡¯t be able to guarantee victory, let alone him. I know Clark, he¡¯s the type of prodigy who would look for your weak spots, even the Secret Martial Art of Celestial Circle Gate has been cracked by him. Not to mention our own Secret Martial Art, he knew it like the back of his hands, he won¡¯t have any problem dealing with it."


    He paused. "After his disappearance, I thought he died. I didn¡¯t expect¡­ Never mind, mobilize every single captain, we¡¯ll defend the main branch.


    For a moment, the air in the training hall was unbelievably dense.


    The next day.


    Garen and his team split up to look for information. The Eighth Hoop was in charge of the Golden Hoop in this city, who is the pale man who invited Garen into the Golden Hoop then. After meeting with Garen, he agreed, with alacrity, to supply manpower to help looking for Rosetta¡¯s whereabout.


    All of a sudden, the gangsters on the streets, the hidden goons in various companies, even some bosses and workers in shops were all assembled by the Eighth Hoop.


    At the same time, at the outskirts of Lake Shore West City.


    Two black cloaks stood, hidden within the poplar woods. They watched the two police dashed into an area belonging to Red Sand Sword Gate. The ray of dawn spilled onto their cloaks, revealing its unique scale-like shine. The white arc symbol at their backs were also illuminated.


    "As expected, they went to the branch of Red Sand Sword. This city is the old nest of Red Sand Sword Gate, they must be seeking protection from them." Rosetta peered at the buildings standing beside the lake from afar, and glanced at her companion with curiosity. "What do you plan to do now?"


    The other black cloak pulled his hood off, revealing his short white hair, smooth face, and a pair of rare plum-colored eyes.


    "Red Sand Sword Gate? That brings back memories." He said softly. "They look like they were delivering the thing to Red Sand Sword for its protection. Ah well, it¡¯s been awhile I haven¡¯t gone back to check them out. After so many years, I wonder if the Master is still as indecisive as before."


    "You wanna go back?" Rosetta asked, bewildered. "There were so many masters in there, yet you still want to trespass?"


    "I just wanna see if they¡¯ve grown after all these years." Clark said expressionlessly.


    He smiled and slowly shifted toward the entrance of the branch, not bothered to hide himself.


    Rosetta hesitated, and followed.


    "They were looking for something?" Garen frowned. He was seated opposite of the Eighth Hoop in a tea room, sipping black tea with music flowing through the record player on the table.


    "Yes. They were not planning to hide their paths. Just an hour ago, the Red Sand Sword branch at the outskirts caught on fire, no one was spared. The dozen of martial artists and disciples were all killed." The Eighth Hoop sighed, "This former strongest prodigy, he¡¯s not the strongest for nothing*."


    "What were they looking for?"


    "I hear it¡¯s a scroll leaked from the Behemoth Gate about a Secret Martial Art. Behemoth Gate investigated with a lot of their members and found out there were a lot of copies everywhere. Right now, they were sending people to recover all those scrolls." The Eighth Hoop giggled and sipped his black tea.


    "Behemoth Gate." Garen was deep in thought. "Can you locate them?"


    "It¡¯s difficult. However," The Eighth Hoop laughed, "I checked Clark¡¯s details. He will definitely infiltrate Red Sand Sword¡¯s main branch by tonight. You can go there."


    Garen gave it a thought.


    "Thanks."


    He stood up and exited the tea room.


    "No problem."


    The Eighth Hoop smiled, looking at Garen¡¯s back.


    Red Sand Sword¡¯s strongest prodigy in history, Grandmaster of Combat Clark, has now joined the Behemoth Gate for five years. So much stronger, to what end?


    Garen, on the other hand, is a rising star, they called him Number One Youth Grandmaster of Combat of the South.


    "Heh heh, this should be fun." The Eighth Hoop took the teapot and poured himself another cup of tea.


    Garen left the tea room. Corinne, Simon, Cynthia, and Jack were all waiting on the streets.


    "Are the core members ready?"


    "I left Karina in the hotel." Corinne nodded.


    "Okay on my side, everything¡¯s ready." Simon nodded excitedly. "My disciple is proficient in arrangements like this!"


    "Both of you will stay." Garen said calmly.


    "What! Why?" Corinne exclaimed.


    "There is no ¡®why¡¯." Garen turned toward the car.


    "Calm down Corinne, he¡¯s only looking out for us, it¡¯s too dangerous." Simon started to console Corinne.


    Cynthia and Jack followed Garen into the car, Cynthia even made a face at Corinne.


    "Why can they follow?" Corinne whined.


    "Because you¡¯re weak." Cynthia started to hum.


    "Let¡¯s go." Garen ordered calmly.


    "Yessir."


    The chauffeur immediately started the engine and started driving.


    Translator''s Thoughts


    J_Squared J_Squared


    1. ºìÉ´Ãؽ£ was given a different character, silk, with the same sound as sand. Possibly a wordplay.


    2. In the original text, the author used a saying to signify that Clark would do anything to succeed.

 161 Prodigy 3

    Chapter 161: Prodigy 3


    In the car, Garen closed his eyes for a little.


    "Clark¡­" He was not sure what Clark is like as an enemy.


    "I heard he¡¯s the strongest Grandmaster of Combat in Red Sand Sword¡¯s history," Jack sitting in the navigator seat said. "Boss, I checked the info, before he defected to Behemoth Gate, this Clark had suppressed the Celestial Circle Gate by himself. When he defected, he took one of the core Martial Arts of the Red Sand Sword Gate. As of now, his power should be close to Duskdune Shura¡¯s."


    "Close to Duskdune Shura¡¯s, which means he¡¯s still weaker than him?" Garen stated calmly.


    "Uh, yeah, sure." Jack nodded, "Duskdune Shura used to comment about this. He said among the younger generation, Clark was the only one who can elicit a sense of threat to him."


    "Very high evaluation, however, he still put himself at a higher pedestal with that comment. Which would mean, it was only a sense of threat." Garen shook his head. "Very well, at least I can gauge how strong I¡¯ve become."


    "Boss is of course the strongest." Jack whistled.


    About a kilometer from Red Sand Sword¡¯s main branch, the car stopped in an obscure street.


    Garen looked upon the upper regions of Red Sand Sword Gate. One of the Eighth Hoop¡¯s men were there, waiting for Clark and Rosetta¡¯s appearance.


    The bright sky, ever so slowly, dimmed to a shady gloom. Rain drizzled down the street in the afternoon, casting the already vacant street into a chilly disuse.


    The driver from Golden Hoop glanced at Garen through the rearview mirror.


    "Sir, do you want anything to eat?


    "I¡¯ll go get some snacks." "I brought some beef jerky, spicy beef flavor, it¡¯s nice." Both Cynthia and Jack had their plans.


    Garen asked the driver for four hard boiled eggs as dinner.


    Lake Shore West City was three times bigger than Huaishan City, but the population was only half of it, pretty sparse. It took the driver a while to find a place that sells hard boiled eggs, so he bought eight at once.


    Having their dinner casually, the sky finally darkened completely.


    Tick!


    Above Red Sand Sword¡¯s main branch, a white light clicked into existence like a glowing mushroom.


    Garen¡¯s eyes focused on the white light.


    "They¡¯re coming."


    He exited the car, followed by Cynthia and Jack after they prepared their firearms.


    "Hide yourself." Garen unhurriedly gave them an order, and hasted toward Red Sand Sword.


    **************


    Clink clank!


    Two clashes of swords, Clark straighten up his body slowly, his fine sword retracting with the same pace.


    At his side, two elder men stepped back respectively, their swords splitting into two. The two men were stunned.


    "Double Sword Strike! You mastered the Double Sword Strike!"


    One of them stuttered, his voice quivering as he spoke.


    Red Sand Sword Gate Master stood in the middle of the courtyard of the main branch, accompanied by the elites in the Gate.


    Clark smirked and glanced at the anxiety-ridden Red Sand Sword Gate members.


    "Give me the thing, it¡¯s not yours to keep."


    His sight fell on the two police behind the Red Sand Sword Gate Master.


    The two were as pale as ghosts, eyes drooping. After being on the run for such a long time, they damaged their bodies beyond what would be called "normal".


    The situation in the courtyard was awkward, to say the least.


    Clark and Rosetta were both surrounded, at least a dozen of Red Sand Sword Gate members were beaten to the ground, no one else dared to advance to attack, holding their ground.


    Outside the Red Sand Sword courtyard, there was another circle of people in black uniform. These people were all dressed in black, but they weren¡¯t from the same faction, differentiated by the crests they¡¯re wearing. The white arcs, they were from the Behemoth Gate. The others were wearing black crosses, those people were from the Black Mark Association.


    The people from the Black Mark Association were lead by two people, a middle-aged lady and a towering man. They stood side by side, observing the situation in the courtyard.


    Red Sand Sword Gate Master scanned at the outer circle.


    "Clark, you brought people from both Behemoth Gate and Black Mark Association, were you trying to threaten my sect?


    The situation was truly unusual at this stage. Black Mark Association weren¡¯t wholeheartedly trying to help Clark, they wanted the secret scroll too, coming as a separate entity on their own.


    Aside from the Behemoth Gate, represented by Clark and Rosetta, the Celestial Circle Gate had alse had people dispatched after Red Sand Sword Gate informed them about their situation.


    As long as anyone can thwart Clark¡¯s advance, the secret scroll can be saved.


    Red Sand Sword Gate Master was still wearing his confident smile on his face. Whether he is actually confident is another matter, he has to show enough confidence to assure the disciples in his sect.


    He glanced at the two Elders not far from him. Both of them were bleeding from between their thumbs and index fingers, having hurt themselves by the countershock when they tried to sneak attack from behind.


    Clark didn¡¯t even turn behind, he only needed to brandish his sword to block the full strength attacks of them both combined.


    "If we can¡¯t sneak up on him, we¡¯ll swarm him! I don¡¯t believe he has the power to walk out of here unscathed." Gate Master* blinked and sneakily caught a glimpse of the people from Black Mark Association.


    He pressed his thumb and little finger together and flicked.


    A sudden, yet uniformed set of steps sounded. The four people in the forefront of Red Sand Sword Gate, together with the two who were hurt, all charged at Clark.


    Gate Master waved his arm, throwing a black scroll a dozen meters into the air. That was the scroll Behemoth Gate wanted to destroy.


    People from Black Mark Association started rushing for the scroll, as well as those from Behemoth Gate.


    In the darkness, there were sounds of fabric being rustled by the wind, two other elites blitzed at the scroll.


    All eyes were concentrated on the scroll in the air.


    "King of Fist Leo!" "Sky Warrior Corbella!"


    Some people in the crowd yelled in surprise.


    They recognized the two Grandmasters of Combat.


    One of the three Kings of Fist in Black Mark Association, Leo, and Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate¡¯s Sky Warrior Corbella.


    Bam!


    Two massive Braveries clashed in mid-air, everyone felt as if a hammer hit them on their heads and started having vertigo.


    They seem to be able to hear an eagle¡¯s scream and a tiger¡¯s roar.


    With a heavy thud, both the fighters in the air fell backward.


    King of Fist Leo fell into the Black Mark Association crowd, while Sky Warrior Corbella stumbled into the Red Sand Sword crowd.


    "Attack!"


    Red Sand Sword Gate Master roared. All the Red Sand Sword disciples and Elders, as well as elites from each branch lunged at the Behemoth Gate followers.


    Some of them even brought out their guns and started shooting. However, untrained shooters cannot harm the extreme agile martial artists.


    It really was quite a scene.


    Some five people from Red Sand Sword Gate carried their submachine guns and shotguns, and opened fire at Clark wildly.


    Intense clink-clanking sounded non-stop all over the battlefield.


    Sparks enveloped Clark as his sword arm disappeared into thin air, forming a protective barrier with his sword to deflect every single bullet that had been shot his way.


    The deflected bullets avoided followers of Behemoth Gate as if they¡¯re conscience, and sped through the air toward disciples of Red Sand Sword Gate. Just a moment after, flocks of Red Sand Sword disciples were hit.


    Bubbled within a barrier of sparks, Clark¡¯s cheek glowed a sickly crimson.


    "Fighters relying on firearms, Red Sand Sword Gate has really rotted to the core."


    Seeing the ineffectiveness of firearms, Gate Master gritted his teeth and charged into the fight with the four Elders.


    The five of them surrounded Clark, striking frantically with their swords, as though there were five fiery snakes circling him. The blades of the swords started heating up due to the friction between the metal and air. The swords, made with special materials, have extremely high heat conductivity. The swords soon became red from the heat, so much so that whenever they tapped on their opponent, they had the added effect of piercing and burn damages.


    The swords strikes left behind red blurs like red sand pouring through the air. This is how Red Sand Sword got its name.


    With five top fighters joined forces, even Clark was having troubles fighting them off. No one even dared to be near them within a dozen meters.


    Six of them were in the same sect, they were so familiar with each other¡¯s fighting styles, they have practically no secrets from each other in terms of their strengths and weaknesses. In this fight, one side will eventually win out of sheer power and groundwork.


    On the other side of the battlefield, King of Fist Leo from Black Mark Association and Sky Warrior Corbella from Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate started fighting each other again. Like Red Sand Sword and Clark, both of them knew each other¡¯s fighting styles so well, they were not able to tell if one is stronger than the other in such a short time.


    The other less experienced fighters also battled against each other.


    Rosetta fought against one of the four branch chairmen. They were both top fighters who are close to being Grandmasters of Combat. The branch chairman¡¯s sword had less intense red blur, but the speed is still not a normal fighter can keep up to. This is a first grade Secret Martial Art, it¡¯s what Red Sand Sword could become the leading sect once upon a time.


    Even though Rosetta joined Behemoth Gate, her training for a stronger Secret Martial Art is still too little. If it wasn¡¯t for her opponent constant distraction at the Gate Master¡¯s direction, she had already lost.


    "Tsk tsk¡­ Rosetta, have you not already beaten your opponent?" A coquettish voice appeared behind Rosetta.


    "Angela! Mind your own business!" Rosetta¡¯s face darkened, becoming impatient, her Fist Technique disturbed by the interruption.


    Tssss!


    Her left shoulder was scraped by her opponent¡¯s sword. A scalding sting pulsed from her shoulder.


    Her opponent was already stronger than her, coupled with her natural disadvantage as a Fist Artist against a Swordsman who wields Red Sand Sword, a speed-focused Sword Art, even a slight distraction would cause a burnt mark on her skin.


    "As expected, you were only paired up with Clark because of your junior brother, Sky Warrior Garen¡¯s fame. The higher ups had such high hopes for you, but you were disappointing. You think you are good enough to match Lord Clark with your junk skills?"


    The woman behind Rosetta was dressed flirtatiously with on her shapely physique. Her hair was short and pale green. A short spike in her hand danced around, poking bloodied holes into her enemies. To her, strolling past the elites of Red Sand Sword Gate was like taking a walk in the woods.


    Rosetta gritted her teeth, trying hard to focus. When Garen became famous, the higher ups raised her to an impossibly high position, going on missions with Clark. Obviously, from being a normal member, her promotion to such a high position made other elites in the Behemoth Gate less than happy. Everyone thought she was basking in the light of Sky Warrior Garen.


    As Sky Warrior Garen¡¯s senior sister, her power could only be stronger than her junior brother. However, no matter how much effort she puts in, her strength only increased slowly. Sometimes, because of overtraining, her injuries even sets her back in strength.


    Translator''s Thoughts


    J_Squared J_Squared


    Gate Master refers to Red Sand Sword Gate Master, in case you¡¯re confused. Same below unless specified otherwise.

 162 Prodigy 4

    Chapter 162: Prodigy 4


    "Unless I said something wrong?" The girl smiled, "look at your opponent who fights without strength, sloppy movement and shows no intention of killing at all. They don¡¯t even treat you like an opponent, they¡¯re just fooling with you."


    "Shut up!" Rosetta growled, but was immediately cut across the chest on the shirt by Crimson Sand Sword¡¯s chief, leaving a black mark on her shirt.


    "Look at your embarrassed face," the girl smiled, "I heard you¡¯ve taught - before, and with this level you¡¯ve actually produced a pro fighter, so how do you really teach it? Hmm¡­ let me think, did you teach it in bed?"


    "Angela, are you looking to die?!" Rosetta couldn¡¯t resist her anger anymore, she turned her back as if desperately wanting to leave the opponent.


    In the blink of an eye, a red light shimmered in front of her eyes. Chi chi chi! Three times consecutively and the clothes on Rosetta¡¯s shoulders tore. If it wasn¡¯t for her Hardening Technique, that move would¡¯ve caused her life because she made the mistake of triggering her emotions.


    "I said it right? Are you angered by that embarrassment?" Angela showed an innocent face with her hand under her chin. "You weren¡¯t hurt badly? This is White Cloud Gate¡¯s Mammoth Secret Hardening Technique? However, why does it look so weak when compared to other secret techniques?"


    "Poor bastard, the day Clark gets bored of fooling with you would be the day you die." Suddenly her expression changed, showing a sinister smile. "You looked so cocky, I thought you had such strong powers, but turns out you''re just a disappointment. This is your White Cloud Gate¡¯s Mammoth Secret Hardening Technique?"


    Rosetta boiled with anger, but the more she raged, the more she was suppressed by the opponent. Not only that, the injuries on her body also increased.


    "Enough."


    With a loud "chi", a red sword stabbed into the front side of Angela¡¯s toe and for a moment, it left the floor burning in white smoke.


    A red light flashed by, Angela¡¯s opponent retreated with a soft hmm, hugging both hands while wrestling her way out.


    Clark slowly walked in from the side.


    "The higher authorities did not pair me up with Rosetta because of her abilities," he explained faintly.


    Angela was slightly startled but finally understood everything.


    At the moment, the situation was unfogging before her.


    Clark already injured a bunch of pros from the Crimson Sand Sword. The remaining party was left surrounded, defending themselves with guns.


    The Black Mark Association¡¯s King of Fist Leo stared at Behemoth Gate, as members of Black Mark Association and the Behemoth Gate did battle with each other. Besides this was the Sky Warrior Corbella, who were standing with the Crimson Sand Sword.


    That black scroll fell in the middle of the arena. However, it was left untouched; nobody had dared to reach for it for fear of being killed by the surrounding fighters. The King of Fist Leo gave it a shot, but was immediately attacked, leaving him with no choice but to retreat.


    Clark was the only one walking slowly towards the scroll, flicked it upwards with his toes and caught it in his hands as it fell.


    As he held the scroll...


    Boom!


    Suddenly, a great number of guns were focused at him, and with it, ten times the amount of extremely strong hidden weapons spun around at breakneck speed towards Clark. In it included a lot of grenades.


    Everything erupted in a split second. The weapons rang in the same moment, leaving behind a single, unified, deafening boom.


    At the same time, Clark¡¯s surrounding lit up with piece of red sword shadow, an impossible armada of red lights burst at once.


    As all the hidden weapons fired, a blanket of shadows was cast upon Clark¡¯.


    The arena was suddenly half empty, as if like bodies were rising and falling.


    As everyone stared at the black figured shadow in the middle of the arena, they felt the same chill in their heart.


    The Crimson Sand Sword sect¡¯s five strongest Grandmasters of Combat all attacked at once, were all injured, and did not dare attack anymore. Now it did not matter how many fire weapons were aimed at them, he still did not feel half threatened.


    No matter if it was Sky Warrior Corbella or King of Fist Leo, everyone stared at Clark with an unusually dignified look. They looked at each other, scarcely believing that he had come out unscathed after that exchange, still looking calm as ever.


    "Any takers?" Clark asked softly while tossing the scroll.


    The arena was silent. A hand trembled somewhere in the crowd.


    Everyone around who opened fire including the hidden weapons experts were injured with the ricocheted bullets and weapons. They were all either injured or dead.


    "The Crimson Sand Sword is now are all but rotten to the core¡­" Clarked sighed, "but it¡¯s good. Let tonight be Crimson Sand Sword¡¯s last memory. Such a rotten sword based sect has finally died by my hand."


    He held his sword, walking slowly towards the present group members of Crimson Sand Sword.


    "Clark!" Crimson Sand Sword¡¯s chief shouted suddenly. "You don¡¯t really think that is the secret scroll, do you? Still remember the King¡¯s Cave?"


    Clark squinted and held his steps, his eyes were locked on the body of two policemen who stood behind the Gate Master.


    "What do you mean?"


    The Gate Master of Crimson Sand Sword held his hand to his back and using his fingers, he drew a word on the hand of the small policeman: stall.


    The male policeman Jia Ning finally understood. He knew now that the important moment has come. If they can¡¯t force Clark to retreat, they all would have to die!


    He summoned his courage and yelled. "The secret scrolled we retrieved in the King¡¯s Cave was actually fake."


    When he and his junior sister investigated that murder case, they were constantly chased after they got the secret scroll. It wasn¡¯t easy as they stumbled back to the city, in fact they were almost killed by a hidden weapon in the police station.


    "It¡¯s a fake? So where¡¯s the real one?" laughed Clark. The long sword in his hands gradually turned cold, returning to its original black colour. "Since you brought it up, then you should know it too, don¡¯t you?"


    "We¡¯re not lying. Actually¡­ Actually it is tied to a treasure map!" Jia Ning started panicking.


    "Treasure map?" Clark frowned. He knew about this secret scroll. He was particularly interested in this scroll that was leaked within the sect, as to why so much attention was given to a Secret Scroll of Secret Technique that wasn¡¯t considered strong. What secrets did it hide that would constitute the mobilization of a first class fighter like him?"


    You need to know that to convince this level of Grandmaster of Combat to make a move, the resources that cost them was definitely not a small number.


    "Why don¡¯t you explain the origin of this treasure map?"


    The small policeman Jia Ning tried his very best to calm down and maintain a confident front.


    He just heard someone behind whispered to him that Clark¡¯s Behemoth Gate¡¯s members have an enemy that would rush over tonight, so all he needed to do was stall for a bit. Who knows, the situation might take a good turn.


    This was the Gate Master¡¯s meaning and arrangement.


    Although he was panicking, but he still tried his best to slow down his heart beat.


    "This treasure map is actually related to one of Behemoth Gate¡¯s big secret!"


    "Big secret?! You¡¯re saying Behemoth Gate¡¯s big secret?" A ridiculing smile appeared on Clark¡¯s face.


    "Chi"!


    The fine sword on his left hand blurred for a moment. Suddenly, Crimson Sand Sword¡¯s fist master groped his neck and fell sideways to the floor, showing a small piece of rock wedged in his neck where red blood was oozing out. The boxer struggled a few times and eventually, stopped moving.


    "Tell me. If I find out that what you say is untrue, and that you were lying to me¡­" Clark easily drew a few sword shadows.


    Everyone in the arena, including the Black Mark Association¡¯s fist master and Holy Fist Gate¡¯s Divine Marshal, did not seem to care. The him now is already headed towards becoming a pro fist master who¡¯s at the pinnacle of the art. The average level of a Grandmaster of Combat does not even exist in his eyes anymore.


    In here, he¡¯s the strongest of all!


    "Treasure¡­ The Treasure Map is real!" Jia Ning shouted as beads of sweat formed on his forehead, "it is hidden in the secret scroll! Unless you assume that Behemoth Group would really waste all those resources on a Secret Scroll of Secret Technique that is not considered the best?"


    Clark¡¯s expression changed but that statement confirmed his initial doubt.


    Seeing that Clark started to hesitate, Jia Ning quickly added.


    "Hidden inside the treasure map is what was once the rare treasure that was buried by the Behemoth Gate! It can bring your martial arts to the next level! This was the secret I chanced upon in the King¡¯s Cave!"


    Clark frowned, though it wasn¡¯t only him. Even the Black Mark Association and the Sky Warrior Corbella seem to be convinced.


    Originally Behemoth Gate¡¯s actions were a little suspicious, but with the small policeman¡¯s stall, everybody started doubting.


    "Where did you hear this from?" Clark asked.


    Small policeman Jia Ning was scared by his aggressiveness that his head was full of sweat. Under intense pressure, he involuntarily wanted to speak the truth.


    "I¡­ I¡­"


    Clark laughed, "Tell me, are you lying to me." He lifted his long sword, and slowly walked towards the direction of the Crimson Sand Sword group.


    Boom!


    At this time, a majestic transparent wave quickly flew in from the courtyard outside.


    Moo! A huge elephant cry came from the courtyard.


    Everyone in the courtyard felt their bodies sinking, as deep and huge as the sea being over the courtyard.


    With a click, the courtyard was hit.


    A strong, muscular shadow of a figure stood in front of the door.


    The air surrounding his body seem to twist and move, as if a huge transparent mask was on him. A huge pressure, like waves was heavily pressed upon everybody in the courtyard.


    At the same time, a faint sound of soldiers running came from the outside. Shortly, the Crimson Sand Sword sect was surrounded by rows of armed soldiers.


    "We finally found you, Rosetta¡­" Garen slowly walked in through the main door, dressed in black leather shoes, expression cold as ever. His eyes quickly fell onto the girl behind Clark.


    "Southern Twelve Gates¡¯ most powerful ones, Garen Lombard¡­ is finally here!" the Gate Master of Crimson Sand Sword let out a sigh of relief.


    Clark turned his head to look at Garen. The relaxed smile he carried before vanished quickly.


    "White Cloud Gate¡¯s is here to cleanup, Behemoth Gate¡¯s members stay, everyone else may leave," Garen¡¯s voice echoed softly in the courtyard.


    Rosetta looked like a miserable mess, she looked at her junior across the courtyard while panting heavily. That teen who was once a weakling, had now grown into an undefeatable fighter.


    The two of them exchanged glares for a short while, and memories of the past seemed to flash between them.


    "Where¡¯s second senior brother? Where¡¯s the boss?" Garen¡¯s face returned to a peaceful expression.


    "I knew you would come," Rosetta started catching her breath and stood up straight. She was about to say something else, but was stopped by Clark.


    Clark¡¯s face was filled with excitement, he slowly lifted up his long sword.


    Hummmm!!


    He violently brandished his sword in intimidation.


    "As soon as I kill you, I will be able to advance to the next level!"


    His eyes started to glow a mad red.


    Garen looked at him


    Rumble!!


    A great amount of energy gathered around Clark, and crushed him.


    Ka Cha!


    Clark¡¯s face turned into fear, the ground beneath him cracked, as he took a few steps back from the attack.


    The whole courtyard fell to silence.

 163 The Star Lit Sky of the Night 1

    Chapter 163: The Star Lit Sky of the Night 1


    "You!!" Lord Clark¡¯s face went from a pale white to a furious green, then from green it went to a purplish red. His chest was rising and falling with his breathes, his face filled with disbelief as he stared at Garen.


    The arena was silent, most of the members of the Crimson Sand Sword were sighing breaths of relief, so many had died on the arena, and all of them were their own. They all came from simple families, with ranks in the army, all loyal members to the sect. Now that the enemy of the Behemoth Gate had appeared, they were no longer the main attraction of the opponent.


    Members of the Black Mark Association however, had their eyes on the King of Fist, Leo, whose eyebrows were locked together tightly. When Garen started relaxed for a bit, Leo turned his attention to the Sky Warrior Corbella.


    Who knew whether if Corbella would be on Garen¡¯s side, even the usually fearless Lord Clark was retreating in fear upon sensing Garen¡¯s aura, even he was intimidated by the last Sky Warrior of the Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate.


    Leo had originally thought that the Black Mark Association and the Behemoth Gate were sure to win, but who had expected this sudden change and interruption.


    No, Lord Clark must¡¯ve anticipated this right?


    Leo turned his attention to Lord Clark and the two women behind him. The members of the Behemoth Gate that stood behind the trio didn¡¯t seem too surprised by Garen¡¯s sudden appearance, but were more shocked by Garen¡¯s true power.


    The other Sky Warrior Corbella looked at Garen from afar, he squinted, and crossed his arms as if he was thinking of something in the corner.


    "Garen Lombard," Lord Clark stood still as ever, his face finally returning to normal,"shouldn¡¯t you be in Galantia? What business do you have coming here?" He seemed to have forgotten the shameful exchange earlier.


    Garen usually operated out of Galantia, where he was the most powerful figure, a position that was recognized by everyone within the region. The Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate had noticed that Garen had no plans to expand beyond Galantia, and had since recognized the entire state as the property of the White Cloud Gate.


    Almost everyone in the martial arts world knew that Galantia was White Cloud Gate¡¯s Garen¡¯s territory.


    Garen took a sweeping look at the entire arena.


    "Looks like nobody is listening to me huh? Is nobody going to pull out?"


    "Wait wait!" The leader of the Crimson Sand Sword yelled,"we the members of the Crimson Sand Sword are willing to grant this territory to White Cloud Gate¡¯s Garen as the venue for him to settle his vendetta, we pull out!"


    Reaching a situation like this, the Gate Master no longer cared about the reputation of his sect. Despite being usually proud, in the face of a life threatening situation, everything else was secondary.


    Once upon a time when Lord Clark betrayed his original sect and got the Celestial Circle Gate knocking on his door demanding an explanation, he had given way then, hence there was no hesitation for this time as well.


    "Gate Master!!"


    Four of the elders alongside a few of the leading members of the sect yelled, their faces turned a gloomy grey, as they clenched their fists in anger. The rest of the members and followers however just stayed silent, only a few felt ashamed and angry.


    On top of letting someone else invade their homeground, they now had to cede their land for the invader to settle his vendetta?! In the world of martial arts, this was a shame beyond description.


    "Say no more!," The groundsman of the Crimson Sand Sword sect suppressed the anger of the followers,"retreat!"


    Garen watched as all the members of the Crimson Sand Sword retreated hastily, even attempts to pick up corpses were halted by their founder.


    Behemoth Gate¡¯s Lord Clark and its members, alongside followers of the Black Mark Association didn¡¯t stop their retreat, they merely stared at Garen.


    As all this was happening, members of the Black Mark Association and Behemoth¡¯s Gate silently surrounded Garen.


    "I thought I could have a fair fight with you, but looks like that¡¯s impossible now." Lord Clark¡¯s face was sinisterly peaceful,"Garen Lombard, you grew too quick! You really thought nobody would ever discover your secret huh?"


    "Hmm?" Garen¡¯s expression turned into a confused gaze,"secret?"


    "Hand over the secret technique to brewing the Blood of Secrets," Lord Clark¡¯s sword suddenly started vibrating violently, turning from black to a bright red, like a high temperature piece of metal.


    Garen was stunned, these idiots actually thought his rapid growth was because he had used the Blood of Secrets. For a moment he thought that Lord Clark had discovered his bizarre secret when Clark made that statement.


    "Looks like you will never be satisfied unless I destroy you," Garen¡¯s said with an expressionless face, Lord Clark smiled coldly and clapped his hands.


    Two men of dressed in black cloth suddenly walked out from a corner of the courtyard, holding some sort of a weird blue machine gun in hand.


    Upon seeing these two individuals, the other Sky Warrior¡¯s expression changed, he tapped his foot on the ground rapidly, and instantly leaped to the side of Garen.


    "I am Sky Warrior Corbella, be careful of the gun in the hands of those two men, that¡¯s a specially made Ming Wen Gun, it uses the most powerful purple gunpowder!" he explained softly.


    Garen looked at him.


    "Purple gunpowder?"


    "This is the Killer Hunters Squad! Lord Clark is a member of the Killer Hunters Squad!" Sky Warrior Corbella seemed to have suddenly remembered something important.


    He wasn¡¯t exactly quiet about it either, everyone in the courtyard heard him, even the Gate Master who was about to leave stopped in his steps.


    "Killer Hunters Squad? What¡¯s that?" Small Policeman Jia Ning stood by a side wiping his sweat.


    The expressions of the Gate Master and the elders around him looked horrible.


    "Killer Hunters Squad¡­.is a collaborative effort between the Behemoth Gate and the Weisman Empire. It is responsible for the hunting and elimination of highly skilled fighters within the Confederation. While most martial art practitioners are vulnerable against firearms, skilled fighters are not threatened nor afraid of firearms at all. Hence the Weisman Empire created the Killer Hunters Squad with the sole purpose of reducing the potential threats within the populace of the Confederation!"


    "Clark¡¯s group was never here for the scroll, instead they just wanted to bait Garen. As soon as Garen left Galantia, they were awaiting him with a plethora of traps!" The Gate Master of the Crimson Sand Sword suddenly felt defeated, just like the days when he watched as Lord Clark slowly gained influence and strength, while he watched on powerlessly.


    The once proud and self thought to be powerful Crimson Sand Sword Gate was now reduced to just bait and venue providers in the face of these true masters.


    "What a grand setting¡­," he turned his head to look at the courtyard, the sky there was being occasionally lit up by brighter and brighter balls of light,"Behemoth Gate, Black Mark Association, they have both sent their best fighters here today. I reckon that most of the best fighters of the southside are gathered here today, whatever that transpires today will define the southside for years to come."


    "Gate Master...what should we do then?" among the crowd, one of the elders inquired.


    "We continue to retreat."


    Members of the Crimson Sand Sword continued to retreat in an organised manner, everyone was filled with a good amount of angst inside their hearts.


    "Killer Hunters Squad..."


    Small Policeman Jia Ning seemed to only roughly understand the situation. He lifted his female colleague in one hand, comforting her, while he looked onto the courtyard.


    "Mister Gate Master, so you would say that this Killer Hunters Squad is incredibly powerful?"


    "They are VERY powerful. They might not be too strong alone, but if they were to group up, the threat they pose overpowers any top fighter." the Gate Master nodded.


    "In that case, the man named Garen earlier must be in danger then?" Jia Ning asked softly.


    "This is a trap set just for him, an entire nation¡¯s resources pitted against him. Without a doubt, he will die here today." the Gate Master nodded again.


    Jia Ning laughed,"I don¡¯t know much about fighters or martial artists, that is your world," he rubbed his nose,"I only know that if it wasn¡¯t for Garen earlier, we would all probably be dead already."


    "What do you want to do?" his female colleague asked him,"Jia Ning you better not be having some stupid brainy idea again!"


    "I¡¯m not having a brainy moment!" Jia Ning laughed,"In the east we have a saying: ¡®A man¡¯s got to do what he¡¯s got to do.¡¯ Just now Garen saved me, now it¡¯s my turn to save him."


    He pushed his female colleague aside, and took big strides towards the courtyard.


    Members of the Crimson Sand Sword looked at him stunned, at a loss for words at sight of his act.


    "You will not save anyone by doing this! You¡¯re just walking into certain death!" the Gate Master bellowed, his face confused.


    Jia Ning stopped for a bit,"Didn¡¯t you say earlier that they are weak alone? Who know if I could disrupt their formation somehow?"


    He sped up and ran towards the courtyard, disappearing into the shadows.


    "Gate Master!"


    One of the leaders couldn¡¯t help but yell.


    The Gate Master lowered his head,


    "What I¡¯m doing¡­..is for the sake of our entire sect!"


    Everyone was silent now, as they recalled how they were all ambushed by Lord Clark¡¯s people earlier.


    *************************************


    Garen squinted his eyes, staring at the two individuals who had just walked out. He wasn¡¯t certain how powerful that gun really was, but since the enemy was poised in such a formation, it was obvious they had studied his methods before this.


    "A trap set just for me?"


    "The Weisman Empire¡¯s Killer Hunters Squad, paired with Behemoth Gate¡¯s best fighters, we¡¯re in some hot soup this time," Sky Warrior Corbella felt the situation not in their favour. Although he too was a top classed fighter, and had been a practitioner for many years, but against a setup like this, even he was in a bad spot.


    Within the courtyard, Black Mark Association¡¯s King of Fist Leo and the Killer Hunters Squad stood by a side.


    On the other side, was Behemoth Gate along with Lord Clark, Angela and Rosetta. The courtyard was split into three distinct groups.


    The two sects surrounded Garen, in a tight formation, as they fought the soldiers Garen brought with him outside the formation.


    But anyone could tell that those normal soldiers stood no chance against these two major sects. The situation was not in Garen¡¯s favor at all.


    "Weisman Empire¡¯s Killer Hunters Squad?" this was Garen¡¯s first time hearing about them,"are they very powerful?"


    Sky Warrior Corbella nodded,"Insanely so! They are as good as the best marksmen in the Confederation, selected as a few out of the five million strong army of the empire. The best of the best!"


    "Garen, just hand it over. That technique is wasted in the hands of you alone. As long as you hand it over to us Behemoth Gate, we guarantee that you will receive an even greater amount of resources to build yourself. We can finally cut off The Immortal Palace Alliance¡¯s monopoly! We will be able to those terrorists that dare to drive the government. The Empire will also take you in as a citizen, with at least a Baron or above as a title to start." Lord Clark¡¯s lip turned into a sinister smile,"in fact, weren¡¯t you almost killed by the Immortal Palace Alliance¡¯s Sylphalan? Don¡¯t you want revenge?"


    "You know that too?!" Garen was shocked. He was having fun leading these people on their own mistake, or else it would be really hard to explain his rapid growth.

 164 The Star Lit Sky of the Night 2

    Chapter 164: The Star Lit Sky of the Night 2


    "Sylphalan is a madman, if you can survive a fight with him, you can definitely provide us with valuable information about him. This would be beneficial to both of us," Lord Clark smiled,"if it were possible, I wouldn¡¯t want to destroy such a powerful fighter like you. Not many are as merciful and open minded as I."


    Garen was silent.


    "Still can¡¯t make up your mind?" Lord Clark¡¯s sword tip touched the ground, releasing a small streak of white smoke where it touched the ground,"in fact, I even accidentally acquired some information." he stopped for a bit, lowered his voice.


    "You seemed to have joined some underground society, you seem to be searching for something...?" he said with a light touch of suspicion.


    Garen¡¯s face dropped.


    "You know too much..."


    Rumble!!!


    He suddenly disappeared from where he stood, the entire courtyard rumbled as ground exploded, forming a massive crater and sending small pieces of rock flying everywhere.


    Boom!!


    Lord Clark¡¯s expression changed rapidly, a massive amount of crimson sand like speckles of light appeared in front of him, they were streaks of light made by the brandishing over an infinite amount of sword tips.


    The red dot collided with a black shadow, releasing a loud and terrifying rumble.


    Lord Clark blocked the attack with his whole body, but he felt his limbs go numb, they had been vibrated to the point of total numbness.


    Another rumble and a loud sound came again from the front.


    "Open fire now!!!" Lord Clark ordered at the top of his voice.


    "He is too fast!" two of the Killer Hunters Squad¡¯s marksmen panicked,"didn¡¯t you say that he was really slow? How can be so fast! Fuck!"


    They could only see a blackish grey shadow continuously collide with Lord Clark¡¯s body, blow after blow it let out terrifying bangs that scared onlookers till they were numb in their limbs. Even the floor seemed to be vibrating.


    Lord Clark¡¯s body was surrounded by the red speckles as he tried to defend, but he wasn¡¯t able to catch up to any of the actions. Ever since the first hit, it seemed as if he was alone in the courtyard.


    A streak of black shadow kept attacking him all over his body, the Crimson Sand Sword Gate¡¯s secret defense technique: Crimson Sword Veil, was about to fall apart.


    "Quickly open fire! Open fire!!" Clark was losing his sanity, he swung his sword around desperately, each swing weaker than the one before.


    Clark was a fighter that had honed his speed and strength to the pinnacle, even Garen was not as fast as him, but yet Garen was facing the tip of Clark¡¯s sword with his bare fists. Each time Garen¡¯s fists met Clark¡¯s sword, Garen would continue unscathed, while Clark¡¯s whole body would tingle, his strength slowly fading away.


    hould Clark just miss Garen¡¯s attacks once, it would mean certain death!


    As if some sort of inexplicable fear was brewing within him, Clark released all his might like never before, his strong observation abilities were now able to see Garen¡¯s movements as Garen swung his fist, took a step forward, swung his fist, took another step forward.


    It was just two simple movements, Garen was expressionless, he was like a dead man, like the world around him had no effect on him whatsoever.


    The ground would erupt in small explosions, leaving small craters in the wake of each step Garen took, like small bombs were exploding, they sent gravel and dirt flying all over the place.


    Rosetta and Angela could only step away, keeping a distance so they would not be injured by the stray gravel.


    At this moment, a huge empty space was made in the middle of the courtyard.


    In the centre of it all, Clark was swinging his sword furiously alone like a red ball of light, a black streak kept flying around him, it was the mirage of Garen¡¯s ridiculous speed.


    Boom!!


    Finally, Clark was hit on the waist by one of Garen¡¯s palms, and was sent flying across the courtyard.


    With a big splash, he landed in the fake mountain in the pond of the courtyard. The entire fake mountain was blasted apart, turning into dust instantly.


    Clark lied in the pile of rocks with his sword, coughing loudly, his eyes, nose and ears were bleeding.


    Pow! Pow!


    Two sounds of gunshots went off at the same time.


    Clang clang!


    Garen¡¯s chest was hit, producing two bright sparks, and forming two holes on his suit.


    He casually tore his suit off, revealing two bleeding holes on his chest, the long purple and black bullets actually managed to penetrate about half of their lengths into his skin.


    "Oh I¡¯m hurt..." he flexed and swung his chest muscles, squeezing the two bullets out of his body, as they fell with soft dings.


    "You folks actually managed to injure me, well done." Garen¡¯s face produced a coy smile.


    He stomped the ground.


    With a loud bang, a massive piece of rock blew out from the ground, he whipped his feet and produced more.


    A large amount of rocks flew out like cannon balls in every direction, taking down members of the Behemoth¡¯s Gate around him in quick blow.


    Two of the Killer Hunters Squad members evaded the rocks and lifted their guns ready to shoot.


    Roar!!


    Garen suddenly made a loud sound like the roar of an elephant, sending a minor earthquake about the entire courtyard.


    The loud and terrifying roar shockwave headed straight for the two Killer Hunters, the both of them suddenly felt their whole bodies go numb, as their hands trembled and pointed their guns upwards, Bang bang!


    Two bullets flew straight up and landed nowhere.


    The two Killer Hunters¡¯ faces were now filled with fear.


    "Retreat!!"


    With a swift movement, the two Killer Hunters rolled on the floor, evaded more oncoming rocks and took two blind shots.


    They hit Garen¡¯s wrist, shaking it slightly.


    "Everyone attack!!"


    Clark bellowed.


    The two Killer Hunters quickly split up and aimed at Garen from two different angles.


    At the same time, Clark and King of Fist Leo propelled themselves onto Garen. Angela clenched her teeth, suppressing her shaky hands, she produced two throwing stars and threw them at Garen¡¯s back.


    Rumble¡­.


    Two rockets appeared out of nowhere suddenly, and were headed towards Garen with a pillar of white smoke behind them.


    In that split second, attacks were coming from every direction.


    For inexplicable reasons, while being surrounded by all these threats, Garen suddenly thought of his conversation with Duskdune Shura by the cliffside¡­


    "The you now, is just like the him of then," Duskdune Shura recalled,"before Palosa became the Saint of Fist Techniques, he was just like you. Young and undefeatable, even against Grandmasters from an older generation. However, sadly..."


    "Sadly what?" Garen stared at him.


    "You lack the aura of magnificence."


    "Aura of magnificence?" Garen looked up into the sky as if he had just thought of something.


    The night sky was littered with infinite stars, a great majestic sense of awe overwhelmed him.


    "Without Defeat, Without Competition¡­.." he muttered to himself.


    Rumble!!


    The rockets exploded, a large amount of bullets were shot in Garen¡¯s direction, a thick fog mixed with dust and dirt formed after the explosions, for a moment nobody could tell what had happened.


    Clark and King of Fist Leo still stood on the same spot, they were standing by for Garen¡¯s evasion attempts, but surprisingly, Garen made no attempt to hide nor evade.


    The dust finally settled.


    Rosetta stood far behind Angela, suddenly cupped her mouth, she couldn¡¯t believe what she was seeing.


    Clark and Leo stood side by side, about ten plus meters away from the epicentre of the explosion, their pupils suddenly shrank.


    As the smoke finally cleared where Garen stood, a several meters wide crater was revealed, and in the middle of it, was an unscathed Garen.


    He had somehow evaded the primary area of effect of the explosions, and everything else didn¡¯t have any effect on him.


    "After this fight, I will challenge Palosa," Garen¡¯s last word fell, and suddenly disappeared.


    At the same time, a shadow appeared in front of Clark. With a loud "Ka Cha!", the sword in Clark¡¯s hand was sliced into pieces, turning into many pieces of red speckles.


    With a loud bang, a massive green and black hand penetrated through the broken pieces and pressed its palm on Clark¡¯s forehead.


    "No!!! I do not want to die!!! I DO NOT WANT TO DIE!!!" Clark¡¯s face turned into a stroke of madness, the scars on his body suddenly started glowing. What was originally a thin shade of beige skin was suddenly filled with blood, and his veins glowed like he had been tattooed with blood.


    In the split second before Clark¡¯s skull was about to be smashed into pieces, he suddenly mustered a terrifying amount of counter strength and released himself from the grasp of Garen, his forehead now sliced open slightly by the nails of Garen¡¯s palm.


    Resisting a flurry of pain from his head, Clark flipped over skillfully, ready to escape.


    Bang!!


    He was hit by a palm technique, and spat out blood, the force sent him flying over the walls, his thoughts filled with fear of Garen. He didn¡¯t even think twice and started running away as soon as he landed, disappearing into the night.


    He was dead for sure.


    Garen slowly pulled his right palm back, he was still being shot at by two machine guns and held back by the attacks of the Killer Hunters and Leo.


    The seemingly endless rain of bullets on Garen¡¯s body kept lighting up spark after spark, everyone felt chills as they watched Garen casually ignore the gunshots and begin to turn his attention to Leo and the Killer Hunters.


    Upon seeing Clark¡¯s cowardly retreat, Leo and the Killer Hunters wanted to run too, but they were so pulled in by Garen¡¯s aura of courage that they simply couldn¡¯t stop attacking. They knew that if they stopped, they would be killed within a split second.


    They weren¡¯t Grandmasters of Combat like Clark, and did not have terrifying amounts of explosive energy or durability.


    All the attackers were starting to panic, members of the Behemoth Gate held back their fears as they remembered their strict training; members of the Black Mark Association however, were mostly convicts, they couldn¡¯t stand the pressure that came with the fear, some of them started abandoning the mission.


    Two of the heavy machine guns were operated by a total of four people. The ones responsible for feeding the chains, their hands were shivering out of fear. The ones responsible for aiming couldn¡¯t even hold the gun still, most of the bullets started straying and hit the wall behind Garen instead.


    King of Fist Leo and the Killer Hunters watched as Garen came closer, their foreheads, arms, their entire bodies started cold sweating. Some of the stray bullets flew past Garen¡¯s face, leaving small cuts on his face as he walked.


    The guns suddenly stopped, the two Killer Hunters saw Garen about to get close to them, suddenly exploded into a ball of fire.


    They simply lit the gunpowder they were carrying on them, killing themselves.


    At this moment, Garen was still a few metres away from the epicentre of the explosion.


    "They¡­.couldn¡¯t take the pressure, and chose to kill themselves¡­."


    Sky Warrior Corbella said, with sorrow and disappointment.


    The surrounding houses around the courtyard were now on fire, the light of that fire glowed on Garen¡¯s face, giving him a demonic look with a reddish shadow.


    He stood before the fire, and turned to look at King of Fist Leo.


    The gunshots had also stopped by now.


    Leo stared powerlessly at Garen¡¯s silhouette, he was shaking all over in fear, with a loud thump, he suddenly kneeled on the floor.


    The fire continued to burn around them, making occasional crackles as the wood burned.


    "It is finished..."


    Corbella looked at that silhouette before the fire, his heart was suddenly filled with motivation, his body pumped up with adrenaline.


    "After this battle, you are without competition!" He suddenly remembered the days of Palosa.


    He suddenly felt like he had just witnessed history.


    "He will become the next Saint of Fist Techniques," Corbella said, as he watched King of Fist Leo kneel before Garen.


    Garen lifted up his head and looked at the night sky, as if he had just understood something.


    Behind the fire, small policeman Jia Ning stood stunned, an unprecedented thirst rose from his heart.

 165 Follow Up 1

    Chapter 165: Follow Up 1


    A few days later...


    Stars filled the infinite sky, Garen had never felt more at awe looking up.


    "Ever since that battle, you¡¯ve seem to have gained an interest in looking at the stars, what¡¯s so special?"


    The Eighth Hoop donned a black cloak as he emerged from a corner of the courtyard. His face was the usual pale and aged, but the way he looked at Garen was complex.


    "Specialty?" Garen smiled,"it just makes me feel minute that¡¯s all."


    The two of them were standing in a rural courtyard, it had beautiful plants and flowers growing all over it, the mixed colours making it extremely eye catching.


    "Minute... Since the fight the other day, you¡¯ve been recognised as the number one fighter of the Southern Secret Martial Arts world. You¡¯re only second to Palosha now, and yet you still think you¡¯re minute? What should other people think of themselves then?," The Eighth Hoop sighed.


    "Any plans after this?"


    "How¡¯re the few leftover men?" Garen asked back.


    "Still alright, just a little shocked, I got a few psychiatrists to check on them, the psychiatrists all agree that they went through too much stress and are shell shocked. Oh also, they would like to meet you."


    "Meet me?" Garen smiled, ever since the day that he unlocked a new dimension of observation, he¡¯s been able to clearly see and feel the flow and control of energy along his body, it¡¯s as if he was now fully in control, and able to maximise his agility to a unprecedented level of accuracy and efficiency.


    Just like right now, he can even sense the heartbeat of The Eighth Hoop who was standing a few meters away from him, he could hear every beat of his heart.


    If a mere mortal were to focus all of his energy, he would conjure what would then be known as ¡®focus¡¯, but he would only be able to focus on one point at one time. In fact a mortal would feel tired very quickly after focusing for a while. Only after recouping his blood flow, would he be able to resume.


    As for Garen now, his conscience, Qi, and spirit were all one now, energy flowed endlessly from his body, and his breaths were steady and strong. His ability to observe and focus on his surroundings was as if a mortal was focusing all of its attention on one thing, except that for him it was for many things.


    Everything within a five metre radius of him was in total clarity.


    "Why do they want to see me?"


    Thinking back on that day, these were the people who surrendered and let Garen take them away without any resistance.


    Rosetta, Behemoth Gate¡¯s Angela, and the Black Mark Association¡¯s King of Fist Leo, then there were some leftover members of both sects, totalling 54 individuals.


    Over half of them had undergone too much shock, mostly by Garen¡¯s aura, had seem to develop hallucinations and PTSD, and were being sent to a nearby mental hospital. The remainders quietly stayed in jail, their mental defenses completely crumbled since that day.


    "I don¡¯t know, they seem to have been both physically and mentally destroyed by you. No matter what it is, once they hear that you¡¯re involved, they¡¯ll play along and abide by it. In other words, you have completely defeated them," the Eighth Hoop said,"looks like it was right when I recommended you to join the Golden Hoop."


    "Black Mark Association and the Behemoth Gate should still be active right?" Garen asked softly.


    "Of course, but on the grand scale of national security, they aren¡¯t much of a threat. Black Mark and Behemoth Gate¡¯s strength lies in individual operatives, their macro influence on the Confederation is nowhere close to us at the Golden Hoop. What the Golden Hoop lacks are independent operatives. Now that we have you, we are complete!" The Eighth Loop laughed,"we don¡¯t need to give a damn about them anymore."


    Garen understood this as the Eighth Loop expressing his alliance with him, they too were interested in the total annihilation of the Black Mark Association and Behemoth¡¯s Gate.


    These two sects were not a force to be easily reckoned with, it was obvious that the Golden Hoop was placing a lot of faith in Garen.


    "Oh right, what about Clark?" Garen suddenly remembered the palm technique he had landed on that Grandmaster from the Crimson Sand Sword sect.


    "We just found his corpse, we came over to inform you about that. Would you like to go take a look?"


    "Of course."


    Garen followed the Eighth Hoop into the house, and onwards into a study room on the side. In the floor of the study room was a basement entrance.


    The both of them walked inside in a single file, the walls were filled with bright electric lights.


    Every short distance there would be two black uniformed soldiers on guard.


    Each time the both of them passed a pair of guards, they would be greeted with formal salutes.


    Garen quietly followed the Eighth Loop further downwards. The corridor seemed to be endless.


    Very soon the both turned into a white room.


    There were already two coroners inside the room who greeted them with salutes as soon as they entered.


    "How''s it going?"


    One of the female coroners took off her blue gloves, pulled back a strand of hair and said,


    "Before the individual died, his metabolism entered into an overstimulation of sorts. Not sure how or why, but sir you should see for yourself."


    The Eighth Hoop walked closer to the cadaver.


    Clark lied flat face up on a white high table. His lower body was covered by a white cloth, only his upper body was exposed. From his chest down to his lower abdomen there was a Y shaped cut.


    The Eighth Hoop put on gloves, lifted the white cloth and took a quick sweeping look, then lifted his head to gesture Garen to come over.


    "Come see for yourself."


    Garen took the gloves from the coroner and walked over.


    Clark¡¯s body laid silently on the table, his whole body wasn''t a pale white like a typical corpse, but somehow was glowing red like it had been cooked well done.


    Garen touched Clark¡¯s forehead softly, his eyebrows scrunched up.


    "He was hit by my Red Jade Palm¡¯s Hot Poison, his entire body overheated, this condition of death is normal, except..."


    "Except what?"


    "Someone tried to save him, in fact that someone was a skilled fighter."


    "Oh?"


    The Eighth Hoop was suddenly intrigued, "what level of a fighter?"


    "Quite strong, but it doesn''t matter, the moment Clark left that courtyard his fate was sealed," Garen¡¯s face was an unusual peaceful.


    "Red Jade Palm, pfft, you''ve practically boiled his blood and cooked him," the Eighth Hoop was incredibly impressed.


    The two coroners stood in disbelief like they had just heard some crazy mystic talk.


    "Sir you believe that there are methods to control someone''s internal hormones and body temperature? This is absolutely illogical!" The female coroner looked at the both of them shocked, like she was staring at aliens.


    "This person was obviously cooked by some high temperature weapon. My suggestion is that we collect samples from his body and cells to understand further. We must break this down from a scientific point of view!"


    The Eighth Hoop and Garen did not know how to explain to someone who wasn''t a member of the martial arts community.


    Secret Martial Arts like this, is practically godspeak to laymen.


    "This bastard¡¯s belongings had all been stolen somehow. If we were able to get to that we might''ve been able to find some useful intelligence," the Eighth Hoop said disappointingly.


    "Let''s go, to where Third Brother is," Garen turned around and headed outwards. Joshuahad come with him earlier, except that before the action happened he refused to let him participate, in fact he deliberately kept him out of intelligence briefings so he wouldn''t be informed until everything was over.


    Of course Joshua was pissed off about it, but he understood that Garen did so for his own good. As soon as he caught up, he had been here looking after Rosetta and gang.


    Leaving the morgue, the both of them washed their hands and headed further down the corridor.


    Not long after, they came by the prison cells.


    On both sides of were several prison cells, some empty and some with mortals locked inside.


    The walls were filled with burn marks, and the ground was quite dirty, one could even find small traces of blood stains here and there. The prison guards each holstered a pistol while holding a baton in their hands as they patrolled the perimeter.


    The corridor along the prison was very long, the both of them went straight for the end, as the warden quickly tried to catch up to them while explaining the situation here.


    "Most of the inmates here came in the last few days. The ones that you specially ordered to give attention to, we¡¯ve pierced their scapulae and put on the strongest chains we have on them. They won''t be a problem!"


    He said as he ran, his hands fumbling a huge chain of keys, standing by to open any door for the two leaders. As a small leader in the Golden Hoop, he had an eye for small details. Especially since this time the leader Eighth Hoop had brought this young man who didn''t wear any golden loops to signify his position, and yet every time he passed a prison cell filled with mobsters and loud troublemakers, they would all shut up in his presence. For sure this young man was a big shot!


    "We arrange the inmates by their abilities and how much of a great they pose to society. The deeper they''re placed, the more dangerous they are," the warden explained carefully.


    "We want to go to the deepest part of your supermax," the Eighth Hoop said plainly.


    "Yes yes yes!"


    The warden quickly bent over a door near them and took out his keys to point and instruct the prison guards to open the multiple metal gates before them.


    Garen followed the group and entered the end of the prison.


    The stench of blood was now stronger than ever, as more metal gates opened, the space in the prison widened, as well as the thickness of the metal bars.


    Within the cells in this area, some inmates hid in a corner. One of them had bloodshot eyes and looked ridiculously skinny, but emitted an aura of death and violence about him.


    Now and then a whistle would echo through the cells.


    "Little Jack? Did you bring us fresh meat to sell butt again? Man it isn''t easy at all~~," a man with long messy hair in a cell on the left laughed sinisterly.


    "Wow you brought us some really fresh meat this time. This little one looks like he just turned twenty," a big bearded inmate stood up and took off his pants facing the visitors, ready to pee right there.


    Boom!!


    Garen¡¯s shit an angry glare, he turned and grabbed one of the thicker-than-an-arm metal bars with his python like left hand.


    Ka cha!


    The metal bar broke and flew into the cell, hitting the inmate on the chest, stabbing him through the chest and sending him pinned to the wall behind.


    The inmate couldn''t even make another sound, and died instantly.


    Everyone shut up at sight of that. Like terrified animals they all retreated into the shadow of their cells. Even some of the commotion from cells further down also silenced immediately.


    Garen pulled his left hand back, just now that cell¡¯s metal bar had been vibrated till it broke by him earlier, causing the entire metal door for this isolation cell to come loose too.


    "Continue."


    "Yes...yes yes," the warden unknowingly distanced himself from Garen, and walked closer to the Eighth Hoop instead. After seeing what had happened, he could feel goosebumps and cold sweat all over.


    "That''s too insane, too insane!" He chanted to himself as he continued leading the way. Occasionally he would steal a look at Garen to study his expressions, in case he did anything to cross him.

 166 Follow Up 2

    Chapter 166: Follow Up 2


    The Eighth Loop intentionally lagged in the back, he took a quick look at the broken metal bars. While his face was expressionless, but his eyes expressed a bit of wary and fear.


    He had heard of how Garen fought and won against a massive group once, but he has never seen it in person before so he never really felt the impact, but now, he could really feel goosebumps.


    Now, he was personally there, and really close to the moment Garen killed someone.


    The way Garen killed someone was like squashing an ant, an air of death and murder surrounded Garen.


    This speed! This strength! The Eighth Loop now knew why the Behemoth¡¯s Gate and Black Mark Association fell under his hand.


    Against someone like Garen, one could only feel threatened and unsafe around him, if Garen were to expense his full arsenal, one could not even imagine what would ensue after.


    Garen continued walking silently behind the warden. He could feel that despite the fact that his strength had not made significant advances, his speed had increased significantly, in turn this increased his explosive abilities, and the high speed also brought terrifying impacts. He had not implemented any secret abilities, just the mere increase of speed and strength, the metal bar gave and killed the prisoner.


    "Unknowingly, I have improved to this level," He felt the cold, solid ground under him and smelled the scent of blood in the air. Very soon, Rosetta¡¯s silhouette appeared on the right up front.


    A group of people stood in attention by Rosetta¡¯s cell. Joshua was guarding the cell, and he sat on a chair by the entrance. Once he saw Garen arrive, he slowly got up.


    "Garen, you came," Joshua looked incredibly tired, like he had lost a whole lot of weight, his eye-bags were a dark black. Obviously he had not been resting for the past few days.


    "Go rest, third brother," Garen said,"you¡¯re just torturing yourself like this."


    Joshua looked at Rosetta in the cell, and nodded.


    "Go ahead an interrogate her then, she won¡¯t say anything."


    "Leave her to me," Garen nodded.


    Garen turned around and said something to the Eighth Loop, then the latter left.


    The Eighth Loop knew Garen wanted a private interrogation, and so he knowingly distanced himself and went to inspect the other parts of the prison.


    The warden too, moved all of his minions away, himself included, he did not want to spend another minute close to Garen anymore, what happened earlier was enough to reinforce his fear for good.


    Very quickly, the corridor was emptied, except for the inmates in their respective cells, there was only Rosetta and Garen left.


    Rosetta still wore her black cloak, and was sitting cross-legged on the floor. Her brown long ponytail sat beneath her head, her face was peaceful, her eyes expressionless.


    "Where¡¯s second brother?" Garen looked at her and said,"tell me you have news about Farak."


    "Farak?" Rosetta slowly lifted her head, blankly said,"if I tell you, will you promise to not kill me?" Her voice had an angry undertone.


    Garen looked at her, and didn¡¯t say a thing.


    Rosetta smiled bitterly,


    "I never thought I would see the day where I regretted the things I did. Farak¡­..he¡¯s dead."


    Garen stared at her, although he saw this coming, but hearing the news from the horse¡¯s mouth, he still felt a little sad.


    Farak was one of the most important guides and influences when Garen was still training his basics, he constantly pointed out and corrected Garen¡¯s errors during training. Farak was one of those people who looked dangerous, but was actually warm and easygoing.


    "How did he die?"


    Rosetta smiled, "When I left White Cloud Gate, Farak caught up to me, and we fought for over thirty rounds, until I slashed his throat with my claw."


    "What about the elder?"


    "Dead too, I wanted to look for something in the archives. That old bastard actually had the gall to stop me! He was asking for death with his "wise-old-man" stunts, so I killed him with one palm technique," Rosetta explained casually.


    Suddenly she lifted up her head, and made a sad smile.


    "When it all ends, the victor becomes the king, and the losers vilified. I always knew someone was going to come after me, I just never thought it would be you."


    "Is there anything else you would like to say?" Garen said plainly.


    "So this is how fear feels like¡­" Rosetta lowered her head and continued laughing in sadness and desperation. Her body shivered as she said,"What do you plan to do to me?"


    "According to the rules of our sect," Garen turned to leave with those words.


    As he was walking, he could hear Rosetta humming.


    "The boat shakes, and shakes¡­.the water¡¯s green, and green¡­.you are here by my side¡­.standing by the lotus leaves¡­"


    That voice, that song, it was nostalgic, it made Garen think of Farak.


    "You really liked Farak didn¡¯t you?"


    The singing stopped, Rosetta sat upright silently, and suddenly her whole body fell to the ground. In the darkness, sounds of her choking echoed through the cells.


    Garen closed his eyes, his heart rippling with emotion.


    He didn¡¯t want to dwell on his thoughts anymore, and took big steps towards the exit.


    Perhaps Rosetta regretted. Perhaps she regretted joining Behemoth¡¯s Gate in pursuit of more powerful forms of martial art, regretted killing Farak and the elder, and regretted betraying her own sect family. Between her and Farak existed many stories that nobody will ever know, along with their deaths, these stories will flow away with time.


    Garen didn¡¯t inquire about it, and would not inquire about it.


    His master passed away due to an extended coma that caused his body to be unable to take in anymore nutrients. His last wish, was for Garen to kill Rosetta.


    He didn¡¯t cite any reason, and Garen didn¡¯t want to ask too much. Whatever it is, this situation has concluded. Perhaps someday in the future he might follow the seas eastward and find the roots of White Cloud Gate. But for now, everything was over.


    "There are a lot of contradictions in life, that child did the wrong this, so she paid the price for it."


    On the left side, in a solitary cell, a white haired old man spoke,


    "Take it easy kid," the old man¡¯s eyes seemed to reflect some sort of helplessness, perhaps Rosetta¡¯s singing stirred up memories in him too.


    "Who are you?" Garen stopped and turned to look at this man.


    "I¡¯m just an old man waiting to die. This is the Golden Hoop¡¯s prison, and also the prison of the Confederation¡¯s most wanted criminals." the old man responded.


    "I¡¯ll remember you," Garen could feel that this old man was not simple. Although he looked friendly at first glance, he was surrounded by an aura of death and murder. Garen took note of the cell¡¯s number: 12.


    Leaving the area, he continued walking forward. There were absolutely no guards in this part, even the bravest guards were afraid of this section. Two days ago the Eighth Loop had introduced this place to Garen, it had some terrifying inmates, some could even kill with a simple spit. Many of them have been locked up in here for god knows how long by the Confederation that they¡¯ve become old men themselves. All of them had been convicted of some heinous crime so terrible that even if they were to die a dozen times over it still wouldn¡¯t be enough. For that reason, they¡¯ve stayed here all the time, as the guards and wardens changed generations after generations, these old prisoners continued to stubbornly stay alive.


    Garen found Black Mark Association¡¯s Leo at the Number 10 cell. Behemoth Gate¡¯s Angela was locked up in a nearby cell as well. They were locked up here not because of their abilities, but because of how important they were.


    The both of them were cuffed with massive black cuffs, as they saw Garen arrive, they both looked up from their seated positions at him.


    "Garen Lombard! If it is possible, I wish to serve you!" King of Fist Leo seemed to be passionate towards Garen as a person,"In search of the pinnacle of Fist Skills, I killed my first man when I was only 15, by the time I turned 20 I had already killed a thousand! For the sake of finding more powerful secret martial arts, I joined the Black Mark Association! For the sake of more resources, I became the bond between Black Mark Association and Behemoth¡¯s Gate! Yet despite all of that, I have gained nothing! Until today!"


    He suddenly stood up, his metal cuffs making loud clangs.


    "I am unsatisfied with just demonstrations of martial arts! I want to prove that martial arts too can fight firearms!! Now, this is possible, I have seen the light in you!!"


    "What do you really want to say?" Garen frowned.


    "I want to follow you!" Leo said passionately, his cuffed hands moving about,"you are destined to become a historical figure in the world of martial arts!! The direction you¡¯re headed to has been my lifelong dream!"


    "You madman!" Behemoth¡¯s Gate¡¯s Angela cursed,"why don¡¯t you think about how Black Mark Association and Behemoth¡¯s Gate is going to come after you instead?!"


    Garen never would¡¯ve thought that Fist King Leo was actually someone like this, this guy was obviously one of those people driven by the singular passion of finding purer and stronger forms of martial arts. These people have always existed in the martial arts world, although they¡¯re just a small group, they¡¯re very traditional and would give anything to achieve the pinnacle of martial arts mastery. Looks like Leo was one of these people.


    But Garen still wanted to observe for a while, to see if Leo was truly sincere in his words of surrender and following. Should someone as powerful as Leo truly serve him and White Cloud Gate, it¡¯ll be no small help. Afterall, a man such as him was at the peak of physical conditioning.


    Settled on his thought, he turned to look at Angela.


    "Why¡­.why...why are you looking at me? I don¡¯t know much about Behemoth¡¯s Gate, we¡¯re not members of the higher echelon, and only members of the higher ups are given access to information about other members. The organization is arranged in independent cells, each cell has no idea what the other cell is doing."


    Angela seemed to shrink, and took a few steps backwards, obviously there was still fear from what she saw Garen do the other day.


    "Then what use are you to me?" Garen frowned.


    "I¡­.I¡­.I too can serve you! Serve the White Cloud Gate!" Angela phrased it in such a way that she would serve Garen first as an individual, then only White Cloud Gate.


    Influence was just a means of getting resources and intelligence to Garen, he was more interested in improving himself, elevating his abilities, and becoming better at martial arts. Everything else, was secondary to him.


    "What else?"


    "There¡¯s still more?!" Angela was a smart girl, she quickly analyzed Garen¡¯s personality and intentions, so she thought a while and suddenly said,"I have news about the Blood of Eternal Life!!"


    "Blood of Eternal Life?"


    "Word is that after the Blood of Eternal Life flowed from the hands from Duskdune Shura, some parts of it was taken by the Poker Organization, the other part was taken by our people," Angela studied Garen¡¯s expression carefully upon saying this, afraid she might lose her only lifeline.


    "Taken by your people?" Garen was visibly shocked.


    "Yes, some of the lower level people sent it to our middle level operatives, that¡¯s why the leaders from the upper level wanted to get the brewing technique from you."


    "Where is that part then?" Garen was lazy to talk bullshit with her.


    "In somewhere secret," Angela hesitated.

 167 Follow Up 3

    Chapter 167: Follow Up 3


    "Yes, it¡¯s just part of it." Angela nodded.


    "It¡¯s unfortunate that I have no use for it." Garen regretted. "Do you have any information regarding the function of the Blood of Eternal Life?


    "Now that one¡¯s much easier; it¡¯s widely known," Angela paused to align the relevant information before continuing, "Each Blood of Eternal Life has different functions. In fact, all of them come from non-humans."


    "Non-humans?" This was the first time Garen had heard of the term.


    "That¡¯s right. Most of the non-humans have life spans that far surpass humans, and the special ones are called the Everlasting Beings. The most extreme fighters among us have interested in these non-human race¡¯s long lifespans, as they¡¯ve come to realize that they don¡¯t have enough time to achieve the extreme edges of martial arts.


    Angela exhaled and continued calmly, owing to Garen¡¯s increasing interest in the topic.


    "Hence, some of our top talents from the human race started investigating ways of attaining a lifespan equal to these Everlasting Beings. The two main methods were hybridization and food consumption, both of which are also the most effective methods. Hybridization is by far the best, as one could obtain a stronger blood lineage and offspring through copulation. This slowly begins to form some of the ethnic groups we see in certain countries. On the other hand, strong individuals like to increase their lifespan through edible consumption. After the Great Draught a millennia ago, which was the worst drought we¡¯ve had, a lot of the Everlasting Beings left the land and went into the ocean. They took a boat and wandered the seas for decades. Humans are completely incapable of sailing the seas in the same way.


    Naturally, their conflict with the humans gradually dissipated. "


    "So the Blood of Eternal Life was something they left behind?" Garen asked.


    "Yes. Due to the sparsity of these Everlasting Beings, you can only find a small amount of Blood of Eternal Life from some of the remains. But then again, these have already been contaminated by the ancient humans who consumed them into their bloodstream. Although the blood has been contaminated, its ability to lengthen one¡¯s lifespan still remains." Angela explained.


    "Since the Everlasting Beings left just a thousand years ago, there should still be human descendants who possessed the Blood of Eternal Life besides the corpses right? If they really have such a long lifespan, it should be just a few generations to them for the past millennia." Vampires and werewolves were the first thing Garen thought of when he heard the word Everlasting Beings. These mysterious creatures were known everywhere and became legends on Earth. The legendary vampire was said to be forever young and immortal. This gave earthlings a very strong impression.


    "It is true that there are descendants from the Everlasting Beings. However, they hide themselves within the human world and it would be difficult to trace them unless they transformed, or use a specially made soul detector."


    "There are detectors for them?"


    "Li Gaode, the academician of the Champagne Empire¡¯s Science Academy invented a detector called the boiling blood. It¡¯s very expensive to manufacture and we, the Behemoth Gate could only buy two sets. It¡¯s very impractical as well due to its high electricity consumption."


    The Champagne Empire was one of the three large empires in the Azure Continent, currently in a minor conflict with the Republic of the Tulip. The Champagne Empire was once a well developed country with a deep background. They were not afraid to go up against three dominating empires.


    Garen understood well since he had learnt the world¡¯s geography.


    "Furthermore, there are a lot of types of Blood of Eternal Life." Angela added on as she glanced at Garen.


    "Types?"


    "Other than increasing one¡¯s lifespan, they can give humans different talents." Angela observed Garen¡¯s expression closely as she explained. She found out that Garen was genuinely surprised as if it was his first time hearing such a common knowledge. This shook her assumption of Garen being a mixed between an Everlasting Being and human.


    "What species are you guys mixed with?"


    "We are mixed with the white dog¡¯s bloodline. Once you have absorbed the bloodline, you can live for a maximum of 300 years and about two hundred years on average, which is about 145 years of increased lifespan. You can live for more than two hundred years if you incorporate a series of Essence Locking Techniques."


    "White Dog Man¡­" Garen was said aimlessly, as he had lost interest after hearing such a bloodline. With the talent he possessed, there was no need for him to obtain such a thing. He had reached the utmost limits of a human being before the age of 20. There was no rush for him to pursue such a thing as he still had at least seventy to eighty years to explore his options.


    "What about the origins of the telekinesis from the Immortal Palace?" He asked a question that he had been very curious about.


    "The Immortal Palace represents the bloodline of the Everlasting Beings. They are the last remaining organization which consists mainly of tainted half-breeds, so it is common for them to have special abilities. Furthermore, the majority of those humans, including those tainted half-breeds, would do whatever it took to kill the Everlasting Beings and obtain the Blood of Eternal Life. Once the tainted half-breeds were revealed, they would be in an unimaginable state, like becoming a experiment subject or a blood slave. Flamingo and Sylphalan, the powerhouses of the Immortal Palace, are prime examples. Both of them are tainted half-breeds, and their family members were mercilessly murdered. They have an insatiable hatred towards human kind."


    She stopped for a while and continued.


    "The Immortal Palace consists of five people in total. Now that Duskdune Shura has left due to his severe injury, there are only four left. All of them have their own secret organizations under them. Flamingo and Sylphalan have revealed their identities to the public, and we also know that Ghette, the general of Weisman, is one of them as well. Unfortunately, the last member is still in the dark."


    Garen stroked his chin as he processed the information he had obtained in his mind. He recalled Celine stating that the Immortal Palace initially had five members and there are currently four as one of them had left the group. This matched the information Angela had given.


    "Alright, what is the Behemoth Gate¡¯s motive? You used Rosetta to lure me here so that Clark and the Killer Hunters Squad may attempt to murder me. What do you want?" Garen finally brought the issue up.


    "I think you know why. We are after the Blood of Eternal Life that you are hiding." Angela confessed.


    "Unfortunately, I am not a carrier of the Blood of Eternal Life." Garen shrugged. "There are a lot of humans with strong talents too. It¡¯s not just the tainted half-breeds."


    "No one will believe that." Angela helplessly smiled.


    "This can be proven by using the detecting device, right?" Garen needlessly explained.


    Angela¡¯s eyes were wide open as she couldn¡¯t believe what she heard.


    "Why are you staring at me? I am born from a normal family. I don¡¯t have any Blood of Eternal Life. All of this information can be obtained with some research." Garen explained.


    Garen didn¡¯t stay long since he had obtained enough information. He went back to the study room through another prison tunnel.


    The eighth Golden Hoop was already sitting inside the room serving himself drinks from the pot of hot coffee on the table in front of him.


    When he saw Garen, he silently took out a roll of dark red paper from his arms, and used a white porcelain cup to hold it down, placing it on the table..


    Garen sat in front of the eight Golden Hoop, taking the cup and open the roll of paper.


    ¡®Nominating NO.9 as Province Galantia¡¯s regional director. Granting authority to mobilize all stationed military within the province.¡¯ With a stamping at the back, ¡®Golden Hoop Headquarters¡¯


    Garen understood intention of the piece of paper in his grasp.


    "Is this prepared specially for me?"


    "Yes." The eight Golden Hoop replied. "The upper management needs to evaluate your performance. If you can finish a small, specific task, you will have the authority to secretly mobilize the military of this province. Galantia¡¯s chief commander and most of the commanders are our people."


    Garen understood that the Golden Hoop wanted him to continue staying in the organization as his value had increased. It is also probably that they wanted him to depend on the organization¡¯s power. Judging from the looks of it, it was so powerful that influencing the country leaders was no problem.


    No. It might be the opposite, where the country leaders were planning to use him through the Golden Hoop. It was definitely a possibility.


    "What do you want me to do with such authority?" Garen asked as he put down the paper.


    "Just to clean up some trouble for the government." the eighth Golden Hoop smiled. "Although this is equivalent to hiring a mercenary, we won¡¯t mobilize you most of the time. It would considered remarkable to receive a task once in a few years."


    "I need something solid. I do not want these vague answers." Garen knew that with his strength, he could not live a good life even without the Federation¡¯s support. Hence he didn¡¯t oppose such headhunting.


    "How about a mission once every three years?" The eighth Golden Hoop had obviously reached an agreement with the upper management. "The success rate of the mission must be at least fifty percent and the government will supply you the necessary monetary resources."


    "Fine." Garen wasn¡¯t stingy at all. It was preferential treatment to him as the best among the grandmasters of combat, to have a mission only once every three years.


    Firearms, which were once a threat to him were no longer so, due to his rapid growth.


    It showed that the government was experienced in these affairs, based on their arrangements. They were able to protect the country when needed, by gathering enough power from the citizens even with regulations this loose. It was similar to an arrangement of hiring bounty hunters.


    Garen, who was seated well, poured himself a cup of coffee and surmised his recent lifestyle.


    From studying sincerely in Huaishan City to finding the Antique of Tragedy. He initially thought that he could study in a university and find a job after graduation while slowly climbing up to the top of the martial arts world with his talent. It was unfortunate that things had changed so quickly.


    He had unknowingly made a name for himself by helping Su Lin with his troubles since he had owed Su Lin two favors. He was also made known in the time the Immortal Palace invaded, and the changes to his master¡¯s dojo.


    He had reached the highest level in the martial art world in a very short amount of time.


    Now that he had taken over the White Cloud Gate, he had become an important person in the eyes of the government, as he was also in a powerful organization in the martial arts world.


    Garen felt surreal recalling these events. Practically speaking, he hasn¡¯t even reached 19 yet, he was barely 18.

 168 Follow Up 4

    Chapter 168: Follow Up 4


    "Oh by the way, what happened to that small policeman who was catching up from behind?" Garen recalled the incidents one at a time from his memories, and thought of the small policeman, Jia Ning who came rushing back. According to the Sky Warrior Corbella, this small policeman was a righteous young man who was trying to help him escape the ambush. However, it hadn¡¯t occurred to him that Garen was able to deal with the Behemoth Gate and Black Mark association single-handedly.


    "No idea. I think he¡¯s still at the Crimson Sand Sword."


    Garen nodded. He admired such a grateful person.


    As he collected his thoughts, the eighth Golden Hoop had already arranged an airplane to Harmony City.


    Not far away from Harmony City was Wei Maen City, which was also where the headquarters of the Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate was located. The fastest way to Wei Maen City was to go from the Skylark Mountain Range, nearby the city.


    It was also the secret hideout of White Bird Holy Fist Palosa.


    The two of them were engaged in further discourse; the eighth Golden Hoop was asking advice on techniques in practicing secret martial arts. Garen truthfully answered as much as he knew.


    Most of his experience and techniques were taught by his master and acquired from his physical exercise. Although he had not plan his training to be as as detailed as some other fighters, he was knowledgeable in some training that could injure muscles in the body.


    These were the riches of every fighter that would never be enough.


    The next morning, the gate master of the Crimson Sand Sword brought along two of his disciples and the small policeman Jia Ning to a visit.


    Just as they sat down, Corbella of the Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate came with two of his disciples as well.


    The courtyard was densely surrounded by the Men in Black. They were all special forces mobilized by the Golden Hoop. The two of them were hints to Garen¡¯s background.


    Inside the white spacious living room.


    The Crimson sand Sword Gate sat on a white sofa on the left, whereas the people from the Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate sat on the sofa on the right. In the middle were Garen and the eighth Golden Hoop.


    The morning rays seeped in from the entrance and formed golden enigmas shaped onto the ground, brightly reflected by the white floor tiles and lighting up the whole living room.


    As everyone sat down, Garen glanced and observed both parties.


    On the left, the gate master of the Crimson Sand Sword Gate and two of his disciples carried a weary look. They obviously had not recovered from the incident a few days ago. The small policeman Jia Ning was looking at him helplessly as if he was lost in thought.


    On the right, the Sky Warrior Corbella noticed Garen¡¯s eyes upon him and politely smiled back.


    He had brought two of his very similar looking disciples along, one male and the other female, who looked like they were in their thirties. Not only did they look like twins, they also seemed to possess good demeanor. On hindsight, these two were skeptical of Garen as they greeted him. They obviously could not believe that Garen, who was supposedly about the same age as their son could have achieved the top of the martial arts world.


    "And what might be the reason for this visitation?" Garen questioned them directly.


    "Gate Master Garen, we the Crimson Sand Sword are here today because of your help a few days ago. The Crimson Sand Sword Gate could have been destroyed if you had not reached out." He glanced at his beautiful disciples.


    Although this disciple looked like she was below 15 years old, she already had an developed figure. With a full cheongsam-like uniform and a short skirt on her body with a brown ponytail hairstyle, she walked towards Garen and passed him a white bank cheque with both of her hands.


    "Please accept this as our thanks Gate Master Garen." The girl smiled sweetly with her big eyes. Her skin was flawless like a porcelain doll even when viewed from such a close distance.


    She obeyed his father¡¯s arrangement and passed Garen the cheque on her own accord. This allowed her to showcase her pure and charming seduction. Garen looked vigorous and imposing as he sat firmly in the middle of the living room. He was like an aggressive beast in the living room, pressuring others with power and influence. Anyone who entered his presence would feel a strange feeling of oppression.


    This was not the cause of spirit but the effect of his reputation. Like a commoner meeting someone with authority, psychological pressure is not uncommon. .


    "If I could seduce him, perhaps we can put this man onto the Crimson Sand Sword¡¯s Chariot, and the success rate of father¡¯s plan would increase tremendously." The idea kept churning inside the girl¡¯s mind.


    Although she knew that Beo had a crush on her, it was an incomparable difference between the man currently in front of her. She was a girl with extreme greed. After being appointed as a navigator by her father, she started recruiting potential fighters into the Gate. This visit was most probably suggested by her as well.


    The girl smiled sweetly again as dimples appeared on her cheeks.


    The cheque had ten million dollars in Federation currency presented by a pure, beautiful and seductive young woman.


    Any hot blooded young fighter would not be able to resist.


    Since fighters were all hot blooded, this meant that their body would produce more endocrine. Naturally, their natural desire would amplify tremendously as well.


    Unfortunately, Garen didn¡¯t give her a second look after glancing at her.


    "I don¡¯t need the cheque. To me, money is as of no significance. If you really want to thank me, please allow me to enter your secret martial arts treasury and read on some non-core based secret martial arts."


    "Studying secret martial arts?" The Crimson Sand Sword Gate Master was stunned. Then he smiled. "I see. You¡¯d need these since the White Cloud Gate Master had already reached such a level. We will naturally comply but please understand that we will not show you any high class secret martial arts related to the Crimson Sand Sword. However, the others are fine." As he was afraid of any misunderstanding from Garen, he continued after pausing a while. "Don¡¯t worry, There are at least fifty types of middle range secret martial arts."


    "Thank you,. Mr..." Garen thought for a while and realized that he did not know his name yet.


    "Call me Luther."


    "Thank you, Gate Master." Luther


    Both of them smiled in satisfaction as they looked at each other.


    "It¡¯s our turn to talk since both of you have finished chatting." The Sky Warrior Corbella voiced out as he sat at the sofa that could only fit one person.


    "Please do, Sky Warrior Corbella." Garen focused his attention onto him after he waved his hand to dismiss the girl.


    Corbella introduced both of his disciples.


    "These two are from our headquarters. Under the Gate Master¡¯s instruction, we would like to invite Gate Master Garen to our headquarters to meet the Gate Master."


    Both of the youngsters were wearing a white suit. The man with mustache stood up and bowed slightly towards Garen.


    "Dear respected Gate Master Garen, we have come to greet you with the utmost respect in place of the Gate Master. The Gate Master is very happy that there is a new grandmaster of combat in the martial art world. Unfortunately, due to the immense workload he is currently facing, he is unable to visit you in the flesh. If Gate Master Garen could pay him a visit personally..."


    Paying a visit to each other¡¯s place was a common social practice to indicate that the respective Gates were of the same level. The Gate Master of the Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate had obviously positioned Garen of the White Cloud Gate as the same social standing as him.


    Once Garen visits him, the opposite party must welcome him in an extravagant manner.


    "I appreciate the Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate Master¡¯s attention. I will definitely pay a visit very soon. Please do not worry." Garen had already planned to visit the Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate so it was natural for him to do so, since the opposite party had shown more than enough respect.


    Both of them bowed once more before they sat back down.


    Sky Warrior Corbella had finished his most important task.


    "Please voice out freely if Gate Master Garen had any more request. Corbella has some connections in the southern area."


    "I shall thank you in advance, Sky Warrior Corbella."


    "Then I will await your visit soon." Corbella nodded. He already knew that Garen planned to challenge White Bird Holy Fist. He planned to find a few good spots in the Skylark Mountain Range for this high level duel. He had also invited a few good friends to spectate the duel as well as it was a battle that no fighter would wish to miss.


    He couldn¡¯t help but to look at Garen once more as he thought about it.


    He recalled that inhumane battle that night. Clark, who was many times stronger than him was beaten like he was a rubbish bag. He had clearly been broken by Garen as he hadn¡¯t even dared to turn around and insult Garen as he escaped.


    How much difference in battle power could cause such a result?


    Was the martial art world going to rise to its prime again?


    Garen and Andrela, who were both geniuses appeared in the same generation.


    Corbella¡¯s mind churned.


    Garen didn¡¯t know what Corbella was thinking, and started with both parties on the topic of the status of the martial art world. He then had a general knowing of the martial artists around the world.


    In the martial art world, those who were below the grandmasters of combat were extremely weak against firearms. Any slightly trained gunner could pose a great threat towards the fighters, much less go against them head on.


    Only the people who were the grandmasters of combat could go square ahead with firearms. Since they were different from the lower ranks, the government of each country has different attitudes towards the grandmasters of combat.


    The Federation¡¯s view towards them wasn¡¯t too serious, but they did not take them lightly either. A grandmaster of combat was just one man after all. They could kill him instantly with specially made ammunition, from a few kilometers away with a special firearm.


    On the other hand, Weisman respected the grandmasters of combat. However, they did not have many information regarding them as they had the least number of them. Most of the grandmasters of combat were from the east, as all of them were mostly influenced by ancient martial arts. Most of the ships from the east made landfall at the Yalu Confederation, as the Weisman Kingdom was too far away. Geographical location was a major factor.


    As for Galantia, the majority of their martial arts were bred locally. There, martial arts based on ancient weapons were advocated, with a variety of styles and types due to the sizeable amount of grandmasters of combat they inhabited. However, it was not similar to the east.


    "The position of being a grandmaster of combat is gaining momentum internationally. It may be because technology is getting more advanced and there are less foundations as time goes on. As a result, people who practice martial arts become few and far between. Most people view martial arts as a form of sports that helps them train their bodies." Corbella sighed. "Although our positions are getting more and more important, the quantity of the new generation of the grandmaster of combat is much lower when compared to previous ones. For the past decade, there have been less than five grandmaster of combat that are from the new generation. Same goes for the North."


    "There¡¯s less than ten in total?" Garen frowned. The martial art world was in a worse state than he had previously thought. "This means that there are only two more people who became a grandmaster of combat in the southern region, excluding myself; Andrela and Beo?"

 169 Consultation 1

    Chapter 169: Consultation 1


    "That seems to be the case. Although the Celestial Circle Gate and the Crimson Sand Sword have been training a few potential candidates that could become Grandmasters of Combat, there are too little of them that might actually manage to become one." Corbella nodded with confidence.


    "If this keeps up, both the public and the secret martial arts worlds would become dimmer and dimmer." Gate Master Luther of the Crimson Sand Sword nodded as he frowned.


    "Don¡¯t the governments that value them not raise ones themselves?" Garen asked curiously.


    "They don¡¯t have what it takes to raise one." Gate Master of the Crimson Sand Sword smile wryly. "A Grandmaster of Combat requires huge amount of herbal resources to provide nutrients and enhance the body. It takes a long time to train them as well. Excluding talented ones like you, a Grandmaster of Combat normally requires to train the secret martial arts since young for at least a decade before they qualify to become a Grandmaster of Combat."


    "The problem lies in the qualification itself. The success rate is too low. It would be considered impressive if one out of a hundred candidates qualify as a Grandmaster of Combat." Corbella continued. "A low success rate combined with the long duration required to nurture them to reach the utmost limits of a human being. Only the crazy ones are daring enough to try and train their bodies for that. Furthermore, they would need to maintain the training for long periods of time as well to prevent the body from regressing. In short, producing one is extremely difficult.


    "That¡¯s true. A country can nurture a few sharpshooters within the time and resources required to nurture one Grandmaster of Combat. Furthermore, sharpshooters pose more threat on the battlefield. All three of us here would be helpless if we go up against a canon, right?" The Gate Master of the Crimson Sand Sword sighed.


    The atmosphere in the living room had started to stale up.


    "The technology of missiles and the power of firearms are getting stronger and stronger. This means that an individual¡¯s effectiveness diminishes as the day goes by. Each country¡¯s military armor and air force are exceedingly powerful. The current role of a Grandmaster of Combat is mainly protection and assassination. This is one of the main reasons why The federation does not value the Grandmasters of Combat as much." Luther explained.


    Garen nodded in agreement.


    It¡¯s true that even if he had already mastered the body hardening technique, he would still be injured if he go against a person with firearms. If it were to be other Grandmaster of Combat, they would be torn in half in no time.


    However, he felt that this was because the countries were not aware of the value the importance of special operations yet. Once special operations similar to that of Earth¡¯s were in motion, the importance of having a Grandmaster of Combat would be obvious.


    "Let¡¯s not talk about this. The military has already arranged an airplane and I will leave two days later. " Garen looked at the Gate Master of the Crimson Sand Sword.


    The Gate Master was skeptical. "Looks like you¡¯re here purely to gather information?"


    "Yes. There¡¯s no problem, I assume?"


    "Of course."


    On the other side, Corbella stood up and said: "Then we shall pardon ourselves."


    "See you."


    Garen sat as he looked at Corbella and his two disciples leave. After that, he chatted with the Gate Master of the Crimson Sand Sword for a while and went to their headquarters.


    They embarked with a convoy of well guarded red carriages as they left the courtyard of the headquarters that he visited a few days ago.


    The house located in the middle of the courtyard was charred black, and most of the place was in a mess. The houses which were on the left looked fine, however.


    "This way." The Gate Master of the Crimson Sand Sword lead Garen into the the left side area of the courtyard and passed through a few houses, reaching another small courtyard again.


    This courtyard had a small garden, a false mountain pool and a huge locust tree. The courtyard was densely packed with trees and shades.


    Garen followed behind the Gate Master and saw the same row of houses and a small courtyard across from the pool. He saw servants walking to and fro carrying water and a used bandages.


    The Gate Master smiled and explained as he saw Garen¡¯s gaze, "Beo lives in that courtyard. He is still resting as he was heavily injured from the mission given by the Federation¡¯s government."


    "Is that so?" Garen replied.


    Both of them kept walking passing through the small courtyard and reached a small remote house.


    There were two old women sitting in front of the red-brown door, facing each other. Each of them were holding a book on their hand as they muttered gloomily.


    Both of them stood up as they saw the Gate Master approaching them.


    "Is he here?"


    "He¡¯s here. Please open the door." The Gate Master of the Crimson Sand Sword nodded his head.


    They proceeded to swing open the wooden door.


    After giving some simple precautionary instructions, Gate Master Luther left the place alone.


    The door was then closed, leaving Garen alone inside the house.


    The room had the same rectangular reddish brown, wooden floor.


    A row of bookshelves was placed by the wall opposite the door. There was a spiral staircase on the right side of the bookshelf that lead to the second floor of the house.


    There was a table and chair in front of the bookshelf, with a stone carving of a big black man on it.


    The statue was a man with curled hair, wearing a black coat. He wore a stern facial expression and seemed to be in a walking position with a book in his hand.


    Garen walked passed the statue and stood in front of the bookshelf.


    There were a total of four bookshelves and the books were categorized properly.


    They were categorized into experience, practice, methods and low grade secret martial arts.


    The bookshelf was sparse; most of them were strewn this way and that. At most, there were about ten to twenty books per bookshelf.


    Garen went directly towards the low grade secret martial arts category and ignored the first three.


    The secret martial arts bookshelf was once again sub-categorized into physical movement, palm method, kicking method, finger method and weaponries.


    Among them, books related to the weaponries were the most abundant, amounting to about seven to eight books. Garen picked them up and glanced through them.


    Kris Dagger Technique, The Sword of Glory, Twin Sword Art, Trio Sword Art, Double Handed Sword, Single Handed Sword, Heavy Sword.


    He glanced through all of them. As they were all low grade secret martial arts, they did not require high physical attribution. Now that he had maxed out his physical attribution and reached the utmost limit of a human being, he effortlessly memorized everything on the book by giving them a cursory glance.


    While he did not need it now, that didn¡¯t mean he won¡¯t be needing it in the future. These secret martial arts were at the most, third rated, which was on par with the Iron Body and the Boulder martial arts.


    After scanning through the weaponry secret martial arts, he set his gaze upon the physical movement category.


    He gently brushed over the physical movement column with his finger.


    Seasnake Walk, Greenwood Impact, Raid, Stella Assassination Step.


    There were only these few books. Garen picked them up and flipped them open. Although most of the training methods made use of special techniques that require a sudden release in muscle and qi, they did not mention the methods in making up what it lacked. They were just very strong techniques with great power and Garen found most of them overbearing.


    "These styles were all very different. Is this the secret techniques of the Galantia that I hear about?" He memorized all of them.


    He took only a few minutes to memorize one whole book.


    The important ones were the Palm Method and Finger Method.


    However they were not a lot of them.


    Finger Method: Wicked Claw, Double Finger Method.


    Palm Method: Hundred Compound Palm, Javier Punch.


    These were not so helpful towards Garen. However he could learn from the different training methods and perhaps he could gain some useful effects.


    He walked up to the second floor as there was nothing interesting on the first floor.


    There was only one bookshelf on the second floor. Similarly, there were only ten plus books scattered about.


    However, Garen¡¯s eye was burned with excitement as he laid his eyes upon them.


    Most of the secret martial arts books on this bookshelf were much more suited for him.


    He simply picked out a book called the Lion King Fist. It was a secret martial art that hardens the user¡¯s fist, which suits his fighting style. It was rumored that it could enhance one¡¯s self-confidence through exercise. It would be very helpful in changing a person¡¯s personality. It was considered as one of the Magic Fist Art.


    He memorized the Lion King Fist down in detail and continued looking for more.


    Boulder martial arts, Iron Body and Firestream Fist could be seen on the bookshelf too.


    Garen took out all the secret martial artss that he had yet to know and placed them on the second floor¡¯s table.


    Speed Shifting Palm, Bronze Statue Technique, Steel Statue Technique, Gold Statue Technique, Hodman¡¯s Gun Jabbing Fist, Ember Claw.


    There were a total of six secret technique books that Garen had never seen before, and they were all complete sets. They were all second rated or third rated secret techniques, which were the same grade as the Mammoth Secret Technique and beyond.


    The Crimson Sand Sword seemed to not keep anything other than techniques with complete sets.


    Garen then reread the secret techniques such as the Firestream Fist that he already knew to see if there was anything different from what he knew. After that, he memorized the remaining six new secret techniques.


    Bronze Statue Technique, Steel Statue Technique and Gold Statue Technique was obtained by the Crimson Sand Sword by eliminating body hardening factions. It was obvious that they had prepared this for Garen since they hadn¡¯t taken them away.


    Although these three techniques were strong, their differences in power were not that far apart. However, there was one crucial factor.


    Although the three levels, namely Bronze, Silver and Gold were not much of a difference to an outsider, there was a difference between the users. The Steel Statue users could restrain the Bronze Statue users and the Gold Statue users could restrain the Steel Statue users easily.


    This was an obvious way to form a hierarchy within the Gate.


    The Speed Shifting Palm Technique could be use to increase the agility of the palm techniques, which could be considered as a small secret technique regime.


    On the other hand, the Hodman¡¯s Gun Jabbing Fist was a secret technique with a powerful force. It was a palm technique derived by a fighting form mimicking the gun. It could produce at least three times the power of a commoner.


    However, Hodman, who had invented this technique died before reaching forty due to this technique. Whoever practiced this technique had either died of young or possessed huge prowess. There were no exceptions.


    The age of the users when they passed away was recorded in the book. None of them died from disease.


    "This could be used to train sacrificial pawn." Garen memorized this secret technique as well.


    The last one was Ember Claw.


    It was a simple secret technique that trained both hands. Although it was able to increase the temperature of both hands to very high temperatures, its power was average. It was invented by a mediocre Grandmaster of Combat who wanted to improve himself in his late forties. However, he died from the fire he created..


    As Garen was reading the secret technique, he was tempted. He closed his eyes and looked at his attribute pane after memorizing the whole thing.


    Strength 2.66. Agility 2.72. Vitality 2.65. Intelligence 2.53. Potential 626%.


    Secret Technique ----


    Mammotth Variation: Explosive (Max Level), Epidermal Hardening Grade 1 (Iron Body), Blood Qi Stabilization Grade 1 (Boulder martial arts).


    Red Jade Palm: rudimentary level (Grade 1), Burning Strengthen Level 1 (Dark Crimson Technique), Vitality Enhancement Level 1 (Dark Crimson Technique)¡¯


    "Another point from Potential." Garen smiled in satisfaction. "The Golden Sword Throne is indeed a good item. It was worth my time to take the risk and obtain it. It¡¯s good to be able to obtain one potential point per week."

 170 Consultation 2

    Chapter 170: Consultation 2


    He had six potential points. In terms of secret techniques, the lower grade, middle grade and upper grade required 1 point, 2 points and 5 points respectively. The difference could increase the level of the secret techniques. Naturally, this was under the assumption that the user had the prerequisite needed to learn it.


    After some consideration, Garen decided to learn the Ember Claw in hope that it would merge with the Red Jade Palm.


    He finally understood that the merging of secret techniques was connected to his technique¡¯s level.


    This was the case for his Mammoth Secret Technique, as it acted as a foundation which most of his techniques were merged with and became an enhancement, as it had the highest level.


    This meant that whichever technique had the higher level would become the foundation for the other techniques. Perhaps the grade of the techniques would affect it but it was not important.


    He could learn two secret techniques up to the middle level with six points.


    At the second floor of the house, Garen raised both of his hands and followed the instruction to learn the Ember Claw. With minimum movement, he kept changing his posture with his palm¡¯s joints. Combined with the flow of his qi, he placed both of his hands on the lit kerosene lamp and moved back and forth above the fire.


    The scorching fire burnt Garen¡¯s skin.


    Both of his hand¡¯s skin was completely covered in burns after ten minutes or so. Garen¡¯s hands started to go numb, and at the same time, a clear feeling flowed into his palms from his brain and it felt like his hands were completely different.


    "I¡¯ve learnt it!"


    He quickly looked at the skill pane.


    ¡®Red Jade Palm: Preliminary Level (Grade 1), Burning Strengthen Level 1 (Dark Crimson Technique), Vitality Enhancement Level 1 (Dark Crimson Technique), Enhanced Ember Claw Level 1¡¯


    He focused his view onto the Ember Claw and the related information popped up out of thin air.


    "Ember Claw has increases the fire resistance of the arms and the strength resistance under normal enhancement. Able to produce high temperature injuries."


    Garen softly explained to himself


    He looked at the 6 attribute points and thought:


    "I don¡¯t think I can increase the grade of the Red Jade Palm. Celine is a cunning fellow, she would have definitely noticed my irregularity. I should increase the rest of my techniques first."


    He hesitated for a while, but his vision ultimately fell onto Ember Claw.


    As he focused his vision on the skill, the attribute points immediately decreased by three.


    Hence, the Ember Claw was no longer an enhancement effect and became an independent secret technique. On the other hand, the Red Jade Palm and the remaining secret techniques merged into Ember Claw.


    ¡®Ember Claw: Grade 2 (Total of 4). Red Jade Palm Enhancement Level 1. Dark Crimson Technique Enhancement Level 1 (Vitality Enhancement, Burning Strengthen)¡¯


    There was a indent on the back of the skill.


    "Quantity of similar Secret Techniques have exceeded by three; conflicts among the training regimes. Do you want Ember Claw to cover the Firestream Fist and a part of the Red Jade Palm?"


    A conflict among the training regimes?


    Garen was stunned. Naturally, it was possible that there would be conflicts in training regimes among the secret techniques.


    "Cover."


    As he just made his decision, the Dark Crimson Technique immediately disappeared in the skill pane and what was left was the higher tier second rated secret technique Ember Claw.


    All of the sudden, the bunch of enhancement effect was simplified in the skill pane.


    ¡®Ember Claw: Grade 2 (Total of 4). Burning Strengthen Level 1 (Total of 3, from the Dark Crimson Technique and Red Jade Palm¡¯s training regime


    "Since my body has reached its limit, I can only use the attribution points to increase my skills. Ember Claw would be the best choice, since it is the most all rounded and its tier is greater than the Mammoth Secret Technique." Garen directly focused his attention onto the Ember Claw.


    Next up was the Golden Statue Technique.


    This body hardening technique was easy to learn as it only required Garen to apply the golden oil on his body, which was a specially made butter. However, he didn¡¯t meet the condition.


    Garen had no choice but to note it down in his head and bring it up another time.


    He then memorized all the information in the treasury once more to make sure of the information.


    It was already afternoon when he came out of the secret techniques treasury.


    There were two disciples waiting for him outside the door.


    "Have you finished reading, Gate Master Garen?"


    "Almost done. Thank you." Garen nodded. "Please thank Gate Master Luther for me."


    He didn¡¯t speak much to the people from Crimson Sand Sword afterwards and walked directly out of the place. A black car from the Golden Hoop had been waiting for him.


    He had cleared up the relationship between the Crimson Sand Sword and him. He even paid a visit to Beo, who was bedridden and covered in bandages, before finally boarding the plane.


    *********************


    Huaishan City Public Cemetery, at the suburbs


    It was cloudy with a slight drizzle as the dark clouds covered the sky.


    There were a group of people standing in front of a white tomb, deep in the cemetery.


    Garen and Joshua stood in front of the tombstone. Behind him were Cynthia, jack and the fat Bouvini. All of them were in black; the men were in suits and the girls in skirts.


    The area was surrounded by the men in black.


    A woman in a black dress, who was escorted by two soldiers, stood behind the crowd.


    "What do you plan to do?" Cynthia looked at Garen.


    "According to the rules of the sects, traitors or murderers of the disciples shall be subject to capital punishment." Garen replied calmly.


    Garen felt troubled as he turned around and looked at Rosetta, who was being escorted.


    The capital punishment for every sects was brutal and cruel. Although it wasn¡¯t used often, Garen felt that it was the appropriate time to use it¡­


    "You should know the capital punishment of the White Cloud Gate." Garen showed no expression.


    "Let ants bite the person after peeling off one¡¯s skin and douse the body with honey water." Cynthia barely nodded her head. "But Rosetta is¡­"


    "I know." Garen closed his eyes. "I know she is already dead."


    Rosetta was motionless at the back as she was being held by two subordinates of the Golden Hoop.


    She had already committed suicide after Garen left prison. What was brought here was merely a corpse.


    "Do it. I was generous enough to let her commit suicide." Garen didn¡¯t waver at all.


    The subordinates sent by the Golden Hoop were experts in capital punishment; both females.


    They swiftly took off Rosetta¡¯s shirt and cut open a small wound using a scalpel, slowly peeling off her skin.


    Soon, the white, naked female had her skin stripped and what was left was red, stiff muscle. They immediately threw her onto the tomb after the pouring water all over her body.


    Another person poured a bag of black ant¡¯s nest onto her.


    The black ants swiftly covered the whole corpse¡¯s surface.


    Everyone on the scene felt like they were on a cold war as they saw their senior disciple¡¯s red flesh being covered up by the black ants.


    A cold drizzle poured incessantly on the crowd. Garen stood still in front of the tomb, taking out a black woodring and stroking it gently. The emblem of the Golden Hoop had been shifted to his left ear lobe.


    He felt a soothing feeling of peace that he had never felt before, as he looked at the ants devouring Rosetta.


    A few black crows were attracted by the corpse. They landed onto the corpse and started to biting out big chunks of flesh, ignoring the onlooking crowd beside them.


    Garen and the others ignored the crows as well.


    Now that the incident with his senior disciple had been dealt with, Garen and Cynthia were the only disciples left from the older generation, as the elder and second senior disciple had passed away. The rest of the members were rookies. If he wanted to challenge the white Bird Holy Fist, now was the time¡­


    ***************


    After coming back from the cemetery, Garen sat alone in the hall of the White Cloud Gate¡¯s main dojo. The surrounding was covered in darkness, as the faint moonlight filtered in from the window and landed on the slightly broken floor.


    He didn¡¯t know when it had started, but he started to enjoy sitting alone and letting his thoughts run wild after that night¡¯s battle. He realized that he could easily linking a lot of things together after maxing out his intelligence. He had also gained a tremendous amount of knowledge in martial arts.


    "Master, are you there?" Simon¡¯s voice came from the entrance of the staircase but there seemed to be someone else as well, judging from the sound of the footsteps.


    "Please come up if you have anything to say."Garen replied as he opened his eyes.


    Soon, footsteps of multiple people came from the staircase. Simon brought along a gentle and calm handsome man, where Corinne brought along a cool and beautiful woman to see him.


    Corinne and Simon were the disciples of Garen¡¯s ex-subordinate, and they were not related at all. However, they chose to stay and not give up during the White Cloud Gate¡¯s darkest times. Hence, Garen decided to make them his disciples and teach them martial arts with all his knowledge.


    At this stage, both of them were very strong in terms of martial arts. They were at the same level as Cynthia after training for a long time; the level of the Tenstar Ni from the Celestial Circle Gate and the Crimson Sand Sword.


    They played a major role in reviving the White Cloud Gate. With the addition of Garen becoming a Grandmaster of Combat, they had a clearer understanding of the body¡¯s qi and all of the results of this effect.


    In addition, both of them were continuously consuming the body quenching pill that Garen once had when he was mastering his secret techniques. This meant that their physical quality was above average, which was the main cause of of their big improvement.


    "Yes?" Garen looked at his audience. Simon and Corinne were both wearing their black tight practice uniforms, whereas their partners behind them wore white silk practice uniforms. They had an exceptionally respectful demeanor towards Garen.


    "Master, we have brought our disciples to greet you." Simon replied carefully because Garen who was sitting in front of him was like a beast in the dark. He was giving off a sense of oppression just by sitting there.


    Unlike last time, it was still easy to talk to him due to his casual personality. However, Garen changed into another person ever since he had beat up the Behemoth Gate.


    "These two are your disciples?" Garen was stunned. He had heard it from both of them last time, but hadn¡¯t asked about it in detail. They had finally met each other.


    "Hello Grand Master." Both of the youngsters greeted Garen at the same time. they looked elegant, even though they were about fourteen or fifteen years old.


    "Karina is Bouvini¡¯s niece." Corinne explained as the girl quickly lowered her head and paid her due respect respect to Garen.


    "Yuan Reese is the second successor of the Di Youwen Household." Simon quickly introduced him to Garen as well.

 171 The Day Before 1

    Chapter 171: The Day Before 1


    "Grandmaster, my martial arts takes priority over my family household." The youngster replied with respect.


    "Di Youwen Household?" Garen was slightly stunned as household was very well known. It had the potential to be in the top ten households in the whole Federation. They often appeared in the news as well. The household was one of the founders of this country and had great authority. They were considered the big guns in the southern region, and Garen didn¡¯t expect that a member from this household would want to join his sects.


    "When did you enter White Cloud Gate?" Garen frowned.


    Simon was stunned and quickly explained as he knew there must be some misunderstanding.


    "Master, Yuan Reese joined when Corinne and I were taking care of the sects. He enrolled as a normal student after the battle between you and Andrela. I recommended him after I realized that he was qualified to grow even more."


    "Oh?" Garen didn¡¯t expect him to join in that early on. He looked at Yuan Reese. A youngster with deep eyes and a sharp gaze. He seemed to have very high perseverance, and obviously had a strong motive.


    "There are so many sects out there. Is there any reason you chose White Cloud Gate?" He asked him directly without trying to hide his suspicion.


    Yuan Reese was stunned for a bit but naturally recovered from it.


    "Yes. Sister Felicity and I were best of friends. She was the one who introduced me to learn martial arts."


    "Ah, Felicity." Garen understood and recalled that noble and naughty woman. "If it¡¯s her then it¡¯d be expected. How is she now?"


    "She¡¯s well, except that she is currently grounded and isn¡¯t allowed out of the house." Yuan Reese softly replied. This youngster seemed to be very soft and weak when he spoke. He looked so elegant that he didn¡¯t look like a male at all. People might have sized him up as a female if not for his adam¡¯s apple.


    After looking at Yuan Reese and Karina again, the female was cold looking whereas the male was gentle and beautiful. Although they looked different physically, both of them had the same, firm gaze. He wasn¡¯t sure if they had joined the sects because of the benefits it would bring to their household, or if they were here on their own accord.


    "Both of you have spirit. If you work hard enough you¡¯ll definitely succeed before you reach twenty years old. It all depends on whether you guys can hold up to it." Garen nodded his head in satisfaction. No matter how you looked at it, Both of them represented the power of complete surrender on this land and a powerful household in this country. The White Cloud Gate would be fine with these two around. This was especially true for Yuan Reese as he, a household member of the top ten households in the Federation,and even enrolled into the White Cloud Gate, meaning that he acknowledged Garen and the entire White Cloud Gate.


    "Since Grandmaster is here, I have a question to ask, but I¡¯m unsure if you would want to answer it." Yuan Reese lowered his head and asked.


    "What¡¯s your question?" Garen agreed as he was in a good mood.


    "It¡¯s regarding the key elements to martial art. What is the most important factor for a martial artist? What makes the martial artist able to keep moving forward?" Yuan Reese directly questioned the core of the subject.


    Simon, Corinne and even Garen was slightly stunned. If he asked this question, it meant that Yuan Reese was not mentally ready yet.


    Garen looked at the beautiful boy again. Through his gaze, he saw a firm and strong will.


    Only a faint breath and heartbeat could be heard in the performance hall, as no one spoke for a short while.


    Yuan Reese continued staring at Garen. Although he looked relaxed, he was actually under a tremendous amount of pressure. He felt like something was pressing onto him whenever he tried to inhale. Sweat started to break out from his temple and flowed down along his face.


    He had the same feeling when he met his uncle who was a lieutenant general. However it was not as intense as this. Even meeting the patriarch of the parliaments wasn¡¯t this terrifying.


    It was totally different from them. When he faced the Grandmaster Garen, he felt a sense of horror.


    Yuan Reese¡¯s was so horrified that his hair all over his body were frozen. It was as if there was an abyss in front of him and the moment he leaned forward he would fall into it.


    "Your household didn¡¯t agree to let you join the sects, right?" Garen suddenly questioned him.


    Yuan Reese was stunned and bit his lips.


    "Yes. They strongly opposed me from joining. I came here without their knowledge."


    "This!!..." Simon and Corinne were both stunned.


    Being a member of the top ten households in the Federation meant he had a huge authority.


    "Didn¡¯t you say they agreed to let you join?" Simon panicked.


    "Sorry master." Yuan Reese lowered his head and apologized. "I was being capricious." He hadn¡¯t really wanted to join the White Cloud Gate. At first, he just wanted to have fun and take it as a leisurely hobby. He didn¡¯t expect to be targeted by Simon when they were having a conversation.


    Even Simon agreed to let him become his disciple without a second doubt.


    He wasn¡¯t even sure how important was the relationship between a master and a disciple in the martial art world. Yuan Reese didn¡¯t hold this relationship in high regard as well, and both of them confusingly went through the process of learning the Mammoth Secret Technique.


    It was too late when Yuan Reese realized that something was not right. He wasn¡¯t able to break off this relationship since he had learnt and experienced the secret techniques of the White Cloud Gate. Not to mention, he even consumed the body quenching pill.


    Garen had already made a name for himself here when he decided to break off the relationship with Simon.


    The relationship between a master and disciple had become a complicated situation.


    As Yuan Reese thought of this, he raised his head and looked at Simon. Both of them were speechless.


    It would be considered a rebellion if Yuan Reese leave the sects now. Simon, who knew of Rosetta¡¯s outcome started to fear for Yuan Reese, who also knew Rosetta¡¯s situation as well. This was one of the reason why he wanted to meet Garen through Simon.


    Garen smiled as if he was not concerned with the situation.


    "Regarding your question, I can tell you the answer. However, every martial artist has their own answer to this question."


    "Please enlighten me, Grandmaster." Yuan Reese collected himself and replied.


    "In my opinion, there are two key elements to a martial artist." Garen slowly said.


    "Number one: Talent. To be more precise, physical talent. You¡¯ll learn faster and save more time if you¡¯re physically stronger. This allows you to go to the higher level."


    Everyone nodded as they agreed with the explanation.


    "Second: Spirit." Garen raised one of his fingers to emphasize on this point.


    "No matter if you¡¯re a hobbyist, martial artist, or even Grandmaster of Combat. Spirit is very important." Garen was slightly emotional, "Take those who fights on the street for example. If one were spiritually threatened before the fight, will it determine the outcome of the battle?"


    Garen continued his explanation as they seemed to be confused.


    "If two commoners with the same physical attribute, strength and speed fight, the one with weaker spirit would have less confidence in himself and try to defend and avoid more. The one with a stronger spirit would continuously attack. If there are no major unexpectations, the winner will always be the one with stronger spirit."


    "I¡¯m starting to understand." Yuan Reese frowned.


    d


    Garen looked at Karina, who seemed to understand the idea as well. Both children had a strong sense of understanding. Corinne obviously understood the answer. However, Simon was the only one who didn¡¯t get it.


    "What about the tier of the martial artist?" Yuan Reese followed up with another question.


    "Martial artists want to be stronger so that they can showcase their courage and challenge the limits of the human body. so that they could become the Grandmaster of Combat." Garen calmly explained. "The spirit of martial art is formed from the courage and spirit of the user, which will show the personality of the martial artist. The effects differ from everyone. Some use courage to oppress the enemy, some use it to disrupt the enemy¡¯s spirit. Since I have not met many Grandmasters of Combat, my knowledge here is limited."


    "What¡¯s the importance of spirit to a Grandmaster of Combat then?" Yuan Reese asked another question again.


    "It¡¯s too early for you to ask such a question." Garen sat down firmly as he looked at Yuan Reese, who was a youngster not older than fifteen years old. He was indeed a good seedling as he was able to converse with him without feeling pressured.


    "However, I can tell you a little bit."


    Garen answered him with some admiration.


    "If you have a weak spirit, you will not be able to react fast enough to the enemy¡¯s attack and the sudden change in the situation. If you have a weak spirit, you¡¯ll hesitate, and slow down when it comes to making a decision. One mistake leads to another, and this causes the fighter to lose confidence in his decision, which then delays his actions even further. The chances of winning will definitely lessen, no matter how strong you are."


    He added on: "If your spirit isn¡¯t strong enough, you¡¯ll not be able to react in time due to your hesitation. Most of the time it will be that crucial moment that decides the outcome of the battle. This is the importance of spirit and courage."


    "This is why a lot professionals would try to break the opponent before battle. If they succeed, the opponent¡¯s chances of winning will greatly diminish." Garen looked at Yuan Reese and continued, "Professionals who do not have a strong spirit will use other methods to attack their opponent. For example, they would use words to agitate, or hidden schemes to fight their opponent,"


    "I understand." Yuan Reese nodded his head. "In short, one has a higher chance of losing a battle of equals, if one¡¯s spirit is disturbed. This is because one is unable to bring out his true strength as the spirit, hence the chances of winning will decrease."


    "How do we increase our spirit then?"


    "This depends on the individual itself. There are a lot of methods in strengthening one¡¯s spirit. All you need to do is find a method that suits you best." Garen didn¡¯t give him any indication. He couldn¡¯t help but to smile as he looked at the four of them who was pondering on what he just said.


    "You can ask me any questions now since both of you, namely Simon and Corinne, will be managing the White Cloud Gate in the future."


    Simon and Corinne looked at each other and stood up.


    "Please teach us more master."


    Both of them started to put out the White Cloud Gate¡¯s pose as they were ready to fight.


    Seeing the situation, both Yuan Reese and Karina got up and moved back.


    "Come at me both at once. Let me see how much you have improved." Garen sat firmly and didn¡¯t move at all.

 172 The Day Before 2

    Chapter 172: The Day Before 2


    After correcting Corinne¡¯s and Simon¡¯s mistakes as well as answering their questions, Garen started cleaning up the mess that was White Cloud Gate after his departure.


    His sister¡¯s exams were already over. Garen visited his family for a bit, asked a little about his sister¡¯s result. Ying Er scored normally, one subject wasn¡¯t that great, another she did wonderfully, cancelling each other out.


    Ying Er planned to apply to Shengying University, which is the direct pathway from Shengying Academy.


    Under the influence of Golden Hoop, Huaishan and other surrounding districts were like metal buckets, safe and secure. The only thing Golden Hoop lacks was the presence of a high-powered individual, otherwise they were equally matched to other influences in the world. They can even take care of his sister slightly under the name of Shengying University.


    Garen also arranged for Second Senior Brother Joshua to take care of most of the properties of White Cloud Gate.


    Garen also modified some misconceptions in the Mammoth Secret Technique, choosing nuggets of better fleshed out methods in other secret martial arts and modifying it. Even though, at the highest level, other people will still not be able to use the secret technique like he does, it was much better than the regular third-rate secret technique, approaching a second-rate secret technique like the Red Jade Palm.


    He also asked Corinne to talk to Ying Er as a fellow woman to gauge if she¡¯s willing to join White Cloud Gate to learn secret martial arts.


    Ying Er¡¯s talent in learning secret martial arts was average, however, she does have a great understanding of bowmanship, so she¡¯s not willing to waste time on secret martial arts.


    She had enough training to protect herself without a weapon. To raise her level, she¡¯ll need to spend her time mainly on martial arts, which she¡¯s not willing to do. After all, no one can be like Garen with his abnormal special abilities.


    Any discipline will need focus to allow oneself to achieve better results. Stronger secret martial arts would mean one would need to spend more time in maintaining their training, otherwise it would be like rowing a boat against the current, the boat would reverse even if one doesn¡¯t move.


    The adaptability of human body would make any fighter forget their training.


    Garen, however, is different. His special ability has completely eliminated his body¡¯s ability to forget, solidifying his physical attributes. In other words, he would not have bad days, but he would also not be able to perform beyond his standard. That¡¯s because his progression and regression of power all depend on his physical attributes.


    With sloth and self-indulgence, the body will naturally think it doesn¡¯t need to maintain the physical conditions anymore, and will slowly decrease nutritional supply and finally degenerate,


    With high pressure, the body will keep requiring more power to adapt to the situation and solve the threat from the outside world.


    This is Darwin¡¯s Theory of Evolution*, it is a natural instinct of every living being.


    Garen have always known that. Hence, his special ability is his biggest secret, no one else other than him knew about it. Ever since his attributes grew stronger, he can no longer improve his physique with just training, it¡¯s as if he was in a perfectly stable condition.


    For every gain, there will be a loss. He knew that. His special ability disabled his ability to forget, making him stronger, but at the same time losing his adapting mechanism.


    He finally realized, this special ability takes root in the world view and the limitless knowledge he had access to from Earth. His subconscious used these knowledge to create a reflection of his special ability in a way that¡¯s most suitable for him, by becoming a game-esque status bar.


    After tying up loose ends, he left Huaishan City with going to University as an excuse, and took the train straight to Harmony City, planning to go to Skylark Mountain Waterfall from there.


    The Confederation and Weisman¡¯s conflict has already started, as reflected by the small clashes at the border. The newspaper from both ends had already evolved into a medium for the war of words.


    Even on the train he would see Confederate soldiers being mobilized to conduct training exercises.


    The normal train service in Confederate was not luxurious, there were no beds in those. Only special trains will have this service. Garen was on normal trains the last few times he took them, but as of now, he managed to get on a special train, utilizing Golden Hoop¡¯s special power. The train had only five compartments for a dozen people to rest in.


    There were food, drinks, magazines, and newspapers, all available for free. As a special train, it takes priority over other trains, hence it was fast traveling in it. The whole trip to Harmony City spent only about a day.


    By now, his fame has already spread past the whole of the South, even Northerners have heard about him.


    During the battle at Crimson Sand Sword Gate main branch, he single-handedly defended a joint attack from Behemoth Gate and Black Mark Association, which included the hunting team from Weisman. Compared to the battle with Andrela, this battle is far more dangerous.


    Alighting the train, Garen led Cynthia and Jack into a special passage, and exited the train station under the protection of marshals.


    The sky was still dim.


    The street was littered with a few cars and carriages. There was a silver car in the midst of it, doors wide open, a young girl holding the door with a smile.


    The girl was dressed in a purple gown and wore a black crystal earring, looking graceful and delicate.


    "Hi master, it¡¯s been a while."


    Garen walked onto the street and saw this girl waving at him, smiling.


    "Aris, how are you here?"


    Su Lin¡¯s sister Aris approached him with a cheeky smile, her arms wrapping around Garen naturally.


    "Why can¡¯t I be here? Let¡¯s go, rest for a bit at my place. When you¡¯re in Harmony City, you¡¯ve got to let me be a good host! I have already booked a large room at Rose¡¯s Whisper, a lot of my girlfriends couldn¡¯t wait to meet you!"


    "Stop that, I have business to attend to, I won¡¯t be here for long." Garen felt a slight helplessness.


    "But all my friends really wanted to meet you, master, come with Rissy~~~" Aris immediately pressed her bust against Garen¡¯s arm in a coquettish way, her aristocratic elegance completely missing from her behavior.


    "I really do have things to do. Maybe next time. Tell your dad I said hello." Garen declined decisively.


    The battle with White Bird Holy Fist Palosa is what he have been looking forward to. Even now, he¡¯s slightly excited just thinking about it, not wanting to do anything else.


    Aris¡¯ intention of introducing him to her friends may not be that simple. Her resorting to acting coquettishly, it must be some other reasons.


    Garen gave it a thought, "Let¡¯s do it this way. Vanhatten."


    A man in black stepped forward.


    "Yes sir, is there anything I can do?"


    "Help Aris with whatever she needs help with." Garen didn¡¯t hesitate utilizing this subordinate Golden Hoop has assigned him.


    "Consider it done." Vanhatten smiled gently, "Miss Aris, you need not trouble Master Garen with the issue with Felicia Sisterhood, your brother could¡¯ve solved it himself."


    "You knew?" Aris was slightly taken aback, and looked at the black haired youth.


    Aris herself banded together with a few friends to found a sisterhood and gained some influence in the Eliza Province. Recently, they got into a row with some other groups with some other princelings and princesslings*. She wanted to get Garen to show up at her party so she could take advantage of his fame to suppress their arrogance.


    From her father, she found out about the extent of Garen¡¯s influence. The authorities were also shocked at Garen¡¯s battle record. He was almost like a humanoid beast. Even the Weisman Hunting Team barely scratched him, as if he¡¯s more durable than the armor of a tank.


    Anyone who offended Garen would be hard-pressed to fight back without a cannon. Only by fleeing early on can they be safe.


    "Hm, that¡¯s also fine. I only needed master¡¯s fame on my side." Aris grinned this time.


    "What¡¯s the matter?" Garen was slightly curious.


    The black haired youth Vanhatten started explaining.


    The Felicia Sisterhood hosted an underground fighting tournament in Harmony City. It was pretty prominent, and had recruited a batch of underground boxers to fight in a death match, at the same time, they opened bets to earn a huge profit. Recently however, an outsider organization from another area brought their boxers to fight in the tournament. The boxers were so strong, Felicia Sisterhood¡¯s boxers kept losing, almost to the point of them losing all their money. It is then that Aris wanted to borrow Garen¡¯s fame to warn the other party.


    "Underground boxers? Are they strong?" Garen¡¯s interest was piqued.


    "It¡¯s hard to say, some of them have some martial arts experience, some are descendents of fallen martial arts family. Some of them were even martial artists who led a poor life, you can find any kind of people in there. Some fighters also did that before their breakthrough." Vanhatten explained.


    The three people stood in front of the car but didn¡¯t get in. Garen shifted, holding the car door for support.


    "Leo should be nearby, isn¡¯t he? How is he?" He looked at Cynthia behind him.


    Cynthia was attempting to blow bubble with her bubblegum. Hearing the question, she sucked the bubblegum back in.


    "He¡¯s alright. He injured his opponent quite badly. His opponent struggled a little, so he got slightly injured as well."


    Garen nodded satisfactorily. To shrug off his past, King of Fist Leo attacked another King of Fist from Black Mark Association, heavily injuring him from the back. The only other King of Fist was not hurt, so he drove off Leo as he tended to the injured one and damaged Leo a little.


    "You got their location?"


    "Yeah, we¡¯re following them, but there were people obstructing."


    Kings of Fist from Black Mark Association were also Grandmasters of Combat. They were also looking forward to Garen¡¯s challenge against White Bird Holy Fist Palosa before they were surprised by Leo.


    It was also a pledge of Leo¡¯s loyalty toward Garen. That man is a fanatic who would disregard everything for his ideals.


    "Let¡¯s check him out. We can let Leo do something about Aris¡¯ problems."


    Garen also wanted to whittle down the power of Black Mark Association. Their interference with White Cloud Gate was still fresh in his mind.


    "What are you talking about?" Aris was confused, "Is this Leo strong?"


    There are so many Leos on this world, it isn¡¯t strange that she doesn¡¯t know.


    "Stop worrying, someone will take care of your problems really soon." Garen smiled, "Let¡¯s go. I need to borrow your car. Jack, you¡¯ll drive."


    "Of course!" Jack opened the door from the driver seat like a pro.


    Translator''s Thoughts


    J_Squared J_Squared


    1. It¡¯s actually Classical Conditioning by Pavlov. Author has not done his research.


    2. Ì«×Óµ³ lit. Party''s Crown Princes, are the descendants of prominent and influential senior officials in the country. It is not a political party, but an informal, and often derogatory, categorization to signify those benefiting from nepotism and cronyism, by analogy with crown princes in hereditary monarchies. ¡°Princesslings¡± is the female variant.

 173 Disappointment 1

    Chapter 173: Disappointment 1


    In a forest between Harmony City and Vilmahn City.


    The evening sun showered its golden rays ornamented with vermilion ribbons, painting the trees and hills with a reddish-orange.


    At the peak of a hillock surrounded by pine trees, white buildings stood.


    The buildings looked like individual cubes and rectangular prisms huddling up together under a blanket of artichoke green roofs.


    From its side, at the exit of the buildings, two people in black supported each other by the arm and walked out, drenched in sweat. They walked warily, as if trying to avoid something.


    They were a man and a woman, both of them had blonde hair.


    The man was ugly. He had a crooked mouth pointing upward to the right, he looked as strange as strange can be.


    The woman was pleasant looking, but pale. Her blonde hair was damp with sweat and sticking to her forehead.


    Both of them descended the stone stairs leading away from the monastery in quick steps.


    "Be strong! He couldn¡¯t find us, by now he should have left!" The man helped the woman descend in quick but cautious steps.


    "Leo, that traitor! I¡¯m sorry, Manila, if it wasn¡¯t for me, you wouldn¡¯t be hurt." Blonde woman said in sorrow.


    "That¡¯s okay, I¡¯m willing to do that for you." The ugly man Manila didn¡¯t hesitate to answer her.


    The woman eyes glimmered, moved by his words.


    "Tsk tsk¡­ how touching."


    At the stone stairs behind them, a fit man wearing black followed them. The handsome man had a hooked nose with bluish-black eyes. He''s wearing a smirk on his face.


    "Leo!" Manila glared at the man behind, as if he wanted to kill him right there and then. He turned around, shielding the woman behind him. "As Kings of Fist of Black Mark Association, how could you betray us? Why!"


    "Why?" Leo scoffed.


    "There''s a saying in the far East, ¡®you can''t explain snow to a worm in the summer.¡¯ Do you know what that means?" His face contorted to show a sense of fanatic enthusiasm. "I''m chasing after my dream. My justice, my determination, these are what I base my actions on. As a fellow King of Fist, as a fellow Grandmaster of Combat, I can''t stand how you two are always so naive."


    He lowered his right fist which was covered with a black leather glove. His knuckles were layered with scale-like silvery white metal plates.


    He waved his arm, producing a sound similar to an eagle''s scream.


    "Manila, Ankh, for the sake of my dreams," Leo held his arms up in preparation to attack, "Please die."


    "You think you can take on the both of us at the same time?" The blonde woman Ankh stepped up, "Leo, you know that if we fight back with all our might, you would get badly injured or even die," She paused, "I don¡¯t know what your goal is, but you have already forced us into a corner, you¡¯ve pretty much succeeded in your goal, didn¡¯t you? There is no need to have a lose-lose situation."


    "Lose-lose situation?" Leo¡¯s sneered at them even more. "No, no, that won¡¯t happen. You see, no amount of struggle could mean anything in front of Lord Garen."


    Stunned, Manila and Ankh slowly turned to look behind. On the stone step below them, a huge figure stood, observing them. They didn¡¯t know when he arrived.


    "Garen!"


    Shivers creeped up on their skins.


    The strongest elite from the Southern Martial Arts community! An undefeatable man seconded only to Palosa!


    They stared at Garen¡¯s still silhouette, feeling a strong pressure encasing them like an enormous shadow.


    Garen stared back at both of the Kings of Fist of Black Mark Association, completely blocking the road downhill.


    As one of the strongest fighters in the Martial Arts community, Garen¡¯s presence itself was a serious impact toward the both of them.


    He stood there, allowing his massive Bravery fill the air around him. The Bravery was thick, as though it¡¯s going to solidify at any time. It was like a mountain, even though it¡¯s lower than the both of them, it felt as if they can only look up to it.


    "Black Mark Association¡­ is finished¡­" Manila paled completely. As soon as Garen appeared, he knew this whole saga was going to arrive at its final act. They should have thought about the retribution when Black Mark Association sprang that attack on White Cloud Gate.


    Ankh¡¯s smile was one of sadness. "Let Manila go, I will ensure mother give everything to White Cloud Gate!"


    Garen shook his head slowly. "You don¡¯t have the authority to discuss conditions with me. Don¡¯t you realize? The Confederation had been chaotic recently. A new age will come. Between Weisman and the Confederation, Confederation had been weak."


    He looked at them in a composed manner.


    "A war will break out. The stronger your individual power is, the safer you are on the battlefield. King of Fist Ankh, you father realized that. That was why he founded Black Mark Association. That was also why Celestial Circle Gate and Crimson Sand Sword Gate want a unified power."


    Silence fell upon everyone like a blanket. The surrounded two were almost desperate enough to try and charge past their enemies.


    The golden afternoon rays poured past the leaves and the branches, and finally found their spot on Garen¡¯s figure.


    His squinted slightly, his gaze still fixed on the Kings of Fist who huddled together.


    "Killing you does not benefit me in any way."


    The two finally loosened up, understanding the undertones of his speech.


    "We will tell you about the Grandmaster of Combat who hurt Master Fei! Black Mark Association will also be appertained to Lord Garen." A voice belonging to an old lady beseeched from behind Garen.


    The old lady approached with several masked men with cold eyes.


    "We will surrender all the people who joined the operation." She said, in her low voice.


    Garen was waiting for her, the proprietor of Black Mark Association, the mother of King of Fist Ankh, Vivian-Rita.


    "Go arrange the necessary. That will be all today." Garen said, aloof. He turned around to look at the old lady. Black Mark Association no longer has any threat after the battle at Crimson Sand Sword Gate.


    On the other hand, there was still no news about Behemoth Gate. Their power were too individualized, difficult to track through the grapevines.


    Garen didn¡¯t say anything more. He strolled down the stone stairs with Leo following behind, eventually disappearing from the long winding staircase.


    Vivian-Rita and the two Kings of Fist stared at their leaving silhouettes. They understood Garen will definitely attack Black Mark Association if they decided to go back on their words. From the moment Garen appeared, it wouldn¡¯t have mattered if the Kings of Fist were healthy anyway,


    ********************


    It was already 9 p.m. when they returned to Vilmahn City.


    After witnessing the power Garen amassed through his strength alone, Black Mark Association announced their intention to be appertained under White Cloud Gate.


    A negotiation like this can¡¯t be settled within a day, of course. Black Mark Association was delaying it until the battle between Garen and White Bird Holy Fist is over.


    All of Garen¡¯s influence is based on the absoluteness of his strength. If the battle between him and White Bird Holy Fist went awry, the deal would be called off immediately.


    Not only them, every organization with influences were focusing on that battle that signifies the replacement of the strongest force between two generations of fighters.


    Fighters from every sect swarmed into the city in which Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate was stationed, even some unpopular fighters gathered in the dark.


    Celestial Circle Gate, Crimson Sand Sword Gate, The Northern Martial Arts Union, as well as sects Garen haven¡¯t even heard of all flocked into the city, some of them wanting to witness the higher realms of Martial Arts, some others with their own ulterior motives.


    The government mobilized the army to take care of the orderliness, but there were still fights happening all over the city, dragging the whole of Vilmahn City into chaos.


    During the time which people gathered in Vilmahn City, several people dressed in white led Garen, Leo and others toward the depth of Skylark Mountain.


    *********************


    The sky was dimly lit.


    At the edge of a large still lake, the three people in white hastily led Garen and the other three, looking like a line of black and white ants beside a moss green mirror.


    Greenish-yellow trees and bushes littered around the lakeside. Some of them were bent toward the water, some even had their leaves and branches dipped into it.


    Garen stepped on the damp muddy road, following the people in white, as he looked toward the right at the lake.


    Somewhere in front was a pier covered with undergrowths and trees. It looked just like a roll of green threads floating on the water from afar.


    Garen turned his attention back onto himself and moved his neck a little. A thumb-sized red-and-black mosquito wobbled out of his collar and fell to the ground before squashed by Garen with a stomp.


    Aside from him and Leo, the people in white as well as Cynthia and Jack were fully wrapped up, reproducing the effect of a hazmat suit.


    A man in white saw the scene and a trace of worry flashed through his eyes.


    Gwarr!


    A sudden roar came from the bank of a river in front.


    A black bear stood beside the bank, watching over two little ones which are playing in the water, learning to catch a fish.


    The black bear glared at the group and slowly moved its strong paws to face them. It growled in warning to the intruders. The two little bears stopped as well, staring at the group in curiosity.


    A taller man in white stepped forward. He took out a small vial and gently opened the stopper.


    Smelling something, the black bear shrank and growled. It took its cubs and left the vicinity of the lake, disappearing into the woods.


    "Let¡¯s go." One of the people in white murmured.


    Garen and the others followed. "We¡¯re almost there, please cover your nose and mouth with that thing and be patient just a little more." He added.


    Garen and the team didn¡¯t reply, instead they took out a small wooden white bottle and placed it under their noses.


    A faint smell of green grass permeated the air around the group.

 174 Disappointment 2

    Chapter 174: Disappointment 2


    "This area here is restricted to people with Sir Palosa¡¯s secret medicine. Without it, it¡¯s impossible to go deep into the mountains." The leader of the people in white explained, "There¡¯s poisonous gas all over the deeper parts of this forest. People who wandered in without the medicine died after having ulcerated." He took a glance at Garen, "Unless they have Mr. Garen¡¯s physical constitution."


    Garen didn¡¯t make much of it, being a sky warrior of Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate, he was considered part of the sect. This battle can more or less be considered as an intersectional exchange.


    The only thing is, at their level of fame and fighting ability, the aftermath of the battle will be colossal no matter who won. To minimize the influence this event will cause, the Gate Master of Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate sent Garen and his team in earlier than was expected.


    Going to the mountains earlier doesn¡¯t necessarily mean no one would ever find out, but at least it would be concealed from a huge number of people. Through the poisonous gas, even less people would get to know about this fight.


    Garen and White Bird Holy Fist¡¯s fight has already been listed as the highest priority classified information. Nobody aside from the Gate Master and Elders who are leading were allowed to watch.


    Garen only brought Leo, Cynthia, and Jack. Cynthia and Jack were total outsiders, they wouldn¡¯t be able to comprehend a fight between Grandmasters of Combat like this anyway, so they¡¯re fine. With Leo, Garen brought him because he wanted to cultivate an efficient right hand man.


    After warning them about things to look out for, the three in white continued marching toward the deep end of Skylark Mountain. They have been in motion since 3 a.m. of the previous night*, and even then, they were only entering the depth of Skylark Mountain, it¡¯s still a long way before arriving at the Skylark Mountain Waterfall.


    On their way there, some faint green mist slowly appeared in the air in front of them. Most of it hovered just above the water surface, some escaped into the woods, as if they were semitransparent threads floating in the air.


    All of them clutched their vials tightly below their noses, allowing the mild scent of freshly mown grass take over their olfactory sense, separating the misty gas.


    Even so, Cynthia and Jack were having itchiness all over their bodies, making them paranoid and nervous.


    Garen suddenly frowned and raised his right arm. With the speed of a snap, he pinched a jade colored string.


    It came from the woods on their left, shooting at the neck of the woman in white.


    Hissss¡­


    The string struggled in Garen¡¯s hand, hissing like a snake does.


    It was only then the other people noticed the furtive creature.


    It looked just like a green wire without a head or a tail, squirming in Garen¡¯s hand. No one can be sure from where they produced the sound.


    If it hadn¡¯t moved, no one would probably guessed it was a living thing.


    "Viridian Nematode!" The leading man in white¡¯s face changed, "Karen, did you bring anything made of iron in here!" He shot an accusing look at the woman.


    "I¡­ I brought a blue iron ring¡­ It¡¯s my birthday present from my son." Karen stuttered.


    "Blue iron ring? Did you want to die?" The leader of the people in white yelled in exasperation, "Throw it away now! If it weren¡¯t for Mr. Garen, you¡¯re already dead! Viridian Nematodes love iron products, wearing it without the power to repel it, I¡¯d have thought you have a death wish!"


    "I¡¯m sorry¡­" Karen fumbled to take it off, and threw it far into the bushes.


    In an instant, a horde of green strings lynched at the ring, rolling it into a ball as big as a fist, and at the same time writhing around it.


    Everyone felt goosebumps crawling underneath their skins seeing that.


    Garen gave the one on his finger a dirty look, it¡¯s like a wire, but much stronger.


    His other hand reached up to pull it apart lightly. It¡¯s unexpectedly unyielding.


    Both sides of the worm kept trying to break his skin, as if they are attracted to the bloodstream. It kept drilling into the skin near his veins.


    Ding! Ding!


    The sound of microscopic needles hitting the surface of a metal kept ringing, spooking everyone around.


    Especially the people in white, they weren¡¯t looking at the Viridian Nematode, but Garen.


    They are very clear about how deadly those worms can be with its durable body and powerful piercing abilities, they can even punch a hole in a steel board as think as a nail.


    However, when dealing with Garen¡¯s skin, it only managed to produce sounds like this.


    Seeing how the worm just continued attacking Garen¡¯s skin, but never succeeding, the people in white felt weak in their teeth.


    "This thing¡­" Garen frowned, "Leo, Cynthia, Jack. Be mindful of their attacks. Have you cleared out your iron products?"


    "Yes."


    "None on me."


    Leo nodded as well.


    "I will destroy them when they strike." He wore a thick black leather gloves with a matte finish.


    "Just be careful. It¡¯s a little tricky." His frown became more intense.


    He pinched both ends of the Viridian Nematode and pulled.


    Crack!


    The Viridian Nematode were spliced into two.


    The weird thing is, even though it¡¯s in two pieces, it still wiggled about as if it didn¡¯t matter. As two individuals, they attacked both of Garen¡¯s arms respectively.


    "These are really tenacious." Garen clapped his hands together and started grinding. Within seconds, the Viridian Nematose was ground into green powder, and sprinkled from Garen¡¯s palms.


    "Mr. Garen, there were some other troubles in front, please be careful." The leading man in white reminded them.


    The woman in white, Karen, was ordered to return.


    The rest continued their hike.


    Soon, the group met some other rather bothersome creatures.


    Black spiders as big as a washbasin. White carps with sharp teeth hanging about at the edge of the lake. Giant black ants the size of a chicken egg.


    All sorts of horrific animals and bugs appeared in their path.


    Cynthia and Jack were already stiff with anxiety, having their guards up constantly.


    Even the King of Fist Leo had his scalp tingling and unleashed some Bravery to surround him, in attempt to turn some creatures away. If those things came near him, even if he¡¯s a Grandmaster of Combat, he would probably have problems fighting them.


    Garen was amazed, but he didn¡¯t show it on his face, following the men in white closely.


    The uniforms the men in white received was specially made and can prevent most of the deadly attacks from the creatures, but Garen didn¡¯t cover up fully, so there¡¯s still some bugs attacking him.


    Without exceptions, the bugs would touch his skin and immediately be paralyzed and bounced away. By the time they hit the ground, they are already dead.


    At Garen¡¯s level, the Counter Shockwave* as a result of the Body Hardening Technique can directly kill the bugs.


    To him, as long as nothing broke his defense, nothing can threaten him.


    Currently, his Spirit is always nurturing his body, even his weakest, the visceral organs, are strengthening by the minute.


    The group had some jerky-filled breads for lunch, and continued hiking until late afternoon. A crescendo of the sound of flowing water came from the front.


    With every step, the sound grew stronger and clearer.


    After a few turns, the group finally arrived at the breakage of the lake.


    The lake water flowed toward the cliff on their right, tempestuously free-falling for thirty-odd meters before crashing into the pool below, forming a huge white waterfall.


    The group walked through the path on the left of the waterfall, arriving at an enormous white boulder.


    The waterfall is like a white cloth tens of meters in length, hanging on a black cliff. In front of the oval greenish pool, a petite old man in white robes was fishing on the rock with a fishing pole.


    The old man sat there, unmoving. Only the fishing pole swayed occasionally with the rapid water.


    Garen followed the men in white behind the old man, and stood. With his eyesight, he could see there were worms so green they might as well be black swimming in the pool.


    These worms are like enlarged loquat worms*. They have eight short legs and hard shells, as well as round bodies as large as a washbasin.


    The old man heard the approaching guests and gently set down the fishing pole. He fixed the pole under a large rock before turning around.


    "It¡¯s been a long time since you visited, little Bondi. You¡¯re such a big man now." The old man turned toward the leading man in white.


    "It¡¯s all thanks to grandpa." He bowed and answered.


    "You brought outsiders here?" The old man suddenly turned to Garen and his team before focusing on Garen and Leo. "Are they from our sect?"


    Garen frowned slightly. The old man may have been living in seclusion for a while, he didn¡¯t care and didn¡¯t know anything from the outside world. He didn¡¯t even know what they are here for.


    "White Bird Holy Fist Sir Palosa?" He asked. "My name is Garen."


    The old man took a double take. "It¡¯s been so long before anyone called me by my title," He smiled, "Is there anything I can help you with? Looking at your age and your Bravery, you must have some kind of a story."


    "I¡¯m here to seek consultation about Martial Arts." Garen took a step forward in front of everybody.


    The man in white retreated while giving signals to others to follow suit, giving the two space.


    Garen placed his hands behind him.


    "I have fought Duskdune Shura twice. He had nothing but good things to say about you, sir. He reckoned you were the strongest fighter of the contemporary, the peak of Martial Arts! As the strongest in my generation, I wish to seek advice from you."


    "Duskdune Shura?" Palosa¡¯s wrinkly face was covered with nostalgia for a second. "He¡¯s a genius, even when I was younger. Our relationship was never good, I didn¡¯t think he would give me such a high praise."


    He woke from his nostalgia, and his gaze fell upon Garen¡¯s hands, shaking his head.


    "Too bad I already sealed my fist* a year ago. Please leave, I will not have this fight with you."


    Translator''s Thoughts


    J_Squared J_Squared


    1. ¡°×òÍíÈýµã¡±. That¡¯s what the author wrote. The 3 a.m. of previous night.


    2. Changed from counter-Vibration to Counter Shockwave because of the nature of the skill. Will henceforth be known as such.


    3. A kind of harmful worms found commonly on loquat fruits.


    4. ·âÈ­¡±, lit. ¡°Sealed fist¡±, meaning to stop hurting people with fist. May extend to other forms of fighting skills.

 175 Age of the Pinnacle 1

    Chapter 175: Age of the Pinnacle 1


    Garen¡¯s face sank. The Palosa in front of him looked like any old man on the street, kind, lovely, not a strand of the aura of a Grandmaster of Combat, and no sign of Bravery. Then again, Garen understood the ability to survive in such a grisly environment is no easy feat, not to mention he seemed to be doing quite well.


    "Sealed fist a year ago? Sir Palosa, I am also a Sky Warrior of Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate. Don¡¯t you think that shouldn¡¯t apply to a friendly exchange with a fellow member of the sect?"


    Palosa smiled.


    "Listen, kid. My fist technique is completely different from yours. Your Secret Fist Technique is almost at the highest mastery. I can tell, your Body Hardening Technique is almost as good as Duskdune Shura¡¯s. At your age, you already achieved what Duskdune Shura can only achieve at his mid-life. With only that, you are at the top of the whole Confederation. At this stage, whatever you¡¯re trying to prove, I understand. However, I¡¯m not the direction you¡¯re after. What you wanted to see, I want to see too."


    Garen silenced, he heard the underlying meaning behind Palosa¡¯s words. He hadn¡¯t been able to step further into the Martial Arts Realm as well.


    "I would still like to witness the legendary, unbeatable White Bird Holy Fist."


    "White Bird Holy Fist, it¡¯s only a name my colleagues gave me. I only knew one fist technique, and that was White Bird Fist." Palosa answered with a smile. "I¡¯m not like the prodigy Duskdune Shura or the terrifyingly talented Watson Langley. What I am good with is White Bird Fist. I spent my whole life, all my energy into this fist technique. I have sealed my fists, I will not fight you, but I can show you once."


    "Show me?" Garen squinted.


    "The Martial Arts community has been weaker and weaker for past generations. Garen, is it? I will show you with a tenth of my power. Don¡¯t blink an eye." Palosa smiled warmly while he slowly walked to a mossy boulder on the left.


    "Watch carefully, this is where I am with fist techniques!" Palosa lifted his right arm with his index finger pointing forward.


    Punch!


    Everything around seemed to have stopped in time.


    The air, the water, the worms, the grass, as well as all sorts of voices that came from afar.


    Even the massive waterfall halted for an instant.


    Everyone stopped in that very moment. No thoughts, no actions, as if they were covered with solidified amber. There weren¡¯t able to move or think, time may as well have been frozen.


    Boom!


    A black Bravery burst out of Palosa¡¯s body like a shapeless smoke. Black smoke congregated behind Palosa, forming a giant silhouette about ten meters tall with a formless lower body.


    Garen was able to see, the upper half of that silhouette was definitely Palosa with the same features and the same age.


    However, it looks different. The Palosa formed with Bravery held a twisted grin, distinguishing itself from the kind man Palosa had appeared to be.


    "This is¡­ Bravery solidified!"


    Garen¡¯s mouth dropped and haven¡¯t been able to move it since. Of all the people, only he had been trembling violently, trying to break free of this frozen state.


    "This is my White Bird Fist." Palosa murmured softly.


    His finger pressed against the mossy boulder standing two meters tall in front of him.


    With that, the alarming pressure disappeared. Everyone had recovered their ability to move.


    Cracks appeared on the mossy boulder. There was no explosions, no bursting into powder, nothing superfluous.


    However, as soon as cracks formed, it still gave everyone a shock seeing the crack.


    Centering on where Palosa touched, cracked flared out all over the mossy boulder, forming a complex network of sort.


    Cracks crossed each other and made their way to the other side of the boulder, meeting at one point on the left side of it.


    All the cracks converged into a single spot, with a deep hole appearing on that spot on the boulder.


    Garen looked at the spot Palosa tapped, there was only a small thumbprint on it.


    He went quiet.


    "Silent Redirection Punch?"


    "Oh, you knew that?" Palosa turned to him, "I¡¯m already too old, or I could have given it a hundred cracks, instead of ninety-nine."


    He caressed the surface of the boulder.


    "This is my White Bird Fist. I need not break people¡¯s defense to be able to redirect the strength, in order to attack the heart of my enemy from all sides."


    "This is the most heinous assassination punch. Before me, all the heir for this technique were natural butchers who had felled people like woodcutters do trees. With every punch they make, another person dies. Even I couldn¡¯t contain my Bravery when I use this fist technique to fight. Do you still want to fight me?"


    The solidified Bravery disappeared from Garen¡¯s senses abruptly.


    When normal Grandmasters of Combat show their Bravery, it¡¯s gaseous. Stronger ones have their Bravery concentrated to a liquid state, like Duskdune Shura and his current state. This is the first time ever has he seen one with solid state, one so powerful it could almost stop time.


    "Confinement Bravery, Bravery is the Spirit of a Grandmaster of Combat, compressed. To be able to achieve the solid state, the strength of your will and Spirit are hard for people to comprehend." Garen was not able to break out of the solid Bravery, but he as a Grandmaster of Combat cannot be scared away with just a few words.


    Palosa represented the ultimate fighting ability of the human community, no matter what, Garen would want to try and fight him. That was his initial goal after all.


    "Really?" Palosa furrowed his brows and stared at Garen.


    "This is what I came for." Garen returned the stare with his own.


    "Once I start, I can¡¯t guarantee I have control over myself. If I accidentally killed you¡­"


    "Kill me?" Garen interrupted, smirking. "If you are able to do that, try." Garen was fuming by now.


    "I really don¡¯t want to touch another fellow sect member¡¯s blood any more." Palosa winced in pain, "Leave. If I couldn¡¯t control myself and crippled you¡­ I have made too many mistakes in my life."


    Garen was seething in fury.


    "If you crippled me, that¡¯s my fault, I¡¯m not strong enough, I have a death wish, nothing to do with you! Stop the dilly-dally and fight me!"


    The old man was still acting nice and kind, but he kept provoking Garen with his tone of voice.


    "Kid, you¡¯re still young. If you are handicapped by this, it¡¯ll be a burden to your family and friends. If anything happened to you, I will not be able to face your parents." Palosa said, placing his arms behind his back.


    "I will be responsible to myself! This is my choice. As a Grandmaster of Combat, I will take on all my responsibilities!" Garen¡¯s voice gets stronger and louder as he went on. "Weren¡¯t you only waiting for this?" He smirked. "If anything happens, I will take full responsibility for my actions, not you!"


    "You¡¯re sure about this?" Palosa finally took him seriously.


    "Of course." Garen started with White Cloud Gate¡¯s default stance, condensing a large amount of Bravery around him, preparing to fight at anytime.


    Seeing they finally wanted to start the fight, everyone else stepped out of range to make space for them.


    Garena and Palosa stood facing each other on the white boulder. In black and white respectively, it was almost too easy to tell them apart.


    "Lemme see what sort of fist technique the legendary White Bird Holy Fist is!" Garen changed his stance, opening his arm on different height, as if ready to grapple, and sank lower from his waist, changing into the default stance of another fist technique.


    After maximizing his intelligence, Garen was able to analyze the different techniques of different schools, and developed this unique improved fighting technique, he took the three forms of Mammoth Secret Technique, as well as other techniques like Red Jade Palm, Fiery Claws, Golden Statue Technique, and combined them into his own unique battle skill.


    This particular default stance referenced the Golden Statue Technique, it is, after all, the strongest technique within those he learned. The battle skills in it were very suitable for fighters focusing on physical enhancements like Garen.


    "Golden Statue Technique?" Palosa recognized it. "If that really is the Golden Statue Technique, then I will find out how much of a golden statue you are!"


    Before he finished his sentence, a massive amount of Bravery rushed at Garen, attempting to slam him down.


    The solid Bravery became a gruesome psychological stress, stunning Garen in his tracks.


    Thud!


    He felt a dull pain shot through his chest. When he had come to, he was already halfway falling backwards.


    Between Palosa¡¯s speech and his falling backward, the period when he was stunned was at most one second.


    Palosa approached him with a charge, his palm softly pressed upon Garen¡¯s chest.


    From the viewpoint of the audience, Palosa only hopped forward and lightly pressed his palm onto an unmoving Garen. They immediately separated after that, and Garen was suddenly flying backward.


    "This again!" Mid-air, Garen hit the air twice with his palm in the opposite direction of his momentum.


    Generating a strong counter force, Garen¡¯s body stopped falling backward and started landing immediately.


    As soon as he balanced himself on a boulder, he saw Palosa leaped at him with his right palm flexed, ready to strike as if he¡¯s a lamb waiting to be butchered*.


    "Double Shot Form!" Garen countered with both his arms, as if using two hammers to take on Palosa¡¯s palm strike.


    "Don¡¯t blame me." Palosa looked at Garen with pity before utilizing his Bravery again.


    Thud! Thud! Thud!


    On the boulder, Palosa hit Garen once more, and immediately jumped behind him to hit him from the back.


    He kept doing the same thing, like he¡¯s just hitting a baseball.


    Garen¡¯s whole body was aching from the strikes, his body doesn¡¯t even need to be stunned by Palosa¡¯s Bravery anymore, even the strikes could disable him from counterattacking. Every single hit from Palosa landed exactly where he wanted to block.


    Luckily, after the Body Hardening Technique fused with his Spirit, it had evolved further. When hit by Palosa¡¯s palm strikes, his body will naturally filter out most of the Hidden Power, allowing only a tiny part of it to enter the body wreaking havoc.


    However, Garen¡¯s body and visceral organs were far too strong from normal humans, the Hidden Power didn¡¯t hurt him much at all.


    Translator''s Thoughts


    J_Squared J_Squared


    Chinese idiom, meaning being helpless to the situation.

 176 Age of the Pinnacle 2

    Chapter 176: Age of the Pinnacle 2


    Garen was still in his normal state. When Palosa¡¯s initial attack hit him, he already understood the destructibility of it. It was strong, but Garen would still be fine without transforming.


    Using his minimum power to fight the Holy Fist was one of his wishes before he departed to hone his skills.


    Strike by strike, Palosa¡¯s palm pressed on his torso. As Garen observed his fighting style, he noticed something.


    Every time Palosa did a straight palm strike, he would push it upward slightly, his fist would be slightly crooked, that was so it would fit the way he uses his power. However, this would leave him with a slight opening beneath his palm.


    Garen squinted, using conserving his full power waiting for the moment to counter his attack.


    "Give up!" Palosa charged to the side and raised his arm, before striking the incoming Garen.


    "There¡¯s my chance!" Garen flipped aside mid-air and whipped his right arm toward Palosa¡¯s underarm.


    This strike is definitely Palosa¡¯s weak spot. With Garen¡¯s strength and Palosa¡¯s age, if this strike connected, it would¡¯ve been a decisive point for the battle!


    At the same time, Palosa¡¯s palm was quickly approaching Garen¡¯s forehead.


    Both of them were attacking each other¡¯s underarm and head, respectively. Garen¡¯s attack was clearly faster.


    Right at that moment.


    Fwoosh!


    A solid state Bravery washed over Garen¡¯s body, stunning him.


    Thud!


    A palm struck Garen¡¯s forehead.


    Garen¡¯s legs stomped on the boulder and was shot backward. His feet slid over it, leaving two black lines on the boulder.


    Everyone from afar was shocked.


    "Gate Master is fine, right?" Jack swallowed out of concern. He saw Garen being hit on his head. That¡¯s his head! Not any other body part!* Combined with Palosa¡¯s incredible control over his Hidden Power¡­


    "I¡¯m not sure, but Gate Master is really strong too, how would he be hurt with only one strike?" Cynthia wasn¡¯t even chewing her bubble gum anymore. She said that, but her face showed a hint of worry. "Lord Leo, you¡¯re a high ranking Grandmaster of Combat, what do you think?"


    Leo brows were also knitted tightly together.


    "Hard to say, but since Gate Master has reached an exceptional height in his Body Hardening Technique, he might be okay."


    "Might be?" Cynthia and Jack both understood, Leo was also not sure.


    The Gate Master of the Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate was also closely following the happenings on the field below him. Not only him, the other man in white, the elder of his sect was stunned, like him.


    From when they knew Palosa, anyone, any elites or Grandmasters of Combat, Palosa had never used a second round of attack before they were all heavily injured.


    But now, Garen has already took countless hits, and they could tell Palosa was not holding back, he never would, but Garen didn¡¯t even have a scratch on him.


    "This White Cloud Gate Master is terrifyingly resilient! His Body Hardening Technique is beyond belief!" Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate Master looked at Garen on the boulder, his eyes sympathetic. "Grandpa Palosa¡¯s fist technique deals damage to the inside with every attack, not even the giant alligators and giant rhinoceroses could withstand a second attack."


    "Lord Palosa had apparently focused his Bravery onto Garen though," The elder said, "The situation¡¯s a little complicated now."


    Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate Master nodded without a sound.


    When everyone was staring at the battlefield, Garen was standing still, indicating this battle was not over.


    "White Bird Holy Fist! I don¡¯t see any white birds in your fist technique." Garen waited until his breath returned to normal, and provoked. "Looks like I need to use my true power¡­"


    Crack!


    He left a crater where he stood with a stomp, charging toward Palosa as if becoming a black arrow.


    "First stage!"


    In mid-air, he swelled up with a fierce roar, his shirt ripped into pieces and flew away, freeing him from the hold of the solid Bravery.


    A hideous dark green hand as big as a basin clawed at Palosa¡¯s face.


    Palosa didn¡¯t expect his strike to not be effective toward Garen. Having the ability to take his strike at a weak point with no injury, this opponent is more accomplished in Body Hardening Technique than he thought.


    Seeing Garen charging toward him like a lightning, his strength, speed, and momentum all rolled into one giant, unavoidable wave, he could only take the hit.


    Thud!


    Garen was hit by a whip kick on his side, his blackened torso shot into a pile of rocks.


    As he was using his power, the solid Bravery appeared out of thin air, suppressing his follow-up moves. He couldn¡¯t even finish his moves before being blasted into the rock pile, crushing an uncountable number of rocks.


    "Damn it, again!" Furious, Garen flipped himself back up and prepared to unleash his attacks before seeing a blur.


    Thud thud thud!


    A continuous string of strikes hit at the exact same spot on his chest.


    Even with his first stage transformation, Garen felt his body hurt from the inside. He was being drilled further into the rock pile.


    Palosa¡¯s face glowed with a slight blush, his face contorting weirdly, slowly turning into the face on his Bravery.


    "So disappointing! White Cloud Gate Master Garen, how dare you speak with such extravagance with that puny strength of yours! I am so sad on behalf of your parents and siblings. No one forced you to come, yet you seek death by yourself!"


    He kept on striking Garen casually, but with every strike, they had brought Garen numbness. Including the suppression from his Bravery, he was not able to move at all.


    Even with the first stage transformation and its heightened defense and power surge, Garen still wasn¡¯t able to curb the incoming attacks. He could only take the hits.


    As if a different person, Palosa was harsh and mean, nothing like the kind old man that he was.


    Garen felt unusually smothered. Every time when he tried to attack, the Bravery would interrupt him, causing him to be hit. And the cycle repeats.


    However, with every attack, Palosa would need to endure Garen¡¯s incredible Counter Shockwave, stunning him just by a little. He wasn¡¯t hurt, but the recoil was still annoying, to say the least.


    Powerful strikes keep shaking up Garen¡¯s insides. Even though Body Hardening Technique has absorbed most of the blows, he was still nauseated with the constant vibration quivering throughout his body, slowing his attacks further.


    "Hit me back!" Palosa¡¯s face darkened.


    Both of them were still in the rock pile, their movements and strikes sputtering gravels at every direction. Their Bravery clashed with each other, causing the living beings nearby to stay away, even the worms in the pool congregated at the far end of the pool.


    "You¡¯re as weak as a baby, are you sure you didn¡¯t come all the way here to be beaten up? I don¡¯t get how you managed to defeat Duskdune Shura, did you spring a surprise attack on him while he¡¯s not ready? Or did you challenge him when he¡¯s hurt? Weaklings will always be weaklings, they would never be ready for anything." Palosa sneered.


    "You¡­" Thud!


    Garen had barely replied before he was rudely interrupted, his words buried with the palm strike he got hit with. Crushed sand were blown into his eyes, forcing him to close them.


    "Too weak!" Palosa struck him with his right palm.


    Garen flew sideways yet again with the hit, falling into the woods nearby.


    "Why are you even alive, being such a weakling!" Palosa¡¯s moved his arms in a circular motion, the darkening of his face getting more obvious as time goes by.


    A sharp bird sound appeared out of nowhere. It¡¯s like a hawk¡¯s call, but at the same time similar to the cry of a crane.


    Palosa blitzed forward, charging into the woods where Garen fell.


    One following the other, the sound of their fist fight echoed through the woods like muted thunder.


    Their audience chased after them into the woods, and saw Garen being pressed to defend against the attacks while retreating deeper into the forest.


    "Skylark Finger Pierce!"


    Palosa¡¯s palms glowed white, he charged toward Garen, aiming at his throat, leaving two white flashes in his trail.


    "Final attack, you deserved to die if you can¡¯t block it!" Palosa¡¯s face had already warped into cruelty, his index fingers jabbing forward.


    Before anything else could happen, Garen¡¯s eyes opened suddenly.


    "Red Jade ¡¤ Ten Thousand Mammoth Retrograde!"


    His hands flared a bright scarlet to face the incoming piercing finger attack.


    The fists and fingers connected.


    Boom!


    A liquid state Bravery broke through the suppression, forming a humongous white elephant at least a dozen meters tall behind Garen.


    The elephant raised its front hooves and trumpeted. Its raised hooves correlated with Garen¡¯s arm, projecting a giant stone pillar and falling toward Palosa.


    The ground rumbled with a boom.


    Palosa grunted, and flew backward, crushing two trees as thick as a treehugger¡¯s arm length.


    Leaves rained down by the pile.


    Garen¡¯s shirt has disappeared, leaving him bare-chested in the woods. His body had grown even more, making him as tall as two meters and a half, not even the fiercest hunters in the jungle would dare to come near.


    "This is my final form." Garen¡¯s calmed down, looking between the trees not far away. "Unfortunately, this world is no longer yours to dominate¡­"


    Boom!


    His figure disappeared in an instant and reappeared in front of Palosa almost immediately.


    "Explosion of Heavenly Spirits*!" Garen roared and flexed, pumping his bulging arms even more, before he clawed at Palosa with an unmatched ferocity.


    Slam!


    Phwoosh!


    A shockwave pulsed outward centering the two, fallen leaves showered them, surrounding them. It was nearly impossible to get a clear glimpse of the situation aside from gauging from the tremor.


    Several trees nearby fell with crackles. These were the trees that were hit in the shockwave, countless branches poured down, causing the poisonous insects to flee their falling homes.


    A dozen seconds later, only after the leaves had stopped falling that the others who were spectating the fight were able to see what happened clearly.


    Garen¡¯s hands clawed at Palosa¡¯s face, but was stopped and constricted by Palosa¡¯s arms.


    Both the fighters froze in place. A black human-like Bravery and a white mammoth Bravery tugged at each other, trying to gain an upper hand against the other.


    A drop of blood trailed down Palosa¡¯s brow bone.


    "Palosa¡­ is hurt!"


    Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate Master and the others felt a chill run up their spines.


    Translator''s Thoughts


    J_Squared J_Squared


    1. That¡¯s his heeeeaaaaddd!


    2. Ììî¸ can refer to heavenly spirits or any specific stars in Taoist astrology, °ÔÁÒ lit. domineering / tyrannous / brutal split.

 177 Age of the Pinnacle 3

    Chapter 177: Age of the Pinnacle 3


    Chi!!!!


    Garen¡¯s arm took a quick turn, and his elbow went straight for Palosa¡¯s temples. His elbows were like sharp tips, stabbing Palosa¡¯s temples from both left and right.


    Boom!


    Palosa¡¯s upper body blocked the attacks, but his lower body was still kicked, and his body flew backwards from the impact. Before he could react, he saw a black shadow zoom past him and his lower abdomen was hit by invisible punches. These were the signs of high speed punching.


    Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow!


    The both of them continued to exchange blows in the woods, every time their arms met, Palosa¡¯s body would shake, the explosive strength of his opponent continuously hit him on the body, and he could feel his arms going numb. Blow after blow of terrifying attacks and explosive shock was like a massive hammer, hammering down on him.


    For a moment, Palosa¡¯s attention faltered, and his waist was hit by a silent but deadly palm technique.


    With a loud bang, his whole body flew towards the left side.


    Garen caught up in a few quick steps, swung his hand downwards to hit Palosa, but was blocked by Palosa¡¯s arms. At the same time, Palosa was hit by an unavoidable side whipping leg.


    Pow!


    The side whip leg slashed across Palosa¡¯s right shoulder.


    In the woods, the crowd could only see the duo fighting, like two shadows floating about, one black one white, crisscrossing.


    Suddenly, the white shadow was hit and sent flying, taking down a few trees on its way, then the black shadow quickly caught up and continued to mess with it.


    On the ground, and in the trees, there would occasionally be craters or holes leftover.


    With a loud rumble, Palosa was again hit back over ten plus steps. He could no longer hold it in anymore, and started puking blood.


    Garen was expressionless, he gestured his arms in a circular motion, and once more positioned himself into the stance for Explosion of Heavenly Spirit.


    "Ten Thousand Mammoths Retrograde!!!"


    Garen suddenly disappeared from where he stood, and appeared again right in front of Palosa, with both his palms aiming at his abdomen.


    In this split second, all the muscles on his body started moving like little rats under his skin, forming a way towards his palms.


    White Cloud Gate¡¯s Four Major Forms¡¯ combined explosive strengths were all focused in this one attack, paired with the second Dan¡¯s powers, they all increased the effectiveness of the Explosion of Heavenly Spirit.


    With this particular attack, Garen was reaching a whole new level in his abilities and strength.


    This was the first time putting all of his strength into one single blow, before this he had never encountered an opponent worthy of such potency, today he finally had the chance to do so.


    The force of his two palms were so great, that a strong wind formed as they got closer to Palosa¡¯s abdomen. Before they even reached Palosa¡¯s abdomen, Palosa¡¯s skin was already slightly pressed down by the wind and force.


    Palosa looked at Garen calmly, a stream of blood dripped off his chin along his face.


    A black air seemed to slowly appear along with the stream of blood.


    "You haven¡¯t reached your limit yet," Palosa pushed both his arms forward.


    Boom!!


    A weird collision sound exploded from between their palms.


    Palosa¡¯s body first stumbled forward, then flew backwards into the direction of some green plants behind him, drawing a flat line of crushed greens as he fell onto them.


    The forest was silent once more.


    Palosa coughed furiously, the black air on his face disappeared completely, only his skin was showing some weird sickening purple red.


    "Cough, cough, I never knew that you could beat me out of my demonic status," The air around him was no longer of a black humanoid, but white fog again.


    "Back to normal now?" Garen¡¯s arms returned to their normal shape, as he looked at the panting and obviously tired Palosa, he too took some deep breaths: this was the first time he had ever felt tired.


    Ever since he started practicing secret martial arts, he had been continuously increasing his body¡¯s strength and stamina, his recovery abilities have always been way beyond mortals. Yet this time, with the continuous use of all his energy blow after blow, he actually felt tired for once.


    The both of them, one sat and the other stood facing each other, stopped fighting, giving each other and themselves time to regain their energies.


    "What a pity," Palosa looked at Garen with sympathy,"a pity that you walked down this path, this is a path with no future."


    Seeing how Garen didn¡¯t seem to understand his statement, he smiled.


    "Ever since I¡¯ve started practicing White Bird Fist, I¡¯ve fought thousands of battles, and not once have I lost. Yet since a year ago, I started noticing that the Fist was starting to act against me. Eventually, it sent me into a demonic state. Who knew that I would be struck awake by you."


    "Acted against you?" Garen was dumbfounded.


    "Many many years ago, I learned of the side effects of the Assassination Fist Techniques, so I chose to hide in the mountains in hopes of fighting and removing the side effect that gave me a constant intent to kill. However in the end the demons got better of me," Palosa¡¯s face looked incredibly serious,"now I maybe injured, but thanks to you, I am fully awake."


    He stood up from the ground and stretched his body, loud cracking sounds were made as he did so.


    "Be careful now, this is my true form!" Palosa¡¯s body shrank for a bit, then suddenly expanded. From a mere 160cm tall little old man, Palosa suddenly grew into a two meter tall buff fighter.


    His muscles and bones made weird cracking noises, his wrinkled skin also tightened up, becoming smooth and young.


    "Higher Form Hand!"


    Palosa raised his right arm, and casually swung it along a nearby tree. His nails were like five sharp swords, easily etching deep marks into the tree bark.


    "The pinnacle of Body Hardening Technique?" Garen squinted his eyes.


    "No, this is a secret technique: 99 Acute Airholes," Palosa seemed to have completely recovered into his normal form, and smiled,"unlike Body Hardening Technique, this secret technique saves a copy of one¡¯s pinnacle body form, and seals it away. When needed, it can project that form onto the user¡¯s body, ensuring that the user would have access to his own pinnacle anytime he wants."


    Palosa had suddenly became a long white haired young man, looking at Garen and talking smoothly without pause.


    "I self made 178 different types of secret techniques, each one of them are individually unique and each took years of research and perfecting to complete. 99 Acute Airholes, ranks number 67 out of them all."


    The air and aura around him turned completely white, but unlike other fighters, his white aura made people around him feel peaceful.


    "I¡¯m sorry to have disappointed you earlier," Palosa¡¯s face turned serious,"your strength far exceeds the world of Fist Techniques, one could even regard you as the undisputed Ruler of All Fists! This path of pure strength and energy of yours is a first amongst the many fighters I¡¯ve encountered in my life."


    "Cut the crap, let¡¯s do this," Garen placed himself into the stance of Explosion of Heavenly Spirit. This was a technique he had acquired from a trade with the Tenth Loop, its side effects were nothing to him, its powers however, were formidable.


    Just that he had not expect to be forced to use it by Palosa¡¯s demonic form.


    "You¡¯re right," Palosa smiled, and turned into a white shadow.


    Garen turned into a black shadow at the same time.


    The both of them dashed into each other with a loud blast.


    This was unlike anything before!!


    The both of them exchanged blows, neither was giving the other any openings, each hit was a solid and serious one. Muscle on muscle, fist on fist, sounded like metal hitting metal.


    "Three Blows Arm Technique!" both of Palosa¡¯s arms took a quick turn and suddenly became three times of their original size, their speeds increased rapidly too as they headed straight downwards for Garen¡¯s shoulders.


    A sharp shrill tore through the sky, a white air wave appeared behind Palosa¡¯s arms, like two silk straps were flying towards Garen¡¯s shoulders.


    This is the effect of air being torn through by excessive amount of speed.


    Palosa¡¯s eyes glowed with anticipation, Three Blows Arm Technique was the last of his 178 Secret Techniques. With his current pinnacle status combined with this secret technique, he once sliced a master of Body Hardening Technique in half.


    This was a multiplication of his current strength by the factor of 3, this level of terrifying speed far exceeded the limits of the human body, instead it reached an inhuman level. Yet amongst all of his secret techniques, this was considered one of the most mundane ones.


    "Let me see, how will you defend against this?" Palosa glared at Garen.


    The both of them were dangerously close to each other, the Three Blows Arms was about to hit Garen in a split second. The shrill in the air caused by the two white waves of air caused Garen¡¯s ears to totally lose their hearing.


    He squinted his eyes, to avoid the massive air pressure from causing a him to lose his sight too.


    As a fellow human at the limit of human physique, Garen knew the threat of such an attack. In a split second, a dozen different techniques crossed his head, but his body instinctively positioned into a specific stance welcoming the attack.


    Whoooosh


    The powerful White Mammoth Aura gathered around his body, and bellowed with its trunk, then it charged towards Palosa¡¯s Three Blows Arms.


    "Ten Thousand Mammoth Trample!!" this was one of three major techniques that Garen invented out of mixing many others. Just like Ten Thousand Mammoth Retrograde, it was based off the Mammoth secret techniques combined with other techniques like the Golden Statue Technique, to become an incredibly powerful standalone still.


    Clang!


    Looking from far away, one would be able to see two white lines violently striking Garen¡¯s shoulders.


    The both of their faces glowed a slight red, the explosive energy brought with it a violent shock and vibration, these were vibrations that neither of them were able to control so both of them immediately sustained internal injuries at the same time.


    Palosa¡¯s joints made the weird cracking noise again, but this time it sounded like trouble.


    Garen¡¯s shoulders on the other hand were left with two visible wounds, except that there wasn¡¯t any blood, and the wounds seemed to close up as soon as they opened up.


    At the same time, the both of backed away from each other.


    "Secret Technique, Sealing Sun Arm!" A small cube suddenly appeared under the skin of Palosa¡¯s abdomen, like he had installed a wooden cube under his skin.


    The cube moved from his abdomen upwards to his chest, then it disappeared.


    What was weird, was that Palosa¡¯s originally swollen shoulders and broken bones, they were instantaneously healed, and his skin returned to its original unscathed state.


    Garen sucked up the pain from his shoulders, as he watched Palosa heal himself in front of him. At this moment he realized how truly terrifying Palosa¡¯s self made 178 Secret Techniques were.


    Palosa wasn¡¯t even a pinnacle practitioner of the Body Hardening Technique, and yet he could achieve such frightening results with his own abilities.


    "I haven¡¯t felt this pumped in a long while! Come, let¡¯s do it again!" Palosa laughed and dashed towards Garen again with another strike of Three Blows Arm Technique.


    At this moment, the white shirt man and Cynthia arrived to witness this scene.


    The effects of Palosa¡¯s Secret Techniques left everyone speechless.


    "Grandfather Palosa¡¯s 99 Acute Airholes can save the body of his absolute pinnacle state, and the most terrifying ability isn¡¯t even that," the white shirt man and the leader of the Southern Heavenly Fist Gate said softly.


    "This is already insane!" King of Fist Leo felt his hair stand on their edges as he watched this inhuman fight. The two monsters kept clashing into each other like giant beasts wrestling.


    What was different was that Garen had metal-like skin while Palosa had his 178 Secret Techniques!


    Heavenly Fist Gate¡¯s Gate Master said,"We never knew that this was Palosa Grandfather¡¯s true state. Who knew that the legendary Assasination Fist Technique could affect the mentality of the user too. No wonder all these years our grandfather forbade us from seeing him."


    "You haven¡¯t said what the most terrifying ability he possesses?" Cynthia¡¯s eyes were fixed on the battlefield, while she spoke.


    This was also what Jack and King of Fist Leo wanted to know.

 178 Age of the Pinnacle 4

    Chapter 178: Age of the Pinnacle 4


    "The most terrifying part of 99 Acute Airholes is when it is used alongside his 10th Secret Technique, and that is the most famous Secret Technique of them all: 99 Regressions!" The Heavenly Fist Gate Master said with a deep voice,"that technique is the reason why Grandfather Palosa is undefeated and unmatched across the board."


    "99 Regressions?" King of Fist Leo¡¯s face fell,"Do you mean the legendary esoteric?!"


    The Gate Master nodded proudly.


    "That is the legendary esoteric! 99 Lives!!"


    Rumble!!


    It was at this moment, the both of them collided against each other again.


    Their hands were continuously striking and slashing each other. Garen made a low ¡®hmph¡¯ and took a few steps back, the wounds on his shoulders wouldn¡¯t close up anymore now, and were bleeding profusely.


    Palosa¡¯s shoulders were cracked beyond recognition as well, his arms hung without life on his body.


    "Secret Technique, Sealing Sun Arm!" the small cube appeared under his skin again.


    "Still trying to cure yourself?!"


    Garen made low grunt and dashed towards him, his arm formed into a claw ready to gnash.


    At this point, despite the fact that his shoulders were injured, which would in turn affect his speed, but he still had a solid 80% of his usual speed. His claw glowed a slight red and released some heat around it.


    Palosa smiled at sight of this, the cube under his skin sped up magically until it disappeared under his chest. When it did, his chest recovered to a state like it had never been injured before, with two loud sounds he grabbed Garen¡¯s claw in two moves.


    The two of them moved backwards rapidly.


    A weird dark energy moved from Palosa¡¯s body into Garen¡¯s, compared to the demonic Palosa earlier, this was much stronger and was headed straight for Garen¡¯s heart.


    "I have met many pinnacle practitioners of Body Hardening Technique, but you are definitely the strongest I have ever met. You are able to not just face my three techniques built based on the White Bird Fist, but still stay standing, ready to fight. I take back my words earlier," Palosa¡¯s calm voice seemed to drill into Garen¡¯s ears,"it is actually possible now that you defeated Duskdune Shura."


    Palosa lifted his knee and kneed Garen in the abdomen, evading his attack. The both of them backed away from each other.


    "It ends here!" Palosa¡¯s face was suddenly covered in pale white jade colour.


    "White Bird, Unrivaled Skyfall!"


    The white aura around him suddenly concentrated into a form and created a massive white crane, it¡¯s beak sharper than the sharpest swords and its claws, stacked on top of each other, were lifted up and slashed downwards.


    The sharp beak pecked on Garen like an awl.


    The same threatening aura appeared again, crushing Garen under its intimidating weight, causing his bones to vibrate slightly.


    "You think I wouldn¡¯t be able to fight back like this? Garen¡¯s face suddenly turned sly, his arms expanded in a wide motion.


    "Ten Thousand Mammoth Sky Encirclement!!!!!"


    He put both his palms together like he was about to clamp onto the beak of the crane. As his palms traveled rapidly through the air, the already filled with poison arms were now forming a lot of friction against the air and was suddenly on fire!


    Garen¡¯s palms drew a red line as they both met in a prayer-like gesture.


    At this moment, both of their abilities met each other. The forest fell silent once more.


    The two large auras collided with each other and blurred everything around them. No living organism could tell for sure what was going on in there.


    After a few seconds, both auras retreated away from each other and stood facing each other with a few meters of distance in between.


    Palosa¡¯s palms were charred black like they had been burned and he was sweating profusely like he had just expended all of his energy in his last attack. Especially his chest, it seemed to sank in the middle, obviously his ribs were broken and he was heavily injured.


    He stared at Garen who stood across him.


    Garen didn¡¯t move from his spot, just that there was now a small cut on the middle of his chest and a small stream of blood was pouring out of it. From where he stood, there was a half circle line burned into the ground, the frightening after effect of his Ten Thousand Mammoth Sky Encirclement.


    "It is over," Garen looked at Palosa,"you¡¯ve taken a direct hit from my Ten Thousand Mammoth Sky Encirclement, that paired with the hot poison¡­.." This was nothing like the time Garen defeated Duskdune Shura, this particular strike was at least twice as powerful as that one. Even if Palosa was stronger than Duskdune Shura, he could not possibly survive a direct hit.


    He squinted his eyes and looked at Palosa.


    The small cube popped up underneath Palosa¡¯s chest again!


    "Secret Technique: 99 Regressions!"


    Palosa¡¯s face was calm, the cube dissolved into countless beams that shot across his nerves to every part of his body.


    After a series of weird bone cracks and muscle cracks, Palosa recovered from all his injuries, like had never been hit at all!


    "My 99 Regressions, paired with 99 Acute Airholes, is the ultimate ability invented from the White Bird Fist Technique. I can heal myself 99 times within a hundred days from any injury."


    Palosa tore off whatever broken fabric was left on his top, leaving on only his bottom long pants.


    "99 Regressions¡­." Garen¡¯s face was expressionless, but his heart was stirring. This kind of insane secret technique can only be invented by someone as good as Palosa.


    "I¡¯ll see how many times you can recover then!" Garen¡¯s heart was set on defeating Palosa, he pushed from his feet and dashed towards Palosa.


    Boom, boom, boom!


    The sounds of collision continued. White Bird Aura and the Giant Mammoth Aura twist and turned over each other. The White Bird flew up and crashed down on the Giant Mammoth over and over again, while the Giant Mammoth whipped the White Bird with its trunk.


    The two frighteningly large auras continuously exchanged blows.


    "Ten Thousand Mammoth Sky Encirclement!!!" Garen bellowed, his palms once against on fire, colliding again with Palosa¡¯s Unrivaled Skyfall.


    Palosa jumped away and when he landed, he had recovered from his injuries.


    "Again!!" Garen jumped towards Palosa aggressively.


    The onlookers watched as the both of them repeatedly fought each other with all their might. As they continued to fight, Palosa was actually able to continuously recover from all his injuries, everywhere he was hit, he would heal within ten seconds.


    With the combined use of Sealing Sun Arm and 99 Regressions, Palosa looked like he was never injured from beginning to end. His aura was as fresh as it gets, unaffected at all by the constant attacks.


    Whereas for Garen, he was getting bloodied from the continuous pecking by the White Bird Fist. His eyes were bloodshot, but he didn¡¯t seem to know anything about feeling tired, and just kept throwing blow after blow of his most powerful attack: Ten Thousand Mammoth Sky Encirclement!


    The Ten Thousand Mammoth Sky Encirclement was delivered with Fiery Claws and each time it hit Palosa, it would leave him heavily injured. Yet every single time Palosa would recover completely from it, like the attack meant nothing.


    One, twice, four times¡­.ten times¡­.twenty times! Garen¡¯s body started wearing out, but he still stood straight like a pencil, aggressively attacking his opponent.


    Finally, not sure after how long, the forest was silent once more.


    King of First Leo, Cynthia and Jack clenched their jaws, their faces a mixed expression as they stared at Garen. Like them, the Gate Master too was looking at Garen with respect.


    "There¡¯s no point to continue fighting," Palosa stood silently by the side of a few collapsed trees.


    All the trees in a ten meter radius around them were either torn in half or completely collapsed, some were even on fire due to Garen¡¯s Fiery Claws.


    The forest seemed to have become a plateau.


    Streams of blood flowed down Garen¡¯s chin, arms, legs.


    He panted and gasped for air, his eyes were still glowing red, staring at Palosa with resentment. Garen¡¯s shoulders, waist, back and chest were filled with wounds, lines of lines of bright red cuts filled his entire upper body.


    "99 Regressions!" Garen panted,"there really...isn¡¯t any point on fighting anymore."


    Surely by now, they were both violently aware of each other¡¯s limits and abilities.


    99 Regressions paired with Sealing Sun Arm sure is a terrifying combo, but that¡¯s an ability made for the Palosa at his peak. The Palosa now, if he continued using the same techniques, would put such a strong burden on his body that he would not die from his injuries but instead from a total lack of energy. After all, he wasn¡¯t the same Palosa as he was when he was younger.


    As for Garen, using Ten Thousand Mammoth Sky Encirclement was also a great burden on his body. After using it so many times, he had exhausted all of his energy, and could faint anytime soon.


    But he knew he cannot be defeated like this!


    Too much depended on him, as he was the main foundation holding up White Cloud Gate. If he falls, not only will White Cloud Gate fall, so will his family and friends, everyone will disappear like a house of cards.


    White Cloud Gate and his family have been able to stay safe all these years because of the intimidation of his strength. If he falls, not only will his enemies seize the opportunity to strike, but so will the people who surrendered to him purely because of his strength betray him and his family.


    At this point, both them knew very well that if they continued, they would both end up dead. Perhaps Garen would die first, but Palosa would follow after very soon too.


    "I lost," Palosa laughed, his body shrinking back to his real age, turning back into the small old man he was earlier. His face now was so pale it was terrifying,"I used 99 Acute Airholes to retain my prime till now, but I never expected you to be able to force me to use 99 Regressions more than ten times."


    Realistically, the both of them were almost equal in strength, just that Garen was at a disadvantage due to Palosa¡¯s Secret Techniques.


    "You didn¡¯t lose," Garen said coldly, and stood up, his body shook for a second, and all his wounds instantly opened and shut with a large spout of blood.


    He reached out his hand towards Leo.


    Leo threw over a black cloak to Garen, which he used to instantly cover up himself.


    "Let¡¯s go, we¡¯ve achieved our objective for this time," Garen turned around and took big steps away, as if he was never injured before,"next time, next time I will defeat you!"


    King of Fist Leo was the first to catch up to Garen, followed by Cynthia and Jack.


    "A year ago, a man named Sylphalan showed up here once. We ended our battle with heavy injuries on both sides. If you meet this man, be careful," Palosa¡¯s yelled from behind him.


    "Sylphalan¡­." Garen stopped in his steps for a moment, then he continued walking.

 179 Closer 1

    Chapter 179: Closer 1


    A year ago, Sylphalan was here, and he fought with Palosa.


    A year ago, Palosa sealed himself away as he fell into his demonic tendencies.


    Garen suddenly understood the correlation.


    The reason why Sylphalan showed up coincidentally in Galantia and Eliza Province, was because he was motivated by some other objective. Perhaps that objective was to seek Palosa out for battle.


    Since the White Bird now said that the both of them sustained heavy injuries from the fight, that means Sylphalan should still be recovering from his injuries, unless he has some sort of special recovery method.


    Whereas for Palosa, his injuries were mostly mental, especially since he would later fall into his demonic form. Sylphalan must have sustained some bad injuries as well.


    On the way out from the big waterfall, Garen kept thinking of that possibility.


    As the four of them walked back, nobody spoke.


    Garen¡¯s body was covered from head to toe in the black cloak, nobody, not even the other three could tell how injured he was.


    "Gate Master Garen, are you alright?" King of Fist Leo frowned and aksed.


    "Not too good not too bad either, I¡¯ll be fine," Garen looked at him briefly, and answered.


    "That¡¯s good," Leo¡¯s face relaxed,"Since we¡¯ve achieved our objective in this journey, what shall we do next?"


    Garen stopped in his steps,"We¡¯ll talk about that once we get back to Galantia. This fight with Palosa made me realize some very important things, but first I need to recover. The rest of the things just play by ear, if you hear anything about Black Mark Association you are to inform me immediately."


    "Yessir,"


    Leo nodded.


    As Cynthia and Jack heard Garen say that his injuries weren¡¯t too serious, they were relieved. Now their fates were tied to Garen¡¯s, if Garen fell, they wouldn¡¯t be spared from the ensuing consequences either.


    "I¡¯ve arranged a carriage near the city, I¡¯ll lead the way once we¡¯re out of here," Cynthia said.


    "Alright,"


    Garen didn¡¯t want to say anything else, so he just agreed.


    While he might have told the others that he wasn¡¯t badly injured, but he knew himself that his status right now was not your average injury.


    When fighting with Palosa, the true killing force isn¡¯t sheer strength or overwhelming force. Instead, it is the small but potent beak attacks. Where the beak bit Garen, he could not heal completely, the only reason why they stopped bleeding was because of his muscle expansions covering the wounds.


    Aside from this, the beak attacks were unlike any other pierces. The moment the dark energy pierced his skin, a large part around it went numb, and he couldn¡¯t even feel if he was bleeding.


    "3 spots on my abdomen, 12 on my back, 8 on my limbs¡­.out of those 5 are bleeding internally, 3 are just surface cuts, the rest are completely numb."


    Garen checked his own body as he walked. Under his Attribute Pane, his vitality had dropped a staggering 5 points. Obviously due to the overwhelming injury, even his Body Hardening Technique¡¯s efficiency was lowered.


    "And then there¡¯s my innards, all major organs seemed to have moved in different directions, my heart is slightly cracked, which means my recovery abilities are suppressed as well. I wonder what secret techniques Palosa used to do that."


    Garen looked at his palm under the cloak, it was pale, terrifyingly pale.


    "Let¡¯s try and see if there¡¯s any effect if I use the attribute points,"


    He tried to expense his unused potential points into the vitality section.


    Disappointingly to no effect. His vitality went blur for a second, then it returned to the original amount, his body didn¡¯t change the slightest.


    "Looks like this time I will have to slowly recover," he frowned,"an injury like this has surpressed my recovery abilities, even if it doesn¡¯t get worst I will still need a whole month to fully recover."


    His issue with Behemoth¡¯s Gate wasn¡¯t even settled yet, but for now he could only return home to recover.


    Garen¡¯s fought a lot of opponents before, and has always won right out with everyone. He thought that once he reached this level, he would never end up in a horrible condition like so anymore, but little did he expect himself to be reduced to this after a simple exchange with Palosa.


    Sylphalan, Palosa, even though he was still slighter weaker than them, but on the bright side it meant that he had stepped into the highest level of fighters.


    Now whenever someone were to bring him up in a conversation, they would compare him to the two of them as equals, sometimes even as superior.


    As he recalled Palosa¡¯s fighting style, Garen continued to shake slightly, as he tried to fix his internal injuries.


    ***************************


    Ten days later¡­


    The fight between White Cloud Gate¡¯s Gate Master and White Bird Fist¡¯s Palosa, ended without anyone knowing about it.


    But after a few days, news of it had spread throughout the entire southern martial arts world.


    The fact that the both of them ended it in a draw was beyond everyone¡¯s wildest expectations. Garen, as a new age Master of Combat, was able to actually fight the great Fist Master to a draw, was unbelievable for most. Overnight, the news spread via telegram to every corner of the martial arts world.


    Garen¡¯s position as a regional leader was also cemented by this battle¡¯s outcome. White Cloud Gate¡¯s Territory of Galantia became a place of attention for every sect.


    As for White Cloud Gate¡¯s ranking, it rose up to stand equal with the Southern Holy Fist Gate and the Celestial Circle Gate.


    As for the Black Mark Association and Crimson Sand Sword Gate:


    Black Mark association was discussing surrender and possible merger of elements with White Cloud Gate, especially since amongst their three King of Fists, one betrayed the sect, one was heavily injured and the remaining one was no longer able to hold the entire organisation up by himself. Black Mark association was alive by name, but dead in reality.


    Crimson Sand Sword Gate disappeared into the shadows since the day the Hunter Killer Squad fought Garen. In an instance they disappeared from public eye and sold most of their assets to nearby sects like White Cloud Gate or the Celestial Circle Gate.


    The entire southside of the Confederation was now split between three major sects.


    Namely they were: Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate, Celestial Circle Gate and White Cloud Gate. Amongst the three, White Cloud Gate was the weakest, they had zero plans to expand beyond Galantia. All they were interested in was to continue consolidating their power in Galantia and they even turned away ex-members of the Black Mark Association trying to join them.


    Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate expanded aggressively, they absorbed many small sects and formed their own alliance.


    Celestial Circle Gate also started to consolidate their power after Garen fought Palosa, rumors even tell of a possibility that Andrela had left self-confinement.


    ***************************


    Galantia, Hubo City.


    In a white manor surrounded by various maple trees.


    Outside the manor, in the maplewood forest.


    Two young men sat by a stone table playing Go.


    Maple leaves would occasionally fall on the stone table, along with what looked like dandelion seeds, both of which would be expertly flung away by the duo each time they fell.


    One of the men was buff and tall, his body wrapped all over with black bandage. The other one was handsome, with black hair that fell on his shoulders, and an eye patch that covered one of his eyes.


    The setup on the table was filled with black pieces. Instead of white and black to distinguish the factions, they were differentiated by squared and circular ones. The stronger buffer man¡¯s was playing the squared pieces while the one-eyed man was playing the circular pieces.


    "I heard you challenged Palosa, I came as soon as I left my self-confinement. Who knew that even someone with your abilities would end up in a state like this," the one-eyed man was Andrela who had just rushed from Celestial Circle Gate. He donned a long sleeve and long pants with a black robe that had constellations etched in beautiful silver thread on the end of the sleeves.


    "If you don¡¯t believe it then you¡¯re always welcomed to go try," Garen was covered in black bandage, wearing only black long pants and boots. He sat on the stool with his back straight and his eyes slightly squinting, still looking intimidating in this state. His hair was short now, and his right arm was still being supported by a wooden board.


    "I can¡¯t even defeat you, if I go wouldn¡¯t I just be asking for death?" Andrela laughed,"But Palosa has always been someone I wish to overtake one day. Now there¡¯s you too. What if I kill you now with my sword? Would that earn me the title of Number One Combat Master in the Southern World?"


    "Looks like this self-confinement session of yours was really rewarding," Garen couldn¡¯t help but laugh, as he lifted up his hand and placed a piece onto the playing field,"sadly, I¡¯ve killed you already."


    The game was set, Andrela¡¯s circular pieces were all surrounded by Garen¡¯s square pieces, he only had one piece left to place, and one spot for him to do so. Once he does, he would seal his own fate.


    "The medicine you gave me was really good," Garen moved his body about,"I can already feel the effects, the spots where the pus infected have also stopped worsening. Thank you so much."


    Ever since the day he got back, his body¡¯s only been getting worst. Every spot that was hit by Palosa¡¯s Unrivalled Skyfall ability was infected by pus. Had it not been for the rare medicine, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to stop it at all.


    But that¡¯s as much progress as he was able to make, he simply couldn¡¯t recover.


    In over ten days, he only recovered some parts of his organs, but his energy and abilities were still deterred.


    "Pair it up with edible medication, you should be able to completely rid yourself of the infections." Andrela unwillingly let go of the chesspiece on his hand,"consider that I¡¯ve lost. Looks like other than being good at martial arts, you¡¯re a monster even at Go."


    He stood up and revealed a small red medicine bottle from his sleeve, then he threw it at Garen,"this is a special medicine prepared for me by Celestial Circle Gate members, it should have some effect. You seem to have a guest, I shall go practice my swordsmanship, if you need anything you can find me at our usual spot."


    With the sound of loud wind, Andrela disappeared from where he stood, only a few maple leaves were left in his wake.


    Garen sat on the bench, this rock bench had obvious eastern influences, as it was custom made by a skilled craftsman based on Garen¡¯s memory. It was perhaps a small memento to remind him of his origins from Earth.


    He kept the pieces back into the box one by one, and left the box on the table. He picked up the red medicine bottle, gave it a curious look and put it straight into his pocket.


    The maplewood forest was a bright red everywhere, even the floors were filled with red leaves like a carpet.


    As he watched Andrela leave, Garen felt a sense of gratefulness.


    Andrela had grown stronger again, not just a small bit, but by a large margin compared to the first time they met. No wonder he was so confident and wanted to challenge Garen. What used to be a big feat like Blink was now being casted by him like an everyday trick.


    Garen took a wild guess, and estimated that Andrela¡¯s abilities were now very close to Crimson Sand Sword Gate¡¯s evil genius Lord Clark, but what other secret techniques he hid under that sleeve, nobody knew.


    Beyond the maplewood forest, light footsteps could be heard.


    "Gate Master, I¡¯ve brought the guest," Jack¡¯s voice could be heard as well.


    "Come over then," Garen replied peacefully.

 180 Closer 2

    Chapter 180: Closer 2


    Jack was clothed in a full set of black robes while he was followed by three others.


    Two out of the three were people familiar with Garen, they were two King of Fists of the Black Mark Association, Ankh and Manila. Neither of them were wearing their Black Mark Association uniforms anymore, instead they both donned a white cloak contrasting a pair of black boxing globes with silver linings.


    As for the other one, it was White Cloud Gate¡¯s Corrine.


    The two King of Fists stood in attention, and greeted Garen respectfully.


    "Black Mark Association¡¯s surrender is complete. From today onwards, we are King of Fists serving White Cloud Gate. Gate Master Garen, you possess great knowledge and great skill in martial arts, we dare not defy you; however, we have one request: please don¡¯t put us in the same team as that traitor Leo!" Manila said calmly.


    Garen turned around to face the group.


    "Considering the conflict putting you all together might raise, I will be wary to not put you two and Leo in one group. You will each lead your own groups respectively, with your own respective names. In fact, you can just use your old names from your Black Mark Association days. Black Group and Mark Group was it?"


    "Yes sir, that will be great."


    Garen nodded in agreement.


    "Leo will also set up his own group called the Lightning Group. Jack and Corrine, you will both lead the rest and form a group called Cloud Group in charge of gathering intelligence. Then there¡¯s another group, that I will manage myself."


    In a few simple sentences, Garen summarized and made order out of the complicated structure of White Cloud Gate.


    In total there would be five groups, three of the masters of combats will lead three of their own groups, then there will be a fourth group made out of White Cloud Gate¡¯s original followers. The remainder will be made out of freelancers and fighters from various groups in Galantia, these will form a group and be led by Garen himself.


    This arrangement provided a clear distinction between the major powers within White Cloud Gate. Amongst all of them, the ones that were most loyal to Garen were Leo and the ones from the original body of White Cloud Gate. As for the rest, they were only submissive for now because they had been defeated.


    However during such times, Garen could use all the help he could get, so the more power the better.


    "Anything interesting lately?" Garen looked at Corrine.


    Corrine nodded,"News from Cynthia, the first is about Mr. Su Lin and Celine. The two of them were collecting rare materials until they were caught in some conflict happening by the border. We still don¡¯t know what¡¯s their situation right now."


    "Conflict?" Garen frowned,"Conflict related to the borders?"


    "Only two states in the borders, the Confederation has already sent its army that way. Soon it will be dissolved," Corrine nodded,"then there¡¯s a second piece of news: A cruise ship carrying Confederation students was boarded by members of the Weisman navy, they¡¯re holding the passengers hostage and have already killed 13 students. Right now there are demonstrations all over the major cities condemning the Weisman government¡¯s inhumane actions¡­."


    "Please get straight to the point," Garen cut her short.


    "Oh, the Confederation and Weisman have dispatched their respective fleets, a big fight¡¯s is going to break out," Corrine summarized,"this came from Mr. Sulin and little sister."


    Garen noticed that Corrine used ¡®immediately¡¯ instead of ¡®is going to¡¯ instead of ¡®possibly¡¯, which meant that Corrine was 100% sure about it.


    "Su Lin¡¯s father should have his own arrangements in mind for a situation like this. Manila, please make trip to the western border and see if they need any help while gathering any information you can about the country behind these conflicts."


    "Alright," Manila nodded, he softly squeezed Ankh¡¯s hand and turned around to leave.


    Now all of Black Mark Association¡¯s power was divided into three parts, one was the ¡®Mark Group¡¯ led by Manila. All of these groups were disciplined and well organised individually, collectively they were the elites of the Black Mark Association.


    If it wasn¡¯t for the Golden Hoop¡¯s influence combined with Garen¡¯s sheer power, the Black Mark Association would not have gone down so easily.


    However, with the way things are now, if they did not surrender to Garen¡¯s side, they would only be met with certain death should he decide to pursue revenge for what they did to him back then.


    Manila and Ankh were sure about one thing, if Garen were to sent them to their deaths on some one way mission, they will not hesitate to run away. Lucky for them, Garen seemed to treat everyone the same, like there had been no conflict between them to begin with, maybe even nicer than before.


    Garen watched as Manila left.


    Each of Black Mark Association¡¯s groups consisted of at least a few hundred, maybe even a few thousand fighters. On top of that, there was their wide real estate portfolio, intelligence gathering bodies, mercenaries, freelance fighters and even assassins etc.


    Garen didn¡¯t need to know too much of the details, as long as they served him with their abilities and influence, it was enough. There was still the support of the Golden Hoop, White Cloud Gate and Leo all watching his back and ready to serve at a moment¡¯s notice.


    "Ankh, once you¡¯re done with moving your people you can begin taking over Galantia¡¯s security. Can you assign guards for key influential people in the city?"


    Ankh nodded, and turned to leave as well.


    Corrine and Jack were left, awaiting Garen¡¯s orders.


    "Jack, what¡¯s the situation like now with Leo? Have they found Duskdune Shura¡¯s remaining Royal Generals?" Garen turned his gaze to Jack now.


    Jack and Cynthia were still substantially capable in intelligence gathering. While they weren¡¯t professionals, they were still better than most people since they were elites that underwent training with some of the world¡¯s best mercenaries.


    "Leo¡¯s group sent back a telegram. They found traces of Duskdune Shura and Charlotte by the Sand River. Looks like the news we put out earlier worked," Jack responded immediately,"Duskdune Shura is still recovering from his injuries. The same injuries caused him to lose a majority of his power and along with it, his membership in the Immortal Palace Alliance. Right now he¡¯s being chased by his enemies alongside Charlotte. Once we released the news, they responded pretty soon. Looks like they can¡¯t take it anymore."


    Garen nodded.


    "There is no hatred between Duskdune Shura and I that can¡¯t be settled. He should¡¯ve heard the news about my fight with Palosa now, not to mention we even have the Blood of Eternal Life that was originally stolen by Behemoth¡¯s Gate. All this must be incredibly tempting to him. Now let¡¯s see what he has to offer to trade with us. Last time we were begging him, but now look at how the sides have shifted."


    Jack nodded,"Lastly, we found out who it was that hurt Gate Master Fei."


    "Oh?" Garen was intrigued.


    "The martial artist is called Sicilian Saldin, with him was his only follower and son Chukufa Saldin. They boarded a long distance cruise towards the east half a month ago, we found them on the guest list."


    Garen stood up, a maple leaf fell onto his palm, and he rubbed it between his fingers.


    "The east again¡­.."


    He has always wanted to venture east, but he had his family here, his sister, parents, uncle and his friends. Should he head out to sea, it would take more than a year even with the stable routes. If something went wrong during this period of time¡­.


    "We¡¯ll set this aside for now. We can¡¯t do much in a short period of time anyways. Oh right, do we know anything about what¡¯s going on with Dale Quicksilver¡¯s side of things?" He suddenly remembered that a few days ago he had dispatched Jack to look into that famous detective.


    Jack¡¯s face suddenly turned into a quizzing expression.


    "Gate Master, that detective is still in the Evenia Province. We don¡¯t know what he¡¯s doing exactly but it seems like he¡¯s being watched by some others because he knows some secrets about the Immortal Palace."


    "He actually hung around there for this long," Garen rubbed the stubs on his chin, his face filled with thought.


    He had only two objectives for now: First, is to kill the man responsible for his master¡¯s death. Second, is to kill Sylphalan who did not just kill the Elder but also injured him severely once.


    The mysterious Immortal Palace Alliance seemed to be hiding some other big secret as well.


    "Pity that my injuries still haven¡¯t recovered completely," Garen pressed his chest softly, a great deal of pain reverberated from where he placed his hand.


    "You all may retreat back to your work, if you hear anything about Dale Quicksilver, report back to me immediately."


    "Alright,"


    "Take care and rest well Gate Master."


    Corrine and Jack both turned to leave together.


    Garen sat back on his stool.


    "Immortal Palace¡¯s secret...," for now, Garen¡¯s only enemy is the elusive Immortal Palace Alliance. Soon he will settle his score with Sylphalan.


    "Sylphalan¡­ I bet you can hear me huh?" Garen looked up into the endless sky beyond the maple trees.


    *****************************


    Somewhere in the middle of the ocean between the three continents.


    On a small white sand island.


    The island was oval, like a green spot with white borders etched into the endless sea.


    In the middle of the island was a thick plot of trees, on the top of a certain high ledge, was a massive marble hall sitting on white circular pillars.


    The white marble hall stood alone at the end of the black colored rock ledge with no growth about it at all.


    The marble hall was like a triangle stacked on top of a rectangle. It had a simple structure, with only a slight air of complication shown through the carvings on the wall that reflected an air of eternity.


    By the entrance of the hall, was four rock pillars, each with a radius of 4 meters. Around these pillars were white snakes with pointy ears.


    By the ledge right outside of the entrance was a shorter pillar with a square bowl on top of it. It looked like it was made to hold something important.


    As the sunset, a short haired man with a cold expression stood by the square bowl. The wind made waves out of his blood red hair.


    The man reached his hand into the square bowl and took a quick swipe, then his hand was instantly stained with a hint of blood, he flicked his fingers and drops of blood flew off the ledge to the bottom.


    "Sylphalan, we need an immediate replacement for Duskdune Shura."


    A weak old man covered in black robes appeared from the back of the short haired man. This old man¡¯s whole body was hidden under a black cloak, none of his body was exposed, one could only hear his voice from under the cloak.


    "When do you plan to take action?"


    "I do not feel like leaving now." The short haired man smiled,"if you want, you can go yourself. Trash will always be trash, he couldn¡¯t even take a hit and he even lost the precious Blood of Eternal Life."


    Sylphalan turned around and looked to his right. Suddenly there was a friendly lady standing right beside him, she had eyes that were as blur as the ocean and skin as white as snow.


    "Big sister! When did you come here? Ever since I killed our older brother, you¡¯ve been showing up more often! I knew I was right!" Sylphalan was suddenly happy, he stopped doing what he was doing with his hand earlier and rubbed his fingers clean,"Big sister, do you think I should go out this time? I haven¡¯t even recovered from my past injuries, and this trip will be incredibly tiring. But if I don¡¯t go, our plan has reached a key point¡­."

 181 Secret and Proposal 1

    Chapter 181: Secret and Proposal 1


    The blue eyed girl looked back at him calmly, and just smiled warmly.


    "Sylphalan, are you going or not?! Give me a specific answer!" The black shadow again echoed.


    Sylphalan frowned, his gaze was stuck on the blue eyed girl, her warm smile and expression made him feel warm too from the inside out.


    "Big sister why aren¡¯t you saying anything? Is it because that old bastard behind me is too noisy?"


    "Yes, it must be because that old bastard is too noisy. I have always hated him anyways, I didn¡¯t expect you to be uncomfortable around him too. Just give me a moment, I¡¯ll kill him now!"


    His body suddenly floated like it had no form, and with a loud WHOOSH he flew towards the black shadow by the entrance of the hall.


    In a split second his body suddenly dispersed into a shadow that covered the sky like an infinite blanket of mud covering all of the hall in an instance.


    "Sylphalan you!!!" The black shadow was enraged as he yelled his disagreements under the shroud of the black mud.


    "What mad episode are you having again?!!" The old man made a low hum and broke through the black mud, dashing towards the bottom to escape.


    Sylphalan appeared out of the black mud.


    "I¡¯m still too weak¡­ Big sister, do you think that if I were to become a little bit stronger, that I would be able to kill that cree old bastard?" He looked at the blue eyed girl again, who smiled back, filling his heart with warmth once more.


    Suddenly his vision was blurred, and the girl disappeared, he was left with emptiness.


    His face instantly turned into one of regret and sadness.


    "Big sister are you unhappy again? I must have disappointed you." He touched the left side of his neck, and was suddenly happy again.


    "My time scar has grown longer by a bit! Do you see it big sister? With this little bit, I can live another extra two days!" His face was suddenly filled with childlike happiness.


    "1 month and 5 days long¡­. I have never had such a long time scar, big sister you would be happy too right?"


    At the bottom of the mountain, a black shadow appeared, and stumbled onto a tree for stability.


    A red shadow appeared beside him, it was Flamingo, he was plain faced, with his Sword of the Sprites sheathed on his waist, he looked up at the hall above.


    "Sylphalan gone mad again?"


    "Damn this, I don¡¯t want to be with that madman anymore! Whichever one of you want to you may go ahead!" The black shadow emitted the voice of the restless old man.


    Flamingo squinted at the direction of the hall.


    "Sylphalan has always been a madman. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. Just stay away from him, he is a pitiful one after all."


    "Pitiful?! If he¡¯s pitiful, who will pity me?!" The black shadow was enraged,"His someone who should¡¯ve disappeared a long time ago! The time scar determines how long more he has to live. He is only alive because he keeps extending his lifespan by absorbing the Blood of Eternal Life and the life force of other humans! What ¡®sometimes good, sometimes bad¡¯, he is just completely mad!"


    "Consuming life force to maintain his life scar comes with a side effect. Between periods of time he will experience great pain. The more he absorbs, the more the life scar learns to fight the effects so each time the effects of the life force decreases. Sylphalan¡­..he won¡¯t be living for much longer." Flamingo stood silently for a moment, then continued upwards,"let him be."


    **************************


    In the days after, Garen focused solely on recovering.


    The medicine from Andreala was quite effective, it did away with the pus infection on his wounds very rapidly. These wounds inflicted by Palosa¡¯s Unrivaled Skyfall were a massive annoyance to fix, each wound was a pit, like the injuries from the Mitsubishi Army, they wouldn¡¯t close up.


    This also deterred Garen¡¯s self recovery abilities from taking effect.


    However once the pus infection was dealt with, the wounds started healing rapidly. Once they reached a stage where they resembled the behaviours of a normal human wound, Garen¡¯s recovery abilities were able to take over once more.


    While this happened, Garen was hanging out in the manor every single day, playing Go with Andreala and occasionally having some causal spars, then he would try to gather some intelligence from Andreala about the world outside.


    His wounds healed faster and faster each day.


    The situation with the Confederation was also getting more complicated after each passing day. The third fleet positioned by the ports were finally exchanging fire with the Weisman¡¯s Imperial Greenbird Fleet.


    The Confederation was loaded and powerful. With the Third Fleet directly fighting the Weisman¡¯s small fleet of ships, if all goes well, it should end in a total annihilation of the Weisman¡¯s fleet.


    Everyone expected the Confederation to win this battle easily. All they had to worry about was the counter-attack from the Weisman¡¯s after.


    However something shocking happened.


    The Confederation¡¯s Third Fleet was annihilated instead. Ten of their destroyers were lost in a mere 20 minute span.


    Even the Weisman Empire were shocked by the results. When the news came in, they thought that it was a ruse by the Confederation to lure them into a trap.


    The Weisman¡¯s Greenbird Fleet was just one small fleet out of the Empire¡¯s 23 small ship fleets. All of the fleets were populated by small ships with weak firepower. While these fleets have served in the wild world of the oceanic borders, one wouldn¡¯t have expected them to win on a head-on fight with the Confederation¡¯s Third Fleet.


    Suddenly, the true face of the Confederation was revealed in the eyes of all neighboring countries.


    The truth was, that it¡¯s army was severely underfunded, its federal reserves were empty and its ships were long overdue for maintenance. Even the guns and cannons were loaded with inferior ammunition, while the ships¡¯ armors were all replaced with cheap metal.


    Ever since the Border War, the Confederation has been slowly falling into corruption. During the Border War, all the countries looked up to the Confederation as the leader of the world. Nobody dared to challenge its might, anyone who tried were wiped out in easy fights by the Confederation¡¯s army. This led to those in charge of the military becoming comfortable and overly proud of themselves.


    While sitting in the tea room of the Manor, Garen held his freshly poured tea in one hand, while he held the newspaper up to read with a serious face on his other hand.


    The headlines spelled out: ¡®Who Will Pay For The Death of The Third Fleet?¡¯


    "Looks like things are bad," Andreala sat across Garen and was reading an exact copy of the Confederation Daily, the primary newspaper of the entire country.


    "It¡¯s not just bad, it¡¯s really really bad," Garen added, putting down his tea,"This is because the Western Seas Company successfully opened a new shipping route but failed to draw up a mutually beneficial profit share plan with the Weismans. This led to the Weismans to declare war on the Western Seas Company, and subsequently leading to this. If the Confederation doesn¡¯t face this properly with proper countermeasures, they risk losing all of the respect they¡¯ve gained over the years from the other countries, that would put us all at risk."


    "A proper countermeasure would probably mean they will mobilize the Ninth Army. All eyes will be on that," Andreala frowned as well. The nation¡¯s security was in the interest of every citizen. Afterall, when they were outside of their own country, they would be identified by their nationality first, if the country they belonged to was weak, it would make doing business or anything at all tough.


    The both of them had heavy hearts, but there was not much they could do as individuals. No matter how powerful they were, they were no match in a direct against something like a destroyer. Not to mention that each destroyer was staffed by at least a hundred seamen, some even up to the thousands. Even if they could make it onto a destroyer and kill every single one on the ship, by the time they¡¯re done, the enemy would have already won the battle.


    As a martial artist in the face of real war, especially one that concerns the air, sea and even land, they could only sit and feel conflicted.


    Dong, Dong, Dong.


    Someone knocked softly on the door.


    "Come in,"


    Garen put down his papers, and put on a plain face again.


    Jack walked in in a white army-like uniform.


    "Gate Master, the ingredients you asked for are ready, the medicine has also been brewed according to your instructions by a master brewer. Should I go over now?"


    "These small things let the small ones do it,"Garen frowned at Jack,"you should be focused on enhancing your martial art abilities and improving yourself. Has that Eight Arm Dragon King bastard agreed on coming yet?"


    "No, Mr. Yoda left Mr. Su Lin¡¯s manor half a month ago, we don¡¯t know where he was headed to. He was followed by the small bastard as well," Jack said briefly,"Also I would like to add that for someone like me whose age is nothing close to Cynthia, practicing martial arts won¡¯t affect my abilities much anymore. I am sure of the direction I am headed to and the choices I would make in life."


    Garen did not say much anymore, and just looked at Andreala.


    "Do you want to go?"


    "No thanks, I am headed to the baths later. I do not have a naturally tough body like yours so I need to use different ways to train and manage my body¡¯s flexibility," Andreala wave his hand in denial.


    "Your body¡¯s flexibility? What if your body was strong enough? Then you wouldn¡¯t need to fuss over this then?" Garen stood up and asked.


    "Of course, but sadly for a martial artist to focus on one thing is already the limit. If I try any harder I will not reach a higher level anyways," Andreala shook his head.


    "I have a secret technique, it can increase your body¡¯s strength in a short period of time. Would you be interested?" Garen suddenly said,"the side effects aren¡¯t too bad either, and the explosive strength is pretty terrifying."


    "Oh? You actually have a secret technique like this?" Andreala¡¯s eyes lit up in excitement,"what do I have to give you for it?"


    Garen shook his head and smiled.


    "Just a simple exchange of knowledge."


    Andreala was stunned, and just stared at Garen, unable to conjure a proper reaction.


    "Do you know the true value of a secret technique that doesn¡¯t come with a horrifying side effect?"


    "Of course," Garen knew the value of the technique best, since he had acquired it back then in a trade with the Tenth Hoop where he paid a great deal of benefits, money, real estate and rare materials in exchange for this secret technique. By his rough estimates, they were worth hundreds of million, a fifth of White Cloud Gate¡¯s total assets then.


    Andreala lowered his head and said softly,


    "Alright, I too have a secret technique, I suppose we could share and exchange."


    Garen was slightly shocked.


    The reason why he was so generous was because Andreala was technically on his side. This bastard valued martial arts as much as his own life, he even remembered the time he still owed Garen a favor, and was the first to automatically send free medication over after the fight with Palosa.


    In this world, not many people stood alongside Garen on the peak of martial arts practice. The two of them were just die hard fans of martial arts, an exchange of knowledge felt like they had moved from acquaintances to close friends instantly, friends interested in each other¡¯s growth.


    Garen did not spend much time practising, so he lacked experience, but he had a lot of combat experience from his life and death situations. Whereas for Andreala, who was experienced as he had spent many years practicing and perfecting his abilities, but lacked experience in fighting high level opponents, which made it hard for him to determine his own standing.


    This exchange would be perfect for the both of them to help each other.


    A few minutes later, the two of them stood on an empty space behind the manor.


    The empty space¡¯s floor was made out of white rock tiles, it was specifically designed for the purpose of practising martial arts, and also for the occasional spar between high level fighters.


    Around the arena was a circle of flowers, and further outwards was a perimeter of 5 meter tall black walls with electric barbed wire.

 182 Secret and Proposal 2

    Chapter 182: Secret and Proposal 2


    The whole of the field of white, complemented with a sea of blue flowers, and like the sweet fragrance of flowers, a sense of calm and joy filled the air.


    The both of them faced each other, on their knees in the middle of the white stone yard.


    Garen started to explain the theory behind the Explosion of Heavenly Spirit. This secret technique made use of the manipulation of finger methods to concentrate the qi onto a specific point. It would then excite a particular part of the body, which would instantly increase the strength and vitality of the user.


    The explosive strength was 150% stronger than one would be able normally muster.


    To Andrela, this enhanced explosive force was definitely a killer weapon. His speed would increase, along with his Vitality. It was perfect for him as it would make up for his weakness, which was being unable to increase his speed due to the load on his body.


    To pay Garen back, Andrela decided to pass down one of his secret techniques; Three Star Convergence to him.


    Other than sleeping and eating, both of them spent their remaining time teaching each other what they knew of their secret techniques.


    The Three Star Convergence, a secret technique that had little side effect, was invented by Andrela from scratch. Similar to his Blink, it was the type of technique that he would usually not be passed down to others, but In this case, he considered it returning a favor with another.


    This technique, which was of the instantaneous, explosive type, was something Garen had enquired of before.


    It was a tri-simultaneous attack, which carried three times more destructive power than usual. Andrela had depended on this to injure him, past his Body Hardening Technique.


    While they were trying to learn the secret techniques, Garen started preparing his medicine to learn the Golden Statue Technique as well.


    He decided to invest points into secret techniques as he was not able to increase his attributes at the moment.


    Both of them continuously learnt from each other for the next few months. Both the secret technique¡¯s training regimes were very complicated. On the one hand, the Three Star Convergence required an external force to progressively stimulate a hidden part of the arm, and on the other hand, the Explosion of Heavenly Spirit required one to constantly reduce the casting period of the explosion. Furthermore, he had to use the Finger Method with extreme precision to avoid any backfire that could cause him severe injury.


    After they got a grasp of the the tricks of these secret techniques, they slowly broke out of the learning daze.


    Garen finally got hold of the Three Star Convergence technique with the help of Andrela. Based on the requirement shown by the skill pane, this technique required both basic sword techniques and Celestial Circle Secret Technique to be at advanced level in order to achieve the prerequisite.


    However, Garen successfully modified the Three Star Convergence to suit his uses, with the help of Andrela. Andrela was not called a genius for nothing, either, as he was already able to use the basics of Explosion of Heavenly Spirit for actual battles. When they both sparred, Garen estimated that the current Andrela was on par with the talented Clark of the Crimson Sand Sword.


    A few days later.


    Both of them started talking about Palosa¡¯s 179 secret techniques; the terrifying secret technique called the 99 Regressions. It made the White Bird Fist became the true White Bird Holy Fist. He was viewed as a Saint as his fist technique was beyond that of the normal realm.


    "There should be something above the secret techniques." Andrela thought. "White Bird Holy Fist must have came in contact with this thing before being able to invent such advanced secret techniques like 99 Acute Airholes and 99 Regressions."


    "You¡¯ve said that you were pursuing something that was beyond the limit before. Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯ve found something?" Garen repeatedly placed his hands in the stove to burn both of his palms to accumulate more power into his Fiery Claw.


    "I do have some lead." Andrela nodded. "There are a few legendary ancient secret techniques which have the effects that I¡¯m looking for. I¡¯ve been looking for it high and low during the time I¡¯ve closed myself away from the rest of the world, and I finally found some clues."


    As their relations had become better than ever, they¡¯ve stopped hiding secrets from one other.


    "I found out from an ancient bible that an ancient Grandmaster of Combat called Torres knew a secret technique that allowed him to shrug off any fatigue. He once fought for three days and three nights without pause. After that, he travelled far away into the enemy¡¯s headquarters and started again. His endurance was definitely appalling."


    Garen was alarmed. At his current strength, he was able to battle with all his might for a few hours at best before he started to feel tired. He couldn¡¯t even hold on for a day, much less three.


    "What¡¯s the clue that you speak of?"


    "I found a very well hidden connection." Andrela smiled. "You should have come across the Blood of Eternal Life, right?" He continued as Garen nodded.


    "The Blood of Eternal Life is the blood essence of the Everlasting Beings. This is where we draw a connection to the blood of the non-human clans."


    "Non-human clans?"


    "That¡¯s right. At present, there are already a few non-human clans that we know of; namely the werewolf, catmen and mousemen. Any others have left no trace. I have understood their respective clan¡¯s histories through my friends from within them. I have discovered a new clue by comparing their histories." Andrela reached his hand out and started drawing on the white floor.


    He finished drawing a simple relations chart very quickly.


    "According to the records of the non-human clans, all their ancestors have their own genetic abilities. Some of their abilities are very similar to the secret techniques used by the Grandmasters of Combat in the ancient bible."


    "What you¡¯re saying is that it is very likely that the secret techniques created by the Grandmasters of Combat mimic that of the non-human clan¡¯s genetic abilities?" Garen asked.


    "No," Andrela shook his head with respect. "I¡¯m not finished yet. My biggest discovery wasn¡¯t this, but another matter."


    "Oh?" Garen was stunned that this was not the biggest discovery.


    Andrela focused his aura and released in an instant, forming the gigantic black word ¡®ten¡¯ behind his back, which thoroughly covered the whole colosseum.


    "Just to keep this between us." He softened his voice.


    He spoke of his discovery softly after stabilizing his aura and confirming that no one was eavesdropping their conversation.


    "I suspect that the secret techniques that we have been using are magic spells originating from the warlocks from the fairy tales! They were the ones who obtained their genetic abilities via a special stimulation method."


    Although Garen¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change, excitement bubbled in his mind.


    While Garen had witnessed the werewolves, demon hunters, telekinesis and secret techniques with ridiculous effects, he thought that he was currently in a world where the modern society was not as technologically advanced as earth. Now Andrela told him that warlocks once existed in this world and that the secret techniques were traces that they had left behind.


    "Do you have proof!?" He directly asked.


    "Of course I do." Andrela nodded. "Technically, my Blink is not a secret technique from the Celestial Circle Gate. It was obtained from an ancient sect. To learn this secret technique, one would require the blood of a prime male lion and draw 81 special characters onto the body."


    "Isn¡¯t this superstition? Did you really do it?"


    "Of course. I thought it was superstition as well, and I ignored this step to go directly for the steps to learn the secret technique. However, there was no effect." Andrella recalled and said. "I thought that the secret technique had complications, or that the physical body of the ancient people had some slight difference with that of ours. However, the effect showed itself within a short time after I¡¯d decided to try it once!"


    He continued as he saw Garen focusing all of his attention on him.


    "After that, I saw the same characters in a fairy tale¡¯s history. The same characters I used to learn the technique."


    "You could have tried to see if there are still any effects if you changed the character slightly."


    "Of course I¡¯ve tried it. There won¡¯t be any effect if I modify it." Andrela shook his head. "According to the fairy tale, the characters represented the lions in their time. I¡¯ve been interested in the fairy tales related to the warlocks ever since, and I¡¯ve started collecting information everywhere. I came to a shocking theory about when the first secret method came about."


    "What theory?" Garen listened carefully.


    "There is a high chance that warlocks once existed in this world. I have seen a record in an ancient book that does translations of ancient fairy tales." Andrela paused.


    "It was written that: the warlock had enslaved species that were not their kind, and called them demons. They have ruled the world for a hundred million years."


    Garen churned his brain as he tried to recall the legends of warlocks of this world.


    "If they really did exist, how did they meet their demise, being such strong creatures?"


    "I¡¯m not so sure about that. However, I still suspect that our secret techniques originate from the warlock¡¯s magic spells."


    "What¡¯s your plan?" Garen looked at Andrela, "If it¡¯s true, what do you plan to do?"


    "I have marked down certain ruins that may be rewarding to us. I plan to invite some friends with certain capabilities and explore them together. Although these ancient ruins have been explored countless of times, we may find something new if we have a clear target in mind."


    "Furthermore, The sea is vast, that there a lot of areas that humans have yet set foot on. There must be something for us to discover." Andrela spoke softly to Garen as he looked at him. "On another note, I suspect that the immortal palace and the Behemoth Gate are most likely searching for the truth of the history, and a solution to go beyond the limit in the dark, just like me. They are just using the Eternal Blood of Life in the ancient ruins as an excuse."


    Garen pondered for a bit.


    "How many people have you actually recruited?"


    "If you agree, there will be 2 including me." Andrela answered in all seriousness.


    "Stop the nonsense." Garen was speechless since Andrela rarely joke. "I have no problem with it as long as you show me you have something to go on. Who else are you exactly trying to recruit?"


    "The proof is simple. I can show you the information that I¡¯ve gathered. All of the information can be traced and validated from the Federation¡¯s library, and some private libraries as well. The information of the secret techniques and the history of the non-human species can also be validated. There are no falsification in the information but it would take a lot of time and energy to connect them together."


    "As for who else to recruit, I have one in mind that is qualified to pursue what¡¯s beyond the limit. He has also attained the pinnacle of the human strength as well. The humans from the Stonecliff Continent have sworn loyalty to the Immortal Palace, and the Behemoth Gate has been recruiting people with potential so that they can attempt to train them themselves. There are still a few Grandmasters of Combat who were not on friendly terms with the Behemoth Gate and Immortal Palace." Andrela reached out his hand and carved a name onto the floor.


    ¡®Stephan Ralph¡¯


    Garen looked at a name that was unknown to him.


    "Who is he?"


    "He is mentally ill, and is not from the same district as us. However, he is the strongest and most horrifying hypnotist. Rumor says that you could be hypnotized just by hearing his voice and be caught in an illusion if you interact with him. He was the one who caused the appalling nine one four incident in Galantia, which resulted in a few thousand deaths. He had also once founded a terrorist organization in the Fivestar continent and has been listed as the fourth most dangerous individual by the three major countries.


    He was able to hypnotize both others and himself. Nicknamed as the King of Nightmares, when his body was hypnotized his physical body would reach the utmost limit." When Andrela was describing this person, he had a faintly complicated and embarrassing look in his eyes.

 183 The Legendary Power... 1

    Chapter 183: The Legendary Power... 1


    "How did you get to know him?" Garen was curious.


    "You don¡¯t need to know about that." It was rare that Andrela¡¯s face was blushing red as he seemed reluctant to answer. "He will definitely come, because he was the one who made me realize this information."


    "Alright. Would the three of us be enough?"


    "It¡¯s enough" Andrela nodded. "The Immortal Palace has a small amount of people too right? We would be too weak if we want to snatch the item away from them and the Behemoth Gate. If not for the Explosion of Heavenly Spirit that I¡¯ve picked up from you that was perfectly suited for me to increase my battle strength, I wouldn¡¯t even have had this idea in the first place."


    "True that. I hope the person you mentioned is as strong as you describe to be."


    "He will definitely not disappoint! Furthermore, the members of the Behemoth Gate had already entered the ancient ruins that I¡¯ve marked. We will intercept them when they come out." Andrela said with confidence.


    "We¡¯re still short handed. To go beyond the limit¡­" Garen furrowed his eyebrows and suddenly a name flashed across his mind. "Maybe¡­ He will be interested."


    "Who?"


    "White Bird Holy Fist."


    Andrela¡¯s eyes lightened up. "Didn¡¯t he seal his fist due to personality disorder? Are you sure he will leave the mountain?"


    "Do you think it was just a simple spar when I visited him?" Garen pointed at his chest, indicating where he was previously injured. "What do you mean when you say he has a personality disorder?"


    "Palosa has a total of three personalities, namely the good, evil and unconcerned. The situation determines the personality he¡¯s in. He¡¯s good when he¡¯s in a non-malicious negotiation, evil when facing his enemies or people who try to ambush or trick him, and finally indifferent is his actual personality, which is when his strength will be at its peak. He developed the good and evil personality when he was training his fists."


    It was the first time Garen heard such a saying.


    "Looks like he was not at his peak when he sparred with me." He frowned.


    It was obvious that Palosa was in his good personality when they met.


    After discussing about the procedures, both of them started consolidating Andrela¡¯s information. It was at this time that Garen started to come to the legitimacy of the truth. It was so unexpectedly obvious that there were traces of it, it was just that no one had noticed it until now.


    After validating the proof, both of them brought the information and went to find the first person they thought of, White Bird Holy Fist Palosa.


    ***********


    Skylark Mountain Range


    Garen brought Andrela, which both of them were in white shirts, along to see Palosa, who was in the middle of barbecuing his fish.


    The bonfire was easily noticeable, shining brightly in the middle of the forest during night time.


    Palosa sat alone by the bonfire, his gray-white shirt was dyed red by the bonfire¡¯s illumination.


    He raised his head and saw Garen and his men coming up to him torch in hand.


    The group stopped just short of the bonfire, two of the men clothed in white turned around and started off from where they had come after giving Palosa a courteous, quiet bow..


    Only Garen and Andrela wereleft standing, still in a white cloak.


    "You¡¯ve come once again." Palosa said coldly and lowered his head as he continued barbecuing his fish. The meat of the fish that was once white had morphed into a golden brown, and with it came the tempting aroma of cooked meat.


    Garen walked and sat by the bonfire by himself and gestured Andrela to do the same.


    "I¡¯m not here to fight you today." He glanced at the fried fish that was piled onto the bonfire and calmly said, "I think you might be interested in what we are about to tell you."


    Palosa glanced at him skeptically and then focused his attention onto Andrela. "Something that will interest me?" His tone was cold and emotionless and not as kind as Garen first met him.


    "Let¡¯s hear about it."


    With a smile on Andrela¡¯s face, he quickly took out a pile of papers that he had prepared from the cloak and strew it towards him.


    Palosa caught it and read it at his leisure. He held a calm demeanor initially, but eventually his expression had started to change.


    After some time, he put down the material that was on his hands and closed his eyes, deep in thought..


    He soon opened his eyes and stared coldly at Andrela.


    "I have seen Garen¡¯s strength, and I do admit that he¡¯s qualified to team up with me. How about you? You don¡¯t have the battle strength. How do you plan to be part of the team?"


    Andrela smiled.


    "It is true that my current strength is of no match to the both of you. However I have already considered this point since I am the one who suggested this." Again, he brought out something from his cloak. This time it was a small transparent cylindrical glass bottle filled with a viscous silver white liquid. "I have this. At the crucial moment, I can stall up some time even if it¡¯s from the professionals from the Immortal Palace, since my abilities lies in my speed. Furthermore, I have a friend, who is in the same level as you, needs me to be the middleman to communicate between us and him."


    "The White Tree¡¯s Sap? I¡¯m impressed that you can still get your hands on a nearly-extinct resource. Have you taken my problems into consideration?" Palosa replied emotionlessly as usual.


    "Of course." Andrela nodded. "Where we are going is a deserted place. Even if there were demons, they¡¯re not something we can¡¯t deal with. You can kill anything that moves."


    "I need time to validate the information presented. Give me at least a month." Palosa pondered for a while and continued. "What makes you think that I will join your party and not go searching for it on my own after knowing this?"


    "Sylphalan of the Immortal Palace will definitely have company." Garen voiced out from the side.


    The scene fell into a hush as the group stopped talking. What was left was the faint sizzle of the still burning bonfire.


    "Alright. We will take our leave for now. You can send your answer to this address a month later." Garen threw a white name card to Palosa. They stood up, turned around and left where they came.


    The duo¡¯s white cloaks slowly disappeared into the darkness of the forest.


    Next up was the King of Nightmares. According to Andrela¡¯s intel, his friend had recently went on a vacation on a small private island near the Stonecliff Continent.


    This issue was left for Andrela to settle on his own, as Garen had his own problems on his hands.


    The connection between secret techniques and the legendary warlock¡¯s genetic ability might be the key to to go beyond the limits. Although Garen was very interested, his current main focus was to improve his own secret techniques.


    ************


    Splash¡­


    A basket of cold water rained down onto Garen¡¯s head.


    He stood in the middle of the Fenglin manor¡¯s colosseum clad in nothing but square white boxer and a faint, gold colored oil spread all over his fair skin.


    What was already a strong and aggressive body was further defined under the reflection of the oil.


    He looked at the skill pane. There was an addition of Three Star Convergence and the Golden Statue Techniques at the back.


    Garen looked at the amount of potential points that he had been collecting having not been using them for a long time. The power of the Golden Sand Throne had been continuously transferred into his brain day and night.


    His potential point had reached up to 25 points! However, it could be seen that the Golden Sand Throne had decayed for quite a bit as the rate of transfer had been decreasing.


    Garen sorted his attribute and skill panes.


    ¡®Strength 2.66, Agility 2.72, Vitality 2.65, Intelligence 2.53, Potential 2596%.¡¯


    Secret Technique-----


    Mammoth Variation : Explosive (Maximum Grade), Epidermal Hardening Level 1 (Iron Body), Blood Qi Stabilization Level 1 (Boulder Martial Art).


    Fiery Claw: Grade 2 (Total of 4 Grades), Burning Strengthen Level 1 (Total of 3, from the Dark Crimson Technique and Red Jade Palm¡¯s training regime)


    Golden Statue Technique: Rudimentary Level (Total of 5 Grades), Do you want to merge with the Mammoth Secret Technique.¡¯


    The three techniques, Bronze, Silver and Golden Statue, were to Garen excellent techniques. He obviously would not merge them.


    As Garen stood in the middle of the colosseum, he ordered a servant to pour down a bucket of water, after which he subsequently left the premises.


    He focused his vision back onto the skill pane after his surroundings had returned to calm.


    "25 potential points are enough to push a secret technique to its strongest form. The Golden Statue Technique was much more stronger than the Mammoth Secret Technique since it was a third rated secret technique, albeit superimposed with a lot of enhancements. Furthermore, he still could not attain the best effect even though he had mastered it to the point that he was second to none. Although the key to attaining the level of a Grandmaster of Combat was due to the supporting battle skills, its level and power is still too low. To have it as the main skill is disadvantageous."


    He looked at the Golden Statue Technique in the skill pane.


    With all the time invested in soaking in potions and rubbing medicinal oil all over his body, he had finally entered the Golden Statue Technique¡¯s rudimentary level.


    "The Golden Statue Technique¡¯s sects was once a rival of the Crimson Sand Sword. Although its technique was weaker than the Crimson Sand Sword, it shouldn¡¯t be that far apart." He recalled the explanation of this secret technique from memory.


    Golden Statue Technique: Extremely effective in attacks and defense. Increase strength, vitality and recovery. Users who have mastered this technique are impervious to attacks that may injure the inner body, as the outer body was seamlessly merged with the inner organs, which result in enhanced regeneration. It was very effective in negating the effects of poisons.


    Weakness: Heavy and dense body.


    The benefits of the Golden Statue Technique was obvious compared to the Mammoth Secret Technique as it had an additional recovery skill. Even the modified Mammoth Secret Technique couldn¡¯t top this effect.


    This made Garen determined to choose this secret technique as his main technique.


    He took a deep breath and reorganized his thoughts, his body would definitely have drastic changes from this major shift. He had to be ready.


    He focused his vision onto the recently learnt Golden Statue Tecnique.


    One point of potential point disappeared.


    The Golden Statue Technique had increased to grade 1.


    Two points disappeared, Golden Statue Technique had increased to grade 2.


    Another two points disappeared, Grade 3.


    This time it was five points that disappeared, it had increased to Grade 4.


    Finally another five point disappeared.


    He ultimately spent 15 potential points and raised the Golden Statue Technique to grade 5, which was its peak.


    Garen stood still in silence and prepared himself as he looked at the symbol slowly appearing at the end of the Golden Statue Technique.


    The moment the symbol fully appeared, A loud sound came from within Garen¡¯s cranium and waves of cool air rushed into every part of his body.


    It felt like his body was suddenly filled with torrents of cold water. However the strange thing was that thought to be a stream of hot blood kept flowing out of his heart and mixed with the cold water. It was similar to when he first learned the Explosive Fist Art, which produced a strong reaction towards the change of the body.


    Again, something strange was happening to Garen¡¯s body. His left side of the body was a shade of red whereas the right side became white. The difference was obvious as two opposing fluids, which was hot and cold, reacted inside Garen¡¯s body.


    A viscous liquid incessantly secreted out of Garen¡¯s body, covering the whole of iits surface. It was as if he painted himself over with a layer of glue.


    Fifteen points of potential points had raised the Golden Statue Technique to its peak, grade 5.

 184 The Legendary Power... 2

    Chapter 184: The Legendary Power... 2


    As the Golden Statue Technique had been successfully maximised, the modified Mammoth Secret Technique, together with the enhancement effects from multiple Body Hardening Techniques became one symbol and merged into the Golden Statue Technique, fusing into a new, mysterious symbol.


    ¡®Golden Statue Technique: Grade 5. The modified Mammoth Secret Technique has been partially covered and enhanced. A part of the conflicted effects have been erased.¡¯ The meaning of the symbol was sent directly into Garen¡¯s mind.


    He panicked as he saw it. If he couldn¡¯t achieve what he wanted during this conversion, his strength would decrease. Whether the Golden Statue technique would disagree with the modified Mammoth Secret Technique had to be confirmed after some assessment.


    Since the Golden Statue Technique had solidified in the skill pane, it meant that it would no longer be subject to change.


    ¡®Golden Statue Technique: Grade 5. (Known as strength, response and defense).


    Defense Enhancement Level 1. (Conversion from the maximised Body Hardening Technique)


    It was no issue that the powerful hardening might cause a counter effect, but he was concerned if the effect of the maximised Body Hardening Technique would be retained during attacking.


    Garen tried to adjust his blood and qi. Fortunately, the effect retained but he couldn¡¯t raised it up to two dan, instead remaining fixed at one dan.


    Slightly disappointed, he continued looking at the skill pane.


    There were ten more potential points, and it seemed like the Golden Statue Technique could still be increased further as its name has yet to turn gray.


    Without any hesitation, he added five potential points into it.


    His internal organs started to feel like they didn¡¯t sit quite right with him.


    Garen didn¡¯t turned a deaf ear to the discomfort and focused all of his attention onto the peaked Golden Statue Technique.


    This technique was considered a second rate technique once it had reached its peak. However, a strange thing happened after he added five potential points into it.


    A strange symbol appeared behind the Golden Statue Technique.


    Garen immediately understood what it meant: Achieved the theoretical limits of the technique due to forced conclusion onto the Golden Statue Technique. Training method will be increased drastically. Name will be changed according to the information.


    The golden Statue Technique slowly disappeared and a new name appeared.


    Divine Statue Technique!


    Garen gave a sigh of relief.


    This was the pinnacle of the Golden Statue Technique that the inventor had envisioned. Nobody really knew what effects the Divine Statue Technique possessed. Only Garen knew, for he was the only one able to experience it. His body brimmed with an inexplicable energy from head to toe.


    The Divine Statue Technique; its name was derived from a god, an ever constant being, standing above all, the overseer of all beings. A god was eternal, and would never change or be injured. This was the theoretical peak of the Golden Statue Technique. It required a ridiculously high spirit to be able to achieve it.


    As soon as the Divine Statue Technique had been activated, countless battle skills passed through Garen¡¯s consciousness, and his body adapted to these battle skills swiftly as well. The Mammoth Secret Technique¡¯s battle skills that made him an upper class Grandmaster of Combat slowly faded and became normal , well practiced techniques. What replaced them were the battle skills from the Divine Statue Technique.


    Haa!!


    He raised his hands and a vortex rose up from around his surroundings, throwing leaves and flower petals in all directions from where he was standing.


    A faint, white-gold glow radiated from the back of his hand. It was as if it were not human.


    A his hand screeched a loud clang when he brought them together with speed .


    "It¡¯s different from the Mammoth Secret Technique. The Divine Statue Technique is much harder and is less tough." Garen felt that his muscles and skin become as hard as bronze, yet he still had the flexibility to move freely.


    He felt nothing when the cool air of the night breeze blew on his body. The lantern that hung at the corner of the manor¡¯s building quietly let a dim light similar to that of a sunset onto the ground as it swung about..


    The light of the colosseum became unsteady.


    Bam!!


    An explosion rang from within the dark forest from afar. The explosion was like roaring thunder as it travelled through the whole manor, shaking the walls ever so slightly.


    Garen looked at the direction and could faintly heard gunshots from the direction.


    "Mark!"


    Soon, a middle-aged man lead a few servants clad in white from the manor¡¯s main building.


    "Gate Master, the military soldiers are having a battle against an unknown force. We have already sent our men to investigate."


    Garen looked at him.


    "Has Vanhatten returned?"


    "He is still in Harmony City. The issue with the Felia Sisters has yet to reach a conclusion, owing to the fact that the matter has been exceedingly complicated. He has again requested to transfer people numbered 40 and above there." Mark replied with respect.


    "He couldn¡¯t resolve such a small matter. Whatever. Send a few men and inquire of the situation. These mountains are our industry. Those who trespass and refuse to cooperate with the authorities shall be eliminated."


    The creaking of metal on metal could be heard as Garen moved his fingers.


    After Mark left the colosseum, two dark figures jumped over the enclosing wall and softly landed onto the white stone field in the colosseum.


    As Garen was about to attack, one of the dark figures raised his hands up and spoke.


    "Garen, it¡¯s me!"


    The dark figure walked towards the lantern, and Andrela¡¯s familiar face was brought to light.


    Another dark figure walked out of the darkness as well. He was a man in a classic black western suit. A small goatee hung from his chin, and his lips let out the gentle smile of an English Gentleman.


    "It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you, Saint Mammoth Garen Sir."


    Saint Mammoth¡¯s floor had a reputation in China¡­


    The well known Saint Mammoth¡¯s floor¡­


    Saint Mammoth¡¯s floor¡­


    Floor¡­


    Floor¡­


    It was as if thousands of mud horses ran through his mind as the term echoed in his head.


    Garen took a deep breath as he tried to suppress his urge to attack. With a stupefied look on his face, "I don¡¯t remember having such a nickname. Who thought of such a dumb name."


    "Did you not know? This is a nickname bestowed to you by the International Martial Art Alliance. The nickname of the Grandmaster of Combat typically comes from his signature technique. Isn¡¯t it a good thing that people call you Saint Mammoth?" The gentleman asked curiously.


    Garen¡¯s face twitched. He shrugged and changed the topic after calming himself down.


    "It reminded me of a joke that I heard a long time ago. I still prefer people calling me the White Cloud Gate Master. Who are you?"


    The man smiled and looked passionately at Andrela who was standing at the side. He looked at him coldly and introduced him as he forced a smile on his face.


    "This is the King of NIghtmares Stephen Ralph."


    Garen had never seen Andrela showing such an expression before. He estimated a ridiculous guess based on the distance they stood between each other. Without waiting for his response, he caught Ralph looking at Andrela melancholily.


    "Drela, have you still not accepted my love towards you? We have already served each other without clothes."


    "..."


    "..."


    A cold breeze blew across the colosseum as the three of them went quiet.


    Garen felt goose bumps all over his body.


    "Both.. Both of you should go rest for a bit." He mustered out a sentence as he invited them. "Mark!"


    Immediately, Mark came out from the building and greeted them with a bow.


    "Bring these two esteemed guests to the guest rooms."


    "Yes, Gate Master."


    Andrela reluctantly smiled and moved further away from Ralph on his own.


    "Ralph. You¡­ You should rest first as I need to talk to Garen for a bit."


    Ralph looked at him with resentment and focused his gaze upon Garen as he admired and rated him. He left with Mark afterwards.


    Only Garen and Andrela was left in the garden.


    Both of them were still quiet even when the footsteps slowly faded to the distance.


    "Beware of Ralph." Andrela helplessly put a complicated smile on his face.


    "What happened between you two?" Garen sat on his knees as he could still feel the goose bumps he had earlier.


    Andrela slowly sat down with an even bitter facial expression.


    "This incident¡­ I have to start from where I went outstation for my training."


    As Andrela confessed, Garen started to understand the whole situation.


    At the same time, he had a better understanding of the King of NIghtmares Stephen Ralph.


    The current Ralph was just one of his many pseudonyms. The King of NIghtmares possessed many other aliases.


    The King of NIghtmares with a thousand faces, who had gone through hypnosis of himself and others, could reconstruct his body structure. With the addition of illusions in place, he was able to become an old man or a young girl with different faces and bodies.


    He had a one night stand with Ralph in his womanly form. He turned into a man and became a gay friend of his after the incident. This story was filled with blood and tears and had exceeded the realm of genders.


    Garen, who thought he was experienced and knowledgeable, had goose bumps again as he heard the story.


    "Ralph will change his identity every once in awhile. He is able to adjust his own body, be it the hormonal secretions or his bones and muscle structure. This guy has mastered many types of ancient chinese martial arts, especially martial arts like Jujitsu. He is the ultimate grandmaster." Andrela helplessly said, "If we were to strictly measure his martial art capability, he is on the same level as I. Not to mention his skill in hypnosis."


    He finally added on.


    "What you need to be aware of is that his personality and temper will change every time the King of NIghtmares changes his identity. Hence you should never put your guard down when he¡¯s around."


    Speechless, Garen nodded.


    "King of NIghtmares¡­. Living up to his reputation..."


    Andrela looked at Garen as he tried his best not to twitch his face.


    "You have to be careful¡­ I think he had laid his eyes on you. He will become the person that he likes in a few days time¡­"


    Two Garens stood against each other on a starry night as the night breeze blew across the colosseum.


    "Who are you!"


    "I am Garen!"


    "I am the real Garen!"


    "You who are inferior in battle strength! Who allowed you to impersonate me!"


    "Hmph! How dare you impersonate me! What you did is outrageous!"


    "Mammoth Secret Technique!"


    "Ten Thousand Mammoth Retrograde!"


    This scenario flashed through Andrela¡¯s mind. Based on his understanding of Garen, it was very likely that this scene would happen.


    Garen looked glazed as he obviously had a bad feeling about it.


    "How did you solve it last time? This situation."


    "He knocked me out and impersonate me for some time before. He will revert back to normal once he gets bored of it. He won¡¯t be bored of you so it depends on how you want to resolve it." Andrela helplessly replied. "However he still has a few identities that he tends to stick with. One of it is the current Steven Ralph, who is also the founder of the Siren Group. There is another identity he likes to use. You¡¯ll see it soon."

 185 Expo 1

    Chapter 185: Expo 1


    "To be honest, you really did find a rare one."


    "He does have the skill though." It was as if Andrela was trying to comfort himself. "I apologize for the explosion earlier. He is, after all, on the wanted list from the Federation."


    "It¡¯s okay. So what¡¯s your plan now? We just have to wait for Palosa¡¯s response. If he were to accept our proposal, the four of us should be able to take on any situation." Garen said softly.


    "We have to make our move regardless of his acceptance. The exchange with Duskdune Shura should be able to gives us some reliable information. We will definitely have a lead if we follow the Immortal Palace." Andrela said with confidence.


    After some thought, Garen softly clapped his hands.


    A person soon came out of the small building with a black metal box. Two servants carefully placed the box onto the white ground, greeted Garen with a bow and left.


    Garen walked towards it and opened it with a flick of the lock. What appeared in the box was, unexpectedly, another smaller box.


    He opened it again and it was filled with small ice cubes, and among them in the centre was a test tube covered by a white silk. A dark red liquid filled the inside of the test tube.


    Garen took out the test tube and shook it in front of Andrela.


    "The Blood of Eternal Life that I have obtained from Behemoth Gate."


    "You¡¯re really daring. Aren¡¯t you afraid that they will ambush you?" Andrela was speechless. "You even let your underling guard this."


    "I couldn¡¯t find a good opponent that could fight me evenly." Garen grinned. "I took away their stuff as I defeated Clark. The whole Behemoth Gate¡¯s scheme in the southern region has been foiled by me. What¡¯s left is just trash and not worth mentioning."


    "Just be careful."


    "I understand."


    Andrela felt emotional as he took the box of Blood of Eternal Life. "We¡¯ll just have to see what kind of information Duskdune Shura can give us."


    **********


    After a few days of resting in the manor.


    Garen and his team finally received Palosa¡¯s response: ¡®3 months later.¡¯


    It wasn¡¯t specified if he would be attending the operation three months later or he needed another 3 months to consider. Or maybe he meant he would give an answer in March?


    The three of them couldn¡¯t wait any longer and brought the Blood of Eternal Life to meet up with Duskdune Shura. They had decided to exchange the Blood of Eternal Life with information regarding the Immortal Palace and a precious secret technique. At the same time, it was to clear off any resentment among them as well. This was the agreement between Duskdune Shura and Garen.


    Within their own spaces, they communicated with each other with an encrypted tool without any face to face contact. Duskdune Shura had been extremely careful.


    After some negotiation, the Garen trio obtained information of the Immortal Palace and Garen also obtained a special secret technique: White Peacock.


    Under the suggestions from the King of Nightmares, they decided to name themselves the White Peacock as an alliance among the three men. This secret technique was able to make use of the user¡¯s qi to mark the enemy for a long period of time. The secret technique would secretly release a special smell that was very hard to suppress within a radius of two kilometers. Only users who knew this technique could notice the smell.


    Those who were under the effect of the secret technique would be like a peacock, especially eye catching during day time.


    This secret technique was purely used for tracking. It had no known side effects and was very effective.


    Garen tried to invite Duskdune Shura to the White Peacock but was unfortunately rejected. The old man had been very careful after his battle strength waned due to his serious injury and had decided to stay hidden after obtaining the Blood of Eternal Life. Garen predicted that he had planned to pass down his skills to a disciple and heal himself afterwards.


    Their purpose was barely met. However they planned to follow their plans anyway and went to Picardi as per Duskdune Shura¡¯s intel.


    **************


    Few months later¡­


    An uncountable amount of flowers, pink and white, covered the mountains and plains, dying the hillside a pinkish red.


    There was a gray-white car lane among the sea of flowers. The road had separated the sea of flowers like a thin, white ribbon.


    Occasionally, there would be horse carriages or cars travelling down the road, and with them carried the sounds of bells and car engines.


    The afternoon sky was showered in a pale golden color, with a dark blue on the edges in the horizon. There was a pale red within the gold sky which, when on the cloud, looked like the cloud was aflame with light.


    The color of the clouds changed from gold-red to pale gold as the sunset light radiated through the sky like a slow crawling ladder.


    There was a silver car en-route to the capital of Picardi through the white road. Its speed was so fast that it kept overtaking the rest of the carriages.


    Behind the seat of the silver white car sat a tall man with short hair.


    The man was in a suit. It looked like he was asleep with both of his arms on his knees. Although this guy was not particularly handsome except for his exceptionally smooth skin and golden white complexion, he had a presence that couldn¡¯t seem to be ignored.


    There were a total of three people inside the car. The driver was a handsome man with an eye patch with long hairs. He looked sharp yet gentle.


    There was another man with a sturdy body and a cool face sitting in the passenger seat. He looked exactly like the man who sat behind.


    The driver looked at the scenery through the window.


    "We have reached the Four Season Road. This road spans about ten kilometers, and we¡¯ll be reaching the capital of Picardi, Ansela soon." He looked sideways at asked. "What¡¯s the plan, Garen?"


    The man who was sitting at the back slowly opened his eyes, revealing calm, dark red eyes. "I will find a place and stay first. You guys can decide where."


    "According to our intel, The people from the Immortal Palace will be here during the full moon. Although we don¡¯t know how many people they will bring along, we are sure that they will definitely be here so we have no need to rush. We just need to wait patiently." The long haired man said as he nodded.


    "You two shouldn¡¯t make any move yet. I need to go and scour for the strength of the Immortal Palace. Whoever had provoked me, the Saint Mammoth Garen shall die!"


    Garen suppressed his urge to hit him as he stared and growled softly at the strong man in the co-pilot seat.


    "King of Nightmares, you better revert back!"


    Another ¡®Garen¡¯ hmph-ed. "Are you provoking me as well? You have to know that provoking me means provoking the whole White Cloud Gate!"


    "Stop messing around King of Nightmares." Andrela who was driving the car said helplessly.


    "Alright alright¡­" ¡®Garen¡¯ raised his hand and surrendered. "It¡¯s been so long I had so much fun. I don¡¯t know why but I admire Garen so much when I see his strong body and streamlined muscles."


    Andrela shivered.


    He even turned into a beautiful woman before she went to bed in the hotel last night. He became the strong Garen the next morning¡­ and cuddled with him in ¡®Garen¡¯ form¡­


    Truthfully he was very excited when the King of Nightmares turned into a woman and stayed with him. However, it could also be horrifying as what he had experienced yesterday.


    He almost vomited out gastric when he saw ¡®Garen¡¯ leaning in for a kissed as they cuddled in the morning.


    "If you pull a prank like yesterday night again, I will never touch you again." Andrela said with a serious face.


    "Alright alright. I¡¯ll be careful." The King of Nightmares replied lazily as he smiled.


    Garen, who was at the back of the seat, was completely speechless. The only way to differentiate them was their odour when the King of Nightmares transformed into him. Even Garen himself found it hard to differentiate them purely from look. He was slightly worried if the King of Nightmares decided to impersonate him and create trouble everywhere¡­


    Suddenly, his eyes were brimming brightly.


    "King of Nightmares, you can transform into anything right?"


    "Of course." King of Nightmares nodded.


    "Have you seen any members from the Immortal Palace?"


    "Are you planning to¡­" The King of Nightmares furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.


    Andrela smiled as he understood Garen¡¯s intention.


    "A simple and effective idea. The strongest influencer in Picardi, the Argentism is lending us a hand in this operation. There are also other external forces from the locals as well. We will depend on you during that time."


    The King of Nightmares nodded helplessly.


    "Yes yes yes. In the end I will be doing the most work."


    "An able man should do more work." Andrela said with a smile on his face. "It would be best if the members of the Immortal Palace were to not appear. If they did¡­"


    "As long as it¡¯s not Sylphalan, don¡¯t butt in." King of Nightmares said calmly. "Especially Flamingo¡­ That guy still owes me an arm¡­" His eyes were burning calmly in red as his tone was cold and calm. "What about you Drela? What do you plan to do?"


    Andrela pondered for a moment: "I¡¯ll need to arrange to avoid any unexpected events. It all depends on you. It¡¯s my time to shine if all goes well."


    "Let¡¯s hear about the overall situation this time." Garen asked softly from the back.


    "According to Duskdune Shura¡¯s intel, there is a collector in Picardi¡¯s capital, Ansela. This collector showcased a strange looking ancient mirror during a public collection expo. The people from the Immortal Palace believed that it was the ancient Mirror of Secret Text, passed down from the previous generation. They then arranged for a few people to steal it. The Mirror of Secret Text contains knowledge of ancient secret techniques which the Immortal Palace have always laid their eyes on."


    He continued after stopping for a while. " The identity of the collector is the high priest of Argentism. His strength is decent and his authority is even stronger. Those who are assigned to safeguard the collection are three of Picardi¡¯s most famous and strongest warriors from Argentism. I have never seen their skills but they should be at least the same level as the Grandmaster of Combat. Furthermore, they also have a group of military army guarding the surrounding with heavy weapons, which has its own threat."


    "It¡¯s obvious that the Argentism are trying to show off their strength when they invited powerful individuals to attend the collection expo. I suspect that they have some hidden powers as well. We should take note of the Behemoth Gate too. However, their likelihood of attending should be low, since Garen you just severely injured them. At the moment, they should not be able to mobilize a large force."


    Garen nodded: "That¡¯s true. So only the Argentism and Immortal Palace are worth taking note of?"


    "That¡¯s not necessarily true. Perhaps there are some unexpected masters within the civilization?" Andrela laughed. "I have a list of the masters¡¯ names. Do you want me to read it out?"


    "Don¡¯t waste your time naming the small fries." The King of Nightmares covered his face with his arm and his face started to slowly change. His body shrank and his body figure became more and more slender. It was like rubber moulding into another shape.

 186 Expo 2

    Chapter 186: Expo 2


    Although this was not the first time for the two of them to saw his transformation, they couldn¡¯t help but stare with a surprise look on their faces.


    "Who are you trying to change into this time?" Andrela asked cautiously.


    "You got thinner Drela¡­" The King of Nightmares became a middle aged woman with a well developed body and reached out his hand to touch Andrela¡¯s face.


    Andrela was stunned. His face immediately turned red as his veins started becoming visible on his forehead.


    "Don¡¯t expect me to give you any quarter you if you become my mum again!!" Andrela was furious.


    The King of Nightmare¡¯s laughter could be heard all these while inside the car.


    It had been actively noisy inside the car during the journey as Andrela and the King of Nightmare would argue against each other over the smallest things.


    The car finally arrived a double story motel before the sky darkened.


    There were a few sparse cars and carriages parked in front of the motel.


    They disembarked and let the valet take care of the parking for them. The first floor of the motel seemed to have an air of liveliness as they entered.


    The space of the first floor is similar to the typical bar. Although there were few patrons, the whole of the first floor was full as each of them took a spot.


    ost of the customers were passers by on the first floor of the black ceilinged hall. Some of them were whispering to each other, while others were drinking alcoholic drinks in small amounts. There were even some that were looking at a map.


    There was a saxophonist trying his best to play a not so melodious piece of music on the half oval stage on the first floor.


    The trio looked all around them but still couldn¡¯t find any spot to seat down.


    "Why don¡¯t we just chase one of them off and take that?" the King of Nightmares suggested.


    "We are already in Ansela¡¯s territory. Ansela is famous for its strict law. If you do not want to be targeted by the sheriff, it¡¯s best to not make any rash moves." Andrela softly said. "It will expose our position if we make any big moves."


    Garen, who had also knew about it, agreed as well.


    "Let¡¯s get back onto the road after a quick bite then. There¡¯s no need to delay our journey to the city. If we really can¡¯t find a seat we will just have something in the car."


    "Fine." King of Nightmare shrugged. He was now in the shape of Ralph.


    "Ah!"


    A girl suddenly screamed beside Ralph.


    Garen and Andrela looked over.


    What they saw was a beautiful woman in a full body white dress covering her mouth with her hand as she stared at Ralph. The tomato sauce that was on her hand splashed all over Ralph¡¯s shirt as they collided into each other.


    "I¡¯m sorry! I¡¯m sorry!!" The girl kept bowing down as she apologized. Judging from the material of her dress, it was obviously a high quality product. With a silver white belt over her waist that was knotted in a flower from her left side, it enhanced her body figure even more.


    "It¡¯s ok, forget about it." Ralph frowned as he clearly made way for her earlier. He didn¡¯t expect that the girl also tried to gave way as well, which resulted in both of them making the same gesture and collided into each other. "Be careful when you walk next time."


    "Y...Yes." The girl blushed as she nodded.


    Ralph¡¯s shirt was made out of a special material. The tomato sauce quickly came off from it with just a slight gesture. By using a piece of tissue and wipe off the leftover, his shirt looked good as new again.


    Three of them looked at the girl as she walked back to her seat. Those three youngsters who looked somewhat cultured and polite looked at the girl immediately started a conversation the moment she sat down. Surprisingly, the heart of the topic was Stephen Ralph.


    Those three thought that their voice would be overwhelmed in this noisy motel. What they didn¡¯t know was that Garen and his team had extreme senses and could hear everything clearly.


    Among these three fellows who were not more than 15 or 16 years old, one girl and guy looked slightly frivolous and the white dressed girl was smiling happily on her seat.


    "That man has class. He didn¡¯t say anything to me even when I poured tomato sauce onto his shirt. Judging from his attire, I suspect that he must be some young master from a big household. That gaze¡­" The girl¡¯s personality changed from innocent and elegant to lustful.


    The guy from a side replied: "Stop dreaming. They¡¯re are about to leave. Only I would want such a pitiful animal like you. No one can sell you off no matter how they try."


    "What do you mean by that!"


    "Can you finish your food quickly and stop showing off your love in front of me?" Another girl in a green checkered shirt paired with white jeans said. With short and pale yellow hair and bangs, she gave off a clear and refreshing vibe.


    The most eye catching thing about her was that she had a squirrel, smashing a big walnut onto the table beneath her elbow.


    "We still have to get on the road after we¡¯re done eating. We need to reach Ansela tonight."


    "Understood." Both the guy and girl responded in sync.


    On Garen¡¯s side, Andrela had pulled the King of Nightmares away and he was the only one left behind. After glancing at the three youngsters, they walked out after buying their food and drinks.


    The valet had already filled up the car with petrol. They got in the car after paying the bill and was immediately on route to Ansela.


    The whole journey was filled with silence. Just as they almost arrived the outskirts of Ansela, their car broke down.


    "What happened?" The King of Nightmares, who was half awak, asked as he felt the car slowing down.


    "The car¡¯s not functioning and I have no idea what went wrong." It was the first time Andrela faced such a problem. He reluctantly stopped the car by the road side and got out of the car to inspect it.


    Garen, who was sitting at the back of the car, could even see the white smoke coming out from the hood. The whole car was filled with the pungent smell of petrol.


    He got down the car and stood at the slanted grass field which was just beside the road.


    "What happened? Can it still move?" He looked at Andrela who had just popped opened the hood to inspect the engine of the car.


    "No idea. I don¡¯t know how to fix it either." Andrela shrugged after some inspection.


    "I have a lot of clothes on the car; I don¡¯t want to carry all of it and walk into the city." The King of Nightmares complained. "This car is so useless! It can¡¯t even run for any long distance at all!"


    Andrela could only pity him.


    Garen started to miss Su Lin as he stood at the side of the car. If Su Lin and his limited edition car was here, this problem would have been unlikely. Even if there was, he was an expert in fixing cars.


    "Although three of us are masters in martial arts, you can¡¯t just expect us to carry our luggages and walk to Ansela right?" The King of Nightmares leaned against the wall as he started to light up a cigarette. "Why not we hitch a ride?"


    "That¡¯s all we can do." Andrela started to pack his own stuff.


    Among the three of them, the King of Nightmares brought the most stuffs such as clothes, accessories, makeup, and a mysterious toy box. Andrela and Garen brought minimal items as they only brought washable clothes and boxes to store their money, which was in Picardi¡¯s currency.


    Garen stood at the side of the road as he tried to wave down a car.


    With his height of 1.8m and muscular body paired with a strict face. The cars did not stop at all. In fact they flew past even faster.


    "You won¡¯t do. Let me have a go at it." Andrela pushed Garen aside and stood by the side with a smile on his face. However, it was the eye patch that made him even more domineering during night time. Even his smile started to look like an evil grin.


    The driver immediately stepped on the pedal when he saw Andrela¡¯s face. The carriage sped off like a sharp arrow.


    The next few cars which passed by was the same and Andrela¡¯s smile started to become stiff.


    "Let me try." The King of Nightmares sighed as he walked to the front from behind.


    He was dressed properly like a gentleman, which looked much more normal than Garen and Andrela.


    After a few cars passed by, a big horse cart with four carriages finally slowed down.


    The carriages were all in white and there was an initial ¡®KL¡¯ on the carriage.


    "Can we hitch a ride?" The King of Nightmares asked the old man.


    "Get on!" The old man pointed to the back with his whip.


    The trio finally relaxed as they did not have to use their last resort, which was to snatch a car by force. Although the trio were good men who followed laws, they were not messing around during this trip. The Argentism had a lot of eyes in Picardi. They would be the first to know if anything happened.


    All of the compartments were big and enclosed. As the trio pulled opened the curtains, they saw the three youngsters sitting inside the adjacent carriage.


    "Hi handsome uncle." The white dress girl greeted the King of Nightmares with a smile. "It¡¯s not a small problem to have your car break down in this area. It¡¯s fortunate that you met Sophie¡¯s driver."


    "It¡¯s you." The King of Nightmares let out a seductive smile. "Thank you for your help. We might have to walk to the city if not for it."


    "There¡¯s no need to thank us. Yali accidentally poured tomato sauce onto you earlier. We will repay you by bringing you along for the ride." The golden hair boy smiled as he said from one side. "Furthermore, you should thank the driver; the girl over here."He pointed at the girl with his mouth."


    The girl in pale green checkered shirt laughed.


    "We should help each other when we¡¯re all on a trip. You don¡¯t need to thank me." A small, well fed squirrel was climbing onto her shoulder. "My name is Katyusha. Where do you three want to go? I will send you guys there."


    "Coconut Tree Hotel at the Northern region of the city. We have booked a room there." The King of Nightmares politely replied.


    "Coconut Tree Hotel? I¡¯m gonna ask just because I¡¯m curious. Are you guys going to visit the ancient artifacts expo?" The girl asked.


    Garen and his team sat down and the King of Nightmares nodded as he heard the question.


    "Yes. We¡¯re here just to visit the ancient artifacts expo. I heard that they will showcase a lot of legendary treasures. We are also a hobbyist collector so we can¡¯t miss this opportunity."

 187 Expo 3

    Chapter 187: Expo 3


    "I heard a lot of the participants this time brought their own collections, probably to exchange with other people as well. That¡¯s why the expo is made into an exchange instead." Speaking of antiques, the girl Katyusha suddenly became interested. "Speaking of which, the vehicles coming into Ansela today, at least half of them were heading toward the expo. Rumor has it that the largest natural emerald Heart of Yggdrasil will make an appearance, as well as the legendary Balbia¡¯s Box, it¡¯s one of the best known Millennium Antiques¡­"


    "Balbia¡¯s Box? That¡¯s not a usual Millennium Antique, I heard its owners always end up in a failed marriage. Dunno if it¡¯s real. I¡¯ve heard about the Heart of Yggdrasil, but isn¡¯t it in the hands of a Weisman Duke?" Garen¡¯s interest got piqued and joined the conversation.


    "It was a long time ago, something happened a while ago¡­"


    The conversation in the car split into two.


    King of Nightmare, Andrela, the boy, and the girl in one, Garen and Katyusha in another.


    After a while, Garen found out from the girl about a number of hidden Antiques of Tragedy and their owners.


    "I have collector friends from all around the world." Katyusha said proudly, "A part of it are my dad¡¯s collector friends, but they know me. The others are my own friends I made. Mr. Garen is from Yalu Confederation but has knowledge far beyond a normal person. I don¡¯t suppose you know Green Pine Auction House?"


    "Green Pine?" Garen thought it sounded familiar.


    "Yeah, it¡¯s by a friend in the Confederation. You can find some decent stuff in there too, you should check it out. Just say you¡¯re a friend of Katyusha, their director would definitely give you a discount." Katyusha proclaimed. "The director, Fenistine, is a good friend I made when I was in the Confederation."


    "Fenistine?" Garen finally recalled from his memory about Green Pine Auction House and its history. "Fenistine, isn¡¯t she the girl with the light blonde hair and blue eyes?"


    "You know her?" Katyusha was slightly astounded.


    "A little, but we¡¯ve been out of contact for a long time." Garen shrugged.


    "She¡¯s not doing very well now." Katyusha looked at Garen weirdly. "Her family is a huge family with very conservative attitudes. They don¡¯t like her having interest in antiques. Now she¡¯s even selling her prized collections because of some new problems. I wonder what it is, any idea what?"


    "Not even a little. I haven¡¯t been talking to her." Garen¡¯s brows furrowed. They had a pretty good friendship, but she never talked about her family in front of him.


    "Better take note then." Katyusha¡¯s gaze at Garen is a little loaded. She didn¡¯t believe in pure friendships between a man and a woman.


    "I will." Garen nodded.


    "What about your car?" Katyusha asked.


    "We¡¯ll hire someone to pull it over. As long as we keep the important things with us." Garen shrugged.


    "Any friend of Fenistine is a friend of mine, I¡¯ll ask someone to tow it over to Hotel Coconut Tree."


    "Thanks."


    Andrela, King of Nightmare, and the other two on the other side also went apart. The two sat together and spoke to each other in a voice so soft, it¡¯s like they¡¯re only lip reading each other.


    Garen asked Katyusha about Picardi and the situation with the expo before quietened to rest.


    He silently listened to the other people while putting his hand into his jacket pocket, feeling the Golden Sword Throne he brought around the whole time.


    A cool Potential breeze still flowed out of it, but it¡¯s already running thin.


    "I heard there¡¯ll be a Mirror of Secret Texts, do you think it¡¯s true?" King of Nightmare asked suddenly.


    "It¡¯s true. I heard the owner lent it out for exhibition. It¡¯s definitely a rare treasure. I came here to admire and to appraise it actually. Mirrors of Secret Texts are not something you hear often these days."


    She started talking nonstop about the history of the Mirrors of Secret Texts, obviously being excited having someone listening.


    Garen just sat aside and listened.


    Garen decided he doesn¡¯t need a breakthrough at this moment. He¡¯s still young, unlike Palosa, so he doesn¡¯t need to even worry.


    Old Man Gregor¡¯s death has become more like an obsession at this point. He only wanted to locate Sylphalan and fight him. Mastering his Divine Statue Technique, he currently feels he¡¯s stronger than ever. He can clearly sense he¡¯s that much tougher than before.


    His only motive of finding the Mirror of Secret Text was to fight the people from the Immortal Palace Alliance. Of course, finding Sylphalan would be the best case scenario.


    As Garen was quietly combing through his thoughts.


    Thud!


    A dull sound came from in front of the carriage.


    "What¡¯s up?"


    "I felt the carriage shook for a little."


    Katyusha stopped talking as well, her face was struck with a moment of panic, but she recovered her composure almost immediately after.


    "Sciara, is everything okay out there?"


    "It was nothing, just some animals running across us. Took me by surprise." The old coachman¡¯s voice drawled in from the front.


    "Be careful."


    "Yes miss."


    Garen, Andrela and King of Nightmare exchanged a glance. They definitely heard the short but distinct exchange of blows. Obviously, the opponent was defeated in the blink of an eye.


    But Garen had a hunch something was wrong.


    His chest was radiating heat.


    Confused, he pressed his hand on his chest. It was the pendant in the shape of a book Old Man Gregor gave him. It was burning slightly.


    The pendant hadn¡¯t done anything since he¡¯d gotten it. Sylphalan seemed to have come to recover the pendant that time. Garen had not been able to uncover its secrets no matter how long he analyzed it.


    But now, the pendant is starting to heat up.


    "Is there anything wrong?" Katyusha looked at Garen, confused.


    "Oh, it¡¯s nothing, just spaced out a little." Garen smiled. He had a feeling something was wrong, but he didn¡¯t understand where.


    Maybe I¡¯m just paranoid, he said to himself.


    This Katyusha may not be as simple as she seems. The strength of the battle outside does not sound weak, they¡¯re at least as strong as a member of special forces. If they had tried to rob¡­


    The moment the sound came up, Katyusha¡¯s body tensed, as if she could burst out a fighting stance at any time despite her size.


    "Excuse me." Katyusha stood and steadily made her way out of the carriage before closing the door.


    She sat beside the coachman who was slowly driving the carriage to their destination. Katyusha frowned.


    "Another batch?"


    "Yeah, the Argentists. Don¡¯t think they want us to be there."


    "Hmph. We have twelve squadrons and five main forces mixed in with the travelers, the Argentists could not possibly stop us. They are only filtering out possible opponents. They¡¯ve got pretty good intel." Katyusha smirked. "Their going back on their words in the meeting last time has cost us much damage. I will definitely take my revenge."


    "What¡¯s your plan?" Sciara inquired.


    "The five main forces are already here, so let¡¯s see how they react. They didn¡¯t only offend us Black Snakes."


    "As long as their bishop stayed put, the others are easy to deal with. It depends on who¡¯s got the Mirror of Secret Texts." Sciara nodded, breaking out of his coachman persona.


    In the car, Andrela and King of Nightmare exchanged looks, while Garen closed his eyes again.


    Looks like the capital city of Picardi had attracted lots of people with ulterior motives.


    The carriage treaded the path for another half hour before stopping at Hotel Coconut Tree.


    The Anselan streets at night were filled with crowds as busy as they were in the day. People swarmed the streets for entertainment and enjoyment.


    Garen and the other two booked a room each in the hotel.


    Katyusha had a villa near the hotel, so her group went there instead. Katyusha was obviously not her real name, but Garen didn¡¯t mind. This woman was here with the same intention as everyone else.


    Similar to him, all these people would be coming in by the pack in the very near future.


    **************


    Ansela was an exotic city littered with buildings with white round top. Located in the city center, in a dark room of the highest tower-slash-hotel, two figures, one old and another young, sat.


    The old one was a lady close to her centenary. She sat by her bed with a walking stick made of blackwood in her hand, staring closely at the girl in front of her.


    The girl looked confused, but as the old woman kept her silence, so did she, just sitting at the wooden chair quietly.


    None of them spoke to each other, the silence in the room amplified by ticking of the clock.


    Soon, a set of faint steps shuffled up in front of the door before waiting outside the room.


    Knock, knock.


    The door opened by itself.


    A young man with the blue and white uniform of the hotel room attendant walked in with a silver dining cart.


    "Madam, your food is served."


    The door shut itself with a click.


    As soon as the door closed, the room felt as if it was detached from the rest of reality by an unknown force. The buzzing from the streets disappeared, leaving only the clock ticking in an otherwise pindrop-silent room.


    The girl was visibly discomforted. She glanced left and right, hoping to find out what had happened.


    "Don¡¯t worry." The attendant¡¯s voice switched to one of an old man¡¯s. He pulled at his face, unveiling his wrinkled face under a thin mask facade.


    "I rushed here as soon as I got news of you coming here. I didn¡¯t expect you to be this early." The old man left the dining cart, pulled up a chair and sat down slowly.

 188 Expo 4

    Chapter 188: Expo 4


    "Julie, this man is my old friend in Picardi, Tom King Cruise." Old woman introduced the old man to the girl. "He¡¯s also one of tens of millions of people in Picardi who¡¯s like us."


    The girl was stunned for a little while. She turned to the old man, who flashed her a kind smile. "I¡¯ve heard about you since a while ago, little Julie."


    "Right, let¡¯s skip the formalities and go on with the topic," The old woman finished introducing. "The Argent Mirror is a treasure from eons ago, we cannot let the Immortal Palace Alliance have it. We need to come up with an strategy to deal with this."


    Tom King frowned.


    "The Argent Mirror is called the Mirror of Secret Texts amongst laypeople. It was said to have records of ancient Secret Techniques of the Mirror. Immortal Palace Alliance will definitely send their strongest members here. It¡¯d still be fine if it¡¯s former Weisman Admiral Griffith, at least we¡¯ve fought him a few times and are familiar with his modus operandi. If it were other people, then it¡¯ll be troublesome."


    "What about you locals? I trust you have a plan ready even before we arrive?" The old woman asked with a frown.


    "Of course. The Argent Mirror has a seal on it, therein lies the true Secret Text, alongside it was the terrifyingly strong, ancient Will of the Origin. Once it is released, the Will will be unleashed, toppling the whole world. This is also Immortal Palace Alliance¡¯s scheme. So we found the Time Pin. So long as we put it on the surface of Argent Mirror, we can stop the unsealing process when need be." The old man explained.


    His eyes darted back onto Julie.


    "But since you brought Julie, I reckon we¡¯ll not be using the Time Pin anytime soon."


    "No, if they sent Flamingo this time, even Julie¡­" The old woman interrupted, "You don¡¯t understand the danger with the Will of the Origin. It¡¯s so incredibly unstable, the Immortal Palace Alliance is practically burning themselves with its flames. Which is why we need to have both plans prepared. Julie, I, and the others will stop Immortal Palace Alliance directly from the front, only with the nature of her telekinetic abilities that we can suppress those in Immortal Palace Alliance who had taken Blood of Eternal Life. We will also need to prepare the Time Pin, in case."


    She added, "We must not let them succeed, once unsealed, nothing in the world can stop the Will of the Origin. I thought that thing had been long lost in history."


    "How¡¯s Julie doing? Is her power gonna be enough?" The old man asked in a hushed tone.


    Julie hesitated, looking a little guilty.


    "I¡¯m not that talented, I¡¯m only at Third Level."


    The old man¡¯s eyes twitched and his face flashed a slight shade of red. He inhaled deeply, and waited a while for his urge to yell at this unfairness to subside.


    "Third Level, that¡¯s not bad, that¡¯s¡­ not bad."


    "Alright then, since it¡¯s all planned out, you will execute the your original plan, and we will wait for the Immortal Palace Alliance to show up." Old woman nodded. "Remember to keep casualty to a minimum."


    Julie asked, unsure. "Teacher, why can¡¯t we ask the Argentists to help? A friend of mine told me, elites from all sort of places have shown up this time. If we can attack Immortal Palace Alliance together, wouldn¡¯t it help a lot?"


    "You don¡¯t understand, normal people with no abilities to Immortal Palace Alliance is like lowly ants is to giant elephants. They won¡¯t even be able to expend their stamina." The old woman answered seriously.


    Julie processed the information with a sense of doubt.


    "All the telekinesis elites in Immortal Palace Alliance have a Secret Technique. They can flood the space around them with an aura of intimidation, anyone who saw them would be deeply affected physically and mentally, some may even collapse. With that ability to intimidate, swarms of enemies doesn¡¯t even worry them." The old woman sighed. "But at least we got that book. Through my transfusion of its telekinetic power to you, you have acquired great power, but you yet to learn to control it."


    "I understand, Teacher. I will work harder." Julie nodded in commitment.


    "Glad you understand," Old woman stroked Julie¡¯s face in endearment. "I know it¡¯s hard for you. You¡¯re only nineteen, but this responsibility was thrusted upon you¡­"


    "I¡¯ll be okay." Julie tried hard to look nonchalant. "Teacher and the others were the one who were stressed out. All these years you have been fighting Immortal Palace Alliance unbeknownst to normal humans, no one have seen your sacrifices and hard work. In comparison with you, what¡¯s this little stress I¡¯m taking?"


    "You don¡¯t know¡­ This was our fight, the clash of our ideology¡­" The old woman murmured. "It¡¯s late. Time to rest. Remember, when you intercept the Immortal Palace Alliance, you must lead them to somewhere remote, it is impossible to not hurt the normal people around accidentally with the power of your fight. Once a telekinesis elite uses his strongest form, even the elites of normal people will not be able to take it. That is why you have to remember, no matter how strong a normal human is, only talent can withstand talent. Looking for help from friends might just hurt them."


    "But my friend said there are Grandmaster of Combat-level fighters amongst the Argentists, maybe¡­"


    "There were already countless of Grandmasters of Combat who lost their lives to the Immortal Palace Alliance."


    Julie finally shut up.


    "Rest. You are our hope in this battle." The old woman softened her expression and caressed the girl¡¯s hair.


    "Yes, Teacher."


    *******************


    Top floor of Hotel Coconut Tree, Luxury Suite.


    Garen stood in the center of the room, his arms raised to shoulder height, resembling a cross. Eyes shut, his breath was slow. Together with his whitish gold skin, he looked like a standard metal statue.


    Knock knock.


    "Come in." He muttered without even opening his eyes.


    The door was slowly pushed open and King of Nightmares Stephen sashayed in.


    "Practicing again?"


    "What is it?"


    Closing the door, Stephen sauntered past Garen to the full length windows, pulled the curtains apart and looked downward.


    "Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate has news from Palosa, interested?"


    "Spill." Garen¡¯s raised palms slowly moved toward each other in front of him, but wind started blowing in the room. The draft licked the thick black curtains, lifting them without stopping.


    "Within the Immortal Palace Alliance, they¡¯ve categorized their members to The Founders and The Comers." Stephen sat in a chair he set his eyes upon, "The Comers were members who joined after it¡¯s been founded, like Duskdune Shura and former Weisman Admiral Griffith. The Founders were actually only two people, Flamingo and Sylphalan."


    "What¡¯s the difference?"


    "A lot." Stephen grinned. "The Founders were said to be active internationally since decades ago. We weren¡¯t even born yet. On the other hand, The Comers members have been changing for years."


    "I thought Palosa and Sylphalan were both heavily injured in their fight?" Garen opened his eyes, confused. "I¡¯ve seen Palosa¡¯s power, even though that wasn¡¯t his strongest persona."


    "You don¡¯t think his strongest state is his Indifference persona?" Stephen chuckled and shook his head, "His true strongest state has already been defeated in the battle with Sylphalan. The merging of the three personas, that¡¯s his perfect state. Having three personas essentially means having three Palosa sharing one memory, heading toward three different directions in Martial Arts. The Virtue persona fights head-on, Vice persona utilizes tricks and deception, and Indifference persona merges them both. Only when the three meld together that Palosa will be at his strongest state. It was then that he was worthy of the title Holy Fist."


    It was Garen¡¯s first time hearing this explanation.


    "No wonder. When I fought him, I felt White Bird Holy Fist lacked a sense of majesty."


    "Someone senior told me before. In the Azure Continent, there was a yoga master. He witnessed Palosa in his Holy Fist form. According to him, every movement seemed to be made from Secret Technique. His 178 Secret Techniques are actually the special effects of his 178 Fist Techniques in Holy Fist form. Under normal conditions, they could only be activated with Secret Techniques." Stephen told him another secret.


    "Every movement seemed to be made of Secret Technique¡­ If that¡¯s the case, what Palosa said¡­" Shocked, Garen thought about Palosa¡¯s reply before he left.


    "Who knew?" Stephen shrugged. "But you¡¯re not bad too. Your title given by the entire Southern Martial Arts community, the next Holy Fist, Holy Mammoth Garen has already spread to the Northern Martial Arts Union."


    "You¡¯re pretty in touch with the situation within the Confederation."


    "Can¡¯t help it, the nation with the strongest, largest amount of Grandmasters of Combat, which fighter wouldn¡¯t take notice? But my news was from Andrela. Palosa¡¯s Holy Fist form got defeated, but Sylphalan is also in bad shape."


    "This is an opportunity." Garen¡¯s brow furrowed.


    "Let¡¯s see how this goes. Immortal Palace Alliance is made up of monsters, he might even have healed."


    ********************


    Three days later, the expo started on schedule.


    In a massive hall with golden ceiling and black floor tiles.


    Black pillars erected on the floor, showcasing the treasures in a transparent glass cube in the center.


    In the hall, hundred of black pillars like this held a single item each, with visitors fluttering about.


    Garen is in his black suit. He was holding a glass of hot green tea and stood in front of a black pillar at the edge.


    His gaze fell on a antique vase in the pillar.


    The thin-necked vase was made of white porcelain and decorated with blue patterns. It looked like an enlarged medicine bottle with its ceramic blue willow pattern and pictures of human activities on its large body.


    Several other antique lovers were admiring it in awe.


    "This is a rare treasure from an ancient country from the East." An old man with a pair of golden glasses was staring at it in amazement. "This is a wine pot from that country. Why do they make a wine pot this pretty? It¡¯s such a waste. I like the tribal utensils from the Fivestar Continent. They are so wild, so mysterious, so much more attractive." A noblewoman sighed from the bottom of her heart.


    "The Ancient East does not only have porcelain bottles! There are other antiques full of detailed delicacy, and at the same time survived history. Many pieces have mystery woven into them as well, like that silver plum blossom candle holder over there¡­" The old man wanted to have the last say.


    With hushed voices, both of them started debating. Soon after, other people joined in the debate.


    Garen set his ears on the debates quietly. He circled around the hall, noticing that debates were spurring at almost every black pillar.


    Some were discussing the authenticity of an item, some were confused about the true worth of a piece, some of them even got ready to buy pieces off of their original owners.


    The expo had just started, but it¡¯s already crowded with participation.


    Garen didn¡¯t see King of Nightmares and Andrela, they each have their own plans and execution style. The three were together because of a common goal, but the means to their ends took a vastly different approach depending on their personalities.

 189 Argent Mirror 1

    Chapter 189: Argent Mirror 1


    Garen strolled casually and occasionally looked at the antiques in the black pillars.


    He left the one holding a hollowed out golden bow to walk to a row of railings at the edge of the hall.


    Behind them were thicker black pillars with even more precious items.


    Garen walked a few steps and stopped beside some college students.


    These students wore blue and black uniforms, three guys and four girls. They seemed to be having an aggressive discussion about the treasures.


    "Antas¡¯ Blue Wing, it symbolizes freedom, joy, happiness, and the yearning for the perfect paradise in the skies. It¡¯s a mythical item from Antas, only nobles are allowed to craft it," A girl with a blue ponytail claimed. "It¡¯s impossible to appear in a lowly merchant family."


    "Normally that is true, but this is different. Look here, that¡¯s the famous Asha Mark from the famous Asha Business Alliance. You can also tell from the details here, here, and there." A white haired boy retorted gently but firmly.


    "I think Karen is right, this item can not be simply crafted during that period."


    "Maybe someone secretly constructed it for their own collection? Like how some rich dudes like to go to parties all night."


    The students each took their sides, splitting into two.


    Garen scrutinized the item they were debating about.


    It¡¯s a sky blue statue of a single wing. It¡¯s about one meter tall, two meters wide, and looked as if it¡¯s soaring. The textures of the feathers were meticulously sculpted. It¡¯s like a real eagle¡¯s wing.


    With a single glance, Garen could already tell it was made with an imitation style Old Man Gregor had talked about. He couldn¡¯t go close to it, but there was a tiny section of the base that made him suspect its authenticity.


    Subconsciously, he frowned slightly, his gaze stopping at the crack-like fissure on the base. It didn¡¯t look like it cracked by itself, more like someone made it so and left an "S" shaped mark.


    "You saw it?"


    A white haired gentleman noticed where Garen fixed his eyes on. He was wearing a tuxedo and stood straight commandingly. He stopped by Garen and gave the Blue Wing and once-over.


    "The mythical wing that symbolizes freedom and paradise, but it¡¯s only a fake." The gentleman sighed.


    "I was not so sure myself, I didn¡¯t expect you to be so sharp, sir." Garen smiled humbly.


    "No, you¡¯re already pretty good." The old man shook his head, "How much do you know about the Antasan Civilization?"


    "Not a lot, I¡¯m afraid. I¡¯ve only read a little here and there in some books." Garen picked out some information he knew about the civilization and listed it to the old man.


    The gentleman became more interested as he listed on.


    "That¡¯s quite a bit that you knew. Tell me, from which class do you reckon this imitation was trying to imitate?"


    "From the texture and the sculpting, I¡¯d say it¡¯s by small time merchants who wanted to add to their collection." Garen didn¡¯t try to sugarcoat his thoughts.


    "It can¡¯t be. If it were for the collection of small time merchant, how would they dare to include the royal coat of arms?" The old man shook his head again.


    "The royal coat of arms does not mean anything."


    "You don¡¯t understand how strict the law was then. Even using a noble¡¯s family symbol callously could get you onto the guillotine, let alone the royal coat of arms." The old man said seriously.


    "Then you do not understand the uniqueness of the situation. If I¡¯m correct, this imitation was made during a time of special circumstances when Antas was already near its end, the power structure is failing, and the royals no longer has any real power over the commoners." Garen disagreed.


    "From where did you infer its specific creation year? After all, this is a fake. How would you know the imitators wouldn¡¯t just make it up as they go?"


    "Obviously the wing looks like it¡¯s about to take flight, almost all of the Blue Wings you can find look like that, but did you notice? This has a little hesitation and weight to it, right here¡­" Garen pointed at the root of the feathers. "Do you see the shape? This is a red hawk¡¯s wing."


    "Red hawk?" The old man had not noticed what the original models of Blue Wings are.


    "Blue Wings, Royal Sculptors used to base it on the blue hawks that were bred in the palace. There are pretty much no blue hawks outside of the palace, so people can only base their imitation on the red hawk wings which are the most similar. Unfortunately they are still slightly different. Furthermore, only during that period would Picardian sculptors use red hawks to imitate royal objects." Garen shook his head.


    "Very detailed observation, you surprised me with your knowledge. But you also left out one spot. The inscriptions on this item." The gentleman was still not convinced.


    "There are three symbols on the inscription, signifying the three sculptors. And it just so happens that I know this one. This one belongs to the most famous Blue Wings Royal Sculptor Robert Niggen."


    "That doesn¡¯t mean anything, sir." Garen disagreed.


    "What do you think?" The gentleman turned aside to a female student who listened to their conversation.


    This was a girl wearing blue and black uniform with a white denim pants. She was so entranced by their conversation that she didn¡¯t realize the gentleman was talking to her.


    "I¡­ I think both points were valid."


    "Don¡¯t be scared, child." The old man softened his voice, "I saw your gaze just now. Among all these people, only the three of us noticed the few weird points about this Blue Wing. Why don¡¯t you share your thoughts on it?


    Garen observed the girl from her side.


    She looked about eighteen to nineteen, fair skin, silky shoulder-length dark hair. The way she stood highlighted her purity of heart. She had long lanky legs and rounded hips, as shown by the thinness of the material she was wearing.


    "You¡¯re too anxious." The old man shook his head, "Take a breath. From I can see, you¡¯re a student from the Picardi Women¡¯s College, isn¡¯t it? You are already not bad if you can recognize that much, believe in yourself."


    Garen and him were both staring at the girl, waiting for her to speak.


    The girl shifted her weight in discomfort.


    "Both of you have your points, but I think¡­ this Blue Wing is by a Royal Sculptor during a peace period. If I remember correctly, the Royal family gifted slightly different Blue Wings to descendents who are going away to their territory¡­"


    Before she could finish, she heard a soft clap from in front of her,


    She looked up and saw the two agreed with her.


    "You noticed something that we couldn¡¯t." The old man smiled. "I can¡¯t believe such knowledge came from a normal schoolgirl. Do tell me your name, child."


    "My¡­ my name is Ophany¡­" The girl hid her face with her hair in embarrassment, not knowing how to accept the praise.


    "Ophany," The old man produced a black card from somewhere and gave it to her. "Take this, it¡¯s my name card."


    Ophany took the name card thoughtlessly, but there was nothing on the card aside from a big symbol of an eye.


    "Keep it safe, when you¡¯re in a pinch, this card will bring you luck." The old man told her mysteriously.


    Garen looked at the old man for being cryptic.


    Obviously he¡¯s some sort of important person, seeing how his bodyguards spreaded out to look after him.


    "Congratulation, miss Ophany, looks like this old sir isn¡¯t just a normal expo-goer." He smiled at the girl.


    Ophany blushed, not knowing what to say.


    "What about you? Why do you act so mature? Teenagers should look like teenagers." The gentleman looked at Garen with admiration, "Your knowledge is on par with mine. I wouldn¡¯t expect the younger generation to produce someone like you." Another black card. "For you."


    Garen smiled looking at the gentleman¡¯s card. He was about to say something.


    "Who goes there!" Someone yelled outside the expo. "Alert!"


    The voice was cut off.


    The crowd in the expo started to make noise. People were worried, and those with bodyguards quickly surrounded themselves for maximum protection.


    The gentleman was the same. Within seconds, seven bodyguards with different clothes surrounded him, and under his orders, kept Garen and the girl under their protection.


    "Don¡¯t move." The gentleman told Garen and Ophany calmly. They both nodded, looking slightly worried.


    "Micah, go check out the situation, be careful." The old man told one of his bodyguards.


    "Yes sir." The man with a tall nose nodded and left the protection circle, and slowly make his way to the entrance from the wall, his gun drawn.


    Several other people were doing the same thing.


    Garen faked his serious and worried face.


    Looks like it¡¯s going to start. He didn¡¯t want to stand out so early, or else he¡¯d have wasted his advantage being hidden in the crowd.


    He checked out the situation through the gaps between the bodyguards.


    The other students were ushered into a corner by a middle-aged man, looking either curious, fearful, or excited.


    Several other middle-aged men looked grumpy. They drew their guns and gave out orders to their subordinate to maintain order in the hall with the cooperation of the staff.


    The security captain also stood forward. He led his teams to calm the emotions of their guests, while sending a team outside in full caution.

 190 Argent Mirror 2

    Chapter 190: Argent Mirror 2


    Outside the expo, at the plaza between Hotel Coconut Tree and the convention center the expo was held in.


    Yellow street lamps littered the circular gray plaza. Half of them has already died down, damaged.


    Two white pillars were erected in the plaza, each measuring about fifteen meters tall.


    There were two bronze statues on the top of the pillars, one of a girl of nobility with a horse whip, the other a knight on a majestic warhorse.


    Below the pillar with the knight, some security guards with blue uniform gathered around two guards who fainted, examining them.


    Some passersby rounded up to watch. It looked somewhat crowded.


    Creak!


    Two police cars with black and white stripes sped into the plaza and stopped. Two officers stepped out of their vehicles. The one in lead had a strict face and a fake eye emphasized by the unnaturally white eyeball.


    He saw the few bystanders in a crowd. His real eye twitched when he saw a beautiful lady in white miniskirt in the lead, and marched toward the fainted.


    "Move aside, give way!"


    The other two policemen made way for him.


    The man with a fake eye marched near the woman, and stopped for a split second.


    "Well somebody¡¯s moving quick." He grunted.


    "We aren¡¯t interested in your little tricks." The lady retorted, "Looks like somebody else is confident."


    "Not as much as you are." Fake Eye smirked. Both of them moved away from each other, he approached the people who fainted and started examining them.


    The woman with white miniskirt did not stay for long. She left the crowd with several other people.


    One of them was an old man with walking stick. "Are they all here?" He eyed Fake Eye from afar.


    "Almost. The five main forces are here. When should we start?" She nodded.


    "Let¡¯s observe for a little," The old man¡¯s voice was soft, but it was clear as day to the woman. "The main problem here is not the random party starting a riot. Our main opponent is still the Argentists. Watch them with constant vigilance."


    "I know, Katyusha and Wendy are waiting for them. Even though our main opponents are the Argentists, we can¡¯t let the small fries get the prize." She smiled.


    On the other side, a group of expo-goers walked out. Among them, Katyusha stood behind two of her friends and watched.


    "Let¡¯s go. It¡¯s boring stuff. Some people want to break in, but the guards chased them away, but they were also downed." The woman with brown hair in front of her said. "This place is messy."


    "It is messy," The girl at the back echoed, she had a short and dulled red hair, her face wasn¡¯t memorable, and she looked like she hasn¡¯t been getting enough sleep with the dark circles on her eyes. She was dressed like a thug on the street.


    "I¡¯ve lived here for many years, there were stuff happening almost every week. I wonder if the two guards were okay, but let¡¯s get back in. Fake Eye is here, nothing bad will happen once he¡¯s here."


    he was one of the collectors who sold the host of the expo one of her collections. However, different from the other collectors, she only qualified the entrance by selling her item. She only pretended to be interested to try and find a rich man for herself.


    Katyusha looked at the red haired girl. If she wasn¡¯t the original owner of the Mirror of Secret Texts, she wouldn¡¯t have tried to get close to her.


    The other girl is one of the other main force, Wendy.


    The three were going to turn back into the expo.


    A dull thud.


    "Duck!" A man roared.


    Boom!


    A ball of golden flame burst out from the center of the plaza. White smoke accompanied by the shockwave flooded everywhere. Innocent people screamed and tried to escape, two cars nearby even got flipped over. Several horses got scared. Neighs and tyre screeches filled the air near the plaza.


    Within a second, the peaceful plaza were disrupted with chaos.


    Six or seven people laid strewn about, it was impossible to tell if they¡¯re dead or alive. As the white smoke dissipates, several figures in white dashed soundlessly toward the entrance of the expo.


    "Now!" At the same time, three people by the woman in white miniskirt zoomed toward the back door of the expo.


    Beep! Beep!


    Alarms went off from inside the hall.


    ***************


    Inside the hall.


    Garen was standing in the middle of the bodyguards when the explosion happened followed by the alarm. He knew someone had made a move.


    Chaos broke out in the hall. A few people by the entrance got knocked down first. White figures zipped in and toward the black pillar in the center.


    "Die!"


    A low growl. Three people rushed at one white figure each, and zoomed out of sight to fight them.


    Bang! Bang bang!


    Some people started shooting, sounds of guns firing started getting more intensive.


    Yelps and screams filled the rampageous hall. Some visitors with their own bodyguards hid in corners followed by people who wished to get protection.


    The hall quieted soon after. The hall packed with people suddenly became empty. On the ground, there were a dozen of bodies, everyone else had retreated to the corners to hide.


    Garen noticed Ophany¡¯s paleness, her eyes were overflowing with fear and worry. Her gaze shot outside, worrying about her schoolmates.


    The other university students crouched not far from there, hiding behind some of the pillars. It¡¯ll be safer. Two of the girls were sobbing quietly.


    Everyone was on the floor, so no one were able to see outside. Only a few bodyguards kept watch around them.


    Blows were exchanged and guns were fired from inside and outside of the expo. When some of the attacks hit the walls, they even shook violently.


    Soon, a white figure escaped, leaving blood trails and roaring his opponent behind. One of the windows at the side of the hall was broken as he escaped, leaving broken glass on the ground.


    "He took the thing! Stop him!" A huge black man punched a hole in the wall with his bare fist and chased after.


    Tut tut tut tut tut¡­


    Submachine guns were fired, sandwiching some shots from shotguns, it¡¯s like several parties were engaged in gunfights all at the same time.


    Outside, two opposing forces were in trigger happy mode with their weapons, the box containing the Mirror of Secret Texts kept changing hands between the two parties.


    The three Argentist elites were all Grandmasters of Combat, by their side, they have several Level three Sharpshooters. Katyusha and her team were fighting off the other party who wanted the Mirror of Secret Texts, all four of them were disciplined and speed-focused Sharpshooters acting harmoniously with each other. They don¡¯t have the auras of a Grandmaster of Combat, but with their own weapons, they were able to keep the Argentist elites at bay.


    The main shooter was the woman in white miniskirt. She was holding two enlarged silver pistols and moved at high speed while she fired at the three Grandmasters of Combat. The power of the pistols were so strong, holes as large as fists appeared wherever the bullets landed.


    On the side of the Argentists, the black man as imposing as a tower led the fight. He held a black shield, blocking every bullet coming his way, and pushing away any opponents who managed to get here.


    "Give up, Chris!" The black man blocked a bullet from the woman with white miniskirt and took a few steps backward. His shield had a small dent in it where the bullet hit. "Even if you managed to secure the item, you will never be able to get it out of this city!"


    "Unwavering Shield Marvin, you don¡¯t have a say in whether we are capable of bringing it out of the city." The woman sneered. She continued shooting with one hand and magically changed the magazine with the other. "With just three Argentists, you won¡¯t be able to stop us."


    "Hmph, don¡¯t you understand? We could exhibit it, we already have necessary preparation for situations like this!" The black Grandmaster of Combat smirked.


    "So you are prepared, but did you think we didn¡¯t?"


    Boom!


    Another grenade exploded.


    The box with the Mirror of Secret Texts was blasted into the air.


    None of the both parties glanced at the box, but instead started barraging the other side with attacks, obviously planning to do the other side in while they¡¯re distracted.


    Clink! Clank!


    Marvin¡¯s charging figure stopped, his shield had yet again stopped another bullet. Both of them were planning the same thing.


    At this moment, the box in the air started its downward motion.


    Fwoosh!


    A barely audible draft of wind sounded. A black figure leaped from behind Chris toward the box like a swallow in flight.


    On the other side, two white figures charged out from behind Marvin, arriving at the box at the same time.


    Thump! Nobody managed to catch the box, leaving it to drop on the ground.


    "The Argentist bishop?" One of the white figure yelled. All three of them fell backward, landing on the ground.


    The two figures in white stepped on the stone tiles several times before they could neutralize the impact they received, leaving a few black marks on the tiles.


    It was only until they regained their balance that other people could see their faces. They were two middle-aged man and woman. They had a winding black snake stitched on each of their right sleeves.


    "Aren¡¯t you at the Fivestar Continent? How could this be?" The man in white growled unbelievably.


    The black figure stood still, revealing a middle-aged man with black hair. He looked like an average person, but his skin glimmered silver, and his most prominent feature was a dark red mark on the left of his face, burning like a crimson fire.


    The man stood with his hands at his back, and calmly stared at the two on the opposite.


    "Trying to snatch my possession at my place? You were pretty daring."


    He shuffled left, leaving the wall behind him with two deep bullet holes.

 191 Argent Mirror 3

    Chapter 191: Argent Mirror 3


    "Enough talk! I''ve heard about you for a while now, now let us Black Snakes get acquainted with you!" The woman of Black Snake couple yelled with a shrill. "Attack!"


    In an instant, the plaza echoed with guns firing and bullets wheezing. Gunners swarmed the plaza from all directions and fired at the Bishop of the Argentists, who dodged the bullets with ease.


    The Black Snake couple brandished their guns, attacking the Argentists with a series of aimed shots. Together with Chris'' attacks, they managed to keep the Argentists at bay.


    Only the Bishop managed to avoid the attacks simply by stepping left and right. He walked straight toward the box despite the bullets wheezing at him.


    Determined to win, the Black Snake couple threw their weapons away and charged at him.


    The three exchanged blows in the plaza. Within seconds, the Black Snake woman was hit by a palm strike and shot away, the Black Snake man was also pushed back. Soon, the Bishop would have caught the box.


    An obviously empty bullet thudded against the floor tile in front of the box. Weirdly, the bullet did not pierce the tile, instead it rebounded straight at the Bishop''s face.


    Bam!


    The bullet exploded, spreading a flame that devoured the Bishop.


    The Black Snake female smirked and wiped away the blood on her forehead. "This is my first injury this heavy, let''s see you dodge this Snake Bite Bullet!"


    The explosion blasted the box high up once again, this time toward the other direction.


    The Bishop grunted and covered his face, but alas, he suffered a minor burn. "Die!"


    He ignored the box and bolted at the two Black Snakes.


    Both sides were the strongest elites in Picardi, each having their own fame and followers. The Argentist''s influence was strong in Picardi, and Black Snake was a top assassin syndicate in neighboring countries. None of them had a simple background, anyone from their organizations would be considered fierce and ambitious. Meeting here was definitely not planned.


    Both of the parties have long been trying to fight each other, this was a good opportunity to do so.


    Black Snakes are assassins with a kamikaze attitude. When they saw the Bishop charging at them, their eyes reddened and charged back at him.


    By that time, some of the lesser underlings had already retired from the battle, leaving the more witty, agile fighters on field with their injury.


    The main battlefield was for the leaders. A pillage-turned-head on fight was not expected by the Black Snake. However, Black Snake wasn''t planning to avoid the Argentists either. They weren''t good at surprise attacks, but they are famous for their ruthlessness within the other assassins nearby.


    Both parties intertwined exchanging blows mixed in with the occasional gunshots, somehow forcing the battle into a stalemate. All over the ground were numerous debris and scraps broken in the fight. Street lights kept falling after fracturing.


    Boom!


    Flame burst between the three leaders, forcing them to separate once again.


    Regaining balance, they were prepared to start the assault again.


    A sudden red silhouette shot at the box with the Mirror of Secret Texts.


    "Don''t you dare!"


    The Argentist Bishop and the Black Snakes yelled simultaneously in fury. Trying to snatch the box in front of the three of them? That''s a provocation of the highest degree.


    Without much thought, the three attacked the figure in red. The Bishop rushed over and the Black Snakes fired two shots aimed at the red figure.


    Boom!


    The two shots exploded together, causing two balls of scarlet flame to erupt in mid-air.


    At the same time, the Bishop''s hands struck at the figure. He wore silver gloves on his palms, bringing a storm-like gust with him. Striking the figure in the chest, he seemed to want to rip his opponent into two halves.


    Psst!


    A sword shone red.


    Argh!


    The Argentist Bishop yelped and took a few steps back, his steps quicker than before.


    At the same time, a fine red line spread outward, reaching the Black Snakes in an instant. They both cried aloud before furiously retreating.


    The fire slowly dispersed revealing a sharp-featured man standing there in stillness. In his hand was a red long sword with runes sparkling like diamonds.


    Shing!


    Placing the sword in front of him, he used his hand to caress the sword.


    "Worlds will moan, Sprites begone!"


    Fwoosh!


    His eyes glowed a fluorescent red.


    A terrifying huge psychic explosion burst out like a storm ravaging the plaza.


    If there were people who can see the source of this outburst, they would have seen a red peacock. Its massive tail feathers flowing gently in the storm, spraying crimson sparks periodically.


    ***************


    Inside the hall, Garen suddenly feel a massive mental threat from outside. It felt familiar.


    "Maybe it''s time¡­"


    He scanned around at the other people.


    The gentleman was mumbling something under his breath while holding an item with one of his hands.


    The girl Ophany stood behind the gentleman uncomfortably, looking a bit fearful.


    Sounds of bombing and guns firing slipped in occasionally, scaring the survivors from even moving. Most of them were elites from the city itself, some were even higher government officials.


    Placing their trust at the government and the Argentists, everyone were waiting for the chaos outside to subside.


    Garen calmly observed the rest of the visitors, not finding Andrela and King of Nightmares. He wondered where these two went.


    "Don''t worry, trust the government." Garen looked at the scared Ophany and soothed her in a soft voice.


    Ophany gulped, nodding in anxiety.


    "Not bad. This is the headquarters of the Argentists, they will soon arrive to calm the situation here." The gentleman nodded in agreement. "Trust the government, that''s a good one." He stared at Garen with appreciation with a sense of ''not bad, I expect great things from you''.


    Garen was dumbfounded with the comment and was prepared to step out to join the battle.


    A few streams of mental pressure only slightly less than Flamingo''s surged into Garen''s senses. It was so subtle, only a Grandmaster of Combat was able to detect through their enhanced senses.


    "Flamingo! I didn''t expect you to be sent!" A tiny voice belonging to an old woman came from outside.


    "It is him." Finding the answer he seeked, Garen hesitated, and decided he would follow the original plan, which is to wait for Andrela''s signal. He calmed himself and continued to wait.


    ****************


    Outside, Katyusha and the owner of the Mirror of Secret Texts hid behind the wall behind the entrance, peeking out with caution.


    The situation at the plaza was as if a bombing plane barraged, scattering rubbles, soil, and earth everywhere. The pillars had fallen with the statues left at the side. Black street lamps were sliced neatly in halves. The air was reeking with the thick scent of gunpowder and artillery fire.


    Both Black Snake and Argentists were heavily injured by the man who appeared out of nowhere.


    The only one left from the five main forces of Black Snake was her. Wendy and the other three either escaped or were killed. The two Bosses of Black Snake were also badly wounded, having both their left arms cut off in an instant during the battle.


    Not only them, the Argentists had it worse.


    The one with the title Unwavering Shield, the black man Marvin, as well as two other Grandmasters of Combat got knocked down during the ring of red line and haven''t been able to get back up.


    The Bishop of the Argentists had his palms cut off by the wrist, his blood spilling out from his sleeves. He glared at Flamingo with fear and disbelief.


    This man, even with so many elites attacking him at once, was able to cut them off one by one, as if he was killing chickens. The illusionary red light possess extremely damaging powers. It didn''t matter if it were bullets, explosions, or melee, as soon as the red light flickered, any incoming attacks were nullified.


    In front of this man, all of the elite fighters were just like livestock, he could kill any one of them any time he wanted.


    As if that wasn''t enough, anyone who saw him was immediately paralyzed, with the exception of the Bishop and the two Black Snakes.


    If it weren''t for the newcomers, they would have all been exterminated.


    "Flamingo! I didn''t expect you to be sent!"


    About ten meters in front of Flamingo were four old people dressed in black. Beside them, a good looking brunette girl wore two golden metal claws, lengthening her reach like ten cold steel spikes.


    The one speaking was a gray haired woman. She stared at the white haired man coldly, as did the other three. They all had a dark gold crest on their chests in the shape of a Three-headed Hydra.


    "You again." Flamingo frowned, as if he recalled unpleasant memories. "Last time you almost made me fail, how dare you appear in front of me again."


    "The Argent Mirror is not something you can touch." The old woman said, "Julie, all yours."


    "Leave it to me." The brunette answered.


    ****************


    Some time had passed as Garen hid in the hall. He could hear the gradually softening sounds from outside. The backup forces from before had somehow disappeared, he heard nothing from them since.


    Subconsciously, he touched the spot on his chest where the book pendant had hung. He had previously hid it in the hotel room safe together with the Golden Sword Throne out of worry that it may be destroyed.


    "What''s happening? Why has no sound came from outside?" The old gentleman asked, confused.


    "Not sure, but let''s not go out yet." Garen shook his head, "If it was safe to go out, someone would have come looking for us."


    "You look pretty composed. Not bad. After all this is over, I''ll let you have some of my wines I''d just gotten from Tina''s Winery." Not one scent of worry was seen on the old man''s face.


    Bam!


    Before he could finish, the entrance door as well as the wall around it was blasted open by an invisible force, revealing the situation from outside.

 192 Argent Mirror 4

    Chapter 192: Argent Mirror 4


    Everyone inside the expo hall buried their heads. Only after the smoke and dust had cleared, then people were able to start making out the situation inside the hall.


    A white haired man with a long red sword was walking towards the hall, and in front of him was a brown haired girl struggling to get up on her feet amidst the rubble.


    Obviously the main entrance wall was blown open by this girl just now.


    What was even more shocking was how the hall was now littered with heavily injured or comatose people. Corpses and limbs were also all over the place. Amongst them there were some Argentists and some folks of unknown origins. The floor was filled with shrapnel and bullet marks, the air was thick with the scent of gunpowder.


    The crowd in the hall suddenly turned into a mess as some tried to run through the exit formed by the explosion early, but were quickly shot to death by a quick succession of silenced bullets.


    "Ish¡­.looks like our drinks tonight will have to wait another day," the old man took a deep breath and mumbled under his breath.


    "Didn¡¯t you say to trust the government?"


    Garen asked bemusedly.


    "That belief depends on situation," The old man balked at Garen talking back at him,"you little one, later just watch out and follow me. We must find a way outta here, this place is too dangerous! Damnit, why did this have to happen on my rare day off?! What shit luck do I have to deserve this!"


    The girl called Ophany squatted by the side, upon hearing the two of them joking about in a situation like this, her heart started to calm down.


    The crowd now all stared at Flamingo, nobody dared to raise their voice or breathe too loudly in fear of attracting his attention.


    While Garen was talking to the old man earlier, Flamingo had easily killed two assassins who attempted to attack him, all while casually blocking a rain of bullets.


    Through all of this, his steps never changed, he continued walking towards the girl.


    Four old men¡¯s bodies were covered in blood, two of them had their heads and bodies in separate spots, while the other two were heavily injured.


    Flamingo looked at everyone in the room calmly. Not too far away, a few police cars started to stop around the perimeter, but none of the policemen who got off dared to come close. With Flamingo as the epicenter, nobody dared to walk to close to him within a hundred meter radius, and nobody could leave either. It was as if an invisible force field had covered this entire area.


    "What a pity. Is this your surprise for me? By suppressing my blood¡¯s power?" Flamingo said plainly,"in my eyes, you are all like worthless trash. Nothing but stronger ants."


    Julie struggled to get up.


    The monster in front of her had gotten stronger again. Compared to the time they fought in the Water City Moyako, Flamingo¡¯s sword was now at least twice as tough as his last one. It was even able to slice through her telekenisis abilities.


    "You still talk a lot of crap, when all you want is to just show off how powerful you are." As she spoke, blood flowed out from her mouth, making her look incredibly miserable.


    "We¡¯re done, we¡¯re so done. The more we know the more likely we¡¯re going to be killed," the old man¡¯s face started turning bitter, even his bodyguards were starting to lose their cool.


    "Boss, isn¡¯t that a little un-auspicious to say?" one of his bodyguards asked.


    "We¡¯re about to die, screw being auspicious!" the old man¡¯s face scrunched up.


    "We can¡¯t be sure, who knows maybe he¡¯s a good guy, and it¡¯s because of what happened that¡¯s why he did what he did," Garen interjected.


    "Does his face look like a good guy to you?!" the old man was dumbfounded.


    "Well, I know that you shouldn¡¯t judge a book by its cover."


    Garen suddenly smiled softly like he just noticed something, he reached out his right hand softly and his skin was glowing a soft white gold.


    "Excuse me, I need to go now, I have something to do."


    The old man and Ophany looked at Garen stunned, especially the old man who was still dumbfounded, he opened his mouth like he wanted to say something.


    Ding!!


    Suddenly a loud ring echoed from a distance.


    In a split second, Garen disappeared from where he stood and turned into a shadow, alongside two other mysterious white shadows, they all dashed towards Flamingo.


    The three shadows appeared almost at the same time in front of Flamingo. Boom!! A big ball of fire exploded from Flamingo¡¯s body.


    "You lot!!!" in the explosion, one could hear Flamingo angrily yelling.


    The three shadows dispersed and stood in a circle around Flamingo, turning into three humanforms. Turns out it was the King of Nightmares Stephen, Andrela and Garen.


    The three of them had completely surrounded Flamingo.


    The King of Nightmares excitedly licked the dagger in his hand.


    "Since you¡¯re out, don¡¯t go back."


    "It¡¯s you!" Flamingo¡¯s pupils shrank, like he recognised the King of Nightmares. Right now, Flamingo¡¯s left arm hung limp on the side of his body, seemingly broken after the initial hit.


    "If I want to leave, none of you can stop me!" Flamingo did not spare any more chatter, and dashed backwards in retreat, in the direction of Garen.


    "Divine Statue, Thunder Sprint!"


    One of Garen¡¯s hands expanded and turned into a greenish black colour, swinging directly in the direction of Flamingo.


    Boom!!


    His palm and Flamingo¡¯s sword collided and burst into a ball of sparkles. Flamingo was pushed back by the impact, leaving behind two footprints dragged through the floor.


    At this point, nobody cared about the Argent Mirror anymore, everyone had their eyes on the four of them fighting in the middle.


    The King of Nightmares and Flamingo were having a arch nemesis reunion, their eyes were especially filled with anger towards each other.


    "You guys stay out of this, let me handle this alone!" Stephen raised his hand, indicating Garen and Andrela to stand their ground.


    "Go ahead," Garen shrugged.


    "Don¡¯t take too long," Andrela stood in attention, blocking one of Flamingo¡¯s potential escape routes.


    For someone as powerful as Flamingo, nobody could be sure how many secret techniques he had hidden under his sleeves. Folks like the King of Nightmares, Flamingo and Sylphalan had reached such a level that even if they fought each other, they would not be able to be completely sure that they could kill their opponents.


    To be able to defeat each other and killing each other were two distinctly different levels of difficulties. Just like the time when Flamingo teamed up with other skilled fighters to hunt and catch the King of Nightmares, while they were able to almost defeat him, a slight mistake still allowed him to break through and escape.


    Julie studied the arena and was stunned. Earlier she was struggling to even put up a fight against Flamingo, yet here he was being surrounded by these three bastards so easily. Looks like the trio had come just to hunt and kill Flamingo. They had all forgotten about her existence at this point.


    Killing Flamingo? An elder level member of the Immortal Palace Alliance?


    She couldn¡¯t make out their motivations, for the Immortal Palace Alliance were undefeated across the board, they ruled every land they stepped on, where did these people muster the stupid courage to even launch a hunt and kill operation against one of their elders?!


    Julie instinctively went towards her teacher for answers. On the wall, half lying down against the wall, was the old woman. Like Julie, the old woman was also at a loss of words. Evidently, nobody saw this coming. If they had known that someone was coming to kill Flamingo, they wouldn¡¯t have wasted their efforts on trying earlier.


    "Garen, are you sure you want to become an enemy of the Immortal Palace?" Flamingo was struggling to defend, and looked absolutely miserable as he yelled at Garen between punches.


    Garen¡¯s face was unfazed, like he hadn¡¯t heard him at all.


    "Garen?" the old woman¡¯s face suddenly turned into a shocked expression,"could it be¡­?" She started carefully studying Garen¡¯s face,"didn¡¯t the Old Man Gregor once say that he had no potential? How can this be?"


    "Teacher, can you tell the origins of these three people?" Julie ushered up to the side of the old woman and whispered.


    "I too, am unsure¡­."


    "Teacher didn¡¯t you once say that normal people would not be able to hold up against Telekenisis users like us? What¡¯s happening now then?" Julie was filled with questions.


    "I can¡¯t be wrong, these three people are so powerful, they must have some hidden talent!" the old woman was certain she¡¯d nailed it this time.


    Hidden talent her ass that is¡­.


    Julie was helpless. Her teachers had spent too much time locked within their own confines, even with the truth right in front of their eyes, they still deny it, believing that one can only become powerful if they possess the talent at birth.


    She saw that since amongst the original three elders, two were dead and one was injured, she was better off just standing where she was and observing the situation.


    The old man who was still crouched on the floor looked at Garen with an expression like he was constipated.


    "I actually discussed about antiquities for a half a day with a terrorist! I must be going mad!"


    Ophany on the other hand, showed no signs of distress of fear.


    "I feel that, that man is a not a bad man¡­"


    "You¡¯re still young, you still can¡¯t see pass their facades hiding their evil side." the old man shook his head in disagreement.


    "Boss, I think it is better if we retreat for now," one of the bodyguards carefully advised him.


    "I dare you to move, I bet in a split second you will find your brains hollowed by bullets if you even try!," the old man grunted.


    ****************************


    Garen stood alone in his part of the arena, occasionally blocking a stray shrapnel or two casually.


    The way the King of Nightmares fought Flamingo was different from usual, it seemed as if Flamingo had been downgraded to an amateur from a master. The way he was swinging his sword was like a young boy just learning about swordsmanship for the first time. The Sword of the Sprites in Flamingo¡¯s hand was twisting and turning, slicing nothing but air over and over again, like he was playing along in a play fight with Stephen.


    However, Garen could tell from Flamingo¡¯s strict face that he wasn¡¯t giving way, instead he was pushed to a really tough spot by his opponent.


    Unconsciously, Garen clenched his fists in pain. After blocking Flamingo¡¯s sword with his bare hands earlier, he seemed to have sustained some minor damage to his fist. If he was still using the Giant Mammoth Secret Technique from back then, even if he was at the peak of his Body Hardening Technique form, he probably would not stand a chance in a direct hit like that.


    "Oy, speed up! We¡¯re running out of time!" Garen nagged.


    The King of Nightmares did not respond, but he started speeding up his attacks.


    Stephen¡¯s body allowed him to attack from different angles as his arms could twist and turn like noodles. His eyes were even more mysterious, their beautiful blue hue were like the ocean, attracting the attention of anyone who looked at him, and subsequently distracting his opponents.


    Garen and Andrela stared at Flamingo attentively, anyone at Flamingo and Stephen¡¯s level would definitely possess an unusually resilient amount of life force. Especially some who has lived for so long, they must have a plethora of tricks to extend their own lives, should a small mistake be made, Flamingo could easily escape.


    Clang!


    Suddenly there was a loud noise, one of the stray gravel hit the metal box holding the Argent Mirror. An oval white and silver mirror slowly rolled out from inside the box.


    "The Argent Mirror!" the old woman beside Julie exclaimed,"Julie!"


    "Understood!" Julie¡¯s body bent in aggression and dashed towards the mirror immediately.

 193 Truth 1

    Chapter 193: Truth 1


    "Hmph!" Andrela scoffed, and turned into a shadow, appearing in front of Julie,"go away unless you want to die!"


    The Argent Mirror was one of the trio¡¯s objectives, he wasn¡¯t going to let anyone else get it.


    "The Argent Mirror is related to the Will of the Origin, if you acquire the secret technique in it you will also learn of the method to disassemble the Will of the Origin!" Julie explained hurriedly.


    "Will of the Origin? What¡¯s that?" Andrela asked with suspicion.


    "It¡¯s something evil and destructive. It can transform a person¡¯s mental willpower and enhance physical limits. I don¡¯t have time to explain. How about this, let¡¯s work together. You want the secret technique, I just want to disassemble the Will of the Origin, so we can team up. How¡¯s that?!" Julie answered rapidly.


    Andrela studied the girl¡¯s expression, and by the looks of the people behind her in such a dire situation, they had no reason to lie.


    "We will be in charge of keeping the mirror!" with a quick swing of the tip of his sword, he threw the Argent Mirror into the air and caught it with his other hand,"give me a means of contacting you."


    Julie hesitated.


    "Give it to him Julie!" the old woman yelled from behind her.


    "Fine," Julie revealed a red card and threw it at Andrela.


    Andrela caught it, and was about to respond before suddenly turning around and dashing towards Flamingo in distress.


    At the same time, Garen¡¯s calm expression dropped as well, he stomped his feet onto the ground and took off in the direction of Flamingo.


    Flamingo had turned mad of sorts, the Sword of the Sprites in his hand suddenly turned into a drizzle of red raindrops, pouring like a hurricane towards the King of Nightmares.


    What was even more mysterious was that the runes on the sword itself suddenly lit up in a blindingly bright red light.


    "Peacock!!" Flamingo jumped, and his body suddenly split up into three different shadows, each headed for one of the trio.


    Clang! Clang! Clang!


    The trio each took a step back, their bodies all hit by an unknown attack.


    The King of Nightmares scoffed coldly, and lifted up a single piece of rock with the tip of his leg, with a loud bang it shot towards seemingly empty air in the sky. Mid-air, it suddenly collided with something that turned out to be Flamingo who was moving so fast that he had turned invisible until he was hit by the rock.


    At the same time, Stephen snapped his fingers.


    Loud roars could be heard from around the perimeter, over a dozen smoking rockets suddenly flew towards Flamingo.


    Over a dozen shocked, but professional soldiers calmly lowered their rocket launchers, and proceeded to fire at Flamingo in frenzy with their sidearms.


    They were unfazed by Flamingo¡¯s aura of suppression at all!


    Rumble!!


    Suddenly there was a loud screech and rumble in the sky, a big ball of blinding yellow light shot through the sky. Along with it came a circle of white smoke that spread across the entire arena.


    Before that settled, an invisible pressure seemed to press down from the sky.


    Hum....


    The pressure spread about like invisible bubbles across the entire battlefield in the direction of the trio.


    The ground started shaking as well, causing the houses around to shake as well, the air twisted and turned, and even the fire was breaking and burning over and over again.


    Pow!


    Flamingo landed from the sky, and calmly knelt beside a silhouette that appeared out of nowhere.


    The silhouette was wearing a black cloak, he slowly lifted up his head, pulling off his cloak¡¯s hood to look at Garen.


    "Long time no see, Garen."


    "Sylphalan... you actually showed up."


    Garen stood silently in the middle of the chaos that was erupting, looking at the cloaked man with a plain expression.


    Garen slowly lifted up his arms.


    Rumble!!


    An aura as large and powerful as the pressure that had struck started spreading as well.


    With him as the epicenter, everything within a radius of a hundred meters was now covered in wild winds in the color of white gold. The white gold air flowed around furiously, before gathering into a giant upper body humanoid that looked just like Garen.


    This monstrous giant was made out of white gold, it had a height of tens of meters, so tall that its shadow alone covered over half of the arena. The aura formed giant looked like an exact copy of Garen¡¯s upper body, it looked down on the crowd below with eyes that were filled with black space and infinite stars.


    "Heh, heh. This is good, each of us gets one to fight." A slim man with a black beard jumped down from the upper floor. With a loud crash, he landed on the ground; as he landed, he emited a blue aura around him that formed an opaque mermaid that stood meekly between Garen and Sylphalan¡¯s.


    Boom!! Boom!! Boom!!


    Multiple blasts of mental blows reverberated in everyone¡¯s head.


    Behind Garen, Andrela and the King of Nightmares had respectively formed their auras. At the same time, Flamingo released his massive red peacock aura again.


    With Sylphalan and Garen at the heart of it all, an invisible aura faced a white gold half humanoid. Further away from them were the four smaller, and varying colored, smaller auras.


    At this moment, no matter how little Andrela and the King of Nightmares wanted to admit, or how little Flamingo and Griffith understood, everyone had to admit that in this arena, only Garen was capable of fighting Sylphalan.


    Regardless of the outcome, the both of them were on the same level now. This was proven simply by the sheer scale and force of both their auras, this was made out of pure energy, not just mental strength.


    At this point, everyone that wasn¡¯t a high level martial arts practitioner such as the pedestrians and policemen around the area, were all starting to get knocked out by the sheer force of the auras enveloping the atmosphere.


    Only those who stood further away from the actual battle could roughly make out what was going on in the expo hall.


    While normal people couldn¡¯t see the aura forms, they were still intimidated by the way the six of them stood facing each other. The tension alone was a clear enough indication of the impending dangers.


    The passed out policemen and onlookers were good enough evidence that this was beyond their logical comprehension.


    In the hall, the old man looked at Garen and the lot afar with a perplexed face.


    "Fuck me, could this be¡­.the legendary...subsonic boom attack?! This is too much! Where is the government? Where is our beloved government? In this key moment why isn¡¯t my dear government coming out to save the world?!" he was starting to utter gibberish,"just a quick shiver, and everyone around us has fallen, is this also the mythical Tiger Body Shake? The air of a king?!"


    "What is this so-called Tiger Body Shake?" Ophany asked innocently.


    "Small children who don¡¯t know anything shouldn¡¯t ask stupid questions!" the old man felt light headed now,"No, no, no, I must stay calm," he used all of his might to shut his eyes, and rubbed his temples in hopes of calming himself down.


    Very rapidly, he led his small group of bodyguards and Ophany to hide in an even more obscure spot away from the epicenter of the battle. As the old man stared at Garen and the black cloaked man, he knew just how much danger they were all in; he was only joking in hopes of relieving the fears of the people around him.


    The university student Ophany didn¡¯t seem to be aware of how thick of a situation she was in,"Old Sir, I think we should try to sneak out of here!" she whispered.


    "It¡¯s no use, if we touch whatever¡¯s covering this place, we will fall and die." the old man said as he pointed to a seven or eight people who had fallen without a sound while trying to sneak out of the area.


    Ophany felt a chill run down her spine.


    At this time, the old lady and Julie¡¯s group had all moved to a corner to rest. The two old man whose heads and bodies had been separated also had their parts moved to a corner by Julie.


    Studying the monstrous energy facing each other in front of her, the old lady¡¯s face started to lose colour.


    "It¡¯s him...Sylphalan...he has finally come. Julie, if you see an opportunity you must help Garen! Who knew that the seed planted by Gregor so many years ago would grow into such a powerful being today." her gaze turned to Garen, while she was still hesitant, she couldn¡¯t help but admire him,"what a pity. If Gregor was still alive today, he would be so proud and relieved to see how powerful this one has become."


    "Teacher¡­" Julie¡¯s face was red,"if I go, what will become of you all?"


    "Don¡¯t bother with us! None of us know for sure what that madman will do. If they start fighting you must try to help Garen whenever he needs it. He¡¯s the one whose skin just turned into white gold!" the old woman desperately explained.


    Julie clenched her teeth, seeing how serious her teachers were about this, she forcibly nodded.


    The powerful auras were still facing off each other, pushing against each other ever so slightly, stirring up a mental hurricane between the streets and the hall.


    Garen raised his right arm with its palm facing upwards. He lightly clenched the air. Boom! A bubble of white air blew up in his hands.


    "I¡¯ve finally caught you¡­" his whole body was like it had been dyed, as it glowed in white gold color,"this time, I will avenge the Elder properly."


    Sylphalan was shocked to see their auras facing off each other as equals as he looked up at them,"I haven¡¯t seen you in a while, and you¡¯ve already grown to this level. I must say I do regret not killing you, but just a bit."


    "You sure you can kill me?" Garen scoffed. He swung his arms about casually, as he did so, the Divine Statue behind him too followed suit in his actions,"today, we will settle all our scores once and for all!"


    Garen lifted up his right hand, aimed it at Sylphalan¡¯s group and made for a grab.


    Boom!!!


    A circle of shapeless aura exploded on the spot where Sylphalan stood.


    "Let¡¯s go!"


    The three villains jumped up in response, avoiding the explosion by flying in the opposite direction.


    "Trying to run?" Garen reached his hand out again and aimed at the three of them, forcing them to disperse with another grab.


    Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!


    Like grabbing insects out of the sky, the giant Divine Statue kept going after Sylphalan and his two followers¡¯ shadows.


    "Attack!" Andrela bellowed, and dashed out with the King of Nightmares.


    A black cross sword flew towards Griffith.


    At the same time, the King of Nightmares casually, and soundlessly appeared in front of Flamingo.


    "This is not a good place to fight," Flamingo commented coldly, as he looked up at the massive Divine Statue.


    "I don¡¯t think so," the King of Nightmares swung his arm, releasing millions of paper shreds. The shreds were like snow, floating across the sky in a beautiful dance, causing Flamingo to go into a daze.


    Both Andrela and Stephen each caught up with their opponents and flew away to fight them respectively.


    Leaving behind only Garen to face Sylphalan alone.

 194 Truth 2

    Chapter 194: Truth 2


    Garen stood on the same spot, his right arm reaching out over and over again in the direction of Sylphalan. However, they were all only catching air as Sylphalan skillfully evaded them.


    "You planning to wear me out? But you have grossly miscalculated!" Garen smiled coldly. The strongest part of the Divine Statue Technique was in its ability to defend and heal. At the rate that Garen was healing, he could easily go on for dozens more hours.


    Sylphalan took a backflip, and landed gracefully atop a lamp post.


    "It¡¯s like¡­." he mumbled under his breath while looking at Garen, his eyes revealing an inner mix of loss and struggle,"it¡¯s really like¡­.."


    "You can run pretty fast!" Garen was still now. He knew that if Sylphalan was not willing to fight him, he couldn¡¯t force him into it either. At this point, both of them were tough characters that were near impossible to kill. Just like Duskdune Shura, even if one of them were to sustain heavy injuries, they could still confidently pull out. All masters of combat have a secret trick under their sleeves for the express purpose of escaping let alone that this was Sylphalan we were talking about.


    "No¡­" Sylphalan seemed to think of something, his expression changed suddenly,"you¡¯re not like older brother, you ended up on my path?" he suddenly started laughing like a madman,"Truly! Truly I am the only one who is right!"


    "Only I am right!"


    "Only me!¡¯


    Sylphalan suddenly pulled back his invisible aura, and did an elaborate backflip flying towards the buildings behind him. With each step pushing off a building after another, he sped off in lightning speed so fast that even Garen couldn¡¯t make chase. With the blink of an eye, Sylphalan was gone, only the distant silhouette of his body hopping between building erratically visible.


    Garen looked at Sylphalan from afar, feeling a little pissed off. For a moment he thought he had Sylphalan, but the next he was gone. While he had managed to acquire the Argent Mirror, this but only his secondary objective.


    He raised his hand casually, the white gold Divine Statue melted into golden fog and disappeared. Compared to the Giant Mammoth, the Divine Statue was at least twice more powerful.


    Afterall, the Divine Statue technique was based off the Golden Statue sect, which once stood toe to toe against the Crimson Sand Sword Gate at its peak.


    Not far away, there was a rumble, and in the midst of a massive explosion a red shadow appeared. Boom! There were sounds of glass shattering as the red shadow dashed through a few buildings and escaped.


    The King of Nightmares tried to make chase, but still lost Flamingo.


    "Damnit! He ran away!"


    At the same time, Andrela appeared with a bitter face and a broken sword.


    "I almost didn¡¯t make it, thank heavens that guy ran away."


    "Who knew that even with the three of us combined we still can¡¯t match the Immortal Palace," Stephen looked defeatist,"if only Palosa was here¡­"


    "Stop overthinking," Garen took a deep breath and tried to loosen up himself,"Palosa wasn¡¯t here, the Immortal Palace also didn¡¯t all show up. It¡¯s too early to call the results. However all in all, we are definitely at a disadvantage against them."


    "This is so underwhelming!" The King of Nightmares started cleaning up his wounds, apparently in that short fight he had been stabbed by Flamingo in his chest once. From the looks of his face, it wasn¡¯t a small wound.


    Garen also now understood that if all of them were pit head to head, they were definitely still not a match against the Immortal Palace. If today had been their final fight, even if they managed to shave the Immortal Palace by one or two members, they would do so at a hefty price. Perhaps they might¡¯ve even all died.


    This newly formed troop was simply too weak.


    "Masters of combat at this level all have their own tricks to stay alive. Defeating them is easy, but to kill them entirely is next to impossible unless they¡¯re suicidal." Andrela shook his head,"now we have the mirror, the Confederation is probably sending troops over now. We ought to leave."


    The other two nodded, and the three of them leaped together in an instance, disappearing into the distance as three shadows.


    "We should retreat too." the Old Woman clenched her teeth and bellowed as soon as Garen left. Julie helped the Old Lady up, and with the bodies of their dead comrades in hand, they disappeared into the shadows as well.


    The remainder of people also started leaving.


    At the corner of the hall, between the rubble of what used to be some pillars and statues, a man emerged from the dust looking horribly miserable.


    With a body full of ash, and both arms visibly broken, it was the Bishop of the Argentists.


    "I can¡¯t believe that I, the great Bishop of the Argentists, would see the day where I had to act dead in order to survive!"


    A few moments later, the Black Snake couple emerged as well.


    "Aren¡¯t we the same as well? Once we realized we couldn¡¯t put up a fight we had to hide too!" the female Black Snake said,"if you¡¯re so cocky, why don¡¯t you bring the fight to them then!"


    At this point, both sides had lost all intent on fighting each other after seeing what had transpired earlier. In retrospect, their abilities were just like how Flamingo put it: nothing but stronger ants.


    "It¡¯s just a stupid mirror, yet it attracted so many insane characters. Heck, even the Immortal Palace showed up!" the male Black Snake frowned as he studied the hall, seemingly in deep thought.


    "What¡¯s on your mind?" the female Black Snake looked at her man.


    "No..nothing."


    *************************************


    In an open field, not too far away from the hall.


    Beside an abandoned dirt road, stopped a black truck.


    With a loud "KA CHA" the door swung open, out came Andrela, Garen and the King of Nightmares.


    Andrela leaned against the door of the truck and swung out an oval white silver mirror.


    "This is the Argent Mirror, it is also the Mirror of Secret Texts. Stephen, you should know how to use it right?"


    He looked at the King of Nightmares.


    Stephen nodded,"Of course. I¡¯m still disappointed that I wasn¡¯t able to severely injure Flamingo. Who knew that he wouldn¡¯t even properly fight us, and just run away in the end!"


    The King of Nightmares took the mirror over and studied its detailed carvings carefully.


    "To unlock it will take some time. Before that happens, perhaps we can go take a look at that group that popped out of nowhere opposing Flamingo?"


    "That old woman seemed to know me," Garen frowned, he reached out to take the mirror from Stephen¡¯s hands. He couldn¡¯t sense any hidden potential, which meant that item wasn¡¯t one of those cursed antiquities.


    As he studied the mirror, he seemed to hesitate.


    "Those folks said that there¡¯s something about the Will of the Origin in here? What¡¯s that?"


    "I¡¯ve never heard of anything like that before," Andrela shook his head.


    Even Stephen was baffled,"that¡¯s why I said we should pay them a visit, they probably know more about this than we do."


    Garen touched the pendant on his chest, it was starting to heat up again. It was heating up irregularly a lot lately for reasons unknown,"Do we have a means of contacting them?"


    "It says so on the card."


    Stephen took the mirror over again and studied it,"if we translate the runes and carvings on the mirror, it seems to say that the Hidden Text inside the mirror is a record for a secret sealing technique. It can seal up energy accumulated over time and convert it into a deadly blow when needed. However according to intelligence reports, the Immortal Palace found something similar once too, but I¡¯ve never heard anything about a Will of the Origin."


    "I think I might have an inkling of who that old woman is¡­." Garen finally found a piece of memory from a distant past that matched the face.


    In the old man¡¯s dolphin antique shop, he seen a woman bearing a similar face enter the shop.


    He suddenly had a feeling that he was about find out where Sylphalan was very soon.


    *************************************


    In the night.


    Following the address given by Julie, the trio quickly arrived at a small jungle by the suburbs.


    In the middle of the jungle was a dried out well, this was the entrance as told in the card.


    The three of them hesitated, but they could see some light coming from the end of the well. A man in black overalls climbed out from beneath.


    "Please follow me. The teacher awaits you below," the young man greeted the trio respectfully.


    The trio could feel that a lot was happening underground, they could even hear the occasional music reverberating from the well.


    Following the young man, they took turns climbing into the well, then climbing into a corridor just about the height of a grown man by the left of the well. The corridor quickly opened up to a spacious rock basement.


    The walls were made out of rectangular stone bricks that looked pretty well aged. By the corner was a black grand piano with a young girl in black clothes playing a tune on it.


    The girl, was Julie.


    The music started slowing down before coming to a halt as the trio entered the room.


    "Teacher, they are here," Julie stood up and spoke to the other corner of the room.


    It was only then that the Trio noticed that there was an old woman sitting on a black chair made out of ratan by the other corner. Her breath was almost silent, her presence invisible unless announced.


    This was the same old woman who sustained heavy injuries earlier in the day.


    "Something here makes me incredibly uncomfortable," the King of Nightmares frowned and sniffed with his nose before covering it with a white silk cloth.


    "You have really sharp senses," the old woman smiled and nodded,"I still haven¡¯t thanked the three of you for your heroic acts earlier today. Had it not been for the three of us, we probably would¡¯ve suffered severe losses."


    "You lost two of your elders, and that still isn¡¯t a severe loss?" Andrela asked rhetorically.


    "It¡¯s not," the old woman nodded,"the two of them were just telekinetic surrogates, their hosts have already started recovering in a secret location. It¡¯s just one severe injury, no big deal."


    "Telekinetic surrogates? One severe injury isn¡¯t a big deal?" Garen repeated her words,"looks like telekinesis is a lot more interesting than I thought."


    "Three of you, please sit and we¡¯ll talk."


    The old woman served up three cups of coffee.

 195 Truth 3

    Chapter 195: Truth 3


    A few people sat in the rock basement. The King of Nightmares refused a chair by himself and instead went over to squeeze onto the same seat with Andrela. While they were both expressionless, one could easily sense the intimacy between the two.


    He realized that everyone was puzzled, so he reached his hand to his face in a massaging gesture and very soon, a thin piece of human skin mask was torn off his face, revealing a beautiful feminine face.


    He had suddenly went from a moustached gentleman, to a stunningly beautiful flat chested young lady.


    Andrela reached his arm over around her waist, the two of them pecked each other like there was no one else in the room.


    "Alright, let¡¯s get talking. I heard from Garen that you said you know him?"


    The old woman looked at Garen upon hearing this, and squinted her eyes at him.


    "The truth is, I do know him, Mr. Garen Lombard."


    She slowly lifted up the coffee and took a sip.


    "The reason I invited the three of you over, is because I have news about the Argent Mirror that I wish to inform you all about."


    The trio was silent, awaiting for her to continue.


    The old woman stopped for a moment, and introduced herself.


    "I am Zhaoxing Qin. Just like you guessed, I am from the east. My father and I are telekinetic experts from the east.


    As for telekinesis, it is the manipulation of reality with one¡¯s mind, it deals with the fundamental form of matter. To be able to wield it and master it, one must be one in a million possessing talents beyond logical comprehension."


    "I have heard before that superpowers around the world tried researching something like this. They wanted to activate some inert human potential or something," the King of Nightmares said softly. At this point her voice was clear and high pitched.


    "That was a long time ago, all they got out of it is a bunch of failures," Zhaoxing shook her head,"just as you¡¯ve seen, the Immortal Palace¡¯s elders: Flamingo, Sylphalan and all, are all masters in telekinesis. They were famous even at a young age, but as the years and decades passed they started to disappear into the shadows and eventually formed the Immortal Palace Alliance in hopes of absorbing the elites of every generation. However, nobody knows what their true intents are."


    "Famous since many years ago? How old is Sylphalan anyways?" Garen cut her short and asked.


    "He came here with my father, when my father arrived he was already 45 years old," Zhaoxing didn¡¯t answer his question directly.


    Garen frowned.


    "I need to know if you knew a man named Gregor, he used to run an antique shop. What¡¯s his relationship with Sylphalan.?"


    Zhaoxing wasn¡¯t surprised at all, it seemed like she was expecting Garen to ask that.


    "We will discuss that in private later. That is related to one¡¯s privacy, we can talk about the Argent Mirror first."


    he reached out her index finger and used it to draw a small circle in the air.


    An unknown invisible energy seemed to emanate in the air. From the mat on her knees, a thin thread floated up and started stitching itself in the air.


    In less than ten seconds, it had formed a perfect copy of the Argent Mirror.


    Andrela was shocked and sat stunned, squinting in disbelief.


    The King of Nightmares however was plain faced, obviously she had experienced supernatural phenomena like this before.


    As for Garen, he was totally unfazed.


    "This is the so called Argent Mirror, I¡¯ve made a copy to ease explanation." Zhaoxing looked at the copy in the air and sighed,"the Argent Mirror is a relic from ancient times designed for sealing. It is not a treasure, and it is definitely not a container of some secret technique. Instead¡­"


    She stopped for a second,"...it is a tool for sealing willpower."


    The trio was now incredibly engrossed.


    "In ancient times, there were many telekinesis experts. Some were good, some were bad. The Argent Mirror was made to seal off evil intent and the will of evil thoughts," Zhaoxing explained.


    "What would happen if it is unsealed?" Garen asked.


    "The evil intent and willpower will contaminate all living organisms within a one mile radius. The kind of thoughts and willpower stored within here can turn a normal man into a ruthless dictator, wielding absolute power but also insatiable greed for power and blood. A man contaminated by the Argent Mirror¡¯s unsealed intent can only be killed, and not defeated," Zhaoxing sighed again."the evil intent within is ranked according to different levels, the highest of which we¡¯ve named the Will of the Origin. Aside from that particular one, there are also the evil intents of many powerful telekinetic wielders from the past. Their greed, lust, and ruthlessness, even their perverted interests are stored inside. Should it be unsealed, the potential for harm is exponential!"


    "We can¡¯t just trust what you say at face value. For what it¡¯s worth, the Immortal Palace really wants this mirror. I refuse to believe that they¡¯re unaware of its secrets, in fact they might be after exactly that" Andrela shook his head.


    Zhaoxing lightly poked the copy in the air, and the mirror suddenly broke into many pieces, revealing a small ball in its heart.


    "The Immortal Palace Alliance is a bunch of madmen. They¡¯re hell bent on pursuing the path of the Blood Warriors. In pursuit of immortality, they¡¯ve spent billions of dollars and years on research. However the Blood Warriors have all disappeared in the last era. In the last era, the Blood Warriors were defeated by other practitioners, and the battle of which they lost were recorded as myths and legends in our culture."


    Zhaoxing pointed at the small ball floating mid air and said,"but I¡¯ve digressed. Now back to this ball, this is the heart of the Argent Mirror. It contains an extraordinary amount of contamination potential. If it were completely unsealed, it will affect the thoughts of organisms far and wide. The Immortal Palace plans to allow one man to control and absorb this thing."


    "What¡¯s the benefit in doing so?" Garen looked at Zhaoxing.


    "The evil intent and memories of hundreds of incredibly power people are stored inside. If the person who absorbs it is able to put up with the immense stress, he will receive the experience of some of the greatest fighters of our time. He would even know how they trained, what they trained, where they kept their money, with all that he who absorbs it will have access to an unspeakable amount of power and influence. However, whoever tries to do so will surely lose their mind and also according to legends, he would have also lose a great amount of his potential and life. On a good day he will live on with just schizophrenia, on a severe hit something called a Time Scar could even appear on the user¡¯s body. The Time Scar will show the remainder of one¡¯s life, and the amount will definitely be a staggeringly low amount." Zhaoxing explained seriously.


    "From what we know, Sylphalan already absorbed one of the Argent Mirrors about half a year ago."


    "As long as one absorbs it, one will get schizophrenia?" the King of Nightmares asked curiously.


    "This is definite. Whoever uses the Argent Mirror, regardless of their personal willpower, or how powerful their base is, they will all suffer from permanent brain damage and thus schizophrenia. Some even turn into a different person altogether, like their own personality¡¯s been completely drowned by the Argent Mirror." Zhaoxing replied definitively.


    "That¡¯s a pity, I was going to ask you to let me try it," the King of Nightmares was visibly disappointed,"but screw it, I¡¯d rather not turn into a schizo."


    "Sadly, only masters in telekinesis are able to absorb the Argent Mirror. Perhaps the three of you might possess some hidden talent that I could help activate?" Zhaoxing shook her head.


    She looked at the trio sitting before her.


    "To be honest, I asked you three to come here in hopes of convincing you not to unseal the Argent Mirror."


    "We took the mirror with the sole purpose of discovering the ancient secret technique, and now you want us to give it up? Do you actually think that¡¯s possible?" Andrela smiled.


    "I know this might be asking too much, but this is relative to the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, maybe even millions across the planet. If just a thousand people are contaminated by the fact that you unsealed that mirror, their ill intent paired with the experience of the evil within, they will definitely take over the whole planet."


    "This means if we want to unseal it we should do in a place where there is nobody?" Garen frowned.


    "It¡¯s useless, without an organism as a bearer¡­" Zhaoxing didn¡¯t even finish before Garen cut her off.


    "What if I found a butchery then?"


    "Oh..a living organism which is too low levelled will just expand and die, their pre-death struggles will just further enhance the evil intents inside the Argent Mirror. If it were so easy, I would¡¯ve gotten rid of it long ago." Zhaoxing replied.


    "It sure is a fuss," Garen nodded,"what if we took used prisoners then? Criminals on the verge of their death, instead of executing them we will just expose them to the Argent Mirror¡¯s ill intent and then kill them after."


    "If that¡¯s the case, you will need to kill way too many people¡­" Zhaoxing squinted.


    "But there is a chance of success right?" Garen squinted back at her and sat up straight,"this sounds like a potential plan. So how many criminals will we need?"


    "That¡¯ll depend on how powerful the Will of the Origin in this mirror is," Zhaoxing did some conservative calculations and was suddenly stunned,"...at least ten thousand people¡­"


    Julie who stood at the side turned pale, visibly shocked as well.


    "Let me settle it," the King of Nightmares snapped her finger,"I¡¯ll make up some cover story about some chemical fallout. It will be easy. But of course this is all taking into account that what you¡¯ve told us so far is the truth."


    Her words sent shivers down every body¡¯s spine. The way she held so little regard for human life made it no wonder why governments around the world treated them like terrorists.


    "I have no reason to lie to you. Plus, you¡¯re the ones who came up with this plan," Zhaoxing shook her head.


    "Let¡¯s set this aside for now. The Argent Mirror stays with us, as long as we don¡¯t unseal it we will be fine," Garen rose his hand to stop this topic,"that¡¯s it for the mirror, we will continue after we have validated your words. For now, we need to talk about my personal issues."

 196 Truth 4

    Chapter 196: Truth 4


    "Alright," Zhaoxing nodded, and looked at Garen,"follow me. Julie, please take care of our two guests."


    "Yes teacher."


    Zhaoxing stood up and headed towards a wall on the right side of the room. The wall suddenly rose up and revealed a stone door.


    Garen followed closely as they went in one after another.


    The door closed behind him, Garen was now in a quaint study room.


    A few ash white shelves sat in a corner, while some small tables paired with black sofas and yellow lights on the wall. It was a simply furnished room.


    "Sylphalan plans to head east. He knows you¡¯re looking for him, so perhaps he¡¯s running away from you, or maybe he has other plans, but he is already preparing a boat. Him running away from you today was not a coincidence."


    Zhaoxing said that once they got in.


    "What¡¯s your relationship with the old man Gregor?" Garen asked.


    "My mother is Sylphalan and Gregor¡¯s sister. The three of them were perfect siblings until one day my mom died in an accident trying to save Gregor." Zhaoxing casually turned on a gas light on the small table, illuminating her¡¯s and Garen¡¯s face with a flickering yellow light.


    "Sylphalan believed that it was all Gregor¡¯s fault, so they fell apart. At that time, Gregor was incredibly handsome and very powerful. His position among telekinetic practitioners was just like the position of the Immortal Palace Alliance today. Sylphalan couldn¡¯t fight him, so he distanced himself," Zhaoxing sighed,"Sylphalan seemed to have some sort of perverted affection towards my mother. Since the accident he started relentlessly pursuing greater and greater power in hopes of challenging Gregor one day. Finally, in the end, he killed Gregor."


    Garen could sense that there was more to this, but the general summary seemed to be true.


    "Sylphalan once had the opportunity to kill me, but he let me go, why?"


    "He only has two lifelong objectives, one is to kill Gregor for revenge, and the other is to revive my mother," Zhaoxing said softly,"his relationship with Gregor was complicated. Everything he knew, he learned it from Gregor. Gregor was more than just his brother, he was his teacher. You are Gregor¡¯s heir, so I believe he spared you for the sake of Gregor."


    Zhaoxing shooked her head.


    "Actually, Sylphalan went mad many years ago."


    "I can see that," Garen nodded,"his mental state surely isn¡¯t normal right now."


    "So what is your objective?" Zhaoxing looked at Garen,"find Sylphalan and avenge Gregor?"


    Garen sat down and cupped his face in his hands, he couldn¡¯t come up with a response.


    After a long silence, he finally spoke.


    "Sylphalan killed Gregor, he also almost killed me once. I will find him, and I will kill him. This is my objective."


    "Aren¡¯t you interested to know if Sylphalan found the path of the Blood Warriors?"


    "Do you know?" Garen laughed,"I don¡¯t know anything about what you people call telekinesis. Even if he finds it, it has nothing to do with me, I¡¯m not one of you."


    "As someone who is able to achieve this level of power at such a young age, the three of you aren¡¯t just ordinary people. I trust my guts, mere mortals would not possess talent like yours," Zhaoxing said definitively,"well? Would you like to test it?"


    Garen hesitated.


    "Sure, but how?"


    "It¡¯s very simple," Zhaoxing walked to the front of one of the shelves and took out a few books, revealing a hidden compartment in the back. From the hidden compartment she took out one thick book.


    The book was covered in a black hardcover, and on the cover were some twisted text that Garen couldn¡¯t recognize.


    "This book.." Garen could however feel a sense of familiarity towards the book.


    "This is the book of potential I got from Gregor. This used to be his telekinetic tool, it carried the potential of his abilities within it. Now that he¡¯s dead, he mailed this to me before he died," Zhaoxing said,"open it, it will trigger the potential inside your body. The strength of your inert telekinetic abilities will be shown by how many words turn red as you open the book."


    "Turn red?" Garen took the book over and casually flipped a few pages. The words on the cover, the words on the page, all remained in their typical black ink.


    "Perhaps I¡¯ve gotten the wrong book," Zhaoxing stared at the pages, feeling something was off.


    "No, this is the right one," Garen disagreed,"I¡¯ve actually flipped this book before in Gregor¡¯s shop."


    "You¡¯ve flipped it before?" Zhaoxing was stunned, she checked the cover again and was certain that this was the book of potential.


    Her face started to turn displeased.


    "This can¡¯t be! How can someone like you acquire such great amount of power without any potential at a young age?! Keep flipping, maybe you need to do it longer."


    Garen shrugged, he couldn¡¯t understand why this old woman was so tense, it was just telekinetic energy, not like it was a big deal.


    "Alright, I¡¯ll keep flipping."


    As time passed in the study, there was only the sound of Garen occasionally turning pages.


    Zhaoxing¡¯s face also started turning more and more displeased. The excitement that was once in her eyes slowly faded away.


    "It¡¯s not that serious right?" Garen noticed her changing expression.


    "I shouldn¡¯t have had high expectations¡­" Zhaoxing sighed, her face seemingly turning older,"and there I thought our generation was saved. But all of it was just a dream."


    "Well, I just don¡¯t possess telekinetic potential, what¡¯s the big deal?" Garen frowned.


    "You don¡¯t understand. Gregor was the greatest master of our generation. He represents the continuity of our millennia of traditions and culture. But now, all this is for a naught, we will just die out¡­." Zhaoxing replied softly,"He gave you that book and that pendant. Only you have the right to inherit his abilities sealed within that book. Yet now, you don¡¯t just not have telekinetic potential, you can¡¯t even open the pendant¡­."


    "As I said, don¡¯t you think you¡¯re taking this whole thing a little too seriously?" Garen asked plainly.


    "Telekinesis is everything to us," Zhaoxing closed her eyes, and replied in immense sorrow.


    Garen slowly understood her perspective. Everyone has something that defines them in life, for this woman, it was the telekinetic culture.


    "Screw it, let¡¯s not talk about this for now," Zhaoxing opened her eyes, they were still filled with waves of tiredness,"now we can only rely on you, Garen. You are our last hope. You¡¯ve given us hope, even though you failed to live up to my expectations," she smiled bitterly.


    "Sylphalan seems to treat you like his enemy?" Garen asked,"he doesn¡¯t even care if you live or die, looks like he¡¯s just going to bulldoze over everything that comes in his way."


    What this meant was that Sylphalan never even treated Zhaoxing and group as enemies, they were merely like ants on the road that Sylphalan couldn¡¯t even be bothered to step on.


    That, was the truth.


    "While it sounds harsh, it is the truth," Zhaoxing nodded,"However i must ask you again. Garen, are you sure you want to completely settle your vendetta with Sylphalan?" her face suddenly turned serious.


    "Of course, that¡¯s the whole reason why I¡¯m here." Garen replied plainly,"I am different from the King of Nightmares and Andrela. This is the sole reason why I¡¯m here."


    The whole reason why Garen went on this quest to destroy Sylphalan was because of the fact that he killed Gregor, and almost killed him.


    Ever since he arrived on this world, he¡¯s had little close friends or relatives. If he were to rank them, the first would be his sister, the second would be Gregor and his teacher, his uncle, parents, then followed by Su Lin, Andrela and the rest. As for everyone else, he had known them for too brief a time to say much.


    "What do you mean by asking that?"


    Zhaoxing shook her head,"I just needed to be sure. The Immortal Palace¡¯s plans are way too elaborate, should you choose to pursue them, you must be prepared for the worst."


    "Do you hear what you¡¯re saying?" Garen stared at the old woman,"I don¡¯t think I can run into much danger given my abilities. Let it be Behemoth¡¯s Gate, or even the Immortal Palace, nothing can stand in my way. Heck they¡¯ll only serve to entertain my journey."


    Zhaoxing did not expect him to answer like that,"You are insane! Do you even realize how powerful Sylphalan is?! He even¡­"


    "You should have more faith in me." Garen smiled as he cut her off.


    "If you continue to be cocky like that, you will lose everything the next time you face the Immortal Palace!" Zhaoxing was visibly angry now.


    "I am not cocky, I am just confident about my own abilities." Garen shook his head.


    "This is cockiness! You aren¡¯t even certain of how powerful Sylphalan is, and yet you dare talk about him so lightly!"


    "I told you, I am not cocky," Garen frowned,"Nevermind, I shan¡¯t waste my time on pointless arguments like this with you."


    "You have no potential, you can¡¯t possibly fight Sylphalan! Today he was not being serious but if he goes into his full form¡­" Zhaoxing couldn¡¯t help but shiver for a bit, like she was recalling some brutal scene.


    Garen saw the woman who was scared out of her mind before him, and was at a loss for words to comfort her. He had to respect her still, after all she is a relative of the late Gregor, and an elder.


    "For his next step, Sylphalan is going to travel somewhere at a specific time, not sure if he¡¯s running away from you or he¡¯s planned this all along. If you are as powerful as you claim to be, then go ahead!"


    "Where and when?"

 197 Absorption 1

    Chapter 197: Absorption 1


    "The ancient ruins on the Smoke Island in the Harp Sea are the largest ancient ruins that have been discovered to date. Only masters in telekinesis are able to accurately pinpoint the entrance of the island¡¯s ancient ruins." Zhaoxing Qin said. "Rumor says that visitors on the island have disappeared without a trace recently. I¡¯m guessing that thing has appeared again."


    "What on earth is that thing?" Garen furrowed his eyebrows.


    "The Black Smoke Pot. Legend says that it releases a black smoke that allows people to communicate with the dead. It is a relic left by the Ancient Endor civilization." Zhaoxing Qin looked at Garen, who seemed to want to ask something. "I know what you¡¯re thinking. The answer is, I don¡¯t know. There are a lot of Ancient Endor treasures but only a few of them had mystical effects. And even then, they are not reliable as the effect tends to fluctuate. Hence we are not sure if this Black Smoke Pot has such a mystical effect or not currently."


    "How sure are you that Sylphalan will definitely be there?" Garen questioned.


    "Definitely. He became strong because he wanted to resurrect my mother. There¡¯s nothing more useful for that than the Black Smoke Pot." Zhaoxing Qin replied.


    "Do you know when he will be there?" Garen asked again.


    "I¡¯m not sure about that. The entrance of ancient ruins on the Smoke Island can only be found during the night of a full moon, or it would be extremely difficult. The next full moon is about four months from now." Zhaoxing Qin explained. "The Smoke Island is located at the border of the Federation¡¯s sea. It¡¯s not that far, and if you¡¯re really set on going, I suggest you set off a month before the full moon rises."


    Garen understood very well that Zhaoxing Qin had no reason to bluff him. She had always been in the position of fighting against the Immortal Palace, as well as being in the position of the Old Man Gregor. Although she was not strong, she was very knowledgeable in the secrets buried by history.


    "I understand the overall situation. How do I get to Smoke Island?"


    "We can arrange the best boat for you if you depart from the Siberia Port. There are very little tourists there because the island is covered in mist most of the time. In addition to the rumor that the smoke on the island is poisonous, there are even less tourists once the mist is up. It¡¯s good timing for you to do your business there." Zhaoxing Qin gave Garen the gave she had directly to him as she knew that he had already decided to go, no matter what.


    "Alright, since we have more or less finished discussing, I should let my partners know of the matter as well." Garen stood up. "As allies who go against the Immortal palace, they will cover my back to ensure I¡¯m safe. Similarly, while I don¡¯t have the knowledge of telekinesis, it doesn¡¯t mean my allies are in the same shoe as I."


    "It was a memento from Gregor, which was a book that contained all of his telekinesis. Unlike the Eternal Starry Night Pendant that you¡¯re currently wearing, it has an amazing ability to repel anything except the memento. It was also an item that Sylphalan attempted to get his hands on. However, he doesn¡¯t really need this anymore since he had absorbed the Argent Mirror. Soon, I will pass this book to Julie and if possible, I hope you can take care of her."


    Garen softly touched the pendant in front of his chest and nodded.


    "I promise I will do everything within my power."


    Zhaoxing Qin nodded and finally gave a sigh of relief even though she still felt extremely disappointed and dejected.


    Both of them got up and left the stone chamber one after the other and went back into the stone room from before.


    Andrela, Julie and King of Nightmares were gathered around the charcoal fire, having a soft, casual conversation. It looked like they had gotten closer within this short time span.


    The three of them stopped the moment they saw Garen and Zhaoxing Qin came out of the chamber. Julie immediately stood up and looked at the book of potential which was in Zhaoxing Qin¡¯s hand skeptically. As if she immediately thought of something, the girl who was about to speak out held herself back.


    "I have performed my test towards Lord Garen and unfortunately, he doesn¡¯t have the talent in telekinesis.." Zhaoxing Qin said in a deep tone. "With the request from Garen, I hope I can test both of you. Are you guys¡­"


    "Of course. It¡¯s just what we wished for." Andrela and King of Nightmares replied in sync.


    Both of them seem to be very curious and excited about telekinesis.


    "Alright then. Who shall go first?"


    Andrela and King of Nightmares stared at each other and the latter pushed the former to the front.


    "I will go first then." Andrela smiled leisurely.


    After the simple explanation given by Zhaoxing Qin, with the same process as what Garen went through, he flipped the book softly as he took possession of the book of potential.


    Unfortunately, there was no trace of changes to the pages and cover of the book.


    Zhaoxing Qin shook her head.


    Andrela couldn¡¯t help but to feel disappointed.


    "Please pass the book to this lady."


    Andrela passed the book to the King of Nightmares. The latter took the book as she couldn¡¯t help herself but to reveal her excitement and interest on her white and tender face.


    As she grabbed hold of the book firmly and opened the first page.


    The wordings on the cover of the book of potential slowly became red, as if fresh blood had crept across the cover page¡¯s letters.


    At the same time, the first page of the book started to become red as well, just like a book written in red ink.


    "It¡¯s reacting!" Garen and Andrela were staring at the King of Nightmares.


    "Pale red, I see.. This level can be further categorised into three tiers." Zhaoxing Qin nodded. "Congrats miss, you indeed have the potential to learn telekinesis." Her reaction wasn¡¯t excited as if this was a very common thing.


    Judging the reactions from Julie and Zhaoxing Qin, the three of them knew that the King of Nightmare¡¯s potential in telekinesis was fairly common and standard.


    "Alright then. Miss, would you like to stay back and learn our style of the telekinesis battle strategy?" Zhaoxing Qin offered out of Garen¡¯s reputation. Increasing the King of Nightmare¡¯s strength meant that she was increasing the strength of the enemy of Immortal Palace. Furthermore, she was Garen¡¯s ally.


    "Battle strategy? Of course I¡¯m very interested." The King of Nightmares licked his fingers with a strange look in his eyes. Whenever she did that gesture, it meant that she had some troublesome idea in his mind.


    Andrela, who was off to the side, had a strong hunch. He remembered that the last time when he saw the King of Nightmares did the same gesture, he had been horrified that she attempted to transform into a man the next day and attacked him with all of her new techniques. He was so horrified that he didn¡¯t dare touch her for the next few months.


    "What are you planning to do this time?" Andrela quickly asked in panic.


    "To be honest, I want to know how it feels like to absorb to Argent Mirror, rather than learning the telekinesis battle strategy¡­" King of Nightmares started laughing softly.


    Zhaoxing Qin was not that surprised as she had already anticipated it.


    "It might be too much for you to absorb the Argent Mirror. It¡¯s a very dangerous thing to do."


    "It is also very exciting as well." The King of Nightmares continued. "Do you think I am able to?"


    "Yes. as long as you don¡¯t regret it, any person who has potential in telekinesis is able to absorb it." Zhaoxing Qin said coldly. "A lot of people have actually tried it and without any exception, they either fail mid way through or became crazy."


    She looked at the King of Nightmares coldly. "To be honest, your personality is very similar to of my mother, and hence I¡¯m not surprised that you have made such a decision. However we may require some time as absorbing the Argent Mirror requires a lot of preparation."


    "How much time do we need altogether?" The King of Nightmares whispered.


    "About three days. There are some materials required which we would need to obtain from an old friend of mine, who lived very far away. So this is the earliest we can manage. We also need some materials to isolate the Argent Mirror to prevent any pollution if it leaks." Zhaoxing Qin calmly explained. "The price of the material will be borne by you since we don¡¯t have any extra money laying around."


    "That¡¯s only natural." The King of Nightmares nodded in agreement.


    "What should we do then?" Andrela looked at Garen, who was supposed to be the leader of the team as he was the strongest.


    Garen shrugged his shoulders.


    "If possible, I hope to stay here and have a deeper understanding of the fighting style of a telekinesis master. We have too little knowledge about Sylphalan and his gang since they have yet to show their telekinesis to us yet."


    "I, too, think that to be advisable." Zhaoxing Qin nodded.


    **************


    Hence, for the next three days, Garen and his team decided to stay a hidden basement, secretly constructed from an entrance to a tomb.


    It was spacious; so spacious that it had more than ten rooms. The rooms were quite clean as well, a janitor having obviously made some rounds in this place.


    What was most surprising, however, was that this basement was connected to other basements, and there were outsiders who used these basements to deliver essential products and food to customers.


    The whole basement was like an underground kingdom, or an underground social circle. Garen and his team found out from a few people that these basements were like nodes connecting to other nodes, forming a complete, labyrinthine system.


    The two old men that the trio thought had killed visited them on the second day. They even provided some intel and news as thanksgiving. They thanked them for saving his life.


    It was just as Zhaoxing Qin had said, they were perfectly fine. However, they looked rather pale as if they had lost quite a lot of blood.


    When Andrela was bored, he followed Julie to a specially designed basement which contained an isolation field for training. The isolated field was a field created by telekinesis with a metal enhancement. It¡¯s hardness and toughness were well above all the metals on the surface. Andrela tried slicing it with his sword with all his might but there was only a fine scratch on its surface. This was nothing to a wall that was nearly half a meter thick.


    This made both of them able to train at ease.


    On the other hand, Garen had been studying extensively anything related to telekinesis, including the knowledge in advancing the telekinesis¡¯ strengths from the books. Although he didn¡¯t have the talent in telekinesis, that didn¡¯t stop him from obtaining knowledge.


    As a person who once lived on Earth, he knew very well the importance of information. It was much easier to deal with a dangerous situation or formidable enemy when one understood well the enemy¡¯s techniques and strengths, rather than not knowing what the future held.


    Three days passed in a blink of an eye, and the King of Nightmares had gathered all the necessary materials with his money. Together with Zhaoxing Qin, he had spent up to a few hundred million in Pi dollar. This wealth was equivalent to a billion RenMinBi on Earth where Garen once lived.


    With the cooperation of a few old men and Zhaoxing Qin, the ritual to absorb the Argent Mirror was finally finished.

 198 Absorption 2

    Chapter 198: Absorption 2


    Knock Knock Knock.


    Garen gently knocked on the brown wooden door in front of him before pushing the door open.


    Inside was a spacious, enclosed black stone chamber. The walls, ceiling and floors were all made out of black, reflective marbles.


    In the middle of the stone chamber, there was a blue, pentagonal pool filled with clear blue liquid.


    At the edge of the pool erect was black scepter with two hawk-like wings that spanned over two meters across. The construction of the wings was so detailed and clear that even the feathers were crafted.


    The design of the scepter was simple; the top of the scepter was shaped like a rounded diamond, the engraved musical notations largely faded due to wear.


    Garen walked past the pool and saw the King of Nightmares and Zhaoxing Qin, along with the two old, white haired men behind the scepter.


    Zhaoxing Qin was standing just behind the scepter with a black engraving knife on her hand engraving something onto the back of the scepter. She was so focused that she didn¡¯t seem to notice Garen¡¯s presence at all.


    After some amount of time had passed, Zhaoxing Qin finally stopped moving her hand and tiredly let out a sigh. It was only then that she looked up at Garen who was standing to the side.


    "You¡¯ve arrived?"


    "How is it? Is it finished?" Garen nodded.


    "Almost. A final step remains." Zhaoxing Qin placed the engraving knife down tiredly and shifted her focus onto the King of Nightmares. "When do you want to start?"


    "Anytime." The King of Nightmares replied with a smile. She had changed into Julie¡¯s attire, which was a T-shirt paired with a pair of jeans. Although there was nothing much going on on her chest, her body figure was still rather proportioned due to her small and exquisite size. She gave off a teenager¡¯s vibe instead even though she was in her thirties.


    "Then let¡¯s start straight away. The flow of the ritual depends entirely on you, as disturbing the ritual with an external force would be very difficult." one of the old white haired men replied from the side. "We can only help you set up the ritual and nothing else."


    "Isn¡¯t this better?" The King of Nightmares nodded satisfactorily. She took out the Argent Mirror from her jeans. "I just need to placed this on the scepter and jump into the pool. That¡¯s it right?"


    "Yes." Zhaoxing Qin nodded.


    "We shall head out first. The medicinal effect here is too strong."


    "Thank you for your help, both of you." Zhaoxing Qin politely thanked the elders.


    Both the old men bowed slightly before leaving the stone chamber.


    "Once you jump into the pool, open a slight wound on your eyebrow and the rest will follow suit." Zhaoxing Qin turned around and gave the simple piece of instruction to the King of Nightmares.


    Andrela and Julie, who had already received the news, came to see the ritual as well. They stood alongside the old men in the transparent stone chamber, which was next to the ritual chamber and looked into the ritual room through the glass panel.


    Both chambers were separated by a layer of telekinetically enhanced crystallized glass. It was purpose-crafted for this situation to ensure the safety of the observer outside. This chamber was originally used to conduct telekinesis experiments.


    They could clearly observe what was happening in the experiment room from the observation room. Furthermore, the enhanced crystallized glass panel was retardant to high temperature, erosion, frost, etc. Even hard-point metal was no match for it.


    This guaranteed the safety of the observer.


    "Alright. We should take our leave." Zhaoxing Qin started ushering the party out once the King of Nightmares was ready.


    Garen and the others went out, and he saw Andrela standing in front of the glass panel with a worried look on his face.


    "Why don¡¯t you stop her if you¡¯re worried."


    "Everyone has to be responsible for their own actions, her and I are no exception. We only depend on each other when we are lonely and we definitely won¡¯t allow our relationship to affect our decisions." Andrela calmly replied.


    "A very abstract answer." Garen replied. "I only know to achieve my objective. Taking care of other people¡¯s emotions has no important value to me."


    "You should be careful. Looks like the Divine Statue Technique has some side effects."Andrela squinted his eyes as he looked at Garen, as if he had noticed something.


    Garen was slightly stunned. He felt something was wrong when he spoke just now as it was not his usual style and personality.


    "I¡¯ll keep that in mind."


    The Divine Statue Technique was a top tier technique that no one had ever obtained before. No one knew the overall effect of this technique, even the inventor himself might only be able to manage a guess. Although its power was huge, the side effects had started to show itself.


    Garen could faintly feel his personality secretly starting to change. It was as if it was a direct effect of using the Divine Statue Technique, where he felt like a God, a being so high and above everyone that they would be as insignificant as ants to him.


    "Prepare to start." Bam, after the experiment room doors were shut, multiple metal rods thick as arms mercilessly sealed the door, accompanied by a series of mechanical whirs and knocks.


    Garen, who was standing beside Andrela, had snapped out from his thoughts and gazed into the experiment room.


    Zhaoxing Qin, Julie, and the two old helpers were monitoring the King of Nightmares closely.


    "Everyone listen up. Julie, I want you to be alert at all times. You will immediately release the sleeping gas and stop the experiment if you notice something amiss!"


    "Understood!" Julie nodded her head.


    Zhaoxing Qin gave the King of Nightmares the OK gesture as she looked into the experiment room.


    The King of Nightmares nodded his head and gave a sweet smile to Andrela as she looked at him, before hastily jumping into the blue liquid in front of her, which was about waist level deep.


    The King of Nightmares gently scratched her eyebrows with her thumb nail. Her nail was as sharp as a knife as it easily drew a thin wound across.


    She then immediately threw the Argent Mirror with one hand, which came to a stop hanging onto the scepter.


    With excitement and curiosity, the King of Nightmares dipped her whole body into the pool, up to the point where her wound was being covered by the blue liquid as well.


    Then, it was all silent.


    "It¡¯s starting." Zhaoxing Qin murmured.


    As she finished her sentence, a splash came from the pool all of the sudden and the King of Nightmare stood up and started to vibrate. At the same time the water from the pool started to vibrate as well as if there was an earthquake.


    However, even more curious was the faces of strangers flashing across the Argent Mirror¡¯s smooth surface, which sped past one after the other. It was as if a lot of people were taking turns using the mirror.


    Among the faces, expressions of pain, cold laughter, cruelty, anger. The only emotion that they lacked was one of calm and normalcy.


    Garen and the others who were standing outside of the room couldn¡¯t see or hear the situation inside. They only saw the King of Nightmares shutting her eyes tight as she frowned. It looked like she was in some sort of pain.


    "What¡¯s going on!?" Andrela couldn¡¯t help but ask. He clenched both of his fists tightly as he felt involuntarily nervous.


    "She¡¯s absorbing it." Zhaoxing Qin replied. "It has just begun. There¡¯s still a long way to go."


    Andrela felt assured the moment he saw Zhaoxing Qin¡¯s calm expression.


    Garen had been setting his eyes on the King of Nightmares as he continued monitoring her status. He had to be careful as the King of Nightmares was their main source of strength going against the Immortal Palace. She might also be the only one who was strong enough to go against the top master Flamingo.


    Time continued on its slow passage.


    An hour went by...


    Two hours went by...


    Three hours¡­ Four hours¡­


    After a full six and a half hours later.


    "There¡¯s a progress!!" Zhaoxing Qin shouted out of nowhere.


    Garen and the others immediately rushed towards the glass panel and looked at the King of Nightmares nervously.


    They saw King of Nightmares opened his eyes, covered in thin, sprawling blood vessels. The worm like blood vessels travelled from the pupil to the sclera, to the temple point and to her cheeks and even her neck.


    Hmph!!!


    A strange power suddenly diffused through the experiment room and rippled the blue liquid.


    "Attempting to suppress me? In your dreams!!" The King of Nightmares suddenly growled as the veins started to recede.


    It was at this moment that everyone noticed at some point, the faces in the Argent Mirror had disappeared and only one face remained.


    It was a face of a powerful man with eyebrows resembling knives. He had a black scar on his nose and his gaze was overflowing with confidence and violence. His hairs were short as nails.


    The man in the mirror opened his mouth and he seemed to be talking to the King of Nightmares. When he stared at the King of Nightmares, his gaze were so cruel that it felt like he was trying to squash an ant.


    "She has reached the final phase, which is to fight against the first generation¡¯s Argent Mirror holder." Zhaoxing Qin explained. "The first holder is the strongest in the Argent Mirror. This is universally known. They are also the only one qualified with the ability to restrain and capture evil telekinesis users. He is the person in charge of the Argent Mirror and at the same time has sealed his negativity into it as well. That man should be the strongest holder in the Argent Mirror!"


    "If she fails this phase, what will happen?" Garen asked.


    "She will be severely injured and at the same time, she will suffer psychological damage." Zhaoxing Qin answered in confidence.


    Andrela clenched his fist even tighter as he listened.


    Garen kept quiet as he looked at Andrela. After that, he shifted his attention back to the experiment room.


    The King of Nightmare¡¯s veins kept expanding and shrinking. This probably meant that she was fighting against the strongest holder of the Argent Mirror.


    "I feel like I have seen this man¡¯s drawing¡­" The old man suddenly said as he came forward. His face was so frozen that it was as if he thought of something very serious.


    "He¡¯s Ansheli! He is the evil empire Ansheli!!" The other old man continued the sentence. He looked like he was in disbelief and shock as if he just saw a ghost.

 199 Handling 1

    Chapter 199: Handling 1


    "The legendary emperor who ruled the ten countries for nine generations??!!" Zhaoxing Qin was stunned. "How is that possible!? That was just a legend!"


    "No. I¡¯m sure of it. It¡¯s definitely that man. I saw that his left ear had a ring gap!" The old man kept swallowing his saliva as he was too scared to look away from the Argent Mirror.


    "According to the legend, the Evil Emperor Anshela¡¯s left ear was wounded by a woman under orders. The wound was formed as she pierced his ears with all her might with a sword! I¡¯m very sure of it! It¡¯s definitely him!" The old man was about to panic. "Damn it! How could a legendary person actually exist!!?"


    "Maybe you¡¯ve mistaken him for someone else¡­" Zhaoxing Qin was very skeptical as she didn¡¯t believe that a legendary person would appear in the Argent Mirror.


    "Oh?" The deep toned voice of a man penetrated through the glass and entered the observer¡¯s ear. "There are still people who recognize me?"


    "Quick! Activate the sleeping gas!!" The old man quickly rushed towards the trigger on the right. "Stop the experiment now!! Now!!"


    "At this moment, Zhaoxing Qin and Julie sprang into action, the severity of the situation having dawned on them. As their faces went pale, the both of them rushed towards the trigger as well.


    Boom!!!!


    A telekinetic wave was as dark as ink exploded from within the experiment room. Zhaoxing Qin and Julie suffered were shellshocked from the explosion and dropped to the floor, having completely lost their sense of balance.


    "Hmph!" The man in the mirror gave a cold hmph as the King of Nightmares'' veins had started to travelled throughout her body from her head.


    Garen and Andrela had no idea what was going on at this point. A few seconds had passed as they saw Zhaoxing Qin and Julie collapsed to the ground.


    "What¡¯s going on?!" Andrela¡¯s raging aura started swelling up and held his sword by the waist with his right hand, preparing to attack at any given moment. They did not hear the old man¡¯s whispers, and were still in the dark even then.


    "Looks like the experiment has failed." Garen sighed. "Zhaoxing Qin, I don¡¯t care how you do it. Tell me what to do now!"


    "Stop¡­ Stop the experiment!!" Zhaoxing Qin¡¯s body was still numb from the shock inflicted by the telekinesis. It felt like her organs had completely rearranged themselves inside her body.


    "Stop the experiment?" Garen started, his right fist.


    At this moment, the King of Nightmares, who was in the experiment room, jittered her body and all her veins disappeared in an instant. She seemed to have calmed down.


    Ah!!!!


    Suddenly, an ear-piercing scream erupted from the King of Nightmares. Within the shrill voice was the voice of another male, layered on top of hers.


    "I hadn¡¯t expected to be able to return to this world¡­"


    "Over my dead body!" The King of Nightmares raged as she shouted.


    "Now, this isn¡¯t your decision to make." The man started laughing.


    A force field started to engulf the whole experiment room.


    Boom!!


    The highly enhanced telekinetic crystallized glass was smashed into a million shards by Garen¡¯s fist. He then walked towards the King of Nightmares without any expression.


    "You!!" The King of Nightmares'' male voice seemed to be surprised as if she was about to speak out.


    Garen¡¯s right hand instantly flexed outward and he threw a punch with his golden white colored hand.


    Boom!


    Two fists collided into each other.


    Hmpf! The opponent cried out as she retreated back to the experiment room and immediately dashed sideways. Kaboom!! The wall behind her was punched through by Garen¡¯s fist.


    "Hah! Divine Statue - Thunder Sprint!!" Garen shouted as he raised his left hand. In an instant, his hand was glowing white in color as he attacked from a completely still posture and landed a punch of the King of Nightmares'' left shoulder.


    Another explosion was heard and the King of Nightmares was sent rolling on the ground and crashed into the wall. She screamed out of pain and collapsed to the ground.


    Garen walked towards her with his expanded, beast-like right arm which was at least half a meter thick. With this very arm, he grabbed the King of Nightmares by her hair and pulled her up.


    With a fist, Bam!


    The King of Nightmares'' body arced.


    "No!!! I don¡¯t want to return!! Never!!" The male¡¯s voice came out from the King of Nightmares'' mouth.


    Bam! Another punch!


    "I am the almighty Evil Empire Anshela."


    Bam!!


    "Garen!!" Andrela shouted as he couldn¡¯t bear it any longer.


    "I know what to do!" Without even looking at Andrela, Garen took the King of Nightmares up and throw her against the wall.


    After a thud, the King of Nightmares laid still on the floor and was completely silent.


    Hit after hit, pound after pound, the King of Nightmares was completely defenseless against the onslaught, and was in rough shape.


    Finally, her gaze changed back to normal. She laid on the ground and stared at Garen, unable to utter a word.


    The whole interaction lasted less than 20 seconds in the experiment room. In this short amount of time, Garen managed to put Anshela, who had taken over the King of Nightmares'' body, down onto the ground.


    Zhaoxing Qin and the others who were outside of the experiment room started to gradually recover as they got up from the ground. They sluggishly set their gaze upon Garen who had just taken down the King of Nightmares who was in the experiment rom.


    No. The one who was taken down was Anshela who had taken over the King of Nightmares'' body.


    The King of Nightmares, who had showed signs of personality disorder and mental breakdown was brought back to normal conditions?! Zhaoxing Qin, Julie and the others witnessed Anshela, who was controlling the situation like a great devil beaten by Garen into submission in the experiment room.


    It was like an adult hitting a small child. Even the pure and innocent Julie couldn¡¯t watch the horrible state Anshela was currently in.


    Fortunately, the King of Nightmares regained control over her body, but she was so badly injured she was left unable to speak.


    "You alright?" Garen reached out his hand and picked up the King of Nightmares. He walked towards Andrela with a wry smile and threw the King of Nightmares into his arms. "I will let you take care of the rest."


    "You scared the hell out of me. I really thought you¡¯re about to kill her!" Andrela helplessly hugged the King of Nightmares. From her eyes, Andrela could see that even though the King of Nightmares was severely injured physically, at the very least she wasn¡¯t in any mental danger anymore. Furthermore, the injury on her body was not considered a big issue to the King of Nightmares, even though Garen had in fact pulled his punches.


    "How is that possible? Do I look like someone who couldn¡¯t control his strength?" Garen stared at him. "If I hadn¡¯t reacted any faster, It would be so much more difficult to call her back when that man got used to the King of Nightmares¡¯ body." He read about this from a book. Since the King of Nightmares wanted to attempt to absorb the Argent Mirror, he collected a lot of information so that he could understand the overall situation better. With his learning pace, which was inconceivable to a commoner, as long as he met the condition of having a maximum point in intelligence, he would obtain photographic memory and the ability to understand the information instantly.


    "Alright, I will carry her inside to rest." Andrela quickly brought the King of Nightmares into their room.


    Zhaoxing Qin, Julie and the two old men slowly got up from the ground at this moment.


    "That was a shock wave used to target at telekinetics. Fortunately the shockwave didn¡¯t affect either of you since both of you didn¡¯t possess any latent ability in telekinesis."


    "Indeed. I doubt I would have such an easy time if that guy got used to his new body." Garen agreed as he nodded. "Luckily this incident is threatening but not dangerous. The King of Nightmares shouldn¡¯t have any sequelae from being forcefully brought back, right?"


    "The absorption process of the Argent Mirror had been interrupted, so at least half of the personality had been absorbed back." Zhaoxing Qin shook her head, as if she was still in pain. "However, Anshela should still be inside the King of Nightmares¡¯ body. As long as she is careful not to be mentally excited, she should be able to slowly eliminate his consciousness. However, some essential memories are lost forever.."


    She finished with a tone of pity.


    Garen, too, nodded in regret.


    He was able to fight against Anshela with ease because the King of Nightmares'' consciousness was fighting with Anshela to regain control of her body back. Hence Anshela was unable to fully control the body or use any telekinesis.


    The most important thing to note was that the King of Nightmares was a novice and had little latent ability in telekinesis. To be able to produce a telekinesis shockwave was considered amazing. When Garen rushed in and forcefully interrupted the absorption process, it was equivalent to throwing a punch directly into a living being¡¯s brain.


    These few aspects must be met. If the opponent had successfully control of her body, the Evil Empire Anshela would reborn. Being a person who stood at the pinnacle of all telekinesis practitioners during the ancient era, only God would know what damage he could cause in this generation.


    "To be able to cause so much damage to us with the King of Nightmares'' little ability. If it was Sylphalan who absorbed the Argent Mirror¡­" Zhaoxing Qin¡¯s face started to turn pale.


    Although Sylphalan had absorbed one Argent Mirror, albeit a weaker one, he would definitely be someone very hard to deal with as the consciousness inside the Argent Mirror had a lot of telekinesis secret techniques.


    "Master¡­" Julie held Zhaoxing Qin as she was very worried.


    Speechless, Garen looked at the old lady as she was definitely afraid of Sylphalan. Unlike Garen and the lots who practiced martial arts, who would feel excited as they could see themselves being stronger in the future than being scared when they encountered a strong opponent.


    "Alright, since the absorption process had been interrupted, everyone should take a rest. We will gather again when everyone has recovered and move on based on the King of Nightmares'' status." He suggested.


    "I guess that¡¯s our only option." Zhaoxing Qin was standing on her own as she told Julie to help the remaining two old men.


    ************


    It didn¡¯t surprise anyone that the absorption of the Argent Mirror had failed. What was surprising was everyone finally understood the troublesome side of the Argent Mirror when Anshela¡¯s consciousness appeared before them.


    This item was just like a pandora box, where countless of treasure and secret techniques were stored inside it. One might possibly released an evil and horrifying being once one opened it. Anshela might have successfully reborn and took over the King of Nightmares'' body if not for Garen and Andrela. He might even be a telekinesis practitioner stronger than Sylphalan.


    Garen and his team finally understood the pros and cons of the Argent Mirror.


    After recovering in the basement for some amount of time, Zhaoxing Qin observed the King of Nightmares everyday. Once she confirmed that there were no major issues, the crowd finally felt that they had placed down a boulder from their shoulders.


    Garen, Andrela and the King of Nightmares had wasted too much time here as they had their own matters to settle.

 200 Handling 2

    Chapter 200: Handling 2


    Garen was the gate master of the White Cloud sect, and thus had a lot of underlings. Since he had just laid down his foundation not long ago, he couldn¡¯t be away for too long, for fear of trouble brewing.


    On the other hand, Andrela was the senior fellow apprentice of the Celestial Circle Gate, and the master who had long since surpassed the gate master and elders of the sects. He had to go back to sort out some internal affairs.


    And then there was the King of Nightmares, the founder of the Siren Group and an internationally wanted criminal with lot of enemies. She had a lot of troublesome things to deal with as well.


    The three of them agreed to meet at Hilda City, which was located in the Federation¡¯s bay, on the fourth month. They had also officially settled on the name that was originally a joke: Flamingo.


    The King of Nightmares had decided to took the opportunity to spread the Flamingo¡¯s reputation in the dark since there were quite a few witnesses during the battle with the Immortal Palace. The Immortal Palance had abused their power for too long. No one could stand against them except for the Behemoth Gate and the government from the big countries. They could collect enough information as they ran amuck around the world.


    Garen took the train and returned to his country following the proper procedure. Once he had entered the country, he immediately arranged a military airplane and flew to Galantia using his authority from the Golden Hoop.


    It was currently the first month, which in fact wasn¡¯t that far off from the fourth month. He had to arrange everything in detail to prevent any trouble arising, as this trip towards the Smoke Island might take him a lot of time.


    ************


    Ten days later¡­.


    Galantia¡¯s Huaishan Province.


    Kachak.


    Garen slowly opened the door with a key.


    "I¡¯m back." He shouted.


    Immediately, rushing footsteps could be heard from far as the father Eisen Lombard and mother Vania came rushing in.


    "Why are you back all of the sudden? You should inform beforehand." Mother quickly gave Garen a brand new cotton slippers to wear. "I thought that there¡¯s a thief in the house."


    "Mum, did you think a thief would shout I¡¯m back? You¡¯ve such a rich imagination/." Garen smiled as he closed the door and wore the shoes.


    The family gathered in the living room.


    Mother went to brew some hot coffee, whereas the father Eisen and Garen were sitting opposite each other on the sofa.


    "How is it? Did you learn anything in school today?" Eisen looked so much different from before as his face was now smooth and clean since he had shaved his beard. He was wearing a tidy white shirt, a black tie and even applied some hair oil onto his dark purple hair. He was like a successful man. "Living alone outside is definitely different from living in a home, right?"


    "It¡¯s alright. I¡¯m still getting used to it." Garen took an apple from the table and started peeling off its skin. "There¡¯s not much difference between the life of a middle schooler and college. Oh right dad, I¡¯ve received an internship offer from a big corporation, I might go there for an internship on the third month. Just a heads up."


    "Not bad. This internship is an opportunity given to you or¡­" Eisen was no longer in the dark about the whole ordeal as he had a clear understanding on in the influence of the White Cloud Gate. He finally witnessed his son¡¯s succession as the Gate Master of the White Cloud Gate since the funeral.


    "This wasn''t arranged by me. The opponent is much stronger than the White Cloud Gate so there¡¯s no need to be concerned with it." Garen shook his head as he explained.


    Mother Vania came in and served three cups of hot coffee.


    "Let¡¯s drink something to warm you up first. It¡¯s cold outside."


    "Oh yea, where¡¯s Ying Er? Is she still in school?" Garen asked as he lifted the coffee cup and drank from it. The rich aroma of mixing coffee and milk that entered his mouth, albeit slightly hot, made him feel warm and cozy.


    "She said that the school was organising an event. She had to go to school and do some preparation as a committee member. She thought that you wouldn¡¯t return so she went out early. You should know your sister well; she would definitely wait for you if she kenw that you were coming back." Mother Vania looked at Garen gently, since Garen was her biological mother whereas Ying Er was Eisen¡¯s biological daughter. Both Eisen and Vania had realized Ying Er¡¯s feeling towards Garen. It was not of a sibling relationship but something more intimate.


    Both of them weren¡¯t opposed to such a relationship, since Garen and Ying Er was not biologically related.


    "You should rest early Garen, since you came back at such a late hour. Now that most of the stuff has been passed down to the workforce, your mum and I are not as busy anymore. In fact, we have more and more free time as the days pass. Let¡¯s go play hockey tomorrow. It¡¯s not often that we get to hang out together and have a good chat." Father Eisen patted on Garen¡¯s shoulder. "What dense muscles. All thanks to training in martial arts for such a long time!"


    "It¡¯s also called body building." Garen laughed. "Oh right dad, mom, I thought you guys were planning to buy a bigger house and move in. What happened to that?"


    "There¡¯s no need for that. Although we are rich now, we have already gotten used to the communities here. I have been hanging out with our neighbour madam Davis at the orchestra on a weekly basis. Occasionally we would gather and have a tea. Life is more entertaining when you have company. We don¡¯t know who to mingle with if we actually moved to a new area." Mother Vania shook her head as she explained. "Don¡¯t worry about this. You should think about your marriage."


    "Eh, isn¡¯t that too early?"


    "Our son has just reached home and he must be tired. There¡¯s no need to raise that topic." Father Eisen cut it off. The parents had realized Ying Er¡¯s unusual affection towards Garen when Garen rejected their offers of introducing women to him. They¡¯ were testing the waters now.


    "Yes, yes¡­"


    The whole family had dropped the topic after that, and the conversation slowly moved towards lifestyle matters.


    Garen started to feel at ease when he saw that his parents were starting to have more time to enjoy life due to the White Cloud Gate¡¯s arrangement.


    He stayed at home for a few days. Everyday, he would accompany his father to play ball and occasionally he would drive to the swimming pool nearby for a swim. He even attended the tea sessions and orchestra as well. His schedule was packed with leisure events for the past few days.


    As a core leader of the greatest profit organisation locally, the news of Garen returning was spread throughout Galantia province in a short time span.


    Invitations to parties kept coming as time went on. The same went for the visitors who knocked on their door as well. On top of that, most of the visitors had brought along their nieces or daughters over with a smiles on their faces. They were obviously hoping for Garen to fall for one of them.


    It was unbearable to such a point where Garen hadn¡¯t bothered to return home and decide to go to his dojo instead. The place was in good shape under the management of his disciples, Simon and Corinne, and the White Cloud Gate had returned to its former prosperity. The White Cloud Gate had expanded its community in a lot of schools within Huishan City and nearby cities as well.


    Garen had no need to worry regarding the growth of the White Cloud Gate. Both Simon and Corinne had gone out for an experience exchange and were no longer in the city.


    He then went to the Golden Hoop headquarters only to find out that the Eighth Hoop Cyclops Dragon was the only one sitting there. Since both of them didn¡¯t really know each other, Garen chatted for awhile and left the place immediately.


    For the next few days, Garen visited the local governors, his third fellow master apprentice and his respective family under the Gold Hoop and White Cloud Gate¡¯s body guard protection.


    Afterwards, he went to his uncle¡¯s place.


    According to his uncle, Garen had not seen him since the cursed ring¡¯s incident. Since he had treated Garen well in the past, he decided to visit his uncle out of politeness.


    ***************


    Huaishan Pennington Street


    Inside a five-story building next to the street.


    Tyr was sitting on a rattan chair in a black thick tee shirt as he was looking at the noisy children in the living room as he dangled a tobacco pipe from his mouth.


    For the past few days, he had successfully closed a big trade deal, and his business had been getting better and better as the days passed. His place was constantly packed with visitors and all of the elite cousins from his wife¡¯s side even visited him of their own accord. It was obvious that they wanted connections with him. He found himself slightly annoyed, as he couldn¡¯t reject their visits either.


    "Lombarth¡­ Lombarth!" He raised his voice.


    His son, Lombarth, was happily chatting with a tall girl. He quickly ran to his father when


    he heard his father¡¯s call.


    "What¡¯s the matter father?"


    "Where¡¯s Phelia?"


    "She¡¯s playing chess in the basement with some of her friends."


    "I knew you can¡¯t count on that girl. Please take care of the visitors for me. Most of them are around your age. The son of Minister Jeter has finally come to visit us. You should accompany him and talk less with these beautiful girls." Tyr suggested.


    "Alright." Lombarth was very happy as Garen was not going to fight against him for the properties, and his father had started to nurture him. It seemed like his father is preparing him to become a worthy successor.


    Vaeneris Westin and Delai Ando were elite siblings who once tried to snatch Tyr¡¯s property as well. He was a little bit unhappy, he didn¡¯t know why they had come to his house.


    Before he left his father alone and walked to the corner of the living room to meet a golden haired man, he walked towards the girl and politely apologised to her.


    "Lombarth, you don¡¯t want to talk to these beautiful girls anymore?" Delai Ando¡¯s voice came from a corner. This gloomy person who mixed with the underworld was gently swaying a glass of wine as he tried to act elegant, even though his rough body figure was keeping others at bay. His hand seemed to recover from the injury he had gotten from Garen last time.


    Vaeneris was beside him with a feminine smile. He didn¡¯t speak much and just hung out among a few guys and girls, like the stars were surrounding a moon.


    "Who¡¯s coming? There¡¯re so many cars down stairs!"


    "That car plate number¡­ It¡¯s the governor¡¯s car. Could it be the governor¡¯s cousin?"


    "There¡¯re seven V8s opening the path. What a huge scene, each car costs up to millions! Who¡¯s causing all this balze?"


    The visitors who were sitting by the window started to gather and look down as they murmured.


    The black cars stopped beside Pennington street one by one.


    A strong, bald bodyguard swung open the door of the car.


    A tall and muscular guy with red eyes emerged from within. He had a simple, short black hairstyle and though his body was very muscular, it was very symmetrical and not bulky in the least. He gave off a strong sense oppression even though he wore a simple tee shirt and jeans.


    The man was wearing a golden earring on his left ear. This gave off a slight sense of barbarity. This man was none other than Garen, who had been everywhere recently. With his current social standing, this scene was a must or would affect how others viewed the White Cloud Gate. What made it even more more eye catching, however, was that he was also a member of the Golden Hoop.

 201 Preparation during the Eve 1

    Chapter 201: Preparation during the Eve 1


    Garen slammed the car door behind him and walked into his uncle¡¯s house.


    The car was slammed again and Cynthia stood still behind Garen, with a black full body tight leather shirt.


    "I don¡¯t like causing such a scene. It¡¯s too troublesome." Cynthia whispered.


    "This situation is a must since the Federation¡¯s government had failed their operations a few times already. I don¡¯t want to forget that they are still supporting and assisting me." Garen calmly replied. "These are all small matters. The federation is so huge that it would take at least a few decades before it falls. With such a big treat ahead of us,we need to be careful to not bite off more than we can chew."


    "A hero appearing in our most desperate times?"


    "Sort of." Garen turned his head and looked at one of the cars.


    A middle aged man with a beautiful, curled beard appeared from the car. He was in a white suit and held a white cane in his hand.


    "Sir Garen, please go ahead."


    "That¡¯s very kind of you Minister Difana." Garen nodded.


    This minister was in charge of the whole of Galantia Province¡¯s econom and investment. He was ¡®coincidentally¡¯ passing by Huaishan City so he had met up with Garen. He was also a member of the Golden Hoop inner circle, the uncle of the Seventh Hoop.


    He heard that Garen was going to visit his uncle Tyr Anjer. Since he had seen Anjer once in a party before, he decided to visit him as well.


    In his eyes, Garen of the White Cloud Gate had obviously became a strong force that he could not afford to ignore. No matter if it was in terms of personal strength, or in the military, he had an irreplaceable influence.


    Since the Federation¡¯s Government was at a disadvantage, there were rumors of separatist regimes blooming up all over the province. The powerful White Cloud Gate was the most concerning of all to the Governor. This was especially true since the White Cloud Gate had been expanding at an incredible rate recently and had been involved with almost the half of the districts in the whole province. Their members were increasing on a daily basis and they were also representing the martial art in the civilised community and the underground world. In addition, Gate Master Garen was also one of the high ranked leaders of the Golden Hoop, who had a lot of power and support.


    If the governor really wanted to become a king, he must first face the two major forces, military and the White Cloud Gate. He could only truly control the whole of Galantia when he obtained the support of these two major powerhouses.


    This was one of the main reasons he had sent the finance minister Difana to investigate Garen¡¯s attitude.


    Both of them walked into the building with lunging steps.


    Bodyguards flanked and followed them as they walked up to the fifth floor together.


    Uncle Tyr had already been waiting for their arrival at the front door.


    "Long time no see, my beloved uncle." Garen walked up and gave his uncle a gentle hug.


    "Long time no see indeed Garen. This is¡­?" Tyr looked at Difana who was standing behind Garen. "Is this Minister Difana?"


    "It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you again Sir Tyr." Difana placed his cane onto another hand and greeted Tyr with a handshake.


    "That is rude of me. Please come in." He took off Difana¡¯s jacket and the three of them walked into the living room.


    "I have a gathering going on currently. I hadn¡¯t expected that Minister Difana and Garen would come over, I¡¯m sorry if my hospitality isn¡¯t up to my best." Tyr smiled as he introduced.


    "Lombarth and Phelia, come over now!" He shouted.


    Both of the kids had been waiting at the side as they had already heard the fuss.


    Tyr Garen and Minister Difana was at the center of everyone¡¯s attention the moment they entered the house.


    Lombarth swiftly went into the room to call his sister out. When she heard the call, she quickly went out and greeted obediently with her head bowed.


    "Nice to meet you brother Garen and Minister." Lombarth bowed with respect as he greeted them.


    Phelia held her knee height shirt and greeted them as well. "Nice to meet you brother Garen and Minister Difana. Long time no see brother Garen."


    "Long time no see indeed." Garen reached out his hand and pinched Phelia¡¯s small cheeck as he smile gently.


    Difana who witnessed this at the side took note of it in his mind.


    "These two are the kids from my wife¡¯s side of the family." Tyr gestured Delai Ando and Vaeneris to come over with his hand. These two are the most outstanding teenagers on my wife¡¯s side of the family. They had no choice but to lower down their head when they met the finance minister of the whole province. This person was on another level compared to their family background so they had to becareful.


    "Good to see you minister." Delai Ando¡¯s face was stiff when he walked over to greet him. As he finished greeting Difana, he looked at Garen and his faced turned red as he didn¡¯t know what to tell him. He had had a conflict with Garen in the past. The current Garen was far above him and was looking at him from above. The feeling of knowing someone looking down on him made him embarrassed and wanted to find a hole to jump into.


    "Brother Garen¡­ about the past, it¡¯s our fault. Hope you can forgive us." Vanaeris smiled awkwardly as he apologised to Garen.


    "I don¡¯t hold any grudges on it. You should be more careful when doing your tasks next time and don¡¯t assume what you do will definitely go well. Don¡¯t rely on others too much because you¡¯re not as bad as they are most of the time." Garen smiled and he said. He didn¡¯t have any hostile intent towards these two who viewed him as an enemy. These two more or less was at a loss under him and since he was on the winning side, he naturally didn¡¯t have any hostile intent towards them.


    "Alright. We will talk about the past later. Minister Difani and Garen, this way, please. We will go to the meeting room." Uncle suggested as he leaded the way to the study room.


    Garen and Difana followed closely behind, with multiple strong body guards and Cynthia guarding the door ensuring no one comes near the occupied room.


    As the black door was shut tight, Lombarth, Vaeneris and Delai Ando looked at the meeting room with complicated feelings.


    "Looks like us taking him for an enemy was useless after all. He is no longer at the same level as us." Vaeneris whispered helplessly.


    Delai Ando was completely silent as held his fist tight and exhaled intensely, as if he had just released a load from his body.


    Lombarth felt awkward within. He was very cynical towards Garen back in the day, and Garen hadn¡¯t given it a second thought at all. However, he was slightly relieved as well, Garen was currently much stronger than his father and the relationship between his sister and Garen had always been good. Not to mention his father had treated him even better than his sister. Based on this, Garen¡¯s power would be a strong force towards his family as well.


    Just like the three of them, Phelia was staring at the meeting room quietly, her mind seemingly churning incessantly.


    ***********


    Inside the meeting room


    Garen, uncle Tyr and the finance minister Difani were sitting opposite each other, forming a triangle from the round table.


    The big study room was quiet as there were the only the three of them. None of the bodyguards had entered the room at all.


    "I think Sir Garen should know the purpose of my visit today. I come here on behalf of the Governor Wahana."


    "I clearly understand Governor¡¯s Wahana current point of view, however the extent of your power and influence is still unknown to me. The White Cloud Gate is just a small sect, and we have been through a lot lately, and we can¡¯t have any more on our plate at the moment." Garen said calmly as he crossed his fingers.


    "You¡¯re too modest. The Governor had hoped that you would come and support our work. This would be a huge contribution towards the stability and safety of the whole Province." Difani smiled. He paused for a moment, and it dawned on him that it would be better to talk about the issue directly to a martial artist like Garen, as martial artist didn¡¯t seem to like to beat around bushes. "As long as you show your commitment and improve the stability of the province, the government would definitely help the local development. In this era, it is very difficult to become a leading country. Hence we need to focus on local development to prevent the foreign economy from invading our country."


    Difani added on as he looked at Garen.


    "Not too far from now, the government plans to release a series of supportive measures that would help in economical development. However the overall structure is still under observation and they need the comments of the district to maximise our efforts."


    Garen had finally understood his intentions.


    This meant that as long as he agreed to support the Governor, as long as it was within the scope, any recommendations were welcome. Furthermore, if there were any good things from the government, he was sure to get his share as well.


    He started thinking about it. He personally didn¡¯t mind about it but there were a lot of people who worked under him. Hence he needed to improve the whole organisation¡¯s development and profit.


    Uncle Tyr was sitting at one side in shock as he looked at the other two negotiating between each other.


    In the past, he knew the power and influence of Garen and the White Cloud Gate. However, they were still a small sect at the time and had little influence. At the most, they could only influence the local city. Who would have thought that the influence of the White Cloud Gate had grown so fast that Governor Wahana had to take note of his existence and lower his position to request for a cooperation. Compared to his nephew that he knew so well, his influence hadn¡¯t even reached that kind of level yet.


    It was at this moment that he realized that he had underestimated the influence of the White Cloud Gate, or the speed at which the White Cloud Gate was developing once Garen had become the successor.


    After the discussion between Garen and Difani, they finally came up with a exaggerating mutual agreement.


    Garen would tacitly approve of the Governor¡¯s actions and in return the Governor would go against the White Cloud Gate¡¯s current industry policy: The workers of the White Cloud Gate shall not be imposed of any taxes and at the same time the would had the rights to the internal criminal department.


    The rights to the internal criminal department! This meant that if anyone related to the White Cloud Gates had committed a crime, it would be internally sorted and the police department had no say in it.


    They allowed such a ridiculous policy towards the White Cloud Gate.


    Speechless, Tyr looked at the two of them signing the agreement and each of them kept a copy. It was obvious that the power the Governor gave to Difani had not reached its limit and Garen could have requested for more. However Garen had stayed his hand for more.


    After the agreement, Difani started to consult Tyr on the local economy and recommended an overall rectification. It was obvious that he was giving face to Garen and at the same time keeping an influencer like him in check and offered a series of offer conditions.


    Ultimately, the three of them reached an agreement and everyone obtained what they wanted.


    Difani left the house after they left the meeting room.


    After Garen and his uncle sent the minister off, both of them went into a single room to reminisce about the past.


    They also called Lombarth and Cynthtia to enter as well.

 202 Preparation during the Eve 2

    Chapter 202: Preparation during the Eve 2


    The door closed slowly.


    Lombarth and Phelia stood in front of Garen and his uncle.


    "Garen, seeing you succeed, I¡¯m happy for my sister and brother-in-law. With us Jody¡¯s, I¡¯m still considered to be pretty well off. And now there¡¯s you." Garen¡¯s uncle Tyr said earnestly. "I¡¯m old now. Some things are harder to manage, more tiring. You¡¯re different, you¡¯re young, you can still go for a long while."


    "Uncle, you don¡¯t have to beat around the bush with me, you can tell me anything straight." Laughing in spite of himself, Garen leaned forward, suggesting he¡¯s genuinely interested.


    "That¡¯s good to hear," Tyr nodded in appreciation. "I asked Lombarth here, so you, as his elder cousin brother, can help advising him in the future if he messes up anything. Of course, only if you have the time. The Anjer household can still afford to keep him fed and housed without much difficulties."


    "Of course." Garen nodded, "Lombarth was a little immature then, but people do change. You needn¡¯t be so worried, uncle, maybe he¡¯ll even do something huge in the future, no? Quite a number of people only made it later in life."


    "And Phelia too," Tyr held his daughter¡¯s hand. "Your younger cousin sister has always been obsessed with the war chess, to the point of neglecting everything else. Even now, she¡¯s preparing to take part in this King of War Chess Competition in the Bolsha province. It had really taken over her life!"


    "Don¡¯t worry, uncle. Phelia is still young, she¡¯ll learn to prioritize after she matured a little more, it won¡¯t affect the important things in the future, I can assure that." Garen had heard about the popular war chess, it was said to be unusually complicated in that everyone who participated will win or lose something, even sacrificing their lives.


    "War chess is not a game for children." Phelia protested, pouting. "This is an Open Sea Championship with a reward of one billion dollars*! And I am one of the three representatives for the Galatia province! Don¡¯t underestimate me!"


    "One billion!" Tyr and Garen both flinched.


    "A championship with such a large amount of reward? That¡¯s crazy!" Garen¡¯s uncle frowned.


    Garen shook his head, "I¡¯ve heard of this war chess game. It¡¯s said to be peculiar in the sense that winners will get stronger while losers get weaker. People who always win would achieve immense success in whatever they do, while the more people lose, the more they suffer from bad luck. The war chess has rumors of it being dangerous and mysterious."


    "Fine, just be careful." Tyr shook his head, "I¡¯ll let Kerrigan escort you there."


    "Thanks dad!" Phelia grinned happily.


    Garen shook his head, speechless. He resumed his conversation with his Uncle Tyr about the issues with the development and arrangement of the province. He accepted his uncle¡¯s suggestion about employee¡¯s benefits, transforming White Cloud Gate into a for-profit organization with each aspects of the welfare of their employees. That way, he¡¯ll be able to utilize everyone¡¯s capabilities and influence the best possible way.


    This inspired Garen a lot.


    He decided to use this same concept on other newer influences like the teams from the former Black Mark Association, Cynthia, Jack and the other mercenaries, as well as some other new elites in the Martial Arts community.


    If they were bound together with their subordinates, even if the forces under White Cloud Gate were to leave due to issues, they would not have huge issues running on their own.


    Garen finally left his uncle¡¯s place after dinner. The opinions and advices Uncle Tyr had given him were valuable experiences. Even though he¡¯s a member of the Information Era from Earth, many things will not work with just pen-and-paper theorizing. In that aspect, Uncle Tyr provided Garen much needed help.


    Back at White Cloud Gate, Corinne finally got back along with representatives of Circling Dance Gate and Seven Moon Gate to greet Garen.


    After arranging White Cloud Gate¡¯s new system of operation, Garen took a flight to Hubo City


    His sister Ying Er had left to Shengying University, he wanted to meet her there.


    Soon, he¡¯d be leaving to a closed off Smoke Island, where he planned to destroy the ship to force Sylphalan out to fight with him. Before that, he needed to make sure he had prepared for every situation.


    ************


    Shengying University


    On the yellow field in front of the library building.


    Garen was wearing black T-shirt and jeans, blending in with all the other university students. Garen sat on a white marble bench underneath a tall Japanese pagoda tree. The winter sun sprinkled its light onto Garen, bringing him only a slight warmth.


    The library of Shengying University was a maroon building with a roof resembling two cones. On the steps in front of the entrance, students were walking in and out of the entrance.


    Two long-haired girls exited the library. One of them had black hair and red eyes, the other one had blonde hair and purple eyes, both were equally pretty.


    On seeing them, Garen slowly stood up.


    "Big brother!" The red eyed girl squealed when she saw him, and started jogging toward Garen before giving him a big hug.


    "How are you here all of a sudden?" After a while, Ying Er looked up and asked.


    "I¡¯ll be going away soon, so I can¡¯t visit for a while. I just had to drop by before that." Garen smiled, "How¡¯s it going with the school?"


    "It¡¯s okay¡­" Ying Er curled her lips indicating her indifference, "Lots of assignments lately, a little tired. Thank goodness Nina¡¯s helped." She pulled her friend up, "Big brother, this is my roommate Nina, Nina, my big brother. He came here to visit from home, he¡¯s studying at Harmony City."


    "Nice meeting you." Nina greeted Garen with grace.


    "Nice meeting you too," Garen smiled politely, "Thanks for helping Ying Er with her things."


    "It¡¯s nothing. Ying Er helped me a lot too." Nina replied with a slight shyness.


    They both gave Garen a tour around the cafeteria, the sports field, as well as other places like the indoor swimming pool. If it wasn¡¯t for the restriction of boys in the girls¡¯ dorm, Ying Er would probably want to bring him to her room.


    Ying Er was pretty popular at school, very soon, the parade was joined by two other girls.


    The girls were all very interested in the mysterious big brother Ying Er kept mentioning, including how she used to bully him when they were kids.


    Everyone had always imagined Garen to be a scrawny, androgynous boy. Upon meeting him, they were surprised by his good looks and lean, muscular physique.


    It was almost lunchtime when they finished touring the campus.


    The five young people went straight to the cafeteria to order dishes.


    The lunch was simple, only some raisins, white bread, potato soup and some turkey meat*. Simple as it may be, it was pretty nutritionally balanced.


    After lunch, the girls brought Garen to the hawker street behind the campus, where all sorts of street food can be found due to the food variety, or lack thereof, available in the cafeteria.


    It wasn¡¯t until they were stuffed that they returned onto the grassy park.


    The sunlight at noon was much warmer than the morning. Garen and Ying Er strolled behind the three girls who conversed among themselves, drawing glances and gazes all around.


    "Just a while ago, the dorm keepers caught Ivy keeping a squirrel she caught in the woods over there. You should have seen the squirrel, it¡¯s so cute I wanna kiss it!" Ying Er recounted funny stories she¡¯d experienced spiritedly.


    "Remember grandma¡¯s house at the farm? There were lots of squirrels in the woods behind, you can go catch a squirrel or two to keep." Garen smiled.


    "I know, but I can¡¯t even take care of myself properly¡­" Ying Er kicked at the turf.


    "Big brother Garen, can you play badminton? Do you want to come play with us at the badminton court over there?" A girl in front, Ivy turned around and asked.


    "Badminton¡­" Garen was about to nod when a tall man scuttled to him and whispered in his ears.


    Surprise flashed on Garen¡¯s face before he returned to normal.


    "Excuse me ladies, I have some urgent business to attend to. Maybe next time?"


    He pinched Ying Er¡¯s face lightly.


    "Study hard, I¡¯ll visit again when I can. Try to visit home during the holidays."


    "I knooooow, I¡¯m not a child." Ying Er swatted at Garen¡¯s hand.


    "Let¡¯s go, Garen shook his head and turned around, leaving in a hurry with the tall man following without a word.


    It was only then that the girls realized some five or six pedestrians trailed behind Garen as he leaves. Obviously, the men were Garen¡¯s hidden bodyguards.


    "Such an illustrious send-off!" Nina¡¯s jaw dropped. A few white limousines with silver patterns stopped in front of Garen at the entrance before him and his bodyguards got on and left quickly.


    "Who is your brother? How do we not notice the bodyguards before? That¡¯s so extravagant!" Utterly confused, Nina turned around and bombarded Ying Er with questions.


    "That¡¯s so over-the-top, not even the trust fund babies can compare to it. That¡¯s a send-off fit for a government official! Ying Er, be honest, what is your brother!"


    "Spill it! This goldmine cannot be let out before we could take a bite off it! Let us, your roommates, have him!" The last girl teased before bursting out in giggles.


    Ying Er turned bright pink, unable to answer anything at all.


    Translator¡¯s Notes:


    1.	Author didn¡¯t specify the currency unit in this chapter. Translator is part of the group that took on the project after the previous one abandoned it. Readers should be able to do the math.


    2.	It wasn¡¯t described, but the dishes implied a traditional Chinese meal setting i.e. every sitting around a table sharing a few dishes a la Chinese dinner. Google image Chinese dinner for reference.

 203 Preparation during the Eve 3

    Chapter 203: Preparation during the Eve 3


    Garen sat in the car with his eyes closed and his brows slightly furrowed. The tall man who relayed the message sat in front, driving.


    "How are they doing?"


    "The doctor said it¡¯s not a huge problem, but they need some time to recuperate." The driver answered.


    "Su Lin and Celine were not that weak, how is it possible that they were driven to this point? Cynthia, did you hear anything from your end?"


    Cynthia who sat beside Garen only shook her head.


    "I only knew they were pulled into the riot at the border, it was impossible to investigate otherwise. You¡¯ll have to ask them yourself."


    "What did Leo say?"


    "They were already unconscious when Team Leader Leo found them. We don¡¯t know who attacked them." Cynthia¡¯s answers were short and sweet. "Gate Master, do we¡­"


    "We need not be too hasty. Su Lin¡¯s father is an official of the Confederate, he will not let this go easily. Tell Leo to cooperate with their investigation. If he suspects anyone, he can take action against them, no hesitation needed."


    "Isn¡¯t this too¡­" Cynthia felt some discomfort with the order.


    "It¡¯s fine. Right now is not a peacetime. If we don¡¯t act aggressively, no one will be scared of making a move on us." Garen snorted.


    As one of the White Peacocks, the three secretly collaborated for exchange of information as well as fighting power when needed, and even the means to do things if required.


    Right now, White Cloud Gate have been able to get intelligence and military support from the Sirens¡¯ influence overseas. Celestial Circle Gate was also able to provide enough help from the army as well as the political circles.


    In return, White Cloud Gate provided support to Celestial Circle Gate¡¯s underground operations, they also helped the Sirens with intelligence exchange as well as operations.


    Technically, the three had already been bound together by the mutual benefits they get from each other.


    Arriving at the airport, Celestial Circle Gate had already arranged for a military plane to transport them. The military power here was still mostly affiliated with the Celestial Circle Gate.


    After arriving at Harmony City by flight, they proceeded to switch to a car to drive to Su Lin¡¯s manor. It was already 9 o¡¯clock by then.


    *************


    In a clean white bedroom.


    Su Lin leaned against the headboard of the blue bed, his lower body was covered with a cornflower blue blanket. He was in white pajamas and looked pale, and even his fiery hair seemed dry and depressed.


    Aris wore a thick black windbreaker and a pair of black gloves, and was feeding Su Lin herbal soup.


    The room was filled with the pungent scent of the herbs that was slightly similar to traditional Chinese medicine.


    Garen took a whiff of it when he arrived before frowning while he sat by the bed.


    "How do you feel? Better?"


    Su Lin looked at Garen wryly.


    "Lost too much blood, almost couldn¡¯t make it."


    "I told you to not go around so much! Look at you now, now you can¡¯t even move aside from staying in your bed and rest." Aris grumbled resentfully. This outburst was a first for the lady who was usually graceful.


    Still grumbling, she stuffed the spoonful of herbal soup into Su Lin¡¯s mouth.


    "Yes, yes, I¡¯m wrong. I should¡¯ve heeded your advice. Hey, do you think you can leave Garen and I to ourselves for a bit? We need to talk." Su Lin asked in his helplessness.


    "Fine. Talk all you want." Aris stood up and handed him the bowl with the remaining herbal soup.


    Understanding her point, Su Lin took the bowl and downed the content into his throat, after which he handed her back the bowl.


    "Are we good?"


    "Hmph!" Aris responded with annoyance on her face and left the room, closing the door with a backhand.


    Only Garen and Su Lin were in the room now.


    "So what happened?" Garen glowered at Su Lin. "With both your strengths, you shouldn¡¯t be hurt this badly."


    "You don¡¯t need to worry about this. I can deal with it on my own." Su Lin didn¡¯t elaborate, "It¡¯s not the Poker, it¡¯s some other people. I¡¯ll deal with them." Mirroring Garen, he frowned. "I got careless. They are weaker than me, so I can¡¯t ask you for help.


    Garen stared at him straight in his eyes. Seeing the conviction in his eyes, Garen nodded.


    "If you insist. What about Celine? How is she doing?"


    "Much worse. She was buried alive in the avalanche and almost froze to death." Su Lin answered.


    Coldness filled Garen¡¯s eyes. "You are both my friends. If something happened, I wish to be there for you as your friends."


    "Thanks," Su Lin nodded earnestly. "But like I said, we need to do this ourselves. I can¡¯t bear the humiliation of having to ask people to avenge me¡­"


    Even though he said that, he was still very grateful.


    Among his friends, there were only two people who wouldn¡¯t think twice to avenge him, and one of them was Garen.


    Like this time, most of the dangers he and Celine was met with near the border was averted once they mentioned Garen being his friend. A huge number of forces treated them like they were important guests.


    Even the riotous gangs dared not attack them due to Garen¡¯s reputation of being Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate¡¯s Sky Warrior.


    "I¡¯m really glad you visited." Su Lin patted Garen on his shoulder. "You¡¯re in a different position now, the Sky Warrior of Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate, wait no, the Second Divine Warrior of Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate, the White Cloud Gate Master, the strongest Grandmaster of Combat of the Twelve Southern Sects, the Underground King of Galantia, Holy Mammoth Holy Fist¡­ Your fame is all over the place! Tsk tsk¡­ You¡¯re a famous person now, even Black Mark Association had been absorbed by White Cloud Gate. You have three Grandmasters of Combat under you who are on par with Sky Warriors. You are dominating the whole of the South, you¡¯re just like a cancer¡­ I mean anti-hero!"


    Speechless, Garen played along with his antics.


    "You do look like you¡¯re much better, you¡¯re even well enough to tease me."


    "It wasn¡¯t that serious in the first place." Su Lin countered, "It¡¯s just¡­" "Is Su Lin awake?" A young man knocked on the door, his voice giving away his calm, steadfast demeanor.


    Su Lin immediately hid under his blanket.


    "My elder brother is here!" He whispered and then used a louder voice. "I just got up."


    With a click, the door was opened by a tall man in a black windbreaker.


    He has short red hair, like Su Lin, but he also had red brows. His eyes were as sharp as an eagle¡¯s, with only a glance, he could intimidate people.


    He wore black leather gloves, accentuating the golden patterns on his cuffs.


    Garen knew him as Harris, Su Lin¡¯s biological brother. He was recently promoted to a senior official.


    As for his impression of Harris, Garen could only remember Duskdune Shura had tried to assassinate him.


    Duskdune Shura had tasked a former Royal General with the assassination. Obviously they¡¯ve failed, indicating the complexity of his background.


    "Your friend came to see you?" Harris nodded at Garen who stood up, giving out a subtle aura of authority. "Nice meeting you." He held out his hand.


    Garen shook his hand.


    "Nice meeting you too. I¡¯m Garen."


    "Garen?" Harris blanked for a little. He thought the name sounded familiar. But since he is a friend of his younger brother, he only nodded.


    "I¡¯ll be taking my leave then," Garen nodded politely. "Su Lin, get well soon." He turned around toward the door.


    Laying on the bed, Su Lin thought his words sound loaded.


    "Garen!" He called out. "Don¡¯t butt in, I¡¯m serious."


    Garen kept his silence and smiled weakly.


    "Fine. I¡¯ll let it go this time. I¡¯ll go visit Celine."


    "Mm."


    Harris listened to the conversation with a weird look on his face. This Garen seemed really influential, he didn¡¯t know his brother had friends who had power over the situation at the border, this surprised him.


    "Harris, Garen is my friend, I owed him my life. He¡¯s not in the same circle as you." Su Lin noticed Harris¡¯ expression and immediately understood his brother¡¯s occupational habit of analyzing other people¡¯s backgrounds, the links between different influences, and all those complicated mumbo jumbo.


    His brother Harris was a pretty decent guy, but he¡¯s always going off on conspiracy theories, as if the whole world was built on conspiracies alone. Because of that, he had not found someone to marry after all this time. The girls were scared as soon as they saw him with his strict face.


    "Su Lin, you don¡¯t understand, our family has a lot of connections with very influential backgrounds. If you don¡¯t think in a deeper level, you may not even realize it after people have already cheated you. There are many people who wanted to use our family¡¯s fame." Harris stated matter-o-factly.


    "He¡¯s not even in the same system you¡¯re thinking about! To be honest, what he¡¯s pursuing is totally different than what we are doing. The political situation in the Confederate at its current state, if Garen wanted to, he could¡¯ve become a leader himself. He was so different from us it¡¯s like comparing apples and oranges!" Su Lin rolled his eyes, "He¡¯s one of those people you politicians fear the most. If you offended him, don¡¯t count on a night of good sleep if you don¡¯t have hundreds of special forces with artillery capabilities."


    Harris smiled, not believing Su Lin. However, this really isn¡¯t his business to butt in on. With their father and his vast political experience to protect Su Lin,this shouldn¡¯t be an issue.


    ***************


    After leaving Su Lin¡¯s room, Garen turned into another room not far from Su Lin¡¯s.


    The door was open, a nurse in white came out with a slew of medication in the basin.


    "Excuse me, is this Miss Celine¡¯s room?"


    "Yes sir. Mr. Garen, is it? Miss Aris told me it¡¯s okay for you to go in."


    "Thank you."


    Garen entered through the open door. A bright white light illuminated the room.


    Oil lamps filled every empty corners of the room. The outside of the glass of the oil lamps were painted white, so light from the fire was turned white and spilled into the room.


    Celine leaned on the bed in the middle of the room. Like Su Lin, she leaned at the headboard, her face pale, eyes blank.


    "You¡¯re pretty quick." Celine forced a smile. "Thanks to you. If they didn¡¯t know I¡¯m your friend, I could¡¯ve died out there."

 204 Preparation during the Eve 4

    Chapter 204: Preparation during the Eve 4


    "They knew of me, and they still hurt you guys so badly?" Garen squinted in spite of himself.


    "It¡¯s not their fault. They didn¡¯t know initially. Let¡¯s not talk about this. Su Lin and I will get back up where we fell. Let the two of us handle it. If you meddle with this, it¡¯s just gonna add to our embarrassment." Celine shook her head in defeat. "I heard Andrela from the Celestial Circle Gate and you were working together?"


    "You knew?"


    "Oh please. Both of you were celebrities of the south. Behemoth Gate had it bad this time. With you and him together, the Red Sand Sword Gate will definitely follow your tracks. And with your connection with the Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate, the whole of the Southern Martial Arts Community is basically your oyster farm." Celine sighed. "If anyone annoyed me in the future I¡¯ll just call out your name and watch them quiver."


    "Give it up." Garen sat on the bed, shaking his head.


    "Oh yes, do you still want the rest of the Red Jade Palm?"


    "Of course I do, the more the merrier. You¡¯re finally willing to give it all to me?" Garen teased her.


    "I already gave Su Lin the whole of his parts. Yours shouldn¡¯t be delayed too. Besides, I¡¯m not even sure if you still want the Red Jade Palm." Celine made a face as if she¡¯s annoyed.


    "Of course I do." Garen smiled. "Even if I don¡¯t train in it, I can still collect it. White Cloud Gate needs to be stronger, but it lacks in that department when compared to the other sects. Also, talents between different disciples vary, if I can get more Secret Martial Arts, I may be able to fully develop a disciple¡¯s talents."


    "I¡¯ll give it to you in a bit." Celine sighed as she scrutinized Garen, her gaze deep and full of admiration.


    "Your Aura is so strong, it¡¯s unbelievable. Have you had a breakthrough last trip?"


    "That¡¯s right. Where¡¯s your mini-me? I don¡¯t think I saw him in the manor.


    "He ran away with our beloved Eight-Arm Dragon King. That twerp realized his immeasurable talent in the Gun Arts and followed Yoda to the military base to train his firing skills. It¡¯s been about two months." Celine said helplessly. "He left me, his first teacher, for firearm, this is ridiculous."


    Garen laughed softly.


    "Right, if you¡¯re ready we can start with the last part of Red Jade Palm. I have time now, but I need to leave in a few days."


    "Fine."


    The two of them sat together, one explaining, the other memorizing.


    Celine only needed to say things once before Garen was able to memorize word by word. Celine who tried so hard to memorize everything when she learned it was so jealous for that.


    The following two days, Garen stayed in the manor to help the two patients with blood circulation massages. After making sure they¡¯re both alright, he told them about his long trip for them to be mentally prepared before leaving.


    After that, he went to Red Sand Sword Gate to discuss things with the Gate Master and to visit Beo who had finally recovered from the coma. He also visited Seven Moon Gate and Circling Dance Gate.


    Time flew like an arrow, it was soon the third month of the year.


    Garen¡¯s final destination was set to the be the headquarter of Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate at Wei Maen City. It was close to the Skylark Mountain Range and Skylark Mountain Waterfall.


    White Bird Holy Fist Palosa hermitted there.


    He decided to wait for Palosa to come out of his recluse before telling him about the Promise of March. If his departure to Smoke island was joined by Palosa, it would be a much safer option. With only the three of them, it would be hard to overpower IPA.


    *******************


    ¡®Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate¡¯


    An onyx tablet was erected with a tilt in front of a series of white buildings. The words were inscribed into the tablet with a strong calligraphy style.


    Garen stood in front of the tablet with elites from the Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate who came out to greet him around. He lightly touched the tablet, surprised by the skill.


    "Who made the inscription?"


    "The previous Gate Master." Sky Warrior Corbella explained with pride. "Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate was not a simple sect, it¡¯s got a rich history on its own."


    "I¡¯ve heard about that." Garen nodded in understanding and glanced at the elites around him.


    Behind him were two Elders who are pretty strong before breaking through to being a Grandmaster of Combat. If they went out on their own to found their own sect, they might even be stronger than Fei Baiyun.


    Waiting in front were three middle-aged fighters who were infinitely close to being Grandmasters of Combat, even though they probably will not make it given their age, they¡¯re still strong enough to keep up the appearance of a strong sect.


    Slightly further, in front of the entrance, were two Grandmasters of Combat in different clothes. Judging from their Spirit, they¡¯re probably only slightly weaker than Sky Warriors like Corbella.


    Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate had three Sky Warriors, Garen had already been given the title Divine Warrior like Palosa, and was only second to Palosa. Hence he was called the Second Divine Warrior.


    The extra slot for Sky Warrior was open for the Grandmasters of Combat in the sect to compete for.


    As a sect with enough manpower to fight Black Mark Association, Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate naturally had more than just three Grandmasters of Combat, but the ones who managed to achieve the level of a King of Fist or Sky Warrior were still too rare. In that context, aside from Garen and Palosa, there were not more than five who qualified.


    They weren¡¯t around for as long as Red Sand Sword Gate and Celestial Circle Gate, but it¡¯s already good enough that they managed to gather five Grandmasters of Combat.


    Coincidentally, Garen was dropping by when they were holding the intrasectional championship for a new Sky Warrior.


    Gate Master Bondi had decided to call anyone who¡¯s a Grandmaster of Combat a Sky Warrior now that Black Mark Association has technically disbanded. Without an enemy, Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate gradually became lax, the title of a Sky Warrior became sort of a bragging right for the few Grandmasters of Combat to fight about.


    Since everyone wanted it, it was decided that everyone will get it. Five Grandmasters of Combat, five Sky Warriors. Among these Sky Warriors, there exists conflicts of interest. To solve that issue, the intrasectional championship was born. Not only they can solve the issues they have with one another, it was also a way to showcase their power.


    Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate was originally formed by multiple smaller sects, the outcome of this intrasectional championship would determine the advantage each group gets, heating up the competition even more.


    Garen arrived at this point.


    "Sir Garen, this way please." A middle-aged man greeted him and let Garen walk in the first.


    "No need for such formalities." Garen smiled and marched in.


    The bunch of people marched behind him, as if he¡¯s a celebrity being followed by his fans.


    On the other side of the entrance was a large field dissected into tiny rectangular fields like a chessboard. Within every rectangle, several disciples stood.


    Some of them were only in their teenage, and some of them were at least 50 years old.


    Cheering came from all sides of the field with energy and gusto.


    With Corbella¡¯s lead, Garen walked in from the side of the field with people following him, drawing gazes all around.


    Soon, they arrived at a large conference hall. It was painted white, and the style was very reminiscent of the buildings for court trials of the past.


    Outside the conference hall, Gate Master Bondi and other High Elders waited for Garen on top of the staircase.


    "Welcome, Second Divine Warrior, Sir Garen."


    "Anything but Holy Mammoth." Garen answered with a smile.


    The bunch of people entered the hall and was greeted with the sight of two disciples in white in the middle of the hall, indicating the championship had already begun.


    Garen¡¯s seat was positioned higher than the Gate Master¡¯s beside an empty one, which is Palosa¡¯s.


    After everyone was seated, the announcer proclaimed, "February 28th, Year 2088, Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate Intrasectional Championship, fifth match, begin!"


    Ding!


    The bell rang from one side of the room.


    Hundreds of people sat in the hall, everyone of them were elites of the sect, some were competing disciples, some were their masters or family, most of them, however, were the core disciples of each branch, here to widen their horizon.


    As the bell rang, the two disciples in the middle started getting anxious, they circled around each other, trying to look for each other¡¯s weakness.


    After a while, both of them were drenched in sweat due to the stress. Their masters, the Gate Master, and even the legendary Divine Warrior were all here. They were so worried about making basic mistakes, they were extra cautious with their movements.


    A dozen minutes later, both of them finally charged at each other and started sparring.


    In their over-cautiousness, they have lost their usual power and looked like they kept hesitating. People were getting bored with the match that was underwhelming.


    After some time spent in a tie, the taller disciple finally ran out of stamina and was hit on his shoulders and sent out of the field. The judge who had ran out of patience hurried forward to announce the winner.


    Gate Master who sat in front of Garen shook his head out of embarrassment.


    "They¡¯re too cautious and didn¡¯t let go. Too much hesitation and without commitment to their movements. Maybe your presence stressed them out too much, Sir Garen. They were terrified of embarrassing themselves."


    "Their foundation were still pretty good." Garen lightened the situation with a smile.


    The same happened with the next match. After the match was over, Gate Master furiously left his seat to lecture contestants and their masters alike.


    The following match was slightly better, two graceful female disciples fought against each other with ferocity and agility, letting people raise their hopes a little more.


    The ninth match onward, the skill levels gradually raised within the fighters. Each of the disciples who went on had mastered the ability to use the Vibrating Fist technique. Below the level of Grandmasters of Combat, it was considered basic to have mastered the ability to Vibrate. Otherwise, they couldn¡¯t even be considered a Martial Artist.


    Anyone who was called Martial Artist must have complete control over the technique of Vibration. With that, they would be able to start teaching students in smaller places.

 205 Mediation 1

    Chapter 205: Mediation 1


    Sitting on the high seat, Garen looked like he was paying his utmost attention on the matches, but he was really casual about it.


    Glancing at the matches below, he softly asked the Gate Master about situations at the Skylark Mountain waterfall.


    "First Divine Warrior should be ending his solitary period in a few days. The herbal supplements he asked us to send had been increasing. Without his summons, no one was even allowed near the waterfall."


    "Looks like he¡¯s at his critical period." Garen nodded, "I will wait for him here for three days. When you¡¯re sending people over, please relay the message."


    "No problem." Gate Master Bondi nodded. This man is a descendant of Holy Fist Palosa who took care of him when he was a kid. His talent was pretty good, but it¡¯s still ways to go before achieving the Holy Fist Realm, being a Grandmaster of Combat.


    Bondi glanced at Garen before inquiring, "Do you have any opinions on the current situation in the Confederation, Divine Warrior?"


    "Why do you ask?" Garen smiled.


    "I heard you have a close relationship with the higher powers of the Confederation, and also that you have an important role." Bondi answered cautiously.


    "Oh? This news had been travelling fast." Garen didn¡¯t deny.


    The winner¡¯s announcement rang once more. "Aisha Freya of the east wins!"


    Garen took a quick glance below and answered nonchalantly, "I do have a role in the Confederation, but I¡¯ve only touched a tiny part of it. I don¡¯t know most of how they run things."


    "I only need some advice," Bondi asked seriously. "Now that Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate lost our enemy, we¡¯ve became a little lax and disjointed. Without the stress of a common enemy, some of the original sects were thinking of separating from us." He scanned Garen¡¯s facial expression before continuing. "Right now, the situation in the Confederation wasn¡¯t stable, I don¡¯t think you¡¯ve managed to get wind about the current event?"


    "What current event?" Garen paid a little more attention.


    "Yesterday, Weisman struck Moshi City, the military port of the Confederation¡¯s Special Forces. Three countries landed there and launched a massacre, killing more than two hundred thousand people. Only about a hundred people were spared to clean up the corpses." Bondi¡¯s face fell as he described the situation. "The Confederation commenced a lockdown on the news. I only found out because my disciple¡¯s family was there. The news should spread here soon."


    "Two hundred thousand!" Garen¡¯s face stiffened. "Three countries? Which three?"


    "The empires Weisman, Crimson Crescent and Talitaan, Weisman lead the genocide." Bondi sounded somber.


    "Are you sure? Two hundred thousand! Not a hundred or two, not a thousand or two, but two hundred thousand!" Garen was in disbelief. "In this age when several thousand deaths could cause an outrage, two hundred thousand deaths without even a sound?"


    "Completely sure!" Bondi nodded,


    Garen squinted as his heart suddenly sank. No matter what happened, disturbances in the Confederation is a threat to the safety of his family and White Cloud Gate. He could ask the Sirens for help in avoiding the war, but it¡¯s not as calming as his own country.


    "Let¡¯s not be too hasty¡­ We¡¯ll see how the Confederation reacts, they are not so brittle to be easily defeated."


    "I hope so¡­" Bondi went silent.


    Garen¡¯s put his arms on the armrest, thinking about something, the atmosphere becoming heavier by the second.


    The next day, Cynthia got news from her contact confirming the authenticity of the news. It can be assumed to make its way through the whole Confederation, after all, it¡¯s not a small amount of people who were killed.


    The third day after the news, the championship had arrived at its final segment.


    Garen didn¡¯t go to audit the matches. Instead, with the arrangement of the Gate Master, he arrived at a secluded hall alone.


    It looked like it used to be a small chapel. A bronze statue about eight meters tall was erected in the middle of it. The scent of incense permeated the air.


    Garen entered. The disciple who lead him there closed the door and left, leaving him alone in the empty hall.


    The statue looked down at him, his humanoid silhouette covered with a gray hood, spikes extended from his back, casting a shade of rusticness and savagery.


    Standing in front of the statue, Garen waited without speaking.


    Soon, a tall thin silhouette appeared from behind the statue. He had white hair and white beard, his face was calm and kind, and he wore a gray robe like the statue. It was Palosa.


    "Been a long while, Garen."


    "You¡¯ve finally retired from your hermitary. Have you made up your mind? Join us." Garen asked calmly.


    "I heard you got a Mirror of Secret Texts from the Immortal Palace in Picardi?" Palosa avoided the topic, bringing up another.


    "If you join us, we¡¯ll definitely share it with you. And not only that, we have other news." Regarding Smoke Island, there¡¯s something that even the Immortal Palace was interested in, it must not be a normal treasure. It¡¯s also why the King of Nightmare and Andrela decided to go together. If Palosa refused to join them, this news will not be shared with Palosa.


    "Isn¡¯t crossing the boundary the only dream we have at our level? Nothing to hesitate about." Palosa agreed without much thought. As one of the strongest fighters, he didn¡¯t have to play tricks on them. Once he gave his word, there¡¯s no need for them to doubt him.


    After all, they are only teaming up for the benefits. They would naturally disband once they gotten the benefits.


    Garen told Palosa about the Promise, in case he¡¯s still hung up on the injury he suffered last time.


    "Have you fully recovered?" Garen asked, "We¡¯ve managed to get hold of the Argent Mirror last time, this time it¡¯s possible there are more people from the Immortal Palace, be prepared."


    "Don¡¯t worry, if even I haven¡¯t recover, Sylphalan could only be worse." Palosa answered confidently. "If there are other things to shout about, I won¡¯t drag you down."


    "Shall we go together?"


    "No need, I still have things to arrange."


    "That¡¯s fine. See you at Hilda."


    "See you there."


    Garen turned around and left the hall, the door closing behind him.


    Palosa stared at his leaving figure until his footsteps were no longer heard before a look of seriousness crossed his face.


    "This boy¡­ He¡¯s even stronger now¡­ Sylphalan, I¡¯ve prepared something big for you!"


    Having left the chapel-hall, Garen could tell Palosa had recovered to his previous state, but he¡¯s also more confident than usual. Obviously he¡¯s prepared a trump card, which is good, the stronger your allies are in this period of chaos, the better.


    After reporting his current status, Garen tabulated the loose ends he want to wrap up.


    "Two to go."


    He left the Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate at night in an prearranged car toward the capital of the Confederation Yangliu City.


    Fenistine is there right now. According to Golden Hoop¡¯s information, the leader of Behemoth Gate, General Black Orchid, had agreed to Garen¡¯s private meeting request. The both of them will be meeting officially for the first time in this capital city.


    Under Garen¡¯s leadership, White Cloud Gate, Celestial Circle Gate, and Red Sand Sword Gate, as well as the whole of southern Martial Arts community have attacked Behemoth Gate countless times.


    After killing Behemoth¡¯s elite, Clark, Garen got his hands on the Blood of Eternal Life.


    Furthermore, Celestial Circle Gate also utilized their sources to flush out one of the hiding places of Behemoth Gate. It is now safe to say Behemoth Gate no longer has any standing in the South.


    Initially, Behemoth Gate wanted to have a formal meeting with Garen, to which Garen refused.


    After that, the saga with the Argent Mirror happened in Picardi. As soon as this spread, the Behemoth Gate immediately contacted White Cloud Gate¡¯s Intelligence department, hoping to meet with Garen.


    After a few times, they even asked a high level Confederation official to be the mediator before Garen agreed to the meeting. Garen¡¯s conditions were that it could only be a private meeting in Yangliu City and that Golden Hoop will arrange for heavy duty bodyguards surrounding the place.


    Aside from the meeting with Behemoth Gate, he could also deal with Fenistine¡¯s troubles at once.


    After his return, Garen confirmed that Fenistine do need help with her situation. As a friend, he didn¡¯t mind lending a hand, plus, it¡¯s not that big of a deal to him.


    **************


    In the plane.


    Under the starry night sky, blue starlights were reflected on the smooth fuselage, throwing a luster of gentle sheen like a mirror.


    The four-winged military transport aircraft floated on top of a sea of cottony cloud like a black bird gliding slowly through the air. Strings of cloud zoomed past the windows occasionally, flying toward the full moon in the distance.


    Garen sat in the cabin, quietly observing the blue-black sea of clouds. In the aircraft, it felt as if he¡¯s in a world of endless cotton.


    The aircraft slowly made its way through the cottony cloud. Above the aircraft was a canvas of black decorated with numerous amount of sapphires.


    "Sir, your coffee." A pretty female soldier slowly handed Garen¡¯s hot coffee to him.


    "Thank you." Garen took the white ceramic cup and sniffed it. It wasn¡¯t the best kind of coffee, but it¡¯s already pretty lucky to be able to drink coffee in the air. "How far are we from the destination?"


    "Another hour, sir!" The female soldier gave him a salute before answering.


    "Can you please pass me today¡¯s papers?"


    "Please hold on."


    She acquired a stack of newspaper and hung them on a hook beside Garen¡¯s seat.


    Garen casually flipped through the pages, and stopped all of a sudden as he picked out a page and started reading.


    ¡®Military Port Massacre! Who¡¯s Responsible?¡¯


    ¡®Surprise Attack at Navy Port! 200,000 Dead!"


    ¡®Weisman Empire¡¯s Declaration of War, "This is A War on The Systems, This is A Revolution!"

 206 Mediation 2

    Chapter 206: Mediation 2


    Headlines were flooded with the massacre.


    Garen scanned through the other papers. Weisman defended their action, saying the number of deaths were grossly exaggerated, and that this was a response to the Confederation Army¡¯s provocation. 99% of the deaths were soldiers, so they didn¡¯t violate the international laws on human rights.


    Garen picked some of the more trustworthy papers and perused them in greater details.


    It was already a few days since the genocide. Protests were staged in various places to demand a strong military response, and at the same time to protest against the violence against helpless citizens displayed by the Weisman Empire.


    After reading through the papers, Garen silently contemplated in his seat.


    The aircraft was getting ready to land as it swiftly descended.


    With some minor trembling, the aircraft landed safely.


    Garen alighted the plane and took the pre-arranged car out of the airport and into the city center.


    Half an hour later, within minutes of entering the city, noises came flooding in from the streets as if there were lots of people yelling. They don¡¯t sound very practiced, bordering on disorderly, even.


    Garen sat inside the black car, feeling the slowing of its speed. Pulling back the curtain, he took a peek outside. There was no one on the street, the noise seemed to be coming from afar.


    "What¡¯s happening?


    The driver was a female soldier arranged by the army. She answered awkwardly.


    "Sir, there may be protesters in front, maybe we should reroute?"


    "Protesters?" Garen asked.


    As the car crawled forward, the voices became clearer.


    "No more imperialism!"


    "No more imperialism!"


    "Avenge Moshi Port!" "Avenge¡­"


    Sounds of the protesters echoed from the front. Someone must have led the chants before people joined in.


    "Sir, we can¡¯t move anymore. They must have closed the road off." The soldier reminded Garen loudly.


    "Let¡¯s take a different route." Garen locked his brows together, "Does Yangliu have these frequently?"


    "Yes, about once a week, at least ten thousand people each time." The soldier answered, "I heard many places have marches like that."


    Garen exhaled and pulled the curtain back up.


    "Wasn¡¯t the army mobilized to keep them down?"


    "Not yet, they¡¯ve only mobilized the police to keep them orderly and jailed a few people who wanted to benefit from the chaos. Now that the protest snowballed, the higher ups didn¡¯t dare to arrest anyone as well." The soldier answered helplessly.


    Garen nodded with understanding.


    The car turned into another street, slowly advancing behind other cars. Police were helping to direct the traffic on their motorbikes.


    A dozen minutes later, the car slowed to a stop in front of a black-painted clubhouse.


    Garen stepped out of the car and marched toward the entrance, accompanied by his bodyguards.


    An obese, fair man in a lieutenant outfit stood in front of the entrance, smiling at him with his hands placed behind him and looking kind.


    "Mr. Garen, I¡¯m really glad to be the mediator for this meeting. It¡¯s been a long trip, please, come in and have a little rest." His voice sounded shrill, a little like a duck¡¯s voice quality, it¡¯s a little funny to Garen. He didn¡¯t feel like an official.


    "Lieutenant Lycian, is she here?" Garen asked while following him.


    "She arrived about ten minutes ago." Lieutenant Lycian was a friend of Su Lin¡¯s father. When Behemoth Gate looked for him to mediate, Garen had to give face* to Su Lin¡¯s father.


    Of course, looking at the current situation, he might have wanted to mediate himself.


    The hall was lit, the floor was lined with thick red woolen carpet. There were golden decorations all around, the wallpaper is of a faint yellow. There were special forces soldiers standing at a set distance from each other.


    Garen could smell the faint scent of blood from these soldiers, it was apparent they had just finished a mission, and was directly ordered to cover this space.


    After all, both the Behemoth Gate General and White Cloud Gate Master were ruthless. If they couldn¡¯t reach a consensus and started fighting without the safety precautions, this mediator role may be dangerous to take on.


    Noticing how Garen looked at the soldiers, Lycian smiled, "There¡¯s a tent outside with artillery aiming here, keeping here as peaceful as possible so the meeting could go on. I think Mr Garen would appreciate that."


    "Of course." Garen nodded, "The Confederation couldn¡¯t sustain any more internal damage. This is why I¡¯m willing to meet with him."


    Lieutenant Lycian nodded in relief.


    The two entered a quiet tea room.


    The tea room wall was lined with black wood. A very detailed Eastern ancient drawing hanged on the wall facing the door. It¡¯s rectangular, and was set on the wall in a horizontal fashion. It¡¯s about 5 meters wide, accentuating its exquisiteness.


    Tens of birds were drawn on the canvas. Some were soaring, some landing, some charging ahead, and some waiting to be fed.


    There were red birds, blue birds, white birds, black birds and birds with all sort of colors and sizes, highlighting its magnificence.


    "Such a good picture!" Garen doesn¡¯t know how to paint, even then, he could tell the painting must have a really high value.


    On the right of the painting sat a tiny lady in black clothing. The lady was slowly pouring a cup of tea. The jade-colored tea flowed smoothly into the white jade teacup, stunning Garen a little bit before calming him.


    The lady had a pretty face and looked as if she¡¯s only in her twenties. She moved with grace and a smoothness highlighted by her fair porcelain skin.


    Garen approached her with the lieutenant, and noticed she wasn¡¯t wearing any simple black clothing, but a black silk dress with a long, floor-sweeping skirt that shone with mystery and silky smoothness.


    Black hair, porcelain skin, pretty face, and a pair of soul-catching slanted eyes.


    For a moment, Garen felt as if he was back in China, and the lady sitting in front of him was a classic oriental beauty, gently pouring him his tea.


    The two sat down slowly with Garen facing the lady as he watched the lady handing him his tea in appreciation.


    "I¡¯m a crude guy, I don¡¯t know the simplest things about culture, so I will be frank. You¡¯re General Black Orchid from Behemoth Gate?" He didn¡¯t explain much, instead admitted himself straightforwardly.


    "I heard Gate Master Garen was barely twenty years old, but it seems like you¡¯re more mature than that. Unbelievable." The lady smiled. "Yes, I am Black Orchid. General is just a title, it couldn¡¯t compare to yours."


    "My time is running out and I have other matters to attend to, so let¡¯s not beat around the bush. The situation in the country no longer have room for infighting. About your sect, you must know, I was not the one who started the feud. You were the one who incited my senior sister¡¯s betrayal." Garen stated expressionlessly.


    "This was our fault, but White Cloud Gate was not one of our concern at that point. It was only after your ascension that this happened. Strength equals dominion, it was the law of nature. Now that you¡¯re strong enough, we no longer have reasons to fight against each other." The lady paused, "This was also one the reason I requested Lieutenant Lycian to mediate. Only the Strong Ones may earn respect."


    "And by that you mean¡­"


    "We¡¯ll give up on the South and will retreat completely." Black Orchid sipped her tea, "We will also abdicate from avenging Clark, that way we¡¯ll be even."


    "Even if you struggle, you won¡¯t be able to do anything else in the South." Garen smirked. "This outcome was already in my grasp, your offer lacks sincerity."


    "Kid, don¡¯t be too arrogant¡­" Cold fury flashed through her face. "You are strong, but don¡¯t you assume what you saw was the entirety of our power."


    "Me? Arrogant? You were the one who initiated the mediation, but you didn¡¯t even want to show any sincerity, and you dare to call me arrogant?" Garen responded with the same fury. "Don¡¯t assume I don¡¯t know that your headquarters is in the North. I wouldn¡¯t mind a war between your sect and I, at least then I can find out whether you sect is stronger or the Immortal Palace Alliance!"


    "Let¡¯s not jump to conclusion so soon. Since both of you willingly participate in this mediation, it¡¯s obvious both side were sincere about this. Let¡¯s back up a little for my sake." Lycian interjected, reminding them of his presence with his kind face.


    "Let¡¯s agree to this, for my sake, Behemoth Gate will retreat from the South and will discuss with White Cloud Gate when their future operations involving the South. Likewise, White Cloud Gate will discuss with Behemoth Gate in the future whenever they need to move to the North. What do you think?


    "What if the discussion didn¡¯t happen?" General Black Orchid sneered.


    "Then it¡¯s not my fault if I kill them." Garen recomposed himself. "For Lieutenant Lycian¡¯s honor¡¯s sake, I agree."


    "Likewise!" Clenching her jaw, Black Orchid echoed Garen.


    To be honest, if it weren¡¯t for Garen and his companions¡¯ victory against Immortal Palace Alliance in Picardi, the Behemoth Gate wouldn¡¯t request for a truce so readily.


    Garen and Andrela were still somewhat easier to handle, at least they were more straightforward.


    The difficulty lies with King of Nightmares. This person can shapeshift into any identity they choose, be it male or female, young or old. More horrifyingly, they are proficient in hypnosis and have the title of King of Hypnosis. With an enemy like this, it wasn¡¯t their true power that was hard to manage, but their tracking and anti-tracking abilities.


    With a character like this, no organizations would be able to conceal themselves completely. If a war breaks out, with King of Nightmares¡¯ help, Garen will have the entire Behemoth Gate thrown into disarray in no time¡­


    Black Orchid didn¡¯t even dare to imagine when that happens.


    Because of Behemoth Gate¡¯s deviant initiation method, they have made enemies out of everyone. If they were exposed¡­


    This was also why they requested General Black Orchid to call for a truce.


    Translator''s Thoughts


    J_Squared J_Squared


    1.	Chinese idiomatic phrase meaning to pay respects to an elder or to give honor.

 207 Meeting 1

    Chapter 207: Meeting 1


    A verbal agreement was one thing, but concrete action was another altogether.


    Black Orchid observed Garen through narrowed eyes for a moment, and then lightly took a sip from her cup of tea.


    "I heard that Gate Master Garen managed to stop the people from Immortal Palace at Picardi. It¡¯s making quite the uproar through the world of martial arts." Black Orchid put down her teacup, and patted her hands lightly. "When they heard that Gate Master Garen had agreed to meet here, the elite warriors of our Behemoth Gate fought each other for the chance to experience your ultimate Body Hardening Technique."


    Garen¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change. The elite fighters of the Behemoth Gate wouldn¡¯t stop at anything less than a personal experience of his powers. They were obviously here to scout out his abilities.


    "I have also long heard that the Behemoth Gate likes to recruit potential geniuses from all walks of life and disciplines. In that case, the fighters you have raised must be extraordinary. Allow me to widen my horizons."


    "Since you have agreed, Gate Master, then I shall ask the General to arrange an arena." Black Orchid smiled slightly, and slowly stood. "Other than the leader of the Behemoth Gate, there are two of our strongest fighters. I believe they won¡¯t disappoint you, Gate Master."


    "I hope so." Garen stood, and fell silent.


    Lieutenant General Lycian had guessed this would happen, so he stood at the same time and led the two of them out through a small door on the left.


    Passing through a narrow wooden corridor, the three of them quickly arrived at a spacious concrete area behind the meeting place.


    The arena was oval-shaped and surrounded on all sides by almost a thousand soldiers, all armed to the teeth. And on the right end of the arena, there were already two people waiting.


    One of the two had been standing while the other crouched, but upon seeing the other three enter, both of them instantly stood at attention.


    Garen observed the duo, one man and one woman, closely. The man had his hair falling over his shoulders and stubble all over his face, wearing a long white robe that looked like a bathrobe. Only his eyes were a strange blue-green, just like those of a cat or wolf.


    The woman had a slender but healthy figure, and was wearing skintight leather like Cynthia, except hers was all red. Her waist and limbs swayed gently, her arms twisting flexibly like snakes. In contrast, her skin was shockingly white, like someone who just recovered from a horrible illness.


    A pair of red eyes fixed tightly onto Garen, with a vague flash of cruelty in them.


    "Red, White. Gate Master Garen wants to see the true essence of our Behemoth Gate martial arts. Which of you would like to demonstrate first?"


    "Me first." The long-haired man was probably the one Black Orchid called White. He took one step forward, standing in the middle of the arena. With a wave of his right palm, there were suddenly five transparent crystal blades in between his fingers, each as thin as a cicada¡¯s wing.


    "Top level fighters who can stand their own against the Immortal Palace only come once every few decades. I would like to experience Gate Master Garen¡¯s mystical powers for myself." The man chuckled coldly. "Please."


    Be it Black Orchid, Red, or White, none of them actually mentioned the issue of key importance.


    It was the fact that the two fighters here who had been brought out of the Behemoth Gate, together with Black Orchid herself, were in fact the three strongest members of the Behemoth Gate. Most importantly, the three of them had faced the Imperial Palace head-on before, and likewise managed to get out of the encounter intact.


    If Sylphalan wasn¡¯t so ridiculously over-powered, the Imperial Palace might not have been able to suppress the Behemoth Gate.


    The Behemoth Gate had had their way for several decades. Butterfly Blade Barcrand, from the same generation as Sylphalan, was a top-tier fighter who had escaped over the sea from the Azure Continent. The Blue-eyed Butterfly Assassination Group that was founded in and terrorized the Azure Continent had later been destroyed by the Imperial Palace over a dispute in profits.


    Garen gripped his fists lightly, and slowly stepped forward.


    "Blue-eyed Butterfly, Barcrand? To think you were still alive, and you even joined the Behemoth Gate."


    "You know me?" Barcrand was rather taken aback, but he immediately laughed nonchalantly, "Compared to how you, the White Cloud Gate Master, had your reputation spread across the entire Confederation within a few short years, I am still far from your match."


    "You, sir, are a legendary senior." Garen smiled, "Since you¡¯ve already retired into the shadows, why do you still come out to look for a beating? Old guys should stay in their wheelchairs and live the rest of their few remaining days quietly."


    "You got an impressive mouth on you! I wonder if your hands are as impressive," Barcrand¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change as he said calmly.


    "Won¡¯t you know as soon as you start the attack?" Garen stood with his hands behind his back, his eyes slowly narrowing.


    Neither of them won an advantage in the war of words, so they decided to abandon speaking altogether, and just observed each other closely.


    Phiuw¡­


    A cold breeze blew past them.


    Barcrand instantly vanished, quietly, without a trace, as though he had completely disappeared.


    Garen was slightly taken aback, and carefully felt for the movements around him. But he couldn¡¯t find any trace of this person whatsoever.


    Swish!


    He cocked his head, and sparks flew instantly on his left cheek. Something transparent and sharp had sliced across his face.


    "Interesting. Assassination Knife Techniques, is it?" It was Garen¡¯s first time facing this strange field of martial arts. Even though Palosa¡¯s moves from back then were called the Assassination Fist Technique, the truth was he used his fists so openly and honorably that they could no longer be considered an Assassination Fist Technique.


    Psst!


    Another row of sparks appeared on Garen¡¯s right arm. That piercing sound of friction, sharp enough to make one¡¯s teeth ache, continued to linger in the air.


    As for those watching from the sidelines, Black Orchid¡¯s and the Red woman¡¯s eyelids kept twitching. They knew very well how much damage White could inflict with his slices. Even Duskdune Shura wouldn¡¯t dare stand still like this when facing White. But when faced with Garen¡­


    Lieutenant General Lycian¡¯s scalp had gone numb.


    "Unbelievable¡­ To think the human body could reach such a high level of hardness!!" He murmured under his breath non-stop, looking at Garen as though the latter was a monster.


    Psst!!


    More sparks exploded from Garen¡¯s chest. Garen suddenly laughed, just once, and threw his left arm backwards. The air was smacked loudly, producing a piercing sound.


    In that moment, a shadow staggered before disappearing into the air. It was obvious he had been scraped by that split-second attack.


    "Never let it be said that I don¡¯t know how to respect my elders." Garen pulled back his left hand, looking at the faint traces of blood on his fingertips.


    Slowly, he started walking forth. Rows after rows of sparks kept erupting on his body, but after every bout of sparks, he would casually brush past Barcrand¡¯s shadow without fail.


    Psst!


    Another shadow aimed a strike at his left ear hole without mercy. This was also the only place on Garen¡¯s body where the defense was slightly weaker.


    Barcrand held his breath, all the power in his body focussed on the sharp blade in his hand. His body twirled in mid-air, his arm similarly spinning at high speed, like the tip of an electric drill.


    "It¡¯s over." Suddenly, Garen¡¯s voice spoke into his ear.


    A powerful force struck his waist fiercely from the side.


    Barcrand¡¯s expression shifted slightly, the tip of the knife in his hand slipping downwards instantly to act as a shield in front of his waist. At the same time, his body curved upwards like a butterfly amongst flowers, and he actually managed to evade the brunt of the attack.


    Barroom!!


    His whole body was struck away by Garen¡¯s whip kick, and he flew into a nearby wall with all the impact of a bullet.


    Eerily, the wall split into an infinite number of small pieces without a sound. Barcrand¡¯s figure stood on the collapsed wall, looking ever so slightly worse for the wear, as he stared at Garen with a serious expression. His right hand hung loosely at his side, evidently dislocated.


    "What fast reflexes," White sighed sincerely.


    At the last moment, Garen did hold back a little. Although they fought fiercely with their words, neither side was willing to bring the conflict one step higher, both opting to leave some space to maneuver. According to legends, Butterfly Blade could control five Butterfly Blades at once, but he had used just one earlier. It was obviously just a test.


    With the familiarity of an old hand, Barcrand lightly pressed his dislocated arm together, and it fell back in place with a ¡®crack¡¯.


    "Next one." Garen looked at the woman in red by the side.


    Red took a step forward, her whole body emitting a faint aroma. A slight breeze blew past, and the smell entered Garen¡¯s nostrils, relaxing his body and mind. The woman had eyes as sharp as a hawk¡¯s, her whole person radiating an aura that contained a hint of coldness and cruelty. Her long chestnut hair was tied into a ponytail that hung behind her. After seeing that short test between Garen and White, the tinge of easygoingness on her face had also gradually vanished. In its place was the careful wariness of a beast before the hunt.


    With a swoosh, she pulled out two identical fiery-red guns from goodness knows where. The barrels were thick and large, with spiders engraved onto them.


    "My martial arts is a new trend, a mix of guns and Secret Techniques, so watch out."


    Without waiting for Garen¡¯s reply, she fired her first shot with a ¡®bang¡¯.


    Strangely, the bullet from that shot wasn¡¯t particularly fast, but it left a clear trail of white smoke in the air.


    Garen tilted his body slightly, the bullet brushing past his shoulder.


    Bang!!


    There was the sound of a muffled explosion from behind him, the burning red flames coloring Garen¡¯s face crimson.


    That bullet had hit the wall behind him, and immediately exploded like a grenade.


    "A custom-made explosive bullet, is it?" Garen instantly took three more steps back.


    Bang-bang-bang!!


    Three more explosions, and three more clouds of red flames on the wall behind him.


    Even he wouldn¡¯t want to test explosive shells like this with his own body. Who knows how strong the explosive power inside was. If it was powerful enough to overcome his defenses, and if it contained poisons at that, he would surely fall where he least expected it.


    The only thing he was still vaguely wary of at this point, was high temperature weapons like these.


    Just as he steadied his footing from his retreat, a red shadow flashed past his eyes.


    Red actually began fighting at close distance. Two long reverse-hooks extended from the grips of her guns, piercing through the air at Garen like a pair of fangs.


    The two were so close, their bodies were almost plastered together. Standing in the middle of the arena, they emitted a continuous barrage of metal clanging sounds.


    Directly in front of Garen, Red had completely morphed into a flurry of flames, her movements strange and unpredictable like an eight-legged crimson spider. Her attacking patterns were completely unlike regular martial artists, as she used those sharp thorns to aim at the vital spots on the lower body. But at the same time, her speed was extraordinarily fast, her angles hard to catch.


    Garen had never before encountered such a vulgar manner of attacking, and couldn¡¯t adjust in that moment. As such, he was forced into retreating repeatedly.


    Psst!


    His belt was hooked and cut, making Garen reach for his belt in a hurry to prevent his pants from falling off. As the Master of a Gate, as the strongest fighter in the South, his reputation and image were an important trademark for the entire power.


    And as a man, if he were forced to run buck-naked by this woman here, even an eventual victory would count as a loss.


    Red chuckled sweetly, easily did a backflip, and fired two shots in mid-air.


    Bang, bang! Two clouds of red flames erupted on either side of Garen at the same time, the kickback making him retreat backwards the entire time.


    Hearing Red¡¯s laughter, Garen started to grow rather angry. She was either aiming for his lower body, or his butt, all her attacks honed in on his fatal spots. Although his Body Hardening Technique was unrivalled, he couldn¡¯t hold up to such a vulgar fighting style.


    As soon as he stood steady, he immediately saw Red pouncing at him again while upside down. The two reverse-hooks whistled sharply through the air, aiming straight between his legs.

 208 Meeting 2

    Chapter 208: Meeting 2


    "Hmph!" Garen finally stopped holding back, and stomped down his right foot.


    Boom!!


    Large swathes of concrete shards instantly flew into the air, shooting away in all directions like a bomb.


    Smack!


    A piece of concrete accurately hit Red¡¯s large, perky breasts.


    "Ahh~~" This woman actually moaned seductively, somersaulting before landing slowly on the ground not too far away. Her right hand cupped her chest tightly as she stared at Garen resentfully.


    Garen¡¯s heart skipped a beat, and he suddenly found his mouth thirsty and his tongue dry.


    "Why don¡¯t we end the sparring here." Black Orchid¡¯s voice came from above, "We, the Behemoth Gate, have understood your strength, Gate Master. As expected of the White Cloud Gate Master, the man who could fight against Sylphalan¡­"


    Before he realized it, Black Orchid had soundlessly walked up behind Garen, her soft arms like white jade as they lightly caressed Garen¡¯s chest. There was a hint of seduction on her face, her lips moist and glossy like peaches.


    "What are you lot trying to pull?" Garen carefully worked his Blood Qi throughout his body, but didn¡¯t find anything amiss. Having successfully perfected the Divine Statue Technique, and add that to his maxed-out vitality, he should have been completely immune to all diseases. Most poisons also only had a tiny effect on him. Right now, his Blood Qi was shockingly thick, about equal to the blood and flesh essence of a few elephants compressed.


    Turning his eye to the side of the arena, Garen abruptly discovered that General Lycian had disappeared without him knowing, and the surrounding soldiers were also retreating non-stop.


    Black Orchid¡¯s soft and slender arms held Garen¡¯s face lightly. For some reason, Garen had no intention of rejecting her whatsoever. The places where his skin was in contact with Black Orchid were radiating a bone-numbing sensation.


    The fragrance of Black Orchid¡¯s body kept assaulting his nostrils, further agitating his already quickening Blood Qi.


    Black Orchid¡¯s cherry lips hung by Garen¡¯s ear as she said softly, "There is only one medicine in this world¡­ that can get past even peak-level Body Hardening Technique¡­" She grabbed Garen¡¯s hand lightly, and placed them on her own towering breasts.


    Whoosh!


    The black gown flew upwards, covering the two of them like a black veil.


    "Let me bear you a child¡­" Black Orchid¡¯s voice said softly from underneath the black veil.


    All the Blood Qi in Garen¡¯s body erupted in an instant, like black powder set alight. He no longer held back, and no longer wanted to hold back. Although he had no idea what the Behemoth Gate was planning, his natural-born special power was indicating that his current condition wasn¡¯t negative, but positive. Besides, this primal instinct gushing up from deep within his body made him unable to resist it.


    Beside them, Red stood up from the floor, her gaze complicated as she looked at the man and woman tangled behind the black veil.


    "The world¡¯s strongest woman and the world¡¯s most talented man¡­ A combination like this¡­"


    ******************


    After an unknown period of time.


    There was abruptly a loud moan from within the black veil.


    Soon after, the black veil started to twirl and rise, enveloping a slim and perfect female body, as it floated directly to land on top of a wall.


    At the end, Black Orchid turned back to glance at Garen.


    "The world¡¯s most talented man, a child like this would definitely complete our dream!" She felt the intense, tearing pain from her lower body, her gaze complicated.


    Red landed softly beside her, and was similarly wordless.


    "Go!" Black Orchid lifted her black dress, obscuring both of them from view. Once the dress vanished, the two of them also disappeared without a trace.


    Garen lay face-up, the clothes on his body once more tidy and presentable. There were still traces of Black Orchid¡¯s soft fragrance on his body. That water-like feeling and surrounding had him slightly dazed even now.


    "The Behemoth Gate¡­" he chanted lowly, as he slowly stood and glanced towards the direction Black Orchid had left. He lowered his head to look at the bloodied scratches across his chest. It was the first time someone had managed to break his skin with their fingernails since he perfected the Divine Statue Technique.


    "To think it would be under these circumstances¡­" Garen smiled wryly.


    He did not know why Black Orchid, as the leader of the Behemoth Gate, would do something like that. But as his first woman in this world, Black Orchid¡¯s body was just like a water current, soft and supple, clear as jade. That faint fragrance, those perfect, slender curves. Every image was imprinted deep into his brain.


    Inhaling deeply, Garen tried to chase the lingering temptation and pleasure out of his mind.


    He understood what the medicine Black Orchid used was. It was a medicine that could work against peak-level Body Hardening Technique, and it was even an irresistible aphrodisiac.


    It was the Heaven Match Powder, from the East. This kind of nearly-extinct aphrodisiac should have been exhausted several centuries ago. To think the Behemoth Gate managed to find a portion.


    "Now the relationship¡¯s gotten complicated." Looking at the virgin blood on the floor, Garen suddenly felt a headache coming on. At first, his relationship with the Behemoth Gate was crystal clear. Because of First Senior Sister, both sides had a considerable grudge against the other. Great, now their highest leader had even given him her body¡¯s first night. The previously simple relationship instantly became ambiguous and complicated.


    It was obvious to see that Black Orchid had all this planned in advance. She used the intervention as a chance to get closer to him, and drugged him when they were testing him one-on-one. In the end, they achieved their motive.


    Helplessly, he turned around and walked towards the exit to the arena. He had no idea since when Lieutenant General Lycian had been standing outside the door, but presently the man smiled at him suggestively.


    "How was it? That was the strongest leader of the Behemoth Gate, y¡¯know. Such a strong woman, beautiful, with good skin, strong enough abilities, and wielding considerable power as well. She even took the initiative to drug you and gave herself to you. And you¡¯re still sighing like it¡¯s the end of the world, you chump?"


    "Looks like I hadn¡¯t taken the training to build an immunity towards drugs seriously¡­ This time they got me with an aphrodisiac, but next time it could be a poison." Garen shook his head, "And besides, if it weren¡¯t for you, Lieutenant General Lycian, pulling some strings in the middle, their chances of success wouldn¡¯t be that high, would it? Don¡¯t you think you should bear some of the responsibility?"


    Lycian chuckled, looking rather awkward. "You already got all the benefits, can¡¯t you leave a little for others? When that woman Black Orchid found me and mentioned about borrowing some seed, even I was shocked. But I still agreed in the end. You know how it is, in the South of the Confederation now, the main conflict is the problem between you and the Behemoth Gate. As long as the two of you have this sort of relationship, when faced with an outside threat, you won¡¯t have to worry about the other side deliberately holding you back."


    "Besides, you can relax, the agreement you had with the Behemoth Gate before this still stands. That woman, Black Orchid, is deathly decisive, so once she has made a promise, she will definitely fulfill it." Lycian said with a straight face, "As for my compensation¡­ If I gave you the military position of Upper Major General, would you take it?"


    "Sure. Why not?" Garen knew that Lycian represented the higher-ups in the Confederation, and did not hesitate. He understood what the Confederation had in mind as well.


    The higher-ups had already discovered the fact that Governor Grant wanted independence. Perhaps they thought that since they couldn¡¯t do anything about that right now, rather than letting a governor who wasn¡¯t close to the higher-ups gain independence, they might as well give the authority to a power who was closer to the government.


    "I¡¯ll exert some influence on the governor¡¯s office, don¡¯t worry. Didn¡¯t you give me a military position so I can set camp against that guy?"


    "You sure see through things clearly," Lycian said with a nod, somewhat surprised. "It¡¯s very hard to imagine that you are only slightly over twenty this year."


    "Alright, now that things are settled on this said, I should get back now. There are still things I need to handle." Garen found this trip to meet and discuss with the Behemoth Gate utterly mystifying.


    He carefully observed the attribute pane at the bottom of his field of vision.


    To his great surprise, the vitality pane had increased a little again.


    From 2.65 to 2.76.


    It had obviously increased suddenly after he did that with Black Orchid.


    After exiting the hall, Garen got onto a military vehicle and immediately checked into a luxurious hotel according to prior arrangement.


    At the same time, Cynthia and Jack, who had been trailing behind, also arrived at the hotel.


    Due to his complicated feelings towards Black Orchid, Garen asked the two of them to investigate Black Orchid¡¯s background, while at the same time calling a temporary halt on some of the actions he had been taking to raid the Behemoth Gate.


    But in truth, up until now, the Behemoth Gate¡¯s bases in the South had already been pulled up by the roots under the joint attack of various powers such as the King of Nightmares¡¯ Sirens, the Celestial Circle Gate, the Crimson Sand Sword, and the Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate. They had lost almost a hundred members. This may well be the Behemoth Gate¡¯s worst loss in recent decades.


    So even if Garen asked them to temporarily cease action for now, it was already meaningless.


    Reining in his good mood from before, Garen stayed at the hotel for two days. Cynthia also obtained Fenistine¡¯s current home and company addresses.


    Following these addresses, Garen searched.


    ******************


    In the Yang Liu city area, in front of a dilapidated office building.


    Garen slowly walked up to the entrance of the office building and stood firm, frowning slightly as he looked at the building.


    It was all crooked and twisted, like a grey plastic box about to fall into pieces. There were graffitied swear words all over the walls, and there was even a pile of steaming hot dog shit on the ground by the metal door.


    The people who walked past him were mostly peasants wearing simple clothes. Some of them had green tattoos peeking out from their necks, acting like hooligans.


    Meow~~~


    A filthy stray cat walked slowly past Garen¡¯s feet. Most of its black fur had fallen off, the rest of it lay in patches just like a leper.


    "Cynthia, are you sure Fenistine¡¯s company is in a place like this?" Garen turned around to ask Cynthia very suspiciously.


    His pretty subordinate was currently wrapped up in thick cotton clothes, wearing a hat and gloves. Even so, she kept on attracting some nearby hooligans¡¯ filthy gazes.


    "I¡¯m sure it¡¯s here, yesterday Miss Fenistine just beat up a hooligan here."


    Garen shook his head. He never thought Fenistine¡¯s situation would be so bad.


    "Never mind, let¡¯s just go in and see."


    "Yes."


    The two of them walked into the office building, one after the other. As soon as they got in, they saw a fat man with a large beard swaying as he walked down.


    The fat man was wearing a wool shirt and black-rimmed glasses. Seeing Garen and Cynthia, he immediately pushed up his glasses and carefully considered the two of them.


    "May I ask who you¡¯re looking for?"


    "Is this the Green Pine Auction House?" Cynthia stepped forward and asked.


    "Yes, you two are here for General Manager Fenistine, aren¡¯t you? Plrease come in, the manager is upstairs." The fat man took out a dirty handkerchief to wipe his forehead. "Actually, no matter how you rush us, we can¡¯t give you any more money. As you can see, we have even sold the building that was the company¡¯s headquarters, and sold a large majority of the merchandise¡­" He turned around and led the two of them downstairs, all the while explaining the poor misfortune of Green Pine with an expression of pain.


    The more Garen and Cynthia, the less they had to say. This fatty didn¡¯t even bother to ask why they were here, which obviously meant that too many people had been demanding debts here recently, to the point where he had gotten numb to it.

 209 Reason 1

    Chapter 209: Reason 1


    "If memory serves me correctly, Green Pine should have been a larger auction company, right?" Garen asked, perplexed. "How did it end up like this?"


    The fatty glanced at him and nodded in affirmation. "True, Green Pine was very famous before, with fixed customer bases both inside and outside the country. The only thing is recently, the company¡¯s source of liquid funds were all frozen, so we couldn¡¯t make ends meet for a while. Our previous competitors also piled on the pressure, and then there were multiple serious mistakes with the purchase of merchandise, so we lost a considerable sum there as well. In other words, it was like all our misfortune from before befell us all at once, and everything that could go wrong did go wrong. My god¡­" Speaking of what happened in the past, the fatty¡¯s face was presently still unhappy and depressed.


    He led Garen and Cynthia into an office on the third floor and knocked the door. "Big Sis, there are more people here."


    "Bring them in¡­ One more won¡¯t make a difference." A tired voice came from within.


    The door was pushed open, and the two of them walked in while the fatty stayed behind to close the door.


    The room was empty, with only a large, long table in the middle. A young woman was sprawled on it, writing something on the table and looking deeply exhausted.


    The woman was very young. Even her gold-rimmed glasses and black professional lady¡¯s outfit could not hide her air of childish youth. Her blonde hair was tied into a bundle, and her dark blue eyes showed a deep-seated weariness.


    She raised her head and pushed up her glasses, looking at Garen and Cynthia carefully. Her expression was first of confusion, and then she frowned. She looked obviously hesitant.


    "May I ask, you are¡­?"


    Garen couldn¡¯t help but laugh. "You don¡¯t recognize even me anymore?" His voice hadn¡¯t changed at all from before.


    As soon as he spoke, Fenistine¡¯s eyes widened, and she stood abruptly. "You!! You¡¯re Garen!! Why are you suddenly here, why didn¡¯t you tell me beforehand?!!"


    Garen shook his head. "I just had something to see you for, but it seems that you¡¯ve hit a wall yourself."


    Fenistine smiled wryly. "It¡¯s just a small matter, didn¡¯t you go to university? Why do you have time to come here?"


    Garen casually pulled a bench to the table and sat down. "Forget about me, what about you? What on earth are you doing now? How did you end up like this?"


    Fenistine wiped her face, sitting down as she said helplessly, "I don¡¯t know either. Starting from three months ago, it¡¯s like I fell into a run of bad luck, and nothing good at all happened to me. Even good things ended up becoming bad. By the time I realized it, things have become like this."


    Garen frowned as he said, "Explain it to me in detail."


    He already had a hunch at this point. He could vaguely sense a thick air of Antique of Tragedy on Fenistine. It was highly likely that this thing was causing her run of bad luck.


    As Fenistine slowly described the events leading up to this, he also gradually understood what had been happening.Navici


    The root cause of it all was going to Navici, in the Jade Mountain Province near the border.


    Fenistine waited but never got Garen to agree to go with her, so she decided to go alone and excavate clues about the mysterious incident from that secret underground vault they had found.


    He still remembered the message on that paper slip.


    "Navici Tsunami Mountain, number 174, the third tree, six feet under. I left the item there. --Charlie."


    According to Fenistine¡¯s story, she had gone alone to find the object mentioned in that message. In the end, she brought it back and kept it in a secret vault.


    "What is it? What made you so nervous?" Garen asked in confusion.


    Fenistine glanced at Cynthia, who was standing behind Garen.


    "Cynthia, leave for now." Garen waved at her.


    Cynthia nodded, turned around and left the room, closing the door behind her. With that, only Garen and Fenistine were left in the room.


    "Who knew? You¡¯re doing pretty well yourself, huh?" Fenistine looked rather surprised to see that. "I thought she was your girlfriend. To think, she¡¯s your lackey?"


    "I¡¯m not particularly well, it is what it is." Garen was still sorting out what he had just heard. "Do you still have the item you excavated?"


    "No, I sold it long ago. At first I suspected it was due to an Antique of Tragedy as well, but I¡¯m still the same after selling it." She bent her body down a little, lowering her voice, "I¡¯m telling you¡­ The thing I found was a tiny, really small wooden carving. According to my deductions, that thing is definitely a very formidable Antique of Tragedy!"


    Garen watched Fenistine and her expression of mystery in exasperation. He really wanted to say that he had discovered that a long time ago, but seeing how Fenistine was trying so hard to build up the suspense, he couldn¡¯t bring himself to interrupt her.


    There was a thick air of potential misfortune from the Antique of Tragedy surrounding Fenistine. It had evidently accumulated after she spent too much time with the Antique of Tragedy, and it would take at least a few months of bad luck for it to dissipate. Garen mused it over, but decided to immediately reach out his hand anyway.


    With a ¡®smack¡¯, he accurately grabbed Fenistine¡¯s wrist.


    "Don¡¯t panic, I¡¯ll check your condition. I know some Eastern medicine."


    Fenistine¡¯s face reddened in an instant, and she opened her mouth to say something, but she never did say it. In the end, she just let Garen hold her wrist.


    As soon as the two of them touched, that thick air of misfortune was quickly absorbed by Garen until there was not a trace left.


    "Alright, it¡¯s fine now." Garen released Fenistine¡¯s hand, and smiled as though nothing happened. "Your condition now isn¡¯t that great, do you need my help?"


    "Can you?" Fenistine recovered in an instant, looking at Garen half-believingly. "You have to know, I need a substantial amount of money right now."


    "It¡¯s fine, just tell me."


    Fenistine knew that Garen had inherited the White Cloud Gate, but the White Cloud Gate was merely a trifle. How much money could a local gate like that fork out?


    "I need at least two hundred million in liquid assets, to have a proper turnover," she said in a low voice.


    "Two hundred million, no problem." Garen had thought it would be a huge sum, and didn¡¯t expect it to be so little. All else aside, just the Black Mark Association that he recently merged with alone could squeeze out the money for Fenistine to use. That wasn¡¯t counting the White Cloud Gate¡¯s power and assets that, in total, had enough financial power to match a provincial government.


    To him right now, two hundred million was merely the tip of the iceberg.


    But Fenistine was slightly dazed. Her little mouth hung open, her eyes widened, and she looked at Garen dumbly.


    "Hey hey hey, you¡¯re not kidding, are you? That¡¯s two hundred million! Not two hundred! I know you inherited the White Cloud Gate, but even if it¡¯s the White Cloud Gate¡­ that¡¯s still too much, right? Why does your expression tell me that two hundred million is two hundred!"


    "I¡¯m not kidding." Garen shook his head. "I¡¯ll transfer it over to you in a moment, how about using a Confederal bank account?"


    Fenistine stood up, and walked a circle around Garen.


    "You little punk¡­ Not bad!"


    "Alright, stop fooling around." Garen was speechless. "It¡¯s just that you weren¡¯t aware of it. The truth is regular martial arts sects aren¡¯t all that meets the eye, you just didn¡¯t know about it."


    "Fine, I didn¡¯t know anything. But are you sure you¡¯re not kidding?" Fenistine still couldn¡¯t quite believe it.


    "No, no," Garen replied helplessly. "Oh, yeah, your family has local connections. Do you know about a woman called Black Orchid? She has a lot of power, and is a martial artist herself."


    "Black Orchid, huh. If you didn¡¯t get the name wrong, there is a woman with a lot of power here and a name like that in Yang Liu City. Just the one. She¡¯s the mastermind behind the private rose-colored places here in Yang Liu City." Unsurprisingly, Fenistine did know.


    According to the information Garen had gathered, Black Orchid had a decent influence and reputation among Yang Liu City locals, which was why she could convince the Lieutenant General into putting a word in for the Behemoth Gate. So it was very normal for him to get such an answer from Fenistine, who had some base work here.


    "How well do you know her?" Garen was still rather unhappy about having a woman take his first night. And he had another layer of concerns behind that.


    "That woman, Black Orchid, is very mysterious." Fenistine thought back with a gaze of concentration. "I first saw her at a banquet. She was very beautiful, with a great aura. Back then, she was standing next to the leader of a powerful clan, and they had a great presence. I heard Father say that this woman had methods, and a fierce determination to achieve whatever she set her sights on, together with a lot of hidden power and influences."


    "How much do you know about her as a person?"


    "Personally? Her?" Fenistine wasn¡¯t stupid, and she immediately sensed something amiss. "Did you offend her?!"


    "Mind your own business, just tell me." Garen shook his head.


    Fenistine glanced at Garen half-believingly.


    "Black Orchid is a powerful woman, and has perfected her martial arts to an amazing degree. She once demonstrated catching a bullet with her bare hands, she¡¯s basically a humanoid monster! And she¡¯s cruel and cold, very decisive. It¡¯s just that previously she took a trip to the Fourth Military Hospital, and apparently fell ill.


    "One of my older brothers mentioned that she was injured by someone, though. After escaping with a grievous injury, she nearly died on the road."


    "Injured?" Garen frowned. "How do you know such a secret? For elite fighters like Black Orchid, she would definitely hide the fact that she was hurt."


    "She got hurt and nearly died, but the captain of the special forces team that protected her was my older brother¡¯s best friend. It was a secret back then, but a lot of time has passed since then, so it¡¯s a secret no more. Any limitations had also been removed." Fenistine replied simply.


    "Do you know who injured her?"


    "Not sure."


    Garen tried to make some inferences.


    The largest possibility was that Black Orchid¡¯s injury had affected her abilities, so she wasn¡¯t strong enough to hold up the huge Behemoth Gate on her own anymore. That was why she used the conflict with the White Cloud Gate to retreat, hiding the fact that her own condition was far from great.


    And his concerns were related to his own natural-born special powers.


    He hadn¡¯t realized it yesterday, but after calming down, he noticed it immediately. Were those natural-born powers hereditary or were they unique to only him?


    Judging by Black Orchid¡¯s personality, even if she did have his child, the child¡¯s education would have nothing to do with him. God forbid there one day be appear a monstrous enemy with the same powers as himself, now wouldn¡¯t that be fun.


    After obtaining some relevant information from Fenistine¡¯s side, Garen asked Cynthia to send a telegram, informing the White Cloud Gate headquarters to transfer two million over to Fenistine¡¯s company accounts.


    As for himself, he returned to the hotel they had decided on.

 210 Reason 2

    Chapter 210: Reason 2


    While he was chatting with Fenistine, he thought about the source of his special powers and had a vague feeling, as though his powers were sending him a signal.


    The attribute and skill panes at the bottom of his field of vision had both started shimmering slightly. It was like countless ripples on the water surface.


    At night, he sat cross-legged in his hotel room. On the surface, there weren¡¯t any changes in his body, but his spirit kept trying to catch that little flash of inspiration in his heart.


    It was just like a piece of paper flashing through his mind. He could see the words and pictures, but he just couldn¡¯t recall them.


    Garen tried his best to catch those traces, or rather, those memories.


    As he kept concentrating, the ripples in his attribute pane kept getting larger and larger. Until finally.


    Boom!!!


    There was an ear-splitting noise, and Garen¡¯s mind was a complete muddle as he descended into oblivion.


    After some time, a series of mystifying images appeared in his heart.


    In the middle of the endless starry sky.


    A red shard sliced past the galaxies at high speed, eventually being pulled in by the Earth¡¯s gravity and crashing into a certain place on Earth.


    As the shard burst past the atmosphere, most of it was oxidized, and at the same time it turned into countless tinier pieces, scattering like rain across Earth¡¯s sky.


    The rain-like shards entered many living beings without a sound or trace, invisible to the eye. Most of these living beings self-combusted, and were burnt to ashes.


    A few of them survived, but were greatly weakened. After contracting all sorts of diseases, they died an early death.


    And then there were the ones amongst ten millions, those who were hit but continued with life as usual. The shards had no effect on these people.


    Garen quickly noticed his past incarnation. He had also been one of those hit, and was one of the lucky few who were unscathed. At the time, he was a mere teenager.


    In the blink of an eye, many years passed. He grew up, started working, all the way until he died of electrocution.


    Just as he was electrocuted into a pile of charcoal, a translucent figure slowly rose from his body. It was about to be torn into shreds by the unseen rays radiating through the air, when suddenly the figure glowed with a faint red light from deep within. This light was the unique life of every individual, that little bit of sizable energy born from their bodies, memories, and souls.


    It wrapped the figure¡¯s head, blinking continuously, until the head slowly merged with the red light. Finally, both vanished without a trace, while the remaining body that was left behind was directly torn to pieces by the rays.


    Strangely, Garen also saw the other people who had lived after being struck by the red shard at the same time.


    Those people either died of illnesses, or ended their lives peacefully. Some of them were also killed.


    But of all those who died, only three managed to awaken that dot of red light that lay dormant within them. The rest were torn to smithereens.


    He was one of these three with the blinking lights. Although the other two managed to awaken the red light, the places they merged with the red light were different. And in the final process of merging, the red light had gradually faded, meaning the merging had failed.


    Therefore, of all the countless Earth humans who had been awoken by the red shards, he was the only one who successfully merged with it, and he had merged his head as well.


    The red shard was like a stimulant to the DNA of the soul. Some of the creatures succeeded and lived, while others failed and died.


    The ones who lived were one in hundreds of millions. And of those who lived, there was another tiny, miniscule chance that they could successfully awaken the red shard.


    Of the ones who were activated, they still needed to merge with red light. And the parts that merged were all different.


    After Garen absorbed the red light, the soul in his head that was wrapped up in the red light floated slowly through the universe. It sporadically blinked into different unknown universes, before finally being swept up in a space tornado and ended up swept onto this planet. It was then that it was incorporated into a young man named Garen.


    As he wandered through the starry sky, Garen gradually began to understand what this sort of red shard was for.


    It was a natural mutagen for soul, and only worked on souls. The activated souls would present all sorts of different effects, some useful and others useless. Some were very powerful, while others were extremely weak.


    And the difference in the part that was merged also manifested in different results. He was very lucky to have merged his head, and even more fortunately, he was able to find a planet with sentient life and a proper body before his consciousness was ultimately destroyed after aimlessly wandering the starry sky.


    The starry universe was limitless. If he wandered for too long under those circumstances, even the strongest would end up grounded into nothing.


    If it weren¡¯t for this round of quiet reflection, and his natural-born power having merged with his head, he truly wouldn¡¯t have been able to see so many of these memories.


    He didn¡¯t know how it was like for the other creatures awoken by the red shards, but it certainly wasn¡¯t like his situation. After all, every creature¡¯s experiences, lives, and memories were distinct. These differences decided that the red light they had nurtured would also be different, and the special powers developed as a result of the final merging would also be certainly different.


    And his special powers, were this body¡¯s attribution abilities. Perhaps his ability to transmigrate was part of that as well.


    Sitting cross-legged on his bed, Garen slowly opened his eyes. There was a thin sheen of sweat on his brow.


    "So this was the truth of my beginnings¡­"


    He had always wondered where his special powers came from, even though there wasn¡¯t any doubt deep within his memories. But he had never really seen the whole process.


    He wasn¡¯t sure what that shard was, but after it activated the red light, it burned itself out completely. That must mean it was some sort of medicine.


    He was lucky to have that light merged with his head, so he could retain all of his memories. He was lucky to have found a planet with humans and successfully merged before his consciousness disappeared completely.


    "This was basically the lucky result of countless coincidences."


    Garen completely understood the source for his natural-born powers.


    To put it bluntly, his body on Earth had nurtured a mutated soul. After the body hosting it perished, this one-of-a-kind soul transmigrated through space and time, and was lucky enough to meet a new sentient planet before dying, finding a new merger, and took over someone else¡¯s body.


    It was a miraculous process. Without the physical body on Earth, without these memories and experiences from before he was even born, without these countless coincidences, there wouldn¡¯t have been someone as naturally talented as Garen.


    And this most basic idea lifted the heavy concerns from Garen¡¯s heart.


    This was different from hereditary powers, his were natural powers born from the mutation of his soul. The source was the very quality of his soul, that had changed after being awoken back then.


    A hereditary power came from the blood and genes. These were two fundamentally different things.


    One was the body, the other was the soul.


    The blood was gone once you change a body, but it wasn¡¯t the same for the soul. A power that followed the soul was purely nurture, not nature. So the hereditary powers could be inherited, but the powers of the soul could not¡­


    "It¡¯s fine as long as they can¡¯t be copied. Or else, if there¡¯s someone else with the same powers as me¡­" Garen knew exactly how strong his powers were. With enough potential, no matter how untalented that person was, as long as they weren¡¯t too unlucky, they could still be pushed to the very top.


    But these memories he had just excavated made him realize that souls did indeed exist on Earth. At the very least, he was an example of someone whose soul had mutated.


    "In that case, as for the Behemoth Gate¡­" When Garen imagined the other side discovering the truth, he couldn¡¯t help but relish in their misery. Black Orchid would surely throw a tantrum of crazy proportions.


    ******************


    In a hidden underground base somewhere in the Confederation.


    Black Orchid¡¯s face was pale as she looked at the white crystal rock in front of her. Her hands dug deeply into the surface of the stone, leaving deep scratch marks.


    "How can it be!!?? How is it possible!! How can the essence of such a strong man produce a life reading of only white quality!!" Her eyes were about to spit fire.


    "There¡¯s nothing impossible about that." A man with long black hair reaching his chest stood behind her, and replied mildly, "That person didn¡¯t make love to you willingly, but was forced to by drugs. And even normal people could have imperfect descendants, the same goes for strong fighters. The only difference is that the chances would be smaller."


    He glanced at Black Orchid. "Alright, time to decide, are you going to have the child or not? Essence Stones aren¡¯t that easily wasted according to your whims."


    "I¡­!" Black Orchid gritted her teeth, her heart suddenly a mess. She had no idea how to respond.


    Within the underground chamber, both of them fell silent.


    Finally, Black Orchid forced the words out of clenched teeth.


    "I¡¯ll have it!! Even if it¡¯s just a normal person, it¡¯s still his son! That man, he won¡¯t be able to leave it alone!"


    The long-haired man was about to reply when suddenly, the white crystal that was as tall as a man was dyed a faint wisp of red.


    His expression changed, his gaze turned disbelieving.


    "How could it be!!"


    "What happened!!?" Black Orchid instinctively sensed something amiss, and asked hastily.


    The long-haired man¡¯s expression was torn between laughing and crying. He turned his gaze away, his expression as he looked at Black Orchid holding just a hint of pity.


    "In the testing process, that man¡¯s essence weakened and died because its life force was too weak¡­ To put it professionally, its chances of living were too low. So you can¡¯t have it even if you wanted to."


    Black Orchid froze.


    "Then¡­ Then I¡­" Her voice began to tremble.


    "Congratulations, you were f*cked for no reason." The long-haired man looked at her with pity.


    Black Orchid stood there, staring.


    She wasn¡¯t even aware of when the long-haired man left the room. She just stood in front of the crystal blankly, watching as the stone gradually returned to its original colorless state. It reflected her pale, colorless face,


    "Garen!!" She finally spat out those words through gritted teeth.


    Just then, Garen was sitting on a plane headed towards the seaside city. He could imagine the ugly expression on Black Orchid¡¯s expression upon discovering the truth. But no matter what, he still had some special feelings for his first woman.


    "If we are to come into conflict again, I¡¯ll make her death easier," he told himself. Without that mental burden on him, his relationship with the Behemoth Gate was simplified once more.


    At the same time, he finally understood the source of his powers. He was no longer worried about hereditary powers, and so that lifted a heavy weight from his chest.

 211 Gathering 1

    Chapter 211: Gathering 1


    After all, the Behemoth Gate provoked First Sister Senior, killed Second Senior Brother, and killed Great Elder. Back then when the White Cloud Gate nearly fell apart, they had also played quite a role in that.


    If he really did end up adding another layer of that nature to their relationship, he wouldn¡¯t be able to get over the roadblock in his own heart.


    Sitting in the plane, Garen rearranged all the relationships in his head from ground up. At the same time, he twiddled with with a dainty gold-colored seal in his hand. This was the Antique of Tragedy that was causing Fenistine all that bad luck. With his current level of power and influence, all he needed were a few words to get it back.


    The seal itself was just a very simple Antique of Tragedy. He absorbed all its potential points in one go, and it gave him 4 points of potential in stock. However, since the Golden Sword Throne was becoming extremely slow, this was still a considerable reward.


    Now he had 15 potential points in store. Too bad his body had reached its limit, so he couldn¡¯t use those points.


    Even this thing had been relegated to nothing more than a toy in his hands.


    With this trip, he had more or less dealt with the Behemoth Gate. No matter how forceful Black Orchid was, she could no longer come out to muddle things up when her condition was so bad. Although there was a storm blowing through the country right now, as long as he had the help of the Nightmare¡¯s group of Sirens, he could find an escape route overseas even if something went terribly wrong.


    Now there were the Celestial Circle Gate, the White Cloud Gate, and the Sirens. The three gates had practically become a coalition in both attack and defense, their combined power expanding to almost ridiculous levels. They had more or less become a large-scale martial group that transcended countries.


    Even if he wasn¡¯t getting sufficient input, it was still more than enough for him to protect himself.


    "Everything is prepared and ready. This might be the final fight." Garen tilted his face towards the airplane window, a hint of anticipation and excitement in his heart.


    Perhaps he himself didn¡¯t know why he wasn¡¯t the slightest bit worried about the upcoming conflict, but that feeling of relief that he would soon understand it all was already filling his entire body up to the brim.


    ************


    Brrr¡­


    Outside the glass window of the wide airplane lounge, a blue military plane with stripes gradually lowered onto the ground and landed steadily on the runway, rapidly decelerating.


    In front of the huge floor-to-ceiling glass window, two extremely eye-catching men were watching the landing plane through the glass.


    Of these two men, one was wearing a black suit with a pitch black tie, holding a sword in his hand wrapped in black cloth. His long hair fell over his shoulders, and he was even wearing a black eyepatch over one eye. It was Andrela, who had rushed over here long ago.


    The other person had a seductive looks and an enchanting figure, wearing long white androgynous sleeves and pants, with long hair tied into a ponytail. If it weren¡¯t for that flat chest, no one would think he was a man.


    Nightmare leaned their whole body onto Andrela¡¯s shoulder, their beautiful eyes watching the decelerating plane lazily.


    "Garen¡¯s so slow, and he arrived so late."


    "He had more things to handle than we did, it¡¯s perfectly normal," Andrela replied calmly. "With this trip, I¡¯m the weakest one here. This might be my biggest challenge. If I can get past it, I will surely be able to improve further, and attain the same level as you guys."


    "And then?" Nightmare played with their companion¡¯s hair, their interest piqued. "Then you can take the captain¡¯s seat in bed? True, I was always the one on top, it¡¯d be good to change it up once in a while."


    Andrela was speechless.


    "Don¡¯t you have anything to do? Is it okay for you to be hanging around my place all the time?"


    "I got it all arranged nicely." Nightmare smiled. "Oh my, Palosa¡¯s here too."


    Before they even finished their sentence, a regular little old man walked soundlessly out of the crowd nearby. He looked just like the old men selling lunch boxes on the street, with his white-grey robes and dusty face. He held a cane in his hand, and slowly limped over to them.


    Palosa walked slowly until he was within ten paces of the two, and stopped. He narrowed his eyes and stared at Nightmare, surprise flashing through his eyes.


    "I¡¯m not late, am I?"


    "No, the last one will arrive in a moment." Nightmare straightened up, holding a golden pocket-watch in their hand to check the time. "It¡¯s 3.14 pm. The weather now is pretty suitable for going out to sea too, so we can leave today."


    "That¡¯s good."


    Palosa walked up to the rows of seats and sat down, then proceeded to close his eyes and rest while steadfastly ignoring everyone.


    For a moment, all three of them fell silent.


    Most of the people in the airport weren¡¯t regular people. The ones walking to and fro were either military officials, millionaires, or other even more powerful people. There were only a few people here and there, but once in a while there would be someone hurrying past, surrounded by a group of bodyguards.


    The three of them were actually pretty inconspicuous compared to the rest. They didn¡¯t have policemen, guards, or even a female companion. They were no different from other regular citizens.


    "Since we¡¯re going there this time, there should be quite a few people arriving, right?" Andrela asked Nightmare softly.


    "Not quite a few, there are a ton. Some people want that secret treasure no matter what, while we¡¯re partly in it out of curiosity, and partly in it for the revenge. There are others too, who probably want reduce the Confederation¡¯s power. There are surely many elites heading there." Derision flashed across Nightmare¡¯s face. "I bet many countries will send their elites over. That secret treasure, huh¡­ If it really is that useful, then any person, group, or country would find unimaginable uses and research values in it. No power would be willing to let it go."


    "True."


    As the two were talking, a man with short purple hair and red eyes walked out of a distant entrance. He was wearing a black suit and a large wool coat, looking just like any regular rich leader. He even had two fully-armed female soldiers in black uniforms next to him.


    "Here he is, with two female soldiers to boot. What a textbook example of a military general, tsk-tsk," Nightmare exclaimed.


    "We¡¯re all here, so let¡¯s go. The ship¡¯s ready, too," Andrela said softly. "This time we have to get our revenge and our treasure. We can finally end it all."


    Palosa seemed to sense something too, opening his eyes to look at Garen calmly. He stood up, and walked to Nightmare¡¯s and Palosa¡¯s sides.


    The three of them watched Garen striding towards them.


    ******************


    A few thousand nautical miles off Smoke Island, on a deserted patch of sea.


    The deep blue seawater roiled under the blue sky and white clouds as a large white ship sailed slowly towards Smoke Island.


    The ship was fully armored, with a sharp spike on the helm. There were swathes of navy soldiers in white uniforms running across the deck sporadically, hurrying to adjust the ship¡¯s direction.


    On the helm, a stout man with white skin was stepping on the banister with one foot, staring into the distance.


    The large man wore the white navy uniform with two white-gold medals on his shoulders. His chest and nipples were bared, revealing a large tuft of black chest hair.


    How long more to that What¡¯s Island?" he asked, his words garbled by the toothpick in his mouth.


    "We can reach by nighttime. Probably¡­" a solemn-looking blonde female adjutant said hesitantly beside him.


    "How many people are coming this time? Anything worth notice?" the large man asked, spitting out his toothpick.


    "This time we¡¯ve confirmed the validity of the secret treasure, and all the countries think it¡¯s very valuable. No fewer than thirty powers are joining in this hunt. The ones we should watch out for are Fivestar Continent¡¯s King of the North Pole, Gyard, and Mare, the Spearmaster. There¡¯s White Peacock from Stonecliff Continent, and King of the Gun, Nikon. Then there¡¯s the Card Clown, and the Three Great Generals from our Weisman. That, and the legendary Immortal Palace." The female adjutant finished explaining, and added, "Seven powers in total, but we can¡¯t be sure if any of them will join forces. After all, we don¡¯t have any skilled telekinesis users, so we can¡¯t find any traces."


    "Seven powers? That many?" The large man rubbed the stubbles on his chin. "They all look like formidable fellows¡­"


    "They are indeed. These people and powers coming here are almost all the strongest characters from their respective countries or continents. They don¡¯t usually come into contact with each other, so they¡¯re the apex fighters of their respective areas, dominating without opposition. But this time they¡¯re gathered in one place, or rather, all the elites from around the whole world have basically gathered here," the female adjutant said calmly. "Those who dare to alight on this island all have absolute confidence in themselves. This is no longer a fight between a single country or continent."


    "Isn¡¯t that even better?" The large man¡¯s smile was excited. "With all these delicious fellas gathered in one place, would our three generals still have to fight each other? Opponents as far as the eye can see!"


    "General Milo, please beware. These aren¡¯t people you can take lightly, they¡¯re all people who can conquer a country or even a continent. They¡¯re the cream of the crop, chosen from countless others. If it weren¡¯t for the appearance of the Black Smoke Pot, there¡¯s no way so many of them would show up. After all, contacting the dead is a small thing, but being able to transcend life and death, to achieve immortality, that¡¯s the real deal!" The adjutant reminded him exasperatedly.


    "Relax, do I seem so reckless?" Milo chuckled.


    ***************


    At the same time, far away at the shore of Fivestar Continent, Port Bolivia.


    A huge black cruise ship was advancing slowly, spitting out a long column of white smoke that reached for the sky. The cruise was a few hundred meters long, and a few hundred meters wide. At the entrance to the ship, many passengers were neatly lined up to board the ship.


    "Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll be back in no time. This is an international meeting held by the company, it¡¯s just a little longer than usual, otherwise it¡¯s the same business as usual."


    A man in a white overcoat hugged his wife, and then kissed his daughter¡¯s little face, his own smile warm and gentle.


    "Papa, you gotta bring Yawen back a toy, okay." The little girl was just five, with red lips, white teeth and fair skin that made her look unbelievably innocent and adorable.


    "I¡¯ll remember for sure." The man pinched his daughter¡¯s face fondly. "Alright, I¡¯m off."


    "Be careful on the road, give way should you get in trouble, don¡¯t pick any more fights than you have to. Your safety comes first," the wife advised him worriedly. Her complexion was unnaturally pale, her beautiful face like white-jade porcelain, without even a hint of color.


    She stepped up to kiss her husband¡¯s lips lightly, and then put a large white fox fur coat onto his shoulders.


    "I know, I know," the man repeated. "Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll be back soon."


    He stepped onto the boarding plank, squeezing into the crowd flowing into the ship. He turned around occasionally to look at his wife on the shore, holding their daughter¡¯s hand and waving non-stop.


    "Go home!" he yelled loudly.


    The wife nodded hard, but had no intention of turning around.


    Looking at the wife¡¯s figure, for some reason, the man¡¯s eyes suddenly grew moist.


    "Allie¡­ I won¡¯t let you die before I do¡­" he murmured under his breath.


    In that moment, unwavering determination flashed past his eyes. He turned around and disappeared into the crowd, striding towards the ship.


    "I will survive and return to you¡­ For I am the God of Spear, Mare!"

 212 Gathering 2

    Chapter 212: Gathering 2


    From the northern sky of Smoke Island, groups of tiny black dots in the distance congealed to a massive group, slowly moving inland.


    The group of dots resembled flocks of black birds soaring against the blue sky, completely uniform, lacking differentiation.


    Every single black dot was a fighter aircraft. Not regular aircraft, but strange pieces of machinery with odd shapes. From the bottom of their fuselages spouted two additional boat-like long boards, which betrayed their identity as a next-generation seaplane.


    The aircraft flew past the airspace swiftly and, after a while, was trailed by a small plane.


    Behind this aircraft following closely was a black hot air balloon with a black, rectangular wooden boat dangling below.


    There were a group of men in black scattered in the boat. All of them were equipped with thick black leather shirts, goggles, hats and scarfs.


    "Boss, is it true that the Black Smoke Pot is able to increase a human¡¯s life span? And we can even use it to communicate with the dead?"


    One of the men in black shouted as he asked the men in black who stood at the very front.


    No one would be able to be heard clearly under such a windy conditions without shouting.


    "They said that it has been proven! I¡¯ve sent people to verify it¡¯s validity. The Black Smoke Pots that appeared in the past did indeed have such an ability!" The man in the lead answer loudly. No one could see his face as it was hidden under the thick shirt. Only his strong body figure could be made out with that get up.


    "Have you prepared the bear skin and fox skin that will be traded later?" The leader asked loudly.


    "All done! You won¡¯t be humiliated!" The underling replied loudly as well.


    "Donze! Is it true that your mum has given birth again recently?" The leader shouted.


    "Yeah. It¡¯s the sixth child! How about your mum!" Donze shouted back.


    "My mum isn¡¯t as great as yours!"


    "No no! My mum is definitely no match to yours!"


    "Don¡¯t say that. My mum definitely can¡¯t give birth¡­"


    "Back in the days, my mum¡­"


    A group of people were standing behind feeling helpless. How embarrassing! They had seen people one-upping one another with everything except their mothers¡¯ ability to give birth...


    Fortunately they were in the sky. If they were at the ground¡­


    They might have embarrassed the whole northern community!


    "Is this the legendary King of North Pole?" The young guy and girl from the very back of the hot air balloon were staring at the people who were at the front.


    "It¡¯s him¡­ That two doofuses are the strongest in the North Pole¡­" Another girl replied as she sighed. "Although I really don¡¯t want to admit it, only the two of them are qualified to participate in this battle."


    "I have a bad feeling about this¡­"


    "You¡¯ll get used to it." The girl patted on the guy¡¯s shoulder.


    Below the balloon, on the patch of ocean.


    Similar to the white fish swimming in the sea, there were multiple white yachts cutting across the water on the blue sea at high speed, leaving white trail wakes behind them.


    The wake created by the yachts cutting the blue sea was clear and obvious.


    "Hoo~~~!"


    A person on the yacht who had a loose hair and naked from the top of his waist shouted very loudly, and strangely as well.


    "Haha! It¡¯s those idiots from the North Pole!" There was a wretched man, dressed like a clown standing on one of the yachts. He was also naked from the top to the waist and there were strange lines of patterns of red, blue and green painted onto his black skin. His makeup was no different than the jokers on a poker card.


    The joker raised his head and looked up at the hot air balloon at the top of his head. His virid eyes glowing with the intent to kill.


    "Prince! Let¡¯s give them a big present!¡¯


    "Roger!"


    On the yacht, a golden hair girl with a twisted smile took out a rocket launcher out of nowhere aimed at the sky.


    Pew!!


    The rocket flew soared upward and went after the hot air balloon, leaving a trail of white smoke and bright light.


    "Big fireworks! Big fireworks!! Hehehe~~~" The prince was licking his wet lips as he looked at the sky with anticipation.


    Kaboom!


    The rocket suddenly self destructed as it flew half way in the air.


    The prince was stunned as he looked at the pieces of steel debris falling from the sky.


    "It¡¯s raining! It¡¯s raining!!" She started shouting in a high pitch. Her naked upper body was continuously burnt. She motioned her hand so fast that it became blur as she swatted off all of the debris to the other yachts nearby.


    "You¡¯re so bad Prince. Haha!" The joker laughed loudly as he drove the yacht away to avoid the debris sent in their direction.


    As the members on the yachts did not want to be outdone by each other, they started to use the powerful steel balls as a toy and shoot at each other.


    Bam!


    One of the steel balls hit the yacht¡¯s bow and punched a hole through the sturdy steel plate.


    *************


    Smoke Island.


    The small, green island was like a piece of jade sitting quietly on the blue ocean.


    The island was surrounded by white smoke as if there was a white blanket covering the whole island. The island could only be seen faintly under the blanket of smoke.


    The evening sun radiated its faint red light and dyed the whole sea in red.


    A black shadow slowly came up to the surface of the sea near the rocky beach on the Northern part of Smoke Island.


    With the splash of water, the figure emerged from the water.


    It was an oddly black colored, giant submarine. The circular cover on the top of the fuselage cracked open and four human figures emerged, landing firmly onto the rocky beach.


    "This is it." One of the black figures said. "The full moon is tomorrow, and I wonder how many top fighters from each country are coming. How exciting¡­"


    "As long as it doesn¡¯t affect our main objective." An old man¡¯s voice came from another black figure. "We must obtain the Black Smoke Pot at all cost! I will let you do the arrangement, Flamingo."


    "Sure." The third black figure nodded his head. "Sylphalan is acting up again. We are likely to be attacked since the reputation of the Immortal Palace is too well known. Hence, according to the layout of the island, I suggest we head out to the southern territory of the island first."


    "Southern territory?" The man with an old voice asked curiously. "This small island is separated into two territories?"


    "The Smoke Island is much larger than you think. It¡¯s very unlikely for anyone to run across the whole island with full speed within a day. We couldn¡¯t determine its size because of the smoke." Flamingo explained." The island is separated in the southern territory and northern territory. Crossing between each is only doable at 11.40pm as the smoke is too thick to navigate in. Furthermore, there are too many unknown dangers ahead of us as well."


    The first black figure nodded in agreement: "This means that the war will be separated into two places and we won¡¯t be in a lot of pressure. However, how would you know that they won¡¯t pass through the smoke?"


    "No one would take a risk in a fight among equals since the most dangerous thing is not of natural conditions but humans." Flamingo calmly replied. "We have made a name for ourselves, the Immortal Palace on the Smoke Island 50 years ago and became the world¡¯s strongest and mysterious terrorist group. It¡¯s a burden for being so well known, especially in this circumstance.


    "How should we divide the Black Smoke Pot when we got it?" The old voice asked again.


    "Free for all," Flamingo replied.


    "Alright."


    "You have no problem with this right, Sylphalan?" Flamingo looked at the last black figure.


    "Can¡¯t die from this¡­" Sylphalan replied with a coarse voice. He took down his hood and revealed a face filled with scars.


    "Alright then. Let¡¯s move out."


    As soon as Flamingo finished his sentence, four of them instantly disappeared from the beach and formed 4 black lines, moving inland.


    **************


    "The Smoke Island has a forest terrain, a rocky terrain and a lot of other complicated terrains that have yet to be explored." Andrela was noting down on a small notebook as he spoke eloquently.


    The four of them were on a big military ship heading towards the Smoke Island.


    The military ship was surrounded by a large amount of smaller battleships. All of them were blue with a stamp of the Federation¡¯s military insignia.


    Andrela looked at the remaining four people and said with a smile on his face: "It seems like the terrain in Smoke Island can change at any time. It¡¯s constantly surrounded by smoke, vision is ineffective, compasses have no effect and other signal instruments are unable to send out any signals as well. Hence, we can only rely on our sense of direction. This environment suits a certain someone to unleash his true strength so we have to be extra careful."


    "Assassination? I am a practitioner of Assassination Fist Technique. Let¡¯s talk about other things." Palosa sat on the deck with his knees as he said calmly. "What should we take note of the most?"


    Andrela started smiling again.


    "Alright, I will talk about what we should take note of the most." He stopped as he saw Garen and the King of Nightmares attracted by his topic.


    "The King of the gun, Nikon, who is that old man we saw previously, is most likely the best gunner. There is also the King of North Pole¡­" He started to give out the intel of the strongest people.


    "Then who is the most dangerous?" Garen asked as he lean against the guardrail. "Excluding Sylphalan of the Immortal Palace."


    "It¡¯s me." Andrela started to smile crazily.


    "?"


    The few of them were stunned as they looked at Andrela in confusion. He was not an arrogant person so it was rather weird for him to say so.


    "I have brought along the latest highly explosive purple bomb. I have brought 15kg of them and could blow this ship we¡¯re currently on up into the sky."


    "You don¡¯t have to be so determined." Garen stared at him as he frowned. "I have a grudge against Sylphalan and the King of Nightmares has a grudge against Flamingo. In addition, all of us have an interest to the Black Smoke Pot. This is the reason why we are here. You don¡¯t need to bet your own life on this."


    "No no no¡­" Andrela waved his hand. "I know my own situation. I am different from you. I can feel that I have already reached my peak and improving my current self is nothing but a dream. I can only break my limit and achieve a greater strength if I risk my life! Life? A life without pursuit is meaningless to me."


    "You have reached your extreme limit." Palosa sighed.


    "Perhaps. However, I am still currently not qualified to go into the extreme limit." Andrela smiled as he replied back.

 213 Gathering 3

    Chapter 213: Gathering 3


    Garen sighed and silently walked to the side of the ship.


    He knew that Andrela was gentle on the outside but crazy on the inside from the first time he interacted with him


    "It all depends on you since you have already made the decision." The King of Nightmares shrugged. She was currently in a young and cute teenage girl form, which looked exactly like Andrela¡¯s younger sister Aisis. "Alright let¡¯s not talk about these. Drela, do you like my current form? Do you want to do something exciting tonight?" she held her purple skirt as she turned around in a circle. "It¡¯s your biological sister~~"


    Andrela didn¡¯t react at all and said. "Regrettably I do not have such a fetish."


    "Don¡¯t you feel that it¡¯s very exciting?"


    "Not in the least."


    "Do you want me to transform into¡­"


    "You do not need to transform into my mother¡­"


    Both of them were flirting with each other as if no one was watching them.


    Palosa went to his room to rest, leaving Garen alone on the deck as he looked far to the distance.


    As the body of the boat rocked with the motion of the waves, it gave off a sense of insecurity.


    Far away at the horizon of the blue sea, there were a group of grey shiny dolphins occasionally jumping out of the ocean as they cut open the sea at high speed, leaving a trail wake behind.


    He placed his hands onto the cold black handrail as he gently touched the surface of the rough paint which was somewhat worn and torn.


    The cool and salty sea breeze blew on his face and entered his neck.


    "Sylphalan¡­" He murmured. Ever since he met the real Sylphalan which was during the Argent Mirror incident, he no longer had the desire to know the truth about the old man.


    "What happened? What are you thinking about?" An unfamiliar voice came from behind.


    "Nothing, just feeling a little bit emotional," Garen replied calmly.


    The person who stood on his left was a middle aged man with a curly moustache and a cigarette in his mouth. His overall image looked like an old aristocrat in Europe on Earth.


    His hair was combed to the point where it was shining. In a black tuxedo, he was fiddling a small and unique silver pistol in his hand as it kept producing a clicking sound.


    "Major General Nikon. We all have our reasons. What¡¯s yours? Why did you participate in this operation?" Garen looked at the famed master who was known as the King of the Gun.


    "About that¡­ It¡¯s just a small matter. I¡¯ve been wanting to visit the Smoke Island because I heard that it has a very good scenery."


    Garen laughed as he knew he had wanted to avoid the topic.


    "Let¡¯s change the question then. How do you view this operation? What are the odds of us winning?"


    "The odds? That depends on the objective." Nikon had his mouth shut tight. "Each objective has their own chance of success."


    Garen shrugged and stopped asking questions as it was a waste of time.


    The fleet was slowly and firmly heading towards the Smoke Island. As the sky turned black, the surface of the ocean started to turn into dark blue and the sparkling reflections of the moon could be seen on the ocean¡¯s surface.


    After gathering on the deck, the five of them went back to their respective rooms and did not see each other again as they were preparing their minds for what was to come. The big battle was the next day and it could be a life or death situation if there was any slight negative impact on their state of mind.


    The fleet took the opportunity to speed up during the night and soon, the highly dense white smoke of the Smoke Island could be seen with the naked eye.


    Poof!!


    The gas kept discharging from the Chimney.


    Garen stood still in his room and could faintly see the highly dense white smoke of the Smoke Island through the ship¡¯s window.


    He could not see more than two meters ahead of the ocean¡¯s surface with his naked eye.


    Woo!!~~~


    An ear piercing alarm suddenly rang.


    "What¡¯s going on?!" A man asked loudly as rushing footsteps could be constantly heard from the corridor.


    "The ship had collided with something!"


    Boom!!


    An explosion was heard as the body of the ship started to vibrate.


    Garen knew the situation was dire and quickly pack the necessities such as food and water and opened the door.


    Boom Boom!!


    Another two explosions and vibrations occurred as a strong burning smell filled the air.


    Sailor after sailor zoomed past him towards the deck as he opened the door.


    "What¡¯s going on?!" Garen simply grabbed one and questioned him.


    "Captain! The ship has collided with a mine! We are currently fixing it!" The sailor¡¯s face was filled with black mechanical oil as he sweated profusely.


    Garen let go of the sailor and shoved everyone out of his way as he made way to the deck.


    As there were already fire on some part of the deck, the sailors were already trying to put it off with a fire hose.


    Palosa was already on the deck whereas Andrela and the King of Nightmares just came out from behind him.


    The four of them grouped together and as Garen was about to open his mouth, he saw a red flare flying to his direction.


    His face changed and without thinking any further, he jumped out of the boat and into the water.


    Boom!!!


    The ship that ah spanned at least a hundred meters across exploded. The ship¡¯s body broke into half from the middle like a paper boat torn into half and sank into the sea in a matter of seconds.


    Boom boom boom boom!!!


    The constant bombardment incessantly created fountains of displaced water from the sea. The white water spurted up high above and poured down drizzling noisily.


    Garen was floating in the cold sea. As he swam for a few meters, he felt a numbing sensation at the top of his head, as if something had pierced onto his skin.


    "Not good!" He kicked the water with all his might and jumped up to at least ten meters above the sea.


    Kaboom!!


    A huge amount of water spurted upwards from where he originally was in the water.


    Bright red lights strobed from the black ships on the pitch black sea. They were either flashes of returning fire with their canons, or otherwise light from fires still burning on the deck.


    The Federation¡¯s fleet was ambushed by an unknown fleet.


    At the other side of the sea in the distance, another fleet lit up a countless amount of red strobes; they had opened fire.


    Garen swam quickly in the ocean as his shirt had been torn to pieces due to the shock. The suitcase in his hand was mushed as it had been hit by the shells.


    He quickly swam towards a life buoy that had been thrown into the sea and hung himself by the life buoy with his shoulders.


    The water splashed as he jumped out of the water from the life buoy and gently landed onto an undamaged ship.


    "Return Fire!!" Nikon was roaring nearby. "Fucking return fire!! Kill all of them!! These fucking Weisman Bastards! Sooner or later I will cut you all up and feed you to the dogs!!"


    Boom!!


    Before he finished his sentence, this ship had taken damage.


    A bright light flashed in front of Garen¡¯s eyes and both his ears starting ringing loudly. It was as if there was an alarm clock ringing continuously beside his ears. In a blink of an eye, the fire in front of him had covered his whole vision.


    A fire broke from the deck nearby him and exploded, releasing a torrent of flame similar to a red lotus.


    The deck¡¯s explosion ruthlessly tossed into the ocean again.


    "F*ck!!" Garen quickly pointed his toes and ran on the surface of the ocean for at least ten meters before landing on debris left behind by a sunken ship.


    He couldn¡¯t hear anything and he could see a piece of bright red afterimage in his vision and he couldn¡¯t see anything clearly at all. Garen knew that he was powerless as this was a battle between two fleets. He had no choice but to sit and wait for it to play out.


    After some time, His eyes and ears started to recover. Garen rubbed his temples as he scanned his surrounding.


    The whole ocean was disastrous as the Federation¡¯s large fleet had completely disappeared as it had turned into millions of pieces of debris floating on the surface of the ocean.


    A few lucky surviving sailors were holding onto the life buoys as they gathered at larger pieces of debris. However, only a few people could find their sense of direction due to the pitch black conditions during night time. To make things worse, there were waves that would topple over the debris and some would occasionally drown into the cold sea.


    "Augustus!! I will kill you no matter what!!" The King of the Gun, Nikon¡¯s roar could be heard from a distance.


    Chirp!!!


    Suddenly, a sharp chirp that sounded like a bird could be heard from the Smoke Island which was far away. It was as if it was a response towards Nikon¡¯s anger. The chirp obviously sounded provocative and contemptuous.


    "Everyone get to the island!!" Palosa¡¯s voice suddenly popped out from the middle of the sea and everyone could hear it clearly.


    Swoosh!!


    Four streams of water rose together at the same time as four human figures jumped up and sprinted on the water and headed towards the Smoke Island.


    As Garen was about to head out, he realized that his hand was rather light. The suitcase was no longer there. His shirt was ragged and the left side of his shirt was completely torn apart.


    He quickly reached in his hand and fumbled.


    "My Golden Sword Throne!!" His facial expression changed slightly. The Antique of Tragedy, which were Golden Sword Throne and the Golden Seal, were placed in this very pocket. He brought them anywhere so that he could absorb the potential at all times. He didn¡¯t expect to lose them from the series of explosions.


    "Garen!" Palosa¡¯s voice came from the distance.


    Although Garen was slightly unhappy about it, he still got up and stepped onto the surface of the sea and sprinted towards the Smoke Island.


    The Smoke Island¡¯s Southern Coast.


    There were three figures in white fur overcoats looking at the five people that were sprinting towards the Smoke Island.


    "It¡¯s Flamingo. That damn clown. How dare he push the blame onto us when he¡¯s the one who had sunk our ship!" The tall man with pointy hair said angrily.


    "Let¡¯s leave here immediately. Flamingo¡¯s underling had assumed that we were the ones who did this. The Clown Queen had perfectly copied my Bombardment Technique." Another black figure said calmly.


    "Isn¡¯t that good? They can have a good match with Flamingo¡¯s underling! They had just formed a team and now they wanted to be the very best? We definitely need to make them suffer more." The last man laughed.


    "It¡¯s time to leave." The man in charge turned around and walked into the island. The other man followed suit, leaving behind the last man who was yelling here and there and being ignored.


    ************


    On the other side of the hidden rocky spot.


    A team of clowns that were dressed up strangely were looking at the five figures sprinting towards the island.


    These clowns were all wearing thick attire and hats and all of them looked the same on the outside. No one could differentiate who¡¯s who as their body figures were hidden within the thick dress up as well.


    "Hehe¡­ Let¡¯s move out." The clown who stood at the front said in such a way that it was impossible to differentiate whether they were a male or a female.


    "Hehe¡­!" The remaining clowns started laughing strangely as well. Their voices were so similar to the first one it was impossible to make out the differences.


    All of them brought out a long black rocket launcher from behind and set them up skillfully as they aimed at the five figures who were sprinting towards their directions.


    Pew pew pew!!!


    The rockets flew towards the five figures and left a trail of white smoke behind.

 214 Gathering 4

    Chapter 214: Gathering 4


    Boom Boom Boom!!


    The rockets exploded on the sea. The fireworks were extraordinarily beautiful during night time.


    Garen flicked his toe and fired off a water arrow to hit the rocket launcher.


    The explosion occurred just right in front of him and he had no choice but to defend himself with one of his hand until the debris stopped flying around.


    "How are we going to tackle this?!" He looked at the others and realized that the King of Gun, Nikon had already taken out his small pistol and aimed at where the projectile came from.


    Pew!


    A red light flashed from the pistol as it produced a faint sound and was completely silent after.


    At the same time, a sharp silver ball landed on one of the clowns who were on the hill. They immediately reached out their hands on attempted to grab the ball.


    Pew!!


    The small ball exploded into countless thin needles in every direction.


    Silently, the whole group of clowns collapsed into the ground, pierced by the thin needles.


    "Let¡¯s go. Their grand performance is no match for my mere shot." Nikon blew the gun¡¯s muzzle with a calm expression.


    Two of them sprinted out as everything settled down.


    After striding on the surface of the ocean for awhile, he finally reached the beach. Technically, he was stepping on the water instead of pedalling with his legs as he ejected himself away from the surface of the water by stepping on the water with enormous power.


    He was not an expert in QingGong as he was already drenched from head to toe the moment he reached the beach. He looked very pathetic with his torn shirt drenched with cold water.


    As he landed, he saw that Palosa, the King of Nightmares and the others were already waiting for him. It was obvious that he was the slowest on the water.


    "You look pathetic!" The King of Nightmares said helplessly. "It¡¯s such a pity for the new shirt that I just bought. I had taken a long time to pick out these shirts and it¡¯s already ruined."


    It wasn¡¯t just him. Andrela and Nikon¡¯s shirts were more or less the same. On the other hand, Palosa was the only one whose shirt was perfectly clean. He even had the two briefcases with him on his hand. He looked like an old tourist who was about to travel around.


    "It¡¯s the Three Major Generals from Weisman! They have already arrived!" Nikon gripped his teeth. "This time I will kill all of them myself!!"


    "Do you want to move out on your own or join us in our venture?" Palosa asked coldly.


    "I have other things to attend to, I won¡¯t be going with you." Nikon shook his head. "We shall part ways here."


    "Alright."


    As Nikon finished his sentence, he sprinted back to the sea and started helping the soldiers to get onto land.


    "Let¡¯s go as well." Palosa turned around and went deeper into the island.


    Garen didn¡¯t say a word and followed Palosa behind. Four of them were completely silent throughout the whole journey as they explored the island.


    The surface was completely deserted, filled with nothing but black rubble and stone. The smoke that kept coming out from between the stones had reduced visibility to only a few meters.


    The four of them left the beach and went into the inner part of the island. It was just like a normal road, save for the mist.


    The mists that surrounded them stretched across the horizon, and everything was covered in white.


    Palosa found a big stone, squatted down and opened his suitcases to reveal some food and drinks.


    "Let¡¯s eat something. We¡¯re probably going to be staying here for the night."


    Andrela and the King of Nightmares sat down separately and took a fried biscuit and mixed it with milk.


    Garen took a fried biscuit as well. He surveyed the surrounding environment as he nibbled on his snack..


    The surroundings and the sky were completely white, whereas the surface was filled with black rubble. On top of this they could only see three meters ahead of them, as if the four were stranded on a deserted island out at sea.


    He grabbed some pebbles off the ground and pinched them gently.


    Crack.


    The stones were squished into black powder and revealed a honeycomb shaped structure within the stones. The inside of the stones were very hot; about thirty of forty degree celsius.


    "The landscape here is very strange and the geothermal temperature is unusually high. The smoke seems to contain some sulfur in them." He whispered.


    "Although the Smoke Island has plenty of secrets, we won¡¯t be in in danger as long as we don¡¯t enter the ancient ruins. I heard that there were tourists who got lost in the mist and died falling off a cliff, even though the number of these cases were rare." Andrela explained. "We should be fine as long as we take extra care for the enemies on this island."


    He took out a leather paper from his shirt and opened it slowly to reveal a map.


    "This is the general layout of the Smoke Island mapped by the older generations. It¡¯s not very useful but it can be used as a reference."


    They gathered and examined the map carefully.


    The map pictured a very long island and was separated into Southern Territories and Northern Territories. These two territories even had locations that were annotated with a small dot and names by the side.


    "There are a few popular scenery spots that were marked from one to nine and all of them are different types of statue forests. Which one should we pick?" Andrela asked. "Tomorrow will be the full moon and we need to fulfill the two requirements if we want to enter the ancient ruins."


    "The first requirement is to have a telekinesis expert, which is me." The King of Nightmares replied lazily."


    "The second requirement is the key." Garen continued the conversation. "The question is, where is the key?"


    "It¡¯s most likely located at the statue forests. The Three Major General from Weisman who ambushed us just a while ago will most likely head there as well." The King of Nightmares said casually. "I will have them pay for destroying the brand new shirt that I had just bought."


    Garen was unhappy as well as he lost the Golden Seal and Golden Sword Throne for no reason. These were Antiques of Tragedy that had valuable potential points embedded in them and they disappeared for good because of the enemy¡¯s actions.


    ¡®Hehe¡­"


    A playful laughter emerged from the mist, not too far away from them.


    "Who¡¯s there!" Andrela sharpened his gaze as his hand started to glow silver in color.


    WIth a clank a clown in a red and green shirt slowly emerged from the mist. He wore a red mask and his cheeks were ripped opened from the mouth to the ears, as if he had a very huge, bloody mouth. He approached closer as he threw the knife which he was holding away from his hand.


    "It¡¯s very fortunate to meet someone who had been ambushed by the same people." The clown spoke with a very hideous voice. "We were attacked by Weisman¡¯s Three Major Generals as well. Our fleet has been destroyed and we are going to take revenge."


    "Oh? Do you know where they are?" The King of NIghtmare took out a white pear out of thin air and gently bit into it.


    "Of course. Those people are about to obtain the key. Their intel is too accurate." The clown¡¯s obvious emphasis was strangely warped. The key was obviously the most crucial item to enter the ancient ruins but he seemed to be celebrating this disadvantageous moment. "What do you say? Do you want to go?"


    "You have informed quite a few people, right?" Garen asked softly.


    "Of course. How dare they attack people who want to board the island? The Weisman¡¯s Government would think that they are unstoppable if no one teaches them a lesson." The clown replied with a sharp tone.


    "How many people do you have?" Garen continued his questioning.


    "Do you think I would answer that question of yours?" The clown laughed.


    "That¡¯s true. However, what makes you think that we will trust you?"


    "Because you have to. Whoever wants to obtain the key would not miss this opportunity. They are in the North. Walk this way and I will be your guide." The clown smirked as he said. "We all have a common enemy. We will deal with the key after we deal with them."


    He lead the way and walked in the direction he spoke of earlier.


    Palosa was motionless and no one could make out what he¡¯s thinking with that poker face of his.


    The remaining two had a smile on their face and did not seem to be moving as well.


    On the other hand, Garen squinted his eyes as if he smelled something fishy going on. He started walking in the other direction the clown was leading.


    "You¡¯re going in the wrong directions." The clown turned his head around and looked at him. "Follow me. It¡¯s over there."


    "Should I ask you where I should go?" Garen furrowed his eyebrows and continue walking forward.


    Shoosh!


    The clown rushed back and stood in front of Garen to block his path.


    "You can¡¯t walk over here. You should follow me instead¡­"


    "What do you mean?" Garen started to become serious. "You better move out of my way."


    "Little fella¡­ This road must not be taken¡­ Or else¡­ I will be very angry~~~" The clown in the mask started to laugh strangely.


    "Are you going to move away?" Garen started to smell something faint from this directions and his tone immediately went cold.


    "If you want to be killed by me, I¡¯m fine with that." The clown¡¯s tone started to change as well.


    "To die by your hand? Hehe, let me see how do you plan to kill me!!" Garen said furiously and attempted to capture the enemy with his expanded hand.


    Boom!!


    An invisible aura started to shroud the clown like a greenish black iron claw latching onto his face. The invisible wind pushed the surrounding white mists as it moved towards the sides like a wave.


    Hngh!!


    The clown screamed in a high pitch. As he attempted to avoid being caught via moving quickly in a strange manner, his sleeves were loosened and revealed a lot of black hand grenades in them.


    Kaboom!


    Both of them retreated and the fiery explosion exploded in between them as the bright explosion pushed away from the surrounding white mists.


    "Divine Statue - East King Hand!!"


    Garen¡¯s gaze sharpened, became a black figure and instantly rushed out to capture the clown with both of his hands. High pitched noises were screeched from the air as his palms brushed across the air.


    A transparent wall was formed in front of him. The wall was created by multiple layers of air vortices and it headed towards the clown like a giant boulder.


    The clown screamed as he turned away, attempting to escape.


    Splat!!


    The clown¡¯s body was separated into half and his blood rained down on the surrounding.


    Garen¡¯s hand was still 2 meters away from his body.


    "Couldn¡¯t even last one attack." He sighed as he walked slowly towards the clown¡¯s head and stepped onto the useless clown¡¯s brain.


    As he flicked his leg, a silver card flew into his hand.


    The card was made of metal and it had a picture of black and white ghost printed onto it.


    "It¡¯s the clown¡¯s card." The King of the Nightmare approached him slowly with a hand covering his nose. "The Clown King had ten underlings with different personalities and each of them has as a different nickname. You must be one of them. I heard the clowns¡¯ body were either filled with poison or traps and they¡¯re all proficient in poisoning others. It¡¯s unfortunate that you¡¯d been torn into 2 pieces before we can see your skill."


    He looked at Garen.


    "Killing people with airflow through space. Have you reached that realm, Garen?"

 215 Southern Territory 1

    Chapter 215: Southern Territory 1


    Garen passed the card to King of Nightmares and did not answer his question. "Let¡¯s go. It looks like there¡¯s something over here." He walked towards the direction that he had determined earlier.


    The King of Nightmares and Andrela looked at Palosa.


    The latter shook his head and said: "We needn¡¯t make this unnecessarily complicated."


    "I think it¡¯s best for you to follow along. That might turn out to be necessary." Garen turned his head around and said.


    Palosa closed his eyes and stayed silent.


    "Hmph." Garen didn¡¯t want to speak further either and proceeded to walk into the mist.


    Andrela and the King of Nightmare were speechless as they looked at the both of them. They ultimately followed Garen.


    "Although we¡¯ve already expected to have different opinions and be separated because of it, I didn¡¯t think it would be so soon," Andrela said helplessly. "However, everyone has their own objective, opinions, and style of operation. Since Palosa and Garen both stand at the pinnacle of the martial arts world, it is normal to have a different modus operandi."


    "I don¡¯t really care." The King of Nightmares said as he hung onto Andrela¡¯s shoulder lazily as he leaned against him. "It¡¯s very boring lately¡­ Drela, I have a suggestion."


    "Forget about it." Andrela suddenly stopped.


    "Drela, how about we have a wild war when everyone gathers at the middle of the island? Didn¡¯t you want to be famous? If we do that you¡¯ll be famous internationally~" The King of Nightmare suggested lazily. "I don¡¯t care how you want to do it~~"


    "Of course you don¡¯t care¡­" Andrela was speechless. "You can just morph into another person. What about me?!" He knew that the King of Nightmares would do it if he wanted to. It¡¯s completely normal of the King of Nightmares to knock Andrela unconscious and act in his place during the war if he got excited.


    "Furthermore, I don¡¯t want to be famous, I just want to¡­ sigh, nevermind. I just can¡¯t get through you!"


    The trio walked into the thick mist and soon disappeared.


    Palosa was still sitting in the same spot with his eyes closed.


    ************


    Garen kept walked towards where the smell was coming from in the mist and soon arrived the place where there were blood stains on the rocks. The blood was dark red, betraying the fact that it had been shed some time ago.


    He kept walking on and suddenly heard a faint sizzling noise in front of him. It sounded like someone was boiling oil or some sort.


    Soon, a bonfire appeared in front of Garen. Within the fire were a pile of corpses, green and red. Black dense smoke kept oozing from the still burning flame.


    Garen stood in front of the bonfire and examined the corpses.


    "They¡¯re the clowns."


    The King of Nightmares walked forward, looked and said, "They died pierced by steel needles. It¡¯s very similar to Nikon¡¯s technique."


    "Looks like the clowns were most likely the ones who ambushed us when we were in the sea." Garen squinted his eyes and whispered. "Perhaps they were trying to push the blame\onto the Weisman?"


    "Let¡¯s forget this and go to where the key is. We have to go to the statue forests, be it to open the ancient ruins tomorrow or battling for the keys. We should go there further and see who¡¯s in the Southern Territory."


    "The Southern Territory and Northern Territory have their own respective keys?"


    "Of course," Andrela answered. "One on each side. Hence there are only four people qualified to battle for the Black Smoke Pot."


    "I recall from the map that we need to pass by two important places right?" With Garen¡¯s memory being photographic, he had already memorized the map he had seen earlier. "They were the gap between the canyon and the edge of the cliffs. These two locations seem to the best spot for an ambush."


    "A map is a map. Do you have any idea how to differentiate the locations within this mist?" The King of Nightmares frowned.


    "How did they differentiate the directions here?" Garen squatted down and examined the clown¡¯s corpse that was in the bonfire.


    The King of Nightmares squatted down and looked at the surface¡¯s striations.


    "We should just follow the usual method. This surface has a consistent striations. We should be fine as long as we follow the direction that these are going. We should be good if we can find a living person."


    "We will just have to deal with it." Garen frowned. "Let¡¯s go there as soon as possible. We will interrogate him or her if we find someone."


    He looked at the surface¡¯s striation and walked along it. The remaining two followed tightly from behind.


    The rocks in front of them were getting higher and higher. Some of them even had a deep gorge in between and they had no choice but to jump across the gap. The mist between the gaps were getting more and more dense as soon they could not see more than 2 meters ahead of them. The trio could only communicate via smell and hearing to prevent getting lost.


    Soon a pile of corpses appeared on the floor. They were soldiers in white clothes without any emblems or indication of nationality. They examined the corpses and couldn¡¯t identify any traits from it.


    They kept moving forward. Explosions could occasionally be heard from far away, along with faint roars and the occasional gun shot.


    The mist had perfectly enveloped the whole area.


    "Has the battle to obtain the key started?" Garen looked at the directions where the explosions occurred.


    "The key has been out for some time. We just don¡¯t know who¡¯s holding it. I heard that the keys were brought in from the outside, and the Southern Territory and Northern Territory have two keys each for two entrances to their ancient ruins. However, the ancient ruins are small and hard to find, and no one knows which the Black Smoke Pot is in." Andrela explained.


    Garen stopped the conversation and kept marching forward as they moved past the pile of corpses.


    *************


    Among the white mist, a group of human figures in clown attire quietly gathered beside the clown¡¯s corpse. The corpses were torn into pieces and blood was spilled everywhere. It was a sight of horror.


    The lighted torches in their hands faintly reflected the masks on their face.


    "White ghost was dead right after he sent us the intel." The clown leader¡¯s voice trembled as he spoke, in a weird tone.


    "We have underestimated Flamingo."


    "We will give up on attacking them and change our target. The deal between us and the Immortal Palace is to reduce the amount of participants that were not qualified to enter the ruins. Since they are qualified to enter, we shall ignore them." The clown leader whispered.


    "My queen, do you have any confidence to retreat without harm?" He suddenly turned his head to the right and asked the clown.


    "I¡¯m not sure."


    "Does that mean you¡¯re not confident?" The clown leader paused for a while. "Nevermind. Let¡¯s go ahead. All of you separate out and explore the other roads."


    "Yes."


    All the clowns moved out, and the clown leader was left alone.


    He walked slowly to the corpse, squatted down and pinched the corpse¡¯s skin.


    "What powerful strength¡­ A very cruel technique¡­" His playful gaze started to become more and more serious.


    ****************


    Boom!


    Garen slammed his palms onto a man in black¡¯s waist, and the opponent flew away like a canon and crashed onto a rock not far away. The sound of multiple bones breaking could be heard and the man died instantly. It was unknown how many bones were broken.


    He stood still and scanned his surrounding.


    There were a lot of corpses in black shirts on the ground, and all of them had a picture of a white clown on their bodies.


    Andrela and the King of Nightmares came from different directions.


    Andrela cleaned his blood-stained sword


    "These people are the clowns. What use do they have stationing here? To die without a purpose?"


    "Perhaps they are trying to obtain the right to participate." The King of Nightmares yawned." This is meaningless. They are slightly stronger commoners die with the slightest attack. This is not fun at all."


    The trio were standing in a narrow gap. There was a tunnel carved in the mountains face in front of them that was only wide enough to allow one person to pass through at a time. The tunnels seemed to be endless, shrouded by mist.


    "Shall we go?" The King of Nightmares asked casually.


    "Of course." Garen took a big step and entered the tunnel. Suddenly, his facial expression changed and immediately retreated.


    Kaboom!!!


    A loud deafening sound rang from within the tunnel.


    The rage of fire accompanied rubble crashing came down from above and threatened to crush.


    Clank clank clank clank!!!


    Andrela appeared in front of Garen/ The sword on his hand instantly transformed into a mirror and turned all of the rubbles into pebbles. Even the fire was stopped in its track.


    The trio was forced back by the explosion for ten meters or so. The floor clearly had a few scorch marks from the friction created when they were pushed back.


    From above, there was a red mushroom like cloud slowly ascending in the area. Strong winds were gusting and blew away the mist in the surrounding to reveal a big land of deserted place filled with black rocks.


    "Clown King!" Garen was very angry. He had been stomaching his anger from losing his Golden Sword Throne and Golden Seal earlier. Now he had been attacked by the clowns again and was almost caught in the explosion hidden in the tunnel.


    He could have been injured by the explosion if he hadn¡¯t realized that the place seemed strange as if someone had set a trap in it.


    Although he was not afraid of bullets, it didn¡¯t mean he wasn¡¯t afraid of being caught by a big amount of explosives.


    The King of Nightmares and Andrela were unhappy with it as well and no longer have a relaxed expression.


    "Let¡¯s go!" Garen pushed away a stone that was flying towards him and continued walking. He started feeling impatient as he was continuously attacked and had to react constantly.


    "My make up!!" The King of Nightmares started crying and started to bring out his comb and mirror to attempt to fix his make up. As he reached into his pocket, he realized that his combs and mirror had been utterly destroyed, "Damn you clown king! Don¡¯t let me meet you!!"


    On the other hand, Andrela was quietly patting away the dust was on his body.


    The trio formed a line and sped up as they followed the surface¡¯s striations and travelled to the first location.


    ************


    At the center of the Southern Territories laid a strange place where mist was absent.


    There were black statues arranged here. They were either standing, sitting down, or posing in weird postures. They were arranged in such a manner that it formed a dense forest of statues.


    At the center of the statue forest was an empty space of land that was surrounded by the forest of statues.


    A group of men in black coats were treading with care on this empty land. They stayed close to the stone statues and kept walking and jumping into inconvenient paths and were extremely wary of empty space.


    "This is the place guys. Be extra careful. Dale, are you alright?" The golden haired woman who was leading the expedition turned her head around and looked at him with a worried look.


    "I¡¯m alright. Let¡¯s keep moving. Stop treating me like a fragile flower that¡¯s placed in the living room." The middle aged man who was at the very back replied. He was holding a black pipe in his mouth and occasionally took a puff.


    "Oh right. What¡¯s the situation on the items that we found? Has the result been released?" He looked at a fat bearded man who was just beside him.

 216 Southern Territory 2

    Chapter 216: Southern Territory 2


    "No. I have never seen these items before. It looks like something from Ancient Endor, but I couldn¡¯t match it with anything from that time period." The big bearded man said helplessly.


    "White Eagle, do you feel better?" Dale Quicksilver turned her head around and looked at the last person in the team. He was no other than the closest partner and assistant, White Eagle.


    At this point in time White Eagle had seemed like a drunk person. His face was pale, his eye sockets deep and his usual bright golden hair was unreflective. The only thing that remained positive was his sharp gaze.


    He raised his head and looked at his old friend Dale Quicksilver. "I¡¯m still alright." His voice was unbelievably coarse. "It¡¯s just that I may have spent too much energy. The few men in black previously were rather troublesome."


    Dale Quicksilver nodded her head and didn¡¯t say anything further.


    The group kept walking forward and soon the detective pulled out a small metal piece out of the human stone statue and passed it to the big bearded fat man.


    "Have a look at this."


    "The big bearded fat man took it and examined it in detail for a long time. Ultimately he shook his head helplessly.


    "I¡¯m sorry¡­ This is way beyond my knowledge."


    Lady Si Lan looked at the big bearded fat man helplessly. He was an identification expert that they specially hired. However, the items they encountered along the road was unknown to him and only a small portion of items that he identified were vaguely described.


    Whenever they encountered something the first thing he would do was apologize.


    If this kept on, no one would know when they would be able to find the opponent¡¯s trail. One must realize that these stone pieces were clues left by the people who kidnapped the two children.


    These clues were purposely left behind. If we couldn¡¯t find the remaining clues, I¡¯m afraid Silvica and Eve¡­


    "If only Sir Kelly was here. There¡¯s too little research going on in the Ancient Endor¡¯s culture." She sighed.


    "Yes. If only Kelly was here¡­" Dale Quicksilver stopped her sentence midway as she lowered her voice.


    This trip to the island was actually baited by a mysterious man. Detective Dale¡¯s daughter Eve and White Eagle¡¯s son Silvica were kidnapped by a mysterious man. If they wanted to save them, they had to go on the island.


    The enemy obviously had an unspeakable motive so they had no choice but to follow his demands.


    In addition, the clues that would guide them forward were those black small rocks that were placed there beforehand.


    "They purposely come up with a riddle for us to guess." Dale Quicksilver stopped walking with a calm expression. "This may be a game, a game where we don¡¯t have any choice. The opponent¡¯s strength far surpasses ours, so they get to set the rules. We have no choice but to follow them. Do not panic. If we do, we won¡¯t have any chance to win anymore."


    "But Eve and Silvica¡­"


    "Relax. The kids will eventually go through some rough training as well." Dale smiled as she tried her best to not sound worried.


    "Don¡¯t worry Dale. I have a sword here so we still have the ability to protect ourselves." White Eagle comforted.


    "That¡¯s true¡­" Dale nodded.


    "Let¡¯s rest for a bit." The detective sat on a stone statue¡¯s leg.


    Everyone started sitting down without paying much attention to their surroundings.


    "NIneteen years ago, my parents were burnt to death on this island¡­" The White eagle sat down as he took out a small exquisite copper necklace out of his shirt.


    The pendant had the same style as a pocket watch. He opened the pendant to reveal a black and white picture.


    "This is my father." he gentle stroked the surface of the glass that was protecting the picture. "Never in my dreams would I think of a time I would be stepping on this island again¡­" He had a complicated expression on his face as he grabbed the white sword tightly in his hand.


    Pew pew!!


    Suddenly, two ear deafening gunshots rang from afar.


    "Let¡¯s move!"


    The team quickly got up and moved towards the source of the gunshots.


    They passed through the stone statues and soon arrived at another empty field that was multitudes larger than the previous one.


    There were already a few teams standing in the empty field. Each of them stood at the corners. There were a pile of corpses in black shirts, obviously the receiver of the gunshots that had pierced the air earlier.


    Dale looked closely and saw that there were a total of three teams on the empty field, and they stood tall and clear.


    Two of the three teams were confronting each other and the atmosphere was getting tense by the second.


    There were two teams on the left comprised of werewolves, whereas there were three tall men with white coats standing on the right.


    The werewolves looked unhappy as they stared at the three men in front of them. Although the werewolves outnumbered them, they were obviously holding caution.


    "The leader of the werewolf clan sir Bedega secretly came to the island. Looks like you have brought quite a number of clan members as well? Are you guys trying to get your hands on the Black Smoke Pot?" One of the strong and tall men covering himself with a white shirt laughed. His black chest here was moving about with the wind and it looked strangely funny.


    "The Weisman¡¯s Major Generals had also secretly come to the island? If you can come here, why can¡¯t we?" The black werewolf who seemed to be the leader replied with a cold shoulder. "Furthermore, even the clown king from the poker organization has come here himself. The grand occasion this time is much more stronger than the last time. Do you want us to give you a hand?"


    "Capturing the clown king is the Weisman¡¯s Major Generals¡¯ mission, so you don¡¯t need to concern yourself with it." The leader of the Three Major Generals said calmly. "We will also take this opportunity to kill that traitor Ghette.


    "I don¡¯t think you can fully understand the overall situation even if you, The Glorious Chancer are the one who¡¯s going to face it, right?" The leader of the werewolf clan said. "The clown king and the Immortal Palace have formed an alliance, and he is now considered as one of the Immortal Palace. It won¡¯t be easy for you guys to deal with him."


    "Is that right?" The Glorious Chancer¡¯s face slightly twitched and didn¡¯t say another word anymore as if he was in deep thought.


    Dale Quicksilver and her team had entered the area without drawing anyone¡¯s attention. These people were obviously the calefares on the island so it wasn¡¯t worth people taking precaution against them.


    This meant that those experts who were very cautious would measure their strengths. They would simply ignore them if they were no threat to them.


    Soon after their arrival, more and more people started to gradually gather here.


    This was the entrance of the ancient ruins in the Southern Territory. To open the ancient ruin entrance, one must slot in the key into one of the stone statues. Even if you had obtained the key, you had to come to this place if you wanted to enter the ancient ruin.


    Waves of powerful figures started to enter the empty field. There were elites from the Federation, special forces from the Tulip and a few unknown groups with unknown backgrounds. What was strange was that these people were injured and came in small numbers. Furthermore, they didn¡¯t seem to be in good shape as well.


    "Looks like they have been ambushed as well." Dale Quicksilver whispered to Si Lan and White Eagle. "The Weisman¡¯s Three Major Generals and the leader of the werewolf clan are currently on the field. The clown king shouldn¡¯t have the guts to appear. Even if he is one of the Immortal Palace, he won¡¯t come out without any forces. Although the situation looks very tense, this is the safest place to be at the moment."


    "The Weisman¡¯s Three Major Generals have been open towards their actions. As the strongest team in the field, they should be able to control the situation." Si Lan nodded in agreement. "White Eagle, are you still able to hold up?"


    "I¡¯m fine¡­" White Eagle¡¯s veins started to become visible on his face, as he held the white sword tightly in his hand. There were black runes flashing faintly on the sword¡¯s body. "I still can resist it¡­" He grit his teeth as he whispered.


    The three of them looked at White Eagle.with concern as he might not be able to suppress his negative emotions.


    This sword is the legendary Rune Blade that had a mysteriously terrifying power. They wouldn¡¯t have been able to arrive on this island without this sword. However, enough strength and will is required to be able to hold the Rune Blade.


    White Eagle made up his lack of strength with his unfaltering will. If not for this, he would have not been able to sustain it at all.


    "So we will just camp here? Until tomorrow?" The fat Identification Expert whispered.


    "There¡¯s no need for that. The key should be here by now, with the Three Major Generals or the leader of the werewolf clan. From now on until the next full moon, everything depends on the participants¡¯ skills. However, to be able to obtain the key from the Three Major Generals and the leader of the werewolf clan¡­" Dale Quicksilver shook his head. "When they appear here in the flesh, they are also sending a message to the clown king that if he wants to the key, they are right over here. You¡¯ll have to come and get it yourself if you¡¯re brave enough!" She paused for a while. "At the same time it¡¯s also an announcement to the others. The key is with them, and as long as if you¡¯re not afraid of death, you¡¯re free to try and get it from us!"


    "That¡¯s crazy!" Lady Si Lan gasped. "This place is filled with elites from all over the world. Even the special forces from Tulip have arrived."


    "This is the behavior of the Weisman. They are able to behaved so because they are trying to take over the world." Dale Quicksilver nodded. "Now we just have to see if there¡¯s anyone brave enough to attack. We don¡¯t know who was the one who kidnapped Eve and Silvica so everyone please observe carefully."


    At this moment, a group of men and women with red shawls over their heads quickly entered the district. A woman with red eyes, who seemed to be the leader, glanced around and finally set her attention onto the Weisman¡¯s Three Major Generals.


    "The Glorious Chancer, it¡¯s good to see you again." The girl placed her right fist on her chest and greeted him with a bow.


    "Elysha, are you here for there key as well?" The Glorious Chancer asked calmly. His had a small black moustache just above his lips which gave him a rather stern look.


    "The real battle starts after the entrance of the ancient ruin is opened. It¡¯s too early to say that yet." The red eyed girl replied.


    "That depends. Only those who have the key on their hand has the right to use the Black Smoke Pot. Even if you¡¯re the first to arrive to the Black Smoke Pot, you will not be able to use it." The leader of the werewolf clan butted in. "Elysha, has the Demon Hunters Alliance decided to participate in this fight?"


    "You should consider yourself lucky to be in the White Lion Camp. I will kill you without any hesitation if you were from the Black Lion Camp." The lady said with a calm tone.


    "You can always try." The werewolf leader couldn¡¯t help but to laugh.


    The situation had gotten more and more intertwined. The Demon Hunters Alliance, Werewolf Clan, Weisman¡¯s Government and the clown king were four power houses and obviously the current major players. Each of them has the strength to annihilate all of the others present.


    Some had decided to retreat after witnessing such a dire situation.

 217 Southern Territory 3

    Chapter 217: Southern Territory 3


    [Trigger Warning: This chapter may include minimal sexually abusive narration. Please exercise caution when reading or skip the chapter.]


    Carefully, Dale Quicksilver and the others retreated from the immediate area to avoid being noticed.


    From afar, leaders from the Three Major Generals, the Werewolves, and the Demon Hunters negotiated for a while, all becoming increasingly tense as time goes by.


    The Werewolves and the Demon Hunters drew their weapons facing each other.


    Phewwweee!


    With the sound of a whistle, all the werewolves charged at the Demon Hunters in a fan-shaped formation.


    Bullets wheezing, growls, howls, and other sounds mixed into one another, forming an orchestra of bloodshed and severed limbs as the Demon Hunters and the Werewolves fought.


    The Werewolves were ferocious and brutal. In their fury, they can enlarge themselves by more than half of their original size. Coupled with their accelerated healing factor and their astonishing defense, killing them would prove to be difficult unless their heads were lopped off.


    On the other hand, the Demon Hunters were aggressive as well. Their weapons were so sharp they were able to slice the limbs off of werewolves easily. Even though they lack power, they made up with their immense experience, establishing them to be well matched with the Werewolves.


    One after another, the other parties retreated. Unlike the usual tactics the Demon Hunters used, this team was able to fight the Werewolves one-on-one, demonstrating their elite status among the usual teams.


    The red-eyed lady brandished her metallic arm and faced off against the leader of the Werewolf pack. Her red cape darted around him like scarlet fire surrounding him.


    Arooooo!


    The leader howled wildly.


    "Enough, Bedega!" Among the Three Major Generals, a tall, lean man beside the Glorious Chancer yelled. "There were other elites on this island, do you want all of us to die?"


    Unfortunately, it was a little too late.


    With the leader¡¯s howl, the eyes of all the werewolves flashed red, increasing their speed remarkably.


    "Slay them!" The Demon Hunters yelled, procuring a syringe each and injecting a pale red liquid.


    The situation soon descended into disarray.


    Due to the conflict between the main forces, the Three Major Generals were not able to control the situation, considering their lack of manpower. Some other forces who were nemeses started attacking each other as well.


    Dale Quicksilver and his team kept retreating when suddenly a flying machete cut through the air and flew toward them.


    "Dodge!"


    White Eagle swung his blade at it.


    Clank!


    The machete split into two parts and fell into the ground near the human statue behind them. At the same time, the main fight had shifted closer, forcing the group into two sides, Si Lan and the appraisal expert were on one side, Dale Quicksilver and White Eagle on another.


    In the turmoil, Dale Quicksilver kept trying to follow Si Lan with his gaze, but there were seven or eight people fighting between them. As he turned his gaze upward, a bullet hit a stone statue on top of him.


    He could only hear weapons clashing, screaming, robes flipping, and the wind swooshing. Other than that, nothing.


    After White Eagle parried several other machetes, he was immediately treated as the enemy and was pulled into the fight. He tried his best to defend Dale Quicksilver while worriedly glanced at Si Lan and the appraisal expert.


    "What now!"


    "We need to get closer! Otherwise, Si Lan will be in trouble!" Dale Quicksilver clenched his jaw.


    Unwittingly, they were forced farther and farther from their original spot, to the point that they have lost sight of the other two.


    Dale Quicksilver tried to calm down.


    "Need to find a way! I¡­ must!" He stood behind White Eagle with his back against a stone statue, squinting.


    The difference between their strength is too huge. Anyone from this bunch of people would be considered elites of the world, even though they look like they were struggling, every one of them could watch out for their own. At most they¡¯ll be injured, not dead.


    "Something weird!" Dale Quicksilver realized something. Even though the people seem brutal, the movements they employ were mysterious, separating the group as well as blocking them from meeting up.


    "They¡¯re doing it on purpose!" He realized with a start. " White Eagle! Charge!" He roared.


    "Follow me!"


    White Eagle rippled his sword.


    Zing!


    Black runes lit up from the rune blade, vibrating as if they were made of ink.


    It sounded like an uncountable amount of people chanting together.


    The blade was soon illuminating with black radiance. Three other rune blade shadows appeared out of thin air, circling White Eagle and Dale with increasing momentum, like a fan at its maximum speed.


    Two sparring ¡®opponents¡¯ didn¡¯t react in time and got slashed by the spinning blades, stumbling back awkwardly.


    "Where are you going?"


    A strange piercing voice came from straight ahead.


    A levitating red figure came into sight, colliding with White Eagle forcefully.


    Poof!


    The shadows vanished as White Eagle grunted and retaliated with the red figure.


    "You again!" He groaned and tried to disengage to no avail.


    It was then that Dale Quicksilver realized the red figure was the weird clown who intercepted them before.


    "The red clown!"


    The clown had two bright red daggers on his hands and stabbed at White Eagle furiously, but his face was wearing the eerily calm grin the whole time, as if this was all an intricate dance routine he was used to*.


    "Spiralling Smog."


    He shrieked as green haze burst out of his body, covering a huge area centering him.


    White Eagle and Dale Quicksilver were immediately enclosed by the haze, choking them both.


    "We need to meet up with Si Lan!" Dale Quicksilver screamed at White Eagle.


    "No! He¡¯s still here!" White Eagle paused to regain his equilibrium, but a red silhouette dashed on his left, leaving a burning wound on his arm.


    Psst!


    Dale Quicksilver was cut on his back as well.


    "What can we do? Dammit!" White Eagle tried to suppress the anger in him. The situation is getting worse and more dangerous than ever. If even they were so badly hurt, then where Si Lan is¡­ unimaginable!


    **************


    "Gah!"


    Si Lan yelped and stumbled backward, clutching her chest. Her black outershirt was sliced open, revealing the white corset she was wearing underneath.


    The opponent¡¯s attacks were so unnaturally accurate, it was obvious that it was planned.


    Right now, she¡¯s trying to hide next to Yoke the appraisal expert in the crevice between two statues at the same time the clown in red costume was closing in on her.


    "Yoke, I¡¯ll hold him off, run when you can!" Si Lan whispered as calmly as she could. Her usual politeness and seriousness was slightly shaky, as she herself had worried written in her eyes.


    "What about you?" Yoke wasn¡¯t so sure about the plan. "I can¡¯t leave you here!"


    "Just go, I have my own way to escape." Si Lan pretended to be confident in her plan, but she knew, it would be over for her.


    Since working with her most admired Detective Dale Quicksilver, this was the first time she was in such a pinch.


    The enemy in front of her wasn¡¯t just a normal criminal. He was from the top assassin syndicate in the world, the Joker Squad of Poker Organization.


    What she couldn¡¯t believe was the clown in front of her slowly took off his mask, and revealed a badly scarred face of a woman.


    "Si Lan Reybier, it¡¯s been so long, you¡¯re grown up to be such a pretty girl¡­" The woman¡¯s voice was dangerous and shrieky, "It¡¯s been what, twelve years since Dale Quicksilver and White Eagle forced me into desperation by the Nile River¡­"


    Si Lan felt her throat went dry.


    "You! You¡¯re Kassidan!" How could she forget? Twelve years ago, when she was just a little girl, she was kidnapped. A huge amount of money were asked. The proprietor of the incident? Scarlet Spider Kassidan.


    If it weren¡¯t for Dale Quicksilver and White Eagle who passed by and saved her, her weed on her grave would¡¯ve been as tall as an adult.


    "You¡¯re still alive!" Biting her lip, Si Lan spat out, "And you even joined the Poker as the Joker!"


    "Because of you¡­ I didn¡¯t die, I¡¯m stronger than ever¡­" Kassidan¡¯s eyes were wild, "Do you know why I split you guys up?"


    She chuckled and clapped her hands twice.


    Soon, a dozen strong men waddled in from the hazy surrounding, all of them wearing the Joker mask.


    "Unexpected, after chasing Dale Quicksilver¡¯s tail for so many years, you¡¯re still a virgin? What a shame¡­ dying from this brutality at such a young age. You haven¡¯t turned 25, have you? So young¡­ tsk tsk tsk¡­"


    The Scarlet Spider giggled, which soon turned into a nefarious shriek. Her right hand flicked, and a flying knife sliced a large hole into Si Lan¡¯s shirt at her waist.


    Another flick, the flying knife returned to her hand. Another, the knife darted between Si Lan¡¯s legs and nailed itself on the stone statue behind her. Her fair thigh was exposed at the cut on her pants.


    "Agh!" Si Lan staggered backward, her back pressing against the statue.


    "Such smooth skin¡­ Ah! Ah!" Scarlet Spider started moaning, reveling in her torture. "Now! Deflower her to death! Don¡¯t leave any holes undefiled!"


    Hurr hurr¡­


    The dozen of men approached Si Lan, rubbing their palms together and surrounding her.


    "Si Lan, run!" The appraisal expert, Yoke barged into the circle, blocking in front of Si Lan.


    Thud.


    He was sent flying and fainted after having rolled on the ground.


    "Yoke!" Si Lan¡¯s face was white as ash.


    *************


    Garen, King of Nightmare and Andrela marched up to the central area of the fog and looked darkly into it.


    "Blow it away!" Garen ordered.


    "I¡¯ll do it!" Andrela stepped forward and brandished his sword.


    Shwoop!


    Three silver mirrors appeared in front of him. Wind started blasting away at the green haze, unveiling the scene inside the chaotic area.


    "Listen up!" King of Nightmare projected his voice. "Give us the Jokers in ten seconds!" His voice boomed at everyone who were inside the green mist.


    Translator''s Thoughts


    J_Squared J_Squared


    1.	Alternately ¡°as if this was all a game to him¡±. Choose your preference between literal/poetic translation.

 218 Southern Territory 4

    Chapter 218: Southern Territory 4


    "Or else¡­"


    He gestured with his right arm, causing an invisible force to shoot out, slightly bending the space around it. Rocks and boulders levitated and flew about in circles screeching, forming a Telekinetic Tornado about three meters tall and four meters in diameter.


    "It¡¯s Telekinesis! Please stop!" A deep voice echoed from the central area. "We are the Major Generals from Weisman, the Clown King you were looking for is not here!"


    "Why do we even bother talking to these savages! Let¡¯s show them who¡¯s boss!" A deep female voice came from in there somewhere.


    Shrk!


    With a glint of red light, a boomerang sliced through the air toward the three newcomers, aiming at Andrela.


    The edge of the boomerang had a glaze of toxic blue. In the air, it looked like a red-colored moon, as dangerous as it is beautiful, the air around it became a gust of strong wind.


    Andrela parried it with his sword easily.


    The boomerang was destroyed instantly, its pieces splintered everywhere. Andrela¡¯s movements were relaxed, as if he was just brandishing it for fun.


    After his intense training to better himself, he finally reached a level where he can safely say he¡¯s one of the top fighters in the world. Even though he still has ways to go before he could compete with the best few, he could already hold himself against these fighters.


    In terms of ranking, he¡¯s probably one of the top 30.


    It was only because King of Nightmares, Garen, Palosa who were all monsters in a race to the top that he looked weak. In comparison, if he decides to join any other organizations, he would be considered their best fighter.


    King of Nightmares beside him didn¡¯t think too much. His face was dark with fury as he pointed toward where the boomerang came from. "Hmph!"


    Fwoosh!


    A huge Telekinetic Tornado shot out.


    As the green mist had yet to fully disperse, the Tornado quickly disappeared behind it.


    A deafening silence, and a sudden detonation.


    Boom! Woo woo woo!


    A piercing sound of the explosion accompanied by a tempestuous blast spread out from the center of the explosion.


    The ground shook, even the stone statues visibly trembled.


    Sounds of screaming and shrieking echoed from inside, obviously hit by the attack.


    "Let¡¯s go in!" Garen marched into the stony maze.


    King of Nightmares and Andrela followed closely.


    ****************


    Boom!


    The Scarlet Spider and the other clowns stopped in front of Si Lan. Everyone looked unsettled.


    "What do we do now, boss?" One of them asked in a hushed tone.


    "They are specifically looking for us, and they still made such a huge fuss, they must not be some normal goons! Now that the Clown King wasn¡¯t here, we won¡¯t be able to stop them! Abort! Abort now!" Scarlet Spider quickly muttered.


    "Bring this harpy along!" She looked at Si Lan, who was laid down, unmoving, on the ground.


    Two of the clowns approached her to grab her.


    Thud!


    Si Lan flipped, kicking the two in their lower abdomen region. They yelped and staggered backward.


    "You b*tch!" They tried to grab her again.


    Woo woo woo!


    A sudden blast of wind hit them.


    The violent gale brought bullet-like stones and debris, piercing them in their backs. Ironically, Si Lan and Yoke were spared due to being in the shade of their pursuers.


    Most of them were down. At least four of them had blood oozing out of all the seven openings of their heads, they were as good as dead.


    The green haze finally cleared up due to that gust of wind.


    "Kill her!" Kassidan shrieked.


    Thud!


    Before she could do anything else, a foot appeared on her abdomen and had her sent flying to a stone statue not far away.


    A tall and strong silhouette slowly walked beside the Scarlet Spider and stamped his foot on her torso.


    The silhouette was of a hulking man, his wore an earring on his left ear, his short purplish black hair moving with the wind. His eyes were red as he looked down at the people.


    "Tell me, where is the Clown King?" His leather boots lightly treaded on Scarlet Spider¡¯s head, only putting minimal pressure on it.


    "This voice!" Si Lan suddenly felt goosebumps running down her spine, and it shocked her out of her spacey state. She stared at the man.


    "You! You¡¯re Mr. Kelly!" She yelled out of surprise.


    The man took a double take and slightly turned his head toward Si Lan.


    "Miss Si Lan?"


    Stunned, Garen stared at Si Lan and her torn outfit. Mr. Kelly, that name reminded him of the time with Dale Quicksilver when he pretended to be an appraisal expert.


    "What is it Garen?" A tall, handsome man appeared beside Garen, and frowned as he cast his gaze on Si Lan.


    "It¡¯s nothing, I know her." Garen replied calmly.


    "No use trying to run!" King of Nightmares shrieked in the distance. "Get rekt Clown King! I''ll let everyone have a go at you for a hundred times each! I''ll make you go through it until you begged to die!"


    Garen and Andrela¡¯s mouths twitched.


    "His hobby is still¡­ weird."


    "You¡¯ll get used to it¡­ Let¡¯s go see what¡¯s happening." Andrela turned and headed off toward the source of the voice.


    Garen turned.


    "Miss Si Lan, care to follow?"


    "O¡­ Of course!" Si Lan stood up in a hurry, but still instinctively pressed her legs together as her thighs showed slightly where it was sliced off.


    Garen smiled and approached her and Yoke. Carrying them one on each side, he followed after Andrela speedily.


    As Garen dashed through the field, Si Lan¡¯s eyes were shut tight due to the wind, she asked loudly.


    "Mr. Kelly, why have you come to this island?"


    "I have some things to do here. I¡¯m looking for something." Garen answered casually. "What about you? Dale Quicksilver is here too, isn¡¯t he?"


    "Y-yes. We lost touch a little while ago." Si Lan clenched her teeth. "Was the one chasing after the Clown King your teammate?"


    "I don¡¯t know him." Garen denied without hesitation. If he admitted to knowing King of Nightmares, that¡¯d be embarrassing.


    As they spoke, they have arrived at the central area where the smog had completely cleared up.


    There were bodies lying haphazardly on the ground, three people were attacking a lady on a small clearing in the center.


    The lady wore sharp golden claws on both her hands. Wherever she scratched at, the person in that direction would evade as soon as possible.


    It was then that Si Lan noticed, among the ones attacking the girl, there were one of the Three Major Generals of Weisman, the red-eyed woman leading Demon Hunter, and a strange figure with the clown costume.


    "Hmph!" Andrela huffed. "Night, you need help?"


    "Nope!" The lady with sharp claws giggled, and scratched furiously, leaving lasting marks in the air. As the three stepped back, she twirled around.


    "Got ¡®em!"


    The golden marks left in the air slowly dissipated according to a mysterious pattern, but everyone who watched this scene fell into a trance, feeling drowsy, as if their mind is filled to the brim. Suddenly alert, most of them turned away.


    The three attacking King of Nightmares pulled back in aghast, but right then, the clown stumbled and fell backward.


    "Run!" Smoke screen burst out of the other two as they transformed back into two clowns. They ran in two different directions.


    King of Nightmares grabbed the clown who fell.


    "Queen!"


    The other two clowns screamed worriedly.


    At the same time, the smog cleared up, the Three Major Generals of Weisman had already landed their killing strike and congregated. They also saw the fight in the middle with King of Nightmares and the clowns.


    "It is the Clown King¡¯s people! They dare show themselves!" The Glorious Chancer scowled. "Who¡¯s that being attacked?"


    "I think it¡¯s King of Nightmares from the White Peacock!"


    Gasp!


    As the speaker finished his sentence, silence fell after a collective gasp.


    King of Nightmares, the person who claimed to not be the strongest, but was said to be the most terrifying. He could manipulate at least 90% of the people to do anything they wouldn¡¯t have done otherwise.


    It didn¡¯t only happen once or twice, but many, many times. Some had been hypnotized to streak, some were even hypnotized to lick the ground in the toilet while propping their buttocks up¡­


    Or hypnotized to see the septic tank as a swimming pool¡­


    The stories are so outlandish, but it always managed to throw people into bouts of goosebumps.


    Hearing it was King of Nightmares, not only the normal people, the Demon Hunters, the Werewolves all took several steps back quietly. Even the Glorious Chancer himself frowned.


    Because of that, King of Nightmares had numerous enemies and myths about him.


    The Archbishop of the Holy Church, Archbishop Hester, who has had very positive public image, had been pursuing King of Nightmares when he was hit with a hypnotic suggestion, causing him to stop mid-fight and jerked off in public.


    An old man, eighty-seven years of age¡­ masturbating in front of hundreds of audience¡­


    The old man killed himself after it ended, and King of Nightmares¡¯ fame spread around the world yet again.


    "Do we need to explain to them about the Jokers pretending to be us¡­" General Milo asked.


    "What is there to explain? Don¡¯t disgrace the Weisman Empire!" The Glorious Chancer persisted.


    "King of Nightmares, the Clown King is our enemy as well. If you¡¯re willing, we¡¯ll definitely help in their extermination!" Werewolf pack leader declared.


    "The Demon Hunters too!" The red-eyed lady shuddered as she recalled the event with the Archbishop.


    Other powers quickly followed suit, as if scared about repercussions if they are the last.


    "Who attacked us on the beach?" King of Nightmares clutched the head of the clown, restraining him, and stared at the crowd.


    The clearing was messed up. King of Nightmares stood in the center of the crowd and glared without any signs of fear.


    No one answered. The leader of the Demon Hunter, Elysha looked antsy.


    Garen approached King of Nightmares with Si Lan in his arm, followed by Andrela.


    "Maybe we can get information from this joker," Garen glanced at the clown held down by King of Nightmares. "The others called him Queen, so he must be pretty high-ranking."


    "Kill me if you can! You can kill me, but you¡¯ll never kill the Queen! Hahahahaha¡­" The clown laughed maniacally.


    "Kill you?" King of Nightmares smirked, "There¡¯s nothing easier than killing! You won¡¯t die so easily in my hands!"


    "Tomorrow, before this time, we have one day to find and kill the Clown King." Andrela peeked at his wristwatch and stated.

 219 The Wait 1

    Chapter 219: The Wait 1


    "We were attacked by them as soon as we came ashore, and it looks like everyone who entered the island had been attacked. Poker Organization was definitely scheming something in secret. We were all here for the key, the Black Smoke Pot." Garen raised his voice, "I think everyone here wanted the Black Smoke Pot or witness its abilities. No matter what your intentions are, the ruins doesn¡¯t seem to be opening yet, so we don¡¯t really have conflict of interest here. Killing is unnecessary. I think, Clown King wants us to fight."


    "It¡¯s true, Clown King¡¯s followers have the ability to disguise as other people, it¡¯s easy for them to pick a fight as another person." Someone agreed.


    Garen stood in the center with the others, surrounded by all the rest of the people.


    These parties knew their power is not enough, so they only came to try their luck. Furthermore, these were the ones who managed to breakthrough Clown King¡¯s trap through their willpower. Some of them were nameless people who powered on, some others were not necessarily unknown where they came from.


    It didn¡¯t matter who it was. Anyone who stood there have their own desire - the Black Smoke Pot.


    It¡¯s the same for the Three Major Generals. They were officially here to capture the Clown King, but in reality they were there for the Black Smoke Pot.


    There were rumors of the Black Smoke Pot establishing the connection between this world and the Underworld.


    The scene was in a slight confusion. No one party knows what the other parties think, so they were all being extra cautious at each other.


    Most people were focusing on the three from White Peacocks in the center. Even if King of Nightmares was intimidating, who would really give up the opportunity to obtain the Black Smoke Pot, having come this far?


    Those who were here had already made up their minds to breakthrough every single obstacle to get to it. If there were people who could settle for less, they already had and wouldn¡¯t even make it to the island.


    "What do you White Peacocks think?" The leader of the Three Major Generals, The Glorious Chancer spoke. "The Clown King had given up on the Black Smoke Pot and plead allegiance to the Immortal Palace. He¡¯s here to get it for them. What about you?" He paused, "If I remembered correctly, the White Peacocks hadn¡¯t been around for too long, but all of you seem to have unsettled business with the Immortal Palace?"


    The three had already silently agreed for Garen to be the leader and the face for the group. Andrela had admitted to be inferior to Garen in fighting ability, King of Nightmares was not even considering to lead.


    Garen stepped forward, staring at The Glorious Chancer.


    "Black Smoke Pot is not our primary objective. Just as you said, our main focus is Immortal Palace."


    The Glorious Chancer nodded. "What if we form an alliance with each other? Our mission was to capture Clown King, this aligns with your focus, I presume you and him also have a score to settle. Our other mission was for the Black Smoke Pot, that was our real mission."


    "Alliance?" Garen didn¡¯t think the Three Major Generals from Weisman would suggest such an idea, but seeing the sincerity on his face, Garen at least knew The Glorious Chancer really wants an alliance.


    King of Nightmares muttered under his breath, "He was trying to soothe the sour relationship between you when Weisman sent the Killer Hunters Squad after you. I think they were even trying to recruit us."


    Garen nodded subtly to indicate his understanding. The Red Sand Sword Gate saga wasn¡¯t a huge thing now, but it was still something they had to settle.


    "What¡¯s in it for us in this alliance?" He hollered.


    "If you help us get the Black Smoke Pot, and we¡¯ll help you when you face off with the Immortal Palace. They are also the scourge to our organization." The Glorious Chancer proclaimed.


    "How can I trust you?"


    "I have been on this job for twenty five years. I have yet to make a promise I couldn¡¯t keep." The Glorious Chancer stated calmly.


    Between the back-and-forth of these two, some other teams around them started to shift. White Peacock and Weisman was already difficult by themselves, if they allied, no other teams would even be in the race to the prize anymore.


    Some weaker groups started to leave the crowd. They were very aware of their abilities. Now that the situation had gone beyond their control. They might as well pull out before it was too late, after damages had been done.


    The rest of the stronger groups which still had some confidence in themselves congregated, becoming larger temporary groups.


    Garen and the Three Major Generals all noticed the behavior changes.


    "The Northern Territory should be under Immortal Palace¡¯s control, the King of the North Pole and God of the Spear have probably allied to resist the Immortal Palace," The Glorious Chancer continued, "If we join in the fight, Immortal Alliance will have no chance of succeeding."


    He stared at Garen¡¯s face. This young man is only twenty years of age, but the intelligence pointed out he¡¯s a rising star who monopolized a whole province. He didn¡¯t pay much attention before, but he didn¡¯t realize the young man may be even stronger than what they had expected.


    He immediately tried to recruit him.


    "Weisman welcomes all talents and intellectuals. Top fighters like you three, you can get the best receptions and a position only second to us. Please give it some thought. Right now, the Confederation is not in a good spot, even normal citizen were able to see how bad the situation is. Three elites like you don¡¯t need to waste your lives away on a dying tree, why not choose a bigger stage and a better environment?"


    Garen and the other two didn¡¯t reply directly. After King of Nightmares hypnotized the Queen clown, they already found out it was one of the clowns who originally disguised as the fighters from Weisman to attack them. Knowing that, their hatred for the Joker Squad deepened.


    "Let¡¯s not talk about this first. Our main objective here is still sussing out the Clown King." Garen steered the conversation away from recruitment. "I don¡¯t know why the Clown King sent out so many cannon fodders to attack everyone. But since they¡¯ve started the attack, they will need to face the consequences." He¡¯s extremely upset with the Clown King for the loss of his Golden Sword Throne and Golden Seal. Since that was sorted out, vanquishing him is, of course, the main focus. With a pest chasing after them constantly will definitely be a discomfort.


    The Glorious Chancer looked at his watch. "It is currently 7.35 in the evening, almost night time, but this blanket of mist is everywhere so we won¡¯t notice the difference in our surrounding. If we want to exterminate the clowns, we still have 24 hours."


    He looked around.


    "I reckon the Clown King is among us."


    "Do we need to clear the space?" Another Major General murmured. "With us and the White Peacocks, we¡¯ve got the power to exterminate everyone else here."


    "We¡¯re not in a hurry." The Glorious Chancer shook his head.


    Garen temporarily agreed to the alliance proposal, so he approached the Major Generals with Andrela and King of Nightmares. King of Nightmares was training the Queen clown absent-mindedly.


    "Repeat after me, ¡®I am a pig.¡¯"


    "I am a pig¡­" The clown was spaced out.


    "¡®I like to eat shit.¡¯"


    "I like to eat shit¡­"


    "¡®I love freshly baked ones.¡¯"


    "I love freshly baked ones..."


    Garen and Andrela watched as King of Nightmares trained the clown and felt slightly sick. They know King of Nightmares enough to know they wouldn¡¯t say something they were not going to do. They were preparing to really let the clown do the deed.


    Si Lan also shuddered, but her priorities lie in finding Dale Quicksilver.


    "Mr. Kelly, if you want to look for the Clown King, there¡¯s a person who may be useful." She suppressed the urge to continue watching and managed to compose herself.


    "You mean Detective Dale?" Garen had a slight frown.


    "No need," King of Nightmares stood up, "I already found out the gist." They had a smirk on their face. "How dare he spring the bombs on us! And seeked refuge with the Immortal Palace!"


    "We¡¯ll still be here for the rest of our time, it may be beneficial to find Dale Quicksilver." Andrela have heard of his fame. "Even though we¡¯re forming a temporary alliance with the Weisman¡¯s, we¡¯ll probably still need to fight them when we open the ruins¡¯ entrance. Who wouldn¡¯t want the Black Smoke Pot that can grant them breakthrough? The truce we¡¯re having right now is temporary, it would be dangerous if they¡¯ve gone all out in attacking us."


    Garen nodded in agreement.


    "Too bad we don¡¯t know Palosa¡¯s plan. If he¡¯s here, we would have a bigger chance."


    "The old guy had different persona at different time, none of us know what state he was in during this recluse. Don¡¯t get careless¡­" Andrela spoke hushedly. "The Black Smoke Pot can only be used by one person, if we got to the end, I wouldn¡¯t hold back even if it¡¯s you I¡¯m facing!"


    "Let¡¯s do our best." Garen smiled. A one-use item such as Black Smoke Pot that can communicate with the underworld, as well as help people ascend to higher peaks. Even if Andrela and him were best friends, it would be foolish to give up his path and dreams just because of that relationship.


    They are partners, as well as rivals.


    Even if he said he doesn¡¯t want the Black Smoke Pot, but given the chance, he would not let that chance go either.


    The truce they were having, was in fact the calm before the storm.


    Garen looked around. "Let¡¯s go look for Detective Dale." He took Si Lan in his arm, and stepped lightly on the ground, charging out without a sound.


    Everyone else only saw a blur before Garen and Si Lan disappeared. Being reminded of the canyon between their abilities, more elites have almost given up.


    The pillar jungle was full of thick stone pillars, each pillar was as tall as a tree with the bottom half carved straight up to the top half which was carved into statues of different poses.


    Some of them sad, some happy, some in enjoyment, some in fury. All the statues were doing different actions than the others.


    The stone pillars were placed far apart, about three to four meters. Between all the pillars, they formed a maze extending into every direction.

 220 The Wait 2

    Chapter 220: The Wait 2


    With Si Lan in his arm, Garen dashed through the field with increasing speed, looking for Dale Quicksilver following anywhere that had any signs of fighting.


    Four encounters, plenty of followers of the Clown King, but no sign of Dale Quicksilver and White Eagle. They ran for another few hundred meters in the fog, and finally heard some grunting coming from the front.


    They approached the sound and greeted with the sight of White Eagle fighting with a clown in red.


    White Eagle held a white blade that was glowing some quivering black runes. His face was tense, veins popped, he basically looked like a savage. Even with that, he was quickly losing his ground against the clown.


    Dale Quicksilver aimed his gun at the ones fighting but didn¡¯t dare to shoot. They were both so quick in their movements it was impossible to aim.


    White Eagle and the clown were both agility-type fighters, the light from the sword and the red clown¡¯s claw kept finding ways to attack each other, but there were only swishing sound of the wind but not from one for clashing.


    Srrt! A slash wound appeared on White Eagle¡¯s right arm, but as his eyes were red with fury, he didn¡¯t care.


    "Mr. Kelly!" Seeing White Eagle in danger, Si Lan looked at Garen anxiously.


    Garen nodded and stepped between the two in an instant, his arms outstretched toward the both of them.


    Thud! Thud!


    White Eagle and the clown got pushed back simultaneously.


    Seeing Garen, the clown turned and ran without a word.


    Garen squinted and grabbed at the clown¡¯s head. His hand was as fast as lightning, only a white silhouette was visible.


    "Stop butting in!"


    A sudden killing intent came from behind Garen. White Eagle roared at him, charging.


    Wielding the blade, White Eagle¡¯s eyes were filled with hatred. A slicing air burst out of the white rune blade toward Garen¡¯s back.


    White Eagle didn¡¯t expect to find his parents¡¯ killer a dozen years after in the same place! The red clown was the killer who murdered his parents in cold blood! Even though he was being subdued earlier, he was planning to unleash his strongest attack the whole time until Garen interrupted the fight, forcing him to unleash the power earlier than he wanted.


    The red clown also repocketed a small ball unwillingly. This ball is an item built specifically to defeat the rune blade. He was waiting for White Eagle to unleash the true power of the rune blade so he could reflect it back with the ball.


    "Dammit! If he didn¡¯t cut in so early!" The clown glared at Garen for a bit. "Just a little more, I would have killed White Eagle and tie up my loose ends!"


    Seeing White Eagle stabbing at Garen, he felt a rush of schadenfreude.


    The white rune blade pierced Garen on his back. Black light glowed on the runes on the blade, emitting a mysterious air.


    Different from Flamingo¡¯s sword, the most distinct feature of this rune blade was its sharpness. Whatever it stabbed, a pierce mark would appear, whatever it hacked at, they would be cut in half.


    This is Garen¡¯s first sense of crisis since mastering the Divine Statue Technique.


    "Ten Thousand Mammoth Retrograde!"


    Garen rippled his arm, pushing an invisible force outward.


    Boom!


    A transparent ripple formed in the air from Garen¡¯s arms.


    The ripple spread, hitting both White Eagle and the clown, causing them to fall backward onto the ground and slid some distance before stopping.


    Garen flexed his back, the tiny pierce wound quickly closed and disappeared.


    He turned back to look at White Eagle.


    "What are you doing! Mr. Kelly saved you, and you want to stab him!" Si Lan ran over and propped White Eagle up. At that point the veins on White Eagle¡¯s face had subsided.


    Blood rushed to his mouth, which he spat out immediately. He looked exhausted.


    "You¡¯re not even a Grandmaster of Combat, and you dared to come to the Smoke Island." Garen shook his head in disbelief. "You guys are too reckless."


    "I¡­" White Eagle didn¡¯t know what to say. He had hurt Garen in his excited state. "I¡¯m sorry¡­ I was influenced by the blade."


    Garen shook his head, ignoring White Eagle, and turned toward the approaching Dale Quicksilver.


    Dale Quicksilver recognized him and withdrew his gun, flashing him a wry smile.


    "Mr. Kelly, I didn¡¯t think we would meet like this."


    "Yeah, same here." Garen shrugged, "Were you here for the Black Smoke Pot?"


    "Of course not, we are self-aware people." Dale Quicksilver said. "It may sound a little sudden, but I hope to get your help. To be honest, my daughter and White Eagle¡¯s son were both kidnapped onto this island, we were looking for a long time, but we haven¡¯t been able to locate them¡­"


    "You want me to help you find the kids?"


    "If there¡¯s anything I could help you with, please tell me." Dale Quicksilver added readily.


    Garen hesitated. Dale Quicksilver was an old friend, it wouldn¡¯t be too hard to help him. However, with the time he had left¡­


    Si Lan tied the unconscious clown up and came over. "The one who kidnapped the kids was Clown King. We need to find him, just like Mr. Kelly. So our goal aligns."


    "So¡­" Dale Quicksilver looked relieved. "What do you think?"


    Garen thought silently.


    "We can¡¯t delay here for too long. If we can¡¯t figure this out by tomorrow, we¡¯ll need to abort."


    Dale Quicksilver dropped his head in deep thought, and looked up almost immediately, "Three hours. I can find him in three hours."


    "Oh?" Garen stared at him, slightly surprised. "You sure?"


    "Of course!"


    Garen kept his quiet and led the detective group back, dragging the unconscious clown along. White Eagle kept having the urge to finish the clown off on the way, but he persevered.


    In the middle of the pillar jungle was an oval black stone tile, a massive black stone statue was erected in the center of it.


    The statue is about a dozen meters in height, posed like a humanoid Lucky Cat*. Its head was large with a kind facial features, but it wasn¡¯t clear whether it¡¯s a male or a female. White smoke continually billowed out of its nostrils, ears, and mouth. Wisps of smoke hung around the air, adding to the mysterious calmness the scene brings.


    The Three Major Generals of Weisman Empire, as well as the Werewolf Bedega had already arrived and were resting against the statue, planning to wait until the next day in that position.


    Andrela and King of Nightmares stood beside the three generals, and made space as soon as they saw Garen with a number of people following him.


    Garen didn¡¯t speak. He led Dale Quicksilver and the others there and sat down, not caring about anything else. Dale Quicksilver and Si Lan couldn¡¯t stay still, they started wandering around.


    Some of the other parties had already left, the rest were just people who were trying their luck. With Garen¡¯s fame, Dale Quicksilver had no trouble talking to people. There wasn¡¯t much info, but he finally understood Garen¡¯s influence.


    Dale Quicksilver kept his eyes low to cover up his surprise.


    "Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate Second Divine Warrior¡­ White Cloud Gate Master? Mr. Kelly had us fooled for so long!"


    "What is a ¡®Divine Warrior¡¯? What level is he?" Si Lan wasn¡¯t too familiar with the Martial Arts community, and even Yoke and White Eagle was curiously staring at Dale. They weren¡¯t people from that circle, so they didn¡¯t know how intrepid he actually is.


    "Is he as strong as the people from Golden Hoop?" White Eagle asked after having a thought.


    Dale Quicksilver wasn¡¯t sure whether he should laugh or cry. "He is one of the strongest leaders of Golden Hoop. Under his management, White Cloud Gate was getting so much attention from the government, a province was basically given to him! What do you think?"


    Gasp.


    It was then that Si Lan and White Eagle finally understand what ¡®Divine Warrior¡¯ entails.


    "Will he, you know¡­" White Eagle asked worriedly. "There were tons of people who wanted my sword¡­"


    "If he wanted to target us, it would have been as easy as killing an ant¡­ Your blade is powerful, but I don¡¯t think he wants it. When he saw your blade just now, he wasn¡¯t very surprised, that means he has seen similar things before." Dale Quicksilver analyzed. "Let¡¯s not talk about this. We need to focus on finding the Clown King."


    "Isn¡¯t three hours a little tight?" Si Lan asked, concerned.


    "It¡¯s alright, I already have some thoughts." Dale Quicksilver replied confidently.


    Garen leaned against the foot of the giant statue, watching Dale Quicksilver and the others walk about the area and occasionally stop to check the marks on the ground.


    "You think they really can suss out the Clown King?" King of Nightmares asked boredly. "I¡¯ve already hypnotized those clowns, nothing."


    "Let¡¯s give it a shot, it doesn¡¯t cost us anything, at least we got someone to help." Garen stated.


    "When do you want to get the key?" King of Nightmares continued asking, "The key on the Werewolves are easier to get than the ones on those three from Weisman. If we want it, we can get it easily."


    "Don¡¯t worry. Let¡¯s look for the Clown King first." Garen wasn¡¯t in a hurry, "Between the Southern and the Northern Territories, only one side could win the qualification to use the item. We¡¯ll have to fight at the end anyway. If we¡¯ve got the keys but were killed by the people from the North, it¡¯d be pointless. At the end, only one person is deserving of the Black Smoke Pot."


    "To break limits¡­ I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d be interested at first, but now I feel like I wanna fight for it." Andrela muttered.


    The three stopped chattering and sat quietly on the ground.


    The fog started to become darker. Whatever they can see of the sky was turning gray, and the fog had become thicker.


    Some people tried to light a torch, but torches were dampened by the fog, they just won¡¯t light up. It got colder, weaker people were starting to feel the chill.


    Dale Quicksilver strutted about for a while and stopped. He walked to somewhere quiet and started thinking deeply.


    Garen ignored him. He only needed an answer, how Dale Quicksilver came up with that answer wasn¡¯t important. His attention was on the white rune blade in White Eagle¡¯s hands.


    The blade is impressive even though it could only break his skin, but it was much more powerful than the one Flamingo had. However it doesn¡¯t seem to have a great range, obviously the makers focused on different aspects of their blades.


    Translator''s Thoughts


    J_Squared J_Squared


    1.	Lit. Wealth-beckoning cat. A Japanese cat figurine that has one paw up by its face. Usually mistaken for Chinese in origin due to its popularity in the Chinese community. Look up maneki-neko.

 221 Clarity 1

    Chapter 221: Clarity 1


    Garen noticed that the runes on the rune blade moves on their own. Flamingo¡¯s was the same, his sword having red runes. It¡¯s not something logic can explain.


    Even though the rune blade wasn¡¯t able to deal enough damage to seriously hurt him, it was enough to break his skin. With just that, he didn¡¯t dare to underestimate the white blade.


    "White Eagle, can I have a look at your sword?" Garen asked calmly.


    White Eagle flinched and looked at Garen, at the same time, he stole a look at Dale Quicksilver and hesitated.


    "Sure."


    He handed over his blade to Garen.


    Holding it, Garen started to scrutinize the blade.


    ******************


    Northern Territory


    Somewhere deep within the fog


    In the middle of the jungle formed with black statues.


    Sylphalan half-kneeled on the ground, breathing heavily, one of his hands pressed on the ground while the other on his heart.


    Lub-dub! Lub-dub!


    His heartbeat, as loud as drums, echoed throughout the jungle of stone statues.


    Sylphalan bit his lower lip, the hand on his heart clutching at his shirt and his chest. The drilling heart ache he had was impacting his ability to focus, even his vision started to blur.


    "Still okay?" Flamingo walked out from behind a black statue. He wore a set of red clothing, the Sword of the Sprite sheathed by his side. He looked clean, like a ball of pure fire, not even his feet seemed to have any dust on them.


    "Yeah¡­" Sylphalan struggled while standing up, but he managed a murmur. "Leave if the time comes, I suspect I wouldn¡¯t be able to control myself."


    Flamingo kept quiet.


    "Don¡¯t force yourself."


    "I know. But after suppressing it for so long, I really need to let it loose once in awhile." Sylphalan answered.


    "I really can¡¯t tell if your choices then were right or wrong." Flamingo sighed helplessly then slowly stepped backward into the thick fog until his silhouette was completely gone.


    Somewhere out there, footsteps approached hurried.


    "He was hiding in here! Sylphalan, this time I will make sure you die!"


    "Murderer! I finally can avenge my father today!" "Be careful of the others from Immortal Palace! Ace, tell everyone to be alert!" "Yessir!"


    Sounds of people were approaching Sylphalan quickly. Numerous valiant auras surrounded Sylphalan.


    All these people were elites, among them, at least four to five were able to unleash their Auras that were as strong as some of the top level Grandmasters of Combat, weaker to Duskdune Shura by a little. They were all here to seek revenge from Immortal Palace. Because of his strength, some of them were also trying to eliminate Sylphalan so they can have a chance of grabbing the Black Smoke Pot for themselves.


    Lub-dub!


    ylphalan palpitated once more. His brows were slowly knitting together, veins popped up on his skin, congregating toward the center of his brows.


    Hoof¡­


    Sylphalan stood up, two bumps appearing on his armpits.


    ***************


    Garen examined the blade carefully. The rune blade in his hands were not very different from normal swords. No flowing runes, no special powers, as if it really was a normal longsword.


    "Incredible¡­" He returned the rune blade to White Eagle. He wasn¡¯t able to see anything, but some of the patterns on the sword was really fascinating.


    The sky had already darkened by this point, moonlight spilled down from above, its shape blurred by the layer of fog.


    "Mr. Garen." Dale Quicksilver finally returned to Garen¡¯s side. "I think I know where the Clown King is."


    "Oh?" Garen looked at him with interest. "Are you sure?"


    "Yes." Dale Quicksilver nodded.


    "Tell me, where is he hiding?" Garen stared at him attentively. He tried sensing everyone here including the Three Major Generals, everyone seemed normal to him.


    "Clown King didn¡¯t hide, he disguised." Dale Quicksilver answered with confidence.


    "Disguised?" Si Lan and King of Nightmares moved close to listen to the analysis.


    "Yes, his disguise is pretty flawless, normal people wouldn¡¯t be able to tell." Dale Quicksilver stated calmly. "Don¡¯t you think the situation here feels a little odd?"


    "Oh?" Garen was finally aware, about an hour ago, all the parties looked a little weird, something in them looked strange.


    He looked around, focusing on each group as his gaze passed.


    The Werewolves gathered around, talking about something inaudible.


    The three Weisman Major Generals sat together not far away, eyes closed.


    The Demon Hunters were fixing up something, looking busy.


    The other smaller teams were also doing their own thing in their corner.


    "Can you point him out directly?" Garen turned his attention back to Garen.


    "Of course."


    Dale scanned at the other people around, his gaze steady and calm. "The real Clown King was hiding among the obscure group over there." He looked at the crowd of unknown people in the corner. "Gate Master Garen, please take my signal when approaching him, or else he would be able to run away again!"


    "Of course." Garen nodded.


    "Good." Dale Quicksilver stared at the unknown group and raised his arm, as if to point out the target. "The real Clown King is¡­ Seize White Eagle!"


    He yelled and rushed behind Garen.


    No one was able to react in that instant.


    White Eagle paled, his rune blade slashed at Dale Quicksilver, creating a fan-shaped aura.


    Phoosh!


    A strong draft toward the blade made him miss his aim.


    The draft was Garen¡¯s misty breath!


    He leaped up, grabbing at the rune blade with one hand and at White Eagle¡¯s neck with the other. His stance was like a fierce tiger hunting a sheep, bringing about chilly wind.


    White Eagle yelped and retreated as he sheathed his sword. His lightly-stepping toes were even faster than Garen. He somersaulted in the air, evading Garen¡¯s pounce.


    "You again! Dale Quicksilver! I wanted to give you a chance, you deathseeker! I will kill you today!"


    "Let¡¯s see how you kill someone who¡¯s under my protection!" Garen said coolly.


    "No one had ever survived Clown King¡¯s assassination!" The Clown King landed and pulled at his own face, tearing off a mask and revealing a man with strange makeup on his face.


    Garen was going to attack when he suddenly heard Dale Quicksilver grunt. He turned back.


    Detective Dale was pressing on his right arm, his face slightly green. That¡¯s an obvious indication he was poisoned. The scarlet wound on his arm was definitely inflicted right before.


    "Damn you!" Garen roared with fury.


    Crack!


    His stomp made a hole on the ground as he shot himself toward the Clown King like an arrow. His right hand aimed at Clown King¡¯s throat, pushing an invisible force to arrive before he did.


    As the invisible force closed into Clown King¡¯s throat, another force shot out from the side, bumping into Garen¡¯s arm, making him miss his mark.


    Boom!


    Garen¡¯s attack hit a stone statue, crushing it like a bean curd and slicing a huge chunk off it. Pieces of stone hit the ground, creating tiny craters all over.


    Even the pieces were so loaded with power from the missed attack, giving everyone else who witnessed it a chill.


    Clown King shuddered. If it wasn¡¯t for his savior, he would¡¯ve been sliced in half with that attack.


    Garen was furious. That attack could have killed the Clown King before he figured out his style of combat. Catching him by surprise and killing him would¡¯ve rendered him unable to use any of his tricks, like the clowns before.


    If it wasn¡¯t for the third person who bumped into his arm.


    He glared at the Clown King as he escaped like a threatened bunny. Feeling dissatisfied, he turned toward the one who parried his attack.


    "You!" His eyes went wide, shocked.


    Not only him, Andrela and King of Nightmares also felt surprised by the turn of events. They thought Garen would be able to finish the Clown King by himself. After all, however strong the Clown King was, he was still weaker than Duskdune Shura. Fighting him face-to-face would be easy, they weren¡¯t expecting this turn of tides.


    "We¡¯ll go after him¡­" Andrela stood up with his hand on his sword, but he couldn¡¯t finish his sentence.


    King of Nightmares also looked serious as they looked around.


    The Werewolves, the Demon Hunters, and the Three Major Generals of Weisman were all standing up, facing them, slowly encircling them.


    Clown King laughed shrilly, looking at them from afar.


    "Weisman¡¯s Generals had already planned from the start to eliminate you elites from the Confederation. Temporary alliance? Talking terms and conditions? You idiots!"


    The Glorious Chancer crossed his arms in front of his chest, standing still.


    "White Peacock, if you agree to join the Weisman, then I won¡¯t have to ruin my reputation after all these years building it for you."


    Garen turned a deaf ear to him, his gaze slowly becoming mild as he looked at the one blocking him.


    "I only thought you¡¯ll make a move later, I didn¡¯t expect you to carry it out so soon¡­"


    He had already expected this situation. The Weisman¡¯s were never trustworthy, he only thought they would carry it out so early.


    The person in front looked at Garen calmly.


    "To me, you were the biggest threat in this race. Give up, you no longer have any chance of getting it."


    "Palosa, do you really think you can stop me?" Garen ripped off his shirt readily, revealing his fair sculpted upper body.


    "Don¡¯t forget, I¡¯m the First Divine Warrior." Palosa also ripped off his shirt, revealing his skin tight black martial arts clothes.


    The one blocking Garen from pursuing was Palosa who separated with them earlier. Garen didn¡¯t know what agreement he had with Clown King, compelling him to save Clown King.


    "Boring."


    Garen slowly clasped his hands together as if praying to a Buddha statue. As his palms met, a transparent bubble of air slowly circulated around him.


    "Since my mastery of the Divine Statue Technique, I haven''t been using my full strength. Palosa¡­ don''t let me down."


    His eyes widened, and his hands stabbed forward.


    "Divine Statue, West Phoenix Fist!"


    Caw!


    As Garen punched, a set of large wings appeared on his back. Those were wings as large as a Phoenix''s. Shapeless and colorless, the wings extended out toward Palosa in synchrony with Garen''s piercing hands.

 222 Clarity 2

    Chapter 222: Clarity 2


    This was the fighting style he had come up after gathering all sorts of secret techniques and merging them with the physical fighting style of the Golden Statue Technique, a style that was most suitable for him. East King Hand and West Phoenix Fist were among the most essential moves.


    Garen understood that regular attacks were meaningless when facing an opponent like Palosa, so he decided to just use his strongest moves.


    Putting his palms together, piercing straight ahead.


    The huge phoenix wings behind him were formed from aura, pressing down on the opponent¡¯s acupressure points from both sides as it created a huge impact in at instant, forcing the opponent to take the hit head-on. This was an ultra-powerful lethal attack combining acupressure, aura, and killing moves!


    Garen¡¯s hands were straight as an arrow as he rushed forth, like the sharpest drill, aiming for Palosa¡¯s chest.


    If this move made contact, he just had to split his palms apart and the victim would be instantly torn into two. It was the same result as the East King Hand.


    If the East King Hand used great speed and power to compress invisible air currents into killing a person, then the West Phoenix Fist was the essence of all of Garen¡¯s skills.


    Palosa¡¯s right arm grabbed forth, while his left hand quickly touched a few points on his body.


    With a tearing sound, his arm suddenly expanded greatly. It was surrounded by a swarm of countless currents of black aura, crawling around his arm like bugs.


    "Secret technique, Snake Scale Arm!"


    In a split second, those transparent phoenix wings collided abruptly into the black aura. A huge aura current erupted in all directions at the same time.


    Boom!


    The earth gave a mighty tremor, making everyone¡¯s feet and the rest of their bodies numb.


    Some of the stone statues that had been knocked around in the previous fighting fell to the ground with a crash, stone shards going everywhere.


    ********


    Andrela took a few large strides forward, and was black by the general from Weisman with the black chest hair.


    "Looking like you guys really do plan to help the Clown King stop us." Andrela casually slices with his sword a few times, his eyes staring intently at the general before him.


    "Unfortunately, compared to the Clown King, you guys are the bigger threat. After we¡¯re done with you, we¡¯ll naturally go settle the clown." The general chuckled.


    "Settle us? With just you guys?" Andrela laughed coldly. "Although I don¡¯t know how the Clown King got you guys together, Garen¡¯s power is not something you lot can imagine. The King of Nightmares has also long since ceased to be the Nightmare that you know."


    "Cut the crap, it still comes down to true power." The general with black chest hair didn¡¯t mince any more words, pulling out a pair of black handguns and twirling them with a swoosh.


    ********


    The one in front of Nightmare is the female leader of the demon hunters, Elysha.


    "King of Nightmares, you are indeed very strong, but I¡¯m only here to keep you occupied. As soon as those two are done, your death will be imminent." Demon Hunter Elysha laughed coldly.


    "Are you joking?" Nightmare yawned.


    "What do you think?" Elysha pulled out a black lace belt from her pocket, and actually blindfolded herself. "Your hypnotic power is 80% reliant on sight. Unfortunately, I¡¯m strongest when I¡¯m not using my eyes¡­"


    "Oh?" Nightmare got slightly more serious. Elysha was one of the strongest Demon Hunters, the strongest of her generation. That wasn¡¯t a title you got by bluffing.


    But how many of those who managed to get to Smoke Island were small fry, anyway? They all had impressive abilities and resumes. To really find out who was stronger, the only way was with face-to-face battles.


    *********


    Foom!


    Garen¡¯s right claw pressed onto Palosa¡¯s arms, his sharp fingernails digging deep into Palosa¡¯s arm muscles.


    "Secret Technique, Shadow Fist!" Palosa¡¯s arms suddenly became blurry, almost as though he grew another pair of arms, abruptly appearing in front of Palosa¡¯s chest."


    "Divine Statue, Red Palm!" Garen had absolutely no intention of dodging, the corners of his lips turning cruel. His left palm pressed towards Palosa, the palm completely red, glowing and smooth like a jade. Even the veins, muscles and bones were slightly visible.


    Foom!!


    There was yet another blunt noise, and the two were blasted apart, each of them taking a few steps back.


    A charred black handprint appeared on Palosa¡¯s chest, blood leaking out of his mouth and nose. His fingers quickly pressed a few more dots onto his body, and a small cube-shaped swelling on his chest vanished in a trace. His expression improved a lot with that.


    "Once more!" Garen threw caution to the windows, rushing forth once more. His feet stomped down hard on the floor, boom boom boom! Madly charging forward like a behemoth, his enormous legs smashed into the floor hard, like stone pillars.


    Each step brought with it extremely heavy tremors.


    Compared to Palosa, the two handprints on Garen¡¯s chest were merely surface deep, and had barely caused any damage at all.


    The two of them collided into each other once more, both of them using brute force and aiming to kill, without holding anything back. After Palosa¡¯s meditative retreat, he had managed to regain the power he had at his peak. And Garen had also progressed beyond the level of power he had when they first fought.


    With every time they made contact, they created an intense explosion of aura. The powerful gusts of wind kept blowing in all directions, compressing the air with high pressure and creating fierce bursting noises, as though they were lighting firecrackers.


    Bam!


    Before Palosa could catch his breath, Garen¡¯s palm landed on his shoulder. He retreated more than ten steps back, his fingers hastily using the secret technique to rapidly heal his injury. Then he pounced at Garen once more, without the slightest pause.


    It had only been a few seconds since they began fighting, but the stone forest was already in shatters. Nobody could interfere.


    Forcing Palosa back with one hit of his palm, Garen rushed forward, and grabbed both of Palosa¡¯s arms with his hands.


    "Let¡¯s see you regenerate again after I tear apart your limbs!" The battle had drawn on some of the viciousness in him. The Divine Statue Technique¡¯s extreme endurance allowed him to function at full strength for a few days and nights. Right now, he was practically a humanoid mecha, who knew no weariness. He could even instantly recover from injuries. After all, the Divine Statue Technique had always been known for its extreme regenerative power.


    A series of hits, all of them taken head-on, was a bit too much for even Palosa.


    Pom! He pushed apart the hands grabbing him and stumbled before taking yet another palm blow. Another mouthful of blood leaked out of his lips. But at the same time, he landed a kick on Garen¡¯s abdomen.


    However, it was obvious that his opponent was planning to take a hit for a hit. Seeing how energetic Garen was, it seemed that he had improved a great deal more since last time. Even the attacks that landed on his body were stiff, the power unable to spread.


    "Do it!!" Polsa suddenly roared.


    Shocked for a moment, Garen abruptly felt a great gust of wind rushing towards him mercilessly, hitting him in the middle of his back.


    Pomm!!


    Garen¡¯s whole body was pushed a few steps forward, before his legs dug themselves into the ground and steadied him. He had no time to think, because there were five terrifyingly threatening presences coming at him from all four directions, as well as from above his head.


    Other than Palosa, the other four were each at least as strong as Duskdune Shura, while the strongest among them was almost equal to Palosa.


    These five elite fighters all came at him at once.


    It felt to Garen as though all the air around him had been sucked away, and he was standing in a vacuum. The skin on his body, face and arms were all rippling with the force of that immense wind.


    Looking from above, Garen was standing alone in the middle, while Holy Fist Palosa, The Glorious Chancer, the Werewolf Bedega, and the Clown King were coming from all four sides.


    Above him was the last Weisman general, holding a spear like a tuning fork as he aimed for Garen¡¯s head from above.


    The five enormous auras merged and mashed together, all aiming for Garen in the center.


    "Palosa!! You have fallen!!"


    Garen howled with mad laughter, holding his arms wide.


    A pale shade of platinum began to spread rapidly across his skin, as though he had been plated in platinum. The result had an indescribable sense of sacredness and purity.


    Platinum aura gathered around him in an instant. Countless currents of platinum aura gathered together, slowly becoming a strange image!


    It was a huge platinum face, Garen¡¯s own face!!


    Baroom!!!


    The platinum aura abruptly erupted!


    *********************


    Northern Territory


    The whole Northern Territory was covered with blood and corpses. There was almost no one left alone. Only the central region.


    In the center, amidst a wasteland of gore, Sylphalan stood quietly among the corpses, his face covered with splattered blood.


    His body was emitting an unspeakably terrifying black aura, just like viscous black tar, covering the entire area and turning it into a dark hell.


    On his brow, countless veins had gathered and formed a strange symbol like an eye. It was as though he had grown a third eye.


    The God of Spear, Mare was kneeling not far away from him, the short spear in his hand having been broken in two. There was a large hole in his shoulder, so much so that the white fog behind his shoulder was almost visible.


    The King of the North Pole was deathly pale, lying unconscious on the floor nearby. There were pieces of metal shrapnel all around him, probably something from an airplane.


    The King of the Gun, Nikon had been broken into two, his eyes wide at the injustice of his death.


    Boom!!!


    Amidst a thick fog in the distance, a beam of platinum aura burst toward the sky.


    Throughout the whole island, every living creature¡¯s spirit responded with a jolt.


    Sylphalan looked in the direction of the distant south, and it was as though he could see Garen¡¯s face.


    "Aura Solidification¡­" In that instant, it was as though he saw that unbeatable figure from his youth. "Big Brother¡­"


    He pointed his finger at the sky.


    Boom!!!


    A surge of black aura suddenly formed a pillar, shooting into the sky and becoming an enormous face. It wasn¡¯t his, but that of a gentle and beautiful woman.


    For a moment two huge faces from the North and South stared at each other across the distance.


    **************


    Garen stood quietly in the same place as before, platinum aura emanating from his body and dying the entire central area white.


    He stood alone in the center, his platinum-colored skin clear and eye-catching, as though he was the only God in all the world.


    The three generals, Palosa, and the Clown King were all forced down by the platinum aura. Each of them were injured to some extent in the blow just now, drastically reducing their power. Just then they were being held down by the aura and fought against it desperately, but to no avail. All they could do was struggle in the tiny area of their own aura.


    Garen looked into the distant North. In the sky there, a black face was looking at his direction.


    "Aura Solidification¡­ Sylphalan¡­"

 223 Appear 1

    Chapter 223: Appear 1


    "A level of power where one is able to use aura to influence the currents. It¡¯s a peak level that Palosa only achieved in his heyday, when all his personalities were one."


    Andrela stood with Nightmare, looking at Garen¡¯s wild aura covering the sky as he explained softly. "That is the legendary highest level of a martial artist. In ancient times, such a person was called the King of the Century! Garen¡­ he has finally achieved this level!!"


    "King of the Century¡­" Nightmare looked up at the platinum aura pillar, a similar expression of awe and shock on his face. This aura was as limitless as the sea, and just one touch brought with it an overwhelming sense of enormity and infinity. It was almost enough to make one get onto their knees. "To think that martial arts could really reach such a level¡­" He had never believed that martial arts could go so far. With the accelerated advent of firearms, the fall of fighting arts was all but certain.


    And right now, Garen¡¯s eruption truly showed him the end of this road.


    The black night sky was practically lit up by the platinum aura. The white light pierced through the fog, as though it was truly sunlight shining across the island.


    But it wasn¡¯t really light, just an illusion of the nervous system caused by sensing that aura.


    Everybody watched the two auras in the sky over the island, shocked. That was the level of the legendary Aura Solidification, the level known as the King of the Century!


    All those people representing the different powers around him retreated backwards one after the other, trying to escape being enveloped by that platinum aura. They had to retreat up to several hundred meters before they could escape the range of the aura.


    Within the range of that aura, it was a matter of Garen¡¯s will for anyone to immediately end up just like those five elite fighters. It was akin to being caught in a cage.


    Garen pulled his gaze back, and looked around him.


    The five elite fighters were all constrained for now, and had no chance of escape.


    With one wave of his hand, the platinum aura was abruptly pulled back, distilling into a huge platinum divine statue behind him.


    At the same time, the statue suddenly reached out its arms and grabbed the Clown King.


    The enormous platinum arms got hold of the Clown King with a rush of violent aura.


    "No!!" The Clown King screamed. With a loud pomp, thick blue mist erupted and hid the giant platinum hands within its depths.


    Wherever the fog touched, thick layers of blue ice formed on the spot. It was extremely strange. Some of the grass between the crevices were affected, and quickly became a puddle of blue liquid.


    Boom!!


    Another burst of flames exploded from inside the blue fog.


    The giant hands vanished, as did the fog flames. All that remained where the Clown King had been was a pile of minced meat.


    But Garen frowned slightly. An intense eruption of the platinum aura could indeed hold everyone down, but such an eruption couldn¡¯t last long, and took a heavy toll on his spirit.


    As soon as he withdrew his aura, the other four presences pounced at him ferociously.


    The Glorious Chan and the Werewolf Bedega came at him from the front, one of the wielding a blade while the other had sharp claws shining red. The air rippled with the rush of wild and violent aura. The giant whale and black wolf formed by their respective also bore their fangs at the platinum statue madly.


    At the same time, there were two more equally powerful presences and currents from others behind him.


    Garen snorted coldly, and ignored them all.


    "Divine Statue, Ten Thousand Mammoth Trample!!" He crossed his arms, and faced the two in front of him directly. The invisible aura emanated from him in waves, the roar of trumpeting mammoths rising from the air.


    Bam!!!


    His arms collided with the blade and claws, producing a sound loud enough to make one¡¯s teeth ache.


    A large amount of platinum aura broke through the Glorious Chan¡¯s and the Werewolf leader¡¯s aura without mercy, piercing straight through like a sharp knife. Both of them coughed blood as they quickly fell back, their faces turning from white to red rapidly.


    There were also two dull noises behind Garen. The impact of their hit made him jolt slightly, but he ignored that as well, pouncing forward.


    Smack!


    His hands curled into claws and he grabbed the Werewolf leader¡¯s throat, the platinum aura putting an end to all future resistance in an instant. Although it was just a moment, that was already enough.


    Ker-chak!


    The bones in his throat were shattered with a light pinch. Bedega held his throat tightly and retreated, falling to his knees.


    Garen¡¯s expression remained unchanged, his right palm glowing like red jade. He turned it backhand, and met with Palosa¡¯s palm in the middle of the latter¡¯s sneak attack.


    His left palm slammed into the Glorious Chan¡¯s shoulder, as fast as lightning. He had also taken advantage of the second after his opponent¡¯s aura had been broken through, and the opponent fell into a temporary moment of numbness.


    Bang-bang-bang-bang!!!


    It was one palm against the Glorious Chan¡¯s shoulder, but there were four sounds of impact.


    With every sound, the Glorious Chan¡¯s shoulder sunk some more. By the fourth sound, the entire left side of his body had been utterly destroyed.


    In the end, he fell a few steps back in a daze, his eyes quickly losing all light before he collapsed onto the ground.


    "Big brother!!!" A roar of grief came from behind Garen.


    Garen¡¯s face was emotionless as he turned around quickly. One more palm hit.


    It went up directly against the sharp tip of something like a tuning fork.


    Clang!!!


    The tuning fork vibrated intensely, neither the sharp tip nor the palm giving way. The Wesiman general in front of him had an expression of madness, all the skin on his body as red as a cooked lobster. It was evident that he had used some secret technique to increase his power exponentially in the shortest amount of time.


    Garen was just about to retreat and escape. Just then, there was another ¡®boom¡¯ and a huge wave of power, forcing him to remain where he stood.


    He tilted his head slightly to look back, and saw Palosa huffing through his moustache, one palm on Garen¡¯s back as his expression remained calm.


    "It¡¯s over." A sharp voice came from the air above him.


    Garen looked up abruptly, his pupil dilating. A flowery figure was falling on him rapidly from above.


    It was the Clown King!!


    He held a rune blade in his hand as he pierced straight down. Little bits of black light danced on the sharp tip of the rune blade.


    It was that little of black light that gave Garen a sense of immense threat. From the corner of his eye, he suddenly saw something tied onto the hilt of the rune blade.


    It was a bundle of purple explosives!


    And at the same time, another general as well as the Demon Hunter leader Elysha rushed over at the same time. One held a sword and the other a gun, neither of them pausing for even a second.


    "Save him!!!"


    Andrela and Nightmare jolted at the same time, and rushed over from each side.


    But it was obviously too late.


    Garen¡¯s raised face could already feel the sharpness of the rune blade, and the feeling of the tip piercing through his brow.


    Suddenly, he smiled mildly.


    Opened his mouth and exhaled.


    Clang!!


    A pillar of white air erupted into the sky, hitting the middle of the rune blade. The blade broke accordingly, the tip flying to the side and passing through the Weisman general¡¯s forehead before sinking into a black stone statue with a whoosh. A string of bright red blood followed in its wake.


    The Clown King¡¯s smile froze in a second. He suddenly remembered how he had shown Garen the rune blade before, and his body fell to the ground in accordance with gravity despite himself.


    "East King Hand!!"


    Garen roared, invisible aura appearing around his body and looking almost solid. Behind him, Palosa was forced back by more than ten steps.


    Rripp!!


    The Clown King¡¯s body was directly torn apart by Garen¡¯s hands, scattering onto the black stone surface. There was not even a complete bone to be found, everything was shredded by that mad power.


    In that moment, everyone stopped whatever they were doing. Even Andrela and Nightmare, who had been rushing here, stopped in their tracks and stared at the minced gore on the floor, feeling slightly nauseous. Their gazes on Garen were different too, as though they were seeing him for the first time.


    "And I thought I had become his match, to think¡­" Nightmare bit his lip unhappily. "Is this the limit of martial arts? That¡¯s too much!"


    Andrela, on the other hand, was struck speechless. Only his knuckles on the sword hilt were white.


    Arooo!!! Arooo!! Arooo!!!!!


    The howls of grieving wolves came from the distance. It was the werewolves mourning the death of their leader. They didn¡¯t rush forth, choosing instead to retreat in twos and threes.


    Palosa¡¯s back was against the stone statue as he looked at Garen calmly, a hint of the end in his eyes. He glanced at everyone around them


    Elysha and the Weisman general who had rushed over earlier also stopped in their tracks, standing on the spot and afraid to come any closer.


    Of all the other elite fighters remaining, all of them had been utterly destroyed in that second. The Glorious Chan, the other general, the Werewolf Bedega, the Clown King. In exchange for those four lives, all they had accomplished was a little scrape on Garen¡¯s brow.


    "I thought you had just recently achieved this level and couldn¡¯t steady yourself. Looks like I was wrong." He suddenly heaved a heavy sigh. "There are two keys, how about we take one each? There¡¯s no more reason to fight."


    He glanced at Andrela and Nightmare. "Those two over there have no intention of fighting for the keys, right?"


    Garen was also watching him calmly. From before until now, this old man¡¯s expression hadn¡¯t changed much. It was obvious he still had a trump card hidden. Even when he ganged up on Garen with the others earlier, he hadn¡¯t truly brought out all of his power.


    "Take three of my palm hits. If you¡¯re still alive after that, I¡¯ll pretend that ganging up just now didn¡¯t happen," he said suddenly.


    Palosa wasn¡¯t surprised in the least. He merely took a deep breath, his expression turning unprecedentedly solemn. "Three hits? How arrogant of you! But according to your condition and power right now, you do have the right to say something like that. I accept!"


    He had initially planned to use all the elite fighters here against Garen at once. Even if they couldn¡¯t kill him, they should be able to fatally injure him. To think the opposite happened, and they forced such a terrifying power out of him.


    Once one attained this level of martial arts, it was another transformation in itself. For those who did not deserve to touch fighters of that level, it was a miracle that they managed to hurt Garen at all.


    Palosa¡¯s thoughts were in a whirl, but he slowly opened his legs to stand steady. "To think that the trump card I had prepared for Sylphalan would have no choice but to be used on you in advance¡­"


    He held out three fingers, his thumb, pointer and middle fingers.


    Those three fingers abruptly pressed onto the center of his brow and both of his temples.


    Smack! After a small sound.


    Palosa put his hand down again, a huge amount of pure white aura erupting around him. The large aura rippled and crashed like sea waves, quickly forming a huge white bird.


    Screee!!!


    The giant bird made a strange sound. In terms of height, it was actually equal to Garen¡¯s platinum statue.


    Palosa¡¯s eyes turned completely white, so that not a trace of his pupils could be seen. The clothes on his body were torn apart by his rapidly expanding muscles, his height increasing from 180cm to more than two meters. His whole body had the perfect proportions and lines.


    Phew!!!


    He exhaled slowly, two pillars of white air bursting out of his nostrils and smashing into the ground, even leaving two small dents there.


    "The three personas have become one, is it?" Garen finally turned serious. Seeing that Palosa¡¯s aura was actually as tall as his, it was obvious that as he was right now, he had the right to fight Garen face-on.


    "To be able to perfect a simple Assassination Fist to such an extent. Palosa, you are truly the number one!" Garen curled one hand into a claw, and closed the other hand into a fist before pointing it at the air, his legs in a forward stance. It was as though his whole body was holding up an unbelievably heavy, extremely huge object.


    "Take my first hit." Garen rushed forward soundlessly. The platinum statue¡¯s fists also became white currents, twisting around his arms and forming two platinum spikes from his palms.

 224 Appear 2

    Chapter 224: Appear 2


    Smack!


    His right palm lightly knocked against Palosa¡¯s raised palms. There wasn¡¯t any intense explosion, and neither was there a ferocious all-encompassing impact of aura.


    There was just two spikes of aura darting forward like poisonous snakes, and then flashing back like lightning, leaving everything exactly like before.


    Similarly, Garen shot back in an instant, landing on an empty spot ten meters away.


    "The second hit!"


    Without pausing, he dashed forward once more.


    Exactly like the previous palm hit, he once more struck against Palosa¡¯s palm lightly.


    "Shape Sever Finger!!" Palosa roared, his fingers dotting Garen¡¯s palm like raindrops. The moment each finger touched his hand, it flashed with a hint of grey-green.


    The two separated once more, and both fell silent.


    "The last hit!" Garen leapt forward, the platinum statue abruptly merging with him to become one. His entire body was edged with a platinum light.


    "Southern Fists."


    He leapt lightly and landed in front of Palosa, both his palms pressing forward soundlessly.


    Boom!!


    In that split second, a great platinum aura burst out around Garen¡¯s figure, the aura and the currents mixing together to form countless sharp knives flying at Palosa from all directions.


    Pom!! Dang-dang-dang!!


    Palosa took ten steps back. Each step formed a deep imprint on the ground.


    Garen pulled back his fists and stood.


    "Go." The flush in Garen¡¯s face was gone in a moment, and he walked towards Andrela and Nightmare.


    "Then he¡­?" Nightmare looked at Palosa in confusion.


    But Andrela tugged at his clothes, and said no more. The three of them took the two key-shaped black stone pieces, and gave them to Dale Quicksilver and the others who had been waiting for safekeeping. Together, they walked towards another clean spot in the stone forest.


    Palosa stood in the same spot quietly, looking at his hands with a melancholy smile.


    The truth was, as soon as he used this form, the result had been decided.


    "In the end¡­ I was just afraid of the loneliness¡­" He shook his head and laughed. His body erupted in a series of explosions.


    Bang-bang-bang-bang!!


    It was as though someone lit firecrackers inside his body. His skin and muscles began turning from round and full to dried-out husks, as though he had stood in the wind for countless years in the blink of an eye.


    His previously flushed face rapidly began to dry out at a visible rate, like thousand-year-old tree bark. His tall body also shrunk quickly, his whole person morphing from a powerful warrior into an ancient mummy in a moment.


    He leaned onto a broken statue slowly, his gaze going across the gray mist, as though he saw himself in his most glorious days.


    uddenly, Sylphalan¡¯s mad face appeared in front of his eyes.


    He paused for a moment, and understood.


    "So I had lost, all the way back then¡­"


    A light breeze blew past, and there was no longer anybody by the stone statue. Only a heap of clothes, falling onto a mound of white sand.


    ********************


    On the edge of the largest stone statue in the Southern Territory.


    There were two figures like the Central Area¡¯s stone statues in the North Territory. The ruins could both be opened by keys, and once the entrance was open, naturally everyone could go in. But only those with keys truly had the right to use the Black Smoke Pot.


    The fog dissipated, and time passed.


    The fog gradually changed from grey to black, and then from black to grey-white, and finally from grey-white to completely white.


    Garen sat cross-legged in the middle of the forest of stone statues, his eyes closed. There was a vertical gash on his chin where he was hit by Palosa¡¯s final explosion.


    The Divine Statue Technique¡¯s natural healing powers quickly closed up and healed the wound, leaving only a thin red line.


    After merging his three personas into one, every move of Palosa¡¯s was equal to unleashing a secret technique. Before he knew it, he had sustained a certain number of internal wounds. The Divine Statue Technique was crazy enough to be called a legendary divine technique, but even after he perfected it, Palosa could still harm him. Compared to his condition when he was fine after taking Palosa head-on, this was as different as heaven and earth!


    "Too bad¡­ I¡¯ll have one less opponent in this world¡­" At Garen¡¯s level, there were far too few people who could really catch his eye. And this one trip to Smoke Island, cost them so many elite martial fighters¡­


    Suddenly, he heard footsteps and voices from deep within the mist.


    Garen opened his eyes slowly, and saw Nightmare and Andrela bringing along Dale Quicksilver, Miss Si Lan and co. White Eagle was there too, looking unusually unkempt. The group also brought with them an unconscious boy and girl.


    "Found them?" Garen stood up.


    "Your injuries are fine now?" Nightmare looked intrigued to see Garen stand up. Getting closer, he tapped Garen¡¯s chest with his scallion-like fingers. "You were breathtakingly fierce just now, do you wanna play a game with Big Sister here? ~~I just love you fierce types~~"


    Garen was exasperated as he watched Andrela drag Nightmare away. Even now, it was hard for him to get used to Nightmare¡¯s fetishes sometimes.


    "Alright, stop fooling around. How much more time until we open the ruins?"


    Dale Quicksilver looked at his watch, "Twenty more minutes."


    "Then do you want to come with us?" Garen glanced at Dale Quicksilver, Si Lan and co.


    Quicksilver shook his head. "Sorry, my daughter, White Eagle and the others need to rest properly. And the poison in my body¡­ is a little complicated¡­"


    "I wasn¡¯t careful enough," Garen said apologetically. "Even though you warned me."


    "It¡¯s alright, luckily I¡¯ve encountered this poison before, so it¡¯s not too bad." Dale Quicksilver smiled openly. "Next, if you guys want to obtain the right to use the Black Smoke Pot, you will have to face the Northern Territory¡¯s Immortal Palace. With our level of power, we¡¯ll only become your burdens if we get involved. So it¡¯s best for us to stay away."


    Garen understood that he was right, and so he nodded.


    "If you need any help, you can come find our White Cloud Gate."


    "Much thanks!" Dale Quicksilver nodded solemnly.


    Then it was White Eagle, and the appraisal expert Yoke, who each came up to thank him.


    Miss Si Lan took one step forward, and actually blushed for once.


    "Thank you for saving me¡­ uhm¡­ your body is really nice..." She said that before realizing what it was she said, and ran off in a hurry. It was a far cry from her usual cool and collected demeanour.


    "Your body is really nice~~" Nightmare repeated in a strange voice. "She¡¯s fallen for you, y¡¯know~~"


    Garen was utterly speechless. Looking at his naked upper body, he had no idea what kind of expression he should wear.


    After bidding them farewell, Detective Dale and his group gradually disappeared into the fog, until their footsteps vanished completely.


    "Let¡¯s begin."


    Taking a deep breath, the three of them stood in front of the stone statue in a triangular formation, in order to respond quickly to threats from all sides.


    Garen took a black stone key from his pocket, and inserted it into a small keyhole on the statue¡¯s abdomen. It turned easily.


    There was clattering of gears from inside the statue, and the noise grew steadily louder into a crescendo. From inside the statue, it quickly spread to the ground underneath its feet.


    For a moment, it was as though the whole forest of stone statues had erupted into a cacophony of clattering.


    Brrr¡­


    Suddenly, the entire south end of the island started to sway gently, light tremors rippling through the earth¡¯s surface.


    Garen, Nightmare and Andrela watched the black stone statue quietly. It was s black statue of a human who had one hand raised and the other on the ground, which shook for a while and then fell still.


    "The Southern Territory¡¯s key has been activated, now it¡¯s up to the Northern Territory," Andreal said softly. "There¡¯s no mistaking the time. It has to be when the moon is full, but not necessarily at night. It¡¯s late in the afternoon now, almost evening, so we should be able to see the moon outside."


    Garen nodded.


    As soon as they finished speaking, some more intense tremors came from behind them without warning.


    The ground in front of them slowly split apart to reveal a black underground tunnel. The tunnel was square and made of black stone, with many scars and dents on the walls inside. There were even bones scattered on the floor.


    As soon as it opened, a stench of rot rushed out from within.


    All three of them maintained their expressions. After retrieving the key, Garen glanced at the underground tunnel.


    "This is the final battle, where only one will emerge the victor. Do you two still want to go in?"


    Nightmare took a step back. "I haven¡¯t lived enough, and it¡¯s not my wish to fight Sylphalan to the death. My only enemy is Flamingo, this has gone beyond my safety parameters." They pouted. "Faced with monsters like you guys, elite fighters just one level lower can¡¯t do much anymore. I¡¯d rather not join the party."


    Andrela gripped his sword hilt tightly.


    "I¡¯m with you. I¡¯m here to transcend my limits anyway, so I can¡¯t back out halfway."


    "Have you truly decided?" Garen looked at him calmly.


    Pom!


    Nightmare caught Andrela, who had passed out.


    "He¡¯s decided, he¡¯s not going. We¡¯ll go back first and wait for you, have fun." She smiled brightly and waved Garen good-bye. And then Nightmare picked Andrela up and ran straight away, vanishing into the thick fog before long.


    Garen¡¯s eye twitched a few times, and he was rendered speechless.


    Then he turned around to look at the pitch black corridor in front of him.


    The tremors had finally stopped. The island was silent for a moment, and then suddenly gave a huge jolt.


    Boom!!!


    Waves of fog started to roil, gathering in between the north and south, forming a large thin ring of white clouds.


    All the smoke and fog above Smoke Island disappeared in a second, revealing the clear evening sky.


    Through the cloud ring, rays of twilight red sun shone past the stone forest to land on Garen¡¯s body.


    He looked up in the direction of the area between north and south, to see an enormous black statue of a person standing there.


    The statue had one hand pointed towards the sky and the other touching the earth. There was a small smile on its lips. But most surprising was how there was a gap between the top of its forehead and its hair, just like the viewing platform on top of the Statue of Liberty.


    The stone statue, standing at several thousand meters tall, was like a huge miracle that had withstood the test of time, standing proudly in the exact centre of the entire Smoke Island.


    Garen touched the book pendant hanging in front of his chest, and stared at the middle of the statue¡¯s head. Vaguely, he could see a tall figure standing there.


    Without any doubt whatsoever, Garen just knew, that was Sylphalan.


    He pinched his pendant, and jumped into the tunnel.

 225 Final Battle 1

    Chapter 225: Final Battle 1


    Clang.. Clang¡­ clang¡­


    The chiming of a clock sounded slowly, coming from somewhere unknown.


    Garen dashed down the pitch-black corridor. The path in front of him was retreating rapidly, and the bones on the ground had been crushed underfoot. As he turned a corner, some of the powdered ashes was wiped off his clothes.


    He didn¡¯t pause at all, following the uphill-slanting tunnel as he advanced.


    Smack.


    Leather boots stopped in their tracks, Nightmare glanced back while supporting Andrela.


    In the dim evening sunlight, it was as though the huge stone statue had been plated in a layer of red-gold light.


    The heavy clanging of a clock came from the top of the stone statue.


    "How majestic," Nightmare murmured. "Garen, don¡¯t you die now¡­"


    By the beach, Weisman¡¯s general with the black chest hair was waiting for the rapidly-approaching military ship. He turned back at the same time as Demon Hunter Elysha, to look at the black humanoid statue towering over the island.


    There were only about a dozen Demon Hunter left, and there weren¡¯t that many Weisman soldiers left either.


    "It¡¯s the final competition¡­ To think that the twilight bells have already sounded¡­ Truly a battle to look forward to." The general¡¯s gaze was full of thoughts. "Too bad¡­ Those two idiots will never hear it again. I told them living like they did was a surefire to not live long, but no one listened."


    Elysha touched a scar that had remained on her face, a wound she had gotten in the mixed brawl.


    "The Glorious Chan is dead, too. Aren¡¯t you sad at all, General Milo?"


    "Sad? It¡¯s good he died, now my family is the sole dominating force. Once I get back, I¡¯ll swallow two other clans! Hehe!!" The general with the black chest hair cheered up instantly. Suddenly, he saw the army ship approaching.


    "Hey!!"


    He rushed over and waved, yelling loudly.


    "I¡¯m here!! Cute little Sally!!"


    ************


    Northern Territory.


    Amidst the pile of bloody bodies, the God of Spear Mare helped up the King of the North Pole.


    "Big doofus, you okay?" He slapped the King of the North Pole twice, hard.


    The latter opened his eyes slowly.


    "Not yet dead¡­"


    "So this what makes a main force, your skin sure is thick." Mare sighed. When they had teamed up against the Immortal Palace¡¯s Sylphalan earlier, this King of the North Pole was the quickest to jump into the fray, and naturally was injured the most as well.


    But as expected of the man known as the Polar Bear, his body was so strong it didn¡¯t seem human. He took four direct hits from Sylphalan, and could actually still talk normally.


    Just then, the distant clock chimes reached them from above.


    "It¡¯s the twilight bells, the last battle has begun. Wanna go look?" Mare looked up at the top of the huge stone statue.


    "I can¡¯t¡­ That guy is basically a monster, if I go I¡¯ll just be asking for a quick death," The King of the North King snorted, and replied weakly.


    "It¡¯s alright, there¡¯s another monster over in the Southern Territory. We shouldn¡¯t even think of the Black Smoke Pot anymore, but no matter what we can¡¯t let the Immortal Palace get away with the spoils," Mare said quietly.


    "It¡¯s alright¡­ Hmph, no one who got hit by my Three-day Arctic Needles can live past three days!" The King of the North Pole laughed coldly.


    "No one from the Immortal Palace is normal," Mare emphasized."


    "Ugh¡­ Fine, but I guarantee they definitely don¡¯t have the strength to bother us right now. Why else would the two of us still be standing here safely?" The King of the North Pole said unhappily. "I advise you to just stay here obediently and wait for their reinforcements to fetch us. You¡¯ll just waste your energy struggling blindly."


    Mare shook his head.


    "I have a reason I must go¡­"


    "Then it¡¯s up to you." The King of the North Pole snorted again twice, and sat in a corner alone. He began to rest, and checked his injuries. "Alright, your wife is still okay, right? If you lost your pathetic little life¡­ I¡¯ve been watching your wife for a long time, you know that. Don¡¯t blame me later for not considering our friendship."


    Mare was appalled.


    "I say, it¡¯s one thing for you not to help. But who takes advantage like that?"


    "Either way I don¡¯t care, you just go ahead. Don¡¯t forget to make a sound before you die, I¡¯ll go get your wife immediately." The King of the North Pole was too lazy to bother with him.


    Mare applied some medicine to the wound on his shoulder, and tied a few rounds around it with the bandages he had prepared to compress the muscles and close the wound. His brow was already covered in sweat. Seeing the King of the North Pole resting with his eyes closed in a corner by himself, he shook his head speechlessly. Turning around quietly, he jumped into the pitch-black underground tunnel, disappearing into the darkness quickly.


    The King of the North Pole waited for a moment. When there was no more sound, he opened his eyes.


    "You actually went. Haih! I say, have you really gotten tired of living?" He turned around to glance at the direction of the stone forest, where he vaguely heard noises approaching. After a moment¡¯s hesitation, he clenched his teeth.


    "Gah! You suicidal maniac! You¡¯ll be the death of me!"


    He also jumped into the pitch-blank tunnel, sinking into the darkness.


    ************


    Flamingo leaned on the stone statue, looking at the dried-up old man dressed all in black in front of him quietly.


    "That guy ran off?"


    The old man nodded. "First I got hit by the Three-day Arctic Needle, and then that guy succeeded in landing a sneak attack on me. But he was pierced by Sylphalan¡¯s sword, too, so his injuries shouldn¡¯t be any lighter than mine." He bent his back slightly. There was a gory knife wound on his abdomen, and it kept dripping blood.


    Flamingo raised his head to look at the top of the giant black statue.


    "Sylphalan went up already. That guy should still be hiding, waiting for his chance. I plan on going back now, what do you want to do?"


    The old man was mildly surprised. "You¡¯re not going to help?"


    Flamingo shook his head.


    "No, and there¡¯s no need anymore."


    Something seemed to occur to the old man, and his expression changed. "I¡¯ll go with you."


    Flamingo turned around and walked towards outskirts of the stone forest. There was a puddle of red-black blood on the spot where he had previously stood.


    The old man in black hurried to follow him.


    ************


    On top of the stone statue, Sylphalan¡¯s long figure seemed almost inhumanly beautiful. He was holding a long red sword upside-down, quietly watching Garen as the latter rushed up the slope.


    Going up the tunnel¡¯s stone steps, Garen gradually slowed his pace, and looked up at Sylphalan, who was standing at the tunnel¡¯s entrance.


    This was the man that had been involved with him from the very start. Right now, he was wearing a long silk black robe. It made a striking contrast against his pale white skin.


    The strong winds kept blowing past them, sending Sylphalan¡¯s long black hair flying to the left. His black robes also rustled in the wind.


    "Garen¡­"


    He raised his right hand in front of him, and splayed open his fingers. A simple book necklance was lying quietly in his palm.


    "The Eternal Starry Night, it¡¯s still with you, right?"


    Garen steadied his step, pressing the necklace in front of his chest in his hand.


    "If I remember correctly, didn¡¯t you take it away from me in the first place?"


    "I didn¡¯t take the necklace, but something else¡­" Sylphalan turned around to leave the tunnel entrance open, walking to the edge of the platform. The maelstrom blew his long, watersilk-like hair into a constant dance.


    Garen walked out of the tunnel slowly. The tunnel was built inside the stone statue, slanting upwards to the statue¡®s head, and the exit opened up to the platform on top of the head.


    On the very top of the huge black stone statue, on the platform in the gap there, Sylphalan and Garen stood about a dozen meters away from each other.


    The whole black platform was about a hundred meters wide. It was oval-shaped, and was surrounded by black stone guardrail. Some parts of the rail had already been damaged and fell off. There were minute words and symbols carved everywhere, on the floor, the walls, the ceiling. As though the breath of a whole other civilization was recorded here.


    The distant chiming kept coming from above them. It was heavy and ancient, carrying with it waves of faint echoes.


    The evening sunlight shone inside, landing by their feet. The whole platform in the gap was lit up, a bright golden-red.


    Garen stares at Sylphalan¡¯s back, walking around him to reach the guardrail. He looked down.


    Underneath the guardrail, a sea of white clouds formed a white garland, turning around the stone statue slowly in a circle. Underneath the gaps in the ring of clouds, many tiny black dots were boarding a boat by the edge of the island, one after the other. Some ships were leaving, others were drawing near.


    A wisp of white cloud floated past Garen. He reached out his hand, and lightly grabbed the vapor.


    The cloud vapor actually twirled around his hand and remained there, like a white translucent silk ribbon."


    Garen¡¯s fingers were like the petals of a flower freshly bloomed. Spinning it around naturally, softly and delicately, without a hint of hardness. He actually managed to keep the cloud wisps there, unable to escape.


    "Northern-style Cloud Capturing Hand."


    Garen flicked his finger. Psst!


    The white cloud vapor transformed into a strand of white silk, shooting at Sylphalan. Soundlessly.


    The white string reached a meter of Sylphalan, and stopped abruptly. It was as though it rammed into an invisible wall. Then it exploded without warning into tiny white shards, fading away.


    "I remember that the last time I met you, you were far from this level you are now." There was a strange smile on Sylphalan¡¯s face. "Do you hear the clock chimes above us? Those are the twilight bells, signifying that the first stage of the Black Smoke Pot¡¯s activation."


    "The first stage?" Garen looked at him with narrowed eyes, waiting for the rest.


    "That¡¯s right, there are two stages to the Black Smoke Pot." Sylphalan put his hand on the guardrail, a glimmer of reminiscence in his eyes. "The last time the Black Smoke Pot activated, I heard the chimes of the twilight bells. As for the second stage, in fact it has already begun. From the moment we entered here, it has begun."


    "Oh?"


    A layer of platinum slowly formed on the surface of Garen¡¯s skin.


    "That is, only one living person can remain here." Sylphalan smiled, carefree, and slowly waved the Sword of the Sprites that he held in hand.


    Garen¡¯s right palm made a grab downwards, and absorbed wisps of the white cloud vapor around him.


    The strands of white clouds gathered like white thread, gathering under his palm from all direction. Finally, they formed a white cloud ball in the middle of his palm.


    "When it comes to martial arts, who on this earth could be stronger than you and me? To think that despite that, the two of us will have to decide on a victor here." He walked towards Sylphalan slowly, each step carrying the majesty of a tiger stalking or dragon¡¯s prowl. It was soundless, traceless, but it was as though the whole stone statue and the floor were trembling.


    "This has nothing to do with the Black Smoke Pot. The truth is, we¡¯ve waited very long for this battle." Sylphalan held up his long sword horizontally in front of him, tracing his finger lightly across the blade. The entire blade gradually began to glow a blood-like red.


    He tossed the blade lightly, and a strand of red thread floated off of it slowly, severing the guardrail on the right without so much as a sound.


    "Let¡¯s start¡­ Right here, let¡¯s end it all."


    The Sword of the Sprites slanted diagonally downwards, pointing at the ground.


    "Nothing to do with the Black Smoke Pot."


    Garen raised his palm suddenly, and pushed forward!!


    Baroom!!!!


    A clap of dull thunder exploded in the sky.


    In the gap on top of the statue, a great deal of cloud vapor erupted abruptly with the red light, forming a halo of red and white that slowly drifted apart.


    An unknown air spread from the top of the statue. It was colorless and shapeless, gushing into the sky.


    The sky darkened in an instant. Countless dark clouds gathered, growing thicker, growing darker. The whole island began to shake slowly, the pebbles on the ground jumping and trembling. A large amount of smoke wafted out of the crevices in the ground, forming a lot of white vapor, drowning the whole giant stone statue in its midst.

 226 Final Battle 2

    Chapter 226: Final Battle 2


    On top of the stone statue.


    Garen and Sylphalan collided into each other madly.


    The palm and the sword met head-on again and again. Each collision sent a large quantity of white vapor and red light flying everywhere. They rain down on the surrounding walls and onto the ground, constantly creating new and uneven holes.


    "Divine Statue, East King Hand!!"


    A platinum divine statue appeared suddenly behind Garen, and rushed into his body in an instant, the two of them merging into one. Carrying with it an incomparable platinum light, his hand stirred the cloud vapor around them, and his palm grabbed straight for Sylphalan¡¯s head.


    Psst!


    Sylphalan¡¯s body leaned back, Garen¡¯s clawed fingers brushing just past him. A moment later, a red light lit up from behind him, just like a peacock displaying its plume. The red light then became countless red threads, aiming to pierce Garen.


    The red threads shot out from all directions, and for a moment everywhere the eye could see had been surrounded.


    "Crimson Moon Shadow." Sylphalan somersaulted away, his fingers pointed at Garen. All the red threads instantly shot towards Garen.


    "Ten Thousand Mammoth Trample!!" Garen jolted his arms, and a circle of transparent shockwaves spread around him, blowing away most of the red threads.The few remaining threads pierced his body and made the hissing noise of cutting metal. In the end, all that remained were several white marks.


    He leapt across to Sylphalan again, the platinum aura completely gathered onto his body, without any wastage whatsoever.


    With his current condition, if the opponent was anyone but Sylphalan, all they would see would be his shadow. The seemingly overwhelming difference in power could have struck fear in their hearts.


    This was the highest level of this world¡¯s martial arts, when the aura and the human body merged into one. People called it King of the Century!


    Similarly, Sylphalan was also covered in black light now, like a sun during the eclipse. His aura stuck close to his body, the two becoming one.


    As the two fought madly, the stone statue also began to shake intensely. Each meeting between the two of them was like a bomb explosion.


    Boooooom!!!


    Inside the entrance to the tunnel, a thin black shadow was quietly making his way to the stone statue¡¯s peak.


    "Go on, keep fighting¡­ Hehe, when the two of you have beaten each other, be it the Black Smoke Pot or the Eternal Starry Night, all of it will be mine!" He couldn¡¯t help but laugh in his deep voice.


    The intense tremors kept coming from the tunnel¡¯s stone walls, growing stronger and heavier.


    "The opponent this time is far stronger than last time. Sylphalan, your time has finally come." The black shadow reached out his hand to touch the stone wall, laughing coldly. Suddenly, he sensed something amiss.


    "Wait, why are the tremors growing stronger?!"


    He stopped in his tracks, and turned his head to look. Unbelievably, there was a hint of red firelight in the pitch-black tunnel.


    "That is¡­ a bomb!!???" His eyes widened abruptly. "No¡­ No!!! Sylphalan, you madman!!!!" He started screeching madly, his whole body rushing towards the tunnel ahead of him.


    *************


    The God of Spear Mare stood quietly in front of the tunnel, looking at the part of the tunnel that had collapsed after the explosives went off. For a moment there, he didn¡¯t know if he should advance or retreat.


    "Go back."


    The King of the North Pole walked out from behind him.


    "Sylphalan is a madman. In order to make sure no one disturbed this final battle, he went ahead and bombed up the whole tunnel."


    Mare gripped his fist tightly. Wordlessly, he turned around and walked away.


    "Where are you going?" The King of the North Pole looked at him, confused.


    "..." Mare did not reply. He just walked faster, disappearing down the tunnel in the direction he had come.


    *************


    On the beach


    Andrela sat cross-legged on the ground, his long sword stuck in the sand beside him. He was looking up blankly, staring at the dark and dull sky.


    Black flower petals fell slowly from the sky, dancing and twirling, sprinkling his sword, his clothes, even his face.


    A snow of black flower petals had descended on the entire island.


    "What¡­ is this?"


    Andrela reached his hand out to pinch one of the petals, but it disintegrated into powder in his hand.


    Nightmare was standing right beside him, and caught a petal lightly, trying to keep it intact.


    "I don¡¯t know, but I got a bad feeling about this. Let¡¯s get away from here as soon as possible."


    "Wait for Garen to return, then we can go together." Andrela was unmoved.


    Pom!!


    Nightmare lifted up the unconscious Andrela.


    "You won¡¯t listen even if I tell you. Why don¡¯t you think of what kind of level Garen has reached. Even if he survives, you might not."


    She took one last look at the red and white cloud vapor erupting constantly from the top of the statue.


    "Garen, don¡¯t die."


    ***************


    The island shook vigorously, and black snow fell from the sky.


    The petal snow completely engulfed the entire Smoke Island.


    Baroom!!


    A large flurry of red flames erupted from the stone statue¡¯s waist area. At the same time, a large of black fog sprayed out.


    The whole giant stone statue began to tilt slowly. The upper half began to slant gradually, breaking apart, and sliding towards the island.


    At the same time, there was the rumble of thunder in the sky, as though weeping for the destruction of the giant stone statue.


    On the stone statue¡¯s peak.


    Garen and Sylphalan were face to face, the red threads and white clouds between the two of them morphing into two blurry shadows. Countless red threads and white shadows knocked into each other, turning into countless red and white shards, spraying and scattering to the sides.


    The statue¡¯s whole head also began to tilt and shake vigorously.


    The platform in the gap slowly tilted to the right.


    Boom!


    Garen¡¯s back crashed into a portion of the wall, and completely decimated that part of the wall with a crash. It left a huge hole, allowing them to see the roiling black sky outside.


    "Divine Statue Return!!" His eyes glared suddenly, his whole body engorging explosively. His muscles expanded rapidly, and many platinum lines appeared on his body, forming several strange and distorted natural images and symbols.


    "Sylphalan! Die!!" he roared, his hair standing on end. His palm expanded until they were like plantain fans, attacking Sylphalan from both sides. It was like a huge platinum giant grabbing a dwarf with both his hands.


    The soundwaves from the loud roar complemented the pulsing of all the muscles in his body, creating a strange but intense tremor that made his body increase even further. In the end, he had enlarged until he was two and a half meters.


    Before the move hit him, Sylphalan already felt sharp winds attacking him like knives, cutting into the skin on his face.


    Both his ears felt the two huge pressure coming on both sides at the same time, as though two behemoths were charging at once, and he was temporarily dazed. This power was more than twice as strong as Garen had been just now.


    Sylphalan didn¡¯t retreat. Instead, he advanced, a small calm smile on his lips.


    Creak¡­


    With that tiny sound, countless black veins started surfacing on the skin of his face, like countless insects and worms. All of them gathered to the center of his brow, forming an eye-shaped lump.


    He reached out his hand and swept the blade of his sword. In an instant, there was a flash of red light.


    "Sovereign Sword!"


    He thrust his sword at Garen¡¯s face, seemingly unaware of Garen¡¯s palms coming from both sides.


    The Sword of the Sprites was as blinding as the setting sun, instantly radiating an intense and burning hot light.


    Clang!!


    The chime of the clock went long and far.


    Garen¡¯s hands hit nothing but air, as did Sylphalan¡¯s sword rays. Both of them switched positions.


    In a split second, it was as though all sound had ceased. There was only the long lament of the ancient clock.


    Another chime rang out.


    Clang!!


    Garen¡¯s hands grabbed the long red sword, the white vapor and red threads of light tangling up and colliding with each other. The whole space was covered with shaved black stone shards. The black light around Sylphalan¡¯s body strengthened, and he held the sword with both hands.


    The last chime of the clock.


    Clang!!!


    Sylphalan gave up on the sword and used his hands instead, pointing one finger at Garen¡¯s chest. The tip of that finger sank deep into Garen¡¯s skin. Garen couldn¡¯t avoid it in time, and stared down at his own chest.


    In that moment, both of them froze completely.


    Barrooom!!!!


    The head of the stone statue exploded in a ball of red flame.


    The ground underneath the platform was torn apart by the intense explosion, and countless black shards flew out from the flames as charred shrapnel. Both of them were entirely engulfed.


    The whole top half of the giant statue collapsed, and smashed onto the island floor, creating a splash of smoke and ash in its wake.


    Boom!!!


    Where the statue fell, a pillar of black smoke rose into the sky. It blew the infinite black petal rain in all directions, growing thicker as it went.


    *******************


    Ground Zero1


    Garen gripped Sylphalan¡¯s arm tightly. He was beginning to vomit blood-- dark red, almost coagulated chunks.


    The two stood facing each other. Sylphalan¡¯s whole right arm had gone through Garen¡¯s chest, protruding from his back.


    As for Sylphalan himself, blood-colored cracks had formed along his right arm and shoulder. Like the hairline cracks on a piece of porcelain that would fall apart with the slightest touch.


    Oddly, the cracks were still spreading towards his head.


    Blood started to ooze slowly out of Sylphalan¡¯s body, but it was barely visible on the black coat. The only proof of his injuries was the blood dripping down his leg.


    Barroom!!


    There was the rumble of thunder in the sky.


    The two of them were currently standing on the forehead of the giant statue. Beneath them was a steep cliff, that opened up to a valley of bright red, blinding hot lava ten thousand feet below.


    A large body of lava was spraying and splashing. Worse of all, it was rising, slowly but determinedly.


    The place the stone statue had fallen turned out to be the mouth of a huge volcano. The whole volcano mouth was round and over a thousand meters in diameter, forming a giant cylindrical abyss.


    Wafts of thick black smoke sprayed out of this exit, scattering volcano ash that looked like black petals. They floated down and scattered everywhere.


    The top half of the giant stone statue had fallen beside the mouth of the volcano, and its head was suspended in the middle. Heatwave after heatwave rose and roasted it.


    The red-hot light had dyed the entire stone statue completely red. Even the two people standing on it had become scarlet.


    "Divine Statue¡­ Return!!" Garen roared abruptly, all the platinum aura around his body exploding away. It became a platinum round disc that spun in the air above his head. This huge attack stampeded towards Sylphalan viciously.


    "Omniscient Eye!!!" Sylphalan also roared, the lump on his brow splitting open. A ray of sharp yet shapeless telekinesis shot out like a blade, ramming towards the platinum attack.


    Boom!!


    The two shapeless powers collided. Sylphalan flew back, falling into the mouth of the volcano. His right hand grabbed the side of the stone statue, but somehow, his hand was suddenly suspended in mid-air before he pulled it back.


    He suddenly looked slightly lost and calm, as though his thoughts had flown off into the distance somewhere


    Smack!


    Garen¡¯s hand grabbed his right hand, and kept him hanging off the cliff.


    Some small pebbles tumbled off the edge and fell into the red-hot lava, melting into nothing in an instant.


    "Do you really want to die that badly?" Garen looked at Sylphalan with clenched teeth.


    "Don¡¯t you think¡­ the scaret flames¡­ are really pretty?" Sylphalan smiled. For some reasom, his smile looked slightly lost.


    Woo¡­


    All of a sudden, a piercing cry came from the clouds in the sky.


    Garen looked up. It was the sound of an airplane gliding through the air.


    Smack!


    Suddenly, Sylphalan broke free of his grip. Lying horizontally, he fell quietly into the abyss. His coat beat about in the wind, making him look a black swallow that had fallen into a sea of red.


    "What a beautiful scarlet¡­" he murmured, looking at the red light on his body. And then he looked at Garen, who was staring at him with widened eyes from the cliffside.


    In that moment, Garen¡¯s face overlapped with that handsome, charismatic and confident face from the past.


    "Big brother¡­ To think, I could never walk out of your shadow, even until the very end¡­"


    Soundlessly, Sylphalan fell quietly into the lava. He was engulfed completely, leaving not a single trace, just like the rocks that had fallen before him.


    "You little¡­!!!" Garen gripped his fists tightly, his teeth clenching together with a loud clack. All the muscles in his body were trembling.


    His hand touched the right side of his neck. The bloody red gash there was clear as day, and it had been inflicted with ease by that Omniscient Eye just now. If Sylphalan had used that move from the start¡­


    "A victory like this¡­ You just handed it to me!!???" Garen felt an unprecedented sense of shame and unhappiness. This was the final battle he had looked forward to all this time, and yet his opponent just threw the match?


    Woo!!!


    A piercing wail came from the sky.


    In that moment, an intense sense of danger rose in his heart.


    "You want me to die?!!!"


    His whole body was expanding vigorously, the platinum aura surrounding his body expanding madly in all directions.


    In between his mad howling, Garen raised his fists and swung them at the sky. Behind him, a huge platinum statue burst into form, and raused its fists at the same time, swinging them through the air.


    A soundless bolt of lightning. A black mushroom cloud rose from the ground, the intense radiation spreading in all directions with abandon.


    Translator''s Thoughts


    J_Squared J_Squared


    Lit. the place [they] fell

 227 Reincarnate 1

    Chapter 227: Reincarnate 1


    Radiation blanketed every inch of the sky, raining in from all directions.


    After the explosion settled, the aftershock came seconds later. An impossibly bright flash blinded everyone within the proximity.


    Most had already escaped to their boats just outside the Smoke Island. Those who were looking at the Smoke Island were blinded by the light and were no longer see anything but darkness afterwards.


    On a white boat.


    The King of Nightmares and Andrela were standing quietly at the edge of the ship as they looked at the mushroom cloud rising in the distance. Both of them had a rather ugly expression on their faces.


    Although the both of them had avoided being blinded by the explosion with their inhuman reactions, it was not because of this that they bore the ugly expressions in their faces.


    Andrela gripped the handrail with both of his hands, so tightly that his fingerprints were faintly imprinted onto the metal.


    "It¡¯s a nuclear bomb¡­ It¡¯s definitely the people from Weisman!!"


    "That was a small one, I heard that their experiment had succeeded not long ago, but I hadn¡¯t expected it to be put to the test this soon¡­" The King of Nightmares stared at the shockwave travelling from the mushroom cloud and said. "Their motive wasn¡¯t to kill the people on the island. They were trying to the eruption of the giant volcano on Smoke Island!"


    Boom!!


    The boats out at sea were like paper boats following shockwave, rocking about, risking capsize at any minute.


    Navy personnel started to stabilize the boats and ignite the engine to accumulate distance from the island.


    The mushroom cloud refused to dissipate, sending a column of black smoke soaring into the sky.


    Boom!!


    It was another vibrating roar. Red halation emerged from the sky above Smoke Island.


    The halation spread out and rained down in all directions. To shock, what fell was in fact red and black lava!


    lava rained down everywhere, large amounts of viscous liquid swiftly flooded the whole island, turning the island fire red.


    Blankets of black volcanic ash spread out and covered the sky, spreading out thousands kilometers into the horizon.


    The few boats that were too close to the island were overturned by a rogue wave. Still others were caught in the rain of lava, and were either broken in half or engulfed in flames.


    The boat that carried the King of Nightmares and Andrela was hit by a swathe of lava in the middle, and broke in two.


    The sound of screams were completely drowned in the seemingly ceaseless roar of the eruption.


    Light from the sun in the sky was completely snuffed out by the thick smoke and volcanic ash. It was impossible to tell between night and day.


    The blue surface of the sea was completely covered with volcanic ash and black debris, resembling a blue handkerchief littered and stained with blank ink.


    Boats engulfed in flame were small red dots floating on the sea, glowing faint red embers of fire.


    The King of Nightmares and Andrela, each with a person on their backs, immediately swam away from the range of destruction of the volcano.


    Even so, the toxic smoke emitting from volcano kept invading their lungs. They all knew in their hearts that no matter how strong Garen was, he might not have survived such a terrifying natural disaster.


    Majority of the experts were caught in the disaster, unable to escape in time. Only one in ten had managed to got out of range. Weisman¡¯s objective had finally been achieved.


    They managed to kill most of the high level masters from all over the world. It was an ideal condition to use the latest technology they had on hand.


    In but a fraction of a second, the world had incorrigibly changed.


    ****************


    Black...


    Everything in front of him was pitch black¡­


    The last memory Garen had was of him releasing all of his anger, sending his fist at the bomb in the sky.


    He knew the objective of the enemy was to ignite the volcano.


    Smoke Island was practically the world¡¯s largest volcano, as most of the volcano¡¯s structure was under the ocean. Its volume was shockingly immense. The entire Smoke Island was actually the volcano¡¯s crater, and was of the incessant mist on the island. This was a sign that it had been on the cusp of an eruption.


    As the gigantic volcano erupted, the small, neighbouring countries were affected. The air pollution caused by it would severely alter the structure of the planet.


    Garen thought that Weisman had underestimated the volcano¡¯s destructive power and scale, and had decided to act in such a reckless manner.


    However, none of this mattered anymore. What¡¯s important now was the question of his current situation.


    He wanted to move his body, but realized that he no longer had the concept of limbs. It was as if his body was in a deep sleep, and his brain was not fully awake and thrown into chaos.


    His surrounding was pitch black; there was nothing to see.


    In his last moments when his body was disintegrated, he could still feel the immense pain just from recalling this fresh memory. He clearly remembered his body completely melted by the intense heat.


    In the instant the volcano erupted, it felt like the earth was in rage, and Smoke Island, which was the crater, unleashed a limitless amount of white and gold magma. The thousand-degree lava had completely melted him instantly.


    In actuality, he had a feeling that he wouldn¡¯t be able to escape the moment he saw the bomb.


    If it was just an ordinary, powerful bomb, he had no reason to be afraid as he was confident in his resistance to heat. As long as it wasn¡¯t core temperature, the most he would be affected by was the debris and shockwave from the explosion.


    However, it wasn¡¯t just any bomb, it was a nuclear bomb. Although it hadn¡¯t been fully developed yet, it was still a nuclear bomb. Furthermore, the issue was not this but that Smoke Island was a giant volcano on the verge of eruption.


    The nuclear bomb was nothing but a catalyst.


    The eruption of the volcano was the one that did him in.


    He was defenseless against the instantaneous high temperature impact and was completely engulfed in it.


    "Never in my dreams had I thought of such an ending."


    Garen recalled silently in the dark. Sylphalan and he himself were the strongest people in that world.


    If Sylphalan had not sought death at the last second and kept on fighting, both of them might have ended in a draw. Practically, with his Divine Statue Technique, immense aura, and his abundant essence were already at an appalling level.


    Sylphalan was no different. He had a terrifying explosive force and lethal attacks. Even Garen had a tough time against him. The only thing he lacked against him was his recovery.


    Everything was decided the moment Sylphalan gave in to Garen. In a battle between two equals, the result was obvious the moment one party gave in to the other.


    Garen understood everything in the darkness.


    The world would no longer be a world revolving martial arts any longer. The realm of his martial art was at the peak and there was no room for any more improvements.


    The next world should be similar to Earth, the firearm era. The level of his martial arts could only be describe as perfection.


    It was pure darkness in all directions.


    "Death may be the ending for some people. Clearly that¡¯s not the case for me."


    He was alone in the dark. He was a shapeless object without the concept of a body.


    Garen didn¡¯t know how long he had been floating in the darkness.


    A day¡­ two days¡­


    A year¡­ Two years¡­


    He didn¡¯t know how long he had been there. As time passed, he counted up to millions and there was still nothing happening.


    Gradually, he was back to the beginning of transmigration and his thinking gradually stalled as he travelled through the universe.


    After some time, suddenly he passed by some sort of mist, and saw a ray of light at the bottom.


    Far away in the darkness, a dark blue nebula slowly appeared, and he got closer and closer and the nebula became bigger and bigger.


    Within this nebula laid a planet painted in dark blue. Suddenly, innumerable images flashed past his mind, like a million rays of light shining in his direction.


    Garen saw everything clearly as he looked at the images. It was a series of events that happened on the planet, the changes it had been through.


    It was as if a movie was playing right in front of his eyes.


    He Suddenly felt his body burning up.


    He looked down and saw that a quaint book-like pendant was floating beside his body. It was the Eternal Starry Night Pendant that he had been wearing.


    Unfortunately this necklace, which effect was unknown, was already lined with innumberable crack lines. The once gleaming surface had become dull, as if it was about to disappear.


    A familiar faint red symbol appeared just below Garen¡¯s vision.


    ¡®Unknown force has been fully depleted¡­ the travel is about to stop. Do you want to enter the nearest planet?¡¯


    Garen was stunned. The Eternal Starry Night Pendant was the source of his travel through the universe.


    He immediately answered with swift reaction.


    "Yes!"


    Suddenly, his talent and abilities were transferred, and he felt his body guided by numerous thin red beams. He was then pulled by the beams to the planet at an incredible pace. A few flash and jumps, but he was nowhere closer to the planet.


    His target planet was the one that he had glimpsed earlier.


    The planet got bigger and clearer with each second. As Garen turned his head around and looked back, a similar blue planet had already became a small dot and blended itself in with the other stars in the sky.


    "I will return¡­"


    "Pew!! The speed had increased even further.


    He felt a jolt in his brain and completely lost consciousness. The Eternal Starry Night Pendant let out a and was broken into millions of pieces as it scattered among the universe.


    ************


    Night.


    There was a young man, probably in his early twenties, busy writing something in a brightly lit room.


    He was sitting at the copper red study desk, holding onto a white quill, occasionally dipping it inside black ink and writing something onto the paper after giving some thought.


    The faint yellow light radiated by the candle reflected brightly off his hair onto his fair and handsome face.


    ¡®Sun Calendar. Year 3567, twentieth of the fourth month. I had once met Aquarius from Walton. Oh my goodness! This is the third time in my life that I have been burnt by her beauty. She is too beautiful¡­ So beautiful that she is as pure as a lily and as white as a moon. As beautiful as¡­ As beautiful as¡­" The youngster stopped writing and started to think carefully of his next praise.


    "Ah!~~~~" He suddenly released a long sigh as he pressed his chest with one hand. "Oh the beautiful Aquarius, I shall be your fated prince!!"


    Ugh¡­


    A faint footsteps could be heard just outside the door.


    "Little Giles! You¡¯re eavesdropping on me writing my poem again!! Stand still!!" The youngster threw his pen down and rushed outside the door. It was completely dark outside as he saw a small human figure rushing down to the first floor as he disappeared into the darkness.

 228 Reincarnate 2

    Chapter 228: Reincarnate 2


    The young man gently closed the door and went back to his study desk.


    He knew that his reputation wasn¡¯t good in his household, but that wouldn¡¯t stop him from achieving his dream.


    He had truly fallen head over heels for Miss Aquarius since the day he met her. He would give anything! Even his life!


    As he thought of this, he suddenly felt that he was possessed by an ancient poet and had instantly entered the realm of a great poet who would sacrifice his body for love. He was drunk on the feeling of inspiration.


    "I wonder what happened with the document Miss Aquarius wanted me to take from her father." He suddenly recalled with bliss. Miss Aquarius would definitely be extremely moved when she saw the tremendous effort that he had invested in her. She would eventually fall in love with him deeply, throw everything behind, leave this world together and become the perfect romantic love story.


    Knock knock.


    Someone had gently knocked onto the door.


    "Cia, have you slept?" A clear female voice came through the door.


    "Big Sister Sofea, is that you? Please come in, the door isn¡¯t locked." The young Cia immediately stood up with a hint of happiness on his face.


    The door clicked and was pushed open.


    A tall beautiful girl came into the room.


    "How many times do I have to tell you! Call me big sister Hathaway!" The girl had golden hair tied in a ponytail. Her skin was fair, face as sharp as knife and she gave off a British, glamorous vibe.


    "Okay¡­. Big Sister Hathaway." Cia nodded his head. "Oh right, Why are you here at such a late hour? Do you need anything from me?"


    The girl walked a full circle of the room and eventually set her gaze onto the white paper on the study desk. "Where¡¯s the Astronomical Edict I gave you last time?"


    Cia was stunned and shook his head as he smiled innocently. "What Astronomical Edict? What are you talking about big sister? When did I ever taken anything from you?"


    Hathaway squinted her eyes and stared at her most beloved younger cousin.


    "Brother, I won¡¯t say a word if you use the Astronomical Edict for yourself. However, if someone had egged you on..."


    She had risked her life for the royal family to obtain two Astronomical Edicts. This was the culmination of 10 years of hard work. She had been taking care of Cia, the only male child in the whole household, since young, and he had been loved by many since young.


    She didn¡¯t mind giving her one Astronomical Edict. However, if it was someone who had instigated it¡­


    "No one instigated me." Cia kept shaking his head. His reaction was an immediate denial. "I didn¡¯t take something called the Astronomical Edict! Big sister you have to believe me!"


    Hathaway was quiet for a moment and reached out her hand to caress Cia¡¯s hair.


    "Whatever. I don¡¯t get to use that thing anyway. Please don¡¯t do it anymore."


    "I really didn¡¯t take it!" Cia was still denying it.


    He didn¡¯t really understand what the Astronomical Edict represented and of how important that item was. To her cousin , that item was her reward and proof of her lifetime of hardwork. It was considered an ultimate pardon, an escape no matter how serious the crime was.


    "Also, you lost two manors during your gambling session, didn¡¯t you?" Hathaway changed the topic. "Do you know how valuable those two manors were!? This is especially so for the manor in Varian. You have lost them just like that."


    "I will win them back sooner or later!" Cia answered hatefully and immediately feared his cousin the moment he saw his cousin¡¯s angry face.


    When he was ten years old, he was bitten by a strange poisonous snake. It was Big Sister Hathaway who saved him with a mysterious antidote from an unknown source. When Hathaway found out that her cousin was poisoned, she disappeared for a day or two without leaving word behind. The ever so healthy and resilient girl came back with a severely injured body, her strength having decreased tremendously. She resigned from the Royal Knights and enrolled into the Royal Department to become a Lieutenant.


    The Astronomical Edict was actually her reward for her contributions and hard work as a Royal Knight. Now that Cia had taken away one of her Astronomical Edicts, he started to feel bad for her.


    "I will make up to you some day, sister¡­" He replied softly.


    Hathaway released all her anger the moment she saw her brother¡¯s ignorance towards his recklessness.


    "I don¡¯t want your compensation! You have to understand the danger of gambling!! How much of the family wealth have you lost for these past few years!? You have lost so much of uncle¡¯s fortune! If you keep going down this path, no matter how wealthy your family is, you will definitely lose everything!"


    Her voice was getting louder and louder as she felt more and more angry towards him.


    "Sis¡­ You have to believe me! I will definitely win back everything!" Cia replied immediately.


    "Are you still thinking of gambling!!?" Hathaway couldn¡¯t resist anymore and slapped Cia¡¯s face with all of her might.


    Slap!


    Both Cia and Hathaway were stunned.


    Acacia was the only male child from his family and was pampered by everyone in the household. Even his father Sissas was reluctant to hit him.


    And it was the first time Hathaway couldn¡¯t hold herself back and gave him a slap.


    At that instant, both of them were rooted.


    "So what!! Isn¡¯t it just a piece of Astronomical Edict that I took? How dare you hit me!!??" Cia¡¯s cheek was completely red. He soared his chest and continued. "Let me tell you something Sofea Hathaway! No matter how much I have lost, it is my family¡¯s problem! All these wealth belongs to me in the future. How much I have lost is none of your business!? I have the successor of the Trejons Household! You are nothing but a Royal Family¡¯s Lieutenant. What right do you have to control me!?"


    "You!!!" Hathaway was completely furious to the point where she was completely speechless as she pointed at Acacia with her finger.


    Never in her dreams could she imagine that the cousin she had pampered for her whole life would say such hurtful words to her.


    Sadness, disappointment and rage were bursting and blending in her heart at that moment.


    Without any hesitation, Hathaway turned around and left the room and slammed the door.


    Acacia was clasping his left face as he gently tapped his cheek.


    Hiss¡­


    "It¡¯s so painful!" He took a few steps back and reached out his hand to take a red medicinal oil from the book racks. He applied onto his face, and it was very effective in reducing swelling.


    He suddenly recalled that this item was gifted to him from Hathaway.


    "I will never use anything she gives me ever again! Never!!" He grabbed the glass bottle containing the red medicinal oil and threw it onto the ground with all his strength.


    Splash!


    The small bottle shattered into millions of pieces on the ground, the red medicinal oil was spilt across the floor.


    "Even Father has never even hit me before!!" Acacia was walking back and forth in the room in a rage. The sky outside was overcast with the faint rumbling of thunder. It seemed like it was about to rain.


    Kacha!!


    Suddenly, thunder cracked loudly above his head.


    Shocked, he stepped onto the red oil and slipped. He immediately fell backwards and onto the ground.


    Thud!!


    By chance, the back of his brain landed on a sharp piece of broken glass.


    In an instant, his body arched upwards and his eyes rolled, and he gradually stop breathing after a few moments of struggling.


    At this very moment, A ray of white light came into the room from the square window.


    The white ray, which was in a shape of a butterfly was as big as a fist, passed through the tightly shut window and circled the room in a delicate manner.


    It soon noticed Acacia laying still on the floor.


    With a click, the white ray disappeared and diffused into Acacia¡¯s forehead.


    After a while, Acacia who was laying down on the floor opened his eyes. His vision was a complete blur, as if he just woke up from a long sleep.


    He slowly got up from the floor, only to realize that he had been laying in a pile of faint, red-stained wooden flooring with glass shards strewn everywhere. It was very uncomfortable as the glasses were prickling his butt.


    He touched the back of his back and noticed that his hair was rather cold, and there was a blood clot as well. The injury had completely healed.


    Cia stood up and looked around his surrounding.


    "I guess¡­ I¡¯m in a different location now¡­"


    He took a deep breath and gently gripped his fist and what he sensed was a weakness that he had never felt before.


    He felt chills all over his body, which was most probably due to him laying on the floor for a long period of time.


    Ah chiu!


    He couldn¡¯t help himself but to sneeze. As he sneezed, the snot started dripping out from his nose.


    "Who am I¡­?" He kept griping his fists tightly and released it afterwards.


    "I am Acacia¡­ No! .. I am Garen Lombard!!"


    His vision started to clear up and and he started to feel an anger that he had never experienced before.


    Knock knock knock.


    "Master,can I come in and clear up the room now?" The female servant asked carefully from outside of the room. She had been waiting outside for a long time. She was probably waiting for her master to cool down before she dared to come in and clean up. She would be scolded by Acacia and her salary would be partially deducted if she came in the wrong time.


    "Forget about it! You should leave first. I don¡¯t want to see anyone at the moment!"


    Garen shouted as he copied what Acacia would say from his memory. It was a sentence that was most frequently used by Acacia. Hence, all he needed to do was to follow his words.


    It was a language that resembled Portuguese. Garen was slightly familiar with the language¡¯s overall structure from Acacia¡¯s memory.


    Afterwards, he started to recollect his disorganized memories in his brain.


    Although Acacia¡¯s memories went all the way back to twenty years, most of them was forgotten. However, as it was very difficult to digest everything, he had no choice but to read the main contents of the memory.


    This world was similar to the last one, both of which was of primarily western culture. However, this world had barely just entered the steam era and was far behind compared to the previous world in terms of technological advancement.


    While this world¡¯s overall structure was ruled under a dictatorship, the country¡¯s property had already started blooming.


    This body originally belong to a person called Acacia Trejons. He still had a long surname after that and he was the only successor in the Trejons Household.


    This whole planet was separated into two major continents, namely the East Continent and West Continent. There were many island countries in between these two major continents.


    The East Continent had hundreds of countries, and the Great Kovetan Kingdom was one of the three strongest countries in this continent.


    Kovetan had a total of thirty two districts. This body¡¯s family household had established their presence in some areas of the Lush Forest district which was located in the south of the country.


    Among the Trejons Household, there were only five main members in this generation. They were Acacia¡¯s parents, Acacia himself, his cousin Sofea Hathaway and her sister, Danielle Hathaway.


    Acacia had never once stepped out of the Lush Green District his entire life.


    His household was located in the center, and the surrounding cities were all within his activities¡¯ range.

 229 Reason 1

    Chapter 229: Reason 1


    Looking through Acacia¡¯s life, he realised that he was a gambling addict, a pervert and slow-witted. He didn¡¯t even realize that he was completely exploited by a girl called Aquarius. All his family wealth that was rather important was ¡®sold¡¯ to Aquarius in order to get into her good graces.


    Garen took a deep breath as he looked at the countless unfortunate encounters of this body. Although looking at Garen from the previous life and his own life on earth, Luo Jing had an above average intelligence; this body was definitely in the lead in terms of idiocy.


    "Alright¡­ Let¡¯s look at the current stats."


    He concentrated his mind and started to examine his body¡¯s status in detail.


    The familiar faint red ability words appeared just below his vision.


    ¡®Strength 0.8, Agility 0.8, Vitality 0.7, Intelligence 0.4, Potential 1872%, Possesses unknown natural endowment.


    Secret Technique -- Divine Statue Technique, Ten Thousand Mammoth Battle Skills.


    Full recovery in 377 days (1 year).¡¯


    Garen furrowed his eyebrows slightly.


    "Recovery requires a year? Also, why is this body¡¯s attribution so useless? What does it mean by possessing an unknown natural endowment?"


    The Ability remained mute, which was rather obvious considering the memory did not have enough information.


    He continued to look at the last symbol.


    Naturally, the meaning of this symbol swiftly appeared in his mind.


    ¡®The primary potential has yet to be lost due to an unknown source of protection during the transmigration. Hence, all statuses will slowly recover through the adaptation of the soul.¡¯


    "Unknown source? Is that the Eternal Starry Night Pendant?" Garen thought. "The primary potential has yet to be lost. Does that mean I have to learn the secret techniques from scratch if it weren¡¯t for the pendant?"


    He recalled that he had depended on himself during his first transmigration. Perhaps there was some electrical energy involved, but that electrical energy was very minor.


    Suddenly, he noticed another weird symbol appearing at the end of the his ability pane.


    It wasn¡¯t faint red in color but dark red, which had appeared for the very first time.


    He focused his attention onto the symbol.


    ¡®Discovered an unknown message. Do you wish to receive it?¡¯


    ¡®Discovered an unknown image message. Do you wish to receive it?¡¯


    ¡®Initiating automatic protection of the memories during transmigration. Begin recording of the unknown image¡­¡¯


    ¡®An unknown fluctuation in space time has occurred¡­ Energy source has been shattered. The fluctuation has stopped. Playback recorded messages?¡¯


    Four messages came into Garen¡¯s memory in an instant.


    It was obvious that all of his memories would be disintegrated during his travel in space time without the protection of this ability.


    He had a small epiphany, an enlightenment started to swell up from his heart.


    The red debris from the bottle had kickstarted his abilities, and he could achieve a strength that was unimaginable in this world as his secret martial techniques had been merged with his energy spirit.


    This was also the reason why he could recalled this transmigration instantly. The last time he transmigrated, he could only recall a portion of it.


    "What is this recording thing¡­" Garen suddenly recalled the lights on the planet as he was travelling through the space time.


    He opened the window and quickly cleaned up the room. The room reeked with the odour of the medicinal oil, and its stain was virtually un-cleanable.


    He had no choice but to open the window to allow some fresh, cold air to enter.


    Since there was still a long time before he fully recovered, he took out a chair, sat down and quietly recalled the light he saw during his transmigration.


    It was a ray of almighty light of an unknown color. Even as Garen started to recall it, he was still unable to make out the color of the light.


    It was like a three dimensional object appearing in a two dimensional space. He was able to instantly understand the two dimensional image, which was voluminous but had no obvious content. It was a feeling so strange that he couldn¡¯t get used to it.


    He believed that he could find a way to return to the previous world, or even the one before it, if he could fully understand the nature of this ability.


    All in all, he had many concerns that had yet to be solved in two of the previous worlds that he was in.


    He laid against the chair and started to sort out his thoughts.


    "How was I able to see that light? Why didn¡¯t I see it during my first transmigration, then? Was it an effect of the advancement of my abilities? How was I able to find a habitable planet in such a short amount of time, especially when there were so many planets out there? It felt like I was guided here by something."


    He recalled the scene during his transmigration.


    It was as if there was a force guiding him to this planet as he flew here at an incredible velocity.


    During his first transmigration, he floated in the universe for a very long time, as he passed by countless, inhabitable planet before reaching Garen¡¯s planet.


    No matter how he looked at it, it was much faster than before.


    He finally set his vision onto the symbol at the end of his abilities pane.


    "Looks like I should be able to find some clues on the recorded unknown image message."


    ¡®Do you want to play back the recorded message?¡¯


    The symbol asked again.


    "Yes."


    Garen answered with absolute certainty.


    Silently, a huge amount of information gushed into his brain.


    Ah¡­


    He lowered his head and gripped it with his hands, as all he could feel was his brain in complete chaos. This came with an incredible headache, where he felt like his brain was about to split into two with an axe, stuffed in between with a large chunk of something, before being sewn back up again.


    The light that appeared from the planet instantly appeared in his memories.


    The sceneries kept passing by in his brain one after another.


    The wars, conflicts and misfortunes.


    The succession of political power, the changes of the world and the loss of power.


    It was the light of the past. It was the light of history that showed the major historical events of this planet.


    He accidentally received this information during his transmigration when he was still light-years away.


    An endless stream of information entered Garen¡¯s mind instantly.


    The Terraflor Society, Obscuro Society, Totem, Luminarist, the fall of the royal power, the country¡¯s recessions, the changes of the planet¡­


    A myriad of scenarios swiftly appeared in Garen¡¯s mind.


    Soon, the images connected together and became a complete structure¡­


    Sun Calendar Year 3570 of the 10th month, there was a major uprising in the east continent.


    The Kovitan Empire was the second to fall.


    The countless images portrayed just a part of the history.


    There were many powerful empires in this world, with the emperors using cold weapons and outdated firepower to rule the world.


    However, hidden in the fabric of reality, there was a group called the Luminarist. They hold the power of the totem.


    Luminarists, who used white silver to forge their totems, were professional experts with extraordinary abilities. They were the specialised members who could create totems, and was considered a rare talent.The world revolved around the Luminarist, who hid in the fringes of society and held true power and influence. The Luminarists were separated into two sects, each having their own ideals. They were the Seraph Light and Phantom Light Sects respectively.


    When the Luminarist moved, the world moved with them.


    The Seraph Light, who represented purity, and the Phantom Light, who represented evil were the two separates forces in this world. These two sects had their own respective ideals. The Seraph Light¡¯s ideal was peace whereas the Phantom Light¡¯s ideal was of survival of the fittest. These were the main differences in their leadership. On one hand, one used their strengths for peace, while the other used their strength to further themselves. These were the differences between the sects. These also represented two different political systems: democracy and dictatorship.


    The society that represented the Seraph Light was the Terraflor Society.


    On the other hand, the society that represented the Phantom Light was the Obscuro Society.


    Both sects were standing at the pinnacle of the totem world and had been battling against each other for a long time.


    Among them, one who had triggered the change of the world was a young man named Beckstone and his partners. They were the successors of the Terraflor Society, which represented the Seraph Light, and would become the strongest society of the Seraph Light in the future.


    Garen finally slightly understood a few key connections after he completely laid out the information structure.


    "Simply put, this was the history of how Beckstone and his companions battled and eventually won against the Obscuro Society of the Phantom Light¡­"


    "It¡¯s obvious that this happened in the uprising era, where dictatorship started to fall. However, this body is currently living in the era where dictatorship is still stable, and there were not even one uprising reported thus far. If what I saw was real¡­"


    Suddenly, he recalled the recorded message he had just seen earlier.


    At the last sentence of the record: Unknown fluctuation in the space time continuum has occurred¡­


    "Theoretically speaking, the distance between two habitable planets which were from different solar systems should have been light-years apart from one another. If this theory is true, going back into time isn¡¯t impossible¡­" He speculated.


    "If it was really a backward flow in time, then the scenario that I have saw should probably be the future events of the planet."


    "This means that when I was lightyears away from this planet, I received an unknown light, and saw the events of this planet. However, as I travelled through lightyears of distance in an instant, I have arrived to this planet¡¯s era where the uprising occurs?"


    He managed to clear up his train of thoughts. This was the only logical explanation that that could mould all of the clues together.


    "Assuming that this hypothesis is true, the Phantom Light will lose, causing the Obscuro Society to collapse and the world will adopt the capitalist social system. This means that the Seraph Light has obtained victory. Judging from the looks of it, Beckstone is the legendary brave and spirited man, who is also the main character? He¡¯s a person who came at the right moment. Even without him, world would still change, and a second Beckstone would have arrived to take his place. Such was the world¡¯s desire¡­"


    "The most troublesome thing isn¡¯t this at the moment¡­" Garen frowned. "Based on Acacia¡¯s memories, his father Vanderman is an upper class aristocrat of the Kovitan Empire and he has rather strong influence and authority. Furthermore, he had another identity, which is a Luminarist of the Obscuro Society. He is still an independent Luminarist and hasn¡¯t completely entered the Obscuro Society yet."


    "This situation looks dire¡­" He face was rather gloomy. "If all of the future events are true¡­ This body¡¯s father, Vanderman who is the protector of the dictatorship, is a common Luminarist of the Phantom Light. Based on the images, Vanderman is one of the fated Phantom Light members who will be destroyed together with the Phantom Light by Beckstone¡­"

 230 Reason 2

    Chapter 230: Reason 2


    The current identity that Garen had reincarnated into was Acacia, the son of a Luminarist whose life was wanted by both the Seraph Light and Phantom Light. His father Vanderman was a Luminarist with average strength. He had occupied a place but he was fated to die from either sect as he did not listen to the Obscuro Society¡¯s command, and because of the crimes he committed in the past. His household¡¯s land was also fated to be seized and his family members killed, so that the rebel bases could be built here.


    "It¡¯s still too early to think of these. I need to see if my predictions are true." Garen stood up, walked towards the window and looked outside into the distance.


    "If they are, judging from the current timeline, the news of the uprising¡¯s failure in the valley should come soon. After that, there would gradually be difficulties to collect tenant rent."


    Garen let the cold air breeze on his face and golden hair. It cleared his mind a little as the cold air cooled down his overworked brain.


    "We¡¯ll see. If what I saw from the message is true, I will have to start planning early."


    This body¡¯s father, Vanderman was a self-willed man. The only person he was kind to was his son, and he viewed him as the successor of the family. It was unfortunate that he had abducted a few young boys and girls as materials for his experiment to research the special abilities of the Phantom Light. Among abducted children, there was a girl named Leanna -- Beckstone¡¯s childhood first love.


    Leanna was dead. This meant that there shall be a hateful grudge, an unforgivable resentment.


    On the other hand, Vanderman complied with the Obscuro Society¡¯s orders in appearance, but opposed it in his heart in order to sustain his status and identity. However, he did not listen to most of the orders and dissatisfaction eventually accumulated. He was eventually killed by an elite from the Obscuro Society as he invented rather interesting special abilities.


    "It¡¯s not that surprising if all of this is true¡­ If this goes on, I wonder how many Luminarists like Vanderman would lose their lives..." Garen gazed into the distance outside the window.


    A faint yellow line formed by the yellow dots were moving slowly, faintly, in the dark forest far away.


    There were torches held by the patrol group from another household nearby this area.


    Bam!!


    Suddenly, the group of yellow dots ground to a halt as a clear gunshot travelled through the surrounding. A faint sound of a small deer was mixed among the gunshot.


    Garen could heard laughters from the group that was far away. They seemed to be quite happy.


    "It¡¯s another wild deer! We¡¯re very lucky! Haha¡­" The sound travelled faintly from afar.


    The group soon disappeared from his vision.


    The mountain opposite of his window had no more movement after that.


    Garen shifted his sight to his surroundings.


    He was currently standing on the second floor of a double story house which was made out of wood. This wooden house was just a small portion of a big manor.


    There were at least ten buildings of different sizes and arrangements in the manor, all of them painted in white.


    Acacia, his father and a female housekeeper lived together in this building. There were at least ten female servants, grooms, gardeners and chefs who lived in this manor as well. The whole manor was as big as two soccer fields and one would be lost easily as the routes were wrapped around from one end to the other.


    The building he was currently in was placed at the rightmost corner of the manor.


    Acacia was the kind of person that was very frightened of his father. Although Vanderman had never beaten him before, his deep and dense aura made Acacia not want to stay near him for any long period of time. He would immediately flee after his usual greeting routine.


    He even chose the place that would be the furthest away from the center of the manors, all to stray further away from his father.


    His cousin Sofea Hathaway and Little Giles, who often came to play were present today. Little Giles was the son of Vanderman¡¯s favourite student. Hence, Sofea and little Giles would often visit his father Vanderman.


    Garen listened to his surroundings carefully and could faintly hear Little Giles speaking loudly from afar. It was obvious that this kid was playing with the dogs again as he could also heard the dogs barking.


    He could also hear the servant''s¡¯ footsteps passing by during their night patrol.


    This manor was located deep in the mountain, and it felt like it had been isolated from rest of the world. They had their own vegetable garden, farm, livestock sheds and even a small self sustaining town at the foot of the mountain.


    His father Vanderman kept lurking in his manor all day long and no one knew what he was up to. He didn¡¯t go out to socialise and he would occasionally attend classes in the royal academy as he was a professor there. Other than that, he had done nothing else for the past five years.


    On the other hand, Acacia often attended the balls and parties nearby. His cousin would occasionally visit him as well.


    There was only one way to communicate between the manor and the outside world: Every once in a while the female housekeeper would go out to collect rental, tax and sell some local specialties. She would came back with daily necessities and some condiments after that.


    He tidied his messy hair and peeled off the blood clot at the back of his head painfully.


    He sat back onto the study desk as he had a better understanding of his surrounding environment.


    "I should focus on the so called Luminarists of this world. I wonder how strong the Luminarists are, with their totems as their weapons¡­"


    He gently held his fist, and he could feel that his body was slowly recovering. Although it was very slow, it was much better than when he had just woken up.


    "Currently, the strongest Luminarists are the president of the Obscuro Society, Ghost Gate and the leader of the Terraflor Society, Sisley. The images have information of their battle¡­" Garen felt strange that most of these images looked like Beckstone¡¯s perspective during his adventure. All the major events were recorded clearly from the beginning until the defeat of Ghost Gate of the Obscuro Society.


    The remaining information related to the Luminarists was completely recorded down.


    He didn¡¯t know what kind of other capabilities his abilities possessed but the current main concern was not this.


    He started to skim for every event that was recorded down in the message. The images kept flashing by in his mind. Time flew¡­


    "Found it!!" He suddenly stopped at a portion of the message. Two commoner figures appeared in front of his mind.


    "There were at least ten records of the battle between Luminarists in the forest near the Trejons Household land in the Lush Forest district. The most recent battle¡­ was between a person called the Emin of the Seraph Light and Clyde of the Phantom Light." Garen examined this portion of the record in detail only to find out that they were Luminarist with below average strength and hence had very weak abilities. Thus, the scenario was very cloudy and nothing could be seen clearly. When he opened the message, there were stripes of colorful lines similar to that of a television without a strong signal. The recorded images from the abilities were all mixed together and nothing could be made out of them.


    "Let me look at the time¡­ To be precise¡­ It was after the event of rental difficulties and¡­ before the uprising by the valley, which is in two days time."


    Garen picked out the most recent battle in the record.


    The image messages recorded by his abilities were so detailed that Garen took a long time to sort out the most recent details in his timeline.


    "The lowest tier of a Luminarists. Let¡¯s compare their strength with secret techniques and see how strong they really are."


    Garen took a deep breath, got up and laid onto the big soft bed. He covered himself with the white blanket as he felt a sense of drowsiness settling upon him.


    From the war in the previous world, to the transmigration, up to the sorting of his memories¡­ his nerves had been under stress for all of them. Since he had a clear grasp of the situation he was in and there was no danger nearby, he could finally relax.


    "Acacia is dead. From now on, I am the new Acacia¡­" Garen laid on the bed and thought, as he felt his brand new and unfamiliar body.


    After a while, he drifted into his dreams¡­


    He was back to Smoke Island, right before he punched the nuclear bomb.


    In that instant, the nuclear bomb beamed out a ray of bright light and the mega volcano erupted below him. His body was disintegrated instantly.


    The powerful eruption shot his very last piece of consciousness up into the sky.


    In Garen¡¯s dream, the eruption of the mega volcano looked like a giant black smoke pot as he turned his head around and flew away from the planet.


    "So this was the legendary Black Smoke Pot¡­" Garen finally understood. "Then what¡¯s the deal with the legend stating that it could be used to communicate with the dead? Also, how does the ancient endo¡¯s culture discovered the mystery of the volcano and they even build so many stone statues on top of it. Furthermore, I didn¡¯t even see any trace of corpses until the very end."


    "The Black Smoke Pot that is able to go beyond the limits¡­ I guess no one had succeeded since history began¡­?" Garen thought.


    Was it a rumor that became a legend or a legend that became a rumor. No one will never know.


    However, one thing was certain. It was not a coincident that he was able to arrive to this planet. He would most likely not able to reach this planet if not for the volcano¡¯s assistance.


    The strangest part was that he had leaped countless light-years.


    "The last time Smoke Island erupted was most likely a very long time ago. Is it possible that the totem¡¯s power and the so called Luminarists on this planet are the relics that was left behind by the mages from the previous world? Or maybe there are some form of connections in between?"


    Garen suddenly thought of this possibility in his dream.


    The legends of the mages from the previous world were not uncommon. In that strong and advanced era, there was always a possibility that strange phenomena would occur.


    Chirp¡­ Chirp...


    Garen opened his eyes as the golden rays showered his blanket. Sunlightpassed through the window¡¯s and reflected off the dust floating in the room.


    There were two pigeons chirping loudly just outside the window.


    "Where am I?" Garen looked up at the unfamiliar ceiling as he was not able to react in time.


    He sat up and felt a warm sensation as he let the sunlight shining freely on the back of his hand.


    Soon, everything in his brain clicked.


    "I am now Acacia¡­ I am no longer Garen Lombard or Luo Jing." His had a strange look on his face as he was inside an unfamiliar, weak body. He was not used to anything at all.

 231 Preparation 1

    Chapter 231: Preparation 1


    Garen sat quietly on the bed for a while, before getting up and changing into a white casual shirt with silver sleeves that he had obtained from the wardrobe.


    He set his sights on the the attribution pane just below his vision.


    The attribution pane was no different than before.


    He hesitated for a moment as he looked at the remaining ten or so potential points that he currently had, and decided against using them to speed up his recovery..


    "Since I haven¡¯t found a new source of energy, I have no choice but to ration the potential points."


    The potential points were obtained via absorbing the Antique of Tragedy, and he did not know if they existed in this world. Even if they did, ten potential points were considered a very large amount, and should not be spent haphazardly.


    Garen tidied his shirt properly, since he was the kind of person who loved to be clean and well presented. He touched it up, and even used different kinds of cologne.


    Garen frowned as he looked at the diary that wasn¡¯t finished from last night. All of the notes were praises and admiration towards Aquarius.


    He picked up the book and flipped for a few pages to find out that there wasn¡¯t much content inside.


    As he gently closed the notebook, he walked towards the mirror and picked up the comb that laid beside it and started combing his hair tidily, just like Acacia normally would. He then picked up the usual colognes and applied onto his body.


    "Who uses cologne?!" He placed down the cologne bottle with disatisfaction.


    After checking everything in front of the mirror to ensure everything was flawless, he then turned away his gaze and walked out of the bedroom.


    He walked along the faint yellow wooden corridor and walked down to the first floor through the spiral staircase.


    The two female servants who were cleaning up the main hall placed down whatever was in their hands and kneeled at Garen as they saw him approaching. They then continued what they were doing after that.


    Garen glanced at the two female servants. They were in their forties and weren¡¯t beautiful in the slightest. However, they were very agile and they would make a good helpers.


    He passed through the main hall and walked out of the building.


    The lawn outside was as green as emeralds, and they looked very pure under the sunlight. A few big, grey trees were scattered in the lawn, and the leaves sung as the breeze blew. Occasionally, a few green leaves with yellow leaves mixed among them would gently drop to the ground.


    There were a few people of both genders in grey long sleeves and long pants on the lawn cutting bushes at the edges.


    Garen looked at the sun that had just risen from the horizon. Since it was still early, considering that it was not 7 o¡¯clock yet, heh decided to circle the manor to familiarize himself with the surroundings.


    As he walked along the lawn, he slowed down his pace as he walked passed the buildings. These buildings were of different sizes and had different purposes. They were used for living quarters, storage, collection, guestrooms, etc.


    Garen spent twenty minutes slowly at first, but hastened his pace as he circled the whole manor.


    The only impression he felt towards the whole manor was desertion.


    There were too little people. A manor that could fit up to fifty to sixty people was only occupied by ten or so. This quantity had already accounted for the servants, gardeners, grooms, etc.


    A lot of these places were not properly cared for. Weeds were growing wild in some areas, and a few buildings looked grey with paint starting to crack and peel. It looks like it had been a few years since a guest had come visiting.


    The area of the manor that was actually fully utilised was only about one third of the whole manor. Many places were deserted and it gave off a sense of strange quietness.


    Dang¡­ Dang¡­


    The melodious morning clock had rang.


    Garen looked up at the clock tower and could barely see a person hitting the bell.


    He turned around and walked towards the main building in the center of the manor.


    His morning routine involved greeting his father, and most importantly, the female housekeeper would also be there with the latest newspaper from the outside.


    Going through the newspaper was the fastest way for Acacia to understand the situation outside the manor.


    Garen squinted his eyes as he needed to prove that the images he saw during his transmigration was real.


    He walked along the patterned lawn as he headed towards the building in the central area. As he reached his destination, he saw a tall middle aged man standing at the balcony on the second floor.


    The first impression he had from this man was majesty. He was a tall man with a face filled with black moustache. His moustache was trimmed neatly, and his hair was combed from one temple to the other.


    He had two moustaches above his lips and a sharp beard right under his chin.


    The moustache didn¡¯t give an impression of messiness. Instead, it gave an impression of cleanliness as it was perfectly trimmed.


    The man was in a black coat as he looked down from the balcony.


    "Is that Acacia."


    "Yes, father." Garen answered with his head down as shown in his memories. He even mimicked the cringy expression.


    "Come up here. Du Qian has returned and she brought you the Black Duran Cologne you wanted." This man was Acacia¡¯s father, Vanderman Trejons.


    This man was already in his fifties. On the surface, he was an upper class aristocrat of the Kovitan Empire and the professor of the Royal Academy. In fact, he was a Luminarist of the Phantom Light and possessed incredible strength.


    Garen walked into the building and there were two people, one girl and one boy, already sitting opposite of each other on the sofa in the living room.


    These two were called Edney and Maxilan and they were Vanderman¡¯s most loyal right-hand-men. They were also the strongest among Vanderman¡¯s underlings. Although they were not Luminarists, the royal army could not be compared to them in terms of sword and gun arts.


    Garen took a glance at the two. and he remembered clearly that they would die in the hands of Beckstone and his team in the near future. On the other hand, father Vanderman would die in the hands of an elite member of the Obscuro Society.


    He, as Vanderman¡¯s son, would die from one of the Obscuro Society¡¯s lackies as he escaped from the manor, while his cousin was protecting him.


    No matter how one looked at it, these two were definitely loyal to the Trejons Household. Their profit and pride were placed with the Trejons. Their loyalty was placed not just with Vanderman himself, but with all of Trejons.


    "Sister Edney, brother Maxilan." Garen greeted them politely as he recalled from his memory.


    "Sir Viscount is currently upstairs and he will come down soon." Maxilan was a gentle uncle.


    Two of them were not that familiar with Acacia. Since Acacia would be the next successor of the household, they treated him politely as if he was the master of the household. Their actions were not affected by the news of Garen¡¯s gambling habit.


    "Where is sister Du Qian?" Garen looked around as he didn¡¯t see her.


    "She¡¯s upstairs reporting the situation to the Viscount." Maxilan replied. He was wearing red casual clothes with a sword hanging by his waist.


    "Oh¡­"


    Garen nodded and sat on an empty sofa at one side as the female servant poured him a glass of lemon tea.


    Garen picked up the glass and drank the tea as he noticed a stack of newspapers at the corner of his eye. He reached out his hand to the newspaper and placed it on his knees as he started to read them casually.


    Maxilan and Edney were whispering to each other about something off to one side. They seemed to be unhappy, in fact it was rather obvious.


    Garen ignored them and focused his attention on the newspaper.


    The first thing he saw was ¡®The dangers of self abortion¡¯


    Garen was speechless and went to the next page.


    ¡®Are you well prepared to take care of your breasts?¡¯


    He flipped to the main page of the newspaper with a poker face.


    ¡®Lush Green Sanitary News¡¯


    He raised his head up to find out that Maxilan and Edney were trying to hide their laughter with all their might. He could also heard a faint laughter off one side.


    "Fine. I just wanted to see the latest news for this country. Is there anything wrong with that?" Garen shrugged.


    "It¡¯s this one." Maxilan took out a folded grey newspaper and passed it to Garen.


    Garen took the newspaper and the first big headline he saw was: ¡®Danpalas Five to interview Kovitan in the near future.¡¯


    Below the big headline: ¡®Both leaders are to negotiate regarding the turmoil in the valley.¡¯


    "Turmoil in the valley?" Garen whispered.


    Daniela was one of the top two strongest countries in the east continent. In terms of power, Daniela was on par with a super country in the west continent when allied with Kovitan.


    Garen continued reading the article.


    It was the uprising in the valley that he saw in the images.


    Garen felt a chill down his spine.


    He continued reading the article but did not find out anything of significance.


    He then changed to another newspaper.


    This was last week¡¯s national newspaper. The second headline was the nation¡¯s protest regarding rental of a small farm.


    It was at this moment Garen began to understand. To assure himself, he searched his memory to confirm the location and the date of this major event and compared it to the date and location reported on the newspaper.


    It was exactly the same!!


    Garen used the newspaper to block his face from everyone as he tried to hide his shock.


    "Looks like the thing I saw will definitely happen in the future."


    "If the events I saw in the images are real¡­ Then, what I really saw was the history of the planet?"


    He closed his eyes and recalled the scenario once again.


    "Garen, when did you start to care about the nation¡¯s problems?" Vanderman¡¯s voice came from behind his back.


    Garen put away the newspaper and noticed Maxilan and Edney had already stood up and had their sight set behind him.


    He turned around and saw Vanderman in a black tuxedo and he had a black hat in one of his hands. His overall look could only be describe with the word elegant, and there was a beautiful woman with an hourglass body figure standing beside her.


    Garen immediately lowered his head.


    "Father, you have came down? I have made an arrangement with Garcia so I will be leaving now."


    "Leaving already? Why not have a breakfast together?" Vanderman walked over and sat on the sofa. The lady beside him followed his movement tightly and sat down as well.


    "No thanks." Garen had his head down the entire time as he looked at Vanderman¡¯s footsteps. His footsteps was slow and calm like a delicate clock and it sent a chill down in Garen¡¯s nerve.


    It was fortunate that his rejection was similar to of Garen. The original Garen didn¡¯t really want to hang out with his father as well so both of them shared this side of the personality.


    "Fine. You can leave now. Don¡¯t come back too late." Vanderman replied calmly.


    Garen nodded his head, placed down the newspaper and smiled at Edney, Maxilan and the woman beside Vanderman before he rushed out of the building.

 232 Preparation 2

    Chapter 232: Preparation 2


    It was just a simple morning greeting, but with Garen¡¯s extensive experience in Martial Arts, he caught a whiff of the thick scent of blood from this viscount-slash-professor. Not only that, he also exuded a sense of extreme meticulousness.


    Having left the small building, Garen walked on the lawn under the sun, warming his body up, to his delight.


    He walked straight to the entrance of the manor and asked the carriage driver to prepare his double-seater white carriage with silver edges.


    Mounting the carriage, he ordered the driver to drive along the only road to the outside. He himself sat inside the carriage and looked at the environment from the inside.


    Under his request, the driver went around the manor so he could get used to the environment near it.


    The Trejons Manor was surrounded by forest with a small lake on one side. The path went along the woods, extending to a small town called Mirrorlake Town belonging to the Trejons Family. Even so, it was about a dozen kilometers before they arrived at the town.


    Garen let the carriage cruise the town twice. After memorizing some of the more important landmarks, he alighted the carriage and walked toward the woods. His driver didn¡¯t stop him. The whole area near here was his family¡¯s territory and was frequently patrolled.


    Walking alongside the edge of the lake, Garen walked into an area with black-leafed trees.


    The forest was dark even in bright daylight, appearing gloomy and damp.


    Pigeons and doves from the manor played around on top of the lake, some black swans waddled casually in the lake, combing their feathers occasionally.


    Garen slowly compared his view with the location he scanned during the ride, examining the area and making his way toward where he mentally dropped a location pin.


    Eventually, he arrived at the edge of his family¡¯s patrol border. In the distance, he saw an outpost with sharp, gray-white roof. The flag on top of it shows a black swan on a white background with silver outline. That¡¯s the family flag of the Trejons family.


    There were two sentries wearing the same gray-white color on the outpost. One of them was having a drink, the other was drying clothes by hanging them.


    Garen evaded the outpost to avoid being seen and turned left and right by himself, finally arriving at a clearing with tombstone.


    The clearing was roughly circular, as if cleaned out to make space for something. It also had wooden fence around it, even though a significant part of the wood had rotted and started to fall off.


    Garen compared the scenery with the ones he saw in his memory. The two Luminarists were battling here.


    He examined the ground for fighting marks, there was none.


    "Not yet, obviously¡­" He went in front of the tombstone and looked at the name. ¡®Hill Clinton Phalange¡¯.


    This area was only recently included within the borders of the family patrols. Before that it was just listed as a wasteland. No one knew about the old headstone here.


    Silently, he returned to the patrol area of his family after memorizing the location of the spot.


    "In the memory, this tombstone is the direct cause of the conflict between the two Luminarists. But these has nothing to do with me. What¡¯s important is to get a sense of how strong a Luminarist is¡­"


    Garen was in deep thoughts on his way back.


    For three years, he studied Secret Martial Arts. Even though it was because of his special ability that he managed to attain the maximum stats, he had put in a lot of effort before he transformed into someone who had the courage to fight numerous elites with his life.


    His constant self-encouragement, hard work, and persistence were also not to be ignored.


    The limits of Secret Martial Arts was already apparent during the fight with Sylphalan at the Smoke Island. According to the images he¡¯d received when he first transmigrated here, Luminarists¡¯ powers are obviously more fantastical.


    They seemed to be able to control a number of powers to fight against one another, and their powers seemed to be stronger than Secret Martial Arts¡¯ too.


    The one thing Garen wanted to know the most, was that between Martial Artist and Luminarists, who¡¯d be stronger.


    After preparing the things he needed, he returned directly to the manor and into his room to start training to breathe as per the Divine Statue Technique. That way, he could return to his normal strength with most efficiency. At the same time, he planned to wait until the battle that was going to happen.


    **********


    After returning to the manor, he started living like Acacia, doing his daily routines, he¡¯d read the books and the news, he¡¯d take care of his beloved lilac rose garden, and he¡¯d go out every afternoon to where the tombstone is located and spied from afar.


    Other times, Garen would focus on training his body. The restoration of Divine Statue Technique can¡¯t be done within a day, but through stimulating his body over a long time. That said, the training combined with the healing effects of his special abilities, he could tell it was returning to him faster than he¡¯d expected.


    He waited patiently. The battle of the Luminarists will be within these few days.


    **********


    Between the utensils clinking, Garen and Vanderman sat opposite each other, having their dinner.


    The lazy afternoon sun sauntered in through the window on the left and cast itself on the floor left of the rectangular white dining table.


    On the dining table were turkey meat, bacon, grilled duck, squirrel broth and onion stewed tomato soup.


    Both of them ate without a word.


    Vanderman looked at his son, his son who was never a stickler for rules, was suddenly obedient. Usually he¡¯d have gone out to gamble or to court Aquarius whatshername, but the past few days he¡¯d been quiet.


    "When Sofea left yesterday, why didn¡¯t you see her off?" He asked, "You shan¡¯t be so rude, do you hear?"


    "Yes, father." Garen nodded and muttered. He forgot. He¡¯d been paying attention at the tombstone so much, he didn¡¯t know Sofea had left.


    "About the Astronomical Edict, you were in the wrong. Don¡¯t think I won¡¯t know just because you don¡¯t tell me. But you¡¯ve already given it away, there¡¯s no need to take it back, lest other families shame you. You owe your Big Sister Sofea an apology." Vanderman closed his eyes for a moment. "I will repay her on your behalf. Do not do it again."


    "Yes, father." Garen nodded conscientiously.


    The original Acacia did behave that way with Vanderman.


    Whatever wrongdoings he had had, Viscount Vanderman was tepid at best, he never really showed any distinct expressions. He would gently take over and solve things as being Acacia¡¯s ¡®loving¡¯ father.


    Somehow, Acacia was just afraid of his father without any specific reason.


    Vanderman finished his soup and wiped his lips clean before standing up.


    "Alright, enjoy the meal. I will be out for a forum in the afternoon and will return late. Do stay in the manor for this evening, it may be dangerous out there."


    "I understand." Garen nodded with alert.


    Danger in the evening? What danger?


    He started to have a guess for the possible reasons. Vanderman never used to warn Acacia like this. As a Luminarist himself, if he would consider something a danger, he definitely knows something.


    Could it be that something is happening within the Luminarist circle?


    Guesses kept flashing through Garen¡¯s mind.


    He had been following Acacia¡¯s behavioral pattern for the past few days. He also minimized interaction with people who were close to him, for example, his friends. They sent him an invitation to a ball the previous night, and he¡¯d turned down the invitation.


    The point for this seclusion was to slowly change the impression people have on his behavior, to adapt to this life.


    After all, no matter how much he disguise himself, Garen and Acacia are two very different people.


    Staying in his seat, he watched as Viscount Vanderman left the dining hall.


    He sped up and finished up his food, and wiped his mouth as he stood up. A servant passed him his palate cleanser soup, which he swallowed after gargling with it.


    He excused himself to go have a walk by the lake, and under two guards¡¯ protection, he strolled along the lake.


    The guards here, as compared to the guards in the last world, were just two normal people who were slightly stronger. They wore leather armor and were equipped with daggers. Only a captain would qualified to carry a gun.


    Even with Garen¡¯s weakened body, he¡¯d be able to take out the guards by himself. It doesn¡¯t matter if they¡¯ve been trained as a Royal Guard, the outcome would be the same.


    He found an excuse to get away from the two guards. There were the patrols and the outpost nearby anyway, he needn¡¯t worry.


    Alone, Garen walked until he could see the tombstone from afar.


    Viscount Vanderman¡¯s warning had him thinking the battle may be happening that day itself.


    The timeline for the battle in the memory aligned with the current period too.


    He hid himself in the bush and concealed his presence using his Martial Arts breathing technique. His weakened presence quickly wicked out of existence. After all, he¡¯d learned the Turtle Breathing Technique in his last world.


    Inside the bush, Garen paid close attention to everything around him, especially for the sound and movements.


    "According to the last world¡¯s classification, I was a Grade B at my highest achievement, that¡¯s the power level of a guided missile, my destruction level is equivalent to a mobile bomb able to cause mass destruction."


    He calculated his rate of recovery.


    "Within four days, I only recovered to the level of a normal adult."


    When he was chosen as a core disciple for White Cloud Dojo, he was already close to attaining Grade E barring some combat experience. Grade D was Grandmaster of Combat level, Grade E was Fei Baiyun and First Senior Sister Rosetta¡¯s level. They were qualified to open up a dojo of their own and teach.


    With a body of normal human being, there are a lot of skills in the Divine Statue Technique he can¡¯t use, with the exception of some basic battle and grappling skills. However, with his experience in combat and knowledge of the Secret Methods, Garen was confident he could beat anyone below a Grade E.


    In other words, his body was weak, but his mind was one of the strongest fighters, of the King of the Century.


    "It boils down to how Luminarists fight now¡­" Garen¡¯s presence sank deeper and deeper into concealment, even his breath became slow, trickling, and drawn out. He could already sense something wrong in the environment with his rich experience in combat.

 233 Power 1

    Chapter 233: Power 1


    A tiny breeze swept through the black-leaved woods, causing the leaves to swoosh loudly. Some dandelion seeds glided in the air, and bees buzzed around a bush littered with tiny red flowers.


    On the side of the graveyard, in walked a middle-aged man in a black dress suit through the rundown fence.


    He looked cleaned up and had a pair of white gloves, like a nobleman who¡¯d just gotten out of a carriage.


    Silently, he stared at the headstone with a solemn look on his face, seemingly reminiscing the past.


    A faint footstep rattled behind him.


    "Who¡¯s there!"


    The man turned abruptly, vigilantly stared at the trees behind him.


    Deep in the woods, a maroon-colored windbreaker appeared in his sight.


    It was a young man walking through the woods with great strides. Stopping ten meters behind the man in suit, he glared at him with a dark look.


    "Emin, how dare you show your face here?" The man with red windbreaker said coldly. "Twelve years! This is your first visit here in twelve years!"


    "Aren¡¯t you the same?" Man with black suit replied with equal darkness on his face. "Clyde, this is my wife¡¯s tomb, you¡¯re not welcomed here!" He stressed on the word ¡®my¡¯.


    "You¡¯re the one who killed her! What right do you have to say that? Even her grave is crummy!" The younger man argued.


    Both of them confronted each other with their outfits as contrasting as night and day.


    Emin, the one wearing a suit, looked around as if searching for something when he realized.


    "You were tailing me!"


    "How else would I be able to find Hill¡¯s grave?" Clyde, red windbreaker, smirked. "Just give up, Emin, I shouldn¡¯t have let you take Hill back then. I thought she¡¯d have a happy life with you, rather than suffering in the army with me. Had I known¡­ Today, I¡¯m going to settle the score with you!"


    "I admit, I¡¯ve failed her, but you¡¯re in no position to lecture me!" Emin stared at his former rival in love. "Clyde A. Jackson, you don¡¯t scare me! I just don¡¯t feel the need to compare with you."


    "Why are you still babbling about?" Clyde raised his right arm, revealing a ruby ring on his middle finger. "Come on, show me what you got after all these years!"


    All of a sudden, the ring glowed a brilliant red. From the surface of the ruby, a thin red beam shot out.


    It landed on the ground and transformed into a huge red-furred wolf as tall as half a person¡¯s height.


    Aroooo!


    The wolf howled with a red glint in its eyes. Its physique was just like a real wolf if it wasn¡¯t for its glimmering red eyes.


    Its fur fluttered in the wind, making a sort of windswept grass plain effect.


    The huge red wolf was three meters long and one meter tall, its claws were sharp and deadly, with a little bloodstains on it.


    Garen hid inside the bush, stunned at the sight.


    Every single detail, from the red beam shooting out of the ruby ring, to the beam transforming into a wolf, had been seen by him.


    What¡¯s even more surprising was Clyde, who released the red wolf, was shrouded in a faint red glow. That red light formed an egg shape around him, enfolding him completely without a gap.


    "That¡¯s¡­ intriguing¡­" Garen thought the Secret Methods from Secret Martial Arts were fantastical enough, and the Sword of the Sprite was equally wondrous, but those were top tier forces after all. Unlike those, the two here only represent a normal level for this world!


    "A giant red wolf?" Emin kept his face straight, and took out a small silvery-white cane hanging on his waist.


    Lightly waving it, the tip of the cane sent out a beam of white light that transformed into a white bear.


    Grrrr!


    The white bear is as tall as a man when it stood up on its hind legs. It growled at the giant red wolf.


    The white bear didn¡¯t look too distinct from a normal polar bear, there was also no special light surrounding Emin.


    "Clyde, I lost to you then, but I¡¯ll never lose to you in front of Hill. Never!" Emin took off his white glove, revealing his scarred hands.


    "Nothing comes from just talk." Clyde smirked, gesturing with his ring hand. "Attack!"


    Red wolf growled and zapped past the right side of the white bear. Its claws glowed red as it sank them into the white bear¡¯s skin, slashing it. The white bear¡¯s fur around the wound was scorched and was emitting a charred scent.


    The wolf was so quick, the bear only realized what had happened after the wolf landed behind him.


    The patch of grass the red wolf landed on burnt, emitting green smoke.


    Roar!


    The white bear roared loudly as it pounded at the wolf. It missed.


    Crack!


    A branch was hit instead. It cracked, sending splinters toward the ground.


    The white bear chased after the red wolf, pounding it with its paws and tearing at its torso with its teeth.


    The beasts rolled against each other, causing the ground to rumble.


    Still hiding, Garen observed the beasts¡¯ attacks.


    The wolf¡¯s claws and teeth seems to have the effect of burning things they touch, it was so potent they can blacken trees and grass.


    The bear was strong, its skin and fur seems to be able to withstand heavy damage, it hasn¡¯t been hurt much in its few clashes with the wolf. Only when it was bitten that some tear wound appeared.


    While the beasts were fighting, their masters didn¡¯t even move, they just stood there without actions of any kind.


    Garen observed carefully and was shocked to find them both surrounded by egg-shaped lights of their beasts¡¯ color, and their feet are not touching the ground, but instead slightly hovering above.


    "This is a Luminarists¡¯ totem?" Garen noticed the none of wounds on both of the beasts bled. The flesh that was torn off the body just disappeared in a swirl of red or white light.


    The two beasts kept tearing at each other, their attacks affected nearby trees and rocks, making a mess. However, as if with tacit understanding, they didn¡¯t even go near the tombstone, so Garen on the other end of the clearing wasn¡¯t concerned about safety at all.


    "If these two beasts were totems, their destruction level is about the same as a Grade D in the Martial Arts world¡­" Garen eyeballed from the wreckage they¡¯ve caused.


    The two Luminarists were very normal, their power levels are only mediocre.


    In other words, anyone who¡¯s a Luminarist would have the power level of at least a Grade D Martial Artist.


    Recalling the memory he received, there were other stronger Luminarists in the future. Garen winced.


    "There are other stronger Luminarists, this world is stronger than the Martial Arts World!"


    Crack!


    The white bear snapped a tree with a half-meter diameter with its paw. Some parts of the tree fell off and hit Clyde, but was immediately blocked by the red glow surrounding him and bounced off.


    "So that¡¯s why they don¡¯t fight themselves, they have that light-thing protecting them."


    Garen noted.


    He realized the Luminarists in the memory were all like that, they never ordered their totems to attack other Luminarists. Looks like this was the reason behind that.


    White bear finally caved after defending against the red wolf¡¯s burning attacks. Its wounds cumulated, but it still kept fighting, roaring, as if saying it will take the red wolf down together with it even if it dies.


    Not far away, Emin¡¯s eyes were bloodshot and he¡¯s clenching his jaw, flicking his cane in the air continuously, as if there were something there.


    "Have you gone mad!" Clyde¡¯s face went frantic. "You¡¯ll destroy your totem if you keep this up!"


    The words didn¡¯t even registered in Emin¡¯s brains, he just kept flicking his cane with frenzy.


    Arooo¡­


    The red wolf was finally pounded on its abdomen and was sent rolling. Red light spots detached from its body and dissipated in the air.


    "Don¡¯t force me to do this!" Clyde¡¯s face showed a savagery that wasn¡¯t there. "Don¡¯t you think you¡¯re the only person daring enough to sacrifice your totem!"


    "Do it then!" Emin replied, gritting his teeth.


    A slight hesitation flickered in Clyde¡¯s eyes.


    In that instant, white bear charged at the wolf, lifting it skyward.


    Roar!


    White bear seemed to have increased his strength dramatically, no matter how hard red wolf struggled, it just couldn¡¯t get away. The bear claws ripped into the wolf, tearing it apart.


    "Sivak!" Clyde screamed.


    Raising his right hand, the ruby ring erupted into a burst of radiant red.


    The red wolf¡¯s torso tremored, flashing red, and started to bloat up, the bigger it got, the redder it flashed.


    Boom!


    The red wolf exploded like a balloon bursting, golden flames billowed out of its torso.


    The ground shook, the booming sound of the explosion spread in all direction centering the beasts.


    The trees and the soil shot outward along with the blaze, devouring the two Luminarists. Scorching red liquid spewed as far as twenty to thirty meters away, igniting the trees around.


    Garen already felt something¡¯s wrong when Clyde screamed and bolted away. When he heard the explosion, he rolled on the ground and ran a dozen meters.


    "It¡¯s almost as powerful as a high-explosive bomb¡­ That¡¯s something." He commented as he stood up.


    The flames stopped advancing not far before him. Within a twenty-meter radius, every rock and tree and flower had been burnt black. All the trees were felled by the force of the explosion, burning trunks and branches were everywhere on the ground.


    "Such force¡­" Garen looked at the center of the explosion, trying to catch a glimpse of the two Luminarists.


    Boom!


    An explosion larger than the last one. Once again, blazing fire burst out from the explosion center and charged at him.


    "F*ck!" Garen turned and took off. The impact carried him for several meters and set him down beside a tree. If it wasn¡¯t for his foundation in Martial Arts, he would¡¯ve eaten dirt.


    He glanced backward. Centered around the two Luminarists, everything within thirty meter radius in the black-leaved forest had been turned into a sea of fire. Trunks, bushes, grass patches, even rocks, everything was on fire.


    The fiery red shone on his clothes, dyeing them bright red. His hair and parts of his clothes were slightly scorched, too.

 234 Power 2

    Chapter 234: Power 2


    "What is this flame¡­" Stunned, Garen watched as a boulder was melted quicker than he could count to ten. It crawled, joining the other dark-red liquid that almost flooded the uneven ground. It looked like a red marsh that releases heat.


    The heat reminded Garen the lava at the volcano back at Smoke Island.


    "The flame is definitely close to a thousand degrees*¡­" Garen dared not get close. He stared at the ground in the area of the explosion, feeling kind of creeped out.


    "If any common Luminarists have this power of this level¡­" He cringed at the thought. The power, the destruction, it was too horrifying!


    "This isn¡¯t a Grade D¡­ This kamikaze attack is at least a Grade B!"


    Garen immediately thought of the father of his current host body, Viscount Vanderman, and if he also had that explosive force.


    In the beginning, the two was just fighting with mild strength, nothing too dramatic, but it¡¯s actually because they¡¯ve been keeping their full strength in. In that explosion, every inch of their strength must have bursted out, melting even boulders within thirty meter radius area. This is comparable to an explosion of a tiny volcano!


    By association, Viscount Vanderman¡¯s future enemy, Beckstone, as well as the elite members of the Obscuro Society, these are the elites of the elites within the Luminarist circle, outpowering the two significantly.


    "If all common Luminarists were at this standard, then Luminarists as a group is terrifying¡­"


    Garen felt as if his blood had been steadily rising in temperature, his exposed skin on his face and hands were hot from the heat.


    Even though he had finished his inspection of the power of Luminarists, he did not feel any relief when he thought about the two major enemies he¡¯ll have to face.


    He honestly felt even at his peak and mastery over Divine Statue Technique, he wouldn¡¯t be able to withstand the destructive power of the explosion and the heat he witnessed, and this was just the power of two ordinary Luminarists.


    Now that Viscount Vanderman had killed Beckstone¡¯s first love, as well as was involved in some infighting at the Obscuro Society, if it wasn¡¯t because of his support for the royals, he would¡¯ve been offed a while ago.


    The seed of vengeance had already been sowed.


    Flames devoured the trees nearby, lighting up the crowns of the woods. The fiery glow dominated the color palette in the immediate surrounding.


    Crackles from wood burning kept coming from the site. The breeze carried the spark into the air and further away.


    Black smoke rose to the sky, calling attention to this side of the woods. The smell of the charred woods repelled Garen from his spot, forcing him further from the explosion site.


    He looked at the center of the explosion again. No movements. The two Luminarists were nowhere to be found.


    If someone told him before that humans can survive that explosion, he might not have believed it, but now, he¡¯s not sure. After witnessing the strength of the Luminarists, he wouldn¡¯t be surprised by things that challenged his knowledge.


    He heard the patrol coming from afar, chose a direction, and sneaked away from the burning ground.


    On his way back to the manor, his heart felt heavy.


    Luminarists¡¯ power exceeded his expectation. The fight in the beginning looked just like the ones in the memory, mild, not very exciting. If it wasn¡¯t for the final explosions, Garen wouldn¡¯t have felt the energy within the totem beasts.


    Everything within thirty meters radius area became a sea of fire, even boulders turned into lava by these two normal Luminarists.


    Hoof¡­


    Garen let out a long sigh.


    When he thought about facing Beckstone and Obscuro Society in the future, he felt slightly depressed.


    "Looks like I need deeper information about Luminarists as soon as possible¡­" He thought of the dates he saw in the memory, "I have two years until Beckstone¡¯s arrival, I hope there¡¯s enough time¡­"


    Whether he like it or not, since he transmigrated into Acacia¡¯s body, he would need to face this danger as him.


    Luo Jing wasn¡¯t sure if he would transmigrate again once he died in this body. The Luminarists were no joke in this world, they¡¯re far stronger than the Martial Arts World. If someone could interfere with souls¡­


    Witnessing the strength of Luminarists, Luo Jing started to doubt his own.


    With his strength, even if the Divine Statue Technique has fully recovered, there¡¯s no way he could withstand a high heat of a thousand degrees, let alone the stronger enemies after this.


    Boom!


    Once again, an explosion came from behind.


    Garen turned around to look. The flames were getting smaller, the smoke thinner.


    From his side, a team of guards in white uniform hurried over to his side.


    "Young master! Are you okay? Young master!"


    The lead guard was a man with trimmed beard, he asked as he arrived in front of Garen. His face was pale.


    "We were late to come here. Why did you loiter around here? It¡¯s so dangerous! It¡¯d be bad if you got hurt in the explosion!" The lead guard pointed at two other guards behind him, "Luckily they reported back to us in time, or else this would¡¯ve been a tragedy!"


    "I don¡¯t¡­ I¡¯m fine¡­" Garen used the Turtle Breathing Technique to create a pale, scared-looking face. "Let¡¯s go back, I was just scared¡­"


    "Of course, of course." Lead guard sighed in relief. "Let¡¯s go, we¡¯ll send you back to the manor!"


    Garen returned to the manor with the escort of the guards. He took a nice warm bath and changed into fresh white clothes before noticing his housekeeper Du Qian¡¯s arrival.


    The housekeeper was the one he saw beside his father. She¡¯s slightly plump. As she saw Garen, she inquired his health with concern. It was only after she¡¯s sure he¡¯s of good health that she got at ease and asked people to get him some nerve-soothing aromatic herbs. After that, she instructed people to put out the fire in the woods.


    Garen closed his door, sat on his bed, turned off the light and pretended to sleep.


    He started mapping out his future plans.


    "Two years¡­ from the information in the memory, only a Luminarist can fight another Luminarist. When I was in the Martial Art World, I only needed three years to get to the top, I refuse to believe I couldn¡¯t reach a level where I can protect myself in two years!"


    "How do I become a Luminarist?"


    Garen started thinking about the question.


    His father Vanderman is a Luminarist. If he wanted to become one, he only needed to ask. However, if Vanderman was willing to teach Acacia Luminarist in the first place, he would already have, not keeping any knowledge of it from him.


    Garen glanced at the attribute pane at the bottom, it was slightly different than before.


    ¡®Strength 0.8, Agility 0.8, Vitality, 0.8, Intelligence 0.4, Potential 1872%. Unknown Talent detected.¡¯


    Vitality had already increased by 0.1, obviously from the training for the past few days.


    His gaze fell upon the Unknown Talent once more.


    "What is this Unknown Talent? Is it the talent to become a Luminarist?"


    After lying in the bed for a while, he heard sounds of Viscount Vanderman, it sounded like he was asking Du Qian about the fire. He insisted about his son¡¯s health, that which upon he¡¯s well, Vanderman relaxed audibly. Finding out that he¡¯s asleep, Vanderman didn¡¯t insist to see him.


    The voices left as footsteps faded away.


    Garen sat in his bed, and considered telling Vanderman frankly about wanting to become a Luminarist to gauge his success rate. At the same time, he was searching in the memory about becoming a Luminarist.


    From the memory, Garen found a key point.


    Luminarist is definitely a money burning job.


    Becoming a Luminarist involves melting silver down to make very detailed work of a totem. He only knew the gist of how it works, but it wasn¡¯t hard to extrapolate that conclusion from the fact that they use silver to create totems.


    Garen scanned through the memory he¡¯d received and found that silver was far more expensive than even gold, not to mention other metals, that¡¯s different from how it was on Earth.


    In this world, silver became the most expensive metal followed by gold.


    Noble families in this world like using silver to indicate their honorable births. This includes Acacia¡¯s clothes, they¡¯re mostly laced with silver.


    Garen did a little analysis and ruled out financial reasons. Acacia himself was a very prodigal person, but no matter how much money he¡¯d lost to gambling, Viscount never minded, obviously their wealth is enough to support his lifestyle.


    "If it wasn¡¯t because of wealth, then it¡¯ll be something else." Garen very carefully tried to recall Acacia¡¯s memory.


    He could vaguely remember a scene.


    It was when he¡¯s very young, he inadvertently saw Vanderman doing something mysterious, something fun-looking.


    Vanderman was in a private chamber, lights flowed out of his hand, forming something silvery-white in the air, it was pretty.


    The silvery lights arranged itself to become a something like a glyph, but the memory was too long ago, too blurry for Garen to make out what it exactly is.


    As that was happening, Vanderman noticed little Cia, it seemed like he took a drop of blood from him, it wasn¡¯t painful, just numbing. Vanderman left Acacia¡¯s side and came back looking disappointed. Acacia lost his consciousness at that point.


    This also made his memory fuzzy and thought it was just a dream. Now, it seems it might be real.


    "Since it said I have some ¡®Unknown Talent¡¯, it may just be one for becoming a Luminarist. But Vanderman was disappointed, so if the memory is correct, that¡¯d mean his talent didn¡¯t meet his expectation." Garen sat cross-legged on the bed, analyzing. This body¡¯s Intelligence is a little low, affecting his brain power and thinking speed.


    "Intelligence is his weakness¡­" Garen sighed speechlessly. "Should I just spend some Potential on his Intelligence to make sure the calculations are correct?"


    He thought his own Intelligence was low, but evidently, when compared to this body, he must be like a genius. This made him feel much better about himself.


    Translator''s Thoughts


    J_Squared J_Squared


    Translator¡¯s Notes:


    Here it wasn¡¯t specified what temperature system Garen/Luo Jing is using, but since it was written for a Chinese audience, it could be extrapolated that it was the metric system, hence about 1000¡ãC or 1832¡ãF.

 235 Willpower 1

    Chapter 235: Willpower 1


    Recalling Vanderman¡¯s expression, Garen suspected it was because of Acacia¡¯s low Intelligence that he wasn¡¯t taught to become a Luminarist¡­


    It was getting quiet outside, human voice and footsteps slowly faded away. Only occasional howls in the woods remained.


    The sky was getting darker.


    Staring at the dark sky outside, Garen slowly calmed down.


    His anxiety-ridden brain was slowly tranquilized, returning to his previous state.


    "Two years¡­ Last world I was able to become the top in the world, I refuse to believe I can only accept my fate in this one!" He sat with his legs crossing, his eyes shining brightly in the night.


    He recalled everything in the last world, Sylphalan, Old Man Gregor, Andrela, King of Nightmares, Ying Er, his uncle¡­ Familiar faces keep popping up.


    Garen closed his eyes slowly, and breathed deeply.


    Sssss¡­


    A breeze of cold air entered his lungs, lifting his spirit.


    "Luminarists¡­"


    Wordlessly, he sat in his bed trying to comb out his thoughts, attempting to find a way to become a Luminarist.


    "If it was really because of his Intelligence, it would be problematic to look for Vanderman. No one would believe someone else would become smarter, and even adopted so many extra behaviors overnight. Luminarists are not so stupid they couldn¡¯t tell the difference. So unfortunately, this is out for now."


    He continued brainstorming.


    "Then I¡¯ll need to find other Luminarists, learning by my own is definitely out of the window, too time consuming. If I don¡¯t understand how it goes outside, I¡¯d be boxing myself in and other people might take me by surprise." He reviewed the memory meticulously to see if there are any more valuable scenes.


    The memory is large, he could only scan through it one by one.


    The clock ticked¡­


    ***************


    Martial Arts World


    Garena and Sylphalan both perished amidst the nuclear bomb and volcano eruption. The Smoke Island rose and became a huge crater for the volcano. People called it the Black Smoke Pot Crater.


    Only a portion of the elites who participated the Smoke Island battle managed to escape. Most of them suffered from some sort of side effects.


    The world¡¯s Martial Art community was in a decline.


    Half a month after the volcano erupted, King of Nightmares entered the White Cloud Gate. Together with Celestial Circle Gate, he managed to stabilize the Martial Arts community in the South. Then they planned to head toward the East in a systematic way.


    Due to the volcano eruption, the air was mixed with volcano ash. Air quality was deteriorating around the three continents, the sky was dark, the ocean polluted. Floras and faunas were all affected, poisonous material were spread everywhere in the world.


    One year later¡­


    Celestial Circle Gate, White Cloud Gate, and The Sirens bought one giant ship each. Under Andrela¡¯s lead, they were all headed to the East.


    At the same time, Garen¡¯s family, as well as his uncle¡¯s family were all hypnotized onboard.


    "Can you tell me how big brother died?" Ying Er asked Andrela who stood at the bow. Her waist-length purplish-black hair swayed in the wind, adding to her innocence.


    "You big brother¡­" Andrela paused to think, "He may have been the strongest man in the world¡­"


    "The strongest man in the world?" Ying Er¡¯s eyes widened.


    Andrela looked out to the horizon and slowly recounted Garen¡¯s stories. "In the pursuit of Martial Arts, he¡¯s already at the limit of what humans can achieve. His spirit and strength joined together seamlessly."


    "In the three years he¡¯s been studying Martial Arts, he had battled countless enemies and won, he had arrived at the peak of physical achievement!" Andrela stated calmly. "As his sister, you should be proud."


    "It is so." An enchanting woman spoke from behind them both. King of Nightmares.


    She transformed into Ying Er and approached slowly. They look the same, but her attitude is completely different from Ying Er¡¯s, not having a single strand of purity.


    "Garen used only three years to become a Saint of Fist Technique and killed the First Divine Warrior Palosa, taking over his title! His strength is out of this world!"


    Ying Er was sad, but at the same time she felt a sense of pride. The praises the two top elites in the world sang of him made her feel a surge of exhilaration.


    The three stood at the bow of the ship, silent, deep in their own reminiscence.


    Three ships sped toward the Eastern ocean.


    Boom!


    A bomb dove into the water less than a hundred meters in front of the ships.


    A white column of seawater burst into the air and rained on the deck.


    "Warning! Black flags! Pirates!" A sailor on top of the mast yelled. Cannoneers hurried to their places.


    Andrela waved his arm.


    "Raise the white flag!"


    White flag?


    Ying Er did a double take, doesn¡¯t white flag mean they¡¯re surrendering?


    She noticed, there were words on the white flag, so it¡¯s not a flag of surrender. The words were¡­


    From afar, scores of ships of different sizes had their Jolly Rogers raised. Several pirates were watching their prey with a telescope, and reported, "It¡¯s White Cloud Gate! Let them pass!"


    The pirate ships turned back without hesitation.


    Ying Er stared at the leaving pirate ships, stunned. There was a shocking feeling of disbelief in her heart.


    "This is the prestige of the strongest fighter in the world!" Andrela sighed. "We¡¯ve met twenty-six different pirates, no exceptions, just raise the flag."


    "Even Immortal Palace, Behemoth Gate, and other countries have recognized Garen as the strongest man in the world!" King of Nightmares continued. "The moment Weisman released the nuclear bomb, many elites saw Garen punching at the sky, his Divine Statue Aura was clearly seen above the Smoke Island."


    Andrela nodded, "It¡¯s not that the pirates were scared of Garen, it¡¯s their way of showing respect. They respect his bravery to challenge firearms as a Martial Artist. The pirate king Macks is also an elite Martial Artists, he just couldn''t arrive at the Smoke Island in time, but he also saw the platinum-colored Divine Statue Aura."


    "Rather than saying that they respect his power, it should be said that they respect his attitude and spirit." King of Nightmares added, "Garen Lombard¡¯s spirit is now a popular culture among the Martial Arts community, even in the army of each country. Some soldiers even tattooed his face on their bodies. He symbolizes the spirit of Martial Arts! One that does not give up even though they are in a tough spot."


    "That was your big brother."


    "That is your big brother."


    The two mused the same words one after another.


    Ying Er stood against the sea breeze, her heart burning, eyes watering even though she was not sure if she''s sad or proud.


    Woo-woo!


    In that instant, black ships sailed in an orderly fashion on the opposite direction from them toward the three continents.


    Sirens kept blaring. Numerous cannons spotted on the deck of the ships. The black on the ships almost covered wholly the deep blue of the sea.


    "That is the Pirate King, accepting the summon of the Immortal Palace Alliance to attack Weisman¡¯s army!" Andrela stared at the ships, and explained. "Sylphalan and Garen both died when the nuclear bomb exploded in the volcano. The Immortal Palace were so mad, as if Sylphalan¡¯s death had stopped their plans permanently. Two people from the Immortal Palace wreaked havoc within the borders of Weisman. Flamingo himself blew up two ammunition depots of their military base, as well as a biochemical research base in three days. His method Estelle as extreme as always!"


    "Weisman didn¡¯t expect such a repercussion from bombing the Black Smoke Pot volcano. As of now, the armies of every country banded up into a coalition to take down Weisman." King of Nightmares laughed unapologetically. "When we left, the Confederation and the Tulip Republic coalition had already started attacking the bay of Man Marseille."


    "There''s the Immortal Palace wreaking havoc from inside, and there is the world''s army on the outside. Weisman is finished." Andrela nodded.


    ******************


    Garen kept thinking while memories of Luminarists was dug out one by one.


    It may be because he had not mastered the Divine Statue Technique, or maybe he realised his strength in this world is weak. Without unrivalled power, he''s not confident in being invincible.


    However, he''s confident in getting stronger even though it''s not the same world. The only problem is how much time he would need.


    If you wanted to return to the last world, he''ll need to make sure there is no more accidents. Transmigration through death had never struck a chord with him. He can''t guarantee returning to the last world after his death, or going to a completely new world, or even perish.


    If he wanted to avoid that, you''ll need to solve the problem that is coming in two years.


    After his battle with Sylphalan, the feeling of dropping to a level of normal human from the strongest man in the world had slowly healed. Right now, his thoughts are as calm as a cat.


    A tiny scene flashed through his mind.


    "No!" His brows furrowed, thinking hard to remember the scene that almost escaped him.


    Soon, a man with a black fedora appeared behind a group of people. He was wearing a black suit with a pair of white gloves, and he was carrying a short cane.


    "He¡¯s that Luminarist called Emin! He¡¯s not dead?" Stunned, Garen immediately recognized him.


    He jumped from his bed, wore his shoes, and went to the window.


    Near the dark lake, wisps of smoke was still visible above the woods.


    "If he¡¯s not dead, it would mean that he had survived the battle! This is an opportunity!"


    He examined the places around the explosion site, there were several people cleaning up, preparing to leave.


    Standing beside his window, he waited for a dozen more minutes until they¡¯ve all left. It was then that he dressed up, changed into his boots and sneaked out of his room.


    After leaving the manor, Garen went straight toward the direction of the site. Very quickly, he¡¯d arrived around the explosion site.

 236 Willpower 2

    Chapter 236: Willpower 2


    The ground was left a black glass-like shell, stones and metal and mud melded together. There were no trees, no grass patches, all of it vanished, melting together with the other materials.


    The explosion site has turned into an oval black crater.


    Garen made his way carefully along this area, while at the same time checking for places that might hide bodies.


    There was only a slight spillage of moonlight that night. Garen could barely see the silhouette of the objects in the woods.


    The air was cool, but the site was still a little warm from the explosion. The ground was hot to the touch, he could feel it through his boots.


    Garen checked the place thoroughly around the oval crater. Nothing. He widened his search area.


    It was getting late by the second. He checked everywhere, in the bushes, behind trees, between boulder cracks, under the branches etc. He has searched everywhere that could hide people, but there was not a single sign of anyone hiding.


    He did, however, almost stepped on a nest full of black swan eggs.


    Slowly, his search area widened to include the lakeside.


    Garen believed the person he saw in the memory is the Luminarist called Emin.


    This was an opportunity of a lifetime, it¡¯s also the most practical. If he could could find the Luminarist called Emin and save him, then he could request him to be his teacher, that¡¯s the idea with the highest success rate.


    Garen didn¡¯t show any impatience searching for Emin even if it¡¯s taking a long time. When he was training his Martial Arts, he had to constantly repeat the same movements, some were not only uncomfortable, but painful as well, but he persisted.


    It can be said that even without the help of his special ability, he¡¯d be able to become a decent Martial Artist within a certain timeframe. His special ability merely gave him a key to reach the peak.


    Compared to those days, this was nothing.


    He had decided to fully utilize the night to look for the Luminarist Emin. In an explosion like this one, he would¡¯ve been badly hurt.


    Walking along the lake, he started to examine the water. Soon, a dark silhouette entered his sight, it was floating on the water, unmoving, but it still looked like a human shape.


    Garen hurried over, and threw a pebble at it.


    Slap.


    No movement, the pebble sounded like it hit flesh.


    Garen had a slight suspicion. He closed their distance to better make out the silhouette¡¯s true shape.


    It was a charred, curled up body. Floating beside it was a short cane covered in soot.


    "This might be him." With a little hope, Garen approached him waddling through the water.


    Flipping him over, he revealed a soot-covered pale face, it was the Luminarist Emin.


    "It¡¯s him!" Garen sighed in relief. "Hey, are you alive? Wake up!"


    He patted Emin¡¯s face and pressed his stomach, he wasn¡¯t bloated, he didn¡¯t drown. He gave Emin two slaps on the face. No reaction.


    He used his fingernail to press hard against Emin¡¯s philtrum point*.


    After a few tries, Emin finally groaned weakly.


    "How are you doing? Do you need treatment? I¡¯ll send you to a hospice." Garen pretended as if he didn¡¯t know him. He felt weird saying that.


    "No¡­ No need¡­" Emid said weakly. "Child¡­ I just need a some antibiotics*¡­ Just a little would do¡­"


    Garen touched Emin¡¯s forehead, it was cold.


    "You¡¯re too weak. There was an explosion here just now, it¡¯s not safe. I¡¯ll bring you to where I live."


    Not waiting for an answer, Garen dragged Emin back on land before piggybacking him home slowly.


    Within moments, Emin was out cold again, not making any sound.


    Garen managed to return to his house without waking anyone up. He removed the lake seaweed on Emin and set him down on the recliner. Then he started the fire in the fireplace and placed Emin near it to dry.


    Adding firewood to the fireplace, Garen fiddled with the fire. He looked at Emin who was on the recliner.


    "This is my first time looking after people. If you don¡¯t repay me when you wake up, I will not let it go." He murmured. He wasn¡¯t sure if Luminarists have any way to investigate the past, so he continued his act even when Emin was unconscious, including the way he murmurs.


    Emin wasn¡¯t moving much on the recliner, but his face was slightly redder because of the fire.


    Garen continued playing with the fire. He thought it weird how Emin had no burn marks from the explosion, only a slight bruise.


    After making sure the fire would burn a while, he went to get the first aid kit, got out a few white pills and poured a glass of water from the water room.


    When he returned, Emin was awake. He sat up straight in the recliner, watching the fire crackle. His expression didn¡¯t give away what he was thinking.


    Hearing the footsteps, he turned to Garen.


    "You saved me?"


    "Who else did you think save you out there?" Garen threw the question back at him, "This are the pills you wanted, take it." He walked toward Emin and gave him the pills and the glass of water.


    Receiving the pills, Emin swallowed them with a huge gulp of water.


    "Thank you." He returned the glass to Garen.


    "How were you floating on the lake? The lake water is bone-chilling at night, you should choose a better time to swim if you really want to. Afternoon¡¯s great, some of the my guards like swimming in the lake too." Garen set the glass down on the table, "Not Black Swan Lake though, if you¡¯re found out by my father, you¡¯d be dead meat!" He shrugged, pretending to not knowing anything. "My father hates it when the water source was polluted. Oh, he¡¯s the viscount that owned this land. If you were found to have dirtied the lake, it¡¯s probably a light punishment to be sent to the gallows.


    "I¡¯m sorry¡­ I don¡¯t actually like to swim at midnights, but this time I just had to." Emin shrugged the same way Garen does. After drinking the water and dried off by the fire, his speech was much smoother. His accent was melodic, obviously he wasn¡¯t local.


    "I understand, it¡¯s okay." Garen nodded, "Unfortunately, I saw your fight with that guy. Losers deserved to be pitied."


    "You have a sharp tongue¡­" Emin was speechless at that comment.


    "You should be happy because you¡¯re alive, and he¡¯s probably dead."


    "This is true." Emin nodded, his face expressing wonderment. "You said you saw our fight?"


    "Of course, it¡¯s so intense, it¡¯s like bardic tales." Garen replied honestly.


    Emin sized Garen up.


    "If you can see our fight, it means you¡¯re also someone talented. You also saved me, is there anything I can do to repay you?"


    "Of course," Garen answered. "I would like to learn that fighting ability from you."


    "You know what that is?" Emin asked, surprised. He regained his composure soon after. "Right, you have the talent, you must know about it already. Your parents or someone in your family must be one of us. But why do you ask me, a stranger, instead of your parents?"


    "My father won¡¯t teach me. My family is poor." Garen answered without hesitation. Being poor¡­ If only Viscount Vanderman had heard about this¡­ Even among the Luminarists, the Trejons Family is one of the wealthier ones, they¡¯ve got a long way to become ¡®poor¡¯.


    Emin¡¯s face froze, and suddenly started reminisce.


    "It¡¯s true¡­ I used to be poor¡­" His gaze toward Garen turned soft, "Don¡¯t worry, since you saved me, I will pay for your future studies."


    "You agreed?" Garen showed a surprised look. If he¡¯s still being deadpan at this point, it¡¯ll look very put on, it doesn¡¯t suit youngster like him.


    "Call me teacher." Emin nodded, "I will teach you until you¡¯re also one of us, think of it as a thank you gift."


    "It¡¯s that simple?" Garen was stunned.


    "It¡¯s that simple."


    "I thought it may be a little too casual¡­" Garen muttered under his breath.


    "You¡¯ve got the talent, you don¡¯t look stupid, and you¡¯ve saved my life. I have the money, I have the knowledge and experience. Everything would be based on those, what else do you want?" Emin said, wryly.


    "What if I don¡¯t have the talent?" Garen asked suddenly.


    "Then it¡¯s not gonna work. Answer me this, did you save me because you want to become a Luminarist?"


    "Of course, who else would have the mood to take a walk in the wood at midnight? Do you think I¡¯m crazy?" Garen mocked.


    "Fine¡­" Emin has no comeback to that. He suspected this young man to have ulterior motive when he saved him. Hearing him admitting it frankly, it made him feel as if he¡¯s the one at fault.


    He paused.


    "Well then, last question." He looked straight at Garen¡¯s eyes. "Tell me your name, young man." He raised the slightly charred cane as if he¡¯s going to point at something.


    For a moment, Garen was dazed, but he gave a calm smile right after.


    "Acacia, my name is Acacia Trejons, but I like people calling me Garen."


    He genuflected as a sign of respect toward Emin.


    The cane touched his right shoulder and momentarily flashed silver.


    Emin stared at Garen, his face full of gentle reminisce, as if seeing himself on his knee back when he was initiated.


    "With this ancient ritual, I swear to never reveal any of teacher¡¯s knowledge and skills. May the Silver be ever-luminescent."


    Two immature voices rang in his mind, overlapping, it was hard to tell Garen¡¯s from his own.


    Translator''s Thoughts


    J_Squared J_Squared


    1.	Lit. ¡°person¡¯s center acupuncture point¡±. Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners use this point to cope with emergencies when a patient faints either in the middle of an acupuncture treatment or because of drowning or shock.


    2.	It was literally written as ¡°anti-inflammatory medicine¡±. According to the description that came after it, imagine Xanax.

 237 Friend 1

    Chapter 237: Friend 1


    A week later¡­


    Emin left without a word. Although his injuries hadn¡¯t healed completely yet, he was now able to move on his own. After writing Garen a handbook of notes, he also gave an address before he left. His requirement was that Garen learned everything in the book and achieved the standard stated there, before searching Emin out again.


    Garen didn¡¯t step out of the estate for an entire week. Every morning, after having breakfast with Vanderman, he would lock himself in his rooms and forbade anyone from entering. There, he focused all his attention to deciphering that handbook.


    The handbook had a lot of messy and scattered bits and pieces of knowledge, with no sense of organization whatsoever. Therefore, Garen couldn¡¯t use his special power to read and absorb it as a whole.


    And there was another key problem, which is that Acacia¡¯s, or this body¡¯s intelligence was simply too low. The quality of this body was simply not there, and could not satisfy the basic conditions to learn the special ability. That was why he could only study the traditional way.


    The handbook had no name. In it was a great deal of the most basic information about Luminarists, just the very basics.


    It was only after Garen read some of these things that he began to understand the true mysteries behind the existence of the Luminarists.


    This was a very powerful group of people.


    They relied on a basic, inherent talent in quality appraisals, to achieve the level where they could sense and control silver.


    At one point, some of the geniuses among them suddenly discovered that they could use silver to create a resonance of mysterious power, and so the Luminarists were born.


    They used silver to form many different totems, and then used unique structures and principles to eventually light those totems, activating them. These then became their helpers or subordinates.


    But these totems themselves didn¡¯t have much intelligence, so they were only equal to a Luminarist¡¯s second body.


    From the handbook, Garen found out that you had to fulfill three conditions to become a Luminarist.


    One: Appraisal, a basic talent.


    This was the basic or basics. Without this, it was impossible to enter this circle. You woudn¡¯t even be able to see through a Shielding Light that someone cast casually.


    Two: Intricate blueprints.


    The creation of a totem required an extremely intricate silver blueprint, and it had to be three-dimensional rather than flat. The level of accuracy needed was extremely high. Someone without this talent couldn¡¯t become a Luminarist either. This was the basic method and road to transforming knowledge into power.


    Three: Basic tactics.


    The Luminarist was the base, designing the totem, creating the totem, and helping the totem to fight or work. These were all a series of tactic, and in actuality a totem can be broken down into countless basic tactics.


    A totem was like a complex machine made out of countless tiny components, and the tactics were the most basic of intricate components. At the same time, they could be used individually, to increase a totem¡¯s ability in any one area.


    These three points were the key to becoming a Luminarist.


    And when it came to basic tactics, there was actually a lot of basic knowledge to learn. Each and every different Luminarist had their own accumulation of knowledge.


    The further they went with their knowledge, the stronger the totems they created.


    In truth, totems were like the physical embodiment of their knowledge. As everyone¡¯s understanding was different, the totems would turn out different even if they used the same basic tactics.


    The handbook only contained the basic contents of intricate blueprints, for Garen to study.


    This area of knowledge needed a steady hand and a calm mind. They had to focus intently, and their emotions must not be disturbed.


    This was also why most Luminarists were quiet by nature, because this was the basic requirement for making intricate blueprints.


    He practiced for a few days in the manor, but he didn¡¯t improve very much. It was obvious that this body¡¯s innate talent really wasn¡¯t all that. He wasn¡¯t steady at all, and despite his frustration, he couldn¡¯t do anything but wait for his body to regain some of its old quality, before he can improve it and then learn faster. Right now, all he could do was repeat the exercises mechanically.


    This time he couldn¡¯t take any more shortcuts. Just like other normal Luminarists, he had to start training his steadiness from scratch.


    ************


    Near the Trejons territory: the Palato family grounds.


    The thick forest of trees was like a dark green carpet. Towards the left of a waterfall, there was a grey-black estate under renovation.


    In one house on the estate, the balcony of the second floor.


    Garen was lying lazily on a deckchair, looking at the blue sky through narrowed eyes. He heard gentle piano music wafting out from inside, feeling so comfortable he nearly fell asleep.


    The balcony was a white semicircle. Garen lay on a chair near the edge, wearing white casual clothes with silver trimmings, long sleeves and long pants. His golden hair blew about in the wind.


    The sunlight fell on him, reflecting a light that was so white it was nearly blinding.


    "Cia." The glass door opened, and a young man with a black ponytail walked out. He looked at Acacia, stretched out on the chair, with mild surprise. "Aren¡¯t you going to play a few hands in there? Marin and the others had put out a table just for you, what¡¯s with you today?"


    Garen tilted his head and looked at the young man.


    "I don¡¯t want to play today¡­ Recently I¡¯ve been thinking about the meaning of life."


    The young man¡¯s face went blank.


    "Wha? The meaning of life?!" He stood there frozen, an expression of disbelief as he looked at Garen, "I say, Cia, we were best friends since we were kids. You can talk to me about anything, but don¡¯t go doing anything stupid!1"


    "It¡¯s fine, I just understood some things recently." Garen waved his hand. "Alright, go on in, or those young masters and misses in there will have to call you again."


    "Save me, Prynne! Andel wants to smear cake on me!" On cue, a girl screamed inside.


    "What are they doing now?" The young man turned away exasperatedly, going in past the glass door. There was cacophony inside.


    Garen continued narrowing his eyes disinterestedly, staring at the white clouds slowly floating through the sky. In his head, he kept repeating the basic points of knowledge from the handbook.


    This was Acacia¡¯s life, going out and gathering with three bad friends every day. Today your place, tomorrow mine. Or after a few days, everyone would go book a large hotel room, and occasionally they would have a barbeque, go hunting, swim.


    Gambling, racing horses, watching wrestling, and then they would drink beer together and tell tall tales when they rested. Whenever there was a special occasion or some big incident occurred nearby, the four of them would always be the first to rush over and watch.


    Things like foreign circuses, wandering theaters, these were all their favorite activities.


    The four of them were one of the two circles with the highest family backgrounds among the nobles around here. Acacia and Prynne Acivis were the representative members, eating, drinking and playing. Whatever was fun, they¡¯d do it.


    Prynne¡¯s mother was the lady of the largest territory in Lush Forest district, his family¡¯s power stronger than even Acacia¡¯s. Normally, people thought he was the main player, while Acacia was the sidekick. As for the other two, Andel and Marin, they were also girls from two noble families who played together with Prynne since they were young. Their families were slightly weaker, but not by much.


    The four of them represented half of the noble families in the entire Lush Forest.


    Through these memories flashing in his head, he remembered that when Acacia was young, the four of them had stood and compared how far they could pee¡­ That really was a spectacularly embarrassing memory. Two boys competing with two girls to see who could pee further while standing¡­


    Unlike regular families, noble families could get whatever they wanted. And there was a lot to learn about etiquette and culture when they were younger, so whenever they got to play, they threw caution and logic to the wind.


    As they¡¯re continually spoiled by kowtowers, they had played almost all there was to enjoy. All that was left was emptiness.


    And so they look for more extreme things to do.


    For example, look at the four of them now. If it weren¡¯t that their families strictly forbade anything sexual to prevent bodily harm, they would probably have gotten tired of that by now too.


    Garen lay quietly on his deckchair. After revising his basic knowledge, he rested a little more and took a short nap. Then he started to think back again. If there was anything he couldn¡¯t remember, he would take out a tiny note he had copied and check.


    Time passed before he knew it.


    The room started to grow quiet. A guest had come to visit, and was rejected by Prynne lazily. The two girls them chased away the pianist and randomly hit some keys on their own, creating a ruckus.


    Amidst the chaos, the glass door to the balcony opened again, and a tall girl in a black-purple dress walked out. She had blonde-brown hair falling over her shoulders, and she walked up to Garen before crouching down.


    "Hey, what¡¯s the matter with you recently? Why do I feel like you¡¯re growing more and more listless."


    "Leave me alone. I suddenly feel like it¡¯s time to grow up," Garen said mildly, mimicking Acacia¡¯s tone from before.


    "Is it because of Big Sister Hathaway?" The girl¡¯s rather plain face looked as though she understood. "It¡¯s just an Astronomical Edict, there¡¯s nothing to it. At the most, I¡¯ll steal my uncle¡¯s one to make up for yours." She clenched her teeth, as though it had taken her a lot of determination to make that decision.


    "Leave me alone, Andel, I¡¯m just not that happy inside." Garen stood up and took a deep breath. "Recently I¡¯ve wanted to learn some things, and stop messing about like this. I mean, we¡¯re already twenty, what will happen if we just continue like this?"


    "The families have everything arranged for us, don¡¯t they? We don¡¯t have to worry about anything, and just follow the script, right?" Andel smiled, but there was a hint of unhappiness in it. "Once we¡¯re old enough, we¡¯ll just get married, have kids, and continue messing around like this. What¡¯s wrong with that?"


    "That¡¯s what you say, but deep inside you don¡¯t like it either, do you?" Garen glanced at the girl.


    "Aren¡¯t we all like that?" Andel retorted.


    "That¡¯s why I want to learn something, and stop wasting time like this anymore." Garen was starting make preparations for his future change.


    "Forget it, you?" Andel pouted disbelievingly. For some reason, she was feeling slightly angry, so she went back inside and decided to ignore him.


    She didn¡¯t know why, but when she saw Garen saying that he wanted to learn something so seriously, she just felt really suffocated inside, and panicky.


    Watching Andel walk away, Garen didn¡¯t say anymore. He got up from the deckchair, and stood on the balcony, looking down into the distance.


    The white waterfall roared as it left long white streams in its wake, falling down into an emerald pond. A few birds circled over it at times, and a few coaches were stopped next to it, the horses snorting away.


    Everything seemed unusually quiet and peaceful.


    Translator''s Thoughts


    J_Squared J_Squared


    The language suggests contemplating suicide.

 238 Friend 2

    Chapter 238: Friend 2


    This was Prynne¡¯s most secluded estate, so they could avoid a lot of the adults who wanted to suck up to the four of them to build connections. These adults always found distant connections from all sorts of cracks and crevices, making them impossible to refuse when they say they just want to visit. And then they come one after the other, non-stop, so that they don¡¯t have any more time for themselves.


    These few days, Garen had been enjoying the excessive lifestyle of a rich heir. As the only son of an upper noble family, there were powerful people visiting him every day as soon as he stepped out of the house. All of them wanted to establish a relationship with Vanderman through him.


    He only had a bit of me-time when he was together with Prynne and the others, so that was when he could study the knowledge on the handbook. That was why he agreed to hang out with the three of them.


    It seemed like an easy life, but he had to be constantly feigning, and at the same time he spent a lot of energy on studying the handbook. So in truth, these days were pretty tiring for him.


    And these days, while he was studying, he was also thinking how he should increase his own power.


    Two years from now, - would surely come to Lush Forest for revenge, and the Obscuro Society was already fairly unhappy with Vanderman. Their life looked quiet, but in truth they were already surrounded by dangers.


    Garen decided that he would find a way to first understand the entire Luminarist community¡¯s overall situation.


    During the time he spent with his teacher Emin, he more or less understood that the Luminarists were an extensive organization. Out of the several billion people in the Kovitan Empire, at least a hundred thousand of them were Luminarists.


    Other than the Luminarists in the two main powers, Oscuro and Terraflor, most of them were regular Luminarists. Regular Luminarists made up ninety percent of the total.


    In other words, Obscuro and Terraflor were at the highest level, completely out of reach for regular Luminarists. Their whereabouts and actions were mysterious and unpredictable, and normal people had no way to find about more about them.


    Besides, most Luminarists liked to do research and lived quiet lives. Their social relationships weren¡¯t anything to shout about, so they communicated even less with the outside world, and the latest news about them was even harder to obtain.


    These were all basic things about Luminarists that Garen found out from Emin.


    Thinking back on the related information he had, Garen glanced at the attribute pane at the bottom of his field of vision.


    ¡®Strength 0.9, Agility 0.8, Vitality 0.9, Intelligence 0.5. Possesses Luminarists¡¯ appraisal ability.


    Secret technique -- Divine Statue Technique, Ten Thousand Mammoth martial arts.


    Time until full recovery: 367 days (one year).¡¯


    "My power and intelligence improved just a smidge, it¡¯s way too slow¡­"


    "Cia! Are you going to the barbeque tonight?" A pretty girl with a maroon ponytail ran out and rushed at Garen, yelling, "Your goddess Aquarius is going too, y¡¯know? Wanna come?"


    Garen hesitated. He did want to see this woman that had the original Acacia wound around her little finger. "Alright. Who else is there, other than Aquarius?"


    "There are two of her friends, both pretty girls," the girl with the maroon ponytail said mysteriously. "Thank me, I was the one who pulled them all here. If you weren¡¯t looking so down recently, I¡¯d be too lazy to take the initiative and invite them."


    "Thanks a lot, adorable, pretty little Marin." Garen hastened to thank her.


    "Saying it like that has no sincerity at all, gimme something with substance. I love your poetry, is there anything new?" Marin squeezed up to him, asking. A faint fragrance of roses wafted into Garen¡¯s nostrils.


    "You like my poetry? ..." Garen¡¯s expression went blank for a moment. There were actually people who liked Acacia¡¯s poetry?! It was an unbelievable assault to his understanding of this world¡¯s beauty standards.


    "That¡¯s right, just tell us if you got anything new so we can all appreciate it. You¡¯re our resident genius, y¡¯know." Andel had come out as well, followed by Prynne.


    Prynne¡¯s expression was approving as well.


    "Don¡¯t hide it and keep it to yourself, just read it out for us," Prynne hurried him.


    Garen looked at the three expectant faces in front of him, and began to wonder if it was his sense of beauty that had problems. That nauseating poetry actually had so many fans!


    "Hurry up and read it out, what are you waiting for? Don¡¯t tell me you ran out of ideas?"


    "No way, I just heard one of Cia¡¯s new poems recently!"


    "Don¡¯t disappoint us! This is one of our regular activities!"


    Seeing the three of them staring at him expectantly, Garen started to feel a bit constipated.


    Poems¡­ Sure, there were some, but for him to stand up and read it to the three of them with a straight face¡­ No way, that would be a source of eternal shame..


    "Um¡­ my throat¡¯s been feeling off recently¡­ why don¡¯t you guys read it yourself." Garen hurriedly took out the notebook Acacia always carried around with him, and stuffed it into Prynne¡¯s arms. Then he quickly darted into the large living room inside.


    Prynne flipped open the notebook.


    "Fine, we¡¯ll read it ourselves."


    "Beautiful lily! Thou art so fragrant~~ My goddess Aquarius, thy face art like that flower vase¡­ uh, there¡¯s an extra word here, it¡¯s like that flower, so beautiful and fair."


    Prynne posed as though performing poetry, and began to recite it loudly,


    "O Beautiful Aquarius, worry not that thou lose thy beauty, worry not if thou art ugly. Even if thou became a toad, I would not give up on thou, I would love thou unconditionally! Aquarius! Ah! Aquarius! Ah! Ah! Ah~~~~!!!"


    Each of the ¡®Ah¡¯s increased in pitch.


    Inside, Garen felt his whole body going numb. Every hair on his body stood on edge.


    "What a good poem!! As expected of my best friend, Acacia!" He could hear Prynne¡¯s praises from the balcony. "I want to publish this poem to the love poetry magazine, and let everyone witness, the poetry of my brother Acacia! Look, these last three exclamations, they¡¯re practically heavenly muse!"


    "My favorite line is ¡®Even if thou became a toad, I would not give up on thou¡¯! Mm¡­ so touching!" Marin kept agreeing beside him.


    "Cia, how could you hide such a good poem after writing it? That¡¯s mean of you!" Prynne voiced his dissatisfaction loudly from the balcony.


    On the sofa inside, Garen was thinking that his dignity in this life, no! The previous life, and the life before that! His dignity since the very beginning had all been utterly lost.


    "Suit yourselves¡­" Garen replied weakly.


    What kind of eye would see this sort of thing even remotely as good poetry¡­


    Prynne and the others repeated the lines over and over again on the balcony, and even had heated discussions about it. They were so loud that even the servants downstairs could hear them clearly. Only then did they enter the room, still dissatisfied.


    "Cia, what¡¯s the matter with you? Why does it seem like you¡¯re feeling kinda down?" Prynne looked at Garen, sprawled over the couch and unmoving, with disbelief. "As expected of someone deeply in love. Your poetry is even better than usual!"


    "Don¡¯t mention poetry to me, it makes me nauseated¡­" Garen replied, more constipated than ever.


    "As I thought, writing poetry takes too much out of you. True, classic lines like these would take up quite a bit. In that case, you¡¯d better rest. We¡¯ll call you when it¡¯s time."


    "Alright¡­"


    "Then we¡¯ll go ahead and prepare. We¡¯ll decide on the choices, that okay?"


    "Sure¡­"


    Ker-chak.


    With the sound of the closing door, the room suddenly became slightly empty.


    There were only two young maids standing respectfully in the corner, quietly awaiting orders.


    Garen lay on the couch. After a moment¡¯s pause, he slowly recovered from his speechlessness.


    Grabbing the black notebook, he tossed it fiercely to a side.


    "What on earth is this!"


    He stood up and returned to the balcony, lying on the deckchair to rest. And then he pulled the small papers out of his pocket to memorize the information from before. At the same time, he had to recall a few important matters.


    Regarding the Aquarius he was going to meet at night, he found some relevant information in Acacia¡¯s memories.


    She was a very beautiful woman, with a small waist, long legs, a large bust and a breathtaking face. She had lively almond eyes, and when she looked at people, her expression always invoked love and pity. Especially when she looked directly at you with her eyes widened, her pure gaze would always make one lower their head in shame, unable to meet her eyes.


    But Garen sensed something amiss about this woman.


    This woman, who looked so weak and like a social butterfly, seemed to be perfectly at ease at a series of banquets and events. In fact, she seemed to take the initiative.


    And even more strangely, many rich and powerful people also lowered their heads to her out of shame, and allowed her whatever she wanted. Her body was unusually soft, her skin as smooth as the highest quality white jade.


    "Aquarius Senbenita¡­" Garen narrowed his eyes. "This woman was probably trained in martial arts¡­ and probably some joint-related techniques used in assassination. She¡¯s not what she seems¡­"


    "Vanderman allowed this woman to play his son around, and didn¡¯t do anything at all about it. Why?" Thinking back to what Vanderman said, he had absolutely no intention to trouble this woman. Instead, he had cleaned up after his son¡¯s mess.


    Garen began to vaguely suspect Aquarius¡¯s identity.


    "We¡¯ll see when the time comes. If she really was a spy who was trained in assassination techniques, this would also be a great chance to see what the fighting level in this world is like."


    He moved his shoulders, and they made small cracking sounds.


    Although his body was recovering very slowly, he was still a top level martial artist. His fighting level was still no lower than E.


    In the previous would, level E was already part of the letter levels, and was only lower than a Grandmaster of Combat. Regular small machine guns would not pose a threat to them unless wielded by a top level shooter.


    Even outside, they were perfectly capable of starting their own groups.


    Garen chased the two little maids away and stood alone in the living room. Then, he began to relearn a few tips and tricks to combat joint techniques.


    Soon, Prynne rushed over to call him. Everything was ready, he said, so Garen had to go over there and prepare to leave.


    They planned to stay a couple of nights on the mountain, and return home a few days later. They could take this chance to hunt and hike, too.


    Garen asked the driver to inform his family, and got onto the carriage together with Prynne and the others. They drove towards the depths of the forest, a few strong bodyguards following them closely to maintain their safety.


    They were going to the nearby Blackflower Mountain more than ten miles away, and planned to start a campfire there. There were few people and many wild animals there, so it was their newest hunting spot.


    Translator''s Thoughts


    J_Squared J_Squared


    µ°ÌÛ, lit. egg (meaning testicles) pain. Bet you always wanted to know that.

 239 Encounter 1

    Chapter 239: Encounter 1


    Amidst the sea of dark green trees, there was a thin, pale green roadway. It crawled through the forest like a slow earthworm, wider in some places and narrower in others, twisting and turning unpredictably.


    A carriage drove slowly along that road, followed by a team of horseriding bodyguards in black.


    The sky was beginning to dim. The setting sun was obscured by layers of thick clouds, only the slightest bit of red light seeping through.


    The carriage soon stopped at the end of the road. The old driver steadied it, and turned around to yell,


    "This is as far as we can go, the carriage can¡¯t go any further."


    "Got it, you can go back now, Old Peter. Come back here to fetch us in two days." The door opened and a young man in tight black clothes jumped out as he spoke loudly.


    "Yes, Young Master."


    A few more young people dressed luxuriously jumped out of the carriage, two male and two female in total. They were all wearing black clothes that seemed to be for hunting. Their pants legs were stuffed into long breeches, and there were sharp short knives tied to their belts.


    "Prynne, where did you guys decide to meet?" the other boy asked casually. He had blonde hair and a handsome face, with a studious air. It was Garen, who had come along with his companions.


    "Right over there, we need to walk another distance. Let¡¯s go over there first, I¡¯ll tell a guard to go pick up Aquarius and the others. Do you wanna go along, Cia?" Prynne glanced at Garen.


    "It¡¯s fine, I¡¯ll stay with you guys." Garen shook his head. Right now, he was carefully observing his surroundings. "The plants here look pretty old, it does looks like people don¡¯t usually come here."


    "Indeed." Prynne looked slightly proud of himself. "I even purposely asked travelling merchants who go out a lot, and finally came up with a place they don¡¯t go. Of course there wouldn¡¯t be anyone here."


    "It won¡¯t be dangerous, will it?" Marin was combing her her long maroon hair, and asked worriedly.


    "Relax, even if there is something dangerous, we have so many guards here. There¡¯s nothing to be afraid of!" Prynne shrugged, pointing at the team of guards riding behind them. "The people I brought this time are my family¡¯s elite fighters, they¡¯re definitely capable, so you don¡¯t have to worry about safety!"


    Prynne walked up to a tall and strong-looking man, with a broad back and thick waist, and patted the man¡¯s chest.


    "This is Hanson, he once tore a forest grizzly up alive! He¡¯s the strongest of men! And he¡¯s also the defense captain in charge of our safety this time!"


    Hanson was an entire head taller than Prynne, with limbs as thick as an elephant¡¯s. The muscles on his body were about to explode out of his skin-tight armor, keeping anyone who looked at him on edge.


    "Leave it to me, Hanson! No problem!" Hanson patted his chest, and flexed his muscles like a bodybuilder. It instantly garnered some laughs from the girls.


    Whoa!!


    "Hanson!!" "Hanson!!" "Hanson!!"


    The guards behind him drew their scimitars at the same time, raising them above their heads as they cheered for their captain.


    "Our safety is in your hands, Big Brother Prynne." Andel giggles as she got closer to Prynne.


    "Speak for yourself, I still think Cia¡¯s side is more reliable¡­" On the other hand, Marin walked up to Garen. "Big Brother Cia, you gotta protect me~~" she purposely said flirtily.


    "Cia is head over heels trying to get Aquarius, he won¡¯t have time for you." Andel didn¡¯t hold back with her words.


    Garen shrugged exasperatedly. "I¡¯ll protect you, relax." He turned around to glance at the middle-aged man standing behind him.


    This man was wearing a long-sleeved dark green shirt and similar long pants. He said little to nothing, and wore a metallic black armguard on his forearm. He looked to be in his thirties.


    His name was Ulun, the bodyguard his father Vanderman had sent to protect him.


    Garen lowered his voice helplessly.


    "You guys know it too, Prynne had always been in charge of our safety, and we were too lazy to bother with it ourselves. It¡¯s just that there was a huge explosion in my family¡¯s territory this time, so my father specifically sent someone to protect me.


    "So you¡¯re saying this guy is really good?" Marin stuck out her tongue.


    Garen nodded.


    Ulun was indeed very strong. Even in the previous world of secret martial arts, he wouldn¡¯t be your regular Joe. Judging from the way he walked, his reactions, as well as the killing intect on him and his gaze, he was definitely an elite fighter with several dozen lives on his hands. Only people like these would have that vague sense of disregard and contempt whenever they looked at everyone else.


    But Garen never saw Ulun in a fight himself, so he couldn¡¯t quite assess his total abilities. One thing was sure, Ulun might not look like much, but his abilities were definitely no lower than the guard captain Hanson.


    Seeing that Garen and Marin were talking about him, Ulun put his right hand on his chest, and bent his head with a smile.


    Having more or less introduced the servants, all four of them knew who was who. Hanson took the lead, and the team of guards protected the four of them on both flanks. Only then did the procession continue walking to the edge of the forest.


    Axes continuously broke through the bramble, cutting open a path. Snakes, rabbits, and forest mice that darted out occasionally were also cause for the two girls to scream dramatically.


    Marin always preferred to stick to Garen, whereas Andel stayed with Prynne.


    As the group went further into the forest, the four of them quickly decided on a relatively flat piece of land. The guards started to chop up the bushes and trees nearby, setting up an activity spot.


    Hanson and Ulun split up, patrolling the surroundings and chasing away poisonous snakes or bugs.


    The four of them had barely stopped to catch their breath when soon they heard the rustle of activity behind them. Someone seemed to have caught up from behind.


    Soon, a group of people dressed in dark green approached them quickly.


    "It¡¯s Aquarius," Marin whispered beside Garen. Her gaze was slightly complicated, but she hid it well.


    Garen looked around him. Prynne, Andel and Marin were all staring at him. He knew he had to do something. After all, the previous Acacia liked Aquarius more than anything else, and even fought with his older cousin who loved him the most over her.


    He stood up helplessly, and took the initiative to meet the team.


    "Is it Miss Aquarius?" he asked loudly.


    "Cia! Is that you?" A response came immediately from the approaching group. The crowd parted, and a girl in white walked out, holding up the hem of her dress. She wore a long one-piece dress, had long dark brown hair over her shoulders, and extremely thick makeup. Garen¡¯s first impression of her was one of those unconventional beauties from Earth.


    She had an oval face, with smooth and fair skin. Her eyes were made larger by dark green shadow, forming perfect almond eyes. Her eyebrows seemed to be drawn too, a textbook example of eyebrows like willow leaves, thin, long, and dark green. A straight nose, pink lips. Add that to her thin waist and thick bust, her long legs. There were even dainty crystal pendants hanging from her ears lobes.


    At first glance, anyone could see this was a beauty of luxury, and she really knew how to dress herself up. In truth, her real face was nowhere near this level.


    But to innocent boys like Acacia, this kind of makeup was more than enough to have him head over heels with her, his eyes stuck to her like glue. Compared to Aquarius, Marin -- who was quite pretty among the four of them, but who didn¡¯t know how to use make-up -- was like the duckling next to the swan."


    "It¡¯s been a while since we met. Since I heard you were coming this time, I thought, it¡¯s not like I have anything else to do. Coming to meet you lets me relax at the same time. I wonder, am I welcome here?" Aquarius¡¯ voice was full of calm confidence, giving the impression that she was very in control of herself. It wasn¡¯t too loud or too soft, and even the turns in her voice seemed to be fully calculated.


    "You are, of course you are!" Garen imitated Acacia from before, acting completely head over heels for her, his eyes not turning away. He looked as if Aquarius had a hand on his soul. And then he followed Acacia¡¯s actions in his memories, grabbing Aquarius¡¯ hand and making to kiss it. But he was instantly pushed aside.


    Impatience flashed past Aquarius¡¯ eyes. Every time Acacia took her hand, he would immediately chew on it for half a day and refuse to let go. So even though she was supposed to stretch out her hand first, she pretended to forget about that.


    "Why don¡¯t we first figure out how to make a fire? I have two more friends coming over." Aquarius greeted Prynne, Marin and Andel respectively. There was no faulting her manners.


    The five of them began directing the guards to stick the vines and branches that had been chopped off into the ground, forming a simple fence. And then they began to put up each of the tents they brought.


    Aquarius¡¯ friends arrived quickly as well. They were two pretty girls, one called Maria and the other Cena. They only brought a couple of guards each, and quickly gathered around Aquarius, chatting merrily.


    Garen expressed his love for Aquarius every now and then, acting particularly passionate, but the other party didn¡¯t say even a word to him.


    The few tents were set up in no time at all, each of them covered with large nets that had leaves tied to them. This was to camouflage the tents from the eye, merging them into the forest.


    The seven or eight guards in total also set up a few large tents a little further ahead for shelter.


    While they were putting up camp, Garen took that chance to take a walk around the area to stake out the ground. Marin volunteered to stay with him, and they went on the excuse that they were gathering firewood.


    Under Ulun¡¯s protection, the two of them began to gather wood.


    "Cia, do you really like Aquarius that much?" Marin asked softly as she gathered the wood.


    "Do you still need to ask?" Garen replied simply.


    "Then what part of her do you like?"


    "I like all of her. Most importantly, don¡¯t you think Aquarius is really beautiful?" Garen copied Acacia¡¯s wods directly. The two of them picked up a few small sticks every few steps. They weren¡¯t gathering firewood at all, but chatting as they took a walk. Behind them, Ulun privately twisted his mouth.


    "Then, we¡¯re very close, right?" Marin asked again.


    "Of course," Garen replied.


    "If¡­ I say if, Aquarius and I fell into the water at the same time, who would you save first?" Marin suddenly asked very solemnly.


    "Isn¡¯t it obvious? Aquarius, of course! Don¡¯t you know how to swim?" Garen could also see that Marin liked Acacia, but he was following Acacia¡¯s original memories and impressions to the T. Although this answer was very unlike him, it was the answer that suited Acacia best.


    Helplessness flashed past Marin¡¯s eyes, and she became somewhat down.


    Garen bent down to pick up a few dried out branches, when suddenly his palm brushed a black-green plant next to him. A small cut immediately opened up on the back of his hand.


    He frowned slightly, not at all used to how weak his body was now. He was just about to straighten up when something in the corner of his eye made him freeze.


    "This is¡­!!"


    He carefully peeled apart this unknown plant with its sharp leaves, revealing a small purple-black flower underneath.


    "This is¡­ the amejade1 grass!" Garen¡¯s heart began to race. "This world¡­ This world has that legendary, supposedly extinct amejade grass!!"


    Translator''s Thoughts


    J_Squared J_Squared


    ×Ïè´²Ý lit. purple jade grass. Amejade as combination of amethyst and jade because purple be mainstream.

 240 Encounter 2

    Chapter 240: Encounter 2


    As the ultimate fighter in the previous world, who scoured through a sea of secret technique manuals and handbooks, Garen could still remember that many of his predecessors had recorded several medicine recipes that could strengthen the body and mind in their fighting journals. Most of these had mysterious and impressive effects.


    Unfortunately, these records came from the far distant past, and so many ingredients couldn¡¯t be find. Even those that were discovered proved to be from a different time, and simply weren¡¯t old enough. That was why they had to give up reluctantly.


    But this amejade grass happened to be one of the core ingredients in one of those ancient recipes.


    These recipes had been added onto the handbooks he had found. Back then, Garen had basically memorized everything in it for the heck of it. After all, with the help of his special power, he didn¡¯t have to worry about his memory in the slightest. To think that he would actually find a precious herb that was allegedly long extinct here like this.


    "Good stuff¡­" Garen¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change as he scanned the ground around the area. Unbelievably, he found two stalks of amejade grass underneath another one of these plants with sharp leaves.


    "If I can match this with the pills and solutions on those ancient recipes and then use it on myself, I¡¯ll definitely be able to drastically reduce the recovery time. There might be even be an even stronger effect!"


    As for judging the age of this amejade grass, he compared it to the information recorded in the manuals and knew for sure it had at least a thousand years¡¯ of history! The medicinal effect of something like this would be extremely potent, without a doubt.


    "I can¡¯t let anyone notice anything different." Garen acted nonchalant as he stood up, and continued chatting with Marin on the way back to the campground. He put the firewood he had gathered in a pile with the rest, but inside he had memorized the exact location where he discovered the amejade grass.


    Right now he was impatient to check around this forest, and see what other undiscovered precious herbs this world had in store.


    And even more than that, he wanted to see what medicines he could match up besides the amejade grass. If he could find everything on that recipe, then it wouldn¡¯t be much of a hassle at all to rapidly regain his secret technique strength in a short period of time.


    "Ahh!! Snake!!"


    Just as he sat down to rest and was planning to find an excuse later to dig up those herbs, he suddenly heard the surprised screams of Aquarius and the other two girls in the distance.


    He thought it over quickly, and dashed towards Aquarius. At the same time, he observed carefully.


    Aquarius and her girl friends were running over to his side in a panic. Unlike her two friends, however, Aquarius only seemed flustered, running as she held up her skirt. When he looked closely at the panic in his eyes, he realized it was ever so slightly fake.


    Garen took another look at her steps. They were obviously very steady. They looked messy, but in truth, it would be very hard for her to trip.


    "So she isn¡¯t a normal person¡­" He took a few steps forward, acting lustful, and reached his arms out to hug Aquarius¡¯ waist.


    Oh dear!


    Aquarius was suddenly tripped by something, and fell into the arms of Prynne, who had just made it here and stood right next to Garen.


    "Sorry, I didn¡¯t hurt you, did I?" she said softly to Prynne, with tears in her eyes.


    "I¡­ I¡¯m fine." Prynne blushed, and replied with a stammer.


    Beside him, Garen snorted and rushed forward.


    "Aquarius, are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere, did you get bitten anywhere? I¡¯ll suck it out for you with my mouth, don¡¯t be shy now, if you¡¯re bitten by a poisonous snake then it has to be sucked up by mouth! Otherwise, you might get infected, or poisoned! You¡¯ll fall into the crutches of illness!"


    "It¡¯s¡­ It¡¯s fine¡­ Hehe." Aquarius rejected him with a slightly annoyed expression. She suddenly realized that Cia was being harder to deal with today than before. "Even if I was bitten, you¡¯re a man. Using your mouth to¡­ is not right, is it?"


    "At times like these I¡¯m just your doctor, and you¡¯re merely my patient! There¡¯s nothing to feel bad about! Of everyone present here, I believe only I¡¯m the best at sucking out snake poison, and this is for your safety as well! Otherwise if the poison gets into your body, you might get seriously hurt, grow really sick, or even end up handicapped!" Garen said with an air of truth and justice. He wanted Aquarius to push him away of her own accord, in order to avoid further complications.


    "It¡¯s not so serious, is it¡­" Everyone around them fell speechless, including Prynne. But it was obvious that Acacia was deliberately exaggerating the effects, so no one stepped out to say anything.


    "It¡¯s okay, I wasn¡¯t bitten¡­" Aquarius wondered if she¡¯d attracted a big pain in the neck, as she stood up from Prynne¡¯s embrace.


    "Is that so? That¡¯s too ba.... Good! Hehe¡­ heheh¡­" Garen purposely said that extra half a word, causing Aquarius to shudder. "Oh, right, Miss Acacia, while you¡¯re injured now, do you want to hear the poem I wrote for you?" He quickly pulled a small black book from his pocket.


    "T-there¡¯s no need¡­" Once he mentioned the poem, Aquarius instantly looked somewhat uneasy. "I¡¯m very grateful for your praise, but I don¡¯t feel very well right now, could you let me rest a little?"


    "Where are you feeling uncomfortable, milady?1" Garen took a step forward, and said with a straight face, "I just learned some massaging techniques, I¡¯ll definitely make your uncomfortable parts feels better! I can massage you right now!"


    Aquarius said helplessly,


    "I¡¯m just a bit tired, and I want to take a short nap. Could you spare me that little bit of time? I know you, sir, are a gentleman who cares for the ladies, right?"


    "Is that so?" Garen purposely looked disappointed. "In that case¡­ Okay, I¡¯ll be right around here. If you need me for anything, you can ask me whenever! I¡¯ll be here in an instant!"


    "Yes, I¡¯ll do that!" Aquarius reached out her hand to lightly push aside the hair on Garen¡¯s forehead, "Don¡¯t wear yourself out too much, you rest well too."


    When the icy cold fingertip touched Garen¡¯s forehead, in that instant, their skin both jolted ever so slightly.


    "Hm?" Aquarius¡¯ eyes flashed with surprise. Only expert fighters and killers would have the basic instinct to dodge when the vital point in the middle of the brow was touched. But why would this aristocratic boy with zero skills or talents have such a response?


    Perhaps her fingers were too cold? She guessed inwardly.


    Garen also noticed that he had blown his cover slightly, but maintained that lovesick expression on his face, at the same time reaching out his hand to grab Aquarius¡¯. Unfortunately, he missed.


    "Go rest." Aquarius smiled sat him, then turned around and walked towards her own tent.


    Garen remained on the spot, staring at Aquarius¡¯ back, stupid with love. His gaze very obviously and vulgarly fell to her swinging, round buttocks. And his uninhibited, heated gaze was also evidently picked up Aquarius herself.


    She felt as though even the skirt couldn¡¯t block those lustful eyes from her butt, goosebumps rising all over her body. Even her steps towards the tent became more hurried.


    Garen only heaved a sigh of relief when Aquarius entered the tent.


    When facing cunning women like this, the simplest and most direct method would be to be direct enough, and vulgar enough. As long as the other party still cared about their body, this tactic would surely have a decent result. He could force her into a panic, and make her unwilling to see him.


    Garen was well aware of his socializing skills. If he were to turn circles with her, he would surely be sold before he knew it. Rather than using his weakness to fight the opponent¡¯s strength, it was better to solve this matter directly in a manner that suited him best.


    This was also related to his martial spirit. Once he got hold of the slightest flaw, he would chase it relentlessly and hit it ferociously. He wouldn¡¯t give the enemy the slightest chance!


    The group ate the rations they had brought for dinner on that first evening. At night, they lit a campfire, while Prynne recited Cia¡¯s love poem out loud. Evidently, other than the other three people in his gang cheering loudly, the rest of the audience looked constipated.2 But they still had to clap and cheer against their conscience.


    Aquarius and her two girl friends, on the other hand, ducked into the tent and hid out of ¡®embarrassment¡¯. The others looked as though they were used to it. It seemed this wasn¡¯t the first time she used this trick.


    Garen kept thinking about those few shrubs of amejade grass, and so seemed distracted as well. The others just assumed he was thinking about Aquarius, so it fit.


    As for whether or not Aquarius was a Luminarist, he couldn¡¯t be sure. Luminarists weren¡¯t like the Martial Adepts, they didn¡¯t have absurdly strong Spirits, and usually they looked just like everyone else. Until the very last moment before the explosion, nobody knew who was a Luminarist.


    But upon seeing her face-to-face, Garen was sure of one thing. Aquarius wasn¡¯t very proactive in chasing Acacia. She was just simply toying with him, rather than purposely pulling him closer. Even if she did have a motive like that, she wasn¡¯t taking it too seriously.


    If that¡¯s the extent of it, then everything is still fine.


    **************


    Inside Aquarius¡¯ tent.


    Frowning deeply, Aquarius put her legs together as she sat inside the tent. Looking at her two girl companions in front of her.


    "This Acacia, how did he suddenly become so disgusting? At first he was pretty gentlemanly, and here I was thinking he had patience, but to think he¡¯s as impatient as other men! No, he was even more direct!"


    Maria had a head of long milk-white hair, giving off a spoiled and unreasonable aura. She curled her long hair nonchalantly, acting slightly detached.


    "Aren¡¯t all men alike? Big Sister Aquarius, you¡¯re the one who wanted to play around too much. Wouldn¡¯t it be fine if you hadn¡¯t attracted him in the first place?"


    "I had no choice, wasn¡¯t it a request from above? Otherwise why would I butt my head in here for no reason, I¡¯m bored out of my socks!" Aquarius glared at her. "Unlike you, I have a good father and mother!"


    "Hey hey hey, don¡¯t bring me into this!" Cena protested from the side. "But I kinda think this Acacia isn¡¯t too bad. Love should be direct and intense! What¡¯s the point of turning around in circles and hiding everything! If you like someone, you should say it out loudly, and show your heart to the other person without any hiding!"


    She said nonchalantly.


    Cena had dark brown shoulder-length hair. Her air was completely that of a pure and kind girl next door, and she was very beautiful too. She should be the youngest among the three, looking no older than nineteen years old.


    Her skin was fair with a flush, but her figure was slightly less impressive that the other two. Her chest was just enough to touch, and so didn¡¯t match up to everyone¡¯s sense of beauty when it came to body figures.


    "He¡¯s much better than the guy my dad arranged for me." Cena pouted and took out a small mirror, quickly combing through her hair ands pushing her fringe into a right-side slope.


    "If you like him, just take him." Aquarius was exasperated. "But I really can¡¯t¡­ Cena¡­ Give me your father, could you?"


    "If you want me, take him yourself," Cena replied carelessly. She pursed her lips and reflected it on both sides in the mirror, as though not too happy with her image.


    But neither of the girls noticed the flash in Aquarius¡¯ eyes when mentioning Acacia earlier.


    She had suddenly remembered that scene from earlier, the reaction when her finger touched Acacia¡¯s forehead.


    Translator''s Thoughts


    J_Squared J_Squared


    1. He referred to her with the formal version of ¡®you¡¯ (Äú), also used for customers.


    2. This time, he literally said ¡®constipated¡¯ (±ãÃØ), so yeah.

 241 Upgrade 1

    Chapter 241: Upgrade 1


    Aquarius snapped her fingers lightly, her eyes narrowing.


    "Big Sister, what are you thinking about?" Cena asked from beside her.


    "It¡¯s nothing. I¡¯ll go out for a walk, you guys go ahead and sleep." Aquarius stood, opened the entrance to the tent, and walked out.


    There was a smattering of guards standing around outside, and she could hear the voices of Prynne and the others talking beside a distant stream. The day was getting darker, only the campside fireplace was getting brighter.


    Aquarius greeted a few guards, and took a female guard with her to the bushes, acting as though she was going to answer the call of nature.


    That way, she avoided any other curious gazes.


    She walked into the bushes, and looked at the shrubs surrounding her, all about as tall as half a person.


    "You go look out around here," she said to the female guard softly.


    "Yes."


    Once she was alone, Aquarius flicked her finger. Two dots of blue light instantly flew out of her fingertips, falling into the bushes, flickering in and out of view. Like two small fireflies.


    "Go and test that Acacia," she mouthed the orders.


    The blue firefly lights immediately and lightly darted into the bushes, and utterly disappeared.


    Standing on the same spot, Aquarius looked thoughtful.


    *****************


    The excuse was they went out to gather firewood again, and decided to take a stroll at the same time. With Ulun in tow, Garen once more sauntered to the position from earlier.


    Carefully he walked to the border of where the amejade grass was, and started patrolling while acting nonchalant.


    Soon enough, he found a pinweed near the amejade grass. It had large leaves and a thick stem, which meant it was quite matured in years as well.


    The pinweed was another more commonly used medicinal ingredient. Garen silently recorded this piece of information.


    Then he started patrolling again. Ulun followed closely behind him, but didn¡¯t know what he was doing.


    In this whole area of the forest, Garen continuously found about a dozen more amejade grasses. There were comparatively fewer pinweeds, only three in all. He was feeling increasingly more satisfied.


    After taking a few more rounds in the surrounding forest, the sky had gradually darkened until he couldn¡¯t even see properly. Only then did Garen decide to head back.


    They were standing on a slope, surrounded by thickets of trees and bushes. Without realizing it, they had wandered far away from the campsite.


    As the light dimmed, the forest became a sea of darkness. Even the green trees and plants looked inky in the shadows.


    "Young master, what on earth are you looking for?" Ulun asked out of boredom from behind Garen.


    "My cousin likes herbs and flowers, so I thought I¡¯d look for some that she might like, and bring them back to her." Garen answered casually, "It¡¯s just that we¡¯ll be out for a few days, so even though I already singled out some targets, it¡¯s pointless if we dug them out too early."


    Ulun nodded in understanding. Suddenly, he reached out his hand to grab a little green snake that was pouncing at Garen.


    His palm deftly and accurately pinched the snake seven inches from its head.1 With a light press, the little snake immediately hissed, and the seventh inch was immediately flattened. He then casually flung the snake onto the floor.


    Only then did Garen act like he was belatedly scared.


    "It¡¯s another leaf snake! Why are there so many snakes in this forest! If you hadn¡¯t discovered it so early, this one would have bitten me!"


    "It¡¯s nothing, this place is obviously a suitable habitat for leaf snakes, it¡¯s nothing much if there are a few more than usual. No matter how poisonous a snake is, it doesn¡¯t matter if it can¡¯t bite anyone," Ulun said calmly.


    Suddenly a dot of blue floated towards the two of them. It was a small blue snake, looking lazy as it slithered, its movements slow and smooth.


    Garen and Ulun both saw that snake.


    "What snake is that?" Garen asked, frowning.


    "I¡¯m not sure either, if it¡¯s blue it should be a blue-scaled snake, but these sort of surroundings shouldn¡¯t be very conducive for this type of snake." Ulun frowned slightly too. "Be careful, this type of snake moves very quickly, and it has a lot of explosive power as well. You back down first."


    "Okay." Hearing that, Garen immediately hid behind Ulun¡¯s back.


    Ulun put on black leather gloves, his expression somewhat solemn. The blue-scaled snake¡¯s skin was hard and it moved fast, so it wasn¡¯t an easy adversary. He had also been a wandering warrior before, living off bounty money, so he was used to living in forests like these. But even then, he found this slightly challenging.


    It¡¯d be fine if he was alone, but there was a young master behind him that he had to protect, so that made things a bit harder.


    "There shouldn¡¯t be blue-scaled snakes here, right?" he asked inwardly, as he stared at the lazy blue snake.


    It was a little fella not half a meter long. It seemed to have noticed the two in front of it too, so it looked up and hissed softly, as though warning the two of them to get out of its way.


    "We should leave her slowly," Ulun said softly. "Be slow, don¡¯t rush."


    "Okay."


    The two of them slowly move to the left.


    Suddenly a blue spark erupted out of nowhere, headed straight for Ulun¡¯s face.


    The blue spark shot out of the blue-scaled snake¡¯s mouth, and carved a thin blue line through the air, beautiful and crystallite. At the same time, a foul odor wafted through the area, as though this whole place had suddenly become drainage.


    Just as the blue spark was about to hit Ulun¡¯s face, he abruptly raised his right hand and held it in front of his face.


    Pff!


    The blue spark landed on his glove, and immediately made an eroding hissing sound. It was evidently a spray of thick blue poison.


    "Run!!" Ulun howled, quickly taking off his glove, and immediately tossing out a thin dagger. However, the blue-scaled snake instantly dodged it.


    One man and one snake faced off with each other, neither willing to be distracted.


    As soon as Garen heard the yell, he set off at a run towards the campsite. There were a lot of guards there, so there wouldn¡¯t be any big problems as long as he reached there. There were old hands and experts at dealing with snakes among the guards.


    The forest ahead of him was rapidly retreating, his legs rustling through the bushes. Garen did not pause for even a moment.


    The reactions and speed that Ulun and the blue-scaled snake demonstrated earlier, as well as their accuracy, had achieved an extremely high level. There was no way Garen could avoid the blue-scaled snake¡¯s poison without revealing his true abilities.


    Behind him, Ulun yelled again, but the sound was coming from further away. Evidently the distance between them had gradually increased.


    Garen quickly ran forward, but he relaxed slightly inside. He gradually slowed down, wanting to turn around and take a look.


    Pff!


    Suddenly, a blue shadow pounced from behind a tree branch, coming straight for his face. Before it even touched him, he could already smell an intense stench like from before.


    "It¡¯s not a coincidence!!" Garen instantly understood inside, that someone was purposely trying to test him. He didn¡¯t think much about it, but purposely tripped underfoot.


    "Oh, no!" he yelled out, and fell towards the right, just in time to avoid the attack of the blue shadow.


    With a smack, the blue shadow rammed into a white stone on the ground, and the stone immediately split apart.


    Garen half-sat on the ground, and only then did he clearly see what it was.


    It was the same type of blue-scaled snake as before!


    The blue-scaled snake¡¯s head had been bruised, but there wasn¡¯t any blood leaking out. It stared at Garen, its long sleek body slowly and gracefully slithering towards him.


    Garen acted as though he was extremely terrified. He didn¡¯t even dare to move, just half sitting on the ground, staring at the blue-scaled snake slithering towards him in horror.


    Strangely, he could actually see something familiar in this snake¡¯s eyes.


    "That is¡­" Suspicion rose in Garen¡¯s heart.


    Just then, the blue-scaled snake suddenly stopped, as though attracted by something, and the it turned around to head towards another direction. Totally ignoring Garen.


    Garen slowly got up, putting on a pale face, but the confusion in his heart grew.


    In the forest far away, Aquarius was also suspicious as she looked at the returning blue-scaled snake.


    "That¡¯s a very normal reaction, but that fall was too coincidental¡­" she frowned slightly, looking down at the black paper scroll in her hand. "Forget it, let¡¯s get the important things done first."


    *************


    Trejon Estate, Vanderman Tower.


    In the red and brown study room.


    Vanderman was sitting opposite a person in black robes. The oil lamp on the table beside them emitted a dim but quiet yellow light, forming a yellow halo that was just big enough to cover both of them. Outside the yellow circle, everything was dark.


    "What are you guys here for this time? Just tell it to me straight." Vanderman crossed his fingers, his expression calm.


    "Old friend, I really don¡¯t want to see you stray off the path like this." The person in black had a deep voice, a man¡¯s voice. "You and I have worked together all these years, but at a pivotal time like now, you end up messing up like this. Even I will find it hard to smoothen this out for you."


    His voice was calm and slow, but his attitude was dead serious.


    Vanderman frowned and shook his head.


    "This isn¡¯t my problem. Yes, the cargo was intercepted on my territory, but my control at the borders is too weak. You can¡¯t put all the responsibility on me." He paused. "There were three covers for this round of cargos¡¯ shipment routes. After taking so many twists and turns, there was still someone who could accurately comprehend the border shipment routes¡­"


    "Indeed there is a traitor, but that is not the point here." The man in black shook his head, "The point is, someone who wants to make a move on your territory, can make a move on your territory. And even more importantly, someone kept silent and allowed this behavior. Everyone kept silent, that¡¯s the main point."


    Vanderman fell quiet, his hand falling onto the chair¡¯s armrest and gripping it tightly.


    The man in black¡¯s voice had a hint of pity.


    "We¡¯re considered old friends now. Because of this matter, the branches are very unhappy with you. If you still do not decide¡­"


    "I am a royal Luminarist!" Vanderman interrupted him, his voice deep.


    "Royal¡­" The man in black was slightly disappointed. "Is that your decision? And here I thought you had understood the situation, to think¡­" He stood up. "Forget it, just pretend I was never here."


    He turned around and walked towards the darkness outside the yellow circle.


    "Tonci, I haven¡¯t forgotten about everything in the past. I hope you haven¡¯t either," Vanderman said suddenly.


    "I have long since stopped being the Tonci from before." The man in black stopped, and replied calmly.


    "The royal family will not lose!" Vanderman said determinedly.


    "But the royal family does not represent everything." The man in black strode into the darkness, and instantly disappeared into the shadows. There wasn¡¯t the sound of an opening door, or footsteps. He integrated into the darkness like a breeze, disappearing without a trace.


    Translator''s Thoughts


    J_Squared J_Squared


    There is a Chinese belief that snakes have their hearts seven inches from their heads, so that would be their fatal spot.

 242 Upgrade 2

    Chapter 242: Upgrade 2


    Although the halo of light from the oil lamp was snuffed out, the bedroom remained strangely illuminated.


    Moonlight crept in from the window and bathed the carpet.


    Vanderman was sitting on a chair, quietly, with a rather perplexed expression on his face.


    "The royal family still has us and the three major departments! It¡¯s impossible for us to lose!" He murmured.


    At some corner of in a forest far away from the manor lied a person dressed in black. He was none other than Tonci.


    He turned his head around and looked at the Trejons¡¯ manor.


    "You and I have done our duties, Vanderman."


    "Have we failed?" Another black figure slowly crept up alongside him from the dark. "I knew it, that old man had placed his hopes in the royal alliance. His household was in a predicament in the past, but he was blessed by the Kovitan¡¯s eldest prince. He had sworn loyalty to the royal family, to never betray them. To suddenly have that happen would be a miracle."


    "Nothing can be done. We¡¯ve failed. Have some consideration and stop harping on it." Tonci said coldly.


    "Whatever. The split doesn¡¯t favor Vanderman from the get go anyway. Now that you, his only old friend, has given up on him, his life will not be that easy."


    "That is his decision. Let¡¯s go." Tonci replied coldly.


    Both of them went into a corner away from the moonlight, and disappeared into the darkness without a sound.


    *************


    Cia seemed to be shocked by the blue-scaled snake during his two days in the campsite, and lived his days in the tent with a very pale face. He didn¡¯t even dare to go near Aquarius and flatter her.


    Occasionally, Prynne and Marin would come and accompany him. Garen didn¡¯t even participate in the group hunt, his excuse being that he was feeling unwell.


    However, everyone knew that he was actually traumatized by the blue-scaled snake. He was almost bitten by the venomous blue-scaled snake, which had the lethal potential to kill a man. No one could blame him, anyone would have required some time to recover if they had a brush with death.


    On top of that, it was a natural reaction from the spoiled Acacia.


    Garen took this opportunity to bring Ulun out to search for different kinds of known herbal medicines in this wide area. He didn¡¯t have much knowledge in this field as he hadn¡¯t specialised it in this practice. However, he knew enough knowledge in herbal medicine to get by.


    He explored at least a thousand-square-meter wide area, and hence, two days had passed in the blink of an eye, and it was already time to head back. Garen had finally dug up all the herbal medicine that he was searching for.


    Amejade grass, pinweed and giant roc flowers were the ingredients he had been looking for in this journey. These were essentially ancient herbs, but it was obvious that these people treated them as a common weeds. Some of the ingredients even let slip that they had been stepped on.


    Garen estimated that he would be able to successfully conjure up to three kinds of herbal soups with these ingredients. It was unfortunate that there were a lot more ingredients that he wasn¡¯t able to find, so he wasn¡¯t sure how effective the overall medicine might be.


    He filled the exquisite wooden box that was used to pack meals with soil and planted the herbs into these small boxes. They became makeshift planters.


    **********


    Early in the morning, at the entrance of the road just beside the forest.


    A few carriages were parked on both sides of the road, and a few bodyguards, in either white or black shirts, were engaged in conversation.


    Prynne was ordering the guards to move the beasts they had hunted onto the car beside the carriage, while the remaining ladies were chatting and giggling over to the side.


    Aquarius was standing in the shade under a tree, as she gazed at the rest of the people moving camping equipment into the carriage. She then had her sight on the Trejons Household¡¯s black carriage, and she looked at the bodyguards, carrying stacks of exquisite wooden boxes onto the carriage.


    As she looked at the emblem of the Trejons Household, it reminded her of the results of her probes from earlier.


    She hesitated for a moment as she looked at a guard in white, who was standing by a carriage not far away from her.


    She flicked her fingers, and a blue colored flash appeared at the tip of her finger.


    The curtains on the carriages were pulled down and a female guard in white came down from the carriage. Two of them whispered to each other for a moment before approaching the Trejons carriage together.


    Garen was inside the carriage, carefully securing the small boxes to one corner with ropes. When he opened the carriage¡¯s curtain, he saw Aquarius and two of her personal guards whispering among themselves.


    His heart threatened to jump.


    "Could it be that those two blue-scaled snakes from earlier on¡­" He could faintly feel that the smell of those two snakes and Aquarius¡¯s smell were rather similar. Perhaps fragrance would be a better choice of word. "If the incident was man made¡­ It¡¯s most likely Aquarius¡¯s doing."


    He squinted his eyes as he gently touched his wooden boxes with his hands.


    "The blue-scaled snakes are extremely fast and venomous. I can only handle two of them at best, since I am a martial artist who doesn¡¯t focus on speed. With more than two, I can only avoid them. I¡¯ll see how it goes when I regain some of my strength after drinking the herbal soup."


    Based on his estimations, a typical Luminarist with an average threat level was at least level C and above. They might be able to reach level B if they really had a go at it. The Luminarist who were fighting against teacher Emin was definitely at least level B during his final struggle. This were just typical Luminarists, imagine the stronger ones.


    "The only way to hasten my learning process to become a Luminarist, is to increase my physical attributes and recover as soon as possible!" As Garen recalled the details of the ambush; he was sure that it was a setup. The only person here who was capable of such a feat was Aquarius.


    "I will remember this¡­" Garen closed the curtain.


    ***********


    Back in the Trejons manor.


    Garen noticed that Vanderman¡¯s mood was getting worse lately.


    According to the female housekeeper, Vanderman¡¯s mood was affected by a letter he had received.


    He had his suspicions, the only thing that could affect Vanderman¡¯s mood was the situation involving the Luminarists.


    Garen didn¡¯t think much of it as it would be a better option for him to increase his own strength than to conjure a plan at this point in time.


    He could only rely on himself during this chaotic period.


    It took him three days to treat and cultivate all the medicinal herbs that he brought back, which were considered fairly simple tasks. Due to his inexperience, he had broken some of the roots of the herbs during the cultivation process and he felt quite saddened by it.


    After that, he followed the ancient method in mixing the herbs together and stored them nicely into packets.


    The final step was to soak them in the medicinal bath.


    It wasn¡¯t easy to collect the herbs. He managed to follow an ancient recipe to create something called Endurance Liquid.


    The source was unknown, its main effect was of a simple enhancement and supplement to the body. It only required one whole day of brewing in fire.


    Garen hid in his building for that whole day as he carefully set the fire up. He kept adding in water every once in awhile to prevent it from drying up. He stopped the whole process when there was a faint, sticky green mud appearing in the herbs.


    The whole building was completely filled with the slightly pungent smell of the herbal soup.


    Every female servant was told to leave by him, hence he was operating this process all on his own. The reason for this was of course to keep it as a secret. As for Vanderman, a father that always went out early in the morning and only came back late at night, he would only be in the manor during the unearthly hours of the day. The building was filled with a strange aroma, The servants had no idea what he had been up to, let alone Vanderman.


    Garen took five full days to brew the herbs into ointments. He placed them into three small jade green bottle since the day he came back from the camp.


    *******


    Garen told the servants to carry the bath tub into his own room, pour in some hot water, light up the fireplace and close the curtain.


    Then, they delivered and the towel and body wash in a wooden basin.


    "Alright that¡¯s more than enough. Get out, the lot of you!" Garen hushed them.


    "Do you want us to add in the hot water for you?" An old lady servant asked.


    "That¡¯ll be fine. I will do it by myself."


    "Alright then. Please be careful not to fall asleep inside the bathtub young master Acacia." The lady servant warned him with care.


    "I got it, Anna." Garen nodded his head. "Please don¡¯t disturb me. I need to realize some inspirations during my bath!"


    Whenever Acacia reminded the servants about his poetry, the old servant, Anna, who had been watching Acacia since young, could even feel a chill in her nerves whenever he talked about his poetry.


    "Then I shall take my leave. Please take your time to realize your inspirations." She forced out a smile and then gestured the rest of the female servants to leave the room before she closed the door gently.


    Garen walked towards the door and locked the door with a chain.


    As the sound of the footsteps gradually disappeared, only the crackling sound of the burning wood inside the room could be heard.


    Garen walked towards the study desk gently and took out a palm sized emerald green glass bottle from the drawer. As he swung the bottle, the green liquid which was as viscous as the royal jelly was flowing gently in the bottle.


    He walked towards the bathtub, opened the bottle cap and gently tilted the bottle.


    Bloop!


    A drop of viscount liquid went into the crystal clear hot water and swiftly dyed the hot water into faint green like an ink mixing in clear water.


    He then poured the remaining viscous liquid into the bathtub. He even rinsed the bottle in the hot water to ensure there were no remnants left behind. It was only then that Garen took off his clothes, stepped onto the stool and entered the bathtub.


    As he soaked his whole body inside the hot bath, it was no different than soaking in a normal hot bath, other than the pungent medicinal odor.


    Garen took a deep breath, shut his eyes and immediately immersed himself completely into the water.


    As the water splashed about, the sounds he heard were similar to being covered with a thick cloth. Everything sounded so far away, and was very quiet.


    Garen recalled the ancient preparation method, using his index fingers and placing them on the other side of the shoulders to form a gesture which resembled him hugging himself. He started to expand and contract his chest periodically as he completely soaked himself in the water.


    This was the most basic breathing technique from the Divine Statue Technique, which was used to build the foundation and train his skin, blood and qi. However, the original method did not require one to use any medicine for assistance. Garen was merely using the endurance liquid as the catalyst.


    As he immersed himself inside the water, he occasionally got out of the water to catch a breath. This process continued for quite a while. He did not feel anything untoward happening to his body.


    What he felt when he was immersing himself was that the water was getting hotter over time. It was as if there was someone who kept adding more wood under the bathtub to increase the temperature. The water¡¯s temperature was getting higher, and getting hotter over time.


    The green pigment in the water became fainter as the water started to clear up over time.


    Garen¡¯s skin started to become green at this point.


    Splash.


    As Garen came out of the water for the fifth time, he wiped off the water that was on his face and opened his eyes.


    "It¡¯s getting hotter¡­ This endurance liquid had proven itself. According to the ancient documents, the endurance liquid was one of the basic medicines for the Emerald Jade Panacea. It was unfortunate that it was a lost art and this medicine was now primarily used for body enhancement." Garen sighed repentantly. The Emerald Jade Panacea was similar in theory, compared to the Divine Statue Technique¡¯s White Gold Divine Statue. However, its specialty was not focused on defense and recovery, but full immunity to toxins and increasing of one¡¯s lifespan.


    He was unsure of the effect when he used the breathing technique from the Divine Statue Technique to absorb the medicine into his body. He had to give all of his attention to the breathing technique and thus he did not see the changes in the attributes pane.


    He was slightly stunned as he looked at the attribute pane just below his sight.


    The attribution pane had an overall increase without his knowledge.

 243 Approach 1

    Chapter 243: Approach 1


    ¡®Strength 1.1, Agility 1.0, Vitality 1.2, Intelligence 0.6, Potential 1872%. Possess the qualities of a Luminarist.¡¯


    What made him even happier was the skill pane right below.


    ¡®Precision Blueprint: Not Learnt. (Max Level: 3)¡¯ There was a faint red symbol at the end of the sentence. It was the basic requirement for an increment via attribute points.


    Garen had not noticed the symbol at the beginning as the skill Precision Blueprint was grey, which indicated that it could not be increased.


    He quickly set his sights onto the faint red symbol for three seconds.


    The symbol¡¯s meaning appeared in his mind.


    ¡®Requirement to learn Precision Blueprint: Intelligence 0.6, Vitality 1.1, Agility 1.0, Strength 1.0¡¯


    Garen finally understood that it was his weak physical body that forbid him to enter the beginner-level of the skill. If he were to purely follow the traditional learning path, he could only fulfill this requirement after understanding the theories, go through lots of practice and ensure that the body was used to it. What¡¯s shocking was that this was the requirement to enter the beginner level, and it would required at least half a year.


    "Luminarists really do hold up to their name¡­ This needs four different kinds of attributions." Without any hesitation, Garen set his sights onto the Precision Blueprint.


    The skill¡¯s word moved slightly and went out of focus. When it crept back into clarity, it had already changed its form.


    ¡®Precision Blueprint: Beginner-level (Total of three levels: Beginner Level, Intermediate- Level, Master-level.¡¯


    Cool air flowed out of Garen¡¯s brain and entered both of his arms.


    He suddenly felt that his agility and speed had went up a notch as he reached out and moved his hands.


    "According to the manual, it would need half a year to reach this level. On top of that, continuous training and learning in between." He nodded satisfactorily.


    Every Luminarist was a master of Precision Blueprint. Only when one became a master of the former skill could he unlock the beginner-level studies of the Luminarist, which was also the basis of tactics.


    Even now, countless Luminarists-to-be ceaselessly practise this basic technique; they were mastering the Precision Blueprint via repetition.


    Garen used the towel to clean his body and put on a bathrobe as he slowly got out of the bathtub. He stood still and closed his eyes, slowly moving his lower body. He was performing the most basic technique from the White Cloud Gate.


    What was supposed to be the White Mammoth from the White Cloud Gate technique looked totally different than it should be. It became some sort of technique that used palm techniques as a base, after it had merged together with the Divine Statue Technique.


    "East King Hand!!"


    Garen pushed both of his palms forward with all his might, and two high pitched noise were generated from the air. The transparent air condensed for a bit before disappearing right after.


    He shook his head in disappointment as he withdrew his hands.


    "Looks like I still can¡¯t use the actual secret technique."


    He had come up with four of his strongest secret techniques from merging multiple battle skills from his past life. They were the East King Hand, West Phoenix Fist, Southern Double Fist and Northern Capturing Hand. These four strongest techniques were derived from his understanding and experience in martial arts. It was his martial arts life¡¯s work.


    When combined, these secret techniques produced massively different results.


    His martial arts overall structure went something like this.


    The first tier were his four strongest techniques.


    The second tier was the combinations of techniques such as: Red Jade Thousand Mammoth Spring. This type of technique had the momentum of the Thousand Mammoth Traction, coupled with the effects of the Red Jade Palm.


    The third tier were different types of battle skills that he freely used. The strongest among this tier was his integrated Mammoth technique of the White Cloud Gate, Thousand Mammoth Traction, third form.


    The last one was the typical sleight of hand such as Capturing Hand, Combination Fist, Palm Knife, etc.


    Garen sat by the study desk and penned a few lines onto white paper.


    ¡®Four major tiers. First: Ultimate Technique, second: Secret Technique, third: Normal Technique, forth: Sleight of Hand.¡¯


    "Since the day I practice martial arts in the White Cloud Gate, I have not lost to anyone other than Sylphalan." Garen¡¯s gaze became dim as he recalled his two battles against Palosa. He started to feel emotional all of a sudden. "The Secret Techniques cannot possibly have this little strength¡­"


    He was unwilling to accept the fact that there was a huge difference in strength between Secret Technique and the Luminarists. One relied on the user¡¯s own strength whereas the other used the strength from an external source. It was similar to comparing martial artists and sages in the legends of China. The difference between them was too huge!


    On a whim, Garen started writing all the secret techniques that he had learnt on the piece of paper.


    The Four Major Secret Techniques were written at the front, as these four techniques were the result of combining secret techniques and battle skills. Each of these skills required complicated techniques and aura to execute. These techniques suited Garen best, as no one could possible have learnt such a technique, even if he taught them step by step.


    Garen, who had practiced martial arts for such a long time, had accumulated boundless experience. He would obviously feel dissatisfied when secret techniques became insignificant all of a sudden. Releasing the emotions that were welling up inside him, he had listed down all the possible routes that he could take on the piece of paper.


    Half an hour later¡­


    Garen finally exhaled and placed down his pencil helplessly. He felt a sense of disappointment as he looked at the white paper, densely packed with handwriting.


    "Is there no other path?" He muttered. He stood up, opened the window and allowed the cold night air to blow onto him and freshen up his spirit.


    "No¡­ There must be a way." This thought flashed through his mind as he looked up at the full moon in the sky, the disappointment within his gaze slowly turning to calm.


    "My strength has recovered to the third tier, which is a little stronger than before. If I compare it to the handbook¡­" He took out the handbook, which was given by teacher Emin, from the drawer.


    Black words littered the plain yellow pieces of paper, all of which were handwritten notes by teacher Emin.


    Garen flipped it to the last few pages, which was where the remarks were located. There, it was clearly written:


    -- Luminarist levels are very strict. However, understanding this is meaningless for you now. I have written down how we Luminarists categorise you commoners.


    We Luminarists grade ourselves as Silver Level. Anyone below us would be categorised under Commoner Level. The following was the categorisation for the commoners.


    Comoner Levels can be broken down into four levels: Master-level, General-level, Guardian-level and soldier-level.


    A Soldier-level can fight against ten people, a Guardian-level can fight against a hundred people and a General-level can fight against five hundred people. However, they can be of different types and each has their pros and cons. A Master-level can fight against a thousand people and can completely overwhelm a General-level. They are, under any circumstances, at the peak of the Commoner Level. This is the limit of a commoner.


    As for Luminarists, in theory they should not be affected by the Common Level, and they should not be a threat to a Luminarist. The attacks of a non-Luminarist to a Luminarist is very minor, and can even be considered negligible. You can ask your father to prove this point to you.


    Only a Luminarist who has managed to completely forge his own totem and light his White Luminescence is officially a Silver Level Luminarist. At this point in time, do not reveal. --


    There was another remark at the very back.


    -- Do not tell your father that you are learning from me. Do not forget your promise. The moment you graduate is the moment I have fully cleared my life debt towards you. --


    Garen closed the handbook, and he also knew why his teacher was reminding him so.


    Emin didn¡¯t know why he had approached him to learn the ways of the Luminarist, and he didn¡¯t care for the reason he wanted to pursue this path. He merely treated this teaching experience as a trade. Perhaps he might have reasons to want to protect himself. He had considered some aspects in detail, but ultimately, this was just a trade.


    He stowed away his thoughts, followed the instructions recorded in the handbook, and started to estimate his strength.


    "Based on the categorisation here, when I was at my peak with my Divine Statue Technique, I should be in the Master-level, which was the peak of the Commoner Level. The current me who had just slightly recovered should be at Soldier-level."


    He knew that the person that the writing was referring to was the standardised elite soldier who had undergone training. The elite soldiers in this world were slightly stronger than the previous world.


    He was no more than a soldier-level at his current strength and his secret technique.


    He could only handle three blue-scaled snakes from that day. Forget about going against Guardian-levels or above; the General-levels and Master-levels respectively.


    Even his father Vanderman¡¯s strongest underlings were at the peak of the Guardian-level. The distance to becoming a Master-level was still far away.


    "A mere Soldier-level, the lowest rank of all?" Garen looked at his hands as he felt his strength was constantly recovering. That was the soul¡¯s ability changing the structure of this body, which was a slow and irreversible process. Since it was a change from nought to one, the process required was slow and lengthy. "So weak¡­ but only for now. If I were to use all three medicines, I will soon recover my physical attributes. I am currently constrained by my physical attributes, and I can¡¯t use most of my strength. My strength will recover tremendously if I can reach the threshold."


    He turned his head around and looked at the crystal clear water in the bathtub.


    "I should be able to recover to a decent level, and no longer remain at Soldier-level when I fully absorb these three medicines. The next step will be to do repetitive practising."


    ***************


    Northen region of the Lush Forest District, somewhere inside the forest in the mountains.


    Night time.


    A woman in a green shirted walked slowly from a forest slope in Aquarius¡¯s manor.


    With her attire being all green, she was like a forest ranger who had become one and blended completely with her surroundings.


    The woman was around twenty, and had a long and slim body. She looked like a sexy female aristocrat who was about to go on a hunt.


    She had a noble themed green colored lantern sleeve shirt and was wearing a small green circular hat which even had a white feather inserted into it.


    On her lower torso, she was wearing a light green mini skirt and green floral patterned stockings. Revealed in between the stockings and the miniskirt was a swathe of her fair thigh.


    The woman was wearing a green mask, and a green longbow slung across on her back. The quiver was hanging from her waist in a way that was hidden yet convenient at the same time.


    She looked at the manor from far away, as the manor was lit by dots of yellow under the night sky.


    The woman raised up her right hand and wound up her pinky finger as she placed her blue colored metal ring, which she wore, to the side of her lips.


    "I have arrived." She whispered to the ring. Her accent was not of the Lush Forest region, and her tone was slightly high pitched at the end of the sentence. She sounded like she was singing.

 244 Approach 2

    Chapter 244: Approach 2


    The woman stood in silence, having finished her sentence.


    A few minutes later, a black figure soon appeared in the dense forest in the manor¡¯s direction.


    "Did the division send you? Are you people lacking this much manpower?" The black figure asked dissatisfactory.


    "It¡¯s a pity, your honor. Our division is the only one that is just slightly free." The green shirted girl replied respectfully with her head down. "Your request isn¡¯t of the best timing; most of our forces are being mobilized at the moment."


    "Whatever. You people of Green Shade aren¡¯t half bad. It¡¯s just that you guys may not be good at the mission that I am about to give. I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t mean to belittle your people." The black figure¡¯s tone took a calmer stance.


    "I understand. As long as your honor can forgive us." The green shirted woman replied with her head down as usual, which made it hard to see her expression.


    "The current situation of the Lush Green district doesn¡¯t bode well. A few major leaders are coming up with something fishy. I need you people to take out a group of bandits publicly to show off your strength. Can you do it?" The black figure asked softly.


    "That won¡¯t be a problem. However, they won¡¯t be your typical bandits if your intention is to mobilize us, right?" The Green Shade woman raised her head and asked.


    "That¡¯s only natural. These bandits have high profits every year, and their locations are still yet to be known. We suspect that one of the major leaders are pulling the strings in the dark. Their strength is estimated to be at two General-levels, including the possibilities of any unknown external support." The black figure replied.


    "No problem. Please pass us the mission briefing shortly." The Green Shade woman nodded.


    "Please be careful. The mastermind could possibly be a Luminarist¡­" The black figure warned her with a a deep tone.


    The Green Shade woman squinted her eyes and nodded lightly.


    As the black figure was about to turn her body around, she suddenly stopped in motion. "Also, another small thing. Please send a person to test Vanderman." Suddenly, a familiar figure flashed through her mind. "Actually, you should go and probe his son Acacia first, since that old man Vanderman is very experienced. I can¡¯t shake the feeling that they are hiding something."


    "Yes." Green Shade woman complied with her head down.


    "If Vanderman is indeed strong only in appearance but brittle inside, we will have to rearrange our plans. I heard that Vanderman was injured from his experiment when two Luminarists were fighting against each other and he hadn¡¯t realised in time. This resulted in his son almost involved in the crossfire. I need to know if he really is injured. You can kill off his son as a warning to him if he doesn¡¯t have enough strength." The black figure said coldly. "Do not get caught."


    "Understood."


    The Green Shade woman looked at the black figure entering the darkness, as the footsteps gradually went away into nothing.


    "Other than Diaz, everyone else will be mobilized in this ambush." She said softly, as if she was talking to someone else. "I will assist you in going against two of those General-levels, and the rest of you will focus on encircling the remaining bandits. We need to show the communicator what we are made of, since the communicator looks down on us."


    "Yes." Suddenly, multiple voices of different gender and age could be heard behind her.


    "Diaz." The Green Shade woman turned around as she looked behind her. "You¡¯ll go and scout Vanderman¡¯s manor. Be careful out there."


    "I understand, big sister." A dark green figure in the shadow replied with a clear and cold tone, which was clearly the voice of a young woman. "Don¡¯t worry. We are all bowmen. Vanderman will not be able to stop us from escaping without any preparation beforehand if we¡¯re far enough away."


    "You¡¯re just a below average General-level." An arrogant woman said from the other side of the dark corner. "In the eyes of the Luminarists, you are merely a worm if you do not have the weakening dust."


    "Mind your own business." Diaz groaned as she turned around and disappeared into the distance.


    She only stopped moving when she was away from her sister¡¯s group.


    Thud!


    She stabbed the tree in front of her with a knife so hard that the tree leaves ceaselessly fell off from the impact.


    "Someday, I will kill you!" She said with a cruel deep tone.


    ***************


    Two days later¡­


    Splash!


    Garen¡¯s head came out from the bathtub¡¯s water. His naked upper body was completely soaked in the green medicine.


    He wiped his face and dried his hair and upper body with a black towel as he got out of the bathtub.


    The sunlight leaked through the gaps of the curtain and landed onto the floor, forming a golden, dazzling line. There were puddles everywhere in the bedroom, and the strong medicinal smell had made the whole room a stifling affair.


    Garen took up a bowl of cold water and splashed it onto his face, and he instantly felt much better.


    He let the female servant to drain away the bathtub water as he cleaned up his things. He then stood on a spot and examined his current physical status.


    "The attributes are slowly increasing¡­ I should be able to recover to a higher level when my body absorbs the medicine for another day." Garen gripped his fists as he felt the unstoppable blood flow from within his body. He was rather excited, he could feel himself getting closer to his peak form from his previous life.


    He absorbed all three packets of medicine within two days, and his body had recovered by a large margin. These weeds in the eyes of the locals, had become an extremely effective medicinal herbs through his mixing and collocation.


    He look at the physical attribute pane just below his eyeline.


    ¡®Strength 1.4, Agility 1.3, Vitality 1.4, Intelligence 0.9, Potential 1772%. Possessed the requirement to become a Luminarist.¡¯


    "The medicinal effect has yet to be completely absorbed, so I should be able to recover even further within a day or two." Garen estimated in his mind. This ancient medicine had a gentle efficacy, and it had recovered his strength by a noticeable amount within two days. If this pace were to keep up, he would be able to fully recover in less than a month.


    "When my strength and vitality has reaches 1.5 and above, I will be able to use the basic combinations of secret techniques and battle skills. This means my strength has recovered by half." He gently exercised his lower body and determined that his current body was able to fight against a Guardian-level at best.


    After tidying up his room, Garen walked out and went downstairs. His cousin had dropped by to visit Vanderman today. Vanderman wanted him to apologize to his cousin on his own accord due to his hurtful sentences in his previous argument with Sofea Hathaway.


    Garen reached Vanderman¡¯s building in the central manor in no time as he left his building. As he arrived at the manor, there was a female soldier. She seemed to be his cousin¡¯s companion, in white armor guarding by the door.


    The female soldier even looked at him a few times as he entered the building.


    Vanderman and Hathaway were sitting on different sofas in the first floor living room. Vanderman seemed to be inquiring something of Hathaway. The smile on her face immediately disappeared when both of them saw Garen coming in.


    "Cousin." Garen greeted her on his own accord with a hesitant look. "You¡¯ve arrived."


    "It¡¯s been a while, Cia." Hathaway sighed as she looked at Garen with a hopeless expression..


    She had been looking after Acacia since he was young, and he was on the best terms with each other compared to the others. Although she was angry over the insensitive words from Acacia, she hadn¡¯t place it in her heart. She knew that they were the words said by an angry child. Plus, she was the one who hit him first.


    Upon this visitation, she heard from Malin that Acacia had become more sensible, and stopped going to the casino fooling around everywhere anymore. Originally, she had planned to teach him a lesson, to let him know words beget conflict. Now that she had seen Cia¡¯s remarkable performance, Hathaway couldn¡¯t help but feel soft-hearted.


    The moment Garen saw her gaze, he knew that she had forgiven him. "Sister, it¡¯s my fault. I lost control of my anger¡­" He lowered his head to show his sincerity.


    "I¡¯m glad you know you¡¯ve owned up to your mistakes." Hathaway stood up and walked towards Garen, and gently stroke his hair, just like old times. "You¡¯ve grown. You¡¯re no longer the child you were. I heard from Malin that you have finally stopped going to the Casino. I¡¯m glad."


    "I promise, I will never live like that ever again!" Garen raised his hand and said with determination. "A few days ago, I¡¯ve realized that it is meaningless to keep living like that."


    "That¡¯s a relief." Vanderman, who was sitting to one side, nodding. His ever stern look softened up," I have never heard of you saying such words. Looks like you¡¯re really determined to turn over a new leaf."


    "I am serious." Garen replied calmly.


    "Don¡¯t disappoint your cousin." After Vanderman finished drinking his coffee, he stood up and went upstairs. "You two have a good chat. I won¡¯t be participating in you youngsters¡¯ conversation. I have things to do and will be heading out later, so you two don¡¯t have to wait me for dinner."


    "Understood." Garen and Hathaway replied harmoniously.


    They both sat down after they looked at the Lord going upstairs.


    Hathaway asked about Garen¡¯s recent situation in detail, and found out that he had not been fooling around recently. Her face was filled with joy upon this realisation. Both of them talked about the interesting events they had encountered; Hathaway wanted to admire Garen¡¯s new creation, in which he declined. Those creations were embarrassing.


    After sitting around for about two hours, Hathaway gifted Garen a miniature model of the knight¡¯s sword, which could be used as a decoration for his study desk, before leaving the manor with the female soldier. She looked very cheerful as she left.


    Garen could finally relax, as he was able to solve the issue regarding his sudden change in personality. He did not need to act and cover up his personality anymore. It was incredible stressful to act as a retarded child.


    He just needed to slowly change, and not have any sudden change in personality.


    It was almost noon when he came out of Vanderman¡¯s building. He went back to his room and started his usual routine, which was the recovery of his battle skills and secret techniques. He felt calm when he was focusing on recovering his strength. His pace in learning the Precision Blueprint was increasing as well. The current him, who had not used any potential points, was already in the upper range of the Beginner-level. He just needed the time to master the basics of the Precision Blueprint, and he would be able to enter the next phase: the Intermediate-level.


    "In a few more days, when my body¡¯s strength and vitality passes the 1,5 mark, I will be able to safely use my technique levels which combine both secret techniques and battle skills. This would be equal to this world¡¯s General-level. The effect of the thousand year old medicine is indeed exceptionally powerful!" Garen said emotionally.

 245 Attacked 1

    Chapter 245: Attacked 1


    There was a dark green figure by the slanted forest just outside the Trenjons Manor. It was a young woman in a tight green shirt and dress. Although she had an average face and was slightly filled in her chest and backside, she was incredible sexy in the tight shirt.


    She was carrying five black arrows on her back and holding a black longbow with her hand. She was looking into the Trenjons Manor coldly from afar.


    The ray of light during noon landed on the right of her body, reflecting off a faint green light.


    She squat down slowly and used a dagger to leave a shallow mark onto the grass beside her feet.


    She then stood up, turned around, and disappeared into the trees.


    **************


    Two days later, in the morning hours.


    A black horse carriage slowly came out of the Trejons¡¯s manor, headed towards the Black Flower Mountain.


    The carriage was pulled by two strong black horses. They were going through the sea of trees at incredible speed, with no sign of stopping down anytime soon.


    With the carriage¡¯s window wound down halfway, a handsome young man with golden hair and pale skin could be seen inside. He looked tired, as he supported himself with one hand on the chin by the window, as if he was taking a nap.


    A set of blue eyes were staring at the moving carriage in the forest. As the carriage moved further away, the eyes followed suit.


    Diaz was following the carriage closely, jumping around the branches swiftly. Everytime she landed onto a tree, she was perfectly hidden behind the branches and well hidden within the carriage¡¯s blindspot. She was as swift and stealthy as a civet, so stealthy even the grass wasn¡¯t disturbed.


    She had one hand on her thigh the entire time. She was wearing a black long stockings, which had a line of thin black needles placed on them. The black needles connected the short green dress and stockings together, and no wind seemed to be able to coax the skirts upwards.


    The carriage and her were moving without rest. Occasionally other carriages would pass by, and they would take a short break during the journey. After an hour or so, the carriages took a turn and went down a small, remote lane.


    The carriages that were on the road could not be seen from here. Only the farmer natives, who were there to collect firewood, would occasionally seen on this road.


    The carriage stopped as it reached the very end of the road.


    The young man opened the car door and jumped out of the carriage, exchanging a few words with the driver. A tall person in black armour came down from the carriage, and the two of them formed a line and slowly went into the forest in front of them.


    Diaz was confused, and slowly removed a black needle from her skirt.


    "This place should be nearly outside of Vanderman¡¯s range of awareness¡­" She muttered as she slowly followed the duo.


    *********


    Garen was looking carefully looking for the medicinal herbs at the place where he had previously found the Amejade grass. This time, he went deeper into the forest. Ulun, who was fully equipped with his battle gear, was following him from behind. This calm middle aged man who always looked puzzled and suspicious was following him silently from the rear without asking what Garen was doing, owing to his good manners.


    Eventually, they arrived at the location where they had their camping trip. Ulun walked in front of Garen on his own accord, pulled out a short sword and went into a state of alertness. Although the dangerous animals should not have recovered yet when he killed them off, it¡¯s better to be safe than sorry.


    "Don¡¯t be so tight up about it. Hadn¡¯t we just left not long ago?" Garen laughed.


    "It¡¯s always better to be more careful." Ulun was unswayed by it.


    Garen shrugged his shoulders and let him do what he wanted. He was searching high and low for the things he was looking for with a container in hand, ready to place anything inside as he went on his search.


    Two of them went straight into the deep forest without any detour. They could faintly see the mountain ranges that pierced through the clouds, the peak of the green mountains covered with white snow.


    The grass on the ground had grown longer over the years. Occasionally, fierce venomous snakes and spiders would jumped out of the grass to attack them, but they were all disposed off by Ulun.


    Garen didn¡¯t recognize most of the plants, as there were only a little of them that looked similar to what was in his previous world. He was searching for those that he was familiar with, such as the amejade grass, pinweed, etc.


    They eventually found two in the dense forest. However, they were only less than a hundred years old. It was as if they were extremely lucky to be able to find the thousand year old amejade grass last time.


    Unsatisfied, he continued looking for it. He knew that the types of grasses similar to the amejade grass would be grouped in the same area. So when he found a few bunches of amejade grass, he kept on searching near the surrounding area.


    "I¡¯ve found it!" His eyes brightened up as he walked a few steps forward towards the thousand year old amejade grass, which was located just behind a green colored stone. The leaves were filled with tiny white spots, which gave off a sense of uncleanliness.


    "It¡¯s a thousand-year-old one! It¡¯s even older than the ones I¡¯ve previously collected!" Garen was filled with joy. It took him great difficulty to find a thousand year old amejade grass among the bunch. This particular one that he found had the medicinal effect of two packets of herbs. He estimated that it could recover half of his peak strength with this.


    At this point, he believed that he could not find any more in this area any longer, as these herbs had high requirements towards the environment in order to live. He could only depend on to encounter more of them, as the soil quality further ahead was not suitable for the amejade grass to grow.


    Garen went straight for the herbs, preparing to dig it up before doing anything else.


    Flap.


    Suddenly a rattling sound came from behind him.


    Afterwards, the sound of shirt flapping could be heard, and a greenish human figure jumped over his head and landed gently in front of Garen.


    "Reveal your identity!!"


    Ulun quickly pulled out a sword and place it in front of Garen with one hand and held a dagger with the other hand.


    "Who are you?!" Ulun was staring at the girl in green skirt. The opponent had a green short hair and was holding a longbow in her hand. She was looking at the duo with a rather disturbing gaze.


    "A forest ranger? No, there shouldn¡¯t be any forest rangers in this area. Who are you?" Ulun asked with a solemn look, as he knew that the move performed by the opponent was something he, a Soldier-level could only hope to do.


    The woman laughed and didn¡¯t answer his question. She had her eyes on Garen the whole time.


    "A rich playboy who doesn¡¯t go and enjoy his life, and instead decides to dig up some weeds in this deserted area? Acacia, what are you up to?"


    "Who are you!" Garen retreated and hid behind Ulun. "How do you know my name?" He was trying his best to act frightened while paying attention to the woman in front of him.


    The opponent was filled with energy spirit, which made him slightly anxious. It was an opponent that was currently stronger than him.


    "My name is Diaz. Consider yourself unlucky because I am currently in a very bad mood!" Diaz started smiling coldly as she raised her right hand.


    Suddenly, a soft sonic boom rang out.


    Pew!!


    Ulun forcefully pushed Garen away and shielded him. He grunted and swung both of his swords towards the woman only to be easily evaded by her.


    "Run!!" Ulun shouted as he swung his swords at incredible speed at Diaz without any concern for his injury.


    Garen stumbled about as he ran away. As he ran for a few steps, he saw a blue figure at the corner of his sight.


    "It¡¯s the blue scaled snake! Of course!" He felt a chill in his body. The opponent was definitely related to Aquarius.


    Shortly after, he heard Ulun shouted from behind him, and was completely silent after that.


    "Can you even escape?" A woman¡¯s voice came from behind and a soft sonic boom was heard as well.


    Garen pretended to sprain his ankle and tumbled on the ground as he avoided the black needle. He tumbled down the slope and landed onto a grass field.


    He heard the sound of the footsteps approaching as he saw Diaz¡¯s figure in front of him. She pulled out her long sword and pointed it at Garen.


    "You¡¯re so weak." She looked at him arrogantly.


    She looked at him as if he was a joke when she saw the herbs that was in Garen¡¯s hand.


    Slam!


    She stomped onto the basket of herbs with all her might and as a result, the herbs were completely ruined, leaving no useful ingredients behind.


    "Is this the garbage you¡¯ve been looking for all over the place? It¡¯s very unfortunate that they¡¯re completely useless now~~"


    "What the f*ck!"


    Garen¡¯s eyes were filled with rage. These herbs were collected with his sweat and time, and now they were completely ruined by her stomp.


    As he looked out from the corner of his vision again, and still the blue-scaled snake was there. He was very sure that a Luminarist was controlling the situation in the dark.


    "You dare to kill me!!? I am the only successor to the Trejons Household! You may want to consider the consequence before killing me! My whole household will never let you go!!!" Garen acted as if he was omnipotent. However, he was only strong on the appearance in the eyes of the blue-scaled snake and Diaz.


    "Never let me go? Hehe, I¡¯m so scared¡­" Diaz started to laugh loudly, so much so that she started to tearing up. "I didn¡¯t know garbage like you even knew how to threaten others."


    Whoosh.


    At this moment, Garen showcased a little of his battle skills. He got up, ran and jumped to the other side of the steep slope without giving Diaz a chance to react.


    "You¡¯re dead!" Diaz quickly followed up and chased Garen down at full speed as she jumped to the other side of the steep slope as well.


    The human-like eyes on the blue-scaled snake looked slightly disappointed.


    "Is that what he is only capable of? This is the little strength that he was hiding?" It hesitated for a moment and eventually turned around and left the area. "I¡¯ve wasted my effort to arrange a General-level to be here."


    Splash!


    A sound of a heavy object falling into the water came from the steep slope.


    *********


    The end of the slope was actually a deep green colored pond.


    Diaz flew down, tracking Garen¡¯s rolling. She ended up at the cliff edge of the slope and looked down at the pond down below.


    "There¡¯s no one here!? Where did he run off to? Did he fall down?" She was mortified as she looked down at the water ripple in the pond.


    "If I die, someone will avenge me. What about you?" Suddenly a gentle male voice came from behind her.


    Diaz felt a shiver from her head to toe and out of reflex, she struck back with her sword and shot out three black needles at the same time.


    Pew pew pew!!

 246 Attacked 2

    Chapter 246: Attacked 2


    With a swift motion, he caught the three black needles with his bare hand.


    Boom!!


    She saw that Acacia¡¯s golden eyes were fused with a faint red color, as she felt two big hands silently placed onto her chest.


    There was no sound of impact, only that her mind was sent to a chaotic state. It was as if her body was hit by a big vibration and lost her balance as a result of losing almost all her strength.


    Diaz could do nothing but to watch herself falling into the pond, back towards the ground.


    Splash!


    Garen stood at the edge of the cliff and threw the three black needles with his left hand. At the same time, he jumped and went after Diaz who was falling into the pond.


    "You bastard!!" Diaz wanted to scream but she was interrupted by the three black needles that were fast approaching, followed closely by a black figure from above.


    As she looked up, she saw Garen fast approaching with a cold expression. The frail and fragile look that he had earlier had completely disintegrated. The gaze sent a shiver down her spine. This fellow had hidden too much of his strength! No! She had to report this intel immediately!


    "Three Leap!!" She stomped with all of her strength and went after Garen, leaving behind a hemispherical wave behind her. She was like an arrow flying up from the pond. She stomped on the water three times, increasing her speed with each stomp and reached the edge of the pond in no time.


    She was not an expert in fighting on the water or fighting in close range. In addition, she had been hit by his palm and her body was still numb from it, resulting her being unable to exert any force. She could only muster half of Three Leap¡¯s strength and speed, which was one of her proudest skills. This made her feel fear and aggrieved.


    "When I recover¡­!!"


    As she was about to utter a vengeful statement, an intense strength came from behind her silently.


    "Myriad Water Jasper Technique!!"


    Garen attacked Diaz¡¯s back with his glowing blue hands, and the ear splitting sound of waves followed suit.


    All his might merged as one and released a sound that resembled a tsunami. The horrifying strength had formed countless of small vortices and landed onto Diaz.


    Boom!


    Fresh blood came out from Diaz¡¯s mouth. Blood could be seen everywhere, as if water was leaking from a water bottle. She limped a few steps and turned her head around.


    "You¡­!!"


    Garen walked up to her and kicked her. She was sent flying and landed hard on a green stone before falling to the ground. The total count of broken bones that accompanied the sound of snapping and breaking from her body was unclear.


    "Any last words?"


    "I¡­ I¡­" Diaz tried to open her mouth with all of her might, but her mouth was completely filled with blood, and anything that came out from her mouth was completely unintelligible.


    Garen squat down, picked up one of the black needles that was scattered on the ground, and gently took aim at the center of her head.


    "Good bye."


    Pew!


    Diaz shivered as despair could be seen in her eyes. Her body started to tremble greatly. After a few moments, her trembling subsided and became weaker, eventually coming to a complete stop after a minute.


    Garen stood up and brushed off the dirts and dust that was on his body. His casual clothes, which was originally white, had turned green.


    "This is embarrassing." He sighed as he started to examine the traces he had left behind.


    His footprints, special effects that was caused by the fist technique and the remaining clues that could possibly reveal his strength were completely cleaned up.


    "This person that was sent to probe us by Aquarius¡­ Diaz¡­ I¡¯ve seen this person in the images¡­" He looked at Diaz¡¯s corpse as he vaguely found this person in his memories.


    He sorted out the major keys and main events related to Vanderman that occurred in this time frame, which was about the overall events within the next 2 years.


    "This person should have appeared two months later. Why is she here?" His started to frown slightly. "If I hadn¡¯ ambushed her, I would have been in grave danger if she were to pull some distance between us and attack from afar with her longbow." Afterall, he had yet to reach General-level.


    After ensuring that there were no strange noises from the surroundings, he squatted down and took off the longbow and arrows from the corpse. He then started fumbling around the corpse, and found a small brown pouch and some spare change.


    He poured out whatever was inside the pouch onto the ground, and what came out were some pink pills and a stack of white long cotton cloth.


    "What is this?" Garen picked up the cotton cloth and examine it carefully. He could faintly see a line of word saying: ¡®It¡¯s a relief to have Masona.¡¯


    There was another short sentence below: ¡®With the Masona pad, you can move about freely.¡¯


    Garen immediately knew what it was and threw away the pad.


    The pink circular pills were very tiny. On the surface were the words printed ¡®AD¡¯


    "This is¡­" Garen seemed to have thought of something. "This might be useful."


    He kept the the pills and picked up a tree branch filled with leaves. He started to wipe of his foot prints as he walked, and swiftly left the pond area.


    He went back to where Ulun was. Initially, he hid himself carefully. Upon realizing that there were no blue-scaled snakes, he quickly rushed towards Ulun¡¯s side. Surprisingly, his loyal subject was alive. He had a hole in his head and was bleeding profusely.


    Garen took out the pink pills and crushed it into a powder. He then rubbed it onto the wound and applied pressure onto it.


    After a while the wound stopped bleeding.


    Ulun started to wake up from being unconscious.


    "Mas...ter, are you still alive?"


    "Someone saved me. Let¡¯s not talk about this and leave this area first!" Garen acted as if he had yet to calm down.


    "Al..alright."


    Ulun¡¯s injury wasn¡¯t dire as he only lost too much blood from the bleeding. The bloodstain that was on his body would have shocked anyone. Although faltered as he walked, it didn¡¯t really affect him much at all.


    As the two of them went back to the horse carriage, they saw the driver laying down on a pool of his own blood with an arrow stuck in his neck. The two horses ran off with the carriages about ten meters away and were stuck in between two trees.


    Garen and Ulun got up the carriage and swiftly went back to the manor.


    **************


    There was an uproar in the whole manor when the news of Acacia being ambushed spread.


    Angered, Vanderman sent out all of his forces to the Black Flower Mountain to search for any clues for two days, but to no avail. The corpse of the female assassin was dragged off by the wolves to an unknown place, and what could only be found was the trace of the battle near the pond.


    Due to this incident, Acacia was grounded and could not leave the manor.


    Vanderman had gone out for some reason unknown to Acacia. However, judging from the look of his face when he went out, he obviously was not out for vacation.


    Garen took this opportunity to stay in the manor and study the handbook on a daily basis. He also trained his physical body in the hope that he would recover as soon as possible and raise his Precision Blueprint to the Intermediate-level.


    As his physical body kept recovering, his learning pace had started to become faster as well. The requirement needed for the Intermediate-level was a matter of time.


    He was able to attack the without any pause. The surprise attack to stun the enemy, and Myriad Water Jasper Technique as the finishing blow.


    He obtained Myriad Water Jasper Technique from Celine, and it was very suitable to use it during an ambush. Furthermore, it didn¡¯t put a lot of strain onto the user¡¯s body. The only downside of this technique was that it wasn¡¯t lethal, and would be ineffective against a master. However, it seemed to be rather effective towards the General-levels of this world.


    *************


    In the certain part of the manor, there was a sea of bright red roses.


    A girl in a tight short skirt and a green mask was standing in the center of the rose field, cutting off the branches with care. There was a girl in a green shirt reporting the situation to her, softly, with her head bowed.


    "We have a few captains that are on the move to kill the bandits. Such is the situation regarding the bandits for these past few days. Furthermore¡­" The reporter looked at the masked woman in front of her cautiously.


    "Furthermore, Diaz who had gone to Vanderman¡¯s manor had disappeared and has yet to return."


    "Oh?"


    The masked woman stopped cutting the branches and sighed softly.


    "Have we received any secret signal?"


    "None."


    "Have the remaining people receive anything as well?"


    "None."


    The masked woman placed down the scissor as she frowned.


    "Diaz is a woman who knows the severity of the situation. She would not have disappear for no reason. Looks like she has gotten into some trouble."


    "I¡¯m afraid so." The reported lowered her head.


    "Vanderman¡­ Even a General-level couldn¡¯t escape from you? You¡¯re a mysterious man¡­" The masked woman¡¯s green eyes were filled with murderous intent. "What about Tracy?"


    "Isn¡¯t she on vacation?" The reporter was stunned.


    "Call her back immediately. I cannot withdraw from this incident; I will leave the rest to her. We, the Green Shades, must not lose our value over this incident."


    "Yes."


    *************


    A few days later¡­.


    Hoooo!


    Garen threw a punch in his room and short vortices were formed in the air.


    Garen threw the punches with both of his hands, and this time his clothes that were near his shoulder was slightly torn off.


    His face was filled with satisfaction as he relaxed his fighting posture.


    "My strength and agility are now more than 1.5. I am finally able to use my battle skills combined with the secret techniques. Now, my last step is to fully recover, and use my four ultimate techniques without worry. " Garen picked up the towel and wiped the sweat off his body and sat beside the circular table in the middle of his room.


    It was a table that he wanted placed there so that he could conveniently pick up the items on the table.


    He looked at the attribute pane as he poured himself a glass of water.


    Although the the medicine was no longer in his body, the effect had yet to be completely absorbed. Hence his body would still be recovering for a while before it completely stopped.


    His strength had recovered by half compared to the last time.


    ¡®Strength 1.6, Agility 1.5, Vitality 1.9, Intelligence 1.1, Potential 1772%. Possess the qualification to be a Luminarist.


    Secret technique -- Divine Statue technique, Ten Thousand Mammoth Battle Skills.


    287 days left until full recovery (a year).


    Precision Blueprint: Intermediate-level. (Total of three level: Beginner-level, Intermediate-level, Master-level)¡¯


    As he had reached the Intermediate-level for his Precision Blueprint, his recovery time had naturally decreased. Furthermore, his intelligence level had finally reached 1 point, which was the average intelligence of a human. This was the point that Garen was most excited about.


    His current logical thinking was different than before. In the past, he was slow, unresponsive and couldn¡¯t connect the major points most of the time. Memorisation was essential to the Precision Blueprint. In addition, it could be handy and he felt much more smoother as well.


    This was indeed the advantage of having a high intelligence. He drank another hot cup of water with satisfaction.

 247 Recovery 1

    Chapter 247: Recovery 1


    Intelligence is a funny thing. It represents the ability to memorize, imagine, analyze, so on and so forth. If it¡¯s too low, it¡¯d be severely impact the ability to learn and comprehend.


    Garen rested on his chair, considering his next moves.


    "The timeline is changing, that Diaz shouldn¡¯t be here yet, why is she sent here early?" He set down his cup, his fingers tapping the table.


    "If I recall correctly, there were a few major events before Beckstone arrived. The RAL (Royal Alliance of Luminarists)* had a fall out with the Obscuro preceding some riots. Within a year the power that RAL holds weakened significantly, until they were overturned by the Obscuro. The key turning point of that was the War of the Luminarists led by Rosette."


    Reviewing the information from the memory, Garen started to finalize his plans.


    "If that¡¯s the case, in this Totem World, there were three major factions, The RAL, Obscuro Society, and Terraflor Society. All three have their own top Luminarists. At first, the RAL and Obscuro had a clash, leading to their loss of power, Beckstone from Terraflor took the opportunity to rise up."


    He meticulously picked at specific details in the memory. Soon, he found the strongest Luminarists under all three factions.


    The Royal Alliance of Luminarists had three Luminarists leading the three departments, they represented the benefits of the Royal family and the nobles.


    Obscuro¡¯s were Hellgate and his two disciples.


    Terraflor¡¯s were Beckstone and his teammates, along with the Silver Knight¡¯s leader. They have a lot of people, but they were the weakest out of the three.


    These are the strongest Luminarists from the three factions.


    Viscount Vanderman was only one of the supporters outside the three departments, and was at the same time an outer member of the Obscuro, he was one of the initial opponents Beckstone faced.


    "The leaders of the three departments of RAL, that¡¯s too far away. Any one of them would be stronger than Beckstone in his most powerful period. Vanderman couldn¡¯t even reach them." Garen analyzed. "If these three people were still alive, Obscuro wouldn¡¯t be so daring to attack the manor. In that case, the attack I faced was probably as a warning to Vanderman."


    Frowning, he figured out the situation.


    "The following event would probably be small-scale collisions between Obscuro and the RAL before it turned into large-scale ones. Right now, Terraflor is still a small fry. With upcoming battles, Obscuro wouldn¡¯t be able to pay attention to us, so they will only destroy the manor when Beckstone arrives."


    Garen¡¯s brows were tightly knit, he stood up.


    "But I was just attacked, that means both sides were not planning to do it secretly anymore. Time is running short, maybe the timeline would be shifted forward even more."


    He paced in his room.


    "I need to keep up¡­" He had made his mind.


    His gaze fell onto the ability pane.


    His Precision Blueprint skill was shown as Intermediate-level.


    "I¡¯ll raise this to Master-level first, then I¡¯ll go look for Teacher Emin to learn the Tactics to get a head start with creating my own Totem. But before that, I need to recover my strength completely!"


    He showed a sense of determination.


    "No more keeping secrets, I guess."


    ***********


    After Garen made up his mind, he started hiring the townsfolk in the town to pick amejade grass, pinweed and the other herb. With every individual plant, he bought it off of them with ten rumbs*.


    The Rumb is the official unit of currency issued by the Kovitan Empire, its buying power is slightly higher than the American Dollar on Earth. That was not a bad value.


    After asking his servants to man the booths for purchasing the herbs, they spread the news, many townsfolk started collecting them for Garen.


    His father Viscount Vanderman found out, but he didn¡¯t ask. About his son¡¯s behavior, he reasoned as one of his passing fads.


    Acacia used to like planting roses too, switching it for another isn¡¯t that big of a deal.


    After the initial confusion, Viscount Vanderman found out that his son switched every single one of the roses to herbs. He guessed his son learned some alchemical formula from somewhere and that he kept wanting to have a mysterious potion for his own use.


    With regards to this he scoffed, alchemical potions were debunked about a hundred years ago. It was just a scam, but one of the biggest scam in the century. It wasn¡¯t spending much of his money, so he ignored it.


    Viscount Vanderman was busier than usual.


    He went to the capital of the empire and visited scores of famous Luminarists and aristocrats, getting information about the Obscuro Society. As an academic Luminarist, he always had means to contact people. After all the trouble he went through, he even gotten himself two other Luminarist friends to stay over at his manor for a few days to show the Royal family¡¯s attitude toward them.


    *************


    "Good evening Sirs." Garen stood in front of the white-bearded old men, greeting them with the utmost respect.


    These two were his father¡¯s Royal Luminarist friends from the capital city, Rob and Eric. They both wore white robes with silver lining, and had an aura of wisdom.


    Both nodded.


    "He¡¯s not bad, even though he¡¯s not intelligent, he¡¯s still a polite kid."


    "I can see the respect for intelligence in his eyes." Eric boomed. His voice is loud, echoing throughout the study.


    Vanderman sit at the side, his face slightly fark.


    "This attack on Cia, I strongly suspect it¡¯s by the people over there. Several of the other lords were also attacked, reducing their powers. This is obviously a planned operation."


    He eyed Garen.


    "Cia, you can go now. Do go out unnecessarily, the situation now is a little unstable."


    "Yes, father."


    Even though Garen wanted to listen to the conversation, but all three Luminarists were much stronger than his current self. Even if he recovered all his strength, it¡¯s impossible to fight them. Eavesdropping is out of the question too.


    He used his Turtle Breathing Technique and slowly backed away from the study. The hushed conversation carried on behind him. He left Vanderman¡¯s building briskly.


    When he passed by the yard in front of the building, he looked up and stared at the candlelit room on the second floor.


    "Looks like the RAL is going to fight back soon. They even got two Luminarists to support¡­"


    He strode toward his own building.


    Closing the door, he rushed to the second floor into his own study, closing all the curtains and windows.


    He retrieved a redwood briefcase and unlocked it.


    There were scores of bottles with a cornflower blue potions.


    "I managed to concoct so much potion, it wasn¡¯t the millennium ones, but they can still work." He took out a bottle and chugged it.


    If it was the potion made from the millennium old amejade grass, he wouldn¡¯t dare to drink it. It was too strong. But these amejade grass were only less than a century old, their medicinal properties were much milder. If he doesn¡¯t drink it, the effects would be even worse. Right now, it¡¯s just strong enough that his body could endure.


    After one bottle, Garen kept the briefcase away.


    His body started to heat up.


    During the past few weeks, through collecting the herbs with his servants and brewing the potions himself, he had already consumed a large quantity of the potion, his body was almost back at his peak.


    He glanced at the attribute pane, having a sense of expectation.


    Just a little more to his peak.


    ¡®Strength 2.0, Agility 1.9, Vitality 2.2, Intelligence 1.7. Luminarist Talent detected.¡¯


    "This is a physical attribute built purely with the potion, I have developed resistance to the potion, but I¡¯m also almost recovered." Garen was happy at the result feeling his strength.


    At his peak, all the attributes were about 2.6.


    As of now, his attributes were twice an average person¡¯s. When put together, his power would be exponentially more powerful than that. He can already use his strongest Four Secret Techniques.


    All in all, he had already recovered 90% of his strength.


    "However, this is no longer the original world. My strength here is not enough¡­" Garen sighed.


    After resting for a bit, when the effects of the potion had subsided, his gaze fell upon the ability pane once again.


    "Now that my body is almost back to normal, I need to work on my skills¡­ Need to raise the level of Precision Blueprint."


    Garen stared at the skill Precision Blueprint for three seconds.


    Immediately, the name of the skill vibrated and blurred out and finally turned into Master-level!


    The Potential Point decreased by 500% with just a second!


    The skill pane has changed.


    ¡®Precision Blueprint: Master-level. (Levels: Beginner, Intermediate, Master)¡¯


    "It really is an advanced ability¡­ I have advanced to Intermediate-level myself, so I didn¡¯t use up the Potential Points, but now to turn it into Master-level, I used up 5 whole points¡­" Garen thought begrudgingly.


    The Potential Points looked like it was a lot when it was 18 points, but because of the Precision Blueprint skill, there are only 12 points left.


    "I wonder if there are Antique of Disaster in this world¡­" He thought.


    In this manor, he had already touched all the antiques Vanderman collected, but none of them were Antiques of Disaster. His Potential Points had not changed.


    This made him wonder if Antiques of Disaster actually exist in this world.


    Following the mastery of the skill Precision Blueprint, Garen felt another breeze as thick as ink flowing to his hands from his brain.


    Translator''s Thoughts


    J_Squared J_Squared


    1.	May shorten to RAL in future chapters depending on context.

 248 Recovery 2

    Chapter 248: Recovery 2


    Both his hands were warm, as if they were submerged in lukewarm water.


    A never before experienced sense of dexterousness surged from Garen¡¯s hands. Raising his hands, he made a few poses.


    Following the sound of his hands cutting through the air, his fingers created apparitions where they moved.


    Garen squinted.


    "What speed! This level of dexterity is only a foundation in being a Luminarist?!" He observed his own hands. With his current proficiency, he could form three complex gestures in a second.


    Basically he could finish any gestures in an instant.


    "I guess, it¡¯s Tactics next." Garen retrieved the handbook and pressed against the tiny wrinkles on the cover. "Teacher Emin said if I want to continue the study, I¡¯ll need to go to his place. I can¡¯t leave the manor yet, need ideas¡­"


    His Intelligence had already returned to his normal level, so his thinking speed is really fast.


    "Right now the manor has three Luminarists, the Obscuro wouldn¡¯t provoke us for the moment. But Vanderman would know that already. They¡¯re in a sticky situation at the moment, if the RAL could request for reinforcement, so could the Obscuro. If they clashed then, I¡¯d be in even more danger."


    He estimated that if he requested to go out, Vanderman wouldn¡¯t oppose to it after giving it a little thought. The Luminarists wouldn¡¯t pay much attention to a nobody like him anyway, there shouldn¡¯t be much problem if he hid himself appropriately.


    ************************


    In a town a few thousand kilometers away from the Lush Forest district.


    The setting sun sent its rays onto the streets, bringing out a sense of warmth and peace.


    Children chased after each other in front of the fruit stall. Among the townsfolk coming home, some mercenaries walked with their weapons. Occasionally there were a few people from the upper class too.


    In a yellowish private building made of some sort of wooden material.


    The door opened with a creak before letting in a young man with a slightly pale face. His youthful, beardless face was accentuated with his calm, bright eyes. He wore a black set of suit with an equally black bowler hat, a black feather in his breast pocket, and a black walking cane in his hand.


    He entered the hall and looked at an enchanting young lady sitting by the bar.


    "Berlina, is teacher back?" He said, gazing at the staircase toward the second floor.


    "Upstairs. He¡¯s waiting for you, go quickly." The lady was combing her long red hair with a small comb and answered him nonchalantly.


    "I know."


    The man hung his hat on the rack beside the entrance and rushed to the second floor.


    Knock knock.


    "Beckstone? Come in." An old raspy voice came from inside.


    The door opened by itself, leaving space for the passage of one person.


    The man in black entered.


    It was an average-sized study. Bookshelves took up most of the wallspace. Everywhere, the floor, the desk, were books and opened notebooks.


    Sketch papers were filled with random notes, complicated formulas, symbols and shapes.


    An old man sat in front of the desk by the window. His silver beard was so long, it drags from the desk to the door, spooling in front of it. It measured about twenty meters.


    "Your beard has grown out again." Closing the door, the younger man avoided stepping on the silver beard and approached the older man.


    "This is a curse, one that I can¡¯t ever undo¡­" The old man put aside his notebook, leaned back against the chair and sighed. "Compared to killing that person, I am willing to pay this price."


    "Do you have any orders for me?" The younger man asked politely.


    "Beckstone, when you were still a baby, I saved you from the stream. Even then you were able to understand my words. You promised me, don¡¯t hate the world, don¡¯t antagonize your parents who left you. Were you able to do that?" The old man stared into the young man¡¯s eyes, his own sparkling with evaluation.


    Beckstone stayed quiet for a while before he answered with hesitation.


    "I am working on it...:"


    "You couldn¡¯t, I know¡­" The old man sighed, once more. "Life is constantly changing. You¡¯ve lived in this town for the past nineteen years. Hatred can only create more hatred. At this point, I can no longer restrict you from doing anything. Your talent frightens me, I¡¯m afraid that you will bring damage to mankind if you lost your way. Unfortunately, this is not something you can control."


    "Teacher¡­"


    "No words. Maybe you will become the strongest Luminarist in the world, but never forget this. Your hatred, your desire, your choices, everything you do will bring about huge impacts to the world. You may bring light and hope, but you may also bring suffering and pain."


    The old man looked at the young man whom he taught for twenty years, his eyes kind.


    "Go, it¡¯s time for you to leave here."


    "Leave?" Beskstone was lost for words, "Where should I go?"


    "Wherever you want to go."


    Beckstone wanted to protest, but his vision blurred, and the next thing he knew, he was standing outside the building, his hand posed on the door, preparing to enter.


    "Teacher¡­ is this what you wanted to say to me?" He murmured, let his hand fall to his side, and left.


    Creaking, the door swung open, an enchanting red-haired lady stared at his leaving with a weird look.


    "Hey! Don¡¯t you wanna keep teacher company?" She hollered.


    Beckstone waved with his backhand, and soon he disappeared into the crowd.


    A beautiful face emerged from the depth of his mind.


    "I will find you, and the person who took you¡­" Beckstone¡¯s grip tightened on itself.


    ******************


    Lush Forest district


    Manor of Aquarius


    Clink! Clank! Crash!


    Aquarius swept the vases off the table in her fury. Some of them crashed on the wall, some landed on the floor, but they all broke into pieces.


    The room was a galore of her wrath. Crystal statues, life-size models, furnitures, flowers, everything was strewn around in the room.


    "Dammit dammit dammit dammit!!"


    Aquarius¡¯ face was in a state of contortion, her anger bursting out of her facade of divine beauty.


    "Barr! Baphje!" She clenched her jaw as she tugged at the tablecloth, throwing it on the floor and stepped on it in frustration.


    "Royal Alliance, you¡¯re pushing your luck! This is Lush Forest district! Obscuro¡¯s territory, MY territory!" Her rage was seething so much, it made her tremble. Her eyes were filled with killing intent as dense as mud.


    However, being furios is one thing, sticking to the plan her higher up gave is another. The overall arrangements in different countries have yet to be finalized, and she¡¯s just a very small part of it. Even Barr and Baphje, the two district-level people in charge from Royal Alliance of Luminarists, were only considered as a small price to pay in exchange for their operation¡¯s success.


    "Shouldn¡¯t jeopardize the whole situation. Or else I won¡¯t have my revenge, the higher ups will also¡­"


    "You won¡¯t be seeing the last of me¡­ just you wait!" Aquarius felt as if her chest was drowning in the air, her displease nowhere to be displaced. "I will remember this, but next time! I will throw you all in the sow barn, naked!"


    Outside the opened door, one of her subordinates shivered as she heard the words.


    "Re- reporting for duty!"


    "What!" Aquarius yelled back in her fury.


    "Two news¡­" The subordinate replied with hesitation, "A missing General-level in Lush Forest district had been found. Only bones were left behind by the wolves¡­"


    "Oh? Those useless imbeciles! Not bad, Vanderman-" Aquarius¡¯ face was wild, as if she¡¯s going to break out. "What¡¯s the other news?"


    "Master¡­ Lonave is here."


    "Lonave¡­" Aquarius was going to respond when she recalled her assassin Diaz¡¯s pursuit of that idiot Master Acacia through her blue-scaled snake.


    "Interesting¡­ What kind of elites does Vanderman have protecting his son? I wanna know!" She licked her lips and barked her order at her subordinate.


    "Tell Lonave, compared to his boorish self, I¡¯d rather have a handsome fellow like Vanderman¡¯s son Acacia. Tell him to never bother me again!"


    "Yes¡­ Yes¡­" Her subordinate didn¡¯t wait any longer as she backed out immediately.


    *****************


    Three days later.


    Every few days, there will be a team escorting exchange materials from the territory of the Trejons to the district of Hanna on the other side of the Red River.


    The procession marched past a small bridge under the afternoon sun. The river itself is the border between districts, the carriages cast their reflections on the stream, seemingly calm and peaceful.


    In one of the white carriages, Garen wore a white hood to hide his face, but he was by himself among all the cargo.


    The captain of the team is Banq, a shrewd businessman. His official job is the leader of interdistrict exchange, but in secret, he¡¯s also a spy of the Trejons family.


    This team looked like they¡¯re sending goods to another district, but their real motive is to escort Garen away from his manor. It was getting more and more dangerous, that¡¯s one of the main reasons Vanderman agreed to let Garen go.


    His destination will be at the other side of the Red River, his aunt¡¯s house in Hanna district.


    Staring at his own reflection under the bridge, it was like looking into a mirror.


    A red maple leaf drifted slowly onto the water surface, creating ripples that spread out and disturbing that reflection.


    Garen rubbed his hands lightly as the weather cooled.


    At every period of peacefulness, he would think about the life he had on earth.


    He kept going forward with his special ability, there was no pauses or stagnation. As he reached his goals, he kept thinking, what are all those for, but he had no answer.


    "Maybe as I moved forward, I will return to earth one day." Garen fantasized, breathing out a cloud of white mist.


    Only with enough power, he can feel safe. Sometimes he also doubted his motive of learning Martial Arts in the first place. Was it because he had fantasized it for the longest of time, or was it because he wanted to not be afraid anymore?


    Afraid of disappearing.


    Countless planets in the universe, countless civilizations, he wondered how many were stronger than the Luminarists. Even the powerful Warlocks had completely died out.


    "What exactly, is forever¡­?" Garen lifted his jaw, looking at the orange sky.


    A skein of geese flew past them, forming a V-shape.


    A platinum-gold silhouette slowly appeared beside Garen, mirroring his action of staring at the sky.

 249 Dream 1

    Chapter 249: Dream 1


    A sudden uncertainty arose from the depth of his heart.


    As if he had lived several decades with no specific goal of his own, and one day, he starts asking questions about the meaning of his life.


    This is the first time Garen thought about it. He was used to the passivity of his journey, being led on by the enemies in front of him until he climbed up the peak.


    But now that he¡¯s in a different world, everyone was much stronger than he is that he can¡¯t catch up right there and then, but there¡¯s also nothing he could do to speed up the process.


    In the gap between all the fighting he had done and he will do, he started questioning his own existence.


    This uncertainty had only lasted a short moment before he shirked it off.


    Garen shook his head, laughing at his sudden yearning.


    "I haven¡¯t even resolved my current danger, who am I to think about existential questions?"


    Laughing at himself, he continued his study of the handbook. Combined with the memories he¡¯d watched previously, he started collating the details and information of Luminarists.


    The whole planet is dominated by the East Continent and the West Continent, the rest are mostly just oceans and glaciers. All the countries of the two continents were controlled by Luminarists, and as of now, the Obscuro Society and the Royal Alliance of Luminarists are having a feud.


    Riding on that opportunity, Terraflor Society which lacks a huge power will rise and turn into a syndicate as powerful as the Obscuro Society.


    This was the overall situation. Aside from the three parties trying to get the biggest piece of pie, the rest were just normal Luminarists.


    The support of the world comes from this large group of Luminarists, the only thing separating them were their ideals. This is not just a normal battle, but a war of ideals.


    Garen compiled all the memory he had watched and started to collect events that may be happening in the near future, arranging them into a timeline for future reference.


    The cargo stopped every once in a while to unload and refill their wares before continuing their journey.


    Following the Red River, they passed by several villages. Garen kept searching for an opportunity to leave.


    Teacher Emin stays in at the Red River Valley, but that wasn¡¯t where the team was heading to. The elites who are protecting him, Ulun and the two other quieter knights would not let him leave by himself. He needs to find an opportunity to sneak away.


    A dozen days later, there was a raid from some mounted robbers, forcing the elites to make a move. In the chaos, Garen left the team with a note, and went on his way solo, following the map his teacher left him.


    *************


    At the other end of the Red River, in the small town of Vinker.


    The town was built on the side of a hill-laden plain, an ocean of red flowers bloomed across the plain, surrounding the town, steeping it in its fragrance.


    In the afternoon, a dust-covered Garen stood on top of a hill, staring at the town from afar. The town is shaped like two side-by-side crosses. It''s small and could only fit shit several hundred people.


    It was much smaller than the other towns along the river.


    The houses were built with old wood boards, most had some clay bricks mixed into their infrastructure.


    A stone wall marked the border of the town. Notches were left decorating the wall, clearly left behind through something charging at it.


    Garen was looking at the town silently before he suddenly stomped his right leg.


    Thud!


    A red centipede crawled out of the dirt before rolling over and curled up, dead.


    "It actually is quite dangerous, it seems¡­" Garen muttered. On his was here, he took the carriage path along the Red River, which fortunately didn¡¯t have bandits. However, creatures like this swarmed the road, and that¡¯s excluding the wolves and wild dogs. Those come in packs.


    Especially the wild dogs, every time they appear, they¡¯ll bring hundreds of them along. Garen only scared them off using his intimidating aura. If it were any other people, it¡¯ll take a while even if they¡¯re not scared of them.


    With such a terrible state, if normal people have not gone through special training, it¡¯s impossible for them to go for a trip. Before long, they¡¯d be bitten by a plethora of bugs or injured by hordes of animals, and were forced to find some place to stay. Otherwise, once their food stock was exhausted, they¡¯ll have nowhere to go in the wilderness.


    "Finally found this place after two days!" Garen took out his map and checked, confirming the accuracy of the location.


    He kept the map and took out a whistle, preparing to blow it as a signal.


    An unfamiliar shuffle came from the left.


    By reflex, Garen lowered his body and took a few steps back, hiding behind the downhill slope.


    On the only road leading into the town, two black horses raced toward him with two men with black capes on them. The two men had hulking statures and wore exquisite clothes, silver axes hung behind their backs.


    Even from that distance, Garen could feel the strong but hidden aura they were emitting. From his Aura Detection, the two lit up like a torch in a moonless night.


    "Guardian-level¡­" Garen squinted, noticing the symbols on their capes. It was red long-necked flying dragon, the symbol of the Royal Kovitan family.


    "Them again¡­" Garen¡¯s brows furrowed, "The RAL had been everywhere on my way here. Pretty much every nooks and crannies had been covered by them. What are they planning?"


    It¡¯s not the first time he saw these people. He had occasionally seen them in several places, in forts, towns, and even villages.


    They seemed to be investigating something.


    It¡¯s only a while that Garen had to hide behind the slope. They had left the town not long after, disappearing on their horses.


    One of them seemed to have seen Garen, but he didn¡¯t think too much about it, he only urged his partner on to leave.


    Garen stood up and witnessed as the two black horses disappeared into the horizon. He took his silver whistle and blew into it with force.


    There was no sound except for the air rushing out of the whistle¡¯s other end. It feel just like a broken whistle.


    Garen didn¡¯t stop, he just kept blowing the whistle.


    Soon, another ¡®knight¡¯ came out of the town. It was a pretty girl in white clothing on a beardless white goat.


    Meh-eh-eh!


    The white goat ran toward Garen.


    The girl in white yelled in excitement.


    "Yah! Yah!"


    Garen let down his whistle, and waited for the girl to arrive in front of him and got off the goat.


    "Is that your whistle?" She asked without thought, pointing at the whistle by his side.


    "Yes."


    "Grandpa Emin asked me to bring you there. Come on." She hollered.


    "Okay."


    Garen answered without hesitation, the little girl in front of him didn¡¯t look weird. Her physical properties were estimated to be average. Garen glanced at her hands. They were rough with calluses.


    "Not a Luminarist disciple as well. Should be a normal person."


    He followed the little girl into town. Most of the population was made up of women and children, save for a few men who looked like they¡¯d just woken up. Chimney smoke were coming out of a few houses.


    Dogs were barking, and roosters were crowing.


    The little girl led Garen to a wooden house at the edge of the town.


    "Here it is. Are you Grandpa Emin¡¯s student? You¡¯re so young!"


    "I am," Garen nodded. "My name is Garen, what¡¯s yours?"


    "My name is Nicol, I¡¯m a neighbor. Sometimes I come here to sweep the floor and learn some words." The girl answered. "Quick, go in, Grandpa Emin is waiting."


    "Okay," Garen took out a small copper rumb, "This is your reward." He handed over the rumb copper to Nicol.


    "You¡¯re so generous!" Nicol¡¯s eyes were shining and almost grabbed the copper out of Garen¡¯s hand. She sniffed the copper. "It really is money!"


    "Have fun, I¡¯ll be on my way." Garen smiled and left the little girl to her own. He pushed open the fence and walked into the area of the house.


    After a few paces, the door to the house slowly opened from the inside. An old man with snowy white hair stood in front of the entrance. He wore a white robe, his face lined with wrinkles that cross each other. The only familiar thing to him was the analytical look he gives.


    "Teacher¡­ Emin?" Garen asked hesitantly after laying his eyes on the gray-haired man. "How do you, how are you¡­?" From the aura that he give out, Garen was sure he was Emin, the Luminarist who had the appearance of a middle-aged man.


    Emin smiled calmly.


    "Come in, I¡¯ll tell you in a bit." He turned around and walked into the dimly lit corridor.


    Garen strode into the house and closed the door.


    Humidity filled the air of the dimly lit house, there was also a scent of burnt leather.


    A beam of light shone onto the floor from the dormer, providing the only source of light in the entire building.


    Emin sat at a sofa just outside the range of the lightbeam. He had a cup filled with warm water, which he sips occasionally. Observing Garen¡¯s entrance, he pointed at the sofa in front of him.


    Garen went over and sat, proper and poised. His gaze fell upon Emin¡¯s hair and his beard.


    "Get the water yourself if you need it." Emin gestured toward a dusty jug of water.


    "Yes sir," Garen nodded, "Teacher, I¡¯m here for¡­"


    "If there¡¯s anything, just say it. Is it about the Blackguards? If it is and you want me to interfere, I will no longer owe you anything. Think about it." Emin said calmly.


    "Blackguards?" Garen did a double take, "What Blackguard?"


    "Huh?" Emin did a double take as well, "Aren¡¯t you here because of the Blackguards?"


    "Of course not." Garen was completely confused until he remembered the two people in black capes.


    "If you¡¯re not here for the Blackguards, what do you want from me at this point of time?" Emin frowned.


    "I¡¯m here to get my next part of the lesson." Garen stated flatly.

 250 Dream 2

    Chapter 250: Dream 2


    "Next lesson?" Emin set down his cup and stared at Garen with burning eyes. "Kid, only such a short time had passed, and you want to learn Tactics already? It¡¯s not that I look down on you, but if Luminarists can be made so easily, there¡¯d be tons of Luminarists in the world right now!"


    He stood up with his hands behind his back.


    "Don¡¯t be too ambitious, stick to your foundation first, that¡¯s the most important part. Consider this an advice from your elders."


    He sighed.


    "I was like you once upon a time. I have yet to master my foundations before I wanted to learn Tactics and create my own totem. My teacher gave me a rude awakening by making two gestures in a second. I was stunned silent." He looked up to the dormer, reminiscing his own past.


    He only let Garen become his disciple then because he saw his younger self in Garen. Adding that to him saving his life, it made sense to do so.


    Looking at Emin who was clearly in his own world, Garen doesn¡¯t know how to interrupt him.


    "Teacher, actually I¡­"


    "You shouldn¡¯t be too disheartened. You don¡¯t need to be at Master-level to start learning Precision Blueprint, that was only because I wanted to give you a high threshold. You actually only need to be at Intermediate-level." Emin interjected. "Usually with enough talent, reaching Intermediate-level in half a year is not that rare, as long as you¡¯re hardworking."


    He raised his head and went into reminisce again.


    "I used half a year to reach Intermediate-level, and even my teacher said I¡¯m one of the geniuses that only come about once in a hundred years." His face was proud now. "So that¡¯s what I am holding you up to. Get to Intermediate-level in half a year, and I can teach you the basic Tactics."


    "I¡­" Garen was close to speechless at this point.


    "No talking back!" Emin said seriously, "You only need to answer me, can you or can¡¯t you! I don¡¯t need other excuses! None! I only look at the result! You¡¯ll know how strict I can be soon enough!"


    Completely dumbfounded, Garen looked at Emin, unsure of how to convince him.


    "I¡­"


    "Can you! Or! Can¡¯t you!" Emin cut him off again.


    "..." Garen went completely silent. From the beginning, he hadn¡¯t had the chance to form a complete sentence. "I can¡­" He answered dejectedly.


    "Good! This is how my students should behave like." Emin patted Garen on his shoulder. "Intermediate-level is not that easy, you¡¯ll need to have an unbreakable will to succeed, an unrivalled tenacity, and a persistence beyond compare. Every day, tens of thousands of people faltered on this path. With your talent, you should be able to reach this stage in half a year, don¡¯t give up just because you don¡¯t see a progress."


    "Teacher¡­ I have progressed¡­"


    "Don¡¯t be so full of yourself, when you reached the final stage, you¡¯ll meet one of the biggest hurdle in the Intermediate-level, the breakthrough of finger speed! But I have heard people with greater talent, they don¡¯t even have a hurdle when transitioning into Intermediate-level, even going into Master-level is only a matter of time. Geniuses like that, it¡¯s so inspiring¡­"


    "..."


    "The breakthrough of your speed will be your biggest hurdle in becoming a Master-level user. I¡¯d spent countless days just working hard in my craft and exchanging experience with other Luminarists to achieve Master-level and learn Precision Blueprint. The difficulty in achieving this is harder than you can imagine¡­ Even a genius like me need to work so hard¡­" He shook his head again, spacing out, yet again, into his memories.


    Garen¡¯s head begin to ache. Teacher was just recovering when he was at his house, so he didn¡¯t show this level of bullheadedness, unlike now. Seeing Emin lost in his memories again, Garen clarified softly.


    "Teacher¡­ Actually, I¡¯m already at Master-level¡­"


    Emin snapped back into reality.


    "This is your shortcoming, you keep boasting about your abilities, when will you actually be more grounded? You won¡¯t win other people¡¯s respects with just boasting, it¡¯s with real skill, your results¡­"


    Fwop! Fwop fwop!


    In one second, Garen made three gestures with exceptional accuracy and stableness.


    Silence.


    "..."


    "..."


    It felt as if the temperature had just dropped a whole notch. The two stared at each other, each not knowing what to say to the other¡­


    Emin¡¯s raised arm hung in the air, his jaw dropped, his unfinished sentence gone.


    Garen gulped, he looked at his teacher¡¯s eyes as it shifted from emotion to emotion, each one so complex that the most complicated mathematical equation cannot compete with.


    Slap!


    Emin¡¯s slapped his own head.


    "Oh¡­ This can¡¯t be, must have slept too late last night, I¡¯m definitely not awake, go back to bed, Emin." Emin turned around, his palm still holding his head. "It¡¯s too early for a hallucination like this, weird¡­"


    He paced upstairs, completely ignoring Garen.


    Garen watched as Emin turned around and left, treating him like an illusion.


    "Teacher!"


    He yelled.


    Emin froze in his tracks.


    The situation turned sour with awkwardness.


    It took a while before Emin turned around stiffly.


    His face was a red as an apple.


    "You¡­ you¡¯re really at¡­ Master-level?" His voice trembled as he spoke, reluctant to believe.


    Garen nodded slowly.


    Emin took a deep breath.


    "It¡¯s so unfair!" He lowered his head, recalling the hardships he faced before he became a Master-level user.


    He looked up at the extraordinarily young face, finally accepting the Garen he saw is real.


    "I¡­ need to go upstairs¡­ I¡¯ll be down in a while." He waved his arm in dismissal, looking much, much older than when he started.


    Garen watched as Emin moved upstairs dejectedly.


    He didn¡¯t think it would be such a huge impact to his teacher. People who could go into Master-level in a short time were not rare, but actually relatively common. That was why he decided to show it in the first place, so that he could start learning Tactics as soon as possible.


    However, he didn¡¯t know this was such a huge impact to his teacher who thought he¡¯s a genius.


    Sitting on the couch, Garen wasn¡¯t sure what to do. So he waited.


    After a long while, the sky outside started to dim. As the sun sets, its rays started to become golden-red.


    Footsteps appeared at the staircase as Emin slowly took his steps.


    His face was calm again, and he sat opposite of Garen, taking his time.


    "I got it now¡­ Some people were able to have extraordinary talent in a specific domain, however, this only indicate their slightly higher affinity to their crafts. Those who can reach the highest, not only do they need the talent, but also the persistence and their unyielding will." He said seriously. "Thank you, Cia."


    "Call me Garen, Teacher. I ran away¡­" Garen answered.


    "Fine, Garen it is." Emin nodded. "Your talent, at least your affinity in Precision Blueprint, is my first experience as a Luminarist. Can you show me¡­ the gestures you did before?"


    Garen nodded.


    He raised his arms and made one gesture after another without much difficulty.


    Only a few second had passed when he was finished, averaging three in a second.


    Emin watched silently without much expression, but marvel was written all over his eyes.


    "Such talent¡­ Garen, your talent in Precision Blueprint is too terrifying¡­ From the beginning of your lesson, you¡¯ve only needed about two months¡­"


    Garen nodded again.


    "Then, can I learn some Tactics under you, Teacher?"


    "Of course." Emin nodded with intent. "You must be tired on your way here. Rest up for tonight, we will start our lesson tomorrow, the essence of us Luminarists, the Tactics!"


    "Yes, Teacher." Garen nodded.


    "Your room is the master bedroom on this floor. You can clean up at the bathroom over there, and meals will be at the dining kitchen. Got it?"


    "Got it, Teacher. I¡¯m not as spoiled as I look." Garen said smiling.


    "Good. I¡¯ll rest upstairs." Emin nodded and turned toward the staircase.


    He stood hidden at the corner of the staircase and listened as Garen entered his room before continued walking up the flight of stairs.


    Entering his study, he locked the door and approached a redwood shelf, pulling out a white notebook on the right edge.


    He sat down in front of his desk and lit the oil lamp with a match.


    He inked his quill and gently wrote on the opened notebook.


    ¡®This may be fate finally giving me my favor. In my nineties, I didn¡¯t expect a disciple with such immensely terrifying talent. It may be my luck, or yours, Resha. I will pass down the knowledge, every bit of it. Maybe I will finally be able to compile my clan before I pass on¡­¡¯


    Emin paused to think, and continued writing.


    ¡®Do you still remember when we were young? When we practiced the gestures together under the grapevines, you said you had a dream. Now, among the five of us, only I¡¯m left. Life is such a beautiful thing, but time will always steal that away.¡¯ Emin¡¯s eyes flashed a sense of sentimentality at this point.


    ¡®Resha¡­ What will you do if you¡¯re still here?¡¯


    He ended the two paragraphs with a final stroke at the top.


    ¡®To: The one who gave me happiness¡¯


    He closed his notebook and glanced at the darkening pastures, staring into the distance without movements.

 251 Tactics 1

    Chapter 251: Tactics 1


    Garen hurriedly looked for some white bread in the kitchen and cleaned up the dust on him. Returning to the master bedroom, he changed into a lime-colored robe he took from the wardrobe, throwing the soot-covered shirt to wash before resting comfortably for the first time in a long while.


    The next day, Garen was up before the sun was even up. In the living room, the little girl had already started work. Obviously she had the keys to this house.


    He sat on the couch, watching as the little girl served him a plate of slice apples and some bread along with some warm goat milk.


    "Enjoy your meal." The little girl Nicol performed a rough imitation of a greeting and turned back to the kitchen with haste.


    Garen sipped the goat milk slightly. It¡¯s thick and tasted fishy. Garen suspected something¡¯s been added to it.


    He raised the glass and scrutinized the milk. It¡¯s got bits of yellowish substance floating around which he suspected was raw egg yolk.


    Footsteps clopped on the stairs as Emin descended from the first floor. He wore an off-white robe and looked joyous.


    Taking a seat in front of Garen, Emin took a slice of Garen¡¯s bread and bit into it.


    "Did you have a good rest?"


    "It was great, Teacher." Garen nodded.


    "Very well." Emin nodded back, "Today onward, we¡¯ll converse using the Lush Forest dialect. This town was pretty cut off from the rest of the country. Aside from the common language of the empire, they only use their own dialect. They wouldn¡¯t be able to understand any other dialects or languages. Furthermore, your Lush Forest dialect is somewhat different from the common language, this should be good enough for secrecy."


    "I have no comment on that." Garen answered.


    "Good, then we can start." Emin¡¯s second half of the sentence was spoken entirely in the Lush Forest dialect. It sounded accurate too, something Garen wasn¡¯t expecting.


    "Teacher, how do I start learning tactics?" Garen asked formally.


    "Tactics¡­" Emin muttered, as if to organize his thoughts.


    The little girl Nicol appeared with Emin¡¯s breakfast and set it down in front of him carefully. After silently curtsying at Emin, she turned and left.


    She cleaned her hands on her black apron and exited the building, gently closing the door as she did.


    When the little girl was out of earshot, Emin took his own glass of goat milk and said as he sipped on it.


    "Tactics are the basics of any Luminarists and the foundation of all Luminarists¡¯ abilities. This you need to remember."


    He dipped his finger into his glass without manners and started drawing on the table.


    A circular-shape appeared on the table with several sections.


    "You should know that the Science Pictorial have found out a long time ago, that organisms were made up of microscopic cells." Emin retracted his index finger, "Cells make up tissues, which make up organs, which make up systems, and those make up a whole organism. You should know this, right?"


    "Of course. This is the basics of Biology, we have learned about it." Garen nodded.


    "Our tactics is basically the same as that. It¡¯s just like a cell of an organism. They form the tissues, the organs, the systems, and become our own totem at the end. This is what you¡¯ll go through in the future." Emin answered simply. "Tactics are also units. Professionally, we call them unit tactics. They are what we base our totem creatures on. Every Luminarist would create their own totem this way, no exceptions."


    "Teacher, there are countless cells in an organism, if we have to create the same structures in a totem, don¡¯t we have to build an insane amount of tactics?" Garen frowned.


    "This is the core of what we learn. First, you will learn about the structure of a single tactic, an active unit. It is what forms everything else." Emin said seriously. "You will use active units in the future to build your own tissues, organs, systems, and finally a real living totem. This is what you have to do."


    "That¡¯s¡­ a huge project¡­" Even if he reached the top of Martial Arts in his past life, this was still shocking to him. There are trillions of cells in an organism¡¯s body, if he construct it one by one, it¡¯s impossible to construct a totem even until the end of his life.


    "What¡¯s wrong? Disheartened?" Emin smiled. "Aren¡¯t you a genius? You aren¡¯t beaten with this little setback, are you?"


    "So many Luminarists have successfully constructed their own totem, that means there¡¯ll be some sort of pattern to it!" Garen answered with confidence.


    "Not bad." Emin nodded with approval. "Let¡¯s finish up our breakfast. I only told you what direction to take, you¡¯ll need to learn to use the tools of the trade."


    "Okay."


    Both of them sped through their breakfast and went up the stairs to a white room that is reminiscent of a laboratory.


    There was a huge rectangular table that took up half the room. A piece of black cloth was used to cover up something on the table.


    Emin closed the door and locked it.


    He walked in front of the black cloth and yanked at it.


    Flutter!


    The black cloth landed on the ground, unveiling the object.


    Garen took it in with a breath, his face in disbelief.


    The whole table had one very delicate-looking apparatus made with a transparent metal with silver sheen. Within the area of a palm, there were hundreds on faint silver components turning with gears.


    The details on the instrument was so precise, it exuded a sense of purity and cold steel.


    The whole apparatus was like a detailed toy, it kept dropping a small aqueous silver ball, from left to right, top to bottom, until it dropped into a silvery container.


    On the apparatus that¡¯s at least five meters long, there were thousands of components as big as a fingernail functioning as they¡¯re meant to.


    Emin walked in front of the apparatus, sporting a businesslike expression.


    "I will be teaching you about one of the two most important tools of a Luminarist, unit factory."


    "Unit factory?" Garen repeated the noun, his gaze still fixed on the instrument.


    "Yes, just like what it¡¯s called, it¡¯s a factory that produces units." Emin nodded and answered. "This particular one is mine, it produces my totem White Bear." He paused.


    "As I have said before, totem creatures were created from unit tactics. Your father is also a Luminarist, you would have seen totems before, so I won¡¯t talk about that. Active units were the bedrock of everything. When a Luminarist studied and learned a creature¡¯s active unit, he will be able to use unit factories to clone them, slowly building it up to a higher level of structure and ultimately, become a totem. Basically, it¡¯s a tool to duplicate unit tactics to be formed into tissues, organs, systems and totems."


    He covered the instrument with the black cloth.


    "You¡¯ll get one in the future as you¡¯ll need one. Next, we¡¯ll look at the second tool."


    He walked to the other corner of the room, in front of a small table.


    "This is a whole series of tools. Before unit factories can reproduce active units, where do they come from? That¡¯s where the Luminarists have to search for themselves."


    "Search?" Garen was confused. "Isn¡¯t it a standard blueprint that everyone can use? Like your White Bear, won¡¯t I be able to build it if I want to?"


    "There¡¯s also that. Learning a standard model and produce based on that, that¡¯s the easiest way." Emin nodded, "Pretty observant, not bad. This is also why different Luminarists have different paths. The stronger and richer their inheritance, the stronger their totem will be. Hence, all Luminarists will be extra cautious about their own knowledge, because it literally represents their power."


    Emin paused again, "Since you are my student, you¡¯ll have to walk the same path as I did, but I¡¯m not only proficient with White Bear, I know about other totems too. But let¡¯s put that aside for now."


    He pointed at a white instrument that looks mildly similar to a microscope on Earth.


    "This is a microscope, it can show you enlarged images of objects. It can enlarge images up to 800 times their original size. It¡¯s one of the medium-range ones on the market. Beside that are petri dish, forceps, magnifying glass, microdissection needle, tripod, asbestos net, bunsen burner, tube holder, blade tweezers, slides, coverslips¡­" Emin introduced the whole set to Garen.


    Garen looked at the familiar equipments.


    "These are definitely the same as the ones on Earth¡­" He thought.


    At the end of his introduction, Emin sighed,


    "Alas, I only have so much money. The RAL just came out with a new tool, but I don¡¯t have the money to buy it."


    He stood beside his table.


    "These are the two things Luminarists must have, one to research, another to reproduce."


    "I get it, active units are what forms everything, but how do active units come from?" Garen asked.


    "This question is very crucial." Emin nodded with approval. "Their origins can be from anywhere. There are countless types of creatures in the world, Luminarists seek to research strong creatures and use silver to mimic their powers. The active units we talk about, are actually from the creatures in the nature."


    "Creatures in the nature¡­ If that¡¯s the case, theoretically, any beings can be used as a totem?" Garen asked curiously.


    "Of course. As long as you dig deep enough to understand the cells of a creature, you can use them as your totem," Emin nodded, smiling. "Of course, there¡¯s a limit to everyone¡¯s vigor, if you want to study everything but lack specificity, then nothing would come to fruition. Your totem may not even win against the most average Luminarist."

 252 Tactics 2

    Chapter 252: Tactics 2


    "I understand now. Many Luminarists specialize in one type of totem generation after generation, and expand that type to a really high level, so it grows stronger and stronger. So unless you¡¯re an ultimate genius researcher, there¡¯s no Luminarist who could catch up to the results of their cumulative studies over generations while being distracted." Garen nodded in understanding.


    "As long as you understand. So what you need to do now is first learn how to use these two sets of items. Especially the unit factory, you must make your own unit factory from now on as well. Otherwise, you won¡¯t even have to think about constructing your own totem," Emin advised him solemnly.


    "Yes." In that instant it was as though Garen returned to his time on Earth, carefully listening to the teacher speaking.


    Emin began to teach Garen how to use the two sets of tools. And the latter listened with unusual raptness as well, concentrating hard.


    But after they began practical practise, Emin noticed with some regret that although Garen was terrifyingly talented at making blueprints, he was still slightly slow in understanding how to use the two types of tools.


    For that reason he sighed a lot in succession, venting the unhappiness within.


    However, he didn¡¯t get to sigh for long.


    When it came to using these two tools, the microscope used for research was fine, but the unit factory on the other hand did indeed use up a lot of concentration and energy. Garen crouched clumsily in front of the intricate factory, following the construction process step-by-step. This thing took at least one hour for every cycle. If you followed the mercury ball while even slightly distracted, it would be extremely hard to observe the whole process of creating the factory carefully. At the same time, you needed to understand the actual timings and methods of using it.


    "Teacher, I didn¡¯t see this part properly, let¡¯s go again."


    "Okay."


    An hour later¡­


    "Teacher, please repeat this part again."


    "Fine."


    Two hours passed."


    "Teacher, I used a little too much force there. Please start again."


    "No problem."


    Three hours passed¡­


    "Teacher, I was slightly nervous just now, so my hand moved too quickly. Once more please!"


    "..."


    Six hours later¡­


    "Teacher, I was too agitated, I didn¡¯t pay attention at the fourth part. Again please!"


    Emin looked at Garen¡¯s excited, energetic face.


    The student and teacher stared at each other wordlessly.


    Coo-coo¡­ coo-coo¡­


    There was the sound of an owl from outside.


    "Teacher, what¡¯s the matter?" Garen blinked, and asked in a low voice.


    Coo¡­


    Emin¡¯s stomach made a dull sound.


    "Is it this late already¡­?" Only then did Garen notice that the sky outside was already pitch black.


    "Are you¡­ always this energetic?" Emin¡¯s feelings were complicated, as he looked at Garen¡¯s expression of excitement.


    "It¡¯s okay, I¡¯m young, and I have stamina."


    Garen smiled.


    "Forget it, I¡¯ll bring you something to eat, you go ahead on your own. You should have clearly seen how I use it. Is that okay?"


    "No problem." Garen nodded. "Sorry, Teacher, I made you stay hungry with me."


    "It¡¯s okay, this is your first time in contact with all this. It¡¯s very normal for you to be so curious about it." Emin waved his head, but deep inside he knew. When it came to learning how to use the unit factory, most normal people would start feeling dizzy after two hours of consecutive use, ending up mentally exhausted. This was because the Luminescence caused the human body a certain amount of damage. If one came into close contact with it for too long, their body wouldn¡¯t be able to withstand it.


    But Garen had been working on it for more than ten hours, and still didn¡¯t feel any discomfort. This meant that the time Garen could spend on this was several times that of other Luminarists!


    When Emin walked out of the lab, he once more harbored deep suspicions towards everything he thought he knew about this world before.


    "Looks like I knew too few Luminarists before this." He shook his head and sighed as he went down the stairs, looking as though he aged a lot suddenly.


    After having dinner, Emin finally gave in and returned to his room to rest. He left Garen alone in the lab, learning enthusiastically, using the unit factory over and over again. He seemed to have returned to those biology or chemistry classes back on Earth when he listened intently.


    Of the three strongest specialties of the terrifying Divine Statue Technique, two of them were recovery power and endurance. This was when they shone the most.


    Before Emin went to sleep, he saw the light in the lab shining.


    In the middle of the night when he got up to use the toilet, he raised his head to look at the lab, and the light was still on.


    Early the next morning, he yawned as he walked out of the bedroom, and the light in the lab was still shining.


    "It¡¯s the first time, so no wonder¡­" He sighed feelingly, listening to the sounds of Garen moving about in the lab, and went downstairs to eat breakfast himself.


    Noon.


    Emin sat in the courtyard, lazily tanning in the sun.


    "The weather sure is great¡­"


    He narrowed his eyes, looking at the cornflower sky. The golden sunlight shone on his body, warming his entire body up.


    The little girl Nicol was hanging out the freshly-washed sheets and clothes next to him.


    "Is Garen still upstairs?"


    "Yes, mister," Nicol replied hastily.


    "It sure is good to be young¡­" Emin sighed deeply. He had always taken good care of himself. If he hadn¡¯t been grievously injured in that intense battle before, there was no way he would end up as old as he was now.


    The sky gradually darkened.


    After dinner, Emin looked at Nicol, who was washing up the dishes.


    "Is Garen still upstairs?"


    "Yes, mister," Nicol replied hastily.


    Emin touched his beard, and said nothing.


    At night.


    Emin put down the novel in his hand, and glanced at the second floor.


    "Garen still hasn¡¯t come down?"


    "It seems so¡­ mister." Nicol was crouching by the fireplace and adding more firewood, and replied hesitantly.


    The third day¡­


    The fourth day¡­


    Ker-chak.


    The door to the second floor lab finally opened.


    Nicol picked up the empty tray on the floor outside the door and was about to leave when she suddenly heard the door open. She quickly turned around.


    "Mr Garen?"


    "Teacher! Teacher!" A black shadow dashed past her, and raced down the stairs.


    Emin walked out of his room, yawning.


    "It¡¯s so early in the morning, what are you yelling about."


    The black shadow instantly trampled upstairs, ran in front of Emin and stood still.


    It was Garen, who had lived in the lab for four days.


    He frowned deeply, and held up something in his hand.


    "Teacher, the lamp oil ran out."


    Emin released a long breath.


    "If there¡¯s no more oil, go rest. After messing around for so long, what results do you have? Don¡¯t tell me you fell asleep in there?"


    "I got it!" Garen grinned, revealing his pearly whites.


    "Okay¡­ Four days, that¡¯s still considered normal." Emin nodded.


    Garen also released a deep breath.


    He already knew that his talent when it came to instruments of high delicacy like the unit factory was only so-so. This thing needed a high degree of concentration and an accurate hand of corresponding calculations at the same time, and he was really not used to it. His body had already regained his reflexes from the peak-level Body Hardening Technique, so if he lost his focus for even a moment, he would emit some miniscule vibrations.


    This was the result of his body and spirit not merging fully yet. Although he could already use the Four Major Secret Techniques, he still needed some time to feel it out.


    It was just that this didn¡¯t affect how much he could actually use his martial arts. After all, his martial arts didn¡¯t have any delicate moves, they were opened spectacularly and closed large.


    For those four days, he basically didn¡¯t sleep or rest, only occasionally eating something. That was how he managed to learn how to control the unit factory in one go.


    After eating breakfast, he took a little break.


    It was only after Emin confirmed that Garen was still feeling quite good, and didn¡¯t show any signs of insufficient rest, that the teacher agreed to demonstrate the manipulation process.


    In front of the lab door, there was a light silver horizontal line, glowing with a faint silver light.


    Emin and Garen stepped across the line, and walked into the lab.


    "This line at the door is a little device to prevent normal people from seeing the objects inside this room. It¡¯s another application of tactics, one of the practical ones to use in daily life. I¡¯ll teach it to you next time." Emin walked up to the unit factory.


    "Now, let me see what method of control you¡¯ve picked up."


    Garen nodded.


    He stood the furthest-left end of the unit factory, and picked up a small silver ball using the pliers in his right hand. He then lightly placed it on a slanted slope on the factory machine.


    Brr¡­


    The small ball rolled down the slope slowly, and dropped into a silver cylindrical container. Soon enough, in the midst of clacking sounds, the three silver pipes connected to the container began to flow with a translucent liquid.


    The three paths of liquid split up and flowed towards three directions. When they passed through a small round archways, Garen instantly reached out his hand to press the archways, as though adjusting something.


    The three liquid paths instantly became a lot clearer. Passing through the archway, they gathered into one silver pipe, and flowed into a metal device like a merry-go-round. Once the liquid stopped flowing completely, the merry-go-round began to turn slowly, making a melodic sound like wind chimes.


    Garen quickly reached out to adjust some small switches and buttons around the merry-go-round, turning the many dials to the optimum numerical degree.


    After the wooden horses took two rounds, he counted silently to himself, and reached out again to adjust these dials, his accuracy and speed absolutely on point.


    Pak!


    The spinning stopped.


    A drop of viscous silver-colored water dripped down from the exact center, falling precisely into the neck of a purple curve-necked flask.


    Pff!


    A flash of purple smoke instantly rose from the curve-necked flask, following the curved neck as it flowed down, darting into a large silver ball the size of a human head.


    Garen quickly walked up to the round ball, his fingers pressing rapidly on a panel there, as though he was keying in some data.


    In a mere ten seconds, he keyed in twenty numbers, forming several combinations of different lengths. And this was just the beginning.


    After a whole half an hour, drops of silver liquid dripped out of the round ball with a smacking sound, falling into the last large beaker.


    These silver liquids looked like silver grains of said, flowing slowly. At the same time, they looked like some microorganism, squirming ever so slightly.


    "You did it." Emin looked at the silver-colored liquid in the beaker closely, and with satisfaction. "Not bad, there was not a single mistake there."


    Garen heaved a sigh of relief, and pulled his hand back from the panel.


    "Teacher, I learned how to use the tools. Now what?"


    "You learned how to use the microscope as well?"


    "That¡¯s a lot simpler." Garen walked up to the microscope with an air of familiarity, and easily set it up. He sucked up a drop of silver liquid, did the preparations, and began to observe.


    Emin nodded, satisfied.


    "Not bad, not bad. You¡¯ve done all the preparatory work, so let¡¯s begin with the first step."


    "The first step?"


    "Go out into the wild on your own, and find the totem creature you want. Bugs, beasts, birds, anything works. Go ahead, we¡¯ll start constructing from the basic levels. But you should still choose carefully, this is the direction your potential totem will take, the totem you will rely on for everything. So it¡¯s best to be more careful when choosing the rough direction." Emin smiled. "Although I¡¯m not specialized enough because I study everything and ended up still being a very average, normal Luminarist, the benefit is that my student will have more directions to expand. First, you choose something, anything, and as a demonstration, I¡¯ll show you how to construct a totem, as well as what steps are required in between. In general, which tactics are needed to create organizations, organs, systems. I¡¯ll show you each of them, one by one. Of course, other than the White Bear, which is inherited, I haven¡¯t gotten too deeply into the others. It¡¯s just enough to finish constructing a simple totem. If you want to upgrade it, you¡¯ll have to do the deeper research yourself."


    "I understand." Garen nodded.


    "There are two types of totems, one is core and the other basic. Now go, find a creature you want to make into a totem in the wild around here. This will be the first basic totem I¡¯ll give you. Basic totems have very weak abilities, but they¡¯ll have a certain benefit for your daily life. Such as reconnaissance, such as cleaning up, such as collecting items, or using it as a tool etc."

 253 Totem 1

    Chapter 253: Totem 1


    "So I have to find a target by myself?" Garen nodded thoughtfully. "Are there any basic conditions or requirements?"


    "It¡¯s good as long as it¡¯s not too complicated. Since you just began, you just have to learn the basic frame, the rest you can explore at your own pace in the future," Emin advised him. "Alright, go. You still have all morning, find me the totem you want to make. Remember, it has to be something you need, and something you can use. Every creature has their own unique power, don¡¯t choose carelessly."


    "Yes."


    Garen nodded respectfully.


    "Then I¡¯ll go wash up now. Once you return after catching what you want, we¡¯ll officially begin the construction demonstration." Emin yawned, turned around, and walked out of the room.


    Garen found a large glass bottle and a pair of boarskin gloves. Then he went downstairs and immediately left the house.


    There were a lot more young men in town in the morning. They were mostly carrying bows and arrows, hunting knives, and wore clothes made of fur and leather, as they came and left in small groups. Some were even carrying their freshly acquired prey on their backs.


    Garen followed the main road until he left the town. The long grey robes he wore slightly piqued the curiosity of the townsfolk. Several children who were chasing each other about instantly hid behind a wall when they saw him approaching, and watched him guardedly.


    Upon exiting the town, he saw a large, wide field of hills and grass spread out in front of him. Small clumps of forests dotted the landscape, mostly shorter shrubs that didn¡¯t grow too well. The lush green forests and dark green grassy plains practically merged into one. Some small white butterflies danced circles around the little flowers on the grass, and groups of unnamed birds occasionally flew across the sky, making soft shrill cries.


    Not far away from the town, there was a little stream about three or four meters wide. This was the source of the famous Red River, and was exceptionally clean because it consisted of melted snow water from the snowy peaks of the mountains towering into the clouds in the distance.


    Garen walked up to the side of the Red River, crouched down, and began scouring through the grasses and moist mud.


    "What kind of a totem do I need?"


    That was how he asked himself.


    "What kind of a totem would be of use to me?"


    He uprooted the grass, and saw a troop of black ants slowly crawling across the black soil. He looked at them but didn¡¯t move. Then he turned his gaze away, to another clump of dark green grass.


    There was a big fat green caterpillar resting quietly on the thin and narrow grass leaves. It was covered in spikes, its four lazy eyes looking completely listless.


    On a little yellow flower next to it, there was a wild bee with a thin black thorax. It was crawling back on forth on the fingernail-sized flower stamen, its legs covered with yellow pollen. It was obviously out collecting pollen.


    "Ants, caterpillar, wild bee¡­"


    Garen shook his head slightly.


    "They¡¯re too weak. Although they have simple make-ups, it wouldn¡¯t be much help to me even if I succeeded."


    He stood up, and continued walking towards the hills and plains in the distance.


    "If it has to be useful to me, then it better have some strength so it can support me in daily life. If it can fly, it can be used to obtain information, for reconnaissance, and as a lookout. If it has a certain offensive ability, it can also be used to defend. In that case¡­ the best option is a type of bird."


    He glanced at a few patches of forest not far away. There was the light trilling of birds there.


    After crossing a few hills, he quickly chose the largest patch of forest and walked right in.


    The forest was lush and green, with clean air. A few children were wandering about inside, gathering something. These children were dressed in rags, looked sickly and pale, and their bodies were also pitifully thin. They each carried a large basket on their backs. Some were filled with plants and wild fruits, while others barely had anything.


    These children only took one look at Garen when he came in, but they soon started ignoring him, looking back at the ground instead as they dug.


    There were many types of birds resting here, raising a continuous chatter.


    Garen looked up and identified them carefully. There were many types of birds on those trees, almost five or six in all. They came in different sizes, and most were black. Only a few were blue or green.


    "It has to be slightly bigger, with offensive power, and decent flying speed¡­" Garen realized he didn¡¯t recognize any of the birds. Looking around, his gaze fell on a dirty boy in the distance.


    Like the others, this boy wore grey sackcloth clothes and carried a large basket on his back. His hair was matted and messy, but there was a green parrot perched on his shoulder, which let him stand out from the rest.


    Garen walked over to him, and stood beside the boy. "Are these birds yours?" He tried to soften his tone as much as possible.


    "Yes, sir. Do you require anything?" The boy straightened his bent back, looking at Garen in confusion. This strange lord came into the forest and starting looking left and right, but no one knew what he was doing.


    "I want to ask about what species of birds you have here, do you know?" Garen pulled out a small copper piece and flicked it towards the boy.


    The little boy quickly caught it in a flurry. A copper piece may not be able to buy much elsewhere, but it could still buy some snacks here. He instantly broke into a grin.


    "Birds? I know about them."


    "Know your bird! Know your bird!"1 The green parrot on his shoulder started squawking.


    "Shut up, Hans!" The boy grew flustered and angry. "If you go on like this I won¡¯t give you dinner!"


    "Just explain it to me properly, if you do it well I¡¯ll give you another." Garen looked at the green parrot smilingly.


    "No problem. My little sister loved keeping birds. After she left, I started liking it too, so I¡¯m really good at this!" The boy thumped his chest.


    "Know your sis! Know your sis!"2


    "Shut up!!" The boy¡¯s face flushed bright red, and he flicked the green parrot¡¯s head angrily.


    Garen couldn¡¯t help but laugh as he watched the boy and bird combo. They seemed to get along very well.


    "I want to find a type of bird that can fly fast, has some strength, and some attack power. Do you know any types?" he listed out his conditions.


    "Then you¡¯ve found the right man, sir!" The little boy wiped the snot that was about to leak out of his nose. "According to your requirements, the most suitable candidate is definitely a hawk."3


    "A hawk, is it? What¡¯s the fastest hawk here?" Garen nodded and asked.


    "All our hawks here are pretty fast¡­ and most of them are the cunning blue hawks. It¡¯s not too big, and it¡¯s really fast. It can scratch open someone¡¯s skin in the blink of an eye! Its claws are the sharpest, and it really likes to steal everyone¡¯s chicks," the little boy replied in details.


    "Are there any other types of birds? Or maybe it doesn¡¯t have to be a bird," Garen asked, frowning. Although the blue hawk fit his requirements, he still doesn¡¯t like this sort of eagle that only knows how to steal chickens.


    "If it doesn¡¯t have to be a bird¡­" The little boy scratched his hair. "Oh! There is a type, but it¡¯s not a bird, it¡¯s a bug."


    "Oh? What is it?" Garen looked interested.


    "Neon butterflies!"4 The boy looked uncomfortable. "The bigger ones are as big a a washbasin. They¡¯re strong, very beautiful, and really strange too. Most butterflies aren¡¯t fast, but these are super fast, even faster than normal birds. Only eagles can compare to them. And even more annoyingly, they¡¯re extremely poisonous. If a person accidentally breathes in their powder, their whole body will get poisoned and grow numb. If it¡¯s just a little more serious, it could kill you! It¡¯s terrifying!"


    "Oh? There are butterflies like that? Where, show me?" Garen was instantly sold.


    "I¡¯m not going. You just have to walk in that direction, just walk all the way straight, and you¡¯ll see those annoying butterflies in no time. Their whole body is poisonous, and they took over the whole patch of forest. If you see any huge butterflies, without any speck of impurity in their blue, that¡¯s them." The boy pointed in a direction as he explained.


    "Thanks." Garen flicked his second copper piece, and took large strides in the direction the boy pointed.


    Leaving the little forest, Garen followed the direction the boy led him to. His steps were quick, and more condensed little forests soon appeared around him. Signs of human activity gradually decreased, while the tire tracks and footsteps on the ground rapidly vanished as well.


    In the distance, he could begin to see the white snowy peaks reaching into the clouds.


    Very soon, he saw the neon butterflies the boy was talking about.


    Under some dark shady trees, a group of blue butterflies glowed with fluorescence, dancing in the shadows. It was as though they had fluorescent powder scattered all over them.


    These butterflies danced about soundlessly. The smallest were palm-sized, the largest had nearly a meter in wingspan. The long furry bodies were fully exposed, and creeped out anyone who looked at them.


    Garen picked up a stone from the ground, narrowed his eyes, and tossed it at them.


    Psst!


    Like a sharp arrow, the stone tore through the air and accurately hit the largest neon butterfly.


    In that instant, it was like poking a beehive. A large swarm of neon butterflies rushed out of the forest, flooding the air as they came for Garen, as though the blue lights had instantly merged into an ocean.


    Garen kicked the ground, and a big piece of black soil scattered through the air, carrying specks of grass with it. They rained down everywhere, beating on the large swathe of neon butterflies around him.


    In the midst of many dull plopping sounds, the blue lights began to fall and dim, while the piercing smell of poisonous powder spread through the air.


    Garen held his breath. With a flash of his steps, he appeared in front of the largest neon butterfly. Picking it up with a gloved hand, he stuffed it into the glass bottle and turned heel immediately.


    He hadn¡¯t gone far when suddenly a huge swarm of neon butterflies surged out behind. They were extremely fast, and could almost catch up to a running Garen even without flying in a straight line.


    Garen took one look back, and applied more force under his feet. This gave him a boost of speed, and he left the neon butterflies in the dust.


    He gave his body a jolt, instantly and quietly throwing off countless fine particles of blue powder from his body. They were blown away by the wind, and he only started breathing again after all the poison powder had vanished.


    Holding up the bottle to see, he noticed that the neon butterfly wasn¡¯t completely dead yet, moving ever so slightly in the bottle.


    He was considered satisfied with this sort of butterfly. It wasn¡¯t slow, it was highly poisonous, and rather strong as well. Compared to normal bugs that died with a stomp, there was a layer of thick keratin on the surface of these butterflies, so it seemed to be as strong as a mouse. That would mean it had no problem delivering messages.


    "The only weakness is that it¡¯s not very good at camouflage, but even so, it will do." Garen thought back to the blue-scaled snake encountered before. Compared to those totem creatures, the neon butterfly was a flying animal, and it wasn¡¯t part of the hawk¡¯s menu. Even if it was rather flashy, the other advantages were enough to mask those little flaws.


    ************


    In the experiment lab


    Emin carefully wiped his mouth with a white napkin, holding up the neon butterfly¡¯s bottle to observe it.


    "It¡¯s my first time making this type of neon butterfly, but I have researched butterflies before. Even though I didn¡¯t go into detail, I do know some." He put down the bottle. "So you¡¯re sure you want the neon butterfly?"


    "Of course." Garen was standing beside him, and nodded when he was asked.


    "Alright then. A Luminarist will have a core totem and a normal totem for support purposes. As your teacher, I can make you your first totem for free. Consider it my present to you. But if you want to change to another a totem next time, you¡¯ll have to study and create it yourself. Do you understand?"


    "I understand." Garen nodded."


    "Alright then, let us begin."


    Translator''s Thoughts


    J_Squared J_Squared


    1. Sounds like a swear, hence his embarrassment.


    2. Same as above.


    3. Ó¥, can be translated as hawk, falcon or eagle.


    4. Ó«¹âºûµû, lit. fluorescent butterfly. Neon sounds more like a name, though.

 254 Totem 2

    Chapter 254: Totem 2


    Emin nodded, and put the butterfly bottle on the microscope.


    "Creating a totem is basically using silver to imitate a living creature. How to imitate? First, you need to know the creature¡¯s biological make-up, only then can you successfully imitate it."


    He pointed out his index finger, and slowly started sketching mid air.


    His fingertip drew lines of silver-white light in the air, forming silver-white threads.


    As the threads slowly faded and disappeared, but before the vanished completely, all the silver-white threads Emin drew each formed a tiny figure 6. All the 6¡¯s quickly and randomly matched up, forming many inconsistent figures that looked like badges. Just like a oval insect¡¯s egg being wrapped up in many large circles.


    "This figure represents analysis. It¡¯s used especially for analyzing any creature¡¯s internal make-up. It can trigger the analyzing ability in your brain, in order to quickly analyze any creature. We call it the analysis tactic. It¡¯s one of the three basic Luminarist tactics. I¡¯ll teach it to you later."


    Emin pointed at the the floating figures, and a wave of ripples spread from that spot. With a whoosh, the figures dart into the bottle, landing on the neon butterfly.


    Soon, silver tattoo lines appeared on the neon butterfly¡¯s body.


    Emin explained, "Normally, analyzing a creature requires sufficient knowledge, experience, and accumulation. If you haven¡¯t accumulated enough, your analysis tactic wouldn¡¯t get many results. After all, this is just a quick analysis. It¡¯s only suitable for Luminarists who are familiar with this type of creature."


    Beside him, Garen nodded, looking at the butterfly in the bottle with his undivided attention.


    "Now, I¡¯m analyzing this neon butterfly¡¯s body systems. Its life would always be dependent on some certain systems. This neon butterfly¡­ mm¡­ the survival system, that¡¯s the most basic instinct. A flying system, and defense system. There are three parts. It¡¯s made of three parts in total, that won¡¯t be too hard."


    Emin flicked his finger, and the silver tattoos on the neon butterfly instantly began to dim.


    "After that, I¡¯ll imitate the basic units of the three part systems in order. At these times, I need to have completely researched and understood creature cells. I can only proceed after knowing the root principles. I researched butterflies before, so I¡¯ll skip this part."


    Emin walked up to the long table with the unit factory, bent down and pulled out a large black box. He opened the cover, revealing blocks after blocks of pure silver bricks. All square and proper, they looked unexpectedly clean and brand new.


    Emin picked up a silver brick, and drew in the air again with his other hand. Soon enough, he had carved out another figure.


    This time, it was an extremely complex figure, lined up like rows of mathematical formulae, or like a passage of unknown words.


    As Emin wrote his figures, the silver block in his other hand also began to slowly melt, turning to liquid like mercury and floating over his palm. It merged into a silver ball.


    "This is the second basic tactic: forging. Right now, I¡¯m forging different units for the three systems at the same time, so it¡¯s a little more complicated. Actually, all these figures are used to move the silver, and use them to replicate the principles and scenes in my head. That¡¯s why we also call this tactic: replicate. Anyway, it¡¯s up to you what you want to call it."


    Garen stared at his teacher¡¯s movements closely and nodded without speaking, terrified that he would miss even the slightest movement.


    The round silver ball in Emin¡¯s hand dissolved quickly, revealing three small balls inside.


    The three small balls formed a triangle and spun rapidly, as though forming a whole.


    Emin pointed at the three silver balls and said, "These three things are the basic units for the three systems that I forged. Don¡¯t be fooled by appearances, the structure inside is actually very complicated, and completely different. What I¡¯m going to do now is put these units into the unit factory, and then perform large scale replicating. Then I¡¯ll assemble them to make a model of the three large systems. The assembly also requires a third basic tactic: assimilation."


    Garen nodded slowly.


    "Three steps in total: analyse, forge, and assimilate. You use these three tactics to control and lead, is that right? Teacher."


    "That is true, it looks simple on the surface. What you need to do is replicate a creature using silver. These three tactics are the most basic of the basic, and all totems come from them. No matter how complicated the totem, it must go through these three steps." Emin put down the silver balls in his hand. "Of course, after all that is done, there¡¯s still the final step."


    "There¡¯s still a final step?"


    "Of course." Emin smiled. "After completing the three steps, the silver totem formed is just a model made out of silver. But creatures themselves require food as an energy source to support their movements. What about totems? If they want to move, they naturally require energy. And this is the last step that needs our help."


    "What is it?" Garen asked.


    Emin threw a unit into the unit factory, and began to adjust and replicate it as he replied,


    "The last step is to provide the energy. We also call it activation."


    "Activation?"


    "That¡¯s right, this is the basis for all Luminarists. In the past, it was also called lighting. Lighting the lamps to illuminate, that is how the term Luminarists first originated," Emin explained.


    "How do you light it, then?" Garen pressed on.


    "That is our most pivotal talent." Emin pointed at his head. "Here. Anyone who can be a Luminarist, has a special appraisal quality. Our power is shapeless and immaterial, and it can¡¯t influence anything other than silver. But it has the mystical effect of giving silver life."


    "No wonder Luminarists use silver as their materials¡­" Garen instantly understood.


    "It¡¯s actually very easy to activate something, but according to the difference in our appraisal, the strength of the totems activated will also differ."


    "And how is my appraisal power?" Garen asked with slight anticipation.


    "Unfortunately, your appraisal is very normal¡­ Back then, at your home, I checked for you on the sly." Emin shrugged and said bluntly. "In other words, the totems you light will not be given any special extra effect."


    Garen thought as much. Vanderman¡¯s appraisal was very average too, so it would be hard for his son to be Prodigy-level.


    "Those Prodigy-level Luminarists, are there totems really strong?"


    "I saw one peak Prodigy-level Luminarist¡¯s totem, it was an owl used for support. This prodigy¡¯s appraisal ability was to give totems three time the power the original had." Emin reminisced slightly, "That owl was half a person tall, and it had terrifying power. It could actually fight on even ground with a lion totem, and eventually defeated the lion totem. It tore the lion into shreds."


    "An owl defeating a lion, huh¡­?" Garen could also imagine this strange scene, and felt a little melancholy inside.


    "Alright, enough about that. You are far from Prodigy-level now. But your advantage is with precision blueprints. A strong precision blueprint ability is enough to give the totems you forge impressive stability. Master-level precision blueprints would also have a great impact on high-level precision blueprints and fixing totems. With your skill, if you expand it well, you can accept jobs from some Prodigy-level Luminarists, and help them to make unactivated totems and reap some rewards. Of course, the precondition is that you must be able to completely analyze the principles." Emin continued to console him.


    "I can still do that?" Garen¡¯s eyes lit up, and he nodded solemnly.


    "First, I¡¯ll explain the principles of analyzing tactics¡­" Emin didn¡¯t waste a moment, and immediately started to explain the details to Garen.


    The teacher and student gathered in the lab, and a whole day passed in a moment. Other than eating, drinking and answering Nature¡¯s call, they basically did not leave the lab.


    With Emin¡¯s careful teaching, Garen also began to slowly understand some basic Luminarist knowledge and secrets.


    Luminarists usually did not write any books. They tended to teach their own knowledge verbally just like this, in order to prevent their knowledge and inheritance from leaking out to others. Every Luminarist could be called a biochemist. Their appraisal talent was their research tool.


    In four days, as the neon butterfly totem slowly took shape, Garen witnessed the whole process of forming a totem step by step. From analysis to assimilation, each step was further divided into many smaller steps, exceptionally intricate and detailed. The final assimilation was especially hard. With his teacher¡¯s tutelage, he used a Master-level precision blueprint and, step by step, put the units into groups, and then put the groups into units, systems. In the end, they had utterly formed a complete butterfly totem.


    At last, it was time for the final activation.


    ************


    Garen stood quietly in front of a small table, looking at the silver neon butterfly totem on it.


    The totem was silent and dull, without a trace of life. It looked just like an intricate silver model, gorgeous and graceful.


    Garen looked at Emin on his right, and the latter nodded slightly at him.


    "I¡¯ll start now."


    Garen pointed his index finger, and pressed the surface of the neon butterfly lightly.


    "Kandas vieira (Ten Thousand Mammoths Traction)¡­ Silversa (May the Silver be ever-luminescent, the end is rebirth) ¡­"


    As he chanted lightly, a pale silver halo of light rose slowly behind him.


    "Hildaves (where I am)... Runsa (there is life)."


    As soon as Garen¡¯s voice stopped, the room descended into silence.


    The two of them look at the silver totem quietly, and disappointment flashed in both their eyes.


    Did they fail?


    The same thought appeared in both their minds.


    Garen also understood that if the first activation didn¡¯t work, that meant his appraisal quality may not even be average-level. It could only be the lowest level.


    "It¡¯s okay, if you don¡¯t succeed this time there¡¯s always next time." Emin consoled him from the side. "With just the Master-level precision blueprint ability, your abilities from now on will be guaranteed."


    "That¡¯s all I can do." Garen nodded, feeling slightly helpless. The silver halo behind him slowly scattered.


    "Let¡¯s go in to eat."


    One followed after the other, as the two men left the lab.


    At the very end, Garen looked at the butterfly totem on the table once more, and sighed imperceptibly. He began closing the door behind him.


    Smack!


    Suddenly there was a small noise from behind him.


    Garen¡¯s whole body jolted.


    In an instant, silver light erupted from behind him. Countless rays of blinding silver light shot out of the room, making his back shine like a sea of silver.


    Just behind him, the silver butterfly on the table began to flap its wings slowly. It struggled a bit, and then leapt off the table, slowly taking flight.


    Garen tilted his face to look at the butterfly, a hint of excitement and a hint of joy in his heart. He stretched out his index finger, and the butterfly landed on it.


    "It worked¡­"


    "Congratulations." Emin looked over from where he was standing by the stairs, with a similar expression of joy and relief.

 255 Achievement 1

    Chapter 255: Achievement 1


    After dinner, the teacher and student duo left their little block and went out of the town, into a dark and deserted forest.


    There wasn¡¯t any sign of human habitation in these isolated woods. All they could hear were the strange noises of animals rustling past grass.


    Emin wore all pitch black, holding a short staff in his hand. He tapped the ground once, lightly.


    A silver ripple instantly spread from the tip of his staff, quickly rushing past underneath Garen¡¯s feet as it spread far and wide in all direction. It soon vanished into the distant forest.


    It was only when the ripple scattered that Emin raised up the staff in his hand and gave it a twirl. Silver engravings rose to the surface of the staff, looking especially evident in the dark night.


    "We can start testing now," Emin said softly. "I cast an isolation tactic around us. Normal people can¡¯t see us. Your neon butterfly is just a support totem, and you can change it any time you want later. But it¡¯s still your first totem, so it has dome special meaning. It can demonstrate some totem-specific qualities for you. Are you ready?"


    Garen was standing right opposite him, dressed all in grey, and nodded solemnly. He was holding a large bottle, and coiled up inside was his very first totem, the neon butterfly.


    "I can feel it, the totem is like I got a new organ, an arm. It¡¯s very lifelike and convenient. I can choose to control it, or give it a simple order for it to complete on its own. What a miraculous feeling," he said soft, as he opened the cap to the bottle.


    Psst!


    With a flash of blow, the neon butterfly immediately darted out of the bottle, and slowly landed on Garen¡¯s shoulder. It was like a huge blue shawl, glowing with a pale blue fluorescent light in the night.


    Emin¡¯s palm paused, and a large white bobcat walked out slowly from behind him.


    It was a meter and a half long, like a slightly smaller leopard. It walked soundlessly, its shoulders rising on both sides as it walked, and it licked its tongue greedily at times. In the night, its eyes glowed with an eerie green light.


    Emin reached out his hand to pat the bobcat¡¯s head.


    "This is my support totem, Bobcat." He smiled, "As long as you can support them, you can create as many support totems as you want. After all, it¡¯s your own talent keeping them afloat. Most Luminarists can only support one or two. The stronger ones can do four or five. Because support totems have simple structures, it¡¯s easy to make them, so they¡¯re usually treated as disposable items."


    He glanced at the blue butterfly on Garen¡¯s shoulder.


    "If it¡¯s like yours, you should be able to do more."


    Garen nodded, and said bluntly,


    "I can sense that my spirit can support a few more, probably about two."


    "In other words, you can have two more support totems. If you add that to your core totem, that would be four totems. That is the extent of your talent." Emin nodded. "Alright, begin then. Let¡¯s see, how does your neon butterfly fare in real battle?"


    "Alright."


    The two of them stopped talking, and retreated a few steps back at the same time, leaving the stage to the two totems.


    Meoww!!


    The white bobcat arched its back, and made a noise between that of a cat and a leopard. Its emerald eyes were fixed intently on the neon butterfly flying in front of it.


    The white bobcat began to slowly walk circles around the neon butterfly.


    The neon butterfly flapped its wings, rising higher and higher, as though trying to avoid direct conflict with the bobcat.


    Suddenly, the neon butterfly pulled itself upwards. With a single meow, a white figure pounced into the sky, directly at where the butterfly was, and missed.


    The neon butterfly immediately flew up in a curve, swaying uncertainly from left to right.


    Pshh!


    It dodged another pounce from the white shadow, and landed gracefully on a tree branch.


    Having missed twice, the white bobcat seemed to get instinctively frustrated. It paced, making circles around the tree where the neon butterfly had stopped, and occasionally made deep howling sounds.


    Suddenly its gaze turned sharp, and it dug its limbs onto the tree trunk, borrowing the momentum to leap up the tree.


    The green tree trunk was ripped to shreds. Four white scars appeared on the whole and smooth tree trunk underneath its claws. The bobcat pounced at the neon butterfly with lightning speed.


    Ka-chak!


    The tree branch broke, and the butterfly took flight again. It flew higher up, but a white shadow quickly followed it, pressing it down with its claw as it landed nimbly on the ground.


    But the bobcat had barely taken a few steps with the butterfly in its mouth when it started swaying, and eventually fell sideways onto the ground with a thud.


    "It¡¯s over." Emin clapped his hands as he walked over. "It counts as a draw. The bobcat just needed to bite down to break the neon butterfly. But at the same time, it was struck by the poison powder during those few failed pounces. Its internal systems were damaged, so it can¡¯t move anymore.


    "So you¡¯re saying I chose well?" Garen also walked over as he asked.


    "To be more precise, you controlled it well. A real neon butterfly wouldn¡¯t be able to avoid a bobcat¡¯s pounces so easily. I would have won with the first pounce." Emin shook his head with a smile. "But the neon butterfly¡¯s main ability is its poison powder, that¡¯s used to protect itself. It can fly rather fast, and it can fly in the rain as well. When faced with complicated geography, it can also be a good scout. Only problem is it can¡¯t hide very well."


    "That¡¯s true." Garen nodded in agreement. "It glows blue in the night, it indeed can¡¯t really camouflage."


    "This is just your first totem, you can choose to change it later. There¡¯s no rush." Emin waved his hand, "Regarding totems, there¡¯s still one more crucial item."


    He raised his staff, and dipped it lightly in front of Garen.


    With a smacking sound the tip of the staff was pressing on Garen¡¯s calf.


    "Eh?" On the other hand, Garen looked curious. "This is¡­"


    He noticed that the tip of the staff hadn¡¯t actually touched the skin on his calf, as though it was being repelled by something.


    He looked closely at where the tip of the staff was. There was a thin, transparent, pale blue membrane between the staff and his trousers.


    "That is Totem Light." Emin pulled back his staff. "After a totem forms, this is the protective force field it reflects on its master. It covers the master¡¯s whole body, and has no weak spot."


    "So this is Totem Light?" Garen reached out his hand, looking at that extremely thin pale blue membrane expand as he stretched his hand. It was like a malleable layer of water, and extremely fascinating. "How is its protective power?"


    "It¡¯s usually twice as strong as that of the totem itself, or more." Emin smiled. "Do you know where it came from?"


    Garen shook his head, waiting for his teacher to reply with careful concentration.


    "A Luminarist has many totems, and each totem would bestow a protective force field on its master. The forces stack up, and are definitely stronger than the power of an individual totem. Besides, the defensive power of Totem Light usually stronger than the totem itself." Emin paused, "This is why, battles between Luminarists are usually fought by the totems, and you usually don¡¯t attack the master first."


    Garen understood.


    "True, in that case, Luminarists would actually have a lot more defensive power than the totems themselves. It¡¯s most important to deal with the totems first."


    "That¡¯s exactly it." Emin waved his hand, and the white bobcat on the floor instantly became a flash of white light that retreated behind him.


    The neon butterfly also took to the air again, landing inside the large bottle in Garen¡¯s hand. He stuffed it in mercilessly and stoppered the bottle.


    Emin watched him keep it, and then raised his head to look at the night sky.


    "It¡¯s still early. Let¡¯s walk back, and chat as we go."


    "Yes, teacher." Garen nodded.


    The two of them walked slowly down the path they had came, heading back towards the small town.


    Emin held his staff, watching Garen as the latter walked ahead of his teacher carefully, testing the road for puddles and potholes to prevent Emin from stepping in one. The teacher smiled, comforted.


    "Garen, the power of the totem itself will not harm its master. You must remember that. Aside from that, almost the large majority of Luminarists have support totems that aren¡¯t that different from real living creatures. There is no increase in their power, they¡¯re just like the creatures you see outside."


    "Bobcats are bobcats, and neon butterflies are neon butterflies? They¡¯re just like the original creature, so support totems are rarely strengthened, is that it?" Garen said in understanding.


    "That¡¯s it. But core totems are different." Emin sighed. "Take my core totem, White Bear, for example. Other than the superior strength that white bears are supposed to have, it also has thicker fur than regular white bears, so it can prevent damage from stronger lethal weapons."


    Teacher, your White Bear didn¡¯t come from a regular bear, did it?" Garen asked softly.


    "Naturally." Emin nodded. "My line focuses on three animals, the Great White Bear, Black Panther, and Sabertooth Tiger. The Great White Bear is indeed no ordinary bear, it is a large white bear from northern tundra, and is the apex predator there."


    Garen nodded in understanding.


    Emin continued, "This extremely durable fur and skin was the result of many generations of strengthening. It¡¯s a lot sturdier in defense than usual great white bears. When faced with regular bears, there won¡¯t be any unforeseen accidents, the other side will lose utterly. That¡¯s why if you want to choose a core totem in the future, you had also better choose a core totem that has some accumulation. Stand on the shoulders of giants, and you will go further, without having to start from scratch."


    He sighed, "You must understand that, in the world of Luminarists, you can barely even protect yourself without real power."


    Garen nodded silently. He suddenly remembered the large number of Luminarists who would die in the future war.


    There would be the two consecutive crises. The first would be the war between the Royal Alliance of Luminarists and the Obscuro Society, in which Luminarists die by the hundreds.


    The second would be the war between the Obscuro Society and the Terraflor Society, in which Luminarists die by the thousands.


    At the end, the remaining Luminarists would not number up to a third of a thousand. A vast amount of knowledge will disappear because it was never recorded down. The age of the Luminarists, aside from partial knowledge from the very peak, will be reduced to a few schools of knowledge.


    And Emin, would also die in the crossfires of the first war.


    "Alright, let¡¯s forget that for now. When we get back, you can start learning the three major basic tactics from me." Emin smiled. "These three basic tactics are actually very easy. The difificulty lies in here." He pointed at his head.


    "In the accumulation of knowledge."


    "That¡¯s right. Luminarists without enough knowledge wouldn¡¯t be able to analyze even the smallest, weakest insect. And Luminarists with enough knowledge, will be able to analyze practically anything." Emin smiled as he replied, "I¡¯ll hand the three major basic tactics over to you. And then you can enter my underground book cellar and study for yourself. In the meantime, if you¡¯re willing, I can also give you the knowledge that I have in hand, that of the Great White Bear, for you to learn."


    Emin looked at Garen. At first he just wanted to bring this kid into his school. But after seeing Garen¡¯s Master-level precision blueprints, the scales in his heart instantly fell heavily down on Garen¡¯s side.

 256 Achievement 2

    Chapter 256: Achievement 2


    Ever since his teacher left the school, the large Tasura Academy school of thought also began to crumble and fall apart, splitting into the three main divisions. The Great White Bear, the Black Panther, and The Sabertooth Tiger.


    Emin actually still had a senior brother and a junior brother, both of whom lived further away. Unlike him, the two of them had long since started spreading their teachings, and now had students as well as grand-students, holding quite an influence over the local community.


    They had also invited him over many times, but he rejected them each time.


    As his thoughts wandered over there, Emin couldn¡¯t help but sigh, and looked at Garen beside him.


    "Your control is great, that¡¯s the little convenience brought by Master-level precision blueprints. If you¡¯re willing, join my school of thought, and I can help you create a White Bear core totem. Of course, once you decide on a core totem, it¡¯ll be very troublesome later if you want to change. And this way, you¡¯ll have to take responsibility for our school."


    Garen did remember hearing about the situation of Emin¡¯s school.


    Hearing his teacher¡¯s words, he remained silent, and did not reply immediately.


    "When we get back, I¡¯ll start teaching you the three major basic tactics. It¡¯ll probably take a few months¡¯ time, you can consider it carefully in that period of time." Emin knew that this was a troublesome problem as well, and didn¡¯t force it.


    ************


    Upon returning to Emin¡¯s house, Garen first achieved a basic understanding of the information and principles regarding the first tactic, analysis.


    After washing up hastily, he returned to his room on the first floor to rest.


    The kerosene lamp by the head of his bed burned slowly, emitting a bright yellow light.


    Garen sat by his bedside, rather casually flipping through the large book in his hand. The cover of the book said: Illustrated Encyclopedia of Creatures.


    "Once you¡¯ve settled on a core totem, you need to wait for more than five years if you want to change it. At the same time, you need a special ritual and ingredients to disassemble it. It¡¯s very troublesome¡­ but, with a decent core totem, you can have an automatically-reacting Totem Light that can follow you everywhere in life."


    He understood the benefits of that. Totem Light that activated of its own accord was enough to match any dangers a Luminarist might face.


    Without having to release their totem, they could automatically activate Totem Light to protect themselves at any time and place. This was also the reason Lumimarists could stand high above the rest, and disregard even the strongest normal person.


    Because no matter how strong a regular person could get, they wouldn¡¯t be able to break that Totem Light that looked so thin. That¡¯s because attacks without silver would not be able to break the core Totem Light. This was a difference in quality, one that couldn¡¯t be overcome by quantity.


    "Only Luminarists with core totems can truly manifest this unbeatable nature of Luminarists, and stand at the peak of mortals." Garen murmured, hesitation in his heart.


    Logically speaking, choosing the White Bear would make a good shortcut, but deep inside he also knew too well that compared to those unbelievably strong Luminarists in the future, the White Bear was pathetically weak.


    "Whatever, now I¡¯ll have to learn the three major tactics, and then accumulate the relevant knowledge. I¡¯m not like other Luminarists, after regaining my power, I¡¯m already standing at the peak of mortals. It¡¯s the same as being a Master-level fighter in this world. I don¡¯t have to rush in to decide a core totem to protect myself." Garen decided, and rolled into his bed, pulling his covers over himself to rest peacefully.


    **********


    In the time that followed. Garen learned the principles and structures of basic tactics from Emin every day, as well as how to activate his own appraisal ability.


    Just as Emin said, the three major tactics weren¡¯t hard, much less with Garen¡¯s special physical qualities. Even regular Luminarists taking it step by step could learn them.


    In that period of time, Garen¡¯s attributes also returned to an average of 2.0 and above. Even his intelligence, his weakest point, rose to 2.0, evidently as a result of constantly using his brain.


    With Garen¡¯s undivided concentration and effort, he completely learned the three major tactics -- which were expected to take a few months to learn -- in half a month¡¯s time, and he could use them with unnatural familiarity too. This was a great surprise to Emin, who also realized that as time went on, Garen¡¯s ability to learn seemed to be increasing and speeding up.


    Soon, he suggested letting Garen go into the underground book cellar on his own to accumulate knowledge. Those were all non-core books he had collected, mostly about basic totem construction that had become public knowledge.


    The way he saw it, the thing Garen lacked now was the accumulation of knowledge, as well as a unit factory that was suitable for him and completely his own. He could create a totem for Garen, but a unit factory was different. If Garen wasn¡¯t willing to inherit his school, then as a teacher in the future, Garen would need to create a unit factory all of his own. That involved a nearly astronomical cost¡­


    **********


    "Now, you¡¯ve gotten the three major tactics down. So all that¡¯s left is to gather your own theoretical knowledge. Only with enough theories can your analysis tactic have enough information to be based on. Now, let¡¯s go into the underground book cellar."


    Emin brought Garen to the dark corner behind the stairs.


    On the wall behind the stairs, there was a heavy metal door, fastened with a huge lock.


    Emi handed the keys over to Garen, and then turned to walk away. He left, as though to discuss something with the little girl Nicole.


    Garen held the large palm-sized key, and inserted it lightly into the keyhole. A turn.


    With a clack, the large lock bounced open.


    Garen pushed the metal door with all his strength. It was pitch black inside.


    He walked in, and used a match to light the oil lamp on the wall.


    Hiss!


    It was strange. In an instant, a row of oil lamps lit up all along the walls of the underground room, forming a bright yellow row of lights.


    The first oil lamp seemed to be a trigger, lighting all the oil lamps in the underground cellar at once.


    The whole cellar lit up at once.


    Garen closed the door behind him, observing the whole cellar quietly.


    It was about as big as a futsal court, lined with bookshelves made of black stone. There were a few books scattered here and there.


    There was a reading desk and chair next to the shelves, and there were sheafs of loose white paper meant for writing on the desk.


    Garen followed the slope downwards, and felt a draft flowing in the book cellar. He walked to the first bookshelf on the furthest left, and glanced at the corner of the shelf. There was a black label stuck there, white words on a black base: Tactic research¡¯.


    He looked at the shelf. There were only two thin handbooks. They didn¡¯t even have covers, and were all white.


    Shaking his head, Garen walked to the second shelf.


    The label said: ¡®Creature composition encyclopedias¡¯.


    There were quite a few books on this shelf, of various sizes and thicknesses, filling up most half of the shelf. The largest book had pages half a meter wide, and was wrapped in very thick leather. It was like a black shield, leaning by the bottom of the bookshelf.


    Garen glanced at the cover of this book: Tasura¡¯s Creatures Illustrated.


    He continued on to the third shelf.


    The label said: Basic school theories.


    There was only one book on this shelf. It was extremely thick, and had a leather-bound cover. It said on top: History of Totem Development.


    And then, the fourth and fifth shelves had the same name: ¡®Theories and Practical¡¯.


    The books there were also all about the Lumminarists¡¯ journeys, experiences, journals and so on.


    Garen casually pulled down a book and flipped through it. Each of these books were actually written in unique symbols and words. They were all encoded, and each of them differently. There were thirty-two books in total and in twenty-eight separate coded languages. Unless you knew the key to these, there was no way to read it at all. Only a few journals from recent years weren¡¯t encoded, and these seemed to be talking about other Luminarists.


    Garen had no choice but to replace all the books he couldn¡¯t read to their shelves.


    Most of the remaining shelves were about the same, including that black leather book that looked like a shield, Tasura¡¯s Creatures Illustrated. This was encoded too, so he could only more or less see the pictures inside, and didn¡¯t understand any of the rest.


    He could only read one bookshelf.


    It was the second one: ¡®Creature composition encyclopedias¡¯.


    In this period of time, Emin had taught him his unique keyword, which was just enough to decode most of the books on this shelf.


    Garen pulled a book off the shelf. ¡®Entomology¡¯, by Emin Kreso¡­ and followed by a long line of names.


    He flipped open this book, his brain translating its contents through rapid decoding.


    This manner of decoding and translating took a long time, equivalent to the time taken to read two books. And it wasn¡¯t easy either.


    Garen slowly translated the words one by one, and the read them together.


    The time ticked by. A few hours had passed, but he had only gone through half of the book.


    Garen closed his eyes. They were feeling rather sore, so he rested them a bit. And then he continued reading.


    His attributes had all reached extremely high levels. Faced with an intelligence of more than 2.0, almost anything he saw could be instantly understood and stored in his brain.


    In the meanwhile, Emin did come down to check on him. Upon finding Garen wholly focused on his reading and studies, he went out again, feeling comforted.


    That first day, Garen didn¡¯t even finish reading that book on Entology. The book started out simple, but got more complicated as it went, and the more creatures it introduced the more complicated and intricate their systems got. There were also more things for him to remember.


    On the second day, Garen continued to read and learn in the cellar. And then the third day, during which he finally finished reading the whole Entomology.


    Sitting on the chair, Garen watched the light red skills attribute on his attribute pane shift a little. Light red symbols appeared, and he immediately understood what the symbols meant.


    "Requirement to fully comprehend Entomology: Intelligence 1.4 (fulfilled)."


    As soon as the symbols appeared, Garen felt the parts where he had been a bit blur about when reading instantly become extremely clear. Any secret parts he hadn¡¯t understood fully before, he also comprehended in an instant.


    "The first book¡­" He let out a long breath, glancing at the few remaining books on the shelf. This included zoology, ornithology, marine biology, microbiology and many other types. There were even more specialized books with details among them, such as ¡®Composition of Butterfly-type Insects¡¯.


    Garen began to go through the books one by one, day after day, staying in the cellar.


    Slowly, the books on the shelf about creature compositions began to lessen, and he piled all the books he had read on the desk.

 257 Turmoil 1

    Chapter 257: Turmoil 1


    Emin had originally thought of letting him gain some knowledge on the different types, categorization and its structural differences of biology. He never expected that Garen would remember all that he had seen, instantly understanding them. With the combination of high intelligence and abilities, he could vividly remember each book he read.


    However, there was no complete skill formed in his Skills Pane.


    After staying in the underground chamber for more than a month, Garen walked out, face wrought with fatigue. Having continuously researched all the boring academic books for more than a month, even Garen, who had strong mental capacity, felt fatigued and sleepy.


    "How was it?¡¯"


    Emin stood waiting at the doorstep, quietly looking at him.


    "I¡¯ve gained a lot." Garen answered with a serious nod. "It¡¯s just that, so many books were encrypted, I couldn¡¯t read them."


    "Naturally; neither could I, most of the books were snatched by my Teacher. There was no way of decrypting them, hence they are only fit for collection." Emin¡¯s face had a slight hint of helplessness. "Now that you have essentially mastered the three main tactics and have already read all the books within my collection, you can be a master too. I will ask you one last time; do you want to join my school? If you do join my school, I will craft a White Bear core totem for you, otherwise, you would have to choose other core totems. Once you are ready, come to me and I will craft a core totem for you once. But I trust you would know what the result would be."


    Garen nodded.


    It was time to make a choice.


    "For now, I will still choose not to join." He calmly professed his decision.


    Emin¡¯s mouth opened, as though he had wanted to say something; but no sound was projected.


    Both parties went silent.


    Garen solemnly bowed at Emin with respect.


    "Regardless if I join or not, you will always be my Teacher."


    Emin wave his hand with much regret.


    "The Great White Bear is not as weak as you think, actually, each core totem has different evolutionary modes."


    "I understand. only by inheritance from the schools can it show its strong evolutionary mode, making the core totem stronger, having headroom for evolution." Garen answered clearly.


    "But¡­""


    He did not continue speaking.


    Instead, Emin nodded clearly. "I know, you would want to inherit your father¡¯s core totem.


    That¡¯s alright, when do you plan to go back?"


    "I¡¯l rest for a bit, so tomorrow. Tomorrow, I will leave." Garen replied surely.


    Emin did not say too much, instead retrieving a thick, folded piece of paper from the pocket of his long robe, which he gave to Garen.


    "This is the Luminarists'' Night Market, some of the popular night markets are marked on it. With your Master level detailed blueprint, you could go there to do a few jobs and earn yourself some resources. In the future, you best build your own unit factory, otherwise your unit secrets may be leaked out if you borrow it from others. Of course, you could use your father¡¯s one, but¡­. You¡¯ll know in time."


    "Thank you, Teacher." Garen thanked him sincerely. In this period of time, no matter what cause or intention, Emin had been very serious and responsible in his tutelage towards him, and really brought him into the world of Luminarists.


    This was had been a huge favor.


    Garen understood clearly the information that he had read in the book collection chamber; a majority of them were written by Emin himself, as the encryptions that was used was his specific encryption password. All this information had contained his experience and knowledge.


    From the initial deal, to the attention he gave later, up till now where he taught Garen without reserve, Emin¡¯s change in attitude was observable to Garen


    "Work hard." Emin patted Garen¡¯s shoulder with force.


    "I will." Garen nodded sincerely.


    "Since you have some time on hand, let me tell you some rules while interacting with fellow Luminarists. Don¡¯t offend or touch onto others¡¯ taboos and create trouble." Emin solemnly said.


    Ding¡­... Ding¡­...


    The silver wind chimes hanging by the side of the carriage rung incessantly.


    The wide, yellowish-green plain held a winding river stream. The evening sun was oddly cold, and a cold breeze blew in waves.


    The pale green carriage moved forwards along the stream, slowly, just like a little green bug on a yellowish-green carpet.


    The wheeler had a gray leather shirt on him, with a wine bag on his hands, which he sipped from from time to time. His mind was concentrated on the tracks on the ground in front of him.


    The grass still showed telltale signs from the carriages and hoove prints from the users of the track before him.


    "How long more to Natta Town?" A male voice came from inside the carriage.


    "About half a day¡¯s journey before we reach." The wheeler answered with some estimation. "We will definitely reach before dusk, be rest assured. Otherwise I would feel guilty taking those rumbs of yours." The wheeler snickered, and raised the whip and caused a loud thump with it.


    In the carriage.


    A handsome-looking young man with blonde hair was sitting inside, calmly sporting a long gray robe with a thick black leather book rested on his knees, with just the first page flipped.


    This man was the one whohad left the small town, Garen, who left Master Emin.


    Before he left, Emin gave him yet another two items.


    One, the book that was resting on Garen¡¯s knees. The second one was a short, silver-white cane, which is a storage device used to keep Garen¡¯s butterfly totem.


    Garen, while listening to the horse¡¯s clip-clop along with the wind chimes, set his gaze on the black leather book on his knees.


    The pages of the book were of the width and length of a forearm, the first page showed a line of familiar handwriting. That was Master Emin¡¯s encryption symbols, the ink still seemed fresh.


    "Master, looks like I owe you another favor¡­" He muttered, shaking his head lightly as he started to decrypt the line of words.


    --- "I have replicated a part of my academy¡¯s illustrations, some of these non-core items would probably be of use to you. When you are in a pinch, try browsing this book¡­." ---


    Garen sighed, and flipped a page over.


    --- "Any normal creature can evolve into strong, legendary creatures. It all depends on how you nurture its evolution."


    That¡¯s all that was written in the second and third pages.


    Garen continued flipping the pages.


    In the fourth page, a menacing looking black wolf appeared on the top. To its right was a colored picture, on the left was some textual explanation.


    ¡®Black Wolf, foundation level, one of the most commonly found forest wolves in East Continent, are very large in number, vicious in nature, cunning and cruel.¡¯


    ¡®Special ability: sense of smell. Its strong sense of smell is much stronger than regular canines, they are quite effective in tracking and pursuit.¡¯


    ¡®Area of activity: Forests, hills.¡¯


    ¡®Totem crafting difficulty: Simple¡¯


    Garen frowned, and flipped over to the next two pages.


    On the fifth and sixth pages, to the right was a black wolf with its paws stepping on crimson flames, on the left were more textual explanations.


    Garen observed closely; this black wolf¡¯s form is almost identical with the one in front, just slightly bigger in size and the bottom of its four paws are burning with a crimson colored flame.


    ¡®Fire Wolf, Evolution Level, second form. A vicious evolution from the black wolf totem. Possess stronger and sharper fangs and claws, able to attack by supplementing biting high temperature attacks.


    ¡®Special Ability: Sense of smell, damage fortification, high temperature fortification, self-destruct. The final special ability is the main reason why Luminarists chose the black wolf as pets, fire wolves will detonate a horrifying explosion upon death, completely melting everything within a certain radius.¡¯


    ¡®Totem upgrade difficulty: ten thousand grams of A-grade ruby, ten thousand grams of A-grade garnet. Success chance depends on (base material) and (totem strength before evolution). Normal success rate: 11.5%. Will self-destruct upon failure, carries a certain risk.¡¯


    Tch¡­..


    Garen inhaled a breeze of cold air.


    "Ten kilograms of grade A rubies and garnets¡­ such high success chance!" He understood the self-destruct part, after all, the power of the Luminarists was not easily obtainable, and you can be in danger at any time.


    While reading through the information, the top part advised multiple times to do all the necessary preparation before evolution, otherwise your life will be in danger easily.


    "This kind of financial expenditure¡­ if you are not noblemen, evolution should not be something you can afford at all." Garen internally simulated the situation below, finally having a clear position towards a Luminarist as a profession.


    "This is as good as burning money! But on retrospect, there should be a large production of gemstones in this world...."


    Garen continued flipping through the pages.


    ¡®Giant Magma Wolf, evolution level, third form. The Fire wolf totem evolves into a terrifying giant wolf. Its power is stronger, speed if faster, its body is filled with a fluid similar to lava, just by approaching it, one can feel the hundred degree heat. It is the strongest evolution form from a black wolf, is one of the three ultimate forms of my Tasura Academy.¡¯


    ¡®Special ability: inherits all of fire wolf¡¯s abilities, and gets strengthened. Exploding Fireball: able to shoot powerful exploding fireballs, destroying enemies from afar, highly destructive.¡¯


    ¡®Totem evolution difficulty: One piece of red dragon fruit, magma tactics. Success rate depends on (base material) and (totem strength before evolution). Typical success rate is 2.6%. Will self-destruct if failed, carries high risk.¡¯


    Garen let out a long sigh, looking at the giant magma wolf on the page.


    "This is no longer a normal creature, but a true strong legendary creature. No wonder totems are so powerful, no wonder Luminarists are so powerful¡­"


    By continuing to flip the pages, two more creatures appeared: the white bear and leopard, as well as their evolution forms.


    The entire book only had three creatures, the final totem of the Tasura Academy, the sabretooth,was not shown in this book.


    According to the research done by the Tasura Academy, all their creatures had three evolutionary forms. The White Bear, Great White Bear and Ice Bear. The leopard, on the other hand consisted of the Leopard, Black Wind Leopard and Night Shadow Leopard.


    The final forms were like creatures of legend; each extremely tough.


    However, the evolution requirements and success rates were terrifyingly low. This lets Garen witness clearly the gap among Luminarists.


    "To be able to gather such detail, this meant that the final forms were not only theorized, but had actually appeared before. If we took the black wolf for example, appearance wise it was not any different compared to a regular black wolf, At most it would have white luminescence, and be a little stronger than a living black wolf. However, if it evolves into a Fire wolf, it would essentially be a killing machine. The final form, the Giant Magma wolf is simply a legendary creature! This gap between the elite and normalcy is utterly huge!"


    Garen originally was unclear about what form the Luminarists could achieve, after all, the scenarios that he saw as he transmigrated were blurry, due to the strong interferences when the scenario involved high level combats.


    But now, through the illustrations, he can see that Tasura Academy¡¯s hundreds of years of ultimate totems, have already reached such heights.

 258 Turmoil 2

    Chapter 258: Turmoil 2


    He slowly closed the book, gazing out of the window into the now distancing plain.


    From afar were a group of dairy cows and sheep sporadically walking around on the plain. S Strong winds kept flattening on the grass, which rippled like sea waves.


    "It is scary being a Luminarist¡­" He let out a long, emotional sigh, "If I were to face the giant magma wolf¡­"He no longer spoke, but just imagined it. No matter how he simulated it in his mind, it would always end with utter defeat; he would not even be able to get close, and was easily eliminated.


    "Looks like I have to choose my core totem soon, and be a Luminarist as soon as possible, Only then will I officially step into this world. There are only one and a half years left."


    Garen kept his illustrations into his ba. Holding the forearm-lengthed silver cane, he closed his eyes and started paying attention to the skill and attribute pane at the bottom of his field of vision.


    Under the skill pane, there was a faint, red, translucent symbol, just like a growing fetus, and a faint red light shining with rhythm, like a heartbeat.


    This is something that Garen had noticed last night, as he looked closer, he realized that in this fetus, there seemed to be a 3D image of a luminescent butterfly.


    This made him happy, he always hoped that his abilities were able provide him some help on his journey of the Luminarist. Otherwise, it would be preposterous to think that he could catch up to the elite Luminarists in the span of over a year.


    And now it finally seemed like there was a glimmer of hope.


    Abilities seem to slowly merge into the luminescent butterfly totem.


    "The image today is clearer." Garen retracted his vision, "I guess when I go back to the manor, I would be able to showcase its real function. But I can¡¯t just count on this, I still need to prepare on multiple different aspects."


    Now what he lacks is a core totem.


    The scenarios that happened while he transmigrated were always blurry during combat scenes, it was always too complicated, always with strong vibrations. He could only see clumps of colors shaking around, and could only roughly make out the strength from just how shaky it was. Even the actual totem form was not very clearly visible.


    Garen refused to use a totem by the Tasura Academy, mainly because he wanted to find a strong enough totem by himself, one that gives him some confidence in what lies ahead.


    But this kind of totem would require detailed inherited knowledge; how to nurture and maintain the totem, the conditions needed, even the requirements in terms of time and environment.


    At least, he had some sort of plan in mind already.


    The carriage arrived in a small town. Garen kept changing carriages, or joining caravans, and soon he arrived at the border of the Lush Forest District.


    The Lush Forest District was a garden district. Being covered by large sections of forests, tourists came and went endlessly.


    Garen arrived at a small city between the Hanna District and Lush Green district called the Ferlondo. From here, he took a tourist bus and headed for the central part of the Lush Forest District: Trejon¡¯s Territory


    In the jade-green forest, two white bus-sized carriages moved within the sea of trees slowly.


    The tour guide was the hunter¡¯s daughter; she held a megaphone-shaped paper cone, loudly introducing the culture and habits of the Lush Green District to the tourists.


    The carriage was full of tourists who came for a tour, mostly husbands and wives, couples, and a family of three. They were comprised of the working class, merchants, minor nobles and military officers. Males, females and the old and young made up about twenty-odd people in the bus.


    Carting the carriage were black cows with strong physiques. There were 4 of them, each about one meter-odd in height, and were about the strengthened version of a typical black cow. Occasionally, they let out a deep roar.


    The wheels would run through a pebble or a small pothole from time to time, making the carriage ride a shaky one.


    Garen sat on the left side of the final row of the ride, near the window.


    Still wearing his usual grey robe, with a black leather box next to his legs, he looked very tidy. Much like a young lecturer of a university, carrying an aura of gentleness.


    He sat facing two people, one middle-aged male pastor with black shirt and white sides, and next to a quiet young lady.


    The two of them seemed to be together, but they did not talk to each other in the carriage, the atmosphere seemed awkward.


    The two of them have not spoken a word since they went onboard about half an hour ago. In contrast, the four people that were sitting diagonally on the right have been speaking merrily. They are two pairs of newlyweds, the gents are talking big, about the glorious old days, about something weird that happened. The two wives were showing off new items purchased for the house; what was it, where was it imported from, and on top of that what kind of cuisines that they have tasted from which chef.


    The two pairs of materialistic mercantile couples that were grouped together influenced those around them; everyone around them had started using different methods to imply that they were not to be offended, that they were able to ask favors from whoever.


    The poor tour guide could only boringly talk about Lush Forest district¡¯s culture and customs alone, although it seemed like nobody was paying any attention to her.


    Of course, there were those who are not interested in engaging such conversation, like Garen, and the pastor and lady opposite him. Also the ones in front of them: a white-haired old couple and a young male military officer.


    Garen studied again the comprehension of basic tactics, but upon feeling that his brain was tired, he stopped for a moment to rest.


    He looked outside the window. Just when the carriage passed a metal road sign, there were some sort of words written on top, but he wasn¡¯t able to see clearly.


    "May I know where are we now?" Garen politely asked the black-shirted pastor.


    "Yishenhaire, that¡¯s what the road sign wrote." The pastor replied with a warm smile.


    The lady next to him burst into laughter.


    "We turned left, so we are heading to White Garcia. Don¡¯t just blurt something out if you don¡¯t know!"


    " Perhaps I was mistaken, apologies."The pastor told Garen, with composure. "If it is the White Garcia, we would reach in about an hour." He looked at the time on his pocket watch.


    "That¡¯s fast, after White Garcia would be Trejon¡¯s Territory, right?" Garen asked again.


    "yes, the Trejons family are the local noblemen. They have maintained the territory¡¯s original look very well. Now, it is a great tourist spot." The pastor nodded."


    "We¡¯ll get to see a lot of black swans!" The lady interrupted . "God, the black swans there are as abundant as ducks, it¡¯s a very popular place for scenery!"


    "But the bandits there are rampant too. We won¡¯t get robbed, right?" one of the men among the 4 newlyweds on the left interrupted the conversation worrisomely.


    "We won¡¯t. I¡¯ve heard that some time ago, the bandit lairs were mostly cleared." The pastor replied warmly. "I have been there once, to officiate a newly built small church . I have met the territory¡¯s city planners, I have a good idea of the situation on the ground."


    "The city planner should be Sinke right? Sinke Minrose, an empire officer from Hanna?"The man asked.


    "You know him too?" The pastor asked, slightly surprised.


    "We met a few times, He is a well mannered big-shot, we met him once at the musical."the man replied in a slightly delighted tone.


    "Planner Sinke was said to have transferred here from places where the turmolous Hanna District." The pastor frowned.


    "Turmolous? You mean those damned Noir Rebels? I heard the southwestern areas are quite heavily impacted¡­.. quite a few officers have fled their cities¡­" The man slowed down his speech.


    "Do not speak lightly about the major issues of the Empire!" The wife next to the man tugged at him.


    The man and pastor stopped talking, but their expressions were visibly tensed. They noticed that the military officer sitting at the front row glancing at their direction, his look seeming slightly hostile.


    Garen however, got more curious.


    "You said that there is unrest at the southwest?" He gazed attentively at the pastor and the man.


    "Say no more, these kinds of national issues are best not discussed in this environment." The Pastor reminded in a slow voice.


    "Can you tell me which cities are in trouble?" Garen lowered his volume too, but he had an expression that looked very curious.


    The man on the side could not help but to answer. "I heard that it¡¯s Cloudray City and White Rose city."


    "White Rose!" Garen was slightly taken aback. his memory showed a squared flag with black and white on each side. The left, black side was a pure matte black, and the right, a white side which symbolized the pure, elegant petals of white Rose.


    "So it¡¯s began..." Garen¡¯s heart felt heavy.


    The wheels of history have begun spinning again.


    Garen tidied the history scroll, everything started with the war between the Obscuro Society and RAL.


    This unrest in White Rose marked the intervention of the Obscuro Society, as well as the beginning of the end of the Reign of RAL that lasted several thousands of years.


    As the fires of the war of the Obscuro Society burns, the corrupt, puss-filled body of the RAL, will completely collapse within a year.


    "RAL shouldn¡¯t collapse that easily.." Garen internally calculated carefully. "According to written history, RAL is still much stronger than the Obscuro Society, just that the inner ring held back most of their combat prowess, worrying about the troubles outside. Plus, the alliances started fighting among themselves, trying to swallow other whole by not sending help for each other. This was what caused the second wave of unrest and the third Great War."


    "All these stupid royals, they think the unrest would be the same as before, that the rebels would be exterminated before long, and they would use this to empty the nation¡¯s resources amidst the war. Unfortunately¡­ this time will different." Garen sat alone in his seat, his heart feeling uneasy.


    The battle of White Rose was Obscuro Society¡¯s one action to gauge the RAL¡¯s integrity. They would assume that RAL¡¯s power was strong and far-reaching, hence they would not launch a large-scale conflict. Unexpectedly, the results were far beyond their expectations.


    A simple small-scale conflict could actually exterminate the small empire by itself. The ripples from this would affect the power balance of all the neighboring countries.


    Garen¡¯s heartbeat quickened.


    "The assault this time was unstoppable, soon, within two months, an war will erupt. The Obscuro Society will launch a full frontal attack, and this war will reach and affect every corner of the world. There will be no place to hide. Luminarists would also completely expose themselves to the public. Enlisting into the army and fight for their lives. I must decide on my own core totem within these two months.Oherwise, when the war erupts, and father is enlisted for war, my safety will be the biggest issue.


    This is the first world war for this realm. The Obscuro Society will wage war against 23 countries, launching their strongest retaliation against the traditional ruling coalition; RAL. And they will not do it righteously, but instead use the Luminarists¡¯ style to ignite the fire of war throughout the world.


    Garen remembers that in the first world war, the Obscuro Society used totems as a base, and created an army of countless inhuman creatures, destroying everything in its path like a natural disaster. RAL will face countless losses and large areas of their territory will be taken over.


    Within a year, the empires from around the world will fall, the world will descend into chaos.


    However, even in such apocalyptic and dystopic outlook of the world, there will be three extremely strong and young heroes emerging. Grand Duke Goth, Crown Prince Alyson and Queen Jean Earnest.


    The city that the three of them are in, would become the forefront of the resistance against the Obscuro Society, at the same time saving the Three Formations that were about to collapse, becoming the flag and standard of the resistance.


    What Garen wants to do now, is to find a strong enough totem for himself within this unrest.

 259 Ambush 1

    Chapter 259: Ambush 1


    Money, knowledge, a sufficiently strong totem. These three requirements must all be fulfilled, otherwise he would face immense danger in the upcoming chaos.


    As Garen sat in the tour bus, his thoughts churned and churned, but still no plans came out.


    Logically speaking, The Three Great Heroes are extremely strong, so long as he can get any one to inherit their knowledge, his level would reach a very high level. However, there was doubt in Garen¡¯s


    Money, knowledge, a sufficiently strong totem. These three requirements must all be fulfilled, otherwise he would face immense danger in the upcoming chaos.


    As Garen sat in the tour bus, his thoughts churned and churned, but still no plans came out.


    Logically speaking, The Three Great Heroes are extremely strong, so long as he can get any one to inherit their knowledge, his level would reach a very high level. However, there was doubt in Garen¡¯s heart.


    "Even if the Heroes were that strong, it would still be an imitation, it would never exceed the levels of the generals. The abilities I own, might it be able to compete against their talent?" His heart still has a sliver of hope for his own abilities.


    Observing the ever-nearing silhouette of the butterfly in the vision, Garen still couldn¡¯t calm his heart. He decided to wait for his ability to mature, and then plan things out.


    Regarding the terrifying effects of the ability, he once experienced it with the secret weapon. It was definitely not what you¡¯d say to be within the ordinary realm of strong.


    When he calmed down, Garen took out a small note book, flipped over the top and jotted down some questions and thoughts on it. This would be his preparation for his core totem in the future, so he tried his best to model a totem type that he would be suited for, as well as the requirements needed to achieve such a totem.


    He would sometimes shoot the breeze with the two in front of him, or casually chat with the 2 pairs of couples.


    The carriage slowly moved along, considerably stable. Miss tour guide seemed to be tired from all the talking, so she sat down with a bottle to moisten her throat.


    "Look! It¡¯s a black deer!" A child shouted while pointing outside the carriage excitedly.


    "There actually still are black deer!" "So Pretty!" "Is that a fawn?"


    The tourists started getting rowdy.


    Garen tilted his face to the right to have a look. On the grassland next to the carriage was a fawn, about half a man¡¯s height. No antlers, its body is slim and slender, it lowered its head to feed on the grass below, occasionally lifting its head to observe the tourist bus out of curiosity, Its ears twitching a little. Very cute.


    Phew¡­


    A zephyr blew past, rustling the leaves, carrying the sound through the forest.


    The black fawn then suddenly dashed into the forest, quickly disappearing from sight.


    "So cute." The girl opposite Garen praised, "If only we get to rear them¡­"She muttered slowly, her face etched with nostalgia.


    She then pulled out a small bottle from her bag, drank some water and no longer spoke a word.


    However, Garen squinted, as though he had realized something. He concentrated, suddenly turning his head to the far side canopy of the forest.


    "Something¡¯s wrong¡­ "


    In the forest.


    Two girls wearing jade-green dresses squatted on a tree branch, quietly looking at the carriage path in the forest, observing the two tour busses moving along slowly.


    The girl on the left was about 20 years old with a slender body frame, well-defined features, her skin almost translucent. There were two black shoulder pad on her shoulders. Two quivers decorated with white feathers hung by her waist, like a beautiful kingfisher resting upon a giant tree branch.


    "Vera, are you sure that the person is in one of the carriages?" she looked at the other girl, who seemed ordinary.


    The other lady is slightly smaller and looked average. She had a blood red slash scar on the bridge of her nose, making her her look ferocious.


    "I¡¯ve followed them for about half an hour now, there should be no error. Our target is the man sitting at the last row of the first tour bus." Vera spoke softly, "This time elder sister ordered that we complete the mission because this affects our valuation on Green Shade, mistakes will not be tolerated.


    "I know" the first lady nodded. "I was supposed to be on holiday, but I got called back earlier. Alright, let¡¯s move out."


    "Okay."


    The both of them squatted on the branch, simultaneously picked out an arrow from their quivers. They flipped their left forearms, and the forearm guards on them let out a few crisp snapping sounds. The guard had turned into a short bow.


    "Jii¡­. Jii..."


    The two sounds made were from the bow¡¯s string. Two white feathered arrows from two different angles aimed straight at the end of the first tour bus.


    The thin long arrow had a yellow wood color, with a distinct carving on it - Kingfisher


    "Be careful, next to Cena should be a few General-level experts guarding her." Vera spoke softly "By then it will all depend on you, Tracy."


    "Leave it to me." The first lady nodded, "We will go for a one-shot kill. This arrow has been imbued with something great, and it is invaluable¡­"


    Only then did Vera notice that the tip of the arrow resting on her bow had a silver colored metal ball which had some sort of pattern inscribed on it. It looked very delicate.


    "You actually used..."


    "Shh¡­.."Tracy¡¯s face looked slightly reluctant, "Even if she is a Master-level, she¡¯d definitely die."


    Garen sat on the seat, having chills on his back but not knowing why.


    He glanced his surroundings, not noticing anything out of the ordinary.


    Between his tiny movements in the eyes, his right arm reached out to the box near his leg, slowly fishing for the cane rested diagonally on his box.


    Just as he gripped onto his cane, the corner of his eye scanned a white silhouette that flew towards his direction, just like a white bird.


    "Such a pretty white bird¡­"the girl opposite him also noticed the white silhouette, suddenly she looked slightly shocked, her sentence got cut off.


    "Look out!"Garen¡¯s iris shrunk, and he ducked quickly.


    Ching!!


    A white arrow instantly passed through the top of his head and lodged itself on a wooden plank in the carriage. The arrowhead which was lodged inside the wood let off a sound like something was being corroded, and within two seconds, the white piece of wood oozed a large patch of dark green, which had a sourish smell and green smoke.


    The entire carriage first went into shock, then it erupted into chaos.


    Ahh!!!


    The entire carriage screamed in panic.


    The girl sitting opposite Garen ducked down into a bundle quickly, her back facing the carriage wall.


    The pastor also covered his head, fearing his head would be in the line of fire.


    Garen avoided the arrow, and he stood up again, looking at the direction from where the arrow fired. Far within the forest, two human-shaped silhouettes in green retreated swiftly.


    Ching!!


    Suddenly, he felt an extraordinarily strong sense of danger diagonally from his rear.


    Garen only felt creeps behind his back, and his entire body had goosebumps.


    Without stopping to think, Garen rushed out. With a crack and the carriage shaking slightly, Garen knocked down the wooden plank on the side and he jumped out through the window, rolling on the ground a few times before stopping


    Bang!!


    The back of the carriage exploded.


    Garen did not turn back. With his back facing the carriage, he saw the grass around him reflecting a sliver of red light, the burning sensation of fire surging towards him.


    Ching Ching Ching!!


    Yet another three piercing sounds came.


    Garen pushed hard against the ground beneath him. Two small craters were left in the grass, and he evaded the three white feathered arrows in a flash.


    Bang!


    The final arrow suddenly exploded where he had been a moment ago and formed a crimson red fireball. The ground and grass instantly charred, and at the same time there was some sort of weird red smoke.


    Tssss...


    Garen¡¯s back felt painful. Touching it, his hand was full of burnt fabric. He felt a stinging burning sensation on his back, which made it obvious that he¡¯s injured.


    He then rolled away from where he was and into the dense forest.


    "What kind of arrow is this?! Such terrifying power!" He was surprised yet angry, "Even my Divine Statue Technique with such a strong defense could not defend against it."


    He moved swiftly within the forest, at the same time staying alert to his surroundings, trying to capture any trace of the two people¡¯s. The Divine Statue Technique was fully activated, a large aura of Qi spread from within, forming a white gold aura that was not normally observable to regular people which spread across different directions.


    Very soon, the aura covered the radius of more than 200 meters of the forest.


    Garen closed his eyes slightly, his body unnoticeably expanded, observing the surrounding like a leopard.


    Suddenly, his body turned aside, a white arrow shot past him.


    "Thinking of running?" The green silhouette within his sight retreated. He sprinted with a burst of energy, leaving more impressions as he sprinted towards the direction of which the arrow was shot from.


    In the forest, far away, the two green silhouettes were moving within the forest with high speed. Like monkeys who leveraged the branches around to move.


    "Tracy, he¡¯s catching up!" Vera said loudly turning back and frowning.


    "Such speed¡­ interesting." Tracy laughed coldly, the silhouette was running at high speed, but his breathing was so calm, as if that person was standing on a platform. "I hadn¡¯t expect that so many arrows would not kill him. Looks like this person is the expert who is protecting Acacia by impersonating him. He must be thinking of baiting the enemies and finishing them at one go. Their plan was great, but too bad they met me."


    "I used two Red Smoke Arrows, but it could not hurt him at all, I estimate that he is a Master-Level, so I guess we should "treat" him appropriately."


    "Tracy laughed cunningly. Her right left a slight afterimage as pulled out four arrows from the quiver and placed them all on the short bow and pulled.


    Jii¡­. The string was tugged instantly, almost a full moon.


    Ching ching ching ching!


    4 minute piercing sounds rang, all four arrows pinned onto four different tree trunks. Forming a large arc.


    Ching ching ching ching!


    Another four Red Smoke Arrows were shot into 4 other trees, forming another large arc, the two arcs came together to form a circle, which was oddly symmetrical.


    "The Ambush of Red Smoke, since you want to close the distance, I¡¯ll let you." Tracy stood her ground and would rather not run anymore. "Vera, you go ahead, waiting for the results at the outer ring will do."


    "Okay." Vera jumped into the forest.


    Bam!


    Vera suddenly fell back, as if she was pushed back by a force field, both her legs drew tracks in the ground,, and with a "bam" she smashed into the tree.


    Garen walked slowly into this part of the forest, standing far away, with his sight fixed on Tracy, and took a look at their attire.


    "Who are you guys?" His tone was very deep. Looking at Vera by the side of the tree, who withstood one of his Red Jade Palms. She merely puked some blood, and did not look like she suffered major injuries. She would be able to continue combat.


    "As a mortal, You could withstand two red smoke arrows, impressive." Tracy¡¯s expression became calm again, glanced over at Garen, and busted a laugh.


    She suddenly took out a black iron plate, and waved it in front of Garen.


    "Now talk, where is Acacia now? Bring him to me obediently, and then cripple your own two arms as a honest sign of apology, otherwise I wouldn¡¯t mind killing you here." She thought for a moment, "Right, which school are you from? I am very interested in your martial arts, write me a copy of all your martial arts while you¡¯re at it."


    "?" Garen looked at her, confused, as if he was looking at an idiot. This woman had no idea what she¡¯s talking about, with just one iron plate and she wants him to surrender, cripple his own hands and give his martial arts to her for free? Did she read too many novels?

 260 Ambush 2

    Chapter 260: Ambush 2


    "Why? Can¡¯t do it?" Tracy laughed coldly, "Haha, it¡¯s true that adventurers are the kind of idiots who do not know how to give up until the end. A bunch of idiots with muscles."


    "You¡­ You are from the Mercenary Guild!" Garen suddenly identified the plaque and its significance. When Cia was younger, Cousin Sofea mentioned it once.


    The Mercenary Guild is the strongest among mortals, a terrifying dark organization. They committed countless misdeeds, and have wide connections in the dark world like spider webs. Its inner circle was very mysterious, even many kings of different empires had been successfully assassinated by them before. They were the sole rulers of the dark world.


    "As an adventurer, you should know the rules. Perhaps you thought that a normal Luminarist would suffice to protect you?" Tracy continued laughing coldly.


    Garen frowned, he didn¡¯t know anything about adventurers, but the strength of the Mercenary Guild was well known. Obviously the opponent thought he was meddling with the dark world, like they were.


    "Whatever, talking to idiots like you gives me headache." Tracy waved her hand away.


    "Are you retarded? Or do you think everyone is as retarded as you?"Garen got lazy of thinking, so he spoke directly, and sarcastically. "Just a simple plaque and you expect me to stop resisting and surrender immediately?"


    Tracy¡¯s expression turned cold.


    "There¡¯s actually someone who doesn¡¯t know my title of Kingfisher¡­."


    Shikkk!


    She flung her left forearm, and a green short bow formed, her right arm pulled the bowstring back and a "chikk" sound was heard.


    "Forget it, personally killing you wouldn¡¯t take much time anyway." Tracy smirked weirdly.


    "Boastful!" Garen hmphed. With a big step forward, his body form turned into an afterimage that rushed forward.


    At the same time, the bowstring loosened, Tracy did not move at all, while Garen rushed forward. A weird sonic boom spread across all directions.


    The pair¡¯s movements were set in stone from this moment.


    Bam bam bam!


    A barrage of crimson red fire exploded in all directions. A cloud of red smoke engulfed the forest like cirrus, leaving no space untouched.


    "Heart of Awakening, Ares¡¯ river!" Tracy raised her arms, suddenly her right arm was pulling the bow string with insane speed.


    Ching ching ching ching!


    Continuous rings from the bowstring formed a unique sound vibration.


    The vibration and the red smoke got closer to Garen, forming a complete seal-in roundup, surrounding him from many directions.


    Garen stood in the middle, and closed both eyes. He suddenly inhaled large amounts of air in one go, his cheat bulged like a balloon, and it looked terrifying.


    Suddenly, his eyes opened, and his irises held traces of white and gold.


    "North Capturing Hand!"


    Fuu!!


    The wind blew.


    The wind caused the forest to rustle.


    The sphere formed from the red smoke erupted with a large hole. Large amounts of red smoke started spinning and congregated on itself, forming beneath Garen¡¯s left hand, forming a fast rotating, pressurized red air ball.


    Garen rushed forward surrounding himself with the vortices, the air around him sounding like the terrifying roar of an elephant


    The right palm swung forward! Pressurized air and aura violently rushed onto Tracy¡¯s chest. The strong air flow carried with it the surrounding leaves and rustling, as though a tornado just blew past. It was horribly powerful.


    The shockwaves activated by the bowstrings were completely collapsed. The red ball was violently pressed upon Tracy¡¯s chest. A red hot light bathed her face in red.


    "Heavenly Arc!!!!"


    Tracy shouted, she did not retreat, but instead rushed forward split into two silhouettes; one rushing forward, and another is disappearing slowly, it was an illusion!


    The green bow¡¯s bowstring was tensed to point of breaking. The string had actually glowed briefly.


    Zzang!


    After releasing the bowstring, it became a silver arc, cutting towards Garen¡¯s right palm.


    In that instance, both persons attacked simultaneously, The North Capturing Hand and Heavenly Arc merged and formed a terrifying effect.. The red smoke ball and the silver arc collide.


    Vera, who was nearby, shielded both her eyes.


    Honggg!


    A powerful gust of wind almost swept Vera off her feet, and she fumbled backwards a few steps. Both her ears were ringing incessantly, and she could barely hear anything.


    After things had settled down, she took in her surroundings once more..


    On the battleground was a grey silhouette colliding furiously with a green silhouette, each time they collided, the green silhouette would release a dim luminescence.


    "Tracy actually used the Totem Light!" Vera took two steps back, her heart aghast. For Tracy to be using the Totem Light should be unrivalled by anyone that¡¯s not a Luminarists! That is the trump card given by the organization.


    But now she could only barely keep up with the opponent as equals?!


    Agh A female voice let out a cry of pain.


    In the intense combat, the green silhouette was knocked backwards and some fresh blood was spilled.


    The silver silhouette caught on, both palms appeared to have a red jade texture, the sound of elephant roaring in the air have also became clearer.


    Bam!


    Both people engaged in combat once again. The ripples of the air blades struck the trees nearby, causing axe-like gashes on the trees, chipping off countless white tree barks shreds.


    Garen showed himself, and with a hammer-like fist swinging downwards, clouds white and red smoke congealed his palm.


    "Deity¡¯s Possesion!" He roared ferociously. A platinum silhouette appeared behind him vaguely, then shrunk rapidly and rushed into his body.


    His entire body started swelling to the height of about 2.5 meters, his body also had well defined muscles, much like a titan in the legends.


    "How can a martial art reach this level??!"Tracy spat out fresh blood, she took a few steps back staggering, her eyes not believing what she saw.


    "It¡¯s over!" Garen¡¯s eyes recalled a brand new martial arts skill tree, and he had a sudden epiphany.


    He grabbed her with one hand.


    "Kandas Vieira, Gods¡¯ combined martial art!!"


    His right hand suddenly became slow, the back of his hand glowed a line of light.


    Instantly, countless blue lights illuminated from Garen, each ray became thinner, and smaller, covering the entire forest within the 100 meter- radius.


    Tracy could only feel a large, terrifying formless pressure engulfing her.


    "No!! No!! I will not die here¡­ No!!" She struggled to pull the bowstring of her bow.


    Lifting her arm, trying to take aim at Garen.


    Jii¡­..


    The bowstring was pulled halfway.


    Blood oozed from Tracy¡¯s eyes, nose and ears. Her body started trembling as she looked at the expressionless Garen.


    "You¡­!!" it is as though she wanted to say something.


    Her head exploded, it turned into a puddle of red-white goo-like mixture which was strewn all over.


    Badum.


    A headless corpse collapsed on the ground.


    The forest became peaceful and quiet once again.


    Garen stood back up with a handstand, but he stood in front of Tracy¡¯s corpse, and he turned around to look at Vera.


    The latter had knelt down on the round, tightly wrapping her hands around her throat, her face pale and without breath.


    Garen lifted his right index finger. A blue butterfly appeared from behind him, resting upon his fingertips.


    "This is all thanks to you, otherwise I¡¯m afraid the other one would have ran away." Garen muttered.


    With a light flick, the glowing butterfly turned into a blue light, and shot into the cane hanging on his waist.


    Garen rushed to search Vera and Tracy¡¯s bodies. He did not wait around for long, instead he left the place quickly.


    He reminisced his final palm strike, the pinnacle form of the Deity¡¯s Possession.


    If say, in this world, his battle with Cayduran had approached the pinnacle of human limits, then the battle just now, he felt that he had found out how to use the power of a Luminarist, matching it with the secret techniques to show a perfect combat style.


    Ever since he came to this world, Garen had been dissatisfied that the secret techniques were unable to advance. However, he had found a sliver of hope.


    Running through the forest, he hastily rushed back to the area nearby the tour carriage.


    Tourists of the carriage had mostly died, save for a couple of tourists supporting each other, and resting on a tree nearby, their face full of blood and boils that were caused by the fire.


    From the attire and clothes, Gare could recognize that these are the pastor and the young military officer.


    That were very lucky, to be able to withstand the burn from the Red Smoke and live to tell the tale.


    Garen felt a twinge of guilt. After all, the pair were targeting him, but in the end it brought in two carriages full of people. Even if he had in fact killed countless people, but these were innocent lives caught in the crossfire, which made him very guilty.


    "The damned Obscuro Society!" His face seemed forlorn.


    The clip-clopping of horses came from afar. A platoon of black-clothed chivalry units were headed this way.


    Garen quietly walked out of the forest, the black robe on his body having been torn and damaged during the intense fight with Tracy. There were a lot of blood stain on his clothes too.


    At the same time, he silently activated the Turtle¡¯s Breath to conceal his aura, and now his face looked terribly pale, without a trace of vitality and looked extremely weak.


    As he approaches the pastor and military officer, the officer lifted his head to give him a glance.


    "You have very good luck."


    Garen opened his mouth to say something, but instead he coughed uncontrollably.


    "Don¡¯t talk, Look at you, I guess you fell out from the carriage right?" the pastor¡¯s boil-filled face cracked open with a smile that somehow looked worse than crying. His eyes look swollen, perhaps he had just cried.


    Garen nodded, and he sat next to the two of them, breathing loudly, coughing strongly from time to time.. He looked half-dead.


    The speeding horses were approaching. The black knights quickly stopped next to the trio, each getting off their horses and frowned at the scene littered with corpses in the carriage.


    "This is terrible¡­" One young female knight¡¯s face turned pale, and she covered her mouth. She had just witnessed a three-year-old boy¡¯s brain and body severed by an enraged black cow. The boy¡¯s face still had traces of him crying.


    The knight leading the platoon was a middle-aged man who got off the horse. With a heavy face he walked to the side of the carriages, and he pulled out an arrow that was lodged in the carriage.


    "The Mercenary¡¯s Guild again! Those damned bastards!" He couldn¡¯t help but to shout, his chest bulged and released, and he looks very irritated. "Louis! Immediately inform the Secret Services! Keith, investigate the deceased¡¯s identities! Give me a list of their immediate family contacts! If the Secret Services does not care, report it to the National Council! If they don¡¯t respond this will be under my jurisdiction!"


    He slapped the carriage once again out of anger. The back of his hand had traces of light glowing.


    Garen, who was sitting on the side was feeling downcast. At the corner of his eye he saw the sliver of luminescence and his heart skipped a beat.


    "This person is a Luminarist as well?! The National Council?! One of three departments! This person must have ties to people that work inside!"Garen had multiple thoughts crossing through his mind.

 261 Totem Skill 1

    Chapter 261: Totem Skill 1


    As he observed the leader, the two alongside Garen were ushered out of the scene by the paramedics who had rushed over, and onto a white carriage.


    Lying on the stretcher, Garen¡¯s sights fell on the chivalry leader¡¯s direction unknowingly, and he his felt an unexpected chill.


    The other party also looked back at him, his seemed cold and deep.


    "We¡¯ll talk in a moment."


    A voice echoed by Garen¡¯s ears.


    Garen was shocked, He looked around, but there was clearly nobody who was talking to him. He realized that the chivalry leader seemed to nod at him, and turned away.


    On the carriage, A team of people were guiding the carriage to a small hospital in White Garcia. A male doctor wearing glasses performed a brief check-up on Garen. There are no injuries, so he gave a prescription to calm his nerves, and also asked Garen to buy some simple medicine for external wounds and disinfectants. He was promptly released after paying for his services.


    After Garen left the pharmacy, he found himself at the hospital corridor, and he saw the chivalry leader waiting for him.


    Both men stood at the white corridor, looking at each other.


    The chivalry leader¡¯s expressionless face forced out a smile, and he reached out his hands.


    "Eisenhart, the local leader of the chivalry unit, patrol unit guard and security officer."


    "Garen, Garen Lombard." Garen held his hand and shook it, then released them. "Let¡¯s find a quieter spot."


    "Okay." Leader Eisenhart nodded, "Follow me."


    He turned around and walked into a small ward, Garren followed suit, hanging up the "Do not disturb" sign and locking the door from the inside.


    The ward was a simple affair; beds, tables and chairs, and a vase which carried a dried yellow flower.


    The window was opened, and the white curtain waved along with the wind.


    Leader Eisenhart walked to the window, turned around and looked at Garen silently.


    "Be honest, are those people here for you?"


    Garen lowered his gaze and nodded.


    "I honestly don¡¯t know, but it is possible."


    "The totem users in Lush Forest are a already messy enough affair as it is, why are you poking your nose in here? Don¡¯t you know we are in the midst of unrest here? So many people have died just a few days ago, yet you still don¡¯t have the sense to avoid this place? "The chivalry leader opted to save the niceties and lit himself a cigarette, taking a long puff.


    He looked at Garen sideways, his eyes full of deep hatred and fatigue.


    "The Lush Forest is in a situation where we find two or more totem users dead every day, it doesn¡¯t matter which side are you from, this is still not the right time to come."


    "I actually don¡¯t know anything¡­." Garen frowned, "I¡¯m just a normal person who just graduated. My house is here, I just want to go home. And this unrest you spoke of, what¡¯s up with that? What¡¯s a totem user? I only know of Luminarists¡­"


    The chivalry leader took another deep puff, the cigarette head lit up with embers.


    "A normal person who¡¯d just graduated?" He took a sharp stare at Garen, like an eagle who had locked onto its target.


    His thoughts churned for a while, before extending his right arm.


    Pa!


    He snapped his finger.


    In that instant, a circle of silver patterns formed from his fingertip.


    The pattern rippled in waves, and it spreaded out to every corner of the ward. At the same time, it swept onto Garen¡¯s body too.


    The chivalry leader stared at Garen, as if he was looking for some reaction, but unfortunately came up empty.


    At that point, the chivalry leader had a face full of expressions. It seemed like that he had relaxed. He violently squashed the cigarette butt, and threw it onto the ashtray on the table.


    "Very well, very well, it seems that I have misunderstood you, you are indeed a newbie." The chivalry leader¡¯s stern face turned warm. "Alright, have a seat, you¡¯re a Luminarist? A traditional one?"


    Garen looked at him confusedly. "Aren¡¯t you?"


    "No, not that. I¡¯m a Luminarist, of course, but I belong to the totem user inside. Don¡¯t tell me even this is beyond your knowledge?" Chivalry leader Eisenhart looked shocked. "Did your teacher not tell you?"


    Garen shook his head. The other party looked even more weirded out.


    "Alright." He pulled a chair over for Garen, signaling him to sit down. "It¡¯s been a while since I saw a newbie so innocent. Call me Eisen, familiar people call me that anyway."


    "Alright, Mr Eisen." Garen recollected his thoughts. "I would like to ask, what are totem users? And what¡¯s the situation with the Lush Forest?"


    "I can answer those two questions." Eisen held his hands together. "In essence, Luminarists are a complex topic and covers a lot of research and application. But human intelligence and energy is limited, so we have each specialize on our own fields. Luminarists have three core roles, Luminarists, Forgers and Totem Users. Luminarists fill the traditional role; where they forge and use their own totems. Forgers specializes in forging totems, selling totems that are not activated to totem users to earn massive profits. Whereas totem users specialize in combat using totems."


    "And they differ in specialization." Garen nodded.


    "Yes, division of labor." Eisen nodded agreeably. "This answers the first question. Now for the second question: the situation within Lush Forest. At this point, I can only tell you briefly, The Lush Forest is in unrest the moment. Are you aware about the situation at White Rose?


    "Is it about the unrest at White Rose City?" Garen¡¯s heart shivered.


    "The nature of the situation is similar" Eisen nodded reluctantly. "It happened last night. The outbreak had caused multiple casualties, with ten-over injuries. So, we locked down the entire territory throughout the night, disallowing any entries. We just didn¡¯t expect that you¡¯d still come, let alone get assaulted.


    "Then what about Trejons¡¯ Territory, what¡¯s happened there?!" Garen continued asking.


    "Trejons¡¯ Territory had a good base defense,plus there were three totem users stationed there. The territory owner himself is a Forger, and he¡¯s got wide connections too, there shouldn¡¯t be any issues in the immediate future. Why? Your house is in the Trejons¡¯ Territory?" Risen observed his anxiety, hence the question.


    "Yes, I came back this time to check it out. But I don¡¯t know¡­." Garen sighed "Right, Mr Eisen, you are not local, are you?"


    "Good hearing you have. I just transferred from Hann District." Eisen nodded. "Alright, I have answered whatever is necessary, you should get going. Look for a place to hide in other districts. Going in now, a novice like you would be exterminated by any totem users."


    Garen laughed helplessly.


    "I have offended the Mercenary¡¯s Guild,, I¡¯m afraid I would be in trouble wherever I go."


    "Mercenary Guild huh¡­ now that¡¯s a bummer." Eisen frowned. "A Luminarist without a totem like you, you¡¯re basically a goner in one strike."


    He stood up, and walked a few rounds in the ward.


    "So, like this, you¡¯ll be urgently looking to create your own core totem right? He asked after standing still.


    "I have trained in some martial arts, so I could defend myself¡­" Garen couldn¡¯t help but to interrupt.


    "Self-defense?" Eisen couldn¡¯t help but to shake his head. "You still don¡¯t understand the difference between the totem user and a mortal."


    He raised his right arm, the green ring on his middle finger shined a bright green.


    "I¡¯m only responsible for Lush Forest¡¯s small area for patrol, and I¡¯m only using 10% of my ability. You should be careful."


    Garen concentrated his focus. As the environment stayed still, his aura slowly spread out, covering the entire room.


    The form he used to kill the two people just now was recreated. Even though his body did not expand, but he was at least 80% of his power just now.


    The reason he refuted was because he wanted to understand the actual difference between him and a Luminarist. After all this while, he had not actually clashed against a Luminarist. This was a golden opportunity.


    The platinum aura not normally visible by the naked eye swirled in the room.


    Fuuu¡­


    A breeze blew in through the window, raising the curtains and blocking Eisen for a moment.


    "It¡¯s over." Garen suddenly felt goosebumps behind his nape, Eisen¡¯s voice was near him, standing behind him and a dagger in his hand was pointed towards his back.


    Garen could feel it, the tip of the dagger had a terrifying power that was inexplicably sharp.


    As he looked at where Eisen had been, the curtain fell to reveal that he had been long gone.


    "When did you¡­" Garen felt that his throat was dry, the goosebumps rose behind him all over his skin. Obviously, this was a natural reaction towards threat. That dagger definitely had the power to break through his defenses.


    "It¡¯s not that I¡¯m quick, you¡¯re just too slow." Eisen kept his dagger, walked towards the side of the bed and sat down. "My totem¡¯s ability is delaying, if you had a core totem, then you would be able to mitigate some part of the influence of my skill. But too bad you don¡¯t. At least, for now. Therefore my ability could be utilized to its maximum: the hundred-fold slowdown skill had been fully utilized. When the wind blew, in that instant I just had to walk over to your back, pull out a dagger and point it at you. All it would take is a simple push. Chik!"


    He imitated the sound a dagger would make as it pierced into a body. Only then Garen did lower his head, his expression calm, but with a hint of heaviness in his eyes.


    "This is 10 percent of my ability. You, who does not have a core totem, are no different compared to a mortal.


    Garen¡¯s heart sunk deeper.


    Just now, he had maximized his alertness to the peak, yet he could not react to Eisen at all. If he had really wanted to kill him, even with his maximum use of the Body Hardening Technique he would only last slightly longer.


    "Alright, alright, you should leave, go anywhere you want, just not here." Eisen seemed to have lost interest, he lied on his bed and waved at Garen, signaling to him to leave lazily.


    "Last question."


    "Shoot."


    Garen stopped for a moment.


    "Among the totem users, are you considered strong?"


    "Strong?" Eisen laughed in a baffled manner. "Brat." He sat up with a speechless face and looked at Garen." Totem users are ranked based on the evolution form of their totem. My totem is at its second form. There¡¯s still a third form, some secretive big organization even has a unique fourth form, there are even some that could mutate based on the user¡¯s talents to form the ultimate talent creature. With my little power, I am nothing but a small ripple¡­"


    "I understand..." Garen finally got a brief idea on how each forms¡¯ ability cap goes. The common knowledge that Teacher Emin gave him is too old and outdated¡­


    "There is a night market nearby, you should go take a look. There¡¯s no use in me telling you, you need to go and experience it yourself." Eisen gave advice like an old man. He waved at Garen again, not speaking another word.


    "Thank you" Garen bowed slightly to him.


    He could have obviously chosen not to care, but he was patient enough to explain so much to him.


    Garen exited the ward, and closes the door.


    "Be careful on the road, if you see totem users fight, do not interfere." Eisen¡¯s voice from inside was sent directly to Garen¡¯s ears.


    He left the hospital.


    Garen bought some clothes in Garcia to be changed, and then reclaimed the briefcase that was badly burnt from the police station after taking some notes. The police officers seemed satisfied, so they did not prolong his stay and allowed him to leave.


    Garen found a motel to stay in. White Garcia was a small forest township with only three streets and about a hundred houses, but there was quite a number of motels, more than 10 in fact. A classic tourism township.


    After paying two days¡¯ worth of lodging fees, Garen brought his briefcase up to his own room.

 262 Totem Skill 2

    Chapter 262: Totem Skill 2


    Ka-chak.


    He shut the door tightly and latched the chain.


    Inside the dimly lit room, Garen drew the curtains, lit the oil lamp and dragged the trunk over to where he was sitting on the bed.


    Click.


    He opened the leather suitcase gently. The items inside included a book, consisting almost entirely of icons and some rumb coins he had brought along. There was also a change of clothes.


    "Good thing they didn¡¯t get burnt,"


    Garen let out a sigh of relief. This book had been given to him by Teacher Emin. Even if he had finished reading it, the book would still hold sentimental value to him. The coins were of equal importance as well. At this moment, not much remained of the money he had on hand.


    He stuck a hand into his pocket and dug around, fished out a grey purse, and threw it on the bed. Next, he took all of the money out of the trunk and piled everything together. Then, he began to count everything carefully.


    Several moments later.


    "2457 silver rumbs¡­ 56 copper rumbs¡­ And a handful of spare change copper pieces¡­ I don¡¯t have much money left,"


    One silver rumb would be equivalent to ten bronze rumbs, which was equal to 100 copper pieces. The buying power of one silver rumb was slightly higher than one American dollar on Earth.


    Garen furrowed his brows.


    "This would definitely be enough for daily use, but¡­ If I wanted to buy something else that would be¡­ Whatever. I¡¯d better go take a look first and decide later,"


    He took a little map out of the suitcase, opened it, and began to look for something in the Lush Forest District. Almost immediately, his index finger landed on a specific dot on the map.


    There was an annotation symbol next to the little dot on the map. Garen looked for the source of the symbol and found some additional information.


    ¡®Palasi Night Market. Business begins at 5 o¡¯clock in the morning and ends at 8. Management fee: 100 rumbs. Scale: Small.¡¯


    "The manor is temporarily off-limits for now, so I might as well go here. I might be able to find an opportunity while I¡¯m at it. I¡¯ll have a look at the night market early tomorrow morning. I should get a better understanding of the situation before making any moves," Garen planned everything out thoroughly and left the hotel lobby. He drank some mushroom soup and ate a few egg rolls before returning to his room to rest.


    ******************


    The sky started to brighten as rays of light penetrated the darkness of dawn.


    At the perimeter of Lush Forest district¡¯s vast forest, a barren piece of land stood out from the rest of the green surroundings.


    A large white disc-like region had been embedded in the middle of the sea of grass, like a white spot on a green carpet.


    Looking into the disc, crowds of people could be seen bustling to and fro.


    There were four paths for people to enter and exit the area; each point was connected to the outside by four slim, white coloured roads.


    Near the exits and entrances, guards in grey robes stood watch and collected money from those who entered.


    People who visited this place came dressed in various types of clothing. Some of them were slovenly dressed in dirty garments, while others came fitted in nothing but the finest robes. Some came with their faces painted in the most exquisite makeup, others just arrived in humble, simple attire.


    At the entry point to the South, two young men who looked like brothers paid the fee and entered, followed by another young man in a grey robe.


    The young man wore a hood over his head, save for the few strands of soft golden hair that were already exposed. He was fair skinned and had a boyishly pretty face. His slim body was slightly muscled, but well-proportioned.


    He brought out a stack of silver rumbs and placed them in the guard¡¯s big donation box to his left. Next, he took a number plate from the other man¡¯s hand, and clasped it around his wrist.


    This young man was Garen, who had arrived here by following the map the entire way.


    Once he had entered the disc, his eyes began scanning the whole area.


    Inside the white disc, there were about ten little white stone houses. Wooden signs with different names hung at the corners of each house.


    There was a repair shop, an equipment shop, a totem shop, and a raw materials shop, among others.


    The stone houses were the size of regular shops, with doorways above a constant stream of people going in and coming out.


    Garen observed the people around him and noticed out of ten people, two here were emitting Luminescent breath from their bodies.


    He furrowed his brows and kept his guard up, before walking towards one of the stone houses. A sign that read ¡®totem shop¡¯ was attached to the front, but it was a simple and crude sign, and obviously only temporary.


    The interior layout of the shop consisted of crystal glass cabinets arranged in a large square, with a smaller square within it. The cabinets were filled with different types of totems.


    All of the totems were silver, making it obvious that none of them had been activated yet.


    Three beautiful young women dressed in short white dresses smiled sweetly as they tried to sell the totems to visitors of the shop.


    There weren¡¯t many people in the shop, only four or five others, and all of them appeared similar to Garen in one aspect: they were very young.


    The instant Garen entered the shop, he noticed a young lady in a short skirt walking towards him.


    "Good day, sir. May I know what kind of totem you require?"


    "I¡¯m just here to look," Garen replied with the first excuse that came to mind.


    "Alright. Please take your time. If you require any assistance, do not hesitate to call me," the young lady replied gently and smiled as she bowed, before she walking away to attend to another customer.


    Garen took a walk around the counter.


    All of the totems were small-sized support totems that consisted of rat, cat, canine, various types of birds, and serpent type totems.


    He took a look at an eagle totem with a marked price tag that read 250,000 silver rumbs. His heart dropped instantly, as he knew that all of the money he had right now was not even equivalent to 10,000 silver rumbs.


    Once he had calmed down, Garen exited the totem shop and ventured into the other stores in the vicinity. Both the repair shop and equipment shops charged exorbitant prices; the raw materials shop was the only one that had slightly cheaper prices.


    Garen went inside and bought a book titled "Totems Made Easy" and also bought a few commonly used standard encryption passwords. After that, he was left with only 120 silver rumbs.


    He returned to the totem store to ask a few questions about core totems. It was known that core totems could only be made to order, and were only sold in larger night markets. They had to regulate them based on their series or types. The price range of a core totem was also significantly higher, and the young lady in charge told him right away that bespoke totems required 200,000 silver rumbs to be paid upfront as deposit. Furthermore, they would need to know the requirements of the personalized totem, as more complicated requests would also result in a higher price.


    Garen calculated everything in his head carefully. He needed to know how much it would cost to order a white bear core totem.


    And if his calculations were right, he would need at least 10,000,000 silver rumbs!


    It finally dawned on Garen how much Teacher Emin had invested in him.


    ******************


    Nearby Trejons Manor


    In the burnt forest beside Black Swan lake.


    Vanderman and two old men in white robes stood together. Their surroundings were in a state of utter disorder. In certain parts of the woods had tree trunks had frozen over, while others were up in flames.


    "It¡¯s them again! Nought a care for life or death!" One of the old men in white robes muttered angrily. "Did they think this was some backwards little country like White Rose?"


    "I¡¯m leaving this to the both of you," Vanderman said respectfully to the two old men. "The Obscuro Society is becoming more chaotic as the days go by, and now there have even been cases of second-form totem users appearing. Don¡¯t tell me that the upper echelon really has no response to this?"


    The two old men turned to look at Vanderman, and saw the agitated expression in his eyes.


    "Believe in the organization. The imperial family would never sit back and watch the Obscuro Society sack and plunder as they please. The only thing we should do right now is wait."


    "Understood," nodded Vanderman.


    "Don¡¯t worry. Second-formers may be slightly more troublesome, but it¡¯s a problem we can handle." said one of the old men as he patted Vanderman¡¯s shoulder.


    Vanderman nodded again, but this time his eyes were downcast. He was not the type of person to leave his own safety in the hands of others.


    ******************


    Inside the guest room


    Garen sat up in bed next to the oil lamp while turning through the pages of "Totems Made Easy".


    It was a quiet night, with nothing but the sound of pages being flipped. It wasn¡¯t long before he had reached the most important section of the book.


    ¡®Types of totems: Animal series, Plant series, and the theoretical Elementary series.¡¯


    ¡®The animal series is the most common type of totem used and understood by Luminarists. It is also regarded as the most ubiquitous totem type. Various types of dangerous beasts can be evolved into powerful mythical creatures. Obviously, the level of difficulty increases when evolving to the next level.


    The plant series belongs to a field which is on the cutting edge of research by high-level Luminarists. It also possesses great power, and can be used for self-healing purposes. It is the most sought after totem skill. According to previous accounts, this totem type has been seen a few times throughout history, but quickly disappeared from the scene thereafter.


    The elementary series, a type of totem that was worshipped by the Phantom Light users, was regarded as the most highly prized totem type. However, this series is still difficult to understand. If we were to say plant totem types still had traces for us to follow, elementary totems would be a myth that we knew nothing about. Thus, the elementary series remains theoretical, as there has been no proof that anyone has been able to create it.¡¯


    "Three series, huh?" Garen wrinkled his brow, and continued to turn the pages.


    ¡®The animal series is the weakest, but also the most widely used. The first stage of the plant series is similar to the second form of the animal series. However, the level of difficulty is ten times harder than the animal series, regardless of creation or lighting up, restrained or manipulated. Therefore, Luminarists still mainly use the animal series.¡¯


    ¡®The animal series is divided into three main groups: ground, air, and aquatic. The types that are currently most popular include wolf, leopard, and hawk. Various schools of thought, associations, and workshops have done extensive research in those areas. These well-loved totem types were popularized on the market by the very first Heath school of thought that listed the top three most important composition theories, referred to as the Heath theory. This theory integrated various totem types, and finally concluded that the creation, manipulation and restoration of the wolf, leopard, and hawk totems were the simplest. The evolution of these totem types were also significantly easier than the rest. Therefore, this resulted in an increase in the sightings of these totems. Below is a list of well-known totems from different locations, as well as the places where they are produced, to provide further information to the reader.¡¯


    Garen¡¯s gaze remained fixated on the page, before he noticed a little square diagram chart packed with information about various totem names and their categories.


    He landed on the top part of the page where he had read about the Tashura school of thought, with its accompanying black wolf totem.


    He let out a surprised gasp, and continued on to the next page.


    ¡®Each country has its own national animal. Moreover, a large majority also have their own important imperial totems. For example: Bateman Empire, White Bat. Vandermantia, White Swan¡­¡¯


    Garen found the Kovitan Empire almost immediately.


    ¡®Kovitan Empire, Red Wolf.¡¯


    Garen was about to continue reading the next page, when a sudden burst of red light flashed in his field of vision.


    He was frozen in shock for a moment.


    In the skill pane at the bottom of his field of vision, the three-dimensional image of a butterfly had appeared, proving that he had finally managed to complete this skill!


    He took a deep breath, and subsided the surging emotions bubbling inside himself. A few minutes later, he finally opened his eyes and looked towards the skill pane.


    ¡®Neon butterfly: First stage totem, upgrade available. Evolution success rate: 21%. Potential points to be consumed: 500%.


    Ability: Poison dust attack (Releases poisonous butterfly dust, can be released up to three times a day. Effects: Paralysis, may cause death.)¡¯


    Garen noticed that the entire neon butterfly had become a new skill.


    "Does this mean¡­ I could just use my potential points to evolve my totems?"


    He checked the amount of potential points he had left: 1272%.


    "I guess these are my two most crucial problems right now. The first would be to determine the core totem, and the second would be to find new resources that can be used to gain potential points. A 21% success rate is way too low. My current amount of potential points is definitely still lacking¡­"


    Garen thought back to the period of the emergence of the Three Heroes. They had overcome great catastrophes and powerful adversaries. Among those techniques the style that suited him the most was¡­


    "Looks like I¡¯d better hurry up and get to Iron Tank City¡­"

 263 Getting Acquainted 2

    Chapter 263: Getting Acquainted 2


    Before Grand Duke Goth ascended to his current position as the duke, he once spent a period of time in an expedition camp, where he was occasionally allowed to travel for pleasure. He was the third son in his family, but after the war broke out, his father and two older brothers died in battle one after another. He took over their responsibilities and carried on their fight, which led to the sudden discovery of new powers of frighteningly gigantic proportions. After that, he faced a series of betrayals and unrest, making his heart grow more like steel in the process.


    But before this, Goth himself was a straightforward and friendly average young man.


    Garen still remembered that before the war, Grand Duke Goth had already been a first-rate genius with hidden innate talents. He was also backed by his family¡¯s thousand year-old collection of books and totems. However, due to the lack of attention he was given in his family and the sad reality that no one fawned over him, coupled with the fact that nobody knew about his concealed talents, everything took time to slowly and finally come together.


    Among the people surrounding him, only a few cross paths with him occasionally. As for the two people that went on adventures with him, they quickly earned a place in his heart, and from that day until their last, became his only intimate companions.


    "In other words, the current Goth would still be at his lowest point in life. He¡¯s someone who knows clearly who to show gratitude towards and who he should resent. If I were to befriend him at this moment, it might be easier for me to gain his trust," Garen narrowed his eyes and thought carefully.


    "An innocent and kind-hearted individual, though not someone I¡¯d usually look up to., However, I can¡¯t deny that he¡¯s the type of person that everyone would want to befriend. It wouldn¡¯t be necessary to constantly take precautions against this type of ally."


    He took out the map and began to look for the location of Iron Tank City carefully.


    After exiting the Kovitan Empire, he needed to take a steam train and pass through three other cities, before finally arriving at the main city of the Lavis Empire, Iron Tank City.


    He estimated the distance, concluding that it would be a four day journey at least, assuming that they would be going at full speed without any stops.


    "The current Goth, because of his undiscovered talents, would still be lowly ranked and unnoticed by the people around him. However, to get near him without making it seem deliberate would need some careful planning¡­"


    Garen kept the map and counted the rumbs he had on hand again. Instantly, the expression on his face darkened.


    "My money might not be enough anymore¡­ I¡¯d have enough for the journey there, but not much would be left for daily use after that¡­ I need to think of a way to get more money."


    He furrowed his brows slightly and pondered deeply for a few moments.


    "Before Goth took over his responsibilities as the duke, he was a hired totem user. I can¡¯t even defeat a regular totem user right now, so I shouldn¡¯t even be thinking about that. However, totems do need to be repaired¡­ Maybe I could try my hand at something like that instead. On one hand I could get some practice and sharpen my skills, while using my new position to get closer to Goth at the same time."


    He decided that he would do that. After packing up his thoughts, he immediately lay down and extinguished the lamp before going to sleep.


    On the second morning, Garen woke up early and went to the repair shop in the market. He went in and asked some questions about the fees for specific maintenance costs. As expected, totem maintenance required a great sum of money, and was even a frequently necessity at times. The scope of repairs was also an important factor, as well as the extent of damage to be repaired. Sometimes the maintenance cost was even higher than the price of the totem itself.


    But the unfortunate truth was that totem repairs also required unit factories, and so far Garen did not have one. He was also at a loss towards the common types of totems available in the market. Not to mention the fact that he couldn¡¯t tell one from another.


    Without any other choice, Garen decided to leave the market for the time being.


    Once he had bought his train ticket, Garen decided that it would be better for him to leave immediately, and ponder his maintenance techniques while he was on the road.


    After leaving White Garcia, he travelled for two days straight and switched trains countless times, before finally leaving the Lush Forest district and entering into the Hanna district. Without further delay, he bought a train ticket from the capital of Hanna district that would take him to Gravel City. -------


    Gravel City was nearby the edge of Iron Tank City, and was also a sprawling trade city. It was also one of the port cities of the Lavis Empire and was extremely technologically advanced.


    It would take two to three day¡¯s journey by train.


    Garen purchased a bed for his train car, bought something to eat and drink. He then realised that he was only left with a little more than ten rumbs in his pocket, and decided that he had spent enough.


    Two days and five hours later, he arrived in Gravel City, where it was already past nine o¡¯clock at night.


    He switched trains in Gravel City, and by the time he had reached Iron Tank City, it was almost dawn.


    During this period of time, Garen finally understood what he had to do to evolve his totem. If he planned to use his potential points to strengthen his totem, there were two criteria that he had to meet.


    Number 1: He wasn¡¯t sure about other series, but for basic totems, he knew that the amount of potential points required to upgrade each totem would increase based on their size. The neon butterfly totem needed five potential points to evolve, but other than that, he didn¡¯t know what else was required.


    Number 2: Potential evolution required a specific amount of time for the totem to change. It wasn¡¯t a goal that could be reached in one step or something that could happen instantly. It would be like the time when he first started using this totem; he needed time to slowly get used to it.


    Garen didn¡¯t evolve his neon butterfly immediately. Since he had yet to find a new source of potential points, he was afraid to use them carelessly. Following the increase in his power level, his current potential points usage had also gotten significantly higher. Once he had used up this potential, he would lose an opportunity to evolve.


    ******************


    Daylight filtered into the window of the Silver Line loft, and tiny specs of dust floated in the golden rays of light.


    On the second floor of the loft, a handsome harpist performed an amusing song about a clown while a crowd of onlookers sat around him laughing loudly.


    The mostly empty second floor had black wood covering the floors, and various totem patterns and oil paintings hung on the walls. Behind the counter, an old man with a white beard dexterously wiped the dust off the counter before placing a bottle of an alcohol-like beverage on top.


    In the corner of the second floor, a few patrons who disliked noise sat quietly in their seats and ate their breakfast leisurely.


    Garen was among them.


    He was dressed in a long black robe that, at first glance, made him resemble a monk. He sat quietly in his seat, eating his set meal of cheesecake and coffee.


    The Silver Line loft was located on one of the lanes outside Iron Tank city, and was one the favourite leisure spots for many hired totem users. It was also a favourite hangout spot of the future Grand Duke Goth.


    The first time Goth and his two friends met, it was in this very spot, on the second floor of the loft. Their meeting was an accident. A quarrel had occurred between patrons from two different tables, and when two people stepped forward to intervene, they were injured instead. Goth had also gotten himself involved, and then a huge fight broke out. People began kicking and punching each other, but nobody used their totems. This moment had become an important turning point, and the two people who attempted to mediate the quarrel became acquainted with Goth, and decided to invite him to join their task squad. Thus, that was how the formation of three future companions happened.


    Garen had been here for more than half a month already. His leftover money was quickly running out. Out of desperation, he went to a totem repair shop in the market and found a job assembling units. His Master-level precision map-making helped him excel in one aspect of unit assembly. Although he wasn¡¯t able to gain full exposure, his effectiveness gained him the admiration of the shop owner.


    However, his wages were only released at the end of the month, leaving him dirt poor at this very moment.


    He vaguely remembered that this was where the Goth trio had gotten acquainted. Goth, Andy, and Jessica. The three of them would not have properly met yet right now, but they would be meeting soon enough.


    Garen chose to rush over to Iron Tank city, because picking the right moment to intervene was also of utmost importance. If any of the other two heroes arrived too early or too late, the timing would become unsuitable. Only Goth was currently in the vicinity.


    But the current situation merely showed that he had been keeping watch at the Silver Line loft for at least half a month, and nothing had been amiss. Panic began to rise up in his heart.


    Currently for Garen, time was already insufficient at this very moment.


    There was only a month or more left before the war would break out. When that happened, the fury of war would spread to every corner of this world. Hired totem users would also increase, and Goth¡¯s power would advance by leaps and bounds during that period of time. His relationships and friendships would also become much deeper.


    "It couldn¡¯t have resulted in a change of location because of the butterfly effect right¡­" Garen lifted his coffee cup to his mouth and sipped carefully, attempting to quash the anxiety in his heart.


    Everyday he would come to keep watch, but to no avail. There were no leads in his quest to find a new source of potential points either. The period of danger was coming closer and time was running out. It didn¡¯t matter that this was Garen, at this moment there was no way he could remain as calm as he was in the beginning.


    Thump thump thump¡­


    Suddenly a group of muscular men in bizarre clothing came up the stairway. At first glance they looked like speakers or ruffians because of their long robes, but the silver four-pointed star on their shoulders clearly stated that they were hired totem users.


    This group of people sat not far from where Garen was seated. They ordered some cheese bread noisily, as well as a large jug of fermented goat¡¯s milk. They began to eat and drink heartily once their food had arrived,


    A while later, a young woman in a white robe entered. She wore a white veil and had a voluptuous figure. Her skin seemed somewhat rough, but it couldn¡¯t hide the youthful curves of her body including her full bosom and her perfectly round buttocks.


    Instantly, the men, who had already drunk some alcohol by now, began to whistle.


    The woman in the white robe sat in the corner and ignored the noise around her. She merely ordered a cup of coffee and drank it quietly once it had arrived.


    Seconds later, a group men and women in white robes arrived. The young man who led the group had an air of superiority around him, and wrinkled his brow at this scene.


    "What¡¯s with the whistling? You¡¯re just a bunch of uneducated country bumpkins!"


    Bang!


    One of the ruffian totem users stood up in a rage.


    "Fuck you! Care to say that shit one more time?!"


    "Fools!" Unconcerned, the man with the arrogant face rolled his eyes. "No wonder you become horny at the mere sight of a woman. Looks like all of you know nothing but shameful behaviour. Tch tch."


    "Fuck!" "He¡¯s asking for it!"


    The sound of yelling echoed throughout the place, and the ruffian totem users became furious and started charging towards the group in white robes.


    Those in white robes were also unwilling to show signs of weakness, and began to flash silver light, before spreading out and advancing forward as well.


    "I¡¯m gonna beat you til your own parents won¡¯t even recognize you!" "Kill them all! If anything happens I¡¯ll take full responsibility!" "How dare you disrespect Miss Angela!"


    Those in white robes seemed like fish in water. They were obviously seasoned fighters, as they rolled up their sleeves and rushed forward.


    Both sides consisted of totem users, thus this scuffle would determine which side had stronger defense totems. When they collided, a normal person would be unable to tell if anything was amiss, but a Luminarist would know right away which side remained stronger after the collision.


    Garen sat in the corner as his heart beat wildly at the scene before him.


    The city guard would be patrolling nearby. Luminarists weren¡¯t allowed to use their totem powers for no reason, and doing so would be a violation of the law. These were iron rules, and were not meant for anyone to go against. Therefore, these totem users were fighting with their bare fists instead of using their totems, in order to keep their wrongdoings to a bare minimum.


    The two groups of people began to fight and merged into a chaotic mess, making it difficult to differentiate between both sides.


    "Stop fighting, please stop fighting¡­" The old man yelled at them and tried to chastise both sides from behind the counter. However, no one paid him any mind.


    Between these two groups of people, it was obvious that one group comprised of aristocrats and nobles, while the other group consisted of travelling totem users. Neither group was afraid of a fight. The place was wrecked into a state of disorder, and tables and chairs were broken and strewn into one big mess.


    The singing harpist and some of the scared customers ran downstairs quickly.

 264 Getting Acquainted 2

    Chapter 264: Getting Acquainted 2


    "I said, stop fighting! Both sides should just take a step back, okay? If anyone has any issues they should just talk it out properly," At this moment, two young people appeared in the corner suddenly. There stood a man and a woman. The man chastised the group loudly and stood forward, trying to separate a pair of brawling totem users not far away.


    The woman furrowed her brows. She was at a loss on what to do.


    Bang!


    The man received a punch to his lower jaw, causing him to stagger a few steps backwards.


    "Get the hell out! You¡¯re in the way!" One of the ruffian totem users had taken a blow at him, and was now resuming his scuffle with his opponent again.


    "Why are you hitting people for no reason?!" Another voice echoed from the stairway. This time it came from a tall, strong, and honest-looking young man. "He only tried to stop the fight. Why did you have to hit him?"


    "I already did, so why the heck do you care so much?!" One of the men in white robes rushed over to take a swing at him.


    Bang!


    The young man was dumbfounded. He had suffered a blow to his face, and was now in a daze and unsure of what had happened.


    "This dumbass!" He wasn¡¯t sure of the culprit, but someone had kicked him sharply in the crotch.


    "Ahh!!!"


    A loud cry of agony pierced through the room.


    The well-built young man held his crotch area and hopped away, looking like a fish that had been thrown out of water.


    "You¡¯re gonna be dead! All of you! Do you know who I am? How dare you kick me in the crotch!" The young man raised his head suddenly and let out another great shout, before rushing into the group and joining their scuffle.


    Bang bang bang! Thump thump! Crash! Clank clank!


    The fight escalated into a messy and chaotic affair, and the young man found himself in the middle of both groups. Even the two people who had tried to stop the fight earlier had now been dragged into it.


    Garen sat on the sidelines and sipped his coffee slowly, furrowing his brow as he looked at this group of people.


    The muscular young man who had unexpectedly rushed into the quarrel was fighting viciously amongst the two groups and although he didn¡¯t have a specific fighting style, his large built and great strength ensured that every hit he landed would result in an opponent being pushed back. But the totem users were not here for fun and games. Being forced backwards meant nothing to them, and they remained fine enough to continue surging forward to deliver more hits.


    As for the male and female mediators from before, they were currently backed up against the wall, barely able to protect themselves from the oncoming onslaught.


    Garen fixed his gaze on the young man. "Is this the fight I was waiting for?" He had some doubts about this because it was common for fights to break out here in times like this. He tried to clear his head and put everything into perspective.


    Crash!


    A ruffian that had been sent flying crashed into the foot of Garen¡¯s table.


    Clank!


    The metal coffee pot on the table fell to the floor. Garen¡¯s coffee spilled everywhere.


    "How dare you spill that all over my face?!" The man¡¯s face was a sticky, coffee-coloured mess. He couldn¡¯t see properly, but immediately shot his arm out towards Garen¡¯s body.


    Bang!


    The ruffian was given a hard kick that landed him quite a distance away. He collided with another table, causing yet another great mess.


    "Get them!"


    Someone yelled loudly, and another two ruffians pushed their opponents aside, picked up some nearby objects and pounded towards Garen.


    Hmph!


    Garen tapped the back of his waist gently, and a blue light began to flash. His body began to emit a thin membrane of blue light that blinked continuously


    He took a big step and rushed forward into the group in front of him.


    A minute later¡­


    The ground was littered with totem users who were exhausted to the point where they had to crawl.


    "Just you wait!" Both the white robed and ruffian totem users responded with the same threat, enraged like a pair of fighting cockerels. They left soon after, limping along as they went.


    Garen¡¯s clothes were in a state of disarray. He stood with the three others, and noticed that the muscular young man was badly beaten up, with a badly bruised face and swollen head. The man and woman who had attempted to stop the fight were in slightly better condition. Unlike the other man, they were only bleeding from gashes in the corners of their mouths and their black eyes.


    The four of them were innocent bystanders who had been swept up in the fight. They turned to look at each other.


    The young man pointed at Garen¡¯s dumbfounded face.


    "What¡¯s up with that stupid expression? Did you get raped?"


    "Could say the same about you," Garen replied mean spiritedly.


    Both of them burst into laughter after that.


    After cleaning up, the owner walked towards the damaged cashier counter and pointed at the wreckage sadly. Fortunately, the two groups from earlier had the decency to leave two stacks of money on the floor nearby, as a form of compensation.


    This made it easier for the four people who had helped to clean up turn the other cheek and forgive them for their transgressions slightly.


    Once they had finally finished cleaning, Garen and the other three people went downstairs and stood in front of the Silver Line loft.


    "Seems like the both of you are pretty good fighters. I¡¯m sure that means your totems are not the usual kind, right? Why don¡¯t you join us? We¡¯ve accepted a good task, it¡¯s quite a decent offer, not too taxing and a good way to earn some money. It¡¯s just that we don¡¯t have enough people," said the man who had tried to stop the fight earlier. "We forgot to introduce ourselves. My name is Andy, and this is my little sister Jessica."


    This man looked like a young teacher, and he spoke in a gentle manner. He had an earnest expression, and one look could tell that he was an honest man.


    His little sister Jessica was a woman of few words, and had an air of learned sophistication about her. The only downside was that she lacked beauty, and was somewhat plump.


    Garen listened, and suddenly felt his a jolt in his mind.


    ¡®Goth¡¯s two lifelong companions, their names were Jessica and Andy. In this case¡­¡¯ His gaze unconsciously found its way towards the muscular young man.


    This man was wearing a pair of red overalls over a plaid shirt. He had a taut, well built body. His nose was bruised black and blue and his face was swollen¡­


    He patted his chest.


    "My name is Goth. All of you are good people, and if you ever need help in a fight, look for me! Call me and I will come!"


    "My name is Garen, and I¡¯m different from the rest of you. I¡¯m not a hired totem user," Garen shook his head and said. "I work in the repair shop in the market nearby. If you ever need something to be repaired, you are welcomed to look for me."


    "Fixing totems, eh? That¡¯s wonderful!" Goth chuckled happily. "You don¡¯t have a core totem yet you¡¯re incredible in your own way. To think that you¡¯re skilled enough to fix totems!"


    "Without a unit factory, the only thing I can do is to work for others," Garen shrugged his shoulders in frustration.


    "Unit factory¡­ that would indeed be difficult to obtain¡­ Too expensive," Goth said as he stroked his stroked his chin and nodded.


    "Say, why don¡¯t you guys join us then? We could form our own little squad, and then completing the task would be a piece of cake," Andy stood on the side and said cheerfully.


    "You¡¯re not worried that we would slow you down? This guy doesn¡¯t even have a core totem, and I don¡¯t have money to repair mine. It would be only too easy for it to break," Goth quipped honestly.


    "Not to worry, whether or not we actually succeed is another matter. Anyway, I like you guys already! There were so many people sitting upstairs, but only both of you took the initiative to stop the fight with your own hands. You guys are definitely good people!" Andy replied instantly.


    "My brother is right," said Jessica softly while she remained on the sidelines.


    "As long as you¡¯re not afraid that we¡¯ll slow you down," Goth said as he rubbed his nose, still feeling like he was burdensome in some way.


    Garen also felt that he was getting in the way slightly.


    "Are you sure we¡¯re not taking advantage of you?"


    "It¡¯s no big deal, no big deal!" Andy waved their worries aside. "That¡¯s settled. Let¡¯s go. We¡¯ll help Garen get the silver seal for hired totem users, and then we¡¯ll split the tasks, before finally beginning our journey together!"


    The hired totem users association was built in a silver mansion-like building. After speaking to the receptionist, Andy produced his own totem license, and registered his squad. He listed down the number of members as well as their important members. Next, he had a license made for Garen, and spent a few hundred silver rumbs.


    "Think of it as a loan," Andy noticed that Garen was about to open his mouth, but stopped him from speaking immediately.


    Once the four of them had completed the necessary formalities, the found a small table and sat there. Andy took a goat¡¯s skin map out of his bundle, opened it carefully, and spread it out on the table.


    Then, he took out a little booklet in which he had noted the goals and requirements of the task.


    "The task that we have accepted is: to investigate the disturbance caused by robbers nearby Gravel City," Andy said softly. "This task suits us perfectly, because my totem is extremely suitable for scouting activities. With the help of my sister, this could be completed without much hassle.


    "Then what do we have to do?" Goth asked quietly.


    "You need to ensure the safety of both of us. Speaking of which, what do your totems do?" asked Andy curiously.


    Goth¡¯s face flushed red. He extended his right arm and placed something on the table.


    A little bird hung from his right arm. The bird resembled a woodpecker, with its beak hanging from the crook of Goth¡¯s arm. Its beady eyes stared at the other three, as the bird continued to hang quietly from its spot.


    "This is my totem, the black bird. But it¡¯s still in its heavily injured stage. Except for its eyes, the other parts of it are unable to move¡­" Goth shook his head regretfully.


    Andy and his sister remained speechless, as their gaze turned to Garen instead.


    Garen hadn¡¯t expected Goth to be so badly beaten up.


    He took out a short silver stick in his right hand, and tapped the table lightly.


    The tip of the stick began secreting some blue-coloured liquid mercury, and the tabletop immediately solidified into a big blue butterfly.


    The butterfly flapped its wings and flew upwards gently, flying circles around the four of them. It was an unusually beautiful sight.


    Garen tapped the stick again, and the butterfly turned into a ray of blue light, which entered the stick and disappeared from sight.


    "This is my support totem, the neon butterfly."


    "Hmm¡­ This would be sufficient as a core totem actually. Even though it¡¯s just a support totem, it¡¯s core is big enough!" Andy nodded approvingly. "Most totem users only have one main totem. You, on the other hand, already have plans for a second one. Do you really have that much money? One totem is already requires plenty of care to raise."


    "That was my plan from the beginning. Even if I regret my decision now there¡¯s nothing I can do about it¡­" answered Garen impatiently.


    "What¡¯s its ability?"


    "Poisonous powder."


    "This is useful!" The siblings let out a sigh of relief. Finally there was something they could use.


    "What use is poison powder? A gust of wind would easily blow it away," said Goth with a look of pity present on his face.


    "Fool, that¡¯s only a problem when people know about it. What if they don¡¯t?" Jessica replied. It was one of the rare moments where she spoke.


    "How did you know I was a fool?" Goth turned to Jessica with a shocked look.


    The three of them stopped speaking immediately.


    "My totem is the black panther, while Jessica¡¯s is the snow wolf. Their main focus is direct confrontation. Garen, your totem can be used for pre-planned ambushes, and when it flies it can be used for reconnaissance. Goth, you¡¯ll be in charge of protecting Jessica. She tends to get distracted when controlling her totem, so make sure to keep an eye on her."


    Andy began to arrange tasks for everyone.


    "Below is the arrangement of our tasks."


    After some careful planning, the four of them began to keep their belongings. They also made sure that they understood the plan properly. Garen and Goth had officially joined the sibling¡¯s squad, which they now found out was named the Black Panther squad.


    Garen separated from the other three, and once he had confirmed their meeting location, he finally let out a sigh of relief.


    He was now one hundred percent sure that Goth was the future Grand Duke Goth. Although his current demeanor was still somewhat shocking to Garen, there was no doubt that he was the one of the future Three Great Heroes.


    The creation of his core totem rested on this young man¡¯s shoulders now. Not long after, Goth would awaken his true hidden talents. His perseverance and trust in his black bird totem would also give him unimaginable returns in the near future. This was the story of a man who had pressed on and continued on the same road for ten over years, whose hard work and determination finally bore the fruits of his labour in the end.


    Goth¡¯s innate gift was an invisible kind of gift. After a certain period of time, it was gone without a trace. Only someone as simple-minded as himself had the patience to persevere for more than ten long years without giving up on the first totem that he had ever chosen.


    This kind of perseverance, coupled with the realisation of his inborn talents and the hardships faced during the war, allowed him to fully maximise his strength levels and unleash them fully in order to become one of the Three Great Heroes.


    Garen knew that if everything went according to plan, Goth would soon arrive at the point where his strength would be heightened greatly. According to history, his two friends Andy and Jessica would be the ones who gave him the strength and motivation to grow, and were also a huge source of support.


    It was somewhat unfair for him to use this opportunity as a stepping stone, but Garen was certain that this was the best time to get close to Goth.


    He was different from Xianfulan, anytime there was an opportunity, Garen would never let it go to waste.


    His goal wasn¡¯t Goth¡¯s black bird, neither was it the Grand Duke family¡¯s White Dragon Hawk. He wanted to wait for the moment Goth was busy with a task, so he could wipe out the abundant resources owned by the rebel robbers.


    It was important to note that this period of turmoil was not a simple, straightforward kind of turmoil¡­


    As Garen picked up his suitcase and walked out of the inn, he looked upwards at the clear blue sky, and felt his emotions fade into a peaceful serenity.

 265 Bandits 1

    Chapter 265: Bandits 1


    Amidst the continuous stretch of burnt yellow mountains, the horse carriage lanes seemed like grey cotton threads winding their way around the rocky hills. Clusters of little green trees were scattered sporadically across the area, making it seem as if someone had accidentally splattered green ink on a yellow canvas.


    The afternoon sun shone on the yellowish mountains, and was especially bright on the rocky peaks.


    Four youngsters in khaki coloured hunting clothes lay beneath the shade of a fruit tree and nibbled on round red fruit while looking below intently.


    There was a grey-white lane at the bottom of the hill, located in the narrow space between two cliffs.


    The four of them climbed onto one side of the hill and stared attentively at the center of the lane in the crevice.


    This quintet consisted of three men and a woman, who seemed like some sort of group.


    "Garen, make your butterfly fly a little further towards the east. Try and see if there¡¯s anything there?" said one of the friendly-looking men in a soft voice. "We¡¯ve been waiting here for such a long time, yet we haven¡¯t managed to find anything yet. Wasn¡¯t this area supposed to be a hotspot for bandits?"


    "I¡¯ll try and see," said a handsome, golden-haired youth sat against the bottom of the tree trunk. The youth was Garen, who had just arrived from Iron Tank City. "My neon butterfly would be too conspicuous in this area. Besides, my maximum control range cannot exceed three kilometers."


    "Right now the only thing we can do is wait like here like a bunch of fools," Goth said as he lay on his back. He took a large bite out of the fruit in his hand. There was already a pile of five or six fruit stones beside him.


    "Be patient," Jessica replied softly.


    Crunch.


    Goth bit down hard on the red fruit. A look of utter boredom was plastered on his face.


    Time continued to tick away. In a blink of an eye, half an hour had passed.


    "I¡¯ve found something!" Garen stood up suddenly. "I¡¯ve found the bandits!"


    "What¡¯s their specific location?" I¡¯ll send the black panther over!" Andy rose to his feet as well.


    Garen knitted his eyebrows tightly.


    "The bandits just left. Unfortunately, I¡¯m afraid that we were a few steps too late,"


    "Doesn¡¯t matter. Let¡¯s just hurry over and then we¡¯ll talk."


    The four of them got up quickly, and raced towards the direction that Garen had pointed towards.


    Following the burnt yellow and grey rocky slope, the four people rushed down the mountain, and climbed up the slope of a different rocky hill.


    Just as they reached the other side of the slope, they froze in their steps when they noticed the scene before them.


    Two white ox carts had been toppled to the ground, and the black ox that had been pulling the cart earlier now lay in a pool of its own blood. At the same time, a swarm of green-headed flies circled its lifeless body.


    On the football field-sized perimeter, corpses were strewn everywhere. The smell of rotting blood hung in the air, causing the onlookers to feel a sense of tightness forming inside their chests.


    The dead bodies spanned a continuous distance of thirty-four meters. From the left to the right corner of the lane, not one living body could be seen.


    The Black Panther squad had only been standing there for a few moments, but Jessica could not help but muffle her mouth as she began to retch.


    Andy took a deep breath, and furrowed his brows at the sight that was laid out before him. "This is terrible¡­ We should start looking for survivors for now."


    Goth patted Jessica¡¯s shoulders.


    "Are you alright?" Although his own face was beginning to turn pale as a sign that he was also having a hard time, it was obvious that Goth¡¯s patience was stronger than Jessica¡¯s.


    "I¡¯m fine."


    Garen, however, still had the same expression on his face. The only difference was that his brows were wrinkled now.


    "I¡¯ve seen worse places before. Now isn¡¯t the time for chit chat. Go check at once if you can find any survivors. The bandits just left. If they decide to turn back now it¡¯ll spell nothing but trouble for us."


    Goth grunted.


    "It¡¯d be better if they came back here. This type of scum should all be sentenced to death!"


    "I¡¯m afraid we don¡¯t have the power to decide that¡­" Andy walked towards the pile of dead bodies, and began to check them carefully.


    The more he investigated, the darker his expression turned.


    "At least three totem users were present! And it¡¯s obvious that one of them possesses second form attack abilities!"


    "Second form¡­" Goth was left speechless. "A second form totem user would never be this desperate for money in the first place! Why would he resort to becoming a bandit?"


    No one replied him. This was a reason that everyone else wanted to find out as well.


    Garen might have thought of an answer, but he kept it to himself.


    The four of them continued to look for survivors in the corpse pile. The began their search in the middle and spread out in two separate directions.


    Not long after, a cry of surprise was heard in Jessica¡¯s direction.


    "I¡¯ve found one! Everyone come here quickly!"


    Garen turned his head in that direction and saw Jessica pulling open the wooden section of a carriage. From there, she lifted out a bundle in white swaddling clothes.


    "This baby is still alive!" Jessica yelled happily.


    The four of them gathered together quickly, and formed a circle around Jessica.


    They could see that the baby was still sound asleep in his wrappings, and did not wake up even as Jessica rocked him a few times. It looked as if the baby was in deep sleep. But they noticed the wet tear stains in the corners of the baby¡¯s eyes, indicating that he had been crying for a while.


    Andy reached a hand out to touch the baby¡¯s forehead and nostrils.


    "That¡¯s good. He isn¡¯t sick, and his breathing is also normal. I¡¯ve also sent the black panther to notify the nearby marshall squad already. Someone should be arriving here soon to take care of this situation."


    Garen stood at the side and looked at the other three people who were gathered around the baby. He attempted to access the old images and look into the memories of this period of time. Unfortunately, the images did not contain everything, and only the most important events were usually documented. A normal circumstance like this would not have been recorded.


    He lifted his head, and looked at the blue neon butterfly flying circles in the sky. Suddenly, his expression changed.


    "Watch out! Someone¡¯s coming! It¡¯s the bandits!"


    "How many?" Andy asked calmly.


    "Five of them!" The look on Garen¡¯s face began to change again. "And three of them are carrying totems!"


    "Scatter quickly!"


    "There isn¡¯t enough time! Hurry up and hide. They¡¯re coming on to us really quickly! Bend down! Watch your breathing!" Garen hurriedly lay flat on the ground near in a recess near some rocks.


    Andy and Jessica also climbed in quickly and crouched down, making sure that the baby was by their sides.


    Only Goth reacted slowly, and couldn¡¯t figure out what to do.


    Garen yanked him aside roughly and pulled him downwards in one go, before pushing him into the rock pit.


    "Hey! You¡­"


    "Shh¡­"


    Garen jabbed a finger at his mouth immediately.


    At the furthest right corner of the murder scene, near the bend of the carriage lane, a group of silhouettes in black robes appeared almost instantly.


    The sky was bright outside, yet all of them were dressed from head to toe in fully black robes. Even their heads were fully covered.


    There were five of them in this black-robed group. The one leading the group stood all the way in front, wearing a black robe with white embroidery on the edges. The most eye-catching part of him was the black python wrapped around his shoulders.


    On first glance, the black python looked like a thick black line that hung around the black-robed man¡¯s right shoulder. This snake seemed like an average serpent, except for the third eye that had grown in the middle of its forehead that looked like a light green pupil.


    The three pale green eyes stared coldly at its surroundings as the snake poked its scarlet forked tongue out of its mouth from time to time.


    "It¡¯s the three-eyed black python! Damn it! It really is form two!" cursed Andy softly. "How could a form two totem user resort to something as useless as stealing!"


    "Shh¡­" Garen felt like pinching him.


    Andy kept his voice down immediately. His voice was soft, but their enemy seemed to have heard something and was looking in their direction now. There was a sense of uncertainty in his gaze.


    The four youngsters felt a chill down their spines, and quickly crouched down even lower. They were too scared to even look up now.


    Garen like he could hear his heart threatening to beat out of his chest.


    Form two referred to a totem user or Luminarist who had evolved their totem to the second form. He had witnessed a battle of a form two totem user with his own eyes before.


    His own Teacher Emin once fought with a form two totem user and suffered serious injuries from two losses. He had almost lost his life, and was now in the process of recovering slowly. In the previous world, a Luminarist of this power-level would definitely be higher than B-level. If someone had enraged them, they had the capacity to become human nuclear bombs, except that the range of destruction would not be as vast as that of a real nuclear bomb.


    Garen had realised now, that within the Luminarists, a large majority of form one totem users who had the opportunity to evolve to form two totem users, could only do so because of the support they received from specific organizations.


    Judging from the luminescence of his current neon butterfly, there was no point in talking about form two Luminarists, or even form one Luminarists or totem users, when he couldn¡¯t even shatter their luminescence.


    This was the most troublesome part.


    Garen himself was already very clear on this matter. He already had a Secret Technique and knowledge in combining a totem and martial arts, and would definitely be able to defeat a regular person. But when faced with a Luminarist, his skills seemed clumsy in comparison. Assuming that a form one Luminarist would just stand there and allow themselves to be attacked, it would still take him at least ten to twenty minutes just to break through their defense.


    In the area of Luminarists, only form two totems were considered legitimate Luminarist totems. Beginning from form two, totems would then have the ability to access various evolutions. Furthermore, they would then be able to possess special capabilities.


    The only problem was that the resources and knowledge required for a form two totem belonged to a range that would leave most people dumbfounded and in shock.


    Crouching inside the pit, Garen noticed the paleness of his three companions faces.


    "The three-eyed black python is the black python¡¯s form two totem. I¡¯ve seen its abilities," whispered Andy in an extremely soft voice. He sounded like he had been out of breath for a while. "Garen, don¡¯t come out. The three-eyed black python¡¯s third eye can will release a green coloured light that corrodes. You don¡¯t have a core totem, so you won¡¯t be able to block it."


    Garen felt his heart beat quicker in his chest. He nodded obediently.


    After staying downwards for a while, the four of them held their breath, still afraid to come out. They could hear the endless sound of footsteps approaching closer, but did not dare to look up and peek.


    The sound of footsteps grew louder as they came nearer, before stopping abruptly at a certain location.


    "Gaduma, anjisiladinghute." They heard the words being said in a young woman¡¯s voice, but could not understand the meaning at all.


    Garen furrowed his eyebrows, and looked to the rest of his companions. Andy shook his head, signalling that he too could not understand. Goth had a blank expression on his face. Only Jessica seemed to have an idea about what was happening.


    Jessica met the trio¡¯s eyes and begin to translate what she had heard into the Kovitan language. She mouthed the words one by one and made sure the others were watching.


    Iron Tank City was one of the Kovitan Empire¡¯s vassal states. The feudal lords of these territories were still involved in the imperial affairs of the Kovitan Empire, and still spoke a native variation of the Kovitan language.


    But the language spoken by the woman in the black robe sounded more like a local dialect from the South, and sounded almost like a tongue-twister.


    Jessica began to translate the sentences one by one for her other three friends.


    The young woman said: "Captain, my totem had definitely sensed the presence of others in this area just now."


    "How many of them were there?" This was probably said by the man in the black robe. His voice sounded low and full of self-control, giving people a sense of restraint.


    "Four of them," replied the woman.


    "What do they look like?"


    "They were dressed in yellow clothes."


    "Then they¡¯re definitely not the marshall squad," replied the captain in a low voice. "Let¡¯s go. They were probably just passersby going down the road. The marshall squad will be arriving soon though."


    "Yes, sir."


    The sound of footsteps began to move further away.


    The four people hidden in the rock pit finally breathed a sigh of relief.


    "Hey! This part was moved by someone!" The woman¡¯s voice rang loudly once again. "There¡¯s a hidden section here, something must be hidden inside!"


    The footsteps stopped suddenly.


    The heart beats of the four people began to speed up.


    "Seems like there may still be survivors¡­ Hmm¡­ Interesting. Calania, continue investigating this area. See if there are any survivors left." The captain¡¯s voice echoed throughout the area.


    "Yes," replied a woman¡¯s voice.


    Suddenly, the sharp noise of bird¡¯s cry could be heard.


    Caw!


    The shrill noise only sounded for a moment, and stopped right after that.


    "There are no survivors inside the carriage," replied the woman¡¯s voice once again.


    "Alright then. Move out," replied the captain indifferently.

 266 Bandits 2

    Chapter 266: Bandits 2


    Inside the rock pit.


    Garen felt Andy patting him. When he raised his head, he noticed Andy tapping the other two of them as well. Next, he mouthed the things he was trying to say.


    "Wait for them to leave, and then spread out immediately! Don¡¯t stop! The people from the marshall squad should be arriving soon. My black panther is leading them here."


    "Understood," Garen nodded. The other two nodded silently as well.


    The footsteps began to leave slowly.


    Suddenly.


    Waa¡­ Waa¡­!


    No one knew when the baby by Jessica¡¯s side had woken up, and now he was crying loudly with his mouth wide open. Even though Jessica rushed to muffled his mouth, the noise had already escaped.


    The sound of the footsteps stopped again.


    Garen¡¯s heart rose to the back of his throat. He saw Andy instructing him with his gaze: Spread out and run. He understood, the current black panther squad was still not as strong as it would be in the future. Two form one totem users, one disabled totem and his own support totem were up against at least three legitimate totem users, with one of them being a form two as well.


    The difference in strength was far too large.


    It was like a community policeman going up against a fully armoured special forces soldier. Not to mention that a form two totem user would possess specialized abilities, making the difference even greater.


    "This is bad¡­" Garen could sense that the black robes had probably realised that they were hiding here.


    "The noise from earlier probably came from here," said the black robed woman in a low voice.


    The footsteps began to move towards the direction of the four youngsters.


    Andy and Jessica¡¯s faces were pale as ghosts, while Goth was grinding his teeth and balling his hands into tight fists, looking as if he was ready to burst out at any moment.


    Garen¡¯s heart began to sink.


    "Found them! There really were people hiding here!" The woman in the black robe exclaimed loudly out of the blue.


    "Run!" Andy roared loudly.


    Garen grabbed a fistful of small stones and leaped out of the pit.


    Tch tch tch!


    The stones flew towards the sky and fell back down towards the black robes, unearthing a heap of soil and dust in the process.


    ********************


    On top of a nearby slope.


    Seven to eight White Horsemen followed a blank panther, rushing in the direction of the Black Panther squad.


    The man leading the group was a White Horseman in black leather pants who wore a round brimmed woven straw hat, looking out of place. He had a scruffy beard growing on his chin, making him look quite different from the usual portrayal of the White Horsemen.


    "Hurry up, everyone! Head to the small hill up in front!"


    A woman in a similar straw hat followed closely behind him, furrowing her brows as she said: "Captain Jefferson, is there really any need for us marshalls to be called over for this? It¡¯s just some bandits. Even if there were totem users they¡¯d just be one or two stage one totems. It seems to me like someone¡¯s making a big deal out of nothing."


    "Just follow your orders, no need to question them," said the middle-aged leader impatiently. He kept his eyes fixated on what lay in front of him. "Everything would be easy if only it was so straightforward¡­ Everyone, prepare to fight!"


    At that moment, out of the seven or eight White Horsemen, five of them released their totems, illuminating their silver luminescence.


    Jefferson put on a leather glove and stroked it gently as a ray of black light flew out of his palm and fell on his shoulder. Instantly, a black hawk with a red cockscomb on its head appeared.


    The black hawk opened its beak, showing off its sharp saw-like black teeth.


    Jefferson noticed that the black panther had began to growl softly in a worried manner.


    "Pick up the speed!" He roared loudly. His right hand pointed towards the sky as he yelled: "Go!"


    The black hawk let out a soft whistle-like ¡®caw¡¯ as it spread its powerful wings and raced towards the sky.


    ********************


    "Ahnuxida!"


    The black robed woman¡¯s voice rang loudly in the air. Without Jessica here to translate, Garen couldn¡¯t understand a word she was saying.


    He leaped upwards and ran down the S-shaped road behind him.


    Turning around to look back, he saw that the black robes had dispersed into a few groups to chase after Andy and Goth, while Jessica was holding the baby and hiding in another crack between some rocks.


    The stones from earlier had barely scratched the black robes. When the stones crashed onto the surface of their clothes, they disintegrated into specs of beige coloured dust immediately,


    A lot of the dust had been scattered everywhere by the wind, obstructing their vision.


    Garen noticed that the leader of the black robes was now unconsciously moving towards Jessica¡¯s location.


    He narrowed his eyes and kicked a large rock.


    Whoosh!


    The rock flew towards the black robed man and hit his head, before turning into a pile of powder. The leader of the black robes let out a cold scream and spun around before laying his eyes on Garen. Meanwhile, the black python on his shoulder stuck its tongue out and hissed.


    Garen trusted that Jessica had already seen what he was trying to do, so he turned around and ran.


    "Jessica, the woman that Goth will end up falling in love with in the future. I¡¯ve saved you once. This good deed will definitely be very valuable in the future." He continued to concentrate on the task at hand, and willed his legs to speed up as he dashed towards the slope behind him.


    Suddenly, a bone-chilling sensation began to crawl up his body.


    Garen spared no time before falling onto the floor and rolling down the slope. A ray of green light began travelling downwards from the top of his head.


    The green light was like a thread. It shot straight in front onto a large rock. The white rock was immediately dyed into a large green mess, as the rock began to release a sizzling like sound of corrosion. The hard rock then began to melt into a sticky green puddle that flowed towards the ground.


    Garen felt a gush of cold air emitting from his forehead, and dared not to conceal his power any longer. He stomped the ground with all his might and dashed forward, looking as if he was a white shadow racing down the slope in front.


    "Gadate!" The sound of the black robed leader¡¯s voice echoed behind him. The sizzling noise could be heard once again, as two rays of green line shot towards the slopes behind Garen, corroding the earth and stones nearby into a puddle of green, sticky liquid.


    Garen refrained from turning his head but continued running down the slope instead. He covered his right elbow with his left hand, as his elbow had been slightly grazed by the green light earlier. There was a hole in his pale blue luminescence and his clothes were already starting to corrode. The cloth that had corroded turned into dots of green liquid that dripped on his skin, making him feel a searing pain as it touched his flesh.


    Garen tore off his shirt and noticed that the milky skin on his elbow was now turning green. A little wound of rotting flesh had also appeared there.


    This terrifying rotting ability, if it had happened to a normal person, their whole elbow would have rotted off by now. Garen toughened his heart before hooking a finger into the wound and digging out the rotting flesh.


    At the bottom of the hill was a vast field. Not far away was a forest with patches of yellow and green-leafed coniferous trees. There were also lakes of various sizes that looked like mirrors, except that they were grey and seemed abnormally gloomy.


    There were two little dots on the slope, one yellow and the other grey, that were going down the slope and rushing towards the field.


    The yellow dot was moving at a rapid speed, and rushing down in an S-shaped path.


    The black dot was much slower, and in front of it was a black python as thick as a fist, spanning the length of seven to eight meters, slithering forward. The black python lifted its head up suddenly, and shot a green light out of the third eye between its brows, straight ahead at Garen.


    But not once did the green light manage to hit its target.


    "Wandaxi, kashura!" The black robed man shouted angrily as he lunged forward and chased his opponent. He held a short black stick in his hand and kept pointing it at the yellow dot in front.


    Both of them dashed forward, one in front and the other behind, before finally landing in the vast field.


    Garen dived into the coniferous forest. After turning a few times, he jumped and braced himself against the tree trunk and somersaulted into the foliage. After that, he noticed the little lake in front and jumped down into the water. His whole body was submerged in the muddy water as he continued to swim deeper, holding his breath as he went.


    The water in the lake was muddy and filled with soil and dust. However it was quite shallow, maybe only seven or eight meters deep. The bottom of the lake was mostly black mud.


    Garen¡¯s body shook slightly as he gently fell unto the mud, but it wasn¡¯t a great fall as most of the mud remained in its original position. He lay face up with his body against the bottom of the lake and moved his shoulders carefully, unearthing some of the mud in the process and using it to cover himself.


    A rustling noise emerged from the grass, as a large cluster of weeds were pushed aside.


    The leader of the black robes rushed over angrily as his eyes scanned the entire area.


    "Nuwataman!" He roared furiously.


    The three-eyed black python was curled around his shoulders once again, and raised its head and made hissing noises.


    It bowed its head slightly as its third eye suddenly shot out a ray of green light.


    Tch!


    The light shot onto the water in front, as well as the wild grass around the lake. The grass, soil, and stones all turned into a green sticky mess after being corroded by the green light.


    The man in the black robe surveyed the area with his black python and walked around the lake for good measure, before running off to the area in front to continue his search there.


    It was obvious that he was using the footprints on the ground as clues. Garen had jumped down directly from the tree, ensuring that not all of his footprints would be on the ground. The man was convinced that something wasn¡¯t right, and decided to continue his search by crawling military-style instead.


    The black robed man spent some time investigating the forest but failed to find anything. Suddenly, he raised his head and looked upwards.


    Chirp!


    There was a black hawk circling the sky and calling out in a ear piercing voice. The black hawk looked abnormal, because it had a red cockscomb growing out of the top of its head.


    Garen continued to hide at the bottom of the lake, making sure to stay as still as possible. His aura could sense movements within a radius of slightly over two hundred meters in this area, and he could now feel the current location of the black robed man.


    Bang!


    Suddenly, a strong quake-like sensation shook the ground down to the bottom of the lake.


    It seemed like a battle was going on outside. The sound of a hawk¡¯s cry could also be heard vaguely.


    A few minutes passed before the ground finally stopped moving again.


    ********************


    Jefferson held the cockscomb black hawk in his right hand, as his eyes bore into the surrounding forest.


    Some dark blood stains had seeped into the ground, and strips of black cloth were strewn all over.


    In the fight just now, the leader of the black robes had been chased by him, and was heavily wounded. At this moment he was hiding somewhere and had left without a trace.


    "Consider yourself lucky!" He said coldly, as he turned to leave.


    The black robed man leaned against a tree trunk and panted heavily. His whole body was covered in a yellow-green sheen, the perfect camouflage colour.


    He retrieved some medicine from his lap and hurriedly applied it on his shoulders. His forehead was filled with sweat droplets.


    In an opening in the undergrowth nearby, he noticed that Jefferson could not find him, and had finally retreated, and was now walking away in a faraway direction. He assumed that the man was probably going to reunite with his other squad members.


    The man in the black robe sighed in relief, and wiped the beads of sweat off his forehead. Only when Jefferson had finally disappear did he turn around and walk in the opposite direction. The sound of his footsteps were abnormally quiet, and he staggered when he walked, implying that he had suffered serious injuries.


    He continued to turn back and check behind him as he walked. Suddenly, he heard a soft splash coming from the direction in front of him.


    The black robed man felt his whole body stiffen, as his head turned around sharply to face the front.


    Garen was standing in front of him with an expressionless look on his face.


    "May the Gods become one, and may their divine punishment rain down on you!" He took a deep breath, as all the muscles on his body enlarged and expanded in an exaggerated manner.


    Phoo!


    A gust of wind blew over, and Garen¡¯s physical body instantly leapt a few meters upwards. His palm came into direct contact with the middle of the man in the black robe¡¯s forehead.


    In a blink of an eye, everything quietened down.


    His palm and the other man¡¯s forehead were in direct equilibrium, and all noise ceased. In that moment, it seemed like everything in the world had become silent.


    Bang!


    The ground began to shake violently.


    The platinum aura swept everything up, causing the blue light to explode in the middle of the black robed man¡¯s eyes.


    "Ahhhhhhhh!!!!"


    The black robed man¡¯s whole body began to emit black light, as his face distorted with every scream that escaped his mouth. After he was forced backwards, his eyes and mouth began to spurt out fresh blood unceasingly.


    The spot where Garen had targeted was the wound where the man¡¯s white luminescence had spilled out and had yet to heal.


    Without any hesitation, Garen leapt upwards as his body emitted light and caused fragmented shadows to form. He shot as far as over ten meters away.


    Rumble!


    A thunderous noise sounded behind him, and a semi-circle shaped green light rippled in the distance and enlarged rapidly into an expanse of over a hundred meters. All of the areas within this vicinity became corroded into a puddle of sticky, green liquid.

 267 Gap 1

    Chapter 267: Gap 1


    Boom!!!


    A green shockwave burst outward on the soil in the yellowishgreen forest.


    Garen used his aura to direct himself to the ground from the air. He gained his momentum and got out of the green shockwave¡¯s area of effect and landed beside a small puddle. He took a few steps back as he landed, and he turned around to look at the green shockwave that had spread across the area as he stabilized his footing.


    He raised his hand and looked at his right palm. It was glowing faintly in green, and there was white smoke coming out of it, with the surrounding filled with a sour and foul odor.


    "What strong toxicity!"


    He placed his palms down and gave them a gentle jitter. The green colored skin at the center of his palm sunexpectedly came off like green old cloth from the vibrations. The skin landed on the ground and immediately rotted the stones and soil into a greenish, viscous substance.


    Garen¡¯s right palm was instantly filled with blood, but a layer of dried blood formed and stopped bleeding in no time. He had presented that he had absolute control over his body.


    This huge commotion would definitely grab someone¡¯s attention.


    He then saw that the plants that had instantly decayed the moment they came contact with the green shockwave.


    "Damnit!" Garen¡¯s expression changed as he cursed fiercely yet quietly. "Is every second form totem user this troublesome! They can even self destruct before they die!"


    He was using his aura to stay aware of the battle between the Marshall squad and the man in the black robe. So why did he come out and ambush them at the end? It was because he wanted to obtain the intel and knowledge of the core totem from the man in black robe. Even if he didn¡¯t manage to obtain the information he wanted, he could at the very least obtain some precious resources, right?


    He didn¡¯t expect him to self destruct at the end, and he couldn¡¯t obtain anything any longer.


    Without any hesitation, Garen left the place with great haste. Although he wanted to check out the place, he didn¡¯t dare to enter as the core was so toxic that the air surrounding it was filled with its strong poison.


    As he took a few steps, he stopped and turned around with a huge grin on his face. With a happy look on his face, he sped off into the distance and soon disappeared at the other end of the slope of forest.


    Garen slowed down as he reached the shades in the forest. He then activated the neon butterflies and let them patrol around his head as he slowly went towards the place where the four people separated.


    At the same time, he closed his eyes as he set his sights upon the attribute pane.


    ¡®Strength 2.3, Agility 2.1, Vitality 2.5, Intelligence 2.1, Potential 1493%. Possess the qualification to become a Luminarist.¡¯


    His strength, vitality and intelligence had increased by an average of 0.1 and his potential points had increased from 12 to 14, and would become 15 fairly soon!


    Garen started to think hard after feeling happy about it.


    "It¡¯s perfectly normal for the physical attributes to recover before it reached it peaks. However, my potential points have unexpectedly increased as well¡­ Was it because I killed a Luminarist? I have just checked it yesterday, and there were no changes, and then there was a change the moment I had killed a Luminarist. If killing the Luminarist is not the cause of it, it will still definitely be linked to it!"


    He was very sure of his assumption. His worry over the source of obtaining potential points had finally reduced slightly.


    "Should I try to evolve neon butterfly now?" He immediately scratched off the thought; if he were to evolve the neon butterfly without any inherited knowledge, besides the extremely low success rate, the evolved neon butterfly would be impossible to hide. If that were to occur, how was he going to explain the evolution of the neon butterfly without any inherited knowledge to the others?


    "Forget about it, I should find another core totem first."


    After discovering a clue to obtaining potential points, Garen was determined to follow his original plan, which was to become the best Luminarist. As the risk and rewards were directly proportional to each other, he had to take a huge amount of risk to obtain a huge amount reward.


    "This way, I just need to get through the crisis that will occur next year, and I can think of changing my totem afterwards. The second world war is going to last for years¡­" Garen had a plan in mind. With his eyes filled with determination, he sprinted off and he went forward.


    As he went over the hill, he soon returned to where he parted with Goth and the others.


    There were already a few people in the Marshall Squad¡¯s white vests standing by the grey road. The middle aged team leader seemed to be discussing something softly with Jessica. There were no traces of anybody else.


    Jessica burst into tears and rushed towards Garen as she saw Garen return.


    "Garen! You¡¯re okay!?" He ran towards him and held Garen¡¯s hand tightly. "I thought you were¡­" Her tears almost went down her cheeks.


    "I¡¯m alright. I won¡¯t die so easily, since I trained my body a bit back in the day." Garen patted himself on the chest. "Where is your brother, Goth and the others?"


    "There¡¯s still no news yet¡­" Jessica quickly wiped off her tears as she said sadly.


    "Don¡¯t worry. It will be fine since the one going after them is not the strongest." Garen comforted. "We will definitely earn a huge amount after this, since this mission¡¯s difficulty is very high. The one who went after me was a second form totem user. If not for my speed as I jumped into the pond, I would have definitely not been able to return."


    "So you were hiding in the pond." The middle aged man came forward as he showed him his white badge. "Jefferson, leader of the Marshall Squad. So you¡¯re Garen? What a brave man for a fellow without a core totem to kite the second form totem user away. You deserve praise!" He commended Garen as he patted his shoulder. "Rest assured. You guys have done more than necessary for this mission. Naturally your reward will increase as well."


    "Thank you team leader Jefferson." Garen acted flush as he wanted to get a closer relationship with him. After all, his age was much younger than this man. "I wonder how my two partners are doing?"


    "Don¡¯t worry. They will be fine. They were only kiting away the first form totem user. They should return before you know it." Jefferson smiled as he looked at the sky, in which there was a black eagle flying in circles.


    "Alright, it¡¯s time to cover up the influence. You know the rules right?" Jefferson whispered. "We will minimise the rumors of the battles between the totem users from the general public."


    "Are we still able to cover this?" Garen whispered.


    Jefferson frowned. "We¡¯ll do what we can¡­"


    He continued questioning Garen relating to the details of the leader of the men in black robes. He turned around and left as he gave his subordinates the orders after he was satisfied with the intel. Garen managed to convince him that he was able to escape from the pursuit due to his speed. After all, it was not surprising to see a totem user practice martial arts to make up for their lack of physical attributes.


    After ten minutes of waiting, Andy, who was leaning on Goth appeared in Garen and Jessica¡¯s sights.


    "Are you two alright?"


    Jessica and Garen quickly went up to welcome them.


    "Andy injured his hips." Goth shook his head as he replied. "We would have return earlier if I carried him, but he insisted on walking on his own."


    Andy had a miserable expression and felt like committing suicide at the thought of being princess-carried by Goth.


    Jessica couldn¡¯t help but burst into laughter when she saw goth¡¯s hopeless face, and her brother¡¯s embarrassment when they came back safely.


    For some reason the term ¡®hips¡¯ was supposed to sound very normal. However, it became rather funny when the word came out of Goth¡¯s mouth.


    Even Garen couldn¡¯t help but to reveal a hint of a smile.


    "I¡¯m glad you¡¯re okay. Team leader Jefferson had said that he would increase our more rewards for this mission."


    "I was just about to ask this!" Goth gave Garen a big thumbs up, whereas Andy gave a sigh of relief as he smile wryly.


    "Okay. We need to take a good rest after this mission. What do you guys plan on doing now?" Andy voiced out. "I will talk about Jessica and my plan. We are currently living in the inner city¡¯s Air Wing region and our address is No. 109 Vine Street. You should visit us when you¡¯re free."


    "Have you forgotten, brother? Father is sure to scold you when you go back with this injury¡­" Jessica softly added.


    "Eh¡­" Andy started sweating cold sweat on his forehead.


    Goth curled his lips as he scratched his chest with his hand.


    "I live in Kovitan¡¯s Main Street Region, the bread shop above the red wolf statue is opened by my mother. You can find me when you have any needs, and please let me in on any good missions as well. However, I think I will get scolded when I go back as well. My mum doesn¡¯t like me being hired as a Luminarist¡­"


    Garen started laughing as himself as the other three had finished their sentences.


    "I am currently considered as a free man since my parents are overseas at the moment. I plan to travel around for a bit. I¡¯m staying in a hotel at the moment. Let¡¯s leave this place while we talk since all of us are planning to go back."


    "Fine." "Alright."


    The four of them wanted a stamp on their mission list as a personal validification from the Marshall Squad¡¯s leader Jefferson. After that, they quickly went back to the Luminarist¡¯s hiring guild in Iron Tank City.


    Under the effect of Jefferson¡¯s stamp, the mission was reevaluated to an active mission, which was a grade higher than the investigative mission that was originally given. They had obtained a total of fifty thousand silver rumbs.


    They split the reward into five portions. Since Garen had managed to lure away a second form totem user, the other three insisted on giving him two portions worth of the reward, which was twenty thousand.


    After a little bit of dispute, Garen didn¡¯t argue any further and accepted the twenty thousand rumbs.


    It was considered a huge sum for him currently.


    It¡¯s way too easy to earn money as a capable Luminarist.


    The four of them parted ways after dividing the money. Goth and the other two went home since they were locals, whereas Garen, as an outsider could only stay in a hotel.


    He was travelling alone for a while at the outskirts of the city.


    The current situation had started to become slightly chaotic.


    In the past, Luminarists existed far away from the civilizations. However, due to the outburst of conflicts between the Luminarists among the commoners, rumors regarding the Luminarists had started to spread in the commoner¡¯s world.


    The commoners had started to grow accustomed to the word Luminarist, or the specialised totem users.


    The chaotic news kept spreading throughout the RAL via newspaper. The blue birds that were used to sent mails through the sky were consistently spread about in the sky. These types of blue pigeons possessed incredible speed and endurance. With its small and compact body, it could fly over ten thousand kilometers in a day. They were evolved from the falcon by the Luminarists via the second form support totem.


    No matter how far away the recipient was, the news would definitely reach them within a week.


    Garen bought a few pieces of newspaper on the street, and he noticed the news regarding the turmoil had started to gain traction. There were discussions regarding the duration, scope, degree and ultimate beneficiaries of the unrest everywhere.


    As of now, no one had really realized the horror of this upcoming chaos.


    After hanging around by the outskirts for some time, Garen started to enter the Iron Tank City.


    The Iron Tank City was a big open style city. There were no walls covering the city and the buildings were densely packed from the inner perimeter to the outer circle. From a bird¡¯s eye view, the city looked like a giant grey circle.


    The buildings inside were either white or grey in color. This was to reflect enough sunlight away from the city to reduce the amount of heat energy.


    Garen entered the city via the famed, half open city wall which could be found everywhre. There were stores selling snacks and fruits at both sides of the city gate. Garen bought a small fruit that resembled the roxburgh rose fruit, and ate it while he walked around.

 268 Gap 2

    Chapter 268: Gap 2


    The price of resources had naturally increased as war was near approaching.


    No one expected that the unrest would be this serious and would last this long. As a result, everyone had started collecting all kinds of resources like stocks, and took it as a form as an investment.


    Garen went to at least ten rice shops in the inner city. He eventually found a cheaper shop and used all of his hard earned twenty thousand rumbs to buy rice.


    He knew that the moment a large scale battle occurred, society at large would not be able to harvest rice, and the price would ultimately inflate to an unbelievable amount.


    These investments do not require him to wait for a long time, and he would be able to earn at least ten times more.


    Garen rented a warehouse at the deserted part of the inner city and placed all the rice he had, called green rice there. This rice was extremely filling and had high vitality, which meant that it was very easy to reproduce them. This was the main reason why they were so cheap. When the war occurred, this green rice would be very popular among the citizens due to its high satiety. This meant that they could be sold off at a higher price than regular rice.


    Garen felt much more relieved as he had found a lead in obtaining more potential points. He had decided to mingle around in Iron Tank City. Vanderman and the Trejons Household were protected by the RAL and survived the first world war. The Trejons¡¯ manor crisis would only surface during the second world war, when the Three Heroes were defeated and the RAL had collapsed.


    There were still about a year before the crisis occurred and Garen decided to use this time to train himself.


    There was still one month left before the war spreaded, and the Obscuro Society officially made a large-scale mobilization. Garen decided to use this month¡¯s time to come up with a good plan.


    After he finished dealing with the green rice, Garen rested for two days, and took two solo investigative quests. Both were relatively safe and did not have a high reward. It was only two thousand rumbs, which was better than nothing.


    Furthermore, he did not encounter any Luminarist during the quests. He did, however, encounter a few General-class commoners.


    *************


    Bam.


    The beer girl, who was as fat as a water bucket, placed a cup of beer, which was about the size of a water ladle, onto the table. The beer rocked about as a huge amount of foam bubbled to the top. A fully bearded customer picked it up and chugged it down without mercy.


    Garen stopped looking at the adjacent table, instead choosing to quietly cut into his medium well steak with a small knife.


    He sat at the quest hall that was filled with lights that resembled the sunset, surrounded by totem users and Beginner-level adepts. There were the high pitched sounds of beer bottles clashing into one another, people whispering among each other, drunkards shouting about and even people enquiring for information from the bouncer.


    The air was filled with a mixture of the putrid smell of alcohol and vomit. It was horrendously nauseous.


    The War Guild was completely different from the Luminarist Hiring Guild. It didn¡¯t matter to the War Guild whether one was a Luminarist or a commoner, they only cared about the completion rate of the quests. There would only be business here when there were wars and would be completely deserted if there¡¯s none.


    The quests here were all high reward high risks quests. The lowest ranked quests that could be found here was the very risky quest of fighting against form 1 totem users. The relatively safe investigative quests were nowhere to be seen.


    Garen had been here for the past few days, scouting for the quest that suited him the most. He had already completed three quests from the Luminarist Hiring Guild, and all of them were investigative quests. It was not challenging, and he didn¡¯t have the opportunity to go against a Luminarist.


    Hence, he came here.


    "This is your quest." The beer girl with the waist the size of a bucket walked over and slammed a slightly crumpled piece of black, thin paper from the edge of Garen¡¯s vision. She immediately left after placing down the piece of paper.


    Garen picked it up, read it and quietly placed it inside his pocket.


    The quest was very simple. It was to hunt a serial killer who had killed thirteen aristocrats from households in the inner city. The enemy was a form one totem user, and his totem was a leopard. He was also a rogue from the Obscuro Society¡¯s outer circles. The Royal Alliance had started to invest a lot of money in attacking, and the Obscuro Society¡¯s outer circle was one of the targets.


    Garen wiped his lips with the handkerchief and stood up after he quietly ate the last piece of his steak.


    "No. 25478 Has been revoked." A petite beer girl shouted from the quest counter as she wrote down the battle level and the latest quest onto the blackboard.


    The battle level represented the highest level quest which the user had succeeded and it also represented the difficulty of this quest. The last quest was the quest where the numbered candidate failed. It was only when the death of the candidate was confirmed that the candidate¡¯s number could be revoked.


    This way, people would know the risk of the quest that was previously overlooked and prevent any weaklings from taking such a highly risked quest.


    "It¡¯s Lumba. I can¡¯t believe he¡¯s dead." "There¡¯s at least ten numbers that have been revoked in this month alone. Looks like the situation is getting worse."


    The hall was filled with discussions.


    Garen stood up and left the hall with the quest receipt.


    He didn¡¯t have to do any investigation as the quest receipt contained the overall intel he needed in detail. The only thing he was required to do was to kill the target at the given time and location.


    This was similar to an enforcer¡¯s task. In the eyes of the royal government, The War Guild itself was the enforcer of the underworld. The employer of the War Guild was called the Hound, as in the Hounds of the Royal Alliance of Luminarists.


    ***************


    A day later. 3.26pm in the afternoon.


    Among the scorching golden sunlight, there was a small alley in the residential area of the outskirts of the city.


    Garen silently stared at the man in white opposite him.


    The opponent was in white long robes with a white scarf on top of his head. It was a classic arabian attire, which was also what a majority of the citizen¡¯s wore here. The light colored shirt and scarf could reflect more sunlight and prevent the body from overheating.


    It was a brown man with blue eyes. He had very deep eye sockets, and a pair of eyes covered in blood vessels. He looked so tired, as if he hadn¡¯t rested for multiple days.


    "Royal¡¯s lackey!!" He shouted as he stared at Garen. He felt comfortable as he saw Garen¡¯s weak totem light.


    This Hound seemed to be a misfit. With such a weak totem light, he believed that Garen¡¯s attack wouldn¡¯t be very strong.


    "Wayne Stain. Do you have any last words?" Garen whispered.


    He gently threw a black compass-liked item. As it landed on the floor, it immediately spread and covered the area of about 100m in diameter.


    Within seconds, the noise and wind from the outside world stopped appearing. It was as if both of them were separated from the rest of the world.


    "Speak? You people won¡¯t let me go even if I said anything." The opponent immediately replied. "You really are a Hound from the War Guild. You even brought along the War Prison. What else do you want me to say?"


    "This thing can only separate us from the rest of the world for an hour. It¡¯s more than enough time for us to solve the problem. "Garen shook his head. "Since you don¡¯t feel like saying anything, let¡¯s start."


    "What a joke. With such a weak totem light you¡­" He didn¡¯t even had the chance to finish his sentence, before he was unable to speak further, his eyes wide open.


    With ten of his fingers, Garen pressed at least 10 pressure points on the opponent¡¯s chest.


    As he inhaled, the flow of air started to become turbulent and became a white gas surrounding his body, like a white ribbon. His body instantly expanded from 1.78 meters to at least 2 meters.


    His usual thin body was instantly filled with muscles that were as strong as iron.


    Huuuu¡­.


    The air that he gently exhaled became white, and blew away the pebbles as it flowed to the ground.


    Under the golden light, a giant shadow was casted from Garen¡¯s body and completely engulfed the target.


    "Let¡¯s start¡­ Let¡¯s see how big of a difference there is between the totem light and a commoner¡­"


    "You¡¯re not even going to use the totem light!!" The target had noticed that the blue light on Garen¡¯s body had disappeared and gave off a shocked expression on his face. "You asked for it! You asked for it! Haha!"


    He swung his right arm and a golden spotted leopard slowly came out from behind him.


    Roar!!


    The golden leopard opened its mouth widely as it leaped towards Garen.


    "Divine Martial Fusion!" Garen¡¯s body expanded once again and a circular faint white light was floating around his body. The glowing white light was a divine phenomena when the aura entered the body.


    He clapped his hand and instantly disappeared.


    Boom!!


    A gigantic hand filled with blue veins landed onto Wayne Stain¡¯s head. However, the attack was blocked by a thin layer of yellow light filament. When the palm came in contact with the light, the sound of one hitting a wood could be heard.


    Garen clearly felt that as he attacked, it was as if his attack had pierced through a very deep pond and its momentum kept going deeper and deeper but it wouldn¡¯t reach the end of the pond.


    "Red Jade!" Both of his palms instantly became as red as jades and gave off an incredibly high temperature. The sizzling sound could be heard as he was holding onto Wayne Stain¡¯s head.


    The layer of yellow light seemed to be burnt by the high temperature as well.


    "Since it can be burnt, it means that it can be depleted." Garen said without changing his expression. His body instantly disappeared and appeared behind Wayne Stain and avoided the golden leopard that was attacking him from behind.


    Boom Boom!


    Another two palm attacks were released onto Wayne Stain¡¯s back.


    "Thousand Mammoth Traction!!"


    Air flow and the scream of the elephant surrounded Garen as he attack Wayne¡¯s back with both of his palms.


    Boom!


    Strong wind blew from all directions and the deafening sound kept reverberating in the alley.


    The yellow light finally started to vibrate and destabilize.


    "You bastard!!" Before Wayne could even react, he was attacked by Garen four more times. His speed was so fast, even the golden leopard totem couldn¡¯t keep up with his speed. "A Master-level adept? How stupid! Do you think you¡¯re the only Master-level who are trying to go beyond the limits?!"


    His yellow gemstone ring on his right hand lightened up and swiftly drew some sort of a symbol with both of his hands. A trail of yellow light followed his hand as he drew the symbol.


    Without any hesitation, Garen avoided the attack at lightning speed. A trail of yellow light flashed past the position where Garen originally stood.


    It was a basic support tactic; only the traditional Luminarist would combine their totem with such tactics. These kind of Luminarists were very rare and he didn¡¯t expect to meet one here.


    Unfortunately, Garen came from the same background as well. Although he couldn¡¯t use any supportive tactics, he had knowledge in tactics as he learnt it from Emin.


    The tactic Wayne was currently using was an attacking created by focusing the totem light. Its attack speed was incredibly fast, and its direction could be easily manipulated.


    This skill was incredibly useful when used against the Master-levels of this world. However, its damage towards a Luminarist could be completely neglected.


    Unfortunately, Garen wasn¡¯t afraid of such an attack, due to his aura and his knowledge in supportive tactics.


    Without making any sound, Garen rushed up towards him with a very calm look.

 269 Roll 1

    Chapter 269: Roll 1


    Boom!


    Garen¡¯s fist once again landed onto the yellow totem light and at the same time, an incredible amount of pressure was consistently applied onto the yellow light filament.


    The two of them were in the alley. Garen¡¯s tall and strong body kept revolving around the target, and every time he attacked, he would simultaneously avoid the attack from the golden leopard.


    Within the alley of the white buildings, a grey figure was constantly moving around the man in white at high speed, and a dense knocking sound could be consistently heard.


    Wayne started to panic as his tactics were ineffective against him and his leopard was not able to catch up to him.


    "What do you want?!" He started to shout.


    Garen didn¡¯t react and continue to gently place his palms onto him.


    As the palms were in contact with the yellow layer of light, a huge bout of air was pushed away and the surrounding dust flew about in the air. Garen¡¯s shirt was flying behind as well.


    He took a step back and twisted his hand.


    Boom!


    He attacked the same location of the layer of light.


    "West Phoenix!"


    Garen placed his hands together and pierced forward.


    Chirp!!


    Two enormous wings appeared from his sides. The wings were shapeless, transparent and kept producing a clear chirping noise as it followed Garen¡¯s hands as he strike forward.


    Crack!


    A small crack could finally be seen on the yellow totem light. The crack propagated throughout his body, and the yellow totem light was broken into pieces.


    "No!! How is that possible??" Wayne was beyond horrified. He turned around and attempted to flee, but instead only saw garen.


    As he fell to the ground, he stared at Garen with his big, bulging eyes.


    "How dare you¡­!"


    Screech!


    The yellow totem light was shattered like glass into pieces and fell to the ground.


    Like a raw egg, once the outer layer of shell cracked, the yellow light leaked out onto the ground like a liquid. In a matter of seconds, the liquid became transparent and completely disappeared.


    Garen was lost in thought as he saw the scenario.


    "No wonder my attacks were ineffective. You used a layer of shell to hold of the impacts, and then absorbed the energy by using the liquid.. A rather interesting structure. It reminds me of the structure of an egg."


    "Don¡¯t kill me¡­ Don¡¯t kill me!!" Wayne stood up in fear and attempted to ran out of the alley. The golden leopard was blocking Garen¡¯s path and growled at him in rage.


    Garen didn¡¯t even look at the leopard and casually snapped his fingers.


    Pew!


    A stream of white gas fired from his fingers and pierced through Wayne¡¯s brain from the back, which resulted in the blood splattering about freely.


    The golden leopard scattered and transformed into a pool of silver liquid.


    "Thirteen hits." Garen muttered. "With my current strength, I would require thirteen hits to break the totem light of a form one totem user¡­"


    His strength was slowly recovering back to its peak, and his strength would soon be the same as when he fought Sylphalan. With that amount of power, he could pierce through a tank with just a single punch, and would only suffer minor injuries from a shell. The only thing that could harm him was a highly explosive bomb.


    However at this strength, he would need to hit a form 1 totem user thirteen times to break his defense. If not for his knowledge towards the tactic, it would be hard for him to avoid such a fool proof attacking tactic.


    Garen estimated that he took about two to three minutes to win against this world¡¯s trash soldiers, which would not even be thought as trash in the future.


    He suddenly thought of something and set his sight onto the attribute pane. The potential points have increased to 1512%, which was also 15 points. It was increased from 14 points, close to 15, and had now became 15 points.


    "This means that I only gained 20 to 30% of potential by killing a form 1 totem user. Killing off a form 2 totem user gives so much more than this."


    Garen frowned as he walked towards Wayne¡¯s corpse. He started to fumble about the corpse and found a black leather pouch and a small black note.


    He opened the money pouch and saw thick stacks of rumbs mixed with a type of green banknote. These green notes were tai, and were this country¡¯s currency for small change.


    Garen didn¡¯t even bother to look at the tai,and took out the crumbs and he counted them. There were about fifty to sixty thousands crumbs, and even a passbook at the very bottom. However, he couldn¡¯t withdraw the money as he did not have the password.


    He placed the note and money into his bag and proceed to cut off Wayne¡¯s ear. He then drained the blood from it before placing it inside a black napkin. After that, he picked up the black compass which was on the ground and left the area.


    As Garen left the alley, he soon heard a girl screaming from behind him. Someone must have found the corpse after the War Prison was deactivated.


    Garen, who was very poor now, would even collect molten silver if the silver could be recycled.


    He threw away the pouch that was in his hand and went straight to the War Guild.


    ****************


    Ten days later¡­


    Garen was sitting quietly in the main hall of the War Guild, which was filled with the warm, yellow light.


    He had a malt wine in his hand, and he would occasionally have a sip as he scanned his surroundings in the main hall.


    In the past ten days, he had accepted another five hunting quests. Adding in the rewards he had obtained from killing Wayne, his total rewards added up to sixty four thousand rumbs, which was a fairly high amount.


    All of his targets in all five quests were form 1 totem users.


    Garen understood well the situation and position he was currently in. Due to his unique aura and secret martial arts, his strength had exceeded this world¡¯s Master-level, and was on par with the form 1 Luminarists.


    He gently touched his scar that was on his left side of his neck. It was a scar left by his second target. The target knew how to use Tactics, and they had been very mysterious as it could be activated by a word syllable. At that time, Garen took a huge hit by this surprise attack.


    However, The Divine Statue Technique seemed to activate its effect well. Garen wasn¡¯t split into half from that fierce attack, and only injured his neck. As the opponent was stunned by this feat, Garen managed to win this near-disastrous battle due to his speed.


    Garen gently touched the scar on his neck. It was difficult to recover from the attack of a Tactics of the totem light. He required two days to fully recover, even with his Divine Statue Technique¡¯s recovery speed.


    He had an epiphany after fighting so many form 1 totem users.


    Among them were different tiers; he had tried to obtain intel from the other Hounds after he suffered.


    A typical form 1 totem users could be separated into two types.


    The first one was a normal totem user. This type of totem users knew nothing and could only rely their totems and some basic Tactics to battle. Their strengths were heavily determined by their strength of totem and their battle strategy.


    The second type was the one Garen met yesterday. There were the specially gifted totem users.


    A form 1 user called Judra had a typical White Headed Black Hawk as his totem. What¡¯s strange was that Judra seemed to have some of the totem abilities as well, which was superhuman vision.


    He had already noticed Garen from afar and cunningly hid himself among the crowd.


    These types of gifted totem users were very valuable and their strengths were beyond this world. This bastard Judra even had two Master-levels as his bodyguards who would protect him for 24 hours everyday.


    At the same time, there were three other form 1 totem users approaching Garen as well.


    Garen had no choice but to retreat and gave up on this mission.


    He knew his limits as clear as day.


    He could still manage if he were to go against one form 1 totem users. To fight against multiple at one go was too much for him.


    The biggest threat to him was the totem user¡¯s ability to possess Tactics. Although not all totem users were able to use Tactics, the totem users from the Obscuro Society seemed to have many who could.


    The Tactic that was completely ineffective towards the totem users, but was the ultimate weapon to fight against the Master-level commoner. This was the difference between using a normal attack and a totem light.


    Garen knew his place, which was equivalent to the form 1 totem user.


    "Fifty four thousand¡­ With the addition from the previous battle it should be almost time¡­ The potential points have reached to 16 points. At this phase, it¡¯s about time for Goth to explode."


    Garen stood up and scanned his surroundings.


    There were a lot of quests recently, and the originally cramped hall had become rather empty. Even the big bald man who was casually having a conversation with him was nowhere to be seen.


    The Hounds duo that he obtained his intel from had their battle number written on the revoked blackboard. Clearly they had died on their previous mission.


    The totem user who had partnered with Garen was also killed as well.


    "The war is getting closer and closer¡­ There are ten more days left before the movement spreads out, and the items that I have collected can be sold for a fortune. With the addition of rewards that I have collected during this time, I should be able to obtain some intel on the high level totems from the Obscuro Society. Naturally, everything starts after Goth moves out." Garen understood. "It¡¯s time to see Goth and the others."


    Goth was one the traditional heroes who were hardworking and gifted. He was very stubborn and couldn¡¯t care less about other things except researching the Blackfield Birds. In addition to his gifted talent, his strength would eventually go beyond everyone¡¯s imagination.


    Garen¡¯s objective was Goth¡¯s key battle during his explosion.


    During the battle, they had exploded one of Obscuro Society¡¯s Totem Processing Associations. What was originally a simple investigative mission became a high risk confrontation mission.


    What Garen wanted was the huge amount of totems that were yet to be activated from the Phantom Light totem light during this explosion. According to the images from his memories, the totems from the Phantom Light were just normal totems. However, there were still some high grade totems as well, and there was even a factory unit that was completely unaffected by the explosion.


    If Garen could successfully obtain it, it would definitely result in a a huge leap and increment in strength.


    He will then use the money and resources in his hands to fill in the intel that he lacked. He would then pick an outstanding core totem and evolve it using by his potential points. This was the plan that Garen had in mind a long time ago.


    After sorting out his series of thoughts, Garen walked out of the main hall with a cheap grey robes which covered his scar on his neck.


    Next, it¡¯s time for him to participate in this risky quest.

 270 Roll 2

    Chapter 270: Roll 2


    The Kovitan Empire


    Vallarta Defense Department.


    Inside a triangular and compact room.


    Vanderman was sitting opposite two men with a stern look.


    "Is there no other way to avert the situation?" He asked in a deep tone.


    "Unfortunately, Vanderman. You and I have been pals for many years, even my son was under your guidance back then. I will act if I can. However, this time¡­" The man in white robe had a hopeless look on his face. "You need to be more proactive, and hopefully there would be an opportunity for you to turnaround."


    "It would be very difficult." The other man in white robe shook his head. "As of now, there are a lot of crimes currently pointing towards you. They were accusing you of researching for a forbidden totem. The trial have already frozen the Trejons Household official accounts. I believe that it¡¯s because you ignored the upper echelon and he decided to show no mercy and announce it to the public."


    Vanderman was silent.


    "That was years of my effort. They are forcing me to die¡­"


    "They are still being considerate about you. Your teacher, Master Shylock had been trying to speak for you. You still have your influence so you don¡¯t have to worry that much. However¡­" The man in white robe sighed.


    "Alright, I will take my leave, as I have matters to attend to." One of the man in white robe stood up, patted Vanderman¡¯s shoulder and left the room. As the door was closed, the footsteps became fainter and fainter.


    Only Vanderman and one man in white robes were still inside the room.


    "Perhaps there is still a chance." Vanderman¡¯s gaze was cold as ice. "Ola, you¡¯re involved in this experiment too. If this is exposed, neither of us will be able to escape. We need to think of something!"


    The remaining man in white robe became cold and emotionless as he stood up to leave.


    "Don¡¯t worry too much, I will do what I can from my side. Let¡¯s not panic, or we will fall into their hands."


    "They are already at my doorstep!" Vanderman gritted his teeth. "A while ago there was a form 2 totem user that appeared near the manor! My son¡¯s whereabouts are currently unknown! They have crossed the line!"


    Ola looked at him. "Stay calm. You should be fine as long as you send out more people. They won¡¯t lift their fingers since they¡¯re only here to probe." He stood up as well. "Remember to stay calm. I will send some people to deal with this incident since they cross the line."


    Vanderman looked at Ola leaving in disappointment.


    These people were trying to protect themselves by using him as a shield, and didn¡¯t even want to life a finger at all. The situation was getting dire for the Trejons Household. Everyone wanted to take credit for his many years of effort.


    "The special ultimate form¡­ I will eventually succeed! Just you wait!" He had placed all his hope on his own research product, which was a biological weapon that was made and controlled from medicine and Tactics.


    "If I succeed, There should be at least one out of the three biological weapons that can become the ultimate form¡­"


    Vanderman stood up and left the room.


    Outside, there was a beautiful woman with big bosom and brown hair waiting for him on his right.


    "Master, do you have any solutions?" The woman asked softly.


    Vanderman shook his head. "Go back. I have been forced by them!"


    "Master, don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re planning to use it already?" The woman was slightly shocked.


    "There is no other way. My bank account has been frozen and my son¡¯s whereabouts are unknown. The household is under a tremendous threat and there is no one else but myself to rely on." Vanderman was filled with rage. "It¡¯s time to show my results to the public."


    "Call Maxilan and Edney to return at once. It can¡¯t be helped if they can¡¯t find him. I can only hope that Cia is unharmed. We have to prepare for battle! The Obscuro Society will never show mercy to us."


    "Understood."


    *************


    Lush Green District, Aquarius Manor.


    At the white semi circular balcony, Aquarius, who was in a white dress, was holding the guard rail with both of her hands, her hair moving freely to the evening breeze.


    The red evening light from the sun shone on one side of her body, revealing her seductive body curve.


    "Is there any advancement from the Trejons Household?" Aquarius asked calmly.


    Behind her was a beautiful girl in a yellow short skirt, kneeling down on one knee.


    "The probing mission has been interrupted. There are a lot of totem users appearing in the Trejons manor, all of them are evolved form 2 totem users.


    "Looks like the Trejons Household is plotting something big, and they seem to be hiding a lot of secrets." Aquarius started to laugh. "The Royal Alliance seem to not be willing to protect Vanderman anymore. That old man has been putting up with him for so long. Let¡¯s see if he can keep it up this time."


    "We are not sure if any form 3 totem users will appear in the manor. If the ultimate form appears, we may require you to move out as well." The girl in yellow skirt said softly.


    "Ignore them. Let¡¯s wait for a while more. We have more important things to do. When the time has come, we will deal with these eye sores." Aquarius waved her hand.


    "Yes, Master." The girl in yellow skirt retreated.


    Aquarius looked at the red sunset in the distance with a comfortable smile.


    "Those two elders from the Royal Alliance, you¡¯re already dead."


    ***************


    Iron Tank City


    Among the small district of white residential area, inside the three storey building located at the left side of the district.


    Garen and the Andy brother and sister were sitting in the spacious living room on the first floor. Three of them were sitting in a row opposite the kind old man with white hair.


    "Our home rarely has any visitors. I hadn¡¯t expected a totem user to visit us. What an honor."


    "You¡¯re being polite, old man." Garen sat on the wooden sofa. "It¡¯s just that I have not seen Andy and his sister for a while, so I¡¯ve decided to visit them."


    The old man nodded his head. His name was Xihande and he was a retired security deputy of the Iron Tank City, which was similar to the deputy director of public security bureau. In addition, he was also once a reasonably strong totem user, although he had not been in action due to old age.


    "The two youngsters in my house have created their own team. At their age, all they think about is running around. I heard about the quest, the outcome might have been dire if not for you."


    "Andy and his sisters would be fine even without me. You worry too much." Garen immediately replied.


    "They? Hmph." The old man gave a hateful sigh. "Whatever. This old man isn¡¯t going to be in the way of your conversation, so I will go up and read a book or two. You guys do whatever you want. Please take care of our guest you two, do you hear me?


    "Loud and clear!" The siblings immediately replied.


    The old man Xihande slowly walked up towards the second floor. The siblings finally relaxed after the footsteps disappeared into the distance.


    Garen looked at the two of them as he laughed.


    "Is he that scary?"


    "You have no idea¡­ My father is a high level form 2 totem user and he was no ordinary character. He has been torturing us for the past few days¡­" Andy looked as if he had suffered a lot. "Oh right, how¡¯s Goth? We, the Panther Group haven¡¯t been on the move for a long time. Isn¡¯t it time to take on a quest? I don¡¯t have enough money to spend lately¡­" He glanced at his sister Jessica.


    "I¡¯ve spent all my money on books." Jessica whispered. "Let¡¯s listen to the old man and work in the security department." She was still traumatized by the previous incident. If it wasn¡¯t for Garen, she would have been in grave danger.


    As she thought of this, she looked at Garen with gratitude, as she thought of when to return him this favor.


    "You know nothing. Freedom is the most blessful thing! Once you have joined the security department it will be difficult for you to leave!" Andy sighed. "Let¡¯s find Goth and go pick up some quests."


    "Whatever floats the boat." Garen shrugged his shoulder.


    Under the lead of Andy, the trio left the building and went straight to Goth¡¯s address.


    They did find the bread store Goth mentioned, that was above the giant wolf statue.


    Goth, who was in all grey went into the shop with bags of flour.


    He was stunned as he saw the trio entered the shop and immediately ran towards them after placing down the flour.


    "Why are you guys here?"


    "We are preparing to take on some quests ,since our hands are tight on money lately." Andy scanned the bread shop. "Aren¡¯t you a totem user? Why are you living off like this?"


    "Shh¡­ My mum doesn¡¯t know I¡¯m a totem user." Goth shook his head. "Plus, I did nothing last time and I feel ashamed for that¡­"


    "Is there a better human shield, other than you?" Andy patted on Goth¡¯s shoulder. "Let¡¯s go, there¡¯s nothing to think about."


    "I don¡¯t think I should go¡­" Goth recoiled. "I heard there are a lot of people dying on the outskirts¡­"


    "If you earn more money, maybe you can revive your Blackfield Bird." Jessica couldn¡¯t help but to butt in from the side.


    Goth flinched, as if he was motivated by Jessica¡¯s words.


    "We will find some safe and easy quest. Have you used up all of your money?" Andy whispered.


    Goth nodded.


    "My mum took it away¡­"


    "..." "..." "..."


    "Goth, how old are you this year?" Garen couldn¡¯t help but to ask.


    "24." Goth answered sincerely. "Why do you ask?"


    Garen was speechless. No matter how you looked at him, how could he become the Grand Duke of the future. Garen started to doubt if he had made a mistake.


    The three of them tried to convince him, but eventually they dragged this guy as they moved out.


    As the four of them left, a beautiful, gentle and long haired woman walked out of the bread store and looked at the back of the four of them leaving. Sigh.


    As the four of them were in the city, they went to search for the latest newspaper at the bookstore Goth recommended.


    The owner of the bookstore was a middle aged uncle who greeted Goth with laughter when he saw him. He allowed them to sit down and read the newspaper, free of charge. Judging from how he familiar he treated Goth, it was obvious that this wasn¡¯t the first or second time he was here.


    After understanding the overall situation, the four of them entered the totem repair shop which contained a variety of survival tools. The boss was a straightforward lady and gave the four of them 40% discount since Goth often helped her to carry stuff. She even helped everyone to maintain their totems.


    Lastly, they went to a dry food shop. The owner was a kind old lady and was ecstatic when Goth called her grandma. She then stuffed everyone a big packet of biscuits and chocolate candies each.


    After leaving the city, they went into the Luminarist Hiring Guild. The three of them were carrying packets of snacks as they looked at Goth with a questioning gaze. This guy seemed to be very popular.


    Garen purposely followed from the back, and looked at the beginner quest that was hanging in front of them.


    His gaze shrunk slightly .

 271 Investigation 1

    Chapter 271: Investigation 1


    "I knew it¡­" The investigative quest related to the wild and dangerous creatures¡¯ nest was hanging up there. The name was "Nest Investigation". This was the important quest where Goth would explode the Obscuro Society¡¯s nest.


    This investigative quest would require one to investigate this so called dangerous creature¡¯s nest. However, it was actually the Obscuro Society¡¯s Totem Battlefield Processing Plant.


    As the three of them were accepting the quest, Garen took a step back and scanned his surroundings.


    These totem users were spiritually drained, tired, and most of them were injured. However, they did a good job in covering up. The head count was slightly less than before.


    Garen overheard the lady who announced the quest that there was not enough people lately, and no one was willing to take the beginner level quests. On the other hand, commissioning quests had been stacking up day after day.


    Dang dang¡­ Dang dang¡­ Dang dang¡­


    Garen walked to the wall and looked to the distance through the window.


    The tallest bell tower was ringing at the center of the Iron Tank City, which was white and circular.


    With Garen¡¯s superhuman vision, he could faintly see a lot of high level people in white robes with silver sleeves climbing up to the top of the tower beside the bell tower via the spiral staircase.


    There were like termites climbing up trees.


    "Meeting at the Spiral Tower, the highest level meeting of the Iron Tank City¡­ I wonder what¡¯s happened." Garen tried to suppress his curiosity.


    "What¡¯s wrong?" Andy patted Garen¡¯s shoulder. "We have accepted the quest. Let¡¯s go. The location is quite far away this time, since it¡¯s located at HIlkan. It would take us four days to travel back and forth and we can¡¯t take a carriage there. Fortunately the rewards are quite decent. Everyone will be getting five thousand and a transportation fee of two thousand."


    "Sounds good." Garen smiled. "However Hilkan is rather far. Oh right, what¡¯s the name of the quest?"


    "Nest Investigation." Andy said casually.


    "Andy, Are you guys going for the Nest Investigation as well?"


    Suddenly a group of people came from behind them. The one who was leading the group was a youngster in a brown armor asked as he smiled.


    Andy turned his head around and his facial expression dropped all of the sudden. "Are you doing this quest as well Cayduran?"


    Cayduran, who was in the brown armor smiled.


    A short haired macho man appeared behind him as he was putting away his silver dagger looked at Cayduran. "Friends of yours?"


    Cayduran nodded.


    "Sir Johnson, I will be staying back for a bit to have a chat with my friends."


    "Sure, we will chat when we¡¯re free." The short haired muscular guy nodded his head and brought a group of people passed Garen.


    At the entrance of the main hall, Andy with his three team mates and Cayduran with his two other teammates gave some space to let the rest enter or exit the main hall.


    However, these two had a healthy rivalry between them and they would never cross the line.


    Cayduran pointed at the two teammates and said as he smiled.


    "These two are the supports I have hired. My team has lost two people recently. Cana and Valerie are totem users from the Kovitan Empire."


    One of these two, Valerie, was a man with a golden ponytail. This self proclaimed Valerie looked arrogant and ignorant. He only nodded to the rest he was being introduced.


    The other girl was called Cana, who looked at Andy¡¯s team members. She immediately ignored Jessica due to her mediocre figure and face, who graduated from school and kept training herself. Along the road on her training, she had seen most sides of human beings.


    Her sight stopped for a moment as it landed on Andy and Goth, and soon set her sight onto the handsome Garen.


    "What a coincidence. Garen here is from Kovitan as well." Andy smiled.


    "You¡¯re from Kovitan?" Cana¡¯s interested peaked as she looked at Garen.


    This woman had both butt and bosom, and had an above average look. Her purple hair was at shoulder height and there were free strands hanging on her chests as well, which made her bosoms looked even more filling.


    Garen answered by nodding and smiling politely.


    "Which part of Kovitan are you from? Perhaps we are from the same hometown." Cana felt that among this group, Garen had a passable facial figure and looked sexy due to his good fitnesse as well. In addition to these, he was a totem user and this made him even slightly more interesting.


    Among the totem users in Kovitan, there are a lot of disciples voluntarily travelled around the world to train themselves but accepting quests. There were a lot of them doing this everywhere.


    Although she was from just a merchant household, her siblings who were in a similar social status had changed for the better when they became the significant other of these disciples. What they currently eat was of a different class, as if their lifestyle had completely changed.


    They, who came from the merchant household were naturally not competent against the aristocrats. These sisters had became the center of everyone¡¯s attention when they went for a gathering. The foods they ate and the clothes they wore everyday were something only an aristocrat could get hold of, and the places they went to could not be accessed by any typical person.


    Even totem users could not simply get into the circle of the aristocrats. The totem users with an aristocratic background, on the other hand, were who she had been looking for.


    Perhaps this fellow was an aristocrat who had came out to train himself?


    Cana assessed Garen carefully. She had seen a lot of people along the journey but she had never met someone who was as handsome as Garen. Most importantly, this person¡¯s skin was almost as smooth as hers. She couldn¡¯t help herself but to fall for him the moment she saw him.


    "I am from the lush green area." Garen smiled as he replied


    "Oh, lush green. I have been there for a vacation. It¡¯s a nice place with good air quality and the environment is very beautiful. My sisters and I had only been to the Ivy Park and the environment there was superb. The squirrels there are not afraid of humans and they even asked food from us." Cana smiled.


    Garen had never heard of Ivy Park, but he went along with it and smiled as he listened to Cana¡¯s conversation regarding her time in the park.


    On one end, the atmosphere between Cayduran and Andy was not enjoyable. On the other hand, Garen and Cana seemed to be enjoying their time talking casually.


    Jessica, Goth and Valerie started to talk as they had nothing better to do.


    Valerie felt unease and frowned as he noticed Cana¡¯s warming attitude towards Garen.


    Cana and Valerie came from the same sect, and they went on a journey together as well. He always had some feelings for her and he couldn¡¯t help to feel jealous when he saw Cana having a great time with Garen.


    As he was chatting with Jessica, he always kept a constant eye on Garen and Cana.


    Garen noticed it and he didn¡¯t want to cause any trouble. However, the current situation was that Cana initiated the conversation with her. As a beautiful and well figured lady who came and initiate a conversation with him, he could only listen and look, even if he didn¡¯t have the intention of having a conversation with her. He couldn¡¯t just push the person away as it would offend her as well..


    After a few exchanges of words, Andy and Cayduran felt irritated towards one another. However, they kept the conversation going as all of them were of the same rank. The current situation outside was rather dire, so both of them had some intention of working together since they were all form 1 totem users.


    After a few words, both teams decided to work together.


    They rented a few horses from the stable, brought along the survival tools and tent and separated into two groups.


    These two teams merged together and soon exited the suburbs and entered the the highway.


    The distance between Hilkan and Iron Tank City was very far. The road during the beginning of the journey was rather easy, but its difficulty inreased as they approached their destination. The map they bought recommended using a horse as their main transportation, not carriages.


    Everyone had their own horses, as they sprinted forward along the highway.


    Along the journey, Cana would intentionally get closer to Garen and occasionally crack a joke or two. Two of them slowly got to know each other better.


    Valerie¡¯s expression got worse along the journey as he looked at Garen with jealousy.


    He understood well that totem users who came out to train themselves were mostly members from their local sects. Although the numbers of a noble totem users weren¡¯t little, they were considered the minority.


    If Garen was a noble, he would be totally different from the merchants as most of the totem evolving techniques were in the hands of the aristocrats. The was a huge difference between a typical totem users and a noble totem user. A typical totem users might spend a few decades to become form 2 totem users, which was considered very strong. On the other hand, the nobles had the opportunity to attain the third form. Furthermore, both parties had different amount of resources, as the nobles would have more Tactics compared to the typical totem users in terms of support and attacks. The typical totem users and noble totem users had a different starting point from the very beginning.


    He would not want to mess with Garen if he really were a noble.


    Along the road, Goth and Jessica were at the back, Andy and Cayduran were at the front with Garen, Valerie and Cana in the middle.


    After a few hours on the road, two teams stopped for a rest to eat some dry food and water. They also took this opportunity to separate their work clearly. Although Andy and Cayduran didn¡¯t get along very well, they do know each other very well since they grew up together. They would rather work together than to work with other people because they at least knew each other¡¯s personality.


    After they came to an agreement in terms of splitting the rewards, they continued on their journey.


    As the night approached, the group started to set up the tent between the river and the road.


    As Garen wasn¡¯t experienced in setting up the tent, Cana came and gave him a hand and nailed the wood onto the ground to stabilize the tent.


    "Have you not slept inside a tent before?" Cana asked as she helped out.


    "Yeah, I have never done this before." Garen shook his head. This world¡¯s tents were very detailed and sturdy, and would require every foundation to be set up straight in order to work. He indeed had never done this before.


    As Cana heard his answer, she was even surer of her assumption. Every totem user should know how to set up this tent, as it was one of the must-bring equipment when one went outside. Since Garen didn¡¯t know how to use it, it was obvious that someone had been helping him to set it up.


    Her smile became sweeter as she thought of this. If she could get a hold of a noble disciple, she would be able to obtain the evolving techniques and the remaining resources in the future. Her chances of becoming a form 2 totem user would greatly increase as well.


    "I have a self inflating tent. I will give you one later, it¡¯s the latest product." Cana smiled as she said.


    "It¡¯s alright. This tent is decent enough."


    "It¡¯s alright, it¡¯s just a tent anyway." Cana turned around and came back in a short while. Before Garen could even open his mouth, she placed some sort of a black stick towards Garen¡¯s arms. "I still have a lot of these so don¡¯t worry about it. Take it as a token of our newly formed friendship." Although she said that on the surface, her heart couldn¡¯t help but ache as she passed it to him. These inflating tent made use of chemicals to inflate and deflate at will and its price wasn¡¯t cheap. However, she believed it¡¯s a must to ensure the foundation of this friendship needed to be firm and sturdy.

 272 Investigation 2

    Chapter 272: Investigation 2


    Two days later.


    Evening.


    On the wide grassy plains, behind a little hill, there were two yellow bonfires within close proximity of each other, emitting two yellow halos of light.


    The two groups of people surrounded each bonfire, each doing their own preparations.


    "Garen, you¡¯re in charge of tonight¡¯s recon, we¡¯ll be counting on you for the night," Andy said to Garen softly.


    "You guys can go ahead and sleep, relax." Garen nodded, and stood.


    Reconnaissance was mostly up to him and Valerie, because both of them used flying type totems. Valerie¡¯s was a small bluebird, which flew at high speeds and could be used as a messenger.


    After delegating their work these past two days, they had started getting more familiar with one another.


    Cana and Valerie sat beside their captain, baking by the bonfire. When they saw Garen stand, Cana finally couldn¡¯t help but ask,


    "Cayduran, what on earth is Garen¡¯s core totem? Why have I only seen him using the neon butterfly as his totem this few days? That¡¯s a very unpopular kind of totem, isn¡¯t it, I don¡¯t think anyone¡¯s even researched how to further improve on it."


    Cayduran was stoking the bonfire, and raised his head when she said that, looking at her in surprise.


    "I¡¯m telling you to stay away from him, his core totem? You¡¯re the closest to him, and you still don¡¯t know?"


    "Know what?" Cana asked, frowning.


    "This Garen doesn¡¯t have a core totem, he only does recon in his team." Cayduran looked at Cana curiously. "If you think he¡¯s some rich noble kid, you¡¯re wrong. That Garen was working at a totem repair shop by the nightmarket back there, and Andy only pulled him into the team later. Even if he¡¯s nobility, he¡¯d only be washed-out nobility. That¡¯s why I advised you to get all your facts straight before you make any plans. I thought you knew."


    Cana was rather stunned.


    She never guessed that the answer she was looking for all this time would be that simple.


    But she still had more faith in her own judgment. This Garen had an aura she just couldn¡¯t see through, in other words he was really weird. There was no way he was just a normal totem user.


    "Stop fantasizing, nobles always take their own safety very seriously. Without even a core totem, he can¡¯t even guarantee his safety on a mission like this." Valerie couldn¡¯t help but speak, "That guy is actually the weakest in our team." He had long since been unhappy with Garen. Every time he saw Cana initiate a conversation with Garen and get a cold shoulder in return, sparks flew in his heart.


    "Let¡¯s wait and see¡­" Cana frowned and said softly, but her passion had also been doused. She was beginning to doubt her own theory.


    Early the next morning


    Garen kept away his neon butterfly, preparing to mount his horse and rest for a moment by taking a nap. The horse would be led forward by the connecting ropes anyway.


    He soon realized that Cana, who would usually approach him for a chat, had gotten a lot colder, riding her own horse as she chatted with Valerie.


    It was a rare moment of peace for him, so he slowed down his horse and created a little distance between them. He began to check his current condition.


    After hunting down so many missions for the War Guild, he was also beginning to understand some things about Luminarists.


    Most totems were divided into two types, Seraph Lights and Phantom Lights. There were fewer Phantom Lights, but each of these were extremely strong. The scar on Garen¡¯s neck was left by a Phantom Light.


    He was aware that he didn¡¯t have a core totem yet, so his abilities plus his secret techniques only added up to the level of a Form 1 Phantom Light, equal to a peak Form 1 totem user. But if he was to go against a Form 2 totem user face to face, then he would be way out of league.


    In the two small teams present here, only Andy and Cayduran were slightly stronger. When it came to controlling totems and the strength of their Totem Light, the two of them were the strongest, and that made them the main fighting force in head-on confrontations. The others were all rookies, at the same level as the general average. They were all relying on their totem¡¯s attack type, and determining their strength by the strength of their totems.


    As a thought occurred to him, he saw that in front of him, Cayduran was whispering something into Valerie¡¯s ear. Cayduran nodded, and turned around to look at Garen.


    "Garen, we need to check that small patch of forest ahead on the left, we¡¯ll have to rely on your butterfly for a bit."


    Garen nodded, and pulled out his silver-colored short staff to release the neon butterfly. He then let it patrol around the small forest ahead on the right.


    Finding nothing, the neon butterfly returned, and the team continued forward.


    Not long later, just as Garen was getting ready to rest, he heard another call from ahead.


    "Garen, don¡¯t sleep yet, something seems to have come up behind us, go send the neon butterfly to take a look," Valerie said loudly.


    Garen had stood guard all night last night, and was just growing sleepy. He planned to rest, and recover a bit. Upon hearing that, he opened his eyes and frowned.


    "Valerie, your totem is a flying type too, why are you always making Big Brother Garen do the work?" Jessica asked, slightly unhappily.


    "He¡¯s the weakest, so he should work more," Valerie said smoothly with a pout.


    "Forget it, it¡¯s fine." Garen didn¡¯t want to pick a bone with this team either. This assignment was extremely important to him, he didn¡¯t want to influence the path of history too much.


    Releasing the neon butterfly, he let it take a round behind them, chasing away a few young deer. Only then did it return to rest on Garen¡¯s shoulder.


    They slowed down their horses, proceeding at a speed that was neither fast nor slow. The group decided they might as well settle their food and drink on horseback. It was only in the afternoon that they stopped to let the horses rest and drink.


    In the afternoon.


    Cana hesitated for a while, but still came over to chat a bit with Garen. Valerie was instantly put off. From what the captain said, he finally understood that Garen wasn¡¯t any noble at all. Even if he was, he¡¯d just be a washed-out one, and so he posed no threat at all. Seeing Cana approach Garen even now, the discomfort in his heart got even stronger.


    "Garen, I¡¯m a little tired, so I¡¯ll take a nap now. I¡¯ll leave patrolling to you." Valerie walked up to Garen and said loudly.


    "What do you mean by that?" Beside him, Andy frowned and stood up. "You¡¯re supposed to patrol during the daytime, right?"


    "It¡¯s okay, it¡¯s okay." Garen didn¡¯t say anything more. His endurance was out of this world, he trained in the secret techniques, and his spiritual power was brimming, so this little bit was nothing to him. This assignment was related to Goth¡¯s explosion, and it affected the variables that might appear after he joined the team. He didn¡¯t want to completely fall out with Cayduran¡¯s side over such a small matter. After all, in the images in his memoriesm Cayduran and the others had gone into the caves together too.


    Seeing that Garen himself wasn¡¯t bothered about it, Andy and Goth, who was just about to stand up, couldn¡¯t interfere much either. Both of them sat back down.


    As requested, Garen began to patrol the surroundings immediately.


    When he stood up, however, Valerie said to him in a soft voice,


    "This is just a little lesson for you. If you understand, then you¡¯d better leave Cana alone, otherwise it won¡¯t be this easy next time."


    Garen almost wanted to laugh.


    This brat actually dared to threaten him. This mother-suckling brat, without a whiff of blood on him, actually dared to stand directly in front and threaten him, face to face.


    If he weren¡¯t so scared of causing too many changes, creating too many variables in this mission, he would have long ago given this kid a tight slap.


    After one round of patrolling, he returned to the temporary camp. Garen approached Goth and sat down next to him. Seeing the way Goth ate half a baguette in one bite, gorging himself like a pig, Garen suddenly felt especially hungry. He picked up the rock-hard baguette, dipped it into ketchup, and enjoyed it more than he thought he would.


    "Garen, go fetch some water from around here." Valerie¡¯s voice sounded again.


    "Hey, what¡¯s the matter with you?" Goth got to his feet in an instant. "You got legs and hands, can¡¯t you get it yourself?"


    Valerie stood as well, laughing coldly. "Someone who doesn¡¯t even have a core totem would be a burden anyway, why should we give him a portion of the money if he doesn¡¯t do a little something? Anyone on this team can contribute to the team, and fight for the team. He¡¯s the only exception, not only is his totem so weak, it¡¯s not even a core totem. He can only be a burden for the team."


    "Alright, Valerie, isn¡¯t that enough?" Cana finally had enough, standing up as she said coldly, "Don¡¯t make me look down on you!"


    "Alright, alright, no more fighting." Andy and Cayduran both got up. Cayduran glanced at Garen, frowning, "This matter ends here."


    Valerie glared at Garen. Since he was scolded by Cana just now, he was even more pissed off than before.


    The two teams suddenly stopped talking to each other and sat separately on two sides.


    After getting enough rest, they continued on their journey.


    Although Cana now knew that Garen wasn¡¯t any nobleman like she had hoped, but she still couldn¡¯t act like how Valerie did. She didn¡¯t want the two teams to split over something like this. So she still sought Garen out and personally apologized, followed by a short chat.


    Unfortunately, when Valerie, who was just rather annoyed, saw that Cana still insisted on sucking up to Garen, he got even angrier.


    Looking at his dark expression, it was clear that he had begun to hate Garen.


    A full four days passed.


    The two teams began to slowly enter the wilderness. The surrounding cottages and hunting houses grew sparser and sparser, and eventually disappeared altogether.


    There were more and more weeds on the road, almost enough to cover the surface of the road entirely. And this was covered by a lot of loose pebbles.


    The two captains gathered together, holding the map and tracing the route. Soon enough, they left the road for cars and horses, following a narrow dirt road, turning into some other unknown territory.


    Everywhere around them, there were endlessly vast expanses of grassy green fields, and almost no trace of humanity whatsoever. The spattering of woods also grew fewer, as they had evidently arrived at the dirt plains.


    The team continued pushing forth, eventually finding the little mound that looked like a pitchfork.1 The whole team stopped.


    "This is where we start." Andy held up the map to compare.


    "There¡¯s blood here!" Cayduran crouched behind the little mound and said loudly, "The assignment description said that a few people disappeared here, leaving behind traces of blood and fighting. Seems like we got the right place."


    The others quickly hurried to look, and saw that there were some clots of dried red-black blood on the grass. The soil underneath had also been dyed dark red, making it very obvious to the eye.


    "Thank goodness it didn¡¯t rain these few days, so the blood stains weren¡¯t completely washed away," Cayduran said in a low voice. "Check the map, how should we go from here? If I wasn¡¯t wrong, there should be a bandits¡¯ nest nearby."


    "The assignment mentioned that regular city guards came here to check a couple times, but the never found anything. That¡¯s why they handed the assignment over to the Guild. But I bet they¡¯re just slightly more cunning normal people, it shouldn¡¯t be much of a problem." Andy walked over and spread open the map as he said, "If we search right from here, we should be able to an underground cave. The last time the city guards went in, five days before we received the mission, it was too dark inside, and they couldn¡¯t advance because there were too many traps and switches. After a few of them got hurt, the city guards came back out, but mentioned it on the assignment."


    "C¡¯mon, let¡¯s go in and look." Cayduran stood up.


    Translator''s Thoughts


    J_Squared J_Squared


    Lit. ɽ×ÖÐÎ, meaning a mountain that looks like the Chinese word for ¡®mountain¡¯ (ɽ). It does look like a pitchfork, don¡¯t it?

 273 Entrance 1

    Chapter 273: Entrance 1


    The group walked along the mound, and entered a small patch of woods to their right.


    In the midst of the forest, a pitch black pit gaped open at a slant on the grassy ground. It was surrounded by vines and grass, and they could only vaguely feel the cold draft rushing out from between the cracks.


    Andy went forth, using his hunting knife to cut apart some of the wild growth, revealing the entire cave.


    He lowered his head, and immediately saw a row of faint footprints on the ground. Some grass had been flattened underfoot, and had yet to bounce back up completely.


    "It¡¯s here." Andy pointed ahead, and a black shadow darted out from behind him, leaping into the cave with a whoosh. "I sent Black Panther ahead, please wait for a moment, guys."


    The group scattered and stood apart, constantly aware of the surrounding situation.


    A black wolf appeared by Cayduran¡¯s feet, white smoke bubbling from its mouth. It was evidently a Fire Wolf that had been raised to a very high level, almost approaching Form 2.


    His hand moved slightly, and the Black Wolf immediately stood up, and began to walk casual circles around the surrounding forests.


    Everyone was on alert. This was a bandits¡¯ cave, and they needed to be constantly aware of any movements around them. After all, several batches of city guards had already perished here. The other side would surely anticipate stronger reinforcements to follow.


    Garen stood beside Goth, the neon butterfly perched on his shoulder.


    He knew very well that there weren¡¯t just any normal bandits in this cave, but an extremely powerful Luminarist.


    The Totem Light would only demonstrate its own defensive power when similarly attacked by Totem Light.


    With his current Neon Butterfly¡¯s defensive power, even twice of that wouldn¡¯t be anything in front of regular totems. Even a Black Wolf would be able to break through his defense easily. Garen was mainly relying on his own Divine Statue Technique for defense. Due to the different in quality, the Divine Statue Technique¡¯s Body Hardening Technique couldn¡¯t be all that powerful against the Totem Light either.


    Garen compared himself, and after adding the two together, he decided he was more or less equal to Andy¡¯s Black Panther.


    "Cayduran, your Black Wolf is almost Form 2, isn¡¯t it?" Jessica started talking to Cayduran quietly. The two of them grew up together, and although Jessica¡¯s older brother didn¡¯t get along with Cayduran, Jessica herself was pretty friendly with him.


    "There¡¯s still a long way yet. Although I managed to find some ways to raise it, there¡¯s still some distance to go before it reaches Fire Wolf level." Cayduran shook his head. "The later part of evolution is an upgrade in total quality, too many people get stuck here."


    Jessica found some questions about evolution and start chatting idly with Cayduran, as a way to kill time.


    Cana had her hands tied with Valerie, but no one knew what they were talking about.


    Garen released his Neon Butterfly to make patrols in the sky over his head, paying close attention to anything that might happen.


    Goth, on the other hand, released that ink-colored Blackfield Bird. It was just a wooden bird, that couldn¡¯t do anything but move its eyes.


    By then, Andy had also more or less completed his scouting. Frowning, he turned around and said, "There¡¯s a fork in the road ahead. Two roads, do you want to go on?"


    Cayduran hesitated.


    "It shouldn¡¯t be too big a problem, they¡¯re just bandits. I myself cleaned up a lot on my own before, and that was totally fine."


    "What if we¡¯re sealed inside?" Jessica began to hesitate.


    "It¡¯s fine, I know penetration tactics, I can open up a tunnel in a second. As long as there isn¡¯t Totem Light in the way, we don¡¯t have to worry about any other materials," Cayduran replied with a smile.


    "I¡¯ll be the one to lead my sister, I don¡¯t need your crap." Andy gave him an angry glance.


    "Would it kill you to keep your mouth clean!" Cayduran was mad too. "Forget it, we¡¯ll go in first. When we reach the fork, we¡¯ll each take one side, just read the signals when we get there. Let¡¯s go."


    He led the Black Wolf down into the tunnel, followed closely by Cana. And then Valerie glared at Garen with disdain, chasing behind Cana.


    "We¡¯ll go too." Andy waved his hand, and was the first to enter. He held a small white ball in his hand, but Garen didn¡¯t know what it was. Judging by the expression of wariness on his face, it evidently wasn¡¯t any normal item.


    Goth went second, Jessica third, and Garen was the very last.


    It was pitch black in the tunnel, and all they could hear was the smattering of Andy¡¯s footsteps from ahead.


    Garen followed behind the three of them, feeling the air grow colder and colder, and the tunnel grew wider. Cayduran and the others, who had gone ahead, were gone without a trace.


    "Be careful, don¡¯t get left behind," Andy¡¯s voice came from the furthest front.


    "I know." "Relax."


    The three of them replied in turn. In these pitch black surroundings, the four of them couldn¡¯t see very well with their eyes, so they had to follow behind Andy¡¯s Black Panther to advance. The Black Panther¡¯s brilliant green eyes shone slightly luminescent in the darkness, like two oval emeralds.


    After walking another distance, Andy suddenly stopped.


    "We¡¯ve reached the fork. They took the left side, we¡¯ll do the right."


    The group continued advancing down the right side, and quickly came across yet another fork in the road.


    "Wait!" Andy¡¯s voice suddenly held a hint of anxiety.


    He walked a little further forward, to the front of the Black Panther, and took out two flints from his pocket


    Hiss!


    The spark lit and died in the darkness, followed by the soft rustle of burning. The small torch Andy had prepared was instantly lit up, and it lit up the rest of the cave as well.


    "There¡¯s some trouble¡­" Under the bright red firelight, Andy¡¯s complexion changed slightly.


    The other three quickly hurried up to him.


    "What¡¯s the matter?" Goth approached him.


    "Ah!" Jessica suddenly clapped her hand to her mouth and took one step back.


    Garen saw it too. In front of Andy, there was the naked corpse of a man hanging upside down.


    The corpse had brown hair and deathly pale skin. A large hole had been dug out of his abdomen, with swarms of maggots and black ants crawling around within.


    The man¡¯s eyes were opened wide, as though he had encountered something especially painful.


    With a whoosh, the Black Panther leapt up and cut the rope suspending the body with one wipe of its paw.


    The corpse fell to the ground with a whumpf, landing next to Andy. He crouched down to examine it closely.


    "He¡¯s been dead for four or five days, but he doesn¡¯t stink at all¡­ This damned bandits!" He turned the corpse, and pulled a short black arrow from his back. Andy looked at the color of the arrow tip carefully, and his expression changed.


    "Garen, you don¡¯t have an automatically activating Totem Light, so you stand guard at the cave entrance. The others, come with me and don¡¯t get left behind, we¡¯ll have to speed up. These damned bandits! Jessica, you¡¯re okay?" Andy glanced at his younger sister.


    "It¡¯s nothing, I¡¯m perfectly fine." Jessica¡¯s chest was heaving non-stop, but she still forced herself to keep her emotions steady.


    "Goth, you protect Jessica. Although your Blackfield Bird can¡¯t move, its skin is very hard, and its feathers can deflect impacts. Your job is to defend Jessica from any Totem Light attacks nearby. Garen, you stay outside. This place is too dangerous for you, your Totem Light can¡¯t activate automatically, and you have to control it yourself, so it¡¯s likely you can¡¯t block hidden poisonous arrows attacks." Andy started delegating jobs one by one.


    "That¡¯s why we need you to stealthily protect the cave entrance. Only then can we make use of your strengths, is that alright?"


    Garen nodded solemnly.


    "Leave it to me." He had long since made plans of his own, so naturally he would agree at this point.


    "Then we¡¯ll leave it at that, let¡¯s head out!" Andy barked the order, and the Black Panther led the way as the three of them quickly ran ahead.


    Garen started retreating to the back. At first his speed was average, but once there weren¡¯t any footsteps or firelight ahead of him, he began to speed up. The lightless surroundings had no effect on him whatsoever.


    His highly capable physical attributes made his five senses extra powerful, so naturally his eyes and ears could clearly replicate the conditions he just saw before.


    Soon enough, he had returned to the first fork in the road.


    "Eh?"


    Suddenly he paused for a moment. He realized that the tunnel ahead that led back to the entrance had somehow vanished completely, replaced by a stone wall that was exactly like the surroundings.


    If he didn¡¯t have extraordinary memory, and memorized the traits of this exact spot, he would have probably assumed he took a wrong turn.


    The Y-shaped tunnel had suddenly become V-shaped, the path back was gone.


    Garen reached out his hand to touch the stone wall, it was very hard rock.


    "As expected, we¡¯ve been discovered." He hesitated, and then ran faster down the corridors Cayduran and co had taken. The Neon Butterfly rested on his shoulder, emitting a gentle, pale blue light, so he could clearly see the things around him.


    In no time at all, there was another fork in front him. He crouched down to look at the footsteps on the ground, they led to the left.


    He stood up and dashed down the right.


    After taking a few more turn, running about a few kilometers of distance, he vaguely saw firelight ahead.


    "Who¡¯s there!!" A piercing woman¡¯s voice came from ahead. A short-haired woman walked out from the tunnels ahead, still putting on her clothes. She was in her early twenties and had a decent figure, a thin waist, a delicate chest, her unbuttoned collar revealing a white lace bra.


    There was a dent in the wall on the woman¡¯s left. Inside, there was a candle on a wooden trunk, and the candlelight also illuminated a semicircular bed.


    After waiting so long without a reply, the woman¡¯s rather plain face looked confused.


    "Is it Ada? Stop joking around."


    And still no one replied.


    The woman picked up a dagger that was lying on the wooden crate and arched her body like a female panther, as she slowly began to move.


    Whoosh!


    Suddenly there was a gush of cold wind, lightly stinging the woman¡¯s widened eyes. She instantly blinked them.


    She couldn¡¯t help but rub her eyes, but there wasn¡¯t anything out of place at all in the tunnel.


    "Did I hear wrong?" she murmured, straightened up, and returned to sitting on her bed. Then she took her clothes, bra, and underwear, then actually pulled up the covers and went to sleep naked.


    Garen stood on the other end quietly. In the instant where the wind blew just now, he had already darted past this woman in the blink of an eye, reaching the other side.


    This guard woman was only a Soldier-level who had done a bit of training, there was no way she could notice his peak Master-level speed.


    After getting past this patrol point, Garen continued running ahead soundlessly.


    His speed was exceedingly fast, like a gust of wind.


    With a smack, his leather breeches stepped past the ground. Before the underground spikes of the trap could even snap up, he had already gone past the trap and was several meters away.


    As he flitted past, poison arrows shot out from the walls on both sides, and rope nooses appeared suddenly on the ground, ready to hang someone upside down at any moment. The further ahead he went, the more traps there were.


    Some higher difficulty compound traps also started appearing, with many things like poisonous liquids or powders.


    There were even two Form 1 venomous wasp totems resting in two dents on either side of the tunnel.


    Relying on his speed, Garen dashed past the Wasps in an instant, but he had barely taken a few steps before several black bats flew down from the ceiling ahead.

 274 Entrance 2

    Chapter 274: Entrance 2


    Squawk!


    The bats screeched as they pounced at Garen. There was actually the pale black glow of Totem Light on their bodies.


    Garen hurriedly avoided them, retreating backwards to avoid the bats¡¯ attack.


    "Someone came in! Don¡¯t you know this area is restricted!"


    A man¡¯s deep voice came from the tunnel ahead.


    It was a skinhead who wore a black robe and had four red stripes on his collar who suddenly appeared in the tunnel ahead. A male lion with a black mane crouched next to him, and a black bat perched on his shoulder.


    As soon as he came out, the skinhead saw Garen, who was avoiding the bats.


    "Intruder!!" He instantly roared, pointing a finger at Garen.


    Brrr!!


    The bat on his shoulder, as well as the two black bats in the air, opened their mouths and emitted shapeless soundwaves at the same time.


    The soundwaves fanned opened, completely enveloping Garen who was trying to avoid them. They came in waves, like seawaves breaking over the rocks.


    The soundwaves had just touched Garen when they broke past the Neon Butterfly¡¯s Totem Light in an instant, directly entering his body.


    Suddenly there was a tight and dull on his chest, and Garen felt his head vaguely aching.


    His vision was a blurry mess, as though something was pressing down on his eyelids, so he couldn¡¯t see anything clearly at all.


    His ears were also constantly echoing with a ringing sound, so he couldn¡¯t hear a thing. His heartbeat accelerated, growing faster and faster, and that dull nausea kept rising from his chest and into his threat.


    He suddenly tasted something like iron in his throat.


    "Shit!! Form 2 totem!" Garen immediately understood his opponent¡¯s level. Before he could think too much about it, he somersaulted backwards, his feet desperately tapping the ground, and he disappeared into the darkness within a few leaps.


    The bats chased him for quite a distance, but still couldn¡¯t catch up to him in the slightest.


    The skinhead called back his three bat totems coldly, caressing the black lion¡¯s head beside him.


    "Suicidal. A tiny Form 1 totem user who didn¡¯t self-implode after taking a hit from my Triple Ultrasound Waves, consider yourself lucky." The other guy escaped, but he didn¡¯t mind in the slightest. Anyone who got hit by Triple Ultrasound Waves basically wouldn¡¯t live for more than five minutes.


    He fixed his collar, and raised his hand to look at the time on his watch.


    "I should go check on Phillip, there have been little bugs getting in here all the time now, and now they¡¯ve almost entered the restricted zone. Looks like we oughta move this position soon."


    He strode into the pitch black tunnel, the bats and black lion following closely behind him.


    *************


    Garen panted heavily, trying to get air into his lungs. The Neon Butterfly was perched on his shoulder motionlessly, its light dimming, its body wrinkled and dry. It had obviously taken damage in that soundwave attack from before.


    Not only was the Neon Butterfly damaged, tiny red dots were also blossoming all over Garen¡¯s whole body, as countless blood capillaries erupted at the seams.


    He leaned heavily one of the tunnel¡¯s stone walls. His whole body, inside and out, felt like it was swelling up as though someone was inflating him with air, making him liable to explode at any moment.


    His blood and qi were boiling intensely like never before. Garen tried his hardest, did everything to press it down, desperately using the Divine Statue Technique¡¯s methods to control and adjust it.


    It took a full ten minutes for there to be some sort of effect.


    He stretched out his hands, and saw that there was blood leaking out all around his fingernails.


    "What a strong effect!!" he murmured softly.


    All the blood in his body was trembling from the soundwave attack, roiling over like waves. His peak-level Body Hardening Technique, that had completely merged with his body, actually started to waver.


    All this time, ever since he came to this world, he had confidence based on his highest achievements from the world of secret techniques. Even when he witnessed his teacher Emin¡¯s battle against an opponent, he didn¡¯t think he was too far away from them. It was just a difference in their strongest outputs.


    And now, a regular unknown Form 2 totem user from out of nowhere, nearly injured him grievously at just first glance. It was like pouring a bucket of cold water over Garen¡¯s head.


    Although he did know inside that he couldn¡¯t match a Form 2 totem user, he was still not that afraid or worried about his opponent, because the other person would find it hard to hurt him as well. Especially after he ambushed and killed a Form 2 totem user recently, this line of thinking had been reinforced even further.


    To think that he would suddenly stumble into that skinhead totem user in this tunnel, and that guy had a total of three bat support totems. And his main totem, the black lion, hadn¡¯t even attacked, but it was already enough to injure Garen to this level.


    Only then did Garen understand more about Form 2 totems.


    "Three support totems, and one core totem¡­ He¡¯s definitely one of the higher-ups here! A Form 2 totem user like that can¡¯t possibly be a no-name character!" he hazarded a guess. At the same time, he kept stabilizing the situation inside his body.


    Right now, his blood and qi were unstable. The impact had caused internal bleeding, and if he were to fight with anyone now, his abilities would be drastically reduced. At the most, he would have half of what he did before.


    Faced with the soundwave attack that also carried Totem Light, the Divine Statue Technique could only resist a little better than normal people. Other than that, he had no other advantage.


    After resting for a while, Garen knew that this was the key period. In his memories, he knew that as long as he found the core area in here, he shouldn¡¯t be able to get a rare totem. This was Obscuro Society¡¯s main factory, after all. If he could obtain the Obscuro Society¡¯s totem and bring it out of here, it would be surely stronger than regular totems.


    "I must be patient now, and wait for Goth¡¯s side to trigger his power. It will disrupt the entire underground headquarters and factory, then I¡¯ll have my chance to move in the chaos!" Garen¡¯s heart slowly started to calm down. He began to dig stones, bit by bit out of the cave wall he was at.


    Curling his hands into claws, he could paw out a large rock with each swipe, Soon enough he had dug a trench out of the stone wall, and darted into it.


    He then squeezed all the rocks and shards he had dug out into very fine black sand, scattering them on the ground around him. This way it was very hard for anyone to notice him.


    Shrinking quietly in the stone wall, Garen used the clothes on his body to hide the trench. It was hard to see in the darkness anyway, so it had a very strong camouflaging effect.


    He shrunk into the stone wall, listening silently to the disturbances in front and behind him in the tunnel.


    The reason he rejected using his teacher Emin¡¯s White Bear as a core totem was because he knew that no matter how strong the White Bear totem got, it couldn¡¯t defeat special animal totems without evolving to the very peak. And these special animal totems could barely go against Terraflor¡¯s plant totems, not to mention the strongest ones, Obscuro¡¯s element totems.


    He didn¡¯t have over-powered talent, so if even his basics were one step behind everyone else, it would be hard for him to advance.


    Acacia¡¯s talent could support two totems at most, and that was also because the Neon Butterfly was very weak. If it was the White Bear, he would only be able to support one at most.


    He didn¡¯t know how long he waited, but Garen -- hiding in the stone wall-- suddenly felt footsteps coming from the tunnel outside.


    A large group of people were running past this tunnel, their footsteps hasty.


    "Hurry! Hurry!" Voices came from outside.


    Boom!!


    An intense tremor came from the distance, jolting Garen, who was inside the stone wall, into getting a face-full of sand.


    "It¡¯s begun!! Goth and the others must have engaged the enemy! I have to hurry!" After the footsteps had passed, Garen quickly darted out of the wall, put on his clothes, and hurriedly dashed deeper into the tunnel.


    After that moment¡¯s reprieve, he had recovered most of his speed.


    The tunnel ahead of him kept turning and twisting.


    Soon enough, he returned to where he had been injured earlier. That skinhead in black robes was no longer there.


    Garen didn¡¯t wait for even a moment, and directly ran past this area.


    The path ahead was suddenly illuminated. It was a wide tunnel with torches on both sides of the wall.


    There were a few corpses scattered over the floor, each of them with their necks snapped and their eyes wide.


    There was a light splatter of blood on the walls, leaving a smell of iron in the air.


    On the right there were two white stone doors, one tightly shut and one half open.


    In the distance ahead, he could faintly hear the sounds of intense battle. The two fighting sides had evidently just left here, and hadn¡¯t gone far. They could be back at any time.


    Garen walked up to the half-open stone door, and quickly peeped inside.


    There were also corpses strewn about inside, blood flowing into a little stream from the corner of the walls to the door, dying the black stone floor a sticky dark red.


    This stone room was probably a place for recreation and meetings. He could still see the bar counter, beer bottles and sofa inside.


    Garen quickly walked up to the second stone door, and pushed it slightly. It didn¡¯t budge at all, meaning it was locked.


    It was a boost to his spirits. Garen aimed his right palm for the keyhole, and hit it abruptly.


    Hiss!


    A hole instantly appeared where the keyhole to the stone door had been.


    He pushed open the large door, and quietly but quickly pulled it to a close behind him.


    This room was wide, and had many long white rectangular shelves inside. There were like so many book shelves, neatly arranged.


    There was a hint of pale red mist in the air.


    At the furthest right, by the corner of the wall, there was a silver unit factory on a large table. A pile of intricate instruments made of silver were continuously spitting out silver, cubed units from a black exit hole.


    There was a mess on the assembly table next to it, and the chairs by the table had also fallen askew. It was evident that the people here had left in a hurry.


    Garen didn¡¯t hesitate, and struck out a palm at the silver shelves.


    Whoosh!


    A strong gust of wind blew past, but did not trigger any movement.


    He relaxed slightly, and quickly walked to the first shelf on the left.


    The shelf was stuffed full of drawers, he pulled out the first one with a clatter.


    Inside, there was a silver bat neatly arranged.


    Although the bat had strong soundwaves, it was still an animal type, and so wasn¡¯t what Garen wanted.


    He pulled open the second, the third, the fourth.


    They were all bats.


    Everything in the first shelf were created bats.


    He quickly walked up to the second shelf.


    This shelf was full of silver poison wasps, each of them as big as a fist, and the poison needle on its end as long as half a finger.


    The third shelf was half empty. In the larger doors towards the bottom, there were many wolf-shaped totems, all silver and unactivated.


    The fourth shelf, the fifth shelf.


    Garen casually took some of the smaller totems, so he could sell them outside as revenue. But that wasn¡¯t what he wanted most just now.


    In front of the sixth and final shelf.


    This shelf only had a dozen long doors, dividing the shelf into a dozen long compartments.


    Garen pulled out the first long door, and the thing inside gave him a slight shock.


    It was a pitch black large metal ball, about as big as a person¡¯s head.


    The ball was covered in tiny, cramped and seemingly random white carvings, like a toy ball made out of voodoo parts.


    Even more strangely, this black ball was suspended in mid air.


    Just as he was taken aback, a clear woman¡¯s voice came from within the black ball.


    "Pleases insert the password." The voice repeated in several different languages, and then fell silent.

 275 Injured 1

    Chapter 275: Injured 1


    Password?!


    What¡¯s that?


    Garen went over to pull out the rest of the shelf doors. The others were all either empty or similarly contained this strange black ball. All of them made the same woman¡¯s voice, asking for a password.


    But even then, only four out of the dozen doors had this black ball.


    "Password?" Garen frowned deeply, knowing that he had hit the jackpot.


    Originally, everything in this base should have been totally destroyed. After Goth exploded that time, he fought with the mastermind of the Obscuro Society, and ignited the base¡¯s kinetic furnace. In the large explosion that ensued, the entire base was destroyed to the ground. Nothing remained.


    And so Obscuro raged, sending assassins after Goth.


    Garen was only thinking that since these things were going to be destroyed in the explosion anyway, he might as well use them himself. The one he felt would be the biggest waste was the unit factory. It¡¯d be great if only he could take it away, but unfortunately¡­


    And the black ball in front of him looked mysterious, so it was very probably one of the most important items in this base.


    "Password, Obscuro." Garen attempted to reply.


    "Incorrect. You still have two chances. Incorrect answers will cause total lockdown." The female voices from the four balls replied at once.


    "Password, Phantom Light."


    "Incorrect. You still have one chance. An incorrect answer will cause total lockdown."


    Garen narrowed his eyes and scanned his surroundings continuously, but unfortunately, there wasn¡¯t anything for him to refer to.


    This black ball¡¯s password was probably decided by the higher-ups, so its user required a password from the higher-ups. They then had to come to the base for the actual thing, and the two together were needed for them to use the black ball. So the password and the black ball should be totally separate.


    Garen¡¯s mind moved at high speeds, as he thought non-stop about the possible password. He could tell at one glance that this sort of thing was mass manufactured, and besides, the security and secrecy around it was so thick. It was probably used by the higher-ups only, and they would probably use a common password known to all the higher-ups.


    "I¡¯ll just wing it!" Garen knew, that the black ball in front of him was most likely the most precious thing here.


    "Password, Hellgate!" Hellgate, the true name of the Obscuro Society¡¯s mastermind.


    "Incorrect. Password error, commencing lockdown."


    Sma-ack!


    There was a crisp sound.


    Garen¡¯s blood ran cold, and he knew it was all over. Once it was locked down, these things would be excruciatingly hard to unlock.


    The continuous smacking sounds also stopped then. Garen suddenly noticed that only three of the black balls were locked down, while the third one in the center didn¡¯t move or reply.


    "Password correct." After a pause, a cold woman¡¯s voice came from this black ball.


    Garen was instantly overjoyed, rushing up to this black ball and watching its changes carefully.


    Suddenly, the center of the black ball fell apart like countless puzzle pieces, slowly opening to both sides to form a medium-sized round hole. It revealed yet another black ball inside.


    Another hole also opened up in the black ball inside, once more revealing another layer and another black ball.


    The third layer of the black ball split apart again, revealing a fist-sized red crystal ball inside.


    The crystal ball was propped up by a milky-white pillar like a champagne glass, glowing with a faint silver and red light.


    "Ampera no.7, Derivator, for your perusal." The woman¡¯s voice came from the black ball again, informing Garen.


    "Derivator?" Garen was rather surprised, and then quickly took the black ball out, stuffing it into the pocket of his long robes.


    No matter what, this was good stuff. With prize in hand, Garen grabbed a few more smaller, unactivated totems, and was just about to leave.


    Wooo¡­!!


    Suddenly there was a piercing wail from the shelf. It sounded like an alarm.


    "There¡¯s someone in the totem room! Hacca, you stall him!"


    "Dammit! It was the brat I met just now! The Triple Soundwaves just now didn¡¯t kill him! Siva, you stop him from the other side! Don¡¯t let the brat escape!"


    From a corridor far away outside, there was the sound of angry shouting.


    Garen¡¯s blood ran cold, and he quickly rushed out of the stone door, dashing down the way he had come.


    Just now that one skinhead was already more than he could deal with, forget the other guy that sounded like he¡¯d be at the same level.


    Turning into the dark tunnel ahead, Garen used all his speed to dash madly down the corridor.


    "Judging from the voices just now, it¡¯s highly likely that they can see footage of the totem storeroom, so I need to leave as fast as possible!"


    In the pitch black tunnel, Garen¡¯s whole body nearly morphed into a black shadow, quickly dashing down the way he had come.


    "Over here!!"


    Suddenly there was a deep man¡¯s voice calling out from up ahead.


    Garen could vaguely hear the low roars and howls of beasts ahead. His heart gave a jolt.


    Whoosh!!


    Two red fireballs came flying suddenly down the corridor that had been dark just a while ago. They were as big as soccer balls and came spinning, drawing out two tracks of fiery red after-images, coming straight at Garen.


    In the path of the fireballs, they lit every part of the passage bright red. Some of the mosses and grass were instantly charred and smoking.


    With two loud smacking sounds, two stones shot out from Garen¡¯s hands. They actually went directly through the fireball, becoming transparent red stones. They did nothing at all to hinder the advance of the fireball.


    He leapt up, his feet gaining momentum by stepping onto the walls, and then his whole person shot out with a pop. He went right through the gap between the two fireballs.


    Boom!!


    The two fireballs basically exploded at once, the intensely high heat enveloping Garen in an instant. They simply became a ball of fire in mid-air, and burst.


    With a pop, a charred black body fell down from mid-air, and moved no more.


    "Hmph!" There was a cold snort from far away. Followed by the sound of hurried footsteps hastening away.


    A dozen seconds after the footsteps faded, the charred black body finally moved a little. He opened his blue eyes, and glanced around warily.


    Garen slowly crawled up from the ground. His whole body had been burnt, and not a single spot didn¡¯t sting and hurt from the heat. His blood and qi was continuously roiling, having been nearly scattered by that hit just now, and only regathering now.


    His face, his neck, his arm, were all blistering, like so many flesh-colored grapes, round and filled with pus.


    His previously fair skin was not red, but charred black. In some of the more grievously injured areas, his stomach and forearms had even started to carbonize and harden.


    He gritted his teeth against the pain, and quietly but quickly moved forward.


    A guardpost soon appeared in front of him. It was a dent in the wall, with a small bed, a few large wooden crates and barrels, and a few half-melted candles burning on top of those barrels. This type of candle lamp was created by putting candles in a glass bottle. The dim yellow light shone through the blurry glass, making it seem even dimmer.


    Going past the guardpost, and after progressing for a certain distance, he somehow entered a large empty space. It was as big as a football field, and he could vaguely hear the sound of flowing water.


    Barroom!!


    It was yet another dull sound, as though something exploded.


    Garen knew that this was Goth¡¯s battle with the leader here after his explosion.


    He considered his surroundings, and vaguely felt as though this was no longer part of the underground base. It was obviously an underground cave.


    He had been following the previous path back this whole time, but despite it being the same path, this time he reached not the exit, but such a cave as this.


    Garen slowly moved to the other end, following the walls of the cave. There were large rocks arranged close to each other on the ground, and water flowed through the cracks to make the splashing sound.


    He advanced for a while, feeling his lungs struggle more and more for breath. The more he moved, the faster his blood and chi flowed, and the more the burns on his body hurt.


    He pushed himself for a while, working up a huge sweat. The salt-tinged sweat flowed past his burned skin, stinging so much he couldn¡¯t help but groan.


    "Who!?"


    Suddenly, a wary voice came from the other entrance stretching out from the cave ahead.


    A tall and thin figure walked out from the entrance, leaping from one large rock to another as he entered the cave.


    His gaze swept about the surroundings, on high alert.


    "Come out! I already saw you. Hehe, did you think I wouldn¡¯t discover you hiding behind the rocks?" The man laughed coldly.


    He waited for a pause, but there were still no movements. Only then did he relax, and slowly ran towards the entrance into the underground base.


    By then, Garen had already quietly moved to a spot by the wall on the opposite of the cave. He found a gap behind a large rock and sat down.


    Right now, his whole body was scalded and his blood qi was a mess. It practically had to be adjusted and activated again from the start after being shattered apart. The Divine Statue Technique had extremely strong healing powers, and was continuously cleaning up the heat toxins in his organs and on the surface of his skin.


    But even so, he was basically partially paralyzed now, and couldn¡¯t move at all. His physical qualities had dropped drastically, and he was being haunted by powerful Totem Light, so he temporarily couldn¡¯t heal.


    This was a special type of fire, that seemed to have some polluting properties. It completely polluted and destroyed most of the Garen¡¯s cells that had been scalded in the high heat within an instant. This pollution also contained heat toxins, infiltrating his organs and notoriously hard to deal with. Plus, it was constantly worsening.


    If it was a regular person, they would have probably breathed their last as soon as the flames exploded, killed instantly by this polluting power.


    "I need to increase recovery speed!"


    Garen glanced at the Attribute Pane at the bottom of his vision. He clenched his teeth, and added a potential point to his Vitality attribute, that hadn¡¯t healed completely yet.


    His Vitality instantly rose from 2.5 to 2.76, the highest point his body achieved in the previous life.


    Exactly as the value changed, an ice cold current flowed out of his brain into every other part of his body. His organs, his skin, his bones, anywhere that was hurt were all soaked into that current.


    In that moment, cold and heat weaved together, creating a pain several times more intense that shot into Garen¡¯s brain. It was followed by waves of extreme itchiness. Every inch of his skin that was burned began to itch mysteriously.


    He wanted to scratch, but he kept himself in check. He didn¡¯t want to move, and couldn¡¯t move. His whole body went limp, his back leaning closely on the stone wall to prevent himself from falling.


    The polluting power of the Totem Light that invaded his body kept crossing swords with the cool current from his special power, mixing vigorously inside Garen and making him sweat waterfalls. His sweat dripped onto the scalded wounds, bringing a fresh wave of even more intense pain.


    Pain and itchiness wove together. Garen was completely and totally stiff, the blisters scalded onto his body popping one by one. The pale red pus drenched his nearly charcoaled clothes, emitting an unbearable stench.

 276 Injury 2

    Chapter 276: Injury 2


    Right now, he had practically no resistance at all to anything. He didn¡¯t know how long the conflict would last, and the intense pain inside his body made him unable to even think clearly. He clenched his teeth and forced himself not to make any sound.


    At first he could force himself to move at high speed, but to think that after activating his regeneration skill, it backfired instead and resulted in his whole body going stiff, rendering him immobile. If he knew that earlier, he wouldn¡¯t have activated his regeneration skill here!


    Now any totem user, or even a non-totem user, any normal person who was just a little stronger than average, would be able to easily end him.


    Listening as the steps slowly moved away, Garen, however, heaved a sigh of relief. Thank goodness that guy just now had left already.


    Sploosh!


    Suddenly he heard the sound of something heavy dropping into the water beside him.


    Garen¡¯s whole body stiffened.


    He tried his hardest to turn his head, looking at the totem he had kept in his pocket. It had actually fallen out, sliding into the water beyond an edge nearby.


    His clothes had been burnt away by the flames, and his front had been more or less carbonized. A large hole had been burned into the side pocket, and that was how the totem fell out.


    "Who!!"


    A man¡¯s voice abruptly stopped.


    The voice sounded rather familiar, actually.


    Garen¡¯s heart skipped a beat, and then he suddenly remembered, it was that Valerie¡¯s voice.


    "What¡¯s he doing here!?" He resisted the pain and tried to analyze the situation, but the pain came in waves, making him unable to concentrate.


    Valerie carefully glanced around the whole cave, there seemed to be some movement amidst the splashing of the water just now. He was slightly uncertain.


    It wasn¡¯t easy for him to escape that damned base. Thank goodness for Goth¡¯s explosion, which blocked the totem users on the chase. The two sides were now embroiled in battle.


    Upon discovering what this situation in this hideout, Valerie connected all the scenes and decorations he had seen along the way, thinking he had seen something similar in his teacher¡¯s notes.


    After thinking about it carefully, he suddenly remembered, this was very likely the secret base of some Phantom Light totem users.


    After Goth started fighting the enemy leader, the others were in shock but all Valerie could think of wasn¡¯t how amazing Goth¡¯s abilities were, but what treasures might be hidden in this base!


    The main powers were being distracted by Goth, so the back must be even more empty and unguarded.


    While everyone was distracted, he quietly left from behind, ducking into another branch in the tunnel, attempting to go around behind the totem users.


    After proceeding quickly down this tunnel for some time, he realized he was right when no one stopped him. Ecstatic, he increased his speed, and soon entered this cave.


    But there seemed to be someone here.


    Valerie¡¯s heart sank.


    He was worried there would be someone here! If he were to be discovered and the alarm raised, they would come from both sides, and he would be immediately surrounded. When that happened, he would be dead before he even knew what was happening.


    The voice seemed to comev from over there.


    Valerie¡¯s gaze was aimed at the direction where the sound came from, and his feet moved over there quietly. At the same time, he flipped his hand, and a blue bird flew out, flying towards that place.


    "Pierce!!"


    He steeled his heart, and the Bluebird became a sharp blue arrow, piercing towards the rock where the sound came from with a hiss.


    Hiss!


    The Bluebird directly pierced through the stone, emerging from the back, and making a few circles around it. Just like a steel nail going through tofu, it was effortless.


    "Nobody?"


    He frowned, could it be a fish?


    Somewhat hesitantly, he called back the Bluebird, turned, and left.


    Garen slowly emerged from the water beneath the stone cracks. In his urgency just now, he had ducked into the water. That was the only way he could avoid the Bluebird¡¯s attack, otherwise that pierce would have made a hole through his chest.


    Putting aside his condition now, even at his peak, he would not dare to go directly against a totem user¡¯s attack.


    Phew¡­ Garen released a long breath. The piercing cold stream water soaked his body, and mixed even more with the two other stimuli in his body. His condition right now was unprecedentedly troublesome.


    He used both his hands and legs to climb out of the water, lying on his back on top of the stone and panting deeply.


    "So it was you¡­ Garen?"


    Valerie¡¯s voice suddenly came from above.


    Garen jolted slightly, and turned his head with difficulty.


    Garen didn¡¯t know when he got there, but Valerie was already standing on the stone that had been pierced through, a hint of amusement on his face.


    "Not bad¡­ It¡¯s actually just as I thought." Valerie¡¯s gaze fell on the hole in Garen¡¯s pocket, where the silver glow of a totem was peeking out.


    Seeing that it was an inactivated totem, his gaze instantly became passionate.


    "You came out from inside too, didn¡¯t you? A punk who doesn¡¯t even have a core totem, could actually bring out so many totems from inside? Tsk-tsk¡­ it sure makes me envious." Valerie licked his lips.


    Garen¡¯s heart sank. Judging from his actions just now, he could tell that this Valerie fellow was an extraordinarily cunning character.


    "Hehe¡­ did you think¡­ I could escape from there¡­ without some tricks up my sleeve¡­?" Garen smiled with difficulty. It was just that his appearance, covered with boils, was rather terrifying.


    That was what Valerie was worried about. Since his attack just now didn¡¯t hit, he was starting to feel doubt.


    And now, seeing that Garen wasn¡¯t dead despite looking like this, and could even smile, he was starting to feel the hairs rise on his skin.


    "You¡¯re already like this, I¡¯ll just send you out for treatment." He acted as though coming over to help Garen up, but his gaze was unreadable.


    Suddenly he froze, seeing the round object protruding from under Garen¡¯s charred-black clothes.


    "If you come here, we¡¯ll all die together!" Garen grinned horrifically. "I still have a totem bomb here. Come over if you don¡¯t want to die."


    "Listen to what you¡¯re saying. We¡¯re teammates, you know, why would I possibly hurt you!?" Valerie¡¯s gaze went a full circle, and suddenly he was all smiles. "But are you sure you don¡¯t need me to help you? Look at how serious your injuries are¡­"


    "You don¡¯t need to worry about that." Garen tried to withstand the pain, looking at how Valerie still stood there and refused to leave, it was obvious that he was plotting something. "You¡¯re still not gonna leave?"


    Valerie chuckled, but didn¡¯t say anything, his greedy gaze fixed on the totem peeping out of Garen¡¯s pocket.


    The Bluebird beside him kept flying rounds around him, its intention very clear. It would be easy for him to put some distance between them and let the Bluebird attack Garen from a long distance. At the most, he would just lose one totem.


    Seeing this, Garen¡¯s eyes shone with despair.


    He clenched his teeth, his whole body shaking, his chest rising and falling fast.


    "Fine, fine, fine!! I¡¯ll give you the totem!" Furious, Garen managed to bring out the bat totem, the poisonous wasp totem, and a few beetle totems. Wrapping them up in the remains of his clothes, he tossed them over.


    Smack.


    Valerie controlled the Bluebird to grab the package of totems in its beak, and bringing them over for him to check. The smile on his face grew even deeper.


    "Are you really sure you don¡¯t need me to help?"


    "Scram!!" Garen¡¯s eyes turned red, panting as he roared.


    Boom!!


    There was yet another explosion. A large tremor shook even the cave ceiling.


    Both of their expression¡¯s changed.


    Valerie glanced at Garen, and knew that he wouldn¡¯t have to get away if he didn¡¯t leave now. He clenched his teeth, turned around, and strode towards the entrance into the hideout.


    Hiss!


    A flash of blue pierced Garen¡¯s body mercilessly, going right through his right arm while he could only move slowly.


    Garen cried out loudly, and fell into the water. In an instant, there was no trace left of him.


    Valerie was somewhat confused. Although the Bluebird did seem to find its target, it hadn¡¯t seemed to hit the vitals.


    "With such serious injuries and heavy blood loss, he should be dead for sure."


    His expression had a hint of cruelty.


    "If you have to blame someone, blame yourself for bumping into me."


    He ducked into the tunnel, the Bluebird flowing closely behind him as they disappeared into the darkness.


    **************


    Inside the hideout,


    The skinhead totem user and a white-haired totem user were riding on two black male lions, advancing rapidly down the tunnel. Many black bats squawked around their heads, following behind them.


    The skinhead was holding up a round crystal mirror, with a bright red dot blinking on it. He would occasionally glance down at the red dot on the mirror, a sardonic smile on his face.


    "Did you think our Obscuro¡¯s totems were that easy to acquire? You idiot. To think you could resist so well, you¡¯re not dead despite taking two hits."


    The white-haired man beside advanced in tandem with him.


    "Is that side not settled yet? Why is Debicci stalling so long even for a smallfry like that?"


    "I don¡¯t know, he probably wants to play. That guy loves nothing more than to torture his opponent. The more stubborn the opponent, the more excited he gets." The skinhead licked his lips and laughed. Suddenly he looked at the round mirror in his hand, surprised.


    "What¡¯s the matter? This guy didn¡¯t run out, but dared to return?!"


    "What?" The white-haired man looked over from the side, and saw that the little red dot on the round mirror was actually running towards them.


    "Does this guy think that our Obscuro Society is a free treasure vault?" The skinhead was getting slightly angry.


    "Maybe he thinks we haven¡¯t discovered him? But this kid definitely wouldn¡¯t know that we installed tags on all our totems. Of all things, to think he dared to take an inactivated totem¡­" The white-haired man couldn¡¯t help but chuckle. "This kid¡¯s pretty quick, we can¡¯t let him escape now. Send more people to block the exit."


    "Leave it to me." The skinhead grinned. "I missed once, but I won¡¯t miss again. This time, he¡¯s truly pissed me off!" He revealed his creepy white teeth.


    The two of them dashed ahead and turned the corner, then stopped abruptly.


    A tall and thin man was standing in the opposite tunnel, a bluebird perched on his shoulder. It was Valerie.


    Valerie stopped dead in his tracks, staring blankly at the two totem users, the skinhead and the white-haired man.


    "Fuck...!!!"


    He was instantly covered in cold sweat, his whole body freezing cold to the bone.


    "This was¡­ this was the back tunnel¡­? How??"


    "Hehe, kid, did you think I wouldn¡¯t recognize you after you changed your appearance?" The skinhead¡¯s expression was vicious. "After stealing our stuff, you dare to come again for seconds?"


    Valerie stumbled two steps back, terror making his whole body tremble.


    He could feel the horror of the two men facing him. The bats flying in circles over their heads were actually all Form 2 totems, and there were six of them!


    Besides, there were the black lions they rode on, the saliva dripping from the lions¡¯ mouths actually corroding many large holes in the ground.


    "Finish him!!" The skinhead pointed at Valerie, and the bats above his head instantly pounced over madly.


    "No!!!!"


    Valerie¡¯s scream kept on echoing through the tunnels, going very, very far.


    Just then, he suddenly remembered Garen¡¯s expression back then. That looked like fury, but it seemed to hide a trace of faint mocking.


    It was only then that he realized just how brutal that man called Garen secretly was inside. This was all his own fault!

 277 Empower 1

    Chapter 277: Empower 1


    Wishh.


    Garen¡¯s head popped over the water surface


    He shook his head, allowing the ice-cold water flow through his face down his cheeks, his right arm holding the wound on his left arm tightly. He shivered as he looked at the direction where Valerie left


    He suddenly recalled, as he was in the totem storage chamber, his heart felt uneasy as he felt that as though Baldy was observing him in real time. That he will kill Garen when he leaves.


    As he had guessed, Garen felt a lot better after he dumped all the totems to Valerie.


    As his secret technique was trained to the pinnacle, his five senses have been honed to react to imminently dangerous situations. This was an effect of his innate extreme agility. It is also an ability that the Luminarists would never achieve, as this would require the senses of the body to be extremely sharp.


    Even though the secret arts are not as powerful as a totem, it does have many benefits that the totems do not possess.


    "Not running after taking the things, yet you still ran in to take more advantage, it would be baffling if you don¡¯t die." Garen sarcastically said as he got out of the water. Without stopping, barely being able to get up, he ran towards the tunnel that would lead him out.


    The aura of the ability almost finally mitigated the poisonous flame from the totem¡¯s power. His body had also started recovering, but the ability¡¯s aura had also proportionately been exhausted. Recovery became extremely sluggish.


    Garen looked at the attributes beneath his vision.


    The Potential points used to kill the Totem used were already been at 16 points, now it fell yet another point, becoming 15 points again.


    At a critical time like this, if he were to depend only on himself to recover, it would require at least a week¡¯s time. The injury this time was worse than the wounds received from Sylphalan in the previous world.


    His body is a mess, internally and externally, his Qi was also unstable at a time like this.


    He clenched his teeth and looked at the Body pane.


    The potential point nudged, but it did not add onto the Body section.


    He shook his head in disappointment. Enduring the pain inflicted by the wounds, he walked out of the cave, going into the tunnel leading to outside.


    Suddenly he heard a vague scream of terror. As he paid attention, it was indeed Valarie''s voice.


    Garen stopped for a while and smirked.


    "This Idiot."


    He had to leave as soon as possible, after the explosion at Goth¡¯s side, who knows how long he had before the next kinetic furnace would explode. If one decided to stay, it would not matter that he were a totem user, when a huge explosion occurs, and he¡¯d be buried deep underground, gravely injured, if not dead.


    The kinetic furnace was no ordinary thing, it was specifically used to refine a special silver ingot used in the forging totems.


    The reason Obscuro Society was so strong \was because they owned too many cutting edge techniques


    Among them were totem raw materials, the core silver ingot, which was much stronger than the rest.


    Garen held the red, round crystal sphere in his arms, and was sure that it was something valuable, even though he had no idea what it was. However, for it to be so heavily guarded, it had to be valuable.


    He had a hunch that he had picked up treasure.


    Enduring the pain, Garen picked up his pace and rushed out towards the exit.


    Even though he was covered in injuries, he had to find a way to rendezvous with Goth and the rest. As to how he got injured, he did not plan to hide it.


    As he walked along the tunnel, what he had originally already possessed had all been robbed by Valeria. This issue could be pushed to Valerie completely.


    Soon, the light that shined from beyond the exit was visible. Even though the tunnel was not guarded by anyone, nor was it within the area of the lair, but Garen felt that it was best to get out of the underground and onto the surface.


    He rushed out of the cave and he staggered onto the plains for a while.


    As the sun shined upon him, the boils on his body burst, which invited another wave of intense pain.


    He looked up to the sun, and the sun rays blinded him. His vision became blurry for a moment.


    "I can¡¯t take it anymore; the potential points have been used up¡­ If I did not have the potential points to enhance my body in the moment for recovery, I would probably be finished by now. " On retrospect, he picked up his pace and ran towards the shade of a tree, sitting down on the grass, his back against the tree trunk, panting for air.


    This shade was facing directly towards the exit of the cave. From the exit to Garen¡¯s location was a trail of yellow puss forming a line, emitting a gross smell under the sunlight.


    Garen quietly sat under the shade, trying hard not to let himself faint.


    But his consciousness was being attacked by the waves of intense pain, his vision still blurry.


    "What a huge loss!" He was angry inside. In the realm of secret techniques, I was unbeatable, even the final direct clash with Sylphalan only ended in a tie.


    But when he is here, he¡¯s been wounded all over by something as ridiculous as totem¡¯s power. Secret techniques have close to no power to resist.


    "I have to find a way to fight against the polluting nature of a totem¡¯s power. The reason the totem¡¯s power is this strong, is primarily due to its polluting nature. Aside from that, a totems¡¯ damage and power are not too different from a normal situation.


    Garen tried hard to stay conscious


    He¡¯d rather move to the other side of the tree; now with his back facing the cave exit, he could hide himself.


    A breeze blew, rustling the leaves in its path. An oval-shaped leaf fell and touched Garen¡¯s body; causing immense pain on top of what he was already experiencing now.


    He slowly took out the crystal ball, resting it on his palm


    As he focused his vision on the top, the crystal ball emitted a dim red light for a while. A few rows of words showed on the ball.


    "Thank you for using the Enpaler Derivator, please select your operating language."


    Beneath it are rows upon rows of different languages; Canbria Language; Kovitan Language, Ender Language¡­.


    Canbria, Kovitan, Ender, are the three strongest empires among the hundreds of kingdoms within the East Continent, of which Canbria and Kovitan allied themselves to fight against a superempire in the West Continent. Although Ender is considered a strong country, its sphere of influence was significantly worse than the two before it, furthermore, it is a vassal of the Kovitan empire, while being much stronger than other countries. But due to its small size, it can only be a strong country; not a big country.


    Garen only recognized these three languages, the rest of the countries seemed foreign to him. From top to bottom just seemed like a bundle of unknown words.


    Garen¡¯s thoughts sidetracked, and went back into focus onto the crystal ball


    "Is this a touch interface?"


    His index finger reached out, clicked onto "Kovitan Language" shown on the crystal ball.


    The words disappeared, and reappeared with a simple interface


    "Functional introduction: You are now using the General-Level specialized Derivator, dear esteemed General, please input your full name via voice, the derivator will use your voice pattern as an encryption."


    "General-Level?"


    Garen¡¯s heart skipped a beat, he indeed found a treasure.


    "Garen" He tried to calm his voice as he answered.


    "Sir Garen, below are the functions of the derivator.


    Function 1: This derivator will provide up to 10 totem control systems, you can use the derivator to control up to any 10 Silver totems, and cause no toll on the body.


    Function 2: The derivator controls the totem¡¯s nature, but only for empowering totems. The derivator is able to use a living creature¡¯s core to be converted into a semi-living totem¡¯s ability. Cannot control pure Silver totems. Please proceed with caution.


    Silver totem: Using a living creature¡¯s core to be converted into a controllable empowered creature totem. Be aware, the Silver totem itself will not be guided or controlled during evolution, it is completely dependent on the influence of the creature¡¯s genes. Please choose the creatures to be empowered wisely. ¨C functionality abnormal, please proceed to the fourth Obscuro maintenance center for a checkup.


    Garen meticulously rearranged the messages shown on the crystal ball, using the up-down swipe motion of his fingers, he could browse through the content of the crystal ball, it is almost as convenient as an electronic touchscreen.


    "This thing is indeed extraordinary¡­" Garen looked at the functions¡¯ introduction, he suddenly understood something. "to be able to research a way to turn living creatures into semi-totems, Obscuro Society is indeed strong. No wonder, at the later point of the war, they dared to pick a war against the entire world., the reason behind it was this. One of these objects could control 10 totems, and those are additional totems that do not burden the user at all. Not accounting the user¡¯s own core totem, one person can control more than ten totems, if these totems are form 2, or form 3 ultimate form¡­" Garen felt his body numbing as these thoughts run through his mind,


    That is practically a single-man mechanized army, one totem user fighting against a Mech user.


    He looked upon the crystal ball, he suddenly thought, everything on Earth had a barcode. He wondered if there is a barcode on this.


    "Show derivator code" He tried using the voice enquiry function.


    The crystal ball indeed showed a tiny row of numbers


    ¡®Code: 0032gcr, your derivator is the 32nd piece in East Continent, There are a total of 10 derivators placed in the Kovitan Empire, please exercise caution regarding the functions.


    Garen was shocked, there were actually ten of these in Koviten.


    Keeping the crystal ball away, his heart had a brief idea. The derivator was a futuristic invention from the Obscuro Society, being able to additionally control the remaining totems, even though it would have been converted from living creatures. They were probably not as strong as real totems, but this would suffice, as quantity would make up for quality.


    However, this thing is not a real totem¡­ what he really needed, was a core totem. After fumbling for so long, having one would indeed increase his own abilities, but there was still no core totem...


    He felt slightly helpless. He reached into his pockets and fumbled for a while, all of the totems have been dumped over to Valerie, those things should have a tracking signal, so he couldn¡¯t have brought any out.


    If he did not correctly guess the encryption correctly and unlocked the ball, he guessed the derivator would have a tracking unit on it, and it would have been stronger too.


    "Only core totems can defend me 24 hours continuously without deactivating. Fuuuh¡­" He exhaled, the breath had a hint of blood¡¯s. Suddenly his gaze was laid upon a bush.


    "Perhaps I can experiment on the derivator¡¯s empowerment ability¡­"


    As he focused onto the bush, there was some rustling sound.


    Swiftly, a greyish white rabbit came running out of the bush. This wild rabbit had cute drooping ears. Its butt bounced as it jumped out of the bush, it looked at Garen with curiosity.


    "Come here, little one, come to brother." Garen let out a laugh "hehe", as he quietly picked up a piece of pebble


    Pap!


    The pebble was shot out in an instant, it hit the little rabbit¡¯s head, its power is just nice, just enough to knock it out.


    Garen endured the pain as he walked towards the rabbit, picked it up, and walked back to the tree.


    He took the crystal ball from the pocket in his clothes, and put it next to the rabbit.


    "Do you want to empower the raw material?" The ball showed a row of words asked.


    "Yes"


    Garen replied surely.

 278 Empower 2

    Chapter 278: Empower 2


    Suddenly, the red crystal ball slowly turned luminescent, just like a metal ball diffusing a ray of silver light.


    At the core of the ball, a silver light shot out, and hit the rabbit¡¯s head


    In about 5 seconds later, the silver light dissipated, the crystal ball returned to its red color.


    "Empowerment completed, Creature sample saved. Creature transferring¡­ please do not move." The ball then shot a red light towards Garen


    Garen only felt warm and fuzzy on the spot where the light illuminated on him, he felt comfortable.


    Under the Skill Pane at the bottom of his sight, suddenly popped up an additional 3D icon of the totem, the icon is the indeed the rabbit who had fainted.


    "Iron Rabbit: first form Living Totem, upgradeable. Evolution success rate: 81% (the weaker the original creature, the higher the success rate). Cost on potential points: 200%.


    Ability: Knockback, Grass feeding."


    Garen looked at the second ability speechlessly.


    "grass feeding counts as an ability?" as he glanced the wild rabbit that just recovered, this little guy seemed to be stunned, being barely able to get up, shook its ears, then looked at Garen.


    It jumped a round, then running to Garen, snuggling up to Garen¡¯s legs to rest in a very friendly manner.


    "so, this is the half living totem, creature totem, silver totem?" Garen held the rabbit up by its ears, and took a better look at it.


    "I could probably evolve it, just to check out how it looks like after."


    Finding a new source of potential points, Garen had laxed his usage of potential points.


    In the war guild, he continuously took up so many missions, and so long as he had enough strength, he could then sneakily gain some potential points. Otherwise, its completion would have been extremely difficult., even to the point of possibly aborting the missions. Which was the reason why he still had zero potential point gain after so many missions,


    He saw his current potential: 1594%.


    After so many missions; some that had succeeded some that hadn¡¯t, killed 3 form 1 totem users, which allowed him to rush to 94% progress.


    "Only by being strong can you earn more potential points¡­ let¡¯s try it out."


    He started focusing onto the Iron rabbit¡¯s icon for three seconds.


    The iron rabbit¡¯s icon started getting blurry, the description behind the icon have also gone blurry.


    Garen puts down the rabbit in his hand onto the grass, quietly observing its changes.


    Tsssss¡­


    Suddenly, the rabbit stood upright, its entire body started showing serious signs of expansion and twisting. Its body started bulging with tough muscles.


    Woo!!


    The rabbit is suddenly howled like a wolf, from the size of a palm, rapidly growing into half a man¡¯s height.


    Its eyes are blood red, with green veins popping under the skin, protruding its fur up. All of its four limbs grew longer. As it stood on all fours it was as big as a horse.


    Chii!


    It exhaled loudly from its nose, like the neigh of a horse. Its tongue protruded like a dog gasping for air. It squeezed around Garen in a friendly manner.


    Miiiii!!~~


    This rabbit pampered for a while, then it lifted its head and howled again.


    Garen¡¯s face twitched as he looked at the rabbit, he then looked at the skill pane, at the clear new totem icon.


    "Howling Wererabbit, second evolutionary form of Iron Rabbit, second form creature totem. Can be evolved, evolution success rate at 54%. Potential point use: 300%.


    Abilities: Exploding kick, plant extermination (extremely able to eat)."


    Looking at this ability, Garen wanted to laugh, but was unable to due to the pain on his body.


    The Iron Rabbit suddenly turned into a creature that¡¯s half a man¡¯s height, dog-like, wolf-like, and even more like a horse. Looking like a wolf in a rabbit¡¯s skin.


    However, during the evolution on the howling wereabbit, Garen realized that the totem¡¯s light in his body is now much thicker. A layer of glass-like transparent totem¡¯s light had been naturally covering his entire body.


    "Luckily, totem¡¯s light is still effective." Garen extended his arm to feel the totem¡¯s light on his body, he nodded in satisfaction forcibly.


    He had a thought, then the howling wereabbit sprinted towards the forest in a distance, quickly entering the forest.


    Boom!!


    There was a sudden quake in the forest, Garen was caught off guard and almost fell.


    A huge shockwave emanated along the ground, much like an earthquake. He could vaguely feel, as if there was something exploding from beneath the ground.


    Garen immediately turned back and looked at the direction of the cave exit.


    There was a mix of hurried footsteps, fast approaching, soon three silhouettes came rushing out from the cave. It was Jessica, Andy and Goth. The trio were covered in wounds; Jessica¡¯s left cheek had a long gash, making her look scary as she ran. Andy¡¯s left arm was twisted and fractured, his forehead is full of sweat, but he bit his lips and endured it.


    Goth was the last to come out, his face paled. He was even stumbling as he walked, sometimes he needing Jessica¡¯s support to move forward.


    As the trio walked out, they saw Garen, who was standing under the shade


    "Garen! Let¡¯s go!" Andy shouted in a rushed tone.


    Garen did not hesitate, followed up to the trio, running in the opposite directions from the entrance, showing no signs of stopping.


    Before exceeding 100 meters, it suddenly felt like the surrounding grass had all turned white. A strong light ray was shot from behind.


    The three turned back as they were running.


    At the entrance of the tunnel, and its surroundings within a 50-meter radius, was engulfed in a pillar of light shot from the ground, shooting up to the sky.


    A deafening ring was heard, severely vibrating the trio¡¯s eardrums. The surface of the ground had also been vibrating severely due to the vibrations. The soles of their feet were starting to numb.


    The white light pillar had a diameter of several tens of meters, piercing the group, tearing the sky, illuminating everything around it in a bright white ray,


    The soil, boulders, trees, creatures, all had disintegrated in the white light, as though it was completely broken down.


    The trio continued continued running for several hundred meters, only then did they dare slow down, and slowly come to a halt.


    For a while, they looked at the light pillar piercing the sky, and found themselves speechless. Only feelings of shock and dumbfounded-ness were interlaced, not knowing what to say.


    Goth sat on a patch of yellow-green grassland, pressing his hand against his chest as he gazed blankly at the direction of the white pillar. His thoughts were unknown.


    Andy patted Garen¡¯s shoulders, placed his backpack and sat down. He also seemed not to be in the mood to talk.


    Garen¡¯s whole body was charred black. A set of torn clothes were all that remained on him. He took out a set of clothes from Andy¡¯s backpack and put it on.


    "What happened to you guys? How did you guys become like this?" he asked in a low tone.


    "That wasn¡¯t a bandit¡¯s lair at all. It is a totem user¡¯s base!" Andy replied in a low-spirited tone, "we ran into the totem users inside, then¡­ if it weren¡¯t for Goth, I¡¯m afraid nobody would have survived."


    Jessica nodded silently at the side, looking at Goth, his eyes seemed to be complicated by something.


    Garen realized this, and understood that something must have happened between this trio that is hard to explain, there¡¯s finally some development between Jessica and Goth.


    "What bout you? How did you turn out this way? It¡¯s as though you were burnt by fire." Andy looked at Garen.


    The light pillar then dimmed, slowly become thinner, and then completely extinguished. The golden sun rays shone once again, covering the white light that engulfed the sky and earth.


    At the location where the the white light was, a crater of several tens of meters was left behind. It was pitch black, with green smoke around the edges.


    Garen looked at the crater, and exhaled in relief. He could feel that the howling wereabbit was fine, obviously it had also run to safety. He suddenly felt that the wererabbit had an urge to eat. It actually got hungry, letting it feed on grass in its surrounding, while keeping itself in hiding. Only Garen got back into focus, and answered Andy¡¯s question.


    "? was hit by a fireball casted by a totem user¡­ I don¡¯t know what flame that was, but thankfully the temperature wasn¡¯t high, otherwise I would have been dead¡­" Garen forced a laugh.


    "I¡¯m guessing it¡¯s that black lion¡¯s fireballs, it can spew two kinds of fireballs; a red one, which he could shoot as many as it wished, and a green one which had a long interval between attacks. Its destructive power is much greater, and has some corrosive effect."Andy explained, "Goth withstood about a hundred of those."


    Garen was shocked and looked at Goth, who was sitting on the ground.


    This young man, who is wearing a red bib, had a sad looking face as he sat on the ground. His pose had a seductive, sexy vibe, as he crossed his legs, showing a slender, beautiful curve.


    Ugh¡­


    Garen and Andy turned away, trying hard to resist the urge to puke.


    "Goth, can you close your legs and slant them¡­ you¡¯re not Jessica, thanks." Garen can¡¯t help but to say.


    "But my legs are injured." Goth lifted his head with puppy eyes.


    " Even if you¡¯re injured, don¡¯t put up this gross pose!" Andy choked Goth¡¯s neck and shook it.


    "I¡¯m warning you! Don¡¯t choke me! I hate people choking me the most!" Goth shouted as he struggled.


    "Like I care! Argh!! Fuck! Don¡¯t grab me **!! You bitch! Grab me!! Grab me!!"


    The two rolling into a lump, Jessica stood on the side, red faced, turning her head away from them.


    Garen squatted, gazing blankly at the direction of the light pillar


    "What was that, just now?"


    "Kinetic furnace, it is something created by an organization called the Obscuro Society."


    Jessica answered quietly.


    "Goth finally exploded the furnace, then everything, everything exploded."


    Garen quieted for a while, and then asked.


    "What happened to Goth¡¯s body?:


    "His talent erupted, Black Continental Bird could suddenly move¡­. And transformed into a huge bird!"Jessica talked as she recalled, "then¡­ then¡­ he stood in front of us¡­" She did not continue speaking, but she looked at Goth who was brawling, her lips revealed a hint of gentleness.


    "Perhaps all of us were wrong." Garen also looked at Goth. "He is not some sort of garbage, but a real genius."


    "You have also discovered my uniqueness, hahaha." Goth happily laughed, "Do not idolize me too much! I¡¯m born to be the legendary hero! Ha! Ha! Ha!"


    This brat¡¯s bib strap fell off, with one hand on his pants, another pointing towards the sky with a finger.


    On the ground was Andy who was howling in pain from the fractured arm.


    Four of them had their head lifted towards the sky.


    A few blue birds flew past quickly, slapping their wings, into the clouds and against the strong wind.


    On each blue bird¡¯s feet, was a white paper scroll tied onto it. On one of the scrolls, had a little bit of blood stain on it.

 279 Reward 1

    Chapter 279: Reward 1


    The Black Panther¡¯s small squad of four had returned to Iron Tank City. Under the help of the close connection to the castle border guards belonging to Andy¡¯s father, all of them were admitted to the hospital under the wing of Chialunar Academy.


    This was the best hospital in the entire Iron Tank City, and had the best doctors.


    In the ward.


    Garen laid down on the bed, feeling bored.


    Up, down, left, right, the floor, everything was white. On the bedside counter was a vase filled with lilies, and among them, some petals had slightly withered.


    On the right side of the bed was a metal rack, on top of which was a bottle of medicated drip. The medicine flowed into Garen¡¯s vein drop by drop through a thin pipe.


    He could clearly feel the cold medicine seeping in through his wrist. The room was pin-drop silent, only some echoing footsteps could be heard from the corridor outside the ward.


    Garen was lying alone in the middle of the ward bed From his angle tilting his head and looking out, he could still see the trees outside that had blossomed into many white flowers. The noon sunlight beamed down, through the leaves, forming mottled golden geometries, rustling as the wind blew.


    Gacha.


    The door was opened slowly, a chubby nurse dressed in white walked in. She was pushing a medicinal cart, and when she reached the side of the bed, she tapped the medication that was finishing soon, taking it down and changing it with a fresh bottle of drip.


    "Pretty good body." This middle-aged lady looked at Garen, "such a large surface burn could heal this quickly."


    "I have had a good body since young."Garen laughed. "Right, may I know how are the few friends that were admitted together with me?"


    "I don¡¯t know." The nurse simply answered. "I am not in charge of them, you can try asking the doctor."


    "Then it¡¯s fine, I will rest a little bit more and then try looking for them." Garen said, and remained silent thereafter.


    The nurse left immediately after changing the drips, closing the door as she left.


    Garen turned on his side, his body having felt stiff from the inactivity and staying in bed all day.


    Soon, the door squeaked once again, and a fairly young, 14 or 15-year-old girl walked in. She was also wearing a nurse¡¯s uniform, and on her hands was a large plate, which had a lot of white lunch boxes on it.


    "Lunch is here, sorry to keep you waiting."


    The girl placed the plate on the bedside counter, took one lunchbox from the plate and placed it on the countertop.


    "The menu for lunch is carrot and potato¡­. Potato stewed with pork skin, white bread¡­.. unlimited. Please enjoy your meal."


    The girl looked pure. As you looked at her you¡¯d notice some naivety; she dared not make eye contact with Garen, who was on the bed, and she stuttered some as she spoke.


    "May I know your name?" Garen looked at the girl funnily, suddenly thinking of Ying Er, his younger sister in the previous world. His eyes showed gentleness. "Can you do me a favor?"


    "My¡­ My name is Wei Xi. What do you need?" The girl seemed more comfortable, but she still dare not look at Garen.


    Wei Xi is a student who worked at the hospital, she had just entered the Chialunar Academy this year, the best medical academy in the city. Although it was renowned in the suburbs only, it was considered to be a good place to be already.


    Unexpectedly, among all the nurses that were interning, she¡¯s the only one who was chosen to the advanced care area due to her nice appearance. Especially to care for rich patients.


    Inside the advanced care area, if it weren¡¯t nurses with a lot of experience, would be nurses like this; who had very attractive appearances and bodies. To the patients here, the experienced nurses are in charge of practical tasks, while attractive nurses served to soothe the heart and emotions.


    Before Wei Xi came, she already heard from others that the patients here are either rich or noblemen; she could easily bump into anyone and meet someone with an immense background.


    As she thought of this, she cannot help but feel anxious.


    Would he request for something inappropriate from me?


    Even though she was thinking that way, but the helpless romantic teen in her couldn¡¯t help but to fantasize that perhaps she could meet a nobleman¡¯s young master. Handsome, charismatic, gentle, compassionate, or he may just like someone like her type, who knows.


    At times where she was in a tight spot, he would stand out, shielding her with a tall stature, beating some villains from somewhere, then turned back to gently lift her chin¡­


    The girl was stunned, her face blushing red, occasionally smiling like an idiot.


    "Could you help me check on the situation in room 235 and 257? My friends are staying in those wards."


    Garen speechlessly sat there as the girl smiled like an idiot, he lightly used his finger to push the girl¡¯s arm.


    "Hey, hey, you alright?"


    "No¡­ Nothing!" The girl snapped back into focus, "I will immediately check on it for you." Her face blushed red, taking a peek at Garen on his bed, she was shocked and lowered her head again.


    "Am I that scary?" Garen picked up the lunchbox, he touched his face with confusion.


    Lunch was great, the meat was stewed tender and the soup was very thick, very fragrant.


    After hurriedly finishing the lunch, he placed the lunchbox aside.


    Garen wiped his mouth, lying against the bedframe, both his arms thickly rolled by rounds upon rounds of bandages, much like a white baseball bat. Only his fingers could move freely


    "Was I that scary?"


    He was confused, so he picked up a small mirror from a drawer in the bedside countertop, to take a good look at himself.


    Looking into the mirror, was a bald head, no hair, no brows, no beard, nothing.


    What was a handsome, good-looking appearance, had indeed become appalling under these transformations.


    Garen touched his smooth bald head. His hair had been shaved off during the treatment; beard and brows as well. As the flame¡¯s high temperature had burnt off the follicles, rather than a black patch stuck onto the face, they might as well had just shaven it all off.


    He touched his own brows, he felt like an alien in an Earthling movie., except he had white skin and facial features.


    Not having any eyebrows did make him look slightly fierce. No wonder that little girl would be so afraid.


    Over ten minutes later, the girl called Wei Xi knocked on the door and came in again.


    "Sir, the two patients in those wards are fine, their situation is under control. The sir called Andy asked you not to worry."


    The little girl stood by the door, fearing to approach.


    "Do me another favor, I will appreciate it." Garen tries to let himself smile more warmly, so that he doesny scare this little kid. "I am feeling bored; can you grab me some of the latest Global Weeklies?"


    "Global Weeklies? Su¡­. Sure!" Wei Xi, hurriedly agreed. "There¡¯s some in the reading room, I will take it for you immediately."


    There were actually free magazines inside the ward, but not the latest ones


    Garen didn¡¯t have to wait too long before Wei Xi came back with a stack of newspapers, passing it to him.


    "Here¡¯s your newspaper."


    This little girl¡¯s smooth brown hair was tied in a ponytail, her pubescent figure had become apparent, as she breathed heavily from all the running to and fro Garen¡¯s bedside. She carried the mild, refreshing fragrance of a teen.


    Garen¡¯s warm tone seemed to have worked, Wei Xi are also not as afraid as before, her guts seemed have grown too.


    "Anything else that you would like?"


    That¡¯s it for now, thank you, cute little one." Garen smiled as he flipped the newspaper.


    As he flipped, his first glance landed on a surprising headline.


    "Ender¡¯s Ambassador: Orlando¡¯s Diplomat killed."


    He continued reading


    "Orlando faced a large-scale terrorist attack on the 15th this month; Orlando¡¯s royal guards were defeated in a night, the Royal Family held hostage. This terrorist organization made a public announcement, claiming to be an organization called the Obscuro Society.


    During this assault, Diplomat Quelia, who was in talks with the Prince Edinberg of the royal family, was killed.


    The Ender Kingdom has issued an emergency press release. The death of Diplomat Quelia is a direct challenge to the integrity of the Ender Kingdom, which the kingdom will not forgive. At the time of the press release, Ender¡¯s third column General Veron has led the Third Military Division towards Orlando, to assist the local royalty in suppressing the terrorists. General Veron had made an announcement before leaving for Orlando, he views the current situation as¡­."


    Garen put down the newspaper, exhaled slightly and did not continue reading.


    "So it has begun¡­"


    Even though the newspaper did not do a follow-up coverage, if he hadn''t guessed wrongly, what happens next would be General Veron¡¯s team being completely annihilated. Three more small empires will continually be engulfed in unrestl. Obscuro Society¡¯s warring locations will exponentially increase. Heading towards the East Continent¡¯s strongest territories; the three strongest empires.


    Canbria, Kovitan, Ender; the three empires comprised the strongest alliance in the East Continent, and also served as the RAL¡¯s main congregation point of power. The strongest totem users were within the Three Departments of the three empires.


    The Three Departments may seem like a tool used to iron out administrative or national issues, but it actually consisted of the Luminarists of the RAL.


    He flipped through the Global Weeklies, and in the third publication there was a news piece that grabbed his attention.


    "Appearance of horrid creatures assaulting humans in Canbria," Under the title was a piece of black and white photograph. This world already had technology similar to photography technology on earth, the research prowess of the Luminarists may not be any weaker than Earth¡¯s scientists.


    On the image was a mouse carcass the size of a basin, being held by its tail by a strong man. The men held the mouse on one arm, and showcased the injuries caused by the mouse¡¯s bite on the other forearm.


    The flesh on the forearm was bitten badly, the flesh looked mushy, completely red.


    "Recently, Canbria had many sightings of strange creatures assaulting humans.. These animals have odd shapes and sizes, and are much more violent compared to normal animals. The Canbrian biological researcher, Eddier, believes that this is a rare reversion symptom, where these creatures will sometimes reverse due to an unknown cause, causing gigantification, and became more violent. According to research estimates, the most likely cause of this reversion is likely pollution.


    At the time of the writing of this publication, the Canbrian environmental protection agency had launched spot checks on three separate provinces on the pollution index.


    Garen realized that the mouse in the image had something shining in its iris. He squinted and suddenly thought of the howling wererabbit that has successfully evolved, having similar scary looking eyes.


    He looked up to his surroundings; The girl called Wei Xi had gone out, and closed the doors behind her.


    He got up, walked to the doors, hung up the "Do not disturb "sign, quietly locking the chain of the door.


    He pulled up the curtains as well, then sitting on the bed. Garen took the clothes hanging on the rack, taking out a red crystal ball. The sphere was only the size of a fist, and looked like a crystal decoration.


    Garen took the ball and lay on his bed.

 280 Reward 2

    Chapter 280: Reward 2


    The crystal ball was held in his hand, and a dim red light was emitted from the ball.


    Inside, just like liquid, a row of words appeared.


    "Please enter your voice pattern to unlock."


    "Garen."


    "Unlock successful, Esteemed Sir Garen, your control mold¡¯s upper limit is 9. Empowered creatures are set as animals. The controlling rights have been changed."


    Beneath it was an automatically generated data form.


    "Main totem¡¯s light strength: Normal first form. (the current silver totem that was controlled by you will provide the same intensity as a regular totem user¡¯s totem¡¯s light. Note: this only calculates the Derivator¡¯s silver totem¡¯s light intensity, it does not factor in your personal totem¡¯s light¡¯s intensity/ In order to test it, please proceed to Third Obscuro to undergo a defense evaluation.)


    (Detailed level analyses were done in comparison to the Obscuro Society¡¯s data center, the data center needs to be refreshed once every two years to ensure validity, logic, so that you can accurately determine each totem¡¯s positioning.)


    Garen understood, that this normal first form, if it was evaluated by Obscuro society, should be rather accurate.


    Normal first form, means, among form 1 totem users, the howling wererabbit will provide himself with additional totem light, with its defensive capabilities equivalent to a regular form 1 totems, perhaps there would be slight differences, but it would be generally the same.


    "Howling wererabbits are form 2 totems, but it only gave me a form1 totem¡¯s light. Looks like it is caused by the rabbit itself. It is too weak. Perhaps I can choose a stronger creature to empower the next time."


    He started planning.


    "The burden to evolve a silver totem wouldn¡¯t be as burdensome as evolving one¡¯s own totems, but it needs to feed on excretions. Its actual combat power would also not be comparable to any actual totems." Garen looked closely at the differences between the silver totems and traditional totems.


    "A rabbit¡¯s silver totem only needs two potential points to evolve into second form, but my neon butterfly needed 5 potential points, and its success rate is scarily low, with only 21%. By right, the neon butterfly should not be that much higher level than the rabbit. So I suppose it is the fundamental difference within the totems itself."


    Garen exhaled in relaxation.


    "When my body is fully recovered, I will go take a look at the market, see if there are any rare animals that I can buy to be used as silver totems. Since there are already appearances of reversion creatures, after my silver totem evolves, it can be disguised under the reversion phenomenon. There shouldn¡¯t be any problem, since Luminarists have already been evolving all kinds of creatures anyway."


    Garen remembers that there was a large wild animals market in Iron Tank City, that specialized in selling multiple kinds of animals, either being sold as meat or as pets.


    The iron tank was divided into five areas, the five-fan shaped areas formed perfect circle, which formed the entire Iron Tank City¡¯s area.


    Noble¡¯s Area, Mercantile Area, Commoner¡¯s Area, Slum area and the largest Iron Tank Area.


    The mercantile Area had two pet markets, which specialized in providing different kinds of pets to the merchants and nobles of the Noble¡¯s Area. There was also an illegal market within the Slums Area. Some hunters caught their own animals to sell, but that depended largely on luck.


    Lastly was the Iron Tank Area, which housed the largest wild animals market. There was also a weekly beast fight show. Garen heard about this from the owner of the grain and oil that he had just gotten to know.


    Iron Tank Area was messy; schools, hospitals, government institutions, factories, wholesale markets et catera, you could virtually get everything in here. The entire Iron Tank Area takes about half the surface area of the city. Inside held the most luxurious dining restaurants to the poorest slums.


    Compared to the expensive inactivated totems, these wild animals were much cheaper. Garen could definitely afford them with his current income.


    As he set his mind, Garen started to closely research on the derivator on his hand.


    This thing was like a touchscreen computer, new interesting functions kept popping up from time to time.


    As he studied more about the derivator, Garen accidentally accessed some stored information within the derivator.


    This Derivator was used by a General-level, according to the ball. Beneath that was a Field-level, which can control up to 5 silver totems.


    Above the General-Level, was the Commander-level, which could control up to 20 silver totems.


    He thought about how the imminent war was, how overwhelming the amounts of silver totems would be. Obviously, Field-level derivators were much more common compared to General-level or Commander-level ones. Plus, after the empowerment of the creatures, if the creatures died, it could immediately empower another creature, there were no restrictions on time.


    Unlike traditional totems, in which you would need at least a five-year buffer period.


    After staying in the hospital for a whole week, Garen was considered to be fully recovered.


    The majority of the burns he suffered have healed, leaving behind a large scar, while Andy and Goth were not as fast as he was, needing to stay in the hospital for at least half a month.


    Both sides of their family would sometimes come over to visit. Jessica¡¯s was not badly injured, but she always came by to take care of both of them. Goth¡¯s mother also came a few times, caring for Goth together with Jessica.


    Before Garen was discharged, he had gotten along quite well with Goth¡¯s mother, as well as Andy¡¯s siblings and family.


    However, this time, he was primarily standing on the sidelines, as the main force was still Goth and Andy. Comparatively, there were some barriers now.


    Garen did not mind, either, so long as he was still in the squad, he will still get Goth¡¯s protection. In the future, the mission difficulties that he could execute would also rapidly rise.


    Seeing that Garen got discharged earlier, Andy and Goth unanimously wanted Garen to submit the mission to the guild. The mission this time had appearance of a totem user, the grade will definitely rise a few levels.


    Luminarist Hiring Guild


    In the spacious and quiet hall, Garen stood near the mission submission counter, looking at the young lady employee behind the counter.


    Garen took out the Andy¡¯s mission medal, and passed it over.


    "Panther Group received the reconnaissance mission. Have the investigators for the post mortem team set off for the location? What is the rank of the mission at the moment?"


    The female employee received the medal, flipped over the thick note book, She quickly found a record.


    "Yes, Panther Group received a reconnaissance mission, to investigate a bandit¡¯s hideout, There are three other small squads who received. Due to the abnormal changes to the mission five days ago, the difficulty is now Hard level.¡¯¡¯


    she lifted her head and looked at Garen.


    "You are the representative of the Panther Group ?"


    "Yes."


    The female employee looked at the medal, took the pen and recorded something.


    "Alright, follow me, your reward is behind."


    Garen walked in through a small door to the side, following the employee into a small room inside.


    Inside the room was a huge object, all of them were covered with a black cloth. He was unable to see what was inside


    The employee walked as she spoke.


    "This time, many missions had increased difficulties, so the rewards were added proportionately by the management. Your mission as well, many good items have been appended."


    She took out a checklist, and gave it to Garen.


    Garen took it and read. The appended items on top of the existing list did look good indeed.


    Among those, were two inactivated White Dragonhawk totems that have attracted Garen¡¯s attention.


    White Dragonhawk was the strongest totem in Iron Tank City. The market priced it at nine hundred thousand, yet it couldn¡¯t be purchased. It is the most ferocious bird totem among the animal types, and also a Grand Duke¡¯s family totem. Even outsiders could hardly nurture an evolution to its highest form, but if it could even reach form 2, it will be abnormally strong already.


    With feathers as strong as steel, speed as fast as lightning, claws with unparalleled sharpness and immense special ability.


    The Grand Duke¡¯s family had a form 2 White Dragonhawk, it had a special ability called the Tearing Roar.


    Similar to the supersonic attacks of a bat, but much stronger. A normal form 1 totem cannot defend against it at all; this kind of roar was launched down from high above the sky, once reaching the ground, it can break a similarly-leveled form 2 totem user¡¯s totem light. The vibration would quake the user until he bled out to death. The power was commonly known among form 2 totem, and an extremely strong one.


    This stemmed from its strong foundation.


    Totem nurturing, in practice, had uncountable changes, just like the evolution of a creature. By satisfying different requirements, the evolution pathway would also be different. However, based on the foundation of the White Dragonhawk, no matter how the evolution went, it will not be any worse off.


    It is one of the best foundational totems.


    The White Dragonhawk does not normally appear in the market, this kind of top tier totem is an imitation of an already extinct creature called the Dragonhawk. Only Iron Tank City¡¯s ruler the Grand Duke¡¯s family has control over the production of the White Dragonhawk.


    Now, it is obvious that the two White Dragonhawks were a special rewards from the Grand Duke¡¯s family..


    Garen¡¯s heart got excited.


    He¡¯s got the ability that can forcibly evolve a totem, and unlike the other totem users, the totem will not self-destruct if the evolution failed.


    The failure of evolution via potential points will not harm the totem itself at all, this is clearly described by the symbol on top.


    Once he got a totem as strong as a White Dragonhawk, he could then use potential points to force an evolution to form 2, completely unrestrained by the Grand Duke¡¯s family¡¯s knowledge on its evolutionary pathway.


    "This White Dragonhawk totem is given by the Grand Duke¡¯s family right?" Garen spoke softly while pointing at them.


    "Yes, those who got the White Dragonhawk totem, can spend money at the Duke¡¯s manor to purchase some basic nurturing knowledge. There are also some different educational materials, all can be bought at the Duke¡¯s manor." The female employee nodded as she answered. "This way please"


    The two of them walked through the hall, taking a turn into a quiet wooden corridor, down the corridor and soon reached the entrance of a wooden door.


    The employee took out a bunch of keys, looking for a corresponding number.


    Garen was prepared to take the rewards, after distributing them, he would go to the wild animals¡¯ market to take a look. He should be able to get some interesting creatures to empower.


    About the two White Dragonhawks, One of them would definitely go to Goth, but the other one, Garen was thinking if he can exchange something to trade it from Goth.


    White Dragonhawk is highly demanded in the market, it could even be used to trade for a basic unit factory. To Garen, no matter if it was a core totem, or a unit factory, they were both indispensable treasures.


    Goth¡¯s core totem is the Blackfield Bird, it is a totem that¡¯s even above the White Dragonhawk, he does not need this totem at all.

 281 Future 1

    Chapter 281: Future 1


    As he snapped back into focus, the employee had already taken out the keys and opened the door.


    "This time, the Governor¡¯s manor took out a grand total of 100 White Dragonhawks as the large scale appendment reward for the mission. One can say that they really hauled their assets. But even then, the missions¡¯ acceptance and completion rates haven¡¯t not increased all that much either." The employee sighed, "The missions¡¯ difficulty recently is really hard to determine, most of the totem users do not dare to simply pick up a mission. Furthermore, the amount of people accepting mission have also reduced greatly. That¡¯s why there was the White Dragonhawk being given out as a reward."


    She looked at the checklist.


    "But there¡¯s none for you to be amused for, that is primarily the reward for the Hurricane Group. Your reward is at the lowest rank."


    Garen was stunned.


    "The main completer of the mission is Hurricane Group? What do you mean?"


    The employee gave him a weird look. "Of course they are the main force of this mission¡¯s completion. The Hurricane Group annihilated this terrorist totem users¡¯ hideout, exploded massive amounts of white totem bombs, they have already pick up their reward yesterday. You small fries are lucky, not being sucked into the midst of the battle and yet qualify for the rewards, that¡¯s one hundred thousand Silver Rumbs for each of you."


    Garen¡¯s heart sank.


    "You mean, this mission is mainly completed by Hurricane Group?"


    "Like this, there was actually a form 1 totem user inside, I saw their mission process, they completed with blood sweat and tears. What¡¯s up with you?" The female employee looked at him weirdly.


    "One form 2 totem user¡­? Haha¡­" Garen laughed coldly, such blasphemy of saying three top ranked form 2 totem users from Obscuro Society was said to be one, it was obviously the explosion of the kinetic furnace, but they said it was the white totem bomb. This Hurricane Group is so talented, they can make up any stories.


    He walked into the wooden room.


    "This is your reward." The employee gave Garen a small black bag.


    Garen did not budge, and did not take up the black bag.


    He glanced, and he sse that three middle-age men standing on the right side on the window, quietly looking over here.


    He knows, in the situation where Goth was is absent, whatever he said carries no weight. Nobody would believe a group that has no form 2 totem user, to be able to kill three form 2 totem users, and yet being able to walk out of the hideout without any deaths.


    Comparatively, everyone would definitely believe Hurricane Group¡¯s lies better.


    It¡¯s believed that even Hurricane Group were not entirely sure about what happened, and not knowing the changes on Goth¡¯s body. That¡¯s why they would simply make up the story.


    Garen admitted that even though he has an additional Howling Wererabbit and that his defenses are slightly stronger, but in a frontal confrontation, needless to say that he still could not break through form 2 totem user¡¯s totem light.


    "I¡¯m sorry, but I feel that this reward was not calculated properly."


    "Not counted properly?" The female employee frowned, she is also a totem user, even though just a form 1 totem, but her time was not to be wasted recklessly. "Which part did we not calculate properly? You point it out, I want to be responsible to my work."


    Garen smiled politely.


    "I actually want to say, in this mission, there were some minute details that the Hurricane Group did not explain properly. That would be something my group leader personally experienced, so I hope that when my group leader gets discharged, he can come over to amend the process of the mission."


    The female employee looked at Garen for a while


    "If you insist, I can stop this reward claim, but you have to understand, it may happen that these rewards may be claimed by others."


    She stopped and frowned.


    "Or, if you think Hurricane had inaccurate recount of the missions, they you are wasting your effort. The people from the guild have already sent people to check it, everything is normal."


    Garen realized, the man by the window have left unknowingly. He had some plans, so he didn¡¯t say too much to the employee.


    "It doesn¡¯t matter, soon our group leader will come personally to speak, saying anything now serves no purpose."


    He did not plan to iron this out, the Hurricane group can be left to Goth, who can erupt his talents. That dude can even take on three form 2 totem users from Obscuro society, nevermind the tiny Hurricane Group.


    "Up to you." The lady shrugged her shoulder.


    Both of them turned around, left the room and walked back.


    A few passers-by workers saw that Garen had come back with nothing on hand, they couldn¡¯t help but to looked at him a few more times.


    Back in the mission hall, Garen politely said thank you to the female employee. And asked her for a name card.


    "Tavi Nesser" Garen looked at the name card, then carefully kept it.


    The mission hall at the time it was bustling with more people, among them was a sturdy, looking tall man, staring at Garen with a smirk.


    As he saw Garen walking out, he slowly stood up.


    Garen frowned as he glanced at these people. He exited the mission hall, walked down a few steps, and headed straight towards the Chialunar Hospital.


    As he expected, there were a few people tailing him.


    He realized that these people are wearing a hurricane badges around their chests.


    Garen picked up his pace and walked along the streets. The three people behind him followed closely.


    Two people walked in a single file and mixed into the crowd, walking against the current of people.


    Garen turned his head around occasionally.


    "I¡¯m just reconnaissance, not a combatant, these things are best left to the professionals." He mumbled as he moved faster.


    The footwork of his secret ability was used without sound, the speed got faster and faster.


    Soon they were left behind in dust.


    He hadn¡¯t received the rewards. He took a huge detour around town, and in the end he still decided to go back to the hospital. He was prepared to tell Goth and andy about the rewards being taken by Hurricane, so that they, in turn would be mentally prepared.


    He rushed into the hospital. By the entrance of the white, five-story building, stood a few people with hurricane badges.


    Garen was about to walk over, but he stopped short, standing at the back side of the of the building.


    "Now I¡¯ll have no choice."Garen waited outside the building for a while, he soon saw two young nurses walking out of the hospital building.


    One of them was 14-15 years old. It was indeed the nurse who got her lunch.


    He suddenly had an idea. He waited until the nurse approached, and walked around the two of them to stop them.


    "That.. Wei Xi!" Garen stopped in front of them, loudly screaming that sentence.


    The two nurses were just chatting softly suddenly heard themselves being called. They lifted their heads and got scared so badly, their faces paled.


    A bald, browless, beardless scary man blocked their path, this man had a perverted smile as he stared at them, his mouth had hints of violence and cunningness.


    Garen did not expect that his kind smile have scared the two brats this badly¡­ he quickly reduced his smile, trying his best to show a peaceful look.


    "Wei Xi, I am the guy whom you sent lunch to, remember?"


    Wei Xi immediately recalled this patient who left strong impression, she stood in front of her friend.


    "You¡­. You need anything?" her tongue tied. She¡¯s motivated.


    "Could you help me out?" Garen smiled, scaring the girls that she shuddered.


    Two minutes later, Garen looked at the silhouettes walk into the hospital, his heart calmed.


    He turned around, and caught three Hurricane people blocking his rear, quietly staring at him. On the opposite side of the left street, one man wearing a white hat with golden bezel walked towards him, on his chest was the same black-white hurricane badge.


    On the man¡¯s badge was two silver horizontal lines.


    "Form 2?" Garen suddenly understood the meaning of the horizontal lines.


    "Good eyesight.."the young man walked within five meters from Garen, stopped his movements, and picked up a cigarette from his shirt pocket. He slowly lit the cigarette and took a puff.


    "Honestly, you ran really quickly. If I wasn¡¯t guarding here coincidentally, I may not have necessarily been able to catch you. Nice to meet you, the name¡¯s Casey."


    "I¡¯m just a nobody." Garen smirked and laughed. He just realized that on the roof, not far from him, stood a sparrow. It¡¯s eyes had a hint of silver.


    Alright, no more bullshit. I am here to align our verbal records." The young man Casey said calmly, "This time¡¯s mission, only our Hurricane group and your panther group survived, there were two other groups who died inside. I don¡¯t know what happened inside, but to get any mission reward, our records have to be aligned, understood?"


    "What do you mean?" the smile on Garen¡¯s face calmed down.


    "The moment you received the reward, send it to this address, you can keep one third of it." Casey puffed a smoke, spewing a white smoke ring, his eyes seemed calm. "Think of it as the reward for us Hurricane group for protecting you.


    "The mission was completed by us."


    Garen said calmly, quietly looking at the other party.


    "You completed it?" Casey shook his head, "I was the one who exploded the white totem bombs, I killed the only form 2 totem user, you said you completed it? What are you?"


    "Haha." Garen only laughed.


    "Laughing? You¡¯re happy?" Casey looked angry. "I¡¯ll make you laugh!" His slap swiped towards Garen.


    "Pap!"


    Suddenly, Casey¡¯s hand was caught.


    "You¡¯re so full of yourself, brat." A red silhouette came flying, a man wearing a ref bib stood in front of Garen, facing Casey with a bright smile.


    "Let go!" Casey¡¯s face turned dark.


    "Nope."


    "I said, let go!"Casey screamed. His face twitched,, obviously he was angered to the brink.


    "I don¡¯t wanna let go, hit me if you can." Goth smiled snarkily, pushing his face towards Casey.


    "You are seeking death!" Casey finally burst into anger, one tight slap flung towards Goth.


    Pap!


    A burst of harsh crisp sound was heard.


    Garen was stunned as he looked at where the two were. Although he already noticed the arrival of Goth and the team, but he did not realize that Goth, who had a wire loose in his head, would ever use this method.


    Casey was seen holding his face, filled with disbelief, as he stared at Goth.


    "Hit me, come one, hit me!!" Goth had a face that was asking for a beating. He pointed at his hips, twerking his buttocks "Here! Kick here, use some force!!"


    "Fuck!!" Casey is incredibly angry, and rushed forward to get a good kick.


    Ouch!!!


    A painful scream was hurt.


    Casey knelt down to the ground, his body shining with an inconsistent light film, but this layer of light is clearly was not able to stop this fatal blow.

 282 Future 2

    Chapter 282: Future 2


    Andy shook his head and walked over, standing alongside Garen.


    "Poor thing¡­ There would be no reason to provoke anyone else, much less Goth. You okay, Garen?"


    "I¡¯m fine." Garen had already realised the oncoming presence of the two other people much earlier. Thus, he allowed the Hurricane squad members to do as they pleased. He never expected that it would turn out so well.


    As for the three remaining Hurricane squad members, the moment they saw their leader collapse, a terrified look appeared on their faces at once, and they didn¡¯t know whether to advance or to escape.


    "Go! We¡¯re leaving!" Casey yelled loudly, looking at Goth as if he were a monster, with his face all twisted like that.


    "You dare think of leaving?!" Goth spat as he rubbed his hands together, rushing forward in a fit of rage.


    "They stole the reward for the task we completed!" Garen quickly reminded him at this crucial moment. "They impersonated us!"


    His words enraged Goth even more. Every one of his slaps that landed on Casey¡¯s face brought on rays of black light that caused a prickly sensation, making it seem as if countless sharp thorns had grown on his body.


    These sharp thorns pierced through Casey¡¯s totem light easily. Furthermore, Goth¡¯s speed and strength had grown to the point where it was now terrifying to others.


    Garen watched Goth¡¯s movements. The speed at which Goth rotated his arm and pushed it downwards always made Garen¡¯s heart jump slightly.


    It seemed like this guy had already achieved the strength and speed he was only supposed to possess after his successfully using his Godlike Accomplishment skill.


    Although he had known from the beginning that certain appraisal geniuses could get an increase in strength from their core totems, he never expected Goth¡¯s improvements to be of such great magnitude.


    Moreover, Goth had only recently awakened his potential, and had not fully released it yet. Before his full release, there was no telling how more powerful he would be in his final stage.


    "No wonder he was able to reach the level of single-handedly winning a fight." Garen was still in shock. He had practiced his Secret Technique just to achieve the Godlike Accomplishment skill, and had gone through many difficulties and hard times such as having to kill others in order to reach his goal.


    Apart from his fighting skills, Goth¡¯s physical body and fitness levels were also vastly different from before as well.


    In Garen¡¯s mind, everything seemed somewhat unbalanced.


    Casey and the other three members of the Hurricane squad were beaten up and forced to the ground by Goth. He had easily thrown them against the wall as if they were merely objects. The scene frightened off the passersby on the street and they ran away quickly, worried that they might become casualties in this fight.


    As Casey looked over at Goth, his own expression changed from embarrassment and fury into fear and dread. He was certain that his opponent¡¯s strength surpassed that of a regular Form 2 totem user. Ultimately, he had no choice but to release his own totem and fight to the death. But the moment he released it, his plan was foiled instantly. Goth would eventually destroy his totem, completely ruining his many years of hard work in the process. Without a Form 2 totem, he wouldn¡¯t be able to defend the Hurricane squad for long.


    If his opponent possessed the ability to break through a totem user¡¯s totem light, judging from the current state of his totem¡¯s defenses, wrecking his totem would be a piece of cake.


    In the end, Casey could only endure Goth¡¯s vicious attacks silently. He wrapped his arms around his head and crouched into a ball as he was too afraid to retaliate.


    In the corner of the street, the both of them looked like a couple of gangsters. Goth single-handedly beat the three of them up without having to put up much of a fight, then forced Casey to return both of the White Dragonhawk rewards. He also made him pay compensation in the form of a mental loss fee, safety threat fee, loss of reputation fee as well as a series of other payments totalling to 820,000 silver rumbs.


    Both parties signed a contract and stamped their fingerprints with a blood seal. Casey finally understood that this man, Goth, had truly possessed a strength that would be able to defeat Form 2 totem users. If someone provoked him again with the outskirts of the city currently in a state of chaos, so long as he found a desolate place to intercept them, his enemies could call on the whole world for help, but no one would be able to save them.


    Once Casey and his group had left, Goth wiped his hands and hid the contract in his clothes carefully, and patted his pocket.


    "Let¡¯s go. We¡¯ll find somewhere we can sit."


    "Yes," nodded Andy. "According to what I¡¯ve heard, we should leave this place quickly since we¡¯ve already completed the task. We should also follow the rules while we¡¯re at it."


    Garen nodded as well.


    The three of them turned the street corner and came across a coffee shop where they found a table against the wall and sat there, before ordering a cup of milk coffee each.


    The atmosphere inside the coffee shop was calm, as there were only five or six other customers, sitting around in different spots. Everyone spoke in hushed voices when they conversed.


    There was a white piano in front, where a man dressed in white played the soothing melody of an unknown song.


    On the left corner of the wall where the three men were seated, the latest edition of the calendar had been hung up, and all the dates which had passed were ticked off with a little red check mark. The last unmarked date was the 24th of the second month.


    "We¡¯re entering spring already," said Garen before he lifted his coffee cup and drank from it. "This year¡¯s winter hardly seemed as cold as the years before."


    "I kind of agree. It still felt like autumn to me, I hardly felt any difference," nodded Andy. "The situation at the guild has been worsening recently. One of my acquaintances came to see me recently and I asked him about it. Two of the largest employment squads in the Luminarist guild, Black Light and Blue Leaf, encountered great difficulties in completed their most recent task, and the Black Light squad even lost two of their members. They were Iron Tank City¡¯s strongest totem user employment squad! Both the captain and vice captain are Form 3 final stage totem users, yet they still lost 2 members. The current situation is really dire."


    "When I went to the guild, I noticed that there were less people inside as well," said Garen quietly.


    "My friend is in charge of preparing the statistic reports, and according to him, there are about eighty to a hundred lower rank squads like ours in the guild. But in the most recent month, a lot of the smaller squads left and never returned. Some of them were even middle range squads with one or two Form 2 totem users, and even they suffered serious injuries. Currently five guild points have become significantly quieter."


    "Don¡¯t worry. You guys still have me, remember? I¡¯ll protect you," said Goth lazily, as he drank the remainder of his coffee in a few gulps.


    Both of them shook their heads and flat-out ignored him.


    Andy continued, saying: "The casualties sustained by the guild in the previous year is still higher, but the ratio would never be more than ten to one, meaning one death would occur in ten tasks on average. Meanwhile this year, the ratio had already risen to five to one. I assume that the higher ups in the guild would have taken the necessary measures already. Right now, I¡¯d suggest that we nurse of our wounds for the time being. Once our bodies have healed properly, we can absorb this task¡¯s reward, and by then, the situation would be pretty much clearer. Whether or not we continue accept tasks after that will depend on how we feel in the future. How about that?"


    Garen nodded quietly. He understood what Andy was thinking. They were only trying to earn a quick buck, and train themselves while they were at it. They weren¡¯t trying to place their lives on the line, so there was no need for them to accept tasks that were unnecessarily dangerous. Even if a totem user merely decided to join a security organization, their livelihoods would still be at least three times better than that of an average person. They would be able to lead a good and simple life. Those who undertook tasks from the guild were mostly thrill seekers that wanted to improve themselves at the same time.


    "These are important national matters. As long as the higher ups are worried about it, it¡¯s none of our business," said Andy as he sighed in relief. He smiled and continued, saying: "No matter what, Goth, this time both Jessica and I owe you our lives. If you ever need any help in the future, just feel free to say it without holding back!" He patted Goth¡¯s shoulder as he said.


    It was rare for Goth to be quiet, and now a look of concentration had appeared on his face. "Actually, I just want a simple life. As long as I have good food and drink, and a gentle girlfriend, all I¡¯d have to do is to work hard so that all the other bastards will not look down on me anymore. Then we could leave our homes just like we¡¯re doing now, and I could still lead a happy life. After that I¡¯d want to have two sons, and name one of them Andy, and the other one Garen."


    "Why you little!" Andy could not stop himself from punching him. "But my old man has already ordered me to never return to the guild again because of the scars on Jessica¡¯s face, which made my mother cry for two whole days. After this¡­ After this, I don¡¯t think it¡¯s likely that I¡¯d be able to accept tasks anymore," he said as his voice grew softer. "I¡¯ve gained almost enough experience, and since I¡¯ve gotten the proof of my mission from the guild, once I¡¯ve applied for a position in the national institution, my well being will increase significantly. Who knows, I might even get a job as a junior officer."


    His words were tinged with a sense of parting.


    The three of them became quiet for a moment.


    "Since you already have the qualifications from the last two tasks, what department are you thinking of joining? Just choose one, and I¡¯ll submit the application for you. Any department will do. There¡¯s a Mercenary¡¯s Guild in every part of the East Continent, and with your qualifications, you¡¯d get a good position even if you were sent to the imperial family," said Andy with a smile. "Or if you¡¯d prefer, you could go to a college or somewhere like that and work as a security officer, or even a specialized speaker. There are tons of beautiful girls in the school, you know."


    Goth lowered his head, and stopped speaking for a short while.


    "I¡¯ll do it at my own pace¡­" he replied quietly. "What about you, Garen? Any plans?"


    "I don¡¯t even have a home to return to, what plans could someone like me have?" said Garen as he shrugged. "I¡¯m planning to wait and see. I don¡¯t even have any plans or arrangements on my mind at the moment."


    "You¡¯re 21 years old already, right? You aren¡¯t young anymore, you should be making plans for your future by now. Why don¡¯t I introduce you to a girl, but definitely not someone who lives a promiscuous life on her own," said Andy earnestly. "Start your own household earlier, then you¡¯ll finally have someone to depend on in your heart. You¡¯ll also have a goal to fight for."


    "We¡¯ll see," Garen shook his head. "I¡¯m not thinking of that at the moment." He was certain that not long from now, the city would be filled with danger and trouble. Goth and the others would have no choice but to contribute by joining the movement to get rid of the surrounding dangerous creatures.


    Almost all of the totem users would not be able to rest during that time.


    Obscuro Society¡¯s major course of action was about to begin soon. This peaceful period of life would only last for a few more days.


    He was unlike the two others because he wasn¡¯t a local in this world, he was merely a passerby. His goal was actually to find the secret that he had brought over with him. This whole time he had been trying to control his fate.


    Life was hard and short, and after about a hundred and ten short years, in order to continue living, one would need to have something of value to pursue.


    A vague idea began pounding at the back of Garen¡¯s mind. He no longer wanted to just go with the flow. In his personal experience, he had too many doubts that he wanted to understand.


    In this universe, what could truly be considered eternal¡­


    "Don¡¯t think too much about that," said Andy as he patted his shoulder.


    Before Garen, Andy, and Goth went their separate ways, they made sure to exchange contact information and addresses.


    Garen left the coffee shop on his own, and walked down the lane for a distance, before stretching his arm out and hailing a passing horse carriage.


    "To the trade area," he said as he got onto the carriage.


    The coachman was a middle-aged man with a short beard.


    "The trade area huh¡­ That¡¯s quite a distance from here. We¡¯ll have to exit this area, sir. And distances further than ten kilometers require additional charges as well. Which part of the trade area are you heading towards?"


    Garen nodded, showing the man that he knew the price. "To Wellington Street. Do you know where that is?"


    "I need to go deeper into the area if it¡¯s Wellington. Are you perhaps going to the pet market, sir?" asked the coachman in an experienced voice.


    "That¡¯s the place."


    "How¡¯s eight silver rumbs?"


    "That¡¯s fine," answered Garen at once.


    Once he had seated himself inside, he leaned against the right side of the carriage and felt as if the front of the carriage had fallen off. Moments later, it hobbled forward and off they went.


    Outside the window, the roads rolled past continuously, and out of the rows of white living quarters, shops could occasionally be seen.


    As the carriage galloped towards the trade area, the roads outside the carriage gradually became dirtier. They began to pass by an increasing number of horse carriages, including a beautifully built one at one point. Ox carts that sold fruits also passed them by on the lane, but were quickly overtaken by the carriage.


    Calming his emotions, Garen began to look forward to the types of wild animals he would be able to purchase soon.


    As long as there were no accidents, Goth would not need the White Dragonhawk. He was currently undergoing his power explosion stage, and would definitely be faced with an abundance of stronger totems in the future. However, the same did not apply to himself. He had already waited until the eleventh hour. He needed to decide on his core totem as soon as possible, and then evolve it quickly. If he failed in doing so, he would not be able to fight in the upcoming Great War.


    Garen finally had a plan in his heart. His next step was to decide on which creature to evolve as his second totem. He also needed to increase his strength to the best of his abilities, so that he could hunt more totem users in the Great War, and attain more potential points.

 283 Market 1

    Chapter 283: Market 1


    The Pet Market.


    On both sides of the road, pet cages were arranged and packed closely together. There were rows of them in various heights, sizes, and colours. Most of them were either light coloured or white.


    A few elegantly dressed ladies and young female aristocrats shielded themselves with white parasols as they strolled through the market, observing and purchasing the pets that were for sale.


    Horse drawn carriages stopped beside the entrance along the lane as new customers alighted and entered the market.


    A bald man walked out leisurely from one of the black carriages. He had no hair on his head, no beard, and no eyebrows, making his face seem like a freshly carved white wax figure. There wasn¡¯t a single strand of hair on his face, and his whole head was completely bare. His peculiar look caused the surrounding passersby to look over at him with curious glances.


    This man handed the transport fee to the coachman, before tidying the white casual garments he wore.


    "Sir, do you need a scarf? It¡¯s only five copper rumbs," said a child as he rushed over to sell a sun-shading scarf to the man.


    The man bought the scarf and wrapped it around his head.


    Starting from the the left side of the market, he observed the animals as he strolled through the street slowly.


    A man in grey clothes carried a grey owl on his hand and spoke loudly but slightly inarticulately, attempting to promote his wares to two aristocratic women. The owl on his arm would turn its head occasionally, a sign that it was in reasonably good spirits.


    Up ahead, a plump man wearing a turban with a white gemstone patted the large metal cage beside him and began to introduce the clouded leopard pacing inside. It was obvious that the lynx was feeling restless because of the heat.


    Further in front, a group of upper class women gathered around a little pet shop that sold rabbits and squirrels, giggling softly from time to time.


    Garen inched forward slowly as his line of sight grazed over the various cages. His mind was constantly filled with thoughts.


    "Empowered totems cannot be kept inside storage tools, but must be left outside. They also need to consume food and excrete. Could these things empower human beings as well?" the thought crossed his mind suddenly.


    His face remained expressionless, as Garen continued to move forward and look at every single one of the cages.


    Eagles, cheetahs, wildcats, hounds, pythons, and spiders were among the many other pets that could be found here.


    Suddenly, his feet stopped moving. He stood in front of a large aquarium.


    Inside the blue water tank, a large great white shark swam around nonchalantly.


    "Sir, are you interested in buying this great white shark? If you purchase it now, I¡¯ll also throw in a gift. Every great white shark purchase comes with a free aquarium," said a friendly, thin man who smelled like the ocean.


    "I have other kinds of aquatic creatures here in my shop, and a few types of amphibians as well. You can feel free to have a look. Crocodiles, wolf fish, decorative goldfish, black-headed prawns, cylindrical snails, and jellyfish. Anything you want, we¡¯ll catch it for you!"


    "Oh?" Garen declined to comment. "I¡¯d like to see the crocodiles."


    "Please come inside, sir," said the slim man as he enthusiastically led Garen into the dark, damp part of the shop. He had opened his shop here a long time ago, initially thinking that the rich lords and ladies would have an affinity towards strange aquatic creatures. He never expected his business to flop the entire time. It was rare enough for him to come across a customer who was actually interested in buying something, thus it was only natural for him not to let this chance escape.


    Garen entered the shop. He saw a deep pit in the left side of the shop, where two short-tailed crocs were crawling around lazily. One of the crocodiles stretched its mouth wide open, as its sharp teeth snapped at a flock of little white birds.


    "On its own, the crocodile has a strong defensive armor. If it was empowered into a Silver Totem, I¡¯m not sure how much stronger my Totem Light would become because of that." Garen wanted to buy the crocodile for its full body of tough armor. Even if he decided to just raise it at home, the Totem Light that he would gain from the crocodile was probably more than what he would gain from most living creatures.


    "I¡¯d like a crocodile, so how much would that cost?"


    "Just thirty thousand, thirty thousand silver rumbs. Hehe," The skinny man was happier beyond his wildest expectations. He never thought that he¡¯d be able to seal a deal for a pet with a customer that just walked in.


    "Done. Please send it to this address later." Garen took out a pen, and was about to write down the hotel¡¯s address, before stopping himself abruptly. "Hold on. I¡¯ll come back later and confirm the location with you. Here¡¯s the deposit."


    Garen took out a thousand silver rumbs and counted them for the skinny shopkeeper, before leaving his name and informing the man that he would return later.


    After leaving the aquatic pet shop, Garen continued journeying forwards and took his time looking around.


    In a short while, he decided upon three giant desert monitor lizards from a different pet shop. All three of them were lizards with dark blue coloured backs, and had each grown to be more than one meter in length. Their skin felt like a kind of rough cloth when touched.


    Garen pressed his finger against the giant lizard¡¯s skin and realised that it was actually quite tough.


    These three giant desert monitor lizards had only cost Garen ten thousand silver rumbs. However, it was rumoured that these creatures could be used to form a blood relation with the legendary dragon. Garen was interested to try this out, to see if it was possible to evolve them into a similar type of living totem.


    But of course, everything depended on the requirements for the core totem¡¯s foundation to be met first.


    This kind of blue back lizard excelled in drilling holes and possessed swift movements. Furthermore, they also had highly poisonous glands that could cause paralysis. They were extremely unsuitable as domesticated pets. A moment of negligence would allow them an opportunity to drill holes and escape. Thus, the shop owner was unable to sell them for their full price, which caused their value to decrease rapidly. Never had he expected a customer like Garen, someone who was so entranced by these creatures. This shop owner was also delighted beyond expectation, and decided to sell all three of his giant lizards to Garen.


    Next, Garen also purchased three grey feathered hawks. These hawks were extremely fierce despite their small stature. This particular female hawk was especially impressive, as it was often found with leopards in the northern highlands. This was another creature that was superb even at its foundation level.


    One short-tailed croc, three grey feathered hawks, and three giant desert monitor lizards. A total of seven animals, and when Garen¡¯s current howling wererabbit was added to the list, that brought the grand total to eight. Garen still planned to leave two empty spots in case there were better choices for him to substitute later.


    These creatures cost him a total of seventy thousand silver rumbs.


    He decided to give up on a getting custom-made totem. Custom-made totems were definitely more suited to totem users compared to standard totems, and the better suited a totem was to its totem user, the easier it was to evolve it. However, Garen had already acquired excellent abilities, making it redundant for him to pay the exorbitant fees just for a custom-made totem.


    After paying the deposit, Garen followed the crowd into a different street.


    He looked at the relaxed aristocrats that passed by him, every one of them oblivious to the upcoming chaos.


    Most of these people were unaware of the existence of Luminarists. They lived in a fabricated world of pretend, naively believing that the cavalry, archers, patrol guards, swordsmen, and musketeers were all there was to war. Unbeknownst to them, the real war was the one that was fought by totem users and Luminarists, and they were in charge of the actual decision-making.


    Totems were banned from meddling in wars between normal people, and this was a rule. But people who were the slightest bit knowledgeable were already aware of the importance of totem users. Both war and peace were controlled by the hands of these few people.


    "General Wellan recently led Anita¡¯s third legion of nearly a hundred thousand men out to battle, who knows how long it will take before the war ends. My husband is part of that army as their logistics officer," said an upper class lady with an anxious look on her face, holding a white rabbit in her arms. "I don¡¯t even know if he¡¯s taking care of himself properly while he¡¯s out there."


    "Don¡¯t worry. Brother-in-law will be fine. He¡¯s a man. Big sister, look at my squirrel. Isn¡¯t it cute?" Nearby, a red-headed young lady stroked the squirrel in her palm happily.


    Garen passed by the two ladies, and heard bits and pieces of their conversation.


    In the eyes of the average person, General Wellan had led one hundred thousand soldiers out to battle, and had three of the bravest and fiercest army captains under his command.


    However, the people who truly decided the outcome of the battle were not these hundred thousand men, but the other thousand over totem users who had left a long time ago, but whose whereabouts and statuses remained unknown.


    The wars of totem users and normal people were vastly different, and they always selected their battle sites individually. The moment one sector of totem users was defeated, their commander would automatically declare their surrender.


    The majority of totem users would not slaughter normal people, but this resulted in a lot of predetermined outcomes, many of which concluded with the weak beating the strong. The difference in soldier numbers resulted in a wide disparity between both sides, but this was ultimately caused by the totem users¡¯ unanimous surrender when defeated in battle.


    Garen¡¯s train of thought began to deviate, so he waved down a horse-drawn carriage and headed towards the outskirts of the city quickly.


    He needed to find a house that would solely belong to him, or else it would be impossible for him to house this many Silver Totems.


    He returned to his hotel and packed his belongings, before rushing off to the nearest home rental center.


    In the home rental center, he chose a house with a big courtyard on the outskirts of the city, which included a lake and man-made grassy mountains, which amounted to its huge perimeter. The house was somewhat decrepit, but the rental was only required to be paid once every two years, and each payment was twenty thousand silver rumbs.


    This was a considerably cheap price.


    Currently, Garen did not have much money left, and once he had totalled his remaining bits of money, after the purchase of his pets, he was left with less than three hundred thousand silver rumbs. At the request of the landlord, he was led outside and brought to see the courtyard. After that, he paid the two-year rental fee in one payment.


    Next, Garen went to the pet market street again, and gave his new address to the shop keepers.


    He had no plans to visit other pet markets. To be honest, most animals could already be found here, the remaining ones were merely lions, tigers, bears and other ferocious beasts. He hardly cared about these common creatures, because as far as their defense was concerned, lions and tigers did not have the armor the crocodile possessed. The most important factor was that for large carnivorous animals, one was definitely enough. If you empowered more than one, their daily meat intake would definitely increase to an insane amount.


    Once the Great War broke out, there would definitely not be enough meat to sustain all these creatures.


    **************


    On the outskirts of Iron Tank City where people were scarce, a few courtyards stood spaciously away from one another.


    One of the courtyards was surrounded by a grey fence, and on the green grass stood a mountain shaped double-storey building. The little building had white floors and black sides, and looked somewhat unkempt on first glance. Certain parts of the windows had wilted yellow vines growing all over them.


    A gust of wind blew over, blowing the grass and causing the yellowed leaves to roll away.


    Garen alighted the carriage, and stood in front of the gates of the courtyard.


    He turned his head and looked in the opposite direction and saw a similar looking courtyard, except that there were flowering fruit trees growing in the other courtyard, and a young woman who was holding a watering can and watering the flowers.


    The girl also noticed Garen standing opposite her, and her face immediately broke out into a friendly smile.


    Garen smiled back at her too.


    Garen looked for the key and unlocked the latch on the fence, before walking into the courtyard that he had just rented for himself.


    Woof woof!


    The sound of a dog barking could be heard from the courtyard on the opposite side.


    "Teller! Damn you, don¡¯t you dare pee there! Do you hear me?!" The girl yelled loudly from the opposing courtyard. "Teller! Teller!!!" She threw her watering can down and chase a golden retriever into the back of the house.


    Garen turned to look in her direction, before removing the key from his pocket. He stuck it into the keyhole of his front door and turned the handle.


    Ka-chak.


    The door creaked when it was pulled open towards the outside, as a mouldy smell that came from inside the house began to waft towards him.

 284 Market 2

    Chapter 284: Market 2


    "Cough cough," Garen muffled his nose as he walked inside.


    The first floor was completely empty as all the furniture had been moved out. In the hall on the first floor, there was a corridor on the left side which led to the backyard, kitchen, and other rooms. There was a wooden spiral staircase on the right side which led to the second floor. The red paint on the staircase had mostly faded, making it obvious that this place had aged.


    Garen opened all the windows and doors, and noticed that the place was covered in dust.


    He coughed as he walked out of the house, before coming across an advertisement on the wall for cleaning services.


    Immediately, he left the house for a short while, and came back with four middle aged women holding cleaning supplies behind him.


    The four women entered the house and began cleaning noisily, while Garen stood at the side with his arms folded across his chest, waiting patiently.


    Once everything settled down and his pets had arrived, he would then be able to begin the totem empowerment process. After a few days, until the White Dragonhawk finally returned, and once he had obtained his core totem, he would finally be able to go to the War Guild to begin hunting. As for the grains that he was currently hoarding, it would only be a matter of time before he would profit greatly from that.


    He mentally counted the days until the arrival of the Great War. Everything had been arranged accordingly, and he only had to make sure that he followed his plan step-by-step to ensure that it would go smoothly.


    "Hey."


    A young woman¡¯s voice called out behind him.


    Garen turned around and saw the woman who lived in the opposite house walking towards him, carrying a golden retriever.


    "Hey there, I just moved in today, and I¡¯ll be living here from now on," said Garen with a smile and an outstretched palm. "Garen. Garen Lombard."


    "Alice. Alice Weller," said the girl as she reached her hand out and shook hands with Garen. "Are you renting or¡­"


    "Renting. But I might be buying," said Garen, smiling. "How long have you been living here, Alice?"


    "This is my grandfather¡¯s house, and I like reading books and relaxing here. I¡¯ve been living here for almost three years," Alice recalled. "The environment here is not bad, and it¡¯s pretty far from the city area. No one else is living in the surrounding courtyards either, and it seems like both our courtyards are the only ones with tenants. Many years have passed while these houses remained empty. There are a total of twenty-three courtyards in the Yellow Wind district, and it was once filled with people, but currently it seems as if there are only five households living here."


    She shrugged her shoulders as a restless expression appeared on her face. "Did you know, that the distance between this place and the city is unnecessarily far? It¡¯s extremely inconvenient when you need to go out to buy groceries or vegetables, and the only water supplied to us comes from a few deep wells nearby.


    "But it¡¯s quiet enough," Garen added, "This was the criteria I was looking at when I decided to move here. My job on its own is noisy enough, and I wouldn¡¯t be able to handle it if my living space was noisy as well."


    "True enough," agreed Alice as she nodded her head. This young girl, who looked no more than twenty years of age, definitely possessed certain intellectual abilities. She wore a white top and a matching pair of white trousers, making her seem like a simple but generous person. Her long blonde hair was tied in a ponytail, and her figure was not perfect, but not bad either. She didn¡¯t have a gorgeous face and was better described as average. However, she had an unusually sharp mind and a mature sense of understanding.


    She didn¡¯t seem the slightest bit afraid of Garen¡¯s lack of eyebrows, beard, or hair. When she noticed Garen¡¯s doubtful gaze, she smiled and started to explain.


    "My grandfather used to look just like you. A big fire burned off his eyebrows, beard, and even half of the hair on his head. Thus, the moment I laid my eyes on you, I knew that you were just like him. When I look closely, I can see that you¡¯re actually quite handsome."


    "Thank you for your compliments. I guess I should be thanking your grandfather as well, as he helped me avoid scaring you," said Garen with a laugh.


    "Okay, I¡¯ll head off first. There are still some things over there that I¡¯ve yet to finish,"


    "Alright."


    Garen watched Alice turn around and walk back into her own courtyard before turning his gaze away. He continued to wait as the cleaners finished their work.


    The four women went to take water from the deep well nearby and washed the courtyard. The trouble they went through to get the water ended up costing Garen an extra five silver rumbs.


    The sun had started to set before the courtyard was finally cleaned.


    Garen arranged the wooden mailbox outside the courtyard properly and noted down the address and house number written there, before visiting the district¡¯s post office and registering his new residence.


    He went out and hired a horse drawn carriage before piling various kinds of everyday items into his house. Next, he wrote letters to Andy, Jessica, and Goth respectively to inform them about his new address.


    Dinner consisted of breadsticks dipped in strawberry jam.


    Once everything had been arranged properly, it was already late at night.


    Before long, the shop keepers from the pet stores arrived with his pets. The pet market was run by a single management, thus various sellers from the market helped move seven metal cages from the ox cart into Garen¡¯s house, one at a time.


    Standing in the garden, Garen held a glass lamp and watched the ox cart from the pet market leave, disappearing from his field of vision almost instantly.


    He turned and walked towards the garden behind him.


    Seven different pets were waiting to be empowered by him.


    After checking his surroundings carefully, Garen realised that this place was just as Alice had described it. It was very quiet, and the closest house in the vicinity was at least a hundred meters away.


    He stood in front of the seven differently sized cages. He stretched his arm outwards and picked up the first cage, before walking towards the back door.


    He closed the door and hung the glass lamp from the right door handle.


    Garen lifted the black cloth on the cage, and looked at the blue back lizard that was crawling around inside.


    He placed the cage on the floor and carefully took out a red crystal ball from the inner parts of his cloth bag. The crystal ball was a palm-sized Derivator.


    Gingerly, he placed the Derivator next to the metal cage.


    The crystal ball began to glow, and a red light illuminated his face. A line of words began to float up from it.


    ¡®Are you empowering the nearby creature?¡¯


    "Yes."


    The blue back lizard became restless immediately, and started to pace around in its cage, as if it was trying to avoid the red light shining on its body, but to no avail.


    The crystal ball slowly changed the colour of its light to a silver hue, as the silver light began to envelop the giant lizard. The lizard seemed as if it was paralysed when it stopped moving suddenly, and remained in its original position.


    Tch!


    A ray of silver light shot out of the crystal ball and landed on the giant lizard¡¯s head.


    Exactly five seconds later, the silver light disappeared quickly, and the crystal ball became red once again.


    "Empowerment completed. The creature¡¯s appearance is being recorded. The main body is being linked and transferred¡­ Please do not move," announced the crystal ball suddenly as it shot a ray of red light towards Garen.


    Just as before, a warm, pleasant feeling could be felt on the areas that were illuminated by the red light.


    A 3D icon of the new totem also appeared in the skill pane in the bottom of his field of vision.


    ¡®Blue back lizard: First form living totem, can be upgraded. Evolution success rate: 66% (The smaller the size, the higher the success rate). Potential points consumption: 300%.


    Abilities: Venom, drilling.¡¯


    "Three points, huh¡­ This thing apparently consumes three points¡­" said Garen as he furrowed his brows.


    He let the giant lizard out of its cage and repeated the earlier process. He brought all of the cages into his house and used the Derivator to empower every one of them.


    Three blue back lizards, three grey feathered hawks, one short-tailed croc, as well as the howling wererabbit. A total of eight Silver Totems.


    Garen stood on the walkway at the back of his house and lifted his arms, looking at the endless blue, grey, and black Totem Lights that covered his hands.


    The three colours finally merged together into a blue-black colour.


    He held the crystal ball Derivator and looked at the message that was displayed there.


    ¡®Your Excellency Garen, your current Totem Light ranking is: Form 2 normal. Your Totem Light consists of eight different types of Silver Totems that have been overlaid with one another.


    "I¡¯ve achieved Form 2 Totem Light already?" Garen¡¯s heart was overjoyed. Although he had yet to learn the ways of a Form 2 totem user, and did not have the multitude of special abilities of an average Form 2 totem user, but the fact that his defence level had reached Form 2 was reason enough for him to celebrate.


    The pets that he selected, other than the howling wererabbit, were all creatures that excelled at defence. The blue back lizard had skin that was highly resistant to corrosion, and the grey-feathered hawk had feathers that would naturally take the blow when it was bitten or attacked. Meanwhile, the short-tailed croc had a full body of armor, and was unusually strong. All these aspects were factors that Garen had already thought about earlier.


    He clenched and unclenched his fists, feeling the Totem Light cover his entire body. It felt like he had put on a thick layer of clothes that was still unexpectedly airy and not restrictive at all.


    He looked at the skill pane at the bottom of his field of vision, observing the two different types of icons that had automatically appeared there.


    The evolution success rate of the grey-feathered hawk was also about sixty percent, and its abilities were flight and eagle-vision.


    The short-tail croc¡¯s evolution success rate was slightly lower at only fifty-something percent, and its abilities were biting and camouflage.


    On the newly bought sofa on the first floor, Garen sat there with a grey-feathered hawk on his head and one on each shoulder, while a short-tailed croc crawled near his feet. There were also three blue back lizards on the couch next to him, constantly sticking their red tongues out.


    He felt like a lion tamer in the circus.


    Wordlessly, Garen let the Silver Totems leave his side, as he contemplated what to do with the new powers in his hands.


    Silver Totems and regular totems were different, because they could not be kept inside storage tools. The ones that could be brought around were only limited to the three grey feathered hawks. The short-tailed croc required water and constant care, while the giant lizard¡¯s hunting abilities were only sub-par, making them redundant when taken outside. Only the grey feathered hawk, a type of predatory bird, could be carried around easily, as well as participate in the hunt.


    "Now I¡¯ll just have to wait for the White Dragonhawk to become mine. In the meantime, I¡¯ll just go collect some potential points for now."


    A grey-feathered hawk was perched on Garen¡¯s shoulders, while the other two stood on each arm. He walked straight out of his house, and past the fence that was now darkened by the night sky. In the dimness of the night, he walked towards the city.


    ***************


    War Guild


    Garen held a glass of foamy alcohol but did not drink it. He merely sat in his usual spot and furrowed his brows at the quest scrolls in his hands.


    The receptionist, a plump woman took a large bite of the chicken thigh in her hand while placing some quest scrolls on Garen¡¯s table with her other hand.


    "You can choose any of the quests here, they¡¯re all form one. Your quest completion rate is not bad, keep up the good work," she said before she turned around to face the other customers.


    Garen scanned his eyes across the quest list before him. All of them were form one quests, and their hunting targets were all form one totem users, with the majority being from Phantom Light.


    These totem users who believed in the survival of the fittest were merely scum who killed others without batting an eye. They were extremely harsh with themselves, and possessed adept fighting skills. They could not be compared to the Seraph Light totem users of the past.


    Garen had asked to look at so many form one quests because he was looking to find the most suitable one. He took a quest list and noticed that it said: Kill Therese Angel. This totem user is psychologically twisted, and fled from the north to Iron Tank City. Although she is only form one, she already possesses four different totems, and is very difficult to provoke.


    "This is the one."


    Garen decided on his quest, and stood up before walking towards the counter in the hall.


    This opponent would be able to test his current strength properly, to finally decide whether Silver Totems or original totems were stronger.

 285 The Eve of Chaos 1

    Chapter 285: The Eve of Chaos 1


    As he left the guild, Garen walked from the narrow street into an alley. Whore houses were abundant on both sides of this alley, and beautifully made-up women leaned against the doorways of shops, illuminated by red light, as they stroked their hair flirtatiously and exposed their legs to passersby from time to time.


    A few guild members walked out from behind him, and stumbled drunkenly into one of the prostitution joints.


    Garen picked up his pace and exited this street. From far away, he could see the high, white walls of Iron Tank City standing up straight in the distance.


    He stood underneath one of the street lights to avoid blocking the people who were coming out from behind him. He began to recall the contents of his last quest.


    "Looks like I¡¯ll need to go back and return with some help. A totem user with four totems cannot be defeated easily."


    He arranged his shirt collar properly, and began walking in the direction of his newly rented house.


    It was located in the same location on the outskirts of the city, and the distance between here and there was not far away.


    ************


    Two hours later.


    Outside Iron Tank City, on a lane a few kilometers away from the city area.


    Tch!


    A bloody corpse was pressed against the ground underneath the claws of a Black Clouded Leopard. The Clouded Leopard was biting and tearing the skin off the corpse¡¯s neck. Blood flowed out of the neck wound and hot white steam began to escape from it.


    Moonlight fell on the clouded leopard¡¯s fur, and reflected rays of pale, silvery light.


    A voluptuous woman in red stood beside the clouded leopard, as she played with a frayed silver badge in her hands that had been stained red with streaks of blood.


    "How many have there been?" she said softly, in somewhat incorrectly accented Kovitan language. "Why are there always so many who like sentencing themselves to death?"


    "Sentencing themselves to death? Haha," said a black silhouette as he walked over slowly and stood in the moonlight, finally showing himself. This man was tall but his body seemed skinny and frail.


    A White Python was coiled around his body, and it stuck its tongue out frequently.


    Instantly, following his appearance, a few more human figures walked over from the side, and surrounded the woman. Alongside them were two Black Wolves, a Leopard and Brown Bear.


    Howl!


    The Brown Bear let out a low growl and eyed the Black Clouded Leopard by the woman¡¯s side ferociously.


    "Therese Angel, we¡¯ve renounced your ranking," announced the person who was controlling the Brown Bear. She was a petite young woman with a strange sounding laugh.


    "What a cute little girl. I¡¯m going to rip you up into shreds and cook your flesh into soup for me to enjoy slowly later¡­" said Angel as she stuck her tongue out and licked her fingers.


    "How repulsive," said the young woman as she removed her purple cloak and step backwards. "Go!"


    Roar!


    Two Black Wolves and the Leopard charged in front at the same time, but were dragged down in mid air by three Black Panthers. They rolled on the floor as they fought viciously.


    The White Python and the Brown Bear charged forward at the Black Panther from two different directions respectively.


    "Destroy her totem!" yelled the petite girl. Both her hands flew upwards at the same moment as she drew a shapeless gesture in the air. "Go!"


    Suddenly a glowing grey dot flew from her fingertips and merged into the body of her Brown Bear.


    The Brown Bear roared loudly and stood up on its hind legs. Its movements speeded up suddenly as it dashed towards the last Black Panther on the field.


    "Grey light?" The black clothed woman looked slightly astonished, but did not show any signs of panic. Her slender fingers drew a line in the air at lightspeed, as a green flame ignited on her fingertips, and danced in the air like fire.


    At the same moment, the claws of the four Black Panthers that she controlled also began to glow green as well.


    Tch!


    The Black Clouded Leopard used its claw and scratched a line across the White Python¡¯s body, and the wound immediately began glowing green.


    "Speed up the elimination. She has poisonous toxins!! The reports were false! Fall back!!" yelled the petite woman with a panicked expression on her face.


    "Trying to escape?" The woman in black glanced at her lightly. "The War Guild here is apparently really weak."


    Ten minutes later¡­


    The ground was covered in severed limbs and bloodied flesh, as blood began to seep into the grass and ground and dyed them red.


    The woman in black, Angel squatted in front of the girl¡¯s dead body and stuck her hand into her collar and pulled out a pendant.


    "One of the Duke¡¯s people, huh? The nearby area must be the White Dragonhawk¡¯s territory then, right¡­" she said as she knitted her eyebrows together.


    She stood up suddenly and looked towards the forest that was not far away.


    "More people from the War Guild again. You guys really have no fear of death, huh. I never expected that the central War Guild would be so weak. They don¡¯t even make up half of the northern territory. Even if you guys aren¡¯t bored yet, I sure am."


    A man with a shining bald head walked out of the forest slowly. He removed his black cloak, and the contrast between the colour of his shawl and his milky white skin became very obvious.


    "Is the central War Guild really that stupid? One dies, and two more arrive. Two more die, and the third one comes along," Angel mocked.


    "I¡¯m not the same as them,"


    "The three people before you said that too," said Angel impatiently as she took a few steps forward. She continued to hold the pendant from earlier in her hand lightly. "Every one of the people I killed had the same kind of self-confidence. Unfortunately, they were all idiots. Do you know? In my eyes, you and the stupid pigs in your garden are one and the same. You¡¯ve never seen the outside world, and you think you¡¯re the greatest thing in your small town."


    The bald man smiled, and reached his hand out.


    A Black-nailed Crocodile crawled out slowly from behind him, while three Grey-feathered Hawks descended from the sky and began flying circles around him.


    "The number of my totems are the same as yours, a perfect pair for each of them."


    "Idiot," said Angel as she rolled her eyes. "Out of the totem users that I killed, five of them were so-called geniuses who had more than four totems each. If the number of totem keys were equivalent to the quality of totems, then everyone would just stockpile them and that would be it. Whatever, I don¡¯t have time for your nonsense," she said as she took out a gold pocket watch and looked at the time. "We¡¯re almost out of time."


    "Almost out of time for what?" asked Garen as he looked at Angel curiously.


    The thing that he was actually relying on was not the totems, but the Form one totem. Any stronger and it would not be a threat to the current him at all. As he currently possessed Form two defense strength, he was now standing in undefeatable territory for now. He had brought the totems along with him for a different purpose, to see if there was really a difference between primitive totems and Silver Totems if they both belonged to the Form one category.


    "It¡¯s the totem cooling-off period, you idiot!" Angel grinned. "Moments ago my quick-acting poison was still in its cooling-off stage, but since you didn¡¯t make a move, I¡¯m afraid it¡¯s too late now."


    Her fingertips were lighted with a green flame again, as she suddenly pointed towards Garen.


    "Kill him!"


    In a blink of an eye, the four Black Panthers beside her leaped upwards suddenly and became like four black lines that dashed towards Garen¡¯s myriad of totems. Their speed was much faster than earlier, and they rushed towards him like arrows, bringing a hissing sound with them as they tore through the air.


    "Bringing along a totem of no quality is like carrying a burden, idiot," Angel said as a mocking expression appeared on her face.


    Suddenly, the Crocodile and the Clouded Leopard squared up against each other, while the three Grey-feathered Hawks went up against the three Black Panthers. One of the Grey Feathered-Hawks got scratched, and a big pile of feathers had now fallen unto the floor.


    Garen scrunched his eyebrows together and attempted to speak. Suddenly, Angel¡¯s expression changed and the green flame on her fingers lit up again, before the four Panthers leapt back to her side.


    "Count yourself lucky today! If only¡­" She had yet to finish her sentence but cut herself off abruptly, before climbing onto the fastest Clouded Leopard and turning in the other direction.


    Hum¡­


    In the sky above his head, a strange noise began calling out in the air. It sounded like a cow¡¯s moo, but at the same time felt as if something was quaking.


    Garen lifted his head and looked at the giant white bird circling above his head.


    "White Dragonhawk?" he said as he furrowed his eyebrows.


    ***************


    Inside the forest, shards of moonlight scattered into pieces and fell unto the grass and the tree trunks.


    Angel rode the Clouded Leopard and raced frantically through the forest. She was going at an incredible speed, and the trees on both sides of her had now become blobs of blurry black shadows. Nothing could be seen clearly, except for the scene before her that continued to grow bigger the nearer she came.


    "I¡¯ve gotten rid of him," said Angel when she finally felt as if the feeling of someone staring into the back of her head had disappeared. She sighed in relief.


    Suddenly her eyes widened in shock. She stared at the trees surrounding her, and stopped her Clouded Leopard instantly.


    Hiss!


    The remaining three Black Leopards stopped as well, and deep skid marks appeared on the ground. They kept watch at her side, looking on vigilantly at the forest before them.


    "What did you want to say just now?" Garen¡¯s voice rang from in front, tinged with a sense of doubt.


    "Although I don¡¯t know how you managed to catch up to me, but it seems like you¡¯re really looking to die¡­ Apparently you didn¡¯t even bring a single totem with you," said Angel in a low voice as she glared at the bald man in front of her.


    "Go!!" Once again, the green flame lit up her fingertip.


    The three Black Panthers sped up and formed three black lines that rushed towards Garen. Six pairs of sharp claws were pointed towards Garen¡¯s throat.


    After the three Black Panthers had undergone skill improvement, their venomous claws became a part of their totem Light defense. They were also able to use corrosive Totem Light, which would then increase the speed of their defenses.


    Angel rode the Clouded Leopard to the field, and looked at Garen with a pitiful expression.


    "I had originally planned to spare you, but you chose to die on your own¡­"


    Bang!!


    A dull crashing noise suddenly rang through the air.


    Angel widened both of her eyes, and an unknown sense of fear began to grow in her mind. She stared dreamily at the figure before her with a shocked and dazed expression on her face.


    Garen moved his right leg backwards as he looked at the two leaping Black Panthers. His right hand grabbed one of the Black Panthers by its throat, as if he was holding a little chick in mid air.


    Ka¡­ ka¡­


    The Black Panther tried to escape by scratching at Garen¡¯s arms wildly, but it was utterly useless.


    "Its speed isn¡¯t bad, and it almost caught up to me," said Garen, full of praise.


    But before he finished speaking, he noticed that there was now no one in front of him.


    ************


    Angel desperately commanded the Clouded Leopard she was riding to run faster. She kept turning back to look behind her, afraid that man had finally caught up once again.


    Her forehead was dripping with sweat.


    "Where did this monster come from?! A totem user who went up against a totem in direct combat! I¡¯ve definitely just seen a ghost!"


    In most cases, although a totem user possessed a Totem Light to protect themselves from getting injured by totems, their own speeds and strengths were greatly different from the totem¡¯s own, and they were of a whole different level.


    Of course, those who practiced martial arts may have been able to keep up, but since totem users were already racing against time to study and evolve their totems, who else had the time to study these low-levelled martial arts like wrestling?


    Activities like wrestling were equivalent to sailing against the current, it was something that would not benefit you, but was more likely to push you backwards. In that sense, a totem user¡¯s control of a totem and understanding of fighting skills also held the same principle of sailing against the tide, and was something that would result in regression if the totem user lacked concentration.


    Only those who did not have Luminarist qualifications would practice wrestling. The rest were individuals who were not qualified, or those who came from poor families.


    Angel frantically ordered the Clouded Leopard she was riding to run to the point where it reached its limits. Her mind continued to flash images of the scene she had just witnessed before. She was too afraid to believe what she had seen, and continued to speed up her Black Panther, worried that it would be sent flying or captured by the totem user from earlier.


    "Skills of that degree would only belong to someone who was at least General-level! But how could a General-level totem user be that young? This world is starting to become insane¡­

 286 The Eve of Chaos 2

    Chapter 286: The Eve of Chaos 2


    After guessing her the level of her opponent¡¯s strength, Angel¡¯s mind began to calm down slightly.


    "General-level is still alright. As long as I use the right moves, I should be able to counter it. But how did he manage to do it exactly? Seeing that he wasn¡¯t afraid of the toxins on the Black Panther¡¯s claws at all?"


    Thinking of this, her fingertips suddenly lit up with a green flame, as she quickly drew a gesture in the space in front of her.


    "Shared Vision."


    A smile appeared on her face, as she saw that there was still one Black Panther that had not been destroyed yet. Her vision immediately transferred to look through the creature¡¯s eyes.


    Suddenly, her face contorted into an extremely ugly expression.


    Hiss!


    The Clouded Leopard beneath her crotch stopped abruptly, its four claws scratching black marks into the grass below.


    In front of the woman and the Panther stood a bald man who had both his hands stuffed inside his pockets, looking at her and smiling.


    "Hey," he said as he rushed towards Angel and waved his hands at her.


    "You forced me to do this!!" said Angel as she finally exploded with anger. She glared at her opponent¡¯s legs as he stepped on her Black Panther. All ten of her fingers on both hands began dotting the air rapidly with spots of green light.


    Immediately, thirty dots were placed together in close proximity, and began floating in mid air.


    She clasped her hands together and combined all the dots, forming them into one gigantic ball of light.


    "Triple Speed!! Go!" she said as her fingers pointed towards the only unharmed Clouded Leopard left.


    The green dots of light rapidly shot inside the Clouded Leopard¡¯s body.


    Roar!


    The black coloured Clouded Leopard howled loudly as every trace of it disappeared in a blink of an eye.


    Bang!


    Garen stretched his right hand outwards, barely blocking the Clouded Leopard¡¯s black claws that were pointed straight at him. Between the claws and his palm, a blue-black light has begun to pierce through, and caused shards of black light to fall towards the ground.


    Crash!


    A black shadow surrounded Garen and attacked him from all sides, its speed exceeding the limits of a normal living creature. With every attack, the green claws began to rip out shards of black rays from the blue-black light.


    Garen began to have trouble keeping up when the Totem Light on his body began to violently break into smaller pieces. But moments later, it seemed like he had gotten use to the black Clouded Leopard¡¯s attack rhythm, elbow and fist movements, as well as the sweep of its legs, as the Clouded Leopard continuously rushed at him.


    He decided to close his eyes and feel the Clouded Leopard¡¯s rapid attacks carefully, as it hit against his Totem Light agitatedly. While in a trance, he felt something suddenly, and realised that if he took the initiative and accepted the attacks, the consumption of Totem Light would be significantly less than if he moved or attacked.


    If he merely stood in his spot, it would take two minutes before the Totem Light on his body was completely broken through. However, if he came forward on his own to accept the attack, it would take at least two hours for his Totem Light to be depleted.


    Furthermore, he could vaguely feel that under this high pressured attack, his Totem Light was beginning to elicit a tightening sensation around his body


    "This feeling¡­" he said as he shut his eyes and concentrated on this rare sensation.


    Suddenly, everything on the outside stopped, and the Clouded Leopard¡¯s attacks faded away in a blink of an eye.


    "Huh?"


    Garen opened his eyes and looked at his surroundings, before noticing that the woman had escaped again.


    *******************


    Angel rode the weakened Clouded Leopard as it staggered through the forest.


    "Die! Die! Die!" she cursed angrily. "The Triple Speed move¡­ I¡¯ve definitely just seen a ghost!! Even a mere totem user could withstand three minutes of the Triple Speed. That monster!!"


    Three of her totems had been destroyed by that baldy, and now only one remained.


    The other totems had cut off all communication from her. This also resulted in her Totem Light defense decreasing from Form two totem user¡¯s level, to a Form one totem user¡¯s level.


    Once a totem was destroyed, it¡¯s Totem Light would also fall apart instantly. She was only left with a layer of black totem light on her body.


    For a totem to be killed by a totem user, this was definitely a strange phenomenon.


    A totem user on their own was only capable of defense. Therefore, even if a human had undergone extra training, they could still never catch up to a totem that had already been equipped with extra moves, right? Besides that, a totem user¡¯s attacks were considered as physical attacks, and were not supposed to be able to inflict serious harm on totems, much less destroy them.


    Angel¡¯s heart beat wildly inside her chest, she had been escaping the north for so many years and had encountered numerous powerful, prodigy Totem users during her killing sprees. However, she had never come across someone like this, who could match the speed and strength of an Improved Totem, and could even use his flesh body to kill a Silver Totem.


    The time ticked away, and soon two hours had passed¡­


    As she raced through, suddenly a yellow bonfire could be seen in front, where a caravan of people were sitting around two bonfires, cooking something to eat.


    Beside the caravan, a young man and woman who looked like aristocrats were talking quietly to each other. Both of them had the totem user¡¯s special short storage stick hung around their waists.


    Angel¡¯s face began to light up. There were so many people here, including Luminarists. According to the rules, the guy from earlier who worked for the War Guild was not allowed to start a fight where in a place with so many people.


    Suddenly, she felt that something was wrong, and decided to climb back up unto the Clouded Leopard and turn tails.


    Scratch¡­


    The grass on the ground was torn up badly.


    "Damn! You again!!" Angel¡¯s face was extremely haggard, as she looked at the young man strolling out from the forest. In her eyes, the gentle smile on his face seemed as frightening as the devil himself.


    "What are you trying to do?!!" said Angel in an exasperated voice. She was mentally and physically tired. No matter where she escaped, this person would always find her again in a matter of time.


    "You have lots of experience, I would like to learn from you," said Garen, smiling.


    "Like to learn, my ass!!" said Angel, sounding as if she was about to cry.


    Bang!!


    Garen¡¯s fist landed against Angel¡¯s small abdomen, as he forcefully propped her against the tree trunk behind him. Next, he swung his left arm, causing the Clouded Leopard that charged towards him to be sent flying.


    He straightened his palm, allowing Angel to clearly see the side of his hand.


    "My hand has been laced with my totem¡¯s specialised poison and toxic powder. Therefore, I may not be able to hurt totems, but I can still catch up to them, and place the poison on their bodies. That¡¯s how I got rid of three of your Black Panthers. Obviously, I¡¯m going to do the same thing to you."


    Angel was held tightly down. Her pale face glared at Garen.


    Cough cough¡­


    As she was let down from the tree trunk, her face began to turn blue, as if the symptoms of the poison were already starting to show. She hurriedly took a little black bottle out and opened it, before pouring some medicine into her mouth.


    Seconds later, her bluish complexion began to become slightly better.


    Garen returned to his original spot.


    "To punish you for your potty mouth," he said with a wave of his hand.


    A grey shadow descended with a hissing noise before violently scratching the body of the last Clouded Leopard.


    Immediately, Angel felt the last layer of Totem Light on her body fall apart. She looked at the deep gash in the Clouded Leopard¡¯s forehead as it turned into a pool of silver mercury, and an unknown sense of despair washed over her.


    Bang!


    Garen kicked up a stone, and it hit Angel¡¯s right arm precisely.


    A soft cracking sound could be heard. It was the sound of bones breaking. Angel let out a low moan as she held her right arm and crouched down.


    Garen did not move again. He truly wanted to learn something from this woman.


    From the acceleration tactic in the beginning, to the poison curing tactic, and finally to Triple Speed and Shared Vision.


    This woman had grasped at least four different types of impressive tactics. Furthermore, out of all the totem users he had met, she was probably the strongest, aside from Goth.


    "Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m completely useless at tactics. I think that the tactics you use are extremely practical, and much better than the ones used by other totem users. That¡¯s why I¡¯m hoping that you¡¯ll teach me," said Garen earnestly.


    "You should have said so earlier¡­" said Angel as she leaned against the tree trunk and sat down, her emotions running wild. This was the first time she had encountered a totem user who could suppress her speed. She was currently facing what the totems users who fought against her in the past went through.


    "Only when a person is in a state of serious danger, will they unleash their true potential. This is what I¡¯ve believed all this while," said Garen as he walked over slowly. He moved his right arm and deflected the Black Panther that had snuck up behind him.


    This Black Panther had been hiding all along, and was the fifth Black Panther in the pack. It rolled on the ground after being hit, and crashed into a tree trunk violently. The strange thing was that after it got hit, the supposedly unharmed Black Panther began to howl in pain, and after tumbling a few times on the ground, began to stand up with much difficulty, looking as it if was unnaturally weak.


    Angel backtracked, and with moved a step backwards each time her opponent came closer. She noticed that on the surface of Garen¡¯s Totem Light, there was a light layer of glowing blue dust, and within that layer hid pools of sticky green liquid. Apparently it was the poison and toxic dust that her opponent had spoken about earlier.


    "I¡¯ll give you all the tactics you want!! I stole all of them!" Frantically, she took out all the little scrolls that she had kept on herself and threw them at Garen.


    "And how would I know that all these are authentic?" said Garen as he shook his head. "You still have substitute totems on you, right? Just take them all out."


    "You want this too?" Angel swallowed her saliva and stared at Garen. Without saying anything else, she removed the little purse from her waist quickly, and threw it on the ground. "These are all of my assets that I have on hand. I have savings of up to twenty million stored in one of the Kovitan Empire¡¯s banks. As long as you swear to let me go, I will give you the password for all this money."


    "Twenty million¡­" Garen¡¯s heart began to falter. This sum of money would be enough for him to do a lot of things. However, he was now worried that he had run of out time¡­


    He stared at Angel who stood before him, and his heart wavered on whether or not to kill her.


    "I still have three sets of totem orders at the Rafelia Workshop. The money has been paid in full, and as long as you promise to let me go, I¡¯ll tell you the password to collect my orders! Or I could take you there to get them too!" Angel continued to sweeten the deal. She could tell that her opponent was hesitating.


    "You have so many totems, and their Appraisal is definitely of the highest rank, but why have you not evolved even one of them into Form two?" Garen opened his mouth and asked suddenly.


    Angel did not expect him to ask this question, and a confused look appeared on her face immediately. "I¡­"


    "Have you heard of the Code of Elya?" Garen continued to ask.


    "Code of Elya?" Angel looked dumbfounded. She stared at the man in front of her, her mind racing uncontrollably. "I¡¯ve killed too many people already¡­"

 287 Chaos 1

    Chapter 287: Chaos 1


    "It¡¯s alright; the favor can be returned soon." Garen grinned, seemingly able to understand Angel¡¯s heart. "Being someone who controls four totems, with no lack of money, how can you not even have evolv one to second form? No, you actually can control five?"


    As he abruptly lifted his arms, a blue ray of light emitted from behind his back, consolidating on his finger tips to become a blue butterfly the size of a basin. The butterfly steadily flapped its wings, glowing in blue fluorescence.


    "You!!!!" Angel was finally moved completely. She looked cautiously at Garen, dumbfounded by the scene in front of her eyes. Including the previously summoned short-tailed croc and the three hawks, together with the neon butterfly, the person in front of her was also someone who could control five totems!


    "This world is always unfair." Garen spoke faintly, "Geniuses like us have talent and wealth. But lacking inherited knowledge, there is no way for us to progress. While those mediocre, useless aristocrats can have it easy. With whole sets of evolution theories, there is no need for them to go around working and laboring for others."


    Angel stayed silent, but there was solemness in her expression. What Garen said was spot on. Being born in a humble family, excluded in the association, without money and resources, she had to depend on herself for her own development. It was through hard work and labor that brought her to where she is today.


    Seeing Garen, who could also control five totems standing in front of her, she instantly developed a strong sense of resonance.


    "We are alike. Why should those low-aptitude trash get to enjoy everything without any effort? We are far better than them, yet have to laboriously struggle for what we have. Do you know how much effort i had to put in to be at the level I am today?" Garen roared defiantly. He was so into the act that it nearly warmed his heart.


    Being an impulsive person, Angel clenched her fists tightly. As she heard Garen¡¯s words, she remembered the humiliation and discrimination that she went through all these years.


    "What is your plan?" She ask with a glimpse of hoarseness in her voice.


    "Join me. Your appraisal is the best I¡¯ve seen. Once you have a complete set of evolution theory, you would be able to step into the realm of a second form totem master. We have the same objective." Garen said sincerely.


    "Do you think I¡¯ll believe you?" Angel frigidly asked. "Sooner or later, I myself would be able to obtain the knowledge of cultivating a second form totem."


    "Is that possible? Without basics, without a complete set of theories, and requiring special materials on top of that, do you really believe you can figure out second form evolution yourself? Perhaps it is possible. But how long would it take you? Two years? Five years? Ten? You are a murderer hunted by the Royal Alliance of Luminarists, not an innocent genius."


    Garen was undoubtedly intending to gather some underlings for the next step of his scheme. In the upcoming chaos, individual ability will seem more and more insignificant, unless someone was with remarkable ability. However, he evidently knew that he was currently not at that level.


    To elevate himself in the shortest time, the best way was to find a battle-tested veteran to understand the ins and outs of a totem user battle. At the same time, a group of helpers would surely increase the efficiency of hunting.


    Moreover, regarding the war guild, Garen roughly knew a thing or two. In a war guild, with the existence of war chain and war hall, it could create a secure leader follower relationship.


    Not to mention, dealing with the entire Obscuro Society on his own would be an impossible task.


    Looking at Angel, he knew that although she looked innocent and impulsive, she was a ruthless girl. However, she possessed a strong understanding of tactics, and had immense potential as a totem user.


    "What now? Have you made up your mind?" Garen calmed took a glance at the burning campfire behind him. "Do you plan to continue being hunted for the rest of your life? This time it was merely first form totem users, but it might not be that simple the next time. Rather than being hopelessly hunted, you might as well join my crusade. Let¡¯s hunt other totem users together. You can repay your sins, while I have my own desires."


    Angel crouched down. "My enemies are not just first form totem users. Are you sure you want get yourself into trouble?" She spoke harshly.


    "It¡¯s alright, I¡¯m never afraid of problems." Garen snickered, "Essentially, my problems far surpass yours"


    Angel bowed her head quietly. Garen wasn¡¯t anxious, instead he patiently waited for her reply.


    "According to the Elya Code, any convict can join the War Guild for a shot at redeeming himself. For every man killed, the same number of criminals have to be killed, as redemption. For the totem users that were hunting you, most likely it would have been because of this rule. Of course the premise would be someone has to refer you." Garen grinned, "This is nothing big to me. With my high mission completion rate, entering the war guild is a piece of cake. Once I¡¯m in, I could refer you. That¡¯s what many convicts do, relying on their comrades¡¯ referrals to redeem their sins.


    Angel closed her eyes. Her core totem had been obliterated, the three supporting totems had been destroyed, even the last summoned Black Panther was paralyzed by poison. It was evident that she was at an absolute disadvantage. Giving such an offer in this situation definitely showed sincerity.


    Truly, as someone constantly being hunted, cooperating with him would be far more prospective.


    "How could you be sure that I wouldn¡¯t abandoned you after I¡¯m free from danger?" She didn¡¯t believe anyone would trust an enemy without a reason.


    Garen walked towards a towering tree and leaned on the trunk.


    "We are the same kind of people. Joining another group might put you back in the same spot as you were. Equality will only happen with like-minded people. I plan to gather people like us, combining our strengths. The strongest among us will become the leader. But it¡¯s still too early to say these things. This ideology sounds similar to Phantom Light. Saying less would be better."


    Angel fixed her eyes on Garen, gently nodded her head after some time.


    "I promise you. With the war guild¡¯s war chain and war hall, we will benefit together, share information with each other and reach a certain level of cooperation."


    "Excellent. You are my first comrade." Garen extended his arm to pull her onto her feet. "Once I return I will apply to the war guild. To buy a war chain costs at least five million Rumbs, and that would be of the lowest grade. If we hunt together, should be able to earn it in a short time."


    Angel nodded. She understood that cooperating with the man in front of her was the best path she could take.


    The War Chain was a fixed, permanent solidifying tactic.


    It was like a long chain, connecting the core totems of everyone participating together. Anyone who wanted to leave the chain would have to pay the price of losing their core totem. To a totem user, it was indeed a severe punishment. The higher the level of the totem user, the more painful it was to him. Totem users commonly devoted a lifetime of effort into their core totems.


    Besides maintaining the stability of the alliance, the war chain brought other benefits.


    A war chain was like a special totem, where it could be cultivated, and strengthened by embedding external components.


    Angel pondered for a moment, and then whispered. "If a war chain without any additional abilities already costs five million, wouldn¡¯t one with some abilities cost billions?"


    Garen nodded. "After all, the abilities of the war chain perpetually affects every member. I haven¡¯t seen other totems, but in Iron Tank City guild there is a chain with abilities called the Chain of Healing, which benefits the members. Any injuries sustained by all totem users in the chain would activate the minor healing abilities in the chain. The power of the tactic would then heal the injured totem user." He explained.


    "Of course, we can only start from scratch. Once we obtain sufficient solidifying tactics, then the effectiveness of the war chain would be heightened."


    "Easier said than done." Angel shook her head without saying much.


    "The war hall instead is a platform of sharing evolution knowledge. We can transfer all the knowledge we loot, and this special totem allows equal exchange of knowledge. Of course, the knowledge learned by yourself can be included as well. Whether it is the exchange of knowledge, exchange of resources or using it increasing the effectiveness of the chain, all of these can be done through the war hall. However, it might take a long time for us to reach this stage." Garen lightheartedly explained. He could see that Angel wasn¡¯t very familiar with the war guild structure.


    Sure enough, Angel¡¯s eyes brightened up with every word she heard. "Why are the guilds here much weaker than the ones in the North? Each one of them was swift and could easily track me. It doesn¡¯t matter how far I left them behind, they would be able to catch up"


    "There is a possibility that their war chain has a tracing ability. Compared to the Iron Tank City Guild, they are more aggressive and their chains have more varied effects. It is very normal." Garen nodded. "That¡¯s it, it¡¯s time to go. Next, I would go back to take up missions. Then I would inform, include you on the mission list, and apply to suspend the missions that hunt for you. As we collaborate to complete missions, our efficiency should be pretty decent.


    Angel nodded.


    As he returned to complete the formalities, Garen easily obtained the lowest level member certification, called Greyhawk. He was named after the grey hawk totem on his shoulder.


    Through Garen, Angel paid a million Rumb¡¯s bail, as proof that her kill-orders were suspended.


    This amount of money could only buy her two days time, and Angel would be not be allowed to leave the boundaries of Iron Tank City. It would automatically lapse if she broke the rules. They had to complete at least one hunting mission in two days.


    As for the two special totems in the war guild and war hall, the cost of tens of millions was not something they could afford at this stage.


    ****************


    The sky was overcast.


    Dense, grey clouds clumped together, tarring the sky. Droplets of rain began to fall and they looked like transparent thin lines in the wind.


    On the vast green plains, a squadron of caravans was travelling leisurely on the carriageway, heading towards White Stream City.


    Majority of the caravans were grey and yellow, while on some of the goods had white, coarse cloth as shading.


    In the middle of the squadron, a double-black-horsed carriage slowed down. The side window of the splendorous carriage swung open, exposing the faces of two young, fair aristocratic girls.


    One of them inquisitively fixated on the goods on the middle carriage.


    "Is this the Palas Caravan? Lala." The young girl asked her companion.


    "It should be, I think I¡¯ve seen the emblem." The girl named Lala seemed disinterested. She held her chin with one of her hands, staring at fleeting horse hooves, appearing to be in a state of trance.


    "Lala, Lala?" Her companion, Vecil¡¯s voice seemed to be from afar.


    "So boring¡­" Lala sighed in her heart, halfhearted replying her companion. Vecil was always bubbly and full of energy, never running out of things to say.


    Lala vacantly stared at rain droplets falling on the caravan.


    She was soon going to White Stream City to continue her legal education. Although she had no interest in the law, she had no reasons to decline.


    This is the society she was in, being born, then study, work, get married, growing old and eventually death. Day in day out, year in year out.


    The industrial revolution has begun, and everything was booming. New ideas and gadgets were popping out in the market everyday. The world was like a seedling, continuously growing and developing without a set direction.


    Lala signed in her heart again. She was turning 18 this year, the year she comes of age. But looking at her same-aged playmates, they seemed extremely immature. She likened them to parameciums, lowly and ignorant.


    "Ignorance is bliss¡­" Lala breathed a sigh of relief. Very quickly, Vecil¡¯s voice was ringing in her ears again.


    "I heard Uncle Cornell¡¯s son is being enlisted in the military. I wonder how is it like?" The thought lingered in Vecil¡¯s mind. "Some time ago, Cornell Jr invited you for a horse ride. Why didn¡¯t you go? It was so obvious he wanted to confess to you before he left. "


    "Aunt wouldn¡¯t allow." Lala calmly stared out of the window. "Moreover, I do not want to think about these at this young age."

 288 Chaos 2

    Chapter 288: Chaos 2


    "My God, Lala you¡¯re already 18! You could have a kid at the age of 18 in many places! Still too young?" Vecil made a fuss. "Maybe instead of Aunt Vera not allowing, she already has someone for you."


    "That is not something i can accept." Lala frowned. "That is why i chose to go to White Stream City to study law. Perhaps becoming an imperial lawyer is not a bad option." At least i can make my own decisions this way. She commented in her heart.


    "I really envy you. It¡¯s a pity I do not have talents like yours¡­" Vecil groaned. Suddenly, there was a loud commotion coming from the forepart of the squadron.


    "What happened?" "Don¡¯t know?"


    "It looks like some people are blocking the road ahead."


    A group of men instantly came down from the caravan to investigate. The women and children beside the caravan looked ahead, murmuring among each other to guess what happened.


    Finally, a sense of interest stirred up in Lala¡¯s heart. "Wesley, what happened up front?" She roared at her coachman.


    "Thousand apologies my lady, there are some people blocking the road, looks like we have to wait for a while." The voice of the elderly coachman sounded.


    As the carriage continued to moved forward, in a brief moment, Lala could see the episode upfront.


    Right in front of the squadron, on the greyish-white carriageway, there was a young man and a young girl sitting on the rocks and the roadside. They stood up and directly blocked off the squadron.


    Both of them were dressed in long, grey robes, covering their whole body. The man was bald without an ounce of hair. His eyebrowless face left a bone-chilling impression on others.


    The girl tied her gorgeous blonde hair into a ponytail, and had a good figure. There was a glimpse of coldness in her pretty face. She followed closely behind the guy, locking her eyes on the caravan squadron. In her eyes, the over hundred people in the squadron were like livestocks that were waiting to be slaughtered.


    Seemingly noticing someone was peering at her, the girl switched her glare and caught Lala¡¯s line of sight.


    In that instance, a cold shiver ran down Lala¡¯s spine. She fervently retracted her head, hiding herself in the carriage. She could feel droplets of cold sweat as she swept her fingers over her forehead.


    In the split second their eyes met, she could feel an intense murder intent deep down in her counterpart¡¯s soul.


    "What¡¯s wrong?" Garen gave Angel who was behind him a short glance.


    "Nothing much." Angel shook her head. "What do you plan to do? With so many people present, war prison cannot be used. It is certain that the three totem users are hiding among these commoners, using war jail as a cover to escape Iron Tank City."


    Garen laughed.


    The crisp sound of hooves in the vicinity caught Garen¡¯s attention as he looked towards the grass plains. A white-robed girl riding a beautiful white stallion was strolling on the plains, as if she so happened to bump into them. From the horseback, the girl ignorantly looked towards them, expressing curiosity on the happenings.


    He returned his gaze towards the caravan.


    "Since last night, how many have we killed?" He murmured to Angel.


    "Maybe three¡­"Angel said with hesitation. "I can¡¯t really remember."


    "Forget it, lets go." Garen rushed forward, throwing out a black coin.


    "Hey!" Angel was stunned. "Are you insane, there are so many people here!"


    Cheehh!!!


    As the coin landed on the ground, it emitted a transparent ripple which expanded instantaneously. It swallowed the whole caravan and everything within a hundred metre radius into the cocoon, forming a enormous dome-shaped cage.


    "Soon we do not have to consider this anymore." Garen smirked, seeing three grey-robed figures rushing out from the flank of the caravan squadron. He pointed to the front with his right hand.


    Whizzzz!!!


    A few grey blurs shot out of his back continuously, heading directly to the three figures.


    Angel dashed forward, pointing vigorously. Thiry luminous green dots instantly formed out of thin air.


    "Three times speed!"


    The thirty dots converged into one, abruptly turning into a ray of green light, blasting at the black panther leaping out from behind her.


    Whizzzz!


    The black panther became a black line in the blink of an eye, rushing towards the three figures.


    The black blur overtook the grey blurs, throwing one of the figures onto the ground.


    "No!!"


    The tree grey blurs formed three grey hawks, swooping down to capture the black python of the fallen figure. Strangely, after the python struggled for a brief moment, it speedily came to a halt, then stiffly hanging on the sharp claws of the hawks. The three grey hawks pierced at the python with their beaks, forming three bowl sized-wounds. Eventually, the python became a pile of silver liquid, seeping into the ground.


    As the python was obliterated, the black panther went right for the throat of the man on the ground. Within a split second, there was blood spluttered all over the ground.


    The other two opponents turned pale when they saw the scene. They fell onto the ground and tried to scramble back.


    "No...No!!! You cannot do this! The war guild has rules and there are so many commoners here! So many humans!" The girl on the left sobbed.


    The guy on the right shivered as he tried to draw up an unknown tactic, but because of overwhelming fear, he failed after a few tries. Beads of cold sweat formed all over his face, eventually dripping from his chin.


    "Weakling." Garren shook his head. He walk forward and grabbed the man by his collar. "A brat who just entered first form. Would catching him alive reap better rewards?"


    "Why not think how to settle the matter at hand?" Angel pouted as she headed towards the carriage.


    Garen looked at the caravan squadron.


    Every merchant from the caravan were silent and the mouths of the kids were clutched to stop them from uttering any noise. The men held various kinds of weapons in their hands, while the women and children shut the curtains tightly as they retreated into their carriages. Around ten mercenaries nervously looked at each other as they drew their swords.


    To them, looking at Garen and Angel was like looking at monsters.


    Garen ignored them and lifted his head.


    Whoooshhh¡­.


    Suddenly, a massive flock of blue birds flew towards them from the south.


    The blue birds were like a bunch of pimples and their reflection appeared as large black spots onto the ground. The sound of their chirps continued to ring in the vicinity.


    "It¡¯s here¡­ Finally¡­" Garen mildly breathed a breath of relief.


    His heart skipped a beat.


    A grey hawk darted up to catch one of the blue birds with its beak. Then it swooped down and landed on Garen¡¯s shoulder.


    Garen took the blue bird from the grey hawk¡¯s beak, retrieved the note strapped to its leg and gently opened it.


    "Emergency from the south! Agac City requesting for assistance!"


    There was a stain of blood on the sides of the note.


    "We have to go." Garen whispered. He lifted his hands, and all three grey hawks took flight, circling on the top of his head.


    Unknowingly, one of the hawks picked up the black coin and held it in his beak.


    "What should we do with these two?" Angel gave the two paralyzed totem users a glance. Their totems, a black wolf and a white hawk, was swiftly annihilated by the black panther in the fight.


    Garen didn¡¯t utter much, instead gave them a light kick on their thighs.


    As a tremendous force instantly entered their chest,their heads snapped and blood started flowing out from their mouths, dying a quiet death.


    "Let¡¯s go."


    "Garen looked at the attribute pane on the far bottom his vision, the potential bar has finally recovered to 15 points. He was initially left with only13 potential points after using them up on the howling wererabbit. But now with Angel as his aid, he no longer has to do much. Angel was the one dealing with enemy totem users, while he only had to deal the final blow.


    Without lifting a finger, three totem users were killed in one night. Including this three, it would bring the total to six.


    The potential points used on the wererabbit have been instantly recovered.


    This time he returned, it would be the opportune time to try evolving the giant lizards. Garen was eager to see their evolved form.


    "What are these blue messenger birds up to?" Angel had a gut feeling that something was wrong.


    "Those are all distress messages. Most probably the southern kingdoms have fallen completely." Garen continued to withdraw the war prison without looking back.


    "That''s impossible! There are thousands of second form totem users under Ender Kingdom¡¯s General Veron. All of them are elites!" Angel was struck with disbelief.


    Meanwhile, Garen had already strutted to the front of the caravan squadron.


    "We¡­ We can afford to pay ransom!!" Their leader, a plump man pleaded with a shaky voice. "Do not kill us! Please¡­" He knelt on the ground.


    "Both of you are hunters. The war guild does not allow the usage of the war prison amongst humans." A white-haired elder stood out among the crowd and spoke softly. He evidently knew a thing or two about the war guild.


    "Laws are set by men. But they are no longer of use." Garen shrugged. "Heed my advice. Return to Iron Tank City instead of heading to White Stream City. Otherwise, there will be far worse things in store for you."


    He was warning them out of kindness. The Silver Totem army of the Obscuro Soceity would be arriving any minute. As swarms of Silver Totem flood in, running into them in the open would a nightmare. If that happened, it would mean certain death for these commoners as even Garen himself wouldn¡¯t dream of staying alive. Only a sturdy city would have the capacity to defend.


    Among these Silver Totems were all kinds of strange creatures, like a rare creature exhibition. It was indeed a horrifying sight. These creatures, with high contamination abilities were the result of the Obscuro Society¡¯s unsuccessful breeding. On top of that, they were empowered by the Phantom Light, which amplified their ability by many fold.


    "Let¡¯s go." As he spoke, Angel had chopped off the heads of the three convicts, wrapping them with some cloth.


    Two of them, one after the other, hurried towards Iron Tank City.


    The people in the squadron could finally breathe a sigh of relief. Most of them were baffled, and ignored Garen¡¯s advice. A minority of them who could see that Garen was speaking the truth, were willing to follow his words and leave.


    "Go! Wesley, let¡¯s turn back!" Lala, sitting in her carriage, was flushed with in inexplicable excitement and passion. There was finally some spark in her boring life. She believed her judgment, as she always did.


    The bald man didn¡¯t have a trace of lying. She believed his words.


    "My lady¡­"The elderly carriageman hesitated.


    "Turn around!" Lala raised her voice.


    "Okay." Wesley helplessly agreed, slowly leaving the carriageway, making a turn on the grass plains.


    "Lala are you mad? Do you really believe a word the weirdo said?" Vecil finally dared to speak again. She covered her head, hid at the bottom of the carriage, afraid that she would be noticed by others. As she lifted her head, her voice was as soft as mosquitoes.


    "I believe him, and the big sea of blue messenger birds." Lala nodded solemnly.


    Suddenly, the sound of crisp horse hooves could be heard outside the carriage.


    Lala pulled open the curtain and looked out. She saw the white-robed young girl on the white horse following the baldy and the ponytailed girl in hot pursuit.


    Lala could see from the young girl¡¯s face that they had the same adventurous expression.


    "Hurry up! Let¡¯s follow the two people upfront!" Lala yelled.

 289 The Outbreak of War 1

    Chapter 289: The Outbreak of War 1


    The sky was awash with shades of grey. Large clouds moved rapidly to form clusters, then dissipating into thin air.


    The earth trembled. On the green, grassy plains, numerous black cysts surfaced, as if they were tumors of the earth. They were like the beating of a heart, like actual organs.


    Whoooshhh...


    A few white-golden giant hawks soared across the sky, carrying silver armor-laden riders on their backs. The riders who wielded huge, long spears, were stained with dried blood all over their body.


    A grey apex hawk spread its wings, flying below one of giant hawks.


    There was a faint silver glow in the grey hawk¡¯s vision, as it clearly surveyed everything that was happening below.


    On the plains below, each one of the black cysts started to squirm. They had four mouths full of sharp teeth located at their sides. As their mouths continuously opened and shut, they spat out full-black, single-horned creatures.


    The creatures were built like giant crouching lizards, each with a single black fang-like horn on their foreheads, accompanied with a pair of humongous black wings.


    They spread their wings, emitting peculiar noises. Shaking off the mucous on their bodies, they leapt into the air, heading right at the white-golden hawks.


    The grey hawk silently flew away, diving towards the ground below.


    As it flew over a dark green forest, observing from above, it could see a huge number of wild beasts battling with the giant, lizard-like abominations. The roars of the wolves and bears could be heard as they were torn apart by the giant lizards.


    Crossing the forest, the grey hawk let out a light cry, gently flew towards the grey carriageway located at the other side of the forest.


    On the carriageway, a bunch of grey-robed riders were dashing forward on their horses. A bald male in the front lifted up his hand, allowing to grey hawk to swoop down from the sky, landing on his arm.


    Gah!!!


    A series of weird noises could be heard in the distance, like the howling of beasts before their demise.


    "It¡¯s like a crow, but also like a bat. Disgusting indeed" The grey-robed girl behind the baldy frowned as she spoke. "Garen, are we returning to the war guild immediately?"


    The baldy shaked his head.


    "There¡¯s no time. We absolutely should not return now to avoid being recruited as guards to defend the city, which would limit our freedom. Let¡¯s go to my place. The guards won¡¯t be able to defend for long."


    "How about the three brats behind us?" Angel turned her head to look at the girl on the white horse, and the luxurious carriage following closely behind. The curtains swayed open to reveal the faces of two young girls.


    "Let them be. We do not have the responsibility to protect them." Garen muttered.


    Their two black stallions galloped swiftly on the path, but the white horse and horse carriage did not fall behind, easily keeping up with them.


    Woo!!!


    The lengthy cry sound a horn could be heard in the distance.


    Garen¡¯s expression changed slightly. He slowed down abruptly and looked far ahead.


    "It¡¯s the city¡¯s horn! Let¡¯s go this way!"


    He tugged tightly at the reins and headed to the right. Angel followed closely, but the girl on the white horse continued to stare into the distance, in the direction of the sound of the horn. Worry and doubt was evident in her expression.


    Garen continued riding, disregarding the two parties behind him. He bent his body to lie on the back of his horse, being extra vigilant towards his surroundings.


    Suddenly, a glimpse of darkness flashed over his head. A black shadow passed him, landing instantly on the path ahead of him.


    Bang!!!


    A three-metre long, unihorn lizard landed on the ground, flapping its bat-like wings. He roared at Garen, emitting air flow from its flared nostrils.


    The startled horses raised their front hooves in fear, giving off sharp cries.


    "What kind of abomination is this!!?" Angel tried her best to stable the horses. She made a futile attempt by applying pressure on the horse¡¯s belly, while uttering comfort sounds.


    Before the voices came to a stop, Garen sprung into action. He leapt from the horseback into the air, right at the giant lizard.


    His right hand instantly transformed into a reddish, translucent texture. It looked like slow motion, but in fact he pressed his palm onto the lizard¡¯s forehead in light-speed.


    Bang!


    Garen somersaulted onto the back of his horse.


    "Move!" He tugged on the reins, passed the lizard and continued forward.


    Angel hesitated for a moment, but continued to keep up. The white horse and horse carriage initially had some doubts, but were too afraid to stay away from Garen and Angel. They passed the lizard and hurried forward.


    The unihorn lizard lay still in the middle of the road, its whole body enveloped with hints of blue. Evidently, it had been paralyzed by poison.


    *************


    Suburbs, At the edge of the City


    At a deserted courtyard in the district, a few unihorn lizards swept across the sky. They headed towards the location with the most people, leaving dark shadows on the ground wherever they went.


    A handful of riders scurried into the courtyard. The gently slowed down, comforting the frightened horses.


    The riders quickly stopped at a premise in the middle of the courtyard.


    The bald man who was leading got down from his horse.


    "Give me a moment Angel, let me grab something. Then we can clean up the unihorn lizards in the vicinity."


    "I¡¯ll wait for you outside." Angel nodded, rewearing two black rings. These two rings represented two new black panthers, different from the ones that were destroyed by Garen. These two panthers were her back ups.


    Garen took a glance at the girl in the white horse and the carriage who have just arrived.


    The white-robed girl came down from her horse and approached the two girls from the carriage. They had a combination of hopelessness, doubt, fear and worry written on their faces. Only the elderly carriageman was standing by their side, comforting them.


    "Angel, let them enter the city by themselves. I have no energy to protect them."


    "Leave it to me. I will talk to them." Angel lightly nodded.


    Garen dipped his head, turned his back and entered his yard.


    He opened the door with a key. Everything seemed safe and sound, just like it was when he left. Three blue-back giant lizards lazily crouched on the counter, trying to pose as statues.


    Garen shut the door and heaved a sigh of relief.


    "I must strengthen myself as soon as possible."


    He stood at the door, watching the three blue-back lizards leisurely crawling towards him.


    "Let¡¯s try. I¡¯m going to give evolving these creatures a shot." He was distinct from other totem users. The rest of them relied on external stimuli to evolve their totems, while he could use his potential points, which is a unique ability, to evolve his totems.


    He wasn¡¯t aware of the difference between these two evolution methods. But his gut told him there would a substantial difference between evolving with potential points and the usual methods.


    He examined the attribute pane just below his vision.


    The short-tailed croc and blue-back lizards both needed 3 potential points to evolve. The only difference was that the blue-back lizards had a higher probability than the short-tailed croc.


    He had 15 potential points left.


    "As I need something that can be of use right away, I shall start with the short-tailed croc."


    He looked at the skill pane, finding the short-tailed croc¡¯s icon among a myriad of other totem icons.


    "Short-tailed Croc; First Form: live totem, can be upgraded. Success Rate: 54% (The weaker the totem, the higher the probability of success). Potential Points Consumption: 300%.


    Abilities: Bite, Guise."


    "54%, still acceptable." Garen¡¯s heart skipped a beat as a black-armored crocodile crawled out from his bedroom. At one glance, it might be mistaken as a long, black plank.


    His gaze fixated on the short-tailed croc for around three seconds.


    At that instant, the white-tailed croc¡¯s icon turned blurry, turning into a ball of red light. Consequently, the accompanying explanation signs blurred out as well.


    For the attribute pane, the potential points dropped from 1522%, all the way down to 1222%.


    As the adjustment of the potential points took place, the short-tailed croc started having shivers all over his body.


    His figure expanded rapidly, growing longer and bigger.


    From two to three metres, it grew to exceeding five metres, almost filling up the whole hall on the first floor.


    As the crocodile¡¯s hide on it''s back grew dark and darker, a line of black, sharp spikes started forming in the middle.


    The giant crocodile opened it''s jaw, emitting a horrible stench.


    Within ten seconds, its size grew from two, three metres to exceeding five metres. Other than that, there weren''t much changes to it''s appearance.


    All of a sudden, Garen noticed something peculiar. The giant crocodile opened it''s big jaw, as if it wanted to show him something.


    He peered into the crocodile¡¯s mouth. It startled him when he saw a red, snake-like tongue. On the top of the tongue was a needle-like, meaty organ.


    "What is this?"


    Garen muttered to himself. He looked straight at the skill pane where the totem icons were located.


    "Deep Swamp Croc; Evolved form of Short-tailed Croc, Second form live totem, can be upgraded. Success Rate: 24%. Potential Points Consumption: 500%"


    Abilities: Explosive Strike, Iron Hide, Parasitism."


    "Parasitism?" Garen examined the final ability. At his gaze, an explanation sign appeared behind it.


    "Parasitism: The deep swamp crocs in the olden days contained a huge amount of various parasite larvae in their body. Once an enemy is bitten, the larvae can be injected into its body. In a short span of time, the enemy will experience excruciating torture, which will eventually lead to death. After dying, a swamp parasite will emerge from the corpse to fight for the crocs. Note: A deep swamp croc can only cultivate three parasites per day."


    Garen was delighted. The parasite was like buying one for three. Just by looking at its size, a croc evolving to this stage, is an immensely strong presence. Without considering the totem light, the physique of the totem creatures was a huge factor in battles. The physique determines strength and speed, and even lethality.


    Of course this is without considering the totems special abilities. A good example would be the most sought after black wolf. After evolving into it second form - the fire wolf, it could generate vigorous, scorching flames.

 290 The Outbreak of War 2

    Chapter 290: The Outbreak of War 2


    The deep swamp croc swayed its tail gently, dragged it''s heavy body across the floor quietly, and quickly crawled out from an open window. Garen was dumbfounded by the fact that it did not make any noise.


    He grabbed his necessities, and some things that might be of use, stuffed them into the leather bag he brought, then hid it under the bed. Then, he made his way out of the house.


    On the path outside, Angel crouched beside the corpse of a unihorn lizard, attentively examining the abomination.


    The lizard, who wasn''t there when Garen entered the house, was obviously destroyed by her.


    "What''s up? What''s it''s strength like?" Garen went over and crouched beside her.


    "Troublesome." Angel said with a solemn expression. "I initially thought it''s a common, mutated creature. But in fact, it had totem light. If I didn''t use accelerate, I¡¯m not that sure if my panther could handle it. It should be at the level of an elite first form totem."


    "Be careful." Garen patted her shoulder. He valued this companion who worked well with him.


    He glanced at the trembling horse carriage on the other side. The three girls seemed like they wanted to come closer, but it was evident that they were a little afraid.


    "Sir." The elderly carriageman carefully walked over and stood in front of Garen with some hesitation. "I guess both of you should be completing some form of mission? I''m wondering whether we could temporarily hire you to send us into the city. We can pay you some wages!"


    "Wage? How much can you pay?" Garen muttered. He didn''t think they could offer much. When totem users speak about money, usually tens of thousands of Rumbs. To a normal human, it would already be their lifetime savings.


    "A hundred thousand!" The elderly carriageman blurted out a figure. "A hundred thousand Rumbs!"


    "Barely acceptable." Garen nodded. "Angel, send them into the city. Then meet me at the war guild." He looked at a silver pocket-watch that he had just retrieved from his pocket. "It is 1.15pm now, let''s meet after lunch at 4pm. Okay?"


    Angel nodded and said: "No problem. A hundred thousand just for a trip is not a bad deal. Let''s go ladies." She shouted at the three girls as she mounted her black stallion.


    "I got to check on how my friend is doing." Garen casually mentioned. "There might be a possibility¡­." he suddenly grinned.


    At the attribute pane at the bottom of his vision, there was a sudden jolt in potential points.


    The potential points spiked from 1222% to 1287%, then quickly spiked again to 1356%. The two consecutive spikes surprised Garen.


    It was the deep swap croc! It suddenly came to his realization. He had just released the newly evolved croc to hunt the unihorn lizards. He did not expect the effects to take place so soon. Even more out of his expectation was that killing the unihorn lizards could lead to an increase in potential points.


    From the figures, it was evident that the deep swamp croc was single handedly battling and defeating two unihorn lizards. That should be the reason for the two spikes.


    After sending off Angel¡¯s party, Garen stood silently on the path, looking at his yard. Inside, the deep swamp croc was silently crawling past the fence into the yard. It was holding one of the lizards in his jaw, obviously as a snack and parasite for itself.


    Garen noticed that there was a fresh, bleeding wound on the forelimbs of the deep swamp croc, seemingly sustained during the clash. Garen shuddered.


    The deep swamp croc as a second form totem, could actually be harmed by two first form unihorn lizards.


    "Now it''s only a first form totem. There would certainly be stronger creatures in the nest that have not revealed themselves. No wonder the Obscuro Society dared to go against the whole world. With powerful bioweapons like that, they wouldn''t have to worry about military strength.


    He pondered for a moment, suddenly felt something and he turned to look at the yard across his own.


    The yard of his blonde female neighbour was peaceful, except the window curtains which were swaying slightly. It was clear that someone was spying on him.


    Garen was about to leave when the door from the yard opposite the street flung open.


    "Sir Garen!" The blonde neighbour yelled. Her haggard and deeply trouble expression showed that she was struck with terror. A big, strong, young man followed behind her. As they had similar looks, it seemed that they could be twins.


    "Sir Garen, can you help sending us into the city?" His neighbour looked frightened. She looked at Garen pitifully.


    Gahhhh!!


    An array of unihorn lizard cries could be heard in the distance.


    Garen looked at his pocket watch and frowned. "It¡¯s easy to enter the city. But since we¡¯re neighbours, I want to warn you that the situation is very different now. The city might be worse off. If you are willing, stay in your own home. My baby is currently cleaning up the creatures in the vicinity. As the population here is small and sparse, it won¡¯t draw the creature¡¯s line of sight. Should be safe."


    At that instance, she let out an expression of hopelessness and doubt.


    "What do we now? When can the Royal Alliance drive away the creatures!" She was like most of the population, placing all their hope on the Royal Alliance. They viewed the current situation as a one off, incidental, regional turmoil.


    Garen shook his head.


    "I¡¯m not sure. You decide yourself."


    "Then we still want to enter the city." The girl muttered after hesitating.


    "I¡¯ll give you both ten minutes. We will leave immediately after that." Garen directly responded.


    ***************


    General Veron¡¯s Third Battalion, Wiped Out.


    Through the blue messenger birds, the news spread to hundreds of countries throughout the East Continent.


    At the same instant, newspapers all over the world reported the news of unknown creatures attacking human cities. But soon, people would gradually not be able to purchase these papers..


    The blue messenger birds started constantly falling from the sky. Other than the unihorn lizards, there were various flying creatures who occupying the sky, which was the channel of communication between cities.


    Iron Tank City


    War Guild Mission Hall


    As Garen stepped into the hall, he saw injured people all over the hall. Some of them had even lost their limbs. They pale faces indicated severe loss of blood.


    "Garen, how are you unscathed?" A strong man with a single sheepy eye stood up astonishingly. "Right. You are considered one of the strongest in the first form mission hall." He immediately took a seat.


    "Thomas? Aren¡¯t you alright as well?" Garen walked over and sat in front of the man. "The situation seems dire." He asked as he scanned the area around him.


    "It¡¯s tough out there. Bounty is growing daily but nobody dares to accept jobs. The monsters are everywhere." One-eyed thomas whispered.


    At this time, from the reception room of the main hall, walked out a squad of brown-robed men and women. The leader was burly man with short hair. There was a blood-reddish scar on his right cheek, looking like a savage.


    The man held a silver helmet in his arms, quickly scanning through the rest of the people in the hall.


    A white-haired elderly man holding a red staff followed behind. Closely after them were two perfect-figured women in black robes.


    "It¡¯s the Galileo Squad. They should be taking up the two toughest missions." One-eyed Thomas stared at the party as he whispered to Garen.


    He wasn¡¯t the only one. Everyone in the hall fixated their eyes on this party.


    Garen was familiar with the Galileo Squad. Its leader, Galileo, was an elite second form totem users, while all the members were second form totem users. They even had a totem smith in their squad. With this elite line-up, they completed several challenging missions, gaining fame in Iron Tank City.


    There were there strong squads in Iron Tank City which frequented the war guild for years. Only the ace of the Galileo Squad was a second form totem user, while the leaders of the other two squads had third form ultimate totems under their command.


    The Galileo Squad left the hall, quickly disappearing on the path outside the door.


    Garen retrieved his gaze, listening to Thomas'' gentle words of adoration.


    "If only I could be as strong as the Galileo Squad."


    "You should forget it. Their most basic prerequisite is to have two second form totems." A bald, plump man laughed.


    Garen and Thomas chatted for a moment. He was waiting for someone. After sending his female neighbour into the city, he directly headed here to check out the situation.


    The situation was indeed dire. The war guild must have given up a fair bit to incentify the top squads.


    The first form mission hall was the most crowded area for a small town like the Iron Tank City. For the second form and third form halls, it was just furnishings. As a place where only a select elite could enter, there were simply no exchanges going on.


    Soon, their shift ended. Garen stood up and walked towards the mission counter. He took out the previously completed mission list and handed it in.


    "Completed once again? That fast?" The guy receiving the list was a sinister looking middle-aged man. He and Garen were familiar with each other as the last few mission lists were distributed by him.


    "Bounties should have multiplied by a few fold recently, isn¡¯t it?" Garen asked softly.


    "You are smart." The middle-aged man nodded. "All of them have multiplied, you are just in time. Also, the governor¡¯s mansion has just released a large batch of inactive totems. Would you like to have a look?" He spoke softly, with a sense of allurement in his voice. "There seems to a fair amount of decent core totems."


    "Is it specially distributed?" Garen raised his brow.


    "Of course, besides us, the war guild, where else can you find such elite firepower? If we do not provide support, wouldn¡¯t we be just waiting for doom?"The middle-aged man answered surely.


    "Is there a white dragonhawk?"


    "Certainly. Although it is powerful, it¡¯s not cheap to train it."


    "Show me the list."


    Garen¡¯s heart skipped a beat. Although the white dragonhawk is strong, it also means it has been researched thoroughly, with many strategies to counter it.


    He was different from other totem users. With the existence of potential points, he could rely on them for direct evolution, although the probability wasn¡¯t high. He could choose a less-researched, foundationally strong new totem as his final card.


    Once the evolution succeeded, as no one would be familiar with the power of this new totem, it definitely would have a remarkable impact.

 291 Materials 1

    Chapter 291: Materials 1


    The middle aged man behind the counter handed out a roll of yellowed paper.


    After receiving it, Garen unrolled the paper and brought it aside to have a long look at it.


    " The Iron Tank City Army emergency goods deployment list:


    Spear of Agas x 5


    Full body armor x 7


    Battle horse armor x 7


    Military crossbow x 15


    Inactivated totems:


    Red Dragonhawk x 3


    White Dragonhawk x 3


    White bear x 5. Brown bear x 5, Black wolf x 5. Snow sculpture x 33. Fanged hound x 33. Black eagle x 10. Northern snow lion x 1. Cape Verdean Wolf x 15.


    Black striped white tiger x 1. Ground drilling rhino x 1, Giant rattlesnake x 1."


    Garen straightened out the paper with a few light shakes, and knitted his brows together. He then waited for another man to finish up his business at the counter before heading over again.


    "These totems at the top, the last three are new to me. What is the price?"


    The middle aged man took a quick glance at him. "Since you are an official member of the guild, we offer a special price for insiders. 1 million per totem. I shall warn you beforehand, the last one was listed separately, which means it does not have a legacy. The absence of a legacy means that it will be incapable of evolving. Although it has a strong foundation, you must bear this in mind."


    "Noted." Garen was absolutely clear.


    Ground drilling rhino and Giant rattlesnake still had a sliver of hope when it came to evolving, as results of prior research done by other people point towards that, or so he had heard. Only the ways of raising a Black striped white tiger remained a mystery, as no researcher has managed to figure that out. This breed of genetically mutated tigers is extremely ferocious. Although there is only one type, its speed, strength and lethalness is comparable to that of a Dragonhawk ¨C minus the possibility of evolution. Various academies have tried, failed, and given up.


    Not only that, the remaining numbers are but a few; would have never thought of actually seeing one here.


    " How much money do I have left in the treasury?"Garen presented his medal.


    It was passed over the counter and inquiries were according to the serial number.


    " 870,000. You still need a little more. Do you want to accept a few quests?" The middle aged man asked. He currently has a huge pile of unattended quests.


    "It¡¯s alright, I will come over in a bit. Remember to hold on to it for me." Garen covertly handed over a few one hundred silver sheets. The man quietly accepted it.


    "Don¡¯t worry, I will keep it for you for two days. Anyways, this is an item that many would not want to purchase, even if they could afford it. Who would want to spend a million on a totem that is incapable of evolving?


    " Thanks , I am intend to have it as a secondary totem." Garen took a totem introduction leaflet that was handed to him over the counter and turned away to leave.


    He only had a couple of tens of thousands on him at the moment, which was definitely not enough. However, the resources he had stashed up previously would be put in good use.


    "This timing is just right, if I would have waited a little more, all the good items could have been used up and taken. Not only that, I still have to fork out another sum to purchase war shackles and war halls."


    He decided to obtain the black striped white tiger first, as he was planning to use it as his core totem anyways. The information on the black striped white tiger was fairly brief, Garen found the line describing the black striped white tiger from the information on the totem introduction leaflet.


    "Black striped white tiger: A type of basic totem, possesses extreme speed and lethality, its 6 centimeter sharp teeth can easily bite through any known defense a totem has. Originated 600 years ago from a remote academy called Taja Cannes. Power: Tail whip, Puncturing Crunch."


    Leaving the guild, Garen boarded a horse carriage, heading straight towards the young grain storehouse that he bought.


    Seated on the horse carriage, he looked out the carriage window ¨C 5 out of 10 people on the streets were holding a gourd shaped container, lining up at the rice store, common goods store and bakery to purchase items. Several fruit and vegetable stalls were sold out and closed for the day.


    A few wholesale stores that were of a larger scale placed signs that signify a limited stock supply, barely sustaining themselves.


    From time to time, ox carts dragging along goods would pass by. The area of Iron Tank City was seemingly vacant of the noblemen and businessmen that were usually clothed luxuriously.


    Garen estimated that the items he had stored up prior to this could be sold at a higher price, therefore a total sale of 3 million should not be a problem. Although so, the most cost effective way seemed to be setting aside a portion of basic living expenses while using the rest in exchange for expendable battle items.


    If an exchange was done instead, he would be dealing with the guild directly, which means it is likely that he will only need half of his item storage in exchange for the Black striped white tiger. Garen believed that the guild had good taste, and was pretty sure he will be able to recognize the advantage of hoarding rare items for enormous profit.


    If only he wasn¡¯t in such dire need to evolve his core totem, Garen would have never thought of selling his items off so early.


    The other half can be used to feed himself and occasionally purchase other items.


    In no time, the horse carriage arrived at the area in Iron Tank where storehouses were specifically built.


    Garen came down from the carriage, paid, and headed towards the deepest area on the left.


    His storehouse was built at a secluded left corner.


    He did not go far before realizing with a startle that something was wrong. Several grey ox carts were continuously dragging along young grains from the deeper part of the area, the cart drivers were servants clothed in grey cloth.


    "The man in front, please halt!"


    A short distance away a group of armed men on patrol rushed over.


    "What are you doing? The area in front is a private property! You are not allowed to trespass." The leader of the group was a man with a mustache, and he was staring at Garen with stern gaze.


    "Private property?" Garen¡¯s face dropped. From the gaps in between the storehouses he could see the entrance of his storehouse, and ox carts were dragging young grains from inside.


    He had completed so many quests, gone through life and death situations with Goth and the others, suffered heavy injuries just to have a small amount savings. The young grains he had purchased is now being towed away from his storehouse by one ox cart after another.


    "Whose men are you?!" Garen¡¯s face darkened. "This is my storehouse, and the young grains you are towing away happens to be mine!"


    Moustache man frowned. "This is the private property of Quartermaster Griffith, if there are any issues please speak to our boss."


    Garen¡¯s face darkened again, forcefully pushing away one of the men who was blocking him, and walked towards his storehouse in huge strides.


    "You stand right there!! Do you hear me!" The moustached man was furious. He chased up to Garen¡¯s footsteps and grabbed his shoulders. His hands grabbed nothing but the air though, as Garen¡¯s was much faster than he had imagined.


    "Take him down!!"Moustache man shouted all of a sudden.


    An army of men rushed up, those who had swords bore swords, those who were meant to obstruct his way, did so.


    The ground underneath Garen¡¯s feet shook, and a shapeless energy immediately threw the men off their feet, and they flew, hitting the ground with intensity.


    Nearby, an ox cart moving goods was disturbed. The ox that was pulling the cart let out a series distressed moos, anxious to escape from the place.


    The old man sitting in front of the storehouse that was tasked with administration felt things going horribly wrong, and sent out a blue messenger bird. He fell into his seat, face pale, plagued with fear as he stared at Garen.


    "I am Quartermaster Griffith¡¯s house keeper! You can¡¯t touch me! You can¡¯t touch me!" He muttered the last phrase repeatedly, the fear seemed to have paralyzed his senses.


    "Quartermaster?" Garen narrowed his eyes, a spark of an idea brewing in his heart.


    His hand reached out to grab the old man¡¯s collar, lifting him towards himself.


    "Just because he is a Quartermaster he is allowed to carelessly snatch away someone else¡¯s private property? It seems like he got bored of living and wants a taste of death¡­"


    "Master...I have nothing to do with this master!" The old man was sniveling with tears pouring out of his eyes, his whole body was shaking like a leaf, cold sweat plastering the hair near the temples of his face.


    Garen hurled him aside carelessly and waited where he was. The blue bird the old man had sent earlier should have reached the Quartermaster, whatever or whoever that is; he should be here any minute now.


    Without waiting for long, a black luxury car was driven into the storehouse area, and stopped a short distance away from the storehouse he was at.


    Two sizeable men clothed in black military uniforms came down from the car and walked down.


    The man who was walking slightly ahead had a nasty expression on his face, with traces of anger caused by humiliation and a slight urgency.


    The other man¡¯s face was immensely calm. His hands were mindlessly fiddling with a silver pocket watch, while his middle finger was embellished with a black gemstone ring.


    " Type 2 totem user?" Garen¡¯s gaze locked onto the man holding the pocket watch.


    "I am Griffith , who dares to cause trouble here?!"The man who was ahead roared loudly, his eyes quickly fixed on Garen who was standing in front of the storehouse. " It is you I presume? Seems like after a long time of refraining myself, no one in the city knows the name of Griffith anymore."


    " Griffith, is it? Who are you to carelessly invade and occupy the private property of citizens?" Garen faced both of them, raised his voice and spoke coldly. "I have previously purchased the young grains here as well as other items, now all of a sudden you own them. Do you not have the intention of giving an explanation?"


    "You are the previous owner of this storehouse?" Griffith sneered, "Are you sure you are not mistaken about something? These young grains are items that the other shop owners and I have transported over earlier on ¨C I have a contract with these shop owners as proof. Deeming others¡¯ property as your own¡­ from what I see, you are the one invading other people¡¯s property!"


    While speaking he thrusts out a stack of paperwork that he had obviously prepared, and waved it around at Garen. He had a mischievous look plastered on his face.


    Garen frowned. To be honest, this was his biggest fear. Being a lone ranger without a background, to have a business that involved buying and selling as per what he was doing, encountering these types of trickery was what he was most afraid of. After all, the buying and selling business was not supported by the government, and you could only conduct it underground. Once a lack of power is realized by others, it was highly possible that one must absorb the bitter consequences.


    The other party he guessed, had done a background check on him, which explained their unscrupulous behavior.


    " Alright, now that everything is clear, we should figure out the compensation for injuring my guards. I am known to be ever so generous, all you need to pay is a small amount, and I won¡¯t investigate the matter any further." Griffith said with a smile on his face.


    He had already known the identity of the man in front of him. If it were not for the fact that he had entered the battle guild and was a member, he would have gotten his bodyguards to capture him.


    But it is different now than it was then, for the war guild is the front line of the entire combat team of Iron Tank City. If he were to be caught, the guild will definitely conduct some questioning, and if it were to be blown out of proportion, sensitive issues such as invading one¡¯s property was likely to bring about bad consequences, which might bring huge losses to both parties in an immense impact.


    Which is why it is important to have a good control of the scale of the issue ¨C to let the other party undergo a small loss while keeping the matter down low at the same time.


    "Alright. We will leave the matter as so. As you are a member of the war guild, I will not look into the damage you have caused my soldiers." Griffith said with a smile.

 292 Materials 2

    Chapter 292: Materials 2


    Garen squinted his eyes slightly, momentarily looking at the person in front of him.


    "Fine...Excellent. Griffith, I¡¯ll remember this name." It was impossible for him to act now due to the city being under heightened martial law. Anyone who challenged the military during this high tension period may be strongly repressed.


    Regardless of reason, attacking an army official would be considered treason. Regardless of sufficient reasoning, the outcome is being hunted down by totem users all over the city. A serious offence might even bring you the wrath of the Governor¡¯s Dragon Guard. The Dragon Guard was a squadron with terrifying strength, formed entirely by second form white dragonhawk totem users. Anyone one of them could take down a totem user of the same level.


    Garen assessed himself. In his current, the most he could handle was a common second form totem user. Moreover, as he hasn''t tested it in battle, extra caution was needed. Although he was confident in his abilities, his confidence was built on the evolved deep swamp croc. As his wildcard, it wasn''t to be revealed easily.


    Even by revealing it, whether it could deal with enemy second form totem users was a serious question of its own.


    In actual fact, silver totems were still not on the level of original totems. Hence, it is very possible that the deep swamp croc would be slightly weaker than original second form totems.


    Garen¡¯s mind was overwhelmed with thoughts. Without saying a word, he tossed a stack of silver Rumb, then turned to leave the warehouse.


    Behind him, Griffith and his men were so pleased that they burst into laughter instantly.


    Garen suppressed the discontentment in his heart. If the enemy did not have a second form totem user in their midst, he might have took action.


    As long as he did it cleanly, people may not notice anyway. They at most would have thought it would be the doings of the monsters outside of the city.


    Griffith grinned and as he was about to reply, he suddenly felt something was off. It was as if he was the only person who heard a sound, while the second form totem users beside him did not feel anything at all.


    Griffith¡¯s laughter abruptly stopped. He unknowingly felt a faint shudder in his heart. Swiftly, he turned to look in the direction Garen left and he could not even see his shadow although merely a few seconds had passed.


    "What¡¯s going on?" Mecca, a second form totem user who was beside him asked.


    "Didn¡¯t you hear the sound?" There was a trace of uneasiness on Griffith¡¯s face.


    "Sound? What Sound?" Mecca frowned. The few soldiers beside looked at each other, feeling confused as well.


    Griffith instantly panicked. For the first time, he secretly regretted finding fault with that guy.


    "My heart still feels there is something wrong.." He wondered if he was hallucinating a moment ago.


    ****************


    Feeling unappeased, Garen left the warehouse and headed towards the Mercenary Guild. In both his past life and current life, as a martial artist and a fighter, he was always a ruthless person. Meeting someone as reckless as this yet not being able to annihilate him, he got more and more disgruntled by the minute.


    "Patience...Patience...I will get my chance soon.."He knew in his heart that a multitude of monsters will soon be laying siege to the city. In the face of overwhelming disaster, no one would notice the death of one or two quartermasters.


    Looking at the progression outside, the large-scale siege would be happening soon.


    At this moment, it is imperative that he gathered enough money to obtain the black-striped white tiger.


    Once he reached the Mercenary Guild, he entered and sat in the corner of the hall, waiting for a few others to arrive.


    He had lunch at the guild, and about 1pm, Andy and his sister entered the guild. With one glance, they noticed the bald Garen sitting in a corner. Both of them, in the usual grey robes, walked directly towards Garen and sat across him.


    "Haven¡¯t seen you for a few days. What have you been up to? How was the vacation?" Andy took off his robe as he sat in.


    "I¡¯m doing okay. Only a minor setback." Garen answered lightly. "At the end of the day, I shouldn¡¯t take any chances."


    "What happened? Spill it." Jessica murmured, "Maybe my brother can lend you a hand."


    "Forget it, I¡¯ll handle it myself." Garen grinned. "Let¡¯s not talk about these. Thank God you guys are alright. There are hordes of monsters out there. If we didn¡¯t just quit, I reckon we would be in big trouble."


    At the mention of monsters, Andy and Jessica¡¯s countenance sunk.


    Andy quietly produced a folded piece of paper from his arms and passed it to Garen.


    "What¡¯s this?" Garen unfolded the paper. It was a newspaper extract.


    The headlines were clearly printed with: Terrorist organization Obscuro Society claims, fighting to create a new, better world.


    The details were stated below.


    The Obscuro Society claims responsibility for the multiple uprisings. At the same time, they issued an ultimatum to the Royal Alliance.


    "This newspaper was from two days before the creatures appeared." Andy whispered, "We can now be sure that the Obscuro Society is the culprit."


    Soon, Goth made his entrance. He was wearing a brand new dungarees, looking fresh and energetic with his new crew cut. He sat down beside Garen, took up the pot of coffee and directly poured it into his mouth.


    He gulped down the coffee, put the pot down heavily, and burped.


    "What should we do now? Let¡¯s take a vote!?"


    "Chill. Help me guys, lend me some money." Garen mumbled. He initially wanted to borrow from Angel, but borrowing from the few people in front of him would be the same. With his eight hundred and twenty thousand, he only needed a hundred and eighty thousand to obtain the black-striped white tiger. It wasn¡¯t much.


    "Just say the amount you need. But let me clear, don¡¯t mention anything about three hundred thousand." Andy generously waved his hand.


    "Lend me a hundred and eighty thousand."


    "No problem." Andy frankly replied, "Luckily you did not mention three hundred thousand. That is all that i have."


    "Didn¡¯t you say that you¡¯ve finished your money?" Jessica whispered.


    "Do I seem like that kind of person?" Andy laughed heartily.


    "Jessica, I saw a nice scarf just now and I bought it for you as a gift." Goth took out a piece of folded cloth and passed it to Jessica. By his expression, even a fool could discern his intention.


    Jessica¡¯s cheeks turned red. She bowed her head sheepishly.


    Andy and Garen stood up simultaneously and went to the Mercenary Guild¡¯s counter. They withdrew a hundred and eighty million Rumb and packed it in a black pouch. Garen rushed off with the money, planning to obtain the black-striped white tiger as soon as possible. Otherwise, the price might have increased after a while.


    After making a few turns in the alleys, he very quickly he arrived at the War Guild. The crowd was sparse, seemingly much quieter than before.


    After entering the hall, Garen headed straight towards the counter and handed over the money to the middle-aged man.


    "That fast?" The man, who was gobbling down a plate of pasta, was caught in disbelief.


    "Please." Garen nodded.


    "Follow me then." The middle-aged man stopped speaking, stood up and pulled open a side-door. Both of them entered a small room at the back.


    Like the last time, they went across the room, crossing an alley and quickly arrived at a row of wooden doors.


    The middle-aged man took out a key and unlocked the first door.


    "Wait here." He went in for a moment and returned with a black box.


    "This is what you''ve requested, the only one in Iron Tank City." He passed the black box to Garen.


    Holding the black box in his hand, Garen have it a pinch. The box was light, like a small jewellery box.


    He flipped open the box. Between the black velvet was a black crystal ring. The activation spell was carved was on the cover of the box.


    He retrieved the ring and tried it on. In the end, it could only fit on his left ring finger.


    "Check it out." The middle-aged man shut the door, leaned on it while staring at him.


    Garen nodded and raised his left hand. He murmured the spell according to the words on the box.


    "Gomola, ehado, cyatin.." A series of unusual words left Garen¡¯s mouth. This was a phonic interpretation of the ancient language. He did not understand it, but uttered it according to the phonics.


    He made some gestures with his index finger in the air, drawing the totem activation symbol.


    With a bang, the ring¡¯s crystal emitted a black ray of light. As the ray of light hit the floor, it expanded into a ball of light. Once the light dissipated, a black-striped, white-skinned tiger strolled to Garen¡¯s side. It smacked its lips, revealing a tongue filled with hooks which could easily sever flesh.


    Owww...


    The white tiger let out a low howl as it crouched beside Garen.


    His body was about four metres long, with black spots from the head to the tail. Its thick tail was like a curled bat.


    Garen patted the white tiger on its head, while browsing the skill pane below his vision.


    Unsurprisingly, the black-striped white tiger¡¯s icon was already present.


    "Black-striped white tiger: First form totem, can be upgraded. Success Rate: 11%. Potential Points Consumption: 700%.


    Abilities: Tail whip, Puncturing Crunch."


    "11% success rate¡­" Garen¡¯s scalp went numb. Even the neon butterfly had a 21% success rate, but this black-striped white tiger¡¯s was 11%. Considering this fact, he had to try 10 times to success once. One try would use up 7 potential points.


    Since he had decided on it, there was no other option. Besides the neon butterfly, he could only have one more totem with low success rate. This was the limit. His mediocre talent determined that he could only control two totems.


    As he left the guild, Garen withdrew the white tiger. He then arrived at a remote alley.


    Ruthlessly, Garen gestured in the air and drew a complicated, oval symbol.


    The symbol shrunk instantly into the size of a fist, then into the size of a fingernail. It then flew into the black crystal ring.


    Very soon, he felt a sensation that was totally different compared to common totems. It felt like the black-striped white tiger was more intimate than others. The vague distance between them shrank a fair bit.


    He looked at the black-striped white tiger¡¯s icon below his vision.


    Suddenly, it overtook all the other totems on the list and was positioned first. There was a note which popped out on the side: Core.


    His body illuminated with a layer of white light that stuck to his skin.


    "Core totem, finally!"


    Garen heaved a sigh of relief.


    "I should rendezvous with Goth and the gang, then examine the tactics that Angel obtained. I must get ready to take on Griffith."


    If his calculations were accurate, within these few days, Iron Tank City would face its first siege. That would be an opportunity for him to act.


    There was a flash of ferocity in his eyes. Whoever snatched his belongings must have had a deathwish!

 293 Payback 1

    Chapter 293: Payback 1


    Minggg~~~~


    The white dragonhawks circling the sky let out an attack warcry.


    Among the crowd, Garen looked up, focusing on one particular white dragonhawk in the air.


    He tugged at his grey hoodie as he squeezed through the crowd, bowing his head to hide his face.


    He pulled out a piece of cloth from his right sleeve. There was a round tactic drawn in red ink. It seem unrefined, with traces of red ink on its side.


    A tactic was like an ancient spell, with a faint mystical sense.


    As he rolled the cloth, Garen hastened his steps. He quickly entered a narrow alley along the street and walked through it. In front of him was another clean and luxurious street, where there was a row of gorgeous bungalows across it. All of them had white-golden roofs, but they were all empty, without a trace of population.


    Garen swept his gaze from left to right. His eyes eventually fixated on the third bungalow.


    Yesterday, he made an appointment with Goth and the gang to complete missions together these couple of days, but the warcy has sounded. The real war was finally beginning.


    Iron Tank City¡¯s dragon stood no chance in resisting the countless unihorn lizards.


    At this point, all he had to do was wait, until Iron Tank City mobilizes the resources they have accumulated over the years. Then in the midst of chaos, he would first take down that annoying quartermaster.


    Through Garen''s investigation, he found out that Quartermaster Griffith controlled a third of the warehouses in the city. All of the items stored in the warehouses were recorded. Other than himself, the private belongings of around ten other victims were confiscated in the name of military usage.


    Garen knew from a familiar contact in the war guild, that other than himself, there were others waiting to find fault with the quartermaster. But the guy never leaves the side of Mecca, the second form totem master. There was completely no chance.


    People from the War Guild and Assassin¡¯s Guild also could not find a chance because of this.


    Garen stood at the alley in his grey robe and hoodie. He was dressed alike with the majority of the hoodie wearers.


    He abruptly stepping back, as if his sixth sense was telling him to hide in the shadows of the alley.


    Suddenly, a blur flashed from the bungalow¡¯s shade.


    "Assassin''s guild..?" Garen raised his eyebrows, holding his breath as he fixated his eyes on the shady region of the bungalow.


    There was a quick blur, flashing among the shades and people¡¯s blindspots, like a butterfly in the dark.


    The man, who was athletically built, clenched a dagger in his mouth. He was actually a pale faced young man, seemingly not over 18 years of age.


    "Interesting. Trying to assassinate Griffith with his own skills when he isn''t even a totem master." Garen stood still, merely lifting his head to stare at the sky.


    The sky was outcast. The clusters of grey clouds signalling a downpour was coming anytime.


    Ming ~~~~!


    It was another desolate horn cry.


    Instantly, with the sound of the horn, throughout the whole Iron Tank City centre, surrounding the Rowen Tower, an enormous flock of white-golden hawks soared into the sky.


    Hummm!!!


    The howls of countless white dragonhawks came down from the sky. It was as if voices had weight.


    Garen could not help but bow his body, feeling shaken by the sound. His face revealed an expression of dismay.


    "Iron Tank! Iron Tank! Iron Tank!"


    As the clashing sound between metallic armor and weapons came from the distance, batallions of soldiers marched orderly towards the city gates. Their loud, orderly march cries could even be heard in the city where Garen was standing.


    "It has begun¡­" Garen sighed as he turned back to look at the city gates.


    He thought for a moment, pressed both his palms lightly on the sides of the wall and crawled up the wall like a lizard. With a light somersaulted, he landed on the roof of a third level building on the right side.


    As he stood in the wall, he gazed in the direction of the sound.


    In the dark grey sky, countless of white dragonhawks surrounded the white-golden hawks as they flew out of the city, like a big cluster of clouds.


    The dragonhawk riders were dressed in silver armor, armed with two to three metres long spears. The white-golden dragonhawk riders were clad in full golden body armor, even the hawks¡¯ body were protected with golden armor.


    In the horizon, black ink-like, dark clouds were spreading over here.


    As the dark clouds drew closer, the countless strange, rattling sounds could be heard clearer and clearer.


    The black giant lizards, equipped with black wings and fang like horns on their heads, were swaying their long tails as they headed directly towards Iron Tank City.


    Garen stood on the rooftop. Like the countless of citizens in the city, he was staring at the two opposing clouds of forces closing on each other.


    Bang!!


    The white and dark cloud completely clashed into each other. In a split second, a large number of dark clouds fell from the sky.


    The soldiers and citizens below let out a loud cheer.


    "This is a war between totem users." Garen stared at the ground below, where soldiers were shooting with bows and guns in futile.


    A huge array of arrows and bullets could only barely take down single digits of the unicorn lizards. Only a few totem users protected by soldiers, were summoning creatures to protect the safety of the commoners around.


    Several lizards who were shot down rolled a few times on the floor, got back on their feet with only minor injuries. One of them picked up a swordsman beside with it''s jaw and gobbled him up. With a casual fling of its paw, it tore several armored soldiers into pieces.


    Human weapons were completely ineffective towards the lizards. Very soon, fear was like an epidemic, swiftly spreading amongst the crowd. As the soldiers collapse, more and more unihorn lizards pounce at the ground below, intending to annihilate the humans on the ground. The totem users in the city rose up to defend, barely forming a formation as the retreated to a corner.


    Bang!!


    A unihorn lizard leapt into the bungalow that Garen was in. In a split second, explosive noises and the roars of a lion could be heard from within.


    In the following moments, the second, third and more unihorns descended quickly. They shrunk into balls like black meteorites, then spreading their wings as they landed and instantly started their killing.


    Ahhh!!


    From the bungalow came a scream, followed by the panicky cries of a girl. The door swung open with a bang, a middle-aged woman drenched in blood ran out, trying to escape. She only managed to crawl for a short distance, then could no longer move. Her lower body was snapped into two earlier, and she was only crawling on the ground with her upper body, leaving a blood trail behind.


    Garen turned his gaze towards Griffith''s bungalow.


    There was a unihorn lizard that landed there, but very quickly became silent.


    "Looks like this situation does not pose much of a threat to them.." Garen blinked his eyes.


    The sound of the screams and shouts seemed to be going further away, signaling that the main resistance was moving further and further away.


    Griffith¡¯s bungalow stayed completely silent and still.


    Bang!


    A unihorn lizard landed on the roof behind Garen, rapidly spreading it''s body from from the ball.


    It open its jaw filled with sharp teeth, rushed towards Garen with a roar.


    Sheesh!!


    Garen frowned, gently shaking the black crystal ring on his right hand. A ray of black light shot out, and in the ray of light, leapt out the black-striped white tiger, colliding with the unihorn lizard. The two large creatures rolled in the boll, biting and slashing at each other.


    Garen stood at the side, quietly watching without assisting.


    "It''s a good opportunity to see the black-striped white tiger¡¯s overall strength."


    The black-striped white tiger was swift indeed. After swiping at the lizard, it could evade the lizards counterattack, then pushing away it''s head, appearing to be very agile. Moreover, every time it opened it''s jaw, a bite from it would tear out a big piece of flesh.


    After just three simple swipes, the black-striped white tiger launched forward, mercilessly pressing down the lizard. It bit into the lizard¡¯s throat, gulping down the fresh blood.


    Shriekkkk!


    The lizard¡¯s head was torn apart by the white tiger.


    Awwww!!!


    The white tiger let out a howl, stood up in it''s blood-stained body and started to feed on the lizard¡¯s corpse. It was only lightly scratched.


    "No wonder there are people who are willing to choose this kind of totem even though it cannot be evolved. Those that can be passed down until today surely are not simple characters." Garen nodded his head in satisfaction. Suddenly, three black dots soared over his head. He quickly withdrew the white tiger, and jumped down the roof. After constantly prancing in the shadows with all his might, he disappeared into a blur and entered Griffith¡¯s bungalow.


    As he silently entered the bungalow, he heard the sound of an impatient argument going on from within. The sounds came and go with the wind.


    ".....ours¡­.out, left¡­.who is responsible¡­."


    "Stay here¡­.who...don¡¯t leave¡­"


    Garen sped up, silently approaching the three-story bungalow from the garden. As he quickly arrived at a Lily bush, he stopped abruptly and stared at the ground.


    There was a circle or silver arcs on the ground, faintly shimmering in silver light.


    The arcs stretched from two sides, like a setting surrounding the whole bungalow.


    "Warning line?" Garen remembered from teacher Emin¡¯s teachings. Only a luminarist with a complete heritage could perform such an act.


    He followed the silver warning line to the back of the bungalow. The voices became clearer by the moment. There were two men voices debating about something and it was evident one of them was Griffith¡¯s voice.


    "....no confidence to hold Iron Tank City. They thought I couldn''t see it if they kept it from me! If it wasn''t for my men in the information department, I would have foolishly followed into battle. Now! Right now! We have to leave immediately! The unihorn lizards will increase, more and more!!" Griffith seemed very emotional and agitated.


    The other male voice was abnormally calm. "Do not worry Griffith, the Grand Duke has took numerous elites to exterminate the lizard¡¯s nest. As long the breeding nest is destroyed, at most the creatures can only cause minor damage."


    "How many times do I have to say before you understand!" The sound of someone pacing back-and-forth heavily came from within. "Alright alright.. Mecca, we are brothers who grew up together. Let me tell you the truth. The situation now is dire, the creatures out there¡­" He lowered his voice.


    A normal human probably couldn''t even hear a single sound, worse if the other side lowered their voice. But Garen, with his abnormally clear senses, could easily hear Griffith''s whisper.


    "...there are at least 10 million of the creatures...This is the statistic calculated by the information department. My informant had just sent me a message. Even if the Grand Duke and his party could destroy the nests, this is not a number we can defend against!" Garen murmured.


    Mecca, the second form totem user instantly ran out of words to say, breathing heavily.


    "Who!!" Mecca roared loudly of a sudden.


    Dang!!


    The high-pitched sound of weapons clashing.


    "Looking for death!!" Mecca coldly hummed.


    From the bungalow came the sound of a man¡¯s bored humming.


    Very quickly, the peace resumed within.

 294 Payback 2

    Chapter 294: Payback 2


    "Stop chasing! We currently don¡¯t have the time to settle these things!" Griffith said loudly.


    "There are still people outside!"Mecca said coldly. "Let¡¯s go out and take a look!"


    Garen felt it as well. Numerous men clothed in black had already reached the villa¡¯s entrance.


    "No one dares to steal my cousin¡¯s property! Griffith, you are dead meat!" On the left, one of those clothed in black remarked darkly.


    "Just a puny Quartermaster¡­"The leader of the black clad men had a harsh look plastered on his face, his body vaguely emitting a killer¡¯s aura; it was pretty obvious that he often walked on the edge of life or death situations, a ruthless character.


    A Unihorn lizard swooped down from above and landed on the ground, making plans to bite the men clad in black robe.


    Shooooh!


    Right next to the men in black, a dark shadow loomed forward abruptly, bit off the Unihorn lizard¡¯s head in moments and left the now headless lizard crashing into the ground.


    "Wilde!! The moment Mecca walked out and saw the men in black, he was momentarily stunned. Across his eyes flashed fear and horror.


    Griffith came out a moment later and heard the name being called out. Immediately his pupils dilated. His face paled ever so slightly.


    "Damn the information we received! Didn¡¯t they say everything was checked and cleared? How is it that Wilde is involved now?"He muttered angrily.


    Two men dressed in red officer uniforms, donning white curly wigs fancied by noblemen were surrounded with nothing but the absence of the people who were once there. Obviously, the people earlier were forced to disband.


    "Wilde, our sides have never went against each other¡­What do you mean by this? I don¡¯t think we stole anything of yours?"Mecca calmed down, lowering his voice while making solid eye contact.


    The scar on Wilde¡¯s chin gave a sinister touch to his smile.


    "I changed my name and filled up a couple of hundred storehouses full with goodies, it was under one of my aliases. Who would have thought that in the area of Iron Tank City, there existed someone who had the guts to mess around with my property? Griffith ¡­tsk tsk, I heard that you have a pretty fine looking cousin sister¡­it has been some time since I wanted to do things to her."


    "I warn you! If you dare lay a single hand on my cousin, I will seek the death of your entire family!!"Griffith jumped up abruptly, like a tiger who just got provoked. "More than a hundred storehouses! I obtained all of them and the numbers barely even surpasses forty!"


    "Wilde, this is considered blackmail, you have to think this through carefully. Blackmailing a Quartermaster will mean persecution by the Dragon Guards."Mecca stood in front of Griffith, blocking him while speaking in a low voice.


    "Blackmail? That is absolutely what I intend to do!!"


    The black shadow flashed.


    Bang!!!


    Mecca regressed two steps, in front of him a giant green furred wolf whimpered. All of a sudden the giant wolf could not open its eyes; the rim of his eyes continually spilled blood.


    "You are letting the Dragon Guards after me? Oh no I am so afraid, so so afraid!!" Wilde mocked a frightened expression, "Oh beloved Dragon Guard! I have committed blackmail, come after me quick!"


    "How is that? Why isn¡¯t there anyone after me?"


    Shooh!


    Again, the black shadow flashed. A Giant lizard who intended to ambush the three was beheaded once again, headless body tumbling unto the ground with a loud crash.


    Even his cousin brother and another man distanced themselves from Wilde in mild fear.


    Mecca and Griffith¡¯s face turned ugly.


    Wilde gave a terrifying and hideous laugh, turning back to normal. His gaze turned towards the right side of villa¡¯s garden.


    "Friend, if you are not going to appear I will finish it myself eh?"


    "We each get half."


    A deep voice traveled from the garden. A bald and eyebrow-less man stepped out, quietly standing beside the flower bed. It was Garen who was hiding.


    "A little more than forty storehouses, I want the ones valued most."


    Wilde looked around, flipped the back of his hand towards his back and lightly sprinkled some silver powder. The silver powder disappeared as it touched the ground.


    "Friend, isn¡¯t your appetite a little large?"He chuckled deeply. "The ones valued the most? That would be Wilde¡¯s property, an infringement of private property is a crime, the beloved Dragon Guards will come and catch you~~"


    "There¡¯s less manpower on my side, I can¡¯t carry much, which is why I only chose what I was capable of bringing along with me."Garen replied emotionlessly. "Of course, you are free to reject." His voice was laced with a hint of menace.


    "Yo!"Wilde stared at Garen and paused for a moment, his playful gaze turned serious. It seems like he was unable to get the effect he intended for.


    "This fella here is about to kick the butts of your entire family!"


    With a loud bang, the dark shadow flashed and sent Griffith flying into the wood of the door.


    "Griffith, did you think that making a few less enemies could kill you? You caused me to split such a huge part of my property! The hell, do you know this is a violation of the security of my private property!! HUH?!" He appeared in front of Griffith in the split of a second, grabbing a dazed Griffith by the collar and thundered loudly.


    In another split of a second, Wilde disappeared from where he was, returning to his previous position.


    "Wilde! Are you not afraid of Lord Cepha pursuing this matter!!"Mecca was completely unable to react at all; his good friend was beaten up right in front of his eyes. His whole face was ashen, ghastly pale. He hurries to protect his good friend who was behind him.


    Wilde didn¡¯t even cast a look at him. Instead, he focused his field of vision towards Garen who was by the flower beds. He was the only one among the hidden ones that he could never truly understand. From his body oozed the smell of blood, which only stuck on to the bodies of ruthless killers who had killed too many. This unique aura could only be faintly differentiated by those who were similar in nature, such as himself.


    Not only that, the poison powder from earlier on did nothing. He was left completely puzzled.


    Garen narrowed his eyes slightly, his face never revealing a hint of change. He was clear, this was Wilde¡¯s way of showcasing what he was capable of.


    His gaze briefly swept across the bloodied body of Griffith who was holding a piece scarf tightly against his forehead, silenced by the pounding he had earlier received.


    "If you have no other opinion, we should get moving as soon as possible."


    Wilde looked deeply into Garen¡¯s eyes.


    "I do not have any. Should we start on everything?"


    "Yep."Garen answered, void of any emotion.


    Their gazes centered upon Mecca.


    "To hell with this! Let¡¯s go!"Mecca¡¯s face changed; he violently grabbed Griffith and leaped, a giant green wolf held on to them by their backs and flew into the building quickly, in effort to escape.


    Suddenly, behind Wilde and Garen a dark shadow sprang out, effortlessly catching up to Mecca, Griffith and the Wolf.


    Sheeeh!


    Two shadows retracted in a moment, one of them turned into a Black lion right behind Wilde, while the other one behind Garen turned into a Giant croc.


    Two of the giant monsters stood tall at around 5 to 6 feet near their masters, their gazes intertwined with fury, letting out threatening growls. Below each of their paws is a Giant green wolf.


    "Secondary Totem!?" Wilde and Gren both recognized the level of their totems at the same time.


    Black Lion and Giant Croc were both Form 2 Totems. What both of them did not expect was, both of these totems were their secondary totems and not their core totems.


    Wilde immediately pegged his opposition as a master of the same level. Even his secondary totem was a ruthless Form 2 totem; his core would definitely far surpass the norm. He himself was developing a similar style of thought.


    At the same time, he could somewhat feel as if the opponent had a totem hidden secretly. The thought of that filled him with dread.


    "You choose first, friend."All of sudden he plastered a harmonious smile unto his face.


    "Thanks."Garen nodded and walked into the Villa boldly.


    The scene welcoming them was of two men lying on the ground in the hall.


    Mecca held on to Griffith, both bloodied and battered, squatting near the fireplace.


    Beside Mecca was a green wolf far larger than the ones before, but both sides of its body had chunks of flesh bitten off, leaving gaping wounds that looked as if it were sliced open with a sharp blade.


    Garen briefly took a look; the left side was a deep wound created by the Giant Deep Swamp Croc, and it was evident that the wound was lighter than that of the one Wilde¡¯s totem had inflicted.


    One of the many powers of the Deep Swamp Croc: Explosive strike, the power it has is still incomparable to the power of the opposition¡¯s Form 2 totem.


    "I remember you."Mecca stared at Garen¡¯s face, recalling the scene that unfolded in front of the storehouses earlier on. His eyes were so bright it was practically blinding.


    "Any other last words?"Garen walked to stand in front of him.


    "Lord Cepha will avenge me." Mecca said in a low voice.


    Whoop!


    Behind Garen a huge mouth shot out, breaking Mecca into two with just one bite.


    Click ¨C Blood splattered all over the ground as a result of the impact.


    Garen just nonchalantly dodged a few times, and was able to avoid the blood completely; there was no trace of splattered blood on his body.


    On the other hand, Griffith was scared silly. He was left sitting on the ground blankly.


    Seeing him this way, Garen lost the desire of torturing him any further.


    With a wave of a hand, he turned around and headed up towards the second floor. Downstairs, came the roar of Wilde¡¯s lion; followed by a short distressed scream.


    Garen looked down from the second floor ¨C The lion was savoring Griffith¡¯s head. As its tongue licked from time to time, bloodied pieces of flesh from the face were scraped off.


    "This is so unhygienic." Garen pulled a hand towel over his nose. The body was back to its peak; unlike his previous life, it seemed more difficult to adapt to unpleasant smells.


    "There are guys outside who want to take advantage of the situation. Half each, what do you think? Wilde gave a huge grin in the direction of Garen.


    "We¡¯ll kill as we see them, too lazy to specifically hunt them down."Garen answered emotionlessly, "Right, who on earth is this Cepha?"


    "Someone from the Dragon Guards. However, I think he should focus on taking care of himself first, hehehe¡­"Wilde laughed in glee.


    Behind him, Garen and the Deep Swamp Croc were searching each room one by one.


    Although so, he was always on high alert. At this point, any sign of abnormal activities should never be detected by Wilde, or the consequences would be dire.


    When it came to a form 2 totem users like Mecca, escape was an option if worse came to worse. However, when it came to an explosive totem user such as Wilde, it was not a good idea to cross him as his core totem is definitely not of the norm.


    Truthfully when it came to Mecca¡¯s death, if it were not for the cooperation of Wilde, it would have been nearly impossible to heavily wound the Giant Wolf totem in such a short span of time. Mecca had already given up resistance from the start, and chose to run away.


    It was too bad he completely made the wrong decision.


    The difference between them was, Wilde¡¯s attack was just a random blow, whereas Garen¡¯s Deep Swamp Croc attacked at full capacity, and even used its ability: Explosive strike. The difference was pretty significant.


    If Mecca had decided to break through the mini barricade by attacking Garen, he would have found out that Garen was just posing as a strong user, strong in appearance but weak in reality. He was absolutely not of the same par as Wilde.


    Garen had succeeded in using his tough demeanor, gained through large amounts of manslaughter in his previous life, in addition to his pre-preparation of a glowing disc and blue back lizard poison to counter the opponent¡¯s poison. These 3 points had helped erected a image of an opponent with the same skill level in Wilde¡¯s heart.


    Lastly, Deep Swamp Croc had used its ability the moment it pounced and tore flesh apart. It was comparatively a little weaker than the damage Wilde caused. This was when he was fully aware the difference in ability was not a baseless presumption.


    Garen knows, at this moment he needed to present a tough exterior, as any sign of weakness would add him to the list of Wilde¡¯s many hunting targets.

 295 Resources 1

    Chapter 295: Resources 1


    Slow steps were made on the corridor of the second floor.


    Garen continuously pushed open all of the room doors he passed by, his gaze swept across each of them, never stepping in personally.


    Very quickly, he reached the end where there was a room on the left ¨Cthe doors were already open. From the gap through the door he could see many book shelves.


    Garen pushed open the door and walked in; there were two steaming cups of black tea placed on the coffee table. The windowpanes were covered with a layer of dense mist.


    He glanced around, his gaze eventually settling on a black leather box placed at the corner of the study.


    Walking towards the box and squatting down, he lightly pinched ¨Cthe place where the keyhole was immediately turned into fine powder. He opened the box.


    Inside divided two sections, right and left.


    On the left were stacks of notes and books, all of them covered in red hard covers. Garen picked them up and flipped them open ¨C precise blueprint, detailed surgical procedures, as well as some illegible records of experiments. At the bottom of it all was a poetry compilation by Isaiah.


    He placed the book back in and started looking at the section on the right.


    The right side of the box were some silver bank notes, some broken diamond pieces and a silver brick. At the top was a stack of cheques weighed down by a silver brick.


    Garen took it out to have a look. On top, 10 pieces of bank deposit bills with an amount of one million written on each.


    "This fella is pretty poor huh¡­he is worse off than angel."Garen shakes his head. "No wonder there was a desire to take over the storehouses."


    Garen simply took up a book of precision blueprint and flipping around.


    It was pretty obvious this was a version used by totem users, at the top were plenty of requests with a difficulty level below that of a luminarist¡¯s . Garen¡¯s master level precision blueprint can easily achieve the standard required at the top.


    "A totem user, is so much less complex than being a luminarist..this item should be that book of Mecca¡¯s.


    Totem users only needed to learn an entrance level precision blueprint, but when it came to technique and skill, they are so much more powerful than luminarists and forgers. Their types are highly skilled in the area of totem control and totem manipulation.


    Totem users, forgers and luminarists; truth be told, have different preferences. Luminarists are to be considered moderate among them, and when it comes to strengths, totem users are skilled in technique while forgers have strengths in the area of forging and maintenance.


    Garen flipped to the section where totem users needed to use activation tactics, and was momentarily stunned by how much more complicated activation tactics were in comparison to being a luminarist.


    "Seems like no matter which type, there¡¯s no such thing as a shortcut¡­only the area of difficulty differs."


    Totem user¡¯s precision blueprint required of a lower standard, but the price to pay was that its activation tactics were extremely difficult. Activation tactics included a lot of mathematical and physical knowledge; if it were not for Garen¡¯s prior experiences, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to grasp it so quickly.


    Precision blueprints leaned towards the main attack¡¯s stability and precision, while activation tactic focuses on the basis of instantaneous force and physical principles. The first focuses on accumulation, while the latter on adaptability. This also signifies the different development lines luminarists and totem users have.


    Luminarists get stronger as time accumulated increases; the more knowledge they have, the more they can accumulate their wealth and ascend themselves.


    On the other hand, totem users rely on adaptability and instantaneous force. They start off strong, but as development progresses, are substantially weaker to that of a luminarist.


    "Still have no idea when it comes to forgers, but they should be leaning towards the direction of luminarists. From their name, it can be assumed that they completely given up going in the direction of battle, focusing instead on scientific research, specifically totem forging.


    Garen closed the box and stood up. He left the Deep swamp croc as a doorkeeper and proceeded to continue the search leisurely.


    There wasn¡¯t anything else he could find, but Garen was not greedy ¨C as he had found a box full of wealth, all of this had been worth it.


    He simply took hold of the box with one hand and leaped off the window sill of the second floor.


    Behind him, Wilde and the others were still searching the first floor, a few of the men obviously reaped some harvest. Wilde himself stood guard at the door of the entrance, in his mouth was a lit cigarette. Both of his eyes looked half open, as if he was on the verge of nodding off.


    As he heard the leap, he opened his eyes to see Garen and grinned at him.


    "Have a safe journey, I won¡¯t walk you." He glanced at the box in Garen¡¯s hands, not saying anything.


    "I don¡¯t have enough manpower for the items in the storehouses, this box will be enough for me."Garen grinned. The value of this box, besides its physical wealth, would be the notes and books in regards to tactics; there would surely be an array of tactics used by this villa. Just this fact alone was able to compensate the storehouse of young grains stolen earlier on. Its value is definitely worth more than 10 million.


    Garen took the box and accelerated towards the distance, Giant deep swamp croc shadowed closely behind. He felt unfamiliar gazes behind his back but they disappeared as the distance increased.


    Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief. His movements became lighter and more agile, and sped into the alley. Sticking close to the shadows, he ran in the direction of the suburbs.


    Wooo~~~!!!


    The long sound of a horn reverberated throughout Iron Tank City.


    Garen halted his steps abruptly; he noticed that the sound of the horn was grievous and bleak.


    He stood in the shadows of the valley, lifted his head up and looked at the skies outside the city.


    An army of Giant Unihorn lizards looking like a bunch of grey clouds, were encircling a group of white Dragonhawks, leaving a small group of white gold Dragonhawks to defend tirelessly. They left behind white gold lines as they circled the air, continuously battling a Giant lizard every few seconds, without the time to take a breather.


    At the start they were able to send down a Giant lizard whenever they came into contact with one. Now, they could only bump them out of the way with great difficulty.


    There were too many grey clouds.


    Garen picked up speed, nearing the city walls.


    The ground was filled with the bodies of Giant unihorn lizards; these bodies carried the characteristics of silver totems, and will not turn completely into puddles of liquid silver.


    Besides the Giant lizard bodies, countless human bodies were also weaved in between them; some were complete while others were not. Everywhere you¡¯d look, you¡¯d see huge long guns that were broken in half, a mixture of liquid silver, blood and gore flowing along the earth slowly, coloring the ground with shades of scarlet and silver.


    Garen took caution and retrieved his Giant deep swamp croc as well as his sword, carefully navigating his way by sticking close to the corners of the wall under the shadows.


    As he was nearing the outskirts of the city, a large number of buildings had already been wrecked and destroyed, leaving behind pieces of rubble and broken walls.


    Ssssssssssss!!


    A slightly red skinned Giant Unihorn lizard took alarmingly loud steps across the streets filled with bodies. Its thick tail was swinging back and forth, casually knocking away the pile of bodies around its circumference.


    Garen tightened and crouched behind a triangular shaped ruin. He slowly spread his aura; in the sensory of his surroundings, small prickly dots that felt like hives pierced into his consciousness.


    "At least a few hundred."Garen did a brief calculation in his heart, afraid to make any large moves.


    He was fully aware that with the present situation, the only way to escape the first wave of chaos is to diffuse current strategies, hide away in various discreet areas and then start over from zero. In was during this crisis that Iron Tank City got rid of a few dysfunctional noble leaders, establishing a new and more efficient leadership team.


    A more crucial point was, although Obscuro society had released these monsters as a main force of disruption in the world, realistically speaking, they remain incapable of controlling these failed living experiments. The only thing they could do is to prevent themselves from being attacked by these monsters.


    In other words, these monsters are under no one¡¯s orders. They were only scouring around hunting based on their primal needs. If it were not for the Dragon Guards¡¯wanton massacre that angered these monsters, I am afraid it wouldn¡¯t have blown up into such a large scale attack, involving the whole city.


    Garen waited for the giant red lizard to pass, tapped his feet once, and transported himself into another cluster of shadows in the speed of lightning. He kept on going so, continuously closing in towards the outskirts of the city.


    On his way he passed by a family of 3 who were hidden in a house, but he could only protect himself, unable to bring along anyone else. The ability the secret weapon has only provided speed and strength for one, making it unable to hide anyone else.


    Whenever he encountered an opening during his journey, he would dash across quickly; whenever he did not, he would use small stones to divert the attention of the monsters, revealing an opening.


    Soon, as he progressed forward like so, he finally reached the battle guild¡¯s mission hall.


    The entire building which the guild was situated at was completely destroyed, leaving only a piece of broken ruins where the walls once were. The surroundings were deserted and quiet, only a few giant lizards crawled by.


    The cold wind whistled, blowing up a piece of thin wood board and causing it to roll around with a clear flapping sound.


    Garen released the giant deep swamp croc, made sure to be constantly alert of his surroundings and searched around the ruins of the hall alone.


    "Hey! Here!" A weak voice floated along the wind.


    Garen followed the voice and looked over, some distance away near the lid of the waterway, stood a bald middle aged man who was waving his hand at him.


    "The guild moved underground."


    Garen nodded his head, retrieved Giant deep swamp croc, dragged along the box and ran towards his side. Seeing as he crawled into the waterway, he followed suit, shutting the lid after him.


    Two of them followed the iron ladder and eventually reached the ground.


    Following a narrow and dark passage they moved on; after a few minutes, drilled a hole on the ground that was about 40 to 50 meters. Only then did the bald man speak.


    "Okay, here¡¯s safe."He suddenly halted his steps and pulled open a metal door the height of a person from the right side of the walls. Inside, a bright yellow light spilled out.


    "Go in from here, inside you¡¯ll find the new Guild hall. Young chap, you were lucky you found me, the others would not have been so kind hearted."


    Garen smiled and handed him a few silver rumbs.


    "Thanks brother."


    The bald man took it from him and returned the smile.


    Both men walked in the brightly-lit tunnel, this tunnel extends in all directions, from time to time it would branch out into more tunnels. In them were others who walked out one after another, both male and female¨Cit was apparent this was not the only entrance.


    It¡¯s the first time Garen had seen so many people since the catastrophe. Catching the gaze of a few others, it was evident that they felt the same.


    "Quick! Save him quick!"All of a sudden from the right passage in front, bursts out a group of people; they carried a stretcher, on it laid a young man who was clutching his abdomen. Blood was pouring out continuously from in between his fingers. Gasping for breath, his face was ghostly pale and his forehead plastered with sweat. It seemed as if he was not going to make it.


    The stretcher was dashed into a corner of the passage ahead.


    "He is almost gone!! Anesthesia quick!! Start the surgery now!! Henry!!"


    "I am here! Everything is prepared, quickly lift him in!""Be careful of your actions!""Garisith! Disinfect him now!"


    A series of hurried voices came from the front.


    "It¡¯s the people from the sacrificial mission team, all three teams were badly injured." "Even the Dragon Guards suffered a huge loss, if Iron Tank¡¯s tactical ring formation was not started up, it seemed as if even the inner part of the city would have been completely compromised."


    "Thank goodness the war guild has an emergency underground place."


    Garen heard someone say. He looked around and felt surrounded with a bunch of strangers, all of them wearing unfamiliar faces.


    "Garen!" All of a sudden a voice came from the back.

 296 Resources 2

    Chapter 296: Resources 2


    Garen looked back and saw fake-eye Thomas rushing over from behind.


    "Thomas? It¡¯s so great to see you alive!"


    Garen gave him a fierce hug. This guy had given him much help over the years, a very well-informed person; the timing was splendid, he can now learn what the current situation is from him.


    "Let¡¯s go, take a rest inside."Thomas dragged Garen forward for a distance; in no time, after going through a small door, impressively, was a quest hall exactly like it was above ground. The only difference was that 7 or 8 people were scattered around; a woman with one arm skillfully served everyone food, drinks and alcohol.


    The atmosphere was dull and heavy, there were lots of people with low spirits ¨C some lying on the table drunken, while some were polishing their silver knives with a cold and detached expression on their faces.


    Thomas familiarly dragged Garen to a corner to sit down.


    The outskirts of the city had been damaged, now our war guild base is the logistic point for our frontlines. What do you have in mind?" Thomas rushed to enquire as soon as he sat down."I would suggest you to go straight to the inner part of the city; the only ones brave enough to be left behind are masters. I am planning to go straight to the inner part of the city to participate in defense tasks, you should follow me."


    "I have my own plans, no worries." Garen smiled,"What is the current situation in the city?"


    "The Dragon Guards collapsed, if it were not for Grand Duke who came after to combat the monsters, I am afraid not one would have lived to defend the inner city." Thomas explained simply,"Now, half of those in the city have perished, leaving only a small portion of residents living in the inner city to avoid massacre. Those from the outskirts and suburbs have pretty much all perished. Perhaps there remains few who were hidden, but the numbers are definitely not large."


    "How about the other places?"


    "I have no idea, according to the guild¡¯s last contact with foreign guilds which was the day before yesterday, the current skies have been completely saturated and blocked by the monsters. Guilds of different locations are being isolated." Thomas lowered his voice, " The heads of the guild seemed a little off."


    " How about battle resources? It should be priced lower right?" Garen asked after thinking for a moment.


    "Definitely, as the number of people decreased, the amount of people capable of using totems for battle is not enough. There is an oversupply, a lot of items have decreased in price.


    Garen suddenly noticed his motive, it was true that he needed to stick to a group at this crucial time.


    "I have companions, no worries." He shakes his head to refuse. "Let me settle my box first, some items valued higher when sold, will be given in exchange instead. Nothing is more important than life. Right?"


    "No problem, look for me here when you are free, I usually hang around during noon."Thomas didn¡¯t insist further and agreed with ease. During these times an extra friend meant an extra security blanket.


    Garen dragged the box towards the counter in the hall.


    He walked to the left window and knocked.


    The girl inside went blank for a moment, visibly downcast shortly after.


    "Sorry, this afternoon Mr. Jason had already¡­"


    Jason¡¯s heart sank. the middle aged man worked well with him when he was around, he¡¯d have never thought he¡¯d be gone so soon.


    "How much are war shackles and a war hall? He asked in a low voice.


    "20 million for all, if resources were used in exchange, even better."The girl snapped out of her daze and replied.


    Garen placed the box on the counter, opened it and took out the books and notes. He then proceeded to put money and precious items such as diamonds and silver blocks through the window.


    "Mind estimating the value for me?


    "Alright." The girl took over the items and skillfully separated them into similar groups.


    The estimation was soon given.


    "Altogether 36 million or so, do you want me to record it in your badge or?"


    "Give me a set of war shackles instead, keep the remaining in the badge."


    "Okay, please wait for a moment."The girl rarely encountered war shackle related transactions, and was a little unfamiliar with it. She decided to seek help from people behind.


    After Garen waited for a short while, a tall and slender young man walked out. In his hands was a silver cylinder.


    "May I ask if it¡¯s you who wanted war shackles?" He walked to the counter, replacing the girl¡¯s position.


    "Yes, is there a problem?"


    What type of war shackles do you need? A blank one, or one with effects?"The young man solemnly asked. "A blank one." Garen answered concisely.


    "In this case you would want to add a permanent tactic. Here we have two types of permanent tactic that can be added on, you should consider it. One deepens your damage, tearing the wound in a way that makes it harder to heal. The other is a paralytic toxin, a layer coated on totems would slightly interfere with the enemy¡¯s attack.


    "There¡¯s no need, we have other considerations." Garen rejects him. These two permanent tactics are pretty useless. The guild would not bring out anything useful for sale, but would have taken it for themselves instead.


    "It¡¯s alright then." The young man quickly drew a tactic symbol on the silver cylinder, the symbol glowed red and vanished, disappearing into the surface of the cylinder. He then passed it to Gren.""Please take this, this is your blank shackle. This shackle is of the lowest level, with only two effects inset. Although so, you could choose to upgrade through a forger in the future; a high leveled forger is capable of transferring an inset permanent tactic into a new shackle. Of course, only forgers of our guild have the technique for it."


    "Thank you." Garen took over the cylinder and noticed all of a sudden around him, greedy glances headed his way.


    He looked back and glanced around, not minding a bit.


    He opened the cylinder straight, plucking out a silver V shaped arrow from inside, it was a like a thin sheet of metal. The surface has an abnormal shine to it, only tilting towards the light showed a layer of colored light swirling in the internal alchemy.


    Garen checked it in detail, and pressed the metal sheet into his left arm.


    Ssssss¡­


    The metal sheet accompanied by a sizzling sound melted into Garen¡¯s skin. After a cloud of green smoke, it looked like a birthmark gotten since birth, completely natural. There was nothing that gave it away to being unnatural.


    Under Garen¡¯s field of vision, a horizontal bar appeared. Behind it were two pink boxes.


    "War shackle: 2 permanent tactics can be added. Master the forger¡¯s technique, and its ability will level up.


    Effect: Could be used to connect companions, allowing both to benefit from the effect of Permanent tactics. As to how much effect one benefits, it can be controlled by the shackle¡¯s owner."


    "This is the one." Garen nodded his head in satisfaction. He had used up the War shackle without any hesitation, and the greedy glances started to mind their own business. A used War shackle is not of much value.


    "Let¡¯s see if it is possible to evolve the core totem." Garen looked at the potential points in the potential bar.


    Killing Mecca, a Form 2 totem user, had increased his potential points to 1516%.


    "15 points, we can try now."


    Till now, he had reached the first stage of his ultimate goal ¨Che managed to get his hands on the core totem. After this, the key would be combining potential points with Gothic and the rest.


    The only thing is, Gothic had definitely participated in the defense tasks, and was bound to showcase jaw dropping abilities, attracting the attention of the Grand Duke. To follow in this footsteps of such genius¡­


    Thomas disappeared again, so Garen went back to the hall alone to find a seat. If Angel did not live, he was planning to find a few people to establish a new team.


    "Aska is here.."


    "Resta as well."


    Someone seated at the door muttered.


    Not long after, two people emerged from the tunnel. One was in front of the other ¨C The one leading had red hair, a good looking youth; his outfit was in a state, but he was unhurt.


    "Aska, here."A red headed girl waved her hand from across the hall.


    Garen recognized him. He was popularly known as a genius among the guild members ¨C Aska Byzantium. According to popular belief, the moment he lighted up a totem, he shared the innate gift of black panthers ¨Cits speed. He then continuously controlled 3 different totems, benefiting from all 3 of them their dissimilar unique abilities.


    Much earlier on, his second totem evolved into Form 2. He was an innately talented and excellent guy. His natural ability is the rare ability to power share, capable of casting the totem¡¯s power unto himself; this ability helps the totem user to adapt to different situations easily. For example using the Fire Wolf¡¯s fireball power, the polar bear¡¯s ice attack and more.


    Garen¡¯s gaze falled upon the person behind Aska.


    Resta, also a new found genius with natural golden curls. His ability is hardening. He can prepare all his totems with a tougher skin, protecting them from huge damage. He had also used a Form 1 totem to kill a Form 2 totem alive. Only 19 this year, Aska and him belonged to the Genius level.


    But Resta was not someone of the War Guild, but a nobleman from the city, or so he heard.


    Garen retracted his gaze.


    He was not a genius, in comparison to these people, his only strength was his potential points. Although this ability grows stronger as development continues, in its earlier stages, its incomparable to these insane talents.


    He was all in all one of a normal rank. His military strengths from his previous life was not obvious here.


    Aska and Resta walked together towards the red haired lady at the corner, they were from the same circle; Resta obviously a friend of Aska. These people are either geniuses or elite machines. Their circle and other circles are of two separate worlds. In a small place such as Iron Tank City, they have even become the main force fighting against the monsters.


    Garen sat on his seat, quietly waiting. If Angel did not die, she would have made the same decision as he did. During these times, the only way to be safe is to stick to a group, else they would be the object of bullying.


    Now, Garen could possibly defeat a Form 2 totem user with great difficulty, but was definitely incapable of facing off two. He barely passed off as talented in the guild¡¯s hierarchy.


    Not long after, in the tunnel where many come in and go out from, a black robed lady walked in quickly. It was Angle. He left shadow was wrapped with thick bandage, blood stains were visible. As she saw Garen, she walked over and sat on the opposite side of him.

 297 Evolution 1

    Chapter 297: Evolution 1


    Although the two didn¡¯t exactly trust each other, there wasn¡¯t any conflict of interest, and they were both the same type of person. Garen had his pride as a member of the strong, and wouldn¡¯t allow himself to find a weakling as a companion. He needed someone who could stand independently, a strong fighter who would not give up easily regardless of the dangers faced. He needed someone who could help him when needed, and not a weakling who would constantly need his help for every little thing.


    Garen didn¡¯t have much of an advantage here on this world. Compared to those prodigies, he only had his potential points to possibly bring him to the peak. But he had his pride, and the strong would remain strong however much their environments changed. It was just a matter of time accumulation.


    Similarly, Angel had the same opinion, someone of the same level who could defeat her in direct confrontation, and the same type of person as she was. That made her acknowledge Garen all the more.


    "I thought you died." She learned her back on the chair, wiping away the sweat on her forehead.


    "I won¡¯t die before you do." Garen smiled. "What¡¯s wrong with you? Your shoulder."


    "I was ambushed, someone tried to take my stuff. I got two of them, hehe." Angel licked her lips, smiling cruelly.


    "I bought the War Chain, add yourself in for now." Garen stretched out his left arm, revealing that silver-white V-shaped arrow.


    Angel wasn¡¯t surprised either, as she reached out her hand and pressed down on the arrow.


    Garen instantly saw Angel¡¯s icon appear in the pane for the War Chain at the bottom of his vision. He seemed to be able to chase her out whenever he wanted to.


    Bringing his gaze back, he said calmly,


    "Right now there isn¡¯t any effect at all. Do you have anything to contribute?"


    "Do you think that¡¯s possible? I may be good, but even if I¡¯m good, I still haven¡¯t reached Prodigy-level yet." Angel rolled her eyes at him.


    "Oh yeah, you¡¯ve met Prodigy-level totem users, right? Tell me what¡¯s so different about them," Garen asked quietly.


    "Prodigy-level? The difference between prodigies and the other people is very simple. The biggest difference is, it¡¯s very hard for you to beat them," Angel said, reminiscing. "If you say our talent is at a human level, then they¡¯re all inhuman. I know a few of their talents, it¡¯s extremely over-powered."


    "For example?" Garen was instantly interested.


    "Ability sharing, that¡¯s the one everyone knows about. If someone can have a Form 3 totem, or even the very peak, a Form 4 Aberration. When that happens, the totem user is the strongest, while the totem is just a tool to provide power. Totem users at the level are humanoid monsters." Angel sighed. "We can forget about that."


    Garen can imagine how terrifying a totem user like that would be. Their defense would be impenetrable, even stronger than totems. And they had the power of totems too, which would basically make them moving fortresses.


    "And then?"


    "In truth, ability sharing can be divided into types. Some are suitable for wolves, others suitable for leopard, and yet others bears. If they used another type, it wouldn¡¯t have that effect. Besides that, the other talent I heard of would be totem fusion. A few types of totems fused together have a certain chance of becoming a new totem, this is yet another ridiculously over-powered ability. Many of the new mutated totems were created when these guys messed around like that, such as the White Dragonhawk. And then there are those strengthening types, strengthening speed, power, defense, vitality - four in total. These are the most basic Prodigy talents. They¡¯re slightly weaker than the previous two."


    "In other words, there are three types, ability sharing, ability strengthening, and totem fusion, right?" Garen concluded.


    "That¡¯s right. Why are you suddenly asking." Angel was slightly curious.


    "I just wanted to really know what level these Prodigies are at." Garen sighed.


    "Don¡¯t compare yourself to them, a lot of these Prodigy totem users evolve extremely quickly. They have different factions supporting them, it would be hard for them not to evolve quickly. Their rate of growth is far beyond normal people," Angel said helplessly. She glanced at Resta, Aska and the others nearby. "See Aska over there? He only took five months from the moment he lit and activated a totem to evolving his second Form 2 totem. His talent is ability sharing with the leopard totem, so I¡¯ve been paying attention to him these past few days, because I use a leopard too."


    "Five months¡­" Garen was rather speechless, only then did he understand how terrifying these Prodigies were. If he hadn¡¯t gotten the Derivator, he would still barely be a Form One totem user now. Meanwhile the other guy had gotten his second Form Two totem step by step, and Garen still didn¡¯t know what other trump cards he might have in addition to his ability to share a totem¡¯s power.


    "I need to hurry up and upgrade my core totem¡­" Garen decided to hurry up and hunt the Unihorn Lizard, and upgrade the Black-Striped White Tiger as soon as possible.


    His gaze fell on the totem pane.


    ¡®Black-Striped White Tiger: First Form Totem, upgradable. Probability of successful evolution: 11%. Potential point cost: 700%.


    Abilities: Tail Whip, Puncturing Crunch.¡¯


    "I¡¯ll just go with it!" He clenched his teeth, chatting idly with Angel on one hand, while his gaze fell on the Black-Striped White Tiger¡¯s icon.


    After three seconds, his potential points gave a jolt, and seven points disappeared in an instant, becoming 816%.


    The Black-Striped White Tiger¡¯s icon shook a little, and blurred for a moment, then became clear again, before growing still.


    Garen waited for half a beat, but nothing else happened. Finally, he understood with painful regret, that the evolution had failed.


    "11% chance¡­ it¡¯s too low¡­" He wiped his face, that was all his accumulated savings over all this time. "Even if I try again, the result will probably be the same. With chances like that, two tries are too few. Looks like I¡¯ll still need to focus on upgrading one totem, and then hunt for potential points en masse."


    He decided, his gaze falling onto the other totems.


    Primitive totems: Neon Butterfly, Black-Striped White Tiger.


    Silver totems: Howling Wererabbit (Form 2), Blue back Lizard, Grey-feathered Hawk, Deep Swamp Croc (Form 2).


    Garen¡¯s gaze fell on the Deep Swamp Croc.


    ¡®Deep Swamp Croc: Short-Tailed Croc Form 2, Second Form Creature Totem. Upgradable, Probability of successful evolution: 24%. Potential point cost: 500%.


    Abilities: Explosive Strike, Iron Hide, Parasitism.¡¯


    "Probability 24¡­ it¡¯s too low¡­ I¡¯ll give it a shot." His gaze fell on the Deep Swamp Croc, three seconds later.


    The Croc¡¯s icon gave a sudden shudder, and then became clear again. It didn¡¯t move after that.


    Smack!


    Garen couldn¡¯t help but smack his palm onto the table.


    Now he understood why there were so few Form Three totems. This was basically burning money and resources. He was still okay because he had his potential points, but if he was taking the conventional route, to raise enough resources just once would require several tens of millions. After burning that kind of money a few times, many people went bankrupt. A few more times, and you could lose up to a billion.


    "What¡¯s wrong with you?"


    "N-nothing, I just suddenly thought of something unpleasant." Garen resisted the rage burning within, and replied softly.


    "I was talking about someone who wanted to take my things, I¡¯m guessing her identity might be a bit troublesome. It should be¡­" Her question satisfied, Angel continued talking. She was completely unaware that Garen was currently distracted.


    Garen finally looked at the potential points, 316%.


    "I have only 3 points left, looks like I must look at the others." He hesitated, and his gaze instantly fell on the other Form Two, the Howling Wererabbit.


    ¡®Howling Wererabbit: Iron Rabbit Form 2, Second Form Creature Totem. Upgradable, Probability of successful evolution: 54%. Potential point cost: 300%.


    Abilities: Explosive Stomp, Plant Exterminator (Voracious Eater).¡¯


    "This one has a probability of 54, that¡¯s considered very high. But this rabbit hasn¡¯t reacted much up till now, I don¡¯t know what its overall condition is like." Garen felt for the Howling Wererabbit¡¯s movements. From the other end of his spiritual connection, he felt a sense of weakness, as though it was hurt.


    "Forget it, it¡¯s too far away, I don¡¯t dare to go out and look for it. Even if I did evolve it, it would still be outside and surrounded." Garen¡¯s gaze finally fell on the Blue back Lizard he had bought earlier. The Blue back Lizard¡¯s poison and the Neon Butterfly had helped him a ton. Back then he bought three of them experimentally, but perhaps he could see how this type of lizard would change when evolved to Form Two.


    He looked at the last three potential points, and felt for the condition over at the Blue back Lizard. It was still normal.


    He had hidden the three Blue back Lizard at his residence outside the city. There were few people there, and it seemed that the Silver Totems didn¡¯t attract Unihorn Lizards to attack either, instead making them treat the totems as part of their own.


    "After a bit, I¡¯ll go back and start attempting the evolution." Garen decided, and brought his gaze back to Angel opposite him. She was just reaching the important part.


    "...In the end one managed to escape. I can guarantee that she¡¯s hiding in some corner right now, observing me. She must have seen that we were talking. You be careful now, don¡¯t get seduced and lose your life." Angel asked for a cup of black tea, and sipped at it carefully."


    "When I kill someone, I don¡¯t care whether they¡¯re pretty or not," Garen smiled. "What level are you at now? Any news about the Legacy?"


    "If a Legacy was so simple, would I still be a fugitive for so long?" Angel shook her head. "The only opportunity would be to join a guild or a party. I don¡¯t have that qualification, but you do. I¡¯m waiting for your promise, you know."


    "This is what I have to contribute, when the time comes it¡¯ll be part of the the War Guild¡¯s shared resources." Garen thought it over, "Actually, I¡¯m not very clear about the Guild¡¯s structure."


    He paused, and dipped his finger into the black tea, writing on the table,


    "The Guild is controlled by the War Parliament, which consists of nobles and officials. As members of parliament, they can elect a president to oversee the guild¡¯s affairs, as well directly appoint a Defense Minister.


    The Vice President and the other ministers below are all appointed by the president. We¡¯re now in a crisis, so it¡¯ll probably be under the full control of the president and the other main ministers." Garen drew three dots, from top to bottom, to represent the three main powers.


    Angel nodded, "I asked around before. The branch president, the defense minister, and the incumbent captain of the Headquarters¡¯ Cleansing Division. These are the three factions in the Guild now, all three of them have complete knowledge of the legacy. That Aska for one is from the Cleansing Division."


    "How powerful¡­" Garen nodded. "It¡¯s too bad Jason, who was quite close to me, died. Otherwise, he was coincidentally part of the defense minister¡¯s faction, and we could have went to him. They need manpower right now, so they would surely all be looking for the scattered firepower. But whether I join or not, right now I need a reason." He looked at Angel.


    Angel knew what he was talking about. "Didn¡¯t you swear to start a meritocratic organization? Are you giving up now?"


    "To be precise, I¡¯m not trying to up. I¡¯m trying to get something, so I need to contribute something in return. It¡¯s the same for both of us. If I contribute but you earn, that¡¯s not fair to me," Garen replied simply.


    "Simply put, we need a fixed long-term alliance. Is that what you¡¯re trying to say?" Angel understood, leaning on the back of the chair as she heaved a sigh of relief. "You want the War Chain¡¯s cover for core totems, right? I¡¯ll give it to you."


    "As long as you agree."


    Only he could see the condition of members in the War Chain, but before Angel hadn¡¯t given him the right to cover her core totem, which meant she didn¡¯t add her core totem into the War Chain.


    And now, after Angel agreed, an icon of a black panther slowly appeared behind Angel¡¯s icon at the bottom of Garen¡¯s field of vision.


    ¡®Large Black Panther (brink of evolution): Angel¡¯s core totem, sharing state: 0.¡¯

 298 Evolution 2

    Chapter 298: Evolution 2


    Garen nodded, satisfied. Now that this Large Black Panther on the brink of evolution was connected to the War Chain, Angel would be reluctant to give up the Large Black Panther she had raised for so long even if she wanted to leave on her own. This way, their relationship was even more secure.


    Garen briefly told Angel about what he knew about raising totems. When it came to skills on raising leopard-type totems, however, he didn¡¯t have much to say. This required more detailed raising knowledge. Based on Aska, they were sure the War Guild in War Tank City had this sort of information.


    The two of them sat in a corner, and soon enough, that one-armed waitress girl walked up to Garen¡¯s table, clearing the table for them.


    "Mr Garen, Mr Caddy asks if you¡¯re willing to take Mr Jason¡¯s position," she suddenly asked Garen softly. "If you are, you can go talk to Miss Mina at the counter."


    There it was!


    This was what Garen was waiting for. At a time like this, the Guild would never let go of any firepower that they might recruit. This Mr Caddy was actually part of the president¡¯s faction.


    Thomas¡¯ invitation from before was very likely to have come from another faction, but Garen had rejected him.


    He exchanged a glance with Angel, and stood up. Walking towards the counter, he figured his relationship with Jason was still pretty decent, so joining them wasn¡¯t a bad path to take.


    After the stout man buying medicines in front left, Garen walked to the counter, and rapped the tabletop.


    "Come with me." The girl inside, Mina, glanced at him and smiled, then pulled open a small door from the left to allow Garen in.


    Another young man took her place at the counter.


    The two of them entered from a small door on the left, one after the other. Beyond the door there was a sizable tea room, with yellow wooden floors and walls, as well as similarly-hued tables, chairs, and lighting.


    A middle-aged man with a goatie was writing something on his desk. Upon hearing footsteps, he lifted his head to lok over.


    "You¡¯ve come." He stood up and welcomed Garen, reaching out his hand to shake Garen¡¯s.


    "Hi, I¡¯m Caddy. Right now I¡¯m part of the Fourth Division, under the respected branch president. It¡¯s both our fortunes that you would choose our side."


    This person was all smiles, and looked very friendly.


    "You¡¯re too kind."


    Garen shook hands with him, and the two of them sat at the table facing each other.


    "Then, let¡¯s discuss the benefits of joining us." Caddy pulled a sheet of paper out of the stack of documents on the table, and flicked it to make a crisp sound. "The conditions we can give you are very simple. Firstly: A sufficiently safe base, to protect all our assets from infiltration. Secondly: You can buy low grade Legacy knowledge. Of course, if you need a Form 2, that would require higher authority and enough money. Thirdly: We¡¯ll give you prior access to better medicines, and higher quality equipment as well as facilities. Everyone can claim basic insurance rations every week: one set of medicine for external injuries, one set of medicine for stemming internal bleeding, one single-use defense tactic. One set of standardized nutrients. These are all free."


    "Not bad at all. Tell me about my responsibilities." Garen knew that three sides had more or less the same conditions right now, at the most it would a difference in which resource they had more of, and would then emphasize.


    "You only have two responsibilities." Caddy was very satisfied with Garen¡¯s decisiveness. "Lord Engra has two divisions under his influence right now. I¡¯m directly under the Discipline Division, and the other is the Self-defense Division. No matter which one you join, your responsibilities are, One: obey any urgent summons, and obey all rational orders. Two: complete your tasks and duties as your position requires."


    Garen mused for a while, and started asking about the differences between working at the two divisions. The two of them discussed it for more than half an hour, and then Mina brought in the next person. Only then did Garen rise to leave.


    Next would be his consideration on whether or not to join them, and their inspection of his identity and qualifications.


    Upon leaving the room, the atmosphere in the Guild Quest Hall had gotten even rowdier. The hall was the size of a basketball court, and seated over a hundred people. There were people squeezed up to each other, making the place seem congested as there was a chaos of noise. The smell of blood mixed with the stench of sweat, wafting through the air.


    Garen frowned.


    His gaze swept over the hall, and realized that Angel had left. Thomas, Aska and the others were gone too, only unfamiliar faces remaining in the large hall.


    Some young men and women dressed in black armor would occasionally go in and out of the entrance to the corridor, streaming through the hall.


    These people in black armor walked through the hall and directly entered another corridor in the right, without even looking at the others in the hall.


    Garen went out of the hall, and saw Angel in the corridor, leaning on a while.


    "So, how?"


    "Waiting for the news," Garen replied. "I have something to do, I¡¯ll need to go back ahead. Are you alright on your own?" He could feel some gazes on Angel, sometimes there and sometimes not.


    "It¡¯s fine, just some punks with a death wish." Angel smiled.


    Garen nodded and cast her out of his mind, walking straight down the corridor. After taking some more turns, he followed the wide network of underground tunnels and was soon back at the entrance where he had come in.


    He left the tunnel exit, closed the cover behind him, and was back at the metal ladder that led into the sewers. With a light tap of his foot, he catapulted his body up to the very top of the ladder. Reaching out his hand to push up the metal cover, he tried his best not to make any noise.


    Garen poked out his head, and looked out.


    The sky was dark out, and there was the cooing of insects. It was all quiet, but there was the sound of footsteps in the distance.


    Garen quietly crawled out of the well cover, and closed it behind him, standing in the debris of the Guild Hall as he looked around.


    Everything was in ruins about him, and he could vaguely see some figures looting for things by the pile of corpses in the shadows.


    Garen looked towards the shadow of a collapsed wall on his right. In the darkness, a huge piece of charred wood moved, and then abruptly opened its eyes. It was actually a Deep Swamp Croc in hiding.


    "I¡¯ll make a trip back, and then start a full-on hunt for the Unihorn Lizard, to rack up some potential points." Garen made the arrangements inwardly, and let the Deep Swamp Croc clear the way. He followed behind it, carefully vigilant of his surroundings.


    The platinum-colored aura spread open soundlessly, stretching up to a hundred meters in radius.


    Garen moved quickly, following outside the damaged city walls. Most of the buildings both inside and outside the city walls had been knocked down and collapsed.


    After proceeding for a certain distance, in the distance ahead, a black silhouette darted out of a small ruined building. The shadow¡¯s face met Garen¡¯s at a distance, and both of them stopped.


    Garen froze in his tracks, watching the other person dart into yet another clump of shadows, leaving quickly towards the right. Only then did he continue progressing.


    The small area he lived in was towards the right on the outside of the city wall, and was surrounded by a smattering of other suburbs. There was even a small-scale produce market. That person had left in the direction of the market.


    He didn¡¯t linger long, going through the ruins of this area and quickly turning a few more corners before he saw his own suburban house up ahead.


    It was all quiet in the suburbs, dead quiet, without any sound whatsoever.


    Garen stuck close to shadow of the houses near the wall, soundlessly approaching the suburbs.


    The whole suburban area was empty. This place was very far from the city, and barely anyone lived here. Most of the houses weren¡¯t damaged. They just looked lonely and dead.


    Garen carefully walked over, taking the pebbled path that led through the area. The white houses on both sides were eerily quiet, the windows like so many black holes, deep and dark.


    Wah!


    Suddenly there was a sound like a child¡¯s crying in Garen¡¯s ear. The noise was messy and grating, unusually piercing on the ears.


    A wave of dizziness overcame him, and his reactions were instantly delayed by a beat. Then he saw the Deep Swamp Croc in front of him wave its tail to the left.


    Bam!


    A red shadow flew over like a shot, and rammed hard into the Deep Swamp Croc¡¯s tail, making a dull sound.


    The Deep Swamp Croc made a low roar, and was actually pushed back by two steps. That red shadow also flew backwards, tumbling onto the lawn of a villa on the left and revealing its shape.


    Garen took a sharp intake of breath. The red shadow was a baby with reddish-purple skin, completely naked and with a mouth full of sharp, serrated black teeth. One of its eyes was spotted with furry blue mould, while the other had long since dried out.


    "This is¡­ Obscuro¡¯s human experiments?!" Garen¡¯s expression turned slightly tortured.


    He willed the Deep Swamp Croc to wind around the dead baby, as he walked around and ran towards his own villa.


    Behind him, the sound of the baby¡¯s cries and the Croc¡¯s roars never stopped.


    He quickly arrived at the center of the suburbs, where it was unusually clean. Ahead of him, on the left, some rats were surrounding a human arm and chewing away at it. Hearing footsteps, these rats immediately raised their heads, revealing their ferocious red eyes.


    Squeak-squeak-squeak!


    The red-eyed rats actually pounced at Garen like bugs.


    "These Unihorn Lizards actually brought viruses with them?" Garen¡¯s expression became unpleasant. He was suddenly rather worried about his teacher, Emin, who was far away, as well as his cousin and Vanderman. Although Vanderman was only this body¡¯s cheap father, but they had still spent a long time together, and the man¡¯s concern for him was absolutely sincere.


    He lightly jolted his foot, and a translucent circle of air spread open with a whoomph. The air went past the red-eyed rats, and the group of rats instantly fell to the ground, motionless.


    Garen turned around and leapt over his own fence, took out the key and opened the door, then closed it behind him. The hall on the first floor was pitch-black, and some black shadows quickly pounced onto him.


    Three Grey-feathered Hawks flew nimbly in circles around him, and three Blue Back Lizards climbed onto Garen¡¯s feet, acting cuddly.


    "Let me try evolving the Grey-feathered Hawk first." Garen walked to the sofa and sat down. Without lighting the lamp, he raised his right arm, and let a Grey-feathered Hawk perch on his arm.


    A Grey-feathered Hawk leapt up and landed on Garen¡¯s arm. Its beak was slightly longer compared to the other two, and its body slightly larger. When it stood, it was roughly a third of a person in height.


    "It¡¯ll be you, then." Garen touched this Grey-feathered Hawk¡¯s head, his gaze falling onto this Grey-feathered Hawk¡¯s icon.


    Three seconds later.


    His potential points leapt to 16%. Three potential points vanished.


    And this Grey-feathered Hawk¡¯s icon gave a jolt, slowly becoming blur.


    Ba-thump, ba-thump¡­


    The Grey-feathered Hawk flapped its wings, and took flight.


    Its wings were growing longer, turning black, its body rapidly growing larger, expanding. Its two claws became sharper.


    Squawk!!


    At a speed that can be seen with the naked eye, this Grey-feathered Hawk grew from less than a meter to two whole meters. Even more strangely, its head actually rapidly grew, and tiny sharp teeth appeared in its sharp yellow beak. There was even a bright red sarcoma on his head, beating rhythmically like a heart.


    In the dozen or seconds, this Grey-feathered Hawk directly went from a hawk into a huge, ferocious, monster bird. Standing on the floor of the hall, it furled up its wings, even taller than Garen was now.


    Garen looked at the newly-changed icon of the Grey-feathered Hawk at the bottom of his vision.

 299 Ambush 1

    Chapter 299: Ambush 1


    ¡®Resonance Hawk (named according to ability): Second form of Grey-feathered Hawk, Form 2 evolution totem. Not upgradable.


    Ability: Resonance Burst (the sarcoma on its head can induce the enemy¡¯s heart to beat with it, increasing the burden on its heartbeat, and in extreme cases make it burst, causing death. Natural strength (it is very powerful)¡¯


    "Resonance Hawk?"


    Garen closely observed the sarcoma on the Hawk¡¯s head. The growth beat non-stop like a heart. He reached out his hand to touch it,, and felt that it was warm and with a sturdy quality like rubber. It didn¡¯t feel as thin as it looked. When he sniffed it, he smelled the odor of eggs.


    He straightened up and took a customary glance at the other Silver Totems around him. The other two Grey-feathered Hawks and the Blue Back Lizards were cowering in a corner, shivering, frightened away by the Resonance Hawk¡¯s presence.


    He swept the corners of the hall with his gaze. There was a pile of leftover bones there, a creature had probably be brought in here by these little pets and eaten up.


    Garen walked up to the store room and used his key to open the door. Inside, there were many crates of different foods and drinks.


    He had prepared these in advance, supplies enough for ten people to survive on for a year. This was also the reason he left his pets here.


    Opening one of the boxes, he took out a hard loaf of young grain bread. This long piece of bread was extremely sturdy, and was nearly as hard as a baseball bat. Just a little bit would be enough to keep someone full for a day.


    He pinched off a bit and stuffed it straight into his mouth. There was instantly a crunchy crackly sound of chewing, as though he was chewing wood. He then took a pre-filled bottle of clean water, twisting off the cap and chugging it down.


    He then lifted the whole box of supplies and walked out of the storage room, closing the door behind him and returning to the hall on the first floor.


    After putting the box onto the floor next to the sofa, he sat down on the sofa. Wiped his face with his hands.


    He hadn¡¯t had a proper chance to catch his breath all this time, so now that he finally had time to rest a little, Garen just sat on the sofa, and before he knew it he was lying down and fell asleep.


    His consciousness a blur, he didn¡¯t know how long had passed when Garen suddenly awoke from the darkness. There was the sound of the Deep Swamp Croc roaring from the yard outside, together with the sharp piercing sobs of a baby.


    He sat up in an instant, sensing two more little dots in his detection that were moving together next to the Deep Swamp Croc.


    "Could it be a parasite?" He stood up, feeling his brain was still slightly fuzzy, and massaged his temples. "After coming here, I wonder if I had ever completely relaxed and rested even once¡­ It sure feels good."


    As he sighed, he walked to the window and looked out.


    In the yard of the villa outside the window, the Deep Swamp Croc just happened to be biting down on a dead baby, and then swallowed it down with a few cracking bites. It was surrounded by two black beetles, about half a person tall.


    The beetles were glistening bright, their outer shells reflecting light like a mirror under the moonshine. Their heads didn¡¯t have eyes or noses, but a large mouth full of sharp teeth, with a white snake¡¯s tongue poking out from it intermittently.


    They were just like two round balls. They pushed their bodies forward, letting their mouths chomp down on flesh and blood, pulling the food into their stomachs.


    The two parasites actually worked together to take down a dead baby, their fighting power was formidable.


    "So those are the Deep Swamp Croc¡¯s parasites?" Garen carefully felt the Croc, and instantly discovered the minute connections between the Croc and the beetles.


    Under the moonlight, Garen swept his gaze over the front yard.


    The yard¡¯s neat and orderly grass had been utterly destroyed, and only yellow dirt and dark red blood stains remained. The fencing around the yard had also been knocked over and damaged.


    A few red-eyed rats would occasionally scuttle across the main road of the suburbs outside, and a couple of Unihorn Lizards also dropped down slowly, crawling over the streets. The two Lizards saw the Deep Swamp Croc and the parasites but didn¡¯t attack them, treating them as one of their own, ignoring them and slowly passing by the front of the villa.


    Garen let down the curtain, and ducked into the darkness of the villa.


    Scree!!


    There was occasionally the strange cry of the Unihorn Lizards from outside, as he hid alone in the villa, going up to the second floor by following the stairs.


    After entering the study, he pulled out Angel¡¯s little notebooks from his pocket.


    He put the three pale yellow notebooks and lightly drew the curtains, using the matches on the table to light the oil lamp. Suddenly, the whole study was illuminated.


    He was very confident in the safety of the villa. The Deep Swamp Croc was patrolling outside, together with its two parasites. Now this was number three.


    He had observed a little just now, and concluded that the parasites were equal to a Form One totem, and a rather fiercer Form One totem at that. It was just slightly weaker than a Unihorn Lizard, and already made a decent guard.


    "The Deep Swamp Croc can produce three a day at most, but without a suitable parasite, the parasitism would not work so easily. While I¡¯m studying tactics, I might as well have it leave one parasite to watch the house, and take one out myself for hunting. That way it can be used as food, and it can catch other parasites."


    Garen sat down, and gave the Deep Swamp Croc the order to go hunting on its own with the largest parasite.


    The Croc in the villa¡¯s yard instantly crawled out of the pitch black corner and soundlessly left the villa, crawling into the distance, followed by a small beetle behind it.


    "Remember not to hurt anyone." Garen added an order. That was the benefit of Silver Totems, they had a specific level of simple intelligence, and could act on their own away from the main body. There was no need to worry about their loyalty either, as he could monitor their movements at all times, and control their lives at his will.


    "Resonance Hawk, go stand watch." Garen gave the large hawk in the villa other orders.


    Soundlessly, the hawk with a height of two to three meters and a wingspan of four to five meters took flight from the yard, landing on top of the villa before quietly furling its wings to perch there. The large hawk eyes swept the surroundings with a radius of several hundred meters at all times.


    The two Grey-feathered Hawks followed it up there, and started to bring twigs and pieces of tree bark to build a nest on the roof. The Resonance Hawk, on the other hand, sprawled on the roof lazily, ordering its lackeys to build it a nest.


    Garen decided to chase the three Blue Back Lizards out as well, so that they could patrol the yard at all times. He let them eat and stay outside, lest they stink up the inside of the villa with their unbearable odor.


    "It¡¯s too bad their intelligence is still too low, and they don¡¯t know how to clean up." Garen sighed and shook his head, thinking that scattering his little pets around the villa would greatly increase its safety measures. In these almost apocalyptic times, he had a sense of safety.


    "Right now, even Iron Tank City isn¡¯t as safe as my place. After all, these monsters all consider the Silver Totems as their brethren, so they won¡¯t start a large scale attack."


    Garen straightened up and stacked the three notebooks on top of each other, flipping open the first one.


    "Anglo Academy Secret Tactics: Sight Sharing"


    The title of the book was written in a small line of delicate and graceful pale red letters, using the Kovistan standard language. As one of the strongest countries in the East Continent, the Kovistan language had very wide coverage. Many other countries were also fluent in this language, making it something of a lingua franca.


    Garen flipped through it. This tactic required the continuous release of fifteen trascendent glyphs in a short window of time.


    Transcendent glyphs were the figures written in the air using their natural ability.


    This tactic required fifteen transcendent glyphs, all of different shapes with no repetition whatsoever. And the easiest one still required five strokes, while the hardest needed more than ten.


    Garen referred to the necessary time limit at the top of the page: within 3 seconds.


    He remembered when Angel released this tactic back then, it did seem like she used very few movements. But thinkng back closely, her hands did move extremely quickly, and there was a slight tremor to it. The tremor wasn¡¯t involuntary, but well defined and rhythmic. It seemed to be the gestures needed to release an even higher level tactic.


    Garen easily flipped through the whole notebook, and it remained fresh in his memory.


    Satisfied, he glanced at his attribute pane.


    ¡®Strength 2.66. Agility 2.72. Vitality 2.76. Intelligence 2.53.¡¯


    "My intelligence has been fully restored, returning to the peak level from my previous life." Garen¡¯s gaze slid down, and he looked at the skill pane with a hint of anticipation.


    There was still no movement there. Obviously tactics didn¡¯t fulfill some requirement too become a skill, or rather that potential points had no effect on tactics.


    Slightly disappointed, he pulled back his gaze and focused all his concentration on carefully researching this Sight Sharing tactic.


    Time trickled past. The oil in the lamp gradually grew drier, and grew less.


    Garen repeatedly memorised everything in the notebook, and then began to draw it out with one transcendent glyph at a time. Each successful etching would light a whitish flame on the tip of his finger.


    That was how he knew if he succeeded or not.


    Smack.


    The flame of oil lamp burst a little, as though it had ignited some form of impurity.


    Garen instantly awoke from his concentration.


    With Master-level ability when it comes to precision blueprints, his hands were as steady as an intricate machine, but his speed was still not up to par. He could only complete three trascendent glyphs in three seconds.


    Taking out his pocket watch to look at the time, he realized it was already four in the morning. More than three whole hours had passed


    "If it¡¯s this hard to progress for me, with Master-level precision blueprint steadiness, who knows how hard it must be for those who are weaker, at Intermediate-level, or Beginner-level."


    Garen touched the sides of the notebook. It was full of wrinkles from being read too often over a long period of time. Be it the original owner or Angel, they must have read it countless times.


    "I can¡¯t make it a skill, so I¡¯ll just have to practie non-stop the old fashioned way, with no shortcut to take." Garen quieted his heart. With his Divine Statue Technique, he had extraordinary endurance, and needed only three hours of rest per day to fulfill his biological needs.


    Judging from this speed of progress, he would need at least a month or more before he can more or less grasp this tactic skill.


    But this speed was all because of the micro-control needed for the secret techniques he had originally trained in, added together with his Master-level precision blueprint steadiness. If it was anyone else, they would need more than a year before they could even think about it. And yet the real result would more than likely be that they couldn¡¯t quite accomplish it even with more than a year¡¯s time.


    The pale white sky quietly shone through the black cloth curtains.


    Garen stretched, and finally brought his mind back from his training.


    He glanced at the potential value in his attribute pane. It had jumped from that pathetic 16% to 132%.


    "According to the previous comparisons, a Unihorn Lizard would equal to about 60% potential value, so now I have enough for two Unihorn Lizards. That sort of dead baby looked scary, but in truth it didn¡¯t have that much potential value. I killed one on the way, killed another just now, and after the Croc went it at least killed another, and yet we only reached 132%."

 300 Ambush 2

    Chapter 300: Ambush 2


    Garen stood up from his desk. Blowing out the lamp, he walked to the window, and drew the curtains with a whoosh.


    Looking down from there, he saw the corpse of yet another Unihorn Lizard in the shadows by the walls. The body lay face down, a large, basketball-sized red sarcoma on its abdomen.


    Garen felt for their connection, and discovered that these were the Deep Swamp Croc parasites'' eggs.


    He looked at the parasite eggs carefully, and noticed that they were faintly growing bigger. Pulling his gaze back, he drew the curtains closed, turned around and left the study, stepping his way down to the first floor.


    The first floor hall was wide and empty, and a window on the right had been broken. The cold air blew in through the hole, making the curtains rise and fall, rise and fall.


    Clearing out the bones and body bits out of the corner, Garen brought a large bucket of water out of the store room, and started cleaning the house from top to bottom. He used a wet cloth to rub the furniture down, and used a mop to clean the floor, especially the place at the corner where they used to keep the bodies.


    After cleaning everything once, using up several buckets of water, and spending half an hour of time, Garen finally called it a day.


    "This will be my long-term base from now on." He breathed in the clean air, feeling satisfied. Without the rotting stench of bodies and the pets'' foul breath, he felt instantly lighter.


    "The stuff in the store room can last me several years, and then I can go out hunting for Unihorn Lizard every few days, and use that as my source of meat."


    He was completely unbothered by the bacteria brought by these Silver mutants. With his body, he didn''t need to worry at all about most bacteria. If any harmful substance entered his body, he would be able to sense it immediately, and then he could use his powerful blood chi to mass produce the relevant antibodies and white blood cells to swallow the bacteria right up.


    Garen remembered clearly that this uproar had actually gone out of Obscuro''s control, or perhaps they never intended to control it from the start. Stronger mutants kept appearing one after the other, the infections grew worse, and humanity''s living space was constantly getting invaded, the population decreasing dramatically.


    Perhaps this was the perfect world Obscuro wished for. Survival of the fittest, natural selection, the weak had no choice but to die. They discovered a power that even they couldn''t control, and chose to release it, attaining their motive of destroying all existing order.


    Throwing out all the miscellaneous rubbish, he made the Blue Back Lizards act as rubbish trucks, carrying the waste to a domestic trash landfill in the distance.


    Garen took a relaxing bath, and then changed his clothes.


    The Blue Back Lizards had the ability to dig into the ground, so he let the three Lizards dig from the floor of the kitchen itself. When one got tired the other would take its place, until they find an underground water source.


    As for Garen himself, he did one round of secret technique training in the first floor hall, had breakfast, and then returned to the second floor to continue researching tactics.


    The Deep Swamp Croc would occasionally go out hunting, bringing back Unihorn Lizards for food and parasitic purposes. Within three days, the parasites increased from two to five. If it weren''t for the fact that two of them failed, it might even have been more.


    The Resonance Hawk would fly out on its own once in a while. The gigantic bird with a wingspan of four, nearly five meters was like a fighter jet. It flew out here, and soon came back all covered in wounds, a Unihorn Lizard in its claws for food. It would even share with the other two Grey-feathered Hawks.


    Every time it flew out, Garen could sense his potential points leaping twice or thrice. Evidently the Resonance Hawk directly faced off with two or three Unihorn Lizards at once. Unlike the Deep Swamp Croc that snuck out at night for stealth hunting, it fought head-on, and could actually succeed in its hunt when outnumbered. And its wounds weren''t all that serious either, allowing it to recover very quickly.


    This greatly increased Garen''s approval of it.


    In almost three days'' worth of time, Garen''s potential points had gone up by six whole points. He immediately put them all onto evolving the other two Grey-feathered Hawks. One of them succeeded, but the other unfortunately failed, wasting three potential points.


    The two Resonance Hawks built a nest on top of the villa together, the second one still afraid of the first Resonance Hawk. Garen named the first one No. 1. It was the largest Resonance Hawk that also evolved the fastest, and its intelligence was equivalent to that of a two-year-old child, so it could even carry out some simple orders. Garen put it in charge of the other Resonance Hawk and the Grey-feathered Hawk. Together, they were in charge of surveilling the movements around the villa.


    Garen didn''t know what the situation was like in the inner city. He stayed safely in the villa, continuously working on his power. The Deep Swamp Croc and the Resonance Hawk kept on killing all the monsters around them, and his potential points could be continuously increased without any danger as well. As long as he didn''t purposely reveal himself, he wouldn''t attract a large scale attack from the monsters.


    **************


    Afternoon


    Garen sat quietly, eating the mashed potatoes he made as he stood by the wall of the villa''s side yard.


    In front of him, Resonance Hawk No. 1 was facing down the Deep Swamp Croc. The two beasts glared at each other ferociously, about to launch into a terrifying attack at any moment.


    The Resonance Hawk stood on the ground, its wings flapping constantly and bringing up gusts of winds.


    The Deep Swamp Croc tossed its tail, soundlessly sprawled onto the ground, waiting for an explosive strike.


    Garen held his plate and spooned the mashed potato into his mouth, watching the battle quietly.


    He had never observed the Resonance Hawk''s abilities closely. This was the perfect opportunity, he planned to let the two beasts compare against each other, to see exactly how their true powers match up.


    The two beasts stood off for a while, and then the Deep Swamp Croc suddenly pounced. It didn''t open its mouth to bite, instead crashing into its opponent with brute force.


    Bam!


    The Deep Swamp Croc was actually knocked flat onto its back by the Resonance Hawk. It made a flip, revealing its white stomach. It tried to get up, but was immediately pressed down by the Resonance''s Hawk sharp talons, trapped down to the ground hard.


    The Resonance Hawk kept flapping its wings, generating a great force, keeping the Croc down and unable to turn over.


    "What formidable strength." Garen narrowed his eyes, looking at the Resonance Hawk thoughtfully.


    Among the Resonance Hawk''s abilities, there was an icon for natural strength. This evidently manifested in its extraordinary strength. Even the Deep Swamp Croc was no match for it.


    Garen began to understand. The Grey-feathered Hawk could only evolve to Form 3. As a creature whose original form was merely a wild animal, it wasn''t one of those primitive totems that had been studied for a long time, and had extremely high evolution levels. Its evolution was more towards using the potential points to awaken its genetic potential, to find the strongest part of its genes and then strengthen and replicate it. In the end, it would be the strongest of its genes. This definition of strongest was evidently influenced by the direction the potential points took it in.


    It might be a state that existed in the past, or a state it could evolve into in the future, anything was possible.


    And within the Grey-feathered Hawk''s genes, the strongest would probably be the Resonance Hawk''s form.


    The sound of the two beasts clashing quickly attracted the attention of a Unihorn Lizard to flew over. This Unihorn Lizard pounced down fiercely, directly grabbing for the giant Resonance Hawk.


    This savage animal had a strange habit. They weren''t afraid of dying, but they particularly liked tearing their prey into pieces. They enjoyed the sense of accomplishment from tearing prey into pieces, and instead focused less on hunting for food.


    The Resonance Hawk''s eyes went red, and it raised its head to face the Unihorn Lizard pouncing down from above, the sarcoma on its head expanding and beating.


    Ba-thump! Ba-thump!!


    The continuous heartbeat instantly spread, until even Garen could hear it from the side.


    Ba-thump! Ba-thump! Ba-thump! Bump! Bump! Bumpbumpbumpbump¡­


    The sarcoma beat faster and faster, faster and faster, until in the end it was almost a continuous sound, beating twice or thrice every second.


    Bam!!


    In the air, the Unihorn Lizard''s eyes grew redder and redder, large bloody spots appearing all over the surface of its body. It fell head-first, landing heavily on the fence next to Garen and rolling onto the ground before it finally fell totally still.


    Squawk!


    The Resonance Hawk opened its beak and made a strange cry, walking over and biting down on the Unihorn Lizard, mercilessly pulling away a piece of flesh and began devouring it hungrily.


    Garen also walked over to inspect the body. He just reached out his hand to pat it lightly, and judging from the echo, he could feel that something was wrong on the inside.


    "Impressive! The heart burst due to the vibrations. No wonder the Resonance Hawk''s first ability is called Resonance Burst. This is an instant kill!" Garen sighed inside. When facing such an ability, he believed he had a certain resistance to it. After all, this was a test of one''s control over their own blood and organs. But if a few more Resonance Hawks showed up¡­ His heart also gave a cold shiver.


    He carefully observed the Resonance Hawk''s state. This guy seemed rather down, and even the sarcoma on its head was dimmer, no longer the bright red it usually was. That meant it needed some time to recover.


    Through their connection, he made it do another round of Resonance Burst, but the reply was weak, and he needed to wait for a reply.


    Garen poured the mash into his stomach with a few gulps, put down the plate, and walked up to the Deep Swamp Croc.


    This one was fully recovered, if still rather unhappy and hostile towards the Resonance Hawk.


    Garen let it use Tackle on himself. The Deep Swamp Croc hesitated, and then performed the order.


    It roared, and lowered its body, as though gathering power.


    Whoomph!


    It instantly turned into a black shadow, blowing up strong gusts of wind as it rammed into Garen, who stood still.


    Garen steadied his feet. Just now the Resonance Hawk made it seem like this was very easy to dodge, so he wanted to see how strong his power was now compared to totems.


    When he could really feel that unbelievably powerful wind blasting in his face, he mustered all the strength in his body, making it instantly grow up to two meters tall. The platinum aura instantaneously was absorbed back into his body, becoming a halo of platinum light around him.


    "Red Jade!!" He pushed his hands out, his palms as clear as red jade, bringing an intense heat as he held it against the Croc''s head.


    Bam!!


    The man and the beast both retreated two steps. Somewhat dazed, Garen pulled back his hands and stopped, at the same time motioning for the Croc to stop as well.


    He looked at his hands, unharmed in the slightest due to the protection of the Totem Light. And because the Deep Swamp Croc also had a layer of Totem Light, carrying the same properties of a Totem Light attack, it managed to break through that layer of defense, and was only forced back by the pure momentum of it, remaining similarly unhurt.


    But the black Totem Light on the surface of its skin was rippling non-stop, evidently the impact from that collision just now.


    Such a collision actually had twice the impact of a one-sided attack on the relevant area.


    Obviously, Garen''s Totem Light was much stronger than that of the Deep Swamp Croc.


    "It''s too bad purely physical attacks would find it too hard to break through the Totem Light."


    Garen did some calculations. He had finally returned to the very peak state of his previous life. If he used his body alone to face the strength of the Totem Light, and brought out everything he had, he could still only break past an elite Form 1 totem''s Totem Light if he focused all his power on one spot for three attacks.


    If he wanted to be a totem user using his secret techniques, he would still have a difficult journey ahead of him.

 301 Partner 1

    Chapter 301: Partner 1


    Picking up the silver plate and fork on the ground, Garen was just about to return to the hall of the villa to continue practicing his tactics.


    Suddenly he heard a loud explosion in the distance, together with the Unihorn Lizards¡¯ strange cries and the dead babies¡¯ wailing. He could even hear someone yelling and cursing.


    With one leap Garen was on the roof of his own house, half-crouching in the giant hawk¡¯s nest made of dead branches and dried leaves as he looked into the distance where the sounds were coming from.


    In the area between the suburb and the produce market, a man and a woman were ordering around two brown bears and one black wolf, while they were surrounded by six or seven Unihorn Lizards. There was even a swarm of more than ten dead babies crawling towards them quickly.


    These dead babies were evidently not really babies, otherwise there couldn¡¯t possibly be so many of them.


    Garen narrowed his eyes, wondering if he should go over to save them. Suddenly those two yelled out, and with a moment¡¯s slip, a Unihorn Lizard bit through a brown bear¡¯s neck, causing it to dissolve into a puddle of mercury. The two turned around and tried to run, but the dead babies soon caught up to them. The totems were finished off first, and then the two were also drowned in a flurry of dead babies¡¯ chomping. Their limbs and heads were instantly torn into several pieces and shared around.


    "So this is the fall of totem users, huh¡­ If I didn¡¯t have my Silver Totems, I would probably have ended up the same way. There¡¯s no way I could have lasted that long outside." Garen sighed inwardly. As long as he was outside alone, he would bump into some monsters eventually. If he had released his primitive totems to fight, he would have soon attracted large groups of monsters. In the end, he would have been surrounded and killed.


    The only way to guarantee his own safety would be to end the battle quickly, and then to pull himself out of it and leave.


    Garen understood that the mistake just now was most likely because of the dead babies¡¯ Dizziness Attack ability. He had encountered it before too, and even with his calibre he had been slightly dizzy before he could recover. These two stood no chance with their bodies.


    Sliding down the roof quietly, he suddenly noticed that there were still letters in the letter box outside his villa.


    He was rather surprised, but he didn¡¯t go get them himself, sending a Blue Back Lizard to crawl over instead. It used its teeth to open the mailbox, and took the letters inside in its mouth as it ran back.


    Standing in the hall on the first floor, Garen took the letters and then closed the door.


    There were three letters. Two of them had stamps, and were notifications from the suburban¡¯s community to pay management fees.


    The third had no envelope, and was merely a folded piece of white paper.


    Garen opened this one, and looked at it closely.


    ¡®Garen, if you can see this message, please come find us at No. 128, Queen¡¯s Side, in the inner city ASAP. I¡¯m already here with Andy and Jessica. --Goth, 15 Aoril, night.¡¯


    "15 April? Wasn¡¯t that just yesterday?" Garen was thoughtful.


    That was the first line, there was still a second line after that.


    ¡®Garen, if you¡¯re still alive, then please inform us as soon as possible. It¡¯s getting more and more dangerous here. The monsters are getting more concentrated. There seems to be some hidden danger in your house, so I don¡¯t dare to go in carelessly. If anyone sees this message, if anyone knows anything about the owner of this house, please bring this letter to No. 128, Queen¡¯s Side. Look for me, Goth, and we¡¯ll give you a reward for your troubles.¡¯ The ink of the words hadn¡¯t dried yet. It had evidently just been added on.


    Garen heaved a little sigh of relief. He didn¡¯t think Goth would actually find his place stealthily. The past few days, he had been hiding in the house, and made the Deep Swamp Croc hide too while the Resonance Hawk lay in wait on the roof. The parasites were patrolling the area as well, no wonder Goth didn¡¯t want to just come in.


    But to think that under such circumstances, he was still thinking of Garen, and had come here twice continuously. Even Garen¡¯s heart was slightly warmed by that.


    Goth really was a decent friend. Once he recognized you, he would walk with you to the end.


    Keeping the letter, Garen¡¯s expression looked thoughtful.


    "According to the original chain of events, now should be the time when Goth grows at an accelerated pace, and it was also in this period of time that he experienced some unbelievable things Should I or should I not go over and follow him¡­?"


    He hesitated.


    "Following Goth would be the fastest way to improve myself, but without a certain strength in hand, opportunity can become danger. I can¡¯t improve as quickly as Goth, but so I will definitely face more dangers than he will."


    He felt for the Silver Totems around the villa. As long as he stayed quietly outside, and kept himself out of the issues in the inner city, he could also grow continuously and inconspicuously, it¡¯s just that he would not improve as fast as he would if he went with Goth.


    "The fragments in my memory only indicate that this is when Goth grows rapidly, but it didn¡¯t mention the details. That way, if I go in there and it causes the butterfly effect, I might even make it so that Goth can¡¯t survive this period in one piece."


    "Should I hunt on my own, or follow Goth into the heart of the storm¡­?" Garen hesitated. "My original goal was to get my hands on a decent core totem by following Goth, but to think I found a different path instead. And now that I got the Crystal Derivator, I have the chips I need to improve. It¡¯s not worth it to join any more quests."


    He held the door with his hand, looking at the grey sky in the distance. Under the layer of grey clouds, a large swarm of black dots were flying towards Iron Tank City. One enormous Unihorn Lizard was especially eye-catching, with black bone thorns growing from its head to its tail down it back. The whole row were of different lengths, and it was three times the size of a normal Lizard, reaching seven or eight meters.


    This monster had been circling the inner city for many days. Garen saw many totem users come out of the inner city one by one, but none could defeat it, and it killed a few people instead.


    And them the whole inner city shrunk into itself. It no longer expanded, and no one came out anymore.


    Rawr!!


    The BTL roared downwards, as though provoking them.


    Right underneath it, a tall white tower with screw-like ridges was holding up a semicircular shield. The shield only appeared when it was being attacked, rippling with white light.


    Garen looked at the screw-ridge tower from afar.


    "Iron Tank City¡¯s strongest combination of tactics for defense, impressive as expected. I just don¡¯t know how long it will last."


    He closed the door, and returned to the second floor study, continuing to study the Sight Sharing tactic.


    After two more days staying in the villa, the Deep Swamp Croc ended up with a total of 7 parasites, distributed to patrol the villa surroundings separately. The potential points he had gotten at the same time were just enough to successfully evolve the last Grey-feathered Hawk.


    All three Grey-feathered Hawks had evolved into Resonance Hawk. These giant birds with wingspans of more than four meters were unbelievably strong, like the most ferocious predators. With Garen¡¯s villa as the center, they hunted non-stop in all directions. Any monsters or Lizards that entered their sight of vision were killed with their talons and brought back to the nest. Otherwise, they were used to make parasites for the Deep Swamp Croc, or to be eaten.


    With such a strong force, Garen decided to return to the War Guild¡¯s underground hall again. He should give an answer to the Guild on whether or not he was going to join. If he could get some evolution knowledge on how to rear a totem, it would be a decent help for the nurture of his little group.


    Before he left, Garen ordered the totems he had to hunt on their own outside, it was okay as long as they didn¡¯t hurt humans.


    Many Unihorn Lizards and dead babies kept flooding into the outskirts of the city. Resonance Hawk no. 1, the Deep Swamp Croc and the others had more prey than they could hope for. They didn¡¯t dare to touch those moving in droves, and could only work together to kill small groups of monsters.If there were more than ten, they wouldn¡¯t attack.


    The hunting proceeded uninhibited, and the Blue Back Lizard kept digging in the kitchen to look for a water source.


    Everything seemed to be progressing in a good direction.


    ***************


    "The world would eventually sink into darkness and shadow anyway. All of us need to unite, and worship the will of the God of Deject. The apocalypse is coming, and all believers as well as non-believers will face the judgment of the apocalypse! No one can escape! None! What we need to do is beg¡­"


    Garen had just walked into the underground War Guild when he heard a man¡¯s voice chanting something loudly, his emotions high and passionate.


    In the dim hall, there were only two candlesticks lit on the counter, the pale yellow light making the atmosphere dark and heavy.


    There was the smell of blood and disinfectant in the air, thick enough to make one nauseated.


    Garen walked into the hall, glanced around it and saw five or six people scattered around and sitting on the chairs. It seemed unusually cold, most of the seats were empty.


    On the blackboard hanging above the counter, there was a condensed name list of the dead.


    Garen looked around on the list for a while, and couldn¡¯t find neither Angel¡¯s nor Thomas¡¯ names. Only then did he walk up to the counter and knocked on it.


    "Do you need a transfer map? Most of the people have transferred, to the underground guild in the north." The young lady at the counter said, looking exhausted.


    "The north guild? What happened, I was outside these past two days." Garen frowned.


    "You actually don¡¯t know?" The girl said in surprise, "There are too many underground scavengers, we had no choice but to focus our energy to protect a limited area. We can¡¯t defend this place for long. The only ones left here are loons with a death wish. I¡¯m leaving tomorrow too."


    "Underground scavengers¡­" Garen had never heard that monster¡¯s name. "Forget it, how many underground spots do we still have in the outskirts."


    "About four, I guess. Taking away this one, there are three in the other directions. I bet they¡¯re all starting to shrink now. They¡¯re all about the same scale as ours, you can forget about transferring to those spots, it¡¯s useless," the girl said dejectedly. "See that fatty yelling on and one over there? That guy¡¯s a devotee of the Church of the Apocalypse. Last time there was still someone to throw him out, but no one cares about him now. It doesn¡¯t matter how much of a fuss he kicks up, no one has the energy anymore."


    Garen looked at the fatty, who was still preaching loudly.


    "Once chaos descends, people like this would always appear, it¡¯s very normal. Does that mean that Mr Caddy and the rest have transferred too?"


    "They left a few days ago. Look at the people in this hall, they¡¯re mostly suicidals here to brave the danger, while two are waiting for someone else," the girl at the counter said mildly.


    "Is there a way to contact people in the inner city?" Gare asked with a frown.


    "Unfortunately." The girl shrugged.


    Garen left the counter and walked to a place beside the wall where he sat down, quietly observing the few remaining people.


    Other than the cult fatty, the ones remaining in the hall were all injured to some extent. Garen¡¯s burnt eyebrows hadn¡¯t grown back yet, so he still kind of fit in here amongst the deadbeats. The only odd part was that his clothes were too clean.


    After sitting for some time there, he heard footsteps coming from the tunnel to the right of the hall. Soon enough a fair-skinned man walked out, looking at everyone in the hall with an expression of unease and panic.


    "Can someone protect me during transfer? Ten million in fees! Ten million rumbs!!" he yelled loudly. "Is anyone willing?"


    "Scram! Idiot!" A man with a long, untrimmed beard was evidently unhappy, as he stood up and smashed a beer mug at him.


    Clang!


    The metal mug hit the wall, making a crisp sound, and spilling the beer inside everywhere.


    The fair-skinned man shirked a little, and returned to the tunnel, standing at the entrance and now too afraid to come back in again.


    Garen looked at them coldly, sitting motionlessly at the side.


    Sitting quietly in the guild, he occasionally looked at the potential points in his attribute pane increase slowly, while his pet subordinates hurried to continuously kill more of the surrounding monsters. He had just finished up his potential value, but now there were 4 points again, which made him more and more relaxed inside.


    The number of parasites had also stabled at about seven. Some would die occasionally, and others would become successfully one at times.

 302 Partner 2

    Chapter 302: Partner 2


    It was morning when he came down. He sat in the guild for a good three to four hours, when it is almost two, Angel finally came.


    She was wearing a black mantle, covering herself tightly. She wore a veil over her face too, only revealing a pair of pale blue eyes.


    She sat in front of Garen and tapped the table with her fingers, but there were no waiters to serve her, she could only sit around.


    "You''re not bad looking." Angel evaluated Garen. "Much better off than I am."


    "Have you advanced?" Garen paid more attention as she looked at Angel, his eyes lighted up. "Looks like you don¡¯t need my help anymore." He looked behind Angel, a group of three, Goth¡¯s group slowly sat down, their gazed fixed upon Angel¡¯s direction.


    Angel waved her hands, much like saying her hellos.


    "I guess I¡¯m alright.", her hands were crossed and placed on the table.


    "Now is the time where we need combat powers. When you were not around, Mr Caddy from the guild pulled me into the ranks of the branch president, the condition was to pardon my crimes, and also to give me a suitable complete evolutionary nurturing knowledge. Of course, this requires missions to be completed as a price.


    "Then did you not convert along with them?" Garen calmly looked at Angel.


    "Listen up, Garen. I, Angel, am not someone who forgets her roots!" Angel tightened her eyebrows, "If you had not give me a hand when I needed it most, I would never have the chance to be exposed to the War Guild. I would have probably died off at some god-only-knows what corner alone!


    "I am just a form one totem user, you are a form two totem user, there¡¯s is no future for you to follow me." Garen shook his head.


    "Hey!" Angel perched forward suddenly, paying close attention to Garen, eye-to-eye. "In all my life, you were the first who truly treated me well. No matter what your reason could have been, whatever the motive, I, Angel am someone who may have killed countless people, but never one who forgets her benefactor. Whatever, let¡¯s go, come with me, we will convert together."


    At this moment, it was obvious that she was sincere when she wanted to bring Garen, perhaps the core totem evolved, the Shackles of War was one thing, but Angel had accumulated for far too much.


    Garen could see, she hadn''t just evolved the panther, she also had her talent fully utilized with sufficient resources and knowledge. Coupled with the previous totem nurturing experience, this explosion had propelled her like a rocket into sky.


    Garen squinted at her, without immediate reply.


    He was clear, even though Angel locked down her core totem with the Shackles of War, but it was thought that she had her totem confirmed for quite some years already. She should be able to change her core totem and not be limited by the Shackles of War.


    "Follow me, I will protect you!" if you feel that your abilities aren¡¯t strong enough and are unable to show off your manliness, that¡¯s your own problem." Angel said, without much thought behind it.


    "Thanks." Garen smiled lightly, "But i¡¯m not the kind of man who lives under another¡¯s protection.


    "Why? Is it very embarrassing to be protected by a woman?" Angel sarcastically asked, "I¡¯m telling you, Garen, I have triumphed over tens of hundreds of men under my feet! If i am not this victory-driven, I would not have survived to this point! I really do not understand why do you need to protect your ego? Does your dignity matter more than your life?


    "It¡¯s not about this." Garen exhaled. "I have reasons not to leave."


    "Your pride is the reason!" Angel did not let go of any chance to tease, "Be the little man you are when you have no capabilities, being protected by women isn¡¯t some shameful thing, at least you¡¯re able to be protected by someone!"


    "Alright, let¡¯s not talk about this." Garen waved his hands "Look at me, do I look like someone who needs to be protected?"


    "Whatever, you should hide more, don¡¯t end up on the blackboard the next time i see you." Angel shook her head, stood up and walked to the trio behind him, said a few sentences softly.


    The trio is two made and a female, all wearing black mantles. He could only roughly make up their genders based on their body sizes. Each of them had strong, bloodied scents emitting from their bodies. He was unsure of whether it was their blood or someone else¡¯s.


    After Angel talked to the three people, she turned around to greet Garen. The four of them then soon left the hall.


    Garen sat on the table alone. The crystal derivator must never be exposed, and in turn so must the Silver Totems. There were no issues for him to control that many form 1 totems, but if that amount of form 2 totems appeared, then it will cause a racket, and attract unnecessary attention much like the Prodigy Aska. At this point where, he doesn''t possess the strength to face off with Obscuro Society, Garen would like to avoid too much attention placed on him.


    After sitting for a little while longer, he went to the counter to purchase a map of the Iron Tank City, and proceeded to leave the hall.


    At the waterway outside.


    Two male totem users were transporting creatures¡¯ carcasses; the creatures have not died for too long, they were commanding two White Bears to move the creatures in piles inside a crater.


    The two men had obvious fatigue on their faces, and were slightly shocked as they saw Garen walking out.


    "Are you walking this way?" One of them asked.


    "I need to go back to take some things." Garen answered simply.


    "Better not go, there are more creatures sighted outside now."


    "Why do you care so much about other people?" The other person interrupted.


    Garen did not pay further attention, he climbed along the ladder up to the exit, slowly popping open the cover and exited the waterway.


    The sky outside was gray with a hint of a drizzle.


    Garen just came out, and rushed into the shadows of the castle walls with extraordinary speed, hiding his aura to avoid the creatures.


    Above him was a swarm of Unihorn Lizards flying over slowly, they were packed densely to each other and there might have been be hundreds of them. Among the swarm, there was one red-skinned giant lizard, its size is evidently larger than the rest.


    The swarm towered over Garen¡¯s position, failing to recognize the human that was hiding there.


    Still in the shadows, Garen took out his map.


    Iron Tank city was a giant white round circle; on the circumference was a label: City castle wall.


    Within and beyond the castle walls were large amounts of buildings and housing, densely packed like a giant white mushroom. In the centre was a small circle, with the label: Inner City Area.


    In the middle of the Inner City Area was a white dot. The label on the dot says: Spiral Tower.


    Coincidentally, on the lower right corner of the map¡¯s castle wall line, and the place he stayed sat just beyond it. . The district was placed on the rightmost border of the cluster of buildings beyond the cluster wall, on the right side beyond the cluster was a large wasteland, abandoned and uninhabited.


    Garen carefully walked along the direction heading back. Each time, he advanced by getting in and out of the cover of shade. Sometimes, he would bump into some death babies, but they were no match for his speed.


    As he approached the position of his district, it should already have been been a deep territory with lairs of monsters. Garen ran into the staircase in the tilted tower, and suddenly heard the some soft sound of voices from within the tower.


    He stopped his footsteps, looking into the dark black void of the staircase, a soft voice came out from the right room of the second floor.


    "I can¡¯t believe there would be survivors that would still be alive." He wasn¡¯t interested in helping these people, and he couldn¡¯t help them anyway, people who cannot hide their aura were only going to bring him trouble, luring many creatures.


    He sped out of the corridor, ahead of him was the hunting ground for Resonance Hawk, should be slightly safer, without the creatures roaming freely, a bigger crowd of creatures will also be easily spotted and avoided.


    Walking along the main path, on both sides was dense forest, deathly quiet. Intermittently, there were cries from a baby coming from afar, which sent chills to the heart.


    As he walked to the neighbouring houses of his villa, Garen let out a sudden "eh", his gaze fixed upon this house¡¯s bush at the front porch..


    Garen looked to his left and right, a black stag beetle was rustling by from his back, patrolling the entire district. Parasites¡¯ patrol radius have engulfed the entire parameter of the district.


    Garen observed the skies around him carefully, there were no traces of large groups of creatures, only then did he approached the bush. He softly peered open the bush, and in front of him was a young girl, covered with wounds and blood stains.


    "That girl who followed me home the other day?" Garen¡¯s brows frowned. He recognized this person, she is one of the girls who had followed him and Angel on his road rushing back, on the same carriage, as he was guarding them into the city. He recalled that she had introduced herself before, her name was Lala.


    He tapped that girl¡¯s face, no response. He extended his arm nearer to her nostrils; there were some vague breathes.


    On the girl was a black, pleated short skirt and a white satin shirt, under the skirt was a long black pantyhose that was full of holes, revealing wounds that had traces of blood. The skin of the black long boots that she was wearing were bruised and damaged, completely losing its exclusivity and elegance of the original little buffalo skin boots.


    Pa Pa.


    Garen slapped her with force


    "Are you alive?" hs asked softly.


    "Ugh¡­"


    Lala weakly opened her eyes, with a very exhausted look. It seems as though she could not clearly see anything, both her irises didn''t seem to be focused. She saw a blurry silhouette moving, the voice seemed so far away that he couldn¡¯t hear clearly at all.


    "He¡­ Help.." she struggled to say the two words, then she tilted her head over, fainting once again.


    Garen stood straight. He frowned. To be honest, he did not want to save anyone and add more burden to him, but coincidentally, he met someone he had met before, and by the looks of it, it seems like she ran out from the suburbs, going through hurdles to get here. If it weren''t for Resonance Hawk¡¯s patrol parameters, and the fact that this place was clear of free roaming creatures, plus that the larger crowds would not consider such a small meal, this girl would definitely not be alive.


    "Screw it, count yourself lucky! I am lacking a janitor, in any case." Garen squatted and lifted her up, with one arm under her armpit, marching in big steps towards his villa.


    This girl is just a normal person, and does not posses any threat to him; which is a key reason as to why he would save him.


    Furthermore, if he were to stay alone for about a few months time, being completely alone was also not a feasible idea.

 303 Beginning 1

    Chapter 303: Beginning 1


    The window was splashed with falling rain.


    Garen served up a hot cup of coffee, standing by the window.


    On the large bed behind him, that girl called Lala was lying down on the bed massaging her head, not fully conscious.


    "Are you awake?" Garen turned back to the bed, this Lala girl¡¯s motive of coming here was obviously to get some form of protection from him. It¡¯s just that he had his own agenda to accomplish, staying by his side is not that much safer compared to somewhere else.


    The girl tried to get up. The clothes on her body had not been touched by Garen; they were still the original dirty attire from before.


    The first thing she did was to check her body for traces of possible harassment. She relaxed herself . Following that, she placed her gaze upon Garen who is standing by the side of the window.


    "Thank you, for saving me once again." her voice sounded sore, obviously she is having a flu. "If it wasn¡¯t for you last time, we should be dead by the roadside outside the city."


    "I always expect for returns when i do something, I have saved you twice, how do you intend to return the favor?" Garen looked at her calmly. "If there is a behaviour of wanting something, it is only natural to consider the price, there is nothing that can be gotten without paying a price in the world. Don¡¯t you think?"


    "I understand." Lala¡¯s eyes shows that she seemed to understand, "I am but a weak lady, what else can i give you? Or rather, what do you intend to take from me?" Her speech is clear and without hidden meanings.


    "The cleanliness of this house, the daily chores and housework, very simple requests. The condition is that I provide shelter and food, how¡¯s that?" Garen answered coldly. "Also, as a man with normal sexuality, to be able to see a clean and cute lady at home, will improve my mood greatly too." He spoke straightforwardly.


    Lala lowered her eyes: "Your demands are reasonable, I am willing to work in order to exchange for my safety and livelihood. Under this isolated environment, you are able to suppress your desires and stay respectful to a lady, you are a good man."


    "Good Man?"


    Garen laughed without voice. He extended both arms, looking at his clean, untainted palms. These arms, who knew how much blood had tainted these arms, innocent ones, sinful ones, or even just plain brawls, but such is life.


    He snapped back into reality, laughing sarcastically.


    "I¡¯m glad to get to know a partner of an opposing gender which is rational, but I will remind you, there are many places in the house which are prohibited for you, you best not run around. If you wish to go out, leave me a note. I will arrange for it. The medications are placed by your pillow, and for your information, this is my first time taking care of someone outside my family."


    "It is my pleasure." Lala relaxed and smiled. As she looked at garen calmly leave the room, she exhaled in relaxation. Aunty had already arrived in the city safely, in one night, her entire world collapsed, countless creatures killed people around her; the ones who she were familiar with, the ones who weren¡¯t, too many lives have been taken away as she watched.


    "Sufficient food, sufficient safety, warm blanket¡­" Lala had not had a moment where she thought of things she normally had to be a luxury.


    Garen walked out of the guest room, tidied his collar and walked back to his master bedroom.


    Standing in front of the mirror, he took a good look at himself.


    His smooth bald had have a layer of short hair now. On the outside was a grey mantle, so long as he wore the hood and lowered his head, nobody will know who he is.


    He pulled open his wardrobe. After some flipping through, he took out a greyish-white inner tee to be changed into and wore the pieces that would make up the complete leather armor he prepared previously.


    Two round shoulder pads, forearm guards, knee guards, calf protectors, boots, and then a helm with a chest plate.


    As he wore all of those, the person inside the mirror looked similar to the guards of Iron Tank city.


    After giving it some thought, Garen took off the helm and wore the grey mantle again.


    "Now this is much better." He satisfyingly said as he looked at himself.


    The mantle covered the entirety of the armor, giving him a muscular look.


    "Next, let''s look at what my little babies are up to." he focused on the attribute pane.


    "Strength 2.66. Agility 2.72, Vitality 2.76. Intelligence 2.53. Potential 632%. Possess the qualifications of a Luminarist "


    6 points of Potential points.


    Garen squinted his eyes, he glanced over the totem pane, the amount of parasites had dropped to five, which should be due to another battle happening.


    "Let¡¯s have the blue back lizard evolve instead, the success rate for third form evolution is too low."


    He triggered a thought.


    Soon, the doors were nudged open, and three blue back lizards slowly walked in. The last one closed the door under Garen¡¯s control.


    This kind of deep blue colored lizards normally inhabit the desert areas, so their survival abilities are really strong, with extreme tolerance to hunger and thirst.


    Garen squatted in front of the three lizards and touched their heads.


    "From now on, you''re Number 3. Deep Swamp Croc will be Number 2. This will ease identifiability. I¡¯ll have you evolve first."


    His gaze placed on the blue back lizard¡¯s icon, quickly, three points of potential points disappeared in a quick jump.


    Number 2 blue back lizard shuddered for a moment,, and then started vibrating intensely, as if something were vibrating immensely inside its body.


    Jiii¡­..


    Number 2 let out a painful hiss. Its body rapidly grew from about a meter, quickly elongating to two meters, three meters, four meters, five meters!


    Its height also grew from ten-odd centimeters, quickly to twenty centimeters, thirty centimeters, fifty centimeters, more than one meter!


    Its skins started to show a bronze-like yellow tone, the teeth slowly grew out of its lips.


    The entire lizard''s body looked more and more like a crocodile


    Between its four legs, it grew another pair of short legs, becoming a six-legged creature. Its back also spouted a row of dense spikes.


    The most eye-opening aspect of the creature is its eyes. From the original jade green, it turned into a clear white, as though there were no irises in them.


    This lizard¡¯s evolution scared the other two lizards. They quickly hid, avoiding the quickly expanding Number 3 that was hissing in a scary manner.


    Garen stood in front of the now evolved lizard, feeling that this fellow looked like the rumoured Komodo Dragon, one that could eat something that was its own size.


    He looked at the totem icon within his vision. The blue back lizard changed its icon.


    "Evolved Lizard( Unnamed): Blue Back Lizard¡¯s second evolution form, Form 2 creature totem. Upgradable, evolution sucess rate: 34%. Potential point consumption: 500%.


    Ability: Petrification (Any creatures making eye contact with it will be damaged by the Petrifiaction Light), Fast Tunneling."


    "Petrification?" Garen noticed that this evolved lizard¡¯s eyes had a hint of green light within its white eyes.


    "Rename as Petrifying Lizard."


    He changed the name on the totem, then only he carefully checked out the Petrifying lizard.


    Petrifying Lizard laid on the floor, motionless, almost lazily, just like a bronze statue.


    Garen took a turn around the lizard, extended his arms and touched its skin; very coarse and tough, like hardened leather, but with a hint of warmth.


    He tried touching the spikes on the Petrifying Lizard¡¯s back; also very tough, much like an awl, poking out of it skin one by one, forming a straight line from head to the tail.


    "Go hunt something for me." Garen instructed as he opened the door


    The lizard crawled slowly out of the door. Its movements are extremely slow, like an old grandpa at their seventies or eighties, the round belly was almost as good as being dragged on the floor. The six paws slammed the ground as it walked.


    Garen shook his head, speechless.


    "Stealth doesn¡¯t work, use your fastest speed!" He ordered.


    The Petrifying Lizard then increased its speed. It was apparent that it was trying its best; the six short limbs just struggled to move forward, but the speed was only comparable to a tortoise at best.


    "This speed!..." Garen had a hidden impulse. "This is only a feeder during close quarters combat!"


    Bringing the Petrifying lizard out of the villa, Garen came to the backyard, where there was leftover Unihorn Lizard carcass.


    "Attack that carcass!" Garen ordered.


    The yellow lizard struggled to crawl into a five meter rang of the carcass, both eyes glared at the carcass.


    Without any visible movements, the carcass started turning into a greyish white rock-like form from the bottom to the top. Soft crackling sounds were heard as the rock spread.


    Three seconds later, the carcass completely turned into a stone statue.


    The Petrifying Lizard spat out a red core, it didn''t seem a tad bit tired.


    Only then, Garen felt consoled.


    "Petrifying Lizards can only be used as a defense against ambushes, it basically could not keep up with other creatures¡¯ speeds at all."


    Ah!!!


    A loud scream of a lady was heard from the main door.


    Garen stomped once, and suddenly turning into a shadow, showing up at the front yard of the villa.


    Lala was covering her mouth at the doorstep, staring at the large black beetles walking past the lawn in fright, the saw-like rows of teeth in the black beetle looked horrendous, scaring her pale. She was holding onto the doorframe as she felt weak in her knees.


    Seeing Garen¡¯s appearance, her voice was trembling while her fingers pointed at the beetles.


    " Bug!! Monster!! There¡¯s a monster!!"


    "They''re my little babies, don¡¯t be afriad" Garen waved his hands so that the beetles left their field of vision.


    After calming Lala¡¯s emotions, Garen told her not to go out, otherwises it would easily attract the monsters into the house. Luckily there was the scent of the dead unihorn lizard lingering, completely suppressing the scent of Lala that was within the villa.


    He looked at the remaining potential points and he felt that the three points spent on the Petrifying Lizard was not worth it. It didn''t matter how strong the petrification was, it had to first land on the opponent. The remaining three points, he did not plan to spend it on the Blue Back Lizards.


    The two blue back lizards have already dug out some underground water from the kitchen, or perhaps taking a turn underground for as they dig for underground water. To have a well near the the kitchen, it will be much easier to use water.


    After settling Lala, Garen wore his grey mantle and hoodie, checking his body, "I should go into the city to check on the situation¡­ so long as i¡¯m cautious, I should be fine.

 304 Beginning 2

    Chapter 304: Beginning 2


    Inner City. Central Treetop District.


    In the luxurious dark brown study room, a man with a golden beard stood next to the window, silently looking at the towering spiral tower. The tower felt like three spikes drilled out of the ground and intertwining each other.


    The white light shining from the top of the spiral tower reflected upon the skin of his face, showing a hint of silver luster.


    The forehead of the man showed a deep frown, and his face showed a maturity and vicissitudes brought upon by time. On his muscular body, flaunted a set of dark, golden body armor.


    "No news from Leah?" The man asked in a deep tone.


    Behind him were four men and women wearing luxuriously, standing quietly. No one dared to speak out.


    "How long can the resources within the inner city last?" The man turned around and looked at his own four trusted subordinates.


    "Lord Duke, the inner city has plenty of resources. It would suffice for a year or two, but with more and more creatures outside, I am afraid¡­" A fat aristocrat stood up to answer..


    "The Governor Leah has gone missing for fifteen days, there may have be some meddling done by the Obscuro Society." A middle-aged woman said in a deep tone, "The key now, is that as long as the stationed General Tyrone and the Duke work together, defenses should be able to hold for a long time; enough to wait until the RAL¡¯s reinforcements arrive. "


    "I''m afraid the Royal Alliance is too busy saving themselves." A thin man gloomily said.


    Suddenly a burst of footsteps came from outside the study room.


    The door was opened without permission. Then entered the adjutant of the Duke, called Vignal, who has always been a matured middle-aged man who now looked pale and panicky.


    He quickly walked to the side of the Grand Duke and whispered a few words in his ear.


    Suddenly, the people saw that the appearance of the Grand Duke had also changed; his forehead frowned a lot more suddenly.


    He glanced around his audience.


    "Gentlemen, I''m afraid we''re going to usher in a bad fight." His voice was heavy.


    Boom! ! !


    As the voice faded, the spiral tower on the left of a gorgeous courtyard, suddenly burst into a sky of flames.


    The fire suddenly swept the entire area equivalent to the size of a football field, the entire white courtyard was engulfed. Crimson fire almost instantaneously engulfed the white light of the tower.


    Everyone seemed to hear the roar of the air in the distance; anger, helplessness, hopelessness, sadness.


    No one had ever known the roar of human beings alone could contain so much meaning.


    Everyone unknowingly stood up.


    "That''s ... General Tyrone''s mansion ...." The fat aristocrat only felt the dryness of his own voice.


    ***********


    General Tyrone was assassinated by his own biological son and adjutant, and finally his totem exploded, bringing his son with him.


    One of the three strong pillars in the city had fallen.


    The news spread like a hurricane across the inner city, everyone heard the roar from the mansion. Such sadness, helpless, unbelievable consternation, served as a remembrance to everyone


    Now, there was only the Grand Duke .....


    At a white courtyard in the Queen¡¯s District.


    Goth was wearing a white bib as he sat in fornt of the white bed and looked at Jessica. This usually quiet girl suddenly looked pale, as if she was scared sick.


    "Why were you so careless to catch a flu and not realise it until you catch a fever, and you say I don¡¯t pay attention to my body." Goth held Jessica¡¯s hand carefully, his eyes full of tenderness and affection.


    So many days within the inner city defense corps, the two people shared their difficulties, and have established relations with each other.


    Jessica shook her head, just laughing.


    "Every time I say that, you gave me that look," Goth said, in dissatisfaction, "You''re always disobedient."


    Jessica put up a pouty smile. "As long as you accept your father''s apologies, I will listen to you."


    "Could you not mention this? So annoying." Goth scratched his head in distress, "Mom¡¯s the same, you too. Didn¡¯t I say, I''m not blaming the old man."


    "Can you say you do not blame him with this attitude? You haven¡¯t even called him father once." Jessica shook his head. "No matter what he had done to you, after all, he has since repented. He is your father, and no one can replace that."


    "Can we stop talking about this?" Goth gently smiled, he was defeated. "Forget it, you rest first, I¡¯ll go to back work."


    He got up, covered the quilt for Jessica, kissed her on the cheek, and stepped out of the ward.


    Upon closing the door, standing outside at the end of the corridor was Andy. He looked tired. His eyes were deep and he looked very gaunt.


    Goth ??came to him and the atmosphere suddenly became heavy. No one first spoke, the both of them just stood there.


    Andy took out a cigarette, lit it, only taking it down until the cigarette burned to the butt, he took a deep breath.


    "How long can Jessica last with that illness?" Goth whispered.


    "The doctor said she has only six months left," Andy said hoarsely.


    The two fell silent again.


    The scarlet red cigarette on Andy¡¯s hand continued to release a faint white smoke.


    "Is there any other way over there?" Goth whispered again. His face lost the relaxation and calmness that he had when he was with Jessica.


    "My father searched all the doctors, the Luminarist, and the medicine professors." There was no such thing as ... "Andy lowered his head and said, "Stay with her. My father is waiting for me, I will go out first. "


    He turned to exit the corridor.


    Goth looked at his back. "There is a way," he said, "rest assured, she''ll be fine."


    Andy paused, moving on and quickly leaving the corridor.


    Gothic pushed his back against the wall alone. What went through his mind was unknown, but the touch of loneliness and determination on his face was apparent.


    ****************


    Outside the hospital, opposite the shadow of a white cylindrical building.


    A tall man dressed in black robes was quietly looking at the exit of the hospital. He stood by as people walked past him. A team of patrol soldiers was constantly passing him by, and occasionally some totem users, but no one found his presence. People seemed to think of him as the air, no one gave him a second glance.


    "Let''s go ...." he whispered.


    He gently stretched out his right index finger. A pale red light appeared on his fingertips; the ball of light slowly suspended, up and down.


    Hiss!


    With a soft spark, the man in black robe disappeared instantly from the place he stood.


    Pa!!


    Behind the original man in the black robe¡¯s position, a silhouette in gray robe slowly came out. The face under the hood was indeed Garen.


    He quietly looked at the location of the black robe that disappeared.


    "Here ... finally ..."


    He smiled at himself.


    "Maybe Goth and then rest thought I was dead."


    He saw the whereabouts of the black robed man just now. If he hadn''t felt the presence of the other party, he estimated that, like the rest, he would have brushed it over.


    He recognized the logo on that black robe. That was the Obscuro Society insignia; only they would wear black robes all year round in order to distinguish themselves from totem users of other organizations.


    He did not intend to act directly with the Goth and others. With the help of his Secret Techniques, he was able to hide in the darkness, in a way that was not found by the people of Obscuro Society. This way, he could get the most benefit at this crucial time.


    For example, if there is a clash between Goth and Obscuro Society, it would be the best opportunity for him to wait. If he followed Goth, not only there was there a chance he would be exposed, he may also be targeted for close surveillance. It was estimated that there was no way to get the most out of the situation.


    Garen pulled his hood down and covered his face. He was not sure what motivated Goth to embark on the road to heroism, but now the tentacles of Obscuro Society had emerged.


    He came out of the villa into the underground passage of the War Guild, going straight into the inner city. The objective was to use another method to keep up with Goth¡¯s progress.


    Standing in the shadows, Caldon quietly watched the hospital entrance and exit. Soon, Goth''s figure came out from the exit. He looked calm, his eyes with a faint trace of anxiety.


    Garen quietly kept up with him. Slowly releasing his Qi, closely following his tracks.


    They quickly walked along the street; Goth quickly walked into a bistro. He came out shortly after, and walked directly toward the inner city¡¯s border line.


    On the frontier defense, there were dragon guards in the sky; the ground had dense frontier defense totems, each of them large black wolf-type totems patrolling back and forth.


    .


    Totem users guarded each exit, all black panthers totem users. They looked like they had amazing speed.


    Gode ??took a white badge and showed it to the totem user guarding at the exit, took back the badge, and directly crossed the border line, walking into the tunnel within the castle walls. Both sides had rows of guard soldiers. They were unable to fight in the frontlines, but good military qualities made them great at detecting signs of danger.


    Goth looked at the door. Garen was also following along, mixing within the people entering and leaving. He took out the badge from the War Guild to be shown to the totem users guarding the borders.


    This man with a small white beard looked at the medal. The three lines marked on top showed this person¡¯s rank in the guild was three. His face suddenly revealed the expression of respect.


    "Sir, please keep your badge, are you going out hunting again?"


    "Yeah." said Garen simply.


    Most of the people coming in out were refugees who had been rescued, as well as those totem users who got rescued. Few people went out, and all the totem users who go out would be respected by many.


    People who dare to go out in this environment were those who were willing to sacrifice themselves for the stability of the inner city. It was worth everyone''s attention.


    Garen walked in the door while he basked in everybody¡¯s attention and respect.


    The figure of the front of Goth was out of sight, but his spirit could detect his position. Garen picked up his pace and followed closely.


    As he exited the doorway, the ground littered with carcasses of unihorn lizards, the pile of carcasses were surrounded by the stench of flies around them, the buzzing sound from the flies are very annoying.


    Gallon quietly keep up with Goth. Along the way, he saw carcasses of new monsters appearing on the ground from time to time. There were dead babies, unihorn lizards, and also a kind of leopard monster who walked on two legs.


    This monster was earthy yellow in color, like a shrunken version of the Tyrannosaurus Rex. There was a triangular cone on its head, while its forehead has a hole that sprayed acid.


    Garen looked at this new monster, which had yellow acid on the edge of the round hole in its forehead. He dabbed the liquid with a small stone and a sour, smelly, yellow smoke suddenly appeared on the stones. The dabbed surface of the rock immediately showed a coke black burnt surface, popping up many small yellow bubbles.


    Garen tossed the stone aside and continue to keep up with Goth.


    He realized that the direction Goth was heading to was the most famous hospital in Iron Tank City - David Jones Hospital, who specialize in treatment of many rare diseases. However, it was now a dead zone.


    "Jessica is ill, and he here to find medicine?" Garen had his doubts.


    Within the deserted dead white city, the streets, Goth and Gaen advanced quietly forward, in front of the is a steeple-like building which seemed like a church.


    The white spire church was not damaged at all, only darkness ensued from beyond the open door, constantly blowing bursts of chilly wind. In front of the stone floor were a few beaches of dried blood.


    Goth, ??softly, suddenly hid behind a stone on the right.


    A large group of unihorn lizards suddenly flew over the sky. These lizards were actually all red lizards, their body size was almost double the average, monstrously huge.


    They glided across the ground, swept up a strong gust and rolled up a large swathes of yellow dust. Shadows flew past the shelter of Goth and Garen. Only when there was completely no movement, the two slowly come out from their hiding place.

 305 Following 1

    Chapter 305: Following 1


    On the desolate gray city streets, the pair were like two black spots on white cloth, speeding towards the steeple.


    The wind howled across the street, and onto Goth''s hair backwards constantly. His gaze turned up to the church door in front of him. He quickened his pace, and entered the church.


    Garen, underneath the stairs at the church''s entrance, hid behind a stone platform behind the steps, quietly releasing his Qi to scan the interior.


    Inside the church


    Goth stood by the door, glancing around the church, looking blankly, his body lit up with a gray-black totem, and a dark-feathered bird appeared slowly on his right shoulder.


    "Come out," he cried aloud. "I know you''re here!"


    His voice constantly echoed off the walls, reverberating deep within the building.


    Roar...


    All of a sudden, behind a row of pews at the front, a black lizard emerged. It was much smaller than the normal giant lizard, only the size of a dog, the horn on his forehead flickered with silver light, its eyes were flashing with a bloodlust.


    "I''ve been waiting for you for a long time." The silver horn lizard said. It slowly climbed to the front of Goth, two meters away.


    "Have you made a decision? Join us, you''ll get what you want." Its voice was like a hoarse middle-aged man.


    "Is this your body? Or your totem?" Gode looked wary.


    "Wouldn''t you know when you try?" A smug, silver smile emerged at the corner of the silver-lined monitor lizard.


    A dark shadow flashed by.


    It suddenly disappeared from its original position and rushed towards Goth, still by the door.


    In mid-air, its four claws turned into sharp spikes, slashing towards its adversary. The sharp edge missed, but the waves in its wake were too quick to avoid.


    Chi Chi Chi!!


    Goth suddenly took two steps back. Four spots of blood appeared on him, and a little bit of blood soaked through his clothes.


    "Some reach you have!" His eyes bulged open, uncomprehending.


    Silver horn lizard sneered and once again turned into a dark shadow, hurtling towards him.


    Chi Chi!


    Two more spots of blood emerged after the exchange..


    "blackfield bird, go!" He completely unable to understand how he was being hurt, he stumbled toward the church walls, trying to rely on constantly changing positions to avoid the lizard''s attacks.


    "We know your secret ...." The silver horned lizard sneered and said, "Your totem, the blackfield bird, though powerful, is connected to your ontology. As long as the blackfield bird is hurt, you too will be injured. "


    As it spoke, it raised his right claw and lunged forward.


    Scoffing, the Blackfield bird rushed to avoid the attack, suddenly enlarging in midair. From the size of a palm, it grew rapidly into a giant three-meter bird.


    It shrieked, hovering in the air within the church, before diving towards the lizard like a giant eagle after its prey. It sped downwards like a sharp arrow.


    The huge blackfield bird body was suddenly inflicted with several deep gashes, and Goth finally understood.


    "Iron Feather Volley !!" He was relentless as he sent a command to his bird.


    Suddenly, the blackfield bird''s feathers shot on end, aligning themselves below the silver horn lizard. The black feathers slowly glowed with a glimmer of silver light. The huge, black body of the bird quickly spread a distorted force field and enveloped the silver horn lizard.


    The force field was formless, and the lizard was held in a vice grip as if being crushed by a gigantic fist.


    The black bird shrieked, Chi Chi Chi!!


    All its feathers are shot out like a volley of arrows, a dense shower flying towards the silver horn lizard.


    Bang bang bang!! Unrelenting bangs could be heard as some feathers hit the lizard. Most of the feathers hit the ground, stirring up large amounts of dust and gravel.


    After all the feathers were shot, they quickly flew back to the blackfield bird as if they were boomerangs, and regained their original form.


    The blackfield bird shrunk back to its original size and flew back to perch on Goth''s shoulders.


    Dust clouded the church, leaving nothing to be seen. After a short while the dust gradually settled down, and Goth could finally see the situation of silver horn lizard.


    The silver horn lizard was shot full of holes but it was still struggling to stand on the ground.


    "What strong ability. The traction field does not allow the enemy to escape and the attacks used after the release could indiscriminately attack any target around the perimeter. The ability of the blackfield bird is indeed rare." The silver horn lizard was just distracted momentarily and sustained serious injuries. However, it remained calm with no signs of panic.


    "Goth, your growth is really amazing."


    The silver horn lizard replied, before quickly turned into a silver-colored light, shining into the dark spots within the church.


    The silver light disappeared in the shadows, and out of it came a voluptuous woman with wavy hair. One of her hands was adorned with five black gem rings, while the other hand was twirling with her blonde hair, her demeanor relaxed. A black robe was draped fittingly to the body and outlined her bodily curves.


    "Tell me where the medicine is!" Goth clenched his lip and said aloud.


    "Want to save your little lover?" replied the blonde woman with a smirk, "we''ll talk after you win."


    She waved a single hand and five silver lights shot out suddenly, transforming into five similar silver horn lizards. The regiment completely surrounded Goth and the blackfield bird.


    Roar!


    A lizard suddenly arched its body and let out a low growl. The first lizard, initially gravely injured, had now returned to normal.


    Goth had a sudden realization and his pupil contracted momentarily.


    Suddenly, the five lizards lifted their right claws and hurled themselves towards him all at the same time. Five almost shapeless sharp waves came at him from unseen directions.


    Boom!!!


    *************


    Garen''s back was against the stone wall as he stood on the left, just below the stone steps. He was quietly observing the movements inside the church.


    From the moment Goth entered, there had been constant bursts of roars, as if a fierce fight was going on.


    Even now, the movements inside did not die down. Instead, they appeared to be growing bigger and bigger.


    Garen kept practicing portrayals with both hands while listened quietly to the situation.


    Chi!


    An invisible sharp wave flew out from the church gate and ruthlessly split open the stone steps on the platform.


    Without a sound, the stone platform''s corner was cut off and the ground was left with crescent-shaped knife marks.


    Garen squinted and walked gently to touch the knife marks. The cut was more than 10 cm into the stone slab, forming lines of black slits.


    "Powerful," he praised, "surely, the person going against Goth is a Form 2 totem user, and is not a perverse player either."


    *************


    Inside the church.


    Goth gasped as he supported his upper body on his knees. His forehead continued to shed streams of blood, leaving a stream of dark red along his right cheek.


    The blackfield bird on the side had its feathers scattered, like a hairy little hen. One side of its wing looked broken and both its eyes looked dead, as it was barely standing on the ground. It looked gravely injured.


    In front of the bird and the man were five silver horned lizards, lying on the ground, all of them decapitated, rapidly becoming mercury.


    The blonde wavy-haired woman looked horrified, her gaze on the wall gazing steadily at Goth. Her arrogance vanished.


    "You! You actually ....!"


    "Where''s the medicine?" Goth walked over, grabbed her collar and slammed her against the wall. "Tell me! The medicine! Where is it!" His bloodshot eyes betrayed the tendencies of a wild beast, just a sliver away from losing control. .


    "I''ll tell you! I''ll tell you !!" The woman sputtered hastily, "The medicine is...."


    Chi!!


    An invisible wave instantly split blackfield bird''s body in half.


    Chi!!


    With another squeal, the bird tumbled to the ground.


    Goth also followed suit a muffled scream and doubled over. His chest collapsed, and his mouth spewed blood as he coughed..


    "As for the medicine, I''ll reveal that to your dead body," The woman''s face was covered with a flirtatious smile, but all of a sudden, her face froze. "you!!"


    Bam!


    The blackfield bird swooped up once again and into Goth''s body, turning into a dark shimmering layer, covering his whole body.


    "This is!!" The woman''s expression suddenly panicked, not mock panic, but a real, guttural panic pulled from the depths of her psyche


    She turned to flee. The last silver-headed dragon lizard flew up and grabbed Goth, trying to stop him from chasing.


    Suddenly, an invisible giant force field dispersed and shrouded her within.


    Bang!!


    A huge roar came from within the church, dust was kicked up and rows of chairs and tables were thrown in all directions. The dust settled to reveal a crater in the earth, more than 20 meters across.


    The instant after the explosion, all was silent.


    The remaining dust eventually dispersed into the air, and in the middle of the pit, Goth held the woman by the neck with one hand. His face was deathly pale, barely managing to hold the body.


    "Tell me, where is the medicine?" He asked hoarsely. "Otherwise, I''ll kill you!"


    The woman kicked her feet as her face turned purple.


    "I... I do not know.... the important things are kept with Lord Ansella! Don''t kill me!"


    Goth''s expression was grim, his hold on the woman who had lost the power to resist. Suddenly he saw her struggling, begging and even actually crying outright as her tears flowed into two clear traces of water.


    The totem user in front of him was not exactly that flirtatious enemy, but more like an ordinary young girl, at the age of only twenty at most.


    "Don''t kill me, please! Don''t!!" The girl cried splinters.


    Looked at her pleading eyes, Goth''s heart softened, and gently put her down.


    "Where''s this Ansella you speak of?" He whispered.


    "He''s¡­ He''s behind the black wall in Copenhagen, in the place marked with the dark sun. Wait until night falls to find him!" The girl quickly told him what she knew, "we are under his leadership, he knows the most. It was on his request that I came in contact with you! It''s not my fault!"


    Goth sent silent for a while.


    "Scram." His face was overcome with calm. Retracting the blackfield birds, he finally saw what was left of the girl''s six silver horn monitor lizards. Not one survived, all turned into mercury. He then turned to exit the church.


    The blonde girl looked at Goth''s silhouette vanish, and her eyes flashed with hate.


    "Well go then! Best you die while you''re there! Then I can easily finish what I have to do!" She said, her heart cursing him fiercely.


    Goth''s figure disappeared out of the church, and the girl managed to get up and look at the five dark gemstone rings on her hand, and suddenly grit her teeth.


    "Don''t you want to save your little lover? If you manage to save them, my name will cease to be Sallora! And that Andy as well. We should have just killed them all!"


    Her face was deeply resentful. Her five well-developed totems were destroyed; a devastating blow to any totem user.

 306 Following 2

    Chapter 306: Following 2


    "Now i need to go back and nurture them again... Fortunately, with my past experience, I still have one lizard to breed with, otherwise it would have been utter misery!" She walked into the depths of the church.


    Suddenly there was another set rhythmic footsteps outside the church.


    The woman suddenly turned around and looked to the church door.


    A tall, burly gray-robed man walked in slowly. Apparently under the gray robes was a set of armor, with a subtle hint of his facial characteristics.


    The man only had some golden hair on his head, his eyebrows very light, handsome face seemed a little dead, his expression unusually pale.


    As soon as he entered the church, his gaze quickly locked onto the woman.


    "A totem user with so many totems, pretty good luck."


    "Who are you?" The woman suddenly became wary.


    "It does not matter who I am, but what is important is how much of a surprise you can give me." The man grinned, and that white set of teeth reminded people of the sharks in the sea. "An elite Totem User who cannot fight at all, I''m really lucky."


    "You !!" The woman still wanted to speak, but in the blink of an eye, the man instantly disappeared from where he was.


    What followed was a blackout. She didn¡¯t know anything after.


    Garen stab the woman¡¯s eyes with two fingers, his fingertips dug into the depths of her brain, feeling a warm, paste like texture.


    He slowly pulled out his fingers, and gently flicked them. The brain pulp and blood dislodged by the force of inertia, falling on the ground in the distance.


    Splat!


    Woman croaked on the ground, her eyes were stabbed into two bloody holes, red blood slowly rolled down the cheeks to form two red lines.


    At this time, Garen did not pay any attention to the movement of the body at all. Instead, he focused his attention on the properties pane below the field of view.


    One of the potential value this time shot up like a rocket, the figures changed at an alarming speed!


    An unexpected feeling of surprise suddenly poured into Garen¡¯s heart.


    A full 10 seconds later, the potential figure slowly stopped. At this point has reached an alarming value!


    1344%! !


    From the original remaining 3 points, it suddenly spiked to 13! Garen earned 10 potential points just from killing that female totem user.


    "It''s a lot more worth than the one I killed earlier!" Garen compared the form 2 totem user killed in the previous attacks, and they were simply not in the same league.


    "Now with 13 potential points, I can focus on upgrading one totem, and see how it goes after my strength increases."


    Garon squatted down and searched the girl for a while to find a dark booklet and a leather bag with items. He glanced at the five gemstone rings between the fingers of the girl, hesitating, but did not take them off in the end.


    If Obscuro Society attached tracking signals in these, it will be very troublesome. Better be safe than sorry.


    After looting, Garen quickly left from the side of the church. He dashed out from a broken window, his speed was utilised to the maximum, and he quickly disappeared into the shadow of the city.


    Following Goth back all the way into the inner city, Garen looked at Goth walk into his own residence to recuperate, and he quietly left. Then, he proceeded to the inner city war headquarters.


    Headquarter¡¯s basic buildup pattern is similar to the branch, but the venue was much larger. Hanging on the wall were a lot of skulls of the freshly hunted unihorn lizards.


    Garen found a corner to sit down and ordered a cup of unexpectedly expensive coffee. He slowly drank the dark liquid alone.


    People walked in and out of the guild. The wounded were continually rushed in, pulled out, then rushed toward the hospital in the city. They were brought in from the underpass and were injured on their line of duty.


    He sat alone in the corner, using his gray robe to cover himself tightly. His gaze fell on the totem pane.


    This time he was prepared to focus his potential points to evolve the Deep Swamp Croc. The ability of the parasites of the Deep Swamp Croc was a great addition to his overall strength. Although in contrast to its ontology, it was not tough enough, but this parasitic ability is enough to make up for everything.


    Parasitic beetle was simply the perfect cannon fodder, used to amass numbers and for reconnaissance, were quite cost-effective.


    "Just that, the chances of evolution to form 3 is too low." Garen''s brow furrowed as he looked at the Deep Swamp Croc at the totem pane.


    ''Deep Swamp Croc: Second evolution of the short tail croc, form 2 creature totem. Can be improved, evolution success rate of 24%. Potential consumption point: 500%.


    Ability: explosive ambush, steel armor plating, parasitism. ''


    "One in four chance. I''ll try my luck." Garen made his mind, his gaze set on Deep Swamp Croc icon.


    The potential points went fuzzy for a while, and decreased by 5 points.


    The Deep Swamp Croc icon also blurred for a while, and a few seconds later, cleared up once again, and nothing else happened.


    "There''s still another chance!" Garon looked calm and tense, and he was mentally prepared. This low probability made it likely to fail many times, it might not necessarily get evolved even once out of four times.


    The second time.


    His gaze once again condensed on the icon.


    The potential points got blurry again, and the Deep Swamp Croc¡¯s icon did the same.


    The icon cleared up, and was still the original Deep Swamp Croc icon.


    "Failed again..." Garen took a deep breath, "no matter, following Goth will yield more chances for more potential to be credited in the due time. Form 3 totems are never common, how many totem users have failed to advance their totems after so many years of cultivation? if it was that simple, there will be many form 3 by now.


    He was very aware of his own advantage. Unlike a typical totem user, he did not need to make the careful use of resources and money, to be able to succeed in evolution, and neither did each failure result in the destruction of the totem as well.


    When evolution using potential points failed, the totem would remain the same as before, this was his greatest advantage. Even though potential points were difficult to gain.


    Standing up, he walked to the guild counter in front of the council. From a total of five windows, he chose the furthest of the left-most windows with the words ''Enquiry Counter''.


    He lined up as he slowly waited for his turn.


    In front of people queuing up, they took turns to choose the information listed above. All the information held by the headquarters of the guild was listed down, and one could attain their desired piece without a word. The catch was that you couldn''t ask for further details.


    Soon, the red shirted lady in front of him left the counter with a gloomy expression. It seemed that she got some bad news.


    Garen walked up and looked back to the eyes of the people behind, showing them a gaze which warned them not to get too close. The man in white behind him smiled, and then stood farther away.


    Garen turned back to the counter, and looked inside the selection of items.


    There was a black desktop with five options; five words are round boxes.


    From left to right, they were: tracing, resources, monsters, routes.


    Garen pressed on the resources boxes. The employee inside gave out a list.


    He took over and looked at the top of the rows of resources and treasures, all of which were listed in detail.


    ''Rice - Location: Southern City District warehouse points, the estimated reserve of ten people a year. Intelligence price: two hundred thousand silver sheets. ''


    ''Soy sauce - Location: Whitewing Chamber of Commerce warehouse, estimated reserve of 10 people for three years. Intelligence Price: 900,000 silver sheets. ''


    ''Potato - Location: Whitewing Chamber of Commerce warehouse, estimated reserves of ten people in January. Information is valid: two months, priced at 50000 silver sheets. ''


    .......


    ....


    ....


    Rows of various dietary resources were all listed. Garen looked from top to bottom, and soon his gaze fell on the totem resources.


    Among the totem resources listed in the outskirts, there were inactivated totems, maintenance tools, unit factories, totem notes, and tactical notes, at the end. He actually saw an intelligence on permanent tactic.


    For twenty thousand silver sheets, you could get them.


    Obviously that was not very difficult. That is, there were other reasons which made it hard to pick up.


    Garen roughly swept his eyes across. The permanent tactic, although he wanted it, he did not have the strength. Bought some intelligence on the creatures, took a thin booklet and he sat back in position and looked up.


    After sitting in the guild for a while, Garen went back to the counter receptionist to buy a copy of the latest Insider briefings, along with some essential anti-fever and anti-inflammatory drugs. Then left a message to Angel, and then he walked into the underground passage, toward the direction of the outer city back.


    Goth was seriously injured, he need to at least to rest for a period of time to recover. He happened to go back and visit. Now that his power had expanded considerably, he could go out to search for the resources needed, and also hunt more potential points on the side.


    From the briefing, Garen saw the latest mission completion forms, with Angel leading the team in sixth place and among the top dozen of teams. It was unusually eye-catching.


    This also made Garen extremely satisfied with his own standards. Angel''s friendship, and the shackles of war as a link, did serve some function.


    As long as Angel does not give up the core totem and strengthened it, when a the strength of the totem reaches a certain threshold, she would definitely be unwilling to give up the core easily, and this side of the link will become closer and closer.


    From now on, the shackles of war did not reflect Angel¡¯s signs of replacement of the core totem.


    Going back to the underground passage and taking advantage of the emptiness inside it, Garen took out all the things that he looted; a booklet, and a bag.


    These are the things that a form 2 totem user of Obscuro Society carries around. That guy''s ability was very hard to handle. It belonged to a type of air compression cutting, and was very powerful.


    With more totems under their control, without tactics but to purely relying on the totems, its power is very powerful already.


    Garen looked back at such an encounter, the winner would be the one who attacked first. If he had attacked first, he would rely on ambush tactics. The resonance hawk¡¯s attack was still very powerful, provided he was able to determine the location of the other totem users.


    If his opponent attacked first, the invisible sharp edge of the blades combined with their speed, the resonance hawk and other totems may not be able to dodge, it was likely to be a disadvantage.


    In fact, during simulations, the opponents¡¯ winning percentage was much higher. That kind of speed, and it''s very sharp air edge slash from the silver horn lizard is very tough to deal with.


    If it wasn¡¯t because of Goth¡¯s core totem was destroyed, Garen did not dare to appear in the final minute to loot. Especially when the last outbreak of Goth, the air explosion that produced, it was never clear if Goth had caused it or that woman, but whatever that did, the crater it left was really terrifying..

 307 Adventure 1

    Chapter 307: Adventure 1


    Back at the War Guild Office in the outskirts of the city, there was almost no one else left, except for two guards who had stayed back to change shifts. As they watched Garen walk out, a surprised expression appeared on both of their faces, but they remained silent.


    As he walked back calmly to his own villa in the suburbs, Garen realised that the entire area had become a paradise for his pets. All of the monsters that were scattered around here had been taken care of already, and only a few clusters of them remained in the surroundings. There were no solitary monsters left to be hunted.


    Light rain began to drizzle down from the sky, as dark grey clouds began to appear.


    As Garen walked into his courtyard, two Parasitic Beetles that had been keeping watch earlier now crawled towards him from both directions and climbed unto his body. The Giant Hawk and Resonance Hawk that were perched on the roof, stood up from their nests and let out a crisp whistling noise.


    After taking out his keys and opening the front door, Garen walked inside, and closed the door with the back of his hand. Clad in a maid¡¯s outfit, Lala walked towards Garen and, without being told, took his grey robe from him, and hung it on the clothes rack on the side.


    "You¡¯ve had a long day," Lala said softly.


    "And you¡¯ve adapted really quickly," said Garen teasingly.


    He walked towards the sofa and sat down, as Lala attended to him and helped him change into a pair of clean slippers. Next, he brought the freshly made cup of black tea to his lips and sipped slowly.


    "The tea has become cold."


    "Forgive me, although we still have water in the house, we¡¯re almost out of firewood, and I didn¡¯t want to use it carelessly," said Lala as she stood on the other side of the room.


    "This is a problem," nodded Garen. "I¡¯ll think of a way to sort it out. The smoke from the burning fire where we warm ourselves will definitely catch people¡¯s attention. Try and see if there are other ways to solve this."


    "I will," nodded Lala in a hesitant manner.


    Garen drank his black tea slowly as he leaned against the sofa and closed his eyes. A few moments later, he noticed that Lala had not left, and was still lingering at the side. He opened his eyes again.


    "Is there anything else?"


    Lala tugged at her white apron hesitantly.


    "Although I¡¯ve already troubled you greatly, but there is still something I would like to know.. How my family is doing in the inner city? As well as my friend, my only good friend Biz."


    "The number of people entering the city are far too many, and they have been spread out messily. It would be very troublesome to find specific people," said Garen as he furrowed his eyebrows. "I have a lot of things on my mind, so in exchange, think wisely about the reward you will give me. If it is suitable, I will proceed to deal with this matter with my own hands."


    "Yes, sir," nodded Lala. "I¡¯m extremely fortunate to have met an employer like yourself."


    "You¡¯re welcome."


    Garen lifted his cup of black tea and finished it in one gulp, before looking around the hall and noticing that the whole place was now spotlessly clean. He smiled with satisfaction.


    "I¡¯ll be going upstairs now. Unless there¡¯s an important matter, please don¡¯t disturb me. Right until dinner time."


    "Alright."


    Garen walked into his study room and locked the door.


    The windows of the study room had not been closed, and the wind lifted the curtains up, allowing some moisture to creep into the room.


    He walked over and closed the glass window, before sitting in front of the desk.


    Once again, he took out the items he had gotten from the blonde woman, and spread them out on the table.


    There was a leather bag and a little notebook.


    The brown leather bag was the size of a fist, but no one knew what it was that was hidden inside to cause it to bulge.


    Garen opened the knot on the bag, and poured out the contents with a crash.


    The items that fell out onto the table were apparently a huge pile of various gemstone jewelry. There were rings, red rubies, diamonds, as well as the most expensive amethyst.


    A surprised expression appeared on Garen¡¯s face.


    "Could it actually be that?" said Garen as he recognized the effects of the gemstones and jewelry.


    "Evolving gemstones¡­ Various Key Primers required when evolving Totems. Red represents the direction of the flame, purple represents directions that are currently unknown, while diamonds represent natural evolution. There really is an abundance of them here."


    Garen¡¯s mouth spread into a satisfied smile.


    "I won¡¯t be able to use these things, but other Totem users will surely find them to be of much help. The amethyst is a Evolution Primer required by many Totems. While using other sources during to nurture totems, high quality gemstones are needed as Primers during the Key Evolution period, in order to result in the desired result. If these criteria are not met, it will result in a chaotic evolution, as well as certain totems being evolved without any powers at all. These things can be exchanged with others for great returns."


    He kept the gemstones as well as the women¡¯s jewelry. Garen¡¯s gaze then fell onto a different item.


    A black leather little notebook.


    He opened the front page of the notebook carefully. There were tightly packed scribbles inside, written in messy handwriting, with the order all mixed up. It was obvious that this was an essay of sorts.


    Garen flipped through the notebook for a while, and skimmed over the words he could recognize.


    "Eh?" he said as he sat up straighter, his gaze focusing suddenly, as he stared at one of the pages in the little notebook.


    He took the quill from the pen holder and opened the bottle of ink, before dipping the pen into it.


    He copied a line of words from the book onto a piece of white paper.


    ¡®15th March, truly an interesting time. A man who was an old wealthy business man on the surface, turned out to be a strong Totem user in secret. Once the quest has been completed, find someone to get rid of him. Advanced skills like Solidifying Tactics are not things that can be easily protected by old men like himself.


    Garen copied down the name of the place from the back of the notebook. The words in the notebook were slightly blurry and messy, which made them quite difficult to differentiate. Even though the contents were written in the Ender language, he still understood them, except for a few crookedly written characters that were hard to distinguish. However, he was certain that the name of the place he had written down was definitely in Iron Tank City.


    He took out the map of Iron Tank City and began looking at the place names one by one. Immediately, his index finger paused on a specific location.


    "Niester Region, this is a famous immigrant district. The people living there are all immigrants from other areas, all of which are either rich people or skilled elites."


    He kept the map and wrote down the address of the place. After that, he looked at the sky outside.


    "It¡¯s still early, I can go take a look."


    After saying goodbye to Lala, he willed his totems to prepare to leave.


    He exited the villa, and jumped onto the top of the wall, looking at the totems in his possession quietly.


    The three Giant Hawks on the roof circled around continuously and let out sharp deterrence-like howls, as if warning the other monsters in the sky that this was their territory.


    On the ground, the Deep Swamp Croc commanded the eight Beetles to line up in the courtyard.


    Garen left two of the Beetles behind, and arranged for the Petrified Giant Lizard to guard the house, while he took the remaining six Beetles out with him.


    After that, he tried to recall the route from the map, and brought his totem herd around to the city, as they moved forward slowly.


    Immediately, the Resonance Hawk found a hole in one of city¡¯s wrecked walls. It looked as it had been damaged by a large monster.


    Garen took the Giant Croc and Beetle into the city through the hole, which led to the craftsmen district in the inner city.


    Grey-white bungalows were placed together in a row, and built tightly against the city wall. The insides of the building were completely empty and eerily quiet, except for the occasional sound of wooden doors and windows being blown closed by the wind.


    The ground was covered with moist black soil, and there were white bones and blood stains everywhere. Meanwhile, numerous hammers and iron mats were scattered in the blacksmith shop by the road, and a few arrows were stuck in the pillars of a wooden building.


    Garen was flanked by the Beetles and Giant Crocs, as they dashed into the area.


    They spent some time turning circles around the clusters of buildings in the inner city, before hearing a voice echoing softly suddenly.


    "Jegula, setingdiya,"


    Garen furrowed his eyebrows, unable to understand what was being said. It sounded like a localized native dialect, unlike any of the languages of the Three Strong Empires.


    He ignored it, and suddenly the sound of a woman sobbing emerged from the same direction as the previous noise.


    The first voice grew louder and colder, as if it was scolding the woman.


    Garen continued to ignore them, and passed through this region. In this chaotic world, only the strongest were the most powerful. Incidents like these were common occurrences everywhere, and could be seen anywhere.


    Quickly, he passed through this vast region, and after continuing his journey forward for a period of time, he ducked down suddenly to avoid a large herd of Unihorn Lizards that flew past him in the sky. Although these monsters considered Silver Totems as one of their own and would not attack them without reason, in the event that they were provoked, they would still attack them, even if they happened to be of the same species.


    Garen walked carefully until it was almost evening, before the crossroads of Niester Region finally appeared in front of him.


    Along the way, he found six underground cellars in the outskirts of the city where survivors had been hiding. Many of these underground cellars had become private little kingdoms ruled by the strong. They hid in these underground cellars and became the kings they had always dreamed of becoming, wantonly enjoying themselves while trampling over the dignity and interests of other people.


    Garen did not pay any mind to these people. Instead, he followed the address that he had memorised earlier, and rushed towards the rich businessman¡¯s residence in the region.


    Immediately, in the middle of the white buildings, a white house with a round silver roof appeared in Garen¡¯s line of sight.


    A large White Bat was perched on top of the silver roof of the house.


    The bat was huge, as tall as five meters and as wide as four. Both of its white wings leaned against the roof, as if they were two pieces of white rags, as long as ten over meters when stretched open. Looking from afar, it looked like a white glider.


    Garen willed his totems to spread out and surround the silver-roofed building. This house was the place where the rich businessman lived. It was obvious that this place had now become the White Bat¡¯s residence, and if the rich businessman was not hiding, it would mean that he had been killed already.


    Garen hid behind broken wall, poking his head out carefully to size up the Giant Bat.


    A black iron chain hung around its furry neck, and the end of the chain was a red ball of flesh made up of a man¡¯s corpse, dripping blood continuously.


    Garen looked closely, and noticed that the black iron chain seemed to be growing out of the bat¡¯s chest. Apparently, it was not something that was man-made.


    He released his Aura carefully, as white-gold coloured ripples emerged slowly, covering the bat¡¯s body at once.


    Hiss!


    The bat opened its eyes immediately, as if it had suddenly felt something. It shook its head from side to side, and began looking around at all directions.


    A large splash of blood splashed through the air, sending Garen¡¯s Aura back to him temporarily.


    Whoosh!


    Garen let out a low groan, and held his chest.


    "To think that a monster¡¯s blood could be this powerful!! My Aura comes from the polymerization of my Three Energies, and are not of this world. I¡¯m surprised that it could use the circulation of its vital energy and blood to force my Aura back to me. Amazing!! The high levels possessed by the vital energy and blood, if compared to the previous world, would not be able to be destroyed even by bombs or missiles. Only nuclear bombs would be able to destroy them!"


    This was the first time he had encountered a situation like this. After achieving his Godlike Accomplishment, the vital energy in his whole body expanded to reach the limit of a human, and from then on, even wild creatures could not be much stronger than him. However, upon encountering this bat, who¡¯s vital energies were powerful to an alarming degree, he knew that it meant that it also possessed extremely powerful vitality. Therefore, as long as it was not killed, it would be able to recover to its initial state, and bounce back immediately. Creatures like this with extremely powerful vitalities were the hardest to defeat.


    "In order to go in, it looks like I have no choice but to kill this monster," said Garen as he narrowed his eyes and hid deeper inside.


    Once he had willed them, a Black Beetle crawled slowly into the courtyard of the house, as its large ferocious mouth pointed towards the Bat and screamed loudly to provoke it.


    Hiss!!


    The Bat ignored the Beetle completely, and acted as if the others were not there. It lay down again and prepared to rest. But the moment the Beetle tried to enter the building, the White Bat hissed and let out a warning noise.


    Garen thought about it for a while, and decided to release the Neon Butterfly quietly, before using its poisonous powder to stain the claws of all the Resonance Hawks, as well dusting some on the Deep Swamp Crocs and Beetles as well.


    Even though the Bat was an Aberration creature released by the Obscuro Society, the nature of its attacks still bore similarities to that of the Totem Light, and its specific strength was still unknown.


    Garen took out the monster information pamphlet that he had gotten from the War Guild and began flipping through it.

 308 Adventure 2

    Chapter 308: Adventure 2


    He found information on the White Bat immediately.


    ¡®Giant White Bat: Possesses strength almost equivalent to a Form 3 Totem. Extremely dangerous, likes collecting corpses and rolling them into ball-like shapes, and applying pressure onto the creature¡¯s blood by squeezing their dead bodies lightly, to create an artificial blood circulating environment. Their size determines their strength, and the largest Bat has a wingspan of twenty meters, while the smallest ones have wingspans of ten meters.


    Abilities: Ultrasound Wave Impact, Iron Chain Cage.¡¯


    "Almost a Form 3 Totem, huh¡­ How impressive," said Garen as he narrowed his eyes.


    Currently, his three Resonance Hawks and one Deep Swamp Croc were all at the level of Form 2 Totems. One of the Resonance Hawks were extremely powerful, and would probably be able to fight the White Bat, while the Deep Swamp Croc could launch a surprise attack in the dark. As for the Beetle, it would only be able stay alert around their surroundings. Meanwhile, the Neon Butterfly and Black-Striped White Tiger were left out of the equation, because as Form 1 Totems, regardless of their strength, speed, physique, and even abilities, they would still be surpassed by their opponents, and would only result in more casualties if released during battle.


    However to face off something with this amount of strength, even if they attacked him together, Garen was still slightly wary of the probability of them actually defeating the bastard.


    "That¡¯s it, we¡¯ll just have to try. A monster that has almost achieved Form 3 will definitely grant me an abundance of Potential Points once I¡¯ve killed it. Furthermore, there may be unexpected rewards inside this house as well. This is also an opportunity for me to see the true power of my current strength," said Garen as he made up his mind, and prepared to make his first move.


    A few Beetles spread out and kept watch, making sure to stay away from the house in the process.


    Three Resonance Hawks circled around the perimeter of the house slowly. Meanwhile, the Deep Swamp Croc shook its giant tail and crawled into the shadows carefully.


    A heavy atmosphere began to seep into the air slowly, as the White Bat seemed to sense that something was amiss as well. It folded its wings suddenly, and pointed its opened mouth vigilantly in all directions, releasing soundless Ultrasound Waves, as if it were judging the current situation.


    "Resonance Hawks, go!"


    Garen willed and commanded them.


    The three Resonance Hawks flew in from three different directions and charged towards the Bat at the same time. The sarcomas on their heads began to bob up and down violently, as they grew redder and more blood-coloured with every moment.


    Three shapeless vibrations flew towards the White Bat and crashed into its body.


    Thump! Thump! Thump!!


    A loud heartbeat echoed from the White Bat¡¯s body instantly.


    Hiss!!


    It opened its large mouth and let out an angry roar. The roar was not loud, but a huge gust of white gas came spraying out with it. The White Bat tried to stretch its wings open to fly, but it was obvious that it was tired and having some difficulty getting up.


    It shook its wings a few times and realised that it lacked strength, before beating them once again more violently, while its white eyes suddenly turned bloodshot.


    Hiss!!


    Once again, it let out a loud roar, as the sound of its flapping wings rang loudly throughout the air.


    Opening its large mouth, the Bat suddenly released a series of silent sound vibrations, instantly hitting the Resonance Hawk on the left.


    Hum!


    The Ultrasound Wave Impact suddenly crashed into the Resonance Hawk¡¯s body. The Hawk let out a sorrowful whine, as the feathers on its body seemed as if it had been blown by a strong gust of wind. It began falling to the floor in a heap. No longer could it continue to stay in the sky, as it began to fall and crash onto the roof, its whole body dripping with blood moments after.


    Garen was left in shock, and quickly decided to command his other two Resonance Hawks to move forward and attack.


    The two Resonance Hawks charged forward ferociously, one at each side, and cornered the White Bat from both the left side and the right.


    Bang bang!


    The loud noise sounded through the air twice, as the claws of the Resonance Hawks clashed with the wings of the Bat. The two Resonance Hawks had managed to suppress the White Bat, and had collided with it until the Bat nearly lost its balance. The flesh on the sides of the Bat¡¯s wings were scratched up slightly, making it look like shredded pieces of white paper.


    The two Resonance Hawks looked like two black dots as they flew around the White Bat, constantly looking for openings to attack.


    The three of them fought in the air, as black feathers and white flesh endlessly floated downwards, showing that both sides had suffered losses and injuries.


    The White Bat¡¯s angry hissing noises grew more frequent, and it continued to beat its wings violently, making the chain on its chest shake harder in all directions.


    A loud banging noise could be heard, before the corpse ball on the chain fell and crashed onto the body of the fi first Resonance Hawk that had not manage dodge in time.


    The impact from the collision almost caused it to fall. Resonance Hawk No. 1 let out a sorrowful howl. Its chest looked like it had been dented inwards slightly, but the bird continued to flap its wings as it charged towards the Bat without any sign of death or dying.


    Garen looked up and watched the fight from below. He knew that close-range combat like this was the best way to defeat the White Bat. Once the distance increased, the Ultrasound Waves and Chain Attack could take down any opponent easily. This was especially true for the Ultrasound Wave Impact that worked well in far distances, because it provided range-type damage.


    Garen had already read the information about the White Bat. When this monster appeared on the battlefield, it always took at least three air-combat Totem users to get rid of it, and these fights always resulted in damaged Totems. Its terrifying Ultrasound Wave Impact was extremely powerful, and had already killed at least fifteen Form 2 Totem users. It was a formidable opponent, a bomber-plane type killer. It was similar to the White Dragonhawk in the human sense.


    Garen controlled both of the Resonance Hawks quietly, commanding them to lead the White Bat slowly towards ground-level to continue their fight there.


    A few moments later, the three creatures arrived near the shadowy areas near the wall where the Deep Swamp Croc was hiding.


    Suddenly, a large black figure reflected outwards from the shadows, violently landing onto the White Bat¡¯s body.


    Tch!


    The Giant Croc used its large mouth to bite down on the Bat¡¯s neck brutally. Just like a wild animal trap, the Croc¡¯s sharp fangs snapped down on the Bat¡¯s neck quickly, not releasing it at all.


    The Deep Swamp Croc¡¯s large body was now wrapped around the Bat. Suddenly, large quantities of sticky white blood began to flow out of the Croc¡¯s mouth. It was the White Bat¡¯s fresh blood.


    Hiss!!


    The White bat hissed in pain and began struggling frantically, as if it was about to drag the Deep Swamp Croc up into the sky.


    Out of the blue, the two Resonance Hawks flew towards them. They flapped their wings a few times, as their four claws attached themselves to the white wings.


    The three beasts pressed their opponent against the ground, as white blood continued to pour out continuously like an endless stream of water.


    The White Bat struggled for a few good minutes, and then stretched its big mouth open suddenly. The sound of empty air leaking out sounded out from its throat. Finally, all movement ceased.


    At this moment, Resonance Hawk No. 1 relaxed itself as well. As it lay face up on the ground with its sharp beak open, its eyes turned white and it continued inhaling, but did not exhale. Its breastbone sunk in deeply, an obvious sign that something was not right anymore.


    Garen walked out of his hiding spot and looked at No. 1 who was currently in a bad state, as a series of emotions began to bubble up inside his chest.


    "You¡¯re very brave," he said as he crouched down and stroked No. 1¡¯s feathers and watched him gulp air slowly, noticing that he had almost stopped breathing. There was an indescribable feeling in his heart.


    Just then, the Potential Value at the bottom of his field of vision began to change.


    From the initial three-plus points, it began to skyrocket suddenly.


    Four points, five points, six points, seven points, eight points, ten points. Finally, it stopped.


    "Seven point Potential Value, it¡¯s not worth it¡­" said Garen as he looked at his gravely injured Totem herd with a heavy heart.


    The body of the Resonance Hawk began to melt slowly, and instantly became a pool of red blood. Even the feathers were not left behind, as all of its remains flowed into the white puddle of the Bat¡¯s blood, and dyed it bright red as well.


    Garen looked at the first Resonance Hawk that had been hit by the Ultrasound Waves. Every trace of it had long disappeared, and now the only thing left was a pool of blood on the roof.


    His heart continued to grow heavier.


    "Two Resonance Hawks for a seven point Potential Value. This Potential Value of this White Bat is not as high as that of the blonde woman that Goth defeated. It¡¯s obvious that it wasn¡¯t as powerful as that blonde woman, but it was still so difficult to kill," said Garen as he inhaled deeply. "Looks like I¡¯ll need to continue working harder¡­"


    He ordered the Deep Swamp Croc to drag the White Bat¡¯s corpse into a dark place to hide it.


    Garen allowed the two Beetles to follow him, as they walked towards the main door of the silver-roofed building together.


    At the entrance at the main door, the wooden door had been smashed open, and lay at the floor by the doorway. Inside the hall, countless dead bodies lay on the ground, and all of them were bleeding from all crevices.


    Garen walked closer to one of the corpses and examined it closely.


    "He¡¯s been dead for over a day, and they aren¡¯t any obvious external injuries, so he must have been killed by the White Bat¡¯s Ultrasound Waves."


    There were both male and female corpses, old and young. It seemed like they were having a meeting, before the White Bat¡¯s surprise ambush got rid of them.


    Garen stood up. "Such terrifying Ultrasound Waves, good thing I managed to order the Resonance Hawks to attack in time. And good thing the Resonance Hawks possessed frighteningly powerful strength, if not this would have ended badly."


    He surveyed the corpses for a while, but could not find anything of importance.


    Following the wooden spiral staircase on the left to the second floor, he saw a white-haired old man lying on the second floor corridor with his head separated from his body, and his neck nowhere to be seen.


    The old man wore a white robe that had been embedded with an agate gemstone, and the light green agate had been soaked by his blood, causing it to be dyed in a shade of dark red.


    Garen walked over and and searched the old man¡¯s body with his hands, before quickly finding a white jewelry box.


    This jewelry box had been pressed against the old man¡¯s chest, making it obvious that it was an important item.


    Garen took the box and got up, before opening it.


    In the middle of the velvet layer inside the box, a little dark-spotted Stone Ball with a white base had been placed there.


    Garen took the Stone Ball out and looked at it closely, before realising that the dark spots were not actually dark spots, but tiny words and symbols that had been written closely together, forming little black spots.


    He looked at the inner part of the box¡¯s lid where something had been engraved, and recognized it as Endor writing.


    ¡®The Eye of Isaiah -- Behold the gaze of the one who stares.¡¯


    "Endor writing?!" Garen felt an illusion as if he had returned to the Secret Technique world. "This place apparently has a connection to the previous world!"


    He held the Stone Ball, suddenly feeling as if the symbols of the War Shackles on his left arm were beginning to heat up.


    "Looks like these are Solidifying Tactics. I didn¡¯t expect it to be connected to the Endorian writing." There was no doubt in his mind that this item was used to train Obscuro Society Totem users before they embarked to seize items. Now that it had fallen in his hands, he wanted to use it immediately, to see the effects.


    He rolled up his left sleeve, and pressed the Stone Ball against the silver arrow symbol.


    Hiss¡­


    The Stone Ball started to melt quickly, and fused into Garen¡¯s left arm.


    On the silver arrow shape near the front of his War Shackle, a new white-grey Stone Ball symbol had appeared.


    Garen felt like his whole body had gained an additional, mystical strength. This strength felt like a warm hot spring that flowed through his body from his head to toes, like a snake that continuously slithered down his body. Every inch of his body began to feel warm.


    He looked towards the War Shackle Pane at the bottom of his field of vision. On the first empty spot out of two, a Stone Ball symbol had appeared, ad below it was an explanation written in symbols and words.


    ¡®War Shackles:


    Effect 1 --


    Eye of Isaiah: Originates from the mystical Endor civilization Tactics. This Tactic allows an individual to possess all-seeing eyes, as well as the ability to see more than the average human.


    Ability: Totem users will be gain Exhaustion Ray ability once a day. Area of attack: Eyes.¡¯


    "Exhaustion Ray?" said Garen as he rubbed his eyes, vaguely feeling like both his eyes had undergone a slight transformation.


    He looked at the Attribution Points in his Attribution Pane.


    His Attribution Points that had reached their limits much earlier had now increased apparently!


    His Vitality had increased from 2.76 to 2.82.


    He remembered clearly that he had checked them before leaving, and his Attributes still remained at the initial amounts. Now, however, his Vitality had apparently undergone a new increase.


    "Don¡¯t tell me that the Solidifying Tactic can actually increase a Totem user¡¯s physical fitness?!"

 309 Evolution 1

    Chapter 309: Evolution 1


    After he had received the Eye of Isaiah, Garen continued to investigate the house. Apart from some silver rumbs and some jewelry, there was nothing else left.


    Only then did he leave the house, before looking at his remaining Resonance Hawk waiting outside, with its exhausted, injured body. His heart dropped for a moment.


    "Go home!"


    His will sounded more like an order.


    Suddenly, the Deep Swamp Croc and Beetles began to move respectively, as they gathered around Garen and crawled outside.


    The Resonance Hawk had calmed down now. Currently, it was facing some difficulties flying, and could only perch on the Deep Swamp Croc¡¯ back as they travelled together.


    On the road back, Garen took the opportunity to stop by to search the medicine shop by the street. This area was quite a distance from the inner city, thus many shops had yet to be looted by the inner city dwellers. Garen hid himself in his Silver Totem herd, and managed to find a lot of medicine easily.


    The road back seemed to be experiencing a peak of monster movement. Every ten minutes, a large herd of a hundred over monsters flew closely over his head.


    On the ground, a large group of Dead Babies could be seen. They crawled crookedly, looking in every direction for a member of their species to kill. The crawling movements of these purplish-red coloured baby herds made them look like purplish-red worms that continuously let out wailing cries.


    Garen had no other choice but to let the Deep Swamp Croc and Beetles hide him from view. He used the Bone Shrinking Secret Technique to hide himself in a closed alley while the Deep Swamp Croc and Parasites blocked off the entry points to prevent the monsters from entering. This was how he evaded countless monster armies. However, this also led to a few Parasites being devoured by starving Dead Babies, while the three remaining Parasites huddled close beside the Deep Swamp Croc.


    Once the Dead Baby army had passed them, Garen quickened his pace, and went in the direction of his villa to return. As the armies grew more frequent, Garen became such that he did not dare to linger anywhere for a long time, because he knew that it would be a serious matter if he exposed himself.


    There was no guarantee that he would not attract a swarm of monsters as strong as the White Bat in the next minutes.


    He hurried back to the villa, where it was completely silent, with only two Beetles crawling around, patrolling the perimeter.


    The suburbs also had some additional nomadic Dead Babies, and another black-skinned monster.


    The black-skinned monster had sharp spikes all over its body. It was as tall as a human and resembled an upright hedgehog, with bloodshot eyes and sharp, long black claws, as if it possessed a pair of iron claws. It walked through the streets with an arched body, looking like a camouflaged hunter.


    Garen returned to his villa carefully and decided not to go out anymore. He let the Deep Swamp Croc and Beetles go out hunting by themselves, to bring back a corpse for them to feed on.


    He entered his study and began to practice his Tactics tirelessly.


    Many days passed, and within this period of time, Garen carefully allowed the Deep Swamp Croc to accumulate Beetles, and before he knew it, the number of Beetles had increased to ten. The Resonance Hawk¡¯s injuries also began to heal in about ten days, and it was finally able to go out and hunt.


    Garen allowed the Resonance Hawk to provide assistance to the Deep Swamp Croc in the beginning. It would endlessly capture stray monsters and give them to the Giant Croc to be used for its Parasites.


    A few more days passed, and the number of Parasites finally reached twenty. This was the limit, as twenty Parasites would only need to eat once every week to be full. However, Garen was worried about their frightening consumption rate, and decided to just capture all of the stray monsters in the vicinity.


    After two of his Resonance Hawks died, he attempted to turn the captured monsters into new Silver Totems for himself. Unfortunately, these monsters could not be empowered or controlled, apparently because they were highly resistant to this.


    Garen finally understood why the Obscuro Society were unable to control these monsters.


    Garen used the twenty Parasites as consumables and began to release all of them while constantly assessing the movements in his surroundings.


    Immediately, a monster herd with less than fifty monsters nearby the villa, were marked by Garen. Most of these were new monsters. Recently, the density of these monsters had increased, and it was obvious that most of them had come over because they were attracted by the people in the inner city.


    Although Garen¡¯s hiding abilities had increased, he was still too afraid to come out alone, as the density of the monsters outside was too high, and there were no dead ends he could use to hide.


    Under the cover of his Beetle herd, he returned to the ruins of the War Guild once again, following the tunnels to enter the passageway to the inner city.


    The two guards from earlier had disappeared without a trace. Bloodstains could occasionally be seen on the floor, making it impossible to tell if they were still alive. Garen was shocked but not afraid as he walked along the road, before finally arriving at the inner city.


    There was a tense atmosphere in the inner city, but Garen did not have any time for this, as his goal was Goth.


    After waiting for another five days, Goth finally left again.


    ***************


    Inside a white house in an unknown area of the outskirts of the city


    Boom!!!


    A shapeless figure caught a man in a black robe violently, as if a large shapeless hand had suddenly thrown him in mid air.


    "Where is Ansella??!!" Goth¡¯s eyes were bloodshot, as he growled at the man.


    The corner of the black-robed man¡¯s mouth was bleeding, and a frightened expression was plastered on face as he looked at Goth. "We underestimated you¡­ Goth, stop looking for Ansella, when you finally find him you¡¯ll¡­" Suddenly, he stopped himself from continuing.


    "Then, tell me! What about the medicine? The medicine to cure Jessica!" In one movement, Goth pulled the man towards himself.


    "Medicine¡­? It¡¯s always been with Lord Ansella. That¡¯s the one and and only antidote," replied the man quietly.


    "Where is the real Ansella?! I¡¯m not looking for a substitute like you," said Goth as he used all his might to suppress the anger inside him.


    "I don¡¯t know. I only know the whereabouts of another Ansella, but I don¡¯t know if he is really the Lord himself. I¡¯ve only been following his commands and carrying out his orders this whole time. It would be useless for you to kill me." The man¡¯s face was indifferent.


    "Tell me!"


    The man told him an address softly, and watched as Goth walked out of the hall without turning back, disappearing into the dark night in the blink of an eye.


    Finally, he could not handle it any longer, and flopped onto the floor to sit.


    "Hehe¡­ All my effort, even if they were destroyed, it would only last a moment..." His gaze fell unto a mercury puddle not far from where he sat. That was where he had spent many years painstakingly nurturing Core Totems and Secondary Totems. Suddenly, something flashed in front of his eyes, as he looked towards the shadows in the hall.


    "Who?!"


    The shadows quietened down for a moment, before a figure in a grey robe walked out slowly. It was golden-haired Garen, whose eyebrows were also lightly gold now, walking out of the shadows as he raised his chin slightly.


    "Which level are you positioned in the Obscuro Society?" Garen asked the man quietly.


    "Who are you?" said the man as he furrowed his eyebrows. "Why should I tell you?"


    "Because of this," Garen sneered as eight Black Beetles crawled out behind him, before surrounding the other man. "Just because Goth didn¡¯t kill you, doesn¡¯t mean that I won¡¯t."


    "These are?" The man blinked, before recognizing what they really were. "Silver Totems?! Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re¡­" He shut his mouth immediately, as a wry smile appeared on his face.


    "You¡¯ve managed to find me. I don¡¯t have anything left to say, so just kill me then. I¡¯ll just accept this as an atonement for all my previous misdoings."


    Garen knitted his eyebrows together and glared at this man. He could tell that this man knew a lot of things. However¡­


    He raised his head and looked at the outsides of the house. After hesitating for a while, he finally raised his hands.


    Tch!


    A black line flew past and nailed itself at the man¡¯s forehead. It was a black piece of wood.


    A shocked expression appeared on the man¡¯s face, before he fell face up on the floor.


    Garen turned and walked into the darkness, his grey robe billowing behind him, as he disappeared quickly through the window.


    A few seconds later, a dark figure entered the main door slowly, and crouched beside the corpse.


    "Dead already?"


    ******************


    Every time Goth went outside to look for the supposed Lord Ansella, it was unfortunate that he could only find substitutes or counterfeits. He killed some of them but could not bear to kill others and ended up letting them go, only for them to be killed by Garen who was always following from behind.


    Out of these people, some of them were strong while others were weak. The strong ones were almost as strong as the blonde woman, while the weak ones were merely Totem users who only possessed single Totems.


    Garen had followed Goth for over forty days straight, before Goth finally ran out of clues. The injuries on his body had also accumulated, and worsened in an instant. He became bedridden, and had no choice but to rest to heal himself.


    Garen did not linger on the road, and decided to return to his villa in the suburbs. During this period of time, he had managed to perfect the Sight Sharing Tactic after much practice.


    He opened the door and walked into the hall, before taking off his grey robe and passing it to Lala.


    Within the days of constantly following Goth everywhere, during his periods of hiding, he once encountered a terrifying Giant Spider, and nearly got caught and turned into food.


    However the rewards that he gained were also extremely satisfying.


    He had managed to kill six lost Obscuro Totem users right and left, and had finally manage to obtain thirty-over points of Potential Value. Including the acquisitions that his Silver Totems had gained from their hunts, Garen now had almost forty Potential Value points.


    He never once had so many Potential Points in hand before. Garen controlled himself and did not use them immediately, so that he could accumulate them in preparation for the moment he would finally use them to attack a Form 3 Totem.


    "You¡¯re back?" Out of habit, Lala took the grey robe from him and prepared to wash it immediately.


    "Hold on." Garen stopped her. "Be careful during this period of time. The density of the monsters outside had been increasing rapidly. Don¡¯t open the curtains carelessly, and don¡¯t go to places where you can be seen easily. The clothes should just be dried inside."


    "Got it," Lala answered immediately. Seeing that Garen had instructed her so strictly, she was now aware of the severity of the problem, and nodded her head in agreement determinedly.


    "I¡¯m going upstairs now. Don¡¯t disturb me unless it¡¯s an important matter," Garen instructed.


    "Yes, sir."


    Garen walked towards the study on the second floor. His footsteps beat against the stairs rhythmically, releasing a clap-like noise.


    "This time, I need to obtain a Form 3 Totem first. If I don¡¯t, I won¡¯t be able to keep up with their strength for much longer. The monsters in my surroundings are increasing, and if I don¡¯t have enough strength, I won¡¯t be able to protect this house either."


    Inhaling deeply, he walked into the study and shut the door tightly.


    On the floor of the study, the Deep Swamp Croc began crawling across the floor quietly. Its little green eyes stared at its owner intently.


    Garen walked over and crouched in front of it.


    "This time it¡¯s all up to you, No. 2," said Garen as he stroked the Deep Swamp Croc¡¯s head and said to himself. This was a habit that he had recently adopted. Ever since Resonance Hawk No. 1 died in battle for him, he began to form this habit.


    The Deep Swamp Croc crawled a few steps forward before turning its head to look up at Garen, unable to understand what he was saying.


    Garen stood up and took two steps backwards.


    "The forty point Potential Value that I¡¯ve accumulated this time, must definitely be used to reach Form 3 in one go!" he said as he took a deep breath, before his gaze fell onto his Totem Pane.

 310 Evolution 2

    Chapter 310: Evolution 2


    ¡®Deep Swamp Croc: The Form 2 evolution of the Short-tailed Croc, Second Form Creature Totem. Upgradable, Probability of successful evolution: 25%. Potential Point cost: 500%.


    Ability: Explosive Surprise Attack, Iron Hide, Parasitism.¡¯


    "Forty Potential Points, that would mean eight chances. I don¡¯t believe that it can¡¯t go any higher!" Garen¡¯s gaze remained on the Deep Swamp Croc¡¯s body. These were all the Potential Points that he had gotten from Goth. Goth was currently heavily injured, and would not be able to go out and hunt Ansella. Likewise, he would not be able to receive more Potential Points as well, and thus, these Potential Points were all that were left for him to use to gain more.


    If he failed again this time, the only thing he could do would be to slowly depend on his luck.


    "Begin!"


    Garen stared at the Deep Swamp Croc¡¯s icon for more than three seconds.


    Suddenly, the icon shook vigorously and became blurry. Under Garen¡¯s hopeful gaze, the icon began to become clear quickly again.


    It was still in its initial form!


    Garen¡¯s expression remained, and he resumed the process.


    Three seconds later, the icon became blurry again, and then instantly became focused, without any other changes.


    "Again! I don¡¯t believe this!" Garen¡¯s gaze grew serious. Continue!


    The third time!


    Failure again!


    The fourth time! Fail!


    The fifth time! Fail!


    The sixth time! Fail!


    The seventh time!


    The icon became blurry for a moment, and then became clear once again.


    "Failure again¡­" A reluctant expression flashed in Garen¡¯s eyes. Suddenly, he looked at the icon properly once it had become focused again, and his voice caught itself in his throat. "This is¡­??"


    The Deep Swamp Croc¡¯s icon disappeared, and was replaced by a new unknown icon.


    Roar!!!


    The Deep Swamp Croc could not help itself and roared softly, as its body began to turn into a dark brown colour. Its body started to expand as well, and it grew from its original five meters, immediately lengthening to six meters, seven meters, eight meters¡­


    The Deep Swamp Croc¡¯s body expanded and soon reached the maximum capacity of the room. Garen stared at it with his mouth opened and his eyes dazed, as it broke the window frame and jumped out of the window, falling into the garden below.


    Its body expanded endlessly, as it had finally underwent many years of growth in this short space of ten seconds.


    Garen stood at the window that had just been broken open, and bent his head downwards to look outside.


    The entire ten meter length of the garden was now almost fully occupied by the Deep Swamp Croc¡¯s body. It had grown to almost fifteen or sixteen meters in length, and possessed a seven to eight meter wide body, resembling a large dinosaur from the Jurassic period.


    The strangest part was that its initial head had grown in a slightly crooked manner, while an extra clump of flesh had grown on its right shoulder. The clump of flesh kept growing rapidly, transforming into something new. Finally, it grew into a large head that was the exact same size of the Giant Croc¡¯s original head.


    Bang bang!!


    It was unknown when an extra pair of large feet had grown from the Giant Croc¡¯s abdomen, and were now violently stepping on the ground. The six legs supported its large body altogether.


    Finally, it completed its evolution, and had transformed from its original crocodile-like image into a salamander. Its two heads began to snap their big mouths in opposite directions, as its large mouth roared silently.


    Shh¡­


    Both of its mouths exhaled a large gust of smelly wind.


    Garen finally snapped out of his state of shock. He looked at the brown Dual Headed Salamander below and realised that his Potential Points had been well-spent.


    This sixteen meter long terrifying beast crawled around in his garden, looking as if it were a giant dinosaur from the past. Its size appeared to be slightly bigger than the White Bat that he had encountered earlier.


    "Too bad it¡¯s not a Form 3 Totem, but a mere Silver Totem instead!" Garen lamented as he looked at the Totem Pane in his field of vision, looking at the icon section carefully.


    The icon of the Deep Swamp Croc had really been changed into the Dual Headed Salamander¡¯s image.


    ¡®Dual Headed Salamander: The Form 3 evolution of the Deep Swamp Croc, Third form creature, Final form cannot be upgraded.


    Ancient informative message: This terrifying beast existed in the ancient Behemoth era, which was at least twenty million years ago. They were the overlords of the amphibians, and possessed great strength as well as unmatched defenses. They generally live in dark, damp maze-like caves underground, and have a strong territorial sense, and are extremely possessive.


    Abilities: Digging maze-like caves, Life Biting (Creatures that are bitten by its left mouth will unconsciously allow their life force to flow into the body of the beast, creating a healing effect)


    Dragon skin (Strong dragon scales that are able to prevent damage inflicted by most weapons and sharp teeth)


    Dragon roar (Loud roar that will cause deafness and dizziness in all surrounding creatures, in order for the slow-moving Salamander will be able to catch up to its prey and swallow them)


    Parasitism: The Dual Headed Salamander can lay its parasitic eggs inside the bodies of its enemies, causing painful injuries, and finally creating a single-headed ferocious Form 2 Deep Swamp Croc. The rate of egg production is one per week.


    "Shh!!" When he looked at the Deep Swamp Croc, Garen could not help but sigh in relief.


    The Deep Swamp Croc could create Parasites on its own, while this Dual Headed Salamander could create more Deep Swamp Crocs.


    "I¡¯ve gained so much this time!" Garen looked at the strong Dual Headed Salamander below him, and felt his heart fill up with satisfaction.


    Howl!!


    In a faraway part of the sky, an ear piercing howl echoed towards him, sounding like a leopard¡¯s roar.


    Immediately, a terrifying Giant Bird with a wingspan of more than ten meters flew towards the Dual Headed Salamander quickly. The body of the Giant Bird was jet-black, and there were eight yellow claws growing out of its abdomen.


    The Giant Bird was illuminated by a yellow glow that looked like a halo around its whole body, as it flew towards the Dual Headed Salamander.


    The Dual Headed Salamander raised both its heads and roared at the Giant Bird fiercely. The head on its right side had on a fierce and cunning expression. It stepped backwards slightly, as if it was gathering up its energy, and preparing to snap at its opponent.


    Garen hid himself behind the curtains, and subsided the overwhelmingly conspicuous smell of his blood, as he quietly watched the battle between the two large beasts. The Giant Bird in the sky was obviously a Form 3 Totem, and had come here because it was attracted by the Dual Headed Salamander.


    The battle between both of the Form 3 beasts was something that he could not intervene anymore. He could only wait for the conclusion quietly.


    The Giant Bird continued to circle the sky, as if it was looking for an opportunity to dive down and capture the Dual Headed Salamander, but was wary because it felt somewhat threatened. After circling for a while, it gave up on this initial thought of starting a battle. It outstretched its wings and let out an angry roar, before flapping its wings and flying far away.


    The shadow of the Giant Bird¡¯s wings flew over the villa instantly, as it disappeared into the faraway hills.


    Shh!!


    The Dual Headed Salamander arched its head upwards and let out an arrogant roar.


    Garen stood behind the curtains, and looked at the Dual Salamander down below through the crack.


    "Go out and hunt," he instructed through his will.


    The Dual Headed Salamander bowed its head suddenly, and began surveying its surroundings from left to right, as if it was sniffing something.


    Immediately, he confirmed the location, and his large body began to head towards the produce market near the suburbs.


    Crash crash crash¡­


    Its six brown large legs seemed like six stone columns as they stepped on the ground, causing some of the small stones and white bones on the ground to be stomped into smithereens.


    Garen jumped out of the window, and stalked it stealthily from behind.


    As the Dual Headed Salamander walked on the road, all of the other monsters ran to hide. It mattered not whether they were Dead Babies or Unihorn Lizards, once they saw the Dual Headed Salamander approaching from a distance, they acted like mice who had just seen a cat, and would run away frantically.


    The Salamander did not linger for long, and ran straight towards the produce market, as the loud sound emitted by its footsteps caused some of the buildings to shake slightly.


    Garen followed it and continued forwards. Instantly, a rectangular shaped market made up of large grey and white caravans appeared in front of him.


    There were large holes in many of these caravans in the markets, and a few Unihorn Lizards were resting on the roofs. Meanwhile underneath the shade of the caravans, a few Unihorn Lizards that had glowing red bodies were busy chasing and fighting each other.


    There were nearly a hundred Unihorn Lizards in this place!


    "Don¡¯t tell me this guy actually wants to provoke this herd of monsters?" A thought flashed in Garen¡¯s mind. Out of all these Giant Lizards, even if one of them was Form 3 it would be scary to think that¡­


    Before he could even finish his thoughts, he saw the Dual Headed Salamander speed up suddenly, as it ran towards the grey and white caravans and began to knock them down. It seemed like a large freight carriage had just crashed into them.


    Crash crash crash!!


    The Unihorn Lizards flew up frantically, as if they were a startled pack of birds, as they flapped their wings quickly and let out weird cries.


    The red Unihorn Lizards also flew up, and dashed towards the Dual Headed Salamander. They were greatly angered by this monster that had disrupted their sleep. The red Unihorn Lizards began making housefly-like buzzing noises.


    These noises caused the listeners to feel drowsy, and made their whole bodies exhausted as well.


    They made this noise while they circled the Dual Headed Salamander, endlessly looking for an opportunity to fly down to attack it.


    But the large difference in size, made them seem like a group of children forming a circle around an adult.


    The Dual Headed Salamander stomped towards the front of the caravans, and both its heads turned upwards suddenly. It stretched its blood-red mouth open, and roared in both directions.


    Woo!!


    A loud sound wave caused the air pressure to increase, creating a shock wave that could be seen with the naked eye, that spread outwards towards its surroundings like a water wave. Most of the Giant Lizards were affected and were forced to the ground, causing a loud banging noise as throughout the ground where they landed.


    Bang!


    The Dual Headed Salamander used one of its heads like a warhammer to hit one of the red Giant Lizards, causing it to fall out of the sky mid air. It landed on the ground violently and the Salamander took a large bite out of it and crunched hard, causing fresh blood to spray all over its own face. The entire red Giant Lizard was snapped into two separate parts.


    Garen¡¯s mouth gaped opened, unsure of what to say.


    He looked at the Potential Points at the bottom of his field of vision and noticed that there had been an increase of two points, but when he looked at his fearsome Dual Headed Lizard, he realised that it had won the battle effortlessly because of its opponent¡¯s lack of strength.


    The red Giant Lizard possessed strength that was equivalent to a Form 2 Totem. A Silver Totem was unlike a Primitive Totem because their essence was accumulated in their own bodies. On the other hand, the essence of a Primitive Totem was always stored with their Totem users instead.


    This was another reason why he could gain Potential Points from killing Silver Totems, but would not receive any benefits when merely killing the Totem user.


    The death of the red Giant Lizard allowed Garen to gain two Potential Points at once. This meant that it was equivalent to the lowest ranking Form 2 Totem user.


    The Dual Headed Salamander let out a loud roar, causing the hundred over Unihorn Lizards to fall on the floor like dumplings. They became dizzy and were unable to get up for half a day, a sign that they had all been stunned.


    Meanwhile, the red Giant Lizards struggled on the floor weakly as they tried to get up. Their resistance was slightly stronger, but they were still unable to get up, much less flee from here.


    The battle ended right as it was getting started.

 311 Fantasy 1

    Chapter 311: Fantasy 1


    The Dual Headed Salamander ate the Unihorn Lizards slowly, as if it were enjoying a snack. It went around looking for the ones it liked best, picking the fatter ones and discarding the skinny ones. Even the Unihorn Lizards, who were only slightly skinnier, were rejected.


    In this short period of time, this ferocious two-headed beast had eaten six red Giant Lizards. Now a large herd of Unihorn Lizards were crawling on the ground before flapping their wings and flying away. Terrified, they ran in all four directions, not wanting to come near at all. The same also applied to the red Unihorn Lizard.


    Seeing that it was impossible to catch up anymore, the Dual Headed Salamander then turned away and looked around at its surroundings, waiting for Garen¡¯s next order. Both of its heads had long, snake-like necks that stood up straight in mid air, waiting to lunge forward and bite its enemies like a snake.


    "Too fierce..." said Garen softly, unable to deny this fact any longer. Six red Unihorn Lizards would be equivalent to twelve Potential points.


    This evolution would help him regain almost one third of the Potential points he had used.


    Garen noticed that out of the red Unihorn Lizards that the Dual Headed Salamander had killed, one of the larger sized ones had not been fully eaten. There was a blood-red coloured egg sticking out of its abdomen and beating continuously like a heart.


    This egg was slightly over a meter tall, and was giving off a light silver glow.


    Garen leaped up and landed on the Dual Headed Salamander¡¯s back. He found a hollow area to hid there, before using his grey robe to shield himself further.


    "Go back. Now."


    Now that he had a Form 3 Totem, Garen had the right to steadily replenish his Potential points, to ensure that his Impact Core Totems could be upgraded to higher levels. If he were to single-handedly nurture Core Totems to be evolved, he would only obtain a low percentage of the points he required, and even if he accumulated the few points he had over the span of a year, he would still only be able to reach Form 2 Totem levels. By then, he would have easily been taken out by the Obscuro Society and Terraflor Society already. After all, his old man Vanderman had offended the Obscuro Society, and those bloodthirsty bastards would never be satisfied with just leaving a true-born son like himself alone.


    Meanwhile, the higher ups of the Terraflor Society also held a life-or-death grudge with Vanderman.


    "Fortunately, I finally have some self-preservation skills now. Even if the Great War broke out and Iron Tank City fell into chaos, I would still be able to protect myself somewhat," Garen sighed in relief.


    Form 3 Totems, even if they were merely Silver Totems, were still equivalent to those of Elite-level in various cities. In Iron Tank City, there were almost five thousand Totem users, and less than fifty of them were Form 3 Totem users, the undefeatables, said to be the ultimate pillars of strength.


    In Garen¡¯s case, he was considered to have only touched the threshold of elite strength.


    As for the Grand Duke and Grand General levels, one would definitely need a Form 4 final stage Totem. It would also require various secret and powerful means, which could include specially researched non-animal type Totems. In some of the monster information books that Garen had purchased from the war Guild, they mentioned certain unusual organizations that possessed Aberration Totem types.


    These powerful Aberration Totems were far superior to most Totems, as they were aberration types that were specially forged and nurtured for strong individuals. An example of this would be the Grand Duke¡¯s Platinum Dragonhawk, the most suitable Core Totem for a Grand Duke.


    The Form 4 Aberration Totem, which was also designated as Form 5, was also officially acknowledged as the strongest level that had ever existed in the whole world.


    Some of the information that Garen had collected clearly proved that point.


    Form 5 had always been the unspeakable secret of the aristocrats and the royal family. It was also the true reason for the foundation of their existence that had been passed down from one generation to the next.


    Putting his thoughts aside, Garen tapped the Dual Headed Salamander¡¯s back lightly.


    Shh¡­


    The Salamander exhaled impatiently while one of its heads looked up at the Unihorn Lizard with the parasite. Its footsteps echoed loudly as it stomped on the ground, as it ran in the direction it had came from earlier.


    Perched on its back, Garen resembled a tiny grey moth, as he lay on top of it gently, keeping his eyes downcast the whole time.


    On the road back, Garen heard the loud cries coming from the inner city once again.


    Strange cries of monsters could be heard throughout the sky as the ground shook slightly, causing some decrepit houses to toppled down instantly. Explosion-like noises echoed endlessly, one after another, continuously without stopping.


    All of the monsters in the surroundings had gathered here because of the noise, and Garen took the opportunity to jump up and stand on one of the Dual Headed Salamander¡¯s heads so that he could look into the inner city from afar.


    In the grey-white sky nearby the city, a large cluster of small black dots along with another cluster of small dots, mostly silver-coloured, were fighting with each other. Within the silver dots, a large Platinum Dragonhawk continuously punched through the air as it flew, as if it were a sharp knife continuously cutting the small black dots into smaller pieces.


    Perched on the back of the Platinum Dragonhawk was a tall man in gold armor, holding a sharp spear. Every time he pierced his weapon through the air, another red Giant Lizard would be killed.


    "Is that the Grand Duke?" Garen squinted while he travelled further away on the Dual Headed Salamander, as the war zone in the inner city became blurrier the further he went.


    Garen jumped off of the Salamander¡¯s head and landed on his back, before checking the current amount of Potential points. After the Deep Swamp Croc¡¯s evolution, there were only five Potential points left, but after that he had accumulated another twelve points, increasing the final amount to the current total of seventeen points.


    When he returned to the villa, the Dual Headed Salamander¡¯s large body frightened the other Totems and caused them to prostrate before it, before Garen instructed it to dig an underground maze for itself in the backyard, to be used as its nest.


    Garen himself jumped off the Salamander¡¯s back, and leaped a few times before going into the broken window on the second floor, into his previous study.


    In the period of time after that, Garen allowed the Dual Headed Salamander to go out and hunt every day, while he hid inside the villa and practiced his Tactics.


    He had not expected that Lala would have been so well-behaved. Every time she heard a loud, terrifying noise coming from outside, she was too afraid to walk out of the door to take a look, and was now completely unaware of what was happening outside.


    This made Garen change his initial thoughts of explaining everything to her. Instead, he had now decided that he was not going to explain anything that was unnecessary.


    Garen spent about four or five more days in his villa, and evolved his remaining two Blue Back Lizards into Petrifying Lizards. After that, he began accumulating Potential points, in preparation to impact the Black-Striped White Tiger.


    ¡®Core - Black-Striped White Tiger: First Form Totem, upgradable. Probability of successful evolution: 11%. Potential point cost: 700%.


    Abilities: Tail Whip, Puncturing Crunch.¡¯


    With only an 11% success rate while requiring seven points each time, this cost was not something that most Totem users could bear. This was also the reason why the Black-Striped White Tiger had not achieved a successful case in so many years.


    The cost was greater than most of the Totems, while the success rate was smaller than most of them. Moreover, information regarding post-evolution nurturing was inadequate, and almost impossible to find.


    Only those who used the method of high Potential points to evolve their Totems like Garen could afford to pile on the evolutions.


    The Dual Headed Salamander¡¯s terrifying rank suppression made him invincible in the midst of the surrounding red Giant Lizard herds. Every time it left, it would roar loudly, and would always successfully capture at least five red Giant Lizards. Furthermore, when it cooperated with the Resonance Hawks and the Beetles, they would always return with at least ten of their prey.


    **********


    Five days later.


    Garen stood in the garden of his villa and looked around. The sky above him was clean, and there were no monsters flying there. This area had finally become the Dual Headed Salamander¡¯s territory. Ever since it scared that Giant Bird away, other large beasts no longer flew past here anymore.


    He stood beside the red Giant Lizard that was currently the Parasite host, and crouched down to stroke the red egg gently. He felt a warm and hard sensation creeping up his hand, as if he was touching a burning piece of rubber.


    The red egg would jump occasionally, following the regular and rhythmic beat of a heart.


    Moments later, the jumping movement became more frequent, and became faster as well.


    Pop! Pop! Pop!


    Tiny cracks began to form on the surface of the red eggs.


    Ka-chak!


    A soft noise could be heard. It sounded like a watermelon getting sliced open.


    The red egg split open from the middle, and out crawled a half-meter long, black-coloured baby crocodile. The crocodile opened its mouth and exposed its red tongue, which had a ferocious-looking tip, the most impressive of all its mouthparts.


    "It finally hatched, the small-scale Deep Swamp Croc," Garen stood up and watched as the little crocodile began to chomp on the corpse of the red Giant Lizard that incubated it.


    Only when the little crocodile had almost finished eating did he turn his gaze away, before looking at the Pane of the Black-Striped White Tiger in his Totem Pane, his eyebrows furrowing suddenly.


    "In these five days, I¡¯ve obtained over sixty points of Potential Value, but failed and lost most of them apparently. This Black-Striped White Tiger is impossibly hard to evolve¡­"


    His mood began to darken. Sixty-three points of Potential Value, and a grand total of nine evolutions, who would have expected that he would not even succeed once. All of these had caused Garen¡¯s bad mood. He had used all of his accumulated Potential points on this because he was hoping to reach the next level in one go. Unfortunately, the situation was not as simple as he had imagined.


    "The monster herds in the surroundings have almost been all hunted to death. The Salamander¡¯s influence is becoming too strong, and it¡¯s only a matter of time before it catches the attention of the Form 3 monsters. I cannot let this continue any longer."


    Garen looked at the all the Totems he currently possessed.


    Silver Totems: Dual Headed Salamander, Resonance Hawk, Petrifying Lizard, Howling Wererabbit.


    Primitive Totems: Neon Butterfly, Black-Striped White Tiger.


    The Howling Wererabbit¡¯s icon was greyed out, showing that it was probably suffering heavy injuries, or was already dead. In this terrifying and chaotic environment, in order to survive properly, one would need to rely on their individual strength.


    Moreover, the evolution percentages of the Primitive Totems were frighteningly low. It would be more cost-effective to evolve the Silver Totems first. After all, once a Primitive Totem was broken or had suffered injuries, in the event that there were no Totem repairing skills, the strength of the Totem would just gradually decrease.


    Although the Silver Totems possessed weaker powers, they could still rest and restore themselves like living creatures. The most important factor was that the probability of successful Totem evolution for Silver Totems was much higher.


    Garen looked at all of his Silver Totems. The Petrifying Lizard was the only one that could be evolved, and its evolution percentage was still very high.


    ¡®Petrifying Lizard (Unnamed): Form 1 of the Blue Back Lizard¡¯s evolution, Second Form Creature Totem. Upgradable, Probability of successful evolution: 34%. Potential Point cost: 500%.


    Abilities: Petrifying Gaze (Any enemy creature that makes eye contact with it will be affected by the Light of Petrification), Rapid Drilling.¡¯


    "A thirty-four percent probability, I could take a chance and try. I¡¯ll go and take a look at the situation in the inner city first, before I begin to evolve the Petrifying Lizard. I definitely need more Form 3 Totems. Including the Dual Headed Salamander¡¯s parasite, I could surely forge a Totem army!"


    A plan began to form in Garen¡¯s mind.


    "I should go and check on Goth and the others, I¡¯m not sure if the wounds that Goth had sustained from earlier have healed by now. Jessica¡¯s illness should be cured too, right? The time taken for me to go there and come back should be sufficient for the Salamanders to regain their Potential points."


    He had attacked the Black-Striped White Tiger so many times, but they always ended in failure. Garen wanted to take this opportunity to cool down, and subside his emotions as well. At the same time, he wanted to see how Jessica was doing. Although history showed that she was alive and well, he was still worried in case there were any changes.

 312 Fantasy 2

    Chapter 312: Fantasy 2


    In the inner circle of the city.


    The four block district in the inner city looked very depressing.


    What was once a lively place filled with crowds was no more. Now, most of them were in bandages.


    In the hospital, Andy and Goth were walking along the white corridor.


    Both of them tried to hide their expressions as best as they could to prevent Jessica noticing that something had went wrong.


    "Don¡¯t worry. It¡¯s fine. Everything will be fine." Goth patted Andy¡¯s shoulder.


    "Perhaps." Andy put on an unnatural smile.


    As they arrived the familiar ward of Jessica, Goth opened the door and saw a man in grey robes peeling apples as he sat in front of Jessica.


    He saw Jessica smiling at them, and he couldn¡¯t think of an apt explanation.


    As the man in grey robes heard the door being opened, he turned around and revealed a handsome, gentle smile.


    "Goth, Andy, long time no see."


    "Garen!!?? Goth¡¯s voice was unusually high as he pointed at Garen in shock and disbelief.


    Andy, who was at one side, was very surprised as well.


    "Garen, didn¡¯t you¡­?"


    "Did you guys assume I was dead?" Garen started to laugh. "I was hiding in a corner of the ruins below and survived on the food I found inside. I took the opportunity to escape as the creatures were attracted by the battles in the inner city." As he told the story, he was very emotional and seemed to be traumatized as well.


    Goth opened his mouth, as if he wanted to speak up, but he couldn¡¯t utter a single word. He went towards Garen and gave him a big hug.


    Andy was so happy he started to smile as well.


    "It¡¯s good to see you return unharmed."


    Both of them were in a major slump due to Jessica¡¯s unfortunate incident. Their moods lifted slightly as they found out that Garen was still alive.


    Goth patted Garen¡¯s back with a considerable amount of force.


    "Don¡¯t make me lose another friend again." He said in a deep tone.


    "Why?" Garen was confused. "What happened."


    Garen didn¡¯t pursue further, and instead gave a smile to Goth, as he realized that Goth did not want to talk about it.


    The three of them were talking about their recent life inside the ward. Jessica was lying in the bed listening as she smiled.


    The group of four was finally gathered together again. It was worth celebrating, as none of them were absent.


    Unlike the emotionless Goth, Andy could feel that Garen didn¡¯t come back as what he had told. This person, who was once his partner had become more and more mysterious.


    After the three of them chatted with Jessica, the three of them went to a restaurant together to have a proper meal.


    Garen crossed his fingers as he placed them onto the table and calmly looked at Goth and Andy, who were sitting opposite him.


    "Alright, can you guys tell me what actually happened?" He calmly stared at them as he asked in a deep tone.


    The atmosphere had suddenly become heavy.


    Goth and Andy¡¯s expression was completely unnatural.


    Garen noticed something was wrong and he stared at Goth.


    "That¡¯s not right! What happened to your left eye Goth!?" His voice was anxious. Deep in his heart, he had already recognized Goth as his friend. However, they were things that were out of his expectation, as if the history had started to change.


    "Left eye?" Andy was shocked as he looked at Goth¡¯s left eye. "What about your left eye?"


    Goth awkwardly turned away.


    "It¡¯s nothing. I didn¡¯t get any proper sleep lately and am feeling a little bit uncomfortable." He muttered as he tried to come up with an explanation.


    "Don¡¯t move!" He stood up and pushed away Goth¡¯s left hand that was covering his left eye.


    The took of them had a clear look at Goth¡¯s left eye. That pupil¡¯s color was not Goth¡¯s original color, but a lifeless color of red. It was an ocular prosthesis.


    Goth silently allowed his two friends to look at his left eye.


    "It¡¯s nothing big really. Actually¡­ I was just trying to complete the quest. At least I survived. He muttered.


    The atmosphere among the three had gotten worse.


    Garen looked at Goth without saying another word.


    "Goth, is it¡­ because of Jessica?"


    Andy gripped his fist as he lowered down his head.


    Goth revealed a relaxing smile.


    "My left eye was injured by a creature a few days ago and I lost my sight afterwards. Madam Madeleine had created an artificial eye for me. It¡¯s nothing to be honest, since I can still see with one eye, right? Loosen up a bit you two. Relax. It¡¯s a rare occasion that we are able to gather together and isn¡¯t it good that everyone¡¯s alright?"


    Garen didn¡¯t expect this to happen to Goth while he¡¯s away for such a short while.


    Although he wanted to rely on Goth to keep obtaining the potential points, he didn¡¯t want to obtain it in such a fashion.


    "Let¡¯s talk about Jessica." He sighed as he sat down.


    "Jessica is fine, trust me." Goth gestured his hand. "I found a doctor from the Duke Household to treat her. Have the people from the Duke Household ever failed in treating a sickness before? Don¡¯t worry, I believe that Jessica will recover very soon, and the four of us, the Panther Group, will be together once again. We will then win the war, and obtain awards from the Duke, get knighted by the Royal family and reached the climax of our life as we become important figures. Hehe¡­ It¡¯s so exciting whenever I think of this!" Goth started to daydream as he spoke.


    "You¡¯re just daydreaming¡­" Andy couldn¡¯t help but to give him a punch.


    The food came just in time, and the atmosphere was no longer tense. The three of them started to talk about their current situation in life and future plans. Among the three, Garen was the one who was bombarded by the most questions. However, he was able to not raise any suspicions about his experience, as he had already prepared a scripted answer beforehand. He then added a few details along the way, and it was completely flawless.


    Even Andy, who was calm and analytic, was fooled by him.


    As they were eating their food, a young man in purple shirt came into the restaurant. This man was handsome and had an elegant smile. He scanned around the scarce restaurant and immediately walked towards Goth and the gang.


    "Doctor Elielan!" Goth stood up immediately as he was the first one to notice him. "Why are you here? Come! Let¡¯s eat together."


    Andy stood up as well as he smiled wholeheartedly. After greeting him, he waved at the waiter to come and serve him.


    Garen smiled politely as he had a good look at this purple shirted man. He could faintly feel a sense of familiarity from him.


    "I am Garen, one of the members of Panther Group." He reached his hand out.


    This man, Elilan smiled back as he reached out his hand and greeted Garen.


    "I am Elielan, the specialist who will be responsible for Jessica¡¯s sickness. It¡¯s a pleasure to meet you."


    "Same here."


    With such a minor interaction, both of them knew that they were hiding something from each other.


    Or rather, both of them could feel each other¡¯s true personality with their own unique methods.


    Both gently shook hands for a very brief moment.


    Goth and Andy immediately asked about Jessica¡¯s condition the moment Elielan sat down. On the other hand, Garen was sitting at one side as he listened to the three of them quietly.


    They had their meal for at least an hour.


    Goth and Andy invited Garen to sleep over at their place, but Garen denied.


    After multiple large scale wars, the population of the inner city was reduced drastically, and most of the houses were vacant. Totem users didn¡¯t even need a money to stay over at a place. They only needed to register from the clerk and they would be granted access to a space to live.


    Garen casually found a decent house to live in.


    The next morning, He went towards Jessica¡¯s ward and found the ward doctor who was responsible for Jessica.


    "The condition of No. 128 Jessica? Whom are you to her?" The doctor questioned Garen skeptically.


    This middle aged female doctor, who was preparing to leave the office with a report was interrupted by this man in grey robe.


    "Yes. I am her friend. It¡¯s just that the rest of her friends are hiding her conditions from me and didn¡¯t tell me the truth. I only wanted to know the truth." Garen nodded seriously.


    "Her actual condition?" The female doctor frowned. "Patient Jessica has a rather strange sickness. It looks like a rare condition; we¡¯re basically keeping her alive by using painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs. However, she only has less than half a year left¡­" Perhaps the doctor had seen too many people passed away and her expression was rather regretful.


    "I am very sorry. Jessica is a very wonderful lady."


    "It¡¯s okay. Thank you doctor." Garen¡¯s heart sank, and he stood by the entrance, watching the doctor leave as she was welcomed by the nurses.


    He walked towards Jessica¡¯s ward with heavy footsteps.


    It was early in the morning, and the sun wasn¡¯t even up yet.


    Garen stood at the ward¡¯s window and looked quietly at Jessica, who was fast asleep.


    "Reality and history had completely gone into different directions¡­ What will happen next?" His emotions were fraught with complexity.


    He opened the door and sat beside Jessica. Suddenly, she opened her eyes and looked at him calmly.


    "Didn¡¯t you go out with my brother yesterday? Why are you here this early?" Jessica smiled as she tried to get up from the bed.


    "I came alone. I didn¡¯t expect your condition to be so complicated. I have been wanting to check up your condition, since I have some medical knowledge that I have learned in the past." Garen answered softly.


    "You have a medical background?" Jessica tried to laugh but couldn¡¯t help herself and coughed.


    "Alright. You should get some rest and have some faith in me." Garen used his finger and pressed onto Jessica¡¯s pressure point at her neck.


    It was a pressure point that supplied blood to the brain. He had learnt this when he was practicing secret martial arts. He can cure some sickness by pressing onto it gently and kill the person if he used an incredible amount of force onto the pressure point.


    Everyone who practiced the secret martial arts had some basic understanding of a human¡¯s anatomy. Garen, who stood at the peak of the martial art world, had immense knowledge in the human¡¯s qi and blood circulation could be considered a medical expert.


    Jessica yawned as she started to feel sleepy.


    "Alright then. I¡¯ll sleep a little bit more. I¡¯m not sure why but I feel very sleepy all of the sudden." She laid down once again and was soon fast asleep as she covered herself with the blanket.


    Garen stood up and looked around. Once he was firmed that no one was around, he took off Jessica¡¯s blanket.


    He placed his hand on Jessica¡¯s head and a white golden aura slowly seeped into her neck as he tried to feel the blood circulation in her head.


    He then checked her heart, internal organs and her physical condition.


    After a thorough analysis. Garen sat down as he frowned.


    "Her qi and blood circulation are normal, just weaker than usual. Her organs are completely fine as well. In fact, she¡¯s much more healthy than average people. What is going on?"


    Suddenly, rhythmic footsteps could be heard outside of the ward.


    Garen immediately stood up. Although Jessica and Garen were good friends, Jessica was still Goth¡¯s partnet, and he must maintain a certain distance towards her.


    As he was about to turned around and leave, A mysterious silver light suddenly flashed on Jessica¡¯s face.


    "This is!!??" Garen stood still as he had seen this silver light somewhere!!


    Click.


    The ward¡¯s door was opened.


    Doctor Elielan who was in a purple shirt came in with a smile on his face.


    "Eh? Sir Garen, you¡¯re here too?" He was surprised to see Garen¡¯s back.

 313 Reaching Out 1

    Chapter 313: Reaching Out 1


    Garen slowly stood up, to turn around and stare at Elielan, who was in a purple shirt.


    The two of them stood against each other and didn¡¯t say a word.


    Garen quietly stared at Elielan, who was in front of him.


    He was a young and elegant person. It was not just his shirt that was purple in color, even his pupils were dyed in dark purple, and he seemed to be carrying a slight smile on his face all the time. He stood at the entrance and gently closed the door as he stared calmly at Garen.


    "Why the expression? Why do you look so serious?"


    He gently and calmly asked.


    Garen squinted his eyes and didn¡¯t say a word.


    Elielan walked towards Garen and sat beside Jessica.


    "Perhaps you have some misunderstanding about me? Although I don¡¯t know how I have wronged you, I apologize for my wrong doing."


    He took out a pair of purple spectacles from his shirt¡¯s front pocket and as usual, he had a calm smile on his face.


    Garen was emotionless.


    "I want to know¡­"


    "Your visions were blurred, right?" Elilan cut off his speech. "It¡¯s very common to have a blur vision early in the morning. Perhaps you should take some rest."


    "Looks like you know¡­"


    "You can leave now as I am about to examine Jessica¡¯s sickness." Elielan cut off Garen¡¯s speech once again.


    Garen¡¯s cheeks twitched as he stared at him.


    "To understand her condition? Do you know her¡­"


    "Can you please leave this room immediately? I need a quiet environment." Elielan did not change his expression as he raised his voice.


    Raged, Garen pulled his collar.


    Bam!


    The chair was knocked down to the ground and he pulled Elielan up and placed him infront of him.


    "It¡¯s common courtesy to let a person finish his sentence. If you do not wish to abide by this rule, I will cut your tongue out and you¡¯ll remember this forever.


    "It¡¯s best for you to let go of my collar." Elielan said calmly as he pushed his spectacles up.


    "Are you threatening me?" Garen smirked. This feeling felt very fresh to him as he hadn¡¯t been threatened by anyone for a long time. He was the one who had been threatening everyone all these while.


    Boom!!


    The ward¡¯s door opened as Goth and Andy rushed inside the ward.


    "Garen! Elielan! What are you two doing?!" Goth rushed in and took Garen¡¯s hand away from Elielan¡¯s collar as he stood in between two of them. "Let¡¯s talk things out. Has there been any misunderstanding between the both of you?!"


    He and Andy each grabbed hold of Garen and Elielan as they fear these two would start a fight.


    "I came here early in the morning and saw Garen was already inside Jessica¡¯s ward. He was sitting beside Jessica and was trying to cover her with the blanket. I wasn¡¯t prepared to entered the ward yet but I had accidentally knocked onto the door and made a sound. He rushed towards me with rage and pulled my collar as he saw me. I don¡¯t even know what his deal is." Elielan started to explain softly.


    His words were extremely misleading.


    Although he didn¡¯t blurt out the obvious, his statements suggested that there was a scandal between Garen and Jessica. It was as if Garen came early in the morning to visit Jessica so that he could do something dirty to Jessica when they¡¯re all alone.


    Imagine a sick and gentle lady and a strong muscular single man in the ward together, and the man would lose his temper when was afraid to be found out, and decides to threaten the opponent by holding him by the collar.


    Andy and Goth looked at Garen skeptically as he heard it. They couldn¡¯t believe that Garen was such a person hence they needed an explanation from Garen.


    "I came alone so that I can understand her condition. I know a little bit of the art of medicine. I wanted to see if I could be of some help. Jessica herself had even agreed to it." Garen replied calmly.


    He didn¡¯t mention that there was a possibility that Jessica was being empowered.


    Empowerment was currently the Obscuro Society¡¯s most confidential asset, and very little people knew about it. Furthermore, he wasn¡¯t sure whether Jessica was really being empowered, hence he needed more evidence before making any movement.


    He had thought of the possibility of empowering a human when he obtained the Derivator. The Obscuro Society must had done some research on empowering the human body since they had already tried it on so many animals.


    However this required concrete evidence.


    Elielan obviously was the key to understanding the whole situation.


    ""It¡¯s just a misunderstanding." Goth obviously believed Garen¡¯s explanation. He believed that his friend would not be seduced by physical appearances.


    Although Andy was rather suspicious of his explanation, he believed that Garen would never harm his sister in any way.


    Afterall, Garen had save his sister¡¯s life. If he wanted to further his relationship with Jessica, he would have the best chance back then.


    This incident was brushed off as Jessica woke up, and her explanation was the same as Garen¡¯s. Everyone stopped commenting anything afterwards.


    However, the relationship between Garen and Elielan had obviously worsened.


    Because of Garen, Andy and Goth had obviously distanced themselves away from Elielan, since they were in a life and death situation together.


    After leaving the hospital, Garen¡¯s mood didn¡¯t change for the better, so he left a message by his mailbox outside his house. After that, he went to his villa outside of the city through the War Guild¡¯s underground passage alone.


    He could feel that the history was currently deviating from what he knew, and was heading to a future that nobody could imagine.


    *************


    Garen, who was in his grey robe, was staring quietly at the big circular hole at the back of his yard.


    The edge of the hole was stabilized by the black stone which looked like an artificial fence. It was a unique adhesive secreted by the dual headed salamander. It could be used to solidify soil, and he could use it to build his own underground palace.


    Garen stood in front of the 7 to 8 meter hole, silently looking.


    Cool breeze blew out of the hole and flapped his grey robes in the wind. The breeze was very cold and brought a faint stench along with it.


    The hole was completely dark, and the end of the hole could not be seen at all.


    Garen picked up a stone and threw it in. A faint echo of an impact was heard after 10 seconds or so.


    "It managed to dig to such depths in such a few days?" Garen praised. "No wonder the dual headed salamander was able to create its own labyrinth."


    Garen clapped his hand and yellow petrifying lizard appeared behind him.


    "Go in and check it out." Garen pointed at the hole.


    Szzz¡­


    The petrifying lizard responded and slowly crawled into the hole, and soon disappeared into the darkness.


    The other two petrifying lizards crawled to the spacious field behind Garen.


    Garen looked at these two petrifying lizards with concern.


    He wanted to check out the condition of the petrifying lizard as he came back from the inner city. To his surprise, the three petrifying lizards were bored to death, and decided to petrify most of the villa. The surrounding walls, floors, trees, windows, and even the bread that had just been freshly baked¡­


    Most of the place of the villa had been completely petrified while he was gone for a few days.


    Petrifying things seemed to be their hobby.


    "Let¡¯s see what will you guys evolve into." Garen muttered as he looked at the two petrifying lizard in front of him.


    He set his sight onto the petrifying lizard¡¯s icon on the totem¡¯s pane.


    ¡®Petrifying lizard (unnamed) : first evolution of blue backed giant lizard, a second form of totem being. Can be evolved. Success rate 34%, Potential points consumed: 500%.


    Abilities: Petrifying Gaze ( Whichever beings who stared at their eyes would be damaged by its Light of Petrification, Rapid Drilling.¡¯


    "I have collected about 30 potential points within these few days in the inner city. Let¡¯s try my luck."


    He looked at the petrifying lizard, which was on his left, and had a rather rough and sharp back.


    "Number one is dead. From now on, you¡¯re called Copious Thorn."


    The one on his right obviously had a very eye catching teeth.


    "You¡¯ll be called Big Teeth."


    Garen casually named both of his petrifying lizards.


    "Let¡¯s evolve Copious Thorn first."


    He set his sight upon the icon of Copious Thorn, and could see its name behind the icon had indeed changed to Copious Thorn.


    He focused for three seconds, and 5 potential points immediately disappeared.


    The icon shook violently and became clear again in the following three seconds.


    "It failed¡­ Again." Garen didn¡¯t change his expression. He started to notice the laws of evolving using potential points. He might still be observing at the moment, but perhaps he could prove his it soon.


    He set his sight onto the icon for the second time.


    The icon went blurred for a moment and became clear afterwards. He had failed again.


    "I knew it!" Garen started to had some idea. "Again!"


    The third time!


    The icon was blurred for a moment and he failed once more!


    This was the fourth and last time.


    Garen stared at the icon. Copious Thorn¡¯s icon started to vibrate violently and didn¡¯t become clear as fast as before. This effect lasted for at least ten seconds.


    Sizz!!!


    He suddenly heard the roar of the giant lizard. Garen immediately looked at Copious Thorn.


    This petrifying lizard was struggling in agony.


    It was rolling on the ground as dust flew into the air. It was as if its body had become boiling water and its body started to bubble up with blood. The bubble soon exploded and became a white substance that covered its skin.


    At the same time, its body size expanded from four to five meters to five to six meters. It then continued to expand to seven to eight meters until it reached twelve meters! Its strong body had changed its color from brownish yellow to pure white, as it was completely covered by the white substance. The sticky substance solidified in a very short time, and become hard and reflective scales which covered the giant lizard¡¯s body.


    Garen had to take at least ten steps back to allow enough space for the lizard to evolve.


    What was originally a yellow lizard had become a gigantic monster, pure white in color. It was as if time was accelerated, and one could see its growth with the naked eye.


    Similar to the legendary elegant white dragon of the west, its back had a pair of bat-like humongous white wings. Its long tail swifted across the yard and produced a whirring sound from the friction.


    Garen stared at the white giant beast which was eight meters high and spanned twelve meters long. He was filled with surprise and happiness.


    Woah!!


    This giant beast that resembled the white dragon had four thick legs, and its body was filled with streamline and muscular textures. Its neck was as long as a snake, and its head, which was in the middle of the sky, had a triangular white membrane that stood vertically like a shark fin¡¯s when it surfaced out of the water.


    The two humongous white wings gently opened up and the wild winds blew away the weeds in the garden.


    It lowered down its neck and gently placed its head in front of Garen to show its loyalty towards Garen.

 314 Reaching Out 2

    Chapter 314: Reaching Out 2


    "This is really surprising¡­" Garen couldn¡¯t believe it. It was as if he was witnessing a legend or a folklore. This gigantic beast in front of him looked exactly like the humongous dragon mentioned in the legend of the west.


    "Oh right! Let¡¯s look at its abilities!" He recalled the most important part and placed his vision onto the totem pane.


    ¡®Petrifying White Dragon: third evolution of the petrifying lizard. Third form totem beings. An ultimate being that cannot be evolved further.


    Ancient Genetic Information: This terrifying creature likes to petrify their prey before consuming them. They liked to consume different kinds of quality gemstones or jades to increase their physical attributes. During the ancient era, they stood at the top of the food chain in the mountain ranges. The time when they were active was unknown, and they had a strong interest in collecting items such as gems, diamonds, crystals and even strong creatures they have petrified. They had an unusually invested hobby.


    Abilities: Agility Light of Petrification (Able to reduce the enemy¡¯s flexibility in a huge area and reduces the joints¡¯ sensitivity.This terrifying ability is why they¡¯re not afraid of group battles)


    Dragon Skin (The strong dragon scale that is able to negate the attacks from normal weapons and sharp bites)


    Heart of Petrification (The white dragon has a total of three hearts. It can petrify the enemy with its breath. It could also use either of its two hearts as a petrification grenade that covers a wide area of effect. Naturally, this would hurt its body)


    "The Petrifying White Dragon¡­ It¡¯s incredible!" Garen walked towards the white dragon¡¯s head, which was as tall as him. The huge dragon eye was black with a silver vertical pupil in the middle.


    He reached out his hands and gently caressed the white dragon¡¯s head.


    The sensation was cold and hard, similar to touching a snake¡¯s scales or a sturdy rock.


    Garen suddenly had an idea that he had not thought of before as he looked at the beast in front of him.


    "If it is the legendary giant dragon¡­ Then¡­ Will its blood give a human endless and mysterious effects just like the legend said?"


    With this thought in mind, Garen had a sudden urge to find out whether the legends were true or not himself.


    "Stand still and don¡¯t move!" He commanded.


    Roar!


    The white dragon roared softly, raised his head up and didn¡¯t move afterwards.


    Garen walked to the side of its body and took out a black dagger that he always brought along with him.


    "I believe I won¡¯t be able to break its scale." He suddenly recalled that he would not be able to harm a totem without the totem light¡¯s properties in his attack. He could probably damage a form one totem with his strength but what was infront of him was a form three totem.


    Immediately, he willed.


    The dragon and him were waiting at the back yard.


    Time was passing every second.


    Lala, who was in the villa, tried to see the situation outside multiple times. However, she understood Garen¡¯s order and didn¡¯t come out of the villa by herself. This girl was either very timid or very smart.


    She knew what she needed to know and need not know.


    She sat on the sofa in the living room as she read the historical novel in silence. She ignored the roar of the white dragon outside, and continued flipping her book as she read.


    She already knew that she knew too much of Garen¡¯s secrets, and to leave the mansion would be impossible. She was glad that she was able to rely on a strong person during the chaos. What made her feel even more glad was that this strong person did not demand her at all.


    She was very satisfied that she was able to pass her days like so.


    Soon, dense and strong footsteps could be heard outside of the villa.


    That beast with the big head had returned.


    Lala placed down the book and thought that she couldn¡¯t avoid seeing a glimpse of that beast through the window.


    Its skin was dark grey, and part of its body had completely blocked the whole window. The scale on its body kept moving, and soon sunlight would come through the window once again, after the the beast moved away.


    "What kind of a figure have I encountered?" She started to feel curious. She was constantly surrounded by weirdly shaped beasts and insects, and the whole villa seemed to have become a base and a nest for monsters.


    Only that man could casually enter and exit this place.


    ************


    At the backyard


    Garen silently watched the dual headed salamander run back from afar. The backyard could not accommodate two huge monsters, hence the dual headed salamander had no choice but to knock over the surrounding walls so that it barely stood beside Garen.


    Two huge beasts, A pure white colored one and a dark grey one. Garen couldn¡¯t be seen as he was completely squeezed in the middle.


    The body of the dual headed salamander was slightly larger than of the petrifying white dragon. Two of its head reached towards the petrifying white dragon¡¯s body and started sniffing at it. It was as if it was curious as to how this huge beast appeared and could it be eaten?


    Roar!


    The petrifying white dragon roared fiercely at it as white mists started leaking out of its mouth, ready to fire its petrifying breath.


    Garen stood in the middle and willed both of them into a relationship. After that, he quietly ordered the things that he had thought of beforehand.


    The Petrifying White Dragon reluctantly took a few steps back and opened its right wing to reveal his muscular side body. He then moved to the mouth of the dual headed salamander.


    Munch!


    The dual headed salamander took a huge bite at the petrifying white dragon¡¯s body without holding back.


    In a blink of an eye, a big amount of white colored blood gushed out and landed into the small hole underneath it and it took no time to fill up the small hole.


    The dual headed salamander retracted its heads and made some noises to show dissatisfaction. It seemed like something went wrong to its mouth and was slightly uncomfortable.


    The petrifying white dragon blew the white mists onto its wound and the blood immediately clotted.


    Garen then squatted just beside the pool of white blood.


    He quietly looked at the White Dragon¡¯s blood as he could smell a very strong stench coming off of it.


    The White Dragon¡¯s blood looked just like an expired rotten milk, with bubbles kept coming up to the surface. As these bubbles popped, the released a huge stench.


    He extended his index finger and gently dipped it into the white colored blood.


    An intense pain travelled through his index finger.


    Sizzle¡­


    His index finger¡¯s skin swiftly tightened up.


    Garen pulled back his finger and had a look at it. What was an originally white skin had become slightly grey, as if it was petrified.


    "What a powerful corrosion!" Garen moved his finger. He had deactivated the Totem Light¡¯s defense on his own and tried to test the true effect of this dragon¡¯s blood.


    "Looks like it still can¡¯t be used." Garen gave up on the idea of bathing himself in the dragon¡¯s blood. It was obvious that part of his finger had been petrified. Perhaps dragon blood was beneficial to a human body, but it was definitely not the case for the blood of the petrifying white dragon.


    "What a pity¡­" He looked at the two beasts beside him. "Go hunt, both of you. Kill anything that may threaten our territory¡¯s beasts."


    The Petrifying White Dragon roared softly and opened its wing to soar elegantly up in the sky as four of its limb moved forward. A white halo could be seen surrounding its body, and as it flew higher and further, it soon became a small white dot.


    The dual headed salamander roared softly.


    All of the sudden, two crocodile heads emerged from the shade in the vicinity of the garden and kept making noise. The sound of insects crawling about could be heard as well.


    These parasites were at least thirty to forty in number and it was a nest of an army as they marched.


    As Garen raised his head and looked at the white dragon up high in the sky, he felt vibrations coming from the derivator which he always brought along side him.


    He immediately took out the Crystal Derivator.


    This red colored ball was throbbing in silverlight, and a crystal clear message appeared in the center of the ball.


    ¡®Incoming message from the outer realm, do you want to connect?¡¯


    Garen was shocked.


    "A communication request?! Does that mean there are people with Derivators nearby?!" He recalled that this crystal ball was a terminal used by the Obscuro Society to control the Silver Totems, so it was impossible to not have a communication functionality.


    Garen could feel that there was a possibility that he would lose the Derivator.


    He hesitated for a moment as he looked at the communication request.


    ¡®The communication level had increased to emergency. Do you want to accept?¡¯ The crystal ball changed its sentences and a yes and no choice appeared at the bottom of the crystal ball.


    Garen placed his grey robe on his head and covered his face. He then squatted down and made a rough mask by cutting the solidified white dragon¡¯s blood with his heads. He placed it onto his face, even his eyes were covered.


    After these preparation, Garen then reached out his hands and gently pressed ¡®yes¡¯.


    In a blink of an eye, the crystal ball produced red ripples and a woman with a deep tone could be heard.


    "I didn¡¯t expect there is still an Elemental General in the Iron Tank City. Didn¡¯t those damn monsters had kill all of you? This is very rare." He paused for a moment. "Do you not speak? Looks like you¡¯re the legendary Jess."


    "It¡¯s obviously him since I have already found Ania and Jeffs¡¯ corpses, and they looked terrible! Hehe." The teasing voice of a man could be heard, "Where are you now Demetrius? I am at the Ender Kingdom managing the situation. These monsters had destroyed part of the nests. If not for me, there would be no survivors at all here."


    "I am currently at Canbria. The situation is complicated but manageable. How about your side Jess? Your side is very crucial; the Grand Duke¡¯s White Dragonhawks are not easy to deal with." Demetrius asked Garen.


    "My side?" Garen replied calmly. "It¡¯s alright. Everything is fine and smooth. It¡¯s just that most of my underlings are dead." He purposely said with a strange and hoarse sound.


    "What happened to your voice?" Demetrius asked suspiciously.


    "I have hurt my throat. Took me a long time to recover." Garen replied emotionlessly.


    "The current situation is like so. I could only manage to get in contact with eleven generals at the East Continent. Based on the current positions we are in, three of us will be formed as a team." Demetrius explained simply. "I didn¡¯t want to contact you guys as well. However, I have to request for assistance from you guys, since it is an emergency."

 315 Jess 1

    Chapter 315: Jess 1


    "Urgent situation? Is this not urgent enough? Ever since the meeting, we¡¯ve been running into nothing but trouble. What can be more urgent than this?" the man¡¯s voice dropped an octave.


    Demetrius didn¡¯t bother with him, and continued talking,"Now there are two things from HQ. First, is the mass amount of mutations in the experiments destroying the research bases. They want us to be extra careful, they even sent a report about a specific beast that we should watch out for. Secondly, a traitor has escaped from Obscuro, they want us to find and arrest this person. He was last seen within the three of our jurisdictions. From what we know, he sustained severe burn injuries and has mostly blacked skin."


    "They only seek us out when they¡¯re in trouble," the man scoffed.


    "Don¡¯t get all grumpy Andora, your mission is the most important. The King of Ender is a rare master of Aberrations. You can¡¯t just understand him with biology or chemistry anymore. Make sure you don¡¯t mess up when the time comes," Demetrius sounded unhappy.


    "Alright, that¡¯s it. I hope you two will keep these two issues on your mind. Also, Jess, if you can, HQ wishes that you acquire the treasure in the Grand Duke¡¯s mansion," Demetrius added.


    "Treasure?" Garen was piqued.


    "It should be called the Heart of the Dragonshadow or something. Along with my Crown of Thorns, it is a special type of treasure," Demetrius said coldly,"Alright, I have other business to tend to. We¡¯ll talk again when we have time."


    With a loud clapping sound, the voice cut off.


    "I should get going too. Let¡¯s keep in touch Jess. Honestly, among the three generals, you¡¯re the more likable one. If the Grand Duke is too much trouble, I can come help you out," Andora said coldly and cut off too.


    "Thanks."


    Garen watched as the Crystal Derivator slowly turned back into its original red, and a short text indicating the signal had been cut off, then only he sighed a breath of relief.


    It was only a few short minutes, but they were enough to have Garen sweat all over.


    "Elemental General¡­ If there are only three in Iron Tank City, then these three must be considered amongst the top masters in the city. Combined, they might even be able to topple the city¡¯s order. Also, who would¡¯ve known that those mutants in the wild were actually runaway experiment subjects of Obscura."


    Garen carried the Crystal Derivator, something that he used to rely on, now felt dangerous.


    "I need to find a way to eliminate the threat quickly," He planned to understand the Derivator properly.


    After a moment of thought and murmuring, Garen let the Dual Headed Salamander take most of the bugs out to collect some potential points while he sulkingly walked back to the villa.


    In the next few hours, Garen stayed in the villa trying to figure out the Crystal Derivator¡¯s functions and purpose. This was top priority for him as it was related to his greatest energy source, so he put everything aside; even on Goth¡¯s side he only left a letter saying he had to go away for a while, and warned him about Elielan.


    After ten plus days.


    Finally, Garen found something new in the Crystal Derivator.


    Something about the command chain.


    ***************


    In the scarlet colored study, Garen sat beside the broken window that had been broken by the Petrifying White Dragon, which was also in turn partially fixed by the Petrifying White Dragon¡¯s solidified spit.


    Garen sat with his back against the book rack facing the study table. On his left was a mattress filled with all sorts of notes and rolls of paper. Under his feet were a ton of loose paper on the carpet.


    There was a horrible stench in the room as well.


    Garen just kept staring at the Crystal Derivator on the table, continuously fondling it with his fingers.


    Finally, the derivator glowed a soft red. In the middle, a line of Kovitan text appeared.


    "Would you like to connect to the derivator network?"


    "Do I have control of all subordinate derivators?" Garen suddenly understood, the derivator could issue and accept commands using voice, so he spoke back in Kovitan.


    "All derivators can be controlled by superior derivators. Lord Garen, your derivator is a "General Level" derivator, your immediate superior is the marshal level, and your immediate subordinate is the colonel level."


    "Serial number: 0032gcr, your derivator is the east state¡¯s 32nd. There is a total of 10 derivators in the Kovitan region. Your rank is General, under you there is Lieutenant General, Brigadier General, Colonel, Lieutenant Colonel, Major. Please select which rank you would like to command. You may modify the selected user¡¯s derivator usage privilege at your own will."


    Upon discovering this, many inexplicable things before made sense now.


    Garen stared at the five different choices floating in the interface.


    "Since I can modify their usage privileges anytime, that probably means that the people above me can do the same to me as well. I better be careful."


    He squinted his eyes, feeling even more threatened than before.


    "I need to find out how the derivator controls its users. Those experiment mutants should¡¯ve been under control but yet they managed to shake loose the influence. How did they do that?" Garen suddenly thought of the traitor mentioned by Demetrius.


    "Perhaps I can find an answer there," he suddenly had an epiphany,"Let me see what I can do with my subordinates for now."


    He tapped the derivator softly.


    "Lieutenant General rank selected, you have two subordinates that can be contacted,"


    Two names appeared on the derivator.


    "Lieutenant General Helis, Lieutenant General Kuiman."


    Both of the names were grayed out, and there was a text saying "not contacted" behind their names.


    Upon reading that, Garen remained expressionless and continued to scroll down to the next row of names. Suddenly five names popped up, two of which were grayed out, and three were red with a row of text saying "contacting¡­" behind their names.


    Garen¡¯s heart skipped a beat.


    He reached out and tapped on the name of one of the brigadier generals.


    "Brigadier General Harry," he said softly,"where are you now?"


    The other side hesitated for a moment before replying,"General Jess? I am now based out of White Dew City. The Governor¡¯s house here has been completely overrun. I don¡¯t know what HQ wants out of this, how is any of this relative to our initial mission?" It was the voice of a young man,"I don¡¯t know understand why we¡¯re dragging innocent people into this mindless war."


    "Do not question the actions of the ones above us," Garen replied in a coarse voice.


    "You share my thoughts too? I am so honored!," Harry seemed surprised,"I always knew that among the Three Generals, you were the warmer one!"


    "I would like to ask you a question, could you answer me honestly?" Garen asked softly.


    "Please ask away," Harry¡¯s mood seemed to have improved.


    "About the White Dragonhawk plot in the Grand Duke¡¯s place, how much do you know?" Garen quickly asked about the situation closer to him.


    "White Dragonhawk plot? This is under the purview of General Jeffs, I am not privy to the details of it. However, I am particularly close to General Jeffs¡¯ Brigadier General Ally, I can ask her."


    "Thanks, that was my first question, now for my second question; could you tell me how many men do you have under you right now?" Garen¡¯s eyes seem to reflect worry upon asking this.


    "Subordinates? Under me? Immediately beneath me there are 32 Colonels, 109 Lieutenant Colonels, 188 Majors. We practically control all of White Dew City. Do you intend to move about a large amount of manpower? Sorry, I don¡¯t mean to question your intentions sir." Harry quickly changed his words.


    "You didn¡¯t lose many men?"


    "Thankfully the derivators came in time, else it would¡¯ve been a mess." Harry replied with certainty.


    "Lastly, there has been a traitor recently that escaped from HQ. He is charred from top to bottom, so his skin is black, keep an eye out for him," Garen passed on orders from above,"Alright, how about this: if I ask of you to get me ten third form totems, do you think you can do it?" He was now directly trying to test the abilities of this man.


    Harry hesitated.


    "Third form totems would be a bit tricky. From what I am able to do now, I can control two at most and they¡¯re both animal forms. The rest you will have to check with the other Brigadier Generals. You usually don¡¯t ask much, why the sudden interest? Oh, I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m overthinking again."


    "Mm, that¡¯ll be all," Garen cut the line.


    After this, Garen tried to contact the other generals and colonels, some were just silent, seemingly either dead or that they broke their derivators.


    One Lieutenant General, three Brigadier Generals, twelve Colonels, thirty-eight Lieutenant Colonels, and over two hundred Majors, all directly under him.


    By ¡®directly under him¡¯, it meant that these men would only take orders from him and nobody else.


    They were practically his own private army now.


    Garen contacted as many of his subordinates as he could, these would be his men now.


    After he was done contacting all of them, the sky was started to turn dark.The sunset light shone into the room, illuminating it with its golden glow, emanating an aura of warmth.


    He put down the derivator.


    He finally understood two things.


    "The first, is Jess¡¯s old image," Garen took out a piece of paper and with expert mastery and control, he quickly sketched out the shape of a sillhouette.

 316 Jess 2

    Chapter 316: Jess 2


    The strange floating man who was dressed in a black robe as on the paper suddenly became clearly visible, like an odd image.


    He did not have legs, his robes covered him from head to toes. From the front, only his pale and delicate jaw could be seen.


    "From the subordinate¡¯s description, it seems like this Jess is a somber figure - suspicious, untraceable, huge and less bossy. No one knows his specific strength, nor has anyone seen his body type." Garen described Jess¡¯s outlook in details with the information he retrieved.


    "These characteristics of him are very useful for me to pretend to be him," Garen kept his pen. "Following up is the second point; to estimate this as a whole, even though General Jess has lost his strength, but if he can directly or indirectly control over fifty heads of third form series of animal totems, it would at least be over a hundred heads for the form two totem. This is a huge power. If Jess¡¯s strength does not excel the Grand Duke¡¯s, then it is equivalent to the entire Iron Tank City¡¯s power. This kind of power is still secretly in the plan, don¡¯t know how many totem users are part of the Obscuro Society in Iron Tank City but it¡¯s even tougher if we don¡¯t want the city to collapse¡­"


    Garen got unusually scared at the thought of it.


    However, Obscuro Society¡¯s strength was really overwhelming even with the monster¡¯s leftover powers after the mess. If it has fully recovered, the estimate would be much stronger.


    But this doubt momentarily floated on top of his head - unless the hole he first went in with Goth was really a Form Two totem users¡¯ residing tunnel?


    Merely Form Two totem users but they can protect the General¡¯s exceptional derivator?


    Or let¡¯s say even if Obscuro Society has the confidence, did they think no one would be able to unlock the derivator in three tries?


    Garen reminisced the last time the shooting white spirit light exploded. That explosion startled the whole of Iron Tank City; the shooting spirit light was much more gleaming than the lighthouse but only the furnace inside exploded.


    What kind of factory furnace had such a huge force?


    One doubt after another appeared in his heart.


    "By the looks of it, Goth¡¯s underground experience wasn¡¯t that simple," he seemed to have made a conclusion.


    "That¡¯s it. Now, we should focus our energy on solving the derivator¡¯s control¡¯s hidden problem," Garen diverted all his attention onto the headquarter¡¯s traitor. If this person could be found, maybe then he would be able to provide some news and reports.


    "Just in case, try your best to accumulate the Dual Headed Salamander¡¯s and Petrifying White Dragon¡¯s hunting potential points to its fullest for me. As well as before lifting the hidden problem, the potential points cannot be put on the Silver Totems."


    Garen made his decision.


    History has already deviated. He must then face the what¡¯s to come next, on his own.


    Garen¡¯s potential point also altered as time changed, increasing more and more as days passed. Once he triggers the stronger third form monsters, he would then mobilize the department to capture the monsters. If it was really strong, then he¡¯ll avoid it for a moment. By going back and forth with it, his potential point would slowly increase to an objective point.


    Garen used it all up on the revolutionizing the White Core Tiger. Unfortunately, throwing in hundred over points did not even reveal a single bubble. This made his mood uncomfortable.


    The surrounding bunch of monsters has slowly been wary towards Garen¡¯s mansion. They started gathering, it was getting more and more difficult to brush up potential points. Often he would bump into two or three third form monster, surrounded by a huge herd of second form monsters and first form monsters.


    One after another third form monster formed a huge army, segregating the whole outer part of Iron Tank City.


    Garen occupied the east side of the city, six heads of the third form strange birds occupied the city¡¯s west, the north and south side have been occupied by appalling numbers of more than hundred heads of third form monsters. Moreover, the number has been increasing. This force belonged to Iron Tank City¡¯s main suppressor, the monster¡¯s army. There were even an extremely tough Three-eyes Black Panda among them - this monster¡¯s body was humungous, with thirteen meters tall and twenty meters wide. Its speed ability was exceptionally strong, around its body lingers a huge scale of odd mauve emmanuel. These type of emmanuel-covered-body monsters possessed a dramatic increase in speed ability. Not only are they not afraid of death, but each one who defeated it completely their senses.


    The Three-eyed Panda and the Grand Duke¡¯s Petrifying White Dragon have been confronting each other for a long period of time; they both fear each other. But the human strength of Iron Tank City got weaker each time they fought; with that, the lesser they fought. Instead, the monsters fought more and more.


    Basically the Three-eyes Black Panda did not even need to raise a hand for the Grand Duke to show his moves. That was the only way to prevent the defense ring from receiving too much impact.


    Garen has many times seen the fight between the Black Panda and the Grand Duke from the east side of the city.


    The Black Panda jumped on the top moving building, looking far and wide. The surrounding buildings and he were like blocks of wooden houses - with a push, it would be destroyed; with a knock, it would fall.


    On the side, Garen couldn¡¯t help but continuously piled potential points on the Black-stripped White Tiger. Primitive totem and silver totem¡¯s evolution had their differences, in which even he couldn¡¯t see through clearly.


    And in the city, the situation was getting worse.


    Garen was not able to meet with Goth and company the few times he was in town. Jessica¡¯s health condition has been miraculously improving, it seemed to have a very strong turning point.


    On the other hand, Goth and Andy had both participated in defense ring against the outer city¡¯s monster battle.


    Especially Goth, he was nowhere to be seen.


    *********************


    Inside the hospital ward, Jessica wore a white patient-uniform while sitting on the bed, gently rubbing her stomach and her face showed a slight trace of happiness.


    Garen sat at the side, peeling her apples.


    A faint morning sunlight shone on the both of their right sides, the floor showed the shape of the window with white spots.


    "When did you realize that?" Garen lightly asked, as he continuously peeled the apple skin.


    "About a few days ago. That time, I felt like throwing up and after the doctor came over for a checkup, I gave him a huge scolding." The delicate face Jessica showed at first suddenly became gentle and sweet.


    "Goth, that bastard is really not genuine." Garen shook his head, "Even with your health, he was still thinking about it¡­ "


    "Don¡¯t blame him, it¡¯s me." Jessica interrupted Garen, "I was the one who wanted to give him a child." Her face carried a carried a small hint of a smile.


    Garen carefully hid his observation of Jessica¡¯s complexion, he suspected that Jessica must have been empowered.


    Goth pushed open the hospital ward as he saw Garen sitting by the side of the bed, quietly peeling an apple. Ever since he received the news about Jessica¡¯s pregnancy, he immediately rushed back from the front line, to witness it for himself.


    "Garen?!" He fiercely patted Garen¡¯s shoulder as he was a little shocked.


    "Andy, Elielan and I were just talking about you yesterday. Elielan said he blamed you wrongly the last time and wanted to apologize to you but he couldn¡¯t find you. I didn¡¯t think that I would see you here. What¡¯s up? You¡¯re here to see Jessica?"


    "No, I¡¯m here to see you." Garen stood up and split the apple into two; one for Goth, and one for Jessica.


    "Let¡¯s go. Let¡¯s give Jessica some time to rest, we can go out for a chat," as he pulled Goth out of the room without explanation.


    "What¡¯s the issue? What¡¯s the rush?" Goth unsatisfyingly said as he gnawed on the apple. After Garen pulled him out of the hospital ward, the two of them found a quiet corner and faced each other.


    "Alright, can you say what¡¯s the issue now?"


    "What is wrong with Jessica¡¯s health?" Garen paused, and then asked again, "She looks to me as if she¡¯s much better than before"


    Goth relaxed slightly and smiled.


    "Even though there is no way she could fully recover, but now, it should not be the same as it was half a year before. You can relax."


    "Last time." Garen appropriately said his next phrase, "The last time, there was actually a reason behind why I told you to be careful of Elielan."


    His face, along with Goth¡¯s became serious.


    The air slowly got a bit heavier.


    Garen paused. "I¡¯ve once come across a type of Obscuro Society¡¯s special tactic - the name was Empower. It is a type of special method that could control living thing¡¯s behavior."


    "What are you suspicious about? Empower? Jessica has been Empowered? That¡¯s what you wanted to say right? That you can rest assure, Elielan has mentioned it before. We have also come across similar Silver Totems; the characteristics are quite clear, Jessica should be fine. After you reminded me the last time, I¡¯ve checked. Don¡¯t worry!" For a moment, Goth relaxed and uncaringly patted Garen¡¯s shoulders, "you¡¯ve been thinking too much, you should relax a little. Don¡¯t always be suspecting of everything."


    Garen frowned. As he observed Goth¡¯s expression, he also doubted his own decision-making skills.


    "After empowering, you have to destroy the controller thoroughly. Only that can you lift the empower off the living being."


    "Destroy the controller?" Goth pondered.


    As he achieved his goal, Garen did not say more. Instead, he pulled away from the topic and asked about the city¡¯s current situation. Knowing that Goth and the Grand Duke have now met, he felt happy for him, from the bottom of his heart.


    Once again, the two parted in their own ways - Garen was focused on capturing the Obscuro Society¡¯s escaped fugitive. Being able to escape from the headquarters to here, he must not be an easy person. If it was the original Elemental General Jess, then maybe would not fear each other. However, he¡¯s only a fake good now and his abilities are more or less the same as the General¡¯s. If his identity was exposed, he believed even the General could not beat him.


    Not to mention the Lieutenant above, General¡¯s level.


    Back at the mansion, Garen was able to concentrate on practicing his tactics. Finally, he was able to sight share this skilled tactic exercises, which can be used for practical purposes.


    He sat by his mansion, the parasitic beetles under his hand spread out and crawled towards all directions; the Dual Headed Salamander controlled the Four Headed Deep Swamp Croc and commanded over hundreds of parasitics bugs, as they spread out everywhere.


    After putting in over a hundred potential points, the Black-striped White Tiger seemed to show a bit of movement. Even though the evolution failed, but it¡¯s body surface started to show circles of much thinner stripes; it looked as if it was a White-striped Black Tiger. Its body size was gradually getting bigger too, developing in the direction of a Behemoth.


    This gave Garen more hope.


    There was only a result when over a hundred potential points were given, but this made him let out a sigh. By witnessing the difficulty level, he finally understood the reason why after so many years, no one had been able to successfully nurture a second form Black-striped White Tiger.


    Every minute, every second was washed away.


    Garen took all his potential points and used it on the Black-striped White Tiger¡¯s body. The parasitic beetles'' army became increasingly more and it has triggered the attention of the surrounding third form monsters. When the number of beetles hit two hundred, Garen finally stopped the parasites from forming. He only allowed the Dual Headed Salamander¡¯s parasitism on the Deep Swamp Croc. At the same time, he relied on his Sight Sharing tactic; continuously using the silver totems to control the surrounding situation,


    As time passed, the monsters around increased in numbers. The high-level monsters became more and more. In a short period of two months, the third form monsters increased by ten heads.


    Garen stayed in his remote mansion, even he felt the downpour in the city will cause a sense of terrifying repression.

 317 Defector 1

    Chapter 317: Defector 1


    Screech!!!


    A huge white dragon flapped its wings slowly, creating large, whistling gusts as it glided through the grey skies.


    Garen, who was in his gray robes, gazed at the Petrifying White dragon gliding by as he stood by the window. His focus didn¡¯t change at all as he seemed lost in his thoughts.


    He was standing in a new study room.


    The room was entirely white, including the walls and floors. The wall cloth and carpets smelt like newly washed, moist laundry.


    After standing for a while, he turned and looked at Lala who was rearranging things.


    "Have you moved everything that was in the previous study room?"


    "Yes sir." Lala returned the cloth to the basin. "Do you have any other orders? The time now is 3 o¡¯clock in the afternoon. If there is nothing else, I will fix the hole in the study room."


    "You can just nail up a few layers of woods." Garen ordered.


    "Okay." Lala hesitated. "Air will leak it though."


    "Don¡¯t worry about it."


    "Then, I will go now."


    "Alright."


    Garen turned around and sat at the desk with his gaze out of focus, as though he was looking into the distance.


    Lala gave him a strange look before walking out of the new study room, gently closing the door.


    Her footsteps slowly faded.


    Garen sat by the table without moving.


    After some time, a clear clicking sound was heard from his arms.


    Garen refocussed his vision as he blinked and rubbed at his temple points.


    "Hmm¡­ This Tactic, Sight Sharing still requires more time before I can get used to it¡­ The situation and the sound it makes doesn¡¯t tally up, much like those soundless movies in the theatre."


    He started to feel suspicious after he¡¯d rested for a while. He took out the exquisite golden pocket watch from his pocket and realized that the clockwork had stopped.


    Garen wound up the pocket clock gently so that it could run again.


    "It¡¯s been so many days. How long has it been since I met Goth? Ten days? Twenty days? I can¡¯t help but feel that something¡¯s weird about Elielan." He put down the pocket watch as he frowned.


    Suddenly, Garen¡¯s face was filled with surprise. He stood up and looked at the white abandoned building through the window.


    Among the abandoned city walls and buildings, a black beetle as tall as half a man was swiftly scurrying towards the villa.


    A black pants leg could be seen in its mouth, and it was dragging a weak-looking dark human body.


    This body which was in long black clothes had all of its hair burnt out. The hand and legs that could be seen were covered in blackish red ulcers. The body left an obvious, dirty trail as it was dragged along by the beetle.


    The beetle scuttled on the flat terrain towards the villa hastily as it dodged a few large craters.


    Garen opened the window, and lightly leapt out of it as he exerted some force with his legs. He landed in the villa¡¯s garden daintily. As he regained his balance, he personally greeted this black beetle which had dragged a person along with it.


    As he took a step forward, a foul odor wafted in his direction.


    Garen frowned as he carefully inspected the body.


    The body was completely burnt black and literally all visible skin was coated in blackish red blisters. These blisters of all sizes appeared in clusters, morbidly similar to grapes. Some of them had already burst due to the friction and a yellowish black viscous substance could be seen flowing out of them.


    Furthermore, its hair was completely burnt off and half of the skin on its head appeared to have been ripped off with great force, as the underlying flesh could be seen.


    Garen narrowed his eyes as he observed this body, and he was suddenly cautious.


    "Interesting. Let¡¯s assume you found me on your own accord instead of me finding you. I will not believe in such a coincidence. Out of this enormous range, you chose to faint in my territory."


    He muttered to himself. He then walked closer, squatted down and pulled open the person¡¯s shirt.


    He pulled off the outer black shirt and without any underwear, a pair of half rotten breasts, covered in purple red blisters, was revealed.


    "A woman?" He covered her body with her clothes and stood up as he tried to resist the horrendous smell. "Since you found me on your own, I really want to see what you¡¯re going to do."


    Garen turned around and walked into the villa. A Deep Swarm Croc gently flicked its tail and rolled the girl on its back, carrying her while following Garen.


    The villa¡¯s entrance was already opened by Lala, who stood beside it. Her expression was completely calm; she had seen too many strange scenarios and it was obvious that she was used to it already.


    She followed the Deep Swarm Croc which was following Garen and she couldn¡¯t help but feel shaken at the horrible state of the body. She was unable to resist covering her nose as she got closer to the eye-watering stench.


    Nauseous couldn¡¯t begin to describe the foulness of the odour.


    "Go bring some clean towels and water and help clean her up." Garen ordered quietly.


    "Okay. I will go get some warm water!" Lala rushed towards the kitchen.


    With his left hand on the person¡¯s shoulder, Garen turned around and easily picked up the giant croc with his other hand to provide support for the girl.


    "Who are you?! Are you not Jess!?" Her eyes fluttered open in shock as she stared at Garen.


    Even though she¡¯d finally spoken, her voice was that of a broken wind-box as most of the words that came out of her mouth were just noise. Unexpectedly, her accent was a pure Daniela accent.


    She suddenly got up and shrunk away from Garen.


    "Jess? You sure do know a lot." Garen squinted at this girl who¡¯d been balded by a fire. "What fearsome vitality. With such an injury, if you were a normal human you¡¯d be a fried corpse . By the way, your Daniela accent is very accurate."


    "Daniela accent?" The girl was puzzled. "What is that?¡¯


    "Tell me, why are you looking for Jess?" Garen asked softly in the Daniela language. He had picked up these commonly used languages during his time in the inner city. He didn¡¯t have to worry about wasting potential points as he had a lot right now. The current him looked very intelligent.


    "Jess?" The girl was suddenly baffled. "That¡¯s right¡­ Why am I looking for Jess? Who is Jess?" Her eyes were clearly filled with confusion.


    She then suddenly covered her head with her hands and squatted down as her face twisted in agony.


    "My head¡­ It¡¯s hurts¡­!!" She tumbled to the floor and squirmed about like a disgusting worm, leaving a pool of sticky viscous substance on the tiles.


    The stench started to spread and Garen, who had a supersensitive nose started to feel nauseous.


    As he scanned the woman¡¯s blood and qi¡¯s circulation, he could clearly see it.


    Her blood and qi were mostly stagnant in her brain and the remaining parts of her body were incredibly weak, so weak that she was just barely surviving.


    It looked like a very messy tangled red thread and the only place to unknot everything was her head.


    "What is your name?" Garen asked softly as he used a secret martial art to send the message directly into her ears.


    "My¡­ My na.. Name?" The girl¡¯s head was in complete chaos. "I can¡¯t remember! My head hurts so much¡­"


    She grabbed her head tightly as she curled up on the ground like a caterpillar about to burn to death.


    At this moment, Lala came in with a silver basin and a black towel, but was stopped by Garen.


    Garen was baffled. "Let me handle this. You can go and do the other tasks."


    "Yes." Lala didn¡¯t enquire further and turned around with her head down as she proceeded to do her remaining duties.


    Garen gently picked the woman up and carried the towel and basin with one hand as he went up to the vice bedroom on the second floor.


    Along the way, he tried to ask this person some basic questions and found out that she had forgotten everything. Furthermore, based on her qi, she didn¡¯t seem to be lying.


    This woman seemed to have suffered severe head damage. Through her qi, Garen found out that her brain was damaged; a quarter of her brain had already turned into a mush. Amazingly, she hadn¡¯t died and had survived.


    "This is a miracle!" Garen exclaimed as he lay the woman¡¯s head down and gazed down at her unconscious body. Her face could¡¯ve been from a horror movie. It was ugly, swollen, smelly and rotten. It was literally purple rotting meat. If not for her breasts that left persuasive evidence, nobody would¡¯ve been able to make out her gender. As a matter of fact, no one might¡¯ve even see her as a human.


    With just a light touch, Garen¡¯s palm was filled with the stick and smelly substance. "With this look, those dead babies by the roadside would have classified themselves together with you. Severe infection throughout the body and purulence. You¡¯re as good as dead had I not discovered you."


    He locked the door and soaked the towel in the warm water. He then wrung out the towel and gently wiped off the sticky substances on her face.


    With fingers that were as sharp as blades, he cut off the woman¡¯s long shirt and pants to reveal the swollen body underneath it.


    Garen then cleaned the girl¡¯s body with the utmost care as he removed the dirt and blood clots. He managed to clean up her body after changing a few basins of water through Lala.


    He then closed the door firmly to ensure that Lala would not enter the room no matter what.


    Alone, his palms started to glow red, resembling a sculpture made out of gem.


    Garen took a deep breath as he stood in front of the woman.


    "Buzz!!!"


    A loud buzz emitted from Garen¡¯s mouth as he moved his fingers swiftly across the woman¡¯s chest, head and legs.


    The sound waves constantly vibrated her body. Garen felt like he was treating a burnt corpse as he placed his fingers onto pressure points that felt like rotten wood.


    It was a secret technique used to temporarily activate the life potential, which would enhance physical recovery. This skill was similar to the Polaris Fierce Arts. Although this activation method would affect the body¡¯s lifespan, this woman would have died if she couldn¡¯t endure this so there wasn¡¯t much of a difference.

 318 Defector 2

    Chapter 318: Defector 2


    After a series of finger tapping, white sweat started forming on Garen¡¯s forehead. He took two steps backward as his red jaded palms faded away.


    The woman was covered in a layer of transparent light upon completion of her treatment. The layer of light flashed as it completely covered every part of the woman.


    A cool and sharp chill suddenly filled up the whole room.


    "She¡¯s indeed a totem user." Garen smirked as he activated his white totem light to resist against the strong energy fluctuation.


    The woman¡¯s eyelids twitched before she opened her eyes and her slightly slanted mouth.


    "Who¡­ am I¡­" Her bloodshot, grainy eyes were filled with confusion.


    "You¡¯re Reylan." Garen immediately walked to her side and gently said, "You¡¯re Reylan Lombard, the biological sister of Garen Lombard, which is I."


    "My name is Reylan?... Garen Lombard¡¯s biological sister¡­" The woman unconsciously repeated Garen¡¯s sentence.


    "We were separated since young due to the fire." Garen¡¯s voice was softer at this point.


    "We were separated since young due to the fire¡­" The woman repeated Garen¡¯s sentence word by word as her gaze started to clear up.


    With Garen¡¯s guidance, he spun a flawless lie within her mind. Although he knew that she had lost her memories due to the severe injury of her brain, her strength was obviously incredible judging from her totem light. She must not be an ordinary character, considering that she was able to escape from the Obscuro Society.


    As to whether if this mislead would succeed or not, Garen had no idea. He was just testing it out and there would be no loss for him anyway.


    After spending about half an hour on her, Garen finally let the woman to fall asleep.


    He then left the room to get some fresh air as he had a hard time breathing inside the smelly room.


    He¡¯d only crafted the story of her oldest memories and had not tampered with the the rest of her memories. He told her that he¡¯d found her outside of his house and he didn¡¯t know what had happened to her during the years they were separated.


    "Looks like I¡¯ll need to spend some time to obtain something useful from her."


    ****************


    Garen then accompanied this girl and treated her as Reylan Lombard, in which she believed that she was Reylan Lombard.


    Since her brain was partly damaged, most of her memories were already jumbled. She¡¯d already accepted what Garen told her and acted as if she was his younger sister.


    Garen took care of her everyday life by himself. This assured her of her memories, as if not for a biological relative, who else would still be willing to take care of a smelly ¡®burnt corpse¡¯?


    Reylan started to open up to Garen. Her figure had been completely disfigured so no one actually knew how she looked like in the past.


    One side of her lips had been burnt, resulting in her mouth slanting to the right. Saliva would drip out of her mouth whenever she tried to speak, and food would come out as she tried to eat. As her skin recovered, it was marred with scars from the blisters and the wrinkled skin that was left behind by the burns made her look eighty to ninety years old.


    Garen then started to probe for some information, after Reylan had opened up to him.


    **************


    More than ten days later.


    Reylan sat on the huge bed inside the very clean room, silently gazing at Garen who was reading a book. The cool air entered the room through a small gap of the window and mixed with the faint odour of a corpse.


    The golden sunlight shone on Garen¡¯s right hand, reflecting a smooth and white luster.


    Reylan was envious of him.


    "What¡¯s wrong?" Garen placed down the notebook in his hand. It was the book he had found from searching the golden hair totem user¡¯s body and it contained information of the primitive totem¡¯s nurturing method. It was an isolated tradition and even though there was little information about it, it was still worth the reference.


    "Nothing. Brother, are you looking at the notes on how to nurture a primitive totem?" Reylan asked softly. Her voice had recovered a lot and was no longer leaking. Her voice was coarse but it sounded like a woman of not more than thirty years old.


    "Yeah. I obtained it from the enemy and I¡¯m just reading it casually." Garen replied with a smile. "Do you have anything you want to talk about?"


    Reylan thought for a while as she frowned.


    "My brain¡¯s damage is too severe. Although I don¡¯t remember everything, I still can recall some stuff. Compared to the primitive totem, the Creature Totem is much more stronger. So, why is brother not focusing on nurturing the Silver Totem?"


    Surprised, Garen shook his head and replied: "There are no other choice. A Crystal Derivator is needed to control the Silver Totems. Based on this assumption, doesn¡¯t that mean that I will forever be controlled by someone else?"


    "A Crystal Derivator?" Reylan looked confused. "That sounds familiar¡­"


    Garen was patient and sat there quietly as he waited for Reyland to recall her memory.


    Time slowly passed.


    Reylan finally opened her mouth.


    "I remember this thing. Its control mechanism isn¡¯t perfect so it can be avoided." She paused for a while. "Technically speaking, this item isn¡¯t able to send images and can only send voice messages at best. Although the user interface is partially encrypted, it¡¯s fairly easy to hack into it. The basis of deactivation is¡­ Ah!!"


    Suddenly, she grabbed her head as she let out a deep cry of pain and toppled onto the bed. Her body started to shudder, as though she was running in a blizzard without clothes on.


    "Don¡¯t force yourself too much. Get some rest! Get some rest and relax!!" Garen immediately stood up as his face filled with concern.


    He swiftly reached out his hand and pressed onto a few pressure points to reduce her agony.


    "Looks like you¡¯re being assassinated because you have this knowledge. Those Obscuro Society bastards! I will kill all of them some day!" Garen¡¯s eyes burned with killing intent.


    "Don¡¯t! It¡¯s impossible to win against them brother!" Reylan resisted the pain as she pulled Garen. "I¡¯m certain they¡¯re trying to destroy this part of my memory. Believe me, I will find a way to recall!"


    "There¡¯s no need to rush." Garen sat down and covered Reylan with a blanket.


    What was supposed to be a young woman looked like a seventy to eighty year old bald hag, with wrinkles and scars all over her body. Other than her voice, there was not a single external sign that she was young. Furthermore, she constantly smelt of a musty unpleasant odor.


    She was touched when she heard Garen¡¯s response.


    "I managed to survive when they wanted me dead. Although I don¡¯t remember who¡¯d hurt me to this state, I will find out no matter what!" Reylan said fiercely before she paused and looked at Garen.


    "You don¡¯t have to be impatient too brother. Although I don¡¯t recall how to deactivate the Crystal Derivator¡¯s authorization mechanism, we can at least temporarily bypass it and control the authorization mechanism."


    "Oh?" Garen¡¯s eyes glimmered. "To bypass?"


    "Yes. The authorization rights only allow the higher level Crystal Derivator to monitor the Crystal Derivator of the lower level. Since secret phrases are very reliable, it is very uncommon that a fake leader would appear. To control a lower level crystal with a higher level crystal, one must go through the Control Crystal. There are two prerequisites before one can go through the Control Crystal. The first condition is that the crystal that is being controlled must not be broken."


    Garen nodded as he saw the broken crystals turned grey and couldn¡¯t function any longer.


    "The other one is that the crystal that is under control must be in a sluggish state."


    "A sluggish state?" Garen repeated his question. "What is a sluggish state?"


    "It is a special state of the crystal. When the crystal is in this state, its functionality, abilities and communication speed are all reduced. Errors occur more frequently as well. This way, if one were to keep using it without anyone from the Obscuro Society to fix it, the crystal will eventually break. This would still be fine for the typical crystals. However, if it¡¯s a high grade crystal such as the Field-level crystal which is hard to create, they would not forcefully command the lower grade crystal under these circumstances to prevent any losses."


    Reylan explained with full confidence.


    "Furthermore, in the current world of chaos where strong experimental creatures have escaped, there were a lot of generals killed. Hence, crystals in a sluggish state are natural and inconspicuous. As long as you execute it naturally, no one would be suspicious of it. At the very least, you do not need to worry about the Creature Totem that you nurtured so hard going against you."


    "This is a great plan." Garen nodded as he agreed with the feasibility of this method. "However, we can¡¯t always be in the sluggish state, can we?"


    "This can drag up to months and we will think of another idea when the time comes." Reylan explained. "At least we don¡¯t have to worry about the crystal¡¯s information being casually looked upon."


    "You can casually look at the Crystal¡¯s information?" Garen was startled.


    "Only the Commander-level Crystal can do so." Reylan nodded. "Come over here and I will set up your crystal¡¯s state."


    Garen squinted his eyes as he hesitated but he took out his Crystal Derivator in the end.


    "You don¡¯t have to pass it to me. Just hold it like that will do." Reylan had no intention on obtaining the Crystal.


    She reached out her right index finger and immediately produced a black fire.


    The fire kept producing complicated black Tactic symbols in the air, which looked like endless of alphabet K superimposed together in a roulette shape.


    "Go!" She gently pushed the Tactics forward.


    Pew!


    The black Tactic symbols turned into a black light instantly and went into Garen¡¯s Crystal Derivator.


    The pink Crystal Derivator glew brightly before it dimmed down for good. Garen could feel that the constantly faint ripple gradually disappeared.


    "It¡¯s a success. However, brother should learn some of the basic knowledge in case something complicated comes up when I am not around so you can solve the issue." Reylan explained.


    Garen was startled and smiled afterwards. "That¡¯s fine by me. I had the same intention as well."

 319 Cruel 1

    Chapter 319: Cruel 1


    Reylan was a very talented researcher. If she could rid herself of her terrifying appearance, the learning environment would have been perfect.


    Under her guidance, Garen learnt the basics of evolution, advanced mathematics, advanced physics, biological anatomy and a series of specialised advanced science knowledge.


    Days passed as Garen was immersed in his new knowledge and had almost forgotten about everything else.


    Kaboom!!


    Suddenly, the feather pen in Garen¡¯s hand fluttered and left an ink splotch on the piece of paper.


    "What happened?!" He leaped to his feet and looked outside as he rushed to the window.


    A swarm of black dots in the grey sky, like dots of inks in clear water, was flying towards the inner city.


    These small dots were composed of flying creatures of different sizes and shapes. There were Unihorn Lizards, giant flies, etc. These new models were of strange different shapes and all of them were flying towards the inner city.


    "This is!?" Garen suddenly recalled an important task towards the people in the inner city.


    "Brother, what¡¯s going on?" The room¡¯s door was pushed opened as Reylan entered with a grey robe concealing her body. "I think I sense a high density energy core resonating!"


    She used the grey robe to cover every part of her maimed face.


    "I have no idea but these creatures are commencing a large-scale attack towards the city," Garen replied seriously. "The scale of this attack isn¡¯t typical. In fact, it is much larger than the previous ones. I¡¯m afraid the strong creatures are going to come out soon."


    "Legend has is that the Iron Tank City has a high-grade national treasure known as the Heart of the Dragonshadow. It can slowly erode the enemies within a certain area. These creatures are nothing to worry about if the people inside can buy some time." Reylan casually explained. She then looked at Garen¡¯s expression. "Brother, do you have any friends in the inner city?"


    Garen didn¡¯t say a word and nodded.


    "Okay. I may have to go and have a look. You should stay in the villa and don¡¯t leave it for no reason."


    "I understand." Reylan nodded as she replied. She then turned her head and shouted. "Lala! Lala! Come quickly!"


    She wasn¡¯t as gentle towards others; her tone usually had a tone of impatience.


    Soon, Lala who was in a black and white servant dress came rushing in.


    "Ms Reylan, Do you... Have any orders?" Lala didn¡¯t like Sir Garen¡¯s sister as she always glared at her face and skin with jealousy. A girl who had lost her physical appearances would view their own beautiful kind with jealousy and this made Lala uncomfortable.


    Reylan looked at her with disgust.


    "Who are you trying to seduce with such a short dress? My brother? You damn whore. You might as well not wear anything if you want to wear such a short skirt. Quickly prepare the shirt and gears for my brother¡¯s departure!!" Reyland shouted loudly with impatience.


    "It¡¯s alright Reylan. There¡¯s no need to be so strict with Lala since she¡¯s still young." Garen frowned as he said softly.


    Reylan changed back to her gentle tone. "You have no idea brother. You need be strict with these underlings so that they know that life isn¡¯t easy! They wouldn¡¯t know their place if this keeps up. Let me handle the small stuff so that you can do what you need to do."


    Garen didn¡¯t say anything else as he could see that Reylan didn¡¯t have a good attitude to begin with. Now that she had lost her physical appearances, her attitude had worsened.


    "Then I will take my leave."


    "Okay. Do you need me to accompany you?" Reylan asked very softly.


    "No need." Garen shook his head and brought Lala out of the room. As they walked alongside the corridor, Garen looked at Lala sympathetically.


    "Don¡¯t mind her. Sister was severely injured so her mood isn¡¯t very good. Be a little bit more patient with her."


    "... I understand." Lala replied softly.


    "Good." Garen nodded.


    After changing his shirt, Garen put on his grey robes and hat as he immediately left the villa¡¯s vicinity.


    A twelve meter long giant white dragon crouched in the empty field in front.


    The petrifying white dragon was completely still and it looked like a very well crafted white gem sculpture.


    As it sensed Garen¡¯s arrival, it slowly raised its head and softly growled at Garen.


    Shh¡­


    Garen strolled towards it and stroked its head.


    "Alright. I may need you to bring me out this time. Be careful and not let any stronger creature notice you." Garen smiled as he leapt onto the Petrifying White Dragon¡¯s back.


    The White Dragon¡¯s body was rough and non-reflective. With its layer of scales covering its body, it had an aura of elegance around it.


    Garen landed on the white dragon¡¯s back and sat in an empty spot between the wings. In front of him was the White Dragon¡¯s head which was completely defenseless and the triangular fins on the top of its head which Garen used as an indicator to determine direction.


    Garen sat on his knees and placed his hands onto the warm, hard dragon scales. He found two scales that were tipped up and decided to hold onto them.


    "Let¡¯s fly." He ordered.


    The Petrifying White Dragon expanded its ragged wings, flapped a few times as it sprinted forward.


    Whoosh!


    It beat its wings with all its might and a turbulent was created, blowing away the rocks and dusts underneath him aside.


    The Petrifying White Dragon opened its mouth filled with sharp fangs and exhaled a mouthful of white gas. It then moved its wings rhythmically and flew towards the inner city.


    Garen, who was sitting on the back of the dragon, looked down at the streets and houses that gradually became smaller. The swarms of black beetles, Deep Swarm Croc, and the eye catching Dual Headed Salamander gazed up at him as they growled in dissatisfaction due to them not able to hunt outside of the villa.


    The white house underneath him became smaller and gradually looked like a wooden box. Most of the buildings in the urban area were damaged. The districts which were close to the city walls looked like a pile of white stones gathered by the city walls.


    As the Petrifying White Dragon flew through the sky, Unihorn Lizards started to appear in the surrounding. They were in either black, red, or even grey color for the bigger ones. Although the white colored Unihorn Lizards were a little bit smaller in size, they still looked very fierce.


    Garen concealed his aura to the best of his abilities as he hid behind the White Dragon¡¯s back with his grey robe.


    Whoosh!


    A black giant bald eagle appeared to the right of Garen. This giant eagle was as big as the White Dragon. What made it different from the other creatures was that although it was a little bit afraid of the White Dragon, it didn¡¯t maintain a respectable distance between them.


    Dissatisfied, the Petrifying White Dragon growled. He was stopped by Garen as it was about to attack the weird eagle.


    As they flew towards the inner city, the surrounding creatures in the sky increased in numbers, as they were now within the city There were so many the sky was literally covered by them. There were creatures of different shapes and sizes everywhere and there were countless above him as well.


    Garen looked down at the Iron Tank City, which had originally been white and circular but was now in ruins. Only a small portion of the district in the center of the city was still in perfect condition, as there was a semi spherical glass barrier covering it.


    A giant Three-eyed Black Bear and a Panther with black wings on its back were creeping closer towards the inner city from opposite sides. Behind these two were countless of creatures leaded by them.


    From the bird¡¯s eye view, it looked like two black curtains that were slowly covering the inner city.


    The frigid breeze kept gusting through Garen¡¯s grey robe, sending chills down his spine. He adjusted his aura to prevent himself from being frozen to death and noticed by the creatures.


    As he laid on the dragon¡¯s back, he quietly gave orders to the white dragon to descend.


    Shh¡­


    The white halo appearing on the Petrifying White Dragon¡¯s body covered Garen as well. As it plunged down, the surrounding creatures avoided its path of trajectory as whatever was inside the white light would have their speed reduced and their joints stiffened.


    The Petrifying White Dragon left Garen at the entrance of the War Guild.


    Garen quietly jumped down from its back and swiftly ran into the entrance.


    As though it was his backyard, Garen swiftly rushed towards the inner city through an abandoned route.


    After a few turns, two guards in black armor appeared in front of him.


    "Who¡¯s there!?"


    Without saying another word, Garen flashed out his membership card.


    The two guards were stunned.


    "You must have rushed back from afar. Enter quickly because the creatures are about to attack the city!"


    Totem users who could stay outside were definitely not your typical totem users. Hence the respect the two guards showed was understandable.


    Garen swiftly passed through both of them and soon saw a totem user and a black spider totem on the wall, staring fiercely at Garen with its red eyes.


    "Identity yourself!" The totem user asked coldly.


    Garen flashed out his membership card again. As he looked to the front, he was stunned to see multiple levels of totem users on guarding duty.


    "What happened? Why is the guarding so strict?"


    The man didn¡¯t say a word as he looked at Garen and shook his head.


    "Sir, please enter quickly because the inner city is in need of someone of your caliber. You¡¯ll know once you enter."


    Garen nodded as he swiftly entered.


    Soon, he passed through all the guards and entered the main hall. There was barely anyone inside as everyone was out.

 320 Cruel 2

    Chapter 320: Cruel 2


    The streets were filled with people. Most of them were looking up in silence.


    Garen followed the crowd and looked up as well.


    There were thousands of White Dragonhawks and Giant Hawks forming into a circle in the sky, prepared to attack the countless creatures outside at any moment.


    "Oh right, Goth and the others! Where are they?" Garen hurried through the crowd in the general direction of Goth¡¯s house.


    Everywhere was on high alert along the way; he could see guards and totem users sprinting about constantly.


    Garen finally recalled that this was the key war of the Iron Tank City before the major change. He didn¡¯t expect that he would forget such an important timeline after Reylan¡¯s appearance.


    *****************


    Goth was staring sombrely at the scene before him.


    The glass of the black and white photo frame on the table had some minor cracks in it.


    He gently picked it up and carefully wiped off the layers of dust.


    The ground was littered with an assortment of belongings.


    "Goth!!" Suddenly a familiar voice called from outside.


    Goth was startled. He then regained his composure, stood up and opened the door. Outside, he saw Garen standing alone in a grey robe who looked extremely dishevelled.


    "Are you alright!?" Garen looked at him suspiciously.


    "Of course I¡¯m fine. A person like me who could torture two of you, how can I be in a pinch?" Goth flexed his biceps as he smirked.


    "How about Jessica?" Garen asked softly.


    Bam!


    A huge hand slammed onto the door beside his face.


    "Don¡¯t mention anything about Jessica!!" Goth lowered his head as his tone darkened.


    "What happened?" Garen was stunned as he let himself into the house and locked the door.


    As Garen entered the house, he saw vulgarity scrawled all over the walls.


    ¡®Goth you are such a selfish prick!¡¯


    ¡®Curse you! May your corpse will be eaten by stray dogs when you die!¡¯ ¡®I hope you¡¯ll never have kids. Even if you do, they will never have a good life!¡¯...


    Strong words were written onto the walls and they weren¡¯t written out of anger. They¡¯d been written in a jerky manner.


    These red words covered all the walls in the house.


    "What exactly happened?" Garen sat down and asked.


    Goth sat down as well but he didn¡¯t immediately answer Garen¡¯s question.


    Both of them sat together quietly.


    "Andy is dead¡­" Goth suddenly opened his mouth.


    Garen¡¯s eyes widened when he heard it.


    Goth looked at him in an unexpectedly calm manner.


    "He died because of me."


    "!?" Garen didn¡¯t know what to say. He didn¡¯t know what had happened during his absence but Andy was dead!!??


    Goth smiled. "A few days ago, we engaged in a close combat battle with the creatures. Andy rushed into the creatures alone and never returned."


    "Why?" Garen asked softly. He couldn¡¯t comprehend what was happening. "Is it because of Elielan?!"


    "Elielan? He¡¯s also dead.." Goth said emotionlessly, as though he was narrating a story that was unrelated to him. "I thought that he and I would become the best of friends."


    "To be honest, I don¡¯t really know what happened. Everything had changed when I regained consciousness." Goth¡¯s face was very pale. "I was slow witted when I was young and would always lose in a fist fight, getting punched in the face every time¡­ I¡¯m simple minded and stupid."


    "My dreams are so simple. I just want my mum to be recognized by the household, by my father."


    Garen looked at him without saying a word. He had a bad feeling about this.


    Goth smiled. "I¡¯m old fashioned, don¡¯t know how to dress up, inflexible and I like to daydream frequently. I never thought that a girl would fall for me in the future. I couldn¡¯t even look at myself in the mirror. I didn¡¯t expect a girl to like me."


    His laugh was cold, as if there was a hint of sadness in it.


    "I am really naive. I really thought that a girl liked me¡­ I¡¯m old fashioned, ugly, poor and have no power.. Haha¡­"


    He stood up and looked outside of the window.


    "Did you see the crowd outside? They probably don¡¯t know¡­ My father, the Grand Duke White Dragonhawk no longer possesses the Heart of the Dragonshadow. The strongest Tactic Precious Heirloom is no longer in his possession."


    "How do you know?" Garen¡¯s heart sunk.


    "Because I took it away." Goth replied blandly. "Garen, I lost everything¡­ really. I have lost everything¡­"


    "You still have me as a friend!" Garen stood up and replied calmly.


    "Friend?" Goth turned around and chuckled.


    He suddenly stared at Garen.


    "Then can you tell me how you obtained the Totem Light? Sir Totem User of the Obscuro Society?"


    Garen was stunned as he didn¡¯t expect Goth to mention such a phrase.


    He stood still as he was unsure of how to answer him.


    "I have lost everything¡­" Goth laugh miserably as he took a few steps back and accidentally knocked over the table¡¯s photo frame.


    Whoosh! A black figure flashed and he vanished, as though he was never there to begin with.


    He then quietly walked out of the house to see a black carriage and a man in black with a few totem users in front of the house.


    "Can you spare a few minutes of your time?" The man asked as he walked towards him.


    Garen looked at him and took a deep breath.


    "Good timing. I wanted to know what happened."


    "You must be Goth, Andy and Jessica¡¯s friend, Garen right?" The man confirmed. "Do you have any clues for this incident?"


    "Incident? Clues?" Garen was startled. "What incident?"


    "Do you not know?" The man asked suspiciously.


    Ten minutes later, Garen pulled up his hood and was speechless as he watched the carriage leaving. He suddenly understood why Goth had been so cold and emotionless towards everyone.


    The man didn¡¯t know the overall situation as well. He only knew that his superior wanted him to monitor this place and enquired anybody who had visited this place.


    Garen¡¯s feelings were complex. Andy was dead, Jessica was lost and Goth seemed to be severely injured emotionally.


    Perhaps only the three of them knew what truly happened. Now that Goth had left, he couldn¡¯t find anyone who understood the situation and was at a loss.


    "Based on Goth¡¯s reaction, he could obviously see my empowered totem light. Since he was able to see through it, there must be others out there who could too." Garen pondered for a bit and decided to deactivate his black totem light, leaving behind his primitive totem¡¯s totem light.


    As Garen strolled along the main street, he kept analysing Goth¡¯s whereabouts as he couldn¡¯t understand Goth¡¯s last words before he left.


    It contained a lot of information.


    Without realizing, Garen had arrived the War Guild¡¯s headquarters.


    Among the crowds by the headquarter¡¯s entrance, a familiar figure was sitting by the stairs. It was Angel, Therese Angel.


    She immediately stood up as she saw Garen approaching.


    "I have been waiting for you for a long time. I¡¯m impressed that the shackles had an additional effect."


    "Let¡¯s talk about it once we enter." Garen wasn¡¯t in a good mood.


    The two of them squeezed into the guild and found a seat at the corner of the hall.


    "What plans do you have?" The moment they sat down, Angel asked quietly, just loud enough for Garen to be able to hear her. "The current situation is dire and I have already arranged an underground passage to leave this place through the guild. This place will soon become a playground for those creatures."


    "Plans?" Garen thought for a moment. "I wasn¡¯t in the city recently. Has anything major happened in the inner city?" He whispered.


    Angel¡¯s attitude towards Garen had obviously changed for the better due to the secondary effects of the War Shackles, which had given her a few advantages during her multiple battles. She now felt completely at ease with Garen¡¯s shackles.


    "Major event? Do you mean¡­ the incident of the Duke Household¡¯s Chief Commander?"Angel asked skeptically.


    "Let¡¯s hear about it." Garen whispered.


    "The Duke Household¡¯s Chief Commander, Goth¡¯s wife had killed his mother and I heard that she even stole an important item from the Duke¡¯s household. She is currently wanted throughout the city. I heard from a few acquaintances that the situation is extremely complicated." Angel pondered before she whispered her reply.


    Garen was still dissatisfied. Although he was able to pull the history back onto its original course, Goth was still being forced into a dead end. Andy was not supposed to die, and Jessica has murdered Goth¡¯s mother and went missing.


    The situation was very difficult for Garen to imagine. Jessica had killed Goth¡¯s mother. Was it because of the Silver Control?


    Garen wasn¡¯t sure if Goth had found out that Jessica was being Empowered, though he knew that whether Goth liked it or not, he had to walk this path.


    Or else the entire Iron Tank City would be dead.


    He wanted to avoid it but the Iron Tank City would be wiped out if he were to do it. Garen was truly stuck in a dilemma.


    "This is the road the strongest person must take... " Garen lowered his head and sighed. He had been neglecting the fact that he had yet to try and make a conscious decision.


    Had I really forgotten about time? Garen asked himself.


    "Are you alright?" Angel asked in confusion. "Do you know that Goth?"


    "He¡¯s my friend." Garen nodded. "Alright let¡¯s not talk about this. Where¡¯s your small team? How¡¯s it going?"


    "It¡¯s alright. We¡¯re currently defending the southern region." Angel answered. "How about it? Do you want to tag along?"


    "No thanks, I have other things to do." Garen shook his head he passed a paper with a written address to Angel. "You can come to this place if you encounter any trouble. Perhaps things will take a turn there. Remember not to bring too many people, not more than five people."


    Angela took the paper skeptically and studied it. It was an address outside the city. "What have you been up to in the dark?"


    "Don¡¯t worry about it. Alright, that settles it then." Garen stood up as he¡¯d heard shouts from the outside.


    The city reverberated with countless creatures¡¯ growls.


    The final battle had begun.

 321 Dazzle 1

    Chapter 321: Dazzle 1


    Garen kept observing the changes in the sky as he left the War Guild.


    Huge numbers of White Dragonhawks and Giant Hawks were battling with the creatures and corpses would plummet from the sky from time to time.


    The streets were completely empty as most of the citizens had gone to defend the borders. Only a few people remained in the center of the inner city.


    A melody of harp music drifted from Garen¡¯s right. It was a middle age man with a freckled face. He was giving his all to a performance that no one was listening to.


    "Life is like a water splash without the foam, clear and paradoxical. What is the purpose of the war when I hear the sadness of the Iron Tank City during its night. I could clearly hear the creatures scream in the wee hours. Ahh~~~ The blood is red and it is so thick¡­ Yet tears are colorless and so thin¡­ Life, where it could bloom a cursed flower, could also bloom a pure lily. Ahh~~ Will you please tell me if the beauty eventually dies¡­"


    The poet¡¯s musical voice echoed in the empty streets.


    Garen saw the tears on his face and a black golden adonis flower adorning his chest, which was only worn when a family member died.


    Garen gently pulled down his hood as he walked past this person.


    *************


    Inside the white Palace in the inner city.


    At the center of the empty Palace laid a pyramidal hero monument.


    The monument was pure white in color and black names were densely carved onto it. They were the names of the totem users who died during the war.


    Multiple men in black stood in front of the monument.


    One of them was a youngster. He was looking at the pyramid in silence, thinking of something.


    "The Memorial Tower, where all the dead totem users were buried here and had their names carved." An old man walked towards the monument as he said softly. "Aisaiya, I hope you live a better life in heaven and not suffer like how you did here¡­" He gently spread soul sand onto the pyramid. The black sands landed onto the pyramid and gave off a sizzling noise.


    Garen, too, grabbed a handful of sand and gently spread them out.


    He spread the sand at the familiar name in the pyramid.


    ¡®Andy Cruise¡¯


    "May you rest in peace in heaven." He muttered.


    "Perhaps I have been keeping a low profile for too long¡­ I have almost forgotten the glory back in those days." Garen opened his hands and quietly stared at his hands which had taken countless lives. "Time will eventually erode a human¡¯s will, and I am not excluded. Perhaps it¡¯s not too late¡­"


    He looked passed the pyramid through the small gaps and saw a little girl standing at the opposite end of the pyramid. She had a long golden hair with fair and tender cheeks. The girl was quietly staring at him in sadness as well.


    An adult and a child, staring at each other in silence.


    Garen smiled, turned around and left as he put on his black robe.


    *****************


    Kaboom!


    The right halo instantly exploded the abandoned area and shattered many fragments of stones into dust.


    Goth stared coldly at the creatures that had exploded. This creature that resembled an ostrich had instantly died to him.


    Behind him stood a man and a woman in white shirts with golden sleeves.


    "Be careful! The Thousand Moon Flower is just up ahead" Goth ordered softly.


    "Don¡¯t worry about it." The white-clad woman huffed. "I alone could have completed the mission if not for my superior, who wanted me to work with you!"


    "Quit it Aisijia. It wasn¡¯t Goth¡¯s fault!" The white robed man placated her.


    Goth continued walking forward without any change in expression.


    Two of them followed closely.


    The situation in the inner city had been stagnant for a while and they required an elite to eliminate the energy source of the creatures¡¯ Enhanced Spirit Light, the Thousand Moon Flower. It¡¯s a magical item that was created by the Creature army¡¯s Sammy, which could provide endless stamina and strength towards the army.


    Goth¡¯s team was one of the few that were ordered to take care of the Thousand Moon Flower.


    Goth was still replaying the scene of him meeting his father.


    The father that had never tired in his memory, had been covering his wrinkled face with his hands.


    "It¡¯s alright. Have confident in your father. I am the Iron Tank City¡¯s Grand Duke White Dragonhawk and I have a formidable presence even going against the royal alliance. The Heart of the Dragonshadow is nothing."


    "Go and battle with ease and do not let other things distract you. You are my son and my pure blood flows within you. The Blackfield Birds are the proof of the bloodline." The Grand Duke looked at Goth and his injured eye with sympathy, as though he saw himself in the past.


    "You have to learn to forget. If you¡¯re truly unable to forget them, keep them as the beliefs within your heart."


    Goth felt warmth inside him.


    "I still have my father. He would not lie to me¡­"


    The Grand Duke¡¯s words were like a sharp sword that instantly destroyed the confusion in his mind.


    Goth unconsciously sped up as they arrived at the outskirts through the dark passage. They were attempting to alleviate the stress upon the inner city.


    Huuu~~~~


    Suddenly, the Dragonhawk Horn¡¯s blast echoed from the inner city.


    "It¡¯s the Dragonhawk Horn! The final battle in the inner city is about to begin! The Three-eyed Black Bear and the remaining third form creatures have appeared!" Goth turned his head and looked at the inner city. His red totem light expanded and turned the surrounding creatures into mince meat.


    Countless creatures had gathered to form the black cloud above the inner city.


    "It¡¯s starting¡­" The girl in white robe whispered.


    "Quick! We have to speed up!" Goth muttered. "We will retreat immediately once we destroy the Thousand Moon Flower!"


    "Okay!" Both of them responded in unison. Both of them were the strongest form two totem users. Excluding the form three totem users who were currently busy, they were the best candidates for this mission. Since the city was lacking many form three totem users, they simply couldn¡¯t send out their men for an away mission as they had more important things to take care of.


    Furthermore, a form three totem user would¡¯ve attracted a lot of attraction so they had specifically sent out the elites from the form two totem users for this mission.


    The three of them jumped through the abandoned grey city at incredible speed, passing through countless creatures. These creatures were under the form three ultimate creature¡¯s command to rush into the inner city so they would ignore the trio unless they were being attacked by them. The three of them had high speed so they instantly killed the ones they could kill and avoid the stronger ones. Just like this, they had arrived at an abandoned wall in the outskirts.


    "This is it!" Goth confirmed the mission¡¯s location from his memories. "Start searching! There should be Transparent Creatures around! Stay alert Aisijia!"


    The girl in white robe didn¡¯t say another word and took out a white short staff and slammed it onto the ground.


    Pew!


    An invisible ripple expanded through the region with her at the center of its source.


    Multiple invisible wolf type creatures were discovered by the ripple as they were trying to ambush the trio from their back.


    Aisijia sighed and a silver light burst out from her back and shifted into a white hawk that spanned at least three meters. It immediately killed off the transparent wolf type creatures in her surroundings.


    The beak of the giant hawk was burned with a brown flame. As it opened its mouth, it spewed a brown torrent of flames and scorched all the wolves. The wolves started to roll on the ground in silent agony and died after a few moments of struggle. What was left behind were burnt corpses that were no longer invisible.


    Goth and the other man were looking for the Thousand Moon Flower¡¯s potential hiding spot.


    "I found it!!" The man in white robe yelled in excitement.


    They gathered and found a square transparent black box underneath the rock. Inside it lay a delicate and beautiful black crystal flower.


    The flower stood straight and there appeared to be a black pearl in the middle of the petals.


    "Thousand Moon Flower! Let¡¯s quickly destroy it!" Goth ordered. "The time limit is 1 minute. Once we attack the Thousand Moon Flower¡¯s defense, we will definitely alert the form three totem users. We will work together and attack at the same time!"


    "Okay!" "Okay!"


    Three of them placed their hand onto the black transparent box at the same time.


    Suddenly, a deafening avian cry rang forth from the inner city.


    Chirp!!!


    It sounded like a cross between an eagle and a nightingale and the outcry reverberated throughout the inner city.


    "That was¡­ The cry of the Grand Duke¡¯s Dragonhawk King!!" Aisijia recoiled as her face was filled with despair. "Only an injured Dragonhawk would produce such a noise!!! We must go back and support them!"


    "Quickly!!"


    Goth started to panic.


    Three of them took out a yellow scroll, which was covered in Tactic symbols.


    "Tactic Curse!" Aisijia glanced at Goth


    "Dragon Spirit Summon!!" Goth shouted.


    A high pitched sound rang out and red lightning burst forth from all three of their scrolls at the same time. The red lightning soared and struck the surface of the black box as wind gusted in all directions.


    The red lightning slowly shifted into tiny dragonhawks hovering around the box.


    Crack!


    A fissure gradually widened on the box.


    The black flower started to wither at a rate where the process could be seen with the naked eye. It swiftly arched down from a straight posture and soon turned into a pool of black ash.


    "Let¡¯s go!!" Goth shouted as they packed up the scrolls and retreated.


    Two white Giant Hawks grabbed the duo in white robes to increase their speed. The Blackfield Bird chirupped and melded into Goth¡¯s body, increasing his speed tremendously.


    The three of them accelerated into streaks of black and white, and sprinted towards the inner city.


    ***************


    As the three of them were moving swiftly, something apperated in a dark corner on their right.


    "How could I let you guys leave and destroy the work of my lord?" A shrewd voice whispered from the shadows. "The Blackfield Birds. Hehe. If it could merge into the Grand Duke¡¯s White Dragonhawk Totem, its strength would be unexpectedly strong. I didn¡¯t expect to have such a little surprise. Three form two totem user elites? It will be a good appetizer for my babies, hehe."


    A man clad in a black robe sauntered out from the shadows as he stared at Goth with his Emerald eyes. Although the movements of his legs appeared slow, it was surprisingly agile as he surged towards Goth¡¯s team to intercept them.


    He then stomped the ground with his leg.


    "Who is it!" He looked to the right as his emotions started to falter.


    "A battle is the collision of life. A stage for us to perform our best dances." A second man walked out from the darkness. He was also in a black robe and had short golden hair. His eyes couldn¡¯t be seen, but he projected a fierce and powerful aura.


    "Do you want to spice up your life? Trash from the Obscuro Society?"


    Garen took off his hood and squinted his eyes.


    In an instant, pairs of emerald eyes surrounded him from the darkness.


    From the top view with Garen as the center of point, green eyes were densely packed staring at him from up to a hundred meters away. These Giant Wolves were emitting a faint signal. They were all from two totems!


    The man in his black robe smiled as he stared at Garen with his green eyes.


    ************


    Goth¡¯s team was sprinting across the abandoned buildings. Suddenly Goth picked up a strange signal.


    "What was that?" He couldn¡¯t see anything as he was moving so swiftly.


    "What¡¯s wrong?" The man in white robe asked loudly. Two white streams were generated by the Giant Hawk above his head, which tore apart whatever was in their way.


    "It felt like someone was there¡­ whatever, let¡¯s move quickly!" Goth dismissed the thought.


    "Okay."

 322 Dazzle 2

    Chapter 322: Dazzle 2


    Garen looked at the man in black nearby. He wasn¡¯t one of Jess¡¯ men from this area.


    He had used the Derivator before to check information about all of Jess¡¯ subordinates, but he wasn¡¯t one of them.


    Brr¡­


    In the air above the inner city, far away, a sphere of black light was continuously expanding, like a growing fireball.


    The sky and the ground began to tremble. The surface of the light ball kept shooting out pillars of black light, each light pillar accurately hitting the totem users in the inner city.


    Vaguely, everyone could see the bird-like creatures sprawling their wings and chirping within the light ball. They had long and sleek black tail feathers, graceful wings, and a peacock crown shining with silver light.


    Brrr!!!!


    The black birds once more made a loud, jolting cry.


    The black ball of light instantly scattered into a halo of black ripples, throwing all the nearby totem users away into the air.


    Garen didn¡¯t turn back to look at the black light ball¡¯s terrifying attack, his gaze quietly fixed on the green-eyed man before him.


    "You¡¯re not one of Jess¡¯ men," he said suddenly.


    The other party¡¯s green eyes gave an abrupt jolt.


    "Who the heck are you!?"


    "Devour him, White Dragon!"


    Garen spoke those words calmly.


    Whoom!!


    A large white shadow fell from the sky, and rushed towards the man in black.


    The Petrifying White Dragon immediately sprayed a large cloud of grey-white mist, covering this entire area.


    It was as though the grey-white mist had a life of its own, gathering towards the man in black en masse. As soon as this mist touched the ground, be it the grass or the rocks, the dead bodies and carcasses, the blood stains¡­ everything would be quickly petrified, turning into grey-white stone.


    The swarm of Green-eyed Giant Wolves rushed towards Garen madly, with total disregard for their lives, but were completely surrounded by the petrifying mist in mid-air. They howled, their bodies quickly turning into grey stone, and they fell to the ground one by one. But these then morphed into puddles of green liquids, which meant none of them was the real thing.


    The man in black wanted to raise his hand, but realized in shock that his actions were more than a little stiff. He tried to draw tactics in the air.


    Boom!!


    A huge amount of grey-white petrifying mist swept past where he stood.


    The man in black was immediately petrified into a human-shaped statue.


    Garen turned his head to look into the distance.


    The Dual Headed Salamander slowly pointed its head out of the ground, holding a Green-eyed Wolf as big as a calf in its mouth. The Giant Wolf¡¯s body was shriveling up, fast enough for the naked eye to see.


    Ker¡­ Ker-chak!


    The Dual Headed Salamander broke the Green-eyed Wolf¡¯s body in half with one bite.


    At the same time, the petrified man in black also broke apart. With a whoosh, he became a pile of meaningless rubble.


    Garen looked at the corpse of stones that had been killed instantly.


    "A totem user outside of Jess¡¯, interesting."


    He turned around to look at the sky of the inner city. That giant mass of black light was madly sweeping shots at the totem users inside the city. Several small platinum dots were circling the light balls and attacked non-stop, but in the end they could only wander outside, held away by the light.


    "Goth, this is as far as I can help you¡­" Garen murmured as he looked at the inner city. "Don¡¯t die¡­"


    He stood alone amidst the swarm of monsters. Countless monsters walked past him, but none at all attacked him. He was like a coral in the current, they split and went around him as though it was natural.


    *******************


    The giant black light ball floated mid-air.


    The Grand Duke was wearing platinum armor and riding the Platinum Dragonhawk King, avoiding the black laser light pillars with the speed of the lightning.


    He gripped his giant gold-colored Dragon Spear, pointing the spike on the sharp end towards the black light ball.


    Hiss!


    A pillar of black light brushed past his face, making his Totem Light tremble and shake.


    "You alright, Reid." A woman¡¯s voice came from the platinum-colored Dragonhawk. There was already a large silver abrasion wound on its stomach, dripping slowly with silver blood.


    "I¡¯m fine." The golden hairband behind the Grand Duke¡¯s head had been blown away, and his long golden hair blew about in the air behind him. "After so many years, it¡¯s been so very long since I fought together with you. Thinking about how we used to conquer together back in the day, my heart still palpitates even now."


    "The opponent this time is far more challenging than any battle before, you and I might die in battle here," the Platinum Dragonhawk King said calmly, her silver eyes shimmering with a human-like light.


    "That¡¯s fine, I¡¯ve long wanted to join her down there. I¡¯m just sorry to trouble you, to make you come with me." The Grand Duke¡¯s expression showed a hint of gentleness. The black light of the light ball shone on his face, as though plating him with a layer of holy light.


    "Why are we still talking about this? Your son has already awakened the Blackfield Bird, why don¡¯t you ask him to let you temporarily merge with his totem, so you have a higher chance of finishing off the enemy?" the Platinum Dragonhawk King asked softly, confusion in her voice.


    "I¡¯ve already made him leave the core area here. That way, I can protect the lineage for my family." The Grand Duke suddenly paused. From above in the air looking down, he could already feel that familiar aura rapidly approaching.


    "Didn¡¯t I ask him to leave here!?" He frowned for the first time.


    Suddenly he heard the waves of cheers from below.


    "Blackfield Bird!! It¡¯s the Blackfield Bird!"


    "As long as it merges with the Platinum Dragonhawk King, it can create the legendary strongest King of the Skies!!"


    "We won¡¯t lose!!"


    Many of the totem users below them were well-read, and instantly recognized the black bird with its wings outstretched.


    Once the Blackfield Bird merged into the Dragonhawk King, the strongest King of the Skies would appear once more. When that happened, they would definitely be able to finish off that strange bird in the air!


    That was the understanding everyone reached at the time. The dozen or so remaining Form Three totem users were all staring intently at the Blackfield Bird carrying Goth. The giant black bird flapped its wings and rushed towards the Dragonhawk King, its eyes also filled with leaping black flames.


    This was the last hope for all those people who could barely catch their breath under the light ball¡¯s oppression!


    The Blackfield Bird and Dragonhawk King constantly avoided the countless black light pillars and approached each other.


    The Grand Duke looked at his son, who was riding on the Blackfield Bird¡¯s back, helplessly.


    "You shouldn¡¯t have come back¡­" He had purposely let Goth go to the outskirts, to leave the core, just so he couldn¡¯t come back for now, but to think¡­ He had always felt guilty towards this pair of mother and son, towards that female totem user, who was so gentle, and who had always supported him quietly behind his back. Sadly, it was already too late to understand that now. She was already dead as well¡­


    And now, now, all he had left was his son.


    Looking at Goth flying towards him with determination in his eyes, he was suddenly and indescribably moved.


    The Blackfield Bird flapped its wings, and suddenly accelerated, avoiding a blast of black light that shot towards it, and rushed towards the the Dragonhawk King.


    Pff!


    In an instant, the Blackfield Bird abruptly spat a gold thread from its mouth.


    The gold thread pierced through the Dragonhawk King¡¯s wounded stomach in the blink of an eye, and with a hiss, emerged from its back.


    It was as though the sky fell instantly quiet. Everyone was shocked.


    Silver blood poured down from the Dragonhawk King¡¯s stomach.


    No one guessed this would happen.


    The smile on Goth¡¯s face froze, his eyes widened, filled with disbelief and despair. He shook his head, his lip bleeding from where he bit it, and his expression panicked.


    "No¡­ No¡­ It wasn¡¯t me¡­ It shouldn¡¯t be like this! ...Not like this¡­!!" He kept shaking his head, sitting on the Blackfield Bird, the despair in his eyes so deep it was nearly madness.


    The gold thread bent, and with another whoosh, it went straight through the Grand Duke¡¯s armor, as well as his heart in his left breast.


    "No!!!" He heard Goth¡¯s angry roar of despair.


    The Grand Duke looked down in shock, staring at the gold thread on his left chest. His expression went from surprise and pain, to dazed, release, and peace.


    His mouth coughed out some blood despite himself.


    "I¡¯d only truly remove the Totem Light¡¯s core defense when merging, you sure counted accurately¡­" He seemed to understand something.


    "Reid¡­ To think¡­ that we really are going to die together this time¡­" The Dragonhawk King laughed somewhat sadly, but it was difficult.


    The Grand Duke smiled sadly as well.


    He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and slowly turned his head to look at Goth underneath him, his face already covered with tears. Even this simple movement seemed to be unnaturally hard for him.


    "Don¡¯t cry, this life of mine has already been interesting enough. This isn¡¯t your fault." He raised his head, his face nothing but peaceful. "Life is like a show, there are ups and downs, highs and lows. I have just walked to the ending I was meant to reach."


    "Father¡­" Goth sat on the Blackfield Bird, but was completely unable to control his own body. He could not help but grab the gold thread, and toss it hard. The sharp tip of the gold thread poked out again, and penetrated the Grand Duke¡¯s heart once more.


    Psst!


    Goth¡¯s face was covered with tears, he had no idea what he was doing. An unimaginably huge power was controlling him, making him do these completely incomprehensible things.


    The Grand Duke smiled, his face already rapidly growing pale. He glanced at the strange bird¡¯s light ball in front of him, now gathering an unprecedented black light. The overwhelming sense of danger already felt as though it could explode at any time."


    "Goth¡­ don¡¯t blame your mother¡­ If possible, please¡­ protect the Dragonhawk family¡¯s Iron Tank City for me¡­"


    Before he could finish his sentence, he abruptly waved his hand.


    A powerful invisible force field suddenly spread out, pushing Goth away. It sent him flying, towards the most important core of the inner city, the Grand Duke¡¯s residence.


    The Grand Duke faced the black light, on the verge of explosion, and an intensely burning desire to battle rose in his eyes.


    "Come, Anna! Let my people witness the true glory of our Dragonhawk family!!!"


    "As you wish!" The Dragonhawk King¡¯s gentle voice reverberated throughout the sky.


    "Howl of the Heavenly Arc!!!"


    In an instant, a blinding ball of golden light appeared in the sky, and hung high in the air just like the black light ball. A web of black and golden electric arches wove between the two light balls, and the sound of crackling electricity was everywhere.


    By now, the totem users had been forced down into the lower skies or onto the ground by this extreme force. No one could have predicted this result.


    The two light balls were like magnets, rapidly attracting each other.


    And then there was the soundless collision.


    Goth had been blasted into the pond in the Duke¡¯s residence. Both he and the Blackfield Bird were numb all over, completely unable to get up or move. They could only stare blankly at the dazzling golden light ball in the sky.


    His face was drowned in tears, and he tried to open his mouth, but couldn¡¯t say anything.


    A flash of blinding white light instantly dazzled the sky.


    Boom!


    A suit of platinum armor crashed down in front of Goth, steadily sticking into the grey-white stone floorboards.


    That was the Grand Duke¡¯s legendary armor, and also the White Dragonhawk family¡¯s heirloom. The left chest that had been pierced by the golden thread just now was presently good as new.


    After a long time, the light faded, and the stiffness enveloping Goth¡¯s body also slowly diminished.


    He walked out of the pond, covering his face with his hands, and silently knelt down in front of the armor.

 323 Leave 1

    Chapter 323: Leave 1


    Garen stood in front of the memorial tower in the inner city, wearing a golden adonis flower. Standing alone in the line of people dressed in black, Garen didn¡¯t stand out in the slightest.


    Everyone in front and behind him stood in a straight line, making offerings to the Grand Duke¡¯s body one by one. Those who had offered their flowers walked away quietly, and stood to a side. The people behind him followed suit quietly.


    In the wide memorial hall, everyone somehow came to an unseen agreement to not make any sound.


    In the large grey-white hall, next to a pyramid-shaped memorial tower, there were the Grand Duke¡¯s remains. His body had been frozen by a platinum-colored, amber-like translucent metal.


    Garen didn¡¯t recognize the people in front of and behind him, but the shimmering ripples around everyone prove that nobody here was weak. With all these people lined up here, only he had a Form One totem user¡¯s Totem Light.


    Everyone else was either a Form Three or Form Two totem user, their bodies covered with the thick scent of blood.


    Anyone who could survive safely in these times, would definitely be an executioner whose hands were stained with the blood of countless monsters.


    Soon, it was his turn.


    Garen took one step forward, and put the adonis flower in his hand in front of the crystal coffin lightly. He bowed, and turned to the left.


    He glanced over. It was compact with people, but he didn¡¯t recognize a single one.


    The people were gathered in twos or threes, speaking softly. Some stood alone at a side, their expressions cold. Not far away, a heavy air hung over the nobles.


    Garen didn¡¯t see Goth anywhere.


    After the Grand Duke expended his life to clash with that strange bird yesterday, the army of monsters suffered a heavy loss, and finally retreated. That strange bird was also grievously hurt, and flew away pathetically to save its life.


    The situation had been temporarily stabilized.


    But Goth had vanished without a trace.


    Garen sighed. At first he had only come here to meet Goth for his own personal gain, but he didn¡¯t think that after seeing the scenes from history with his own eyes, he would feel rather upset inside.


    Soon enough, a middle-aged man and woman entered the memorial hall, both wearing platinum armor, covered by a white robe with silver edges.


    "Lady Vesta, Lord Kanan." The receptionist went up to them and greeted them respectively.


    "The situation is urgent, we can only stay for a short while." The man, Kanan, nodded solemnly. He and Vesta were now the strongest Form Three totem users in the inner city. Although they were still far from as strong as the Grand Duke, the monsters were obviously too afraid to really bear down on the inner city after the fright from the previous battle. The situation had also calmed down significantly.


    A group of people surrounded the two of them respectfully as they walked to the coffin. Some asked about the situation, some were worried, some wanted a guarantee.


    Most of the people went up to them, surrounding them in hopes of getting the answer they wanted.


    Garen gave the center a wide berth, feeling suddenly frustrated at the rather noisy situation inside.


    Turning around and leaving the hall, he raised his gaze to look. The surroundings were echoing empty, and he could barely see anyone anymore. There were only a few lonely people with numb expressions walking on the road. Most of them had already ducked into the defense fortifications that had been built in advance.


    Garen had already searched everywhere, but hadn¡¯t caught even a glimpse of Goth¡¯s shadow.


    It was empty inside the city now, there were too many places for him to hide. Walking on the main street, he wandered for a bit but eventually decided to leave the inner city through the underground tunnels.


    "Garen?"


    A confused voice came from a passing carriage.


    Garen turned around, and looked towards the black carriage that had stopped beside him.


    "You are?"


    The carriage door curtain was pulled aside, revealing a solemn man¡¯s face. "I saw you that at Goth¡¯s house. Won¡¯t you come up for a chat?"


    Garen hesitated. "Alright."


    He pulled aside the curtain, entered the carriage, and sat on the man¡¯s right.


    The carriage gave a slight jolt, and started moving again.


    The man looked at the street outside calmly. "That day I went to investigate Goth¡¯s house, and just happened to see you walking out from inside. How is it? Do you know the situation?"


    Garen shook his head. "I¡¯m completely in the fog right now. Goth was controlled by someone and killed his own father, but who on earth controlled him? And what¡¯s up with Jessica?"


    The man¡¯s face flashed with a hint of heaviness.


    "We¡¯ve already started our initial investigations on this matter, but only a few higher-ups know about it. All of this started with Goth¡¯s mother, Jeanria Jess."


    "Jess?" Garen¡¯s gaze grew serious.


    "You know about it too?" The man glanced at Garen in surprise. "As a Form One totem user, you sure are well-informed. Since I happened to meet you on the street, I might as well explain the situation to you, so you can help to advise Goth if you ever meet him."


    Garen nodded.


    The man fell silent, although organizing how he should explain what happened next.


    The carriage also slowed down very considerately.


    "Actually, be it Jessica being Empowered and taking away the Heart of the Dragonshadow, or Goth¡¯s assassinating his own father, all of this was already planned from the start." He finally spoke slowly.


    His deep voice echoed slowly around the carriage, making it seem even more solemn.


    "Jeanria Jess used to be one of the higher-ups in the Obscuro Society. She infiltrated Iron Tank City, but accidentally developed feelings with the Grand Duke¡­ sigh¡­ and their feelings grew stronger by the day. We don¡¯t know a lot of what happened in between, but in the end, we think Jess threw away all her standings for love, gave up everything she had before, and chose love. And she became pregnant with Goth. After she threw away everything, she realized that the one the Grand Duke truly loved wasn¡¯t her."


    The man paused.


    "Jess was a very proud and single-minded person, she gave up everything she could have for the Grand Duke. After abandoning everything, and getting pregnant, she went alone to the Grand Duke for solace, and realized that the Grand Duke didn¡¯t really love her, but was only playing with her. Back then, the Grand Duke was young and handsome, talented and capable. There were too many people in love with him, so he hadn¡¯t taken this tolerably pretty girl seriously. And then¡­ the tragedy began."


    "So this was the source of it all." Garen breathed out softly. "The deeper the love, the deeper the hatred. She set a trap on Goth for twenty years, and now it has finally taken effect."


    "Oh, life¡­" The man sighed, "We make a lot of mistakes in life, choose the wrong things, but never let your mistake be unsalvageable¡­" He seemed to have remembered his life as well.


    "Then where is Jess now?" Garen asked the most critical question, the one most important to him.


    "Dead." The man laughed rather helplessly, "Why else do you think Goth¡¯s Blackfield Bird could be activated that easily? That¡¯s a peak-level totem that only appeared once in history!"


    ...¡­


    By the time he alighted from the carriage, it was already afternoon.


    The orange sunlight dyed the entire inner city a sea of golden-red.


    Garen glanced at the carriage as it drove into the distance, standing at the door to the War Guild headquarters. For a while, his emotions were inexplicably complicated.


    He still remembered Goth¡¯s mother, that gentle and beautiful middle-aged woman. She gave off a feeling like a spring breeze, and he just couldn¡¯t see through her, but to think that she was hiding such a deep vengeance within her heart.


    "If she¡¯s Jess, maybe everything can make sense now¡­" He touched the Derivator in his pocket. "The Derivator has to ability to connect at all times, so if Jess wanted to hide and carry out her own plans, she naturally couldn¡¯t carry a Derivator with her. Maybe she would destroy her own Derivator directly, and ask headquarters to get her a new one. That way, that means this Derivator¡¯s appearance near Iron Tank City was also planned ahead."


    His thoughts turned quickly, and he was just about to understand everything.


    "Because Jess didn¡¯t want a Derivator at all, perhaps even Goth¡¯s igniting the furnace explosion to destroy the base was also a part of her plan." Although this explanation was still flawed, it was nevertheless very complete as is.


    Walking up to the War Guild, Garen glanced at the Grand Duke¡¯s residence for the last time.


    He didn¡¯t know how Goth was doing now, but it was evident that right now, he was already on the brink of breakdown.


    "Oh, life¡­" Garen sighed deeply, and turned to walk into the Guild. He knew, that this was the critical time for Goth to truly metamorphosize.


    The Grand Duke had been destroyed by his own heartlessness in the end. Although his actions were very common in the world of aristocrats, it was extremely unfortunate that he chose the wrong target.


    ***************


    Half a month later¡­


    Garen sat by the desk, quietly studying the second tactic.


    In the scarlet study, Angel and Reylan took up one corner each.


    Angel was playing with a small silver knife, tossing it up and down, a mischievous smile on her lips. Her gaze would sweep over Garen occasionally. She was wearing skin-tight brown leather armor, her long slender legs wrapped in brown leather leggings, making her look like a forest hunter on the hunt.


    Reylan was wearing a grey robe, her terrifying face hidden with the hood. She sat in a wheelchair with an air of hostility, staring at Angel at the side with some jealousy.


    "I wanna join in Brother¡¯s War Chain," Reylan said in a deep voice.


    Garen¡¯s pen paused, as he raised his head to glance at Reylan.


    Angel also looked at Reylan in surprise, the knife in her hand pausing slightly.


    "I won¡¯t let a woman prettier than me get too close to Brother," Reylan said darkly without holding back.


    Garen¡¯s expression looked instantly speechless. Based on how Reylan looked now, didn¡¯t that mean even sixty-year-old grandmas couldn¡¯t approach him now?


    Reylan was totally unfazed, her icy cold gaze sweeping over Angel like a poisonous snake. "There are far too many ways to make someone wish they were dead¡­" she hinted, and turned the wheelchair to leave the room, closing the door quickly.


    Garen smiled wryly at Angel, whose expression had obviously changed.


    "Why do you have such a crazy little sister!?" Angel sat down promptly and angrily. "To be honest, if she weren¡¯t your little sister, I¡¯d really want to squish her dead with a slap!"


    Garen didn¡¯t really know what to say either, should he be grateful that his brainwashing was too successful, or should he be worried around Reylan¡¯s overly extreme thought processes?


    "Be a little more forgiving, Reylan is actually a good person." He could only comfort her like that.


    "Good? You haven¡¯t seen how your little maid is always pale as a sheet from fear." Angel was speechless. "The forger from my team is also so scared that he only dares to live on the first floor. Will your sister get jealous as long as it¡¯s a woman?"

 324 Leave 2

    Chapter 324: Leave 2


    She stood up again, walking to the window and looking down.


    "Come to think of it, it¡¯s weird but even though you obviously have nothing standing guard here, not a single monster dares to enter the vicinity. Looks like you must have used some secret methods."


    The streets of the suburbs underneath them were empty, without a thing in sight, and that was what piqued her interest.


    Garen smiled. There were ten Deep Swamp Crocs hidden in the shadows, the Dual Headed Salamander was waiting in the labyrinths underground, the Petrifying White Dragon was hibernating in the ground underneath the suburbs. After eating too many monsters, these instinctive monsters would also know that this wasn¡¯t a place to mess around with.


    Even Form Three monsters would not purposely start trouble here without a definite benefit to gain. The scent of two Form Three Silver Totems was enough to completely mask the smell of humans in the villa.


    "How¡¯s your situation now?" Garen asked casually. "It¡¯s been a while since you reached Form Two, right? Any new developments?"


    Angel continued to toss the knife in her hand.


    "Developments are average, the regular Form Two totem is no problem. I can take two on at once, and I have to thank your Exhaustion Ray for that, this solidifying tactic works pretty well."


    "You have to speed up your own growth, the times wait for no one." Garen closed the notebook in front of him. "I also plan to move elsewhere, this place won¡¯t be inhabitable soon."


    "Why? With surroundings like these, where else would you want to move to?" Angel was taken aback.


    "This place isn¡¯t that safe anymore, I plan to return to Kovistan," Garen replied calmly.


    "Kovistan?! You¡¯re crazy!" Angel stared at Garen with an expression of shock. "It takes at least three days to reach Kovistan from here, and that¡¯s including the steam train! If you want to walk, it¡¯ll be at least five or six days. Do you know how many monsters there are between that? Even the Form Two monsters might come in droves!"


    Garen didn¡¯t explain, only smiling.


    "What does your whatchamacallit group plan to do?"


    "It¡¯s the Hunting Group!" Angel frowned and corrected him. "Our plans, hmm, we plan to scrounge a living around Iron Tank City. Now that all the knowledge in Iron Tank City is open to all, it¡¯s practically heaven. As long as you have the ability to, you can crawl your way up!" She whistled. "I heard that the White Dragonhawk Grand Duke died and was resurrected. To think that the Dragonhawk King has the ability to fake death and resurrection, did you know that?"


    Garen paused.


    "Fake his death and then get resurrected?" Comprehension quickly dawned on his expression. "I never did know about that."


    "The situation in Iron Tank City is not bad right now. The fact that the Grand Duke wasn¡¯t dead after all really raised the spirits of many commoner totem users. That damned Goth assassinated his own father, and he¡¯s apparently been executed by burning, incinerated directly in the furnace." Angel casually told him the important matters that had been happening recently. "I heard that on the night of the memorial tower, the Grand Duke suddenly sat up in his coffin, and nearly shocked the guards into wetting their pants."


    "Is that so?"


    Garen just kept smiling.


    The news he was hearing now was slightly different from that of history, but the change happened anyway.


    Right now, on the Kovistan side, his hometown of Lush Forest district was probably experiencing a change as well.


    His father on this world, Vanderman Trojan, his cousin Sofea Hathaway, and those normal, harmful friends of his. And there was his previous crush, Aquarius too.


    He had left for so long. It was almost a year, so it was time for him to go back and check. And it was time to return to being that Acacia from before as well.


    The Royal Alliance was currently at a disadvantage, but it was still huge. As long as the three strongest countries at the core didn¡¯t fall, the Alliance would never encounter any sort of problem. The three strongest country powers wove together, creating the terrifyingly large three departments.


    "I heard that the revived Grand Duke plans to take the initiative and attack, trying to clear the straggler monsters in the surroundings as much as he can. If you have to leave, go check out the outgoing team just before you set off, it¡¯d be a lot safer if you follow behind them too," Angel advised him.


    Garen was planning to rely on his Silver Totems to protect him the entire way, so he could solve the Derivator¡¯s hidden problem and upgrade his own core totem in the meanwhile. Right now, his potential points were snowballing by the day.


    The Derivator¡¯s hidden problem, upgrading his core totem and finding Solidifying Tactics to increase his physical qualities. These were the three goals he had set for himself.


    "Why don¡¯t you just come with me? And bring your group, I have a way to solve the camouflaging problems," Garen said directly.


    "I can tell, what with how confident you look." Angel laughed. "After dealing with you for so long, I¡¯ve gotten to know you, and you don¡¯t do anything you¡¯re not sure of. Last time I thought you couldn¡¯t hold up on your own, but you¡¯re doing quite well despite living in the outskirts. Looks like you¡¯re no weaker than I am¡­"


    "As long as you¡¯re clear about that." Garen didn¡¯t explain further. "How about it? Won¡¯t you consider?"


    "I still need to rely on the War Guild for my Legacy¡­" Angel was conflicted. "And I¡¯ll need a lot of resources too."


    "It¡¯s alright, there¡¯s always hope," Garen said determinedly.


    Angel looked at his expression of confidence and was slightly hesitant. But then she thought about the series of events happening recently, and how far away she was from Form Three. She clenched her teeth.


    "Fine! I¡¯ll go with you! I¡¯m telling you in advance, I already have two elite Form Two totems, it¡¯d be extremely hard for me to reach Form Three."


    "No rush¡­" Garen wasn¡¯t worried in the slightest. Once he got back to the Royal Alliance¡¯s territory, there would definitely be as many resources as they could want, now that most of the totem users were incapacitated. It would definitely be a lot better than Iron Tank City, which was relatively poor.


    The two of them continued to discuss some other areas of cooperation in detail. With the War Chain connecting them, Angel felt a sense of belonging with Garen. After their chat, they finally heard cheers coming from the direction of the inner city.


    "They must have killed off a few more groups of monsters in the surrounding outskirts," Angel said with a laugh. "It¡¯s always been like that these past few days."


    Garen nodded. "We prepare to leave in a few days. We¡¯ll do as you said, and set it at the same time as the Grand Duke¡¯s rounds."


    "Sounds good."


    *********************


    Five days later¡­


    Large tides of monsters flowed towards the inner city from three directions around Iron Tank City.


    After the flood of monsters, it was the three spots of Form Three monsters.


    Iron Tank City, which looked like a white disc, seemed like it was being flooded from all directions by countless black ants, and there were occasionally larger insects among the ants.


    Outside the city, on a tall yellow cliff.


    Garen wore grey robes, several carriages stopped behind him. These horses were all purely black, with horns and fangs. They looked like horses on the surface, but they were polluted animals.


    Angel and four members of the Hunting Group gathered to discuss something in whispers. The few of them looked at the large group of monsters walking around them curiously, and also had a mysterious respect for Garen, who brought them out.


    The black monsters flew across their heads, black shadows gliding past, as they flew towards the inner city.


    Reylan sat in a white armchair, counting something with her pen and paper. She kept writing and switching many complicated equations and numbers. No one except her could understand them.


    Meanwhile, Lala was constantly on hand and ready to take care of Reylan.


    Garen looked far and long at the inner city that was slowly being surrounded by the monster tide.


    In the inner city¡¯s defensive area, a circular hole was opening slowly.


    A group of people in black hoods riding black horses slowly walked out of the hole, each of the riders wearing extremely heavy black armor under their hoods.


    The man leading them all was tall and stout, sitting with a straight back on a large horse. His black helmet completely wrapped up his head, so that all anyone could see was his slightly red eyes.


    His whole body was wrapped inside the magnificent and imposing armor, making him look like a moving iron tower, as he slowly rode out of the defensive circle.


    Bang bang¡­


    The huge horse¡¯s hooves stepped on the ground, leaving fist-sized holes, and throwing up sprays of dust and tremors.


    Ker-chak¡­


    The rider suddenly raised his head, his whole body of armor making slight noises.


    A breeze blew by with a whoosh, picking up the long white hair from underneath the rider¡¯s helmet, and making the waist-long hair fly in the air.


    With a clang, the rider suddenly unsheathed the huge sword at his waist.


    "We fight to protect the weak and elderly! We fight for justice and honor! I am the Grand Duke Cadersman, King of Glory."


    "This is a fight for the people, to retreat is to give up!!" He abruptly raised his long sword. "Charge!!!"


    Countless monsters rushed at him fiercely. The Three-eyed Black Bear and the Black-winged Bird returned, bringing even more huge Form Three monsters with them as they charged forth.


    The heavy footsteps grew heavier with each step.


    All the sounds were instantly overwhelmed by the strange cries and roars.


    A pair of enormous black wings appeared suddenly behind the black-armored rider. With him in the center, a huge vicinity of black spirit light appeared out of nowhere, and any monster that entered this territory was instantly disintegrated, as though torn into pieces by some tremendous power.


    Several Form Three monsters rushed at the Black Territory madly.


    Screech!!!


    There was suddenly a loud cry, and in the sky above the entire Iron Tank City, the illusion of a huge black bird began to materialize slowly, covering the entire sky.


    The black rider sat on his huge horse and didn¡¯t move. The huge horse advanced slowly, the black spirit light as though a mouth swallowing everything in its path, devouring all the monsters it touched and turning them into mincemeat.


    Nothing could stop his advancing. The black spirit light was like a plague that kept spreading.


    The Three-eyed Black Bear roared, and finally turned around to run away.


    Many black riding soldiers gushed out from behind him, charging at the group of monsters on the outside. They were like a black current, mercilessly piercing into the monster tide.


    From far away, the black rider suddenly looked at Garen¡¯s direction.


    Garen met his eyes as well.


    "Is this your decision? Goth, I wish you luck..." He murmured softly, sighed, and finally turned around to leave the cliff.


    The carriage slowly turned around, arranged in one line, and drove into the distance.


    "Charge!!"


    Amidst the endless cries for blood.


    Goth was like a pitch black coral, his body surrounded by thick black smoke. It was the terrifying air that came from between the black feathers.


    Sitting in the middle of the battlefield, all the sky above covered his shadow.

 325 Conjecture 1

    Chapter 325: Conjecture 1


    The golden sunlight scattered.


    Amidst the emerald grass, a yellow dirt road curved and winded ahead into the distance.


    On the road, three black carriages drove slowly ahead.


    Garen sat in the carriage, quietly looking out the carriage window.


    On a high mountain far to their left, there was a line of grey fortresses, their serrated surrounding walls wrapping them up in the center. Some parts of the wall had already been knocked down. Everything was silent.


    A few huge black bats were circling above the forts, and there was even a black bat flying out from inside the fort.


    There was the smell of something burning in a huge fire in the air.


    Garen took out his pocket watch to check the time: 3:24.


    "Let¡¯s rest for a bit, we¡¯ve already been on the road all morning," he said calmly.


    He didn¡¯t speak loudly, but it was just enough for the other two carriages to hear him.


    He sat in the middle carriage, and Reylan sat right opposite him.


    The carriage in front of them carried Angel and her Hunting Group. Behind them was Lala and some supplies like food and drink that they had to bring with them.


    The three carriages instantly stopped at the same time. The three aberrated black horses naturally stopped without requiring anyone to order them.


    Garen opened the carriage door and got off the carriage. He raised his gaze to look at the surroundings.


    Everything around him was emerald green grass plains, with flower bushes on each side to welcome travelers. The bushes had little red and yellow flowers, unusually vibrant. The breeze made these tiny flowers sway in the wind continuously.


    He followed the plains and gazed into the distance. The green grassy plains continued to the fortress at the faraway mountain, with dying yellow weeping willows dotting the large swathe of green in between.


    Garen raised his head to look at the fort, frowning slightly.


    "These are the private fortresses near Iron Tank City, we haven¡¯t left the governance territory of Iron Tank City yet." Reylan alighted from the carriage behind Garen, her voice deep. "We need at least one more day to leave the territory, judging by our current speed."


    "Looks like that fortress has already been conquered," Garen guessed.


    "Definitely, the ones flying in the sky are Carrion Bats. These bats come out in the day and rest at night. Unlike normal bats, they only eat rotting corpses," Reylan replied calmly. "Carrion Bats will only appear where there¡¯s no danger, they¡¯re very cowardly. Be it monsters or humans, they¡¯re all things these bats think they should avoid."


    She took out a small notebook, and started to carefully note down something. He didn¡¯t know what, and could only hear the scratching of the pen she brings with her everywhere on the paper.


    Garen nodded, indicating that he understood.


    "How much longer can our supply of food and water last?"


    "I¡¯ll call Lala out. She knows the answer to this best," Reylan frowned, and walked directly to the third carriage.


    She quickly got onto the third carriage, but he didn¡¯t hear her scolding Lala.


    "Brother, come and look. Lala seems to be pretty badly sick," Reylan¡¯s voice came from the carriage.


    Garen glanced at the Hunting Group members, who had just gotten down from their carriage, waving as a way of telling them to rest. Striding towards the third carriage, he stepped in from the wide open carriage door.


    It was slightly cold and dank in the carriage, all sorts of miscellaneous items in barrels littering the dark interior. The yellow wooden barrels were wrapped into a cross with metal belts. Lala leaned on the wooden barrel, her face flushed and her breath panting.


    "Cough¡­ cough¡­" Lala coughed painfully, the sound of phlegm in her throat. She held her chest with her hand, as though unable to catch her breath. Even when she sat on the ground, it was weakly.


    She only wore a grey summer dress, without long socks.


    Garen surveyed Lala¡¯s entire body, crouched down, and lightly picked up the cloth on the right shoulder of the dress, carefully taking a black speck off from it.


    "I¡­ feel like¡­ can¡¯t breathe¡­" Lala said with difficulty. Her gaze on Garen was as though she saw her savior, her eyes lighting up.


    Garen sighed, pressing her chest lightly with his right hand.


    "Brother!" Reylan¡¯s voice came from beside him, sounding unhappy as she grabbed Garen¡¯s hand, "It¡¯s just a servant, it¡¯s fine if she dies, but don¡¯t let her pass it on to you."


    Garen glanced at her. Reylan¡¯s pale yellow eyes shone with jealousy and dissatisfaction. She averted her gaze slightly, turning her hateful glare at Lala instead.


    "She¡¯s having an asthma attack, it was my fault for not thinking ahead. I let her live for a long time in a place with bad air circulation, and a breeding place for bacteria and other microorganisms as well. She¡¯s just a normal person, it¡¯s already not bad that she managed to stay this long without falling sick."


    "Let her die, we don¡¯t have any medicine for asthma." Reylan¡¯s gaze flickered. "I¡¯ll take care of these supplies for you."


    "Leave for now," Garen said calmly. "Be a good girl."


    Reylan glared at Lala unhappily, before she finally got off the carriage.


    Garen turned around, suspending his right palm over Lala¡¯s chest. His fingers expanded rapidly, turning into five thick black steel rods.


    Smack-smack-smack¡­


    His fingers instantly began dotting Lala¡¯s lungs quickly.


    "I don¡¯t know the actual healing method, so I can only reduce your symptoms for now. And besides, I¡¯m not really sure that it is asthma," he said softly, looking at Lala relax as he continued his treatment.


    Her soft chest kept shifting into different shapes underneath Garen¡¯s hand.


    Lala had just recovered when she felt the strange sensation on her chest, and her face flushed again. She turned her head to aside, unsure of how to reply.


    On the other hand, Garen was unperturbed. After quickly solving the problem of the blocked blood qi in her lungs, he finally added a bit more force into his palm.


    Wah!


    Lala pitched forward, and coughed out a mouthful of black phlegm.


    The black phlegm was about to land on Garen¡¯s body, but he flicked his fingers to shoot out a blast of air that shot it out of the carriage and onto the grass far away.


    Garen stood, his heart sinking slightly.


    "Once you fall sick at this time, under these circumstances, it¡¯s very hard to find medicines to treat you. Right now, all I can give you are medicines to reduce the inflammation and coughing. The rest is up to you."


    Lala nodded. "It¡¯s fine, I¡¯ll get better soon." She smiled at Garen, telling him not to worry.


    However, Garen frowned. "I found cockroach droppings on your clothes, it¡¯s best if you don¡¯t stay here anymore. Switch carriages."


    Lala nodded, she noticed this reason as well.


    Garen shook his head and got off the carriage, coming face to face with a thunderous Reylan.


    "What¡¯s the matter?"


    "You shouldn¡¯t have agreed to let her come along," Reylan said in a low voice. "That person is a burden. She doesn¡¯t have to worry about anything, and now that she¡¯s fallen sick, she can¡¯t do any little thing at all! Why should we keep her?"


    "You¡¯re being a little extreme, Reylan," Garen frowned. "Her family died in the previous war, and now she has no other relatives, so she has no choice but to come with us."


    "So what?" Reylan glanced at that carriage jealously, "Brother, don¡¯t tell me you want to fuck that whore? Isn¡¯t she just a little prettier, with slightly better skin!? Do you still expect to enjoy yourself under these circumstances? If it was any normal time, I¡¯ll catch as many as you want for you! But now¡¯s different!"


    Garen looked at her expression and knew that she was getting more and more jealous of Lala. After her own face was destroyed, she got unusually jealous of other women with whole faces.


    "I promised her that if she worked for me, she would get sufficient safety in return. Right now, I haven¡¯t achieved that promise yet," he said softly. "Alright, Reylan, I know you¡¯re in a bad mood, but don¡¯t take it out on others!"


    Reylan didn¡¯t say anything else, but her expression grew darker, and finally she turned and left without a word.


    Garen massaged his temple, feeling a headache coming on.


    Looking at the sun above him, the golden sunlight was bright but not very warm.


    Compared to Lala, Reylan was indeed a lot more important. She was still teaching him a lot of basic knowledge on how to study the Derivator. Right now, he had no choice but to rely on her. That was why Garen couldn¡¯t afford to piss her off either.


    But her twisted view of the world and values could indeed cause the team a great deal of trouble.


    From the Hunting Group¡¯s side, Angel walked over, her expression confused.


    "What¡¯s the matter?"


    "Lala fell sick, it¡¯s probably acute asthma," Garen replied helplessly. "She¡¯s the only normal person among us, and her body isn¡¯t that strong either, plus she got hurt before. It¡¯s already not bad that she only fell sick now."


    "Now what do we do?" Angel also frowned. She also had a pretty good impression of Lala, the dutiful maid. "I still have some Tavinipin here, take it to her and it might help."


    "Should be okay."


    Garen took the medicine to Lala, and after she ate it, she did recover a little shortly. This sort of medicine was mostly to suppress coughing.


    Garen didn¡¯t think too much more about it. He let the Petrifying White Dragon lead the way, and had the Dual Headed Salamander ride two Petrifying Lizards to watch the rear. On the two sides, the Deep Swamp Croc and Resonance Hawk stood guard from a distance. They carried many parasites with them, chasing away any strong monsters that might appear nearby, and only allowing some weaker fellows to enter so Angel and the rest can train.


    His potential points kept increasing, but at an extremely slow pace. It was far from his time in Iron Tank City.


    They basically didn¡¯t meet any strong characters at all in the wild.


    After that, they proceeded for more than another day, all the way until they reached the border of Iron Tank City¡¯s territory. All they met on the way were Form One monsters, with extremely few Form Two monsters. There was no need to chase them away at all, so Garen decided to let his subordinates ignore them all, letting them come in directly.


    By now, his potential points had reached an unprecedented 125 points. He had been hoarding them since Iron Tank City.


    He planned to hoard more at once, and then focus them into evolving the Black-Striped White Tiger.


    ******************


    The pale morning sunlight shone in from the cracks in the curtains.


    Garen slowly awoke from his dreams, massaging the back of his neck, feeling slightly sore. When he opened his eyes, he saw that Reylan, who was lying down opposite him, was sleeping soundly on her side.


    Everything was quiet outside, except the occasional snorting of the aberrated horses.


    He sat up from the cushion seats, and pulled away the blankets on his body, putting on his leather breeches. He peeled a wooden blank away from the wall of the carriage to their right and let it down, supporting it with two wooden sticks to form a simple table.


    Taking up the dried vegetables and beef jerky that he hadn¡¯t finished eating from last night, Garen took two large glasses of water from the water bottle, and tossed the dried vegetables and meat inside.


    And then he held one glass in each hand, his palms glowing slightly like red jade.


    After more than a minute, the smell of beef jerky and dried vegetables wafted throughout the carriage.


    "Brother?" Reylan woke up from her sleep, looking at Garen with blurry eyes. With the table between them, she instantly saw the two large glasses on the table.


    White steam floated out from the mouths of the cups, carrying a faint aroma.

 326 Conjecture 2

    Chapter 326: Conjecture 2


    "You¡¯re awake? Come eat something," Garen said with a smile. He loosened his left hand and pushed the cup towards her. The water inside was boiling, with some radish, cabbage and scallions floating on the surface, and expanded jerky at the bottom. The water in the cup had also turned into a pale milky white.


    Reylan looked touched. She got up neatly, her hands cupping around the glass and feeling the heat it emanated.


    "Your body¡¯s a lot better, huh," Garen said softly.


    "Mn," Reylan nodded. "My injuries have more or less healed, and there¡¯s no problem with my stamina either. It¡¯s just that the scars got left behind, so many scars¡­" Her emotions sank in an instant.


    "If I want them to heal, I¡¯m afraid¡­"


    "Don¡¯t say such negative things so early in the morning, you¡¯ll have a chance." Garen rapped the table. "Alright, the others haven¡¯t woken up yet, so let¡¯s start today¡¯s lessons."


    "Sure, we¡¯ll talk as we eat." Reylan quickly took a petite little red leather notebook out from beside her, putting it on the table next to Garen.


    "I had collected these from my own memories, they¡¯re information about biological engineering. Silver Totems and the research regarding the Derivator, all of it is very complicated, and dabbles in content from many fields. Biological engineering is just one of them, after that you still need to learn about material and energy science, as well as advanced mathematics. Of course, you just need to understand it, it¡¯s enough for you just to be able to tell what¡¯s good and what¡¯s not."


    "Biological engineering, material and energy science, advanced mathematics? Are these three subjects enough?" Garen asked.


    "Of course, these three subjects are actually umbrella terms, if you want to be more specific, there are even more branches of study." Reylan nodded. "The Obscuro¡¯s way is to evolve creatures, it¡¯s different from the Royal Alliance¡¯s way of tools. Obscuro seeks to use totem techniques to finally increase the level of their own lives, that¡¯s why they developed creature totems."


    The Royal Alliance, on the other hand, uses White Silver Totems. In other words, they develop the primitive totems to a certain peak, and their final path is to use the peak-level primitive totem to boost the original totem user in return."


    "Both paths seem clearer now. They just use the same power differently." Garen nodded.


    He picked up the Reylan¡¯s notebook, and read through it carefully.


    Because he had basic knowledge in advanced maths and physics from Earth, as well as some research knowledge here on this world, he went through the notebook in no time. Other than some extra formulas to do with totems, he understood the rest easily.


    He had also studied biological engineering with his teacher Emin, just not as deeply as this.


    "I¡¯ve already taught you some of the earlier basics," Reylan said calmly. "Now I¡¯ll tell you about the main points in this book. Once you got a hold of that, you¡¯ll be considered a Beginner in biological engineering."


    With that, she started to explain some of the important formulas in detail to Garen.


    As she spoke, Garen quickly understood these formulas completely.


    Finally, he saw some change in the skill pane at the bottom of his vision. A new skill icon slowly materialized, and lined up together in a pane together with the other knowledge types.


    "Biological engineering: Beginner. (By understanding this, you have understood the principles of a creature¡¯s internal and external structures; one of the compulsory studies in totem research.)¡¯


    It finally became a skill.


    Garen also heaved a sigh of relief. Now that it was a skill, that meant he could use potential points to level up. As long as he had the follow-up knowledge, he could improve rapidly.


    As for the other two subjects, as long as he understood it all, he just needed to find an opportunity to grab some research materials from the Royal Alliance and his old man. With that, he should be able to reach extreme heights in no time at all. He would then have a certain level of confidence to solve the Derivator¡¯s secret problem.


    He might be no good at everything else, but his ability to learn was nothing to scoff at. With enough potential points, it would be a cinch for him to steal research, systems, knowledge, and experience from others.


    His potential points allowed him to drastically reduce his studying and comprehension time.


    So far, the Derivator seemed to be lagging, so the other two Generals hadn¡¯t contacted Garen for now, giving him a short buffer time. He needed to use this time to quickly solve the secret problem.


    Based on his conjecture, the reason he didn¡¯t develop a skill when he was studying biological engineering with his teacher Emin was because he hadn¡¯t learned all the basic knowledge in this field. Now, with Reylan¡¯s teachings, he had finally completed it, and obtained the skill icon.


    Biological engineering, materials and energy science, advanced mathematics. Garen had learned some basics in all three subjects before, but in order to act normal, Garen purposely controlled his learning speed, so that Reylan wouldn¡¯t notice that he was too fast.


    Today, however, Reylan was tossing out all the last bits of knowledge, so Garen threw caution to the winds, memorizing and comprehending everything about these subjects immediately.


    His body had now reached the peak of human understanding, achieving the uppermost limit where he didn¡¯t need to worry about the subject requirements.


    He completed the Beginner level in no time. Each of the three subjects became skill icons, one after the other, in less than four hours.


    From the knowledge of these subjects, Garen also obtained a deeper understanding of Silver Totems. He especially understood a lot more about the key to how the Derivator controlled Silver Totems.


    All the way until noon, the carriages finally continued moving on automatically under Garen¡¯s control. He used the Derivator to control the horses pulling all three carriages, so he could carry them forward without a driver.


    Cough cough¡­


    The sound of coughing came from the first carriage again. Lala had been transferred to the first carriage. Her condition seemed to have become even more serious.


    Garen woke up from his calculations, frowning slightly.


    But there was nothing he could do. He looked up to glance at Reylan in front of him, but she didn¡¯t seem to hear a thing.


    "Totem users have their core totems, that¡¯s why they can avoid infections from most of the outside bacteria, and be unafraid of diseases." Garen sighed inwardly. No wonder all totem users seemed to be looking down on others, the reasons came from all areas.


    "Forget it, it¡¯s more important to upgrade my core totem now. Without real power, I can¡¯t do anything even if I found the medicine." He didn¡¯t really know how to deal with this sort of bacterial infection either, and looking at Lala, it seemed to be more than just asthma.


    He calmed his heart, his gaze falling on that part of his totem pane.


    ¡®Core - Black-Striped White Tiger: Form One totem, upgradable. Probability of successful evolution: 11%. Potential point cost: 700%.


    Ability: Tail Whip, Puncturing Crunch.¡¯


    After Garen¡¯s gaze rested on the totem for three seconds, the entire icon become blurry, and then quickly cleared up. It was as though nothing happened, if he hadn¡¯t lost seven potential points, Garen might even have thought that his eyes were the ones that went blurry.


    "Once more." He was already numb to it. After throwing more than a hundred potential points last time without a successful evolution, this time it was mere child¡¯s play to him.


    Second attempt, failure.


    Third attempt, failure.


    Fourth attempt, also failure.


    He didn¡¯t know if it was a trick of the mind, but Garen vaguely felt as though his core totem changed a little.


    Fifth attempt. Failure.


    Brr¡­


    Suddenly, a description in tiny red figures slowly appeared behind the icon.


    ¡®Missing core: striped crystal. Unable to evolve. Begin returning of consumed potential points, a portion of the potential points caused a catalytic effect.¡¯


    The Black-Striped White Tiger¡¯s icon instantly dimmed.


    Garen paused. In that instant, he felt an enormous gush of clean, cool air gush out from the icon. After taking a round inside his body, it returned directly to his brain.


    His potential point value shot up madly.


    From a little over 130, it rapidly increased to 150, 170, 190, 210.


    And only stopped at 213.


    Garen¡¯s heart settled.


    "As I thought, when I evolve a core totem with potential points, there¡¯s an accumulative mechanism to it. Looks like if I try to evolve it without the critical core, the potential points I pile on won¡¯t disappear totally. Instead, they would be stored in the totem, becoming an accumulative power. This is just like before, potential points that didn¡¯t successfully upgrade something would return to me naturally. Looks like the potential points I put on those failed evolutions didn¡¯t disappear, nor were they wasted, they merely gathered inside the totem, and were used to accumulate power."


    "Then why are there these probabilities?" He frowned again. "Or are these gene fragments different? Is it a problem with the activation probabilities? Is it a random chance of activation every time, or will it only activate and evolve after accumulating to a certain level?"


    He suddenly remembered the biological engineering he just studied. Putting it together with the basic genetic knowledge he had from Earth, he suddenly made a bold conjecture.


    "Could it be that each activation attempt is activating a gene fragment, and failure to activate means it would go to waste? Successful activation means successful evolution? That so-called probability, is perhaps decided by the total number and quality of the gene fragments. Failed activation would remove these gene fragments. In that case, how are the standards for success and failure decided?"


    Garen fell into deep thought.


    The activation mechanism for these potential points seemed to be all murky, as though there were some complicated calculations and rhythms to it.


    "It¡¯d be all clear if I explained it like this. Activation and evolution were always meant to choose the best direction from all the countless genes. And in order to evolve these certain genes, we would certainly need a certain amount of activation energy. These two aspects decide how the potential points evolve the totem."


    "Firstly, there are the potential points needed to perform the lowest level of evolution. Just like how so many points were stuffed into the Black-Striped White Tiger before it finally started the first activation. The potential points before that weren¡¯t evolving, they were accumulating the energy required for the first evolution. I will probably need some techniques to figure out if it¡¯s evolving or accumulating."


    "Secondly, there are the probabilities. After achieving the required number of potential points, it will start attempting evolution. If successful, the points will be utterly used up. If unsuccessful, some of the points will be returned, just like with the Black-Striped White Tiger. In that case, the primitive totems and Silver Totems should be using different evolution mechanisms."


    Garen was beginning to understand.

 327 Thoughts 1

    Chapter 327: Thoughts 1


    He had only evolved silver totems before this, never attempting it on a primitive totem, which was why he had absolutely no idea what the situation was. Now, it¡¯s finally as clear as day what was going on.


    Primitive totems are living organisms, which means their bodies naturally accumulate a certain amount of energy. Not only that, an increase of energy happens whenever food is consumed. This was the reason why evolution through potential points only needed one step ¨C activation.


    When it came to silver totems[1], it was completely different. They do not need to consume food, which also means that they are unable to accumulate energy. Everything is provided by the totem user. Which is also why evolution then takes two steps ¨C accumulation and activation.


    "It¡¯s no wonder why Reylan and said that silver totems will sooner or later surpass primitive totems."Garen suddenly understood the biggest advantage when it came to silver totems. It was not the derivator, or control of the numbers. It was in regards to the difficulty of what was required to evolve.


    His cheapskate dad from this world was into biochemical studies. Garen could not wait to reach there a little earlier, as he yearned to increase the level of his knowledge with those books.


    "Striped crystal was something I used as to play with, in a way you would with a potted plant at dad¡¯s when I was younger¡­I¡¯d have never thought that black striped white tiger would need this as an evolution core."Garen was slightly emotional. "To think of it , there were a lot of rare items and resources over at dad¡¯s¡­he sure lives up to his name as a scholar employed by royalty.


    In Acacia¡¯s memories, resources of this level were treated lightly, as they could be played with at random. The house was full of them.


    As these were rare alternative sources and not mainstream evolution resources, when Garen first gained knowledge from Emin, it had never occurred to him the value of these items.


    He only understood now that he used to live in a house full of treasures without knowing it.


    Striped crystal is a type of strange, fascinating crystal that grows continuously when planted. As long as he returned home, he could have as many of them as he wanted.


    Besides, black striped white tigers needed more than a hundred potential points before undergoing an evolution activation. Once the evolution succeeds, there is no telling how strong it will turn out to be.


    Garen was filled with expectation.


    He examined himself carefully.


    "If we were to assess in detail, Silver totems are always placed in the outside world as they can¡¯t be kept in storage. At this rate, the silver totem light will always be present. This is equivalent to the use of a core totem. If the trouble caused by the derivator was non-existent, I would have been equivalent to a third form totem user."


    After Garen¡¯s self-evaluation, his mind became absolutely clear.


    "Now the biggest problem would be the derivator. As long as the problem posed by the derivator is resolved early, I would not have to worry about the silver totems going out of control. The core totem should be capable of an upgrade as long as I head back.


    His vision finally swept across the black striped white tiger¡¯s icon, the data above changed slightly.


    "Core- black striped white tiger: First form totem, can be upgraded. Probability of successful evolution: 11%. Potential points needed to activate gene fragment: 700%. An accumulation of 145 potential points is needed to achieve a chain activation. Striped crystal is needed as a core resource.


    Ability: Tail whip, Puncturing Crunch"


    The talent and power data displayed was in line with Garen¡¯s own understanding, which is why he was not surprised.


    Even though there were still a lot of grey areas when it came to understanding the evolution of a primitive totem, Garen had decided to put probing further on hold.


    As he returned to reality, he came down from the carriage.


    Outside, the hunting group crowded around a bonfire cooking something; the mixture of white smoke and water vapour carried a pleasant smell.


    Surrounded by a vast expanse of deep green plains, there were occasional clusters of dense woods.


    A few Unihorn lizards circulated the skies, but were afraid to swoop down and attack the crowd; they reduced to only squawking.


    Nearing late noon, soft rays of sunlight shone from the rear, casting long slim shadows against the crowd.


    Garen and Reylan walked aside privately, discussing difficult questions on the 3 subjects in low voices.


    Angel brought Lala, who was still coughing, and joined the circle of the hunting group, talking about anything under the sun.


    The surroundings were not filled with the roars of monsters, which intrigued the people. Although, they boiled it down to the mystery behind Garen. When it came to facing the rest of the journey, they began to relax a little.


    Only Garen, who was in the midst of discussion with Reylan, saw that right below his field of vision, his potential points that were fluctuating like crazy. It meant that the silver totems under his command were on a wild hunt, targeting large groups of monsters in the area.


    "We are almost exiting the area of Iron Tank City, next will be a desolate no-man¡¯s land. According to the slow rate that we are moving, even the nearest city would require 2 or 3 days. Reylan stared at Garen with a little confusion,"What are your plans brother? Your current theory lacks concrete steps, I hope to get my hands on better research tools as soon as possible."


    Of course, Garen would never reveal that the reason they were moving at this speed was to increase his potential points. "You should be able to find a temporary set of research tools right? The stuff that you are teaching me now belongs to the forgers?"


    "Indeed, forgers are luminarists that specialize in researching totems, but our direction is more towards researching living totems." Reylan nodded her head.


    "Then, you should know if there is a way to empower humans without being controlled?" Garen finally asked the question he had been yearning to ask.


    "Empowering humans is our main area of research. Empowering a body itself is nothing new; the technique required is nothing difficult, but there is not much use for it either. No matter how strong a body is, it is impossible to evolve more powerfully than carefully selected living totems. Over at the headquarters, a significant number of people chose to be empowered in order to extend their lives." Reylan confirmed what Garen had in mind. "Although so, I do not recommend you to do that, brother."


    She paused, "Top level primitive totem users have encountered a weird phenomenon. The totem light brought by their totems would bring changes to their own bodies, making it stronger and healthier, as well as extending their life. There were even totem users that merged themselves with their totems, becoming a collective body. This was the highest power imaginable achieved, which was also signified the birth of empowerment."


    "Elemental totems, Plant totems, Animal totems. In actuality, these 3 types of totems would definitely reach that stage. The main body and the totem will merge to become one, transforming into an inhuman being that exhibits the terror of a totem. This is Obscuro Society¡¯s main goal. Brother, if you want to walk this path, the requirements are of high difficulty. When it comes to technical abilities, even I myself would not be able to help. This type of technical ability requires too much, even if I were to research for more than ten years, it would not guarantee any success." Reylan rejected Garen¡¯s train of thought, "Obscuro society had researched for so many years, and only reaped a small area of technical success. Let¡¯s not even consider the possibility if I were to do this alone."


    Garen smiled, changing the topic. "So how do totem users define their abilities?


    "Usually evolution is divided according to Form; the first form is definitely incapable of beating second form, and a form 2 definitely incapable of beating third form and so on. Besides that, there are tactics and precious heirlooms that will affect the level of strength. Of course, there is also the manipulator¡¯s strategy and natural talent. Let¡¯s put everything aside and talking about totems alone. Of the totems, the strongest is The Ultimate totem. This means that the totem has reached the highest level imaginable for evolution. Ultimate represents the end of possible evolution. Although such, when it comes to which ultimate totem is stronger than the other, it boils down to the nature of the body itself. The better the nature of the body, the harder it is to evolve, but the stronger it is after evolution. If the nature of the body is good and the number of evolution undergone is high, when and if the totem has finally evolved into its final form, it would be horrifying. Just like the black striped white tiger that you have brother, if it evolved into the fourth form, the power it holds is unimaginable." Reylan explained carefully.


    "But no one even knows if there is a third form; no one has been able to evolve this thing." Garen shrugged his shoulders.


    "That¡¯s because its foundation is too strong, the difficulty of evolving it is extremely high."Reylan shaked her head."I suggest you to look for a new core totem when you can."


    "We¡¯ll see."Garen has not given up yet.


    Garen and Reylan talked a lot when they were together. This helped him to have a deeper understanding of totem users.


    In the evening, the hunting group made potato and meat broth, served with stale bread, and an apple per person. They ate as if it were a feast.


    A group of people sat around the bonfire barbecuing, their bodies and hearts were warm.


    The temperature dropped in the late evening; everyone was freezing. Lala, an ordinary person, felt the same way and wrapped herself with blankets near the fire, her face still red. Obviously the sickness hasn¡¯t left her body.


    "Further forward is Ferrochrome. Ferrochrome is a small town at the borders of Tilan City and Aisley City. I went there for a holiday when I was younger, and the red tea biscuits there are amazing. I am not sure how it¡¯s like now¡­" Amongst the hunting group, a petite young lady spoke in a soft voice, she seemed a little down.


    "In this kind of environment, I would think there is but a few human habitations."


    "Tilan City and Aisley City?"Garen was not familiar with these two places,"These two cities, which are richer in resources? Anyone knows?"


    "Chief, Aisley City is very rich in resources, are you lacking any evolution resource ?" That petite lady said softly towards Garen. She and her companions have always called Garen and his sister Chief. Reprimand in them for this didn¡¯t work, and after a couple of times, Garen just gave up and allowed them to called him whatever their heart desired.


    "I want some striped crystals." Garen thought of attempting to look for the item along the way. As everything now was pretty chaotic, and deaths were prevalent, resources have been left unused. Who knows if he will be able to get his hands on it ahead of time. If he could find it along the way, he wouldn¡¯t have to speed up the journey anymore; going at a slower rate to increase his potential points would be the wiser move.


    "When it comes to striped crystals, I know which place has them." A black shirt guy who didn¡¯t really like to talk much from the hunting group voiced out.


    Seeing that everyone is the crowd turned to look at him, the guy fiddled with his collar.


    "There are striped crystals in Aisley City, I have seen it in the city museum. It is embedded into a crown that is being kept as a relic."


    "You are talking about the Prime Crown right? I have heard of that crown, never have thought it to be in Ailey City¡¯s museum."A man from the back of the group whispered.


    Angel nodded her head and looked to Garen, he was already deep in thought.


    After thinking for a moment, Garen spoke out again."From here, if we were to turn into Aisley City, how long would we need? Anybody knows?"


    The petite lady was most familiar with the geographical area, and answered after some calculations.


    "It is similar to our route now, just in the opposite direction. Our time would not be delayed. We will need to cross two paths, Aisley City and Tilan City. According to our current direction, we move towards Tilan."


    "Vicky, how can you be so sure without a map?" The black shirt guy said in puzzlement.


    "My family was from Tilan, I have explored the surrounding areas." Petite Vicky said. "So what now? Do we head towards Tilan City? Chief." Her gaze fell on Garen. She was always intrigued by this powerful and mysterious man. His relationship with Miss Angel had seemed a little unusual.


    "Since it does not affect the distance, let¡¯s change it." Garen nodded his head. "Do you guys have any opinion?"He looked towards Reylan and Angel.


    Both of them shook their heads, signaling that they did not have any opinion.


    Translator''s Thoughts


    J_Squared J_Squared


    1. Author mistakenly wrote primitive totem

 328 Thoughts 2

    Chapter 328: Thoughts 2


    "Wasn¡¯t our departure from Iron Tank City according to your wishes anyways?" Angel said. "If it is possible, do you wish take a short visit to your hometown, Daer and Vicky?" She looked towards Vicky and the guy in black.


    The petite lady and the black shirt guy were silent at the same time.


    "Thank you Miss." Vicky said softly and lowered her head, silent again.


    Garen said calmly.


    "If it is possible, I hope that we could take along everything we need during the journey. The resources in Aisley City should be abundant. We will arrange our affairs later according to the threat of the situation.


    "Alright." Angel nodded her head.


    After dinner, some fed their horses while most returned to their carriages. 3 horse-drawn carriages were tied to a cluster of trees by the side of the road. It was covered with some branches and hay in an attempt to keep it hidden.


    Garen returned to his carriage and took a glance at his potential points.


    It was now at 248 points.


    He looked out from the window and saw Reylan and Angel exchanging a few sentences here and there. He had no idea what they were talking about. Both of them sat near the fire; the atmosphere was strangely harmonious.


    He retracted his gaze.


    "Since I am unable to upgrade silver totems, let¡¯s just upgrade another primitive totem."


    He held out his forefinger. Behind him a blue light glimmered and a blue laser shot out. The blue laser landed on Garen¡¯s fingertips, suddenly transforming into a neon butterfly.


    The neon butterfly the size of a face basin lightly battered it¡¯s wings, emitting a soft blue glow around it.


    Garen let out a white gold aura, covering his surroundings to prevent anyone else from walking in on him without him knowing.


    Then, his line of gaze fell unto the Totem column below his field of vision.


    "Neon butterfly: First form totem, can be upgraded. Probability of successful evolution: 21%. Probability points needed for gene fragment activation: 500%. Non-chain activation.


    Ability: Poison pollen attack (Dispersed in the form of poisonous pollen, only up to 3 times in a day. Effect: paralysis, death.


    "This was the totem given to me by my teacher, which was also my first totem. Let¡¯s see how my luck is. If my potential power is sufficient¡­"


    Garen did not continue his thoughts, focusing instead on the icon.


    After 3 seconds, "Buzz¡­"The icon blurred for a while and quickly became clear again. It failed.


    The second time ¨C the icon blurred and became clear again; it has failed yet again.


    The third time ¨C the icon blurred, this time it did not become clear right away, but stayed in that state for some time, and its whole body started to turn transparent quickly.


    In less than 10 minutes, the entire neon butterfly the size of a face basin disappeared directly in front of Garen¡¯s eyes. Only through the touch of his fingertips, Garen was clear that the neon butterfly was still at the same place it was before.


    His face was filled with astonishment. "I remember when it came to neon butterflies, according the information teacher gave me, wasn¡¯t the evolution supposed to turn it into a poisonous white butterfly instead of this?" Right before he left he had received some information from Emin; it was in relation to the neon butterfly. Amongst the info, there was a section that stated one of the evolution paths this butterfly could take: poisonous white butterfly.


    But right now it was obvious his evolved butterfly was not a poisonous white butterfly, which was stated in the recorded data.


    Garen looked carefully and could barely see the neon butterfly on his fingertips. There was only a small outline; if he were to use his 5 senses he wouldn¡¯t be able to detect it at all.


    He couldn¡¯t help but looked towards the icon description under the totem pane.


    "Color changing butterfly: Neon butterfly¡¯s level two evolution, second form primitive totem. Can¡¯t be upgraded, Ultimate totem.


    Ability: Invisibility through discoloration (Senses and adapts to the subtle colors of the environment¡¯s light rays, in purpose of achieving invisibility).


    Reproducing offspring (The color changing moths reproduced can be used as a spying or investigative tool. Once every day.)


    Poison pollen attack (Poisonous pollen can cause dizziness, hallucinations and paralysis. Effect upon contact.)


    Garen wrinkled his brows.


    Color changing butterfly¡¯s abilities disappointed him a little.


    When it came to sleuthing, he already had the beetle. In this very moment, hundreds of beetles are all around, ready to return with danger reports if it ever came to that. This ability was sort of redundant. However, the invisibility sounds good.


    "Not all totem evolutions go according to our wishes."Garen shook his head. As he flung his fingers lightly, he thought he remembered something.


    An idea came to him.


    The color changing butterfly at the tip of his fingers flew up abruptly, its invisible abdomen laid a large amount of brown eggs; it fell unto the table.


    These eggs were individually as large as the size of a fingernail, oval in shape.


    Garen realized that the description on the color changing butterfly did not mention that there was limit on the number of offspring at all.


    As he watched, the brown oval eggs began to rip apart; out of it wriggled transparent moths one by one.


    He counted carefully, there were 25 moths.


    These small moths soundlessly flew out from the window; under the control of Garen¡¯s consciousness, they flew into the surrounding four directions.


    As the days passed, Garen kept on increasing the number of moths; the numbers reached a hundred quickly.


    The team has passed through a few empty villages, replenishing some of their basic resources. During this time, Garen¡¯s moths slowly began to grow larger.


    The only downside was, color changing butterfly¡¯s offspring consumed silver pieces. It was a good thing Garen brought some silver pieces in preparation.


    More than a hundred moths consumed 3 silver pieces in total.


    But he had realized the advantage in having these moths.


    There was no need for feeding, the only thing they fed on was the power of the totem light. Every time the color changing moths were let out, they could only be controlled up to 2 hours. A rest is needed after that.


    These color changing moths were extremely covert. As they scattered around the surrounding areas, none of the monsters had ever managed to detect them.


    Although finally, two of the parasitic beetles that were sleuthing from before disappeared. This cut off all contact with Garen¡¯s deep swamp croc.


    The group finally ceased their progress; Garen had given directions for them to stop. They will only move forward after he had investigated what had happened.


    ****************


    At night, Garen stood at the edge of the carriage, looking into the faraway fortress of the hills above.


    The fortress was built with stone bricks, a tall tower stood in the middle of it. There seemed to be minimal damage as the structures still looked as they should.


    The fortress was accompanied with silence; no lights, no torches, nothing. Just pitch black.


    Garen furrowed his brows.


    "My sleuthing bugs disappeared in the area near this fortress." He turned back and looked at Reylan, who was traveling next to him, speaking in a low voice.


    Three carriages circled around a bonfire, waves of faint heat emanated from that area.


    Besides a man from the hunting group who was standing guard for Lala, the rest crowded near Garen.


    "If my memory serves me right, this fortress may be dangerous. Although the areas nearby are paths we will have to go through. Both sides are terrain and lakes that are way more complicated and difficult to cross. If we were to make a detour, we would need at least 5 days to close in the great distance." Garen explained


    "So we should try and see whether it is possible to go through here. If the monsters turn out to be too powerful, we will just leave immediately, correct?" Angel added on,


    "Leila."


    "Watch me, miss." A guy wearing a red cap nodded his head and lifted up his right arm. Immediately, a silver light shot out from the protective sleeve on his forearm.


    The silver light landed on the ground in front and turned into a golden lioness right away.


    Roarrrr¡­


    The lioness growled and bent over to look at its owner. The tail was a living yellow snake. The head of the snake continuously hissed, coiling around and around while staring intently with its blood red eyes.


    The guy with the red cap mounted the lioness and disappeared into the night, heading towards the direction of the fortress. Not a single sound was made.


    Garen sensed the troops under his command: the deep swamp croc has already reached a number of 20, the beetles a number of 200. The dual headed salamander was just like a weapon generating war machine; it continuously produced a steady stream of deep swamp crocs, creating a massive army of second form totems. All she needed was time, and she¡¯ll be able to produce large amounts of parasites.


    Garen was confident; there was definitely not one third form totem in Obscuro Society that was as scary as this. Their evolutional direction only had a few definite types, which differed from his direction in relying on potential points for evolution; theirs was a controlled evolution with a clear direction.


    Mostly importantly, till date, parasitic typed totems were unheard of. The most bizarre totem was the reproductive nest type totem, which was a specialty of the Obscuro society.


    The legitimacy of this fact was confirmed by Rylan, who knew Obscuro Society best. Garen learned all this by prompting the answer out of her in an indirect way.


    His evolution through potential points was seemingly different from Obscuro.


    As he watched the guy in the red cap vanish into the darkness, he had an idea.


    More than ten beetles followed Leila and crawled into the fortress.


    The people from the hunting group knew that he was mysterious, and had at least 7 or 8 totems under his command. Private and secretive as he was, he always managed to do things none could imagine.


    When they left Iron Tank City, everyone, including Angel, was rather anxious and insecure; it was the mysterious and unknown Garen that gave them the biggest sense of security and support. This was the reason why everyone unconsciously turned their eyes to Garen.


    "Let¡¯s wait a moment and see what happens. If Leila is able to return safely and verify the situation, I will give him a little reward." He smiled and said calmly.


    He already had a vague idea in mind.


    At this moment the number of deep swamp crocs produced by the dual headed salamander was way too many; it was an impossible feat to manage all of them in a way that maximized the purpose of creating parasitic beetles. Just feeding and planning alone took up too much effort.


    But if he were to distribute it to other people and allow a portion of the beetles to follow the orders of others, this would strengthen the rest and allow them to invest their energy into feeding these beetles, ultimately reaching the larger goal in greater speed.


    Using these beetles as rewards for the underlings, as long as they don¡¯t backstab him, he¡¯d be able to achieve the goal of upgrading his abilities safely. The beetles¡¯ abilities will be used at a greater rate; the situation will not be out of grasp either.


    All of a sudden Garen thought of something ¨C What if Obscuro¡¯s initial thoughts were similar to his? To issue the derivators out in order to increase their own power and overall strength, at the same time keeping the situation within the palm of their hands?


    The excitement that bubbled up shortly before suppressed down again.


    "It seems like I have to solve the derivator¡¯s control issue..."

 329 The Nest 1

    Chapter 329: The Nest 1


    A group of people silently waited in the forest. Vicky lighted a few torches and distributed them throughout the group. The crackling of the flames could be clearly heard.


    The croaking of frogs one after another could be heard in the distance.


    Croak, croak..


    Garen fixated his gaze in the direction of the fortress. He abruptly stretched out his fingers and gestured in the air. Black flames emerged as a dot from his finger tips, leaving black strands in the air.


    Very quickly with the formation of the gestures, his eyes dilated and lost its focus.


    "Sight sharing tactic?!" Angel was slightly startled. "So fast¡­" She stared at Garen in disbelief. Her complexion was complicated, seeming like she had thought of something.


    After a whole ten minutes, a light roar came from the direction of the fortress. It seemed like the roar of a lion, but from a long way away.


    "Let¡¯s go. There is a problem here." Garen took the first step and moved towards the fortress. He seemed slow but was actually quick and had a rhythm to his steps.


    The rest of the party followed behind him, but only Reylan could keep up with him. Angel and the rest had difficulty in keeping up, and had to summon primitive totems to carry them.


    In the dark night, the group cut through the vast plains from the dark forest, and quickly headed towards the fortress. Only three swiftly moving orange flames could be seen in the dark, whereas their shadows were completely not visible.


    Garen took the lead, following the pathway of the fort to directly arrive at the main entrance. The iron-clad wooden door was wide open, and the keyhole had obvious traces of damage.


    The roar of a lion could be continuously heard from behind the door.


    Garen went straight into the entrance.


    There was a wide stone plaza within. As the faint moonlight shone on the plaza, it seemed like it was plated with a white-greyish layer.


    In the middle of the plaza, Leila was commanding his serpent-tailed lioness in a battle with two black shadows..


    Whenever the lioness let out a fierce howl, she would emit a circle of expanding pale yellow light, which would only disappear after expanding three metres. Every single time, the light would send the two black shadows flying and rolling on the ground.


    The black shadows would then persistently get back on their feet and continued their assault.


    Garen walked closer, trying to see the true forms of the two shadows with the aid of the moonlight.


    It was two black panthers with bull horns on their heads.


    They bowed their heads and pawed on the ground with their hooves like a bull. Air was coming out from their nostrils and their eyes were glowing red.


    "They are not silver totems?" Garen carefully identified. Suddenly there was a flash of light in his eyes. "They are not totems, but mutated creatures who were infected. "


    "Chief! They are not powerful, just very resistant." Leila shouted towards him. "Their speed is too fast. Although they have weak attacks, but because I¡¯m totally unable catch them, I can only passively counter attack." A dejected expression could be seen on his face.


    Moo!!!


    One of the black bull panthers let out a roar, and directly dashed at the serpent-tailed lioness.


    A dash like that might have been effective towards normal creatures, but not at all towards the serpent-tailed lioness with totem light.


    The serpent-tailed lioness stood its ground and howled fiercely, emitting a circle of yellow light from its body, which immediately sent the black bull panther flying again.


    With a bang, the black bull panther was savagely sent flying a long distance. Its four hooves left long black marks on the ground.


    "Let me do it." Angel finally arrived behind Garen and dismounted from her black panther. Looking at the two black bull panthers, there was some mild covetousness in her eyes.


    "These are living mutated creatures, if only the unit factory could be used to replicate them as totems.."


    Reylan laughed without saying a word.


    Vicky from the hunting group stood out.


    "Do we need miss to act for mere speedy types? Let me do it!"


    Before she finished her sentence, a yellow line leapt out from behind her and headed directly towards the two black bull panthers.


    After two light hisses, the yellow line flashed across the two black bull panthers, and flew back towards Vicky¡¯s shoulder. It was a fully gold mink. It obediently crouched on its owner¡¯s shoulder and continuously licked its blood-stained claw. Its two eyes had a wolf-like dark green glow, giving off a dark malevolent aura.


    Both the two black-bull panther were wounded by their side abdomens. After wobbling for a few more steps, they couldn¡¯t support themselves and fell to the ground.


    "Be careful! There are more of them around us!" Reylan yelled loudly.


    Their surroundings were full of black shadows. The shadows of black bull panthers kept flashing by, carrying a heavy aura of silver totems.


    Garen¡¯s countenance changed slightly.


    Among the totem auras, he could even feel second form totems, and it wasn¡¯t just one. To be able to gather so many second form totems together, there might even be third form creatures.


    "Retreat for now." Garen ordered in a low voice.


    The few of them slowly exited the fortress gate, constantly on their guards against any ambush.


    "There is certainly a nest here." Reylan muttered as she walked towards Garen¡¯s side. Only Garen could hear her voice. "A nest is the Obscuro Society¡¯s biological weapon plant, if only we could conquer one¡­"


    "Weren¡¯t these kinds of nest invented by the Obscuro Society?" Garen frowned.


    "Of course not. They initially also found a special creature¡¯s nest, then imitated it after that. But many of them were unrefined, and it was impossible to control the nests." Reylan explained. "There should be a black bull panther¡¯s nest here. According to the Obscuro Society¡¯s records, it is an agility type, and is decent among first form totems. Big brother, there are two ways for you to come in contact with the derivator¡¯s control method. The first method is to find a derivator not owned by the Obscuro Society to shift your silver totems. The second method is to directly make adjustments to the original derivator."


    "A derivator that is not owned by the Obscuro Society? Besides the Obscuro Society, are there others who have derivators like this?" Garen curiously asked.


    "Actually, the derivator crystal was discovered by the Obscuro Society in the outside world. It only achieved this form through unique modifications." Reylan explained softly.


    Garen immediately came to a halt.


    Angel and the rest in front noticed it, and stopped as well.


    "All of you stay on guard around the fortress. If you meet something you¡¯re unable to fight against, immediately send signals through the fire bombs." Garen ordered. "Reylan and I have something to handle."


    Angel frowned as she gave Reylan a glance. She didn¡¯t say anything but nodded her head.


    "Then we shall go back and wait."


    Garen nodded.


    As he looked at Angel and the others quickly leaving the fortress, he turned towards the black bull panther herd on the plaza, which was growing by the minute.


    "How do we conquer the nest?"


    "The first step is to clear up these black bull panthers, get rid of all the guards. The nature of a nest is like a plant. The roots are rooted in the ground to absorb nutrients. These black bull panthers are like the fruits. They are like vassals and guards who are being controlled." Reylan calmly said. "A black bull panther¡¯s nest should only be a first form nest. There are minimal second form creatures. The black bull panthers gathered here should be all of them."


    Garen heaved a sigh of relief.


    "As long as there aren''t any third form creatures. There are strong and weak third form creatures, but their abilities are troublesome. If we are unfamiliar with their abilities, it might lead to injuries or even death if we are not careful."


    Both of them faced off against all the black bull panthers on the plaza.


    Garen stepped forward. A few deep swamp crocs[1] crawled out from the shade behind him, while a resonance hawk was circling in the air above him .


    He pointed at the tens of black bull panthers on the plaza.


    The resonance hawk dived, letting out a horrendous cry. At that same time, there were sounds of resonant heartbeats.


    Pok Pok!


    Two black bull panthers leapt forward a few steps and crashed to the ground. There was blood on the side of their jaws as they laid there motionless.


    Five deep swamp crocs armed with their long tails and pitch black hides crawled towards the black bull panthers. They darted forward time to time, grabbing the black bull panthers beside them with their jaws. They snapped the panthers into two and then flung them away.


    The sharp claws of the black bull panthers could only leave minor scratches on the body of the crocs.


    A few of the second form black bull panthers took on the deep swamp crocs. They were exceedingly swift, and their bodies were covered with black bone armor, like artificial abnormalities.


    Owww!!!


    As the second form black bull panthers bowed their heads, blue lightning arcs formed in between their horns.


    Sheesh! The lightning arcs discharged a blue line and savagely landed on the body of a deep swamp croc. The electric current left a black burnt mark on its hide.


    The deep swamp croc was knocked back by the current and retreated a few steps as it let out a roar signalling its injury.


    "Electric current?" Garen instantly looked surprised. As he spread out his right palm, lines of black flames quickly erupted from his five fingers. Another tactic gesture was formed in the midst of the shadows.


    Reylan was stunned at Garen¡¯s feat. "Five...five sight sharing tactics!"


    There has never been someone as crazy as this. Even among the countless elites in the Obscuro Headquarters, she has never met someone who could draw five tactics at once. Can a human¡¯s hand be as agile as this?!


    Garen wasn¡¯t in the mood to notice Reylan¡¯s reactions. His vision had split into five. Four of them were with the deep swamp crocs, while one of it was with the resonance hawk in the air.


    The five different visions were monitoring the second form black panthers from different angles and directions.


    The secret ideas that he had finally had a glimmer of hope of being realized.


    "Electric current with totem light¡­..For me, doesn¡¯t it have the same properties as the legendary dragon blood?" His eyes narrowed as he had a definite objective in his heart.


    Through the sight sharing, Garen¡¯s powerful martial arts body could finally reveal its strength.


    He simultaneously controlled five totems, forming a defensive semi-circle around Reylan and himself. Every black bull panther that attacked was repelled with immense accuracy, or immediately bitten to death.


    Every electrical attack from the second form black bull panthers would be blocked by Garen with the deep swamp crocs. The powerful electric attacks could only leave minor burn marks on the black hide, not causing significant damage to the giant crocs.


    Garen¡¯s gaze was still. His pupils faintly separated into five fan shapes, every fan presenting images from a different angle.


    A second form black bull panther quietly crept towards to the back of Garen and Reylan. It lurked and hid its body in the dark, and took steps towards Garen¡¯s rear.


    Suddenly, it swooped quietly to grab the back of Garen¡¯s head. There were traces of blue electric current on its claws.


    As the sharp claws were about to touch Garen, from the right came a big black jaw.


    Crack!


    As the deep swamp croc¡¯s jaw landed on the black bull panther¡¯s abdomen, bone crackling sounds continuously came from its jaw. The croc brought its prey to the ground with a thud. Then immediately started to roll on the ground.


    In a moment, after a few flashes of lightning arcs in its jaw, everything became still. The second form black bull panther¡¯s corpse broke into two parts and fell out from the side of the deep swamp croc¡¯s jaw.


    The five totems were like meat grinders, annihilating every black bull panther on the plaza. Very quickly, the numbers of the black bull panthers gradually decreased. Finally, the two or three remaining looked at Garen in fear, as if they could run away any time.


    Garen brought his tactic and control to a stop. As he looked at the black bull panther corpses all over the plaza, there was no hint of expression on his face.


    "Let¡¯s go to see the nest. How do we conquer it?"


    Reylan retracted her surprise expression. She adjusted her wind-swept hood to cover her dry, ugly face.


    "To control a nest is difficult indeed. But the core material to create the derivator could be obtained from a nest. It is called the Resonance Stone and has wonderful effects. After a splitting a resonance stone into two, one of the pieces could be transmitted through resonance to the other piece regardless of distance. Although there is a certain loss, but the frequency will be the same. Because of this, the Obscuro Society used it as a core for long distance communication. After complicating the simple resonance, then going through informationization, then coding, it will then have the communication function of the derivator in your hand."


    "Then how do we concretely control the nest? With the Resonance Stone?" Garen asked.


    Translator''s Thoughts


    J_Squared J_Squared


    1. Author incorrectly wrote deep swamp lizards ÉîÔó¾Þòá

 330 The Nest 2

    Chapter 330: The Nest 2


    "Right." Reylan¡¯s knowledge was indeed profound, as she talked about these secrets like household matters. "A nest has only one resonance stone. It is its core, and its heart. Without the stone, although they wouldn¡¯t die, they would gradually wilt and become a normal plant. Two things have to be done to control a nest."


    "What are the two?" Garen looked at the remnants of black bull panthers after the massacre by the deep swamp croc, then walked towards the tower in the middle of the fortress.


    Reylan followed closely behind.


    "The first step is to segment the resonance stone. Hold one half in your hand and leave the other half in the nest. You will be able to control the nest¡¯s life with the resonance stone. As the plant as no intelligence, survival is their basic nature. With the resonance stone in your hand, you will gradually be filled with their aura. Naturally, you will be the master of the beings it creates."


    "The second step is to remember the vibration frequency of the nest. It is like the password to a code. Only by remembering this you would be able to truly control the beings of the nest with the password. This is difficult, exceptionally difficult."


    "How can we say no without giving it a shot?" Garen smiled.


    The two of them followed the steps to the door of the tower.


    Garen stretched out his hands and pushed open the door.


    With a deep groan, the door slowly creaked open. A large amount of dust continuously cascaded in the wind.


    As they entered the tower, a dark hall instantly appeared in their vision.


    In the magnificent hall, everything, including the walls, floors, fireplaces, oil paintings, sculptures, were covered in a dark green mucous membrane-like flesh.


    Hanging on the wall opposite the door was a golden sun ornament. The golden ornament was covered in green flesh, and a water basin-sized ferocious eyeball was popping out in the middle.


    The surface of the white eyeball was full of blood strands, with a black pupil in the middle. It constantly adjusted its focus as it kept a close eye on Garen and Reylan.


    In the red lines of the eyeball, blood was clearly flowing into the inner part of the eyeball. The flow of blood in the translucent blood vessels was like delicate red sand, faintly emitting the sound of moving sand.


    Garen looked around the hall.


    To the left and right of the eyeball were multiple black bull horns. The horns were arranged in the formation of a saw. They seemed to sense danger as they slowly protracted and covered the eyeball like a big mouth with black, sharp teeth, completely protecting the eyeball.


    "Disgusting. There¡¯s a sour smell in the air." Garen frowned and covered his nose. "What do we do now?"


    Reylan also took out a scarf and covered her nose.


    "Every nest has a different internal form. You have to look for the resonance stone on your own, which is one of the difficulties of taking a nest. Take note that once the nest dies, the resonance stone will melt instantly, even if it has been retrieved."


    Garen nodded. He paced around the hall as he observed the surroundings.


    A white-gold aura slowly emanated from his body. The peculiar thing was the eyeball of the nest shrunk back slightly, as if it felt the great aura.


    Garen realized it and looked interestedly at the eyeball. After he came to this world, this was the first time meeting a being that could sense his white gold aura.


    "The nest will assimilate into the first building or area that it comes into contact with. This tower was also a structure that was assimilated by it." Reylan was explaining to one side.


    Garen nodded, showing that he understood.


    He stepped on the flesh-like surface on the hall, feeling its softness. It was like stepping on a rubber surface. There was even white slime sticking on his leg as he lifted it up, forming white filaments.


    The white gold aura expanded incessantly. Garen, with complete concentration, shrouded the whole area of the tower with his aura.


    Very quickly, he could thoroughly sense the blood flow of the black bull panther¡¯s nest.


    He grinned as he walked towards the wall on the left. He stretched out his hand and pressed it on an oil painting on the wall.


    A deep swamp croc crawled out from behind him. It opened its large jaw and slowly extended its tongue armed with ferocious needles, aiming at where Garen¡¯s palm was.


    Garen stepped aside.


    Chiiii!


    The giant croc¡¯s tongue shot out like a sharp arrow and pierced into the art on the wall. Very quickly, an oval-shaped red piece of flesh was retrieved as it retracted its tongue.


    Its tongue held the piece of meat and slowly put it in Garen¡¯s wide open palms.


    "This should be the resonance stone," Garen said confidently. This was the largest focal point of the blood flow in the eyeball¡¯s nest. It should be what Reylan was saying.


    Reylan looked at Garen with surprise. He couldn¡¯t comprehend how Garen could locate the resonance stone in such a short time. It looked like he had unimaginable methods.


    "Next is to segment it. As the resonance stone is not considered as hard, it is easy to do. Big brother, you can carefully study the control mechanism of the nest. The Obscuro Society¡¯s derivator also imitates this mechanism. Once you understand it, you can quickly resolve the concerns regarding the derivator."


    Consequently, the two of them cut the resonance stone into two pieces, a big one and a small one. The small piece was then replugged into the hole in the wall.


    After Garen¡¯s aura expanded, he thoroughly memorized the blood flow of the nest according to Reylan¡¯s explanations. It was tremendously fruitful.


    As for the frequency of the resonance stone, Garen could feel that this oval piece of meat was indeed like a heart. It was beating lightly, but its frequency was messy and randomized. Even after holding it in his hand for a while, he couldn¡¯t sense any repetition.


    The two of them exited the nest tower. The black bull panther corpses all over the plaza had disappeared completely, leaving not even a trace of blood.


    "Absorbed by the nest." Reylan wasn¡¯t surprised.


    "Let¡¯s rendezvous with the others." Garen shrugged and took huge steps towards the door.


    As they exited the deserted fortress, Angel and the rest were starting a bonfire nearby. They were scattered around the fortress as guards.


    Angel and Vicky were trying to pry open snail shells with a twig. Leila and the remaining person from the hunting party were huddled together. They seemed to be recording something.


    Garen took a glance at the group of people.


    "Leila."


    "Boss!" Leila instantly noticed Garen and Reylan coming out and quickly ran towards them.


    A thought flashed through Garen¡¯s mind.


    Five black beetles crawl out from behind the group. The beetles had full-black bodies and were half the height of a grown man. Their jaws were full with sharp teeth, looking abnormally ferocious.


    "Many totems users have their own way of sleuthing. However, the five black beetles here will be my reward to you to do that. They will fully obey you, but only simple commands can be used to convey your orders. Each of these beetles have power equivalent to a first form totem."


    At his last sentence, Angel who seemed unapproving started to be slightly moved.


    "First form totem? Impossible!" Angel couldn¡¯t help herself. "Without totem light, no matter how strong the beasts are, they wouldn¡¯t be able to stand against totems!"


    "Who said that they do not have totem light?" Garen smiled and pointed at the beetles with his finger.


    At that instant, there was faint black light glowing on the surface of the beetles.


    Psssttt...


    Angel, Vicky and the other two people from the hunting group had chills from the scene before them.


    "Giving five level one totems to an outsider in one go!" Vicky couldn¡¯t believe it. She fixated her gaze on Garen¡¯s face, trying to find a trace of pain in his expression. But regretfully, she failed.


    Garen¡¯s expression was like deadwood, without any change.


    In fact, the truth fit his expression.


    The five beetles were only a tiny part of his army. By giving it away, he no longer had to worry about feeding them, and the deep swamp croc could very quickly breed a few more.


    Moreover giving them away did not mean that they were free from his command. He was already in control of these beetles.


    This was also a good way to recruit a team. With the benefits of totem strengthening, and having creature totems to order around, a team like this had overwhelming advantages. Of course, there was only one solidifying totem currently, but very quickly they would be able to increase the number.


    It was Garen that looked down on the solidifying totems that were too weak.


    This was the first time he encountered a nest. There used to be multiple nest appearances in Iron Tank City, but the Grand Duke penetrated the enemy lines and destroyed all of them, temporarily relieving the city from danger. This stopped Garen from really seeing a nest.


    There was no way Garen would give up on the derivator at the moment. A large majority of his strength came from the derivator. Furthermore, he couldn¡¯t stay in this state of lag for long. Once the elemental generals realized something was wrong, that would spell trouble for them.


    According to Reylan¡¯s description, the elemental generals had at least the ultimate form of elemental totems. They had incredible power, only second to the marshals with precious heirlooms. They were at least on the level of the former Grand Duke, considered to be on the level of fourth form aberration totems.


    Although totems can be classified into animals, plants, and elementals, They were in fact of a unified division.


    Such was the internal levels of the Obscuro Society.


    After Garen obtained this information from Reylan, he used it as a standard to gauge his enemies.


    The Obscuro Society categorizes all the totems under them into six levels.


    First form, Second form, Third form, then Spiritualization, Fourth form, Fifth form.


    Only the strongest two marshals have achieved the fifth form. Their exact strength was an unknown, but definitely not something an average person can match. In fact, this path was the path of the elemental totems and spiritualization was the beginning of elementalization.


    ËùÒÔ·²ÊÇÔªËØͼÌÚ,¶¼ÖÁÉÙÊǵÚÈýÐÍÁé¹â»¯½×¶Î.¸çµÂµÄ¸¸Ç״󹫾ôÒ²ÊÇÕâ¸ö½×¶Î,²¢Ã»ÓдﵽµÚËÄÐͲã´Î,Ö»ÊÇÊÖÖеÄÃر¦ÁúÓ°Ö®ÐĶÔËûÓÐ×ÅÌáÉý.¿Éϧ,ÁúÓ°Ö®ÐÄҲûÁË.ËùÒԲű»ÊýÍ·ÈýÐÍÁé¹â¹ÖÎï±ÆµÃ×îÖÕ×Ô±¬.


    All elemental totems were at least at the third form of spiritualization. Goth¡¯s dad, the Grand Duke, was at this level. He couldn¡¯t progress to the fourth form, but the Heart of the Dragonshadow increased his power level. Pitifully, the Heart of the Dragonshadow was gone, and he was forced to self-destruct by the third form spiritualized creatures.


    In addition, Goth was currently at fourth form, after almost completely elementalizing his core totem, the King of the skies[1]. His precious heirloom also elevated his strength. But the most frightening fact was, this guy was improving every single day.


    Vanderman, the father of his host body, Acacia, was considered a second form, while Aquarius was a third form, but evidently did not reach spiritualization. Angel was a second form, but for the elemental generals, they were at least at the stage of third form spiritualization. All generals had at least a third form totem. The only difference was whether it has undergone spiritualization, and the number of third form totems they controlled.


    The truth was, with Garen¡¯s current strength, he should not be afraid of any single elemental general. His two third form totems, the petrifying white dragon and dual headed salamander, were both incredibly strong. The petrifying white dragon was at third form spiritualization, but it was a pity it could no longer be evolved. Although the dual headed salamander wasn¡¯t spiritualized, it was a relentless war machine.


    According to Reylan¡¯s judgment, spiritualization is obtained naturally through the evolution process. If they had poor innate talent or bad cultivating resources, the evolved totem will not have spiritualization. This is the difference between the quality of evolution.


    Even the same type of totem will have differing strength with different cultivations.


    Initially, Garen planned to follow this path steadily to the end.


    However, with the emergence of the nests, and his increased understanding towards creature totems, Garen had some new thoughts.


    Even though that was the case, he could only thoroughly pursue these thoughts after resolving the control issues of the derivator.

 331 Change 1

    Chapter 331: Change 1


    The wheels on the carriage turned round and round.


    Garen turned sideways to look at the scenery outside the carriage window.


    Up in the blue sky, a few enormous black dots were circling in the air slowly, making chirping noises in the distance.


    The green grassy plains seemed limitless, and the continuous stretches of hills stood up high as a few black sheep the size of little cows lowered their heads and chomped on grass. They occasionally looked up in curiosity at the three carriages that passed by.


    The early morning fresh air blew into the carriage window.


    Garen lowered his head to look at the Resonance Stone in his hand, before playing with it gently.


    The index finger on his left hand lit up suddenly with a black flame, and left a Tactic gesture in the air. His right hand continued to turn the Resonance Stone over in his palm.


    Garen put his left hand down and picked up a pen on the table and dipped it in ink, before jotting all this down in his notebook.


    Once he had finished his notes, he began to turn the Resonance Stone over again.


    "How is it? Are they any results?" Reylan sat up from the opposite seat, which was also the bed area, and asked while yawning softly.


    Garen nodded.


    "Still alright for now. But it¡¯s very difficult. This Detection Tactic that you gave me is quite good, it can be used to increase these kinds of frequencies within specific degrees, as well as detect them. The only downside is that it requires a lot of Silver Energy."


    "Silver Energy is used to sustain Totems, and is also the basis of operating Sustain Tactics. I did not expect that Brother would have such an abundance of Silver Energy to be used for Tactics," Reylan shook her head. "According to our research, this type of Silver Energy is probably determined by the state of mind of the Luminarist. The better their state of mind, the higher their Silver Energy."


    Garen nodded.


    "My body has been healthy all along, and I¡¯ve always been in a positive state of mind. We don¡¯t have to worry about this aspect."


    He picked the pen up again and began to write down a new set of data in his notebook.


    "It¡¯s been two days since we left that fortress nearby Ferrochrome Town. We should almost be reaching Aisley City by now, right?"


    Reylan grabbed the glass of plain water on the table and gulped it down in one mouth, exhaled, and began putting on her coat.


    "Since we sped up we should almost there," she moved to sit next to the window on the other side, and looked outside.


    Cough cough¡­


    The sound of Lala¡¯s coughing echoed from the carriage in front again. She sounded as if she were about to cough out her internal organs.


    "Stop the carriage! Stop the carriage!" A young man alighted from the front of the carriage. He was the totem user from the Hunting Group that had guarded Lala earlier. His had a grim expression on his face as he ran towards Garen¡¯s carriage, waving his hands frantically.


    The three carriages began to slow down to a stop.


    Garen pulled the carriage door open and got off, before walking towards the man.


    "What¡¯s wrong? What happened?"


    "Lala just coughed out blood! We need to think of a way to help her!" The man replied solemnly. "I can¡¯t bear to look at this anymore. She¡¯s just a regular person. She doesn¡¯t deserve this kind of punishment."


    "I¡¯ll go and take a look," said Garen, furrowing his brows.


    He followed the man into the first carriage, and suddenly noticed the shockingly large pool of fresh blood on the floor of the carriage.


    Lala lay on her side on the carriage floor, her face as white as a blank sheet of paper.


    Garen¡¯s expression darkened, and his eyes glanced past the others. Angel shrugged her shoulders immediately, showing that she was powerless.


    Vicky furrowed her eyebrows and said softly: "I¡¯ve seen this type of illness in Sitcher County. It seems to be Miya tuberculosis, and may be contagious."


    At once, a forced expression appeared on the faces of everyone in the carriage.


    "I¡¯ll do it," said Garen indifferently as he stepped forward and carried Lala in his arms. He turned around and walked towards the third carriage.


    Lala¡¯s weight had decreased severely. He estimated that she weighed less than eighty pounds, and was now skinnier than a person should be.


    Garen took the opportunity to look at her face.


    Both of her cheeks were sunken and her eyes were listless. All that was left of her were skin and bones.


    "No medicine, no specialized doctors. I¡¯m sorry, I caused all of this to happen to you," said Garen softly, as he placed her on the seats of the third carriage, against a barrel of beef jerky.


    "This was my own decision," Lala¡¯s voice was very weak now, and most people would have to place their ears right next to her before they were able to vaguely hear what she was saying. "I¡­ wanted to follow you¡­"


    Garen looked at the girl who had taken such good care of him all this while, and felt a sense of uncertainty inside his heart. Without a suitable treatment method, Lala would surely die. Garen himself had unconsciously neglected her during this period of time, which resulted in her deteriorating to this degree.


    He reached his hand outwards and touched Lala¡¯ wrist to feel her pulse, before realising that it was extremely weak, almost non existent by now.


    "Right now, there¡¯s a way to save you, but I can¡¯t assure you that it will be successful, because everything depends on luck. It is only a possibility."


    Lala¡¯s eyes jolted open immediately. "I could still¡­ live?"


    "But you¡¯ll have to give up your freedom in exchange," Garen nodded as he answered her question.


    Frankly, both of them knew deep in their hearts that if it was really tuberculosis, it was only a matter of time before it became a death sentence.


    There was not the slightest bit of hesitation in Lala¡¯s eyes.


    "Please, I¡¯ll leave it up to you then. I¡¯m just a regular person, and to be honest in a world and era like this, I don¡¯t have much freedom to talk about." She was someone who was well-versed in the law, and could see everything clearly. She understood that Garen¡¯s treatment of her could already be considered excellent. If she had any other master, she would have been dead a long time ago.


    Garen was in awe of her rationality and intelligence. The ability to put everything into perspective, and the knowledge on whether to advance or to step back were Lala¡¯s greatest virtues. As for her pretty face, it was only secondary to everything else. In this world, those who were beautiful but shallow could be found anywhere. However, girls as gorgeous and wise as herself were truly rare.


    "You should get ready then," Garen turned to look at the Hunting Group members outside who were looking in their direction.


    "All of you should wait outside first. I¡¯m going to see if I can save Lala."


    Angel rushed towards him and nodded, as a playful smile appeared on her face.


    "Up to you, as long as your ¡®cute¡¯ little sister doesn¡¯t get jealous."


    Garen was too tired for her nonsense. He pulled the carriage door and shut it, before closing the curtains.


    He looked at Lala in her white sleeping gown, and crouched down beside her.


    "Just rest for awhile. When you wake up in a few moments, you¡¯ll feel better."


    Lala nodded slightly.


    "I¡¯m in your hands, Lord Garen."


    "Yes." Garen¡¯s hand shot out as quick as electricity, before quickly hitting the side of Lala¡¯s neck.


    Both of Lala¡¯s eyes closed immediately, as she fell into a state of unconsciousness.


    Garen spared no time in taking out the red crystal ball from his inner shirt pocket, before placing it on the side of Lala¡¯s head gently.


    The red crystal ball suddenly began to emit a soft light. A row of small words began to float upwards near the top.


    ¡®A creature has been found nearby, would you like to empower the creature?¡¯


    "This is an experiment. If it succeeds, you live. But if it fails, you¡¯ll die. We¡¯ll see what your fate holds." Garen glanced at the words in the crystal ball, and stretched his hand out slowly, clicking on the part that said ¡®yes¡¯.


    Abruptly, the crystal ball begin to emit a silver light, as the colour of its entire body began to turn from pink to silver. A ray of silver light shot out of its core and landed straight on the right side of Lala¡¯s temple.


    Shh¡­


    Suddenly, white gas began to form near Lala¡¯s head, appearing to be water vapour.


    Garen looked at the crystal Derivator frantically. This experiment was the key to finding out whether he could successfully empower a human body. After Jessica was first empowered, she went missing without a trace, and there had been no news about her even until now. However, humans could definitely be empowered to a certain degree, because the option to choose humans existed. Deep inside he felt that this was not completely right, but it was worth trying.


    This was its final quota, the tenth item that the Derivator would be able to control. Now it was time to see if it would succeed or not.


    The silver ray shot out for a full ten minutes, before it faded slowly, and finally became dark.


    Garen waited until the silver light had disappeared fully before he kept the crystal ball quickly, and then began to check on Lala¡¯s condition.


    Everything seemed normal. She looked the same as she did before the empowerment process, even her body looked as weak as it was before.


    "Did it fail?" Garen glanced at the crystal ball, and noticed that it clearly stated on top that the empowerment had been a success.


    He looked at the bottom part of his field of vision. If he had succeeded, there would surely be an totem icon here.


    Sure enough, an unknown icon had appeared in the silver totem pane. The icon was a three-dimensional full-body image of Lala.


    ¡®Lala Pearson: First form living totem, upgradable. Probability of successful evolution: 89% (The weaker its body, the higher the success rate). Potential point cost: 300%.


    Abilities: Housework, studying.¡¯


    "She really became a totem." Garen was somewhat shocked. He peered at Lala who was still lying down. The girl was opening her eyes slowly now, and looking at him with a slightly confused expression.


    Garen began to use his Will. "Lala, can you hear me?" He passed his message mentally without having to say a word.


    Lala opened her mouth in shock, but understood immediately, as an alarmed expression appeared on her face.


    "This¡­?!" She looked at Garen and felt as if his emotions could now decide whether she lived or died. However, the original feeling of weakness from the tuberculosis that was once entangled around her was completely gone.


    She felt as if her heartbeats had gotten stronger.


    "Don¡¯t feel doubtful, I¡¯m using my thoughts to communicate with you now. Currently, you¡¯ve become my exclusive creature, in a certain sense. Your life and death is in my hands," Garen explained carefully. "Do you feel something different about yourself now?"


    Lala nodded, but her response was somewhat delayed. She was also just expressing her thoughts internally.


    "My illness seems to be cured¡­"


    "That¡¯s good," Garen nodded in satisfaction. "This experiment counts as a success, so you should try and get used to your body now. It should be much safer for you now than before."


    The greatest benefit of becoming a totem was that it was less likely for them to succumb to harm that was not caused by their own species, such as illnesses, accidents, or disasters.


    Garen pulled the door open and alighted the carriage, before looking at the grim face of Reylan who had been waiting outside. Her wizened, shrivelled face was lightly painted with an unwilling and jealous expression.


    "Brother, it looks like you¡¯ve decided not to listen to my warnings," she said in a very solemn voice. "Do you know what happens when you don¡¯t listen to me?"


    Garen could tell that she was masking a stern threat behind her words. He squinted his eyes.


    "I don¡¯t remember what you said to me?"


    Reylan sneered. She said nothing as she turned away and returned to the carriage.


    Garen watched the figure of her back, as he felt for the first time that it might be a wrong decision for him to let this person stay by his side, even though she had given him an abundance of other-worldly knowledge.


    "Be careful, your sister looks slightly abnormal."


    Angel walked beside Garen and said the words softly. Her voice was hardly audible, but the both of them noticed when Reylan, who was now in front and had walked quite a distance away, turned around suddenly. Her pupils glared directly at Angel.


    Angel huffed coldly, and brought her people towards the first carriage.


    Garen looked at Reylan, unsure of how to solve the problem for now. He waited awhile before getting on to the carriage, before noticing that Reylan had her back facing towards him now, and was currently asleep under her blanket.


    This continued until lunchtime at noon, when Reylan woke up and ate quickly, before going back to sleep again.


    Garen felt that something was strange, but decided to leave this thought at the back of his mind for the time being. Whenever he came across a problem, it was better for him to solve it on his own. With his basic knowledge, as long as he knew the foundation of the situation, he only needed to investigate it deeper, and this was not something that would be too difficult for him.


    Up until night time, they managed to take care of a herd of more than ten white cats. These white cats were almost the size of horses, and had extremely sharp claws, but were not totems. One of the men in black in Angel¡¯s group took care of them on his own, and left the meat to be made into jerky, while the fur would be used to make clothes.


    After dinner, Garen continued to research biological engineering for awhile, before going to sleep as well.


    Suddenly, he felt that something was off. While still in a daze, he began to feel an uncomfortable feeling.


    Garen hazily opened his eyes with all his might. He saw Reylan standing at his side, and looking down at him. Her eyes were glowing red, and she was emitting light in the darkness.


    "Reylan? What¡¯s wrong?" Garen had yet to wake up, and was just looking at Reylan who was standing beside him.


    Reylan did not say a word, but turned around and returned to her own area. She went back to sleep again, completely ignoring Garen¡¯s question.


    Garen rubbed his head and sat up straight, before noticing that something was not right with his cup.


    He grabbed the cup on the table as a little black thing crawled out and attempted to fly out through the carriage window.


    Pop!


    Garen pinched the little black thing in one swift moment. When he opened his hands to look, he saw a little black cockroach-like insect, that was almost the size of his fingernail.

 332 Change 2

    Chapter 332: Change 2


    Suddenly, he heard the quiet creeping sound of insects crawling.


    He lowered his head to look, and noticed that his entire bed was filled with a large number of these insects crawling everywhere. There were so many of them tightly packed together that it was impossible to count.


    Some of the insects were climbing up his arms, some were crawling on his thighs, while others were attempting to crawl up his chest and head.


    The large clusters of insects looked like a pool of black mucus that covered the entire bed. A rotting smell that compelled people to vomit also permeated in the air.


    "Damn it!!" Garen¡¯s totem light flashed across his whole body as all the insects were shaken off. He felt a tingling sensation on his scalp, and got up frantically.


    Immediately, the insects on his seat slid downwards like flowing water, and scuttled into the bottom of the carriage, disappearing quickly.


    Garen picked his cup up to drink some water, but suddenly remembered the little insect that had crawled out of there.


    He looked inside the cup and saw a fat white maggot soaking inside the water. The maggot¡¯s body was covered in layers of folds and was curled at the bottom of the cup. It was as thick as two fingers and was still turning around and wriggling.


    Many white insect eggs were floating on the surface of the water as well.


    Bang!


    Garen threw the cup on the carriage floor. A wave of unprecedented anger burst out of him.


    "Reylan!!!"


    He pointed a finger angrily at Reylan who was still asleep.


    What¡¯s wrong, Brother?" Reylan turned over and looked at Garen calmly.


    Both of them met each other¡¯s eyes, but neither of them was willing to give in to the other.


    Some time passed before Garen calmed his emotions.


    "Are you using your methods to threaten me?" Garen felt that this was the first time he truly understood this girl from the Obscuro Society that he picked up.


    "What methods? I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about, Brother," said Reylan with a strange expression on her face.


    Garen began to feel slightly suspicious that Lala¡¯s illness may have been caused by Reylan. After witnessing the scene with these strange insects tonight, he had now started to suspect this possibility even more.


    "What are you trying to do?!"


    Reylan¡¯s mouth stretched into an ugly smile.


    "Brother, you like beautiful women, don¡¯t you? Unfortunately, my face has disappointed you greatly. Isn¡¯t that right?"


    Her smile disappeared, and she seemed to be reminiscing something.


    "Frankly¡­ I knew earlier on that you weren¡¯t my real brother."


    Garen¡¯s heart stopped for a moment and he paused his speech, as he waited for her next words.


    "I just wanted to continue to bask in the feeling of being cared for by someone else, Brother," Reylan¡¯s eyes grew wider, and her red eyes grew more bloodshot. "Of course, it would have been better if that little servant who was prettier than me actually died. That¡¯s what I thought, so I decided to induce her slightly," she said. "You know as well, that some illnesses only require certain specialized environments, and that¡¯s all that is needed to induce them."


    "So it was you," Garen said calmly.


    "Hehe¡­" Reylan laughed, and stood up suddenly. "Oh Brother looks like we have no choice but to be separated now. However, all this will only be temporary."


    As she smiled, her face began to melt suddenly, as if it was a candle, and the wax-like liquid dripped downwards and turned into countless little black winged insects.


    Immediately, Reylan¡¯s entire body turned into a cluster of black winged insects that flew out of the carriage noisily, and buzzed towards the faraway sky.


    The winged insects formed into a black human figure in the sky and waved at Garen from a distance.


    A sullen expression appeared on Garen¡¯s face as he watched Reylan leave instantly. He had no intention of making any moves right now, as both he and Reylan were individuals that the Obscuro Society wanted to get rid of, and there was no need for him to have any conflict with her now.


    This incident with Lala had severed the mutual affection between them completely.


    As for how Reylan felt, he had no idea about that, and did not plan on finding out.


    "It¡¯s good that she left," Garen huffed coldly as he scattered the Platinum Aura around his body everywhere, using it to check the condition of the three carriages. Once there were no more little insects, he returned it to himself slowly.


    "Just like Jess. Nothing but another extreme madman."


    There was not a sliver of regret in Garen¡¯s heart.


    Even though Reylan could have aided him greatly, a person like herself, who would hurt anyone by his side at any moment for the sake of lust, was definitely unstable. At a time like this where he was unable to grasp the situation, distancing himself was the best option.


    "What happened?" Angel and the others got down from the carriage after they were woken up. They put on their coats as they stood beside the carriage window.


    "Nothing. Reylan left. She fought with me," Garen forced a smile and said softly.


    Angel¡¯s expression had clearly relaxed as well.


    "She left? I¡¯ve always thought that there was something abnormal about your sister. It¡¯s good that she left."


    "You¡¯re being honest for once," Garen smiled bitterly.


    "We should be able to reach Aisley City by tomorrow. You should sleep early and get some rest. The Striped Crystal you¡¯re looking for, and the other crystals, they have them all there," said Angel as she shook her head, and turned to leave the window.


    Garen tried to detect his totem creatures.


    The Dual Headed Salamander was sleeping in a hole that it had dug for itself at the back. The Resonance Hawk was on the left side within a seven hundred meter radius, hunting down an Aberration White Deer. The Petrifying White Dragon was in a different hole, cleaning the scales on its body.


    The Deep Swamp Croc and the Beetles were scattered in different areas, and most of them were already asleep.


    Angel, upon finding out that Reylan had left, did not seem shocked at all. She had noticed the complexities of Reylan from much earlier on.


    Garen did not want to think about it any longer, and decided to lie down once again. But when he closed his eyes, he will still unable to fall asleep for some reason.


    On the second day at noon, they reached the end of the plains in front, and a metal-grey colored hexagon-shaped city finally appeared in sight.


    Aisley City looked like a hexagonal coin that had been embedded in the ground, it was abnormally neat. Each of its six sides had a watchtower built there.


    Garen poked his head out of the window and looked at the city in front of him.


    One of the watchtowers near the road had already collapsed. It looked like a broken pencil from the way that it had snapped in the middle. Half of it had fallen in the middle of the road, blocking the road that the carriage was using to pass through.


    There were broken pieces of carriage tyres on the right side of the road, and some of the blood stains on the ground had begun to oxidize and turn black already. A few red-eyed rats were crawling around in the grass.


    Once Garen¡¯s carriage arrived, the little guys became frightened and ran away in all directions.


    "Aisley City was an industrial city that was rich in mineral resources. It was also one of the two largest headquarters of the southern War Guild. Who knows if they are still any survivors from the guild?" Angel and Garen were sitting in the same carriage, as she chatted to him leisurely while sitting opposite him.


    "Maybe there are or maybe there aren¡¯t, but what does that have to do with us?" Garen joked. "In this kind of environment, other than our living essentials, everything else is unimportant."


    "That¡¯s also true," Angel smiled as well. "Get down first, the road in front is blocked."


    She flung the door open and jumped off.


    Garen followed closely behind.


    Both of them walked towards the watchtower that was blocking the road in front.


    Their surroundings were completely quiet, except for a few rats that crawled below the watchtower quickly, making soft noises as they went.


    Weeds were growing on the surface of ashen roads, and dark green vines had begun creeping around the fallen watchtower. Bright daylight vaguely illuminated the interior of the watchtower.


    The watchtower had a diameter of five to six meters, and had caused a blockade in front of all the carriages that attempted to move forward.


    Garen walked to the side of the watchtower and looked in front, before realizing that the city gates was right there.


    The city gates were opened, and there was a row of ruined little houses on the left, which appeared to be sites where merchant stalls once stood. The air was completely silent, and there was not a hint of rotten blood scent anywhere.


    "So quiet¡­" Angel stood beside Garen and said softly as she furrowed her brows.


    "It¡¯s too quiet," Garen nodded. "To think that there wouldn¡¯t even be one monster to be seen." Garen detected his Beetles and commanded them to look out, but they did not find even one monster. Everything felt strange.


    "Let¡¯s go. We¡¯ll talk a look before we decide," Garen turned around and jumped over the watchtower, landing on the ground on the other side.


    "If you¡¯re looking for the Striped Crystal, I¡¯d suggest that you go to the storehouse at the Governor''s residence right away, because there should be more there," Angel said loudly.


    "We don¡¯t need to do that. The museum one of your members was talking about last time, we¡¯ll go there instead," Garen turned his head upwards and looked at the Resonance Hawk that was circling over his head.


    The large grey hawk was looking downwards at the entire city.


    Garen drew a tactic gesture quickly. Suddenly his senses were dulled, before instantly becoming clear again.


    He was now in the midst of the cold air, looking downwards at the entire Aisley City.


    The interior of this hexagonal city was a mess of multicolored broken stones that had been muddled together. Most of the buildings had collapsed. Some areas were continuous sections of charred wreckage, making it obvious that a fire had occurred there. Other places were unharmed and still in perfect condition, as a protective barrier-like wall had been built around it. It was supported by heavy metal buckets, a sign that it was a man-made stronghold. However, there were still no movements there.


    "What were the special features of the museum?" Garen asked directly.


    "Eight pillars, all black, and a triangular fountain at the door. There were four brass statues in the surroundings, which were all statues of Fedilipa. The roof was rectangular and extremely long, resembling a street," explained Vicky with detailed descriptions, as she stood next to Angel.


    "Very good," Garen locked down their destination quickly. "We¡¯ll go there right away. We¡¯ll enter through the city gates and passed through three straight streets, turn right, cross an arched bridge, turn left again and cross another two streets, before finally reaching the museum."


    "It¡¯s pretty far. All the streets in Aisley City are very long," Vicky said softly.


    "Doesn¡¯t matter. We¡¯ll get our things, divide them amongst ourselves, and leave immediately. If you need anything, list them down and give the list to me," Garen said in a straightforward manner.


    "The list was ready a long time ago. Here!" Vicky passed him a piece of white paper that was filled with materials and supplies.


    Garen took it and glanced at it, before his brows began to furrow slightly.


    "Some of these things are unnecessary, such as these historical books that can only be found on the other side of the city. Kardo fruit jam? This is not the time to be enjoying yourselves. And all these rare metals¡­"


    "We should split up then. In this area, it seems that there aren¡¯t that many monsters anymore," Angel shrugged. She passed him a black stick that was only the size of her palm. "This is a smoke signal used to alert others. If you¡¯re facing trouble, just use this signal, and all of us will come over to assist you."


    Garen took the smoke signal. "Do I need to light it up before using it?"


    "Just rubbing it quickly against a rough surface will do."


    "Alright. However, since there¡¯s nothing wrong here, we should wait until we¡¯re completely sure that there are no monsters before we split up and move."

 333 Secretive 1

    Chapter 333: Secretive 1


    White rays of sunlight fell inside the hexagonal city, and basked most of the wreckage in a layer of white.


    Inside the empty city, on the abandoned streets, a blonde man dressed in a grey robe walked forward slowly. He surveyed his surroundings from left to right occasionally as his feet stepped over littered building debris and rubbish. There were also some mysterious deep pits on the ground that looked like white dots, and could be seen everywhere on the city streets.


    Both sides of the street were filled with ashen shophouses and the occasional multi-levelled hotel building, and there were broken stone sculptures on the roofs of the buildings.


    All of the doors and windows of the buildings were now empty black holes that allowed the cold wind to blow in endlessly.


    The blonde man stepped on the ground with his leather shoes, crushing some of the broken stones and making crunching noises as he walked.


    He walked on the streets alone while his eyes scanned the area from both ends quickly without giving his pupils enough time to focus.


    After walking for a distance, the man passed through two neighbourhoods and walked unto an ashen stone arched bridge.


    The right side of the bridge had been damaged by an unknown object and only left than half of it was left. Below it was a dried out river bed, where an abundance of fine green grass was growing in the black river bottom.


    "To think that I wouldn¡¯t be able to find a single survivor?" The man walked across the arched bridge slowly, as a doubtful expression appeared on his face.


    After he had separated from the others, he decided to go to the museum alone to obtain the item that he was looking for-- the Striped Crystal. Initially, he thought that he would have encountered at least a few monsters, he certainly did not expect that he would not even see one.


    "Garen! En¡­ En¡­ Oh¡­" Suddenly, the sound of Angel yelling and its echoes could be heard in the distance.


    Garen looked towards his left near the further parts of the river, and saw Angel and Vicky walking further away in the direction of the river. Both of them were dressed in bright red leather armor, and resembled sharp, little red dots.


    The yelling noises sounded throughout the empty city endlessly, and formed echoes.


    "Did you find any¡­ ni¡­ ni¡­ ni¡­?" Angel¡¯s voice echoed from a distance.


    Garen raised a hand and shook it from left to right, signalling that he did not.


    Angel soon realised that her loud yells would easily attract monsters, so she shut her mouth and stopped shouting. Instead, she used her hand movements to point in the direction of the furthest part of the river to signal that she was walking over there.


    Garen understood her actions and walked forward to point out his own direction as well.


    Both of them waved at each other before they separated and continued walking forward.


    After crossing the stone bridge, a street shaded by trees lay ahead, and when the cold wind blew, the fallen leaves on the ground would roll past and made soft noises as they brushed against the ground.


    On the side of this street, a row of wilted buttonwood trees were planted there. There were almost no leaves on the trees, as most of them had become dried leaves that littered the ground.


    Garen walked forward calmly at a seemingly slow pace, when in actual fact every step he took covered a great distance, and was actually an average person¡¯s running speed.


    He surveyed the environment of his surroundings and noticed that a majority of the shops on both sides of the street were clothing stores and accessory shops. There were shelves of women¡¯s clothes and jewelry displayed inside, and some of the clothing racks had already collapsed while thick layers of dust had accumulated on top of the expensive fabric.


    In the middle of the road in front, a brass statue was built there. It was a statue of a little boy in a urinating position which was connected to a round pool below. The pool had dried up completely and a pile of wilted buttonwood leaves had accumulated at the bottom of the dried out ashen coloured pool.


    Garen walked to the side of the pool and stretched his hand out to pick up a buttonwood leaf. The wilted leaf resembled a yellow claw that had curled upwards at the edges.


    He pinched it gently and the leaf instantly let out a crunchy noise, before it broke into many paper-like pieces.


    Garen brought his hand up towards his nose and sniffed it, as a dry scent entered his nostrils immediately.


    "What caused so many people in this city to leave this place? There isn¡¯t a single trace of monsters. However, the fallen watchtower outside clearly shows that a war had broken out."


    Still uncertain, he threw away the leaf pieces in his hands, and crossed over the decorative pool.


    After crossing this neighbourhood, up ahead on the right side, a plaza that was filled with wilted leaves appeared before Garen.


    The plaza was oval shaped with three different stone sculptures in the middle that depicted three different single-horned beasts that were posed in a neighing position with a single hoof raised. Their snow-white bodies had began to show thin crack lines.


    On the sides of the plaza, long strips of flower beds had been erected to line the borders, but only black soil remained inside, as the colourful flowers had disappeared a long time ago.


    Garen¡¯s gaze scanned across the plaza before he looked in front and noticed a foggy rectangular building there.


    It looked like a simple white rectangular box. The perimeter of this building was propped up by black stone pillars that were spread out at equal distances from each other, with unknown patterns engraved at the top.


    Garen quickened his footsteps and walked towards this building.


    Once he had reached the front of the building, he saw a triangular fountain at the main door that had dried up a long time ago. The road leading inside had been split in the middle with one end leading towards the right and the other to the left, forming the shape of an eye. On the outer area of the road stood two bronze statues of people. They were both identical statues of a young man raising a book in one hand. Garen felt as if he was leading something along with him, so he turned his head and looked behind as he walked forward and took long strides.


    Garen came from the left side and walked around the fountain before standing in front of the sculpture and stroking the human sculpture gently.


    The temperature was extremely low and the air was as cold as ice. The texture of the ground was also rough, and very hard.


    He looked down at his fingers and noticed that a thin layer of black dust had appeared there.


    He arched his head upwards and looked at the sunlight. Garen suddenly noticed that the sky had started to turn dark. The rays that had warmed his body earlier had now disappeared. Instead, it was substituted by a cold breeze.


    Garen furrowed his brows and took his pocket watch out of his pocket. Inside the brass watch face, the hour hand stood straight at the ¡®1¡¯ position.


    "One-twenty in the afternoon, who would have thought that it would be cold at this hour?" He kept his pocket watch carefully and wrapped his grey robe tighter around his body. He took long strides and walked towards the main door of the museum.


    There was a large metal-framed wooden door outside the museum. The large door was as tall as two people, and the golden keyhole in the middle seemed to be of an expensive grade. Two silver chains hung outside the main door, and were probably used to tie it up.


    Garen lifted the chain and twisted it lightly with his fingers.


    Clang!


    A crisp noise sounded before the chain broke into two.


    Once the chain had been opened, Garen pressed his palm lightly against the keyhole. There was no sound, so he pushed again lightly.


    The entire keyhole was pushed inwards and fell on the ground with a ¡®clang¡¯.


    The main door was pushed open slowly and the doors faced the outside areas in both directions.


    The interior was completely empty and the floor was filled with black dust. The walls were also stained with traces of smoke and most areas had been burnt and melted by fire, causing some of the metal cupboards and burnt coal to stick together, blackened to the point where they were indistinguishable.


    "This is going to be troublesome¡­" Garen knitted his eyebrows together closely.


    He walked forward and looked straight ahead.


    The whole museum could be seen straight ahead. Up in front, the middle section was completely burnt black, and the only undamaged exhibition counters were situated in the back. All of these counters were shaped like spheres, and were protected by a piece of transparent crystal glass. The surrounding floors were covered with scattered pieces of broken glass, causing the place to be in a state of disorder.


    Garen crossed the charred section hurriedly and walked towards the last exhibition counter.


    The sound of his own footsteps could be heard continuously throughout the empty museum, and as the noise echoed throughout the emptiness, it seemed as if another person was following Garen from behind.


    He narrowed his eyes when he suddenly thought of the issue with Reylan last night, and his emotions turned gloomy all of a sudden. The echoes made it seem like there were more footsteps in the distance that were softer than his own, stalking him from behind. They seemed nearby, following him closely from behind.


    Garen turned around suddenly and stopped in his tracks.


    There was nothing behind him, and the sound of the footsteps stopped immediately as well.


    "Was it an illusion?" He tried to silence his footsteps, not allowing himself to make any noise.


    Suddenly, the hair-raising sensation from before finally ceased.


    When he reached the front of the counter, Garen began to examine the exhibits inside one by one.


    Extravagantly priced jewels, some exquisite copperware, ancient metal boxes, and the latest silver pocket watch. All kinds of mysterious exhibits were displayed inside the counters.


    Garen walked passed the expensive but unimportant items right away, as his gaze scanned across the room, before finally noticing that there were lists of the exhibits placed on the wall a fixed distance from each other.


    The lists contained clearly-written records of various treasures and the numbers of the counters where they were kept.


    Garen¡¯s eyes scanned across the lists before finally finding the counter where the Prime Crown was kept: Number 28.


    He walked in front of the undamaged counters and looked at the numbers on top, noticing that were between numbers 270 to 350.


    "28¡­"


    Garen followed the direction of the counters and walked forward towards them.


    He quickly found counter 28 where most parts of it had already melted.


    The crystal glass had been stained black by the smoke. He placed five fingers on the surface of the counter and pushed it lightly, before his fingernail suddenly penetrated it deeply.


    A cracking noise could be heard as a large lump of coal and something else was instantly dug out by Garen.


    The inside of it was empty, and seemed like it had not been burnt completely.


    Garen reached inside and felt around, before grabbing a crown-like object, and pulling it out immediately.


    A pure silver crown was now in his hands. The crown was completely spotless, a pure silver colour, except for the red diamond-shaped crystal embedded in the middle. The crown was simple, but also delicate and neat.


    The jewel was the size of a fingernail, crystal clear, and pure beyond comparison. There was not a single defect or impurity to be seen.


    Garen picked up the crown and examined the red crystal in the middle carefully.


    "The Striped Crystal. It¡¯s main characteristic is that when it faces external oppression, thin stripes will naturally appear inside it."


    Garen¡¯s finger pressed against the red crystal gently.


    Suddenly, thin web-like lines floated upwards like countless stripes, and could be seen clearly.


    "This is it."


    He kept the crown in his clothes pocket immediately.


    After that, he began to refer to the list again, before searching the other counters for the exhibits he might require.


    In many of the burnt counters, the majority of the exhibits inside were unburnt, but the exterior of the counters had melted because of the fire, which made removing them more troublesome. The ones that had truly been burnt to a crisp, were but a few.


    To prevent the exhibits inside from being damaged, Garen¡¯s every move was executed extremely carefully, which proved to be unnecessarily tiring.


    Seconds and minutes ticked away. The sky outside began to darken.


    Garen reached his hand inside one of the burnt counters.


    Bang! Bang!


    Suddenly a loud noise echoed from the outside and the ground began to shake violently. It sounded like the footsteps of a large creature.


    "What was that?"


    Garen kept his hands to himself and placed the black crystal inside his pocket.


    Bang bang! Bang bang bang!!


    The footsteps echoed once again and the ground quaked violently as large amounts of dust began to fall down from the ceiling of the museum.

 334 Secretive 2

    Chapter 334: Secretive 2


    Garen¡¯s expression had changed slightly. In the blink of an eye, he felt twenty of his Parasitic Beetles disappear.


    Suddenly, a whine sounded in his Will, and his connection from the Resonance Hawk was cut off instantly.


    "Fuck! I knew there would be a problem!!" Panic rose in Garen¡¯s heart, as he grabbed his pockets and ran out of the doorway of the museum quickly, exiting the main door. Suddenly, he was frozen in shock in his position.


    In the city on the left side of the museum, an incomparably large fatso carried an unbelievably huge mace as he walked through the interior of the city one step at a time.


    This monster¡¯s body was covered from head to toe in dark green, and it had rough skin that resembled the bark of an old tree. He also had a large protruding belly. His height was apparently much taller than most of the buildings in the surroundings. The mace on his shoulder was completely black, and its size was beyond comparison.


    He strolled through the city one step at a time, as if he was patrolling his own territory.


    Garen swallowed his saliva.


    This monster¡¯s height was already almost fifty meters high! As he walked through the city, the houses and buildings on both sides seemed like his wooden block playthings that would be destroyed easily with one gentle push.


    Around his neck hung a round tooth chain, and two large horns grew out of each of his shoulders, as black as cow¡¯s horns.


    Garen had seen large monster totems, but had never seen a monster this big.


    The Petrifying White Dragon and Dual Headed Salamander were large enough, but compared to the giant monster in front of his eyes, their size difference was equivalent to the difference between an adult and a baby. Without even trying, Garen already knew that he would not be able to defeat him.


    For a troll that was over fifty meters tall, every time his feet stomped against the ground, a five or six meter deep imprint would be left behind.


    Garen executed his commands hurriedly through his Will, and allowed all of his silver totems to escape the place quickly.


    The troll seemed as if it had discovered Garen his presence. His dark green head bent down slightly as it looked over at Garen curiously.


    Suddenly, he raised the mace above his shoulder.


    "Uh¡­ No way¡­"


    Garen began to feel uneasy. He picked up this things as his feet stomped on the ground violently. A few strides later, he had already dashed more than ten meters away.


    Boom!!!


    An ear piercing roar echoed behind him.


    He turned around to look, and saw that the museum had been fully destroyed. A large mace lay on top of the collapsed wreckage, and just like a smashed paper box, it had was no obstruction to the weapon.


    "Woah woah woah!!!" yelled the fatso as he raised his mace and made loud incomprehensible noises. It was unknown if he was laughing or just roaring.


    The noise sounded like thunder, and the quakes that it caused made Garen¡¯s whole body numb.


    He noticed that even the little stones on the ground in front were beginning to jump from the quakes.


    Suddenly, another black shadow covered him.


    Without enough time to think, Garen used all the strength in his body, as he stomped the ground with his feet powerfully.


    Boom!!!


    A large amount of gravel crashed against his body violently, and the impact caused a burning pain throughout his entire body.


    His Totem Light had apparently broken in the blink of an eye!! Right now, he could not even feel a sliver of its existence!


    "Which fucking form of a monster are you?!" Garen could not help himself from cursing. He turned around began to shamefully run away.


    The fatso began to roar loudly again. He held the mace in both of his hands.


    Boom boom boom boom!!!


    He began to swing it around violently. He moved his big feet and chased Garen from behind quickly, with unusually fast speed. One step was enough for him to move thirty to forty meters forward.


    Countless buildings were smashed until dust filled the air, and as they collapsed, bits of stone would fly everywhere, and some of the larger rocks even destroyed a few houses.


    The black mace moved constantly in a quick flurry, and within a few hits, all of the buildings surrounding the fatso were smashed to debris.


    Garen ran away frantically. He was too afraid to turn back as the fatso was incredibly fast, and could reach the distance he hastily ran with just one step. If the fatso was a totem user, he would have easily smashed Garen with one step. His speed-based secret technique was truly frightening.


    He was too afraid to call upon the totems in his hands for assistance because when the monstrous fatso had attempted to hit him earlier, the gravel had broken through the totem light on his body. It was important to note that the totem light of a totem user was much stronger than the totem itself.


    In that moment earlier, if a totem itself had been hit, there was a chance that it would have been destroyed instantly.


    He had painstakingly nurtured and evolved a Form Three silver totem, and if it was destroyed here for nothing, he would not know what to do but cry.


    The fatso chased after Garen quickly, looking as if he was extremely happy.


    "Woah woah woah¡­!! Ansai! Lucan¡­ Mokeya¡­!!" he roared loudly once again.


    Garen ran frantically and suddenly felt his whole body shiver.


    Suddenly, he leapt towards the left, breaking proper posture, as he used all of his strength to evade the mace that came smashing down behind him.


    Bang!!


    A white mansion that once stood upright was instantly smashed to bits. In the garden, a large tree broke off at the middle, and let out a crisp whooshing noise as it fell.


    "Endor language!! Apparently it¡¯s the Endor language!" A layer of haziness began to form in Garen¡¯s mind. Initially, he assumed that he had seen almost everything clearly, but now he had apparently discovered new mysteries and strange things.


    "Nusija! Anboer! Kasiduor!!" Suddenly, he turned around and used his secret technique to gather his voice in one place, before directing it towards the troll¡¯s ear.


    He was also using the Endor language!


    Suddenly, the fatso stopped in his tracks. He lifted the mace back towards his shoulder while his face became expressionless.


    "Ansai¡­ Lucan¡­ Mokeya¡­ (Flesh and blood¡­ Fresh¡­ Want to eat¡­)"


    Garen simultaneously translated all the other sounds into meanings he could understand. He was not extremely fluent in the Endor language, as he had not used it enough.


    Standing in the middle of the street, he arched his head upwards and looked at the troll, afraid that he would suddenly become mad again, which would cause his mace to come crashing down once more. Once his strength took a hit, it mattered not whether he was a totem user or a secret technique possessor, he would get smashed flat all the same.


    This tall building-sized monster had a body that was large enough to cast a huge black shadow that enveloped Garen completely.


    A man and a monster, one large and one small , stood facing each other unnaturally, as if they were engaging in a conversation.


    "Ansai¡­ Lucan¡­ Mokeya¡­!! (Flesh and blood¡­ Fresh¡­ Want to eat!!)" repeated the troll again. It seemed like he was unable to say anything else, except for this one sentence.


    "Ruo¡­ Xifeidela? (You¡­ what type of meat do you want?)" Garen attempted to form a chain of Endor words to ask the troll a question.


    "Ansai¡­ Lucan¡­ Mokeya¡­" The troll continued to say the same sentence, repeating it over and over again. Sticky saliva began to drip from the two fangs at the corner of its mouth, before falling unto the debris below, and drenching a huge area instantly.


    Garen tried other questions but the troll did not respond in the slightest. It seemed to only know this particular sentence and repeated it continuously. Fortunately, it was no longer attacking Garen.


    Garen tried again, but did not get the desired effect. Finally, he gave up on his plan to communicate with the troll. He thought for a moment. Before ordering his next command with his Will.


    Instantly, a swarm of black Parasitic Beetles crawl in from outside the city, looking like a colony of black ants as they moved in the direction of the troll.


    The troll did not move away, but reached downwards with its large hands and grabbed a huge handful of black insects before shoving them into its mouth. It began to chew them loudly. A large amount of sticky white liquid began to drip out of the corner¡¯s of its mouth.


    It ate two handfuls consecutively while Garen¡¯s face remained expressionless, as he watched the troll quietly. All of his Beetles were here, and out of the two hundred of them, the troll had already eaten over thirty in just two handfuls.


    Seconds and minutes ticked by as the troll continued to grab handfuls of beetles before chewing them thoroughly.


    Soon, the last beetle was finally devoured by it.


    "Woah woah woah¡­!!!" The troll patted his protruding tummy as he roared loudly once again. It sounded as loud as lightning, and was much louder than before.


    Garen felt a slight aching sensation in his heart as his whole body became numb, and his blood began to pump furiously. His field of vision became blurry, and soon he was unable to see anything.


    He wanted to release his aura, but was currently being suppressed by a large pressure, and was unable to release it.


    His field of vision became a blurry mess. Suddenly, Garen felt his surroundings light up.


    All noise disappeared instantly.


    He opened his eyes frantically. He was standing in the middle of the street while sunlight outside was shining on the ground, leaving no trace of darkness.


    "Troll? What happened to that troll fatso?" Garen turned his head upwards and scanned his eyes around his surroundings, but was unable to find any trace of the troll.


    He turned towards the road he came from, and saw that the museum had already become a pile of wreckage.


    Traces left behind by the troll were still here, but the fifty over meter in height, almost seventeen storey tall troll itself, had now disappeared completely.


    His surroundings were completely quiet, as if nothing had happened.


    Still in a state of disbelief, Garen jumped on top of a building and surveyed his surroundings. The entire city was pin-drop silent, and there was not a single trace of the troll.


    "Endor again¡­." he said before sighing in relief.


    Looking at himself closely, he could see physical proof that his grey robe had been torn full of holes. His arms, abdomen, and thighs, all of them were full of dark red bruises, all of which were caused by the gravel hitting him.


    Suddenly, his expression was tinged with a sliver of shock.


    On his own right hand, he was unsure when exactly it happened, but a new dark green ring had appeared on his ring finger.


    Garen tried to remove the ring gently, but this little thing seemed as if it was growing from his finger, and was completely impossible to remove.


    The entire ring was smooth and glossy, and had the colour of a dark green jade. The surface of the ring was engraved with a thin line of words in a square.


    Garen tried to recognize the words carefully and soon realised that it was obvious, that those words were written in the Endor language as well.


    "The city troll will only accept the first life that gives it a gift¡­"


    Garen looked upwards. A confused expression flashed in his eyes.


    "City troll? Is it referring to the monster from earlier?"


    He suddenly thought of the recorded legends and myths that he had seen in the previous world. His expression became serious all of a sudden.


    "If it really was the city troll¡­ Then this ring¡­"


    He quickly looked at the attribution pane at the bottom of his field of vision.


    In the bottom of the attribution pane, a little dark green glyph had appeared. This was the first time Garen¡¯s ability had displayed a color other than red.


    The meaning of the glyph was: Troll Grip. (In the ruined city, if one successfully encounters the nomadic city troll without dying, but manages to communicate with it instead, once it is satisfied with the first gift it receives, it will then repay you with another present. According to the myth, the city troll¡¯s gift will increase one¡¯s strength to a great degree.)


    "An increase in strength!" Garen¡¯s eyes lit up when he noticed that there was a huge change in his strength attributes.


    His initial strength was at 2.66, but had now unconsciously increased to 6.66, which meant that it had increased by another 4 whole points!!

 335 Strength 1

    Chapter 335: Strength 1


    He held his palm gently. Garen used his enhanced physical control to detect changes, but did not feel as if his strength had increased.


    Garen looked at his attribution pane again doubtfully, and sure enough, his strength had already reached the 6.66 mark. There were no further changes to the number, and it remained firmly at that point.


    He reached his arm outwards and leaned against a long ashen coloured bench on the roadside, grasping it tightly.


    Suddenly, he felt a hot sensation travelling quickly throughout his right arm from ring finger. His entire right arm began to warm up, as if he was soaking himself in a hot spring.


    Crunch!


    A cracking noise sounded in the air even though he did not lean heavily on the bench, as the wood broke and turned into dust in a blink of an eye, and dispersed in the wind.


    Garen narrowed his eyes in disbelief, as he truly was not using a great amount of strength, He merely pressed the bench innocently for a moment. It felt as if the sturdy wood was completely non existent when he touched it.


    "What great strength!" Slight fear trembled in his heart.


    After hesitating for a moment, he lifted his right arm, straightened it into an offensive position, and swung it forward suddenly.


    Tch!


    A shapeless air fluctuation flew out immediately.


    Crash!


    A bronze statue far away was cut into two halves instantly. The top half of the human statue slid down slowly, and was abnormally smooth.


    After that, a loud crashing noise could be heard.


    No one knew how many things and walls these air fluctuations had passed through to cause such fine layer of white dust to form in the distance. It happened so fast that the number of things it passed through was unknown.


    "Tch tch¡­" Garen himself was feeling an uncontrollable sense of shock.


    He suddenly thought of the troll¡¯s mace, and realised that both of these things possessed almost the same degree of monstrous strength.


    "Such powerful strength, who knows what the effect will be if it¡¯s used against totem light." Remembering the troll¡¯s strength, Garen began to feel slightly hesitant.


    The troll did not consume all of his totem light. Its attacks also brought its own type of unique strength, and was not held off completely by the totem light. In other words, it was a type of power that possessed a similar nature to the totem light.


    He really wanted to call the Deep Swamp Croc over to test out the new strength he had on hand, but before that, a series of footsteps began echoing from the far end of the messy, damaged streets. Leila, the man in the red hat from the Hunting Group ran towards him and arrived here quicky.


    Behind him was Angel, who was holding a girl and lagging behind slightly.


    The three of them were looking towards here from far away, with panicked and alarme expressions clearly displayed on their faces.


    Garen hesitated for a moment and relaxed his right arm downwards temporarily, afraid of the slightest movement. This arm was weird because it could release an unbelievable amount of strength without its reactionary force springing back. The slightest accident could cause him to injure others. He was not ready to use his right hand for the moment.


    He dashed towards the direction of the three other people quickly.


    "What¡¯s the matter?" he asked softly as he looked at the girl Angel carried, who was actually Vicky who was now unconscious. "What happened?"


    Angel furrowed her eyebrows and scanned the surrounding area.


    "I feel like something isn¡¯t right with this city. Earlier, some of the houses in the area collapsed without reason, not to mention that I think I heard a giant monster¡¯s footsteps, and I¡¯m not sure if it¡¯s an illusion or not. Before I knew it, I heard Vicky collapse and faint. She seemed like she was hit by something, as her totem light was penetrated suddenly, and her core totem was heavily damaged!"


    Hearing her say this made Garen suddenly think of his own core totem, the Black Striped White Tiger, and how it was almost wrecked as well. Once the totem light was completely broken, the core totem would also suffer similar damage.


    He could not help but glance at Vicky. This girl was also a form two totem user, but her complexion was completely pale, an obvious sign that she was gravely injured.


    "Has it been five full years already?" he asked.


    "It¡¯s already the sixth year," Angel replied quickly.


    Garen nodded his head.


    "That¡¯s fine. Get this girl a new core totem immediately. If a totem user is protected by their totem light for too long, their immunity becomes extremely weak, and when they¡¯re exposed to air and other external substances for extended periods, I¡¯m afraid she may face more problems later on. I assume she has more than one totem, right?"


    Seeing Angel nod her head made Garen relax.


    "We should leave this place. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s safe here anymore." Garen examined all of the streets around him.


    All the streets were filled with smash marks left by a heavy object, showing that the traces left by the city troll still remained.


    "But we haven¡¯t finished collecting our things? Are we really just going to leave like this?" Leila wavered.


    "Are you things more important than our safety?" Angel glared at him.


    "Uhh¡­ Both are important¡­" Leila shook his head warily.


    "Move!" Angel kicked his buttocks.


    "My limited edition ¡®43 out of print fashion!!" Leila wailed, but was pulled away on his ear by Angel nonetheless, as she dragged him away immediately.


    Garen took the items he had collected and returned to the carriage on the city outskirts with Angel¡¯s trio. Ansa, the black clothed man in the Hunting Group that had stayed back to keep watch, was now crouching beside the carriage, and checking some of the dead rat corpses. He noticed that everyone had returned, and were carrying large and small bags of items. He stood up hurriedly and came forward to help carry some of the stuff.


    Lala, who was inside the carriage earlier, also got down to help arrange the various goods.


    Basic cooking essentials, flour, tissue, a change of clothes, new cups, and cutlery. There were also some tools that Luminarists used for conducting experiments.


    Everything was immediately moved into the third carriage.


    Leila, the bastard had the audacity to command his Black Beetles to drag a brand new, gorgeous, large silver carriage outside.


    "Using form one totem insects to pull a carriage. Haha. Only a brilliant totem user like myself would have the right to enjoy special privileges like this."


    Garen did not say anything. Four members of the Hunting Group in one tiny carriage was truly a tight squeeze. Meanwhile, this large carriage had six wheels and was over six meters long and four meters wide. It was almost the size of a small house. Four of them inside this carriage would definitely be more spacious for them.


    The black clothed man Ansa was very attentive. He found various spare parts for the carriage, and also a lot of nails and a hammer that could be used for repair work.


    Both Angel and Vicky found a myriad of tools used by Luminarists and Forgers, such as an incubator, petri dish, thermometer, conical flask, and a centrifuge, among others.


    "It¡¯s a shame we couldn¡¯t find a unit factory, but the things that we did manage to find aren¡¯t too bad. Unit factories were involved in the deep secrets of the Forgers and Luminarists, hence, even if we didn¡¯t take them with us, they would still be destroyed in the end. It¡¯s very likely that others would be able to uncover the techniques of creature units from there."


    "These are already pretty good," Garen nodded in satisfaction. "With these tools, I can conduct new and deeper research. Thank you very much."


    Angel¡¯s mouth twitched.


    "We don¡¯t need meaningless rewards or gratitude. Some for you, some for Ansa. Ansa¡¯s equipment is specially used for totem repairs. Melting machine, repair instruments and separators, and the precision instruments are all specialized. Meanwhile, yours is mainly used for creature research, so both of you can exchange equipment if needed."


    "I know," smiled Garen. Although Leila had left, the basic equipment that he left behind was sufficient. With these tools, Garen could start from the most basic experiments and quickly progress towards his plans.


    Once everyone had retrieved their own items, it was nearly evening, and the sky had began to darken slightly.


    Everyone returned to their own carriages, and by evening, Aisley City began to look even more gloomy. There was not a shadow of a person to be seen and barely any light. Every inch of the city was dark and empty.


    Standing outside the city, one could definitely feel the endless cold and chills coming from inside.


    Garen reversed the order of the carriages. His own carriage was the first in front, while Lala¡¯s goods carriage was in the middle, and the Hunting Group¡¯s two carriages were the last ones at the end.


    He clapped his hands and lined the four carriages in a row, before they left Aisley City slowly.


    Sitting next to the carriage window, Garen took the map out and began looking at the road carefully.


    The yellowish map depicted a little red dot, and beside the dot a line of words read: Lush Forest district, Vanderman mansion.


    Garen stretched his index finger outwards and placed it on top of the red dot on the map lightly. They would pass through a large forest, a river, and a stretch of mountains. Finally, the would stop at the position on the map with the city symbol.


    "Aisley City is here, so we still need to pass over a stretch of mountains, cross the Naserweiya river, pass through the Red Rat forest, before we can finally enter the Lush Forest district. I¡¯m just unsure about what this place looks like now."


    When he thought of the abnormally huge city troll, an uneasy feeling bubbled up inside him. It felt as if everything had deviated from its initial course. The experimental aberrations and various germs and viruses released by the Obscuro Society had caused various unfathomable changes.


    It seemed like the world had become more mysterious day by day.


    Tch¡­


    His index finger had accidentally torn through the map. The map fell on the table, and Garen unknowingly pierced a hole through the table as well.


    Garen immediately realised what had happened and retracted his right index finger frantically, as a panicked expression appeared on his face.


    He looked at the Troll Grip he wore on his finger, the insignificant dark green ring that was tightly wrapped around his ring finger.


    "Was this also the Obscuro Society¡¯s intended change?" he pondered quietly.


    He turned around and took a leather suitcase from below his seat and opened it to rummage the clean clothes inside, before finally taking out a black leather glove, and wearing it on his right hand.


    After moving his palm and feeling that nothing was amiss, then only did Garen stuff the box back into its place below his seat.


    Right now, he was unable to estimate the true strength of his right arm. He only knew that it felt extremely powerful, because at 2.6 it was already at the pinnacle of human strength, and with just one hand, he was already as powerful as a Deep Swamp Croc. This was something that Garen had tested out once before with his own eyes.


    But now it had increased to 6.66 at one time, and this number meant more than just two or three times of his initial strength. The higher the numbers, the effect of the strength generated would also become more obvious.


    He had investigated and found out that the enhanced strength from the Troll Grip did not mean that he had exceeded the limit of his attributes. Instead, it meant that his other attributes would not be able to increase in the future after some time.


    Daa¡­


    The sound of the carriage wheels could be heard softly, as the carriages began to move slowly.


    The grassy hills outside the window looked as if they were moving backwards slowly. The carriage shook slightly when it rolled over some gravel. Next, the carriage turned in a semi circle motion before speeding up gradually.


    Garen sat up straight and held the Resonance Stone in his left hand again, as he began to feel the frequency carefully again.


    His brain possessed calculation and analytical skills that were far superior to an average person. It was the effect of intelligence levels that had reached 2.5, which also caused him to have an increase in physique-based secret techniques. The progress in which he grasped frequencies wildly exceeded Reylan¡¯s expectations.


    From his initial stage of weakness and inability to sense them, to his current stage of improved clarity, it now felt as if he was holding a beating heart in his hand. Before this, he had wasted a duration of a few days.


    Holding the Resonance Stone gently, Garen continued to bury his head in the process of researching frequencies.


    As long as he could synchronize his own frequency and reach the Resonance Stone¡¯s level, he would be able to restore the Crystal Derivator to its initial stage at the right degree.


    Regardless of the Troll Grip or the nest revenue brought on by the Resonance Stone, the thing that he truly wanted was neither of them. Instead, his goal was to fully grasp the Crystal Derivator.


    To him, the Crystal Derivator, regardless of its current strength or his future plans, still possessed utmost importance for him. He could not lose it!

 336 Strength 2

    Chapter 336: Strength 2


    Two days later¡­


    Sunlight was shining brightly, and the air was warm, as everything was basked in a layer of golden light.


    The rapidly gushing river looked like a glittering golden river. Beside the river, a few Deep Swamp Crocs had bitten a large black water anaconda and had dragged it up the river bed, and were now tearing it to pieces and eating it.


    Garen sat inside the carriage and nodded his head in satisfaction, as the carriage passed the shallow water bed slowly, and travelled forward in the direction of the railway bridge. In front, a thick and densely-packed forest could be seen.


    ******


    One day later


    Under the light drizzle, the entire forest was covered in a layer of rainy mist.


    An elegant, snow white coloured large flying dragon flapped its large wings gently and dived downwards.


    Whoosh!


    A large gust of ashen air landed directly on the backs of two large black bears. There were lots of blue-coloured bone shards growing out of the black bear¡¯s back, and when it crawled on the ground it looked like a stegosaurus.


    When it felt the ashen breath blowing against its back, the Thorny Back Black Bear let out a roar and all of the spikes on its back sprung forward. At once, they petrified themselves into two stone statues.


    As the thorns rained down, a few white imprints soon appeared on the White Dragon¡¯s hard scales.


    The White Dragon dived downwards again, and grabbed both of the Thorny Black Black Bear statues with its claws, with one in each claw, and immediately flew towards the faraway sky.


    An hour later, a troop of carriages passed by the area slowly, and travelled across the road in the forest that headed towards the Kovitan Empire. Three of the carriages were black, while the last one was silver. In the first carriage, the windows and curtains had been opened. Garen looked at the White Dragon flying in the distance with a blank expression on his face, and pulled the curtains closed again.


    *****************


    Kovitan Lush Forest district


    Vanderman mansion


    Vanderman sat on the sofa in the hall on the first floor and chewed on a black pipe that had run out of cut tobacco a long time ago. His eyes were glued to a piece of paper in his hand.


    Opposite him sat his two loyal subordinates, Edney and Maxilan. Both of them were clad in strange black-purple armors that looked sturdy and majestic, except for the dark red crystal lines that were embedded on top. The lines looked like blood vessels and contained red liquid that flowed through it endlessly, which also caused bubbles to float around in the liquid occasionally.


    "What is Aquarius planning to do now? Seems like I forgot to beat her up properly the last time. Lost two form two totem users but still unrepentant¡­" Vanderman¡¯s expression darkened as he tore the piece of white paper up slowly. "Right now, Her Highness the Twelfth Princess is planning to arrive in person immediately, and no matter how much she struggles she won¡¯t be able to pull anymore tricks out of her sleeve anymore. Except¡­"


    "Except what, my Lord?" Edney stroked the small knife in her hand gently. "You just need to wait for Her Highness the Twelfth Princess to arrive, before you ask Master Masuya to lend you his strength, and then you¡¯ll definitely be able to get rid of that disgusting, ugly woman. If two form three totem users go up against her, she can struggle with all her might, but that will still be useless."


    Vanderman lay face up on the sofa.


    "It¡¯s just that this letter arrived in such a timely manner, a sign that Aquarius¡¯ side is well-informed¡­" he said as his face began to contort.


    "That¡¯s true, her messengers are too well-informed," Maxilan nodded as a slightly disturbed expression appeared on his face. "We too only received the news this afternoon."


    "Why should we trouble ourselves with all this? As long as our power is strong enough, we can just get rid of any situations we face immediately!" said Edney, unfazed.


    Vanderman nodded, his complexion had improved slightly.


    "Right now the main war is there, and I¡¯ve heard that they¡¯ve started using Spiritualized totem users. Once this kind of war weapons that can greatly influence the outcome of battle have been released, it clearly shows that it has come to the White Heat degree already. We¡¯re still alright here, so I¡¯d assume that the main force has been sent to other places already."


    "I¡¯m worried that the Obscuro Society has deployed a Spiritualization totem user to Aquarius, which would be troublesome for us. Aquarius can single-handedly control one form three and five form twos. Meanwhile, these Spiritualized totem users are all war weapons, and the pressure they exert upon their enemies through their Spiritualization is too strong, and will also be too strong for us to handle as well!" said Maxilan as he furrowed his brows. He had followed Vanderman for so many years, but this was the first time he had encountered such a difficult situation.


    "What¡¯s done is done, it won¡¯t make any difference even if we spend more time thinking about it," Vanderman waved his hand. "You should go and rest first. My old friend is looking after the mansion, so there won¡¯t be any problems there."


    "Yes, sir."


    Both of them stood up to open the door and leave, while the maid closed the door carefully and left the hall herself, to avoid disturbing Vanderman.


    Vanderman stood up and only then did he notice that his pipe was already out of tobacco, and the fire had extinguished long ago. He mashed his lips together to get the pipe. He walked towards the front of the fireplace unconsciously and looked at the dazzling fire, before noticing the black and white photo that was hanging above the fireplace.


    A sea of green grass, himself sitting on a chair, Acacia standing behind him with a small smile on his face and a joyful expression.


    He looked at the photograph quietly for a good while, before exhaling a deep breath, and reaching his arm outwards to take the box of tobacco under the photo frame.


    ******************


    Lush Forest district


    Inside the secret underground room in the Aquarius mansion


    "Right now most places have been cut from all contact for a long time already, and we won¡¯t be able to support everyone on our own for much longer. We need to make up our minds soon," Aquarius furrowed her brows as she looked at the crystal ball in front of her. The white crystal ball began to give off a dim red light from the inside. It caused the entire secret underground glow to light up dimly.


    "You need to stabilize that area first, this division here is also facing difficulties. The interior of the main section defected a few of its members, and the frontlines of the war have barely made any progress either. Daniela is facing rebounds, but those were the messages from a few months back, we don¡¯t know what the current situation is like over there. The areas here where I require support troops are far too many," said an old man¡¯s voice as it sounded through the crystal ball.


    "I don¡¯t care. Anyway, you still need to make the necessary arrangements here for me quickly, because I cannot bear to stay here any longer!" Aquarius said furiously. "This goddamn, disgusting, rotten to the point where he should be used to feed the dogs Vanderman has nurtured a final form, and last time it almost broke my left arm off! Out of the eighteen other mountainous spots, you could send me to any one of them and I¡¯d be fine with that!"


    "Don¡¯t be anxious, I¡¯m merely a Brigadier General, I don¡¯t know anything about the arrangements made by the higher ups. The Kovitan higher command center is located in the Kovitan capital and Iron Tank City. They¡¯re too lazy to even care about our message reports," said the old voice impatiently.


    "Anyway, just do as you see fit. I¡¯ve already given Vanderman the letter already." Aquarius turned the crystal ball off angrily at once. Regarding these new toys, she had yet to understand them fully yet, but that did not hinder her from using it to increase her power.


    The crystal ball was kept properly, and she walked towards the right side of the secret room, pulled out a secret drawer, and took out a black envelope.


    Aquarius then tore open the envelope , took the letter out, before she began to carefully translate the words one by one using the secret language.


    As the translated contents increased, the expression on her face improved as well.


    "This thing is still happening?" Finally, when she put the letter down, her facial expression had become much better by then. The corners of her mouth were also curling up into a strange smile.


    **************


    "Ooh¡­ Erm¡­ Oh¡­!!!!" Leila pulled Garen¡¯s arm with all his might and used his entire body weight, causing his face to turn red.


    "Could you not let out these constipated noises?" Angel stood at the side with her hand on her forehead. "If you want to test your arm strength just do that, you don¡¯t have to make these disgusting noises as well¡­"


    "Can you feel the blood flowing through my veins? That¡¯s true strength! Oh oh oh~~~ My strength is burning!!" Leila roared as he furiously push Garen¡¯s arm downwards again.


    Garen looked at the other man wordlessly and used his left arm to arm wrestle with Leila. Due to Vicky¡¯s broken totem light, because she was exposed to air, she now had a fever, an obvious sign that her physique was lacking. As they got bored during the journey, everyone decided to squeeze into the biggest carriage to engage in some entertainment for training purposes.


    The current event was arm wrestling, and the unfortunate part was that Garen was single-handedly beating everyone without any competition.


    After Garen had defeated the three women and Ansa, his thin body suddenly gained the interest of Leila. This bastard assumed that this was a good opportunity for himself, so he stepped forward as the last person who would conclude the legend of Garen¡¯s undefeatable account.


    Leila used of his might, and now a leopard¡¯s paw was hidden behind his left shoulder. The paw belonged his totem beast, and suddenly a surge of powerful strength rushed forward.


    "Haha, bet you didn¡¯t expect that I¡¯d still have this final skill!" He was giddily happy, as his leopard totem possessed exceptional concealment, especially his secondary totem the Shadow Leopard, and currently no one had realised that he was cheating.


    Suddenly, he noticed that Garen had been distracted by something that Big Sis was saying.


    "And now!"


    The man and the leopard attacked, and he pushed its paw downwards and pressed hard.


    "Ah!! Your legend!! Will be ended by me!!" "Roar!"


    Bang!!


    The hand and the paw smashed downwards violently, and pressed against Garen¡¯s left hand.


    After that¡­


    There was nothing after that.


    "What did you say just now?" Garen turned around ignorantly and looked at Leila. "I think I heard you saying something about my legend?"


    Leila stared at Garen¡¯s unmoved arm blankly, before turning his head upwards, and looking at his opponent.


    "Nothing¡­ I didn¡¯t say anything¡­"


    "Oh¡­" Garen turned away and continued the discussion on the previous topic with Angel.


    Lala and Vicky who were standing on the sidelines both covered their mouths and laughed secretly. Ansa stood on another side and checked the slots in the carriage, and shook his head wordlessly.


    Frankly, everyone had known about Leila¡¯s cheating, and recognized his signal, but this guy was still the clown of the group, and no one had seen through him yet.


    The carriage travelled forward slowly at a fixed pace. After a fixed interval, everyone would take turns releasing their totems outside to monitor the situation, but there were still no form two monsters to be seen. Everyone felt that this was extremely strange.


    "It¡¯s unbelievably calm," Angel shrugged, and looked at Garen. "Do you have some sort of good method to avoid them?"


    "That¡¯s a secret," smiled Garen mysteriously. "If I tell you it won¡¯t be worth any money anymore. I¡¯m still planning to use this to get something good from the Kovitan capital, you know."


    "Always hiding something. But recently, why have you been wearing a glove on your right hand?"


    Angel looked at the black leather glove on Garen¡¯s right hand. This guy had one ungloved hand, while the other hand was gloved, hmm¡­ It as unsaid that he ended up looking really cool. At a glance, he looked like powerful boxing champion.


    As a totem user, she had always been in awe of physically fit professionals.


    "This is because my right hand got injured, and I didn¡¯t want you guys to see it, so I decided to hide it under a glove," Garen explained calmly. He was looking for an opportunity to test out the true strength of his right hand.


    He placed his Black Striped White Tiger core totem with Ansa, to allow the other man to help him repair it. In Aisley City, due to the totem light on his body breaking completely, his totems either suffered light or serious injuries. The core totem suffered the most, and had almost half of its body destroyed. This made Garen, who had painstakingly searched for the Striped Crystal, extremely furious. He faced a lot of difficulties evolving it, and never expected to encounter this problem as well.


    The difficulty in fixing the core totem, as well as the difficulty in evolving it, drew Garen in the direction of creature totems. According to his plan, these creature totems were the only ones that could help him reach his goal.


    After chatting to the others in the carriage for a while, he got off soon after that.


    At night, it was completely quiet, except for a mooing noise that could vaguely be heard from the distance, that came from an unknown monster.


    On the top of the largest silver carriage stood a silver owl that had a pair of light yellow eyes that were giving off a soft blue light in the darkness. They were like two large light bulbs.


    The owl stood on the roof of the carriage but did not move, as if it was just a sculpture.


    Garen glanced at it before turning around and walking towards the back of the carriage troop, disappearing into the darkness quickly.


    He stretched his right hand gently. This time, he wanted to test out his arm strength with the strongest Dual Headed Salamander, and see the true strength and upgrades that the Troll Grip had given him.

 337 The Return 1

    Chapter 337: The Return 1


    After travelling with the convoy for a few minutes, Garen found a silent, pitch-black forest.


    Standing in the middle of the woodlands, he waited silently for a moment.


    Very quickly, from deep within the forest as black as ink, came the sound of heavy footsteps. The sound came in bursts, carrying a rhythm.


    A giant creature, almost eight meters in height spanning no shorter than ten meters, was squeezing between the trees as it headed here. It was a dual headed salamander. It raised its two heads in mid-air, and continuously protruded its black tongue.


    The dual headed salamander stopped in front of Garen, with a distance of less than 10 meters between them.


    "Let¡¯s begin." Garen signaled his intention.


    The pitch black dual headed salamander let out a soft growl, then suddenly thrusted its head fiercely at Garen.


    Garen took off his gloves, slowly extended his left palm, then placed it on the salamander¡¯s forehead.


    Bang!!


    As his palm met its forehead, a circle of air shock waves blasted out suddenly from the impact.


    Both the man and the salamander were blown several meters back abruptly. Their bodies were left with numerous scratches from severe friction.


    Garen widened his eyes. He had a sense of irresistible delight.


    "Sure enough...Sure enough¡­ hehehe.." He could not help but let out a faint laugh. In the midst of the dark forest, his eyes seemed unprecedentedly bright.


    "That¡¯s right, looking at the time, this is about it. I even came back a little earlier." He looked at the dual-headed salamander who was quickly digging a hole to leave. Its body disappeared in the distance, becoming a blur, as it headed towards the horse carriage.


    ********************


    Hwaaa...


    Waves of sounds could be heard in the broad, dark green forest. Leaves formed layers of waves as they were blown in the strong wind. From time to time, there were some dark green creatures flying out from the forest, while occasionally, a few strange birds came down from the sky to perch in the trees.


    The midday sun was covered by grey clouds, only revealing a circle of golden light near the edges.


    In the distant sky, three giant grey hawks were flapping their wings as they headed towards the depths of the vast forest.


    Each grey hawk had a six to seven meters wingspan. On their backs, sat two men and a woman in grey robes.


    Among the two men, one of them had a strong body. Beneath his grey robe was shimmering silver armor, while at the waist was a heavy broadsword. His most prominent attribute was the black beard on his chin.


    The other man had a pale complexion, and seemingly lacked training. He had a pair of calm eyes, while beneath his grey robe was a tight black gown. The most eye-catching attribute was his pair of eyes, which had exceedingly rare silver-black pupils. His white retina with silver pupils left a cold, strange impression on others.


    The only girl had flaming red leather armor beneath her grey robe, clearly revealing her slender waist. She had a beautiful face with a youthful aura. Her bust was abundant, but not excessive, and her legs were long and slender. It was evident she was showing off her proud assets. At one glance, she was not more than eighteen years of age. The wind ruffled her short, flaming red hair, revealing a dark-gold earing on her right ear.


    "Darian! How long more until we arrive at Lush Forest District?" The girl yelled. She rode her grey hawk parallel to the strong man, and turned to look at both men.


    "I don¡¯t know. I only went there for a vacation many years ago. I know nothing other than that." The strong bearded man stroked his chin. "Ask Beckstone about these, he definitely knows."


    The girl silently gazed at the man on a greyhawk in front of her. The pale-faced man in grey robes bowed his head, as he seemed to be focused on some calculations. Uncertain, silver flames continuously erupted from his fingertips.


    "We still need half a day¡¯s time to reach Trejon¡¯s Territory. Viscount Vanderman hates people breaking his laws. At this time, his territory should have been armed with various air defense mechanisms. As courtesy, we have to land one kilometer away and journey by foot." The black-gowned man seemingly heard the girl¡¯s question and answered without turning his head.


    "Hopefully we can gather sufficient information this time. So happen Barr and Baphje, the two professors from the Royal Alliance will be there. I¡¯ve read their thesis on Silver Glitter, and it was enlightening for the cultivation of Nias¡¯ second evolution. This time we can meet them in person." The black-gowned man said, seemingly speaking to himself.


    "Our trail previously ended at Vanderman¡¯s Manor. Maybe Leanna came to Trejon¡¯s Territory before. As we need Vanderman¡¯s help to search, do not be rude Darian, to avoid leaving a bad impression. It would be troublesome if they refused to help." The red-armored girl reminded in advance.


    "Yes yes¡­" The bearded man lifelessly leaned on the back of his giant hawk. "It¡¯s so boring. Adiss, you no longer chat with me after your Spiritualization. I wonder why¡­" He murmured as he helplessly tugged at the hawk¡¯s feathers.


    "A male riding on another male, what do you want me to say to you?" The hawk looked stupefied.


    "I have goosebumps at the thought of a male riding on me. You better not have wishful thinking, otherwise, there are many things I will do. Of course, if you are Berlina, I would be glad to discuss reproduction with you."


    "Why would you think this way?" The bearded-man loudly refuted, "Am I like that?"


    "Very alike."


    "Okay then.."


    Berlina, who was beside them, instantly let out a shy laugh.


    "Being looked down upon by his own core totem, Darian you can be considered the first in history."


    "If i knew it earlier, I wouldn¡¯t have Spiritualized him.." Garen uttered in dissatisfaction.


    "Look out, there¡¯s a creature in front." The black-gowned man closed his eyes, accurately reporting the numbers. "A second form acid bird and three first form black-billed geese entering attack range in one minute."


    "Let me do it this time!" The red-armored woman was excited. "My flame sparks is the best for group combat."


    *******************


    In the distant jungle, a thick, brown, giant tree lifted its branches to the sky. Its diameter was tens of meters long, sustaining a huge shade of a few kilometers.


    The lush leaves were like a blue blanket, growing furrily on the top of the tree. As the sunlight directly shot through the shade, only a glimmer of the golden rays remained.


    At the bottom of the trunk, in the gaps of the roots, was a tree hole. The tree hole was about the height of three men, its width the length of two.


    Inside the tree hole, there was a spacious brown wooden hall.


    On both sides of the hall were three flower pots, with two flower pots directly above.


    Hizzzz!


    After a light sound, there was activity in six out of the eight pots. In the basin-sized circle, there was a green seed quickly emerging from the soil. After sprouting and emerging, small black flowers blossomed. Black fruits soon formed and dropped into the pot. The fruit then decayed and, once again, became growing and sprouting seeds..


    Within 10 seconds, the pot was saturated with dense, green vines. The vines intertwined and grew upwards, forming a dark-green pillar of plants of about a man¡¯s height.


    There was a total of six flower pots forming six dark green pillars of plant material.


    The vines constantly twisted and entangled.


    On the top of pillar on the utmost left, a wrinkled old face was coming to sight. The face was actually formed by a dense combination of leaves and twigs; it had a nose, eyes and complete facial features.


    "Two have yet to arrive?" The old face spoke with a dry, hoarse voice.


    Different leafy faces emerged on the remaining five pillars.


    "Davis, you are always the first." The second face from the right whispered.


    "You are not too bad yourself, Leena." Davis didn¡¯t utter much.


    The other faces did not say a word but fixated their gaze on the two pots on the top.


    Soon, a red seed emerged from the pot on the left, quickly growing into a red plant pillar.


    A bearded, old face then appeared from the pillar.


    "My apologies for the wait." The bearded man coughed twice. "I¡¯ve already sent Beckstone off. According to the information he obtained and his current position, he should be quickly reaching Kovitan¡¯s Lush forest District.


    "Royal Luminarist Zikhar¡¯s territory? One of my sons has a good relationship with him. Do you need a referral?" One of the elders asked.


    "There is no need." Davis, the one who spoke first, muttered. "Let it be a test for Beckstone. If he can successfully activate his innate talent, we can find out the extent of his talent."


    "This is just the first beginning¡­ Vanderman¡¯s ultimate totem - Green Vine Sphere, is the first key to perfecting Beckstone¡¯s talent. Has the second been selected?" Leena asked.


    "Count Eiskan of Bernarius. I will make the arrangements. His valor will be in display as Beckstone arrives." Davis answered.


    "We have to grasp the opportunity. As Hellgate will be awakening soon, we do not have much time left." Leena nodded


    "Beckstone will become the most perfect, strongest Luminarist in history. There will be no exception!" The bearded old man spoke in a low voice. "Currently he has already entered Spiritualization, but the Obscuro Society has also started making moves."


    He swept his gaze across the hall.


    "Friendship, family, love, despair, anger, sacrifice, glory...once Beckstone understands everything, his talent would develop thoroughly. When that day arrives, it would be the time to face the Obscuro Society head-on.


    ********************


    Garen quietly focused on the vase of fresh flowers before him.


    Red and white little flowers fully covered the branches of a rust-colored tree.


    The white and red flower petals brought a sense of freshness towards the carriage. There was also a faint fragrance from the flowers in the air.


    Piak!


    Garen naturally plucked a pink flower and placed on the side of his plate.


    He was using his right hand.


    Piak!


    It was another flower.


    Lala who was sitting across him twitched her eyes, revealing a trace of frustration in her expression.


    "The bonzai that I chose and pruned with much effort, can¡¯t you let them be for a while more?" She said lightly.


    After recovering from her illness, she wore a dark purple, one-piece short skirt, with a thick black belt at her waist. She wore pitch-black stockings, putting her slender legs on exhibit. She tied her blonde hair to her left side, allowing it to drape over.


    After being empowered, she seemed to have healed completely. Her lips appeared to have a touch of pink, while her skin turned soft and fair, slightly glowing with pink.


    Garen plucked another flower and raised his head to look at her. "Your dress is beautiful." He let out a satisfying smile.


    Lala blushed at his smile.


    "Leila got the clothes for me.." She whispered. "This, or even those that are more, and also many¡­"

 338 The Return 2

    Chapter 338: The Return 2


    "I wonder why that fellow wanted to take so many things so adamantly." Garen lost his cool.


    "How do you feel after being empowered?"


    "It feels great," Lala answered after some thought. "I feel more healthy and energetic. Plus the sickness I¡¯ve had since young has disappeared. I only need six hours of sleep a day to fully recover. It¡¯s as if my body is in its best condition."


    Garen nodded.


    "I will take this incident as a lesson for myself. You should stay by my side in the future."


    "Okay!" Lala relaxed. She had been relying on Garen no matter what, as she didn¡¯t feel at home when she was with anybody else.


    Her parents died when she was young. Her aunt, her only relative she had, died during the battle. Hence, the only person she could only rely on now was Garen. Recently, she was sent to take care of Reylan, but had fallen seriously ill afterwards. This thrust her into a serious existential crisis, she wasn¡¯t a totem user and therefore couldn¡¯t control totems at the front lines during the war. As a commoner, she had to make herself useful for the team, or risk feeling useless and unwanted after a period of time.


    Lala¡¯s biggest wish was to return to Garen¡¯s side, and take care of his livelihood, just as she had always done.


    "Alright, you can leave now," Garen said calmly, as he placed the flower pot on the table.


    "Sir Garen, regarding your personal news, I had not said a single word to Lady Reylan or Angel and the team from the Hunting Group"


    She turned around and left the carriage after finishing her sentence. Garen was both surprised and satisfied.


    The group of carriages stopped as they were having a barbeque just outside. With a small harp in her hands, Ansa played and sang to the music. The tunes and hymns slowly traveled into the carriages.


    Garen listened to the music and he had a strange feeling written all over his face.


    "This music¡­ sounds rather similar to the Green Grass by The River." Garen recalled the drama series that he had watched on Earth. It was as if his memory had traveled through the space time continuum and went back to the drama series where he used to watch with his mother.


    "How nostalgic¡­"


    He closed his eyes and had left all of his thoughts behind opened his eyes.


    He slightly moved his right hand to stand up and walked to one corner of the carriage where all the experimental instruments were placed. The experiment conducted yesterday had yet to be concluded.


    It was shameful behavior for him, who possessed special abilities, to casually waste his time during this period of war.


    It only required one to two days for him to get back to the Trejons¡¯ territory.


    **********


    Vanderman sat quietly and reviewed the three youngsters sitting in front of him.


    The leader was obviously the one in the black robes. He didn¡¯t look very well and was rarely exposed to the sun. His eyes were silver which gave off an emotionless vibe. He seemed to be in his twenties.


    He claimed to be Beckstone, a traveler from a far away place. Due to the sudden events, he had been traveling all over the place to investigate the root cause. Although this reason was rather orthodox, ten out of five totem users would have the same reason. It was a reason that could be used in all situations.


    Another person was a girl in red armor. She was about eighteen or nineteen years old and sat closely to Beckstone. She would occasionally stare at the person beside her; it was obvious that she fancied him to some extent. She looked very beautiful, and one could immediately tell that she was naive, with a mind devoid of schemes and plots.


    The last person was muscular and seemed very interested in Maxilan¡¯s Creature Armor, as he kept closing the distance between him and Maxilan. This youngster obviously was the type who couldn¡¯t cover up his emotions.


    Vanderman maintained a courteous smile the entire time.


    "As a member of the Royal Alliance of Luminarists, I feel a deep regret for the current chaos. However, please forgive my investigation into your every move; we have a powerful enemy lurking in the dark."


    "Viscount¡¯s actions makes absolute sense. I feel very grateful that you have allowed us to rest temporarily during the chaos. Please do not hesitate if you require my assistance." Beckstone, too, maintained a courteous smile. Naturally, he wouldn¡¯t reveal to anyone that he was currently investigating the disappearance of Leanna. It wouldn¡¯t be too late for him to request for assistance after probing for information during his investigation. This was especially true, when the leader of this territory was under suspicion as well.


    "For you to lend us a helping hand, I thank you for your generous support, on behalf of the citizens¡¯ within the Trejons¡¯ territory." Vanderman thanked the trio with the highest regard.


    "You¡¯re welcome." The three of them immediately replied.


    "This is what we do."


    "Then, I shall take my leave as I still have matters to attend to. The servants are available, shall you have any needs." Vanderman stood up. "Also, my territory is currently in the front line of attacks, and I have essentially taken care of all the creatures that would appear from behind. You will arrive at the human defense area if you walk from here, and if you wish to leave during this period, I will send someone to escort you to the other cities."


    "Thank you, Sir Viscount." Beckstone stood up and bowed at him.


    "No problem. Take a good rest. Someone will escort you to your rooms." Vanderman nodded and walked out of the living hall.


    Beckstone looked at Viscount and Maxilan, who followed behind, leaving the living hall. He sat back down as could no longer hear their footsteps.


    "What¡¯s wrong? What¡¯s on your mind?" Berlina came closer from the back and asked gently. Her body fragrance found its way into Beckstone¡¯s nose.


    He frowned.


    "It¡¯s nothing."


    He took out a small delicate box and gently rubbed at the texture of the box.


    "The clue points towards Trejons and stops here. We better investigate this manor thoroughly and we may find something."


    "Leader, I sense something is off," Darian whispered.


    "What¡¯s wrong?"


    "Viscount Vanderman," Darian answered in all seriousness. "I smell something bad from his body."


    "A bad odor?" Beckstone frowned. "Is he a Phantom Light?"


    Darian nodded slightly.


    "There are disagreements within the Royal Alliance of Luminarists so this is to be expected. Perhaps Viscount Vanderman comes from a rather extreme faction." Beckstone thought for a while before he answered.


    "In any case, I have a bad feeling about this." Darian shook his head as he said.


    **********


    Aquarius¡¯s manor.


    "Hehe¡­ two Spiritualised Totem Users? Where do these two powerful characters come from?" Aquarius, who was in a beautiful red dress was holding the report given by her subordinate. She was stunned as she looked at the report regarding the totem users.


    The girl in green looked serious from the start till the end.


    "According to the intel, they¡¯re currently tracking the whereabout of a girl named Leanna. This girl seemed to be rather important to the leader, Beckstone."


    "Leanna¡­" Aquarius¡¯s face was filled with joy. "Luck is truly on my side. Vanderman¡­ Leanna¡­ Leanna? What a joke. What are the current losses of the Green Shade?"


    "It¡¯s still alright and we have confidence in our disguise so there shouldn¡¯t be any problem in investigating more. It feels weird that there are a lot of creatures appearing that didn¡¯t appear onto the intel¡¯s report." The girl in green skirt said.


    "It¡¯s fine. I believe it¡¯s just a mutation from the bacteria and it¡¯s not up to us to meddle in this situation to begin with. When will the elites that we hired from the superior arrive? Vanderman does possess something valuable after all." Aquarius asked.


    "The fastest duration is about two days." The girl in green skirt answered softly.


    "Let¡¯s find a good time to tell the youngster the truth¡­"


    ************


    Beckstone gently took out the message at the black pigeon¡¯s leg and placed a tiny black stick on its leg. He then jerked his hand and released it.


    The pigeon flew out of the window and with a sudden acceleration in speed, the pigeon left a trail of black feathers and disappeared.


    Beckstone squinted his eyes.


    This pigeon arrived in a strange manner and suddenly appeared outside of his bedroom¡¯s window.


    He tucked his head out of the window to look around and did not discover any suspicious trace.


    After closing the window, he opened the message and scanned the words written on it slowly.


    His pupil shrunk as he read the letters and as he finished reading everything, he gently crumbled the message into a pile of white dust with his right hand.


    He stood by the window and was lost in thought for quite some time.


    "Whether if it¡¯s real or not, I will investigate this matter myself¡­" His eyes were filled with resolve.


    ***************


    With a complicated look on Garen¡¯s face, he was looking at the sea of trees in front of him. It had been a long time since he returned.


    He was in the driver¡¯s seat in the carriage with a notebook that he always carried along in his hand. Suddenly, he gently closed the notebook and jumped off the carriage as he frowned.


    The whole carriage team was gradually put to a stop.


    Garen took a few steps forward as four Deep Swarm Crocs went forward slowly in all directions. These ambush type predators were able to leap in a tenth of a second and wouldn¡¯t let go of their prey once they had bitten them. With the combination of their incredible strength and huge bite, they could tear their prey into pieces within a very short time.


    These four Deep Swarm Crocs were the strength that he revealed to the public. He had his remaining strength hidden as the Crystal Derivator¡¯s strength was not meant to be showed off to the public.


    "What¡¯s wrong?" Angel came from behind and asked.


    Garen raised his hand, telling her that there¡¯s nothing to panic about.


    He walked towards a big tree and touched its root. There were droplets of black liquid on it and seemed to be corroding the root as white smokes were coming out from it.


    Garen¡¯s face changed as he had seen this special liquid in the creature¡¯s information from the Obscuro Society. It was a secretion from a creature that was used to mark their territory.


    He squinted his eyes as he stood still on the ground.


    "If it¡¯s that creature, perhaps¡­"


    As he recovered from his thought, he turned around and walked towards the carriages.


    Angel and the others had come down from the carriage for some time. Everyone was looking at him in confusion as all of them had released their totem, preparing for war.


    "What exactly is going on?" Angela asked as she frowned.


    "A ridiculously strong creature had just passed by. We¡¯re lucky we didn¡¯t encounter it as we¡¯re passing through its territory." Garen smiled.


    "It definitely sounds strong if you even considered it to be so¡­ It¡¯s best not to fight it." Angel nodded her head. "How much longer before we arrive your manor?"


    "If we¡¯re quick, we will reach there by tonight," Garen answered with confidence.

 339 Suspicion 1

    Chapter 339: Suspicion 1


    The carriages headed towards the manor at the top of the mountain, traveling along the Black Swan Lake.


    The sky was slightly cloudy and gloomy during the afternoon and it seemed like it was going to rain soon.


    Garen placed his left hand by the window and stared out at the familiar white manor in silence. He could see the faint white buildings around the manor.


    A transparent force field which resembled an egg shell covered the whole manor. The security seemed to be very strict as groups of soldiers could be seen patrolling at all times.


    "This is my home¡­" Garen muttered. This world¡¯s home, he said inside his heart.


    "It¡¯s a beautiful place." Angel, who was sitting opposite of him, complimented, as Lala poured her a cup of coffee. "Are we going to stay here from now on?"


    "There¡¯s no rush for that. I¡¯m afraid other problems have arisen. We should take extreme precaution, as we are currently in the chaotic era. I will enter first to confirm my identity, before bringing you guys in to prevent them from separating us, since our group is quite large."


    Garen started frowning as he thought of something.


    "What¡¯s there to worry about?" Angel casually whistled. "Everyone would welcome us because of our strength, right?"


    Garen shook his head.


    "I¡¯ll go and make the arrangement."


    "Whatever floats your boat. Just send the signal if anything happens." Angel nodded.


    Garen finished his cup of coffee in an instant.


    "Then, I shall take my leave."


    "I¡¯ll wait for your good news."


    Garen got down from the carriage, tidied up his grey robe and looked at the manor.


    "It¡¯s¡­ been awhile since I¡¯ve seen this manor¡­" He sighed softly as he walked towards the manor through the lake.


    As he walked across the wooden bridge of the Black Swan Lake that was strangely devoid of Black Swans. What was left behind were a few mere black feathers, by the pond. Weeds were everywhere, and the water was murky.


    It looked so different, compared to the clear and beautiful Black Swan Lake from his memories.


    Garen shook his head and tightened his black robe.


    Splash!


    A big silver fish jumped out of the water and attacked Garen, who was on the wooden bridge.


    Without even looking at it, Garen flicked his finger at it.


    Bam!


    The big fish was sent back into the water. Traces of blood floated onto the surface.


    Garen increased his pace, and crossed the wooden bridge, and as he walked along the small route between the forest by the hill, he realized that the fence on both sides were ragged. Grey tombs were strewn across his left, all of them looked very recent.


    As he finished glancing at it, he continued moving forward with a pair of red eyes filled with resolve.


    As he arrived the entrance of the manor, he could see a woman in red armor having a conversation with the guards from afar.


    As the opponent had yet to notice his presence, he jumped to the side and hid behind a big tree.


    Soon, people started to gather by the manor as if a team was about to depart.


    "Quick! Where¡¯s Charles? Did he slack off again? It''s supposed to be his shift! Call him out this instance!"


    Loud voices could be heard from outside.


    A faint voice could be heard from afar as well.


    "...Confirm the identity of those people by the lake¡­ They better¡­" "Garlock! Where¡¯s Sir Maxilan? Is there any new command?"


    Looks like they had discovered the location of the carriage team.


    Garen was relieved that the people from the manor were preparing to confirm the identity of the carriage once they noticed their presence. In this kind of situation, they need to confirm whether they were friendly or hostile since they were in such close proximity.


    After some thought, Garen turned into a grey figure as he rushed out.


    While he was on his way back to the carriage team, he knew that Beckstone and the team had most likely arrived at the manor, as he saw the girl in red armor. There was a beautiful girl in red armor among them, from his memory.


    Since they have arrived earlier than they were supposed to, the best route to enter the manor was to enter together with the team.


    Garen understood very well that Beckstone was the future star of the Terraflor Society, who aimed to be as strong as the Hellgate to fight against the Obscuro Society. Unfortunately, they had underestimated the Hellgate and overestimated Beckstone. They thought that they could reach the pinnacle this world in terms of strength, but they didn¡¯t know that there were always stronger opponents, out in this vast world.


    Beckstone couldn¡¯t possibly face every powerful character that appeared during the Chaotic Era.


    The three heroes had the support of two Overlords and three Emperors, which was the reason why they could even last for so long. The ambitions, the resolve to change and the crazy ideals towards the Obscuro Society of the emperors were pushing the future towards an unknown direction.


    "Good timing. I would like to witness the potential of the future pillars of the Terraflor Society." Garen smirked as he sped up.


    **************


    Half an hour later¡­


    Angel led the carriages into the manor slowly.


    All the carriage curtains were wound up, and everyone was relieved, yet tired, as they arrived at a place among human beings. They no longer needed to worry about a sudden ambush from an unknown creature, which brought everyone mental reprieve.


    When Vanderman found out that his son had returned safely, he rushed out of his experiment room as fast as he could and welcomed the carriages personally. Maxilan and Edney were guarding him tightly by his side.


    Although his expression didn¡¯t change at all as he looked at the silver carriages approaching, his shivering lips exposed his uneasy emotion. He held his hands tightly as his nails sunk into his palms. No matter how hard he tried to control himself, anxiousness and fear lingered in his brown eyes.


    Vanderman lost his cool, as he saw his son, Acacia sitting beside the woman leading the carriages.


    He took a few steps forward.


    "Cia." He tried his best to prevent his voice from shivering.


    Garen got down of the carriages and looked at his old man who was resisting himself with a complicated emotion. He felt distant and unease as he looked at his emotional expression.


    "Father¡­ I have returned¡­" He said softly.


    He was then gently hugged by the Viscount.


    "As long as you¡¯re safe." Viscount whispered. He immediately let go of him after a gently hug and examined his son to see if he was hurt or healthy.


    Edney followed up and said happily: " Cia, Viscount hasn¡¯t been sleeping well since your disappearance. We have spent a lot of manpower to track you down and lost a lot of them since the chaos. But these things aren¡¯t important anymore...you have returned! The most important thing is that you¡¯ve returned safely."


    "The most important thing is that you¡¯re safe." Maxilan nodded from one side. He was looking at Acacia in front of him, who turned from an immature youngster into a mature adult, with a golden beard under his chin.


    Garen gave Maxilan and Edney each a hug. These people would stand by his side and support him no matter what happened. Garen couldn¡¯t help himself but to feel safe around them.


    "This is Angel. Her team, the Hunting Group, saved me when I was in the Iron Tank City. I hired them to send me back here." Garen introduced.


    He then introduced the remaining Hunting Group members to Viscount and Maxilan.


    Beckstone¡¯s team, and two of the totem users, Barr and Baphje, who were guarding the manor came out to see the commotion. Both parties were happy for the Viscount. Whether they liked it or not, the return of a family member would always be a happy scenario.


    Beckstone recalled his farewell with his teacher when he left his village.


    Barr and Baphje, too, recalled the days they left their hometown. They had been friends with Vanderman for a long time, and were invited here to protect the manor.


    After the greetings, Garen was surprised that Angel was behaving properly, and every action was well mannered.


    This good-looking girl in red shirt conversed with Vanderman with respect, and explained the fake story, which Garen had discussed with her beforehand, to Vanderman.


    As Garen was looking at the people in the area, he could immediately recognize Backstone. This guy¡¯s characteristics were obvious; he always put on an emotionless expression on his face, and had a unique silver colored pupils.


    There were a lot of unfamiliar faces in the manor, they seemed to be Vanderman¡¯s underlings. There were less familiar faces too, such as the housekeeper Duqian.


    He had a better understanding of the situation in manor after enquiring of Maxilan.


    The Vanderman Manor was currently safe, as it was being protected by two major powerhouses. One of them were Vanderman¡¯s two trusty subordinates, along with at least ten form two totem users, supported by the Royal Alliance due to the relationship between them and Vanderman. The other powerhouse were the Royal Luminarists, Barr and Baphje. The both of them not only had strong knowledge in battles and tactics, they were also very knowledgeable in servicing, maintaining and executing Tactical Formations. Both of them had a few students who followed them everywhere, and were either form one totem users or form two totem users.


    Although Maxilan didn¡¯t reveal which form of totem user Vanderman was, Garen know that his father Vanderman had an ultimate weapon. On the surface, he was just a mere form one totem user, but he definitely had a strength that could possibly match a form three totem user. He was currently the strongest man in the manor.


    Soon, he placed all of his attention on Beckstone and his team.


    This young man in the black robe always had a smile on his face, but it gave off a sense of coldness. It¡¯s as if he looked down on everyone from a pedestal.


    He did have the power to feel arrogant. He was very talented, had an ancient inheritance, a mysterious teacher and the strength of a form three spiritualizations. These were the foundations of his arrogant behaviour.


    As he noticed Garen¡¯s gaze, he smiled at him politely and showed no interest in interacting with hi. He gave off a cold and distant vibe.


    Perhaps, deep down, a form one totem user wasn¡¯t worth his attention, as he was just small fry.


    "They¡¯re the Beckstone team, and they arrived here two days ago. I heard that they came from very far away, and were trying to find a place to stay where there would be people around so they could avoid the creatures." Maxilan stood beside Garen as he explained.


    They walked towards the main building, where a faint fragrance of meat came out from the main hall as two servants opened the door to welcome everyone.


    "Beckstone? He looks very strong." Garen nodded his head.

 340 Suspicion 2

    Chapter 340: Suspicion 2


    "They¡¯re very strong. According to Master Barr, there are at least two among them who are stronger than him!" Maxilan said emotionally. "To have such a powerful strength at such a young age. I wonder what kind of teacher is able to nurture such a talented man." He looked at Garen as he thought. "You must have suffered outside, right? I guess you can take that as training. Looks like you have become a totem user as well, right?"


    Garen nodded.


    "My totem is still under repair as it was broken by the creatures a few days ago. I didn¡¯t expect you to notice it, since my totem light has weakened drastically."


    "It¡¯s a good thing, since you can share some load of your father¡¯s load." Maxilan patted on Garen¡¯s shoulder.


    "Yeah." Garen nodded his head as he looked at Beckstone once again.


    After a festive dinner, Viscount gifted Angel and her team a myriad of gifts, even the resources that they needed were provided to them. He had even written them a letter of recommendation to allow them to enrol in the Kovitan¡¯s Royal Totem Academy. It was the most technologically advanced academy in the East Continent.


    Future development would be endless if they could learn under some powerful Luminarist, and this made Angel and her team ecstatic. However, they immediately felt a twinge of guilt for Garen, as they teamed up to trick Vanderman after all. In addition, to be called Garen¡¯s savior? It should be the other way round.


    Garen didn¡¯t mind it in the very least. He didn¡¯t give much thought about how Angel and her team felt towards this situation, thought what he cared about were two main things. The first one was whether Beckstone had found out the truth, and the second was whether the incredibly strong creature outside would come in this direction.


    Both of which could bring problems, no matter what.


    In the two days that they stayed in the manor, Garen could feel that Beckstone and his team were investigating in the shadows, and this made him very cautious.


    The Deep Swarm Croc totem that he had left outside of the manor was starting to feel more and more threatened, as the giant creature crept closer and closer.


    ***************


    Inside the guest building.


    Garen tucked his legs in as he sat on the red wooden chair, smiling at Angel who was sitting opposite of him.


    In these two days, Angel had been well fed, even obtained a few good items from Viscount Vanderman. She suddenly felt ashamed, and shied away from Garen¡¯s gaze whenever she noticed Garen¡¯s attention.


    "Why are you looking at me?! If you have something to say then spit it out!" She couldn¡¯t resist anymore, and started shouting.


    The morning sunlight came in through the window and landed on the floor between the duo, and a faint red light bounced around the room. Dust would occasionally float into the pillar of light, which resembled little worms dancing within.


    Garen placed his hands together and said. "Have you been living well for these past two days?"


    "I get to eat, drink and obtain free things! I would be lying if I said I¡¯m not living well!" Angel started to show her true nature. "Do you want the things I have taken? Impossible! I don¡¯t have any money, and the only thing I can compensate you with is my body!" She opened her hands wide and closed her eyes. "Whether you want it or not, I¡¯m right here!"


    "Alright, stop joking around." Garen shook his head and put his serious face on. "I wanted to talk to you about something serious.


    Angel stopped joking around. "Something serious? Aren¡¯t we very safe now? How is there another serious issue?"


    Garen shook his head. "Do you remember traces of a black substance before we arrived here?¡¯


    "Do you mean to say that¡­ that creature is coming here?" Angel¡¯s eyes widened. "Impossible¡­ Such a coincidence? We have just arrived at a safe zone and something is about to happen?"


    It¡¯s troublesome because it¡¯s not a coincidence." Garen said calmly.


    "You mean to say¡­ someone is controlling it?" Angel inhaled.


    "Keep an eye on Beckstone and his team. I need to go out and examine the surroundings myself." Garen said.


    "Can¡¯t you use Sight Sharing? It would be easier to find if you told your father and his subordinates, right?" Angel couldn¡¯t understand his train of thoughts.


    "I have my own arrangements." Garen held his calm tone. "Just prepare yourself mentally. Our stable life would be over before you know it."


    As angel looked at his serious, grim face, and couldn¡¯t help but turn serious about it as well.


    "Whatever. I have managed to survive all the attacks along the way here. This is nothing."


    Garen nodded. He stood up and in doing so agitated a lot of dust, which rose into the pillar of light, and he walked passed through it with his grey robe. In a blink of an eye, he walked out of the room, and only his footsteps could be heard as he walked further away.


    Angel shook her head as he started to feel that she could never understand him. He had gotten more and more mysterious as trouble escalated.


    ************


    Inside Vanderman¡¯s study room.


    Garen and Vanderman were sitting opposite each other.


    The maidservant quietly backed out of the room and closed the door behind her, after pouring a cup of red tea for each of the housemasters, leaving both of them alone.


    The steam of the red tea rose slowly into the air, dispersing and finally disappearing as the cups were placed on the table between son and father.


    A faint fragrance were mixed within the air.


    "Your favourite sugar cube has been added into it." Vanderman pointed at the red tea. "Have a drink. The taste made from home can¡¯t be compared to the ones you drink outside." Vanderman revealed his rare gentle smile.


    Garen picked up the cup and had a few sips.


    "I have become a totem user." He whispered.


    "I know, The Black-Striped White Tiger." Vanderman wasn¡¯t surprised. "I¡¯m not surprised that you¡¯ve chosen the path of the totem. With your talent, you had almost no chance of evolving at all, so it¡¯s the best that you choose to become the strongest among the form one totem user. It¡¯s given by the totem user who had saved you last time right? It ain¡¯t bad."


    Garen didn¡¯t say a word. He had deactivated all of his totem lights except for the Core Totem and Butterfly Totem¡¯s Totem Light. This was to prevent from his father from discovering them, so that his future plans would not be affected.


    "Why did you not let me become a totem user in the past? If I couldn¡¯t become a Luminarist, at least I can control a portion of my fate when I¡¯m a totem user, right?" Garen had wanted to ask this question for a long time.


    "Why? I don¡¯t know how you became a totem user. With your skills back then, you must have put in a tremendous amount of effort." Vanderman shrugged his shoulder. "I have originally planned out another path for you. However that doesn¡¯t matter anymore now that you have become a totem user."


    "Another path? Is it the same as Maxilan and the others?" Garen recalled the armor that Maxilan wore.


    "Yes. It was a new technology that I had developed. I can weaken the totem light so that the requirement to use it is reduced as well, thus allowing a commoner to use it during battles." Vanderman said proudly.


    "I have spent a lot of effort in this, and I finally I have solid results. I have been preparing my strongest work just for you; it was specifically tailored to your body¡¯s characteristics. If not for your sudden leave and disappearance, I would have tailored one for you already!"


    Garen didn¡¯t say another word, as he didn¡¯t think that this would have happened at all. Based on the original history, this item was destroyed before it could see the light of day, and this was the reason why it had no opportunity to be known to the world.


    "You can go to the treasury and get any resources you need for your totem. You can take a rest, as we have a few guests coming." Vanderman patted onto Garen¡¯s shoulder.


    Garen stood up, bowed with respect and opened the door.


    Master Baphje and Beckstone were already standing outside of the door. Master Baphje had a goatee and a bald shiny head.


    "Master Baphje and Sir Beckstone." Garen lowered his head as he greeted them. Currently, his position was the lowest as Baphje and and Beckstone were on equal footing with his father in terms of strength. Regardless of his age, he was a form one totem user; nothing worth noting in the eyes of the two.


    "Oh it¡¯s you Cia. I brought Master Stone along. We have some things to discuss with your father." Baphje smiled as he said so.


    "Master Stone?" Garen noticed how Baphje addressed Beckstone, suggesting that Baphje respected Beckstone a lot.


    Beckstone greeted him with a nod and ignored him afterwards. The door was soon shut as both of them entered the room.


    The reason Beckstone came over today was to find out more about Leanna¡¯s details. Coincidentally, he witnessed the return of the Viscount¡¯s son, his impression towards him was typical and vague. If Garen weren¡¯t the Viscount¡¯s son, he would not even bother taking notice of a form one totem user.


    He believed that the relationship between father and son was rather good.


    However, the most important thing to him was to take note of the Viscount¡¯s reaction. He started to predict the scenarios that could possibly play out, and came up with the best course of action.


    Garen stood outside of the door and tried to eavesdrop but he couldn¡¯t hear a thing. He then realized that there was a Tactical Formation set up here to isolate sound, so he left the place immediately. With Baphje around, Beckstone was most likely suspicious of it and hadn¡¯t confirmed the truth yet.


    "Good day Master Cia."


    "Master Cia."


    "Do you want to go for a drink, Master!"


    As he walked, the totem users Vanderman hired treated Garen as the same rank.


    His position was overlooked in this precarious front line.


    As Garen had no plans on making any arrangements, he greeted these totem users with a smile as he left the building. He was fairly similar to how Beckstone treated everyone else.


    A few beautiful female totem users were attracted by his handsome figure. Sexual relationships were not looked down upon during such a chaotic period. As long as both of them were attracted to each other, they could get a room and have a one night stand. Perhaps they would still remain as strangers after having a go at each other.


    However, Garen had yet gotten used to such a casual lifestyle.


    After circling the manor once, he realized that Beckstone¡¯s team members had gotten suspicious of Vanderman. Berlina, the girl in red armor, and Darian, the muscular guy, were asking for information all over the place clumsily.


    Garen couldn¡¯t look any further at such a clumsy way of collecting intel, and was sure that his father Vanderman had already realized it. It was just that he had yet to expose them.


    Together with Leila, Garen gave an excuse to go to the Black Swan Lake. As he was a form one totem user and a Black-Striped White Tiger Totem user, which was much stronger than the typical form one user, Vanderman¡¯s restriction towards him were very little. Furthermore, there were experimental beings that had yet revealed to the public patrolling the area so it was very safe.


    Both of them got out of the manor with ease, and were on their way to the Black Swan Lake. Strangely, the weird fish in the lake stopped attacking Garen. It was very obvious that they were related to Vanderman¡¯s experiment.


    Leila didn¡¯t ask Garen of his true intentions and was surprise that Garen was walking leisurely around the manor.

 341 Anticipation 1

    Chapter 341: Anticipation 1


    Inside the manor.


    Beckstone and his partner, Darian, were cautiously avoiding the guards and soldiers as they walked towards the most deserted part of the manor.


    He looked left and right, and occasionally at his watch as he waited patiently.


    Soon, a figure with a cold face appeared. It was Beckstone, and he looked like he was in a very bad mood.


    "Have you gotten your answers?" Darian whispered.


    "It¡¯s been confirmed. The last thing we need to do is find his experiment lab. Those experimental beings outside wouldn¡¯t appear for no reason. He must have hidden building with a core experiment apparatus inside." Beckstone said coldly.


    "What are we waiting for? Let¡¯s go find that place!" Darian rubbed his hands as he was getting excited.


    "No need to rush. That old man had started to suspect me. He must have known what we are investigating when you two were collecting intel for this past two days. We must proceed with caution."


    Beckstone¡¯s tone was very calm.


    He took out a small blue crystal from his pocket. It had a diamond shape and it looked crystal clear.


    "When we came out, teacher had given me a total of three Time Mists, and now it¡¯s the right time to use one of them. We can use two abilities from each of these, which are Confusion and Bail Out. Naturally, we can use them at a different time."


    As he was speaking, the crystal gently floated and rotated silently in the air.


    Beckstone swung his hand upward, and gently pushed the crystal upwards. It came to a stop at the right side of his body.


    "Alright, we should move. Our immediate area has been mistified, and all probing tactics should be rendered useless. However, we only have 30 minutes."


    "You sure have a lot of good items on your hand! Why don¡¯t I have any of them?" Darian felt in envy.


    "You need to maintain a certain amount of calculations before using this; its difficulty is on par with solving an advanced physics questions within a time of ten seconds. I still have some of them if you need it." Beckstone replied coldly.


    Darian was silent, calculation was not his forte.


    Beckstone looked around before bending down and gently pulling up a metal plate that lead to an underground passage. The metal plate was camouflaged as part of a green field, and had a thick layer of dirt caked on top of it. One would never be able to realise that it was an underground entrance.


    Beckstone looked down at the entrance. His eyes were glowed silver. However, the light slowly dimmed and calmed.


    "Let¡¯s go."


    He immediately jumped into the entrance like how someone would jump into a pond, and disappeared into the darkness.


    Without any hesitation, Darian slowly placed his lower body into the hole and the metal plate back to its original position, before he fully entering the underground passage.


    Both of them were inside the dark tunnel; their only light source the blue crystal on Beckstone¡¯s body. However, its intensity could only illuminate a small area, relative to his surrounding.


    The ground was moist, a faint rotten odor was always present.


    "How long has this placed been sealed off? It¡¯s so smelly!" Darian complained covering his nose.


    "It¡¯s not that it isn¡¯t ventilated, the odor wouldn¡¯t disappear even if there was air coming through." Beckstone said calmly.


    "Disgusting. It¡¯s worse than the time we had to pass through that creature¡¯s stomach!" Darian complained.


    Two of them moved forward with haste.


    Few minutes passed, and Beckstone suddenly felt something was off.


    "Something¡¯s not right!" He immediately stopped moving. "We¡¯ve been walking for so long, how could there be no movement from the other side?"


    A silver light flashed from his right eye and his vision was covered with layers of silver light.


    "It¡¯s a Tactic Maze!" His face suddenly sank. "They had prepared in advance! They even set up such a troublesome Tactic Maze."


    "Who cares what maze it is! Let¡¯s just break through it!" Darian started to become impatient.


    "He patted his body and a big black creature emerged from his side. It was a humanoid creature with an eagle¡¯s head. Its head and its body were covered with thick, solid feathers, its eyes were gold, and a black rings surrounded its pupils. It had huge, black wings as its hands and goat¡¯s hooves for legs. It¡¯s total height was about 2.5 meters, and was about a head taller than Darian.


    "Move forward Night Owl! Pierce through everything!" Darian pointed with his finger.


    The eagle head creature screamed spread open its wings.


    Kachak!


    Within a screeching sound, two white lights shot forward and landed onto the wall in front of them.


    Boom!!


    Two huge holes were formed in the wall. Stones were sent flying everywhere, some had landed on them but were deflected by their totem light.


    In a blink of an eye, the holes recovered back to their original shapes. It was like an animal regenerating a leg after having it severed. Strangely, the stones went through the ground and disappeared.


    "It¡¯s useless." Beckstone said calmly. "A Tactic Maze is made out of highly regenerative materials and has the effect of returning attacks. We can only get out of the Maze by following its rules. What you did just now was equal to a person fighting against the whole of the maze¡¯s resources. If its source is geothermal energy, you¡¯ll never solve it, even if you wasted all your strength."


    "Then what should we do? You didn¡¯t plan on breaking it through with strength?" Darian was displeased.


    If we can find the four main nodes of the maze and destroy them, we can get out." Beckstone¡¯s silver eyes moved. "Let¡¯s spread out and find the nodes."


    ***********


    Inside the underground secret room.


    DuQian was standing quietly in front of a giant black crystal. She had been modified by Vanderman, and was no longer a human being.


    Her upper body was still resembled a human, with her fair skin and beautiful face as she was wearing personal armor filled with green blood vessels. However, her lower body had been modified into a giant dark green root, which was directly inserted into a square pool. Her lower body was filled with hundreds of roots, and it kept absorbing the green liquid from the pool, as if a huge tree were absorbing nature¡¯s nutrients.


    As the housekeeper of the Vanderman household, DuQian was also Vanderman¡¯s lover. She had been by Vanderman¡¯s side since young, and their relationship was that of a husband and wife, father and daughter.


    In order to her lover¡¯s plan, she was willing to sacrifice herself and be modified into such a state.


    "Someone dares to go through the maze?" He looked up at the map shown on the crystal.


    It was shown clearly that there were two red dots moving deeper into the maze from the entrance.


    The whole maze was like a giant web, where the edge of the right was the entrance, and the exit was at the other end.


    Both of them were moving towards the exit of the maze. All the guards that they had encountered during the journey were easily killed off by them.


    DuQian pressed onto the symbol on the master control on her right but nothing happened.


    She felt something was off. "Is this¡­ Mist Blockade? I can¡¯t believe they have such an advanced skill! Looks like they have planned beforehand."


    She pondered for a while.


    "Since I can¡¯t send out the signal, I will come after you guys myself."


    She placed her fingers onto the master control once again.


    Immediately, the black crystals showed four different screens, each of them had a strange head sculpture within.


    They were the clown, blind giant, two-headed wild boar and a beautiful woman with gold hair and red eyes.


    "Someone has invaded the maze. Which one of you will go and deal with them? The enemy came prepared." DuQian said coldly.


    "Uh huh!!" The two headed wild boar was the first one to voice out. Its voice was rhythmic and it was obvious what it was trying to say something.


    Strangely enough, DuQian understood what it was trying to say.


    "Alright. You¡¯ll handle them alone Ralph. Don¡¯t let them pass through your territory."


    The wild boar oinked two times before the screen was turned off.


    "Why didn¡¯t you send me?" The clown licked his long red nails as he said unsatisfactorily.


    "I would be a better choice instead of you." The red-eyed beauty was dressing herself up as she comb her hair. "I have used up all my ingredients here. It¡¯s about time to refill them."


    "You would throw all of them away before you even finish them. I would have conserved the materials by eating all of them after cooking them." The Blind Giant said unsatisfactorily as well. "Nothing will be left for us once that pig Ralph goes on a frenzy."


    DuQian looked at these sore eyes. These four were strongest mutated beings, each of had their own unique strengths and couldn¡¯t be classified by form.


    Even she would be in trouble if four of them were to team up.


    Although she didn¡¯t know the strength of the intruders, she should be able to kill them off easily in their territory with the support of the elusive maze.


    ************


    Garen was staring at the two carriages coming from afar. The carriages were badly damaged, and were on the verge of breaking down. Two of the horns on top were missing, revealing a giant hole.


    The curtain was made out of broken clothes, and the driver was no other than his beautiful cousin sister: Sophie Hathaway.


    Hathaway¡¯s cold elegance wasn¡¯t damaged in the least. Her silver armor, on the other hand, was ragged, revealing the blood vessels within the armor. The way the red blood vessels moved in the armor indicated that it was an experimental equipment made by Vanderman.


    Although she looked oppressing on the driver seat with her golden ponytail, she had obviously gotten a lot thinner.


    As she took a turn from the forest lane, Hathaway saw Garen and Leila standing in the middle of the road.


    "Cia!?" She was stunned and happy at the same time. "You¡¯re still alive!!?"


    Neigh~~ Neigh~~


    She quickly stopped the black horses, got down the carriage and sprinted towards Garen.


    She immediately hugged her tightly.


    "You damn bastard! Where did you run off to! You had me so worried!" Hathaway was both happy and surprised. She then let go of Garen and pinched his body. "Thank goodness you didn¡¯t lose any part of your body!"


    "Stop it cousin sister!" Garen helplessly struggled out from her arms. "I¡¯m already an adult. If you keep touching me I would sue you for sexual harassment!"


    "Huh? I can¡¯t believe you learnt these phrases in such a short time!?" Hathaway was angry and pinched Garen¡¯s face. "Tell me! Where have you been all this while!?"


    "Can you stop it?" Garen was completely helpless and immediately put some distance between him and her cousins sister. As Leila was in the scene, if this kept on his image as the leader would be lost for good.


    He looked at Leila, and behold, she was giggling to herself in a corner.


    "Cia! You¡¯re not dead?!" A familiar voice came from the carriages.


    Garen look at the carriage and saw a young woman with linen colored shawl hair jump down from the car. She was wearing some sort of white cowboy tight suit and there were holes everywhere on her knees and thighs.


    This girl had a well balanced body figure, a rather ugly face and looked delicate. Her cheeks were red and seemed to be ill.


    "Andel!?" Garen immediately recognized this girl. He could immediately recognize her thanks to his good memory.


    Andel, Marin, Prynne and Acacia were the four of the noble team that were the most eye-catching in the Lush Green district.


    He didn¡¯t expect Andel to be alive.


    "What happened to you? You look like you¡¯re sick." Garen immediately walked towards her, the girl who had a slight crush on him.


    "Where is Prynne and the others? Marin? How is everyone?" He started to reminisce the days the four of them hung out together, when he was enjoying his life.


    "Prynne and Marin are together as they were sent to the royal capital by their household members. Marin was attacked by a creature and was severely injured and his injury could only be treated in the Royal Capital. I¡­ I have no where else to go." Andel lowered his head as her mood plunged down.


    Hathaway walked towards her and gave her a gentle hug. "When Andel¡¯s family was moving, they were attacked by a creature and everyone was separated. The status of the remaining household members are currently unknown. I met her when I was on my way here. If not for the totem user who was sent by Prynne protected us, I¡¯m afraid¡­" She didn¡¯t finish her sentence by the meaning was loud and clear.


    "Mum and sister will definitely be fine¡­" Andel whispered.


    "Let¡¯s go back to the manor and tell us what you have gone through. Let¡¯s settle down first before we talk about the rest." Garen knew that Prynne¡¯s status was higher than his, and was most likely the strongest noble in the Lush Green district. They had both power and authority, so he wasn¡¯t so worried about him. The fellow¡¯s household had a strong background within the Royal Capital and the Royal Household.


    "I need to find a way to contact my uncle in the Royal Capital. He will surely help me, since he pampered me the most when I was young." Andel whispered.


    These for households had countless of connections in the Kovitan Empire. Garen or Acacia¡¯s father, Vanderman who was an academic noble had incredible connections with the research academy and the three departments. He was able to pull Barr and Baphje here to assist him during the Chaotic Era thanks to his connections.


    Andel and the remaining two household, too had very strong connections of their own. As long as they¡¯re alive, the chances of them from recovering the damage would always be very high.


    *************


    Buzz¡­


    Silver light came out from Beckstone¡¯s eyes and formed a silver vortex onto the wall.


    The shape kept changing and soon formed into a complicated map and two white dot and green dot could be clearly seen on it.


    "This is the map of this maze. It¡¯s not really complicated as they are only 322 forks. The construction of this maze is technologically obsolete It looks like they¡¯ve spent some effort in it." Beckstone said coldly.


    Darian, who had both of his hands at the back of his head, followed behind him without much interest.


    "I¡¯ll just need to follow you and your orders. Stop telling me these complicated things because I will get confused by it."


    Bam! Bam ! Bam!!


    Heavy footsteps could be heard from the front.


    "It¡¯s coming again. It¡¯s so annoying! When will it stop!" Darian started to lost his cool and flung his right hand and the Night Owl appeared once again. "These creatures are too annoying! We need to kill all of them for five times in order for them to stop appearing!"

 342 Anticipation 2

    Chapter 342: Anticipation 2


    "There¡¯s no need for you to waste your totem¡¯s energy. We just need some time to deal with them thoroughly." Backstone said coldly. "Listen to my orders."


    "Right!"


    "Lightning attack on the upper right."


    Kaching!!


    Two lightning bolts with the thickness of a small arm shot out and landed onto the upper right corner of the dark passage.


    "Stomp twice with your legs at the lower right."


    Boom Boom!!


    The Night Owl followed the orders and stomped twice with all its might.


    Suddenly the passage in front of them changed.


    "Alright let¡¯s move."


    Beckstone walked forward, passing through Darian and his creature.


    "Is that it?" Darian was stunned as he looked in front of him. He didn¡¯t even see any trace of humanoid creatures.


    The black tall man made out of dirt had completely disappeared. What was left in front was just a pitch black passage, as if the disturbance previously was nothing but an illusion.


    "Save some energy because there will be more later." Beckstone¡¯s voice came from the front.


    "Where¡¯s our final destination?" Darian quickly followed Beckstone.


    "We will go where the maze ends."


    ***************


    "You couldn¡¯t find it?" DuQian was clearly upset.


    She looked at the multiple screens on the crystal.


    "The clown had been dealt with?" She couldn¡¯t believe that the opponents were this strong. It was as if there were no obstacles as they walked through the clown¡¯s supposed traps.


    The clown, who loved to battle, went in front of the wild boar and met the opponents head on. However, he was also killed in front of the wild boar.


    His corpse was nowhere to be found.


    Inside the screen, the beautiful woman with golden hair and red eyes was upset as well.


    "The opponent seems to give off a strange silver light. He managed to capture the clown and is nowhere to be seen in the maze. What should we do?"


    "Tell all the guards to come back and defend. No¡­ The news can no longer be spread out." DuQian applied pressure to her forehead. "Three of you gather up, I will be joining you. The end of the maze is the owner¡¯s study room. We must not let them go there! Never!"


    "Yes!"


    Three of them nodded and the screens were closed instantaneously.


    DuQian looked at the tree roots under her lower body and her eyes were filled with rage. She was Viscount¡¯s strongest living weapon, and the opponent was obviously going after the Viscount. If she were to be defeated, then the whole Trejons¡¯ family would be done for!


    Alone, Viscount was just a form one totem user and had not much battle strength. His strongest weapon was her!


    DuQian picked up the black spear that was placed on the stone. The roots behind her body wound up together and formed one huge tail. She then slowly moved forward and headed towards the control room.


    "As long as we can hold on until the mist disappears, the blockade will disappear and Viscount will immediately notice what is going on here!"


    **********


    Boom!


    Beckstone stared coldly at the creature that had fallen in front of him.


    The beautiful woman with golden hair and red eyes, who had a pair of antlers on her back, melted in front of him at an alarming pace. She then turned into a stream of silver light and was absorbed into his right eye as she disappeared.


    "Let¡¯s move on. The experiment lab should be just right up ahead of this maze."


    Darian followed him tightly from behind.


    "I can¡¯t fight against beautiful women.. as my heart melted when I saw her¡­ If there are any more seductive traps¡­ Keep it coming at me! Don¡¯t be shy!" He muttered as he looked around at his surroundings.


    Both of them then pushed open the sealed stone door in front of them.


    Rustle¡­


    Their faces changed the moment they opened the door.


    "This¡­ This is!!?" Darian covered his mouth as he tried to resist the strong stench in the air and stared what was in front of him.


    It was a room packed with corpses, male and female. They were covered in red stripes and were hung by steel chains pierced through their hands, resembling poultry on display.


    The majority of them were youngsters. Some of them were even children, just a few years old.


    However, all the corpses had one thing in common; they had been skinned. All of them were covered in blood. Their muscles, red and white, were clearly visible. It was not a sight for the weak.


    Some of these corpses had been utterly rotten. Maggots drilled in and out of crevices where missing pieces of flesh had been eaten.


    On the other hand, some of the corpses were still fresh; obviously placed here not long ago.


    The whole room was spacious and completely filled with hundreds of corpses. These corpses were separated into two rows, end to end, spanning thirty meters long.


    Beckstone was traumatized as he slowly put one foot in front of another into the room.


    His footsteps echoed off the walls as they fell on the greyish-white stone path that covered the room. On the sides of the stone road were stairs that went under; the bottom of this place was filled with colossal amounts of clotted and wet blood, which painted the whole floor red.


    As they walked deeper, the duo saw a few crystallized boxes filled with corpses. The boxes were about as tall as a person, and there were even detailed labels on each box.


    Beckstone looked at the label.


    ¡®Sun Calendar Year 3558 of the 4th Month -- Alice: There is only one successful sample. The success rate is too low. My heart softened as I heard the cries of these children. Unforgivable. I am trying to evolve the human species as a whole! I must persevere!¡¯ -- Vanderman Trejons.


    There was a small girl, about five to six years old, who was immersed in a transparent liquid in this case. This little girl¡¯s golden hair was spread open like a flower inside the water. Her eyes were wide open, looking out of the glass, as if she were still alive and was placed inside this small glass case, naked.


    "Such inhumanity!" Darian scolded out loudly as he hyperventilated. It was clear that he was very angry.


    Beckstone¡¯s eyes were filled with murderous intent.


    He then started to walk alongside the cases.


    His invisible distortive power started to expand from his body. This strong power kept spreading out, like smoke and filled up the room in no time.


    Two tall figures appeared at the entrance then.


    One of them was a two-headed wild boar humanoid, and the other one was a fair giant, who was a head taller than the wild boar. However, the giant had no eyes, and couldn¡¯t see anything at all.


    Behind these two creatures stood a strange woman.


    Its upper body was a human, but its lower body was a tail made out of countless roots. On top of that, this lady¡¯s eyes were filled with blood.


    "Kill them!!" DuQian ordered without mercy.


    Countless Slime Men climbed up from the floor and surrounded Beckstone and Darian in the room.


    Beckstone ignored them and kept moving forward quietly, his eyes falling upon the cases one by one.


    He finally stopped at one of the many cases that lined the room. What was already a pale face became a shade lighter, as he saw the label on this particular case.


    His trembling hands slowly reached for the label.


    ¡®Sun Calendar Year 3357 of the 1st month. Leanna Ross. The quality of the children from this batch is just superb! Five of them had succeeded. This was without a doubt an encouragement to my research. What¡¯s funny is that this kid dared to say that I am pitiful. I will let her know that who¡¯s the pitiful one!¡¯


    There was the female corpse of eleven or twelve year-old girl, peacefully immersed inside the transparent liquid within the case.


    The girl was naked, straightened from head to toe by a thick, metal bar inserted into her mouth, piercing and running straight through her lower body. She was stabilized by the base of the case and was placed as a standard human specimen.


    The girl¡¯s eyes were wide open. Her gaze filled with agony. Her limbs were flush against the wall of the glass as if she was struggling with all her might at an impossible task.


    Beckstone gently rubbed the label¡¯s characters as his body shivered. It was as if something in his body was expanding and he was resisting with all his might.


    "Leanna¡­" He stared at the beautiful, familiar face, as he recalled the days he spent with her when he was young.


    Beckstone closed his eyes in agony.


    "Ah!!! I will kill all of you!!" Darian, who was standing from behind, finally exploded in rage.


    Two Night Owls appeared at the same time, along with a giant Grey Hawk as well.


    The Grey Hawk was surrounded by a grey light, which was an indicated that it had been spiritualized.


    It was at this moment.


    A powerful silver distortive power expanded.


    Silver light lit up from Beckstone¡¯s right eye, as if something was trying to escape from it. They expanded and contracted sporadically.


    A few minutes later.


    Beckstone stood at the front of a reddish brown passage, where he could see the wooden door at the other end. That wooden door was the entrance of the study room which bypassed the maze.


    He could feel that person¡¯s breath behind the door.


    Darian stayed behind to deal with the creature that seemed to be immortal. As the Time Mist was about to expire, he came alone to prevent from the main culprit from noticing, so that he could kill him!


    Beckstone restrained the silver light in his eyes and walked towards the wooden door silently. He quickly hid his murderous intent.


    ************


    Vanderman was drinking his red tea in front of the window quietly.


    This was the study room of the main building, which was also his favorite study room. It was also one of the maze exits as it was connected to the underground lab as well. His biggest secret was placed inside this very room.


    He felt safe here, as long as he knew that this place wasn¡¯t in danger.


    He placed down the teacup, took out his black pipe and carefully lighted the tobacco inside and adjusted it.


    Click!


    As the red fire was lit and immediately burnt the glowing red tobacco. Its fragrance soon permeated the entire room.


    "I need to send off those three as soon as possible. The longer they stay here, the higher the probability of them discovering my secret." He pondered for a moment. "Coincidentally, the twelfth princess came to visit. It would be best if I can let her bring these three along when she leaves."


    He started to feel guilty recalling his experiments back in the days. He knew that the experiments were inhumane, yet he gave no quarter pursuing his ideals back then. In the end, he had created bloody memories that he didn¡¯t want to recall.


    Every time he recalled these memories, he couldn¡¯t help himself but feel agitated.


    "This is the price of improving the civilization. They would have thanked me if they still had a soul." He comforted himself so but he could keep the guilt in his heart at bay.


    Sigh¡­


    He exhaled a ring of long smoke streams.


    Knock Knock KNock.


    "Please come in." Vanderman responded calmly.


    The door was opened.


    Garen came in with a smile.


    "Father, since I am free, I decided to come and see you."

 343 Battle 1

    Chapter 343: Battle 1


    Vanderman froze for a moment and then smiled slightly, feeling as though a little something had filled the hole in his heart.


    "Sure. Speaking of which, it seems like a long time since we¡¯ve had a proper talk, as father and son."


    He put down his pipe and watched Garen sit down, reminiscence in his eyes.


    "Speaking of which, when I was young, I also did many wrong things in order to achieve my ideals. I hurt a lot of innocent lives. Thinking back on it now, my heart aches with the pain of it."


    He paused.


    "In truth, even now, no matter how much I want to make up for it, the effort I had already sunk in forces me to continue to the end. If it weren¡¯t for you and Du Qian, I¡¯m afraid¡­"


    "In order to achieve their ideals in life, people need to step over countless corpses, isn¡¯t that the principle of life?" Garen leaned onto the sofa, saying calmly. "The weak pay the price for the ideals of the strong. The desires of the strong need to be filled by the weak, that¡¯s why countless people chase after the strong, and idolize them. If the strong are merely a unit that services the weak, nobody would want to reach that pinnacle."


    "Where did you hear such theories from?" Vanderman frowned. This was natural selection, plain and simple, the theory of the Phantom Lights. Although Vanderman himself admired the Phantom Lights, not even he was this extreme.


    "Isn¡¯t that only natural?" Garen shrugged. "The ladder of the world is decided by strength. While the strong perform their duties by protecting the world, they should also enjoy the service of the weak. Everyone should do what they are supposed to. But some people always think that everything is under their control. Even if the chances of an accident occurring are low, that doesn¡¯t mean there definitely won¡¯t be any accidents."


    "What are you saying?" Vanderman¡¯s expression was slightly surprised.


    Garen smiled imperceptibly.


    "What am I saying? There will always be many accidents in life, some of which can be avoided. But others can¡¯t be avoided no matter what. What we need to do is maintain a calm heart even in the face of accidents, so that we never regret anything. What do you think, am I right?" His gaze went across the room in an instant, penetrating through the door, and focusing on Beckstone, who was outside, in a moment.


    Stone had stretched out his hand to grab the doorknob, but stopped. He stood outside the door and clearly felt that intense gaze penetrating everything, landing straight on him.


    "Interesting¡­" His lips curved ever so slightly. He loosened his left hand slowly, his eyes faintly glowing with a silver light. There almost seemed to be a shapeless beast roaring in his pupils.


    Grooowl!!


    It was almost simultaneous. The roar of the beast, the sparkle of silver light.


    A huge black shadow pounced at the door!


    The door smashed into pieces in an instant, the black shadow colliding into another with a crash. In that instant, nothing could be seen clearly, and there was only the explosion of silver light, blindingly bright.


    Barroom!!!


    The whole building collapsed with a boom, large clouds of dust and wood dust scattering everywhere. The smoke and dust floated up, completely obscuring everyone¡¯s vision.


    In the center of the estate, the whole main block had come crashing down directly. Huge amounts of white smoke rippled out from the center, and nothing could be seen clearly. Some of the servants and patrolling totem users nearby quickly ducked to avoid the scattering debris of stone and wood.


    Slowly, the wind blew the dust off the ground.


    Garen¡¯s figure slowly appeared on top of the rubble. He stood on the spot quietly, his gaze looking straight ahead.


    There, Beckstone had silver blood leaking from the corners of his mouth. His eyes were like rapidly rotating silver whirlpools, constantly sparkling with blinding silver light.


    "I misjudged¡­" He glared at Garen, squeezing the words out of clenched teeth with a hard expression.


    "Cia¡­ You!!" Vanderman stared blankly at the son in front of him. This child, who was once so familiar to him, was suddenly so foreign right now. The strength he displayed in that moment just now was enough to make Vanderman¡¯s body go numb. Such terrifying strength¡­


    "Leave this to me, Father." Garen chuckled lightly, transferring his gaze onto Beckstone. "Let us have a fair duel." He clapped his hands lightly.


    Clap-clap.


    As he clapped, the earth began to tremble.


    Phwah!


    The floor next to him immediately bulged out. A huge Dual Headed Salamander suddenly popped out from the ground. It was more than ten meters long, seven or eight meters tall. When it crawled out of the ground like that, it instantly sent the surrounding servants screaming and running in all directions.


    Screee!!!


    The Dual Headed Salamander settled beside Garen with two tapping sounds. No matter how you looked at it, it was a huge grey-green monster. Even its two heads alone were as tall as a person, and that mouth could swallow an adult in one go.


    But Beckstone wasn¡¯t paying attention to that, he was looking instead at one of the creature¡¯s mouths. It was biting an unconscious woman, Berlina. The girl in red armor was being lightly held in the Dual Headed Salamander¡¯s teeth and seemed to have completely lost consciousness. She was covered in wounds, her armor was damaged in many places, and her body was a mess of blood and flesh in several areas as well. Her Totem Light was extremely faint, which meant her totem had been destroyed.


    By then, Vanderman had already blocked the others who had come rushing out at the sound and retreated to a distance. Looking at the unbelievably powerful Garen, he didn¡¯t seem to have recovered his senses yet.


    He still couldn¡¯t understand what was happening. How did his son suddenly end up so powerful!? His brain was a mess.


    Andel and Hathaway ran in from another recreational building and stood at the other side with different expressions. Andel looked like she was seeing Acacia for the first time, her gaze on him filled with surprise and confusion.


    "What¡­ what on earth happened? What is that monster!? When did Acacia get so strong!?"


    Hathaway opened her little mouth slightly, completely unable to answer. She was herself utterly confused and had no idea what was happening.


    "Lord Beckstone is a Form Three Spiritualized totem user! Cia actually¡­ actually¡­"


    The two of them looked at the huge Dual Headed Salamander beside Acacia and felt weak in the knees just looking at that enormous body. Judging by its size, it was at least a Form Three monster!


    "Form¡­ Form Three? ¡­" Andel¡¯s eyes looked lost. She had only ever seen the power of Form Two totem users, so even Form Twos were the pinnacle of strength as far as she was concerned. As for the even stronger Form Threes, she could not even conceptualize them, so she just grouped them together with the rumored greats.


    Du Qian, who was grievously hurt, hid in the shadows and was surrounded by some strange-looking low-level experiments. Watching the drastic developments in the field, her gaze was complicated, dazed, and comforted.


    "My master, you finally have an heir¡­" Looking at how Acacia¡¯s strength right now, she could almost remember how strong the Viscount was back in the day.


    On the other end, Leila, Angel and the rest were hurrying over.


    "Wow!! As expected of Big Bro! He still has such an impressive trump card!" It was Leila¡¯s first time seeing the huge Dual Headed Salamander hiding behind Garen. That mountain-like beast was the most striking image on the scene, and so of course was the woman in red armor in its jaws.


    Angel glanced at the huge Dual Headed Salamander, a flash of understanding and shock in her eyes. Thinking back to how calm Garen had always been, she instantly had her answer for everything, and she quickly swept her gaze over the other places.


    Everything was normal on the Viscount¡¯s side, and it wasn¡¯t the girls who just came either. The focus should be on that young man standing opposite Garen.


    "Move aside, all of you, and focus on maintaining the safety and vigilance of the estate." She connected it to what Garen said before. "Vicky! You go outside, and stay aware of the movements outside!"


    "Okay, Big Sis!" Vicky received the order and left without hesitation. Hearing Big Sis use this sort of tone for once, she instantly knew that this was no joke, and something big must have happened.


    "Leila, you go to the back, outside, and keep watch as well. If there¡¯s anything you can¡¯t handle, send out a signal immediately!"


    "Yes yes yes!" Leila left reluctantly. "I wanted to see more of Boss¡¯ cool presence, why you gotta chase me away so fast¡­"


    "Ansa, you stand further back, and take care of your own safety." Angel raised her right hand. Soundlessly, five pitch-black panthers walked out from the shadows. These panthers were sitting or standing, walking around Angel like guards glaring at the surroundings.


    Two of the black panthers had limbs made of black mist, as though they were covered by a cloud of black air.


    Looking at the two men standing off in the center, Angel¡¯s eyes flashed with calm.


    ****************


    Garen looked at Beckstone, standing opposite him. This unnaturally calm young man was now already pale as death, his eyes filled with unconcealable bloodlust.


    "How is it? Anything you want to say?"


    Garen could feel the gazes on himself. Like so many moving spotlights, they were all gathered around him and Beckstone opposite him.


    He smiled nonchalantly.


    "Fight me fair and square, just the two of us one-on-one. Whaddaya think?"


    Pitch black Deep Swamp Crocs floated up next to him, and these crocodiles were surrounding Beckstone.


    "Fine¡­" Beckstone squeezed the word out of clenched teeth. His gaze on Garen was getting darker and darker.


    "Don¡¯t look at me like that, we just have different stances." Garen smiled. In his past life, too many people looked at him like that, and not one of them didn¡¯t die by his hand.


    "Fine. No more chit-chat." Garen waved his hand.


    Groooowll!!!


    More than ten beasts roared in rage.


    The Dual Headed Salamander swallowed the woman in red armor and kept her under its tongue. With heavy stomping steps, it walked up to Garen.


    Garen¡¯s feet tapped the ground lightly and floated into the air lightly. Finally, he landed on the Dual Headed Salamander¡¯s back, high up above.


    Pssshew!!


    The first Deep Swamp Croc turned into a black line, pouncing at Beckstone.


    And then the second, the third, the fourth!


    All twenty Deep Swamp Crocs were there, attacking and biting from all angles. They fell over Beckstone like so many black threads.


    Each black thread brought along a pungent current of foul air.


    When the black threads brushed past stone debris, a chunk instantly disappeared from them, as though it vanished into thin air.


    "Once Deep Swamp Crocs attack, they¡¯ll burst with instantaneous energy exceeding that of a Form Two totem. They are super fast, and don¡¯t stop until they¡¯ve bitten their prey." Garen said smilingly, "Don¡¯t dodge now, your pretty partner is still in my hands. Let me see your true power."


    The Salamander at Garen¡¯s feet revealed Berlina in its maw once more, lying under its sharp teeth.

 344 Battle 2

    Chapter 344: Battle 2


    Beckstone was about to dodge, but he clenched his teeth and resisted the instinct to dodge.


    Standing on the spot, he stretched his right palm outwards, his eyes flashing silver. A twisting silver whirlpool appeared out of nowhere onto his palm.


    The whirlpool was as tall as half a man, sparkling with a faint silver light, as though it was forged out of infinite silver.


    Boom!


    The first Deep Swamp Croc crashed hard into the whirlpool. And then it straight up disappeared inside, vanishing without a trace.


    It was closely followed by the second, the third¡­


    Beckstone spun the whirlpool on his hand quickly, trying to block off all the Deep Swamp Crocs coming from all directions. But in the end, he couldn¡¯t possibly block them all.


    Finally.


    Bang!


    A shot of black thread slammed into his back, making his whole body jolt.


    From far away, Garen gazed at the silver whirlpool in Beckstone¡¯s hand. His expression wasn¡¯t all that pretty either. The Deep Swamp Crocs that got engulfed in the whirlpool were being torn apart by an intense twisting energy. Although it was slow, they were losing contact with him.


    He watched Beckstone, who had swept up five Deep Swamp Crocs, one after the other before the silver whirlpool finally broke down and scattered. Beckstone¡¯s complexion looked slightly greenish as well, as though he just went through a terrible sickness.


    The silver Totem Light on his body was being continuously assaulted by the black threads. The Deep Swamp Crocs imitated Angel¡¯s strategy, attacking and biting the opponent non-stop and at high speeds. They meant to tire the opponent out, fully expressing the specialty of group battles.


    But as soon as the whirlpool on his right hand vanished, Beckstone actually started releasing a whirlpool on his left hand instead. And his Totem Light didn¡¯t show any signs of faltering despite the assault.


    "Hmph!" Garen harrumphed coldly. The Dual Headed Salamander at his feet abruptly struck out a head, its bloody jaws lunging at Beckstone. The head was huge, the sharp teeth alone as tall as half a person, and one bite was enough to bite Beckstone into pieces. A few chews would turn him into scraps.


    The shadow of the huge maw enveloped Beckstone completely.


    Pheww¡­


    The huge winds swept towards Beckstone fiercely, he was just about to raise the whirlpool and aim it at the huge mouth.


    Roarr!!!


    In an instant, an enormous roar sprayed from the large jaws, jolting his whole body until he went numb. The whirlpool in his hands scattered away in an instant, and he became disorientated and dizzy, his body weak. His ears couldn¡¯t hear anything at all.


    One of the Dual Headed Salamander¡¯s abilities, Dragon¡¯s Roar. It enabled them to easily catch prey despite their slow speeds, rendering all the prey¡¯s senses useless after the tremor, so that the prey couldn¡¯t sense danger approaching.


    This terrifying ability allowed the Dual Headed Salamanders to conquer the skies since ancient times, even if they couldn¡¯t fly. There simply weren¡¯t any flying creatures that dared to fly past their skies.


    The huge bloody maw aimed straight for Beckstone. The large open mouth was as tall as he was, and he could clearly see the countless sharp teeth inside. There were even scraps of blood and flesh on them.


    Beckstone could almost smell the pungent odor.


    Finally, two beams of silver light shot out of his eyes, and gathered into a cloud of silver light, blocking in front of the huge jaws.


    The huge jaws collided with the silver light cloud, as tall as a man.


    Bam!


    As though it had crashed into something hard, the Dual Headed Salamander wailed and took two steps back.


    The silver light also dimmed slightly, having evidently taken some damage. But the silver light rapidly melted, quickly revealing the contents inside.


    A large silver hunting hound-like creature appeared in front of Beckstone¡¯s eyes. The strangest part about it was that it didn¡¯t have a hunting hound¡¯s face. Instead, it was a fluid silver whirlpool, spinning continuously, as though its whole body only contained this silver fluid.


    The silver whirlpool kept extending inwards, as though the deepest parts of its body could be seen through the head.


    The whirlpool hound was as tall as a man, blocking in front of Beckstone, silver fur all over its body.


    "A Whirlpool Beast?!" Beside them, Vanderman instantly recognized this creature. "To think he even created this sort of theoretical totem, who is this Beckstone?!"


    "What¡¯s a Whirlpool Beast? Can Cia win?" While he was unaware, Andel and Hathaway had walked up to Vanderman¡¯s side, standing next to Maxilan and Edney.


    Hathaway asked worriedly.


    "The Whirlpool Beast is a unique high-level totem among the Animal Totems. It was a theoretical model made by Luminarist forgers in order to achieve manmade Spiritualization. It is known as the Animal Totem closest to Spiritualization. A normal Form Three totem is no match for it." Vanderman explained solemnly, "Its ability is to distort energy fields, it can swallow all creatures into its gut, digest them and then turn them into distortive power. Cia may have many Form Two totems, but once they go face to face, the power of the Whirlpool Beast isn¡¯t something these Form Twos can compare to. Now it¡¯s up to that Dual Headed Salamander to fight it."


    "In that case, when it comes to actual ability, Cia is still weaker than that Beckstone?" Hathaway asked carefully.


    "That¡¯s right." Vanderman nodded.


    "Then can anyone else interfere and help?"


    Vanderman smiled futilely.


    "I tried to connect to my power, but it¡¯s not working. My two old friends are also only Form Two, they can¡¯t step in. That¡¯s Form Three power¡­ and Du Qian¡­


    "Master¡­" Hearing his words from where she sat in the shadows, Du Qian looked at her own grievous injuries and didn¡¯t say anything for the moment.


    ************


    Garen¡¯s expression was cold as he looked at the Whirlpool Beast in front of Beckstone.


    "A Whirlpool Beast¡­ Very well, it''s rare to meet a powerful, legendary totem."


    In the dozen or so seconds since then, seven or eight Deep Swamp Crocs had been swallowed by the whirlpool on the Whirlpool Beast¡¯s face. The remaining Deep Swamp Crocs only dared to surround it from the outside, too afraid to approach it any longer.


    If a Form One totem was just a normal creature with Totem Light, then a Form Two totem was an even stronger, faster creature with some special abilities. And a Form Three totem was something that utterly used these special abilities as their main power. The larger ones could already replace physical fighting completely and had overwhelming power.


    The Whirlpool Beast was one such existence, and the Dual Headed Salamander was only strong in itself. When it came to their height of evolution, the Salamander was still lower than the Whirlpool Beast.


    Garen stood on the Dual Headed Salamander¡¯s back, his thoughts whirring quickly.


    "This is the last blow, if you can withstand it, then I''ll return Berlina to you," he said loudly.


    "Do you keep your word?" Beckstone asked coldly.


    "Of course." Garen nodded calmly.


    "Then come at me." Beckstone straightened up, but he couldn''t stop himself from cupping his hand over his mouth. With a gagging sound, blood began leaking out through his fingers.


    Garen narrowed his eyes, and the Dual Headed Salamander raised its head to the sky, roaring.


    Screee!!


    The huge snake-like necks cast two black shadows under the sunlight.


    The huge jaws on the right abruptly lunged down. There was a layer of faint red light on the edges of the giant teeth.


    Pheww!


    With a rustle of wind, the snake head moved at lightning speed, darting in front of Beckstone in an instant. The terrifying jaws stretched open immediately, chomping down instantly like a beast trap.


    Beckstone was utterly focused, both hands gathering together to form a silver whirlpool. At the same time, the Whirlpool Beast also shot a silver fluid from its face, which was integrated into the silver whirlpool.


    With all his power, he thrust the whirlpool upwards.


    Ker-chak!!


    A crisp sound abruptly reverberated across the whole area.


    There were faint shrieks coming from beside the area, many exclamations of disbelief.


    A huge white flying dragon had appeared soundlessly behind Beckstone. The white dragon gracefully lowered its long neck, its huge mouth biting Beckstone¡¯s back from behind. The grey-white air kept emanating from its mouth, going against the silver fluid on Beckstone¡¯s back.


    He lowered his head to look at his waist in disbelief. He had evidently sensed the threat behind him beforehand, and had set a tactic there to protect himself, but the defense was nothing against this huge mouth and was instantly destroyed by something.


    The silver light in his eyes trembled uncontrollably. Beckstone seemed to suffer an unbelievably intense pain.


    The huge Dual Headed Salamander was directly in front of him, biting down onto the silver whirlpool with its huge mouth. Behind him was the equally huge white dragon, biting his waist.


    Crack¡­


    The Totem Light at his waist emitted tiny cracking sounds.


    "It''s over." Garen said mildly. "Unfortunately, you didn''t manage to withstand this attack."


    The whole field was quiet. No one had expected to see another huge Form Three totem hiding behind Beckstone, and judging by the light around it, it was even a Spiritualized totem creature.


    Some people even started wondering if there was a Form Three totem user hiding somewhere. How else could one person control so many powerful totems?


    Two giant creatures, each over ten meters long, one in front and one behind, one black and one white, dominated the field, like a horrific scene from a legend.


    Garen leaped down lightly from the dragon''s back, looking straight at Beckstone in front of him. Right now his face looks like a demon to everyone else, carrying a natural intimidation and terror. Surrounded by the beasts, his whole person had a vast, indescribable aura.


    Nobody dared to make a sound, and they even tried to breathe softly, terrified of attracting the beasts¡¯ attraction.


    Just then, Beckstone suddenly began to laugh coldly.


    "Hahahaha¡­" He lowered his face, obscuring his expression. Only his whole body was shaking with the laughter.


    "I swear in my name, Beckstone Monalito, that everyone in this mansion, everyone present here, must die!!" At the last part, he raised his head abruptly, black veins crawling all over his face, like tiny snakes sprawled over his face.


    "Sunflower!!!"


    Baroom!!!


    A flash of blinding gold light suddenly appeared from his body.


    "Secret Spell of the Aurora!!" Beckstone¡¯s fingers madly drew out glyphs in the air before him, each of different sizes and each rapidly vanishing after completion.


    The air surrounding his body explosively gathered into a huge silhouette of a towering golden tree.


    The golden tree was more than thirty meters tall, and amidst the lush golden leaves, there were tiny golden flowers, emitting a blinding golden light like the Sun.


    Beckstone was like the roots of the tree, his body transparent to reveal the insides of the bark. His hands continuously drew out countless golden glyphs and tactics. Each faded golden tactic glyph seemed to be the tree''s power source. The speed of his drawing had already clearly exceeded fifty per second. This had basically surpassed Master-level writing speeds, achieving an unprecedented level of speed.

 345 Battle 3

    Chapter 345: Battle 3


    In the golden light, countless thin and long golden whips flew out from the center of the many golden flowers. Each whip was covered with sharp thorns, and they got thicker as they came, emitting a shocking heat. Some of the stones nearby melted rapidly, and the wood simply grew charred and began to burn. The grass quickly wilted, turning into ash.


    "Sunflower¡­!!!" Angel hid in the shadows, her face a mask of dazed shock as she looked at the giant golden tree. "A Plant type totem!! It¡¯s actually the three strongest Plant type totems!! It¡¯s over¡­ we¡¯re done for¡­"


    On the border of the estate, the two Masters who had just run out of the lab, Barr and Baphje, had also glimpsed this giant huge tree in the distance.


    "This¡­ this is¡­ the Sunflower Tree!!?? Wasn¡¯t it extinguished by the Royal Alliance a long time ago? Why is there still one now!?" Barr¡¯s wrinkled old face was completely stunned.


    Next to him, Baphje¡¯s expression wasn¡¯t any better. "As soon as the Sunflower Tree blooms, the area within three kilometers of it becomes restricted entry. It will only naturally open up again when the Sunflower Tree has destroyed all enemy creatures inside. This is one of the strongest abilities among the Form Three Spiritualizations. Which Master is playing the fool around here?"


    Vanderman looked up at the golden tree, his gaze calm. Thinking back to everything that had happened in the past, he only had an unprecedented sense of fulfillment and quietude here in the face of death.


    Du Qian quietly appeared beside him, her eyes full of gentleness as she leaned slightly on him.


    "Master¡­"


    "All these years, it¡¯s been hard on you." Vanderman hugged Du Qian lightly. "You made many mistakes with me."


    "I have no regrets." Du Qian said softly.


    Vanderman laughed and looked at his son in the middle of the field.


    "Cia, Du Qian and I will create an opening for you, you make sure to grasp the timing properly."


    By then, the countless golden whips had finished growing and were headed for the two giant beasts.


    Garen stood on the ground quietly, the surface of the earth charred pitch black underneath his feet. His expression didn¡¯t change upon hearing Vanderman¡¯s words.


    "An opening? Not necessary. One of the strongest Plant Totems? Haha¡­"


    He raised his hand slowly, and waved towards the sky.


    Roar!!! Roar!!!


    Two loud dragon roars came from the sky.


    Everyone raised their heads unconsciously, looking at the air above the estate.


    In the sky directly above them, two huge and graceful white dragons rapidly descended, surrounded by a grey-white light all over their bodies.


    Their bodies, more than ten meters long, pressed down like two enormous boulders.


    "Destroy him, White Dragon!" Garen¡¯s cold voice sounded suddenly.


    Before his words finished echoing, four huge beasts attacked simultaneously outside the golden light.


    The grey-white Petrifying Spirit Light and the breaths crashed mercilessly into the blindingly bright golden whips of light. The Dual Headed Salamander glowed with the red light of life, biting voraciously towards the giant golden tree.


    Brrr!!


    They couldn''t hear anything anymore. It was as though their ears had gone numb, the enormous sound waves making everyone go deaf.


    The white beasts looked as though they were sprawling in the air above the estate, stopped in their tracks by the golden light as they continuously spewed out vast grey-white breaths.


    The whole estate had utterly descended into a chaos of light, grey-white and golden light scattering everywhere, everything fell into reckless destruction.


    Some people couldn''t avoid it in time, turning directly into stone statues thanks to the Petrifying Breath, while others were brushed by the golden whips, and burst into flames until there was nothing left.


    Explosions, buzzing and crashing, the tower collapsing, the screams and wails of the crowd, the roars and struggles of the totem beasts. Everything wove together.


    The white estate utterly morphed into a sea of grey-white and gold. The huge fires burned, only to be utterly petrified in the next second.


    Garen remained on the spot coolly, the Deep Swamp Crocs protecting Vanderman, Hathaway and the others. The Dual Headed Salamander was also guarding them closely, but since it had the red-armored woman Berlina in its mouth, it was attacked the least.


    The three Petrifying White Dragons had already utterly destroyed the golden light whips¡¯ defense, directly bringing the line of war to the golden Sunflower Tree. In the air, bunches of golden whips were constantly covered and dimmed by the Petrifying Breaths. It had grievously hurt two White Dragons as well, but there were too many Spiritualized Totems, three in total, and there was even a Dual-Headed Salamander with them. The four Form Three totems attacked him at once, and there was someone in charge of directing them. Even Beckstone couldn''t hold them down any longer.


    In the trunk of the tree, all the veins on Beckstone''s body were bulging, and he was almost at his limit. His eyes, nose and ears were all bleeding, an indication that he had pushed his totem power to the maximum.


    "It''s over." Garen lowered his eyelids.


    "It is indeed over." Beckstone raised his head, smiling eerily.


    Just then, a black shadow appeared behind Garen.


    It was Darian!


    He was covered in blood, two grey-white hawk wings on his back. He raised both hands into blades and pierced for the back of Garen''s head!


    His palms had serrated white edges, and a faint white spirit light spread from it, as though it had a terrifying sharpness that could penetrate everything.


    It was also Spiritualized!


    "Assassination Secret Spell!!" Darian roared, and with a whoosh, his palms actually pierced right through Garen''s protective Totem Light.


    At the same time, a pitch black figure darted out of Garen''s shadow, two pitch black scimitars in its hands aiming for Garen''s lower body, ruthless and cruel.


    Ker-chak!!


    The Totem Light shattered.


    Garen''s expression was stunned.


    Vanderman and the others beside the arena were also terrified, reaching out their hands and trying to yell, but they were already far too late.


    In the tree trunk, Beckstone''s expression was mild, his gaze on Garen like that of a dead person.


    Barroom!!!


    The enormous white spirit light was mixed with a hint of black stripes, and they exploded. Forming a cloud of white light more than ten meters in radius.


    The white light scattered rapidly. Revealing the situation inside.


    "How foolish, did you think you could beat me like that?"


    Garen stretched out his right hand, chopping Darian¡¯s neck with one hand and lifting him into the air. There was a cynical smile on his face.


    There was also a middle-aged man dressed all in black lying on the ground before him. The man spat out blood and saliva, staring at Garen in disbelief.


    "Impossible¡­ you''ve revealed all your trump cards! How can you still have such strength!??"


    "Who sent you?" Garen casually tossed away the unconscious and dying Darian, looking at the man in black in front of him.


    There was a huge and terrifying power in his right hand. In that split second just now, he had turned around to meet their sneak attack. Powerful secret techniques mixed with that terrifying power disintegrated their attack the moment they made contact. Before the white light faded, each of them even took a palm hit, sending them straight to Death''s door.


    "My mission is to obtain Vanderman¡¯s creature technique, I don''t know anything else!" The man quickly revealed everything at once. He didn¡¯t even have enough time to summon his totem before his Totem Light was utterly destroyed. This Form Three totem user seemed to be slightly strange, he felt weaker than regular Form Three totems users, as though he didn¡¯t reach this level on his own.


    This reminded Garen of a special force within the Obscuro Society¡¯s inner circle -- the elite division.


    The elite division was filled entirely with the best members, and like the military, it was an independent department. Jess was part of the military, and other than the marshalls as well as President Hellgate, he was the strongest in his level.


    The power of the elite division was even weaker than the military, but it couldn¡¯t be underestimated either. There was also a marshall overseeing everything, and apparently there were even two Elemental Generals like Jess. There were also many lieutenants and brigadiers, more than twice those in the military.


    "Are you from the elite division?" Garen asked suddenly.


    The man was instantly stunned.


    "How did you know!?"


    Garen smiled, reaching out his right hand suddenly and bending his finger to flick the center of the man¡¯s brow.


    Psst!


    An arrow of blood shot out. The man collapsed backward, no longer any light in his eyes.


    The golden light in the sky was slowly conquered by the grey-white breaths. This petrifying air was like a mist, mixed with the Petrifying White Dragon¡¯s grey-white spirit light, vaguely covering most of the places where the estate was burning.


    The fire was quickly extinguished, the burnt coal turning to grey-white stone.


    Two Petrifying White Dragons flew circles over the estate, crying out piercingly.


    On the ground, a White Dragon whose wing had been broken crouched next to the Dual Headed Salamander, quietly licking its wounds.


    The whole estate fell silent.


    Vanderman and the others also heaved a complete sigh of relief. The powerful sneak attack still couldn¡¯t hurt Garen, nobody could see what on earth happened in the white light. But Garen evidently had some final trump card that he didn¡¯t reveal, and he still won in the end.


    Garen stood alone, surrounded by the beasts, his gaze looking at the gradually fading golden tree.


    The countless golden light whips had utterly scattered away. Beckstone was vomiting blood, half kneeling on the ground, the silver light in his eyes blinking uncertainly.


    Clap¡­ clap¡­ clap¡­


    Garen walked towards Beckstone slowly.


    "You¡¯re still not coming out?" His gaze moved to Stone¡¯s right. A bunch of specially protected totem users from the estate was standing there.


    Those people looked stunned, as though completely lost as to why he would look their way. As they felt the huge beasts move their gazes to them at the same time, the totem users began to grow pale.


    Garen lightly caressed the Petrifying White Dragon that was lowering its head.


    He wasn¡¯t affected by these people¡¯s performance, merely looking in their direction calmly.


    After a long time, a man in white walked out slowly from among them.


    It was a very old middle-aged man, with an elderly face, at least in his fifties. He had a short white beard, his gaze complicated as he looked at Garen.


    "Young man, there¡¯s no need to start any conflicts between us, you have even more potential than Stone. Why don¡¯t you join the noble Revolution? I can tell, you¡¯re not on the Royal Alliance¡¯s side."


    He didn¡¯t attempt to hide his words at all, making them rather toxic. Many people here were from the Royal Alliance, and all their gazes changed when they heard that.


    Garen laughed coldly. The reason he didn¡¯t kill Beckstone was because of this man. Now two of the Petrifying White Dragons were injured, both rather seriously. One of them had a damaged wing, and the other lost its limbs into a mess of blood and flesh. At battles of this level, Deep Swamp Crocs had no effect at all.


    The middle-aged man here was evidently the secret protector of Beckstone and gang this whole time, Garen wasn¡¯t sure if he could hold him back.


    But Garen had achieved his motive. This battle had reduced Terraflor¡¯s expectations for Beckstone. He might still be trained as before, but he will definitely not be as strong as he was in history.


    This is the era of many heroes, the ones who couldn¡¯t laugh to the end were all just passersby in history. A tiny decrease could bring even more changes.

 346 Battle 4

    Chapter 346: Battle 4


    Garen¡¯s gaze kept shifting. Beckstone¡¯s Plant Totem, Sunflower, was utterly damaged by the joint attack of four Form Three totems, and wouldn¡¯t be easy to fix. The rarer the totem, and the higher it evolved to, the more difficult it was to repair, and the more substantial the funds required for repairs. Even if Plant Totems were supposed to be able to fix themselves naturally, it would take more than a couple of days.


    That time period would be enough for him to advance to the next level.


    "Cia." Suddenly, a voice came from the side. It was actually Viscount Vanderman, who was standing at the side.


    This Viscount-lecturer, who was always stern and strict, suddenly looked a lot more relaxed, as though a heavy weight had been taken off his shoulders.


    "Let them go." The Viscount¡¯s expression was peaceful. His tone held a mild sigh and remembrance.


    "You executioner!!" Beckstone straightened up from the ground, his emotions growing agitated. "For your so-called experiments, you killed several hundred people at least. Even Leanna!" This normally calm young man finally lost some of his steadiness. The veins all over his body kept expanding, as though his skin was covered with many earthworms and termites.


    His voice was very loud, most of the survivors in the estate could hear it.


    Thanks to Garen¡¯s protection, there weren¡¯t that many casualties in the estate. A few people were caught in the after ripples, but most survived.


    "I¡¯ll kill you sooner or later!! As revenge for Leanna!" Beckstone had nearly lost his sanity. His eyes actually returned to a regular person¡¯s black, reddening slightly.


    Right now, he had no Totem Light on him at all. All his totem power was used up in the Sunflower he activated last. He looked just like a normal young man.


    "I once asked my teacher, when someone comes to a crossroads between their dreams and reality, how should they choose their own path?" Vanderman smiled bitterly. "In life, just make sure you don¡¯t regret it many years from now. That was my teacher¡¯s reply."


    "I never regretted this path of mine." Vanderman closed his eyes slightly. "When I saw ordinary people suffering under the power of Totem Light, struggling, fighting back, wailing, but unable to do anything, I swore to myself, I will definitely come up with something that would allow ordinary people to fight totem power as well. This was my promise to my teacher, so, even if you kill me, I remain unrepentant."


    "Nice words!" The middle-aged man in white chuckled coldly. "Out of those hundreds in the lab, can you truly say none died for your own bestial desires? Or rather, would you let everyone into the heart of your lab, to see just how many disgusting, dirty and bloody experiments you have hidden there?"


    Vanderman couldn¡¯t reply. Beside him, Du Qian hugged him tightly, sticking out a snake-like tongue to lick his face lightly.


    "Even the woman who loves you the most was transfigured into this ugly form, neither man nor monster. Why won¡¯t someone like you just die already!" The middle-aged man in white said loudly and coldly.


    By then the whole estate had utterly fallen silent. The cold wind blew mournfully, bringing up the swathes of grey-white dust on the ground.


    The others had long ago noticed this strange woman next to Vanderman. It was only upon hearing these words that some people noticed Du Qian¡¯s lower body, hidden by her skirt, was actually a snake¡¯s tail made of entangled tree roots.


    Andel and Hathaway grew pale, as though they¡¯d just heard the most absurd story. Seeing Du Qian¡¯s irregularities now, both of them couldn¡¯t help but lean away slightly. They were obviously frightened by Du Qian¡¯s strange condition.


    "Uncle wouldn¡¯t do that, he¡¯s not that sort of person¡­" Hathaway said softly, as though she could not accept such a drastic change at all.


    The two Royal Alliance Masters¡¯ expressions were ice cold. They were standing at the edge of the rubble and were surely in a far from a pleasant mood.


    "Vanderman, you owe us an explanation!" Barr said coldly and loudly. Next to him, Baphje also looked displeased. There were so many totem users here, they just needed to control their totems to dig into the holes underneath the rubble for a look, and then they would know.


    Soon enough, a few Sight Sharing totem users finally couldn¡¯t hold back anymore, murmuring in tiny voices. Vanderman, their beloved lord, suddenly became a cold-blooded executioner. Most of these people found it hard to believe.


    Yet others kept their gazes tightly on Garen in the middle, right now the person who truly had the right to talk was Garen. The Viscount¡¯s son, who had nothing going for him, was now suddenly the person in charge of this whole area.


    The murmurs and whispers pressed down their volume, as Garen¡¯s gaze swept the area.


    The beetles and Deep Swamp Crocs digging into the ground had already revealed Viscount Vanderman¡¯s experimental location to him. Garen¡¯s feelings were very complicated, the bloodiness of the underground lab was rare even to him.


    "To think Vanderman is actually this sort of person."


    "Several hundred people¡­ just for his own experiments, he killed them just like that. There aren¡¯t even several hundred of us here, are there?"


    "Who knows when he might suddenly use us for his experiments?"


    "Vanderman! To think you¡¯re this sort of man!" Baphje reprimanded angrily, "I¡¯ll report all of your sins completely! In front of His Majesty!!"


    "Cough cough¡­" Vanderman suddenly started coughing intensely.


    "Don¡¯t say anymore!!" Du Qian started screaming, a sob in her voice. She supported the Viscount tightly, covering his mouth with her hand, trying to keep the blood from flowing out. "The master¡­" Before she knew it, her face was already covered with tears.


    "The master performed experiments on his own body, just for the armor most of you are wearing, just so everyone can fight totem power, he experimented on his own body, he never had long to live! Why do you all still want to treat him like this!!!" Du Qian cried loudly, sobbing.


    "Don¡¯t say any more." The Viscount stopped Du Qian. Looking around him, the whispers from before had slowly quieted down.


    It was true, without this new technique, most normal people would die as soon as they came into contact and fought with monsters. They wouldn¡¯t be able to resist or even run. Thinking of that, most of them fell quiet.


    Garen walked up, but Vanderman raised his hand to block him.


    His eyes sparkled. Only at this close distance, did he truly detect the problems with the Viscount¡¯s body, because it looked very normal, just like any other person. But the truth was that there seemed to be a whirlpool inside, sucking away all his body¡¯s nutrients.


    And because there was Totem Light separating it off, Garen¡¯s shallow knowledge of totem research caused him to overlook it until now.


    Looking at his son¡¯s tortured expression, Vanderman smiled.


    "It¡¯s nothing, life is only several decades long anyway, and I never regretted my decision from back then. My only regret is that I hurt so many little children back then. I only understood how precious life is now that I¡¯ve gotten old."


    His gaze fell on Andel and Hathaway beside him.


    "Cia, can you agree to two requests of mine?"


    Garen nodded with a heavy heart. He had initially thought he could save Vanderman, as compensation for possessing his son¡¯s body, but he didn¡¯t know that Vanderman was already slated for an early death. He could sense it now, Vanderman was currently on his very last legs. Compared to before, his body seemed to be lacking the support of the most important something.


    Vanderman¡¯s gaze fell onto Beckstone. "Let them go, all the sins began with me." There was a hint of guilt in his eyes.


    "I don¡¯t need your pity!!" Beckstone roared, and couldn¡¯t help but spray out another mouthful of blood.


    Garen fell silent. Everyone was waiting for him quietly, waiting to see what sort of decision he would make.


    After more than ten seconds, he finally raised his hand lightly.


    Whoosh¡­


    The Dual Headed Salamander opened its large mouth, spitting out the unconscious red-armored woman in its mouth and tossing her onto the ground next to Beckstone.


    "Berlina!!" Beckstone propped his body up and stood, running over to Berlina. He then forcefully summoned a white Form One steed totem, putting Darian and Berlina on it one by one.


    Having protected his companions, Beckstone¡¯s hands lit up with golden flames again. He actually still wanted to fight.


    "Stop!" The middle-aged man in white appeared in front of Beckstone as though he teleported there, and chopped Beckstone¡¯s neck with the side of his hand lightly, rendering him unconscious. His palm didn¡¯t seem to be hindered by the Totem Light at all, going straight through it.


    "Hurry up and scram. Before I change my mind." Garen¡¯s voice was deep.


    The middle-aged man in white felt he was about as strong as Stone, and without the secret treasure Stone had, he could not release such a powerful totem like just now completely. Even the Sunflower Tree, that had the power of a secret treasure, failed, and he still didn¡¯t know what Garen hid in that white light just now.


    He mused over it for a bit, and decided to leave first. First, he needed to take the three under his protection back, to recover and recuperate.


    "We¡¯ll meet again in the future. My name is Challaha." He spoke slowly, and a sea-blue diamond-shaped crystal appeared beside him.


    The crystal spun rapidly, slowly becoming slightly faint and translucent. All the three casualties and the man in white, Challaha, slowly became translucent, fading away.


    Splash!


    The crystal suddenly turned into an umbrella of shards, exploding apart.


    The four of them also disappeared utterly.


    "Challaha¡­" Garen licked his lips. It wasn¡¯t that he didn¡¯t want to make them stay, but he couldn¡¯t see the extent of the man in white¡¯s powers, and besides, now wasn¡¯t the time to declare war on Terraflor. Beckstone was still very immature right now, and there were many people stronger than him in Terraflor. This immense organization wasn¡¯t something regular little powers can fight against. To be able to stand opposite across Obscuro, Terraflor would at least have some peak-level fighters in charge.


    And, this was one of Vanderman¡¯s requests.


    Garen¡¯s gaze returned to Vanderman.


    Vanderman¡¯s expression was comforted, as he nodded at Garen.


    "I still have one wish." He paused, his gaze falling on Hathaway. "While I lived, my biggest wish was to see the birth of your children, my grandchildren. For the sake of our Trejon family¡¯s future, I can¡¯t let the roots of the family die in my hands."


    Garen suddenly had a bad feeling.


    As expected, Vanderman¡¯s next words proved his premonition utterly true.


    "I hope, that you and Hathaway can get engaged." His expression was hopeful as he looked at Garen. "This is my last request, don¡¯t reject it."

 347 Leave 1

    Chapter 347: Leave 1


    Garen looked towards Hathaway, who was lowering her head and red all the way up to her neck. This handsome cousin of his was now completely at a loss, like a young child.


    "I understand. From this moment on, Cousin Hathaway is my fiancee." Garen looked calm. It was just leaving a bloodline for this body, this was something he was supposed to do in the original Acacia¡¯s place anyway.


    Boom!!!


    Suddenly, the whole estate gave a huge tremor, and the ground shook violently.


    Garen¡¯s expression changed. He could feel a very powerful group of qi in the distance, and it was moving quickly towards the estate.


    At the same time, the Crystal Derivator in his pocket was also growing hotter. This meant there was an Elemental General of his level nearby, and that person was rapidly approaching as well.


    "It¡¯s the people from the elite division!" Garen immediately deduced their origins. That unknown beast was probably their doing as well.


    "Leave now." Vanderman seemed to have sensed the movement as well, his expression urgent. "Cia, you take everyone and leave here immediately. Du Qian, I¡¯m relying on you."


    "Don¡¯t worry, master, I won¡¯t disappoint you again." Du Qian wiped the tears from her face and nodded.


    "After you complete your arrangements, you follow Cia from now on. You have Form Three power, so you¡¯ll be of certain help to him." Vanderman told her softly.


    Du Qian nodded lightly.


    "What about you, uncle!!?" Hathaway took the initiative to ask.


    "I still have arrangements to make." Vanderman smiled. He rubbed Hathaway¡¯s head. "I watched you grow up, it¡¯s such a pity I won¡¯t be able to see the birth of your children with Cia¡­"


    "Uncle, you can still live for a long time, don¡¯t say such silly things." Hathaway interrupted him.


    "Go¡­ I¡¯ll be over in a moment." Vanderman pushed Hathaway away.


    Garen frowned.


    "Father, I¡¯ll stay with you."


    "There¡¯s no need, I¡¯m activating an indiscriminatory attack that will hit everyone except for Du Qian and myself, you¡¯ll only be a burden if you stay." Vanderman shook his head. "Go, take Hathaway with you."


    He lowered his head again and coughed. He coughed out black blood, dripping down from the side of his palm.


    Barr and Baphje had already been appointed leaders by all the totem users and were gathered together. It would be difficult for Vanderman to regain everyone¡¯s trust now. The two old friends looked at Vanderman with complicated gazes, with confusion, unfamiliarity, but mostly pain.


    "Go!" Baphje didn¡¯t say anything else. He turned around and quickly left with a group of them.


    "You take care." Barr sighed and finally spoke to Vanderman before turning around and taking some more people with him.


    Boom!!


    There was another deep collision sound, and the ground shook again.


    The crowd rumbled. Baphje turned his head to look at Vanderman. As an old and close friend, now that his emotions had settled down somewhat, he could more or less understand how Vanderman felt back then. Between morality and friendship, he still leaned towards friendship, and his dislike for Vamderman also quieted down.


    A relationship spanning decades, was not something that could be thrown away at the drop of the hat.


    "The Trejons family is as good as gone." Barr said softly, sighing, "No matter how strong Vanderman¡¯s son is, it should be the people from Obscuro outside. Their target is Vanderman."


    Baphje stayed silent.


    Even if Acacia suddenly became so strong, and although they didn¡¯t know how they ended up in conflict with Beckstone and the others, the situation now was that two of Acacia¡¯s Spiritualized beasts were grievously hurt, and the remaining power was nowhere near enough to deal with the incoming enemy.


    Right now, they had to hurriedly leave the estate, and it was only after they were a distance away that they remembered to feel scared. That Acacia was decisive and would kill Beckstone and the others without hesitation.


    Even if Darian and Berlina weren¡¯t dead, they were seriously hurt. No one knew if Beckstone could recover, but even if he could, it would take a long time at least.


    Although their relationship with Vanderman made them sure that Cia wouldn¡¯t attack them, thinking about it now, if that young man acted on impulse¡­


    *********


    Watching his old friends leave, Vanderman then turned his eyes to his son, Cia.


    "Go, leave here immediately and take these people with you."


    There were still some regular survivors in the estate, and most of them were elderly who had followed the Viscount over the years. Right now they seemed lost too because most of them didn¡¯t really care about the Viscount¡¯s experiments. They didn¡¯t know much about the experiments anyway, they just knew that their benefits, lives, and glory were all entwined with the Viscount, the Viscount¡¯s everything was their everything.


    These people had lived on the estate for generations and had basically integrated into the Trejons family.


    There were slightly more than ten of them, including Maxilan and Edney.


    These two had already become the leaders of this group. They looked at the Viscount calmly, awaiting his orders.


    As for the rest of them, they were mostly dazed and lost.


    "Go, all of you, go¡­ Follow Cia, he is the Trejons family¡¯s future. Where he is, that¡¯s where the family¡¯s base is!" Vanderman said loudly. "Du Qian, you take everyone and leave."


    "Yes, master." Du Qian wiped her tears and clapped. Instantly, many root-like vines sprouted out of the ground, rapidly opening a round hole in the ground.


    "Everyone get in first, follow this tunnel, and we can go straight to an exit ten kilometers away!" Du Qian said loudly.


    Garen stood quietly at the side, his thoughts complicated.


    Vanderman looked like he wasn¡¯t going to live much longer, so Garen was considering if he should Empower him, maybe that way he could solve the problem of this serious side effect from the experiments.


    "Father, I heard the Obscuro Society has a technique, it¡¯s called Empowering, and it can heal most mysterious diseases¡­"


    "I tried it a long time ago¡­" Vanderman said mildly. "It doesn¡¯t work."


    He looked at his son calmly.


    "Go, there¡¯s no time left. After all, I¡¯m just a dying man." Vanderman¡¯s face was unnaturally quiet, not at all like a man about to die.


    Garen didn¡¯t know what to say, and Hathaway and the others at the side didn¡¯t know what to say either. All they could do was follow Du Qian¡¯s arrangements and walked into the tree root cave one by one.


    "Boss!" Leila hurriedly darted out of the corner of the rubble, rushing up to Garen. "Big Sis told me to tell you guys to leave immediately. She¡¯s already lured that big fella outside, but she can only last five minutes tops!"


    "Got it, tell Angel to leave as soon as she completes her mission, we¡¯ll gather outside in a bit!" Garen nodded. "The others?"


    "They¡¯ve all gone out, but the situation right now isn¡¯t great." Leila spoke quickly, "There are many monsters outside, they¡¯re fighting with some monsters outside the estate, but it doesn¡¯t look like it¡¯ll last very long. What do we do now?"


    Garen mused it over and was about to speak.


    "You guys go too, leave from the underground tunnel." Vanderman¡¯s voice interrupted.


    Boom!!


    It was another deep collision sound. It sounded like footsteps, or stomps, unnaturally closer than it was before.


    "Go now!" Vanderman suddenly roared fiercely. The center of his brows lit up, and suddenly their surroundings were enveloped in a faint green light.


    Garen was about to speak, when suddenly a riotous group came in through the main gate of the estate.


    Most of them at the front were the totem users who insisted Vanderman was a sinful villain. The leader was a man in red robes.


    He had been the estate¡¯s patrol captain, Cardiff.


    This group had been chased back, each of them pale and some embarrassed.


    Cardiff was nearly fifty years old, and when he saw the people leaving through the tunnel, even he couldn¡¯t help but grow flushed. He was pushed to the front by the others.


    Garen looked at them coldly.


    "Didn¡¯t you guys go with Barr and Baphje? Why are you suddenly back again?"


    Cardiff blushed all the way to the tips of his ears.


    "We¡­ we hope you can protect us so we can leave safely, sir."


    "Why are you so polite to him! Those monsters outside must have been lured here by them too! It¡¯s their responsibility to escort us out!" Someone yelled from behind him.


    "If it weren¡¯t for the estate¡¯s experiments, there wouldn¡¯t be such powerful monsters outside!"


    "We are research students with the Royal East Totem Academy! According to the rules of the empire, Vanderman, you and your son have the responsibility to escort us out of here safely, and you have to make sure we¡¯re not hurt by outside forces!"


    Most of those who came back were cowardly, the braver ones were still with Barr and Baphje, because they weren¡¯t willing to come back and plead. And the totem users who truly cared about their relationship with Vanderman were still here and were currently walking into the tunnel one by one.


    There were only slightly over ten people who stayed behind, and only three totem users.


    As for those who came back, they could tell at first glance that these were timid and cowardly.


    Maxilan and Edney knew these people, they were never around when there was work or fighting to do, but they would definitely appear as long as there were benefits to reap. Some of them would even fight over their fallen totem user friends¡¯ belongings. They had even been harshly reprimanded by the Viscount over that.


    Garen looked at these people calmly. A few of them were the two Masters¡¯ students, all of them came from noble families, their noses higher than their heads. They prioritized their own lives over everything else.


    "Why do I need to protect you?"


    "Why? We put our lives on the line for your Trejons family! We fought the monsters outside for so long! You still dare to ask such things?!" A young man with a thin face stepped out.


    "You must atone for your sins!"


    This person was merely a Form Two totem user, but he actually dared to forcefully stand in front of Garen, relying on his pride as a noble. Sensing Garen¡¯s unfriendly gaze now, he shirked back a little but quickly straightened up again.


    "Some of us have already escaped safely. I made the arrangements, as long as we can safely leave, all your Trejons family sins have nothing to do with us, and we won¡¯t bother with them either. But if we don¡¯t return, all of Kovistan will know that you, Vanderman, used innocent civilians in your experiments!!


    "Let them go," Vanderman said mildly.

 348 Left 2

    Chapter 348: Left 2


    "Sir?" Maxilan and Edney were ready to unsheathe their swords to kill. They had long been displeased with this group of unscrupulous waste.


    "Let them go," Vanderman Insisted, "After all, they were trapped here because of me. It¡¯s natural to bear some grudges."


    Garen got irritated; these aristocrats were really baffling. Even after he showed such a powerful attack, these people still dared to talk nonsense in front of him, thinking he wouldn¡¯t dare violate the imperial laws openly. Do they not know that there was such thing as an assassination? Did they think the law was omnipotent?


    Perhaps it was the same most of the time on Earth, but in such troubled times, the fledglings that had lived in peaceful areas all their lives, without experiencing the brutality of war in the outside world.


    After being urged by Vanderman, the group soon went underground under Maxilan¡¯s watch. Hathaway and Andel then went down, with the protection from Edney.


    The last ones at the manor were Vanderman and Garen, while Du Qian was escorting the people safely through the passageway.


    Garen gathered all his totems together and surrounded them.


    As he had hinted, the newborn beetles on the periphery quickly spread and began searching in all directions for the aristocrats¡¯ companions, whom they had claimed to be left behind.


    "Cia" Vanderman stood softly on the edge of the passage, the green light surrounding him got stronger and stronger.


    He carefully took out a goose-egg-sized oval-shaped ball and he handed it to Garen.


    "This one is for you, this is the Green Vine Sphere, the ultimate weapon that I had originally developed for our lineage. Unfortunately, you can not use it now."


    Garen took the ball. The ball¡¯s body was green and black, its surface seemingly glowing with a faint gleam of green.


    "Green Vine Sphere is the core culmination of my life¡¯s work, it can continue to synthesize spore-like seeds, attaching onto other people and absorb that person¡¯s strength and power to grow. When it reaches a growth threshold, it will become living body armor. The point is, this layer of armor can equip regular people with the properties of the Totem¡¯s Light. " Venderman explained simply.


    With his Green Vine Sphere out, his had a defeated look on his face.


    "This is the main breeder of the family, and you have to plant it on your own body. As to the choice of nurturing it, to provide it with nutrients to grow, that will all depend on yourself. But you have to remember, this is the main body that controls all the other spores. You must have complete control over it.Only by controlling it you can muster an army full of powerful creatures! Of course, the strength of the armor would depend on the person being leeched ... "


    He told Garen about the characteristics of the sphere slowly.


    Garen now realized why the Obscuro Society want to seize the fruits of his research. Such an item can make the overall strength of the entire force even higher, far more than a form 3 totem user or Spiritualization Totem User could.


    "... and in addition, some of the research records of my experiments, and some academic materials I used were placed here." Vanderman once again took out a small red key. "Go to the Imperial Kingdom, this key can open the basement of the manor I live in. If you are not interested, burn them."


    "Plus, I still have an old friend who might be able to take care of you."


    ********************


    Garen sat in the wagon, quietly fiddling with the red key in his hand.


    Angel sighed and sat across from him, looking fairly worse for wear. The wound on her right shoulder was carefully bandaged by Lala.


    "I heard about your family. Do you think I should call you Garen, or Acacia?"


    "It''s still Garen. I''m the head of Trejons now, I have the right to change my name," Garen said quietly.


    He looked out of the window. In the direction of the manor, a glimmer of green shone against a giant chimpanzee behemoth. This huge behemoth was a full 20 meters in height, but it seemed to have no special ability and was also slow in movement. It pounded one and on, but its fist was completely blocked by a green film of light.


    Aouhhh! !


    A few punches could not break through the green egg shell-thick film. The gorilla raged with a ferocious roar after lifting its head.


    The echo of the roar caused severe vibrations surrounding it, even as far as clearly reaching the carriage some tens of kilometers away.


    "What the hell is that creature?" Angel saw the calm look on Garen¡¯s face, which remained so, as if he had long been aware of the situation revolving the creature.


    "The war behemoth." Calon coldly replied, "It is only large in size, but its actions are very slow. It¡¯s also very difficult to control, only useful in sieges as it is almost equivalent to the existence of a siege vehicle. What is worth noting is that it is accompanied by Elite Guardian Unit. "


    "Elite Guardian Unit?"


    "Well, it''s a squad that specializes in protecting war beasts from being killed in close combat. According to rank, a war behemoth should have a lieutenant-led Guardian unit present." Garen squinted his eyes slightly.


    Speaking of which, Garen thought of Vanderman, who was still in the manor. Viscount knew that death was near, and as Garen and the rest entered the passageway, he sealed the entrance to face the advent of the enemy alone.


    A general, who would typically possess two Form 3 totems or more, not to mention the other unit members, Garen¡¯s totem was seriously injured this time. It simply couldn¡¯t endure any more attacks. In case the white-robed man from Terraflor Society had in fact not left and was waiting for the right opportunity, and if both sides clashed again, the result will be very unfavorable. The opponent was targeting Vanderman. Without someone delaying him, there definitely would not be an escape.


    "Sister Du Qian!"


    "Sir Du Qian!"


    A few anxious shouts were heard from afar.


    Garen quickly jumped out of the carriage, he looked back only to see a green silhouette.


    "Sorry Young Master, I need to accompany Master." A voice which hadn¡¯t dissipated said.


    Garen stood still and did not chase her. He knew Du Qian has been living for Vanderman. Her love for him was far too deep. From when they left, he had expected that Du Qian would not leave the manor so easily.


    Maxilan and Hathaway gave chase, but to no avail, and they soon came back helplessly. When Garen looked at them, Hathaway shook her head and did not utter a word.


    "Forget it, let¡¯s get back on our journey." Garen fell silent for a while, then said. "All aboard the car!"


    Hathaway was unwilling, but she did not protest.


    The rest of the people who were outside the carriage also saved their words; as the new head of Trejons, his words were law.


    A boom cracked skies above them soon after everyone re-embarked and rushed ahead.


    The strong explosion was followed by a cloud of black smoke rising into the sky.


    Garen sat in the carriage. He knew it was the last he would see of Vanderman, and although there was not much of a sense of belonging to the father he had called Vanderman, he still felt lonely inside.


    Vanderman himself was a contradiction. He had played multiple roles; a kind father and a host, a ruthless aristocrat, and scientist, and the martyr who had given everything for his dreams and vows.


    The team was crowded with a more than 20 people inside, quickly fleeing the Trejons Manor. From the rear, they followed the bank of Black Swan Lake and head towards deeper into the Kovitan Empire.


    "What''s your plan?" Angel asked from opposite Garen.


    Garon exhaled lightly.


    What¡¯s next was not within his initial plan, but Obscuro and Terraflor Society will not let go of his parasitic breeder. Trouble will automatically come to their doorstep.


    "Let''s go to the capital," he whispered. "It is said that the Twelve Princesses were supposed to come, and it is certainly impossible to come back now."


    "I''ve got some intel too." Angel drank the coffee Lala served quickly. "Going from this direction, we will soon reach the defensive checkpoint of the West Farm Border of Kovitan Empire, a defensive line carefully built by the Royal Alliance, a completely safe area for human beings. That area is much better guarded, and I would also be able to contact the war guild using my letter of introduction from Iron Tank City Branch President. "


    "Not bad..."


    "I heard that there were a total of three large regiments at Kovitan¡¯s West Farm borders; the Hawks of Dawn, the Third Heavy Armor Regiment and the Navy Flag. The three regiments each occupy three strongholds, and from here."


    Angel took out a map, pushed away the coffee, and opened the map on the desk.


    Three positions have been marked separately, similar to the points of a triangle. They were displayed on a map of Kovitan that looked like a large cookie. Just on the lower left corner of the map area was the edge of the Green Lush District, which immediately led into the nearby location of the province of Vesice.


    "Regiments? Do commoner forces have any effect?" Gallon doubted.


    "No, it''s all comprised of totem users from what I¡¯ve heard from the totem users that came to the Manor from the capital." The Baddeck Empire in the southwest was exterminated, and a large number of surviving citizens of Baddeck poured into Kovitan. Among them, a lot of totem users from Baddeck joined the Kovitan Army out of spite." Angel shook her head," Even the moderately sized Baddek Empire got wiped out. Obscuro Society and these monsters are really cruel."


    Garen fell silent.


    He first looked under his own attribute pane.


    ''Strength 6.66. Agile 2.72. Vitality 2.82. Intellect 2.53. Potential 17221%. ''


    He previously accumulated more than two hundred potential points, but he spent more due to the evolution of two Petrifying White Dragons, and now was left with 172 points. Evolving the Petrifying White Dragon into a form 3 totem was a very economical proposition.


    Unfortunately, he can no longer continue its evolution.


    Garon had some regrets.


    This time, in order to deal with the dangers he might encounter, he had decisively evolved two Petrifying Lizards, grew them to Petrifying White Dragons. He had three Petrifying White Dragons and a Dual-Headed Salamander, yet he barely suppressed Beckstone. His hidden trump card, the monstrous monster¡¯s grip, also allowed him to endure the final ambush.


    The monster grip had a substantial defense against totem light defenses, if this were any other totem user, perhaps this would be a normal trump card, only effective when the enemy came near.


    But for Garen, the characteristic that weakened totems was simply complimentary to him.


    As a Secret Technique Master, the totem¡¯s light was his greatest obstacle, and now with a substantial reduction of this obstruction, his Secret Techniques finally were of some use.


    Removing the totem light and totem user, the only threat left were strong ontology and special abilities.


    It can be said that the monster grip gave him an important opportunity to pick up Secret Techniques again.


    Garen recalled what happened when he transmigrated to this world.


    Smoky pots, volcanoes, Endorian civilizations and more civilizations, city monsters.


    Everything seems to be making clear that this world had a different general connection to the previous world.

 349 At the End 1

    Chapter 349: At the End 1


    Sitting in the wagon, Garen carefully arranged all the conditions that he knew. The core totem, Black-Striped White Tiger, had been repaired.


    He intended to take advantage of the team¡¯s lull period to upgrade the Black-Striped White Tiger into form 2 properly. He might seem surrounded by totems, but in the event of an ambush, or if he wanted more room for improvements down the road, nothing was as good as his core totem to upgrade.


    Be it the Petrifying White Dragon or the Dual-headed Salamander, they had no way to be further upgraded, as they had reached the end of their genetic lineage.


    The only proper direction of upgrade now was the core totem. Perhaps he would be able to collect all sorts of creatures and to test their evolutionary limits, but the time wasn''t now.


    As he was deep in thought, a faint signal suddenly got pinged in his brain.


    "Found it?" He stood up. "You go along, I''m going out for a while, I''ll catch up to you soon."


    Angel nodded. "Be careful."


    Gallon nodded, and jumped out of the carriage after opening the door.


    The beetles¡¯ reaction indicated that the target was not far away, and he should be able to reach it soon.


    Once Garen got off the carriage, he suddenly turned into a gray shadow and went into the woods quickly, climbing along the towering trees up to the canopy before breaching the treeline.


    Jiii! !


    A Petrifying White Dragon was gliding low, just low enough to grab hold of Garen firmly.


    *******************


    Aquarius was standing on a hillside from afar, looking at Trejons Manor completely destroyed by the gorillas. Her heart expressed a kind of unspeakable pleasure.


    She stood and was surrounded by a group of people, including both men and women, old and young, but they all had the same kind of smile.


    These were the men whom she gathered amidst these troubled times. Five Type II Totem Users, all of whom were the best of the elites. Some of them are desperados from foreign enemies, some had been loyal servants of Aquarius for many years. There were also Obscuro Society members who weren''t able to return after seceding.


    One of them, the leader of the Green Share, knelt on one knee and reported to Aquarius.


    "After the great apes left, we searched the vicinity of the manor for some time, and sure enough we captured some of the Kovitan noblemen who escaped from the manor, we found out some pretty good things from them."


    "That''s good, send it all to the warehouse." Aquarius was feeling good. "Vanderman is finally dead. Fighting him covertly and overtly for so many years, he was finally able to lay to rest. Fasa."


    "Here," A man donning red hunting attire near her stood up.


    "Send the news to the branch right away. Sequoia, how many people do we have now?"


    Another woman in red stood up. "Fifteen form 2 totem users, thirty-two ordinary guards, most of them from Green Shade. Lieutenant Colonel Wen Rui has also arrived, and is now resting in the manor."


    "Lieutenant Colonel Wen Rui, he has got quite a force behind him, just in time to support us." Aquarius nodded. "Unfortunately, our elite division is here, otherwise we could have looted more good items if we had left earlier."


    "It''s just that we were unclear of the situation; it felt like a war broke out in the manor previously, the specific situation is yet unknown." The girl in red whispered. "Maybe the elite division knows more about the situation, but the elite people always look down upon other departments, even us. They have also previously had some conflicts with Lieutenant Colonel Farr."


    "They actually dared to go against the mighty Lieutenant Colonel Farr, do these people have water for brains?" Rose''s face reveals a trace of disgust. "All these kids who never grew up!"


    "Unfortunately, there aren''t any influential people in our military to preside over the overall situation." Speaking of this, there was a sliver of hope on Aquarius¡¯ face. "I hope that the sir isn''t just a passerby ..."


    Du ...


    Suddenly, something in her arms vibrated slightly.


    Aquarius hurriedly took out the derivator from the pocket inside her, which was a pale red, transparent crystal ball the size of the fist.


    A line of Kovitan words slowly appeared on the crystal ball.


    ¡®Your request has been approved. ''


    Aquarius'' face suddenly looked ecstatic.


    She was just bolstering a tryout attitude when she contacted for a request.


    "It actually ... !!"


    An unprecedented excitement gushed from the bottom of her heart, she, Aquarius Sembenita, was about to get rich! !


    "Everyone! Bow down in unison !!"


    She took a deep breath and shouted.


    Wow!


    Including her, they all knelt on one knee.


    The reddish crystal ball was placed in front of her on a tree branch. Flashing on it were words establishing a connection.


    *********************


    Garen rode on the white dragon''s back, watching the woods¡¯ carriage lanes quickly receding below. He looked up and looked toward the direction of the beetles.


    He thought about it for a moment, then fished out the derivator.


    The derivator was restored to its original pink color after the activation from Lala¡¯s empowerment.


    As it was taken out, the crystal ball glowed with a slight red fluorescence.


    On top of it were some continuous patterns of ripples.


    ''Communication requests: 3 found.''


    "Three communication requests?" Garen was slightly surprised. The crystal¡¯s latency situation had been completely resolved after empowering Lala. Now he can even maintain contact with other crystal balls.


    He hesitated slightly. Then click on the option to allow the request.


    Jiiii ...


    Like the chime of a television signal. Three threads appeared simultaneously on the crystal ball screen.


    ''- Elite Division Lieutenant Colonel Charles. ''


    ''- Lush Forest District, Brigadier General Canberra. ''


    ''- Lush Forest District, Colonel Aquarius. ''


    "Aquarius?" Garen smiled oddly.


    He tapped on Rose''s contact request.


    With a subtle click, the contact soon connected.


    "I''m Jess, Colonel Aquarius, please immediately report your location."


    ****************


    A small hill in the woods


    Aquarius¡¯ group looked over the moon as they knelt on one knee, facing the crystal ball.


    Not only her, but the others got unusually excited when they learned that there was actually an elemental general in the Lush Forest District.


    Elemental Generals!


    They possess innate strength, with a wave of a hand, they could summon high combat power units. Being a commander was only one step away. Every elemental general was extremely powerful people. Their combat power was much higher than the luminescence.


    To be an elemental general, they were all geniuses among geniuses, the elite among the elite!


    Being a Brigadier General was once Aquarius¡¯ biggest wish, and now she had actually met a real elemental general! This made her feel restless from excitement.


    "I''m Jess, Colonel Aquarius, please report your location immediately." A low, hoarse voice came from inside the crystal ball.


    "Dear General Jess, I am in a manor in the Trejons Territory. You can locate me directly from the crystal ball, not far from here." Aquarius¡¯ voice trembled. Originally, someone at her level, who had not reached a general, would have had no way to come into contact with such a big shot. Unexpectedly, such opportunity had finally emerged.


    "Fine. I''m consolidating resources, list it all that you have and report in." General Jess''s voice sank indifferently, with a sense of oppression.


    "Yes! Consider it done!" Immediately afterwards, she hesitated, "Please tell me, your Excellencies, we originally belonged to the Lieutenant Colonel Grely , but now the Lieutenant colonel is missing in action, the whole Lush Forest District is in a disarray. There is no unification or leadership. I plead that Your Excellency integrate the strengths within the Lush Forest to prevent anyone from taking advantage of the power vacuum. "


    She paused, then continued. "In addition, about resources, I have unexpectedly come across a phantom workshop of some secret surgery, would you be interested ..."


    She knew, however, that now that the heroes of the masses had lost their prominence, each province resembled headless flies, pushed around by swarming monsters everywhere. The lieutenants only cared to manage their own areas of jurisdiction, no one cared much about the remote areas of the province. The original lieutenant-general here was also killed in an assassination ordered by the king of Kovitan, during their siege on RAL.


    Even the lieutenants are despised here, let alone the generals.


    Several nearby generals ignored the situation here. Each had its own jurisdiction, problems were left unsolved, no one had the mood to care about these trivialities.


    The Obscuro Society in Lush Forest District could barely protect themselves in each battle; the side division only had one brigadier-general holding on. As Kovitan Empire became more powerful, they had been longing for a strong leader to lead them. Unfortunately, this wish was too difficult to achieve.


    No one was willing to pressure Kovitan for a Lush Forest that was so drained of resources.


    Aquarius¡¯ pressure was also growing. Now, finally, finally somebody cared about the entire Lush Forest District.


    This finally made her feel a sense of relief.


    "Secret Tactics? Phantom workshop?" Colonel Jess seemed to have never heard of them.


    "This tactic is a curing technique that allows all the totem under you to be attached with a layer of bone defense. It is said that a special hard bone was found in the archaeological site by someone from the phantom workshop, " Aquarius hurriedly explained. "Phantom Workshop is Lush Forest''s best workshop union."


    "Understood, You shall look into it. Send the maximum resources you can manage to this location." The crystal ball suddenly showed a line of words. Impressively, it was the Black Swan Lake near the shore.


    .


    "Understood!" Rose hurriedly nodded.


    "Well, I look forward to your performance. Colonel Aquarius. " General Jess''s voice disappeared from the crystal ball shortly after.


    Aquarius and others kneeling on the ground on one knee, took a long time before they slowly stood up.


    She kept the crystal ball, and Aquarius turned back delightfully.


    "Gentlemen, it is time for us to perform, although General Jess will not govern us as our direct superior, but as long as we seize this opportunity, we will be able to come under James and gain the protection of the general! We will not be repressed by the disgusting rubbish of the royal family!


    "What are some of the resources that General Jess said he wanted? He did not give a conclusion." Sequoia could not help but speak out.


    "This should be a test given to us. To only speak about a resource and not specify specifics, it would be to test our sincerity and loyalty. How many rare evolutionary crystals do we have now, Ravanu."


    "Three ... ma¡¯m, that''s the treasure that you¡¯ve got after so much trouble, it could catalyze the evolution of most totems and prepare to be used in your evolutionary totem. Giving it all away.... Do you ..." Ravanu was a black, dark-skinned man who stood out in distress.


    "This is a crucial moment to show your determination!" Aquarius hurled her hand upwards energetically. "Send them all to the designated location, if there are spare unactivated totems of high quality, send two-thirds of them. Just leaving some for emergencies will do, the two sets of tactical formation and all the energy crystals in the store are to be sent to him."

 350 At the End 2

    Chapter 350: At the End 2


    "But Lieutenant Colonel! The two sets of tactical array were the trump cards your father prepared for you, just sending them in vain, what if ..." Green shade whispered.


    "If you want to go big, you must first have a have the resolve and generosity!" Said Aquarius, narrowing her eyes. "When a general unexpectedly lacks resources, it is time for us to show our loyalty. These little things; it would have amounted to nothing at another place and time to him, there would have been many other people who wanted to send them over, I believe he would not even bat an eye, but now, it is different! We must seize this opportunity!


    "Lieutenant-Colonel is wise! I think so too. For a general to actually require resources in Lush Forest district to be mobilized, it is certainly a special occasion, this is precisely the time to show our loyalty." An elderly totem user stood up and agreed with Aquarius¡¯ plans.


    "Not bad. So not only do we have to send resources, but we also have to send enough good resources!" Said Aquarius firmly.


    ***************


    Garen looked at the crystal ball¡¯s words as he ended the communication, his mood was exceptionally comfy.


    Of the three communications requests, one of them was actually Aquarius.


    He almost forgot that Aquarius was one of the heads here.


    In addition to Aquarius, the other two communications, one was sent by the General from the elite division. He did not connect to it.


    The last one came from one of the two generals he had contacted previously: Demetrius.


    Garen thought for a moment, and casually opened the link.


    The snapping sound lasted for a long time, and finally, after more than 10 seconds, the crystal ball a burst of coughing sounds came from the derivator.


    "This is Demetrius, Jess, why did you only contact me now?"


    "My crystal ball had some issues previously, is there anything?" Garen replied with a low tone.


    "There is something, you are on your way to Kovitan, right? There were three generals there who are now missing, and now there is no leader in the whole branch. The commander wishes that you take over the branch for now." Demetrius said simply.


    "Promote me? Are you kidding? The three generals are gone, do you think I can resist the forces behind those incidents?" Garen¡¯s voice suddenly cooled down.


    "The above is still satisfied with your performance in Iron Tank City, but with the death of a Grand Duke of White Dragonhawk, and also the emergence of King of the Skies, the commander is also furious." Demetrius explained. "What the commander meant is, for the time being, only for the time being, you can manage the Kovitan side temporarily, and not to clash with the King of Kovitan. As for the rest, you just need to wait quietly. The situation will change quickly. "


    "Oh, a turn in tides?" Garen¡¯s heart moved. "The king of Kovitan is a king of great caliber, strong and experienced, top notch strategies and decision-making, The turn in tides, you said ...?"


    "Have the people in elite divisions reached you? The plan for this is their responsibility,I am not very clear myself. You can ask the elite division about the situation."


    Demetrius pushed the responsibilities, "Try to exercise some restraint, avoid any conflicts. This is the wish of the commander. "


    "Who''s the supreme leader over there?" Jaron asked directly.


    "Delouse, Delouse Jacques." Demetrius solemnly said the name.


    Garen was finally startled. "The Kovitan Princess! She was also one of us!?"


    "The plan was laid out many years ago, and the secret is only accessible for the general level, and you''d better keep it a little tight, though it''s not far from success," Demetrius told.


    "I know."


    "By the way, are you sure you have no issues with the derivator? The people of the Obscuro are also in Kovitan. Do you want them to fix it for you?"


    "Nothing, just a little issue."


    "That''s good."


    Pap!


    The contact was disconnected.


    Garen sat on the back of the dragon, blowing cold air in the sky, but his heart fell cold.


    Princess Delouse, King of Kovitan¡¯s favorite princess, one would not even think she is of the Obscuro society, let alone the elite division¡¯s leader.


    "Iron Tank City, Kovitan, Ender , East Continent .... A really big chess set..." He squinted slightly.


    As for Vanderman''s technology, Demetrius did not mention that at this level, the most it could do was to raise base power. It did not affect the upper management at all.


    When the core totem reaches the third form, the core and the totem user can merge for a short time, doubling their power and doubling their defense. All of the secondary totems do not have this ability.


    While this technique is good for improving the underlying totem, it does not make a big difference at a high level. So, be it Obscuro Society or Terraflor Society, they were not very concerned about the Green Vine Sphere.


    Mortals will remain a mortal, even with the properties of the totem¡¯s light, in face of all kinds of advanced totems, it still didn¡¯t possess much fighting power.


    Originally, he was out, ready to kill Aquarius, but now he had temporarily suspended the idea. He intended to use General Jess'' identity to loot all the silly Rose¡¯s treasures, and then kill her. Was not a better choice?


    Petrifying White Dragon¡¯s wings soared forward, and soon it landed on the edge of the Swan Lake, on the forests which were broken and knocked down.


    Laying on the ground was a few lavishly dressed aristocratic totem users. These people were the noblemen students who had previously escaped from the manor. They actually want to threaten Garen and Vanderman.


    "Reckless bunch." Garen kicked a body of a noble and flipped it over.


    The body¡¯s neck was completely severed with a line of blood, with minimal effort, the head and body would separate, the head would roll to the other side.


    The Petrifying White Dragon dual headed salamander respectfully laid beside Garen; there are several Deep Swamp Crocs around the edge.


    After the brawl with Beckstone at the manor, the number of Deep Swamp Croc plummeted, leaving only six here. The beetles had only a dozen newborns.


    Garon took out the green vine sphere; it was like a living thing, still continuing to stretch its green roots, tentacle constantly waving. It''s like a ball of wool that got its thread everywhere.


    He gently flicked green vine sphere.


    Spherical surface suddenly popped out a few green lights, it fell on all around the totem¡¯s body.


    The green light attached to the body of the totem, then there were no movement.


    Garon put away the green vine sphere, he had guessed that it might take some time for it to take effect, but also ordered these totems not to get rid of the green light spots.


    He put on his hood, his whole person was now hidden under gray robes.


    After the communication with elemental general Demeritus, Garen gained more understanding about the current situation.


    He remembered that in the history he had seen, the king of Kovitan was assassinated and, and the entirety of the Kovitan suddenly collapsed. However, there was still a long period of time from the event in Iron Tank city. Now, it should be the completion phase of Obscuro''s planning.


    He was now primarily controlled by the derivator. Then, between choosing to upgrade the core totem and seizing control of the derivator, both ways were viable.


    The main key to the control of the derivator is the resonant stone in his hand.


    Garen was fiddling with the stone, it had completely changed now, and became much like an ordinary gray stone. In the hands of Garen, it was totally losing its semblance of the strange meat from before .


    Garen has fiddled with it for so long with the powerful five senses and acumen honed by his Secret Techniques. He could faintly feel the secret this rock held.


    Garen was slowly grasping the pattern of the frequency model of the resonant stone. As long as he thoroughly understood the resonance principle, he could have a more in-depth understanding and start research on the crystal derivator. Garen was very confident in this area. With enough research material and subject knowledge, he could use it to for evolution.


    The core totem, black-striped white tiger, had crystal spots, with enough potential points, and was also repaired. Everything was ready, it was just a matter of when evolution began.


    Garen sat by the Black Swan Lake. Looking across diagonally was the location of the original Vanderman Manor, charred beyond recognition. A fire was raging from within, destroying the wooden structure, releasing echoes of breaking timber periodically.


    The great ape was now gone, so was the manor, without a trace of human life left.


    The blaze was imprinted on the surface of the black lake, and a grey cloud above slowly shifted its way across the smoke filled sky.


    .


    Time passed with each second and minute.


    Garen''s totems were dispersed and hidden. The manor''s fire was still burning, its intensity ever-increasing.


    Garen faced the fire, quietly standing under a tree by the lake.


    Soon, a buffalo with red metal skin laden with many black boxes of varying sizes walked out from the forest behind him.


    Escorted by a number of young men and women wearing black armor, these people saw Garen standing by the lakeside, and suddenly held their tracks.


    Leading the unit was a person wearing a delicate black dress, light brown hair, with a slim body and well-developed chest. The impressive Aquarius, as usual.


    This enchanting woman had a pair of beautiful almond eyes, lips covered with light pink lipstick, ears adorned with white pearl earrings. At this point, she was puzzlingly looked at the gray robes by the lake.


    "Excuse me, were you sent by His Excellency Jess to receive these resources?" She whispered.


    "Dear goddess Aquarius, it¡¯s been a while, it is really disappointing that you actually don¡¯t recognize me."


    The man in gray robe slowly turned around, removed his hood, revealing a smiling handsome face.


    Aquarius¡¯ eyes was first puzzled, then her pupils shrunk, it seems that she recalled something, her eyes became intense and stared speechless. She raised her hand, pointing at the man for a while, uttering nought a word.


    Pap!


    Garen snapped his fingers.


    Surrounding his audience were a bunch of terrifying red eyes from within the dense forest, within the shadow of the woods. A looming aura of danger presided over them.


    "How could you know this !!" Aquarius was was flustered, her gaze firm and staring at Garen opposite from her. "This is the place where General Jess will be meeting us, you are not Acacia !! Who are you?"


    Garen spread his arms, the crystal derivator slowly floated from his hands, turning into a light red glimmer.


    "Take a guess?" His voice at this time actually split into two, a hoarse voice, and another clear and bright, overlapping each other. It made one feel a sense of unnatural discomfort.


    Aquarius was stone-cold. She heard one of the voices, the one that was the sound of General Jess.


    "Let¡¯s move!!"


    Without hesitation, she shouted as she turned back swiftly.

 351 Resolve 1

    Chapter 351: Resolve 1


    "Fuu..."


    "Fuu ..."


    "Fuu ....."


    Aquarius gasped for air as she unleashed four successive lightning movement tactics. They were pre-stored in the tactics chain of her ability, and used for escaping directly.


    She was completely alone now, without any subordinates. She wasn¡¯t very concerned with that at the moment though.


    Just as her body halted, several Red Eyed Giant Wolves reappeared in the woods in front of her. Each of these giant wolves were about a man¡¯s height and their bodies were covered in festering wounds; on a normal Giant Wolf, it would have been on the verge of keeling over.


    "Damn it! They¡¯re Vanderman''s Rotten Giant Wolves!!" She paled as she sensed countless wolves around her, "The Green Vine Sphere! This is definitely the Green Vine Sphere! Only the Green Vine Sphere can control these experimental bodies scattered outside!"


    She took two steps back, feeling a familiar howling again in the back, which was the roar of Rotten Giant Wolves.


    The number of these wolves was overwhelming; this was obviously planned.


    "I''ve got everything out! Don¡¯t be so aggressive!" Aquarius called out.


    Suddenly she spun to her left, and flung herself to the ground.


    Krakk ! !


    A huge hole was ripped out from the ground, and a large bite mark remained where she¡¯d been standing. The beast had ferociously bitten a large patch of ground and quickly retreated, leaving behind a crater two meters wide.


    Aquarius¡¯ heart pounded wildly as she vigilantly observed her surroundings. Her subordinates has been left far behind when she¡¯d used a few lightning movements.


    She ground her teeth.


    "As long as you help me delay that man, I will help settle everything else on your end... please last a little longer ..."


    As she stood up, she was unusually embarrassed.


    Her dress was streaked with soil, and soil was also streaked in her hair.


    She thought for a moment, while she lightly dusted dirt off the back of her dress.


    A silver light streaked out and landed in front of her, shapeshifting into a dark green Python. On each side of the python¡¯s head was a pair of white feathered wings, which was rather strange.


    "Get rid of the guy in the ground!" She mentally ordered.


    The giant python immediately drilled downwards, disappearing into the ground.


    Awoo!


    A Rotten Giant Wolf leapt towards Aquarius unexpectedly, bringing a foul stench as it attempted to bite at Aquarius¡¯ neck.


    At the same time, another Rotten Giant Wolf rushed over from behind; more than ten Wolves were rushing forward at the same time from the surrounding dense forest.


    Roar! ! !


    A frenzied roar bellowed from Aquarius¡¯ location. At the same time a wave of yellow energy blasted forth.


    More than ten Rotten Giant Wolves were blown back by the shockwave and tumbled to the ground, where after struggling several times, they soon melted into puddles of pus.


    Once again, a dozen Rotten Giant Wolves rushed at her from the forest.


    Just as Aquarius thought to move, she¡¯d been cornered by the giant wolves.


    Garen leisurely strolled out of the woods, watching the rotten giant wolves surround Aquarius.


    The Green Vine Sphere could control up to more than two hundred Rotten Giant Wolves; these experimental bodies were merely ordinary wolves covered in spores. Their power could only be considered a Type 1 totem beast, which wasn¡¯t very strong. They were disposable though, which improved their feasibility.


    Noticing that Aquarius had been completely surrounded by the Giant Wolves, the underground Dual-Headed Salamander was blocked by the winged python released by Aquarius, and both were tangled together. Garen was surprised.


    "What about your derivator? Or your other totems? Why did you not bring them out?" He clapped his hands, a signal for the large pack of wolves to disband and disperse.


    At the center, Aquarius looked dishevelled. The escape techniques stored in the tactic chains within her cuffs had all been used up. she glared at Garen.


    "It¡¯s impossible for you to be Acacia! Who are you, and why do you hold so much animosity against me?"


    Garen chuckled.


    "Did we not meet once long ago? I was Cia, how could you forget all of that? Cia, who wrote those love poems dedicated to you."


    The Green Vine Sphere was able to control more than two hundred Rotten Giant Wolves, which Garen intended to be used as a general measure. The Dual-Headed Salamander had actually been suppressed by a strange python, which astonished Garen.


    That strange python was obviously the opponent¡¯s only Form 3 totem.


    At this moment, Aquarius was in despair. All her Type 2 totems had just got through a war and were pretty much exhausted, leaving only her strongest green python, and her only Form 3 double-winged python, coupled with a tactics chains. These were all the means left to her, but in front of this man, it barely made a difference.


    Her Form 3 double-winged python was currently being suppressed, and there were still several dangerous presences lurking close by, she could feel it.


    Aquarius had had a keen sense of danger since an early age. This sense of danger had saved her too many times, so when she saw that dark robed man, she knew that her opponent had laid down a huge ambush and so she decisively abandoned her subordinates. She escaped alone using four consecutive lightning movements, which consumed almost all of her totems¡¯ power. Even after fleeing hundreds of kilometers away, she still couldn¡¯t shake this man off.


    She faintly felt that this was her first time meeting this man.


    The scenario ahead of her felt exactly the same as before; a scary opponent whom she could not escape from no matter how hard she tried. The same tall man was toying with her with an amused gaze.


    "Keabo!! You are Keabo!!" She suddenly shouted loudly. "You dare attack me! My father will not forgive this! Never!"


    Garen was stunned, as he did not expect that she would make such outlandish exclamations.


    "Who is Keabo?" Before he even managed to open his mouth to ask the question, Aquarius had turned and fled, through the crevices in the trees towards the lake.


    He raised his hand.


    Jii!


    A Deep Swamp Croc suddenly leapt out and tackled Aquarius. She tumbled to the ground and rolled over.


    The woman panted for a while before attempting to stand up. The layer of green totem light around hers was splattered with viscous black mud. As though it had been on glass instead, the mud slowly slid off back onto the ground.


    "What are you trying to do ?!" She stood still as she glowered at Garen.


    Garen slowly walked towards her.


    "I have to thank you for the supplies that you brought me. You¡¯re from the elite department at Vandermann Manor aren¡¯t you?"


    "So what? You¡¯re dead meat once they find out about this!" Aquarius spat hatefully, her voice faltering. "This time, the elite department is led by an actual Lieutenant General again and he has a strong backing. You still have time to retreat, and I will explain to the superiors that this was a misunderstanding."


    "Retreat?" Garen could not help but chuckle. "Aquarius, I thought you were an intelligent woman, I didn¡¯t expect that at such a crucial moment, you actually became so witless."


    He suddenly spun about and delivered a side kick.


    Bam!


    His right leg blurred into a gray shadow and jabbed at Aquarius¡¯ waist.


    Aquarius tumbled like a gourd as she rolled on the ground a dozen times and crashed into a big tree. A large slab of bark fell from the impact of her collision. Leaves drifted from the tree¡¯s branches like rain.


    Aquarius had been protected by her Totem¡¯s Light hence she wasn¡¯t severely injured, and quickly stood back up.


    Her hair was slovenly and her eyes were locked on the ground while she paid attention to Garen, in fear that he¡¯d pull out tricks once more.


    "Trying to summon your Form 3 totem?" Garen smiled. "Unfortunately ... my little baby is keeping it busy. It should be a while before a winner can be decided. "


    "What the hell do you want?!" Aquarius withdrew and backed herself to the tree¡¯s trunk. "My father is a Brigadier General in the Obscuro Society, he can give you money! He can give you anything you want! As long as you take me hostage, you can do a direct exchange!"


    "That''s not what I need, I only want you." Garen shook his head. Unexpectedly, he heard a woman''s muffled shriek from the right.


    He looked around, he unexpectedly saw another Aquarius being tackled by the Deep Swamp Croc.


    Meanwhile, the Aquarius standing in front of the trunk gradually vanished.


    .


    "Oh? An illusion?" Garen had a stern face. "You sure have a lot of tricks up your sleeve. One simple lieutenant colonel almost fooled me."


    His eyes opened wide, his iris suddenly glowed red and a circle of bloody symbols in his eyes flashed.


    Aquarius shuddered under Garen¡¯s glower. Her totem light suddenly dimmed and her defensive capabilities decreased sharply, by more than half.


    Aquarius¡¯ face paled. She spun about and bolted as fast as she could, similar to a frightened hare, into the bushes behind her.


    Yet Garen was faster; his figure blurred into a gray shadow and he blocked her path with ease. He then stretched out his left hand and brushed gently against Aquarius¡¯ forehead.


    His palm and her Totem¡¯s Light touched lightly.


    Kacha!


    The totem¡¯s light suddenly shattered like glass into black and green fragments as it dissipated into thin air.


    The weak rays weakened Aquarius¡¯ Totem¡¯s Light even further. As Garen was carrying the Green Vine Sphere, all his attacks carried the Totem¡¯s Light properties. Soon, Aquarius¡¯ Totem¡¯s Light was completely shattered.


    Bang bang! ! Aquarius was violently flung and her body bounced off the ground several times before crashing into a large green boulder. Her battered body tumbled aside.


    She lay on the ground covered in moss and grass, her face swollen. As she was unable to stand back up, the impact must injured some part of her back.


    "Don¡¯t ... Please don¡¯t kill me ... I don¡¯t want to die!!" Aquarius futilely attempted to get up several times, and a suppressed sob was leaking into her voice. "Don¡¯t ... Don¡¯t kill me .... My father is a brigadier!"


    Garen stopped in front of her, and he gazed at the sniffling and sobbing woman. She had completely lost all semblance to her previous bewitching appearance, and was now a mere human.


    "For the person who led the elite department and led to Vanderman¡¯s death in his own manor, it¡¯s much too late to be speaking of this." He said lightly.


    Aquarius, who wanted to push up her body, was still unable to lift herself.


    "Don¡¯t kill me, I can do a lot of favours for you ... A ton of them!!" She wailed and shrunk backwards, trying to maintain her distance from Garen.


    As Garen looked upwards and gazed at the gray sky, he suddenly felt some inexplicable emotions.


    "Didn¡¯t you like me? I can be your lover! or your slave! Don¡¯t kill me, don¡¯t ..." Aquarius incoherently spoke.


    Garen stood in front of her, quietly observing.


    Poof!


    Aquarius suddenly coughed up blood, her chest had been dyed red in an instant. Her face carried an blank look, as though she had no clue what had happened. She raised her hand and stared at the blood coating it.


    Poof!


    Yet another spurt of blood.


    "No!! I don¡¯t want to die!!"


    She wailed loudly.


    Jii! Jii! Jii !!


    Soon, wounds appeared all over Aquarius, and blood streamed out as though it was from a morbid fountain.


    "Mum ... Dad .... Uwaa .. where are you?" Aquarius cried aloud, she began to grope about with her hand aimlessly, her pretty almond eyes had almost completely dissolved, and she could not see anything; both her eyes had turned black.


    "Mum ... Waa ..."


    Garen stood silently in front of her as he watched her blood-streaked body. She was still searching with her hands on the ground, sobbing.


    "The deepest feelings surface only in their most desperate moments." He tightened his dark robe and turned away.


    Bam! ! !


    A blast rang from behind him. Aquarius¡¯ body exploded into a bloody mist, and her blood splattered the surrounding trees and grass, dying the vicinity red.

 352 Resolve 2

    Chapter 352: Resolve 2


    Sitting within the caravan¡¯s carriage, Garen quietly calculated the formula in front of him, lines of tiny alphanumeric formulas flowed from the tip of his pen, neatly written on a sheet of white paper.


    The wagon¡¯s wheels rolled slowly, its creak blending with the rustling sound of writing.


    The morning light shimmered in from the window, and illuminated some of the darker parts within the carriage.


    They¡¯d arrived at a safe zone; outside the carriage was the heavily armored white horse cavalry that had escorted them. These cavalryman were led by a Form 1 Totem User, whose head was held high and his chest bulged as he rode on horseback in white armor. The handsome man displayed an aura of pride and bravery.


    Garen glanced away from the side of the cavalry.


    "We''re about to reach the West Farm defense line right?" he murmured.


    Angel shrugged as she sat opposite him,carefully moving her injured shoulder to answer the question.


    "Even the patrol cavalry has appeared, we¡¯re definitely closer. According to the map, we should arrive in the afternoon." She paused, "Leila talked to them for a while, and she asked a few questions regarding the defensive lines."


    "Give me the details."


    "The West Farm defensive line is mainly patrolled by totem users leading elite soldiers, and an outpost and fortress is built every two hundred kilometers for the stationing of totem users. Each fortress is run by a lieutenant-class totem user, with at least ten Form 2 totem users stationed. Almost all of humanity''s most elite troops are stationed on this line of defense, "Angel explained while she removed the bandage from her shoulder.


    "After they learnt of the fall of Vanderman Manor, the cavalrymen were also shocked. The Vanderman Manor was interdependent with the stronghold here and was one of the 68 front-line strongholds. Now that it had been destroyed, they need to look into recalibrating their defensive lines, and wait for reinforcement troops. "Angel clenched her teeth, peeled the bandage off and swiped a cotton swab dipped in alcohol to sterilize the wound.


    "I heard ... Ughh ... I heard that not only was the Vanderman Manor destroyed, in the nearby Thousand Cranes Manor, nobody survived. This is possibly be a large move by the Obscuro Society" She endured the pain and re-wrapped her new bandage.


    "Yes, news of the Iron Tank City incident has spread throughout the entire ??human safe zone. Not only the Grand Duke of Blackfield Dragonhawk, of hundreds of kingdoms in East Continent, thousands of cities of different sizes, only one hundred and eighty two cities survived and have now been divided into six safe areas. Do you know which are the six? "Angel spiritedly asked.


    "Which six?" Garen smiled and calmly asked.


    "You''re calm," Angel glanced at him in surprise. "Iron Tank District, centered in Iron Tank city, is called black territory because it is protected by the Duke of the Blackfield, and the surrounding twelve cities were reconstructed around Iron Tank City."


    "Then Prince Alexander of Glory City , brother to King of Ender and the eldest son of Prince Tangula, also known as the Black Prince, his glorious city is at the core, the surrounding ten cities are being rebuilt and they are forming a complete basin defense known as the dragonfield."


    Angel sipped some water, then continued speaking.


    "Another is Queen Jean Earnest, a peerless beauty once hailed as the never-withering flower. She is also an unexpectedly strong totem user. She¡¯s taken the Avision city as the core. Adjacent to Trinity, this city is reputed with the revival of fifteen cities. The queen is hailed as the queen of blood by unimaginative poets, and the area she protects is known as the Avision City."


    "Those are only three safe areas, what are the rest?" Garen asked while calculating the formula.


    "There is also the kingdoms of the three great powers forming the central safe zone: Kovitan, Canbria and Ender.Those three kingdoms combined with the capital as the core, establishing a huge security zone .The Three Empire Defense Circle, as well as the Blackfield Dragonfield, Avision City and Iron Tank District are now the entire congregation of six safe havens for people in East Continents, the rest are nothing but wastelands, all of them mutants and wild creatures.


    Garen smiled but did not speak; the so-called land of death was only the public view. In fact, Obscuro Society, as well as Terraflor Society¡¯s congregation spots were definitely not wastelands at all.


    "A troubled world breeds heroes, I suppose this is true," Leila whispered around the side of her cup of coffee. "I also heard from a sister in the cavalry that there were a lot of powerful totem users coming from within the community."


    "I also heard about that, it is rather lively around, we Kovitan have several famous totem users." Angel suddenly got interested.


    They promptly ignored Garen, and chattered together on the side.


    Garen shook his head and continued calculating his own model equations. With some classic books from Aquarius, his understanding and research on totems deepened.


    In the process of sensing the Resonant Stone, he secretly combined it with the totem aspect in his system of knowledge, also with a trace of other gains.


    As long as he managed to sipher study notes and academic books from Cia''s father Vanderman while in the capital, he should be able to raise his research knowledge by several levels. He would then be able to unlock the secrets of the Crystal Derivator.


    Regardless, the study done by Vanderman had reached a very deep level. Compared to other fields of study, it was the Grand Obscuro of Obscuro Society, the old senile people over at Terraflor, and even the three great empires¡¯ Three Departments. Each of these were decent but their research headed in different directions, which was the cause of the many problems attracted by Vanderman.


    Garen believes that as long as he find the research knowledge, he would definitely find out the way to completely control the crystal derivator.


    Most importantly though was the evolution of his Black-Striped White Tiger.


    He dropped the pen and checked the Black-Striped White Tiger''s condition in its storage device. On his left ring finger was a black crystal ring which also doubled as the Black-Striped White Tiger''s storage device.


    After the Black-Striped White Tiger had been released and it had gobbled up the patterned crystal in several bites, Garen returned it into the ring, in accordance with the rhythm of evolution.


    Now he has to wait for five hours, until the crystal was completely digested and absorbed.


    He took out his pocket watch and checked the time.


    "Just five hours."


    Ignoring the two chatting people on the side, Garen set his eyes straight on the totem pane below his vision.


    ''Black-Striped White Tiger: Form 1 totem, upgradable. Evolution success rate: 11%. Potential consumption point: 700%.


    Ability: Tail whip, rupturing bite. ''


    Checking his potential points, after killing Aquarius and the rest of the low-level totem users, he now accumulated more than two hundred points.


    According to Black-Striped White Tiger core totem evolution law, he needs to obtain more than 100 points for a large activation and evolution. The Black-Striped White Tiger could not undergo fragmented genetic evolution and could only continue to activate large fragments, which was also the reason for its high potential point consumption.


    Garen did not hesitate, his eyes stared down at the Black-Striped White Tiger icon. Three seconds later.


    The potential points were drained significantly, as though a flood had washed them away.


    Within a few seconds, the potential points had dropped by hundreds of points.


    Garen¡¯s face twitched in strong disapproval, as those potential points had been accumulated over a long time, in case of a few unsuccessful successions. Even though the potential points would be returned, some of them would be left in Black-Striped White Tiger.


    "What a brilliant move! If you¡¯re still so lousy after evolution, don¡¯t blame me if I swap you out." Garen coldly steeled his resolve.


    Finally, a full five seconds later, the Black-Striped White Tiger''s icon slowly blurred, and Garen refocused his vision. If he didn¡¯t observe it so keenly, it would have to be done the same as before; the accumulation of 7 points at a time, which was a much slower process. That was incomparable to this process, which could complete his goals in a single attempt.


    He now understood that the icon displayed the rate of evolutionary success, which was the highest gene fragment success rate. It also showed the potential consumption point of its display, which also happened to be the point of least potential consumption.


    The amount of potential points rose by more than 120 points before it finally stopped.


    The Black-Striped White Tiger icon blurred for some time, and quickly cleared up.


    As it returned to the properties pane, it sharply rose again.


    "A failure." Garron spat, and this time, he did not see any need for other crystals.


    He calculated that he¡¯d failed once and it consumed thirty-five potential points. This was extremely wasteful to him.


    However, in order to start a big activation, it would require more than 120 points. He thought for a while before trying again.


    The second time the Black-Striped White Tiger icon blurred, it cleared up faster than before, but there were no changes. Another 35 potential points had been wasted.


    Garen had wasted 70 potential points, leaving him with only 130 potential points.


    He persisted and tried once more.


    The icon absorbed a large number of potential points, it started to blur, and then ¡­


    It failed again.


    Garen groaned; he was now in an extremely bad mood. Almost 100 potential points had been dumped, yet not even a ripple of water had changed, which worsened his increasing irritation towards Black-Striped White Tiger.


    Originally he¡¯d thought that he was talented and that this evolution would be viable. He had not expected that he¡¯d have been overconfident in himself.


    Black-Striped White Tiger had undergone multiple trials by researchers and they had not been able to find an evolutionary approach, what were the chances that he would discover an evolutionary approach so easily?


    Seeing that he did not have enough points to attempt evolution again, Garen thought. "Since the Black-Striped White Tiger doesn¡¯t work, then I¡¯ll have to resort to another plan .. The replacement of the core totem, aside from five years buffer period, there has to be another way...."


    Now that he¡¯d learnt a lot on totem knowledge and research, he¡¯d accumulated most of the preliminary knowledge for this area.


    Black-Striped White Tiger was his failed choice, he¡¯d spent so much potential points yet his attempts were all unsuccessful. Even if it did evolve into a Form 2 totem, how strong could it become? At most it could be comparable to a Form 3, but what about actually evolving it to Form 3?


    After careful consideration, Garon decided to give up the Black-Striped White Tiger, realising that he¡¯d been too sure of himself at the start.


    "Contacting the core totem approach, aside from waiting for five years, there is the complete destruction of Black-Striped White Tiger." Garen narrowed his eyes and he had decided to replace the core totem.


    Destroying the core totem was a very difficult decision.


    Destroying just the totem¡¯s light of the core totem would injure the totem users as well, and their spirit would be affected. If the core totem was completely destroyed, especially if the five years adaptation period had not completed, the totem user would be strongly impacted and their body¡¯s integration with the core totem would be seriously traumatized.


    Simply put, the current Garen would be gravely weakened by the core totem¡¯s destruction. Totem users were often weak, and the magnitude of this would cause 10% of people to die.


    "It¡¯s the price I¡¯ll pay for choosing wrongly."

 353 Core 1

    Chapter 353: Core 1


    "However, the timing we¡¯ll change it to and what will we change is still a problem," Garen mulled while he remained seated.


    An impossible plan lingered in his mind, and whether this plan would succeed depended on the research conclusions observed in this period of time.


    "We¡¯ll wait for a bit and see. If that plan succeeds, it won¡¯t matter if it¡¯s the Black-Striped White Tiger or other cores, or whether there even is a core totem, because it will all be irrelevant."


    ***********


    Five days later¡­


    Alone within the carriage, Garen stood in front of the laboratory equipment, gently shaking a test tube filled with pale yellow liquid.


    The midday sunlight shone in from the outside and gave the interior an ethereal glow.


    Garen carefully returned the test tube to the test tube rack, pipetted a drop of red liquid from a second test tube and released it into the first one.


    Shh¡­


    Instantly, black smoke curled out of the test tube while an intoxicatingly sweet smell slowly saturated the air.


    "Success¡­" Garen nodded in satisfaction. "The Dual Headed Salamander serum that I separated using the centrifuge can probably be ridden of its toxicity this time.


    He picked up the pale yellow liquid-filled test tube and shook it in sync with the clock, as though his hand contained an unknown regular pattern.


    Rolling up his sleeves, Garen exposed his right arm, picked up the syringe he had prepared earlier and equipped the needle. He began to suck the serum out of the test tube. Only when all of the pale yellow liquid had been sucked into the syringe did he take it out of the test tube, before flicking the needle tip.


    Tch!


    Garen¡¯s left hand pressed down the syringe plunger steadily as he pierced the needle directly into his vein at his wrist.


    The needle was inserted into his bloodstream through his vein slowly, and the Dual Headed Salamander¡¯s serum sample flowed into Garen¡¯s blood. After a few moments, a strong rejection reaction suddenly occurred within Garen¡¯s body.


    He tossed the syringe away and remained standing in his initial position, while all the blood vessels in his body began to swell up slightly.


    On his neck, his veins swelled up endlessly, as green blood vessels began to slowly appear on his handsome face. Garen began to gasp for air, while beads of sweat started to cover his entire forehead.


    "I¡¯ve research the serums of various creatures, such as the Dual Headed Salamander¡¯s serum, wild creatures¡¯ serum, and the Petrifying White Dragon¡¯s serum. The wild creature totem¡¯s serum used to give off the strongest rejection until now, where that property now lies with the Silver Totem that I control. Moreover, out of my Silver Totems, the Petrifying White Dragon¡¯s blood toxicity is too strong, which means I can only choose the Dual Headed Salamander¡­ I¡¯ve diluted its concentration levels greatly, and also got rid of some of the toxic proteins, so the remaining serum is very weak now, and I should be able to succeed."


    Garen grinded his teeth, feeling as though an inferno was rampaging within him.


    The blood inside his body began to flow faster as it tried to expel the injected serum, but Garen suppressed this natural instinct.


    The Peak State Secret Technique allowed him to control his own blood flow and physiological responses perfectly. He suppressed his body¡¯s rejection reaction, allowing the injected serum to enter his circulation system quickly.


    The serum entered his blood and quickly became more diluted, and much lighter as well.


    After more than ten minutes, Garen sighed in relief slowly, and opened his tightly shut eyes.


    "The first step¡­ went as expected, and it was a success." He clenched his fist and felt a tingling sensation throughout his whole body, a sign that the Dual Headed Salamander¡¯s serum had already assimilated into the circulation system of his body. This potent serum was like an incomparable poison to the average person, but for a strong and healthy Secret Technique user like himself, the harm caused by the serum could be controlled to an extent.


    "As long as this plan succeeds, I will become the core totem, and the core totem will be myself!" Garen glanced at his right hand, and unconsciously thought of the gigantic city troll that he had once seen.


    He found out through his research that when silver creatures were controlled by the Derivator, the area that was actually being controlled was the brain. Meanwhile, the remaining areas would not be controlled at all. After conducting many experiments, he made a mad decision.


    That mad decision was the test that he was attempting right now.


    After stowing the equipment used for the injection and the other experiment tools securely, Garen slowly sat down at his favourite seat in the carriage. He closed his eyes to visualise the situation inside himself.


    The blood continued to circulate inside him, and by now he could clearly feel that there were some signs of unknown changes happening inside his own body.


    The blood vessels through which the serum had flowed through had begun giving off a layer of gentle light. This layer of light flashed softly and did not bring any attention to itself, making it barely noticeable.


    Garen rested for a while until he felt that his body had returned to normal, before finally relaxing.


    The human body is a balanced circulatory system in itself, but right now, he wanted to destroy this system, in order to build an even stronger circulation.


    "Lord Garen, it¡¯s time for lunch," Lala called from outside.


    The carriage troop had rushed a five-day journey and faced constant hurdles along the way, forcing the cavalry team to be replaced three times. After the three aristocrats joined their entourage, the head of the cavalry team was switched to a form two totem user, showing the government¡¯s priorities on this matter.


    "I¡¯m coming," Garen stood up and exited the carriage.


    After that, another six days passed.


    In this period of time, after Garen had successfully performed an experiment with the serum, he began to regularly inject himself with the Dual Headed Salamander¡¯s serum once a day.


    His body gradually began to accept the toxicity of the serum, and under Garen¡¯s control, the rejection reactions stopped as well, showing that his body had naturally adapted to the serum, and had quickly balanced itself simultaneously.


    Garen did not waste extra attention on matters regarding the core totem. Instead, he repeatedly conditioned his body. After all, the situation concerning the Black-Striped White Tiger could not be rushed, and required him to wait patiently.


    As for the Kovitan kingdom, they had finally arrived.


    **************


    The wheels on the carriage spun smoothly.


    Garen sat in the driver¡¯s seat and looked towards the faraway lands in front of him while the evening sunlight began to bask on his body, gilding him in golden rays.


    On Garen¡¯s left shoulder perched an owl with ashen feathers. The owl was over half a meter long, and its sharp claws tightened and loosened around Garen¡¯s arm from time to time whenever it shifted its lower body.


    This owl was the totem of Hunting Group member Ansa, but was merely an insignificant form two totem. Since its form one body was the easiest low-level state to evolve, it was evolved to form two. However, it only had one ability, which was its night vision observation. Although all owls possessed night vision abilities, this owl¡¯s ability was slightly stronger, allowing it to see places that were especially dark.


    Even though this grey owl was not especially useful, its claws were still unusually sharp.


    Garen allowed Ansa to let the owl out so that he could play with it. These lesser ability totems did not consume a large amount of points when released, and were excellent to use for training purposes. Ansa did not object to this at all.


    At the back of the front carriage, Angel sat at the end, holding up one knee, and playing with a black dagger in her hand. She looked disinterestedly at Garen as he played with the grey-feathered owl.


    This expression had been plastered on her face for two whole days already, because Garen was utterly boring.


    No one noticed that while the owl had stuck its claws into Garen¡¯s arm and perched there, there was not a hint of totem light emitting from his arm.


    Garen teased the owl while observing the changes that had occurred in his body.


    He got rid of his totem light and placed the Green Vine Sphere inside the carriage. Afterwards, he made sure that he was alone and that there were no other creatures close by, so that he could come into contact with the totem beast like this. His predicted result had been spot on.


    His own body had already achieved its own totem light attributes.


    He analysed this carefully, and realised that it was probably because of a certain reason.


    "If a totem user is covered in their totem light for a long period of time, their own bodies will eventually go through the same situation as mine. They will produce a resistance towards the totem light. The only difference is that I used my Secret Technique and the serum to speed up the process. The short-term two-in-one process caused by Spiritualization was probably the key element that quickened this process. However, I¡¯m not the same as them¡­"


    Garen stroked the owl¡¯s smooth but slightly hard feathers, while he drifted off into deep thought.


    "Regarding my current body, when compared to a totem, it probably has strength comparable to a form one totem right now. This excludes the totem light, the Green Vine Sphere, the Troll Grip, and only refers to my flesh body."


    Garen swayed his hand gently to shake off the owl, prompting it to fly away.


    "The first step is easy, I just need to have the blood controlling ability, strong physical fitness, plus a refined and toxin-free serum, in order to achieve this level. However, the second step will be much more troublesome," Garen continued to ponder.


    While researching the Crystal Derivator and the Resonance Stone, he had managed to improve the feasibility of his previous plan to near perfection. Regardless if it was the empowering measures of the Obscuro Society or the specialized principle vibration of the Resonance Stone, as long as those things were combined with Garen¡¯s plethora of knowledge and theory systems from both Earth and the Secret Technique world, the plans of the first step would be completed without a hitch.


    Garen had never really prioritized the nurturing of core totems from the beginning; he had always been preparing this plan. Now, he had finally finished the first step.


    Currently, his core totem, the Black-Striped White Tiger was not working, and Garen had finally decided that he would give up on it, and focus on completing his plan instead.


    The goal of this plan was the allow his flesh body to be transformed completely so that it would possess Silver Totem characteristics, while remaining uncontrollable by others. This thought came to him while constantly chatting with Leila, and had slowly expanded from there.


    He tapped his skin lightly, and realised that his strength was now almost on par with the totem light of a form one totem, except that it was of a slightly weaker grade.


    The supposed form one totems were actually creatures who were covered by a layer of totem light on the surface. Most of the form one totems were like that, except that the strength of the totem light was decided by the totem itself.


    Regarding the newfound totem light traits that he had acquired, Garen was not surprised at all. The Obscuro Society research knowledge that Leila brought along, as well as the bits of Vanderman¡¯s research information he had acquired from the mansion had all mentioned this kind of supposed occurrences.


    These occurrences referred to the traits that allowed living creatures to carry the totem light. All of these originated from the empowering process. However, the empowering process was an abnormal process, and Vanderman chose to perform this process on foreign bodies to provide them to people.


    Meanwhile, the direction that Garen chose to follow, was the one that all researchers had always hoped to succeed in.


    Indeed, it was to use the totem power to strengthen one¡¯s own body.


    This required a sufficiently strong flesh body, and it was a shame that no one in this world, including the normal people and those who belonged to the Master-level, had a body that was as strong as his own.

 354 Core 2

    Chapter 354: Core 2


    Through Garen¡¯s personal experience, he realised that for this process, a strong body was necessary, but a person¡¯s control of their own blood circulation was even more important.


    During his conversations with Leila, he had often mentioned that using Totem Light to strengthen a person¡¯s body was always the end goal that the Obscuro Society members were working hard to achieve. Unfortunately, it had never resulted in a positive conclusion, and the Silver Totems were merely the products of a surprise accident.


    Sitting in the middle of the carriage trope, Garen was unable to keep his thoughts from drifting. His current research information was lacking, and he lacked the confidence to complete his plan and carry it out fully. He had to wait until he received Vanderman¡¯s information and gained access to the Royal Library before he could grasp the theories properly. However, the necessary preparations for the second step were almost done, except¡­


    Garen¡¯s thoughts returned to his current state of reluctance and physical aching. If he really managed to complete the second step of the plan, he would be able to reach a new and unprecedented point of progress.


    But this came at a cost, and it was something that he found difficult to accept.


    The strongest part of the Dual Headed Salamander is its heart. It is parasitical, strong, and possesses great specialized abilities, making it the core source of its power. Its extremely powerful heart was the key for the second step of the plan that Garen was about to conduct. However, this would mean losing an army-type Form Three Totem subordinate.


    The carriage trope travelled through a monotonous stretch of rolling hills that had bare, rocky mountains on both sides. Gravel and large, cracked stones that blocked the road were scattered all over the ground.


    The chilling wind gusted throughout the hills with a whistling noise, and the blinding sunlight did nothing to increase the temperature.


    The cavalry team rode on the left side of the troop, clad in thick grey cloaks. They rode with their bodies bent forward against the wind, while their cloaks made flapping noises as they billowed around their bodies.


    The wind continued to whistle loudly, forcing the captain of the cavalry team to shout over the noise. However, as his voice was completely deafened by the sound of the wind, he decided to just ride towards Garen and make hand signals, pointing towards the front.


    Garen glanced in the direction that the captain pointed towards, and rode towards the front. In the mountainous areas in front, ashen-coloured stone steps sloped upwards towards the mountain¡¯s peak.


    The road of stone steps was like an grey snake whose head could not be seen, climbing up the surface of the mountain quietly, slithering and twisting around it.


    The stone steps ascended into a bank of misty clouds, making it impossible to see where they ended. Both sides of the stone steps were surrounded by dark grey trees and ashen stones. It was unbelievably steep, and there were deformed pine trees growing out of certain places.


    The strong winds forced Garen to squint, and as he looked from left to right, he realised that he could not see the tops of any of the mountains on both sides, while bare grey rocks could be seen everywhere.


    The captain of the cavalry team was a middle-aged woman emitting an aura of fearlessness. She wore a helmet and was clad in full-bodied red armor. She got off her horse and strided towards them.


    "This road leads all the way up, and once you reach the peak, the Kingdom will be there. We¡¯re at the fork now, and you¡¯ll be able to see the main road in a bit, where there will be more people. Please be careful, all of you. I won¡¯t escort you any further, as there are checkpoints up ahead." The cavalry team captain had to shout loudly to be heard clearly.


    Garen nodded, signalling that he understood.


    The captain continued, saying: "This road is a small trail that we patrol, and the fastest way to reach the Kingdom. You¡¯ll need to pass through three more checkpoints along the way. Since you¡¯ll need to pay a toll later, do you have gold leaves on you? If you don¡¯t have any I can lend you a few."


    "We have some," nodded Garen.


    "That¡¯s good. My name is Kenna, and I¡¯m the 19th branch captain of the Kingdom¡¯s third defense line. If you face any problems, feel free to look for me. I can assist you with any minor troubles you may face," said the captain loudly.


    "Thank you very much." Garen understood that the captain was trying to build rapport with them. After all, Andel and the other aristocrats with him were definitely not impersonators, and if they were coming to the Kingdom at this time, it was assured that there were people in the Kingdom looking after them. Thus, it was a good opportunity to gain extra connections.


    The cavalry team captain rode away on her horse and turned her team around to leave.


    The carriage troop continued to move forwards while Garen gathered everyone together in the largest carriage.


    He waited until everyone had arrived before closing the carriage door, and temporarily stopping the carriage against the wall for a break.


    "What are you planning to do next?" Garen looked at Andel. "Are you going over to your uncle¡¯s place?"


    "Mm-hmm, Big Sis Hathaway and I both have relatives in the Kingdom; my uncle used to be the junior garrison squad leader. Meanwhile, Big Sis Hathaway¡¯s younger sister works in the Kingdom¡¯s archives," Andel replied calmly.


    "You¡¯re not coming with me?" Hathaway furrowed her eyebrows. She immediately forgot her unmarried status, before looking at Garen with the same gaze she reserved for her elders. "I¡¯m going to visit the Royal Guards for a while. In the Kingdom, we all have allocated lodgings. Right now you¡¯re not safe yet, so it¡¯s better if you move together with us." She could tell that Garen was planning to leave again.


    Garen smiled. "Father has estates in the Kingdom as well, except that they aren¡¯t in the urban district areas. They¡¯re in more remote places instead where the environment is much quieter, which suits me better. I¡¯ve already made preparations to go live there." He currently possessed a large number of Silver Totems, and was too afraid to take them into the Kingdom. He spent the entire journey here hiding them from the patrol teams, and was now physically and mentally exhausted.


    Both the Dual Headed Salamander and the Petrifying White Dragon were too large. As for the Deep Swamp Croc, if it wasn¡¯t for the West Farm¡¯s sparse population and light defenses, as well as the cavalry team¡¯s lack of warning signals, its tracks would have been noticed a long time ago.


    Fortunately, the members of the patrol team were neither high leveled Totem Users nor researchers and could not tell the difference between Silver Totems and Primitive Totems, which allowed them to muddle through. This way, Garen could just make his Totems hide their Totem Light to the best of their abilities.


    He had Three Petrifying White Dragons and one Dual Headed Salamander with him, all of which were high leveled Totems, but only the Dual Headed Salamander was brought along. The rest were left in the outer line of defense, because he did not dare to bring them inside.


    He was convinced that in a larger kingdom, the number of strong individuals who could recognize Silver Totems would definitely be higher. Thus, it was better for him to lie low.


    As for the Totem Light on his body, he did not dare to cover it, and only covered the Black-Striped White Tiger¡¯s Totem Light.


    "Father left some things in his house in the Kingdom, so I¡¯m going there to take a look. Angel and the others, what are you planning to do next?"


    "I¡¯m going to the War Guild to catch up on the news. I want to see if I can find some good quests to earn some nurturing resources," said Angel indifferently.


    Meanwhile Leila, who was standing on the other side, quietly said: "I have relatives in the Kingdom but I haven¡¯t seen them for years, so I don¡¯t know if I¡¯ll be able to find them."


    "Regarding the special resources for nurturing, I¡¯ve prepared them for you already, and right now all you need is a large quantity of normal resources. This is fine as well. Just take it as a form of training," Garen nodded in agreement. "As the heir to the Trejons family, I¡¯ll need an audience with His Majesty the Emperor. This is the compulsory procedure for the local aristocratic lords. Also, I think I¡¯ll be able to meet Prynne and the others soon."


    "So we¡¯ll be separating here?" Angel raised her eyebrows.


    "Yes."


    Garen took a pen and quickly jotted down his address on a piece of paper, tore it off and handed it to Angel, before writing another note and giving it to Hathaway.


    "The Trejons family has a household manager in the Kingdom as well. Big Bro Maxilan, Big Sis Edney, please contact my household members in the Kingdom, and add up all the household assets and strength that the entire household currently possesses."


    "No problem," Edney nodded assuredly.


    Maxilan hesitated for a moment. "We don¡¯t know whether news regarding the old man has travelled to the Kingdom. The two masters Barr and Baphje¡­"


    "It probably hasn¡¯t," Garen shook his head. "If not, we would not have been received with such courtesy even when we had yet to return. This is still the initial aristocratic special treatment. Meanwhile, whether or not the two masters have returned is still a problem. This situation should be left as it is for the time being, I will handle it."


    He pondered for a moment. This trip to the Kingdom was done hurriedly with many restrictions, and while a large amount of his strength was not allowed to be brought inside, Garen still had a goal in mind.


    The Kovitan Emperor, Avic Sisman would probably be stabbed during this period of time. The remaining Obscuro Society members in the Kovitan Empire had all gathered in the Kingdom, and the fact that they gave up on the Silver Totems power meant that they did not just come here for a relaxing holiday.


    The stabbing resulted in collapse of the entire Kovitan Empire, and the successful blaming of the Black Prince. What Garen planned to do was to gain more profit from this misfortune.


    Beckstone from the Terraflor Society absolutely loathed him, and once the Obscuro Society members realised that he was impersonating Jess, it would definitely lead to a huge problem. Right now these two giants were in a hostile state, and the Royal Alliance of Luminarists was Garen¡¯s only place of belonging. Regardless of the identity of his father Vanderman in this current world, or the territory where his household had always stood, all were condemned to return to the Royal Alliance of Luminarists.


    The current Royal Alliance of Luminarists was still extremely strong and had not reached a state of weakness, even in the confusion caused by various Aberration Creatures attacking them while they were unprepared. Garen was unclear about the bottom line of the Obscuro Society, but the enemy knew him well and that had caused a serious loss. The three departments were not a force to be reckoned with as strong individuals and experts were abundant. This great war had lasted a duration of many years, and if not for the awakening of Hellgate, the Obscuro Society would not have been able to overthrow the Royal Alliance of Luminarists.


    Beckstone had decided to slowly go through many things to increase his growth during this period of time. What Garen planned to do was to release his power, a little bit at a time, during his growth in this era.


    The Obscuro Society and Royal Alliance of Luminarists were both large powers in this era, and Beckstone¡¯s growth was a result that was carefully planned by the Terraflor Society. Almost every step included an abundance of profit-seeking opportunities.


    However, to reap these benefits required one to possess a significant amount of strength beforehand.


    The Royal Alliance of Luminarists was naturally the best choice. Since they were going to split sooner or later, and Garen though that he might as well keep some of their strength for himself.


    Once he had separated from the rest, Garen made his way to the mansion that Vanderman had left in the outskirts, and stayed there.


    There had always been a caretaker looking after the mansion, and the maids had cleaned it until it was entirely spotless. This made it possible for him to live there immediately, saving him a lot of trouble.


    The Kingdom was built as a large city situated on mountainous peaks. All of the buildings were dark grey and round, and built on the peaks of three tall mountains, forming three Kingdom cities.


    The three cities depended on each other but were also independent, and in the middle was a lofty cliff covered in a sea of white clouds.


    The three cities were connected by a chain bridge and stone bridge respectively on top of an ashen coloured hill, looking as though three floating buildings had been embedded into the mountain tops.


    The mansion where Garen resided was outside the three cities, situated on a wasteland outside the entry point.


    There were a total of twelve roads leading into the Kingdom, and this mansion that was called ¡®Blue Bay¡¯ was situated near one of the roads. It was inaccessible to the people in the surroundings, and situated at the bottom of the first empire of the three cities. Further down was a barren mountainous wall that shielded the back of the empire.

 355 Mad Plan 1

    Chapter 355: Mad Plan 1


    Night time


    In the first empire, a large cluster of dark grey buildings were lit up with countless lamps, as though the mountain¡¯s peak was covered in an abundance of candles.


    The area at the bottom with the dimmest candlelight was on top of a straight, lofty stone wall.


    An ashen coloured mansion was embedded in the middle of the stone wall, and a small straight lane on the left was the only road that led to the outside world.


    It looked like someone had dug a hole in the stone wall and built a manor in the empty space, with a balcony railing that could only be seen from the precipice.


    A tall man with short blonde hair rested his hands on the railing and leaned on it as he stood on the balcony quietly, watching the sea of white fog below him. The gusting wind blew towards him, causing his hair to be mussed up continuously . The white pajamas he wore were also blown backwards.


    He swirled the blue alcohol in his hands, and took a small sip.


    "The request for an audience has been sent in, so I¡¯ll just have to wait for His Majesty to summon me. The Green Vine Sphere in my hands cannot be kept for much longer, and the people from the Royal Alliance of Luminarists will definitely want to acquire it. The type of benefits that I will be able to obtain all depend on my gaining abilities now. Avic Sisman is a wise young leader, and ever since he ascended the throne, the Kovitan Empire has been flourishing, and it¡¯s steadily becoming the strongest power in the continent. A person like this will definitely give me a favourable answer but if I don¡¯t sort this out properly, the other researchers will be worried."


    Garen drank his alcohol and pondered silently.


    "I don¡¯t know when Beckstone will arrive here, but I know that this is an important place where he has to reach. Historically, after the incident at Vanderman¡¯s manor, he only arrived at the Kovitan Empire one year later. Sequentially, that huge incident occurred, but he did not get injured in that situation. This time, he¡¯d been badly beaten up by me, so the timeline is not very clear anymore¡­"


    Garen shook his cup again, and finished the remainder of his alcohol in one gulp. The taste of the icy grape wine swirled around his mouth and on his tongue, before sliding down his throat. It tasted light and very sweet, just like grape juice that had been spiked with some alcohol.


    "The other thing would be my bodily changes."


    Garen bowed his head and looked at his arms, noticing that the topmost layer of skin had began to give off a light blue shade.


    Regarding the changes of his own body, Garen had been preparing himself for this for a long time, and had even calculated the times he used the Derivator. This kind of transformation was similar to the Obscuro Society¡¯s Empowerment, except that it was considered as an Empowerment that was not controlled by a Derivator, and the process was also different.


    Garen was going in the direction of optimizing his own body structure, while the Obscuro Society was trying to use the Totem Light to transform their own bodies directly. They were unable to face the rejection reaction, so they simply chose to prioritise the Totem Light in a process that involved outside contamination and virus attacks.


    Meanwhile, Garen¡¯s choice involved the main body absorbing the Totem Light, and it was a process that required his own body to produce an adaptive evolution in itself. Both of them had different natures.


    The former required the ¡®virus¡¯ that the Derivator used to control Totem Light. The latter would control everything by themselves, however the difficulty would increase exponentially. In Garen¡¯s case, his physical body was extremely powerful, and greatly exceeded the expectations of the researchers in this world.


    The first step of the transformation gave Garen¡¯s body the characteristics of Totem Light, but needed refinement to be steadier. The second step of the transformation required him to attempt to exceed his limits completely.


    The reason why he could not increase his Attribution Points was due to his physical body reaching its limit, hence it was unable to increase any further. But what would happen if he increased the limits of his physical body? Would a newer, higher tier limit emerge?


    That was Garen¡¯s current plan.


    If he exceeded the limit, he would be able to obtain the ability to use his Potential Points to increase his Attributes once again. He had found a way to carry out this step a long time ago, but he¡¯d only been able to implement it thoroughly after Leila had passed on many of the Obscuro Society¡¯s core skills to him.


    The act of transforming himself into a Core Totem was a mad thought in itself. Countless talented Luminarists from the Obscuro Society had died while researching in this direction, causing many future researchers to avoid this area and conduct their research without using outside sources.


    Their biggest hardship was that they lacked control over their own bodies, which led them to think of using Crystal Derivators as an exterior form of control.


    However, Garen was different. The first step was a success, which made him certain that this was the direction and path that were the most suitable for him.


    "The requirements for the second step of the transformation have all been met. The derivation theories have also been understood, so I can begin my experiments tonight," Garen released the cup in front of him lightly, and let it fall into the sea of white clouds. "I hope for the best."


    He turned around and walked out of the balcony.


    The wine cup plunged into the clouds before disappearing soundlessly.


    Behind the balcony was a spacious hall, and the dim table lamp there swayed gently. It was a candle enclosed by a cylindrical white cloth, and each of the four walls were adorned with a similar lamp.


    On the wooden floor, a long rectangular wooden desk was placed exactly in the center, with two wicker chairs arranged beside it. The table and chairs were the same shade of brown, with a tinge of red.


    Garen sat down on one of the chairs and picked up a pile of manuscripts that had been placed on the table. He picked up a pen and began editing and checking them.


    After checking for a while, he put away the manuscripts, got up and walked towards the wall on the right. There was a white cabinet placed high on the wall, with two used, black coffee cups balanced on top.


    Garen shifted the coffee cups and began brushing against the walls, before his palm pressed against something softly.


    Ka-chak.


    A square switch sunk into the wall, and the entire wall slowly split along a ¡®Z¡¯-shaped crack and opened inwards, revealing a dark passageway.


    The arched passageway sloped downwards towards the right into the darkness.


    Garen picked up the manuscripts and walked inside as though he was going down spiral stairs that wound towards the right. He walked on for an unknown span of time.


    Within the dark passageway, the area in front of him was unexpectedly illuminated by white light.


    It was a half-opened metal door.


    Garen walked towards the front of the metal door, pushed it open gently, and walked inside.


    The door suddenly opened wide, revealing a large, round stone hall.


    The stone hall appeared unusually rough, and the stone wall had uneven marks. The entire stone hall was the size of a football field with only a little light illuminating the area, revealing specks of white dust on the ashen stone wall.


    Garen walked through the metal door, and the position where he now stood at happened to be at the extreme right corner. He looked at the center of the area from a distance and noticed a black shadow collapsed there, as its soft breathing noises echoed within the stone hall.


    On the four walls, only four lamps had been lit up, and the light from them was only enough to light up the four corners of the large hall, making it abnormally dim.


    He took one of the lamps down from the wall, held it in his hand, and walked towards the center of the hall briskly.


    The air in the hall was cool and felt as though a light breeze was blowing through, bringing a pungent rotten smell with it.


    Garen walked across the solid yet uneven floor towards the center of the stone hall, and stood in front of the black shadow.


    As the lamp cast light upon the black shadow, half of its large body was exposed.


    The two necks and heads of the Dual Headed Salamander came into view.


    Its ten meter long body was prostrated on the ground as though in deep sleep, while saliva leaked from the corners of both its mouths. It was the source of the disgusting stench.


    Garen placed the wall lamp on the floor, reached his hand out to knock on the Dual Headed Salamander but received no response.


    "This dosage should be sufficient."


    He murmured quietly, before walking towards the middle of the Salamander¡¯s body, where various strange instruments had been arranged on the floor beside.


    There was an oddly-shaped glass container and a square cabinet with a red dot that would light up occasionally. Furthermore, a large plate holding multiple purple crystal rods soaking in blood, and a surgical package containing various metal appliances.


    Garen took a small sharp knife out of the surgical package and sterilised it with the flame of the lamp. With his other hand, he picked up a black towel that had been soaked in alcohol.


    He walked towards the Dual Headed Salamander¡¯s abdomen, used the towel to wipe its abdominal scales unceremoniously. He then discarded the towel and grasping the scalpel in both hands, he stabbed downwards abruptly.


    Tch!!


    The scalpel was unable to penetrate its scales, but managed to pierce into the Salamander¡¯s skin.


    Garen turned his head upwards and glanced at the Salamander, noticing that the giant beast had already opened its eyes and was glaring at him now with unblinking brown-yellow pupils.


    "Don¡¯t move," Garen commanded the Dual Headed Salamander, as he held the scalpel down and sliced through quickly.


    With his abnormal strength, the blade made a tearing noise as it was tugged across, before it sliced through the Dual Headed Salamander¡¯s abdomen and cut it open.


    A meter-long wound was suddenly opened, exposing the blood-red coloured muscle within.


    Garen switched to a longer, larger knife, sterilised it with alcohol and wiped it clean. Following that, he stabbed into the wound crudely once more.


    Skree...


    Finally, the Dual Headed Salamander could not hold back its cries anymore.


    Garen separated the flesh towards the bottom with his meter long, large knife, and tore the flesh apart fully, exposing its steaming abdominal cavity.


    Blood trickled down its scales and dripped on the floor, filling up one of the indentations in the floor like a creek before forming a small round puddle.


    Garen discarded the large knife and used both of his hands to press against the corners of the wound, before looking into the abdominal cavity where it was pitch-black, as a pungent rotten stench continuously wafted out from inside.


    He used both of his hands to tear and widen the wound, before picking up the lamp and entering its body.


    The inside of its abdomen was an oval-shaped flesh cavity with inner walls of smooth white muscles covered in continuously moving blood vessels.


    In the center, a large heart was thumping and beating continuously. This heart, which was larger than the size of an average person, was connected to a large amount of blood vessels that resembled red coloured spider webs of varying thicknesses.


    Garen avoided the blood vessels carefully by stepping on the soft abdominal walls, and walked towards the heart.


    The steamy, rotten smell from his surroundings assaulted his nose continuously, while Garen bent forwards and avoided two forearm-sized blood vessels that were blocking his path. He crawled towards the front of the heart.


    He put the lamp down and took out a small black dagger. Holding it in his right hand, he sliced the corner of its heart open in one swift movement.


    Tch!


    A small piece of heart muscle detached from the large heart, together with a large pool of blood.


    Garen quickly retrieved the chunk of heart muscle and immediately looked at the Dual Headed Salamander¡¯s wound. He noticed that it was beginning to repair itself at a rate observable with the naked eye. This type of terrifying regenerative abilities seemed to have affected the abdominal wound as well, as both sides of the wound were beginning to meld together.


    Garen heard a closing sound behind him, and was shocked for a moment, before he turned back hastily and exited the abdominal cavity.


    A crashing sound was heard as he dived out of the wound, his entire body stained red by blood.


    "Cough cough¡­" His mouth and nose were saturated with the rotten stench from the abdominal cavity. Garen took a few deep breaths and saw that the Dual Headed Salamander¡¯s abdominal wounds had completely healed.


    However, the Salamander¡¯s spirits seemed down, and possibly due to the injuries its heart had just suffered; its eyelids were drooping and almost closed, and it lay there listlessly.


    Garen had no time to care for it. Instead, he held the heart muscle carefully in his hands, and placed it into a small crystal bottle that he had prepared earlier.


    "This bottle of nutritional fluids should be able to maintain it for a while."


    He covered the bottle and shook the light yellow fluids inside. He could see that this piece of heart muscle contained a specialized frequency that allowed it to naturally beat even though it had been detached from the heart.


    "The source of all the secrets regarding the Dual Headed Salamander¡¯s can be found in its heart. Its heart possesses strong hematopoietic abilities, unlike most living creatures which rely on bone marrow to produce blood," said Garen as he finally understood.

 356 Mad Plan 2

    Chapter 356: Mad Plan 2


    He waited patiently while the blood from the heart muscle seeped into the fluids in the bottle, dying the interior of the small bottle a dark red. Only then did he twist the bottle cap open, used a pair of forceps to retrieve the heart muscle and put it inside another bottle filled with the same type of fluids.


    The Dual Headed Salamander¡¯s heart muscle possessed extremely high vitality, and over time it remained bright red without any sign of decay.


    After Garen transferred the heart muscle, he walked towards the other side of the room where a pile of equipment and apparatus had been placed in a corner, and picked up a small cage covered with black cloth.


    Suddenly, piercing squeaks were roused from the cage.


    The black cloth on top of the cage was pulled off to reveal more than ten aberration mice with ashen coloured fur.


    All of these mice had red eyes, and were frantically running around in the cage without stopping. Two of the mice even jumped up and tried to bite Garen¡¯s hand, but were obstructed by the cage each time.


    Garen opened the small door of the cage and shot his right hand in quickly, catching one of the mice and closing the small door.


    It was time to proceed with the second test of the plan.


    He anesthetized the little grey mouse and sliced its abdominal cavity open, before removing a identically shaped and sized piece of flesh from both the Salamander¡¯s heart muscle and the mouse¡¯s heart. He planted the Salamander¡¯s heart muscle carefully into the mouse¡¯s heart muscle.


    The experiment was proceeding smoothly, and the heart muscle had been successfully implanted.


    Next, Garen sewed up the wound and placed the little grey mouse in a cage by itself for observation.


    The mouse that received a new heart muscle implant now seemed like it was dying. After the anaesthetic effect wore off, it began moving again, but its four paws could not stop shaking. It was only able to crawl a few steps forward before its whole body began to shiver.


    Garen used the purple crystal rod that had been dipped in a blended blood mixture to feed the mouse.


    This was a medicinal blood concoction tailored for the rejection reaction, and it had to be fed using a crystal rod to avoid adverse side effects.


    After drinking a few drops of the blood concoction, the mouse finally calmed down again.


    Garen crouched down beside the cage and took out his notebook to begin recording his experiment observations.


    Bang!!


    Suddenly a loud noise rang from the cage, as the mouse within suddenly exploded into a cloud of bloody mist, while slivers of its flesh and bone splattered everywhere.


    Garen put his pen down.


    "The first experimental mouse, failed."


    After that, he continued with the second mouse.


    Another ¡®bang¡¯ sounded, and the cage was filled with blood and bits of flesh once again.


    Garen¡¯s expression was unchanging as he continued with the third mouse, proceeding with the same heart muscle transplant again.


    This mouse turned out better. Because he¡¯d reduced the transplanted amount, the mouse appeared to be entirely normal, except that it was more energetic. It looked like this was the effect of the heart muscle.


    Garen recorded the current ratio.


    A few days passed, and he continued to stay in the underground space that Vanderman had dug out under of the manor. Not only were there instruments and containers here, there were also various experiment manuscripts and recorded data.


    Garen studied every single piece of information.


    Vanderman Trejons was a genius, a genius in his field of research.


    He invented various techniques that even Totem Users had never dreamed of, and most of them were techniques that the Obscuro Society had tried to acquire using other methods. Although he had yet to achieve the level of a Crystal Derivator, he was already very close


    While Garen flipped through the manuscripts, not only did he find research on the Green Vine Sphere, he also found various techniques such as organ transplantation, in vitro reproduction, and Totem power separation, amongst others.


    Using these manuscripts and research information helped Garen¡¯s theoretical knowledge to increase rapidly. Regarding the entire research system, he had also gained a deeper understanding.


    *****************


    Pap.


    Garen placed the cup of black tea on the table, picked up a manuscript and read it intently. The rows of experimental data were like sacred cheat codes in his eyes, and were incredibly precious to him.


    The table in the hall was piled with tall stacks of manuscripts and books that all contained copious amounts of officially released analysis, tests, results, and discussions.


    Garen was unsure of the amount of data he had processed in the past few days. All of these were still elementary level, and Vanderman¡¯s manuscripts filled up three underground rooms in total, which were arranged by difficulty and date respectively, and progressively increased, indicating that his research constantly went deeper.


    Currently, what Garen was studying was merely the manuscripts and books from the first room. Right now, he was only able to understand the things from the first room as well.


    Hours and minutes ticked by, as ashen rays glimmered from the balcony. Lala, dressed in her white servant¡¯s skirt, walked in and took the empty coffee and tea cups, before placing some ready-made snacks on an empty space near the manuscripts.


    She glanced at the manuscripts on the table. The data was completely foreign to her, and although she recognized the individual words inside, she could no longer comprehend them once they were strung together with a variety of terminological pronouns, which seemed extremely deep to her.


    "Your afternoon tea cakes and cherry milkshake are here."


    Lala murmured the sentence, and as she had expected, did not receive a reply. She shook her head and turned around to walk out before noticing that the fireplace was full of charcoal ashes again. She went to dispose of them while she was still in the room, as it would be troublesome once the rubbish truck had left.


    Garen flipped through the manuscripts and read them attentively, subconsciously picking up a piece of cake and shoving it into his mouth.


    Suddenly, his gaze shifted towards a moving red dot.


    A thought stirred in his head as he steered his gaze towards the bottom quickly and looked towards his Skill Pane.


    ¡®Biological engineering: Elementary level. (Theoretical framework has been established completely, Three phases overall, elementary, intermediate, advanced)¡¯


    Regarding his initial beginner-level biological engineering, after he had read all the experiment information and a large number of subject books, it had finally advanced to the elementary level. However, this was not the most important part. The most important part was that his Overall Framework had finally been established, which would allow him to use his Potential Points to speed up the learning process.


    Putting the manuscripts down, Garen glanced at the back of his hand, and noticed that pale red lines were beginning to tinge the skin there, resembling strawberry milk of the highest quality.


    "The Salamander¡¯s blood is finally showing some effects."


    After a long period of injecting dragon¡¯s blood serum, Garen felt that his body had finally shown some changes and was no longer the same as before. There were no changes in his Attribute Pane, but that may have been because his abilities had yet to achieve proper quantitative change levels.


    Garen returned to his thoughts and let go of the manuscripts. He was unwilling to proceed with such slow-paced research, because his Overall Framework system had been fully established. His theories were also sufficient, and all he needed was a large amount of experimental practice.


    On the contrary, his advanced mathematics had recently been upgraded and had exceeded his biological engineering greatly; he had achieved the highest level. Furthermore, while he was researching the Resonance Stone, Garen had also discovered one of its hidden key principles.


    The research progress of the Resonance Stone had gone through a tremendous upgrade, and Garen seemed to have figured out the transfer model of the resonance. It felt like he¡¯d awoken the same obsession as when he first learned the Secret Techniques; once more, he was enduring sleepless nights as he immersed himself into his research.


    After acquiring Vanderman¡¯s various techniques, Garen immediately began researching the organ transplant procedures of this world. Compared to the other techniques, organ transplantations and other techniques were extremely mature skills.


    The experiments conducted on the little grey mice during these few days, made Garen reminisce to the time when he first entered university and conducted experiments on creatures in the experiment labs.


    "Tonight will be the crucial time for my self experiment. If I¡¯m not careful and a problem occurs, it will definitely cause severe injuries," mused Garen. He put down the manuscripts in his hands and picked up a pen to begin checking the plans on his paper again.


    Transforming a physical body into a Totem worked when the dragon blood serum was in effect, but once the injections stopped, would return to its original state quickly. Garen had thought of this mad plan early on.


    If he could possess a heart as strong as the Dual Headed Salamander, his limits could then be exceeded once again.


    But how would he get such a strong heart?


    After perusing various sources of information and experiment data, as well as the organ transplantation techniques he had received from Vanderman, a mad thought appeared in Garen¡¯s mind.


    He could transplant a strong creature¡¯s organ into his own body and use the resonance principle to absorb the original organ¡¯s energy vitality. It seemed like a viable decision.


    Thus, he began to experiment on the Dual Headed Salamander¡¯s heart muscles, transplanting it from time to time to note various side effects and dangerous reactions. He then prepared relieving medicines, and adjusting the different dosages.


    The mouse that had received a successful heart muscle transplant now possessed the characteristics of Totem Light. Its body had also undergone changes of a certain degree, and was currently much stronger and more muscular than it was initially. Its strength and speed were now two times of that of a regular grey mouse.


    This gave Garen some hope.


    However, the mortality rate was still quite high, at about 70%. This was the main reason why he was hesitant to make his next move.


    It was just as he¡¯d predicted. The organ transplantation technique would produce a large amount of blood during the heart muscle transplantation. Meanwhile, as the nutrients were being absorbed, the produced blood would continuously mix into the test subject¡¯s body.


    The Dual Headed Salamander¡¯s heart naturally possessed haemopoietic abilities, and this was the key reason why Garen had chosen it.


    If the transplantation succeeded, Garen assumed that his own flesh body would possess abilities similar to a Totem, and the Totem Light would no longer be an obstacle to himself. Meanwhile, with the Dual Headed Salamander¡¯s strong haemopoietic abilities, his physical limits would probably be increased slowly as well.


    "But I¡¯m not worried about the ¡®if¡¯s¡¯, I¡¯m only worried about the ¡®what if¡¯s¡¯. Although I¡¯m an ultimate Secret Technique User and fighter, my vitality has reached its limits, and I don¡¯t know what I should do about this transplant surgery. To think of completing this heart and heart muscle transplant, the difficulty required¡­"


    "Once I¡¯ve been anaesthetized, I won¡¯t be able to command anything. But if I don¡¯t use anaesthesia, the tremendous pain will cause the blood in my body to flow faster, causing spasm reactions. Even if I was able to endure the pain of the surgery, a successful transplantation would still be difficult to achieve."


    But once he succeeded, Garen inferred that similar to the outcome of the little grey mouse¡¯s transplantation,he would be able to achieve a permanent Totem Light effect, which may exceed his physical limits at the same time.


    By then, he would become a Core Totem himself, and the Core Totem would be him. Moreover, he would be able to use his Potential Points to increase his own Attributes. When that time came, minor side effects would not matter at all.


    While Garen was hesitating, his gaze glanced slightly towards the shadow of Lala in the next room.


    Lala had already been fully empowered by him, and two days ago he had tried to use his Potential Points to evolve Lala. Regretfully, Empowered Human Totems seemed to not have any abilities that could be evolved, and this cemented Garen¡¯s thoughts to transplant his own organs.


    "Is there a type of medicine that can be used to only make humans lose their sense of pain, without worrying about muscle spasms, increasing blood flow or other natural reactions?" Garen queried mentally.


    Suddenly, both of his eyes gleamed, as though he had concocted an idea.


    "I remember Reylan once mentioned that the Obscuro Society was also conducting these kinds of experiments. Some of the higher-leveled ones attempted to empower their own bodies, but as they were unable to trust others, decided to find a type of medicine that could get rid of their sense of pain instead, which would enable them to perform surgery on themselves. This type of medicine is commonly used on the battlefield, to make the soldiers forget their suffering, and should probably be found with the pharmacists in the Royal Alliance of Luminarists. The only problem is that it has stronger side effects, but it is definitely something that will yield good results. Maybe I could use the Green Vine Sphere to propose my requests at the same time."

 357 Audience and Surgery 1

    Chapter 357: Audience and Surgery 1


    After thorough consideration, Garen devoured his dinner and requested Lala to enquire about His Majesty the Emperor¡¯s reply. He then buried his head in the books and manuscripts once more, in which information about the practices and experiments had been recorded.


    During the following days, the imperial palace officer stationed at the checkpoint still had no messages to relay.


    Garen went to the capital to stroll around for a few rounds, but the streets remained eerily quiet except for a few passersby. The capital was governed by military law, and the entry and exit checkpoints all required troublesome licenses that had to be reviewed, because of materials that were under a unified management. The entire area was empty and quiet.


    Until the sixth day.


    Finally, the audit for an audience was accepted, and His Majesty the King had decided to summon him, but only for a duration of ten minutes.


    ***********************


    Sitting within the white carriage passing through the checkpoint, Garen did not pull the curtains open. Instead, he sat in the middle of the carriage quietly, concentrating with his eyes closed.


    The front and back of the carriage were accompanied by other carriages, and inside those carriages were other local aristocrats that were here to have an audience with the king just like himself. If it was not for the Green Vine Sphere, Garen assumed that as a local lord who had lost his power and influence, there was no way that he would have been able to receive an audience with the king.


    He sat inside the carriage and carefully considered the exchanges and requests that he wanted to bring up during the audience with the king. Giving the Green Vine Sphere over was something that he had thought about properly before this. Out of the three emperors, the Kovitan Emperor had the strongest ambition and the best attitude. Hence, passing it to him would probably yield the highest profits.


    However, there was another problem that would be troublesome to solve: the stabbing of the Kovitan Emperor by the Obscuro Society. Their actions would be successful this time, and he needed to warn His Majesty, but¡­


    Warning him immediately was definitely out of the question; if an outsider aristocrat appeared out of the blue and told the king to his face that his wife was a spy without any proof, any sentence would be considered light in comparison to being convicted and jailed in a death sentence prison for false accusation.


    Moreover, even if he managed to successfully uncover them, there would come a time when he would face the exposure of his own identity, and the Obscuro Society would definitely retaliate by going after his head. Even the Royal Alliance of Luminarists might not be able to protect him then.


    He spent the entire journey pondering, and did not notice when the carriage had stopped. The sound of music echoed distantly behind him, and it sounded like it was coming from a violin or some other string-type instrument.


    "You should get down now," the guard who was also the driver reminded him.


    Garen pulled the carriage door open and jumped out of the carriage. He stood at the end of a quiet street, and in front of him stood a black, pencil shaped stone door. The large stone door was half opened, and on the inside, it lead to a spacious corridor that stretched into an open air garden far away.


    A row of guards on duty stood to the left side of the corridor, and all of them were clad from head to toe in black armor, which made them look strong and solemn.


    The music that Garen had heard earlier was coming from a large black fort on his left. It could still be heard faintly, from the area where the royal palace hall was located.


    "Let¡¯s go." The dispatched officer was a tall, handsome young man who wore a white wig on his head, and a red waistcoat over his white undershirt. He glanced past Garen, before turning around and walking out of the corridor first.


    Garen noticed that the aristocrats who disembarked from the remaining two carriages did not stop at this entrance, but went to the other two entry points instead.


    "Aren¡¯t they coming to have an audience with His Majesty as well?"


    The handsome man glanced at Garen.


    "You should be honoured that His Majesty decided to summon only you today. The others were summoned by Her Royal Highness the Princess."


    Garen nodded and followed the man as he walked through the corridor.


    The two man walked briskly through the black corridor. The entire corridor was slightly more than seven meters tall and wide, and unusually broad, and as they walked across the smooth black stone floors, the sound of soft, crisp footsteps could be heard.


    They passed through the corridor and walked into the front of the open air garden.


    The garden was blooming with an abundance of fresh red, yellow, and white flowers. Most of them were white, and the white ones were giant flowers the size of washbasins. A group of girls in resplendent clothes were chatting noisily in the flower garden. No one knew what they were chatting about, but they seemed unusually happy. Some of the girls were even sitting on top of the giant washbasin sized white flowers, and it was amazing that none of them fell on the floor.


    When the girls saw the handsome man who was leading the way, they waved at him enthusiastically, showing signs of familiarity.


    The man answered them politely, and seemed to be unusually calm against the girls¡¯ ambiguous gazes.


    Garen followed behind him. Even though his current Acacia body was just as handsome, in comparison to the man, he was still somewhat lacking. He was immediately overlooked by the girls.


    Compared to the man¡¯s bright, eye-catching clothes, Garen¡¯s grey robes were not worth looking at in the slightest.


    After they passed through the flower garden, they ended up at another long cloister.


    He did not know how far they¡¯d walked before they arrived in front of a five meter tall black door.


    "You can just wait here. About half an hour later, His Majesty will arrive. Remember, you have only ten minutes," reminded the handsome man briskly, before he turned around and left.


    Garen did not mind. During this chaotic period, he could see that there were lots of people who wished to have an audience with the king.


    He waited in front of the main door quietly. On the left side of the cloister stood guards in full-bodied black armor. Unlike the others, these guards were clad in armor that was significantly heavier and held black guns in their hands as they stood against the wall like sculptures.


    About twenty minutes later, a well-built, middle-aged man walked over in long strides. He was wearing pure white tights with silver inserts in the borders, with a white cloak billowing behind him. He held a golden whip in his hand, as if he had just returned from horse riding.


    Wherever he walked passed, all of the guards on duty would kneel down on one knee.


    This man¡¯s age was not older than thirty years, and a smile was present on his face. He had a mild-looking expression and a black beard covered his chin and connected to his sideburns, making it difficult to differentiate between his beard and his hair. His back was slightly hunched, but he walked steadily. His appearance was neither handsome nor particularly majestic, making him seem like a normal passerby that one would encounter on the streets.


    Garen knelt down on one knee immediately. He had seen a black and white picture of the king before he arrived, and recognized that this man was the Kovitan Emperor Avic Sisman.


    "Your Majesty," Garen bowed his head and looked away from the king¡¯s face as a sign of courtesy.


    King Avic was followed by a group of people who seemed like they were preparing to enter the room with him to discuss important matters.


    "Come in."


    Avic answered gently, and entered the main door that had been opened by the guards.


    Garen stood up and followed him into the room.


    Inside the brightly lit room, the walls were engraved with intricate and beautiful golden floral decorations, while a large floor-length painting was plastered against the wall on the opposite side of the main door. It was a painting of Avic standing on the palace balcony with a sword in his hand.


    A few rows of yellow wooden sofas were arranged in an arc shape in the middle of the room. There were also two rectangular shaped bookshelves on the right, both of which were filled with various books with gold-rimmed borders.


    "Have a seat." Avic seemed like a regular host who was attending to a guest in his house, as he pointed towards the sofa.


    Garen looked at the other people and realised that none of them entered the room, except for Avic and himself who had just walked inside.


    The people who had followed them bowed and curtsied outside the door, before closing the door carefully.


    Only then did Garen sit down quietly, on Avic¡¯s right hand side.


    "The trust you have in the Royal Alliance of Luminarists and the Kovitan Empire signifies the trust in myself, Avic. Regarding the tragedy that befell Viscount Vanderman, when I heard of it, my heart grieved and I despaired. Your father contributed a great amount of effort and time into his research, but his treatment and attitudes towards the people were unnecessarily brutal at times. The impact caused by these incidents were horrifying. You understand what I mean, right?" Avic brought up the main subject immediately. He was not a Totem User and merely a normal person, but to be able to run such a vast empire meant that he naturally possessed his own expertise and abilities.


    "I understand," Garen nodded. "Honestly, my requests are very simple. Iwish to visit the Royal Databank to find some information that I need. At the same time, I would like to request Your Majesty for access to the pharmacy to find some medicine that I need.


    "Are you still a Form one Totem User?" Avic asked suddenly.


    "Yes." Garen was surprised at Avic¡¯s sudden change of topics, but he answered immediately anyway.


    "Would you like a better Core Totem? Or a stronger Secondary Totem? You have an interest towards medicine, so you should go to the Secret Service. They have more content regarding those topics over there," replied Avic with a gentle smile.


    "Secret Service?"


    "That¡¯s right. Although the interior strength of our Kovitan Empire may not be considered powerful, and may actually be extremely weak, it would not be difficult to allow you to become part of it. Inside, the pharmaceutical knowledge that you¡¯re interested in and the various techniques¡­ Well¡­ I¡¯ve heard that the moment you arrived at the capital, you spent all of your time holed up in your manor without going anywhere else, right? Well, that place has the techniques that you¡¯re so interested about."


    Garen hesitated. He was unclear about what the Secret Service was actually like, but he¡¯d heard about the three departments of the Royal Alliance of Luminarists a long time ago. Each of these three departments were managed by different countries but they worked with each other, and their powers were intertwined, meaning that each country possessed varying amounts of power.


    "Honestly, our Kovitan Empire sits at the most important position in the national departments. We are not considered weak in the Geometry Service, but since the Secret Service remains in the domain of Daniela, it is better for us not to infiltrate. You know as well that the three departments are represented by interest groups of aristocrats from various countries. Inside the Secret Service, Earl Senda is our only representative that possesses some influence."


    "But even if I joined, it would not cause any effect, right?" Garen asked hesitantly.


    "Of course it wouldn¡¯t be just you alone. Nothing can be accomplished overnight, because everything needs a development process," Avic answered with a smile. "A research-type Forger joining their ranks would definitely be a huge support for Earl Senda."


    "Your Majesty gives me too much credit," Garen quickly bowed his head humbly.


    "Your father contributed an immense deal towards the Kovitan Empire, and by right I should be rewarding you greatly. However, the unfortunate part is that the news about the cruel experiments performed by the Trejons household have been spread everywhere," Avic answered softly. "Regarding your previous requests, I promise to grant all of them to you. As an extra reward, I will personally present you with the inheritance to nurture the Black Storm Doves. I hope you will not mind that."


    "Black Storm Doves?!" Garen was shocked. This was the name of a Form three Totem, and this type of Form three Totem was one that he had heard of before. A Form three Totem that would be able to cause a storm, was a rare Form three Totem that did not prioritise body evolution, yet could cause strong tornadoes and were truly terrifying. This kind of inherited power was usually only passed down within royal families, and was extremely precious.


    This inheritance could truly be something that he could depend on, and would help him rebuild an even more powerful Trejons household.


    Garen was undeniably shocked by Avic¡¯s generous gifts.


    "Thank you very much, Your Majesty."


    "Good, our time is almost over. There will be a masquerade party at the palace later. If you¡¯re interested, you can go over to the etiquette officer and choose a mask. I need to go change my clothes now," Avic said while smiling.

 358 Audience and Surgery 2

    Chapter 358: Audience and Surgery 2


    Garen quickly retrieved the Green Vine Sphere, and respectfully handed it in.


    Avic took it.


    "Not bad. Go and have a good rest. You can directly report to me if anything happens. Let me give you a warrant which would allow you to directly retrieve what I¡¯ve promised from the Royal Treasury." He quickly wrote a warrant, tore it and passed it to Garen. He then bowed his head to examine the Green Vine Sphere.


    Garen took the warrant, bowed, and walked out the study.


    After exiting the study, he wiped beads of sweat off his forehead.


    In the study, there were multiple strong, colossal energies lurking in the dark, forcing pressure on him. Once something was amiss, there was a possibility he would be instantly destroyed. He couldn¡¯t assess the extent of strength of the energies, but they definitely were not below third form.


    As this was a matter of national safety, it was natural that there were exceptional powers on guard.


    This was the gathering point of the strongest forces throughout the whole of Kovitan, the capital. A large majority of the Obscuro Society¡¯s generals were gathered here as well. The power of the Elemental Generals wouldn¡¯t be considered very strong here.


    Moreover, Garen did not bring along the three Petrifying White Dragons. They were too far away to help. If a skirmish happened, he certainly wouldn¡¯t be able to escape.


    This fact made him miss the martial arts world that he was previously in. Martial arts was real individual strength. It wouldn¡¯t be diminished by being apart. A person¡¯s strength also wouldn¡¯t be heavily reduced because of damage to totems.


    He shook his head as he enquired of the herald at the door, who respectfully brought him towards the royal treasury.


    According to his plan, by combining Vanderman¡¯s technique with part of Obscuro¡¯s principle modification techniques, he would have to face a huge risk in the transplant process. Even if he could perfectly control blood flow and had immensely strong vitals, it wouldn¡¯t make a difference. The other difficulty would be that in order to adapt thoroughly, he had to be on the same frequency with the Dual Headed Salamander.


    Luckily, after Garen¡¯s experimentation, he had preliminarily identified one of the most effective methods.


    He followed the herald directly to the royal treasury. After the chemist in charge asked of Garen¡¯s request, he was given twelve tubes of glory potions and a tube of light potion, which recovers large amounts of totem light.


    All of these were crafted by top chemists and stored for over a hundred years, concentrating them for much stronger effects. Especially the light potion. There was a totem user who diluted the potion and distributed it to five hundred other totem users. All of them managed to fully recover their totem light within half a day.


    Once a totem user¡¯s totem light was exhausted, it would affect transfusion to the totem, causing injury to both the totem user and the totem. The light potion, which could quickly recover and repair totems, was considered a rare totem recovery method.


    Garen was preparing for emergencies, where he could use it to quickly recover his totem light. If he got hurt, at least this could be used for self-preservation.


    On the other hand, the glory potion was something that he wanted. It could completely lull all pains. It allowed people to soldier on without fear of life and death, or in other words, act as an advanced stimulant. As the glory potion did not have any side effects, it wouldn¡¯t cause harm to people compared to other stimulants. Hence, it could be used again and again compared to low level stimulants.


    After obtaining what he came for and a permit to enter the Royal Databank, Garen also received a black, hexagon insignia from Avic. He then took his leave from the palace.


    As for the Black Storm Doves inheritance, after going through sorting, it would be sent to Garen¡¯s manor within two days.


    *********************


    Under bright yellow light.


    As he carefully applied a special type of grease on both of his hands, Garen looked at the death row inmate lying before him. This was already the fifteenth death row inmate to be used for his transplant experiments.


    He¡¯d used his family¡¯s wealth to bribe the warden of Kingdom Prison to obtain the bodies of twenty death row inmates every month.


    For the past two months, he¡¯d consistently practiced with the Dual Head Salamander¡¯s cardiac transplant, becoming more and more skilled at it. At the same time, he¡¯d experimented on his own body by transplanting small amounts of myocardium into his body. However, this always triggered strong rejection from his body.


    Under the effects of medication and the cleansing effect of Dragon Blood, Garen meditated with his martial arts and was gradually able to connect with the transplanted myocardium. He slowly understood the process that he had to go through.


    As a whole, it gave him a newfound understanding towards the transplant procedures.


    "A very successful surgery." Garen wiped off the disinfectant grease on his hands with a wet towel. "This is the fifth. If things go according to plan, my heart will be much stronger than the average person¡¯s. I will become abnormally energetic and there might even be further changes to my body. All of the effects should be positive, since I have decent impurity cleaning skills."


    Glancing at the inmate¡¯s expanding and relaxing chest, it was certain that she was no longer in danger.


    As he left the operating table, Garen habitually looked at his attribute pane.


    There was a huge increase to his potential points. Within these couple of months, his potential points had gradually increased to more than than three hundred points. It was obviously caused by the Petrifying White Dragon¡¯s relentless hunts. In the beginning, Garen still had interest in his increase in potential points, but soon he grew completely numb. The potential points were constantly increasing, but he had no place to use them.


    The limits of the body determined that he couldn¡¯t use them to level up his body. Yet at the same time, he felt it wasn¡¯t worth it to use them to upgrade silver totems.


    "What¡¯s up boss?" As he left the lab, Garen saw a white-haired man waiting for him outside the door.


    The man was called Komodo, initially a death row inmate. After the successful experiment, he decided to follow Garen as a token of thanks for giving him a second chance in life. Naturally, Garen did not fully trust an inmate¡¯s loyalty, but he wasn¡¯t too worried after the empowerment.


    Komodo volunteered to be empowered, and currently acted as Garen¡¯s right hand man in his underground lab.


    Komodo had a strong physique. Compared to others who would be considered tall at 1.8 meters, he was two meters tall. The flesh all over his body was tanned, and he had scars everywhere. His right wrist was chopped off in a battle, and currently in its place was a retractable alloy blade.


    "Very successful. This inmate is really strong. Although she¡¯s a female, you can rarely find such a strong body even among men. She might be on par with you." As Garen briefly explained, he strode towards the biggest underground cave.


    Vanderman¡¯s lab was huge. This was the originally the Kingdom¡¯s air raid shelter, but it had been deserted. The lab only occupied a corner of the vast underground air raid shelter.


    "This is the third success this month. Boss, you are getting more and more skilled." Komodo smiled. "But Boss, am I really able to injure the monsters out there?" There was doubt in him.


    "Of course." Garen turned a corner. "Didn¡¯t you try?"


    "No."


    "Go try it when you¡¯re free. After i finish with my experimentations, I¡¯ll appeal for your pardon. I am a nobleman. I should have the authority to keep the lives of a few inmates." Garen promised.


    "Thank you boss!!" Komodo was delighted.


    "Have you prepared the various equipments?"


    "Yes, it is ready. The nutrient pool has been refilled as well. This time I switched to the biggest one. Miss Lala has been complaining that the expenditures have been too huge. The family¡¯s finances are becoming a little tight." Komodo replied immediately.


    "Let¡¯s officially begin tonight." Garen pushed open the door of the biggest underground cave, and entered.


    Komodo followed behind. Right in front of their eyes was a gigantic creature crouching in the biggest nutrient pool.


    The giant salamander had two heads and his huge body was like a hill. It quietly laid in the pool, and every breath created a mild breeze in the cave.


    Although he has seen the creature multiple times, Komodo¡¯s legs still shook. Although he was still delighted by the promise, he still couldn¡¯t resist the immense threat of the creature.


    Komodo consciously went to check the oil level of the lamp on the wall, as an opportunity to keep a distance from the creature.


    Garen went towards the dual headed salamander instead and raised his head to look at the giant creature.


    "Tonight might be a new beginning for me.." Garen gently stroked the salamander¡¯s skin.


    He had been relentlessly pursuing the combination of martial arts and totems. From the ancient notes about Endor and his baffling arrival at this world, there was definitely some form of connection between martial arts and totems.


    He took out his pocket watch and looked at the time 4:23pm.


    He left the pocket watch on the table. Garen immersed his two hands into white disinfectant liquid. The liquid was like boiling soup but Garen¡¯s expression remained steady.


    He removed his hands when they turned slightly red, then dried his hands. He diluted the glory potion according to proportion.


    The surgery wasn¡¯t difficult. The difficult part was controlling blood flow after the transplant. Immense accuracy was required. Even for an apex martial artist like Garen, he had to put in a lot of effort for the transplant.


    The person receiving the transplant had to have strong endurance. He had to endure pain that would kill a normal human. Moreover, without precise control of blood flow, the most the inmates could obtain from a successful experiment was a stronger physique and totem-natured change in strength. It wouldn¡¯t have much change on their actual power.


    For normal people it might be worthless. But for Garen, with the ability to increase his body¡¯s limit through potential points in addition to having the skills to control the resonance stone, he could definitely surpass the limits of his body.


    Moreover by relying on the pinnacle of martial arts, he had grasped the principles of the resonance stone. He estimated that even the Obscuro Society¡¯s people could not reach this level in resonance stone techniques.


    Martial artists really had strong senses.


    According to procedures, Garen started to adjust his blood flow and body state, then closed his eyes to rest.


    Once the surgery was a success, the array of martial arts from the previous world would be of use. At the same time, a new path would be opened.


    He recalled the legends of the warlocks he had heard of in the previous world. Although the warlocks of the fairy tales appeared exorbitantly strong, a huge chunk of them could be distorted as the stories were passed on. But there were some among them that seemed to possess the power of totem users.


    Thinking about it now, the martial art world and the totem world seemed to have an association with each other.


    "Tonight will determine our success¡­"


    Tonight¡¯s transplant would determine whether martial arts and totems could combine perfectly.

 359 Transplant 1

    Chapter 359: Transplant 1


    Kovitan¡¯s Palace


    King Avic sat sideways on the throne with his face rested on one hand, as he looked at the reporting ministers and noblemen. Boredom and disinterest was written all over his face.


    "... to date, there is a severe resource shortage throughout the empire. There is no food supply and we are relying on the surrounding warehouses. This will not last for long. I suggest building terraces in the surrounding hills. If we do not execute this plan as soon as possible, we will face severe consequences." The agriculture minister was a short white-bearded man. Although he had a wrinkled figure, his voice was full of energy.


    "I oppose!" The military minister stood up to speak. He was a middle-aged fierce looking man. "The uses of weaponry totems are incredibly varied. If we continue like that, we will have depleted all our stored resources within a few years. Our primary mission should be forming squads to secure new resource points. Not doing that will cause us to be unable to withstand the attacks of monsters and all will be for naught."


    "Is there a possibility to take the flesh of the foreign creatures as meat?" The industrial minister suggested. "I¡¯ve heard that there were totem users who directly ate the flesh of the creatures, but there weren¡¯t any problems."


    "We can give this a shot." Avic tapped the armrest of his throne with his fingers. "Health department, do some tests and get back to me with the results within a month."


    "Yes, your majesty." The health minister bowed his head.


    "Your majesty, Dragonfield Black Prince will be arriving at the kingdom¡¯s capital in two months. What level of protocol should we greet him with?" The protocol minister asked.


    "Protocol?" Avic furrowed his brows. "The black prince established Dragonfield. In this era of chaos, his position should be only slightly weaker than mine. Welcoming him excessively would be detrimental, but it wouldn¡¯t be polite to take him lightly as well. Greet him according to the Foreign Prince Protocol. As long as has not ascended the throne, he is not the King of Dragonfield."


    He paused. "The Black Prince¡¯s visit will heavily facilitate the alliance between Dragonfield and Kovitan. Although Dragonwell used to be Kovitan¡¯s vassal state, it is different now. Ministers, please be attentive towards your behavior."


    Following after that were the daily trivial discussions. There were some faults with the kingdom¡¯s drainage system which required funding. The repair of the air defence network totem needed more resources and workers. There were a few children of nobles who got into fights on the streets and what should be done about it.


    The more Avic listened, the more he frowned. Gazing at the chaotic meeting hall, he took up his golden scepter beside the throne, and exited through the right.


    ********************


    Garen sat to the side of the dual headed salamander. He set up a table and a chair beside the nutrient pool. As he was waiting for time to pass, he was organizing the reports on his desk.


    The flickering of light from the lampshade caused the shadows on his face to shake.


    He carefully looked at the asset statistics in his hand.


    Out of all of Trejon household¡¯s foreign businesses and their two manors, only twelve farms were still operating. The majority of their wineries, bands and mines were unable to operate because of the creatures. As they were located out of West Farm¡¯s line of defense, giving them up was the only option.


    In the kingdom, other than the manor he was staying in, there were three other bungalows and a long closed down totem repair shop.


    Because of his recent heavy spending, he sold off some of his family businesses. Two out of the three bungalows were sold, leaving only one bungalow and the totem repair shop, which was not worth much.


    Military resources were currently being heavily controlled by the government. Hence, nothing could be sold in the shop and its only value was the land.


    Lala, who acted as a maid, was the one governing the assets. She made everything concise and neat.


    Not only were the assets were in a depressing state, the family guard too was dismal.


    Maxilan and Edney led the family guard. The household initially had two second form totem users and fifteen first form totem users. These forces had independently nurtured over the years. The battle at Vanderman¡¯s manor had heavily depleted the forces; some of them had ran away, while only a minority who felt a sense of belonging to the Trejon¡¯s household had remained.


    Their current forces were only made up of ten first form totem users. Led by Maxilan and Edney respectively, they took part in the kingdom¡¯s defence circle patrol mission for some hard-earned money. Only on the weekends did they return to the manor to report to Garen.


    Instead, it was the Hunting Group who managed to enlist in different departments in the war guild once they reached the capital. Because of their alliance with Garen, they became the biggest influence in the Trejon¡¯s household apart from Garen.


    Garen placed the family status reports at a side, and finally looked at the two invitations at the bottom. The two invitations were from Earl Baxy and Viscount Lavel.


    The Trejon¡¯s household had a certain level of network and kinship in the capital. The noblemen often had abnormally complicated marriage relationships. Earl Baxy¡¯s wife was Vanderman¡¯s cousin¡¯s sister¡¯s daughter. One of their daughters had married to Vanderman, becoming his second wife. Both parties maintained a close relationship.


    Viscount Lavel was Vanderman¡¯s brother¡¯s adopted son, who¡¯d managed to climb the social ladder with the family¡¯s support. His roots were in the Royal Luminarist Academy, where he was one of the vice chancellors. There were rumors about his intimacy with the Royal family¡¯s third princess, and there would be a wedding soon.


    "These are the typical nobleman households." Garen¡¯s head hurt as he thought about these family relationships. The nobleman circle was not big. In order to preserve the noble bloodline, marriages would often be between one another, or with royalty of other kingdoms. Because of this, there would be relationships between noblemen everywhere, like a spider web. By tracing the Trejon¡¯s bloodline, there could even be a connection with the king.


    "Complicated network." Garen thought for a moment, and threw the invitation aside.


    After thoroughly clarifying all the matters, Garen lifted his watch and looked at the time, 5:12pm.


    Calmly, he stood up and walked towards the edge of the nutrient pool. He crouched down and tapped lightly.


    Piak!


    With a crisp sound, a stone on the edge of the pool slowly lit up.


    At the same time, a total four white lights coming from four stones illuminated around the round-shaped nutrient pool.


    In a flash, straight white beams shot out from the tip of the rocks. They met in the air above the pool and merged into a single point.


    The beams fluctuated slightly, letting out a hissing electrical sound, and illuminated the whole underground cave.


    The dual headed salamander opened its eyes and looked up. The glaring white light narrowed its eyes. It moved its body slightly, then returned to its calm state.


    He laid out the transplant apparatus on the table and started to use disinfectant grease to sterilize them. Then he got ready the diluted glory potion and anti-inflammatory drugs, gauze, bandages, suture needles and other instruments that may be of use.


    The preparations were complete.


    With his eyes shut, he stood still on the ground. As he meditated, he slowly operated his Divine Statue Technique. According to the subtle sense of the resonance stone, he carefully sensed the dual headed salamander¡¯s frequency.


    In the process of sensing the resonance stone, Garen realized that in fact all beings, including all plants and humans, had their own unique resonance frequency. Only by finding that resonance frequency could numerous unimaginable key functions be realized.


    In the past few days, he had sensed many times, finally able to faintly grasp the dual headed salamander¡¯s unique frequency. This was the frequency of the vibration of its life force. The dual head salamander¡¯s life force vibration seemed to be in sync with its heartbeat. But in fact, every heartbeat was completely different from the subtle vibrations. One beat contains thirty five totally different vibration frequencies.


    These thirty five frequencies combined to form a unified vibration. There was no interference between the frequencies. All of them were independently clear and distinct.


    Some of the vibrations had big frequencies, close to the rate of a heartbeat. Some of them were small, they could beat up to a thousand times in one heartbeat.


    As Garen quietly sensed the thirty five different vibrations, he gradually stopped operating the Divine Statue Technique. After a moment, he abruptly opened his eyes.


    Taking the surgical band from the table, he plugged in the necessary surgical apparatus. He strapped the band to his arm by winding a few loops. Garen directly walked into the surgical pool which was surrounded by white beams.


    At the same time in the underground cave, Komodo quickly turned and leave according to Garen¡¯s previous orders. If he continue to stayed there, there might be danger. Furthermore, as there were preset defence tactics, there was no need for an outsider¡¯s protection.


    He bowed towards Garen¡¯s direction from a distance, then quickly turned and left the underground cave.


    Garen drew his surgical knife and carved a deep wound on the dual headed salamander¡¯s abdomen. Scarlet blood instantly flowed out from the wound and dripped into the nutrient pool. It dissolved into the white nutrient liquid.


    Shriekk!!


    Garen applied force, slashing the knife from top to bottom, opening a wound at the salamander¡¯s abdomen. The length of the wound was more than a man¡¯s height.


    He put down the knife and held the edge of the wounds with both his hands, and gave it a fierce tug. The wound completely tore open and he squeezed his whole body in.


    In the fishy and stuffy salamander belly, the huge, heavy beating sound of the heart filled his ears. The sound of beating was abnormally muted.


    Garen passed the arteries and veins with familiarity, and once again arrived at the heart, which was about a man¡¯s height.


    He withdrew a tube of diluted glory potion from his surgical band. After filling a syringe with it, he injected it into the salamander¡¯s arteries.


    He then withdrew another tube, and injected it into his carotid artery.


    As he injected the cool potion into his neck, there was a faint sense of excitement in Garen¡¯s heart. It was as if his senses were abnormally alert, much more than usual.


    He felt numbness spreading throughout his body. It was as if there was a thick layer of stratum corneum on his skin. He completely lost his sense of touch.


    Garen stood still for a couple of minutes, waiting for the effects of the drug to kick in.


    After he was sure that the drug was in full effect, he then took up the surgical knife and made gentle cuts on the surface of the salamander¡¯s heart.


    A dual headed salamander¡¯s heart had unique hematopoietic abilities. It was a unique, machine-like biological tissue, which was a humongous source of life, endurance and strength for the salamander¡¯s gigantic body.


    Garen carefully removed some flesh on the surface of the heart. The removed flesh was around the size of a man¡¯s head.

 360 Transplant 2

    Chapter 360: Transplant 2


    He slowly released a wave of white gold aura, carefully sensing the structure of the dual headed salamander¡¯s heart. Then he started to make tiny carvings on the piece of flesh with a small knife.


    Only the dual headed salamander¡¯s powerful life force and strong regenerative abilities helped it to withstand such severe damage. Any other being would have died at its first heart injury.


    The knife carefully carved at the entrance and exits of the arteries and veins. For some of the internal places that couldn¡¯t be contacted, he applied force with his martial arts to empty the flesh.


    Garen closed his eyes, not looking at the piece of flesh in his hand. He relied on the white gold aura for sensing and to be his eyes for the surgery.


    Heavy amounts of blood flowed through his fingers, due to large amounts of torn flesh stuck between them. As time passed by, some of the blood coagulated on the surface of his hands, forming a thick layer of scab.


    Garen wasn¡¯t sure if the plan would succeed. He intended to create a smaller heart with the tissues of the dual headed salamander¡¯s heart, then transplant it into his body. Without doubt, it was a whimsical thought.


    The Obscuro Society had provided the guidance in technique, while martial arts and the resonance stone had cleared the path forward.


    After multiple experimentations on humans and animals, it was clear to Garen that even without following the resonance steps, there was still a chance of survival after the transplant. Without a doubt, that was his biggest safety net.


    The heart in his hand was gradually coming into form.


    Shortly, Garen¡¯s hands gradually stopped moving. He took out a tube of ointment and applied a uniform layer on the inside and outside of the formed heart. This ointment stopped the growth of wounds. He¡¯d experimented many times with it previously and the effect was decent. A few experiments on the inmates had succeeded because of the ointment.


    As the heart stopped showing signs of regeneration, Garen crossed his legs and sat down. He took off the surgical band and placed it on the floor. He had an astonishing degree of control of his body¡¯s blood flow.


    With a shock throughout his body, the clothes on his body tore into shreds and flew apart.


    Garen sat naked on the flesh-like ground. He lifted the surgical knife with one hand and plunged it into his chest.


    He followed his ribline and slit across his chest. A bloody wound tore open across his chest, like a bloody, ferocious mouth.


    No blood was flowing out. His elite-level martial arts and white gold aura was controlling his arteries, preventing blood from leaking out.


    At the instant the wound was slit open, the blood on the surface of the wound quickly coagulated, plugging the wound.


    As carefully visualized internally, he placed the salamander¡¯s heart into the right side of his chest, symmetrical to his original heart.


    Next was the vascular graft, quickly moving every blood vessel from the original heart to the new one.


    Garen¡¯s was incredibly strong in martial arts. His trained body could be commanded easily. Connecting his heart was much easier than the rest.


    Under the effects of the glory potion, there was no sense of pain. Garen skillfully began to move the blood vessels. After moving an artery, he would move the corresponding veins. Then, he would control his blood flow to start circulating through the newly stitched blood vessels.


    Due to his superhuman regenerative abilities, every stitched blood vessel would quickly condense together.


    The process was much easier than Garen expected. The Divine Statue Technique¡¯s self healing abilities allowed him to easily complete the stitching perfectly.


    Every blood vessel from the original heart was moved over to connect to the new heart.


    Garen was in deep focus, as though he was performing surgery on others instead. Without looking at his two hands, he quickly and accurately made stitches on his chest.


    Not even a drop of blood from his body had been wasted.


    As minutes and seconds passed, beads of sweat gradually appeared on Garen¡¯s forehead. His hands were also becoming more skillful and fast.


    The heart wasn¡¯t linked to many blood vessels - only eight of them. But due to the structural change, it affected the smaller arterioles and venules. Some of them weren¡¯t long enough and he had to move the salamander¡¯s heart to compromise.


    As the transplant progressed, the position of the salamander¡¯s heart gradually moved towards the left side of his chest, closing in on the original heart.


    As the beads of sweat on his face increased, some of them trickled down his temple.


    The fifteen minutes that had passed wasn¡¯t a long time, but the transplant felt like years.


    Finally, Garen lightly stitched the last vein. The salamander¡¯s heart had completely replaced the original heart at the left thoracic cavity.


    However, there were no signs of beating. The body¡¯s blood flow was completely reliant on Garen¡¯s martial arts techniques, and his life force was depleting.


    For an average person, once the heart stops beating, he would go into shock and the brain would stagnate, causing him to lose his sanity. But Garen was a zenith-level martial artist, hence he could rely on his aura that he accumulated daily to promote blood flow. In the meantime, he squeezed the salamander¡¯s heart lightly to imitate the pumping of the heart.


    It heavily reduced the depletion of aura. However, it was still depleting quickly.


    After Garen¡¯s multiple surgeries on the inmates, he knew that this was the most important stage. He quickly raised his head and slit opened a passage on the salamander¡¯s gigantic heart with his surgical knife. His whole body then entered into the heart.


    The passage quickly stitched back together, leaving only a small trickle of blood.


    As he immersed himself into the dragon¡¯s blood, an incredibly strong fishy smell surrounded his skin and body from all sides.


    If he hadn¡¯t been injecting himself with dragon blood serum for a long time and had formed some resistance, he would¡¯ve been poisoned to death in a short while.


    The salamander¡¯s heart beat non stop. The loud, continuous beat indicated its strong life force.


    The strong beat caused the heart in Garen¡¯s chest to mildly beat, similar to its rhythm.


    In the atrium and ventricle of the heart, blood flowed in and out, creating a huge spiral. It caught Garen¡¯s body and held him in the center.


    The salamander¡¯s heart structure was totally different from a man¡¯s heart. It had one atrium on the left and one ventricle on the right, forming two equally large spaces. It was like two balls that were closed to each other.


    Garen curled his body as he was suspended in the center of the heart.


    He could only see red as he opened his eyes. His nose and mouth were filled with blood, preventing him from breathing.


    According to the plan, Garen quietly meditated, sensing the resonance of the dual headed salamander¡¯s life force. He controlled the strength of his totem and started to imitate the dual headed salamander¡¯s resonance frequency.


    As the salamander¡¯s heart agitated him, Garen barely held onto his senses. As he was immersed in the resonance frequency, he had to arrive at the same frequency in order to activate the transplanted heart.


    Under the same frequency, high energy units would transfer energy to low energy units. This was a unique form of energy transfer. Garen previously learnt this on Earth, but he applied on his current world to transfer energy.


    Whether it¡¯s the salamander¡¯s heart or the resonance stone¡¯s nest, both seemed to be operating on this principle. It was only their frequency that was abnormally complicated.


    Using his strong martial arts, Garen accurately manipulated his blood flow and totem force to slowly beat in time with the salamander¡¯s heart.


    As time passed by, Garen¡¯s body was fully coated in blood.


    He closed off his five senses, completely forgetting the flow of time as he immersed himself completely into the resonance frequency.


    This form of resonance frequency was undoubtedly as difficult as a miracle to the totem users of this world. However, to Garen who has reached the zenith of martial arts, it was merely about controlling his own body. Martial artists had stepped onto this field while they controlled the usage of forces a long time ago. This resonance was just relatively harder.


    Gradually, he fell into a deep state of semi-consciousness. The dragon blood continuously replenished him with nutrients and oxygen, while also taking away metabolic waste.


    Garen was like a foetus in the womb, sinky slowly towards the deepest realm of consciousness as he synchronized with the resonance. He lost track of time. One hour passed, then two hours, five hours, one day, two days¡­.


    Garen was completely unaware until the resonance became a natural habit. It was initially the dragon heart which propelled the resonance, but now he¡¯d finally achieved complete harmony with it.


    He completely entered a deep state of slumber.


    **********


    The sky was blood red.


    Garen stood alone on the edge of a barren cliff. Below was a deserted city with broken walls and old towers with no sign of population. A layer of mist blanketed the silent city.


    "Sheesh!!!!"


    Garen raised his head and opened his mouth to let out a deafening scream.


    He realized he was no longer human, but a gigantic, black-scaled dual headed salamander.


    He couldn¡¯t control his body. It was as though he merely a bystander within in the dual headed salamander¡¯s body, observing the surroundings.


    Between the two heads, only one had vision. The other was merely decor.


    The dual headed salamander¡¯s body wouldn¡¯t have been considered huge. At only three metres tall, it could be only considered as a youth.


    He turned around and stomped his feet on the ground as he walked towards the back of the cliff.


    Behind the cliff was a black building. It was completely empty, without even a shadow within. The cold wind gusting through the holes of the building made some whimpering noises.


    Among the buildings, a tall black clock tower stood silently in the middle of the dead town.


    The dual headed salamander stared at the clock tower. It was in extreme hunger. Hunger pangs continuously arose from its stomach, clouding its mind.


    "Food...food¡­" Garen felt that this was the only single thought in the dual headed salamander¡¯s mind. It kept on repeating over and over again.


    Step by step, it heavily plodded towards the back of the cliff. It was heading towards the black city on the slope.


    Garen¡¯s thinking ability felt numbed. All he could do was silently stare through the dual headed salamander¡¯s vision.


    It squeezed into a huge black metal door in the city. The door was carved with fine patterns, and had two heavy metal rings.


    Entering the black metal door, there was a quiet, black plaza right in front. On the right hand side was a leafless tree. Its countless leafless branches stretched out into the sky, looking dry and desperate.


    The dual headed salamander hungrily walked forward until it reached the foot of the tree. It sniffed at the trunk. The trunk gave off a dry and liquidless smell.


    It was an unusual feeling. Garen felt that the salamander could actually smell the smell of water.


    The salamander finally could not control itself. It reached over and landed a big bite on the trunk of the tree.


    Crack.


    Bitter. Waterless. After reluctantly swallowing it, the salamander felt even hungrier.


    He gave up on the tree and walked towards the buildings, which looked like a temple area. They were all in black without any colors. Under the faint red sunlight, it gave off a strange feeling.


    Bang! Bang! Bang!


    Suddenly, heavy footsteps were heard from outside.


    It was as if a gigantic creature was walking around in the temple area.


    They heavy footsteps could be heard from thousands of metres away.


    The dual headed salamander fearfully stopped. It hesitated on the plaza. It wanted to enter but didn¡¯t dare to move forward.


    However, it could no longer hold in its hunger. He raised his head and looked at the giant, ten-metre tall black metal door with black-reddish rust stains. One of its heads strongly pushed opened the door.


    Creak¡­.


    Whooo¡­.


    Garen abruptly opened his eyes.


    The only thing he could see was red. He had finally regained consciousness.

 361 Success 1

    Chapter 361: Success 1


    He still lay in the blood of the dual headed salamander. He was floating in the blood between the arteries and veins; two different levels of oxygenated blood that looked as though they were separated by a thin invisible film. As arterial blood flowed through this area, it became venous blood.


    Garen released a white golden aura, and felt his heart rate slowly synchronising with that of the dual headed salamander, beating at the same frequency. A strange sense of affection and intimacy was birthed.


    It was as though there was an unusual connection between him and the dual headed salamander.


    His own heart grew stronger in the resonance of their heartbeat frequency. As his heart continuously beat with the help of the salamander¡¯s heart, an unknown energy surged to his heart, causing the initially rejected transplanted heart to slowly come to life.


    Garen released an aura, and sensed the foreign blood flowing around him. The vital energy and blood flowed from the heart of the dual headed salamander and circulated all throughout its body. An extremely complicated and detailed map of the blood vessels appeared in his mind.


    He closed his eyes again. His heart had not been completely activated yet, and still needed to rely on the continuous resonance of the salamander¡¯s heartbeat. Not only that, as the blood pumping out of his new heart was a combination of the salamander¡¯s blood and his own merged as one, an adaptation process within his own body was required.


    Garen carefully examined his own body. Once there was a reaction in any part of the body, he would immediately employ the secret technique to make adjustments throughout his body.


    This process was extremely dangerous. Different from the simple surgical procedures done on the prisoners previously, Garen needed to be on alert for any signs of rejection while keeping up the resonance of the heartbeat.


    If he were to falter at any time, it could result in his immediate death.


    Although he had already predicted this step through simulation modeling, he was only aware of how critical and difficult it truly was after he had personally reached this stage. It wasn¡¯t like what he had previously deduced.


    If a rejection occurred, it would affect the resonance achieved by both hearts beating in sync. If not resolved immediately, Garen would suffer from the double blow of hypoxia and bodily reaction; it would either end up with him suffocating to death or death due to the disturbance of vital energy and blood.


    In the underground caverns.


    The dual headed salamander lay in nutrient fluid that was slightly reddened. It¡¯s eyes were slightly closed. The creature¡¯s body gave off a feeling as if it was way past it¡¯s prime; it seemed to have aged.


    At the top of its body, four white beams of light converged into a white light ball, evenly covering the body with white light. Even so, the scales on the salamander dulled slowly, losing the sheen it once had.


    ¡­


    The dual headed salamander let out a long breath of air, opened its eyes to quickly survey its surroundings, and continued to close them.


    At the edge of the nutrient pool, Komodo was washing the floor while holding onto a basin.


    He took a sideway glance at the salamander, then zeroed in on the abdominal wound that had already healed; shaking his head.


    "Lord is crazy¡­It has been 3 days¡­could it be that he had already¡­"His face was filled with traces of worry.


    Since Garen had saved him from the death row, he had pledged his loyalty to this thick piece of ham. If anything had happened to this thick piece of ham, he would definitely be unlucky too.


    It was also an unspoken fact that he did not have the status of a freeman, and that he was part of the private property of Trejon¡¯s clan leader. If the clan leader were to ever lose power, his future would also be bleak.


    Hua!


    He poured the remaining water onto the ground and mopped vigorously.


    Well, it was no use thinking about all these now. Let¡¯s just work earnestly.


    Day by day, time flew by¡­


    The fourth day.


    Komodo began adding lamp oil to the lights on the wall. He had a look at the dual headed salamander in the nutrient pool; nothing seemed to have happened, the only difference seemed to be in how the giant beast had aged significantly.


    The fifth day.


    Komodo placed two letters on the edge of the table, glanced at the giant beast that exhibited no trace of movement, and walked out.


    The sixth day¡­


    The seventh day¡­


    The eighth day¡­


    The ninth day.


    Ba dum!!!


    The entire cavern was sounded with a dull thud, as if it came from the vibrations of a giant drum.


    Komodo who was stifling a yawn awakened immediately from the shock. He stood up and surveyed his surroundings.


    "An earthquake?!?!"


    Splash! In the nutrient pool, the dual headed salamander elongated its neck and gasped in anguish, but there was no sound.


    Its huge body was trembling slightly, it seemed to be suffering from a violent convulsion.


    Ba dum!!!


    Another dull heartbeat reverberated from its body. This huge beast had aged significantly in comparison to 9 days before, leaving only a bag of bones. After a few frantic roars, it collapsed heavily and panted with difficulty.


    At the center of the beast¡¯s heart, Garen opened his eyes. A large and powerful surge of energy he had never experienced before sprung up all over at different parts of his body.


    The resonance of the salamander¡¯s heart weakened with each second.


    Garen¡¯s heart on the other hand, was pumping with an massive force of life and vitality; it was just like new life, containing an unlimited amount of energy.


    He held both of his hands interchangeably; the thick layer of blood scab congealed on his skin fell away with force.


    All of a sudden within his body, a strange route of blood flow caught his attention.


    Garen sensed the spontaneous route of the blood flow and felt a sense of vague familiarity.


    Suddenly, he remembered something.


    "Is this¡­!? The secret technique roadmap!!!"


    His eyes snapped open, and he began to observe the spontaneous route his blood flow had naturally taken on within his body. These complex yet delicate routes were either fast or slow, and mapped out a complicated, three-dimensional blood and vital energy roadmap. It also had an inexplicable resonance in frequency.


    The weirder thing was, Garen realized that roadmap was similar to a secret technique that he had practiced before.


    This is¡­the Myriad Water Jasper technique?!!"He finally remembered. This roadmap was from the previous world; he got this top level secret technique from an exchange with Celine.


    This secret technique was one of the branches of Neptune Fist, a legendary ancient martial arts organization. Celine did not mention how it came about, only mentioning that this was one out of the three oldest techniques there.


    What surprised Garen the most was, his body was currently operating the Myriad Water Jasper technique¡¯s first layer of vital energy and blood roadmap automatically.


    Different from common folk, the vital energy and blood from his body had dual headed salamander characteristics. When he operated the first layer of the Myriad Water Jasper technique, mini cyclones were formed in the blood, reverberating throughout the blood vessels with great speed.


    "Secret technique¡­Totems¡­" Garen had a vague hypothesis in his mind.


    The Myriad Water Jasper technique has 5 layers to it. It was incompatible with the Divine Statue technique as the roadmaps were in conflict; he was only able to master the first layer, and it was only for the sharp force that the method offered.


    And now his vital energy and blood were employing this technique naturally. Garen felt his Divine Statue technique depleting; the strong network constructed by the secret technique¡¯s vital energy and blood was currently being dissolved by this bizarre Myriad Water Jasper technique.


    "My Divine Statue technique¡­" Garen had no time for regret; he immediately checked the attribute pane at the bottom of his field of vision.


    Right behind the attribute pane, a clear black and red symbol appeared. It consisted of 3 small black and red dots lined up in a triangular formation.


    "Activate ancient memory of dual headed salamander, the body in question is going through changes. Myriad Water Jasper technique is going through mutation due to resonance.


    Garen sensed the constant flow of the technique in his body. The heart constructed from the salamander produced a huge amount of fresh blood; at the same time, the salamander¡¯s blood was also absorbed through the skin pores in large amounts, all sucked in by the Myriad Water Jasper technique. While all of these things were going on, an invisible and delicate force was generated.


    This force appeared like countless invisible whirlpools, densely covering the entire area of Garen¡¯s body.


    It completely covered Garen; spreading out at the same time. It affected the giant dual headed salamander¡¯s body.


    Days passed.


    Dual headed salamander appeared completely dried up. Its large volume of vital energy and blood was close to being sucked dry; its whole body weakly laying in the nutrient pool, void of any movement.


    It could feel near its heart ¨Cthe point of convergence of vital energy and blood, there seemed to be a black hole that was continuously swallowing up all its blood. This black hole had even grown bigger and bigger, its absorbing power becoming stronger and stronger.


    Sssss!


    It growled weakly; both eyes slowly dimming, losing its color.


    In the underground cavern, Komodo looked from afar at the beast on the brink of death; his eyes full of shock.


    The dual headed salamander¡¯s chest suddenly expanded like it had a huge red growth.


    The growth had a heart beat that was continuously pounding, a red fluorescent light vaguely appearing.


    As the red fluorescent light around the growth grew brighter and brighter, the light in the eyes of the dual headed salamander grew dimmer and dimmer.


    "What is this¡­! My God¡­"Komodo took a few consecutive steps back, almost backing up against the entrance of the cavern.


    Finally, the growth expanded till its limit. It shrunk fiercely all of a sudden, as if all of the red light was sucked into a center.


    Then, there was no light.


    Ripppp!!!


    A blood red, fresh rip appeared on the abdomen of the salamander.


    A pair of bloody hands stretched out and grabbed both sides of the open wound.


    Garen slowly walked out from the opening; his body covered in blood scabs. He looked like a bloody devil returning from hell.


    He looked at the nutrient fluid below that had turned clear; the water reflected his current appearance.


    The man staring back at him was completely blood red; his features were unrecognizable, so was his face. Only the 3 red glowing dots between his brows was as clear as day.


    "I have succeeded. Secret techniques and totems, I knew they had some kind of connection."He muttered, reaching out his hands to touch the place in between his brows. The red lights were coming out from 3 birthmark-like red dots.


    These red dots could not be felt through touch, and had the nature of normal skin. The 3 red lights were lined up like a triangle, and had an unusually neat placement.


    This was just a physical change.


    Garen was more concerned with the changes happening on the inside.


    He looked towards the attribute pane at the bottom of his field of vision.


    "Strength 6.66. Agility 3.11. Vitality 2.97. Intelligence 2.53. Potential 41128%. Possess the qualities of a luminarist.


    Secret technique ¨C Myriad Water Jasper Technique, Ten Thousand Mammoth Battle Skills."


    The moment he saw the attribute pane, he finally took a long sigh of relief.


    He knew, he has finally achieved his goal.


    Breaking limits, breaking past the limitations of his being; this was a road that no one treaded on before. Talking about that, Sylphalan was just like him; they both chose to modify themselves.


    Once Garen finished his thoughts, he brought back to memory his attributes from before ¨C Agility was at 2.72. Vitality was 2.82; both increased. Although the difference was not huge, it was an improvement. Being able to increase right after reaching his limit; this was a huge buff.


    At the same time, his body possessed totem light attributes; he had achieved his goal successfully.


    The weakened and greatly aged giant beast had already closed its eyes quietly; not a sound was heard.


    Garen reached out his hand and slowly stroked its fragile scales; there was a trace of sadness in his heart. He knew it was him that had completely sucked the essence of the salamander¡¯s blood until he was dry. Also, this dual headed salamander had used his entire being to give birth to who he was now.


    But this did not mean that the dual headed salamander had completely vanished.

 362 Success 2

    Chapter 362: Success 2


    Garen withdrew his hand and glanced at the totem panel. The Dual Headed Salamander¡¯s icon remained there. It did not turn grey nor disappear.


    He thoughtfully withdrew his hand and immersed his body in the nutrient pool, which had turned to clear water. The blood stains on his body were quickly washed off with the slightly vibration, revealing his white fleshed body beneath.


    Suddenly, he noticed that although the Dual Headed Salamander''s icon remained, some strange changes had quietly taken place.


    He carefully looked at the totem¡¯s introduction symbol. Suddenly, his pupils shrunk.


    "What is this!!??"


    The explanation on the front of Dual Headed Salamander¡¯s totem icon suddenly evolved into a core totem!


    "Core totem - Dual Headed Salamander: Third evolution of Deep Swamp Croc. Third Form Creature, Ultimate Totem, Cannot be evolved.


    Abilities: Maze Mining, Life Tear, Dragon¡¯s Roar, Dragon Skin, Parasitism."


    Suddenly his heart skipped a beat, Garen gradually gathered his martial arts aura.


    As the Myriad Water Jasper Technique continued to operate, a faint red aura slowly formed. It was a blood-like, thickened fluid, spreading all over the ground.


    Garen could clearly feel a huge blood red pattern forming on his back. It was the pattern of the Dual Headed Salamander''s body outline.


    Garen extended his arm to look at his fair but abnormally tough skin. His five incredibly sharp fingernails on his left hand turned into devil-like red. Garen naturally realized that his left fingernails were the parts that could use Life Tear. Once the five red fingernails pierced any living being, it would replicate the effect of the Dual Headed Salamander¡¯s Life Tear and draining the being¡¯s life force to restore his own.


    "This is the real way to use totems?" Garen felt enlightened in his heart.


    His heart skipped a beat as the red Dual Headed Salamander behind him suddenly let out a fierce howl.


    Sshhhh!!!


    A circle of clear sound waves originated from him and spread throughout the perimeter.


    "This is Dragon¡¯s Roar." Garen, without any change in expression, jerked his left arm forward. Chii!! His five fingernails naturally extended, leaving a red shadow,. It was like a lunging, ferocious bite towards prey.


    "This is Life Tear."


    He abruptly leapt out from the pool in a blur. He landed in front of a clothing rack on the right side of the cave. He grabbed a grey robe and wrapped it around his body.


    In a flash, Garen¡¯s whole body was wrapped in the grey robe. His dripping wet golden hair was draped over his shoulder. His eyes were faintly glowing in red, but the most noticeable was the three red dots on his eyebrows which were still faintly emitting red fluorescence.


    With a beat of his heart, the gigantic Dual Headed Salamander totem slowly dissipated. The three red dots on Garen¡¯s eyebrows also stopped glowing, reverting to a normal three dot birthmark, like a cinnabar.


    "Looking at it, once I stop using the totems, there won¡¯t be any strange signs on my body." Garen had an epiphany.


    The bizarre existence of the Dual Headed Salamander was similar to the primitive totems of Luminarists.


    The only difference was while Luminarists used silver as the material for totem creation, Garen relied on blood; large amounts of the Dual Headed Salamander¡¯s blood.


    The similarity was both had an activated and deactivated form.


    "Luminarists use a storage device to keep their core and secondary totems. While it seems that my current method is to combine the totem with my body as one?" Garen cautiously sensed the changes of his body. The Dual Headed Salamander totem seemed to be in the three red dots on his forehead.


    He had a vague feeling that he was on the path of the legendary warlocks.


    "If the way of the Luminarists retains the totem¡¯s life as an independent being, my way of integrating the totem into the body to obtain the abilities of a core totem causes the totem to lose its independence. It will be totally dependent on the host body for nutrients.


    He looked at the half-opened door in the distance. Komodo left it opened as he was fleeing. It was still lightly swaying from the air flow in the cave.


    "Next, let¡¯s see whether I have really surpassed my limits."


    Garen focused and concentrated on the most important point.


    The sign of surpassing his limits was tied to the increment of his attributes with potential points. This was the thing that he cared for the most. As for the core totem¡¯s inability to evolve, there would be solutions in the future.


    Even a Luminarist¡¯s core totem could be changed once in five years. Maybe this form of core totems would be able to as well.


    After focusing, Garen shifted his attention towards the attribute pane.


    "Let me try it on vitality first." He glanced at "vitality" on the pane.


    His vitality had already raised to 2.97 after the heart transplant.


    He focused his gaze for three seconds.


    One potential point vanished from the pane.


    The vitality bar jumped from 2.97 to 3.07 in a moment.


    Garen¡¯s eyelid twitched. He remembered clearly that one potential point could increase 0.3 on the attribute pane previously. But now, it only increased it by 0.1.


    Although he expected a increase in the depletion rate of potential points during attribute increment due to the increase in his strength, he didn¡¯t think it would be so much.


    "Luckily I¡¯ve accumulated more than 400 potential points. Let¡¯s see how much will be used." Garen was determined. His fixated his gaze on "Vitality".


    His vitality shot up like a rocket. From 3.07 to 3.27, then 3.57...3.96...4.26...


    His potential points also dropped like a stone.


    As the vitality hit 5.00, the increment speed slowed down.


    Through Garen¡¯s careful observation, he realized that the depletion rate had changed once again. One potential point could now only increase 0.05 in attributes, which means 20 potential points were needed to increase 1 attribute point.


    "Since I still have a lot, and only a few potential points were used, continue!" Garen¡¯s expression remained and continued increasing his attributes. He was looking forward to see the attribute limits of his new body. Every being has a limit. The difference was whether the limit can be reached.


    His vitality points continue to raise at an insane rate. As it hit 5.00, it required 20 potential points to increase 1 attribute point. In one go, Garen¡¯s vitality rushed past 6.00, then 7.00, 8.00.


    As it hit 8.00, the depletion rate chanced once again. From requiring 20 potential points to increase one attribute point, it became above 60 potential points.


    As his vitality hit 10.00, it was stuck at this number and could no longer be increased.


    His potential points had already been depleted by almost 200 points. Garen felt the heartache as he looked at the remaining 200 potential points which had been accumulated over a long period of time. Recently, the results haven¡¯t been good for the Petrifying White Dragon and the rest. There was only an increase of around 10 points each day. It was evident that there wasn¡¯t much to hunt.


    As Garen stood in the tunnel, he felt the changes caused by the huge increase in attributes.


    Before the increase, he could already rely on his 6 points of strength to draw in a fight with the Dual Headed Salamander. The Dual Headed Salamander was a giant beast known for its strength. As his vitality reached 10.00, Garen was unsure what changes it would bring. He only felt a stronger musculoskeletal system,tougher skin and more alert senses.


    His sense of smell could detect different kinds of odors. It could detect the Dual Headed Salamander¡¯s blood, his own blood, the smell of stones, the smell of nutrient fluids and even the fragrance of a bush in the far corner.


    His eyes could see the minute patterns on the wall opposite the cave¡¯s hall. There was a black beetle crouching there. Garen could clearly see that the little finger-sized beetle was mildly chewing on some moss on the wall. He could even clearly see the villi on its mouth.


    The sound of the beetle chewing on the moss seemed to be just beside his ear. He could hear it completely once he focused his attention.


    Garen felt the toughening of his skin all over his body, but other than that, there didn¡¯t seem to have much changes visually. It was still fair like white jade of the finest grade. However, Garen could feel that his whole body was layered with a layer of invisible stratum corneum. This layer of stratum corneum was incredibly tough, like the scales of a dragon.


    "The increase of vitality was effective indeed. Looks like 10 points is this body¡¯s new limit." Garen focused his gaze on the two key attributes, strength and agility.


    "Strength seems better. My martial arts has always been on the path of strength. All my styles revolved around immense strength." Garen thought for a moment and chose to increase his strength. Whatever remained would then be used on agility.


    Since his martial arts did not focus on agility, this was the best way. For those martial artists that focused on speed, agility would naturally be the choice.


    His fixated his gaze on the strength attribute.


    The same scenario happened. The strength attributed climbed upwards from 6.66. In a brief moment, it exceeded 8.00 and was still swiftly increasing.


    Garen was delighted and was eager to test the effects of the change in strength.


    Suddenly, a bored, low growl came from the back of his mind.


    His blood red core totem - the Dual Headed Salamander emerged from his back. The 7-8 metre tall blood totem twisted and roared towards the sky.


    There was ball of flesh emerging from the Dual Headed Salamander¡¯s body, from its back part near its neck.


    The ball of flesh grew and expanded. Finally, with a tearing sound, the ball of flesh tore apart and another dragon head appeared.


    It was then Garen noticed that balls of fleshes were growing on the salamander¡¯s back as his strength attribute increased.


    The balls of flesh grew more and more, bigger and bigger, like a fast-forwarded movie. The balls of flesh grew a rate visible to the naked eye. They would then tear part, forming wet, new dragon heads.


    One by one the new heads emerged. Until after the eighth head, things came to a halt.


    The eight headed salamander¡¯s size had evidently increased. From a height of 7-8 metres to 10 metres and eventually twelve metres. Its twenty-metre long body looked exactly like a red mountain.


    At this point, the strength attribute had increased to 14.00. The limit of the body was 10.00, but the increase of the gigantic creature wasn¡¯t included in the limit. Garen was delighted.


    Whether it was the salamander¡¯s change or him surpassing the limits of the attributes, there seemed to be an unknown connection.


    While Garen was delighted, he also faintly realized. This method of totem combination seemed to be far stronger than the way of the Luminarists.


    The improvement of the host¡¯s body could even affect the core totem. This was mind boggling.

 363 Arrangement and Moving Forward 1

    Chapter 363: Arrangement and Moving Forward 1


    Its strength kept increasing until 14 before coming to a pause, and the Dragon¡¯s heads stopped increasing once it reached eight. However, there was a new bag of meat on its back, suggesting a possibility of having a ninth head.


    Garen observed that the existing nature of this Dragon was rather elusive as it didn¡¯t have an actual body. The eight headed dragon indeed did not have an actual body, as it didn¡¯t interact with everything else. However, the strength he could use from the Dragon would increase greatly when it appeared. The strength he could put out was twice the strength before he released the totem.


    Garen named this new creature as the Eight Headed Dragon. Although he named it as such, anyone would have assumed that the ninth head would come out sooner or later, due to the bag of meat on its back.


    The second head of the Dual Headed Salamander had the Life Tear ability but the remaining new heads didn¡¯t seem to have any unique ability. Perhaps it¡¯s due to it not having an actual body or some other reason that these new heads didn¡¯t have other ability, and all of them had the Life Tear ability!


    As these heads were born, Garen could feel that Life Tear had been enhanced to an incredible level. Although he didn¡¯t know the extent of this effect, he believed that it should be at least 6 times stronger than the original Life Tear, and it shouldn¡¯t be weak no matter how he looked at it.


    What the evolved Eight Headed Dragon brought to Garen wasn¡¯t just an enhanced strength, he had also a new ability -- Gravitational Vortex.


    With his grey robe on, Garen reached out his right hand and flicked his finger.


    Pew!


    An invisible vortex was shot up and floated in front of him no more than one meter away.


    This vortex was about one meter in diameter and rotated the air surrounding it, attracting everything from its surrounding. There was an unknown hole in the center of the vortex which lead to an unknown space.


    Garen counted that he could released eight of these vortices at the same time, which was the same number as the heads of the Eight Headed Dragon.


    These eight vortices rotated at a high angular velocity, resulting in the formation of a strong whirlwind causing huge amounts of items flying towards the vortices. It was like a powerful tornado.


    In a blink of an eye, large amount of shirts, wooden racks, scientific equipment and nutritional wastewater were absorbed into the vortices. What was left in the hole was those items that were hard and solid.


    As Garen dissipated the vortices, he rubbed his stomach with a weird expression, as he felt that something had entered his guts.


    He felt that those items that were absorbed into the vortices were transported into his stomach.


    It seemed that those items had been refined and turned into nutrients and entered his body.


    "Could it be that these eight vortices are the Eight Headed Dragon¡¯s mouth?!" Garen guessed.


    He then started to analyse these eight vortices in detail.


    After some time of experimenting, Garen finally understood the theory behind these eight vortices.


    It was the same as he imagined. These were all the mouths of the Eight headed Dragon, and they could swallow everything from the outside world, including rocks, debris and some dangerous sharp weapons. Furthermore, the debris that it swallowed could turn into pure energy and replenish the totem power.


    One had to realize that one would spend their totem power whenever they activated their totem, be it a core totem or a support totem. The more totems one activated, the more totem power was spent. A typical form one totem user could engage in a high level battle without breaking a sweat.


    However, a form two user could only engage in a high level battle for about half a day and a form three totem user would have spent even more totem power. The typical form three totem users wouldn¡¯t activate their totem casually and would only use them when necessary. Furthermore, a lot of totem users would rely on their low grade support totem as an energy source to reduce their expenditure of totem power. This was also the reason why the totem markets kept existing.


    As for the strong spiritualized totem similar to that of Beckstone¡¯s spiritualized totem Sunflower, he would feel exhausted if he were to release a small amount of power even with the support of the Heirlooms. Regardless of whether if it¡¯s related to his physical strength, this also proved that a spiritualized totem required a lot of energy.


    Garen wanted to find a solution towards the Crystal Derivator¡¯s flaws, as he cherished this item a lot. This was because the empowered totems which were controlled by the Crystal Derivator did not require an ounce of totem power. The totem itself would eat and rest to recover, which was one of its major advantage.


    Naturally, it had its own disadvantages as well. While the empowered totem did not require any totem power, it required a huge amount of food which was rather troublesome. He would need to spend a huge amount of meat daily to feed the large amount of Deep Swarm Crocs and Parasitic Beetles. If their food source were to be interrupted, they would be weak and might even die. On the other hand, the Primitive Totem was very convenient as it didn¡¯t require rest nor food and it could be carried with him anywhere.


    Garen didn¡¯t know which class he was in anymore, but what he was sure was that he was much stronger than before.


    He felt that his core totem¡¯s state was similar to that of the legendary form four, which was purely elementalization. In this era, where spiritualized totems were considered rare, the fourth form totem, elementalization, was completely in the realm of the mythical. In addition, he had yet to account for his physical attributes, where his strength had increased to 14 points and had 10 points of constitution. Under these extreme limits, he could be considered more fearsome than the totem itself.


    Garen walked towards the side of the nutritional pool as and looked at himself in the reflection. He looked weak, gentle, slim and handsome, which gave off a delicate and beautiful juvenile vibe. He was very satisfied with his current look as his demeanour would definitely confuse his enemies. While his biceps did not look physically strong, it possessed an incredible strength that surpassed any living being.


    "Reylan had mentioned before that the Elemental Generals of the Obscuro Society were all spiritualized. Each of them had at least two spiritualized totems, this without considering their ability to control their General-level subordinates. Based on this, an Elemental General would have the strength of an army of Spiritualized Totems, with most of them being form three creatures. Since there creatures able to kill Elemental Generals, this obviously means that form four creatures exist, and the reason I hadn¡¯t encountered one at all was because they are very rare. To think that the Marshall of the Obscuro Society is able to take back his territory by letting the creatures escape as they smelled his scent, this means that there is something stronger than elementalization, which places him at form four or form five. If this is true, then the Obscuro Society¡¯s overall strength is clear as day."


    Garen sorted out his chain of thoughts.


    "We can ignore the Marshalls for now; those are the people who manage the overall situation of multiple countries and are under the direct command of the Hellgate of the Obscuro Society. They basically wouldn¡¯t appear because of any one situation, as I have never heard of a form four of form five Marshall class appearing before. The strongest person in charge is definitely the Elemental General per country, who is at the Spiritualization level. Judging from the looks of it, my totem strength has reached a certain peak."


    Now that he had a clear understanding of where he stood in terms of strength, his totem was at its peak before the mysterious creatures appeared. He would have to fight with this mysterious creature to find out that who was the stronger one.


    As he looked at the holes caused by his messy experiment, his sight landed on the corpse of the Dual Headed Salamander. This old Salamander was so thin that it practically didn¡¯t have any muscle at all.


    "Komodo." He turned around as he walked towards the door. "Clean this place up."


    A tall figure peeked his head in from the entrance and Komodo relaxed as he saw Garen.


    "Alright Sir." He was glad when he saw Garen was safe. This meant that his future was insured.


    As Garen walked out of the cave, he could faintly hear Komodo¡¯s cries echoing from within.


    "Oh¡­ The cave that I cleaned up just a moment ago¡­"


    Garen laughed as he walked up the stairs in the laboratory. He was so swift that his figure faded as he went out.


    A few seconds later, he stood at the exit of the underground laboratory and gently opened the door.


    Wow.


    Garen was blinded by the golden ray from the outside.


    He squinted his eyes and walked out of the experimental room, the door behind him closing shut by itself.


    It was noon. The scorching wind blew in from the balcony, rustling the pots¡¯ leaves by the wall.


    Garen turned right, and went into his bedroom and wore an undergarment which he took out from his wardrobe. He then took out the Secret Agent Armor given by His Majesty himself.


    It was an all-black hardened armor and looked like it was connected by many small squares. He had a black hood on and two pauldrons protruding out from his shoulder.


    A pair of band collars surrounded his neck and the left band collar had the national flower, the Golden Iris Flower of the Kovitan Empire sewn onto it.


    It was the first time Garen saw the iris flower, even when he was on Earth and the world of Secret Techniques. This Iris Flower that was sewn was golden in color, the overall shape was a perfect equilateral triangle as if two three leaf clover superimposed each other and formed the petal. Two three leaf clovers overlapped each other, and formed a perfect triangle. The stamens at the center of the triangle formed another perfect triangle, which gave off an exquisite vibe.


    He touched the cloth, which seemed to be made out of golden thread.


    As he wore the full body armor, the upper body was hardened armor whereas the lower body was a black skirt. He even paired it with black trousers and a shiny long boots.


    Garen stood in front of the mirror and admired himself. After refining his body, he had gotten slimmer, and his body was well portioned. He wore a pair of gloves and his hood, which totally covered his face. Only his pale chin and red lips could be seen.


    The armor didn¡¯t require any body support, and everyone seemed to be able to fit into the armor. If he were to slightly lower his head, no one would be able to recognize who was wearing it.


    Surprisingly, Garen didn¡¯t feel overheated as he wore his hood and gloves. The sun blazed overhead outside, as waves of heated drafts gushed in from the balcony.


    He analysed the the armor and realized that there was something on both of the pauldrons. Both pauldrons were engraved with a simple Solidifying Tactic. This armor was very similar to the War Chain that could release the Solidifying Tactic and its effect.


    Garen analysed the workings of the armor, and it seemed that it could absorb the totem user¡¯s naturally leaking totem power and use it for the armor¡¯s tactic. Hence, this airtight design¡¯s purposes were to remain hidden and collect as much totem energy as much as possible.


    Whether it be illuminarists, totem users or Forgers, as long as he possessed totem energy, he or she would naturally lose a minimal amount wearing this. It was similar to a human body losing body heat to the surrounding.


    This armor made full use of the these, and recycled the energy to the best of its extent.

 364 Arrangement and Moving Forward 2

    Chapter 364: Arrangement and Moving Forward 2


    Garen stroked this set of armor as he daydreamed one that was even more advanced.


    The technology of the Secret Service was so advanced that it already had such an armor set. If that was the case, then they should have even better armor which had an even stronger Solidifying Tactics engraved onto it. It would collect the emission of totem power and release it when it was needed.


    Garen was stunned. Totem users who possessed this armor would be much stronger than the typical totem users. If one were to have very powerful armor¡­


    He stopped his train of thought.


    He reached out his hand and pulled the thread beside his bed.


    Ring ring.


    A clear and crisp bell was rung, and footsteps could clearly be heard coming from outside.


    The restless Lala soon appeared outside the room. Her face was filled with joy as she saw Garen.


    "You finally came out! There are a few letters for you recently, all of them want you to be there as soon as possible. Even the messenger kept reminding me multiple times."


    She felt relief as he saw Garen came out as her main support had returned.


    Garen adjusted his collar and walked out of the room to the wooden sofa in the living room, sitting down.


    "Where¡¯re the letters? Bring them to me. Didn¡¯t they say that I should be there 2 months later? Why are they rushing now?"


    Lala walked towards a vase which was placed at a corner of the living room and poured out all the letters contained inside it. All of these letters were yellow and square in shape.


    "The messenger said that there was an emergency and they needed a helping hand." Lala arranged the stack of letters by the date and placed them in front of Garen before she stood at one side waiting for more orders.


    Occasionally, she would give Garen a strange look as she compared Garen¡¯s thick armor and her sleeveless white dress.


    Garen picked up the first envelope and took out the letter.


    There was merely a line written on the white piece of paper.


    ¡®The reporting date has been brought forward due to an emergency. Vice Captain Garen Trejons, kindly report into the Wells Castle as soon as possible.¡¯


    The date written was: Sun Calendar 3568 11th of May.


    There was also a red circular stamp where the word Confidential was faintly inked. It was the word confidential made out of three alphabets.


    Garen opened the remaining letters and all of them were basically urging his earliest arrival. The most recent one was three days ago, which was on the 14th.


    "I wonder what does this Vice Captain position His Majesty has assigned me does. It doesn¡¯t sound too bad but it doesn¡¯t look good either." Garen placed down the letter. "Are there any more?¡¯


    He looked at Lala.


    "Yes, and they are invitations to the ball from the Noble households." Lala answered immediately as she ran out of the room and returned in a short while with a box of invitations. These invitations were crafted delicately.


    Garen glanced at the names on the letter and they were all relative households of the Trejons Household. He picked out the invitations from Earl Baxy and Viscount Lavel and was about to throw the remaining to the side.


    Suddenly he saw a familiar name, Prynne.


    Prynne Acivis.


    His name was printed black on a golden surface, with an image of two blades crossing each other.


    Garen picked up the envelope and opened the letter.


    ¡®My best friend, Dear Acacia:


    Oh wait, I should be calling you Garen. Alright. How are you Garen? I heard the incident of the Trejons Household and your current situation seems dire. Just let me know if you need a helping hand. You should know very well of my grandfather¡¯s networking.


    Furthermore, your cousin has sent Andel to my place and I will arrange everything nicely, so don¡¯t worry about it. Malin is here as well. She doesn¡¯t seem to be in a good mood as Baron Delt has passed away, and mistress Callaway is missing. I have sent a few people to track her down but to no avail.


    The kingdom¡¯s situation is rather complicated. I have told my grandfather about your situation and he also know that you have given an item called the Green Vine Sphere to His Majesty and that you also join the Secret Service. He suggest you to enroll in it so that you can avoid the complicated situation in the Kingdom. It¡¯s best for you to stay low profile. Although you¡¯re very strong, the Kingdom has many strong people as wel,l so please be careful.¡¯


    Garen reread the last part of the message where he told him to be careful. It was obvious that Prynne knew much more than him due to his Household¡¯s connections.


    He placed down the envelope, placed both of his hands together and crumpled the letter into white dust as he threw them into the dustbin nearby.


    He had already memorised the address written in it.


    Prynne¡¯s grandfather was one of the two people with the most authority in the kingdom, excluding His Majesty.


    These two were originally the high class nobles in their respective area and both of them hold the title of Grand Duke. However, as the area deteriorated, both of them moved to the kingdom and became the new dividends in power. The Grand Duke of the Iron Tank City was not comparable to these ones as these stood on the top of the country. They were the upper class nobles who had been around for thousands of years with deep backgrounds and incredible strength. They had at least form three totem users, or else they wouldn¡¯t be able to migrate a huge amount of people to the Kingdom. They definitely had Spritualized totem users, maybe even more than one too.


    These superior nobles hold a great portion of the whole kingdom¡¯s power, and the remaining portions were held by the remaining nobles, which formed the entire strength of the Kovitan Empire.


    As Prynne¡¯s grandfather, his intel would most likely be accurate as no one had no reason to lie to him.


    "Looks like the strength I have revealed back in the manor has travelled to the Kingdom." Garen noted on this as he had reveal the strength of a form three spiritualized back in the manor to oppress Beckstone and the people from Obscuro Society.


    This news was most likely got there through the word of mouth from Andel, Hathaway and the people who had escaped to the Kingdom. There were also those two old instructors, Barr and Baphje, who were also likely to the ones who spread the news.


    "I¡¯ll head out for a while so you guys can go and make yourselves some dinner without me." Garen pondered for a while before he stood up and told her.


    "I¡¯ll prepare a carriage for you." Lala immediately ran out.


    Garen placed the verification document and verification ID given by His Majesty into a black file and brought it along with him.


    As he walked out of the manor¡¯s entrance inside the cliff, a black wheeled horse carriage was already waiting for him. The carriage¡¯s wheels were massive, and the driver was a middle aged man with a small moustache in a black suit. He took off his hat and greeted Garen.


    "I am Josephine, your newly hired driver."


    Garen nodded as he got up the carriage.


    "Towards Wells Castle, please"


    "Alright, please sit tight." The driver Josephine responded as he took out a whip and made a noise in the air.


    Two strong aberrated horses started moving. These two horses were brought by Garen to the manor. Their strength and endurance was commendable, and were considered the good ones among the aberrated horses.


    "Your horses are very powerful." The driver praised. "There are little aberrated horses that can run like that."


    "Oh?" Garen laughed. "Aren¡¯t all aberrated horses excellent?"


    "Of course not. There are a lot of aberrated animals that are bad. Some aberrated horses are weaker than before." The driver laughed as he replied. "It¡¯s very easy to be your driver. These horses are very docile, and they will be full for a few days if you feed them meat. I get paid with such a high salary and I don¡¯t even needed to go out for half a month."


    Garen smiled and didn¡¯t say a word afterwards.


    The talkative Josephine wanted to talk more but he suddenly recalled the rumors of the owner. After some hesitation, he decided to keep his mouth shut and didn¡¯t utter another word.


    As they went up the hills, other carriages would occasionally passed by them and as they intersected, he could faintly hear the girl¡¯s mourn.


    Garen suddenly realized that these scenarios were fairly common, as most nobles had sought refuge in the kingdom. Along the way, they had most likely lost a lot of their relatives, parents, siblings or offsprings. Almost all families had lost some of their members, many of them were like Vanderman, where not even bones were left for them to perform a proper burial.


    As the carriages moved forward, small buildings started to appear beside the white lanes. These were all black double storey or triple storey buildings, busy with people going going in and out of the houses.


    Garen looked out of the window and saw a young lady in a white head scarf placing a pot of fresh purple flower by the window on the second floor of a double storey building opposite the street.


    There were a few men quarreling and shoving each other, on the ground floor, incessantly shouting at each other.


    After the carriaged passed through the buildings, they arrived at a black cemetery.


    The cemetery was densely packed with white tombs and there were rituals being performed right in front of two new tombs. A Priest in white robes stood together with the family members in black attires as they mourned.


    After passing by the cemetery, they arrived at the place with buildings of three storeys. It looked like a shopping district as the buildings were densely packed together.


    The majority of the shops were closed. There was a long queue among the shops still open, lining eagerly in old and ragged clothes. Among the queue, some of them were women with a child in their arms, very thin youngsters and even pale old men.


    As Garen¡¯s carriages passed by, some of them looked towards his direction and immediately lowered their heads in fear.


    Thud!!


    There were a flew clangs.


    The carriage was immediately put to a halt.


    The driver Josephine¡¯s voice could be heard in the front as the carriage shook before coming to a stop.


    "Damn it! Which household¡¯s driver are you from? Didn¡¯t you see us passing through from the right?!" A high and mighty tone came from the front.


    "It was obviously you who didn¡¯t notice us!" Josephine shouted in disatisfaction.


    "You dare to talk back to me! How dare a broken piece of carriage crash into Viscount Duncan¡¯s carriage! I will¡­"


    "Bob! Shut up!"


    A man¡¯s cold voice came within the opponent¡¯s carriage.


    The driver was silent as he turned around and smiled. As he turned his head back, he stared fiercely at Josephine.


    Garen pulled up the curtain and saw the man in the white carriage doing the same as well. The other party looked gentle but had a rather sharp gaze.


    The other party¡¯s blue eyes were filled with fear and alertness as he saw Garen¡¯s black armor.


    Both of them smiled towards each other politely, wind down the curtain and both of the driver continued driving in their respective directions.


    "Looks like this Secret Agent armor provides a good deterrence¡­" He started to feel excited towards the legendary Three Departments. Perhaps he could be able to get more in touch with this world¡¯s secrets when he joined this strong organization.

 365 Exposed 1

    Chapter 365: Exposed 1


    "Hehe, these people don¡¯t know you¡¯re the leader of a noble household." Josephine smiled. ""You¡¯re much more valuable than these old nobles by the streets."


    "Don¡¯t say that." Garen scolded mildly. "There should be a lot of leaders of the noble households who lost their territory, causing them to be unable to support their household¡¯s power, right?"


    "That¡¯s true." Josephine¡¯s smile disappeared. "I have once worked for an old noble who was in the same situation. He didn¡¯t buy much into the industry in the kingdom and the wealth he brought along the way was lost. A few days later, we were separated as he could no longer support us. To see a household of a few hundred years collapsing just like that, sigh¡­"


    Garen didn¡¯t utter a single word as he listened to Josephine.


    From the mouth of a driver who was hired by many nobles, he was able to obtained a lot of small intel that nobody knew. The drivers often gathered together and talked to each other and he found out that nobles with authority in the kingdom amounted to less than four hundred. Compared to the thousands of noble families in the past, this was just a drop of water in the ocean.


    Josephine was originally unhappy due to his unemployment, but he didn¡¯t expect to be hired by Lala, and became the main topic among the drivers. Although Lord Garen¡¯s reputation was subpar, he was indeed an actual upper class noble, and rumor had it that he had a close relationships with the nobles with high authority.


    The carriage finally got out of the kingdom and passed through the district and took half a turn in the kingdom. After passing through the custom, what awaited them at the front was a huge yellow-green grass field.


    The grasses were green and yellow with some bushes of red fruit dotted here and there.


    This field was located at the very end of the black building district, surrounded by a circular black wall, forming a huge oval shaped zone.


    The giant pond in the center slowly came into view after travelling on the field for a while.


    "That is the Wells Lake, the main source of water to the entire Kingdom. Other than the Wells Castle where you¡¯re heading, the Kingdom¡¯s Water Supply Department is located here." The driver Josephine seemed to know this place very well.


    There were a few single convertible carriages heading towards the Wells Castle on the straight road as well. Occasionally, a few horses overtook Garen¡¯s carriage, there seemed to be no one walking at all.


    The carriages on the lane gradually increased, making the speed of the carriage gradually decrease as well.


    After 10 minutes or so, a grey-white stone castle finally appeared.


    The small castle was built on the lake, and the only connection to the castle from the land was a stone bridge.


    The wall of the small castle seemed to be made out of pieces of cobblestone, which looked like goose eggs. They were uneven and densely packed together. There were four peaks at the top which formed a square point. A black chimney could be seen at the center of the of the castle.


    Garen looked from afar and the castle didn¡¯t seem to be very big, as it was about the size of a double storey residential building. There was a black traffic light set up at the entrance by the stone bridge. There were two people wearing the same black armor as Garen whispering among each other.


    Garen¡¯s carriage stopped at the empty space beside the stone bridge.


    "We¡¯re here, m¡¯lord."


    "Alright. You can head back first and not wait for me." Garen got down of the carriage and walked towards the stone bridge.


    He walked past a couple of people in conversation and entered the entrance of the small castle through the stone bridge.


    After passing through the pitch dark entrance, he arrived in a guest room linked together on both sides. The wall was hung with all kinds of weird accessories, most of them were weirdly shaped accessories made out of white bones. There were white deer horns, thick thighs and a skull the size of basketball.


    There was a pale lady in spectacles and grey custom made armor, sitting at the reception at the right side of the guest room. She smiled as she saw Garen come in.


    "Good day, you must be Viscount Garen who came reporting in right? We have already received your notice and we have a picture of you here. Please verify your identity."


    Garen took out a document, which was a golden certificate given by His Majesty.


    The pale lady returned Garen the document after examining it closely as she note down the relevant information onto a small notebook.


    "Please wear this and head towards the second room on the right. Someone will meet you there."


    She passed him a golden-black badge with a golden Z alphabet on it.


    Garen followed her instructions and entered the room on the right, heading towards the small room at the far end.


    The decoration of this small room was similar to the living hall as accessories made of white bones were propped up everywhere. There were two males and one female arguing over something and all of them quiet down as they heard footsteps.


    As Garen entered, a guy and a girl, both in black armor, looked at him, the other guy with brown hair placed his finger into his hair with his head down. It was clear that he had yet to calm down as he kept expanding his chest.


    Garen ignored them and walked directly towards the room on the left.


    Whoosh¡­


    After a series of noises, the wall split and opened a path that lead to a slanted passage.


    The ceiling of the passage was made out of glass and guided the sunlight in from the outside just like the skylight.


    Garen walked into it.


    "Welcome welcome! Welcome Viscount Garen Trejons." A fatty walked towards him with joy and hold Garen¡¯s hand tightly.


    "I am Baidel and I¡¯m the deputy city governor from the distant Shield Hill. I am currently seeking refuge in the Kingdom. Your arrival is a blessing to us all!"


    The fatty was ecstatic as he pulled Garen enthusiastically forward and informed him of the situation as they moved forward.


    "You may not know of the current situation since you have just arrived. Our overall structure in the Secret Service consists of the Headquarters, administration branch district Office and the special service group. These five layers fully cover the entire Kovitan, and this is the headquarter of the Kovitan. We manage five branches, and each branch managed their own district and we have many more groups further down. And you¡¯re currently our most wanted Vice Captain."


    "The current situation is dire and we have lost a lot of Captain level personnel. Although you¡¯re currently just a Vice Captain, you can officially become a Captain through some training. Here, no matter if it¡¯s the Headquarter, Branch or the District Office, our core strength comes by forming a team. The headquarter¡¯s team is the best, followed by the team from Branch office and so on." The fatty explained swiftly.


    "If the team from the District Office cannot accomplish the mission, they will report it to the Branch. After the assessment from the Branch, they will dispatch a team from the Branch to perform the mission. If the mission is still yet to be completed, they would report it to the Administration and so on until it reaches Headquarters. You are currently under the Kovitan¡¯s Administration team. The current situation is complicated as there are a lot of situations that can''t be resolved. We have sent out most of our team, 8 out of the 10 that we have. We are left with one team in the Headquartera in case of emergencies, and the other one is currently performing their duties in the Kingdom. His Majesty heard that you¡¯ll be here so he had made preparations beforehand¡­"


    "Wait a minute. Did you just say that you¡¯re the Director of the District Office in the Kingdom? If this is the Headquarter of the Kovitan, then where is the branch director and the headquater director of this place?" Garen cut off his explanation.


    "Uhh¡­ They have all gone out on their respective missions¡­" The fatty took out a white handkerchief to wipe off his sweat. He wasn¡¯t sure why Sir Garen¡¯s image was totally different from the intel he received. The intel said that he was a gentle and polite person who loved beautiful women (He was once head over heels over Aquarius), and also a person who loved poetry.


    However, this person who stood before him felt like a beast. Although his skin was pale and his face was indeed gentle and occasionally had a smile on his face, he also somehow gave off a feeling that sent shivers down his spine.


    It was indeed weird, how could he be so fearful with his gentle smile?


    The fatty felt very anxious.


    "We are seriously lacking a lot of manpower, and there is also the fact that the Secret Service is being threatened as well. Raged, the general director, decided to bring out the strongest Silver Team out for this mission. It is estimated that they would return in a week¡¯s time. Hence they''ve put me temporarily in charge here."


    "What benefits would it bring to me if I were to join the Secret Service?" Garen asked the most important question straightaway.


    "You¡¯ll have access to the Royal Alliance¡¯s highest level of intelligence, and you would receive a good sum of money and resources every month. You will also have the authority to kill anyone who doesn¡¯t bear the title of Viscount and above. You will also have full authority to forcefully detain anyone who isn¡¯t a Viscount during emergencies. If the opposing party refuses your order, they will be treated as breaking the law and become a wanted battle criminal." The fatty seemed to be very familiar with this as he explained everything in one swoop.


    "Another important thing to note is that you can, based on your grade, visit any Master-level to create or service your totem from the Royal Alliance. Naturally, the expenses will be borne by you."


    "Hehe¡­ This is very beneficial." Garen couldn¡¯t help but to feel excited as he listened.


    Although he had killed so many people out there, he would immediately be hunted down by the strong people all over the country if he were to kill anyone within the Royal Alliance¡¯s territory. If he were to have this position, he would naturally be relieved of his worry. No wonder His Majesty was constantly concerned over this department as they had such an amount of authority. If His Majesty were to not control them with his own hand, he might be in trouble as well.


    "To be frank with you, the reason I joined this department was because I was aiming for the right to select at my own discretion. Hehe." The fatty told Garen what every men knew. "If you were to find any beautiful women, you can simply find a reason to fulfill your right to act, if you know what I mean."


    Garen was speechless. He recalled the destruction of the Kovitan Empire in the original history. The first reason was that His Majesty had been assassinated and the second reason was that the citizens were outraged because of the abundance of power the Secret Service department held. It¡¯s most likely because of these types of people similar to this fatty.


    "Then, what do we have to sacrifice?" Garen asked again.


    "Follow the orders from the upper echelon. Your superior will be Marquis Yawei, who is the Deputy Director of headquarters. He is also the person who manages the Nine Color Team. Naturally with your level which is at the Administration, you¡¯ll be performing the same duty similar to the Deputy Director of the Administration. Hence you can freely mobilize the people below you. As the Secret Service, our main responsibility is to take care of the issues within our territory. Anything related to assassination, rebellions, riot, spying etc falls under us. The National Department will be fighting openly and the hardworking kids in the Geometry Service will be doing researching. Simply put, we are responsible for handling issues in the dark. Everyone will be doing their own stuff if nothing is going on and will risk their lives if we are tasked to do something."


    "I understood." Garen understood.


    Two of them walked forward and took countless turns. Soon, the lights from above dimmed and the supports of the glass became transparent. They could see the crystal clear water flowing above their heads.


    Finally, they entered a small passage with two rooms placed opposite of each other, and two bronze nameplates hung above each of them.


    Garen looked at the names of the plates and realized that one was orange and the other red.


    He was then pulled by the fatty into an underground room to the left.


    There was a long meeting table placed inside the room, and there were already four or five people sitting inside. All of them were wearing a slightly shallow grey armor and all of them seemed to be rather depressed with their hoods on.


    These people didn¡¯t react much as they saw Garen entering the room. They were minding their own business. Two women were having a conversation together and one youngster seemed to be discussing something with an old man. There was even one who directly placed his legs on the table and covered his face with his hood as he snored all the way.


    "This is your red team. From today onwards, they will be your group members. I have to go as I still have other things to attend to. You¡¯re on your own now." The damned fatty left immediately after a brief explanation.


    "What do you mean I¡¯m on my own." Garen didn¡¯t manage to understand the whole situation and the fatty ran away. He couldn¡¯t shake the feeling that something was off.


    He stood at the entrance and looked at everyone in the room who were ignoring him. These people had used up all the chairs and didn¡¯t even leave him one.


    "Whoever knows the overall situation, can you tell me what¡¯s going on?" Garen revealed a harmless smile.


    The youngster and the old man paused their discussion. The white haired old man raised his head and squinted his eyes as he looked at him.


    "Young man, are you the new team leader?"


    "Based on the fatty¡¯s statement, I believe I am." Garen showed his emblem.


    "You should go back from where you came from." The old man shook his head. "This is not a place where a small kid can enter freely."


    Garen smiled and didn¡¯t say much.


    "Am I not the person in charge of this team?"

 366 Exposed 2

    Chapter 366: Exposed 2


    "This is the red team, but it is not a place you can handle." The woman who was having a conversation raised her head and smirked at Garen. "Everyone here is a form three totem user. We have finished up to hundreds of missions before we got here. Do you understand what it means to complete hundreds of missions?"


    The girl smiled.


    "It means that everyone here has killed hundreds of totem users and all of them were in the same class."


    She continued. "We of the Secret Service had a statistical death of one person per group per month. There are a lot of back ups waiting to fill our role. These people are professionals who live on the edge every single day. Do you understand what I¡¯m trying to say here?"


    "That¡¯s true. If it¡¯s me, I wouldn¡¯t believe a leader who came down from the sky either. If that¡¯s the case, then I will give up on my rights in command and we will all be on equal footing and perform the mission together. Do you agree?" Garen said nicely.


    "That¡¯s the right choice." The old man seemed very satisfied.


    "My name is¡­" As Garen was about to introduce himself, he was cut off by the old man as he raised his hand.


    "Young man, It¡¯s best not to reveal your real name in this sort of place. Using a nickname will do. This is an advice from an old man. Alright alright, everyone drop your act and properly introduce yourselves." The old man smiled. "My call sign is oldman. These two sisters are called Kitten and Fox respectively. This youngster beside me is called Hunter and the person who is asleep is our vice captain, Red Umbrella."


    Garen nodded.


    "The nicknames were created by yourselves?"


    "Of course, you can call yourself whatever you want as long as it¡¯s easy to pronounce." The old man nodded.


    "Then you can call me Nineheads." Garen replied gently.


    "Nineheads? The old man shook his head as he gestured the kid Hunter to give a space for him to sit. "Have a seat. We were discussing a mission we were about to execute before you arrived."


    With this, the whole atmosphere had warmed up.


    "Everyone will have their own standard parcel for this mission and I would need you to retrieve it for us later. We will discuss about the difficulties of this mission for now." The old man commanded sternly.


    Garen glanced at everyone else and the man who was sound asleep had placed down his legs and was no longer snoring. It was obvious that he was listening to the discussion. Everyone looked focused and was completely different from a moment ago.


    Garen didn¡¯t mind as he was entered the Secret Service to do what he had to do in a low profile. The incident regarding the Trejons Household was very heated and it required some time for it to die off.


    He didn¡¯t want to be targeted by the Obscuro Society and Terraflor Society just yet.


    The Black Prince would soon arrive in the Kingdom to meet His Majesty. Security detail fell under the Secret Service, but it was the mission given to the Black Team, which was the strongest team among the Nine Color teams so it was none of his business. What they needed to do was to eliminate the group of monsters in the surrounding area.


    The location of the mission had been implemented into the map and was packed with at least ten red dots. They only had one month to clear the mission to prevent any delay in the Black Prince¡¯s schedule.


    Garen was rather stunned at the Old Man¡¯s arrangement as there was no strategy involved. Positional tasking was given as to who would be in charge at which area. Some were given two or three places, indicating their difference in strength.


    One had to realize that these red dots might have form three creatures gathered and they were all distributed among the five of them. Hunter and Red Umbrella had more red dots, three and four red dots respectively. Furthermore, these red dots were the stronger ones as well. As each of them obtained one or two, they soon finished distributing the red dots.


    The Old Man suddenly realized that they had an additional person, Garen. He looked at Garen as he hesitated. "Do you want one?" He asked.


    "Sure. I will take it as a beginner¡¯s training. One red dot shouldn¡¯t be any issue." Garen smiled.


    "Be vigilant. Although it¡¯s just one red dot, there will be at least two form three creatures. If you can¡¯t handle it you should immediately send the rescue signal." The Old Man expressed his goodwill.


    "You should leave this group if you can¡¯t even handle one red dot." Kitten smirked.


    "I will go to bed if there¡¯s nothing else." Red Umbrella yawned as he stood up, preparing to leave the room. "Send the things to my room later."


    "You can send the items to our rooms later. It¡¯s indicated in the map and it¡¯s easy to find." The Old Man stood up and patted Garen on the shoulder.


    "It¡¯s time for you to shine." Kitten walked passed Garen¡¯s side and did the same. The other girl, Fox, didn¡¯t say a word and left the room.


    The Kid Hunter smiled at Garen and was the last one to leave.


    Garen stood in the room speechless as he looked at the empty chairs and tables.


    "So I¡¯m the bellboy now?" He shook his head. He could see that these people had their hands filled with blood and its stench, much stronger and concentrated than his were.


    He had killed many normal secret technique users in his previous world. Technically speaking they were just commoners and he was slightly stronger than them. These people said that they had killed totem users on par with them. They didn¡¯t even mention about killing people not of their level or the commoners.


    It was obvious that the amount would be a lot.


    "I have got to give credit to the headquarters. They only have ten groups, yet the weakest one is already this strong." Garen felt emotional and he didn¡¯t understand the intention of His Majesty placing him here. However, since the Secret Service had access to highly classified intelligence, he should be able to obtain some special intel regarding this world.


    He memorized the map and left the room. As he was on his way out, he encountered a grey shirted lady pushing a cart, claiming to be the courier.


    Garen gave her some tips and told her to help send the items to the rooms indicated on the map. The woman seemed to be very familiar with the place as she often sent packages around here. She happily accepted the request as she usually did this without getting pay.


    Garen inquired about the setup of this place and found out that the place was built underneath a lake.


    After finding out where the Archives and the Database were located, he decided to find out if they had any intel that he would find useful.


    Although he was not satisfied with the attitude of the Red Team¡¯s members, he didn¡¯t take it to heart as he knew that it was normal for people to behave like so.


    What he currently needed was the intel on removing the Crystal Derivator¡¯s hidden problem. Although this item was no longer item he most relied on, it was still very useful so he didn¡¯t want to simply give it up.


    Furthermore, his ultimate objective was to try and find any information regarding the relationship between this world and the previous world.


    There was still one year or two before the Kovitan Empire collapsed. Garen planned to settle everything for Hathaway, Goth and Prynne within this time frame. He wanted to compensate Acacia for lending his body to him by preparing a path for his relatives and close friends.


    He would then focus all his energy into finding the secret between connecting this world and the previous one.


    *******


    In a distant land far away, there laid a tall black minaret that pierced through the clouds and beyond, shrouding the topmost parts of the building. .


    Black smoke could be seen at the bottom of the tall minaret. The smoke morphed into the shape of a tall humanoid with black armor.


    The humanoid looked at the minaret in front of it as the black smoke rotated around its body, forming a huge cloud vortex. Loud whistles of wind constantly travelled down to the ground.


    "Is something wrong, Heiji?" A man''s deep voice suddenly came from the minaret, as if the whole building was reverberating this sound.


    The armored humanoid stood still with its head down as it paid respect towards the tower.


    "There¡¯s a new movement from the Terraflor Society. They seem to be nurturing a man called Beckstone."


    "I know. We can just ignore him. Our current opponent is the Royal Alliance of Luminarists. The Three Departments are troublesome in their own way and the President is still asleep. We need to be more cautious as the time he awakens draws near. These three old men are no simple characters. We will have hope of overpowering them when the President successfully awakens and we no longer need to rely on creatures to contain them."


    The man in the minaret explained.


    "What about Marshall God Cloud? We have noticed that a General-class Crystal Derivator is acting strangely."


    "Send a message to tell him to deal with it himself. We of the Black Sky are only in charge of monitoring them and are in no position to oversee the whole operation."


    "What worries me is that we can¡¯t get in touch with the General who is in charge of Kovitan. It may affect the whole plan." Heiji responded.


    "It is the plan of Marshall God Cloud, not ours. Alright, we''ll stop here today." The tower quietened down and no sound came from it afterward.


    The black armored humanoid, too, dissolved into a pile of smoke and disappeared.


    ***********


    Somewhere in the ruins of Daniela, a black unihorned creature was slowly moving among the ruins. The Unihorn Creature was carrying a purple haired woman who had an eyepatch on her. She had a red crystal ball floating in her palm, the surface was faintly glowing in red.


    "Demetrius, are you able to get hold of Jess?" The Elemental General, Andora¡¯s voice came from the ball.


    "What¡¯s wrong? Is there an emergency?" Demetrius gently comb her hair with her hand.


    "The Black Sky said that Jess¡¯s Derivator is broken. The general meant that it may be too late to change a new one as Kovitan is entirely in charge by Jess. Since you¡¯re the only person who had seen Jess¡¯s face and identity, the General wants you to go there by yourself. Since you still have another General there, you don¡¯t need to worry about something happening at your place. That fellow hasn¡¯t been contacting the other Generals in the area. Anyone would believe that he¡¯s lost." Andora explained coldly.


    "Alright. Intel says that he¡¯s currently in the Kovitan¡¯s Kingdom. Isn¡¯t there already a General there? Furthermore the General from the Elite Squad is there as well. Please let them know of the situation since I¡¯m not familiar with them."


    "Alright, let me try and contact them."

 367 Exposed 3

    Chapter 367: Exposed 3


    The information at the Archives had been moved to the Royal Secret Department. Garen, who just came out from the Wells Castle, was slightly disappointed to find out that the Secret Department¡¯s wasn¡¯t here, but on the other side of the Kingdom, which required a journey of half an hour.


    He called a carriage and went back to his residence.


    After ten minutes or so, he arrived the Blue Bay Manor.


    As Garen was about to get down from the carriage, he saw two tall men with red shawls standing in front of his manor, and seemed to be inquiring Lala about something.


    He squinted his eyes.


    "Keep moving forward." He ordered the driver.


    The driver looked at Garen skeptically and moved forward without asking further.


    Garen acted as if he were passing by as he looked at the two of them through the window. As they left with the carriages and disappeared on the lane, he then ordered the driver to turn around and go back to his manor.


    After getting down of the carriage and paying the driver, Garen walked towards Lala, who was standing in front of the entrance.


    "Who are those two?"


    "They claimed to be the guards of the princess and came to find you for something." Lala whispered. Her face was filled with suspicion. "They said that they want you to contact them immediately once you have returned."


    Garen¡¯s heart sank.


    "I understand. You go do your stuff."


    "Yes." Although Lala didn¡¯t understand, she could see that Garen was unhappy and immediately turned away.


    Garen walked into his own manor and passed through the guest room down to the open air garden in the middle and straight into the main living hall.


    Without any hesitation, he walked into his own bedroom and pulled out a black box at a corner of a wall and opened the box with the key on his body.


    Flopped, the black metal lock and box was opened, revealing the items inside.


    Among the black ribbons laid a faintly glowing red Crystal Derivator.


    A sentence was shown on its surface: You have five communication request, do you want to answer?


    Garen took out the Crystal Derivator and let it floated on his hand.


    He opened the communication request and they were the request of two upper class Generals and three middle class General. What a luxurious line up.


    He clicked on an unknown name of an upper class General and answered the communication request.


    The inner structure of the Crystal Derivator glew red and formed a vortex.


    "Jess? Since when did you change your name? Garen? Isn¡¯t this name¡­" A charming female voice came out from the Crystal Derivator. "Whatever, let¡¯s not talk about this. Demetrius didn¡¯t manage to get in touch with you. Is your Derivator broken? DIdn¡¯t we just visit the Black Sky to fix it last time? You have been saying you have issues with your Derivator since last time."


    Garen hesitated for a moment before purposefully simmering his voice coarsely.


    "Are you Ann-Rue?" It was the name stated for the upper class General.


    The opposing party was silent for a moment.


    "That¡¯s not it! You¡¯re not Jess! Jess would never talk to me like that! Damn it! Who are you?!!" Ann-Rue went full rage as her voice were cold and rapid.


    "I am jess, it¡¯s just that my throat¡­"


    "Don¡¯t bother. Who are you? How dare you disguise yourself as upper class General Jess and infiltrate the Obscuro Society¡¯s military. How did you find out about the secret code?" Ann-Rue¡¯s tone was no longer charming and lazy, but cold and cruel instead.


    "Whatever. There¡¯s no point in asking this. Let me look at your empowered totem¡­ Hmm¡­ One humanoid and three spiritualized¡­. Three spiritualized Totems?!! Not bad eh kid." Ann-Rue¡¯s tone became gentle all of the sudden.


    "To be able to nurture three Spiritualized totems. This should be your main strength eh. Hehe, Garen¡­ This name Garen, don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re the young Viscount from the Trejons Household?"


    Garen was shocked at how sharp and quick witted the opponent was.


    "Since you already know, what do you plan to do?"


    Ann-Rue started laughing.


    "Do you know that, the moment I report this to the higher ups, all your totems will be confiscated? Three of your spirtualized totem creatures that you nurtured so hard will become the property of others? And you yourself would be killed by them."


    "What are you scheming?" Garen didn¡¯t change his expression and reverted back to his original voice.


    The opponent was quiet for a moment before she started to laugh again. "Since the Derivator is in your hands, it¡¯s safe to assume that Jess is no longer alive. I really have no idea how you nurtured them, even I have only two spiritualized totem. Hmm¡­ It¡¯s rare to stumble upon a great thug. What should I do with you?"


    "How about this, since I have an important task to do, I want you to be at the Vivian Garden located at the northern side of the Kingdom within 10 minutes. I will be waiting for you on a long chair by the roadside."


    Garen put away the crystal ball and went out of the door without saying another word. He then rode his Aberrated horse, reserved for emergencies, and rushed towards the Kingdom.


    It took Garen 9 minutes to reached Vivian Garden located in the northern side of town.


    The garden was in complete silence, and so were his surroundings. Most of the trees inside had wilted, and there were only a few white jade sculptures in the middle. The circular garden wasn¡¯t huge, and there was circular road with a row of long chairs beside them.


    Garen took a turn and didn¡¯t see anyone there.


    "I have arrived, where are you?" He walked towards a corner where no one was present and took out the crystal as he asked.


    "There¡¯s a change of plans, you need to be at the Bernoulli Stone Bridge of the west in three minutes. Someone will naturally tell you what to do there." Ann-Rue answered lazily.


    Garen squinted his eyes. "Are you messing with me? Bernoulli Stone Bridge is five kilometers away from here. The Kingdom doesn¡¯t allow the use of a totem how do you expect me to reach there in time?!"


    "It¡¯s up to you if you want to go or not. Remember, you only have three minutes. If you¡¯re late I will report you. If that happens, your empowered totem, including the girl you empowered would be gone. It¡¯s your choice." Ann-Rue laughed coldly.


    Without any hesitation, garen jumped onto his horse and rushed towards the west. Luckily, there weren¡¯t many carriages on the street.


    As he arrived at the Bernoulli Stone Bridge, he could only see a few homeless men sleeping by the bridge, no suspicious looking person was present.


    Garen went to both ends of the bridge and didn¡¯t see anyone.


    "Alright, consider yourself passed. Next up.. Hmm¡­ Let me think. Do you see that beggar who is sleeping underneath the sculpture on your left? Go hug her and tell her that you¡¯re her long lost relative and you want to bring her home. Make sure you¡¯re expressive okay~~" Ann-Rue yawned as she said so.


    "Are you fucking around with me?!" Garen¡¯s expression worsen as he looked at the beggar. Ignoring the ulcers covering her body, she reeked with foul odor, her hair was messy and saliva was dripping out from her mouth. Anyone would know that she was a mentally retarded idiot.


    "I¡¯m fucking around, did you only realize that?" Ann-Rue started laughing. "It should be time now, where the little girl in your manor had been captured by my men. Imagine your little empowered female servant was discovered by the Royal Alliance. Hehe, I wonder what will happen¡­ The Royal Alliance will definitely see you as a traitor. What should you do~~ Oh so troublesome~~~"


    "However, as long as you listen to me, I will not reveal your secret~~ As long as you¡¯re obedient. Alright now follow what I just¡­"


    "I found you." Garen suddenly smirked as he licked his lips.


    "You?"


    The Crystal Derivator instantly broke and became a pile of red dusts and Ann-Rue¡¯s voice stopped coming out.


    Garen put away his right hand as he rode his horse with his sight set at a certain direction on the left of the stone bridge.


    Pew!


    He immediately disappeared.


    **************


    Far away from the Bernoulli Stone Bridge, there was a tower in construction just beside the river which protected the city.


    A woman in black skirt placed down the crystal ball in fear. She sensed that a horrifying threat was approaching her. This sensation was unique only to the Royal Household.


    Her delicate face was filled with anxiety.


    "Wade!"


    "Yes Princess, do you have any orders?" A humongous yellow-copper colored man in armor kneel down and asked respectfully.


    "We will change our holding area immediately. It¡¯s no longer safe here. I keep having this sense of foreboding." The woman in black skirt held her chest as her face went pale.


    It was as if the man¡¯s voice in the crystal derivator was still ringing by her ears.


    "Find me? What can you do if you find me? I have the Royal Knights protecting me. What can you, a totem user who had placed all your empowered totem outside of this area, do to me?!"


    The black skirted woman started to feel calm as she comforted herself.


    "Let¡¯s go! Let¡¯s leave this place." She stood up, took her purse and rushed down the spiral staircase. Without realizing it, she looked down from the tower.


    She was instantly horrified.


    A tall man in black shirt was grinning at him at the bottom of the tower. His white teeth gave off a sinister vibe. It was the ¡®Jess¡¯ that she saw at the Bernoulli Stone Bridge.


    "Move! Quick!!" The black skirted girl started to panic and shouted loudly. She started to feel fear that she hadn¡¯t known existed.


    As the Royal member of the Kovitan Empire, they had a unique ability that was envied by everyone. It was the ability that to alert them to impending dangers.


    This was the Kovitan Royal household¡¯s predictive ability, or a gifted talent which was a special ability.


    Every Royal member had different degrees to which they knew danger was coming, and this woman had lost her cool due to this.


    ***************


    "This is Royal territory, no entry allowed!" Two heavily armored guards crossed their spears to block Garen¡¯s path.


    The two of them stood at the entrance of the tower and stared fiercely at Garen.


    "Didn¡¯t your princess invite me here?" Garen could hear their conversation clearly at the bottom of the tower.


    "What uninteresting subordinates, what do you need them for?" He smiled gently.


    Cha!!


    The upper body of the guards instantly disappeared. It was as if they were bitten off by something invisible. The lower body stood still. Blood hadn¡¯t even had the chance to move. The fresh blood from the remaining corpses slowly flowed down to the ground.


    With a smile on his face, Garen walked into the white tower.


    The corpses behind him fell onto the ground.


    The passers by started shouting one after another as they saw the scene.


    "Protect Her Highness!!!" A group of heavily armored guards started to gather.


    A series of powerful totem powers appeared behind Garen. It was the totem powers of many form two totem users rushing into the tower. Their bodies were filled with many colors of totem light.


    The narrow staircase in the tower couldn¡¯t fit totem creatures with huge bodies, so the ones who entered were small totems with special abilities.


    As Garen stepped onto the first layer of the staircase, he could feel that his speed had been slowed down. It was as if an invisible force field was affecting him and slowing his speed as a result.


    "Delayed Superimposition!"


    An old man with a grey beard walked down from above and stared coldly at Garen.


    "How dare you kill the Royal Knight¡¯s guard and disrupt the third princess¡¯s rest. You should be punished with death!"

 368 Exposed 4

    Chapter 368: Exposed 4


    This old man had a red crow perched in his shoulder, its eyes like black jewels staring at Garen darkly.


    Garen felt this power curiously, raised his head and smiled at the old man.


    Chack!!


    Another set of invisible jaws snapped towards him.


    The grey-bearded old man jumped back nimbly, a hint of sardonicism on his face. "Traceless and soundless, this ability is indeed impressive, but you shouldn¡¯t have revealed him beforehand." He glanced at the surge of Royal Knights behind Garen, and waved.


    "Step down, all of you, don¡¯t disturb my deceleration force field. I¡¯ll settle things here¡­"


    Chack!!


    Before he finished speaking, another pair of huge jaws bit down on him.


    The old man¡¯s expression changed, and he shook out a Tactic Chain, activating a red light on it but couldn¡¯t wait for the red light to take effect.


    There was a snapping at his waist, and he broke into two. His top half disappeared in an instant, together with the red crow, bitten off and swallowed by the invisible jaws.


    Poof.


    His lower half fell to the ground, blood and guts spilling onto the floor.


    Garen moved his body.


    "Deceleration force field, how useful. Even a body as powerful as mine can be affected by it."


    He continued to walk upwards. He looked slow, but his speed was unnaturally fast.


    "Protect Her Highness the Princess!!"


    "Protect Her Highness with your life!"


    The Royal Knights behind him pounced one by one, activating all sorts of abilities. Some used the same deceleration, some lit fires on their bodies, others increased their speed, or enlarged certain parts of their body and so on, but all their totem power was not enough to affect Garen¡¯s steps.


    The Totem Light around him forcefully kept all the ability attacks outside. Several shapeless jaws bit the Royal Knights chasing after him straight into two.


    He didn¡¯t like to eat the whole thing. Although the Salamander had this ability, once it ate the whole person, that meant it was eating humans as food, and not just killing. That wasn¡¯t the feeling he wanted.


    And people tended to have a lot of filth in their lower bodies, so Garen purposely avoided this part.


    Wooo~~~~!!


    Suddenly, there was a piercing siren in the air above the capital outside.


    It was the piercing siren that only rang when there was an urgent attack from outside.


    Garen dashed to the top of the tower in a few steps. There was nobody at all at the exit to the top of the tower, nothing at all.


    Garen stood at the entrance to the stairs, took one look around him, and suddenly smiled slightly.


    Huge unseen jaws instantly chomped forward.


    Chack!!


    The scenery around him rippled like water.


    **********


    The Third Princess, Ann-Rue, hurriedly walked onto the back of the huge green bird.


    Behind her, the top of the tower was being wrapped up in a blood-colored ball of flesh. The flesh ball wriggled constantly, a wrinkled old woman floating beside it


    Chack!!


    A strange biting and chewing sound came from inside the flesh ball.


    With the flinch of each bite, the old woman¡¯s face grew paler, her originally rosy face growing whiter and whiter.


    "Go!! Your Highness!" she yelled loudly and sternly. "I can¡¯t hold on much longer!"


    "Grandma Lina!" Ann-Rue turned around to look at the old woman, the struggle evident on her face.


    "Go!!"


    Ann-Rue clenched her teeth, and stepped on the large green bird under her feet.


    The giant bird immediately spread its wings and flew off into the distance.


    She turned around to look deeply at the flesh ball, as though looking through the flesh ball and seeing Garen inside.


    "I¡¯ll get you back for this!! Garen Trejons!" She clenched and gritted her teeth, her eyes filled with hatred. "Just you wait, you¡¯ll be hunted down from both sides!! Everyone related to you, I¡¯ll make sure to properly pass on your good deeds to them¡­"


    "Unfortunately, you won¡¯t have the chance to anymore." Suddenly, there was a casual voice by her ear.


    Ann-Rue¡¯s expression changed, and she jumped off the green bird without thinking.


    Just as she leaped off the bird¡¯s back.


    The giant flesh ball on the top of the tower exploded instantly, and an invisible mouth flew out, biting down on the green bird in midair mercilessly.


    The green bird emitted green electricity, fighting against the large jaws. It threw its head back and screeched sharply.


    A large amount of green electricity covered the surface of the mouth, and finally revealed its features.


    The large mouth was a huge, salamander-like head, but it was only a part of the top.


    The giant salamander head had a long snake-like neck, stretching backwards into an unknown space, as though it was a powerful creature from another space, poking out from goodness knows where.


    Just from the proportions of this salamander head alone, the length of this creature¡¯s body would be a terrifying twenty meters or more. Otherwise, there was no way it could reach out to bite the green bird that had already flown out more than ten meters.


    Hurr!!!


    Suddenly there was a bolt of purple lightning from below, piercing right at the eye-catching huge salamander head.


    The purple lightning was like a long spear, shooting out mercilessly, piercing accurately through the salamander head¡¯s chin, and then emerging from the top of its skull.


    Roarrr!!!


    The Salamander screamed, and let go.


    But by then, the back half of the green bird had already become a mess of blood and flesh, and it fell down from the sky heavily with a wail. With a whoosh, it became a stroke of silver light, flying back into Ann-Rue¡¯s ring.


    The long spear of purple lightning was shot with all the strength of Wade, Ann-Rue¡¯s personal bodyguard. There was a pair of whisker-like purple wings sprouting out of his back, twisting rhythmically towards both sides, like two spreads of dense tree roots.


    "Let¡¯s see how you attack now!!" Wade looked up at the top of the tower, his expression cold and determined. This lightning spear was the result of his gathering all the power in his body, the strongest power he could muster.


    As soon as the spear was shot out, even a Spiritualized Totem wouldn¡¯t be able to take it. Once it hit the totem¡¯s vital spots, the only end result would be utter disintegration.


    This was the main reason he could become the Third Princess¡¯ personal bodyguard, a defensive knight.


    That was his Thunder God Spear, that had killed more battle-loving elite warriors than he could count on the battlefields of the past.


    The Salamander did indeed grow quiet, and did not appear anymore.


    "Is he dead?" Wade glanced around the top of the tower warily, but did not see anything suspicious.


    "Leave that place!!" The Third Princess, Ann-Rue¡¯s voice came from far behind him.


    Wade was slightly confused, but still obeyed and retreated rapidly.


    Chack!!


    A huge pulling force appeared in the air in front of him, as though he was being swallowed by something in one gulp.


    Wade¡¯s expression changed.


    "Wade!!"


    He heard the Third Princess¡¯ desperate yell, and then, there was no longer an ¡®and then¡¯. His vision went black, and he instantly sank into the endless darkness.


    Garen¡¯s body slowly landed where Wade was standing, and another large mouth swallowed Wade utterly.


    "Tsk-tsk, what power, that one hit took out one of my heads, you know." Garen¡¯s expression was appreciative. Unfortunately, the Eight Headed Dragon had extraordinary regenerative powers, and the destroyed dragon head quickly regrew. Those guards it had swallowed just now made the best nutrients.


    Unless you destroyed all of the Eight Headed Dragons¡¯ heads at once, there was no way to destroy the Eight Headed Dragon.


    The ability to swallow unseen, terrifyingly formidable power, impressive elemental resistance, and Life Tear, the ridiculous ability that will boost its own life force.


    This beast, evolved to the max, was practically the strongest war machine!


    He looked at Ann-Rue, her face deathly pale in the distance. This Third Princess was currently backing up non-stop, looking panicked and terrified. She had immense power, but right now she was basically a little girl. She had a powerful totem but didn¡¯t know how to use it, neither did she have the courage to fight. This was the condition of the current royal family, they had the power to fight, but didn¡¯t have the corresponding guts and valor.


    "How pathetic." Garen shook his head slightly. "Aren¡¯t you an Elemental General? Where¡¯s your totem? These subordinates dying to protect you are actually all a lot weaker than you. But they all have the courage to face a powerful opponent without backing down, what about you?"


    Ann-Rue bit her lip. It was true, she barely ever left the capital, and the few times she had fought, she had always been protected by everyone else. Her battle experience was unbelievably bad.


    She looked at the mess around her. Her power had more or less died out, her subordinates¡¯ broken limbs were strewn everywhere, and it had taken barely a minute to create such a tragedy. The other person¡¯s strength and cruelty were unbelievable.


    "How boring." Garen was suddenly disinterested. "I thought it would be a fun battle." Looking at the terrified Princess Ann-Rue. He waved one hand.


    A large mouth bit Ann-Rue mercilessly, picking her up.


    Ahh!!


    Ann-Rue screamed, and her eyes rolled back into her head. She had actually fainted from fright.


    Garen glanced at the many shadows flying towards him rapidly in the distant sky. It was the capital¡¯s reserve team of elite fighters, rapidly gathering.


    "Less than a minute¡¯s time, their reflexes are not bad."


    With a whoosh of wind, he and Ann-Rue disappeared from the spot at the same time. All that could be seen was a shadow faintly ducking into a small street, and vanishing from sight. It was as fast as a phantom.


    An Elemental General had high value in terms of intelligence. There was always that Lala to be found, so it was too early to kill her now.


    Garen acted quickly this time, wearing his hood the whole time. Those who had seen him were all permanently silenced. The whole mission had taken less than two minutes. Even Garen himself was especially satisfied with how fast and how absolute it had been.


    This mission had also, in a way, tested his current abilities.


    During the mission, he had encountered Form Three totem users. There was that first grey-bearded old man, who was eaten instantly. And then there was that old lady, she seemed to be connected to her core totem somehow. When the illusory flesh ball was punctured, that old hag was also torn to pieces.


    As for that last one, Wade, his electric spear was indeed impressive, to think it could take down one of the Eight Headed Dragon¡¯s heads. Just as a Spiritualized totem user, it was something for him to be proud of.


    This had also exceeded Garen¡¯s expectations. He didn¡¯t think that one Third Princess would have such powerful protective knights. Although the royal family was corrupt, looks like it still had decent power.


    Moving quickly through the streets, Garen moved at high speed, quietly and unseen, even the smell of his body gathered completely.


    This time, he didn¡¯t want to be prematurely exposed, he hadn¡¯t wanted to solve this matter so impulsively either, but since he¡¯d done it, he needed to consider all the possible results.

 369 Mastermind 1

    Chapter 369: Mastermind 1


    Dragging the Third Princess behind him, Garen didn''t stop for anything, quickly returning to the bridge, and riding his own horse casually as he rushed back to his estate. Besides, the Third Princess was being held in the Salamander¡¯s mouth, still unconscious.


    He wasn''t panicked either.


    Riding his horse from afar, he saw the area around the tower surrounded by many troops. Several characters with impressive auras appeared one after the other, observing the situation.


    Garen even pretended to be a passerby, walking past the scene.


    One of the leaders was a red-haired man wearing a white cape, crouching on the ground where Wade had disappeared and checking the traces.


    Two guards were beside him reporting the situation, and there was a circle of guards in half body suits of white armor, sealing away the scene.


    There was even a group of spectators surrounding them, speculating away and sounding like a swarm of flies on a pile of rotten meat, buzzing.


    Garen rode his horse and passed the scene slowly.


    "Tsk-tsk¡­ How terrible, not even one survivor." He acted like an ignorant passerby, tut-tutting at the scene.


    "What do you mean, dear sir, you don''t know. I came here as soon as I heard the sounds, but once I got here, I saw that the killing was already over. I didn''t see the killer, but all this blood on the floor¡­ Tsk-tsk¡­" A fat merchant was also passing by on a single-seater carriage, looking at the scene just like Garen.


    "Aren''t you afraid of getting involved?" Garen glanced at this man.


    "Of course! Why wouldn''t I be afraid? But my biggest hobby is to stick my nose into other people''s business, as long as I find a safe space, I won''t have to be worried about anything." The fatty waved his hand.


    Garen shook his head, and rode his horse casually past. Looking at the White Cape¡¯s expression of confusion, his heart lightened up.


    Without making any stops along the way, Garen returned to his own estate.


    As expected, Lala was gone.


    He carefully avoided everyone''s gazes, calmly walking into the estate and closing the room door behind him. He then pulled that person out of the Dragon''s mouth, carrying the Third Princess in one hand and closing the windows with the other.


    After checking all the doors and windows carefully, he was satisfied that they were all tightly sealed shut.


    Garen carried the Third Princess and walked down into the secret basement. The first thing he saw was Komodo, panting in the entrance to the tunnel, his expression panicked and his body plastered to the wall as though he was hiding from something.


    He held an iron shovel in his hand, and was shocked when he heard footsteps, so he raised the shovel and smashed it down at Garen¡¯s direction.


    "Look before you smash!" Garen pinched the shovel with a smack, glaring at him coldly.


    Komodo instantly widened his eyes.


    "Aw mah gawd! Aw mah gawd!! Master, you¡¯ve finally come home! Miss Lala was taken away!" Komodo¡¯s expression was that of intense relief. He looked strong on the outside, and was rather large-sized, but in truth he was extremely cowardly and afraid of dying.


    "Move aside!" Garen pushed him away, carrying the unconscious Third Princess with one hand and striding down the corridor.


    When he reached the corner of the second corridor, he slapped the wall on his right with his palm, and just happened to hit a palm-shaped dent.


    Clack-clack-clack¡­


    There were crisp sounds behind him, and the two black-purple metal walls came down over the entrances, sealing the corridor away.


    "Master, what are you doing?" Komodo followed behind Garen, confused. He had also noticed the woman Garen was carrying in his hand.


    "Before I finish my business here, no one is allowed to enter. That includes you," Garen replied mildly.


    Komodo immediately gave a shudder of fright, and didn¡¯t say anything more.


    The two of them descended rapidly, one after the other, and soon reached a lab that wasn¡¯t very big.


    Throwing Princess Ann-Rue inside, Garen adjusted the passcodes in the room. In the whole underground, there was one extra-secure room like this one, secured with five chain wheels. Therefore, it could be arranged into five digits, so after setting up five different numbers, he could properly secure the room.


    Garen turned to the correct passcode, and walked inside.


    "Komodo, you go take care of those survivors from the experiment, don¡¯t interrupt me unless there¡¯s something important."


    Komodo blinked, and put on a suggestive expression.


    "Alright, Master. I¡¯ll make sure no one disturbs you!" he guaranteed loudly.


    Garen was too lazy to bother with what he was thinking, and slammed the door shut.


    The secret room was a bit like a huge tent, the top was rounded to a tip, and the area in the center was cylindrical.


    There was pale yellow light in the room, and a large fire basin hanging above, illuminating the room in place of a lamp. The red flames in the fire basin leapt non-stop, coloring the ceiling a total black-red.


    Garen reached out to turn some switches on the wall next to the door, adjusting the flames in the fire basin lamp.


    There were two lonely black sofas in the secret room, and a red-brown compound shelf in the corner. There were nine shelves in total, and two of those shelves were even open.


    Garen walked to the sofa and sat down, quietly waiting for Princess Ann-Rue to wake up. At the same time, he organized his situation now.


    "I got rid of the witnesses properly, that area is under the Royal Family¡¯s patrol, and passersby might have seen the color of my clothes, but even then they surely only caught a glimpse from afar, and couldn¡¯t see the patterns clearly. Judging from the reaction from the Royal Family just now, they shouldn¡¯t have found any effective clues."


    Garen caressed his stubble lightly, his long blonde hair reflecting a mysterious golden-red under the firelight.


    "I have no choice but to give up on the Crystal Derivator, since it could be taken over and controlled by Obscuro, I might as well release the three Spiritualized Petrifying White Dragons, rather than just hand them over." He lifted the Crystal Derivator, and suddenly remember that this Third Princess should have one with her too.


    He stood up directly, and walked up to Ann-Rue, who was lying on the ground. He crouched down next to her and started pressing around her body, quickly discovering her Crystal Derivator in a small pouch behind her waist.


    Garen didn¡¯t even look at it, pinching it into pieces with a snap.


    The broken crystal shards scattered everywhere.


    He directly took all the little pouches Ann-Rue carried with her off, and poured all the bulging contents onto the sofa. He then stripped the totem storage tool off of her.


    There was a red scroll, tied neatly with silver string, but he didn¡¯t know what it was for.


    Two black crystal storage rings, a small makeup mirror. And some tiny shards of red and blue gems.


    Lastly there was a glass flesh-colored tube that looked like lipstick, he could see sticky flesh-colored liquid shaking slightly inside.


    Garen looked at the label on the glass tube, slightly curious.


    ¡®Aer Chest Enhancement Oil, Specifically for Royalty¡¯


    He glanced at Ann-Rue¡¯s chest somewhat at a loss for words. It was flat as a pancake, with only the slightest suspicion of a bump¡­


    He didn¡¯t waste any time keeping the ring and rubies, as well as the scroll, all into his own bag. Garen sat back onto the sofa, and waited quietly.


    He had just killed so many totem user guards and three Form Three totem users, one of them was even Spiritualized.


    Garen couldn¡¯t count the total number closely either, so he settled his heart to check how many potential points he had earned.


    ¡®Power 14. Agility 3.11. Vitality 10. Intelligence 2.53. Potential 5528%. Has Luminarist quality.¡¯


    "Only 55 potential points?" Garen frowned, this might even include the few potential points he had left before.


    The Petrifying White Dragons kept hunting for him, amassing many potential points, to the point where Garen nearly forgot how hard it was to earn potential points.


    He killed many powerful entities this time, and still only earned fifty-five potential points. The Petrifying White Dragons had collected so many before, more than four hundred, who knows how many monsters they had to massacre to get so many.


    "I had so many potential points before, so although fifty-five points is already a lot, it just feels rather underwhelming." Garen was slightly self-deprecating, over four hundred potential points had spoiled his sense of judgment.


    Looking at his attributes, his agility was still only at 3.11.


    It was just nice that these attribute points could be all added to his attributes.


    Garen immediately moved his gaze to stare at Agility, and his potential points dropped like a stone.


    At first, one potential point could increase his agility attribute by 0.1.


    Soon enough, after using almost twenty potential points on his agility, he increased it to five attribute points. In an instant, he required 20 potential points to increase his attribute by one.


    After increasing his agility to 6 points, Garen stopped immediately. Looking at the dozen or so potential points he had left, he shook his head rather helplessly.


    He used his potential points up too quickly. He hadn¡¯t even considered adding more secret techniques.


    Garen thought about it, and the three red dots on his forehead immediately lit up with a red light, a small, shrunken version of the Eight Headed Dragon totem materializing behind him.


    The meat lump that formed the ninth head on the totem¡¯s back had clearly grown a lot bigger.


    Evidently, the change in attributes had a certain effect on its growth, it was just that he still didn¡¯t know when it could grow its ninth head.


    Garen really anticipated this. Be it in the legends of Earth, or those of the Secret Technique World, there were stories about the Nine Headed Hydra. They were each different, so he was really excited to see what heights the totem that began as a Dual Headed Salamander would morph into at the final stage.


    With six in agility, he felt his body grow a lot lighter, the lines of his body also evened out. Whenever he lifted his arms or legs, it felt as though the air automatically gave way.


    It was a very strange feeling, and somewhat intoxicating.


    Garen felt the changes in his body carefully, and lost track of time.


    "Mm¡­"


    After staying unconscious for no one knows how long, Princess Ann-Rue finally frowned, and slowly woke up on the floor.


    "Where is this? My head hurts so bad¡­ Wei Xi! Wei Xi!! Bring me a cup of Active Water." She didn¡¯t seem to have a grasp of the situation yet, and after calling what seemed to be the name of a maid a few times, this spoiled princess finally woke up, and glanced at Garen on the sofa. She quickly covered her chest, and shrank into the corner of the wall.


    "You!! It¡¯s you! What are you planning!? I¡¯m warning you! I¡¯m the Third Princess of the Kovistan Royal Family! Once he realizes I¡¯m missing, my father the King will definitely send out the strongest Royal Knights out searching everywhere, you¡¯d better release me now! I can pretend nothing happened. Otherwise, you¡¯ll definitely be dismembered! You¡¯ll be staked! Fed to the dogs alive!"


    This poor thing was so scared her face was white, her expression that of terror. Even then, she was threatening Garen loudly.


    "Poor thing. You still don¡¯t know what situation you¡¯re in now?" Garen stood up, playing with the unknown scroll in his hand. "Now tell me, what is the scroll in my hand here for?"

 370 Mastermind 2

    Chapter 370: Mastermind 2


    Ann-Rue swallowed, and was already shrunk into the corner.


    "Why should I tell you!?"


    As though thinking she was acting too weak. She instantly puffed out her chest.


    "I advise you to let me go as soon as possible, or else once they realize you did it, even I wouldn¡¯t be able to keep it under wraps! Be it the Royal Family or Obscuro, they¡¯re not people you can afford to piss off!"


    Garen was at a loss for words, shaking his head and laughing.


    "Are you really so stupid or just pretending? I killed so many people of yours, and you¡¯re still hoping I will let you go?"


    Bam!!


    He kicked Ann-Rue¡¯s waist mercilessly.


    The golden Totem Light fought against the black Totem Light on his foot, spraying out small flecks of black and gold light. The many flecks scattered onto the ground, and rapidly disappeared.


    "Ahh!!!" Ann-Rue screamed loudly, her whole body kicked to the wall, the golden Totem Light on her body dimming significantly.


    "Speak, what is this thing?"


    "It¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s, it¡¯s a sealed scroll!! It¡¯s sealed with three shots of Wade¡¯s Thunder God Spear!!!" Ann-Rue was utterly terrified, and immediately spilled everything.


    "Tsk-tsk, such a powerful item, and you kept it with you without daring to use it, just watching as I killed off your beloved subordinates. I finally understand how stupid you are." Garen was in awe.


    Three shots of the Thunder God Spear, if used well, would be completely enough to wound him slightly and put his guard up.


    Looking at the piece of crap in front of him, a hint of ruthlessness flashed past Garen¡¯s eyes. She was useless alive anyway, so he might as well get rid of her.


    "No!! Don¡¯t kill me! Don¡¯t kill me! I don¡¯t want to die! I know a huge secret! You¡¯ll definitely be interested in it, don¡¯t kill me!!" Ann-Rue immediately sensed the possible danger, and instantly closed her eyes, screaming.


    "Secret?" Garen kept pulled back his hint of killing instant, rather surprised at how sensitive Ann-Rue was to danger. "Tell me, if it¡¯s not worth any money, you know the consequences."


    "It¡¯s a secret to do with the Endor precious heirlooms!!" Ann-Rue immediately said it without hesitation. "You¡¯ll definitely be interested in it, it¡¯s the Endor heirlooms! Legend has it each heirloom has the power to reach the skies and split the earth!! As long as you don¡¯t kill me, I¡¯ll immediately tell you everything I know!"


    Endor!


    Garen¡¯s heart gave a jolt. Although he didn¡¯t show a thing on the surface, his heart was already extremely shocked.


    In his previous life, he had entered and left the Endor ruins multiple times, so he heard a lot about this old and mysterious civilization. To think that even in this world, he could still hear rumors of this civilization.


    "Are you sure it''s the Endor heirlooms?" He raised his voice and asked, this secret room was completely soundproof anyway, so he didn''t have to worry about his voice getting out.


    "Of course, I''m a hundred percent sure!" Ann-Rue hurriedly answered like a chick pecking at rice, "It''s just that¡­ just that¡­"


    "Just what?"


    "It''s just that this precious heirloom was made when Father called strong fighters from all over to mimic it, but it''s definitely a masterpiece that''s the closest to the Endor heirlooms! Believe me! I''ve seen what it can do!" Ann-Rue hastened to add.


    Garen faintly sensed that Ann-Rue¡¯s words contained a territory he had never experienced before -- precious heirlooms.


    "Tell me properly what these heirlooms are. How are they divided?"


    Ann-Rue nodded quickly.


    "Most people don''t really know about precious heirlooms, only the people at the very top know about these secrets." She paused, and seeing that Garen didn''t look at all impatient, she grew slightly braver, getting up and crawling to the wall.


    "Precious heirlooms were originally found by a totem user scholar, in a certain set of ruins. They''re mysterious tools with special abilities. These are the Original Heirlooms, four in total, one here in our Kovistan, one in Daniela, and two others currently missing. Father thinks they might have been lost to the West Continent or towards the Archipelago.


    "Get to the point." Garen hastened her with a frown.


    Ann-Rue was so scared her whole body shook, and she quickly spoke faster.


    "Precious heirlooms can be divided into three levels, the Original Heirlooms, the Ultimate Heirlooms that mimic the Original Heirlooms, and the Regular Heirlooms that mimic the Ultimate Heirlooms. Most powers have the Regular Heirlooms, some just have more than others, even the totem storage tool is an Heirloom technique.


    And Ultimate Heirlooms were passed down from the golden age of Heirlooms five hundred years ago, so there are exceedingly few of them. Now, only a few main powers have the ability to create them. Their strength is obviously more powerful, for example the two Grand Duke families in the Kingdom both have one Ultimate Heirloom each. And then there are the Original Heirlooms, also known as the Endor heirlooms, the strongest tools in legend, there are only two in the East Continent."


    "How strong are they?" Garen said evenly.


    "Original, Ultimate, Regular, the three levels are only general ratings, since their abilities are different, it''s hard to decide how their powers stack up against each other, they''re all grades according to how rare they are, how widely they can be used and their uses. The order of precious heirlooms also depends a lot of the influence of the wielder. If someone can make full use of a precious heirloom, this heirloom would naturally be placed higher and graded better." Ann-Rue hastily revealed everything she knew.


    "But the Original are definitely the strongest, without a doubt," she added on.


    "Then where is the Original Heirloom in Kovistan now? What''s it called, what can it do?" Garen asked the key of the matter.


    Ann-Rue hesitated for a moment.


    "Kovistan¡¯s Original Heirloom is called Caesarton, its ability is Absolute Protection. Since Father took the throne, he''s always been wearing it on his finger. As for its power¡­ Once, three Spiritualized totem users used their strongest attacks on him at once, and Father was still unharmed."


    Garen''s heart gave a little jolt.


    His Majesty Avic was just a normal person, to think he could use this precious heirloom to fight against three Spiritualized totem users.


    "Wait! His Majesty Avic isn''t a totem user, is he?" he suddenly noticed the key to the question.


    Ann-Rue¡¯s gaze was complicated as she nodded.


    "Yes, Father is just a normal person. The strongest point of the Endor heirlooms, is that even normal people can use them."


    Garen instantly fell silent.


    The secret room sank into a long silence, neither of them spoke.


    After a long time, Garen completely accepted this unbelievable fact, and finally looked at Ann-Rue, her expression full of fear and respect, again.


    "Then do you know exactly how many elite fighters there are in the Kovistan palace?"


    Ann-Rue shook her head.


    "I don''t know, everyone hidden very, very well. In the palace or even in the whole Kingdom, the stupidest thing to do is to completely reveal your own power, that''ll bring death upon your head. So I don''t know how many powerful people there are either. Father¡¯s thoughts run deep, I have no idea how many secrets he''s hiding."


    Garen arranged the information he just got.


    "What about Obscuro? Aren''t you one of Obscuro¡¯s Elemental Generals? Why do you want to assassinate Avic? Doesn''t he have Absolute Protection?"


    "It''s precisely to get Absolute Protection. Firstly, this Endor heirloom has no attack power whatsoever. Secondly, it can choose some trusted person and lower the defenses against that person. This requires a Ritual of TrustÐÅÈÎÒÇʽ, and the trusted person will also be protected by the Heirloom¡¯s power. And of all the concubines in the harem, only the First Concubine Delouse will soon receive Father''s total trust, with the Ritual of Trust in the works. Delouse gave Father three sons and a daughter. Twice she saved Father from a serious loss.The moment Delouse¡¯s Ritual of Trust succeeds, that will be the moment of Avic¡¯s death!" Ann-Rue''s voice deepened without her knowing.


    It was hard to imagine, the internal conflict among the Royal Family had already reached such a cruel state. His own daughter wanted her father to die as soon as possible.


    "What about you? As a royal princess, why are you willing to join the Obscuro Society?" Garen looked at this woman of paradoxes, both cowardly and cruel, and couldn''t help but ask.


    "Me?" Ann-Rue gave a chilling smile. "Can you.imagine how a daughter feels when her father has taken her to bed since she was ten years old? Out of the twelve princesses and royal daughters, the first eight took turns entertaining Father in bed every night. As for the other four, perhaps they were too far away, or maybe there was some other reason, maybe because they were too young, only then did that beast reluctantly let them go. He liked to play like that."


    She looked at Garen without shame, the sorrow of throwing it all to the sails in her eyes.


    "To outsiders, it looks like we the twelve royal daughters are much beloved by the king, but in truth this love had a reason."


    Garen fell silent, he found it hard to believe that King Avic was secretly such a perverted and shameless person.


    "Before having us, that beast first chose wives of different looks and auras, his real aim wasn''t these concubines, but us, born to those concubines. He is such a pervert! My mother was starved to death in the palace thanks to him, the only reason being she broke a crystal glass."


    Now that Ann-Rue had said it all, she felt relief instead, as though she had put down a heavy burden and was all the lighter for it.


    "Anything else you want to ask?"


    Garen glanced at this pitiful woman,


    "That''s alright, I know everything I want to now."


    "Oh, yeah, I kept that maid of yours in the Nongarde Villa, you go look for her yourself." Ann-Rue has also guessed that there was no way Garen would let her go, so she closed her eyes. "Make it quick."


    Garen released a long breath, and his right hand shot out like lightning.


    Psst!


    The moment her Totem Light blocked it, it was immediately pierced through, and his finger accurately pierced into Ann-Rue¡¯s forehead.


    A fountain of blood and brain fluid sprayed out of the back of Ann-Rue''s head, splattering onto the walls behind.


    With a whump, Ann-Rue slid to the ground softly.


    "Pitiful woman, pitiful royalty." Garen shook his head, the perverse inner nature the Royal Family had earned his eye as well. Such a Royal Family was beautiful on the outside but rotten on the inside, although Avic was particularly kind to his ministers and acted like a breath of fresh air, towards his own family he was unusually cruel. And his largest weak point just happened to be with his family.


    In the original history, the Kovistan empire was headed towards becoming one of the strongest countries in the East Continent after he ascended the throne, but then it abruptly collapsed. This was probably the main reason.

 371 Setting Off 1

    Chapter 371: Setting Off 1


    Looking at Ann-Rue¡¯s corpse, Garen raised and waved his hand. With a whoosh, an invisible pair of jaws immediately swallowed up the entire corpse.


    "This is the perfect way to dispose of bodies, huh." Satisfied, he turned around and left the secret room.


    After that, it was time to consider Obscuro¡¯s reaction.


    Killing an Elemental General-level spy would evidently be dealing a huge blow to Obscuro¡¯s plans. But they probably didn¡¯t know for sure who killed her, and Jess¡¯s and Ann-Rue¡¯s crystal balls were shattered on the same day at the same time, so they would probably think both Generals were killed at the same time.


    He had no way of gauging their general reaction, but Garen wasn¡¯t too worried about their revenge. While the Kingdom was still the Royal Alliance¡¯s territory, Obscuro wouldn¡¯t dare to make a careless move.


    Putting aside the Secret Service¡¯s strong teams in charge of the Kingdom¡¯s safety, these were just the forces lurking in the dark, there were still the national departments on the surface, and the strongest of them, the branch of Silver Knights, was also based in the Kovistan Kingdom. There weren¡¯t many members in this powerful and mysterious squad, but each member was definitely the cream of the crop. Together with the Secret Service, one in the dark and the other in the light, they were top-grade guards in charge of the entire Kingdom.


    Garen wasn¡¯t very familiar with the last one, the Geometry Service, but it was an even more mysterious department. What techniques they had in there, what power, nothing at all was known.


    The three departments had their own duties, like three countries within a larger country, and each had a territory of their own. They represented the alliance of power between the high nobles in each country. They were the most basic of the Royal Alliance¡¯s roots.


    But even he could get rid of Princess Ann-Rue in the blink of an eye, so it was still better to be careful with these things.


    "In the Kingdom now, the three departments, Obscuro, and members of the royal are all mixed together, so the situation is rather complicated... Right now I¡¯m in the Secret Service, so Obscuro probably wouldn¡¯t dare to make an obvious move. Besides, they don¡¯t know my identity either, so there shouldn¡¯t be a problem. Now I should first go on quests to increase and fill up my attribute points, so first I¡¯ll have to reach the level of the Nine Headed Hydra."


    He settled his heart, with his hidden ability.


    Putting aside the Eight Headed Dragon on the surface, which was a Form Four Totem and had unique, powerful abilities, there was also the true form he hid away deep, that was an even stronger existence. There was no need at all for him to worry like he used to.


    On the other hand, there were the two precious heirlooms Ann-Rue was talking about, one was Absolute Protection, resting on the king¡¯s finger, the Endor Heirloom. The other was a forged heirloom, it was definitely a lot weaker in power, but it should still be pretty decent. After all the Ultimate Heirlooms were the second level items, if they were worth so many people forging them so whole-heartedly, their power naturally wouldn¡¯t be weak.


    He was indeed somewhat tempted. But once he remembered the mixed up powers in the Kingdom now, he decided that it was best not to get involved before the situation cleared up.


    "Forget it, I¡¯ll just mess around in the Secret Service for a while for now, I better not join in the assassination matter, I¡¯ll just focus on getting my potential points." Garen made his decision, and didn¡¯t think any more of it.


    After that, he quickly went to the Villa Ann-Rue mentioned, and saved Lala, who was kept there.


    He didn¡¯t try to explain anything to her, and Lala seemed very calm as well, this girl seemed to have gotten calmer over her journey with Garen.


    Returning to the estate quietly, Garen returned to his consistent lifestyle from before. Waiting for his time to go on a quest to arrive.


    ********************


    Deep in the Kingdom¡¯s Palace, in an extravagant white bedroom.


    The number one concubine was a cold woman with a slender figure and golden curly hair. Right now, she was wearing a tight white dress, revealing her perfect curves as she stood in front a huge dressing mirror.


    The two maids behind her were arranging her golden hair into cylindrical curls, layering these curls and weaving them into beautiful cylinders that looked like gold jewelry.


    The large amount of long golden hair was woven into curls, bouncing occasionally as Concubine Delouse moved.


    "Your Excellency, Lady Red Chrysanth¡¯s Derivator was destroyed." A maid moved her lips, but her voice went straight into the First Concubine¡¯s ear. She lowered her head and combed the golden hair, as though she was completely focused and had no other thoughts.


    Delouse narrowed her eyes.


    "What happened? What about Theta? Wasn¡¯t he guarding Red Chrysanth?"


    "Theta is dead. Everyone around Red Chrysanth was attacked at the White Bird Tower at about ten in the morning today. Red Chrysanth¡¯s whereabouts are unknown, the rest all perished in the line of duty." The maid picked up a black forehead crown and put it on for the concubine.


    Delouse mused slightly. "Red Chrysanth¡¯s Derivator was destroyed, and I just received the news that Jess¡¯s Derivator is broken as well. It can¡¯t be a coincidence. Inform Black Sky, find out what actually happened."


    "Yes."


    "From now on, don¡¯t tell me about the Military matters, just send it directly to God Cloud¡¯s side. Be careful, make sure that old man Veska doesn¡¯t notice."


    "Understood. The Defense Minister went patrolling at the front lines today." The maid winked, and smiled.


    ******************


    Several tens of thousands of kilometers away from the Kingdom, in a pitch-black underground cave.


    Suddenly, the silver color on the walls of the cave wriggled, dripping down like sticky liquid, and landed with a few splatters.


    These silver liquids wriggled slowly, quickly becoming a complete humanoid shape, looking like a clear human figure made of mercury.


    It had no features, its face was flat, but its figure and all that were properly shaped, so it looked just like a silver statue.


    This was a woman¡¯s figure with large breasts and long, long hair. She walked slowly to the center of the cave.


    "Respected His Excellency God Cloud, Delouse sends news, two of the Elemental Generals had their Crystal Derivators destroyed at the same time, so she needed to ask people from Black Sky to investigate this matter.


    She was the only person in the cave, there was absolutely no one else, but then a sound came from the cave ceiling.


    The silver cave walls actually started wriggling and bulged into a huge silver face. It was a man¡¯s clear face, only its eyes were two dark and empty holes.


    "I already know about this. The people from Black Sky have made a conclusion, Kovistan will temporarily be under the Elite Department and Delouse to handle, those two are both dead. Someone actually dares to publicly attack my people. Anya, which generals are closest to the Kingdom these days?"


    "There¡¯s Sindre in charge of Kevita Area, and there¡¯s Ariel, who¡¯s fighting with the national department of Silver Knights now. Add Delouse, and that¡¯s all the existing power we have in Kovistan." The silver woman replied respectfully. "In order to raid the Geometry Service¡¯s Blood Tower, we incurred heavy losses this time, three generals were weakened and died."


    "But the situation in Ender has been completely stabilized, hmph! That Blood Tower fellow, if it weren¡¯t that I¡¯m at a critical moment now and can¡¯t get away¡­ The situation now is very complicated, Ann-Rue had no ability to resist whatsoever, and Jess had disappeared since Iron Tank City, her Derivator was always being used by an outsider. To the Black Sky, we the God Cloud Military Department have become a laughing stock! Our own General¡¯s Derivator was being used by an outsider for so long and we had no idea."


    The silver face grew darker.


    "But to be able to kill Ann-Rue without getting even a scratch, this person must have more than Spiritualized power, they probably have the Fourth Form. you send Demetrius over, Sindre and Ariel will be the captain, that thing doesn¡¯t have to be returned for you, just go over there and destroy the fellow impersonating Jess. I allow her to mobilize all the power there as long as they¡¯re outside the plan. Also, Black Sky will send you some information and characteristics of the killer."


    "I will convey your wishes immediately." The silver woman bowed lightly, and dissolved into a puddle of silver liquid with a patter.


    *******************


    Several days later, Kovistan Kingdom


    Behind the Kingdom, leaning closely beside the tallest building, the clock tower, there was a grey-black stone cliff.


    The cliff was covered with a dense green forest. When seen from afar, it was like swathes of green moss covering the cliff.


    Amidst these dense trees, beside a clear lake, there were several figures in black.


    Amongst them were an elderly, a child, two young girls, and two young men. There were six people in total.


    The golden noon sunlight shone down from above the forest, reflecting truly golden sunlight on the surface of the lake, so much that it was slightly blinding.


    The six of them wore uniform black dresses of armor, wearing hoods so their faces weren¡¯t clear, only revealing their different figures and a little bit of skin.


    "Have everything with you?" Old Man asked softly. "The place we want to go to this time is somewhere the Black Prince will certainly cross. At the same time, other than this quest, we have another newly-arrived quest, we need to settle then on the way. Nineheads, you say it."


    A young man with balanced proportions nodded his head, it was a gently smiling Garen. His long blonde hair leaked slightly out of the hood, while his face was completely hidden in the shadow of the hood. Like the others, everyone¡¯s faces seemed slightly blurry and distorted, it seemed to be an automatic effect of the armor.


    Garen cleared his throat.


    "Yesterday there was more news from upstairs, it came from the Deputy Director.


    In the area where our quest is, an upper noble sent out an SOS, they hope we can go lend them a hand, we just need to kill the monsters surrounding him."


    "More upper nobles again, how troublesome." One of the two girls, Kitten, pursed her lips disinterestedly. "Every time we go for a quest, we need to help someone on the way, they really do take us for free labor!"


    "It¡¯s on the way anyway, we go straight to our destination, and then come straight back, it won¡¯t take any time. The other party only has two people."


    Garen smiled.


    "I¡¯m fine with it." Red Umbrella crossed his arms over his chest, and was even yawning.


    "I¡¯m the same as Big Bro Red Umbrella." The Kid always followed Red Umbrella.


    As for Fox, she usually didn¡¯t speak.


    "Then it¡¯s decided." Old Man took out the map, and spread it open. He pointed at a newly added red dot with his finger. "Remember this place, when we¡¯re there we just need to clean up the monsters there as we go. Let¡¯s give this to Kid. Anybody have any objections?"


    "Whatever, Kid needs more quest points now anyway, I¡¯m fine with giving it to him." Kitten¡¯s tone was decent for once.


    Nobody else had any other opinions.


    "Then thank you, big brothers and big sisters." Kid smiled as he thanked them.


    Garen glanced at Kid curiously. This little fella who was only half his height couldn¡¯t have been older than thirteen or fourteen, yet he had such good connections within the team.

 372 Setting Off 2

    Chapter 372: Setting Off 2


    After staying in the estate for a few days, Garen hadn¡¯t received any news.


    But now, it was finally time to go on a quest.


    Everyone in the Secret Service¡¯s Crimson Team, under Old Man¡¯s arrangements, had gathered at a fixed place, that was the large clock tower, the tallest building just behind the Kingdom.


    This was the stone wall of a cliff, with some green forests on top, and a small lake.


    "Alright, let¡¯s go down." Old Man nodded, and led the way to the outskirts of the jungle.


    The others followed suit.


    Garen followed at the very back of the team, not too fast or too slow, carefully scoping his surroundings.


    All the trees in the forest were rather short, and a glance over them showed they were sparse as well, sunlight falling onto the green blanket of plants, shining with a jade green glow.


    The six of them entered the little forest one by one, and walked straight to the edge of the cliff.


    Old Man led the way, and actually turned his step, walking down the edge of the cliff as though he¡¯d just jumped off. It gave Garen quite a scare.


    And others followed suit, Garen the last, all the way until he reached the edge of the cliff, where he looked down.


    There were many intricate black boxes built on the cliff under him, each smaller than a palm. That was when he noticed that there was actually a downward sliding staircase on the cliff beside his feet. Ahead of them, Old Man had already gone quite a distance ahead.


    The stone steps stuck tightly to the cliff, like trenches dug out of the black cliff, going all the way down.


    Garen glanced at Fox, who was beside him. She didn''t look surprised in the slightest, and as evidently used to seeing this kind of thing.


    He hurriedly followed them down, following the stone steps one by one as they advanced towards the bottom right.


    Holding the black stone handle on the left with his hands, he felt a cold touch coming from his palm, and Garen continued down the steep stone steps.


    On the left side of the stone stairs tunnel, a lot of cold wind due to the high altitude was blowing in, billowing up their hoods and making them flutter.


    The six of them didn''t say a thing, walking down quietly.


    On the black cliff walls, the stone steps were like a split, stretching from the top of the cliff to the center.


    The six of them walked on the inside, like black ants crawling in the crack, soundlessly, inconspicuous.


    After about two minutes.


    The path ahead them opened up, into a wide circular hall. On the ground in the center was a huge bird''s nest, more than ten meters in radius.


    The bird''s nest was woven out of dried, earth-yellow tree trunks, oval in shape, and had a giant black bird crouched in the middle. The bird looked like an enlarged version of a crow, completely pitch black, with only scarily pearly yellow eyes, glimmering in the dim cave with a yellow glow.


    The giant bird was more than seven meters long, crouching quietly in the nest, and it actually had a natural dent in its back.


    Old Man walked over first, the black light patterns under his feet disappearing after a flash. With a ding, his whole person leaped up lightly, as though he had springs on his feet. While in mid-air, the black light formation at his feet lit up again, propelling him directly into the dent on the bird''s back.


    "Everyone gets a Black Crow each, the ones at the back, make sure you don''t get left behind." He yelled loudly from that height.


    In an instant, everyone walked towards the edges of the cave and walls, and saw that there were tunnels leading to other caves.


    Garen chose one and walked over too, after following the tunnel for a bit, he found another huge Black Crow crouched in their nest. The Black Crow glanced at him, a hint of viciousness in its yellow eyes, but it immediately sensed the special aura on Garen and instantly calmed down.


    Garen touched the diamond shard ring on his hand, the ring was made from a black metal, and had four diamond shards embedded in it to form a diamond shape.


    "As expected of the three departments, they sure have many good things."


    Garen touched his ring, and the same black light formation flashed past his feet as well, like a trampoline, exploding with a light and gentle bounce.


    Borrowing this power to jump into the sky, Garen took another step in mid-air, the black light formation circle flashed again, and he landed lightly in the dent on the crow¡¯s back.


    The dent was warm, and the area under his feet was soft, the swathes of feathers in front of him functioning as grips.


    "Nineheads, you ready?"


    Old Man¡¯s voice came from his waist-pouch.


    Garen opened the pockets on his waist, and took out a small round black box, the voice was coming from here.


    "Ready," he replied softly.


    "It¡¯s your first time riding a Black Crow, watch your safety, and always keep in contact," Old Man advised him.


    "Why are you bothering with him, if he doesn¡¯t even know that much, he should just scram!" For some reason Kitten just didn¡¯t seem to like Garen very much, and kept geting annoyed at him.


    "Then let¡¯s go," Old Man agreed.


    Garen patted the yellow diamond ring on his hand, and the Black Crow under his feet gave a slight jolt.


    The Black Crow stood up in the nest, and started running urgently forward.


    Tap-tap-tap!


    After taking a few steps, the way forward lit up with a white light.


    Whoosh!


    That was the sound of the Black Crow opening its wings, its huge wings spanning more than ten meters as it pounced out of the cave.


    On the black cliffs, six Black Crows rushed out of the cave one after the other, and flapped their wings, shooting into the sky. They created six round flight paths in the sky.


    Woooo~~~~! Haha!!


    Kitten¡¯s whoops came from the left.


    Garen¡¯s eyes got used to the sudden burst of blinding sunlight, facing the strong winds as he narrowed his eyes to look around him.


    He felt as though he was going diagonally up, the intense cold wind beating against his face, flowing into his nostrils and down his neck.


    Everything around him was slanting, and shook non-stop.


    He gripped the black feathers tightly, ordering the Black Crow to follow the Black Crow in front of it, and then just let it go on auto-pilot.


    With a whoosh, Fox¡¯s Black Crow brushed past on his right, and rushed to the very front with extreme speed. After that, Kitten caught up as well, the two of them chasing each other, and soon they became two tiny black dots in the distance.


    "The two of you, don¡¯t break away from the team!" Old Man¡¯s voice came from the black box.


    Garen glanced downwards.


    The whole Kingdom was now just the size of his palm.


    The whole Kingdom was sunk in the middle of a mountain range, all alone with nothing around it, as though it was a city built on mountaintops. It seemed ancient and mysterious.


    The Kingdom became smaller and smaller, further and further. Garen¡¯s hood couldn¡¯t stay on, and was pulled down by the strong winds, his long golden hair flying in the wind.


    "Careful, we¡¯re going above the cloud layer." Old Man¡¯s voice came from the Black Box.


    Garen clipped the Black Box onto his collar, and it happened to fit perfectly on the golden iris, hanging there securely.


    Before the voices faded.


    Garen had no time to reply when he felt the large swathes of white cloud mist assault his face. It was cold and moist, as though someone sprayed mist into his face.


    Everything around him became a sea of white.


    Caw!!


    The Black Crow in front of him made a sound.


    Caw! Caw!!


    The Black Crow he was riding also cried out.


    The Black Crows seemed to be using that to determine each other¡¯s locations.


    The cries rang out and echoed by Garen¡¯s ear, lasting an entire half minute.


    Finally, with a whoosh, they went through the cloud layer in an instant.


    The golden sun hung quietly in the distant deep blue sky, and below them were the sea of white clouds.


    Some clouds sunk in, so they could see the earth and mountains down there, as small as grains of sand.


    Some clouds protruded, like strangely-shaped pillars. Some clouds were just bunches of cotton.


    Above the endless layers of clouds, six giant Black Crows were like six sesame seeds, flapping their wings and soaring almost indistinguishably.


    "We need to keep flying for two hours, it¡¯s a bit far away. Be aware of your own waist-pouch, don¡¯t let it get blown away," Old Man reminded tirelessly.


    Garen turned around and looked in the direction they came. He instantly felt a slight jolt.


    In the sky above the Kingdom, seen from a distance, there was a grey-black light all over the sky above the Kingdom.


    That light was like a fog, floating and twining all above the Kingdom, there were even many black tentacles poking out here and there, waving in the sky.


    "Do you see that? Ninetales." Old Man¡¯s voice came again. "That¡¯s the Kingdom¡¯s strongest tactical defense formation, without permission, no flying creature can go past the sky above the Kingdom."


    "It¡¯s quite the sight." Garen sighed.


    The Black Crows flew forth in parallel with each other, in a V-formation.


    The time passed, and soon half an hour had passed.


    "Careful, everyone, we¡¯re coming up on the West Farm defense lines, there might be high-flying monsters attacking." This time it was actually Red Umbrella¡¯s voice, how rare for him not to be yawning.


    Garen focused a little more as well, raising his guard.


    It wasn¡¯t long after the reminder that two strange birds immediately rushed up from beneath the sea of clouds.


    Waa! Waa!!


    Cries that sounded like children weeping came from in front of them.


    The strange birds were completely purple-black, like bald eagles, with a snake-like neck, and four red eyes on the top of their heads.


    The two strange birds were about seven or eight meters in size, but as soon as they rushed up and saw the six giant Black Crows, each more than ten meters long, the two birds panicked immediately, turned around and dove into the clouds again, disappearing without a trace.


    "They¡¯re Four-eyed Birds, one of the rare few bird-type monsters that can fly at altitudes above seven or eight thousand meters. They¡¯re powerful, equal to a Form Two totem. But unfortunately, we¡¯re riding on Giant Black Crows, which are even stronger. One Death Glare can kill those two in an instant," Old Man laughed, in a light mood, but mostly he seemed to be explaining for Garen¡¯s sake.


    "I wanted to taste what Four-eyed Bird meat was like, but they run so fast every time!" Kitten¡¯s voice sounded disinterested.


    "We need to go low in the area ahead, it¡¯s that crazy monster¡¯s territory, so everyone watch out and go lower with me," Old Man said loudly.


    "Got it.""As usual, Red Umbrella takes the rear."


    Everyone replied one by one.


    Garen was slightly curious as to what kind of monster could let the Form Three totem users from the Secret Service all decide to avoid it. But they were high in the sky, so he didn¡¯t ask.


    The Black Crow kept close behind the ones in front, and suddenly sunk, reducing their altitude and dashing down.


    Whoosh!


    They dove into the fluffy white sea of clouds in an instant.


    After more than ten seconds, the cloud sea burst open, and below was a large sweep of white mountain ranges, dotted with dark green forests and lakes.


    The Black Crows rushed down, flying towards that mirror-like lake, the lake-water reflected the layers of clouds, clear and clean.


    A few giant black turtles were basking in the sun, like so many black stones, heavy and clumsy.


    A herd of light yellow deer was drinking water next to a dried up and collapsed tree trunk, taking tiny sips, their ears occasionally twitching nimbly.


    Whoosh!!


    The six giant Black Birds suddenly rushed down, dipping past the mirror-like surface of the blue lake, the gusts of wind causing the water to shake, creating large ripples.


    The deer yelped in shock, and left the lake in a hurry. The black turtles immediately pulled their heads back into their shells, and didn¡¯t move at all, playing dead.


    Garen stood on the Black Crow¡¯s back, watching the lakewater retreat rapidly backwards, to be replaced by forest. Many birds were spooked and took flight, escaping towards the left and right in flocks.


    There were even three female campers surrounding a fire and barbequing something. Two of them heard the commotion and immediately stood up, looking towards the sky, their mouth wide open and their expressions spooked.


    "Wooo~~~!" Kitten was crying out again.


    The six Giant Black Crows swept past the forest, causing the leaves to rustle.

 373 Gathering 1

    Chapter 373: Gathering 1


    Black crows glided in the sky above the vast sea of ??trees, occasionally flapping its wings.


    Garen tightly grabbed onto the protruding feathers that looked like black iron. His entire body rested within the recessed region, his entire body felt warm.


    The black crows dissipated warm heat, filling the recessed area with its warmth.


    Without knowledge of how much time had passed, they finally flew past the vast expanse of forest beneath, and it faded behind them behind them.


    At the end of the stretch of woods was a huge circular basin. The depressed region looked like a hollow basin made of red-colored stone, and at its center was a deep black canyon.


    Six black crows flew out from the edge of the forest, across the edge of the basin, and dove straight into the canyon.


    Garen was riding one of the black crows diving straight into the dark canyon. On his flanks were steep uneven walls of red rock, with the abyss below pitch black. It was impossible to see anything. Up above was a strip faint white clouds adrift.


    Whoosh!


    The crow¡¯s wings fluttered to the sides canyon, blowing a gust which detached some loose rocks from the wall. A few pieces of red stones fell into the bottom of the unending trench.


    Garen bent down, looking at the corners and curves ahead of him, rapidly moving within the canyon cracks.


    With such rapid flight and tortuous canyon curves, Garen had the unshakable feeling feeling that he might hit the rock wall at any time.


    "I''ve reached my objective. Commencing operation." The voice of the red umbrella was heard from the black box.


    "Be careful," the old man answered.


    "I know."


    One of the black crows separated from the team, and flew towards the left canyon crossing, rushing forward into a huge ancient structure ahead.


    The structure was a large red tauren stone statue about half a man¡¯s height, it held up its fists, and seemed to be making a roaring action. Its lower body was embedded directly into the cliff face, and the entire red cliff seemed to have been emptied, leaving an ancient relic site behind.


    Garen only took a cursory glimpse as he flew by and he did not have a clear look.


    He then moved forward for a bit more.


    Soon, foxes and kittens also split off from the team.


    It was finally Garen¡¯s turn, and he remembered the location¡¯s features on the map.


    "My mission point is here, I¡¯ll make my move first," he said directly to the box.


    "Be aware of the surroundings, reserve some power in case of possible accidents." The old man said, evident of a kind, aged, personality.


    "Good luck, nine-headed brother." The child flew to Garen¡¯s side, standing on the back of black crow as he raised his fist. "Let me know if you encounter any difficulties, my mission is near yours."


    "Thank you," said Garen. Although he did not know the strength of the rest of the Red team, it was estimated that he would be the least likely to encounter any problems.


    The overall strength of Red Team was very strong, any one of them could independently take on multiple form 3 monsters quite easily. That was to say, they had at least a pinnacle form 3 totem, and even the power to spiritualise.


    The fact that Garen had the power to spiritualise should have spread to the capital,al and it surely would have have reached the king, but he was still not taken seriously by the red team. He really do not understand why.


    However there was no point in thinking about these things. More importantly, this task could be a juicy opportunity to rack up some potential points. Garen planned to first evolve the ninth head of eight-headed dragon, and then focus on upgrading the Secret Techniques to see what would happen.


    Banking right into a corner guiding the black crow, Garen suddenly flew into a black-red crossroad.


    At the end in the distance, a large triangle-shaped red stone wall was clearly visible. It resembled a huge red beehive, full of holes of all sizes.


    From the void came some whistles whimsically blowing constantly. Besides that the surroundings were eerily silent.


    Garen rode the black crow and rushed straight towards it. The red beehive came nearer and nearer.


    Each hole was more than half a meter in diameter arranged neatly together, forming a huge triangle of hundreds of meters in length and width.


    The black crow round the triangular honeycomb stone wall, but did not see any creatures. Not even a single piece of greenery could be seen.


    He controlled the black crow as it slowly on a flat stone on the rock bumps.


    boom!


    With a wingspan more than ten meters , the black crow flapped twice, its wings creating bursts of wind as it gently landed on the ground.


    Garen jumped down from its back, twisting his body slightly in mid-air. A black light glowed from under his feet to buffett the landing and he gently landed on the ground.


    "White Dragon, go ... ..." Garen remembered that the derivator have been destroyed by himself, because of the fear of Obscuro tracking technology. There was no way to relieve the hidden dangers, after all, hence he chose to destroy it.


    He shook his head slightly, tidied up his messy black armor, and wore the hood on his head so he would be hidden in full armor.


    The surroundings were spacious, ahead of him was the triangular beehive, and on his left a stone wall, while under his feet on the right was a bottomless abyss.


    Garen stomped on the ground.


    Bang bang


    A very dull sound came forth.


    "Very sturdy." Garen looked up at the huge red triangle in front of him and ordered the black crow to hold position.


    He took two steps forward and one step mid-air.


    Ding!


    Black light array fleeted.


    Garen jumped lightly and flew in midair, shooting his foot out once again in mid-air, turning on the black light array. His entire person stepped on the black light array like ladders and jumped straight toward the triangular stone wall.


    After each step, he felt that that his current jumping strength was enough. Garen jumped four times consecutively and he reached the top of the triangular stone wall.


    Suddenly diagonally on his right side, a huge red stone ball flew towards Garen.


    Bam!


    A stone ball as wide as a man was smashed into smithereens.


    The air around Garen twisted for a moment, then returned to normal.


    "err?"


    He turned his head and looked down to the right, his body was on the top of a triangular stone wall.


    "What is that, to actually dare to attack me?"


    He looked down


    On the lower right side of the red stone wall, a cave about 7 to 8-meter-high appeared unknowingly. It was so dark one cannot see the bottom.


    Standing by the cave entrance was a silver-colored hairy monster.


    The monster looked like a gruesome human with both feet standing, long arms with long red claws, much like a human arm holding a huge stone ball.


    Its head actually had only a huge red eye, his mouth full of fine rows of white teeth.


    "It seems like this is my objective." Garen did not panic, "One Eyed Beamon."


    He recalled the information he had.


    This creature was named the One Eyed Beamon, it had extremely sharp claws, incredible strength, and agile movements. It could excavate a tunnel of dozens of meters in half a minute.


    Its abilities were unknown, as no one actually had contact with it before. With the secret service cleaning up the area, it was a requirement to collect first-hand information in order to reduce possible future damage.


    Awoo!


    One-eyed Beamon roared, the stone ball is its hand was sent flying toward Garen once again.


    Garen made no action, instead quietly standing still. He stared at the stone ball hurling towards him.


    Bam!


    Once again, the stone ball exploded, at the same time, a trace of twisting in the air that felt like teeth snapping thin air.


    "Good strength." Garen felt that this time the strength of the stone ball had actually doubled, the dragon was numb from the hurled ball.


    Fragments exploded, but also left a little debris that did not spread. within Garen¡¯s vision, three more stone balls were hurled, all tumbling in the same direction.


    He snickered, jumped, and easily escaped the stone ball attack. A flash of light flashed at his feet, pushing him toward the lower right of the cave.


    His black clothes made some rustling sound in the air. Garen drew a black line, then rushed straight toward one-eyed Beamon.


    fuuuuuuu!


    Suddenly another three stone balls from his rear appeared, crashing onto Garen¡¯s back. It rained down like shells of bullets.


    Gallon was unable to react midair, hence he got hit severely by the first ball.


    Bam!


    A large hold appeared on the stone wall behind Garen again. By the entrance came another One-eyed Beamon.


    Heart was now fighting two One-eyed Beamons!


    The One-eyed Beamon opened its hand. Its palm gathered a large number of stones around it, as if there were an invisible force gathering the debris, condensing them into a rock.


    As it hurled one, he immediately formed another. Its action speed is very high.


    In just three seconds, it threw six boulders.


    Huge boulders instantly formed with a bang, and then were hurled out.


    Two one-eyed Beamon hurled a bunch of boulders midair in quick succession, then only they stop to take a look.


    As the boulders was crushed to smithereens, the debris fell down almost hit a wasp¡¯s nest on the right side of the stone wall. Its destructive power was staggering.


    Red ash filled the air.


    "Hurled a bunch of boulders after I got up, so ruthless." Garen¡¯s figure was revealed from the red debris.


    His entire body was covered with dim black totem¡¯s light. He was completely unharmed, instead he only fluttered towards the stone wall to the right side.


    The One-eyed Beamon on the left roared, and it once again hurled boulders with force. The right Beamon remained silent, turn around into the cave and disappeared.


    Its proficiency in action was surprisingly quick.


    Garon jumped and landed in front of the cave entrance on the right with a thump, a twirling transparent vortex behind him kept blocking the boulders hurled from behind. Each throw produces da strong impact, shaking the mountain wall with each impact.


    "Crafty little guy." Garen looked back and met its eye, and the opponent was merrily hurling away.. Stone balls was hurled one after another, as if it is endless.


    "One-eyed Beamon, ability one: boulder hurling, the power exceeds form 3 totems, close to spiritualization, deals large area of effect damage." Garen took out a small book and carefully recorded ability.


    After the boulders rained on him for a while, it seemed to realise that this did not pose a threat to Garen, and it finally stopped its throws.


    The One-eyed Beamon looked up and roared, and its eye suddenly turn red. Its body expanded, and seemingly much stronger now, and a faint pale red aura covered its silver fur.


    It stomped its legs fiercely, and with a bang, leapt forward like a monkey jumping towards Garen. A pair of sharp red claws shimmering faintly, fiercely clawing for its target.


    In a single jump, it actually covered more than 20 meters across the canyon. Fluttering across the cliff, its tall body with revealed the location of the silhouette¡¯s bombardment towards Garen.

 374 Collection 2

    Chapter 374: Collection 2


    Five sharp claws that looked like five red blood crystals. A beautiful crystalline translucence can be seen among them, as they swiped towards Garen¡¯s waist and abdomen.


    At the same time, the cave that Garen was in, the same one-eyed Beamon, who had reddish fur, also fluttered.


    With the same action and the same attack stances, the two Beamons, one in front and the other behind Garen flanked him in the middle. Four red claws swiped towards Garen simultaneously.


    Garen raised his eyebrows, three red lights flashing.


    He raised his hand, and a giant red silhouette lit up behind him, a dragon more than ten meters high with 8 heads showed its upper body, the rear half seemed to be still somewhere outside.


    Garen¡¯s eyes had a flash of red light.


    "Dragon roar!"


    Roar! ! ! !


    A burst of sound waves burst forth like ripples on water. Both sides of canyon walls shook violently, knocking loose rubble and gravel.


    The raging sound waves momentarily scattered in all directions, the rock Garen stood on shattered, forming a circular pit full of dense cracks.


    All eight heads of the dragon roared at the same time, releasing a sound that is almost four times the original power! The horrifying sonic boom swept two Beamons off their feet.


    Both One-eyed Beamons had blood oozing out of their eye, nose, ears, and mouth. The monsters were overturned, and were unable to move as they sat on the ground.


    They struggled to get up, but all their muscles were numb from the roar and failed to move. Their single huge eyes were unable to see anything, only darkness.


    The Beamons whined pitifully, its tone filled with panic and fear.


    Two of the Eight-headed dragon¡¯s heads reached out, each leaning down toward one of the One-eyed Beamons. Its jaws clamped on the Beaons and launched them straight into the air.


    A crisp tearing noise came from the Beamons.


    The two Beamons were violently torn apart by the eight heads midair. The eight mouths constantly let out terrifying chewing sounds. Bones were crushed by snapping jaws, followed by gulping noises indicating the sound of swallowing.


    In just a moment, the two huge one-eyed Beamons were torn apart by the eight-headed dragons as a meal.


    Garen touched his belly, his teeth felt sore.


    One-eyed Beamon''s flesh was so tough that when eight dragons chewed on their bones, he felt a bit of soreness on his own teeth. The Beamon¡¯s bones were harder than other bones.


    After the two monsters were swallowed, what¡¯s left was leftover flesh dripping, splashing down like a short burst of bloody rain, splattering heavily on the ground of the cave.


    The silhouette of eight-headed dragon slowly disappeared.


    The three dots between his eyebrows faded, no longer shining. Just that the color of red was bright, as if was smeared with blood.


    Garen walked to the rest of the flesh, these are the parts that the eight-headed dragon refused to eat; either because they doesn¡¯t taste good or was too hard to digest.


    To his surprise, Garen found four blood red claws.


    Each claw had four fingers, and were actually its finger nails.


    Most of the red crystalline nails have been crushed, and only two was fairly intact. Garen bent over to pick it up, slightly shaking off the blood. They looked like two decent crystal machetes at a glance.


    Garen tested the Beamon claws by slashing a handkerchief, and then by tapping the black crow ring.


    "The main dish is finished, now is time for the other pack monsters, those are some Form 2 monsters, it should be a breeze." Garen¡¯s tied the claws to his waist. He was in a good mood; he had earned 16 potential points and even got some souvenirs. Naturally, his mood would be in high spirits.


    Soon, a huge black crow appeared and landed directly in front of Garen.


    He somersaulted and landed on the back of the black crow. Its wings flapped loudly, and the black crow launched off the canyon floor, spread its wings and flew away. It soon became a small dot in the sky; gradually fading away.


    A few minutes later.


    From within the triangular honeycomb stone wall, a petite ugly man walked out of the crevices; his face was pale, he donned a black robe which didn¡¯t stand out.


    The man laid down at he cave entrance as he observed Garen from afar, his face looked solemn.


    He took out a pale red crystal ball and tapped on it a few times.


    "Demetrius, I met the target ahead of time."


    The crystal ball was silent for a while, then faint breaths were heard over the crystal ball. "How was it?" A woman¡¯s voice was heard from the derivator.


    "Extremely difficult." The petite man answered solemnly, " I originally thought that I could easily settle the opponent with my artifacts, but just as I arrived, I bumped into the target battling two One-Eyed Beamons. So I hid myself to spectate the battle.


    "Were you humbled?"


    The man forced a laugh. "That was less of a battle but more of a one-sided massacre. We are both very well aware of the strength of the One-Eyed Beamon, yet he killed two of them while sustaining zero damage. The Royal Alliance has not met these creatures, they wouldn¡¯t know their strengths, but we, who are from Obscuro Society have made contact with the Beamons would know how tough they are. Two One-eyed Beamon that berserk were equivalent to a single Spiritualized Totem User."


    "And what are you trying to imply?"


    "Gather all the Colonels, surround and ambush him!" A hint of ferocity can be seen from his eyes. "I suspect that this is the same man who disguised as Jess and killed Ann-Rue.


    ************************************************


    On the red canyon, red plains can be seen afar from the edge of the cliff.


    On it was some sparsely spread dead black trees, the leafless trees were twisted and bent beyond recognition, and some oddly shaped growth can be seen on its barks.


    There were red boulders of various sizes scattered around the plains; from a man¡¯s height, to over ten meters in height. Most of the boulders had a hole in the middle which was indicative of weathering. As the air current passed through the holes; it let out an odd ring.


    A giant crow flew past the plain, on top of it was a man donned with black armor, wearing a hood. Few strands of golden blonde hair can be seen from the side of the high collar.


    That man was indeed Garen, who just killed two One-Eyed Beamons. He was scouting the vicinity of his mission waypoint, but unfortunately, there were no signs of life around the entire vicinity after that dragon roar


    He was circling the plains for half a day; but not a single shadow passed, only messy footprints on the ground, and some skeletal remains that were not finished remained, indicative of some creature hordes nearby.


    There was some foul smell emitting from the ground, which smelled like faeces.


    Garen deduced that this should be the horde¡¯s excrement, which released the foul smell after being exposed to sunlight.


    Bzzzt bzzzt¡­ the black box on his collar let out a crackling noise,


    "I¡¯m Old Man, send in your mission reports." The box on Garen¡¯s collar emitted Old Man¡¯s hoarse voice.


    "Fox here, I am all cleaned up." A clear female voice was heard from the box.


    ¡®Tch! Kitten was done long ago." Another girl¡¯s voice was heard.


    "Kid is not done yet, but I¡¯ll be done soon, there was a sudden horde of creatures, who knows where they came from." Kid¡¯s voice had a hint of breathlessness.


    Garen was secretly guilty.


    His mission point was really near Kid¡¯s mission point, the horde on Kid¡¯s side was definitely the monsters who got scared by his roar.


    "Nineheads all settled." He replied.


    "What about Red Umbrella?" Old man asked in confusion.


    " Big Bro Red Umbrella?" it was Kitten¡¯s voice.


    "... Ughh, apologies, I had a nightmare, that was scary!" Red Umbrella¡¯s voice was heard from the box.


    The band of people were speechless; this fellow got the hardest mission, he actually completed it so early, he could take a nap¡­


    "Alright everyone, please gather at the next mission waypoint, no issues right?" Old Man ordered, "those who forgot the route please voice out."


    "I forgot!" Kitten said righteously. " Big Bro Red Umbrella, why don¡¯t, I go to the waypoint with you. Going together would allow us to take care of each other¡­." Her voice got weaker towards the end.


    The rest laughed out.


    "Okay now, the waypoint is Pumpkin Farm. everybody knows this historical ruinright?" Old Man repeated, "The location is Pumpkin Farm, rendezvous time is in half an hour, everybody be punctual."


    "Roger." Kid was the most well-mannered, and answered earnestly.


    The rest of them didn¡¯t bother replying, as they directly turned off the box.


    Garen ordered the crow to turn around and head towards the direction as he remembered in the map.


    The crow increased its elevation, and flew out of the red canyon.


    Ahead of him was a sea of forests that seemed boundless.


    Green trees, red trees, and some tall black statues that he passed towering in the woods.


    All the statues are of the same figure; the torso of a man, the lower body of a lion, with one arm lifted to point forward, its head turned back, as if it was talking to those behind him.


    The statues seemed aged, some of it was covered in dense cracks, some of it had more than half its statue was covered with moss and vines.


    Garen stood on top of the crow as he gazed below, soon, a large patch of black colored land was seen ahead, much like a patch of shaved hair in the midst of the sea of forests.


    On the entire patch of ground, there were large yellowish green pumpkins, spread well away from each other.


    Each pumpkin was the size of a basketball field, tens of meters in diameter, it¡¯s yellowish-green shell was covered with many pitch black holes.


    Garen rode on the crow, and flew one round a piece of pumpkin, he then realized that the insides of the pumpkin was all hollow; there was nothing inside.


    Garen looked closely, he then realized that these aren¡¯t real pumpkins at all, but instead giant boulders which were weathered to this stage. On the surface of the pumpkin was covered in yellowish green moss.


    "Hey!!" Garen looked down where a man in black was waving at him.


    "Big Bro Nineheads, look over here!" It was Kid¡¯s voice.


    Garen looked towards him closely, he only saw Kid holding a giant strawberry. The strawberry was radiantly red, it looked extremely fresh, the part which was grazed by Kid¡¯s clothes was oozing its fresh strawberry juice, flowing down along Kid¡¯s clothes, coloring his clothes red.


    This monstrously huge strawberry actually needed both hands to hold onto.

 375 Gank 1

    Chapter 375: Gank 1


    Garen descended with the crow, slowly landing on the clearing next to Kid.


    He jumped off the crow¡¯s back, and stood firmly on the black soil.


    "Where¡¯re the others?"


    Kid shook his head. "I just got here too. Haven¡¯t seen anyone else. I guess they¡¯re en route." He pointed the giant strawberry "you want some? This tastes good."


    Garen shook his head. He then immediately saw that Kid¡¯s hand had skillfully dug the strawberry open, reaching all the way inside, pulling a red fruit out with a whoosh.


    This piece of fruit looked oddly similar to a heart, it is still beating, and were emitting heat off it.


    " This is the strawberry¡¯s heart; you can get a mild immunity to poison from this." Kid bit down and spoke with a muffled voice.


    "A strawberry that grows hearts?" Garen can¡¯t help but to be curious," where did this Strawberry come from?"


    "My mission waypoint was Strawberry Field, there¡¯s plenty of this where I came from, and there¡¯re many more produced every year." Kid briefly explained, "I grew up here.


    "You grew up here?" Garen did not expect Kid to have these experiences.


    "Yeah, I ate these growing up." Kid answered earnestly, "Strawberry Farm¡¯s strawberries are very sweet."


    Kid had his mouth smeared with strawberry juice as red as blood.


    Garen didn¡¯t mind him, as he continued looking around.


    Surrounding him were all those gigantic pumpkins, as the wind blew through the holes of the pumpkin, it made some eerie whistling tunes.


    "Hey hey, Nineheads, where are you?" Old Man¡¯s voice can be heard from the black box.


    "I¡¯m already here, at Pumpkin Farm, i¡¯m with Kid now."


    "You, and Kid?" He suddenly stunned, which felt weird. "You, alone? With him?"


    "Yeah? What¡¯s wrong?" Garen was confused by Old Man¡¯s intonation, something felt off.


    "You stay where you are, I¡¯ll be right there!" Old Man got anxious out of the sudden. "Please don¡¯t talk to Kid too much!"


    Garen was confused, so he turned back to look at Kid.


    As if without awareness, Kid was gulping the strawberry in his hand. He kept taking things out from within the odd strawberry, there was a part that looked like liver, a piece of fruit which looked like a lung, there was even a tube that looked like a bronchus. It was all eaten by Kid with huge bites. His stomach was like a bottomless pit, as he stuffed everything inside.


    Garen suddenly felt that something was off.


    There was a faint scent of blood was let off from the strawberry in Kid¡¯s hands.


    He paid closer attention to the strawberry. Although it didn¡¯t look different from a regular strawberry from the outside, but for reasons unknown to him, he could sense fear and despair from the strawberry; as if it was a living thing.


    He also suddenly realized that Kid¡¯s black box and crow was not there.


    "Kid, where¡¯s your crow?" He can¡¯t help but to ask.


    "Crow? You mean that big guy? I don¡¯t know, he was gone once I looked away." Kid answered honestly.


    "Them, what about your black box?"


    "It¡¯s here." Kid took out the black box like it were magic.


    Garen relaxed for a while, if the black box is there, then he is not an impersonator.


    He tried contacting Kid with his black box, everything was normal.


    Soon, a huge crow spread its wings and dived towards them.


    Old Man jumped off from the crow, black light lit up from under his feet, which helped him land.


    As he hit the ground, he looked at Garen weirdly. Then he looked over to Kid who was merrily eating.


    "Kid, it¡¯s rare to see you being so honest this time around."


    Kid wiped his mouth. " But wasn¡¯t I always honest?"


    Garen was confused as he was, judging from the way Old Man spoke, maybe being alone with Kid would be dangerous. Just that there was nothing weird about Kid.


    As he saw the the old and young together, like a usual gathering, he did not want to ask further.


    Soon, Kitten and Fox arrived. The last one was Red Umbrella, who flew from behind, looking sleepy with droopy eyes as he touched down.


    With all six of them here, Old Man began leading the team towards Pumpkin Farm. The rest of them followed him.


    The entire farm was engulfed in a thin mist, which looked like it came from the forest. Visibility was poor.


    As they walked deeper for a moment, faint music could be heard from their surroundings.


    The music was faintly discernible, as though if came from a faraway place. It sounded like a girl was singing in a language not comprehensible to them.


    Garen¡¯s heart shivered, that was Endorian, he only understood a sentence or two, since he did some self-learning, he wasn¡¯t sure if it was correct.


    The music continued to linger, giving them a clear sense of language acuity.


    He began to try to analyze the lyrics, but he had trouble listening to the song clearly enough to make up its contents.


    The song suddenly stopped, the piano piece also started getting slightly messy. It felt like a girl who just started playing piano, restarting the verse due to a single mistake.


    The music started playing again, on repeat.


    Garen looked at others, he realized that there was no reaction, except Kid, who was humming to the girl¡¯s music.


    "Kid, can you stop humming? What song was that? Why haven¡¯t we heard about it?" Kitten said impatiently.


    "I was humming along to little sister though?" Kid answered earnestly. "Didn¡¯t you hear? Little sister played wrongly again." he looked like he was listening in again.


    "Here he goes." Kitten pressed her forehead disappointedly.


    "Pay no heed, Kid¡¯s acting up again." Old Man said quietly.


    Garen had a thought. Does that mean they all couldn¡¯t hear it? As he observed each person, he realized that the rest was indeed unable to hear the voice except Kid and him.


    He now paid more attention to Kid.


    The single file continued moving deeper into the farm, soon, they found the nobilities hiding within one of the giant pumpkin.


    The two of them were hunkering down in the pumpkin from the panic, only to relax as they saw the group, and climbed out of the pumpkin.


    These two people were messy; who knew when was the last time they had a shower. A huge whiff of unbearable stench hit them as the two people approached.


    "I am Duke Pratoe from White Mist Town, This is my wife, Aliya, Thank you for your rescue, we will be sure to reward you handsomely once we get back!"


    The man could barely hold up his pride and calmness, as his body could not suppress his shakiness that exposed his current emotions.


    "Right, shall we get back soon?" The Duke rushed.


    "Nineheads, you¡¯re responsible for them, let¡¯s go back together." Old man ordered.


    "Right, gentlemen, we still have some things that needed to be moved back, I wonder if¡­" The duke smiled as he spoke.


    "Nineheads, take all of it back, I can¡¯t wait to leave, I don¡¯t know why but this place is giving me the creeps." Kitten said impatiently.


    Garen shrugged, these people seemed to have made him the dispatch boy.


    The Duke smiled at Garen and said. "I would have to trouble you then."


    Garen didn¡¯t know if he should laugh or cry.


    "By the looks of it, we¡¯d better do it the usual way; the slowest one should do it." Red Umbrella said.


    "On what account?!" Kitten lashed out.


    " Alright, stop fooling around, your time is the slowest, you should help pack up. It¡¯s not like we needed you to do it; you just need to put your totem." Old Man advised.


    "The monsters on my side were much stronger than Nineheads¡¯! Two Type 3s!! They were almost spiritualized too!" Kitten looked at Garen with an unconvinced eye.


    Garen gave Kitten a smile. That made Kitten even angrier.


    "Go." Red Umbrella said coldly, looking nonchalant.


    Kitten was pouting as she stood there, but she listened to the instruction at the end.


    She would only listen to Red Umbrella.


    Garen finally had the chance to see Kitten¡¯s totem.


    A ray of red light dashed through, it was a giant red tiger the size of an elephant appearing on top of the pumpkin, long fur covered the tiger, its limbs were all weird looking white hooves. It doesn¡¯t seem to resemble anything.


    Kitten was mumbling and scolding as she loaded the items onto the tiger. She glared at Garen from time to time, too.


    "This wasn¡¯t my fault." Garen smiled helplessly. Putting up an innocent face, Garen proactively went ahead to try to help.


    "Stand aside! Who needs your help!" Kitten lashed out again.


    Garen backed off as he looked at Kitten loading the boxes of items onto the tiger alone. He didn¡¯t know why, but he felt that teasing Kitten was an amusing thing to do; seeing her lash out was always interesting.


    "There¡¯s someone here? There¡¯re actually people who still come here?" Red Umbrella suddenly said. His face showed a rare look of suspicion, as he looked towards the mist at the left side of the group.


    "How can there be anyone here? Surrounding Pumpkin Farm are dense hordes of creatures, we were also just getting by to clear them." Old Man was confused too.


    A few people stopped their movements, while simultaneously looking at the swiftly approaching silhouette


    Soon, as the opponent approached, the silhouette showed itself entirely.


    It was actually a tall man wearing black robes, he was covered in black scarves, the upper half of his face covered under a silver mask, all you could see were a pair of silverish-grey eyes. Even his hair was covered by the hood.


    This person walked towards them, until he stopped about ten-odd meters away from them. He took a look at the tall Crimson Fur Tiger. His gaze then fell straight towards Garen who was standing among the crowd.


    "Garen Trejons. If you are willing to accept our sincerity, join us, then the next two wrongs that you commit will be given lenient treatments by us."


    "Who are you?" Old Man stood out and asked loudly.


    The other party didn¡¯t answer, only staring straight at Garen.


    "What lenient treatment?" Garen laughed.


    Unknowingly, The nice guy vibe on him changed slightly, as though his entire person had more of an odd vibe.


    Old Man stood the nearest to him; hence he realized this clear change.


    He then had an uncertain suspicion look as he stared at Garen.


    "What if i did not accept your sincerity today?" Garen spoke again, a smirk was shown on his face with a hint of coldness.


    "Killing two Elemental Generals back-to-back, if you refuse, then you shall die here." the opponent smirked coldly.


    " What arrogance!" Kitten who had the worst temper couldn¡¯t hold it in, the giant Crimson GIant pounced onto him, it''s four limb actually ignited with clouds of black flames, slamming onto the opponent like a small hill.


    Her fingers ignited with crimson flames, as it carried an afterimage, she quickly drew out a diamond-shaped tactic.


    Bam!


    The Crimson Tiger exploded suddenly, turning into countless flames as it swept towards the opponent.


    "Be careful!" Red Umbrella¡¯s expression changed, he then instantaneously rushed in front of Kitten and blocked with his right arm.


    Dang!!


    A black light crashed into his arm; it was actually a black bird.


    The black bird pierced straight into Red Umbrella¡¯s arm, and came out from the other side, but its direction was also changed by the block, disappearing in a black line into the mist.


    "The opponent¡¯s a Spiritualized Totem User!! Everybody be careful!" Red Umbrella did not pay attention to the injury on his arm, the wound had automatically closed and recovered.


    Kitten was scared pale at this moment, even Red Umbrella¡¯s Totem¡¯s Light could not block the opponent¡¯s attack; obviously this was not something an ordinary totem user could achieve. If it wasn¡¯t blocked, she would have been severely injured.


    "Spiritualized Totem User? Haha." The opponent laughed, the silhouette that was covered in flames stood unharmed; taking almost no damage.


    His sight was fixed onto Garen again, ignoring the rest.


    "Looks like a decision has to be made today." Garen took a long sigh.


    At the same time, from the group¡¯s left, right and rear, each came a man wearing a silver mask, they all had the same appearance, each had the same unfathomably strong vibe.


    "Any last words?" The silver masked man leader asked coldly.


    The Crimson Team got nervous.


    There are not those oddballs from Obscuro which possess the crystal Derivator. These people


    rely on the single strongest core totem, even though most of the team of the level of spiritualization, the weakest being Kitten with a form 3 totem. However looking at the opponent''s strength, they were also at least in the realm of spiritualization. Kitten¡¯s attacks didn''t faze the opponent¡¯s totem¡¯s light; the situation seemed grave.

 376 Gank 2

    Chapter 376: Gank 2


    Garen understood well that no matter how strong the headquarters¡¯ Red Team was, they were not the Black Sky¡¯s Elemental Generals, and didn¡¯t possess as much powerful empowered totems as they did.


    A typical totem user¡¯s strongest totem was his core totem, and there were very rare totem users that were able to nurture a second spiritualized totem. The difference between the Generals of the Black Sky and the others was that they possessed a special nurturing technique where the aberrated creatures would be devolved and cause a major loss. However, they themselves did have the strength that far surpassed a typical spiritualized totem user.


    Each of them had the strength of at least two spiritualized totems. One was their own core totem, and the other was the empowered totem they possessed.


    Each of them were of the same level as Beckstone, whom Garen faced in the manor. Since they had four of them, it meant that they had the strength of four Beckstones.


    This was the true strength of the Black Sky, unlike Ann-Rue who was actually just a flower in the living room!


    Garen squinted his eyes as he noticed the leader had an additional exquisite, black pocket watch with him.


    "You people are from the Black Sky!" The Old Man seemed to recognize their identity.


    "Hehe." The Silver Masked Man laughed coldly. "Communication Imprisonment!"


    A large amount of air suddenly appeared behind the four of them and they were surprisingly spiritualized air. The four of them had ten spiritualized totems!


    All of the Spiritualized Air merged together and formed into one body.


    Garen looked at his surrounding and found out that none of the Red Team members planned to leave at all. They stood still as they stared at the four formidable foes.


    "You guys go ahead. I¡¯m the one they¡¯re after." He knew that these people had yet to reveal their trump card for escape purposes.


    It was at this moment that Red Umbrella recognized this new team leader.


    "Since we have recognized you, you are now one of us. We, the read team are never the type who would leave their team members behind."


    The remaining four of them didn¡¯t utter a word as they silently prepared for battle. They even brought out weird and strange looking battle equipment.


    "Kitten, stand behind me." Red Umbrella ordered.


    Kitten glanced at Garen with a complicated looked and obediently stood behind Red Umbrella. She knew that the situation was dire and it was not the time to be wilful.


    The four silver masked men had finished setting up their strange formation and a faintly glowing white membrane cylindrical in shape had engulfed everyone.


    The two nobles had been scared to the point where they couldn¡¯t stand and didn¡¯t even dare to hyperventilate.


    "Accept your punishment!"


    Four of their totem powers merged into one.


    In an instant, countless of black smoke gathered above everyone and formed into the black Crow that they encountered earlier.


    These small Crows gathered together, forming a black stream as they kept revolving in the sky. As it chirped, a waterfall was formed as the water gushed towards the crowd.


    Countless of small Crows cornered Garen and the team from all directions.


    Each of these small Crows were half transparent and half intangible. They could even overlap against each other.


    The scream of these Crows covered the whole surrounding, causing annoyance to everyone hearing it.


    "I can¡¯t move my totem!!!" The Old Man shouted in surprise.


    "Me too!" Kitten shouted along.


    Red Umbrella felt that his totem was being locked by some shackle and it wouldn¡¯t budge at all. Panicked, he looked up at the herd of crows that were fast approaching them. He had just experienced the prowess of these Crows recently and he knew that it could penetrate his totem light. Hence they were definitely Spiritualized class totems, and there were so many of them!


    Suddenly, Fox pulled his shirts from behind as she shook her head.


    "Look over there."


    Red Umbrella looked where she pointed.


    What he saw was the four silver masked men behaving in such a way as if they never had the chance to win at all. In fact, they looked like they were facing a formidable foe and were looking anxiously at them.


    "This is¡­?" He was stunned as he looked at where the enemies were looking.


    It was where Nine Head was standing.


    Nine Head¡¯s birthmarks was brightly lighted in blood red and he looked demonic as it shone.


    Countless of Black Crows ignored the rest and flew directly towards Garen.


    Garen raised his right hand and his five fingers were lit up in red.


    A strange and terrifying aura emerged from his body.


    "Dragon¡¯s Roar!!"


    Roar!!!


    A solid, continuous roar instantly spread throughout the area.


    The upper body of the Eight Headed Dragon appeared behind Garen¡¯s back and eight of its heads were continuously roaring towards the sky.


    With Garen as the epicenter, a deep crater was formed around him in a ten meters radius. Countless dust and pebbles flew everywhere as it spreaded in all directions.


    Large amount of Black Crows turned back into black smoke and disappeared before they even reached Garen. Cracks were constantly forming and healing simultaneously on the light membrane trapping them. The cracks and their recovery clashed into each other, and they barely found a balance in between.


    The four Silver Masked Men were trembling, as fresh blood could be seen dripping out of their mouths as they tried to maintain the Imprisonment Tactical Formation.


    This Tactical Formation was made by combining all ten spiritualized totem¡¯s totem powers and totem light together to form a Formation on par with a form four totem.


    However, everyone had underestimated the enemies as they were not a typical Upper Class Elemental General. They had the strength of a Commander-level!


    The leader of the Silver Masked Men was stunned as the Dragon Roar¡¯s reverberated. He had brought four Generals with him and even a heirloom to produce a formation. He was so sure that he could eliminate the opponent, but unfortunately it was still not enough.


    "He¡¯s not even 23!" He was stunned as he had such a strength at that age. Imagine when he fully matured¡­


    "No! Since we had started a feud with him, we must deal with him now! If we wait for him to fully mature¡­" The leader of the Silver Mask shivered as the though reached his mind and took out an exquisite white pyramidal shaped item.


    The pyramid gave off a white light and the intense white light flowed into the Silver Masked Man¡¯s palm.


    The recovery rate of the Tactical Formation instantly increased.


    The Dragon Roar had finally stopped.


    The Eight Headed Dragon¡¯s body gradually disappeared.


    Garen frowned as he stared at the solid cylindrical imprisonment. The massive black fog once again condensed into Black Crows and charged towards him.


    He was the only one who could freely use his totem in this formation. Red Umbrella and the others were shackled, showing that this Tactical Formation was extraordinarily powerful.


    "Today¡¯s the day you die!" The leader of the Silver Masked Man laughed as the white light from the pyramid in his hand grew more intense.


    "That depends." Garen smirked.


    The shadow of the Eight Headed Dragon appeared behind Garen once again and all eight heads came down and took a deep breath.


    Large amount of Black Crows were sucked into the mouth, forming 8 black vortices in the air.


    Every Black Crow in the Formation were completely sucked into the Eight Headed Dragon¡¯s stomach within ten seconds.


    Roar¡­


    As it roared, the cylindrical light membrane cracked once again.


    All four Silver Masked Men were shocked.


    "Damn it! It¡¯s a form four! Retreat!!" The leader of the Silver Masked Man put down his hand and ran away.


    However, two of the Silver Masked Men slowly disappeared. They had obviously ran away a long time ago, leaving two illusions in the formation.


    The last Silver Masked Man attempted to run away but was blocked by one of the dragon¡¯s heads.


    "Don¡¯t kill me! I am!!" Crack!!


    The dragon¡¯s mouth took a bite and chomped this person into half. It took a few bites before swallowing him.


    The gigantic dragon head returned to behind Garen. All eight dragon heads looked around as it started searching for something edible.


    In the eyes of these dragon heads, it was either edible food or not.


    They soon gave their full attention towards the members of the Red Team.


    Garen immediately restricted its will.


    As the eight dragon head stared at them, they members of the Red Team felt a shiver down their spine. They gave out a sigh of relief and felt slightly worried at the same time.


    Since his strength had been exposed, Garen didn¡¯t bother to treat them nicely anymore. His expression gradually calmed down and gave off a cold, emotionless vibe.


    "I need to deal with these future troubles. This is my personal matter, I hope you guys have no comment on heading back first?"


    Kitten, who was rebellious in nature, wanted to refute but she lowered her head as she felt a shiver down her spine when she looked at Garen.


    "Nine Head, since you have some actual strength, why didn¡¯t you reveal it earlier?" Red Umbrella asked calmly.


    "Does that mean you acknowledge me as your captain?" Garen looked at Kitten with interest as he asked them.


    "Do you think it¡¯s easy to be the captain? Do you think you can become one by just having overwhelming strength?!" Kitten couldn¡¯t resist but to ridicule him.


    Garen was surprised that this fellow was still unsatisfied even after revealing his true strength.


    "Then what do you think a captain should have other than strength?" He asked as he laughed.


    Kitten thought for a while. "A captain must fulfill two criteria. If you do, I will be the first to support you!"


    "Which two?"


    Kitten said with a serious face: "First, he must be able to push forward, and retreat together with his other team members. Our team has lived together on the edge for many times"


    "The incident we had just now is one of them right?"


    "I guess so." Kitten then pulled out her second finger. "Secondly, he must be broad-minded and not care about the little things."


    Suddenly, she felt something touching her butt from the back.


    She turned around and saw that a gigantic dragon head had its mouth pointed at her revealing its set of teeth. The teeth that were as sharp as a sawblades still had some meat and bones hanging in between them.


    Kitten was sweating cold sweat and started to tremble. The worst way to die to her was to be eaten by a creature, and there was a gigantic creature currently behind her with its mouth open.


    "Do you think I have fulfilled both of these criteria?" Garen asked gentle. "Oh right, I remember our team has a death index every month, right?"


    Kitten¡¯s face turned pale as she tried to swallow her saliva.


    "Yes¡­ You have.. Fulfilled them!" He nodded aggressively. "I support you as the team leader!! Without a doubt!! I will be the first one to punch whoever rejects this motion!!"


    Garen clapped as he smiled.


    "See, isn¡¯t that easy?" He touched his chin. "I personally think I am rather broad-minded, right?"


    "Broad-minded! Very broad-minded!" Kitten immediately pulled out her thumb. You were literally threatening me in broad daylight!" She tried to weep and had goosebumps all over her body as she felt the gigantic dragon head behind her.


    The remaining members knew that Garen meant to harm to Kitten, and decided to watch everything unfold. This incident had revealed Ninehead¡¯s true strength, and this inhuman strength had everyone recognizing him as the team leader.


    Afterall, strength is the only thing that could ensure your safety during this chaotic era.

 377 Veins 1

    Chapter 377: Veins 1


    As daylight broke, the off-angled sunlight dyed the clouds in a faint gold color.


    In the abandoned city beside the Pumpkin Farm.


    Countless black buildings were placed beside each other; the place was dead silent. The surface of the buildings were dull and some of the glass doors were shattered with a few glass shards left behind.


    At the center of the square field, a sculpture at the center of the circular fountain was slightly slanted with deep cracks at the right side of the floor. It seemed like someone had attacked the floor with a sword nearby and created this crack, as it propagated to the fountain, causing the sculpture to slant.


    The grass on the floor was all dark green and dry,wilted. It formed a guardrail as it attached itself to the chain and a short stone column together.


    There was a tall man in black armor standing beside the guard rail.


    He placed one of his legs on the stone column and carefully scanned the surrounding.


    The man took down his hood, revealing a handsome, white and tender face. He had a silky smooth golden hair at shoulder length and also three red dots on his forehead as a birthmark. He was Garen, who was going after the leader of the silver masked man.


    He looked around his surroundings as if he were trying to pick up some sound with his ear.


    A faint golden halo came from behind and landed on his feet, lighting up the wilted grassfield.


    "I have already spotted you, come out." Garen shouted calmly. His voice traveled far and reverberated constantly in the deserted city.


    "You have been trying to escape from me for about a day now, and you¡¯ve exhausted all your options. I believe that you do not have the ability to send a message within a short distance." Garen put away his leg as he started to wander around the fountain.


    Suddenly, black mud moved at the bottom of the fountain.


    Ahh!!!


    As someone gave off a deafening scream, the mud spread about and a bloody red figure rushed towards Garen.


    Boom!


    The air behind Garen bent, as if there was a rigid transparent force pushing back the bloody figure back into the pool of mud.


    The red figure rolled a few times in the mud before it got up dizzily, revealing his physical appearance.


    Unexpectedly, it was a man with blood all over him. His lower body was no longer there, save for his upper body. He had nothing with him from the waist down below, as if he was cut waist down.


    This half bodied man was muscular, and covered in blood. His head was similar to of a locust, long and had two antennas on his head. His body was covered with a series of hard objects, as if he was wearing a layer of armor.


    With only his upper body, he was about as tall as half a man. After rolling on the floor for a few times, he dizzily stood up and floated in the air. There was no visible support from his lower body, he was simply levitating off the ground.


    He revealed two of his sharp claws and charged towards Garen once more. However, his upper body was bitten by a shapeless mouth as he was charging in.


    Chomp!


    With a sounding crisp, the upper body man was torn into millions of red pieces. Soon after landing on the floor, the crystals melted and became a pool of blood and seeped into the ground.


    "That¡¯s the fifteenth." Garen frowned.


    After leaving the Red Team behind, he had been pursuing the leader of the Silver Masked Man from the pumpkin farm to here since last night.


    This seemingly dead city was filled with these bloody half bodied creatures. They were everywhere, hidden in any possible spots and would often attacked people.


    These half bodied creatures had incredible speed, and any totem users whose main attribute was not agility would definitely barely be able handle them, and at best, could only defend against them. However, Garen was different. His five senses were extremely sharp, and with his terrifying precision from his Secret Techniques, he would be totally safe with only two dragon heads as his defense. Two mouths with the radius of one meter each were like his shield, protecting him at all times.


    These half bodied creatures didn¡¯t possess any power strength, and their strength was at the level of a form one totem user at best. It would be an useful option if it was used to fight against a commoner, but if it were to be used against Garen¡­


    Even if he were to stand still and let them attack him, no one would know how many hours they would take to break his defense.


    Suddenly, the familiar footsteps could be faintly heard deep in the city. It was fast paced yet tiring. The sound was very weak, and he wasn¡¯t sure how far it is.


    Garen obviously heard it and he started grinning as he went towards that direction. Although he seemed to be very slow, every step he took was at least a few meters apart and it was as fast as a commoner sprinting.


    The opponent clearly didn¡¯t have any more energy to spare, as the he had deactivated his Acceleration Tactic. Without the support of the totem, he could only use his legs to run.


    Garen guessed that even if he were to stop pursuing him here, he would most likely not survive in this city for long, as this city had more than just the form one creature.


    The footsteps became clearer in front of him.


    The library, which was shaped like a mountain, had three tips at the top, and there were two grey gargoyles standing by the entrance of the library.


    As Garen sprinted towards it, his footsteps kept reverberating within the city as if there were many people running at the same time.


    Masi!!


    A raging roar came from the library. It was so loud that even the ground started to tremble and even the small pebbles started to move up and down.


    It sounded like a language and yet it also sounded like a meaningless roar.


    Boom!!


    As the sound of a glass breaking could be heard, and a person was sent flying out of the library and landed heavily onto a sculpture in front of the library. After a thud, the human figure dropped down from the sculpture and laid down on the ground.


    It was the black shirted silver masked man who ran in the library a moment ago.


    He gasped heavily as he tried to get himself up from the ground but to no avail. He seemed to have sprained his waist.


    Boom! Boom Boom!!


    Heavy footsteps could be heard inside the library, as if there was a gigantic monster walking about inside it.


    Soon, the footsteps diminished and everything was silent once again.


    Garen looked inside the library from afar as he wondered what kind of creature lurked inside it and it seemed to be very strong.


    However, his first objective was to capture the silver masked man.


    With a stomp from his feet, his motion became blur and leaped a few hundred meters and directly stood behind him


    The opponent saw the sudden appearance of a human figure, whose shadows completely covered him from behind.


    He was stunned.


    "You caught up in the end." His voice sounded very bitter under his mask. "According to the regulations of the nobles, I have the right to pay for actions in exchange for my freedom and life. I hope you, as a noble, would allow me to repay my debt."


    "What¡¯s inside there?" Garen didn¡¯t reply him as he looked into the library with interest.


    The opponent was stunned by his behavior but immediately reacted. "I don¡¯t know." He laughed wryly.


    "When I was here last week, there was no such creature. Now it suddenly appears here. It seems to have come out from the cracks between the stones. We had observed the surrounding before and did not see such huge creatures within the diameter of hundred kilometers.


    "You don¡¯t know?" Garen was slightly surprised. "Didn¡¯t you guys create these creatures?"


    "That is indeed true. The Silver Masked Man shook his head. "However, everything seems to be out of hand the moment the people from the Black Sky had discovered the Black Copper Mine. I swear that during my time performing experiments in the Black Sky, I have never seen such a creature. Never!"


    Garen suddenly recalled the existence of a giant creature in this city. If the giant creature in the city was an experiment created by the Black Sky, no one would have believed it, since if the Black Sky could get hold of such a strong creature, they would have taken over the world already.


    "Did you mention Black Copper Mine just now? What¡¯s that?" He questioned again as it was something he had never heard of.


    The Silver Masked Man secretly gave out a sigh of relief.


    "If you promise not to kill me, I will tell you everything I know."


    "Sure." Garen nodded. "I still need you to send a message to the remaining members of the Black Sky. Why would I want to kill you?"


    The Silver Masked Man was stunned and couldn¡¯t utter a single word as he looked at Garen¡¯s expression as if it was the natural thing to do.


    "I am very regretful at the moment. If only I knew this incident was so troublesome, I wouldn¡¯t have made a move on my own."


    "Let¡¯s hear it, what¡¯s a Black Copper Mine?" Garen asked coldly.


    The Silver Masked Man tried his best to get up from the ground as he leaned against the sculpture.


    "The Black Copper Mine, in a way, is the source of all the aberrated creatures. I once worked at a Senior Workshop in the Black Sky¡¯s experimenting group, so I know this secret very well."


    He took out a red liquid from within his pocket.


    "You don¡¯t mind if I eat some medicine, right?"


    "Go ahead." Garen nodded. "Your body isn¡¯t in good condition. I can catch you even if you run anyway."


    The Silver Masked Man smiled wryly.


    "It started when we discovered an abandoned altar at the bottom of a ruin. This altar was made entirely out of a metal that was neither silver or gold. It was completely black, and it was a metal that none of were familiar with. As the first surveyor of the Black Sky discovered this altar and this new metal, the whole of the Black Sky community was interested in it. We sent out a large amount of researchers into the altar to study this unique metal."


    "The altar itself hadn¡¯t much of a purpose as it was abandoned a long time ago. However, the researchers found something shocking once they cut open this metal that was used to make this altar.


    "What did they find?" Garen was caught in the curiosity.


    "They discovered that this metal¡¯s properties are very similar to that of copper, so they named it Black Copper. They also discovered that there was a huge amount of Black Copper stored underneath the altar thereafter." The Silver Masked Man smiled wryly once more. "This Black Copper possessed a shocking property."


    "Property?"

 378 Veins 2

    Chapter 378: Veins 2


    "Yes, you just need a little bit of this type of metal in order to corrode any part or organ of any creature¡¯s body. It will produce a special type of secreted substance that, once filled inside the creature¡¯s body, will give it a terrifying nature that allows it to counter the Totem Light. It would be similar to making water into a type of ice that could be compared to steel. With the emergence of this strange and powerful transformation ability, you could only imagine the excitement on the faces of the expert researchers. This is truly a discovery that will transcend time and eras!" said the silver-faced man, shaking his head. "As for how the crystal derivator came into being, we used the resonance technique that we had perfected much earlier, and coordinated it with this type of creature-corroding black copper, to forge the current crystal derivator known by everyone. However, during the last stage of the experiment, an accident occurred."


    Garen looked at him silently, waiting for his next sentence.


    "The accident was uncovered by an unknown, ordinary researcher. He realised a terrifying truth about the black copper. This strange metal was apparently allowing monsters that it had corroded to naturally evolve themselves! Once he had observed the incident and confirmed his suspicions, the black copper seemed to have a sense of awareness, and once it had noticed that it had been found out, proceeded to suddenly hurry up the evolution process. When the researcher raised the alarm, the other Totem users on stand-by rushed over, but it was too late by then. The monsters that had been successfully evolved has grasped a strength that surpassed the base¡¯s control, and they ended up massacring twenty-five Obscuro base strongholds. A large number of the monsters fled the base, because we were unable to control them at all."


    "Does this mean that, the release of the Aberration monsters this time, was not let out intentionally as part of the idea that you announced to return the world back to its right state? Instead, this incident, from beginning to the end, was just an accident?" Garen asked in a serious tone.


    "It¡¯s exactly as you said," answered the silver-faced man feebly. "Thus, the current situation is completely out of our control by now. A lot of areas have suddenly experienced sightings of unknown powerful monsters and strange phenomena that they¡¯ve never seen before. We are unsure of the current occurrences, and all the surviving researchers are working hard in their research. In the end, they came up with a terrifying conclusion that the black copper contained an activated life force, and seemed to be rapidly changing the natural circulation system of the world. They brought up a frightening proportional formula, the Buffett formula. Every time it forged a black copper-polluted creature, it would simultaneously release enough influence to aberrate five other creatures of the same form. Once everyone had calculated the model, they came up with this growth formula, and although there was a complicated process in the middle, the conclusion was as such."


    "Even though we already knew this, we could help but constantly attempt to create a power of our own. Once the black copper¡¯s polluted corrosion became even stronger, to the point where even advanced Totem evolutions were beginning to appear, natural Aberration creatures of the same advanced level began appearing on Earth, and once we noticed this, the natural Aberration creatures had already evolved at a faster speed than our own, and we lost all control of the situation. Some of the monsters had even evolved to a stage that even we were unable to derive."


    "Then were there any appearances of monsters that did not seem abnormal but were actually unusually strong?" Garen asked again.


    "There definitely were, but these phenomena would only occur a short while after the situation was out of our control. The Obscuro researchers realised that the new natural circulation systems built by the black copper in a short span of time were difficult to differentiate in many places, and resulted in many incomprehensible natural phenomena occurring in many places, such as the music in the pumpkin farm." The silver-faced man was well-versed in professional knowledge, and the clarity of his explanations were far superior to than Reylan previously.


    "So where can this type of black copper be found?" Garen suddenly gained an interest in the source of this metal.


    "The crystal derivators have a small amount of black copper dissolved inside them, but if you¡¯re thinking of obtaining the exact type of metal from its source, you need to go to Obscuro. This type of metal is highly controlled by them, because every time a monster is forged, there is a chance that it will cause five more to be naturally aberrated. It is similar to the Poisonous Dove Flower, it only needs to happen once, before it will happen the second time, and the third, before it becomes deep-rooted inside, and inextricable. In order to counter the unimaginably powerful Royal Alliance of Luminarists, we had no other choice. The Elder Parliament of the Royal Alliance of Luminarists commanded the three departments, and was a long-time established organization that had not been changed in the last thousand years. If the deviated monsters had not pinned the Elder Parliament down, the three departments would have focused most of their concentration on the monsters, and we would not have as much time to layout our plans calmy, or even develop our own strength.


    Garen heard a new term once again.


    "What kind of organization is the Elder Parliament?" According to his previous history, he had never known about the existence of such an organization before.


    "It¡¯s the highest decision-making organization in the Royal Alliance of Luminarists, and also the strongest existing group in the Alliance as well. They were a huge shadow that shrouded over both the East Continent and the West Continent for over a thousand years, and every change that occurred never failed to be part of their behind-the-scenes plan. The three departments of the Royal Alliance of Luminarists were originally loose organizations, and if they were not combined by Elder Parliament, they would not have become an organization like the three departments, as each individual country would have wanted their own way, thus causing mutual conquests," said the silver-faced man as he glanced at Garen with a surprised look. "I assume that the time you¡¯ve spent in the three departments has been too short. The higher level ones, and the ones with more qualifications all have an opportunity to participate in the department¡¯s arbitration assembly which is held every twenty years, to ensure that the attitudes and wrongdoings of each country is dealt with in a balanced and correct manner. This is to prevent the abuse of power in the Royal Alliance of Luminarists."


    "Then why have I not come across anyone from the Elder Parliament that you spoke of earlier? Don¡¯t tell me that so many powerful individuals just disappeared without a trace like that?" asked Garen in a surprised tone. "Why hasn¡¯t there been any trace of them even after such large-scale incidents?"


    "Everything was underground. The strongest monsters were always lurking underground, and were endlessly evolving. The West Farm defense line that they created was an underground defense line that extended above ground. If that wasn¡¯t the case, do you think that the Totem users and their manpower would have been able to resist the monster¡¯s invasion? Initially, Obscuro was able to defeat even the strongest Elemental Generals. But once the monsters rushed underground into the human cities, the consequences were disastrous. If we Obscuros did not hide ourselves deep inside enough, and well-concealed enough, we would have been killed by the monsters long ago."


    Garen felt that he had grasped a better understanding of the situation now. Initially, he was uncertain because even though the Royal Alliance of Luminarists did not seem exceptionally strong, the Obscuro Society was still afraid to face them directly, and only dared to attack them secretly from underground instead. Now he knew that it was because the Elder Parliament had always been watching from afar.


    "Come with me, we¡¯ll go in and take a look." Garen pondered for awhile, before turning his head upwards and looking at the large library building in front of him.


    The silver-faced man smiled bitterly but remained silent, because he knew that this was an order and not a request. After he drank the recovery drug earlier, he was now slightly better and had managed to stand up. The white coloured Totem Light on his body had lit up once again, and was a sign that the recovery drug had an effect on the Totem Light.


    Garen lead the way and walked inside the main door of the library.


    From outside, he could see that the rows of thin, straight windows in the library were all broken, and a few broken pieces of glass remained on the window sill. Only a part of the main door was left in the doorway, while the other half had been bitten off by something unknown, exposing the rough black coloured metallic section inside.


    As he walked inside through the main door, the morning¡¯s pale gold light beams glittered in from the window on the left side and fell on the floor, causing the floating dust in the air to be seen vaguely.


    The ground was littered with broken benches, and the black marble floor was filled was cracked and filled with rubble. There were also a few large pits that were over a meter deep, and the inside resembled magma-like honeycomb that had been melted and condensed again.


    In the middle of the hall stood a large silver sphere. The sphere had a diameter of over two meters, and was propped upwards by a thick white pillar below it.


    The entire surface of the sphere was covered in multicoloured handwritten words, as if they were messages that people from the past had left behind.


    Garen evaded the deep pit carefully, and walked towards the big sphere that was in front of him.


    He stroked the various writings on the sphere gingerly and noticed that the words were written in language that he could not understand, which were probably the specialized language of this little country.


    Garen looked for a while, but could not find a message he could understand.


    After looking for a while, he gave up, and returned his hands to his sides, before suddenly realising that his own fingers were now covered in a thin layer of black dust. The dust seemed to have some corrosive properties, causing Garen¡¯s fingers to hurt slightly.


    He had released his Totem Light earlier, but apparently there were still poisonous substances that could come into contact with his skin without his permission?


    It was important to note that the Totem Light was connected to one¡¯s consciousness. When the outside world contained substances that could potentially harm one¡¯s body, it would automatically filter out the harmful substance. The same principle was used against its enemies, because once it noticed an enemy that harboured hostility towards itself, the Totem Light would produce defensive measures.


    This acted as an exterior skin-like layer that would sense whether the substances from the outside world would harm its main body. It was immediate and connected to one¡¯s consciousness, and possessed an independent judgement system.


    During the stages where the Forgers and Luminarists were first forging their Totems, it would first find a way to move the core inside. This was the foundation of building Primitive Totems. Once the Core Totems were formed, it would then enable the core component ability.


    Meanwhile, there were currently substances that were able to break through this layer of decision-type defense, and had injured Garen¡¯s skin. This was somewhat incomprehensible to Garen. Although he had not learned a lot of things from Teacher Emin, fortunately he was a legitimate Luminarist by birth, and was very clear about certain basic principles.


    He began to ponder deeply.


    Bang!!


    Suddenly, a dull noise echoed from the right.


    Garen glanced towards the side, slightly shaken suddenly.


    He could see a strong-looking black horse that was glaring at him with bloodshot eyes.


    The black horse had a mane like a male lion that it flipped around constantly. It¡¯s whole body was incomparably black, with no trace of variation. From head to toe, it seemed like he could vaguely see the bright, black gloss reflecting off it.


    The strangest part was that the bottom half of the black horse was not made up of flesh and blood, but was a large black paint covered horse carriage instead.


    The bottom half of the horse had a black carriage growing out of it directly. It had no hind legs, but in its place were two large black wheels that were attached to the carriage.


    Tch!!


    The black horse exhaled a large gust of air from its nostrils angrily towards the ground, blowing up a large pile of gravel and dust.


    The moment Garen laid eyes on the black horse carriage, he was frozen in place.


    "This is¡­ could it really be¡­??!!" His mind suddenly remembered a name that he had once seen before.


    "It¡¯s here again!!" The silver-faced man suddenly shouted behind him, and immediately hid behind Garen¡¯s back, as an unusually scared expression appeared on his face.


    "Is he very strong?" Garen asked in a serious tone.


    "Incredibly strong, and deviantly so!!" exclaimed the silver-faced man. "I absolutely cannot defeat it! It can only attack me!" Once he thought of the earlier situation, his heart began to thump inside his chest. The speed of this black horse was not exceptionally fast, but it could move in the blink of an eye, and could also any type of substantial object. Also, when it truly wanted to strike its enemies, it would produce truly high-impact damages. It will definitely very strange.


    "I never thought that something like this would still exist¡­" Garen knew that this was not a mere coincidence. "I should have thought of this earlier. To think that there would still be such a thing¡­"

 379 Cloud Crow 1

    Chapter 379: Cloud Crow 1


    Garen did not seem surprised.


    Once the City Troll had appeared, the appearance of other mythical creatures was no longer a surprise. However, the fact that the mythical creatures that once appeared in the Secret Technique world were apparently appearing in the Totem world now, was the thing that he felt was truly strange.


    He looked at the black horse carriage in front of him. Suddenly, the name of the creature floated up clearly in Garen¡¯s mind.


    "Underworld Carriage."


    He squinted both of his eyes.


    "According to the Grindor myths, this horse carriage is able to take living people into the land of the dead. It is also extremely fierce, and eats two meat meals and the souls of fifteen sinners every day."


    He began to walk circles around the Underworld Carriage slowly.


    The black horse turned around in the same direction as him, while it¡¯s large horse eyes became more and more bloodshot.


    Tch!


    Two gusts of white air shot out of its nostrils again.


    Mars!!


    A scream that sounded almost like a human¡¯s cry came out of the black horse¡¯s mouth. The loud noise shook up the surroundings and made a whooshing noise as a large amount of dust and rubble fell off the ceiling, as if it was a layer of dusty rain.


    The Underworld Carriage charged forward suddenly as both of its hooves dragged the carriage wheels furiously towards Garen. A cloud of thick yellow fog escaped from the body of the horse carriage and appeared at Garen¡¯s side suddenly, as if it was alive, and covered him wholly.


    The speed of the black horse increased rapidly until it quickly seemed like a black line that was charging towards Garen furiously.


    Garen¡¯s eyes widened. He was completely unable to react in time, and could only feel a powerful force crashing into his body at full force.


    He felt as if his arms and legs were completely bound by a strange force, causing his reflexes to become unusually slow. Meanwhile, his opponent¡¯s speed became frighteningly stron in the blink of an eye.


    Bang!!!


    The black horse carriage crashed against the front of Garen¡¯s body violently.


    The black horse and the man crashed into each other and flew outside backwards. They floated in the air for a while, before crashing into the library wall behind them with a ¡®bang¡¯.


    The wall lit up and a layer of transparent ripples appeared suddenly, blocking the man and the horse completely. It was different from a normal window, as the wall seemed to be covered with a layer of an unknown defensive force field that did not allow any attacks that would harm the main body of the library building.


    Garen and the black horse crashed into the wall together, shaking up a large pile of dust and gravel. It seemed as if they had crashed into an ashen sea, as the dust and sand resembled a splash of water that gushed out through the wall and splattered everywhere, as if it was pouring down on them like rain.


    At once, loud crashing noises began to echo throughout the library continuously.


    Mars!!


    The Underworld Carriage screamed again, before it passed through Garen completely, merging into the wall, as if it had changed from a solid object into a virtual object immediately, instantly transforming into an invisible state, before gradually disappearing.


    Garen was stuck in the middle of the deep pit in the wall with his arms and legs spread open, shaking his head, before he broke away and released himself, bringing down a pile of rubble with him.


    The sound of falling grains of sand could be heard, as well as the noise of Garen spitting out the dirt and sand from his mouth. The ground below his feet was illuminated with a glossy black gleam, before his entire body fell from midair suddenly.


    "Sure enough¡­ it¡¯s pretty strange." With a ¡®plop¡¯, Garen landed on the floor steadily. Transparent defense ripples were constantly permeating off Garen¡¯s entire body. It came from the Salamander¡¯s giant mouth that was used to resist the attack earlier.


    "But its strength was nothing special," he commented indifferently.


    At this moment, the silver-faced man was hiding behind the large silver sphere. He saw that Garen had gotten hit, but still managed to nonchalantly comment on how the black horse carriage¡¯s strength was no big deal, causing his heart to feel completely aghast.


    When he was hit earlier, he suffered serious injuries immediately. The Totem Light surrounding his body had just healed slightly, before it was completely scrapped. Meanwhile, his Core Totem suffered even worse damages, while his Silver Totems suffered heavy injuries for the second time consecutively.


    However, the force inflicted upon Garen during the hit was even stronger than what he suffered, as the black horse had only struck him once, while Garen suffered a hit that caused him to be stuck in the wall, but apparently was not making the slightest fuss about it.


    Shh!!


    The Underworld Carriage passed through the wall in front of Garen again, as if it was emerging out of water. From its unreal, translucent state, it solidified immediately, and transformed into a physical object. It seemed like it knew that the opponent in front of it was no longer easy to defeat. Thus, it began to cautiously turn circles around Garen.


    The wheels of the black horse carriage made noises as they rolled on the ground, which then melded with the crisp horse hoof trotting noises, sounding unusually clear.


    Once again, the carriage of the Underworld Carriage begin emitting a large amount of yellow fog again. The yellow fog floated less than a meter¡¯s distance away from the carriage, before appearing at Garen¡¯s side in the blink of an eye.


    It seemed to have a life force of its own when it covered the Totem Light on Garen¡¯s body completely.


    "It¡¯s here again!!" Garen knew clearly now. "This kind of smoke seems to be extracting my speed and giving it to the Underworld Carriage." He could clearly feel the changes on his body now, and noticed that his four limbs had become heavier, while his reactions had become much slower.


    Meanwhile, the movements of the black horse on the opposite side of him were now more agile, and much faster.


    "So it¡¯s like this! It extracts its opponents speed and adds it to its own body. No wonder its speed was much faster compared to how it was before. Apparently, all of this was the state of my own speed," Garen pondered seriously.


    This was extremely tricky. Garen knew his own speed clearly. At his current 6 point agility, most speed-type Totems could not even match his speed. However, his speed had been extracted by the Underworld Carriage, one increased while the other decreased, causing the speeds of both parties to undergo extreme changes suddenly.


    "According to the myths, the Underworld Carriage was smashed alive by the herculean Boerger. As Boerger had received the chaos Warhammer from the Earth Mother, he became immensely powerful, but suffered slow movements in return. This made it impossible for the Underworld Carriage to sap his speed, as he was already slow enough. It made no difference whether his speed was extracted or not," thought Garen as he remembered the story of the myth. "Its unknown whether this story is a myth or not, and the supposed Boerger is historically just a deified human being that loved to boast about his own legendary feats, and whether or not this encounter truly happened, was something that we do not know yet," thought Garen deeply as a train of thought flashed through his mind. However, he still could not think of a way to face the Underworld Carriage.


    "The dumbest method would be to wait until the moment before he charges at me, before I fight back harder." Garen became more vigilant, and stared at the Underworld Carriage in front of him. "Who knows, maybe after I¡¯ve understood this thing better, I could even ride it into the mythical underworld and look around. This is the mystical carriage that can take living beings into the underworld after all."


    Regarding the underworld in the Grindor myths, Garen had been longing for it for a long time.


    Mars!!!


    Finally, the Underworld Carriage could not take it anymore, so it bent its head downwards, and charged violently towards Garen. Its body was surrounded by yellow fog, and its speed was frighteningly fast.


    Inside the hall, the only thing that could be seen was the horse carriage charging rapidly until it just looked like a yellow line that was crashing into Garen who was still standing in the same spot. The black and yellow creature let out a fearsome crashing noise and a large cloud of yellow fog spread out towards all four corners.


    Crash!!!


    Hiss!!


    Garen sunk both of his feet deep into the ground, drawing two long black scratches on the floor, as his back crashed into the wall once again.


    The horse¡¯s head that was extremely close to him was now pressed against his arms, and he could clearly see the black mane behind the horse¡¯s head that seemed like waves that were constantly moving. Its smooth satiny skin was unusually glossy, and its strong muscular profile moved along with its large tendons.


    "Now!"


    Garen¡¯s forehead was suddenly lit up with three red dots, before a large red Eight Headed Dragon floated out behind him slowly.


    Roar!!!!


    The eight heads of the Eight Headed Dragon turned towards the sky and roared loudly in unison.


    Terrifying sound waves began to quake. After a ¡®bang¡¯, the air seemed as if it had exploded, as shrouds of white gas began to spread out in all four directions. The interior of the entire library was filled with the continuous echoes of countless humming noises.


    The large silver sphere rolled unto the floor because of the vibrations caused by the loud roars, and was almost smashed by the silver-faced man.


    Most of the engraved stone patterns on the wall also loosened, causing broken pieces to fall off.


    Initially, the silver-faced man¡¯s Totem Light had already become extremely weak, but now it had been shaken up badly, making it hard for him to draw breaths, as his chest was pressed down and in an extremely uncomfortable manner, making him want to vomit even though he could not.


    He dared not waste any more time, so he followed the corners of the wall and limped out of the library hall, before falling in front of the main doorway. Both of his eyes were seeing stars, and he was in a numb, blurry state, unable to see anything.


    The strange thing was that the moment he exited the library, the noises behind him became much softer suddenly.


    A few seconds later, and with much difficulty, the silver-faced man finally breathed a sigh of relief.


    Seeing his own humiliated state, a little while later, he began to cry, before hitting himself in the thigh angrily.


    "Did it have to be a deviant¡­."


    Feeling that his tears were about to spill out, he buried his head angrily in his sleeve.


    I¡¯m an Elemental General, and I cannot cry! I cannot cry!!


    He wiped his tears away angrily.


    "To think I would encounter such a deviant! I can¡¯t take it anymore!! Whoever truly loves him can take my place!!" He leapt up immediately and tore the badge off his chest furiously, before turning around to walk away.


    Roar!!


    Suddenly, the sound of a roar echoed from behind him.


    The silver-faced man froze at once, as he remembered his current situation, and realized that he was no longer a free man, because he had become Garen¡¯s prisoner.


    "For a civilian to be able to kill another civilian, that was the only thing that allowed me to turn from a criminal to a general!" He mumbled softly to himself, before he placed his backside on the floor of the main doorway, as his hands rummaged inside his pockets and took out a smashed grey cigarette that he struck against the floor. The cigarette lit up immediately, and he took a delicious puff.


    "Almost 23 deviants, two left in Obscuro, and three with the Royal Alliance of Luminarists." He arched his head upwards and looked at the bright sunlight in the sky. "The whole world is a deviant, and in this deviant world, normal people like me should always just remain as civilians and call it a day."


    After spewing out a string of curses, his mood seemed as if it had lightened significantly. Hence, he just sat here and waited for the outcome of the incident that was happening in the library right now.


    It was not as if he had never thought of escaping. On the contrary, he knew that no matter where he ran, his opponent would be able to find him at any moment. This infinite loop of ¡®yesterdays¡¯ was already becoming too much for him, and he was tired. After all, he was not a professional combat member.


    ****************


    Both of Garen¡¯s eyes gleamed with a dim red light, as he glared at the Underworld Carriage on the opposite side of him coldly.


    The incomparably loud dragon roars apparently had no effect on its opponent, as the Underworld Carriage had merely moved a short distance backwards, while of the surrounding sound waves had been completely blocked off by the yellow fog around its body.


    Garen detected the Eight Headed Dragon. Its eight heads were taking turns to fight, and for the Eight Headed Dragon with terrifying regenerative powers, this was no big deal at all.


    The man and the horse stood beside the large silver sphere together, as the situation seemed as if it had come to a standstill.


    Garen was also out of moves, and did not know how to face his opponent.


    His speed had been extracted, and he was a moment away from being sapped completely of it to the point where he would not be able to fight at all. The Eight Headed Dragon¡¯s attacks were also completely ineffective towards it, including using its dragon¡¯s mouth to bite it directly, as it was completely blocked off by the yellow fog.


    Meanwhile, the Underworld Carriage struck Garen relentlessly from the wall, the floor, and the ceiling. It charged towards him from various strange angles, hitting it continuously, but ineffectively.

 380 Cloud Crow 2

    Chapter 380: Cloud Crow 2


    Garen¡¯s hood did not get shaken off his head when he got hit and was sent flying, but fortunately, he did not suffer any injuries.


    Both parties were now entangled with each other, and had seemed to sense the toughness of their opponents, causing the situation to end up in stalemate.


    Time passed as the minutes and seconds ticked by.


    After an unknown duration of time, the sunlight lessened gradually, while the sky began to darken slowly.


    The Underworld Carriage finally let out a long cry as it moved backwards slowly and merged directly into a small area of shadows behind it.


    Mars!


    Its bloodshot eyes glared at Garen, as if it was remembering this bastard that rendered itself helpless for the first time.


    Quickly, its body and the carriage entered the shadows together and suddenly, it turned around and galloped even faster in the shadows, before leaping off.


    With pin-drop silence, the Underworld Carriage merged into the wall directly, and disappeared completely.


    The continuous cries of ¡®mars¡¯ could be heard softly from a distance, and it continued echoing throughout the library. However, the further it went, the softer the noises became, until they disappeared completely.


    Garen stood in his initial spot quietly, as impatient feelings began bubbling up inside him.


    He had tried all of the Secret Techniques inside the pressure box, but the speed that had been extracted from him was too great, and had almost reached 80%, resulting in him being able to keep up in regards to his reactions, but unable to keep up when it came to his body movements. However, this was not a big deal, because as long as he had the ability to predict, it was not an issue.


    The most important thing right now was that the speed of the Underworld Carriage had become too fast, almost like a flash of yellow lightning, and in the blink of an eye, it had already struck Garen¡¯s body again.


    Moreover, the Underworld Carriage was also completely immune towards Totem attacks. With Garen unable to keep up with the physical attacks while his Totem attacks were completely unusable, there was no way for him to fight!


    Garen fought until his head was filled with rage.


    Looking at the empty library hall, Garen sighed in relief and turned around to walk outside to see if the silver-faced man was still there.


    His footsteps stopped suddenly, and he stood frozen in place.


    The entire hall had suddenly undergone a strange transformation.


    The gravel on the floor began to float upwards, flying towards the ceiling, and embedding themselves into their initial places that were once cracked grooves.


    The large silver sphere that had rolled off was now moving on its own, as it floated gently back to its original position, like rewinding footage in a video, as it orbited and rolled back in the exact same manner in which it rolled down.


    A large pile of dust and sand flew everywhere and landed on the statue next to the wall, gathering there again.


    Shrouds of dust began to float again, rising up continuously without a single sound. The world seemed as if it had inverted itself, as dust and gravel began to rise up from the ground like a weird kind of rain.


    The wooden chairs and tables that were smashed to ruins earlier also began to move on their own, as they rolled back to their original positions, before a large pile of wood shavings flew back unto their surfaces, making them whole again, as clouds of dust covered them once more, becoming thicker and thicker.


    The large pits on the ground were instantly filled up again, as the cracks disappeared and were covered by the initial black marble, before a thick layer of dust covered the surface.


    The entire library seemed as if it was undergoing a silent time reversal, as all of the damaged areas quickly returned to their initial states.


    Finally, everything returned to order.


    The library was finally restored to the firs moment when Garen stepped inside. There were no traces of the Underworld Carriage¡¯s movements.


    A confused expression appeared on his face as his eyes scanned across the library hall. At this moment, his mind was at a complete loss.


    "What¡¯s going on here?"


    Garen walked towards the area where he had first been hit, and stood below a large pit in the wall, looking upwards at the place where the large pit had been formed earlier.


    It was perfect without any damage, and he could even see a little spider web in the corner of the wall, with a translucent spider shell on the surface.


    It was not in a high position, so Garen reached his finger outwards and pressed it against the wall.


    It was straight and smooth, and the surface was covered with a layer of white dust, while the black dust from earlier was now gone.


    Unconvinced, he pressed down harder this time.


    Ka-chak!


    Multiple depressions appeared on the wall suddenly. Moments later, they were quickly restored to their initial states. Garen pulled his fingers back and looked at his surroundings, as a thoughtful look appeared on his face.


    He turned around and walked out of the main door. Once he had exited the main door, he looked at the silver-faced man who was sitting on the stairs at the doorstep. This guy had apparently fallen asleep, and it seemed as if he had relaxed for a moment, and allowed everything to go downhill from there, to just do what he was supposed to do. He was even snoring.


    The black clothes on the man¡¯s body were dirty and full of dust, while some parts of it were even torn.


    On the floor beside him, a black badge was discarded there. A peculiar image had been engraved on the badge. It was a silver sun that was releasing countless light rays, and in the middle of the sun was an eye with a black pupil.


    Garen kept the badge.


    He walked over to kick the silver-faced man.


    "Wake up. Hey!"


    The silver-faced man toppled over, and woke up instantly. He stood up abruptly.


    "It¡¯s done?!" He turned around and looked at Garen frantically.


    "What do you mean ¡®it¡¯s done¡¯?" Garen was speechless. "We¡¯ll need your strength now. Take me to the Obscuro bases, all of the bases that you know."


    He wanted to make a move now. His agility was slightly short of perfection, and his Secret Techniques needed to be increased.


    "Bases¡­ I know where the other two fugitives must be headed towards!" answered the silver-faced man immediately. His reaction was completely abrupt, without any hesitation.


    Garen glanced at him unconsciously again.


    "Remove your mask then."


    The silver-faced man smiled bitterly, and removed the mask from his face.


    He exposed his unpleasant, middle-aged face. It was a regular, unassuming face with a black beard that contained a few strands of white hair. His eyes were sunken, and he looked severely sleep-deprived.


    "What¡¯s your name?" Garen asked immediately.


    "Windling. My name is Windling," answered the middle-aged man honestly.


    "Windling?!" Garen nearly vomited when he heard that. Looking at that unpleasant face, Garen could not help but think where he should vomit. His name and face did not suit one another at all.


    "Alright, Windling," said Garen as he begrudgingly accepted the contrast. "The precious heirlooms that you stole from me during the siege yesterday, bright them all out now."


    Windling took an item out honestly, it was an exquisite black pocket watch, and passed it to Garen.


    Garen took it and turned it over in his hand.


    The pocket watch was extremely small, and only half the size of a regular pocket watch. There were neither numbers nor words on its face, not even a scale. Instead, there was only a needle that was constantly moving around in a circle.


    "What is this?"


    "It¡¯s the Clouded Crow front," Windling explained. "We call it the Cloud Crow front. It can catalyze more than ten thousand Spiritualized Black Crow Totems to form a cylindrical front to isolate and detain one¡¯s enemies. The cost of its imprisonment ability is extremely great, and after you smashed it to pieces yesterday, a part of this precious heirloom¡¯s structure was also destroyed. All that is left right now is its catalyzed black crow abilities."


    "What level does this precious heirloom belong to?"


    "It¡¯s a replica of a level two precious heirloom," Windling explained. "You know it as the ultimate precious heirloom replica. Inside Obscuro, we separate our precious heirlooms into categories such as regular, ultimate, and original. We categorize them into levels one to three, to simplify the process of organizing them based on their power, such as the original precious heirloom being equivalent to a level three precious heirloom. The Cloud Crow front is used an Obscuro imitation of a defense front, and is considered as a level two precious heirloom. There are many level two precious heirlooms, and almost every powerful leader possesses one. This was also the reward that we received after our first contribution in Obscuro."


    Garen¡¯s eyes flashed.


    "So you¡¯re saying, that the Obscuro Society also has a level three original precious heirloom?"


    "Yes, this is a precious heirloom that can be reused, and it¡¯s most powerful strength is equivalent to a form four Totem," said Windling as he stared at the pocket watch somewhat painfully. "Now, it belongs to you."


    Garen smiled and flipped the pocket watch over to look at the line of silver words that had been engraved in its black-coloured back.


    ¡®If giving up means being wide awake, then I will always choose to persist.¡¯ It was written in Ender words.


    "That line of words was engraved by the creator. He was my best friend, and also a top-level forger and researcher in Obscuro, but he has been dead for many years already." Windling had quietened down.


    "How do I use this?" Garen flipped the pocket watch over in his hand.


    "Imagine the Totem power flowing inside it, and every time you use it you will need a purple crystal. Just a reminder, the Totem power needed for this is extremely great, but of course, you can use your Totem Light to make up for it. The natures of both these things do not differ that much," reminded Windling quickly.


    "Oh?"


    Garen held the pocket watch in his hand, and tried to make his Totem power and Totem Light flow inside.


    "The power of this precious heirloom is determined by how much Totem power and Totem Light you pour inside. The upper limit is form four. The range can be extremely broad," explained Windling as he moved backwards further away. This made it easier for Garen to experiment with the precious heirloom.


    "The Cloud Crows that you forged will only have the mindset to attack, and will not be able to do anything else. Thus, you need to be careful when using this."


    His voice trailed off.


    Garen¡¯s surroundings began to be filled with black mist instantly.


    Large clouds of black mist began to diffuse from his surroundings, and the source of the mist apparently came from the pocket watch in his hand.


    The mist circled above Garen¡¯s head and finally froze there, before quickly transforming into little black crows. Some of them perched on Garen¡¯s shoulders while other flew above his head. A few others searched around their surroundings with their little eyes for targets that they could attack.


    The clouds of black mist continued to freeze, and the number of Cloud Crows increased rapidly and gradually, the entire main doorway of the library was completely covered in black mist.


    Windling¡¯s mouth gaped open for a while, but no words came out.


    This momentum was similar to the momentum that they had created yesterday. The large cloud of black mist began to flow throughout the air in the library, resembling a long black river that came together and then separated.


    Cawing noises filled their ears. It seemed as if the abandoned city had suddenly become lively again.


    "How much Totem light does he really have¡­" murmured Windling, with an unreadable expression on his face.


    Moments later, after the scene remained for half a minute, the Cloud Crows turned into black mist again, and flowed back into the pocket watch in Garen¡¯s hand.


    The black mist disappeared, and out came Garen¡¯s calm face.


    "This thing is not bad, its power is excellent, and its cost is not too high." Garen was extremely pleased with this precious heirloom.


    The Eight Headed Dragon was his strongest Totem, as the remaining Totems could not be compared to it at all, because they were far too weak, and he planned to give up his control of them after a certain period of time, so that he could exchange them for other resources, to avoid wasting them.


    The Eight Headed Dragon was too strong, if he took it out without thinking, it would not be long before others realized that his Totem was unlike everyone else¡¯s. But once he obtained the Cloud Crow front, it made up for the shortcomings that he faced on a daily basis in this aspect.


    Once he Spiritualized it to its final form four powers to adhere it completely to his daily needs, the stronger Eight Headed Dragon would not need to always show its face anymore. The current Eight Headed Dragon would always be in an imaginary form when it was released, as if its entire body had been Elementalized already. During a short span of time, he could pretend that it was merely in a spiritualized possessed form. However, after a long time, even a Totem user would know that this was abnormal.

 381 Purge 1

    Chapter 381: Purge 1


    In a forest on the border of Ender and Kovitan.


    The afternoon sky was a shade of dark yellow near the top but gloomy and black in the middle. It was overcast and filled with large black clouds that rolled past.


    The wind blew past, sometimes in strong gusts and other times weaker, making whooshing noises as it shook the trees.


    Inside the forest, lots of boxy, square Chinese gardens stood upright in the middle. The gardens were only ten meters long and wide, quaint and quiet, and completely empty on the inside.


    The interior of the gardens were filled with rows of black headstones, and in the middle stood a black minaret that was shaped like a sharp pencil lead.


    The minaret was dark and gloomy, and was full of embossed portraits on its surface, while its surroundings were blocked off by protective metal fences.


    On the right side below the tower, on the fresh green grass, Garen and Windling were standing beside the tower, and looking up at the minaret.


    Both of them were dressed from head to toe in black clothes, but the clothes on Garen¡¯s body was obviously much cleaner and tidier. Meanwhile, Windling¡¯s clothes were torn and ruined, and somewhat embarrassing.


    Garen walked inside through one of the broken fences, and reached his hand out to touch the surface of the minaret gently.


    It was cool, and felt wooden to the touch. Hard shells were also stuck on the top, but big chunks of it fell off the moment they were touched, exposing a fat yellow caterpillar underneath.


    "It looks old and worn. Are you sure this is the place?" Garen turned around and looked at Windling.


    "I¡¯m sure!" Windling shook his head vigorously. "This is one of the bases that I know. They don¡¯t know that I¡¯ve been captured by you, so they should not have shifted yet."


    "It¡¯s right below this tower?" Garen asked again.


    "Indeed, it¡¯s here!"


    Garen squinted both of his eyes slightly.


    "Step back."


    Slight chills ran down Windling¡¯s spine, as he backed off quickly and ran further away.


    He walked not more than ten meters away, before he looked at the spot where Garen was standing, and noticed that a large cloud of black fog had started to diffuse there.


    The black fog turned into Cloud Crows that circled around and rushed upwards, before releasing countless ear piercing cawing noises.


    More than a hundred Cloud Crows gathered together, and charged downwards in a smashing movement. They seemed just like a black hammer.


    Bang!!!


    A heavy crashing noise could be heard, as the floor near the right side of the minaret instantly sunk in completely. Throughout the ten meter range, everything was smashed many meters deeper. A deep pit that had a radius of over ten meters suddenly appeared beside the minaret.


    "Go!!"


    A sharp voice that was unidentifiable as male or female rang out suddenly, as four human figures rushed out of the soil on the ground, like arrows that were flying in all four directions.


    Garen groaned, and the hundred over Cloud Crows turned into a black stream that rushed towards the four people and wrapped around them. On the ground where he stood in the center, they now resembled a large "yuan" coin.


    The Cloud Crows possessed a terrifying speed, which caused an afterimage, and moments later, they had managed to force the four figures backwards.


    These four figures were all clad in black robes, and their leader had a physique that was unidentifiable as male or female, but was obviously skinny and weak.


    "Who are you!?" After feeling the strong force field waves around them, the black robed person that was heading this group questioned Garen in a shrill voice, and glared at him angrily. "Do you know where this place is? This is the main Obscuro Society branch! How dare you attack this branch!? Do you not want your life!?"


    "I was looking for your Obscuro Society!" Garen sneered, waving his right hand.


    Strange cawing noises sounded through the air, as a large flock of Cloud Crows rushed towards them like a torrent, before submerging the four people completely.


    There were only four people. One of them was a form three lower ranking general, while two others were merely Field-level, and were too weak.


    The four of them had just released their totems, a black giant elephant and two dark yellow giant birds. They may have had other totems that were not released yet, but everything was completely submerged by the torrent of Cloud Crows. Even their cries of pain could not be heard.


    The Cloud Crow torrent washed over after ten whole seconds. Then, it exposed the condition of the four people once again.


    The four black-robed people had completely turned into four skeletons, as all of their flesh seemed as if it had rotted off cleanly, and all that remained were clean white bones.


    A crisp whooshing noise sounded, as the four skeletons collapsed on the floor at the same time.


    Their totems had also been instantly submerged by the Cloud Crow torrent, and the large elephant¡¯s trumpet noises could not be heard anymore, as it had instantly turned into a large elephant skeleton, that quickly collapsed as well.


    Garen raised the pocket watch in his hand and returned all of the Black Cloud Crows into the pocket watch, before glancing at the humans and totems on the ground.


    He then glanced at his own Attribute Pane and noticed that his Potential Points were increasing, causing a satisfied expression to appear on his face immediately.


    "Let¡¯s go to the next base."


    He lead the way into the outskirts of the woods.


    A forced smile appeared on Windling¡¯s face as he rushed to keep up, before both of their shadows disappeared quickly into the nearby forest.


    *****************


    Inside the light yellow arboreal forest


    Clouds of black fog that looked like a snake wound through the forests, constantly searching for something. They would transform into crows occasionally, before turning back into black fog once again. It loomed in the background.


    A little red bird with a lump on its head had just flew down and perched on a tree branch, before it was jolted by the passing black fog. The feathers of the red bird fell off quickly and turned into black dust, exposing the red muscles and skin underneath. Immediately, its skin shriveled up instantly as well, and less than a few seconds later, all that remained was the skeleton of a small bird, that made a cracking noise as it fell off the tree branch.


    Windling stood below it, while a forced smile appeared on his face.


    Boom!!


    Near the front not far away, a loud quaking noise could be heard as a large number of trees were cut down, and fell down one by one with a crashing noise. The leaves made scratching noises as they brushed past one another.


    A ray of white light was reflected outwards, and formed a silver light wheel when it gathered in the midst of the forest. The light wheel shrunk suddenly, and began to disappear.


    Tch!!


    Down below, a sharp black thorn dashed towards the sky and crashed towards the silver light wheel violently. Instantly, the same thing happened the second time, and the third, and the fourth¡­


    Lots of sharp black thorns burst out suddenly, and pierced the silver light wheel in midair precisely.


    Finally, the light wheel began to vibrate.


    "Windling! You better wish you were dead!!!" The voice of an angry old woman echoed in the air.


    During the silence, the light wheel finally disappeared, and turned into multiple dots of silver light that fell down slowly. They resembled drops of rain.


    The sharp thorns that appeared suddenly also softened into twists instantly, and turned into clouds of black fog, before flying downwards towards the forest again.


    Moments later, the sound of calm footsteps could be heard as Garen walked out of the thicket with the Cloud Crow front pocket watch held gently in his hand.


    "You know each other?" He looked at Windling who was waiting at the side.


    The latter nodded his head.


    "Should we continue?"


    "We haven¡¯t captured the two people that escaped earlier," Garen said faintly. "Do you have any suggestions?"


    "No clue. They are of the same level as I, but only joined after they received my invitation," said Windling as he removed his watch, signalling that he was powerless. "You wasted too much time in the library, and they must have ran far away long ago."


    "The next one then," Garen nodded as he continued walking out of the forest.


    "We can only look for the bases that are nearby now. The rest would definitely have received the news and evacuated by now, so we can only rush over before they leave to stop them," reminded Windling.


    "Lead the way."


    ****************


    During the next three days, Garen allowed Windling to lead the way, as they raided seven bases quickly.


    They were all the Obscuro Society¡¯s secret bases, and out of the twenty over Obscuro Society members that were killed, four of them were elite General-level members.


    They crossed over into the Ender Kingdom¡¯s territory, and hurriedly passed through the wilderness and forest areas.


    But after that, the nearby bases began to retreat, in order to evade their hunting territory. It was obvious that the Obscuro Society had finally retaliated, and had determined their approximate location.


    After countless unfruitful raids, Garen allowed Windling to lead the way, as they crossed into a forest and entered the town area in the hinterlands of Ender. They began to notice the bases in these human town areas.


    ***************


    Nearby a town in Ender, inside a small birch forest.


    The white tree barks stood upright, while the floor was covered in grassy lawns dotted with little white flowers and a few white butterflies that flew around them.


    "Anselm, has the target arrived?"


    Three people in black robes stood inside the forest, as they quietly observed the little village road that snaked through the forest.


    "Not yet," said a woman¡¯s voice that came from the black-robed person that was standing right in front. She removed her hood and exposed an average-looking, slightly plump face. "Why must we absolutely execute Avic? Isn¡¯t there another method?"


    "What other methods are you thinking of?" The man who had just spoken began to tease her slightly. "Avic obstructed the movements of our branch, so his fate has already been decided. And we should count ourselves lucky, as we stand on the side of the adjudicators that will decide his fate."


    "Don¡¯t harbour innocents thoughts like these anymore, Anselm," said the last man indifferently. His voice was hoarse, making it impossible to guess his age.


    Anselm had frankly never thought of joining this Obscuro Society branch, but she had no choice, as her husband chose to join, and in order to ensure that her household was harmonious, she chose to join as well.


    But not long later, her husband died in a monster raid. Hence, she was left all alone by herself.


    The higher-ups allocated her into this little group.


    She did not like the two other people in her group. One of them was a cruel deviant, while the other was a selfish person with a revengeful heart. However, she was left with no other path, and once she entered the Obscuro Society, she did many bad things, and could only hesitantly continue on and move forward.


    Now, just because of a minor issue, she was about to assassinate an old friend that had been by her side for a long time.


    Anselm felt that she had started to hate this type of life even more.


    "I¡¯ve heard that a bastard that specializes in attacking bases appeared at the border territories. The higher-ups have increased their surveillances, and created special groups codenamed "Hunt Cloud Crow". One of the General-levels from our branch has also been selected to go over. Did you guys know about this?"


    The black-robed man with the hoarse voice started to speak softly and slowly.


    "Most of our bases in the border areas have evacuated, I was wondering why the manpower in the branch became sufficient suddenly, when I realised it was due to the disappearance of so many bases." Surprised, another man said: "With the current situation, are there still people alive who are able to oppose the Headquarters?"


    "That¡¯s right, that man person is amazing! I heard that this was caused by him getting raided by the higher ups, which made him furious. Back then, he captured one of the elite members from the Headquarters and began to attack bases everywhere in revenge." The man with the hoarse voice croaked in agreement. "The Headquarters established the hunting group, but were too afraid to make a move, and right now they¡¯re just withdrawing again and again."


    "Wasn¡¯t that like the Blood Tower and the Royal Family? Something like the Green Dragon Swordsman? When they raided Blood Tower, I heard that it ended in failure as well," praised another man.


    "According to the information I received from my cousin, southward of Mason Town, after the Maple Leaf bridge is where the Cloud Crow¡¯s hunting territory lies. If you have nothing to do, don¡¯t go there. If not, the outcome will be hard to anticipate."


    The two men chatted noisily for half a day, before the soft noise of horse hooves could be heard coming from the little road suddenly."


    The three people became silent suddenly, and hid themselves in the forest.


    Before the horses appeared on the little road, a low rumble echoed from behind them suddenly.


    Bang!!!


    The earth felt as if it was being hammered down by a metal hammer, as it continued to quake violently, as if it was about to jump upwards.

 382 Purge 2

    Chapter 382: Purge 2


    Roar!!!!


    A sharp, ear-piercing siren exploded through the sky, as a white pillar of light materialised behind.


    "It¡¯s the warning signal from the branch!!" The three Obscuro Society members were alerted at the same time.


    "The branch has been raided!" Anselm reacted immediately. "What do we do now?"


    "Don¡¯t panic¡­" The man with the hoarse voice was thinking of what to say.


    Suddenly, ear-piercing cawing noises echoed from behind them, as a large flock of crows gathered there in an exceptionally noisy manner.


    The man suddenly remembered the warning he received from his cousin. He also remembered the characteristics of the Cloud Crows that the Headquarters had reported.


    "F*ck! This area is close to the Ender Headquarters base!! Are the people in the Headquarters just eating shit? How did the Cloud Crows get here suddenly??!!" He scolded them in a foul mood.


    "Fall back!" He growled softly. He was the first person to turn around and run away.


    The other two people followed closely behind.


    While they ran, a strange glow began to glimmer in Anselm¡¯s eyes dimly, but no one noticed it.


    The three people¡¯s informational records were all kept at the branch, and if they did not return them after the warning signal, they would be persecuted by the Headquarters. Thus, although they were helpless, the three of them decided to go back and take a look.


    On the way, the trio removed their black robes quickly and exposed the normal clothes they wore within, storing all of their specialized Obscuro Society accesories at the same time. They plastered fake surprised expressions on their faces as they rushed towards the source of the noise.


    ****************


    In the middle of a thick birch forest, there was a large platform that resembled a gigantic black biscuit, where around thirty figures in black robes stood sparsely.


    On top of the black platform, a light gold air current was suspended in mid air, spiralling downwards like a ribbon as it circled around the black circular area. The air current turned circles in the air, as if it was dancing.


    Golden rays of sunshine beamed downwards, and the ribbon became an even more beautiful and eye catching sight.


    However, no one was appreciating this sight before them right now, as the gazes of all of the black robed people were directed past the ribbon in the sky.


    There was a little cloud of black fog floating there, and on top of the cloud stood a tall man who was clad in full-bodied black armor. The man¡¯s long blonde hair was blown around his handsome face, and he had three red birthmarks on his forehead.


    "Cloud Crow Garen! Do you really wish to start a war with the Obscuro Society?" From the crowd shielded beneath the golden air current, an old man stood up slowly. He was not wearing a hood, and his face was covered in wrinkles like the bark of an old tree. He held a white wooden walking stick that was taller than him in his hand.


    "Before you made the decision to ambush me, you should¡¯ve thought of the consequences of your actions." Garen stared at the light gold air current in the air with interest, as this ribbon-like translucent air current had a slight threatening presence.


    He had only recently discovered the precise controls for the Cloud Crows, and now he had complete control over using them to allow himself to float in mid air. When he used them with the Black Light Array tools that the Royal Family had given him, he could move around freely in the air.


    Once he had discovered this method, he¡¯d used it immediately. However, this method required strong and precise control abilities. They were powerful to the extent that Windling gaped at him as if he¡¯d just seen a deviant monster.


    But Garen fully understood the convenience of this method. Thus, he became more interested in allowing his power to flow within so that he could experiment with the methods of using the Cloud Crow front.


    Regarding this, Windling was completely speechless. He watched Garen control every one of thousands of Cloud Crows in an extremely orderly manner, and noticed that they bent to his will completely. This was not an ability that an ordinary human could acquire.


    Light was a consumable energy, and in the blink of an eye, it was enough to make a regular Totem user exhausted to the point of collapsion.


    Once he had come to his senses, Garen carefully observed the Obscuro Society members that had appeared below him. During this mission where they travelled deep into the the hinterlands of Ender, through Windling¡¯s directions, they had finally found a large-scale base.


    It was within their expectations as there were almost thirty Obscuro Society members, but none of them had planned to release their Totems to fight yet. This way, their strength was not gathered in one area, and it was easier for them to separate themselves to attack.


    They used the Totem Light from their bodies and the Totem Light from their Totems to saturate both areas.


    The formation was still suspended in mid air, as the golden air current continued to circle around the black circular base. It was unusually beautiful, as it loomed in the air.


    The other important thing stood on the ground of the black circle; a large white stone statue.


    Only the top half of the stone statue could be seen above ground, as the bottom half of its body had been buried by the black soil.


    The sculpture appeared to be of a monster with a dog¡¯s head and a human body. There was even a crooked horn growing out of the top of the dog¡¯s head, while a goat-like beard grew below its chin. Its body was strong and muscular, and a toga was wrapped around its chest, covering the left side. One corner of the toga was fastened to his left shoulder with a round, gold button. It gave onlookers a rough, ancient and mysterious feeling.


    "Not done yet?" Garen looked at the stone statue that was vibrating quickly now.


    "Arrogant!" exclaimed the old man coldly. "You will pay a price for your arrogant ignorance!"


    He struck his walking stick against the ground angrily at once.


    "Rise!"


    The dog-headed statue on the ground opened its eyes immediately.


    Its eyes were jet-black with no white sclera, and were merely two empty jet-black holes.


    A crashing noise could be heard, as the black soil on the ground flipped over suddenly.


    The large dog-headed statue began to remove itself from the ground slowly. It braced both of its palms against the ground, as it lifted out of the ground slowly.


    The crowd of black robed people moved out of the way quickly to give it space.


    The dog-headed human statue finally stood on the ground in one piece.


    It was apparently over a hundred meters tall!!


    Its large body was perfectly muscular, and its body was covered in a white stone toga. Both of its black eyes glared towards Garen who was still suspended in mid air.


    A moment passed.


    The dog-headed man stretched his big mouth open immediately, and rushed towards Garen, while howling silently.


    One of its large hands came swinging towards Garen, as if it was an adult swatting a fly or a mosquito. Its broad palm cast a dark shadow over Garen¡¯s entire body.


    It stretched over the defensive range of the gold air currents, and seized Garen directly.


    Garen narrowed both of his eyes, as the black pocket watch in his hand began to release large clouds of black fog.


    The large amounts of black fog continuously transformed into Cloud Crows, as the flock of black crows rushed in all four directions and spread out everywhere.


    From far away, the large torrent of black crows flew out from Garen¡¯s position continuously looked like a black stream flowing from him.


    An entire kilometer-long range within the sky was now covered in flocks of black crows. They attacked every living thing within their range, causing the once golden sky to darken as it was covered up completely. They looked like black clouds that floated along continuously.


    A gust of black fog transformed into a large black crow that was over ten meters long, which then rushed over in the direction of the dog-headed man¡¯s hand.


    The large black crow had an incomparably sharp beak, and when it outstretched its wings, it was shaped like a shuttle. It pierced through the air violently, as it jetted towards the giant stone statue of the dog-headed man.


    Tch!!


    A sharp, ear-piercing screech rang through the air.


    The large black crow and the large hand of the dog-headed man statue began clashing with each other violently.


    Boom!!!


    Both of them were of similar sizes, and between the large white hand and the black coloured Cloud Crows, an explosion of black fog and white gravel erupted. It formed a midair sphere and unleashed white circular shockwaves.


    The dog-headed man¡¯s statue began to move slightly before it continued to claw at Garen.


    "Is this the strongest formation this branch has to offer? It¡¯s very impressive!" Garen chortled. Black light lit up below his feet suddenly.


    A cracking sound was heard before his figure moved backwards quickly and turned into a black line as he left the range of the dog-headed statue¡¯s hand instantly, and floated back up into the sky again.


    Bang!


    The gigantic hand smashed down on the forest, crushing a cluster of birch trees and leaving a deep hand print on the ground as well.


    The dog-headed man¡¯s statue used its other hand to swing across the area silently in a fan-like motion towards Garen.


    This time, its large hand brought a dim layer of black light with it.


    The old man holding a walking stick in the middle of the area sneered.


    "If the ancestral god statue was such an easy opponent, why would we waste so much energy on it?"


    "Master, if this drags on for too long, I¡¯m afraid that the people in the Royal Alliance of Luminarists will¡­" Beside him, a girl in a black robe reminded him softly.


    "It doesn¡¯t matter, once we get rid of the Cloud Crows, we¡¯ll have a way to fix that. The governing lord of this area is one of us, and in order to resist terrorists, awakening the ancestral god statue was the logical thing to do. When the time comes, we¡¯ll just have to change our clothes and everything will be settled right?" The old man replied distractedly.


    "But if we do that, our plan will¡­"


    "What plans are you thinking about now?! He¡¯s arrived to kill us!" The old man glared at her with both eyes. He was not interested in paying any attention to this woman.


    Midair, the large white hand with its black aura began swiping towards Garen furiously, forming gusts of strong wind. This strong wind surrounded Garen on all four sides, trapping and immobilising him in one spot.


    "Hnngh!" Garen¡¯s face became cold. Unable to shield himself with anything else, he used his hand with the pocket watch to push forward.


    Hiss¡­


    At the same time, clouds of black fog surrounded the area where Garen stood and formed a large black torrent, as the strange cawing noises of the Cloud Crows filled the air, as if the non stop humming noises had been enveloped, causing the whole sky to become noisy and chaotic.


    The black torrent transformed into a black spike suddenly, as it charged towards the large hand violently.


    Hum!!!


    An incomparably violent fight broke out suddenly.


    The sound waves spread everywhere quickly, but the noises could not be heard by anyone. They could only feel pain in both of their ears, as their vision started to blur because of the violent soundquakes.


    Large clouds of black smoke spread out in all four corners of the sky, and continued to flow out endlessly from the large hand of the giant stone statue.


    The Cloud Crows and the giant statue were caught in a fierce standstill.


    Garen continued to float in midair and stood behind the black coloured Cloud Crows as he watched the black smoke diffuse out from his body and spread everywhere. His face was devoid of even the slightest movement.


    The dog-headed man¡¯s statue was truly powerful. It possessed immense strength but it was obvious that its sources were insufficient, as he could feel that this stone statue was not really using all of its true strength right now.


    But he was different. Although he had already used the Cloud Crow front to its limit, his Secret Technique training allowed him to have a strong body, and once he had given himself a dragon¡¯s heart, his vigour now surpassed that of an average person greatly, allowing him to reach a terrifying stage.


    Moreover, his Master-level Precision Blueprint made it extremely easy for him to control the Cloud Crow front. He was able to release all of its strength completely.


    Most of the black fog dispersed in mid air, and transformed into chirping black crows again as they flew towards the statue¡¯s large hand, as its energy sources circulated continuously while it confronted the large stone statue.


    Garen did not go back to observe the standstill between the giant statue and the Cloud Crow front. Instead, he bowed his head and stared at the crowd of Obscuro Society members that were protected by the golden air currents.


    According to Garen who had now possessed a dragon¡¯s heart, the consumption of the Cloud Crow front only used one third of his Totem Light. Next, he was going to get rid of the golden air currents that were blocking his path.


    "He still has strength left??!!"


    The people inside the black circle began to make soft, frightened noises.


    Garen smiled slightly, as the three red dots on his forehead began to be illuminated with red light.


    He raised his hand slowly, as eight shapeless swirls that were a meter long began to float up beside him slowly.


    "Go!!!"


    Both his eyes lit up suddenly.


    Roar!!!!


    As the roars of the dragon reverberated through the air, eight snake-like red dragon heads snapped downwards from the sky suddenly. They came down from different angles and directions and bit at the crowds of Obscuro Society members. They glided down in a straight line like a waterfall.


    While Garen watched from afar at the center, the eight red long dragon necks hurtled downwards from the sky, and attacked the black circle below it violently.

 383 Intelligence 1

    Chapter 383: Intelligence 1


    Eight long, ferocious dragon heads appeared from the sky like red strands, lunging fiercely towards the Obscuro Society¡¯s men below.


    Ssss¡­...


    After a subtle hiss, the golden air flows condensed into eight gold dots in mid-air, blocking the dragon heads head-on.


    The red and gold collided.


    Howwwlllll!!


    The eight dragon heads let out loud howls in the air. The surrounding forest appeared as though it was swept by a hurricane. The sound waves blew the leaves off trees and created a huge ripple that spread through the surroundings.


    Awww!!!


    As the main head of the eight headed dragon roared to the sky, two of its strong limbs apparated ominously from thin air and took form.


    With two bangs, its two giant limbs landed on the ground.


    The eight headed dragon seemed to crawl out from thin air. The back part of its body was slowly forming. It¡¯s over twenty-metre long frightening body chilled the souls of every bystander.


    This terrifying creature seemed to have crawled out from a legend, but this time there was no hero to defeat it.


    Garen¡¯s three red dot-birthmark on his brow glowed dark red, as if blood was about to burst out.


    He quietly floated in mid-air as the giant eight headed dragon was ferociously attacking the golden air flows.


    Crash!!!


    Suddenly there was a loud, clear noise.


    A crack was appearing on one of the golden dots, which was made up of condensed air flow. Subsequently, the crack quickly grew and enlarged and overwhelmed the whole gold dot.


    There as a crash.


    One of the gold dots shattered.


    Then the second one and the third one.


    The long, ferocious heads lunged forward and headed directly to the Obscuro Society¡¯s men below.


    The group in the black circle instantly panicked and ran. Several red lights flashed, which seemed like a unique escape tactic.


    This tactic only increased their speed for a brief period of time. Before they could react in time, the nimbler eight headed dragon had caught up, and lunged at them.


    Pitiful cries and screams filled the area. The black-robed men instantly scattered and fled in all directions.


    A few of the black-robed men were protecting the old man as they fled towards the northwest direction. They were far quicker than the rest of the group. They seemed to be forming a black-red round tactic formation, which drastically increased their speed.


    The old man in the circular formation glanced at Garen. He looked abnormally calm, without any sense of panic. From his eyes, it seemed that he was in deep thought, thinking about something.


    Garen looked into the old man¡¯s eyes from a distance and was surprised by his lack of fear. From afar, he saw the old man open his lips, as if he was mouthing words.


    "We...will meet again.."


    Garen let out an intrigued smile.


    "Interesting."


    As there were many Obscuro Society members and the giant Dog Humanoid Statue present, it wouldn¡¯t be wise for him to give chase.


    The eight headed dragon went on a rampage against the Obscuro Society members on the ground. It seemed as though every bite created another casualty. Some of them released their totems to defend, but they were snapped into two without putting up a fight.


    It was complete annihilation.


    As some of them tried to escape, the eight headed dragon once again roared towards the sky.


    Roarr!!!!


    The fury of the sound waves spread out in the widest range. It was like a wave of white waves, spreading out a huge white ring.


    **********


    In the distant forest, Anselm and the group of three hurried towards the division.


    As they continued to run, there was a dim black light beneath their feet. They were moving with astonishing feet.


    "We have to move faster! Once the golden defence circle is activated, there would be no way for us to return!" A man with a hoarse voice urgently called.


    "We can also stay out here. The crows will certainly be pushed back. We might not be in time even if we return now." Another man muttered.


    "Not necessarily. This could be our chance to earn merit!"


    As Anselm stared at the two people in front, the idea in his heart grew stronger.


    The three of them quiet down and continued hurrying.


    Howwwll!!!


    Suddenly, a ferocious howl came from the front.


    Booom!


    The tree leaves were crushed, and from the sound waves came a powerful hurricane, blowing some of the trees askew.


    A white sound wave collided with the three men.


    Ommm¡­...


    Anselm couldn¡¯t hear anything in that instant. His brain and ears were filled with humming noises due to the sound waves crossing the limit. His brain was in a mess, and his eyes were disoriented. Everything turned blurry and tears were dripped down the corners of the eyes.


    The three of them were like tiny worms in a storm. They were heavily suppressed by the huge sound waves, as if a huge rock was on each of their bodies.


    The three men were completely deafened. Their vision blurred and all they could do was cling to the trees tightly.


    The strong wind and sound waves came from the front, messing up their clothes. It was as if they would be carried away by the huge sound waves with a lapse in concentration.


    Large rocks and weaker tree trunks were lifted by the huge sound waves and blew backwards. Huge amounts of grass, barks and mutated bugs, and even a small group of white deers were swept up by the wind. They were blown backwards and on and off, they would knock against big trees, letting out eerie sounds of the breaking of bones.


    The three of them bowed their bodies and proceeded with much difficulty, withstanding the sound waves and wind.


    "What.. What is this!!??"


    The hoarse-voiced man shouted with all his might.


    As the trees in front fell to the ground, the situation in the distant could roughly be seen.


    Anselm forced his head upwards to look forward.


    Finally, the sound waves came to a halt, and everything calmed down.


    The whole woods were in a mess.


    The three of them gathered together with their remaining strength.


    "What in the world was that just now!? Was that the howl of a monster?"


    "I don¡¯t know.. Could it be the division¡¯s special weapon?"


    As Anselm was about to speak, his expression changed.


    "Its coming again! Duck!!"


    He couldn¡¯t even finish his sentence.


    Howwwll!!!


    Another huge white sound wave headed towards them. The three of them crouched on the ground to prevent being injured by the huge sound wave.


    A strong wind came with the frightening sound wave. It ignored totem light and collided with their bodies.


    This time it was much shorter. Within a few seconds, everything resumed calmness.


    The three men did not dare to proceed further. They stood still and entered into a state of hesitation instantly.


    "We are not far from the division. We have to find a high place to see what is going on." Anselm suggested.


    "True. We can¡¯t go any further." The hoarse-voiced man agreed immediately.


    The three of them retreated and quickly found a black hill and swiftly climbed up. They stood on top of the hill and looked in the direction of the division.


    "My God! What is that!!??"


    As Anselm move forward to look into the distance, his expression changed.


    Both of them also stood up and looked at the sky above the division. They couldn¡¯t utter a single word, and could only gape at the sight before them.


    "Division¡­.What happened?" After a while, the hoarse-voiced man whispered bitterly.


    The three of them glanced into the distant sky. They sky above the division was utterly dyed black. The big black cloud hovering over was made up of countless groups of crows.


    Below the black clouds, a red, gigantic eight headed salamander was twisting its eight heads. Its long snake-like necks dived down from time to time. Every time it raised its head again, there will be a couple of black-robed men in its mouth. Blood continuously flowed down the sides of his giant mouth.


    The eight headed dragon was surrounded by countless murders of crows, looking more ferocious than a mutated creature.


    At this point of time, the division was completely still. Only the eight headed dragon was letting out roars of victory.


    Then the three of them noticed a black-gowned figure hovering on top of the eight headed dragon.


    Even with the distant of a few kilometres, a red glare could be clearly seen on the figure¡¯s forehead.


    "Could that be Cloud Crow?" Anselm uttered.


    ******************


    From time to time, the eight headed salamander let out roars of joy, signaling that Garen was in a good mood.


    Although the complete situation on the ground could not be seen, most of the Obscuro Society¡¯s members had been eaten by the eight headed dragon.


    Possibly because of the eight headed dragon¡¯s overeating, Garen faintly felt that the eight headed dragon was releasing a form of poisonous mist. It seemed like the eight headed dragon¡¯s waste after digesting, yet it was extremely corrosive.


    As long as the eight headed dragon was summoned, the gas would naturally be released, severely corroding everything in the area.


    It was even around his own body. The gas had a faint fragrance, inducing living beings to relax. They would then unknowingly fall into the danger of being corroded, unable to get themselves out.


    Garen suspected that this could be the final and ninth head¡¯s ability that comes with its imminent evolution.


    Shortly, the chaos below quietened.


    The Dog Humanoid Statue was surrounded by the crow formation. As the Obscuro Society was being defeated, it also lost its power. It had laid on the ground since, unable to move.


    Garen looked towards two directions in the distant.


    There was a group of people from another force which had been hiding there for some time. From their aura, it should be people from the Royal Alliance of Luminarist. Or maybe it was some commoners, or normal totem users from noble families.


    They hid in the forest where they thought it was safe, then looked at the commotion.


    As Garen gazed over, all of them held their breaths, afraid that he would notice them. The whole forest went totally silent, not even the sound of a bug could be heard.


    Garen let out a faint smile. He did not want to relate with Ender¡¯s Royal Alliance of Luminarist. They were from a different system.


    The opposition seemed to have no intention on coming over to greet him as well.


    Suddenly, Garen raised his head towards the right sky. There was a group of black eagles in the distant, seemed to be swiftly heading over here.


    On the back of the giant eagles were black-robed figures, obviously someone from the secret service.


    Their auras on their bodies were murky. They seemed weak, but were actually strong.


    Garen mildly closed his eyes.


    "Let¡¯s go, Windling."


    As a ray of black light flashed beneath his feet, he dived down like a rocket into the forest.


    In that instant, the gigantic eight headed dragon became a ray of red light, disappearing in the forest. The countless hovering black crows retreated and disappeared into the forest below.


    Both Garen and the helpless Windling were surrounded by a ball of black mist. They sped through the forest into the distance.

 384 Intelligence 2

    Chapter 384: Intelligence 2


    "Aren¡¯t those people from the secret service? Why don¡¯t you go meet them?" Windling whispered to Garen, who was beside him. As he seemed to be a good mood, hopefully his temper would not flare up.


    "I do not want to meet my colleagues yet. The Three Departments should have noticed something when I took action. Or they might have known for long that this is an Obscuro¡¯s division, but they chose not to act." Garen smiled as he explained.


    "You do know a fair bit." Windling smiled bitterly. "The Three Departments are indeed strong, but their ground forces are only a few people. The strongest of them are only a handful, and some of them had joined our Obscuro Society. No, I can no longer say our Obscuro Society. After doing so much, I can no longer be considered as an Obscuro Society¡¯s member. I think my bounty is almost ten million dollars in the society."


    "Do you know the origin of this generation¡¯s president of Obscuro?" Garen suddenly asked.


    "You noticed." Windling didn¡¯t seem surprised. he sat on the black mist behind, which was soft like a sofa. Crossing his legs, he was surrounded by the black mist and they were moving forward at astonishing speed.


    "President Hellgate, one of Daniela¡¯s major nobles. Instead of looking at Obscuro as an independent society, think of it as a portion that left the group of nobles. The elite members of Obscuro are all outstanding elite noblemen. Being unsatisfied with the Royal Alliance¡¯s stagnant ruling system, some of the elite noblemen left, forming Obscuro. Some of them formed The Three Departments because of differing philosophies, under the support of the council of elders. In other words, nobles are the cause of everything."


    "Only the nobles have such rich deposits of knowledge." Garen nodded and agreed. "A normal person wouldn¡¯t be able and qualified to access such elite knowledge."


    "What should we do next?" Windling look at Garen on his left.


    "How many strongholds have we destroyed?"


    "Including this, nine. Whether it is Obscuro or other forces, most probably information on you would definitely be on the desk of their intelligence department. Can this be considered as the fastest way to fame?" Windling was getting increasingly confused by Garen¡¯s motives.


    "That giant statue is a pity. If we can bring it along it would be useful." Garen abruptly changed the topic as he stroked his chin.


    *********************


    In the following four days, Garen and Windling continuously attacked Obscuro¡¯s strongholds all over the Ender Kingdom. However, many of them were empty. It was obvious that Obscuro had urgently withdrew their men.


    Other than the few major strongholds in Ender, there were not many people in the other divisions.


    Eight Headed Cloud Crow replaced Garen¡¯s old Cloud Crow nickname. The rumor was widely spread by bystanders and people who have seen his battles.


    Eight Headed represented the eight headed dragon, while Cloud Crow represented the flock of black cloud crows. These were the two strongest characteristics of Garen¡¯s abilities.


    His track record was dug out and sent to the intelligence departments of major forces.


    It was because of his incredible speed. He attacked two countries within a couple of days. Furthermore, he destroyed an Obscuro division within ten minutes in Ender Kingdom, before their headquarters could even send back-up.


    Due to his strength and track record, Garen gained fame overnight.


    At this time, Garen received a call from the nearby Secret Service.


    **********************


    Garen and Windling sat in the lush forest, on a thick layer of fallen leaves. They set up a piece of white cloth between them and placed some food on it.


    Jam and bread, lamb jerky and two bottles of apple cider. That was their lunch of the day.


    As the faint golden sunlight shone through the leaves above onto the two people, there appeared to be patterns on their bodies.


    A brown and furry squirrel with three big tails was crouching beside the white picnic cloth. It wagged its three tails like a wheel with all its might, sweeping leaves all over the place.


    The squirrel was gulping down a small pile of jam that Garen threw away, looking very satisfied. As it tucked its butt, it''s tail wagging became more rounded.


    "So relaxing.." Windling, with a palm on the floor, rubbed his stomach lightly and swallowed the last piece of bread. "Oh no..I might have eaten too much.."


    He spied at Garen who was opposite him.


    The handsome man was nibbling on a piece of jerky. His eating speed remained consistent and there was no expression on his face. His actions were elegant. As he tore off each piece and put it into his mouth, not a single crumb fell. The picnic cloth in front of him was clean, as if it had been completely wiped clean. There was no food remaining.


    They¡¯d split the food portion into half. While Windling had a huge portion left, only a smile bite remained on Garen¡¯s side...


    "Your appetite...is really...spectacular.." Windling thought for a moment, before using a more proper description.


    "It''s your appetite that is small." Garen replied softly.


    Windling was speechless.


    Pupu...pupu¡­.


    Suddenly, a soft patting sound came from the small black box on Garen''s collar.


    Garen slowed down, put down the food he held and wiped his hand with a napkin.


    There was a voice coming from the black box.


    "Cloud Crow? You are the eight headed cloud crow Garen?" It was a guy¡¯s voice. It was clear yet slightly reserved. "This is the Secret Service, Kovitan¡¯s Headquarter. My name is McCain, the current director, and also the leader of the strongest White Silver Group . I am currently communicating with you through a long distance signal. We only have three secure minutes, where we won''t be snooped on by other forces."


    "Ah it''s the director." A smile quirked the edge of Garen''s mouth. "May I know the reason you''re contacting me?"


    "You should be currently in the Ender division right? I have a mission here. I was wondering whether you would be willing to accept it?" Director McCain spoke in an extremely polite tone.


    "Just say it."


    "Alright. In the Ender Kingdom, the Geometry Service¡¯s elite, Dark Bell and the masters from the Obscuro Society are fighting for a unique precious heirloom. The majority of elites from both their forces have been mobilized over. I hope you can represent the Secret Service and participate on the battle for a chance to obtain the precious heirloom, since you are currently nearby. The mission will be within five days."


    "No problem. What''s the reward?" Garen asked without hesitation. After experiencing the power of the precious heirloom, it was dear to his heart. He also understood why various forces placed high value on it.


    In simple terms, a precious heirloom was the combination of countless complicated tactics. It could inject totem light and totem strength at any time to activate a large or multipurposed strength. An imitation precious heirloom like the cloud crow formation only needed sufficient totem strength or totem light. Without the need for tactics, a mediocre totem user could elevate into an elite spiritualized master in the blink of an eye.


    "Naturally, the reward won''t be bad. There will be a satisfactory tactic formation. Furthermore, considering your father and the loyalty of the Trejon Household towards the Royal Alliance, I have resubmitted a request to the higher ups for a fief. As long as you complete this mission, Trejon Household will regain a satisfactory fief in the new housing area." There was a tone of rich laughter in McCain¡¯s voice. A fief and a strong and complete tactic formation would be surely sufficient in this chaos.


    Garen got slightly excited. With a fief like that, he could move the whole Trejon Household there to protect them. His underlings, family, friends and relatives. There was also teacher Emin, whose current status was unknown.


    Garen searched his memory for the location. He planned to visit his teacher first.


    As he regained focus, he quickly expressed sincere thanks.


    "Then director, let me express my gratitude first. With such generous rewards, it seems like this precious heirloom isn¡¯t simple."


    "Naturally. The Geometry Service initially wanted to keep it for themselves, but they did not succeed. Now, we and the rest of the organizations stand a chance." McCain smiled as he answered. "The Geometry Service are a bunch of cocky guys. Now that they¡¯ve gotten entangled with the Obscuro Society, they must have been humiliated. Let¡¯s see how they solve this, haha."


    He paused for a moment. "Besides, aren¡¯t you sweeping the Obscuro¡¯s strongholds? Let me send you a more detailed map, which is a treasure we have just obtained."


    "Send? How are you going to send?" Garen was surprised.


    "I¡¯ll say and you memorise."


    "Alright." Garen was initially worried about Windling¡¯s limited knowledge on the location of strongholds. As he was too thorough during his killings, the sweep was coming to an end. Now it was as if someone brought him a pillow just as he was about to sleep.


    This time he was addicted to the killings. Although most of them were first form and second form low level totem users, the numbers were huge. It was similar to when the Petrifying White Dragon was around.


    One first form totem or creature could provide around 25% of potential points. One second form could provide two points, while one third form could provide five points. For spiritualized form, the value jumped to fifteen points.


    After memorising the information that McCain gave on the strongholds, Garen glanced at his potential points.


    After killing over hundreds of Obscuro Society members, his potential points had surpasses two hundred without him realizing.


    After careful thought, Garen decided to increase his agility to its limit.


    His fixated his gaze on the agility pane.


    The potential points quickly depleted.


    Agility swiftly increased from 6.00. After increasing it by 5 points, every increase required 20 potential points. Very quickly, 40 potential points disappeared and his agility was raised to 8.00.


    From 8.00 onwards, 60 potential points were needed to increase one attribute. Very quickly, from 160 points, only about 40 points remained.


    As his agility finally reached 10.00, it completely stopped moving.


    Garen clenched his fist in satisfaction. It was as though his body was surrounded by invisible wind. He only had to move lightly. It felt like his body weight had disappeared, and he could float around without sluggishness.


    He sensed the state of the eight headed dragon. Sure enough, the ninth head on the back of the eight headed dragon was rapidly expanding. The huge lump of flesh grew bigger and redder.

 385 Feud 1

    Chapter 385: Feud 1


    As Garen sat cross-legged on the ground, mild black gas dissipated from his whole body. It was like fog spreading throughout his surroundings.


    He quietly sensed the ninth head of the eight headed dragon. The blood tumor was growing bigger and redder, as if it was about the explode any minute.


    Unconsciously, Windling noticed his unusual behaviour. Without saying a word, he kept his distance.


    As this situation had happened multiple times over the journey, he was used to it. It was not just once or twice, but multiple times. It was as if he was examining the state of his body, similar to the masters among commoners.


    But it seemed to be different this time.


    Windling carefully observed the black smoke surrounding Garen. It smelt good. It was incredibly rich, like fragrance released by burning various spices together. The smell could not be identified, but it was not pungent; a little like incense.


    Suddenly he was stunned as he felt the skin of his body stiffening. As he pinched his skin on the back of his hand, there was totally no feeling.


    Windling panicked and retreated more than 10 metres. Only then did his senses returned.


    "What''s this smell. It can unknowingly numb the senses!" Windling fearfully glanced at the nearby Garen.


    At this point of time, Garen''s body was surrounded by a faint-black fog. Even his face was a little blurry


    "Again...Always doing dangerous things without telling me, don¡¯t you know this could lead to death!" Windling complained softly. "My beloved Weiwei, when can Papa see you again...and my cute Bartow."


    His mood was tinged with sorrow. With a long sigh, he ignored the dirt and sat on a green rock in the distance.


    Seconds and minutes passed by. The midday sun gradually rose, throwing red tinged sunbeams across the forest.


    The forest breeze carried a gentle warmth.


    Windling sat on the green rock and yawned. The best thing about travelling with Garen was that being beside him, there wouldn''t be any dangerous creature within a 1-2 metre radius. Whether it was mutated beings or monsters from experiments, there was completely no sign of them.


    It was as though the monsters could detect Garen¡¯s dangerous aura and fled. Therefore he was able to rest in complete peace every time.


    As Windling was drowsily sleeping, he faintly heard a weak cry for help.


    "Help...help¡­hu...hu¡­" Between the sounds of fleeing and panting, came an immature child''s voice from the distance.


    This forest wasn''t far from human population. It was probably some kid who couldn¡¯t survive and came out to look for a living, but fell into some danger.


    Windling thought to himself. He was different from Garen. He was familiar with the life of a commoner in this chaos.


    Both of his children were normal humans. They were not qualified to become Luminarists. If it wasn¡¯t for him, both of his children would have died of hunger much earlier.


    "Who cares." Windling didn¡¯t want to bother. They had met multiple situations like this throughout the journey. There were adults, elderly, strong men and beautiful girls. But both Garen and himself were lazy to bother.


    In this chaos, commoners had no fields to farm. Without any special abilities, all they could was risks their lives to gather rare herbs to be used as raw materials for various potions.


    In the areas that have been preliminarily cleared, the danger was relatively lower. Many rich commoners would hire one or two totem users to gather herbs. It wasn¡¯t often that they met dangers.


    Only at the first line of defense were there daily intense battles between life and death.


    It was extremely difficult for commoners in times like this.


    As the voice drew closer, it seemed more and more like his own child¡¯s voice. Windling was becoming more and more irritated. A thought of his own children flitted through his mind; what if it was them who met this situation...


    He finally stood up and headed towards the direction of the voice.


    Garen usually took some time to finish anyway.


    ***********************


    Garen slowly opened his eyes. There was a flash of red light in his eyes. He had failed once again.


    The ninth head couldn¡¯t successfully emerge. His agility was already at the limit. The only attribute left was intelligence.


    "I have to completely upgrade my body to the limit?" This thought flashed through Garen¡¯s mind.


    He regained awareness.


    "Windling?" He was taken aback when he did not see Windling around.


    As the wind blew through the forest, there was the sound of rustling leaves.


    Other than that, there were no other noises.


    A non-mutated scorpion slowly crawled past the side of his foot and fled into a hole in the ground.


    On a branch far away, the three-tailed squirrel was carrying some jam that was filled with crushed leaves. Its bottom was sticking out as it attempted to stuff the jam into a nutshell.


    Garen refocussed his gaze and looked around.


    "Boss, there could be something over here." Windling shouted from afar.


    Garen stood up and headed over, crossing through a small portion of forest. He saw Windling crouching down in front of a deep hole investigating something. He looked serious.


    "What happened?"


    Garen furrowed his brows as he walked over.


    "There¡¯s something strange about this hole."Windling whispered. Although he wasn¡¯t a match for Garen, he was at least an Elemental General of the Obscuro Society with decent abilities. Even without his precious heirloom, normal spiritualized forms were no match for him. But now, with a nasty look on his face, the situation might be troublesome.


    "What¡¯s going on?" Garen hurried over and stared into the hole. Suddenly, there was a horrible stench coming from the hole. He held his breath and frowned.


    He abruptly sensed weakness in the eight headed dragon totem, which seemed to be caused by the horrible stench.


    "What in the world is this?!" Garen was about to retreat when a force suddenly shoved him from behind.


    The force wasn¡¯t malicious. It was just a simple push.


    "You!!" Garen turned and saw a weird smile on Windling¡¯s face.


    Strangely, although Garen was strongly pushed, his body only slightly leaned forward. His feet did not move at all.


    Both of them were stunned for a moment.


    Garen was shocked by Windling¡¯s weirdness.


    Windling couldn¡¯t understand how Garen only leaned slightly after he pushed Garen with all his might.


    "How..How can this be!?? The swamp night lizard¡¯s poisonous gas has no effect on you?!" Shock was all over Windling¡¯s face, as if he couldn¡¯t believe it. "This gas can weaken five spiritualized totems instantly..!"


    "Poisonous gas?" Garen looked grim.


    An invisible whirlpool suddenly appeared behind Windling.


    Crack!!


    The giant dragon missed.


    Windling¡¯s figure was like an illusion. It started to disappear slowly, lighter and lighter, fainter and fainter.


    "Idiot! You thought I would stay still and wait for your attack? Are you an imbecile? Do you have muscles for a brain?"


    A secretive smile appeared once again on Windling¡¯s face.


    "You¡¯re not Windling, who are you?" Garen looked at his quickly disappearing opponent. His five senses were carefully surveying the surroundings, trying to find out the location of his opponent.


    "The Obscuro Society¡¯s second Elemental General. You can call me the Enchanter." His figure completely disappeared and only a faint voice remained.


    "Enchanter?" Garen snorted. There was a flash of bloodlust in his eyes. He glanced at the black hole on the ground. The odor quickly dissipated, as if it had never been there.


    His brows emitted a red light.


    The eight headed dragon¡¯s eight head slowly appeared behind him.


    Roarrr!!!!


    The ferocious roar became a circle of white sound waves and spreaded to the surroundings.


    The big maple tree leaves were shaken.


    There was no movement in the vicinity.


    A black light formation lit up beneath Garen¡¯s feet. He leapt into the air and released black fog midair, holding his parcel.


    Gaga!!


    A huge amount of black fog flooded out, forming over a few thousand crows. They were like ink, flying all over to search for something.


    Garen looked grim. He had thoroughly searched in a ten-metre radius. As he couldn¡¯t find anything, his expression turned cold.


    At this moment, the surrounding environment had been slightly distorted. The surroundings seemed to have changed.


    A flurry of dull crashing sounds came from the distance.


    Then only Garen realized, he had always been in the Enchanter¡¯s illusion. He didn¡¯t even notice!


    His opponent¡¯s illusions had reached a incredibly frightening level. The simulated environment was exactly the same as the forest in reality.


    He quickly suppressed the panic in his heart.


    Between the crashing sounds in the distance, Garen faintly heard Windling cursing.


    He crossed a portion of forest and walked over. He saw Windling stuck in a triangular, semi-permeable tactic formation. The tactic formation was glowing in faint yellow. It was built on the base of the three white rocks below..


    There were slight cracks on the three stones.


    Crash!!


    The triangular tactic formation finally cracked.


    Windling was furious as he walked out.


    "That Enchanter bitch!!" He was more enraged than usual. "He dares to toy with my feelings!"


    He saw Garen¡¯s displeased expression, quickly shuddered and stop speaking.


    "This Enchanter is a hassle." Garen felt the lingering poison gas in his body. He was extremely unhappy.


    Even the eight headed dragon, a supreme poisonous being, couldn¡¯t completely resist the poison gas. If that was the case, it was conceivable that the Obscuro Society was starting to use their most precious items.


    The purpose of the Enchanter¡¯s appearance was most likely to poison him and weaken his abilities.


    The next wave that would come should be ruthless hunts and attacks.


    He carefully sensed his body¡¯s condition.


    Garen was slightly relieved.


    Although the eight headed dragon wasn¡¯t immune to the poison, its resistance dramatically weakened the effects of the poison.


    Of the eight headed dragon¡¯s heads, two fell into deep slumber; unable to move. It¡¯s skin had been mildly corroded, weakening the defense of dragon skin. With this, the Dragon¡¯s Roar power had also been weakened to three quarters of its original strength. It was currently only three times the level of the dual headed salamander. Only six of its heads were functioning.


    "Boss. He got you?" Windling carefully analyzed Garen¡¯s expression.


    "There are some complications" Garen faintly replied. "The Enchanter said it was the poison gas of something called the swamp night lizard."


    "Swamp night lizard!!?? My God!" Windling opened his eyes and scratched his head fervently with his two hands.


    "It¡¯s over it¡¯s over¡­ This toxin is rumored to last for ages! Without the antidote, you¡¯ll be unable to remove it for the rest of your life! It will permanently weaken the core totem¡¯s condition by half!!

 386 Feud 2

    Chapter 386: Feud 2


    Garen had never heard of such a poison.


    "Anyway, let¡¯s leave this place first! We¡¯ll have our revenge on the Enchanter later."


    "Right. They most definitely will be here soon." As Windling had already betrayed the Obscuro Society multiple times, he¡¯d long been named upon the Obscuro¡¯s bounty list. The reason they¡¯d not met any danger so far was due to their elusiveness and speed. It was hard to grasp their position, hence they have managed to avoid any crisis or pursuit.


    Their strategy was actually dependent on time - Quickly destroying the strongholds before the opponent¡¯s backup arrived, then fleeing.


    Now the Obscuro¡¯s assassins had finally caught up to them.


    The Enchanter¡¯s illusions were far stronger than any illusion totems Garen had ever encountered. Whether it was the five senses or human¡¯s basic instincts, all of it were within the opponent¡¯s calculations. Even when he was poisoned at the end, the Enchanter did not show any form of malice, or Garen would¡¯ve noticed immediately.


    Without hesitating, the two of them quickly left the place. They were swept up by the black crows and headed towards Garen¡¯s teacher Emin¡¯s location.


    Along the journey, Garen was constantly on guard against the Enchanter¡¯s illusion environment.


    Even he himself could not tell the difference. It was evident that the Obscuro Society was serious. The team they¡¯d mobilized was abnormally powerful.


    He was also trying to experiment with Red Jade Palm, a poison removal martial art.


    He was in luck. The Red Jade Palm did have some effect, although it wasn¡¯t very strong. It mildly soothed the corrosion on the dragon¡¯s skin, but there was still no way to restore the two weakened dragon heads.


    ********************


    In the maple forest where Garen and Windling were previously standing.


    "I have already poisoned him." A voice came out of thin air. No figure could be seen, but there was a neutral voice. It sounded like neither a man nor a woman.


    "Thank you Your Excellency. What was the effect?" A black-robed girl with a graceful figure walked out from deep within the forest and stood in front of where Garen previously stood. Her voice was enchanting and clingy. There was some form of respect in her question.


    "Nothing much. Eight Headed Cloud Crow has a strong resistance towards poison. He has consecutively destroyed so many of our strongholds, humiliating the entire elite department." The neutral voice spoke again. "The rest depends on you guys. I still have another mission. This is your father¡¯s final favor. Don¡¯t bother me again."


    "Many thanks. From now onwards, you and my father no longer owe each other." The black-robed girl spoke in a calm voice.


    "Good." The neutral voice could no longer be heard.


    The black-robed girl waited for a moment until the voice was completely gone. She instantly relaxed her tensed body. It was only then that she noticed the abundant beads of sweat coating her forehead.


    Briskly, a black-robed figure strode out from behind her.


    "Has the monster left?" The black-robed figure was a man with a sharp voice. From his tone, he sounded somewhat relieved.


    "He left." The girl let out a long sigh. "Facing that guy requires 120% of energy every single time. If we¡¯re not careful we¡¯d fall into his tricks. Why is it me who has to face him every time!?"


    "Since you¡¯re the only one that can move him?" The guys shrugged helplessly.


    "If it wasn''t my father who specified me to get rid of him, I wouldn''t even want to come!" The girl said with lingering fear. "That Eight Headed Crow Cloud destroyed father¡¯s plan in Ender. If the opponent wasn''t removed, it would be a difficult obstacle to overcome for our family."


    "Where''s your brother? He hasn''t arrived?"


    "Soon." The girl answered softly. "After getting the news that father was almost wounded, he dropped his mission immediately and rushed back. He also brought along some friends who might be of assistance."


    "That''s good. The team for the headquarters should be reaching soon. Let¡¯s go and meet up with them."


    "Alright."


    *****************


    Bang!!


    The shapeless whirlpool in front of Garen violently collided with a ball of white lightning.


    He walked through the blizzard of countless white lightning orbs and raised his head to look up at the white giant birds rapidly spitting them out.


    These giant birds each had a wingspan of more than 10 metres wide. There was not a single feather on their full-white bodies. Their wings were fleshy, like dragon wings.


    Thousands of them flocked together and filled the whole sky. They appeared like white feathers waltzing in the sky.


    Numerous of lightning orbs accurately homed onto Garen and battered at his body. They were like guided homing missiles, twisting and turning.


    Garen took out his black pocket watch and gently rubbed its surface with his fingers.


    Copious amounts of black fog flooded out from the watch and formed into black crows. They let out strange cries and soared towards the strange white birds in the air.


    The black and white birds were engaged in a tussle. From time to time, there would be white birds falling from the sky, and crows dissipating into black fog. They were unable to recondense together, as the electricity from the lightning orbs had a strong numbing effect.


    After summoning the cloud crows, he promptly ignored the sky to directly survey his surroundings.


    He was standing on an empty grassland. The green grass swayed to the wind. Green hills were everywhere and nothing seemed unusual. Golden sunlight glowed from above, gilding everything with a touch of gold.


    Windling followed behind, looking bored.


    "Where shall we head to now?"


    "A small town near the borders of Kovitan." Garen raised his head. More and more white birds were killed. The rest of them panicked and cried out as they fled into the distance like broken white clouds.


    He glanced at the gain in potential points. It was decent.


    A creature group that could defy his aura and challenge him, such as this flock of white birds, wouldn¡¯t be an average group. They could spit out homing white lightning orbs which would follow their enemy. Each ball was as big as a soccer ball with terrifying power. It could electrocute any second form totem in a split second.


    This allowed the white bird flock to reign over the region between the forest and the plains.


    Garen¡¯s intrusion had enraged them which caused them to attack. However, they were badly defeated and ultimately fled.


    "Let¡¯s move on." Garen withdrew the black cloud. Two balls of black fog picked up the duo and carried them forth.


    They were floating in the air a meter above the ground as they swiftly headed towards the red river along Kovitan¡¯s borders.


    Two days had passed since they left the forest. When they were not travelling, they killed creatures all day. Along Garen¡¯s flight, he would relentlessly try to remove the poison during his break, but his efforts were futile.


    A single Enchanter had eliminated his underestimation of the Obscuro Society. He was once again on his guard, surveying his surroundings at all times.


    The swamp night lizard¡¯s poison was already overwhelming. If there were a few more types of poison, could he still survive?


    Along the journey, he consistently interrogated Windling on the level of the other Elemental Generals.


    He managed to briefly grasp the Obscuro¡¯s distribution of power among their top ranks.


    In the East Continent, the Obscuro was led by two Marshals, God Cloud and Hack. Under them were three departments - the Elite Department, the Military and the Black Sky. The other departments like the Intelligence Department and the Logistics Department were under the Black Sky, which was where Windling was previously from.


    This was also the reason he was familiar with the Obscuro Society¡¯s situation.


    Under the two marshals were their two strongest subordinates, known as the Elemental Generals. Hack¡¯s subordinate was the Enchanter, while God Cloud¡¯s subordinate was a man named Ice.


    The two elemental generals were the two strongest members in the whole of Obscuro on the East Continent. The Enchanter was ranked at number two.


    In comparison to the West Continent, the East Continent¡¯s bureau was slightly weaker. Hence, they only had two marshalls leading it. The Enchanter¡¯s strength would still be ranked among the top three if the two Continents combined. At times, even the marshals would have problems commanding him. Furthermore, the Obscuro was an organization completely driven by benefits. Every single member had huge family forces behind them. The strength of the members themselves and the power of their families were complementary.


    As Garen was removing the poison, he was memorising the Enchanter¡¯s name by heart.


    Along the journey, Garen continuously increased his intelligence with his potential points. Slowly, he realized that the lump of the eight headed dragon¡¯s final head was enlarging. As he checked his core totem, he also realized that the poisonous gas that he released was getting thicker.


    The thing that delighted him the most was that the totem¡¯s poison was slowly easing with the eight headed dragon¡¯s evolution.


    He believed that by increasing his intelligence to its limit, the eight headed dragon would evolve into the nine headed dragon. That would be the time of neutralising the swamp night lizard¡¯s poison.


    The both of them consistently changed routes and soon they arrived at the edge of a muddy river.


    On the grassy plains, the red river was like a curved centipede, stretching towards the horizon.


    At the river bank, there were groups of animals playing in the water.


    Garen and Windling were surrounded by the black fog and headed forward along the river. As they passed overhead, the animals below panicked and fled.


    From afar, both of them could faintly see the small town of Vinker.


    The town was still standing among white and yellow flowers. But the houses within had collapsed. Some of them were in shambles, and the atmosphere appeared silent and empty.


    A few mutated rabbits with spikes on their back were running around on the streets.


    Garen and Windling landed on a bridge at the entrance to the town. They quietly looked at the deserted town.


    "A new food chain has formed within such a short time?" Windling studied the grey rabbit with white spikes. He had a complicated expression on as he pondered.


    "Let¡¯s go in and have a look." Garen entered the town first.


    Although he knew from history that teacher Emin was definitely alive and would appear in the final war, he wasn¡¯t reassured and wanted to confirm it.


    Very quickly, with Garen at the lead, both of them directly headed towards the familiar building by the end of the town.


    It was a completely wooden red-brown building. Miraculously, it was in perfect condition, identical to the moment Garen left after his learnings.


    Garen pushed open the gate outside the building. There was a loud creaking sound. Garen directly entered the yard.


    The flowers in the yard were as dazzling as ever.


    A relaxing smile reappeared on Garen¡¯s face. He walked towards the entrance of the building, raised his hands and gave it a light knock.


    Suddenly, he froze.

 387 Unexpected Discovery 1

    Chapter 387: Unexpected Discovery 1


    Garen¡¯s gaze fell on a white substance on the edge of the door.


    It was a white powdery substance which was emitting a faint white light.


    He reached out his index finger and gently dabbed at the white powder, then put it to his nose for a sniff.


    "Pollen?" Garen¡¯s expression turned cold. "This power fluctuation¡­"


    "What¡¯s wrong?"


    Windling¡¯s questioning voice came from behind.


    "The building is still intact. There is something strange going on." Windling came up from behind. "Why don¡¯t you enter?"


    Garen withdrew his hand.


    "Forget it. I¡¯ve already gotten what I wanted to know."


    He turned, walked down the steps, and headed out.


    "Hey! Why not enter and have a look since we¡¯re already at the door? Why did you actually come here?!" Windling followed closely.


    Garen ignored him and directly walked out of the yard.


    He turned and gave the familiar building a final glance.


    "Let¡¯s go. We¡¯ll go directly to the next stronghold."


    "Still going?" Windling was startled. "We¡¯ve already swept so many strongholds. You still want more?"


    "Since even you didn¡¯t consider it, they definitely wouldn¡¯t be expecting it as well. If we attack them now, the success rate would definitely be quite high." Garen muttered.


    Windling scratched his head. He had been terrified each time they went to an Obscuro stronghold. He had to find a place to hide and avoid being detected by the Obscuro Society¡¯s men.


    Every time Garen swept, he would carefully survey the surroundings and inform Garen if there was anything amiss. His safety was heavily dependent on Garen.


    "Aren¡¯t you worried about the poison in your body at all?" He ran up to Garen and asked out of curiosity.


    "Not an issue. I¡¯ve already found a way to remove it." Garen smiled. He seemed to have returned to his normal state.


    As the two people left the building, the small town in front of their eyes looked different.


    From the flawless building, out came several dark blue, human-shaped flowers.


    The flowers had white human limb-shaped roots for their four limbs. They were like noodles swinging and twisting. Each of their heads was a huge, basin-sized blue flower.


    The flowers stepped silently towards Garen¡¯s and Windling¡¯s position.


    On the streets, in the neighboring house and on the roof. The blue flowers were everywhere.


    They were like tiny dwarfs, quietly surrounding Garen and Windling.


    As Garen furrowed his brows, his body released a cloud of thick, black gas which spread out in all directions.


    Countless black cloud crows were formed. They let out cries and pounced at the flower humanoids.


    The cloud crows gathered their wings and shot out like sharp arrows. It was like a harvest, with the surrounding flower humanoids dropping like flies.


    ..


    Abruptly, Garen turned and looked at the yard behind him.


    In the small garden in front of the reddish-brown building, an over three metres tall blue flower humanoid swiftly stood up.


    Its head was a big blue flower with a two-metre radius. It was completely like a human as it stood up and stretched its back. In the middle of the blue flower giant¡¯s flower was a blue, O-shaped mouth. It was like a fish¡¯s mouth, opening and closing non-stop. There was even some sticky acid flowing up from it.


    Garen blinked and twisted the air in front of him.


    Chaa!!!


    A transparent, shapeless dragon head attacked ferociously.


    The blue light in front of the blue flower giant shattered instantly, leaving huge amounts of blue light shards. Its head was instantly bitten off and disappeared into the shapeless dragon¡¯s mouth.


    Windling was holding a silver-black round mirror at the side, attempting to check something. When he saw that the flower giant¡¯s head had suddenly vanished, his expression darkened.


    "Can¡¯t you wait for me to calculate its data before you devour it!?"


    Poof!


    Suddenly, Garen¡¯s expression changed as he grabbed his abdomen.


    A giant, red dragon mouth opened beside him and instantly took form. Then came a crash. The dragon vomited large amounts of torn blue flower petals and yellow-green acid.


    "Sure enough, I can¡¯t simply eat. It hurts my stomach." Garen did not look well. His body had gradually connected with the eight headed dragon. The state of the eight headed dragon would affect the state of his body.


    Additionally, his state would also affect the eight headed dragon. This was also the reason why upgrading his body attributes would affect the evolution of the eight headed dragon..


    However, this connection had negative side effects now.


    Garen felt his stomach lurch. He had an urge to throw up.


    After the red dragon head beside him had vomited out the remnants of the flower giant, it weakly disappeared into thin air.


    "Haha, hurt your tummy? Your fault for eating random things!" Windling burst out laughing.


    Garen gave him a stern stare and he stopped laughing, frightened.


    Among the flower giant¡¯s remnants on the ground, there was a yellow-green porridge like substance. It was releasing a strong acidic odour, causing Garen and Windling to back off.


    The cries of the whirring cloud crows was ongoing, but there was not a single flower humanoid in sight.


    Other than the acid, this type of first form monsters was good for nothing. Even the strongest one among them - the flower giant, was just a second form monster. Surprisingly, this strong odour and acidity could hurt the eight headed dragon¡¯s stomach.


    Garen realized that he had to be more careful. He shouldn¡¯t attempt to eat everything he saw.


    Both of them completely cleared one side of the town of all of the blue flower humanoids. The surroundings mutants were all frightened and fled; too afraid to come close. Only then did Garen relax slightly.


    He casually walked into someone¡¯s house. Only after squatting for more than half an hour in the toilet did his stomach felt better. At times, the eight headed dragon¡¯s overly quick digestion rate was quite a disadvantage.


    To completely heal the predicaments on his body wasn¡¯t difficult for someone proficient in the martial arts like Garen. After excreting the acid, he used the Red Jade Palm to clear the remaining toxins. Only then did he fully recover.


    In fact, the blue flower giant wouldn¡¯t be considered poisonous. It was the acidity of the odour that Garen¡¯s stomach couldn¡¯t take. Instead of saying the poison caused diarrhea, it was actually the odour.


    As he came out from the toilet, Garen leaned on the wall and walked into the living room. He saw Windling playing with the green, round mirror in his hand.


    He walked over and saw a row of words and symbols bouncing on the mirror. He recognized some of the tactic symbols, but he hadn¡¯t seen most of them.


    A black dragon whirlwind was on the mirror. It was around ten centimetres tall. It floated in front of Windling, like a miniature tornado.


    The black whirlwind was completely made up of black gas. As it spinned relentlessly, blue bolts faintly flickered on its surface. It was as though a real whirlwind was shrunk and placed on the mirror in front of Windling.


    The whirlwind was just the size of a palm. It constantly changed its direction and speed on Windling¡¯s hand.


    "What¡¯s this?" Garen asked out of curiosity. "Is this used for weather forecasting?"


    Windling held the black whirlwind with both of his hands, as if he was controlling it.


    "This is a black whirlwind that i brought from the Black Sky. It was mainly used to create and repair heirlooms and equipments." As he summarized, he controlled the end of the black whirlwind and kept drawing something on the mirror¡¯s surface.


    "Black Whirlwind?"


    "Yes. Since my life is now tied to boss, people from the Obscuro definitely wish to eat my flesh and drink my blood. After considering for a long time, I realized you¡¯ve treated me well. Hence, I¡¯ve decided to do put in some effort for our safety." Windling replied as he controlled the small whirlwind.


    "What effort?" As Garen has never seen the process of creating or repairing heirlooms and equipments, he looked on with interest.


    "There. There is one on the table. Its specially made for you." Windling pointed at the small table on the right with his mouth.


    Garen looked over immediately and saw a green mirror on the black stone table.


    He walked over and picked up the mirror, surveying it. It was like a common dress mirror. The only difference was the decoration.


    "What does this thing do?"


    Windling retrieved the Black Whirlwind. The small whirlwind dissipated into black gas and quickly wriggled into the black gem ring on his hand.


    He lifted the repaired mirror, looking pleased. Hearing Garen¡¯s question, he answered.


    "Detection. Mainly for detection. According to the various scenarios we¡¯ve met these few days, I made some calculations."


    He turned to face Garen.


    "In the coming days, we might be facing the Obscuro¡¯s pursuers. Do not think that because you have your final card, you have nothing to fear. The Obscuro has countless heirlooms and poisons. Just by accumulating four or five types, your abilities will instantly drop to the bottom. I¡¯ve created this thing as a counter to those situations.


    He lifted the small green mirror.


    "I shall call it Windling¡¯s fury!" He looked satisfied. "Those old bastards in the Obscuro were heartless. They thoroughly angered me! Hence, I¡¯ve decided to make a testament to my anger. Oh, but the fighting shall still be left to you."


    "You don¡¯t have much talent in giving names." Garen was speechless.


    "I think this name is very domineering though?" Windling shook his hands. "All of this is not important. The most important thing is its function."


    He gently placed the mirror on his shoulder and gave a hard press.


    Crash!!


    The mirror directly latched onto his shoulder blade.


    From afar, it looked like a diamond-shaped green armor on his left shoulder, mildy reflecting a mirror-like luster.


    The armor extended from his shoulders. Its end protruded slightly, forming a sharp edge.


    "Isn¡¯t it domineering?" Windling looked satisfied. "This thing has two major functions. Number 1: It gathers the wearer¡¯s actual body condition and makes a comparison with the surroundings. If there are threats to the wearer, it would emit mild, red light. The intensity of the red light represents the threat level."


    "That¡¯s not a bad function. Can it test the level of toxins?" Garen was suddenly interested.


    "Of course." Windling nodded. "The second function: Encrypted Messages. This function is simple. It only has to identify an used frequency. I¡¯ve encrypted in five times. It is absolutely impossible for anyone to break it!" He looked pleased. "With this, we can directly have short distance communication without being snooped on. The distance limit is fifty kilometres. For it to be stronger, it would require too much. Remember the time I was tricked and captured and couldn¡¯t contact you, these kind of situations can be avoided.


    "This thing is not bad." Garen nodded his head in approval. "Can you create a few more?"


    "The materials required are quite a hassle. They are not considered as rare, but many types are required. I gathered them as I followed you. After so many days, it was only sufficient for two. If you want more of them, I think it might take some time." Windling helplessly opened his hands.


    Garen imitated his ways and pressed the mirror on his left shoulder.


    With a crash, four claws automatically appeared from the mirror and tightly held on to his shoulder. Its end swiftly extended, forming a beautiful sharp-edged shape.


    "Heyhey, can you hear me?" A soft, low voice suddenly came, as if from an earpiece. It was Windling¡¯s voice.


    Garen gave him a glance. He noticed that he pressed the pauldron with one hand and gently moved his lips.


    "Your voice doesn¡¯t have to be loud, just being clear would do. Oh yes, I forgot to mention. For the threat detection, I¡¯ve differentiated five levels."


    Windling said in a serious tone.


    "Number 1: No light. If the Windling¡¯s Fury doesn¡¯t light up, it means there is no threat and can be ignored.


    Number 2: Mild light. If there¡¯s only a little red light from green to red, it means that the threat is small.


    Number 3: Mild red. The red is clear, but not dark. A stronger threat that has to be respected. You have to pay attention and be on guard to avoid being tricked by not being careful.


    Number 4: Bright red. It is an opponent on your level. The opponent has the potential to severely injure you or kill you. It all depends on performance to determine who has the upper hand, but be careful of secret heirlooms and the sort.


    Name 5: Dark Red. Incredibly dangerous. Flee if you meet this kind of opponent without hesitation. Whether you will be able to flee is also a problem. This means the opponent could severely injure you with a casual attack."

 388 Unexpected Discovery 2

    Chapter 388: Unexpected Discovery 2


    "That detailed? This thing is able to measure totem light?" Garen was stunned.


    "Of course. The totem light is the main thing." Windling explained. "The working principle of this device is rather complicated, but the only thing you should know is that it can measure the totem light of your opponent and compare it with your totem light. Naturally, different people will have differing strength and information, so the result will be different as well."


    Garen nodded to indicate that he understood what was said.


    "Alright then, let¡¯s go and give this thing a try."


    "Be patient."


    Windling told Garen.


    "This item requires an activation phrase in order to get it up and running."


    "An activation phrase?"


    "Yes. Didn¡¯t you know this? These types of custom made heirlooms require an activation phrase so that no one will take advantage of it, right?" Windling shook her index finger as she explained.


    "What is the activation phrase then?" Garen nodded.


    "Activate! Windling¡¯s Fury!!"


    Windling raised both of her hands up with all her might and laughed three times. "Ha! Ha! Ha!"


    "..."


    The atmosphere had become cold¡­


    Windling placed her hand down as she realized Garen¡¯s unfriendly gaze.


    "Alright alright. What a man without any sense of humor. No wonder you can¡¯t get a girlfriend, even though you¡¯re so handsome."


    "The real activation phrase is print it, magic mirror."


    As Windling finished her sentence, her shoulders" pauldrons glew red and immediately disappeared.


    "That¡¯s about it."


    Garen¡¯s cold gaze then disappeared.


    "Alright then. Let¡¯s go to the next location and have a look at its effect."


    "No problem!"


    *********************


    Somewhere in a mountain valley, thousands of kilometers away from the Red River Valley.


    The sky was grey and cloudy, shrouding the sun completely. The whole sky was covered with clouds.


    The mountain valley was filled with green fern plants. There were a variety of them, from small to big and short to tall. They covered the whole mountain valley, just like a forest.


    White mist lingered between the ferns and caged the whole valley, covering the whole scene in a layer of white. It was almost as if someone were looking through a pair of fogged up glasses.


    The mountain valley was like a small basin, covered by elevated green hills.


    The entrance to this basin was a small green fern forest.


    Two black silhouettes flew passed the fern forest at great speed, and slowly landed at the entrance of the mountain valley as they formed into two black shirted human figures.


    As the black smoke dispersed, Garen looked into the mountain valley from afar, and through the white mist, he could see that the mountain valley was filled with levitating stones.


    These stones, big and small, were levitating quietly in the middle of the air inside the mountain valley, as if they were supported by something from below.


    The largest stone was at least ten meters wide and even had a little tree and a small grass field on top of it.


    "Is there some error in our route? We have been to three places and there isn¡¯t anyone around." Windling asked skeptically as she followed Garen from behind.


    "No. It¡¯s not that the route is wrong, it¡¯s just that something had happened here recently so these places are empty." Garen replied coldly.


    Both of them put on their magic mirror pauldrons on their left shoulder. The faint green colored pauldron looked like a beautiful jade stone.


    "This location is the largest nearby. Should we enter it directly?" Windling asked as she looked at Garen.


    Silent, Garen squatted down as he touched the dirt on the ground.


    "Someone was here before us, about ten minutes ago." He said coldly. "This smell, I¡¯m afraid, might be from the one who had been stalking us."


    "What should we do?" Windling frowned. "Should we proceed or retreat."


    Garen¡¯s lips curled, giving off a cold smile.


    "Since we¡¯re here, we might as well meet our friends."


    The shadow of the eight headed dragon slowly appeared behind him.


    ************


    Within the deep zone of the mountain valley.


    Two crowds, in black and blue, were facing each other.


    The people in black shirt were obviously from Black Sky. All of them were wearing black masks and were different from the lot from before. Every one of them had black gas surrounding them, giving off a rather strange presence.


    The one who stood at the front was their leader. He was in a black robes and white mask, which had three red lines on the mouth and eyes. The design was very simple, where the red lines formed into a smiley face on the mask as it gave off a strange and mysterious vibe.


    The people they were facing against were a group of people in ice blue armor. There were a total of four of them, and were staring coldly at what was in front of them. The one who stood at the front was a flat chested woman with a brown ponytail.


    She had a brown whip in her hand, half of it had dug into the ground, as if it were a wiggling, living creature.


    There was a golden staff in the middle of both parties.


    There were layers of small circles on the staff, which was placed on a white stone. What was strange was that the staff was surrounded by a thin layer of ice.


    "Black Sky, haven¡¯t you guys crossed the line? You have become too greedy." The girl with a ponytail said coldly as she tried to retain her anger and stared at the people from the Black Sky.


    "We discovered the Golden Staff first, and we¡¯re also the one who discovered the activation phrase as well. What right do you have to say that it is yours?"


    "It doesn¡¯t matter who discovered it first. What matters is you people have discovered this heirloom in our territory." A sharp voice came from the white mask.


    The woman was annoyed. "Then what about the activation phrase? We are the ones who deciphered the activation phrased first. Why do we have to pass it to you!?"


    They had went through a great ordeal and spent countless of resources and gemstones here. They hand spent countless days deciphering the activation phrase of the golden staff, and the members of the Black Sky appeared and attempted to remove the gemstone out of it. The members of the Black Sky claimed that this heirloom was left by their ancestors, and they just happened to forgot the activation phrase.


    As they had a grasp of the opponent¡¯s strength, they decided to retreat, but the people of the Black Sky didn¡¯t allow them to do so unless they gave them the activation phrase. Hence they were currently in a stalemate.


    They had heard rumors of how strong the people of the Black Sky were, but they didn¡¯t expect that they would be so much stronger than the rumors had suggested when they faced them in reality.


    As one of the captains of the powerful ice castle, the girl with the ponytail was filled with rage. They were stronger in terms of power as they had two form three totem users and two form two elites, whereas the Black Sky only had one form three and two form two totem users.


    However, the Black Sky had a stronger identity, which made them unable to make any moves, and were oppressed by the opposing party instead.


    Shey knew that she was stronger but was forced to restrict herself. These made the four people of the Ice Castle start to fill with anger. Although it was just an imitation product of a heirloom, it was still important to the ice castle. Within this chaotic era, every ounce of strength attainable was considered precious, including the heirloom.


    "Last warning. Give us the activation phrase and you can leave." The white masked man said coldly.


    The ponytail woman gritted her teeth as she gave a deadly stare towards him.


    She didn¡¯t dare to attack as she knew that the Ice Castle might be annihilated if she were to attack now.


    Suddenly, the white masked man looked at the other side of the mountain wall.


    "Same goes to you. Leave now and don¡¯t let me see you again, or else."


    Movement could be seen from the mountain wall and three men appeared. They were in hunter attire and looked very well trained.


    "Lord White Ghost, we¡¯re here under the command of the chief of Fung Clan¡­"


    "Don¡¯t use the name of Black Tiger King as leverage." The white masked replied coldly.


    "Lord White Ghost¡­"


    Ah!!


    Suddenly the man beside him screamed as he shriveled at an incredible speed. He looked like a deflating balloon, and soon dropped onto the ground with only his skin left.


    The remaining two of them were stunned and immediately retreated as they scanned their surroundings in fear.


    The White Ghost let out a shrill laughter.


    "This is the result of not listening to me. You guys are still alive because of the Black Tiger King, and you guys think that you are some hot shot?"


    Two of them were sweating cold sweat. Although he was just a form one totem user, it was terrifying to see him killed abruptly.


    The people of the Black Tiger King and Ice Castle didn¡¯t say another word and they kept quiet, falling into a deep dilemma. It seemed that the White Ghost was not an opponent that could be easily dealt with.


    At that moment, two black, misty figures appeared behind the white masked man, and soon condensated into two tall humanoid figures.


    "Lords." The white mask turned around and greeted the two with a bow.


    The two figures were a male and a female, who had a black and green hair respectively. Both of them looked young, and seemed to be in their early thirties. Both had on their shoulders black robes, with golden-green armor on their feet.


    The black haired man nodded.


    "What¡¯s the current situation?"


    "The foundation has been set." White Ghost replied respectfully. "However we have accidentally discovered a new heirloom, the Golden Staff."


    "Not bad. Tell these people to scram and execute the operation immediately, or else we won¡¯t have enough time." The green haired girl said softly.


    The man nodded as he looked at the groups of people from the Ice Castle and Black Tiger King. These two groups were the major power players in the nearby area. All of them naturally were no small characters since they were able to survive in such an environment.


    The man started to become impatient and was about to open his mouth.


    Suddenly he felt that the sky had become cloudy.


    "What¡¯s going on? Is it about to rain?" The man looked up suspiciously, and his pupil shrunk.


    Everyone in the area looked up and was stunned as they saw a gigantic mouth in the sky.


    A black cloud was slowly approaching from the mountain valley.


    It was a cloud filled with countless black crows!


    The black haired man recalled something and his face went pale.


    "It¡¯s the Cloud Crow!! The Eight Cloud Crow! Retreat! Retreat!!"


    He suddenly shouted.


    The people of the Ice Castle were stunned as well, as they looked at the sky that was being swallowed by the clouds of crows. These crows, which had some strange mist surrounding, them kept producing a rather weird scream.


    As they looked up, they couldn¡¯t see any part of the sky at all.


    "The Eight Cloud Crow¡­ It¡¯s the RAL! The RAL has arrived!" The ponytail woman was emotional. She couldn¡¯t feel any more happier as she looked at the people from the Black Sky panicking in front of her. If they couldn¡¯t obtain it, she naturally wished that no one else could.


    Compared to the Black Sky, the RAL was much more powerful.


    They didn¡¯t allow anyone to oppose them. Whoever did would be considered going against them, and going against them meant betrayal to the Alliance, and betrayal to the Alliance meant a rebellion, a rebellion that needed to be eliminated!!


    The subordinates of the Black Tiger King didn¡¯t dare to make any move at all. With such a huge superpower arriving the scene, whoever provoked them meant that they would drag the Black Tiger King into the issue with them.

 389 Meet Again 1

    Chapter 389: Meet Again 1


    Kaw Kaw!!


    Shrieking Cloud Crow cries came from the sky abovee the mountain valley. The whole mountain valley was shrouded in darkness, only a tiny bit of sunlight could be seen in between the wings of the cloud crows.


    The three parties were preparing to defend themselves.


    The people from the Black Sky were the most anxious, as the main target of the Eight Cloud Crow had always been Black Sky. The Eight Cloud Crow was angry at Black Sky, as he was being hunted by the them and had been taking his revenge all over the area.


    Pew!!


    A Cloud Crow dived as a black streak was drawn in the sky and landed on a member of Black Sky.


    His left chest was filled with yellow totem light, but under the attack of the Cloud Crow, it was being torn apart like paper.


    As the crows continued shrieking in the sky, no one could hear his scream of pain.


    All members of the Black Sky were under attack by the Cloud Sky.


    In a blink of an eye, multiple members of the Black Sky had died, leaving only White Ghost and two of the recently arrived members standing firm on their ground.


    They effortlessly defended against the attacks of the Cloud Crows. After an attack, whether it be a success or a failure, the Cloud Crow would always turn into black fog, and morph into the Cloud Crow again once it gained enough altitude.


    What was strange was that the majority of the Black Cloud Crow didn¡¯t come after them, but flew past them and went deeper into the Mountain Valley.


    There were two human figures being covered within the Cloud Crows as they went deeper into the Mountain Valley.


    One of the silhouettes looked down at the three groups, but none of them dared to return his cold gaze..


    That man above had three brightly lit dots on his forehead, and eyes that were dyed blood red. He was surrounded by countless Cloud Crows, and looked like a demon among the clouds.


    Within minutes, the Cloud Crows disappeared, and like a stormy cloud, moved deeper into the mountain valley.


    It was only then that the three parties noticed that the Golden Staff in the middle had been broken into two pieces during the Cloud Crow¡¯s attack. Silver liquid leaked out from the staff as if it were bleeding.


    The Heirloom had been accidentally destroyed by the Cloud Crows.


    Both the Ice Castle and Black Tiger King¡¯s men felt happy as they looked at the Black Sky.


    There were only three members left in the Black Sky, and the green haired woman was in lead. She looked at the mountain valley¡¯s deeper areas with a pale face.


    "Bring the corpses along, and let¡¯s go!" She finally made a decision.


    The Heirloom hidden deep inside could be found at any time, but it was pointless once your life was gone.


    "Eight Cloud Crow¡­!" She stared at the black clouds with rage. "Sooner or later someone would kill you! Your arrogance won¡¯t last forever!"


    The three of them immediately release a Four-armed Giant Mantis, and each of them placed the corpses on it and left the mountain valley with great haste.


    The ponytail woman from the Ice Castle looked at the black cloud.


    "We should make our move too. We¡¯re lucky to encounter the Eight Cloud Crow, but we won¡¯t be this lucky next time. The Eight Cloud Crow kills anyone he fancies and without mercy. We need to tell the Fort Master about this and Inform all the clan members to be cautious when they¡¯re out."


    "Big sister, who do you think is stronger, this Eight Cloud Crow or the fort master?" A youngster who had recently grew a moustache asked curiously.


    "They¡¯re both strong, but the fort master is on our side, and a leader who will protect us from any creature. The Eight Cloud Crow is a very powerful individual, but he killed people without mercy, so he definitely isn¡¯t someone good." The ponytail woman explained softly.


    "Bring the remains of the Golden Staff and let¡¯s head out. Although the material was a waste, it still possesses some value."


    The people from the Ice Castle gathered the remains of the staff with indiscernable feelings. Their long term training had shown their fruits, as none of them really made any noise. However, they would unconsciously looked deep into the mountain valley every once in a while.


    That overwhelming power was deeply etched into everyone¡¯s minds.


    The old men were in awe, whereas the youngsters¡¯ hearts were burning with motivation. Perhaps one day they would possess such power! Such strength!


    To be able to make your enemy panic and retreat by just hearing your name!


    No one noticed that the subordinates of the Black Tiger King had already left the scene.


    Similar to the Ice Castle, the legendary Eight Cloud Crow¡¯s power had definitely left an impression.


    That man, with three red dots on his forehead, standing among the black clouds was carved deep into the recesses of their minds.


    ************


    At the very bottom of the mountain valley.


    In between the big field of dark green ferns was an empty land filled with black stones. There was not a single blade of grass on it; it was completely barren.


    The largest levitating stone was floating among the black land.


    This giant stone was at least ten meters wide, and even had a small yellow-green forest on top of it. In addition, there were even small flocks of birds dancing about around the giant stone, chirping happily.


    These white and red birds were very active and adorable, as they chased each other around under the sunlight.


    Within the forest at the top of the levitating stone.


    Two groups stood quietly in front of an old tree.


    On one side, there were two groups, in black robes and red masks. They had an eye of the black sun emblem on their chests, indicating that they were members of the Black Sky.


    On the other hand, they was a young, fair skinned man, who was their leader. There were a total of four of them, three male and one female. The male leader was in a white robe, and his expression, although rather pale, was calm. The most eye catching feature of his was his eyes; a faint gray.


    Both the red masked person and the silver eyed youngster were both very quiet, as if they were lost in thought.


    The only thing that moved between them was time.


    However, something seemed to be coming from the sky beyond the forest, similar to a huge murder of crows, coming closer and closer.


    The leader in red masked finally spoke up.


    "Looks like we have a new person arriving soon. We may have to retreat without obtaining our objective again." Her voice was of a gentlewoman, where it gave off a soothing and relaxing vibe.


    "Do your stuff." The silver eyed man nodded his head and didn¡¯t speak further as he stared at the wilted old tree trunk.


    The old tree was very sturdy, its circumference was about the girth of two people. However, what was strange was that a clear human face could be seen at the center of the black tree. It had two eyes, a nose, a mouth and even had a beard underneath its chin. The beard was the tree¡¯s black roots.


    This tree¡¯s face had its eyes closed, as if it were sound asleep.


    The red masked person smiled slightly and looked at the sky afar.


    "Let¡¯s go. That man had a deep misunderstanding towards the Black Sky."


    The other people bowed slightly and followed the red masked person into the shades of the forest at great speed. Two wisps of black fog appeared and covered both of their bodies. As the fog disappeared, it took the two of them with it.


    "How is it? Do you have any idea, Beckstone?" A woman in a fiery red armor asked. The armor revealed her perfect body as she stood beside the silver eyed man¡¯s side, suggesting that she relied entirely on his decision.


    "If only Darian was still around." Beckstone sighed. "He¡¯s best at guessing riddles. We would definitely be able to solve this if he were."


    The red armored woman kept quiet as the atmosphere became rather dense.


    "Sorry, I shouldn¡¯t have mentioned the incident." Beckstone apologised softly.


    "No, it¡¯s all my fault. If only I wasn¡¯t being held hostage by that fellow, Darian wouldn¡¯t have died." The red armored woman was Berlina. She was held hostage by Garen, and forced Beckstone to fight ¡®squarely¡¯ with him.


    The cries of the crows grew louder as they approached.


    Soon, two black armored figures came into the forest. Both of them were male, and the one in front was a man with golden, shawled hair, with a handsome face and three red dots on his forehead. His expression was cold, his body surrounded by the black fog that had yet to disperse.


    As he entered the forest, Beckstone turned around and looked at them.


    In a blink of an eye, Beckstone was filled with rage.


    "It¡¯s you!!"


    Garen smiled at him.


    "Beckstone, I sensed you and the Black Sky bastards from afar. Once I knew you were here, I immediately came over." His gaze was calm as he was very confident in himself.


    "The days we had in the manor were rather peaceful. Who knew it had been so long. How nostalgic."


    "Garen Trejons!!!"


    The red armored Berlina who was standing beside Beckstone grit her teeth as she stared at Garen.


    "It¡¯s nice to see you again, my lady." Garen¡¯s smile was even brighter.


    Whoosh!!!


    A sharp red light was pointed towards Garen.


    Bam!


    The red light was blocked by a cloud of black fog, dispersing and disappearing once they collided. To be precise, as the red light fired, its speed was strangely reduced.


    That streak of red line could be seen hanging in the air. Besides that, the ground was burnt black, as if a line of fire had razed it.


    Soon, the burnt ground reverted back to its usual green state.


    Berlina retracted her right hand in rage.


    "I will kill you eventually! I will avenge Darian!!"


    "Whenever you like." Garen smiled gently. "That is, if you can leave this place alive."


    "Do you want to fight!?" Beckstone replied coldly. "This is the territory of the old tree, whoever has bad intentions will be restricted. As long as one harbours the intent of destruction, their strength would be sapped, and they wouldn¡¯t be able to lift a finger at all."


    Garen was surprised, and suddenly felt something was wrong. He had an urge to not want to destroy the peaceful surroundings.


    It was a strange feeling, similar to of someone who wanted to keep sleeping when they were half awake. All intentions towards destruction was diminished, and could no longer be brought upon.


    As he carefully basked in this strange vibe, Beckstone and Berlina were seemingly under its influence, too, and didn¡¯t speak a word afterwards.


    The situation had come to a standstill.

 390 Meet Again 2

    Chapter 390: Meet Again 2


    Minutes passed. Both parties stood still without movement.


    Windling stood behind Garen and kept yawning, evident to how suited this place was for a nap.


    Soon, noon arrived. The scorching hot golden rays came from above and bathed the whole forest in sunlight.


    At this moment, the old tree opened both of its eyes. It opened its mouth, and an old voice came out.


    "It has eight legs, and is able to hold water. While its speed is slow, it runs very steadily."


    "It''s a repetition from the previous riddle." Beckstone muttered.


    Garen heard it from afar as well. It was as if the voice had directly entered into his mind. Although he didn''t know what language it spoke, he somehow knew what it said.


    He started thinking about the riddle.


    "This is the Spirit Tree''s Riddle, one of the only two strange phenomena that could be understood." Windling said from his back as his face was filled with excitement. "I can''t believe I can experience the Spirit Tree''s Riddle in my life. As long as we can guess the riddle, we will be able granted a drop of Life''s Dew by the Spirit Tree."


    "What''s the use of it?" Garen looked at Windling even though the sound is transmitted through the magic mirror.


    "It''s very beneficial. It''s most useful trait is lengthening ones'' lifespan. One drop of Life''s Dew is able to extend your lifespan by forty years! This is a recently discovered mysterious phenomenon. Naturally, the Black Sky has already calculated this data in detail, but I didn''t expect this group of people to know of its existence as well." Windling cast a surprised look at Beckstone and his team. He didn''t expect other people outside of the Black Sky to know of this place.


    "Even I have only heard of it. I do not know the exact location of the Spirit Tree''s Riddle. This is one of the Black Sky''s top secrets."


    Suddenly, Beckstone''s eyes glowed, as if he remembered something and said a phrase.


    "The answer is the Spider Teapot!!"


    The old tree was stunned. Its face melted into the tree''s bark and soon disappeared.


    Soon the old tree wilted. The large amount of branches that littered the tree followed suit, its leaves curling up and turning into a dark brown. Then the leaves started shedding water.


    Swiftly, a black branch arched down in front of Beckstone.


    There was a black petal on it, and it slowly opened up, layer by layer, showing off the countless petals revealing what was encased and hidden within. It was like a black Peony flower, complicated yet beautiful and delicate.


    At the center of the black petals laid a clear and sticky dew.


    "That''s the Life''s Dew! We''ve gotten hold of a drop of Life''s Dew! This is very exciting indeed!!" Windling was cheering with happiness. "Quickly boss! Kill them and grab hold of the Life''s Dew! They have lived long enough!!"


    "We haven''t kept it properly yet, why are you so excited?" Garen looked at Windling with a speechless look. "You should try and go against them."


    He had already felt that the restriction within the surrounding had been lifted as the old tree''s face disappeared.


    "I am just a clerk.. A clerk¡­ Hehe" Windling quickly retreated with a ridiculous smile on his face.


    Beckstone put away the Life''s Dew and turned away quietly.


    "Next, we should pick up from our previous business."


    "I think so too." Garen smiled.


    Slowly, black fog and golden light started surrounding them.


    Two intense powers collided with each other as the black fog and golden light kept disappearing and reappearing.


    Two different energies emanated within the forest.


    Black and gold, separating the forest into two different areas.


    "Your Sunflower has grown gain." Garen took out a black pocket watch as he looked at Beckstone with interest.


    Beckstone looked at him coldly and raised his hand. Goldenl light suddenly appeared by his side, forming Golden Whirlpool Beasts. It was different from the Whirlpool Beast from the past as the current Whirlpool Beasts were golden, as if they were forged from gold. As they formed into solidified bodies, these Whirlpool Beasts started growling at Garen.


    Growl!!


    The golden light kept shaping the Whirlpool Beasts one at a time completely surrounding Garen and Windling.


    Garen flicked his pocket watch.


    Ding!!


    With a soft ring, a huge column of black fog spilled forth from the pocket watch, forming countless numbers if Cloud Crows as they started revolving around his body.


    Kaw!!


    The Cloud Crows confronted the Whirlpool Beasts with its strange cries.


    "Impressive Technique!" Beckstone''s eyes were filled with surprise, but he didn''t express it thoroughly. "That''s to be expected. If you were to be taken down by me this easily, won''t my hardship and pain be all wasted?"


    Somewhere during their conversation, a green seed the size of a thumbnail found its way into his right hand.


    With all his might, he crushed the seed into his left shoulder.


    The seed was thoroughly embedded within his skin.


    Szz Szz¡­ A shivering sound came out of the wound. The seed had started to sprout and grew directly from Beckstone''s left hand.


    The green bud dug out of his skin and grew rapidly as it became tall, thick and sturdy.


    Soon it grew to the point where it was as tall as Beckstone.


    The green plant soon sprouted a black bud. The bud slowly opened up, revealing a human eye inside it.


    As the eye opened, it instantly looked at Garen.


    Suddenly, Garen couldn''t see anything else as his vision went pitch black.


    At the same time, the Golden Whirlpool Beasts leaped towards Garen and attacked. Each of the Whirlpool Beast were much stronger and bigger than last time. They had already reached Spiritualization, and went toe to toe with the Cloud Crows.


    "Sight Vision, stolen!" Beckstone stared coldly at Garen, as a giant golden tree slowly appeared behind him. A golden pupil could be seen in the middle of the big tree.


    A transparent strong bending force landed onto Garen''s territory.


    Boom!!!


    A large part of the Black Fog was pushed away, even the Whirlpool Beast had no choice but to step back as they did not dare to go closer to it.


    Large amounts of grass and dirt were flung away, leaving a huge crater in the forest.


    The whole levitating stone trembled violently and a hole was created underneath. A shapeless ray of light burst through the rock from the top.


    Garen landed just beside the crater with a smile on his face.


    "Impossible!!?" Beckstone shivered as he took out another seed and planted it once more in his left shoulder.


    After a series of horrifying noise of the seed being planted into the hand, the new seed sprouted and out came a new bud. This time, a human ear was inside it.


    "Hearing! Stolen!" Beckstone''s face was getting more and more pale.


    "Beckstone¡­" Berlina stood at one side and couldn''t do anything but to worry for Beckstone''s wellbeing. She knew the horrible side effects of these Secret Tactics. Although its effect was potent, it was extremely damaging to the caster''s body!


    "I can definitely kill him!" Beckstone''s eyes were filled with confidence.


    Pew!!


    Another shapeless bending light pillar was shot out again.


    However, Garen moved slightly to the left and was merely grazed by the light pillar.


    Pew pew pew!!!


    Beckstone didn''t believe his eyes and started to attack nonsensically with his Sunflower. He was the only one who knew how strong the opponent was after the fight in the manor. Hence he knew that this high density attack was the only way to damage him.


    However¡­


    Garen would occasionally move to the left, jump, and leap forward. Each of his actions allowed him to perfectly dodge the light pillar.


    "Impossible!! Impossible!!" Beckstone focused his light pillars once again and the golden tree behind him would shoot out a high speed light pillar every two seconds or so.


    However all was in vain.


    Beckstone took out the third seed.


    "Beckstone stop!! You''ve gone crazy!!" Berlina attempted to grab hold of Beckstone''s hand.


    "Get out of my way!"


    She was pushed down to the ground.


    Beckstone had completely gone insane. His humiliation back in the manor where Darian was killed right in front of his eyes and combined with cruel and bloody scenes in the experiment laboratory, these images incessantly flooded his mind.


    He planted the third seed into his chest.


    The silver light in Beckstone''s eye suddenly glowed brighter.


    A new black plant sprouted once again, giving birth to a new black bud. As the bud opened up, A human nose was revealed.


    "Smell! Stolen!!"


    Garen''s body nudged slightly.


    Beckstone was ecstatic and decided to attack him with his sunflower erratically.


    A near infinite amount of shapeless light pillars burst forth.


    The explosions entirely covered the surface of the levitating stone.


    The explosions were nothing short of thunderbird roars in the sky.


    Both Berlina and Windling had ran far away as they didn''t dare to stay close to the battlefield. Everyone had their attention on this battle it unfolded in front of them.


    However, everyone could see that there was too much of a difference in their strength.


    Beckstone was still at the spiritualization level but Garen had obviously gone up to another new level.


    Beckstone''s lips started to crack, as his original, smooth skin had started to dry and shrivel up.


    "Impossible!! How is this possible!!?? Where did I go wrong!!?"


    He was unwilling to accept the reality.


    The holes on the ground kept appearing, but Garen still slowly walked towards him without difficulty.


    Garen didn''t even activate his defensive totem light and he walked towards him with ease.


    The light pillars passed through his legs, but he did not take any damage whatsoever.


    Beckstone couldn''t help but to feel a fear in him as he looked at the approaching Garen.


    "I will not lose again! Never¡­" He muttered as he took out the fourth seed.


    Boom!


    Suddenly, all of the budded flowers exploded and Beckstone took a few steps back.


    Garen opened his eyes and all his stolen senses were given back to him.


    "The Life''s Drew¡­ It''s a rare item indeed. You won''t be able to protect it if you don''t have enough strength." He put on a smile on his face once more.


    "You!" Beckstone was defeated but he took out a golden diamond crystal once more.


    "Is that the item you''re going to rely on this time?" Garen looked at the crystal in his hand. "You''re really weak."


    He shook his head.


    "I once killed thirty two Field-level members and three General-level members of Black Sky in Victoria. I killed five middle-class general-level in the Long Northwest Slope. I have battled the Giant Divine Statue in Ender Kingdom and intercepted the Underworld Carriage in the abandoned city. I have faced hundreds of battles and I have yet lost one of them."


    "I thought that you would have achieved something after such a long time but I didn''t expect you to improve just this little bit." Garen''s face was emotionless and the three markings on his forehead was brimming brightly in red color. "If you only have this amount of strength, I''m afraid you won''t be going back today."


    "I will not accept defeat!!" Beckstone held the golden crystal tightly as he stood back up. Tte silver light in his eyes glowed brighter and brighter to the point it was unbearable to see.

 391 Meet Again 3

    Chapter 391: Meet Again 3


    Even among the people there, only Beckstone understood well how heavy Garen¡¯s words were. This was especially true if it were the Underworld Carriage. If it really was pointing towards that item, he didn¡¯t even dare to imagine how powerful his current opponent was!


    Suddenly, a familiar voice came from behind Beckstone.


    "Garen?"


    The person, one of the two who stood behind Beckstone, hadn¡¯t spoken up until now.


    Garen was stunned as he heard the familiar voice and looked at where the voice came from.


    The opponent came out from the shade. He was in long grey robes and had a black wooden ring in his hand. He gently took off his thin hood with his hand, revealing a pale and old face.


    He was Teacher Emin that Garen had been searching this whole time!!


    "Garen¡­ is that really you?!" Emin couldn¡¯t believe himself as he stared intensely at the incredibly powerful man in front of him.


    The image of the opponent overlapped with the face he had recognized when Garen was still under him.


    "Teacher¡­" Garen¡¯s tone was fused with shock, yet relief, and bitterness as well.


    With this reply, Beckstone, Berlina and the little boy behind Emin had their eyes wide open.


    This meant that Garen had admitted to his identity and he was indeed the sole student of Emin in the past.


    Emin was the person who guided Beckstone to the Spirit Tree¡¯s Riddle. He was also the luminarist who joined Beckstone¡¯s team in the middle of the expedition. Although he didn¡¯t have much strength, his knowledge was unparalleled as he was the successor of the famous Tasura Academy. No one expected that he was the teacher of the Eight Cloud Crow Garen.


    Emin looked at Garen with a complicated look.


    "I once believed that you would become a very powerful totem user, but I didn¡¯t expect it to be this soon¡­"


    He pondered for a while as his eyes filled with sadness..


    "You finally ended up in the Royal Alliance¡­"


    Garen stayed silent. He didn¡¯t have any choice. Vanderman¡¯s territory determined that his only path was to side with the Royal Alliance.


    However, the Royal Alliance would eventually collapse in the future¡­


    From the very beginning, he had no choice but to become a member of the Royal Alliance.


    Vanderman had seriously offended the Terraflor Society, and the Obscuro Society had been trying to assassinate Vanderman. Eventually his relationship with them turned out to be incompatible.


    However, the Royal Alliance was different. Vanderman had contributed a lot towards the Royal Alliance, and he had gave the result of his life long research to its Monarch as well, which formed a very solid relationship with them.


    Perhaps it was due to the increment in his Intelligence attribute that caused him to think more than necessary.


    Was his only path to follow the Royal Alliance until its collapse? This belief once again appeared in his mind as he saw Teacher Emin.


    As he came back from his thought, he looked at the little boy behind Emin. The little boy had a delicate red butterfly on his shoulder. This butterfly was the one small scaled poisonous type totem that he had discussed with his teacher before.


    He didn¡¯t expect him to create one.


    Emin noticed Garen¡¯s gaze and pushed the little fellow out.


    "This is your junior that I have recently recruited. His name is Bertin and he is quite talented."


    "Bertin, please call him senior."


    Bertin was a small boy with red short hair and had freckles on his nose.


    "Sesesese...nior!" He stuttered, not because he was afraid but overly excited. "Can.. Can I be as strong as you someday!??"


    "You can as long as you keep working your way up."Garen revealed a gentle smile.


    Bertin¡¯s eyes glimmered as he felt his senior was easy to talk to, yet he hesitated and seemed rather slow in voicing up.


    "Big brother Beckstone is a good man, can you not make his life difficult?"


    Beckstone couldn¡¯t hold himself from his anger and tried to speak up but he vomited a pool of blood instead. Berlina immediately rushed towards him and pulled him up.


    "Big brother Beckstone was coming after the Spirit Tree¡¯s Riddle because of teacher¡¯s health. Senior please stop making things difficult for him. Teacher is already ninety four years old and without the Life¡¯s Dew¡­" Bertin couldn¡¯t finish his sentence as his eyes turned red.


    The teacher and disciple had different allegiances. One was of the Terraflor Society, and the other, the Royal Alliance. Although they had no conflict in their current standings, Garen knew that these power players would eventually collide against each other, and they would have to face against one another someday.


    Garen understood well what Bertin¡¯s words, and Emin¡¯s intention was.


    He didn¡¯t expect that the Life¡¯s Dew to be something requested by Emin. Furthermore, he didn¡¯t expect Beckstone to come here to find the Life¡¯s Dew just for Emin.


    As he looked at the current situation teacher Emin was in, he couldn¡¯t help but to feel remorse.


    He focused his sight gaze on Beckstone. He knew that Beckstone¡¯s hatred towards him would never be resolved when he killed his friend Darian in front of his eyes. Furthermore¡­ The opponent was the seedling the Terraflor Society had been nurturing with everything they had, and so wouldn¡¯t go down quietly.


    However, he was here to find a solution for Emin, yet his teacher¡¯s intention was to¡­


    Garen calmed down.


    Berlina and the others stared anxiously at Garen. He would be the one to decide whether they would be at war or make peace with each other.


    A shapeless pressure slowly caged everyone, as if the air had solidified.


    Berlina felt that she started to have trouble breathing. She would try her best to inhale but didn¡¯t dare to make any sound. This feeling, where her life was in the hands of someone else, she didn¡¯t want to experience it any longer¡­


    Beckstone¡­ She couldn¡¯t help herself but to look at Beckstone in that moment.


    This man who was usually calm and quick witted turned overactive when he faced with that man. It was obvious that Garen had scarred him for good.


    Sweat started to form on Beckstone¡¯s nose, and he couldn¡¯t even use his hands to wipe them off. He could only continue his deadly stare at Garen. He had fallen into a defeat he had never tasted before since he was firmly defeated last time.


    The taste of the sun turning into grey ash was still very fresh in his memory.


    He was muddling along listlessly for days, and didn¡¯t want to achieve anything at all. He daydreamed inside his home everyday like a zombie. He slept after eating, and daydreamed after his sleep. It was as if he had totally forgot everything.


    The effort and sacrificed he had poured out was a total waste.


    After that, his teacher had sent someone to deliver a white shelled diary to him. It was sent by Leanna¡¯s parents, and inside were descriptions of Leanna¡¯s everyday life.


    Then he heard about his teacher¡¯s terminal illness. Even as he rushed to see him, he was too late to see his teacher for the very last time. It was raining heavily that day, and he kneeled in the rain. Whether the water droplets on his cheeks were that of the rain or his tears, he didn¡¯t know..


    From that day onwards, he vowed that he would fulfill his teacher¡¯s ambition.


    No matter how much anger he had that dangerously obstructed his rationality, Beckstone finally restricted his urge, the irresistible urge to fight Garen with his life!


    A breeze blew and leaves whistled.


    The broken sunlight landed on each person present.


    "Teacher¡­ When did you join the Terraflor Society?" Garen suddenly asked.


    Emin hesitated for a moment but he eventually answered.


    "I have been a member of the Terraflor Society from the very beginning. The whole Tasura Academy is actually part of the Terraflor Society¡¯s setup academy."


    Garen closed his eyes as he lost himself in his thoughts.


    On the other hand, Berlina and Beckstone were completely shocked, as if they just found out that Emin was actually a member of the Terraflor Society.


    "In respect to my teacher¡¯s wish, you guys can leave now." Garen finally came to a conclusion. "As the chaotic era came upon us, I didn¡¯t come to see teacher Emin immediately, so I¡¯ll use this as a compensation. Beckstone, don¡¯t let me see you again."


    Beckstone vomited another pool of black blood. As he was being carried by Berlina, his lips trembled and it was obvious that he was heavily injured. Every breath he took seemed bear the weight of the world.


    "If you let me go today, I will make sure I¡¯ll be the one letting you go once in the future!"


    He was a man of arrogance, and yet he was humiliated by Garen twice. This made his desire grew ever stronger than before.


    "Let¡¯s go!" Beckstone barely pushed Berlina away as he turned around and leave.


    Emin and Bertin looked at Garen one last time before turning around and leaving the scene as well.


    The four of them walked to the edge of the levitating stone. A green light flashed and a giant Jade Hawk appeared.


    The hawk¡¯s wing span was at least twenty meters wide, and his back was close to six meters wide. The party climbed up onto the hawk.


    Garen looked at them from afar until they ascended beyond his sight


    ***************


    At the other peak of the mountain valley inside the red fern forest.


    There were a few figures in green shirts, each of them were in tight white full body armor, with their heads fully covered, the only visible parts of their bodies being their eyes.


    The white armored men had a well trained air about them as they stood silently in the forest. Two of the white armored men who stood at the front observed the situation unfold between Garen and Beckstone from afar.


    "Interesting. I didn¡¯t know that Eight Cloud Crow was actually Emin¡¯s disciple." The green armored leader whispered in a male¡¯s voice.


    "Beckstone must be very angry to be humiliated by this fellow twice in a row. What a pity." The other person was a female, her voice was rather frivolous.


    "If you feel pity towards him, why didn¡¯t you help Darian out back then?"


    "We only care about Beckstone not dying. All this other stuff is very exhausting!" The lady complained.


    "Then stop complaining." The male leader said impatiently.


    "Don¡¯t you feel excited when you look at this kid¡¯s battle? Isn¡¯t it good to feel excited?" The lady said. "Oh right, take a look at that Garen kid, isn¡¯t he a character? He facial figure looks good and has a good fitness as well. He¡¯s clearly a few times stronger than you! I wonder how good he tastes¡­"


    "Stronger than me? I can squash him with just my finger!" The man started to become angry.


    "A finger? You can squash him with just a finger?"


    "Perhaps two fingers!" The male said angrily.


    He stared at Garen in rage as he planned when he wanted to teach Garen a lesson to let him know that there were much stronger people above him.

 392 Meet Again 4

    Chapter 392: Meet Again 4


    Suddenly, Garen looked the bottom of the mountain valley.


    His eyes were glowing red and blood was about to flow out from his triangular birthmark.


    From afar, the white armored leader felt a shiver up her spine.


    "Damn it!" He scolded.


    "Did this kid just spot us? The Stealth effect from the Light Tree should be flawless." The female leader felt skeptical.


    "It shouldn¡¯t be possible. Although he¡¯s a form four, he is too inexperienced and shouldn¡¯t be able to master everything. It¡¯s impossible for him to notice us¡­ Fuck! You can¡¯t be serious¡­" As the male leader hadn¡¯t finished his sentence, he saw Garen pointing his fingers towards him.


    In an instant, a huge columns of black fog came out from Garen¡¯s body and morphed into a giant black cloud crow.


    Kaw Kaw!!


    The Black Crow spread its wings. Its forty meter wings created huge vortices that were directed straight towards them that brought along with it the black fog.


    The male leader¡¯s face turned pale as he knew that Garen had indeed noticed them. Through the black fog, he could faintly see Garen¡¯s mouth moving.


    "Looking forward¡­ to meet¡­ Officially."


    "Fuck me¡­ This fellow is this strong?!!"


    Before the male leader could finish his sentence, he saw a giant black crow flying towards him, drawing a clear line of black lines in the middle of the sky.


    Kaboom!!!


    The whole red fern forest was covered in black fog. The tip of the mountain which spanned a few hundred meters was bent over by the impact and started to slide down to the other side.


    Boom!!


    Huge boulders rolled downwards, disturbing huge amounts of dust and pebbles as they made their descent.


    Garen wasn¡¯t trying to provoke them when he sent the black crow towards them. He wanted them to pay the price for peeping at them for such a long time.


    "Let¡¯s go." He turned around and walked towards the entrance of the mountain valley.


    "Why did you hit that mountain?" Windling couldn¡¯t understand his actions.


    "I was bored."


    "Fuck you!" Windling looked at the peak of the mountain, as he left together with Garen, none the wiser.


    ***************


    "Cough cough¡­ cough!!" Within the broken summit, a group of burning green flames covered the white armored men, who were smack in the middle of ground zero.


    The male leader¡¯s face was caked with dust as he tried his best to cough them out from his throat.


    "Even the Light tree couldn¡¯t defend it, and I had to activate my totem light. Fuck me!"


    "You deserve it!" The female leader said so as if she was completely fine. "You have underestimated this handsome boy so you have to pay the price."


    The remaining white armored men were completely silent. Those who were caught in it quickly got themselves up without any change in their expression, as if they were used to this.


    "What are the old fools from the society thinking! This crazy fellow is only in his early twenties! And they pushed him to the Royal Alliance." The male leader was scolding in rage. "Are you sure he noticed us?"


    "He most likely didn¡¯t see us but felt our presence." The female leader tensed up and didn¡¯t dare to joke any further. "We may have gone too far this time. To be honest, that is most likely a warning from him. If we were to really go against him, what are the chances do you think we can win against him?"


    The male leader deactivated his green flame and recovered his composure.


    "He definitely has something up in his sleeves. The Eight Cloud Crow. The Cloud Crow is most likely his sleight of hand, and the rumored Eight heads have yet to be presented in front of us. Rumor has it that his eight head is used in close combat and his cloud crows are used for long range battles. However, as a strong character, he definitely has more than one or two trump cards. I am sure, just from his gaze! He definitely has a huge trump card that he has yet to reveal to the world. With that confidence, he is definitely on par with the old fellows in the Society."


    He had stopped calling Garen fellow and started using his name as a proper word.


    The female leader knew that this meant that he had obtained his respect. To be able to notice them when they were under the protection of the Light Tree, this meant that he was qualified to be in the middle class of form four. As partners of countless of years, these both of them understood one another very well.


    "Next up¡­"


    "With Emin around, we better not provoke him. That fellow has already provoked the Obscuro Society and those monsters from the Black Sky will definitely go after him. We will let them fight against each other and we will just expand our territory in the dark." The male leader said.


    "The Black Sky¡­" The female leader sighed as she heard this term. "They were once the strongest academy in the Tactic world. I didn¡¯t expect them to form the Obscuro Society. What are they trying to achieve?"


    "Who knows. The academy, nobles, royals and even those immortals had their own plans. They are the ones who control the board, we are merely the slightly stronger pieces." The male leader explained hopelessly.


    "Don¡¯t say that or else your father may be angry if he finds it. To be called an immortal by his own son¡­"


    "Fuck him. The society is willing to send out only the both of us. Although they have a lot of trump cards up their sleeves, they never really dared to use them at all. In the end they will only rely on us. I will stop my involvement if they piss me off!"


    The female leader covered her mouth as she laughed.


    **************


    Outside of the Mountain Valley, two blobs of black fog passed through the green field at an incredible speed.


    The scorching hot golden sunlight could barely penetrated the black fog, and two human figures could be seen covered within it.


    The white clouds passed them by and the strong winds blew against their oval shaped totem lights.


    Windling placed his hands on his head, as if he was sitting on a sofa within the black mist as he looked at Garen, who is at the front, with much boredom.


    "Boss, is it true that that old man is your teacher? How can your teacher be so weak? Are you the legendary weird kid who learnt everything himself?"


    The guy¡¯s face had become really thick as he could call out someone who was younger than him his boss without any change in facial expression.


    Garen ignored him as he knew that he possessed no threat to him after interacting with him for so long. He was a man who would complained if he had nothing to do.


    "It¡¯s unforgivable that your junior would use the pity tactic to attack you." He was slightly unsatisfied. "What a pity. I really wanted that Life¡¯s Dew since it¡¯s an item that can make me live longer¡­ If only I could get it on my hands and do some research on it¡­ for just a little while."


    He felt even more bored as Garen didn¡¯t even respond to him.


    "Where are we going next?¡¯


    "We will go for some raiding, so we¡¯re going to the mission¡¯s location now." Garen replied coldly.


    "Where¡¯s our objective? Is it that mission from the Headquarters director?" Windling was surprised.


    He sighed as he saw Garen ignoring him, suggesting that it was what they were going to next.


    "Oh my god! Why do we constantly go into these dangerous places¡­ I feel like I¡¯ve fought more battles than I have for the past ten years within these few days! Aren¡¯t we looking for trouble?"


    As he droned through the magic mirror, Garen was too lazy to respond to him, choosing to arrange his thoughts instead.


    This accidental encounter with his teacher had raised a problem that he had never thought about before.


    His current stance had been determined. He could only be with the Royal Alliance, but the Royal Alliance would eventually collapse. By then, both Terraflor Society and Obscuro Society would definitely not welcome him. What should he do then?


    Judging from the current situation, the Royal Alliance was still the strongest player in the world, but its internal structure was rife with spies. The Royal Alliance would soon slowly crumble from the inside out. What seemed to be a powerful force was actually just a wooden house; one push could cause some real havoc.


    This push would not be from the Obscuro Society or Terraflor Society, but the Royal Alliance themselves.


    The assassination of the Kovitan¡¯s kingdom was just a setback. There were still other incidents that could be a huge impact to them. The Royal Alliance would eventually anger the commoners and they would start a rebellion.


    "Szz szz¡­" A sound could faintly be heard from the black box.


    "This is the Kovitan¡¯s Headquarters with an important news broadcast. This is the Kovitan¡¯s Headquarters with an important news broadcast."


    A clear young woman voice came out of the black box.


    "Yesterday, Daniela has announced its intentions to build the largest commoner¡¯s castle -- to be named the Heart of Life, for citizens seeking refuge. Interested parties are instructed to contact your respective branches. There will be specialised doctors guiding you throughout the moving process."


    The voice repeated its announcement once more, then again in different languages.


    As Garen listened to the voice, his face was filled with an inexplicable look.


    "The Heart of Life¡­ This is also one of the major turning points." He remembered the original history where a civil war broke out in Daniela after a massive genocide in the Heart of Life. This occurred after the assassination in the Kovitan Empire, and the same assassination happened in Daniela, where its most pampered princess was assassinated. Hence a major investigation became a massacre. The Obscuro Society took this opportunity to butt in and Daniela finally fell in March.


    On the other hand, the Ender Kingdom was slightly different as its king itself was the strongest totem user. The King of the Ender Kingdom played himself into his own hands as he was searching for greater strength. In the end, he merged with the strongest Giant Divine Statue and attempted to become a God! As he tried to become the strongest player in the world, he had declared war against all its inhabitants.


    It would be ideal to call the king of Ender Kingdom a madman who was after the pinnacle of strength instead of a Sovereign power. He betted the whole kingdom against the road to become a God. In the end the three heroes who had always supported him gave up on him.


    The original history suggested that the Royal Alliance had killed themselves during the whole process.


    Garen was lost deep in his thoughts.


    "What if I could change the history of these major incidents?" He understood that these huge incidents were hard to twist as it was the combined wish of countless citizens. Even if he could delay the path of this history, he could only give some time to the Royal Alliance before their eventual collapse.


    Then where would his escape route be?


    At this point in time, Garen didn¡¯t have the time to think of an impractical way to go back to his original world. If he could not ensure his own safety, then it would be pointless to consider anything else.


    In this world, the mysterious phenomena of the Ancient Endor had started to become obvious as its number increased. The hidden secrets hidden here couldn¡¯t be solved within such a short amount of time.


    As the large amount of information kept flowing in his mind, Garen¡¯s gaze started to become clearer and clearer.


    "The strongest player in this history is the Hellgate of the Obscuro Society. Once they wake up from hibernation, they would soon surpass the Royal Alliance. Since I have already made an enemy out of the Obscuro Society, I would need to achieve the hellgate¡¯s level if I want to survive and uncover the secret in the future¡­ This is the first thing I should be doing.


    Secondly, I need to find the real reason why I transmigrated to this world. The legendary Tactics most likely exist. As this world is changing its pace, perhaps I could find out some hidden secret from within."

 393 Lost 1

    Chapter 393: Lost 1


    In the evening, only half the pale golden sun remained hanging above the horizon, scattering light with only a hint of warmth.


    In a small territory between Kovistan and Ender.


    Two clouds of black mist flew across the plains, going across the plains, and entering a mud-yellow mountain region.


    This piece of mountain land had bright yellow sand, and there was the occasional blackened tree, dry and leafless, scattered all across the mountain.


    In some places, there were even white bones and half-rotten corpses to be seen. Most of these were from aberrated animals, but there were humans as well.


    Small flocks of black scavenger birds were gathered together, pecking away at their food.


    Garen looked down, and could even see some people with black skin, all dark, skinny, and only wearing a few rags, crouching by the corpses and greedily eating the rotting meat by the handful.


    As though sensing his gaze, the person underneath raised his head, revealing a rotting black face.


    There were only black holes in his eye sockets, tiny black bugs crawled in and out of his nostrils, and his mouth no longer looked like that of a human. His entire chin and lips were utterly gone, his creepy white teeth directly exposed to the air.


    This person didn¡¯t have much flesh left on their bones, and even the bones inside were vaguely visible. There were many wounds that hadn¡¯t healed yet on his body, so his black innards could be seen even from outside.


    "That person is still alive?" Garen was slightly shocked.


    "What?" Windling glanced over curiously, following Garen¡¯s gaze to look down, and was instantly also taken aback. "It seems to be a person, fly lower."


    The two black mists slowly descended, hovering about a dozen meters over this group of scavengers.


    By then, Windling had also clearly seen the face of the person beneath them. He took a sharp intake of cold breath.


    "What is that?! A new Aberration?!"


    "I¡¯m afraid not¡­" Garen¡¯s expression was solemn. "Let¡¯s go on and see."


    The two of them were enveloped by the black mist, and continued flying ahead.


    Soon enough, a small human village appeared on the ground ahead of them. Some of the mud-yellow mud houses had collapsed, while others were barely standing, damaged beyond repair. It was all quiet in the village, not a single soul in sight.


    Looking down from mid-air, the whole village was like a mud-yellow round biscuit, it was just that it was covered with holes and gaps.


    Before long, the two discovered yet another black and skinny person on the right side of the village. This person was also crouching in the middle of a heap of rotting flesh, chewing greedily.


    This heap of rotting flesh was actually also a human corpse. It was a human man, and his entire abdomen had been cleared out, the organs inside covered with a greenish-white fluff of mould. Buzzing flies pranced constantly around the corpse.


    "Let¡¯s go down and take a look," Garen said, his voice low.


    Windling nodded too. Both of them were feeling rather low and solemn right now, the situation seemed to be going out of control. Both of them were thinking of a terrifying possibility.


    The two clouds of black mist descended slowly, landing on the ground behind the dark and skinny person. The most scattered, quickly returning to the pocketwatch in Garen¡¯s hand.


    The two of them watched that humanoid figure more than ten meters away, quietly.


    This person looked as though he was severely dehydrated, his skin just like old, wrinkled and worn cloth. Some parts had fallen off in chunks, and was connected to the body by just a strand, whereas others were just full of holes, like a worn sackcloth, so that the black, dried-up muscles and tissues could be seen through the holes.


    As though he had smelled something, the person suddenly stopped in the middle of chewing, and slowly turned around. A pair of utterly lightless eyes were staring intently at the two behind him.


    Hiss¡­


    He emitted a strange sound, taking in a breath, as though trying hard to smell something.


    "You¡¯re still alive?" Windling yelled loudly. He quickly repeated the question in many different languages.


    Rawr!!


    Suddenly, the other person opened his arms wide, flailing them as he pounced at Windling. He moved unnaturally fast, as though he had springs fastened to the bottom of his feet, and he had practically bounced there in one leap. He opened his mouth wide, revealing sharp white teeth, his gaze greedy and naked. As though in his eyes, Windling was the most delicious dish of food.


    Seeing how mindless the other party acted, Windling frowned slightly, raised his hand and pointed.


    Tree roots and wispy yellow roots shot out of the ground, entangling themselves around this person in a moment, and tripping him to the ground.


    With a whoomph, the person continued struggling on the ground, hands clawing and crawling madly on the ground, eyes fixed dead on Windling, as though on the verge of insanity.


    But the roots at his legs continued to extend, and quickly reached his waist, securing him tightly to the spot.


    "Forget it, let¡¯s go, this person isn¡¯t human anymore." Garen said softly behind him.


    Windling glanced at the figure on the ground.


    "I have a bad feeling about this."


    "Me too." Garen turned around and released the black mist, "Just up ahead is the capital of this country, if we want to know what on earth happened here, we should be able to find some survivors in the capital, and maybe then we¡¯ll have some idea."


    The two of them furled up the black mist again, and advanced at high speed forward.


    Under them, on the surface of the ground, more and more of those figures appeared. Some were all black, others were all red. Some chased madly, some were sprawled on the ground chomping on rotting flesh, and there were also some that kept repeating certain movements.


    There were more and more of these people, they gathered in denser numbers.


    The two of them flashed past through the sky, both their hearts sinking.


    Soon enough, within an hour, their current destination appeared before them, Veivar. The capital city of this country.


    The city wasn¡¯t large, spread on the ground like a large yellow biscuit.


    It was completely surrounded by a tall yellow mud wall, but the inside was empty, and unnaturally quiet. Looking down from above, the mud yellow buildings, some tall and some short, were scattered about, but mostly whole. The streets were strangely quiet, without a single soul in sight.


    The two of them slowly lowered their altitude, and the city beneath them became larger, wider.


    The whole city was unnaturally huge, and from midair, they could see that the whole place was divided into four parts, and each part was divided into four more. There were sixteen areas in total, and each area was filled densely with more than a hundred buildings, of all heights and sizes.


    The two of them landed in a small area, directly on top of a house.


    Compared to this whole area, the two of them write like two little ants in a bathtub, completely inconspicuous.


    Garen and Windling stood steadily on the edge of the roof, looking down. The streets beneath them were covered with abandoned heaps of rubbish, some already blackening and unidentifiable. Some seemed to be large piles of food and clothes in bags.


    But these weren''t the conspicuous, the most obvious was the blood red words written all over the building walls, their meaning unknown.


    Garen glanced at Windling, who frowned and shook his head.


    "It''s not the language from around here, neither does it look like any country''s language.I''d rather believe it''s an unconscious scribble."


    Garen frowned slightly as well.


    The blood red graffiti was everywhere, on the walls, on the roads, on some carriages waylaid by the roadside, on the street lamps. They were practically everywhere.


    These words were scrawled and messy, looking a lot like some words, though occasionally they had some figures like curves or circles.


    Garen tugged at his collar, pressing the little box on his collar.


    "Is there anyone here from the departments? If yes, reply immediately."


    Beside him, Windling glanced over as well, seeing if there was anyone else here.


    Soon enough, the black box began emitting a clattering sound. And then there was a man''s voice, barely suppressing his joyful surprise.


    "Phew¡­ phew¡­ I¡¯m the leader here, Chavanna, could you¡­ could you be Lord Eight Headed Cloud Crow?!" His voice was very small and very rushed, as though he was purposely guarding against something.


    "I am Cloud Crow, how¡¯s the situation now, how did this city become like this? Where are you now?" Garen asked a string of questions.


    "Please come over, we¡¯ll explain to you in person once we meet." The person on the other end of the box laughed bitterly. "Our location is¡­ Ah!!!"


    Suddenly there was a scream from the other side of the box, it sounded like that of a woman.


    "Dammit!""Kill ¡®em! Use tactics!!"


    "Leo!!""Chavanna! Save me!"


    And there was a flurry of noise, a smacking sound from the box, as though it had fallen to the ground.


    "Hello?!" Garen yelled hurriedly.


    No more voices came from the box. There was only silence.


    Garen patted the box, his expression unhappy.


    "Is there anyone left on the public channel? All department members, reply immediately if you can hear this question! Now!!"


    After changing the box to the public channel, it was still completely silent.


    It was starting to grow dark. A cold breeze blew past, lightly furling some thin wooden planks on the roof.


    The chattering sound came from the box again, as though there was vaguely a noise of chaos.


    Bzz¡­


    The noise got louder and louder, larger and larger, until it was almost piercing to the ear.


    Smack!


    Garen closed the black box, and glanced at Windling next to him. Windling was also more serious than he had ever been.


    "Looks like the situation is kinda bad," Windling said softly. "Something not quite right seemed to have happened in this country. It¡¯s not as we guessed, that it was simply an infection of people that caused Aberration."


    Garen nodded.


    "The situation now is that we first have to find the people that arrived here before us, where are they?"


    "When I was at Black Sky before, I had come across this phenomena. Although I only saw it in the information, it¡¯s very similar to our situation now. I¡¯ll check again and tell you. This is a homemade compass with a pointer, let¡¯s first ascertain where we are and the strength of the earth¡¯s magnetic field here." Windling took a small white round plate from his waist pouch, there was a silver circle embedded in it.


    He crouched down, and put the plate upside down on the ground.


    After waiting for a few seconds, he picked up the plate again.


    Just then, a clear white circle appeared on the ground, some of the fine dust in the circle quickly lining up into a pointer needle made of dust. It even had some miniscule carvings on it.


    Windling carefully checked the needle on the ground. "No, the magnetic field here shouldn¡¯t be like this. We¡¯ve walked several thousand kilometers to reach here, this direction¡­"


    Suddenly, in the circle of the ground, a new needle formed.


    Windling was slightly surprised.


    Soon, the third needle appeared as well, the fourth, the fifth, the sixth!


    A breeze blew past, and all the needles scattered and vanished.


    Windling was stunned by the sight.


    "What¡¯s the matter?" Garen had no idea what he was thinking.


    "I used our departure point as a pole, and set it as the departure point. I should be able to tell you how far we¡¯ve gone, and which direction we are in relation to the points. But now, it indicates¡­" Windling swallowed, rather at a loss for words.


    "What does it indicate?" Garen frowned.


    "It says that we haven¡¯t gone a thousand kilometers away from where we started¡­" Windling said somewhat guiltily.

 394 Lost 2

    Chapter 394: Lost 2


    "Is there a problem with your method?"


    "Impossible! This method was used in many unique locations and circumstances, it can prevent most interference. There can''t be a problem!" Windling retorted immediately.


    Garen fell silent as well. Frowning, he looked around himself. This was the tallest building in the vicinity, so they had a good vantage point to see how everything is going nearby.


    There was nobody in this whole part of the city, not a soul in sight. It was utterly quiet.


    "There were so many Aberrated people outside the city, so why can''t we find anything at all in here?" Garen said softly.


    "Shall we go down and check?" Windling glanced at Garen. I suspect this isn''t where we wanted to go, Veivar."


    "Under these circumstances, the best method is to find the sign of a famous shop, or post on message boards and the like." Garen nodded.


    He looked around his surroundings, and quickly locked onto a target, releasing two Black clouds that enveloped the two of them once more and flew downwards.


    Flying in mid-air, the buildings next to them were more than ten stories tall, the windows all pitch black like many dead and quiet empty holes, emitting a chilly cold.


    The two of them landed soundly on the corner of the street, in front of an announcement wall.


    On the mud-yellow wall, there were some torn newspapers and notices. Some had mostly fallen off, some were still considered whole, while others were covered with red graffiti.


    The two of them split up to survey the notices.


    "Found it!" Windling tore a small piece of newspaper from the wall. He began reading the words on it out loud.


    "Gudan City, modified file number twenty-three, could all the infected please go to the nearest hospital at your soonest convenience to join the headcount, and receive a free vaccination. For those specially infected¡­ Most of the back part is missing." Windling raised his head. "Gudan City? I''ve heard of the city before, it''s the biggest and most prosperous city in this country, even bigger than the capital."


    "Where is it, roughly?" Garen asked in a low voice.


    "It''s on our way. No, wait, I calculated our speed, there¡¯s no way we only flew such a short distance after so long." Windling was confused.


    "Be it Veivar or this Gudan City, they''re both large cities that belong to this Nevis Empire. After the riot last time, how has the situation been in this country?"


    Windling shook his head.


    "I never heard about anyone appearing from this country. After the riots, everyone''s focus went to the larger countries. Who would give a damn about these small countries? Even less so for a tiny territory like Nevis, where it''s basically a country within a country. What do we do now?"


    "We¡¯ll check around this place for a bit, and find out exactly what had happened here," Garen replied calmly.


    The sky had already gone utterly dark.


    Everything around them was somewhat dim, and unclear.


    Windling took out two flints from his waist pouch and a small assemblable torch.


    Once he put the tip of the torch onto a wooden bat, it became a small and simple torch.


    "This torch is a specialty only I have, it can burn for five hours at once, and that¡¯s the minimum! And the materials are easier to find too, so it¡¯s very convenient," Windling said somewhat proudly.


    He started knocking the two flint stones together.


    Psst-psst¡­ psst-psst¡­


    "Eh? Why isn¡¯t it lighting up?" He picked up the flints to check, somewhat curiously.


    "Let me try." Garen took a match from his pouch.


    Psst!


    The match brushed past the striking surface, and didn¡¯t release any sparks whatsoever.


    "Eh?" Garen was slightly surprised. "Did it get damp?"


    "I know an illumination tactic, I can illuminate temporarily for ten minutes." Windling was also beginning to sense something amiss.


    The surroundings were getting darker and darker, until they couldn¡¯t see any slits in the clouds at all. The dark clouds grew thicker. There was no moon, no stars. It was as though the whole city was slowly being swallowed by the darkness.


    Windling acted quickly, a small white light appearing on the tip of his finger as he quickly drew out simple tactic gestures in the air.


    Psst!


    After a light sound, the glyphs scattered in the air.


    "Something¡¯s not right! I can¡¯t use the illumination tactic!" Windling¡¯s voice increased by eight degrees, as he tried desperately again to make it work.


    Garen noticed something was wrong too. The surroundings were getting darker and darker, and now they couldn¡¯t light a flame for illumination. This didn¡¯t seem like a coincidence.


    Windling was still unable to make a light, be it with totems or an actual flame, neither could light up anything.


    "This place doesn¡¯t seem to allow any light," Garen said lowly. "Let¡¯s get out of here first!"


    "Okay!" Windling felt something was off too.


    The two of them were wrapped in the black mist, and they took off into rapid flight, flying towards the outskirts of the city.


    Before the whole city turned pitch black, the two of them quickly exited the city wall perimeters.


    Psst!!


    Windling kept repeating the gestures for the illumination tactic, and as soon as they left the city, the illumination gestures he carved out instantly shone with a white light.


    "It worked!!"


    A ball of light was suspended quietly in the air between the two of them.


    "One of my totems is a fire elemental, so I can use it for illumination. I just don¡¯t know why, we can¡¯t light anything inside the city."


    Garen didn¡¯t reply, and just stared dazedly towards the direction of Gudan City, where they had just come from.


    Windling turned around to look, shocked.


    The whole city area was completely empty, it was practically a stretch of deserted plains. There weren¡¯t any buildings or city walls there, nothing at all!


    Only a few lonely small trees were planted there, looking as though they could die of dehydration at any time.


    "Where¡¯s Gudan City?" Windling¡¯s expression was pure shock.


    "I don¡¯t know¡­" Garen shook his head slowly. He took in a deep breath. "Could it be that everything we saw just now was an illusion?"


    "Impossible!" Windling shook his head determinedly. "Let¡¯s look around," he suggested directly.


    Garen nodded.


    Wrapped in the black mist, they began to patrol the area.


    The moon and stars were visible in the sky once more, the faint light shining down and scattering onto this piece of ground. There were no cities, no buildings, and even those Aberrated people from before were nowhere to be seen.


    As though everything they had seen in the daytime was an illusion.


    The two of them wouldn''t give up, so they turned around and searched again. All the Aberrated people they had seen in the daytime were all vanished, not a single one remaining.


    Garen actually already had a hypothesis in mind.


    Unlike Windling, he had experienced the paranormal phenomena of Grindor twice, and after this strange encounter, he quickly found a possible counterpart from the Grindor legends.


    Ghost City, a strange city from Grindor legend.


    Anyone could enter and leave in the daytime, but once it got to the night, the city would disappear completely, entering an unknown darkness. If anyone didn''t manage to leave before the darkness fell, they would remain forever in the city. Nobody knew where they went, nobody knew where the Ghost City came from. The next day, the Ghost City would remain as empty as ever, still as a grave.


    According to legends, after figuring out how dangerous the Ghost City was, the aging hero Morgster brought the Lost Chain given to him by his wife, Starry Night Queen. After entering the Ghost City, he never came back out. That was also the ending point for his adventurous life. The great hero, who could even stand up against the Earth Mother¡¯s five sons, finally fell in this Ghost City, full of the unknown. And the Ghost City quickly disappeared as well, leaving behind only a mysterious legend.


    Garen thought back to this legend, feeling vaguely grateful. Thank goodness the two of them were decisive enough, and quickly left Gudan City before the light disappeared completely. If even a deified hero couldn¡¯t leave Ghost City, it was practically the most mysterious and dangerous place to be. If they really got involved, who knew what would happen.


    "It¡¯s another black copper phenomenon¡­" Windling looked down at the empty space beneath them, his gaze complicated as he said, "These strange phenomena caused by the black copper, we call them black copper phenomena. No one knows which direction this world will go in the end. From the moment black copper was discovered, this world was destined to change."


    "Black copper¡­" Garen was thoughtful.


    "What do we do now?" Windling splayed his hands, indicating that he was completely at a dead end.


    After a moment¡¯s musing.


    "Continue with our original quest, then. Although we don¡¯t know why we¡¯ve only made such little progress, things still need to be done." Garen replied.


    After a pause, he finally took one last glance at the empty space where Gudan City had been.


    "Perhaps once everything is over, we might still come back here."


    "Well, I don¡¯t wanna come back." Windling continued immediately. "If you wanna come back, you do it yourself. You can tell just with one look that this place is more than dangerous."


    Garen was too lazy to reply.


    The two clouds of black mist surrounded them, and they flew at high speeds in their original direction.


    *********************


    Amidst some white mountains, far away from Garen and Windling.


    Somewhere among the snow-tipped mountains.


    On the white mountain slopes, on the white snowy ground, there were large black trees scattered sparsely, some in a straight line, others standing alone. Large sharp mountain rocks created a broken black surface amidst the snow.


    The black trees and white snow mingled, as though the peak here only had two monochromatic colors.


    The black rocks and soil, the black cedars and weeds, were embedded in the white snow. As though the pure white wool carpet was splashed with black mud.


    Under the large swathes of white snow, in a gap between the layers of snow, a young woman dressed all in white was lying with her eyes slightly closed, as though she was in a state of hibernation.


    The woman was hugging a dark golden round wristband in her arms, many black tactic glyphs carved densely into the bracelet. These glyphs looked independent, but some were strangely linked up, like a pitch black bracelet-shaped snake. The snake¡¯s eyes were two embedded green diamond shards, emitting an eerie green light.


    Avici hadn¡¯t eaten for four days, and was hanging on with solely the little bit of pure water she carried around with her.


    She hid under the snow, restraining all her body¡¯s aura, even slowing her heartbeat down to the barest minimum. This was to reduce the smell of her body and her metabolism, to bring all her living processes as low as they could go.


    As an elite researcher with the Geometry Service, her results in the wilderness survival training class were the best. She just had to send this heirloom into the hands of the receiving teacher from the Geometry Service, and her quest would be complete.


    As for when the receiving teacher would arrive, she had no clue.


    What she did know now was that the people from Black Sky were still looking for her on the surface. Or perhaps there were other desperadoes trying their luck, also on the lookout for her. Even the Secret Service, another one of the three departments, were part of the search party.


    If the National Service weren¡¯t so low on manpower, there would be another batch of people searching for Avici.

 395 See the End 1

    Chapter 395: See the End 1


    She didn¡¯t know what the situation was like outside, were there still so many people outside? Are those damned black dogs still constantly sniffing for her trace on the snow? Wouldn¡¯t that Robina from Black Sky have gotten more and more helpers?


    Avici¡¯s mind was half awake and half asleep.


    She could only wait, leaving fate up to God. If the people from the Geometry Service didn¡¯t find her before the enemy did, then what awaited her may be a fate even crueler than death.


    *****************


    Several days later¡­


    In the sky above the snowy peaks, several pitch black flying birds kept darting around, patrolling the scene beneath them. The birds were as big as sparrows, but eerily, they had two front limbs like scythes, like a sharp tweezer.


    They swam through the savage winds soundlessly, as though they were barely affected by the force of the wind at all.


    On the edge of an ice cliff at the snowy peak, there were several figures in black standing.


    They gathered together in a circle, with a large black metal pot between them, an emerald green potion rippling inside.


    Strangely, scenes of the geography and scenery around the snowy peaks appeared on the surface of the potion, as though it was a green sandbox.


    The lay of the land on the surface even kept changing minutely, it was unbelievably realistic[1], as though they were looking down from above in the sky.


    "The people from the department are coming. Swanke, you still can¡¯t find ¡®em?" A person in black asked softly, speaking in accented Enderian, as though he wasn¡¯t very familiar with it.


    "I searched the whole mountains, but I still can¡¯t find a trace of that fellow, those are some decent hiding skills." The other man in black shook his head and replied, "What about the others? A lot of people seemed to have come since then, are they trying to muddle our eyes or take advantage of the situation?"


    "They¡¯re probably adventurers here to try their luck. There are monster herds everywhere here. To think they could break past the defense line and get in as well, we oughta be slightly more careful."


    "Got it, inform Robina."


    "Sure."


    **************************


    On another area in these snowy peaks, on the snowy white slope, there were many little dots scattered about. Some were red dots, some were black dots, but most were little white dots.


    These dots were so many delicate little totems, rabbits, foxes, squirrels, mice¡­ There were all sorts of totems.


    They ran about and darted into holes everywhere, as though they were constantly searching for something.


    There was a white flying squirrel sprawled on a black-robed man¡¯s shoulder, as he walked on the snowy ground with one leg sinking deeper into the snow than the other. A thick white smoke was breathed out of his mouth, and his feet made clear crunching sounds as they stepped into the snow, leaving deep footprints.


    uddenly he stopped in his tracks, and cast his eye about his surroundings, vaguely seeing the figures of adventurers in the distance amidst the forest of cedar trees.


    "Damned stink beetles!" He cursed under his breath, these adventurers were all desperadoes who had survived different places, and they were always unreliable with questionable courage. But after the batch of new adventurers joined in, the situation became slightly complicated.


    These new adventurers were led by a man called Bloodhand, he was cunning and crafty, and decently powerful. He also seemed to have excellent hiding skills, avoiding a direct confrontation with their Black Sky.


    But these people obviously hadn¡¯t found that little fellow either. Otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t be following them so closely.


    The man in black relaxed a little.


    Suddenly he stopped his steps slightly, his right hand reaching into his pocket, like he was pressing something. He closed his eyes, as though listening to something.


    Abruptly, he raised his head to look at the sky, his expression slowly changing.


    He began to retreat, step by step.


    "Uh-oh¡­ This is trouble¡­ Celine, inform everyone, retreat!"


    "What¡¯s the matter?" A woman¡¯s voice came from his pocket.


    "I think it¡¯s the people from the Geometry Service, they¡¯re here." The man in black looked up at the sky in front of him, and three red dots were flying towards them rapidly.


    The red dots grew larger and larger, clearer and clearer.


    After clearly seeing the new arrival¡¯s face, the man in black took a sharp intake of breath.


    "Everyone! Retreat retreat retreat!! It¡¯s Hellfire!! If you can¡¯t make it in time, hide!"


    The man in black¡¯s retreating footsteps grew faster and more panicked. As though he was drawing out a clear black line in the snow. The footsteps under his feet kept forming a line, retreating towards the distance behind him.


    Psst-psst!


    The three red dots instantly reached the position right above the place where the man in black had been standing.


    It was three men and women in red robes, two men and one woman, led by a middle-aged man with red hair.


    There was a slight killing intent between his eyes, his gaze scanning the traces left beneath him.


    "You dare touch the people from our Geometry Service! Looks like it¡¯s been too long since we walked the earth, and some people have forgotten the scars from back then."


    "Teacher[2], we should look for Junior Sister first," the other woman in red said in a low voice.


    The middle-aged man nodded, and then looked at the young man.


    The latter nodded.


    "My little friends are already determining the situation. The ones searching here are the adventurers and Obscuro, the noteworthy ones are Bloodhead and the five-man Ring of Gluttony team from Obscuro. Also, I found the other juniors who had lost contact with Avici. They were hiding underneath a snow hill, and haven¡¯t eaten any cooked food for three days."


    Bam!


    A ball of crimson flames exploded from the middle-aged man¡¯s hand.


    "Those damned, harebrained brats!" He seemed to be squeezing the words out of his clenched teeth. "You guys go receive those poor little things."


    "Then Teacher, you¡­"


    "Of course I¡¯ll show those idiots with a death wish what pain tastes like! Sometimes death is a lot kinder than living¡­" The middle-aged man said, his expression cold.


    Balls of flames burned in mid-air, surrounding the middle-aged man inside.


    He was just about to leave, and take his revenge on those enemies who had dared to defile the honor of his department.


    Suddenly his eyes narrowed, looking directly at the trees to his left.


    "Come out!" he roared in a low voice.


    From among the cedar forest, two mysterious figures, completely black, walked out slowly.


    The man in front pulled away his hood, revealing a head of golden hair, cascading over his shoulder. His face was handsome, his skin fair. The most eye-catching part, however, were the three marks like cinnabar dots between his brows.


    "The Secret Service?"


    "Hellfire?"


    The two of them spoke at the same time.


    The other person¡¯s expression was relaxed and carefree, as though he had just come out for a stroll after dinner.


    "You guys only know how to hide in the cracks, so why are you here now too? Don¡¯t tell me you want the Heirloom of Greed too?" Hellfire said coldly. He had no good feelings for the Secret Service at all.


    Unlike the National Service and the Geometry Service, the inner workings of the Secret Service were bloody and cruel, full of cunning and deceit. Although they were all part of the three departments. But the Secret Service¡¯s feelers reached everywhere, and their information network was all over the place, completely unpredictable.


    Compared to those adorable students in the Geometry Service, Hellfire began to hate those shadow hounds, without any quality of nobility, more and more. They were like wild wolves who had caught the scent of rotting flesh, their traces could be seen everywhere.


    It wasn¡¯t just him, the two people next to him also had expressions of wariness. Staring hard at the golden-haired man who had just shown up.


    "It¡¯s the Eight Headed Cloud Crow Garen. A noble from Kovistan. He¡¯s very strong." The young man in red moved his lips slightly, reducing his voice so only Hellfire could hear him.


    Hellfire nodded almost imperceptibly.


    "We would never give you guys the heirloom!" He yelled loudly at the people opposite. "We sacrificed so much, and it¡¯s already in our hands! This is the fruit of our Geometry."


    Garen¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change.


    "The quest I accepted was to retrieve the heirloom, it doesn¡¯t concern me whose hands the item is in." He said calmly, as though everything was only natural.


    Hellfire¡¯s eyes reddened, and he immediately repressed his anger.


    "Very well, we¡¯ll settle the conflicts outside first, and then I¡¯ll come experience Your Excellency¡¯s techniques."


    "That was my intention as well." Garen slowly retreated, and disappeared into the cedar forest together with the other person.


    Seeing the other party retreat, Hellfire¡¯s expression grew more displeased.


    "Teacher, you don¡¯t need to worry. At least before we settle all the outsider enemies, the Secret Service won¡¯t openly declare war on us." The young man in red said softly, "I just received the news, Obscuro is sending more reinforcements here. Other than the Ring of Gluttony, there¡¯s also the Ring of Greed, and the Ring of Wrath. And according to some of our newest intel, some people from Terraflor are here too."


    "Terraflor?" Hellfire¡¯s emotions began to calm down slowly. "Forget them, first go figure out what Obscuro¡¯s newly-founded Rings of Evil are made of! I¡¯d like to see, who gave them the guts to challenge the honor of the Geometry Service!!"


    "Teacher, you¡¯re not thinking of fooling around again, are you¡­" The red-robed woman said hurriedly.


    "Relax." Hellfire raised his hand, indicating that she didn¡¯t need to worry.


    He looked at the direction Garen and the other had disappeared to, and raised his hand abruptly.


    Psst!


    A line of fire shot from his hand, flying straight into the white pine forest before vanishing.


    ************


    In the pine forest.


    Garen looked at the group of people in white bowing politely at him, these people in white all looked a mess, their expressions exhausted, but they seemed to be very excited about his arrival.


    "So you¡¯re saying we lost quite a few people from the Secret Service in this operation?"


    "Yes." The leader of the people in white lowered his head and said guiltily. "Lord Cloud Crow, Obscuro¡¯s men would want nothing more than to turn the snowy peaks upside down, they come at any of us Secret Service members with the intention to kill! We couldn¡¯t avoid them completely either."


    Garen touched his chin, thinking wordlessly.


    "Boss, it must have been because you were a burden and held them back."


    Windling threw in a few jibes from the side.


    How many of Obscuro¡¯s people had the two of them killed outside? General-level, Field-level, this hit-and-run method caused many of Obscuro¡¯s plans to fail before they started, so of course they would be mad.


    In fact, most of Garen¡¯s reputation was built on casualties from Obscuro.


    Looking at the messed-up subordinates from the Secret Service, Garen couldn¡¯t help but shake his head slightly.


    Suddenly there was a clear sound from behind. A line of fire shot through the pine forest, headed straight for Garen.


    Pom!


    Garen raised his hand and caught the flying fire thread, the flames stopping in his hands and revealing its true shape. It was a cube-shaped red jade, with inscriptions like glyphs and figures carved onto it.


    Hellfire¡¯s voice came straight from the red jade.


    "Eight Headed Cloud Crow, you and I will split this snowy peak half-half. We¡¯ll settle the matter of the heirloom internally after cleaning up here, what do you think?" His voice was strangely clear.


    "Perfect for me. I want east."


    "Then I¡¯ll take west."


    Translator¡¯s notes:


    The raws say ¡®ÕæÊÇÎޱȡ¯, but I¡¯m pretty sure it¡¯s ÕæʵÎÞ±È.


    Lit. µ¼Ê¦, so ¡®master¡¯ doesn¡¯t work but ¡®tutor¡¯ or ¡®coach¡¯ sounds weird.

 396 See the End 2

    Chapter 396: See the End 2


    The voice instantly dimmed down.


    Boom!!


    Suddenly, a huge red cloud exploded from Hellfire¡¯s direction.


    The red cloud expanded first, and then quickly shrunk and was compressed, becoming a huge red bird more than thirty meters long.


    "Those who dare defy we the Geometry Service, face the wrath of Hellfire!!" The enormous voice reverberated in the sky over the whole west side of the snowy peak.


    Squeee!!


    The red bird flapped its wings, screeching loudly.


    Instantly, large swathes of red clouds starting emanating from its body, shooting away in all directions, like so many red threads, almost lifelike in the sky above the snowy peak.


    It was as though these lines of fire had a mind of their own, searching everywhere for enemies who didn¡¯t belong with the three departments.


    Soon enough, there were irrepressible screams and shrieks of shock.


    Every time these lines of fire touched anything living, they would be completely enveloped and ignited into flames, becoming so many torches of fire.


    The sky above the snowy peak was mostly covered by the red clouds, like the fiery clouds of twilight!


    "Hellfire Monchetto!! Don¡¯t think we from Obscuro are afraid of you!!"


    A furious old voice came from somewhere else.


    Garen saw his subordinates from the Secret Service looking at him expectantly.


    Although the three departments were forbidden from infighting, there was evidently some competition between them, and neither side wanted to lose to the other in terms of presence.


    He smiled slightly, stretching out his right hand, the black pocket watch twined around his wrist hanging down.


    Boom!!!


    A large gust of black air rushed into the sky. It rapidly scattered into countless black cloud crows, flying into the air in flocks and making piercing squawks.


    The large flocks of black crows rapidly scattered together with the black mist, quickly dominating the entire west side of the sky, forming a stark contrast against the bright red clouds in the east. One black and one red, the two sides were like two huge and tightly neighboring screens, neither giving way to the other.


    "The Secret Service is clearing out here, if you don¡¯t want to die then leave these snowy peaks!"


    The Secret Service members at the side stared, mouths gaping.


    The elite fighters from the Secret Service were never this showy and arrogant, to the point of challenging the enemy head-on.


    The Secret Service dealt mainly with assassinations, and not a single one of them had been as open as Garen was being now, releasing his energy and letting the enemy see his exact location.


    At first they thought Garen would lead them to secretly get rid of these damned pursuers. But now¡­


    For some reason, though, this feeling wasn¡¯t too bad either¡­


    There were the flames of excitement in everyone¡¯s eyes.


    The sky full of black crows, a huge presence of power, this was all from their very own leader/ This was the legendary peak-level fighter, who had a title of his own!!


    Just then, all of the people from the Secret Service had a new and fresh emotion, one they never felt before.


    *****************


    The huge red cloud bird in the distance looked towards the flocks of black crows, a hint of surprise in its eyes.


    "Eight Headed Clouded Crow? I think I kinda like this guy now. To think the Secret Service has someone who likes to fight face-on as well."


    "What an attitude."


    Somewhere in the snow on the peaks, several people in black robes and red masks looked up to see the red clouds and black crows.


    One of them had a hoarse voice underneath that mask.


    "How pretty, I like huge scenes like this." One of the other voices was very gentle, like a rather young woman.


    "Don¡¯t bother with all that, hurry up with the arrangements, don¡¯t delay the plan."


    Another person reminded softly, with also a woman¡¯s voice, but hers sounded deeper and raspier.


    The three didn¡¯t say any more, hurriedly walking towards a secret place amidst the snowy peaks.


    Boom! Boom! Boom!!


    Huge explosions kept coming from the area covered by the red clouds.


    Some completely blackened survivors stumbled out under the protection of their totems, running down towards the foot of the hill. Some even had limbs blasted off. They didn¡¯t even dare to turn around, running directly down the peak. Looks like there were several dozens of them.


    In comparison, from the area covered by the black crows, there were only a handful of escapees. The rest vanished without a trace.


    The squawking of the cloud crows was drowned in the sound of the explosions, until all that could be heard was the vague screaming from inside.


    ******************


    In the following two days.


    Garen and Hellfire used their respective large-scale attacks, clearing up most of the weaker guys around, and then they reined in their power again. The remaining groups were not people that could be easily destroyed by large-scale attacks.


    These remaining groups had tactics that could gather everyone¡¯s power, enough to hide and avoid the highly diluted spread of attacks.


    Somewhere on the west side of the snowy peaks.


    Several black lines blasted into the snowy ground in front of them.


    Soon enough, the black lines threaded out, flying back into Garen¡¯s hands.


    Fresh and gory blood oozed slowly out of the snowy ground.


    "How¡¯s it like on Windling¡¯s side?" Garen raised his leg and walked slowly ahead. This was how he had destroyed several hiding spots over these past few days.


    "Lord Windling¡¯s side has settled four hiding spots." There were two people following beside Garen, both subordinates from the Secret Service and in charge of the operation this time.


    They were one man and one woman, both rather young. Looks like they were just raised to this position recently.


    Garen nodded. "Let¡¯s go to the next spot. These people won¡¯t give up until the end."


    "Yes, sir."


    Both of them were vaguely excited. They were actually siblings, the older brother and his younger sister.


    The man was Bell, and the woman was Belanie. They had joined the Secret Service together, because their home had been destroyed. In order to get revenge, they had no choice but to join the three departments, that fought the monsters and Obscuro.


    And right now, they were full of sincere admiration and respect for Garen. This feeling of sweeping over everything was too awesome, they just bulldozed through, and killed every living thing that wasn¡¯t on their side.


    If they had this power as well, when their home was destroyed, when their country was destroyed¡­ perhaps there wouldn¡¯t have been so much tragedy¡­


    ...¡­.


    "Wait!! We surrender!! We¡¯ll pay the price to pay for our lives!"


    Several people in grey walked out of a huge black boulder, yelling loudly.


    Psst-psst!


    Two black threads went through them, piercing right through their chests and splattering fountains of blood onto the snowy ground.


    "Next one!"


    Garen walked over the bodies calmly, leaving behind a person in white to deal with the bodies. The one man and one woman from the Secret Service kept following behind him.


    .....


    In the pine forest, two people in white were looking at their surroundings in surprise.


    "We had just discovered traces of the other parties here¡­ sir¡­"


    Garen raised his hand and stopped their report.


    His gaze glanced instantly at the left of the pine forest.


    "Fools!"


    Psst!


    A black crow turned into a black thread and shot out.


    There was a distortion in the air, and a woman in white armor appeared out of mid-air.


    A layer of white Totem Light appeared around the woman, but was instantly penetrated by the cloud crows.


    "Have mercy!!" She yelled loudly.


    Bang!


    A circular, bloody hole was instantly opened up in the woman¡¯s chest. She looked down blankly, staring at the bloody hole in her chest, before she fell to her knees with a whumph, and falling flat on her face.


    "Sir, we just discovered a new hiding spot¡­" A person in white ran up to Garen and reported quietly in his ear.


    After listening to the report, Garen didn¡¯t even look at the woman¡¯s corpse.


    "Let¡¯s go."


    He turned around and walked down the direction they had come.


    .....


    Rawr!!


    A huge black lion was running quickly in the snowy land. His speed was surprisingly fast, and covered over a hundred meters in the blink of an eye, sending a trail of white snow up in his wake.


    There was a knight in black armor riding on the lion. He was panting, his face bloodless, and he turned around occasionally to glance behind him.


    Behind him, a large flock of black could crows was chasing him rapidly. Black mist wrapped around Garen as he followed behind.


    Looking at the escaping black lion in front, Garen raised his hand, ready to finish the opponent in one hit. Now, opponents who weren¡¯t at least Spiritualized didn¡¯t pose any threat to him at all, and were basically like ants to him.


    Raising his right hand, the black mist slowly gathered into a black crow in his hands.


    Suddenly, Garen¡¯s movements stopped.


    His whole body suddenly stopped on the spot, and he landed onto the ground. His eyes narrowed, his long golden hair flying slightly to the left.


    "Come out, all of you."


    Garen said calmly.


    Clap-clap-clap-clap¡­


    The sound of crisp clapping came from behind Garen.


    With the sound of the clapping, five shadows in black robes and red masks slowly appeared around Garen at the same time.


    Each of them was holding a purple crystal, a smidge of silver liquid shining inside.


    "Garen Trejons, how long has it been since we met?" A familiar woman¡¯s voice came from directly in front of Garen.


    It was the two red-masked, black-robed people who walked out slowly, both women by the looks of their figures.


    The one on the left took off her mask lightly, revealing a seductive and fair face, a black eyepatch over one of her eyes, with a head of short purple hair.


    "Demetrius¡­" Garen immediately recognized the woman¡¯s voice.


    "Looks like, you¡¯re doing pretty well as an illusionist, huh?" The other woman took her mask off as well, revealing a beautiful and delicate face. Her long hair was pitch black, woven into many cylindrical curls, making her look especially graceful and noble. Most obviously, there was a purple-black diamond pattern on her right cheek, like a short dagger, entwined with snakes and tree leaves.


    "Nice to meet you, I¡¯m Antherella. I am now the NO.1 Elemental General with Black Sky."


    Garen¡¯s heart gave a jolt.


    ******************


    On the east side of the snowy peaks.


    Boom!!


    Hellfire waved his hand, his expression calm, as he blasted the snowy ground underneath him into a charred black, bloody water and fresh blood mixing together to form currents of water that were quickly frozen into red ice.


    "Monnie¡­ It¡¯s been a while, you¡¯re still as impatient as ever."


    Suddenly, there was a deep man¡¯s voice from behind him.


    Hellfire suddenly stiffened, floating in mid-air.


    This voice¡­


    "I still remember, back then when I personally helped you edit your tactic formation design, you were still only as tall as my waist." The person behind him reminisced calmly.


    Hellfire¡¯s whole body was stiff as he stood, and he turned around with great difficulty. A silhouette made of countless black clouds floated behind him. The countless black clouds were still distorting and gathering, and even rapidly gathered into a body like that of flesh and blood.


    That was a man who had a hole in each shoulder, and black chains going through those holes. The chains in his shoulders seemed to extend into the unknown, connecting to an unknown space. It was as though he was chained to the abyss.


    "Teacher¡­ God Cloud¡­" Hellfire squeezed out those words through an unbelievably dry throat.

 397 Ambush 1

    Chapter 397: Ambush 1


    The snow filling the sky slowly scattered down. Like white cotton, softly and gently.


    Amidst the snowy ground, the five people in black had Garen surrounded. The purple crystals in their hands were emitting a faint silver light.


    The purple light slowly formed a semi-circular membrane of purple, slowly enveloping Garen in the center as they stretched to merge above the top of his head.


    Garen raised his hand, but couldn¡¯t move an inch. Before he had noticed it, many translucent silver strings had penetrated his whole body.


    His arms, the backs of his hands, his shoulders, knees, all his joints were being yanked at by those silk threads.


    The source of these silk threads was a black-haired woman in front of those people in black.


    "Poison again¡­" The crimson mark on Garen¡¯s brow looked like it was about to drip blood.


    Antherella smiled lightly. "Honeysuckle poison, enough dosage to fatally kill a beast twice. Aren¡¯t you already starting to feel weak, and isn¡¯t your Totem Light already diminishing?"


    Garen didn¡¯t speak.


    Antherella¡¯s voice grew more gentle.


    "Honeysuckle poison isn¡¯t that powerful, but when mixed with the existing poison in your body, it becomes a brand new, more powerful, and even more stubborn poison."


    "If I recall correctly, the strongest Elemental General among you Obscuro in the East Continent uses ice, right?" Garen said calmly.


    Antherella¡¯s expression flashed with a hint of unnaturalness. But she immediately recovered. "Ice, is it? That traitor has already been confined to a lightless prison, for revealing Society secrets and ruining the Marshall¡¯s plan, acting out of order. That is his fate."


    "In other words, you lucked into this NO.1 position, huh?" Garen¡¯s lips curved, his expression contemptuous.


    Antherella¡¯s expression grew unfriendly.


    "You¡¯ll be our prisoner soon, and yet you speak insolently!"


    Bzz!


    Just then, the purple membrane of light finally closed up above his head, emitting a strange buzzing sound.


    In the veil of light, looking from above, a silver needle appeared in the entire circle, turning slowly in the light veil.


    Like a silver clock.


    And Garen was locked in this clock, the silk threads around his body disappearing, The clock needle brushed past his body, looking illusory but vaguely taking a wisp of black air away from him.


    "This is the heirloom, Primal Needle." Antherella laughed daintily, "Eight Headed Cloud Crow, this heirloom is activated by the combined power of five of Obscuro¡¯s carefully chosen Elemental Generals, it¡¯s not something the forgery in your hands can imitate."


    "You really did luck into the number one position, don¡¯t tell me you think you¡¯ve won already?" Garen¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change.


    "Are you saying I¡¯m wrong?"


    "I think I know now, why you¡¯re still scared of ice to this day." Garen¡¯s expression was contemptuous again.


    Boom!!


    Large clouds of black mist surged out of the pocket watch in his hand, about to gather into the form of a black crow.


    But strangely, before the black crow could form, the silver needle brushed past it, and took away most of the black mist.


    The silver needle was like a vacuum, rapidly absorbing most of the black mist.


    Garen was shocked, and quickly pulled back the watch¡¯s black mist, but he was still rather late by now, the watch looked slightly dimmer. This forgery heirloom had a constant amount of black mist inside, and could only be refilled using certain special methods, but now that so much has been absorbed away, the power of the pocket watch would have instantly fallen by a large chunk.


    "Do you still think something that had come out of our hands like that would work?" Demetrius said coldly from the side.


    "Do you think you can keep me contained just like this? How ignorant!" Garen¡¯s expression was cold.


    He raised his hand and pointed forward.


    Rawr!!!


    Two invisible dragon jaws rammed mercilessly into the purple membrane.


    Crack¡­


    The light membrane shook a little, but didn¡¯t move.


    Four dragon jaws rammed into the same direction again.


    Bang! ...Bzzz¡­


    The sound of the impact kept reverberating throughout the light barrier.


    Garen¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change, and was about to bring in more dragon jaws. But he suddenly felt weaker.


    "Don¡¯t waste your strength, in order to capture you, we¡¯ve set up large-scale tactic formations all over this area, almost a thousand meters in all. There are even about a hundred General-level and Field-level Obscuro members outside. With so many people working together, even you can¡¯t possibly get away so easily. Now we just need to wait for our Commander to settle matters on the other side, and then come destroy you with his own hands!"


    Garen¡¯s expression was beginning to waver. The poison had taken away half of his dragon heads, and now there were so many people gathering their power in this tactic formation.


    "One more time!"


    A flame of fury was burning in his heart. A neon red light lit up on his brow.


    The four dragon heads instantly appeared from the void, bringing with them the four other drastically weakened dragon heads, and the huge body of the Eight Headed Dragon was suddenly squeezed into the purple light barrier.


    It climbed out of the void, as though about to burst the small purple membrane open at the seams.


    Rawr!!


    The Eight Headed Dragon raised its heads and roared, the huge sound spreading out in all directions, but it was reflected back in full upon hitting the purple membrane. Reverberating back and forth within the light membrane.


    The whole light membrane began buzzing and vibrating intensely, emitting unnatural cracking sounds.


    The five Elemental Generals were beginning to grow impatient, turning their gazes on Antherella.


    Antherella¡¯s expression changed slightly, throwing a glance at Demetrius¡¯ direction beside her.


    The latter immediately understood, and held a strangely black dagger in his hand, tossing it lightly towards Garen¡¯s direction.


    The dagger flew in a beautiful arc, spinning as it landed on the purple light barrier, and actually sank into the light in an instant, vanishing completely.


    The light barrier had initially shown cracks, but now it stabilized rapidly.


    But just then, the sound vibration in the light barrier had already become several crests and valleys of waves.


    Just then, Garen sneered contemptuously, the red light on his brow growing brighter.


    He bent his finger, and slowly flicked it against the light barrier.


    Clang!!


    This sound just happened to be on the highest wave crest.


    Ker-chack¡­ Bwah!


    With a crisp sound, the whole light barrier collapsed and shattered, a red figure shooting out in an instant, headed straight for Antherella.


    Garen¡¯s eyes glowed with a crimson light, his left hand darting out straight like a snake, biting the opponent¡¯s neck with unnatural speed!


    Bzz!!!


    A white Totem Light appeared around Antherella, and she had no time to react at all, rapidly retreating by instinct alone.


    Psst!!!


    Garen¡¯s left hand pierced through her neck in an instant. The Totem Light couldn¡¯t withstand that pierce at all, that bloody red light completely unstoppable, like a tragedy.


    Just then, Antherella¡¯s body actually began to disappear slowly, vanishing into nothing.


    His attack didn¡¯t hit, so Garen retreated hastily. He hit a tree beside him with a backhanded fist.


    Ker-chak!!


    The tree trunk exploded from the middle, countless wooden shards flying backwards like bullets.


    Mmgh!


    There was a groan from behind him.


    The huge shadow of the huge Eight Headed Dragon appeared behind Garen again, opening its four jaws and biting towards the four Elemental Generals around him.


    Strangely, the dragon jaws closed with a clatter, and had bitten down into nothing, not reaching the Elemental Generals at all.


    "Illusionists¡­" Garen didn¡¯t turn around, merely cocking his head slightly.


    Behind him, a man in similar black robes was slowly appearing behind him. He was also wearing a red mask, but his hand was on his chest, as he coughed lowly. There were actually several wooden shards embedded in his chest.


    The people around him looked at Garen in shock. He could break the purple light barrier with only his body, and even the wooden shards he broke out could injure the illusionist!!


    Antherella imperceptibly took a slight step back. Looking at the blonde man standing in the center, there was a feeling of dread in her heart.


    A small black bat appeared on her shoulder, soundlessly, completely unmoving as though it was dead.


    "Second Form!"


    She roared loudly and suddenly.


    Instantly, the countless shards of purple light gathered in her hands, like the whirlpool in a purple ocean, sucking everything around her inside.


    In the blink of an eye, there was a purple-black scimitar in Antherella¡¯s hand, its blade embedded with countless thorns of purple crystal, while the sword¡¯s handle was like a living thing, squirming constantly, as though it was four spiders tangled together in a hug.


    "Demonic Blade Kunta!!" A general gasped from somewhere. But Antherella couldn¡¯t bother with all this now, the moment the Demonic Blade appeared, and the purple light faded, she was shocked to see Garen¡¯s face appear in front of her. His demonic and bloody left hand was about to touch her nose. No! That was not a hand! That was a sort of incomparably sharp claw, Antherella could even smell the blood and odor from it.


    Without any thinking whatsoever, she swung the Demonic Blade hurriedly.


    Psst!!


    A circle of purple waves rapidly spread from the center, and it was everything slowed down.


    The trees instantly became shards, and the rocks also became powder. The snowy ground, the black soil, everything instantly shattered into pieces.


    The waves moved extremely quickly, not giving anyone any time to react.


    But someone was even faster than that!


    Garen somersaulted a few times in the air, the black light formation appearing for only an instant underneath his feet so he could use the momentum to land steadily on a shard of tree bark nearby.


    As soon as he steadied his footing, and intense vibration of soundwaves spread out with him at the center.


    Roar!!!


    It was the Dragon Roar!


    Demetrius and the others, who were about to give chase, suddenly felt their eyes blur, and were instantly shocked to see Garen appear before their eyes.


    Bang-bang-bang!!


    Three dull sounds, and the three Elemental Generals were instantly hit. They were sent flying far, and no one knew if they were dead or alive.


    Demetrius was extremely shocked, and started retreating rapidly. But she saw Garen¡¯s face appear in front of her again.


    "Blackhorn!!" She yelled out of instinct.


    A Black-horned Unicorn rushed out from behind her, going through her as though an illusion, and crashed towards Garen mercilessly.


    Squee-eee!!


    The Unicorn¡¯s cry mingled with the sound of Garen¡¯s claw tearing through the air.


    Boom!!


    A huge tremor spread out, and the Black-horned Unicorn cried out tragically, instantly becoming dots of black light that scattered and vanished.


    Demetrius watched in despair as the red claw reached for her brow.


    "No!!" Antherella¡¯s scream of terror came from nearby, but it still seemed so, so very far away.


    "Save me¡­ Big Sister¡­" Demetrius wanted to speak, but couldn¡¯t make a sound. In that instant, it was as though time was stretched and stretched, infinitely.

 398 Ambush 2

    Chapter 398: Ambush 2


    "Hmm?"


    While midair, God Cloud single handedly carried the unconscious hellfire, his eyes pointed toward the far end of the battlefield.


    There was a hint of surprise within his eyes.


    "Eight-headed Cloud Crow?"


    He smirked at the corner of his lips, as he pointed with his right hand.


    Fuuuuu!


    A black chain suddenly flew out from his hands, and disappeared into a void.


    *************************


    The sharp claws touched Demetrius¡¯ neck slightly.


    Garen¡¯s expression changed all of all of a sudden, and he retreated without hesitation.


    Jii Jii Jii! With three successive evasions, he appeared several metres away in a flash, counterattacking with a palm strike


    Bam!


    The demonic blade clashed fiercely with the red claws, but it was not a frontal impact but a mere redirection, causing it to miss. Garen smirked, his free right hand cast a bolt of lightning.


    Bam!


    The Totem¡¯s Light on Antharella¡¯s abdomen shattered, she was pushed back lightly from the impact. Large volumes of blood spewed from her mouth, the skin on her abdomen quickly turned to a charred black with signs of burns, which smoking fumes with clear palm-shaped brand on her abdomen.


    Swish!


    At this moment, multiple black chains appeared suddenly, right under Garen¡¯s Totem¡¯s Light, which bound him tightly.


    Ancelora tried her best to swing her blade.


    "Kunta!!" She roared.


    That tremendous horrid quake happened again. Its power was actually several times stronger than before!


    Garen¡¯s expression changed, this tremendous force was enough to threaten him.


    "Die!!!" Antharella¡¯s berserked blade fell upon Garen¡¯s face. The vibration condensed and closed inwards, like a bent ray of purple light.


    Bam!


    In a loud thump, Garen¡¯s head was shattered, splattering into a paste of blackish-red mixture of flesh and bones.


    Purple rays of light scattered, releasing a bright flare in an instant, blinding everyone in the vicinity.


    The black chains were also completely released due to the impact. Garen¡¯s body exploded into smithereens, turning into a blackish-red pool of body parts, splattered across the snowy grounds.


    Oddly, Garen¡¯s silhouette appeared once again at the forest nearby. He seemed completely fine, backstepping quickly away.


    In the air, countless dark clouds congregated and formed on God Cloud¡¯s body.


    He calmly looked at Garen from afar.


    "Running, eh?"


    He extended his arms and clenched his fists, multiple black chains instantly appeared from the void; shooting towards Garen with overwhelming density.


    Hua huaaaa¡­..


    In an instant, the entire sky was filled with the loud noise of clashing chains rubbing into each other.


    A bit of fresh blood leaked from the mark between Garen¡¯s brows, and he looked at God Cloud, who was far away in midair. Garen raised a pointed finger at him.


    A giant scarlet silhouette appeared behind Garen. The attribute points that he had accumulated over a long period were all instantly added to Intelligence.


    The Eight-headed Dragon roared ferociously, the growth on its back popped, and a golden colored dragon head shot out, ferociously rushing towards the chains.


    Roar!!


    The golden dragon head howled, the other eight dragon heads regained their vitality and simultaneously flew towards the sky-filling chains.


    In that instant, the Nine-Headed Dragon clashed ferociously with the countless chains. Numerous dragon roars and the clashing of chains filled the air around them.


    A loud thump echoed throughout the snowy mountain cap.


    The large snow cap exploded, bringing down large volumes of snow, crushed boulders and uprooted trees.


    From afar, it seemed as though the white mountain top was sliced by an unfathomable force; it''s broken upper half exploded into countless bits of debris.


    A giant red nine-headed dragon was entrenched in the mountain top, its nine heads howled all at once. Countless chains were bound onto it, much like a trapped demon dragon from the folklores!


    In an instant, the demon dragon secreted a translucent liquid akin to blood plasma. These plasma flowed along the chains, completely dyeing them red.


    Pa! Pa! Pa pa!!


    The chains broke one by one, as though the plasma corroded them loose.


    Roar!!!


    The Nine-Headed Demon Dragon roared once again, Badum!!


    With a humongous bang, the Demon Dragon turned into extremely luminous crimson rays, so bright they outshined the sun itself for an instant, casting the entire mountain valley in a shade of red.


    Garen¡¯s silhouette was moving quickly towards the right side of the mountain, and vanished from the horizon.


    "As expected from Commander God Cloud! I will repay your kindness in the future!" A cold voice reverberated from the top of the mountain.


    God Cloud could not help but to cover his eyes as he waited for the rays to disappear. The snow peak was in an incorrigible mess, with the opponent nowhere to be found.


    As he observed the ranks of Antharella¡¯s men dropping like flies, God Cloud extended his arm, recalling the demonic blade Kuna, which flew up and landed in his hand.


    "From here on, in this vast land, comes another formidable opponent ¡­" As he looked towards the direction which Garen fled, his eyes filled with lament.


    Without a sound, God Cloud vanished into intangible dark clouds, along with his demonic blade.


    ********


    In a dark cavern, deep within a vast desert far away.


    Innumerable chains extended from a dark void, binding a man in the center like prey within a spider¡¯s web.


    There were two holes pierced into his shoulders, but there was no blood flowing out at all.


    Just as God Cloud¡¯s body vanished, this man slowly opened his eyes.


    "Orders."


    "Here." A silver lady appeared from within the darkness, much like a statue carved from white silver. Oddly, the lady does not have a face, instead only having a slab.


    "To everyone from Obscuro Society, once you encounter Nine-Headed Demon Dragon Garen, report back to headquarters immediately, I will personally create a clone to deal with him."


    "Yes sir. General, must we pay such close attention to a single person?" The lady could not comprehend the attention this man warranted.


    "His abilities in and of itself are comparable to my clones. This person has embarked on similar paths as we. Unfortunately, the totems that he chose were not considered strong; its potential has been maximized. Otherwise, we might find ourselves with another commander-class character."


    The lady did not ask further, but bowed and went off.


    ******************


    On the snowy peak was Antharella, lying on the snow covered ground. Demeritus squatted beside her, slowly smothering a green medicinal cream onto her abdomen.


    The burned palm mark was recessed in her abdomen, like carvings on rock.


    "Sister¡­" Demeritus looked at the wound on Antharella¡¯s belly, completely clueless as to how to handle it.


    Even with the strongest Elemental General¡¯s Totem¡¯s Light was only capable of mitigating most of the damage caused by Garen, the little bit of power left that penetrated Antharella¡¯s Totem¡¯s Light and hit her had actually caused such devastating damage.


    Garen¡¯s speed was too fast. Even if Antharella had many tricks up her sleeve, in that instance of close quarters combat, the only thing that could defend her was the Totem Light. She hadn''t even managed to spiritualize, yet she already had her totem¡¯s light shattered by one palm strike, sending all of her totems into a state of heavy damage and injury.


    Even the demonic blade Kunta was unable to hurt Garen with its strongest, non-blade tip attack; concussion.


    Demeritus had chills to her bones as she recalled the scene just now.


    Immense speed, strength, phantom-like movements. He could even revive after being slashed by the demonic blade.


    "Rumour says he has eight heads, according to the analysis by the Grand Obscuro, he should have 8 chances of revival. Now that he has nine heads, we need to kill him another eight times, only then can we destroy the monster once and for all!" Antharella said with a defeated look. "My attack previously should have denied one life from him"


    "Killing him another eight times¡­" Demeritus looked around, out of the five elemental general mobilized, only two were missing in action, likely to have fled. The remaining three who launched frontal attacks on Garen were thrown off the peak after having their totem lights shattered. They were likely dead as well.


    The totem users of the outer ring had sustained major injuries due to the knockback from the broken tactical array. Adding onto the damage sustained from being within the blast radius of the explosion, it¡¯s unlikely that they will survive.


    "Just to kill him once, we had to give up so much¡­.. Eight more times¡­.." Demeritus didn''t know how to go about this problem.


    Her face wore the expression of shock as she stared at her elder sister Antharella. From her eye sockets emerged streams of warm, red blood.


    "Sis¡­.Sister¡­"


    "I¡¯m fine, don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll recover after a while" Antharella smiled in a comforting manner, then she felt that her face was wet.


    She reached out to touch her eyes, her hand suddenly turned bloody red.


    "No¡­.no¡­ No way! What is happening!!!??" Antharella got frightened, both her hands tried to wipe her bloodied tears dry, but her eyes just kept tearing with more blood.


    She felt her eyes bulging, getting dryer, as though there was something stuck inside her eyes. She rubbed her eyes vigorously with her hand.


    She put down her hands, but her eyes bulged even more instead.


    The bloodied tears flowed more and more, eventually¡­.


    Bam!


    With a muffled explosions happening simultaneously, Antharella¡¯s eyeballs exploded. She remained stiff, and did not move.


    With a bang, she looked up, then fell again.


    "Sis...sister..!!??" Demeritus covered her mouth, and took two steps back in fright. She saw that within her sister¡¯s bloodied eye socket was some reddish-white grey matter!


    "No!!!"


    *********


    The battle of the snow peak had spread across the entire East Continent¡¯s forces without any form of reconnaissance within just two days.


    The obscuro society mobilized seven generals, two Ultimate Heirlooms, two sets of tactical arrays. General God Cloud¡¯s clone was mobilized, ambushing the Royal Alliance at the peak of the snowy mountains.


    The master of the Geometry Service, Hellfire is missing, his status unconfirmed. Secret Service Eight Headed Cloud Crow, who walked into a heavy ambush, actually killed the leader of the ambush against Royal Alliance.


    The evolved Nine-Headed Dragon totem had a single clash with God Cloud¡¯s clone, and managed to retreat after breaking free from the chains.


    Indeed, The Eight-Headed Cloud Crow shook the East Continent, and the order which came from God Cloud within the Dark Maze had also been spread far and wide. The pocket watch belonging to Eight-Headed Cloud Crow was broken, The announcement from God Cloud indicated that the Nine-Headed Demon Dragon is obviously more indicative of Garen¡¯s totem characteristics.


    At this moment, Garen¡¯s nickname changed once again. The Nine-Headed Demon Dragon shook the world.


    On the third day after the battle at the snowy peak, Black Prince arrived at Kovitan¡¯s capital, officially meeting Emperor Avic.

 399 Notice 1

    Chapter 399: Notice 1


    Several thousand metres away from the Snowy Peak, on top of the dark green sea-like forest, a cloud of thick black mist shrouded a speeding blonde silhouette. .


    After some distance, the black mist slowly dissipated, becoming thinner and thinner.


    Finally; all the black mist disappeared into nothing.


    The black pocket watch in Garen¡¯s hand let out a crackling sound, and a crack revealed the watch within..


    He suddenly lost the lift he had had from the black mist and began freefalling to the ground. The black light array lit up beneath his feet, and Garen used it as a platform to somersault in the air, steadily landing on the branch of a large tree within the forest.


    Among the rustling sounds of the leaves, squirrels and birds scurried away, frightened.


    Garen couldn¡¯t care less about those animals, he was instead feeling sentimental about the pocket watch in his hands.


    "Too bad, the Cloud Crow Array was really nice to use. Now it¡¯s broken." He recalled the previous battle¡¯s scenarios; it was probably damaged by God Cloud¡¯s chain binding.


    Those kinds of chains were very strong, which conversely meant that his body was strong enough to resist that kind of binding. If it was any other totem user; they would have probably been turned into minced meat.


    Garen waved his hand, and three-dotted marks between his brows turned red. The status of the Nine-Headed Dragon was reflected into his consciousness directly.


    He lightly touched the left side of the mark, which seemed to have dimmed a little following his main body¡¯s death.


    Within his consciousness, the Nine-Headed Dragon was lying quietly in a pitch black space, the one on the far left seemed to be dying without any signs of vitality left in it.


    "Looks like this three-dotted marks are not simply a representation of the changes in the body." Garen thought, he recalled in the Secret Techniques world¡¯s top invincible Holy Fist Palosa. One of his ultimates technique was the 99 Acute Airholes, which meant he needs to be killed 99 times before one could truly win him.


    The Nine-Headed Dragon¡¯s body containing nine lives are akin to the 99 Acute Airholes in its mechanisms.


    "If it wasn¡¯t for the continuous hunt for strong totem users on the snowy peak and gaining large amounts of potential points, this battle would have resulted in some significant damage."


    He originally thought that there was more he needed to do before he could maximise his Intelligence, but during the hunt on the snowy peak, a large portion of his opponents were strong totem users, which made it adequate to maximise his Intelligence and then some.


    The gang up by Obscuro Society was within his expectations, but the fight God Cloud¡¯s clone had eluded Garen¡¯s predictions..


    God Cloud¡¯s body was obviously immaterial, even at first glance. It was without a doubt a clone condensed from tiny particles, but nonetheless, a mere clone could reach such levels of power. Not to mention the odd Demon Blade Kunta.


    If it was just a clone, Garen was confident that he himself would not lose in a frontal fight, but with that blade¡­ he also wasn¡¯t sure if God Cloud had more tricks up his sleeve.


    As one of the few strongest in existence within Obscuro, the level at which God Cloud was was definitely something Garen had not been able to reach. Naturally, his gamut of strong moves wasn¡¯t lacking.


    That¡¯s why he made the decisive move to run away.


    As he inspected the status of the dying dragon head, he found it to be very close to death; it breathed in short, raspy breaths that were increasingly frequent and short.


    Garen focused onto his own ability¡¯s Attribute Pane. After researching multiple totem theories and experimentations, according to his on Nine-Headed Dragon¡¯s genetic model, he should be able to mitigate the problem with his ability.


    Indeed, the nine lives of the Nine-Headed Dragon are absolute!


    Which means, these nine lives were not transferable; Garen has to die a total of nine times before he would perish for good.


    But back then when the dual-headed salamander was able to evolve into the Nine-Headed Dragon, it was actually because he depended on his abilities to force an evolution. All these depended on abilities to evolve all the way to the absolute genetic limits.


    Originally, the dual-headed salamander did not qualify to evolve up to this point, the Nine-Headed Dragon genetic pieces in its DNA was too little, only in literal shards. However, with a push from his abilities, he could fully explore its potential, and freely unravel all the possibilities that laid in the bits and pieces of genetic material, hence the nine heads.


    "According to the derivator, since the abilities can evolve a Dual-Headed Salamander into a Nine-Headed Dragon, the loss of that severed head should have been permanent, but this could be fixed using my potential points." Even though Garen was quite sure this was the case, he still felt nervous when it came to the moment of truth. This was the pivotal point, where he would ascertain whether his deduction was correct or not.


    He looked at his own stats.


    "Strength 12, Dexterity 10. Vitality 10. Intelligence 10. Potential 3218%. Possess the qualities of a Luminarist."


    Jumping across his dense Skill Panes and other totems, Garen eventually shifted his focus directly upon the core totem.


    "Core totem - Nine-headed dragon: Evolved creature from the ancient creature Eight-Headed Dragon, perfect genetic organism. Theoretical Form 4 creature, ultimate form not upgradeable.


    Information on Ancient Genetics: In the Luminarists¡¯ records, the Nine Headed Dragon is one of the organisms with the strongest survivability in the ancient era. They possess 8 extremely vicious sub-heads and one main head. Each dragon head has differing abilities, although they were mostly related to poison. Each of the dragon heads has a different poison ability, and ruled over the ancient era for tens of thousands of years. However, due to the extinction of the Nine-Headed Dragon¡¯s food sources, the Nine-Headed Dragons fell into decline, and was evicted from the position as the apex predator of the food chain.


    This terrifying menace possesses strong poison. It was ugly, but extremely possessive towards objects that are aesthetically pleasing. They are attracted towards beautiful things; whether it be beautiful flora, fauna, or serene environments and its creatures. They would normally inhabit the side of a lake on a bed of gems. Even though they are distant relatives of the multi-headed salamanders that dug out underground mazes, as the top-dogs of the food chain, they never had the need to hide in a cavern underground, instead preferring to bask under the sunlight, cleaning its dragon scales. According to the Luminarists¡¯ research and deduction, this kind of apex predator should turn out to be extremely narcissistic.


    Abilities: Void Whirlpool (extends the dragon head, bringing it greater reach and tearing down prey. In the Nine-Headed Dragon¡¯s eyes, enemies mean food! This ability allowed for its prey to be slaughtered and devoured straight away.)


    Nine Lives (Must be killed nine times before it completely perishes, each time requiring the opponent to slice off all nine heads at one go, otherwise the heads will continuously regenerate; a nightmare for any opponent.)


    Dragon Skin


    Berserker¡¯s Howl (After the inducing concussion, temporarily increases all dragon heads¡¯ abilities for 155 seconds, attack and speed increases by 30% at the same time)


    Vitality Tear


    Rotting Poison Mist (A blood red, potent poison that can break down and decompose most of the organisms in the world.)


    Virus Parasitism (The Nine-headed Dragon does not possess the parasitizing abilities like the salamanders living underground; it hates everything filthy and ugly, but.had another type of extremely horrid parasitizing ability, which allowed it to inject live bacterium into the enemy¡¯s body, continuously absorb the enemy¡¯s life force, ultimately transforming it from the inside out into an aesthetically pleasing - the dragon minion)


    Looking through all the information, Garen knew these messages were sorted and collected by the ability within his memories, which meant that he had known some of the facts partially; while the rest were derived by the ability itself.


    In reality, the Nine-headed Dragon¡¯s strength is not completely known to its full extent. For instance, for its final ability, Virus Parasitism, the exact product of what was named dragon minion, even Garen didn¡¯t know, the ability also hadn''t managed to detail it properly.


    He looked at the end of Nine-Headed Dragon¡¯s Nine Lives abilities, and there was an additional blood red symbol which looks like an icon of the eight-headed dragon: it was a status icon.


    ¡®Nine Lives¡¯ Status: Eight Lives.¡¯


    Garen tried focusing on this ability.


    In five whole seconds, the Nine Lives ability actually had some movement. The eight lives symbol slowly got blurry.


    His potential points also slowly decreased.


    Garen¡¯s heart flustered, he knew it was working.


    The potential points kept dropping for 20 whole points before it finally stopped. In the end, the eight lives symbol lit up again, but instead eight dragon heads, there were nine.


    In his consciousness, the dragon head on the far left was slowly turning normal, becoming lively, like all the other heads again.


    Garen exhaled in relaxation.


    "Twenty points to recharge one life, this is really worth it. Unfortunately the heirloom was nowhere to be found, probably was taken away by people from the Geometry Service amidst the chaos. Who would¡¯ve known that the Obscuro¡¯s attempt to steal the heirloom was faked, whereas the ambush of the Three Departments was bona fide. It looks like this will turn into a full-blown war."


    After finishing his checks, Garen jumped off the branch. He glanced at his own torn attire; the full black body armor was entirely destroyed, as well as the magic mirror that Windling made. It didn¡¯t manage to reflect anything, and it had already been shattered into pieces due to the chains. The shards even got embedded into his own skin, as though they inserted into the muscles itself.


    Garen¡¯s body shuddered, and painfully extracted the shards.


    "Big Brother¡­ Big Brother¡­" Unexpectedly, the shards of magic mirror actually transmitted faint voices.


    "Windling?" Garen asked in an explorative manner.


    "Big Brother you¡¯re alright! I knew it, how was it? Are you amazed by my noble techniques? It was still usable even though it shattered into pieces! This is not something any ordinary elite is capable of accomplishing!" Windling snickered.


    "You¡¯re okay?" Garen filtered out the nonsense.


    " I had to hide further away to be able to observe Big Brother¡¯s stalwart heroism." Windling said cheesily. Nine dragon heads!! Pshh, indeed, it¡¯s not your ordinary strong creature, even God Cloud¡¯s clone got beaten till it fled!"


    Garen was speechless.


    "I¡¯m preparing to head back to Kovitan¡¯s Capital, are you coming?"


    "I¡­." Windling had a rare instance of not joking around, instead he quieted down. "I wanna go check on my kid."


    "Where to?"


    "Maryland, a small country near Daniela. Thanks to you, I have gotten a tonne of great materials, killing people and looting is indeed the fastest way to grind."


    "Then, take care" Garen replied coldly. For Windling, he couldn¡¯t say it was vengeance, but instead felt oddly like a friend. This fellow seemed like the type of happy-go-lucky person, walking around with a carefree look, but inside, he carried a lot of weight on his shoulders.


    "So this is it, I¡¯ll meet you next time, who knows if I¡¯ll be looking for you." Windling snickered again.


    "Sure, I¡¯ll probably be in Kovitan this year, you can come directly to me."


    "Big brother¡­"


    "What¡¯s up?"


    ".. Actually, you¡¯re a good guy¡­"


    With that, WIndling disappeared. Garen speechlessly put down the shard.

 400 Notice 2

    Chapter 400: Notice 2


    "Blood Tower, if it were you, would you be able to escape safely from this harsh environment?"


    Within a tall black tower somewhere in East Continent, in a room on one of the middle floors.


    Two regal looking young men stood in front of a large sand basin, where one of them was manipulating the geography and settings of the sand within with his right hand.


    The contents of the sand basin were black and white, and it appeared to represent the snowy peak on which Garen and Hellfire were under siege. Each little black dot represented an Obscuro Society member, while the two red dots represented Hellfire and Eight Headed Cloud Crow.


    The other young man frowned. His face appeared ordinary, the kind that would go unnoticed if you passed him on the streets. At this time, he was watching the sand basin closely with a stoic expression.


    Both of them did not look like they were past thirty years old, but the calmness in their eyes was something that one in their thirties could never accomplish.


    "General God Cloud is one of the two strongest commanders, hence he was put in charge of the strongest military in East Continent. I wouldn¡¯t know how much power he had allocated to a single clone of his" Blood Tower thought for a moment before he answered carefully.


    "How much power was allocated?" the man before him laughed. His skin was slightly tanned and he had bright blue eyes. His face was marked with a black tattoo of the number "4", and his soft white hair glowed in the light.


    "I acknowledge that God Cloud is stronger than I am, but you don¡¯t have to rub it in right? In the 30 years I¡¯ve guarded the Secret Services, I¡¯ve clashed with him several times, and each time ended with me in a losing spot. He was one of the three strongest people within Obscuro Academy, after all."


    His eyes fell on the sand basin once again.


    "You may be unconvinced this time, but God Cloud has definitely unleashed his full power."


    Blood Tower did not say anything, awaiting his rebuttal.


    "His clone had even brought the demon blade Kunta, how much effort was put into this? Even so, he wasn¡¯t able to restrain the Nine-Headed Demon Dragon." The white haired man said softly.


    "If I were against him, I could retreat safely too." Blood Tower replied seriously.


    "Even after you¡¯ve been affected by the mixed poison?"


    "Er¡­" Blood Tower was unsure of how to reply to him.


    "God Cloud¡¯s power have realistically reached the pinnacle of Form 5. This Garen being able to fight his clone on an equal level means he should at least be a normal Form 5. After all, the difference between each stage of Form 5 is extremely huge, like between the Leader and I." The white-haired youngster explained calmly.


    "But Form 5 is already the top. It is then decided by the strength of the heirloom, as well as the comprehension and delivery of power. We are already in unison with the totem and have reached realms previously unimagined. This realm may be the pinnacle, but it is also a shackle. Each Form 5 is searching for a way to break through."


    The young white-haired man turned around and walked towards the window, and he gazed towards the golden boundless desert outside.


    "Such a pity¡­ I guess God Cloud cracked his head researching on this topic. Even though I cannot beat him, someone else managed to."


    A small smile quirked his lips for a moment.


    "Heed my order!"


    "Yes!" Blood Tower rushed forward.


    " By the order of the chief minister, send an announcement to Secret Services: Once spotting the location of God Cloud''s clone, he shall personally destroy his clone!"


    Blood Tower¡¯s pupils constricted, but it immediately recovered.


    "Additionally, summon my personal messenger, tell God Cloud." The white-haired man once had a warm expression again. "Have you lost your bloody mind?"


    Blood Tower¡¯s face paled; he then knew the Deputy Minister¡¯s old habits occurred again.


    ********************************


    A few days later¡­


    By the borders of Kovitan, at the upstreams of Red River --- Snowy Mountain Nebulus.


    An otherwise quiet and serene snowy mountain had an unimaginably large black bird gliding around it.


    This giant bird had some semblance to the Dragonhawk, with similar long, sharp beaks. Its wingspan extended a hundred metres, encompassing the area beneath it within an enormous shadow.


    Under the shadow of the giant bird, a knight in black armor was riding a large black horse through the air, as though the sky was solid ground.


    The black knight was circled by copious amounts of black smoke, which was diffusing in and out of the crevices of the armor, as though it was alive.


    Jii!


    The large horse exhaled two streams of white air strongly, before it stopped midair.


    The black knight gazed into the distance towards the snowy mountain, raised his hand, and pointed at it.


    Jii!!!


    In an instant, the weather changed. Countless black clouds swirled from behind him as the sky immediately dimmed, while the land was blanketed by an enormous shadow.


    Those were black dragonhawks!


    Black dragonhawks that numbered more than thousands! Each had a wingspan of at least twenty metres, and they were cloaked within the black smoke, forming a large area of pitch black cloud. They flocked towards the snowy mountain.


    "That¡­ That is the Snowy Mountain branch of Obscuro Society! Blackfield Dragonhawk King¡­. Has he lost his mind?!"


    "Sir?" A few white-clothed subordinates ran over, gasping for air as they questioned the white-robed man. They did not know what was happening, and they could only look at their leader in confusion.


    "That is the place where a clone of God Cloud was stationed.." The white-robed man recalled, he looked at the situation at the sky with equal amounts of shock and confusion. " Is Blackfield trying to wage an all-out war with Obscuro?"


    In the sky, the black knight upon his giant horse galloped forth. The heavy clip-clop of the horse could be heard from the patrol tower, despite being several hundred kilometres away.


    The black knight accelerated, to the point where he appeared to become a streak of black lightning, heading straight for the snowy mountain¡¯s peak.


    On the peak of the snowy mountain, a single man bearing chains on both his shoulders slowly appeared. Both men faced each other.


    "Dragonhawk King! Are you courting death?!"


    The black knight pulled out the giant sword sheathed behind him with a clank. The black smoke surrounding him was concentrated on the black sword.


    "In this world, there are things that I must do." His voice echoed from within the helmet.


    Gachak!!


    A lightning strike rent the sky, illuminating the two men¡¯s imposing figures.


    A few hours later¡­..


    Bam!


    In a loud strike, the Nebulus Mountain was split into two. The seemingly endless snow tumbled down as an avalanche, morphing into a white tide that swept away everything in its path, levelling the forest.


    The black knight was adorned with a full suit of rent armor as he slowly flew off. Countless black dragonhawks twirled in the sky, announcing the victor of the battle.


    "Blackfield announcing to the world: Garen, just because you didn¡¯t mention some things doesn¡¯t mean that they¡¯ll be forgotten."


    ***************


    After the Nine-headed Demon Dragon¡¯s earthshaking incident, the royal Three Departments¡¯ Geometry Service was furious, sending out personnel to negotiate for Hellfire¡¯s release and the surrender of the heirloom.


    But this wasn¡¯t the big news.


    The shocking one involved the Secret Services.


    On the third day of the announcement concerning God Cloud, the chief minister of the Secret Service announced that he would personally create a clone to purge any sighting of God Cloud and his location.


    The announcement and God Cloud¡¯s content clashed, with neither of them giving in!


    On hindsight, everything made sense; the Nine-Headed Demon Dragon was on a mission on behalf of Secret Services, and even though it wasn¡¯t successful, Obscuro actually took the Three Departments lightly, publicly sending out the announcement to get his own clone to kill Garen. This made the elites within the Secret Services extremely aggravated.


    When had it ever been others¡¯ turn to hunt one of their own?!


    Since the ancient times, it has always been them hunting down people. Now they actually dared to turn around and attack them?


    In a series of forces¡¯ influence, the incident involved both the Three Departments¡¯ honor and the elites¡¯ sense of belonging. The chief minister then announced to the world to launch attacks targeted at God Cloud.


    The message was clear: You broke the rules first, and if you make a move, we will not hesitate to erase you!


    Following that, another huge incident occurred.


    Possibly in response to God Cloud¡¯s announcement, the King of Blackfield, Blackfield Dragonhawk King Goth actually made a public appearance at one of the important Obscuro branches, fought hard with God Cloud¡¯s clone,and at the price of a serious injury, he successfully destroyed a strong branch that had a God Cloud clone stationed there. The incident was earth shaking too, as at the same time he announced a similar content involving the Nine-Headed Demon Dragon Garen.


    Two incidents, which were supposed to revolve around the Ultimate Heirloom had changed into a bloodbath.


    By the time he received the news, he was already on the way to the capital.


    He heard about this from the Secret Service member who escorted him, who also happen to be from the Crimson Team.


    ***********************************************


    As Garen sat on the back of a large pale grey rhino-like creature, he carefully studied the latest intel.


    These white rhinos that he sat on were the latest creatures bred by the kingdom, which had extreme stamina, being able to last over a fortnight with just one meal, and its speed was pretty decent.


    The rhino was only second to the Yellow-eyed Crow, which were hailed as one of the best transportations.


    For the aforementioned crow, although it wasn¡¯t considered large by any measure, its wingspan was too eye-catching. With the current train of events, travelling on the crow would make him an easy target for elites, and reinforcements would not be much help either. It was better to move on land where it was covert and safe.


    On the right side of Garen¡¯s rhino was Kid¡¯s rhino. This fellow was humming an unknown song, and hadn¡¯t changed much from before.


    By reasons unknown to him, Kid always had an odd aura about him which made people pay less attention to him, but they still feel felt his slight eccentricity when they paid closer attention.


    After Crimson Team rendezvoused with Garen, everyone except Kid treated Garen with a mixture of fear and respect. Only Kid had the usual attitude as before.


    Garen faintly understood some eccentric traits of Kid and he didn¡¯t mind it, what he was most concerned about was the intel brought by Crimson Team.


    As he quietly rolled up the intel sheet, he used some force and kneaded the paper, disintegrating it to be carried away by the wind.


    "Goth you brat¡­ you¡¯re nothing like before¡­. And Chief Minister, with these two incidents, it may seem dangerous, but it¡¯s already overwhelmingly safe."


    Thinking back to the scenarios that happened in Iron Tank City, and the quartet he¡¯d been in back then, its members had gone missing, been scattered, and had been killed in combat.


    But the biggest influencing factor was not these, but the fact that Blackfield attacked Obscuro, which meant that the entire Blackfield had declared war against Obscuro.


    There had already been ongoing subjugation missions against Obscuro led by Blackfield. Both sides had their respective wins and losses, though back then it had not escalated to this point. Blackfield Dragonhawk and God Cloud both had some restraint.


    Unexpectedly, for Garen¡¯s sake, he¡¯d revealed all his cards.

 401 Encounter 1

    Chapter 401: Encounter 1


    As he sat on the white rhino, Garen intermittently recalled memories from Iron Tank City, and there was an inexplicable emotion within his heart.


    He¡¯d thought that Goth would keep blaming him, angry at him. That the two of them would possibly remain at this state of misunderstanding. Who would¡¯ve known¡­.


    From the announcement, he can see that Goth still held grudges towards him, but carried a similarly complicated emotion.


    "Team Leader. There¡¯s something that awaits your decision." Old Man slowed down at the front, and as Garen closed the distance between them, he held out a map, a soil-colored yellow scroll.


    Garen took it from him and listened.


    "We picked two routes on the map which were safer, but we couldn¡¯t decide on which route to take. Both routes has its pros and cons." Old Man explained. "Please have a look."


    Garen nodded, then opened up and scanned the map.


    On the map, there was a winding mountain range from the middle leading to the top of the map, as though a black centipede had laid down upon the paper. The route they were currently taking was the way along the mountain range.


    Two red lines clearly illustrated the two possible routes.


    The destination of both routes was Kovitan Kingdom, but the one on the left was winding, it was significantly longer with a detour. Plus, there were many markings of sightings of strong creatures.


    The route on the right was more straightforward, but they would have to go through three troublesome locations.


    Garen frowned slightly.


    "How long would the shorter route take?"


    "Assuming that we do not stop, it will take about 7 days." Old man continued. "The troublesome sections have been marked out. Of course, there will be hordes of weaker creatures, but as there¡¯s no markings, it is safe to ignore.


    Garen nodded.


    "The longer route will require us to brave through 4 clusters of at least form 3 monsters¡¯ territories, and we may not necessarily be able to avoid confrontations. Some of them are more troublesome, the terrains are also more complex, and the swamps are not ideal for the white rhinos¡¯ movement. We should choose the shorter route."


    "But the shorter route passes by Blood Queen¡¯s territory¡­" Kitten interrupted, and the remaining members shuddered. Except Red Umbrella, who was asleep on his white rhino¡¯s back.


    "Blood Queen Earnest? What¡¯s the issue?" Garen raised his brows in confusion.


    "One of the members of Secret Service caused a huge amount of losses in her territory Avision City, and now both sides are in a tense situation. Queen Earnest herself has Daniela¡¯s support, and there are also strong subordinates under her wings. There was an announcement about a month ago which states that members of the Secret Services are all unwelcome in the city.


    Garen was slightly shocked.


    "Does the Secret Service have such a strong member? To be able to wreck havoc at Avision City?" Garen was interested


    "Who would''ve known, that person from the Green team, who really wasn¡¯t eye-catching by any means, actually could cause such a huge loss." Old Man forced a smile.


    "What kind of losses?" Garen got more curious.


    Old Man shook his head. "He absorbed the Blood Queen¡¯s blood essence. It was an accident that nobody anticipated."


    "Blood essence?" Garen was stunned. As one of the Three Heroes, even though she was not abnormally strong; probably on Goth¡¯s level,she was not a character that one should offend. Blood essence was a form of essence gem that was extracted from her flesh and blood. This was the core of her largest tactics within Avision City, there were only four of them present in the entire city, and they powered all the tactical arrays.


    An ordinary totem user would melt instantaneously as soon as they approached the blood essence, let alone absorb it. Who would have known that it would have been absorbed by some outsider totem user.


    Old Man shook his head slightly.


    "Now the Secret Service is in an awkward situation with Avision City. At times like this, It is best that a totem user of your calibre maintain your distance from Avision City to avoid any further conflicts."


    "What about that person? That fella from Green Team?" Garen was more interested in that man than the tense situation. To be able to do what others could not, he must be special.


    "Still hiding in Avision City. With the entire Avision City out for his blood, trying to capture him. It¡¯s also hard for us in the Secret Service to step forward. After all, we were at fault for absorbing their important resource."


    "Then let¡¯s take the short route, just so I can see what this Blood Queen is like." Garen laughed. "Spread this news through the communication device. If that person is smart, he¡¯ll take this opportunity to leave Avision City."


    "Um...alright." Old Man grimaced.


    ********************************************


    Two days later¡­..


    The sky was ashen and heavy with mist.


    Yellow weeds waved gently in the breeze upon the pale yellow plantation soil. Surrounding the area was a ring of shrubs.


    Those murky yellow shrubs grew in uneven patches, but among them was a green passage..


    Broken fences littered the area about the passage, the surface of the passage was covered in dense layers of leaves and moss.


    Upon the passage were five greyish-white rhinos slowly marching forward. These rhinos were about three metres high, their bodies were round and huge, and every step they took was very stable. They could barely move along the passage, and sometimes they would bump into the fences on the side.


    On the thick skins of the rhinos were concealed scars, giving them a rugged appearance.


    There were even a bunch of oddly-dressed people riding on their backs. As they were donning black armors and hoods, their faces were hard to see. The exception was the golden iris embedded on their necklines.


    Evidently, they were members of the Royal Alliance.


    Deep within the plantation field, several pairs of white eyes were observing the passing rhinos, while carefully gauging the auras of the humans on the rhinos¡¯ backs.


    Woooo.....


    A deep howl like a dog¡¯s howl was heard from both sides of the plantation.


    The rhinos started feeling alarmed and refused to move forward.


    Suddenly, white shadows lunged from both sides of the passage; there were no sounds, just the light rustling of the weeds as they were brushed aside.


    Most of them were rushing towards the white rhinos, while some of them targeted the people on top of the rhinos¡¯ backs.


    "Let me do it!" A girl¡¯s voice was heard from the top of the rhino¡¯s back. "I was looking for some potential points to upgrade my equipment!" he voice was clear, and a red ray flashed as she swung her hand.


    Bam!


    A giant red tiger was formed midair, with a long, whip-like tail fiercely sweeping.


    Bang bang bang!!...


    After a series of impact noises, large amounts of white shadows were battered back into the plantations. They tumbled upon the ground several times and no longer moved.


    The group then saw the true identity of those white shadows; they were all white stray dogs, except they had two tails instead of one, which was odd.


    "That¡¯s the Dual-tailed White Dog, just a Form 1 monster pack." a man on top of the Rhino¡¯s back said calmly, it was Old Man¡¯s voice. "But they usually inhabit areas near the Red Unihorn Lizards. Everybody be more aware."


    "Check me out!" Kitten commanded the giant red tiger to start killing recklessly around the plantation, with each swipe and lunge killing off two or three white dogs.


    After a while, endless whines were heard as the scent of blood spread across. The pack that originally rushed towards the rhinos were now scrambling away.


    "This dual-tailed white dogs have excellent breeding capabilities and are able to give birth to more than ten pups in a month. It¡¯s also the reason why they are almost always in state of starvation and are constantly on the hunt for food." Old Man explained. "Coincidentally, they make great prey for higher leveled, evolved creatures too."


    Before he¡¯d finished speaking, the sky was suddenly abuzz with a horde of red unihorn lizards flying over them.


    They had a black unihorn and red bat wings; much like a winged version of a lizard. These lizards were making some odd sounds as they flapped their wings towards the group. Behind them was a large white bat.


    "Is that a white bat?" a man looked up from the back of a rhino in the middle of the formation. A sliver of golden hair was visible from the hood, the man had three scarlet markings between his brows, which look like a birthmark.


    This person was actually Garen, who was rushing towards Kovitan Kingdom.


    Watching the white bat swinging its chains as it rushed at him, Garen couldn¡¯t help but recall the early days of Iron Tank City, where he first met a white bat. At that time he¡¯d been extremely weak and had to resort to fight tactics just to go up against a white bat. But now¡­


    Roar!!


    The Giant red tiger roared in fury as it leaped upwards powerfully and pounced onto the bat. Its limbs had ignited in crimson flames, and as its mouth opened wide, a fireball was fired.


    Bam!


    The sky turned into a sea of fiery explosions, and the bat disappeared into a giant fireball, dyeing its surroundings red.


    "Yay!!" Kitten happily withdrew Red TIger, and surveyed at the messy battlefield. " Successfully cleared!" She puffed out her chest and sneakily glanced at Red Umbrella, but noticing that he was fast asleep, so she pouted.


    "Let¡¯s go." Garen said coldly.


    Kitten then obediently shut up and continued the journey.


    After that time where she was frightened by Garen, she didn¡¯t dare cause a ruckus in front of him anymore. She could clearly feel that Garen at that point of time had seriously been planning to kill her. It was unlike any other enemy that she¡¯d faced before, where they would have second thoughts due to her attractive appearance and body figure, which would allow her more time to drag it out. But with Garen, she felt that he was looking at her like a corpse, and with just a single misstep, nobody would be able to stop him from killing her. The others may not have realized it, but she¡¯d felt it. Even Red Umbrella, who was most sensitive to killing intent, thought of it as a joke. Kitten had almost wetted herself at that time.


    She truly didn¡¯t misunderstand that feeling. Garen at that time was really thinking about killing her, and had she been unaware of the affairs, Garen would have better control on the team after removing the "volatile" parts of the team. She did not expect this man to be so capricious.


    The six rhinos continued walking past the plantation after a moment of settling and calming them.


    After an unknown period of time, the fields in front slowly changed to golden-yellow, as though the harvest season of autumn was coming; golden wheat fields surrounded the passage.


    "So pretty¡­" Kid beside him couldn¡¯t help but comment. He gazed at the sky on his left, as though there was something even more mesmerizing there.


    The group looked towards the direction in which he gazed but there was only a layer of grey clouds in the sky, nothing else.


    "And so it¡¯s happened again¡­." Kitten pouted as she lowered her head, continued playing with her toy which looked like a rubik''s cube.


    Fox also lowered his head to continue reading


    Old man shook his head, and went back to sleep like Red Umbrella.


    Only Garen, curiously studying Kid, realized that he was incomparably innocent.


    He looked up to the sky, there was indeed nothing there.


    He then shuddered suddenly.


    An odd situation happened.


    Garen actually noticed a little hint of gold in Kid¡¯s eyes.


    His heart shivered. The sky was still covered in dense layers of clouds and there were no sun to be seen,where did he see the golden thing?


    A sudden thought flashed through his mind.


    He recalled that he¡¯d received an augmentation tactic previously, which was the war shackle he received when he joined the war guild: Eye of Isaiah.


    The Eye of Isaiah was activated through his thoughts.


    As he gazed towards the sky again, a blurry gold image faintly appeared from within the clouds.


    Garen¡¯s heart skipped a beat, and he looked closer after suppressing his surprise. With his current improved vision, he couldn¡¯t see any clearly, but he could roughly make out a golden, human silhouette.

 402 Encounter 2

    Chapter 402: Encounter 2


    "Kid, what did you see? Can you tell me?" Garen used a Secret Technique to telepathically transmit his voice by bundling it into a string and transmit it to Kid¡¯s ears.


    "Something extremely beautiful nice." Kid looked at Garen and naughtily winked his eyes. This exchange was also silent, without a sound. Just by that glance, he made Garen aware of his message.


    Garen pressed his chest to control himself.


    "Can you tell me what exactly?"


    "I don¡¯t want to¡­. Even if i did, you wouldn¡¯t believe me, you¡¯d call me an idiot, crazy. I¡¯m not crazy." Kid decisively declined.


    "I actually could see a little bit, just not clearly as you."


    "I don¡¯t believe you." Kid pouted.


    Garen laughed as he saw Kid¡¯s insistence, so he changed the approach. "Then, can you tell me¡­.what is that golden-colored thing?"


    "Golden?" Kid had a suspicious expression, "did..you really see the.."


    "Just a little bit." Garen nodded.


    The two of them, one used his Secret Techniques to transmit his voice, while the other used his glances and expressions to return the message, could actually communicate at a level that even Old Man, though he was closest to them, was unaware.


    Kid scratched his head, and showed a frustrated look. " I also don¡¯t know what that was. I saw them often anyway, in the clouds, only when the land was covered in golden fields, only then can we see them."


    Garen had a clue.


    "Is that thing a human?"


    Kid only shook his head


    "They? Does that mean there¡¯re a lot of them?"


    Subsequently, no matter how Garen asked, Kid would only respond by shaking his head, and refused to comment further.


    "If i said more, even I would become slowly become unable to see them. You have to be careful too, these are the rules; their rules." Kid got anxious from the bombardment of questions, so he answered this final sentence, then stopped replying altogether.


    Garen also didn¡¯t want to press on too much, obviously Kid had already told him as much as he could. Looking at Kid¡¯s attitude towards him, it almost felt warmer than how he was with Old Man. Almost as though he thought of Garen as the same species.


    Normally, only Old Man had the patience to listen to him spill out his secrets, but he understood that Old Man just wanted him to cooperate in the squad¡¯s movements and operations, and therefore had to be patient. He wasn¡¯t actually interested in what Kid said, neither did he believe him.


    Kid was not actually stupid, he was well aware of all these.


    Although Garen¡¯s persistent questioning was somewhat annoying, Kid knew that Garen was genuinely inquisitive, which made him really happy.


    As he observed Kid¡¯s change in attitude, Garen knew that he didn¡¯t have to rush the discussion; there would be many more chances to interact with Kid anyway, perhaps those would lead to unexpected outcomes.


    Riding on the white rhino, he once again activated the eye of Isaiah and gazed upon the sky, but that sliver of gold had disappeared.


    He then looked at Kid again to realise he had long lowered his head and started humming to that unknown tune again. In his hands were some strands of wheat that Garen¡¯s didn¡¯t know the origin of, weaving something that looked like a garland.


    "This is getting more incomprehensible¡­" Garen sighed and deactivated the eye of Isaiah.


    *************


    At night


    The white rhinos were tied to a few aging trees, and laid beside in the fields to rest.


    Six people were seen surrounding a bonfire, the yellow light from the flame illuminated everyone¡¯s faces in a shade of red.


    "Do we have anything entertaining to do?" Kitten asked as she yawned.


    "Cards?" Red Umbrella answered first.


    "I don¡¯t want to, Fox always wins." Kitten rejected decisively.


    "Then, chess? The three of you come at me; I¡¯ll take out two of my pieces." Old Man smiled as he stroked his beard.


    "Sure! But you have to take out 3!" Kitten acted demandingly.


    "Alright alright." Old Man shook his head.


    Garen fiddled with the bonfire as he looked at the remaining 4 people setting up the chess board and preparing themselves for the chess games. He politely declined their invitation, instead spending time sitting with Kid, who was alone on the side, quietly listening to Kid humming to the unknown tunes.


    "Kid, can you tell me your real name?" He asked as he picked up some firewood to be placed on the fire pit.


    "Real name?" Kid took a twig and drew on the ground. "Isn¡¯t my real name Kid?"


    "Kid is just a nickname in our group, a real name is the name you had before joining in." Garen explained.


    He observed that Kid was drawing a human on the ground, and he began drawing the next one.


    "About that¡­" Kid thought, "I think it¡¯s Mason? I don¡¯t really remember¡­."


    "Don¡¯t you have any relatives?" Garen frowned slightly.


    "Relatives? I¡¯m not sure." Kid was drawing something attentively as he was answering. "I grew up in Pumpkin Farm. There weren¡¯t any other people there.. The strawberries there were good, I always ate those when i grew up"


    "Those strawberries?" Garen wanted to ask further, but suddenly he squinted his eyes and stood up.


    "Who¡¯s there!"


    The four people playing chess got slightly shocked and stood up. They looked towards the direction that Garen was gazing on.


    From within the dark fields, a slender silhouette gradually walked out from within the shadows.


    This person had a well-balanced body figure, and was donning a light green robe, under the robes was a white shirt and long straight black hair reaching his waist.


    The most eye-catching, however, was the long thin green sword sheathed on his waist.


    His appearance was handsome, his eyes amber-green, his face was devoid of any expression of coldness, but he let out a chilly and unsettling vibe.


    At Garen¡¯s first glance on this person, if it weren¡¯t for the opponent¡¯s long silver-patterned boots, he would have thought an Eastern Warrior from his previous life have appeared.


    "Green Dragon Swordsman?" Old Man reacted first, a hint of wariness was shown in his eyes.


    "Green Dragon Swordsman?" Garen realized. Green Dragon Swordsman was rumoured to be Blood Queen¡¯s strongest subordinate, and had been playmates with the queen since they were kids, a man who followed Jean Earnest to the end.


    Soon, rustling sounds from the quick footsteps sounded around the Crimson Team, squads upon squads of veiled swordsmen in green heavily surrounded the team of six as they walked through the field.


    "Green Dragon Swordsman Darkla. What is this supposed to mean?" Garen glanced around the people around him.


    "It was rumoured that the Nine-headed Demon Dragon had exceptional abilities during the battle at the snowy peak, the one who could retreat without harm in such a harsh environment. I wouldn¡¯t expect such an expert to be appearing during my night patrols so easily." Green Dragon Swordsman said very calmly; it seemed that he is someone with strong self-control.


    "You mean, you wanna see if I¡¯m the real deal?" Garen looked at Darkla coldly, realizing that the opponent¡¯s right arm was slowly reaching for the sword sheathed by his waist.


    Aside from being famous for all the weird plant-type totems, Blood Queen¡¯s Avision City was most known for Instantaneous movement totems like Green Dragon Swordsman¡¯s totem.


    If it wasn¡¯t because Garen had seen a history of the futures before, he may have been surprised by this man¡¯s attack.


    Green Dragon Swordsman¡¯s totem was not an independent attacker after release, instead it is completely controlled by the totem user. His sword was the storage device of the totem, and in that instance of unsheathing of the sword, the totem will be released for attack, and when he sheathed it, it would be when the totem returns to him.


    The stronger the stored totem, the stronger the sword. Naturally the swordsman himself would be stronger.


    Green Dragon Swordsman¡¯s title came from the sword on his hand. It was also his core totem -- The Green Dragon!


    By the looks of it, the people around him were all elites that uses the instantaneous movement totems.


    Garen suddenly recalled the Demon Blade Kunta that he encountered at the snowy peak . That blade...might have the similar structure as the Green Dragon Sword It should most likely be totem storage device.


    "Since you came to our Avision City, we haven¡¯t been able to give you a good tour around, and Her Highness and I a chance to treat you generously." Green Dragon Swordsman was extending these invitations of courtesy, yet his face showed zero hospitality, instead giving people a stone cold look.


    "This is unfortunate, but I am rushing for an errand at the capital. Maybe next time, I¡¯ll personally visit Avision City once I have the chance. It¡¯d be great to see the rumoured Green Dragon Sword and Blood Queen¡¯s powers." Garen answered with a half-smile.


    "No need to delay, let¡¯s go now!"


    Before the word "now" ended, Green Dragon Swordsman instantaneously pulled out his sword.


    Clang !!


    Kong !!


    The thing that was pulled out from the sheath was not a sword, but instead a green ray!


    It was a giant green dragon, just like the Eastern Dragon. The green dragon flew towards Garen, its roar flattening the surrounding wheat field away from the direction of the shockwave produced.


    Waves of green light completely illuminated the surrounding, blinding everyone with the bright green.


    A green light path was formed by the green dragon midair, the dragon head which spanned over a meter in height opened its jaw and shot straight for Garen.


    The dragon left a powerful wake as it rushed forwards, deafening everyone around it.


    Bam!


    The green dragon¡¯s head fiercely crashed onto thin air in front of Garen, a transparent spiral-shaped whirlpool appeared, definitively blocking the dragon¡¯s path. The force dissipated into incessant ripple-like waves away from the impact.


    Garem smiled lightly, extended his index finger, and softly tapped on the dragon¡¯s head.


    Instantly, the green light shattered. Everything in front his index finger in front of the index finger, broke into a million pieces, including the dragon¡¯s head, turning into innumerable light shards,returning into the long sword on Green Dragon Swordsman¡¯s hand like water to its source.


    Clang!


    The thin sword was sheathed again.


    "So it is indeed Sir Garen, I thought it was someone impersonating you, hence I decided to test the waters a bit, surely you won¡¯t hold it against me?" Darkla¡¯s face remained emotionless.


    "Of course not." Garen smiled. He then put his index finger down. " I had the chance to ascertain your identity too."


    "I heard that Sir is hurrying back to Kovitan Kingdom, I shall not delay you then, hope to see you again."


    "Likewise" Garen looked at the opponent¡¯s right hand, and then smiled again. "Let¡¯s go"


    He turned around and left first. The remaining Crimson Team members warily followed suit. Although, they weren¡¯t clear of who won or lost that exchange within that instant. However, the leader had given his orders, so they naturally had no need to question.


    Garen and his troupe slowly disappeared into the darkness in the distance.


    The Green Dragon Swordsman Darkla slowly let go of the sword in his hand. He flicked a drop of blood away, and it shot into the darkness without a sound.


    "Let¡¯s go, fall back." he stuffed his right hand into his pocket, then turned around and left.


    "Squad Leader?" A female swordsman asked him out of concern.


    "I¡¯m fine." Darkla shrugged the female¡¯s support away. "What a strong Nine-Headed Demon Dragon! He is not an ordinary Form 2 anymore, I originally though our difference was small." His face showed a sliver of apprehension.


    "Notify all swordsmen within Avision City along with the Queen and I immediately at the sight of Nine-Headed Dragon. This man cannot be fought head-on."


    "Is he that strong?..." The female swordsman was stunned.


    "Stronger than you can ever imagine." Darkla picked up his speed, and disappeared into the darkness among the escort of swordsmen.

 403 Hot Spring 1

    Chapter 403: Hot Spring 1


    Garen and the others got on top of the white rhinoceros again, and followed the trail in a specific direction towards their destination.


    During the night, their surroundings were filled with the howls of wolves and other strange roars that echoed from far away throughout the open distance. It almost seemed as if they had returned to the ancient behemoth era for a moment.


    "Leader? Why do we need to rush even at night? Haven''t you won already?" asked Old Man quietly as he stood beside Garen.


    Garen shook his head. "I am indeed stronger than the Green Dragon, but his strength was sufficient to bind me for a while. After that, the following territories belong to the Blood Queen, and I''ve heard that there are many fighters under her influence. Once the conflict rises, the situation may be even worse than the earlier fight at the snow peak. Moreover, God Cloud and the others misjudged my strength, thus allowing me to kill their general suddenly.


    "Does this also mean that the Green Dragon''s late but sudden appearance here, actually means that some frightening things are in store for you, Leader?" replied Old Man immediately.


    "You could put it that way," said Garen, smiling. He thought of something suddenly.


    "That''s right, do you know Beckstone from the Terraflor Society, Old Man?"


    "Beckstone?" Old Man pondered thoughtfully. "Seems like I heard that name two days ago from Marquess Black Snake."


    "Marquess Black Snake?"


    "Yes, a veteran master of the Geometry Service who made a name for himself about ten years ago. Our relationship is alright, and we used to be partners when we were younger. We used to travel around the world, but went our separate ways because we expanded differently," explained Old Man, "Before this quest, I used to practice playing chess with him, and that guy''s skills were slightly better than mine. One time while we were playing chess together, someone came over with a message, and that was the first time I heard of Beckstone''s name and found out that he was a representative of the Terraflor Society."


    "Black Snake, Black Snake¡­" Garen thought of something suddenly. "Didn''t he have a Precious Heirloom called the ''Rose Snake Crown''?"


    A slightly surprised expression appeared on Old Man''s face suddenly, before he glanced at Garen.


    "How did you know? He and I were the only people who knew about that Precious Heirloom¡­"


    "It doesn''t matter how I found out about it. Just pass a message to him from me, and tell him to be careful of Beckstone. That''s right, what is Marquess Black Snake''s power like?" Garen questioned continuously.


    "Stronger than me, but I haven''t seen him in action for many years. However, he has two generals under him; two female twins, who both possess form three spiritualized powers and are extremely formidable as a team. He also has two strange beasts that he has been nurturing for many years, and no one knows about the changes they''ve undergone," answered Old Man simply, "As a veteran marquess who is also a high-class aristocrat, his family''s territories are extremely vast. It shrunk after the turmoil, but the size of a province as of now still remains as their territory."


    "Oh?" Garen was slightly surprised. According to the original historical timeline, it was now unsurprising that Marquess Black Snake had shown such formidable strength when he encountered Beckstone, because of the powerful domains that were apparently behind him.


    Marquess Black Snake himself was incredibly powerful, but Beckstone was an unworthy opponent, causing him to be killed in an extremely humiliating manner. When he was killed this time, the escort masters from the Terraflor Society were suppressed by the masters of the Royal Alliance of Luminarists. After this period of hardship, a series of accidental events were the key in the path that allowed Beckstone to finally gain the trust of Marquess Black Snake''s twins. In his final moments, the Marquess was ambushed and seriously injured by the twins, allowing them to steal his Precious Heirlooms in an extremely unjust situation. This was something that no one could have predicted.


    In the end, the Ultimate Precious Heirloom, the Rose Snake Crown had already fallen into Beckstone''s hands. He obtained a great increase in strength after his hardships, and finally achieved the fourth form. At this stage, he had finally secured his position, and if the powerful organizations wanted to move him, they needed to use even more powerful means. However, the specialized characteristics of the Rose Snake Crown made it impossible for even certain high-end powers to trap him. Therefore, when the powers finally balanced out and the manpower of the strong organizations finally decreased, Beckstone''s latent powers began to show themselves, and the other organizations had no choice but to let him go.


    Garen thought of this period of history, and remembered that during this key period in Beckstone''s life, Marquess Black Snake had already become a very important individual.


    "This person, Beckstone, was essentially a specialized seed that the Terraflor Society was cultivating. He has great potential, so you should tell Marquess Black Snake to be more careful."


    "I know, I''ll pass the message soon," nodded Old Man determinedly. He knew that if even Garen said that Beckstone would be troublesome, he would truly be a menace.


    *******************


    In a dark forest far away


    A line of night walkers walked through the mysterious dark woods. The person in front held a torch as its fiery red flames illuminated their surroundings. The crunching sound of footsteps echoed throughout the area continuously, accompanied by the occasional sound of snapping tree branches.


    Among these night walkers, the one leading the way was dressed from head to toe in a long white robe, with his cuffs and hems torn off for easier walking. Both of his eyes were different from everyone else''s, as they were blinking with dim silver light.


    Among the people behind him, there was an old man, a child, and a beautiful young lady in red clothes.


    "Stone, are we there yet?" asked the young lady in red softly.


    "Soon, just hold on for a little while longer. This is the Barr giant''s territory, we must pass through it slowly. If we move too quickly, the giant will be provoked," Beckstone said seriously.


    "Do you know if Marquess Black Snake''s people have caught up?" said the young lady in red in a slightly worried tone.


    "It won''t be so soon. Even if the formations were insufficient to hold them down for long, they would surely cause even greater problems assuming that they were unaware of the current circumstances. They might move too quickly through the Barr giant''s territory, " said Beckstone with a calm expression on his face.


    Ah woo, ah woo..!!!


    Suddenly, the sound of wild men''s cries began to echo from a far distance behind them.


    Instantly, similar cries could be heard one after another, as they echoed throughout all four directions and began to increase in frequency.


    "Look, the giants have gone to greet their visitors," Beckstone said with the glimmer of a smile in his eyes.


    "Indeed, it is probably that person''s disciple. To think that he even knew about a secret message like this," lamented Emin, who was part of the group.


    "You''re being too humble. We''ll be out of this dark forest soon enough, but this is the furthest I can see you off. One of the Terraflor Society''s bases are in front, and you can go there before you make your way to the Headquarters," replied Beckstone politely to Emin.


    "You''ve been a great help to me." From his appearance, Emin seemed much more youthful, as the white hair on his head had become mostly black again, while the color of his beard was also becoming darker.


    "As a senior of the Terraflor Society, and a schoolmate who was taught under the same teacher as myself, this little bit of help is insignificant. What''s more important are the messages that you gave me, as those are enough to make up for everything." Beckstone''s eyes showed that he was sincerely grateful. "You guarded this piece of information in a remote village for more than ten years, and for the Terraflor Society to have a senior like you, is something that gives me a lot of pride," he said before he bowed to Emin respectfully.


    "That''s unnecessary. I should be doing that." Emin shook his head, before bowing in return immediately.


    "Alright, let''s go." He pulled his disciple away before glancing at the other members of his team. This journey gave him mixed feelings. When Garen first showed signs of his extraordinary talents, he saw unmistakable loneliness in Garen''s eyes, and fearlessness and strength that surpassed the average person. With his talents, perseverance and persistence, such power would arrive sooner or later.


    He never expected that this day would arrive so soon.


    When Beckstone first tasted defeat at the hands of Garen, his hatred did not spill over towards his own teacher, showing that his heart had become more humble. If only the hatred between the both of them could be absolved¡­


    When this idea appeared in his head, Emin thought of the hatred between the both of them immediately. He exhaled at once. This was probably impossible.


    Dragging his obedient disciple along, Emin walked forward and exited the dark forest. On the glossy black grass in front of them, a few people were standing there and waiting already.


    "Emin, after all these years, it must have been hard for you." A figure stepped forward in the moonlight, and an old woman with white hair appeared.


    "Liz¡­" Emin looked at this woman who was once his close friend, and felt his throat tighten suddenly, making him unable to speak. He shut himself away from the world for the sake of that piece of information from the Terraflor Society, and even allowed his wife to die, while his final research caused him to be hated by his childhood best friend and made them both enemies. Everything was done for this moment, when he finally received his returns.


    "Then¡­ I can finally¡­?"


    "You have the right to restore your school, but only a branch of it," nodded the old woman sincerely.


    "This is enough," said Emin as a satisfied expression appeared on his face. He turned around and glanced at Beckstone and the others who were still standing in the woods. "Let''s go. I haven''t returned for so many years, I don''t know whether everyone has changed or not."


    "They''ve changed¡­ Everyone''s hair is white now¡­" The old woman''s eyelids began to shut, before her words suddenly disappeared into silence.


    *****************


    Garen pulled at the black box communicator at his collar and knitted his brows closely together. He tried to hear the sounds that were coming from the inside.


    They walked in single file and slowly passed through the white stone mounds. The white rhinoceros walked through the uneven rocky grounds, and when its steps failed to find flat surfaces, its body would rock violently.


    The sun was high up in the sky and shining down on them, the fiery sunlight burning the black clothes on the backs of the six people, causing their body temperatures to increase constantly. The surface of their black armor would constantly reflect the black rays, making the armor seem like it was made of layers of silver plated metal.


    "So hot¡­"


    Kitten could not help but pull at his collar. She looked around at her surroundings and noticed that there was not a single green plant in this expanse of white stone mounds. There were only a few black, wilted vines that were lying on a large stone that they passed by, which looked like it had died of thirst for a long time.


    "What kind of hellish place is this?! The sun in the sky is already too hot, so why is steam still coming out of the ground?" complained Kitten suddenly in a loud and impatient tone.


    Old Man glanced past her impatiently, before looking at Garen, who remained indifferent, and Red Umbrella, who looked drowsy.


    "These changes probably occurred after the turmoil. The stone mounds were originally filled with steam, and when I was a lecturer at the Ender Kingdom University, I once brought students here to observe them. The ground here is filled with steam, and has extremely high temperatures, but apparently desert type phenomena have yet to appear here, a sign that there is an abundance of underground water beneath. So¡­"


    "So, there''s definitely a hot spring here?!" said Kitten excitedly suddenly. She could feel that her whole body was sticky and full of sweat. The natural temperature balancing effects of the black clothes were completely useless against the frighteningly high temperatures. The terrifying temperature here had already reached forty to fifty degrees. She could only occasionally use some of her Totem Light to deflect some of the strong heat.


    Old Man nodded his head surely.


    "Hot spring? Taking a dip inside and sleeping will surely make me feel much more comfortable!" An expectant look appeared on Red Umbrella''s face as well, showing signs that he had regained some of his energy too.


    Kid widened both of his big eyes as well, as he looked around at his surroundings.


    Meanwhile, Garen pondered thoughtfully.


    "Old Man, you used to be a Forger, so you should know about the War Guild''s War Chain right?"

 404 Hot Spring 2

    Chapter 404: Hot Spring 2


    "Of course. That was the basis of the War Guild, and the other forces had no way of reproducing it whatsoever. I researched it for a period of time as well and attempted to reproduce it, but unfortunately, I failed," Old Man nodded in reply.


    "This place has an abundance of geothermal heat. Could you help me reform a War Chain? I want to upgrade the level of the Chain because this thing can be used for Solidifying and Permanent Tactics to covertly increase the powers of the members of the Chain. It''s quite useful," Garen said immediately.


    "Just upgrading it should be no problem, but retrieving some of the required materials will be quite troublesome. The War Guild constantly monopolizes these rare materials, making it difficult for outside forgers to obtain." Old Man shook his head to say that they had no choice. "Leader, if you want to upgrade the level of the Chain, you must upgrade it at the War Guild. There''s a branch in the Kovitan Kingdom."


    "Alright¡­" Frankly, Garen did not harbor any expectations and was merely asking around, but received the expected answer straight from Old Man''s lips. Core items like these were definitely firmly controlled by the War Guild themselves.


    Currently, the Nine-Headed Dragon''s potential points were exhausted, and since there was no way to upgrade it, he had to think of other ways to upgrade his own strength.


    Other than the effects of the War Chain''s Solidifying Tactics, there were also Precious Heirlooms. Of course, if he were any other person, he would only be able to depend on these two paths to find a solution. The potential of his Core Totem was exhausted, and there was no way he could upgrade it, unless he switched the core. However, an Ultimate Totem that had reached its form 4 peak was not easy to cultivate, and he had undergone a lot of tribulations and misfortune in between.


    After all, there were no tricks to get through this road easily. In the end, Core Totems needed to combine with their Totem Users, as this was one of the characteristics that were embodied during Spiritualization. If the Core Totem was not grown and cultivated with its Totem User since its low level stages, it would be impossible for them to merge.


    If a strong individual gave a high level Totem to a low level Totem User directly, this high level Totem would not be able to adapt to the Totem User, and would cause the required Totem Strength consumption to increase rapidly in a short span of time. This would make it undergo terrifying changes that had the potential to suck the life out of a low level Totem User.


    A Totem User needed to cultivate their Totems to ensure that the Totems would feed the Totem User themselves during the process, so that their respective natures would be able to match with one another gradually. This was in order to reach the final combination stage in the end.


    Natures that were not matched, regardless of the level of the Totem, would only be burdens and encumbrances to the Totem User, and would not be of any support at all.


    Thus, carelessly changing Core Totems was something that only low level Totem Users would attempt, because once they reached higher levels, only a handful of individuals would be willing to pay such a hefty price. After all, changing one''s Core Totem and cultivating it from the start again would require a painstaking amount of time and effort.


    Most people, even the talented ones, needed at least ten years or more. Every high level Totem that they cultivated required sources of astronomical proportions.


    However, Garen was different because of his regenerative abilities. Although he had to cultivate his Totems, his Totems themselves would also feed his circulatory system, which was caused by his regenerative abilities that increased the speed of his terrifying evolution.


    The time taken for him to cultivate his Totems were much faster compared to the other Totem Users. As long as his Potential Points were sufficient, he could increase his efficiency to a terrifying degree.


    Garen was still pleased with the abilities of the Nine-Headed Dragon. Nine lives that could constantly be refilled through his regenerative powers easily made it a perfect match with his abilities! Perhaps it would be stronger if he changed it to a different Totem, but it would not necessarily have the same kind of powerful skills and abilities.


    Next, he had to consider how to strengthen the Nine Headed Dragon.


    God Cloud and the other Marshalls all had Form 5 Totems, while the Nine Headed Dragon was Garen''s only Form 4 peak Totem. If he did not coordinate it with the strength of his physical body, it would be impossible for him to defeat something that was Form 5. However, his strength was only a rough guess, as actual combat would depend on his creativity, Precious Heirlooms and other means. The difference between their basic skills, however, would always be an existing factor. His other means were merely add-ons, and did not mean that his nature belonged to the Form 5 level.


    Garen sat on the white rhinoceros while his ideas became clearer.


    He looked at his current Attribute Pane immediately.


    ''Strength 14. Agility 10. Vitality 10. Intelligence 10. Potential 2218%. Obtained Luminarist qualifications.


    Secret Technique -- Myriad Water Jasper Technique, Ten Thousand Mammoth Battle Skills.''


    He skipped the rest.


    The blood-red symbols in his Skill Pane represented his skills and their respective explanations. Garen himself was unclear of the number of skills that he had achieved, but since his Skill Pane was filled with symbols, he knew that he had obtained at least ten different types. Some of them were even accumulated from the Secret Technique world.


    His attention was immediately turned towards the relationship between his Secret Techniques and Core Totem.


    "The Secret Techniques are currently at the first level of the Myriad Water Jasper Technique."


    It appeared on the Skill Pane clearly.


    ''Myriad Water Jasper Technique: Level one (Five levels in total, One of Neptune''s top level ancient martial arts, used to increase the adaptability of one''s body to water, and can be used to control a large amount of liquid flow."


    Garen was unsure about this exceptional Secret Technique, as it was just something that he had traded with Celine for the Divine Statue Technique earlier.


    That sly little fox Celine thought that she had been taken advantage of. She did not expect that the Divine Statue Technique was an Ultimate Secret Technique that only existed in theory, as the average person would not be able to adapt to it. All of this was only possible because of the Potential Points that Garen used to achieve this result. Once that cheat had been given to someone else, there was no way they could train themselves to use it.


    Now that the Divine Statue Technique was gone, Garen had lost his immense physical strength and regenerative abilities in exchange for the Myriad Water Jasper Technique, and from the look of it, this new skill was not especially powerful.


    He looked at his remaining Potential Points, and realized that there were only 22 points left.


    He attempted to focus his gaze on the Myriad Water Jasper Technique to stop it.


    There were no changes at all¡­ Everything was still the same as it was earlier.


    Garen furrowed his eyebrows. All this while he had been thinking about how he only needed ten or more points to upgrade his Secret Techniques in the past, whereas new issues had occurred now.


    "It''s very likely that my Potential Points are insufficient," he said as the guess appeared in his mind.


    Right now, he was about to combine with the Nine Headed Dragon. The Nine Headed Dragon possessed a huge body, entirely filled with terrifyingly powerful spirits. Moreover, it also had nine lives!


    A huge physical body foundation such as this was completely unlike his initial human body, and the difference was enormous.


    These changes were probably caused by its difference in foundation.


    A weak human body required a small amount of energy to be transformed, thus the large Nine Headed Dragon naturally did not undergo a large transformation as well.


    For example, if the foundation was 1, the transformation would only need a single digit to easily undergo a large change. If the foundation was 10000, the changes of the new digits would not be substantial, and would not affect it at all.


    Once he realized this point, Garen decided to attempt to accumulate a large amount of Potential Points. At the same time, he wanted to go to the War Guild in the Kingdom to upgrade his War Chain. He also wanted to see another one of the Chain''s members, Angel.


    She was the woman that he had once worked with in Iron Tank City, but now he was unsure of the progress of her and her group. Initially, she was already an elite Form 2 Totem User. Right now, he did not know whether or not she had entered Form 3.


    Returning to his senses, he realized that his line of people had gradually entered a rocky area that was shrouded in mist. Their surroundings were still filled with the same jagged stones, except that muddy, slightly white colored flowing water had appeared in the stone cracks.


    The flowing water formed large and small potholes that were all filled with hot steam that floated around endlessly.


    Old Man stood in front of the line and led the way.


    "It''s not often that I drop by here, so I don''t know if the hot spring in front still exists, but we should go there and clean our bodies."


    "We can rest properly here for a day. This road is much faster than the one we took to get here. Thanks to Leader!" fawned Kitten as she smiled at Garen, before noticing that the latter was closing his eyes and concentrating, without looking at her at all.


    "Hmmph!" Kitten pouted angrily.


    "Is there anything good to eat here?" Meanwhile, Kid was busy thinking about food.


    "There used to be whitebait here that tasted alright, and were good when roasted or made into soup. It''s also full of nourishment to top it off. I don''t know whether they''re still here or not," replied Old Man, smiling.


    "I don''t think we should waste time here, so we can return to the Kingdom faster. If you want to bathe just do it quickly," said Garen absently.


    "Leader, don''t you need to rest? After running around for such a long time with such a dirty body¡­ Can I ask you something, when was the last time you bathed?" Kitten retorted impatiently.


    "Huh?" Garen''s gaze drifted over.


    The latter jumped off the rhinoceros suddenly, and hid behind Red Umbrella immediately as she had been frightened to the point where she was too afraid to come out.


    "Lea¡­ L-leader, I know that someone as kind hearted as yourself would not be offended by the little joke that I just made!" Kitten hid behind Red Umbrella''s back and shouted loudly, speaking in one breath without stopping to breathe.


    The others could not help but laugh softly. Before Garen''s arrival, Kitten had always been the uncontrollable one in the group with a fiery mouth, and Red Umbrella who was the only one who could control her and was therefore unbothered.


    No one expected that Garen''s arrival would cause her to act like a mouse that had just seen a cat, thus keeping her in check at the same time.


    "Men''s bath times and women''s ages have something in common, they are both things that you cannot ask. Understood?" said Garen coldly as he glared at Kitten who was still hiding behind Red Umbrella''s back.


    "Un¡­ Understood!" Kitten nodded seriously, her whole face ghostly pale. Red Umbrella, the white rhinoceros below them, and Kitten herself had all been frightened until their entire bodies were frozen.


    "That''s good." Satisfied, Garen returned his gaze.


    The two people and the animal breathed a sigh of relief simultaneously.


    After going through this period of teasing, the atmosphere of the group had become slightly livelier.


    Soon, bigger stones appeared in front of them, and the potholes in the middle of the rocks increased as well, and became bigger. Some of the potholes had become the size of little ponds with grey colored water that flowed out endlessly and constantly.


    Shh¡­


    In one of the stone cracks in front, white water mist was spraying outwards like a high pressured water gun. The water mist sprayed outwards for a little while and then stopped, as if it was accumulating power before every gush.


    The air was filled with water vapor, and every few meters it became difficult to see the others, and was occasionally so blurry that only black figures could be seen.


    "A little further in front and you''ll see the hot springs. Be careful, everyone. I haven''t been here after the turmoil and I don''t know whether any monsters are entrenched here," said Old Man loudly.


    But the surprising part was that although the crowd had reached the large hot spring pool that Old Man led them to, there was not a single monster in sight.


    Garen began to think that a stronger monster had designated this area as its territory. Thus, once they had reached their confirmed location, he began to survey the area. However, he soon realized that there were still no monsters to be seen, causing him to feel slightly confused.


    These rocky areas were shrouded in white smoke. The surrounding temperatures reached over thirty degrees, while the core temperatures were up to fifty, sixty degrees. The highest temperatures of the hot springs were had almost reached a hundred degrees.


    Large clouds of hot steam floated upwards, and formed a thick layer of black clouds in the sky.


    He was unsure whether it was an illusion or not, but when Garen arched his head upwards, he noticed that the black cloud was changing its shape, and twisting and turning slightly.

 405 Hot Spring 3

    Chapter 405: Hot Spring 3


    It felt as though the black cloud itself was alive.


    Garen narrowed his eyes slightly and felt a tremble in his heart, as he activated the Eye of Isaiah and looked towards the black cloud.


    The black cloud continued to move along normally, except that it had slowed down slightly, with no other signs of abnormalities.


    He returned his gaze and took a look around his surroundings. He did not notice anything suspicious.


    Returning via his initial route, he passed through a few stone forests filled with large rocks and noticed a medium sized, oval shaped hot spring pool in front of him.


    Large clouds of steam rose up as the air suddenly became humid and damp. Garen felt as though his skin had been covered in a sticky layer.


    He heard vague laughing noises coming from the direction of the hot spring which sounded like female voices.


    The exterior of the hot spring pools was barricaded by a circle of large stone pillars, an obvious sign that people had moved them over as blockades.


    Near one of the outer stone pillars, Red Umbrella and Old Man sat cross-legged on the floor while chatting about an unknown topic. Kid was drawing on the surface of one of the stone pillars with his fingers to amuse himself.


    When he saw Garen walking over, Old Man waved the jerky in his hands.


    "We were planning to use the water here to cook some meat soup. Would you like some, Leader?"


    "Have you found the whitebait fish?" Garen asked immediately, as he walked over to sit cross-legged on the floor with the others.


    Old Man shook his head as a hesitant expression appeared on his face. "It¡¯s strange, I easily got a net full of whitebait the last time I fished here, but now it seems like I can¡¯t even see one. It would be an unlikely assumption to say that a monster had dived underwater and eaten all of the whitebait. We used our Totems to dive deep into the water, but we couldn¡¯t find traces of any creatures even when we reached the bottom."


    "We didn¡¯t find anything in the surroundings either," said Garen, shaking his head. "This place seems kind of strange. We¡¯ll let them finish bathing first and then we¡¯ll leave at once. I wouldn¡¯t want to wait around here."


    "That¡¯s fine," Old Man nodded his head.


    "Don¡¯t, I still want to soak¡­ It¡¯s been three months without bathing¡­" Red Umbrella groaned suddenly.


    "Three months¡­" Garen and Old Man were speechless now.


    "Every time I¡¯ve thought of bathing before I sleep, but every time I just fall asleep first¡­" Red Umbrella was beginning to feel embarrassed now, and laughed it off.


    "Just go and rest for now, while we still have time." Garen glanced at Kid and noticed that the usually strange Kid was now acting normally, a sign that this place was not entirely problematic.


    He crossed his legs and closed his eyes, before sitting on the rock and meditating slowly.


    He had planned to investigate his surroundings earlier to see if there were any monsters that he could use to obtain Potential Points, but unfortunately there was not a single monster to be seen.


    Garen adjusted his state of mind properly, before he slowly immersed himself in the state of practicing his Secret Techniques like he did in the previous world.


    Practicing Secret Techniques in a world where Totems were mainly used, occasionally allowed him to reminisce on his past mistakes.


    He calmed his heart as he focused his attention towards the core of his vital energy.


    Unlike the Divine Statue Technique, the vital energy and blood roadmap of the Myriad Water Jasper Technique were extremely complicated, and required the flow of all of his bloodlines, regardless of whether they were large or small, main blood vessels or capillaries.


    This Secret Technique was an ancient martial art passed down to him from Neptune Fist, and Garen knew the uses of some of the roadmaps, but was unclear of the uses of a large number of roadmaps.


    While practicing the Divine Statue Technique, his control of his physical body reached an unprecedented degree, and bloodline flow roadmaps that he himself did not understand appeared as well.


    He followed the instructions of the Secret Techniques.


    The first level of the Myriad Water Jasper Technique resulted in the effect of being able to control the flow of vital energy from a one meter radius. This type of control overlapped between the categories of humans and nonhumans, and would affect all living things that had blood flowing through their veins.


    The second level was used to enhance the range, while the third level was used to enhance strength and to control power.


    However, he was unclear regarding the following levels, as Celine had only trained until the third level, while the fourth level could only be achieved successfully by professionals from Neptune Fist. He was unclear about its exact abilities.


    The Myriad Water Jasper Technique was one of the hardest main Secret Techniques to be learnt from Neptune Fist. Some said that other than the creator, no one else had managed to achieve such a high level.


    Once Garen had closed his eyes, he concentrated and began to adjust the flow of the vital energy in his body to circulate towards a specific roadmap. There were far too many blood vessels that he had to operate, and even if his energies were stronger, one large circulation required at least two hours.


    Moreover, this type of flowing movement was extremely difficult because the movement of vital energy required a fixed speed, and the slightest change would result in a huge setback.


    An illusion began to form in Garen¡¯s mind, telling him that if he wanted to combine with the Nine Headed Dragon, he would need to pass through this Secret Technique Roadmap as well.


    The noises in his surrounding began to echo as though from a distance, as time continued to tick pass. His consciousness slowly drifted towards the stage where he had forgotten himself.


    *****************


    Old Man and Red Umbrella sat beside Garen. One of them closed his eyes and held a black box in their hands, listening to an unknown sound, while the other remained in his old ways, yawning constantly and dozing off to sleep.


    Meanwhile, Kid lay on his back on the floor, unbothered by the heat of the ground, as he stared upwards at the white gas. Occasionally, he would glanced at Garen who was doing cross-legged exercises.


    The noises surrounding the hot spring pools changed from excited comfortable sounds to soft voices, as sounds of people getting out of the water could be heard as well. It seemed like Kitten and Fox had finished bathing, and were getting ready to get out.


    Old Man, who was listening to the black box, opened his eyes suddenly.


    "After this quest is over, do you have any plans, Red Umbrella?"


    "Plans?" Red Umbrella covered his mouth and yawned a few times. "Going home to sleep properly for a few days¡­ No I can¡¯t, it¡¯s too difficult."


    "With Leader around, don¡¯t you plan on doing any level upgrading quests?" Old Man wiggled his eyebrows.


    "Won¡¯t you guys still be around?"


    Old Man remained silent as he looked at Kid who was standing on the sidelines.


    "Kid, after this quest is over, do you have any plans?"


    "Going back to the farm," said Kid in a crisp, abrupt manner.


    "Do you want to stay with us in the Kingdom?"


    "Why?" Kid asked hesitantly.


    "There¡¯s nothing wrong if you choose to stay on the outskirts alone. The current situation has almost calmed down by now. The monster lairs in most places have mostly already been confirmed as dangerous zones, and the activity areas have been clearly stated on the maps. Hence, as long as we don¡¯t loiter around, we won¡¯t be in serious danger. The situations in most countries have calmed down, and the defense lines have also been solidified. Without exterior threats, orderly rebuildings of new societies will come next. This kind of order is still being tested out, but under these circumstances, we as part of the armed forces will receive much greater benefits than before if we stay in the Kingdom, unlike during the tumultuous period when the armed forces was the department that had the highest casualty rates."


    Old Man paused for a moment.


    "Our Kovitan, Daniela, and Ender built the West Farm defense together. After that we built the three major areas. As well as a few small organizations that survived in the secure catch. In this era, one cannot live on without power, and thus, those that control powerful abilities like ourselves will benefit greatly."


    "Old Man, you¡¯re thinking of becoming a solicitor for the princess, right? I remember you putting yourself under her command last year?" Red Umbrella brought up lazily.


    "Since you already knew about that, that¡¯s why I brought it up," nodded Old Man. "It¡¯s true that I¡¯m working for the princess. Although His Majesty Avic has great talents and strong forces, he is still dispirited sometimes, and thus under all circumstances, the princess is naturally the best choice. After my family pledged our services to Her Majesty the Princess, we received great care, and thus this was the obvious decision."


    "That¡¯s your problem. I don¡¯t want to hang around someone else and do their work. Remaining in the Secret Service is fine by me. The benefits are good, the treatment is good, the positions are high, plus it¡¯s also relaxing," said Red Umbrella, as he smiled with both of his hands behind his head.


    "What about you, Kid?" Old Man looked towards the little guy on the side.


    A similarly bored expression appeared on Kid¡¯s face.


    "I¡¯ll go with Leader."


    "What if Leader joins me as one of Her Majesty the Princess¡¯ subordinates?" Old man smiled suddenly.


    "I¡¯ll just go with Leader," nodded Kid confidently.


    "That¡¯s good. Look, Leader will surely join us as well," smiled Old Man as he patted Kid¡¯s head.


    Soon, Fox and Kitten who had just changed into a new set of clothes walked towards them after getting out of the hot spring. Both of them had changed into white clothes that resembled figure-hugging swordsman¡¯s uniforms, except that there were short cloaks hanging off their backs, which made them look exceptionally cool. Both of them were exposing their beautiful, pale legs.


    Unfortunately, not a single person there was giving them a second glance.


    Kid did not understand anything, while Old Man had a lot of past experience, as shown on his calm expression. Red Umbrella was busy dozing off.


    All that was left was their sane male leader Garen, who was still closing his eyes and resting, as if he were meditating.


    Kitten twitched her lip regretfully and glanced at Fox, as she began to feel like it was a wrong decision to hang around in this group.


    Fox continued to cover her face, making it impossible to read her expression.


    Old Man explained Leader¡¯s actions to them, before Kitten and Fox expressed their understanding.


    Garen opened his eyes slowly at this moment as well.


    He glanced at the sky and noticed that the dark clouds were still the same.


    After hesitating for a while, he realized that he had not bathed for a long time.


    Although he could prevent dust and dirt from sticking on his body as a Totem User, he could not do the same for the sweat that his body released. He used his Secret Technique to control his body, allowing his secreted sweat to be released out of his body through other methods. However, the others did not have this ability.


    Looking at Kid and Red Umbrella¡¯s pleading expressions, he felt that he had been slightly cruel towards them. Allowing someone who had gone three months without bathing to not be able to enter a hot spring¡­


    "Okay, okay. Since we¡¯re here, we might as well bathe," sighed Garen. "I¡¯ll go soak for a bit as well."


    "We¡¯ll guard the door!" Kitten exclaimed immediately.


    "Wise Leader!!" Red Umbrella was the first one to jump up, before he ran to the white rhinoceros that was not far away and quickly found four black towels, which he gave to each of the men. After that he brought a little bottle of shower gel that had dark red flower petals floating inside. There were filament like red flower petals.


    Garen and the other men each took a towel and walked into the man-made hot spring in the stone forest.


    There was an oval shaped pool inside that was steaming with clouds of hot air, while there were stone pillars of different lengths that surrounded the pool in a circle, forming only one entry point.


    The four men took off their clothes quickly, exposing their once hidden body shapes.


    The white mist made it hard to see clearly, but Garen could still see the faces of the three other people.


    Old Man had a kindly, elderly face and wore a pair of silver-rimmed spectacles, and was currently using a white cloth to wipe the glass. If he was seen at a library or a similar place, people would assume that he was a university researcher or scholar. However, there were rumours that he was actually once a scholar.


    Red Umbrella had short red hair, a pair of slanting, flyaway eyebrows, and unusually handsome features. Coupled with his red eyes and porcelain skin, he definitely looked like a well-bred aristocratic prince.


    Kid removed his clothes, and exposed his bony slender body that lacked flesh. His skin was dry and it was obvious that he was underdeveloped. His eyes were also sunken, his dark brown hair was coarse and messy, and there were freckles on the tip of his nose.


    But none of these were important. The strangest thing was that Kid¡¯s skin completely lacked the colour of blood. He was terribly pale.


    Garen glanced at him a few more times unconsciously.


    Only then did he remove his clothes and throw them onto the stone by the side of the pool carelessly.


    Garen walked into the water and sat down, allowing his golden, shoulder-length hair to float on the surface of the water. He immersed his entire body into the water, exposing the parts above his chin only.


    The temperature of the water was just right, at almost forty degrees.


    Garen closed his eyes, and finally let go of the tight nerves that he had been holding on for so long.


    Excluding the moments when he was in the outskirts such as this, Garen could never let go of his nerves completely. He always needed to keep his guard up in case a strange phenomena occurred, or in case a strong monster decided to attack out of the blue.


    However, his own team mates were keeping guard now, and some of them were even soaking with him, which allowed him to not worry about issues regarding his safety for awhile.


    Unconsciously, Garen drifted into a half asleep state.


    Before he¡¯d upgraded the Myriad Water Jasper Technique, this scene had appeared once, and now, it was appearing a second time.

 406 Hot Spring 4

    Chapter 406: Hot Spring 4


    Amidst the blurriness, he saw the large, ten metres tall metal door again.


    The borders of the door were filled with dark red rust marks that left faint patterns, as though fine, complex and gorgeous lines had once been engraved there.


    Hungry¡­


    So hungry¡­


    Garen realised that he had turned into that pitiful, little Dual Headed Salamander again.


    His entire body was covered in dirty scales, and he was only slightly more than three meters long. A strong sensation of hunger rumbled throughout his belly continuously.


    Too hungry¡­


    Garen unconsciously hit one of its heads against the large door violently.


    Bang!


    A loud noise echoed from the metal door as a slit revealed itself when it was pushed open.


    Bang bang bang!! Bang bang bang!!


    The sound of loud footsteps echoed from behind the door suddenly as if a large creature was pacing back and forth with heavy rhythmic stomping noises, that walked and stopped continuously.


    The little Dual Headed Salamander could not suppress its hunger any longer. It was starving and it followed its instincts by attempting to push the large door open, before crawling inside slowly.


    Garen hid inside its body and looked out quietly while experiencing everything, as if he was the Dual Headed Salamander.


    Behind the door was a large black wasteland that was surrounded by broken and damaged walls.


    A rotting stench permeated the air.


    The little Dual Headed Salamander crawled inside clumsily before noticing that right in front of it, stood a tall, large black church.


    The church was sturdy and well-built, but the sound of the heavy footsteps from earlier had echoed from within it.


    Bang bang!!


    The loud footsteps rang from the church once again.


    The little salamander raised its head and looked towards the sky.


    The sky was filled with large grey clouds that gave off a heavy feeling of hopelessness. It looked like someone had used a pencil to scrawl on a sheet of white paper, staining it with grey blotches that gave off an unclean sensation.


    He did not know why, but Garen currently felt more awake than before.


    He could vaguely feel that this little Dual Headed Salamander seemed to be a native ancestor from the ancient times, of the Nine Headed Dragon that he had evolved.


    That was from an era when countless salamanders still existed, possibly more than ten thousand years ago in the Totem World.


    In the history of humankind within the Totem World, there was only about six thousand years of history that up to the present day. This included the time periods from two different calendars; the current solar calendar that had spanned almost three thousand and five hundred years, and the ancient calendar from the past that spanned over two thousand years. When added together, there were almost six thousand years in total.


    This was the journey of human civilization, from the wilderness to development.


    Moreover, the period where the Dual Headed Salamander still existed was at least twenty million years away.


    To think that during an era in which humankind had yet to plant the seed of civilization, a man-made building like this actually existed¡­


    A sense of curiosity began to bubble up inside Garen suddenly.


    For such a large door and an enormous church like this, how had it been built?


    Perhaps everything would be revealed when the Dual Headed Salamander entered the church.


    The little Dual Headed Salamander walked towards the large church clumsily.


    The large black church resembled a tall black mountain that stood in front of it. It cast a large grey shadow.


    As the Dual Headed Salamander got closer, the loud footsteps inside the church began to quieten down, and soon stopped completely. Everything was immersed in the silence of despair once again.


    This whole world seemed to lack any signs of life; there were no green plants, no flying insects, and no chirping of birds.


    Unable to see any of its brethren or any remaining living beings, the little salamander was all alone.


    It stood in front of the enormous black copper door of the church and glanced at the remains of the door, which resembled the strange face of a bat. The little salamander suddenly hesitated.


    Garen could feel the incomparable fear rising up in its heart. That strong sense of fear was caused by the incomparable terror that existed within the church. From the sound of its footsteps, he could tell that the bastard inside the church was at least fifty meters tall, and was definitely a humongous giant. One stomp was all it needed to crush the three meter tall salamander into meat sauce.


    But the little salamander had been wandering the vicinity for far too long, and this place was the only area where it had found the existence of other living things.


    The other places were all filled with silence and despair without any other life forms, not even plants. There was only wreckage, as if the whole world had been rent and destroyed. It felt as though it was currently walking towards its death.


    To go in? Not to go in?


    The little salamander¡¯s brain was wrestling with itself violently right now.


    In this world where the sun did nothing to warm the land, it had wandered for many years, eating roots and wet soil and barely surviving. Now that even the roots were beginning to wilt to death, it had no other options to turn to anymore.


    Finally, the little salamander pressed its main head against the large door steadily, and began to push strongly.


    Woo¡­


    Garen opened his eyes suddenly and woke up.


    His surroundings were still filled with white misty water vapor. He was still half-lying inside the hot spring pool.


    His bright golden hair was spread out on the surface of the water, and he could see himself vaguely from the reflection in the water, before he noticed that the three red marks on his forehead were beginning to bleed suddenly.


    He reached his hand out to touch it, before bringing his fingers downwards, and noticing that his fingertips were stained with fresh red blood.


    "Is this an after effect?" Garen murmured to himself.


    Obtaining strength quickly would always require one to give a designated trade-off in exchange. This was the biggest disadvantage of not acquiring the basics. Garen had always been worried about the after effects that would occur in himself.


    Initially, he assumed that his heart might have undergone a rejection reaction, but now he found out that the most troublesome part was that he would have to relive the memories of the salamander¡¯s ancestors that were encoded in its genes.


    These memories were merely parts and pictures to a simple-minded salamander. However, to Garen, as a human, he could use them to find important information.


    "Leader? Are you okay?" Red Umbrella was sitting a short distance away from Garen, and had noticed that his forehead was bleeding as well as the scent of blood.


    "I¡¯m fine, it¡¯s just a minor issue," Garen answered lightly.


    Red Umbrella saw from his expression that he did not want to say anything else, and thus he stopped asking.


    He looked on as Leader¡¯s handsome pale face began to sink into the water slowly, and noticed that the three dot marks on his forehead continued bleeding slightly. Leader¡¯s face was completely expressionless, as if everything was normal.


    Red Umbrella had always felt that Leader emitted a strange air throughout his entire body. It seemed as if this body he was approaching was not human, but a monstrous wild beast instead.


    He glanced at Kid who was standing on the other side, and thought about how this child was no older than fourteen or fifteen years old, yet possessed terrifying powers and had managed to reach the peak of Form 3.


    Meanwhile, his body was covered by deathly pale skin, without a single sign of blood.


    Even after soaking in the hot spring for such a long time, in forty degrees water, not a tinge of red coloured his little face.


    Kid seemed like a corpse when he immersed his whole body in the water like that.


    These two people were stranger than others, and Red Umbrella felt that as a normal person, he should not come into too close proximity with them.


    He inched away slowly and quietly to rest at the other end of the hot spring.


    At this moment, Old Man approached Garen quietly.


    "Leader, can we speak alone?"


    "Speak alone?" Garen lifted his head out of the water and wiped the water off his face. The blood on his forehead dripped down his nose to the corner of his lips, and Garen stuck his tongue out to lick at it. He was unsure why his emotions were beginning to feel an inexplicable sense of irritability.


    "What do you want to talk about?" He closed his eyes again and waited for Old Man¡¯s next words.


    Old Man tidied up his train of thought and looked at Garen¡¯s calm face, before glancing at the other two people, before softening his voice.


    "I don¡¯t know whether you are aware that I¡¯m actually a Totem User under the command of the princess?"


    "Princess?" Garen had no impressions of this person. "I¡¯m not that familiar with her, I¡¯ve only heard that she is very competent. And she¡¯s also a wise leader."


    "During this quest, I was actually sent with the Princess¡¯s sincerity. Not just for yourself, but also for the other members in the group, as her Majesty the Princess wishes for an opportunity to work with all of you," said Old Man with an honest look in his eyes.


    "What do you mean? You want me to join you as one of the princess¡¯s subordinates?" said Garen as a playful look appeared on his face suddenly. Him? A=He was a first class fighter that could even take on Obscuro Society¡¯s Marshall God Cloud head on.


    He still had a high level friend like Goth by his side, and he was also part of a loyalist family that had received Avic¡¯s trust, giving him a high position in the interior of the empire. To think that this princess would not solicit him personally, but chose to ask Old Man to pass on the message instead.


    "You¡¯re not wrong about that," nodded Old Man. "The princess wants talented individuals, and prioritizes those who are strong and competent. If a strong individual like yourself joined our ranks, it would truly be a large blessing to our camp."


    "So what kind of remunerations can you give me?" said Garen as a somewhat playful expression appeared on his face. "I¡¯m treated like an Earl in the Secret Service, so what kind of promises can you grant me?"


    Old Man did not say much, but withdrew a black scroll from his clothes beside the pond instead, pulled off the string, and opening it delicately.


    This scroll was resistant to water, and had started to emit a faint black light in the midst of the mist. The rows of handwritten words on the scroll began to vibrate slightly.


    Garen looked at the scroll and noticed that the writing was engraved in a secret language using Totem Light. It was written in a type of secret cryptography, and could only be read after it was decompiled.


    "What is this?" Garen looked up at Old Man.


    Old Man remained silent and outstretched his hand to point at the end of the scroll carefully.


    Garen looked in the direction of his finger and noticed faint traces of a seal there.


    He was slightly shaken when he realised that this was the special seal used by the royal family of the Kovitan Empire, which was also the emperor¡¯s seal that only Avic possessed.


    "This scroll was sent by His Majesty the Emperor?"


    Old Man nodded.


    "Do you still remember the incident where the king¡¯s daughter was stabbed in the kingdom some time ago?"


    Garen¡¯s heart skipped a beat.


    He¡¯d assumed that the incident had occurred silently, and that he had destroyed all of the witnesses, he did not think that¡­


    "What do you mean?" he asked quietly as he looked at Old Man.


    "It¡¯s very simple, now Avic has started to doubt you as well. Meanwhile, the ones that can truly help you within the entire kingdom, are only limited to us!" He said his last sentence in a louder tone, while a confident expression appeared on his face.


    "Tell me the password." Garen¡¯s expression had changed slightly.


    If he wanted to beat God Cloud now, the battle at Snowy Peak would shake the world. However, the strength to face an entire empire was something that he still lacked right now.


    It did not matter how much hidden strength Avic kept hidden, as the professionals on the surface of the empire were bad enough. The two Grand Dukes, defense minister Veska, and the three pillars of the empire were all extremely powerful strengths that were hard to understand. Once the stabbing incident was exposed, he would turn from a loyalist of the empire to a wanted convict immediately. It did not matter to him, but Big Sister Hathaway, Goth, and his other relatives would not be able to escape. They would all be involved.


    After Old Man told Garen the password, he decoded the entire message carefully, as all of the contents of the scroll displayed themselves clearly.


    ¡®Permission granted to examine the head of the Trejons household thoroughly, but it must be done in secret.¡¯


    Garen narrowed his eyes.


    "This doesn¡¯t mean anything, right?"


    "Does it really not mean anything?" Old Man replied with a smile.


    Garen grew silent for a moment.


    "You aren¡¯t worried that I hand this over to His Majesty?"


    Old Man continued to smile but did not answer.


    Garen knew that if this was real, even if he did hand it over to His Majesty, it would not benefit him at all.


    Moreover, just like what he¡¯d said earlier, the only one that could help him was the princess who was seated in a high position. With an important individual in the palace grasping the entire situation, his own control of his dangerous position would increase greatly as well.


    Furthermore, for the other man to give this to him so confidently, it meant that he was not afraid that he would hand it over to His Majesty.


    "His Majesty¡¯s doubts are doubts. In the end, the stabbing of the king¡¯s daughter was not something that I carried out, so I have nothing to worry about," smiled Garen, as he steadied his emotions.

 407 Princess 1

    Chapter 407: Princess 1


    "If you think of it that way, you¡¯re making a huge mistake," said Old Man, shaking his head. "Although you¡¯re an exceptionally powerful individual, His Majesty¡¯s doubts are still doubts. We don¡¯t know for sure if he contacted you just because of these uncertainties. He definitely has a more farsighted plan, of course? Your father¡¯s contributions then were not done in vain, right?"


    "We should stop our discussion here for now." Garen closed his eyes, unwilling to talk further.


    The Black Prince had already arrived in the Kingdom, and Avic¡¯s stabbing incident would be exposed, which would cause an uproar in the Kingdom. Then it wouldn¡¯t matter if he wanted to seek refuge with her, the question of whether the princess would even be able to protect herself was already a problem.


    Moreover, as to whether or not Avic knew that he had killed the daughter of a king, realistically the nature of the incident was already very severe. However, when he thought about it carefully, he realized that it was not an issue that was too serious.


    He had powers equivalent to a Form 5 Totem User himself and was probably the strongest person in the entire Kingdom. The battle at Snowy Peak proved that he had achieved that level. To fall out with him merely for the sake of a king¡¯s daughter, was beyond someone who was as wise as Avic.


    The Trejons family of the past may have encountered terrible disasters because of this. However, now, it was different.


    Before Garen could switch his status completely, he was already cornered by Old Man. When he thought back about this now, he realized that there was nothing serious to be worried about.


    Old Man and the others only needed to look at Garen¡¯s expression to know that this rationale was something that he could not refuse.


    He did not bother to overthink it, this was not one of the key bargaining chips in the beginning anyway.


    "Since we¡¯ve come to this, just wait until we¡¯ve arrived at the Kingdom so the princess can speak to you personally. Frankly, ever since you handed your household treasure over to His Majesty Avic, Her Majesty has wanted to speak to you. The problem was not that you didn¡¯t have time to speak to her, rather, Her Majesty was the one who had no time."


    "Then we¡¯ll wait until we arrive at the Kingdom to continue discussing this matter," answered Garen simply.


    Old Man shook his head and did not say another word.


    From their perspective, Garen was a royal minder that would hold on stubbornly, and would never change his mind so quickly. Right now, he was only trying to create a sliver of doubt in Garen¡¯s heart, to create uncertainties in his loyal heart towards Avic.


    The tasks thereafter would require Her Majesty to speak to him personally.


    Regarding the princess, Old Man had unshakeable confidence in her.


    He moved away slowly and stopped bothering Garen, choosing instead to run towards Red Umbrella on the other side to speak to him.


    Garen had actually seen through Old Man¡¯s intentions.


    However, he knew that future forces and the Obscuro Society were ready to stab the king, which would then throw the Kingdom into a state of turmoil. Before the situation cleared up, it was too early to be discussing these matters.


    The steam in the hot spring continued to rise, and at once, Garen immersed himself in his thoughts again.


    He did not know why there was an unknown irritability bubbling up inside his heart. He kept trying to think, but was unable to focus quietly.


    Whoosh!!


    Garen stood up from the water suddenly and used his Secret Techniques to dry off the steam on his body, before grabbing his clothes from the side of the pool and putting them on quickly.


    "I¡¯m going to take a walk first, you guys can take your time to soak."


    "Okay, we¡¯re almost done as well," answered Old Man hurriedly.


    Red Umbrella made a sound of agreement as well.


    Garen walked out of the hot spring with long strides and saw Fox outside using a dry towel to wipe her long hair, while Kitten sat on the side and laughed happily about something.


    When both of them saw Garen come out, they frantically stood up cautiously.


    "Leader."


    "You¡¯re done bathing, Leader?"


    "Yes," answered Garen simply with a slightly impatient tone. He did not know why his heart had been filled with an uncomfortable irritating feeling since just now.


    He was about to make a round around his surroundings before a loud angry yell echoed from the hot spring suddenly.


    "Get lost!"


    It sounded like Red Umbrella¡¯s voice.


    "I only had good intentions, Red Umbrella. Don¡¯t you get the wrong idea!!" Old Man¡¯s anger-filled voice could be heard as well.


    "What¡¯s going on?!"


    Garen raised his voice and asked the people inside.


    Instantly, the three people came out one after another, two of them fuming with anger. They seemed to have started fighting. Meanwhile, Kid walked behind them, clad in his brand new black skirted armor.


    "It¡¯s nothing, just a little quarrel. Leader, don¡¯t worry about it," said Old Man, suppressing his anger determinedly.


    "All my life I¡¯ve hated it when others tried to threaten me!" Red Umbrella replied coldly from the side.


    As he looked at both of their faces, Garen did not know why violent emotions started bubbling up inside his heart suddenly.


    Could these weak pieces of trash give him some peace of mind?! Not only had he protected them throughout the journey, did he have to be responsible for their mental health as well? He was their leader, not their nanny!


    The anger inside him grew stronger.


    The air around him began to solidify gradually, and the atmosphere became more and more tense.


    Suddenly, a shock quaked through Garen¡¯s mind, and he began to feel like something was wrong.


    As a fighter who had extreme control over his own abilities, he had always understood his physical changes like the back of his hand. Moreover, practicing his Secret Techniques had allowed him to repair some parts of himself as well.


    But currently, Garen felt that something was not right.


    Usually, he would not get upset at others so easily.


    Furthermore, Old Man and Red Umbrella were usually mild tempered as well. How did they get mad so suddenly?


    He glanced past Kitten and Fox.


    Kitten¡¯s brows were currently furrowed as she glared at Old Man angrily, as she was obviously furious at Old Man who had picked a fight with Red Umbrella.


    Meanwhile, Fox had a cold expression on her face, a sign that she was somewhat upset as well.


    "Is this place making us all like this?!" A thought flashed through Garen¡¯s mind.


    He glanced at the expressionless Kid again and noticed that the little guy had a sleepy look on his face, and seemed to be completely unconcerned about the emotions of his teammates.


    Garen raised his head again and looked at the sky, noticing that the dark clouds had moved closer, while the sentient-like feeling became more obvious.


    "Shut up!"


    He yelled suddenly.


    "Leader!"


    "What¡¯s happening?!"


    Old Man and Red Umbrella rushed forward one after another and shouted back at Garen.


    A red light flashed.


    Roar!!


    A hostile flash illuminated Garen¡¯s forehead, as two dreamlike red dragon heads flashed in front of him suddenly.


    Bang bang!!


    After the two loud strikes sounded, Old Man and Red Umbrella were both sent flying before crashing into the stony ground on both sides and rolling far away.


    "Garen! You dare touch me?!" Old Man attempted to get up, but his whole body was powerless, and he could not seem to move.


    "Speak again and I¡¯ll kill you!" Murderous rage flashed in Garen¡¯s eyes suddenly.


    Old Man was shocked and could not speak anymore.


    On the other side, Red Umbrella seemed to have realized that something was wrong, as his power was now slightly stronger, and one hit had made him nauseous and unable to react properly.


    Garen glanced at Fox and Kitten and noticed that both their eyes had become slightly more bloodshot, as they were temporarily suppressed by his strong powers, and it would not be long before he exploded.


    "Hnngh!" Garen huffed coldly as two dragon heads flashed in front of his body again.


    "Don¡¯t fight back!"


    The four dragon heads bit down one person each.


    While the four of them were being bitten, even if they tried to retaliate, they were currently held down by its terrifying level of suppression which made it hard for them to breathe. Not only was it hard for them to fight back, but speaking required a lot of energy as well.


    "Kid, follow me!" Garen glanced at Kid.


    "Okay." Kid bore no sign of abnormalities and nodded his head sincerely.


    On his own, Garen brought the four others out of the misty area and ran outside quickly.


    Kid returned to the white rhinoceros and took everyone¡¯s bundles from it, before following behind Garen closely.


    The group of people rushed along for more than an hour before the white mist in front of them gradually became thinner.


    The white rocks on the ground had also decreased, and the cracks between the rocks had stopped spraying water vapor.


    The mysterious irritating feeling had also finally disappeared.


    Once they reached a depression in one of the large rocks, only then did Garen throw the four people he had been biting on top of the rock.


    He had regulated his own breathing slightly and began to feel as if his emotions were suddenly normal now. The irritating feeling from earlier was gone.


    He looked at the others and their uncomfortable faces, that seemed to have realized the strange things that happened earlier.


    "I knew there was something wrong when there were no monsters there. Who would think that there was something abnormal inside!" Old Man got up and shook his head.


    "Everyone was almost done for." Red Umbrella forced a smile and got up as well. "It almost caused me to fall out with Leader and Old Man, really¡­"


    "It seems like there aren¡¯t any places without danger in this wilderness, so we have to keep our guard up at all times. Regardless if they¡¯re strong or weak¡­" Garen nodded and said seriously. "Since I fell victim to it, you guys would be more likely to. No wonder there wasn¡¯t a single monster in that area, I didn¡¯t expect this effect to exist."


    He stopped speaking and looked at Red Umbrella and the other man, before smiling slightly.


    "You two are alright, right? I attacked you a bit harshly earlier. But I believe that you won¡¯t blame me, yes?"


    "It¡¯s fine. Don¡¯t worry, Leader." Red Umbrella stroked the left side of his face where a burning sensation could be felt, which meant that there was no way he was fine. But after looking at Leader¡¯s fake concerned expression, if he even dared to say that something was wrong¡­ He remembered Garen¡¯s murderous rage from earlier, and a chill ran down his spine unconsciously.


    "No¡­ Nothing¡¯s wrong. Leader, you did all this to save us, and we are inexplicably grateful. How could there be anything wrong? Ha¡­ Haha¡­" Old Man held the swollen part of his face that had been hit and answered jokingly.


    "That¡¯s good." A happy look appeared on Garen¡¯s face. "Since nothing¡¯s wrong, we¡¯ll continue our journey, because I don¡¯t think we can get the things that were on the white rhinoceros¡¯ back."


    "I took all of our stuff." Kid dragged six suitcases along and stood beside them, taking credit for his contributions loudly.


    "Well then, this time we owe you, Kid!" Garen laughed as he patted Kid¡¯s head.


    Kitten stood on the side and rejoiced in their misery. She was angry and speechless when Garen bullied her, but now that she realized another two people had joined her side, her heart was suddenly unbelievably joyful.


    Fox, on the other hand, was still analyzing the abnormalities of the place.


    "If I hadn¡¯t guessed wrongly, the misty area earlier probably had characteristics that amplified the negative emotions of large creatures." Fox¡¯s calm voice rang out amidst all the other people.


    Garen was shocked. "Amplified negative emotions?" He pondered carefully and realized it was true.


    He was worried that there would be no cure for his after effects, which caused the irritated and fretful feeling. Old Man and Red Umbrella had disagreed on only one matter, and while both sides would usually compromise, this time no one had expected them to be impatient to the extent of having outbursts.


    Behind them, Red Umbrella had dared to yell at someone who was stronger than himself, which was an obvious sign that something was not right.


    "I¡¯ve observed Kid for a long time. Kid has never gotten angry. He was even happy. Regardless of how others treat him, he¡¯s never troubled and always happy," explained Fox in a soft voice. "That¡¯s why he was the only one among us who was completely fine and did not feel threatened at all. At the time, I heard the noises as well, and began to feel an inexplicable need to explode suddenly."


    Garen turned around and looked at the direction they had rushed in from, and etched this place in his heart deeply.


    "We¡¯ll stop discussing this matter here then. Let¡¯s just hurry up and head to the Kingdom."


    The others had no objections. If they had not been convinced about Garen¡¯s strength last time, they had experienced it first hand now, and finally realized that their Leader¡¯s strength currently surpassed theirs greatly, and the difference between them was too large, and even his mere breath could make them terrified.

 408 Princess 2

    Chapter 408: Princess 2


    Kovitan''s Castle


    The black city stretched over the mountain top. Red and yellow lights were flashing from within.


    In the evening, the kingdom''s mountain roads winded down in circles, passing through a sea of white clouds to the foot of the mountain.


    Within the forest at the foot of the mountain, the black-roofed white-walled civilian houses were like fine white stones. They came in all sizes. In the middle of them were civilians passing by, as if they were ants.


    Several carts were carrying heavy loads of goods as they headed towards the mountain road.


    The faint moonlight shined on the surface of the mountains, coating the ground with a layer of silver.


    Garen''s black-robed group appeared before the road to the entrance of the civilian housing district.


    At the entrance, two black stone towers stood tall. Sentries were on guard with a totem user on one of the towers.


    This totem user was in white robes. As he saw Garen''s group of six''s appearance, his face instantly turned solemn. He rushed down from the tower, appearing from the exit at the bottom with a few silver-armored soldiers behind him.


    As he took the initiative to meet Garen''s group, the totem user bowed his head.


    "I am the totem user on guard, Anlin. May I ask you to present your passes."


    As he spoke, he was assessing the group in front of him. The six of them weren''t like normal totem users or martial artists. The carved golden iris pattern on the collar of their black robes showed their noble status.


    Looking at their dusty bodies, it was evident that they had come from a long journey. Being able to travel long distance and passing through the area where the monsters gathered, it can only mean two things. Either they were incredibly strong, reaching the third form level, or they had strong backgrounds with the support of precious heirlooms.


    As they only had a small number of six people, the possibility of the former was the largest.


    Anlin had met quite a few experts, but this group of people were on par with the masters of national authority. The smell of their bodies were obviously due to their countless killings.


    Garen only nodded towards him. The old man beside him quickly walked forward with a black-golden pass and handed it over.


    Normally, they always flew in and out. Rarely would they enter the kingdom through the main entrance. However, he was prepared and everything was proper.


    After checking, Anlin volunteered and led the way towards the second tower.


    Along the journey, Garen casually talked to the man.


    "I heard that the black prince is visiting the kingdom to meet His Majesty. I wonder if he''s arrived in the city?"


    "Sir, the prince has arrived yesterday night. I heard that he has entered the Jade Pool. After freshening up, he should be officially meeting His Majesty tomorrow." Anlin replied respectfully.


    "This time the Black Prince is really a big deal. He has more than a hundred totem users following him. Rumors have said that there are also third form totem users among them. Gee.."


    Garen didn''t care about third form totem users. In the eyes of this second form totem user, a third form user is an immensely powerful figure. Garen wouldn''t be able to obtain any information about stronger forces from him.


    "When the Black Prince arrived, who was the minister who went to meet him?" He asked again.


    Anlin hesitated for a moment.


    "I''m not very sure myself, but if I''m not mistaken, the Foreign Affairs Minister is usually the one who does the welcoming. His Majesty would wait until the other party washed up before officially meeting him. But the Black Prince is also the king of a country. The only thing is that he doesn''t have an official title. So I think they would be meeting today."


    Garen nodded and took out a golden Rumb.


    "Tell us about other major happenings in the past ten days."


    In the era of war, the Rumb has been heavily devalued as a commodity. However, to a second form totem user, a golden Rumb was not an amount that could be neglected.


    After getting the small reward, Anlin instantly felt more relieved and continued speaking.


    "There is another more important piece of information. The King has decided to hold an Aegis Ceremony for the First Concubine. The only thing is we do not know what the Aegis Ceremony is. In conjunction with the Black King''s visit, His Majesty has decided to hold the ceremony next Monday."


    "Aegis Ceremony?" The old man looked surprised and let out a low mutter. "It should be a ceremony of trust, awarding the rights to guard the precious heirlooms.." He explained softly through the black box.


    The rest of them quickly understood and instantly let out a yearning expression. It was the strongest, legendary Original Heirloom! To be able to be protected by a heirloom of this level, would be a big thing for any totem user.


    Naturally, Garen was the clearest on this matter. This meant that the First Concubine or the Obscuro Society''s plot were coming to a head.


    He continued asking Anlin about some other trivial matters until there was absolutely nothing. Only then did Garen stop asking.


    The group of them did not talk much, and very quickly arrived at the second tower.


    This time there were already men waiting outside the tower. It was clear that Anlin had informed them ahead.


    "Let me excuse myself." Anlin bowed respectfully and left.


    "Thanks for your efforts."


    "My pleasure to be able to serve all of you."


    As Garen and the rest went closer, they suddenly realized that the group of people welcoming them were dressed luxuriously. They were wearing thick cloaks used for concealing, and their faces couldn''t be seen clearly.


    "Your Excellency Garen Trejon, I wonder if Liv can have the privilege to have dinner with you?"


    One of the black-cloaked figures lifted her mask, revealing her face beneath.


    It was pure yet pitiful, beautiful girl''s face.


    Her fair and delicate skin was faintly glowing under the moonlight. Her blond hair was combed into a ponytail, winding down from her shoulders. Her lips were pink and delicate.


    Her most prominent attribute was her eyes. They were clear like purple gemstones.


    Although the girl had evidently no intention to beg, Garen still developed pity towards her.


    It was like her gaze would unknowingly cause others to develop pity.


    "Princess.." The old man honorably called out her name. He was evidently trying to point out her status.


    "Princess?" Garen blinked and fixed his gaze on the legendary princess.


    "I wonder if Your Excellency can agree to Liv''s stubborn request?" The princess had a tiny figure, with her height only up to Garen''s chin. They stood opposite each other. As the wind blew, it brought with it a faint fragrance. It wasn''t a recognizable fragrance, but a girl''s natural body fragrance.


    "Since Your Majesty has invited, how would Garen dare to reject?" Garen smiled, assessing the legendary princess in front of him.


    Being King Avic''s most precious daughter, Princess Liv had astonishing beauty, a superhuman strategic mind and extraordinary courage. Unknowingly, she gathered large amounts of forces for King Avic.


    Vast forces.


    Being Avic''s eldest daughter, Princess Liv definitely wasn''t very young, but looking at the girl, there was a hint of doubt in Garen''s heart.


    The girl was at most sixteen years of age! It was impossible that she was the rumored thirty-year old princess!


    "Are you suspicious?" The princess smiled. "In fact, there''s no harm in telling you directly. This is my body''s natural talent."


    "Body''s natural talent?"


    "Yes. My body will never grow old, up till my death. This is my natural state." The princess smiled. "However, this is not the time to talk about this."


    Suddenly her expression turned solemn.


    "Your Excellency Garen, I''m sure you know about the upcoming Trust Ceremony?"


    "What about it?"


    "Let''s start walking. We''ll talk in detail during dinner."


    Garen nodded and gave the rest of his group a glance.


    "You guys head to the headquarters first. I will return later."


    "Yes team leader." The old man and the rest of them stuck with Garen over these few days. In this chaos, only the strong ones had the highest possibility of assuring their own safety and benefits.


    Together with the princess, Garen and the group went along the mountain path. Very quickly, they arrived at a secluded bungalow.


    The bungalow was brightly lit. A banquet dinner was already ready in the hall.


    Golden roast chicken, rich beef and vegetable soup, fragrant black caviar, red colored fruit platter and big pieces of black steak. There were also fine egg rolls with unknown fillings, and others.


    The princess ordered everyone to leave, including the waiters. Then she put on a confident look.


    Very quickly, she and Garen were the only two left in the hall.


    She lifted a jade-green colored wine bottle and poured some wine for both of them. There was a pure smile on the princess'' face.


    "You might know this, but, the First Concubine Delouse is very possibly someone from the Obscuro Society?"


    Garen furrowed his brows and nodded without uttering a word.


    The princess glanced at him and continued. "But, you do not know her other identity."


    "Oh? What identity?"


    "I didn''t plan to tell you this secret, but I did not expect¡­.aih...Honestly,


    "It was my father that requested me to wait at the tower for your return to the capital. This secret, was also told to you by my father''s request. His intention is for you to not worry."


    "These are King Avic''s intentions?" Garen got more and more curious.


    "This secret is simple." The princess smiled. "First Concubine Delouse is actually a spy that my father placed long ago in the Obscuro Society."


    "Oh?!" Garen shuddered. At this point he finally understood why the Obscuro Society ignored him although they knew he might have found out about First Concubine Delouse''s status. This was where the problem was.


    Delouse was originally not of the Obscuro Society, but a spy that Avic placed in the Obscuro. If it weren''t for the fact that he already knew this history, Garen couldn''t have imagined that Delouse would give up her status as the First Concubine, and eventually choose to betray Avic.


    "Why tell me such a big secret?" Garen asked without any expression. Now only he knew, the depth of the complications behind Avic''s stabbing.


    "Tomorrow, father will personally meet you. He will let you know then." The princess shook her head.


    Garen looked at the innocent, beautiful girl in front of him.


    She looked innocent, but in fact there was huge ambition hidden inside her. You can''t judge these kinds of people by their appearance.


    "Alright. I''ve completed my father''s request. Next, it should be our own time." She pouted her lips signaling displeasure.


    "I originally thought my father would stay away from you. Then I would have opportunity to grow close to you. I never imagined it would be like this. It''s really disappointing."


    She raised the wine and drank a big gulp. As she put down the glass, her face instantly blushed.


    "You know, when I heard from the palace that you managed to escape from numerous ambushes in the battle of snow mountain, I was instantly excited." There was passion in her eyes. "Since young my body wasn''t healthy. I did not have the qualifications to become a totem user. My body was weak. It would have been impossible for me to live to this age if it weren''t for the herbs from the Royal Family. My greatest dream would be to be like the ancient heroes, surging through armies. Unstoppable! That would indeed be too¡­ amazing!!" She could not find a word to adequately describe that feeling, as she formed a fist showing her passion.


    "So at that point of time, I was thinking, if only I can meet the person that could carry my dreams¡­"


    Without knowing why, Garen felt a surge of lust within him. Looking at the innocent and cute princess opposite him, he suddenly had an urge to rush over and press against her, tearing her clothes apart. There was a fierce rampaging impulse within him. He noticed her eyes of adoration as she looked at himself. Time to time, a small tongue protruded from her soft lips.


    "I know I do not have a perfect body. But I only want to fulfill my my ambition...wonder if you would agree¡­" The princess bowed her head, letting out a shy expression. Her face and neck turned a rose-like pink.


    "If you agree.whatever position¡­I will allow you. Even from behind..that''s¡­fine too" The princess spoke softly.

 409 Countermeasures 1

    Chapter 409: Countermeasures 1


    Garen''s eyes drooped.


    "Your Majesty, your dream is indeed precious, but I am not the person that you should pass it to."


    He adjusted his body and closed the majority of his pores. Instantly, the heat all over his body reduced by a half. He glanced at the princess again, and he no longer was as impulsive as before.


    The princess slowly stood up. Her pretty eyes looked like they were about to cry.


    She slowly walked towards Garen''s back.


    "Am I really that unattractive? I only wanted to fulfill my dream. A small request¡­" She begged softly.


    Garen leaned his head back slightly. He could feel that the bump on her breasts had already touched his face. The fragrance of a young girl was even clearer now.


    He also stood up with a faint, absurd smile on his face.


    After walking behind the princess, Garen slowly insert his hand through the princess'' collar. He instantly felt a lump of soft flesh. It was extremely bouncy, like jelly.


    "If that''s the case." Garen whispered in the princess'' ears. "Why did you drug the candles?"


    "Well¡­.that''s just an alluring fragrance." The princess cuddled her body in Garen''s arm. Her eyes blinked, revealing a gleam of joy.


    "Do not have pity on me¡­" She placed her hands on Garen''s chest.


    Garen abruptly moved his hand and reached for the princess'' bosom.


    As his fingers were about to act, the sound of hurried footsteps came from the outside.


    "Your Majesty, Your Majesty!!" A girl''s hurried voice came from outside the door.


    Garen''s eyes smiled as if he had predicted it. He retrieved his hands and backed off.


    The princess'' face was blushing. Her whole body mildly released fragrant sweat, intensifying the fragrance of her body. She gave Garen a sad glance, and adjusted her clothes.


    "Come in."


    "Elaine is my bodyguard. She wouldn''t take the initiative to look for me if there was nothing important." The princess looked apologetic.


    Suddenly, Garen understood.


    "Alright then. I shall excuse myself today. There is still time in the future." Garen smiled. His words seemed to carry another meaning.


    "Send the Viscount." The princess shouted loudly. She then stepped forward. Her hand deliberately swept past Garen''s lower body. "I will not forget about tonight.." She exhaled, walked towards Garen and gave him a light kiss on his chest.


    Garen''s slightly raised the corners of his mouth without speaking a word.


    Very quickly, two white-armored guards entered. One of them held Garen''s cloak, then both of helped Garen to put it on.


    The three of them left the hall under the princess'' bitter gaze.


    As the exited the bungalow, the smile on Garen''s face intensified.


    The princess was playing hard to get. Although she said to let him do anything he wanted. However, if he really made his move and crossed the line, there would be someone who would rescue her in time. To a male, the best things are always the ones out of reach. Therefore, she could always stir up a man''s desire.


    The night air was a little cold. Garen took a deep breath. As he exhaled, there was a strong, fragrant vapour coming out of his mouth.


    It was the faint fragrance that he inhaled in the hall. Because it was covered by the princess'' body fragrance, he did not realize it, but now as he came out, he instantly forced the majority of it out.


    "She is indeed a seductress." Garen recalled the previous scenes. His body was still heaty. "If I hadn''t had insider information, he might still be under her seduction."


    Unfortunately, whether it be the eldest princess or the other princesses, Avic wac already bored of most of the older princesses. Only the eldest princess'' unique body assured her of Avic''s enduring love.


    Pulling off his cloak, Garen saw a black carriage with gold sides awaiting him. There was a white-armored lady guard beside the carriage.


    This guard had an enchanting body. She wore an armored top but it was evidently not for protection. The armor was just like an undergarment. Her slender waist was revealed and her fair skin looked exceptionally fair under the moonlight.


    She wore the same colored white dress on her lower body. Her long, round legs looked powerful.


    As she saw Garen coming closer, the female guard turned over, revealing a pretty face. Her long, white hair draped over her shoulder, glowing in silver underneath the moonlight.


    "May the duke board the carriage."


    She uttered respectfully.


    Then she bent down and crouched on the ground, allowing her back to become a step for Garen to step on.


    Her hips were cocked up, forming a seductive arc. It shook from time to time as if it weren''t steady.


    "Indeed." Garen was clear that the princess used her beauty to control a large number of people. That was why she could gain Avic''s love and at the same time gather such vast forces.


    Served by the pretty guard, he simply nodded his head, then stepped on her back onto the carriage.


    The white-haired guard slowly got up, bowed at the horse carriage, then retreated into the darkness.


    The driver was also a pretty woman. She was dressed in green armor with short black hair. Her long legs looked long and curvy in her long boots.


    This woman also had a seductive figure. She had a solid bust and a slender waist. As she straightened her body, her lower body armor was a little low, faintly revealing a ravine on her abdomen.


    Garen closed his eyes. He felt his blood boiling.


    There was also a downside in having a powerful body. Once the body was tempted, it was far more difficult to control compared to an average human.


    A hint of fragrance wafted through the carriage. It was the princess'' body fragrance.


    Garen refocused and quickly adjusted the state of his body.


    Under the rumbling wheels, the carriage continuously moved forward.


    After sometime, Garen heard the voice of the driver coming from the front.


    "Your Excellency. We have arrived."


    "Yes." Garen opened his eyes and looked out from the left window. He had arrived at his manor, Blue Bay.


    When he got off the carriage, a guard was standing straight at the gate with his head held high, indicating that he was energetic and alert.


    "Welcome Your Excellency on your return!" The soldier shouted.


    The door to the manor as already wide open. Lala, in her black tunic skirt was standing in front of the door, waiting silently. Evidently, there were also some new servants and guards.


    "Welcome back, Your Excellency Garen." There was a relaxed smile on Lala''s face.


    "It''s been a long trip." Garen also said. "I thought I would be back in around ten days."


    He took off his overcoat and handed it to Lala, then walked into the manor surrounded by the others.


    "During the time when I was away, did anything major happen at home?"


    As he entered the hall, he went straight for the sofa. After finishing the tea prepared for him in one gulp, Garen asked.


    "There are some things going on. There are some changes with the family assets. The businesses under your name received support from the government''s policy. The shops in the capital have also reopened. There are many suppliers looking for us, hoping to supply stocks to us¡­"


    "Shops?" Garen was surprised. He instantly recalled that he still had a totem repair shop. It was long closed due to lack of suppliers and raw materials.


    "Yes. A totem shop." Lala nodded. "There''s also an auction house given by the King. The contract documents were sent over earlier."


    "Auction house? When?" Garen was surprised. "An auction house, ignoring its intrinsic value, even the land that it''s on is worth quite a lot. His Majesty is indeed generous." Auction houses were commonly relatively large. A certain level of fame was also needed to run it. It wasn''t something that anyone could build. Without sufficient power and fame, a built auction house would be equivalent to trash.


    "His Majesty gave it on the second day after you left the capital. This wasn''t the only thing. There are also twelve other unrenovated, empty shops. They were said to be your reward for being loyal to the kingdom."


    "Twelve empty shops. His Majesty is willing to give them up. Are there any nobles who faced predicaments recently?" Garen smiled faintly.


    "Yes. Earl Boliu who lived in the East district was suspected of colluding with the Obscuro Society, and had already been sentenced to death. The vast assets under his name were distributed among the other nobles. These shops and the auction house were also part of Earl Boliu''s assets."


    "What should we turn these shops into? What do you think?" Garen asked Lala plainly, "In fact, our family does not have a stable income source. His Majesty gave me these shops as a foundation to get back on my feet. What do you think can earn quick money?"


    For Garen to be able to maintain the manor''s operations and the salaries of the many servants, finding a stable income source is a must.


    He couldn''t always depend on rewards, or hunting monsters to sell materials right? Supporting so many people by himself was obviously unrealistic.


    "Miss Angel is doing decently well in the War Guild and has also made some good friends. Her side could provide a relatively stable source for raw materials. With so many shops, we can convert all of them into chains of potions and consumables stores, selling medicine and ointments. We can also sell equipment produced from the monster''s materials, or simple tools that totem users like." Lala, who seemed to have thought about it before, immediately spoke her mind.


    "Besides, we can also purchase some rare items from totem users for auctions in the auction house. I''ve contacted some individual forgers to purchase their goods. If there are good items we can also use them for auctions. The other two auction houses in the capital also function this way."


    "What will be our advantage? How do we ensure that we won''t be squeezed out by the other two auction houses?" Garen asked with interest.


    "You are our advantage, Lord Garen." Lala said. "You are incredibly strong. Among the other two auction houses, the Dawn Auction house is backed by a Grand Duke. The other one can''t be compared with us at all. The difference is, their elites wouldn''t simply go out and explore, but would choose to stay in and protect the family. However, only elites would be able to obtain the goods an average person wouldn''t dream of obtaining. Hence, that is our competitive advantage."


    "You have a point."


    "The problem at hand, is insufficient manpower." Lala frowned as she said.


    "Manpower. How about the transformed inmates?" Garen thought.


    "Not possible. They have already created trouble a few times in the chamber. It was almost as if since they are no longer imprisoned, they would like to come out. These people have been underground for a long time. Their heart has gone a little wild." Lala whispered.


    Garen nodded his head. After the inmates were transformed by him, and had been staying underground without any opportunity of contact with the outside world. They had no news about the outside world at all. Without the Crystal Derivator to imprison them, plus their incredibly strong transformed bodies, it was natural that they desired to get out.


    "How many people are there now?"


    "Five. The one that create trouble is one of the girl assassins." Lala answered simply, " If it wasn''t for the two knight leaders who returned twice to suppress them, I wonder what other trouble they might have created."


    "Understood." Garen nodded. "How are Maxilan and Edney doing?"


    "They organized and trained all of the old family old survivors, and removed those who were unqualified or had lost focus. The remaining people are guarding the different shops respectively. These people are using quite a huge amount of resources daily. Our family wealth is depleting as we speak. We have to find a new income source immediately."


    Garen was instantly ashamed. He only cared about his personal development and almost neglected the family business which was declining each day. There were so many people around him to support. It was his responsibility as the family head.

 410 Countermeasures 2

    Chapter 410: Countermeasures 2


    "In the entire Trejon Household, there are twenty-three official subordinates.The eleven guards are assigned into two groups with the two knights, Maxilan and Edney, leading one each. The remaining twelve are elderly, handymen, maids, coachmen, and others. Myself included." Lala was incredibly familiar as she immediately reported all the information.


    "We have three manors, twelve farms, thirteen shops and an auction house." Lala summarized. "The people who remained are those who have been raised by the family since young. They are living in the other two manors."


    "Don¡¯t we still have farms? How are the profits?"


    "It looks like a lot. But recently, the farms were unable to find a preventive measure for mutated flies, which has severely affected the crops.." Lala shook her head. "The food produced is now sufficient only for their own survival, nevermind the family."


    "What¡¯s the status of the family¡¯s totem users?" Garen asked further.


    "Not good...Out of the 10 first form totem users, half of them already left. The remaining five have deep sentiments towards the family. Furthermore, you were out there for such a long time. There were rumors from the capital that you¡¯d been killed by the Obscuro Society. It was then that the men left."


    "It¡¯s really bleak¡­" Garen shook his head. He himself had become stronger, but the entire Trejon Family was on the verge of disappearing. The assets left by his father were either gone or weakened. If it wasn¡¯t for the King, who couldn¡¯t bear to watch it happen and thus provided some assets in support, the entire Trejon Household would have been eradicated.


    Even the old totem users that were raised by the family were disheartened. They were only left with five loyal first form totem users. If it wasn¡¯t for the support of the two elders, Maxilan and Edner, the family guard would have long been extinguished.


    Garen thought for a moment. Avic¡¯s assassination was about to happen. Whether he should choose to help or be a bystander would be a major decision.


    The Obscuro Society was his greatest enemy. Therefore, it would be a logical decision to help Avic and thwart their plans. However, Garen did not know of Avic¡¯s perspective towards himself.


    Moreover, the crucial detail was the palace was where Kovitan¡¯s strongest was stationed at - that old monster. The elite from the Elder Council was not a laughing matter. The old guy was different from Garen himself, who was not a fifth form but managed to reach the level of a normal fifth form through unique methods.


    The old guy in the palace was a genuine fifth form totem user. He might even be the top amongst them.


    What methods did the Obscuro Society use to fight the old guy and successfully retreat from the capital?


    According to history, after the Obscuro¡¯s assassination had succeeded, all of them had quickly retreated from the capital. The old monster had not left the palace in pursuit. In fact, he hadn¡¯t even been in Garen¡¯s vision. After that, the whole of Kovitan had fallen into a state of discord. It led to internal struggles and eventually decline. The Black Prince was suspected to be a member of the Obscuro Society, and he left the capital injured.


    "Let¡¯s wait for a few more days. After the Aegis Ceremony, I will make arrangements for the matters of the family." Garen thought for a moment then murmured softly.


    He wanted to wait until the incident had happened, then make his move based on the situation.


    "The family resources can only last for two more months." Lala coldly reminded him.


    "Don¡¯t worry."


    "Alright. Prepare some food and get some rest after dinner. We still have things to do tomorrow."


    "Okay."


    Now, Lala willingly followed Garen. Although she was now free from the control of the derivator, it was obvious that she had nowhere else to go. She was already used to taking care of the Trejon Family, hence she did not entertain other thoughts.


    Garen knew that in his current state, it was necessary for him to help.


    Since he would be pursued by both by the Obscuro Society and the Terraflor Society, he might as well help to preserve the power of the Royal Alliance, albeit earlier than before.


    After dinner, he went to the secret chamber.


    In the underground cave, the female assassin that had created trouble was the last female inmate that he¡¯d transformed. She had a strong body and was already two meters tall. As she had muscles all over her body, she didn¡¯t look much like a woman.


    As Garen strode into the underground hall, the woman was boxing fiercely with two muscular men. Muted thuds sounded whenever one of them managed to land a blow on the others.


    The three of them were engaged in a scuffle, much like a bunch of barbarians. Blood was splattering everywhere.


    Two other men were clenching their fists as they stood beside to watch the commotion. Both of them had incredibly strong bodies, which were comparable to Hercules. They only wore black underwear and their heads were completely bald. They were all shaved including the female assassin.


    Garen entered in his white pyjamas and coldly stared at them.


    When the two bystanders saw Garen, it was like mice noticing a cat. The hairs all over their body stood upright. They quickly put down their hands and bowed their heads, looking like they were timid and obedient.


    "Lord¡­" The two men softly greeted him one by one.


    Garen walked over to them. He was 1.8 meters tall, yet was still obviously a head shorter as compared to the two men. His normally strong body was clearly not on their level.


    The bodies of these men were swollen like Garen when he¡¯d been practicing the Divine Statue Technique. The muscles on their bodies were incredibly tight as if they were about to explode.


    The three people who were embroiled in the fight had not noticed Garen''s entrance.


    "Not bad. Now you know how to create trouble." Garen smacked his lips with a bloodthirsty stare. For whatever reason, he¡¯d often felt his body burning recently. Only during a slaughter would he feel slightly soothed. This put him on his guard.


    After not killing for a few weeks, he felt something stuck in his heart. He grew more and more uncomfortable.


    The two men who stood in front of him were shivering due to this gaze.


    "It''s not us who created trouble. It''s that b*tch!!" One of them pointed at the female assassin who was midfight. "It''s all because of her! Her body grew stronger and stronger recently. After our transformation, our skin grew tougher and tougher. We can''t even feel any pain from being beaten. The b*tch is especially strong!"


    Garen¡¯s gaze grew cold.


    He turned his head towards the direction of the fight.


    His gaze was almost tangible as it swept over the three of them.


    Instantly, the three people shuddered and noticed Garen standing at the side.


    At this point in time, one of the men behind Garen raised his hands quietly, flexed his tough, steel pillar-like arms and fiercely crushed Garen¡¯s head.


    "Die!!" The strong man cried with a vicious expression.


    The female assassin let out a satisfied smile from afar.


    According to their previous tests, with their strength, a punch on the wall would leave a deep hole. Other than the bodies of their companions, nothing could withstand their hits.


    The last time Maxilan and Edney came, they only showed a third of their strength and acted like they were defeated by the two men. It was all a farce to conceal their strength for this moment.


    They wanted to completely eradicate this man who¡¯d made their life hell.


    Out of the five, this was planned by three of them.


    At that point in time, the other two were completely stunned.


    One of them was Komodo, the one who¡¯d previously trusted Garen the most. At this moment, he looked absolutely terrified. He rushed towards Garen in an attempt to save him.


    He was immediately held back by the female assassin and another strong man.


    Bang!!


    Finally, the strong man¡¯s two fists smashed into Garen¡¯s temples on both sides of his head.


    It did not even activate totem light.


    Garen turned. There weren¡¯t even red marks on his two temples.


    "Are you helping me scratch an itch?" He smiled abruptly.


    The man was sweating all over his body. He bowed and looked at Garen, realizing that he had done something incredibly stupid.


    "He...hehe...Lord...It wasn¡¯t on purpose.."


    Crack!!


    A red blur flashed by.


    The man remained motionless. His whole upper body disappeared as though he had been bitten into two by something. Only his lower body was left on the ground, then it fell over with a thump.


    His bloody intestines spilled onto the ground, releasing a thick fishy odor.


    "I thought I was already merciful enough. Who knew that something like that could still happen."


    As the rest of them witnessed the scene, their expressions were filled with terror. Especially Komodo, who saw with his own eyes how Garen had turned a monstrous, frightening beast into jerky. He couldn¡¯t imagine that these idiots would dare to revolt against their Lord!


    As he saw Garen¡¯s glowing red eyes, he instantly felt like the sky was about to fall.


    Crash!!


    With another clear sound, the female assassin and another man were instantly left with only their lower bodies, and they toppled onto the ground.


    Komodo and another man were the only ones left shivering. Their sweat trickled down their bodies onto the ground. Their faces were twisted in fear as they fell onto their knees.


    "Lord! It had nothing to do with us! It¡¯s that bitch! It¡¯s her! We totally do not know anything!!" Komodo beseeched him.


    The other man could only howl. He shook his head non-stop, begging for forgiveness.


    At this point, Garen had slightly cooled down. He glanced at the three corpses.


    "I know who has the heart and who doesn¡¯t. Both of you really did not know anything. Go clean up the place. Follow me out tomorrow."


    "Yes! Yes! Lord!!" Komodo immediately bowed repeatedly.


    After Garen left the hall, the two of them trembled and fell to the ground. They looked at each other in relief, as if they¡¯d received a second chance at life.


    "Quick! Quickly, clean it up!" Komodo quickly reminded.


    "Alright!" The other person immediately started moving as well.


    ***********


    Garen left the hall. After killing the assassin in the secret chamber, he understood more about the people he transformed.


    Although his initial experiments had been carried out to perfect the dragon heart transplant on himself, the results he¡¯d obtained weren¡¯t weak at all.


    The transformed humans had the power and speed of a first form totem. Each of them were incredibly, silver totems in human form.


    With this conclusion, he could actually use this technique to create a living army for the family. However, he would have to completely perfect the surgery before starting.


    Due to the incredibly painful repelling process, the mortality rate was too high.


    Out of the hundreds of inmates he¡¯d experimented on, only five had succeeded.


    Of course, this was a plan for the future, but he could actually bring out the two men to be members of the family guard.


    As he left the chamber, Garen considered the information he¡¯d received from various sides. He returned to his bedroom. After washing up under Lala¡¯s service, he climbed onto the bed to rest.


    He had to be revitalized. It was likely that tomorrow would be the day Avic called for him. It was imperative for him to gauge Avic¡¯s attitude. After all Avic could not represent the Royal Alliance.


    Even if he wanted to help, he had to think of a plan.


    The First Concubine was Avic¡¯s most trusted person. For him to suspect her based on Garen¡¯s few words would be completely impossible. It might even get Garen himself into trouble.

 411 Poison 1

    Chapter 411: Poison 1


    The next day.


    Avic¡¯s edict arrived as expected.


    Garen dressed neatly, and followed the herald to the palace to see His Majesty.


    It was the same study as before; Avic was seated on the bench quietly, looking relaxed and at ease. As he saw Garen come in, a satisfied look flashed across his face.


    He stood up and gently shook Garen¡¯s hand.


    "Trejons, you are finally here. This time you have truly salvaged the reputation of Kovitan¡¯s royal family."The joy on Avic¡¯s face was void of any pretense. Even his greetings were raised a notch higher.


    "Your majesty, that is an exaggeration. This is what I am obliged to do." Garen answered humbly.


    Both of them sat down on two separate golden chairs by the window.


    "Coincidentally, I am holding an Aegis Ceremony a few days from now. Since you are back, do join us. Never expected that you would become a fourth form master; it is a rare sight in this country. It is perfect timing; I have already notified the rest of the fourth form totem users that you are back. Compared to the average person such as myself, you high form totem masters would definitely have more to talk about."The smile on Avic¡¯s face was neutral. Perhaps he knew that Garen had killed one of the princesses, or perhaps not; either way, he didn¡¯t look like he really minded.


    Garen only smiled politely and listened as he continued on.


    "Obscuro¡¯s God Cloud ¨C I have heard of his fame previously, and it is certainly distinguished. His experiences are similar to yours; Kovitan¡¯s defense minister Veska had once faced off God Cloud, and I have called him here today so that both of you can interact with one another. "Avic calmly continued, "Both of you are the country¡¯s top talents, and Kovitan needs your vital support to stand strong, have greater stability and to continuously increase in strength for years to come.


    "I am undeserving of Your Majesty¡¯s praises."Garen lowered his head in an act of humility.


    Avic lightly shook his head. He appeared to be powerless against Garen¡¯s humility.


    "Alright. There are two main reasons for the edict. I hope you will be willing to help."


    "Please continue, your Majesty."Garen nodded his head.


    "Firstly Trejons, you have reached the level of the fourth form. According to the country¡¯s standard procedure, every fourth form will be given the title of Earl, as well as a territory as an inheritance.


    Secondly, this is my personal request; I hope you will be able to attend when I hold the ceremony."


    "Your subject will be there without fail." Garen nodded his head. "Besides that, the first was a reward; how is that considered as a favor?"


    Avic smiled, ready to explain. All of a sudden, a loud announcement was declared.


    "The defense minister is here"


    Both of them looked towards the entrance of the study at the same time.


    Two knocks sounded at the door, and it was pushed open. A serious looking old man with a head of white hair came in.


    Just as he walked in, he saw Garen who was humbly seated before Avic.


    "Your majesty, it¡¯s apparent that this is the new fourth form Garen?"His voice was composed and unshakable, and through it one could discern an unassailable spirit.


    Garen stood up, and started weighing this old man carefully.


    He seemed like a typical old pedant from the scholarly institutes; conscientious, without a trace of unkemptness in the way he carried himself. Even the smallest detail did not escape him. It was obvious this person was a serious and strict old man.


    But the most obvious thing was not his appearance, but the subtle white glow hovering around this old man¡¯s body.


    That was a nearly liquefied totem light! Just glancing across with normal human eyes would evoke a realization that this old man¡¯s entire being was filled with the breath of the abyss within the deep sea.


    Garen could vaguely smell the salty scent of the ocean from him. Undoubtedly, his core totem was a water type.


    "It¡¯s good to see you, Your Excellency Elder Veska. " Garen politely bowed towards him.


    Veska returned the bow.


    At this time, a blue light flashed across the back Veska¡¯s right hand.


    An invisible force field crashed into Garen. This force field had no form or color; even the air was void of any movement or disturbance. It was as if it appeared abruptly in front of Garen and crashed towards him.


    This rush of energy was not large, but it had an unstoppable, all conquering air to it.


    In that moment, Garen seemed to hear the sound of crashing waves; a huge large blue wave appeared right in front of his eyes and was about to overwhelm him.


    He quickly saw that a swirling blue-black whirlpool had formed behind Veska.


    It was a whirlpool of immeasurable depth, like an invisible whirlpool sent from the depths of the ocean. Slow, extremely enormous; it was as if everything was in danger of being swallowed by it.


    The side of Garen¡¯s mouth slightly twitched up. Behind him, the nine-headed hydra¡¯s red silhouette appeared.


    Roarrrr!!!


    An invisible force field was sent to the opponent in the same manner.


    Boom!!


    There was not a sound of collision in actuality, but the force of both powers colliding sent a loud sound reverberating in the hearts of the people watching.


    This was purely just a competition between the totem powers. Without the exchange of totems, totem powers are powerless; incapable of changing the nature of matter. Only by changing it into totem light or by using it to manipulate totems will it affect the world of matter. It was similar to the nature of spirit power, as mentioned by Garen in his previous world.


    Garen¡¯s totem power was initially not strong, but after feeding on the nine-headed hydra¡¯s totem light, it was not one that a normal totem user would be able to defend themselves from.


    This time, two large forces collided.


    The light rays between them appeared distorted. There seemed to be a layer of invisible crystal wall.


    The light rays only distorted for a moment, and returned to normal quickly.


    Garen¡¯s face flushed slightly. This was due to an overwork of the mind, causing the momentary discomfort.


    Veska had no expression to his face as usual, but his eyes betrayed a hint of astonishment.


    " As expected of a fourth form! And of the highest level."Veska nodded his head,"I now believe you were capable of escaping from the hands of God Cloud."


    "It seems it¡¯s true that there is always a succession of talented people in the Kovitan Empire."Garen remained silent, focused on making adjustments to his body.


    The defense minister was one of the strongest 3 in Kovitan. Besides the two grand dukes, he was the strongest and most loyal towards the royal family. Garen initially thought that facing off other powerful fourth forms with the nine-headed hydra would not be a difficult task.


    Now there seemed to be more of a problem. No wonder God Cloud gave such an assessment.


    During the battle just now, he was slightly weaker than the other party. The defense minister¡¯s totem was a ginormous ocean whirlpool; when it came to how he managed to get produce that, Garen had absolutely no idea. Even the nine-headed hydra was far below in comparison.


    Even though his totem was incapable of winning, Garen was not worried. His strength lay in his being and not his totem. The totem was only there as a complement to his being.


    The ceremony of becoming an Earl was fairly simple; An edict was written by Avic and then passed on to Garen, together with a few prepared letters and documents.


    The capital was in a highly complicated situation at the moment; Avic was obviously not in the mood to hold an official awarding ceremony. Those were not compulsory. The most important thing was to receive the tangible benefits.


    And then the demarcation of territories.


    The one given to Garen by Avic was a territory situated a distance from the capital, the surface area the size of a province. It was a broad prairie plateau named Pato, the name signifying the place of birth. It was initially a place in the capital where livestock grazed freely; now, a huge number of livestock have perished, leaving a numbered few to graze around and Pato subsequently being emptied of its prior purpose, vacant of civilization. All of these was passed on to Garen by Avic.


    After leaving the palace, Garen carefully considered the implication behind Avic¡¯s actions.


    To summon the defense minister who proactively initiated a face-off was obviously meant as a warning for him to know his place a little, as the kingdom was completely capable of controlling its people. All along, they had turned a blind eye. As long as it was not too overboard; that will not turn out well.


    And the broad prairie plateau was obviously a compensation after the blow.


    Recalling the defense minister Veska¡¯s capabilities, Garen made some rough estimations. Although he wasn¡¯t sure how much of his capabilities was shown, he made guesses based on the performance earlier.


    The opponent¡¯s totem was indeed stronger than the nine headed hydra. If only totems were taken into consideration, he would be on the losing side.


    Not only that, the opponent definitely possessed heirlooms. Each of the 3 masters, also known as the pillars of the Kovitan Empire, had a high-level heirloom.


    If he really had to battle the opponent.


    Garen estimated that if he did not use his own body, he would not be up to par. It was obvious the opponent would have a powerful card that was kept hidden. If they really had to battle for their lives, it was unknown who the actual winner would be.


    As he left the palace, he headed towards the secret department.


    On the way there, the streets near the kingdom¡¯s palace were much cleaner; many villagers and business owners were putting up lights and decorations, they seemed to be in celebration of something.


    A pair of newlyweds stood high on a wooden car with two huge white eagles pulling two ropes from the front; the eagles flapped their wings while propelling the car forward.


    Surrounded by two rows of guards tasked to protect, many little kids were holding on to flower baskets and scattering rose petals.


    The wooden car passed by Garen¡¯s left side; Garen could see the happy smiles on the faces of the newlyweds.


    "It¡¯s a wedding?"Realization dawned upon Garen.


    "Yes, master."Driver Josephine answered immediately,"These two people are Viscount Leliyah¡¯s son and his wife. Viscount Leliyah had often helped the people and the businessmen, earning himself a good name in this part of the streets, so everyone is genuinely wishing them the best.


    "Viscount Leliyah?" Garen tried to search his memory but came up with no recollection of this name. It was obvious that the man played a small role in the kingdom.


    The people outside the carriage were extremely noisy, one noise topping the other.


    Garen let down the window curtains.


    "Wedding¡­Such a pity, this would be your last taste of happiness." He closed his eyes. Not long from now, the entire kingdom will enter a state of extreme chaos, leaving no trace of peace and stability behind.


    In order to stop the killings, the biggest key laid in the hands of The First Concubine, Delouse. When it came to revealing her scheme in a way that was believable to Avic, it was a huge headache.


    As the First Concubine had the identity of a double agent, to convince Avic of her rebellion would be extremely difficult.


    Obscuro¡¯s plans were almost bulletproof.


    The information that was in Garen¡¯s hands decreased. Thinking about it on the way, there seemed to be no clue.


    Delouse was laying low at the moment. From what he¡¯d heard, she¡¯d completely cut off contact with the outside world, staying deep within the palace in preparation for the loyalty ceremony.


    And as he entered the palace this time, Garen was indecisive on whether to save Avic.


    The key to the fall of Kovitan was not on the death of Avic, but whether or not someone would be able to centralize power and take control of the big picture.


    To prevent the assassination appeared to be too difficult. Even so, aiding the kingdom in centralizing the power after Obscuro left seemed to rank much lower in difficulty.


    To be honest, Garen was not keen on being involved in this mess. The impression Avic left on him was not good, or at least, not to the extent where he would put his life on the line for him.


    Moreover, the 3 major departments were the foundation of the royal family. As long as the 3 departments stayed in place, everything would slowly return to order.


    As long as the original heirlooms were not taken away, Kavitan would eventually return to peace.


    If his hypothesis was correct, Obscuro¡¯s real goal was to obtain the original heirloom Caeserton, which was also an absolute sanctuary according to legend.


    As he was in deep thought throughout the journey, the horse carriage arrived at the secret department without him realizing it ¨C Wells castle.


    A castle made of grey stone silently stood in the middle of grassy lands.


    As Garen dismounted from the carriage, a few men and women covered entirely in black armor walked out; they had a blue emblem on their chest.


    "Blue team?"Garen immediately recognized the meaning behind their emblem.


    The secret service team, from the bottom to the top, were distinguished into 9 colours ¨C red, orange, yellow, light green, dark green, blue, purple, white and silver. The higher the team was on the list, the stronger they were. Blue was amongst the top 4, also known as one of the top leveled teams.

 412 Poison 2

    Chapter 412: Poison 2


    The same few saw Garen dismounting the carriage. The member leading the team nodded slightly towards Garen. Without saying a word, they both passed each other.


    As Garen made his way up the steps of the castle, he couldn¡¯t help but take a second glance at the blue team.


    These people were indeed powerful; each of their auras were ambiguous, unu-sual and deeply hidden. The weakest of them should be in the third form at least; while the strongest, even Garen was unable to decipher the aura.


    It was highly possible they were in the fourth form just like him, but their auras were significantly weaker than Garen¡¯s, which meant they had probably barely reached the fourth form.


    Although so, it was already a huge accomplishment.


    The blue team still had 3 tiers above them ¨C purple, white and silver. Among them the silver remained the strongest; Garen had no idea what their members were capable of.


    These were the 3 major services; strong users were as uncountable as the clouds. Even Obscuro did not dare face them in a straightforward manner and instead relied on the monsters and the contents of their nest.


    Garen continued on into the castle. Right then, he saw a figure with a silver emblem walking out from the front door.


    Both of them saw each other¡¯s faces.


    The person was a silver-haired woman with dark skin; she had thick, luscious lips, an average looking face, and a slightly bloated body. Her right and left hands were placed into their opposing sleeves. The section of clothing on her shoulders seemed to contain something moving; a living creature.


    As Garen walked closer towards her, he smelled a pungent fragrance.


    He furrowed his eyebrows. Taking a second glance at the moving shoulder, the incident with Obscuro''s poison as well as the poisonous nature of the nine-headed hydra came to mind. He could immediately tell that the fragrance had an underlying poison that was extremely lethal.


    "Crimson team?"This woman saw the red emblem on Garen¡¯s chest and immediately blocked his way. "I heard that the head of your team is a master named Garen? The return to the capital this time around, he would join us right?"


    Garen raised his eyebrows.


    "Why do you want to see him?"


    "I heard that he walked out completely unscathed after being poisoned twice with two types of poison by Obscuro. I¡¯m just trying to figure out what he is made of."The dark skinned woman chuckled, "If you see him, let him come to my lab voluntarily, instead of having me issue a personal invitation."


    Rage flickered in Garen¡¯s eyes; the red glow in between his brows shone. Next to him, a gigantic dragon head leaped forward.


    Bang!!!


    A circle of red black light shattered into pieces right in between them.


    A red dragon head close to 2 meters big crashed into a giant black snakehead. Both of them were similar in strength and backed away at the same time.


    "You are knocking on death¡¯s door !!"The dark skinned woman never thought Garen would retaliate this way. She was enraged "There are people in the administration who actually dare mess with me!!"She quickly took out a handful of black powder, disseminating it in front of her.


    The black powder followed the wind and disappeared, melting into the air in just seconds.


    Garen turned a deaf ear to her words, and then the remaining eight dragon heads appeared behind him. In moments, they pounced towards the dark-skinned woman from all directions.


    Roar!!


    The low rumble of the dragon¡¯s roar shook the whole castle; circles of runes appeared on the walls one after another, these black runes preventing any damages inflicted by the rumbling of the dragon¡¯s roars.


    The wooden tables and chairs at the front door and the decorations made from bone on the wall turned into dust during the dragon¡¯s roaring.


    The ground, with Garen as the center, folded up like waves from all directions; large number of stone pieces flew all over the place. You could hear gasps coming from rest of the people in the living room inside.


    "Fabulous timing. I have yet to kill anyone today, may you be that blood sacrifice!"Garen¡¯s eyes had a killer gleam. His sequelae had started reacting again; he killed a few experiment subjects that were asking for it and felt himself calming down. He¡¯d never thought he will meet another idiot with a stronger than thou attitude in the administration today.


    The dark skinned woman laughed dryly and took two steps back hurriedly; Her long hair behind turned into countless black snakes, engulfing any empty space around the place from all directions, spreading out with piercing hisses. It looked like a huge blob of black lines pouncing towards 8 large red dragon heads.


    Among them was the largest black snake head with three horns attached to it. Its eyes were green and fierce, heading towards the main golden dragon head.


    "Enough!!" A voice thundered from the castle all of a sudden.


    It was at that time a white figure slashed out like a whip, aiming for the space in between the dragon head and the black snake.


    White billowy smoke burst out from the middle with a sizzling sound, separating Garen from the dark-skinned woman.


    The black-skinned woman had a crazed sick look to her eyes, looking as if she found her new toy.


    Garen¡¯s eyes were even weirder; he looked at her as if she were food, licking his lips, ready to pounce on her any minute to devour her.


    It was during this time figures in full black armors walked out slowly from the hall; these people were members of administration teams that had just returned recently. Most of them had orange and yellow emblems on their chest, which obviously meant that they were from the orange and purple teams, teams which had the most numbers.


    "Black Nesat! If you want to butt heads with Nine Heads that¡¯s your problem, but the purpose of calling you here is for you to cooperate with the investigation, not for you to create more trouble!" A middle-aged man in white robes walked out slowly. His gaze fell on the woman with dark skin, and felt his head throbbing.


    He then looked towards Garen on the opposite side; his instincts told him that this guy was going to be another source of headache for him.


    The way this dude was staring at Nesat looked as if he was seeing a spread of delicious treats, damn! Another pervert!


    Was there no sane person among these top dogs?


    He couldn¡¯t help but curse in his heart.


    "I would need a detailed explanation as to why your poison fell into the hands of Obscuro, which eventually led to its use on our men." The middle-aged man¡¯s voice was similar to the voice of the administration director, which Garen had heard from the black box prior to this. Evidently, he should be Director McCain.


    "My only concern is about mixing the poisons and selling them out; as to who uses them and on who, that is out of my reach."The dark skinned woman chuckled and looked towards Garen, her eyes darkening, sinister. "Although so, when it comes to who lived on after facing any poison of mine, I am extremely interested.


    "Ahh¡­So it was your poison.." Garen recalled the unpleasant memory of the poison that brought him great annoyance, and anger flared up in him, "Good¡­very good¡­"


    Both the orange and yellow team¡¯s leaders were there. Both of them entered the service together as blood brothers; now they stood together, trying to avoid the 3 people at the door. They looked at the dark-skinned woman with extreme fear.


    "It¡¯s that crazy woman Black Nesat again! I thought she returned to Ender? Why did she pop out of nowhere!? Orange team¡¯s leader Cohen locked her eyes on Nesat, hatred blazing across her eyes.


    "She is merciless even towards her own people. I have long suspected that it was this woman who plotted against us from the beginning, causing the horrible death of Aqua and the others! Does she think that she is all that just because she is from the silver team? Sooner or later she will crash into a wall!"


    Both of them had long held grudges towards Nesat from an earlier time. Now that they have seen her in a tough spot, they could not help but glow with satisfaction.


    "Disperse! All dispersed. Brother Cohen, please bring your men out."The administration director McCain instructed the bustling crowd from a distance.


    Hmmph!


    Cohen made a sound signifying his dissatisfaction and dragged his brother, along with more than 10 people out of the door on the right.


    Garen suppressed his inexplicable killer urges and looked towards McCain.


    "Director, if there¡¯s nothing else I will return to my team."


    "This issue¡­sigh¡­" McCain did not know how to resolve this; Nesat was the sole poison specialist in Kovitan¡¯s administration, and the only reason the administration was not afraid of any sort of poison attack from the enemy. This was the reason why even when she created huge problems, she would be let off with just a severe warning.


    In the 3 main services, masters were as uncountable as the clouds; there were countless strong users. Even so, those who used poison were but a few; when it came to status and rarity, they were similar to that of a fifth form master.


    "Sooner or later I will devour you." Garen glared at Nesat with bloodshot eyes.


    "You will definitely lie on my laboratory table, hehe."Nesat laughed openly without restraint. She had initially wanted Garen¡¯s cooperation on a few experiments without the intention of hurting him. She would never have thought he would be so gutsy, not easily complying the way the previous people did. Now, she really wanted to get rid of him permanently.


    As for Garen¡¯s previous battle record, she was also a fourth form master. Even the director and assistant director of the administration pegged her as a headache. God Cloud? He seemed to be only a fifth form master from Obscuro, how much does that count for?


    "Enough! We are all from the same team! If you feel like killing, find someone else!" McCain felt his head throb yet again. "Nesat, let¡¯s go. The others are still waiting for us." He was not only Kavitan¡¯s administration director, but also the leader of the strongest team here ¨C the silver team.


    "Uh uh." Nesat placed her hands back into each opposite sleeve. "Such a tiny tiny pawn. Do not think you can go rampant just because the director protects you."


    "You are looking to die!"


    Garen¡¯s urge to kill intensified. Out of his left hand shot a red lightning within seconds.


    Clang!!! Baaam!!


    McCain and Garen both retreated a step.


    One of them held a knife while the other empty fists.


    "Sorry, I was a little impulsive." Garen suppressed the growing urge to kill, and it showed in the raspiness of his voice.


    McCain felt his heart thumping against his chest violently. Just now, he could not summon his totem in time and used only his totem light and instantaneous knife technique. He never thought that even his instantaneous knife technique which was used for the purpose of self-protection would almost falter.


    Silence haunted the hall.


    Two workers who had just walked out held their hands over their mouths, staring at the 3 people at the door. They did not dare make a sound.


    Nesat gulped. A moment ago, she clearly felt the shadow of death.


    That speed, that power; even the director was forced to take a step back. Director McCain! The man known as Silver Dagger, their top close range combat totem user!


    Even among the fourth form totem masters, he was one of the elites ¨C to the extent that Blood Tower was not a worthy opponent. He could be considered within the top 4 when it came to fourth form users.


    It was unexpected that he would be on the same level with Nine Heads!


    "So what, who cares that you¡¯re stronger than me! Longing to kill me? I¡¯ll poison you first!" Her heart was full of venom.


    McCain shook his head, feeling as if Garen was a volcano waiting to erupt anytime. A moment ago, his one palm could affect even him.


    He then looked towards Nesat. This idiot had finally decided to control herself.


    Having a person to keep her under control sounded good; Garen was immune to poison anyways. He released a sigh; Nesat was really too much most of the time. Now that there was someone capable of restricting her, it acted as a method of control.


    Garen bowed to the director slightly, suppressing his hunger and yearn to kill, and walked into the castle.


    To the nine-headed hydra, any type of hostility signified food! The more riled up he got, the more he felt like eating the opponent.


    The current Garen needed to kill periodically, using fresh blood as a way to settle his emotions. Now that he had been taunted by Black Nesat, a part of him exploded.


    The sequelae caused by nine headed hydra was not one of the norm; when it was still eight-headed, Garen¡¯s secret technique had been capable of keeping it under control. Now that it had nine heads, he was barely able to keep it in line.


    Without a spirit realm that was strong enough, it was hard to overcome the urges and yearnings of the flesh.


    "Don¡¯t know if an upgrade in secret technique would help with a breakthrough in this area."Garen passed by two people and walked in the direction of the castle¡¯s secret passageway.


    When the time was right, he would devour that Black Nesat. As useful as a person could be, their value would plunge to zero when they were dead.

 413 Buffer 1

    Chapter 413: Buffer 1


    The entrance of the secret passage was slowly raised.


    Garen entered openly, and the members who were walking about inside distanced themselves away from him when they saw his emotionless face, hoping to avoid any unnecessary trouble.


    Along the passage, there were transparent crystals glowing with blue light every few meters. This was a facility which was built underwater.


    After walking for a while, Garen saw the fatty that he had come in contact with rushing towards him, as his upper body jiggled about freely.


    "Oh! My dear Captain Nine Head! You¡¯ve finally returned!!" The fatty exaggeratedly flung his arms open in an attempt to hug him.


    Garen ignored and walked past him.


    "Do you have anything you want from me?"


    "Uhh¡­" Fatty Baidel¡¯s face was filled with awkwardness as he put away his hands. "It¡¯s Deputy Director Marquis, he wants to see you to talk about Red team¡¯s completed mission."


    He paused for a while before he continued. "Captain Nine Head. You have produced a very satisfactory results for this mission. With the addition of this special mission on Snowy Peak, perhaps Red Team is about to be promoted¡­"


    "Promotion? What benefits would a promotion bring to me?" Garen asked as he walked on.


    "Of course there is! A big one too!" The fatty started to pick up his pace to match with Garen¡¯s and yet he was barely able to keep up to him. "If the Red Team were to be promoted to the upper class group, then the welfare and treatment of the team would naturally increase as well. The approval from the Headquarter would increase as well."


    "What¡¯re the overall benefits then?" Garen was considered the type where he wouldn¡¯t stop asking until he could clearly see the benefits.


    "Uhh¡­ About this¡­ The main increment aspects are authority and wealth." The Fatty Baidel took out a white handkerchief as he wiped at the sweat on his face. "The amount of wealth would be completely at your discretion and can be exchanged for with your mission points. It can be a Heirloom, a territory or resources of the highest level such as antidotes, poisons, weapons, equipment, etc. In terms of authority, you may be promoted to obtain more power and even the support from the other branches."


    "It is quite beneficial." Garen nodded his head as he finally cooled down.


    The number of people in the area had increased as they took a few turns. There were a lot of workers in grey shirts, who were meant to serve the members here. They milled about in the area as they pushed around boxes filled with food, drinks, and clothes.


    There were even workers running out of the room with some sort of intel in their hands. Some even carried a wardrobe filled with uniforms as they passed through the passage with no clear intention.


    There were even people standing in the middle of a forked road as they debated softly.


    The Headquarter was clearly more active than when he¡¯d first arrived.


    Fatty Baidel noticed Garen¡¯s confusion and decided to explain as they walked.


    "Usually, most of the people here are out on their missions so the special teams would naturally rest. Now that most of the small teams have returned, it¡¯s normal that the service teams are working their butts off. Whether it¡¯s to service equipment, instruments, audit missions or announce reports and news, this is when the workflow is at its peak."


    Garen nodded to indicate his understanding.


    Baidel continued his explanation: "Our main sponsor at the Headquarter is currently the Kovitan Empire. Of course, we do have our own industry as well but there¡¯s not a lot of it, hence we are currently assisting the Kovitan Empire. The Trust Ceremony is going to begin soon so we¡¯re busy preparing as well. Five out of the nine teams have already returned to maintain the safety of this area."


    Garen understood.


    The two of them came across another forked road and went into a sealed pathway, where at the end of the road a silver, textured door gleamed. A guardian in a heavy white armor was guarding the gate.


    Baidel walked towards the guardian and showed him a white name card.


    The latter bowed his head down and stood beside the door.


    The giant door opened automatically without making any noise.


    Garen followed Baidel as they entered the room.


    Inside, it was similarly structured to a meeting room. Everything was white and the ceiling was chiseled to resemble a silver flower. Four vivid, white stone Pegasi, each a man¡¯s height, adorned each corner of the room.


    There was a circle of black sofas in the middle and two people were already sitting there.


    One of them was wearing black bordered spectacles and had mustache fully covering his lower jaw. He was wearing a neat black suit and gave off a vibe similar to that of an artist.


    The other person was a man without a single strand of hair on his face. He had his dark golden hair combed towards the back neatly. He was a dreary looking middle-aged man with a smile on his face.


    Both of them glanced at Garen who had just entered the room.


    "Baidel, have you brought Captain Nine Head? What a rare occasion. It¡¯s my first time seeing Nine Head Captain even though we¡¯re both from Kovitan Empire. How embarrassing." The fair man stood up as he welcomed Garen by holding his hands and smiling.


    "I am Senda Tungus. I believed His Majesty has already mentioned me to you right?"


    Garen recalled that Avic did mention Earl Senda, who was the only one with substantial authority within Kovitan¡¯s Secret Service, excluding the foreigners.


    Garen started sizing this man who stood in front him. This man who had swollen eyes and pale face, he obviously didn¡¯t look very healthy. He had a white emblem which resembled a white bonfire placed in front of his chest.


    "Nice to meet you. My name is Garen and I suppose you already know that, right?" Since the opposing party had already told him his actual name, Garen did not have any intention to hide within the shadows as well.


    "I¡¯ve heard of you since a long time ago!" Senda shook Garen¡¯s hand with tangible respect.


    "Captain Nine Head, you¡¯ve arrived at the right moment." The other person stood up. "Earl Senda had come here to request for my assistance. Since everyone knows about the condition within the capital, we can¡¯t provide the proper amount of safety personnel, let alone extra people from other departments."


    Garen glanced at the purple emblem placed in front of this person¡¯s chest and immediately inferred that this man was Marquis Yawei, the Headquarter¡¯s Deputy Director, the manager of the Nine Color Team and also the team leader of the Purple Team.


    "Requesting assistance?" Garen was confused.


    "Yes. As of now, the Kovitan¡¯s Headquarter¡¯s main support towards the kingdom is to clear off creature¡¯s nests to recover back some territories and kill the rebels from the Black Sky at the same time. However, Earl¡¯s Green Team has run into some troubles this time." Marquis Yawei said as he nodded. "Before you came back, the General Director had already held a meeting but due to the lack of manpower, we had no choice but to request the Green Team to endure for a little more."


    "What actually happened?" Garen frowned.


    "I¡¯ll tell you more about it later. First, let me reward the Red Team." Marquis Yawei waved his hand as he walked towards the Pegasus Sculpture and took a small white crystal ball.


    With the crystal ball in his hand, he walked back towards where everyone was.


    "This is your reward for completing the high difficulty mission. It was offered by the General Director that you shall be promoted to the White level."


    He gently tapped onto the white crystal ball.


    Pew!


    The crystal ball opened up like a flower petal as countless of white layers opened up, revealing a white diamond shaped gemstone.


    This white gemstone was levitating as it rotated on its own axis as it gave off a faint white glow.


    Baidel, who was standing beside Garen, explained softly to him.


    "The reward is ranked by the nine colors, which is red, orange, yellow, light green, dark green, blue, purple, white and silver respectively. White color is the second highest next to the silver reward and this reward is determined by the difficulty of the mission!. A single white gemstone can be exchanged for 1000 mission points!"


    Garen didn¡¯t know how much would 1000 mission points amount to but a benefit was still a benefit. He carefully received the white gemstone from Yawei and placed it into his pocket.


    "Furthermore, your Red Team had surpassed the quota. According to the overall strength assessment, do you want to increase your team¡¯s rank?" Yawei continued.


    "Isn¡¯t it more troublesome to increase my rank?" Garen questioned back.


    "Yes, as you will need to compete with the team above you. It is the test of overall strength."


    "There¡¯s no need to rush that for now." Garen shook his head.


    "How about my problem¡­?" Earl Senda butted in from the side. He looked like he lacked quite an amount of blood and appeared to be recovering from a serious injury.


    "It is indeed troublesome. We are currently in a decisive period and we can¡¯t spare any men." Yawei replied with difficulty. "Perhaps you should go and ask Captain Nine Head?"


    "Senda shook his head as hopelessness was written all over his face.


    "We won¡¯t have enough time if we were to gather people here and we don¡¯t have much time even if captain Nine Head agrees to it. Whatever, I will go back and let the rest know that this mission is a failure."


    "If you say so." Yawei smiled wryly. "I have already pulled the man out earlier from that area."


    Senda pulled at his hair in distress as he acted in an un-noble manner. He then left the meeting room alone after bidding goodbye to Garen and Yawei.


    Garen then listened to the explanations of the situation in detail from Marquis Yawei and Baidel.


    The majority of Kovitan¡¯s strength had been sent out to clear out the creature¡¯s nests in order to recover back the stolen territories. However, as there were wins and loses with every battle that had been fought, the current situation had both sides locked in a stalemate. The higher rankings within the Secret Service would have continued eradicating the creature¡¯s nests if not for this ceremony of trust.


    The Three Departments, the National Service, Secret Service and Geometry Service were each in charge of different things and the most troublesome one was handled by the Kovitan Empire itself. They had pushed in about a third into the West Farm¡¯s defense line and had recovered about half of the original land.


    However, totem users were unable to maintain and service their totems as they were short of gemstones. Furthermore, the numbers of creatures outside were practically endless and didn¡¯t seem to be decreasing at all.


    It wasn¡¯t just Kovitan that was in trouble; Daniela was in the same situation. Ender Kingdom was slightly better off as they had the Giant Divine Statue. However, rumor had it that they¡¯d lost two Giant Divine Statues recently to a giant dragon which had three transparent Cicada wings. The Ender Kingdom was in full defense mode and was urgently gathering strong individuals to fight off this army of creatures.


    It was the same reason why the poisonous hag from before wanted to go back to Ender Kingdom.


    "In a nutshell, the Royal Alliance¡¯s movement is grinding to a halt. The three major domains, which are the Dragon Domain, Rainbow Domain and Black Domain seem to have formed their own alliance as well. This is to be expected as they need to fend off the strong creatures. Under these circumstances, His Majesty plans to reevaluate each profession and revamp the country¡¯s overall system, as a stronger army won¡¯t be able to continue battling without the help of a practical profession."


    It was natural that Marquis Yawei knew this much due to his social standing.

 414 Buffer 2

    Chapter 414: Buffer 2


    "We Kovitan are lacking the supply of different kinds of gemstones and the same for our food stock. The disasters have been much worse recently and the Black Field, which the Black Prince is about to bridge us to, has the resources that we urgently require. The Dragon Field¡¯s overall geographical structure is similar to of a basin. The inner region is a plains area with all sorts of crops and minerals. As their defense was good enough, they didn¡¯t suffer a lot during the chaos. However, they are sorely lacking in powerful individuals and the only form four totem user is the Black Prince himself, and it¡¯s not enough to protect the entire Dragon Field."


    "I heard that the Black Prince is extremely gifted¡­" Garen butted in.


    "It takes time to convert potential to actual strength. No matter how gifted you are, you¡¯re still weak if you do not have strength." Yawei shook his head as he said. "Hence, no matter if it¡¯s His Majesty or the Black Prince, we have to view them in high regards. If this two were to collaborate together, it would be beneficial to everyone."


    "So the reason why so many powerful individuals have returned isn¡¯t because of the trust ceremony but of the alliance between Kovitan and Dragon Field." Marquis Yawei summarised.


    "I understand now. It felt weird that we would require so much security just to hold a trust ceremony. The main objective is to let the Black Prince witness our strength." Garen nodded.


    "I¡¯m glad you understand. To be frank Garen, you have already reached the upper class of form four so you¡¯ll definitely have a notable influence in the Kingdom. I don¡¯t need to tell you this but soon a lot of people will try and get closer to you. As an ally and a person who has been in your shoes, I suggest it¡¯s best for you to befriend someone who can help you out. You don¡¯t have to keep interacting with those inferior to you as it won¡¯t be beneficial to you and you may even trap yourself with overconfidence." Marquis Yawei said.


    As the leader of the Purple Team and a form four totem user, it was obvious that he was befriending Garen and planned to get closer to him.


    "Thank you for your reminder. I have this in mind as well but unfortunately, I don¡¯t know anyone." Garen shrugged his shoulders.


    "That¡¯s simple." Yawei smiled. "I have a friend from the Headquarter who is going to visit Kovitan and we decided to gather with a few friends of mine. We¡¯re all of the same level and we talk to each other quite a lot."


    "Someone from the Headquarter?" Garen squinted his eyes.


    "Yea. The Headquarter¡¯s structure is different from the Administration¡¯s. Their main objective is to coordinate the relationship between each country¡¯s Administration and most of the people inside are promoted from their respective country¡¯s Administration. This good friend of mine was the General Director of the Kovitan¡¯s Administration. Oh right, he is currently on the verge of becoming a form five and has been preparing himself for quite some time."


    Garen was slightly stunned as he was currently at a loss of understanding about the Existing Mode of form five totems. His Nine-Headed Hydra was considered the pinnacle within the Animal series. He didn¡¯t know what had been used for form five totems as its core as even the Nine Head Dragon was no match to their totem¡¯s potential.


    God Cloud¡¯s comment towards the Nine-Head Dragon was that it had reached its limit. Garen couldn¡¯t grasp the Existing Mode of the core totem at that level.


    "Then¡­ May I have the luxury of attending this gathering?" Garen asked directly.


    "That¡¯s naturally a yes. My friends have not been in good terms for a long time. They were from the same Academy and God Cloud was very arrogant and didn¡¯t consider anyone superior to him there. Every one of us is very happy that you are able put him at a disadvantage. It is also because of this that this circle of friends has been wanting to talk to you directly. Do you think I would invite you if it¡¯s only me with this intention? Marquis Yawei started laughing loudly.


    "It is an honor." Garen smiled back with hope brimming in his eyes.


    "To be frank, there are only ten or so form five users in the whole Eastern Continent including the Elder Parliament. It is too difficult to achieve that level¡­" Marquis Yawei sighed. "I encountered lots of hardships to reach the peak of form four and has been stagnating here for sixty years. It¡¯s been sixty years and I¡¯m still at this level."


    He started to recall his memories as his voice slowed down.


    "My daughter, granddaughter, and great-granddaughter have all grown up. Just a few days ago, I attended my daughter¡¯s funeral¡­ It¡¯s funny, isn¡¯t it? She was just a commoner who lived for eighty plus years and she went to the other world earlier than me¡­"


    Garen could feel the sadness in his tone.


    It¡¯s rare for them to be able to talk to each other this easily, hence it took Garen about an hour or so before he left the meeting room.


    They had decided the time and place for the gathering and Garen had obtained a lot of intel that he couldn¡¯t obtain through Yawei.


    As he got out of the room, he saw the members of Red Team had been waiting for him, as if they were waiting for something.


    Garen smiled and took out the white gemstone from his pocket.


    "White color!!" Kitten was the first one to shout but immediately covered her mouth. She almost jumped in joy as she hugged Fox who was standing beside her.


    Old Man and Red Umbrella were laughing happily.


    Kid cracked a smile as well.


    Garen handed the diamond-shaped gemstone to Fox. They then went into the Red Team¡¯s room where there was a machine for them to enter the white gemstone¡¯s information into the Red Team¡¯s mission point¡¯s folder.


    The system would automatically divide the mission points based on the performance.


    It was a highly advanced technology.


    "Everyone will have a month long holiday and will continue to rest if there are no mission afterwards. So it¡¯s basically free activity from here on." Garen smiled as he announced the arrangement.


    "Team leader is the best!" Kitten shouted.


    The others smiled happily as well.


    "Kid, you can follow me if you have nowhere else to go," Garen said softly to Kid as he smiled at him.


    "Sure." Kid was the diverse type in the Red Team and couldn¡¯t be promoted as he wasn¡¯t strong enough. However, he was definitely unique or else the previous captain wouldn¡¯t have paid attention to him at all.


    Garen knew that there were mysterious people within each of the groups.


    Garen left Well¡¯s Castle with Kid and both of them had a quick lunch in a restaurant that they¡¯d picked without much consideration.


    It was totally different from the Kingdom he¡¯d visited previously. A lot of the citizens had opened up restaurants and they didn¡¯t have to squeeze with each other when they were purchasing items. It looked like society was starting to get back on track.


    Occasionally, guardians in white armor would patrol the streets and the amount of homeless people had been reduced drastically. Avic¡¯s policies appeared to be rather effective.


    Kid and Garen were on the streets. Instead of using a horse carriage, they cut through an alley and soon arrived at the Kingdom¡¯s War Guild division.


    The division was built at a corner of a crossroads and was a grey stone door built into part of a chain building.


    There was a brass copper name plate outside with ¡®Milvus Tide¡¯ engraved on it.


    Occasionally, people in black cloaks would enter and exit the place.


    Garen put his mask on and entered the Milvus Tide together with Kid.


    Inside, it was peaceful, the silence broken by only the sound of a violin, which was soft and gentle, giving off a soothing vibe.


    The Milvus Tide was a very quiet bar.


    The seats were organized in double sofas for each unit and each unit would have one double sofa. The units were then separated by an opaque glass wall, forming a small semi-open studio.


    It was rather dim inside as the only light source was the yellow light from the candles by the walls.


    People were walking into and exiting from each unit constantly.


    There was a rectangular bar on the left side of the entrance. There was a bartender insider preparing a drink for a woman in a red shirt. His hands moved so fast that only the after shadows could be seen.


    Garen entered together with the curious Kid and a man in black shirt immediately came up to him.


    "Sir, have you made any reservation?"


    "No. I¡¯m here to find a forger," Garen said coldly. As he was about to show his emblem, his hand stopped moving as he realized that his emblem had been destroyed by God Cloud¡¯s chain at the Snowy Peak.


    "Kindly show me your guild¡¯s emblem so that we can arrange a forger for you based on your rank." The bouncer requested respectfully.


    "Erm¡­ I have accidentally lost my emblem." Garen said hopelessly.


    "You can use mine." suddenly Kid¡¯s voice came from beside him and handed over a black emblem to the bouncer with his fragile, small hand. The black emblem had circles of tread patterns on it.


    "Honored customer, please follow me." It seemed that the emblem¡¯s rank wasn¡¯t low at all.


    Garen patted Kid¡¯s head as he thanked him.


    Two of them followed the bouncer deep into the bar and settled down on a unit with a silver textured black sofa.


    "Please wait for a moment." The bouncer left together with the emblem. After a short while, a white-bearded old man came rushing in with a crutch.


    "I am the forger in this guild. May I ask what kind of service are you looking for? Excluding the highest rank, every services are half off."


    "I wish to upgrade my war chain." Garen pulled up his sleeves and showed the diamond-shaped marking on his biceps.


    "War Chain?" The forger studied the marks on Garen¡¯s hand. "What grade do you wish to upgrade to? With the restriction of your emblem, we can increase it by five grades for you here. Every grade will give you a Solidifying Tactic Space. You¡¯ll have a total of eight Tactic Spaces once you reached grade five."


    "What is the cost for each upgrade?" Garen asked softly.


    "You¡¯ll need twenty thousand gold rumbs for each upgrade. Furthermore, we also have a few Solidifying Tactics for our customers to choose from." The old man¡¯s attitude was very humble due to the black emblem.


    One gold rumb was equal to a thousand Iron Tank City currency. Twenty thousand gold rumbs meant that it would be equal to twenty million, which was the same price as the War Chain Garen bought.


    However, if the War Chain were to be nurtured, it would be rather effective as it would form a solid and strong team.

 415 Goodbye 1

    Chapter 415: Goodbye 1


    Garen pondered for a while, as he only had a few hundred gold rumbs with him at the moment. He couldn¡¯t even upgrade for even a grade with the current amount he had. What¡¯s worse was that this was considered a huge amount even for a noble.


    He didn¡¯t expect that an upgrade would be this expensive.


    As Garen sighed, Kid beside him pulled his sleeves.


    "Captain, I have some gold rumbs that should be enough for your upgrade. Do you want me to lend you some?"


    "You do?" Garen was slightly surprised.


    "Yeah. I typically trade the items I do not need for money after missions and I have nothing to spend them on." Kid laughed as he told the bouncer. "My emblem is directly linked to the Kingdom¡¯s bank account. You can directly take the money out from my Emblem for the upgrade."


    Garen was speechless.


    "Never thought that I would depend on you all the way through."


    "It¡¯s fine. I don¡¯t know how to spend all this money anyway and it¡¯d be a waste if I were to hold onto them." Kid didn¡¯t mind at the very least.


    The bouncer looked at the white-bearded old man.


    This old man nodded his head.


    "Then, how many grades do you wish to upgrade by, dear customer?"


    Garen didn¡¯t pull back his punches at all.


    "If you can upgrade it to the maximum, that would be great."


    "That¡¯s not a problem at all." The old man replied with confidence." However, it would require some time."


    "How long do you need?"


    "You may have to wait until night time. We need to first analyze the state of your chain and design the War Chain based on your compatibility. Within this period, you will have to pay the deposit and we will notify you when the time has arrived. You may entertain yourself here while you wait. Time will surely pass in a blink of an eye."


    The bouncer then walked forward and introduced what they had here.


    "Here we have casino, pleasure area, Sant Table Game and also battle gambling area. Two of you may freely choose which one you desire."


    "There are a lot of well-trained men and women who can fulfill your desires in the pleasure zone. The Sant Table Game is one of our unique games here where the sand table is modeled by totem light and the customers can freely control the items on top of it to commence their battles. The battle gambling area is where customers sort their dilemma and is also a gambling activity as well."


    Garen didn¡¯t expect that there would be so many activities here as the environment looked similar to of a bar.


    "It should be the underground of this place, right?¡¯


    "Yes." The bouncer replied immediately.


    Garen pondered for a moment.


    "I think we¡¯re fine. I will come and retrieve it later tonight as I have things to attend to."


    "That¡¯s fine as well. We will always welcome the two of you." The bouncer responded with respect.


    Garen left the bar with Kid and waiting for a normal horse carriage at the entrance.


    "Go to Cloud Light District Tanning Street No. 128."


    "Alright."


    Garen threw a silver rumb over as he sat at the back of the carriage with Kid, and they watched the streets behind slowly disappearing from their sight.


    "Where are we going now?" Kid asked.


    "Since you have nowhere to go, you might as well just follow me." Garen smiled as he answered.


    "Alright." Kid lowered his head and took out a piece of paper and pen from nowhere and started drawing.


    The Kingdom was separated into three major districts.


    The Palace District, Cloud Light District and Trading District.


    The Cloud Light District was where the guardians and nobles gathered. The Palace District was where all the Royal members lived in and the Trading District was where all the common citizens resided and trading occurred.


    Garen recalled the first time he appeared in this world, the first person he met. Everything was long in the past in a blink of an eye and he couldn¡¯t stop himself from feeling emotional about it.


    ***************


    Cloud Light District, on the street beside a three-story white building.


    Hathaway still had a golden ponytail and was beautiful as ever. She also gave off a rather strict vibe.


    She was kneeling on her single bed as she was trying to place a newly given order at the wall of her bed.


    Her white undergarments highlighted her beautiful curves.


    Hathaway pouted as she held it up, firmly pressed onto the glue and took a step back only to realize that it was slightly slanted. She then went back, pulled it down and attempted to place it nicely once more.


    She had always been this serious when it came to doing anything. As long as it didn¡¯t meet her standard, she would do it over and over again.


    The afternoon light shimmered through the window and glowed on the wooden floor beside the bed, a faint yellow sheen reflecting off.


    Since the incident in Vanderman¡¯s manor, she¡¯d returned to the Kingdom and continued her duty as the Lieutenant of the Royal Guards. She was not a totem user and wouldn¡¯t be of any use during the war, so she could only maintain the basic order inside the Kingdom.


    "Are you alright Sophie?"


    A clear female voice came from outside of her room. "Isn¡¯t it just a captain¡¯s order? Even if you lose it you can get a new one at the Archives. Why do you have to be so vigilant about it?"


    "It¡¯s almost done," Hathaway replied loudly.


    "Where¡¯s your sister Dani?" The female asked.


    "I think she went to the lake again. She and her friends had planned to relax there."


    "Your family has very little relatives." The woman said softly.


    Hathaway slightly smiled.


    Compared to her cousin brother¡¯s household, her relationship with her relatives were a level apart. In addition to her straight personality, which no one found likable, her relationship with her relatives had gradually died off.


    She was currently living alone. The horrifying battle at the manor was more like a dream, as it became more and more unrealistic as days passed.


    Her peaceful life seemed to be able to hold on until the day she died of old age.


    "Perhaps this is better since this is the life of a commoner." She sighed as she was about to get up from her bed.


    Knock knock knock.


    Suddenly, someone knocked on the door rhythmically.


    "Who is it?" Hathaway asked loudly as she pulled on her royal guard¡¯s uniform and ran towards the main door at the living room.


    "I¡¯ll open it!"


    The woman¡¯s voice appeared once again and then the next thing was the sound of her footsteps.


    Click.


    The door on the first floor was opened.


    West Virginia was stunned as she looked at the two people standing by the door and couldn¡¯t grasp what the situation was at the time.


    Two black-shirted men stood at the entrance. They had cloaks over their silky smooth uniforms as if it was a uniform of a certain department. Their collars were placed up high with a golden Iris flower sewn into its sides.


    The two of them were very eye-catching.


    A handsome face paired with fair skins and golden hair at shoulder length. In addition to that, he also had three red dots on his forehead which formed into a triangle and gave off a rather strange vibe. She could also see her own reflection through his pair of red irises.


    "May I ask¡­ who are you looking for?" West Virginia asked softly as she completely ignored Kid, who was beside Garen.


    "This is where Sophie Hathaway live right?" The golden-haired man asked calmly.


    "Yes."


    "Then we¡¯re good." He smiled as he looked at West Virginia¡¯s redden face. "I am her cousin brother, Garen Trejons. I¡¯m here to visit my cousin sister."


    "Cousin brother?" West Virginia¡¯s eyes were wide open as she heard Hathaway mentioning that she had a cousin brother in the past but she hadn¡¯t mentioned about this person recently. As a colleague and a friend, she rarely heard about Hathaway talking about her household at all.


    "Sophie! Your cousin brother is here! Quickly have a look." She immediately turned her head and shouted.


    Garen looked at the woman in front of him.


    "She seemed to be about twenty-two or three years old and had a grey-brown ponytail and was wearing the royal guard¡¯s silver armor. This armor didn¡¯t have any defense capability and was merely used for decoration purposes. It was placed tightly onto the woman¡¯s body, revealing the woman¡¯s body figure to its maximum. There were also delicate and detailed patterns on it and a few decorative white crystals lining.


    It was obvious that this woman in front of him was his cousin sister¡¯s colleague. The royal guard was separated into two sections, where one section was the honor guard where they were used for public relation to show the glory of the royal family and the other was an actual team where they would perform a royal guard¡¯s duty.


    It seemed that his cousin sister had been transferred to the Honor Guard team.


    His cousin sister was an expert among the commoners who had gone through countless of dangerous missions and obtained the Astronomical Edict. However, commoners were not really of any use during the chaotic period and it might¡¯ve been the reason she was transferred.


    This woman in front of him was elegant. She wasn¡¯t considered beautiful but her rating would be above average. Her beautiful long legs were very eye-catching as they were firm, long and it outlined her curves and tight hips. Although her skin wasn¡¯t very fair and she didn¡¯t really have any bust, she was giving off a realistic sexy vibe. Unlike Aquarius who was close to perfection, but somewhat unrealistic.


    "May I know who you are?"


    "Oh! My name is West Virginia. I¡¯m Sophie¡¯s colleague and friend! Since you are Sophie¡¯s cousin brother, you should call me sister as well, right?" West Virginia turned around and smiled.


    Garen and Kid walked into the living room and saw his cousin sister Sophie in the same silver armor coming down from upstairs.


    "Cia!?" Sophie called out his previous name the moment she saw Garen. Her eyes were filled with worry. "What took you so long to visit me? Has something happened?" She was not a totem user and didn¡¯t really have a good networking so she didn¡¯t really know what happened in the world of a totem user. Naturally, she didn¡¯t know that Garen was no longer her weak cousin brother.


    "Sister Sophie, where¡¯s Dani?" Garen went towards her and gave Sophie a hug.


    Two of them sat down on the red sofa beside the wall and a green parrot could be seen chirping and hopping about inside the silver cage.


    "Dani has gone out with her friends. You could have met her if you visited this morning. She¡¯s been getting crazy lately and I couldn¡¯t control her any longer."


    Sophie Hathaway shook her head hopelessly.


    As she stared at her cousin brother in front of her, her worry had finally settled down.


    The Hathaway household was just a branch of the Trejons family from her generation onwards, hence her connections with the other relatives had distanced quite a bit. However, if not for the care his uncle had provided her since young, she wouldn¡¯t have become a Lieutenant of the Royal Guard. With her unconditional love towards the only successor of the Trejons Household, she didn¡¯t even consider the relationship changes towards her cousin brother.

 416 Goodbye 2

    Chapter 416: Goodbye 2


    "I haven¡¯t seen Dani for a long time. It¡¯s unfortunate since I¡¯m rarely free to be able to." Garen shook his head. "Whatever, the reason I came here today was to see how cousin sister is doing. Just voice out if you need any help."


    Sophie looked at the person in front of him, once an immature kid. Cia was once a gambling addict who was kicked around all the time by a horrible woman named Aquarius. As time went by, that useless boy had matured and was able to sustain the Trejons Household all by himself.


    "I don¡¯t need any help here. Your life should be a mess since the situation in your household isn¡¯t that well, right?"


    "Eh¡­" Garen awkwardly rubbed his nose. His household¡¯s situation was indeed dire, but he wasn¡¯t the management type and had accidentally forgotten about the Household.


    "I¡¯m working on it." He said softly.


    "I believe you can do it." Sophie Hathaway patted Garen¡¯s shoulder. Two of them had decided to forget about the awkward ordeal of getting married.


    "Let me introduce you a good friend of mine, West Virginia." Sophie Hathaway averted her attention towards West Virginia. "She¡¯s slightly older than you so you¡¯ll have to call her sister."


    "Sister West Virginia." Garen put away his position as a captain and called out to her. Kid, who was beside him, had his mouth wide open as he saw a drastic difference in Garen¡¯s personality. He couldn¡¯t believe what he just witnessed.


    "It¡¯s definitely something to be Sophie¡¯s cousin. You¡¯re so handsome!" West Virginia openly got closer to Garen as she revolved around him to assess him. "Woah! You have a very good body! Your muscles are well built too." Without any hesitation, she reached out her hand and pinched Garen¡¯s arm and the sensation of his muscles made her inhale loudly.


    Sophie helplessly shook her head as she looked at Garen.


    "Alright West Virginia, stop fooling around. This is my cousin brother Cia. Oh right, he¡¯s changed his name. He¡¯s called Garen now."


    Garen was speechless as he looked at this woman with beautiful legs circle him and assessed him as if he were some sort of rare species.


    "Alright alright. Didn¡¯t you have other things to attend to? Go and do your stuff!" Sophie blocked her best friend who was getting out of control. "Quickly!"


    "Hmm¡­ Sophie, you don¡¯t want your best friend anymore now that you have your cousin brother?" West Virginia acted in mock pity.


    "Didn¡¯t you have your part-time work to attend to?" Go!" Sophie gently hit West Virginia.


    "Ouch! That hurts." West Virginia was sent out of the door by Sophie, and the living room finally quietened down.


    She turned her head around, and only then did she realized that Garen had Kid, who was in the same black shirt as him, by his side. This black-shirted man¡¯s existence was so low-key that she had completely neglected him.


    "This is?"


    "He¡¯s my colleague. He¡¯s currently working with me in the Kingdom." Garen simply introduced him and didn¡¯t explain further. Kid¡¯s history was mysterious and was most likely related to totem users. As a commoner, it would be disadvantageous for Sophie Hathaway to know more about him.


    Hathaway didn¡¯t pursue further as well. They sat down and started to talk about the past with Garen.


    She originally planned to ask Garen about what happened in the past, but things got turned around, and she was the one being asked instead.


    After coming back to the Kingdom, she returned to her old job as the royal guard. As she had just finished a mission recently, she had been promoted to First Lieutenant. Her lifestyle was simple. However, as she had to spend a lot of time at work lately, she had neglected Dani, she had been mixing in with the delinquents all day long.


    "You have to help me with her. Dani doesn¡¯t even listen to me anymore! We had an argument last night because I didn¡¯t give her enough money allowance." Sophie frowned as she mentioned about Dani. "You guys got along in the past so maybe she will listen to you. I can¡¯t do anything anymore."


    "It¡¯s alright, Dani is currently going through a rebellious phase, she¡¯ll come to her after some time. Wasn¡¯t I the same? I still have a lot of the poems I¡¯ve written back in my place." Garen laughed.


    Time passed as he talked with his cousin sister.


    It was unfortunate that cousin sister didn¡¯t have the attribute to become a totem user. The death rate was too high for any modification experiment, not to mention the intense pain she¡¯d have to go through. Without an absolute control over the Secret Technique, her life would be meaningless even if she were to be modified.


    It¡¯s best for her to live the rest of her life as a commoner.


    He listened to his cousin sister talked about her lifestyle, which was gentle and peaceful. There was no killing, no conspiracy, just a little bit of quarrel between relatives which would return to normal after a few days. After a hectic day, her wish was to have a good meal, take a good, relaxing bath and have a good sleep.


    This kind of gentle lifestyle was so much better than his current one, where he could die at any moment.


    As Garen listened to his cousin sister¡¯s interesting stories, he unconsciously recalled the days he had on Earth. It was the same lifestyle as hers, simple and gentle.


    "Sister Sophie, the reason I come here today is to tell you something important."


    "Something important?" Sophie blinked.


    "If, and only if, something major happens to the Kingdom, I want you to head to this address immediately." Garen gave her the paper that he had prepared earlier.


    Sophie received it and had a look at it.


    "White Phoenix Forest Academy?"


    "Yes." Garen nodded his head. "Remember. If something happens, you have to go to this place with Dani immediately."


    Sophie nodded as she understood the importance of this as she realized how serious Garen was. "I understand. I will."


    The White Phoenix Forest was one of the rare places which would be unaffected when the Kingdom was in trouble. This was because the dean was one of the two Grand Dukes of the Kingdom, who was also Prynne¡¯s grandfather. He was the third strongest individual in the Kovitan Empire.


    If the assassination of Avic becomes a success, the place that would not be in any trouble would definitely be there.


    The Kingdom had more than ten academies, and the White Phoenix Academy didn¡¯t stand out because no one knew that the dean of the academy was one of the Grand Dukes. The performance of the academy had been rather low profile as well, so the Obscuro Society didn¡¯t really pay attention to this place. No one would know that this academy had set up a powerful Tactical Alliance Formation.


    Garen wouldn¡¯t need to rush to save her if she were to seek refuge there when there was trouble.


    This was the main reason he was here today.


    The sky gradually became darker.


    Sophie was busy making a sumptuous dinner to have a feast with Garen, who rarely visited.


    She had cooked some expensive foie gras, bird¡¯s breast and even boiled a big bowl of fresh fish soup. This was considered a delicacy in the Kingdom, who was in shorts of resources.


    In addition, there even was chicken meat surrounded by a big bowl of vegetables.


    "This is the new aberrated meat His Majesty just passed. It¡¯s one of those meat only a selected few can get their hands on. Do you want to try some?" Sophie gave Garen a piece of golden meat. She then proceeded to dip some concentrated black salad sauce onto the chicken meat.


    Garen took a bite. The taste was delicious, and the meat was very tender. However, the fragrance was too strong, giving off a slight stuffy feeling.


    "Should we leave some for Dani?" He looked at Kid beside him. This guy¡¯s stomach seemed like a black hole as he kept eating without any sign of slowing down at all. For some reason, Sophie didn¡¯t seem to notice his existence. It was obvious that it was the mysterious power to mask his presence was in its full effect.


    "I have left some out already. It¡¯s fine." Sophie smiled.


    The sky had become dark.


    As the three of them were having their dinner, the first-floor door opened, and someone seemed to have entered the building.


    "Sister! What¡¯s with the aroma!?" A clear voice of a young girl came from below.


    "It¡¯s Dani, she has returned." Sophie frowned. "You have to help me out. I¡¯m afraid she might go onto the wrong path if she continues like this."


    "Alright, leave it to me. I haven¡¯t seen her for a long time too." It was rare that Garen was able to enjoy such a peaceful lifestyle and he unknowingly put his guard down. He didn¡¯t want to destroy this peaceful feeling.


    Soon, a young teenager with shoulder-length black hair came upstairs. This young girl seemed to be eighteen or nineteen years old and was wearing a tight white shirt which revealed her tummy. She was also wearing ultra-short black leather shorts, revealing a pair of white, long legs.


    The supposedly mildly sexy attire was nothing jarring. However, the entire vibe was changed entirely after some modifications made by Dani to her getup.


    The long sleeve on the left of her shirt was completely cut off, revealing her white arm. She even had a tattoo of a rather complicated black tactic symbol on her arm. These symbols didn¡¯t seem to have any totem light, which meant that it was obviously just an imitation.


    The girl had thick makeup on her small face, which gave off a rather matured look. All of the five fingers on her right hand were filled with fake red gemstone rings, with imitated tactic symbols on them. In addition to that, there even were some strange, beautiful patterns that Garen had never even seen before carved onto the ring as well. It was obvious that the small merchants had designed it themselves to allow the ring to give off a more mysterious vibe.


    With a small chest on her body, the lady rushed upstairs as she rushed over in a pair of black leather boots. She then noticed the additional two people sitting on the dining table. Kid¡¯s existence was, of course, unnoticed by her, and her attention immediately landed on Garen.


    "Acacia!!?"


    "Call him brother!" Sophie¡¯s mood suddenly changed for the worse.


    "Why should I call him brother? Isn¡¯t he just slightly older than me? Sister, I don¡¯t have any money. I want more allowance to spend." Dani complained and reached her hand out as she walked towards Sophie.


    "I don¡¯t have any!" Sophie turned her head around and ignored her. "I just gave you fifty silver rumbs yesterday and you have already spent all of them?"


    Fifty silver rumbs was equal to five hundred copper rumbs. With the current state of the Kingdom, A thousand silver rumbs would equal to about one gold rumb. It was considered a small amount to a totem user. However, fifty silver rumbs were enough to sustain a family of three commoners for a month.


    Garen calculated in his mind and found out that it was about five hundred to eight hundred dollars on Earth. It was considered a big amount for a child to be able to spend all of it within a day. No wonder his cousin sister, who was considered a highly paid commoner, was angry about it.


    "Isn¡¯t it just a small amount of money? Rafier could easily spend three hundred silver rumbs per week." Dani was getting impatient. "Are you going to give it to me or not?"


    "I¡¯m not giving them to you!" Sophie replied coldly. "If you dare to steal and sell off the things in my house again. I will break your leg!" She immediately raised her voice.


    "I would like to see you try!" Dani had no intention of backing down at all.


    "Alright alright. It¡¯s just a small amount of money. There¡¯s no need for you two sisters to argue."


    He gently placed a hundred silver rumbs onto Dani¡¯s hand.


    Garen smiled as he butted in.


    "Wow!" Dani whistled. "You¡¯re amazing Cia. Have you become rich in the time we hadn¡¯t seen each other?" She flicked the paper money with an elated heart.


    Sophie was about to voice out but she saw Garen looking at her with the intention of telling her that he would handle it.


    Feeling helpless, she didn¡¯t say anything further.


    "I think it¡¯s about time. I still have some stuff to handle. I will visit sister Sophie again." Garen stood up and said gently.


    "Alright. You may come any time you want, the door will always be open." Sophie nodded and stood up.


    Garen and Kid were seen out by Sophie downstairs. As they were about to leave the place, Dani Hathaway unexpectedly followed along.


    Dani¡¯s eyes were moving about as if she had some brilliant idea.


    "I¡¯ll send them off!"


    Sophie was stunned as she didn¡¯t know that her sister would common courtesy. As she was about to speak up, she saw Dani was running towards Garen.


    Suddenly, Sophie understood what Dani had in mind.


    This fellow definitely was thinking of seducing Garen¡¯s money.


    Furious, she wanted to catch up to her but then she recalled Garen¡¯s gaze and believed that he must have had some kind of plan in mind.


    "Whatever. Let¡¯s see what Cia can do."

 417 Surprise Guess 1

    Chapter 417: Surprise Guess 1


    Garen and Kid were walking down the dimly lit street. As they were about to board a horse carriage, they heard a paced footsteps coming from behind.


    Dani Hathaway was chasing up to them. As she reached them, she bent down and tried to catch her breath.


    "We haven¡¯t met for so long Cia, and you wanted to leave already? Why don¡¯t we go and play?" She asked with a welcoming face after catching her breath.


    Her everyday life was rather boring, and it was rare that her past playmate would appear. To top it off, he seemed to be rich as well. She guessed that she could easily get some money out of him as long as she tried, since she was tight on money lately. She wouldn¡¯t let go of such an opportunity since she had been quarreling with her sister lately.


    Ever since the chaos started, she vaguely heard about what happened in Vanderman¡¯s manor from her sister. However, she didn¡¯t feel anything from it as she didn¡¯t really interact with her uncle, and it was her sister who interacted with him often. She only had some memories of her playing with Acacia when they were young, and even these memories were soon placed at the back of her head.


    The Kingdom was very safe and the number of refugees had increased due to the chaos. However, it was still peaceful.


    Dani had heard how strong and fierce the creatures were outside the Kingdom, and anyone would be ripped apart if they went out. However, she had never seen these creatures in her life.


    Garen, who came from outside the Kingdom, had gained her interest when she met him.


    Garen glanced at Dani and turned around to Kid.


    "You can go ahead first. I¡¯ll find you later in the War Guild."


    "Alright. I¡¯m hungry anyway." Kid replied honestly.


    After paying the fair for the horse carriage, the carriage gradually disappeared into the misty night.


    Garen then turned towards Dani.


    "Alright. I have things to attend to later so I can only accompany you for a bit."


    "I understand." Dani grabbed hold of Garen¡¯s arm. "Let me bring you somewhere interesting."


    "What kind of place is it?" Garen had promised to teach Dani a lesson.


    "Just follow me," Dani called for a horse carriage as she held onto Garen.


    Two of them went to the border between the Cloud Light District and Trading District.


    ************


    Within the noisy music, two women in blood red attire were dancing wildly on the stage. There was a huge crowd at the bottom, shouting wildly with their hands up high, occasionally throwing paper flowers onto the stage.


    This was a bar.


    As it was located between the Trading District and Cloud Light District, it consisted a huge area and most of the customers were all teenagers. Furthermore, all of them were wildly dressed.


    A band composed of non-mainstream smart costume themed players were playing all sorts of instruments at one corner to the side.


    There was a three-legged oval bar counter at the side of the entrance, and all the bartenders were young and beautiful. They were putting up a show for their customers as they mixed alcohol.


    Garen swayed at the deepest corner of the bar counter as he looked at the wild crowd inside the dance floor.


    Initially, he was worried that people would recognize him from his uniform. However, he hadn¡¯t expected that everyone here would be wearing things much more eye-catching than his attire.


    There were royal guards uniforms, royal special guards, army general attires, totem forger attires and so on. They were all deliberately designed costumes. The clothings were all made from common materials, and Garen would have thought that everyone here was the real deal if not for the absence of totem light.


    As he looked closer, he found out that all of these uniforms were fakes.


    Although the bar was very crowded, it was obvious that it had no class. The number of young totem users in the Kingdom was not a small amount, but their place of entertainment was definitely not of this level.


    Garen could stare at the crowd for the whole day and would only see a single digit amount of totem users inside. They were the elites among their crowds, and no matter if they were male or female, they were always surrounded by a group of people. They formed one user at best.


    It was rather clear that the majority of the customers here did not come from wealthy backgrounds, and this was just a place for all the commoners to vent out their emotions.


    During this chaotic era, where commoners were completely useless and their social status hit rock bottom while the authority of totem users had increased, anyone would find the need to vent out their frustrations in this kind of environment. Hence, these kinds of places were born from this frustration, and everyone dressed up themselves to satisfy their ego. This was also the reason why everyone had heavy make up on so that no one would recognize them.


    It was the first time Garen had attended this kind of activity in this world.


    No matter if it was Acacia in the past or the current Garen, they all started as this world¡¯s elites and had high social standing. Their place of entertainment would always be booked out beforehand.


    As the son of a Viscount and a noble of a territory, Acacia¡¯s social standing was equal to the Huaxia¡¯s Governor¡¯s son on Earth, and it wasn¡¯t something a commoner could hope to match. The merchants and small nobles who tried to befriend him were as big as the ocean. This made it impossible for him to come to this kind of places.


    Now, Garen was at the peak of the form four totem users and his actual battle strength was equal to of a common form five totem user.


    Within the whole Kingdom, he was considered a person of major influence. Only the top brass from Kovitan Empire and the Three Departments were on equal footing with him. If this was Earth, his influence was similar to that of a prime minister.


    However, due to his unique identity, he could only hide in the dark away from public knowledge.


    As he leaned on the white bar stage, Garen lazily drank the purple liquor in his hand. The liquor even had bubbles foaming out of it endlessly.


    In this kind of place, Garen¡¯s unique face didn¡¯t raise any suspicion to anyone, as everyone had some sort of glowing tattoo on them. There were even four or five of them that had strange earrings hanging on their ears, and the majority of them had white silver decorations on their eyelids.


    However, there was a very little amount of people who didn¡¯t have any makeup on, like him.


    Garen was dragged to this place by Dani, who had mixed into the moshpit, enjoying the night with her friends.


    "Hey, handsome guy? Are you alone?" A beautiful woman with golden hair and purple-red eyeshadow leaned towards him and looked at him in the eyes as she holds a transparent liquor in her hand.


    She was just a commoner. Garen glanced at her and immediately lost interest.


    "I¡¯m sorry. I already have a partner." He politely responded.


    The woman was stunned and she didn¡¯t expect to be rejected and walked away in disappointment.


    If it weren¡¯t for Dani, Garen wouldn¡¯t be wasting his time here.


    No matter how fresh he felt from experience the life of a commoner, it was still not enough. With his identity and authority, it would be bad for him and the commoners.


    As he looked at Dani moving her body wildly in the moshpit, he was relieved to see that she knew how to protect herself from people touching her body as she danced among the girls.


    Or else Garen wouldn¡¯t know how to face Sophie.


    He drank the liquor in his hands as he quietly waited for Dani.


    ************


    "Dani, is that guy really loaded with money?" A purple short haired girl asked Dani softly.


    "Of course, didn¡¯t you see what his shirt is made of? I¡¯m telling you, that shirt alone costs this amount of digits!" Dani showed four fingers to her.


    "Four hundred silver rumbs?!" The young girl was fourteen years old at best, but her face was filled with white powder and her eyebags were painted black, which made her look like a panda. She was quite satisfied with her own creativity, but she was covering her mouth to conceal her surprise.


    "Four hundred!? I¡¯m talking about four thousand!" Dani was smiling in delight.


    The people in the vicinity were all shocked.


    "Four thousand? Oh my god. No one would even ask for that much if someone were to sell me off!"


    "Four thousand silver rumbs is enough for me to spend for an entire year!"


    "Where did you find this rich handsome man?"


    "Dani, I¡¯m so envious of you!! Isn¡¯t he richer than my cousin?"


    Her friends were all envious of her and this made Dani felt very proud and satisfied. She secretly glanced at Garen who was far away. She had to admit that, within such a messy environment, Garen gave off a peaceful vibe as he lazily drank the purple liquor. His shoulder-length golden hair waved freely by the bar, paired with his handsome figure and firm muscles had separated him from the environment.


    "My cousin said it! He said that he will be covering our expenses for the night!" Dani gestured her small hands happily.


    "Oh yeah!!" A group of youngster suddenly shouted in joy.


    Dani felt guilty as she looked at Garen and noticed that he was observing the beautiful liquid in the glass.


    Garen noticed that he was being watched so he placed down the cup and smiled at her.


    Dani felt even more guilty.


    ************


    At the corner of the bar, there were two women who didn¡¯t seem to fit into the environment.


    They were sitting inside a unit separated by a glass wall. The sound isolation wasn¡¯t bad and the mirror wall was a one way, where they could see everything from the inside.


    One of them was in a black mini skirt, revealing her sexy body figure. She looked attractive, and could be considered a beautiful woman.


    The other one was drunk, in white jeans and was hugging her legs tightly, revealing her perfect streamline body. She wore a black camisole and had her head placed on the table with her hair spread wildly, revealing two golden earrings on her ears.


    "Oh¡­ My head hurts¡­" The black haired girl moaned.


    "Who told you to drink this much?"


    These two often came to the bar. Although the environment was rather loud, their standards in bartending were high and were leagues away from the other bars. They initially came here to protect their sisters in the dark, but eventually grew accustomed to this place and knew each other quite well.


    Whenever both of them were stressed, they would gather here and release it as best they could.


    "But¡­ it tastes good¡­" The black haired girl replied with her eyes closed.


    "Whatever, take care of yourself because these kids are starting to become noisy again." The black skirted girl shook her head as she looked at the dancing pool. Dani, the panda girl, and another black skirted girl were moving their waists here and there. They seemed to have drank quite a bit as their faces were completely red.


    "Dani seemed to have come here with her relative. Nini, do you want to go and say hi to him?" The black skirted girl asked softly.


    "Sure." The black haired girl slowly got up from the table with her head swaying about freely. "If we can¡¯t come here anymore in the future, at least we can tell him to help us out in taking care of these wild people."


    Two of them got up, and the so-called Nini woman went to wash her face to freshen up a bit, before they walked to Garen, passing by the dancing pool.


    As the duo arrived at where Garen was, another girl who thought she was relatively attractive was again rejected by Garen and was leaving the area angrily. Within this short amount of time, he had already rejected five ¡®beautiful¡¯ girls.


    "If you¡¯re here to hit on me, please turn right." Garen¡¯s cold voice could be heard.


    Two of them were stunned as the opposing party rejected them before they could say anything.


    "I¡¯m sorry, we¡¯re not here to hit on you." Nini tidied up her long hair. "You¡¯re Dani¡¯s guardian, right? We are relatives of Dani¡¯s friends, and we¡¯re here for the same reason as you. We¡¯re here to guard our kids."


    After that, Garen looked at them straight in the eyes.


    "I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯ve mistaken both of your intentions." He felt apologetic and reached out his hands and shook their hands.


    "I¡¯m Nini, Shaer¡¯s sister. She¡¯s the youngest among the group. This is Dilan, sister of the panda-eyed girl." Nini introduced herself.


    "It¡¯s a pleasure to meet the both of you." Garen smiled. "I¡¯m Garen, Dani¡¯s cousin."


    "Pleasure to meet you."


    The three of them sat down and ordered their favorite drinks from the bartender. They started talking to each other as they took a look out at their family members.

 418 Surprise Guess 2

    Chapter 418: Surprise Guess 2


    Garen also found out from his conversations with the two of them that they work at the Tax Department and Irrigation Department respectively.


    The Irrigation Department, where Nini was from, was located on the street opposite the palace. Most of their casual conversation involved the nobles and officials moving in and out of the palace.


    "Speaking of which, this morning I saw the First Concubine¡¯s carriage leave the main hall and head towards the side hall. Last time I could still the Concubine¡¯s flower-watching guards from afar, but now I haven¡¯t seen them for a long time," Nini said casually.


    Garen frowned slightly. "The First Concubine left the main hall today, but it¡¯s Saturday, isn¡¯t the ceremony the day after tomorrow?"


    "So you know too." Nini looked at Garen in surprise, he had just said he worked at the capital, but that his job was secretive and he couldn¡¯t speak about it. She didn¡¯t think he would know about these details.


    "Normally, any preparations for large-scale ceremonies would only end at least the day before the ceremony itself, but something must have happened. The First Concubine is in charge of many systems, she has a lot of things to handle." Nini said nonchalantly. "If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that I noticed how regular the First Concubine¡¯s guards are, I might not have noticed anything different either."


    "Speaking of which, I heard someone mention, it seems that the First Concubine has indeed left the main hall early." The other person, Dilan, added on.


    Garen didn¡¯t think much of it at first, but once Dilan mentioned that term, a possibility occurred to him.


    If the Aegis Ceremony was so important, would Avic possibly go ahead with it secretly? In order to prevent outside intervention?


    In that case, he would just need to put on a show during the official ceremony, and it would be enough. The ceremony had already been completed beforehand, there was no need to worry it would be disturbed.


    The more he thought about it, the likelier it seemed to Garen.


    If this possibility really existed, then¡­ Obscuro¡¯s assassination attempt would probably also be brought ahead!


    His heart grew slightly cold. Although he wasn¡¯t particularly fond of Avic, he didn¡¯t dislike him either. The main thing was if the ceremony and even the assassination were brought forward, it would be highly disadvantageous to his hold on the situation, as Obscuro would be one step ahead, and constantly ahead.


    As he thought that, he began to grow restless.


    Glancing at Dani and the others in the distance, he stood up slowly.


    "Sorry, I suddenly remembered something urgent."


    "It¡¯s okay, go ahead." The two of them paused for a moment but didn¡¯t really care, politely indicating that they would take care of Dani and the others.


    After paying the bill for Dani and the others, Garen walked out of the bar and looked at its name: Dewdrop Bar.


    Calling a carriage immediately, he hurried towards the War Guild. He needed a couple more days of understanding and contact to teach Dani, but this matter couldn¡¯t wait.


    He needed to make the preparations as soon as possible.


    *****************


    War Guild


    It was still that Milvus Tide Bar.


    As soon as Garen walked through the door, an attendant in black came up to lead the way.


    The two of them went through the corridors and many sofa rooms, walking into a small corridor. The corridor had many lines of single rooms.


    After knocking on a single room in the center, they found a child dressed in black sitting inside, together with two other people.


    One was a pretty woman with blonde hair, who dressed extremely sexily, her shirt white skirt almost all the way up to the top of her thighs, but right now she was being totally ignored by Kid, her expression unbelievably awkward.


    The other was that old forger from back then, holding a black box and frowning, thinking about goodness knows what.


    "You¡¯re here." Kid watched Garen come in, smiling slightly.


    "Yeah, is everything ready?" Garen looked at the black box in the old man¡¯s hand.


    "Of course! With two masters personally on the case, there¡¯s no way anything would go wrong!" Old Man touched his beard with a smile, standing up and giving the black box to Garen. "Just press it against the chain seal you had before."


    Garen nodded and opened the box. Inside was a diamond-shaped white-silver ornament, carved hollow.


    Vaguely, he could hear the sound of dense approaching footsteps from outside the room, evidently the people here to protect this transaction. This was such a valuable item worth millions, even the War Guild had to take it seriously. Unlike Iron Tank City, this place wasn¡¯t lacking in manpower.


    He picked up the ornament, and held up his sleeves lightly, pressing it determinedly against the seal of the War Chain from earlier.


    Something strange happened.


    The ornament actually liquidized quickly, slowly melting into Garen¡¯s skin, melting in the War Chain seal that was already on his arm.


    Garen glanced at his attribute pane, and saw the minute changes as expected.


    ¡®War Chain:


    Effect 1 -- Eye of Isaiah. Effect 2 -- None. Effect 3 -- None. Effect 4 -- None. Effect 5 -- None. Effect 6 -- None. Effect 7 -- None. Effect 8 -- None.


    Collaborator -- Angel.¡¯


    "Eight tactic spaces in total, are you satisfied, sir?" Old Man asked with a smile.


    "Satisfied, very satisfied!" Garen nodded. "You should have some Solidifying Tactics for sale here, right? May I choose some?"


    "Of course, please come with me." Old Man nodded, his expression telling of how good his mood was just then. It was rare for someone to want to upgrade a War Chain so much at once, and to buy Solidifying Tactics too, that would invariably be a huge profit for the man himself.


    Garen and Kid followed Old Man out of the private room, heading deep down a corridor, protected by a host of totem users in black until they finally reach the wall at the end of the tunnel.


    Old Man reached out and patted the wall once, white light glowing on his palm.


    The wall instantly rippled, and actually disappeared before everyone''s eyes.


    Garen''s expression didn''t change as he and Kid followed Old Man into the hall behind the wall.


    It was a large and dark brown hall shaped in a circle, the walls lined with a circle of round glass display cases, and with a cylindrical display in the center of the room as well.


    In these glass display cases, there were many strangely-shaped items scattered sparsely, none of them very big. Some were like little boxes, some were like live specimens of unnatural living organisms, and some looked utterly normal, like a mineral stone.


    There was also a smattering of people in the hall, standing in three groups. They looked to be like Garen and co, Guild customers brought here to choose Solidifying Tactics by the people from the Guild.


    "This is the display hall for Solidifying Tactics, please go ahead and point out anything you two might like to me." Old Man explained with a smile, "I can provide you two with the highest discount of 20%."


    "Then I''ll thank you for that." Garen smiled slightly. "Kid, you have money on your side?"


    "No problem." Kid replied nonchalantly.


    "Then please assume I''m borrowing it from you first, I''ll return it to you in a bit." This time he was grateful to Kid, otherwise the War Chain''s upgrading would prove to be a problem."


    "It''s okay, I don''t know how to use the money anyway." Kid evidently really didn''t care.


    Garen nodded and didn''t hold back anymore.


    He walked to the counter and looked at them carefully, one by one.


    As expected of the large kingdom capital''s guild, it wasn''t like Iron Tank City, where there were only a few choices of Solidifying Tactics. Here, they actually displayed them openly for everyone to choose, and a glance showed that there were no fewer than thirty items.


    Garen followed the counter, checking them individually.


    The Solidifying Tactics here were divided into three categories in total.


    Self-strengthening types, Totem-strengthening types, and Special types.


    Self-strengthening types meant they strengthened the totem user themselves, and this strengthening could affect the speed a Totem user can release a tactic, its powers, or how nimbly they can control a totem in battle and so on.


    And totem-strengthening meant that the single totem would then be temporarily strengthened.


    There were the most types in the last Special category, such as healing, scoping, night vision, underwater breathing, levitation, disguise, ice sealing and whatnot. These were all extra abilities for a totem.


    Garen looked around him in a circle, but couldn''t find the tactic he wanted. Although he knew the Eye of Isaiah that he had found was no ordinary tactic, but all these Solidifying Tactics didn''t even come close, so Garen couldn''t help but be a little disappointed.


    Looking at the prices tags, these Solidifying Tactics were each worth ten thousand golden rumbs, which was equivalent to at least ten million copper rumbs, two or three of them were enough to buy a basic Level One War Chain.


    As though seeing the look of disappointment on Gardens face, Old Man mused for a moment.


    "How about this, other than the Solidifying Tactics our War Guild has, there are still some Solidifying Tactics we had planned to put up for auction, you can have an early look at them. See if there''s anything you might want."


    "Sure." Garen nodded.


    Kid told him briefly how much he had in his own savings through the black box at his collar, he still had about twenty thousand golden rumbs. Added to the eighty thousand golden rumbs he had used earlier to upgrade to Level Four, he would have used a whole hundred thousand golden rumbs. That was a huge fee, even if the Trejons family sold off everything they had right now, they would only have at most forty or fifty thousand golden rumbs. This was including all of their solid assets and the land His Majesty the Emperor gave them, all of it added together.


    Using so much of Kid''s money this time, Garen felt a little ashamed, but now was the most crucial time, so he couldn''t afford such concerns. There would be plenty of chances for him to return the favor later.


    After waiting for a moment in the hall, Old Man sent someone to bring a catalog that he gave to Garen.


    The catalog had the detailed information regarding five Solidifying Tactics, and was evidently the information for the auctions.


    The first of these Solidifying Tactics was the Hand of Vandala.


    It looked like a necklace pendant shaped like a golden palm. There weren''t any special patterns on it.


    It had a very simple effect. Aurification, it used a certain amount of Totem Light or totem power to turn a certain amount of a material into gold.


    Although gold wasn''t as precious as white silver here in this world, it was still a precious metal second only to white silver.


    There were surely many totem users who would like this thing, but that definitely did not include Garen.


    The second was called the Navy Blue Chain.


    It also looked like a necklace, and was completely navy blue, with an irregular white stone suspended in the middle.


    The effect of the Navy Blue Chain was Water-style Mist Territory, it could form a mist territory with a radius of twelve meters upon release, blocking the enemy''s vision. The thickness of the mist depended on the strength of the totem user.


    The third was called the Dematerialisation Badge.


    Looking at this one, Garen''s interest was slightly piqued.


    It was just a picture that looked like a black flame.


    Its effects were self-strengthening: upon activation, it could elementalize part of the totem user¡¯s body, if the totem user was strong enough, they could totally use it to avoid a fatal blow, and they could use it to transmit across long distances as well. Of course, if it was a low-level totem user, it''d be impressive for them to elementalize even one fingernail.


    The fourth and the fifth were both tactics used to strengthen totems. Garen gave them a glance, one was very effective with healing, the other could add the element of ice to the totem, allowing the enemy totem to take ice damage. Compared to regular strengthening tactics however, its effectiveness was a lot more overstated.


    "How about this Dematerialisation Badge?" Garen pointed at the third Solidifying Tactic and asked.


    "You have great taste, sir!" Old Man gave him a thumbs up. "This Dematerialisation Badge was found by one of the Guild¡¯s great fighters in a monster''s lair, they snatched it from the hands of Obscuro. In order to obtain this Badge, two of our elite Form Two totem users were grievously injured. Although elementalization was a necessary route to success for high-level totem users, wouldn''t it be an extra level of insurance to first have access to this technique using a Solidifying Tactic?"


    "Cut the crap, and just tell me, how much does it cost?" Garen was lazy to listen to his preamble.


    "This much." Old Man held up four fingers. "And this is after I gave you two a special eighty percent discount."


    "Forty thousand golden rumbs?!" Garen raised an eyebrow. He wanted to buy this mainly because he was interested in the elementalization, elementalization was something true totem users could use temporarily when Spiritualized. But the path Garen was pursuing didn''t have anything to do with elementalization at all.


    Although the Nine-Headed Hydra was powerful, in term of elementalization, and especially when.It came to the elementalization of the main body, it had no clue whatsoever. With this thing, perhaps he could peek at the secret high level totem users had for elementalization.

 419 Trace 1

    Chapter 419: Trace 1


    Kid only had twenty thousand rumbs left, so it probably wasn''t enough to buy this thing.


    Garen mused over it for a while.


    "Then forget for now, I''ll come back when I get enough money."


    Although elementalization items were interesting, that didn''t mean this was the only place he could find them.


    Garen was mostly worried that after the assassination began, the Kingdom would fall into chaos, and if the War Guild was caught in the conflict as well and couldn''t provide upgrading services for the War Chain anymore, then that would be a problem.


    Old Man was slightly disappointed too, but he didn''t show it at all on his face."That''s okay. Since the customer doesn''t have enough funds, you can still buy it again later. We have a steady long-term supply of these Dematerialisation Badges, so I¡¯m sure we won''t disappoint you."


    "Oh? Is it forgeable?" Garen''s eyes lit up.


    Old Man smiled but didn''t reply.


    "In that case, we''ll take our leave now." Garen thought about it and decided to leave.


    "Allow me to see the customer out."


    ************


    Deep in the palace


    Delouse wore along figure-fitting dark red dress, sitting quietly on the Concubine¡¯s throne, one hand on her chin as her eyes wandered, thinking about something, goodness knows what.


    The palace was dim and dark, with no lights and only black shadows flowing quietly in the corners.


    The cold moonlight shone in from outside the large door, falling onto the floor in the middle of the large hall.


    "How''s the situation?" Delouse¡¯s lips moved slightly, but her voice carried to the shadows in the corners softly.


    "The defense minister is mending the holes in the Air Defense Department, and won''t return until tomorrow morning. The Guard Captain Edin¡¯s disciples came across some problems, so Edin went to deal with it. Now there''s only that person left by Avic¡¯s side." A sharp and reedy voice came from the dark corners.


    "Is everything ready?" Delouse said calmly.


    "Everything is fine. As long as we succeed, all the escape routes will be completely activated. Within five minutes, you will be able to leave the Kingdom."


    Depose nodded.


    "What about Veska''s Three Fangdragon Generals?"


    "They went with the defense minister."


    "In other words, other than the three departments¡¯ defense forces on the outside, there are already no more peak-level totem users in the core of the inner palace?"


    "Naturally."


    "That''s good." Delouse nodded in satisfaction.


    Looking at the pearly white moonlight on the floor. Veska¡¯s old-fashioned and stern face flashed past her eyes.


    "Veska, we''ve been fighting for so long, but this time, I want to see how you settle this¡­" The corners of her lips couldn''t help but curve into a confident smile.


    ***************


    Garen led Kid out of the Guild, and the more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed that the assassination would be brought forward. He couldn''t bother with anything else anymore, and couldn''t even wait for Angel at the War Guild, running straight for the palace.


    The whole Kingdom was filled with edits fighters, but only a few could be stronger than him.


    That was also why, as soon as he arrived at the entrance to the palace, there were already several elite guards blocking the way.


    These people were evidently waiting especially for him.


    "It''s already late now, may we know why Viscount Garen is here at the palace?" The leader was a man in a full suit of white armor, even his face was wrapped up in a white helmet. His voice was deep, coming through the crack in the helmet so that his bright and sparkling eyes could be seen.


    Gran stood at the entrance to the place, and behind him was the meeting area where only nobles could enter, so there were basically no outsiders around, all of them cleared out of the area by the guards.


    He glanced at the white-armored guards in front of him. There was a small smile on his face.


    "His Majesty had promised me the legacy of a Black Storm Dove totem, but unfortunately I never had the time to take it from the palace warehouse. Today I suddenly remembered it, so I came here and plan to bring one back."


    "Black Storm Dove?" The Guard Captain¡¯s eyes flashed with envy. He had heard of this bestowal before too, it was one of those rare times His Majesty generously gave a totem legacy. "So that''s how it is, please forgive our insolence."


    "No matter." Garen nodded. He turned around and glanced at Kid. "You''re with me, or?"


    Before Kid came here, Garen already warned him that this time might be slightly dangerous. With Garen¡¯s tone, if he said it was dangerous, then it was probably a huge risk to him. So he didn''t force himself at all, shaking his head.


    "I''ll wait for you outside."


    "It''s okay, you return to department headquarters first, wait for my news." Garen smiled and told him quietly.


    Although Kid didn''t know why he arranged it like that, he still nodded seriously, turning away and leaving without hesitation.


    Garen looked around him in a circle.


    He was surrounded by grey-black tall stone buildings, the palace¡¯s stone walls surrounding this place, forming a small square in the crevice.


    On either side of the square, there was a row of white-armored soldiers.


    But for some reason, Garen felt as though something was slightly different from normal when he looked at these soldiers.


    Yet he couldn''t exactly say what was different.


    Led by the white-armored guards, he walked straight in through the palace¡¯s main gates.


    Going through many black corridors, walking through two large black stone halls. He could also see that the guards in the halls were a lot fewer than before.


    He hadn''t gotten far when he saw a swordsman in heavy black armor running up from behind him with heavy footsteps.


    "Your Excellency Viscount Garen, His Majesty is watching the power competition in the Ocean Wave Hall, and has invited you to join him."


    "Power competition?" Garen paused for a moment and knew what kind of competition it was.


    There weren''t many forms of entertainment in the Kingdom, and Avic was an emperor who extremely enjoyed battles, so he started an internal ranking competition. All the ministers, families and nobles, even royalty, had to join this internal competition, in order to rank the top hundred in Kovistan¡¯s Silver Palace.


    Of course, this ranking didn''t include real-life fighting experience and was merely a competition. Similar to a sports activity. Those in the top hundred were all given the title of Silver Palace Wingmaster.


    It never occurred to Garen that they hadn''t brought forward the ceremony to tonight, but were organizing the Silver Palace internal ranking competition instead.


    "What a coincidence, I''ve never seen the Silver Palace competition before." Garen accepted graciously.


    Following behind the black-armored guards, Garen turned down another corridor and continued walking.


    After going through an open-air corridor, he saw a large and open white stone square in front of him.


    In the middle of the arena, there was a tall square platform, with two huge beasts colliding madly into each other, one bear and one tiger, one black and one gold respectively.


    The two huge beasts roared continuously, the black bear''s speed extremely fast, while the golden tiger was lethargic. He kept trying to light up a golden glow in his mouth, but each time was interrupted by the black bear with one palm.


    Two young men in glamorous clothes were standing behind the two totem beasts, one looked confident while the other was deathly pale. Evidently, the match was almost over.


    There was a circle of black-armored guards around the platform, and some people in white clothes, surrounding Avic as he sat on another platform parallel to the tall platform, watching the battle on stage from a distance.


    Avic was mostly surrounded by nobles in white fabulous clothes and royalty. But the ones closest to him were the princesses in white lace dresses.


    The youngest princess was sitting on Avic''s lap, he hugged her lightly as her eyes were trained completely on the battle on stage.


    The others wore different colored clothes, each befitting nobility, and were obviously people from outside the royal family, just like Garen.


    These people were rather young too, looking unexpectedly green.


    "Announcing Viscount Trejons!"


    A maidservant¡¯s voice reported.


    Most of the observing crowd suddenly turned around, looking at the direction Garen was walking in from.


    Most of the royal family looked vaguely curious and wary. A few of the young men even had hidden envy in their eyes.


    "Haha, it''s Garen!" Avic stood up, taking the initiative to beckon Garen over. "Just nice, the Silver Palace ranking competition just began, do you wanna try too?"


    "The Silver Palace has too many elite fighters, I''m afraid I''m not strong enough," Garen replied humbly. Led by the maids, he actually walked up to Avic''s side and took a seat.


    "You''re being too modest." Avic patted Garen''s shoulder, to show his friendliness. "It''s good you came, watch these young participants¡¯ abilities with me. It''s perfect, you can be a judge, and give marks."


    "Marks?"


    There were four princes and six princesses in total around them, and although the First Princess wasn''t here, the two royal daughters also very much in favor, the Second Princess and the Fourth Princess were also here. Just then, they heard that Garen was here as a scorer. Their expressions changed slightly.


    To be able to become a scoring judge, one''s abilities had to be at the forefront of the Silver Palace. At least in the top ten.


    Garen''s battle results were really impressive, but to say he could rank in the top ten of the entire Silver Palace was pushing it. After all, under Avic''s encouragement, Silver Palace had included all of the Empire¡¯s strongest totem users and could be said to be a peak level organization representing all of Kovistan''s power. To be able to rank in the top ten there meant he would be top ten in Kovistan in name, in which case his influence would be huge.


    Bam!!


    Just then the winner had been decided on stage, the black bear actually grew a thick black tail with scales, like that of a crocodile, and swept it at the side of the tiger''s body, beating it to a pulp and rendering it unable to retaliate.


    The black bear''s totem user was raising both hands up in the sky, bowing towards Avic in the distance.


    "Newly promoted competitor, Count Leon wins!"


    "Now we shall award the royal family¡¯s most technologically advanced crystal -- the Silver Wings!" A male guard at the side announced loudly. There was also a maid carrying the tray with the award onto the platform.


    Garen sat down next to Avic and immediately heard Avic ask him.


    "Garen, what do you think of those two just now?"


    He thought it over for a while.


    "At their age, it''s already not bad that they can achieve the elite level of Form Two. It''s just I don''t know which family has descendants with so much potential."


    "Just the heir of a small family that recently entered the Kingdom. But since they have potential, they''ll naturally be Kovistan''s talent and assets. We will certainly raise them properly." Avic shook his head, "The next group!"


    "Next group!!" The guard passed down his order.


    Soon enough, two more young people, dressed differently, went onto the stage.


    One was wearing a white wig, a woman. The other was wearing skintight black leather pants and a short black dagger for unknown purposes strapped on and was also a woman.


    After they went onto the stage, they both bowed and paid their respects to each other. Then they released a white wild boar and a black bald eagle with reddish wings each.


    The two of them faced off on the high platform.


    Garen watched the battle with Avic, but he had no interest whatsoever in these Form Two totem users with ordinary elite totems.


    Compared to Form One, Form Two totem users already had a special ability, but they weren''t strong, with not much variety, not enough changes and naturally not much to see. Although some totem users made up for it with tactics, totem users who could use tactics were far too few.


    Match after match went on, and after six whole matches, there was finally a young man who could use tactics.


    But even then, Garen nearly fell asleep watching them.


    "Don''t worry, the next one up has some connection with you, Garen." Avic glanced at him, chuckling. As though having seen through his disinterest.


    "Connection with me?" Garen said, confused.


    "That''s right, this little fella¡¯s grandfather is Earl Baxy. Their Hildra family and your Trejons family have always been on good terms." Avic explained.


    Garen suddenly remembered, this Earl Baxy was related to Vanderman, and was one of the Trejons family relatives in the Kingdom.


    Back when he first arrived in the Kingdom, they had even sent an invitation, but he didn''t have the time to join them.


    His mind running carefully, Garen smiled slightly. Acacia¡¯s mother was Earl Baxy¡¯s daughter, meaning Earl Baxy was this body''s maternal grandfather.


    "According to our relations, he should call me his older cousin."


    Avic laughed.


    "His name is Reyn Hildra, he''s the totem user candidate with the most promise in this generation of the Hildra family. As members of the same generation, you two should be closer."


    "Of course." Garen smiled.


    Soon enough, Reyn Hildra went onto the stage. This was a handsome man who also had blonde hair, no older than twenty years, and with rare purple eyes. His slender body wore a white warrior¡¯s uniform, with just another silver-striped leather cloak draped over his right shoulder.


    He first bowed at His Majesty, and then added a bow to Garen by himself.


    And then he waved his right hand, a pure white owl appearing on his right shoulder. Strangely, this owl kept sparkling with blue lightning.


    Garen smiled a little.


    Looks like this young guy was abnormally friendly to him, and plus, he was the only one with a decent totem presence to come up to the stage since just now. Garen suddenly had a shard of recognition for him.


    That Lightning Owl was evidently not a regular Form Two totem.


    "Looks pretty decent," Garen said lightly.


    "How about you judge this match?" Avic glanced at him.


    "Can I?" Garen was surprised.


    "Of course you can."


    "That''s against the rules, isn''t it, Father?" The Fourth Princess said sweetly and softly from the side.


    She quickly swept Garen with a glance, her eyes full of wariness.

 420 Trace 2

    Chapter 420: Trace 2


    This Fourth Princess had a rather voluptuous body and was a little beauty. Since she was able to sit next to Avic, that must mean her position was significant as well.


    "It¡¯s okay, with Garen¡¯s ability, two lowly Form Two totem users won¡¯t be any trouble," Avic replied nonchalantly.


    "But one of the participants is His Excellency Garen¡¯s relative, wouldn¡¯t this be¡­" Another royal daughter spoke, it was the Second Princess.


    This icy beauty wearing a white lace flower crown reminded calmly.


    Garen glanced at the two royal daughters, the corners of his lips curving, but he didn¡¯t say anything.


    Avic frowned slightly.


    "I heard that Your Excellency Garen is extremely capable, but to think you have been recognized by His Majesty as one of the top ten in the Silver Palace. Could we trouble Your Excellency to show us a glimpse of your prowess?" This came from a young man dressed in red, sitting among several nobles by the side.


    "That¡¯s Grand Duke Cody¡¯s son, Barton." The little princess next to Garen, the Eleventh Royal Daughter, explained to Garen in a small voice.


    She was no older than eleven, but her eyes were crafty and sly, her expression perfectly that of a pure loli, whereas her heart hid some considerable tricks.


    "The Grand Duke¡¯s son?" Garen¡¯s gaze grew serious.


    Just then, Avic did begin to understand what Barton was getting at.


    "This is Barton, Grand Duke Cody¡¯s fifth son. He¡¯s the same age as you, Garen, the two of you should have a lot to talk about. What do you mean, Barton?"


    "Wall of Glory." This young man in red said with a faint smile, "The Silver Palace¡¯s Glory Wall is the best way to prove one¡¯s power. Since Your Majesty believes His Excellency Garen has the ability to reach the top ten of the Silver Palace, then let us please have His Excellency show us, and allow us all to witness his greatness."


    Avic was evidently very soft with this Barton, seemingly rather wary of Grand Duke Cody behind him as well.


    "That¡¯s true, as long as the Wall of Glory leaves behind a mark indicating the top ten, then we will naturally believe in His Excellency Garen¡¯s abilities," the Second Princess added.


    "Wall of Glory?" Garen was slightly confused.


    The Eleventh Royal Daughter, the loli explained to him again. "The Wall of Glory is an heirloom the Silver Palace uses to measure someone¡¯s ultimate destructive power. It can¡¯t be destroyed, and only someone whose power is in the top hundred among the Silver Palace can even leave a mark on it. Different levels of power will leave marks of different depths."


    "It¡¯s something to measure one¡¯s true power?" Garen understood.


    "That¡¯s right. All the strongest fighters in the country had been invited here by Father for a test, and there are still the marks from their tests on it. You absolutely can test your power relative to the whole kingdom there." The Eleventh Royal Daughter said with a smile.


    "That¡¯s good. I¡¯ll go try it out."


    Avic was a decisive person as well and immediately called a temporary stop to the competition.


    "Good, then let¡¯s all go to the Wall of Glory, to see just how strong the legendary Nine Headed Hydra is!"


    Compared to a match between normal totem users, a move from a peak-level fighter like Garen was evidently more worth watching, so all the royal sons and daughters were instantly interested. Barton and the few others shone with even more anticipation.


    The group immediately got up, and the competition participants rested temporarily.


    Avic led everyone into another empty arena.


    In the middle of the arena, there was a tall square wall like white jade, with marks and dents on it. More fighters than could be counted had left their own marks here.


    This wall looked like a very ordinary tall wall, five meters tall and more than four meters wide, with some damage and marks on the sides. It was obviously an outer wall left from some destroyed building.


    When Garen and the others arrived, some people were desperately attacking the wall.


    Two of them twinkled with light, in a short-lived Spiritualization possession.


    Seeing His Majesty approaching, these people immediately called back their totems and bowed at Avic politely.


    "Welcome, Your Majesty!"


    "Step down for now, I want to use the Wall of Glory." Avic waved at them.


    "Yes."


    They seemed to be officials in the palace, leaving rapidly without hesitation, giving up their space.


    As everyone else watched, Garen went up and stood in front of the white Wall of Glory, examining the marks on it carefully.


    Once he saw the marks, his heart gave a small jolt.


    These marks were automatically arranged in a straight line from top to bottom. From deep to shallow, it was unexpectedly orderly.


    "That there is the magic of the Wall of Glory, once you attack any part of the Wall and leave a mark, then that mark will be automatically moved into this line. From deep to shallow, naturally, the levels of strength can be easily distinguished." Avic explained loudly. "And this wall only records the top hundred strongest, if your attack can¡¯t even reach number one hundred, it won¡¯t be shown here."


    "It is indeed magical." Garen nodded in appreciation.


    "The three strongest fighters in the Empire have left their strongest marks here, now it¡¯s your turn," Avic said with a smile. "Come, give out the name list!"


    A servant immediately gave Garen a name list scroll.


    He opened it up and saw that it recorded the information about the owners of these marks.


    The first and deepest one was enough for someone to stick a thumb inside, and was left by the Empire¡¯s Grand Duke Benoc. Benoc was Prynne¡¯s grandfather, a terrifying reproductive machine that could create an entire family on his own¡­ He had twenty sons, sixteen daughters, his sons¡¯ kids, his daughters¡¯ kids, and so on, creating a huge family clan. Among all the sons and grandsons, Prynne was part of the more favored group.


    The second one was from the defense minister Veska, only a little shallower than Benoc¡¯s.


    The third was an unfamiliar name, Georbas Allen. Completely unheard of.


    Next, the fourth belonged to the other Grand Duke, Cody.


    The fifth one later was the Guard Captain Edin. After that were many nobles and earls, each more unfamiliar to Garen.


    Garen didn¡¯t look anymore, putting down the name list and returning it to the guard at the side.


    "Can we start now?" Avic asked loudly.


    "Of course." Garen smiled, and a gust of fast wind blew about him, puffing up the clothes of everyone around him.


    "Retreat to a hundred meters away!" Avic said loudly and was the first to retreat together with some guards.


    The princes and princesses all stood behind their personal guards, retreating to a hundred meters away.


    The Grand Duke¡¯s son, Cody, didn¡¯t change his expression, and only retreated fifty meters away, two red-bearded old men protecting him on either side.


    "Tell me, what position would this person¡¯s power be on the wall?" Barton asked in a low voice.


    "Should be above thirty, but no more than twenty-five," one old man said softly.


    "If the two of you fought him, what are your chances?" Barton¡¯s eyes sparkled, as he continued asking.


    "The records say the Nine-Headed Hydra isn¡¯t that strong and is placed number 137 among the ultimate totems. Even if this person is highly accomplished in close combat, it wouldn¡¯t be too hard to defeat him. I alone would be enough." The old man with the longer beard said arrogantly.


    Barton nodded slowly.


    "In a fight between Form Four and Form Five fighters, totems practically won¡¯t fight on their own anymore, it would mostly be a fight between totem users themselves. At that time totem users would have twice the defense of totems themselves and would have the same offensive power as the totems. He¡¯s like us, his own physical body is extremely powerful. To have such power at this age, he¡¯s already extremely formidable." The red-bearded old man explained.


    Barton¡¯s expression was slightly wistful.


    "Too bad he chose the wrong totem, the Nine-Headed Hydra¡¯s potential isn¡¯t enough, he¡¯s already reached the limit at this point."


    "That might be even better, the Secret Service has always been rather at odds with us from the Geometry Service. Seeing as he¡¯s already reached this level at this age, if he didn¡¯t choose the wrong core totem, his advancement from here on out would be too terrifying. By the time he changes a core, who knows how many years would have passed."


    Barton nodded and didn¡¯t say any more.


    Just then, the surrounding servants and maids had long since hidden themselves away in a further place, terrified of being caught in the blast.


    Garen stood in front of the tall wall, after taking a look around him, he saw that everyone had backed away.


    He smiled slightly. The three dots on his forehead shone with a bloody glow.


    The air around him began to ripple and form translucent red salamander heads. There were nine gruesome heads in total, constantly twisting and roaring.


    Phew!


    A huge breath of air expanded across all directions explosively. Like a blast of wind, blowing everyone around it into taking a few steps back.


    The two old men in front of Barton raised one hand each, creating a pale blue circular membrane that blocked the raging wind like a glass wall.


    The clothes of everyone around him fluttered loudly in the wind. Although Barton had seen many Form Four fighters make their move before, but such a young face together with such overwhelming power was still enough to make him feel strands of envy and jealousy.


    Just then.


    In the middle of the arena, Garen raised his right hand, and the nine pale salamander heads became nine blood-red shadows, twisting over his arm.


    Bzz¡­


    Garen¡¯s body slowly emitted a soft sound like a tremor. A thick, blood-like aura slowly flowed down his legs, spreading in all directions.


    Barton didn¡¯t notice anything, because he couldn¡¯t see this blood-like aura, but the other two old men¡¯s expressions changed drastically. Each one of them held up a hand, grabbing him and rapidly pulling him back fifty meters.


    Barton¡¯s face was full of confusion, and he was about to ask. For some reason, he was having difficulty breathing, and couldn¡¯t open his mouth to speak.


    "To think¡­ to think!!" The old man with the long beard was filled with shock, staring hard at Garen in the arena, "His own body¡¯s power has actually reached such a level¡­"


    "Big brother?" The other old man spoke, his expression similarly shocked and fearful. "Could he really be that sort of person?"


    The old man with the long beard nodded his head slowly.


    "Young Master Barton, from now on you must never incite that Garen. Avoid any frontal conflicts with him whenever possible."


    "Why?"


    "This man has a heart so cruel it has reached an extreme. As a totem user, he still went to study the martial arts and physical fighting skills that even normal people find excruciatingly painful, and he even trained these martial skills to such a terrifying level, such a person¡¯s will has already reached an incomprehensible level!"


    "No wonder he could escape from the clutches of God Cloud¡¯s clones." The other one looked as though he finally understood everything. "I saw a totem user like that before, he has extremely powerful martial arts, and after reaching a high level as a totem user, he merged his martial arts and totem together, achieving an extremely powerful level. His endurance is almost limitless and was extremely aware of the battle situation. If someone of the same level wanted to kill someone like this, it was practically mission impossible."


    Barton¡¯s expression was unnaturally heavy, this was his first time hearing the two old men next to him use such a serious tone.


    "Someone like this already has such powerful survival power, added together with the Nine-Headed Hydra¡¯s survival power¡­" The old man¡¯s tone got more and more wary.


    Just then, a cloud of black-red mist rose in the arena. Enveloping Garen inside.


    Roar!!


    The gruesome Nine Headed Salamander moved vaguely in the mist.


    Finally, the countless black-red mists gathered quickly, solidifying in Garen¡¯s palm.


    He smiled, and reached out his right hand lightly, pressing on the face of the wall.


    The power of the Nine-Headed Hydra totem was the strongest destructive force, as for the rest of its power they were only about support and recovery. The strongest part of the Nine-Headed Demon Dragon was its terrifying physical power.


    So the Nine-Headed Demon Dragon¡¯s power was stacked together with Garen¡¯s own power and added on to the ring Troll Grip¡¯s power. This was Garen¡¯s strongest attack.


    And now, Garen used at least half of its power.


    The pure and terrifying power crashed into the Wall of Glory mercilessly.


    Crack!!


    Without any premonition, the ground under Garen¡¯s feet collapsed. Forming a huge semi-circular dent, countless stone shards and dust formed a whirlwind flying everywhere. The place where the palm and the wall met, however, didn¡¯t make too much noise. It was just one soft sound.


    Smack.


    After the Nine-Headed Dragon evolved, Garen¡¯s actual strongest ability, was actually pure strength!


    Be it Life Tear or Poison Mist Corrosion, neither was nearly as terrifying as his own pure strength. It was only half of his power.


    Even he was quite excited to know, where his own true power lay among the many elite fighters of the Kingdom.


    Pulling back his palm, Garen looked at the wall with a hint of anticipation.

 421 Postpone 1

    Chapter 421: Postpone 1


    The collapsed palm print slowly recovered, and the wall returned to being smooth and clean.


    And in the row of marks beside, there was a new and clear mark.


    The mark appeared in the ninth position from the top, pushing the one who was originally ninth down one spot.


    "Ninth?" Only then did Garen¡¯s eyes reveal a hint of surprise.


    He reached out his hand and touched the ninth mark, his own, lightly. In terms of depth it wasn¡¯t that far away from number eight, but further up, compared to the seventh, the difference was a lot bigger.


    But having hidden half of his power, he believed he could do it.


    Touching the fifth one and comparing further, Garen¡¯s heart began to sink.


    This person had evidently not used their full power either, but the mark left behind was far deeper than what he would expect his full power to create.


    This meant that the other person¡¯s full destructive force was a great chunk stronger than his. Starting from number five, the four above him were far, far stronger in destructive power. Although the Nine-Headed Dragon¡¯s specialty wasn¡¯t destructive power, this result was still way beyond Garen¡¯s expectations.


    This meant that in Kovistan, there were at least five people with more destructive power than him!


    "The Royal Guard Captain, Edin?" He read out the fifth name.


    "That¡¯s right, Edin is the palace master of this Silver Palace." At some point, Avic had arrived behind Garen. "Garen, the fact that you have reached number nine is already way beyond my expectations. To be able to reach such heights at such a young age, impressive."


    "You exaggerate, Your Majesty." Garen smiled slightly, took two steps back, and falling behind Avic. No matter what he was a famous part of the loyalist faction, so he had to watch these basic manners.


    "Like you, Edin is also my strongest helper. You two are like my left and right hands, whereas Veska is my back. With you, the Empire can truly be stable and safe," Avic said pointedly.


    Garen paused a bit, not because of Avic¡¯s attempt at familiarisation, but because his words never mentioned the First Concubine Delouse. That surprised him.


    Delouse was extremely capable and prevented the Empire from incurring extreme losses. She had always been known as Avic¡¯s arms. At this time, however, she was ignored completely.


    He understood what Avic meant by that, if he was smart enough this time, then from now on his position would be the same Edin, having been promoted to his right or left hand.


    A thousand thoughts ran through his mind, and Garen didn¡¯t hesitate in the slightest, immediately bowing to Avic.


    "It is the honor and mission of the Trejons family to serve Your Majesty. From the beginning to the end, my father and I are loyal to the Empire." Garen lowered his head and replied.


    As soon as he mentioned his father Vanderman, Avic couldn¡¯t help but sigh.


    "All of you from the Trejons family, well done!"


    The royal sons and daughters who had come with them heard that sentence, their eyes sparkling.


    "Oh yeah, I forgot to mention. Your Earldom certificate has already been spread around the whole Empire. From this day forward, the Trejons family territory has an extra piece of plains. And you, are a new Earl of our Kovistan Empire." Avic patted Garen¡¯s shoulder.


    "Thank you, Your Majesty!" Garen felt a surge of joy, and bowed again immediately.


    Avic took out a purple-gold badge, smiling, and put it in Garen¡¯s hand. "This is the palace¡¯s Purple-Gold Badge, it can control the palace¡¯s elite Black Fire Guard, the elite group in charge of the entire palace¡¯s safety. Unlike the royal guard, they are a powerful team fully comprised of elite totem users! There aren¡¯t many of them, and the structure is simple, but they are powerful. I want to give them to someone worth depending on. Your Excellency Garen, are you willing to accept this burden?!"


    With those last words, his voice grew louder.


    "I am willing!!" Garen replied loudly.


    "Good! My safety, the safety of the entire royal family, they are now all on you." Avic hugged Garen heavily.


    Nearby, the Eleventh Royal Daughter was biting her lip tightly.


    "I was right, this is gonna be troublesome¡­ Avic gave the Black Fire Guard to the Nine-Headed Demon Dragon. The Royal Guard has Edin. This is especially troubling¡­"


    "Tina!" Avic¡¯s voice came from ahead.


    The Eleventh Royal Daughter have a shudder, and immediately reacted.


    "Here! Father?" She went up hurriedly, bent her knees and curtsied. "Is there anything you want from me?"


    "Didn¡¯t you want to go out and play? From now on you can ask Your Excellency Garen for arrangements whenever you want to go out. The palace hall I arranged for him is not far from yours." Avic smiled, looking at the young one.


    "Daisy, Andy. Come over here and meet the new Black Fire Palace Master." Avic called a few more important royal sons and daughters over.


    Daisy was the ice-cold Second Princess. Andy was a young prince whose face was growing pale.


    The Eleventh Royal Daughter Tina lowered her head. She could feel Avic¡¯s disgusting gaze wandering over her body like a cold snake. She knew this was the sign that Avic had fallen for her. After raising her for so many years, this bestial Emperor with a human face finally couldn¡¯t hold it in.


    Her heart went a little cold, normally she was the most neglected one, but now Avic called her first. And recently the benefits her palace hall received increased drastically, more and more people coming to honor her.


    She was only eleven, but Tina understood that all this meant clearly that Avic was going to visit her at night.


    At first, she thought Edin had something on and would leave, so she would have a temporary chance of escape. But now there was another Garen.


    She had long since heard about Garen¡¯s reputation, or rather the Trejons family¡¯s reputation. Garen¡¯s father Vanderman was a loyalist through and through, and though his reputation was in tatters, no one dared to touch him on that fact alone.


    His son Garen was even more exaggeratedly evil, legends say that the Nine-Headed Demon Dragon must eat ten virgins and twenty children every day. When he was frustrated, even the elderly couldn¡¯t escape. Wherever he went, blood would flow like rivers. His favorite hobby was collecting human hearts, and last time the Kingdom prison would send him about a hundred prisoners every month, just so he could choose fresh new hearts.


    Just thinking about all these rumors, the Eleventh Royal Daughter Tina¡¯s heart began to pound. "If only Stone and the others were here..."


    It wasn¡¯t the first time she thought that, that weak and defenseless need to find someone to rely on kept surging from her heart.


    When he heard the name Tina, Garen¡¯s body gave a jolt.


    He looked closely at the royal daughters and found the Eleventh Royal Daughter Tina.


    It was the little one with the cunning eyes who had explained to him. She looked sweet and cute, her body was soft and petite, the young girl¡¯s thin waist wrapped in a white lace dress. Her slender legs wore white silk socks, the black ponytail behind her head had a silver butterfly ornament stuck in it.


    Tina¡¯s skin was fair but rosy, and somehow utterly flawless, making her look like a petite snow doll.


    Garen glanced at Avic. As expected, this demon father¡¯s eyes had a glimmer of bestial desire.


    But for some reason, Avic seemed to be trying his best to hold back this desire. His gaze stopped on Tina briefly, and then quickly moved away. After a blink, it was replaced with a strange determination, as though he had just made some huge decision.


    "From now on, Earl Garen, the new Black Fire Palace Master, and the Trejons family will contribute greatly to our Kovistan, you must refer to him as a senior! Do you understand?" Avic said such a surprising thing.


    Not just Garen, even Barton and the royal sons and daughters nearby, all looked surprised.


    "Alright, I¡¯m tired, I¡¯ll return to the palace now and rest. Come!"


    "Here!" A guard jogged over, replying loudly.


    "Take the Earl to the Black Fire Palace! Introduce him to his new subordinates!" Avic patted Garen¡¯s shoulder without allowing for any protest, arranged the matters from now on, and left first of his own accord.


    "Safe travel, Your Majesty (Father)!" Everyone bowed at the same time, and sent Avic off with their gazes.


    Garen straightened up and glanced at everyone, his gaze staying on the Eleventh Royal Daughter Tina¡¯s body for a few more seconds.


    "Tina¡­ Tina¡­" He suddenly remembered the original path of history, the few people who appeared behind Beckstone. One of the girls looked a lot like the Tina he was seeing.


    Coincidentally, that girl also had a graceful body language and an elegant aura, her every move emitting the feeling of royalty that normal nobility couldn¡¯t accomplish.


    Judging from what he saw now, this Tina¡­


    But now Beckstone and company should still be at the Marquess Black Snake¡¯s place, so they wouldn¡¯t arrive that quickly. Even if she really was that girl, she probably still didn¡¯t know Beckstone at all now, right?


    Garen thought about it a bit and then relaxed.


    Barton followed behind closely and just smiled at Garen, without saying anything more, before leaving.


    The other royal sons and daughters looked at each other. The Twelfth Royal Daughter was adorable at only seven or eight years old, her long white-golden hair combed neatly, and she wore a black silk dress with little leather boots, walking in front of Garen first.


    "Uncle Garen, Ivy¡¯s going ahead first."


    After the first one, there was the second, the third. Each of the royal sons and daughters began to ask for leave from Garen.


    Tina glanced at the Fourth Princess, who was biting down on her lower lip, her face turning green. When Avic left without taking her along, everyone knew clearly that Avic was already bored of playing with her. The fact that he changed his attitude so quickly probably had something to do with the Fourth Princess¡¯ bad attitude towards Garen just now.


    Suddenly all the royal sons and daughters made a decision in their hearts.


    Tina was the last to go up to Garen.


    "Uncle Garen, please take care of me from now on. My Eleventh Princess Hall is just next to your Black Fire Palace."


    She tried her best to act obedient and pure, giving him a saccharine smile.


    "You¡¯re too kind, Your Highness, Garen will do everything in my power to ensure your safety." Garen smiled, his handsome features and beautiful golden hair making even Tina¡¯s eyes spin a little.


    But put together with the rumors she had heard, she instantly gave a shudder, afraid to look anymore as she lowered her head.


    Finally, the Fourth Princess walked over, her face pale, as she bowed at Garen.


    "Uncle Garen¡­"


    By then, Tina had already walked away. She turned around and looked at the Fourth Princess, her previously arrogant Fourth Sister now had tears pooling in her eyes, threatening to fall at any moment.


    She was saying something to Garen quietly, but it was rather far away, so she couldn¡¯t hear it properly.

 422 Postpone 2

    Chapter 422: Postpone 2


    Two days later. Avic actually announced that the ceremony and royal audience were to be delayed.


    On the way back to her palace, Tina saw many servants and maids whispering to each other.


    She had just come back from the bath and had returned to the main door of her palace hall, but she saw her personal attendant Bottler chatting quietly with a maid in a white dress. The two of them were so focused that they hadn¡¯t noticed Tina coming at all.


    "Bottler!"


    Bottler gave a shudder and quickly ran towards Tina. The other maid ran away hurriedly as though escaping.


    "What were you guys gossipping about!?" Tina¡¯s little face was actually rather stern.


    "Your Highness, Princess¡­ No¡­ nothing¡­" Bottler was so scared her face turned white, and she couldn¡¯t speak clearly.


    Tina harrumphed and put her little hands behind her back as she walked into her own palace hall.


    The truth was, she did know what these people were talking about.


    Thanks to the recent installation of Garen as the new Black Fire Palace Master, the palace defenses were undergoing a huge makeover, and the places once protected by the Royal Guard were mostly protected by the Black Fire Guard now. These Guards were almost like emotionless beasts, they never spoke, or chatted. They only knew how to be loyal and dutiful, listening to nobody¡¯s orders except the Black Fire Palace Master Garen and His Majesty.


    And recently there had been some rumors in the palace, saying that the Third Princess¡¯ disappearance had something to do with the newly appointed Earl Garen.


    Tina didn¡¯t comment on any of these rumors. But deep inside, she knew perfectly well that her Third Sister¡¯s death was closely related to Garen. She had overheard her Second Sister and First Sister arguing, partly over the investigation results on Earl Garen. The Third Princess did indeed die in the Earl¡¯s mansion.


    But more terrifying was the way their father and king, Avic, reacted to the death of the then-beloved Third Princess. When he found out the results, he didn¡¯t make any move at all. He didn¡¯t punish Garen in the slightest, making as though nothing happened, until it all slowly died down.


    It was starting from that day, that Tina slowly began to mature, and discovered that Father¡¯s gaze on her grew more and more unnerving.


    Staying deep within this heavily-guarded palace, she felt like a canary in a golden cage, who could do nothing and dared to do nothing.


    Tina walked into her bedroom, closed the door, and walked up to the window, about to draw the curtains, when she suddenly heard talking from below. She froze instantly.


    "...The Second Palace¡¯s Guard Captain, Caesure was sentenced to death¡­"


    "Wasn¡¯t Guard Captain Caesure¡¯s the Second Princess¡¯ most trusted guard captain?"


    "Who asked the Captain to offend the Earl? In front of His Majesty¡­" The voice faded.


    But Tina knew that everyone in the palace was always plotting something, these words weren¡¯t something she happened to overhear, but rather the people in her palace were purposely letting her hear them.


    They were afraid, scared of the newly appointed Earl Garen. They were afraid she carelessly offended the new Earl, they thought she didn¡¯t understand¡­ but in truth, she understood everything.


    This new Palace Master was cruel and ruthless, respectful to the royal sons and daughters on the surface, but unbelievably heartless when he actually made his move. The Guard Captain Caesure and the Second Princess were as close as sisters, and she was still killed with one blow this morning.


    Tina¡¯s heart felt waves of cold, this was the premonition of danger approaching. Of the royal bloodline, she and Twelve had the strongest prophetic power, and now, this prophetic power was beginning to warn her, but she couldn¡¯t do anything. She knew that danger was approaching, but she couldn¡¯t avoid it.


    Just two days after his promotion, Earl Garen was already organizing a massive clean-up.


    With Avic¡¯s full support, the Black Fire Palace¡¯s special guards spread out like a spider web, scattering to every part of the palace, every royal son and daughter had someone from the Black Fire in their palaces, watching them.


    With Avic¡¯s palace in the center, all the Black Fire Guards formed an indomitable sealing web.


    Tina realized with a shock that some blind spots that strong totem users usually didn¡¯t notice, the ones that she had often used to go outside, were now patched up by the Black Fire Guards, the whole palace becoming more and more like an airtight metal barrel, squeezing all the breath out of her.


    Beckstone and the others should be coming over soon, but under these circumstances, there wasn¡¯t only the Garland Sword, Edin, but now there was also the Nine-Headed Dragon Garen.


    Tina clenched her teeth.


    "I need to think of something!"


    **************


    The assassination wasn¡¯t brought forward as Garen guessed, but the Aegis Ceremony seemed to have been delayed.


    Avic planned to meet the Black Prince himself, splitting up the original plan, the ceremony, and the audience, into two parts.


    After becoming the Black Fire Palace Master, Garen hinted to Avic several times that something might go wrong with the Aegis Ceremony. But he didn¡¯t clearly state it was Delouse, he just indicated that he noticed some outside powers might interfere with the Aegis Ceremony.


    Avic had always been a suspicious person, and after receiving Garen¡¯s hints, added together with his unusual trust in Garen, Garen was given unspoken permission to organize a large-scale clean-up of the inner palace.


    Not hoping to do good, but at least do no wrong. With that kind of attitude, the palace security grew more and more stringent.


    Under Garen¡¯s guard, Avic was accompanied by Edin to a secret meeting with the Black Prince five days later, and they achieved a series of understandings.


    After the meeting, the Black Prince left the Kingdom quickly.


    Although Garen didn¡¯t get to see this one of the three heroes, his interference had undoubtedly changed the original route of history.


    The Black Prince no longer bore the sin of assassinating the king, and half of Obscuro¡¯s plans fell apart.


    **************


    One week later


    The king¡¯s study


    Avic was sitting opposite Garen and Edin.


    The three of them were playing a three-player game called Nala, it was a bit like checkers, the aim being to reach a fixed target point first. In the process, however, the pieces could capture each other. Certain criteria had to be fulfilled for capture, though. Just like how chess pieces had differences in level and position.


    Avic was wearing white casual clothes, his expression carefree, smiling as he took the lead.


    Garen and Edin, on the other hand, were wearing black coats, only the colors of their hems different, one dark red and the other silver.


    Both of them were also playing the game breezily.


    Of the three, Avic was far ahead, Garen was second, and Edin third.


    Even though he was last, Edin didn¡¯t lose his calm at all, his movements still slow and steady. Compared to the Empire¡¯s genius in his thirties, Garen¡¯s personality was a lot more normal.


    The pale white morning sunlight shone in from behind Avic¡¯s back, falling on the edge of the white game board, reflecting the faint white light.


    The three of them played with full concentration.


    Smack.


    Garen put down one of his pieces lightly and glanced at Avic. Now, he truly did respect this Emperor.


    As a normal person, he managed to force down both of their playing powers. With a mind like that, no wonder he was the ruler of such a big country as Kovistan.


    And after taking over the Black Fire Palace, the more Garen knew, the more he felt that Avic wasn¡¯t as clueless to the danger as he acted. He seemed to be playing a much larger game.


    There were many things that even a peak-level totem user like him couldn¡¯t see clearly.


    In Nala Chess, neither Garen nor Edin held back. Forget holding back, if they relaxed even a little, their important pieces would be immediately swallowed by Avic.


    "Garen, how are you handling things over at the Black Fire Palace? No big problems?" Avic asked calmly as he played.


    Garen smiled.


    "Since you have given the Black Fire Guard as it is now to me, sire, that is your trust in me. Your trust in my Trejons family. So, even if there are problems, they¡¯re not problems."


    The true identity of the Black Fire Guard were actually the results of Vanderman¡¯s research, the Green Vine Spheres.


    Under the orders of outsiders, these Guards would only be able to use half of their true power. But under Garen¡¯s orders, the Green Vine Spheres were originally personal Aberrated Totems Vanderman had made specifically for Garen. Or rather they were no longer totems, but a scientific experimental result.


    In that case, the Black Fire Guard, the living experiments created through parasitic cores, would naturally be a power only Garen could truly understand.


    Add that to the Trejons family¡¯s reputation as famous loyalists, and Avic was finally able to fully let go, handing the Black Fire Guard to Garen. Back when the Black Fire Guard was created, and he realized the specialty of the Green Vine Spheres, Avic had already planned to do this.


    The invention of the Black Fire Guard was a brand new power in the Empire¡¯s arsenal, there were no more than two hundred of them, but they were all members of the living dead, having undergone countless surgeries and in possession of elite Form Two power. They had no emotion and were only loyal to the owner of the Green Vine Sphere, Garen.


    Before the Research and Development Department discovered a way to remove this loyalty limitation, the only one who could take charge of the Black Fire Palace was Garen, this was the conclusion Avic came up with after many attempts.


    "Garen, your father Vanderman died for the royal family, and I¡¯ve always felt guilty about that. But if he saw you now, an integral part of the country, I bet he would be proud of you too. So if anything happens in the palace, you can act with abandon." Avic said calmly, "No matter what, I believe that we will always be on the same side."


    Garen¡¯s face twitched.


    Of course they were on the same side, the Trejons family had a grudge against the Obscuro Society, and an even bigger one with Terraflor. The only power they could rely on was the royal family.


    He glanced at Edin beside him.


    Edin, Veska, and those two Grand Dukes, were the only four people he had to be wary of in the Kingdom. Of course, this didn¡¯t include that old monster who could be hiding deep in the palace.


    According to Garen¡¯s guesses, these four were all stronger than him, and should have important positions in the three departments. Or perhaps they were already the main people at the very top of the three departments.


    "I heard Lord Veska has returned to the Geometry Department, in order to temporarily handle some matters," Edin spoke suddenly and randomly.


    "That¡¯s right, after waiting for so long, it¡¯s perhaps time for them to make a move." Avic nodded, and said ambiguously. "After waiting so long, drawing it out even longer will cost them all their efforts."


    Garen narrowed his eyes slightly.


    "So it seems Your Majesty was long since prepared."


    "I didn¡¯t want it to be like this either¡­" Avic sighed. "But no one could have guessed that the one who betrayed me would be the person I trusted the most."


    Garen¡¯s heart gave a jolt, so he did know.


    "Your Majesty, what you¡¯re saying is?"


    "When the time comes, the safety of the palace is fully in your hands." Avic didn¡¯t say any more, but was evidently ready to make a move. His expression seemed to have a hint of weariness and melancholy. It was obvious that he still found it hard to make a move against the person who had been with him for so many years.


    Garen¡¯s thoughts ran a mile a minute.


    If Avic knew from the start, how could the assassination have succeeded?


    Suddenly, he had an intense interest in Delouse from Obscuro. Unfortunately, Delouse still hadn¡¯t met him after so long.


    All of a sudden, he thought of the Eleventh Royal Daughter Tina, as well as Beckstone and company. Maybe, this had something to do with them as well?

 423 Gang Up 1

    Chapter 423: Gang Up 1


    Garen was escorted by four Black Fire Guards away from the Royal Library, towards Black Fire Palace.


    It was completely dark in the Black Fire Palace; dark red patterns permeated the dark hall.


    From a bird¡¯s eye view, the room looked like a right-angled triangle, surrounded by round, dark red pillars, and on those pillars were inscriptions of different large black symbols with unknown meaning.


    Opposite the Black Fire Palace was the Eleventh Palace of the Eleven Princesses. Twin statues stood towering against each other.


    Garen left the administrative area, past the public area, and walked up towards the little stone bridge at the Black Fire Palace. Four Black Fire guards followed him from behind, all in heavy battle hoods which gave off a cold, stern air.


    The guards and maids along the way all gave their respects to Garen.


    To enter the Black Fire Palace proper, he had to pass through the Eleventh Palace first.


    It was just dawn then, a maid in a red shirt was escorting a young man towards the Eleventh Palace in the open corridor out in front.


    The man looked calm but had a hint of anxiety in his eyes. He looked handsome, but due to the contrast between his expression and his eyes, he gave off an odd feeling of disharmony.


    As Garen walked past the corridor, he suddenly glanced at the maid escorting the male from afar.


    That maid also bowed out of respect in the distance, even the man she escorted had to bow.


    "Who is that person?" Garen stopped and asked one of the guards.


    "Sir, that man is a guest that the Eleventh Princess wishes to see, he is a commoner from outside the palace." This male guard was surprised by the sudden question and hurriedly answered.


    "A man meeting the Her Eleventh Majesty?" Garen frowned, and thought about his previous guess. "Have him leave the area."


    "But¡­ that man is someone Eleventh Her Majesty insisted on meeting personally¡­" The guard felt troubled, he was a close guard of the Eleventh Palace, and judging from the intonation of Her Majesty when she gave the order, he reckoned that he was someone important.


    "Has he made many trips here?" Garen suddenly asked further.


    "Yes¡­." The guard nodded heavy heartedly.


    "In the future, do not let this person in without my orders." Garen barked, then strode away.


    The four Black Fire Guards stomped away in their heavy armor, leaving a pressuring aura in their wake.


    ********************************


    Pap!


    Clang!!


    Eleventh Princess Tina vehemently smashed a vase onto the ground.


    "Die!"


    "Die die die!!"


    Tina locked herself inside the reading room, smashing everything she could inside the soundproof area.


    "I¡¯m so furious! Damn that Garen! Damn that Black Fire Palace!! How does it concern you who I wish to meet?!"


    hards of crystal porcelain were scattered everywhere on the floor, leaving the entire room in a mess.


    She didn¡¯t dare cause a ruckus outside. The Black Fire Heavy Guards were stationed outside the Palace, under orders from the Black Fire Palace to not allow anyone out without permission, and that if need be, to request so from Garen himself.


    This made Tina angry to the brink of losing control. She wasn¡¯t able to see Beckstone, whom she wanted to meet, now she was even placed under house arrest in her own palace.


    However, she could not complain. In His Majesty Avic¡¯s eyes, the Ten Princesses were not comparable to his left and right arm, let alone Garen, the expert of the kingdom, a top totem user. Don¡¯t even mention house arrests, if Garen wanted her, Avic may not even voice a second opinion, and arrange a marriage.


    After lashing out, Tina finally calmed down.


    "Now what? I can¡¯t even get out of the palace, they can¡¯t come in¡­I would need to look into other avenues if I were to escape from here."


    In a short few weeks, the Nine-Headed Demon Dragon Garen¡¯s reputation had spread all across the kingdom. He was also regarded as one of the two strongest Generals under Avic, alongside the Garland Swordsman Edin.


    Of course, to outsiders¡¯ eyes, to the enemies¡¯ eyes, the two of them were Avic¡¯s most loyal eaglehounds. Or perhaps their status was much higher than that of an eaglehound, but functionally, they were eaglehounds without question.


    Although Edin was a genius with strong capabilities, he paid no heed towards macromanagement, and neither was he an expert on it. Garen was different, holding tightly to the status and power. His Black Fire guards were mysterious, each of them exceedingly strong, and their identical Black Fire Wolves were all ferocious. Adding onto the strong equipment produced by the Royal Alliance, each Black Fire Heavy Guard was able to take on two totem users of the same level.


    No matter who it was, if they want to take out Avic, They must first go through Edin and Garen, his two defenses.


    **************************


    Another week later.


    Within the Black Fire Palace.


    Garen walked into the left hall of the Grand Hall, walking in front of a small room.


    The small black door was wide open, inside was a youngster with a black ponytail sitting down.


    As Garen walked in, the youngster stood up, his face a reflection of joy.


    "Garen, are you done with today¡¯s matters?"


    "Haven¡¯t you gone to your grandfather¡¯s place?" Garen walked over and sat opposite the youngster.


    A small table was placed in between the two men, and on the tabletop were two cups of steaming hot red tea.


    The room was filled with the thin fragrance of the red tea.


    This youngster was Prynne, whom he had not seen in a long time.


    This was the person who grew up with Acacia and only contacted Garen a few days ago. Garen had visited Prynne¡¯s Grandfather, Benoc, but of course, his main objective was to meet Prynne.


    This guy wasn¡¯t just living a regular fulfilling life, even though he wasn¡¯t a totem user, he had a grandfather who adored him, so the family would naturally take good care of him. Adding onto Garen¡¯s visit was a show of power.


    His status within the family was only growing in a linear fashion. Although he wasn¡¯t considered a heir to the family, he at least had some influence.


    "My grandfather went off to a hunting patrol. The weather these days is pretty good, with many continuous sunny days. A thought came to Grandfather, and off he rode." Prynne shook his head "Unfortunately, I am not a totem user, otherwise, I would be able to experience the outside world for myself.


    "Looking for me this early in the morning, do you have something urgent for me?" Garen picked up the glass of tea and took a sip.


    "Actually, no, I was just planning to marry Marin." Prynne laughed. This brat was much more matured as compared to before.


    "Then, what about Andel?" Garen had an expression as though he expected that, that he was not surprised at all.


    "Andel¡¯s family is a tad bit troublesome. Most of her family members passed away during the assault by the monsters. Only her aunt and her are left in the entire household. In the past few times I invited her out to spend some time, she felt more and more depressed." Prynne frowned as he spoke.


    The four of them had played with each other since they were young, their relationship with each other was the most tightly knit, but due to the turmoil in these times, each person¡¯s lives had their drastic ups and downs.


    If Garen hadn¡¯t stood up for himself, perhaps his family would have been exterminated. Even if they had somehow survived, it would probably be quite similar to Andel¡¯s situation.


    Even though Prynne¡¯s household was domineering, with his power and influence currently, it was already a stretch on his limits escort his own good friends around.


    "Try to help her as best you can, I guess." Garen sighed.


    "Which is why I¡¯m making this trip now." Prynne nodded. "Andel planned to look for something to do in the palace so that she can be independent and not add more burdens on her aunt. Do you reckon you can get her something to do?"


    "Entering the palace?" Garen frowned. "It''s not that I am unwilling; these kind of things can be settled with a single word of mine. But as close friends, I really hope that she doesn¡¯t enter the palace right now."


    Prynne stopped for a moment, showing a quizzical, thinking expression.


    Garen continued speaking. "Give me some time, I¡¯ll let her know. The Royal Palace¡¯s Administrative department shouldn¡¯t have any issues."


    "How long would it take? You should know, if it were just a regular position, I wouldn¡¯t have even bothered looking for you. I could have settled it myself." Prynne raised his eyebrows.


    "Of course it wouldn¡¯t just be some regular position!" Garen laughed.


    "She said that it¡¯s best if she can enter the palace as soon as possible. Since she doesn¡¯t do anything at home." Prynne shook his head, "Her household¡¯s situation is not looking very well at the moment. Even if we were hosting her.. Without her own, solid foundation¡­ You know, most of the things are still conflict come from within the household, we¡¯re just mere spectators at this point."


    Garen suddenly understood what he meant.


    The issue with Nadel must be because of her own family¡¯s passings, causing distant relatives to come to divide the inheritance. According to the law, doing this was the right way to go, but no matter how it was done, there would still be large loopholes for people to play tricks. She urgently needs a nice paying position to earn some power and influence in order to fend off the greedy vultures of the distant relatives.


    "I can understand her problems, which is why I still feel that it¡¯s best to arrange her entrance into the palace as soon as possible," Prynne said faintly. He took up the red tea and placed it on his lips, but he wasn¡¯t really drinking it, instead just blowing it gently.


    "So what¡¯s the position she wants?" Garen let out a deep sigh, he had to say it out in the end, he understood that Andel was now embarrassed to meet her old friends; only Marin still had a close relationship with her. Since she was pushed to this point, adding to the fact that Prynne was out to proactively voice for her, the issue must have gotten to a troublesome point. Otherwise, she wouldn¡¯t go through so many channels to reach out to him.


    "As I understand, she hopes to find a position suitable for a lady," Prynne answered.


    Garen nodded slowly.


    "A job that suits the ladies.. The only ones left with such openings are the Royal Palace¡¯s Treasury, the Gardening Department, and the Princess''s¡¯ Palace. Seeing that it¡¯s my friend coming in, the position must not be low, naturally."


    He thought for a while, "I¡¯ll give her three positions; Assistant Supervisor of the Treasury, Botanical Head of Gardening, and Female Supervisor of the Princess¡¯ Palace. These three positions can be decided by me, so go check out which one she¡¯d like."


    "Alright, then I shall let her know." Prynne swiftly stood up. He understood that Garen had actually done him a huge favor by giving Andel three options. After all, he was not the only one minding the matters in the Palace, there was still the White Silver Palace, the Princess, and His Majesty. It was also impossible for him to obtain higher positions.


    "Rushing off so quickly? Don¡¯t you want to stay a little while longer?" Garen smiled.


    "I don¡¯t think so, Marin and Andel are both waiting to hear from me."


    "If there¡¯s anything in the future, why not let them look for me directly? We¡¯re all such close friends, why the formalities?" Garen frowned.


    "It¡¯s all because your status is different from before, previously Marin planned to bring Andel over to look for you, even if it was just a peek from afar. They definitely wouldn¡¯t dare start anything funny like hitting on you, they would¡¯ve been frightened to death." Prynne spoke without restraint. "With your usual vibe, that look of ¡®whoever messes with me, dies¡¯ look, who would dare greet you casually?"e


    "That can''t be right. Do I look that scary?" Garen touched his chin with confusion.


    "The head of Black Fire Palace, the one who would bring around 4 black-robed elites around, who dons two-meter tall heavy armor, and kills people with just a smile." Prynne was speechless, "Are you aware of the rumors about you?"


    "What rumors?"


    "It¡¯s said that you eat 10 virgins daily, your favourite collections are of the hearts of strong people, that you can kill someone with just a glance sideways when you were unhappy, that you have arms as thick as a man¡¯s waist, thighs so huge a man can¡¯t hug it all the way round, a bite that can pierce steel¡­."


    "Stop stop stop!!" As he watched Prynne¡¯s words get more far-fetched, Garen was shocked enough to immediately stop him from going further. "Who¡¯s spreading these rumours?"


    Prynne shook his head


    "I don¡¯t know, but it is what it is. Some things about you...to be honest, are really¡­." He saw Garen¡¯s expression and didn¡¯t continue speaking.


    "All I did was kill a couple people, and the rumors are already starting to fly." Garen¡¯s eyes squinted.


    Prynne was speechless.


    Just killed a couple people? The Fourth Princess was unaware of the current during a Black Fire Guards¡¯ patrol and got into a conflict with Garen and a close guard of hers. She then used her identity to suppress Garen, saying that he is just the Royal Family¡¯s dog, a henchman.


    The result was that the Black Fire Guard killed off everyone in the Princess Palace, aside from Fourth Princess herself. Exactly 96 people were all killed in a single night. The entire Fourth Palace lacked even a maid serving tea.


    Even so, Avic insisted that Fourth Princess publicly apologize to Garen.


    Not only this, in the recent sweep, of whoever harbored any suspicion from the Black Fire Guards, almost none were left alive


    In the name of rooting out spies, the Black Fire guards have swept through the entire palace once, and whoever had a differing opinion was executed by Garen. The kill count from the purge reached over 300 people.


    In the eyes of a usually peaceful country, Garen had undoubtedly become the murderer! The hangman!

 424 Gang Up 2

    Chapter 424: Gang Up 2


    With the absence of Defence minister Veska, plus the fact the Royal Guard Captain Edin was not leaving the White Silver Palace, and that the First Concubine was busy with the preparations of the ceremony, Avic had completely left all authority in the palace to Garen. The entire palace was almost entirely governed by him.


    In actual fact, this was all just Garen following the historic scenarios that he had seen, ridding all the Obscuro spies of the entire palace. The majority of those being purged are all eyes and ears for the First Concubine.


    The only thing was that his excuses weren¡¯t sufficient; he was also lazy to think of more solid justifications, so he simply thought up a few placeholders and killed the entire bunch of people. Which was what led to his bad reputation. But it didn¡¯t matter, the Trejons¡¯ family reputation was already rotten ever since Vanderman¡¯s human experimentation was exposed; the household¡¯s reputation had been thrown out the window. Garen couldn¡¯t bother with those menial ethics either.


    So long as Avic¡¯s heirloom is fine, none of this would be a problem. The guards and maids in the palace could always be replaced. In such a crucial time, Garen couldn¡¯t afford to be soft, he must remove all of the First Concubine¡¯s spies.


    He wouldn¡¯t have known if he hadn¡¯t uncovered the fact that First Concubine¡¯s subordinates were all over the palace. He then ruthlessly killed off all of the spies of Obscuro.


    Now that Prynne had mentioned it, the outsiders actually described him to be even more terrorizing than a demon, Garen didn¡¯t know if he should be laughing or crying.


    "Wouldn¡¯t you guys know what kind of person I am? You actually distrusted me this much, you really make me sad."


    Prynne said with a worried tone.


    "Actually my grandfather said that too, you are now standing on a cusp, there would be some trouble when Veska returns, you¡¯d better make some earlier arrangements."


    "I understand." Garen nodded.


    "Alright, I shall make a move, the girls are still waiting for my news. When you have the time, let¡¯s hang out with the rest, it¡¯s been awhile since we got together." Prynne tapped Garen¡¯s shoulder.


    "Let me send you off."


    Garen sent Prynne off outside the palace and then arranged for a Black Fire Guard to escort him out. Garen then returned.


    Within the period of time when he had become a Head of Palace, the Trejons family businesses also grew alongside his position and quickly expanded.


    A few days ago, Garen had raided a heavily corrupted treasurer, but in the meantime also took a small part of the spoils, just enough to return all the money to Kid. To his tactics, Avic was turning a blind eye too.


    Just by ridding the palace of so many spies, Garen still couldn¡¯t figure out how Obscuro actually planned to make a move.


    Back to the grand hall of Black Fire Palace.


    He sat on the pitch black throne inscribed with dark red patterns, his fingers crossed. His mind spiralled into a rabbit hole of thought.


    On both sides of the grand hall were two rows of Black Fire Heavy Guards.


    There were some differences among the Black Fire Guards too, the ordinary ones in heavy armor were form 2 elites, but the ones in heavy armor and a cape, they were all form 3. The entire Black Fire Guards summed up to two hundred people. In reality, their capabilities far exceeded regular totem users in the same realm, and most importantly, they did not fear death.


    The kingdom was full of form 2 totem users, but the ones who were truly fearless of death numbered few. Behind each totem user was a massive chain of resources and supplies, with many beneficiaries of various scales. During a life-threatening event, there were definitely few people who would fight to their death without abandon.


    The Black Fire Guards were different. They were the kamikaze elites of the Form 2 totem users. Under Garen¡¯s orders, they could unleash explosive amounts of power at anytime.


    Despite all that, the Black Fire Guards were of little use to Avic, as the Form 2s in the Kingdom¡¯s totem user regiment stands the majority.


    The real reason people fear the Black Fire Guards was the fact that the all had the power to self-destruct. And also because of the Green Vine Sphere, their numbers can always be maintained. If they lost one, they can immediately be replenished with another.


    It was too bad the Green Vine Sphere could only control so many Black Fire Guards; with the creation of so many kamikaze units, anyone who was below form 4, even spiritualized would not have dared fight them head-on.


    "Unfortunately¡­ these people aren¡¯t sentient.." Garen shook his head as he sighed. " looks like I have to recruit someone to help me manage the human resources within the palace.


    As he calmed down, he began preparing the items for his next expedition, he would go out on a monster hunt every two days to increase his potential points, and also to see when would he reach the Secret Techniques¡¯ upgrade threshold.


    Perhaps the Nine-Headed Dragon needed too much, for such a long period of gathering potential points, roughly 200 points in total, the Secret Technique had yet to produce any reaction. However, this made him anticipate it even more. As the requirement of potential points increased, so did the degree of change after one finally crossed the critical point needed to reach the next level.


    ************************************


    In a tall restaurant in the Kingdom


    By the side of the round beige table in the restaurant, two men with thick black beards were sitting by the table, looking towards a large black palace from afar.


    Although it was noon, the sky was covered in clouds. The weather seemed gloomy, and the thick layers of clouds felt like they would collapse to the ground soon, which gave off a depressing atmosphere.


    The two bearded men sat towards a corner, ordered a decent, yet normal meal, which did not stand out at all. People came and went around them, hardly noticing their existence.


    Nobody realized that the two of them had minute movements on their lips; they were actually communicating using a secret technique.


    "Still have no way to contact Eleven?"


    "It is extremely difficult." the other man who was slightly shorter looked gloomy. " The most troublesome people in the palace are the White Silver Palace and Black Fire Palace. Eleven¡¯s Palace is situated slightly ahead of the Black Fire Palace, so it is very difficult to rescue her! The Nine-Headed Serpent¡¯s abilities are extremely powerful. If he catches wind of anything out of the ordinary, not only would we fail the extraction, whoever goes in would also have no chance of walking out alive."


    "That¡¯s why we must avoid the Nine-Headed Serpent. To avoid him, we must avoid the Black Fire Guards first, but the Black Fire Guards are everywhere, scattered across every corner of the Palace¡­" The tall bearded man fell into deep thought. "Then we have to ascertain, what kind of people can get into the palace without being checked!"


    The other person blinked his eyes.


    "Stone, you have an idea?!"


    "Let¡¯s go find out exactly what¡¯s going on, we may have a way around this. We shall first investigate Garen¡¯s routines, habits, and behaviors. To win someone, we should try to understand our opponent as much as possible, for that is the most important step."


    ******************************


    Roar!!


    A red dragon head dodged.


    Within the deep mountain, surrounded by more than ten Black Fire Guards, Garen stepped on a boulder, underneath him were piles of debris.


    At a plain nearby, a bovine-shaped monster with the head of a crocodile was slowly lying down on the floor, its body size spanning more than six meters, it had a jet-black body, its thick neck tightly bitten in place by something, protruding to the side.


    As its head stretched upwards, and the blood vessels around its burst open. A stream of bright-red blood gushed out from the open wound, but once the blood touched the air, it disappeared as if something swallowed it up.


    From the air were faint noises of some large creature¡¯s gulping from a swallowing movement at the throat.


    The left side of Garen¡¯s mark on the forehead was flashing with a hint of bright red. As the swallowing sound diminished, so did the red light.


    Bam!!


    The giant creature hit the ground, and its body shrunk significantly.


    Garen took the white handkerchief from a Black Fire Guard and rubbed his hands.


    Suddenly, a strong quake was felt from the ground.


    "Who! Dares! To Kill my Bovine Croc!!" A large roar was heard from afar.


    Garen laughed, this was already the Meteorite Mountains, which was very far away from the Kingdom, which he rode on the fastest Thunderhawk for a little less than half a day to reach. This was beyond the defensive line, where different forces were constantly clashing, with people from different scales of power. However, the monsters itself were not very strong, perfect for training.


    This was the northern side of the West Farm Defensive line, which, when compared to the south, had much stronger monsters. There were even pinnacle form 4 monsters here, and there were more than one of them, so even the Royal Alliance didn¡¯t venture too deep into the mountains, and could only shrink their defensive lines.


    Deeper into the mountains were monsters even stronger, Form 4 monsters, even Spiritualized ones were found spawning in hordes within a lair. This meant that the elites were the only ones capable of entering.


    A single Bovine Croc could earn Garen five Potential Points, which was a fairly decent return compared previous standards.


    One Form 1 totem or monster would provide about a quarter point¡¯s worth of potential points, not even a full point.


    One Form 2 gave about two points; and five points for form 3. Whereas spiritualized creatures gave a whopping 15 points.


    The Bovine Croc itself possessed a combat prowess of about an elite Form 2, with its rough and thick hide, and its high strength, with special resistance towards non-physical attacks. But it actually provided points equivalent to a form 3, so Garen made it a point never to let any of these Bovine Crocs go.


    There were actually many creatures with such rough, thick hides, but none of them were as worthy as the Bovine Croc.


    As he heard the loud roar, Garen put down his handkerchief and stared at the sky from afar.


    Soon, A giant black silhouette appeared from within the gloomy sky.


    A giant octopus-like monster appeared, with tens of tentacles each spanning over a metre in diameter wriggling around, just like a bunch of long whips. The giant octopus head was at least 7-8 metres in diameter, and a scrawny old man was sitting on top of it.


    The old man had on grey attire, with a gleam in his eyes. The shadow casted by the giant octopus under him have covered Garen and his team.


    As the distance closed the distance, the skull-shaped suckers on the octopus¡¯ tentacles became clearly visible.


    Once it breached a 50-meter radius, the black octopus suddenly shrunk, with all its tentacles being retracting in an instant, and its body turned from black to bright red.


    The old man sitting on its head suddenly had a change of expression. His gaze towards Garen¡¯s team has also turned more cautious.


    "So it seems an expert of the same level had arrived, I am the Seven Nights Tower¡¯s Third Tower Head Endjack, how may I address you, kind sir?"


    His intonation changed instantly and became much friendlier.


    "Seven Nights Tower?" Garen¡¯s eyebrow was raised. That was the biggest force within the Meteorite Mountain, It is said that it was formed from a large academy and a few guilds that were indigenous to this region. They were strong, and were famous for their seven-tower combination defensive tactical arrays.


    The north of the defensive lines edged nearer to the polar circle, hence the temperature dipped constantly. It was still fine at this point, but if they advanced further up north, across the Meteorite Mountains, the areas there would no longer be habitable. The lowest temperature reached negative ten below in Celcius, the landscape covered in blizzards for a majority of the year, where the snow caps reigned. Although it was not as crowded as the as tropics, there were still hidden forces hiding away in these remote ranges.


    Totem users have always had tricks to alter the natural environments around them; nobody knew how many experts there were hiding in the polar circles.


    "I have long heard about Seven Nights Tower reigning over the north as the largest force in the Meteorite Mountains, I¡¯d have never expected to meet an expert, the Tower Head from the esteemed organization only after coming here ten or so times. It is indeed my honor." Garen smiled slightly, " I am the Personal Guard of the Kovitan King, Palace Head of the Black Fire Palace, Garen."


    "Kovitan? As in the empire, Kovitan?" The old man paid heed and asked in suspicion.


    "Indeed."


    That old man¡¯s eyes brightened up. The reason he rushed over was to catch the murderer of all the Bovine Crocs that he¡¯d let out, but they always winded up dead without him being able to catch the perpetrator. Now that he found the murderer, he¡¯d never expect him to be a high ranking official from the Kovitan Empire within the mainland. The way the opponent looked, he was obviously not a weakling. The octopus that he rode on turned red, indicating that the opponent had the abilities to kill the octopus at any time. It was then obvious to him that Garen was at least at the same level as he was.


    Looking back at his person, at the many guards surrounding him, although neither one of them were emitting any strong aura, they had a dangerous air of death about them.


    If that issue could be resolved with this person¡¯s help¡­.


    The old man had a plan.


    The reason that he let out these Bovine Crocs was not to nurture these beasts nurtured for so years and to be running around for just anyone, but instead, they carried an important task.


    That was, to steal the illusionary tactics of that brat that had stolen the treasures of the Grand Snowy Mountain. He had incomparable talents towards tactical arrays, and this old man didn¡¯t have the necessary manpower to catch the culprit. The treasures from the Grand SNowy Mountain may not have any function to other people, but it may just prove useful for this man in front of him as an exchange.


    Garen on the other hand, had his own set of plans; now that the Black Fire Palace was severely short-handed, if he could build a relationship with a strong organization such as the Seven Nights Tower, he can greatly increase his own power and influence. No matter what, having a expandable amount of strong troops will always make things more convenient.


    The Trejons Family already had a sour reputation far and wide, but on the outer fields, it was unknown.


    If he could secure a channel of communication and a friendship, it will be of great benefit to the Trejons Family


    Ever since the two wars and periods of chaos, even though he managed to reduce the impact to Avic¡¯s side, but Ender, Daniela¡¯s side, even as far as East Continent, remained much the same. Hence, he must continuously improve his capabilities and influence, only then can he stop being hunted by Obscuro and Terraflor in the following years.

 425 Assassinate 1

    Chapter 425: Assassinate 1


    Thoughts were swirling in both their minds. After a cold stare, both of them greeted each other warmly.


    "I wonder for what¡¯s the purpose of the Palace Head¡¯s visit to the North FIeld?" The old man slowly descended, controlling the octopus as it quickly shrunk, from a humongous creature into a black octopus the size of a palm which rested on his shoulder.


    "I was just bored, so I came out to look for some creatures which were slightly stronger for practice." Garen laughed. "I never expected to meet Tower head Endjack, what great luck I have."


    "We from the Seven Nights Tower have good relations with Kovitan, why don¡¯t you come over with me to the inner tower area for a visit, so that i can host you properly." Similarly, Endjack smiled as he said.


    Garen had originally intended to get close to this person, and the other party also seemed to have similar intent when as he heard that he was from the powerful Kovitan Kingdom. Since both sides intend to build a relationship, both sides travelled with each other, chattering away about the North Field¡¯s unique scenery.


    As the other party mentioned that they were looking for a brat who stole their treasure, Garen immediately agreed to help and dispatched his own Black Fire Guard for a search and arrest.


    The tens of Black Fire Guards each rode on a giant Thunderhawk and scattered across the entirety of the surrounding airspace within the snowy land.


    The only elite guard left was merely there to carry miscellaneous items.


    The duo walked as they chatted, and soon, two Black fire Guards have sent signals of sightings of human tracks.


    Garan and old man Endjack rushed over, but they found a group of people facing the Black fire guards as though they were preparing for war


    The group probably had ten or so people, each of them decked in red attire, with the strength of Form 2s, and even two Form 3s among them.


    The group was also surrounding an eel-like creature¡¯s corpse with a sad expression. The snow-covered ground was stained red by blood, corpses littered the surrounding areas.


    "Sir from the Royal Alliance, this Black-tailed Eel is something we took down after hefty amount of preparation and sacrifices¡­" A man stood up among the red-clothed men and spoke loudly as he observed the duo approaching.


    "A form 3 Black-tailed eel¡­" Endjack had an expression of greed for a moment.


    "It¡¯s just a form 3 Black-tailed Eel." Garen who was beside him couldn¡¯t care less. This thing is primarily used to create leather armor and tactical scrolls, nothing much aside from that. He had the Black Fire Heavy Plate made specially by the Royal Family, and the tactical scrolls were also made by high quality black dragon skin. Those were top-tier creatures that were in the peak of form 4, these kinds of small creatures don¡¯t even come close to comparison.


    It¡¯s just that Garen felt lazy to bring those during the usual days. Most totem users who primarily used totems during combat will pay extra attention to the tactics. Which was to say, most totem users primarily used tactics, their totem¡¯s talents and abilities as well as their heirloom abilities for combat. But Garen was different, he didn¡¯t need tactics to do combat at all, he used his own physical body as the fastest, most simplistic killing machine.


    Adding onto Kovitan¡¯s ability to churn out materials, the items forged from these form 3 materials can be obtained anytime. Why would he even bat an eye to these dirty raw materials. That was the reason why he was not attracted at all towards the tactics¡¯ raw materials.


    As he heard an expert of the same level say this, Endjack was shocked. He decided not to ask to take it in the end.


    For the Seven Nights Tower, a form 3 Black-tailed Eel was already decent spoils, one where everything on it had a purpose.


    Despite hearing this, the opposite party still didn¡¯t loosen up.


    One shouldn¡¯t be fooled into thinking that it was easy to take down a single Black-tailed Eel. In reality, Black-tailed Eels were actually herd animals. It was an incredibly difficult task to lure and hunt a singular Eel. On top of that, they had suffered a casualty, too, if it were to be snatched by an outsider, it would be tragic.


    "Let¡¯s go, we¡¯ll check out the other places, perhaps you can find the person you want to catch." Garen noticed the greed in the old man¡¯s eyes.


    Subsequently, the duo repeatedly encountered totem users who came to North field to hunt monsters. These totem users were mostly form 2, with a small portion of them being Form 3, but most of them came over from Kovitan¡¯s general direction. Once they saw Garen¡¯s Royal Alliance Uniform, they all became fearfully wary. Only a handful of people knew about Endjjack, the Tower Head, but they were most definitely respectful to Garen.


    This incident had open Endjack¡¯s eyes on the benefits of becoming a Royal Alliance member.


    After a round of searches, both of them failed to find any leads, but Garen wished to help Endjack settle this issue as a friendly gesture of the Black Fire Palace.


    Endjack only said he would consider, but did not reject it outright.


    Garen wasn¡¯t rushing it either, instead used his identity as the Head of Trejons Family to express his wish to obtain trade support with the Third Tower. The produce from the North Field had extremely good heat insulating properties; their animal furs were also of good quality with good aesthetics, with some exotic items on the side.


    Not only did Endjack not reject it, he agreed to it on the spot. The both of them exchanged a secret communication device, then Garen returned to the kingdom.


    **********************


    The First Concubine¡¯s Palace


    Delouse seemed troubled as she sat on the Concubine Throne, observing the black-armored guards patrolling the surroundings through a side window of the hall. Large amounts of dark red flower patterns could be seen inscribed onto armor, which meant this person is from the Black Fire Palace.


    "This is troublesome¡­ this Nine-Headed Dragon just appeared and has his line of sight planted everywhere." A voice from a dark corner was heard; transmitted directly into First Concubine¡¯s ears.


    "That¡¯s why you need to figure out a way. With Garen in the picture, we need an additional safeguard." Delouse¡¯s lips moved slightly, and a soft voice was sent into the corner.


    "If all else fails, we will do ¡®that¡¯!" The voice from within the corner sounded as if a decision had been made.


    Suddenly, a loud noise was heard from outside the hall.


    "Minister Veska has arrived!!"


    Soon, an elderly man with a head full of grey hair walked into the hall under the escort of two white-armored guards.


    "Greetings, Your Highness." Veska bowed out of respect. "By His Majesty¡¯s orders, I am here to inform Your Highness that the ceremony of trust shall start tonight. I hope your highness can keep this a secret, and do the necessary preparations.


    "Tonight?!" Delouse was shocked, she was caught off guard. "Why does His Majesty want to bring forward the ceremony!? I haven¡¯t received any prior notice, this seems a bit rushed."


    "These are his Majesty¡¯s orders, we have no rights to question them." Veska turned around and left after bowing with respect.


    Soon, a red skirted maid walked in; she was First Concubine¡¯s close maid.


    "Your Highness, what do we do now?" the maid asked softly after approaching the First Concubine.


    "Inform everyone, make the arrangements. Though it is slightly rushed, we have finally arrived to this day. That old man Veska had most probably found out something. Do the necessary arrangements on your side and wait for orders."


    "Understood"


    "Alright, now get going, nowadays the Black Fire Palace are on a vigilant lookout for spies, so don¡¯t stand out too much."


    "Okay"


    As the silhouette of the maid left the door, Delouse¡¯s blue eyes turned deep again.


    Nine-Headed Dragon and Garland Sword¡­Looks like Veska that old fart was strategizing for Avic. One was in the light while another was in darkness, and all of this happened simultaneously while getting rid of all the suspicious characters, this was truly the work of an important person.


    *****************


    Once Garen returned to the palace, he heard the news that the Aegis Ceremony would be held tonight.


    He was slightly shocked that Avic would decide so quickly and was planning to investigate thoroughly already.


    Although he had done checks for such a long time, Garen still felt that the First Concubine¡¯s Obscuro pawns were still hiding inside the palace, and their numbers were not small. This made him uncertain.


    He made a special trip to the front of the Eleventh Royal Daughter¡¯s palace to inspect it, and kept making guesses. Avic had already sensed the First Concubine¡¯s betrayal, but failed nonetheless, and this likely had something to do with the Eleventh Royal Daughter. Thus, he monitored the Eleventh Royal Daughter closely, not letting her out of his sight, and not allowing any outsiders to have any contact with her.


    The Eleventh Palace was completely quiet, and the Eleventh Royal Daughter was focused on drawing practice and did not sense his oncoming presence.


    This allowed Garen to relax slightly, and he decided to participate in the ceremonial activities this time.


    Regardless whether Avic¡¯s assassination succeeded or failed, he wanted to find as many benefits from this as possible. Of course, it would be best if it failed. The important thing, unlike the rubbish massacre previously, was that a proper professional killer was involved. Furthermore, he was also interested in the ancient Endor precious heirlooms.


    Soon, after dinner, the sky darkened quickly.


    Avic entered the underground palace as well, and went into the Blood Jade Palace that was below ground. He gathered Garen, Edin, Veska and the others, to participate in tonight¡¯s secret ceremony.


    ******************


    Inside the underground palace


    The pitch-black floor was covered in black bricks as smooth as mirrors, and each piece was shaped in a large square, and could almost reflect a person¡¯s shadow.


    On top was a semi-circle shaped black ceiling, illuminated with dots of silver light. In the center, a large crystal chandelier hung downwards, and lit up the room with an unknown, faint red light.


    Blood Jade Palace was roughly the same size as most palaces, except that the four walls of its interior were engraved with many gold human portraits, and all of these portraits protruded out of the walls, forming many embossments. The carvings were extremely lifelike, as if the four corners of the palace were filled with a circle of onlookers.


    The ¡®onlookers¡¯ included palace officials, royal family members, children, and old people, but most of them were beautiful and flirtatious young women.


    These women¡¯s bodies were exposed, as some of them were only covered in light veils, while others were half naked, and others had exaggerated movements, and there were others that were shy and charming.


    The gazes of all of the carvings were fixed at the center of Blood Jade Palace, where a blood pond was built.


    Avic wore his cumbersome royal military uniform and his silver crown, and held the royal scepter in his hand, his gaze solemnly transfixed on First Concubine Delouse, who was half-kneeling in front of him.


    Behind them in order stood Garen, Veska, and Edin, and some elite guards who were clad in full-bodied silver armor, holding white dual swords in their hands.


    This ceremony was unusually simple, without a large aristocratic ceremony, and without notifying any foreign ministers. Meanwhile, the two Grand Dukes were also absent, and the representatives from the Elder Parliament had yet to arrive as well.


    Avic had probably organized this ceremony hurriedly, and perhaps no one knew what he was thinking, or maybe First Concubine had already guessed it but currently, the conclusion was already decided, and she would have to start making her first move soon.


    The faint red light shone on everyone, and cast a slightly mysterious atmosphere in the palace.


    "The ceremony will begin now," Avic said solemnly.


    Clang¡­ Clang¡­ Clang¡­


    Melodious clock noises echoed from the palace.


    Chirp chirp chirp chirp¡­


    Suddenly, white streams of air flowed into all four corners of the palace through the windows like white ribbons, flying towards Avic and the half-kneeling First Concubine.


    The white air currents were apparently made out of countless tiny pieces of yellow and white paper. They made bird-like chirping noises as they flew circles around the First Concubine.


    Avic raised his right hand, before the unassuming black ring on his finger suddenly released puffs of black smoke slowly. The black smoke gathered in a circle and rose upwards, dissolving in the air slowly, before the entire palace was quickly filled with a light flowery aroma.


    First Concubine Delouse bowed her head and knelt on the ground, while the white and yellow pieces of paper floated downwards and fell onto the top of her head slowly, before quickly turning into delicate flower petals.


    White and yellow flower petals fell from her head and body. Like rain drops, the flower petals fell on her body, and some of them slipped off, while others changed their shape slowly, turning into white and yellow butterflies.


    These butterflies flew and danced around, and some of them perched on her shoulders, while others flew everywhere.


    "In the name of my ancestors, from this day onwards, I bestow you, my concubine, the final right of asylum!" Avic placed his right hand that wore the ring towards Delouse¡¯s forehead, and said in a loud and solemn voice.


    Suddenly, a cloud of black smoke wafted out of his ring and flew towards Delouse as if it were alive.


    Veska, Edin, and Garen nodded lightly in respect. They were the only three close ministers that Avic had gathered here.


    At this moment, in the middle of Delouse¡¯s golden undone curls, a lock of braided black hair suddenly underwent a strange transformation.


    The braid became pitch-black, and its narrow end sharpened and hardened suddenly before the entire black braid slowly turned into the shape of a scorpion¡¯s tail.


    There was a snapping noise, before the sting of the scorpion¡¯s tail jumped up suddenly, and lit up in a dark red, and almost black glowing sheen.


    Meanwhile, Avic¡¯s perpetually raised hand now hovered over Delouse¡¯s head, and his gaze was still fixed there as if it had never moved at all.


    The moment when the ceremony was finally about to end, was when Avic had lost his final ultimate asylum pass, at that time¡­


    First Concubine lowered her head, not allowing the coldness in her eyes to flow out.


    The ring on top of her head continued to release almost-sentient black smoke, that drilled into Delouse¡¯s head continuously, unceasingly as if it was endless.

 426 Assassinate 2

    Chapter 426: Assassinate 2


    As time passed, the black smoke started thinning out, as though it had run out of steam.


    Delouse¡¯s scorpion tail protruded slightly, its tip aiming right at Avic, in front of her.


    "Delouse, you have followed me for about 10 years, no?" Avic suddenly spoke, his voice was deep, with a hint of regret and pain.


    Delouse lifted her head, and coincidentally the final trails of smoke went back into her head.


    Suddenly, she was faintly aware that there was nobody around her, not even the three ministers who were standing behind her, they just vanished without her knowing.


    The original guards have disappeared too, the entire Blood Jade palace was left with only her and Avic.


    "Your Majesty, you¡­.!"


    Avic raised his royal staff and looked at Delouse. " I never wanted to do this¡­" his eyes were mixed with clashing emotions, labyrinthine thoughts, bitter betrayal, so much such that it was impossible to etch all of them on his face.


    Delouse¡¯s face turned mildly black. She also suddenly started to choke on her throat, started coughing involuntarily.


    "This¡­.this is¡­!?"


    "I gave you a chance¡­" Avic lowered his staff as he saw the woman struggling in front of him.


    As the staff was lowered, Delouse followed slowly, without a sound. Her eyes, nose, mouth, and ears started oozing black blood. Little black bugs started crawling out of her nostrils, and then dissipated as clouds of black smoke.


    At this time, a ray of red flashed past.


    Jii!!!


    Avic¡¯s pupils dilated in that instance.


    ************************************


    Floor Palace


    In the White Silver Palace, Edin was gently polishing the silver longsword on his hand.


    On the longsword¡¯s body was a silver circle, but they weren¡¯t attached. Rather it was as if they were once the same entity.


    The moon outside the hall shined bright with a hue of silver. The lights in the hall were sufficiently bright, rows upon rows of Royal Elite Guards stood quietly on the flanks of the palace.


    "Then, His Majesty brought an illusion of us to the inner palace?" Edin said quietly.


    In the shadows, a tall silhouette walked out slowly. It turned out to be Garen, who was donning dense, heavy armor.


    He was well equipped; unlike other Black Fire armors, there were two fangs protruding on both of his pauldrons, giving off a sense of intimidation.


    The armor made him look like a large monster over two meters tall. Oddly, even though he was wearing such heavy armor, Garen seemed to be walking with ease, as though this were his everyday attire, weightless and mobile.


    "I had originally disagreed too, but His Majesty insisted. The choice wasn¡¯t mine to make. Even Sir Veska cannot persuade His Majesty." Garen answered coldly.


    "Just for the little bugs outside?" Edin frowned slightly.


    "Those aren¡¯t just regular bugs¡­" Garen frowned too. "If you carry such an underestimating attitude.."


    "I don¡¯t need you to tell me that." Edin interrupted coldly.


    Garen¡¯s expression calmed down as well. He then snickered.


    "Go back to your own Black Fire Palace." Edin mocked.


    Even though he felt that Edin never liked him, to use such a tone to an expert his own level, Garen felt belittled and angered, and he showed a hint of murderous intent.


    "I hope you don¡¯t disappoint His Majesty, otherwise¡­" Garen did not bother covering up his murderous intent anymore.


    Edin did not answer, but instead, he lowered his head to continue polishing his sword.


    Garen retreated into the shadow and disappeared without a trace.


    The curtain nearby suddenly was drawn suddenly. A sudden gust of black wind suddenly blew past the window and quickly disappeared into the night sky.


    Edin stood up from his throne. As he gazed up, he looked at the female silhouette which had been standing outside the palace for an unknown amount of time.


    He extended his hand, his pale white fingertips were suddenly greeted with a white rose.


    "I have been waiting for a long time." Edin walked down from the throne and walked towards that person.


    *****************************************


    Black Fire Palace


    Garen didn¡¯t know what kind of expert awaited Edin, but that aura had been intense and violent, it faintly felt like it was comparable to Edin, but was obviously an expert hired by Obscuro. He originally prepared to assist Edin by combining forces, but Edin brushed him off with such an attitude, which angered him and turned him away.


    Tonight was the night of the assassination, but Garen felt that Edin¡¯s behavior was odd.


    He sat on that throne, gently stroking the shiny sphere on his armrest, his mind shrouded with the feeling of unease. It¡¯s too bad that he had too little information now that the main branches strategizing had been left to Veska, while Garen only controlled territory.


    Bam!!!


    Suddenly, a deafening explosion was heard from outside the palace.


    That direction, it was none other than White Silver Palace!


    Garen shuddered.


    "Edin! To think that it¡¯s you!!" no wonder he always thought that Edin felt off. He secluded himself from communicating with anyone, always shut training in his own palace. He lacked the lust, the desire for power, even his dining etiquette was incomparable to a regular noble. Such a man with no desire should never have existed!


    The White Silver Palace controlled the entire Palace Tactics; core pivot, and that was a sound was obviously of the pivot¡¯s explosion.


    "Men!"


    Suddenly, Black Fire Guards rushed into the main palace like streams of black river merging into one. The rushed footsteps were oddly in sync, and there was no sense of panic.


    Garen stood up.


    "Four guards, follow me, the rest of you, kill all the palaces intruders!"


    At this point, he did not plan to go underground to assist Avic, but instead set his sight on the Eleventh Palace opposite him.


    Avic was infallible, if there were no incidents, he would never be killed. Then, the catalyst of the accident has to be...


    ******************************************************


    Inside the Eleventh Palace


    Tina bulged her eyes as she was caught speechless, looking at the underground passage¡¯s sudden appearance.


    "You¡­.How did you avoid the underground defense array??"


    Beckstone brushed off the soil off himself, pulling another bearded man out as the two men tunneled out of the ground.


    "Just a little special technique, if it weren¡¯t for Obscuro¡¯s attack, we would never have had the chance. Alright, no more nonsense, let¡¯s get out of here."


    "But¡­ aren¡¯t there Black Fire Guards outside?" Tina turned around and looked outside. The Black Fire Guards had vanished without her realizing it. She was completely speechless.


    "I¡¯ve promised, I will definitely rescue you with complete preparation." Beckstone spoke calmly, "would this count as returning you the favor?"


    "You¡¯ve indeed remembered clearly." Tina can¡¯t help but laugh.


    "Since we are friends, I shall not take it that you violated by that beast without doing anything." Beckstone seemed hurt, from the look of his eyes.


    "But¡­" Tina suddenly got nervous, "I don¡¯t know why, but I always feel that my heart would keep pounding, things can¡¯t be this simple¡­"


    "No buts, let¡¯s go, we¡¯re running out of time!" Beckstone frowned as he said.


    "Alright¡­."


    The three people packed up, but the maids surrounding them were oddly asleep on the floor.


    They were about to get into the underground tunnel and go back where they came from.


    Bam!!


    The deep tremor of an explosion was heard.


    The tunnel¡¯s entrance had a gush of air outwards, some black soil was mixed in the gust.


    The three of them looked at each other.


    Beckstone took out a small purple ball, and gently shook it next to his ears. And his expression changed.


    "It¡¯s the underground inner palace...the tunnel¡­..caved in from the tremor." Beckstone looked at his partners with a sobbing voice.


    "To the secret passage!" Beard said decisively, leading the way and rushing towards the exit of the palace. "Right now, the Obscuro and Royal Alliance are duking it out with each other, I heard about this from the old fart, all the elites of Obscuro were dispatched, while The Royal Alliance had activated their tactical arrays. The entire palace has been covered in a layer of huge illusionary arrays. We wouldn¡¯t make it if we delayed any further!"


    Beckstone looked at his party, then carried Tina and caught up with Beard.


    "It¡¯s so late, Your Eleventh Highness, where are you heading off to?"


    The cold voice of a man came suddenly.


    What followed was the sound of quick, heavy footsteps, and the Eleventh Palace was suddenly surrounded by Black Fire Heavy Guards. The densely lined guards did not utter a word and completely surrounded the trio in the palace.


    In front of the trio, at the palace doors, a tall armored silhouette was slowly walking out, it was indeed the handsome young man with a blood red mark between his brows.


    His eyesight was locked onto Beckstone.


    "I¡¯ve said before, never appear in front of me again¡­ looks like you took it for a joke."


    Suddenly, Beckstone¡¯s breathing became close to hyperventilating, and his eyes turned slightly bloodshot.


    "Garen¡­!"


    "Go!!" Beard suddenly pulled him and tossed him behind.


    He suddenly opened his mouth wide and out came a giant python.


    Tssss!


    The python flew out was only as thick as an arm, but halfway through its trajectory, its diameter became bigger and it grew larger in size. By the time it reached Garen, it had already reached a diameter of over two meters. Its mouth was filled with poisonous green mist, its jaws lined to the brim with teeth. It opened its jaw wide and shot towards Garen.


    The entire palace was covered with a thin layer of suffocating poison mist.


    "Trying to use poison in on me?" Garen flicked his left hand. His index finger was followed by a series of afterimages, landing right on the python¡¯s jaw.


    Bam!


    The python exploded immediately and turned into a cloud of black mist that was scattered in all directions. The smoke effectively disabled the vision of everyone in the palace.


    Garen lifted his head and took a deep breath.


    Fuuuuuuuh¡­.!!


    A large vortex appeared out of nowhere, and the cloud of smoke was sucked into Garen¡¯s lungs like streams flowing into an ocean, and was all gone in a single suck.


    The poison mist in the palace was cleared by Garen in an instant.


    At this point, Beard had already taken both persons and flew out of the palace, almost landing onto a giant white bird¡¯s back.


    "Running, are we?"


    Garen snickered, he extended his right arm towards the trio from afar in a grabbing motion.


    Jii!!!


    Suddenly, a translucent body flew towards the trio.


    Suddenly, a silver ring appeared in a flash and chopped off the three blood-colored dragon heads with cold precision.


    Roar!!!


    In the instant the dragon head and silver ring clashed, both of them disappeared.


    A silver-white silhouette flew towards Garen and blocked him from advancing.


    "Move!!" Garen roared in anger, his mark turned blood-red and the Nine-Headed Dragon appeared, attacking the opponent by fluttering towards it like nine blood-red mares while letting out a deafening roar.


    "Ring of the Moon."


    A clear sound rang out suddenly.


    A silver hemisphere suddenly appeared in front of that man, and the giant ring completely halted the advance of the nine dragon heads.


    At this time, Beckstone and two other people have already arrived at the giant white bird and were ready to flee. The bird began flapping its wings.


    Garen had released boundless killing intent. His irises faintly turned vertical, just like the Nine-Headed Dragon, giving off an unusually violent air.


    "Edin¡­ you¡¯re courting death!"


    "Unfortunately, you can¡¯t do it." The man turned his round silver ring sword upright, with no changes whatsoever in his intonation.


    "Then let¡¯s try it!" the silhouette of the Nine-Headed Dragon suddenly appeared behind Garen.


    Roar!!!!!


    The nine dragon heads roared fiercely.

 427 Shock 1

    Chapter 427: Shock 1


    The Underground Inner Palace


    Within the Dark Blood Jade Palace


    The many maids around the palace had suddenly disappeared, systematically rushing out of the palace hall and running to various hiding facilities.


    Only Delouse and Avic were left in the Blood Jade Palace.


    Delouse¡¯s black braid was like a scorpion¡¯s tail; the red tail pin was floating in front of Avic¡¯s face, only a finger¡¯s distance away from piercing into his right eye.


    The two of them were in a stalemate.


    What¡¯s odd was that even though Delouse¡¯s face was covered in blood and her facial orifices were still bleeding, her expression showed a ferocious smile.


    "This absolute protection¡­.. Really sets an expectation¡­" Delouse started laughing, and her voice suddenly turned deep, resembling the deep voice of a man, hoarse and gruff!


    She still had her slender body, beautiful face and blonde hair, but her eyes became two black whirlpools.


    Avic¡¯s face turned pale, his body shuddered, and he could not stop his throat from shaking, almost as if he was trying to stop himself from puking.


    "You¡­.you¡¯re God Cloud¡­.?!!" His voice turned hoarse, carrying a sliver of hope, hoping that she gave the opposite answer.


    "You guessed right." Delouse smiled. "From the beginning, I have been God Cloud. Or rather, Delouse, since the beginning, had been my clone."


    Suddenly, Delouse¡¯s expression changed and became lovable and soft again."Your majesty~~ don¡¯t you love me anymore?" Her voice returned to that of a gentle female¡¯s.


    A usually delightful gentle voice was giving him the chills at that very moment.


    "You... You!!" Avic felt sick from the inside, a strong revolting feeling was rumbling in the pit his stomach. To think that he slept with a man for so many years, he couldn¡¯t help but shudder,


    Dense layers of goosebumps appeared on his skin.


    Finally


    "You monster!!" Avic roared, and took a few steps back, he was surrounded by an invisible barrier, protecting him from any harm.


    God Cloud had a snickering expression again.


    "Your Majesty, how can you speak of me in such way? So many days and nights, have you forgotten all of them?" His voice was interchanged between a man¡¯s and a woman¡¯s voice.


    Avic could not stand it anymore. With a pale face, he lifted his hand and pointed towards God Cloud.


    "Kill him! Kill him now!!!" He shouted


    In an instant, three powerful silhouettes appeared from around the palace. It was as though they came out from a void, and had been there from the beginning and never moved a muscle.


    The Illusionary Arrray¡¯s abilities had masked their presence so that nobody noticed it.


    Even God Cloud was slightly surprised.


    He took a glance at the three people surrounding him.


    Captain Woods of the Silver Knights in the National Service?


    Out of the trio, a white-haired old man holding a wooden staff smiled at him as a sign of agreeing.


    "Never expected it to be Sir God Cloud coming here, being able to see the number one genius of yesteryear, is indeed my honor."


    Old man Woods wore a white robe with a silver inscription, and a necklace made of white skulls was dangling over his neck. He gave less of an impression of a knight, but more of a pagan witch of an indigenous tribe.


    God cloud shifted his sight to another person. This man was stern-faced, the black robe he donned was very tidy, and he was holding a blue dagger with a black hilt. A humid scent of seawater was faintly surrounding the dagger.


    "So you¡¯re here too, Veska."


    Veska remained emotionless.


    "Who would¡¯ve guessed that First Concubine was God Cloud. Since you¡¯re here, then don¡¯t bother leaving."


    God Cloud laughed and he looked over at the last person.


    "King of the Stars. The head of Geometry Service is here too?"


    The last one was a young man, he donned a black noble uniform, his face white and handsome, and he was fiddling with a drawing pen in his hand. Oddly, the drawing pen¡¯s tip was flickering, as though it was an ember.


    "Sir God Cloud, this time it¡¯s you who crossed the border. This is Kovitan Empire, not your Dark Maze."


    The three people formed a triangle as they surrounded God Cloud, each of them had a natural expression but placed all their attention on God Cloud.


    "Looks like you intend to detain my clone. This cannot happen, my three main clones have all gone through tumultuous effort to produce." God Cloud smiled again.


    With a flip of his palm, her right palm quickly bulged up and formed a sphere.


    The bulging skin turned greener and greener, and the curvature of the sphere had also became bigger.


    Poong¡­..


    An immense quake spread outwards with God Cloud as the epicenter. The invisible quake surged violently onto the three men.


    Tssss¡­..


    The three men had been forcibily pushed back a few steps, under their feet were 6 streaks of marks left on the floor.


    "Original Heirlooms!!!" King of the Stars had a change in expression, his expression started showing. "Hoho, who would have known that Sir God Cloud would be willing to bring out even an Original Heirloom. Distortion Pearl, hefty, indeed."


    "If the clone dies here, the Distortion Pearl would be ours." Veska suddenly said.


    "Since he even brought the Original Heirloom, looks like we have to go full out for this, let¡¯s not hide our abilities, use our strongest moves straight away, otherwise the victor may not be us." The Silver Knight Captain Woods said. He was the same as Veska, even though they sounded carefree, but their eyes had a gleam of strictness.


    Original Heirlooms¡­. Avic¡¯s Absolute defense was also an Original Heirloom, these are the strongest heirlooms, even though Obscuro couldn¡¯t win against RAL, but they alone could have comparable power to a single large kingdom. Unexpectedly, he dared bet on that small interval of a pinnacle form 5 expert and take the Distortion Pearl on an attack against Kovitan.


    "Can we send a message out to the Department Headquarters chief?" Woods asked.


    Veska smiled bitterly. "The formation we arranged ourselves has isolated all communication to the outside, we would need at least an hour to completely disable them."


    Woods could only laugh bitterly.


    At this time, a quake shook above Blood Jade Palace.


    Roar!!!


    A loud beast¡¯s cry was heard from above them.


    The entire palace vibrated slightly, which brought crumbs of debris tumbling down.


    "Looks like there¡¯re people clashing above us." Veska looked up at the ceiling.just as his gaze left God Cloud, he could hear a loud gust immediately.


    "Careful!!!"


    A voice shouted, by the corner of Vaska''s eyes, he could see a black chain was shot towards him. Reflexively, he quickly ducked towards the right.


    Pewpewpew!!


    Countless chains were shot by God Cloud towards the trio.


    A black giant¡¯s silhouette appeared behind him.


    *********************


    The Eleventh Palace, Surface


    Just as the giant white bird took off, a great sonic boom struck it down.


    Its wings tilted and carved out an angled crater, and it fiercely smashed into a garden on its right side.


    Bam!!


    The garden was a mess, a great number of the plants were either knocked down or squashed.


    The white bird laid next to a white granite platform, half of its body landed on two gardeners, and pools of blood were seen flowing out from beneath the white bird and onto the black soil.


    The sharp scream of the maids was soon heard, and those white-attired maids swarmed towards the cracks to attempt escape, like frightened bee colonies.


    Just as Beckstone and his friends were dizzily climbing down from the bird, dense thumps of footsteps were heard from behind him.


    Tens of Black Fire Heavy Guards rushed over, their eyes shined with green lights, each of them had green liquid dripping between the crevices of their armor. As the viscous liquid made its way onto the floor, it burned through the floor, into many potholes of different sizes.


    The guard in front suddenly opened its mouth wide, and out came that green viscous liquid spewing out violently, like a tide which rushed towards the trio.


    Bam!!


    Clang!!


    The Nine-Headed Dragon in front of Garen fiercely smashed into the hemispherical moon arc blade.


    The red and white light suddenly exploded, countless tiny pieces of shattered Totem lIght scattered everywhere.


    Edin let out a moan, the white arc in front of him was shattered. He took a leap backward, onto a roof nearby.


    "Stupid barbarian"


    Bam!!


    The Nine-Headed Dragon chased after him, violently crashing into the location of which he stood into smithereens. The chandelier in the corridor under the roof broke loose and fell to the ground due to the intense impact.


    Clang!!


    Amidst the crisp sound of broken crystal, Edin turned swiftly and avoided Nine-Headed Dragon¡¯s attack and landed safely on the roof on his right.


    The bloodied mark on Garen¡¯s forehead got thicker. A strong, murderous intent was barraging within his heart. His eyes were slowly turning blood red as well, the horrifying Dragon¡¯s eyes gave him an almost inhumane terror.


    With a wave of his arms, the dragon heads move to the right.


    Kroonggg¡­.


    The nine dragon heads were like 9 pillars tearing everything in its path towards the roof, banking right as it chased Edin.


    Innumerable houses were torn down by the dragons, and more the chandeliers in the corridors beneath fell one after the other.


    Pang! Pang! Pang!


    The shattering of the chandeliers kept continuing, to the point of becoming deafening. The millions of crystal shards were scattered in all directions like snowflakes. The entire corridor was enveloped in a thick layer of white crystal shards.


    The Nine-Headed Dragons could not keep up with Edin in the end, and the bloodied eyes of Garen only got thicker.


    suddenly, his foot forcefully stomped the ground


    Bam!!


    Garen disappeared in an instant, the ground beneath him turned into a crater several meters wide.


    Edin laughed coldly


    "I was waiting for this technique"


    He waved his right arm and a few roses made up a few white lines were fixed in midair.


    Jii!


    The white rose instantaneously exploded and became countless petals of flowers.


    Garen¡¯s afterimage had been running through the petals, but were discovered by Edin


    A cold light flashed through Edin¡¯s eyes.


    "Florid Sword." A white rose appeared in his hand, as he sniffed it gently, Edin actually closed his eyes fully, without a care of the possible ambush by Garen.


    Tssss!


    A ray of white light shot out.


    The Nine-Headed Dragon¡¯s silhouette which encircled Garen flew up and fluttered, his left hand conjured a seemingly unstoppable gust, forming a slab of red afterimage and clashing with the white ray head-on in an instant.


    The red shadow and white ray met each other halfway.


    The red shadow was effortlessly slashed through. The white rose instantaneously passed through the space between Garen¡¯s fingers and stabbed his forehead


    Suddenly he could see the clear white petals of the rose, the white, without any hint of impurity, white circles of pure petals that seemed to be stacked together. There was even a dewdrop on it.


    At such unfathomable speeds, yet ever so calming.


    Garen couldn¡¯t care less, his right hand struck out with speed, the auras of a long unused power had begun bubbling.


    A surge of a violent, horrid aura exploded from his body.


    "Ten Thousand Mammoths, Red Jade!!" his right palm brought out a clarity comparable to a red jade, his palm was rubbing the air on top of it, and ignited in an instant!


    A pure, high-temperature flame ignited just by the friction in the air!


    The flaming right palm was like a ferocious dragon, surrounded by nine dragon heads, and after the first attack, it hit Edin¡¯s Round-ringed sword.


    .


    Boom!!!


    A red fire cloud broke out directly between the two, forming a silver ring.

 428 Shock 2

    Chapter 428: Shock 2


    The surroundings were covered by a silvery-red aura, while the ground was cracked and dry, with traces of sword marks emerging endlessly.


    The stone pillars had collapsed and were charred black. The embossments had burst and were now red. The decorative bronze statues in between the palace had started to melt. Some of them were bent at the waist, while others were destroyed beyond recognition, and were filled with sword marks everywhere.


    The silvery-red aura had spread out throughout a distance of thirty to forty meters before it disappeared gradually.


    Garen and Edin were standing off in midair, and both of them were suspended there, as if a powerful invisible force was holding both of them up and preventing them from falling.


    From afar, it seemed as if the enormous Nine-Headed Dragon was charging violently towards a large white rose.


    Above the royal palace, between two tall black clock towers, the thirty-meter-long body of the Nine-Headed Dragon stood taller than most of the royal buildings, making the surrounding palace buildings look like toy models in comparison. Some of the nearby buildings had collapsed completely, while others suffered considerable damage.


    The outer areas had been filled with a large number of palace guards who were unaware of the current situation. They were armed with weapons but only dared to encircle the area from far away. They helped hide the royal family members, palace officials, and servants that were unable to retaliate.


    At this moment, Garen¡¯s head moved backwards slightly.


    Tch!!


    The white rose from earlier passed through Garen¡¯s forehead directly, but merged into his brain like a phantom, without any movements.


    "Using a will-type attack against me?" A sneer flashed across Garen¡¯s face. His strengthened his right hand¡¯s grip on the ring sword suddenly.


    Clang clang clang clang clang!!!


    A string of frenzied clashing noises rang out continuously.


    Edin¡¯s face remained unchanged while his figure moved back frantically, but his speed did not increase as frighteningly as Garen¡¯s.


    His ruby-like fingers tapped against the body of the sword frenziedly, and all of the hits were concentrated on one point on the sword.


    Edin¡¯s silhouette stopped suddenly. His figure became slanted, as his right hand drew his sword as quick as lightning.


    Ching!!!


    Another silver ring sword was drawn out of thin air, before the white moon colored sword marks flew towards Garen.


    The fingers on Garen¡¯s left hand shot out.


    Clang!!


    His fingers collided with the side of the sword.


    Tch!!


    Red lights flashed.


    Garen disappeared instantly in place, before reappearing again, except that he now stood on a piece of ground that was over ten meters away.


    The ferocity on his face had disappeared completely, as he stretched his hand out and touched the right side of his face gently, before bringing his hand down to look at it, and seeing that his hand was now covered in blood.


    On the right side of his face, a horizontal wound gradually appeared, and was bleeding slowly.


    "I obviously blocked it¡­" Garen looked at Edin who was still suspended in midair not far away. "What ability is this?"


    Edin turned over and fell directly from the sky, before standing on the broken surface of a bronze statue. He looked at Garen again, with a slightly respectful look in his gaze.


    His fingertips turned, before a white rose magically appeared in his hand again.


    "One hundred and thirty-four."


    "?"


    "One hundred and thirty four opponents of the same rank, including aberrated monsters. You were the only one who could force me to use the Dislocation Sword." Edin threw out a rose that turned into a pile of white flower petals again.


    The abundant flower petals resembled a stream that flowed from the bottom to the top, and flew into his right palm. They gathered together slowly, and formed into a brand new silver ring sword!


    Ching!


    The two silver ring swords in his hands overlapped one other to form an ¡®X¡¯, while emitting an entrancing light silver glow under the moonlight.


    "It turns out that you¡¯ve always existed in a totem and physical body state from the beginning." A look of understanding appeared on Garen¡¯s face suddenly. The air of ferocity that surrounded his whole body had disappeared completely at once. It seemed as if the fury he felt at the beginning was just an illusion.


    He was now able to make full use of the Nine-Headed Dragon¡¯s negative emotion to enhance his own fighting abilities, and the longer the period of normal suppression, the stronger it would be during combat.


    This period of time where he worked in the palace, was not something that he could waste.


    Totem combination was something that Garen understood as well, but up until now, he still relied on solo main body combat, or separate Totem combat. He was unlike Edin who used combinations from start to finish.


    Although Form 4 and Spiritualization were different, as the time taken to combine was much longer, very few people would use continuous combination like him.


    Upon seeing Garen¡¯s sudden transformation, Edin¡¯s gaze finally turned somewhat serious.


    "Looks like I underestimated you."


    Both of his swords were still overlapped, and a fiery war challenge appeared in his eyes.


    "I have four types of sword skills that take turns to overlap, and have never been defeated. If you can deflect all of them, I will not obstruct you anymore."


    "Obstruct me?" A mysterious smile appeared on Garen¡¯s face. But moments later, he could vaguely feel a strange, mysterious gas coming from Edin¡¯s body. This gas caused his perception to become blurry.


    "Bloom, new moon¡­" Edin closed his eyes and opened them again, and now his pupils had become fully white.


    Suddenly, an unparalleled sense of danger rushed towards Garen.


    With Garen as the center, within a range of a few meters in the surroundings, a white moon colored rose began to bloom in midair slowly, and the center of the rose petals, was where he currently stood.


    The entire white rose wrapped him up completely, and was incomparably beautiful under the moonlight.


    Garen stood upright, motionless. He could detect that his surroundings were filled with an extremely sharp presence in the air, as if countless blades had formed a white rose.


    His left pointer finger moved slightly.


    Tch!


    A bloody wound appeared on his fingertip suddenly, as if he had been wounded by a sharp blade.


    "This is my second sword skill, Imprisonment Flowers." Edin¡¯s voice could be heard from the front, while the two ring swords that were in his hands earlier had suddenly disappeared.


    Regarding the powerful Vitality that Garen was proud of, when faced with high level opponents of the same rank, although it was abnormally strong, it was still unable to produce an effect that was powerful enough.


    "Right now, you are already within my Imprisonment Flowers, and all movements will lead to an attack by the countless blades, so how will you escape then?" Edin looked at Garen calmly, regarding the Lord of the Black Fire Palace that he had worked together with during this period of time, he now had a brand new understanding of him.


    His body felt as if it had the toughness of the Totem Light, but strangely enough, he did not have the protection of the Totem Light. Was it possible, that he had not released his Totem Light all this while, and was merely relying on his main body to fight me?


    This assumption flashed across Edin¡¯s mind, but he pushed it away immediately.


    Impossible! It was impossible for anyone lower than Form 5 to use their main bodies to fight Totem abilities!


    "You¡¯ve finally realised¡­" The corners of Garen¡¯s mouth upturned slightly into a smile. "Indeed, it is as you thought, I didn¡¯t use my Totem Light, and have been relying on my main body to fight you."


    The expression on Edin¡¯s face grew more serious, and his gaze glared at Garen, while black gas began to escape from his opponent¡¯s body like a large amount of black smoke, and creatures began to appear in their surroundings, enveloping the empty spaces around them.


    "Currently, I¡¯ve become more interested in you¡­" Garen licked his lips and pushed Beckstone and the others to the back of his mind, as the combat style of Edin, who stood before his eyes, had impacted him strongly, while an inspired feeling began to float up in his mind like rain after springtime.


    "If I could kill you, that would be such a wonderful thing¡­" Garen¡¯s surroundings were slowly illuminated with a layer of faint red light that was the Totem Light of the Nine-Headed Dragon.


    He raised his hand slowly.


    Cha cha cha!!


    The red Totem Light on his arm and the shapeless blades clashed violently, emitting scattered fragments of red and white light.


    He was sublimating!


    Garen felt that his fighting skills were undergoing subtle changes.


    The relationship between Totems and Secret Techniques in Edin¡¯s fighting techniques, used a terrifyingly rapid impact to integrate with one another.


    The blood plasma-like aura dispersed silently like thick blood that submerged in the surrounding ground, and surged towards Edin.


    Edin¡¯s gaze changed slightly, as he took a few steps back to avoid the spread of the plasma.


    "What is this?!"


    "If you survive, I¡¯ll tell¡­ You!!"


    Before he could finish speaking, Garen¡¯s entire body exploded into dots of light suddenly, as those were the countless fragments that were formed when the shapeless blades and Totem Light rubbed together violently.


    The red and white dots rained down like fireworks.


    A red afterimage appeared beside Edin instantly. Unlike its previous speed, its current speed seemed beyond his line of sight and beyond his nerves.


    Before Edin could even open his blinking eyes, he felt a hot sensation collide against his chest violently.


    He heard the sound of his own Totem Light tearing, as a terrifying surge of power rushed in through the crack, corroding his body.


    When he opened his eyes, he could only see a burning red flame in front of him.


    "The third sword¡­ Fantasy Flower¡­" Edin could not move, and just voiced his command in a low mumble.


    The flame disappeared instantly.


    "Eh?" Garen said softly, he felt that he had suddenly been transported to an area a few meters away from Edin, as if his feet had made him run there, while the meter-long distance between them was something that he was unable to reduce.


    The burning Red Jade Palm in his hands could never seem to get closer to Edin. It was merely a short meter-long distance, but it seemed so far away.


    He kept rushing forward, but the ground beneath his feet seemed as if it had been stretched, and was constantly being pulled longer.


    "Cough cough¡­" Edin began to cough violently, while he looked at the Totem Light in front of him that had almost been torn to shreds, flashing across his eyes suddenly. That speed that surpassed his nerves, senses, and even sound. If his Totem Light had held on for a slightly shorter amount of time, he would have been killed!!


    Looking at Garen who had stopped not far away, he began to calm his emotions, before opening his mouth slowly.


    "It¡¯s useless, the Fantasy Flowers are a sword technique that possess unlimited extension. No one has been able to touch me with this technique."


    "Fantasy Flowers¡­ What a mysterious sword technique," praised Garen while he stood on the spot and felt his surroundings twisting slightly, he did not know if the space around him was twisting, or if his thoughts themselves were merely twisting, but this strange sensation was the first time he truly felt the powers of ultimate Form 4, and even Form 5 levels.


    "I¡¯ve never met a Form 4 Totem User like you¡­" Edin shook his head slightly. "Your main body is so powerful that even I fear it. I initially thought that anyone below Form 5 in this world was not worthy of being feared by myself."


    Garen¡¯s eyes narrowed slightly.


    "Dislocation Sword, Imprisonment Sword, Fantasy Sword, I¡¯m very curious as to what the last sword technique may be?"


    "Hahaha¡­" A rare smile appeared on Edin¡¯s face. "You¡¯ll see it soon enough¡­ The Fantasy Flowers can only bloom for ninety-nine heartbeats. And my last technique is preparing to end¡­"


    He had just finished speaking when the surrounding areas that were twisted earlier now returned to their original calm states.


    Without a moment of hesitation, Garen turned into a red shadow and dashed towards Edin.


    "White New Moon Sword!!"


    Edin growled softly as the two swords clashed, before the body of the sword melted instantly.


    Whoosh!!


    A terrifying, ten meter long white sword appeared in his hands, and the body of the sword had a large silver ring that turned circles like a clock.


    The effect of the Fantasy Flowers finally disappeared completely, while at the same time, Edin raised the large sword, and waved it gently.

 429 Change 1

    Boom!!


    Inside the underground palace, four rays of multicolored light exploded suddenly and intertwined continuously. The black chains were suspended in midair by a force field and did not move at all.


    Veska¡¯s entire body was enveloped by dark blue seawater whirlpool, and the dagger in his hand was soaking in seawater. His surroundings were filled with the echoes of crashing ocean wave noises. His eyes were like deep sea whirlpools that were almost bottomless.


    "Choking Blade¡­" First Concubine, Her Excellency Delouse, or God Cloud, was currently smiling while looking at the dagger in Veska¡¯s hand. "Ocean Ultimate Technique Whirlpool Blade. Legend says that it is a terrifying weapon that can silently cause the death of others, and today is the first time I¡¯ve seen it properly."


    She looked at the light blue halos that circled her surroundings, as her eyes blinked in awe.


    "You already know my strongest Ultimate Technique, but you¡¯re still brave enough to show off?" Veska spat coldly. "However, I¡¯m not your most important opponent today."


    Standing on the sidelines, the captain of the Silver Knights, Woods and the King of the Stars from the Geometry Service both smiled simultaneously and took a step forward together.


    "With Lord Veska possession of the distortive power of the Original Heirlooms, the next step will depend on us."


    Woods leaned on his wooden staff, as a cloud of black smoke circled the top of the staff and formed a whirlpool there, the center of the whirlpool seemed to have a terrifying gaze looking outwards.


    He raised his wooden staff and pointed it towards God Cloud suddenly.


    A hissing noise could be heard as a cloud of black smoke spurted out suddenly, and flew towards God Cloud. The black smoke was accompanied by an inexplicable heartbeat noise that pumped continuously, causing mysterious sound waves.


    "Oh? Fragile Eye? An Ultimate Totem ability that allows one to mold their opponents?" God Cloud¡¯s hands were placed together and then separated, before a dark green ball floated at the center of his palms suddenly, emitting a strange green light.


    The circle floated in the middle of God Cloud¡¯s chest, as thin transparent distortions began floating out of it, and landing on the empty spaces in the surroundings.


    "Second activation, distortion!"


    God Cloud said the Precious Heirloom¡¯s activation commands.


    The empty spaces near him suddenly began shaking slowly.


    Both Woods¡¯ black smoke and Veska¡¯s Choking Blade halos were suddenly shaken up by the strange distortive powers.


    Bang!!


    Both powers collided with one another directly, before extinguishing themselves in a clearing nearby.


    The moment the powers collided, the distortive waves from the distortive beads quickly stopped suddenly as well.


    King of the Stars held a paintbrush, and the dancing flame on the burning paintbrush began to burn brighter.


    "Dimensions of drawn destruction!"


    His shadow spread out in a flash suddenly, as the tip of the paintbrush began shooting out black flames.


    Shh¡­!


    The paintbrush that King of the Stars held began to etch black drawings in the air, enveloping God Cloud¡¯s surroundings. These drawings floated towards God Cloud like pieces of black ribbon, and also like countless black snakes.


    Hiss!


    The strands of black ribbon began weaving inside when the distortions stopped, and the place they flew towards was coincidentally the back of God Cloud¡¯s head.


    ****************


    A few thousand kilometers away, at an important checkpoint at the West Farm defense line.


    The night sky was filled with stars, and the dots of blue light were like diamond fragments that embellished a black curtain, and were densely packed, as they drifted off far away quietly.


    Under the starlight, the guards at the bright, lamp-lit checkpoints yawned a few times and were about to drift off to sleep.


    Woo~~!!


    Suddenly, an ear-piercing warning siren suddenly rang out from one of the checkpoints that were further away.


    Bang!!


    A large cloud of yellow fireworks exploded in the sky, resembling a yellow flower.


    The guards were almost frightened to the point where they fell on the floor, as they wiped the saliva on the corners of their mouths frantically, and carefully deciphered the faraway warning signals. Next, they rushed towards the fence frantically and peered downwards.


    Vaguely, they could see that the black checkpoint wall had collapsed, and was also faintly dotted with countless green and red spots of light, which were actually the eyes of numerous monsters.


    The guards began to shiver and did not hesitate any longer.


    Woo!!!!


    The checkpoint sounded its ear-piercing alarm immediately.


    ***********


    The sound of frantic footsteps.


    Inside the Kovitan defense line¡¯s main command room.


    Throughout the corridor, a group of silhouettes in full-bodied black cloaks walked towards the main command room quickly.


    The man at the front had a face that was ghostly pale, and his blinking eyelids were purple, while his lips were pitch-black. His collarbones on both sides were now connected to biochemical tube-like tracts, and the tracts were translucent and light yellow, while light yellow fluids flowed throughout them constantly, causing a large number of air bubbles to form occasionally. It gave off a strange quality.


    The Totem Users and workers on the surrounding corridors would leave quickly with their heads downcast and bow the first moment they saw him. All of their eyes were filled with looks of horror and a touch of fear.


    Bang!


    The man pushed opened the metal door at the end of the corridor quickly and brought the others into the main command room.


    Inside the command room, a middle-aged man in a white coat stood in front of a large map of the kingdom with his eyebrows knitted tightly. His surroundings were densely packed with office desks filled with over a hundred workers who were seated there and collected large amounts of information from the outside world.


    When he saw that the main door had been pushed open, the middle-aged man furrowed his eyebrows and looked over.


    "How¡¯s the situation?" The man in black had a feminine voice that resembled a woman¡¯s, but he did not have a woman¡¯s gentleness, as he gave off a fierce, demon-like air instead.


    "The situation is terrible! There were a total of forty-two checkpoints in the defense line that released reports at the same time!" The middle-aged man shook his head. "I¡¯ve already passed the message to the kingdom, but I¡¯m afraid that they have yet to respond until now."


    "Don¡¯t wait for them anymore, since the situation at the kingdom remains unchanged, I offer my services as the chief for life, and I will step forward to accept the guarding tasks of the entire defense line." The man in black¡¯s tone was unquestionable.


    "Vice chief, this matter is the responsibility of the National Service."


    "It is not your responsibility anymore." The man in black reached his hand out, exposing his five slender fingers that were painted in a layer of purple nail polish, while a black bracelet embedded with diamonds was worn on his wrist, causing bell-like jingle noises when he moved.


    "This is what the chief of the Geometry Service intended, as he is busy getting rid of the nests of the newly aberrated monsters, and as the situation on the surface is still not optimistic, I have volunteered myself to come here for a visit."


    The man in white narrowed his eyes and glared at the other man. He knew that although the situation was urgent, once he gave in, it would troublesome for him if he wanted to regain total command from his opponent ever again.


    "Idiot!! Why are you hesitating? What¡¯s the use if the defense line was defeated by a stronger power?!" The vice chief snorted coldly. "According to the Secret Service¡®s reports, currently outside the defense line, the five highly dangerous nests that were initially noticed are now moving quickly towards our direction, and our time is running out!"


    "Highly dangerous nests?!!" The middle-aged man¡¯s body shuddered. "Fine! I¡¯ll give you transfer the system control rights to you immediately!"


    He turned around.


    "Martha!"


    "Captain Colossus, sir," said a gentle woman¡¯s voice within earshot of the men. "Martha number 2 at your service."


    "Transfer my highest control rights to Lord Yesha, the vice chief of the Geometry Service!"


    Bang!!!


    Suddenly, a loud roar shook the ground. The quakes made it almost impossible for the command room to remain standing.


    "The defense line¡­ has been broken!!!"


    The two highest commanders glanced at each other and saw a trace of fear in each other¡¯s eyes.


    "How is this possible?! The final defense contains twelve Spiritualized Totem Users, and is guarded by two Form 4 generals!! How could they not have released even one message?!"


    Some of the staff officers stood up suddenly.


    A large and powerful reaction is coming closer to us quickly!!" yelled one of the staff officers frantically, while he stared at the arching, translucent screen floating in front of him, as a large cluster of red dots rushed towards a blue area rapidly. One of the red dots was abnormally huge and took up half of the screen.


    Both of the commanders shivered and rushed towards the screen that the man was monitoring.


    "This¡­ This is¡­!!??"


    "Giant Stone Sculpture¡­!!!" The Vice Chief of the Geometry Service¡¯s voice rang out bitterly. "Ender¡¯s Giant Stone Sculpture¡­"


    **********************


    Plop¡­


    A drop of fresh red blood dripped on the floor.


    It dropped on the large pile of black ruins and rubble in between the palace.


    The left side of Garen¡¯s body had been expanded by a meter, as the ten meters long, large white sword cut a deep gash there, while the blade had almost sliced off one-third of his body.


    On the border of the red wound, pools of fresh thick blood circled around constantly, trying to flow back into the wound, as a layer of thin flesh began growing at the corners quickly, attempting to heal the wound once again.


    "Hee¡­ Hee hee¡­" Garen laughed quietly.


    Plop!!


    He held the large sword in one hand and took a heavy step forward.


    Boom!


    A tearing sound could be heard, as the blade tore his long wound open again. The immense pain pierced Garen¡¯s nerves constantly.


    He ignored it and took a step forward again.


    Bang!


    The hand that Edin used to hold the hilt was sliced open suddenly, as fresh blood began to drip down the hilt slowly as before.


    "It¡¯s over¡­" He looked at Garen who was inching closer, and said softly.


    The ring on the large silver ring sword stopped turning suddenly.


    Garen¡¯s footsteps halted suddenly as well, as the expression on his face began to froze.


    Tch tch tch!


    In that moment, endless amounts of blood began spraying out of Garen¡¯s body.


    There was a ¡®bang¡¯ before his entire body immediately exploded into a cloud of dark red blood mist.


    Within the blood mist, countless white rose petals sliced him like blades continuously, strangling him, as if the blood mist was being sliced into even smaller pieces.


    But Edin remained motionless, as he clenched the hilt tightly, while his gaze glared at the blood mist nearby.


    "Ready?"


    "Of course." The shadow of a girl who wore a crown of white roses appeared behind him slowly, except that her image only included her upper body, while she was holding a long white sword in her hand as well. "Such strong vitality!"


    A shocked look appeared in the girl¡¯s eyes as she looked at Garen¡¯s blood mist.


    "My White New Moon sword causes every opponent that touches the sword itself to be strangled by unending flower petals, and regardless of the strength of their vitality, they all die eventually." Edin closed his eyes as he was somewhat mentally tired by now.


    "Let¡¯s begin then." The girl nodded. "What a shame, another genius died at the mercy of your sword again."


    "This is inevitable." Edin opened his eyes slowly with both hands still holding the hilt.


    The girl stood behind him and held the hilt of his sword as well.


    "End of the fantasy¡­"


    "End of the fantasy!"


    Their voices chorused with one another, as they raised their long swords at the same time.


    "Silver Flowers!"


    They placed their swords together suddenly, as the shadows of Edin and the girl became one as well, while four hands held the hilt of the sword tightly, and dashed towards the blood mist quickly.

 430 Change 2

    Chapter 430: Change 2


    Whoosh!!


    Moon-white bands of light floated around Edin quickly, forming a large white ring.


    The blood mist was covered by the ring. Inside, the sound of countless blades piercing and rubbing against each other could be heard.


    It seemed as if countless blades were continuously piercing through the blood mist at every second inside the bands of light.


    "Inside my halo of Silver Flowers, at every second, there are a thousand knives piercing through, equivalent to my maximum attack strength." Edin murmured, as he watched the blood mist become thinner the more it was sliced.


    "Goodbye then¡­ Nine-Headed Dragon Garen."


    Tch!!


    A bloody arm stabbed through his chest suddenly.


    Edin¡¯s pupils widened instantly.


    The air seemed to have stopped moving¡­


    His surroundings stopped moving as well.


    Startled, Edin bowed his head, and watched the arm poking out of his chest, and noticed that the blood on the arm was as warm as his body.


    His hand loosened its grip on the large sword immediately.


    Crash!


    "Edin!!!" The shadow of the girl behind him screamed immediately, and outstretched her arms to catch his body, but disappeared quickly instead.


    A bloodied figure stood behind Edin, with three bloody glowing birthmarks on his forehead, and an armor-clad body that was dripping with a thick layer of blood.


    Garen¡¯s arm poked through Edin¡¯s chest slowly, causing a large pool of blood to form. The armor and flesh rubbed against each other, and let out a horrifying squeaking sound.


    Silently, the two large swords and the white moon halo exploded completely on their own, and turned into countless white rose petals, before being blown by the wind, and dancing around Edin and Garen endlessly.


    The ruins seemed to be immersed in a shower of flowers for a brief moment.


    Edin¡¯s vision became blurry, but he could still see the hole in his own chest, and the color of the blood that flowed out.


    It was a bright red color, tinged with glistening black accents. He could smell the weird scent that wafted from his blood, and although it was not a fishy smell, it was a strange stench that contained undertones of rotting.


    "It seems that¡­ I was poisoned from the beginning¡­" said Edin as a bittersweet smile appeared on his face.


    "Five lives!" Garen¡¯s voice rang out behind him. "You destroyed five of my lives. During the battle at Snowy Peak in the beginning, even God Cloud hadn¡¯t killed me so many times¡­"


    He paused, and continued speaking in a more solemn tone.


    "Unfortunately, you only paid attention to my Nine Lives, and forgot that the Nine-Headed Dragon was actually a terrifying, toxic ancient creature."


    "I never expected that¡­ after serving Ivycius my whole life, that I would die in a place like this¡­" Edin raised his head painstakingly, and looked towards the moon in the sky, with a feeling of loss caused by his sudden epiphany.


    "Dead?" A strange expression appeared on Garen¡¯s face. "For a strong individual like yourself, I wasted lots of time and energy to hurt you, not just so I could kill you so quickly."


    Edin was slightly shocked, and was about to open his mouth.


    Suddenly, he felt a sinister icy foreign matter pouring out of his chest.


    When the watery foreign matter touched his flesh, it melted and seeped into his internal organs rapidly.


    He felt as if his life force was being frantically sucked out by this foreign matter, as his reasoning became weaker, while his awareness become blurrier.


    Pfoo.


    Edin knelt on the floor immediately, as his whole body was completely out of energy.


    Garen stood where he was, clad in his black armor, as he looked at the messy palace in his surroundings, and noticed that the initially magnificent palace had completely turned into a rubbish dump, filled with rubble and residue.


    The night wind blew over, and the air was still filled with traces of flowery parfum.


    "Ivycius¡­ I should have known earlier, that this bastard was actually the White Rose Juggernaut Ivycius."


    Actually, the last thing that he said to Ivycius, was not true.


    The Nine-Headed Dragon¡¯s poison was not mainly used to kill one¡¯s opponent, as the main purpose, was actually related to Secret Techniques.


    After witnessing the moment when Edin strengthened his sword techniques, Garen had finally understood the parts that he could not see clearly before.


    Secret Techniques could aid the evolution of Totems and could unearth the body¡¯s inner blood flow, meanwhile for Totem evolution, it would form natural Secret Technique Roadmap exercises.


    However, this was only one of the uses of Secret Techniques.


    In this world, and the previous world, most of them were not blood flow Secret Techniques, but were rather life transforming, life evolving Secret Techniques!


    Ivycius presented unprecedented sword techniques that seemed to be able to defeat Rose Totems, by integrating sword skills and Totem abilities, to achieve an incomparably powerful, yet new and different sword techniques.


    "If it weren¡¯t for that sudden breakthrough, perhaps this fight would have become a prolonged battle." Garen exhaled. "Wouldn¡¯t you say so? Ivycius."


    Ivycius¡¯ corpse blinked mysteriously. His skin and body had blackened slightly, and he had apparently stood up again.


    "No matter the reason, a win is a win, and a loss is a loss." He smiled bitterly and shook his head. "I lost, thinking I would die by your hands, but I never expected to lose my freedom instead."


    "It¡¯s always better to have hope."


    "That¡¯s true." Ivycius nodded seriously.


    Garen walked around Ivycius.


    This was his sole Demon Dragon quota.


    Because his evolved Nine-Headed Demon Dragon was incomplete, because his ancient Nine-Headed Dragon lacked blood, he was only able to forge one with Demon Dragon abilities.


    The Demon Dragon was actually a parasitic life form, because after it killed its enemy, it would preserve a large part of its opponent¡¯s corpse, and within fifteen minutes, it would place its parasitic seeds into its opponents flesh to reanimate it, and turn it into the Nine-Headed Demon Dragon¡¯s war tool.


    As for the Demon Dragon¡¯s self-beautifying exterior, that was merely an additional characteristic. Moreover, the beautifying aspect was something that was slowly perfected over time, and not something that could be achieved quickly.


    Of course, Garen was not hoping that the beautifying would have any additional effects. He definitely did not harbor any longing for the ancient Nine-Headed Demon Dragon¡¯s aesthetics, and as long as it maintained its current state, he would already be very satisfied.


    Looking at Ivycius in front of him, Garen felt that they had some blood relations, as if they were close brothers, and moreover, he could now control his opponent¡¯s body the same way he controlled Silver Totems.


    "Do you feel anything?"


    Ivycius shook his head.


    "Looks like you¡¯re using this type of ability for the first time as well."


    "Of course. The Nine-Headed Demon Dragon has possessed this ancient parasitic Demon Dragon ability since ancient times." Garen looked at his opponent with a pitiful gaze. "I have two kinds of news that I¡¯m about to tell you, one is good, while the other is bad, so which one would you like to hear first?"


    Instantly, Ivycius realized that something was not right.


    "Tell me the good news first, being happy under a burdenless situation is not a bad feeling."


    Garen shook his head.


    "The good news is, the current state of your body is much stronger than before, especially your regenerative abilities, one of the special abilities that I possess as the Nine-Headed Demon Dragon, Swallowed Lives, is something that you can share as well."


    "I understand, the strength that you gain from consuming flesh, can also be used to revive me?"


    Garen nodded certainly.


    "The bad news is that your body will be changed by the Demon Dragon parasites, and I¡¯ve heard that it will make you more beautiful¡­ Of course, this version of beauty is defined by the Nine-Headed Demon Dragon¡­ Don¡¯t look at me, I don¡¯t know the aesthetic values of the Nine-Headed Dragon either."


    Ivycius¡¯ face twitched, beauty in the eyes of the Nine-Headed Dragon¡­


    During ancient eras, God knows what kind of beauty standards the Nine-Headed Dragon would hold. In the rare chance that it was a large backside or extra chest hair¡­ What if he suddenly noticed an extra mouth growing below his penis, that would truly be bisexual reproduction.


    Ivycius¡¯ strong associating abilities clicked suddenly, and chills spread through his entire body.


    "If that day really comes¡­ I will kill you, before killing myself!!" he said, grinding his teeth.


    To him, who loved vanity more than he loved his life, it was definitely more agonizing than death.


    Garen was speechless.


    "Try being more honest with yourself." He lifted Ivycius in one go. "Still trying to resist even after being captured by me? Looks like you¡¯re not awake yet. Currently, your Totem is heavily damaged and your body is seriously injured, and you¡¯re not much stronger than a little chick."


    "Release me!!"


    "If you shut up I might help you think of a plan later, if you keep talking, I¡¯m just going to ignore you!"


    Ivycius became honest suddenly.


    At this moment, the flower garden on the side became messy as well.


    When Garen carried Ivycius and brought him over, the entire flower garden had turned into a pile of wreckage after being burned by the large fire.


    The corpses of more than twenty Black Fire Guards lay on the ground, while the Beckstone trio was nowhere to be seen. There were only traces of pools of almost dried up blood on the floor.


    "Here!!" Garen looked over at the desolate and quiet ruins of the flower garden and roared loudly.


    After waiting for a few minutes, frantic footsteps could be heard vaguely from far away.


    A group of Black Fire Guards ran over from the borders of the ruins and bowed respectfully before Garen.


    There were almost two hundred guards at first, but all that was left were the forty guards that stood before him.


    Garen suddenly understood the tragedy of the current war, which involved him and Edin as well.


    All of these elite guards were ranked at peak Form 2, and their scariest ability was self-explosion, and this self-explosion could be overlaid, and under the command of the Form 3 guards, was apparently strong enough to take appropriate revenge on the Beckstone trio, and was truly amazing.


    "You¡¯re probably very proud by now," Ivycius interjected suddenly. "Beckstone has two Form 4 professionals with him, and although you had to protect the Eleventh Royal Daughter, it must have been an amazing record to have been able to hurt them."


    "Two Form 4? Does this mean that Beckstone has finally entered Form 4 already?" Garen asked quietly.


    "Yes. Although I¡¯m not familiar with them, as they were always lurking in the palace, I¡¯ve heard that they were geniuses that have been cultivated from the society during these past years. However, I was always trying to break through to Form 5, and never had any intentions to return. But this time, someone came looking for me and wanted me to obstruct you for awhile, and since we were members of the same society, I grudgingly agreed."


    "The person who came looking for you was a woman, right?" Garen interrupted.


    Ivycius blushed, and stopped speaking.


    "Breaking through Form 5? Well did you find any opportunities?"


    "Before the battle with you, it would probably take at least a year or so. But after this fight, I have started to feel this threshold loosening?" Ivycius said proudly.


    "Form 5¡­ Perhaps, I¡¯ve seen a sliver of hope¡­" Garen¡¯s gaze drifted towards his Attribute Pane unconsciously.


    In the Attribute Pane at the bottom of his vision, there were now Earth-shattering changes.


    A clear blood-red symbol appeared at a far back position in the Attribute Pane. The Colour Changing Butterfly Totem that he had almost forgotten about had now disappeared completely, while the Neon Butterfly that he had gotten from Teacher Emin, which he later evolved into a Totem, was now completely nowhere to be seen.


    Meanwhile, strange changes had occurred in Garen¡¯s Attribute Pane.


    ¡®Strength 14. Agility 10. Vitality 10. Intelligence 10. Potential 22117%. Obtained Luminarist qualifications.¡¯


    Secret Technique --


    Myriad Water Jasper Technique: Hallucination Toxins have been strengthened to the next level (Originates from the Color Changing Butterfly Totem)¡¯


    "Apparently¡­ It¡¯s exactly as I guessed¡­" A bout of sudden realization flashed in Garen¡¯s eyes.

 431 Pursue 1

    Chapter 431: Pursue 1


    If mining type Secret Techniques regarded the vertices of blood vessels as their endpoints, then evolving Secret Techniques in the foundations of blood vessels would be able to take a step forward and improve the body, in order to create a method for new life methods.


    Certainly, the Myriad Water Jasper Technique was an evolving Secret Technique like that.


    It would swallow and absorb Totem abilities to reach its goal of evolving itself. For an ancient martial art like this to exist in this world, only a stepping stone would be required.


    Garen concentrated and felt the powers of the Myriad Water Jasper Technique for a moment.


    This set of Secret Techniques possessed its own set of attack methods but was obviously impractical in the Luminarist world. Garen used cloud exercises, and his own Ten Thousand Mammoth Battle Skills to attack. But the Ten Thousand Mammoth Battle Skills were a form of martial arts that used the Divine Statue Technique as its core, thus, using the Myriad Water Jasper Technique with it felt wrong, as its power would be insufficient.


    "If I was able to train my New Moon Sword Skills to the highest level, I would definitely break through Form 5," said Ivycius quietly, as he stood on the sidelines.


    "New Moon Sword Skills?" Garen was slightly shocked.


    "I named it myself," Ivycius nodded. "I obtained this set of sword skills from some relics, and they were once used to practice strengthening one¡¯s body, but I never expected that, once I combined it with a Form 4 Totem, there would be an immensely strong effect."


    "Could you let me see it?" Garen¡¯s heart trembled.


    "Originally, I had destroyed it, but I could relay the information to you verbally," Ivycius nodded, because for Garen, he was instinctively unable to reject him from the depths of his heart. Although he was slightly surprised at first, he immediately understood that this was probably the consequences of the Demon Dragon.


    Both of them told all of the Black Fire Guards to fall back, before they began to pursue Beckstone and the others by following the tracks that they left behind, while Ivycius told him about the origins of the sword skill practices.


    The more he listened, the more frightened Garen felt.


    If all the normal people of this world were practicing a normal, auraless Secret Techniques, then the sword skills that Ivycius possessed, were obviously exercises that closely resembled high level Secret Techniques.


    Except that he was unlike himself, without the ability to absorb Totems, in order to strengthen the effects of his original Secret Technique exercises.


    Or perhaps this fusion upgrade, was originally just an effect of Garen¡¯s abilities.


    Sudden realisation flashed through Garen¡¯s mind, if it was like the previous world, superimposed strength like this would be able to allow him to start off at a lower starting point, and upgrade to a higher level quickly.


    When comparing the Myriad Water Jasper Technique and Ivycius¡¯ New Moon Sword Skills, Garen shockingly realised that the former was not as complicated as the New Moon Sword Skills.


    Regardless if he was looking from the description of the Secret Technique, or the difficulty to practice it, the New Moon Sword Skills exceeded the former greatly. Of course, the most likely probability was that the level of the New Moon Sword Skills was higher than the Myriad Water Jasper Technique.


    "Looks like this world is also filled with high levelled Secret Techniques." Excitement began to bubble up slowly inside Garen¡¯s heart.


    "Have you passed these sword skills to anyone else?" He looked at Ivycius.


    "Only one previous disciple," Ivycius shook his head. "Unfortunately, I don¡¯t know his whereabouts anymore. However, it is not only myself but many other Ultimate Form 5 strong individuals, that possess their own types of attack methods. The Form 5 level is the level where the Totem and main bodies fuse, and the Totem User themselves will be affected by the Totem, and while some of them use it to get rid or suppress these effects, others use them to strengthen the effects, Thus, these ancient attack methods that were obtained from the relics became more popular to this day."


    "You¡¯re saying, that there are people in Form 5 who have these kind of Secret Techniques?"


    "Secret Techniques? This phrase is quite suitable. That is true, from my knowledge, there are some people in Form 5 who have these Secret Techniques," Ivycius nodded. "Secret Techniques were truly the best method for us to unleash our abilities."


    The two men spoke as they walked through the palace quickly.


    Inside the black palace, the Beckstone trio left a rotting bloody stench along the way, that kept appearing throughout the ruins.


    Under the large Magic Array that covered the palace, they were apparently unable to exit the palace grounds.


    After they left the ruins caused by the fierce battles, Garen and Ivycius led the Black Fire Guards to pursue the path that carried the bloody scent.


    Beckstone and the others had obviously suffered serious injuries, and along the way, they would often see palace guards that had been shot dead. However, although the situation was such, every time they moved, the smell of blood from the three people would become stronger.


    Fortunately, Avic had dispersed a large amount of the palace¡¯s Tactical Defense Formations before he took action so that each palace had a specific Tactical Defense Formation, and although it was not extremely powerful, it was enough to deflect some of the effects of the fierce battle. Thus, most of the royal family hid in the deeper parts of the palace.


    The palace grounds were completely quiet; those who wanted to hide were hidden already, while only a few of them remained outside.


    Garen and Ivycius ran over, and noticed that the corpses of the guards and maids had decreased.


    The palace area was at the back of the royal palace and was connected to mountains and cliffs. The area was full of slopes and led towards the Yellow-Eyed Black Crow¡¯s nest.


    Going up the sloping grounds, Garen suddenly caught wind of their plan.


    "They¡¯re trying to ride the Yellow-Eyed Black Crow to escape!"


    On top on one of the palace walls, Garen crouched down and reached his hand out to reach for a trace of blood on the ground gently.


    He placed it in front of his nose and sniffed.


    "It¡¯s right in front." He stood up, as his eyes looked towards a black palace in the top right corner of his vision. "This is the women¡¯s quarters, they left no longer than two minutes ago."


    "What are you planning to do?" Ivycius asked quietly. "Kill them?"


    "For publicly kidnapping the Eleven Royalties and the royal family members, regardless of who they are, they are doomed to die," said Garen sternly.


    He looked around his surroundings and noticed that the Yellow-Eyed Black Crow¡¯s grey nest was in a faraway area front of him.


    "Let¡¯s go. The Magic Array is still untouched, a sign that they haven¡¯t found a way to escape yet, so as long as they remain within the Magic Array, everything can go as planned."


    Both of them walked towards the middle of the palace slowly, one in front of the other, and began rushing when they reached the stone steps. Every step seemed to be excruciatingly slow, but in reality, they were both crossing great distances, at a frightening speed.


    At every moment, Garen would pay attention to the movements in his surroundings, to see if the three people were hiding inside the palace grounds.


    Suddenly, a ray of silver light burst out of the ground on his right, and from the corner of his vision, Garen could see it shooting towards him, as if it was about to pierce through the back of his head.


    Tch! Bang!!


    Garen raised his fingers and clasped the silver light gently, before realising that it was a thin, sharp silver needle.


    He increased the force applied by his fingers, and slapped them together, causing the silver needle to break suddenly. It fell on the ground.


    Garen realised suddenly that a large black shadow had appeared right in front of him.


    The black shadow covered him completely, and the last sliver of moonlight from the night sky was concealed as well.


    In a nearby area in front of him, a large grey stone man burst out of the ground suddenly.


    The body of the stone man was entirely grey, and his body was made up of countless huge rocks, as it many grey stone balls had been glued together. Its large body was at least ten meters tall.


    Roar!!!


    The stone man turned towards Garen and let out a fierce roar suddenly, and although it was silent, its large black mouth kept spitting out strong winds.


    "Giant Stone Formation? Looks like the person on Beckstone¡¯s side is a formation professional," Ivycius sighed behind him.


    "Giant Stone Formation?" Garen sneered.


    The stone man raised his right fist suddenly, and the giant right fist, with a diameter of five to six meters, suddenly came crashing down near Garen, as if it were trying to crush him into meat sauce all at once.


    At the same time, Garen brandished his right fist as well, and waved it openly.


    Bang!!!!


    The ground was reverberated with strong quakes, as the floor beneath Garen¡¯s feet split down the middle, spreading large unruly cracks everywhere.


    Roar!!


    The stone man¡¯s loud painful roars sounded again, as his entire right arm broke into fragments instantly.


    Banging sounds were heard twice, as he took two steps back, while his entire body shivered continuously, as if something was shaking him continuously.


    There was a crash, and the stone man collapsed instantly. A large number of boulders came crashing down, smashing the ground, and overturning a large pile of rubble and dust.


    Garen sighed and brought his right hand back, while most of the heavy black armor on his body had cracked already. His entire body had been shaken up, so his armor flew off suddenly and fell to the ground in the distance.


    While only wearing a layer of black tights on the inside, Garen walked past the stone man¡¯s body and rushed over towards the Yellow-Eyed Black Crow¡¯s cliff again.


    Ivycius followed closely behind, and glanced at the stone man on the ground, and although this was not his first time seeing it, he was still shocked by Garen¡¯s frighteningly powerful strength.


    In between the black palace area, two people who were dressed in black and white respectively, were like two small dots who were rapidly passing through the palace, and they passed the plaza, forest, and statue garden without stopping at all as they rushed towards the Yellow-Eyed Black Crow¡¯s nest on the cliff hurriedly.


    Lots of stone men appeared endlessly, and each time they were obliterated with one of Garen¡¯s punches. This was only able to delay Garen momentarily.


    *********


    On top of the cliff


    The Beckstone trio surrounded a gigantic Yellow-Eyed Black Crow. The exterior of the Black Crow was covered by a thin layer of golden light that resembled a piece of protective film.


    Beard heard the dull ramming noises that were constantly coming from below, and his eyelids jumped around madly. Whenever the sound echoed over, it meant that one of his Giant Stone Formations were being violently destroyed.


    "Here! They¡¯re here already! They must have realised our intentions by now! We need to hurry up and resolve the Magic Array screen!!" He turned his head and looked towards Beckstone frantically.


    This young genius¡¯ face was now becoming pale, and his chest was rising and falling violently.


    "Don¡¯t panic¡­ Don¡¯t panic! You absolutely cannot panic!!" he seemed to be murmuring to himself, while he took deep breaths continuously. "There is definitely a way¡­ This golden screen is also part of the Magic Array¡¯s cover, and I remember seeing it someway before¡­ I remember¡­!"


    Beard could hear that the exploding noises from below were getting nearer, and it wasn¡¯t just him; the Eleventh Royal Daughter had been frightened ¡®til her face turned white.


    "All of you need to get on the Black Crow King¡¯s back now!!!" Beckstone yelled loudly.


    "Brother Stone!" yelled the Eleventh Royal Daughter tearfully. She was swooped up by Beard in one swift movement, as he dashed towards the empty slot on the back of the Black Crow.


    Beckstone did not hear anything, and his eyes were illuminated by flashes of silver light continuously, as if countless messages were flowing in rapid calculation.


    From the beginning when the White Bird was obstructed, and unable to fly out of the palace, he had already begun to hurriedly search for a way to get rid of the giant Magic Array above the palace. Until now, he was still unable to locate the thinnest part of it.


    Upon hearing that the explosions from below were getting nearer, Beckstone¡¯s mind grew more panicked.


    "Don¡¯t panic! We will definitely find a way, surely!!"


    "Eleventh Highness, please don¡¯t be tricked by those two treacherous villains, their goal is to capture you to coerce His Highness into becoming Terraflor Society¡¯s bargaining chip! In this world, His Highness is your only relative, and the person who has truly treated you the best," said a man¡¯s voice in an unusually sincere voice, and while his tone was cordial, for some unknown reason, he gave off a cold, snake-like, terrifying feeling.


    "Come back¡­ Your body is already covered with protective Spritualized Tactics, and once you stimulate it, I will protect you immediately!"


    Upon hearing the voice, Tina widened her eyes, and felt chills throughout her whole body while she was locked tightly in Beard¡¯s grasp.


    "To think that a genius like that would actually be placed under the command of the Royal Alliance of Luminarists!" Beard¡¯s face was pale, as he smashed his fist against the Black Crow King¡¯s feathers, but was steadily blocked by the golden halo. "He¡¯s relying on Spirit Light to determine our location!"


    Although Tina had seen Garen many times, the other man was always smiling and welcoming, and his actions were always polite and warm, he also had a handsome appearance, gentle attitude and manners, and powerful strength. All of these were enough to capture the heart of an average girl. But nobody knew why, every time Tina saw Garen, she could feel a cold, terrifying, and suffocating feeling coming from him.


    She knew that this was part of her royal bloodline, as she had inherited premonitions and talents that would lead to warnings.


    "He can¡¯t find us now! The Yellow-Eyed Black Crow King has four heads in total, and each head has been designated to four different areas of the cliff, making it the bird with the fastest speed. Even if he were to use the fastest way to get here, it would take him five minutes at least!" Beard said quickly. "Stone!"


    Beckstone stood beside the Black Crow King, as the silver in his eyes had increased, and had almost accumulated into one pile.


    Tch!


    Blood spurted out of both his eyes.


    Woo!


    He closed both of his eyes tightly, as his figure staggered backwards.


    Suddenly.


    "I¡¯ve thought of it!!" A joyful look appeared on his face, and he could not help but yell loudly.


    ************


    On the ground below the mountain, Garen raised his head suddenly and looked towards a cave at the extreme right corner. His bright red eyeballs were like terrifying dragon¡¯s eyes.


    "Found you¡­ Hehe."


    There was a hissing noise, as he turned into a black shadow instantly, and dashed towards the cave.


    Ivycius stood at his original spot without following him, pursed his lips, and smiled bitterly.


    "What terrifying five senses¡­ President, this time I really cannot help you anymore¡­"

 432 Pursue 2

    Chapter 432: Pursue 2


    Within the cave.


    Beckstone jumped onto the Black Crow''s back while holding onto Eleven''s smaller hand.


    "Eleven, everything depends on you now! As long as you find the connecting point in the Magic Array, Uncle and I will be able to burst out if we combine our strengths!"


    Eleven''s little face was deathly pale, and her face showed that she was completely at a loss.


    "Calm yourself and come! I believe that you can do it." Although Beckstone was panicking, he tried to relax his tone.


    He knew that he and his uncle had received heavy injuries from the self-destruction of the Black Fire Guards. In this state, he definitely could not face the Nine-Headed Demon Dragon as his opponent. However, he determinedly made sure that his appearance was not too worried.


    Eleven''s eyes were filled with tears, but she nodded determinedly.


    She closed her eyes and began to detect the weakest parts of the Magic Array''s joining points. Strong warnings of danger ravaged through her and disrupted her concentration, as she tried to perform her premonitions.


    "I can do it¡­ Can definitely do it¡­ Definitely¡­" Eleven chanted it repeatedly in her mind.


    Crash!!


    Another loud noise rang out, and the source of this noise was much closer as compared to the others.


    The expressions of the trio changed.


    At this moment, Eleven''s eyes shot open suddenly, and she grabbed Stone''s hand and pointed to the front.


    "I felt it! It''s there!!" she yelled loudly while in tears.


    "Your Highness, I went through so much trouble to find you¡­" echoed the man''s cold voice from outside the hole suddenly; he was close!!


    "Go!!"


    Beckstone roared loudly. The bodies of the three people suddenly exploded in blinding golden halos.


    Crash!!!


    The golden halo around the Black Crow King''s body collapsed suddenly. The gigantic Black Crow opened both of its eyes, abruptly spread its wings and flew towards the cave in front at lightning speed.


    Countless golden lines appeared in the air suddenly and wrapped around the Black Crow King tightly, but were immediately broken by Beckstone whose eyes were still bleeding.


    Caw!!


    The Black Crow King blurred into a black long straight line as it flew towards the cave platform.


    Crash!!


    Copious amounts of black smoke lingered, as the black figure shot into the cave.


    "Trying to run?!"


    Garen''s right fist clawed at the Black Crow King.


    Nine blood-colored dragon heads circled around and flew out of his arm, before intercepting the Black Crow.


    Tch!


    Unexpectedly, the Black Crow King pumped its wings and in a burst of speed, barely evaded the claws of the Nine-Headed Dragon. It rushed out of the cave, entered the platform, and shot towards the night sky.


    A few black feathers drifted in the air slowly.


    Garen followed closely behind, and his feet exploded suddenly, as the great reactionary force pushed him forth like an arrow fired at the Black Crow King.


    At this moment, a giant black stone man stood up right in front of him suddenly and blocked the path in front of him.


    "Get lost!"


    The giant stone man''s chest was punched by Garen. But his speed had been drastically reduced.


    The Black Crow King took the opportunity to finally fly off the platform, leaving the cliff for good.


    "Today''s revenge will be remembered by us at Terraflor Society!!" Beard''s voice echoed angrily from the sky.


    Garen rushed towards the platform cave, and both of his eyes were bloodshot. Suddenly, he puffed his chest out. His entire chest was so puffed up, it seemed as though it was about to explode. The Nine-Headed Dragon''s shadow floated out behind him steadily.


    Suddenly, his mouth gaped open.


    Roar!!!!


    A cloud of terrifying black smoke accompanied the loud roars that echoed out of the entrance of the cave suddenly.


    The black smoke turned into a replica of the Nine-Headed Dragon before it flew at the Black Crow King in the sky.


    Caw!!


    The Black Crow King roared in frustration and had barely passed through a layer of golden light film in the sky, before gliding down and falling in a faraway area unsteadily.


    Behind it, the Nine-Headed Dragon that was releasing black smoke was obstructed by the golden light film and howled angrily in the sky.


    Garen grasped the sides of the cave with both of his hands, as his bloodshot eyes glared at the Black Crow King in the sky angrily, while a dragon''s shadow flashed across his face.


    *****************


    Underground Blood Jade Palace


    There was a ringing crash as God Cloud''s right arm fell on the floor and shattered into countless pieces, like a cracked clay container.


    He held his broken arm tightly while a green ball of flesh floated in front of him slowly, emitting a faint tragic green light.


    "Your decision to enter the Blood Jade Palace alone was your greatest mistake," said Avic coldly while he stood at far away. "I had initially thought that my arrangements were already set, but I never expected that a conclusion like this would happen in the end." He looked at the ruined surroundings of the palace and took a deep breath.


    The staff that had belonged to the captain of the Silver Knights, Woods, had broken, and he was now crawling on the ground while a blood pooled around his body; he was on the brink of death.


    The Geometry Service''s King of the Stars held a paintbrush with an extinguished flame, while droplets of blood continuously trickled from his wrist and dripped between the slits of his fingers. His forehead was covered in sweat.


    The only perfect one was Veska, who held the Choking Blade in his hand while his surroundings were wrapped in a large dark blue sea water illusion that imprisoned God Cloud tightly.


    He glared at God Cloud''s chest where there was a wound, a very strange wound indeed.


    It resembled a painting that had been partially erased as if there was an additional broken layer on God Cloud''s chest, and between the top and bottom halves of his body, it seemed like a block had been removed, causing him to lack a large chunk of flesh.


    The strangest part was that although his face was pale, he continued to move like normal.


    "Drawn Removal¡­ Not surprising that it''s King of the Stars'' strongest ultimate move!" God Cloud bowed his head and looked at the wound on his chest. "Too bad you can''t move, if not, even if it was me, we would only be able to fail and return."


    "Right now you''re gravely injured, as long as I continue to pin you down with the Distortive Beads, to keep you here, you will die sooner or later!" said Veska coldly.


    But no one expected God Cloud to smile mysteriously.


    "Actually¡­ From the beginning, victory and defeat were already determined¡­"


    Puff!!!


    Something fell down right after he spoke.


    Not far away, Avic clutched his chest suddenly as he hacked, and fresh blood spurted out of his mouth.


    A look of disbelief appeared in his eyes while he glared at God Cloud. He wanted to open his mouth, but was unable to make a sound.


    Everyone had been stunned by the abrupt changes that occurred almost instantaneously.


    Avic''s blood splattered on the palace floor, causing a large pile of broken bricks to be dyed red.


    "Your Highness!!"


    Veska finally came to his senses and yelled loudly while trying to turn around and rush over.


    "Don''t!!" Avic finally roared at the cost of coughing up another mouthful of blood. "Stop him! Kill him!!"


    Veska''s pupils widened. All this time he''d assumed that everything was under his control, yet today, twice in a row, he''d completely misjudged the situation...


    If His Highness Avic died¡­


    He was too afraid to think of the consequences that would follow, Obscuro Society had already arranged everything, and definitely would not have any oversights in the end!


    "God Cloud!!!" He spun around abruptly, the murderous intentions in his eyes revealing how close he was to killing him.


    A calm smile appeared on God Cloud''s face.


    "From the very beginning, I had begun to meddle with His Highness''s food and drink, putting in a medicine that could not be considered poison, as a flavor enhancer. But it wasn''t His Highness that was the only one eating it, I ate it with him as well."


    He seemed like he was reliving certain memories.


    "This medicine does not have negative side effects, but it will benefit the body instead¡­ Except that, no one knew. Once you consume too much of this medicine, the benefits will become excessive. For the average person, these benefits do not pose any danger. Of course, as long as His Highness did not use Original Heirlooms, there would be no danger at all. Even if he did use Heirlooms, there are only minimal repercussions, and any high-leveled Totem User would be able to calmly resist and even become immune to them."


    "But¡­ But unfortunately, His Highness is a normal person¡­" The smile on God Cloud''s face became even more serene. "For a Totem User, there would only be minor repercussions. But for a normal person, it can be fatal."


    King of the Stars stepped backward, and clutched the wall tightly without a sound, while his eyes coldly surveyed the scene that was playing out before him.


    "The overall situation has been set, this encounter has been a great loss¡­"


    He studied God Cloud carefully while he murmured.


    "This time, we lost a round. God Cloud of Obscuro Society¡­ Next time, it will not be this simple..."


    Without a sound, his body melded into the black stone wall behind him. Less than a few seconds later, his entire body had disappeared completely into the stone wall, without a trace.


    Woo!!!!


    Suddenly, a deafening siren echoed throughout the air from the Kingdom.


    The smile on God Cloud''s face became more obvious.


    "My plan has finally come into action on all fronts!"


    Both Veska and Avic''s faces had become abnormally ugly.


    The warning siren of the Kingdom was only sounded when the Kingdom faced extremely dangerous threats, and this time it had been raised at once.


    "Veska! Don''t die!!" Avic choked out his last words painfully, and without hesitation, he turned around and staggered towards the outside of the palace to escape.


    "Still trying to struggle? How funny." God Cloud had no restraints, as he had also been gravely injured, was pinned down strongly by Veska, and was unable to move.


    ******************


    The front of the Kingdom, at the blue waterfall large canyon


    On the dark yellow ground, the canyons seemed like an inflamed black wound that divided the plains into two parts.


    The canyons near the Kovitan Empire were on one side, and the endless pale blue light screen seemed to reach towards the edges of the horizon.


    The light screen stretched up high into the clouds, forming a large broad physical screen, that emitted bright blue glowing lights.


    On the left side of the light screen, there was an ocean of multicolored monsters. There were countless Black Flying Dragons, White Bats, and Dead Babies howling and screaming.


    A huge number of Dual-Headed White Wolves raised their heads towards the sky and howled, while their entire bodies were burning with white flames. They looked like little white mushrooms in the monster herds.


    In the sky, a few Giant Angel Stone Sculptures circled around.


    Each Angel Sculpture had pearl grey stone wings growing out of their backs and were holding Dual Stone Swords in their hands, while their eyes resembled deep black whirlpools.


    They were at least fifty meters tall and their bodies were pale grey, and they stood as the largest monsters in the sea of monsters. When they came down, they landed on the ground with one foot and would end up stomping and killing countless smaller monsters that were unable to dodge in time.


    Looking at the sea of monsters that stretched towards the ends of the horizon, it seemed as though their numbers were limitless.


    The thin blue light screen seemed like it would break when touched, and looked extremely weak.


    The number of Totem Users behind the light screen, when compared to the monsters, were completely overwhelmed; they did not have even ten thousand in numbers, while some of them had been assigned to guard the entire back of the light screen as well.


    The faces of the Totem Users were as dull as the ground, and some of them had already fled in secret.


    "It won''t be able to withstand any longer¡­"


    At the headquarters of the light screen, the Captain of the Colossus Corps of the National Service stood in the command room quietly and looked outside the ring-shaped glass window at the enormous Giant Angel Stone Sculptures on the opposite side.


    He crossed his arms and stood there, with an unspeakably calm expression on his face.


    "Perhaps there is another way, as long as we persevere until we get support from the Kingdom¡­" the Vice Chief of the Geometry Service said quietly beside him.


    "We can''t make it¡­" the Colossus Captain said plainly, "This Four-Headed Giant Angel Stone Sculpture can''t even be held back by the defense line. We don''t even need to mention the King of the Nest behind."


    He turned around.


    "I brought up the defense line plan, and the Three Departments offered an abundance of manpower and financial resources. I originally hoped that it would be able to become mankind''s final barrier. How unfortunate."


    "What are you planning to do?"


    "Life is full of ups and downs." the Colossus Captain reached his hand out and looked at the wrinkles that had already formed on his skin, while an unspeakable calmness appeared on his face. "This life of mine has already been very exciting."


    He put on his white cloak meticulously and pinned a golden button on his left shoulder.


    "A person''s life will always have some things that require perseverance!"


    Vice Chief''s face expression changed slightly.


    "You''re mad! Do you know how many monsters there are outside? Ten million, twenty million, one hundred million? Two hundred million!!"


    "I''m the strongest wall in the Kingdom," said the Colossus Captain plainly. "I once swore to His Highness, that on every day I existed, both the Empire and the Kingdom would never fall! This was my promise, and was also my resolve."


    He took a big step out of the command room, while countless silver lines formed on his hands slowly, forming the outline of a pure silver triangular shield.


    "Madman!! Georbas, you''ve lost your mind!!" The Vice Chief''s chest puffed up immediately.


    Boom!!!


    The large blue screen suddenly tore and a gap appeared, as Giant Angel Stone Sculptures raised their enormous swords, and began to squeeze through the gap. Countless smaller-sized monsters escaped from the outer parts of the gap, like a flood bursting through.


    The Totem Users who had been guarding the area turned around and fled quickly, none of them attempting to quell the torrent of monsters. They were like ants on a bursting dam that were facing the floods but could not resist it at all.


    "Giant Sculpture! Giant Sculpture! Giant Sculpture!!"


    A deafening roar echoed from the top of the command room.


    A white human-like figure appeared in the sky and was closely followed by more than a hundred other white silhouettes, and all of them held triangular silver shields and flew directly towards the sea of monsters.


    In an instant, countless silver lines appeared on the shields of the flying battalion and connected together, weaving an incomparably large triangular silver shield. It collided with the gap furiously.


    The several hundred meters long giant shield was illuminated with silver lights as it collided with the Giant Angel Stone Sculpture violently.


    Boom!!!


    At that moment, it was as though the world had been purged of sound.

 433 Crisis 1

    Chapter 433: Crisis 1


    The black cloud in the sky was suddenly rent apart.


    A huge silver triangular shield descended and merged together with the blue light wall.


    It looked as though the Light Wall had an additional silver shield from afar.


    The entire Light Wall was completely covered by it.


    When the totem users who had been running for their lives noticed this scene, they started cheering. Suddenly.


    Boom!!


    There was a loud boom and another section of the Light Wall was destroyed by the Giant Angel Stone Sculpture, and a huge amount of creatures came flooding through the gap.


    Roar~~~!!!


    A wolf''s howl echoed from the other side of the barrier, sounding as if it originated from the sky.


    With the combination of heavy footsteps, what appeared walking towards the Light Wall was a white giant wolf standing at nearly thirty meters tall. Its rear was something similar to an anaconda slithering on the floor. White flames were flickering on its body, yet this illusive fire didn''t seem to be burning anything at all.


    The giant wolf was walking through the sea of creatures, similar to a large creature walking over the ants; every step it took would flatten multiple smaller creatures. As it set its gaze onto the silver triangular shield in front of it, its pace gradually hastened and it started racing towards it.


    In the end, it went wild and leaped towards the triangular shield.


    Kaboom!!!


    The giant wolf collided with the triangular shield.


    *************


    Garen observed Beckstone and his teammates who''d managed to burst through the golden veil, on the Black Crow King which was slowly gliding down far away while black smoke circled around its body.


    "The Black Crow King is definitely something. It didn''t fall immediately after being poisoned by mine and its own poisonous smoke." Garen muttered.


    How did they find the flaw in this Magic Array? He didn''t understand how they did it. Although this Magic Array wasn''t strong, it wasn''t something that could be broken within a short amount of time. He didn''t expect Beckstone and his teammates to dispel it in such a short amount of time.


    As the thought of the Kingdom in danger flashed through his mind, Garen felt that this incident might very well be related towards the Eleven Royalties.


    Ivycius was still waiting where he''d been after he came down from the precipice. Although he was halfway through a full recovery, his totem was still heavily damaged so he didn''t really have any strength. He could do nothing but be a bystander.


    "What should I do now?" Ivycius asked himself. As a demon dragon, his life force was directly linked to Garen.


    "Idea?" Garen was emotionless. "Beckstone and his two teammates have been poisoned by my poison smoke and as totem users, they are able to resist the poison and return towards the Terraflor Society. However, as commoners, the Eleven Royalties would have no chance to withstand it and would definitely go to where they could possible dispel the poison in the shortest time."


    "The place where could possible detox?"


    "Do you know who is the best at dispelling poison in the Terraflor Society?"


    Ivycius shook his head. "However, I do know that the Terraflor Society and Obscuro Society have temporarily allied together."


    Garen suddenly smiled.


    "Let''s go, I will help you and recover your injuries!"


    "Do you know who is it going to be?" Ivicius was slightly stunned.


    "You''ll know when the time comes." Garen turned around and headed towards the Palace. "Let''s go help His Majesty!"


    It didn''t matter to him if Avic was dead or alive. His main objective was to obtain the Original Heirloom that was in Avic''s possession! It was what Garen really wanted.


    He''d done everything he could to the best of his abilities. If history were to remain the same¡­


    ***************


    Avic had arrived in a secluded area within the Palace as he stumbled with blood trickling out from his mouth.


    Just as he entered the main hall, countless purple bats flew over his head and completely blocked the entrance of the main hall.


    He turned his head around and glanced at them before he walked directly to the throne and slammed on the hand rest with his right hand.


    Buzz!


    He immediately sank to the underground at a very fast pace. After he disappeared, a new identical throne resurfaced and everything appeared normal once again.


    Avic was sitting alone on the throne as he went downwards via a cylindrical tube-like tunnel.


    "Your Majesty Avic, the third layer of defense of the West Farm has been breached. The third layer of defense of the West Farm has been¡­"


    A mechanical female voice could be heard inside the tube.


    "Aisha, tell Georbas¡­ to return immediately. We need to focus our strength and defend the Kingdom''s main city! Gah!" Avic wiped off the blood beside his lips with extreme difficulty. As he spoke too fast, he immediately vomited a mouthful of blood again and dyed his royal clothes red.


    "Unable to contact General Georbas." The girl immediately responded.


    Avic was stunned as he felt hopeless.


    "I knew it¡­ Georbas¡­ I didn''t expect you leave me¡­"


    The throne soon brought him into a small secret room deep in the underground.


    The secret room was completely empty without any sorts of decoration at all and it looked like a natural cave.


    A stone pillar resembling a black hourglass was at the center of the cave, and on top of it was a small black glass ball levitating on it.


    Avic''s face was completely pale at this point as he mustered all his strength to get down from the throne and walked towards the spherical glass.


    "Did you hope to annihilate the Royal Household of the Kovitan Empire? Did you think it would be that easy?!!" He started to laugh like a maniac.


    As he reached the side of the black glass ball, he grabbed ahold of it with his hand.


    This fist-sized ball was levitating up and down on his hand.


    "Although there was no successful prototype, perhaps it''s enough¡­" He looked at this item that he''d been obsessed with for the past decade. His face was filled with emotions such as remorse, conflict, despair, and comfort.


    "It''s very unfortunate¡­ If only I had another year¡­"


    Clank!!


    The spherical glass was shattered into millions of pieces as it was thrown fiercely onto the ground.


    A cloud of black-purple smoke spread out from the glass ball and turned into lights as it spread everywhere silently.


    Avic tried to laugh as he opened his mouth wide but he didn''t utter any sound as blood started to flow out of his mouth. He stopped moving and breathing on the spot and at the same time, one of his rings on his hand started to lose its light.


    ***********


    Inside the Blood Jade Palace.


    A blue gas suddenly spread about in all directions like flowing water.


    The Choking Blade in Veska''s hand broke and it was as if he suddenly aged by a decade. What was originally a sixty-plus-year-old man suddenly looked like he was in his nineties as his face paled.


    With both of his hands completely chopped off, God Cloud rushed out of the palace in the direction which Avic escaped.


    The whole Blood Jade Palace behind him exploded and started to shake and was completely toppled down within a matter of minutes.


    God Cloud was here not just to assassinate but to obtain the Original Heirloom as well.


    As he followed Avic''s scent, he didn''t slow down her pace at all and soon arrived at the secluded area of the palace.


    The groups of bats at the door shot towards her like raindrops. However, all the bats were bent to behind her back as a green light flashed in the air.


    Without any hesitation, God Cloud rushed into the secluded palace.


    At the moment he entered the palace.


    The Defense Tactic of the whole Kingdom started to turn red. What was originally a colorless and transparent Defense Tactic Formation was dyed in layers of red halos.


    Without any warning, two luxurious looking buildings in the city fired two rays of light, one white and the other yellow, directly at the palace.


    The current palace had used up all of its formations before the two lights landed on the palace. The light rays turned into two white-haired old men the moment they touched the floor.


    One of them was thin, tall and had very thin eyebrows as if he was malnutrition.


    The other man was fat and was in a yellow robe. He had a square yellow crystal placed onto his chest. The crystal was crystal clear and strangely, it seemed to have countless of faces flashing by at all times inside it.


    The expression of these two men was very stern as they looked at each other in the eye.


    As they landed on the floor, a strong tremble came from below the palace.


    The ground kept shaking as if there was something big rushing out from the ground.


    The main hall started to tremble and the pebbles from above kept falling to the ground.


    Cracks started to appear on the ground of the already deserted palace and propagated into multiple cracks.


    "His Majesty is in trouble!!" One of the two old men voiced out and rushed into the entrance which led to the underground of the hall at the same time.


    Cracks could be seen everywhere along the way, revealing countless corpses from the Royal Guard and Black Fire Guard and it was then that both of them started to panic.


    Voices could be heard outside the area as all the remaining forces of the Kingdom arrived.


    In some buildings of the palace which were completely unharmed, the female guards who were in hiding came out as they protected the princes and princesses, who were all terrified.


    Princess Liv was the first one to walk out of the palace with all the guards protecting her from all directions. She was ecstatic as she saw two men passing by with great speed.


    "Two Lords, please wait up!!"


    Unfortunately, none of them responded to her and these two old men immediately disappeared, leaving their afterimages behind and gradually disappeared.


    The Princess was stunned as her royal instinct told her that Kovitan was in serious trouble.


    She stood still as she started thinking.


    "Sister Night, sister Ning. Please contact the three feudal lords and it would be good if you could get ahold of Palace Master Garen as well!"


    The two women by her side heeded the order and disappeared immediately. Spiritualized light glowed on their bodies as they left. Surprisingly, both of them were Spiritualized Elites.


    The princess promptly decided that she would send out two of her strongest elites out in hope that they could get in contact with the powerful individuals that she had relation with.


    She then stared at where the two Grand Dukes had vanished.


    "Let''s go! Let''s go to the MingJi Temple!" The princess shouted.


    "Her Highness, shouldn''t we go to see how His Majesty is doing?" A middle-aged man asked softly.


    "We are not qualified for that." Princess was unexpectedly calm. "It doesn''t matter who wins or lose. What we should do now is wait and react accordingly."


    **************


    As both of the grand dukes arrived the palace, two figures appeared behind the palace temple as well.


    Three individuals in heavy white armor gathered beside the two men.


    Ivycius had a white cloak on him. He looked energetic as totem light flowed through his body. He had recovered all of his strength within a short amount of time.


    Garen stood beside him as he smiled wryly.


    In order to recover Ivycius''s true strength, he had used all of the energy that he had been accumulating for the past few days and he only managed to recover half of Ivycius strength. This made him understood how beneficial the Dragon''s Heart was.


    If it was solely based on the strength of absorbing life force, It would be an astronomical value for him to recover himself.


    One had to realize that the amount of life force he had given to Ivycius was enough to fully heal himself thrice!


    As he was healing Ivycius, Garen had replenished the five life forces that he had exhausted earlier. Those five life forces had cost him at least a hundred potential points to replenish. The accumulation of more than two hundred worth of potential points had become about a hundred points or so. This made Garen realized how fast the consumption of potential points was.


    Not only had Ivycius not supplied him with any potential points during their uphill battles, he made him lose them instead.


    However, these losses were worth it as Garen glanced at Ivycius, who was currently giving orders to the Silver Palace''s subordinates.


    It was different from his Black Fire Palace as the Silver Palace had three more elites excluding Ivycius.


    These three people''s nicknames were Lily, Narcissus and Rose respectively and they were all totem users elites who were taught and nurtured by Ivycius himself. They were the true disciples of Ivycius.


    Among the three of them, two of them were women and the remaining one was a man. They were all very young as well, where the guy was the youngest, aged at 19 years old and the oldest among the two girls was 23 years old. They were all gifted elites of the Silver Palace.


    "Teacher, are you sure you''re fine?" Lily and Narcissus were both attentive girls as they immediately noticed the small details from Ivycius''s attire.


    "I''m fine. As long as the Black Fire Palace Master is around, I will be fine even when I''m heavily injured so don''t worry about me." Ivycius explained clearly. "The Black Fire Palace Master and I are old friends and we didn''t manage to recognize each other all this time. We unexpectedly reconciled this time. If I am not around, you guys can find Palace Master Garen to settle the problems for you."


    "Alright teacher." Three of them were very respectful towards Ivycius and they had reached the peak of form three. They would be able to enter Spiritualization state when the opportunity arrived. They were all different from the typical form three users as they were all very experienced and had already battle against Spiritualization elites. Aside from Rose who was slightly weaker, the remaining two were able to defend for themselves against the spiritualization elites and once they evolved, their strength would definitely be much greater than the typical spiritualization totem users.

 434 Crisis 2

    Chapter 434: Crisis 2


    Three of them immediately treated and greeted Garen as the same position as their teacher after Ivycius explained everything to them.


    Although the trio didn''t possess Beckstone''s gifted rapid growth, all of them were more advantageous than the typical totem users.


    They had the ability of Crowd Control.


    They could only inherit Ivycius''s extraordinary Sword Art if they possessed such a gift. They would be able to control countless Petal Totems and attack the enemies simultaneously.


    Compared to Garen, who had been a mere commoner without any gift, he was incompetent as compared to these gifted totem users. If not for his Secret Techniques and his memories from the previous world, he would probably still be working his way into form 2.


    "What is the status of the current situation?" Ivycius asked.


    The trio was stunned and then understood that the relationship between Garen and their master was beyond their comprehension, as they noticed that their master didn''t intend to betray Garen. Then, they no longer held back and reported everything they knew.


    "There is still no news underneath the palace temple. However, multiple high magnitude earthquakes have occurred and the Defense Tactic Formation in the sky had turned red. We still have no idea who had activated the Kingdom''s Defense System." Lily responded immediately. "My sister and I had gone inside to investigate and found out that both Grand Dukes had arrived before us. After we had picked up the corpse of the subordinates inside, we planned to seek for you."


    "Change of plans. I will go and meet both of the Grand Dukes in person. You should stay here Ivy." Garen voiced out.


    "I will go with you."


    "Your injuries haven''t recovered yet. If you come with me you''ll be in my way." Garen''s straightforwardness had caused the trio to feel unhappy.


    "Alright then. Be careful." The trio was stunned as they didn''t expect their master Ivycius to not refute Garen''s intention and merely nod his head.


    The arrogant and proud Ivycius, the White Rose Sword Sage who had been famous for the past centuries as one of the three most gifted people in the Royal Alliance, didn''t even defend himself or hesitate when Garen said that he would only be in his way.


    It was obvious that there was only one reason for this -- That was that Palace Master Garen''s strength had far surpassed or was at the same level as their teacher.


    Garen pondered for a while.


    "You should take this opportunity to capture Beckstone and his men. They had been poisoned by my poisonous smoke so they shouldn''t have escaped far from here."


    "No problem." Ivycius nodded his head. As they were on their way here, Garen had already told him where Beckstone would most likely head towards to.


    After Garen had given his orders, he stared at the central region of the palace from afar and in a blink of an eye, he disappeared without making any noise.


    His terrifying speed was revealed and this stunned the three disciples. It was then they knew how terrifyingly powerful the rumored and famed Ninehead Demon Dragon was.


    As he was getting close to the temple palace, an ominous presence appeared quickly from below.


    Boom!!!


    A stream of black chain burst out from the ground and flew towards the sky.


    The came the second one, a third one, a fourth one!!


    In a blink of an eye, dozens of black chains soared towards the sky and some of then even pierced through the palace temples. There were people who didn''t manage to evade in time and was split into half by the chains.


    Screams of horror could be heard everywhere.


    Boom!!


    A man covered in black gas came out of the ground. Without the interference of the Magic Array, he directly went towards the west side of the Kingdom.


    "Stop!!"


    The deep tone of an old man came from the Palace.


    A line of white thread was shot up into the sky, heading towards the human figure.


    The human figured let out a sigh and blocked the white thread as he avoided it around his body. Then, a mushroom-like cloud appeared in the middle of the sky.


    Countless of black chains soared into the sky as they went after this person. All of the chains disappeared as they entered her body.


    As she was about to escape, four yellow light formations in the shape of a shield appeared around her body. The formation was densely filled with Tactic symbols, so dense that it couldn''t be read properly as they moved about in the shields.


    Then, these four yellow shield started to rotate rapidly around her.


    "Greater Imprisonment Tactic!? It''s you, Cody!" The woman in the sky shouted. Blood started to flow out of the skin on her entire body, caused by the bursting of capillaries under the skin when exposed to intense high pressure.


    Before she had managed to finish her sentence, her body glowed green and she escaped the light shield in an instance, soaring away immediately.


    "The Distorted Beads? The Original Heirloom!?" You''re God Cloud!" Two surprised tones could be heard from below.


    Garen, who originally planned to check on the status of His Majestic Avic was stunned as he heard the word Original Heirloom.


    "How dare you assassinate His Majesty Avic! God Cloud, you''re literally seeking death!!" He roared as he flew into the sky towards God Cloud, as a black formation flashed underneath his feet.


    "I will kill you in place of the Geometry Department!!"


    Garen shouted as he tailed God Wind closely from behind.


    God Cloud was once in the Geometry Department and eventually betrayed them and joined the Hellgate, so it wasn''t wrong for him to say such a statement. It was just rather strange that he would go after him the moment the word Original Heirloom was stated out.


    Both of them flew far away and she could still faintly hear Garen''s voice.


    "God Cloud you bitch, don''t run away from me. We will fight fair and square and God will decide who''s the victor!!"


    Garen''s shamelessness had risen to another level as the Grand Dukes watched from below.


    Both of them were not used to the style of not letting their enemy escape and survive.


    At this point in time, God Cloud was already heavily injured beyond comprehension. Even if he had the Distorted Beads, he would most likely not stand a chance against Garen, who was at the peak of form four. If he were to fight him "fair and square" there wouldn''t be any chance of letting God deciding the fate of their battle¡­


    Both of them hesitated but they didn''t expect Garen to be the first one to chase after him and felt rather angry towards him. This was the best chance to obtain the Original Heirloom Distorted Beads.


    Without any hesitation, both of them showcased their strength as both of them stepped onto an invisible single eyed creature and flew towards Garen and God Cloud.


    The Royal Household was only one of the noble households in the Kingdom. However, whoever managed to obtain the Original Heirloom Distorted Beads could possibly be crowned as the next generation of the Royal Household.


    In this situation, no one would care whether Avic was still alive underground and three of them tailed behind God Cloud.


    Avic''s loyal experts fought God Cloud and both parties were heavily injured. Hence this was the crucial moment for them to secure a victory.


    A few thousand kilometers had passed while the four of them were in their pursuit.


    As they flew across the Kingdom, four distinct lines could be seen in the sky. There were two streaks of black lines, a white one and a yellow one each and all of them possessed immense, unrestricted pressure.


    Garen was barely able to catch up due to the impulse force that he''d created originally but as the distance grew further, his disadvantage started to become more and more obvious.


    Without any specialized flying equipment and by relying upon only the Black Light Formation Ring from the Secret Service, he would not be able to tail her without his strong force.


    On the other hand, both of the Grand Dukes caught up to him and surpassed him in an instant.


    Garen once had a unique Black Crow Formation Heirloom but it had broken, resulting in him not being able to fight properly in the sky.


    During this pursuit, he was only relying on his body''s strength and speed. No matter how strong his body was, he couldn''t compare with a flying equipment in terms of endurance.


    He could only rely on his strength to fly in the sky and would occasionally descend. His path was literally parabolic.


    The remaining three, however, were flying in a straight line and it took no time for them to surpass him.


    "God Cloud! Is the Marshall of the Obscuro Society good at running away!!" As he knew that he couldn''t catch up with him, Garen immediately shouted at him.


    God Cloud heard him and started to laugh. Her pursuers were three form four totem users. It would still be manageable if her original body was here but the current body was a heavily injured substitute. In addition to that, she also had the Obscuro Society''s Original Heirloom and would be in great trouble if she were to lose it.


    Although she didn''t obtain Avic''s Original Heirloom, she had already completed half of the plan. Once Avic died Kovitan would have no elites supporting their defense lines, as she had lured the elites away from the Kingdom. Once the overall setup was complete, no matter how strong the RAL was they would need years to recover back to their original strength.


    Furthermore, it would be too difficult to produce another Avic.


    Within a short amount of time, if the three plans towards the three major countries in the Eastern Continent were to be a success, it would be too late to control the situation even if the Elder Parliament were to find out.


    Up in front was where the creatures resided and God Cloud didn''t dare to go there alone as these creatures would attack anyone on sight. She turned left and flew towards another direction.


    "God Cloud, hand over the Distorted Beads and we would let go of your substitute body today." Grand Duke Benoc shouted.


    "There''s only one Distorted Beads, who should I pass it to?" God Cloud laughed.


    "You still dare to fool around!" Cody smiled coyly as he pointed her with his fat finger.


    Four yellow shields appeared in the sky once again and started to surround God Cloud as they rotated.


    The Distorted Beads activated once more and a green light flashed. God Cloud continued flying away but her skin started to turn red as if it was scrapped off by a metal brush.


    Garen glared fiercely.


    As he looked at the three of them getting further and further away from him, he knew that he could no longer catch up with them. He now knew how useful a flying heirloom was.


    Even with the Blackcrow King, he might not be able to match with their speed as well.


    An heirloom could increase a totem user''s speed based on the original strength of the totem user. If only he had an heirloom.


    "It''s unfortunate¡­" under this hopeless situation, he turned around and went back to the Kingdom.


    In the history, this countless attack from the creatures would break the defensive line so he had to quickly go back and help out his relatives.


    Although he couldn''t change the history this time, he had obtained countless resources from Avic as the Black Fire Palace Master. The Black Fire Guards could even heavily injure two form four totem users and this was considered a powerful strength. Within the form four totem users, excluding the type which had incredible recovery skills like him and the unique ones who stood at the top of the form four, the rest would consider making a move towards the Black Fire Guards.


    Garen had learned how to resupply the Black Fire Guards from Avic. Garen was the only one who stood on top of the command chain for the Black Fire Guards due to the Green Vine Sphere.


    After a few upgrades from the Royal Alliance''s technology, the technology towards the Green Vine Sphere was very matured.


    As he battled with Ivycius and had the opportunity to witness the strength of a form five, he had no regret even though he couldn''t change the history.


    As he returned, he wondered if he could obtain other good items from Avic as he had provided a great amount of assistance.

 435 Endgame 1

    Chapter 435: Endgame 1


    He quickly rushed back towards the Kingdom, but the entire Kingdom was already under siege.


    The sky above the Kingdom was pitch black and the bell kept ringing in sets of three peals.


    Garen blended into the crowd of lower form totem users'' outposts and disappeared immediately.


    What made him surprised was that the defense routes of the Kingdom were not the usual ones. Although the setup was strict, there wasn''t enough manpower and there were only a few form two totem users.


    As the Kingdom''s bell rang twice, it unexpectedly rang for the third time.


    Garen''s expression immediately changed.


    "Three groups of bells ringing and nine times in total??!! Could it be?"


    It was the bell of someone''s death! When the bell rang nine times, it meant that it was a state funeral.


    Garen was shocked as he quickly rushed towards the city area of the Kingdom at the top of the hill.


    The surrounding totem user guards could only see a black wind billowing past and couldn''t even react in time.


    If Avic was dead!


    Garen''s thought flow was incredibly fast, the effects of ten points put into intelligence. By putting just a little bit of thought, he could determine the most important item in the entire Kingdom.


    "Caeserton! Ultimate Shelter! If these Ancient Endor Heirlooms were taken away by God Cloud, she wouldn''t be injured by Cody. This meant that these items are most likely still inside the Kingdom and have yet to be snatched away!"


    A series of possible positions flashed through Garen''s mind.


    If the Ultimate Heirloom''s imitation heirloom, the Blackcrow Formation, was comparable to a form four godly weapon, then the Original Heirloom would allow totem users to display their maximum strength at the same grade and it was definitely possible that it could surpass the current rank as well.


    Furthermore, the Original Heirloom was an item that could allow anyone, including commoners, to output a consistent amount of power.


    The Original Heirloom''s strength had been constant from the very start. The only difference was whether one could muster how much strength from it. Avic, as a commoner, was unbeatable when he obtained the Caeserton. What if it was a totem user who had obtained it? Wouldn''t that mean that he would have an absolute defense and would be unbeatable?!


    Garen''s heart pounded with excitement.


    Once someone had obtained the Caeserton, no matter who it was, it meant that he would definitely not die! Even a commoner could become the ultimate guard!


    He recalled that God Cloud was able to escape from and heavily injured three master elites with the Distorted Beads. One had to realize that these three master elites stood at the peak of form four and had countless of experience. Each and every one of their strength was on par with Ivycius.


    If it were him, he might not possibly win against Veska, and he couldn''t even imagine fighting against all three.


    Since His Majesty had passed away, then the Caeserton would most like appear at the Palace, the funeral, or among the Royal Nobles¡­


    In the original history, who had obtained the Original Heirloom?


    Garen tried his best to recall but he couldn''t recall it clearly as the content was very blurry.


    He could only see a small black figure inside his mind.


    Now that he thought about it, everyone''s attention must have focussed on the Original Heirloom. Although this item was powerful, it was definitely eye-catching. What if that old creature appeared¡­.


    He knew that deep within the palace, there was a super strong old creature who had the strength of a form five totem user!


    As he thought of this, he had already arrived at the City area''s giant black wall. There even were a few guards patrolling at the top of it.


    A formation flashed underneath Garen''s feet and he immediately changed his destination from the funeral to the palace''s vault.


    He''d once went there with the Black Storm Doves and his every growing memory showed him the path towards it.


    He might as well obtain an Heirloom that was suitable for him in the vault, instead of competing to obtain the Caeserton which might fall into another''s hands!


    Garen tampered down his greed and rushed directly towards the Palace''s vault.


    After commuting in the Kingdom for half an hour, Garen pushed the crowds away with his black wind.


    Everyone in the Kingdom was in the state of panic and there were very few officials out here to control the crowd. Most of the noble officers were prioritizing securing resources with their authority.


    Some of the totem users even started to brawl on the street, inflicting injuries to bystanders in the crowd.


    Some of the streets were filled with corpses and were completely deserted. Some of the streets were filled with gangsters that would attack anyone they saw. There were even streets where patrols fought with one another over who was supposed to keep the streets safe.


    Those who held grudges against each other in the past were fighting to their deaths and no one was stopping them at all.


    The houses of beautiful commoners had their doors broke down and pleas for mercy could be constantly heard from within the room. Many merchant shops had been dashed into pieces and some merchant guards could be seen fighting against the troublemakers on the streets as well.


    The entire Kingdom was a mess. Garen killed anyone whom he wasn''t happy with along the way. Those who had committed rape, murder, robbery and all the gangsters he had seen along the way were killed by his simple Secret Techniques.


    Anyone who had Garen''s aura inserted into them would stiffen and fall to the ground immediately.


    Although there were no changes in other locations, the place Garen passed through had their orders restored and the citizens had gathered together to fend for themselves.


    "Captain! Where are you?" Suddenly the Secret Service''s communication devices was activated and the old man''s voice came out from it. "The Kingdom is in total chaos and a lot of the private soldiers from the noble households are fighting against each other."


    "Where are the General Director and the others?"


    "The Headquarter ordered us to leave Kovitan Empire immediately!"


    "Huh!?" Garen''s face turned cold.


    The Old Man immediately explained the situation when he realized Garen was unsatisfied with the response.


    "There is chaos in the underground as well and high-level creatures have attacked the Administration. The form five totem users from the Headquarters have already gone to the underground to assist. We can only retreat as we don''t have any form five elites. We would be tortured to death just by the sheer quantity of these creatures.!"


    "Where are the people from the National Service!"


    "They have all gone to the front lines! Captain, you should come back immediately! We are about to board the boat! It''s located at the Northern region''s empty port!" The Old Man urged him.


    "I''m not leaving. If you guys still see me as your captain, get off the boat immediately!" Garen said coldly. "I will wait for you guys at the Palace!"


    He switched off the communication device immediately.


    He couldn''t help himself but smile coldly as he switched off the communication device.


    "I didn''t expect the Three Departments to now know about the old creature inside the palace. This is interesting. Looks like this is Kovitan''s final trump card¡­"


    He would have been the first one to leave the Kingdom he didn''t know about the existence of this creature.


    However, since he knew that the Kingdom would be fine, he naturally stopped panicking.


    "The two main forces in charge of maintaining the safety of the Kingdom, the Safety Department and the Inspection Guard, contains combatants ranging from commoners to totem users to maintain the order of the city. These two forces were under the direct control of the royal household and Grand Duke Cody. Since the safety department is a total mess and the Inspection Guards are nowhere to be seen, it''s obvious that they have been mobilized to occupy the resources."


    Garen pondered as he rushed towards the Palace''s Vault with great haste. He was thinking of what he should do to obtain the most authority as Avic had passed away. No matter how absurd he was, he still treated Garen pretty well.


    He would help him in any way he could.


    Garen was determined.


    ************


    The Palace''s Vault was the entire eastern region of the city zone and the entrance was located at the top of a cliff. The black door which spanned a few meters tall was at the opposite side of the cliff and two everlasting Eternal Fire burned on both sides.


    There were two parties at the entrance of the vault about to unsheath their swords at any moment.


    "Masha, Erina! Leave this place immediately! I am responsible to protect this vault. If you continue to loiter here, I will attack you!" A middle-aged man in a black shirt shouted as he blocked the vault''s entrance.


    The two men and woman who were facing a group of people started to smile coldly.


    "Gujjad, if you don''t step aside, don''t blame me for stepping on my cousin brother''s pride. I will definitely open this vault!" the handsome male leader shouted.


    Then, a ray of red light rained from the sky and landed directly on the vault''s door.


    Buzz buzz¡­.


    A black sealing tactic formation suddenly appeared onto the door and it had weakened the red light.


    "Veska''s tactic formation sure is something!" A cold voice came from the sky.


    The two parties suddenly felt a shiver down their spine and a stronger red light that resembled a red cylinder came down once more before they could react.


    Boom!!!


    The red light kept shooting onto the door and canceled out with the Black Sealing Halo.


    "Rheins?" A man blurted out a sentence with suspicion.


    A man in black robe suddenly appeared at the entrance of the vault. His raised both his hands up and his gaze were cold from his long, narrow eyes.


    The man raised his head up and looked at the source of the red light.


    A giant bird with red feathers came down from the sky. Countless red lava spheres were revolving around his body and the source of the red light was none other than these spheres.


    The eyes of the giant bird were like burning firestones and after staring at the man in the black robe underneath him, it revealed a sign of fear and surprise as it spoke like a human.


    "Muen? Didn''t you go after the Caeserton? Why are you here?"


    "There''s a lot of people searching for the Caeserton. I won''t be able to do anything if I were there. So I changed my destination here in hope that I can obtain something more beneficial." The man in the black robe, Muen smiled as he stared at the giant red bird landing at the entrance of the vault as they kept a distance between each other.


    As the human and bird were having their conversation, the remaining people slowly backed off as they were afraid to catch their attention.


    "You people from the Geometry Department has yet to fully retreat? What a surprise." Although the man in the black robe, Muen smiled, he still gave off a cold and emotionless vibe.


    "Aren''t you from the War Guild the same. After the disappearance of the night assassin, half of Kovitan''s underworld is in your palm, right?" The red giant bird, Rheins scoffed. "Looks like you and I have the same objective today."


    "50 50?"


    "50 50." The red bird nodded. The bird, which stood at least three meters tall, kept its wings, stood up and walked like a human.


    Boom!!


    Suddenly, noise reverberated from afar. A tall, strong, muscular man with red eyes and a body covered with black hair walked towards the vault.


    The form two totem abilities which tried to restrain him felt like nothing but an itch to him and they were completely powerless. With his strong suppression due to his rank and his terrifying resistance towards everything, it was as if there was no one there even though there was a crowd.

 436 Endgame 2

    Chapter 436: Endgame 2


    "Roar!!!" the black haired man roared and his body largened substantially.


    A few yellow-shirted men appeared behind him and it was obvious that these people were targeting the vault.


    They hesitated when they saw a man and a bird standing at the entrance of the vault, and they started to surround the black hairy man.


    Soon a group of strong totem users arrived, in which each and every one of them was at least a form two totem user.


    More and more people gathered and the largening group was starting to become eye-catching. Everyone was staring at the bird and the man, as every person could feel their exposed power.


    This group of people gathered together and split into three smaller groups.


    One group had gathered near the black hairy man and one could faintly hear someone calling him the Bear man. He was a strong spiritualized totem user.


    The other group was led by a girl in a red shirt. Its leader Aier was a middle-aged woman who was riding on a white bear. Her face was average and was rather skinny. She was in a red shirt and had a white feathered round hat on top of her head. The force field around her was impressive as she stood at the pinnacle of form three.


    The last group was lead by two poets who had one violin each in their arms. Their grey shirts were ragged and they even had baggage on them. The man and woman''s eyes resembled those of beasts as their pupils were black and narrow.


    There were tumors spawning on their bodies and their force field would spike from strong to weak and kept fluctuating unnaturally. It was obvious that some sort of totem user had merged with them.


    "You all don''t even know you''re on death''s doorstep!" The red giant bird glared at the crowd coldly. "This place is completely owned by me and the ward guild."


    Its voice was neutral and no one could make out if it was a female or male.


    At the same time, it brushed its wing across the ground.


    Whoosh!!


    A red line appeared in front of the entrance of the vault.


    "Don''t blame me for eating whoever who dares to cross this line!!"


    The bear man started to smile coldly.


    "Lord Fire Spirit, we have so many comrades here. Isn''t it absurd to tell us to give up based on your one measly order?"


    "That''s right." The woman in red shirt responded. "Although we''re no match for the two of you, we are still able to create some havoc."


    As a totem user who was already in the front line, she was always on high alert. She knew exactly how strong these two were.


    Fire Spirit Rheins was a well-known form four elite in the Kingdom. It was also the guardian of the Kingdom''s defense tactic formation. It was originally a human but an accident occurred and he had merged together with his core totem. His original body was burnt and he became a core totem fire spirit bird.


    Muen, on the hand, was something else entirely. He was the only form four elite in Kovitan''s War Guild and was one of its three leaders.


    Whoever dared to rob the Royal''s Vault at this time, be it a villain, would hesitate from such a threat. Since they had decided to rob, they would have already considered the consequences.


    No matter how powerful these two were in Kovitan, it wasn''t possible for them to obtain everything for themselves as there would be flaws in everything.


    "I meant it when I say no." The Fire Spirit Rheins smiled coldly and raised its right wing.


    A transparent man who was hiding at the side of the vault''s entrance was blown into the sky by the wind.


    His body was immediately cut in half at the waist as he screamed. The transparent force field around his body started to react strongly.


    Boom!!


    This man self-destructed and it was obvious that his totem had the ability to self-destruct, as it formed an invisible concussion ball that expanded rapidly.


    As the concussion ball was about to expand further, the fire spirit shuffled its wings again.


    A layer of red light engulfed the entire concussion ball as it formed into a huge sphere levitating in the sky. After a while, the red ball dispersed and everything was in peace with nothing left in the sky.


    It was as though that guy had never come to this place.


    "Is there anyone else?!" The Red Spirit stared coldly at the remaining people.


    Suddenly, a black wind blew from afar and the people who stood in its way were blown to the side and fell to the ground.


    The totem users with vision totem ability could faintly see a person inside the black wind. Perhaps one should say there was a man''s after image moving in the black wind at high speed.


    "Turning a deaf ear on me!!?" The Fire Spirit raged as it raised both of its wings.


    The Fire Spirit''s expression changed immediately as soon as the red beam made contact with the opponent.


    "Alright alright!!! I admit I have¡­"


    "Get lost!!"


    A deep roar could be heard and broke off the Fire Spirit''s speech. A fiery red beam collided with the Fire Spirit''s red beam and immediately melted the latter before it landed onto the Fire Spirit.


    Boom!!!


    The Fire Spirit was viciously pushed off the cliff as it embarrassedly tried to maintain its balance mid-air.


    As it was about to turn around and rage, Muen was already slammed deep into the stone wall on the right of the opponent and his face was totally pale.


    A tall golden-haired man in black armor was standing in front of the vault''s entrance.


    "Veska''s Tactic Formation?"


    Eight red dragon heads appeared behind him and collided with the door without any restraint.


    Roar!!!


    Eight of the dragon shadows crash onto the stone door at lightning speed.


    The red light and black light intertwined with each other as the buzzing sound could be constantly heard.


    Kaboom!!


    A huge hole was created onto the vault''s entrance.


    The man hmpf-ed and walked into it.


    Muen and the Fire Spirit didn''t even dare to breathe behind him.


    Although both of them were form four totem users, they were able to become form four due to the external strength and were just at the initial and unstable stage of form four. The difference in strength between them and the man who crashed into them was day and night.


    Furthermore, this man was the Black Fire Palace Master, who was a recently notorious man who could even stop a child from crying. They didn''t even dare to utter a word.


    "Should we go in?" Muen asked as he suddenly appeared behind the Fire Spirit as he showed an intention of working together.


    The Fire Spirit glanced at him and noticed that one of the top totem users of the War Guild was heavily injured by his casual attack.


    "That guy is the Black Fire Palace Master. He''s the kind of guy who would kill anyone who doesn''t agree with him. You''re welcome to go on your own."


    Muen was in a dilemma as he recalled the two combo attack earlier.


    The Fire Spirit and he were pushed away by the opponent like a fly. Finally, he had to suppress his greed.


    "I know another first-class vault but the guards there are a little bit troublesome. Do you want to team up?" He finally gave up on the Royal Vault.


    The Fire Spirit nodded his head in frustration.


    Those who couldn''t suppress their greed cast all sorts of camouflaging abilities and entered the vault in hope to loot some leftovers.


    The three totem user leaders didn''t hesitate at all.


    After some obvious struggle from the Bear man, he decided to leave.


    "Let''s go!"


    He turned around and left the scene.


    As for the other two, the middle age woman gritted her teeth and covered herself with a layer of grey-white membrane and entered the vault.


    "We will just be collecting the items near the entrance¡­" These group of people quietly entered the cave with this intention in mind.


    Even the wandering poets entered together as well...


    **************


    Garen trotted inside the vault.


    The inner side of the vault was a pitch black main hall.


    The wall, ground, metal racks and everything else were completely black.


    There were Heirlooms on two metal racks that were glowing in different shades of color.


    Each Heirloom was protected by two unique layers of tactical formations.


    The first layer was to prevent others from using the Heirloom and the second layer was to prevent others from taking the Heirloom away. Once the first layer was forcefully removed, the second layer would activate and destroy the Heirlooms.


    At the front of the vault were all valuable medicine. Valuable totems were placed at the center but these totems were all silver made primitive totems.


    There were complete sets of inherited, Nurtured Totems.


    Garen wanted them so badly but he didn''t dare to simply break the Tactical Formation.


    Aside from protection, the first layer also had the effect of anchoring the totems in place. Hence it would be impossible to bring these totems home and unlock them slowly.


    Garen didn''t care about the medicine as he now has superhuman recovery and was immune to hundreds of poisons. Furthermore, his totem was almost merged with his actual body and didn''t require multiple resources like those low-grade totem users.


    Although the Cherish Totem was strong, without a strong background in totem maintenance it would be usable but not maintainable. It would be completely broken if it''s damaged even a little bit since it couldn''t be fixed.


    After some consideration, Garen took a few Silver Medicines that were used for repairing totems. These medicines which were fused with Silver were very rare. It could heal the damages of a primitive totem but only light damage.


    It''s valuable just because only big noble households were able to get their hands on these. The remaining typical totem users could only find a forger to fix their totems.


    These items could be used by Garen or sold it for money as the quantity was very minute.


    Garen glanced at the inherited totems and the strongest he saw was but of a Spiritualized grade, which was meaningless to him. He simply took the inherited Magical Eye and left the place.


    This inheritance was the least among the others, from which Garen could easily acquire thirty to forty thick books.


    The Magical Eye only had five books so it was considered to be very little.


    Next was the deepest part of the vault.


    Kovitan''s Royal Household wasn''t the best in researching totem but in fabricating Heirlooms.


    The reason Garen rushed to this place was that he wanted to obtain an imitated Heirloom that suited him.


    In the original history, the Caeserton off the annals of history without a trace, and there had to be a peculiar reason for it.


    It would be better for him to obtain heirlooms that he could most likely obtain than to try and obtain an unlikely heirloom.


    The elites who wanted to obtain the original heirloom had gone to the funeral and only the side characters would come to the vault.


    However, Garen was different. He obtained intel from the third princess that Avic once fabricated the ultimate heirloom Caeserton which has immense power. Very little people knew about this as it was fabricated within the Royal Household. The item never came to light ever again after completion and its whereabouts was unknown.


    Garen''s objective was an item in this vault.

 437 Rewards 1

    Chapter 437: Rewards 1


    There was an opened door in the tall black wall deep within the vault.


    It was pitch black inside and a bone-chilling wind could be felt coming out from it.


    Garen looked left and right and his surroundings was an empty space.


    There was a layer of snow on the ground, suggesting that the temperature inside was extremely low.


    His heart and throat started to vibrate as he produced a small vibration outside of humans'' audible range. The vibration could penetrate through everything and the distance it could travel was astonishingly far.


    "Ivycius, I''m currently at the Royal''s Vault. Please send some men over."


    This was a unique way of communication between Garen and the Demon Dragon. Although the range was limited, it was not a problem if it was within the Kingdom.


    He soon received a response.


    "Alright. My disciple is on the way there along with fifteen totem users. You should have enough support and they should arrive in twenty minutes."


    Garen stopped his vibration. As he was about to enter the door, he suddenly heard whispers of joy from behind. It seemed that some outsiders had entered and felt ecstatic when they obtained the Heirlooms.


    His face went cold and flicked his finger towards his back.


    Pew pew pew!


    Three streams of poisonous black fog trickled from behind him and disappeared into the darkness.


    Those were the Nine-Headed Dragon''s poison secreted by Garen himself. It could spread within the vault and kill all living beings silently.


    This would last for fifteen minutes or so and Ivycius''s disciple would arrive soon after that. Those who were able to leave the place with the Heirloom would be considered lucky.


    He walked into the black door with large strides.


    Garen''s vision quickly adapted to the pitch black environment in front of him.


    Underneath his feet was a long black passageway which extended into the pitch black darkness in front of him.


    The endless pits were on both side of the passageway and gushes of cold wind kept blasting up from it.


    Garen moved forward slowly as he maintained great caution of his surroundings.


    He could faintly hear something buzzing at the bottom of the pit. It sounded like a cry or a soft laughter but he couldn''t hear anything afterward when he tried to listen closer.


    He looked down to the pit from both sides but it was pitch black.


    Garen''s eyes glowed as he gazed down.


    The Eye of Isaiah was activated but the pit was completely quiet.


    Garen frowned, canceled the tactic and pondered for a moment before he kept moving forward.


    The black passageway seemed to be endless as it kept stretching forward. There were no rail guards on both sides and he would have fallen had he been a commoner.


    He gradually increased his speed as the layers of snow underneath his legs became thicker and harder.


    Bam!


    Suddenly the passageway in front of him broke apart.


    A red dot was lit up in the pitch black pit.


    The red light grew larger and flew up at incredible speed as it buzzed. Then, the red light lit up the surrounding area.


    Surprisingly, the entire area was a massive wide black cage with uneven stone walls and pillars everywhere.


    The red light in the pit became larger, dying the stone walls bright red as well. The cold air was gone, replaced by scorching heat.


    Garen took a few steps back and the layer of ice underneath his feet melted immediately under the red light, similar to lava flowing down into the pit from both sides.


    Boom!!


    A fireball of more than ten meters in radius appeared in front of him.


    The fireball cracked open, revealing a black square door and the door had a handle and a keyhole.


    There was a fiery red human face made of red lines carved onto the door. Lava seemed to be flowing under the face and the overall look was elegant.


    Ember motes floated in the air due to the high temperature. The ice on the passageway had completely evaporated into steam.


    "So this is the real entrance huh?" Garen squinted his eyes.


    He walked towards it while resisting the scorching hot temperature and touched the stone door handle at the center of the fireball.


    "Please state the password." A clear voice of a woman could be heard. She seemed emotionless just like the computers on Earth.


    Garen hesitated for a moment.


    "I, as the Black Fire Palace Master of the Kingdom, should have the right to record in the central totem system, right?" He asked unsurely.


    "Checking for rights¡­ Result states you do not have the right to enter. Please leave immediately." The female voice immediately found the answer.


    Garen''s expression changed slightly and pulled the handle fiercely.


    "Invader!! Invader!!" The female voice sharpened.


    Kachak!


    It was as if some glass had broken.


    Countless of black cracks resembling spider webs came at Garen from all directions. The cracks propagated in the air, it was as if space itself was shattering.


    Boom!!


    Garen''s landed his right fist on the stone door instantly.


    As his palm crashed into the stone door, the whole cave suddenly trembled. Garen used the recoil as a supportive force to push himself to the far back, avoiding the black cracks at the same time.


    The gigantic fireball had started to descend into the pit.


    Garen rushed towards it and felt that the temperature had increased dramatically. Compared to the temperature previously which was just scorching hot, the current temperature was on the verge of being able to cook a person and it was still rising.


    However, this was all meaningless to him; he had 10 vitality points hence he could withstand up to hundreds of degrees of temperature without sustaining any injury. Furthermore, he also had totem light to protect him.


    As he got closer to the stone door in the fireball, multiple black cracks approached him from both sides.


    These cracks gave him a sense of danger.


    Garen''s eye flashed and he immediately clapped his hands, countless auras forming complex and mysterious lines on his body.


    Ten Thousand Mammoth Sky Encirclement!!!


    He roared as fires were produced from the friction between his hand and the air. He then placed them at the center.


    Boom!!


    A shockwave spread across the area and stunned the black cracks.


    Garen then took this opportunity to land a quick punch onto the stone door.


    However, there was no effect.


    The dragon''s shadow flashed on Garen''s face. He opened his mouth and roared like the dragon.


    Copious white gas, similar to a cloud, gathered at his right fist, forming a white cloud ball.


    The feeling of battling against Ivycius filled his heart.


    The violent desire of destruction flowed out of his heart and with the nine-headed demon dragon''s totem light, the two of them formed into a single being.


    "Ah!!!!" Garen shouted violently.


    Nine dragon shadows darted out as they wrapped around his right hand. The dragons'' eyes glowed red and collided with the stone door.


    Crack!


    Cracks started expanding on the stone door''s surface and this formed more and more cracks until it had covered the whole stone door.


    Crush!!


    The stone door collapsed.


    Garen immediately flew into the door as countless spider web-shaped dimensional cracks grazed his back, leaving an injury.


    He stood at the entrance as he tried to calm himself down. His heartbeat was extremely erratic.


    That had been one of the skills he''d created when he had encountered Ivycius. It involved multiple Secret Techniques merging with the Nine-Headed Demon Dragon Totem Light.


    One could also say that this was the accumulation of his techniques from the martial art world. All the strength and pace Secret Techniques had been placed into it.


    "This move should be called Sky Dragon''s Crisscross!" Garen opened his mouth and a stream of black gas which looked like an arrow flew out.


    Garen felt empty as he invented the Sky Dragon''s Crisscross as if he had poured out all of his accumulated inspiration all at once.


    He stood still until his heartbeat returned to its normal rate before he opened his eyes.


    If the Ten Thousand Mammoth Battle Skills was his complete martial art essence as a commoner, then this newly invented technique would be his first step in merging himself with his totem.


    The strength of the Dragon''s Heart might be fully utilized with this technique.


    With the support of the Troll Grip, he wondered how strong he could be.


    As he put away his thoughts, Garen analyzed the surrounding environment.


    Inside the fireball was a small square stone room.


    The stone walls were glossy and black in color and the fiery red tactical lines were glowing on it, giving off a fantasy vibe.


    There were three black metal racks placed inside the stone room.


    Each rack had different items placed on top of it.


    On the left rack, there were daggers, long swords, and armors placed on top of it. These items were carved with shining Tactical symbols. Its interior looked beautiful and delicate patterns were carved everywhere.


    Garen walked towards it and picked up a white armor. It was thin and carved with flowery patterns. It was warm and its base material was rather soft.


    He gently rattled the armor.


    Buzz!!


    A circle of white halo spread out from the armor and shone onto Garen''s body. Suddenly, his injury on his back had fully recovered.


    "Non-activated healing effect?" Garen placed down the armor. With such an incredible healing effect, it would mean that he would have many lives during a battle and could be considered a priceless item to anybody.


    One would typically need at least ten minutes to heal such a heavy injury. In addition, the main difference was that it would exhaust a person''s potential to heal themselves. This would result in a reduction in lifespan if one were to keep healing themselves.


    However, this item relied on external resources to heal the injury and would not injure the body''s potential. No wonder it had been placed in this vault.


    When Garen had been grazed by the black crack, the Nine-Headed Dragon''s Totem Light was instantly shattered, heavily injuring one of the dragon heads and almost losing one of its lives.


    He observed the Dragon Head within the black dimension and saw that the injured dragon head was wilting fast as if all of its water content had been absorbed away.


    Although his body had been healed, the totem''s injury wasn''t healed at all.


    Garen placed down the armor and picked up the dagger.


    The dagger was yellow in color and its base material resembled a jade, which gave off a half transparent vibe. The end of the dagger was curved, forming a J shape. What was interesting was that there was a yellow diamond-shaped gemstone placed on the edge of the knife at a fixed distance.


    This dagger, which was the most eye-catching one, was placed at the very top of the rack.


    As Garen picked up the dagger, he felt that he was holding onto a living being. It was as if he was holding onto a living being rather than of a weapon.


    He gently waved the dagger.


    Fling!


    Suddenly, a yellow arc of electricity flickered in the air.


    A yellow snake-like creature appeared faintly around the dagger. This living being resembled a snake but it had ears and a pair of transparent cicada wings.


    As it appeared again once more, Garen could clearly see that this living being only had one eye and was filled with yellow electricity inside of it.

 438 Reward 2

    Chapter 438: Reward 2


    "Good stuff!" He tied the dagger to his waist decisively.


    Checking it on the weapons rack again, the rest were at most the same level as the chest armor, not particularly peak class, but still rather excellent. It was just that after he obtained the dagger, Garen couldn''t quite appreciate the rest.


    His fighting style was always bare-handed, he only took the dagger because he felt this thing was more mysterious, and he didn''t know where that flashing creature came from.


    Leaving the weapons rack, he walked up to the rack in the center.


    There were a few items sparsely scattered on this rack. They were all unbelievably precious peak-level minerals and jewels.


    There were six items in total, divided into three types.


    Garen recognized two types, the three Evolution Crystals and two Night Crystals. The last was something like a blood-red pearl, he didn''t know what it was.


    Although most nobles had Evolution Crystals, he really hadn''t seen a crystal like the one in front of him before, crystal clear and as large as a watermelon. Or at least, Garen hadn''t seen one like this in Vanderman''s estate storehouse.


    Most totems could only use an Evolution Crystal once, the more these things were used, the more efficient they became. At the same time, they were absolutely necessary ingredients for fixing most powerful totems after they were utterly destroyed.


    They had always been military-required materials, and weren''t allowed in open private transactions. Most people found it impressive to use a walnut-sized one once. All three in front of him were as large as watermelons.


    Garen took off his coat directly, putting the three crystals inside and tying them up tightly. These three crystals exceeded entire cities in worth.


    As expected of the Royal Treasury!


    With admiration in his heart, he also stuffed the other two items together and tied them up.


    Night Crystals were a treasure that could temporarily boost a totem''s potential, and temporarily strengthen them significantly. It was just that they also had significant side effects, and required a forger to make them into a potion before those side effects could be reduced.


    As for that last Blood Pearl, he had no idea what it was, but Garen put it into his waist pouch.


    After that was the third rack.


    There was a mess of everything there, many items overall, more than ten types, but they were all strange and unknown.


    There was a lush green plant seed shining with green light, an old scroll torn in half, a wilted black flower in a flower vase, an unknown creature''s banana-shaped skull, and a blue-purple spherical object like a fish egg.


    Garen didn''t recognize many of these items, but he vaguely felt as though these things had something in common.


    That was, they all emitted an aura of age. As though they had existed for many, many years.


    Garen glanced at these items one by one, when suddenly his gaze fell on a dried-up black eyeball.


    This item had the exact same feeling he got from the Eye of Isaiah back then!


    He couldn''t help but reach out to pick up the dried-up black eyeball.


    The Eye of Isaiah was a grey-white stone eye, and the one in front of him was a true creature''s eye.


    Vaguely, he felt an intense heat coming from his War Chain, as though something was resonating inside, beating.


    He pulled up his sleeve and looked at it, on the very tip of the diamond-shaped white-silver chain, the embedded grey-white stone ball was slowly trembling, beating like a heart.


    The War Chain was embedded into his body, and Eye of Isaiah was naturally also a Solidifying Tactic etched into his body. This was actually already equivalent to an organ transplant, the entire War Chain similar to a man-made organ transplanted onto the human body. Not long after the transplant, it would be utterly assimilated into the totem user, becoming part of their body.


    It was just that, right then, the Eye of Isaiah that had already been assimilated into Garen was resonating with the eyeball in his hand.


    "Could it be?! All these are¡­?"


    Garen suddenly thought of a possibility, his heart giving a little jolt.


    He took the black eyeball in his hand and pressed it lightly against the War Chain.


    Psst!


    The eyeball actually melted away, turning into a black liquid and flowing into where the Eye of Isaiah''s grey-white stone ball was, completely wrapping it up.


    Suddenly, an intense, burning pain came from his left arm.


    Garen frowned slightly, thinking this intense pain slightly odd.


    It was as though two burning hot snakes of fire were rapidly extending down his left arm, flowing past his shoulder, heading up his neck, and darting into his eyes with a whoosh.


    He had no intention of stopping it, after all the worst case scenario would be that he died once. He had the Nine-Life Talent, so he wasn''t afraid of any accidents at all.


    As for the pain, he had experienced countless battles since he started training his secret techniques, and which injury hadn''t come with pain. Some of the training methods were even more painful than the injuries. If he didn''t have that much determination, no matter how strong his natural talent was, he couldn''t possibly have become King of the Century.


    The black liquid kept enveloping the Eye of Isaiah, and after more than ten seconds, it finally slowed down, seeping directly into the Eye of Isaiah.


    The whole stone ball became faintly black from its original grey-white, emitting an unnamed sense of eeriness.


    Garen looked straight at his attribute pane, and as expected, the Eye of Isaiah on the War Chain had changed.


    ''Original Eye: originating from the mysterious Ancient Endor civilization''s tactics, this tactic will make the user''s eyes completely transparent, they can see inhuman mysterious powers. Formed by the Eye of Isaiah absorbing the Original Eyeball. The Eye of Isaiah was originally forged by a forger known as Isaiah. The forgery was the Original Eye, excavated from the ruins.


    Ability:


    Ray of Terror -- the strange eyes can induce the terrifying shadows in the enemy''s heart, directly causing a powerful emotional impact.


    The totem user will obtain the ability to use Ray of Terror once a day, source of attack: eyes.


    Effect: can cause death, serious injury, loss of consciousness, weakness. The stronger the opponent''s will, the weaker the effect.''


    "So it''s this thing!" Garen suddenly remembered, when he was with Windling from Obscuro, he heard him mention this. Windling just didn''t know that Garen had an Eye of Isaiah.


    And now he dug the information about this special ability directly from his memory, everything becoming instantly clear to him.


    "I just don''t know how powerful it is."


    He continued looking at the other things, and now Garen was certain, these things in front of him were all different Solidifying Tactics. These Solidifying Tactics were all different, and looked like all sorts of things.


    Just take any one of these out, and the totem users outside will break their backs fighting over them.


    Garen carefully identified the effect waves of these Solidifying Tactics.


    For tactic effects, it was always quantity over quality.


    He chose a seed with a mix of red and green, the seed emitting waves similar to that of the Healing Breastplate.


    After embedding it into the War Chain, another Life Vine tactic ability appeared as expected. This was also a tactic ability he knew.


    Summoning the surrounding plants into becoming a prison of vines, it wrapped around the patient, healing and protecting at the same time, while the vines themselves had certain protective power. It was a tactic with rather high survival power. It could be used once a day. It could heal all injuries below Spiritualization, but the number of usages needed could differ.


    After the War Chain was upgraded, it had eight available tactic spaces.


    After Garen took one Life Vine to increase his survival power, he started looking at the remaining tactics.


    The War Chain was meant to gather his subordinates'' and companions'' power and survival abilities, while at the same time it was a good way to increase his own power and gathering ability, so it wasn''t for his use only.


    Therefore, the Life Vine was going to be his service to others, as a Solidifying Tactic kept by the royal family, its effects would naturally be decent.


    After that, Garem began choosing his offensive tactics.


    He believed that the best defense was to kill off the opponent, so offense was key.


    He could gather power in his Solidifying Tactics, and use them once every day, which made it perfectly possible for him to match them up to create a mixed effect.


    Garen felt the force fields between these tactics closely. After considering them carefully, he realized that his Myriad Water Jasper Technique probably wasn''t the only one among Form Five fighters.


    These Form Five elite fighters all shared a secret, which was that they all had their own Secret Technique. If he hadn''t learned this secret from Ivycius, Garen would still be clueless about this.


    They used Secret Techniques to assimilate the totems into their bodies, merging the two into one, achieving an extreme and terrifying evolution effect. Lower-level totem users think they themselves were stronger than totems, and that was why they didn''t release their totems, but the truth was that they had assimilated their totems totally.


    They no longer had totems to release.


    Although Ivycius understood that, he had deep feelings for his own totem, and wasn''t willing to take that path. Otherwise, he would have entered Form Five a long time ago.


    The Solidifying Totems on the rack had heating forces, cooling forces, material forces, and other complicated forces that he didn''t know.


    Garen felt them for a while, and finally decided to add a tactic with the same type of force into his six remaining tactic spaces.


    He didn''t choose different combinations, because he didn''t know any of these. So he decided to take six wilting black flowers with cooling forces.


    There were eight of these flowers in total, and they looked like they withered a long time ago, the vase they were put in was actually made of pitch-black ice. The forces emitted by each flower were slightly weaker than their fewer counterparts, but not by much.


    Garen pressed the six flowers into the War Chain, one after the other.


    Slowly, his elemental pane changed again, a new tactic effect slowly appearing.


    ''Black Wilted Flowers (unnamed): source unknown.


    Effect: Passive Spirit Light, lowers the temperature within ten meters by ten degrees. Slows down the enemy''s movement speed and efficiency by a certain degree.''


    "It''s actually a precious non-consumptive Passive Spirit Light." Garen was slightly surprised, this type of tactic didn''t need a continuous source of power, and could be used whenever and wherever. To a normal low-level totem user, to be able to obtain the effect of Spiritualization beforehand was already very impressive, as they could understand the true quality of such an effect in advance and increase the chances of their totem evolutions being Spiritualized, but to Garen, this was a little underwhelming.


    He had only met a few Spiritualized high-level totem users, all the peak-level fighters gathered and compressed their powers, never using them wastefully.


    They even only used their Spirit Light when they needed a large-scale effect.


    These black flowers actually only lowered the temperature by ten degrees, Garen had pressed all the flowers into the War Chain, so the six black flowers stacked up reduced the temperature by sixty degrees. The area of effect was sixty meters. The effect on the enemy was the same, without an objective value.


    There was still some effect to speak of. To a normal person that was already extremely terrifying, but to a totem user, it was only so-so.


    After all, it was non-consumptive, so it was much better than those extremely powerful but at the same time extremely consumptive tactics. It was also more valuable than those Solidifying Tactics that had limited daily uses. Or so it was to Garen himself.


    Solidifying Tactics were only for support, in the end he still had to rely on himself.

 439 Chaos 1

    Chapter 439: Chaos 1


    Black Wilted Flowers, minerals such as the Evolution Crystals, the mysterious dagger, and the legacy of the Illusory Demon Eye.


    Garen thought about it, and tried his best wrap all the Solidifying Tactics into his clothes and put on the Healing Breastplate, it was a bit small, but after a bit of adjustment it fit his figure nicely.


    He had stuffed away more than a half of the things on the three racks, his pockets bulging and threatening to overflow. Only then did Garen retreat towards the door, satisfied.


    Outside the door, those countless dense black cracks had disappeared, the darkness was empty and utterly motionless.


    Garen narrowed his eyes slightly, one hand holding the package made from his clothes as he put one foot on the doorframe.


    Bam!


    With one dash step, he rushed out of the doorframe, his figure like a shot of lightning as he burst out of the room.


    Ker-chak!!


    Many black cracks appeared all around him in the blink of an eye, madly extending towards him.


    He had no idea what these things were, but they seemed to ignore his defenses altogether, Garen¡¯s Totem Light acting like tofu in front of it, unable to withstand even one hit.


    Before he could think too much of it, many black cracks chased closely behind Garen, as he dashed straight out of the black tunnel, shooting back into the treasury hall with a whoosh.


    With a bang, he somersaulted in the air, a black light formation lighting up under Garen¡¯s feet, and he landed lightly on the floor of the treasury hall.


    His back was already covered with many wounds and cracks, many wounds deep enough to see bone, a mess of blood and flesh.


    Garen¡¯s buckets of sweat flowed down both of his temples.


    "What a terrifying defense system!" He looked at the Nine-Headed Dragon totem in the black space, two consecutive heads had utterly withered, evidently completely killed by these black cracks.


    Two dragon heads equaled forty potential points, Garen felt his heart ache as he watched the forty potential points get deducted, and the Nine-Headed Dragon returned to its Nine Life state.


    But in his attribute pane, the potential points pane was left with only seventy-odd points.


    He had always been losing without any gain, who knew how long it would take for his Secret Technique to reach the second level.


    Smack!


    Suddenly there was a sound from between Garen¡¯s fingers. That Black Light Formation Ring issued by the Secret Service finally broke completely. It had probably been touched by the black cracks just now, this was a common heirloom, a tool to borrow some momentum. After being used for so long, after enduring so many battles, it finally shattered completely.


    This was actually already a sign of its incredible endurability and high quality. To have lasted this long, it truly inspired admiration in the endurability of the three departments¡¯ skills.


    Garen frowned.


    "This sort of tool to borrow momentum isn¡¯t very precious, but it¡¯s still not something just anyone can make. I need to find another suitable flying apparatus." After getting used to being able to move by borrowing momentum whenever he wanted, Garen was really not used to suddenly losing the Light Formation Ring.


    Taking the things as he walked out, he saw some bodies strewn all over the Treasury, each of them with faces turning purple, grasping their throats tightly, their death masks horrific.


    These were all totem users who gave in to their greed and came here looking for good stuff, there were even some normal strong fighters.


    The poisonous gas that Garen had released earlier was now completely gone, and he was beginning to hear some voices come from the front half of the Treasury.


    "...It¡¯s the Royal Treasury! It¡¯s the royal family¡¯s, our forbidden area, what do you think this means, Dill?" A woman¡¯s voice, suppressing anger, could be heard.


    "It means whatever you think it means." A deep man¡¯s voice replied calmly. "I don¡¯t know anything about any Royal Treasury, I only came here on my teacher¡¯s orders, I don¡¯t know anything else."


    "You guys are committing daylight robbery! Aren¡¯t you worried about Her First Highness investigating this?" another cold man¡¯s voice said.


    The other side seemed lazy to reply, and simply fell silent.


    Carrying his things, Garen walked out boldly.


    There were two groups facing off in the first half of the Treasury, one side was obviously the First Princess¡¯ grey-clothed underlings, whereas on the other side was one of Ivycius¡¯ disciples, that nineteen-year-old boy Rose.


    There were still seven or eight people behind Rose, each of them aggressive and not particularly kind-looking. As soon as he saw Garen come out, Rose immediately took a step out.


    "Teacher Garen." His arrogance from before completely gone, he said humbly and respectfully.


    "You guys are here?" Garen nodded, ignoring the grey-clothed female leader whose eyes looked ready to spit fire. "The country is in crisis right now, in order to secure the safety of the Royal Treasury, I took the initiative to hide some of the heirlooms, to prevent some lowly characters from taking advantage of the situation. I¡¯m thinking of the larger picture for the royal family here. You guys don¡¯t have any objection to that, do you?"


    He looked at the woman in grey calmly.


    Beside him, Rose and the others were already looking fierce, their Totem Light threatening to come to life. Evidently they were planning to silence the witnesses once and for all.


    The woman in grey gave a shudder, and hurriedly was all smiles.


    "No¡­ none. Your Excellency the Black Fire Palace Master is here, and since it¡¯s the Palace Master who¡¯s here, naturally there¡¯s nothing for us to say. We¡¯ll take our leave now."


    Garen watched the group of people in grey retreat outside in orderly haste, but had no intention of attacking them.


    There was no way he could hide the fact that he had gone into the Treasury, and everyone had openly declared war already anyway. With Avic¡¯s death, nothing else had to be hidden anymore.


    After these people had left completely, Garen finally looked at Rose.


    "Get your people to take as many things out of the Treasury as possible, I want half of everything, got it?"


    "Got it!" Rose nodded obediently.


    "Make sure you maintain a balance." Garen nodded.


    "I understand." Rose gave a smile, meaning ¡®we all get it¡¯. "Oh, yeah, Teacher Garen, the two Grand Dukes are back, and right now they¡¯re gathering all the middle-class and above nobility into the palace meeting hall. Now that the three departments have left and abandoned Kovistan, we cannot just sit here and await death. The two Grand Dukes are probably planning to gather everyone¡¯s power. They even invited Teacher, and you, sir."


    "I got it." Garen mused. He had planned to go look at his cousin and the others, although he had told them long ago to go to Prynne¡¯s grandfather¡¯s at the first sign of trouble, and he believed Prynne would take good care of them, it was still safer for him to go and see.


    And then he needed to summon all of his family¡¯s members.


    Garen gave the package in his hand straight to Rose.


    "Give these things to your teacher for safekeeping, make sure not a single one is missing, remember."


    Rose was nearly crushed under the weight of the package, and almost lost his grip on it. He hadn¡¯t expected this package, wrapped in clothes, to be this heavy.


    Hearing Garen¡¯s words, he nodded hard.


    "Please leave it to me!"


    In the entire Kingdom, even if he dared to lust over Teacher¡¯s things, he would never dare to touch the Black Fire Palace¡¯s things. Compared to the cool and calm of the Silver Palace, news of the Black Fire Palace Master¡¯s cruelty and horror had already spread throughout the Kingdom.


    In these chaotic times, such a terrifying reputation was the most effective.


    Garen hurried straight towards his family estate.


    Under these circumstances, he had long since told everyone to gather back at the Blue Bay estate.


    Using about a dozen whole minutes, Garen rushed back at full speed, noticing how the streets on the way were getting emptier and emptier, most of the citizens having hidden into their homes and leaving the place a lot clearer. It didn¡¯t affect his speed, in any case.


    Hurriedly he returned to the suburbs where the estate was.


    Garen could already see two people waiting at the estate¡¯s main entrance, and one of them was the knight Edney.


    This old woman had been working for the Trejons family for so long, and now she was pacing back and forth, seeming rather anxious.


    Seeing Garen¡¯s figure appear on the road outside the estate, Edney¡¯s face relaxed instantly. She came up to greet him.


    "Chief! You¡¯re finally back!!" She finally released the breath she¡¯d been holding, "Come in, quick, our people are all in here."


    Garen nodded, walking past the wide-open estate doors.


    The front hall inside was filled with a large crowd of people.


    They were divided into two groups, one of them comprised of the family¡¯s few remaining totem users, surrounding Maxilan.


    The other group was made of the Black Fire Palace Guards, they sat quietly at the side, saying not a word but giving off an impression of sternness.


    There were also two kids, a girl and a boy, next to Maxilan, they were totally black from head to toe, and so thin they were basically skin and bones, wearing clean, newly-changed clothes. They were both practically toddlers, their little hands gripping Maxilan¡¯s clothes tightly, evidently treating him as their only source of comfort.


    Seeing that Garen had noticed the two children, Maxilan smiled slightly awkwardly.


    "Chief, these are the couple of kids I found on the road, their parents were both killed in the chaos, and I thought they were pretty pitiful, so¡­ You don¡¯t mind, do you?"


    After Garen inherited the position, he and Edney were both assimilated into the Trejons family line. At first the two of them were just normal citizens, but once they entered the family, they were now truly members of the family. That was why they both called him Chief.


    With a sweep of his eyes, the two kids¡¯ full body conditions immediately appeared in his vision, completely unobscured. He was using the Secret Technique aura flow to sense the intricate parts of these living bodies¡¯ conditions.


    "It¡¯s okay." After checking that the two of them weren¡¯t spies sent by the other powers, Garen decided to leave them be.


    The two children, however, were terrified into hiding behind Maxilan.


    Just then, all the people in charge came up to Garen one by one, to give in their reports.


    "Chief, I¡¯m Leian, in charge of the chain stores. Right now the stores aren¡¯t in very good condition, they seriously need people to help in defense, we could only gather all our hired power to gather everything from the warehouses up and defend those. But even now we¡¯re barely holding in under Chief¡¯s name, it probably won¡¯t last long."


    The one who spoke was a fatty.


    "Guard One, take two people to help with defense, help organize the defense for all the shops." Garen said calmly.


    Beside him, three people stood from the Black Fire Palace. They walked up to the fatty wordlessly. Taking two guards with him, the fatty rushed out of the estate, and returned to defend their family stores.


    "Chief, more than half of our farms were taken over by hooligans."


    "Send two Black Fire Palace guards over to subdue them, execute all the hooligans." Garen waved his hand, sending out two regular Black Fire Palace guards. Even regular Black Fire Palace guards would be in a completely different league from these warring farmers.


    "Many of the houses and about a dozen shop lots around the auction house have been emptied out, Chief, I suggest we immediately expand our territory, and claim all that land!" A thin person said in a deep voice.


    "Guard Two, you take two people over." Garen sent out one of the four most elite Black Fire Palace guards.


    One by one, the people in charge came up and gave their reports, while Garen sent out the Black Fire Palace guards one by one to solve their problems.


    It wasn¡¯t just that the family fortune took a hit, unexpectedly, the family property expanded as well. It wasn¡¯t expansion through power, taking advantage of the situation to expand, but rather two small families came to find them of their own accord, intending to become Trejons family branches.


    "Branches? Interesting." Garen touched the stubble on his chin. "Where are they?"


    "I arranged for them to rest at the back." Edney replied softly. "I asked about their situation, both families couldn¡¯t afford to protect themselves in the chaos, and after hearing of your¡­ reputation, they came here to seek us out as their last hope."


    "As the family¡¯s branch, that means all their family property will be assimilated into the main family, and they¡¯re still willing?" Garen asked with interest.


    "They have no other choice." Edney explained, "The chiefs of both families aren¡¯t nobles with land, one¡¯s a viscount and the other¡¯s a baron, their general situation is¡­" She was interrupted by Garen with a wave before she could begin.


    "That¡¯s enough, I have no interest in their affairs, you just take some people to settle their matters, if we bring in their property, what do we need to do in return?" Garen asked the key question directly. If there wasn¡¯t some danger approaching, there was no way that these nobles would be willing to join another family, and hand over everything they had.


    "They¡¯re two middle-sized families, they hope they can use this money to earn your protection over these two families."


    "There will probably be a lot more of these things, you handle it directly, Big Sister Edney. I¡¯ll give you some people."


    Garen waved his hand, sending Guard Three and five Black Fire Palace guards to stand behind Edney.


    By then there were only four people left in the Black Fire Palace Guard, and that was including the last Guard Four. Three of the strongest four Black Fire Palace Guards had been sent out to handle trifling matters.


    "Chief, then what about us? What can we do?!" The modified human Komodo and the other large man stood together, asking stiffly.


    "You guys go with Big Brother Maxilan, listen to whatever he says."


    "Lord Chief, then we¡­?" A female representative stood out from the group of five Form One totem users that had always followed the family faithfully.


    Garen was a lot more polite towards these people.


    "If you¡¯re willing, you can be in charge of one shop each, or you could be supervisors of the auction. To be honest, I would still hope for the auction business to bloom."

 440 Chaos 2

    Chapter 440: Chaos 2


    The female representative was a middle-aged woman nearing forty, she mused for a bit and then discussed it for a while with the companions behind her, eventually nodding.


    "Thank you for your faith in us, Chief, we are willing to help develop the auction."


    "That¡¯s good." Garen sent the last of the four Guards and two others to escort them to the auction house.


    Everyone in the family firmly believed in everything he said, which made him very satisfied. There were all sorts of rumors going around outside, saying that the Kingdom was about to be conquered by monsters, and many families with power had escaped together with the three departments.


    The ones who stayed behind weren¡¯t powerless, like Garen or the highest level people such as the Grand Duke or the First Princess, they all had a few trump cards in hand.


    And then there were the smarter ones, who saw that most of the biggest powers hadn¡¯t left, so they stayed behind as well.


    This caused most of the Kingdom to end up empty, while the remaining nobles were busy snatching up resources and territory, whereas naturally no one bothered with the civilian chaos. Everyone was only bothered with their own territory.


    No one at all bothered with the public space.


    After dealing with these matters, Garen took the last two Black Fire Palace guards along with him and left the estate, rushing towards his cousin¡¯s house.


    On the way there he could see some horse corpses waylaid on the road, houses lit on fire, robbers hustling for supplies, and some noble-looking people crashing up shops and civilian houses.


    The three of them rode on three Aberrated Unihorn Horses, rushing straight for the Cloud Light District.


    Of the three main districts in the Kingdom, the Cloud Light District was the most chaotic.


    Most of the people living here were officials or rich merchants, so there were the most bandits and robberies around here too.


    Garen and the two others encountered a blockage by some groups of fearless bandits, but after the Black Fire Palace guards sprayed out poisonous liquids and melted them into pools of acid, no one else dared to stop them.


    After more than twenty minutes, Garen arrived straight at his cousin¡¯s door in the Cloud Light District.


    Outside the small white building by the roadside, there were a few bodies lying around, and large puddles of bloody water that had nearly dried up on the floor.


    Garen had his horse step in the bloody water, emitting wet splashing sounds.


    The two Black Fire Palace guards jumped off their horses, and started scanning around their surroundings quickly, eliminating all uncertain elements.


    Garen glanced at the second and third floors of the building.


    The building was completely quiet, as though there was nobody inside.


    Garen rode his horse and took one round around the building. He didn¡¯t see anyone. The two Black Fire Palace guards burst through the doors and searched the place, but couldn¡¯t come up with anything either.


    His cousin and the others had evidently left in advance.


    Garen was still rather worried, so he turned around and took the other two towards the White Phoenix Forest Academy. This was where he had asked his cousin and the others to go if anything happened.


    ******************


    Dani felt as though today was all just a dream.


    She had reached home in the middle of the night, and was planning to have a good night¡¯s beauty sleep, but she was just drifting off when her older sister pulled her up, put the clothes on her and then rushed her out.


    Her sister¡¯s best friend, Sylvia, who was also working at the palace, came with them too.


    The two of them both looked rather worried and hurried.


    She saw her sister and Sylvia meet a middle-aged man at the door, this man had a group of guards with her, and said something to her sister sternly, the two of them seemed to be hesitating at the door.


    But Sylvia seemed to say something as well, and then her sister finally agreed.


    Her sister pulled Dani away, and followed the middle-aged man as they left their building.


    When she left, her mind was still a mess, as she wasn¡¯t properly awake.


    Suddenly, there was a piercing siren from the sky, shocking her awake.


    The three girls were taken by the middle-aged man to a campsite. It was a large empty space, and there were many white tents standing beside it. There were already many people gathered there.


    A nobleman calling himself Cohen came quickly and took them away, the three of them following a group of extravagantly-dressed men and women as they raced towards the large lake at the back of the Kingdom. On the way there, these people kept pointing and whispering about Sylvia, as though they were appraising a product, making her feel terrible.


    "I told you we already had too many people. You still insisted on bringing her along! Great, she alone would be fine, but now she brought two burdens with her as well." The female leader¡¯s shrill voice could be vaguely heard.


    "She is Little Brother¡¯s only daughter, after all, let¡¯s help her where we can." The man pleaded softly.


    After that, the two of them continued complaining and pleading respectively. Dani suddenly felt unspeakably frustrated.


    "Relax, it¡¯s fine." A gentle man¡¯s voice came beside Dani. It was a handsome man in white, "I¡¯m like you all, I¡¯m also a hitchhiker following this family as they retreat. My name is Kane. What¡¯s yours?" The man¡¯s gentle smile seemed to have washed away some of Dani¡¯s worries.


    "I¡¯m Dani."


    "Oh, you¡¯re one of Miss Sylvia two friends." It dawned on Kane. "Where are your sister and Miss Sylvia?"


    "Up ahead." Dani looked up straight, and saw her sister and Sylvia standing in front of a woman in a red dress, lowering their heads as they listened to the woman speak with an expression of disgust.


    Kane seemed to have seen them as well. He rubbed Dani¡¯s hair, hard. "Relax, it¡¯s okay."


    "Kane!"


    Suddenly someone called him from a distance.


    "Come here!"


    "I¡¯ll go over there a bit." Kane turned around and hurried towards the voice.


    Dani watched him leave, and then started to survey her surroundings, extremely bored.


    They were surrounded by guards in heavy white armor, with a few men and women in differently-colored robes mixed among them. These people all looked arrogant, and looked at others with contempt. They only talked to each other, as though even talking to normal people would damage their status.


    "What¡¯s so good about them!" Dani pursed her little lips.


    Suddenly, there came a sound she might never forget for the rest of her life.


    Not too far away from her, a sudden scream gave her a huge shock.


    Dani instantly woke up, and she stared towards that direction. Kane, who had just left, was now holding his stomach, kneeling on the ground as blood kept flowing from his body, pooling on the ground. His gaze was painful and despairing, helpless and powerless.


    Just like them, he was someone who followed this group afterward, according to what they said, he was also a friend brought by some other family member.


    Dani seemed to have frozen utterly.


    She felt as though the only one left in the world was that man moaning in agony, there was a golden-haired man with a twisted expression in front of him shaking the blood off his blade, his face full of contempt.


    "Mur¡­ murder¡­" Dani felt her mind go blank.


    The man who was just standing in front of her, who had just been speaking with her, that man with the gentle smile. Right now his body slanted down, and fell down with a whumph, while none of the surrounding guards even gave him a glance, their expressions cold.


    Dani felt her mouth go dry, an unprecedented terror suddenly gushing out of her brain.


    The person who was just alive and kicking and standing in front of her, was now lying on the floor, rapidly becoming an icy cold body.


    This was the first time she witnessed a murder.


    Her first time seeing a dead person, a person who died in front of her¡­


    Her mind was a total blank. She didn¡¯t know when her sister came up to her, and didn¡¯t know when Big Sister Sylvia pulled her into her arms.


    She just kept replaying Kane¡¯s final helpless gaze in her brain. That gaze seemed to be looking at him.


    "It¡¯s fine¡­ it¡¯s fine." Her sister¡¯s voice kept coming from beside her ear.


    "How do we deal with these burdens?"


    "We¡¯ve no time, put them in Cabin Three."


    "But that¡¯s for livestock¡­"


    "We have no more space for them, if they want to come then come, if they don¡¯t then scram!" A piercing woman¡¯s voice reached their ears.


    Dani felt cold all over. She had seen what happened to Kane, their status was just like his, maybe that would happen to them as well¡­


    It was her first time feeling, that the world outside could be so dangerous.


    All her life, she had lived under her sister¡¯s protection, but this was the first time, the first time she saw the cruelty of the real world outside.


    When these normally polite and graceful nobles revealed their fangs, they were even crueler than beasts, treating human lives like livestock.


    The girls forced themselves to follow behind this group of people, there were about a dozen more people like them, all with the same status.


    The disgusted faces and impatient voices of the nobles in front of them kept reaching Dani¡¯s ears, and she realized for the first time just how childish and ignorant her previous life was.


    Every day she fought with her sister self-indulgently, over trivial matters, over small allowances, she became stubborn and illogical, occasionally taking some things out to sell, until she thought herself familiar with the Kingdom¡¯s Cloud Light District. She dealt generously with the hooligans on the street, calling them her sisters.


    But now that it had come to this time, these surroundings, those normal little hooligan bosses were as helpless as chicks faced with the powerful guards and totem users around her.


    On the following journey, the group kept encountering attacks by hooligans and bandits, people kept dying around her, while those who were badly hurt were quickly abandoned.


    Dani¡¯s heart grew colder and colder, and more and more scared.


    She saw the same hint of worry on her sister¡¯s face, and the shadow on Sister Sylvia¡¯s.


    Before they knew it, their team was nearing the large lake behind the Kingdom.


    Dani¡¯s mind was in complete chaos, and she was barely aware of anything.


    Vaguely, she heard shouts of surprise from up ahead, and the whole group had stopped instantly. It seemed that someone had blocked the road.


    "Scram!"


    A cold man¡¯s voice came from the distance.


    "Lord Earl! We truly don¡¯t have the person you¡¯re¡­" That shrill woman¡¯s voice kept pleading. As though the power of the person ahead was way beyond hers. She had lost all of her confidence from before.


    Bam! Ahh!!


    After one scream, the woman¡¯s voice vanished.


    "Everyone stop right there, stay where you are, and let milord examine you!" One of the group¡¯s female totem users called out, trying to appease them. The guards began maintaining order.


    There were almost a hundred people here, the front was slightly panicky, but they quickly quieted down.


    The time ticked by.


    "Big Sister!? Why are you guys here?" Suddenly, a surprised man¡¯s voice came from the front.


    Dani raised her head from her sister¡¯s embrace, and glanced over.


    But she saw a familiar figure.


    It was Acacia! But how did he find them?


    Dani was instantly like a drowning person who saw someone familiar, her heart surging with warmth and a sense of security, as though her body was instantly filled up.


    Dressed in white, he rushed over hurriedly. A few opportunistic nobles and totem users came with him.


    "I¡¯ve been looking for you guys for so long! Why didn¡¯t you listen to me, why did you come all the way here!? If it weren¡¯t for the fact that someone saw you all and told me, I might not have made it in time to catch up with you! What¡¯s the matter with Dani?"


    "She was shocked¡­" Her sister¡¯s replied softly.


    "Come!" Acacia turned around and barked.


    Soon enough a figure dressed fully in black armor came up to them, and lowered his head wordlessly.


    "Carry her, we¡¯re going straight to the Royal Hospital! Forget it, I¡¯ll do it myself!"


    Dazedly. Dani felt herself lifted by a broad chest, and an unprecedented sense of security flowed out of her heart.


    Huh, so Cia had a side like this too. Dani had never seen this side of his, as though her companion since childhood was suddenly unfamiliar to her. He became more blinding, more sparkling, and was beginning to merge with some fantasy in her heart¡­


    She plastered her face to his chest tightly, and finally fell asleep in a short while.

 441 Chaos 3

    Chapter 441: Chaos 3


    Garen made a trip to White Phoenix Forest Academy and couldn¡¯t find his cousins, which was when he knew things had gotten bad. It was very likely that they had followed an escaping group and were planning to leave the Kingdom.


    He had always tried not to interfere with his cousins¡¯ lives, hoping they could live their lives peacefully. He tried his best to leave their lines of sight, and prevented others from finding out his relationship with them as well. After all, his villainous reputation as the Black Fire Palace Master was growing out of hand, it wasn¡¯t a good thing to get involved with him.


    Although there was no way he could truly fool the significant factions, it was still better than being completely public about it.


    But he didn¡¯t think this would be the result, his cousins misunderstanding his power and not listening to his opinions, telling them to go to the White Phoenix Forest Academy that didn¡¯t look like much but actually had a deep and powerful background. Instead, they were convinced by Sylvia, and had left together with her distant relatives.


    When Garen realized this, he immediately rushed towards the evacuation point, the large lake behind the Secret Service, and directly set up a barricade in front of the only entrance. Anyone who wanted to enter had to undergo his examination first.


    After stopping several groups of people, he finally managed to stop his cousins. After some advise, Hathaway finally left the group with Dani.


    Several members of the group were casually killed by Garen, so they left quietly.


    Carrying little Dani, Garen rushed directly to the Kingdom¡¯s Royal Hospital. Most of the doctors had chosen to leave with the nobles, only a few older doctors staying put. As they grew older, apparently, they began to look at some matters more openly.


    In the clean white hospital room


    An old doctor dressed in white took a thermometer out of little Dani¡¯s mouth, pulling up her eyelids and mouth. Next to them, Hathaway was waiting anxiously, and asked for some details.


    "She was probably shocked, her heart couldn¡¯t take it so suddenly. She¡¯ll be fine after a night¡¯s rest." The old doctor finally concluded.


    "Thank you, Doctor Hurley." Hathaway hurriedly thanked him.


    Garen gave his thanks as well.


    Hurley nodded calmly.


    "I still have other patients, I¡¯ll go for now."


    "May I ask, are there many patients in the Kingdom?" Garen asked suddenly.


    Hurley glanced at Garen. He knew this Black Fire Palace Master, and he didn¡¯t just know him, he was very familiar with him, in fact. Because the Royal Hospital had to deal with too many of the people he had executed or punished.


    Even though this person was powerful in court, Hurley didn¡¯t like him.


    "Why must I answer that?" He retorted stiffly.


    Garen was slightly taken aback. Seeing how this old man had rushed over just now, he had thought his reputation had scared the doctor, but this was one stubborn old bag of bones.


    A young green-haired nobleman next to them immediately raged.


    "Damn you! How dare you speak like that to the Palace Master!?"


    Clang!


    The man drew the sword from his waist, and was about to attack.


    Garen raised his hand to stop him. He examined the stubborn old man in front of him carefully.


    "Interesting, it¡¯s rare for someone to know my identity and still not fear me."


    "I¡¯m about to die soon anyway, why should I fear you?" The old man replied stiffly. "There are enough dead people in the Kingdom, I won¡¯t make a difference either way."


    He glanced at Hathaway.


    "Alright, since it¡¯s not a serious injury, I¡¯ll take my leave first, there are still many patients I need to settle over there."


    "Thank you, doctor." Hathaway hurriedly thanked him again.


    They watched the old man leave straightaway.


    Surprisingly, Garen wasn¡¯t angry, it was rare for him to meet a normal person who had no power but wasn¡¯t afraid of death.


    "Oh, right, Big Sister, where¡¯s your colleague?" He suddenly realized that woman was nowhere to be seen.


    "She didn¡¯t come with us." Hathaway shook her head. After all, no matter how terrible her family was over there, they had still planned to let the girls leave with them. Without knowing Garen¡¯s identity, they were still willing to give the girls a chance. But as soon as Garen arrived and killed several of them barehanded, the relationship instantly changed.


    No matter what, Sylvia couldn¡¯t have immediately left with them. She was part of that family, after all. There were relatives who she cared for there, and relatives who cared for her.


    "After this, Big Sister, you should still go to White Phoenix Forest Academy, I¡¯ve arranged matters there." Garen frowned. "Prynne, Andel and Marin are all there, they¡¯re all people you know. You don¡¯t have to worry about only meeting strangers there."


    "Mn¡­"


    Hathaway was like a guilty child, lowering her head and not daring to meet Garen¡¯s eyes.


    She felt as though the situation had changed, before this she had always been the one scolding Garen at this angle, but now it was the opposite.


    Before she knew it, Garen was now half a head taller than her. At first she wanted to gather her courage to retort him a little, but remembering that other awkward relationship between them, whatever courage she had immediately faltered.


    "Alright, alright." Garen took her into his embrace lightly. Patting her back. "It¡¯s okay, it¡¯s all okay. No matter what I¡¯ll always be here, I¡¯ll take care of you."


    His cousin¡¯s soft body went slightly stiff as she leaned into Garen¡¯s arms, feeling their chests plastered against each other. An intense sense of safety surged into her heart before she knew it.


    "Sorry¡­ I shouldn¡¯t have disobeyed you." Hathaway bit her lip, and said softly.


    "Before this you were taking care of me, but now it¡¯s my turn to take care of you." Garen let go of her. Towards this cousin of his, although he didn¡¯t feel as deeply as the Acacia from before, he could still tell that she truly cared for him.


    If others treated him sincerely, he wouldn¡¯t repay them with falseness either.


    "Okay, once Dani is properly rested, I¡¯ll have someone send you all to White Phoenix Forest Academy." Garen said softly.


    Suddenly, the hospital ward door was knocked open.


    Bam!


    A young man dressed in white rushed into the room hurriedly.


    "Garen, is Dani okay?!"


    "Prynne?" Garen immediately recognized him.


    "I was looking all over the outer city! But I just couldn¡¯t find Sis Sofie! In the end it was still because you were dominant enough to block the exit point directly, so no one could leave until you found them! Impressive as usual!" As soon as Prynne saw that Hathaway and the others were there, he instantly heaved a sigh of relief, and gave Garen a huge thumbs-up.


    There was also a girl with a purple-red ponytail behind him.


    The girl was pretty, tall and slender, and wore figure-fitting white clothes with a waist belt.


    "Marin! You came too?" Hathaway recognized the visitor as well.


    "Sis Sofie, where do you all run off too? Prynne and I looked everywhere but we couldn¡¯t find you!" Marin complained as soon as she came in.


    "It was my fault¡­" Hathaway smiled slightly bitterly, and as though suddenly realizing how close she was to Garen, her face turned red and she pulled away imperceptibly.


    Just then another girl squeezed in through the door, with flax-colored shoulder-length hair and purple-red eyes, like beautiful ambers.


    "Sis Sofie!" She pounced into Hathaway¡¯s arms in an instant.


    "Andel!" Hathaway was slightly panicked, she was actually closest to Andel, back then when they left the Vanderman estate, the two of them had traveled together.


    "Thank goodness you¡¯re fine!" Andel hugged Hathaway, her eyes reddening.


    Suddenly she realized that Hathaway seemed to be standing too close to Garen next to her, and instantly looked confused.


    Prynne noticed too, and understanding quickly dawned on him.


    "Okay, okay, the girls can catch up in the room, and chat a bit. Garen, let¡¯s go out and talk?"


    He led the way out of the ward.


    Garen hinted at the two Black Fire Palace guards to follow, and went out as well.


    There was a clean and tidy corridor outside the room. The two Black Fire Palace guards and the green-haired nobleman who wanted to suck up to Garen had already chased the other patients away, and everything around the room was quiet.


    Prynne and Garen left a few totem user guards behind to protect the girls, before walking towards an empty hospital room on the left.


    Garen noticed that a short, fat man with a huge aura had also followed beside Prynne.


    Judging by this aura, this guy had to be at least Form Three and above.


    He closed the door after entering the room. Garen turned around and glanced at the fatty.


    "Not bad, you did well for yourself! A Form Three totem user as your guard, how extravagant!"


    There were only the two of them in the room, so Garen let loose as well, and didn¡¯t maintain his image like with outsiders.


    "I still can¡¯t compare to you." Prynne suddenly gave a dirty laugh. He went closer and asked quietly, "Hehe, Hathaway¡¯s tits feel good, don¡¯t they?"


    Garen was instantly speechless.


    "From what I see, Hathaway¡¯s butt is pretty tight too, and there isn¡¯t any gap between her long legs when she puts them together, so it seems you haven¡¯t really gotten into it yet." Prynne abandoned his usual graceful mannerism, and smiled pervertedly.


    "Are you saying you finished Marin?" Garen squeezed out one sentence after a long time.


    "Of course, who do you think I am!" Prynne flicked the hair at his forehead, as though showing off his good looks. "But Marin still can¡¯t compare to that cousin of yours, tsk-tsk, that small waist, those long legs, and of course that chest, and she¡¯s also an official with the Royal Guard, that means she¡¯s not like those totem users who never train at all and have no power, until their bodies lose their shape too. Big Sister¡¯s figure, if clamped onto your body¡­ Tsk-tsk¡­" Prynne was obviously started to fantasize.


    Garen kicked his shin fiercely.


    "You dare fantasize about my, Garen¡¯s fiancee, do you have a death wish!" He scolded while laughing.


    "Ow!" Prynne cried out in pain, "I just thought about it for a while, it¡¯s not like you lost anything! I¡¯m telling you now, back then I was planning on chasing Sis Sofie, if it weren¡¯t for you suddenly making her your fiancee, I would probably have been on the full-on offense by now!"


    "Then what about Marin?"


    "Of course she¡¯ll sleep with us! Everyone on one bed, two beauties serving me at once, ducking under the covers naked¡­" Prynne was starting to fantasize again.


    "You seem to be living pretty comfortably recently." Garen said pointedly.


    "Naturally." Prynne chucked. "Why don¡¯t you come with me for a few days?"


    "I¡¯m busy with work, do you think everyone¡¯s as free as you, with a grandfather up there supporting you?" Garen couldn¡¯t help but kick him again. This fella used to be fairly serious, but now he was obviously getting more and more perverted.


    "Alright, alright, on to the serious matters!" Pynne had enough of joking around, and stopped smiling as well. "I happened to bring my grandfather¡¯s request as well on this trip here. After His Majesty passed, the situation in the Kingdom has changed. Since you have no intention of leaving either, I bet you must surely know the secret of the inner palace. Is that true?"


    Garen was not surprised at all, Prynne¡¯s grandfather Benoc was one of the Empire¡¯s long-time peak-level fighters. Unlike the newly-risen Garen, Benoc had deep connections, countless trump cards, and naturally knew more secrets than usual.


    "Your grandfather means to?"


    "Our family supports the First Princess. Grand Duke Cody also intends to fight for that position, they support the Fourth Prince, probably to make him a puppet. Right now, there are four powers that can truly decide the situation in the Kingdom." Prynne said solemnly.


    "Which four?"


    "My grandfather Grand Duke Benoc and the First Princess are one, Grand Duke Cody and the Fourth Prince are one, together with the support of the minister Veska. And then there are the residual palace powers controlled by the Silver Palace Master, Lord Edin and yourself, as well as the last Little Alliance."


    "Little Alliance? What Little Alliance?"


    "The War Guild, Assassin¡¯s Guild, Mercenary''s Guild, Kovistan Merchant¡¯s Guild, Forger¡¯s Guild. The five groups joined together to form the Little Alliance, founded a long time ago, but never revealed until now. They represent most of the middle-lower powers in the country, and they have many important trump cards as well. Although they don¡¯t have many peak-level fighters, but there are quite a few of high-level totem users who are willing to fight with their lives on the line. They shouldn¡¯t be underestimated. This is exactly what my grandfather wanted me to tell you. Don¡¯t underestimate them."


    "Oh?" Garen naturally wouldn¡¯t underestimate this Little Alliance. They call themselves the Little Alliance, but out of the five guilds, he didn¡¯t really know much about the others, but he was also a member of the War Guild himself, so he knew a little bit insider information about the War Guild¡¯s power. They weren¡¯t very strong, but they weren¡¯t by any means weak either.


    The other four were at the same level as them, so they couldn¡¯t be all that weak too.


    "My grandfather and the others call the Little Alliance Five-Colored, the Five-Colored Alliance, because their official alliance flag has a mix of five colors." Prynne brought Garen information about the general state of the Kingdom.


    "Now the entire Kingdom has been split into four by these four powers, out of the three districts in the Kingdom, the Palace District has been controlled by you and the Silver Palace Master. The Cloud Light District is under Duke Cody. The Trading District is under the Five-Colored Alliance and my grandfather, since it is the largest in area.


    "Then the area outside the city?"


    "All abandoned." Prynne shrugged. "Too many nobles ran away, their farmers and laborers, as well as their guards mostly rushed into the Kingdom, it¡¯s too hard now to even maintain order. Once they hear that the monsters have come attacking, who would dare to go out of the city and walk into certain death?"


    Garen nodded.


    "What about the three departments? Anybody stayed behind?"

 442 Chaos 4

    Chapter 442: Chaos 4


    "I didn¡¯t pay any attention to that, but my grandfather said that the three departments have utterly given up on Kovistan, this situation is now set, and all their power has gathered in Daniela now. The situation there is even worse, but there¡¯s still hope of salvaging it." Prynne said simply.


    "But if it goes on like this, the situation in the Kingdom will only get worse, without farms, where will we get our food? Our daily necessities?" Garen frowned.


    "So we need to stabilize the situation as soon as possible." Prynne shrugged. "My grandfather¡¯s plan is for us to join forces, call a large-scale nobility meeting, create a Noble Senate, and unify the situation in the Kingdom, or rather in Kovistan."


    "True, right now all the powers are no different, nobody is willing to bow to anyone else, so this is the only method to stabilize the situation as soon as possible." Garen nodded. "I agree, let¡¯s see what the others think."


    "Great, let¡¯s not waste any time, I¡¯ll go back now to report to Grandfather."


    "Okay, I was about to go settle some things too." Garen agreed instantly, "Take care of my cousin and the others for me."


    "Of course!"


    As soon as they left the hospital. Garen and that green-haired noble messenger boy immediately rode their horses towards the National Department of Experimentation.


    The National Department of Experimentation was a critical technical lab that Avic always supported wholeheartedly, and it had been under Veska¡¯s jurisdiction this whole time. The finances also leaned heavily this way.


    The method of handling the meat of aberrated monsters so that civilians could eat them as well came from here too.


    Taking advantage of the chaos in the Kingdom now, Garen headed straight for the National Department of Experimentation rapidly.


    The two of them were followed by more than ten aberrated horses, each of them ridden by the green-haired noble¡¯s subordinates and guards. There were two Form One totem users among them, and the rest were all normal people trained in martial arts. But their bodies looked strong and sturdy, so they had an impressive presence as well.


    On the way, the group went straight through everything, not afraid of anything. Wherever they went, everyone just let them past, by now even some bandits and vigilantes who couldn¡¯t tell all that clearly had no choice but to avoid such a formation.


    "What¡¯s your name?" Garen finally remembered this young man who had passed him the message.


    The green-haired nobleman immediately looked gleefully surprised.


    "My name is Bivon! Bivon Caelus! Sir, I am your avid supporter!"


    "You did well this time." Garen nodded, slightly accepting this fella¡¯s show of loyalty. Since he had this sort of gaze, he did not fear his terrible reputation, and had enough guts, it was enough for him to be considered a talent, one that could be used.


    As soon as he said that, not only the green-haired man, but even the host of men and women behind him all looked happy. But they also knew that this was just the beginning, because the biggest problem with following the Black Fire Palace Master wasn¡¯t getting him to accept them. But the pressure that came after that acceptance.


    The Black Fire Palace Master had executed many and offended far too many more in the Palace, but anyone who could reach the inner palace had to have some background, yet Garen killed them without hesitation, no matter who went to plead for mercy. Or rather, he didn¡¯t give anybody any time to plead, and just killed them straight away.


    That was how he offended a huge group of people, but with Garen¡¯s villainous reputation there suppressing them, nobody dared to make a move. Even then, it was a small matter to manipulate some things in the shadows.


    The Black Fire Palace Master was strong, but he wasn¡¯t undefeatable in the Kingdom. The two Grand Dukes, the defense minister Lord Veska, and even without these three, Garen was still alone, a few more Form Four fighters gathering their tactics together would still pose a huge threat to him.


    Garen knew where his limit was too.


    One of two Form Fours he might not mind, three or four might not be too much, but seven or eight of them, combining the power of their tactics would make a formidable power. After all, he wasn¡¯t a Form Five yet, faced with Form Fours, if he were to fall into a formation that gathered power such as tactical formations, he would be stuck in a dead end no matter how many lives he had to waste.


    And besides, the two Grand Dukes definitely had an Ultimate Heirloom each.


    The Black Crow Formation back then was just a forgery of an Ultimate Heirloom, and it was already so powerful, enough to fully use Form Four power. If it was a true Ultimate Heirloom, used in the proper hands, who knew how strong it could be.


    After sorting out the information he just received, he had also arrived at the National Department of Experimentation.


    The street outside the door was cold and empty, with nobody at all in sight, rubbish scattered all over the floor, papers and clothes, shop signs, overturned carriages, and even two corpses burnt to a crisp.


    Right now he was in the west area outside the Kingdom¡¯s city walls.


    He was surrounded everywhere by large swathes of black mountain ground, and of the whole Department of Experimentation, only one empty street was connected to the road outside, which made it the only exit and entrance.


    The Department of Experimentation was in the middle of the mountains, just like a ring, surrounding several tall buildings and factories inside. He stood outside the large entrance and looked in, seeing a mushroom-shaped white tower standing there quietly.


    At the top of the tower, there were occasional flashes of blue lightning circling around it.


    "Palace Master, what are we here to do?" The green-haired man, Bivon, asked softly.


    "Looking for something, something I had given to His Majesty in the past." Garen replied calmly, not attempting to hide anything.


    "Come, let¡¯s go in and look!"


    Garen led the way and rode straight towards the tightly-shut door.


    Just as his horse¡¯s neck was about to crash into the large door, a red shadow instantly flashed by.


    Boom!!


    The door was directly smashed open, the metal door more than ten centimeters thick fell down just like that, and even large chunks of the tall wall on either side were ripped out.


    There was the sound of crackling explosions in the air, but no light appeared.


    "Hm?" Garen glanced at his left hand, the palm and the back of the hand were both charred black. "Invisible electricity?"


    When he released the Dragon Shadow from his left hand to smash open the door, he also went numb from the powerful retort of electricity, just a second¡¯s contact was enough to make his entire left(1) hand completely charred. The Nine-Headed Dragon¡¯s defensive Totem Light was destroyed just like that. It made Garen feel the Nine-Headed Dragon¡¯s defense was falling behind.


    As he began going to more dangerous places, even though the Nine-Headed Dragon¡¯s dragon skin defense was considerably strong among low-level totems, it was still too far away compared to others of the same level. Recently its Totem Light kept getting easily destroyed.


    After all, whenever the Totem Light was destroyed once, that meant the totem had been grievously injured once. To other totem users, it was a terrifying injury that would require years of healing and recovery if done naturally.


    Normally, this was a very rare possibility, because after all totem users¡¯ Totem Light was twice as strong as the totem itself.


    But to Garen, this situation was happening more and more frequently recently.


    No wonder the Nine-Headed Dragon had nine lives, between defense and reviving, it had chosen the latter to evolve into. Only then did Garen begin to understand.


    Feeling for the Nine-Headed Dragon¡¯s condition in the dark space, one of the dragon heads had begun to wither up again.


    Garen quickly took twenty points off his potential points, and patched it up, returning the nine lives to full once more.


    But out of his previous potential points, he was now only left with slightly more than fifty.


    He led the others into the Department of Experimentation, taking striding steps.


    Inside the door was a ring of grassy land, equivalent in area to three or four football fields, unnaturally wide.


    The white tower was standing right in the middle, arches of blue electricity continuously sparkling around its peak, its surface as smooth as a mirror, with a strange futuristic feel to it.


    Garen didn¡¯t even look at the other tall buildings around it, walking straight towards the white tower, while the others followed behind him.


    There was the sound of many rapid footsteps around them, and even some heavy stomping.


    Whoosh!!


    A beam of white light brushed past Garen¡¯s body horizontally. It nearly touched his nose.


    "It¡¯s the White Guard!!" Green-haired Bivon was slightly panicked, and hurriedly reminded Garen, "Palace Master, the White Guards are the Department of Experimentation¡¯s best masterpiece, half human and half totem, they¡¯re very powerful, and not afraid of dying! There are a hundred of them in total, they¡¯re all made from dead high-level totem users. You must be careful, Palace Master!"


    "How strong are they?" Garen had already seen the people in white-armor surrounding them.


    "That depends on how strong the totem user they were made from had been¡­" Bivon¡¯s face had gone white as he looked at the circle of white-armored people around them.


    These people had their entire bodies hidden under the white armor, two blood-red crystals on their helmets in place of their eyes, glimmering with a faint red light. They held a sword in one hand and the other had been engineered into a silver cylinder, shining with a vague white light inside, as though it could spray out at any moment.


    "Looks like this is one of Veska¡¯s trump cards¡­" Garen glanced around appreciatively. "They should be somewhat similar to my Black Fire Guards, but they seem to be even stronger by a little. Tsk-tsk¡­ there are fifty of them in three waves, and more than ten Spiritualized ones¡­ impressive, as expected!"


    The surrounding White Guards seemed oblivious to everything, as though they hadn¡¯t heard what Garen said at all. They all stood quietly on the spot, completely motionless, not attacking or letting them pass.


    "Veska, looks like you don¡¯t nearly have as may back-up White Guards as my Black Fire Guards, right? If you don¡¯t want to waste your power, then let me pass. I¡¯m just here to take what was originally mine." Garen harrumphed, and ignored the White Guards blocking in front of him completely, riding his horse forth. Going straight for the white tower.


    These powers and a few more trump cards would pose a certain threat to him as well, but he took the most pride in his survival power, without enough same-level power to suppress him, even if something could utterly destroy his power, he still believed that he could escape in one piece. That was probably the terrifying power of the Nine Life talent.


    Bivon and the others followed Garen, terrified, and as expected, the White Guard in front of them kept retreating, naturally opening a path for them.


    Veska must have a method that allowed him to see the situation here.


    Garen understood now, the other party didn¡¯t want to lock horns with him, and he wouldn¡¯t go looking for trouble either, declaring war on Veska and all that. After all, he still didn¡¯t know how strong that fellow was, he was also at the peak of Form Four. And he was connected to the other Grand Duke, Cody, too.


    Riding his horse to the foot of the white tower, Garen leaped off the horse and strode to the door of the tower.


    The door to the round white tower had naturally spun open, and there were a few researchers in white bustling about inside, as though they hadn¡¯t noticed the changes outside at all. Each of them looked utterly lost in their work.


    Garen strode into the tall tower. A voice came from behind him suddenly.


    "Your thing is in the third secret room on the second floor." It was still that old, traditional-sounding voice, Veska¡¯s voice.


    Garen smiled, strode through the crowd, and followed the stairs up to the second floor, while the others followed closely behind.


    On the second floor¡¯s white corridor, the door to the third secret room was clearly glowing with a faint red light, as though showing Garen the way.


    This light was slightly piercing, even with Garen¡¯s sight he had to narrow his eyes, while the rest seemed to not feel it at all.


    He strode towards the secret room.


    There were two people in white standing guard outside the secret room. Seeing Garen approach, they actually lifted their feet as though ready to kick open the door.


    "Without a decree from His Majesty or the defense minister, you cannot go in!"


    "Scram!" Bam! Garen pushed aside the people blocking him, he strode into the lab, took a glance around everything, and instantly identified where the Green Vine Sphere was.


    The thing was kept in a crystal bottle, a cylindrical crystal glass bottle, filled with a green liquid.


    The whole Green Vine Sphere was like a green ball of thread with claws and teeth, bits of thread sticking out everywhere.


    Garen walked over.


    He smashed the glass with a bam, and reached his hand in directly, fishing the Green Vine Sphere out and pressing it onto his shoulder.


    Psst¡­


    The Green Vine Sphere waved its green tentacles around madly, rapidly piercing them into the flesh on Garen¡¯s shoulder, and had completely melted into him in no time.


    "Let¡¯s go!"


    Garen turned around and left the lab, if he stayed here any longer, he was afraid Veska¡¯s weak will couldn¡¯t take it.


    Translator¡¯s Note:


    Raws said ¡®right¡¯, which directly conflicts with the previous bit, so I¡¯m assuming left.

 443 Caeserton 1

    Chapter 443: Caeserton 1


    The Black Fire Palace in the Kingdom.


    Garen sat on his Palace Master¡¯s throne, carefully playing with the Green Vine Sphere in his hand.


    This little thing was like a small animal, crawling from his left hand to his left shoulder. After he caught it and put it on the back of his hand, it began to crawl towards his left shoulder tirelessly again.


    Garen kept bringing it down, and watching as it kept crawling up.


    Ivycius stood behind the throne, holding a sword with both arms as he leaned on a round black pillar. Watching Garen play with the Green Vine Sphere out of boredom.


    "The second Nobility Conference is about to start, aren¡¯t you going?"


    Garen smiled.


    "How was the first one like? I wasn¡¯t there, but I heard some fun things happened."


    Ivycius closed his eyes and rested.


    "Just some trivial things."


    Garen felt the Green Vine Sphere carefully, saying casually, "All sorts of people joined this Nobility Conference, any middle-level nobles or above can join. Too many cooks spoil the broth, so how could they possibly come up with any good ideas?"


    Of all the nobles, most of them were middle-level nobles, these people were all the pillars of the various departments and units, and they tended to make up most of the levels among the nobles too, since they liked to suck up and compare, prioritized their pride and reputation, throwing themselves at the higher powers. At such a time as this, they were probably mostly arguing about how to divide the land in the Kingdom."


    Garen could easily imagine what kind of scene that would be.


    "It¡¯s different this time, we¡¯re deciding the true state of the Kingdom." Ivycius said calmly.


    "We¡¯ve taken over the Palace, who dares to say anything else?" Garen said lazily, "Forget it, might as well make a trip there, and see what those old fogies have to say."


    He had gotten enough materials, and the Royal Treasury was still under his control, his people endlessly bringing out large amounts of weapons, supplies and treasures from it.


    But he didn¡¯t see the most important item. The Precious Heirloom!


    Garen was suspicious because they hadn¡¯t found a single Heirloom in the entire Royal Treasury. That was illogical.


    The only possibility was that the royal family surely had another secret treasury. That was where they really kept the Heirloom.


    "I won¡¯t go then, I¡¯m currently at a pivotal moment." Ivycius said from behind him.


    Garen didn¡¯t bother him either, although Ivycius had been modified into a Dragon Demon, but if he simply force-controlled Ivycius all the time, Ivycius might lose his potential to level up.


    Walking out of the palace hall, on the way to the conference hall, many Black Fire Guards walked out of the surrounding corners in the Black Fire Palace.


    ome of these guards seemed to walk straight out of the dense foliage, out of the shadows.


    Garen walked towards the garden and the flowers, and suddenly countless green plants grew madly, twisting and twining, rapidly forming a silhouette that quickly grew a suit of heavy black armor as though growing fruits.


    Within several minutes, the plants in the garden grew into a brand new Black Fire Palace guard, who followed closely behind Garen.


    Holding the Green Vine Sphere in his hand, he had already completely understood how the Black Fire Guards were formed.


    In other words, the Green Vine Sphere gathered plants to form a body. They needed a plant called varde flowers, and would rapidly hasten the plants¡¯ roots to create the Black Fire Palace Guards.


    The Black Fire Guard was completely covered by the suit of armor, and the insides couldn¡¯t be seen, so nobody knew that there weren¡¯t any humans inside their armor, but a congregation of plants instead.


    The Green Vine Spheres could only make two hundred Black Fire Guards at any one time, four of them Form Three, also known as the Four Guards, while rest were all Form Two. Their weakness was that they were individually rather weak, but their strength was that they were never afraid of death at any time, and their self-destruct ability was powerful.


    Garen had almost used up all the varde flowers in the Black Fire Palace, before he managed to scrape out the numbers for the Black Fire Guards again.


    At the same time, he needed to have his servants plant more varde flowers, stimulating them with a special method, a single varde flower only needed two months to bloom, spreading their vines everywhere. And he only needed ten flowers to form one Black Fire Guard.


    Other than the Black Fire Guards he sent out, Garen had recreated more than a hundred Black Fire Guards here in the Black Fire Palace, sending them to all parts of the palace, to amp up defense together with the Silver Palace Guards.


    The Silver Palace¡¯s Royal Guard wasn¡¯t the same royal guard as they told others outside, but were instead the true inner guard made fully of totem users.


    Royal Guards like Big Sister Hathaway were only the outer members, and had no right to interfere in the really important matters.


    **************


    The Kingdom¡¯s Trading District


    Royal Theatre


    This huge black building was as large as a football court, standing in the east wing of the palace, it was shaped like a huge ship, and had Kovistan¡¯s black-red flag in front of it.


    The Royal Theatre¡¯s square was already filled to the brim with people.


    Out of the entire crowd, three groups were particularly eye-catching.


    Three groups of people dressed in fighting clothes stood together respectively, their military uniforms being white, black, and dark blue each. They were the Empire¡¯s Three Armies, the Hawks of Dawn, the Third Heavy Armor Regiment, and the last one, the Navy Flag.


    These Three Armies were the main forces defending the West Farm. And now their people had all returned to the Kingdom, which meant something intriguing.


    The rest of the empty spaces were filled with the major and minor nobles from all areas.


    The carriages kept arriving, and occasionally there were totem beasts like colossal birds slowly descending onto the square.


    By the time Garen arrived with the Black Fire Guard, it was already afternoon, and the sky was growing dim.


    Four extremely tall monsters with really long legs appeared in front of the theatre, carrying four bright fire basins on their backs.


    These four monsters looked like black buffaloes, it was just that compared to the regular buffaloes, their legs were too tall and long. They were over ten meters tall, and looked unnaturally strange.


    "Whose totem beasts are those?" Garen curiously asked the white-haired noble lady leading the way.


    "Palace Master, they are the ornamental Aberrated beasts belonging to the theatre¡¯s original owner, Earl Eli. They¡¯re not totems." The young white-haired woman replied quietly.


    "Oh? Aberrated beasts?" Garen felt as though Aberration was influencing life in this whole world more and more.


    They walked onto the square, and the nobles who had been chatting now fell silent, glancing over at them.


    Some of them bowed while the others looked wary, others curious. But they all opened up a path for him.


    Garen walked past the crowd, followed by four Black Fire Guards, the black cape on the Black Fire Palace Master¡¯s billowing in the wind, flapping loudly.


    In front of the theatre¡¯s large arching white door, Veska and the other two Grand Dukes were chatting.


    "The Black Fire Palace Master is here!"


    The herald roared loudly.


    The three of them hurriedly stopped talking, and looked towards Garen¡¯s direction.


    Veska was expressionless, the slightly plump Grand Duke Cody looked calm, and just nodded at Garen.


    Of them all, only Grand Duke Benoc, the tall and skinny white-haired old man gave Garen a friendly smile.


    Garen smiled back.


    There weren¡¯t any guards around the three of them, so they made a small empty space.


    When Garen walked over with the Black Fire Guard, his steps stopped suddenly.


    An immensely powerful force was pouncing at him, full-frontal. This force was extremely powerful, until even Garen¡¯s Nine-Headed Dragon strength paused slightly.


    His expression surprised, he looked around him.


    Nobody was within thirty meters of them, as though an invisible and terrible power was bordering off a certain area around the three of them.


    The noble leading Garen had stopped respectfully, and stood at their right, lowering her head.


    "The area ahead isn¡¯t for us to enter, Palace Master, kindly enter yourself."


    "Interesting."


    Garen licked his lips. The glowing red dragon shadow flashed past his face.


    Bam!


    He forced his hand to step out, as though forcefully embedding his leg into the force field the three of them had gathered in.


    The three dots on his brow became a darker blood-red.


    Garen took two consecutive steps, as though he wasn¡¯t under any obstruction as well, walking straight towards the three of them.


    The force field around him instantly scattered, as though admitting that he was powerful enough to deserve entrance into their circle.


    The four Black Fire Guards couldn¡¯t enter, and could only wait quietly outside.


    "Welcome." As the Kingdom¡¯s strongest fighter by name, mysterious and unpredictable, Benoc began by expressing a friendly attitude towards Garen.


    "Grand Duke Benoc, I have long heard of your reputation from Prynne, nice to meet you, I¡¯m Garen, Garen Trejons." Garen pressed one hand to his chest, and bowed as a junior to a senior.


    "Not bad, not bad!" Benoc laughed and nodded. "Let me introduce you. This is Cody, Grand Duke Cody." He patted the short and plump old man beside him, it seemed that the two of them were closer, which was why he was so casual with him.


    "As for Veska over there, I believe you¡¯ve met a long time ago."


    "Naturally." Garen looked at Veska. The latter nodded calmly, and didn¡¯t express anything more.


    "Since everyone is here, let us begin." Benoc clapped his hands, and said a few words to the herald beside him. "Come, let¡¯s all go in."


    He was the first to walk into the theatre.


    "The Second Nobility Conference, has officially begun!!"


    With the herald¡¯s loud declaration, Garen and the three of them walked into the theatre, followed by the normal high-level nobles, sixteen in total, half of them were the two Grand Duke¡¯s relatives. The rest were some of representatives of the Kingdom¡¯s academies, and the ministers of some important department, such as the minister of military, the minister of finance and so on. These people had some speaking rights when Avic was alive, but at a critical moment like this, since they didn¡¯t have sufficient power, they could only be one step lower than Garen and the others in the hierarchy.


    And then there were the tides and tides of middle-level nobles, these people represented the many different families of all sizes. Some of them took advantage of the chaos to conquer certain territories and benefits, and needed the conference to acknowledge them. Once they succeeded, these properties would then really belong to their families.


    Some of the others were victims, who needed the conference¡¯s power to obtain justice.


    Yet others were observers, here to decide their direction and camp from here on out. The remaining ones had their own plans.


    When the middle-level nobles walked in, the empty theatre filled up quickly and became a lot noisier, buzzing like so many flies in the sky.


    Above the theatre, there had already been a row of chairs arranged by others. There were eight seats in total. They faced the several hundred seats below, from high up above. Guards in dark golden armor surrounded them.


    But right now Garen¡¯s attention was elsewhere.


    In the four corners of the theatre¡¯s black ceiling, there were four pitch-black bat statue gargoyles.


    The four gargoyles had blood-red eyes, curled quietly in the corners, looking like normal ornamental statues, but in truth there was a hint of a strange force in the air.


    Garen pulled back his gaze, and just happened to see Grand Duke Benoc smiled at him slightly.


    This tall and thin old man had pale skin, a tall nose, a cross-shaped scar on his forehead, and a slightly grotesque smile.


    He had evidently realized that Garen had noticed the set-up here.


    He had suggested this conference, so this set-up was naturally his doing as well.

 444 Caesarton 2

    Chapter 444: Caesarton 2


    While the four people, both politically and physically powerful, took their seats up there, the First Princess arrived fashionably late as well, curtsying at everyone before getting seated.


    There was also a handsome copper-skinned man, wearing the signature white-silver colors of royalty, who walked up to the platform and sat together with everyone else. This was obviously the legendary Fourth Prince.


    The Fourth Prince looked utterly confident, exchanging a glance with Grand Duke Cody, smiling composedly as he sat down. At the same time, he nodded politely towards the others.


    Garen sat towards the left near the curtain, the next two seats beside him completely unoccupied.


    He was glad for the quiet too, leaning on the chair back, lacing his fingers together with an expression as though ready to watch the drama unfold.


    The seats beneath him were mostly filled in now as well. The theatre''s doors fell to a gradual close.


    Bam!


    A circle of silver ripples spread across the large arching marbled-white doors, expanding quickly along the surrounding walls, covering all the walls inside the theatre.


    In an instant, all the forces within the theatre became a single entity.


    The middle-level nobles below made a slight commotion, but they quickly settled down.


    "The Second Kovitan Conference! Has officially begun!!" The herald shouted loudly.


    As his voice sounded, the whole theatre slowly fell quiet.


    Benoc smiled slightly, tapping the long white table with his finger.


    Tap-tap!


    "Silence, everyone. Silence!"


    Instantly, everyone inside the theatre fell completely silent, and everyone''s attention focused on Benoc.


    "Yesterday, our Kovitan''s great ruler, His Majesty Avic, passed away due to unfortunate circumstance, and the royal bell of mourning was sounded throughout the Empire. But the dead are gone, and we the living need to consider the serious matters at hand." He spoke slowly and clearly, trying hard to make sure everyone present could understand what he meant.


    "The people seated here, are all those who haven''t abandoned the Empire even at the most crucial moment. Right here, representing Her Highness the First Princess, I sincerely thank all of you."


    Benoc stood, and solemnly bowed slightly towards those seated below.


    Whoa¡­!!


    There was instantly thunderous applause from below.


    It took several whole minutes before Benoc straightened up.


    "Right here, we are gathered together, and everyone''s aim, is to help the Empire through this crisis. The Three¡­"


    Brrr!!!


    The ground started vibrating all of a sudden, as though there was an earthquake, the entire theatre shaking constantly.


    Benoc steadied himself, and even though he was just interrupted, his expression was one of joyful surprise.


    "It''s here!!"


    Grand Duke Cody stood up. Turned his head up to look at the sky.


    The center of the whole theatre''s ceiling began to swirl and open, like a blooming flower, a huge circle hole appearing in the middle to reveal the afternoon sky outside.


    The sky was golden-red.


    The setting sun had dyed the white clouds outside red, and amidst the red clouds, a pillar of silver-white light, straight as an arrow, pierced into the sky.


    Whoosh!!


    The light pillar broke apart the clouds, leaving behind a clear straight white line, flying into the distance.


    Countless clouds surrounded the traces left behind by the pillar of light, twining around it, as some of the sparkles of white light scattered down like raindrops.


    "God bless the Empire!!!"(1) Benoc was the first to yell loudly.


    "God bless the Empire!!" Cody shouted as well.


    "God bless the Empire!!!!!" Suddenly the First Princess, the Fourth Prince, all the attending nobles, everyone all stood up, and yelled passionately.


    They weren''t really sure what happened, but this shot of white light was flying towards the West Farm''s defense lines.


    Before, the Wall of the Empire, General Georbas had led an army to resist the monsters and eventually self-destructed, temporarily slowing the attack of the sea of monsters. Plus there were many monsters, impeding their speed, which was why the Kingdom was spared from attack.


    But everyone was also worried because of this, and half of the people had fled the Kingdom even before the sea of monsters arrived.


    And now with this sudden pillar of white light shooting into the sky, the reactions of Benoc and the others were enough to tell everyone that this was very likely the Empire''s final trump card.


    Garen stood along with the crowd but didn''t shout, simply lip-syncing with them.


    He looked up and watched that pillar of light, even the traces of forces it had left behind could linger in the sky for so long without scattering, and it even permeated through the sky above the entire Kingdom, ending up several tens of kilometers long!


    Such power had indeed far exceeded that of a single Form Four peak-level fighter.


    After the crowd vented their passions for a while, Benoc finally began calming everyone down again.


    "Ladies and gentlemen, our Kovitan''s final shield, Lord Caeserton, has finally been truly activated. "The Ultimate Shelter Caeserton had actually merged fully with the previous emperor, Hanison, but when His Majesty Avic was on his deathbed, he used his life as the price to fully activate Caeserton''s true power as an Original Heirloom. As for the situation here, I invite Her Highness the First Princess who understands it best to explain."


    The First Princess stood up on cue, her expression solemn. She wore wholly white, black crepe tied onto her hand to look like a pure black rose.


    "Caeserton is Kovitan''s biggest secret, and was also the most integral core that Father had been studying his whole life. This Original Heirloom isn''t like what others assumed, with a simple activation maneuver and huge power."


    She paused and glanced beneath her, vaguely seeing some greedy gazes among them.


    "Every time Caeserton is activated, it requires all of the inheritor''s life force. This time, the price was Father!"


    As soon as she said that, the whole audience beneath her gave a jolt.


    Even Garen, sitting at the side, was shaken, he never thought that the price for using Caeserton''s power would be so high! At the same time, he also understood why Benoc and the First Princess would choose to openly announce this secret.


    Obviously, this was to cut off the ambitions of Obscuro and the masterminds behind them. An Heirloom that required all of the inheritor''s life before it could be used, what was the point no matter how strong it was?


    Besides, Caeserton had already been merged into the previous emperor of Kovitan, and it was hard to say what it had become inside. Rather than trying to get this thing, they might as well set their sights elsewhere.


    "That pillar of light just now was the previous emperor hearing His Majesty Avic''s plea, officially activating Caeserton''s power and throwing it all at the sea of monsters near the West Farm defense line." Cody''s deep voice began explaining. He evidently didn''t want the First Princess to keep stealing the show.


    The Fourth Prince stood up hurriedly.


    "Father mentioned before that Caeserton''s power is enough to cover the entire Kingdom of Kovitan, as well as the surrounding area of about five hundred meters in radius. And it can last for thirty years. Therefore, we are now completely safe!"


    "May I ask, can Caeserton''s power truly fight the endless army coming from the nest of monsters?" A bulky middle-aged man from below stood up and asked.


    This man''s forces around his body had actually reached Form Four, he was a Form Four elite fighter!


    He was obviously the representative of that Little Alliance formed by the many different guilds. They didn''t have any peak-level fighters like the Grand Dukes and Garen, and couldn''t get much say through their status, so naturally they didn''t have the right to sit at the very top. But quite a few of the middle-level nobles down there were among their ranks.


    "Of course, this is for certain. Caeserton had fought against the snowstorm disaster from the North for up to ten years, this was recorded in history." The Fourth Prince replied calmly.


    "They''re all Original Heirlooms, so why aren''t the other powers'' Original Heirlooms as powerful as Kovitan''s?" A child stood up, wearing a black cape, and asked like a little adult.


    Sitting at the side, Garen was drinking some fruit juice to moisten his throat, but when he saw this child, he nearly sprayed out that mouthful of juice.


    That child was evidently a member of his Crimson Team, Kid.


    He was still the same as ever, completely wrapped up in black clothes, only revealing his black eyes, a strange air still winding around his entire person.


    How did this guy get in here! Hadn''t he left with the Secret Service?


    Garen was speechless, he wouldn''t forget that this guy could actually kill without hesitation just because Kid was friendly towards him.


    After that large strawberry, he realized that strange things would always show up around Kid.


    Hurriedly swallowing his juice, Garen waved at Kid.


    "About that, the price to be paid is directly proportional to the rewards." The Fourth Prince was in the middle of answering Kid''s question. But suddenly he saw the boy retreat into the crowd, and vanished as though he had gone invisible.


    At the same time, a small head popped out from behind Garen''s seat, it was Kid who had just been beneath the stage.


    The crowd beneath the stage began to rumble again.


    A hint of surprise flashed past the eyes of the other three strong fighters on stage, but none of them showed anything strange.


    The Fourth Prince and the First Princess were also people who had seen all sorts of strange powers, so they paused for just a moment before continuing to answer questions from beneath the stage.


    "Why didn''t you leave?"


    Garen said quietly to Kid behind him.


    "You haven''t left, and you still owe me money." Kid said matter-of-factly. "Of course, the main reason is that I realized that compared to the others, you are more¡­" Suddenly his voice went silent. As though he was a duck whose throat had gotten abruptly stuck, he went completely quiet.


    Garen turned back to look at him in confusion.


    He saw Kid''s mouth hanging open, his black eyes like dark deep bottomless black holes, staring hard at Grand Duke Cody''s direction.


    Following Kid''s gaze, Garen paused slightly.


    Behind Grand Duke Cody''s seat, just like his, there was a little girl in a red dress who wasn''t even as tall as the chair.


    The little girl was completely wrapped in a red cloak, revealing only a pair of blood-red eyes, dressed extremely similar to Kid.


    The little white legs sticking out from under the little girl''s dress looked completely bloodless, barefoot, and gave off the strange feeling as though they were swollen and about to rot.


    Just like Kid, the girl was staring hard this way as well.


    Suddenly, thick blood began to flow slowly down the girl''s inner right thigh, flowing down her thigh to her calf, all the way down to her foot, but as it was about to touch the floor, Garen''s eyes blurred suddenly.


    He blinked, and realized that the blood had somehow disappeared.


    Garen looked at the girl''s head instead.


    She suddenly pulled up her mask, revealing a fair, delicate chin and a small blood-red mouth.


    Bleh!


    The girl suddenly stuck her little tongue out at Garen.


    It was supposed to be a mischievous and adorable action, but after she stuck out her tongue, she didn''t pull it back in, instead making it longer and longer, longer and longer.


    The previously pink tongue had somehow become blood-red, and kept going down, falling to her chest, stomach, groin, legs, and like a snake, began to twine and crawl up the little girl''s right shoulder, poking the tip over her shoulder.


    "Lu-lu-lu¡­"


    The girl seemed to be making a cute face, but Garen didn''t find it cute in the slightest. He just felt a terrifying feeling surge over to him endlessly.


    Suddenly, a tiny figure in a black cloak stood in front of him. Blocking away all of that terrible air.


    It was Kid!


    Translator''s notes:


    ÌìÓÓµÛ¹ú, lit. Heaven bless the Empire

 445 Parliament Established 1

    Chapter 445: Parliament Established 1


    In the sky above the Kovistan Kingdom


    A hemispherical silver veil of light was rapidly spreading towards its surroundings.


    Like a hemispherical glass cover, it kept expanding, quickly expanding in all directions.


    All the people and objects covered by the veil of light didn¡¯t change in the slightest.


    Some people looked up and stared at the sky blankly, watching as the veil of light disappeared into the distance before vanishing at the horizon.


    A few black Stone-Armored Rhinos in the bushes turned their heads towards the direction where the veil of light had left.


    Moo~~~


    The rhinos called out in their deep voices.


    A group of large white birds flying quickly in the sky were shocked by the veil of light that brushed past in an instant, and scattered.


    In the distance, the veil of light went across the mountain, crossed the plains, leaped over valleys, and scaled hills.


    An oval shroud of light seemed to have fallen over everything around the Kovistan Kingdom. It completely covered a large area of and around the entire Kingdom.


    The shroud of light was fully silver-white, and was slightly translucent, the shadowy figure of a man¡¯s top half with his arms held wide open appearing vaguely at the very top.


    The man seemed to be hugging something, his gentle gaze looking down, as though carrying endless nostalgia. His lower half was directly connected to the shroud of light, his whole body glowing with a faint silver light, himself vaguely translucent. As though he was an unbelievably huge statue of light.


    Countless people and animals raised their heads, trying to decipher the man¡¯s shadowy face, but they couldn¡¯t see him clearly no matter what.


    The shroud of light lasted for a few minutes, and eventually disappeared totally together with the figure of the man.


    Just then, the endless black sea of monsters swept over heaven and earth, all surging towards the direction of the Kingdom.


    The innumerable monsters gathered together, like a black tide, rushing madly towards the Kingdom.


    Roar!!!


    Within the sea of monsters, a black centaur-like monster, several dozen meters tall, threw its head back and howled at the sky.


    It had black curved goat¡¯s horns on either side of its ears, the neat and dense fur on its back burning with crimson flames, as though they would never go out. The flames danced constantly, scattering bits of red sparks.


    All the monsters around this goat-horned centaur moved faster than the others, their bodies considerably lighter.


    There were several hundred of these goat-horned centaurs in the sea of monsters, and others kept showing up quickly behind them.


    A huge grey stone statue of an angel in the sky held a huge sword in its right hand, flying towards the Kingdom. It was followed by large herds of little red monsters, the groups of red Unihorn Lizards screeching as they flew around the angel, mixed with some huge, fully white bats.


    There were also some floating eyeball-like monsters. They occasionally shot out beams of black light. The beams splashed apart when they hit the floor, turning into countless dots of black light, sticking onto the monsters within several hundred meters of them, causing these monsters to keep expanding as though their bodies were being inflated with air, becoming stronger and stronger.


    Bam!!


    The first huge black wolf monster stepped onto the ground that was covered by the shroud of light.


    In an instant, it howled in agony, its whole body rapidly burning starting from its feet, the white flames engulfing it from bottom up. In the blink of an eye, it was completely lit on fire.


    The huge wolf darted out several meters away, and turned into black ash with a whoosh, disappearing completely.


    Hot on its heels, countless monsters rushed into the area covered by the shroud of light.


    In an instant, countless white fire torches were lit on the ground.


    Bam-bam!


    The huge goat-horned centaur swept aside the other monsters around it, and ran directly into the area covered by the shroud of light.


    Roar!!!


    Its whole body was instantly ignited with an intense milk-white flame, holding its arms out, it suddenly began howling madly, the scarlet flames on its back rapidly extending downwards, as though trying to stop the white flames.


    But eerily, the red flames were directly absorbed into the white fire, and the flames grew stronger.


    The goat-horned centaur was more than twenty meters tall, but it only lasted several seconds, and was directly burnt into black ash, scattering in the wind.


    The endless sea of monsters kept rushing into this area of white fire, and then turned into countless black flames.


    Strangely, the more monsters rushed in, the faster the white flames burned and destroyed.


    A-wooo!!!!


    The huge wolf had a wolf¡¯s torso but its bottom half was that of a giant python, pale white flames burning around its body but somehow not igniting anything else around it, as though it was just an illusion.


    The huge figure, more than thirty meters tall, stood like a coral outside the area of the shroud of light.


    "Purified Land¡­" The white wolf actually spoke in a deep voice. It was the Enderian language! "To think that after all these years, I could still see Kovistan¡¯s Wheel of Purification, Caeserton."


    "It can only last thirty years, after thirty years, we can still continue to rule this earth." The other, largest stone angel statue slowly landed beside the huge wolf, and instantly trampled large masses of small monsters and dead babies. It was somehow speaking Enderian as well.


    "Or maybe it won¡¯t take thirty years¡­" The wolf licked its lips. "Once the President(1) wakes up, we won¡¯t need to go to all this trouble anymore."


    "Seems like you¡¯re doing pretty well with this clone, aren¡¯t you?" The huge stone angel statue glanced at the wolf in surprise.


    This statue, the largest one, was more than sixty meters tall, twice the height of the wolf, but the two of them seem to be equal in standing, without any difference in level due to the discrepancy in height."


    "Although I don¡¯t have the brute power you do, what¡¯s important is that I don¡¯t spend as much either. And I can control it perfectly," the wolf replied. "Since the Wheel of Purification had finally appeared, do we still continue attacking?"


    "There¡¯s no need, although our plan only succeeded halfway, the change in the situation is already enough. What¡¯s important is Daniela. My real body and the other two clones are there, but I¡¯m not powerful enough, this side is a lot easier."


    "Then I¡¯ll go meet my other clone, I can¡¯t simply lose the Distorted Beads." The wolf retreated slowly, and turned around, running back towards the direction it came.


    "There are fifteen nest leaders, and three of them are Form Four nests, hehe¡­ If this plan completely succeeds, the entire Kovistan won¡¯t be able to fight back, unfortunately¡­"


    The stone angel stared at the faraway Kingdom, and after standing there for a moment, it also spread its wings, flying back the way it came. Among the countless advancing monsters in the crowd, its figure was totally unassuming, and rapidly disappeared into the sea of monsters.


    ******************


    Outside the area shrouded by light around the Kingdom, in a small and isolated valley


    Beckstone opened his eyes slowly, lying in the mud with his face covered in black dust.


    "Ugh¡­"


    He propped up his body, his entire body covered in wet black mud, his long robes completely sullied into a black-grey color.


    The bearded uncle was lying not far away from him, and the Eleventh Princess Tina lay beside him, the two of them cushioned by a white object that looked like a circular mushroom, protecting the two of them perfectly.


    Cough cough¡­


    Beckstone bent his head and coughed a few times, spitting out a large mouthful of foul mud. He raised his sleeve to wipe the mud away from his face, but it just made his entire face even more filthy.


    He looked up to see what was above their heads, and saw that a hole, several meters wide, had been punctured through the previously dense forest canopy. The sunlight shone down through the hole, and the Black Crow King was nowhere to be seen, which meant it had probably thrown them off after a struggle, and escaped on its own.


    The three of them were already grievously injured, their Totem Lights punctured through, and their core totems useless. They only had the Totem Light of their support totems in case of emergency. Before they ran, they were hit by the Nine-Headed Dragon¡¯s poisonous gas spray, and Beckstone still felt utterly weak even now, the Solidifying Tactic he had on him, Purifying Spirit Light, had been completely countered. He could clearly feel it, the poison swirling in his chest, like a cold snake.


    Touching his waist pouch, Beckstone was just planning to take out his pocket-watch to see the time. But his hand found nothing. His waist pouch had long since disappeared in their bid for escape. Who knew where it had fallen.


    Actually, now that he really thought about it, he didn¡¯t have many memories of his hatred or his surprise towards the Nine-Headed Dragon, Garen. In this period of time, after finding out a lot about Garen from Mr Emin, he had a clearer understanding of this man who had once been Acacia Trejons.


    After his escape this time, he also felt that Garen wasn¡¯t really in all that much of a hurry to kill them. It felt as though he was simply killing time, or playing with some toys. He didn¡¯t really want to kill the three of them.


    Although he didn¡¯t know why, but add that to the previous incident, and Beckstone was slowly starting to feel his hatred towards Garen fade.


    Since then, it wasn¡¯t just with the Nine-Headed Dragon, he experienced many things in many other situations as well, and this had completely rubbed away Beckstone¡¯s past arrogance. He understood as well, that in this world, talent wasn¡¯t enough to take you to the top. Talent merely put your starting point slightly higher compared to others, but the of factors that truly decided how high you could go, one was the accumulation of time, and the other, persistence.


    He surveyed his terrible condition.


    "How pitiful." Beckstone smiled bitterly. He took off his filthy overcoat and threw it directly to the ground, but the clothes inside had mostly been soaked through by the mud as well. Not only had they turned gray-black, they were also emitting an intense odor. Some bugs he couldn¡¯t name were crawling all over them.


    After some hesitation, Beckstone raised his left hand, and twisted the black metal ring on his little finger.


    The finger did not react.


    Beckstone blinked, and twisted the black ring on his ring finger instead.


    He waited a moment, but there was still no reaction.


    Beckstone froze, his gaze falling on the yellow wooden ring on his middle finger. Neither of his communicative rings had any signal to reach others. Now all he had left was the one ring he didn¡¯t want to use in the slightest.


    The person who gave him this ring had so connections to Terraflor, but was instead a totem user with Obscuro. Each of the people these three rings could reach specialized in providing a certain service.


    In exchange for a price, he could obtain temporary hiring, medical, or protection services.


    It was like an elite fighter¡¯s seal, one ring could usually equal to one commission.


    And now, of the three rings he had prepared this time, two of them were useless, leaving him with the final, most dangerous one.


    Translator¡¯s note:


    É糤, lit. president of a/the society

 446 Parliament Established 2

    Chapter 446: Parliament Established 2


    Beckstone looked at the two people lying beside him, especially the unconscious Eleventh Princess, Tina. This adorable little girl had blood clotting on her forehead, her beautiful hair scattered and her face pale. Her lips were also turning vaguely purple, which meant she had slight poisoning.


    Even though she had Beard''s protection, as a normal person, it was probably inevitable that she would be slightly affected by the poisonous gas.


    Seeing how bad Tina''s condition was, Beckstone finally made the decision, and twisted the yellow wooden ring on his middle finger.


    Brr!


    The ring instantly shone with a faint yellow light.


    "Oh my my, to think you actually contacted me? How surprising." A slightly piercing woman''s voice came from within the ring.


    "Miss Nesat¡­ I really have no other choice." Beckstone replied with a bitter smile.


    **************


    Garen''s expression was stormy as he pressed his hand to the armrest of his chair.


    "I don''t need you to protect me from evil intentions." He said calmly, "Stand aside, Kid."


    "She''s different from totem users." Kid slowly stepped aside, and that little girl had utterly vanished.


    On the other hand, it was Grand Duke Cody who narrowed his eyes, and looked their way.


    Their gazes met, and both saw something inexplicable in the other''s eyes.


    In unison, he and Garen broke away their gazes.


    "Different? How so?"


    The First Princess and the Fourth Prince were battling over who could win the support of the nobles beneath them, keeping up performances and making promises.


    Meanwhile, Garen and Kid spoke quietly at his seat.


    Kid returned to standing at Garen''s left.


    "I don''t know, either." He seemed to be considering how to explain it. After a moment''s silence, he finally spoke,


    "Our existence is different from that of normal people. In many ways."


    Garen''s gaze was sharp as he glanced at Grand Duke Cody''s surroundings, but he didn''t catch another glimpse of that little girl.


    "Interesting, my interest in that little fella just now is growing¡­" He was starting to get slightly excited.


    "She chose that person as her Imprint."


    "Imprint? What''s that?"


    "It''s a symbiotic relationship, if we want to use our own power, we need to sign an Imprint with someone." Kid explained a lot more clearly this time. "I can only remember this much, I can''t remember anything else."


    "No rush, you''ll know eventually." Garen smiled, calmed down his emotions, and once more brought his attention back to the conference.


    Just then, there was a giant white oval mirror hanging in the air above the conference.


    The mirror reflected images of the sea of monsters far, far away. Countless monsters rushed into the land surrounding the Kingdom in droves, and were all set aflame, turning into white torches of fire, rapidly scattering into countless black ashes.


    lowly, some of the stronger monsters began to retreat.


    Although the nest leaders weren''t particularly smart, they still knew how to instinctively avoid danger. As the nest leaders retreated, the monsters following those nests also began to leave in herds.


    As the monsters kept retreating, tides upon tides of cheers washed over from the bottom of the stage.


    Everyone heaved a sigh of relief.


    As emotions were running too high, and could not be suppressed for now, they had no choice but to take a timeout.


    Just then, on the higher seats, Veska stood up, gathered those who controlled the three armies and said something softly to them, his expression solemn.


    Grand Duke Benoc stood together with the First Princess, chatting about something cheerfully.


    The Fourth Prince was accepting questions from the nobles at close range.


    On the other hand, Grand Duke Cody got up straight away, and walked towards Garen.


    Garen got up as well.


    "Your Excellency the Grand Duke, I just saw the little fella behind you. She sure is cute." He smiled, reaching out his hand.


    The two of them shook hands.


    Hearing Garen''s words, Cody''s eyes flashed with a steely light.


    "I didn''t think you would be a Listener''s Imprint as well, after all these years, I could count the number of Imprints I''ve met on one hand, and here I thought no one else would know this secret."


    "Oh? What secret?" Garen looked utterly mystified.


    "You don''t know?" Cody was slightly stunned.


    "Should I know?" Garen asked back.


    "Can I see the Imprint on your hand?" Cody paused, and requested.


    Garen was about to reply when suddenly he felt Kid grab his right hand.


    All of a sudden, there was a burning sensation on the back of his hand. This feeling only flashed by for a second, and then vanished as rapidly.


    Garen looked at Kid, and saw him shake his head slightly.


    "Sorry, seems like I jumped to conclusions." Cody smiled instantly, and said no more as he turned back to return to his seat, sitting down.


    Only then did Garen raise his right hand and looked at it.


    The back of his right hand was printed with a small red dot, like a tiny round red mole, as though someone had dotted his hand lightly with red ink.


    "What is this?"


    "An Imprint." Kid replied honestly, "When I heard that guy ask you just now, I accidentally Imprinted it onto your hand."


    "What is this for?" Garen was speechless.


    Kid looked frustrated.


    "I don''t know either, this is my first time giving someone an Imprint. In any case, any Imprinted people would get certain benefits, but these benefits are easily absorbed and robbed away by other Imprints, after absorbing them, the successful robber will keep getting stronger."


    "You must be careful." After that, Kid added, "I think this Imprint can allow you to enter the world I can listen to."


    "The world you can listen to?" Garen''s heart skipped a beat. For some reason, he had inexplicably thought of the Secret Technique World he was at before he transmigrated here.


    "Also, you gotta protect me." Kid hurriedly added, "That little girl just now wanted to steal my powers."


    "Alright, alright, I''ll protect you." Garen patted Kid''s head. "Even though I still don''t really know what''s up here."


    "I knew I was right in choosing you!" Smilingly, Kid took a plum out of pocket. The plum was strangely slightly blackened, but Kid threw the whole thing into his mouth and started chewing it loudly.


    "Do you want one?" He pulled out another plum and held it in his palm.


    Garen glanced at these plums, both of which were round and smooth, with thin skin and thick flesh, looking fresh and juicy.


    But thinking back to that strawberry from last time, he suddenly had no appetite.


    "Forget it, you eat it yourself."


    Coming back to the present.


    The site of the conference was slowly growing quiet.


    The First Princess spoke again.


    "At this conference today, as a representative of the royal family, I announce that Kovitan''s National Parliament is hereby established!!"


    Whoaaa!!!


    There was thunderous applause.


    Everybody present began clapping excitedly.


    That was followed by the distribution of seats. Now that the threat had been nullified, everyone was a lot more relaxed, and the Parliamentary voting seats were divided according to status and faction. Nobody had any objections.


    The four powers: The First Princess and Benoc, the Fourth Prince and Cody, Garen and Edin, the Little Alliance. The four powers were the core forces that decided the Kingdom''s current situation. So they equally split eighty percent of the votes.


    Garen and Edin got twenty votes, meaning each of them had ten votes, while the remaining twenty votes went to the middle- and low-level nobles, sending their representative to cast their votes.


    That way, the basic structure was settled.


    Although it looked very fair on the surface, but in truth, the ones who had the most advantage were Benoc and Cody, they were both Grand Dukes, and had many relatives below them, as well as hordes of noble children and nephews, who made up a substantial portion of the normal middle-level nobles. They had a large influence over those final twenty public votes.


    But in any case, Garen had no intention to fight for power, he was fine as long as he himself was comfortable. Political nfluence and physical power were always connected, no matter which world it was. He just needed to raise his own abilities, and his political power would naturally grow as well.


    In the end, the conference ended. Everyone was dismissed, and the conference''s doors opened grandly.


    Everyone stood up respectively.


    Garen brought Kid and the four Black Fire Guards with him, walking towards the side door.


    "Palace Master." Suddenly the First Princess'' voice came from behind him.


    Garen turned around, and saw the First Princess walk over to him gracefully, her low-cut black dress wrapping her slender waist tightly, emphasizing her perky chest even more. Her long slender legs showed vaguely through the slit of dress, so high it nearly split to the tops of her thighs. It gave her an air of pure, sexy temptation.


    "Your Highness? Is there a problem?" Garen lowered his head in a slight bow.


    "Can''t I talk to you without a problem?" The First Princess looked slightly wistful. She approached Garen lightly, her body tilting forward and the tip of her nose about to touch Garen''s chin. The tips of her firm breasts brushed past Garen''s chest lightly.


    "My words from before, still stand now¡­" A thin, soft voice, as soft as a mosquito''s hum, reached Garen''s ears.


    The First Princess finished speaking, and took her servants away with her as she left with light steps.


    Grand Duke Benoc smiled suggestively as he nodded at Garen, and then took his people away as well.


    "Boss, don''t touch that girl." Kid''s voice came from behind him. "That woman''s body has a problem."


    "That''s how she was controlling all these master fighters to serve her, it''d be weird if she didn''t have a problem." Garen nodded in understanding. "Let''s go, this time we''ve confirmed the situation in Kovitan."


    The situation in the Kingdom had settled, and it would definitely cause the surrounding areas to stabilize as well, while the refugees who had escaped to the other chaotic defense lines would also slowly grow steady. But after this raid by the monsters, the crops that they had just planted had all basically gone to waste, so the issue of food would be the biggest problem at hand.


    Garen suddenly thought of Beckstone and the others, he had always been using Beckstone as the standard to measure the progress of history, to see how far history had gone according to the original.


    In the original history, while Obscuro rose and the royal family fell, due to the continuous warring and riots, as well as the raiding by the monsters, even though Obscuro succeeded, the civilians nevertheless descended into an abyss of despair, as food and water had to be purified before it could be eaten, now that everything had been polluted.


    Many civilians starved to death, since they couldn''t afford to eat the food that had become so expensive.


    That was when Terraflor''s largest advantage finally took centerstage.


    They had powerful control over plants, allowing them to own incomparably cheap crops and food, hastening the growth of paddy as well as other fruits and vegetables to win the support of the majority.


    "I wonder if Ivycius'' men have found Beckstone and the others." In the original history, Beckstone and the others had successfully escaped the palace, but they weren''t so badly injured, instead they had encountered that poison witch from the Secret Service, and were heavily poisoned by her.


    He didn''t know whether they would still encounter that Black Nesat this time.


    "Is there still anyone in headquarters?" Garen asked.


    "Very few, not many left." Kid answered honestly.


    "Let''s go see." If he could meet the Black Nesat, he might as well settle their grudges from before.

 447 Stable 1

    Chapter 447: Stable 1


    Several days later


    Black Fire Palace back garden


    Bam!


    Garen thrust out his first and pulled it back slowly, as though pulling something from mid-air, countless white mists appeared in the air, like white ropes, and madly gathered in his hand.


    Like a huge white web.


    Garen wore loose white clothes, closing his eyes to concentrate, and then he swung out his left hand as a fist again.


    Bam!!


    There was another dull sound in the air.


    "Do you need me for something?" Ivycius was slowly walking out from the corridor on the right of the garden. Looking at Garen, doing his morning exercises in the garden.


    "How¡¯s the situation on Beckstone¡¯s side?" Garen asked with his eyes closed, never stopping his movements for a moment.


    Turning around, thrusting his fist, reaching out his palm, as the white mist around him roiled around, giving off a foggy, blurry feeling.


    The flowers and plants in the garden, and the surrounding varde flowers kept waving in the mist, whooshing as they went. The pebbles and dried leaves on the ground also formed whirlwinds of different sizes, constantly spinning.


    Ivycius watched Garen train casually. He replied,


    "My men have searched the whole area around their landing spot, we could only find the marks of their landing, they probably ran away. After all, Form Four fighters would have a few survival methods no matter what."


    "Then forget it, there¡¯s no rush for now, when the time comes they will naturally appear, how about the Wells Castle?" Garen spread open his fingers and grabbed lightly, five little snakes made of white clouds appearing instantly and then disappearing as rapidly.


    "The people from the Secret Service have all left. We didn¡¯t find that Black Nesat you were talking about." Ivycius replied calmly. "What do you plan to do now? Just staying here and training?"


    Garen gradually pulled back his stance and stood on the spot. Ever since his fight with Ivycius, he had obtained a brand new and deeper understanding of the secret techniques he had learned before.


    "The situation has just only stabilized here, if we want to take root here, we have no choice but to stay temporarily and steady our forces here."


    "It¡¯s not that easy to steady our forces, since we¡¯re the ones controlling the palaces. As Palace masters, we had always been sponsored by the royal family, paid from the country¡¯s coffers, but now that Avic is dead, our main source of income has been cut off as well."


    "Other than the royal family¡¯s sponsorship, what other sources of income did we have back then?" Garen accepted some faintly salty water from a Black Fire Guard at the side, and gargled lightly, then he used a warm and damp towel to wipe the sweat from his body.


    "There are also the offerings and teaching fees from our disciples." Ivycius said mildly.


    "Then we¡¯ll start from there." Garen smiled slightly. He was preparing to introduce the things he learned from the Secret Technique World to this world. Naturally, he couldn¡¯t simply reveal his secret techniques, these were a form of martial arts that required a background in the culture, and wasn¡¯t something one genius could invent by himself. Anybody with a good eye could be able to discover the completely different culture embedded in them.


    But while the secret techniques couldn¡¯t be taught, basic martial arts and fighting techniques would be fine.


    Some totem users liked close combat as well, and although there were Master-level fighters among the normal people, their martial arts had never been appreciated by others. And they were an utter mess, with not a single unified system.


    "Thankfully I have the Green Vine Sphere here, so other than the Black Fire Guards ability, I can also bestow Totem Light on regular armor. This will infinitely reduce the distance between normal people and regular totem users. Wouldn¡¯t this prove to be the best basics?"


    "Aren¡¯t you afraid of raising a future threat? Since your father could create the Green Vine Sphere, surely someone would be able to neutralize it."


    "That was why Avic was too scared to use this on a larger scale, right?" Garen said calmly, "If I don¡¯t even have that much generosity, what right do I have to pursue the legendary Strongest Way?"


    "The Strongest Way?" That was the first time Ivycius heard Garen mention his dreams.


    "That¡¯s right. I used to contemplate often, how the universe has limitless colors, limitless miracles, limitless mysteries, limitless horizons. Since I was already born into this world, if I don¡¯t see and experience everything I find interesting, then wouldn¡¯t I have come to this world only to waste my life?"


    Garen had recently started fusing his fist fighting secret techniques, and in his silence, he had an enormous aura like the peaceful sea.


    Every day, he would use his own body to channel the Myriad Water Jasper Technique, his unimaginably powerful Nine-Headed Dragon¡¯s body had its blood qi rise and fall like the tide in the process of training with his secret techniques. It was enormous. It reflected back to nourish Garen¡¯s spirit, until his spirit reached an indescribable level. He was also growing closer to the legendary Form Five.


    Every time he channeled his blood qi and made it boil, Garen could feel the Nine-Headed Demon Dragon¡¯s body slowly merging with his own. The huge totem power kept slowly nourishing and modifying his body.


    If the other Form Five totem users could only start training their secret techniques after they achieved the highest form of merging, then Garen was approaching the peak of this step by using his level as the strongest secret technique practitioner, the King of the Century.


    He just had to achieve Form Five, and then he could instantly reach the very peak of the Form Fives.


    This was the base he had forged himself from the previous world. It was a spiritual level and height.


    This was the powerful will that came from countless battles of life and death.


    In the Secret Technique World, although Garen had his special power to help him, he still experienced many life-and-death battles. And as he continuously crossed swords with many peak-level masters of the ancient martial arts, he had successfully walked out of his failures and fears, the martial arts of his spirit having achieved an extremely high level.


    The more he feared something, the more this will of his made him excited.


    Because he could feel terror, that meant he had seen a taller mountain for him to scale.


    Ivycius was the person closest to him, and the one who had the best view of the changes Garen had been undergoing recently. He also knew the method to train for Form Five, but usually Form Five required a period of adaptation after the user merged with the totem.


    This was because a person¡¯s will couldn¡¯t control the totem¡¯s massive power. This adaptation period was a time to get used to it. Usually, this would require years. The stronger the totem, the more years needed to get used to it and adapt.


    Only after experiencing this adaptation period, could someone truly be considered a Form Five elite fighter. Even the Form Five fighter that spent the shortest amount of time in this adaptation period used a full twenty years. The longer ones could take up to a century.


    This was also the main reason most Form Five users didn¡¯t usually walk the grid, they were too busy adapting, so they sent their clones out, and let their wills continuously adapt to the totem.


    Even for those powerful fighters who had experienced the adaptation period, if they wanted to use their totem bodies to learn the secret techniques that had been discovered in the ruins, that would also be an extremely long process. A decade or two would pass like nothing. Each time they tried to train, during the time it took for them to close and open their eyes again, even their grandchildren¡¯s grandchildren might have been born.


    And they could only start from the beginning after achieving Form Five, by channeling their immense blood qi through their bodies, which made it far harder than using just a normal person¡¯s body.


    This was Garen¡¯s biggest advantage, in that he could easily learn this sort of secret technique.


    "Is your dream to pursue the position of the strongest?" Ivycius looked at Garen, as though affected by this atmosphere, his experience growing slightly solemn as well.


    "Rather than pursuing the position of the strongest, it¡¯s more like I want to overcome life and death." Garen replied calmly, "I¡¯m just a normal person myself, it¡¯s just that my desire to avoid death is too strong." It was as though he had instantly returned to that pure state of mind he had in the Secret Technique World.


    "Once you reach the strongest, nothing will be a threat to you?" Ivycius was slightly surprised.


    "Perhaps." Garen didn¡¯t reply, it was a question even he didn¡¯t really know the answer to.


    "We better return to the previous problem, since we have no source of income, and we also need to build a strong influence. Then let¡¯s open the palace doors."


    "Open the palace doors? You intend to?" Ivycius had thought that Garen had only wanted to expand a little, but to think he actually¡­


    "That¡¯s right, I plan to truly open the palace doors, and recruit disciples on a large scale!" Garen said deeply.


    He didn¡¯t want to teach the Secret Technique World¡¯s secret techniques, that was his biggest secret, no matter how much of a genius he was, it wasn¡¯t something he could create by himself in such a short frame of time. What he truly wanted to teach was a series of understanding he had come to after coming to this world and using the Totem Light to fight.


    With Garen¡¯s level now, without using any of the Secret Technique World¡¯s secret technique basics, it was still possible for him to invent some rough and simple blood qi channeling methods without revealing anything.


    Although it wouldn¡¯t reach the level of secret techniques, but mixed with the martial arts and fighting techniques of this world¡¯s masters, he could naturally still form a school of his own.


    During these days, the stuff he had been training every day were the simple exercises he was planning to teach. At the most, these exercises could only train the human body to infinitely approach the level of a Grandmaster of Combat, but it could never break the limits of this world. So it couldn¡¯t be called a secret technique.


    The so-called secret technique was something that could theoretically approach the level of a Grandmaster of Combat, a secretive form of martial arts that could approach the limits of the human body.


    Garen¡¯s aim now was only to build his own power and influence, so naturally he didn¡¯t have to go so far.


    This rough and shoddy exercise, added with some various other useless steps and methods that he himself couldn¡¯t remember, plus some messy, meaningless spirit training methods. He hid the truest, simplest technique into the countless intercepting signals.


    This guaranteed that Black Sky from Obscuro, and the ancient antiques of Terraflor, would definitely be unable to decipher its secrets.


    Seeing Ivycius¡¯ somewhat surprised expression, Garen continued.


    "I invented a form of fighting exercise, upon surveying all of the normal people¡¯s fighting techniques from this world, I noticed that most of them began from the outside moving in, and there are even some Master-level fighters who achieved the peak of their techniques. Unfortunately they worked for most of their lives, and still can¡¯t defeat even a normal Form One totem user. In the world of normal people, this sort of elite martial arts fighter would naturally grow weaker in influence. But everything will change with this Green Vine Sphere technique of mine."


    He smiled slightly.


    "I plan to use the Green Vine Sphere as the basic, and use the normal people as the base, to create a force that belongs to us completely."


    "As long as you don¡¯t find it troublesome." Ivycius gave Garen a long look. Then he turned around and left.


    Garen stood alone in the garden.


    "Won¡¯t it be fine as long as I give all the troublesome bits to the people most suited to handling it?"


    He reached out with one hand and grabbed with his five fingers, so the countless white wisps appeared instantly, surrounding and dancing around his arm like many little snakes.


    These simple exercises used his Ten Thousand Mammoths technique as a base, and was an adaptation of his Northern Capturing Hand. He used his own body to vibrate rapidly, the blood qi inside turning and rippling, absorbing the countless water vapor around him to form rapidly vibrating micro water droplets that could permeate into the enemy¡¯s body and wreak havoc.


    After Garen simplified it, this simple set of exercises created from this move could also control water vapor to permeate and destroy the enemy¡¯s insides, while at the same time he could also use Totem Light to sense the movements of any possible threats around. Once it was given the quality of Totem Light, this move¡¯s ability to kill and destroy tracelessly would be unstoppable! If enough water vapor was gathered, the ripple of water vapor summoned would be bigger and bigger, stacking up to an extremely powerful vibrating force with countless water vapor. Even if its ability to break defenses was slightly weaker, it was still a peak-level ability to cause large-scale destruction.


    In terms of power, once it was trained to the peak, it could at least reach the Form Four level.

 448 Stable 2

    Chapter 448: Stable 2


    Of course, this happened when the Green Vine Sphere was given Totem Light characteristics.


    However, these exercises had to be created, and although they were minor exercises in the Secret Technique world and therefore were very rough, once they were integrated with Totem Light, they could then be considered as rare and powerful resolutions.


    However, exercises were merely exercises, and of all the people who had practiced Secret Techniques like the Southern Holy Fist Gate, Neptune Fist, Red Sand Sword, Star Ring Door and many others, how many of them had actually reached the absolute cutting edge like Garen or Cayduran?


    Appraisal, perseverance,will, luck. They were all elements that one could not lack on the path to the top.


    Thus, though these exercises were created, a worthy disciple would still be needed to inherit them.


    The techniques of the Green Vine Sphere would be discovered sooner or later. It was a matter of time. However, the imprints left by these exercises would never disappear.


    A great martial art with this as its foundation would need to be established, to allow the disciples to possess a sense of belonging, so that everyone would automatically allow themselves to be part of the group.


    Of course, preparations on the Green Vine Sphere were needed as well. Then, they would truly be able to achieve an incomparable synergy, and regardless of whether or not the Green Vine Sphere techniques would be discovered elsewhere, the effects on them would be negligible..


    Garen narrowed his eyes and left the flower garden. After washing himself, he wore his clothes neatly, before walking straight out of the Black Fire Palace, towards the palace book collection hall.


    Currently, he and Ivycius were the only ones living in the palace due to the sheer destruction that swept the area. The princess and the royal family had moved into the other palaces on the opposite side of the abyss to seek refuge.


    The whole KIngdom was separated into three hilltop territories. The center of which was near to a large canyon where large clouds rolled by, and each side was connected by a stone bridge,


    The Palace District and the Cloud Light District were conjoined on top of the largest and tallest cluster of hills. Looking from afar, the black palace had undulating layers, towering minarets, and high, scale-like walls.


    The other two hilltops were slightly smaller, and were both Trading Districts. One of the hilltops had been built with a palace.


    Along the way, Garen saw many of Ivycius¡¯s subordinates supervising the tasks being carried out to clean up the debris in the damaged palace.


    When they saw him, they all bowed with their faces in awe and their heads lowered.


    He reached the book collection hall, where there was only a single Black Fire Guard guarding the doorway.


    Walking into the palace, on both sides of the dark golden hall were countless, tightly-packed copper-coloured bookshelves.


    The interior of the palace was almost completely empty; there were less than ten people who were standing in front of the bookshelves with books in their hands.


    In the book collection hall, as long as the aristocrats paid a reading fee, they were allowed to come in to research information and learn about subjects that they wished to have a deeper understanding of. Of course, the books were separated by level, and books of different levels would require different fees. Moreover, they were not allowed to be borrowed out to be read outside the library.


    Garen walked in quietly, without attracting anyone¡¯s attention. He glanced at the bronze notice sign at the doorway which acted as a directory to the different contents of each area¡¯s bookshelves.


    Garen, who had already visited this place yesterday, immediately walked towards the area that he was looking for. He stepped past a few bookshelves, before taking out a black copper key and opening a small door on the wall, then walking inside.


    There were two large bookshelves filled with books inside. This was different from the outside, because the books on these shelves all had black covers, while the front of the bookshelves were engraved with secret characters.


    These were the records of the research findings by the scholars and researchers after many years, under the command of Avic. There were research notes, and also some precious documents that were nearly out of print, including some of the best academic books.


    For most people, even if they were Form 2 or Form 3 Totem Users, if they stood in his position, they could not even dream of understanding the important information there. Perhaps the Forgers and Luminarists who were proficient in research would be able to understand, but even ten years of painstaking studying were not equivalent to reading these Bible-like books.


    But Garen was different.


    Although Attribute Points were unable upgrade Secret Techniques, learning new knowledge could still prove to be extremely useful nonetheless.


    Garen¡¯s foundation was already very good, firstly because of Edin¡¯s teachings and books, later Reylan, then Windling, and Vanderman¡¯s underground book collection and research journals. After his exchanges and the nurturing he received from these talents with excellent techniques, it added to his terrifyingly powerful photographic memory.


    Here, the advantages of his ten full intelligence points would finally come to fruition.


    These attributes allowed his logical thinking to become more cautious and efficient. His memory and rationality had become stronger as well. In other words, it made his brain more advanced, enabling the potential of his brain to reach frightening heights.


    But to Garen, these things were only useful when he was studying and acquiring knowledge here.


    It was as if someone was handed a pistol but never fired a round, which, in the end, would result in the the pistol being completely useless. Even with an advanced brain, Garen himself did not like using schemes to solve his problems and troubles. He had always used his raw strength to crush his opponents.


    If he could not beat them, he would just flee, and once he had returned and strengthened himself, he would go back and fight again! He would fight until the end!


    This habit of his made planning completely unnecessary.


    Therefore, even if his brain became any stronger he still refused to use it. Naturally, none of its uses would become apparent.


    Garen had always treated everything in front of him as opportunities that he could use improve himself and move forward, transforming them into forces that would make him stronger. This allowed him to constantly increase his strength and deviate more from normalcy one step at a time.


    A force that was strong enough to increase the pace at which strength was gained. This increase in speed would, eventually, reach a terrifying stage.


    However.


    While most people were still coming up with schemes to beat their strong villains, Garen had already unconsciously surpassed his enemies, and had become stronger than his opponents.


    He had already become the King of the Century, and while he promoted his abilities to reach far, another reason was this.


    This was one of the threads connecting all the different worlds together.


    Even a genius with an agile mind would not necessarily possess the persevering characteristics that ensured a life of success.


    There was only one factor, which was to remove distractions, and to find the right direction and the courage to go forward. That was the key element to achieve success.


    Geniuses always had agile minds, and a lot of problems were not serious to them. Many troubles were also minor issues when placed in their hands.


    This way, the chances for them to encounter difficult obstacles were far and few in between. The desire to become stronger was insufficient. If a motivating force was insufficient, they would naturally take a back seat. Resulting in them stagnating.


    This was similar to the reasoning behind the hare and the tortoise, except that in real life, the tortoise was never as slow as most people assumed, and neither was the hare as fast as they had expected.


    Many times, the act of surpassing others isn¡¯t as difficult as they thought it would be.


    Thus, Garen¡¯s method of thought paid attention to ensuring that he would never end up like the devilishly smart geniuses that chose battle strategies that involved scheming their way to victory. Although conspiring was still a type of strength to be had, it was not the path that he wanted to pursue.


    A large chunk of biochemical research and Totem research knowledge had been stuffed into Garen¡¯s brain.


    He stood in front of the bookshelves while the faint yellow sunlight reflected off the crown of his head, and continuously flipped through books and read them.


    The ceiling of the book collection hall was not thick, and was made with a layer of polished yellow crystal stones. When the sunlight touched it, went through a refraction process, allowing some light to pass through while not harming the books. Instead, it expelled the moisture within the book collection hall.


    Garen hurriedly flipped through the informative notes inside the records. It passed through his own experiences and experimental statistics in his mind, and kept correcting some of the mistakes, while some of the unclear and blurry parts where temporarily marked out. Waiting for future experimental verification.


    A large chunk of the knowledge and statistics in his mind were continuously intersected, perfected, and deepened.


    Garen was indeed a professional in this field, who had once given himself core organ transplant surgery. He had modified a part of his body, experienced and practiced Secret Techniques for many years, absorbed so much of Obscuro Society¡¯s knowledge, plus deepened his knowledge through the notes in the palace. There was probably no one in this world who could possibly be stronger than himself.


    Obscuro Society specialized in Creature Totem modifications. Terraflor Society specialized in plant cultivation research.


    Meanwhile, the Royal Alliance of Luminarists had an assortment of things, and had all kinds of information which was all sophisticated, but none of them were the deepest in the world.


    Garen was most concerned about human body modification techniques. He was the successful result of a human body modification that was alive and well too. Although many death row prisoners were sacrificed in exchange for this, it could not be denied that through this path, Garen had successfully lifted the restrictions of a Luminarist whose Appraisal value was insufficient.


    If only another person was able to obtain King of the Century¡¯s precise control and Secret Technique realm, plus this technique, and had a Silver Totem that was able to adapt to organ transplants. If they were able to control rejection reactions and after effects, perhaps they would achieve Garen¡¯s current state as well.


    Other than human body modifications, Garen had seen many other things, such as research reports and records that involved the Green Vine Sphere¡¯s techniques.


    The research regarding the Green Vine Sphere was kept in Vanderman¡¯s underground library, and Garen had already understood it deeply, and was now combining it with the royal research notes and knowledge systems.


    He had gotten a better grasp of it, and after he had mastered it thoroughly, he was one step closer to perfecting the Green Vine Sphere.


    Once he had actually come into contact with the Green Vine Sphere¡¯s core techniques, Garen finally understood the importance of the coincidence that allowed Vanderman to forge this plaything.


    There was a very low possibility there was another thing like the Green Vine Sphere in the entire world.


    Because its main body was made of an endangered plant that was likely to have been destroyed more than ten years ago.


    After Vanderman had moved back home with this plant, there were issues with its climate and temperature, and there was no way to stop it from constantly wilting to death.


    He never expected that during one coincidence, when an accident occurred while Vanderman was practicing his Totem Tactics, would ultimately affect this plant.


    Most of the plant died, but one stem of it barely survived. This was the original part of the Green Vine Sphere.


    As he had never expected that even Totem Light would be unable to destroy this plant stem, Vanderman began his lengthy research journey. He search the four corners many times in between, in an attempt to find more of these plants, but unfortunately, this plant had soon died out completely, because it was unable to adapt to the ever-changing climate environment.


    Thus, Garen was not worried that someone would be able to discover the secret of the Green Vine Sphere in such a short span of time. Most of the highest royal scholars were only able to touch the shallowest surface layer as well. Unlike himself, who had Vanderman¡¯s research notes.


    His visit to the book collection hall this time, was mainly to find a way to combine the techniques of the Resonance Stone and Green Vine Sphere, to form more complete and complicated Green Vine Sphere abilities. If it was possible, he hoped that he could break out of his current bottleneck situation.


    Other than that, he was also hoping to see the other Core Totems of the other Totem Users that were stronger than the Nine-Headed Dragon, to find out how they actually obtained them.


    Although his Nine-Headed Demon Dragon was not an actual ancient complete body, its powers were not to be dismissed. It was actually ranked around number one hundred on the list of Totems.


    This made Garen wonder about the remaining Ultimate Totem Users, and how they came about. He also wanted to know how it was possible that their Totems were stronger than his own Nine-Headed Dragon!

 449 Seed 1

    Chapter 449: Seed 1


    He gingerly took a large book with a black cover down from the end of the bookshelf.


    He had read almost all of the books that contained research notes. This book was a complete glossary of rare Aberration Totems, and was similar to the atlas that Edin had given him earlier.


    That book was kept in the underground library inside Blue Bay manor.


    He opened the book cover, skipped past the foreword and preface, and went straight to the table of contents.


    Suddenly, rows of faint words appeared in front of Garen¡¯s eyes. Much like a tree, the entire table of contents were divided into many little branches.


    ¡®Aberration Totem ---- Idealized Totem ---- Coincidence Totem ---- Sacrificial Totem ---- Ancestral Totem¡¯


    Below the four main groups were countless thin branches that listed out the various types.


    Naturally, the books that were stored here were not those that had regular research contents, instead, they contained deeper research that could not be found outside.


    Garen read the bottom part attentively.


    Soon, he found a tiny branch of words at the Ancestral Totem pane.


    ¡®Swamp Nine-Headed Snake ---- 8882¡¯


    The words at the back were the page numbers.


    Above the Nine-Headed Snake was the Moth Wing Giant Lizard, while the Rainbow Bird was below it. These two animals were species that only existed during ancient eras.


    He flipped to the Nine-Headed Snake¡¯s page number immediately. The records on top appeared before Garen¡¯s eyes instantly.


    ¡®Swamp Nine-Headed Snake ---- The ultimate overlord of the swamp areas during the ancient times; great life force, uses strong sound waves to attack airborne creatures, and takes on the Dragon Demon¡¯s life after confusing it. Entrenched in the deepest part of the swamp, it releases endless amounts of poisonous gas. It is the main producer of poisonous fumes in places with toxic swamp types¡­¡¯


    Garen read carefully, but realised that the above records were mostly things that he already understood. He felt that they were only added recently, and was perhaps information that was only discovered by researching his Totems.


    Wordlessly, he remembered Ivycius¡¯ plant series Flowering Plant Totems. After looking through the book for a while, he quickly found the White Rose Totem.


    ¡®White Rose Totem: Plant series Totem, exists in theory. Flowering Plant Totems have strict cultivation requirements, requires the blood of immediate family members as raw materials, and needs sustenance from a part of one¡¯s close relative¡¯s Totem Power. Before it achieves Spiritualization, its power is weak, but after Spiritualization, its power will increase explosively. According to rumors, once Flowering Plant Totems are successfully cultivated, it can hastily sustain the spirits of its relatives. This has not been proven to be real or not.¡¯ Behind were different kinds of variations, and the White Rose Totem was divided into different types, and each type had a general introduction. Their abilities were also abundant and strange, but most of them were either poisonous or illusion types.


    Garen began to find Veska¡¯s ocean whirlpool type Totem.


    But it was slightly harder to find it this time. The Totem images that resembled large whirlpools, included four different types of Totems.


    Siren Totem: An Aberration Creature that was theoretically cultivated, it was the result of a small family¡¯s accidental experiment, and when this Siren Totem was born, it used its singing voice to destroy the whole family, before mysteriously disappearing.


    Beluga Whale Totem: The overlord of the ocean, the Beluga Whale, can stir up huge whirlpools to hide itself.


    Elemental Totem Ocean: Pure Ocean Totems, that were theoretically formed by the successful evolution of Elemental Totem water spirits. Possesses exceptional attack control even in large ranges. Its units of power are not very strong, but its wave range is the largest among all the other types. Its master, Minister Veska can even attack creatures within distances of a few thousand meters. It is one of the strongest war Totems.


    Although the news about Veska¡¯s Totem experiments were recorded above, the ability section that Garen was most concerned about was just a blank space.


    The same Elemental Totems also included Earth Elementals, a creature that was purely made up with soil, also known as a humanoid that could control terrain changes.


    Ghost Wind, a strange formless Totem, had very little information, but was immune against any type of movement based attacks, and could only be harmed by abilities with static natures.


    Lava Rock Men, high-temperature humanoids made of lava, abilities still unknown.


    Garen scanned past these entries, and noticed some Item Totems above.


    Weapon Totems, much like God Cloud¡¯s chains, and Green Dragon Swordsman¡¯s sword light.


    Armor Totems, like the Triangular Shields of the wall generals who had just sacrificed themselves for the Kingdom.


    There were also Sacrificial Totems that, through certain secretive measures that led to countless successful cultivations when put together, used these measures to allow it to swallow itself, before finally obtaining an ultimate Totem King, before then using these sacrificial means to borrow the Totem King¡¯s power.


    The most successful Totem King system, belonged to Daniela.


    Daniela¡¯s strongest Totems, were not the King of Daniela¡¯s Core Totems, but rather a Cthulhu Totem that had been successfully evolved by the Totem King.


    It had swallowed the ninety-nine Totem Kings that were cultivated in the world, and achieved Cthulhu status, only allowing families of specific bloodlines to borrow its strength.


    Cthulhu Totems possessed unimaginable strength, and no one knew their true power. No one knew how many levels they had evolved.


    Daniela¡¯s possession of the Cthulhu was their strongest form of protection. It was like Kovitan¡¯s extremely powerful Caeserton Ultimate Protection. Ender had ancient mystical Giant Stone Sculpture battle groups. The three large kingdoms each had their own trump cards, and this was the result of the three main Emperor¡¯s painstaking efforts.


    When Elemental Totems were first successfully called Core Totems, they allowed Totem Users to quickly leap towards Spiritualized status, however, the starting point was extremely high, and evolution was also extremely difficult.


    This book recorded many cases, and all of them were examples of Elemental Totems that could not evolve successfully.


    It was different from the information outside that depicted the Elemental Totems as legendary items, as this place clearly pointed out the existence of these Elemental Totems. Obscuro Society was one of the representations of success.


    Once Garen had finished reading this book on that introduced Totems, more than two hours had passed already.


    His Totem knowledge had also become much deeper from when he first started.


    The Nine-Headed Dragon was actually not as amazing as the other extremely strong Totems.


    Moreover, the entire Aberration Totem series was unlike other Totem series.


    Other than Elemental Totems, he could easily find a Totem that was stronger than the Nine-Headed Dragon. The Storm Elemental Totem for example, was a terrifyingly powerful black storm, and this was only its primary body, because after its first evolution, it would become a Hurricane Totem. Two people in history had obtained this Totem, and they were known as Hurricane Kings.


    Each of them could single-handedly dominate a war. When regular Totem Users stood before them, all who came to fight would end up dead.


    ¡®Mass war tactics were ineffective¡¯


    These comments were a bloody lesson that arrived in exchange for the life of an ancient kingdom.


    There was also the Hill King Totem, an Elemental Totem made up of large rocks, which evolved and was known as the Mountain King, and once the entire Totem fused with the Totem User, it would transform into a large endless mountain that spanned over ten thousand kilometers, swallowing the three thousand elite Form 3 Totem Users that once invaded its homeland, destroying their Tactical Thunderstorm Formation at the same time.


    These peak Totem records flashed past Garen¡¯s eyes continuously. He was initially unconvinced, but seeing these Totems that were more frightening than myths, he knew that his own strength could not compare to these deviants. To be able to rank within a hundred of them already meant that he was strong enough.


    However, although these Totem Users were extremely powerful, they all shared one characteristic.


    Their short life spans.


    Using these powers that could be considered the pinnacle of strength, in other words, made them grow old and reach their deaths quicker.


    No one found the reason yet, but the most popular assumption was that they used strong powers that greatly surpassed themselves, but did not have an equally strong spirit to control them. In the end, they were affected by these powers and were ultimately assimilated.


    Excluding Elemental Totems, there were still Daniela¡¯s Nineteen Cthulhus, and besides the strongest Cthulhu King, the other eighteen Cthulhu Totems were distributed in different areas, each occupying their own territories and providing protection for the local Totem Users, and accepting their sacrifices.


    Thus, Daniela was unlike the other kingdoms, as they were a religious country.


    In actuality, Daniela had two rulers, one was the King of Daniela, while the other was the Cthulhu King.


    The Royal Alliance and the Cthulhu Church both dreaded each other, creating a sense of balance. The Kings of Daniela of previous generations died inexplicably, and discerning people could see that it was highly probable that the Cthulhu King had caused it. Only the Emperor of this generation sat soundly on the throne, governing well, and strengthening the system.


    Among the three Kingdoms, Daniela¡¯s losses were probably the smallest.


    The Cthulhu Church took the opportunity to save ten thousand people during the Great Chaos, thus receiving the trust and worship of countless people. The consequent result was that the Cthulhu King¡¯s strength increased day by day, and his powers expanded as well.


    Garen could finally see a clearer picture of the entire current situation through this secret information.


    If Obscuro Society wanted to overturn Daniela, they were most likely to join forces with the Cthulhuism Society, as Obscuro Society¡¯s ideals were of the survival of the fittest, coinciding with the ideals of the Cthulhuism Society. Except that the Cthulhuism Society¡¯s aim was for the weak to become the food source for the strong, to provide everything for the strong, and to satisfy their every need. If one did not wish to be considered weak, they would need to strengthen their body quickly, and the fastest method was to sign a sacrificial contract with the Cthulhu. As long as it was suitable, within a night, a regular Totem User could make the leap into a strong, ultimate Form 2 Totem User.


    They would receive the Cthulhu¡¯s son as their Totem, and when the number of sacrifices increased, the Cthulhu¡¯s son¡¯s upgrade speed would increase as well.


    If the sacrifices were strong enough, it was also possible for the Cthulhu itself to become one¡¯s Totem.


    Among Sacrificial Totems, Cthulhu levels were higher than Elemental Totem levels, and Cthulhu¡¯s was at least Form 4, and became the backbone of Daniela¡¯s strength. The eighteen Cthulhus and Daniela¡¯s other Cthulhu that had once appeared in history; when these different types of Cthulhu Totems were added together, the number of Totems that were stronger than the Nine-Headed Dragon would naturally increase. Getting pushed to a ranking of one hundred was expected.


    But fortunately, Garen understood that Kovitan¡¯s Ultimate Shelter Caeserton actually had another name, and was called the Wheel of Purification. It happened to clash with the attributes of Daniela¡¯s Cthulhu.


    Since the Cthulhuism Society¡¯s strength attributes had been restrained by Caeserton, naturally the alliance between Daniela¡¯s King and Kovitan would be very close, and that was expected as well.


    In reality, only very few people knew about this secret.


    The average person, and perhaps the majority of Daniela¡¯s Totem Users, did not know that they were worshippers of the Cthulhuism Society, and one of the Cthulhus that they worshipped actually originated from a Totem.


    However, there was also a possibility that Kovitan was looking at the problem from a different angle. They were like the scientists on earth. Any problems that they faced would always require a scientific explanation.


    Many things probably just needed a change of perspective.


    Many consecutive days were spent at the book collection hall and Black Fire Palace, and every day Garen would forget to eat while burying himself in his research. The presence of his Attribute Points allowed him to forget this tiring process completely.


    He quickly entered the practical experiment stage.


    The Green Vine Sphere began to undergo encryption measures.


    The principle of the Green Vine Sphere used parasites in reality, and would implant tiny spores into non-living things. These spores would progressively change the structure of these non-living things, and would release a special active substance known as Zibane at the same time. They already possessed strong contagious natures and viability, and their size was also smaller compared to other types of bacteria. They could almost be compared to viruses.


    The strangest thing about these substances was that once they were mixed with specialized techniques, they could be arranged into a sphere-like structure, like countless wireless receivers that could accept certain types of nerve signals and neurotransmitters. They would follow the commands of the nerve signals to infect and infiltrate.


    In simpler terms, the Green Vine Sphere could make objects into Totems that would still be under the command of their masters.


    People who wore equipment that was made into Totems by the Green Vine Sphere, would actually need to be connected to the equipment through their flesh. The energy that they used looked like Totem Light, but was actually a type of energy that was closer to the active substances of the Totem Light¡¯s Polluting Power. This strength was named Zibane Power by Vanderman.


    Thus, they were able to turn their surrounding substances into Totems within a designated span of time, except that this Totem-inducing time was very short. However, the time needed for the Zibane Power to infect others required a high level of spirit control, and without spirit control, this strength would not be able to infect others automatically.


    However, Garen was satisfied despite this.


    The Green Vine Sphere gave regular people a chance to become strong.


    As long as your spirit and physical body were strong enough, even if you did not have Totem User Appraisal, as long as you had a Green Vine Sphere, you would be able to reach a powerful level.


    This was a brand new strength system, just like Totem Power!


    No wonder Obscuro Society, Royal Alliance, and Terraflor Society all wanted to seize this technology.


    Within the Green Vine Sphere¡¯s system, one¡¯s spirit would decide the Zibane Power¡¯s level and strength, and after offsetting the nature of the gap, the physical body¡¯s strength would determine the gap between each other.


    Garen arranged everything carefully and came to a conclusion.


    "In other words, after obtaining the Green Vine Sphere¡¯s Zibane Power, spirit will would largely decide the class, like Form 1, 2, and 3 of Totems.


    Meanwhile, the physical body would decide the strength difference between classes."


    While he encrypted the Green Vine Sphere, Garen also allowed it to implant itself completely into his right shoulder.


    However, this technology could not be directly announced, because it would be a large impact against the entire Totem User system. Zibane Power¡¯s activation also needed certain requirements from his will and spirit strength. It required extremely high spirit levels to be activated.


    But this final research was impactful towards the Totem User system, as Totem systems were the foundation of the aristocracy¡¯s control over the world, and if it was discovered, it would surely become the target of public criticism.

 450 Seed 2

    Chapter 450: Seed 2


    Ding.


    Garen placed the forceps back into the glass bottle gently.


    He looked at the oval-shaped silver pauldron in front of him, and exhaled slightly.


    He picked up a piece of white cloth from the side and gently wiped some stains off the surface of the pauldron.


    "There are some defects apparently¡­" He furrowed his eyebrows and murmured softly. "The roots of the Green Vine Sphere can only support fifty-three divisions of Zibane Power. It can only forge fifty-three sets of weapons or armor to be made into Totems. No wonder¡­ No wonder there were only two hundred Black Fire Guards. This was also the best result that could be obtained when Avic integrated his cutting-edge technology carefully. Nearly four times of increment would be enough to frighten most people."


    "Two hundred Black Fire Guards, giving up their control would mean obtaining two hundred sets of Black Fire armor. It would grant normal people Totem Power traits. This was the foundation, and geniuses with strong wills and strong bodies would be able to truly activate the Black Fire Armor."


    Garen picked up the pauldron in front of him, and illuminated the surface carefully, as many faint silver dots began to light up on it, showing the characteristics of Zibane Power after its activation.


    "Zibane Power requires strong to reach activation; the stronger the will, the greater the power that can be controlled, allowing Zibane¡¯s activation to become stronger, thus strengthening its infectiousness as well. This beneficial cycle made it like a seed, the more substances it absorbed from the outside, the stronger its main body and armor would become."


    He put the pauldron down.


    "Avic gave up on this potential, and used the absolute loyalty of the corpse-like Black Fire Guards instead. But this kind of power was ultimately too small." Garen shook his head. "If those with weak wills received the armor, they would be swallowed by the Zibane Power in the end, turning into the living dead. They would lose their whole personality. This thing seems to be extremely dangerous."


    He began to think about ways to solve this danger, and after some thinking, he thought of more than ten plans, but still had no clue. Vanderman had researched this level for many years, but had yet to find a conclusion. The people in the Royal Alliance had no conclusions either, thus it was natural for him to not be able to even touch the sidelines when he was working alone.


    "No matter, to gain power, one must surely be aware that a price must be paid in exchange." Garen exhaled.


    To gain two hundred sets of heavy Black Fire armor would mean that two hundred people would have to be chosen as the carriers of the heavy black armor, to walk on the path towards strengthening oneself.


    In other words, Garen would not be able to ultimately command these people. He only had the right to recover the Zibane Power, but if someone was strengthened to a powerful degree, even if the strength was recovered, his power would still remain. The physical characteristics that were altered by Zibane would not change.


    It meant that even if more than half of the strength was recovered, it would still remain.


    This way, his control of his subordinates would not be as tight anymore.


    But Garen was unconcerned.


    The only thing that he wanted was power, and strength that was sufficient enough. Whether or not he could grasp it, depended on his own abilities.


    Bang bang bang.


    Suddenly, a series of rhythmic door-knocking noises broke his train of thought.


    "What¡¯s the matter?"


    He asked in a slightly impatient manner.


    "P¡­ Palace Master, there¡¯s a group of people¡­ They¡¯re carrying a heavily injured woman, and are here to see you, saying that they¡¯re your old friends," said the servant girl in a loud but shivering voice.


    "Old friends?" Garen closed his eyes and converged his thoughts. He pulled the curtains on the right closed.


    He walked towards the doorway and opened the main door. Outside the door stood a servant girl with shivering legs, she was extremely pale, and did not dare to raise her head. It was obvious that this girl had just entered the palace, and did not seem older than eleven or twelve years old.


    Garen opened the door and eyed the girl carefully. He was about to speak.


    "Don¡¯t¡­ Don¡¯t eat me!!" The little girl was frightened to the point where she sat on the floor. "Palace Master¡­ I beg you, I was wrong! I¡¯ve learnt my lesson!! I¡¯ll never do it again!!"


    Garen¡¯s had a blank expression on his face, he was merely surprised at the rare arrival of a new servant girl at the Black Fire Palace, and when the time he took to size her up increased slightly, he had frightened her to this degree. He assumed that this girl thought that his curious gaze was actually him deciding on which part of her flesh he would like to devour first.


    This girl seemed like she was used to getting bullied, and would frantically admit to her wrongdoings before the situation cleared up.


    "Damn, those rumors will be the death of me!" he cursed softly.


    "Take me there!" A noise echoed behind the little servant girl instantly.


    The little girl got up from the floor quickly and ran inside the palace with Garen while her whole body was still shivering.


    Garen followed closely behind her silently.


    At the side of the Black Fire Palace hall, the girl dragged Garen behind her, before disappearing in a puff of smoke as she ran.


    Garen was not the only one who was speechless, as the people in the palace hall were speechless as well.


    There were a boy and girl in black clothes, who both had white leopard heads printed on the arm sleeves of their clothes.


    They were led by a young boy and girl, and beside them on the floor, lying on a simple stretcher, was a pale yellow woman in a coma.


    Garen glanced over, and was suddenly startled.


    "Angel?!"


    He recognized the woman on the stretcher as Angel, the female fugitive he had met in Iron Tank City.


    She had once given him some raw material supplies in either the Kingdom or Trejons territory.


    "How has she become like this?!" Garen walked over frantically and knelt beside the stretcher, before checking Angel¡¯s condition carefully.


    This allowed the group of people to let out a sigh of relief suddenly, while their initially frightened faces also began to look much better.


    "So it¡¯s true that the Palace Master knows Teacher!" said the young man that led the way, or perhaps the young boy, as he stepped forward immediately. "We¡¯re from the Black Panther Mercenary Group, and Commander Angel is our teacher. I¡¯m Gracie, and she¡¯s Hill."


    His upper lip had a soft, faint green mustache, he had short brown hair, and he could be no older than eighteen years old, but his face had a certain childlike perseverance and paleness. It seemed like he had lost a lot of blood as well. Currently, the boy was looking at Garen frantically.


    "I¡¯m begging you, please, please save Teacher!" The girl who was standing on the side had a red ponytail, and was crying terribly, and could not help but plead Garen. "We¡¯ve thought of everything, and tried all kinds of medicine! All of the hospitals said that there was no cure."


    "Stop crying! How can I save her if you don¡¯t tell me the whole situation?!" Garen looked towards the boy, Gracie, who appeared much calmer. "You, tell me!"


    The boy nodded solemnly.


    "Teacher went out last month, and I heard that she had planned to go out with some of her old friends to do something, but I never expected that when she returned two days ago, that she would collapse suddenly, and become unconscious. We initially thought that she had been poisoned, but all the hospitals and Luminarists did not detect as much. After that, we assumed that her brain had suffered injuries, so we hired the best brain disease curing Luminarists, but to no avail. They could not detect any wounds."


    "What did Angel say before she fainted? Did she allow you to come find me?" Garen asked softly.


    "Teacher didn¡¯t say anything, she just looked exhausted, as if she hadn¡¯t had proper rest for many days." The boy shook his head. "As for coming to look for you, Palace Master, Teacher had never mentioned this. We only heard from our seniors in the group that Teacher and Palace Master used to be friends. Since we had no other options, we decided to come and beg you."


    "You did well." Garen patted the boy¡¯s shoulder. "Calm in moments of danger, very good!"


    He bowed his head to check on Angel¡¯s condition again.


    Angel, who used to be curvaceous, was now a skinny bag of bones. Her blood flow was not unusual, and her body did not have any traces of poison, while her brain remained in a sleeping state, a sign that everything was normal.


    "Oh no, this person is about to die," Kid¡¯s voice suddenly trailed out from behind Garen.


    "Do you know what¡¯s wrong?" Garen was used to Kid¡¯s elusive manner, and he did not even turn his head to ask.


    Meanwhile the others were frightened to the point where they moved away, and some of the easily scared members swallowed their saliva, as they glared at Kid with a shocked expression.


    Kid was sucking on a lollipop as he crouched beside the stretcher like Garen, while both of his hands shook aimlessly, waving around.


    He furrowed his eyebrows and touched Angel¡¯s forehead.


    "She¡¯s having a nightmare," He said certainly after a few seconds.


    "Having a nightmare? You¡¯re saying that someone pulled her into a nightmare, and now she can¡¯t wake up?" Garen asked.


    "Perhaps. Someone planted a seed on her that induces nightmares. She failed to realise it, and then fell right into the dream," Kid shrugged, a mature expression on his face.


    "How do we solve this? Garen asked directly.


    "It¡¯s simple, we just need to get rid of the nightmare seed, however, most of these seeds will naturally hide themselves in her most private areas," Kid pursed his lips. "We¡¯ll just have to see which of you can find it."


    "Get rid of the nightmare seed?" Garen stood up and pondered. "I¡¯ll do it."


    "What are you planning to do?" Kid looked at Garen curiously. "If the seed has burrowed itself in her most intimate parts, you¡¯ll be responsible."


    "It won¡¯t be that troublesome," Garen said nonchalantly.


    His toes raised themselves, and the crowd cried in shock when Angel who was on the stretcher earlier was suddenly lifted up in the blink of an eye, and began constantly turning around in midair.


    It was as if she was suddenly suspended in front of Garen.


    Whoosh whoosh whoosh¡­ The violent flipping of her body caused blowing wind noises to be heard.


    Bang!


    Garen slapped his palm against Angel¡¯s shoulder suddenly. He instantly held her in place, clutching her in midair.


    Bang bang bang!!


    Endless slapping noises could be heard between the two of them continuously.


    Garen¡¯s palms slapped the unimportant parts of Angel¡¯s body.


    Each slap made Angel¡¯s whole body shake, and some tiny, loose objects immediately fell off her body, and flew towards all four corners of the room.


    This was one of the higher level skills of the Secret Techniques, Shake.


    Using it here, with some added tricks, was just enough to shake all of the hidden things loose.


    In the Secret Technique World, it was used to get rid of the hidden weapons and poisonous darts that were left in the dead soldiers, but was also extremely suitable for Garen to use here.


    Soon, the objects that were shaken out lessened, and her outer clothes had almost fallen off as well.


    Plop!


    A purple dot fell suddenly fell out of the bottom of Angel¡¯s shirt.


    Bang!


    Garen used both of his palms to support her, before carefully placing Angel back on the stretcher, with incomparably gentle strength. He showed extreme and precise control over his power.


    "This is it."


    Kid picked up the little purple dot, and saw that it was obviously an oval-shaped plant seed that looked like a soybean, except that its colour was different.


    Garen and the others looked at Angel, noticing that her complexion had improved. She did not look as haggard as before.


    Kid held the seed, wiped it on his shirt, and put it in his mouth instantly.


    Crunch!


    "Seems like something weird is flowing out, but it doesn¡¯t matter, I¡¯ll just chew it up." He chewed it for a few moments, before the sound of something falling could be heard, and swallowed it.


    A group of people including Garen, immediately stared at him silently.


    "You¡¯re¡­ alright??!" The red-haired girl stared at Kid with a shocked look on her face.


    "Yes, I¡¯m alright?" Kid rummaged his pockets, and took out a handful of purple seeds immediately. "I still have some, do you want any? They taste pretty good."


    The others around him stood dumbfounded.

 451 Eve 1

    Chapter 451: Eve 1


    "You¡­!! You¡­" The red-haired girl was at a complete loss for words.


    "Why do you have this thing?" Garen stood at the side with his eyebrows furrowed and asked the question that everyone wanted to know.


    Kid threw another one of those things into his mouth.


    "This seed is actually from a type of plant called the Nightmare Vine. It has a strange ability that forces people into nightmares and makes them unable to free themselves, but I naturally have specialized physique, thus I wasn¡¯t affected." He trailed behind Garen, as the opportunities for him to speak increased.


    "But the seed from earlier tasted weird, as if it was cultivated wrongly, and were not as tasty as mine." He added another sentence right as he finished the first one.


    "Do you always have dangerous things with you?!" The red-haired girl could not help but scream.


    "You guys are just too weak." Kid looked at them contemptuously. "If you reached Form 3 you wouldn¡¯t be affected by this anymore."


    His sentence rendered the entire Mercenary Group speechless.


    "Alright, Angel will recuperate here with me while the rest of you return to inform the others," commanded Garen the moment he opened his mouth.


    Most of the Mercenary Group members did not dare to disobey orders, except for two of Angel¡¯s disciples who stood on the spot and did not move.


    Both of them exchanged glances.


    The boy Gracie suddenly said in a loud voice.


    "We want to stay behind and take care of Teacher as well!"


    Garen looked at both of them carefully.


    "Okay." He waved his hand.


    Once the Nightmare Seed was extracted, Angel was fine. When she woke up, the situation cleared up naturally.


    "Someone¡¯s here."


    Immediately, an older female servant rushed into the palace frantically.


    "Palace Master?"


    "Take them downstairs and arrange rooms for them there, make sure that their food and drinks are light and soft. Hire some doctors to come into the palace to take a look," Garen told her.


    "Understood."


    Soon, most of the people from the Black Panther Mercenary Group had left after Gracie and Hill¡¯s instructions. Both of them carried Angel, and followed the servant into the guest room.


    Garen pondered for a moment, and realised that he definitely lacked palace staff. Tasks such as arranging food and lodging required him to command them individually, which was very troublesome.


    Suddenly, he thought of the two Dragon Blood death prisoners that he had modified. Those two had insufficient strength, but could do some housework at least. They could also help the extremely busy Lala.


    Although Lala did not have a lot of strength, the critical thinking skills she had gained from the law department allowed her to manage the family business in perfect order. Those two could now become her subordinates.


    After handling Angel¡¯s situation, Garen called both of her disciples to his study room alone.


    Watching Garen drink his green tea slowly as he sat on the chair made the two others slightly cautious of him.


    "Have a seat."


    The three of them were the only ones in the study, and there were no one else in their surroundings.


    The entire Black Fire Palace was unlike the rumors from the outside, there were no violent bloody scenes, but instead it was deathly quiet.


    Neither of them dared to defy him, so they quickly sat down on the bench on Garen¡¯s left side.


    "I called you here, because I wanted to know about Angel¡¯s Mercenary Group, and what the current developments are? Why didn¡¯t she contact me all this while?" Garen called a servant girl over to serve two cups of green tea to the others.


    The boy Gracie smiled bitterly.


    "Palace Master, I think I know why Teacher never contacted you."


    "Oh?"


    Gracie remembered for a moment.


    "Everytime Teacher taught us, she would always sigh for an unknown reason. From Teacher¡¯s words, I could always hear a certain.. longing." Gracie lifted his head and glanced at Garen.


    "Teacher seemed like she always wanted to surpass somebody. Because of that, she worked hard determinedly. Meanwhile, Teacher always complained that her talents were not strong enough, and although she worked hard, she could never see a ray of hope. Frankly, we could never understand the meaning behind Teacher¡¯s desire. In our eyes, Teacher was already strong enough. There would always be people in the world who were stronger than ourselves, and if we wanted to surpass all of them, one lifetime would be insufficient," he smiled bitterly.


    Garen furrowed his eyebrows slightly.


    Gracie seemed like a calm person who would not be fazed during peril, but he never expected that he would lack the desire and strength to improve. He did not like people like this.


    Pushing that aside, he understood what Gracie meant.


    Perhaps the person that Angel always wanted to surpass was an old acquaintance, or a friend, or maybe even Garen himself. This was something that nobody knew for sure.


    "That¡¯s right, this is the open communication device that Teacher left behind before she left." Gracie had thought of something suddenly, as he took a little square black box out of his arms.


    The little box was made of black iron, and looked unimportant. There were rows of horizontal cracks on its surface, exposing its hollow interior.


    This thing looked like the outside of a radio from earth.


    "Open communication device?" This was the first time Garen had heard of this phrase in this world, it was a name that was obviously connected to technological terms.


    "Hmm, could it be that Palace Master doesn¡¯t about this?" Gracie was slightly shocked. He quickly explained. "This is a communication device that is currently very popular. Initially, only high levelled Totem Users had the right to use it; it can communicate with others from distances of over a thousand kilometers, using a shapeless resonance technology. It was developed in the Rainbow Domain, as it was said that they caught a small insect species that possessed natural resonance abilities, thus they used these insects build nests, and researched them for a while, before finally creating this thing. Its price is¡­"


    "This thing is very cheap, only ten copper rumbs for one," interrupted the red-haired girl on the side, as it was finally time for her to present herself, as her brother had said everything earlier, making her feel non existent. Now that Teacher had finally gotten out of harm¡¯s way, she had almost returned to her normal, girlish lively nature.


    "It only requires one copper rumb?" Garen picked up the black box, and noticed that there were two switches on the right side. One of them was a button, and pressing it would decide if it was opened or closed. The other was a knob that was probably used to adjust something.


    "This communication device can self regulate frequencies, and if a predetermined frequency is chosen, many people from distances of over ten thousand kilometers could communicate with each other at the same time, which would be extremely convenient. Except that its consumption source is something called an Acer Crystal, which is only sold in Rainbow Domain. One piece requires two copper rumbs, and is enough to last for an hour."


    "No wonder this thing is so cheap," Garen realised. "So the key is its consumption."


    "Mm," Gracie paused, before realising. They had only thought that this thing was interesting, but had never expected that Garen would look at it through the perspective of Rainbow Domain, and see the problem through the bigger picture. He saw that Rainbow Domain was controlling a large business opportunity through this.


    Garen was quite impressed, after watching Gracie¡¯s demonstrations of this thing, he learned how to use it after a few tries.


    It had almost the same functions as an original radio from earth.


    But it was more advanced than a radio, because this thing could be used to communicate. As long as the other person¡¯s frequency was known beforehand, both parties could communicate directly. The distance between them could span up to ten thousand kilometers as well.


    In simpler terms, if you spoke on one frequency, whether you intended it or not, everyone who happened to be on that same frequency would be able to hear what you were saying, and this was the true meaning of open communication.


    However, these resonating frequency adjustments could reach extremely fine degrees, and there were a total of more than ten thousand grid scales, and the slightest movement would mean that the next grid would be a new frequency, making it impossible to use all of them.


    The moment Garen turned on the communication device, strange loud noises could be heard from inside, as if many people were speaking at once, in chaotic confusion.


    He adjusted it slightly, and changed to a different grid scale, before it quietened down.


    "Are you here?"


    "I¡¯m here. Where do you want to exchange the goods today?"


    "Did you bring the money?"


    "Give me the goods first!"


    "Give me the money first!"


    "You don¡¯t have the right to set requirements!"


    Why did it feel like a gangster movie?


    Garen looked at Gracie with a weird expression, while the latter slapped his own head suddenly, and took out a piece of light red foil and pasted it carefully on the surface of the communication device, covering the top of it quickly.


    "This is a sound insulation membrane, it will ensure that the sounds you make on this side will not transfer over."


    Gracie explained.


    Garen tinkered with the communication device for a while, and felt that it was extremely fresh, as he had never expected that the technological advancements in this world would develop so quickly, as the Totem User¡¯s usage of research could not be underestimated.


    Since Totem User¡¯s powers had already developed to such extreme lengths, they did not need such destructive technological advancements.


    Large defensive covers that spanned over hundred square kilometers would never exist on earth.


    Gracie and Hill noticed that Garen was having fun with the communication device, so they decided to just give it to him.


    "Palace Master, a lot of people are using this now because it¡¯s popular. They are other grades in Rainbow Domain, and this one here is medium grade. Below it are normal grade, while above are premium grade, luxury grade, aristocratic grade, gold grade, diamond grade and the only silver grade. The price increases with their grade. The important part is the difference between sound filters, and the variations in packaging appearances," Gracie explained.


    "Understood," Garen nodded. The interior structure of this thing was very primitive, a sign that the Forgers in Rainbow Domain were unable to thoroughly study the principles properly, and were thus unable to make minor adjustments.


    Upon seeing that Garen was playing with it intently, the other two got up to leave.


    Next, Lala entered and quickly announced the recent news regarding the family business.


    Garen listened casually and continued to play with the communication device, and asked some questions occasionally.


    Lala had really managed everything properly, the resources that Garen had gained from the palace were used as the foundation of a new reward and punishment system, to establish a new set of perfect management systems.


    This would motivate Totem Users to work hard, creating improvements as well. It also ensured that they were not too exhausted or troubled.


    As for normal workers, there was a different set of beneficial methods as well. But it was obvious that it was not something that she had thought up on her own.


    Garen just listened to these things casually. He only cared about his final income and expenditure summary.


    "This is a set of welfare and wage systems that I came up with, could you look at it and see if anything needs to be added?" Lala brought out a thick stack of white documents.


    Garen took the documents and flipped through them, and since his reading speed and memory analysis abilities were extremely quick, he was able to read through the entire thing within a minute, before he took his seal out and stamped it.


    "I pass it, so you can take this to the Black Fire Palace¡¯s treasury to take the necessary financial resources for each month. The elite Black Fire Guards there will release them automatically." Garen passed the documents back.


    He paused.


    "Furthermore, as the supervisor, you can elect a vice supervisor on your own to manage the other tasks. You have the authority to approve one hundred thousand gold rumbs for all of these receipts, and these one hundred thousand gold rumbs will be the total monthly expenditure."


    Lala¡¯s eyes widened suddenly, as she did not expect Garen to give her such great authority.


    It was important to note that although the Trejons household was undergoing significant expansion, in reality, the entire household¡¯s assets were under a million gold rumbs. This happened after Garen became one of the Four Gargantuans of the Kovitan Kingdom, and succeeded in selling a large number of houses in the vicinity of the palace.


    Although the palace still belonged to the Royal Family in name, once Avic died, Ivycius and Edin of the Silver Palace remained silent, and immediately supported the Black Fire Palace. Under the circumstance that no one objected, naturally, no one would dare to object his invasion of the palace areas as well. Although the other three Gargantuans were at odds, they were not entirely innocent as well, and would obviously not dare to provoke him directly as well, in case everyone would be thrown into an uncomfortable state.


    Especially under the circumstance when Garen¡¯s name was related to violence and cruelty.

 452 Eve 2

    Chapter 452: Eve 2


    "Lala, you¡¯ve been with me for many years, haven¡¯t you? Garen changed the subject suddenly.


    "Yes." Lala adjusted her attitude quickly, and relaxed again, except that an irrepressible ecstasy was still present deep within her eyes.


    She had always took care of everything for Garen behind the scenes, and had never complained. Even when she was held captive and had almost lost her life, she had never asked Garen for rest or remuneration.


    Now she had finally received her due reward.


    She had her own friends, and relatives too. During the period when she came to the Kingdom, as Garen¡¯s influence expanded, she used this opportunity to find her lost relatives as well. As these people gathered beside her, they naturally became her source of strength.


    To outsiders, she was the Black Fire Palace Master¡¯s spokesperson.


    Her position was respected, except among the Gargantuans, and everyone in the Kingdom regarded her with status and respect.


    In the days when the Kingdom calmed down, she would receive many banquet invitations daily. Some of them would be rejected, while others would be chosen to attend.


    Countless people fawned over her and flattered her, in hopes of getting some of the power and profits from her hands. As long as one formed a relationship with her, they would be able to gain the favour of the fearsome Black Fire Palace as well. Everything she did was done with confidence.


    In that moment, Lala had thought of many things.


    She suppressed her excited emotions, and bowed in front of Garen seriously.


    "I will not let you down."


    Garen nodded, and watched her turn around to leave. He had given a large amount of his authority to Lala. With the protection of the Black Fire Guards and his namesake, no one would dare to make things difficult for her. Even the other three Gargantuans would need to give her face.


    ************


    In the weeks after that, Angel recuperated completely, and her body finally healed. When she knew that Garen had saved her, she immediately fell into an absent minded state. It was obvious that the person she had always been trying to catch up to, was actually Garen.


    She had initially swore that she would protect Garen in Iron Tank City, and had never expected that she would be overtaken by Garen, as she once assumed that she would be able to catch up.


    But the brutal reality completely shattered her remaining bits of pride.


    Although she had never admitted defeat, and had never given up, now that she could see that she was being pushed further behind, and in the end, she could not even reach the borderline. This feeling made her remember the first thing she had said in front of Garen when she slapped the table.


    She was a person with high self-esteem, and she had always felt that she could never be worse than others. Initially, she thought that she could never catch up to the geniuses because her talents were different, and they were treated in different conditions.


    he never expected to encounter a living example like Garen.


    For some time, she could not face Garen, and could only continuously force herself to become stronger, and this attitude brought her to the wrong path, and caused her Totem cultivation to become stagnant, forming consecutive failures. Later, after receiving encouragement from some friends in her circle, she attempted to find a shortcut, only to end up in an almost fatal coma in the end.


    After she woke up, she did not come to see Garen properly.


    But every morning, when Garen practiced his daily Myriad Water Jasper Technique exercises, she would always watch him from afar, but would say nothing.


    It started as a coincidence, but after awhile, she would always wake up on time, and would always observe Garen from afar while he sat cross-legged on the ground, practicing his Secret Techniques.


    Although she felt that it was weird for Garen to merely sit on the floor motionless for a period of time, she never came over to question him.


    When Garen practiced his Secret Techniques daily, he could always feel the Nine-Headed Demon Dragon being absorbed and fusing with his body slowly. Through this specialized Secret Technique method, he could operate the Nine-Headed Demon Dragon¡¯s blood flow and his own Totem Power, allowing both of them to fuse, and adapt to one another.


    He practiced day and night, and during breaks in between, he would play with the open communication device, and soon Garen had started to call it a radio. It made him nostalgic about his days on earth.


    *************


    Many weeks had passed.


    Angel finally came to face Garen properly.


    In the morning while Garen was practicing his Secret Techniques, she finally walked over to him.


    Garen, who was still sitting cross-legged on the floor, suddenly opened his eyes.


    "You finally decided to come."


    "I just couldn¡¯t face you," Angel bit her lip, and her face was still slightly pale. "My main wish for the longest time, was not to let anyone feel that my achievements came from other people. Thus, I never mentioned our relationship to anyone."


    "You¡¯re quite extreme," Garen smiled, and got up from the ground.


    "The War Chain¡¯s abilities, are they still useful?" he asked casually, before taking a cup of mouthwash tea from a servant girl¡¯s hand.


    Angel did not answer, but the unhappy expression on her face clearly showed her emotions.


    It was not useless, instead, it was extremely useful. But everytime the War Chain¡¯s abilities increased, it meant that the distance between her and Garen was widening. The insulting part, was that she had always wanted to surpass Garen, but many times outside, the key moment that saved her life, was always reliant on the Chain¡¯s abilities.


    She had relied on these abilities when she had a disagreement with another Form 3 Totem User, and neither of them would give in to the other, and because this happened in the small scale mercenary community in the Kingdom, it also affected certain reputations.


    Kovitan Empire was unlike Iron Tank City. This place was extremely powerful, and if it was not for the Chain¡¯s abilities, she would have been swallowed without a trace already. Moreover, she would not be standing securely right now.


    Garen drank a mouthful of tea, swirled it in his mouth, and spat it out immediately.


    "You¡¯re too preoccupied with strength, and your reputation. Put down your reputation. Sometimes, a friend¡¯s strength is also a part of your strength. You need to understand this, strength that is borrowed and made your own, is the mark of a true victor."


    Angel nodded unwillingly.


    She looked at the twenty-something year old young man that stood before her, at this young age, he had already become the famed Kovitan Gargantuan. Unknowingly, he had already become a true genius that had left his youth behind.


    Some people even compared him to the Three Heroes of the Three Main Domains.


    Each of the Three Heroes stood firmly in the endless sea of monsters, and had built a powerful presence of illustrious feats.


    Garen himself, had deep contacts with Black Field¡¯s Hawk King, Goth.


    This background, this strength, and these battle records quickly made Garen one of the biggest influencers of Kovitan¡¯s situation.


    His each word and command, would lead to actions of the people around him, and would unconsciously bring a surge of hidden movements.


    "The situation in the Kingdom is unlike the past, and although many aristocrats have left, remaining soldiers from the defense line after the defeat flooden in instead, forming three major garrisons, meanwhile the common people from the border areas flooded into the outskirts of the Kingdom as well, and as their numbers increase, our food storage has become insufficient, and now that it is summer, more support will be needed for the arrival of summer."


    As the main Gargantuan in the parliament, Garen would naturally receive sufficient news regarding the current situation.


    The parliament had took over the previous imperial system, but the ministers below them remained, and were tasked with managing their own problems, and summarizing the messages from the bottom before they were sent to the higher ups.


    The difference between the two systems was that Avic used to rule on his own previously, but now the parliament of the Four Gargantuans were the rulers. Only issues that were deemed too serious for the Four Gargantuans, or situations where there were similar vote numbers, would require them to hold large parliament votes again.


    "Currently the elite soldiers are flooding inside, and have robbed the livelihood of you mercenaries to a large extent. Competition within the mercenary world will become greater in the future." Garen looked at Angel. "I¡¯m getting ready to establish a school-of-thought-like organization, to receive more disciples. I happen to have a powerful method in my hands, but the danger is far too great."


    "What method?!" Angel suddenly had an unrepentant feeling in her heart, she did not care that she had been saved by Garen anymore, and although the war Chain was dependent on the mercy of Garen and many others, she knew that she would never be able to surpass this man in her lifetime, and had simply relaxed her mind.


    She was no longer tangled in the incident that required her to rely on Garen.


    "It¡¯s very dangerous, and you could be inflicted with an intense amount of pain. I¡¯ll let you have a taste, and if you can handle it, I will let you try," Garen said earnestly.


    "I''ll do it." Angel answered without hesitation.


    She had always been a persevering person, she had once been pursued for a thousand kilometers, and had been fled the Northern Region for her life. Even then, she had never once given up.


    Garen nodded, as Angel¡¯s reply was just as he had expected.


    "Be careful."


    Just as he finished speaking, his fingers shot out like lightning, and touched Angel¡¯s forehead.


    Angel felt as if she had been caught in thunderstorm, and was frozen on the spot, motionless.


    Her face contorted, and the skin on the entire body gradually became red, while both of her hands were tightly balled into fists, and her fingernails had pierced directly into her palm, but she felt nothing.


    Pap!


    Garen stretched his fingers out and touched her forehead again.


    Whoosh!!


    Angel suddenly bended at the waist, while her entire body was covered with sweat, as if someone had just pulled her out of the water, as her clothes were completely soaked through. In those few seconds, the sweat that was expelled from her body was enough to form two wet footprints on the ground.


    She began panting violently.


    "How is it?" Garen looked at her worriedly. "This kind of pain, if we really begin, it will be one level stronger, as this was just a slight example."


    "It¡¯s¡­ Amazing!!" Angel raised her head, and saliva was beginning to dribble out of her mouth, while a joyful, blushing expression appeared on her face.


    "This feeling¡­ It¡¯s simply wonderful!!" She seemed to have enjoyed it, and was panting continuously, while she moaned quietly and alluringly.


    Garen¡¯s mouth gaped opene. He wanted to say something, but finally settled on closing his mouth and exhaling a deep breath.


    He never expected that Angel would have these attributes, as the world was truly full of mysteries.


    No wonder she was so strong-willed. She was a true masochist¡­


    Frankly, he could already see that Angel¡¯s Luminarist talents were slightly stronger than his own, but because she had diverged on the wrong path, and attempted to take a shortcut, she had ultimately lost her conscience. On the path towards Totem cultivation, when one¡¯s original adaptability with their Totem decreased, it would finally become completely stagnant in the end.


    Thus, he thought of allowing her to use the path of the Green Vine Sphere. In this chaotic world, the ones that were least likely to be lacking were the regular people with strong wills.


    Extreme hatred, extreme desire, extreme madness, and extreme hurt. All of these were factors that could strengthen one¡¯s spirit and will.


    In this chaotic world, these things were definitely not lacking.


    "Alright, you should go and get ready. After three days, I will publicly announce that I am officially looking for disciples." Garen had already decided that he would make the official public announcement after three days.


    This time, his main aim was to find regular people, especially those who excelled in fighting but were quickly declining. They were lacking a lot of master-level fighters, and this was a good chance.


    After getting modified by the Zibane Power, they would soon become strong, peak-levelled masters.


    "Besides this, your revenge¡­"


    "I¡¯ll solve that on my own!" Angel interrupted Garen, and said decisively.

 453 Martial Arts 1

    Chapter 453: Martial Arts 1


    The two consecutive strengthening effects caused Garen to think deeper.


    It was evidently the effect of totem fusion and martial art training. With his martial arts level, it naturally wasn¡¯t hard to identify. Even if no adjustments were made to the Myriad Water Jasper Technique, there was already a feeling of beyond recognition.


    "What if I had not fused with the Nine Headed Hydra but with other totems? Will the additional strengthening effects be different?" He gave some thought. "This fusion method could be a self-propelled evolution method. It changes to suit the user into a form that suits the user the most."


    In simple terms, the Myriad Water Jasper technique was just the basic foundation. As different totem users reach fifth form and fuse with different totems, the effects of the techniques will also be different.


    At this time, Garen had a subtle realization. If he passed on his techniques to a normal person and trained him to the peak, the person might have similar effects with himself. Even if the power was slightly lesser, it was just a matter of compatibility.


    If he continued to fuse with the Nine Headed Hydra, even he himself wasn¡¯t clear how his techniques would evolve and strengthen.


    This effect was as if his martial arts were using the totem fusion to evolve itself into a higher level.


    If ten thousand people were trained in the Myriad Water Jasper Technique, there might be ten thousand different skills.


    "Are martial arts the ultimate foundation?"


    Sitting cross-legged in the garden, confusion arose in Garen¡¯s mind.


    Martial arts, totems, and oneself. There was a mysterious connection between these three elements, although they seemed independent. In fact, they were one.


    Within his churning mind, he secretly made a decision.


    In this world, among totem users, martial arts peaked at the fourth form. In fact, only fifth form masters were qualified to train. Normal humans had no chance to even learn. Without sufficient abilities, there weren''t much benefits in training. At most, it was to strengthen the body.


    Among the normal humans, the Master-level elites had their own secret training methods similar to martial arts. It was just far less advanced compared to the level in his previous world.


    It could be because of the existence of totem users, the martial arts of normal humans did not have a chance to shine.


    But Garen could now see a silver lining for normal humans.


    Initially the qualifications to learn the Myriad Water Jasper Technique were relatively demanding, but it was far simpler than a totem user¡¯s qualifications. At least, the proportion among ordinary people would be far larger. There would be at least be one among a hundred who can train in this technique.


    Now, the evolved technique had faintly surpassed the martial arts¡¯ innate level.


    The evolved martial arts could completely change the human structure. It has reached the level where it can evolve the body.


    As Garen thought, he continued training the next level according to the instructions given by Celine.


    Strangely, after fusing with the first dragon head, the Myriad Water Jasper Technique was no longer difficult for him. With only ten minutes or so, he entered the second level.


    Initially he had completely understood the whole technique. As he was on the level of the King of the Century, the effects should have taken place long ago, but they''ve only happened now. Not earlier or later, but now.


    This startled Garen a bit.


    Since he was trained in the Divine Statue Technique, he had thoroughly opened the blood vessels within his body long ago. His vitality attribute was already strengthened until 10 points. In addition to the Nine Headed Hydra¡¯s heart, he was on a mind boggling level.


    These effects should be natural.


    But Garen felt a little strange.


    He quickly surpassed the second level. For a commoner-grade martial art, the Myriad Water Jasper technique wouldn¡¯t be considered difficult to learn for Garen¡¯s level. Next, it was the third level.


    The third level took an hour. It cleared all the hidden vessels, and even some complicated vessels in the brain.


    For a normal martial artist, without Garen¡¯s foundation in the Divine Statue Technique, his elite control of blood flow and his deep understanding on martial arts, it might take ten years.


    Next was the fourth level. He was on a roll. Few of the main blood vessels were the same as Garen¡¯s Divine Statue Technique. He quickly surpassed that level.


    For the fifth and final level, most of the effects were in the brain. It encompassed countless tiny blood vessels and nerves.


    In summary, the fifth level used a unique method to activate certain areas in the brain to achieve the supernatural ability of controlling water.


    This was the true form of the Myriad Water Jasper technique.


    After surpassing five levels to the top in one go, Garen finally opened his eyes. The surroundings were in total silence.


    It was already midnight.


    The surrounding air was frigid. The garden of flowers and grasses let out a rhythmic sound in the wind.


    The two oil lamps hanging on the roof glowed a faint yellow light.


    After reaching the peak of the Myriad Water Jasper Technique, some combat skills would of course come as one.


    Garen stretched out his hand and grabbed lightly. Droplets of moisture quietly gathered from the surrounding into his hand, forming water beads.


    The perfectly round water beads floated quietly on top Garen¡¯s palm. Their surfaces clearly reflected the surroundings.


    Garen swung one of his hands.


    Huaaa!!!


    A clear stream of water gathered in the air before him to form a water dragon. The water dragon was circling around constantly like a clock.


    Yet, Garen let out a sigh of disappointment.


    In the Martial Arts world, a technique like this would be considered amazing and uncomparable. It was almost out of the human realm and could be known as a superhuman ability.


    Once the enemy draws near, the blood all over his body would be controlled. Being free from the body¡¯s control, it would be fully extracted. In the Martial Arts world, it would be known as the strongest assassination technique!


    The Myriad Water Jasper technique was known as the best ambush technique. It indeed wasn''t something to be trifled with.


    However, although it was strong, it was still dependent on the environment it was in.


    This was a world of totem users. A martial art like that wouldn¡¯t cause fear to any totem user. It was a simple superhuman ability. If it could not penetrate totem light, everything would be useless.


    The process of training the Myriad Water Jasper Technique was in fact a process that allows the human body to surpass its limits and develop superhuman ones.


    The flow of water could also form a wall of defense by surrounding the body. Among the fighting skills that came with the technique, was the form of a high-pressured water gun, a skill that could suffocate the enemy to one that could quietly snap the opponent¡¯s blood vessels.


    Snapping different blood vessels would create different effects. All these needed a deep understanding of the human body. Unfortunately, the main opponents here were no longer normal people.


    These methods had no value at all.


    If it were in his previous world, maybe each of them would be elite techniques that could shock the world.


    However, Garen subtly felt that he could surpass the limits of this technique through the fusion with the Nine Headed Hydra.


    There were only eight heads left on the Nine Headed Hydra. It seemed a little depressed. Garen wanted to continue the fusion process but it seemed to be rejecting.


    Since he could not fuse with the dragon heads in the near future, Garen did not force it, but instead diverted his attention towards researching the mystery of martial arts.


    He noticed that although the Myriad Water Jasper Technique was already at its peak, but it was slightly different than the original. After adjusting it with the Nine Headed Hydra, there seemed to be space to continue progressing forward.


    Since he thought about it, he decided to do it. Garen didn¡¯t have to care about sleeping. He had incredible resistance and superhuman vitality. Not sleeping at this point of time will not bring any side effects to himself.


    Step by step, he used the peak of the Myriad Water Jasper technique as the foundation and continued forward. With his nine lives, he wasn¡¯t afraid of being injured or things going wrong.


    He failed for more than ten times and was heavily injured up to the point of almost losing his life. However with his huge life force, he did not lose his life and managed to derive a new level for the Myriad Water Jasper technique.


    Garen successfully connected it to his totem power.


    The source of totem power was the brain.


    Garen slightly adjusted the activation path for the Myriad Water Jasper Technique. He tweaked it to activate the part the produces totem power.


    Under his constant experimentation, just like the Green vine Sphere, there was finally a glimmer of hope for normal humans to become strong.


    It did not have an evil inclination like the Green Vine Sphere. The sixth level of the Myriad Water Jasper Technique that he derived allowed a normal human to activate totem power once they reached this level. They would then have the qualifications to be an actual totem user.


    However, although this new technique was strong, it was difficult to find usages for it in a battle.


    Garen thought for a moment and added in parts of the Divine Statue Technique that he was most familiar with. The Divine Statue Technique was formed by a combination of the White Cloud Gate and the Golden Statue Technique, to reach an level unreachable by mortals.


    After all the incorporations, the Myriad Water Jasper Technique was totally unrecognizable. It had completely become a new martial art.


    Garen wanted to carefully explore the next level. But without fusing with more dragon heads, he had no stronger path to base his derivation upon. He felt it wasn¡¯t the best and forgot about it.


    The new Myriad Water Jasper technique incorporated many of Garen¡¯s martial art secrets. It gave normal people hope towards the peak.


    Even then, this path was equally difficult.


    The first step was to train the new Myriad Water Jasper technique to its peak as the foundation. Then only could they face the next key checkpoint - breaking through totem power.


    Even after Garen¡¯s adjustments and improvements, finally he could only simplify the Myriad Water Jasper technique into four levels.


    Only by training these four levels, there was a chance to activate totem power.


    This technique was based on Garen¡¯s foundation. Its greatest effects were basically similar to the ones described in the ability pane.


    Water control, toxicity and strong regenerative abilities.


    In other words, Garen¡¯s current state of martial arts was the peak state of this technique.


    Garen had a feeling. After finalizing the martial art, for everyone training it in the future, those that arrive at the peak will become weaker versions of the Nine Headed Hydra¡­.With another dragon heart transplant, sufficient state of mind and the same natural talent, he would be another "Mini Garen".


    However to train the four level of this technique was incredibly difficult. It was only slightly simpler than the original Myriad Water Jasper technique.


    The original Myriad Water Jasper Technique was already very difficult. Only during Neptune Fist¡¯s peak, there was someone that reached its peak.


    Now it was only slightly simpler. To succeed, without suitable natural talent, strong will and relentless determination, it was impossible to reach the peak.


    The only thing Garen could do was broadening the scope of qualifications. By broadening the scope, it would increase the number of people. Surely a talented and strong-willed genius would appear one day.


    Sensing the martial art that had been totally revamped, it could no longer be called the Myriad Water Jasper technique. There were too many elements mixed into it.


    He stretched out his index finger. A crystal water snake crawled up, looking beautiful and pure.


    "I am the Lord of Blackfire Palace. My body totem is the Nine Headed Hydra, which is the lord of the swamp and a water totem. This martial art can be called Black Water Technique."


    He hesitated for a moment.


    "Out of the whole wide world, this is the only martial art that allows a normal human to walk towards the path of an elite. It allows activation of totem power, I should add the word "True" to it."


    "From today onwards, this martial art will be called Black Water True Technique!"

 454 Martial Arts 2

    Chapter 454: Martial Arts 2


    The two consecutive strengthening effects caused Garen to think deeper.


    It was evidently the effect of totem fusion and martial art training. With his martial arts level, it naturally wasn¡¯t hard to identify. Even if no adjustments were made to the Myriad Water Jasper Technique, there was already a feeling of beyond recognition.


    "What if I had not fused with the Nine Headed Hydra but with other totems? Will the additional strengthening effects be different?" He gave some thought. "This fusion method could be a self-propelled evolution method. It changes to suit the user into a form that suits the user the most."


    In simple terms, the Myriad Water Jasper technique was just the basic foundation. As different totem users reach fifth form and fuse with different totems, the effects of the techniques will also be different.


    At this time, Garen had a subtle realization. If he passed on his techniques to a normal person and trained him to the peak, the person might have similar effects with himself. Even if the power was slightly lesser, it was just a matter of compatibility.


    If he continued to fuse with the Nine Headed Hydra, even he himself wasn¡¯t clear how his techniques would evolve and strengthen.


    This effect was as if his martial arts were using the totem fusion to evolve itself into a higher level.


    If ten thousand people were trained in the Myriad Water Jasper Technique, there might be ten thousand different skills.


    "Are martial arts the ultimate foundation?"


    Sitting cross-legged in the garden, confusion arose in Garen¡¯s mind.


    Martial arts, totems, and oneself. There was a mysterious connection between these three elements, although they seemed independent. In fact, they were one.


    Within his churning mind, he secretly made a decision.


    In this world, among totem users, martial arts peaked at the fourth form. In fact, only fifth form masters were qualified to train. Normal humans had no chance to even learn. Without sufficient abilities, there weren''t much benefits in training. At most, it was to strengthen the body.


    Among the normal humans, the Master-level elites had their own secret training methods similar to martial arts. It was just far less advanced compared to the level in his previous world.


    It could be because of the existence of totem users, the martial arts of normal humans did not have a chance to shine.


    But Garen could now see a silver lining for normal humans.


    Initially the qualifications to learn the Myriad Water Jasper Technique were relatively demanding, but it was far simpler than a totem user¡¯s qualifications. At least, the proportion among ordinary people would be far larger. There would be at least be one among a hundred who can train in this technique.


    Now, the evolved technique had faintly surpassed the martial arts¡¯ innate level.


    The evolved martial arts could completely change the human structure. It has reached the level where it can evolve the body.


    As Garen thought, he continued training the next level according to the instructions given by Celine.


    Strangely, after fusing with the first dragon head, the Myriad Water Jasper Technique was no longer difficult for him. With only ten minutes or so, he entered the second level.


    Initially he had completely understood the whole technique. As he was on the level of the King of the Century, the effects should have taken place long ago, but they''ve only happened now. Not earlier or later, but now.


    This startled Garen a bit.


    Since he was trained in the Divine Statue Technique, he had thoroughly opened the blood vessels within his body long ago. His vitality attribute was already strengthened until 10 points. In addition to the Nine Headed Hydra¡¯s heart, he was on a mind boggling level.


    These effects should be natural.


    But Garen felt a little strange.


    He quickly surpassed the second level. For a commoner-grade martial art, the Myriad Water Jasper technique wouldn¡¯t be considered difficult to learn for Garen¡¯s level. Next, it was the third level.


    The third level took an hour. It cleared all the hidden vessels, and even some complicated vessels in the brain.


    For a normal martial artist, without Garen¡¯s foundation in the Divine Statue Technique, his elite control of blood flow and his deep understanding on martial arts, it might take ten years.


    Next was the fourth level. He was on a roll. Few of the main blood vessels were the same as Garen¡¯s Divine Statue Technique. He quickly surpassed that level.


    For the fifth and final level, most of the effects were in the brain. It encompassed countless tiny blood vessels and nerves.


    In summary, the fifth level used a unique method to activate certain areas in the brain to achieve the supernatural ability of controlling water.


    This was the true form of the Myriad Water Jasper technique.


    After surpassing five levels to the top in one go, Garen finally opened his eyes. The surroundings were in total silence.


    It was already midnight.


    The surrounding air was frigid. The garden of flowers and grasses let out a rhythmic sound in the wind.


    The two oil lamps hanging on the roof glowed a faint yellow light.


    After reaching the peak of the Myriad Water Jasper Technique, some combat skills would of course come as one.


    Garen stretched out his hand and grabbed lightly. Droplets of moisture quietly gathered from the surrounding into his hand, forming water beads.


    The perfectly round water beads floated quietly on top Garen¡¯s palm. Their surfaces clearly reflected the surroundings.


    Garen swung one of his hands.


    Huaaa!!!


    A clear stream of water gathered in the air before him to form a water dragon. The water dragon was circling around constantly like a clock.


    Yet, Garen let out a sigh of disappointment.


    In the Martial Arts world, a technique like this would be considered amazing and uncomparable. It was almost out of the human realm and could be known as a superhuman ability.


    Once the enemy draws near, the blood all over his body would be controlled. Being free from the body¡¯s control, it would be fully extracted. In the Martial Arts world, it would be known as the strongest assassination technique!


    The Myriad Water Jasper technique was known as the best ambush technique. It indeed wasn''t something to be trifled with.


    However, although it was strong, it was still dependent on the environment it was in.


    This was a world of totem users. A martial art like that wouldn¡¯t cause fear to any totem user. It was a simple superhuman ability. If it could not penetrate totem light, everything would be useless.


    The process of training the Myriad Water Jasper Technique was in fact a process that allows the human body to surpass its limits and develop superhuman ones.


    The flow of water could also form a wall of defense by surrounding the body. Among the fighting skills that came with the technique, was the form of a high-pressured water gun, a skill that could suffocate the enemy to one that could quietly snap the opponent¡¯s blood vessels.


    Snapping different blood vessels would create different effects. All these needed a deep understanding of the human body. Unfortunately, the main opponents here were no longer normal people.


    These methods had no value at all.


    If it were in his previous world, maybe each of them would be elite techniques that could shock the world.


    However, Garen subtly felt that he could surpass the limits of this technique through the fusion with the Nine Headed Hydra.


    There were only eight heads left on the Nine Headed Hydra. It seemed a little depressed. Garen wanted to continue the fusion process but it seemed to be rejecting.


    Since he could not fuse with the dragon heads in the near future, Garen did not force it, but instead diverted his attention towards researching the mystery of martial arts.


    He noticed that although the Myriad Water Jasper Technique was already at its peak, but it was slightly different than the original. After adjusting it with the Nine Headed Hydra, there seemed to be space to continue progressing forward.


    Since he thought about it, he decided to do it. Garen didn¡¯t have to care about sleeping. He had incredible resistance and superhuman vitality. Not sleeping at this point of time will not bring any side effects to himself.


    Step by step, he used the peak of the Myriad Water Jasper technique as the foundation and continued forward. With his nine lives, he wasn¡¯t afraid of being injured or things going wrong.


    He failed for more than ten times and was heavily injured up to the point of almost losing his life. However with his huge life force, he did not lose his life and managed to derive a new level for the Myriad Water Jasper technique.


    Garen successfully connected it to his totem power.


    The source of totem power was the brain.


    Garen slightly adjusted the activation path for the Myriad Water Jasper Technique. He tweaked it to activate the part the produces totem power.


    Under his constant experimentation, just like the Green vine Sphere, there was finally a glimmer of hope for normal humans to become strong.


    It did not have an evil inclination like the Green Vine Sphere. The sixth level of the Myriad Water Jasper Technique that he derived allowed a normal human to activate totem power once they reached this level. They would then have the qualifications to be an actual totem user.


    However, although this new technique was strong, it was difficult to find usages for it in a battle.


    Garen thought for a moment and added in parts of the Divine Statue Technique that he was most familiar with. The Divine Statue Technique was formed by a combination of the White Cloud Gate and the Golden Statue Technique, to reach an level unreachable by mortals.


    After all the incorporations, the Myriad Water Jasper Technique was totally unrecognizable. It had completely become a new martial art.


    Garen wanted to carefully explore the next level. But without fusing with more dragon heads, he had no stronger path to base his derivation upon. He felt it wasn¡¯t the best and forgot about it.


    The new Myriad Water Jasper technique incorporated many of Garen¡¯s martial art secrets. It gave normal people hope towards the peak.


    Even then, this path was equally difficult.


    The first step was to train the new Myriad Water Jasper technique to its peak as the foundation. Then only could they face the next key checkpoint - breaking through totem power.


    Even after Garen¡¯s adjustments and improvements, finally he could only simplify the Myriad Water Jasper technique into four levels.


    Only by training these four levels, there was a chance to activate totem power.


    This technique was based on Garen¡¯s foundation. Its greatest effects were basically similar to the ones described in the ability pane.


    Water control, toxicity and strong regenerative abilities.


    In other words, Garen¡¯s current state of martial arts was the peak state of this technique.


    Garen had a feeling. After finalizing the martial art, for everyone training it in the future, those that arrive at the peak will become weaker versions of the Nine Headed Hydra¡­.With another dragon heart transplant, sufficient state of mind and the same natural talent, he would be another "Mini Garen".


    However to train the four level of this technique was incredibly difficult. It was only slightly simpler than the original Myriad Water Jasper technique.


    The original Myriad Water Jasper Technique was already very difficult. Only during Neptune Fist¡¯s peak, there was someone that reached its peak.


    Now it was only slightly simpler. To succeed, without suitable natural talent, strong will and relentless determination, it was impossible to reach the peak.


    The only thing Garen could do was broadening the scope of qualifications. By broadening the scope, it would increase the number of people. Surely a talented and strong-willed genius would appear one day.


    Sensing the martial art that had been totally revamped, it could no longer be called the Myriad Water Jasper technique. There were too many elements mixed into it.


    He stretched out his index finger. A crystal water snake crawled up, looking beautiful and pure.


    "I am the Lord of Blackfire Palace. My body totem is the Nine Headed Hydra, which is the lord of the swamp and a water totem. This martial art can be called Black Water Technique."


    He hesitated for a moment.


    "Out of the whole wide world, this is the only martial art that allows a normal human to walk towards the path of an elite. It allows activation of totem power, I should add the word "True" to it."


    "From today onwards, this martial art will be called Black Water True Technique!"

 455 Disciples 1

    Chapter 455: Disciples 1


    Outside Kovitan Palace. A plaza at an intersection.


    Several tall circular rings stood quietly in a triangular formation.


    There were three fully white rings, with huge crowds surrounding them. From time to time, there were people cheering, people lifting up their hands as support and whispering among worried faces. However, most of them were wholly fixated on the rings.


    "Ice sword!"


    A cold female voice came from the ring. With a tinkling sound, a ray of silver-white light turned into a sharp beam. It jolted forward towards a black-haired man on the opposite end of the ring.


    The man''s expression changed and thrusted his right hand towards the ground.


    With a bang, a cloud of black smoke arose, hiding him within it.


    Nothing could be seen within the black smoke. The sharp white beam quietly disappeared after.


    After a moment, a white-robed female quickly retreated from it. She looked pale with her hand clenching her left shoulder.


    After she came out, she could no longer keep standing. As she fell and sat on the ring, the thin white sword in her hand snapped into two with a crack.


    "Blackbird wins!"


    A red-robed noble with a white wig who sat beside the ring announced boomed.


    "Next!"


    An attendant beside the noble shouted.


    "Don''t understand what the Lord is thinking. I understand that he wants to recruit outside forces, but what''s the point in recruiting normal human fighters like this?" A few noblemen and women beside the ring discussed between themselves.


    The men dressed in red were handsome and graceful. The women who wore white lace dresses were feminine and charming. They weren''t advanced in years but there was a hint of arrogance in their eyes.


    "Don''t guess the intentions of the Lord. We just have to follow his orders. Many people would fight for a supervising job like this." A beautiful girl wearing a round, white hat muttered.


    She held a white umbrella that seemed to be more for aesthetics than practical use. She wore pearl earrings on both of her ears. She put her long, rounded legs together and tilted them slightly, her white lace tunic skirt evidently revealed her figure.


    "My Lady. Do you think that our Lord received orders from the princess, which is why¡­.?" One of the nobles asked softly.


    "Who knows? Alright, stop guessing. My advice is good for you." The lady said softly. "This time, the Blackfire palace''s disciple recruitment is incredibly rewarding. If we allow trash to enter the palace and something happens, it would be troubling for us.


    "We can say that. But aren''t the people in the rings private soldiers from different noble families? Once they saw the opportunity, they rushed here to gain connections." A girl on the side pouted her lips, displeased.


    "Both are normal human fighters, why can the peasants use but not us nobles? Shouldn''t one''s abilities be decided in the ring?" The male noble folded his arms and gazed towards the ring. "Look, its another peasant."


    The rest of them followed and looked.


    True enough, a common looking man was carried down from one of the rings. There was blood at the sides of his mouth. He was unconscious, yet it was obvious he was quite severely injured.


    A man in green tights stood on the stage with a thin sword in one of his hands. Blood dripped from the tip of his sword as he looked arrogantly at his opponent below.


    "Pass. Winner has won 15 matches consecutively and advances to the finals!" The judge announced loudly.


    The man in green nodded lightly. There was a glimmer of delight in his eyes as he walked towards the back of the ring.


    There were rows of white chairs with winners sitting on some of them. All of them had won 15 matches consecutively.


    Most of them were dressed as nobles. Their closed looked luxurious and delicate, with a distinct western vibe.


    Only a minority were dressed like peasants, each of them remained solemn without uttering a word. They were different from the nobles. This viewed this audition with much more importance.


    Scenes like this were all over the kingdom.


    Yesterday, the Blackfire Palace announced that they would be having auditions to recruit disciples. They made announcements through the most popular radio channel and also by posting notices and distributing fliers everywhere.


    For anyone who placed within the top three, the Lord of Blackfire Palace would personally take them as disciples. They would be taught a technique that would help them to surpass the level of normal humans, becoming a master on the level of totem users.


    Even for those who failed to enter top three, the top hundred would also qualify to enter Blackfire Palace for an opportunity to be reborn as a Blackfire Guard.


    Before the fight began, Lord Garen appeared personally for a speech.


    "No matter rich or poor, old or young, male or female. Anyone who meets the requirements, I will bestow upon you the power you desire."


    In that moment, twenty rings were opened at the same time throughout the whole kingdom. Elite fighters among normal humans were steadily being screened.


    In the past, there were auditions like that by other departments. However, they were used to select totem users. The requirement for normal guards wasn''t huge at all. They were commonly selected directly from low level noble disciples or knights.


    Peasants had totally nothing to do with it. In fact, this path to success had been cut off by the nobles.


    The only hope for peasants was to enter the noble''s circle through achievements, contributions and military exploits, to become one of them.


    But now, the Blackfire Palace was the first one to break this taboo.


    It caused a lot of resentment among the major noble families.


    The saving grace was thag the Blackfire Palace was only recruiting a hundred men. Moreover, according to rumors, the Lord would personally bestow upon them a martial art technique.


    Nobody knew what a martial art was. What fighting technique deserves to be personally bestowed by the lord? Any form of fighting technique without a forger''s tools, should be easily suppressed by a first form totem user.


    However after the notice was updated for a second time, the entire kingdom went crazy.


    Crowds rushed towards the rings in droves, with more and more people waiting for their turn to enter the ring. Some of them were locals, some were military men, some were noble disciples, and some were also mercenaries and foreigners from out of the kingdom.


    There were elderly men, and immature boys and girls. Most of them were fighters that had no glimmer of hope.


    All of this came from Garen''s second announcement.


    "Blackfire Palace recruiting disciples. Totem user qualifications are ignored. Totem users are not allowed to participate."


    Someone verified the truth with a Silver Palace guard. The Lord of Blackfire Palace truly held a key technique that could allow normal humans to surpass totem power.


    Someone verified it again with a Trejon. Initially everyone thought that this technique would require an abnormally large sum of money to develop. It was unexpected that the Lord of the Blackfire Palace would open it up, allowing the public to audition.


    Time passed day after day.


    The news from Blackfire Palace gradually solidified.


    The Lord of Blackfire palace developed a martial art technique known as the Black Water True Technique. After training to a certain level, it will allow normal humans to surpass their limit and activate totem power!


    In an instance, the Black Water True Technique became the hottest topic in the kingdom.


    Elite totem users flocked to the Blackfire Palace to see Garen. Even the remaining Gargantuans personally visited Blackfire Palace for a long discussion with Garen before leaving.


    Low level totem users panicked. But after enquiring, they found out that this technique had many prerequisites. To be able to train to the level that surpasses the limit was not relatively easier than having a totem user qualification.


    It would be even rarer than totem users. Only with this did the fear in the hearts of the lower level totem users reduce slightly.


    They were the foundation of the Totem World. Gathering materials for forgers and providing totem power for tactic formations were jobs that normal humans couldn''t do, but elite totem users didn''t want to do. First form totem users were responsible for most of them.


    Although many have ran away from the kingdom, there were still thousands of first form totem users.


    Not mentioning the arrival of the three major armies and the nobles who had gradually returned from their leave.


    ********************


    A week later, Dawn.


    Within the Blackfire Palace


    In the red-patterned, black main court, extraordinary men and women of sat on two rows of black stone chairs. It looked like each of them occupied a high position, viewing everything around them as distasteful. They seemed to distaste everything around.


    Black robed boys and girls were all over the court, continuously serving fruits and wine.


    The throne on the front of the court was still empty. On the two sides close to the throne were six slightly shorter black highback stone seats. The similar heights showed that the people that were about to sit on these seats had roughly the same status.


    The six seats were separated into two sides, three on each.


    Below was the crowd that sat on the black stone chairs. These were the representatives of notorious and powerful forces in the kingdom; there was the representative of the War Guild, Assassin Guild, high level nobles, major businessmen and so on.


    For the six empty seats, no one thought they were unreasonable. If the Lord of the Blackfire Palace set it up this way, the statuses of these people were only slightly lower than him. It was evident that for the people that sat on those seats, their abilities matched up to their positions.


    Finally, after some time, a white light of dawn shined into the court from the flanking windows, , and gathered in the middle of the court.


    There was finally a figure on the palace''s right entrance.


    Three strange looking men and women in white robes walked into the court. Under the guidance of the servants, they sat on the three seats on the right hand side of the throne.


    The nobles and representatives immediately caused an uproar. They turned to talk to each other but realized that no one recognized the three white-robed men and women.


    The three of them were not young. The eldest of them had a head of white hair, estimated to be 70-80 years old. The youngest one was also about 50 years old. They had similarities in their dressing, where all of them had different amounts of white fox skin as decor. On the left of their faces were pitch black crescent marks, and the lone girl wore bells of different sizes all over her body. They rang continuously as she walked, giving off a foreign feeling.


    "The Lord has arrived!"


    With a swoosh, a black blur appeared on the throne. The figure was in black, his eyes electric. This was evidently the Lord of Blackfire Palace, Garen Trejon, whose fame had spread throughout the kingdom and even the whole of Kovitan.


    Garen was tall and had good body proportions. As he sat on the throne, he gave off an imposing feeling, as if he were some huge tiger or dragon.


    In the split second he appeared on the throne, the whole court shook mildly, as if they were letting out soft, overwhelmed sounds.


    As the strong ones struggled to snap out of it, they realized that the palace was in perfect condition. The tremor just now was just an illusion of the heart.


    In that instant, the crowd was shocked beyond words. Their respect towards the Lord deepened. Then they the realized, as one of the Four Gargantuans in the kingdom, he was currently still young. He could still be improving every second.


    "The Lord of Silver Palace has arrived!"


    Quietly, Ivycius'' handsome figure appeared on the first seat to Garen''s right. He held a long, white sword. He frowned slightly at the three people opposite him.


    Only then did the crowd notice; the three mysterious persons on Garen''s left weren''t affected at all by the strong tremors just now. Their expressions only grew more solemn. If originally they seemed casual or even displeased with their seats, it was more evident now.


    A circle or white faintly surrounded the three people. Suddenly, a young man or girl appeared behind each of them.


    The three of them were also in tight-fitting snow white clothing. A small crescent-shaped white lock of fur was sewn on each of their shoulders. They had a respectful demeanor about them, and evidently they were the descendants of the three seated people.


    At this point, three men walked out behind Ivycius. It was the Moonies. They wielded thin swords and stood behind him with the same respectful stance.


    Garen swept his gaze throughout the court from his elevated seat. It finally landed on the three people to his left.


    "This selection is an important matter that determines the foundation of my Blackfire Palace. Many thanks to the three Lords of Seven Night Tower who travelled far to come personally. It is indeed my honor."


    "Your words are too kind. My Snowy Mountain Seven Night Tower has been Kovitan''s neighbor for a long time. We have heard your fame. Being invited to view the ceremony is my Seven Night Tower''s honor."


    The white-haired elderly man in the lead quickly bowed his head and responded respectfully.

 456 Disciples 2

    Chapter 456: Disciples 2


    "I''ve heard that dangers are everywhere deep in the Snowy Mountains. Ferocious beasts roam the place and living conditions are harsh. The Seven Night Tower, as one of the strongest forces, can be known as the representative of the Snowy Mountains range. I never thought I would be able to meet the three Lords here." Ivycius slowly opened his mouth. As someone who already entered a mysterious level between fourth and fifth form, his speech gave off a strange indescribable feeling.


    His words were clearly gentle and warm with extra attention to the terms, but it gave off a cold strange feeling to others.


    "My apologies. I had some enlightenments recently, which changed my body." He himself knew the current state of his body and added on a few words to avoid any misunderstanding.


    "This should be the Lord of Silver Palace? A hundred twenty years ago, White Rose Sword Sage Ivycius consecutively defeated the twelve Demon Lords of the East Sea, eradicating the Demon Lord Totem organization. For an achievement like that, even if we are located in the North region, we would have heard about it." The lady in the middle opened her mouth and said.


    "Your words are too kind."


    There was a commotion in the crowd below. Now only they knew that the White Rose Sword Sage from a hundred years ago was the current Silver Palace Lord Edin. His original name should be Ivycius.


    "Let me introduce to all of you." Garen started to speak. He pointed towards the first person on his left - the white-haired elderly man.


    "This is the Second Lord of Seven Night Tower, Moroba Blizzard. Known in the North as the Master of Eight Realms. The one behind him is his disciple."


    The white-haired elderly man smiled as he stood up, and bowed towards the crowd below. His mannerism was a little different than central countries. He joined his hands and touched the tip of his own nose.


    His disciple behind him followed in the same manner.


    Garen continued to introduce the second person.


    "The second one is the Fourth Lord of Seven Night Tower, Lucy Starnight. Known in the North as the Angel of the Night. The one behind her is also her disciple."


    "Angel of the Night?" The one that just took a seat, Second Lord Blizzard grinned slightly. The Fourth Lord''s nickname wasn''t "angel", but "demon"... Her favorite thing to do on a normal day would be killing youths. Uncountable innocent lives have died in her hands. After aging in the recent few years, she toned down a little and stopped killing innocents. Before, just by mentioning her name in the North would stop a kid from crying.


    Calling her an angel instead of a demon. Seeing Demon Girl Starnight smiling in pleasure, Blizzard knew a new side of Garen.


    Garen didn''t care and continued introducing the last one.


    "The last one is an old friend. Third Lord Anjiad Spellcaster, known as the Spellmaster in the North."


    Anjiad was the same wizened old man. He was short, but his sharp eyes gave off a feeling that he should not be trifled with. As he heard Garen''s introduction, he stood up and forced a warm smile. He put his hands together and touched the tip of his nose, then sat down.


    Master of Eight Realms, Angel of the Night, Spellmaster. These were the three masters sent by the Seven Night Tower to support Garen.


    They were all true fourth form elites. Because of the harsh conditions around the Seven Night Tower, it caused the top to be incredibly strong, but the middle and lower class were severely powerless.


    Moreover, differing from Kovitan and other strong countries, Seven Night Tower was located in the Snowy Mountain range. They were the strongest force in the vast region, but a peak fourth form was already their strongest representative.


    The strongest First Lord was also only a peak fourth form. The only difference from the other Lords was that he controlled the only ultimate heirloom in Seven Night Tower. Throughout all the elites in the Snowy Mountain range, there were no totem users who could withstand him. Those that were slightly weaker than him had to group together to even put up a fight.


    However, in the central division, even Kovitan already had three out of the Four Gargantuans. They each had their own ultimate heirlooms and were peak fourth form units. Kovitan as a single nation already far surpassed the strongest forces in the Snowy Mountains.


    Not to mention an Original Heirloom like the Ultimate Shelter, people from the Snowy Mountain would never even have heard of it.


    After understanding the frightening strength of the central region, an internal force in the Seven Night Tower instantly had some thoughts to leave Snowy Mountain. The three Lords were the representatives of that force.


    Fortunately, Anjiad and Garen had crossed path multiple times and were familiar with each other. During his journeys to the North to kill monsters to recuperate potential points, Garen would meet Anjiad every single time.


    The first time was a coincidence, but for the past few times, it was evident that it was Anjiad that took the initiative to approach Garen. Garen''s Blackfire Palace was also currently lacking elite forces. Hence, the two sides hit it off well.


    After a few interactions, the friendship began to grow.


    Anjiad was a man of capricious nature. He was soft and conflict averse. Although he was a peak fourth form, he didn''t like taking an enemy heads on, instead using his trained mutated beasts to do battle for him. After testing Garen a few times through their interactions, he realized his opponent was the type that countered his abilities. Since he couldn''t defeat Garen, he was naturally convinced.


    Garen relied on his frightening regenerative abilities. With his nine lives, he was never afraid of death and was incredibly ferocious. Within a few rounds, he broke through a huge wave of mutated beasts and headed towards Anjiad. Anjiad could see him regenerating from the wounds he had just obtained.


    After two tests, Anjiad was completely won over.


    It was the first time the crowd below had met masters from the North.


    They have heard of the Snowy Mountains. After Garen mentioned the Seven Night Tower, some of the elderly faintly remembered. Before the mutation epidemic, the North and the central region had some relations. Representatives of the major business remembered a little clearer.


    At that time, the kingdom''s business alliance would go to the North to re-stock from time to time. Their fur and rare herbs were decent and of high quality. People from the North were not exposed to the world; a hundred-year snow ginseng only needed a hundred gold. It was incredibly cheap.


    For other countries, the market price would at least be fifty thousand gold or above.


    Gold was a common trade commodity. To convert to Rumbs, it was 10 to 1. Fifty thousand gold would be able to convert to five thousand Rumbs. It was abnormally cheap.


    As time passed, some people from the business alliance looked at the North as a deserted land. No one thought that now the strongest force in the North, the Lord of Seven Night Tower would appear.


    The crowd below were whispering, but the people on the top didn''t care.


    Next the servants made the announcement to bring the fighters from the audition.


    The participants were brought up in batches. For this opportunity, they were selected winners out of tens of thousands of participants. Although it was merely one week of auditions, the things they''ve faced were already more than their previous years of lives. They were also much more complicated.


    Noble businessmen played dirty tricks. Bribery, scheming, blackmail. Some noblemen fighters secretly hired totem users to severely injure other participants.


    There were some used little tricks such as hidden tools to obtain victory.


    Fortunately Garen requested for Ivycius'' three disciples plus Lala''s supervision, and also a few professors from The Grand Duke Benoc''s institute to settle the various problems.


    This successfully put an end towards most of the unhealthy competition.


    As they winners were brought up, Garen asked people do place a giant jade-like stone in the middle of the court. All the winners would place their hands on the jade stone. For those who qualified for the Black Water True Technique, the jade stone would faintly blink in black. Using this testing tool that Garen created himself, he could identify the most suitable fighter to train his Black Water True Technique among the sea of participants.


    One by one Garen pointed out the participants. The rest were brought away.


    For the people that were brought away, although they failed this test, there was another one waiting for them. It was a determination test by using special methods to simulate the pain of during the infestation of the Green Vine Sphere. It started from mild to extreme, as it got closer to the actual level.


    This was the achievement of the forgers that the Trejon''s Household recruited recently.


    If they couldn''t even pass this test, they only could become the lowest level sentry in Blackfire Palace. Although the Blackfire Palace''s sentry had benefits far above other forces, but it was nothing compared to the Blackfire guard, one rank higher, and the core disciples.


    As the participants went up and down one by one, Garen only selected five people out of seven or eight crowds. These five people made the jade stone blink in black for the longest period of time. The test ended when there was no longer anyone to bring up.


    Garen furrowed his brows and looked at the five men before him. There were three females or two males. One of the females was already over forty years of age while the rest were still very young, not more than twenty three. Two of them were dressed as nobles.


    Five of them stood at the furthest end of the court. They were already considered core disciples of Blackfire Court. Garen would personally take them as disciples. Although they were still standing, many seated representatives gave them gazes of admiration.


    "Bring in the top three!!"


    The final moment had arrived. The three strongest men from the auditions would definitely be discipled by Garen. To be able to stand out among the sea of paricipants, their abilities were unimaginable.


    Very quickly, three middle aged people with outstanding auras walked into the court. There were two males and a female. All of them looked around thirty forty years of age.


    At they entered the court, Garen instantly let out a smile.


    "Indeed¡­." It was exactly as he had expected.


    The three of them were Master-level elites!


    If they were placed in the Martial Arts World, they would at least be at fighter level. The fighters of Totem World were different from the Martial Arts World. They did not have any aura, nor would they use their own essence to suppress the enemy''s abilities.


    They chose a different path - heightened self-condensation.


    They kept all their essence in their body, sealed. It was like a living sealed can, trying to prevent essence from leaking out. The purpose was to increase lifespan and strengthen the body. This caused Garen to think of one of the highest realms of Earth''s martial arts, Secure Golden Body.


    As the three people walked in, they gave off an extraordinary feeling. They had strong temperaments, causing people to fix their eyes on them.


    People like that stood out among the crowd. They were clearly visible, like oil on water.


    The three master-levels stayed solemn. As they stood in the court, there was a certain pride and grace in them.


    "Good!" Garen slapped the armrest. The smile on his face intensified.


    The three of them had trained their essence in their body to a terrifying level. The firmness of their body was at an unimaginable level, as if they were evolved beings.


    If they were placed in the Martial Arts World, the three of them should at least be at peak fighter level.


    The three of them wore the issued black Chinese robes. They bowed towards Garen and the surrounding people.


    "Are the three of you willing to join me? Label me your master?" Garen was, in fact, young, but as he spoke, others could see that he had strong momentum on his side.


    No one in the crowd thought it was awkward as if it was natural.


    "I, Bale, am willing!" The first man finally couldn''t control his joy and quickly answered.


    The remaining two had equally strong reactions. Uncontrollable joy could be seen on their faces.


    "I, Kamar, am willing!" The girl answered loudly.


    "Saloma greets the master!" The last one bowed to the ground. He was shaking as tears came out uncontrollably from his eyes.


    He looked simple, and evidently was from a peasant background. He thought about something at the moment and acted so intensely.


    In fact, the three of them as the top three were the first to touch the big jade stone. But the jade stone''s reaction was incredibly weak.


    They initially thought they had lost all hope.


    The audition was just the first stage. If they couldn''t pass the second stage, all hope would be gone.


    They never thought as they were brought up to the court, Garen would directly take them as disciples.

 457 Elder 1

    Chapter 457: Elder 1


    "Bring the rings!"


    The herald on the side shouted.


    Three beautiful ladies had long been prepared. They brought up three silver plates in their white dresses.


    In the middle of the plates were three small, pitch-black rings. A simple pattern resembling the Nine-Headed Hydra was carved on each of the rings.


    The emblem of Blackfire Palace was instantly displayed on the court. This allowed the crowd to gauge Garen''s value towards the three people.


    The three masters took the rings and placed them on different fingers on their respective hands.


    The servants then brought the three of them down, and next was the group that was just selected. They went up to receive the rings. This time, they were black-red rings to signify a lower level than the pure black rings.


    This not only signified the difference in benefits and status, but also represented the different levels of teachings that would be bestowed upon them.


    Lastly, the people that passed the third determination test were brought up. Dark red rings were given, representing their third-ranked status.


    Almost everyone in the kingdom knew that Garen had seized control of the largest royal treasury, then equally divided the resources with the Silver Palace. He also controlled large amounts of land in the palace, even the eldest princess and the four princes didn''t dare to return to the palace in order to avoid conflict.


    Moreover, for the two Grand Dukes, one of them had a good relationship with Garen; while the other one would not start a conflict with Garen over some wealth. Although at first glance, they did not obtain the royal treasury, but they obtained a more secretive royal warehouse.


    Both parties had an understanding. It could be considered as the both of them taking what they needed.


    The candidates at the determination test were different from the first two batches.


    They were treated significantly worse, except those that had fully passed the test. Those that endured more than half would be given a pass as well, but they had to pay a significant fee every year.


    The meaning behind this measure was that only those with top talent and determination would qualify to be trained by the Blackfire Palace. Those with slightly lower talent and determination had to pay a price to obtain what they desired.


    It was equivalent to school fees.


    Garen wasn''t unaware that other forces would definitely send people to try to learn his techniques, or they might even have other motives.


    However, that did not matter to him.


    After his contest with Ivycius, he realized that there were many fourth form totem users with martial arts in this world, but only a few could enter the fifth form.


    Martial arts was only one of the criterias to enter fifth form, but it wasn''t the full requirement.


    To reach fifth form, he initially had no clue as well, but after fusing with the first head of the Nine-Headed Hydra, he finally had some rough idea.


    Fifth form was combining the totem and totem user into one. The ultimate totem would be absorbed by the totem user using martial arts to completely fuse both of them, reaching the goal of the evolution of life.


    In simple terms, totem users and luminarists were both ways to fuse external forces into the body to achieve evolution.


    The trained totem would grow, step by step, to drive the evolution of the body, before finally arriving at a strange new level. This path was far deeper than mere martial arts development. It has even suppressed the path of science.


    In other words, the development of totem was a science.


    There are many types of martial arts and totems, and even more types of human bodies, each had differing talents.


    Martial arts, the totem, and the body. These three must reach an unprecedented alignment to undergo the ultimate fusion.


    In other words, if the martial art wasn''t suitable, fusion was out of the question. Similarly with an incompatible totem. If the body had some issues, then that would be even more unthinkable.


    If there was an issue with any of the three, form 5 was out of the question.


    Garen could now understand better the thought process of the peak fourth form masters who were about to enter fifth form.


    The period before leveling up was the most important period. If it''s long, it could take years, and the shortest would even be a few months.


    In this period of time, one had to meditate to continuously adjust the state of the heart, body and totem. Then, using the most suitable form of martial arts to fuse. He cannot be disrupted nor severely injured.


    Any problems out of the three would result in wasted efforts. Once one was disrupted and then resumed, it would take multitudes more effort and time.


    A compatible totem, suitable martial arts and fitting state of the body. None of the three could be lacking.


    Even if the martial arts was given, it wouldn''t create a scene among fourth and fifth form elites. Only a compatible martial art would suffice.


    Ivycius took more than a hundred years before he completely understood the relationship between the three. It wasn''t until his battle with Garen that he was enlightened. Only after that could he develop the perfect sword skills that he was lacking, fulfilling the condition of the most compatible martial art.


    It might partly be because of his perfectionist behavior, or his deformed feelings towards his totem, but to be able to make him stay at this level for more than a hundred years naturally wasn''t a joke.


    From the beginning of time, fourth form totem users have had various unique abilities. There were techniques to lengthen the lifespan of men. However, the main reason so many fourth form totem users have perished throughout history was due to the inability to regulate their body to perfect compatibility, failing to reach the level of the three becoming one. This level required large amounts of time. Most of them tried to quiet down and regulate the body, but countless have died in the process. Only a handful have successfully broken through.


    Too many people were stuck at this level. It wasn''t the lack of martial arts and totems, but the process of regulating their body. It was, in fact, a state of the mind and cannot be forced using resources. Breakthrough also could not be achieved by talent alone. It needed experience, perception and seizing of the opportunity when it came by.


    Improving the state of mind was the biggest stumbling block to entering fifth form.


    Both Garen and Ivycius had entered this final stage.


    As the Nine-Headed Hydra and White Rose were the totems most suited for them respectively, they''ve passed this test.


    Garen had mastered many different martial arts. After some mild tweaking, he combined the essence of his martial arts into one, inventing the Black Water True Technique that suited him the most.


    Fortunately, his martial arts was on the level of the King of the Century. It naturally gave him a huge advantage in regulating his body. His control and regulation of his body far surpassed other totem users.


    Hence, Garen had in fact already fulfilled the two hardest items - body regulation and the most suitable martial arts.


    Unfortunately, as God Cloud has said, his biggest limitation was his totem.


    The Nine-Headed Hydra did not have sufficient potential. After all, it wasn''t from a perfect genetic bloodline. It was evolved from the imperfect gene of the Dual-Headed Salamander. Its congenital deficiency became a key restriction for him to progress.


    God Cloud was not just saying it for fun.


    He calculated that after completely fusing with the Nine-Headed Hydra, he should be able to barely reach lower fifth form. However to progress further would be incredibly difficult. Even with his strong batting ability, the furthest he could go was being able to compare with a peak fifth form.


    However in the eyes of the old men who had secluded themselves from the world, to enter fifth form was already the pinnacle of achievement. It was sufficient to bear the top missions of the Three Departments.


    Garen refocused and gazed at the middle of the court below. The last batch of self-paid disciples was led down. Today''s ceremony would soon come to a close.


    "Alright. Since there are so many friends who came and supported me today, I have another major announcement."


    Garen suddenly spoke loudly.


    The crowd that was about to leave stopped instantly. They had no clue as to what Garen planned to announce.


    Some of the people below started talking among themselves, but the most of them looked focus and fixated their gaze on Garen.


    Garen nodded in satisfaction.


    "I invented the Black Water True Technique. The original name of Blackfire Palace is no longer suitable. With so many friends here today, I announce that from today onwards, the Blackfire Palace will officially change its name!"


    He paused for a moment.


    "To Black Swamp Palace."


    As the Nine-Headed Hydra was originally the king of the swamp, changing to "Swamp" was suitable indeed. Moreover, for the disciples who were trained in Black Water True Technique, due to the nature of the martial art, they would definitely choose totems with water attributes. Due to this fact, "swamp" was also very suitable.


    With his own forces, Garen no longer had to do everything himself. He could even ensure the safety and benefits of his own family and also gather more information and resources easily. It would also be very beneficial for his future purpose.


    "Black Swamp Palace?"


    "The name is simple enough."


    "The Lord had originally not used a fire attribute totem. Naturally, changing the name is the normal thing to do."


    The crowd below echoed their approval.


    Garen smiled then diverted his gaze towards the three tower lords on his left.


    "Of course, this is not the major announcement. The major announcement is, the three Lords from the Snowy Mountain''s Seven Night Tower in the North will officially become honorary elders of my Black Swamp Palace under my invitation. They will be subordinate to only me."


    Honorary elders. This role was not unexpected.


    Traveling thousands of miles to Kovitan and facing dangers and troubles throughout the journey, naturally it would not have been just for a simple celebration.


    Only a minority of the people had not expected it, and let out surprised expressions.


    Among the three Lords, the strongest, Second Lord Blizzard, stood up.


    "To be invited by Lord Garen to this historical nation Kovitan and becoming an honorary elder of the Black Swamp Palace, is a great honor to me." He bowed slightly to show respect.


    "You''re welcome, Lord Blizzard." Garen nodded.


    The other two tower lords also rose to their feet for some kind words.


    "Hahahaha!"


    Suddenly, a loud, fierce laugh came from outside of the palace.


    "I heard the Nine-Headed Hydra Garen has extraordinary strength. I traveled over a thousand miles for this challenge. I''m sure the Lord will not disappoint me?"


    The voice was terrifying. It shook the whole ground, numbing the soles of the crowd.


    At the same time, all heads turned towards Garen.


    Since Garen gained fame, this was the first time a strong opponent had come to challenge him. Each famous strong master would have experienced countless challenges before finally reaching the peak.


    Garen gained fame in a short time. Due to his elusiveness and the continuous major incidents recently, this had not happened for a while.


    Until now, he permanently resided in the kingdom. He had even started a clan and controlled an organization like the Black Swamp Palace. This gave people an opportunity.


    Riding on another elite to gain fame was the fastest path to fame. Some of the elites had been training for multiple years. After coming out of training, they were eager to prove themselves to set up a foundation for their future generations. Naturally, they relied on their strength to find the fastest path.


    Garen sat on the throne while both of his eyes were almost closed, as if he did not hear any sound.


    It was the Angel of the Night on his left who slowly stood up and let out a clear laugh.


    "It just so happens my Polar Flame is still lacking two major drugs. I''m really borrowing the master''s fortune." Before she finished speaking, the figure on the Angel of the Night''s seat slowly dissipated. She had already left as she was speaking, leaving a blur on the seat.


    She was incredibly quick as even Garen and Ivycius did not notice.


    Suddenly, a loud wave of thunder came from the sky outside the palace. Within the thunder was a seductive laugh. The clear ringing of bells came directly into the heart of the crowd. It was like a lover''s grudge, causing the people around to itch.


    "Who are you!!!??? The person I want to challenge is the Nine-Headed Hydra...ahhh!!!" The man''s voice came to a sudden halt.


    In an instant, a white blur of lightning shot into the court onto a seat on the left of the throne. It was the Angel of the Night, who had just left.


    In her right hand, between her five sharp fingers was a bloody heart which was still beating.


    On the seats below, some of the ladies let out faint cries. Most of the men turned pale. Within a few breaths, this lady tore out the heart of a strong totem user.


    A murderous act like this was shocking for someone as beautiful as the Angel of the Night. Her white skin and the red blood formed a clear contrast.


    The Angel of the Night laughed as she passed the heart in her hand to her disciple, then sat down. Her hand was not stained with blood at all.

 458 Elder 2

    Chapter 458: Elder 2


    "Good going, Angel." Garen finally spoke. "To finish a Form Four fighter within five breaths, your reputation does not deceive."


    "You are too kind, Palace Master." The Angel laughed lightly. The three of them were the elders Garen had spent a fortune to invite here, if they didn''t show off some of their power, how could they earn everyone''s obedience.


    In an area with so many powerful fighters such as the Central Region, both sides survived side-by-side, fighting for benefits. They showed their power, which was also the Black Swamp Palace''s power. To shock everyone present.


    Garen understood that too, so he purposely asked the new arrivals to show their power.


    His own battle achievements were right there, so the large man here to challenge him definitely wasn''t here to kill him, probably only planning to retreat in one piece, and that would be enough to make his reputation. After all, Garen was currently one of Kovitan''s four heads, his position was not to be underestimated.


    This man had definitely investigated everything beforehand, and had prepared defenses specifically to protect against Garen''s powers before he came for this battle.


    But he didn''t think he would meet the Angel of the Night who had mysterious powers. It was extremely rare for totems from the Northern Region to show up in the Central Region, and whilst both sides were unaware of each other, his Totem Light was destroyed as soon as they met, and his heart dug out.


    As expected, the expressions of all the guests and witnesses below changed drastically.


    Before this, they never had a clear impression of Garen''s power, but now after seeing the Angel of the Night kill a Form Four fighter of the same level with her bare hands, and still be so respectful to Garen, they finally understood how terrifying Garen was.


    "Come! Bring out the Elder Ring!"


    Garen ordered directly.


    Three young girls came up timidly, and presented the three Tower Lords with their Elder Rings, black with a bit of silver in the center.


    Just as the three of them were about to pick up the rings.


    "Wait!"


    Another voice spoke up,


    The one who spoke was none other than Ivycius, who sat alone on the right side.


    Seeing the three of them opposite him glaring at him, Ivycius'' expression remained unchanged.


    "I just happened to have invited two of my best friends here. I myself am also interested in becoming a Black Swamp Palace elder, which also makes three of us, so may I know if Palace Master Garen is willing to accept us? Then all of us can be elders at the same time, wouldn''t that be better?"


    Garen smiled slightly. This was the process they had planned way in advance, so he wasn''t surprised in the slightest.


    "If the Silver Palace Master is willing to join, with our relationship, is there anything else that needs to be said?"


    Ivycius nodded. His right hand gripped the sword hilt lightly.


    Clang!!


    Amidst gasps of surprise.


    A rush of pure snow white shot out of nowhere, forming a white bridge of light as it flew out of the hall, shooting into the sky.


    From the door of the Black Swamp Palace''s main hall, a white bridge of light several meters wide shot straight into the sky. Forming a straight road several thousand meters long.


    Whoosh-whoosh!!


    Two flashes of black lightning descended, falling onto the surface of the shadow, instantly becoming two black-robed figures, a man and a woman.


    The two of them steadied their footing slightly, and walked down the white sword-light bridge, but strangely, each of the steps the two of them took could cover more than ten meters of distance at once.


    "Island Master Wukang, Island Master Skyharp(1), it''s been a while." Ivycius stood, his usually ice-cold face actually smiling with some warmth.


    The two on the sword bridge entered the palace hall quickly, and only then could everyone see their faces.


    The man was clean-shaven, with one of his ears unnaturally large and fart, wearing a huge circlet of pearls that had more than ten large white pearls through it. His figure-fitting black silk robes did nothing to hide his firm and supple muscles.


    Hearing Ivycius'' voice, he chuckled.


    "Little Vivi, after all these years, you still look so girly."


    The crowd had just woken up from the awe from the moment, and upon hearing those words, some people nearly laughed out loud, hurriedly clapping their hands to their mouths out of fright.


    Ivycius'' expression didn''t change, as though he hadn''t heard that at all.


    The other woman had plain features and dark skin, staring at Ivycius resentfully as soon as she got off the bridge.


    "Vivi, for all these years, how could you be so cruel as to not visit me at all?" Her voice was unnaturally melodious, like the song of a kingfisher, clear and sweet, completely untainted.


    A woman with a face like that made a huge contrast with Ivycius'' handsome features, but to everyone''s surprise, a hint of guilt flashed past Ivycius'' eyes.


    "I have let you down."


    "The two of you, please sit." Garen hurriedly spoke up, so that the two old lovers wouldn''t ruin the whole atmosphere with their exchange of gazes.


    The two island masters bowed towards Garen slightly.


    "Well met, Palace Master Garen."


    Led by the maidservant, they walked to the seats beneath Ivycius and prepared to sit.


    "Wait!"


    This was the third interruption today.


    But this time, nobody was surprised.


    The one who had spoken was the Second Lord of Seven Night Tower, Blizzard, dissatisfaction flashing in his eyes.


    "If it was the Silver Palace Master, the White Rose Sword Sage becoming an honorary elder, we have no opinion. The White Rose Sword Sage''s abilities were trained through true battle since many years ago, we have heard of him even far away in the Northern Region." His Kovitan language was unnaturally fluent, "But has anyone heard of the two so-called island masters?"


    The female disciple behind him instantly laughed lightly on cue.


    "Teacher, I heard that the East Sea''s Seventy-two Islands were more or less destroyed by the destructive battle back then, and most of those islands are now deserted. These two island masters¡­ aren''t the only people on their respective islands, are they?"


    "How could you say that? No matter what, they''re still your seniors, you have no right to speak here. When we get back, go into the Tundra Cave for three days and repent!" Blizzard scolded her, but his expression didn''t look unhappy in the slightest.


    "Yes, that is my mistake." The female disciple acted upset, lowering her head and apologizing.


    The man with the large ear chuckled coldly, and turned around to look at Blizzard.


    "The Northern Region''s Seven Night Tower? You guys aren''t showing off in the Northern Region, and came instead to the Central Region, don''t slip up and get knocked off now, that would be bad." He laughed again coldly, "As for the situation on my Wukang Island, it''s not up to you to worry. No matter how rundown, I can still call out a couple hundred Sea Dragoons."(2)


    As soon as he said that, the contempt of Blizzard''s face receded somewhat. Other people might not know what Sea Dragoons are, but they had interacted with the East Sea before, so they knew perfectly well.


    On the seas, Sea Dragoons were a title only Spiritualized totem users could ascend to. They had true top-level power. Unlike their home in the extreme cold, the East Sea islands had ample produce, the supplies from the sea allowing those on the islands to live in relative surety. Perhaps due to the geography there, the place produced many totem users, but their flaw was that they had too few peak-level fighters, and Form Fout was their highest. Form Five required the steadiness of both heart and body, and was a level that was extremely hard to reach without a background of deep history and culture.


    "Looks like they were limited to Form Four and couldn''t advance as well, so they ran here to the Central Region looking for a chance." The Angel of the Night communicated quietly with the Spellmaster Anjiad.


    "I have never really heard of Wukang Island, but Skyharp Island is one of the large islands among the seventy-two, with decent overall power, but I didn''t think they would have such a young island master." Spellmaster nodded.


    "Do you want to go or shall I?" Angel of the Night asked directly.


    Spellmaster chuckled, and didn''t continue, just giving the Second Tower Lord''s direction a glance.


    Angel of the Night harrumphed, didn''t say anything more.


    "Whether you''re strong or not isn''t something you just say. Palace Master Garen''s honorary elders are not a position just anyone can take." Blizzard said word by word, his gaze on Wukang growing sharper.


    "I seem to know you." Next to him, Skyharp suddenly turned her head, staring at Blizzard hard. "More than thirty years ago, in the battle to obtain the Heart of the Snow Demon, weren''t you the Blizzard that my father grievously injured with one palm hit?"


    Blizzard immediately looked unhappy, that battle was the deepest scar of his life, and he still had that clear red palm print on the center of his chest right now, he couldn''t dispel it no matter what he tried.


    He had that old wound reopened to his face, and he was never a generous person to start with.


    The killing intent flashed in his eyes, and countless pitch-black spots appeared on his skin, crowded and dense like that of a leopard''s spots, instantly covering his entire body.


    The left side of his face abruptly began to fade, while half a white owl''s head appeared instead.


    Boom!!


    Blizzard shot out a palm, a pillar of black air spinning as it rushed towards Skyharp opposite him.


    As expected, he was at the peak of Form Four, where he was about to merge with his totem. This sort of power could only be controlled by a totem user at the borderline, just like Garen right now, every move carrying the power of nearly one dragon, without him needing to waste totem power to activate the totem. Such terrifying power was completely his own, as long as he had enough stamina, he could use it for several days and nights without any problem.


    The black pillar spun and shot, morphing into a black disc that spun and sliced in mid-air, whooshing as it flew towards Skyharp.


    Island Master Skyharp''s expression grew serious.


    She waved her right hand, and a beam of blue light shot out of her sleeves, meeting the black disc head-on.


    In an instant, the blue light came into direct contact with the black disc.


    Wooo!!!


    A piercing vibrating sound rose in the large hall.


    The black disc and the blue light froze in mid-air, neither giving way as they were suspended in mid-air.


    The black air and the blue light that had been shot out sprayed everywhere, and then returned back to the black disc and blue light, without harming their surroundings in any way.


    The whole hall was dyed black and blue.


    After a short while of tug-of-war, the black disc began to press the blue light down slowly.


    Psst!


    Just then, a white thread shot through between the two of them, piercing right through the center of the black disc and the blue light, cutting them apart like a knife.


    The white thread nailed itself into the palace wall with a thud, and was revealed to be a clean white rose. There were even some drops of crystal dew dripping off of it.


    "Hmph!" Blizzard snorted coldly, and called back the black disc. He glanced at Ivycius.


    Skyharp also called the blue light back into her sleeve. There was a slight sheen of sweat on her forehead, however, proving that just now hadn''t been easy for her.


    "Both of you are my esteemed guests, so please don''t mention the previous generation''s conflicts, for my sake, from now on we''re all part of the same camp, so we should support and help each other." Garen finally spoke.


    Both sides were powerful fighters that his Black Swamp Palace used their funds to support, so naturally he wouldn''t want them to fight each other before he even had a chance to use them.


    "You''re right, Palace Master." Blizzard nodded, and used that excuse to end the conflict. Ivycius'' power was obviously slightly over Form Four, he didn''t say anything, but inside he was growing more and more wary of him.


    Skyharp also smiled at Garen apologetically.


    "Bring out the Elder Rings!"


    Garen sat on the master seat, watching a few girls come up and give away three similar silver-dotted rings.


    The six peak-level fighters all put them on.


    In that moment, everyone underneath the large hall hurriedly clapped to support them, their applause thundering.


    While Veska was grievously hurt and healing, Garen''s power was boosted by this and continued growing.


    The immense value of the Royal Treasury was enough to sponsor these fighters for a hundred years.


    And that was setting aside the underground hall in the Royal District, and there were still some hidden department secrets. Garen himself wasn''t the type to spend without earning.


    With the help of these six fighters at the same level as him, right now, even if God Cloud came again, Garen was confident he could make sure God Cloud wouldn''t able to leave!


    Right now he was buying time, to merge the totem himself and achieve a new level of power, he needed time. In this period of time, he must not have any weaknesses, must not get injured, and his emotions cannot get too extreme. Until this period was over, and he had utterly merged with the Nine-Headed Dragon. Meanwhile, he naturally needed enough power to protect himself.


    Translator''s notes:


    ¿ÕÇÙµºÖ÷, the ¿Õ could mean ''sky'' or ''empty''.


    º£Áúʦ, lit. Sea Dragon Master / User, see what I did there?

 459 Development 1

    Chapter 459: Development 1


    Deep in the Black Swamp Palace after it was renamed, on a newly created training arena.


    The family¡¯s Guard Captains, Maxilan and Edney stood at the sides, and there were eight newly-recruited disciples standing in the middle. They all wore identical extravagant black fighting clothes, so be it the men or women, they all looked extremely handsome and sharp.


    Garen stood in front of them, his hands behind his back, his gaze almost solid as it swept across the many disciples.


    He said nothing at all, and had been standing like that for a long time already, his gaze just kept staring at these newly-recruited disciples.


    Rather than calling them his disciples, they were more like the experimental subjects he had chosen for his invented exercises. He needed practical applications to test whether or not the Black Water True Technique could truly allow normal people to overcome their limits, and different people had different bodies, so naturally the effects of their training would be different as well. This was also in preparation for that thing that might happen in the future.


    The three average Masters stood at the very front, and made no sound whatsoever, in complete contrast to the impatience on some of the others¡¯ faces. To be able to train themselves until the Master-level among the normal humans, they would naturally have exceptional patience.


    The sunlight of dawn fell lightly on everyone there, reflecting a black-ish silk light.


    Garen finally spoke.


    "Other than myself, nobody has ever learned my own Black Water True Technique, so even I don¡¯t know what will happen when I teach it you all." He told them frankly that this was an experiment.


    "There¡¯s still time now if you want to turn back."


    The three masters, two men and one woman, were the three Garen favored the most, while the disciples behind them were a level behind, who didn¡¯t get such a high ranking, they were just particularly suited to the Black Water True Technique.


    As for these second-level disciples, there were more women than men, three to two.


    Upon hearing Garen¡¯s words, nobody reacted much, since they had defeated the odds to get here, of course they would have made all the mental preparations.


    "Great, now I¡¯ll teach you the first level. After you¡¯ve achieved that, then come to me for the second level." Garen didn¡¯t say any more, and passed down the first level of the Black Water True Technique secret technique directly.


    After structuring the Black Water True Technique, there were four levels among the normal people, and then was the critical point, once they broke through that, it would be a new world for them, enabling them to activate totem power.


    Garen explained each of the thousand words regarding the first level, word by word.


    And then came the time to answer everyone¡¯s questions.


    The time ticked by.


    The three Masters didn¡¯t have many questions, they had long since obtained utter control over their own bodies, even though the first level of the Black Water True Technique didn¡¯t suit them particularly well, they still understood it in no time.


    He glanced at the three Masters, satisfied.


    "From today onwards, there will be an internal competition every week, and the top three would get certain rewards, these three would be the Black Swamp Palace¡¯s strongest disciples, if you can maintain your position consistently, your reward will be steadily increased. There will be unexpected surprises in store."


    Garen said with a smile.


    After the large-scale recruitment drive just yesterday, the influx of people into the Black Swamp Palace was extraordinary.


    The small families and merchants who wanted to kiss up to him provided vast supplies and riches, just the money from the external self-sponsored disciples had reached a terrifying figure of several tens of thousands of golden rumbs, and this wasn¡¯t a one-time-only profit either, but their annual study fees. There were other expenses too, like accommodation fees and such.


    These disciples stayed inside the Palace District, and every day these eight disciples would set up a platform, waiting for Garen to teach them the Black Water True Technique.


    This was Garen especially letting his disciples form their own forces, each of them would create their own groups of interest, and as it went down, those would band into more groups. This way, the influence of the Black Swamp Palace would achieve extreme heights.


    As for whether or not the spies from the other forces would learn his technique, Garen was not worried in the slightest.


    Because the Black Water True Technique had a special characteristic, which was that he had invented it completely based on his own body, and it was the secret technique exercise that suited him best, so nobody could beat him at it.


    The Form Five fighters from the other powers all had special techniques that suited them, it just wasn¡¯t convenient for them to spread it.


    The only key difference between the Black Water True Technique and their secret techniques was that little bit of crucial technique required to transcend limits


    This method was so that they could only transcend under Garen¡¯s own hand, and it was only theoretical too, without any practical precedent.


    With his micro-control ability as the King of the Century, he needed to touch that most crucial point, and this was basically unreplicable. Because there wasn¡¯t another King of the Century here in this world.


    Of course, maybe many, many years from now, someone would be able to discover the mysteries of it, but understanding its mysteries did not equal to being able to practice it. Because that was a hand technique from another world, and wasn¡¯t something that could be overcome with just imagination, it still required some immersion in another world¡¯s Secret Technique system as well as their style and influence.


    In order to prevent the secret exercises leaking out, Garen had used all sorts of methods.


    Other than this crucial hand he kept to himself, he also embedded all sorts of smokescreens and obstructions into the exercises. By putting in some useless hand techniques and training steps, he made it seem like a half-lie, half-truth.


    And the Black Water True Technique was divided into two versions, one simple version that was only one of the moves from his Northern Capturing Hand plus a little bit of content from the Myriad Water Jasper Technique, this simple version couldn¡¯t activate totem power, and its function was to allow the learner to be more suited to the Black Swamp Armor, so they can get used to the Green Vine Sphere¡¯s power.


    Garen divided his Ten Thousand Mammoths Battle Skills into individual moves, and each move was made into a simplified version as well, merged with the Myriad Water Jasper Technique, to form the four Palace Districts, North, South, East and West.


    The four Districts trained in different types of the Ten Thousand Mammoths Battle Skills, and once one had learned them all, the result would be a totem user¡¯s version, the Four Directions Battle Skills.


    East King Hand, West Phoenix Fist, Southern Double Fist, Northern Capturing Hand.


    Garen himself was quite curious, he didn¡¯t know how strong these simplified versions of his own martial arts essence would be once they were totemized.


    He called the simplified versions the Four Direction Ten Thousand Mammoths, and he had listed out a Four Directions Sky Warrior for each district, in a throwback to his title from the Secret Technique World.


    The Four Directions Sky Warriors had the same status as core disciples, or even higher, as they had to right to mobilize a certain proportion of the Black Swamp Palace¡¯s external powers, which basically meant he had gathered the influence of the external self-sponsored disciples and divided it among the four of them.


    This was a very formidable power, because as more people swore allegiance to the Black Swamp Palace, the more totem users and forgers they had. After the collapse of the war, many totem users and forgers ran back to the Kingdom, and practically all the large powers were madly absorbing manpower right now.


    The position of the Four Directions Sky Warriors came from battle, the four districts fought their own internal competitions, and the strongest one had the right to become a Sky Warrior, which would earn them Garen¡¯s personal bestowal of the Black Swamp Palace¡¯s four strongest suits of Black Swamp Armor.


    That was the elite armor belonging to the four strongest guards.


    This was the external side.


    As for the core disciples, it would depend on what level they could reach.


    If they were suitable, Garen would personally choose a totem from the Royal Treasury and bestow it upon them.


    There were many totems in the Royal Treasury, even the rare and precious ones numbered up to at least several hundred. As for the regular totems, now that Garen had more and more forgers under his own wing, it wouldn¡¯t be too hard just to create them himself.


    They could also choose the totems they liked, or ask the Black Swamp Palace¡¯s forgers to customize one for them.


    After teaching the first level of the Black Water True Technique, Garen discussed the family¡¯s situation with Maxilan and Edney for a bit, and at the same time he advised them on some of their Black Water True Technique before he left the plaza, heading for the Palace District¡¯s Technique Hall.


    On the way, he saw that many of the destroyed areas within the entire Palace District had been fixed, and in some of the places the forgers were concentrated on setting up Alarm Tactic Formations, while several teams of patrolling Black Swamp Guards occasionally wove their way through the surroundings, their footsteps resonating in unison.


    When he walked past the Garden District, from a distance, Garen saw Kid talking to a little girl.


    The little girl was trying hard to practice the West Phoenix Fist¡¯s basic moves, her black hair tied into a short ponytail, her little face full of determination as she ignored Kid¡¯s jokes and laughter beside her.


    Kid was sprawled on a swing, and would occasionally say something, as though teasing the little girl.


    Garen was just slightly surprised that he had accepted such a young self-sponsored student, and then he walked away directly.


    That girl was no more than ten years old, give or take, but she seemed surprisingly determined. Perhaps she was a promising talent, but right now Garen had more than his fair share of promising talents, so he wasn¡¯t too bothered.


    Nobody could fight him for genius disciples with a talent for secret techniques in this world.


    Going past the Garden District, he went past a few areas of the Plaza District, which had the sounds of training coming from them.


    Soon enough, he went into a small garden forest, and a white palace hall deep inside appeared in front of him instantly.


    The palace hall was triangular in shape, like a pyramid, and had small round entrances on all four sides. The whole palace was divided into three floors, the lowest floor being the largest, a full fifty or sixty meters wide.


    There were Silver Palace Guards and Black Swamp Guards standing guard at the entrances. Upon seeing Garen approaching, the guards all lowered their heads and bowed.


    A young pretty girl walked out quickly from the small palace hall, it was Lala.


    Her long red-brown hair was tied into a stupa-like shape at the side of her head, and she wore a black dress, a dark-red waist belt tied around her waist, the black-red colors creating a sharp contrast with her clear white skin.


    "Palace Master." Lala had also changed the way she addressed him, lowering her head slightly at Garen.


    "How¡¯s the situation?" Garen walked into the small palace hall, and asked casually.


    "We¡¯ve already recruited eighteen forgers, each of them at least Form Two. There are also two Form Three ones, they were professors from the destroyed Calm Bay City." Lala replied, following behind him.


    Inside, the first floor was completely empty, all the forgers were doing their research on the upper floors, and they all lived nearby as well.


    The construction here wasn¡¯t completely done yet, and some materials had yet to arrive either.


    "Are there no Spiritualized Masters here?" Garen asked mildly, sweeping his gaze over the people leaving and entering the first floor¡¯s main corridor.


    A forger was only a Master after achieving Spiritualization, it was much harder for them to level up as opposed to totem users, and most of their time was spent on their research.


    "We did invite some, but putting aside the other two, there was one Master who had agreed at first, but some reason changed tack again." Lala was frowning slightly too.


    Without a Master-level forger in charge, it would be very hard to customize and create high-level totems, and they wouldn¡¯t be able to create many excellent totems either. It was very detrimental to the development of the Black Swamp Palace as a whole.


    "Changed tack?" Garen narrowed his eyes. "Investigate the reason, if there was some interference, finish them off."


    "I suspect it¡¯s¡­"


    "Don¡¯t need to tell me the reason, my Black Swamp Palace does not fear any power." Garen interrupted her. "Since they have intercepted, they should be ready to face our wrath. If you don¡¯t have enough manpower you can mobilize twenty Black Swamp Guards, if that¡¯s still enough then go apply from the Silver Palace, he won¡¯t refuse you."


    "If a high-level totem user appears¡­"


    "It just so happens that the Elder Angel is still missing some medicines and main ingredients, if they make a move just once, they¡¯ll reap plenty of rewards." Garen replied, walking to the door to a sealed room on the left.


    "While I¡¯m not around, you settle any problems on your own, if there¡¯s a problem you can¡¯t settle, then go ask the elders, if even the elders can¡¯t handle it, then only do you come to me."


    "Understood." Lala replied crisply now, after following Garen for so long, she had long since gotten used to handling all sorts of matters."


    Bam.


    Garen pushed open the door and entered the sealed room.


    The sealed room was utterly pitch black from top to bottom, there was a simple drawing of huge salamander dragon head carved into the center of the floor, its two blood-red eyes narrow, long and vicious, and they just happened to be the only source of light in this sealed room.


    Garen closed the door, walked to the area in front of the dragon eyes, and sat down cross-legged.


    In the darkness, soon enough, the three scarlet dots on his brow lit up slowly, emitting the same bloody red glow.


    *****************


    The Kingdom¡¯s Cloud Light District


    Hathaway stood in her own garden, pruning flower branches, ever since she came back from the hospital last time, the conference was held, and Garen became one of the four main heads, the whole long line of changes catching her off guard.


    And her position now had also become somewhat in the air.


    Recently the Black Fire Palace was renamed into the Black Swamp Palace, and recruited six peak-level elders at once, causing its power to skyrocket. It had become a power that the entire Kingdom feared terribly.


    The other powers were feeling threatened as well, so they hurriedly looked for strong fighters to join them. As a result, the situation in the Kingdom now was that everyone was peacefully developing on their own.


    The First Princess and the Fourth Prince were both developing themselves hastily, faced with the terrifying prospect of Garen and six elite fighters at the same level as him, they were all feeling that sense of danger.


    It was just that all these were quite distant from Hathaway.


    At first she had hoped that Garen would be able to make a name for himself, develop and strengthen the family, and now that he had reached this target, as a member of the Trejons family, even if only a side branch, she could still feel the attitudes of those around her changing. Everything seemed to be changing for the better.


    Picking up the watering can, she sprayed the clean water onto the pruned bushes lightly.


    The early morning sunlight scattered onto the flower bushes, causing the drops of water to reflect the crystal clear sunlight.


    "Little Sofie~~ Are you home?" Sylvia started yelling again.


    In the end she hadn¡¯t left after all, and her family didn¡¯t leave either, choosing instead to stay, mostly because of Garen¡¯s influence from back then.


    "Sylvia, are you done with today¡¯s work as well?" Hathaway turned around to see Sylvia attempting to ambush her. The voice had seemed so distant just now, but she had suddenly run up so close to her in such a short time.

 460 Development 2

    Chapter 460: Development 2


    "There you go again!" Hathaway glared at her mildly.


    "I don¡¯t have work today either, so I got the day off. That¡¯s why I came to see you." Sylvia was all smiles.


    "You sure are free." Hathaway shook her head.


    "Where¡¯s the little girl?" Sylvia looked left and right, but still didn¡¯t see Dani.


    "I don¡¯t know either, recently she¡¯s still been the same as ever, going out early and coming back late, playing like crazy." Hathaway¡¯s gaze was slightly helpless.


    "She¡¯s still young, c¡¯mon."


    "But you sure are lucky now, with such an impressive cousin." Sylvia said enviously.


    "What¡¯s so lucky about that? My life still goes on the same every day." Hathaway smiled sweetly. Now she had achieved everything she wanted to, the family business was on Garen¡¯s shoulders, and she didn¡¯t have to worry about that at all. Her only aim now was to raise Dani properly.


    The Trejons¡¯ branch families had just come to visit her a few days ago, Garen was the Trejons family chief now, and these branches really wanted to return to the main family.


    Speaking of which, these few branch families had been doing pretty well for themselves, and when Garen¡¯s reputation hit rock-bottom before he actually achieved anything, they didn¡¯t kick him while he was down, and instead they all reached out a helping hand, it was just that Garen didn¡¯t respond to them back then.


    All their invitations had been ignored.


    Hathaway was mulling over when she should mention it to Garen, there were two people from the Silver Palace standing right outside her door, she could easily pass any messages to Garen through them.


    Hearing Sylvia¡¯s chattering voice next to her, she suddenly felt as though life was extremely peaceful. A calm taste of happiness began to spread in her heart.


    ******************


    Three days later¡­


    In the sealed room--


    Garen abruptly opened his eyes, the red light in eyes shooting out far, leaving two streaks of red behind them.


    The red strings stayed in the air for a few seconds, before slowly fading away.


    On his brow, the scarlet dot on the furthest right was vaguely becoming slightly darker.


    Raising his arms slightly, the red shadows of two salamander dragon heads appeared on each of his palms.


    Roar¡­


    The deep dragon¡¯s roar reverberated slowly in the sealed room.


    "The second dragon head."


    Garen murmured, his gaze once more falling onto his attribute pane.


    ¡®Black Water True Technique (Originally Myriad Water Jasper Technique): Sixth Level (six levels in total). Forcibly controls all liquids.


    Poison Enhancement level two, Recovery Enhancement level two.¡¯


    "I knew there would be a change, at first five levels was the limit, but after merging in the second dragon head, it actually automatically reached the Derivation¡¯s sixth level. The Poison Enhancement and Recovery Enhancement were both originally my abilities, it doesn¡¯t really make a difference if they get stronger."


    Garen frowned slightly, the Black Water True Technique was the technique he himself trained in, it was the true full version, and not the one he was teaching others. At first he had created and merged this secret technique, only he had used the simplified secret technique as the base, but he was surprised to find that it successfully merged with his own martial arts essence, forming this peak-level secret technique.


    But now, after merging the second dragon head, the final result wasn¡¯t what he had expected.


    The Nine-Headed Demon Dragon had lost two dragon heads, both merged into him, but all he got in return were some not very efficient enhancement effects.


    After absorbing the Nine Headed Dragon, his secret technique shouldn¡¯t have been that weak.


    He fell into deep thought.


    He absorbed his totem in order to advance his secret technique, and then he meant to merge his totem and secret technique so that he could reach the peak of evolution.


    Could it be that something was wrong with my secret technique?


    But according to theory, there should never have been a problem.


    "Since I¡¯m already on this road, I don¡¯t have to worry anymore, I might as well walk to the end and then see how it works." Garen settled his heart.


    After that, it was time to go out and check how the forgers were doing with their research.


    Right now, he was forging Obscuro¡¯s crystal ball Derivator, he had quite a few on hand, all gained from the Silver Palace¡¯s elite warriors¡¯ recent raiding of Obscuro everywhere. But they were all Field-Level.


    The forgers were trying to decipher the secret locks inside, but unfortunately, without a truly substantial researcher on board, their progress was minuscule.


    If he could forge this thing, Garen¡¯s potential point problem would be happily settled. Using the Derivator to control the Silver Totems, he could hunt monsters and totem users, obtaining large amounts of potential points. To Garen, that was an irresistible temptation.


    Upon leaving the sealed room, the maid waiting on call outside hurriedly offered up some drinking water.


    Garen drank some clean water, went to freshen up, hurriedly finished his meal, and then went to check on the progress of the forgers, but instead he saw an old geezer with white hair surrounded by a large crowd among the forgers¡¯ experiment tables on the second floor, he seemed to be person-in-charge here, it was no longer the fatty from before.


    The old man¡¯s expression was solemn, and when he saw Garen arrive, he was stunned for a moment before he came up to greet Garen of his own accord.


    "Palace Master Garen."


    The others also wanted to bow and greet him, but Garen waved his hand and stopped them.


    "Your work is more important, don¡¯t mind me. I just want to ask a few questions, then I¡¯ll leave." He said with a smile.


    After the second floor gradually calmed down, the geezer finally led Garen to a sealed crystal greenhouse.


    "Master Calingan, after sending people to invite you so many times, I finally managed to get you over here." Garen smiled.


    "You exaggerate, Palace Master, I also meant to join the Black Swamp Palace, it was just that something came up on the way, so I was blacked, but the problem has been solved now." The old man, Calingan, waved his hand. "I know why you are here too." (1)


    He walked into the middle of the greenhouse, and the floor there began to make a wailing sound, as three white cylindrical pillars rose from the ground in a spiral.


    In the middle of the cylindrical pillar, there was a hollow crystal container, and three pitch-black crystal ball floated inside.


    "This is the success of our forgery, thank goodness there was some residual information and progress left behind from the royal family, it¡¯s just even so, the Crystal Derivator that we forged still lacked the core techniques. Even I can¡¯t do anything about that. So our progress now is only at about eighty percent."


    Calingan replied, frowning.


    Garen, however, looked slightly happy. "Very good, not bad at all! As expected of a Master, before you came, Master Calingan, our forgery progress was not even at the halfway point, but now we¡¯ve reached eighty percent in no time!"


    "You flatter, Palace Master¡­" Calingan was slightly guilty, he had planned to really buck up and gloriously display his own worth and importance, but he hadn¡¯t expected to fail at the very first step.


    "This is not your fault." Garen shook his head. "At the center of the Crystal Derivator, there is a core made with a special mineral, the principles involved here are more complicated, and really hard to decipher in such a short time, there are principles involving resonance, and high-level transmission equations may not work here, you guys need to change your mindset. Perhaps it might help if you research the structure of the hideouts."


    "Hideouts?"


    "That¡¯s right." Garen began to explain some of the information he knew to Calingan in detail. These were the Obscuro techniques and systems he had learned from Windling and Reylan.


    He also had quite some expertise in this field, with the encouragement of his potential points, he could match what others took a decade or two to learn in one year, his natural capital was extremely considerable. He was a Master at all sorts of subjects.


    The two of them discussed a bit in the greenhouse, and it was Calingan¡¯s first time meeting such a knowledgeable research sponsor. This made him even more excited, and he was starting to feel as though coming here was, without a doubt, the wisest decision of his life.


    A researcher¡¯s biggest hope was to meet a boss who provided the funds but also knew the field, and not just an outsider who only wanted to see results.


    Only then would the other party understand your research to the largest extent.


    After the two of them exchanged some ideas, Garen noticed that it was getting slightly late, so he ate an employer¡¯s meal together with the researchers while encouraging them to continue their research without worry, ensuring they had no psychological pressure. Only then did he slowly leave.


    When he left the Technique Hall, the sky outside was already turning vaguely red. A warm breeze blew past, feeling all warm and cozy, and there was the crisp chirping of the sparrows in the surrounding trees. Some of the researchers¡¯ families and children were taking strolls and resting nearby, some of them even leading pets like puppies and kittens.


    On the way out of the garden forest, there were some elderly gathering together and playing chess, while others played with their little birds in cages. There were even two old geezers sparring energetically.


    This was the biggest source of income for normal people Masters in the regular world, teaching the elderly to train their bodies and prolong their lives. Here, the power of martial arts seemed unbelievably weak.


    Garen sighed inwardly, not saying anything, and many people around here didn¡¯t recognize him at all either, thinking he was just another researcher¡¯s family member.


    When he left the garden forest, he saw Maxilan waiting outside. Once he saw Garen approach, Maxilan went up to him first.


    "What¡¯s the matter?"


    "The First Princess¡¯ side sent a message over, they¡¯re inviting you to a banquet." Maxilan paused, and continued, "Her First Highness also sent a letter."


    He handed Garen a red envelope that he had already prepared beforehand.


    Garen accepted it, and saw the very high-class Totem Light seal on it, unless you knew the password order and method, there was no way you could open it safely, to prevent others from peeking at the contents.


    Garen tore apart the envelope sealed by Totem Light directly.


    On a piece of white paper inside, there was just one line of small elegant writing.


    ¡®The thing you¡¯re looking for, is here with me.¡¯(1)


    Garen snorted coldly. With a pinch of one hand, the letter paper instantly became powder, that flew and scattered with the wind.


    "Looks like I really do need to make a trip there."


    The First Princess had obviously already guessed his intention, the forgery of Caeserton should probably be in her hands.


    Garen wouldn¡¯t dare hope for the real Caeserton, after all it had already merged with the previous emperor¡¯s will, and was activated now too, so the situation now would be that anybody without a royal bloodline couldn¡¯t even think about controlling it.


    And the next-level forgery would at least be an Ultimate Heirloom, if he could obtain this heirloom, then his abilities would rise by a huge leap. The Black Crow Formation pocket-watch from back then could already display Form Four power, and even that was a lower level Ultimate Heirloom forgery.


    Now, a true Ultimate Heirloom would most probably achieve Form Five power.


    Translator¡¯s note:


    Both instances use the respectful word for ¡®you¡¯.

 461 Obtained 1

    Chapter 461: Obtained 1


    Clang...


    "The light of the world comes from far away, the light of the sun is like the moon, O Dream, when will you return to my heart¡­ The sky is no longer blue, the clouds are like grey granite¡­"


    The melody of a stage piano wafted over from the performer nearby.


    Garen stood in front of the window, dressed in white casual clothes, playing with a pebble that looked like red jade in his hand.


    This was the First Princess¡¯ vacation palace, the room he was in had rows of black bookshelves, a soft medium-sized bed, and a short coffee table to greet guests. It felt like a bedroom, a study, and even more like a living room.


    The room was very large, and there was a black stage piano with gold etchings at the empty space on the right, it was an instrument like a piano. The performer was a pretty, cute young blonde girl, her long curly hair falling over her shoulder, singing softly but emotionally.


    Her singing reverberated through the room together with the sound of the piano, the volume was just right, not too loud nor too soft, as though someone was whispering by your ear gently, her voice reaching the very depths of your heart.


    Garen leaned on the window, looking outside from within.


    It was the third floor, and beneath him, there was a small open-air courtyard between the buildings, where several girls with nice bodies were fighting over the swings, their cheerful laughter reaching him continuously.


    He had already been waiting here for some time, but the First Princess just happened to be bathing right now, so she couldn¡¯t come for now.


    After an unknown period of time, the red sunlight outside was already shining on the floor, slanting more and more.


    Garen did not feel impatient at all, even the girl¡¯s forehead began to sweat after she played for a while, so she got up, bowed slightly at Garen, and then left on her own.


    After that, a girl in a white dress with a waist-belt walked in, she was holding a small violin, and after bowing respectfully at Garen, she began to perform without a word.


    The pure music of the violin was like the soft chirping of insects, soft and gentle, sometimes there and sometimes not.


    Psst!!!


    All of a sudden, the sound of the violin explosively grew higher, giving the listener a feeling of panic, instantly hurried, it was a performance like a storm, the girl¡¯s hand quickly sliding, trembling.


    The sound of the violin was like a thunderstorm, the rain cascading down, until even Garen¡¯s heart gave a little jolt, this change from gentle and soft to extreme explosiveness was too sudden, until even he was somewhat dazed and late to respond.


    Just then, a pair of small hands covered his eyes from behind.


    "Guess who?"


    A woman¡¯s voice, purposely suppressed, came from behind him, and at the same time two soft mounds pressed against his back lightly. The faint fragrance of a woman¡¯s body entered Garen¡¯s nostrils.


    "Your Highness, stop playing."


    Garen wasn¡¯t surprised in the slightest, taking one step forward expressionlessly and then turning around.


    As expected, the First Princess was behind him, dressed in a white-gold skintight dress, she pouted slightly, as though blaming Garen for not understanding the atmosphere.


    She wore a skintight dress, perfectly showing off the curves of her chest and waist, while the hem of the skirt at the bottom was like that of a cheongsam, with a long slit all the way up to the roots of her thighs, so that all it took was a soft flip for everything to be revealed.


    Garen didn¡¯t want to get too close to her. The First Princess had used her own body to seduce and control too many strong fighters. Even though his body made him unafraid of regular poisons, and was even resistant to particularly powerful poisons, but it was still his basic principle to avoid whatever he could.


    "Liv knows, I have no right to hope that I could get too close to you. But do you know, milord? In this deep palace, whenever I feel unbearably lonely, Liv will always think of you, Palace Master, you are the only man who truly has no desire towards Liv¡¯s body." The First Princess walked up to the window with an expression of wistfulness, and looked down as well, but her gaze was slightly lost.


    "You are the Nine-Headed Demon Dragon, so powerful that you are terrifying, you are immune to all poisons, and your reputation is enough to scare away countless villains. Could you still be afraid of a weak little woman like me? Why is it so hard for me to even get a little closer to you?" The First Princess¡¯ eyes gradually filled with tears.


    Garen¡¯s expression was calm as he continued to play with that red jade pebble in his hand, his gaze staring straight at the First Princess, as though admiring a mild show.


    A succubus like this would always say every line and make everyone think she was divulging her true thoughts to them, this sort of honesty mixed together with aggravation, as well as her naturally wonderful body, would be enough to ignite a certain desire in her listener. All together, it was the most intensely wonderful poisonous wine, with both temptation and danger.


    Although Garen was confident that he wouldn¡¯t be controlled by her, but he didn¡¯t need to take a risk just for his own bodily impulses, that was not worth it at all. Especially after last time, when he just had a meal with the First Princess and was already drugged, this experience made him completely disinterested.


    By then the sound of the violin had slowly grown softer as well, gentle and tender like a woman¡¯s sighs, especially teasing for the imagination.


    The tears in the First Princess¡¯ eyes finally fell, her eyes reddened, and she took out a white handkerchief to wipe away her tears lightly.


    "How unsightly of me."


    "It¡¯s fine." Garen said calmly, "To be honest, I envy those who can cry. Because I myself find it so hard to accomplish."


    "True." The First Princess recovered some of her previous mischief. "Someone said that tears are the exclusive right of the weak, huh." She smiled slightly. Clapping her little hands, the performer immediately pulled back her violin bow, bowed once, turned around and left.


    "Alright, all that aside, let us talk about the serious matters." The First Princess¡¯ face finally grew serious.


    She walked to the right of the piano, and sat down on a high stool, crossing her beautiful legs, putting one on top of the other, so the mysterious place between her legs peeped in and out of view.


    "Oh my, after crying out loud, I sure feel a lot lighter~~" She threw her head back, and really stretched her body.


    This pose could make any male with desires itch, ninety percent of men would probably give in and take advantage of when she couldn¡¯t see them to peek at the scenery between her legs.


    When others weren¡¯t paying attention, people would always let go of their wariness, and reveal their basest selves.


    Unfortunately, Garen sat calmly opposite her, one hand placed on the armrest and the other massaging his temple, as though he was meditating.


    "Tell me, what are your conditions? I need to get Caeserton¡¯s forgery." He stated his aim calmly, without any hiding.


    The suggestive atmosphere in the room vanished without a trace.


    The First Princess returned to her previous graceful sitting position, finally a hint of helplessness in her eyes.


    "Fine, fine¡­ Looks like in your eyes, I can¡¯t even compare to a forgery¡­"


    Seeing that Garen wasn¡¯t moved in the slightest, she stopped beating around the bush.


    "Caeserton¡¯s forgery, we call it the Flash Screen." She arranged her thoughts, "First, let me tell you its pros and cons."


    After clearing her throat, she said with a straight face.


    "The Flash Screen can release a hemispherical invisible barrier in an instant, blocking all attacks with enemy intent. Be it Totem Light or regular material attacks. The defense level depends on the power of the user. It¡¯s just that the screen can only last for a split second, about two seconds, and then it would disappear automatically. Although this screen only lasts for a short while, but¡­"


    She paused.


    "But, it has a very important ability. That is, it can form explosive crystals."


    "Explosive crystals?" Garen touched his chin, there wasn¡¯t such a function in the information he had about this forgery.


    "That¡¯s right, the explosive crystals are formed by absorbing the opponent¡¯s Totem Light attack. Any attacks that go through the Flash Screen and don¡¯t destroy the screen face-on, would have part of their Totem Light absorbed. When there is enough of this absorbed Totem Light, it will form a powerful explosive crystal. You can throw it as an explosive, it should be very powerful." The First Princess explained.


    "Should be? You guys never tried it before?" Garen was slightly surprised.


    "Naturally we did, but the Flash Screen that we activated could only block a Form Four attack at the most, any higher and it would fail." The First Princess said helplessly, "The Flash Screen may seem strong, and its effect seems great as well, so that it can attack and defend, but don¡¯t forget the most important part."


    "The most important part? Is it the energy source required?" Garen furrowed his brows slightly.


    "That¡¯s right¡­ Grand Duke Benoc commented on this Heirloom before: its very powerful, but too bad it can¡¯t be used." The First Princess sighed, "Otherwise why would I be willing to give it away?"


    "Give it away?" This was the second time Garen got taken off guard, but he quickly recovered. "The energy source required is life energy, isn¡¯t it?"


    The First Princess nodded, "After a Form Two totem user tried to use it, all his life energy was sucked away."


    "No wonder you want to give it to me." Garen understood. "Other than me, no one else would dare to use it. Alright, tell me, what conditions do you have?" He didn¡¯t think that this succubus would give him a treasure for nothing.


    The First Princess looked at Garen wistfully.


    "Am I really such a calculative merchant of a woman to you?"


    Garen was unmoved, and just stared at her calmly.


    "Alright, alright¡­" The First Princess stood up, pressed one hand on her chest, and lightly pulled out a white-gold necklace out from between her breasts.


    "This is the Flash Screen."


    She pulled down the white-gold necklace, there was a lightning bolt-shaped pendant on the end of the necklace, its surface was a pale blue silver color, and there was a circle of tiny vine engravings around it.


    "I only have one condition." She said softly, and suddenly stuffed the necklace back into her cleavage again. "If you want it, you reach your hand in here to take it."


    The pendant sank into her cleavage in an instant, and disappeared immediately.


    Garen was speechless. To think he would do something like this.


    "Do you dare?" The First Princess snorted lightly, and stuck out her chest, her expression sardonic as she looked at Garen. "The great Black Swamp Palace Master would actually fear a normal weak girl, I plan to properly broadcast this fact, y¡¯know."


    Garen fell silent, stood up slowly. Walked up to the First Princess.


    The other person raised her face mischievously, and looked at him with a challenge in her eyes.


    Garen smiled slightly, reached out his right hand, and flicked his fingers.


    Psst!


    A gust of invisible air shot out, and hit the area between the First Princess¡¯ breasts.


    Instantly, that necklace bounced out from her cleavage, and landed firmly in Garen¡¯s palm.


    Smack.


    The white-gold necklace still had the First Princess¡¯ body fragrance and warmth.

 462 Obtained 2

    Chapter 462: Obtained 2


    "You¡­!!" The First Princess started tearing up again, and in an instant, she actually turned around and ran.


    The door opened with a ker-chak, and then was pulled to a booming close. The First Princess¡¯ sobs and upset voice reached his ears, but grew further and further.


    Garen returned to his seat quietly, and carefully observed the Heirloom in his hand. Before long, he began to frown slightly.


    This Heirloom couldn¡¯t be activated at all, it felt just like a normal necklace. There wasn¡¯t anything special in it at all.


    "I¡¯m still missing an activation password." He remembered suddenly. He wanted to get up and call the First Princess back, but he had just made her storm away, so the problem was whether she was willing to answer or not.


    Soon enough, the room door was opened again lightly. Two maids walked in, lowered their heads and bowed, and then spoke.


    "Her Highness has a message for you, Palace Master."


    "Speak." Garen was still playing with the necklace in his hands.


    "If you want the activation password, then you need to agree to a request from Her Highness."


    "What request?" Garen raised his head.


    "If you are afraid that I will sully you, then how about an absolutely pure girl who has never been touched before? I hope you will treat her as though she was me." The maid took out a pink box and opened it, the First Princess¡¯ voice came from inside as though she was right there.


    "If you don¡¯t accept her, I will never tell you the activation password." The First Princess continued, her tone determined.


    Garen was stunned, he hadn¡¯t thought the First Princess would do something like this.


    After musing over it for a while, he still couldn¡¯t figure out what her plan was. A normal girl wouldn¡¯t affect him all that much either.


    "Fine, I¡¯ll accept her."


    Smack.


    The box was closed.


    "Please wait."


    The two maids retreated.


    Garen nodded.


    Although he didn¡¯t know what trick the First Princess had up her sleeve, but since he was already here, then he would surely need to bring the Flash Screen back. If it weren¡¯t that Grand Duke Benoc had the First Princess¡¯ back, and there was his relationship with Prynne there too, he would have made his move and taken it by force by now.


    After waiting a little longer.


    The door opened again.


    A familiar figure walked in slowly, head lowered.


    It was a girl no older than twenty-three or -four, her grey-brown hair tied into a ponytail, wearing the silver body-fitting armor from the Royal Guard. There were only a few pieces to this suit of armor, which only showed off the parts of her body that she was proud of, especially her long and full legs, white and smooth, their proportions extremely eye-catching, and at the same time they stretched upwards, sketching out the tight and perky lines of her butt.


    The door closed with a smack.


    "You¡¯re¡­ Sylvia!?" Garen finally recognized this girl¡¯s identity.


    Sylvia looked up, and her dazed eyes instantly cleared up as well.


    "Cousin¡­ Garen!?"


    She opened her little mouth wide, and nearly couldn¡¯t close it.


    At first she had been told that the First Princess was planning to give her to a powerful person, and she was asked if she would be willing.


    Sylvia always wanted to make a name for herself with her own power, but reality was cruel, and without the totem ability or any other special power, no matter how hard she worked, the position she had reached now was already the limit. And her best friend Hathaway¡¯s sudden change had provoked her pride and ego even more.


    After she considered it for a while, even though she had heard about those powerful people¡¯s fetishes, she still clenched her teeth and agreed.


    The two of them looked at each other, neither thinking that they would meet the other under these circumstances.


    All of a sudden, the room had gone utterly quiet, there were only Sylvia¡¯s hastened breathing and intense heartbeat. She never thought that Hathaway¡¯s cousin would be¡­


    Just thinking that she would soon become his female slave, her heart immediately felt unspeakably weird.


    The girls sent out by the First Princess almost all went voluntarily, and their status would always be the other¡¯s female slave, this was a secret almost everyone in the upper circle of the Kingdom knew.


    It was only, if it had been someone else, Sylvia might still have been able to accept it, but to think it was Garen¡­


    She bit her lower lip, and didn¡¯t know what to say, her face growing hotter and hotter.


    After a long, long time¡­ she finally remembered what she had been told to say.


    "The password¡­ that password¡­ is on¡­" Faced with this man, her best friend¡¯s cousin, she just wanted a slit in the ground that she could crawl into.


    Garen was slightly awkward too, but when it came to the password, he had no choice but to carefully listen to what she had to say.


    "The password, phew¡­" Sylvia took a deep breath, "The password is written¡­ on my body, and only your Totem Light can reveal it, sir."


    After that, even her neck was so red it burned.


    There were five parts to the password. To be more precise, it was purposely divided into five parts by the First Princess, and written on five parts of her body with a special technique.


    These five places were all the most secret places for a woman. Her twin peaks, the insides of her two thighs, and slightly lower than the most secret place between her legs. Out of these places, she could look at four of these places herself and record it down once they were revealed, but the last place was very inconvenient¡­ And the condition to reveal them was that a totem user had to touch them with Totem Light, while the only way to have one¡¯s Totem Light activate on an outsider would be to have bodily contact¡­


    Sylvia¡¯s face was completely red, and she didn¡¯t know how to say it.


    Garen just smiled, though.


    He knew that the First Princess purposely did this, she purposely chose Sylvia, purpose wrote the password on extremely private places.


    Since the First Princess had already gone to such lengths, and tried so many ways to achieve her goal. Then as a normal man, he no longer had a reason to reject her at this point.


    But even if he wanted to play, he had the self-restraint to not pounce on her right now, as for the First Princess¡¯ manipulation methods, he still wanted to truly study them for a while.


    Sylvia¡¯s body might have been treated specially. After going back, with the proper preparations, Garen planned to figure it out himself.


    As for the fact that Sylvia was his cousin Hathaway¡¯s best friend, that was fine too, after all Hathaway would belong to him eventually, their engagement wasn¡¯t just for show.


    It wasn¡¯t that Garen didn¡¯t touch women, there were just many types of desire, and the body¡¯s sexual desire was just the basest desire, he didn¡¯t have much interest towards it. While he was in the Secret Technique World, he had already learned how to control this desire, especially after that time at the Behemoth Gate meeting, he had started putting more of his effort in other areas.


    "Let¡¯s go, follow me back."


    "We¡­" Sylvia couldn¡¯t help but speak, but she couldn¡¯t finish her sentence.


    Garen opened the door instantly, and walked out of the room, Sylvia following behind him.


    The First Princess seemed to have guessed that he would come out. There was actually someone outside to lead the way, taking him outside.


    Whether or not Garen was willing, once he had checked Sylvia¡¯s body, as a virgin who had never been touched, she could only become his person.


    Sitting in the carriage the First Princess had arranged, neither Garen nor Sylvia had any intention to speak.


    The sound of the carriage wheels rattled, the afternoon sunlight somewhat dim, as there was the fragrance of baking oat biscuits floating in the air.


    There was the sound of iron-smithing in the distance, this was the vacation palace on another mountaintop, if they wanted to return to the Palace District on the first mountaintop, they still needed quite some time, and had to cross a bridge over a deep valley on the way.


    They could occasionally hear the sound of children playing from the windows, and the barking of puppies.


    Sylvia was sitting on Garen¡¯s right. Although her position was now as one of Garen¡¯s barter items, but in her heart, she still couldn¡¯t quite accept it, after all the man next to her was her best friend¡¯s cousin. How did things end up like this?


    Garen didn¡¯t really care about this relationship, though.


    He needed to study the trick on Sylvia¡¯s body eventually, which meant Sylvia would belong to him eventually, so he had obtained Caeserton¡¯s forged Heirloom and got a pretty little lady for free, without paying any price in the meantime.


    What he was thinking about now, was what the First Princess¡¯ aim could possibly be. Even if the Flash Screen was a useless Heirloom, she still wouldn¡¯t just give it to him.


    Nothing much happened on the way, and neither of them was in the mood to talk.


    The carriage went past the street, crossed several plazas, and half an hour later, finally arrived at the large suspended bridge between the mountaintops.


    The black bridge was just like a stone slab, with a circular hole underneath, while birds occasionally flew through the hole.


    There were even several bluebird houses built on the right side of the bridge surface, these little black stone houses were like square boxes, with little bluebirds flying out of them and shooting towards the distant sky.


    Although these fast creatures had started falling behind as a communication device after radios and the like became more popular, but there were still people who preferred to use the birds to send their messages.


    Before they got onto the bridge, there was a speed bump, so when the carriages entered and exited this way, they would jolt a little, making a slight ¡®bump¡¯.


    Garen¡¯s carriage followed the one in front, and also gave a little ¡®bump¡¯ like that.


    Sylvia was still feeling dazed, and was caught off-guard, so this jolt caused her body to slant slightly, until she just knocked straight into Garen, her not-too-considerable chest knocking hard into Garen¡¯s right arm.


    Her face instantly got even redder, and she hurriedly straightened up, not even daring to look at Garen¡¯s face.


    On the other hand, Garen smiled slightly, and didn¡¯t say anything.


    After more than ten minutes, the carriage finally reached the Palace District.


    There were already some people waiting outside the palace walls, greeting Garen and company respectfully.


    Followed by a host of subordinates, the two of them quickly returned to the Black Swamp Palace, with Garen taking Sylvia directly into the tightly-guarded Inner Hall.


    Walking into his own bedroom, Garen led Sylvia to the left side of the room, in front of a huge oil painting covering the whole wall.


    The oil painting was of a scene of a castle by the mountains and a lake, between the green mountains and blue water, surrounded by countless dense forests, there was a white castle with pointy turrets. Black eagles circled in the sky, and there was a dark blue flying dragon settled on the top of the castle, its eyes emitting a sparkling green light.


    Garen reached out his hand and tapped the area between the dragon¡¯s eyes.


    Whoosh¡­


    Amidst the soft sounds of friction, the large wall behind the oil painting actually started to sink inwards, and then it moved to the right, revealing an arch-shaped hole two meters wide.


    The cave was well-lit, it was a pale yellow arched underground tunnel, that kept going downwards, who knew how deep it was. The floor of the tunnel was lined with smooth black stone bricks, with an illuminating lamp every so often on the right.


    "Let¡¯s go." Garen led the way inside, while Sylvia followed him nervously, by now, she had no other choice.


    In truth, when she signed the contract the First Princess gave here, and when the password was written on her private parts, her future had already been sealed.


    The two of them went one before the other, advancing slowly in the tunnel, and soon they turned into another branching path, after too many such detours to count, the two of them finally stopped in front of a black wooden door to an inner room.


    Garen pushed open the door lightly, and walked in.


    Sylvia stopped hesitating as well, and followed him inside.

 463 Test 1

    Chapter 463: Test 1


    Sylvia walked into the room, a simple affair with tables, chairs, decorations and a bed all made of white stone. There were no complicated designs, with the exception of the round testing table in the middle. On top of it was a notebook, lab equipment, and a simple unit Factory used buy Luminarists.


    Garen walked to the sink in the right corner, turned on the tap and washed his hands.


    "Lay down on it." Garen commanded, still facing the basin.


    Sylvia blushed and stuttered in her step, before walking over to the testing table and She seemed to be hesitating about laying on top of it.


    She looked at Garen¡¯s back. He was undoubtedly an elegant man. In another time and place they might have been lovers of a sort, but in a place like this, such a cold room..


    Garen finished washed his hands and saw that she was still standing, dumbfounded, with a lost expression on her face. He smiled.


    Without saying more, he walked over to her and extended his index finger, gently touching the nape of her neck.


    "Aah! "


    Sylvia moaned and she lost her strength and crumpled onto Garen.


    She felt her strength sapped from her in an instant, as though her entire body felt weak, However, her senses were still as acute as before, or, to be more precise, they became even more sensitive.


    After that, she felt herself being placed flat on the experiment table gently.


    Garen¡¯s hand pulled on her chest area.


    With a snap, the decorative white chestplate on her loosened, and then was taken away; revealing a white bra underneath.


    Her entire body was flushed rosy red; she¡¯d rather cover her eyes and choose not to look.


    Garen, on the other hand, remained as stoic as ever; the lust in his eyes dissolving hastily.


    With a wave of his fingers.


    Grack!


    The white bra was snapped in the middle and fell away to both sides, revealing her pale, red breasts.


    They weren¡¯t incredible in size, but would easily fill the cup of a hand. Garen was looking for something situated on the edge of the nipple.


    On both sides were black, alphabet like imprints.


    Garen extended his hands, and rubbed against the two alphabets gently.


    Tsss¡­. Both symbols bent and morphed, forming two completely different words from the two black alphabets.


    Garen recorded both symbols in his mind with a single glance.


    Next, he spread Sylvia''s legs. In the similar way that he opened her chestplate, he snapped open her armor on her thighs, releasing a pair of long, slender legs with a flick of his finger.


    On the inside of her thighs were also two similar black alphabets.


    Garen used the same way to caress it.


    Sylvia tensed up at his touch and shuddered slightly. Garen¡¯s finger brushed across her thigh, making her so sensitive that her body ran red with heat.


    Yet another two alphabets were decoded, and then recorded in the same fashion.


    Only one remaining.


    As she thought about where the last one would be, Sylvia¡¯s cheeks flushed so deeply it would have warranted both her hands covering her face. She would need to be on all-fours, before the symbol could be seen from her rear.


    Her heart was wrenching every which way; her friend¡¯s cousin was handling her body at his own will, and what a near-perfect man he was. She felt within her an awkwardness and shame, but at the same time, a hint of excitement.


    Yet, Garen remained composed and without lust, his eyes cold.


    As he flipped Sylvia over, he placed her in a crawling position, her hip lifted up high. With a tap of his finger, the entirety of her lower body armor and garments were torn apart.


    Behind her secret areas, Garen hadn¡¯t bothered with another glance at the alluring scene, instead taking his fingers and brushing the center.


    "Aah..!" Sylvia was pushed over the edge. Her entire body shuddered with sensation, and liquid burst forth from her nether region as she lost control.


    With the splashing sound of water, the entire experimentation table and floor was covered in a puddle of water, and a lewd scent filled the entire room.


    Meanwhile, Garen has recorded the final symbol and retrieved a white cloth with an expressionless face to protect Sylvia¡¯s modesty.


    "I¡¯ve finished recording the codes. Next we need to..."


    He gazed at Sylvia¡¯s hips on the experimentation table; a bowl-sized beaker was placed at just the right spot to catch slightly less than half a beaker full of liquid. The colorless liquid flowed down the side of the container.


    Garen took up the beaker and shook it without any change in his expression.


    Both his eyes lit up slightly red. This was the activation of the Shackles of War. The Primordial Eyes after its evolution were stronger than the original Isaiah¡¯s Eyes, and enabled him to observe things many people could not.


    This slimy liquid had nothing out of the ordinary, but still Garen remained his cold expression. Although his eyes hadn¡¯t picked up anything, he felt that there was something wrong with the liquid.


    If say man and women were to have intercourse, then the easiest to hide would be this kind of liquid. Humans, at the peak of their passion, when their guard was at its lowest, would fall for this 9 out of 10 times.


    Garen put Sylvia at the back of his head, instead taking some liquid from the beaker using a straw. He put a few droplets on a petri dish, and then introduced different types of dyes onto the petri dish. Lastly, the petri dish will be placed into a Totem Light Simulation Box.


    This box could simulate weaker versions of different totem light. Just by inserting the appropriate totem power, one could simulate totem light, albeit a very weak one.


    Garen chose three different natures of light. Being put beneath the totem¡¯s light, Garen would like to see what kind of reaction would happen in the petri dish.


    Soon, over some time, three analog time files gradually alternated between each other, and then came to a rest.


    After opening the box, even Garen; who was so composed, couldn¡¯t help but feel surprised.


    Looking into the petri dish, he was surprised to see a fat black beetle. This banana-shaped bug with tens of little legs, swinging its head left and right in the petri dish, it was is almost as big as a palm.


    "You mean to say, a short span of ten-odd seconds was enough to grow a bug to this size with the supply of totem¡¯s light?" Garen could not believe his own eyes.


    Looking at the fat black bug in the petri dish, Garen only felt more disgusted.


    Looking at Sylvia¡¯s current sexy body again now, she had lost all attraction in Garen¡¯s eyes, and replacing it was an odd sense of disgust.


    However for Sylvia, it was as though she hadn¡¯t seen anything, but instead was filled with a sense of confusion as she saw Garen take out the petri dish from the box.


    Garen deactivated his Primordial Eyes, and the black bug in the petri dish indeed disappeared.


    He reactivated the Primordial Eyes again, and the black bug could still be seen laying around lazily in the petri dish.


    "No wonder so many Totem Users have been controlled subconsciously, these kind of tricks¡­" thinking about the Grand Princess¡¯ youthful body, Garen seemed to understand something.


    He looked at Sylvia, with a stern face.


    "There may have some issues with your body. You may have been messed around with, and are in slight danger. In the subsequent period of time, please remain in this underground chamber. I will look for some high-end devices to fix this completely. But before that, please don''t go anywhere."


    Sylvia couldn¡¯t move at this moment, she could only blink her eyes. However, judging from Garen¡¯s lack of lust, she felt that there were was some hidden meaning behind his instruction.


    "From now on, you¡¯re one of mine. I¡¯ll get someone to serve you in a moment. You can have anything you want, besides getting out of this underground chamber."


    After he had notified Sylvia, Garen immediately left the room and slowly tapped the bell on the right side of the wall. Soon, a few head maid servants rushed over.


    "Palace Master, what are your instructions?" asked two head maids who were in charge of the cleaning department¡¯s personnel.


    This area was half public, and was connected to the Technique Hall underground.


    "Send two people here to serve this young lady. Whatever that she wants, just grant it if it¡¯s within your jurisdiction. Just, don¡¯t let her leave the chamber."


    "Understood." the two head servants bowed in respect.


    Garen nodded, after all, Sylvia is cousin Hathaway¡¯s friend. He couldn¡¯t just stand by and watch her get controlled. About this ploy on the Grand Princess, if it weren¡¯t for his Primordial Eyes, all the converging circumstances, and Sylvia''s orgasm, he might very well have never discovered the truth.


    Speaking of which, passing this to that bunch of researchers should uncover the secrets of Sylvia¡¯s body in no time, but as his own woman, how can he simply pass her along to some other employees for research?


    Garen could not do things like the nobles of this world did; exchanging their partners, the lust of the upper echelon and their lewd lifestyles definitely carried more than even the vilest pornographic material.


    He was very possessive in nature. As long as it¡¯s his, no matter if they were people or items, he found it hard to tolerate the thought of someone else owning it.


    After he sent the black bug to the Technique Hall for analysis, he talked to the forgers and researchers, who were very interested in the existence of the black bug. Among them was the leader, Master Calingan, who was an avid researcher. As he heard Garen¡¯s explanation, his interest grew and he immediately began conducting multiple probing and experimentation analysis on it, trying to collect more data.


    After dumping it to a bunch of researchers, Garen couldn¡¯t care less anymore.


    He immediately returned to Black Swamp Palace to begin his Secret Technique training for the day.


    At this point of the training, by delimiting the Secret Technique¡¯s level threshold by combining the Nine-Headed Dragon, this process is more similar to using a totem as a nutrient, and then evolving the Secret Techniques after absorbing it, then using the evolved Secret Technique to evolve himself.


    However, now Garen is plagued by the lack of totem potential points. Only his core totem was eligible to be used as raw fuel for the evolution. If it was insufficient, the Secret Technique would have a hard time evolving too.


    By then, he could only forcibly evolve into the early stage of Form 5. To improve any more would prove to be troublesome.


    Garen was estimating that, for Hellgate to be able to overcome Form 5 and become the world¡¯s strongest; that sort of level would have a sizeable gap compared to all other Form 5s.


    Even if he used the extreme control of the King of the Century and was able to use 120% of his power, it might not be much help either.


    After Form 5, everybody had their own Secret Technique. Then, his own trait of possessing a Secret Technique would get less grandiose and unique..


    Even if he did break through to Form 5 with its early stage, of which had an insurmountable power, all top totem users wished to have a control over an Original Heirlooms¡¯ existence¡­


    That was to say, Hellgate had never lacked in that department.


    The wheels of history continued moving.


    No matter if it were to protect a family¡¯s heritage, or to guarantee that Goth will not suffer an unsightly death in the end, he still needed the ultimate strength and power.


    Obscuro and Terraflor were all direct opponents of the Trejons Family. In having these two strong enemies, the only way through was to increase his strength.


    He recently began to pay a bit more thought on building his influence, all with the aim of actually changing the future.


    **********************


    Three days later


    At the rear courtyard of Black Swamp Palace.


    Garen was kneeling in meditation, his eyes closed. The three dotted mark on his forehead was glowing blood red.


    An unknown swirling power was surrounding him


    The morning air was cold and humid, dampening a few of the white stone¡¯s surface in the courtyard, presenting a somewhat black glow.


    "Palace Master, Elder Blizzard wishes to meet you." A guard walked in from the courtyard entrance and informed respectfully.


    "Let him in." Garen did not open his eyes and remained seated. Had his voice not echoed off the courtyard, nobody would have realized that he had spoken.


    The guard retreated, and soon, Second Tower Head Blizzard walked into the courtyard in white robes and looked at his surroundings.


    In the corner of the courtyard was a small patch of red plums. This species blossoms in the autumn, as it was currently. They were bright red, like a patch of red clouds, spreading the faint fragrance of red plum.


    Blizzard walked in and laid his focus on Garen.


    With a light smile, he walked near him in big steps, and stopped around ten meters from Garen.


    "Palace Master, I¡¯ve realized something two days ago. Coincidentally, after reading some books from the palace archive, I have gained new knowledge in the use of totems. People around me have been occupied and away, and I thought of training with you after some consideration." Aside from Blizzard¡¯s arrogance and aggressive temper, he is indeed a maniac who improves through actual brawls, and had indeed allocated most of the time to improve himself.


    It is probably due to his nature that he could rise to be Seven Nights¡¯ Tower¡¯s strongest man, aside from the first tower head.


    "Training?" Garen opened his eyes. He surmised that it musn''t have been that others were unavailable, but were scared of getting beaten up. This guy had been going around looking for sparring partners, not being able to work his body must have made him uncomfortable.


    Coincidentally, he had imitated Caeserton¡¯s Flash Screen, and having not found anyone to test it on, this Blizzard came waltzing in instead.


    After all, if Garen himself went around to look for a sparring partner, with his position, it may be seen as a threat and warning and could be easily misunderstood. If others were the ones who looked for him, however, that¡¯s a different story.


    "Sure."


    Garen reached for the ground with one hand. His entire body began rising up, and eventually stood steadily on his legs. The transition from sitting to standing was natural.


    Pa pa!!


    He clapped his hands, a white stream of water vapor appeared and shot straight onto a piece of white crystal.


    Vrmm¡­..


    A square platform was raised in the middle of the courtyard. On the stone floor were inscribed complex tactical array symbols.


    "Please."


    Garen jumped up first. Blizzard snickered and followed suit.


    He gauged Garen in front of him, even though he heard from Anjiad about Garen¡¯s strength but he believes that he can take on Garen just as easily as Anjiad, so he always thought to try out this rumored vicious Nine Headed Dragon of the outer world.


    The two of them were standing on the platform, over ten meters in width. Neither of them made the first move..


    At the pinnacle of Form 4, to the totem users, as they face experts of similar level, their totems actually possess a fatal weakness.


    The defense of a totem is almost half as weak as its original body. Once the opponent caught the weakness and launched strong attacks, losing was a very real possibility. Hence, the totem users of this level rarely bring their totems into a war, but instead relied on their body.


    Garen wasn¡¯t aware what secret techniques that Blizzard practiced, but he did not bring a single weapon with him. Instead he was barehanded, like Garen.


    Unknowingly, a white silhouette unexpectedly appeared at the top of the courtyard, it was actually Ivycius¡¯ friend, Island Master Skyharp.


    This lady was looking at the two men on the arena without blinking,


    Following which, was Island Master Lightless appearing next to her unexpectedly.

 464 Test 2

    Chapter 464: Test 2


    "It¡¯s rare to see Palace Master Garen in action. Skyharp, who do you think is stronger?" Lightless touched her chin and asked.


    "Hard to say. Among the experts of the Central Region, if leaving aside the of use any Heirlooms, he should be slightly weaker. So I guess Blizzard is slightly stronger. As powerful as Palace Master Garen is, he is still very young and lacks in experience." Skyharp said slowly.


    "Indeed, relying on his exterior power would be insufficient. These folks from the Snowy Mountains are indeed very strong." Lightless agreed and nodded.


    Mid-conversation, the two men on in arena engaged in battle.


    With a single wave of his hand by Blizzard, a circle of white ice diamonds appeared next to him and revolved around his person.


    Blizzard roared, and a suit of ice armor instantly formed around him.


    The armor got thicker and thicker, amplifying his height as it went.


    From over a meter, he quickly became two meters, three, four, five meters!!


    After he is done, Blizzard himself couldn¡¯t be seen. Instead, an ice golem towering at five meters stood in front of Garen.


    The ring of rapidly rotating ice diamonds had also slowly dissipated. What was left was a crystal white ice golem on the arena.


    "My Extreme Ice Technique has a total of three levels, this is my first, Palace Master, you have to be careful." Blizzard who was within the golem snickered, the blurry face of the golem also forcefully smiled.


    Before he was finished speaking, the golem lifted his fist and has hammered towards Garen.


    The white golem¡¯s fist was about a meter wide, on it were dense spikes of intimidating ice diamonds. Oddly though, before the punch connected, a white ice mist swiftly spread itself across the arena, covering the entire area.


    The two spectators nearby frowned.


    "Blizzard¡¯s Extreme Ice Technique is not a simple brute force technique." Skyharp said slowly.


    "Indeed." Lightless nodded, " the ice breeze can affect the environment without notice, and I think it can affect the opponent¡¯s agility. This technique is somewhat troublesome, but we can easily handle them."


    On the arena.


    Garen¡¯s face remained unfazed. He intended to put Totem¡¯s Light after combination to the test.


    Against this punch, he¡¯d rather not move, and he extended his left arm to face the punch. His palm carried no momentum.


    Form 4 was already the pinnacle of a regular Totem user; they had completely discovered the totem¡¯s abilities and potential, so there will be no openings during its usage. Uniform in movement, and extremely powerful.


    Every Form 4 has completely unleashed their core totem¡¯s power to the maximum, and should not be taken lightly.


    Bam!!


    Both people took a step back, Garen¡¯s brows twitched, even though his power is slightly stronger than his opponent, the totem¡¯s light on his body already showed signs of collapsing.


    "Too weak." He can¡¯t help but sigh, Nine-Headed Dragon Totem¡¯s Light was so fragile in front of the experts of the same level. The opponent hadn¡¯t even unleashed half of his full power, but the totem¡¯s light was already at its limit..


    Blizzard seemed to realize Garen¡¯s situation too. He laughed, and then rushed over again. He put his hands together and then separate them.


    Suddenly, a white ice ring was shot towards Garen. At the same time, his entire body jumped up high.


    "Extreme Ice Explosion!"


    Blizzard roared, and intend to crush Garen along with the golem.


    Looking at the incoming golem, Garen lifted his head slightly, and his mark on the forehead lit up.


    Suddenly, he took two steps backward, and raised his right leg in a single stroke.


    His legs turned into a whip-like afterimage, and a loud sound of thunderous explosions was heard. It was the ice ring being destroyed, directing towards the golem midair.


    Bam Bam Bam Bam!!!


    The impacts rang like pellets of rain.


    Countless ice shards were scattered across the arena, blocking their lines of sight. The spectators were unable to see what was going on.


    Somewhere in the meantime, Garen walked to the sides of the arena with his hands in his pockets, as though he hadn¡¯t done anything at all.


    If it were a comparison of totem strength, he would naturally be unable to compete on a level field, as Blizzard¡¯s totem was no ordinary totem, but if it was martial arts, even ten Blizzards wouldn¡¯t be his equal.


    With his level equal to King of the Century, his understanding towards Secret Techniques and strong combat prowess, he was beyond the league of this world.


    Jii!


    An icicle shot out from the cloud of ice, like a white lightning. Garen happened to moved his head and evaded it easily.


    Following it closely, was a second, third, more and more icicles. The salvo was dense, much like a school of flying fish. It curved its trajectory and surrounded Garen.


    Garen relaxedly pressed his chest in with his hand. The Flash Screen extended out into an invisible hemisphere around him.


    With a loud thump, all the icicle concentrated at one point and violently shot towards the screen.


    The hemisphere flash screen stayed completely unaffected.


    "Huh?" Blizzard¡¯s surprise could be heard from the other side of the arena. He was so surprised to see Garen still standing in his original position, with his Icicle Rain being one of the pride and joys of his repertoire. These icicles have a level of automation and carried the Blue-eyed Cold poison, which could continuously corrode the opponent¡¯s Totem¡¯s light. He never expected that his opponent could take on these techniques without any damage.


    "Again!" He roared. The ice golem enveloping him expanded once again, growing even larger than before.


    After Garen blocked the icicles with the screen, he wanted to speak, but realized something, and was slightly surprised as he looked at the southeastern sky.


    Just as he spaced out, Blizzard had a gleam in his eyes, he viciously swung out another punch. A violent cold breeze rushed outwards to his surroundings, and the entire arena was almost covered in a layer of thick ice.


    The large fist almost instantaneously reached Garen. The large amount of power brought forth terrifying, explosive energy, making this punch viciously quick.


    At the same time, thick layers of ice crystals began forming on Garen¡¯s feet, spreading upwards around his legs, immobilizing them.


    "I refuse to believe that I cannot move you!" Blizzard got excited, all the power in him have been unleashed without reserve.


    "Huh?"


    Garen seemed to only just realize the attacks in front of him


    He raised a lazy hand towards blizzard.


    Bam!!!


    The entire arena shook violently.


    Blizzard¡¯s fist was stopped in front of Garen. It with a distance of no more than half a meter, but it felt like heavens apart.


    His entire body turned blood red and fell into a status of unbalanced vigor. His energy previously was released violently causing the imbalance. Now he could only quickly recover and recalibrate his vigor.


    "Black Water True Technique. Whiplash!!"


    With a twist of his body, and a right kick, suddenly clouds of water vapor condensed on his right leg, accumulating rapidly, becoming a water pillar several meters thick and tens of meters long in just half a second.


    The large water pillar was like an extension of Garen¡¯s leg and was launched towards Blizzard in an instant.


    Bam!!!


    The splash from the attack scattered, and Blizzard was sent flying from this kick, having been lodged into a palace wall nearby. The entire courtyard vibrated slightly.


    Garen¡¯s sweep was like a giant axe. The one hit brought with it a pillar of water. From a seemingly unimpressive side kick, water quickly condensed as his leg was swinging, accumulating into something bigger and longer!


    In an instant, it became over ten meters long!


    The two spectators stood unblinking, their jaws slightly ajar. A stunned expression was on their faces, gawping at this form of strong, and impossibly accurate control. This was no longer a battle, but instead was an art form worthy of fascination.


    Only unleashing such explosive energy at one key point, meanwhile presenting no threat during peacetime, almost like he was an ordinary man.


    Cough cough¡­


    More than half of the layers upon layers of defensive tactics that were placed on the walls had also been obliterated.


    Blizzard removed himself from the dent in the wall he was in, thoroughly wet, with a terrible-looking face, and couldn¡¯t stop coughing.


    "As expected of Palace Master Garen!! How could I have not thought of this move? Such control! This level of control¡­.!!" He couldn¡¯t care less about his looks, with lit eyes, naught a care in the world about his image.


    "I¡¯m sorry, I got carried away and dealt a heavy hand." A hint of guilt was heard in Garen¡¯s tone. He had also completed the necessary objectives.


    Even though Blizzard hadn¡¯t unleashed his full power, Garen had only used about 10%.


    Blizzard¡¯s power should be below Ivycius¡¯ power from before, but stronger than Anjiad. Compared to the rest, he should be the strongest out of the sex elders.


    Garen thought to himself. His usual powers, combined with the Black Water True Technique and Ten Thousand Mammoth Battle Skills he should be able to suppress Blizzard, but there wouldn¡¯t be many stronger than him.


    However, if he used the Troll Grip¡¯s ring, he should be able to end the battle in one minute. There would be consequences; perhaps heavy injury, or even the loss of life.


    If he used the heirloom¡¯s Flash Screen, he would be able to end the battle unharmed.


    Black Water True Technique could control all liquids in a certain radius, but due to the barrier of totem¡¯s light, its effect wasn¡¯t great, and could only be used as a distraction.


    Just like that, after distracting the opponent, he used the opening to slam the opponent off the arena.


    Black Water True Technique¡¯s real selling point was that it could condense water literally out of thin air, but it would depend on the surrounding humidity. Plus, it may look strong during the condensation process, but its actual damage is very little. After all, it was not dense, and water is soft in nature.


    Overall, this technique is not considered strong at all


    At this point, a reddish-purple light was emanating in the sky faraway in the southeast direction.


    Garen looked towards that direction again.


    "That¡¯s¡­."


    Jii!!


    A white light was shot from the reddish purple light. And it soared through the sky of the entire kingdom.


    Island Master Lightless gave a cold sigh, as she extended her arms and grabbed.


    Countless clouds and smoke became a large hand, and tightly gripped onto the white light. In an instant, the white light broke through. Lightless were no longer able to catch it, and let out a sound of confusion.


    "Let me do it!" Skyharp¡¯s fingers immediately drew out a tactics symbol, and in that instant where the symbol was completed, a purple light flashed. The white light midair was finally blocked, falling straight onto Skyharp¡¯s hands.


    "This is?!!" Skyharp saw the main body of the white light and bulged her eyes.


    "Alice¡¯s Mirrorstone"! Garen spoke without restraint.


    This is a dispatched item for Angels of the Night currently out on a mission, which was a tool used to request for reinforcements. However, this item¡¯s trajectory power is so strong two people were required to stop it.


    In the regions protected by the Kingdom, there were many abandoned mines waiting to be distributed, Garen had the Angels of the Night take charge of the Black Swamp Palace, to ensure everyone¡¯s benefits.


    In just a few days, this Form 4, at her peak, actually sent out a reinforcement signal?


    "Looks like that reddish-purple light spells problems," Skyharp said, "There may have some sort of precious minerals appearing, and Angel alone cannot control the situation."


    "Let me take the trip" Lightless proactively suggested.


    "I¡¯ll go with you." Skyharp also said.


    Angel¡¯s mining area primarily produced black gold crystals. Now that there¡¯s a pillar of reddish purple light¡­" Garen had a guess. "For this to happen, there can only be one reason."


    Blizzard approached at this point, all three of them looked at Garen and awaited his answer.


    "Glittering Water." Garen closed his eyes, " It¡¯s definitely the appearance of Glittering Water!"


    "Go¡­ all three of you, the Glittering Water has to be ours, and only rightfully so. Anyone who interrupts, kill them all."


    Even though the three other people do not know what Glittering Water is, judging from Garen¡¯s vicious tone, they realized the severity of the issue.


    The three took his orders, each releasing a giant black bird, rushing southeastward with incredible haste.


    Garen, who was standing in his original position, rubbed his forehead for a period; the veins on his skin showed, as though he was enduring some unbearable pain.

 465 Departure 1

    Chapter 465: Departure 1


    Glittering Water¡­


    This name seemed to have fished out some memories from the deep recess of his brain.


    Garen only felt immense pain in his head as image after image kept flashing in his mind.


    These scenarios seemed far and blurry, like they weren¡¯t actually his memories.


    "The Nine-Headed Dragon¡¯s genetic message¡­" He walked to the plum bush nearby and placed himself down.


    The Nine-Headed Dragon¡¯s memories occasionally affected Garen, but they were much better compared to before, reduced to some occasional headaches.


    Garen reached out to touch the ice-cold stone table. The cold tabletop was smooth to the touch, its tough body gave Garen a firm sensation that he was touching something real.


    After some time, the pain gradually subsided.


    Garen put down his hand, and took a deep breath.


    "The Glittering Water has appeared¡­ looks like we are nearing the destruction of the Royal Alliance. Glittering Water is capable of boosting low level totem users¡¯ evolution and extreme healing prowess, but its production was also alarming low. Based on the original history, Kovitan had a Glittering pool, Daniela had two, Ender had one, and the other regions sporadically had three. This was the real cause of the RAL¡¯s fall."


    On the original timeline, the Glittering Water had strong special effects, and even though a pond could only produce enough for ten people a year and was only effective for these low level totem users, it still caused massive internal conflict among the alliance.


    Due to the ravaging monsters, the internal conflict in the RAL, factored in with the Glittering Water¡¯s ability causing internal conflict.. Perhaps there were Obscuro¡¯s plans inside, but it was undeniable that the Alliance¡¯s wobbly structure was to blame for the most part.


    And during this time, Daniela was also undergoing massive change due to Glittering Water. Having been dethroned by this generation¡¯s King of Daniela and becoming an incomplete version of the Cthulhu Totem, and then healed by Glittering Water, resulted in an inclination for wounds to heal.


    During the King of Daniela¡¯s pursuit of absolute power, he challenged experts everywhere, and constantly challenged the Cthulhu Totem. Originally Cthulhu King paid no heed to him, but his improvements were too rapid.


    When the Cthulhu King realized something was wrong, it was all too late, the King of Daniela had immense innate talent, and reached an unimaginable strength. Within the next of century, he would fight the Cthulhu King ceaselessly, eventually gravely wounding him, gaining the chance to stabilize the country and develop it.


    However, due to Cthulhu''s¡¯ careful management over thousands of years, the Cthulhuism Society had an immense foundation, so both sides forcibly maintained peace.


    The appearance of Glittering Water expedited the Cthulhu King¡¯s recovery, and Daniela¡¯s new internal war will begin once again.


    Garen thought carefully. The current Kovitan was but an empty shell; with such a small area of control surrounding the Kingdom left, it was considered heavily injured. Next would be Daniela, and then finally Ender.


    Daniela was different compared to Kovitan, the Cthulhuism Society and RAL¡¯s powers were both second to none in the current standings. Even Obscuro would not simply take action against the big characters if Hellgate weren¡¯t awakened.


    With the appearance of the Glittering Water, Garen realized that he had a very good opportunity.


    Glittering Water is much more important to the Cthulhu King compared to anyone else. His need for Glittering Water was massive, and so long as Garen owned a pond, he would have the necessary bargaining chips to negotiate with Cthulhuism Society and gain some benefits.


    Plus, Garen could faintly feel that this Glittering water may be beneficial to help him recover the Nine-Headed Dragon¡¯s memories. The headache that occurred just now had no indication it was coming at all, there must have been a reason behind it.


    Garen lightly tapped on the table with his fingers. He thought about ways to maximise his advantage before the Alliance fell. In order to expand his abilities, even if he doesn¡¯t win against Hellgate, he should at least be able to ensure his safety.


    Fuuu...


    He let out a long sigh. Just as he prepared to stand up and return to the palace, he suddenly realized that someone was sitting to the side, in the corner of his eyes.


    It was Kid.


    He was holding onto a red plum, and kept rubbing the twig in a rotational motion, he looked like he was enjoying himself.


    " What are you doing here?" Garen was almost used to Kid¡¯s mysterious appearances.


    "I had nothing to do so.. I just found something new, so I came over." Kid answered with boredom.


    "New discovery?"


    "Yeah, you have to remember to protect me though." Kid smiled as he said.


    Garen Was speechless. This Kid had never done anything proper, instead opting to play all the time, and his own abilities remained a mystery. What kind of protection does he need? Seeing that he didn¡¯t want to talk about it at the moment, he didn¡¯t ask any further.


    As he walked towards the inner hall, he had a short chat with Lala, who just had lunch with Prynne, who was strolling around. By the evening, some news came through about the Glittering Water mine.


    "You mean to say, even though we occupied the mine, half of the Glittering Water in the pool had been taken by others?" Garen asked as he frowned at the Black Swamp guard who reported to him.


    "Yes, Elder Lightless and Skyharp have already begun the hunt, while Elder Angel and Blizzard is guarding the Glittering Pond." The Guard answered immediately.


    Garen glanced at the experts on both sides of the hall.


    Ivycius was emotionless with his sword on his knees, silent, eyes closed, as though he was meditating and didn¡¯t bother with the guard¡¯s report.


    Anjiad from the Seven Nights¡¯ Tower on the other hand, was yawning, his eyes full of dark circles. Who knew how long had it been since he slept.


    Beneath it was the supervisor of the Black Swamp Palace, Lala, as well as the family¡¯s head guard Maxilan and Edney, and the White Silver Palace¡¯s three pupils under Ivycius. Not to mention Master Calingan, who just rushed over from the Technique Hall.


    Garen frowned, and he looked at Master Calingan.


    "Master, about the Technique Hall¡­"


    Calingan nodded and stood up. "We can dispatch a Forger and rush over with the latest Tactical Array. We have just finished researching an ambush bramble array, which was based off the original Royal Palace¡¯s illusionary array, modified and simplified to form 2. The alert radius is about two kilometers.


    "A form 2 array?" Garen nodded, " that would suffice for an alert array, plus it is a portable item, but what if I wanted a higher level array?"


    Calingan shook his head.


    "I¡¯m sorry, Palace Master, but any arrays above Form 2 would exhaust large quantities of rare materials, and you would require at least ten forgers. With the current capacity of the Technique Hall, the research progress would be severely impacted.


    "That¡¯s fine then." Garen shook his head.


    "Palace Master, in the singular tactics warehouse, don¡¯t we have three large area Spiritualized arrays?" Calingan reminded.


    Garen thought about it, the most valuable and practical thing in the Royal Palace¡¯s warehouse was indeed the three sets of large area Spiritualized Arrays. Its area of effect was more than ten kilometers in radius, and it was strong enough to deny entry to any totem users beneath Spiritualized form. It was indeed a great defensive array. These three sets were also the most valuable items in Kovitan, aside from the heirlooms that Garen carried all the time.


    "Among the three arrays, the Ten Circular Ring was planned to be placed in the entire compound of the Royal Palace." Calingan explained. "Out of the remaining two, I intend to use one to be an inner array to protect the Technique Hall and the residential inner halls. And the final one can be used to guard the Glittering Pond."


    Garen nodded after some thought.


    "This is a good idea."


    Calingan continued.


    "If we can get more help and resources, our Technique Hall¡¯s abilities could be increased by a margin too. I heard that Ender¡¯s Master Raphael possesses wonderful skills in terms of Tactical Arrays¡­" He began giving a list of names.


    After all, he was not an expert in researching arrays, and not strong in this aspect.


    "Raphael from Ender huh?" Garen stroked his beard. " Lala, try to establish communication with this master, see if you can invite him."


    "But the situation in Ender is very stable, this master is also considered a national treasure, I don¡¯t think it would be likely." Lala explained.


    "That¡¯s fine, just reach out for now." Garen said coldly, he immediately looked over to Maxilan. "How have my apprentices been?"


    Maxilan stood up and answered respectfully.


    "Three apprentices have already entered the first level. I have already passed on the skills for level 2. The rest of the apprentices have also been recorded and rewarded according to their entrance period."


    The living conditions in the Palace area had been harsh, and was to train their willpower. All their diets have been specially made to be exceptionally nutritious, with terrible taste.


    Whoever could endure it was basically a palate genius.


    To design this specifically unpalatable food, Garen specifically got Lala to recruit chefs from all over the kingdom who could cook the worst without losing nutritional value.


    The sleeping environment was also made of the toughest rock available, and there were only ten blankets. Only those who performed well had the luxury.


    Now that the study improvements have been produced, according to the records, only those who did well will be given the reward of a slightly less terrible daily meal. Of course, to get a normal tasting nutritious food, they had to put in more effort.


    Perhaps someone had tried not eating, but being barred in the palace with no chance of going out, he could only live in starvation. Plus, such a balanced combination of nutrients was beneficial to the body, and this diet allowed a person to improve slightly faster than others.


    After hearing the progress of the three apprentices, he was rather satisfied. As for the rest of them, he didn¡¯t really mind. Only the top ranked ones are worthy of his attention. Plus, level one doesn¡¯t really mean much; the Black Water Pure Technique was the easiest of first levels, but level two was different, to reach level 2, one needed to go through a session of attack endurance trainings, special medicinal baths, and depended heavily on the person¡¯s willpower and strength of body. In a short span of two to three months, there would be no need to consider the possibility of a breakthrough. It would only get harder as the training progresses. The second level was an entrance test. To achieve breakthrough wasn¡¯t bad, but for those who failed, they may take up to tens of years.


    Garen thought for a while


    "How is the recruitment for totem users going along?"


    "There are already two Spiritualized Totem Users who registered. The rest include 15 form 3s, and thousands of form 2s." Lala replied.


    "Dispatch the form 2s to maintain the operations of the arrays in the palace. Spread the form 3s out, and have Maxmilan and Edney lead them for now. A ranking match is to be held after a month¡¯s adjustment period. The one who rises above everyone else will be promoted by default to a leader of the guards¡¯ unit.


    The palace area was divided into male and female guard units, which were responsible for the security of some of the public areas. However, due to the lack of personnel, they were temporarily commanded by Maxmilan and Edney. Since they are the head guards of the family, and have their own sets of responsibilities, the Trejons Family is growing was size by the day, and its properties along with it, so they were also caught off guard.


    Hence, Garen gave them the rights to choose their personnel, after the recommendation of some helpers, it got less hectic.


    "Then what about the two Spiritualized Totem Users?" Lala asked


    "Let them be in charge of the elders¡¯ living quarters. Independently create a management office of the Elders¡¯ Hall, so that they can expand in the future.

 466 Departure 2

    Chapter 466: Departure 2


    Following that, reports of minor matters flooded in. The management of the palace grew increasingly complicated and troublesome along with influence and power.


    Garen would rather wash his hands off at this point, leaving these administrative matters to Ivycius¡¯ three apprentices, fully utilizing all the manpower he can get.


    After settling those, he could put his mind at ease for a good amount of time. Even the plans for the next two years have been laid out.


    His main goal was to improve his own abilities, not to expand his influence, so these were all secondary in comparison.


    After a week, three out of four elders from the Glittering Pool returned, leaving Elder Wukang alone to guard the pool.


    In the battle at the Glittering Pool, Elder Wukang used seemingly limitless clouds to engulf the entire region surrounding the Glittering Pool, forming a Wukang area of over ten kilometers in radius. No light was able to penetrate. In that area, Wukang¡¯ totem abilities increased threefold, his vision unaffected by the mist. Also, any enemies who entered his realm without his permission would fall into a limbo realm, where they couldn¡¯t use their totem abilities.


    This ability lasted 20 minutes, but within these 20 minutes, Elder Wukang subjugated thirteen Form 4 experts and monsters, taking down all the miscellaneous external influences who are there to take the Glittering Pool.


    All the subtler forces around Kovitan, and the Form 4s that were vanguards of those organizations had all been killed by her alone. Among them was even an Obscuro Elemental General who was accidentally engulfed in that radius.


    The monster lairs in the surrounding had also been subjugated by him.


    In a few short days, Elder Wukang single-handedly established himself as a vicious killer, and was given the honorific of Master Wukang.


    Perhaps, aside from the three great forces, there was no one else who would challenge the Black Swamp Palace in the Caeserton region.


    The remaining three forces did not try to fight for Black Swamp Palace, as they lacked the understanding of the nature of Glittering Water, staying at the sidelines. In their opinion, it was unwise to go against so many other organizations for a medicinal water that possessed healing properties.


    Soon, the negative consequences of Elder Wukang¡¯ monster massacre resurfaced.


    The Glittering Pool was not within the area of protection for Ivycius. A large horde of monsters came swarming, among them were a few stronger leader of the lairs. They had already possessed some form of primitive sentience and had the capacity for vengeance, heavily surrounding the glittering pool.


    After a single long war, the three elders mobilized and exterminated all the creatures, turning them either into treasures or resources. That war had completely restored the land around the Glittering Pool.


    After a week, at the same time the three people returned, Grand Duke Benoc also launched a land reclamation operation. His White Rubber Tree Corps had grown swiftly, and reclaimed most of the mining locations outside the area of protection.


    The remaining two forces began mimicking each other, starting to expand outwards. Since they had Caeserton as their backbone, they could always retreat if they were rendered ineffective.


    Whereas for now, the leaders of the monster lairs were disbanded, and the density of lairs had also decreased. So long as the numbers didn''t grow too large, these monsters will never be a threat to people.


    After all, the high level monsters have already been controlled by the underground Elder Senate, while the masses were fighting due to the high density of monsters, most of them lacked basic food and water, and so was unsustainable.


    In this period, the entire Kovitan spurred with enthusiasm, all wanting to reclaim the land for their empire.


    After the three elders returned, Garen bumped into them, and after a small meeting, they passed a series of civilian development plans.


    Among them was the most important clause; reproductive encouragement.


    War and the creatures had made the original populous civilization lose a vast majority of its size, and a vast amount of documents were lost, along with the destructions of many tactics crystals. Civilization had lost more than half its heritage. Mankind had been largely exterminated due to the many bodies which weren¡¯t duly disposed of in recent times, causing many forms of epidemics across the region.


    Large amounts of hospitals and disease control centers were set up, Forgers and Luminarists were widely recruited, and the entire Kovitan have seemed to have forgotten about the struggle of internal power. Instead, they were busy consolidating the nation¡¯s resources; whoever could rebuild more of the city¡¯s mines, the more that person¡¯s base income and power grew.


    The inner conflicts have swiftly turned into a race of external resource collection.


    On the other hand, after Garen¡¯s arrangements, he left the kingdom and rushed over to the Glittering Pool.


    He wanted to see for himself the source of his headache. As he brought his Flash Screen, his safety has gotten the largest guarantee, especially if it was Ivycius who was the one attacking, After condensing a piece of exploding crystal, there should be even fewer problems.


    He had tried for himself the power of the exploding crystals. It was equivalent to a full power attack by the current Ivycius, who were in pseudo-Form 5; its power was immense. Safety was definitely not an issue. Garen could let loose and go out.


    ********************


    In the morning, a swarm of blackbirds spanning over ten meters across their wingspans flew high above the kingdom, pulling a house-sized horse carriage below them.


    Amidst the white sea of clouds, the black birds which carried the carriages looked like ink stains on paper; clearly visible.


    The wheels on the carriage went round and round, and if one looked from afar, it would appear like the carriage had a bunch of golden bells attached.


    Kring¡­.. Kring


    Every few minutes, the faint sound of chimes can be heard from the outside of the black carriage.


    Garen was sitting in the carriage, holding a goose egg that looked like red jade, sitting in a half-reclined position.


    A breeze could be heard from beyond the carriage, occasionally accented by the chirps of some birds.


    The carriage was decorated with a set of black tables and chairs, a red bookshelf, and a washroom that was separated, as well as a bedroom.


    A portrait of Vanderman could be seen on the wooden wall, with a metal easel as a support. On top of the frame was a black vase. The green plant in it smelled like daffodils, and its fragrance wafted throughout the carriage.


    Skyharp was sitting opposite him. The female elder held a cup of tea in her hands, slowly tasting it. She seemed to be at ease, as though she was enjoying the fragrance of the tea.


    Garen was playing with the rock in his hand while he quietly channeled the route of his Secret Techniques without rest.


    "Why are you free to come out with me? Hadn¡¯t you just come back recently?"


    Skyharp took a sip of the tea. She didn¡¯t reply immediately, instead quietly observed the floating flower petals in her tea.


    "I just felt that staying back was boring." she replied slowly after a while.


    "During this trip, I hadn¡¯t alerted anyone, and just came out quietly. Such a rare chance, I naturally wouldn¡¯t turn back so easily. Do you have any plans?" Garen asked.


    "Plans?" It seemed like Skyharp was thinking, and then she shook her head, and no longer spoke.


    After observing this, Garen estimated that she had faced some issues with Ivycius, and looked saddened. He therefore held his tongue.


    "I¡¯m pregnant"


    Puu!!!


    Garen almost spat the tea in his mouth.


    "It belongs to Ivycius¡­" Skyharp said, indifferently.


    "Are you sure you¡¯re not joking?" Garen was speechless.


    "It is Ivycius¡¯ child." Skyharp nodded in confirmation.


    Both people fell into silence, and neither of them chose to break it.


    Garen had yet to completely digest this breaking news, while Skyharp was unsure of what else to say.


    After a long while.


    "You guys¡­.move really quickly.." Garen was unsure how to judge it. By Ivy¡¯s temper, it was definitely not his initiative, then it would most likely have been¡­


    "Indeed, I assaulted him." Skyharp let out this shocking fact without much expression. "One dose of the secret summoning potion from Namus, calibrated for Ivy¡¯s body. I could do it easily."


    Yet she looked blue.


    "Don¡¯t forget, I am a bona fide potion brewer."


    Garen¡¯s heart chilled, and he now looked at this iron lady in a different light.


    "Then, this journey is for you to give birth to this baby?¡¯ Potion Masters naturally had their unique way to take out the embryo for further nurturing elsewhere. This sort of small surgery was very simple in the Luminarists¡¯ World.


    "Yes.. "


    Skyharp nodded nonchalantly.


    "My body is different from a regular person¡¯s. I will take the fertilized ovum and turn it into an egg, which is what you call an embryo, so long as it is nurtured successfully, it can be grown slowly as I inject my blood in every once in a while.


    Garen was lost for words, facing such a devious women, Garen could only mourn for Ivycius.


    "Does Ivy know about this?"


    Garen finally asked after a while.


    "No." Skyharp shook her head. "Such is life, I originally planned to ruin his totem, let him be a normal person, that way he could stay with me forever and never leave. Unfortunately, he combined his life force with his core totem, and cannot be separated."


    Garen was speechless again, this person had some twisted logic.


    Thank god Skyharp wasn¡¯t paying attention to Garen¡¯s expressions; she only needed someone to talk to.


    "Back then, when he came to the island in search for treasures, he was caught by me¡­. Coincidentally I needed a lab rat, so I kept him. Then I slowly fell in love with him over the course of the experiments, and I could see from his angry eyes that he loved me too, so we got together in Skyharp Island."


    Weren¡¯t his eyes angry eyes? How did you conclude that he loved you?


    Garen was stunned by Skyharp¡¯s logic.


    "Back then, I touched all of his body, he was indeed a cute little kid¡­" she slumped into her memories. "He was so cute when he was young, he became less cute when he grew older¡­. It had only been twenty years on the island, yet he already wanted to leave. Such a lack of patience. There¡¯s me to accompany him, what else was there to play with in the outside world?"


    She mumbled alone, as though she was immersed in her own memories.


    Twenty years. Anybody human enough would want to run after being experimented for so long¡­.


    Garen wanted to speak, but he held back, he also wanted to hear more of the later parts of the story between Skyharp and Ivy.


    Obviously, Skyharp was just a big bully. A young handsome Ivy who just arrived at the island by accident was violated for 20 years, it was straight up the Totem User¡¯s version of mistress keeping.


    Garen had no idea what kind of face he should be showing to Skyharp, who was speaking of her past.


    To Ivy, it should all be a traumatic past.


    By Skyharp¡¯s attitude, it should be obvious that the story was her delusion, all the feedback and behavior of others could be twisted in any way.


    It was likely that because of these years of violations, Ivy lost all hope on women, and fell in love with his own core totem

 467 Glittering Pool 1

    Chapter 467: Glittering Pool 1


    "That was the best time of my life." Skyharp said calmly, as though she was immersed in the past, her mouth curled into a smile.


    Garen didn¡¯t say anything. He recalled Ivy¡¯s reaction when he met Skyharp, and it seemed that he didn¡¯t have any feeling towards her at all.


    Could it be that Ivy had been violated for far too long, so long that he got addicted himself?


    Garen rubbed his chin in thought.


    "What embarrassing things are you thinking now?" Skyharp suddenly reacted, and stared at Garen as she spoke.


    "Nothing" Garen firmly denied. "I was just thinking, perhaps Ivy did have some feelings towards you. Who knows if he was half hesitant about it, he might get used to it after a few times."


    Skyharp had a face filled with realization.


    "When you said so, I felt it too." she nodded her head slowly.


    "Then it all checks out." Garen smiled. "Pursue your love bravely, that is the world¡¯s best thing! After all, Ivy is the shy kind."


    Skyharp licked her lips, a glint of lust within her eyes.


    In the instance Skyharp¡¯s attention got diverted, he picked up his cup and pressed it against his lips.


    "Speaking of which, you are knowledgeable, possess incredible abilities, and are also a Potion Master. About looks, isn¡¯t it simple enough to swap your face? What¡¯s there for Ivy to be dissatisfied about?"


    Skyharp nodded in strong agreement.


    "Indeed, he is the kind that wants things but never says it." she had a lusty smile as she spoke.


    Her true nature was exposed¡­


    Garen looked at Skyharp in disgust, the kind of female gangster nature in her had been fully exposed.


    "Speaking of which." Skyharp snapped back and stopped smiling, looking at Garen.


    "You¡¯re not too bad yourself, Palace Master."


    "Eer¡­." Garen never expected that he would get caught up in this.


    Skyharp touched her chin as she checked out Garen.


    Silky smooth white skin, a handsome appearance, a mysteriously evil mark on the forehead, shoulder length blonde hair. He looked extremely stern, and perfect, as he sat on the throne.


    "Not bad at all¡­ I still have a few sisters, perhaps I can introduce them to you. My daughters from the sea had been the one that¡¯s picky; they love and hate proudly. Even though they aren¡¯t the most capable, but quantity can make up for quality."


    "About this, I already have a fiance...so it¡¯s fine." Garen rejected immediately.


    "It¡¯s okay, so long as it¡¯s not a shotgun marriage." Skyharp waved her hand, and the issue, off altogether. "My sisters wouldn¡¯t mind."


    But I mind¡­.


    Garen was speechless.


    Looking at Skyharp''s attitude, he could guess what kind of people would interact with her.


    "Alright, let¡¯s not talk about this, I have no plans for marriage for now." Garen took out his luggage, opened it, and took out the map for this journey.


    "Let¡¯s confirm the location again.." He had already memorized the map and whatnot, he was only looking for an excuse to change the topic.


    **********************************


    Fuuuu¡­..


    Fuuuu¡­..


    Fuuuu¡­..


    Beckstone¡¯s eyes turned purple as he staggered into the dense forest. The bushes under his feet were uneven, and a swarm of grey bugs had been flying around him relentlessly.


    The long robes on him had already turned grey, and the original color could no longer be recognized. Instead, it became a hard, crusty and greyish-yellow from the mud.


    As he looked up, he could see towering trees; he didn¡¯t know where he¡¯d ended up in.


    "Eleven and the rest should have fled successfully, right?" he mumbled.


    As was according to plan, he would distract the poison lady alone, whereas Beard would escort Eleven to safety, as well as those who were caught for experimentation purposes.


    Poison Lady was indeed the rare expert of poison in the Three Departments. As he stumbled and fumbled, Beckstone had relied on the antidotes brought from the Society and barely managed to escape to this place.


    After all, he was only a Form 4. He was never close to Poison Lady¡¯s abilities. Even though Beard was slightly stronger as a fellow Form 4, but due to his heavy injury that he had barely recovered from with the totem in the same state, he had to return to the Society to fix it.


    Suddenly, he turned back and caught a green flash at the corner of his eyes.


    "She caught up!" It was Poison Lady¡¯s Searchlight, a special Tactic; being caught in the light meant revealing your position to Poison Lady.


    He had to pick up his pace and rush forward.


    "Soon¡­.. Almost there" Beckstone looked ahead and his face seemed to be complicated.


    The seconds and minutes passed by. He dared not use Totem¡¯s Light or Totem¡¯s Power. Once he did, his location would be pinpointed by Poison Lady, and there was only a single dose of antidote with him, Whereas Poison Lady¡¯s poison only got stronger every time. He wouldn¡¯t know if he would be able to get through the next attack or not.


    As the forest came to an end, he occasionally had to leap over the roots above the ground and avoid slanted trees. Soon, the sound of armored troops marching could be heard faintly, sounding very uniform.


    Beckstone staggered over, as dried leaves and twigs crunched beneath his foot.


    "Who¡¯s there!!" the soldiers at the side of the forest shouted.


    Beckstone swiftly took out a green seed and lightly threw it forward.


    Bam!!!


    The seed suddenly exploded, turning into smoke the shape of a skull.


    Suddenly, a few wails could be heard from the side of the forest.


    "Enemy ambush!!"


    Dumm!!!


    A straight black line was shot to the sky, and suddenly exploded into an unfolding image; it was a ferocious black dragon head.


    Beckstone once again took out his last simultaneous movement seed.


    "Once again, this is¡­." His face seemed bitter. He squashed the seed and his silhouette slowly disappeared.


    The ring of light from Poison Lady had also spread from where he was, also engulfing the soldiers in the forest. The few soldiers didn¡¯t even make a sound, and all died immediately.


    "People from Nine Dragon¡¯s Palace? Beckstone, you¡¯re courting death!" Poison Lady¡¯s nervous and angered voice could be heard from behind, but it was no longer approaching. Instead, it began sounding further away.


    She hadn¡¯t bothered to stay to watch the ending, instead fleeing from the area.


    "That¡¯s Poison Lady!! Report in Immediately, Poison Lady was spotted in this region!" a cold voice of a lady was heard from the forest.


    "Division Three of the Special task Force has already received the news, and are rushing over now!" someone answered.


    "She shall not escape this time!" The lady said with anger.


    This sentence traveled into Beckstone¡¯s ears before he completely disappeared.


    The Nine Dragon Palace was the name people commonly used to refer to Black Swamp Palace. As Garen had a conflict with Poison Lady before, after its establishment, Garen ordered the establishment of the Special Task Force which totaled four divisions, and only recruited totem users with extreme poison resistance. All were at least Spiritualized, and specialized in a joint attack tactical array.


    After a few fights with Poison Lady, she was heavily wounded a few times and escaped.


    Her abilities relied mostly on poison. After being suppressed, her power was cut by more than half, and when these Spiritualized people grouped up, they had actually completely suppressed her.


    The four divisions completely surrounded her. These totem users were all recruited externally, and each of them were bounty hunters possessing extreme amounts of experience. Among them, two leaders held old grudges with the Poison Lady, and after being recruited into the task force, these Spiritualized totem users had a desire to bring Black Swamp Palace to the next level.


    The Nine-Headed Hyrda¡¯s growth was too quick and too powerful. he controlled vast amounts of power and influences¡¯ resources; enough to sustain large amount of external totem users. At the same time, the benefits for these totem users were exceptionally good.


    Adding on the insane bonus for killing Poison Lady, a totem inheritance that is enough to reach form 4, this was the foundation which one would build a family upon!


    Then, the task force doubled down on the effort


    Beckstone knew this, which was why he led Poison Lady to the Black Swamp Palace personnel¡¯s territory, latching on Garen¡¯s power to successfully escape Poison lady¡¯s hunt.


    He owed one to Garen, by this incident.


    However, the reason they were heavily wounded was indeed because of Garen. Plus, he was crossed by Garen the other time, so Beckstone himself didn¡¯t know what to feel about Garen.


    In essence, his vengeance primarily stemmed from the death of Vanderman, and Beckstone¡¯s first love.


    The main reason for Vanderman¡¯s death was primarily himself, and also the Obscuro. In the end, the entire manor had been destroyed by them.


    But because of his self-experimentation, Vanderman¡¯s days were already numbered, so in the end, he released all the energy during the battle against Obscuro¡¯s secret weapon.


    He was a pioneer, who had offered his life to research in the name of breaking through the limits of one¡¯s talent.


    In the end, the Green Vine Sphere was not a let down either. Garen used it as a foundation to enhance the Black Swamp Palace.


    Whereas Leian, whom Beckstone adored, had resolved part of the grudge after Vanderman¡¯s death and regrets.


    Garen¡¯s actual target was Obscuro. Be it Vanderman Manor¡¯s destruction, or the death of Dragonhawk King of the three heroes, these were all due to Obscuro. Which was why he kept expanding his influence and power with the intention to make up for the time where Goth died; by pulling all the strings possible and continuing to strengthen himself, gaining power from every huge incident and waiting for a good time to move.


    Beckstone actually felt that Garen had a laxed attitude towards him, as his real target was Obscuro.


    There will be a war between Obscuro and Black Swamp Palace one day.


    Which is why he planned this; to use Black Swamp Palace to fight the Obscuro¡¯s spy Poison Lady. In the end, he did succeed.


    The special task force had all started pursuing Poison Lady. There should be another large-scale battle that ensued. Like experienced hunters, slowly ensnaring the Poison Lady, who was only good with poison.


    *************************


    In the outskirts of Caeserton.


    The night sky was blanketed with stars.


    There was a thin, white, hemispherical screen covering the entire compound of Kovitan, like a toppled bowl, clear beyond comparison.


    Under the night skies, a mountainous region spanning tens of thousands of kilometers laid to the screen¡¯s southwestern direction


    Within a black mountain valley.


    A large lava ball emerged in the middle of the valley.


    The lava ball kept rotating, and the lava inside moved along with it, radiating large amounts of heat and light. Just like a giant volcanic whirlpool, it emanated a faint rumbling sound.

 468 Glittering Pond 2

    Chapter 468: Glittering Pond 2


    The sky was suddenly filled with hawks¡¯ cries.


    More than ten Giant Hawks with faintly glowing yellow eyes slowly descended from the sky.


    Their sharp claws were carrying a black horse-drawn carriage with four wheels.


    The carriage was the size of a small house, and it was unusually wide and neat.


    Bang!


    A dull noise rang out, and the carriage landed on the ground. Its four wheels shook, then rolled on the ground for a moment, before being obstructed by a few protruding stones on the floor, and ceasing all movement.


    A crashing sound could be heard as the carriage door was pulled from left to right, finally opening before two figures jumped out.


    Garen looked at the Lava Ball that cast the surroundings of the valley in a fiery glow, while a look of admiration appeared on his face subconsciously.


    "Looks like this place has been arranged pretty well."


    "There are a lot of monster nests in the vicinity, so we have no choice but to be alert at all times. However, there will be slightly more of the crystals for consumption here," said Skyharp, nodding. "Let¡¯s go."


    Garen nodded, clapping his hands lightly. The Giant Hawk pulled the carriage immediately, and flew upwards again, before flying towards the road.


    He took big steps towards the Giant Lava Ball, and after a few strides, he had quickly crossed a distance of more than ten meters.


    Garen walked directly towards the Giant Lava Ball, before colliding into it harshly.


    Whoosh!


    After the soft noise rang out, his entire body suddenly entered the Lava Ball.


    This sequence arrangement was extremely natural, as Garen had only felt a faint gust of hot air throughout his surroundings, very mildly, as he felt that his body had only become slightly warmer.


    A sea of red appeared before his eyes, and he realized that he had already entered the interior of the Giant Lava Ball.


    In front of him was a cylindrical passage, and the bottom of the walls were completely made up of lava that was still rolling around continuously, emitting terrifying heat and red light.


    The passage extended towards the front continuously, and Garen found himself walking on the passageway unconsciously, while Skyharp followed behind him closely.


    Both of them seemed to have an invisible protective layer that separated them from direct contact with the lava, and made walking through the passageway as simple as taking a normal walk, without any differences at all.


    Garen happily looked at the lava wall surrounding him, unconsciously nodding his head slightly.


    "This Tactical Formation is not bad, worthy of Master Calingan. A simple arrangement that was enough to integrate the local environmental requirements and allow man-made work to meld into nature."


    He outstretched his hand to touch the right wall surface, and red lava stuck on his hand, releasing endless puffs of white smoke.


    "Master Calingan excelled at Heirloom research, this was the work of one of his old friends, and this lava is not actually real, but merely an illusion," Skyharp explained. "After these passages, Glittering Pond will be right inside."


    Garen nodded.


    Both of them sped up their footsteps, and continued walking down the middle of the lava passage.


    They passed through many turnings, and soon, the black exit finally appeared in front of them.


    Garen¡¯s toes stepped on the ground lightly, before he dashed out of the passage all of a sudden.


    Before his eyes was a sea of purple and red.


    His eyes quickly got used to the constantly changing light rays, and as Garen stood at the exit of the lava passage, and looked at the scenery before him.


    Between the valley, the entire floor had been submerged by purple-red colored streams, forming a purple-red lake. It looked like a large purple-red mirror, and the lake reflected the night time moonlight, forming purple-red halos, even dyeing the night sky in red as well.


    The reflection of the purple-red moonlight shook in the water, causing the large black silhouettes that were swimming in the water to be faintly seen.


    The lava passage was at the bank of the purple-red river, and at their ends stood the stone walls of the valley.


    Initially, at the entry point of the valley, there was a large circular depression in the ground, and now it was filled with water, forming a large circular purple-red lake.


    The purple-red water inside the lake flowed slowly and silently.


    Garen walked towards the side of the lake and crouched down, before outstretching his hands and cupping some water.


    Strangely enough, when he cupped the purple-red lake water, it suddenly turned into normal clear water, and was incomparably clear.


    The cool lake water dripped out between his fingers slowly, and flowed back into the lake.


    Garen stood up, looked at the deep part of the lake from afar, faintly noticing a small isle there.


    "Hold on for awhile, the garrison in this area will come and meet us soon, since we have yet to release our arrival instructions," Skyharp said behind him quietly.


    Garen nodded.


    Both of them waited quietly, but before half a minute had passed, two little ferries floated towards them slowly on both sides of the surface of the lake. On the black ferry stood three Totem Users and soldiers in black wooden armor.


    The ferry docked beside the bank quickly, and the soldiers hurriedly disembarked onto the bank, bending on single knees on the ground in front of the two people.


    "Welcome Palace Master and Elder!" Their voices were unusually orderly, an obvious sign that this was due to prior training.


    While they spoke, dark clouds floated up from the lake suddenly, quickly forming a human figure that landed beside the bank.


    "Palace Master? Sister Skyharp, why have you arrived suddenly?" Elder Wukang still remained in his old ways. He wore a black robe, his ears adorned with large pearl earrings that were unusually eye catching.


    "Barney, you resume arranging people to patrol. Fiona, since I¡¯m here, you return to the replenishing tower, and be alert about your surroundings at all times," Wukang commanded the Totem Users that had disembarked onto the bank earlier.


    When both of the Totem Users saw that Garen did not object, they followed their leader and left.


    Garen had transferred his authority to Wukang to manage everything here, so naturally, he had no objections.


    "Go directly to Glittering Pond," said Garen softly.


    "Alright," Wukang nodded, and walked towards the lake immediately, while a thin layer of dark clouds floated beneath his feet, lifting his body up instantly, not allowing him to touch a single drop of lake water.


    Dark clouds appeared precisely below Garen and Skyharp¡¯s feet as well, supporting both of them, displaying Wukang¡¯ powerful control.


    The three of them immediately moved towards the isle in the center of the lake.


    "This entire valley is Glittering Pond," explained Wukang simply. "At first, we didn¡¯t believe it either, but after we collected water from Glittering Pond, we finally understood the relationship between these places."


    He paused. "There is an isle in the middle of the lake, on the isle is a wilted purple tree, with many purple-red peach shaped holes growing on the tree top."


    "Since they are holes, why do you say that they¡¯re growing?" Garen asked.


    "I don¡¯t really know how to put it." Wukang thought for a moment, as if he was thinking of words to describe it. "There are a lot of peach shaped holes on the trunk and branches of the wilted tree, and there is a purple-red membrane layer inside that lights up. It also resembles frosted glass, and cannot be broken easily. When the time comes, you will understand once you see it."


    Soon, the isle at the center of the lake gradually became clearer.


    There was a single lonely black wilted tree on the isle, and from afar, it looked like purple-red eyes were growing on the trunk of the dead tree. They released faint purple-red glows.


    Excluding the top of the trunk, the purple-red eyes covered the tree branches and tree top, as if they were embedded inside the wood, and were there naturally.


    Garen and the two others reached the isle quickly, and soon stepped onto the ground of the isle in the middle of the lake.


    The wilted tree was nearer to them now, and after stepping on the uneven ground, Garen stood in front of the wilted tree instantly.


    The ten-over meter tall wilted tree appeared threatening, like the sharp claws of a demon in the dark, looking somewhat ferocious.


    Garen¡¯s toes moved slightly, before his whole body leaped forwards and floated upwards, while a gush of purple-red lake water appeared below his legs in midair at the same time, supporting him as he floated through midair.


    He floated in front of one of the purple-red eyes in the middle of the tree branches.


    Garen halted his silhouette, and stretched his hand out to gently touch the membrane inside the hole.


    Some of it was hard and cold, and felt like touching frosted glass. It was not as weak as it looked.


    He retracted his hand, and suddenly realized that there was a sticky purple-red liquid on his fingers.


    "That¡¯s Glittering Water," Wukang explained behind him from the bottom.


    Garen looked at the liquid on his fingers slowly, and true enough, dots of purple-red light were faintly glowing there.


    "How much Glittering Water have we collected?" he asked softly.


    "About ten people¡¯s worth, according to the rules, I have one portion, so there will be nine portions inside the storage. One portion should be about one liter¡¯s worth," Wukang replied.


    The Elder in charge of guarding the mineral resources had the authority to distribute the mineral resources into tenths, and this was one of the benefits of being the stationed Elder. This rule was decided by Garen.


    Garen nodded but did not say much, since it did not matter how much Glittering Water Wukang took, because for normal people, although it had healing abilities, as for evolving effects, it could only be used for the bodies of low-levelled Totem Users. This thing was not allowed to be taken outside, and in the end, if it was not used inside the palace, it would be substituted for other resources or knowledge.


    It was just like how Blizzard spent so many consecutive days inside the hidden book collection hall borrowing books and doing research, when the price he paid in exchange for reading was only that his Contribution Points were depleted.


    Contribution Points could only be obtained by contributing inside the palace. It could be exchanged for knowledge, riches, Totems, and resources, among others.


    Now, the only person that knew that Glittering Water was useful to the Cthulhu King was Garen, as for the Cthulhu King himself, it was unlikely that he knew how useful this thing would actually be for his wounds.


    Thus, now was the best time for him to obtain Glittering Water.


    "Currently, there¡¯s only one Glittering Pond in Kovitan, which is this one, and we have already occupied it. If other people acquire the Glittering Water from the Glittering Ponds in other areas, Elder Wukang you are in charge of purchasing some of it, and any price is acceptable as long as it is not too extreme," Garen instructed him quietly.


    "Understood," nodded Wukang. "I¡¯m holding a banquet there, Palace Master and Sister Skyharp, let¡¯s go together."


    "Such a coincidence that I need a portion of Glittering Water for experiments," Garen continued.


    The three of them passed the lake again, and walked towards the left side of the lake.


    Soon, the stone walls of the valley on the left side of the lake floated up again, and the passageways inside the caves had already opened up, while people stood guard inside, and many material boxes and wooden buckets were also placed inside. Some of the wooden buckets were lit with piles of candles and oil lamps on top, while torches were hung on the walls inside. They illuminated the entire cave in bright candlelight.


    The three of them walked into the largest cave inside the passage, and on the right side was the purple-red lake water, while bright moonlight shone on the ground of the cave. The scenery was extremely pleasant.


    The cave was already filled with beautiful maids that were serving food and wine, quietly waiting for the arrival of the three people.


    "I¡¯ve already prepared Red Flying Dolphin meat. If it weren¡¯t for the arrival of Palace Master, we would not have normally eaten this," Wukang chortled and said. "This thing can make up for many things! Mm hmm¡­ It will greatly increase one of our manly abilities!" He rushed towards Garen, while a wretched smile that all men understood appeared on his face.


    "Aren¡¯t these just a few pieces of Red Dolphin rashers? They taste alright," Skyharp said simply.


    "That¡¯s true, that¡¯s true. Big Sis, you are an expert in this field," Wukang quickly smiled apologetically.


    "I¡¯ve tasted various types of rashers ever since I was young, they don¡¯t taste like much, but are just quite chewy, and are not as tasty as Mimi," replied Skyharp in a tone of trained indifference.


    Chills suddenly ran down Garen¡¯s spine, this woman, Skyharp looked quiet, but was within her cold exterior hid a surprising amount of experience.

 469 Information 1

    Chapter 469: Information 1


    The three people sat down to begin the feast, while a continuous supply of dishes were served onto the table.


    Having a meal in such a simple environment was a first for Garen.


    Cold wind gushed inside from the cave opening, and the dishes that were just served quickly became cold.


    They did not hold back, and began to place the dishes on the warming jar in front of them, using the chemical reaction of the warming stones to reheat the food. It was as if everyone had their own personal hot pot.


    The Red Flying Dolphin flesh was very soft, but also chewy at times and tasted like beef, while its surface was soaked in a dark red sauce, making it taste slightly sweet.


    Garen ate a few pieces, then took some fresh vegetables, before putting his knife and fork down.


    One of the Totem Users who stood on the side, now came forward with the Glittering Water they had collected.


    A thumb-sized crystal bottle was placed in front of Garen, and the clear bottle was filled with sticky purple-red liquid, faintly reflecting a silver sand like glow.


    Garen picked it up and shook it, while the liquid inside flowed slowly, but did not make any shaking noises.


    "Currently, how many powers around us are also seeking the Glittering Water?" he asked immediately.


    "Most of the powers are out of the picture already." Wukang smiled, before he took a cup of blue alcohol and sipped it. "If I had yet to secure the situation even after Palace Master¡¯s arrival, wouldn¡¯t that just mean that I¡¯m useless?"


    Garen was struck with a bout of sudden realization, when he remembered Wukang¡¯ terrifying battle record.


    During the conflict on a cloudy day, he had single-handedly killed more than ten professionals, and although they were all inferior Form 4¡¯s, without any specialized Ultimate Techniques or strong Totem abilities, this still showed that he was truly amazing.


    More than half of Kovitan¡¯s Form 4 citizens had been massacred instantly, and many powers would reorganize their strategies after this massacre.


    The citizen Totem Users were not strong in the beginning, but now for some reason, it seemed as if Wukang was enough to repress all the citizen Totem Users.


    "Actually, Palace Master had arrived at a great time, because I¡¯ve just received some news here." The smile on Wukang¡¯ face disappeared while his true expression came through. "Daniela has now reached its key moment, as the war between Obscuro Society, the Cthuhuism Society, and the Daniela Royal Family has already turned fiery. For now, they don¡¯t have the time or energy to focus on us or Ender over here."


    "What do you mean?" Garen picked up his glass and sipped it slowly.


    "I have friends in Daniela, and they pass messages for me, so if Palace Master wants to occupy the Glittering Pond, now is the best chance," Wukang nodded and said.


    Garen muttered and hesitated to himself.


    Frankly, he was clearer about the situation in Daniela compared to Wukang, as the Geometry Service of the Three Departments was currently standing behind the King of Daniela, contesting with Obscuro Society and Cthulhuism Society that were getting stronger each day.


    The Geometry Service was facing off with Obscuro Society, while the King of Daniela went up against Cthulhuism Society, and this was a violent, bloody Totem war. According to the original historical events, the death toll caused by this war could not be estimated as well. Countless inheritances, research results, and technical information were all destroyed in this major war.


    As for the other two remaining main departments, they were currently containing the monster nests that were reproducing rapidly, their professional collectors were continuously raiding these monster¡¯s nests, and were soon completely dragged into the mud.


    When the Nest Leaders found out about the underground entryway, the balanced energies underground would surely be disrupted. The underground Elder Parliament was actually barely balanced, and the endless sea of monsters would surely be a large consumption towards the Elders.


    Thus, the professionals of the two remaining main organizations were probably at the end of the world, refusing to budge with the monsters.


    "We must seize the Glittering Ponds¡­ It just depends on the timing," said Garen softly. "We want to occupy Glittering Pond, but our strength is still insufficient. The locations of the Glittering Ponds are too divided."


    "There are three Glittering Ponds that don¡¯t belong to any country. However, there are too many nests in its surrounding areas. If we cleanse them carefully, there should be no problem," said Wukang quietly. "As long as we¡¯re careful, there are two Glittering Ponds nearby that we can occupy."


    "In this aspect, Wukang, please arrange the necessary manpower," Garen nodded. "It¡¯s not convenient for me to show myself, so you can request for extra support directly from the palace."


    "I won¡¯t need that many Totem Users, only Totem Users who are able to support Tactical Formations will be sufficient," replied Wukang in a slightly arrogant tone. During this Great War, the Form 4¡¯s in their surroundings had almost been cleansed completely without the use of high-end threats, as those were only used as preparations for surprise attacks by ignorant monsters that only lived by basic instincts.


    "How long do you need to complete it?"


    "Within half a month¡¯s time. There should be no problem."


    "I¡¯ll live here temporarily as well then," Garen nodded.


    Skyharp stood on the side and opened her mouth to speak. "You didn¡¯t come all the way here just for this right?"


    Garen smiled but did not answer. Other than coming here to look at the Glittering Pond and Glittering Water for himself, he still had other plans, or perhaps, things he was awaiting.


    The Cthulhu King would soon realize the importance of the Glittering Water to him, and by then, he would definitely come for his head.


    Although Garen himself was standing on the same stage as the Three Departments and the Royal Alliance, the ones that the Cthulhu King was opposing was not just the King of Daniela, because compared to Daniela, they disliked Obscuro Society just as much.


    Garen would just wait, wait for the Cthulhu King¡¯s invitation.


    All the powers that occupied Glittering Ponds would receive the Cthulhu King¡¯s invitations to exchange Glittering Water with them.


    As long as his Glittering Water was sufficient, Garen would be able to exchange it for Cthulhu¡¯s Origin from the Cthulhu King. That was one of the core items of the Cthulhu¡¯s strength.


    Cthulhu¡¯s Origin was an item that Garen absolutely had to obtain, and according to original historical events, Cthulhuism Society had exchanged its one and only Cthulhu¡¯s Origin with Obscuro Society. For everyone else, it could increase Totem potential, and upgrade the effect of evolution levels.


    As for Garen himself, although he did not know its uses, he absolutely could not let Obscuro Society obtain it, because when Obscuro Society¡¯s two main Marshalls obtained the Cthulhu¡¯s Origin, their powers increased greatly, and they achieved terrifying peak levels.


    Meanwhile, after the chaos at Daniela, Hellgate had finally awakened. Then, the situation regarding the war was completely reversed.


    The main opponent of the Royal Alliance had changed from monsters to the Obscuro Society. Hellgate would use his temporary strong powers to launch a surprise attack on the Three Departments. After the siege, he would finally be established as the strongest in the world.


    Since it was effective against the Obscuro Society Marshalls, it would definitely be effective against Garen as well.


    Therefore, they definitely could not lose the Glittering Water. Hellgate would awaken soon, reducing the time Garen had left.


    After their meal, Garen stayed beside Glittering Pond.


    While researching the Glittering Water, he waited for the arrival of the Cthulhu King quietly.


    As time passed, he gained new knowledge about the special abilities of the Glittering Water as well.


    *********************


    Inside the pitch black stone cave.


    Garen sat cross-legged while the sticky purple-red liquid wrapped around him like a snake, swirling around his body in a slow dance.


    In the darkness, this liquid gave off a faint purple-red glow, and was unusually beautiful.


    Surrounding Garen¡¯s body were sharp, bright red crystal spikes, and all these spikes extended out of the walls towards Garen. The spikes glowed with faint white light, and reflected off the spikes onto the walls of the stone cave.


    After an unknown amount of time, Garen opened his eyes slowly.


    He looked at the purple-red Glittering Water that danced around him.


    "Is the analyzed conclusion ready, Saiah," he said softly.


    "The analysed conclusion is ready. Would you like to proceed with second level deepening?" A cold male voice echoed throughout the stone cave. This was the latest Forger system that had been installed recently, the Saiah System, which was an intelligent management system that Master Calingan had hurriedly installed. It was equivalent to intelligent computer technology, and could manage the entire Glittering Pond¡¯s defense and internal systems.


    Almost two weeks had passed since Garen¡¯s arrival here. He would constantly practice his Secret Techniques every day, and at the same time, he would research the contents and uses of the Glittering Water. After undergoing various experiments, the contents and uses of today¡¯s Glittering Water would reach a conclusion soon.


    "Send out the report then," Garen sat on the floor and instructed softly.


    "Acknowledged, please hold on¡­" Saiah paused, and soon, countless white halos moved along the spikes, and gathered towards Garen¡¯s direction.


    Shh shh shh¡­


    More than ten sharp points of the red crystals released white light at the same time.


    The white light expanded instantly, and formed translucent screens of various sizes. Rows of experimental statistics and possible analyses and conclusions were quickly displayed on top.


    Garen¡¯s eyes continuously scanned across the experimental statistics and conclusions. While his brain processed all of this quickly, as he analyzed and calculated the results once again.


    After an unknown amount of time, the ten screen of various sizes in his surroundings shrunk and disappeared, while Garen let out a faint sigh of relief. The probable conclusions were already out.


    "Extremely strong poisons that can withstand corrosion, displaying strong bone regenerative abilities. Glittering Water¡­" Looking at the purple-red liquid that danced around him, Garen nodded faintly. "After dilution, it could be used to create natural wound healing medications, and if we sold it, the effect would be pretty good."


    Suddenly, the red dot on the left side of Garen¡¯s forehead darkened again.


    But a look of joy appeared on Garen¡¯s face suddenly.


    While he closed his eyes and experienced the dark spaces of his mind, the Nine-Headed Hydra that was occupying the space inside currently only had six heads left, and looked unenthusiastic.


    Three hydra heads had already been consecutively refined by his Secret Techniques, and even though the Nine-Headed Hydra had strong Life Force, it would still feel abnormally weak.


    Furthermore, the extreme rejection reaction that he faced from the Nine-Headed Hydra made it impossible for Garen not to pause the transfer road map of his Secret Techniques.


    He looked at his Attribute Pane carefully, and noticed another breakthrough in his Secret Technique Pane.


    ¡®Black Water True Technique (Originally the Myriad Water Jasper Technique): Seventh level (Seven levels in total). Powerful control over all matter in liquid form.


    Poisons have been strengthened by three levels, regeneration abilities have been strengthened by three levels.¡¯


    Once his Secret Techniques had absorbed the Nine-Headed Hydra completely, Garen would properly enter Form 5 then.


    If the situation allowed it, Garen¡¯s best method currently would be to find a place to hide, so that he could allow the Nine-Headed Hydra to fuse into his Secret Techniques completely, and then only come out. Unfortunately, Obscuro Society¡¯s development would not give him so much time.


    He murdered so many of Obscuro Society¡¯s people, and destroyed so many of their bases, so obviously both sides would be as incompatible as fire and water. Once the Royal Alliance collapsed, he would be implicated as well.


    Before Hellgate awakens, he needed to place his feet firmly on the ground, and even if he was unable to successfully defeat Hellgate, he had to protect himself, and the safety of those around him at least.


    According to original historical events, Hellgate was killed by grown up Beckstone and others, and obviously this happened after the Great War between the Royal Alliance, the Three Heroes, and Hellgate, and the Three Heroes had been injured with serious wounds by Hellgate, and finally, Beckstone, who had been neglected this whole time, would step forward for the last blow.


    Stone would also lose all of his powers here. It was the price he had to pay in exchange for the final battle.

 470 Information 2

    Chapter 470: Information 2


    However, the premise for all of this was that Hellgate first had to massacre and destroy a large number of the Three Heroes and Stone¡¯s friends, relatives, and power, provoking them so that they would gather, and finally siege Hellgate together.


    Meanwhile, the Elder Parliament did not show up from beginning to the end, for unknown reasons.


    "There isn¡¯t much time left¡­" Garen¡¯s eyes twinkled. He held the crystal bottle that was filled with Glittering Water, and screwed on the bottle cap.


    "How do I speed up the fusion, while breaking the bottleneck at the same time?"


    While thoughts swirled in his mind, Garen merely exhaled in the end.


    "Looks like this will still depend on the Cthulhuism Society¡­"


    "There is an external incoming communications request, should I accept it?" Saiah¡¯s voice rang out again.


    Garen was slightly shocked. "Accept it."


    There was a crackling noise.


    One of the spikes in front of him immediately lit up with a dot of white light, and expanded to form a translucent crystal board, before Lala¡¯s face was displayed on top.


    "Palace Master, large scale Totem Power rebellions have appeared in the Southern areas, the Blackfield Hawk King and Obscuro Society¡¯s soldiers have waged war against each other."


    "Goth?" Garen¡¯s eyes narrowed. "How is the situation there?"


    "The Hawk King commanded his Black Shadow Army, which they claim has three thousand men, to directly confront the twenty thousand soldiers of Obscuro Society¡¯s Annihilation Ring Army. They are winning by a landslide, and are currently enlisting people to join their army," explained Lala simply.


    "Three thousand against twenty thousand? Tch tch¡­" Garen could not help but praise him slightly. Goth was probably Form 4 now, and although he was not Form 5, Form 4 was sufficient to suppress certain aspects of peak strength, and although it was not as important on the larger scale of the battle situation, when going up against larger powers such as facing thousands of Form 2 and Form 3 joined forces at least, it was still beyond the reach of their power.


    Only Form 5¡¯s could ignore the changes brought on by an increase in numbers, while becoming the most important power in the entire war situation.


    As for Form 4 strength, three thousand against twenty thousand, this was definitely a typical example of winning a battle with fewer numbers. That would surely be recorded in history.


    Lala continued speaking. "Two of Obscuro Society¡¯s commanders are currently confronting the royals of Daniela and the Geometry Service at Royal Star Court and cannot be separated. Meanwhile, there are five armies on Obscuro Society¡¯s frontlines, each army has at least ten thousand Totems, most of them being Silver Totems controlled by Crystal Derivators. They¡¯re extremely powerful. This time, the Royal Alliance is probably firing back at the Kovitan siege incident." Lala took out a stack of intelligence papers and flipped through them. "Three out of Obscuro Society¡¯s five main armies encountered frontline attacks simultaneously. The three areas seemed to move out at the same time. Even the National Service, Silver Knights, Elvart Knights, and two main armies were sieged simultaneously. This time, the strength of the raids were too strong, and although Obscuro Society was prepared, they still suffered huge losses."


    Garen smiled. He already knew that according to the personalities of the department ministers, they would not just accept the assassination of the Kovitan King.


    All of God Cloud¡¯s clones suffered serious injuries, and his main body had been dragged by the Geometry Service to Daniela. No one could confirm whether the current opportunity was just a situation planned by the Three Departments. Obscuro Society had suffered serious loses this round, and their five main armies had probably accumulated many years of experience.


    The mouse that was hidden in darkness assumed that it was strong enough, but when it jumped out baring its fangs and claws, it did not expect that the old cat that was playing dead would scratch it violently instead.


    The Three Departments and the Geometry Service¡¯s two strongest lords were in Daniela, while the National Service¡¯s two commissioners, perhaps like the Secret Service¡¯s minister and vice minister, were at the cracks of the world, engaged in a fierce battle with the highest ranking Nest Leaders. But they could also be in Ender, investigating the origins of the Giant Angel Stone Sculptures that raided Kovitan.


    "Is there anymore new information?" Garen cleared his thoughts and continued asking.


    "There¡¯s one piece of information that I personally think will be of interest to you, even though I don¡¯t know the probability of its authenticity or falsehood." Lala¡¯s hands quickly passed a piece of information over.


    After a series of crackling noises, a translucent screen expanded on Garen¡¯s right side, and a black instrument with white words was displayed there.


    ¡®Nest Leader¡¯s ranking list¡¯


    After scanning through the list, Garen¡¯s was one of complete focus on the ranking list.


    All this while, when Obscuro Society had accidentally released the Black Copper contamination resulted in the formation of Aberration monsters and terrifying nests of various sizes. However, no one had added them up as a whole. Thus, nobody knew the true number of these Nest Leaders, and they had little knowledge about them as well. As for those for had achieved Form 4 and 5 powers, no one knew about that either.


    Although, now that someone had apparently released a ranking list of the Nest Leaders, it was likely that this would greatly impact the other powers.


    This was a chance for him to understand the Nest Leaders fully through direct observation.


    Lala took this time to retreat as well, leaving Garen to begin investigating this information alone.


    The second page of the information marked the source that arranged the information: Elder Parliament.


    "Of course, only that force would have enough power to clarify this kind of intelligence." Garen was aware that this piece of information was something that only the highest level of the Royal Alliance had the right to know.


    Since he had become the Black Swamp Palace Master, one of Kovitan¡¯s Four Gargantuans, he had naturally reached this level as well. If it was merely peak Form 4 strength, it would not be classified as such confidential information.


    Garen flipped to the third page immediately.


    The third page and the first two pages were completely different.


    The page was filled with silver characters that resembled tadpoles that swam around slowly, as if they were alive, and these completely unrecognizable silver tadpoles drifted around constantly, and could not be seen properly at all.


    But strangely, Garen¡¯s eyes were currently looking at a completely different scene, he did not see characters that were swimming around, instead, he saw a beautiful painting that accompanied the written explanations and records above.


    This was confidential information that only peak Form 4¡¯s had the right to read, and their peak Form 4 Totem Light would be able to filter out the light that was reflected off this information, and after going through a specialised reaction sequence, it would form the information and words that were now displayed in Garen¡¯s eyes.


    ¡®Nest Leaders worthy of attention number seven hundred and sixty-two in total. This is the total number obtained from the ocean islands of the East and West Continents, and also includes the polar circles.


    The Elders of the Elder Parliament, and their disciples, had spread out to various parts of the world to collect huge swathes of information that surpassed the expectations of each area in each country.


    This number that currently exceeded seven hundred was constantly changing, as the Nest Leaders themselves would engage in internal strife and eat each other because of the food chain.


    Out of the seven hundred over Nest Leaders, there were over a hundred that were sentient, and were mainly scattered around the West Continent, Antarctic Continent, oceans, and East Continent. The East Continent had the least of them, but because Obscuro Society tyrannically drove the Nests to battle against Kovitan, it caused dissatisfaction among the intelligent Nest Leaders in the other areas, and currently, two intelligent-type Nest Leaders had already reached the East Continent areas from the ocean. Thus, the correspondence aims to dispute the information that was released to the East Continent.


    The information had already explained the situation clearly.


    Garen continued reading.


    ¡®The Nest Leaders that arrived in the East Continent naturally have conflicted feelings towards Obscuro Society, if it is possible, it could be used to our advantage.


    Below was the information regarding the two Nest Leaders that arrived in the East Continent. Within the existence of over seven hundred terrifying Nest Leaders, they exist within the top twenty ranks, and this existence is the main force confronting the Elder Parliament. Obscuro Society¡¯s unauthorized violations of the agreement caused their dissatisfaction.¡¯


    Below that was the main information.


    Mud Mammoth: Tenth rank, Ten Thousand Mammoth Nest Leader. A prehistoric creature that was awakened from the deep ice layers by the Black Copper contamination, ability assessment: Higher level Form 5.


    Abilities obtained ---- shapeshifting, Size Multiplication skill, Muddy Earth skill, Mammoth Howl, Earth Shaker, others unknown.


    Height ---- Around 3 meters in its normal state, full size after shapeshifting is 36.2 meters. Weight ---- 124 tonnes.


    Talents ---- Its entire body can turn into mud at any time, making it immune from attacks that are Form 4 and lower.¡¯


    Below it was a dark blue elephant that was standing upright on two legs like a person, clad in grey-brown leather armor, holding a large black hammer upside down in its hand, while the hammer was filled with sharp metal spikes.


    This Mammoth had three elephant trunks that resembled tentacles and made threatening gestures in midair.


    The painting was still moving, and it displayed the image of the Mud Mammoth perfectly, especially its three trunks, and the end of each trunk had the structure of a hand, while each trunk held a dark blue dagger.


    This was a terrifying war machine.


    Garen inhaled a breath of cold air; this type of monster was apparently immune to all attacks that were lower than Form 4! By looking at its size, its terrifying strength was already obvious. It also possessed strong abilities that could probably be effective in large ranges.


    Upon flipping to the next page, he noticed that the Mud Mammoth¡¯s battle records were listed there. In three major battles, one of which was with Obscuro Society¡¯s Marshalls in the West Continent, the results were two losses with serious injuries, in which they were saved and taken away from the experimental area. The other two instances were single-sided mass destructions, and two of Obscuro Society¡¯s Totem armies in the West Continent were destroyed by its hands.


    It possessed the most terrifying attack ranges of all the Nest Leaders that existed.


    Next was the second Nest Leader.


    ¡®Psychedelic Demon: Fourteenth ranking, Illusion Demon Nest Leader. Terrifying existence of unknown sources, ability assessment: Lower level Form 5.


    Abilities obtained ---- Phantom Teleportation, Spiritual Explosion, Spiritual Temptation, Puppet Control. Others unknown.


    Height ---- Around two meters. Weight ---- Similar to a regular person.


    Talents ---- Permanent Attack Deflecting Force Field, any attacks directed towards it will encounter its Deflecting Force Field, similar to Distorted Beads, except that its deflecting powers are not very strong. Immune to the majority of Totem abilities that are below Form 4.


    Below it was a picture of the Psychedelic Demon.


    This monster¡¯s body size was similar to that of a regular human male, except that its body was shrouded in a layer of red-grey human skin, and even its face was covered completely, as if it was airtight.


    Jester hat-like horns grew out of the top of its head, while it lacked ears, a nose, or even a mouth, making its entire face devoid of a normal human¡¯s five sensory organs. The only thing there was a large ¡®S¡¯ shaped wound, where blood would occasionally flow out slowly.


    The Demon assumed a squatting pose, while sharp red claws could be seen on both of its hands, making it look extremely strange.


    Both of the Nest Leaders that had arrived in the East Continent looked like they were not to be messed with, making it obvious that their arrival was to counter the Obscuro Society¡¯s nest luring incident.


    Garen began to think deeply about the results that he would be able to gain from this, and the probable benefits as well.


    He was currently about to enter Form 5, and if his powers developed enough to cooperate with the Flash Screen, he would probably possess enough power to withstand mid-range Form 5¡¯s, but in comparison to the Mud Mammoth¡¯s higher level Form 5, the difference was still too great. Moreover, only his explosive energy was strong, but during battles, after a long period of time, he would not be able to it anymore. Unless he entered Form 5 completely and fused the entire Nine-Headed Hydra.


    But this was enough, as long as he had the right to stand in front of him to have a face to face conversation, that would be sufficient.


    "Cthulhu¡¯s Origin, I don¡¯t know if it will produce any effect on me¡­"


    This thing only required sufficient amounts of Glittering Water, which would probably be purchasable, except that Obscuro Society would not allow something that they had set their eyes on to escape so easily. The final result depended on which party possessed stronger powers.


    God Cloud and the other Marshall would definitely not let the matter drop. This time, he would definitely need to stand directly before them. It would happen soon, once the Cthulhu King discovered the uses of the Glittering Water¡­

 471 Leave 1

    Chapter 471: Leave 1


    Somewhere in Daniela


    Within the ruins of the devastated city, groups of figures with red scarves on their heads and black, sheer fabric on their bodies passed through quietly. They were completely silent with their heads bowed, while their lips were chanting unknown verses with sincerely devout expressions plastered on their faces.


    The figures appeared occasionally from the underground caves on the borders of the ruins, which quietly observed the group that passed by. They looked on in awe while the group passed by their ¡®gate¡¯.


    Within the ruined city, they were a few abandoned single-story houses that still remained; they were fortunate enough to still be in perfect condition.


    A struggle between nest monsters had just occurred here, and the followers of the Cthulhuism Society were currently patrolling the area, cleaning the remains of the monsters.


    Inside the empty space of a narrow single-story house, a black figure was currently leaning against the wall, panting heavily.


    Pfoo¡­ Pfoo¡­


    It seemed as if he was about to spit his lungs out, as his entire chest rose up high, before deflating quickly.


    In the darkness, this person¡¯s eyes were unusually bright. Half a day had passed, and he was still leaning against the wall closely, except that his breathing had gradually become calmer, and he could begin to hear the movements on the other side of the wall.


    "Is anything happening?" Another voice echoed throughout the darkness.


    "No, pfoo¡­ The patrol team just passed by," The man who was leaning against the wall shook his head. "Looks like it will be safe for now."


    "Pfft! Those Cthulhuism Society brats! Sooner or later I¡¯ll kill all of them!" The voice in the darkness had become much clearer, and it was apparently the voice of a very young boy.


    "How is Elin?"


    "Her condition is still not good, she¡¯s currently sick with a high fever, so we need to find some anti-fever medicine soon!" The boy paused. "Have I lit up?"


    "Just light it now." The man walked away from the wall, and came towards a deeper part of the house.


    Shh¡­


    A flame the size of a soybean appeared, and quickly lit up a white candlestick.


    The pale yellow light quickly illuminated half of the little house¡¯s space.


    There was a little wooden yellow bed in the middle of the house, and a thirteen to fourteen-year-old girl was lying on the bed while a white-haired boy sat next to her. The boy¡¯s eyebrows were slightly wrinkled, clearly forming three furrowed lines, making him look abnormally old.


    Currently, he was looking at the girl on the sick bed worriedly.


    "We need to go out and find some medicine!" The boy said in a resolute tone.


    "There will definitely be people hunting for us outside. Going out right now would be looking for death," said the man with his eyebrows furrowed. "Even if you have Wing God Arms, you still won¡¯t be able to escape from Havana¡¯s grasp. There are at least two of Benla¡¯s main chiefs have been sent to capture us, we cannot take any risks."


    "Do you want me to see my little sister die?!" The boy¡¯s face turned cold.


    "I¡¯m stopping your idiotic actions!" said the man, shaking his head, he began searching for something in his arms. "When I went out earlier, I found this."


    He took out a little black circular box at once, and threw it at the boy.


    The latter caught it with one hand and looked at the box, a puzzled look appeared on his face suddenly.


    "What is this?"


    "A Radio."


    "Radio?" A surprised expression appeared on the boy¡¯s face instantly. "So you¡¯re saying.. "


    "Of course. With this, we will be able to communicate with the outside world and receive messages as well," nodded the man confidently. "Perhaps we will be able to find a way to obtain anti-fever medicine, too."


    "This time, as one of the main Eighteen Cthulhus, Havana will probably be summoned by the Cthulhu King. As long as he leaves this place temporarily, we have a chance," said the man in a serious tone. "Rumor has it that the people from Obscuro Society and the Three Departments have arrived, so if you can get closer to the Ancestral God Pillar, and inherit the Ancestral God¡¯s strength, then¡­"


    "It won¡¯t be that simple," the boy interrupted him. "The Cthulhu King will not let us off so easily. He may not know that I can inherit the Ancestral God¡¯s strength, but he will definitely not let any accidents occur."


    "Then what do we do?" The man became impatient.


    "We cannot rush this, when more forces arrive, the more likely it will be for our chances to increase. The Three Departments and Obscuro Society are both outsiders, they do not have great influence towards the foundation and arrangement of the Cthulhuism Society. Their thousand-year-old arrangements are not to be messed with, thus, this requires proper consideration¡­" The boy thought deeply.


    *****************


    Two weeks later¡­


    Garen had spent almost a month at Glittering Pond, and besides practicing Secret Techniques, the only other thing he did every day was research Glittering Water, or take the radio and adjust it randomly, receiving noises from the outside world with different frequencies.


    Occasionally, he would go out with Wukang to investigate the lower ranked Aberration Creatures in their surroundings, and although the Potential Points that they obtained were pitifully little, it was better than nothing. The higher ranked monsters in the area had been wiped out by Wukang, making it impossible for them to find stronger ones unless they traveled to further places.


    Before long, the people from the Cthulhuism Society finally arrived.


    In the afternoon, tiny raindrops fell outside the door of the main hall while slight breezes blew in, bringing coldness and dampness inside.


    Two men in black bull horn helmets and red clothes sat upright on the right side of the hall inside the stone cave. Their gazes were focused Island Master Wukang, who sat on the throne.


    "Our demands from the Cthulhuism Society are very simple. We must be given the authority to take over the Glittering Water and this Glittering Pond. This is the most basic baseline," said one of the barefaced, light green-eyed young men, in out of place Kovitan language. When he spoke, his pronunciation was a mess.


    "Is everyone from the Cthulhuism Society so rude when they come out?" chided one of the female bodyguards beside Wukang.


    "We¡¯ve already been very patient, very polite," said the young man coldly.


    "You!" The bodyguard became furious suddenly, as her hand reached for the handle of the knife by her waist. The other bodyguards in the hall also became sterner as well, and they, too, held onto the handles of their weapons, as if chaos would erupt at any moment.


    Wukang raised a hand, signaling them to suppress their agitation. He was more aware of the Cthulhuism Society¡¯s strength compared to anyone else, as each of the Eighteen Cthulhus were Form 4 or above, while the Cthulhu King had achieved the unparalleled peak Form 5 and was listed as the strongest master in Daniela next to the King of Daniela himself.


    Unlike Kovitan that relied on Precious Heirlooms to establish its country, Daniela fully relied on destroying established governmental regimes, and their internal wars never stopped.


    Perhaps, when Kovitan was the size of an iron plate, they would have been able to rely on Precious Heirlooms to be on equal footing with Daniela. But now, a big loss in strength had caused Kovitan to be divided into four powers, and now lost their right to have face to face conversations with Daniela.


    Merely relying on the Black Swamp Palace¡¯s strength would make it likely that they would be caught when they went up against the Eighteen Cthulhus, and more likely when it was the Cthulhu King, as well as the trump card they kept in the darkness.


    From their opponent¡¯s perspective, Black Swamp Palace was merely a small, remote power, and was not worthy to be paid any mind.


    Wukang knew that although he was currently in charge here, in reality the true Palace Master on the throne was Garen, except that the outsiders were unaware that Garen and Skyharp had arrived already.


    Although Garen had arrived, he had waited around here for such a long time, making it obvious that he was waiting for something. Perhaps he was waiting for the people from the Cthulhuism Society?


    Wukang had some faint idea that perhaps Palace Master had expected this incident long ago?


    "Both of you don¡¯t have to panic, the Glittering Water is something I can provide you with. However, giving you the Glittering Pond is something I cannot do. This resource is something we losers obtained with a high price, so to allow you to have it with just a few words, do you really think that would happen?" said Wukang with a polite smile, because although his opponents were just two Form 3 Totem Users who were not even at the edge of Spiritualization, he was not angry at all, showing that his patience ran deep.


    "Tch!" Unexpectedly, the young man sneered. "Of course, Lord Cthulhu had long expected that you would not give up so easily He will arrive soon; the both of us are merely vanguard messengers, and within two days time, the Lord and the others will arrive, and by then¡­ Hehe."


    Wukang faintly furrowed his eyebrows suddenly.


    The Cthulhus power and his own were about the same and were at the same level, except that the Cthulhus possessed a shameless ability; the indestructible Cthulhu¡¯s Origin. Thus, if they were considered to be killed externally, they could undergo sacrificial resurrection by the Cthulhuism Society. The Origins of the Eighteen Cthulhus were placed inside the Cthulhuism Society Teachings, and could not be destroyed at all. Thus, although the King of Daniela could once march over everything, he could not counter the Eighteen Cthulhu¡¯s Origins. Moreover, being unable to completely destroy the Cthulhuism Society¡¯s Cthulhu¡¯s Origin meant that the Cthulhus were almost immortal.


    The main difference between Cthulhu and most Form 4¡¯s, was that they could not die. If they were not beaten, they would resurrect again for the second, then the third time, torturing one to death.


    "Not that sentence again. Our Black Swamp Palace may not be a strong force, but a few sentences won¡¯t be enough to force us to retreat," Wukang replied casually. "As for the Cthulhu¡¯s in-person visit, we¡¯ll talk about it once he actually makes a move." When he encountered these strong forces in the past, he would never have dared to say such tough words as these, but now that he was the strongest person on the island, and had joined the Black Swamp Palace, obtaining absolute protection, plus the Elders backing him up, adding on to the presence of the inscrutable Palace Master, his speech had become much tougher.


    His opponent was not angered either, as the young man merely sneered twice.


    "Since Elder put it that way, we¡¯ll let the Lord bring this up on his own later. We¡¯re leaving!"


    Both of them got up, and left the hall of the stone cave quickly.


    Not long after both of them left, Garen and Skyharp¡¯s silhouettes floated up and appeared on the seats on the left.


    "Palace Master, you heard it all earlier, the people from the Cthulhuism Society have no plans to do business with us at all," said Wukang, looking at Garen.


    "Doesn¡¯t matter." Garen was dressed in a black robe while he sat on the seat with an indifferent expression. "If you want others to face you properly, you need to show them enough power, if not, no one would talk about business matters with an ant."


    "And what do you mean, Palace Master?" Wukang seemed to have guessed what he meant, while an excited expression appeared on his face.


    "Since they want us to show them our power, we¡¯ll do just that," Garen stroked his armrests and said calmly. "They wanted to rob us, right? It¡¯s a coincidence that I have to visit Daniela for something as well."


    "I¡¯m with you," Skyharp nodded.


    "All of the Cthulhuism Society¡¯s bases, destroy all of them. Dispatch the orders to all of the powers under the command of the Black Swamp Palace, if they see anyone from the Cthulhuism Society, don¡¯t leave any behind." A bloodthirsty smile appeared on Garen¡¯s face. "It¡¯s a coincidence that I also want to witness the true strength of the legendary Cthulhu King."


    "Once the death toll rises, they will naturally face you properly¡­" Garen¡¯s final words echoed throughout the hall faintly, but neither Skyharp or Wukang displayed the faintest sign of fear, as their faces were filled expectant expressions instead.


    ****************


    One day later


    Red clouds floated above the Glittering Pond slowly, the clouds rolled around and gathered together, before forming a strange blood-coloured luster. It resembled thick, sticky blood, as if it was about to drip down at any moment.


    "The Almighty Cthulhu Beckenson has arrived, mortals, welcome the fury of the gods!!"


    A magnificent voice echoed from the clouds in the sky, like rolling thunder. The Kovitan language spoken this time was much more fluent compared to before, allowing the Totem Users, bodyguards, and soldiers who stood below to be able to understand the speaker¡¯s voice.


    Tch!!


    A ray of black light pierced through the valley of the Glittering Pond suddenly. It pierced directly through the red clouds, penetrating the golden pillar of sunlight in the sky.


    A black figure floated in midair between the red clouds.


    Garen scanned past the red clouds in his surroundings calmly. These red clouds that rolled past constantly permeated a strong rotten stench, while the toxic smoke continuously passed through his skin and pores.


    Shh¡­


    A loud, terrifying inhaling noise could suddenly be heard throughout the sky.


    Garen raised his head, while his chest sunk in deeply, as if it was a deep pit had formed there.


    Hiss¡­


    Most of the red clouds around him seemed like waves that were returning to the ocean when he sucked them in.


    Within the blink of an eye, all of the red clouds in the sky cleared out immediately, before a man in a long blood-red robe appeared floating in midair.


    "You dare absorb my Ten Thousand Poison Blood Clouds!!" A furious expression appeared on the man¡¯s face.


    He opened his palm, while three blood-red diamonds spun in his palm before turning into a ring, and continued turning continuously.


    "True Red Blood Diamonds!!!" The man raised both of his hands up high, lifting the ring-shaped blood diamonds, while an indescribably strong blood light was released from his body, and soon the halo became fuller and more powerful until it reached a blinding stage.


    It filled the entire sky, temporarily covering the sun¡¯s rays as well.


    "Let me go¡­" Crash!!!


    Before he could finish shouting, the man was suddenly suppressed by a large hand made up of black smoke, and the terrifyingly gigantic hand that was formed by black clouds smashed the man against the ground violently, until a gigantic clear handprint had appeared on the entire rocky terrain of the ground.


    Loud, shaking noises continued echoing throughout the ground.


    Garen returned his hands to his side slowly in midair, as he casually looked at the Cthulhu that he had just smashed into a coma below him.

 472 Leave 2

    Chapter 472: Leave 2


    The Black Water True Technique had already started to develop its powers, and when the terrifying water vapor was constantly compressed, it formed a frighteningly dense giant water hand. In an instant, before its opponent could react, it would form in front of them immediately, rendering it unavoidable. Coupled with the incomparably terrifying strength of his right hand, the increased strength from the ring of the Troll Grip was not a laughing matter.


    Instantly, Garen had smashed this Cthulhu into a coma.


    He outstretched a finger again, before Garen pointed it downwards and touched something.


    Shh!


    A ray of black light pierced through the ground like a spike, stabbing through the Cthulhu¡¯s chest clean through.


    Garen, who had fused with three Hydra heads, was getting closer to Form 5. Now he had almost obtained God Cloud¡¯s initial power. Upon encountering Ultimate Form 4 Secret Tactics, he remained calm and steady, as one hand was sufficient to easily counter his opponent¡¯s attacks.


    This was the difference between Form 4 and 5, and while this difference was too great to describe, once the Totems were fused, Secret Techniques would be pushed to unimaginable states, allowing one to reach almost legendary stages.


    Secret Techniques that were once normal after the influence of peak Totems would be able to reach unparalleled terrifying effects.


    In other words, Form 5 was basically the Secret Techniques that had been trained to the point where they resembled the legendary Gargantuans.


    Every Form 5 stood at the peak of their own Secret Technique, but due to cultural differences, the Form 5¡¯s did not establish a Secret Technique martial art, but schools of thought, organizations, or parliaments.


    In simpler terms, by directly killing a legendary Cthulhu, Garen had no time to brag.


    Although he seemed very much at ease, this was done by using the foundation of his Troll Grip strength on his right hand.


    The Nine-Headed Hydra could not be used now; releasing the Totem that was only left with six heads would mean that he was looking for death.


    Excluding the Nine-Headed Hydra¡¯s own strength, Garen could only rely on the Troll Grip and Black Water True Technique, as well as the final Flash Screen.


    The giant black hand from earlier was Garen using two types of Secret Technique powers, one of which was the Troll Grip. Such terrifying power meant that it had definitely exceeded peak Form 4.


    The more times the Black Water True Technique fused with the Hydra heads, the stronger it would become. It had now almost become Garen¡¯s final trump card.


    After testing the current effects of his Secret Techniques, Garen floated down and landed on the ground gently.


    Skyharp and Wukang waited beside the deep pit formed by the handprint, while the surrounding Totem Users and bodyguards had already been dispersed. Only the three of them had rushed here.


    "That¡¯s a Cthulhu? Seems quite weak." Wukang stroked his chin, a relaxed expression on his face.


    "He wasn¡¯t weak, it was Palace Master that was too strong." Skyharp had seen the true result of this battle from the sidelines. Her gaze was solemn. "The Cthulhu¡¯s final move would not have left either you or myself unscathed, but Palace Master merely¡­"


    When she mentioned this, Wukang¡¯ smile disappeared, while he carefully felt the remaining Totem Light within the pit. Suddenly, his expression turned serious as well.


    "Frankly, if every Cthulhu was that powerful, that would truly be quite troublesome¡­"


    "Have the others from the Cthulhuism Society been taken care of?" Garen asked quietly.


    "Of course," said Skyharp, smiling. "Those people hid inside a cave two kilometers from here, they¡¯ve all been destroyed."


    Garen nodded, while the Cthulhu inside the pit melted and quickly turned into fine red sand, showing that it had completely lost all signs of life.


    However Garen did not notice any changes in his Potential Point Pane, which meant that he could not use this method to get Potential Points. This made him slightly disappointed.


    Suddenly, the Cthulhu¡¯s eyelid twitched, before his eyes quickly opened.


    "Nineheads, you little snake! You¡¯re dead! You dare provoke my Almighty Cthulhuism Society! The Cthulhu King will not forgive you! Hehe¡­ Just you wait¡­ Everything you own is cursed to be destroyed, will all be destroyed!!"


    Bang!


    Garen stepped on the Cthulhu¡¯s head with one foot before red sand was sent flying everywhere, the remains of the Cthulhu¡¯s body finally turned into red sand completely.


    "These Cthulhu¡¯s and their undead bodies, they¡¯ve become too arrogant." Skyharp was speechless.


    "This isn¡¯t arrogance, it¡¯s just slight insanity," Wukang shook his head. "This aggravating tone, even someone like myself with a good temper cannot help but want to kill them."


    "It doesn¡¯t matter, we¡¯re on the side of the Royal Alliance anyway, the Cthulhuism Society would confront us sooner or later," said Garen indifferently. "Go get ready, we¡¯ll leave at once."


    *******************


    "What? You still want to go to Daniela?! Are you insane?" Beard looked at Beckstone with an annoyed look. The moment this guy gathered everyone together, he began saying things that no one could understand.


    "Do you know what¡¯s going on there right now?! Chaotic warfare, okay! Chaotic warfare! Geometry Service, Obscuro Society, Cthulhuism Society, the King of Daniela, each of them would gladly kill you a hundred times over!" Beard could not help but groan. If his society had not commanded him to take care of Beckstone¡¯s safety, he would not have cared about an idiot like this who would jump headfirst into a fire.


    At night, within the forest, three people sat by the bonfire. Unlike Beard¡¯s look of utter incomprehension, Eleventh Royal Daughter Tina¡¯s expression was unusually calm.


    "You want to find Hannet, right?


    Stone nodded slowly.


    "The Cthulhu King will not forgive him."


    "Will we be able to save him if we go there?" asked Tina calmly.


    Stone did not reply, but continued looking at the bonfire with his head lowered.


    "Since you look calm now, why do you always become frazzled during the key moments of important situations?" said Beard impatiently. "My suggestion is to return to the society immediately. I¡¯ve received news that two important individuals have arrived at the Nest Leader¡¯s area, and if we encounter them, it will be troublesome. Also, our Kovitan is unlike the past anymore, currently our country has been terribly divided, and has become a second-rate country instantly. Compared to Daniela and Ender¡­"


    "It doesn¡¯t matter, we just need to stay hidden carefully¡­"


    "Moreover, you don¡¯t know that our Terraflor Society had an encounter with the Cthulhuism Society once," said Beard distractedly. "If they find out that both of you have plant-series Totems, you will definitely be killed."


    "There will definitely be a way," said Beckstone softly. "I cannot bear to see my friends fall into dangerous areas."


    "I¡¯ll support you," Tina nodded sincerely. "If you didn¡¯t have this resolve, you wouldn¡¯t be the Beckstone that I know."


    "Uncle, please take Tina back to the society, I¡¯m going to Daniela alone," said Stone suddenly.


    "No way!""No way!"


    Both of them said at the same time.


    "If you want to go, we must go together, don¡¯t just assume that I¡¯m useless! If it weren''t for my premonitions this time, we would not have been able to escape from the palace, right?" said Tina frankly.


    A forced smile appeared on Stone¡¯s face, as he already knew how the situation would develop.


    **************


    Daniela


    "Recently, Totem Users from different countries have been gathering in Daniela by the masses. These masters that have gathered from Ender, Sudan, West Hong Hall Alliance, Kovitan have all increased. Before the situation reaches a more complicated stage, the designated safety departments are currently taking positive measures to maintain a balance between each group¡¯s powers to decrease the possibility of weapon-related incidents¡­"


    The female news reporter¡¯s gentle voice echoed out of the radio constantly.


    In the darkness, the weak girl on the bed was currently using all her energy to listen to the news.


    The white-haired boy who sat beside her was carefully cutting an apple for her.


    "Big Brother, listen, our people from Kovitan have arrived as well¡­" the girl suddenly said happily.


    "I know, I know." The boy continued cutting the apple determinedly, as if he only had two indifferent replies.


    Kovitan¡¯s Totem Users had probably arrived because of the Ancestral God Pillar. It was one of Daniela¡¯s legendary divinities, and it was rumored that any Totem User that could inherit its power would be able to instantly achieve the highest Appraisal.


    For the Totem Users that had unsatisfactory Appraisal, this was very tempting.


    This was not false news, as there had been instances where people had their Appraisals accidentally increased by the Ancestral God Pillar. At once, Totem Users from various countries had all gathered here.


    After the battle where the Kovitan defense line was defeated, all of the monsters in the entire East Continent suffered great losses under the cleansing effect of the Ultimate Shelter. At once, all of the major forces moved out quickly to regain lost territories, while the monsters had lessened as well.


    Some of the outskirts that bordered human residences had become much safer as well.


    Thus, when the main environment became slightly safer, this piece of information began to spread, instantly gaining the attention of Totem Users across various lands.


    "By the looks of it, the people from the Cthulhuism Society seem to be disturbing the waters, but this is beneficial as well, because it gives us a chance," said the boy quietly.


    "Oh¡­" replied the girl, not really understanding what he meant.


    ***************************


    Bang!!


    A middle-aged man was violently smashed against a large rock, and like a struggling shrimp, he had curled up and was now rolling around, before he groaned dejectedly, struggled to get up, and ran away quickly. However, a man in red soon dragged him by his hair.


    "Tell me¡­ Where is the Seed of the Ancestral God?" asked the man in red gently.


    "I¡­ I don¡¯t know¡­" said the middle-aged man in a quaking voice. "My Totems have all been destroyed by you, my lifelong efforts have all disappeared, so what else are you going to do?!"


    "What am I going to do? Hehe¡­" The man in red giggled, and raised another hand, where a metal hacksaw had been installed in his palm. "Do you know the kind of feeling, when I drag this saw down every inch of your neck, and cut your throat open slowly?"


    His voice sounded as if he was saying sweet, merciful words, without a hint of murderous intent, but a certain coldness lurked behind it.


    "I¡­ I don¡¯t know anything¡­ The Seed of the Ancestral God¡­ Was snatched away by someone from Ender!! Besides that, the people from Sudan and West Hong Hall in Kovitan¡­ They each had their own designated camps, all prime locations, and are most likely to have obtained the illumination of the Ancestral Light, accumulating the Seed of the Ancestral God!!" The middle-aged man told him everything he knew about the current situation.


    "The closer the distance to the Ancestral God Pillar, the more Ancestral God Light one will receive, making its accumulated seeds stronger, this is all I know! Don¡¯t kill me!!" The middle-aged man knew that the man in red before him was a deviant, because in the past few days, he had robbed and killed more than ten Totem Users. His actions were cruel, and his personality was cold, easily making his hair stand on end.


    "Special treatment, huh? Really¡­" The man in red flung the prisoner in his hands away in one go, while a thoughtful expression appeared on his face.

 473 Arriving At Daniela 1

    Chapter 473: Arriving At Daniela 1


    Gee!!


    In the sky, a black carriage was pulled by a group of black hawks. It was moving forward at high speed, and from time to time, the black hawks let out sharp cries. As they flapped their huge wings, large amounts of air current were created, bringing their body odor along.


    Within a specific radius, every creature with a sharp sense of smell would retreat, to avoid conflict with this group of yellow-eyed black hawks.


    In the blue sky, waves of clouds passed the carriage. Down below was a vast plain, and the yellow-green mountains were like centipedes on the green expanse. There were also deep black canyons and green lakes, with strange howls faintly came from the surface.


    Garen sat in the carriage and looked out of the window. He felt a wave of desolation coming towards him.


    The vast plains didn¡¯t seem to have an end to them. As the carriage was pulled by the giant hawks, it was unclear how long it would take the reach their next destination.


    A cold white color appeared on the faint sunlight. It did not carry any warmth; all it did was reflecting the paint on the surface of the carriage.


    Garen placed his hands on the window, as if he were admiring the beautiful scenery below.


    In the carriage, Wukang was giving a dirty look at his female guard. Both of them were like glue as they were cuddling each other; it was obvious their relationship wasn¡¯t normal. They didn¡¯t even care about Garen and started flirting softly.


    "We have swept a few strongholds but the Cthulhuists still haven''t come out. Looks like if they weren¡¯t preparing for a more violent counterattack that they would give up temporarily to convene their forces for their internal situation." Garen turned and looked at Wukang. "What are your thoughts?"


    "It depends on your purpose, My Lord." Wukang patted the female guard¡¯s waist and raised his head to look at Garen.


    "The purpose. Since the Cthulhuism Society needs the Glittering Water, if we don¡¯t gain something from them, wouldn¡¯t all our efforts to conquer the Glittering Pond be wasted?" Garen smiled. After the chaos in Daniela ended, Hellgate would be awakened. At that point, the Royal Alliance will be completely destroyed and the Obscuro Society would grow in strength. If he didn¡¯t take advantage of this time to obtain an advantage and strengthen himself, he would be in real trouble.


    He didn¡¯t think he could withstand the unstoppable Hellgate.


    For Beckstone to escape, many elites behind him gave up their lives to rescue him, time after time, from Hellgate¡¯s pursuit.


    However that decision was made because Beckstone was the Terraflor Society¡¯s brightest hope. Garen himself wasn¡¯t a genius, like Beckstone. People from the Royal Alliance also weren¡¯t that noble to sacrifice themselves for others.


    Cthulhu¡¯s Origin, and the Seed of the Ancestral God were the two best things in Daniela. One was the root of the Chulhuism Society, while the other was the root of Daniela¡¯s king.


    The Ancestral God was also known as the Wing God. It was the iconic guardian of Daniela¡¯s royal family, and in fact, the source of its power was from the Ancestral God Pillar.


    The extent of influence of Daniela¡¯s royal family was dependent on the extent of power of the Ancestral God Pillar that the king of Daniela could unleash.


    "In Daniela, the two best things are the Seed of the Ancestral God and Cthulhu¡¯s Origin. Although both of these are good, but our power path is already restricted. It won¡¯t be much use to us even if we obtain it." Wukang had evidently received sufficient information from the Black Swamp Palace¡¯s information network.


    "I wouldn¡¯t be so sure of that. No matter what, if we obtain the two things, it¡¯s not a bad choice for us to study it, or leave it for our future generations." Garen uttered.


    "You must have other plans?" Wukang laughed.


    Garen didn¡¯t answer but tilted his head to look out of the window once again.


    Naturally, he would not reveal that he knew how to use Cthulhu¡¯s Origin.


    According to the original history, he gradually realized that there was another key reason the Obscuro Society¡¯s marshalls could raise their abilities with the Cthulhu¡¯s Origin. It was because of the adaptee.


    It just so happened that Kid knew about the production of an adaptee. After questioning, Garen completely understood the secret usage of Cthulhu¡¯s Origin.


    If the Seed of the Ancestral God could raise the innate ability of totem users, Cthulhu''s Origin was a treasure that could evolve the human soul.


    However, since Cthulhu''s Origin consists of the Cthulhu King¡¯s indomitable will, an adaptee has to be found to separate the Cthulhu King¡¯s will.


    An adaptee naturally has the energy and spirit to fight the Cthulhu King¡¯s will. It''s the best way to separate the Cthulhu King¡¯s will.


    There was only one adaptee out of the whole of Daniella.


    It was the one with the Winged-God arm, Hannet Thunderstorm.


    This mere 14-year old boy was already an infamous fugitive throughout Daniela. The Cthulhuism Society was in heavy pursuit of him, hunting him down everywhere to try to utterly destroy the only counter to the Cthulhu King. However, there had been no complete solution until now.


    It was obvious that the king of Daniela was backing him up.


    "To Daniela, we are mere outsiders." Garen opened his mouth to speak.


    "Yes. Daniel has two major forces, the Cthulhuism Society and the Royal Family. Behind them are many elites, the form fours aren¡¯t even the key deciding factors. Daniela has already gathered the strongest forces in the whole of the East Continent." Wukang nodded in agreement. "Honestly speaking, I do not recommend we intervene. The situation is too chaotic. If we are not careful, even you, Lord Garen, would face danger."


    "Then why are you willing to come along with me?" Garen asked him back.


    "I want to see and experience the strength of the legendary Cthulhu King and king of Daniela." Wukang laughed. "I don''t have many hobbies other than lust and fights. Three days without a fight would make me panic."


    "Then you must have a lot of similarities with Blizzard."


    "Fighting with the same person all the time gets old." Wukang shook his head. "After entering into fourth form, the body has greatly evolved. We have lifespans far longer than others. With such a long life, wouldn''t it be boring if we don''t have some fun?"


    Garen smiled without saying a word.


    Currently, Cthulhu King and Daniela¡¯s king were the main players. For outsiders like them to obtain sufficient benefit, they needed an actual squad.


    *********************


    Two days later...


    In the night sky, four rays of red light soared through the dark night. They looked like four red lines before they stayed suspended in the air.


    The four red dots of light blocked a black carriage that was flying speedily in the sky.


    Buzzz!!!


    The four red dots suddenly combined to form a squared red curtain, completely blocking the carriage from progressing.


    "Hands up!"


    Four voices of men and women overlapped as they said the same phrase, as if they were a single voice.


    "You will be punished by the Gods!"


    The voice echoed countless times in the sky.


    At the same time, similar squared red curtains appeared around the carriage. They were a hundred meters away. completely surrounding the carriage in the middle.


    Crash...


    The carriage door was swung open.


    Garen and Wukang slowly leapt out. A black cloud and water vapor beneath their feet caught them respectively.


    "It¡¯s you?" Garen recognized the male leader at one glance. It was the Cthulhu that was killed by him at the Glittering Pond. "You¡¯ve recovered completely in such a short time? You even found a few helpers?"


    Even he himself was dumbfounded by that terrifying regenerative ability.


    The male in red stared at Garen with hatred.


    "I wasn¡¯t fully prepared before. I never thought you would dare to come to Daniela. Hehe. I¡¯m going to hang you upside down, skin you, preserve you and make jerky out of your meat! I¡¯m sure the texture would be very tasty¡­"


    Garen furrowed his brows. The other party had four Cthulhus, which were all peak fourth forms. He wasn¡¯t afraid of getting rid of them once. But after killing them, would they be back with eight Cthulhus?


    If all eighteen Cthulhus were present, not only him, even the department director would be in fear.


    He did not come to Daniela to attract hatred. Being in the limelight is not a good thing at all.


    He was already at Daniela¡¯s borders. If any major thing happened again, his purpose would be disrupted.


    "Are we taking action?" Wukang asked softly at the side.


    "If not, should we just stand here and get beaten?" Garen gave him a glance and raised his hands to act.


    Bang!!!


    A frightening white pillar of light came from above.


    With incredible accuracy, it hit the curtain where the four Cthulhus were. Three other similar pillars fell from the sky, hitting the remaining three curtains.


    The white giant light pillar was few meters thick. It was like a sudden bolt of lightning in the dark night. It came down in a flash, leaving afterimages on the retina.


    "When have you Cthulhus become the boss of Daniela¡¯s borders?"


    A clear male voice sounded in the sky.


    A white-robed, middle-aged man quietly appeared before Garen¡¯s carriage, blocking off the two parties.


    As the pillars of light disappeared, the Cthulhus¡¯ curtains had been utterly destroyed.


    After retreating when the giant pillar of light struck, they now stood in a separated formation


    The four Cthulhus looked in displeasure at the white-robed man.


    "Ankama, the King of Holy Lake!" A big sized Cthulhu opened his mouth. Unlike the Cthulhu that Garen defeated, once he opened his mouth, the others remaining instantly kept quiet. He was evidently the one with the highest position in this temporary squad.


    "Aren¡¯t you in the valley of the Ancestral God Pillar? Why do you have the time to come here?" The Cthulhu seemed to have heavy resentment towards the white-robed man.


    "I go wherever I want. No one set the rules barring me from coming here for a walk, is there?" The white-robed man, Ankama spoke in a relaxed manner. However, from his expression, he had a deep hatred for the Cthulhu party of four.


    "Alright!! Count yourselves lucky. I¡¯ll let you all go today!" The Cthulhu stared at Garen coldly. "Pray that you never meet me again! Remember, I¡¯m the Hurricane God, Weir!"


    "Sixth Brother!" The Cthulhu that was killed by Garen cried in dissatisfaction.


    "Shut up! Let¡¯s go!" Weir stared fiercely at his counterpart. He pulled back his right arm, and with a crash, pulled a red cloak to cover the four of them. The cloak rotated rapidly and became smaller and smaller, until it finally shrunk to the size of a small red cloth and disappeared, as if it were squeezed into space.


    Garen and Wukang stood silently suspended in their original position. Regarding the Cthulhus, even Wukang could defeat two of them at once. Not to mention Garen, who could torture them with one hand.


    They just didn¡¯t want to draw attention to themselves. They never thought the opponent would think they were scared.


    No matter how strong the Cthulhus were, they were only normal peak fourth forms.


    Their level was far from Wukang¡¯s, who was a unique fourth form with unique techniques.


    As if he noticed their belittlement, the white-robed middle-aged man turned towards them.


    "Do not look down on them. One Cthulhu is not frightening. When two of them are together, their powers would increase. When there are three or four of them, they would produce an evil spirit light, which multiplies the Cthulhus¡¯ power by two or more. Moreover, the sixth ranked Hurricane God Weir was present. Even a normal fifth form would not be able to escape their wrath."


    Both of them instantly turned solemn, especially Garen.


    He quickly did some calculations in his mind. Four Cthulhus plus the Hurricane God. The power needed to get rid of them was actually¡­..


    If initially he could defeat the enemy with only an arm. Now with this¡­..still only an arm was needed.


    He paused for a moment.


    He initially thought they were strong. But after calculating carefully, they were still within his grasp. Even if their power doubled up, he could still defeat them with a punch each.


    He didn¡¯t even need to use more than 20% of the Black Water True Technique.

 474 Arriving At Daniela 2

    Chapter 474: Arriving At Daniela 2


    "You have to be careful in the future. That guy Weir obviously holds a grudge against you." The white-robed man whispered. "Let me introduce myself. I''m Ankama, the current King of Daniela''s Holy Lake, one of the two kings. I was ordered to come and welcome both of you. The two Lords of your Three Departments are also at the Ancestral God Pillar."


    Ankama surveyed the surroundings.


    "Aren''t you going to invite me to have a seat? You don''t have to introduce yourselves. I''ve read information about both of you beforehand."


    "Come up." Although Garen was displeased at the four Cthulhus, he steadied himself and returned to the carriage.


    No matter what, the other party was here to help him. It would be even better for him to take advantage. When the two sides were engaged in battle and underestimated his power, he could secretly obtain Cthulhu''s Origin. There was a high possibility he could obtain the adapter with the Winged-God arm.


    The three of them returned to the carriage. The yellow-eyed black hawks were only mildly frightened under the protection of the tactic formation. They did not suffer any damage and continued flying forward under Garen''s control.


    As the three of them sat at the long table in the carriage, the girl guard served the three men some snacks and tea.


    "This is our Kovitan''s green tea snack. Some red fern roots were added. It tastes pretty good. You can have a try." Garen pointed.


    Ankama took a snack but didn''t eat. He only held it in his hand.


    "Lord Garen, I heard that you''ve destroyed multiple Cthulhuism Society squads and temporary strongholds along your journey here? Is that true?"


    "It is." Garen nodded.


    "I was thinking why would the Cthulhuism Society send out such an elaborate squad. It was actually you that messed up their plans." Ankama nodded showing that he understood. He actually knew about it beforehand but wanted to verify.


    "Most of the men sent by the Cthulhuism Society to conquer the Glittering Pond were annihilated by you. I want to first express my sincere gratitude." He sincerely bowed towards Garen and Wukang.


    "I want to thank both of you for clearly standing on the side of the royal family."


    "What do you even mean? I, Garen of the Black Swamp Palace am still one of the members of the Three Departments, serving the elders of the Royal Alliance. To protect the interests of the royal family is protecting our own interest." Garen answered with a sense of justice.


    Ankama instantly felt ashamed. Daniela did not do anything during the assassination of the king of Kovitan. They were also bystanders when the monsters from the nest attacked the kingdom. After Garen''s words, he instantly felt a sense of remorse.


    The young King of Holy Lake was obviously not yet warped by governmental politics. He still had basic moral standards.


    Royal Alliance? The Three Departments? Ever since so many spies were found out in Kovitan, everyone in the Royal Alliance had only cared about their own safety. The Three Departments were divided although they looked like one. Many secret dealings were going on inside. Every one of them was thinking of themselves. No one cared about the big picture.


    "I express remorse on behalf of my brother''s flawed decision making." The King of Holy Lake shook his head. The brother that he mentioned was naturally the King of Daniela. They did not back Kovitan up during that time. Now when they needed help, the elites from Kovitan still righteousness traveled thousands of miles to come here. A friendship like that...


    "Daniela is currently lacking resources. Since both of you rushed over to support our royal family, we will not mistreat you. I wonder have both of you heard of the Seed of the Ancestral God?"


    Garen and Wukang looked at each other. They knew that the show was about the begin.


    "Of course. It''s one of the two most precious resources in Daniela." Garen nodded and replied.


    "That''s good. The Seed of the Ancestral God is a rare resource that cannot be kept by any known method. It has to be consumed within an hour or it will completely lose all effects. Hence¡­"


    Ankama paused.


    "Hence, many totem users come to Daniela every year to obtain the Seed of the Ancestral God to raise the innate talent of themselves or their descendants."


    "Does this upgrade work for everyone?" Wukang furrowed his brows and asked.


    "Of course not. It can work for any totem below Spiritualization level. Also, it can only work once per lifetime for everyone. One seed represents a one-time effect." Ankama answered.


    "Since it can''t be kept, wouldn''t it have no effect on us?" Wukang continued. "If it can be kept there still might be some value."


    "Although you can put in this way, however for totem users above Spiritualization level, the Seed of Ancestral God can increase the maximum capacity of totem power," Ankama added. "Totem power determines the explosiveness of a totem user, the number of totems he can control, the strength of totem light and others. Even the usage of tactics is limited by totem power. No totem user wouldn''t want their strongest totem as their core totem. Unfortunately, he has to provide sufficient power. If not, once it is summoned, the user would faint due to his energy being sucked dry. What would be the point then? Hence totem power is the foundation of everything."


    After hearing those words, even Garen was a little interested.


    His totem power was his largest shortfall. This was the reason why he did not develop other third form totems outside of the Nine-Headed Hydra. The reason was his totem power was absolutely insufficient.


    He never thought the Seed of the Ancestral God had an effect like this.


    Seeing that both of them had interested expressions on their face, Ankama instantly let out a smile.


    "The time of the year for the Ancestral God Pillar''s seed dispersal has arrived. Both of you can gather the Seeds of the Ancestral God at our designated locations. No matter whether both you are successful, we will provide two more seeds for both of you as a reward for your help. Using two seeds at the same time will double the effect. You must know that one person can only use the effects of the Seeds of the Ancestral God once in his lifetime.


    "Deal." Wukang cheerfully agreed. Since Lord Garen had an unspeakable motive, and they were already here, why not obtain more benefits first.


    Garen also nodded.


    "Your nation is generous indeed."


    "How so? Compared to your friendships, this is nothing." Ankama was obviously an honest man. He let out an expression of not taking advantage of his friends as he spoke.


    ******************


    In a certain canyon in Daniela


    In the sea of black-green forest, the black canyon was like a big crack in the ground. Its ugliness clearly drew the attention of all living things.


    The crack in the ground stretched across thousands of miles. In the field of vision, it was extremely deep, as if it was separating the earth into two.


    The trees on both sides were tall and healthy. The scene was like a green carpet with tall ancient trees sewn into it. They were like tall pillars that left huge shadows on the ground.


    Many huge colorful butterflies were surrounding the ancient trees.


    Their wingspan was about 10 meters wide. From afar, they can be seen as cute. But from a close distance, they looked like small, flying houses. Their huge, flesh-like wings continuously created violent winds.


    Among the butterflies, some were white, some were pink, some were light yellow, but most of them were translucent, with crystal-like translucent wings.


    On the clear sky, huge birds continuously swooped down and glided through the forest.


    On the back of most of the birds were human figures. They came from all directions as they flew towards the biggest tree in the forest.


    On an intersection between the sea of trees and the crack, a green river flowed down from the cliff of the crack. It formed a giant white waterfall. As large amounts of white water splashed around, a faint rainbow was formed under the sunlight.


    Many huge, transparent soap bubbles floated around in between the giant trees. Each of these soap bubbles was two or three meters large, with human figures standing or sitting within them.


    Some of them were men and some of them were women. As they were wrapped in the soap bubble, they seemed slow but in fact, they were traveling at an incredible speed through the forest. It was like a normal form of transportation.


    On an empty plain beside the waterfall, a man and a woman in green vine armor stood there.


    Both of them impatiently looked at the sky above, as if they were expecting something.


    "Why are we the ones to welcome foreign ambassadors? Can''t it be other people?!" the young man complained in a tone of displeasure. The vine armor on his body was a short-sleeved shirt and short pants, revealing his strong arms and thigh. He obviously didn''t wear undergarments that he should have worn.


    "This is our father, the king''s orders. If you dare to disobey, I guarantee he will throw you into that giant, tragic hole for more than two weeks." The young girl answered impatiently.


    "To hell with it. I''ve already waited for a full three hours. I don''t give a damn about the tragic hole! No, I have to go and accompany my Collier!" The young man turned and wanted to leave.


    Shuaaa!


    A giant, sticky grey tongue gave him a full-body lick.


    A three-meter tall giant grey snail crouched behind him. He protruded a strange tongue from his mouth and licked the man like a puppy. The man was dripping wet from his air. After licking the front it licked the back. After thoroughly licking his whole body, it crawled away in satisfaction.


    The man was stunned before the snail. His neat demeanor was totally gone.


    The snail slowly crawled away, leaving the speechless man in a mess.


    The girl on the side clenched her mouth and kept laughing.


    "Argh!! My image!! My hair!! The hairstyle that I''ve just combed this morning!!" The guy shouted. "I''m going to kill you!! Don''t stop me! Don''t stop me, Christine!" He leaped ferociously towards the snail.


    "Thousand apologies my dear brother. I am 8.152 meters away from your position. If you can defeat the snails here, I won''t stop you from doing so." The girl couldn''t stop herself from laughing as she answered.


    The young man''s legs were running, but he was stuck in his position.


    After complaining for about half a day, he looked at giant snails that were everywhere. Finally, he helplessly sat on a large white stone.


    "Alright. That is why mutated creatures are scary! Someone heard that a snail is on par with a third form totem user? If someone told me this before, I would have definitely sent the crazy man to a mental hospital."


    Suddenly a group of large black hawks appeared in the sky. The black hawks were pulling a large black carriage.


    "They''re here!" The two youths stood up in excitement. Especially the young man. Because of his body''s nature, he was licked by many snails. Finally, the time for him to escape his agony has arrived.

 475 Phiroth 1

    Chapter 475: Phiroth 1


    Bang!


    The carriage landed heavily before the two people. The door was quickly yanked open. Ankama, the King of Holy Lake jumped out.


    "Uncle! My uncle! You''ve finally come!" The young man jumped forward with tears in his eyes.


    Ankama turned sideways with a pained expression to evade the young man''s pounce.


    "Can you not exaggerate?" He was slightly exasperated.


    "I can''t take it! I can''t take it any longer! All my clothes are wet. Only vine armor can be worn. I don''t even have undergarments. This life¡­." The young man crawled to his feet from the ground and cried mournfully.


    "Enough! Stop making noise. Do you want the guest to think of you as a joke?" Ankama said sternly.


    "This is?" A calm male''s voice came from the carriage.


    The young man raised his head and saw a blonde-haired young man about his age walking out from the carriage. He was handsome and fair. His pair of scarlet eyes was faintly glowing red, especially the three red dots on his eyebrows.


    The man wore a full-body black robe. On his left breast was a simple silver dragon head pattern. He looked like a perfect prince from a fairytale.


    The young man compared himself with the guest. Compared to his own wet, messy, helpless image, the other party looked ten thousand times better. A sense of shame instantly gushed out from his heart.


    "This is Fenrir. My brother''s fourth son. This is Fensal, the fifth daughter. Both of them are here especially to welcome both of you." Ankama quickly introduced.


    Both of them stood up straight and officially bowed towards Garen and Wukang.


    "Welcome to the Ancestral God Canyon."


    Compared to his brother''s immaturity, the younger sister Fensal projected a much better image. Her mannerism was on point. With her beauty and figure, she was dressed in a new green vine armor, revealing her fair long legs and some skin. She gave off a refreshing sense of sexiness.


    "Sorry to trouble both of you." Garen politely smiled.


    The six of them, under the lead of the brother and sister, headed towards the waterfall.


    The carriage automatically followed behind, leaving two distinct tire tracks on the ground.


    In the forest on both sides of the waterfall, two to three-meter tall giant snails could be seen everywhere. The snails were slowly crawling in the forest. Some of them were stuck on tree trunks, some were sleeping in bushes, while some were chewing barks and flowers.


    Most of these snails were grey. They carried a round shell each. None of them were affected by Garen''s party.


    Fensal walked in the front and introduced the surrounding environment with a loud voice.


    "According to statistics, there are forty-two different types of snails in the snail forest. The smallest ones are two to three meters tall while the largest ones are five to six meters. They occupy different ecological fields. The ones surrounding is now are the basic grey snails. These snails have strong sticky liquid. At the same time, they have incredibly poisonous stings hidden. Once they face danger, they will shoot poisonous stings. They are very powerful and can counter totem light. According to valuation, they are on par with a third form totem user."


    "Oh?" Garen never thought that the peaceful giant snails around had such powerful abilities.


    "Grey snails like these are all over the forest. Other than them, there are also Lightning Snails, Volcano Snails, Corroding Snails, Rampaging Snails. Especially the Rampaging. Look, there''s one over there." Fensal pointed at the forest on her left.


    Bang, bang.


    Within the forest, there was a giant snail humanoid with a shell on its back. It was incredibly muscular. As it was patrolling, every step produced a low sound. Its body was fully grey, like a grey-skinned giant. The only thing was it had an additional giant shell.


    The two antlers on its head were swaying to the right and then to the left.


    These giant Rampaging Snail had a human face with a ferocious expression. It stood up straight and walked on two limbs as it patrolled around the vicinity. It was a standard giant creature about five-meter tall.


    Fensal smiled as she introduced it.


    "The Rampaging Snails are the strongest guardians here. Each one of them has Spiritualization and basic intelligence. They have huge resistance towards totem light. They are incredibly strong and fast, and also have rampaging abilities. However, we have an agreement with them to protect the balance of nature together. As long as we do not disturb them or destroy their surrounding environment, they will not initiate an attack."


    Garen and Wukang let out expressions of praise. This manner of living together could only be seen in Daniela.


    "I''ve heard of King Phiroth of Daniela advocating harmony with nature. Only by seeing it first-hand, I can experience the difference it brings."


    "Father''s beliefs are the goals that we pursue." Fenrir finally found an opportunity to speak. "With these beliefs as the foundation, our Daniela formed the only Three-Dimensional Combat Squad in the world!" He spoke with a hint of pride, and at the same time stared defiantly at Garen.


    "Three-Dimensional Combat Squad?" Garen asked out of curiosity.


    "This is just a one-time experiment. We have not succeeded yet. Please head here." Fensal instantly interrupted her brother''s gloating. She gave him a fierce pinch, which almost caused him to shout.


    Ankama stared helplessly at his own nephew. This man was obviously concerned about his redundancy. Although Garen was the same age as him, he was long playing on a different level. Both parties could not be compared at all.


    The six of them descended along the cliff, then followed a small path to the back of the waterfall. Large amounts of water poured down on the left, stirring up a chilling breeze.


    Very quickly, the party arrived at a semi-circular protruding stone platform. Whitewater from the waterfall was flowing on both sides of the stone platform. Only the front was empty.


    A handful of white vine armored guards were on guard at the two sides. Two white-robed totem users were waiting on the stone platform. As they saw the arrival of the six of them, both of them bowed slightly.


    "Head to the second Ancestral God tree," Fensal ordered the two totem users in a loud voice.


    The two of them nodded and took out a magnifying-glass like a golden ring and blew with all their might.


    Shhhhhh¡­..


    After the blowing sounds, two transparent bubbles instantly appeared. From the size of a fist, it quickly expanded into the size of a soccer ball, then the size of a basin, then the size of a bathtub. Finally, it became a giant, three-meter tall bubble.


    "Please come up." Fensal was the first one who headed for the bubble. She squeezed her body and instantly entered the air bubble.


    The rest of them followed suit and walked towards the air bubble. The six of them were split into two groups. Fensal stood with Garen and Wukang, while Ankama and Fenrir stood with the female guard.


    The air bubbles instantly floated up and headed towards the sky.


    "The airspace here forbids flying creatures, tools or tactics without a pass to fly, especially the central Ancestral God Pillar area. Only natural air bubbles like these are allowed. The forbidden airspace has the support of the Ancestral God Pillar. Even a strong totem user will not be able to fly without a pass. Moreover, there are also flesh butterflies who act as guardians. Look, they are over there. The flesh butterflies have huge resistance towards totem light, and can cause huge damage towards fire types¡­"


    Fensal cheerfully introduced every detail of the surrounding environment to Garen.


    This green-haired girl slowly leaned her body closer and closer towards Garen.


    Daniela''s girls were straightforward towards love and hate, They didn''t cover up much. Like meant like.


    Fensal obviously took a liking towards Garen.


    Nobody cared about Wukang on the side. He sat alone admiring the scenery.


    Garen carefully listened. From time to time, he raised his hand to touch the inner wall of the bubble. It was soft, like the texture of a balloon.


    "This is the Ancestral God Tree rubber bubble. It can expand and contract. Different Ancestral God rubbers are naturally attracted to their respective Ancestral God trees. With this principle, we use the rubber bubble for transportation." Fensal slid her hand through the arch of Garen''s arm. She leaned her whole body on Garen''s side.


    "Oh yes, Lord Garen is not married yet?"


    "Yes. Not yet. But I have a fiancee." Garen quickly clarified. Fensal''s actions made him feel a little dangerous.


    "Nevermind. Compare to your rumored fiancee, I think I''m the most suitable one for you." Fensal volunteered. "I like you. Take me home?"


    Garen was made speechless by her straightforwardness.


    "Do not be impulsive, Sixth Princess. Aren''t we still unfamiliar with each other? Moreover, it is impossible for me to give up on my fiancee."


    "Aren''t I still young? You are also still young. Shouldn''t young people have vigor? Who cares about being impulsive. Leaving behind beautiful, painful, regretful memories, aren''t these treasures when we become old? Shouldn''t young people be impulsive?" Fensal didn''t mind at all. She pressed her firm chest on Garen''s arm. "I can''t wait to give you my body as a memory." She lowered her voice and spoke flirtatiously.


    "Precisely because you are young, isn''t it much more possible to meet a better one? Isn''t it unwise to decide too early?" Garen adviced helplessly.


    Finally, the bubble arrived at a giant brown tree and landed on one of its branches.


    From to time, other bubbles landed on the branches around. The people that came out were also led by others. They were evidently foreign totem users like Garen''s party.


    Each branch of the giant tree was ten-meters wide. The top of the branch was flat, and there was a wooden fence on the side. Two totem users were on guard here, like the two totem users in the bubble.


    As Garen and the rest exited the air bubble, they instantly smelled a rich honey smell. The sweetness was similar to brewed honey; incredibly tempting.


    Tiny white lights flashed faintly in the air. The lights could be seen but couldn''t be felt.


    Garen tried to use his hand to catch but it was intangible. His fingers passed by the middle of the faint light.


    "This is the Ancestral God Light. For our guests who love nature, it reduces their fatigue." Seeing that Garen didn''t want to say much, Fensal changed the topic.


    Giant vines surrounded the Ancestral Tree trunk. These green vines were like mountain paths. They circled around the giant tree, forming connected paths with the branches.


    Under Fensal''s guidance, Garen and the rest walked out of the branches and headed downwards to the vines.


    The vines were seven to eight meters-wide. From time to time, white vine-armored guards who were leading guests would pass by. Some of them directly entered the holes on the trunk, some of them headed upwards on the vines to board the air bubbles, while some were walking downwards.


    Garen carefully admired the beauty of the scenery. The clear air made his mood better. As he was genetically fused with the Nine-Headed Hydra, he was naturally drawn towards beautiful things. This naturally made his mood better.


    Qiu qiu¡­ Qiu qiu¡­


    Suddenly, a noise came from the front. It was like the cry of a child.


    Very quickly, on the vine path ahead, a group of small milk-white and light yellow mushrooms were jumping and leaping. They happily passed the feet of Garen''s party. Some of the small mushrooms even circled around Garen''s party before catching up with the rest of the group and continued rushing downwards.


    Garen and the rest were awed. After walking for a while, they met another group of small mushrooms. They lined up and happily passed Garen''s feet. They were jumping and leaping like kids.

 476 Phiroth 2

    Chapter 476: Phiroth 2


    "Those are little elves. They are the sons and daughters of the Ancestral God Tree. Do not hurt them as it will enrage the Ancestral God Tree." Fensal reminded softly. "These children will be very grateful if you treat them well. They will even help you back. For example, if you need to search for something or someone, as long as it is within this area, they would be able to be of assistance."


    Very quickly, they finally arrived at the top segment of the Ancestral God Tree. There was a big hole in the tree trunk.


    A strong white-haired man was standing in front of the tree hole. He was topless with only a black cape over his back. He wore heavy black vine armor on his lower body with a giant silver dual-ax on his back. His hair and beard were tangled together and it was impossible to tell the difference.


    "Welcome welcome! My dear friends from Kovitan!" The white-haired man walked towards Garen. He instantly opened his arms and walked towards Garen to give him an intense hug.


    A heavy sweaty odor instantly came.


    Garen naturally had a strong sense of smell. With that hug, he almost fainted.


    Bang bang bang!!!


    The man gave Garen loud pats with his strong arms.


    "Nine-Headed Hydra Garen! Not bad not bad!" The strong man let go of Garen and let out a big smile. "My daughter likes you very much!"


    This King of Daniela was a legendary peak fifth form elite, but he totally did not have the charisma that an elite should have. He was like a barbarian chieftain which did not care about mannerisms at all.


    However, it made sense after thinking about it. Being the strongest King of Daniela, he obtained everything through his fists and kicks, seizing from the Cthulhuism Society. He didn''t put any form of mannerism in his eyes. He lived however he wanted. Who would dare to instruct him?


    "Oh, it''s my honor¡­" Garen was already told that the king''s daughter likes him very much after their first meeting. His intentions were exceedingly clear.


    "Come to Daniela, I''ll marry my three daughters to you! Your kids will definitely be able to inherit my great Daniela and destroy those disgusting Cthulhu worms!" The king of Daniela led them into the tree hole with a big smile on his face.


    Unexpectedly, the decorations in the hole were considered luxurious. White-silver ornaments and jade-green vines could be seen everywhere. Their patterns looked abstract but in fact, there was a certain mysterious sequence to it.


    The whole tree hole gave people the feeling of a mysterious shrine.


    The king of Daniela was a straightforward man. He did not beat around the bush with his words.


    "I know you are worried about your fiancee. It''s alright. I won''t make things difficult for you. Go back and settle your fiancee then come back and marry my daughter!" Phiroth, King of Daniela sat on his throne and spoke bluntly.


    "This¡­..I''ve only met your daughter for the first time. Isn''t this progression is too fast¡­" Garen did not want to bluntly reject.


    "No worries. The daughters of Daniela do not say much. Get in the car first before developing feelings!!" Phiroth waved his hand and was ready to set things in stone.


    Garen was completely speechless. At that instant, Wukang was whispering in his ear.


    "Do not agree. The words that he just said to you, he has said the same to more than ten elites. He is more fertile than Grand Duke Benoch. He has forty-three daughters now and seventy-six sons. Every time he meets genius totem users, he will give away his daughters and sons. As for inheriting Daniela, he tells this to everyone¡­" Wukang decisively revealed the true nature of the old man.


    Forty-three daughters...


    Garen twitched his eyebrows. Although he didn''t know how Wukang obtained the information in such a short span of time, regardless of whether it was true, he didn''t plan to agree on this marriage.


    "Thousand apologies, your honor. I already have a fiancee. Please forgive me for not accepting such an honor." Garen bluntly rejected.


    "Oh?" Phiroth straightened his eyes. The atmosphere in the tree hole instantly tremored. It wasn''t tremors in the heart, but the whole tree hole was actually trembling slightly.


    The air seemed to solidify.


    "Saying this, are you looking down on the daughter of Phiroth?" A wave of ferocity flashed in Phiroth''s eyes. A tremendous pressure instantly pressed on Garen.


    "Your majesty, we came from afar to aid the situation in Daniela. Everyone has their own free will. Are you trying to interfere with my choices?" Garen blinked his eyes. There was a tremor in his body. He instantly broke free from the shapeless pressure of the totem light to avoid direct conflict with the other party.


    The pressure had faint resemblance with the aura of the martial arts world. It was as per Garen''s prediction. A true fifth form elite would already have God-like martial arts.


    Facing an elite like this, totem light was a protective field. It combines totem power and the totem''s abilities to form the strongest foundational power. It was like the blood-flow in the martial art world. This was the foundational power of all martial arts. It was a foundational element like a magician''s magic in fairy tales and the inner strength of wushu artists. Only because of the different totem abilities, it caused this foundational power to carry different attributes, strengths, and characteristics.


    Reversing this power obtained by fusion and evolution, then pushing it into the body to transform it and eventually reaching a whole new evolved level. This was the principle of fifth form.


    Facing a fifth form master once again, Garen gleaned some key points just from the short battle of auras. He was instantly delighted.


    As he reached the end of this path, he never thought he would be walking his old path of martial arts. The only difference was low-level martial arts used blood flow as the foundation, while the martial arts here used a higher power which recycles in the body as the base for martial arts.


    After he understood this, he regained his focus instantly and faced the King of Daniela, Phiroth. The other party was obviously showing off his strength for Garen to understand the difference between their abilities. There is always pride in geniuses.


    As their auras came into direct conflict, the difference was Phiroth''s aura completely covered the whole tree hole. The faces of the guards and servants around were pale. They were obviously in serious shock.


    Even Wukang, Fensal and the rest did not look good, especially Fensal. She knew her father''s temper. Although he had many kids, Phiroth especially loved twelve of them, including herself and her brother. His proposal being rejected in front of such a big crowd did not look good on all of Daniela.


    "Hahaha!" Suddenly, Phiroth burst into laughter. His loud laughter shook the whole tree hole.


    "Good! Good personality! I admire your character! I am at peace entrusting my daughter to you!" Phiroth directly ignored Garen''s rejection.


    "Your Majesty. It''s not that your daughter isn''t good enough. It''s just that I''m already¡­"


    "There''s no need for more words!" Phiroth raised his hands. "I know what you mean, but Phiroth''s daughter is definitely much better than your fiancee! However, the younger generation should handle their own matters. Regarding you and number six, both of you develop by yourselves. I''ll leave it to you."


    He raised the wine glass and gulped down some wine.


    "Alright, I''m tired. All of you are excused. Coming from afar, have good rest today. Don''t miss the gathering period of the Seed of the Ancestral God."


    "Thanks for your understanding, Your Majesty." Garen heaved a sigh of relief. All these while there was freedom of love. He has never heard about forced marriage in front of a crowd. The King of Daniela was volatile. His thoughts were abnormal. It wasn''t easy to deal with him.


    The thing that made Garen more speechless was that a person like that was one of the strongest in the whole world. Even in the whole East Continent, Phiroth would be one of the top elites.


    The habit of giving daughters away after meeting people wasn''t a good one.


    Feeling fortunate, Garen and Wukang finally left the tree hole. Two tree holes located at the bottom half of the tree were arranged for their stay.


    Before long, there were totem users that came to visit.


    As Kovitan''s top genius who emerged in a few short years, Garen naturally had some fame. Leaders of middle and large-sized forces visited him one by one to be acquainted. They even brought along some strange treasures as gifts.


    Garen took a few of the gifts including a potion that he concocted and went to visit the Lord and Deputy Lord of the Geometry Service.


    The Geometry Service was different from other departments. The main power structure was from the Royal Star Court. The strongest Lord and Deputy Lord were equivalent to the directors and ministers of other departments.


    However, he did not manage to meet both of them. Both of them were out. Garen had to leave the gifts and return.


    Furthermore, basic manners were sufficient.


    After a series of exchanges, Wukang who was incredibly good in espionage returned after going out alone. There were clearly several kiss marks on his neck. He walked into Garen''s tree hole with a blissful expression.


    "Daniela''s girls are too wild!" His first sentence revealed his nature.


    He showed off his kiss marks so Garen could see them better.


    Wukang laughed and sat down. Then he drank the red fruit juice on the table.


    "Say...What other good news have you obtained again."


    "There is indeed a good news." Wukang placed the cup down. "The Cthulhu King has announced that he wants to make an exchange with the glittering water. Is this considered good news?"


    "Of course." Garen''s eyes brightened up. He was waiting for this.


    "There is other news. I heard that two intelligence-type nest kings have appeared in the East Continent. They are incredibly strong." Wukang continued. "They control all the nests, gathering all monsters and dangerous mutants to form a complete organization. They are in three major countries and a whole group of small countries in the South. They restricted the monsters from attacking humans. Naturally, the environment became safer. At least all monsters with strong abilities are gone."


    Garen naturally knew the origin of the two new nest kings. If the piece of information was accurate, he wasn''t surprised.


    "Anything else?"


    "The situation. Many remnants of organizations naturally started to develop again while in a safe environment." Wukang shrugged. "However, I heard that Daniela''s King wanted to recruit all these organizations to become one with him at the helm. His ambition is not small. He wants to disassemble the Elder Council and do things himself." Wukang stroked his chin as he spoke.


    "After some careful thought, Phiroth indeed has a huge ambition. But the Cthulhuism Society aren''t herbivores. There will definitely be conflicts during this upcoming glittering water incident." Garen whispered.


    "Herbivores? What do you mean?" Wukang didn''t understand. "Oh, are you saying they are as ferocious as carnivores? Yes indeed," he responded. "What should we do now?"


    "The Seed of the Ancestral God and Cthulhu''s Origin. We need to try our best to obtain these two things." Garen said with a solemn expression. "However, many other forces will have the same objective as us."


    "Definitely. Elites from Ender, and also Sudan. All of them are led by fourth form elites. In fact, most of the strongest people in the East Continent other than the Elder Council, have gathered here. Hehe, the human population is already severely depleting. If there is another accident here, killing a whole bunch of people, the human race would be facing extinction.


    Garen looked at Wukang. Although he didn''t mean it, Garen knew that after Hellgate emerges, the actual situation would be like what Wukang has described. Many elites who fought against the Obscuro Society would perish. The forces of the entire East Continent would be depleted. In the future, even Spiritualization level would be considered elites., as fourth form totem users would be almost extinct.


    After Beckstone and the rest defeat Hellgate with tremendous effort, the whole totem world in the East Continent would be broken. The totem civilization would regress backward by a few decades.

 477 Action 1

    Chapter 477: Action 1


    The two of them discussed the rough arrangements in the room and how to react to possible scenarios. Only when all arrangements were complete did Wukang take his leave. It was likely he went to continue flirting with Daniela''s girls. His female guard was also missing. Garen sat alone in the room and continued his practice of the Black Water True Technique. He only stood to leave the room when the sun was about to go down.


    A green vine armored guard was standing by the door. As he saw Garen exiting, he asked respectfully.


    "My Lord, do you have needs?"


    "Where is the gathering area of the Seed of the Ancestral God? Bring me to have a look." Garen asked directly.


    "The gathering area requires taking the bubble over. Please follow me." The guard was a young man. He seemed a little nervous when handling Garen''s request. But he was considered decent. He was well-mannered, obviously from a good background.


    The name of the Nine-Headed Hydra was thoroughly infamous throughout Kovitan, or even the outside world. He was the type who could kill without blinking. It wasn''t an unusual thing to be severely beaten if one wasn''t careful in dealing with him.


    Fortunately, Garen simply nodded without uttering much.


    Under the guard''s guidance, both of them descended along the vine path and arrived at a larger circular plate. It was the departure point of the bubbles.


    Similarly, there were two flight attendants on top waiting for orders. A guest-like man and woman in red robes were ready to board a newly-created bubble.


    Both of them saw Garen and the guard who had just entered. In the instant they saw Garen, their expression changed. They obviously recognized Garen.


    Garen himself was unclear, but they knew of him. Among the totem users that came to the Ancestral God Pillar, for those of them with strong organizational backgrounds, they had excellent information networks. All incredibly dangerous totem users were all marked with special portraits to heighten their awareness.


    Garen was one of the top ten most dangerous men. He was on par with the top few Cthulhus of the Cthulhuism Society and the two elites of Daniela''s royal family. Other than the totem users at the pinnacle, they were the ten most dangerous people. Conflict with them should be avoided at all costs.


    This private list was circulated among all totem users from medium to smaller forces. Some grassroots totem users with methods of their own had also obtained and sold it to other totem users at a high price. Hence, in fact, all of the totem users who came for the gathering of the Seed of the Ancestral God were aware of this ranking.


    The two totem users bowed to Garen from afar, showing their respects.


    Garen didn''t care about them. Under the flight attendant''s arrangement, he boarded the bubble alone.


    He sat in the bubble and quickly soared into the sky. He could clearly see the orange landscape below at one glance.


    Each giant Ancestral God tree was like ginormous mushrooms. Their vast shade overshadowed the ground below.


    From time to time, flesh butterflies and giant bubbles flew pass the Ancestral God trees. It added a fantasy feel to the environment.


    The bubble that Garen was sitting in floated for a moment and quickly landed at the side of one of the largest Ancestral God trees. A few temporary gathering points were already built.


    The gathering points stood in a circle within the green forest. Each of them had their own sign.


    The gathering area was in the shape of an equilateral triangle. Every three gathering areas would form a triangle. From the inner region to the outer region, the grew larger and larger. Each gathering area lined up in three straight lines, stretching throughout the forest.


    As Garen landed, the flight attendant was about to finish his shift. He was yawning when he saw Garen arriving. He instantly put on a straight face and a respectful attitude.


    There were three take-off points in this gathering area. A handful of people were ready to take off on this particular take-off point. Seeing Garen landing, their expressions changed.


    Garen felt something was off. As he landed on the ground, he blocked off the two people who were about to take off.


    "Excuse me. Can I borrow some of your time?"


    "Of course! Of course, you can!" The two couple-like totem users agreed hurriedly. If their faces hadn''t turned pale, one would think they were very welcoming towards Garen''s inquiry if it was just based on their tone of voice.


    After a few minutes¡­.


    Garen looked at the two people fleeing. He finally understood what was going on.


    The nation of Daniela worshiped battles. Be it the Cthulhuism Society or the Royal Family of Daniela, activities like a battle to the death in front of crowds were not rare sights. It was natural here for the weak to obey the strong.


    Before Garen arrived, most of the masters who were ranked in the top ten had fierce personalities. They would severely injure or even kill people without saying a word.


    Because of the tense situation between Daniela and the Cthulhuism Society, plus the gathering of Cthulhu''s Origin and the Seed of the Ancestral God, more and more elites flocked over here. There were a few key people who were worthy of Garen''s attention.


    The first one.


    One of Edney''s famous, next-generation masters - Scylla Whitewater. He was believed to be on par with the Three Great Heroes, as a peak fourth form totem user. He fought on par with the Black Prince for more than ten minutes. According to rumors, he held various precious heirlooms, but nobody has seen them before. He was also the master of the Edney''s Ancient Society.


    Secondly.


    The top three of the Cthulhuism Society - Thunder God, Light God, and Water God.


    The three of them were the strongest existence other than the Cthulhu King in the Cthulhuism Society. They were fifth form masters with immortality. Even Garen himself had headaches when facing them.


    Thirdly.


    A mysterious figure from the Obscuro Society - a girl named Emilo. No one has ever seen her true figure. She always hid under a black mantle, with a black mask and white moon-shaped earrings. Once she''d appeared and heavily injured King Gallo, one of the two kings of Daniela. She destroyed all his various tactics, illusions and totem equipment. Had King Phiroth not arrived quickly, whether his brother, King Gallo could have kept his life was another question.


    This sneak attack further intensified the tension between the royal family and the Obscuro''s Cthulhuism Society.


    Garen was similar to Scylla Whitewater. They were on par with the top three Cthulhus in the eyes of people. In addition to his fame which had spread here from Kovitan, he instantly became one of the targets that shouldn''t be messed with by fellow totem users.


    The gathering of the Ancestral God seeds was a grand occasion held together by the Cthulhuism Society and the royal family. At the same time, it was an opportunity to secretly show off strength and compete for positions.


    The most important competition was for the three internal rings. The three internal rings were the best positions.


    The three most central area of the triangle was the easiest place to gather the best Ancestral God seeds. Hence, this was the most intense competition over the years.


    Garen directly headed to the three internal rings. He followed the paths between the triangular gathering area.


    The triangular gathering area was layered. A bigger triangle would surround a smaller one, one after the other. The number of totem users here was uncountable. Some of them set up signs of the organizations, some set up regional signs, while some set up signs of the royal family. The sign of the Terraflor Society was also on a corner on the fourth layer.


    Garen didn''t care much. He passed the fourth layer and headed towards the third layer. As he passed by the gathering areas, there were owls, birds, mice on the sides. They were scouting totems. There were also totem users that came out to observe the newly arrived Garen.


    On every triangular layer, there was a weak, simple balancing structure. Normally when they faced intruders, they would merge and defend, to avoid anyone interfering with the benefits that had been agreed on.


    However, everyone had the information on Garen being one of the ten fiercest people. He was one of the cruelest totem users in Kovitan, even facing fifth form Marshall God Cloud heads on. He wasn''t someone they could mess with.


    Fearful gazes were fixated on Garen, observing him walking towards the internal rings.


    Passing the fourth layer, he entered the third layer. The totem light waves in the gathering areas strengthened. It meant that spiritualization level tactic formations existed here.


    On the empty spaces on the two sides, the branches above and in the bushes, the number of scouting totems increased.


    Garen didn''t head to any specific gathering area. He continued along the forest path between gathering areas and headed inwards.


    Only stronger forces could obtain gathering areas in the third layer. Frozen Valley, Fire Dragon Island and Starry Eye Association. These three were strong organizations that could sustain themselves in this chaos. All of them had fourth form totem users, but none of them were located in Kovitan. They were large organizations with branches in Edney and Daniela.


    Within the Starry Eye Association''s gathering area


    A group of blue-robed totem users gathered together around a giant crystal sphere, looking at Garen''s figure which was reflected within.


    "The final battles are taking place in the second layer. The Cthulhuism Society and the Royal Alliance each occupy a point. A fierce battle is taking place for the remaining point. A large majority of the ten masters are confronting each other for this position. Now another master on the same level has arrived. Looks like there will be a good show to watch." The association''s leader was an old white-bearded. He was sucking a lollipop as he sat crossed-leg on the floor. He looked casual as he adjusted the clarity of the crystal ball in excitement.


    "Normally, those two major forces would dominate the six positions in the first two layers. But now the foreign forces are too strong. Even the Cthulhuism Society and Phiroth had to tamper down their pride,and give up two positions." Another old woman who was knitting answered. "Last time, changes to these positions would take a long time to happen. But after the turmoil, many organizations have regressed and left many positions open. It is natural to have battles like this."


    "Let''s wait and see. It''s not so easy to enter the second level." The old man looked like he was ready to watch a show.


    His disciples on the side seemed used to it.


    "Look! That guy is heading directly towards the Cthulhuism Society''s territory!! What is he planning to do?" The old man suddenly cried out.


    *****************


    Garen stood before the Cthulhuism Society''s gathering area on the second level. In front of his eyes was a small white bungalow surrounded by a white fence. There was a faint red glow above.


    A few red-robed Cthulhu Society members were on patrol and noticed his arrival. A few of them stared closely at him as if he was an enemy. They looked ready for a battle.


    The decision-maker quickly walked out from the bungalow. It was a tall, cold girl.


    Her cold, expressionless gaze fell upon Garen.


    "Nine-Headed Hydra Garen Trejons. What are you here for? This isn''t Kovitan''s stronghold." Two other girls behind the tall girl quickly gestured in the air. The tactic formations around the bungalow slowly lit up one by one. Dangerous creatures faintly appeared in the air at once. They patrolled in the air, ready for a defense anytime.


    According to the Cthulhuism Society''s intelligence, the man before him can only be defeated by four Cthulhus combined. He wasn''t someone she could handle by herself. She only had to slightly delay with tactic formations before Thunder God and the rest arrived. Then they wouldn''t have to be afraid of the opponent.

 478 Action 2

    Chapter 478: Action 2


    "I know that in previous years, the two other nations of the Royal Alliance have had their own gathering areas. Naturally, I am not here to raid your area." Garen laughed. "I heard that the Cthulhuism Society''s master is planning to purchase glittering water. So happen I do have sufficient glittering water. The reason I came here is to make a deal with you. Your Cthulhu''s Origin is something I have yearned for long."


    "A deal?" The ice-cold girl shuddered. "I will convey your intentions to our master. You can go back to where you came from. Let me remind you of something. Kovitan''s stronghold has already been invaded by an outsider."


    "I''ll settle it by myself." Garen nodded. Before the deal, he temporarily wouldn''t take action against the Cthulhuism Society. It would be different after the deal was completed.


    Before Hellgate''s awakening, he had to do all he could to gather resources to upgrade himself. This was his final chance.


    He stopped heading forwards and started walking around the level. He headed towards the direction of another stronghold.


    One of the strongholds in this area was originally Kovitan''s. Unfortunately, because of the huge changes to Kovitan some time ago, large amounts of manpower were recalled back. The stronghold was then occupied by some low-level forces from Kovitan until the incident with the red-robed man took place.


    An unknown red-robed man attempted to seize control of a second level stronghold. He first challenged Daniela''s stronghold. After being defeated by Gallo King who was on guard, he no longer dared to return. He next went to the Cthulhuism Society''s territory. But his neck was almost snapped by the Earth God on guard. The Earth Guard was ranked in the top six in the Cthulhuism Society.


    As his planned to become famous failed, the red-robed man helplessly headed towards Kovitan''s stronghold. He released all his accumulated anger on Kovitan''s totem users.


    The man was unscrupulous. With his first tier escaping ability, he didn''t care about the possibility of revenge by Kovitan''s elites and instantly acted. The other forces who were observing at the sidelines were surprised.


    The Kovitan compound was like paper paste, crumbling at one touch.


    The red-robed man killed three of the men in charge in a row. He finally conquered the stronghold completely and chased everyone from Kovitan out of the stronghold.


    Kovitan in its current divisive state no longer had the greatness when Avic was still alive. Their overall strength was even weaker than Edney. As they couldn''t even manage their internal matters, troubles far away in Daniela shouldn''t even be mentioned.


    In the eyes of outsiders, Kovitan was like a sunset, no longer having the light and heat of a midday sun. The past greatness of this nation was no longer there. The strongest nation now was Daniela, while Edney was the second. Kovitan, with the Ultimate Protection, could barely be considered as the third. However, regarding their influence on the outside world, they were nothing once they stepped out of the Ultimate Protection.


    As Garen arrived at the stronghold, the sun was only left with a small semi-circle on the horizon.


    Kovitan''s stronghold was a deserted white stone castle. The remnants of the great battle could be seen everywhere.


    Some of the places were full of blood stains. A handful of totem users from Kovitan were fearfully looking from afar.


    Whether it was the red-robed man or Garen, in their hearts they were both problems that could not be defeated. Garen destroyed his opponents in the country. He was incredibly cruel. Similarly, the red-robed man was strong. He did not blink when committing a murder. In the fight between two tigers, it all depends on who is stronger. Having said that, regardless of the winning side, there were no benefits for these imitation Royal Alliance totem users who previously occupied the stronghold.


    Without hesitation, Garen took big steps into the castle compound.


    It was quiet inside, without any human sounds.


    Garen''s clear footsteps echoed in the surroundings.


    "You have finally come!" A cold voice came from within the castle.


    The red-robed man stood on the peak of the castle. He folded his arms and looked at Garen proudly.


    "I''ve studied totems for forty-two years. I couldn''t find a suitable opponent on par with me after coming out from my training. I never thought you would come here by yourself."


    Garen was speechless. This was obviously another one seeking fame by challenging elites. He was similar to the guy whose heart was ripped out by the Angel of the Night. He looked reckless, but in actual fact, he must have done his preparations.


    "What''s your name?" Seeing that his opponent was a fourth form, Garen asked.


    "Justin Edward!"


    Never heard of it.


    Garen searched the original history and couldn''t find this person. Most likely he was a small character that was killed by one of the elites.


    "Alright. You can leave." Garen waved impatiently. He initially thought it was an important figure, a mysterious master. He never expected it to be a common person.


    The red-robed man instantly widened his eyes.


    "You dare to ask me to leave?! Don''t think too highly of your Dasula School!! Even your teacher dared not speak to me this way!"


    "Dasula?" Garen instantly thought of teacher Emin, the actual old totem user that taught him the basics.


    "I''ve heard that you are the strongest in the history of Dasula! Being the pride of the entire Dasula, I want to see your abilities today! Take this, Polyether Air Gun! Die if you cannot take it!!" As the red-robed man raised his hands, a blood red light appeared around him, forming a giant, invisible whirlpool of air.


    Garen was lazy to speak nonsense with him. There was a sudden tremor below his feet and he became a black ray of light.


    With a flash, he instantly appeared before the red-robed man and gave him a smack with his hand.


    Bang!!!


    The red blur fell to the ground, forming a pit with a diameter of more than ten meters. In the middle of the pit was the red-robed man. There was blood on the sides of his mouth. His body was glimmering in red totem light, but it looked shaky as if it would break down anytime. He was in total shock. His eyes were about to roll up, as if he didn''t know how he was knocked down.


    Chiiiii!!!


    A black ray of light shot down instantly, accurately hitting his chest.


    Bang!!


    There was a huge tremor on the ground, forming a ten-meter long crack. In an instant, the red-robed man''s body became a blood-like fog. Not even his bones were left.


    The blood-like fog was quickly sucked in by the dragon blur on Garen''s back. It became the Nine-Headed Hydra''s nutrients.


    "Dasula School? Looks like Teacher Emin has rebuilt his previous school. In actual fact, I am from Dasula." Garen stood at the side of the pit and reminisced about the past. His foundations were truly from Dasula. It was natural for the other disciples from the school to look at him as a top representative and pride.


    If it wasn''t for the challenger seeking for death who suddenly appeared today, he wouldn''t have known that Teacher Emin had already rebuilt Dasula.


    "I do know a little about Dasula School." Wukang suddenly appeared beside Garen. He brought along a heavy scent of perfume, which made people dizzy.


    "The Dasula School officially announced leaving the Terraflor Society some time ago. They regained independence and just like previously, they were split into three branches. Your teacher Emin, the Luminarist is now the elder and master of the school. Having said that, these developments are heavily influenced by you."


    "My influence?"


    "Of course. Your fame and power are growing. In addition, the Obscuro Society faced some heavy losses after being defeated by Hawk King Goth. The Dasula School naturally shared some fame. Even if your teacher didn''t plan to rely on you, the positive impact on him was unavoidable. Furthermore, the disciples think of you as the greatest pride in Dasula''s history. It is true in fact. Although Dasula is considered strong regionally, it is just a medium-level school. Producing such a top elite like Lord Garen, naturally, they would publicize it."


    Wukang grinned. "It has been said that the whole school regards you as a role model and cohesive force. The whole school has never been more united. The segregated branches of the past have also returned and the overall power has soared."


    Garen did not consider this.


    It was like someone who became famous or achieved something great. All their previous schools, primary schools, secondary schools and others would take pride in them. They would use that to publicize on the quality of their teaching. Their fame would grow and naturally their development would speed up. It was the same principle.


    "Why haven''t they come and look for me?" Garen couldn''t understand.


    "It should be your teacher''s decision." Wukang wasn''t sure as well.


    Garen might have guessed something.


    In order not to make life difficult for himself, Teacher Emin voluntarily left the Terraflor Society. Although relying on the Black Swamp Palace would be much help, but at the same time would bring great risks. Emin must have considered that and decided not to come and look for him.


    Garen made up his mind to find a time to contact his teacher. Although the Dasula School was his teacher''s school, it was also a force that supported him. He should take care of them once Hellgate awakened. Hiding in the Ultimate Protection, it was improbable that Hellgate could unlock it in a short time. Furthermore, there was that old man in the palace. In the original history, the reason Hellgate didn''t break through the Ultimate Protection might be this.


    "Speaking of this, I have some troubling news." Wukang continued. "After we presumptuously raided their strongholds, the Cthulhuism Society has sent people to take the Glittering Pond back."


    "No worries. I''ve already sent a message to Voidharp, Blizzard and the rest. My Black Swamp Palace is not a weakling. If we can''t even handle the Cthulhuism Society, a weak force suppressed by the royal family of Daniela, what qualifications do we have to interfere?"


    Garen had long predicted.


    He had already tied the elites of the Snowy Mountain together with him. This group of old people who had no fear of death was abnormally cruel. The conditions in the North were terrible, in addition to Kovitan''s Ultimate Protection in the middle, it was abnormally difficult for the Obscuro Society to take revenge. Without anything to worry about, they naturally became tighter.


    Furthermore, the most important was that the Seven Night Tower far away in the North was only familiar with the Royal Alliance as a traditionally strong force. As for the Obscuro Society, could they compare to the Royal Alliance? The difference was too big.


    Their impression hasn''t changed.


    It was the same for people like Wukang. The Royal Alliance was an incredibly strong force. It wasn''t something that the two fifth form Marshalls of the Obscuro could withstand. If they didn''t hide properly, God Cloud and the other Marshall would have been annihilated.


    Especially the Director of the National Service, which was someone that he himself would be afraid of. The main reason God Cloud was hiding for so many years was this man. God Cloud had been trained by him.


    As the teacher of a black sheep, he searched everywhere for God Cloud. The reason God Cloud didn''t dare to show his real body was because of this director.

 479 Clash 1

    Chapter 479: Clash 1


    The Cthulhuism Society and the Obscuro Society were planning some tricks. They were obviously intending to move to the top.


    As Garen and Wukang entered the stronghold, they were discussing the new pieces of information.


    The stronghold was completely empty. The initial totem users had all been chased away by the red-robed man. Fortunately, Daniela quickly sent some servants and maids to clean up the place. As the host, battles in strongholds like this were very common. There was an unspoken rule where normal humans with no abilities would not be harmed. Otherwise, no one would be willing to serve here.


    They found a relatively clean hall at the side. Garen and Wukang sat at the table and looked at the innermost Ancestral God Tree through the giant window.


    The Ancestral God Tree was lush and abundant. Its dense leaves and branches were like green clouds against the sky. From time to time, bubbles and butterflies passed by in the air. On the side of the trunk, a huge black castle was built. The castle was facing Garen''s direction. A black, translucent vertical pipe was on the castle''s outer wall. It was like an elevator. There were moving stone platforms in the pipes which continuously sent people to and fro.


    All of the people in the stone platforms had followers with them. They didn''t look like normal people.


    As Garen and Wukang were relaxing inside, they were eating Daniela''s specialty fruits, green bananas and fist-sized peaches which were already peeled.


    "This full-green Ancestral is the largest tree in the area. The rest of the giant trees are not even half its height. Obviously, this is the legendary Ancestral God Pillar. I heard that the Ancestral God Trees have uncomparable power. I wonder whether it''s true." Wukang spoke with emotions as he was admiring the Ancestral God Tree.


    "Who knows?" Garen casually answered.


    "Are we just staying here? You are not planning to enter?"


    Garen shook his head.


    "This is the limit. If we go any closer, we will lose more than we gain. The most inner layer is occupied by the top people of the royal alliance and the Cthulhu King. It''s not a place that we can enter."


    "True." Wukang took a piece of fruit and put it in his mouth. "Then we''re waiting here for the gathering to start? Do you know the approximate time?"


    "I''m unclear. But it should be within these few days. Be patient." Garen smiled. "Have you realized that the air here is different from other places?"


    Wukang was caught by surprise. He carefully sniffed and closed his eyes to feel the difference.


    After not more than a few minutes, he opened his eyes. There was a hint of shock in his eyes.


    "The air here has an abnormal vitality to it! It seems to have a positive impact on our totems. I feel that my core totem has become more energetic."


    "Likewise." Garen blinked. "No wonder so many elites are fighting for strongholds on these levels. Looks like it''s not as simple as the seeds. The position of the strongholds is also a key factor."


    "Looks like it. The central region is really mysterious. If I didn''t come here personally, I wouldn''t have imagined that there would an environment that energizes totems in this world. This is a perfect environment to culture totems. No wonder the mutants around are at such high levels. It is not without a reason."


    So don''t be impatient. Let''s wait for a while." Garen took up a slice of peach. "Let''s take this opportunity to investigate the information we want."


    Wukang nodded his head.


    ******************


    The two of them waited in the stronghold for over ten days. The vitality in the air around the Ancestral God Tree grew richer and richer. Both of their core totems became more and more energetic. Their energy levels were shocking.


    Especially Garen. His core totem was different from the normal totem user. His core totem was an empowered totem instead of a silver totem. In an environment with this form of vitality, the Nine-Headed Hydra, which evolved from a living being, was exceedingly energetic. In Garen''s black space, it was inhaling large amounts of living energy, then exhaling waste.


    With this metabolism rate, it allowed the exchanging of waste. It made Garen felt like he was improving every day.


    His heart was also originally from the Nine-Headed Hydra''s heart. Under this environment, it became even livelier and beat faster than ever.


    Garen took this opportunity to continuously practice the Black Water True Technique day and night. After some time, even the fourth dragon head had signs of being able to be fused. This made him delighted. He initially thought he needed a few more weeks of time. He never thought that this vigorous air could quicken the progress of his fusion.


    Garen decided to seclude himself to train in a secret room in the stronghold. While Wukang was responsible for the outside matters.


    Meanwhile, the Sixth Princess would come to visit Garen every day. Her pair of dreamy big eyes made no secret of her intentions. By secluding himself to train, Garen avoided her embarrassing pursuit. He''d let Wukang handle it.


    Wukang was incredibly experienced in handling women. Every day, he would try to gossip with number six. He continuously tried to change her impression of Garen but to no avail.


    It grew closer and closer to the time when the Ancestral God tree would disperse its seeds.


    Some of the people from Kovitan who weren''t afraid of death slowly crawled closer to this stronghold. They wanted to get a piece of the pie. They were previously chased away by the red-robed man. After some of them heard the news that the master of Kovitan''s stronghold had changed, they instantly had a glimmer of hope.


    Garen and the rest were too lazy to care about them. Everyone could only gather one Seed of the Ancestral God. The only difference was the level of vigor would differ according to the distance to the tree. The position of this stronghold was the most concentrated gathering area on the second level. The seeds gathered here were the best among the second level. The other positions were not comparable to it.


    However, those that could enter the second level were naturally not normal totem users. They wouldn''t presumptuously chase people away like the red-robed man. Since he couldn''t absorb all the vigorous air by himself, and that they were from Kovitan, he didn''t mind those people.


    The time was approaching day by day.


    Finally, there was something new happening at the Ancestral God Trees.


    ******************


    Night


    Garen had just awakened from his martial arts training.


    There was a suspicious look in his eyes, which emitted a red glow in the dark.


    "The vigor in the air seems to have grown stronger? Compared to the slow increase previously, it seemed to have multiplied this time."


    He stood up, pushed open the door of the secret room and headed out.


    Most of the defects on the white stone stronghold had been fully repaired. The outside scenery could be clearly seen through the semi-circled, full-length window in the hall.


    Green lights filled the sky. They were descending slowly like snow, completely brightening up the night sky in the forest. Everywhere looked green. The fluorescent green light shone through the window, dyeing a huge portion of the stronghold''s hall green.


    Garen widened his eyes and looked at the descending green lights. There was a shocked expression in his eyes.


    He hastened his steps and pulled open the door of the hall, planning to go and have a look.


    Suddenly a ginormous grey toad was blocking at the front of the door. The three-meter tall toad completely blocked the doorway. As its white tummy was rumbling along, its two protruding eyes stared at Garen.


    Its body was full of grey blisters of different sizes. Its rough skin was like tree bark. It looked tough but it also had the moisture of a swamp. A faint fishy odor came from its body.


    Garen furrowed his brows. He was more sensitive towards smells.


    "Attention sixth stronghold, the gathering is about to begin. Please get ready." As the toad opened his big mouth, it was speaking the language of Daniela.


    "Alright." Garen nodded.


    "By the way, the raw air outside is too strong. Do not go out carelessly, in order to avoid danger." Once the toad finished, he hopped away towards the wild.


    Garen stood at the door to send it off. Wukang silently appeared behind him.


    "It starts tonight?" He was still rubbing his eyes in a set of white pajamas. He looked like he just had a good sleep.


    "Let''s prepare." Garen nodded.


    The two of them finished changing, drank some juice then took the breakfast toast provided by Daniela. As they ate, they came to the balcony on the second level of the stronghold.


    The balcony was a full-white, semi-circle terrace without railings.


    Both of them finished their bread and each stood on one of the marked areas on the ground. The marked areas were three oval-shaped tactic formations, obviously for gathering seeds.


    The green light dots all over the sky slowly descended. Garen stretched out his hand to catch it but they were like illusions. The light dots directly passed through his palm and exited below.


    The rich, vigorous air seemed to have a life force. It rapidly entered Garen''s nostrils. The Nine-Headed Hydra in Garen''s body was greedily absorbing the vigorous air. From its initial state of malaise, it grew more and more energetic.


    He looked from afar at the Ancestral God Tree. The raw air had already reached a horrific density. The inner layer most likely would have been more terrifying.


    Garen looked into the distance with his unnatural eyesight. He actually noticed Phiroth.


    The strong King of Daniela was sitting opposite a black bear on a large branch on the Ancestral God Tree. There was a small stool between them with a chessboard on top of it. Both of them were concentrating on the chess game.


    From time to time, the black bear would scratch its head in deep thought. Then it stood up, folded its hands and stared at the chessboard.


    Besides the two of them were a handful of rabbit humanoids serving food and drinks. Each of these rabbit humanoids had a rabbit head with two ears standing tall. They had bodies of a beautiful human girl. They had huge busts, long legs, and white skin, while wearing breezy, low-cut dresses.


    Chiiiii!!


    Suddenly, a green light beam shot out from the right side of the forest. It soared into the sky, breaking through the layers of cloud.


    The slender green light was pure, without any impurities. It soared directly into the sky.


    Chiii chiii!!


    After a number of light sounds, several green beams shot into the sky.


    Garen regained his focus and nodded towards Wukang.


    At the same time, the two of them quickly started to gesture in the air. Their ten fingers constantly drew large amounts of dense symbols, leaving shadows behind.


    As their creation of tactic formations sped up, two of them were gradually surrounded by a layer of fluorescent green light.


    Chiii!!


    Suddenly, a ray of piercing green light shot out in between them and headed towards the sky.


    The green light beam completely engulfed the two of them. Small black dots were gradually appearing in the airspace in front of their chests.


    The dots slowly grew bigger and bigger. Their shape became more and more like an oval.


    Then, as the black balls faintly released white water vapor, they became flatter and flatter.


    Puffff!


    A hole cracked open at the bottom of the ball, emitting white gas. Together with the white gas, a green toothpaste-like thing came out from the hole and suspended in the air before Garen.


    The green paste was squeezed out in lines. They gathered in circles with a pointy end, while emitting mild heat. They formed artistic, mysterious objects.


    Garen twitched his eyebrows as he looked at the legendary, poop-like object before him.


    "Don''t tell me this is the legendary Seed of the Ancestral God?"


    Wukang''s expression was also inquisitive. He glowed in green then in white. He looked at the green, poop-like object and didn''t know whether he should take it.


    The green light around the both of them dissipated and everything became calm again.


    The green dots in the air also grew faint and finally disappeared. The green fluorescent waste was all over the ground, lighting up the whole forest in green.


    "Congratulations to all for obtaining the legendary Seed of the Ancestral God! Hehe. Isn''t this year''s shape really artistic?" A clear voice came from the direction of the Ancestral God Tree. It was the voice of Phiroth.


    No one spoke a word and the whole area was in silence. All of the elites didn''t know how to reply. "Your Majesty''s taste¡­.is really unique¡­" An old man''s voice came from one of the levels.


    Two women followed suit with a dry laugh.


    Garen looked at the Ancestral God Tree from afar. On the giant branch, Phiroth stood triumphantly with both of his hands on his hips. Behind him were the black bear and a handsome young man. Both of them looked ashamed. This time, Phiroth humiliated the eight generations of Daniela.


    After tugging on the skin of his face, Garen still took the poop-like seed of the Ancestral God up and kept it. He didn''t touch it with his hands but formed a tray with water vapor. He wrapped the green poop and placed it the isolation box, which was prepared beforehand.


    "New experience. This is really a new experience.." Wukang shook his head at the side with a painful expression. "What do you think? Should we absorb it, or not?"


    Garen tug on the skin of his face. "The outer appearance is just a facade. Do not be restricted by the eyes of the world¡­

 480 Clash 2

    Chapter 480: Clash 2


    Island Master Wukang was laughing hysterically.


    Although he was speechless in reaction to Phiroth''s prank of changing the shape of the Seed of the Ancestral God, what had to be absorbed has to be absorbed.


    While the shape was like so, the content wasn''t¡­


    Two of them sat on their knees as they face the crystal made transparent isolation box. They both reached out their palms and placed them firmly on it. Then, they closed their eyes and absorb the life force inside it through Secret Techniques.


    The pure and strong life force left the isolation box like a small river and flowed into Garen and Lightless'' body.


    This life force was much stronger than the air previously but it was very neutral, unlike the invasive air.


    As both of them were absorbing it, they could clearly see that the green poop inside the isolation box had started to shrink.


    Time passed slowly.


    The night sky unknowingly turned brighter as the green light started dimming. Twilight had started to break in the sky.


    After some time, Garen suddenly opened his eyes.


    Roar!


    The red dragon''s shadow flashed past his face.


    "Four dragon heads have merged¡­" He casually felt the changes of the Black Water True Technique inside his body. Four out of nine dragon heads had been absorbed by him.


    The absorption of the dragon heads was not able to give him more strength as it was just a conversion of energy from the totem into Secret Technique.


    The totem had weakened but in returned, the Secret Technique had evolved.


    There was no change in the overall strength. However, as the strength was converted into the Secret Technique, he could apply this strength onto his actual body and evolve to a level he couldn''t have achieved previously.


    The Black Water True Technique''s strength had undoubtedly become stronger again as there were only five heads out of nine left from the nine-headed hydra totem. The remaining heads were in high spirits and not on the verge of dying under the effect of the life force.


    It was estimated that the convergence of the fifth head wouldn''t take long after this.


    This was the benefit of the Seed of the Ancestral God.


    Garen suddenly recalled the original ability of the Seed of the Ancestral God was to enhance the totem strength.


    He closed his eyes as he felt the changes in his body and he could feel that his internal organs had become more active than before. Furthermore, he was able to control the Nine-Headed Hydra with his mind better and he felt that he still had more strength left in reserve.


    He opened his eyes and glanced at the attribute pane.


    ¡®Strength 14. Agility 10. Vitality 10. Intelligence 10. Potential 35124%. Possess the qualification of a Luminarist.


    Seed of the Ancestral God Enhancement: Increased totem control limit by 1.''


    "An additional totem to control? Not bad." Garen nodded in satisfaction. Compared to the increased merging speed of the dragon head, it seemed pointless to increase the totem''s strength.


    He''d originally planned to obtain some small benefit but he didn''t expect to reduce the merging duration. It was indeed an accidental reward.


    The sky had turned bright.


    Garen and Wukang walked out of the stronghold after they finished absorbing the Seed of the Ancestral God. Although both of them obtained something beneficial, they had a strange look on their face.


    As they walked outside of the stronghold''s forest, they saw a few guards patrolling in the area and didn''t see much totem users outside as they''re probably still absorbing the Seeds of the Ancestral God.


    Before the seed appeared, the atmosphere here was very strict. Everyone was cautious against each other as conflict might occur at any given moment. However, the atmosphere had loosened a lot the moment the seed was condensed since one would have to wait until next year before the next one appeared.


    Daniela had sent out a group of typically trained soldiers led by low-level totem users. Conflicts had been dramatically reduced and the typical argument could be settled by these patrols.


    Garen and Wukang were walking outside and they didn''t think that the release of the seed of the Ancestral God would greatly affect the plants in the forest. Some of these plants had completely changed and some had been sucked dry by some parasites. It''s as if the whole forest had undergone a big change.


    As the Ancestral God Tree was huge, both of them were almost lost as it was a no-fly zone.


    As Wukang was about to wave his hand to the patrols and request for them to guide the way, Garen on the side stopped him.


    "There''s no need to rush. Let me handle it."


    Garen glanced at the surrounding patrols and he grinned.


    "You! Come over!" He pointed at a short patrol.


    This person was in an all-white armor and helmet. He was lowering his head as he followed his team from behind and seemed completely unwanted in any way.


    Garen''s eye slightly turned red as he glanced at this patrol once more.


    The leader of the patrol team heard their call and ran towards them.


    "Sir, what order do you have?" The team leader was a middle age man and he looked very humble.


    "We have lost our way as the geography of this place changed last night so we need a person to guide us around. There''s no doubt about it, let him guide us!" Garen pointed at the shorty standing at the very back of the team.


    "Alright alright¡­ Garfield, you''ll now follow these two lords and guide them in their path. Report back to me when you''re done, understand!?" The leader talked to the shorty sternly.


    "Understood!" The shorty''s voice was quite coarse.


    "What happened to your voice?" The team leader was stunned and asked him softly.


    "It''s nothing. I had a flu last night¡­" The shorty Garfield answered immediately.


    The team leader patted his shoulder and whispered.


    "Go ahead. Do your best. Perhaps these lords would reward you greatly."


    The shorty Garfield nodded seriously.


    Garfield stayed back with Garen and Wukang after he gave him his orders. The patrol team then continued their patrolling.


    Garen looked at the shorty Garfield when the team was further away from them.


    "Alright. We planned to look at the Ancestral God Tree in a close distance. You have no problem with leading the way right?"


    Garfield was always lowering his head and immediately answered as his body kept shivering." No problem! Of course, there is no problem in that."


    Wukang who was at one side noticed something was wrong but he didn''t say much as he saw Garen''s expression. He was wondering what Garen had in his mind.


    The three of them walked into the dense forest and increased their pace.


    The totem users in the stronghold started to appear due to the change in the landscape. Most of the totem users were cautious towards Garen and the others when they saw them and would act in such a manner that they didn''t know them and avoid them completely.


    Only small amounts of totem users who were confident in their strength would walk past them.


    As the distance to the Ancestral God Tree grew shorter, the area of the stronghold became larger and the population of the totem users gradually increased as well.


    They could see a totem user in the strongholds every few ten meters. These totem users were in all kinds of clothes and they''re obviously outside guests from different backgrounds.


    Soon, the trio arrived at the second layer of the triangle and they headed straight to the first layer of the triangle.


    A team of men in red shirts were guarding the passage up front and the leader''s eyes were glowing as he stared at the totem users who passed by.


    The core of the first layer wasn''t as on alert as before after the condensation of the seed, and anyone could freely enter and exit the place. Many people had the same intention as Garen as they purposefully tried to get closer to the Ancestral God Tree. The Ancestral God Tree Pillar''s totem user was also walking inside the gap within the stronghold.


    They had created a wall at the core layer and there were only three entrances and exit.


    However, they weren''t sure when this group of red-shirted people had appeared at the entrance of the passageway.


    They weren''t on guard but they were guarded by the side as they stared at the passers-by, as if they were looking for something.


    Garen and the other two walked towards the entrance as they followed the totem users in white robes in front of them.


    As they got closer to the men in red shirts, Garen could feel that the patrol Garfield who was leading the way started to tense up.


    He was anxious.


    Fortunately, the trio walked into the passageway without any issue. The leader of the red-shirted men stared at the trio and paid extra attention towards Garfield.


    After they passed the tall walls, up in front was the zone where it was shaded by the Ancestral God Tree. The giant tree was like a giant green umbrella planted onto the ground as the branches draped over a clear small lake. A group of small mushrooms was making noises as it jumped and collided with each other. The air was filled with green light dots, the same green lights they''d seen last night.


    Giant crystal butterflies were fluttering about as they flew around the branches. There were transparent ones, yellow ones, white ones and black ones. There were many of them stopping at the bush which was four to five meters tall.


    "Hold right there!!" A voice broke from behind the trio all of the sudden. The voice was deep like thunder as it deafened a nearby totem user in white robes.


    A lightning sound was heard and deep blue lightning landed in front of them. The red-shirted man appeared in front of them.


    The man was tall, tanned and his gaze was of lightning as it gave off a tingling sensation like a sun. His red robes were like a tight suit on him as they outlined his strong and muscular body.


    What was most interesting was that there was a blue-black glowing light on his right side of the neck, as if a firefly was resting there. It was the size of a bean and it could be clearly seen.


    The man glanced at Garen and Wukang before he focused his attention on the patrol Garfield.


    "This man seems very suspicious. I suspect him to be the spy who had escaped away from the Cthulhuism Society. Men!"


    "Yes!"


    "Take the spy away for interrogation!" The man raised his hand as two men in red shirt went up against the patrol Garfield.


    "Oh? How dare you to take away my guide right in front of me! The Cthulhuism Society sure is imposing!" Garen glared as he suddenly appeared in front of Garfield.


    "Nine-headed Snake Garen, I have yet to approach you for the old matters. Looks like you don''t plan on leaving Daniela alive¡­" The black-skinned man''s expression changed as he stared at Garen.


    "Since you know who I am, perhaps you people from the Cthulhuism Society haven''t learned your lesson yet¡­" Garen''s expression changed as well as he knew the man in front of him was not a simple character.


    "Thunder God Havana, the person you want is me! Don''t drag the others into the situation!" Unexpectedly, the patrol took away his helmet, revealing his white hair. He was a short youngster with the character Chuan imprinted on his forehead.


    He faced the Thunder God head-on without any sign of fear.


    Surprisingly, Island Master Wukang grinned as he walked to the front.


    "All of you step back. Today, I want the Cthulhuism Society to learn the reason for which I''m famous!!"

 481 Clash 3

    Chapter 481: Clash 3


    A huge screen of black smoke billowed from Wukang¡¯s body before he finished his sentence. He planned to reveal his Wukang Prison here.


    Wukang, who had been following Garen around to purge people from the Cthulhuism Society, was very unhappy with the crazies who had been spewing nonsense everywhere. In addition to the obstruction by the four members of the Cthulhuism Society during his journey, he¡¯d held resentment from the moment the King of Holy Lake defeated him on the spot.


    Wukang and the Thunder God glared at each other as one grinned while the other looked on in contempt. Both of them instantaneously turned into a screen of black smoke and lightning respectively.


    In a mere instant, the black smoke and lightning clashed against each other at least ten times.


    Huge amounts of black smoke and lightning arcs spread about in the surrounding, forcing the members of the Cthulhuism Society and Garen to take a few steps back to distance themselves.


    Garen stared at the battle between those two.


    The Thunder God didn¡¯t use any special ability and was only relying on the high velocity movement which formed into lightning. He kept moving about as he attacked instantly and every attack he lashed out had high momentum and electrical effect.


    On the other hand, Wukang was releasing a huge amount of black smoke and he could instantly move anywhere within the black smoke. His whereabouts was unknown as the smoke was an extension of his body. Furthermore, the smoke appeared to be poisonous as well, which was the reason Thunder God didn¡¯t dare to get close to it; he kept vaporizing the black smoke that was approaching him.


    Both of them were considered the speed type and within seconds, the black smoke was rebounded back towards Garen and Wukang staggered out of the black smoke with a pale face.


    "I couldn¡¯t fully utilise the Wukang Prison due to the air restriction zone¡­!" Wukang grumbled angrily.


    "Do you think you have the chance to get closer to me without the air restriction zone?" Thunder God Havana smiled coldly.


    It looked like Wukang had the disadvantage. After all, their difference in strength was apparent.


    "I didn¡¯t expect the Cthulhuism Society has someone like you with them¡­" Although Wukang was at the peak of form four, he showed off his extreme battle strength and was able to go against the form five Thunder God. However, he was able to experience the strength of a form five for the first time during this probing.


    Furthermore, he wasn¡¯t considered strong compared to the Cthulhu King even though they were at the same level. Their main strength was the Immortal Body and Alliance Tactic and these two skills were not revealed at all just now.


    Thunder God looked at Garen as his eyes were slightly filled with fear.


    "Looks like you guys plan to go against my Cthulhuism Society?"


    Garen started smiling.


    "I heard that there¡¯re three kings in the Cthulhuism Society who are the strongest within the society and the Thunder God is one of them. I wonder how your strength fares as compared to the other two kings?"


    The Thunder God narrowed his eyes without changing his expression.


    "The Light God is obviously much stronger than me. As for the strongest God, the Water God. His strength isn¡¯t something that should be compared to mine. Lord Water God once stated that he doesn¡¯t have the confidence to win against you. At first I thought he was just being humble, but it looks like you¡¯re the real deal¡­"


    "What are you trying to imply?" Garen said coldly.


    "Regardless, this guy is the reincarnation of the previous Thunder God of the Cthuhulism Society. You don¡¯t plan to meddle in our personal issues, do you?" Havana moved his gaze to the short patrol Garfield.


    "The previous generation¡¯s Thunder God?!"


    The totem users nearby who overheard the claim had their eyes onto the patrol Garfield in shock.


    Garen, too frowned slightly. Although there were very few rules that totem users followed, there were still a few rules that they obeyed. One of the major taboos was to never meddle in other people¡¯s internal affairs as meddling with other people¡¯s affairs meant that they were declaring war in the totem world.


    Although he had killed a few members from the Cthulhuism Society, this didn¡¯t hurt them at all as the Cthulhu could revive them as many times as they wanted. Dying once simply meant that they were defeated once.


    If they were to declare war, the battle would be endless.


    Furthermore, if other parties were to found out that he meddled with another party¡¯s internal affairs, it would leave a bad taste for the other parties.


    "This is the battle for the Thunder God¡¯s position. It¡¯s not open to some outsider¡¯s meddling." Havana said coldly.


    Garfield, who was quiet about the ordeal the entire time, finally opened his mouth.


    "That year, you ambushed me from the back, severely injuring me and caused me to lose most of my power. I had no choice but to reincarnate and the whole Thunder God Society has been absorbed by the Cthulhuism Society. Have I not been nice to you as the Lightning Attacker? Why!?" His eyes were glowing in blue as he spoke as the Thunder God of the previous generation.


    Havana smirked.


    "Why do you ask? Do you think a mere Thunder God Society could go against the powerful Cthulhu King? I know you have a death wish but it didn¡¯t mean the others had it as well! And you still dare ask why? What a joke."


    Garfield shook his head.


    "The Thunder God¡¯s will is to rage and purify. The characteristic of such power is chaos and disobedience. For these past few years, do you really think you have gained the trust of the Cthulhu King? In the folklore, the Thunder God is known as the forbidden god. Right at this moment, do you feel that parts of your body have been slowly electrified? Do you feel it? The immense pain from your chest whenever the spring thunder rings."


    His face turned grey.


    "Do you really think that I would be easily ambushed by you guys back then? Do you really think I have lost my mentality? You disappoint me. You didn¡¯t even realize after so many years. I thought that you have realized it by now."


    The arrogant look on Havana¡¯s face slowly dissipated as Garfield continued. His cheek started twitching as an unnatural expression appeared on his face.


    Garen and Wukang had already retreated to one side. Wukang, who had been holding on all this while, was injured quite badly. He was in a serious disadvantage against the Thunder God as he couldn¡¯t output his actual strength.


    It would be natural to let the two generations of Thunder God to settle their affairs between themselves.


    Garen occasionally set his sight onto Garfield as he was skeptical of him.


    He was the will adaptee of the Cthulhu who could easily dispel the origin of the Cthulhu King, Hannet Thunderstorm. He matched every details the intel he had searched. It¡¯s just that he didn¡¯t expect him to be the Thunder God of the previous generation.


    No matter if it¡¯s Garen or the Obscuro Society who wished to absorb the Cthulhu¡¯s Origin, one must go through him. Without his help in purifying the Cthulhu King¡¯s will, the Cthulhu¡¯s Origin could not be absorbed and could only be considered a form of high grade preparation material.


    If he didn¡¯t predict wrongly¡­


    Without any additional movement, Garen glanced at the crowd of totem users that had started to gather around.


    Most of the totem users were observing from one side and some of them had grouped up to discuss about the two Thunder Gods. Some of them even took out crystal balls and cameras, to take an overall picture of the situation.


    These totem users were not anxious at all due to the protection of the Ancestral God Tree and the alertness of the Royal Household of Daniela.


    Among these totem users, Garen saw a slender, black human figure.


    It was a woman in a black veil with a pair of white crescent moon earrings on her ears.


    "So you¡¯ve arrived, Emilo." this name flashed across Garen¡¯s mind. She was an elite sent by the Obscuro Society who¡¯d severely injured one of Daniela¡¯s King with just an attack.


    Since Emilo had appeared here and the Obscuro Society was on friendly terms with the Cthulhuism Society, she would definitely side the Cthulhuism Society if there were any conflict.


    As he was lost in his thoughts, the two generations of Thunder God¡¯s conversation had reached its end. Havana had lost his temper by the words of the previous generation¡¯s Thunder God Hannet Thunderstorm. Even a commoner could see the fear on his face.


    "The Cthulhu King has ordered to kill the previous generation Thunder God Hannet Thunderstorm on the spot!" Suddenly a sharp male voice could be heard from afar.


    Havana was startled and with a slight delay, dark purple lightning ball formed around his hands.


    "Don¡¯t you want to know how to release yourself from this curse?" Hannet smiled without any anxiety.


    The totem light force field on his body was only form 2 but he wasn¡¯t scared at all. He stood still as he stared at the Thunder God. It was as if the opponent¡¯s lightning balls were just a magic toy and were not something that could kill him instantly.


    Havana struggled as he raised his hand while the lightning balls were moving violently in his hand but they wouldn¡¯t move away from his hand.


    "Thunder God! You dare to go against the Cthulhu King¡¯s order!" The voice of the man could be clearly heard from the sky. However, there was no one in the sky. It was as if the person had used some sort of technique to communicate from afar.


    Havana started to struggle even more as he slowly raised his hand and aimed at Hannet with the lightning ball. Thousands of beads of sweat formed on his forehead.


    "There¡¯s only one person who knows how to break the curse." Hannet was very calm as he smiled, as if he didn¡¯t know that the lightning balls were aimed at him. "Havana, you can kill me if you really want to become a mindlessly obedient Thunder God."


    "Don¡¯t force me¡­!!" Havana¡¯s dilemma had become more and more apparent. His voice even started to become coarse.


    "The Cthulhu King never trusted you." Hannet said coldly. "He¡¯s forcing you to kill me and it also means that you¡¯re committing suicide."


    "Just because of that legend?!"


    "Perhaps." Hennet smiled. He was a young man, yet his smile was old.


    "Die!!"


    Suddenly, a pure white light was shot from the sky and was heading towards the calm Hennet.


    The speed of this light was incredible fast. As the sky flashed, the light had already reached in front of Hennet. The light was surrounded by pure white feathers that were falling gently. It was as if the light was a gift from the Heavens.


    "The Heaven¡¯s Light! It¡¯s the Light God!" A knowledgeable old totem user recognized the light.


    "How dare you!!" A sharp tone of a woman came from the left side of the forest. Before she shouted, A black hole appeared in front of Hannet and a white slender hand came out from the hole and gently block the white light in front of him.


    The hand gripped the egg-thicked light pillar and gently pinched it.


    Boom!


    The light pillar was completely shattered.


    At the same time, the white hand from the black hole disappeared as well.


    The crowd then reacted since a conflict finally occurred.


    Some totem users the situation was rather complicated and started to retreat. Soon there were only a few people left who dared to stand still.


    "What is the meaning of this, Marshall Aixi?"


    A pure white humanoid figure appeared from the wall from the right. It was a handsome man with white hair, eyebrows and eyes. He had no pupil and his eyes were pure white. One would immediately know he was no ordinary elite just from his appearance.


    On the left, black fire condensated and formed a human figure in a black cloak. One would immediately know that she was a female judging from her body figure. She was in a black veil and had a white crescent moon earrings on her. She was the self proclaimed Emilo sent by the Obscuro Society.


    "You can¡¯t kill him." Emilo¡¯s voice was calm.


    "No one can stop me, a member of the Cthulhuism Society, from killing who I want to kill." The Light God said calmly.


    "I repeat, you can¡¯t kill him." Emilo repeated once more.


    The air around these two started to bend and both of them started to confront each other secretly.


    "Aixi, a deal is a deal. However, didn¡¯t you cross the line by butting into this matter?" The Light God showed his right hand and a white flame appeared above his palm.


    Emilo didn¡¯t say another word. Both of them were equally matched as they confronted each other and no one could do anything to the other party.


    The situation had become a statemate.


    "Aixi, are you really planning to meddle in the internal affairs of my Society?" Suddenly, a sonorous voice boomed from the sky.

 482 Clash 4

    Chapter 482: Clash 4


    This time it was a gentle woman¡¯s voice, completely devoid of evil.


    At the same time, Hannet Thunderstorm¡¯s face turned purple as he stood in his original position. Blood started to pour out from the orifices on his eyes and nose.


    Ah!


    The dirt underneath Hannet moved about, and formed into a Mudman as tall as a person. The Yellow Mudman reached out its hand in front of Hannet¡¯s body.


    Boom!!


    The Mudman suddenly exploded and formed into a pool of mud. What was peculiar was that the strange symptoms on Hennet¡¯s body disappeared along with the Mudman¡¯s explosion.


    His face was filled with cold sweat as he took a few steps back, wiping off the blood on his nose and mouth.


    "Mother Nature¡¯s Substitution? Scylla Whitewater? Are you interfering with my religion too?" A hint of dissatisfaction appeared in her tone.


    Soon, another Mudman appeared beside Hannet.


    "Lord Water God, won¡¯t it destroy your gentle, beautiful image if you were to kill people without any prior notice?" A young man¡¯s voice came out from the Mudman.


    "Do you think an Earth¡¯s puppet could get in my way?" The Water God¡¯s tone turned cold. "Although the Ultimate Heirloom is very powerful, it¡¯s not something that would frighten me."


    "It¡¯s not entirely impossible to interfere with Lord Water God. However, if it were a substitution, that¡¯s another story." Scylla smiled.


    Within the short time of ten minutes, four elites had appeared and were battling each other in pairs. All of them appeared because of the previous generation¡¯s Thunder God, Hannet Thunderstorm.


    It was obvious that Scylla represented the Royal Household of Daniela, and the people from the Obscuro Society were protecting Hannet for some reason.


    "Looks like we won¡¯t be able to do anything today." Hennet smiled. "I didn¡¯t know that I¡¯m more valuable than I seemed to be. This is something."


    The current Thunder God placed the Lightning Balls down. Both of them knew that the current situation was not decided by them, but by two overwhelming powers. One wrong move and it would become a full confrontation between the Royal Household and the Cthulhuism Society. Currently, both parties were not ready to go all out just yet.


    The original body of the Water God must have been restrained by the King of the Stars of the Geometry Service; one of the three Major Departments. The Cthulhu King and the King of Daniele were restrained by one another. It was unknown what the influences of the two form five totem users of the Obscuro Society were, but they, too, stayed their hand.


    "Looks like this is the current situation." Garen had become a bystander. "Both parties are not ready to go all out. Looks like Hannet¡¯s life is¡­" Suddenly, his expression changed as he stared at the bottom of his leg before he could finish his sentence.


    Boom!!


    Suddenly, Garen was shot out to the middle of the sky above Hannet.


    One fist!!


    Kaboom!!!


    The shockwave in the sky was clearly visible.


    The resulting gale fluttered everyone¡¯s robes, and a tree of leaves were blown off from their branches. Dirt and pebbles followed suit, blasted every which way as if there were an explosion. The pebbles that happened to impact trees far away punched a few holes through. Lastly was the surrounding totem users, who were forced to take a few steps back away from the shockwave.


    Sizzle¡­!


    Two black burnt marks appeared on both of Garen¡¯s legs.


    Roar!!


    The dragon¡¯s shadow flashed across his face as he stomped both of his legs into the ground to stabilize himself.


    Red veins started popping out from his face as sweat started to vaporize on his muscular body. That was the steam created by him using his full strength.


    He raised his head up and saw a huge bloody face appearing in the sky. The face was at least ten kilometers wide, skinned, muscles and tendons exposed for all to see.


    The left eye was pitch black and there was a man in red robe and silver mask standing to the side of the eye.


    That man looked down from afar as if he were a god looking down at mere mortals, as if he were a superior being.


    "Cthulhu King¡­" Garen spelled out his name slowly.


    The man didn¡¯t stop for long at the side of the bloody face. Suddenly, he flew far away at great speed and disappeared at the horizon of the sky.


    After a while, an explosion could be heard beyond the horizon of the sky. The ground started to tremble as a man¡¯s laughter echoed throughout the sky.


    "Since you have come to my Ancestral God¡¯s Pillar, why don¡¯t you stay for a bit! Let me give you a heart-warming welcome!!" It was Phiroth¡¯s voice and it was obvious that he had engaged battle with the Cthulhu King.


    Sigh¡­


    Garen exhaled as wafts of white vapor came out from his mouth. It was easy to see how far Garen¡¯s Black Water True Technique had come.


    The Cthulhu King stood at the peak of the form five and his strength was not something that could be easily dealt with. There was a vast difference in strength between the peak of form five and below. With Garen¡¯s current strength, he would have no problem in dealing with the middle class of form five. But a simple attack from the Cthulhu King¡­


    "No! It¡¯s not just a casual attack! He was spitting at him!!" Garen recalled the horrifying scene the Original Eye saw in that instant.


    That silver masked man gave off such a terrifying strength by just spitting down at them.


    Perhaps he planned to appear in that instant to interrupt the situation and leave afterwards, but in that instant, the king of Daniela Phiroth caught up and engaged in a battle with him.


    The peak of form five was definitely different from the others.


    A typical form five totem user could elementalize themselves, giving them the ability to travel fast within a very short amount of time. The speed could be benchmarked by the element they¡¯re good at. However, this ability required a large amount of totem light and the travel distance couldn¡¯t be very far apart. One would be considered very good if they were able to travel for a few thousand meters.


    They¡¯re much stronger compared to the spiritualized and form four elites but they shouldn¡¯t be able to react this quickly.


    Spiritualization was just a temporary form of self-elementization, where one could transmit Tactical Formations. On the other hand, form four totem users could move in short distances through elementization, but it required a lot of totem light. Form five totem users could use this short distance travel on a normal basis. It¡¯s not something a typical elite could do.


    These elites who stood at the peak of form five¡¯s elementization speed was close to instantaneous teleportation, where they could instantly move about from far away. One could see most of the element traces left behind from a typical form five users.


    Garen sighed as his body started to tremble.


    "That was close. I almost got injured." His face was cold as ever. It¡¯s best not to interfere during the early stages of merging with the Hydra. It was fortunate that he had the Heirloom Flash Screen, which had blocked off most of the force. The remaining force had been fended off by his Black Water True Technique, so he had managed to walk away unscathed.


    Wukang came to him from the side.


    "How does it feel?" In that instant, he, the Thunder God, Light God and Water God didn¡¯t even realize Cthulhu King¡¯s hidden attack. If not for Garen¡¯s Original Eye, he wouldn¡¯t even be able to notice it as well.


    This technique was not a unique ability but a pure technique in utilizing his pure strength. With this attack, Garen realized he had greatly underestimated the Secret Techniques of this world.


    He had been relying on his king of the century¡¯s absolute minute control of strength to oppress his opponents of the same caliber. If the most gifted totem users could merge with his inner strength to produce 100% of his strength, then the effect of minute controlling could basically allow him to release 150% of his strength.


    This strength had been one of the two major reliance for Garen. Now, the attack from the Cthulhu King reminded him that this world had someone who was better than him in terms of controlling their strength.


    This mouthful of Qi gathered and condensed all totem light to produce such a terrifying power.


    Garen was enlightened as he pushed Wukan away who was trying to help him.


    "I¡¯m alright. The Cthulhu King sure is something. He¡¯s able to produce such a strong force with a basic exhalation."


    He looked around his surroundings and he realized that in that instant, the Cthulhuism Society¡¯s elites had retreated. Even Emilo from the Obscuro Society¡¯s shadow could be seen in the forest as she had obviously left.


    Only Scylla Whitewater and the previous Thunder God Hannet Thunderstorm were left in the scene.


    "The Black Swamp Palace Master sure is strong. You can even go against the Cthulhu King¡¯s ambush!" Scylla¡¯s Mudman praised him as he walked closer.


    "If it weren¡¯t for you coming out and saving us, our face would have been thrown down into the river." Scylla said hopelessly.


    "You¡¯re being humble, leader." Garen immediately showed his respect. Scylla was Ender Kingdom¡¯s strongest leader of the Ancient Society, excluding the Royal Household. He had tremendous authority and was also a cunning elite. Similar to Garen, his strength was similar to of a form five based on his strength and heirloom.


    "I¡¯m not being humble." Scylla shook his head. "Oh right, the seed from last night had been successfully transferred and could still last for another two hours. Daniela has reached its limit. Should we go and obtain our share?"


    "Sure." Garen nodded. Daniela had promised that the additional Ancestral God¡¯s Seed would be given to him and Wukang. It looked like it¡¯s time to fulfill that promise.


    "The Seed of Ancestral God can only be used once. I plan to give my seed to Xiwa." Wukan simply said.


    Garen nodded. He originally hadn¡¯t been interested in having an additional totem. However, with the activation from last night where he had completely absorbed, he had completely forgotten about using these two seeds at once.


    This wouldn¡¯t greatly affect him as the effect of Ancestral God¡¯s Seed wasn¡¯t something he wanted. What he really wanted is the seed¡¯s intense life essence. This life essence was able to respond to the merging of Nine Headed Hydra and greatly reduce the merging duration.


    With the next Ancestral God¡¯s seed, he could reduce the absorption time for the fifth dragon head. Unfortunately, Daniela¡¯s storage duration had reached its limit. If he were to have unlimited amounts of Ancestral God¡¯s Seeds, the merging period could be greatly reduced.


    This was the main advantage as the core of the Silver Totem. He wouldn¡¯t have this benefit if the core totem was made from silver.


    "Since the Cthulhu King is unable to kill Hannet himself this time, the Black Swamp Palace Master¡¯s reputation will definitely spread." The Mudman Scylla was very affectionate. "Once you have absorbed the seed, are you interested in meeting a few friends of mine? We have some plans in mind, perhaps you will be interested in it."


    "No problem." Garen was very interested in these kinds of small circles as these elites usually had their own intel circulating within them. This was what he was currently lacking.

 483 Deal 1

    Chapter 483: Deal 1


    After setting a time with Scylla, Garen turned around and looked at Hennet, who was standing to one side.


    This seemingly young yet old white haired youngster was looking at them, something evidently on his mind.


    "How do you guys plan to deal with me?" Hannet voiced out after noticing that Garen and Mudman were staring at him.


    "I don¡¯t know why the Obscuro Society is protecting you, but what I do know is that the Royal Household is so that the opponent cannot advance smoothly. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s very likely that you will be engaging in battles recklessly with the Cthulhuism Society."


    Garen immediately cleared out the whole situation.


    "What¡¯s your objective?" Hannet raised his eyebrow.


    "I need you to help me out." Garen¡¯s abnormality gradually disappeared, returning back to his usual handsome self. His green veins had completely disappeared.


    "Sure." Hannet nodded.


    He hesitated for a moment before he moved his mouth, giving him a set of information.


    Garen noted this down and rushed into the forest, disappearing as he turned around.


    That information was the public channel data used for communication via radio. It seemed to be one of the communication methods used by Hannet and his people.


    "Can we take our leave first?" Wukang¡¯s face was pale from the battle with the Thunder God. Either he had exhausted too much, or else just didn¡¯t want to be there anymore.


    "You should head back first." Garen nodded.


    Wukang¡¯s female guard soon arrived. She delicately took out a few small bottles from her pockets, and mixed different colors of powders together for Wukang to consume.


    "I¡¯ve lost all my dignity this time." Wukang sighed as he swallowed the mixed medicine powder. "I can still deal with him if he were at a typical level. However, I didn¡¯t expect him to be a form five, and even have this unique strength which coincidentally is a counter against me! But¡­ if it weren¡¯t for the restrictions in the area, I wouldn¡¯t be afraid to fight him to the death."


    Wukang¡¯s personality was rather unstable. He wouldn¡¯t loosen up even if he was with someone familiar. Garen looked at him holding onto his female guard speechlessly. He would secretly touched the female guard¡¯s body here and there, pretending that his injury was severe enough to warrant it.


    The female guard would always fall for this trick. She was even worried for him as she carried him, fearing that he was seriously injured. She didn¡¯t even realize there was an additional hand near her nether areas¡­


    The situation here had finally settled, and Garen followed Scylla to the Ancestral God Tree.


    There were guards waiting for them at the bottom of the tree. As they saw Garen and Scylla arrive, their demeanor betrays the fact that they¡¯ve been expecting them, and they immediately brought them to the Vine Road, the road which went straight to the Ancestral God Tree up to the largest branch.


    cylla¡¯s Mudman dissolved at the foothold of the tree, and reappeared near the canopy, waiting for them.


    As they walked along the heavily guarded Vine Road, they finally reached the giant branch after about ten minutes.


    The King of Daniela, Phiroth was already back at the branch. He sat on his knees, smiling. There was a dark green vine winding at the table beside him, with a light green crystal placed on top of it. Two green, floating, feces-looking objects were floating within the crystals.


    There was a young man in white shirt with golden sleeves beside Phiroth, who was also sitting on his knees on the branch. He had an awkward smile on his face, clearly because there was a beautiful woman in vine armor sitting beside him.


    "What¡¯s wrong? You¡¯re not giving me any face at all, are you?"


    Garen, who was standing from afar, could hear Phiroth¡¯s deep tone towards the young man in the white shirt. Although he had a smile on his face, his tone was cold.


    "Are you stating that I, Phiroth¡¯s daughter, am not to your liking?"


    This voice was as strong as thunder. Garen instantly understood. Phiroth was up to his tricks again¡­ Planning to send her daughter away the moment he met someone¡­


    As he resisted his urge to roll his eyes, Garen picked up his pace and immediately arrived at an empty space on a tree branch.


    The atmosphere was stifling. The young man in the white shirt was ecstatic as he saw Garen¡¯s arrival.


    "Palace Master Garen you have arrived. Just like what we¡¯ve discussed, let¡¯s go meet some friends of mine. Your Majesty Phiroth¡­ the problem we spoke of just now isn¡¯t urgent. We¡¯ll talk about it some other time, as I have made an appointment with Palace Master Garen¡­"


    "Are you¡­ Scylla?" Garen recognized the youngster¡¯s totem light.


    Phiroth¡¯s eyelid started twitching.


    "Good timing. I wanted to discuss something with Palace Master Garen regarding the Thunder God of the previous generation."


    "Please say what you need, Your Majesty." Garen nodded as the guards sent up a plate of fruits. They took their places on the floor, kneeling. The plates were filled with the local specialties, the green bananas and fist-sized cherries.


    Phiroth nodded.


    "The Cthulhuism Society definitely has an upper hand against the previous generation¡¯s Thunder God. They have been restrained by my Royal Household all this while, but now they don¡¯t even care how they look when it comes to this. Looks like that Hannet guy is very crucial, at least to them."


    "Your Majesty, what are you trying to say?" Garen asked softly.


    "Hannet better not be in my sight from now on." Phiroth said, directly and without hesitation. He immediately turned his head and looked at the young man in the white shirt, and started to converse with Scylla.


    Garen had doubts regarding this decision and pondered.


    The previous generation Thunder God, Hannet Thunderstorm, impersonated as a guard to get close to the Ancestral God Tree -- Ancestral God¡¯s Pillar. It was obvious that he had motives towards the Ancestral God¡¯s Pillar.


    While Garen didn¡¯t know what Hannet¡¯s intention was, it obviously had made Phiroth unsatisfied. This statement was obviously a warning towards Hannet.


    "This is the Ancestral God¡¯s Seed for the both of you." Phiroth turned his head around again and talked to Garen. "We¡¯ve taken it out just last night and it¡¯s very fresh. I have already sent my men to pass the seed to Wukang, rest assured."


    Garen was speechless.


    Garen took the pile of green defecation with him and bid goodbye to Phiroth together with Scylla before they left the branch.


    Both of them walked down the road slowly. It took them about ten minutes or so to travel from the top to the tree to the ground, which was a good window for them to interact with each other.


    Although Scylla looked very outgoing on the outside, he was actually a very mysterious person. It was impossible to know what was going on inside his head. As Garen¡¯s personality was similar to his, both of them could understand each other better and were able to converse freely.


    "Do you know why His Majesty Phiroth has such an attitude towards Hannet? While he¡¯s the Thunder God of the last generation, he¡¯s only a mere form two totem user. The strength deficit between His Majesty Phiroth and Hannet is far too great. But.. why did he have to say such a phrase at the end?" Garen decided to pour out his curiosity as he talked to him.


    Since both of them had such similarities and were getting along with each other, Scylla chose not to hide anything from him, and told him the reason after some consideration.


    "Perhaps Palace Master hasn¡¯t heard of it yet. When the Cthulhu King and His Majesty were fighting against each other, they also talked as well. It was about that guy Hannet."


    "Oh?"


    Scylla started to frown.


    "During that time, Cthulhu King pointed out that hannet¡¯s motive is the Ancestral God¡¯s Pillar, as he is qualified to absorb its strength. He has the legendary Winged God Arms. Although the strength of the Ancestral God¡¯s Pillar has always been under the control of Daniela Royal Household, His Majesty wasn¡¯t sure if it would affect the current Ancestral God Pillar if the Hannet were to inherit it."


    "Is that so?" Garen sort of understood the situation.


    He had managed to find an explanation to this issue. Garen then asked about the giant stone statue¡¯s incident related to the Ender Kingdom. The angel giant stone statue appeared among the nests of creatures during the attack of Kovitan. Kovitan wasn¡¯t the only one investigating this issue; even the Ender Kingdom was having a hard time about it in the dark.


    As he raised this incident, Scylla¡¯s face was filled with rage. He wasn¡¯t sure who had stolen the key to controlling the angel statue. This weapon of warfare was usually stationary, and would only be used once every few centuries. However, this had given others an opportunity to steal it. The people who were responsible for the loss of the key hadn¡¯t report the actual incident to the upper management in fear of getting punished. Instead, they reported that the key had been broken and used some technique in forging a new key.


    When they realized something was wrong, the angel statue was already on the move, causing havoc.


    Ender Kingdom had dealt with everyone responsible for the incident.


    As both of them were talking along the way down, A group of female guards were on their way up, flanking and holding a girl.


    The girl had an hourglass body and was in a purple cloak. Her black hair was waist-long and her skin was white as snow. A purple veil hid her face and a pair of, deep, unfocused purple eyes.


    This girl was being held by the female guards, as if they were scared that she might slip and fall.


    "It¡¯s princess Dilan." Scylla walked to the side as he pulled Garen, who hadn¡¯t reacted.


    The female guards who were walking towards them bowed to both of them, before they continued carrying the purple clothed girl up.


    The woman acted as if Garen and Scylla weren¡¯t there, instead leaning towards one of the guards, exchanging hushed whispers.


    Garen frowned. He waited until the group was far away before he asked softly.


    "Princess Dilan? The princess doesn¡¯t seem to know proper manners, no?"


    "Don¡¯t misunderstand." Scylla shook his head. "Rumor has it that Princess Dilan is the favorite princess of His Majesty Phiroth. Her beauty is unparalleled and she has an amazing body. Her voice is as touching as hundreds of birds. However, she has a major flaw."


    "Flaw?"


    "Yes. and it is an uncurable one as well." Scylla nodded in confidence. "She was born retarded and blind."


    "Are you sure?" Garen recalled the purple shirted woman. She indeed seemed like she was blind, but retarded...


    "This is the truth. Princess Dilan has the intellect of a typical three-year-old. She also has serious memory loss. This is an open secret everyone in the Royal Household of Daniela knows." Scylla shrugged. "She¡¯s just like a piece of white paper. She knows nothing and can¡¯t even recognize her own daughter and treats her as a stranger. She can immediately forget the things that happened a few minutes ago. What¡¯s most surprising is that the only person she can remember is His Majesty Phiroth."


    Garen then understood that there¡¯s no point in being offended by her manners when she¡¯s naturally born with this sickness.


    When both of them left the Ancestral God Pillar, they sat on the flying bubble to the second Ancestral God Tree. There were already people waiting for him to the other side. Two women in white attire clapped their hands and greeted them with a peaceful expression.


    "Lord Scylla has returned. Lord Sith and the others are waiting for you."


    "Lead the way." Scylla said coldly.

 484 Deal 2

    Chapter 484: Deal 2


    Two women nodded and walked to the front, bringing the duo away from the flying point. They walked down for a few hundred meters along the tree branches, and finally stopped at an oval shaped hole in the tree.


    Both women stopped outside the door as Scylla pulled Garen into the tree hole.


    It wasn¡¯t very spacious inside, and the inner wall of the tree hole was painted in gold. The surrounding walls were placed with green vine stone pillars, and there were realistic sculptures of animals on top of these pillars. There were giant eagles, lions, two headed snakes and four eyed sugar gliders.


    Black chairs were placed in between these pillars, of which some already had occupants. Two people who had arrived before they had.


    These two stood as they saw Scylla and Garen enter.


    "This is?" There were one male and one female. The man had a small mustache on top of his lips, and his silver attire made him looked like a noble. He was also wearing a white bottom, long leather boots and was even wearing a white curly wig.


    The woman was in a green, full body short dress and had a green longbow behind her back. She had one green eyepatch on her that made her look like a one-eyed dragon. Her slightly black hair was placed in front of her chest, and she was staring at Garen who just entered the hole.


    "The Black Swamp Palace Master, Nine Headed Hydra Garen of Kovitan. I¡¯m sure you two have heard of him, right?" Scylla smiled as he introduced Garen.


    Both of their pupils shrunk at the same time, and it was obvious that they have heard of his name.


    The man immediately revealed a gentle smile.


    "So it¡¯s Palace Master Garen in the flesh. I am the Tower of the Read Leaf¡¯s tower master of the Ender Kingdom, Duoren."


    "The Nine Headed Hydra Garen is very famous. Your name has even spread far to my Willow Valley of the Ender Kingdom." The woman spoke softly. "No wonder Scylla would invite you to participate in our activity."


    "This is the valley master of the willow valley, Limalanda." Scylla introduced.


    Garen greeted both of them and found out that both of their essences were clouded. It was obvious that they were using some Heirloom to hide their strength. However, whoever was able to interact with Scylla with the same level must be someone strong. They were both form four elites.


    After some niceties were served, Scylla waved his hand, and the cave was suddenly covered with a layer of yellow light.


    They settled down on their seats.


    Garen placed one of his hands onto the ancestral God¡¯s Seed Crystal as he slowly absorbed it while listening to them talking.


    The Red Leaf Tower Master Duoren was the first one to speak up.


    "With Scylla as the leader this time and Palace Master Garen to watch over us, the trade between Cthulhuism Society shouldn¡¯t be any issue."


    "We should be cautious. The Cthulhuism Society has always been very cunning. The previous incident is our lesson." Limalanda objected softly.


    "We don¡¯t have to worry about this part. As long as it¡¯s not Cthulhu King himself who comes for the trade, I am confident that I can retreat without any issue, even if it¡¯s the Water God." Scylla said confidently. "Palace Master Garen, I believe you have heard about the trades with the Cthulhuism Society for the Cthulhu¡¯s Origin, right?"


    "Yes." Garen nodded. "Are you planning to do a secret trade with the Cthulhuism Society?" In his mind, he was pondering on how to get in touch with the other side. He didn¡¯t expect someone to hand him the solution.


    "That¡¯s right." Scylla didn¡¯t intend to hide from Garen. "Everyone here possesses Glittering Water. Especially you, lord Garen, I believe you have obtained quite a few Glittering Water since you seize quite a few Glittering Pool, right?"


    "That¡¯s true." Garen didn¡¯t deny it.


    Scylla smiled. "Though it¡¯s true that we are members of the Royal Alliance and it¡¯s a major taboo to occupy resources to themselves before an impending war, I refuse to believe that the Cthulhuism Society is able to turn the tides by obtaining Glittering Water. On the other hand, we are able to further strengthen the potential of our core totems by obtaining the Cthulhu¡¯s Origin. This will be our foundation in advancing into form five."


    He paused for a while. "Frankly, His Majesty Phiroth understood this. However he¡¯s just acting as if he knows nothing about it." He occasionally placed his gaze on the valley master of the Willow Valley, Limalanda.


    "However we¡¯re unsure of the amount of Glittering Water we have is enough to trade for one Cthulhu¡¯s Origin." The Red Lead Tower Master Duoren said as he frowned.


    "Don¡¯t worry about that. I have specifically brought along the trading schedule from the other party, and it clearly marks the prices of the products." Without any hesitation, Scylla pulled out a small piece of paper from his shirt. He then gently opened it, and out came the Danielian alphabet, densely packed together.


    He jittered his hand and threw the papers out as it floated between the four people.


    Scylla turned the white ring on his finger.


    Suddenly, a layer of semi-transparent glass surrounded the paper, and all four of them had one each. On it, the relevant information was clearly stated.


    Garen looked carefully at the information.


    ¡®Trading price: One upper-level Cthulhu¡¯s Origin is equivalent to a hundred units of Glittering Water. (Enough for one person¡¯s usage)¡¯


    ¡®One middle-level Cthulhu¡¯s Origin is equivalent to fifty Glittering Water.¡¯


    ¡®One lower-level Cthulhu¡¯s Origin is equivalent to ten Glittering Water.¡¯


    ¡®One lower quality Cthulhu¡¯s Origin is equivalent to two Glittering Water.¡¯


    The price was clearly written, but Garen didn¡¯t understand the difference between the grades of the Cthulhu¡¯s Origin.


    He had about twenty two Glittering Water that he obtained along the road. These were the amount the he always had on him, as these things condensed very slowly and were not something that could be easily accumulated. In addition to the amount he had in his vault, which was about thirty, he couldn¡¯t even trade for one middle-level Cthulhu¡¯s Origin if he were to use the pay scale here.


    "These Cthulhu¡¯s Origins are separated into different grades?" Limalanda frowned as she asked. "What does it mean to have different grades of Cthulhu¡¯s Origin? I wonder if you have asked clearly about it, Scylla."


    Scylla smiled as he nodded.


    "This naturally has to be cleared up."


    He pointed at the upper-level Cthulhu¡¯s Origin.


    "This is the highest quality Origin, which is extracted directly by Cthulhu King and is of the strongest origin. Hence it¡¯s the upper-level."


    His finger then moved to the middle-level Cthulhu¡¯s Origin.


    "This is the origin extracted out by the Water God, so it¡¯s middle-level."


    The lower-level is extracted by the Light and Thunder Gods, and the lower quality ones are extracted by the normal Cthulhu." Scylla explained it very clearly.


    He then continued. "I have already traded a lower quality origin to try out, and it indeed has an obvious effect in enhancing totem potential. The effect is very good as well. If we were to use a hundred of them, I¡¯m confident that our core totems will be twice as powerful! We can even go past the fifth form and reach greater heights!"


    Sizzle¡­


    Including Garen, the three of them inhaled a mouthful of cold air.


    Scylla right now was able to fight against the Water God¡¯s substitute. If he were twice as strong, how strong would that be? He would be considered a powerful opponent even among the fifth forms.


    "If the lower quality has such an enormous effect, then the better ones¡­" Garen¡¯s eyes were fired up.


    "We still have to trouble you to set a time and place for the trade." Limalanda said softly.


    "This isn¡¯t a problem at all." Scylla responded happily. "Coincidentally, I have planned for a trade the night after tomorrow. We can move together then."


    "Thank you, leader." Duoren¡¯s face was brimming with excitement. Limalanda¡¯s expression had softened a lot as well.


    Garen, who was sitting at one corner, kept the same expression on his face as he suddenly inquired.


    "I wonder if the leader has some remaining Cthulhu¡¯s Origin for us to look at."


    Scylla smiled.


    "I see Palace Master understands me well. I indeed left some so that I could compare it with the higher grade ones in the future."


    He placed his left hand into his waist and opened up his palm.


    A green crystal ball the size of a fist appeared. The interior of the crystal ball was filled with green smoke. It looked cold, as it quietly floated on his palm.


    The smoke inside the small ball kept rotating, and one could faintly see strange images formed inside it. The green seeds inside sprouted, grew bigger, with flowers blooming and forming new seeds, then finally wilted. The new seeds were then sprouted again.


    These images kept cycling again and again. The smoke within the crystal was moving about, as if it contained an innumerable amount of souls within.


    "This Origin comes from the Wood God, and I have used up most of it. What¡¯s left is only one percent left of the amount I have traded so it can only form some smoke." Scylla smiled as he passed the crystal ball to Garen. "Have a look."


    Garen reached out his hand and took it and he suddenly felt a jolt.


    Although the totem light¡¯s force field inside the crystal wasn¡¯t big, it gave off the feeling that there was something alive inside the ball. As he held it in his hand, he felt like he was holding an egg that was about to hatch. He could feel the sensation of a heartbeat coming from within.


    At that time, the Ancestral God¡¯s Seed had already been absorbed by him and he could recover soon from the next merge. He expected that the merging duration with the next dragon head would be greatly reduced within the week.


    As he put away his right hand, Garen carefully observed the Cthulhu¡¯s Origin.


    The green smoke inside the crystal ball kept moving about and the images of the seed sprouting until it wilted kept repeating inside. As he observed closer, he realized that these images were formed by countless smoke particles, without any order.


    As Garen held onto it, he could faintly smell the fresh fragrance of the leaves and flowers.


    .


    According to the original timeline, this item only appeared once, and it was from a normal commander-level member of the Obscuro Society who reached the peak of the form five by absorbing it. He was then on the same level as God Cloud. There was no related news regarding this afterwards.


    Now that Scylla and the others planned to trade for the Cthulhu¡¯s Origin, and since there were so many grades for them to trade with, why weren¡¯t there any more people revealing the secrets of the Cthulhu¡¯s Origin in the history?


    This question flashed through Garen¡¯s mind.


    Since so many people had absorbed it, did that mean the effect was most obvious among the members of the Obscuro Society?


    Garen suddenly recalled the issues with the Cthulhu King¡¯s Will in the Cthulhu¡¯s Origin. Was it because of this?


    He pondered for a while before he passing the crystal ball to Limalanda before he turned his head to look at Scylla.


    "Scylla, did you absorb it directly after you obtain the origin or¡­?"


    "Don¡¯t worry. I was worried that the Cthulhuism Society would pull my leg as well so I only absorbed it after making sure the thing is safe through detailed analysis." Scylla said. "I didn¡¯t expect the effect was exceptionally good."


    Garen didn¡¯t change his expression but he was very sure of something.


    There was something wrong with these Cthulhu¡¯s Origin. Without an adaptee to filter out the Cthulhu King¡¯s will and to absorb the origin just like that¡­


    Garen squinted his eyes as he could smell something sinister from this simple trade...

 485 Deal 3

    Chapter 485: Deal 3


    After discussing with the others in the cave, Garen bid them farewell and left alone, sitting on the flying bubble as he flew towards the giant tree where he stayed.


    As for the fact that Cthulhu''s Origin contained Cthulhu''s Will, he didn''t immediately say it out loud. If he said it just like that, Scylla and the others might not believe him, after all they barely knew each other, if he said something too deep while their knowledge of each other was still so shallow, it might make them wary of him instead.


    Cthulhu''s Origin was the main reason he came to Daniela this time. It was an aberrated treasure that could let a regular Form Five reach the peak level, the Cthulhuism Society wouldn''t bring something like that out so easily.


    Sitting in the bubble, Garen looked down at the green canopy of trees below him, a flash of understanding in his eyes.


    "No wonder the Cthulhuism Society wanted to kill the previous Thunder God, Hannet, no matter the cost, because only he has the right to filter Cthulhu''s Will, as long as he was gone, then the Cthulhu''s Origin that was sent out would become so many ticking time bombs, becoming a trump card for their battles."


    After returning to his residence, Wukang''s tree hole up there was utterly quiet, some black smoke roiling faintly in the cracks of the doors and windows on the tree hole, the long and large breathing inside repeating endlessly, Wukang was evidently focused on healing his injuries.


    Garen went past Wukang''s tree hole, and was about to return to his own tree hole.


    Boom!!


    Suddenly there was a huge dull noise, as though something had exploded. The Ancestral God Tree also jolted slightly, shaking somewhat, many branches and leaves floating down on him like raindrops.


    Garen frowned, turning around and looking towards the direction of the explosion.


    Roar!!!!


    In the distant white sky, a huge red bird spread its wings and raised its head, making a terrifying loud howl, like that of a bird but also of a lion or a tiger.


    The huge bird was covered in a red glow, its feathers a fiery bright red, it had six tails, and each tail was a poisonous red snake, the end of the tails being the snake heads that kept reaching out their slithery tongues as though they wanted to eat you whole.


    The whole giant bird almost took up half of the sky in the distance, its body a full hundred meters in size.


    Garen was also shocked by the bird''s size for a moment, but after looking at it closely, he discovered something odd about it.


    The bird''s body looked solid, but it actually had a vague insubstantial feeling.


    "It''s the Geometry Service''s Royal Star Court''s Starry Sky Summoning!"


    Garen suddenly remembered the information he had read before.


    ''From an unnamed starry sky galaxy, a temporary helper who can reply your call is summoned, by paying a certain price in return, obtain a response from an unnaturally terrifying existence from an unknown time and space.''


    That was the description of the Starry Sky Summoning, it was also the Royal Star Court Master''s secret ultimate technique, to think it would suddenly be used now.


    "Who on earth could it be? To be able to force the Court Master to use such a terrifying secret spell!" Garen''s heart gave a jolt as he watched the projection of the bird pounce down, its mouth wide open as it instantly sprayed out countless little red flame birds, covering land and sky as they cascaded down.


    These little red birds were not solid either, they were all silhouettes made of red flames, when they were sprayed out, they actually all opened their mouths as well, and once more spat out currents of flames tinged with gold.


    The gold flames gathered together, forming a small river that flowed relentlessly and quietly downwards.


    Garen watched the huge bird''s movement carefully. He had seen some information in a dissection book before, it was an anonymous scholar''s research content.


    He had been extremely interested in this surprisingly scary Starry Sky Summoning, and had spent a lot of time and energy researching it in particular. In the end, he came to a conclusion.


    The Starry Sky Summoning did not actually call over a powerful existence from a starry galaxy, that did not follow the rules of energy conservation at all, to transcend here from a faraway galaxy would use some astronomical energy just on the journey itself, what was more the power needed to fight for the summoner.


    In actuality, the core principle of the Starry Sky Summoning should be a sort of derivation, a technique to construct life.


    The creatures that it can summon were all actual living creatures from the beginning phase, after they figure out all of the creature''s biological structures and way of existence, the creatures can be summoned. The cost was a huge amount of Totem Light.


    And then there was the middle level phase, which was to summon some special creatures that were slightly out of the ordinary, with special powers, and the cost would be Totem Light and some specific special items.


    The last final phase was to summon fully-derivated terrifying creatures that had appeared at some point in time and space, the cost being a tremendous amount of Totem Light and a very specific rare item.


    Actually, according to the scholar''s research, the very beginning of the Starry Sky Summoning had been used to test if the structures of these derivated creatures had existed before. This technique had only been a sort of practical experimental technique, but after merging it with instant structural studies, it had become this terrifying offensive technique.


    The huge bird that showed up now was the Star Court Master''s signature Snake-tailed Bird, this was the strongest legendary creature derivated by the Star Court, although nobody knew when this terrifying creature existed, but its power was definitely at the peak of Form Five. Compared to peak-level fighters like the Cthulhu King and Phiroth, it wasn''t as easily controllable, but when it came to pure power it was just as good. Of course, this didn''t take the other methods these peak-level fighters could use into account.


    This move was already the Star Court Master''s strongest attack, and the power demonstrated by the Cthulhu King and Phiroth were just their normal states. The difference between them was obvious.


    The Snake-tailed Bird was resisting against a dot of black light beneath it, the golden fire spraying recklessly as though it was free, this was clearly already its strongest attack, but it didn''t have much of an effect on the black light dot beneath it.


    Whoa-aah!!


    A crisp sound, like the clash between metals. The black light suddenly shot out countless black chains, like a deity scattering flowers, spraying out in all directions.


    The countless black metal chains were like living creatures, surrounding the Snake-tailed Bird from all directions.


    The moment he saw the chains, Garen instantly recognized the user of this technique.


    God Cloud!


    He narrowed his eyes, a glint of danger rising in his eyes.


    "It''s definitely the true body, the true body that has the Distorted Bead!" Garen licked his lips, since the fight on the snowy peak back then, when he was grievously injured by God Cloud and had to escape, he couldn''t keep it out of his mind.


    But not only was God Cloud Obscuro''s strongest military leader, he was also at the peak of Form Five, although he was defeated by Phiros in the past, he could still bulldoze past other Form Five fighters.


    "He''s not at the World Crevice, he''s not controlling the situation or healing his wounds, why did he run all the way here?" Suspicion rose in Garen''s heart.


    This was Phiros'' domain, with the help and increment from the Ancestral God Tree, he was already probably the strongest in history as long as he was here. Add that to an unnamed Original Heirloom.


    Garen wouldn''t have forgotten, that Daniela actually still had an Original Heirloom hidden away. Although it couldn''t be as powerful as Kovitan''s Caeserton. After all, Original Heirlooms had their categories too, Caeserton just happened to be perfectly suited for war. Regardless, this one couldn''t be that bad, it should also have a special effect.


    "The two of you, could you please take it for my, Phiros'' sake, and call a temporary ceasefire?" Just as the black chains were madly shooting everywhere, and just about to completely surround the Snake-tailed Bird, Phiros'' voice reached them.


    God Cloud snorted, the black light shooting into the sky abruptly and vanishing, evidently disappearing into the distance.


    "These are the Ancestral God Grounds, fighting is not allowed in this area." Phiros seemed to be explaining something to the Court Master, and then his voice fell silent.


    The Snake-tailed Bird also rapidly shrunk, rather worse for the wear, and slowly became transparent, before disappearing into the air.


    The many totem users who were being forced down below remained silent for more than ten whole minutes before they began discussing the battle that had just erupted again.


    Their fight had only lasted a short while, but within the Ancestral God Grounds, there had already been a large piece of empty land that was completely burned away, covered with giant collapsed trees, and there was a raging golden fire burning away as well.


    Soon enough, though, a green mist quickly spread across the area, rapidly extinguishing the golden flames, and the collapsed trees also began to grow new roots and shoots. They grew at a speed visible to the naked eye. Not long later, this area was once more covered with green, as though the damage from just now was just the aftereffects of a long-ago battle.


    Garen stood on the tree hole, his sharp eyesight allowing him to watch all the changes clearly. Up until all the traces had been utterly recovered, only then did he finally return to his tree hole, closing the wooden door.


    Everything inside the tree hole was completely quiet, the soundproofing was very good, and it seemed like a completely isolated little space.


    Inside the hemispherical tree hole, there were many white vine decorations of different sizes hung about, and the tables and chairs were all grown directly out of the ground, so they could not be moved. A bush of small black flowers grew on the corner of the wall, emitting a natural and fresh minty fragrance, acting like a natural air freshener.


    Turning on the black radio on the table, he simply tuned it to Daniela''s public channel.


    ''...the later conflicts had created a hidden threat, since the Battle of Sunview back then, in order to take revenge for his wife''s betrayal, Tesowork convinced Moro of the Black Light Tower, and activated the legendary World War¡­''


    As soon as he turned on the radio, the female host''s voice came from the machine, the program showing was one that explained historical wars.


    In this era, with the rapid development of radios, after a bit of tweaking, some single-sided broadcasting techniques were successfully introduced, it was something similar to what they had on Earth, news and other programs appearing to meet demands. Daniela''s people were usually battle-thirsty, so this sort of programs explaining the wars in history was especially popular.


    He changed the channel, and after some static, a new voice came from the radio.


    ''...According to the West Continent, the Lyonesse incident should have been caused by a West Continent terrorist group, Forest Black Court. Although the group did not publicly claim the incident, the many clues showed that the Forest Black Court would be Lyonesse''s biggest suspect."


    This was intercontinental news.


    Garen was slightly surprised, he didn''t think that news from the West Continent would reach here so quickly too. Evidently, after totem users were utterly exposed and stopped hiding, walking into the limelight instead and using their totem skills, the Luminarists and forgers would surely have used all their methods to cross the continental distance, achieving rapid continental communication.


    After the radio played some music, there was another man''s clear voice.


    ''This is the intercontinental news.''


    ''After the event in Kovitan, the mastermind, the Obscuro Society has finally come to light. The leader of the Obscuro military division, God Cloud, announced yesterday that they would assume responsibility for this incident. The National Service''s diplomacy division has also released a bounty warning, aimed for all of Obscuro''s members¡­''


    ''In Daniela''s 231st Forest City, there was a large-scale plague spreading today, a terrifying virus known as Grimlan Number Three is rapidly spreading, those infected would have swollen eyes, many tiny blisters forming on the surfaces of their eyeballs, making it unbearably itchy and painful for the patient. The infected would lose their vision within three days, and die after five. The relevant departments are sending researchers to discover a vaccine at the first possible moment.''


    231st Forest City?


    Garen''s heart sank. That was a city close to Heart of Life.


    Daniela''s structure was different from other countries, their cities were like so many different-sized tribes, scattered and built across the limitless sea of trees, each city was hidden by many plants and trees, harmonious and natural, with beautiful surroundings. Before the chaos began, the whole of Daniela was a famous tourist spot. Most of the people wouldn''t leave their hometowns, the people of Daniela, especially the normal people, were all very attached to their homes. As a result, the transportation between cities wasn''t very developed either.


    The benefit of that was that if a plague started in one place, it could be easily quarantined away.


    Garen vaguely suspected that in the original history, Phiros hadn''t actually set down the kill order because the concubine was assassinated, but mostly because of this sort of plague.


    The original history had actually already been changed in some way.


    After the regicide incident in Kovitan, Daniela would quickly discover that their concubine had been assassinated, and Phiros gave the order to carry out a massacre in the refugee camp of Heart of Life, but to think there was now a minuscule change in the process.


    Obscuro was probably being hunted hard by the three departments, and the plan couldn''t be successfully completed, so Daniela''s side was basically peaceful and free.


    If the concubine wasn''t assassinated, Heart of Life might not be massacred again, and the revolution might not occur, so Obscuro might not have a chance to take advantage of it.


    Daniela''s history of collapse in three months, may have already changed before they knew it.

 486 Deal 4

    Chapter 486: Deal 4


    The radio was still broadcasting the news, this method was already slowly replacing newspapers.


    ¡®From the Enderian side, the country¡¯s Construction Department has announced that the world¡¯s largest underground palace, has finally been completed. This construction process was a historical miracle, after ten years and six months, this huge underground palace will soon become the biggest architectural pride of Enderians in history."


    "Eternal Night Palace?" Garen smiled coldly, the Enderian King was a madman who chased power, and the Eternal Night Palace was actually an incomprehensibly huge Totem Tactic formation, it was meant to merge his own body with Ender¡¯s largest sleeping statue, in his pursuit for the unprecedented, strongest power.


    He was just a madman who wanted to be god, it was just that he wasn¡¯t showing it yet.


    As he listened to the news, Garen cleaned up a bit, ate some fruits, and then put on his clothes and sat cross-legged on the bed, beginning his daily secret technique practice. His practice every day was part of the basic steps to merge the Nine-Headed Dragon.


    In the next ten or more days, Garen didn¡¯t waste his time wandering about, he just stayed in his room and told everyone else that he was absorbing the Seed of the Ancestral God, when in actuality he was waiting for the Cthulhu''s Origin transaction time.


    Obscuro was growing more and more low-key, after that battle against the Royal Star Court, it was as though the whole Obscuro Society vanished without a trace, it made no move at all, in the intercontinental news, international news, and even within the other countries¡¯ domestic news, there wasn¡¯t any news at all.


    The yearly Seed of the Ancestral God activity had ended, and the many totem users from various different countries also began to leave.


    The Ancestral God Grounds became quieter and quieter. This was originally Daniela¡¯s holy ground anyway, Phiros was always standing guard over this place, he lived right on the largest Ancestral God Tree. Now that there weren¡¯t any Ancestral God Seeds left here, the totem users from other countries have no reason to continue staying here either.


    These past few days, the Star Court¡¯s two Court Masters had also left in a hurry, but no one knew if it was because they were slightly injured in the battle against God Cloud or some other reason.


    The three departments also never got along well with each other, by the time Garen found out that they had left, they had already gone two days ago.


    Daniela¡¯s sixth royal daughter would occasionally visit Garen and co as well, she was evidently very interested in Garen.


    Finally, when the people from the Cthulhuism Society were about to leave, Garen finally got the news he was waiting for.


    Scylla sent someone to inform him that they were ready for the deal


    The time was set at three in the morning, the location Ender¡¯s ambassadorial hall.


    *******************


    Two in the morning, in the middle of the darkness, Garen abruptly opened his eyes, pulled off his covers and sat up in bed.


    Looking at the small clock on the cupboard by his bed, the neon green needle was pointing at half past two.


    It was all dark in the tree hole, and there was only a slight ray of green light coming in through the curtains on the circular window.


    Garen got out of bed, and put on a black folded dress.


    The structure of the dress was very simple, a circular hole was cut out of a piece of rectangular cloth, so a person¡¯s head could go through. And then a silver belt was tied around the waist, two pieces of cloth in front and behind the person¡¯s body. The waist was tied tightly, two hidden zips on either side pulled up, and a simple yet beautiful dress was done, suitable for both men and women.


    The only flaw was that such a dress didn¡¯t have sleeves.


    Garen had actually only gotten these clothes after the last time he took a hit from the Cthulhu King, and his own clothes were destroyed, the servants here had offered these up for a change.


    He took his waist pouch of ingredients with him, although Garen wasn¡¯t strictly a totem user who relied on tactics to fight, the many ingredients and materials in his waist pouch could be indispensable at times too. In order to deal with many different surroundings and situations. Inside, there were healing potions, recovery potions, anti-poisons and other similar things, but of course the most important was still the Glittering Water he was planning to trade off.


    Putting another wide black hood over his folded dress, Garen began trying to utterly conceal his own aura and Totem Light. When even he couldn¡¯t feel any energy from his own body, he finally opened the door and walked out of the tree hole.


    Outside the tree hole, the two sleeping maids moved slightly, as though about to wake.


    Garen took some powder from his waist pouch, and scattered it.


    Their heads tilted, and they were once more asleep, leaning against the door.


    This was Traceless Sleeping Powder, in small doses it was a sleep medicine, in large doses it was an instant tranquilizer, it acted really quickly too, and was hard to detect. It was part of the preparation Scylla had sent over.


    Garen glanced up at Wukang¡¯ tree hole, he could hear the even breathing of four people from inside, it went without saying that the guy went and hooked up a few more Daniela girls again last night.


    Garen stayed quiet, pulled his hood close, and took a black mask out of his pocket, stuffing all his golden hair into the hood, and not leaving a single trace. Only then did he follow the tree hole both of them stayed in, walking out.


    There were more than ten tree holes in a row, all squeezed close to each other, but there wasn¡¯t the sound of breathing coming from the other holes, they were evidently not in use.


    Garen exited the tree hole area easily, and reached the vine road.


    There were three people in black hoods standing at the flight area as well. One of them wore black gloves with golden dots and patterns, this was the sign Scylla had told him about in advance. Seeing Garen come out, Scylla took one step forward to greet him.


    "You¡¯re the last one." His voice was deep and hoarse, completely different from usual, he had evidently used some methods to change it.


    "And here I thought I was considered early." Garen took it one step further, and had directly changed his voice to a slightly hoarse woman¡¯s voice. He was an expert in secret techniques and the structure of the human body, after all he had messed around with the King of Nightmares for some time, so a slight change of his voice like this was nothing to him.


    Scylla and the others were slightly dazed as well, as though they hadn¡¯t thought he would be so adept at changing his voice.


    If it wasn¡¯t that the black hood he was wearing was the same design as the one Scylla had given Garen, Scylla would have suspected if he was the same person at all.


    "Since we¡¯re all here, let¡¯s go." He quickly recovered, and looked at the black-hooded person on his right.


    That person nodded, took out a round black ball, and tossed it into the air.


    Noiselessly, a huge black bubble formed in mid-air, it was a full six meters in diameter.


    The black bubble floated down slowly, and landed in front of the four of them.


    Scylla was the first to step inside, followed by Garen, and then the other two.


    The black bubble instantly took flight, floating slowly towards the black night sky. Its surface reflected bits of the starlight, as though it had vaguely merged together with the starry sky, and the two were inseparable.


    The bubble left the Ancestral God Tree, and slowly flew towards the direction of the Ancestral God Grounds. After about more than ten minutes, soon enough, they could see several figures also dressed in black hoods among the trees below.


    The black bubble landed solidly, on the right side of this group of people.


    The bubble scattered, and Scylla¡¯s group of four walked out.


    "I thought you wouldn¡¯t come this time?" Amidst these black figures, an old man¡¯s voice came. He was facing Scylla, and evidently talking to him.


    "How would that be possible, last time was just an experiment, this here is the real deal." Scylla shook his head, "I just got some stock, at first I wanted to collect more before I made the exchange, but there¡¯s no time anymore."


    "Me too." The black figure nodded, and said no more, evidently they were just like Syclla, one person leading a group, coming here together to exchange something with the Cthulhuism Society.


    The two groups together made up to more than ten people, Garen took a look around, and not too far away from where they were, amidst the trees and foliage, there was a black wooden stake stuck into the ground, there seemed to be some tiny black tactic glyphs glittering on the stake.


    Soon enough, two more black bubbles landed from the sky, and more than ten more people in black hoods walked out of the bubbles.


    "We can begin now." Scylla said.


    "Of course." A clear woman¡¯s voice replied from one of the black hoods that had just arrived, and someone in a black hood stepped out, walking to the very front.


    "According to our old rules, let us first complete the promise of exchange from last time." The woman¡¯s voice said calmly. The black hood blocked away all recon methods, so that no one could tell if the person was a man or woman, or how strong they were.


    As the person spoke, all of the black hoods glowed slightly, as though there was silver light flowing on the surface. Silver numbers rapidly appeared on the chests of the hoods.


    From number 1, to number twenty-eight.


    Garen looked at his own number, number eleven.


    The black stakes surrounding them suddenly and abruptly fell silent, emitting a layer of grey powder mist, slowly enveloping this whole area, forming an upside-down hemisphere.


    The sky also began to take on a layer of grey. It had evidently been completely blocked away by the black stakes.


    "Let the deal now begin. I¡¯ll start first." The woman¡¯s voice came from the black hood again, her number was one. "This time it¡¯s my turn to be number one, the item I have is one Blood Jade Pillar, about five hundred years old. I want to exchange it for a Spring of Attas, one or more units. The quality cannot be lower than White Light."


    She flipped her right hand, and a small intricate red jade stick of wood appeared on her black-gloved palm, it looked just like a normal stick of jade, and was not extraordinary in the slightest.


    "I brought the Spring of Attas, but if you want to get a unit of White Light quality or above, your Blood Jade Pillar is still rather lacking¡­" A person in the number sixteen black hood from the group on the left of Garen and company stepped forward and spoke directly.


    Similarly, he held a transparent crystal cup in his hand, it was filled with a viscous white liquid that was emitting white steam.


    "Then I¡¯ll add on five Evolution Stones."


    "Done."


    One deal was quickly completed, and after both sides checked the items, they readily exchanged.


    Garen watched them coldly from aside. This was evidently a small-scale transaction, they weren¡¯t just exchanging the Cthulhu''s Origins. The so-called Evolution Stone was just an Evolution Crystal, it was evidently a form of hard currency.


    And then the second person stepped out, completing the promised transaction from last time.


    There were mainly two ways for them to make the deal. One was this item-for-item exchange. Even if it was something they didn¡¯t have right now, they could make a promise to meet again one year later here.


    And the other, was to exchange a condition. Using a treasure, to exchange a favor of one fight from a strong fighter.


    Just now there was one person who gave a strange dagger that could grow upon absorbing blood in exchange for a powerful fighter¡¯s promise to fight for him once.


    Because of this, Garen had also noticed that of everyone here, five of them had different robes from the rest.


    Himself, Scylla, and two people from the group on the left, and then there was number one who had first stepped out from the group opposite.


    Their five hoods were all slightly blacker than the others, the color purer.


    This was evidently a sign of their power.


    They stood out one by one, some exchanging treasures and supplies, some exchanging promises to fight. These exchanges were not very believable, after the person who promised to fight obtained their item, it depended on them whether they really were going to fight or not.


    But most strong fighters wouldn¡¯t break their promises in order to protect their long-term trustworthiness, otherwise next time nobody would seek them out for such transactions.


    As for the side that provided the treasure, all they could do was pray that they were lucky. After all, to hire a fighter of that caliber, in the normal world, that was practically unimaginable.


    At such a level, they were incomparable to any War Guild or Assassins¡¯ Guild.


    Soon enough, the deals reached the end, and from the group opposite them, the first person who had spoken, Number One, finally stepped out again.


    "Alright, now it¡¯s time for the main event. I¡¯ve brought the Cthulhu''s Origins that I promised last time. Anybody who needs to trade for them, you can step out now."

 487 Danger 1

    Chapter 487: Danger 1


    As soon as she spoke, the other four with dark black hoods, including Garen, all stepped out. Four others in regular black hoods, including the Willow Valley Master and company, also joined in. That made eight in total.


    Number One nodded.


    "Okay, the rest can leave now."


    Quietly, the others all released their own black bubbles and flew away from this area, going past the dim grey bowl-shaped barrier, and quickly disappearing into the night sky.


    After the others had left, Number One turned around and led the rest out of the grey barrier, walking towards the depths of the forest.


    The nine of them walked through the forest for several minutes, soon enough, a small white mansion appeared ahead of them.


    There were tall walls all around the mansion, a stone pillar next to the white metal gate, the words ¡®Enderian Ambassadorial Hall¡¯ carved onto it.


    Number One led the group to the front door, and the door opened automatically with a creak, there wasn¡¯t anybody at all inside. The whole estate seemed unnaturally quiet.


    The group walked into the estate, and the door automatically closed behind them. Going to the second floor, in a wide room like a study, Number One finally came to a stop.


    There was already a circle of chairs arranged in the room, more than ten of them, and everyone took their seats.


    Scylla and Garen sat next to each other, and the others surrounded the other two strong fighters in dark black hoods, taking their seats next to them. Number One sat in the very center.


    "Now can we start?" The old geezer leading the other group asked impatiently, he knew Scylla, and he was one of the five strongest people. He sat next to a normal black hooded person. The geezer¡¯s number was seven.


    "That¡¯s right, we don¡¯t have as much free time as you." The other warrior on his left nodded, he had number two.


    Number One laughed lightly.


    "We can start whenever.


    He pointed at the ground with one hand.


    The floor between the people whirred, and a translucent crystal pillar rose from the ground. The middle of the crystal pillar was completely transparent, it had a hollow in the center, and a wad of twitching yellow mud was floating inside.


    The mud was only the size of a fist, yellow in color, and there was a pair of large black eyes on it, blinking occasionally.


    "Earth God¡¯s Origin, one standard unit, if you need it you can trade." Number One said calmly.


    "I want it!" Number Two said immediately. He raised his hand, and a light blue bottle left his hand, and at the same time he grabbed at the air from the distance, and the Gaia¡¯s Origin shot straight out of the crystal pillar, disappearing into his sleeve with a whoosh.


    Number One didn¡¯t seem offended either, nodding and catching the small clue bottle, after she opened the cap and looked inside, she kept it away quietly.


    "The next one." After the crystal pillar sank down, it rose up again soon, and this time there was a cloud of faint black mist inside, forming a tiny whirlwind, the small black tornado whirring away, until the faint sound of wind howling could be heard through the whole room.


    "Wind God¡¯s Origin." Number One said mildly.


    "This was the one I booked last time." Scylla said. He also threw out a small black bottle with one hand, and walked up himself, carefully transferring the small tornado into a black hourglass item. No one knew how it was done, but he just had to touch the crystal pillar lightly and everything was done in an instant.


    After Scylla kept the item away, he sat down once more, looking rather satisfied.


    "I don¡¯t need the others, it¡¯s up to you guys now." He said softly to Garen and the others.


    Garen nodded, while the other two just smiled.


    After that there were still some more lower quality and lower level Cthulhu''s Origins, they were all taken away by the four normal black hooded people, the Willow Valley Master and the other three were slightly weaker, so after they got their items, they immediately bid farewell and left without hesitation.


    Soon enough, there were only the five strongest people left in the room.


    Garen watched them all coldly, the Glittering Water he had was not enough to exchange for middle- or upper-level Cthulhu''s Origins, but he could still get lower-level ones. One lower-level Origin required ten units of Glittering Water, he had thirty units of Glittering Water on him now, in other words, he could exchange them for three lower-level Origins.


    As for which three, he would need to consider them carefully, because they needed to match his attributes.


    The Origins were taken out one by one, evidently there was one split out from each Cthulhu, the nineteen Cthulhus, including the Cthulhu King, there was one for each, but of course nobody could exchange for any of the middle-level ones, because how long had it been since the Glittering Pond appeared? Nobody at all could have collected fifty units of Glittering Water.


    "There are still a few left, they are all lower-level Origins, it depends on you all whether you need them or not." Number One said mildly.


    "The price for your middle-level Origins is so high, I bet you don¡¯t really plan on trading them off to outsiders, do you?" Number Two said coldly.


    "How could that be, if we didn¡¯t want to trade, why would we need to bring them out?" Number One laughed and replied.


    "Alright, tell me, what are the ones left. Hehe, if it weren¡¯t for the fact that these things can only be split and taken by the Cthulhuism Society headquarters, I would have killed a few Cthulhus myself to get them. Why would I need to waste my time here!" Geezer Number Seven said impatiently.


    Number One didn¡¯t get angry, she just flicked her finger, and the crystal pillar in the ground rose again, this time it was filled with several differently colored Cthulhu''s Origins.


    Red, white, black, purple, the four different Origins formed a small square in the hollow, dominating one corner each. Red flames, white ice, black blood, and purple sand. The four types of Origins each presented a different magical sight.


    "These are the Fire God¡¯s, Frost God¡¯s, War God¡¯s, and Time God¡¯s Origins, of these the War God¡¯s and Time God¡¯s Origins are lower-level, the other two are lower quality, why don¡¯t you see which ones you need." Number One said calmly.


    "Cronus?" Garen was slightly surprised, he didn¡¯t think that there was someone among the Cthulhus who dared to use such a powerful title, after all an attribute such as time was not something totem power could interfere with.


    "It¡¯s just a Cthulhu who can turn back time a little, the title sounds very strong, but in truth they¡¯re not much." Scylla¡¯s voice came from above, "I met him before, he¡¯s ranked number three among the lower-level Cthulhus, he passes but barely, that crafty guy."


    The only high-level one was the Cthulhu King himself, the middle-level ones were the Water God, Light God and Thunder God. The lower-level ones included the Wind God, War God, Time God and the like, as for the last ten Cthulhus, they were considered lower quality.


    "I want the Fire God¡¯s.""I want the War God¡¯s."


    The voices spoke again.


    "I want the War God¡¯s and the Time God¡¯s." Garen¡¯s voice seemed to have clashed with another. He paused slightly, and glanced towards the direction of the voice, the one fighting for it with him was Number Two.


    Number Two hesitated, and looked over as well.


    "If you want it, sir, then I¡¯ll let go." He actually gave up straight. "I already got two Origins just now, this time I¡¯ll leave it to Number Eleven."


    Garen was ready to fight for it, but he didn¡¯t expect the other person to just give up, so he nodded at him as an expression of gratitude.


    Both were lower-level Origins, that made twenty units of Glittering Water in total, Garen wrapped the bottles of Glittering Water together, and then threw the package at Number One. At the same time he went up to keep the two Origins into the crystal ball container he had prepared beforehand one by one.


    He had only meant to use these two Origins for research purposes. Before he found out how to use them, he definitely wouldn¡¯t absorb them carelessly. And the healing effects of the Glittering Water were very formidable as well, he also needed to keep a portion of that, and couldn¡¯t just exchange it all.


    The two Origins he kept into the crystal ball were black and purple respectively, forming two differently-sized areas of light inside the ball, the two powers seemed to be resisting against each other, with the black one being stronger as it took up most of the space.


    Keeping the Origins¡¯ crystal ball away carefully, Garen returned to his seat.


    He waited until all the others also completed their transactions, and agreed on which Origins they needed for the next time, before the deal was finally over.


    Together with Scylla, Garen used a special item to release the black bubble, sitting inside as they immediately went on a ride through the trees, finally arriving back at the Ancestral God Tree departure point Garen had been at.


    The night was slowly becoming brighter.


    The black bubble slowly landed on the departure point, and Scylla took a black ring out of his pocket.


    "This is a simple gadget we can use to communicate from now on, it¡¯s the basic version, so it can only contact up to ten people, if there¡¯s anything good from now on you can also contact us. Of course, if we get any good info, and couldn¡¯t monopolize it alone, we¡¯ll ask you for help as well, we could all use the benefits to improve together."


    "Improve together." Garen smiled too, accepting the ring and putting it on immediately. Even if he still needed to go back and check it out, naturally he couldn¡¯t do something so inconsiderate right in front of the other party¡¯s face.


    Another source, be it in information or fighting power, could be of great use in a pinch.


    The other party was evidently also favoring the Black Swamp Palace and the Snowy Mountain powers behind him. Scylla also obviously represented Ender¡¯s power. Naturally, that would involve more than just him alone.


    "The others who own this sort of ring are Ender¡¯s two Form Fives¡­" Scylla reminded softly, and it instantly allowed Garen to understand, so the importance of this ring in his heart increased another level. At the same time Scylla had pointed out that the Red Leaf Tower Master and the Willow Valley Master who had been with them probably didn¡¯t have the right to get this ring.


    "Much thanks."


    The two of them separated at the departure point, after watching the black bubble rise into the night air and until it totally vanished, Garen finally walked towards his own tree hole.


    It was all quiet inside the tree hole, Garen patted the little green fruit next to the door.


    With a smack, the whole ceiling of the tree hole lit up with a layer of dim green light, as though a lamp was illuminating the entire tree hole.


    Garen looked around for a while and didn¡¯t discover anything out of the ordinary, so only then did he take off his black hood and reveal the clothes inside.


    He walked to the exact center of the tree hole room, raised his left hand, and pressed lightly in the air.


    Whoosh!


    A cloud of black poisonous mist spread out in all directions with him in the center, and rapidly reached every corner of the room.


    The poisonous mist scattered for a few minutes, until the few insects in the corners of the tree hole utterly melted into pools of pus, and then it retreated back into Garen¡¯s body.


    He looked around the room, satisfied, and the blood-red secret technique aura flowed out from beneath his feet again. Soon it had completely covered the whole tree hole room. After ensuring that the aura had completely covered the room, Garen picked up the radio on the table, turned it on lightly, and began to tune it to the channel frequencies according to the numbers in his memory.

 488 Danger 2

    Chapter 488: Danger 2


    This radio was actually the same gift he had gotten from those little guys in Kovitan, he had always been using it until now.


    In no time, the radio was tuned to the channel that the former Thunder God, Hannet, had mentioned.


    It was all empty inside, with only the crackling of signal interference.


    "Hannet? You there?" he said at the radio.


    There was no reply at all.


    The time ticked past, and just as Garen thought he had input the wrong code, or that Hannet had lied to him, finally a tiny voice came through the crackling of the radio.


    "Is it¡­ Big Brother''s friend?" A timid girl''s voice came from the radio.


    "I guess so, are you his little sister?" Garen asked.


    "Yeah¡­ Big Brother went out¡­ He told me, if someone comes looking for him, then tell them, it might be a while before you can meet him¡­" The girl spoke hesitatingly.


    Garen frowned, he had no idea when Black Sky and Obscuro would surface, time was now his biggest problem.


    "Then can you tell me, where did your brother go?" He tried his best to make his voice sound friendly and easygoing.


    "I don''t know either." The little girl replied in a small voice. "Recently there have been more and more people from the Cthulhuism Society, that Aud hurt Brother and Uncle last time, and now he''s back."


    Garen thought about it, but he had never heard of a Cthulhu named Aud in the Cthulhuism Society.


    "Is Aud very powerful?" He asked quietly.


    "Mn, very powerful, Uncle nearly died thanks to him last time." The girl''s voice was slightly worried as she replied.


    "Who''s Uncle?" Garen had no idea there were two such unknown people next to Hannet.


    The little girl seemed to drop her defenses around his status as her brother''s friend, so under Garen''s prodding, she soon spilled the beans about the whole situation.


    Compared to his glory before the reincarnation, Hannet had now almost hit rock-bottom.


    That so-called Aud was the hunting dog that the Cthulhuism Society had sent to hunt down the three of them, he was the Thunder God''s number one general. His power was at the Spiritualized level, and every time he would force the three of them to a dead-end, or the edge of despair.


    Thanks to the pressure by the Cthulhuism Society, the three of them had seen their family killed and destroyed, the Hannet of this life had no choice but to take his only blood-related younger sister and their family''s uncle on the run for their lives. And they kept getting hurt along the way.


    If this was a martial arts hero story, perhaps these challenges were so many training sessions for him, and his mind might grow stronger and fuller from it, geniuses with astounding talent could train for future battles by battling now, growing stronger and stronger, finally creating some sort of base for them to work on.


    Unfortunately, this was the world of totem users.


    Totems required vast amounts of supplies for maintenance preservation, and that was not including the commodities needed for evolution. Every totem user was an expert in spending. Even back then, Goth could only start his road to evolution because the Blackfield Bird was practically useless, and so consumed very little, plus he had his father''s help and his mother''s planning.


    With the way he was using it, Hannet was already considered very lucky that his core totem hadn''t degraded, as for evolving it, without the materials and supplies, he probably wouldn''t be able to evolve it for the rest of his life.


    After chatting with the little girl for a while, finding out about Hannet''s current location and situation, Garen could hear that the girl was slightly tired and out of breath, so he took the initiative to stop the conversation.


    Turning off the radio, he temporarily lost his motive to find Hannet and ask him for help in filtering, instead he took out the crystal ball again.


    Filled with the Cthulhus'' Origins, the crystal ball looked extraordinarily beautiful, the black blood and purple sand floating and moving slowly, if he looked closely at the black blood, he could see hints of dark red blood threads. And there were some golden grains of sand vaguely hidden among the purple sand.


    "Guess I''ll still study it for a bit first." Garen decided, twisting open the cover on the crystal ball, slightly less than half of the crystal ball was revealed, showing the Cthulhus'' Origins flowing inside.


    First, he chose the slightly stronger War God''s Origins. After raising his awareness of the surrounding auras, to stand guard for possible threats, he carefully channeled the Black Water True Technique, and let it run at the highest state of activity.


    Only then did he lightly reach out his pointer finger, lightly touching the mound of black blood with his finger. The tip of his finger was instantly covered with a tiny bit of black blood.


    Closing back the cover, Garen looked at the bit of black blood on his finger carefully, one of the red blood lines on it kept swimming like a leech, as though it was alive. He couldn''t feel any movement of Totem Light on it, as though it was just a bit of normal blood.


    Ah!!!


    Suddenly, a piercing scream shot through Garen''s brain.


    The red blood thread darted out abruptly, like a piercing thorn, aiming straight for Garen''s right eye.


    The scream made him ever so slightly slow to react, it was just an instant, then Garen immediately flicked away the black blood, rapidly retreating backwards.


    Boom!!!


    His surroundings gave a huge jolt, and in the distant unknown darkness, a pair of black blood eyes opened slowly. Transcending an uncountable distance, just as the blood thread was about to pierce through Garen''s eyeball, their gazes met,


    "Black Water!!!" Garen roared, the Black Water True Technique throughout his entire body activating at once. His right hand became a bolt of black lightning, wrapped up in countless black water, and with a whoosh, almost as though it teleported, he pinched the blood thread precisely.


    The tip of the blood thread collapsed and broke off, the thorn continuing to attack Garen''s eye.


    Clang!!


    Garen flicked it with his fingernail, and at the same time he chased after it, utterly flicking away the broken tip.


    Bam-bam-bam!!


    Garen took a few continuous steps back, leaving deep and clear steps in the floorboards, until finally his legs were deeply sunk into the floor, and he finally stayed steady on the spot, unmoving.


    He had the blood thread caught between his fingers, his chest rising and falling drastically, a tiny sweat already broken out on his forehead.


    Just in that instance, before the Flash Screen even had time to activate, the moment that blood thread ambushed him, he had completely relied on his instincts to stop, if it weren''t for the fact that the King of the Century level meant he had terrifyingly precise control of his body, his body probably wouldn''t have been able to react at all.


    Even if it were a Form Five fighter, they might not be able to react to such an attack.


    "Those eyes¡­ that aura¡­ the Cthulhu King!" Garen''s fingers gave a jolt, and the blood thread instant scattered into red dots of light, vanishing.


    Other than that peak-level fighter, what other method could have gone around his Totem Light, and almost made him, Garen, unable to react. Just in that instance, Garen vaguely felt his heart grow unsteady, the changes in that moment were far too fast, and too terrifying.


    The level of threat Garen felt from that blood thread was no lower than a direct frontal attack from the Cthulhu King.


    Sitting down cross-legged, he quickly began adjusting his body''s condition. But just then, the Nine-Headed Dragon that had already been fused took that opportunity to struggle.


    Before they were completely fused, totems still had their instinctive need to struggle.


    Pfft!!


    Garen couldn''t help but spray out a mouthful of blood. His complexion turned pale for a moment. Although he had long since prepared himself mentally, he had guessed that there would be something wrong with the Cthulhu''s Origins. But he hadn''t thought it would be this direct and explosively violent.


    "That was close¡­ To think that just a normal Cthulhu''s Origins would also be hiding the Cthulhu King''s tricks." His face was as pale as paper, most of his blood qi used to press down the restless dragon heads.


    "Cthulhu King¡­" A flash of hatred shot past Garen''s eyes.


    Whoosh!!


    Garen''s figure disappeared in an instant, and the two clouds of Cthulhus'' Origins vanished as well.


    A huge hole had soundlessly opened up in the tree hole room''s window. A black figure shot into the sky like a bat.


    ****************


    Enderian Ambassadorial Hall


    Garen''s figure instantly appeared in front of the door.


    Boom!!!


    With one fist, the large door instantly fell apart, exploding inwards into countless shards of shrapnel.


    "Who are you!!!" A few guards and a totem user on duty looked over nervously.


    Garen strode forward, stepping indoors. Ignoring the commotion around him, he raised his head and looked at the second floor of the Ambassadorial Hall. By the window there, a young woman''s surprised face was also looking down at him.


    Garen spread open his arms, and copious black water vapors began to spray from his body. The countless black clouds formed several dragon necks, twining around Garen''s right arm.


    Brrr!!


    The ground rang with a series of explosions, and Garen morphed into a bolt of black lightning, crashing his fist towards the direction of the woman on the second floor.


    Roar¡­!!!


    Countless roars from the Nine-Headed Dragon overlapped, they roared and howled at the same time, the five black dragons twisted around his arm like a black pillar of aura as it crashed towards the second floor of the whole Ambassadorial Hall.


    In the night sky, among the black-green sea of trees, a black cloud exploded and began to spread.


    Amidst the many black clouds, the five black dragons flew around in circles, destroying everything in sight. The deafening dragon roars kept reverberating in the air.


    The Ambassadorial Hall was turning into countless shards of debris amidst the black clouds, and a pillar of blood light shot into the sky.


    "Garen! You''ve gone mad!" The piercing woman''s voice could be heard throughout half of the Ancestral God Grounds.


    There was another huge dragon roar, and the five black dragons merged, forming the largest dragon mouth that gnashed at the air fiercely.


    It had actually bit and swallowed up the red light.


    "You nearly destroyed my roots! The Cthulhuism Society, you''re dead!!" Garen''s voice was mixed with the dragon roars, ringing out explosively.


    From the very beginning, his intention behind obtaining the Cthulhu''s Origins had already been clear to the Cthulhuism Society, and they had purposely tweaked the War God''s Origins, or maybe even all the Origins. Since the Cthulhuism Society had forsaken even the last veil of concealment, and had openly declared war on him, he no longer had any reason to hold back.


    If you want me to die, I''ll kill you first!


    The black clouds scattered, and Garen grabbed Number One''s head with one hand, his fingers like dragon fangs as they pierced deep into Number One''s skull, drawing five deep holes into her pretty face. The grey matter leaked out together with her blood.


    If he hadn''t been prepared beforehand, raising his awareness while checking the Origins, this ambush may have succeeded, and then it would be nearly impossible for him to enter the Form Five fusion phase.


    He was this close to being forced out of his fusion phase, this close to wasting all his previous efforts. All of the fused dragon heads nearly broke free from his blood qi control. He never wanted to experience that sort of feeling ever again.


    Beneath the Ancestral God Grounds, on the many Ancestral God Trees, the many tree holes began to light up, in no time at all, the green and yellow lights were all illuminated.


    Soon enough, several powerful auras shot into the sky, Garen glanced at them coldly, picked up the body and rapidly disappeared into the night sky.

 489 Depart 1

    Chapter 489: Depart 1


    After forcefully breaking past the Ancestral God Tree¡¯s no-flight power, Garen quickly searched the woman¡¯s body, and found a Cthulhu¡¯s Origin that hadn¡¯t been exchanged, glancing at it he realized it was the Light God¡¯s Origins that had been introduced before.


    Keeping it into his waist-pouch, Garen¡¯s face flashed with a red dragon shadow, and the body in his hands was instantly swallowed by the Nine-Headed Dragon, leaving not a trace behind.


    His fury from being ambushed previously had also mostly drained.


    He released a fierce breath, and his heart suddenly tightened, after being ambushed just now, his temper had exploded, and the wrath just overtook him. Under the influence of the Nine-Headed Dragon¡¯s explosive killing intent and bloodlust, he had actually gone straight to the Cthulhuism Society and killed someone.


    "Now that I¡¯ve gotten the Cthulhu¡¯s Origins, I can¡¯t stay long!" Garen was just about to turn the communicative ring on his finger to contact Wukang, when suddenly a black cloud appeared in front of him, and he sensed a familiar Totem Light ahead of him.


    "Wukang?"


    "It¡¯s me!" A man¡¯s voice came from within the black clouds. "What happened?"


    "I can¡¯t explain now, let us leave here now, I killed someone from the Cthulhuism Society, and stole some things, so they surely won¡¯t let it go." Garen said hurriedly, "We¡¯ll just use radio transmission to inform His Majesty Phiros later, now we leave!"


    Wukang didn¡¯t waste time chatting either, the black clouds carrying the carriage they arrived on, and the female guard was already riding on it, the three of them didn¡¯t say much, the black clouds cooperating with Garen¡¯s Black Water True Technique, they rapidly flew towards the outskirts of the Ancestral God Grounds.


    "Let¡¯s split up, you go straight back at full speed, I¡¯ll go settle some other things, I¡¯ll be back in a jiffy." Garen told him quietly, he was floating in the middle of the black clouds, and there was nobody around him, but he knew that if he talked like this, Wukang would definitely be able to hear him.


    "That¡¯s good too, I¡¯ll take the others back first, if you need me, you can contact me whenever using the communicative ring." Wukang knew as well that, faced with the high-level fighting power of the Cthulhuism Society, right now he would be no more than a burden.


    ******************


    Three days later


    Outside the Daniela Ancestral God Grounds, among several differently-sized villages.


    In a newly-built small wooden house, the dim light came in through the window, the faint light of dawn dying a small part of the little house white-grey.


    Cough cough cough¡­


    Inside the little house, a short young man with white hair was coughing into his hand despite himself, his face pale.


    "Are you okay?" A middle-aged man¡¯s voice came from the bed in the little house.


    "I¡¯m fine. I won¡¯t die." The young man put down his hand, and hit that little bit of blood in his palm behind him. "In the end Aud landed a fist on my back, so I was slightly hurt. It¡¯s nothing serious."


    "I¡¯ve already given her the medicine that you found from inside. Her condition should be getting better now. Too bad we¡¯re stuck here instead." The middle-aged man said helplessly.


    "It¡¯s okay, there will be a way." The white-haired man was Hannet, who had just left the Ancestral God Grounds. He had been chased down by the Cthulhuism Society the whole way, and nearly died a few times before he finally managed to hide into this village. For now, he had earned some breathing space.


    "Stone and the others are coming soon, with their help, it will probably be a lot easier." The middle-aged man said softly, watching Hannet¡¯s pale face, how could he not know Hannet¡¯s current condition, Hannet was on his last legs, and had been pushed to the limit. After repeatedly getting hurt, all the materials and supplies he had at hand for totem maintenance had been completely used up, and compared to before, his power had once more fallen to the freezing point. He had only been at Form Two power before, but now he had fallen to Form One.


    If it weren¡¯t for the Winged God Arms¡¯ support, Hannet would probably have fallen a long time ago to the Cthulhuism Society¡¯s efforts.


    Seeing Hannet¡¯s eyes flash with a hint of hatred, perhaps the other thing supporting him was also his deep-set hatred towards the Cthulhuism Society.


    His parents¡¯ tragic deaths, his family members getting dismembered and eaten, the grudge between the Cthulhuism Society and Hannet was already at a point of no return.


    "They are them, I am me." Hannet replied emotionlessly, "Don¡¯t put your hopes in anyone else, that is a foolish way to think."


    "But in any case Stone has reached Form Four too, so he¡¯s far more powerful than we are. Isn¡¯t that right?"


    Hannet fell quiet, and said no more.


    ******************


    Arooo~~~!!


    A huge white wolf, more than ten feet tall, howled at the sky, spraying out many golden threads that spread apart, shooting in all directions like raindrops.


    These golden threads were almost alive, rapidly darting through the luscious green forests, searching out any possible target.


    Ding!!


    There was a crisp sound, and several silk threads were cut apart.


    A flash of gold darted past in mid-air, running away from the white wolf at high speeds.


    "Run!! Run run run!!" Beckstone looked like a mess, a hole torn through his robe at the butt, revealing his fair white buttocks, while his whole body was covered with sticky golden liquid, and even some of his exposed skin was covered with the pale gold liquid.


    Underneath him was a huge golden flower, a large flower like a sunflower.


    There were roots and dark green vines growing from underneath the flower, like so many tiny short legs, running so fast it nearly turned into a wheel.


    The Eleventh Princess Tina was sitting on the huge flower, the little girl hugging Stone¡¯s thigh tightly, the mucus and tears covering her face, without a trace of her elegance as a royal daughter, while her entire body kept floating from the extreme speed with which they were moving.


    "This is the residual pressure left behind from the strongest totem three thousand years ago, the Heavenly Wolf King! That place just now had the strongest mark of residual power discovered in archaeological history, we should be fine as long as we get two thousand kilometers away!!" Tina roared loudly, not daring to wipe away her mucus, so she could only press her face hard against Stone¡¯s robes. The two of them were an utter mess."


    "A damned totem can still be so strong after three thousand years, are you f*cking kidding me!" At this point, even Beckstone couldn¡¯t help but curse.


    After all, after being chased for three days and nights, without even time for a toilet break, once it got to that, even a retard would probably be invoking some four-letter words.


    "You¡¯re saying that now! I told you that thing can¡¯t be touched, but you just had to touch it! If it weren¡¯t for you, we¡¯d be at Daniela ages ago!" Tina started screaming.


    Shh¡­


    Some white water flew out from under Tina. It followed the wind and floated to the back.


    The corner of Stone¡¯s mouth twitched a few times. The two of them had been living like that for the past few days, having gotten used to wetting their pants or whatnot. As for their pants getting wet, they would dry in the wind soon anyway¡­


    "I wanna die!!" Tina¡¯s face was filled with shame and fury. Although it wasn¡¯t her first time wetting herself, each time still made her unbearably embarrassed and angry.


    "Just relax." Beckstone said woodenly.


    Suddenly, a huge black shadow covered the tops of their heads.


    "Dodge!""To the right!!"


    The two of them screamed at the same time.


    Barroom!!


    There was an instant explosion like a high-powered bomb, and a large patch of trees were blown down, a deep black trench appearing in the ground.


    The huge white wolf raised its right paw, golden threads pouring out non-stop from its mouth, these golden threads were like mist, spreading apart, locking down the areas the two of them could dodge into among the trees.


    On the way here, at first they did not need to worry about their safety at all considering how strong Beckstone was, but he had assumed that safety was a non-issue, so his largest curiosity as a researcher was utterly activated by the strange and mysterious things he kept seeing on the road.


    Relying on his Form Four power, he had started exploring everywhere, and at first Tina¡¯s warnings still had some effect, but towards the end, it simply became that whatever she warned him against, he would go straight to touch it.


    After he tried that a few times and nothing happened, he began to grow fearless. Until he messed with this extremely powerful white wolf.


    This white wolf could instantly switch between dematerialization and materialization, and was extremely powerful, it could avoid any attack. Its speed was shocking, as was its destructive power. It chased the two of them non-stop for three days and three nights, extremely persistently.


    Soon enough, they could vaguely see the sign marking Daniela¡¯s country border.


    The two of them slipped behind the boundary marker, and instantly a huge power rushed straight at them.


    The huge white wolf behind them roared long and loud, unhappily, and finally retreated slowly.


    Bam!


    The two of them fell sitting to the ground, an utter mess, and lay on their backs, unwilling to move even half a finger. They just kept breathing the fresh air in large pants.


    Beckstone¡¯s hair had been blown into a broom by the air, standing high on end, while two dents had been blown into Tina¡¯s checks, the two pieces of chubby flesh hanging slightly low by her chin, looking a bit like a pug and seeming like it might not return to the way it was.


    "How blissful¡­" Tina moaned, "I just want to lie like this forever."


    "Let¡¯s find human civilization first. We¡¯re finally at Daniela¡­" Beckstone stood with some difficulty, feeling how empty the seat of his pants was, there was a faint breeze blowing past his legs.


    He looked around himself for a while, all of his luggage and belongings had been lost in the chase, even his waist pouch was gone, all he had left were the few rings on his fingers.


    Heaving a heavy breath, he lifted Tina in one go. The golden flower was also panting out of exhaustion next to them, the golden sunflower-like flower head tilted to a side, its body rising and falling, as though it was panting heavily as well.


    "You okay, Sunflower?" Stone patted Sunflower.


    Sunflower nodded hurriedly, its many roots tapping the ground to indicate that it still had energy.


    "Then we¡¯re counting on you." Beckstone said helplessly. Pulling Tina back onto Sunflower, they hurried towards the direction of Daniela¡¯s Ancestral God Grounds.


    ****************


    Garen was sitting alone, cross-legged, in a forest, there seemed to be a faint black mist permeating through the air, and the trees and grass seemed to be wilting slightly.


    The place he was meditating was already several tens of kilometers away from the Ancestral God Grounds.


    This was an extremely isolated part of the forest, and he was mostly surrounded by bamboo.


    Amidst this green sea of bamboo, there was a small round area of faintly black light, like a small spot of black ink of green cloth, unnaturally clear. That was where Garen was recovering.


    It had been three days after he left the Ancestral God Grounds by himself, the fifth dragon head¡¯s fusion was already successfully complete, with the help of the two Seeds of the Ancestral God, he had successfully completed the fusion, and at the same time he had begun fusing the sixth dragon head.


    Leaving the Ancestral God Grounds was not a decision he had made simply. Although this way he would face the Cthulhuism Society¡¯s hunting directly, he would also be able to hide his own tracks, going from out in the open into hiding. That way, should Black Sky¡¯s Hellgate reemerge, and decide to make a move on the Ancestral God Grounds, it would not affect him for now. With a bigger and more definite target in the Cthulhuism Society and Daniela¡¯s king, no matter what they would not go for an outsider power like him first.

 490 Depart 2

    Chapter 490: Depart 2


    He could clearly remember. The first place that Hellgate went after his awakening was the Ancestral God Grounds.


    By obtaining Cthulhu¡¯s Origin, he had already achieved his purpose; here was no point in remaining here. Next, he had to find the previous Thunder God, Hannet, to filter Cthulhu¡¯s will. If not, he couldn¡¯t use the Cthulhu¡¯s Origin on hand.


    Having the advantage as the King of the Century, once Garen entered fifth form, his battle ability would instantly hit its peak; on par with Phiroth and the Cthulhu King. He had already trained his martial arts to a complete level, totally different from the rest of the fifth forms who had to start their martial arts training from scratch. This was his advantage.


    However, the key factor was the lack of potential of the Nine-Headed Hydra. By level, he could only achieve lower fifth form, which is the beginning of fifth form. It was impossible for him to continue progressing. Due to the limits of the Nine-Headed Hydra¡¯s genes, nothing could be changed.


    Even though his strong battling ability could imitate a peak fifth form, it was only due to his martial arts, which far exceeded others.


    After Hellgate¡¯s awakening, the president of the Elder Council, an experienced, peak fifth form also perished by his hand. Moreover, Hellgate achieved victory without suffering any injuries. According to the original history, no one could withstand the Obscuro¡¯s progress, not until long after the big battle, when the The Great Heroes slowly rose up. Only after using the strength of an ancient tactic to gather everyone¡¯s strength, they managed to severely injure Hellgate. Only with that in addition to Beckstone¡¯s sneak attack did they then managed to defeat the strongest totem user in history. However, this battle caused huge losses to all the elite forces in the totem world. A great deal of heirlooms were lost, and the totem civilization dropped to its lowest point. Instead, it was the technological civilization. They gradually grew stronger through their confrontation with monsters.


    "Whatever the case, let me enter fifth form first. Only then I would be qualified to have a space in the East Continent¡¯s chessboard. If not, once Hellgate awakens¡­" Garen was clear.


    Bang!!


    Suddenly, the sound of an explosion came from a distance.


    Currently, the population in the East Continent had been vastly reduced. Monsters had also slowly gathered together after being recruited and controlled by the Nest Kings. As a result, the situation was much more peaceful than before. Still, only strong totem users dared to walk around in the wild.The outliers were the chaotic beasts that do not follow orders.


    Garen slowly retrieved his protective poisonous fog, and started to change position again.


    Very quickly, he found another drain. He sat tightly on the mountain walls and started to operate the Black Water True Technique.


    Out of his expectations, another sound came from the distance. Messy footsteps could be heard. It was obvious someone was quickly approaching him.


    Garen furrowed his brows. Once could be a coincidence, but not twice. The other party seemed to be headed straight for him.


    Even if he used the Black Water True Technique with all his might in addition to the Troll Grip and his various battle technique, he could barely be on par with a medium-level fifth form. If he met a true medium-level fifth form, he definitely had to flee. In his two indirect fights with the Cthulhu King, he clearly understood that although he would be on par with a medium-level fifth form if he fought with all his might, this was a key period to fuse with the dragon heads. He could not be emotionally or physically affected.


    The last time he was almost hit by the Cthulhu King from a distance, it wasted all his previous efforts. Hence, in actual fact, he was weaker than a medium-level fifth form.


    "I¡¯ve already given the secrets of Cthulhu¡¯s Origin to Phiroth, Scylla and the rest. They should be currently busy giving the Cthulhuism Society trouble. How would they have remaining strength to pursue me?" Garen was curious.


    Without further hesitation, he changed his location again.


    This time he went slightly further.


    Very quickly, not more than ten minutes, the sound came closer again. This time, Garen was sure that the other party had a way to track himself. He stayed still on the ground, waiting for the other party to approach. He wanted to investigate who was the person.


    The dense steps quickly approached.


    In the sea of bamboo in the distance, more than ten masked men and women in tight red clothing were carrying a beautifully decorated seat.


    On the red seat was a black-haired man in a red dress.


    Garen was mildly surprised. After another careful look, it was indeed a man in a red dress.


    His mouth was covered in pink lipstick and his eyes were drawn with eye shadow while holding a white feather fan in his hand. From time to time, his eyes would flicker.


    It would be better if this person was a metrosexual beauty, but based on the light beard marks on his chin and the squarish shape of his face, he was clearly a majestic man. He had a strong body yet still let out a charming winking gesture.


    Garen felt sick in his stomach. Suddenly, he thought of one of the eighteen Cthulhus of the Cthulhuism Society. His description exactly matched the appearance of this person.


    "Flower God¡­ It should be him." Garen looked from afar. The other party seemed to notice him. He flapped his fan and winked at him.


    Garen¡¯s expression did not change. He suppressed his discomfort and quietly waited for the arrival of the other party.


    Other than this group, there were no other elites worthy of attention, except the Flower God. Even the Flower God was one of the tail-ranked Cthulhus. He was only a fourth form. For him to come here alone, there must be a reason.


    After a while, Flower God¡¯s party quickly arrived before the crossed legged Garen.


    As they slowly put down the seat, the Flower God twisted his thick waist, got up from his seat and stood on the green grassy plains. He looked interestingly at Garen, who didn¡¯t bother about him at all.


    "People always speak about the brutal ferocity of Nine-Headed Hydra Garen. As long as it was an enemy, he wouldn¡¯t spare their lives. Not even beauties of the land would be spared. Now, it just seems like they do not know how to appreciate him."


    Garen¡¯s eye twitched. His intuition told him that if he allowed this person to continue, the situation would be heading in a weird direction.


    "The Flower God comes here to look for me. What¡¯s the matter?" He directly asked.


    "What¡¯s the matter?" The Flower God covered his mouth with his white fan and laughed ¡®adorably¡¯. "As one of the Chulhus, spending so much time to look for you, what do you think is the matter?"


    "Do you think you have the ability to defeat me?" Garen let out a disdained smile.


    "You did not attack me at once. Are you mesmerized by my beauty?" Flower God vainly took out a small mirror and looked at his appearance.


    "Even with my handsome looks, I wouldn¡¯t dare to speak like that!" Garen couldn¡¯t hold himself in any longer. As he uttered those words, he felt something was wrong.


    Under normal circumstances, he would never speak this way.


    After making the connection to the previous incident with his previous murderous intent, Garen could roughly guess why.


    The Nine-Headed Hydra¡¯s nature was finally starting to affect his subconscious. He hadn¡¯t forgotten that a Lord-level living being would naturally be as vain as one. All this while, since these effects were not obvious, he hadn¡¯t taken it to heart. He never thought that the effects would be so subtle.


    As he said those words, Garen knew something was wrong. His eyes widened.


    Sure enough, the Flower God opened his ¡®small mouth¡¯, and looked at Garen in shock. It was as if he had found a true friend.


    "I thought that other than I, nobody in the world could reach such a level of admiration and infatuation towards himself. I never thought that I would meet someone like you!" He seemed a little excited. His cheeks were flushed as he looked at Garen with affection.


    "No wonder why you were so familiar. Looking at it now, only beautiful people like us are the perfect couple!"


    The pores all over Garen¡¯s body stood up. He tried his best to suppress the disgust in him.


    "I don¡¯t think we are a good match. If you don¡¯t leave now, don''t blame me if things get ugly." For an opponent like this, he had no interest to take action. He felt disgusted to even go any closer to him.


    As he finished speaking, he kicked with his legs and his whole body floated backwards. He was surrounded by the corrosive poisonous fog as he flew away.


    Garen stood still on the ground with an excited look.


    "You cannot run. There is no one in this world for me but you¡­."


    Before he finished speaking and his words were still echoing in the woods, the dress on Flower God¡¯s body flew up and became a red rotating cloud.


    Sheeeshhh!!


    The red cloud descended and instantly appeared before Garen, becoming a red umbrella.


    As the red umbrella rotated, a rain of white flower petals fell from the sky.


    The umbrella exposed a charming, enchanting fair face. It was actually an indescribably perfect girl¡¯s face!!


    The same red dress, same demeanor, same gaze and also the same totem light!!


    Shockingly, it was the Flower God!


    "God Flower, capture the king!!" As the Flower God pointed, her slender jade-white fingers headed towards Garen.


    It was as if the surroundings were spinning. The bamboo forest gradually disappeared and became countless green light arcs. The surroundings became a blur and nothing could be seen clearly.


    "Even a lowly fourth form dares to act!" Garen¡¯s expression was cold. He single-handedly leapt forward to meet Flower God head on.


    Dang!!


    Their fingers met and let out a metal clashing sound. Their totem light collided, splashing out large amounts of broken light dots. The red and black dots were like elvish rain, circulating around the two people. This forced all of the Flower God¡¯s servants to retreat.


    Garen lightly blocked his opponents sharp fingers. Then he reached down with his right hand, intending to tear the Flower God¡¯s head apart.


    Suddenly, he felt pity towards the Flower God¡¯s perfect beauty. His heart involuntarily paused for a moment. A trace of pity an affection arose from his heart.


    Due to this hesitation, Flower God took the opportunity to leap back. As the red umbrella swiveled, her graceful figure was portrayed and fragrance filled the surrounding air. Combined with the lively green bamboo forest around, it gave off an illusion of perfection.


    "Sure enough. Lord Garen talks tough, but has a soft heart." Flower God let out an adorable laugh.


    "You¡¯re thinking too much!" Garen¡¯s expression grew cold. He suppressed the strange feeling in his heart and raised his left palm. Countless black water vapor dots gathered in his palm, quickly forming a black water sphere.


    As the water ball rotated in his palm, a moving black dragon shadow could faintly be seen within.


    With a crash, the ball instantly split to form a water vapor whirlpool. Garen inserted his right hand into the whirlpool.


    Sheeshhh!!


    A black whirlpool appeared in the air behind Flower God. A white large hand came out from the middle. Its fingers as sharp as knives and its fingernails were as red as a dragon head. It fiercely bit at the back of Flower God¡¯s head.


    Ahhh!!


    Flower God let out a cry and fell to the ground. Coincidentally, the shoulder region of her red dress was torn open, revealing a jade-like shoulder.


    Garen¡¯s heart skipped a beat. He instantly felt dry in his heart. Even closing his eyes had no effect.

 491 Communication 1

    Chapter 491: Communication 1


    "What kind of ability is this?" Garen retreated more than ten steps. After he could finally stand still, his forehead was covered with a layer of sweat.


    He could feel like there was a small hand disturbing his abnormally stable state of mind.


    "Take a guess?" Flower God laughed adorably as she saw Garen tremor.


    "Good good good! Good plan from the Cthulhu King!" Garen instantly turned. With a few somersaults, he quickly disappeared into the forest underneath the protection of the black poisonous gas.


    Flower God stood still on the ground. Her eyes were wandering as if she were reminiscing something.


    Swoosh!!


    A black blur instantly soared pass the sky above the bamboo forest. As the black wind blew by, large amounts of bamboo leaves fell to the ground. Even the bamboo poles were shaken.


    As the black wind landed on the ground, a human figure instantly appeared.


    Garen¡¯s expression remained still but there was a flash of hatred in his eyes.


    "No wonder Flower God dared to track me alone. The feeling just now was a mental ability!"


    He carefully thought for a moment. It was indeed a mental ability.


    Normally, this ability wouldn''t have much effect, but it was a special period now. His state of mind cannot be shaken. Once it was shaken by the ability, it wouldn''t mean much to a normal person, but all his efforts for the fusion would be wasted.


    The Cthulhu King must have seen this. Hence, he sent Flower God to pursue him alone. The other Cthulhus must also have been caught up with other matters. If not, it wouldn''t be just one Cthulhu in pursuit of him.


    After Garen realized this, he instantly fled. Although the Flower God¡¯s mental ability wasn¡¯t destructive, now was a period where it could be lethal. Furthermore, the Cthulhu King had given him some unknown secret tricks. In this situation, it was foolish to be aggressive.


    As for his reputation, Garen naturally will not be affected by all these. His actions only needed to be tactically sound.


    He took out a water bottle from his pouch bag and drank from it.


    "If it were me before my death in the previous world, maybe I would battle him head on to protect my pride. But now¡­." Garen felt nostalgic. As he thought of the previous world, he remembered his sister Ying Er, Andrela, King of Nightmares and his old friends. He also remembered Sylphalan, who eventually fell into lava.


    "Lord Garen¡­." A charming girl¡¯s moan came from afar. She was complaining, as if a beauty was asking her lover to change his heart.


    "Lord¡­.Do not run away from Little Flower alright?"


    Pu!


    Clear water almost blurted out from his mouth.


    Garen was already affected by the mental ability. His reflexes were already slightly slower. But the final two words, Little Flower, left him completely speechless. His whole body trembled.


    Maybe the people of this world did not relate it to something bad, but he who came from earth had deep negative impression towards the name "Little Flower".


    In that instant, the effect of the mental ability greatly reduced.


    Garen¡¯s eyes became clear and turned back to look at the bamboo forest. He saw Flower God heading over here through the bamboo forest.


    Without hesitation, he activated the black cloud and fled into the distance.


    As the two of them were running around, Garen seemed to be secretly bringing the Flower God in a loop.


    He had subtly realized that his state of fusion was stabilizing under the Flower God¡¯s abilities. It seemed harder and harder to be shaken.


    Realizing the benefits, he would rather bring Flower God on a wild goose chase in the bamboo forest. At times, Garen even had to slow down to wait for him.


    Flower God seemed to sense that his ability wasn''t working well. He kept quiet and chased Garen with all his might. However, once Garen stopped, he wouldn''t voluntarily go closer as well, but merely tailed him from afar. From time to time, Garen could see his sad eyes through the gaps of the bamboo forest.


    It took a full, five days.


    On the sixth day, Garen was still bringing Flower God in circles.


    Suddenly, a red string shot out from the back of the bamboo forest.


    As the sharp red string flew towards Garen, it abruptly slowed down, becoming a thin line. It lightly surrounded Garen and landed on the ground before him.


    Garen didn''t know where it came from. Flower God¡¯s aura was still two kilometers away.


    He frowned as he picked it up. The red string was a little thick. Surprisingly, there was a white piece of paper within.


    He tore open the string to retrieve the paper. On the water was a clear line of words.¡¯


    "Angokhan Village, Twelfth wooden hut - Hannet."


    Garen surveyed the surroundings. There wasn¡¯t even a shadow, nor was there a sign of any totem.


    "He is indeed the last Thunder God, God of Taboos. Even this stealth technique is already extraordinary." He knew that the messenger was either Hannet himself or his kin.


    With such a stealth technique, no wonder the Cthulhu King could not capture him after such a long period of time.


    "Lord Garen." Flower God¡¯s girly voice came from behind again.


    This time, Garen set crossed-legged on the ground and waited quietly for the other party to arrive.


    Very quickly with a red flash, Flower God gently dropped from the sky. He still held the red umbrella in his hand. The tight red dress clearly revealed her sexy figure. His skin was white as snow, while he was as pretty as a flower.


    If Garen¡¯s didn¡¯t have a deep first impression of that squared-face, burly man, most likely he would have thought that the other party was a true beauty.


    Unfortunately, after these few days, he already figured out the background of Flower God.


    This guy¡¯s true self was that burly man in women¡¯s clothes. However, the beautiful girl was his totem. He relied on his strange talent to combine himself and the totem into one.


    Complete fusion before reaching fifth form did give him strong power, but also his strange state. Normally, he would look like the burly man. Once he used his totem¡¯s ability, he would transform into the beauty.


    Flower God constantly changed between two extremes, extreme inferiority and extreme narcissism. Finally, he had come to this strange, this crazy persona.


    "You''ve finally stopped running?" Flower God looked grim with resentment. "My company for so many days couldn¡¯t cheer you up?"


    Garen twitched his lips. Flower God really liked to create a flirty environment. Unfortunately, once he thought of the squared-face guy in female dressing, his mood would instantly turn sour. This became his biggest counter towards the mental ability.


    "What did the Cthulhu King want you to say to me?" Garen steadied his emotions and slowly opened his mouth.


    Flower God was surprised, as if he did not expect Garen¡¯s movement.


    "Well, nothing, actually. So you can die now."


    Before his words could finish, Bang!! A fair-skinned palm appeared before Flower God.


    The palm¡¯s five blood-red fingers formed a claw, like a dragon opening its mouth.


    Roar!


    Dragon roars loomed. With this, Garen activated the Black Water True Technique with all his might, using the full power of the five fused dragon heads. He aimed his full power at the Flower God¡¯s eyes.


    Not even a normal fifth form would dare take him head on, what more a peak fourth form.


    For the past few days, Garen relied on Flower God¡¯s ability to reduce his chances of being affected during the fusion period. Now, he could finally use his full-strength.


    The Flower God let out a cry. With a bang, he disintegrated into countless flower metals, trying to escape from the claw.


    The flower petals quickly regathered in the bamboo forest in the distance. As they were about to form a human, a black light flashed by.


    Garen¡¯s figure stood beside the flower petals with a calm gaze. He slowly retrieved his hand.


    He thrusted his right arm into the middle of the flower petals. The Black Water True Technique was as fierce as the sea. With the new power from the fusion, he used a tremor-style technique. Within a split second, large amounts of flower petals were separated.


    The large amounts of flower petals again flew to another spot, trying to form a human figure. With a flash of black light, the petals who had just gathered were separated by Garen again.


    Being in an elemental state without being able to regain his physical form, Flower God started to panic. His strange ability allowed him teleport to any place with flower petals. However, forming a human figure needed time. In his elemental state, he couldn¡¯t teleport far away, but only within a small radius. Regretfully, Garen¡¯s speed in a small radius was equal to teleportation.


    Everytime Flower God tried to form a human figure, the petals would be separated by Garen. After each separation, the gathering power would weaken a little. In his elemental state, every second required large amounts of totem light. Flower God got more and more anxious.


    Bang!


    With a punch, Garen separated a bunch of pink flower petals. The broken flower petals flew everywhere. This time, different from the ten previous times, Flower God did not stand up.


    He completely became flower petals and slowly disappeared on the spot.


    "Unfortunately Cthulhus are immortal. If the origins remain intact, there is no way to completely destroy the opponent." Garen shook his head in pity.


    By using the Flower God¡¯s mental ability to train himself, he had wasted quite a lot of time. As his body stabilized, the fusion with the dragon heads also became faster than previously expected. The training obviously had a stimulating effect on the fusion process.


    After the five heads, most of Garen¡¯s power had already moved to the Black Water True Technique. His body gradually developed an integration between totem light and blood flow. Together with Flash Screen supporting it fully, a normal fifth form totally had no chance to pierce his defense and injure him. However, Flower God¡¯s mental ability went around this and directly affected his mind. This caused Garen initiate his retreat.


    "Lord Garen is so charming even when killing someone¡­Truly, you''re the man that caught my eye." Flower God¡¯s soft voice came from the air. "I¡¯ll come look for you again."


    Garen had goosebumps. He headed for the village he remembered in his memory.


    Before he came to Daniela, he memorized the map around the Ancestral God Grounds. He wasted practically no effort finding this village.


    ****************


    Angokhan Village


    A small village on the outer borders of the Ancestral God Grounds


    There weren¡¯t many villagers in the village. The chief was a Cthulhuism Society caretaker who, every Sunday, would have people to teach the kids. While Hannet¡¯s cover was the combat instructor to these kids.


    He was a retired Daniela soldier who knew a few decent combat techniques.


    The whole village was a simple village built with white wood. There was a sharp fence surrounding it. On the outer regions, there were some villagers who reared cows and goats. These mutated goats had fat bodies, and from time to time they would bow their heads to eat the mutated grass.


    "Net, going to teach the kids again?"


    "Net, you don¡¯t look good recently. Do you want to go to Linla¡¯s to have it checked?"


    "Uncle Net. Do you still have more of these handmade sacks?"


    As Hannet came back from the temple, the villagers around greeted him warmly.


    He was dressed in a brown, sackcloth shirt. On his face was a warm smile. He wore a black leather hat on his head, completely covering his hair.


    He returned to his small hut.


    In the hut, the middle-aged man was squatting in front of a wooden basin, using a knife to cut some wood. As he heard him entering, the middle-aged man turned back to look at him.


    "Beckstone and the rest have found Elin. They are rushing her over here. Since they look raw, they should be able to find an opportunity to go near the Ancestral God Pillar."


    "It is not so simplistic." Hannet sat on the ground opposite the man. "Both the King of Daniela and the Cthulhuism Society will not allow me to absorb the power of the Ancestral God Pillar. If it wasn¡¯t for the accident last time, I don¡¯t think I could have successfully left the Ancestral God Grounds."


    "To handle Thunder God and the Cthulhuism Society, maybe we can ask for outside help." There was a flash in the middle-aged man¡¯s eyes. "I just went to look for that elite from Kovitan."


    Hannets pupils shrunk.


    "You¡¯re crazy! That guy is a murderer, fierce and cruel. What if he turns his back on us¡­."


    "To take on the Cthulhuism Society and get back the power that Havana stole, we can¡¯t do it on our own." The middle-aged man calmly whispered. "At the Ancestral God Grounds, he helped you once. He must have had certain intentions."

 492 Communication 2

    Chapter 492: Communication 2


    "Another one who seeks the Winged God¡¯s Arm?" There was a flash of sorrow in Hannet¡¯s face. He involuntarily clenched his fist.


    "Nine-Headed Hydra Garen, Lord of Black Swamp Palace, One of Kovitan¡¯s Four Gargantuans. He is incredibly ferocious. To seek power, his family used humans as living experiments. Everyone in Kovitan knows of this matter. To solidify his position of power, Garen once killed thousands of people in one day. Blood flowed like a river and no one in the kingdom wanted to mess with that lunatic." The middle-aged man explained. "Messing with a fierce man like that would create headaches for the Cthulhuism Society. This will immensely relieve the pressure on us."


    "This Garen is a dangerous man. With his strength, it will put us in danger as well by cooperating with him." Hannet thought of the incident on the Ancestral God Grounds. In his mind, he instantly placed Garen on a level of extreme danger.


    "Nevermind. Nine-Headed Hydra is just a peak fourth form. Once Beckstone and the rest arrive, we will also have a fourth form elite to completely control Garen. By cooperating with each other, both sides can obtain what they want." The middle-aged man seemed to have arranged everything. "This time, I discovered a big secret of the Cthulhu Society."


    "Oh?"


    "Recently most of their elites have gathered over. On the surface, it looks like a standstill with the royal family of Daniela. In actual fact, they have discovered a new set of ancient ruins. The ancient ruins here have a certain relation to Cthulhu¡¯s Origin.


    Seeing Hannet closing his eyes, the middle-aged man said, "What I meant was, since the Cthulhuism Society is focusing on the ruins, we can tell this piece of news to the royal alliance. Once both sides are engaged in battle, we can take the opportunity to sneak into the Ancestral God Grounds to inherit the power of the Ancestral God."


    "Phiroth is always on guard beside the Ancestral God Pillar. The success rate of this plan isn¡¯t high, is it?"


    "Naturally...Who¡¯s there!!" The middle-aged man suddenly realized something off. Both of them leapt to their feet. One of them was glowing in blue lightning arcs while the other one¡¯s body was full of red tactic symbols, as if he had a full body of rashes.


    Both of them suddenly realized that in the closed hut, there was suddenly another human figure.


    This person was sitting crossed-legged beside the two men, carefully listening to their conversation.


    Hannet¡¯s hairs all over his body stood up. The person before him was incredibly dangerous. Even more than the current Thunder God, Havana who robbed his power. He had never experienced such fear, not even in the Ancestral God Grounds.


    Both of them were most proud of their stealth techniques. They never thought there would be someone who could quietly approach them, without them being aware of it.


    The human figure sat crossed-legged on the ground. He wore a simple sackcloth, his long blonde hair draped over his shoulder. On his fair handsome face, there were three red marks on his brow.


    As Hannet saw the three red marks, he could roughly guess the identity of the man.


    "Lord of Black Swamp Palace Garen. I never thought you would sneak into the house of others, like a thief."


    "Those are just titles." The other party laughed. Behind that handsome face, he gave people a dangerous and dazzling feeling. "As long as I like, I¡¯ll do it. It will be too tiring to consider so many things."


    Hannet and his companion were facing a great enemy. At the Ancestral God Grounds, he didn''t know who this young man was and what was his identity. It was only after his uncle pointed out that Hannet knew how dangerous this man was. To be able to kill thousands of people and feel nothing, even if he wasn''t the strongest, he would at least be a generational overlord.


    Although Hannet saw Garen blocking the Cthulhu Kings attack through the air, he hadn''t experienced it firsthand. He totally had no idea how powerful Garen was.


    Until now. The opponent before him slowly emitted a needle-like murderous intent. Only now did he understand that his previous evaluation of this man was too low.


    "Lord Garen coming to find me, this poor fellow, what would you have us do?" Hannet cooled down. The tough experiences of his past and his awakened memories of his past life allowed him to quickly steady himself.


    Looking at Hannet and his companion, Garen blinked his narrow eyes.


    "I say, little brat. Have you forgotten our initial appointment? You are the one who gave me this address."


    "That was me." The middle-aged man on the side suddenly spoke. His forehead was full of cold sweat. Under the effect of Garen¡¯s aura, both of his legs were shaking, seemingly unable to hold his weight.


    "It was me who passed you the address."


    The middle-aged man psyched himself up.


    "Lord Garen, we have a common enemy in the Cthulhuism Society. As the saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend¡­"


    His voice came to an abrupt halt.


    Once the middle-aged man saw Garen looking at him, his body instantly fell into limbo. It was as if a great fear was overwhelming him from the inside. Both of his legs gave way, and he bowed to the ground. His eyes were blurry and his body was covered with sweat. He could no longer speak.


    He was different from Hannet. He was just a first form totem user and his core totem had only one ability, stealth. Under the pressure of Garen¡¯s aura, his courage instantly disappeared. He was on the brink of collapsing.


    Garen snorted. A delusional, small, ant thought he could be on par with him. A giant dragon would not associate itself with trash that couldn''t even be considered food. Both of them were clearly not contributing on the same level. Only Hannet, the last Thunder God, someone with special attributes, could capture his attention.


    "Uncle!" A sense of anger flashed through his eyes.


    "Don''t worry. I''m just letting him quiet down for a moment." Garen said without bothering. This experienced old man was much harder to appease than the last Thunder God. It would be better to keep him silent.


    "What are you trying to do?!" Hannet stood still on the ground and didn''t dare to move. As he faced the opponent¡¯s pressure, only then he realized the terror of this man. The air around him seemed to have a huge pressure which was constantly pressing on him. The blood throughout his body was boiling. It flowed faster and faster, becoming hotter and hotter. He was indeed more courageous than a normal person. He stood still to face Garen.


    Garen finally let out a smile.


    "What I want to do is simple." He flipped over his hand and showed a fist size crystal sphere. The transparent crystal sphere was incredibly beautiful. This sphere itself most likely could be sold for tens of thousands of Rumbs in the market.


    But Hannet¡¯s gaze was attracted by the dead matter within the sphere.


    "Cthulhu''s Origin!!??" He couldn''t hold in his shock.


    "Oh? You recognize it." Garen let out a satisfied smile. "The true form of the Thunder God is an inhibitive substance, a purification substance. I¡¯m sure you now know what I want you to do for me?"


    Hannet¡¯s face turned pale.


    "You''re crazy! To purify Cthulhu''s Origin, one needs to completely defeat the will of the Cthulhu King! No one can do it! No one!" In his mind, he suddenly remembered his past self being forced by the Cthulhu King. Eventually, he had no place to go and died a terrible death. That blood red blur is an undefeatable nightmare. Even now, he would dream of that horrifying figure from time to time. His pressure was almost suffocating.


    "You just have to do it." The smiling intent in Garen''s eyes instantly disappeared. A huge, terrifying pressure was instantly released. It pressured Hannet''s body.


    Hanner held on to his knees, not allowing himself to bow. Under the two forces, his knees started to crack.


    "I saved your life the last time. As basic integrity, shouldn''t you repay me?" Garen''s mouth was still smiling but his gaze was incredibly cold. It gave off a terrifying, paradoxical feeling.


    Hannet¡¯s sweat was like a stream, flowing down from both his temples. The sweat gathered beneath his chin, and continuously fell to the ground.


    "Remember, I¡¯m passing this Cthulhu¡¯s Origin to you. How long do you need to prepare?"


    "Three...three days!" Hannet knew that if he didn''t accept, both he and his uncle would die here today. He bit his teeth and struggled to squeeze out a few words.


    "Three days later, I will come to look for you." Before he finished speaking, the figure in the house disappeared in a flash.


    The pressure seemed to be just a dream, and disappeared instantly.


    Puff!


    Hannet sat on the ground. His whole body and even his underwear was wet. It was as if he had just come out from water.


    "Three days from now, Beckstone and the rest would be here. That time, they definitely would be able to handle this guy." The more he thought of it, the more afraid he became. Only that bloody red figure had this kind of oppression. Moreover, Garen could already comprehend it at fourth form.


    This discovery made him tremble from the bottom of his heart. As someone who doesn''t like to rely on his companions, for the first time, he strongly hoped for Beckstone¡¯s quick arrival.


    As the Terraflor Society¡¯s first generation pride, Beckstone''s talent was his terrifying speed of evolution. He definitely would be able to counter the opponent¡¯s pressure.


    **********


    On a deserted corner outside the house, Garen lazily laid beneath the shade of a huge tree. He layered his two hands behind his head and used them as his pillow. The midday sun shined on his body, providing gentle warmth.


    As the gentle breeze blew by, it brought the gentle fragrance of the flora nearby. From time to time, butterflies and bees would pass by him.


    He lifted his head. Through the gap in the leaves, he could see the blue sky. It was like premium sapphire.


    How long was it since he had such a comfortable feeling?


    Garen was counting his mind. He could not remember when was the last time he could relax like this.


    These three days were periods of rare rest for him. Every day, other than that three hours needed to fuse the dragon heads, he was completely free for the rest of the time. He could completely relax his body, to adjust his body condition for the upcoming battle.


    He was displeased with the last time Hannet ran away on his own. This time he wanted to show him who was boss. Aura pressure and totem pressure were two completely different concepts.


    Analyzing the difference in grade, aura pressure is from a person¡¯s heart. When a higher grade aura pressures a lower grade aura, it could completely overwhelm the opponent.


    Furthermore, aura encompasses the will, which is a combination of spirit, soul and body. The effects are even more obvious when applying aura on someone that didn''t have an aura. Like the oppression between a tiger and a rabbit, this was a natural oppression on one¡¯s


    subconscious. Even seeing it would make the person tremble and overwhelmed by fear.


    Resistance was impossible.


    Most of the time, the body''s natural defense mechanism towards danger is beneficial. But when facing aura, the effects were negative. It would numb the body of the being, disabling its movement. The whole body would be in an extremely panicked state. Because the expenditure of energy was too overwhelming, the opponent wouldn''t even need to do anything to shock the other person to death. Even elites who could withstand it would also break down due to the body¡¯s huge loss of energy.


    This was the terror of aura. It was a dangerous technique created based on natural body instinct.


    After Garen''s body started to have the combination of power from blood flow and totem light, his aura could be used once again. It was also far stronger than his previous peak.


    This kind of aura could bypass the defense of totem light, directly affecting to the body. Garen was delighted. Although he had predicted it, but truly obtaining such a beneficial change would definitely bring joy.

 493 Battle 1

    Chapter 493: Battle 1


    The change of aura originated from his body¡¯s new power. This was Garen¡¯s biggest achievement. If it were before he surpassed his totem light, the blood-colored aura looked strong, but in fact, couldn''t be directly used on totem users. Its capabilities were to be a supplement to corrosive poison to corrode the other party¡¯s totem light, and it was a large, area of effect ability. And now, it had returned to its original purpose.


    Other than the aura, the other thing was the Cthulhu¡¯s Origin.


    The Cthulhu¡¯s Origin was a treasure that allowed the Obscuro Society''s marshalls to reach peak fifth form. It''s effects were definitely supernatural.


    However, to use the Cthulhu''s Origin, one has to remove the Cthulhu King¡¯s will. To do this, one has to first use Hannet¡¯s purification abilities to draw itn out, then destroy it with an external force. Only then could the Cthulhu¡¯s Origin be used properly.


    As he lay underneath the shade, Garen got more and more relaxed, as if he was about to enter a dream.


    Time passed by slowly.


    In the afternoon, Garen woke up from his deep slumber. After training the Black Water True Technique for a moment, he sat crossed-legged on the ground to set up his communication rings.


    He had three communication rings. They were for Scylla, Black Swamp Palace and the Secret Service each.


    He hadn¡¯t been using the Secret Society ring much after the director and the rest moved away. Most likely, they have settled on the fringes of the world fissures, which was a remote area in between Kovitan and the Artic Circle.There was a majestic, giant castle in that area, which was a fortress to defend against monsters on the ground. Most of the people who left Kovitan had headed there. They tried to go underground from there to obtain protection from the Elder Council, and although some of them returned, most of them had already entered the mountain city and will never be back. The conditions of the kingdom did not allow them to return.


    He took off the Secret Service¡¯s ring and crushed it in his palm. Next, it was the ring given by Scylla.


    He turned it lightly. A faint rustle came from the ring. After studying it for a while, Garen noticed that the principle usage of this ring was about the same as a radio. The only difference was that user could enjoy sole usage of an encrypted channel for communication. He patched into it, but there was no one on the other end to receive his company.


    He closed this ring. After thinking for a moment, Garen activated the Black Swamp Palace¡¯s ring.


    This time, after a moment, a clap came from the other party. They had connected to each other.


    "Is there anything?" It was Ivycius¡¯ voice. His tone had a slight difference through the communication signal, but it was still as cold as usual.


    "How are you recently? What¡¯s your condition?" Since he was connected to Ivycius, Garen asked casually.


    "Very good. Give me half a year more. I should be able to pass the fusion phase and enter fifth form." Ivycius answered faintly. "You are also in the fusion phase. Why did you run out anxiously?"


    "Naturally, I have my own plans. How is the situation in the palace?" Garen continued asking.


    "It¡¯s alright. The only thing was that Blizzard and Angel of the Night fought the other day, destroying a small portion of the outer palace. Now it is still under repairs."


    "Blizzard and Angel of the Night?" Garen¡¯s head started to hurt. "Aren¡¯t they together? Why did they fight?"


    "For the laws you set. Elders have the authority to choose one disciple to be his own in the palace. Both of them set eyes on a newly recruited brat. Once they couldn¡¯t decide who would get him, they started to fight." Ivycius also sounded helpless.


    "Oh? A young brat? His talent is so high that two peak fourth forms would fight for him?" Garen was surprised.


    "He is a child from a peasant background, not more than fifteen years of age. But in his foundational training of the Black Water True Technique, he only used three days to breakthrough level one, entering into level two." Ivycius answered faintly.


    "Oh? That¡¯s impressive!" Garem was instantly interested. As the one who created the Black Water True Technique, naturally he was the one who best understood the difficulty of this martial art. Even with terrifying talent, it was not probable for someone to be able to enter level two in such a short time. There must be a huge secret regarding this child.


    When he did his recruitment, he didn¡¯t care about background, but only ability. In the name of non-discrimination, he had his eyes on the genius peasant children. These children did not lack talent. All they lack was a string that they could hold on to climb upwards.


    "What is special about him?"


    Ivycius paused for a moment. "I can¡¯t place it specifically. However, this kid has terrifying attributes. He has a steady will and strong spirit!"


    "Strong spirit!?" Garen¡¯s interest grew. For someone as proud and critical as White Rose Sword Sage, Ivycius to praise his spirit, he must have been abnormally special.


    "Tell me. What did he do that made you feel that his spirit is strong?"


    There was a pause on the other side. He didn¡¯t answer immediately. After a while, he slowly opened his mouth.


    "On the first day he entered the palace, he more than doubled the training of his fellow geniuses."


    "Oh?" The corner of Garen¡¯s mouth curved. This genius training camp was where the selected geniuses trained. It was also the place with the most challengers and pursuers for the positions of core disciples and Four Directions Sky Warriors.


    "On the second day, he broke through level one. The speed of increment of his attributes were twice that of his peers. Only three others could be compared to him. Moreover." A hint of laughter escaped from Ivycius¡¯ voice. "Moreover, he would meditate in front of your statue every day."


    "Meditate?" Garen grew more and more interested. He knew that as the first Lord of Black Swamp Palace, there was a statue of him.


    "Out of curiosity, I asked him as I passed by. I asked why did he come here to meditate. Guess his answer?" There was a hint of admiration in Ivycius¡¯ voice as well.


    "What did he say?"


    "He said. The Lord of Black Swamp Place who gave grace to peasants was the first one to reinvent the world. And he himself, would be the second one who will control the world! He admires you, but it is mere admiration."


    "Madness!" Garen couldn¡¯t help but started laughing.


    Mere admiration and not reverence. That meant he would one day surpass the other party. By meditating in front of Garen¡¯s statue, it meant two things. One one hand, it meant respect. On the other hand, it meant that Garen was his target.


    "What is the situation now? How long has he been in the palace?" Garen asked again. If he didn¡¯t have to purify the Cthulhu¡¯s Origin, he would have rushed back to meet this mad little brat.


    "He has been in the palace for half a month. He is currently entering level three of the Black Water True Technique."


    Hissss.. Garen sucked in some cold air. Before he left, he already passed on the first four levels of the martial arts to Ivycius.The first four levels were the key parts for a normal human to experience breakthrough.


    Even his three most-favored disciples were only on level two currently.


    Although this young brat had just entered the palace for half a month, he could actually reach the level three! He must be extremely compatible with the Black Water True Technique to have such frightening progress?


    Garen suddenly realized that maybe, he had underestimated the people of the world. Among the peasants there were many terrifying geniuses. The only thing was they never had an opportunity to show it. Now with this rare opportunity, this power that was suppressed by nobles with totems for many years broke through all obstacles and surpassed all limits.


    Garen put his hands on his knees. Suddenly he had a feeling. By creating the Black Swamp Palace, he was rewriting a new chapter in history.


    Ivycius¡¯ voice continued on.


    "After you left, the palace functioned according to your orders. We continued to recruit students from all over the region; three batches of twenty four students each. The elders discussed and decided to segment the students into nine grades, based on the Nine-Headed Hydra. The levels are from one head to nine heads, with nine heads being the strongest. The Black Water True Technique can develop one¡¯s potential. The young brat, being the first one to enter level three has started to have signs of developing totem power. So both elders fought because of him."


    According to the agreement, elders were also qualified to acquire disciples. However, they were mere teachers of the path of the totem, not martial arts. The young brat was already highly sought after before he had even completed developing totem power. It was evident that he had outstanding talent.


    Although Garen was almost at the peak of the continent, he felt the change of an era was coming when he heard of this news.


    Mankind was failing, totem users were suffering heavy losses, but yet geniuses are everywhere. Is this a return to glory or the beginning of hell? No one knew the answer to this question.


    "I¡¯ll return as soon as I can." Garen gave his last reminders. He closed the ring and spiraled into deep thought.


    Generation after generation, every era wouldn¡¯t be lacking of outstanding people. Who knows whether this young brat would be the next Hellgate. He could be shockingly brilliant, eventually reigning the earth.


    "For the Black Water True Technique that should at least take years, he actually entered level three in half a month. This talent¡­.Even I wasn¡¯t that fast when I was training in the Giant Statue Technique."


    He thought of all the overlords in the world gathering together, using this world as their stage.


    Unconsciously, a sense of pride gushed forward from his chest.


    As he slowly stood up, the passion that was slowly depleting over the years started to burn again. The Black Water True Technique surged through his heart as it was operating faster and faster.


    The hint of fear towards the Cthulhu King completely disappeared in that instance.


    "The heart does not bow under power. Out of all the things in the world, only the heart can restrict a person. As long as the heart is not restricted¡­" Garen seemed to have an epiphany.


    That student¡¯s actions gave him a huge shock. He didn¡¯t stop because of his current weakness. Instead, he made the highest point he could see as his target. That was his huge ambition. As long as he kept up his spirit, in addition to his talent, he would definitely be an outstanding person in the future.


    Since the martial art world reached the level of king of the century, there seemed to be some changes.


    Garen closed his eyes, carefully experiencing the minute feelings. It was as if everything had passed in a flash and he couldn''t grasp it.


    In fact, by going through time and space to another world, and experiencing growth from a weakling again by walking step by step and seeing so many different parts of history, he had already long reached the brink of breakthrough.


    In a trance, he seemed to be able to see something in the distance. Hawk King Goth was strangled to death by a black net. Flower King Earnest was bound by red string, while Dragon King Alyson was frozen in an ice prison.


    And also himself.


    He bowed his head and looked at his body. There was a black volcanic ash-like substance on his body. It was doubt, fear, failure, distress...


    Unconsciously, Garen¡¯s mind got clearer and clearer. His worries and fear for Hellgate all these while, disappeared in a flash.


    The black ash over his body gradually fell off, quickly revealing a set of clean clothes beneath.


    Suddenly, he laughed towards the sky.


    "Never thought it would be a young brat who gives me the warning."


    At that moment, the level of the King of the Century faintly increased towards an unknown extent.

 494 Battle 2

    Chapter 494: Battle 2


    As the Black Water True Technique in Garen¡¯s body was churning crazily, the Nine-Headed Hydra roared towards the sky in the black space. His strong aura was almost tangible blood, constantly rolling around like boiling magma.


    In that instant, Garen¡¯s spirit seemed to have completely fused with the Nine-Headed Hydra¡¯s spirit, combining into one entity. In the dark, the Nine-Headed Hydra let out a series of roars. It danced in joy and for the first time, it voluntarily coordinated with the Black Water True Technique, increasing the speed of fusion.


    The sixth dragon head quickly fused into Garen''s body. The strong dragon heart provided large amounts of fresh blood to nourish the newly fused flesh and bones.


    The Nine-Headed Hydra did not reject this at all. It was as if Garen was a close relative. A sense of submission and respect came from the Nine-Headed Hydra, and at that point, it was as if Garen was the true Lord of the Swamp during ancient times.


    With the voluntary cooperation of the Nine-Headed Hydra, the fusion became faster and faster. Garen didn¡¯t need to exert energy at all. The Nine-Headed Hydra was like a passionate fanatic, voluntarily breaking down its own flesh. It fused into the Black Water True Technique¡¯s cycle, digesting over and over as the fusion process continued, quickly becoming Garen¡¯s own strength.


    Garen stood silently under the shade. His heart was in peace, but there was a faint tyrannical will, creeping up within him.


    He understood that this was the tyrannical will that was in the ancient Nine-Headed Hydra¡¯s genome. Because the will was fitting for him, it allowed his core totem, the Nine-Headed Hydra to submit. It was completely willing to fuse into his body.


    In ancient times, even the birds in the sky would fall to the ground under the roar of the Lord of the Swamp. This tyrannical, fearless will dominated everything. It was the pride of being one of the strongest living things in ancient times.


    The incomplete core totem was still just a copy of the Nine-Headed Hydra. Facing the actual will of its ancestor, it chose to submit.


    The villagers from a village far away seemed to hear the cry. There were footsteps heading his way.


    Garen smiled and became a cloud of black smoke, then disappeared into the sides of the forest.


    Now, with the Nine-Headed Hydra¡¯s voluntary cooperation, the fusion of the dragon heads was no longer an issue. The time required was greatly reduced. Most likely, he needed no more than two days to completely fuse with the Nine-Headed Hydra, stepping into fifth form. Moreover, operating the Black Water True Technique required time, and couldn¡¯t be rushed.


    The ancient Nine-Headed Hydra¡¯s tyrannical will was an unexpected fit with him. It actually had a faint intent of fusing with his spirit.


    However, these were not major issues. The key thing was, the level of a peak fifth form was in his sights.


    Phiroth. Cthulhu King. Both of them had already reached the level of peak fifth form. Their accumulation of power over the years was immense. But Garen could feel that Phiroth¡¯s aura was stronger than the Cthulhu King.~


    As the strongest king of Daniela in history, his will had long been at the level that Garen had just entered.


    While the Cthulhu King had to rely on his countless years of accumulation to barely be on par with Phiroth.


    Garen didn¡¯t know how to describe this level. In Earth terms, it would be someone who was clear of his own heart, able to explore his innermost nature. His heart would be crystal clear, unable to be affected by anything external.


    This realm allows one to finally unleash his greatest power. The state of body will not be affected by any external things. Under the shift of the will, one could even unleash powers like never before. He will not be threatened or cumbered. Whether he fights or retreats, there will be no hesitation.


    At this level, the heart was like a bright pearl that could be separated into multiple layers. The outer layer will never be able to affect the inner layer.


    "Never thought that there are people that can exceed the level of the King of the Century in this world.." Garen lamented. If Phiroth was already so strong, how about Hellgate, who was stronger?


    Suddenly he felt thankful, thankful that he came to such a great era, thankful that he could compete with the strongest of this era to pursue what each wants.


    ********************


    Three days later.


    Under the dim light in the hut.


    Hannet was crouching on the ground, drawing the final lines of the tactic formation.


    On the floor of the hut, an extremely complex, round tactic formation could be clearly seen in front of another person in the hut.


    This tactic formation seemed to be formed by layering more than ten other tactic formations on top of each other. Its diameter was only four meters, but there were more than ten thousand symbols in it. They were crammed together, like countless white bugs climbing on top of each other.


    As the light flickered, it shined on Hannet¡¯s sweaty forehead, reflecting a hint of grease.


    "Finally, it is complete." Hannet slowly finished his carving and got up from the floor. "I just have to wait for a thunderstorm to connect to the electromagnetic field in the sky. Together with my body attributes, the Cthulhu¡¯s Origin can be purified, drawing out the will of the Cthulhu King."


    "What do we do after it is drawn out? None of us can withstand the Cthulhu King¡¯s Will. Even just a glimmer of his will would be able to defeat all of us!" The middle-aged man on the side muttered.


    "At that point, it would be up to that man." Hannet shook his head. "We are only responsible for drawing of the Cthulhu King¡¯s will. The rest of it has nothing to do with us."


    "Should we go and inform him now?" The middle-aged man asked.


    Hannet nodded his head and sat on the ground. He looked exhausted. His eyes were full of bloodlines, showing an obvious lack of rest.


    The middle-aged man stood up and came to pick him up.


    "Unfortunately I can¡¯t help much."


    "No problem. Have Beckstone and the rest arrived?" Hannet closed his eyes and massaged his temples.


    "I¡¯ve told them of the urgency. They should be arriving today."


    "That¡¯s good."


    "Since everything is prepared, shall we begin?" Suddenly, there was another voice in the hut.


    The two of them were caught by surprise. Although they were mentally prepared, they were still shocked by the voice who suddenly appeared beside them.


    "Lord Garen, are you sure you want to begin?"


    Hannet quickly steadied himself and spoke.


    "Definitely. How is the preparation of the Cthulhu¡¯s Origin?" Garen was dressed in the same sackcloth clothes as two days ago. He had a smile on his face, looking gentle.


    "The preparation is complete." Hannet bowed his head, trying to avoid the other party¡¯s dark red pupils. It had only been a few days since he had seen the other party, but his aura had become more concentrated by a fair bit.


    "Let¡¯s begin." Garen nodded.


    Hearing the signal, Hannet stepped into the tactic formation. He placed the bright Cthulhu¡¯s Origin in the middle. Then, he sat crossed-legged in the formation. He placed his two palms on the ground on the only two empty areas in the formation.


    Buzzz¡­.


    A wave of blue, luminous light came from the tactic formation. All the internal lines in the formation glowed in blue. Currents of electric flowed from Hannet¡¯s body into the formation below.


    The Cthulhu¡¯s Origin was placed right in the middle. With a cracking sound, the crystal ball suddenly cracked. The white sticky liquid slowly flowed out from within, emitting white luminous light.


    As the blue light and white light mixed together, the blue light slowly surrounded the white light and started spinning.


    Seconds and minutes went by. With the white light as the center, the blue lightning arcs slowly formed a vortex with a two-meter diameter.


    Crack!!


    A flash of lightning flashed across the vortex. In the middle of the vortex, a full-blue shadow of a bird appeared.


    The blue bird was like a peacock. Its tail had nine, long, lightning feathers. The feathers and blue light were combined together and couldn¡¯t be differentiated.


    Crack!


    As another lightning arc flashed by, a human-faced bird shadow rose up from the formation. The Human-Faced Bird was fully blue. There was no expression on its face, far different from the Nine-Tailed Bird.


    The Nine-Tailed Bird and Human-Faced Bird caught the white Cthulhu¡¯s Origin in between them. As the two palm-sized blurs suspended in the blue and white light, the lightning arcs in the blue light increased in number, becoming denser and denser.


    The white liquid in the middle also had signs of becoming clear.


    As the buzzing grew louder, the whole hut seemed to start shaking.


    "Success!!" Hannet let out an expression of joy. "As the Origin starts to become clear, it is a sign that the purification process is a success!" He said loudly.


    Garen, who was standing outside the formation, let out a smile.


    Suddenly, there was a series of hurried footsteps coming from outside the house. As the footsteps got nearer, it got more hurried.


    Bang!


    The door was knocked open. A tall, silver-eyed young man rushed in suddenly.


    "Beckstone wait!!" A girl¡¯s urgent cry came from behind him.


    Hannet and uncle were overjoyed. It was as if they had let go of a huge burden. They felt much more relieved.


    Beckstone, a fourth form and the genius of the Terraflor Society, can definitely scare the Lord of the Black Swamp Palace.


    Entering fourth form before he hit thirty, in addition to the strong Terraflor Society behind him, even the arrogant Black Swamp Palace wouldn¡¯t take him lightly. He wouldn¡¯t ignore the giant Terraflor Society.


    He met Beckstone during a totem forum in the past. At that time, himself, Tina, Beckstone and another companion stood up simultaneously against a group of bullies. That was how they met.


    After that, they realized the chemistry between their totem abilities and so happen could form a small group. Hence, they did so and completed multiple tasks in the Luminarist Guilds. They even set up a small mercenary squad.


    After multiple afflictions, their bond grew stronger. Many times, they sacrificed their lives for each other and could be considered friends for life.


    This time, when Hannet heard that Beckstone was rushing over, although he said that he didn¡¯t want to rely on others, but in fact he felt warm. The Beckstone now was no longer a normal person like before. His words and actions represented the Terraflor Society. He was a major figure and a genius of the next generation, almost on par with the Three Great Heroes.


    In fact, the fame of the Three Great Heroes was built on the three major regions. They used their natural strong forces to protect many peasants and nobles. However in an individual battle, Hannet believed that they might not as skilled as Beckstone.


    As both of them lifted their head to looked at Beckstone and his companion, they realized that Beckstone¡¯s and Tina¡¯s expressions were abnormally strange.


    "Ga...Garen!!" Beckstone slowly called out the name of the man before him with a low voice.


    Before Hannet and his uncle could smile, their mood gradually sunk, together with Beckstone¡¯s low voice. They could evidently see Beckstone¡¯s face turning white. His gaze looked extremely anxious. Together with Tina behind him, both of them seemed...seemed to be in fear.


    Hannet¡¯s heart sank.


    "My teacher, how is he?" Garen turned to look at the two people. He smiled as he asked.


    "Mr. Emin is doing very well." Beckstone bowed slightly. Glimmers of golden totem light were swiftly flowing around him, as if his strong fourth form aura could explode anytime.


    He hadn¡¯t forgotten the past two humiliating battles. The man before him had completely become his nightmare. He kept on trying his best to improve himself. But every time he thought of that defeat, his heart would grow cold.


    As the white light in the hut grew brighter and sharper, a strange aura slowly flowed out from the white Origin.

 495 Battle 3

    Chapter 495: Battle 3


    Not purifying the Origin on a stormy day would originally be considered inadequate. But since the Cthulhu King''s will had voluntarily came out, it was an entirely different story.


    Under the blue and white light, Garen did not have any intentions of taking action. He merely stood still and turned his head to continue looking at the Origin in the tactic formation.


    Beckstone and Tina watched Garen with extreme caution. They didn''t dare to get too close, hence they stayed close to the wall while walking towards Hannet and his uncle.


    The hut was terrifyingly quiet. Only the crackling sounds from the blue lightning arcs could be heard from time to time.


    As the blue light glowed on Garen''s face, it seemed to reflect a hint of coldness.


    As the strange aura of the Cthulhu''s Origin became denser, some white gas was slowly diffusing out. The gas seemed intangible, appearing and then disappearing again.


    Crash!!


    Garen''s hands suddenly tremored. He threw the remaining Cthulhu''s Origins accurately into the middle of the tactic formation.


    Crack!!


    Suddenly, there was a roll of thunder in the sky outside the house.


    All the people from the village raised their head in shock. The weather was originally clear, but large amounts of clouds suddenly gathered together quickly.


    "What are those!!?" Someone cried out.


    All the villagers were stunned. They dropped whatever they held in their hands. Those that were in their houses ran out. Some of them were carrying their children.


    Everyone stared at the sky.


    The sky was originally clear, without any clouds. As they watched, more and more clouds gathered.


    "No! Those are not clouds!" The village chief who was holding a staff raised his head and spoke.


    At that moment, it was as if the huge white clouds instantly became red, as if they had been doused in red ink.


    In the hut


    There was a passionate smile on Garen''s face. He raised one of his hands and grasped at the sky.


    The whole roof was corroded silently, like melting candles or snow. There was a large round hole within a few minutes.


    Chiiii!!!!!


    From the middle of the tactic formation, a red light beam suddenly shot towards the sky. Sharp cries came endlessly. The whole hut disintegrated instantly. Like the roof, the four walls quietly melted into oblivion.


    Hannet and the rest had to escape from the hut. Beckstone protected everyone, forming a hemisphere of golden totem light. The crowd looked at the beam from afar in horror.


    As the blood-red beam broke through the red clouds in the sky, numerous air streams surrounded it and rotated under high speed.


    Garen stood in front of the beam and lifted his head towards the sky, as though the sharp cries and giant tremors did not affect him at all.


    In the sky above, numerous blood-colored clouds gathered quickly, forming the shape of a giant face.


    The blood-colored face was like a thin mask. There was a silver-faced, red-robed man standing out its right pupil.


    From above, the red-robed man glanced down, meeting Garen''s gaze.


    The wind was howling and the blood-colored clouds were rolling. The whole sky became dark as the sun was completely blocked by the plentiful blood-colored clouds. Only the gigantic blood-colored face and the silver-faced, red-robed man on its left pupil remained.


    "You shouldn''t have lured me out." The Cthulhu King''s voice was metrosexual, unable to determine his gender.


    "Have a battle with me." Garen smacked his lips. There was a glimmer of excitement in his eyes. "I tried my best to use the will in the Origin as bait, luring your true self. It wasn''t to have a casual chat with you."


    The two eyes under the Cthulhu King''s mask glowed in red and gave Garen a glance.


    "You are not my opponent. Enough strong men have died at my hands."


    Before the voice ended, he lifted his hand and pressed downwards.


    Suddenly, a beam of red light fell from the sky like thunder.


    Bang!!


    The pillar descended and shot towards Garen''s location at an amazing speed.


    Bang!


    Garen lifted his hands to block it. Numerous red light arcs passed by his two sides like water. He was fiercely pressured, almost into the ground. The black totem light around him also changed its shape due to the pressure.


    "Fragile." The Cthulhu King''s scornful voice came from the sky above. Suddenly, the red glow in his eyes dimmed. "Yes? I''ll let you go this time. The next time, you won''t be so fortunate."


    Before he finished his words, the face in the sky dissipated, forming numerous red clouds which eventually disappeared. The Cthulhu King himself also disappeared.


    The giant red light slowly disappeared after a few seconds.


    Majority of Garen''s body had been completely pressured into the ground. Even totem light couldn''t withstand such a terrifying attack.


    The giant beam pressured him and left him speechless.


    After the red light completely dispersed, Garen stood on the ground in rage. The Cthulhu King''s explosiveness was far stronger than he had imagined. But it didn''t mean he couldn''t defend against it. It was just that he didn''t adapt in time. As he was about to counter-attack, he never thought the Cthulhu King would flee!


    The explosiveness of the Cthulhu King''s martial arts was far stronger than the Black Water True Technique. Its power was also abnormally terrifying. It wasn''t as dense as the Black Water True Technique, but its power was far superior. However, with that incident, it meant that he''d been left speechless by a casual attack from the Cthulhu King. This caused the ancient Nine-Headed Hydra''s ego to be severely provoked.


    The environment around was quiet. No one dared to speak for fear of attracting Garen''s rage. The villagers had already retreated from the village under the leadership of the experienced chief. They were watching from the outer forest.


    Hannet, Beckstone and the rest under the protection of the golden hemisphere also looked at the scene in fear. In a battle of fifth forms, even the aftermath left Beckstone''s golden protection hemisphere full of cracks. A bit more power would completely shatter it.


    Garen was suppressing his rage when he saw Beckstone''s group from afar. He suddenly waved his hand.


    Roar!!


    Poisonous gas in the shape of a black dragon rushed over and collided with the golden protection hemisphere.


    After collided on the hemisphere with a crack, it fiercely lashed at Beckstone''s body.


    Bang!


    As if being punched from a close distance by someone, Beckstone and the rest were blown away, colliding fiercely with the wall behind.


    "What are you doing!!" Tina wasn''t severely hurt as most of the force was blocked by Beckstone. "Can''t defeat the Cthulhu King then take us as punching bags!? Now I know that the Lord of Black Swamp Palace is a villain. I used to think you were an incredibly strong master! I was wrong!" She got to her feet and shouted loudly.


    "Stop talking Tina!" Beckstone caught hold of Tina and stood in front of her. Blood was flowing from the edges of his mouth.


    Hannet also got on his feet. His face was pale. He helped his uncle up, whose head was covered in blood. His expression was full of rage.


    Garen had a strange sense of guilt on his face instead. The rage on his face disappeared instantly. It was as if he was performing a face-changing act. His expression quickly became calm.


    "I''m sorry. I was impulsive in the moment. Hannet lured out the Cthulhu King for me and helped me so much. Yet I attacked you. It''s my fault."


    He had no expression at that point in time. Tina who had a strong intuition could easily see if one was sincere. At that time, she actually felt that Garen was sincerely apologizing.


    "It''s my fault this time. I should''ve killed you today Beckstone. Unfortunately¡­." Garen let out a sigh of regret, then became a black cloud and disappeared on the spot.


    The surroundings were quiet without any other noises. Only the sound of the wind blowing above the village could be heard.


    In a wooden hut behind Beckstone.


    Two white-robed men and women looked at each other and laughed. The shining green seeds in their hands slowly dimmed.


    "He sensed our presence." The man spoke softly.


    "What about that? With the Seed of Light, we only have to chant the spell to bring Beckstone away. Even if he attacked it won''t be beneficial for him." The girl smiled. "We have troubled you this time."


    "Why do you mention this between us?" The guy shook his head. "Sisley, what do you plan to do next?"


    "We don''t have much time. The Nine-Headed Hydra should have entered the separation stage. It is troublesome. He is on the same level as Phiroth, very troublesome. To fuse the totem''s blood vessels and will into the body to achieve complete fusion in spirit, not only the man would affect the totem, the totem will also affect the man. However, he can independently use the totem''s mode, to form a perfect totem fusion power for battle. Not many can surpass him in actual strength."


    "This guy is so young, yet had already entered this level.." The guy said in regret. "Let''s not bother about him. Once Hellgate awakens, he will also be one of our greatest helpers. Let''s consider how to handle the Clash of Clans."


    "I''ve already contacted the kings of the three regions. This time we can''t go, or¡­." The girl whispered but the man held her hand tightly. Warmth came from the man''s hand.


    "Don''t worry. I will always be by your side."


    The girl lifted her face and revealed a young, gentle face. She leaned into the man''s embrace.


    Two of them turned and instantly became green light, then disappeared.


    *****************


    Garen was traveling at high speeds in the forest. He was a like a black line on a green carpet, incredibly evident.


    As the warm sun shone from above, his shadow wasn''t left behind.


    After running for some time, he came to a sudden halt. He closed his eyes and sensed his surroundings. The Cthulhuism Society''s major rendezvous point wasn''t far away.


    After being defeated by the Cthulhu King, the ancient Nine-Headed Hydra''s will was displeased. Garen decided to look for a group of Cthulhus that could be easily found.


    Moreover in a head to head battle, not to mention himself, even the stronger Phiroth couldn''t take on the Cthulhu King plus the other eighteen Cthulhus together. Immortality was the terrifying point of the Cthulhus. Even by grinding, they could wear out a majority of elites.


    He could sense the aura and voice of a Cthulhuism Society stronghold from afar.


    Garen leaped onto a large tree branch and crouched on it.


    "It''s getting more and more exciting." He mumbled and looked at the Cthulhuism Society stronghold in the distance. It was shaped like a red bucket.


    As he was about to attack Beckstone, he suddenly sensed an unknown teleportation power surrounding Beckstone and the rest. This power was very difficult to sense as it kept appearing and disappearing. There were also two strong auras around that were incredibly in sync.


    The intense vitality in the aura made him think of the Terraflor Society. Only plant totems would have that kind of aura.


    Terraflor Society was always under the radar, but Garen knew about the original history. He didn''t forget one bit. After Hellgate''s awakening, Sisley, the Terraflor''s leader, one of the elites that could take on Hellgate in the East Continent will also be awakened. The battle between was even recorded extensively in the history of the universe.


    All this while, the Terraflor Society had been led by the elders. Their leaders could not be found and their tracks were uncertain. However, after Hellgate''s awakening, they were forced to appear to avoid the total destruction of the Terraflor Society.


    Sisley was actually a woman. However, her husband has to be included in her abilities. In other words, the Terraflor Society''s strongest force was actually this couple combined. Both of their core totems were a plant totem called Dual-Love Flower. The nature of this plant was one pair for a lifetime. They were connected like lovers, staying with each other in life and death. With the combined strength of the two of them, they managed to fight Hellgate. Of course, there were other factors, but they managed to hold Hellgate off for a substantial period of time.


    Garen was organizing the original history in his mind. He roughly calculated the upcoming situation. After his latest upgrade, his core totem was in a unique state. It was in a state of the ancestral Nine-Headed Hydra''s will, which allowed him to unleash the strongest battle ability.


    The Black Water True Technique stabilized at the thirteenth level. He forced each level with each of his dragon heads.


    Garen recorded the changes of every level, so the students in the Black Swamp Palace could master it as well. Since they didn''t have the Nine-Headed Hydra''s blood, they could never be as strong as Garen. However, if they trained it to the peak, they would at least be far stronger than a normal fourth form. If they were fortunate to find a core totem that fit well with the Black Water True Technique, they might have an opportunity to enter the fifth form.

 496 Battle 4

    Chapter 496: Battle 4


    Gathering his thoughts, Garen suppressed the Totem Light force field before removing a Cthulhu¡¯s Origin crystal ball from his belt.


    The three Cthulhu¡¯s Origins inside were rotating around one another, forming a beautiful ring.


    Light God¡¯s Origin, Time God¡¯s Origin, War God¡¯s Origin.


    The white, black and red halos rotated constantly, endlessly. The Cthulhu¡¯s Will inside had already been removed completely, removed by the Cthulhu King to locate its coordinates.


    Currently, these three Cthulhu¡¯s Origins had become absorbable powerful treasures.


    Despite this, Garen was unsure of how to absorb this to receive the Origin¡¯s effect; different resources required different absorption methods, while medicine could even become poisonous.


    It was the same as using external medicine internally. Not only would there be no benefits, it might even prove dangerous.


    "The only one who truly knows how to use it is the historical, unnamed Obscuro Marshall." Garen thought about everything that happened at the Ancestral God Grounds, and quickly focused on the masked female Obscuro Marshall.


    "I¡¯ll go see the Cthulhuism Society first, if that doesn¡¯t work, go find the female Obscuro Society Marshall!" he instructed himself in his mind.


    The figure turned into a shroud of black smoke instantly and silently shot towards the Cthulhuism Society¡¯s bloody wooden fortress.


    Boom!!


    The main door of the wooden fortress cracked open instantly and split inwards, violently smashing into a few followers who were guarding the place.


    "Enemy attack!!"


    A loud roar echoed from within the fortress.


    Garen stood in front of the wooden main door, watching as the Cthulhuism Society¡¯s followers clad in red leather clothes rushed out, each of them holding glowing red long spears as they charged towards him. A few Totem Users stood at the back, while both of their hands drew Tactics quickly. Layers of Tactical Formations slowly illuminated with white light in their surroundings. At the same time, many Totem beasts also pounced out from all four corners.


    The corners of his mouth curled into a sneer, and without any movement, the Black Water True Technique began to rotate slowly.


    Garen stepped on the ground.


    A cloud of black Poison Mist was released suddenly, before it filled the surroundings.


    Desperate cries rang out without cease, while a large group of Totem beasts that were caught in between wailed loudly.


    With Garen as the center, all of the Cthulhuism Society¡¯s followers prostrated on the ground and rolled around screaming. The flesh melted off their bodies instantly like a candle, until only their skeletons were left.


    Soon, only white bones were left inside the entire fortress.


    The strongest Cthulhuism Society Totem User was only Form 3 and had not even achieved Spiritualization yet. He had only resisted for little while longer in the Poison Mist.


    Looking at the entire bloody fortress from a far, there were clouds of black Poison Mist that surrounded the fortress closely. They had taken on the shape of a dragon as it drifted past.


    "Is there not even one person of substance here? What about the Cthulhus?" Garen furrowed his eyebrows and scanned his surroundings, noticing that within a short span of two minutes, this place had completely transformed into a dead city.


    The hundreds of people inside had all become nutrients for the Black Water True Technique, fusing into the Poison Mist.


    "This place is a great distance from the Ancestral God Grounds. Perhaps the Cthulhus have all returned to their respective stations," he furrowed his eyebrows and guessed. "However, I just need to destroy a few more of Cthulhuism Society¡¯s bases, and the Cthulhus will probably appear by then."


    **********************


    Half a month later


    Ender in the East Continent


    Somewhere on the long coastline, blue-white waves crashed against the shore before receding, leaving dark water marks that disappeared almost instantly.


    Two slender silhouettes walked side-by-side across the beach, strolling. Rays of light from the sunset bathed both of them, casting them in a layer of gold and red and causing two narrow shadows to form behind them.


    "You¡¯ve really made up your mind?" One of the silhouettes belonged to a young man clad in long black robes with dark gold lace trimmings. His chest was unclothed, exposing white bandages that were wrapped around his bare upper body and waist. Faint traces of blood on top lined the top.


    "For the sake of this goal, how many years of hard work have we endured already? Just when we¡¯re about to succeed, you decide to withdraw from seclusion?"


    The other person was a woman who reached her hand out to comb her hair messed up by the sea breeze. Like the man, she also wore a long robe with dark gold lace trimmings, except that she also had a tight-fitting white T-shirt inside, while a black ring hung down in front of her ample chest.


    The woman turned to the side and glanced at the unending seaside scenery, while a confused look appeared on her pale, average-looking face.


    "You wouldn¡¯t understand. It¡¯s not the life I want." The white crescent-shaped earrings that hung from her ears shook slightly, adding some colour.


    "Then what kind of life do you want?" asked the man faintly. "When we first joined Obscuro together, we decided that we would join and leave with each other, but now, I get out and the first thing I find out is that you want to retreat, don¡¯t tell me there are people in the West Continent that dared to bully you?"


    "To you, will I only ever be that little girl that gets bullied by everyone?" The woman could not help but smile. She kicked the pebbles on the beach while her head was lowered. "I¡¯m just tired, my heart is tired."


    The woman¡¯s voice became softer.


    "This life that is filled with nothing but chasing the unknown, it¡¯s so tiring¡­"


    "You promised me¡­"


    "Don¡¯t force me, okay?" The woman interrupted the man. "Have you not noticed? That I¡¯m becoming less like myself?"


    The man suddenly fell silent.


    "How many years has it been since we strolled on the beach like this? Even though you and I both command a continent, and even if we stand any higher, or our powers become any stronger, what use would it be? A person would always feel exhausted in the end."


    "So your trip to Daniela this time, was to obtain Love God¡¯s Origin? And then retreat after it fused? Did you ever think of my feelings?" The man¡¯s emotions began to bubble up. "I worked hard to become stronger, and made commanding a continent my only goal, for what exactly?"


    He paused. "In the beginning, you said that once I achieved Spiritualization, you would consider marrying me. Then, I entered Spiritualization. Next, you said that because of your older brother, you couldn¡¯t be selfish, so I needed to achieve Form 4 and help Big Bro before we could get married. And after that, I entered Form 4."


    The woman bowed her head, lacking any rebuttal.


    "Finally, you said that because of your brother, you had to head towards the West Continent, while being in charge of a military department." The man inhaled deeply. "For your sake, I determinedly immersed myself in your matters, and did unscrupulous things, before finally, becoming the head of the military in the whole continent. And now, you¡¯re telling me that you¡¯re prepared to retreat?!"


    "I let you down¡­" The woman lowered her head.


    "Hahaha¡­" The man laughed softly. "How many years has it been, don¡¯t tell me these are the words you think I¡¯ve been waiting for all these years?" His smile disappeared suddenly. He stared at the woman in front of him.


    "Aixi, can I hold you, properly, one last time?"


    The woman stayed silent, but her body inched closer to the man nonetheless.


    The man suddenly took the woman in her arms tightly, as if he were holding the most valuable piece of treasure in the entire world. The unconcealable look of greed and desire appeared on his face and gaze, all hidden from an angle invisible to the woman.


    "Let me hold you for a moment, just a moment¡­ Alright?" he begged.


    Perhaps it was because she felt guilty; the woman¡¯s body stiffened slightly, but finally relaxed again, allowing the man to hold her tightly.


    However, still out of the sight of the woman, the back of his palm faintly lit up with line after line of black symbols, The countless symbols soon crawled off the back of his right hand, like ants, quietly climbing onto the woman¡¯s back.


    "Aixi¡­ You will always be mine, forever¡­"


    The man murmured softly.


    The woman suddenly realised something was wrong.


    "God Cloud, let go of me!" She began to struggle, but it was useless. Her entire body had turned limp, as if she had no strength left. A burning sensation began to creep across the skin on her back.


    "God Cloud! What are you doing?!"


    "How pitiful¡­" Suddenly, a sympathetic male voice echoed out from nearby the two people.


    "Who is it?!" God Cloud raised his head suddenly.


    There was a crashing noise before a black chain exploded out from beneath the legs of the intruder, forming a hole. The chains disappeared instantly, forming a shadow.


    Not far from the two people, stood a slender, well-built golden-haired man, whose tassel-like bright long hair was being blowing in the wind, a mocking expression plastered on his handsome face. He looked at the two people embracing one another.


    "Didn¡¯t think that I¡¯d see such a romantic scene the moment I rushed over. Tch tch¡­ Who would have thought the two Marshalls of Obscuro¡¯s main military departments had this kind of.. confidential information."


    "Black Swamp Palace Master Garen?" God Cloud loosened his grip on Aixi, holding her by the waist with one hand, propping her up against his own body. "Why are you here? If you¡¯re here to get revenge after your breakthrough, I can accompany you anytime."


    A look of faux surprise flashed across Garen¡¯s face.


    "I¡¯ve always thought that you only liked men, I never expected that you would choose not not give up on women, too¡­"


    "Damn you!"


    God Cloud¡¯s face suddenly contorted in rage.


    Innumerable black chains shot out of the ground and flew towards Garen, before intertwining with one another and enveloping him, wrapping him into a metal ball in the blink of an eye.


    However, strangely enough, all of the chains merely wrapped around air, and Garen appeared appeared in a different position from before. His hand reached out to pressed onto the surface of the chain ball gently.


    Silently, the chain ball melted quickly into a black gooey liquid that fell onto the sandy beach.


    "After spending such a long time in Kovitan as the concubine, don¡¯t tell me you¡¯ve forgotten the daily love and care His Majesty Avic showed you, God Cloud? Tch tch¡­ That¡¯s really brutal," said Garen with a sympathetic look on his face.


    The expression on God Cloud¡¯s face became even more contorted, while violent strength seemed to be bursting out of him like an exploding volcano, like a dam about to burst.


    Unfortunately, to protect one person while confronting the newly peaked Form 5 in front of him was beyond his abilities, even for someone like himself. Moreover, the Distorted Beads were not with him anymore, and in order to control Aixi, he had used up half of his Totem Light, causing him to be in his weakest state right now.


    God Cloud¡¯s gaze flashed, while black chains slowly arranged themselves in Tactical Formations throughout his surroundings in midair. The chains seemed to be dispersed in a chaotic manner, but within the chaos possessed hidden, ordered movements.


    Garen sneered, snapping his fingers lightly.


    Bang!


    A circle of black mist formed a ring and dispersed itself. It rushed straight for the black chain, quickly melting it into the same black viscous liquid before dropping onto the ground.


    Within a range of a hundred meters around the three people, all of the living creatures were melted by the Poison Mist. Even the sea water turned slightly black.


    "Trying to escape? I picked this timing on purpose, so why would I let you run away so easily?" Garen smiled. "To control your lover, you picked this location specially, and even arranged everything in advance. With such good timing, do you really think I would let you off so easily? Now, tell me about the fusion methods of the Cthulhu¡¯s Origins."

 497 Venus 1

    Chapter 497: Venus 1


    "Fusion methods of the Cthulhu¡¯s Origin?"


    God Cloud¡¯s mind relaxed; as long as his opponent still had demands, this would be easy.


    A puzzled expression was currently plastered on Aixi¡¯s face while she was being propped up by God Cloud with one hand. Even though a large amount of black symbols were crawling up her back slowly, she felt nothing, but even so, pain seemed apparent in her eyes.


    Looking at Garen, who was not far away, her mouth moved to speak but no sound came out. Even her right to speak was being controlled by God Cloud.


    Lowering her head, Aixi stopped moving. Regarding God Cloud¡¯s minor movements, she was no longer worried. She was just being held, gently, by him, while both her eyes were half shut.


    "You want to fuse the Cthulhu¡¯s Origin?"


    God Cloud did not notice Aixi¡¯s current expression because he was glaring at the man opposite him instead.


    Black Swamp Palace Master Garen Trejons. He had a breakthrough not long ago and entered lower Form 5, but his battle skills rivaled peak Form 5 in reality. He had slaughtered countless Cthulhuism Society bases consecutively and defeat many Cthulhu alliances, before finally disappearing suddenly. No one had expected him to suddenly appear here.


    "To hand it over or not, that is your own choice." Black Poison Mist permeated out from below Garen¡¯s feet continuously, surrounding a range of more than hundreds of meters around him, enveloping around God Cloud and the woman tightly as well.


    Within the black mist, black chains began floating out of midair in the surroundings of the two people. It resisted the corrosion of the Poison Mist.


    God Cloud¡¯s eyes flashed; the current situation between him and his enemy was undesirable.


    "I can give you the methods, but who can assure me that you won¡¯t make another move after I give it to you?"


    "This will depend on your luck." Garen laughed, he had noticed Aixi a long time ago, but she was always exiting the Obscuro professionals¡¯ base, and thus he had no opportunities, and could only keep following closely behind her and wait for his chance.


    He never expected that Aixi would leave the base alone this time, and when he found out that the person she was meeting was actually God Cloud, Garen prepared to retreat quietly, but never thought that God Cloud would make a move first.


    When he grasped the key moment when the two Marshalls would be at their weakest, Garen appeared instantly.


    Both of the Marshalls would surely have Crystal Derivators, but with professionals of their level, Totems that were controlled by something like that would only be useful to delay time. The true determinant of victory or defeat depended on one¡¯s own strength.


    "Alright, I can give the Origin fusion method to you. But this method requires a longer time to be explained verbally¡­" God Cloud hesitated slightly, opening his mouth suddenly.


    "It doesn¡¯t matter, we have more than enough time." Garen¡¯s mouth stretched into a smile, exposing his pearly white teeth, but strangely enough, his current teeth had become slightly sharper, and resembled a saw, unlike human teeth.


    "For plotting against President Hellgate¡¯s blood-related younger sister, the West Continent military department Marshall, your future days will not be good, God Cloud¡­ Do you want to consider leaving Obscuro Society to join my Black Swamp Palace instead?"


    "You don¡¯t have to worry about that anymore." Aixi opened her mouth suddenly. White light flashed throughout her whole body before she escaped from God Cloud¡¯s arms at once and stood on his side quietly. It was obvious that God Cloud had given up his control of her, allowing her to escape.


    "Big Brother God Cloud did not do anything to me, your eyes have fooled you."


    Garen¡¯s expression remained unchanged, he was now sure that Aixi was the historical Marshall that had broke through using the Cthulhu¡¯s Origin, but at this moment it was obvious that she had not broken through yet, and did not need to be feared. Meanwhile God Cloud had had a burden removed from him, and could relax during this battle. Victory and defeat would be harder to determine now. However, it was fortunate that the Tactics from earlier had left a large impact on his remaining strength.


    A somber expression flashed past God Cloud¡¯s face, but he opened his mouth calmly, before he started to explain the methods and conditions of absorbing the Cthulhu¡¯s Origin.


    "The Cthulhu¡¯s Origin is evil and manic, most people should not even think of absorbing it, merely approaching it could cause someone to be bewitched by the strength of the Origin. Once the mind is completely immersed in it for eternity, they will be unable to free themselves. They must be of a high level, and their will must be extremely strong, before they are able to absorb it without being influenced completely. We at Obscuro and the Obscuro Society have been researching it carefully to find the easiest method of absorption, and although there is a certain amount of risk attached, the dangers have been reduced significantly. This method of absorbing the Origin has two conditions."


    He paused. "First, the Cthulhu King¡¯s will must be removed, and I¡¯ve heard that you¡¯ve already reached this step, so I won¡¯t talk about that. Meanwhile, the second condition is that you need to use proper, fitting Ancient Endor Secret Techniques and adjust them."


    "Adjust Ancient Endor Secret Techniques?" Garen raised his eyebrows slightly.


    "That¡¯s right, the Cthulhu¡¯s Origin possesses a nature that is extremely violent and tempting. Without a method of adjustment, even if you were to get stronger, you would only destroy it and would not be able to absorb it for your own use," said God Cloud indifferently. "If that wasn¡¯t the case, why do you think that Aixi would be the only one in Obscuro Society that would be able to absorb it?"


    "Then Scylla and the others¡­"


    "There will be certain short term benefits, but it will become a hurdle that will obstruct them in the future. The longer it drags on, the stronger this hindrance will become, causing them to deteriorate in the end." A mocking expression appeared on God Cloud¡¯s face. He was truly shrewd, as he could remain calm even after Garen ridiculed him earlier, while being able to explain everything to him clearly.


    "Then which Origins are to be used with which Secret Techniques?" Garen continued asking.


    "The Secret Techniques that can be matched with the Origins have always been in the hands of the Cthulhu King, and Aixi had coincidentally found out that her own Secret Technique which the Love God''s Origin hadn¡¯t rejected too much. This was how she absorbed it. I heard that you obtained different types of Origins from the Cthulhu King, and to remove the Cthulhu King¡¯s will, you almost had a full-on battle with him. Unfortunately, the Cthulhu King¡¯s Secret Technique is the only way to match all of the various Cthulhu¡¯s Origins, and if you want to absorb all of the Origins, the only method is for you to obtain the Cthulhu King¡¯s Secret Techniques on your own," God Cloud sneered. "Don¡¯t assume that this is a trick, there are many people that know about this method, and some people from the Hidden World school of thought are also aware of it, but no one has been able to reach this point."


    Garen furrowed his eyebrows.


    If all of this was true, this would be an overt plan, and it seemed that God Cloud had already correctly guessed that he could not afford not to confront the Cthulhu King.


    Suddenly, he smiled faintly. He outstretched his right hand, while his index finger pointed upwards.


    Hiss!


    A shroud of black mist shaped like a snake was released from his fingertip. It twisted and coiled around, just like a living creature, it let out snake-like hissing noises.


    "I know the methods already, but since I came all the way here, I should return what I owe you from the battle at Snowy Peak."


    Before he finished speaking, Garen suddenly released the black snake on his head.


    The black snake rushed out, and grew larger in midair, and suddenly transformed from the thickness of a finger into a terrifyingly large snake that had a diameter of a few meters. It opened its large mouth and rushed towards God Cloud.


    Countless clouds of black Poison Mist rolled around as the black snake let out silent howls while charging directly towards God Cloud. The incomparably toxic corrosive smoke permeated throughout the surroundings as the sand on the beach was corroded into puddles of black water, while the nearby seawater turned black as well, and a rotten stench filled the air.


    "Lock!!" God Cloud¡¯s eyes widened as he placed both of his hands together quickly. Countless black chains burst out of the ground around him, forming a black cylinder, protecting him inside.


    Pfoo!!


    Throughout the whole beach, black chains burst out towards the sky like fountains in an extremely obtrusive manner.


    The chain cylinder collided with the black snake while rays of black light burst out silently between them suddenly. Aixi stood wide-eyed on the sidelines, witnessing this peak Form 5 battle. Most Totem Users had never been given the chance to see something like this in their lifetimes.


    The black light dispersed like a bomb that had exploded, and only remained for an instant before vanishing.


    On the burnt yellow beach where explosion followed explosion, faint lights ignited from within and only a dull banging noise could be heard.


    The figures of God Cloud and Garen violently crashed into one another repeatedly.


    Both of them stuck close together, their four limbs a chaotic, overlapping flurry. The black chains and black Poison Mist in their surroundings intertwined with one another, while black melted liquid flowed downwards constantly.


    Garen brought his palms together and brought them downwards, while all ten of his fingers were pressed against each other. He hit God Cloud¡¯s arm with overwhelming violence from above, his whole body floating in midair, both of his eyes pitch-black, devilish slits.


    God Cloud raised both of his arms to deflect the powerful hit from above, while the chains popped out from beside him periodically.


    Boom!!


    A large round pit split open beneath God Cloud¡¯s feet, and a crater replaced what was a ten-meter diameter hemisphere of beach sand below.


    "Wheel!!" A black hole appeared on God Cloud¡¯s chest suddenly, and a ray of black light shot out of the hole, transforming into a slow rotating, complex round wheel.


    The black wheel was filled with moving black chains and Tactic runes. Crisp wind noises could be heard in midair slowly, as if they were drifting over from a faraway place.


    A similarly magnified black wheel appeared in the air beside Garen silently. A strong, locking attraction locked it in place, while everything inside the wheel, such as sand, sea water, and air, were all tightly held in place by the strong chain powers.


    God Cloud had no intention of letting his guard down. He took a few steps backwards hastily, while the black wheel on his chest broke open, and a pitch-black arm stretched out of the black hole suddenly.


    The five fingers on the hand all had sharp nails, while a ferocious face grew out of the palm. It appeared, it rushed towards Garen without pause, its claws pointed its target. A ripping noise could be heard at that moment, and five pitch-black cracks appeared. Apparently, it could even rip through thin air!


    Within the black wheel, both of Garen¡¯s eyes were devoid of pupils, leaving only darkness. The red marks on his forehead had disappeared completely long ago, and had slowly transformed into a narrow, black crack.


    "Locked Wheel, huh?" He moved his body suddenly, while a crisp cracking noise could suddenly be heard throughout the air, as if porcelain had cracked or glass had broken.


    "Black Water Traction!!"


    Garen outstretched his right hand. Countless black snakes coiled around his arm, rushing towards the Pitch-black Demon Arm directly.


    A crisp cracking noise rang across the beach.


    The Pitch-black Demon Arm and Garen¡¯s right arm collided against each other with crushing force, and at almost the exact same moment, both of them collapsed.


    The Demon Arm broke into tiny pieces of flesh before turning into black light and disappearing, while a painful howl echoed out of the darkness.


    Garen¡¯s right arm broke off instantly as well, and turned into countless bloodied flesh pieces that flew everywhere, before instantly melting into the surrounding Poison Mist.


    A bout of intense pain shot through his right arm, but Garen ignored it. The shadow of a dragon shrouded his face before a guttural roar rang out. His right leg rose into the sky, and countless tufts of black smoke amassed. His leg expanded and reached more than ten meters as a large column of black smoke appeared suddenly.


    Bang!!


    The two black figures separated at the same time, and flew towards opposite directions.


    Blood flowed out of the bandages around God Cloud¡¯s waist continuously, but soon stopped. His figure appeared half-kneeling on the ground, his expression unchanged while he took a deep breath before standing up.


    On the opposite side of the sea, Garen¡¯s figure had already gibbed into flesh chunks, and after the collision earlier, after he and God Cloud compared their physical strengths, he realized that ten points of Vitality could still allow anti-shock abilities to shatter his whole body.


    The black Poison Mist quickly enveloped him into a mist ball, and in the blink of an eye, the mist had disappeared, and Garen¡¯s healthy body had appeared once again.


    His upper body was bare, while his lower body was covered by the Poison Mist. He was floating above the sea, as if he had not been injured at all.


    "The Nine-Life Talent?" God Cloud raised his eyebrows slightly, he had just finished speaking, before the shadow of a black wheel appeared above his right shoulder in midair suddenly, it was only the size of a palm, but it emitted crisp, empty wind noises again in midair.


    Bang!!


    Garen¡¯s body that he had just solidified suddenly exploded with a ¡®bang¡¯.

 498 Venus 2

    Chapter 498: Venus 2


    Garen, who was smiling at first, now had a different expression on his face. The darkness in his eyes that resembled the deep ocean had faded, while the black crack in his forehead had disappeared instantly, exposing an alarming color. His entire body, excluding his neck, was constantly exploding below, and it had only been a moment before his recently fixed body had exploded into many pieces.


    The black mist lingered around him, and after a moment, his body returned to its original state, but the painful throbbing from earlier left a sense of fear in Garen¡¯s heart. He controlled the black mist and moved it more than ten meters backwards, while looking at God Cloud who stood on the shore from afar.


    He was no longer a rookie, unlike during the first battle with Ivycius. He had read and memorized a large amount of knowledge from the secret library in the palace, allowing him to understand God Cloud better.


    God Cloud practiced the strangest Locked Wheel Secret Technique. It was rumored that there were nine realms of this Secret Technique, and that God Cloud had achieved the highest realm more than ten years ago. However, from his records, he had never heard of that untraceable ability from earlier.


    God Cloud¡¯s face remained unchanged. The black wheel on his right shoulder moved again, letting out crisp bell noises.


    Bang!!


    Garen¡¯s body that had just been restored exploded again.


    "Back!!" Without hesitating, Garen gathered the black mist and suddenly turned it into a ray of black light, allowing it to fly past. Within a blink of an eye, it disappeared deeper into the sea. The surrounding Poison Mist also quickly disappeared completely.


    "Everyone assumed that there were only nine levels of the Locked Wheel, unfortunately, I exhausted my efforts, and finally pushed it to its unprecedented tenth level." God Cloud¡¯s expression remained indifferent while he stood in his original position, looking at the direction in which Garen was leaving.


    Suddenly, his left hand clawed against the beach floor.


    A black light flashed, and a dull banging noise could be heard before a large cloud of Poison Mist exploded on the beach. Black light shot out of the Poison Mist and flew towards Garen like arrows.


    "This is indeed worthy of God Cloud!" Garen¡¯s voice echoed out of the black light faintly.


    Aixi, who stood on the side, finally sighed in relief, as she walked over to stand beside God Cloud.


    "Is he really leaving?"


    God Cloud nodded.


    Bang bang bang bang!!!


    In a blink of an eye, countless bloody wounds exploded throughout his body, and large amounts of black blood gushed out, while the occasional Totem Light chains that circled his body broke as well.


    "Go!" God Cloud struggled to spit the word out before he fainted.


    Aixi, shocked beyond words, and waved her hand frantically. A piece of white satin flew out from her sleeve wrapping round the both of them then loosening, before both persons within the satin disappeared completely.


    The white satin flew inland, and within the blink of an eye had apparently traveled more than a hundred meters, quickly disappearing on the horizon.


    The moment both of them left, a shroud of black mist suddenly drifted over the surface of the sea, and within the mist, Garen¡¯s figure appeared clearly. Both of his eyes scanned his surroundings. His nose twitched slightly before a stern gaze flashed in his eyes suddenly.


    "Apparently I¡¯ve been fooled as well! Fine fine fine!"


    His figure turned, before Garen¡¯s entire body turned into black mist once again and disappeared.


    *************************


    Within the borders of Daniela


    Woo~~~~~~!!


    The bleak and distant sound of a horn echoed from the top of the vast forest.


    On the edge of an unusually tall white cliff, a large hand with cast-iron like muscles held a two-meter long black horn, raised toward the sky, its clear sound ringing continuously.


    Boom!!


    On the ground far away, a blood red air pillar shot into the sky suddenly, piercing through the clouds, dyeing the vast blue sky into red. The surrounding clouds gathered around the blood pillar and formed around it quickly, rotating around it.


    "Welcome, God King!!!" The giant threw the horn down, before kneeling on the ground, and prostrating in worship.


    "Welcome, God King!!!" Countless ear-piercing roars echoed from the bottom of the forest.


    Within the green forest, hoards of bloodied Cthulhuism Society followers appeared, raising both of their hands as they prostrated in the direction of the blood pillar.


    Countless faint chirping noises could be heard. Suddenly, countless Cthulhu silhouettes flashed in the sky.


    It was the Water God, Light God, and Thunder God.


    The three of them walked towards the blood pillar and bowed with a single hand pressed against their chests.


    "May the wounds of the God King heal!"


    Three different voices announced in unison, and their voices sounded through the empty space clearly, echoing far and wide, not fading out in the slightest.


    "Even if your King¡¯s wounds heal, we must still collect an abundance of Glittering Water, and get our hands on all of the Glittering Ponds beyond." A cold voice that was indistinguishable as male or female echoed from afar. "This water source will be a great help for our Secret Technique magic powers."


    "Yes!" replied the three Cthulhus respectfully, as their Origin Cores were already within the Cthulhu King¡¯s hands, making them unable to object.


    "I can already clearly feel, the fated son of destruction that will endanger myself is none other than Hannet Thunderstorm," Cthulhu King said softly. "Go, all of you together, and bring him to me. I want to hang him from the top of Steele Cathedral."


    The three middle-level Cthulhus did not hesitate at all, and quickly left in various directions.


    *******************


    Within the large open area between Kovitan¡¯s Ultimate Protection and Ender.


    White snow covered the rolling hills, and within the layers of snowy peaks was a secluded hilltop in a shaded area.


    Dark grey stone ruins stood alone on one of the lower snow covered hill tops.


    Most of these ruins were once dark grey stone buildings. Most of them had collapsed completely, but the most eye-catching one was a dark grey cathedral.


    The sharp roof of the cathedral pierced through the sky, and the entire cathedral was shaped like a mountain. However it had more than just three sharp points, instead they seemed like sharp spears that had been piled together, and together had more than ten points, all of different heights.


    The cathedral had a single dome-shaped protrusion, twenty meters tall, as wide as a football field. It was paved neatly with large black bricks, smooth, and unusually clean.


    Within the dome contained the main hall, and was surrounded by twenty meter tall white stone columns that resembled human fingers. Hard and straight, the fingers supported the entire roof of the cathedral.


    Cold mountain air blew past, whistling endlessly. Torches with blue fire stuck to each of the pillars and illuminated the hall in blue and white, making it bright and clear.


    Inside the hall, were many people, some standing and some sitting. These people were either dressed in black, white or red robes. Within the black and white robes were many different shades, with robes of all colors. Most of the groups were led by elders, while the younger people occupied a separate section. These people in different colored robes made up at least ten different groups.


    There were four groups that contained the most people.


    Black, white, green and red. These four groups contained the most people, and had formed a circle, surrounding the center of the hall.


    There was a large empty space in the middle of the hall where no one stood, as if for no reason.


    The cold winds whistled, and only a few voices could be heard in the hall, although more than a hundred people had gathered in the cathedral, but everyone was focused on something, as if they were waiting for a specific timing.


    "It¡¯s almost time." Among the people in black robes, a man who was fully covered in long robes stepped forward slowly and said softly. Although his voice was low and feeble, everyone could still hear his words clearly.


    "It should be now." Within the group of people in red robes, an old man with white hair and a bushy beard narrowed his eyes and said.


    "It¡¯s an old rule, so you should go first this time," the man in the black robe laughed.


    The bushy-bearded old man nodded, and without holding back, stood directly in the center of the empty space.


    "Now, all clans, please release your Totems!" he said loudly.


    When he stopped speaking, the remaining black, white, and green color groups all took a step forward at the same time. None of them spoke while their whole bodies faintly glowed with Totem Light.


    Black, white and green, the lights of all three different colors started off dim and became stronger quickly, before becoming bright, and finally blinding.


    The Totem Lights of all three groups of people gathered together, transforming into three balls of light and hanging above their heads.


    Among the three Totem Light balls, the black one was a ball of moving black flames. The white one was a complicated but gorgeous white flower. The green one was a large bird that had three pairs of eyes.


    The three Totem Light balls flew towards the center of the hall simultaneously.


    The red robed, bushy-bearded old man stretched his skinny, wrinkled arms out slowly, and raised them up high.


    Tch!!


    A blinding ray of light shot out of his fingertip suddenly. Within the red light, a beautiful red lotus bloomed slowly.


    Black, white, green and red, these four lights fused with one another, and as if they had collapsed, all of the lights shrunk into one another.


    The four rays of Totem Light immediately suppressed themselves and shrunk into a dot the size of a soybean, before hanging in the center of the hall.


    The red robed old man looked at his own faction in a flustered manner, before leaving the center.


    Boom!!!


    Suddenly, the entire hall burst in an explosion of red light. All four lights turned into a sea of red before all of the Totem images disappeared completely.


    The floors of the whole building shook violently, as if an earthquake was shaking snowy peak.


    The avalanche was accompanied by an incredible amount of snow, shaking the ground violently as it crashed down the mountain.


    Strangely, no one had moved from the hall. Everyone¡¯s gazes were fixated on the blooming red light in the center. No matter how much the outside shook, this light remained steadily in place, while its whirlpool-like interior continued to rotate clockwise slowly.


    "The fourteenth Clash of Clans begins now," announced the red robed old man hurriedly. "The organizer for this round is the Red Lotus Society!!"


    The red robed old man waved a single hand before a faint red light screen suddenly floated on top of the heads of everyone inside the hall. This listed, in more than ten different languages, each clan¡¯s previous rankings.


    ¡®First place: Obscuro Society. Second place: Red Lotus Society. Third place: Terraflor Society. Fourth place: Resonance Tower.¡¯


    "It¡¯s an old rule, but only the first four places have the right to enter the Tungus list, and obtain key and the permission to be in charge of opening the Tungus remains." said the old man loudly, while his voice echoed throughout the entire hall, allowing everyone to hear him clearly.


    "Obscuro¡¯s representatives please come forward." The old man from Red Lotus Society turned his gaze towards the group of black robed people. "For this contest, which three people would you like to send as representatives?"


    "Three people?" The leader of the black robes suddenly smiled faintly.


    Caw!!


    A pitch-black crow flew into the hall from outside, beat its wings, and landed on the black robed man¡¯s right shoulder at once.


    "Go, Gelouse¡­" The black robed man stretched his hand out and pointed, and the black crow flew down suddenly, before its body became bigger and it grew fiercer. In the blink of an eye, it melted and transformed, before solidifying into a black robed figure wearing a hood.


    "Gelouse!!"


    At once, astonished voices could be heard, and the old man from the Red Lotus Society turned pale. The faces of the white robed people from Terraflor Society quickly turned serious as well.


    "You¡¯re not Obscuro!" yelled the green robed leader of the Resonance Tower.


    The pale corners of the black robed man¡¯s mouth curled into a smile, as he reached his hand out to remove the hood on his head.


    A pale, bald man suddenly appeared in front of everyone. His skin color was of an unusual kind of paleness. It had dull silver-grey tones, without a hint of rosiness, and resembled smooth hard stone.


    He had no eyebrows, no beard, and not a single strand of hair to be seen, not on his entire head.


    He had faint wrinkles on his forehead, and both of his eyes were deep and bright, like the clearest blue lakes and gems.


    He loosened the black robe on his body, exposing the heavy and complicated black armor underneath.


    "The thousand year-long dispute between clans should end today¡­"


    "Looks like you¡¯ve truly broken through, Hellgate¡­"


    Among the people in white robes, two of them stood out slowly, removing their hoods, exposing that themselves as a man and a woman. The man was handsome, while the woman was beautiful, and both of their foreheads were embedded with silver flower head ornaments.


    "Sisley, Aud, I¡¯m so glad that you¡¯re still alive," said Hellgate with a sincere smile.

 499 Intercept and Reward 1

    Chapter 499: Intercept and Reward 1


    The black stone pillars stood upright on the ground.


    In the center of the gravelly dirt, between the stone pillars, a pitch-black stone city stood quietly. Its hundred-meters-long city walls stood at a height of ten meters, and the top of the wall was armed with archers dressed in various clothes, who were holding bows and arrows and constantly shooting downwards.


    The scene below the wall was dark and messy, while groups of men in torn grey clothes held spears, axes and other weapons as they surrounded the main gate of the city walls.


    Looking down from the sky, one could see more than a thousand people in the siege army, while there were only ten people barely supporting the city gates. Among the sea of tightly packed heads, blue and red light explosions would occur occasionally, and after each explosion, more than ten people would be sent flying, creating empty spaces. But these inferior troops did not retreat, instead, they remained red-eyed, as if they had lost all reason, and charged towards the city walls mindlessly.


    Occasional band noises echoed over faintly, but the siege army did not yell and remained silent while they charged, giving people an eerie vibe.


    "Do not let them take the Precious Heirlooms! Or else, no one in this world will be able to stop them anymore!" said a man with a black beard in a low voice, while standing on top of the city walls.


    Beside him were a few boys and girls, but none of them possessed any signs of youthful immaturity. Every one of them had resolute expressions on their faces, as they looked at the killing fields below them with no fear at all.


    "News has arrived from the King of Osa," said a boy softly. "The monsters on Withdrawal Bridge have increased, so we should be careful."


    When the chaos began in Osa, the only means of entry and exit, the Withdrawal Bridge, had been occupied by monsters, making it unusable, before the bridge itself was blown up and broken as well. Osa was a natural valley and cave country situated in the southernmost part of the East Continent, hence it was always somewhat disconnected from the rest of the world, and after its communication got cut off from the outside recently, it had become even more of a lone army, and lost all news of the outside world.


    "Our clan has guarded the Demon Phoenix for more than two thousand years already, and I once assumed that with this talented generation of people, we would finally have a hope of ending the thousand-year-old grudge, I never expected that¡­" Blackbeard touched a scar on his forehead.


    "If the Demon Phoenix escapes, then¡­"


    "Tony." Among the boys and girls, a delicate and pretty girl in leather armor reached her hand out and held Blackbeard''s right palm gently. ¡®Tony'' meant ¡®father'' in the Osa language, meaning that she was obviously this man''s daughter.


    "Don''t say such discouraging things, Big Brother has inherited the Moon Scar, and will definitely not let the Demon Phoenix break the Seal!" The girl''s brown armor hugged her figure tightly, showing the curves of her body, while her long black hair was tied in a smooth, high ponytail that flowed straight down but curved slightly, before flowing down again, giving off a heroically spirited vibe.


    "That''s right, uncle, we''ve inherited the Moon Scar, and will definitely not let the Demon Phoenix break the Seal!" said the leading boy enthusiastically, before the other boys and girls voiced their agreement as well.


    "The source of the Demon Phoenix''s strength is Black Gold, but that''s not a big deal because once we destroy the Black Gold, we will be able to destroy the curse temporarily." Blackbeard lifted his hands slowly, before raising them up high.


    "Charge!!!" "Kill them!!" They yelled loudly, before dull galloping noises could be heard, as more than a hundred horsemen charged out of the city gates. Just like a sharp knife, they began massacring crowds of people while faint yellow halos illuminated their bodies, and they held long swords that cut through their enemies precisely and killed them in one go as if they were slicing through stalks of wheat.


    "Ready! If this killing continues, the Demon Cloud Puppets will suffer great losses, and will definitely not last long, so they should be moving out soon¡­" Blackbeard stared deeply, before turning his attention towards a further area. "Those without the Moon Scar will be unable to fight the Demon, so the rest will depend on all of you."


    The crowd of boys and girls nodded solemnly. Dull hums could be heard from their bodies, and after each sound, an additional dark gold glow would appear on their bodies.


    This glow resembled an aura that was constantly emitting from their bodies, before these children''s figures underwent slight changes, as if they had expanded, becoming much taller and bigger than they were before.


    "Leave it to us, uncle." The leading boy grabbed the two large hilts at his waist. "Let''s go!"


    He turned around and led the others down the city walls.


    "Everyone, move back!! Retreat, retreat!!" The leader of the cavalry team roared and led his team back quickly. The Totem Users in the team released Tactic glows constantly, but strangely enough, none of them released any Totems for battle, but just drew Tactics to do battle instead. Even though some of the people in the cavalry team were injured, they still had no plans to release their Totems.


    On a tall dark cliff near Black Mountain City


    Three figures in purple armor stood beside the cliff quietly, looking at the mountainous city from afar.


    "We cannot let the Demon Cloud Puppets suffer great losses, as these are still our Lord''s nutrients." A girlish voice echoed from the girl in purple armor in front, and although her voice was curt and cold, it carried faint tones of seriousness, as if two versions of herself were speaking simultaneously.


    "After a thousand years of entanglement with one another, we have finally reached the moment where we are separated into victory or defeat," said another person in purple armor, and this time, it was a low male voice. "The Demon Phoenix Peak from a thousand years ago will finally begin again, and this time, no one will be able to obstruct our Lord''s majesty and power!"


    "Once we kill the last of these Moon Scars, there will no longer be anything standing in the way of Our Lord conquering the world!" The last purple armored man had a shrill voice but harbored a violent air about him.


    "Move out." The purple armored girl took a step forward and walked directly off the cliff, before flying downwards.


    Shh!!


    A pair of large purple flesh wings grew out of her back suddenly, and flapped in the air, flying towards the battlefield not far from there.


    The other two people flew off the cliff as well, after a pair of wings grew out of their backs, while they followed the girl closely.


    Behind the three people, on top of the black cliff, at the center of the mountain, a large Lone Eye blinked open.


    The bloodied Lone Eye seemed to be made up of mountain rocks but actually consisted of countless stones, plants, and trees that had twisted together, forming the shape of a large eye. It looked towards the black mountainous city from afar.


    The Lone Eye''s gaze seemed to pass through empty spaces, and reached the city wall of the mountain city, looking directly at the two eyes of the delicate girl beside Blackbeard.


    The girl felt dizzy before a white pale blue crescent-shaped scar silently floated up on the right side of her face.


    "We meet again, young Osaka." A cold, female voice could be heard throughout the sky above the whole city.


    The girl shivered, while pale blue auras were released from her body constantly, as she tried to resist the large pressure from its gaze.


    "I won''t let you get away so easily!!" The girl ground her teeth determinedly, while her body continued to shiver uncontrollably, but after awhile, cold sweat had soaked through her inner protective cotton armor completely.


    Blackbeard was uncomfortable as well, even more so than his own daughter, as his entire body was surrounded by purple light, and his face was stiff, making it impossible for him to retaliate while he was half-kneeling on the ground.


    "I can feel the air of fate¡­" the woman''s cold voice lamented. "Everything that happened today is fate allowing me to escape, and the world will finally be changed because of me¡­ Boom!!!"


    Before she finished speaking, a light pillar consisting of translucent black chains fell from the sky, suddenly crashing into the center of the battlefield. The light pillar possessed a diameter of a few meters and resembled a large tree, and remained on the ground for more than ten seconds, with strong ripples of power that resembled hurricanes, that sent the surrounding people flying at once, like dusty ants that had been blown away by fierce winds.


    Endless humming noises interrupted and masked the Lone Eye''s voice, making it impossible to hear the rest of her speech.


    "God Cloud, you can''t escape anymore," said a man''s voice from high above in the sky.


    The chain light pillar dispersed slowly, before a ray of white light shot out suddenly, towards the direction of the Lone Eye in the black mountain wall.


    "No!! That''s the Demon Phoenix Seal''s land!!" The father and daughter looked downwards, before their pupils widened suddenly, while the three people in purple armor who were going up against the Moon Scar youths earlier, opened their mouths in shock as well.


    "That''s the way! That''s the way! Hahaha! I''m finally going to break the seal!! A thousand years! A thousand years of¡­" An insanely ecstatic expression appeared on the Lone Eye''s face suddenly, as its unsuppressible noises of joy echoed throughout the entire sky.


    Tch!


    Throughout the sky, black clouds gathered, forming a tall man in a black robe. His golden hair flew in the wind, and a proud expression beamed in his eyes contemptuously, like a cat that had caught a mouse.


    He raised a single hand up high, before pressing it down suddenly.


    Countless black clouds gathered, and formed a large black hand instantly, before violently clawing at the white light that God Cloud had created.


    "This is fate! You cannot obstruct fate!!" The Demon Phoenix''s voice grew more high-pitched.


    "Deep Demon Arm!!" God Cloud''s voice echoed throughout the white light suddenly.


    Instantly, everyone felt the black light flash, before their eyesight became blurry, and within the white light, a sharp, pitch-black hand stretched outwards slowly. It moved directly towards the large black cloud hand that came swinging at it.


    Boom!!


    A large mushroom-like black cloud exploded suddenly, and the white light was refracted into shards by the explosion, before crashing into the Lone Eye in the mountain wall.


    "Die!!" The voice of the black-clothed man echoed throughout the sky suddenly.


    The crowd of people on the battlefield merely heard the crackling of electricity.


    A black lightning bolt shot towards the ground violently.


    "Oh, ~~~ Oh~~~ It''s coming! It''s coming!! Coming¡­" After that, only the noise of crashing thunder could be heard.


    "Hahaha!!! I have finally come out¡­ Ah!!" Before the Demon Phoenix finished speaking, a painful cry could be heard, stopping it instantly.


    At this moment, the Moon Scar youths, Black City cavalry Totem Users that were fighting, and the three purple armored, winged people, all looked at each other, as their minds had become dull as if everything had become a sticky mess.


    "The grudge between you and me finally ends today!!" The black-clothed man''s voice echoed from afar.


    "Black Swamp Palace Master! Don''t force us to go overboard!!" echoed another girl''s voice angrily.


    "Hehe!!"


    The three purple armored people stopped in mid-air while looking at the land of the Seal from afar, where the Lone Eye was positioned.


    Two separate rays of black and white light intertwined and fought there constantly, while ripples of power that almost seemed physical permeated around, and everything that came in contact with the ripples melted and decomposed, turning into puddles of black goo.

 500 Intercept and Reward 2

    Chapter 500: Intercept and Reward 2


    At this moment, bright red and gold light flew around and filled the sky, and half of the sky was dyed in gold and red hues.


    Countless rays of red and gold light twisted and weaved themselves around in the sky, before solidifying into a tall silver-faced man in a long red robe. Without saying a word, he raised his hand and pointed downwards.


    Red thunderbolts appeared in the sky instantly, solidifying into a thunder pillar, before crashing down suddenly.


    "Cthulhu King!!" An angry, violent voice echoed from the black and white intertwined lights.


    A black figure flashed, evading the thunder pillar, before moving ten meters backward and suspending itself mid-air.


    Garen''s incomparably furious face appeared within everyone''s vision clearly.


    He took a deep breath, raising his chest up high before black cloud whirlpools with diameters of over ten meters gathered behind him quickly. The shadow of a black and red colored Nine-Headed Hydra floated out behind him slowly, and the gigantic ten-meter tall shadow made it seem like a demon.


    Roar!!!


    Garen raised his head suddenly, and the Nine-Headed Hydra raised its nine heads towards the sky and roared angrily at the same time.


    The Black Water True Technique fueled the Hydra''s powerful roar, and this was the first time Garen used all of his power to release the Hydra''s roar since he entered Form 5.


    A circle of black ripples surrounded him while he remained in the center before it spread towards its surroundings rapidly. The ripples resembled the sharpest razors that sliced through the cliff instantly, before more than a hundred meters of the top half of the cliff slid down suddenly. Instantly, a large round pit appeared in a section of the ground that was cleared up, and the black stone pillars inside quickly broke off into tiny pieces of sand and dust.


    The ripples collided into God Cloud and Aixi, and as both of them could not react in time, they could only groan in pain as they were sent flying backward before they crashed into the ground and were embedded in an unknown depth.


    The man clad in a bloody robe in the sky remained indifferent.


    "Idiotic struggle," he waved his hand and pointed again.


    A red pillar of red light gathered in the sky, before crashing down suddenly.


    Boom!!


    The red light pillar collided with the black ripples, stiffening for a moment, before piercing through the ripples suddenly, and crashing into Garen''s body violently.


    Before he could even groan, Garen crashed into the ground at once, and with himself as the center, a gigantic, hundred meters wide stone pit formed once again, as dust and rubble flew upwards, forming a grey cloud. The stormy winds blew, causing the dust to be blown everywhere, while the sky became grey and blurry.


    Roar!!!


    After the Hydra roared, Garen turned into a ray of black light again, and shot off the ground, before flying into the sky towards Cthulhu King.


    "God''s Sacrifice!" Cthulhu King turned around, and evaded a collision with the black light perfectly, while at the same time, a red semi-circular light flashed across one side of his body, coincidentally blocking Garen''s black light.


    Bang! Crash!!


    Garen''s entire body was blown up into countless clouds of bloody mist, and once it solidified, it crashed towards the ground due to the powerful rebound strength.


    But a faint look of surprise appeared on Cthulhu King''s face suddenly.


    He stretched out a finger, gently stroking the right side of his face, where a bloody red scar had formed there faintly.


    "Ahhh!!!" Garen''s incomparably furious howls echoed from below.


    Inside the deep pit, Garen lay face up, while countless red lightning bolts flooded his surroundings, like countless ropes that tied him down tightly.


    "I let you go the last time, thinking that you would learn your lesson, but I never expected that you would be such a brainless idiot," said Cthulhu King while he looked down at him contemptuously.


    He waved a single hand, before another ray of red light fell from the sky, and crashed violently into the pit where Garen lay.


    Boom!!


    The red light was blinding, and he could not see anything clearly for a moment, except that the deep pit in the ground had expanded, becoming much deeper.


    Dust flew about, impairing his line of vision.


    God Cloud and Aixi flew out of the pit and landed on the ground gently, although their faces were as white as paper, without the slightest hint of rosiness.


    After being pursued by Garen for more than ten thousand kilometers, and after running through an unknown number of countries and territories, they had become exhausted long ago. It was fortunate that Cthulhuism Society and Obscuro Society were allies. When they required assistance during dire times, their lives would be secured.


    "Has it ended?" Aixi supported God Cloud and looked on while Cthulhu King floated down slowly.


    "Luke, I owe you one," nodded God Cloud while he looked at Cthulhu King with a bitter smile.


    Cthulhu King nodded and began to speak before his expression changed suddenly.


    Faintly, from the deep pit where Garen lay, shrouds of pitch-black smoke wafted out slowly and spread out towards its surroundings like a living creature.


    Within the smoke, poisonous mist soon turned into little black snakes that slithered around, making soft hissing noises.


    Cthulhu King''s expression became serious. Unlike the heavily injured God Cloud and Aixi, if the previous strength was too insignificant to threaten him, these current ripples of power, were enough to kill him.


    Suddenly, a ray of black light shot out of the deep pit, soared through the sky, before falling down slowly, and unlike the previous chaotic manner, the current black light was calm and unhurried, and naturally steady.


    Plop!


    Two feet landed on the ground inside the deep pit.


    Garen''s figure appeared in front of the three people once again.


    Unlike his previous hot-tempered manner, his current expression was gentle, and black mist circled his body, quickly solidifying into a simple long black robe on his body.


    "I need to thank Cthulhu King for helping me digest the ancient Nine-Headed Hydra''s will. I never thought that being in a state of separation would be so difficult to solve," said Garen with a smile on his face.


    Suddenly, the three other people saw another expression morphing on his face, and this new face was filled with anger, dissatisfaction, and was howling. But this was merely a translucent state, that was layered on top of Garen''s own face.


    Instantly, the angry face and the smiling face seemed to be substituting constantly, giving off a strange vibe.


    Cthulhu King''s eyes narrowed, and a red light flashed across his hands that hung downwards before a pair of red metal gloves appeared there.


    "Interesting¡­" He smiled faintly, and instantly, both of his hands appeared in front of his chest, before turning into fists and striking the area in front of him.


    Bang!!


    Garen appeared in front of him suddenly, and both of their four limbs were used to exchange blows before exploding a circular area with a dull hum. All this was done without any Totem Light splashes, revealing their extremely terrifying power and control.


    Garen''s fist was deflected, and his arm twisted before his elbow was illuminated with black light as he threw it forward furiously, striking Cthulhu King''s left cheek directly.


    The palm of his other hand was straightened into a knife-like shape, before he disappeared from his original position, and struck the back of Cthulhu King''s head out of thin air.


    Clap!


    His elbow was deflected and was struck by a ray of red light that had shot out suddenly.


    The first that struck the back of Cthulhu King''s head was deflected by a red semicircle instantly which shattered into pieces. Cthulhu King''s expression remained unchanged while he opened his mouth and aimed it directly at Garen, as red light glowed out of his mouth. However, a ray of black light struck his cheek lightly again before he fell out of the sky; Garen had gained the upper hand.


    Both of them were entangled beside the deep pit and fought there, and their limbs could not be seen from their figures, as the only things that could be seen were black and red lights that were intertwining and colliding with one another.


    With a ¡®bang'', Cthulhu King stepped back suddenly, and stood at a distance of more than a hundred meters away, while his face flushed red, and under the immense pressure, gold-red blood started flowing out of his right ear involuntarily.


    But Garen on the opposite side was slightly worse off, as one arm hung from his body limply, as the result of heavy injuries from two losses.


    However, both of them were characters that possessed powerful Recovery abilities, and after standing still for a while, their wounds had almost recovered completely, and they were back to charging at each other.


    The banging noises that resulted from the collisions could be heard constantly and compared to earlier, the current battle was not as elegant as before, but the thick Totem Powers that could be seen from their bodies were still strangely powerful.


    Garen could constantly use the Nine-Life Talent together with his Potential Points to repair his body, while Cthulhu King also had similar measures, showing that the Cthulhus undying and indestructible characteristics were apparent here. All wounds would be completely healed within a few breaths.


    The people on top of the city wall had turned numb completely. Blackbeard stood in front of his daughter and shielded her after all of their army forces had been withdrawn.


    A group of people had gathered beside him, and all of them were the major and minor heads and representatives of the city. Currently, they were all looking on with wide eyes and opened mouths at the disastrous and terrifying battle happening outside.


    "What about the Demon Phoenix¡­" asked someone, as this monster that the household had guarded for a thousand years was obviously where everyone''s greatest concerns lied.


    "Over there!!" Someone had noticed its tracks and was pointing towards a faraway distance.


    The crowd looked over at that direction, but could only see a figure that was fully dressed in black clothes that were leading three tiptoeing purple-armored people towards a faraway place.


    The crowd was suddenly speechless.


    They once thought that the terrifying thing in Osa was the Demon Phoenix, and that it was the greatest strength in the world, and that once they released her, misery would befall their lives, and the world would fall into chaos.


    They never expected¡­


    This gap was indeed a little too wide.


    "City Master¡­ What do we do now?" a newly recruited soldier asked Blackbeard softly.


    "We¡­" Blackbeard opened and closed his mouth, but even from his vision, he could clearly see that the Demon Phoenix''s face was currently astonished, and was worried that some of the fighters would notice her expression.


    A Demon Phoenix like this¡­ He truly did not know what to say now.


    "Perhaps¡­ Perhaps we were cut off from the world for too long¡­" he smiled bitterly.


    "Without a mission, what else can we do?" He was slightly confused, but he was not the only one, as the faces of everyone here were also filled with confused looks.


    The Demon Cloud Puppets outside had been injured and killed long ago because of the aftermath of the fighting, and most of them could not even survive the aftermath, and this was an incredible feat. Not only the Puppets, but the three purple armored leaders suffered a similar fate as well, as one of them had been flung aside by the red light pillar, losing half of their body at once, while the other had been struck on the face by a flying rock, and was now crying¡­


    If it wasn''t for their strong Life Forces, they would have probably been destroyed completely after the fight.


    At this point, no one cared about the mission or the Demon Phoenix anymore. In the eyes of the group of people, the Demon Phoenix was merely a child that had passed by, a mere feeble thing.


    Blackbeard''s mind was a chaotic mess, and at this moment, the two faraway people had separated again.


    The black and red figures flew around, and the black figure leaped a few times, flashing past the tops of the heads of the four Demon Phoenixes, and the four Demon Phoenixes cried out in pain before they were caught by the black mist.


    The two people were in terribly bad states, as the head and bodies of the one in red clothes had been separated, before he used both of his hands to press his head back in place again, allowing the large amounts of flesh at his neck to connect back. It looked incomparably normal.


    Meanwhile, the man in black had a large hole with a diameter of half a meter in the center of his chest, exposing all of his internal organs clearly, but he continued to move like normal as if it did not affect him at all.


    "How is he still living..?" yelled some people with uncontrollably shocked looks on their faces.


    "They''ve stolen the Demon Phoenix!!" Blackbeard''s daughter yelled. "Tony, what should we do? The Demon Phoenix has been stolen, we¡­"


    The group of people looked at each other in despair, completely devoid of any goals. They had painstakingly guarded this enemy for many years, only to have it stolen helplessly by someone, and from the looks of it, it seemed as easy as stealing a few chicks. This was unbearable for the hidden school that had guarded it for a thousand years...

 501 Root 1

    Chapter 501: Root 1


    Blackbeard''s mind was a mess. However, after seeing everyone''s gaze fixated on him, he tried hard to clear his mind and clarify a few key points.


    "Without Demon Phoenix, there is no point for us to be on guard here. Looks like we have to think of a way to escape to the outside world¡­.How long has it been since we were in touch with the outside world?"


    "I always thought that we were protecting the world from the ferocious Demon Phoenix. We were fighting for true peace. I never thought¡­We have indeed overestimated ourselves." Blackbeard sighed.


    "Uncle." The young leader with a crescent mark suddenly voiced out. He lowered his head and spoke with a low voice. However, there was a sense of immovable determination to it. "We have to go and see the outside world."


    The people around were quiet for a moment, then immediately started talking.


    "How about the withdrawn bridge? That''s the only exit."


    "No one can leave Osa without breaking through the Six-Horned Bull."


    "How did those people enter? We must be able to exit that way!"


    "They are so strong, we¡­" "Maybe the Six-Horned Bull has already been handled by them?"


    "Let''s go have a look!" "Yes, have a look, in case¡­" "Let''s go have a look!"


    Within a while, arguments due to different opinions became a united voice, to go and have a look. At that moment, everyone''s gaze fixated on two people, the young man with a crescent mark and Blackbeard. These were the two men with authority in the small village.


    "Our responsibility is to guard the Demon Phoenix to prevent it from creating trouble. Since the Demon Phoenix has been kidnapped, we have to find out what is that person''s true purpose." Blackbeard thought for a moment. Finally, he managed to find a reason to appease himself.


    Since all of them were soldiers, they could leave anytime.


    "After all it is our thousand-year duty," Blackbeard said surely. "Let''s go to look for the black-robed man! Let''s find the Demon Phoenix, and also...also see the world!"


    "Tony...According to what I heard just now, the people fighting called the black-robed man Lord of Black Swamp Palace. There was also Cthulhu King. They were speaking in a strange Ender language." Blackbeard''s daughter who had the most talent in linguistics spoke. She was the legendary sage Osaka''s reincarnation after a thousand years. Osaka had been the great sage that had sealed the Demon Phoenix. Her position among the crowd was very special.


    "A person as strong of this is definitely not an unknown figure. As long as we find a civilization, we definitely would be able to find out." Blackbeard nodded. He looked at the devastated battlefield below. Without the power of the Demon Phoenix, those puppets fell to the ground, each returning to the state of a corpse.


    "Let''s leave the city!" He shouted at last.


    **********************


    Ten days later...


    He took a deep breath.


    Garen sat crossed-legged on the floor, healing his body. From time to time, he would spit out blood. He was severely injured.


    It was a black barren plain. The surroundings were quiet. Some distance away, a few white wolves were being corroded by black acid into corpses.


    The Demon Phoenix and three others were being cautious on the side. They were watching Garen closing his eyes, meditating. The four of them exchanged gazes and quietly walked away. A faint purple light surrounded the four people, completely blocking off the noise from their footsteps.


    From their point of view, there was a large, round hole on his chest. His body was almost split into two. With injuries like that, it would be considered extremely severe even for themselves, what more for a human. The man before them was definitely drained, without much energy remaining.


    However, thinking of the terrifying wave and aftermath in the battle just now, four of them shuddered. Their first thoughts weren''t to fight back, but a strong intent to escape.


    As they took slow steps, minutes and seconds passed by.


    Garen''s aura stabilized. His eyes didn''t seem to open, as if he had fallen asleep.


    As they finally retreated towards behind a stone pillar, Demon Phoenix and the rest heaved sighs of relief.


    "Where are you all heading to?"


    Suddenly, a calm male voice came from behind.


    The four of them were shocked. Their bodies became numb and stood still. Only then did they notice that black gas was slowly coming from the ground beneath their feet. The black gas gathered into small snake-like shapes. Their glowing black eyes stared at the four of them coldly.


    "Stay here and don''t run around." Garen opened his eyes to look at the remaining potential points on his attribute pane. There were only ten plus points left, totally insufficient. In the battle with the Cthulhu King, he''d recklessly used his points during the battle. Hundreds of points that he had accumulated had been drained to maintain the full nine lives of his nine-life talent. Because of that, he''d used up too many potential points. Twenty potential points could be used to replenish a life. Normally, it wouldn''t seem like much, but at this point where he was only left with ten points...


    Garen spat out some air. The taste of blood was incredibly strong. His ears moved slightly. As he stood up, black gas suddenly appeared beneath his feet. With a swoosh, he disappeared into a ray of black light, which shot out into the distance.


    Demon Phoenix and the rest heaved sighs of relief.


    "My Lord, what should we do now?" The purple-armored girl, who was quietly beside Demon Phoenix asked.


    "Do not panic...We do not know why he captured us. But since he didn''t kill us after capturing us, he must have his reason. Let''s not panic." The helmet on the Demon Phoenix''s head had been corroded into black water after being surrounded by the black gas. It revealed a pretty girl''s face beneath.


    The girl had a healthy tan. She had a blue eye and a purple eye, while her two ears were a little pointy. She didn''t look like a human. Her purple-black long hair was like feathers, and she was faintly releasing a strong strange aura.


    "Never thought that I, Demon Phoenix, whom no one could restrict for thousands of years. But now, surprisingly¡­" Demon Phoenix stood up in negativity. She looked towards the sky with deep, complex emotions.


    Bang!


    It was the sound of a heavy object falling to the ground.


    "Why you are you standing over there foolishly! Come over and prepare a meal!"


    Garen''s voice came from a close distance.


    "Oh¡­" Demon Phoenix looked stunned. She hurried over to drag the ten-meter long corpse of a giant yellow bear on the ground. The three others also rushed over to help her.


    For the past few days, Garen had been going to hunt and bringing back raw materials for Demon Phoenix and the rest to process, making all kinds of dishes. Garen never thought that the dishes that they made were actually decent. Hence, he would rather pass on this task fully to them.


    However, today seemed different.


    As they were processing the giant bear''s corpse, a black ray of light landed not far away from them, forming Garen''s figure. The difference this time was, there were a large group of more than ten yellow bears following him behind.


    This bear species had a white horn on its chest. The horn faced the sky and could increase gravitational force by three times. These ten plus giant Gravity Bears were obviously chased here by Garen.


    They gathered together and didn''t dare to move at all. Numerous small black snakes suspended in the air around them. These snakes were formed purely by black gas. It was a huge oppression by a peak fifth form. Even Demon Phoenix and the rest also felt the air and didn''t dare to go close, what more these Gravity Bears..


    Very quickly, a purple bonfire came to life again. With one hand, Demon Phoenix was controlling the Demon Cloud Power, which emitted the purple flames. On her other hand, she was grabbing the hind leg of a giant bear, while the other purple-armored girl was carrying the bear''s head.


    The two of them set up the whole bear and barbequed it over the fire. The skinless bear turned red. As its blood continuously dripped, it quickly produced crackling sounds in the purple fire below. There was also a faint smell of meat flavor.


    From time to time, purple-black smoke rushed into their faces, causing their faces to be smoked and blackened.


    After finishing their barbeque of the giant bear, the two of them were covered in smoke, ruining their images.


    The other two males had been responsible for skinning, draining the blood, removing the internal organs and other dirty tasks.


    For the five of them, Demon Phoenix, her three companions, and Garen, who once again closed his eyes to rest on one side, this was their small, temporary campsite.


    The four of them were busy with their own tasks. All of them were now Garen''s captives. The original difference of statuses was also gone. Whether it was Demon Phoenix or her three underlings, they cooperated to cook up a meal. None of them considered any other things.


    After the meat was done, the seasoning was passed on to the purple-armored female chef. Demon Phoenix went around to find edible vegetables and plants.


    According to Garen, it wasn''t appropriate to only eat meat. It has to be paired with some vegetables to be healthy. After a few deep thoughts and physical lessons, Demon Phoenix would naturally go around to find vegetables with decent texture. After all, no one would love to be severely beaten fifteen times in an hour...


    She couldn''t wander too far to obtain the vegetables. Fortunately, Garen had a good appetite. His strong body allowed him to only care about the taste and texture. He didn''t have to consider whether it was poisonous or not.


    Demon Phoenix walked for hundreds of meters. She had previously thought to escape. But unfortunately, the few small black snakes around her body made her dismiss the idea.


    With the power of a fifth form, finding plants was extremely easy. Regardless of whether they were on the ground or underground, they couldn''t escape Demon Phoenix''s discerning eyes.


    When she returned, the bear meat was already seasoned. Fresh green vegetables with golden-yellow bear meat, it looked appetizing indeed.


    Under the salivating gaze of the rest of them, Garen was gobbling down the bear meat in big bites. The rich aroma was all around the area. But they didn''t dare to move. They were only qualified to eat after Garen had finished eating.


    Very quickly, after half an hour or so, Garen threw away the femur in his hand. The purple-armored female hurriedly served a napkin that was just cleaned. After wiping his mouth, Garen nodded in satisfaction.


    "Look after these small things. I''m heading out first." He ordered.


    "Yes." Demon Phoenix and the rest answered quickly.


    "Alright." Garen stood up. He had almost fully recovered from the injuries on his body. With a bang, he exploded, becoming a black cloud that shot towards the distance.


    Very quickly, a thunderous bang came from afar. A black giant stone pillar slowly broke down and collapsed. Roaring sounds could faintly be heard.


    "Needless to say, they are fighting again." Demon Phoenix and the rest looked into the distance. They could only see the black cloud and red light interweaving in the dusty sky. They couldn''t see anything else.


    The terrifying tremor could be heard even from tens of kilometres away.


    When they''d arrived on these plains, it had been a flourishing land.


    Various strong creatures could be found everywhere fighting for territories. Desolate beast cries could be heard every evening. However, since those two people arrived, the whole plains had become silent¡­..

 502 Root 2

    Chapter 502: Root 2


    Within the remains of a black cathedral on a snowy peak


    Disciples from various associations had gathered together. There were hundreds of them, donning robes of different colors. All of them were the strongest elites in the East Continent''s associations.


    At that instant, everyone could feel that the atmosphere was heavy like never before.


    In the center region of the crowd, there were four camps of different colors.


    Black. White. Green. Red. The four robe colors represented the four strongest associations in the East Continent. It wasn''t just their power that was the strongest. It was also their research abilities, potential, knowledge, and others. It was a comprehensive comparison.


    There was a circle of black, stone, high-back seats in the middle of the crowd. On top, all of them were inlaid with fine, purple gemstones. The gemstones were like eyes.


    The masters of the various associations stood in a circle with a red ball at the center. Their gaze landed in the middle of the hall, which was the empty area below the red ball.


    The giant red ball was suspended in the air like a fireball. It was hung high above, illuminating the area beneath in red. Two figures stood confronting each other. One was an old man while the other was a middle-aged man.


    The old man''s right hand was shaking slightly. The swordfish totem suspended behind was slowly breaking down, releasing countless black dots.


    "East Britain Lord. Please." The opposing middle-aged man was panting. He was resisting the intense pain in his abdomen as he muttered.


    "The fourth battle match, Green Island Society wins!" The announcer on one side said loudly.


    The old man shrugged, turned around and walked down. He returned to his seat in the midst of the blue-robed crowd.


    "Fifth match! Green Island Society versus St. Lange School!"


    The master of St. Lange School leaped into the sky. Light blue colored bird shadows appeared below his feet. Leveraging on them, he lightly landed in the middle of the arena.


    "In this clash to unite all, only the Obscuro Society''s master is someone worthy for me to follow! Out of all the East Continent associations, only the Obscuro Society''s master can achieve true greatness."


    "The Clash of Clans has been happening for a thousand years. No one can disrupt a thousand-year tradition." The master of the Green Island Society said in a low voice.


    "Talk less nonsense. Let''s begin!" The other party didn''t want to say much. As he grabbed with his right palm, large amounts of light blue bird shadows appeared in the air around him. A wave-like black dagger appeared on his right hand, which he quietly thrust towards the direction of his opponent.


    The Green Island Society master stomped his feet. His arms suddenly became two green, giant bird wings. He then leaped towards his opponents.


    Hellgate was smiling in his seat, while the Sisley couple on the opposite looked solemn. Together with their supporters behind them, these two parties were two clearly distinct sides.


    Hellgate''s intent was obvious. He wanted to completely unite all the associations, ending the competition in the East Continent. No one wanted their inheritance to be cut off. No association could tolerate giving up their independence and becoming a pawn of the Obscuro Society.


    Battle after battle, numerous masters came and left. Among them, there were also new geniuses and elites that appeared. However, it made people more and more disheartened. Winners from the Obscuro''s camp grew more and more. Now, other than the Terraflor Society, the Green Island Society was the next strongest one. If they lost¡­.


    Everyone''s faces grew grim.


    Complex, true, fourth form elites or even the unique totems of fifth form masters flashed passed Hellgate''s eyes. They were like the windows to the world, but they left no impression.


    Before people knew it, the final four seeding battles had finally arrived.


    At that point, Hellgate stood up with a smile.


    Likewise, the opposing Sisley couple also stood up slowly. They smiled at each other, then held hands as they walked into the arena.


    "Hellgate...Master." Sisley held her husband''s hand tightly. In her heart, there was peace and serenity like never before. "The Terraflor Society challenges the Obscuro Society, in a battle to the death."


    Hellgate walked into the arena to face the two people. Even he himself had a sense of admiration in his eyes.


    "The grudges two hundred years should come to a complete end today."


    There was an uproar in the crowd. No one thought that the Terraflor Society masters would challenge the Obscuro Society to a battle to the death.


    Hellgate let out a smile. Beneath his pitch black armor, was a mountain-like body. The pressure from him almost caused the people around to be out of breath.


    Pat.


    He suddenly took the first step.


    Buzzzz¡­..A low tremor spread out.


    Beneath his feet, the ground slowly cracked. It was like a scar on the ground. Black lava silently gushed out. The lava emitted large amounts of white gas, passing by countless distraught faces.


    The hall started to shake. The sky instantly changed as countless black clouds gathered. The whole sky instantly darkened.


    Ming~~~


    As they were standing in the hall, a ferocious wind was blowing from the outside. The blue torch on the stone pillar kept shaking, almost extinguishing.


    "Hellgate, you really want to do this?" The master of the Red Lotus Society got up and slowly stood on the side of the Sisley couple.


    Crack.


    As lightning flashed across, the faces of the crowd instantly turned pale. A heavy, shapeless pressure completely surrounded the people. Everyone could only hear the heartbeat and breathing.


    "Let''s begin. This meaningless game should come to an end." The wrinkles on Hellgate''s forehead deepened. He slowly opened his arms, as if he was about to hug something. Suddenly there was a tremor.


    Bang!!


    All the pillars in the cathedral instantly exploded and broke down. The people around were instantly overwhelmed by the ferocious force. At the same time, various associations formed light spheres of different sizes. However, they were all broken and cracked in the blink of an eye. Before the numerous totems that were just summoned could let out cries, they were already completely annihilated. The crowd was overwhelmed as if they were pressured by an unknown force to bow.


    "Sisley, you can also see the door?" Surprisingly, that particular set of words came into Hellgate''s mind.


    "The gate in the sky¡­.It''s the door that leads the dead into the heavenly kingdom."


    In a trance, everything seemed to overlap with her childhood.


    Sisley tugged at her own hand, running on the shore. The evening sun revealing two shadows.


    "You have gone crazy¡­." There was suddenly a long white-silver sword in Sisley''s hand. The tip of the sword was surrounded by a circle of glittering diamond light.


    "Return to my side," Hellgate whispered. "Don''t you see it? The door is opening."


    Her memory kept on overlapping with reality. She couldn''t differentiate who was real and who was just an illusion.


    "Everything is caused by you. The appearance of the black hole, the mutation of the earth." Sisley held her husband''s hand tightly. Both of them held the long white-silver sword together.


    "The cause of chaos!" The master of the Red Lotus Society looked solemn. There was rage simmering in his eyes. Two red flames slowly lit up on his shoulders and a flaming-red, lotus-like crown appeared on the air above his head. "The world fell into chaos because of you people pursuing the gates of heaven!!"


    Hellgate looked as if he did not understand.


    "I am not crazy¡­.I just want to open that door, to see what is inside¡­"


    *******************


    On the Black Plains


    Garen''s fights with the Cthulhu King had become more and more frequent.


    Initially, it had been once every few days. Very quickly, the tempo had sped up to once a day. Now after a month, it has become three times in one day.


    Whoosh!!


    A black giant living elephant was thrown through the air into the mouth of a black giant dragon.


    The dragon mouth was formed of black smoke. There was not even a bubble after the ten-meter long black elephant was thrown into it. With a grunt, the black dragon instantly swallowed it.


    Sitting crossed-legged beneath, Garen''s lower body was completely gone. Visible to the naked eye, a new body was quickly forming.


    Originally, Demon Phoenix and the rest had to barbecue and season the meat for Garen to eat. Now they didn''t even have enough time. He ate the meat raw, without even barbecuing. They were even chasing a group of black giant elephants as livestock. These mutated beings were shivering at one side.


    After swallowing more than 10 black giant elephants, the pitch blackness in Garen''s eyes slowly subsided. His injuries were also completely healed.


    Without saying a word, he stood up, becoming a black light again, shooting into the distance.


    After a moment, the red lightning and black air interweaved in the sky in the distance. Needless to guess, both of them were fighting again.


    The chaos lasted for more than an hour before it quietened down.


    Garen''s arms were completely gone. He flew back from afar. As he landed, he immediately grabbed a few elephants. The black gas became a large mouth, which swallowed an elephant in one gulp.


    Moo!!


    The elephant let out pitiful cries, but there was absolutely no way to struggle or escape.


    As his injuries slowly improved, Garen''s two hands also grew back.


    At this stage, totem light was already completely fused into the body. There was no longer the saying where breaking through totem light would be equal to severe totem damage. As his body''s strength increased at an insane speed, the lethality of his kicks and punches also dramatically increased. After the fusion process, the power in his body could absolutely oppress any lower level totem power.


    With the Nine-Headed Hydra''s terrifying regenerative abilities, plus the accumulation of potential points by hunting non-stop in this period of time, it allowed him to barely maintain this state of balance.


    Through the daily battles with the Cthulhu King, both parties were already familiar with the other party''s techniques.


    The Cthulhu King was trained in a demonic martial art called the Sun-Sealing Demonic Wheel. It is rumored to be able to draw energy from the sun to battle. However, it has to continuously suck and gather the "yin" essence of others, to balance the incredibly "yang" energy of the sun.


    The terrifying part of this martial art was its uncomparable lethality and explosiveness. In an instant, it could unleash its greatest power without any indication.


    Garen has heard of information about this demonic art in the Kovitan''s Library. But he never thought that the Cthulhu King was trained in this martial art.


    His lethality and explosiveness were far from the Cthulhu King. Although the Black Water True Technique allowed humans to enter into a supernatural realm, in terms of growth of strength, it was not even close to the Sun-Sealing Demonic Wheel.


    Fortunately, Garen could rely on his nine life talent plus the usage of potential points to fight a lose-lose battle. With that, he managed to maintain the state of a draw.


    Of course, Garen''s purpose wasn''t just to understand the other party''s martial art.


    *********************


    Puff!


    The Cthulhu King sat on the ground. His face as pale as paper. One of his thighs was completely gone. This was the result of carelessly allowing Garen to get near. Now although he only could cross one leg as he sat, he was able to barely stabilize.


    God Cloud and Aixi were already gone. He was the only one on the black plains. All the communication devices had been destroyed in the battle. There was nothing remaining.


    Even his clothes were imitations created by totem power.


    In over a month, his opponent grew from an easy one into a difficult one. Right now, if the Cthulhu King wasn''t careful, he could be severely injured by his opponent.


    The opponents speed of growth was incredibly fast. Even after living hundreds of years, he had never seen such a terrifying talent for martial arts. It was impossible for even the last Cthulhu King to have such terrifying and obvious growth.


    But this wasn''t the most worrisome thing for the Cthulhu King. It was the fact that the other party has been slowly understanding the paths and principles of his Sun-Sealing Demonic Wheel.


    The Sun-Sealing Demonic Wheel was a terrifying demonic martial art invented by the last Cthulhu King before his death. Its complexity far surpassed a normal martial art by at least ten times.


    But even so, that Garen already showed signs of understanding parts of the Sun-Sealing Demonic Wheel.


    This caused the easy-going Cthulhu King to panic.


    Initially, he didn''t want to get entangled in this and planned to return directly to the Cthulhuism Society''s headquarters. However, he had changed his mind. He wanted to make Garen stay, then think of a way to completely destroy this menace.


    With such terrifying growth, if he was given more time¡­.


    If he directly returned to the Cthulhuism Society''s headquarters, or he killed himself and allowed the Origin to revive in the headquarters, he would escape this entanglement. The other party wouldn''t foolishly pursue him to the headquarters. It would be difficult to find a chance to destroy the opponent.


    He had to think of a way...

 503 Chase 1

    Chapter 503: Chase 1


    After a few days..


    On the black plains, behind a black, giant, stone pillar.


    "I''ll fight with you!!"


    Demon Phoenix shouted and leaped over. Suddenly, a fierce, strange, purple halo lit up. Numerous purple, one-eyed shadows slowly lit up behind her.


    Chiiii!!


    Before the shadows could completely materialize, they were punctured by a cloud of black air, like a balloon being poked.


    Demon Phoenix who leaped over was grabbed by the face by Garen. She was tossed onto the ground with a bang. A few meters long pit directly opened up on the ground, swallowing the two people. Lots of smoke rose up, forming grey clouds instantly. The situation within couldn''t be seen clearly.


    "Your body structure is interesting. I won''t eat you for the moment. Don''t worry." Garen retrieved his hand and coughed. Blood flowed out from the corner of his mouth. He continued to close his eyes and rest.


    Nowadays he didn''t even skin the creatures. He ate them whole. Every day, he needed to eat more than ten gigantic creatures like the black elephants, as nutrients for the Nine-Headed Hydra to regenerate limbs.


    Demon Phoenix and the rest got more and more scared. They could roughly guess the reasons Garen brought them along. On one hand, maybe he needed someone to serve him. On the other hand, most likely they were there as backup rations for him.


    After being in emotional turmoil for a few days, finally, her hopelessness caused her to muster up the courage.


    Under the plans of her three subordinates, Demon Phoenix finally found an opportunity. Garen came back today severely injured as usual. The left side of his body was completely gone. Demon Phoenix took advantage of this opportunity for a sudden attack. And then, she was still unexpectedly suppressed...


    Naturally, the decision for Garen to capture Demon Phoenix wasn''t a casual one.


    In the midst of the battle between the Nine-Headed Hydra''s will and the Cthulhu King, he used the aura of the Black Water True Technique to sense the area. He unexpectedly noticed the presence of several unique lives. One of the unique ones was the Demon Phoenix.


    After careful investigation, the blood in the Demon Phoenix''s body contained an ancient aura similar to the ancient Nine-Headed Hydra''s will. This surprised him. Since it wasn''t much of a burden, he caught the four of them as he left.


    As expected, Demon Phoenix was a creature with a long lifespan. This was definitely a good news to him.


    Although luminarists had different methods to lengthen their lives, according to the royal records, the longest lifespan of the strongest totem user was about 400 years. Although different methods were used, one of the most effective methods was converting life force into totems. This was the method that the Cthulhus of the Cthulhuism Society used to become Cthulhus. However, even the Cthulhu totems had a limit to their lifespan.


    It was the number 400.


    This was the limit of one''s lifespan.


    After Garen felt Demon Phoenix''s ancient aura, he immediately captured the four of them for research on the secrets of longevity.


    After a moment of silence, Demon Phoenix crawled to her feet. The courage that she had had completely disappeared. She and her three subordinates squatted at one side, feeling discouraged. They began sewing simple clothes for Garen using animal skins, bones plus some long feathered birds that they caught recently. To make simple disposal clothes weren''t difficult.


    Demon Phoenix had been enduring for more than a thousand years. No one was stronger than her in carrying a burden. It was the same when she met Sage Osaka previously. Once she couldn''t defeat him, she instantly repented. Since she had a long lifespan, as long she lived longer than others, time would help her defeat her strongest enemy. She never thought that before his death, Osaka would seal her for thousands of years.


    But that was before. Previously, she wasn''t good with her mind. After thousands of years of hard work, her mind was much more active than before.


    Demon Phoenix''s eyes were glowing. She was thinking how to escape that monster''s claws. The man was as strong as Osaka during the old days. But no matter how strong someone is, they would still have weaknesses.


    "My Lord! I have an idea!" The purple-armored girl whispered.


    "What''s your plan? Say." Demon Phoenix quietly walked towards her.


    "As long as we obediently listen to the man, he might not eat us. After a few hundred years, after he dies of old age, we can regain our freedom. As long as we perform better this time and don''t get sealed, the Osaka incident won''t repeat!" The purple-armored girl said with certainty.


    "Good idea!" Demon Phoenix knocked her fists. Although not using her brain for thousands of years made it slow, but she didn''t think so.


    "We shall compete with him to see who lives longer!" The two others gathered around as well. "All elites also need subordinates. As long as we are obedient, we definitely wouldn''t be in danger!"


    From the other side, Garen opened his eyes and glanced at the four of them. Without uttering a word, he closed them again.


    Removing the aura of ancient elites, the four of them were lunatics. Most likely they used to rely on brute force to solve problems. Since brute force couldn''t solve the problem at hand, they were completely clueless.


    After resting for a moment, a mild tremor came from the distance.


    Garen glanced at it then raise his hands. Large amounts of black gas were emitted, surrounding all of them.


    "Let''s go!"


    The five of them leaped to the sky, forming a bundle of black cloud, then headed towards the wave in the distance.


    The mutated creatures that were kept captive on the ground quickly ran away like they were being amnestied.


    *************


    Another few days passed by.


    On the grassy plains, the stars in the night sky were glittering silver. The jade-white crescent moon quietly glowed in the sky, surrounded by lingering clouds.


    Garen''s party started a campfire on the grassy plains. They could clearly be seen, like a yellow chess piece on a black chess board. White smoke billowed upwards. The smoke swayed after being blown by the wind. It dissipated then disappeared.


    "What is this place?" Garen sat beside the campfire. He casually asked as he was fiddling with the fire. As soon as he asked, he realized that it wasn''t probable that Demon Phoenix would know their current location. Hence he kept quiet.


    "Not...Not sure¡­" Demon Phoenix answered carefully. She had already accepted her fate. After making sure that Garen wouldn''t eat her, she used her ultimate technique - endure.


    After enduring for thousands of years, enduring another few hundred years wouldn''t be a huge problem. Compared to before, she could still see new sceneries around. It was evident that the current treatment she received was much better.


    Garen gave her a glance.


    "Do you know how to retract the parts of your body that are not human-like?"


    "I know! I know I know!" Demon Phoenix quickly nodded. After these few days, she was afraid of being beaten up. She obediently listened and accepted herself as Garen''s servant.


    After some adjustments, Demon Phoenix and the rest retracted their abnormalities. All of them looked like normal humans.


    Her three subordinates, two men, and a woman dispersed their armor. They reformed the armor to become clothes like ones Garen wore. They also revealed their faces that they had previously hidden.


    The purple-armored girl changed into a purple robe. She was Demon Phoenix''s top general, called Phantom. Her looks and figure were indescribable. She was an absolute beauty. Her appearance was gentle. It was only her strange, heavy, voice that could give anyone a scare.


    The other two men looked about the same. They were beautiful and pure, with long purple hair. From their appearance, it was difficult to recognize that they were men. They didn''t even have facial hair. If it wasn''t for their Adam''s apple or the lack of a protruding chest, just by their beautiful face and graceful figure, no one would know that they were men.


    Their two names were relatively strange, Lata and Tala.


    Demon Phoenix explained that initially, her main criteria for choosing subordinates had been beauty.


    After the four of them joked around for a few times, they could be considered obedient. Since they were free while pursuing the Cthulhu King, Garen asked Demon Phoenix about the situation of the place she was from.


    "Osaka used to be a region of chaos. There were a total of five countries. We lived there since we were born. The people there consecrated us and worshipped us as gods. After that, Osaka appeared and killed many of my servants and subordinates. After defeating us in the end, I do not know why she didn''t kill me. Before her death, she sealed me up until now. I think after the death of Osaka''s man, she herself no longer wanted to live. I am not very sure of the reason."


    Demon Phoenix illogically talked about her past.


    Her subordinates were carefully barbecuing some food. They also used some roots of plants that they had dug out to make soup.


    The grassy plains were abnormally quiet. They only sound that could be heard was the faint wolf howls from the distance.


    After the nest leaders recruited large amounts of strong monsters, the ones that remained outside were stupid or weak ones. Even the nest leaders did not consider them as one of their own.


    For fifth form elites, if they were willing, as long as they didn''t hide their presence, it would be sufficient to scare away almost all the monsters. But this was a little tricky for Garen. He couldn''t replenish sufficient potential points without sufficient strong creatures.


    Fortunately, he already had some rough ideas about the path of the Cthulhu King''s martial arts.


    The key reason he was superior to the martial artists of this world, was his understanding towards martial arts. With the support of the level of the previous world, he was able to reach terrifying heights.


    This had nothing to with the realm that he was in. It was merely based on experience.


    He had studied large amounts of martial arts in the martial arts world. At this point, his progress of deciphering the Cthulhu King''s Sun-Sealing Demonic Wheel was faster than the Cthulhu King expected.


    One he could derive the complete demonic art, absorbing the Cthulhu''s Origin would no longer be a problem.


    After casually chatting with Demon Phoenix and the rest, he ordered them to be on guard. They would inform him once they notice something going on with the Cthulhu King.


    He laid on the grass and gradually fell asleep. Even though his Black Water True Technique had strong stamina, the terrifying consumption due to two months of continuous battles and pursuit with no rest in the middle has pushed him to his limit.


    Once he closed his eyes, he no longer wanted to open it. HIs weariness flooded him instantly like a tide.


    He slept for an unknown period of time. As he opened his eyes, it was bright.


    The sky was too bright. A rich, potato soup-like fragrance entered his nostrils.


    Garen felt his brain hurt as he slowly sat up. He saw Demon Phoenix and Phantom busy cooking soup, while Lata and Tala were squatting on the ground. They were washing some leafy plants.


    The sky was white and the wind that blew by was a little cooling.


    As he stood upon the grassy plains, Garen looked towards the Cthulhu King from afar. There was no movement over there. It was obvious that he was also getting a little rest for one night.


    He relied on the attribute bonuses of his body, his incredible martial arts realm, in addition to the Troll Grip and others, to be able to imitate the battling ability of a peak fifth form although he was merely at the lower level of fifth form. In actual fact, he was competing all these while.


    Garen also had a clear positioning of his full strength.


    Among peak fifth form, he was the weakest. In his battle with God Cloud, not to mention that God Cloud was already injured beforehand. After such a long pursuit, the other party managed to escape so far away although he was bringing along another person with him.


    After that, the Cthulhu King was even more extreme. Everytime his attack hit, it would mean injury or even death. If the Black Water True Technique didn''t gather on the surface of his body, he couldn''t even break his defense, not to mention heavily injure him. Gathering the Black Water True Technique on his hands and legs like before wouldn''t work at all. It was too weak.


    Until today, although the Cthulhu King had an Immortal Body, he didn''t even die once. In other words, by merely injuring him, the consumption of Cthulhu''s Origin for the other party was not even worth mentioning.


    Meanwhile, he himself had died for more than twenty times and been severely injured for more than thirty times. If it wasn''t for his nine-life talent which could be replenished with potential points, in addition to the terrifying regenerative ability of the Nine-Headed Hydra, he simply did not qualify to fight his opponent until this stage.


    Although by successfully suppressed the temperament of the Nine-Headed Hydra, he''d managed to increase his strength significantly, he was still much weaker as compared to the Cthulhu King.


    After giving more thought, the Cthulhu King was oppressed by Phiroth. Without the glittering water, he would flee once he saw Phiroth.


    Garen was making the comparisons in his mind. Finally, he positioned his strength on the level of the Lord of Royal Star Court. The Lord of Royal Star Court could hold his own against God Cloud with the Distorted Beads. Although he was slightly disadvantaged, he was still a true peak fifth form.


    As the boss of the Geometry Service, his abilities were among the top three strongest in the Three Departments. Even if the Elder Council was included, he would still be top five. The Elder Council was a giant force across the East and West Continents, gathering all the top-notch elites.

 504 Chase 2

    Chapter 504: Chase 2


    Of course, they should be only four to five peak fifth form. Phiroth was definitely one of them. The bosses of the Three Departments were also definitely in the peak realm. Also the Director of the Parliament, who might be still alive. In the original history, the old man had been killed by Hellgate underground.


    Once he thought of Hellgate, Garen shuddered. Looking at the time, it was about time for Hellgate''s birth.


    As he was busy battling the Cthulhu King and learning his martial arts, he actually forgot such a big matter. After all, fighting with an elite on the Cthulhu King''s level requires complete concentration. Otherwise, once he slipped up, he would be completely put in a tough spot. No matter how many lives he had, the outcome was death.


    After eating the soup and meat, Garen sat on one side. He looked towards the Cthulhu King''s direction. There were clouds of smoke. It was obvious that he was cooking something. The Cthulhu King was obviously not as laid back as himself.


    After searching his body for a moment, then only Garen remembered that his belongings were fully destroyed during his battles over this period of time.


    As black clouds gathered below his feet, he slowly ascended higher and higher.


    Demon Phoenix and the others below didn''t dare to say much. They obediently stood in their positions, cleaning up the mess.


    As the people below seemed smaller and smaller, his vision grew wider and wider.


    As Garen slowly ascended, he swept his gaze over the grassy plains.


    Very quickly, ten kilometers away, smoke from a bonfire was rising.


    With a stomp of his feet, the black gas surrounded him and shot out towards the back. It headed in that direction like a meteorite.


    On the Cthulhu King''s side, there was some slight movement. But in the end, he stopped and didn''t take that opportunity to leave.


    Garen approached the position of the bonfire. From afar, he could see that on the side of the winding river, three human figures that looked like adventurers stood up and looked towards him as if a great enemy was coming. They already wielded weapons in their hands. Two wild boar totems with white spikes were also being summoned.


    The three adventurers, two men, and one woman were in dark brown cotton armor. Their faces look weather-beaten. Evidently, they had been walking on the grassy plains for quite some time.


    As Garen approached, then only the three of them saw that within the black gas was actually a young man. Unexpectedly, there was eagerness and warmth glowed in their eyes.


    "Strong totem user, do you need any assistance?" Seeing that the other party was a man, the woman out of the three stood up and spoke. Usually, the opposite gender would be easier to get acquainted.


    "Do you have a radio?" Since the other party was speaking pure Kovitan language, Garen directly replied with Kovitan language.


    "Radio? Yes, yes yes!" The woman asked her companion to take out a white-silver square box. There was even a gold antenna on top. There was a knob to change channels in the middle. Basically, there weren''t many differences from Earth''s radios.


    Garen grabbed it with one hand. A white stream of water instantly grabbed the radio over. It steadily landed on his plan with a clap.


    As he was about to throw out a few Rumbs, Garen suddenly remembered that his wallet was totally destroyed in the battles. Suddenly, there was a sense of hesitation in his expression.


    "Strong totem user, it is just a radio. Don''t take it to heart." The woman looked about twenty years of age. She didn''t seem to mingle much with aristocrats. The way she spoke was a little stiff.


    "What is this place?" Gaern suddenly asked.


    "Er¡­ This is the Blue Jade Plains, between the Ultimate Protection and the hundreds of countries of the North." The woman quickly answered.


    "What are you doing here?"


    "We were initially hunting down a Four-Ear Fox on the plains. We accidentally got lost¡­" The girl laughed bitterly.


    "In that case, this place is quite close to the Ultimate Protection, Kovitan?"


    "Yes, My Lord."


    Garen nodded. Suddenly, with a snap of his fingers, a stream of black gas shot out, leaving a black line in the air.


    Very quickly, a pitiful shriek came from afar. After a while, a cloud of black gas was returning with a white fox-like creature. The fox had golden eyes and six limbs. As it was struggling non-stop within the gas, it let out sharp shrieks.


    "This is your reward." Garen pointed with his finger. The black gas surrounding the small fox descended and landed in front of the three of them. The fox who was initially struggling was pierced in mid-air by the black gas. The black gas entered through one of its ears and exited from the other. The fox''s body became numb and stopped moving completely.


    "Six-Limb White Fox!! It is actually a Six-Limb White Fox!" The three people couldn''t hold back their cries. This fox was obviously worth something.


    "With this Six-Limb White Fox, we no longer need to catch a Four-Ear Fox!" "There is hope for father''s sickness!"


    As the three of them finished reacting and were ready to thank Garen, there was no longer anyone in the air.


    As he returned to the camp, Garen landed and placed the radio on the ground. He switched it on and adjusted it to the Daniela channel that he remembered.


    Although he was nearer to Kovitan, when he left, Kovitan''s news channel still wasn''t set up. He could only remember the one from Daniela.


    Demon Phoenix and the rest stared at the small, white-silver box curiously. They didn''t know what was it for.


    "Sheesh¡­.Oaz! Oaz!"


    "Fast fast fast! Focus on this side! This side!!" "That is Edney''s giant statue, the giant statue is on the move! Looks like the demonstration has reached the government''s tolerance limit." There was a flurry of footsteps and a hurried man''s voice came from the radio. There were also numerous people shouting in one accord.


    "This is Edney''s Cassadan City. It is 11:32 in the morning. The procession has already begun to confront the armed government. If things don''t turn around, there might be another bloodshed."


    Garen blinked his eyes and changed the channel to another news portal from Daniela. So happen, it was interval music.


    He steadied the radio and sat on one side to rest as he was listening to the news.


    A gentle female announcer was reporting the recent happenings. Most of it was unimportant matters. A mine somewhere collapsed, killing some people. The progress of the international census. The breakthrough in the research of the domestication of mutated creatures.


    Demon Phoenix and the rest were abnormally curious. As they were busy doing their tasks, they were eavesdropping on the radio. Although they completely couldn''t understand the Daniela language used, it didn''t stop them from being curious towards the talking box.


    The sky started to brighten up. Until about 2 o''clock in the afternoon, the Cthulhu King still didn''t show any intention of leaving. Garen decided to go later in the day to test his martial arts. He wanted to understand the recent happenings first.


    "....There was a secret gathering among East continents society in the Ye Qin Mountains a few days ago. Many elite societies and associations gathered in the black stone ruins of the giant cathedral to share their knowledge and experience. There was skirmish during the gathering which caused ten severe injuries and fifteen deaths. Among them were the leaders of the Terraflor Society, the Sisley Couple. The cause of the incident is still under investigation."


    Garen suddenly opened his eyes. There was a hint of heaviness on his face.


    "Sisley...Terraflor Society¡­"


    The voice continued.


    "The biggest terrorist organization, the Obscuro Society was declared to be responsible. King Phiroth released a statement where any challenge against peace was a challenge against Daniela. A heavy blow has to be delivered towards the Obscuro Society''s rampant activities.


    The new continued but Garen no longer wanted to listen. He turned off the radio. Although his heart was heavy, there was also a glimmer of hope in him.


    Hellgate¡­.The man that surpassed the limits of the world. Just by thinking how strong he was, it agitated people.


    "Must speed up the progress." Garen stood up. His body slowly melted to become a cloud of black gas, which shot out towards the distance.


    He covered about ten kilometers in a few breaths.


    On the grassy plains, the Cthulhu King in red robes instantly opened his eyes. He gathered a red lightning spear in his hand and threw it over.


    Crack.


    Lightning flashed and thunder roared. The red lightning collided with the black cloud meteor. With a bang, a circle of transparent ripples diffused out on the ground. As though it was seawater, there were clear ripple lines on the grassy plains.


    The dense white clouds in the sky were immediately scattered. A hole was created and golden sunlight shined through the hole, forming an eye-catching, golden beam of light.


    Within the black cloud and red lightning, two blurs shot out, a black one and a red one. They collided, becoming a black-red meteor which crashed fiercely towards the ground.


    Bang!


    A pit was instantly formed on the ground. It was more than a hundred meters wide and more than ten meters deep. Garen''s expression didn''t change. His arms pierced outwards to his two sides, penetrating two red light beams that were coming towards him.


    Battling until now, he no longer had any fixed form. The Ten Thousand Mammoth Battle Skills slowly evolved, removing the unnecessary portions to become more and more refined. He also merged it the bits and pieces of some of the techniques that he invented in this world.


    After he penetrated the two light beams, Garen turned to his side, extending his right leg like a whip. The black glow on the tip of his foot could clearly be seen.


    In the pit, there was a light crack. A black crescent suddenly lit up, passing by the Cthulhu King''s chest, then quickly disappeared.


    "You!!" The Cthulhu King stared at Garen as if he was staring at a ghost. He was in complete disbelief.


    Although the Black Crescent Leg Knife didn''t touch him, traces of black lightning arcs strangely lingered on his chest. The lightning arc waves were abnormally familiar. It was very similar to his Sun-Sealing Demonic Wheel.


    Although it didn''t cause any damage to him, this attack caused an unconcealable coldness the Cthulhu King''s heart. As he looked at the man in front of him, he reflexively thought of that tyrannical man at the Ancestral God Tree. The two of them were so similar. The familiar coldness was rising in the Cthulhu King''s heart.


    "Light of Ten Thousand Laws!" The Cthulhu King bellowed. He finally used his strongest ability to date.


    In the sky, the golden sun turned red in an instant. A red light dot fell out from the center of the sun. It grew faster and faster, bigger and bigger.


    From the size of a sesame seed, it grew into the size of a fingernail. Very quickly, it became a giant red light beam that almost covered the whole sky.


    There was no sound and no tremor.


    The giant light beam of over a hundred meters suddenly descended. Together with the Cthulhu King, it wrapped Garen and submerged the both of them in a terrifying, high-temperature beam.

 505 Humbled 1

    Chapter 505: Humbled 1


    The red light beam pierced the heavens and earth. It was like a red giant jade pillar that stood tall on the grassy plains. It penetrated the clouds. As the sun shone through the hole in the clouds onto the beam, there was a rapid flowing air-flow like movement.


    The beam lasted for a few minutes before becoming narrower, lighter and eventually disappeared completely.


    Beneath the beam, there was a pitch black hole in the ground. There was only darkness within the hole, and it seemed bottomless. Only traces of white smoke and black gas came from within.


    Piak!


    A hand suddenly stretched out, grabbing the soil on the sides of the hole. As the fingers bent, the five fingers were like sharp claws, penetrating deep into the soil instantly.


    Two dark figures were hanging on the sides of the hole. One of them held onto the soil with one hand, while the other was hanging onto the former''s right leg. Both of them hung on the wall of the hole. From time to time they would sway, like a pendant on the wall being blown by the wind.


    Garen grabbed onto the Cthulhu King''s right leg with all his might. His left arm was gone, while his two legs had also exploded, almost becoming a stick-man[1]. However, he was grinning, revealing white teeth as sharp as the teeth of a saw.


    Woooooo~~~~


    A desolate horn cry came from afar. It was distant and dull.


    In the white sky, numerous dark red dots were heading over from the distance. Each of the dots was actually a dark red Dual-Headed Salamander. Each of them had a salamander-like body, and a pair of wings made out of flesh on its back. An extra head grew from the center of each of their chests.


    On each of the Dual-Headed Salamanders'' back was a strong, horned warrior. Some of them were swinging heavy metal flails. Some of them raised black crossbows, while some of them gathered balls of dark red flames with their hands.


    The sky was slowly occupied by the red dots. The numerous dark red Dual-Headed Salamanders were like flies, hovering over the sky. The golden sunlight projected down to form a bright beam.


    More and more Dual-Headed Salamanders gathered around the golden beam. They circled around the golden beam and roared.


    Ming!!~~~~~~


    The horn sounded again.


    The Dual-Headed Salamanders hovered over their heads, completely surrounding the two of them.


    "You are definitely going to die¡­!" The Cthulhu King stared fiercely at Garen. He saw his opponent smiling instead, not panicking at all.


    "You''ve almost finished your Origin isn''t it?" Garen laughed and asked casually.


    "I wouldn''t die before you." The Cthulhu King let out a cold laugh. However, he was trembling in his heart. He had actually used up his Cthulhu''s Origin significantly. After taking the glittering water plus using the Cthulhu''s Origin, then only he managed to recover the injuries to his spirit. He really wasn''t left with much. He only had three chances at reviving. If he died here once...If he faced Phiroth in the future, victory was unpredictable.


    This was one of the reasons he didn''t kill himself voluntarily to return to the headquarters.


    "Your regenerative abilities should be finishing as well?" The Cthulhu King did not reveal the changes in his heart. He coldly laughed and asked instead.


    "Who knows?" Garen laughed and stopped speaking.


    Quietly, on the contact point where he was grabbing the Cthulhu King''s leg, there was a fight going on between black sticky liquid and red jade stone-like shell.


    The black light and red light were slowly blooming. It was abnormally striking on the sides of the pitch black hole.


    In actual fact, both of them didn''t have much energy remaining, but both didn''t want to admit defeat. Until this stage, regardless of whether the Cthulhu King was willing, his subconscious already considered Garen as his biggest rival other than of Phiroth.


    *******************


    Screams, hoof sounds and the roars of the dual-headed flying dragons..


    The grassy plains were in chaos.


    Large crowds of flying dragons and black knights rushed into the white circular tribe. They were like an unstoppable black tide. Each swipe of their machetes would cut off a head. Blood spilled all over the ground, dyeing the grassy plains in red.


    At the door of the white tribe, two men in smart, black suits stood still on the ground, looking at the massacre happening in the tribe.


    "The Thirteenth Tribe on the grassy plains. Other than Ramstead, the others are merely preys before the sharp eagle claws." One of the men had sharp eyes. There was a white beard on his chin which swayed to the left in the wind.


    "This is the consequence of not obeying the Wolf Tribe." His voice was cold, without any warmth. "On the grassy plains, everything belongs to the Atria Alliance."


    Before he finished speaking, there was a crisp noise. A white boomerang was spinning rapidly, heading towards his head.


    The sides of the boomerang were incredibly sharp. There were some remnants of blood on the boomerang. There was an intense howling sound as it spun.


    The boomerang passed the neck of a black knight in its way. With a poof that brought along a bloody smell, a head that was still laughing flew off.


    The boomerang, with the power of a recent murder, headed towards the black-robed man with a cold voice.


    Dang!


    The black man abruptly raised his arm and blocked the boomerang heads-on. Golden sparks splattered from the clash between his arm and the boomerang. Surprisingly, the collision between flesh and metal could emit the sound of clashing metal.


    Looking over at the direction where the boomerang originated, there was a squad of white knights protecting two youths, allowing them to retreat into the distance. The surrounding black knights and flying dragons leaped over but were all killed or knocked back by the boomerangs.


    There was a knight in full white armor. He wore a white-silver helmet that only revealed his eyes. In his hand was a giant sword enchanted with white electric arcs. With every swing, a black knight would be chopped down. The Dual-Headed Flying Dragons didn''t dare to approach. Once the white electric touched them from afar, their bodies would become numb. They would fall to the ground, quickly emitting black smoke, eventually becoming black ash.


    The white-bearded leader in black robes looked at the gradually departing white knights. He slowly let out a faint smile.


    "Gulaman! I''ll go and kill them!" The one with the cold voice was asking to be sent into battle.


    "Patience¡­" Through the gaps among the white knights, the white-bearded man saw the two people being protected.


    It was a boy and a girl. Both of them were not more than thirteen, fourteen years of age. They were dressed luxuriously in a white bandana on their heads. On the bandana was a green gemstone.


    The two children had fair skin and pretty faces. The boy was like a delicate porcelain doll. The girl''s long hair draped over her shoulder. Her tight clothing revealed her tiny waist. She had red lips and white teeth. Her watery eyes were red and swollen.


    "Looks like I will have some good stuff tonight." The white-bearded man stroke his beard, looking satisfied.


    "Gulaman, let me go capture them for you!"


    "I want that boy. It''s been a while since I''ve seen someone so fair." The white-bearded man nodded.


    "Er¡­." The other person was a little shocked. This Gulaman''s preference¡­..He initially thought he wanted to capture the little girl, he never thought¡­.As he glanced at the calm white-bearded man, there was an uncontrollable coldness in his heart.


    *******************


    "Sister! Don''t bother about me! Run!!" The little boy Lajay shouted at the top of his lungs. He continuously struggled. Yet he was still clamped between the armpits of a black knight leader. He was being brought towards the direction of the two black-robed leaders.


    "It''s an honor to be chosen by Lord Gulaman! Treat the old man well and you might live!"


    The black knight leader laughed.


    Larain was being held in one hand by a white knight. She stretched out her hands and looked in tears towards the direction of her brother. The white knights around them were protecting them as they retreated into the distance. However, the black knights behind were like wolves that fixed their eyes on raw meat. They were not going to let them go.


    From the gap between the helmet and the neck of the white knight, there was red blood flowing downwards, dying his breastplate in red. However, his posture did not change.


    "Princess Rain. Do not let His Majesty, Jay sacrifice in vain!" A determined voice came from beneath the helmet.


    "Let me go let me go! I want to save my brother! Let go! Let go¡­" Larain knocked on the white knight''s breastplate. She didn''t even realize that her hands were being scratched by the sharp parts of the armor.


    "Woooo¡­.wo¡­..Let go¡­" Larain''s tears were like pouring rain but the white knight wasn''t affected.


    The White Wind Tribe was gone. The Wolf-Hawk Atria Alliance was too strong...


    Their totems were all over the air and the ground, more than the raindrops in the sky. In the whole grassy plains, they were rampant and unbeatable. After the demise of the second strongest White Wind Tribe, no one could hinder their footsteps.


    Wooo!


    The totem light of one of the knights beside was penetrated by an arrow. He tumbled to the ground. Another knight took his place without any hint of panic.


    They were the most skilled White Wind Knights. All of them were skilled totem users that were developed since young. They were elites that were chosen among uncountable departments. The White Wind Knights had more than a hundred men. They were like a device. Once one of them fell, there would be a new knight to fill the void. There was no fear or panic, only composure.


    After this battle, thousands of skilled totem users sieged the White Wind Tribe''s headquarters. The White Wind King died in battle. This battle would definitely shock all the tribes in the grassy plains.


    Buzzz!!!


    Suddenly, all they could see was red. A vast light instantly flooded their vision.


    The white knights quickly held the reins of their horses. The cries of panicked horses constantly came, while the Dual-Headed Flying Dragons fell to the ground like dumplings.


    Bang!


    A flying dragon suddenly landed behind their squad. It knocked into a protruding stone and let out a cry. Its four eyes were in a daze as it tried to get up, but it didn''t work.


    The white knight quickly recovered his vision. He looked at the Flying Dragon. With a raise of his hand, a white light shot out. It accurately pierced the Flying Dragon''s head. The Flying Dragon instantly stopped moving.


    He retracted the white light and continued to lead his team to scurry away.


    "What is this!" "My eyes!"


    "It''s the White Wind''s secret weapon!"


    "Stop screaming!" "Stay still on the ground! Stay still on the ground!!"


    The bellows of the black knight leaders came from the distance.


    Then only the white knights saw what happened.


    From the grassy plains in the distance, a vast red beam penetrated the clouds. The red beam was like moving water, rotating upwards. The whole beam was light red-jade, emitting sharp red light. It was incredibly bright.


    At this point, there were huge crowds of black knights appearing in front of the white knights. Their leader was a black knight in a winged helmet. He was riding a strong black horse. He turned sideways towards them, but he was evidently affected by the red light. From time to time, the horses who were still in shock would neigh as they walked back and forth


    "Flee towards that direction!" The white knight decisively changed their route and headed towards the direction of the red pillar. Their horses were also affected but fortunately, they were not looking in the direction of the beam. Since they managed to avoid the majority of the sharp light, they recovered much faster than the black knights.


    ****************


    "Gulaman...Us?"


    "Red light from the sky. An heirloom must be born." Gulaman stroked his beard. His gaze was solemn.


    "According to the scouts over there, two elites were battling to the death near the red light. Both of them were severely injured. They look like people from the Central region." A black-armored knight on the side whispered. "Boss, what should we do now?"


    "Let''s go take a look. According to the old rules, let them kneel and join our alliance. If they are not willing, kill the males. For the females, disable them and send them to the army''s red tent." Gulaman muttered.


    "Yes!"


    ****************


    Their arms collided fiercely.


    Bang!


    The red light and black light exploded. Garen and the Cthulhu King both were about to fall as they retreated a few steps. One of them leaned on a giant stone pillar, while the other one sat on the ground with a puff. He was out of breath.


    Both of them were exhausted. They couldn''t do anything to each other.


    "You can''t kill...me!" The Cthulhu King, who was out of breath, said fiercely. He leaned on the stone pillar with all his might, trying to maintain the original image of the Cthulhu King. However, the fatigue of his body was like a wave, knocking on his mental state. This weariness was a mental one. It had nothing to do with the body.


    Both of them had battled for more than two months. It was an intense battle every single day. There was no chance of relaxing.


    Until now, when both of them were in a mentally exhausted state.


    Once the Cthulhu King couldn''t kill Garen with his strongest move, he knew that he can only drag on the battle against him. After a series of fights, this was the state that they''d ended up in.


    "So what?" Garen smiled as he sat on the ground. He didn''t care about his image. He seemed much more comfortable than the Cthulhu King.


    "I also can''t kill you." The Cthulhu King slightly loosened up. However, he didn''t move. He wasn''t able to muster enough energy. He couldn''t even crack the skin of a peak fifth form. "How about we come to a truce?"


    "A truce?" Garen''s expression was strange.


    Wooo!!


    Deafening horn cries came again from the sky.


    The numerous red flying dragons circled around them. The horned warriors blew their horns, letting out low cries.


    "You know what I want. You think we are able to have a truce now?" Garen looked directly at the Cthulhu King and started laughing.


    "There are conditions for everything in this world. Tell me your conditions." The Cthulhu King really didn''t want to have to die to return.


    Translator''s Notes


    [1] An ancient punishment where all four limbs are chopped off, leaving only the head and the body.

 506 Humbled 2

    Chapter 506: Humbled 2


    Black Knights dominated the field with their numbers, while Dual Headed Salamanders blanketed the sky.


    The small group of White Knights were surrounded beside a seemingly bottomless pit. Garen and his friend were also surrounded as they stood on a giant stone column at the other side of the pit.


    Gulaman was leading the Black Knights, and there was a black-shirted man and a black armored knight standing behind him.


    He looked down into the endless pit.


    "Where¡¯s the Heirloom?¡¯


    "We have searched everywhere but to no avail. I believe those two have taken it away and the current situation is because of the Heirloom." The man said in a cold tone.


    "Take it from them!" Gulaman reached out his hand and the knight beside him respectfully passed him a black spear.


    He took the spear, waved it and an almost innumerable amount of densely packed black symbols appeared.


    "Hand over the Heirloom! Follow my orders and become my slave or lose your life!!" Gulaman shouted towards the Black stone column far away.


    At the edge of the pit.


    The White Knights remained group together with an adamant will. Blood stains covered their white armor, and some were armors were fully soaked with blood.


    The weapons on their hands were either broken or blunt. There were no injured knights, as those who were injured had already died. When a knight sustains a wound, it meant that their totem light was broken, and without the protection of the totem light, a simple stab or the partner¡¯s sputtered light could cause death under the chaotic battle.


    None of the White Knights made a noise, but some of them were either hyperventilating, wiping off the blood that was about to enter their eyes or comforting the horses that might not last for another minute. Some of them were even whispering among themselves and no one could hear them clearly.


    The leader of the White Knights had Princess Larain in his arms as he held a silver double-edged greatsword four meters long with one hand. The sword was filled with dried blood, and on top of the caked blood was fresh, still dripping crimson blood.


    The white horse that he was on was also covered in white armor, but it was already ragged and each wound on its body was not a light one.


    The aberrated horse had reached its limit. One of its eyes was stabbed blind, leaving behind a hole filled with blood. However, it stood strong on the ground and carried the two of them.


    "Uncle White Sky, are we able to survive this? ¡­" Larain was flabbergasted as she confided in the white knight leader while in his arms, her voice coarse from wear.


    "I¡¯m not sure." The leader of the white knight said calmly.


    He looked far at the black stone column and noticed those two on top were in serious trouble.


    **************


    At the edge of the black stone column.


    "Aren¡¯t you clear about my terms?"


    The Black Knight¡¯s voice traveled within the noise from the aberrated horse and dual headed salamanders, but both of them ignored him.


    "I will never pass you the Sun-Sealing Demonic Wheel." Cthulhu King said coldly. "Other than this, I will accept your conditions."


    "It¡¯s very unfortunate, but that is my only condition." Garen smiled cunningly.


    In an instant, his body disappeared slowly.


    An afterimage!


    The Cthulhu King immediately raised up his hand and shot out a red beam few meters away from him to his left.


    He didn¡¯t even look at the result and immediately stomped his leg and straightened his hands to hit onto something.


    Boom!!


    A black figure appeared as it collided with his arm. However, the black figure didn¡¯t even slow down at all. In fact, it used its momentum to fly towards the big group of Black Knights.


    "Don¡¯t even think about it!!" The Cthulhu King thought of one possibility and immediately chased after the black figure and tried to block its path. He then shot out streams of red lights from his hands, legs, mouth and eyes.


    One would immediately vaporize if one were to come in contact with the Light of Destruction. However, as it was highly condensed, it didn¡¯t spread out everywhere and the red lights that were shot out formed into countless of red dots and returned back to the Cthulhu King, becoming the source of the next attack.


    The black figure kept colliding with the red lights a few hundred times a second in the sky. Every time it was in contact with the red dot, a booming sound was produced. The others could only hear a buzzing sound from the collision.


    "Retreat!!" The Cthulhu tried to delay Garen, as a melee battle was not his strength. He had no choice but to shout at the Black Knights in rage.


    Both of them flew in the sky, and some Dual Headed Salamanders which were grazed instantly exploded and turned into black fluid.


    "Hehe!!"


    Garen laughed softly as his right hand transformed into black fluid, and instantly solidified into a black giant dragon head, at least ten meters long and five to six meters wide.


    Roar!! Fuh!!


    The red beam pierced through the dragon head that just appeared, and it had no choice but to revert back to Garen¡¯s right arm.


    The black figure tried to dive from the sky, but each time it was being obstructed by the red beam.


    The crowd of Black Knights started to expand and the quantity of Dual Headed Salamander in the sky increased as well.


    Thousands of totem light force fields had surrounded both of them.


    Gulman¡¯s expression had become dimmer by the second.


    He raised up his black rifle.


    "How dare you challenge the prestige Atria Alliance¡¯s green field!!"


    "Kill them!!" The black knights around him suddenly roared.


    "Kill!!""Kill!!"


    "Long live the Atria Alliance!!"


    The black knights and the Bullhorn Warrior who were on the flying dragon¡¯s back started to roar.


    Suddenly, countless of dual-headed salamanders rushed towards those two in the sky. They were holding onto weapons with totem light and some of them released black arrows from their hands whereas the others were releasing some green powder, covering the whole sky with a semi-transparent green plant.


    In that instant, tens of dual-headed salamanders rushed towards, and the two of them and engaged battle with them. It looked like a dark red ball from afar.


    "They came here on their own. You can¡¯t blame me for that!" Garen suddenly laughed loudly in the sky.


    "Light of ten thousand¡­ Uff!!"


    The Cthulhu King was suddenly muted.


    A red figure came out from the red ball and landed on the ground with great force, creating a huge amount of dust in the process.


    Then, a huge amount of black smoke started to rush out from the red ball which the flying dragon surrounded.


    It was as if the black smoke was alive, as it started forming into a giant salamander dragon head. It was at least thirty meters long and cast a giant shadow onto the ground.


    The dragon opened its mouth, to the point where its cheeks started to tear apart from the edge of its mouth to its ears. It was as if half of the brain was completely split into half.


    "What¡­ What is that!!??" Gulaman released the spear in his hand without realizing, and it landed onto the floor. He raised his head as he stared mindlessly at the black smoke dragon head in fear.


    This intense intimidation had completely covered everyone in the field. Thousands of totem users and salamanders stood still, rooted to where they were.


    The dark green field was slowly covered by red blood, drenching the four legs of all battle horses.


    Everyone, including both the Black Knights and White Knights, looked up at the sky.


    The giant dragon head had blocked off all the sunlight. It was like a natural disaster opening its mouth.


    Puff!


    The sky suddenly went silent.


    In an instant, at least two hundred dual headed salamanders were bitten in half. Those who had surrounded the red ball had completely disappeared, including the people riding them.


    There were people who pulled half of their bodies out from the side of the dragon¡¯s mouth. However, they were immediately sucked back in and didn¡¯t even have the chance to scream for help.


    "It¡¯s my win, Cthulhu King." A voice reverberated in the sky.


    "Mon¡­ Monster¡­"


    It was as if a single drop of water was dropped into a bowl of boiling oil. The whole team of Black Knights were devastated.


    "Monster!!""Ah!!""Kill him!!"


    "Kill!!""Long live the Atria Alliance!!"


    Some shouted in involuntary fear.


    There were even more people started to retreat, keeping their heads down as if their lives depended on it. Everyone ran away without raising their head at all.


    There were even people who rode the flying dragon and rushed towards him with tears in their eyes. Immediately, they were swallowed by it, and not a single drop of blood was left behind.


    Any attack launched instantly melted and became part of the black smoke the moment they entered it.


    "The¡­ The Holy Lord will never forgive you!!" Gulaman said as his voice trembled. His legs were completely immersed in a blood-like fluid, and he started to tremble in fear. It sapped every ounce of his energy, sucking away his ability to move.


    Two of the leaders behind him was also glued by the plasma-like fluid and couldn''t move at all. It was as if their bodies weren¡¯t theirs.


    The black smoke surrounded them and binded them like a rope and gently threw them upwards.


    The Black Smoke Dragon Head opened its mouth wide and ate them like they were its afternoon snack. It hadn¡¯t even bothered to chew.


    The never-ending plasma and black smoke spread across the sky and land, as it captured those Black Knights who couldn¡¯t escape in time and threw them into the dragon¡¯s mouth.


    On the other hand, the leader of White Knights released a circle of white light and covered everyone as they hid inside the dark cave. They sought refuge inside the caves while the others ignored them, avoiding a massacre they had no hope to defend against.


    "It¡¯s over, Cthulhu King. I have almost cracked the code to you Sun-Sealing Demonic Wheel¡¯s workings." Garen¡¯s voice came from the sky.


    Within the crater, an ill-looking, bloody figure slowly rose up.


    His mask was broken during the battle, revealing a pale, young and handsome face. There were two red circles that were rotating on his pupils and they even had pointers on it as if it were a clock. The left one was moving quickly while the right one was moving slowly.


    "If not for these fools you fed on, do you really think you can beat me?!" The Cthulhu King gritted his teeth.


    It almost completely seemed like cheating; a fat juicy piece meat landed directly into his mouth just as both of them had almost depleted their strength.


    "What a fool of a failure." Garen¡¯s voice appeared once more. "Just admit that you can¡¯t win me. Whatever reasons you have are just excuses."


    The Cthulhu King was very angry.


    If not for his desire to survive and the group of fools who fed him power at the very last second, even Phiroth wouldn¡¯t dare to humiliate him like that!


    As both of them spoke to each other, the Black Knights on the ground and the Salamanders in the sky were almost wiped out. They were either dead, or had escaped.


    Four purple figures had stealthily appeared at the edge of the battlefield as they looked at them. They were the four Demon Phoenixes.

 507 Subdue 1

    Chapter 507: Subdue 1


    Black wind started to blow, drawing black streaks across the air. These lines caressed his face as they blew past.


    The dark green field was opened up, either revealing black dirt underneath or pushing all the fresh blood and limbs to the side. There even were some Black Knights and horses left that were squirming around on the ground in pain.


    "Don''t force my hand!!" The circles in the Cthulhu king''s eyes rotated faster, as the saturated red light started to spread to his surroundings. Red cracks started appearing all over his body, as if lava were about to implode from within.


    The ground started to tremble¡­


    With Cthulhu King as the epicenter, a humongous, bloody mask slowly appeared.


    It had no eyes, its lips were elongated and had no expression. The giant mask was facing the horrifying black smoke dragon head in the sky, and both of them were at least forty meters long.


    The four Demon Phoenix on one side looked at the situation from afar, and the Demon Phoenix''s mouth curled into an ''O'' of awestruck horror.


    "Even Osaka from before wasn''t this crazy¡­" A voice of a woman in purple armor trembled.


    What they were looking at had broken the limits of the human realm, and transcended into a world that was totally that of ordinary mortals.


    The four of them felt the black smoke blowing towards them in the wind, and had no choice but to retreat a few meters away before they could stand firmly again, hiding beside a black pillar. It was then that they were able to properly assess the situation.


    The Black Knights and flying dragons were all but eradicated.


    The golden rays that rained down from a giant crack in the sky-filled cloud were just slightly larger than the black dragon head and the bloody masked man that were facing each other.


    The black smoke and red light interacted with each other within a few hundred meters, but it was obvious that the red light was lacking strength.


    "Are you willing to give up this body?" The black dragon head in the sky spoke calmly. A faint growl of a dragon could be heard within his voice, emanating an almost tangible fear and pressure.


    The Cthulhu King stood at the bottom, staring at the dragon head coldly. After some time, the lava-like cracks on his body slowly dimmed and disappeared. The bloody mask gradually followed suit.


    "You win this time! Just tell me what you want!"


    "Let me enter your Secret Technique vault." Without any hesitation, Garen conveyed the demand he had already decided beforehand. Cthulhu''s Origins could be exchanged with


    Glittering Water, but Secret Techniques, especially the ones in this world, were even more valuable.


    He was able to pull ahead of the Cthulhu King as he relied on the Nine-Headed Hydra''s incredible recovery rate and the Nine-life Talent mixed together with his potential points.


    However, the difference in Secret Technique was too far apart.


    Without the additional support from the potential points, a totem user would be completely defenseless against the Cthulhu King, and would have been killed by him in a matter of seconds.


    This world was partially separated into ancient ruins and human creations. The Cthulhu King, who stood at the world''s pinnacle for thousands of years, must have collected a tremendous amount of Secret Techniques that could only be the best in this world.


    "Secret Technique vault?" The Cthulhu King hadn''t expected his opponent to demand such a request. He was more or less afraid of Garen; he couldn''t kill this guy or run away from him.


    As he fought him throughout the battle, he, who had been underestimating him, and started to view him as an equal in combat.


    He found it strange that even though the Nine-Headed Hydra had incredible healing capabilities and the ability to substitute death with a dragon head, the ability he had was way too extreme. According to the prediction model of the Forger, its potential should be about nine lives, and Garen had died 9 times during the battle against him¡­


    He decided that he had to research the Nine-Headed Hydra''s source of energy in detail once he went back. He had lost so much during this battle.


    "It works best with a Secret Technique that suits you. It would be pointless to learn other


    Secret Techniques. Are you sure this is what you want?" He started to feel suspicious as he stared at Garen, trying to understand his thinking.


    "This is my demand." Garen didn''t want to offend him since the Cthulhu King was only teaming up with the Obscuro Society temporarily. Once Hellgate was born, they planned to dispose of the Cthulhu King.


    "Secret Techniques are one of the main pillars of requirement in entering form five, it might too late for you to change one now." Cthulhu King suspected that he was trying to change his Secret Technique, as his was of too low level. However, they were at a level where everything revolved around on their Secret Techniques, including the merging of totems and evolution of their bodies. The Secret Techniques were the foundation of everything. It would be impossible to change the Secret Technique now, unless he planned to throw everything away and learn from scratch.


    "That''s fine, I just want them for reference." Garen didn''t mind at all.


    "Fine." Since there was a great disparity in their strength, the Cthulhu King didn''t deny his request.


    Huu¡­


    The black smoke disappeared as the black dragon head slowly dissolved into black clouds and moved to the center, converging into a muscular person.


    Golden hair appeared, and the smoke turned into a black cloud carrying a slowly descending figure.


    He landed on the ground.


    Garen looked around before he fixed his attention onto the Cthulhu King.


    The opposing party sat on the ground and crossed his legs. The circles in his eyes slowed down, turned faint and disappeared.


    Garen sat down as well, and both of them didn''t say a word for some time. There were about ten meters apart from each other.


    "Don''t worry. As the leader of a society, my words carry the same weight."


    The Cthulhu King formed a red screen with one hand and used the other hand as a pencil, writing something on it at great speed.


    "At our level, other Secret Techniques don''t matter much anymore. No matter how good of a secret technique or totem you possess, it was naught but a good starting point. To us, we have already reached the summit."


    In that instance, he had written down a simple paragraph of Secret Techniques with thousands of words. As a talented totem user who stood at the pinnacle of the world, it was natural that his tactic and hand speed were at the top as well. He waved his hand three times each second and three words appeared. His speed of writing far surpassed a typical person.


    He gently flicked his finger and the red screen flew towards Garen like a piece of paper.


    Slam!


    Garen captured the screen with one hand and glanced at it.


    He had memorized everything written on it clearly, and his brain started to analyze the legitimacy of the content at great speed for any fundamental flaws in it.


    He had obtained a lot of knowledge of the Secret Techniques from the previous world, and he determined, rather easily, that this Secret Technique was not a fake. However, his opponent was also a master in Secret Techniques, who had accumulated so much for so many years. It was laughably easy for him. The Cthulhu King, who was naturally gifted, could easily fake the contents if he wanted to.


    At this level, Garen didn''t have any trust in his past knowledge, as the men he dealt with were all gifted elites who had lived for many years.


    He knew that, if not for these gifted abilities and attribute points, he would not be able to fight against these men. He originally was just a commoner with little capability.


    This Secret Technique, Mountain Wheels, was obviously the original version from the ancient ruins. It had a total of three grades, and the highest grade had the strength similar to the peak of a form five. It seemed that it was his best Secret Technique, and this gave Garen a surge of thoughts and inspiration.


    "Secret Techniques can be categorized into modern secret techniques and Ancient Endor''s Secret Techniques." The Cthulhu King spoke, "This is one of the Secret Techniques that I referred to when I create the Sun-Sealing Demonic Wheel. I''ll pass this to you first."


    Garen nodded and crushed the red screen with his hand once he memorized the its contents.


    The Cthulhu King hesitated for a moment but continued. "Have you heard of the divides between Secret Techniques?"


    "Let''s hear it." Garen glanced at the Demon Phoenix who wasn''t far from them. She and her party popped their heads out from behind of the black stone pillar and didn''t dare come closer.


    The Cthulhu King''s voice suddenly turned sharp, and only a faint sound traveled directly into


    Garen''s ear. He was using a combination of a form five Secret Technique''s sleight of hand.


    Garen had already learned this in the Secret Technique World, called Needle Voice.


    "The Secret Techniques are separated into two types, living and dead."


    "Living and dead?" Garen was curious. "Secret Techniques can be categorized into live and dead ones?"


    "Of course." The Cthulhu King nodded. "The Secret Techniques we learn are called Dead


    Secret Techniques. This death doesn''t imply death in being alive or dead, but the nature of the Secret technique." He paused for a moment and continued. "Death means that it will never change nor evolve. These kind of Secret Techniques are like a frame. Those who suit it can learn it to a higher level; those who aren''t suitable to it can never master it no matter how gifted they are. It already has a specific direction and can never change."


    "Then, that means that the Living Secret Technique¡­?"


    "That''s correct. The living secret technique has incredible tolerance and adaptability. It is just a foundation, but this foundation is alive. It has multiple directions and suits multiple types of people to learn. The Secret Technique would evolve to adapt the learner''s nature as they dive deeper." The Cthulhu King said calmly. "Hence, this kind of Secret Techniques are alive and grow over time. These are a cut above the rest."


    Garen''s expression changed slightly. He hadn''t even heard of such Secret Technique in the world of Secret Techniques. The world the strong ones he interacted with was definitely different.


    "Why are you telling me all this?"


    "I have discovered that one out of four ancient ruins have Living Secret Techniques. There are three portions, and I can feel that one of them possesses cold type attributes. Although it''s not so suitable for your water-based strength, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Are you interested?"


    "Living Secret Technique¡­" Garen closed his eyes, as he knew that the opponent definitely had some motives in mind, but then again this opportunity was very hard to reject. "Why are you looking for me? Can''t you obtain it with your Cthulhuism Society''s strength?"


    "There are people from the Western Continent vying for it as well. I am not confident alone."


    The Cthulhu King squinted his eyes and said softly. "The Living Secret Technique isn''t something anyone can learn. It''s much more complicated to reach the peak compared to a Dead Secret Technique. It can''t be helped if one is not compatible with it. You have to think this through. Once you''ve missed this opportunity, you won''t know how long it will take for you to find a compatible one after this."


    Garen was silent.


    The opponent he would face was definitely on the same class as Cthulhu King, if even he needed help. In this period where Hellgate was about to reborn, he wasn''t planning on finding more things to do.


    He also had to find some time to send messages to the Hawk King Goth and Teacher Emin, so that they would enter the Ultimate Protection if things went sour. It would be a completely wasted effort, though, with Goth''s personality.


    During this period¡­ But that Living Secret Technique is indeed very tempting.


    "One of the major special characteristics of the Living Secret Techniques is its ability to adapt and grow. Only those who are suitable to it can create their own Secret Technique. It will then become the seed of the formation of totem strength. We believe that perhaps this kind of strength is the only thing that can further improve beings like ourselves."


    The Cthulhu King opened his mouth once more. "Back then when the Hellgate of the Obscuro Society found a Living Secret Technique that is compatible with him, he shut himself away from the rest of the world to master it."

 508 Subdue 2

    Chapter 508: Subdue 2


    "Hellgate!" Garen was stunned. Perhaps The Cthulhu King wasn''t aware of it yet, but the moment the Hellgate was reborn, it meant that it had successfully mastered the Secret Technique. To form the Seed of Strength through fusion of his totem, and to further push it to the limit by using the growing characteristic of the Living Secret Technique, that seemed like a viable option!


    "Who are we up against?" Garen closed his eyes to suppress his emotion


    "The most powerful force in the Western Continent, the Divine God Palace Master, Rosman Saintwind." The Cthulhu King''s face was very serious. "He also has another nickname called the King Of All Beasts. He ranks number one among all the nest masters!"


    "It''s not human?"


    "Of course."


    Cthulhu King suddenly laughed.


    "Speaking of which, this field, including the hundreds of countries south of here, is dominated by him."


    Then, Garen and Cthulhu King began questioning each other repeatedly, and time flew past just like that.


    Half an hour later, a red light went up to the sky and arced across the horizon as it left the battleground.


    Garen and the four Demon Phoenix stared at the Cthulhu King''s ever-diminishing figure.


    Both of them had agreed on a time and place to go to the Ancient Ruins. The nickname Divine God Palace Master was obviously an attempt to mimic the organization of the humans. It seemed that the strongest nest master must be very powerful, considering that the Cthulhu King had to request assistance from others.


    It would be natural that the people from the Cthulhuism Society had inherited some Secret Techniques from him.


    Judging from the looks of it, no matter how many more Dead Secret Technique the Cthulhu King had, it would never amount to the importance of a Living Secret Technique. Even Garen felt that the need of the Dead Secret Techniques had diminished once he learnt about the existence of Living Secret Techniques. As a compensation, Cthulhu King had given him an additional secret regarding the soul.


    The Cthulhu Origin that he had obtained was actually a special item that enhanced the soul. Only Cthulhu Origins were able to recover the soul when the Cthulhu King died. At the same time it also acted as a shell during their reincarnation.


    Before he went after God Cloud, Garen had hidden one of Cthulhu''s Origins, as he was afraid that it would be destroyed before the great war. Hence, the origin was currently not with him, and he had to go back to retrieve it.


    Four of the Demon Phoenix had become very honest after they saw the battle between the Cthulhu King and Garen. Compared to the previous battle, they still had such intense strength after fighting for days.


    What was important was that Garen''s style of eating anything made these few people nervous. He had just swallowed countless Black Knights a while ago, and these few people who were following Garen from behind couldn''t help but feel anxious when they got closer to him. They''re afraid that he might just take them as a snack and swallow them if he were unhappy.


    "What should we do now?" Demon Phoenix asked Garen carefully.


    "It''s time to go back." Garen glanced at her. This fellow could be considered at the lower tier of form five, but she should be able to increase further due to the seal. However, based on her attributes and physical structure, she should be at the middle tier of form five. The peak wasn''t something that was easy to achieve, but then again, how many had done that in the entire history of mankind?


    If Demon Phoenix were to attain the peak, she wouldn''t have stayed at a corner of a small country.


    "Go back? Where to?"


    Garen stayed his mouth, too tired to answer.


    As the few people from the Demon Phoenix were traumatized by him, they immediately stopped talking in fear that they would really be eaten. Garen''s style of eating anything had truly frozen them on the spot.


    Garen didn''t want to make the move himself, instead letting the people of the Demon Phoenix take action.


    Soon, a purple lion with purple wings appeared in front of them. The back of the lion was wide enough to fit about five to six people, which was enough for Garen and the others.


    After the past few days of intense battles, Garen laid onto Demon Phoenix''s knees as he rested his mind, carefully peeling the white fruits that she had plucked earlier and putting them into his mouth.


    One of the other two brothers had transformed into a mount, while the other held up a purple blind film to help Garen to block the wind and sun.


    As they were about to fly, Garen flicked his finger at a black hole to his side.


    Pew!


    A black line shot out, and the surface of the black hole cracked.


    Somewhere down below was the faint sound of a girl''s scream.


    Soon, a white ball about ten meters wide slowly rose up from the hole and gently set itself on the ground.


    The film of light dissolved, and inside were the thirty plus White Knights who had escaped earlier. All of them had dried blood stains on them, and were eerily silent. Their eyes carried almost no life. Beside them were their similarly blood-stained horses.


    The leader of the White Knights was holding onto a small, tearing girl, with one hand, while his gaze was fixed firmly on Garen.


    "Who are you guys?" Garen glanced at the group of White Knights.


    "We are the survivors from the White Wind Tribe, oh powerful totem master." The Leader of White Knight lowered his head as he answered. It looked like the opposing party had no intention to devour them at first sight.


    "White Wind Tribe?" Garen had never heard of it as he only cared about the existence of fifth form beings. Those who were below this fought with their totems, and post-fifth-forms fought with their Secret Techniques. To stand at the peak meant to master the Secret Techniques that they had. No matter if it were the Cthulhu King, Phiroth or he, they had already arrived at the peak of the totem and Secret Technique world. The rest depended purely on the strength attribute. Not many things couldn''t be easily killed by them.


    He looked at the White Knights, until his sights were suddenly fixed on the small girl the White Knight was holding.


    His head tilted back to the sky and chuckled lightly.


    The leader of the White Knight turned his head and looked in the same direction but didn''t say anything. His face immediately changed as he could only think of one possible solution.


    He immediately kneeled onto the ground.


    "My lord, please, bring Princess Larain along with you!!"


    Even if he was begging someone, his tone was firm, determined and eager. It was like an underling reporting to his master on a peaceful afternoon.


    "Uncle!" The girl''s face was caked with dirt, so much so that it obscured her face. She, who was holding onto the White Knight, hesitated for a moment before she kneeled on the ground with her uncle.


    Thump!


    In an instant, every white knight present had kneeled onto the ground.


    The Demon Phoenix started to laugh.


    "If we go, I''m afraid the two forces to our flanks won''t wait any longer to strike. If the lord doesn''t accept them, they''re all dead."


    "To be honest, I am very generous towards people with good quality." Since he had to fight against the Divine God Palace Master, Garen had gained interest in these people from the White Wind Tribe. They were most likely being hunted by the Black Knights from the Divine God Palace Master. In addition, the leader of White Knight and the small girl had above average attributes, especially the leader of the White Knights.


    Garen had made his decision solely because of him.


    This fellow''s attribute could only be considered excellent, but his determination was even stronger. He was willing to protect his master under such a dire situation. This suggested that he was very loyal Together with the white knights around him, their strength numbered about thirty in total. These people had much loyalty, and would never betray their master.


    The Black Swamp Palace currently required manpower, and these people would be useful to him.


    Garen was also moved, in fact. The Black Water True Technique required determination first, and other qualities second.


    "Bring them along!" He pondered for a moment before he opened his mouth.


    The leader of the White Knights could finally relax, and the small girl beside him was ecstatic.


    "Get up, the Lord has promised to bring you along." Phantom took out a purple orb from her body and gently threw it out. The orb landed on the ground and immediately transformed into a group of purple uni-horned wolves.


    These giant wolves crawled on the ground as they showed respect towards the Demon Phoenix and the party.


    "Bring them along." Phantom ordered coldly.


    The giant wolves stood up and each of them were at least four meters tall.


    The knights relaxed knowing they would survive. None of them wished to die in vain. Now that these few strong people had decided to protect them, they felt relief.


    "Get up and ride the giant wolves." Phantom ordered.


    The leader of the white knight didn''t budge, as if he didn''t hear her.


    It was then Phantom realized that he had fainted.


    The giant wolves carried the white knights and formed a small formation. Garen and the others sat on the back of the lion and flew up slowly as the wolves followed from behind on the ground.


    As they left, a black hole appeared in the sky and two golden figures appeared. Two human-shaped beings came out covering themselves with golden cloaks.


    "They have been taken away." The tall one said softly.


    "That man had noticed us. According to what we know, he should be one of the four major heads of Kovitan, the Nine-Headed Snake Garen." the shorter humanoid said in a sharp male tone. "Why didn''t you make any moves? According to the human''s categorizations, you should be at the upper tier of form five."


    "We are no match for them." The tall one shook his head. "The humans have huge potential in Secret Techniques that we don''t possess. We can only rely on the foundation we have. They merge their strength with Secret Techniques and come up with an entirely new strength and it''s not something we can face head on. We can still deal with a typical form five but we


    are no match for its peak."


    "What about the three tailed dragon?"


    "It''s the same." The tall one explained. "Only we, the nest leaders, can reach the upper tier of form five, and the humans the peak of form five. The upper tier is placed between the middle tier and their peak. We are stronger than middle tier but weaker than the peak."


    "So the reason the palace master has been gathering all kinds of Secret Technique was to?"


    "You guessed it right. The palace master has already obtained two living secret techniques. Perhaps with a little bit more, he could understand the rationale behind it and come up with a Secret Technique even us nest leaders can learn." the tall one nodded.


    Both of them conversed in a standard Ender Kingdom language, as if it were their native tongue. It seemed that they had worked hard for it.


    "If it''s successful, we nest leaders are able to fight against the human''s elites. This world.. Shall be ours!" The tall out said. "We have to let the humans know that we have more quality than our numbers!"

 509 Suspicion and Return 1

    Chapter 509: Suspicion and Return 1


    On the yellow dirt field, a pack of fish-shaped white wolves were moving as they carried white knights on their back. The pack numbered fifty to sixty strong, and each of them were huge, uni-horned beasts.


    There was a purple-black lion with wings flying overhead, Garen sat on his knees as he fidgeted with the Cthulhu¡¯s Origin that he had taken out from the ground with his hand.


    There were three Origins rotating slowly within it, forming a small sphere,. They were of the Time God, War God, and Light God respectively, and among the three origins, The Light God¡¯s was a middle-level Origin, and the remaining two were lower-level Origins.


    Garen released some black smoke, they smoke rode the wind for some ten kilometers. Not a single living being dared come close to them along the way, ensuring safe passage for the convoy.


    He moved his upper body and looked down at the pack of wolves. After three days of rest and journey, the white knights had slightly recovered their spirits.


    On the first day when they left the field, the leader of the White Knights had sworn loyalty towards Garen and was now part of the Black Swamp Palace. The leader of the White Knights was called White Sky, and was the foster son of the White Wind Tribe leader. To have been at the spiritualized totem user level at the age of 23, he was considered a very gifted person, even comparing among the countries.


    White Sky had his own reason to be able to stand out among the other foster children; he had a very unique gift, which he named Enhancement.


    White Sky thought that once lord had heard of his gifted ability, he would definitely nurture him and view him more heavily. However, Garen only nodded his head calmly and that was the end of it. He didn¡¯t know that for Garen, who had arrived at the end of the path, only viewed his gift as nothing more than a good starting point. No matter how gifted he was, Garen wouldn¡¯t pay his attention towards him if he didn¡¯t grow along his journey.


    Garen had a lot of issues to handle. After he understood how the Sun-Sealing Demonic Wheel worked, although the Secret Technique wasn¡¯t compatible with him, his original objective was to learn it to absorb the Cthulhu¡¯s Origin.


    White Sky¡¯s talent, Enhancement, was an ability to enhance his totem or tactic by one time within a short amount of time. All he had to sacrifice was half of his strength and energy.


    This ability was terrifying in the later stages as the stronger the totem was, the aftereffects of enhancement would be even greater. The most important thing was that this effect could be used to break the defense of a totem user of the same rank. This was also why White Sky was heavily looked up to. If he could reach form four or five, the enhancement effect would be much more horrifying.


    Unfortunately, the stronger the gift, the greater the resources required, and it would only increase as it went further and beyond. He had been stuck at the spiritualized level for three years now and there wasn¡¯t any improvement at all.


    Garen sat at the back of the flying lion and carefully examined three of the Cthulhu¡¯s Origins in his hand. Each of them gave off a unique color, black, white and red. It seemed rather mysterious as it shone on Garen¡¯s face.


    The black lion¡¯s wings cut the wind with a constant howl, thrusting the reasonably steady party along.


    Garen focused his attention on the black origin. This black origin was completely black, with some slight silver glittering sand in the middle. It looked like a black concentrated liquid.


    Garen gently opened the case of the crystal ball, and gently inserted two fingers into the inner part of the black origin.


    Pew!


    His body jolted as a red circle appeared around his body and rotated slowly.


    The circle was filled with countless half transparent, living tentacles and claws. These tentacles were flailing about, extending and piercing into the crystal ball, and down into the inner part of the Origin.


    Gulp! Gulp!


    A gulping sound could be heard, as if those tentacles were drinking water while absorbing the origin and transferring it to the red circle.


    In an instant, the inner circle shot out four black silver rays of light towards Garen¡¯s body with great precision, forming a perfect cross.


    The black cross maintained for at least ten minutes, and Demon Phoenix and her friends were at a loss as to what to do. If Garen hadn¡¯t informed them beforehand, they would have jumped down from the lion and hid on the ground.


    The red circle possessed such strength that even Demon Phoenix, a form five, was overwhelmed by it.


    After ten minutes, the cross slowly disappeared, and the red circle broke into a sea of shards before disappearing.


    Garen opened his eyes and his face was filled with happiness.


    "The Cthulhu¡¯s Origin has such an effect!?" He was completely surprised and happy about it.


    He started collecting the Cthulhu¡¯s Origin as he wanted to reach for the peak of form five, but ever since he had reached this level, he didn¡¯t view it as importantly as before. He just wanted to absorb it but didn¡¯t expect that by absorbing it through the Sun-Sealing Demonic Wheel, the Time God¡¯s origin had given him an unexpected result.


    He moved his focus onto the light red attribution pane.


    The attribute pane¡¯s abilities that did not have any changes for a long time had finally come up with something new.


    A dark red symbol appeared at the left side of the attribute pane after he absorbed the Cthulhu¡¯s Origin.


    It was a symbol that resembled two Ks stacking back to back together, and the symbol was rotating.


    Just like always, Garen knew the meaning of the symbol immediately after he stared at it.


    ¡®Successfully absorbed enhancement object. Enhancing soul limit¡­¡¯


    Garen looked at the attribution pane.


    ¡®Strength 14. Agility 10. Vitality 10. Intelligence 10.¡¯ It was still the same, but there was a small blinking addition symbol at the end of each attribute.


    Ever since he had entered form five, his attributes were getting weaker among the totem users. His body enhancement, even with the addition of the Troll Grip, wasn¡¯t something outstanding compared to the totem users of the same class. Due to the totem¡¯s potential, Garen¡¯s advantage of increasing his attributes had been overwhelmed by other totem users, and in fact it was disadvantageous to his growth.


    This was because he couldn¡¯t completely negate the benefits of form five users¡¯ totems by just increasing his physical attributes. It went without saying that they had stronger Secret Techniques as well.


    His physical attributes had slowly become obsolete, as it was completely useless when going against a form five totem user with incredible strength. No matter how strong a person was, he would still be weak if put up against a canon. He would die in one shot, and this was a huge hurdle for Garen.


    However, he had no choice. He was able to obtain his overwhelming attribute by transplanting the Dual Headed Salamander¡¯s heart. His body¡¯s limit wouldn¡¯t even reach ten points if he had a commoner¡¯s body.


    Now, he had finally found a path after absorbing the Cthulhu¡¯s Origin.


    As he recalled the Cthulhu King¡¯s explanation before he left, Garen felt happy and at the same time, he had a hypothesis: Perhaps the Cthulhu¡¯s Origin¡¯s effect was to allow people to break through their limit?


    The Obscuro Society¡¯s Marshall used the Cthulhu¡¯s Origin to go beyond his limits in the original history as well.


    The Time God¡¯s Origin lasted for half an hour, before the blinking symbol at the back of the attribute pane slowly disappeared. There were no changes in the attributes.


    However, Garen could faintly feel that his body was able to improve further.


    The dark red symbol at the front of the attribute pane had stopped spinning, and changed slightly.


    Garen immediately read the notification.


    ¡®Eternal Soul has increased, attribute limit has increased¡­¡¯


    "Eternal Soul has increased?" He recalled the idea he thought of earlier, and recalled the Cthulhu¡¯s explanation regarding the soul, this refined his hypothesis.


    "Does that mean that the limit of my attribute is directly related to my soul?"


    As he thought of this idea, a new symbol appeared below the attribute pane.


    Garen looked at it curiously, and the symbol suddenly expanded and turned into a red screen, showing him his history of him enhancing his attribute.


    ¡®Increasing attribute¡­¡¯


    ¡®Increasing attribute¡­¡¯


    ¡®Increasing attribute¡­¡¯


    ¡®Absorbing additional potential points¡­¡¯


    ¡®Absorbing additional potential points¡­¡¯


    ¡­.


    ¡­


    The record was shown down to each minute detail.


    +Garen was surprised.


    "If the limits of my attributes are strongly related to the enhancement of the soul, does that mean transplanting the dragon¡¯s heart and breaking the body¡¯s limit are also related to the soul?"


    Thinking back, he could see the Nine-Headed Hydra¡¯s memories when he was at the underground hot spring after he had transplanted the dragon¡¯s heart, he already had some understanding of the overall situation.


    He kept swiping up at the screen as he looked further back into the history. The screen moved like an inverted red waterfall.


    After swiping for a solid ten minutes, the detailed record appeared in front of Garen.


    "Successfully transplanted the dragon¡¯s heart. Commence merging with the Soul¡¯s will. The soul is unable to reject the effect and the enhancement shall proceed¡­¡¯


    ¡®Enhancing the limit¡­¡¯


    ¡®Enhancing the limit¡­¡¯


    ¡­..


    Each and every line of enhancement was clearly recorded in the archive.


    Garen had finally understood the logic behind the increment in his attribute.


    The limit of the body and the upper limit of increasing the attribute via potential points was directly related to the strength of the soul.


    As he saw it, he felt slightly afraid. If not for the Dual Headed Salamander non-resistance and its inherent loyalty since the beginning, in addition to his luck and strong will, he would have failed miserably. Back then, he didn¡¯t know that there was a soul category and purely believed that he just had to increase his body¡¯s organs to go further. He didn¡¯t expect that the essence of the organs combined and countless of living beings¡¯ wills -- the soul, was the most important key.


    According to his experience in absorbing the Cthulhu¡¯s Origin and the Cthulhu King¡¯s explanation, the soul was most likely a unique energy source within the living flesh. It was so perfect that it had become a completely independent force field.


    The body was just like a huge factory, Excluding the consumption of energy that kept the body alive, it produced a huge amount of electric energy, and when combined together, it formed a complicated energy field. This field in turn would affect the behavior of the body as it would react to the body¡¯s signals as well as those outside of the body.


    Garen combined the Cthulhu King¡¯s theory together with his own experience and the knowledge he had learnt on Earth, and barely had a full explanation of the soul.


    The soul was deemed as the most mysterious item on every world. The Cthulhu King was someone whose soul was so strong that it could temporarily leave its physical body, hence, he was immortal.


    To be born in the flesh and surpass it. The intrinsic quality of the Cthulhu King¡¯s body was very likely made out of an energy field. Compared to a living being¡¯s body, the cells, flesh and blood were just stored energy, ready to be converted to other forms of energy.


    After clearing up the system, Garen started to absorb the remaining two Cthulhu¡¯s Origin.

 510 Suspicion and Return 2

    Chapter 510: Suspicion and Return 2


    He chose the Light God¡¯s Origin as his second.


    He spent at least an hour absorbing it, and another two hours waiting for the addition symbol to finish blinking.


    The third origin from the War God¡¯s Origin was not effective at all. Garen didn¡¯t feel anything after absorbing it, neither did the red symbol rotate or the addition symbol appear.


    He could sense that the effect of the origin could only push him this far.


    Techniques to increase the soul¡¯s limit were very rare. He had transplanted the Dragon¡¯s Heart and was barely able to remove the will of the Nine-Headed Hydra. In addition, he wasn¡¯t sure if there were any hidden side effects from the transplant. Since he had too little knowledge regarding the soul, Garen wasn¡¯t sure if he had completely eliminated all the side effects, and he could only deal with it if and when it appeared.


    As he finished absorbing the third Origin, Garen looked at the blinking addition symbol disappearing, and looked at his potential points.


    ¡®Strength 14. Agility 10. Vitality 10. Intelligence 10. Potential 16744%. Possess the qualifications of a Luminarist.¡¯


    He had obtained 167 points worth of potential from the deaths of all the creatures and the Black Knights. The points he had amassed from before were spent dry in the fight against the Cthulhu King.


    "Let¡¯s see how much higher it goes."


    The more attribute points he had, the more points he needed to increase it further.


    At the very beginning, he only required 1 potential point to increase 0.1 points of any attribute. Once his attributes reached 5 points, it would require 20.


    Now he was at 10 points. If he wanted to add more¡­


    Garen skimmed through all of his attributes. Although his intuition told him that the attributes could be increased further, he was still uncertain. This wasn¡¯t just an issue of increasing his attributes, though. This would also provide evidence for his hypothesis.


    Ultimately, he set his sights onto vitality.


    He was in decent shape in terms of strength and speed, as the Nine-Headed Hydra had boosted his strength. His current weakness was his defense; his skin¡¯s defense wasn¡¯t up to par.


    A large chunk of his flesh was disintegrated the moment the Cthulhu King¡¯s red beam grazed him. If not for the fact that potential points could act as a supplement to his Nine-life Talent, he would have died a long time ago when going against Cthulhu King.


    Vitality was directly related to his defense and resistance. This had already been proven in the Secret Technique world.


    The only caveat was that, even though his vitality was only at 10 points, his body¡¯s characteristics had transcended into another level from the enhancements from his Secret Techniques. He couldn¡¯t be sure how many potential points he needed to increase them.


    Garen stared at Vitality for three full seconds.


    In an instant, ping!


    A soft ring came out, and a full hundred potential points were deducted.


    His Vitality, which originally sat at 10 points, had gradually increased to 11.


    Garen could still feel that there was more space for his body to be enhanced further. With one point¡¯s increase in Vitality, a warm feeling entered his body, into his muscles, before finally being absorbed by them and returning to their original, uneventful state. Garen could only feel that his body was slightly fuller, buffer, but that was it.


    "One hundred potential points.. All for a single point of Vitality.." Garen was rather unhappy. This meant that in one or two years, even he were to kill countless totems and nest leaders, he wouldn¡¯t be able to go against a Form Five. There just weren¡¯t enough elites for him to kill. There were. In fact, countless creatures roaming about, but no one could know how many potential points he would require to bump his attributes further up.


    Perhaps it would require two hundred potential points to increase another attribute point. Perhaps it was three hundred, or even a thousand points.


    According to Garen¡¯s hypothesis, he would require every attribute to be at 30 points to go up against a peak Form Five. To grow to that point, he might really need an unfathomable amount of potential points.


    Furthermore, he had to work around the limits of his body.


    "That¡¯s too bad..." Garen sighed, and the shoved the issue with the Cthulhu¡¯s Origin to the back of his head.


    He had originally planned to immediately return to the Black Swamp Palace, as nowhere would be safe the moment Hellgate was resurrected. However, in the Ultimate Protection, he could buy some time to think of how to deal with him in the relevant safety it provided.


    Although, he was genuinely tempted by the Cthulhu King¡¯s invitation.


    The Living Secret Technique was a Secret Technique that, in theory, was much stronger than the Secret Techniques that he had encountered thus far. This kind of Living Technique was something only the demon king in folklore could invent.


    A Secret Technique that could grow alongside with the practitioner was complete nonsense to Garen.


    If he could obtain a Living Secret Technique that was compatible with him¡­ This was something that Garen would tempt Garen greatly.


    The Cthulhu King said that he was very sure that there would be a total of three Living Secret Technique in the Ancient Ruins. One of them was an ice type, and even though it wasn¡¯t that compatible to Garen, it was something that couldn¡¯t be obtained elsewhere. He had no space to complain, as encountering one that he could even use was something very good.


    Garen was sure that the water and poison types were the most compatible with him. Although ice was slightly incompatible, a Living Secret Technique was very rare. Hence, he planned to return to the Black Swamp Palace to settle some things, and then head towards the place to meet up with the Cthulhu King.


    There was also the number one ranking nest leader, Divine God Palace Master, who decided to come to the surface to try and obtain the resource in the ancient ruins instead of fighting the Elder Parliament underground. Up until now, there was still no movement from the Elder Parliament¡¯s elites.


    This made Garen feel unease. Although the Cthulhu King hadn¡¯t mentioned anything about it, he could feel a sense of urgency from the Cthulhu King¡¯s words.


    "I wonder what rushed him this badly? According to the original history, the Elder Parliament would cease activity once Hellgate is born. Perhaps¡­" Garen suddenly thought of one possible scenario.


    "Perhaps the Elder Parliament had been completely annihilated underground!?"


    Why was the Divine God Palace Master was in a hurry to search for a Living Secret Technique? Why would Cthulhu King place his grudge aside and invite Garen to obtain the Secret Technique? Knowing the Cthulhu King¡¯s arrogance, he had chosen to endure and lower his head instead of fighting him to the death.


    Garen started to piece the puzzle together, and an uncomfortable feeling rose up in his gut.


    It was very possible that Hellgate had already come out for some time and had eliminated the Elder Parliament underground, injuring the nest leaders along the way, which then lead to the current situation.


    Furthermore, the two nest leaders who suddenly came to the Eastern Continent were in a hurry to recruit the creatures here. They had even only occupied a small area of a few hundred southern countries. Based on this strange behavior, it¡¯s very likely that Hellgate had already made his move underground, since the nest leaders wouldn¡¯t try to recruit creatures for no reason¡­


    The more Garen thought of it, the more likely it got. Based on this, he started to feel excited and eager to know how much stronger Hellgate had become.


    He had no fear or desperation. Garen was very confident in his regeneration, even if he couldn¡¯t fight against him. Furthermore, to challenge the peak was in the true nature of a martial artist.


    He also needed to find the secret to him transmigrating to this world, and figure out the mysterious source of his gifted abilities. Perhaps he would even try chasing his most desired wish in the future.


    He had to, by all means, not die in this world!


    For the next few days, he sat on the lion¡¯s back and he listened to the news from the radio, all the while directing the path for the winged lion as they flew to the Ultimate Protection in Kovitan.


    The radio kept spitting news incessantly.


    The Enderian King had decided to challenge the world¡¯s strongest totem user. He had used the three of the country¡¯s Stone Statues and half of its national treasure as the reward when held the King of Totem conference.


    The location was his newly built Eternal Night Palace. As long as the last victor was able to defeat him, he would be rewarded with the wealth along with three of the strongest Stone Statues. One would be rewarded based on their ranks, even if he wasn¡¯t ranked first.


    As Garen heard this news from the radio, he immediately knew that countless of totem users who¡¯d done the same would rush towards the Ender Kingdom.


    A great calm had set on after the great war. The world was much more peaceful compared to before, after the nest leaders had recruited a great amount of high-level creatures. The individuals with power were all busy training themselves and collecting resources, so that they would be able to further develop themselves when they won. It was an opportunity that mustn¡¯t be missed.


    Even if they couldn¡¯t obtain the number one spot, they hoped to be at least be placed in the top 100. Perhaps ninety percent of the totem users would like to think so.


    Garen knew from the very start that this was a trap and ignored him. He decided to inform the core totem users in the Black Swamp Palace. It would be none of his business if they didn¡¯t listen to him. It also served as a good opportunity to simplify the rather complicated Black Swamp Palace.


    Excluding the King of Totem Conference, news regarding all types of schools kept appearing. As the Obscuro Society had dominated most of the strongest schools, the Terraflor Society had lost their battle and went into hiding in the dark. The remaining relatively large schools became the Obscuro Society¡¯s pawns, as they went around the area to dominate the middle sized and small sized schools. Among these middle and small sized schools, the Tasura Academy, which was under teacher Emin¡¯s management, had retreated after they obtained the news earlier. Along with Garen¡¯s arrangement, at least half of the Tasura Academy¡¯s members had safely avoided this storm.


    As Garen arrived at the border of the Kovitan Empire. Excluding the few hidden academies, the whole of the Eastern Continent¡¯s Tactic Academy was dominated by the Obscuro Society. Every academy on this land united and formed into one, humongous, unprecedented academy.


    Hellgate seemed to be very generous towards the Terraflor Society. Ever since the death of Sisley, he promised that the Terraflor Society would not be harmed for the next century.


    Garen, as one of the big four, was recognized by the Ultimate Protection, and he opened up an entrance with ease and brought these people into the Ultimate Protection.


    As they were getting closer to the capital of the Kovitan Empire, the land started to become uneven and began to rise. Hills slowly appeared, and would become bigger and taller and soon they turned into full yellow mountains.


    The mountains started to appear after the hills, and their colors changed from yellow, to dark green, to grey, and then to black.


    Finally, the black Kingdom at the peak of the mountain cluster slowly appeared, at the peak of the highest mountain. The pitch black city looked like ancient ruins from afar.


    The Kingdom had advanced a lot compared to when Garen left; black and white dots could be seen flying and landing, and the whole kingdom had split into three parts on the mountain. One could see the road was now filled with carriages pulled by cows, horses and aberrated creatures on the mountain.


    The foot of the mountain was filled with farms, villages, windmills and waterwheels. The green fields rustled in the blowing wind, and the tiny figures of the farmers could faintly be seen within them. The atmosphere was one of peace.


    Compared to the cruel and bloody world outside, this was many times better.


    Countless of villages were spread about at the foot of the mountain, with the capital at the epicenter. Villages were already in the midst of construction in the nearby mountains, and most of the mountainsides had turned into fields. The kingdom had totally changed during the time he was absent.

 511 Return 1

    Chapter 511: Return 1


    Garen got the black lion to fly towards the foot of the mountain in the Kingdom directly, while the group on wolf-back were following slowly behind him.


    The herd of giant wolves were one of the several monster tribes that Demon Phoenix and the others had taken over during the sealing period, their leader was a huge wolf with golden fur, it had fought the Crescent Marks for thousands of years, and was considered an old enemy.


    Sitting on the black lion''s back, Garen looked down.


    There were some normal people and members of the procession looking up from below, their expressions full of awe and surprise. Others didn''t notice him at all, their heads lowered as they did their own thing.


    The farmers were still working their crops in the field, the medicine-gatherers carried their baskets on their backs as they wove through the rocks at the bottoms and sides of the mountains, while occasionally there were several flying creatures carrying riders as they crossed underneath him, some flying towards the outskirts of the Kingdom, others flying from outside towards the Kingdom.


    When they were several hundred meters from the Kingdom, at the foot of the mountain on the road going around the mountain, there was already a large crowd of figures dressed in black, looking towards Garen''s direction from afar. The surroundings had also been cleared out temporarily, and those who wanted to go up the mountain had their path temporarily blocked. There were already some people gathering outside the team cordoning off the area, as though there out of curiosity.


    Out of the black-robed people waiting at the foot of the mountain, two of them were leading the group, and most of the rest were young people, there were a few guards in black armor around them as well, their faces unclear under the helmet.


    As soon as they saw the huge black lion''s body falling slowly, the leaders of these people instantly raised their hands. With a whoosh, they released a white carpet that shot out flying. It landed precisely underneath the black lion''s paws.


    The white carpet, up to a hundred meters long, was unnaturally eye-catching in mid-air, as was the huge attention-catching black lion. More and more people began watching out of curiosity, and some of the people flying in mid-air also stayed behind to see what the commotion was.


    "It''s been a long time, Elder Blizzard." Garen instantly recognized the two people in the lead, one was Blizzard, and the other Wukang. It was just that Wukang wore a face veil, blocking half of his face, and the part of his face hidden under the veil looked rather green in the nose and swollen in the face.


    "Palace Master, you have finally returned." Blizzard greeted him, laughing heartily.


    Bam!


    The black lion landed heavily on the white carpet.


    His black-clothed disciples all bent their backs in a bow, yelling in unison,


    "Welcome back, Palace Master!"


    Their voices were deafening, their aura powerful.


    More than a hundred people yelling at once, greeting someone in a line, such a scene instantly created whispers among the onlookers. In just that short while, there were already several hundred people gathered and blocking the road up the mountain, many of them were merchant groups entering and leaving the Kingdom to do their peddling and delivering their wares, there were also noble processions coming and going, as well as members from the other powers, but the majority of them were still normal civilians.


    Most of them were farmers going to the Kingdom market to sell ingredients, meat and vegetables in the morning, as well as bull carts sending daily necessities.


    There were four entrances into the Kingdom, and this was only one of them, but there was a surprising amount of traffic here, it had been less than ten minutes, but there were already several hundred people stuck here, and there seemed to be more traffic coming from behind.


    Compared to the hundred thousand people coming and leaving every day, a congregation of a hundred like this was like a small wave in the ocean.


    After receiving Garen, the black-robed people hurriedly led the wolf steeds onto the road, and all the passersby opened a path of their own accord, there were two civilians who rushed up to try and lodge their complaints, but they were blocked by the black-armored guards outside.


    The appearance and leaving of this group was only a small ripple in the huge crowd of the Kingdom.


    Among the crowd, the scouts from each of the three other giants powers also quickly spread the news of Garen''s return back to the other higher-ups in the Kingdom.


    There were more and more people gathered in the Kingdom, the changes in the outside world once causing a large influx of regular civilians into the area of Ultimate Protection.


    Blizzard and Wukang accompanied Garen back to the Palace District, and then they bid him farewell, leaving to handle other matters, while Lala, who had already been waiting at the palace doors, was in charge of receiving him and other trivial matters.


    Ivycius, who had been sealed away with his training, also came out to greet him, followed by the whole host of the Palace''s higher-ups and Elders, the Elders Angel, Skyharp, and Spellmaster were all there, followed by many of the Palace''s core researchers. The three Master-level disciples Garen had recruited were there too, as well as a young man in white lined next to them, the four of them were followed by the Four Directions Sky Warriors and the black-armored guards, and then there were the many other researchers and disciples, as well as the teams from the Technique Hall.


    It was a huge procession of several hundred people, surrounding Garen as he returned to the Palace District''s Black Swamp Grand Hall.


    Sitting in the Black Swamp Grand Hall''s main throne, Garen glanced at the two rows of elders on either side of him.


    The two rows of elders were all there, sitting at his two sides, their own disciples and students standing behind them, the seats after that were the four core disciples, the Four Directions Sky Warriors, and there were no more seats after that, just the next-rate disciples standing in two lines. All this was according to rank, and not carelessly ordered.


    All of them wore pitch-black clothes, but their insignias were different, they all had silver Nine-Headed Dragon badges, those who could come to the Grand Hall were at least Five Dragon Heads and above. The elders each had Eight Dragon Heads, but only Garen himself was at the Nine Dragon Heads level.


    Garen sat in the top seat, Demon Phoenix and his three subordinates standing behind him. This was the arrangement he had settled himself, Demon Phoenix and the others had basically been utterly psychologically traumatized by his defeating them, so out of everyone in the whole Palace, only he could make them submit, so they became something of an independent third faction. Other than the two powers led by Ivycius and Blizzard respectively, now he had a more convenient third party for balance.


    "When I was at Daniela, did anything strange and serious happen in the Palace?" Garen glanced at the whole area, he was now Form Five, and didn''t have the huge presence he did before, now he seemed like a completely normal person, peaceful and calm, so that no one could tell that he had a high position and tremendous power.


    The Seven Night Tower Elders exchanged hidden glances, and didn''t say anything. During this time, they had begun to enjoy the benefits, with the power of the Black Swamp Palace''s ever-increasing power, if they wanted anything, they just needed to say the word, and countless powers would stretch out and help them find it, it was that much more convenient than when they had to look for it themselves. Although they had to fulfill their duties while they enjoyed the benefits, those duties only included easily showing off a bit when needed to scare off outsiders, the time and energy needed were basically negligible.


    Especially Angel of the Night, she was basically indulging in hedonism every night, having purchased a large mansion with a garden in the Kingdom, she kept more than ten beautiful men dogs and pretty boy slaves by the dozens, mixing together with the other women of higher society and messing around all day, lost in their pleasures and rampaging in their nights.


    Blizzard, on the other hand, would run off to Grand Duke Benoc''s side every so often to exchange experiences with the expert fighters there, recently that side had also recruited several powerful totem users, add that to the peak-level totem users Benoc already had, and that meant Blizzard managed to find some rare opponents, so now he rarely stayed at the Black Swamp Palace.


    As for Spellmaster Anjiad, he was obsessed with discussing things with the Technique Hall''s technical members and forgers, he had an unnatural interest in creature modification, before this he didn''t have the time and energy, but after joining the Black Swamp Palace, he wasn''t lacking in anything, and instead he had plenty of time to research his interest and hobbies. He had even chosen some disciples from among the many researchers who had similar passions in modification to become his assistants.


    Ivycius was still fusing his totem, so he meditated slightly with his eyes closed as he sat on his seat, still holding that long white sword to his chest, but his aura was slowly approaching that feeling of Form Five fusion power. Garen could tell with a glance, as long as he could go past this fusion doorstep, the White Rose Sword Sage would be able to enter Form Five.


    It was just that totem users took different amounts of time to overcome this doorstep, and there were several reasons Garen himself could overcome it so easily.


    One was that the Nine-Headed Dragon didn''t have much potential, so it was much easier to level up and fuse.


    Secondly, his own condition had coincidentally improved by one level, achieving something similar to Phiros. He called it the Dragon Mirror level, taken half from the Nine-Headed Dragon and half from a clear mirror.


    After levelling up, the Flash Screen became rather less useful, in his battle with the Cthulhu King, he had activated the Flash Screen, but it only lasted an instant, and then it was destroyed by the violent red light, if he had not pulled it back so quickly, the Heirloom would probably have been utterly destroyed by now.


    Although the thing looked like it had no upper limit, but it was still only at the Form Five middle level, back when he had first gotten it he had thought it was very suitable for self-defense during the fusion period, but now that that was over, it was no longer very useful.


    "The other three sides of the Parliament had all made drastic moves, should we the Black Swamp Palace also¡­?" Skyharp glanced at the rest, but since nobody spoke, she began first.


    "Drastic moves?" Garen laughed, now that he had achieved Form Five, he was already standing at the peak of the whole East Continent. He was no longer that concerned with the actions of the other three giants. "Forget about them, we do what we need to. How many people are there in the Palace now?"


    "Other than the guards and miscellaneous workers, there are 2315 people in total in the Black Swamp Palace, these are the newest surveyed numbers. Of these, about 2000 of them are scholars. Most of them were recruited in extra batches after you left, Palace Master, and also, the most recent researcher rankings are¡­" Lala stood behind Garen, reporting softly.


    Garen nodded slowly as he listened, and had more or less gotten a new understanding of the happenings within the Palace since he had left.


    The governance plans in the Kingdom had seen many successes and achievements, developing the agriculture and production industries, encouraging birth rates, treating the people well, increasing trade and diplomacy. The whole Kingdom had also spawned many hunting teams, setting out to hunt edible Aberrated creatures for meat, while others were studying ways to tame the Aberrated creatures as livestock. Without the destruction brought on by wars and monsters, the development of the Kingdom seemed to be heading up and up.


    A few days ago, the First Princess had gathered some strong totem users from among the civilians and the refugee nobles, creating an organization called the Pearl Party. The party''s mission was to create a truly borderless world where men and women were equal. It was very successful in attracting many female totem users and forgers.


    And the Fourth Prince decisively reacted by starting the National Development Society, taking on the responsibility to develop Kovitan and make it prosper, pulling in many wandering totem users.


    The two sides fought like fire and oil, each starting their own activities to duke it out. Stuff like hunting strong Aberrated monsters, gathering precious plants and minerals, organizing mock battles and other such activities.


    The third party, the Alliance of the many Guilds kept swaying between the two sides, earning benefits from both the monarchs-in-waiting who wanted to control Kovitan''s true inheritance rights.


    While they were wreaking havoc over there with their battles, the Black Swamp Palace''s side only made one small move in the very beginning when they went out to catch the Poison Hag, and after that they made no more drastic moves, either resting and conserving their energy, or training their researchers and disciples. The maintenance of the entire Black Swamp Palace depended on the profits from the auction business and the many shops, their main commodity for sale being the results of the Technique Hall''s creations and the things their scholars brought back from their outside excursions and trainings.


    "By that you mean, that the system I wanted has been successfully created?" Garen asked in a deep voice.


    "That is right." The person-in-charge of the Technique Hall, Master Calingan, replied, "I named it the Nine Snakes System, and completed the Palace Master''s previous requests with extreme precision, after testing it many times, it has no problem whatsoever, and is now under partial trial."


    "Nine Snakes? Not bad. We here at the Palace encourage our researchers and disciples to go out and gain experiences, and also we can accept hiring requests from outside powers, if the Palace''s Elders have any troublesome needs, they can also set up a quest on the system, providing their own rewards. This platform system can be used as an optimal tool for communicate and distribute resources." Gare nodded.


    After more and less understanding their recent developments, Garen''s gaze moved to the scholars and disciples.


    "The top three of the previous ranking competition, show yourselves."

 512 Return 2

    Chapter 512: Return 2


    Instantly, the atmosphere in the hall seemed to have changed somewhat, the various Elders all looked rather interested, and even Ivycius, who had his eyes closed before, opened them now, looking at the three disciples who stepped out of the line.


    The first two were the two masters that Garen had recruited as his disciples before, and the other was a young guy of about fifteen or sixteen. Unlike the polite respect of the other two, this young fellow respected him but tried hard to keep his head up, meeting Garen''s gaze head-on, even if this determination made his whole body tremble, and slightly more than ten seconds was enough to cover his head with a cold sweat. But he still clenched his teeth and held in there.


    "Who''s Ansapello?" Garen asked calmly, but his gaze was already fixed on the young man whose face was growing paler and paler.


    "It''s that little idiot who just refuses to bend his head." Amidst the Elders, Wukang couldn''t help but laugh. Instantly, the whole hall burst into fond laughter.


    "I heard that you meditated under my statue, and said you would surpass me?" Garen was not laughing in the slightest, though. His tone instantly affected the atmosphere in the whole Grand Hall, and the other Elders'' laughter also slowly quieted down.


    The pale young man still held his head stubbornly high, his originally short brown hair soaked with sweat and plastered onto his forehead, while there were visible sweat stains on his clothes, but he still had no intention of lowering his head.


    "Yes¡­!" He forced the word out of clenched teeth, under the pressure of Garen''s gaze, even though Garen did not mean to pressure him at all, he was born with an innate and acute sensitivity towards danger, this was a talent, and this talent allowed him to travel thousands of miles, escaping death countless times, finally arriving at Kovitan and entering the Black Swamp Palace.


    Right now, this talent had instead become his biggest burden, this sensitivity towards danger was making him shake like a leaf, his body and heart on the brink of collapse, as though he was at the bottom of the water, trying to float upwards to obtain oxygen, but there were seaweed and whirlpools holding his feet down.


    This unbelievably overwhelming sense of suffocation made him almost want to lower his head and give in.


    Whoosh¡­


    The young man seemed to hear the sound of the tide retreating, the pressure all over him suddenly disappearing, his whole body shook slightly and he just nearly fell to the ground. His senior brother beside him held him up secretly, finally helping him steady his footing.


    Evidently Garen had discovered the reason why he was shaking, and had taken the initiative to pull back the aura and energy emitting from his body, which finally let the young fellow return to normal.


    "Good¡­ very good!!" Everyone could see the smile on Garen''s face clearly. His eyes showed his appreciation of the young man without hesitation. "The fourth level of the Black Water True Technique, you''ll need to trade for it using quest badges, the Black Swamp Palace won''t teach it to you for free, the first three levels are the most basic benefits for disciples and scholars, but after enjoying the privileges, you would naturally have duties you need to fulfill. For the fourth level, you''ll need to complete a certain number of quests to obtain quest points yourselves, only then will you obtain it, and you are not allowed to teach it to each other privately. There''s no problem, is there?"


    "Of course!" The young man replied loudly, and panted once. "If we want to get something, we need to give something equal in return, that''s what you''re trying to tell us!"


    "Go down and rest." Garen waved his hand, and there were instantly maids coming up to help the young man stand, bringing him down.


    Garen''s attitude had affected the attitudes of all the Black Swamp Palace higher-ups to some extent, and most of the Elders still looked friendly, only the Seven Night Tower''s Angel looked slightly displeased, though she did not say anything, that young fellow had probably offended her at some point.


    Garen did not bother with her, the Palace was not one fixed entity, there would be some slight conflicts between members, and he would ignore those, as long as they did not cross a certain line, everything could be considered the obstacles and trainings between Palace members.


    After that, it was the Four Directions Sky Warriors in charge of various matters who came up to report on their respective areas, although these conditions had already been summarized and given to Lala for organization, now they reported to him again in detail, in a way to fill up the details.


    The Four Directions Sky Warriors were peak-level fighting geniuses chosen from outside, after testing their qualifications and endurance, in the two short months since Garen left, two of these four positions had been challenged by outsiders, and the people in the positions changed. The challengers were from the prodigy training camps, these camps included the cream of the crop from among the competition of many normal scholars, and these elite members were once more divided into the possible candidates for the Four Directions Sky Generals as well the core scholars and disciples.


    The whole Black Swamp Palace had formed a complete system, albeit one in the early stages.


    The whole Black Swamp Palace was divided into five levels.


    The first level was the Palace Master.


    The second level included three powers: the Elders, the head manager Lala, and the Technique Hall, each of these was equal in power.


    The third level had the core scholars, the Four Directions Sky Warriors, the prodigy training camp''s instructor totem users, and the managers of the outside businesses.


    The fourth level had the prodigy scholars.


    The fifth level was the lowest level, and included the normal scholars, they were just one level higher than the regular maids and servants, or the domestic help.


    Of these five levels, just in the fourth level itself, the Black Swamp Palace''s prodigy scholars already had countless connections to the outside world, the higher-ranked scholars had already become future investment targets from many of the large and small factions outside, and these scholars had gathered many powers, some more and some less, big and small, behind them.


    The power of the entire Black Swamp Palace was like a giant spider web, covering the whole Kingdom, and rapidly spreading to cover the entire Protection area.


    This had already become a huge economic group with the Black Swamp Palace in the middle, and Garen at the very top.


    The Four Directions Sky Generals came up to report on their different missions, the black-armored guards had been renamed from the Black Fire Guards from before to the Black Swamp Guards now, these Black Swamp Guards were more powerful than before, and the Four Directions Sky Warriors'' powers combined, added to the power they had under their control, was more than capable of matching four peak-level Form Four totem users. Although this was the effect of using all sorts of methods, and disregarding all costs, but from here the terrifying power of the Green Vine Sphere was made evident, it was enough to make a normal person achieve the level of a peak-level fighter, as expected of the Green Vine Sphere, the heights of Vanderman''s achievements throughout his lifetime.


    Garen listened carefully from above, the Four Directions Sky Warriors were in charge of their relations with outside martial powers, they had two hundred members, and added to the totem users they had recruited from outside, they were now approaching eight hundred people, and were the Black Swamp Palace''s most populated division.


    These people were also in charge of the safety of the Black Swamp Palace''s property, going out to hunt and gather all sorts of ingredients and Aberrated monsters, patrolling the perimeter, punishing intruders, performing troublesome tasks and the like, they were basically the whole Black Swamp Palace''s cornerstone.


    This power was also the one Garen had the most faith in, because the Green Vine Sphere only recognized him alone, all the power of these Black Swamp Guards came from the Green Vine Sphere, so this was also the largest inheritance left for him by Vanderman.


    One by one, the Four Directions Sky Warriors reported their situations, and soon enough, the third West Sky General came up.


    "Regarding that Poison Hag totem user from the Secret Service that we had apprehended, may we know how we should deal with her?" The West Sky General''s voice was clear and crisp, it was actually a young woman, and she was also a prodigy scholar who had just successfully challenged the seat.


    "The Poison Hag?" Garen touched his chin, he had also remembered that poison expert from the Secret Service who had messed around and tried to poison him to death, back at the headquarters, she sure was cocky, but now that the Black Swamp Guard had caught her, even she couldn''t do anything. This was especially because the innate ability to resist poison increased as one''s level of training in the Black Water True Technique increased, after all, this was based on the veins and blood transport pathways inside the Nine-Headed Dragon''s body, although it had been adjusted to suit human use, that still did not mean that it had lost all of its initial usefulness.


    Although it would not grant near immunity to poison like Garen had, it was still enough to attain an extremely high resistance to poison. To a poison-element totem user like the Poison Hag, this was basically a natural breeding ground for nightmares.


    "Is there any news from the Secret Service''s side?" Garen still cared more about the attitude of his previous boss who had protected him before.


    "The department''s vice president sent someone to enquire about the reason for her capture, and then they didn''t send anyone else." The West Sky General replied respectfully.


    "Then kill her. It''d be best if you can get the totem legacy from her before you do it. Any problems?" Garen nodded.


    "I understand." The West Sky General retreated respectfully.


    The North Sky General came up next to report.


    "I am in charge of the supplies and defense, recently some of our mining veins have shown small-scale depletion, some veins that should still be rich in resources mysteriously went dry, we do not know the reason behind it. I have investigated it before secretly, but came up with nothing."


    "Depleting veins?" Garen frowned, "Has anyone else investigated this?"


    "There was Elder Skyharp." The North Sky General replied with respect.


    Garen looked at Skyharp, who nodded lightly, indicating that she had a certain hold of the situation.


    "The Technique Hall will also investigate this, Elder Skyharp, I''ll be bothering you with this."


    "I should be happy to help. The Nine Snakes System has been up and running for some time now, I''d like to earn some merit points as well." Skyharp smiled.


    Garen nodded, the fact that this matter could reach all the way up to him meant that the people underneath had tried many times, and could still make no headway, only then did they present it to him.


    "I''ll stay in the Palace for some time, all matters will be arranged and handled by Lala, large matters can be decided by Elders Ivycius and Blizzard after discussion, alright, everyone go back to your respective jobs now. Master Calingan, please bring me to see the Nine Snakes System."


    "It is my honor." Calingan hurriedly stood up.


    Garen got up and left first, Calingan following with two of his apprentices, only then did the rest leave in turn.


    The Nine Snakes System was a new generation management system Calingan had created by upgrading and incorporating the previous Palace totem system. It created a new mechanism, with some virtual units called merits as the core to everything.


    Anybody who contributes to the Black Swamp Palace would have their contributions recorded down as the corresponding number of merit points, these merit points could be used to exchange anything, be it totems, knowledge, supplies, or information, equipment, techniques, even hiring muscle or buying people.


    Of course, there were only things that could be traded in theory, in reality there were not many things that could be traded right now, they were mostly from that huge haul Garen had gotten from the Royal Treasury previously, these items were used as the start-up capital, to attract disciples, scholars, the Elders and the Sky Warriors to constantly contribute to the Palace, any supplies, legacy information or treasures they had gotten from the outside world and was not suitable for their own use could be handed to the Palace to trade for merit points, and then these could be used to exchange for things the Palace did have, things they needed.


    This was the optimized organization of supplies, Master Calingan had the people from the Technique Hall organize all the complete totem legacies, and came up with thirteen high-level legacy systems, these being one of the Black Swamp Palace''s bases.


    "Thirteen types of totem legacies?" Garen was thoughtful. "That''s good too, after activating their totem user qualifications by achieving the fourth level of the Black Water True Technique, the scholars need to choose the legacies suited to them and continue training, organizing the systems like this won''t only increase our knowledge about totems, there will also be information about the supplies needed for all sorts of evolutions, while also increasing the detailed technical experiences. As expected of Master Calingan, you really have set the strongest foundations for the entire Black Swamp Palace."


    Calingan hastily waved his hand.


    "You flatter, Palace Master, if it weren''t for your generosity, bringing out all of the legacies in your personal treasury to become the start-up capital, the Nine Snakes System might not be able to move so smoothly. I''m just doing what I should."


    "Let''s go, let''s see the Nine Snakes'' core." Garen nodded.

 513 Trace 1

    Chapter 513: Trace 1


    Going through the black stone palace halls, surrounded by the others, Garen quickly arrived at an isolated side hall.


    There was an empty cemetery-like space between the side hall and the main hall, with several gravestones scattered around, there were no bricks laid out here, only yellow-black mud.


    There was the occasional chirping of tunneling insects in the earth.


    When Garen and the others walked onto this piece of ground, the earth on the ground instantly began moving, countless black-yellow earthworm-like insects breaking out of the ground, they had bodies like earthworms, but their mouths were jagged saws as they poked their heads out of the earth, as though smelling some delicious delicacies, they crawled towards Garen and his procession, rushing to surround them at high speeds.


    "Close!" Master Calingan quickly drew a tactic gesture with one hand, the gesture was extremely complicated, and disappeared from the air after a flash.


    All the earthworm insects on the surrounding ground paused in unison, their bodies stiffening, and then they all burrowed back into the earth, vanishing.


    "These are the special aphids I raised here as a defense system, they might seem weak individually, but their largest advantage lies in their numbers, when they encounter a totem user¡¯s invasion, they will fly up, and cover the surface of any Totem Light completely, tearing, biting, and absorbing the Totem Light, and only purely physical attacks can clear away these critters." Master Calingan explained as he walked.


    Garen nodded, seeing the fear and apprehension on the others¡¯ faces, he bet these people had all suffered the wrath of these insects before.


    The group of five or six people went across the empty land and walked into the side hall, it was completely dark inside the hall, and utterly empty.


    Psst¡­


    All of a sudden, countless black air currents gathered in the center of the hall, these currents flew around in a circle, and then gathered rapidly gathered, forming a human shape with blurred facial features.


    The silhouette was completely black, and bowed slightly at the group.


    "Nine Snakes System, at your service." The voice was that of the sweetest, gentlest lady.


    Garen walked up, and went around this blurred human shape as he looked at it carefully.


    The silhouette seemed to be made of countless clouds of vapor, it had no material substance, and it did not move or act embarrassed under Garen¡¯s scrutiny. It just stood there, quietly.


    Garen observed it from a closer distance, reaching out his hand to touch its face lightly. It was cold and icy to the touch, without any real substance, as though putting his hand into a cloud of moist and cold air.


    "This is just an outer appearance materialized by the Nine Snakes System, it has no use other than to communicate." Master Calingan explained from behind him. He walked up to a wall on one side of the hall, and patted the wall lightly.


    "Are all the preparations complete?" Prepare to transfer the core control rights."


    "All preparations complete." Nine Snakes replied softly.


    After a moment, Garen walked out of the side hall, went across the empty land, and headed towards his own bedchambers.


    After eating dinner, he did not bother with any other Palace matters either, he had already handed the fourth and fifth levels of the Black Water True Technique to the Nine Snakes System, as the barter item for merit points, it was just that more points were required.


    After dinner, he found Demon Phoenix, who had already opened up completely to Island Master Skyharp, after making simple arrangements for Demon Phoenix and company to be visiting Elders in the Palace, Garen took Lala directly and walked out of the Palace.


    Outside the Palace, a six-horse carriage had already been prepared, the drivers and guard teams all decorated rather extravagantly, they were basically magnificent carriages made of black crystal and sapphires.


    Pulling the carriage were six handsome black Aberrated horses that looked like unicorns, they were powerful, capable of flight, and when necessary, could even dive into water.


    Garen and Lala got onto the carriage, and flew from the Palace District, headed straight out of the Kingdom.


    In the South East of the Kingdom, within the confines of the Ultimate Protection area, there was a mountain there that Garen had won over and handed over to the Tasura Academy led by his teacher Emin. This excursion of his was also to check on the Tasura Academy¡¯s condition.


    The carriage¡¯s six unihorn horses grew black wings, and after several flaps, they easily carried the carriage up into the air with tremendous power.


    There were also more than ten Black Swamp Guards escorting them on all sides, also riding black unihorn horses.


    The entire group was extremely eye-catching in the middle of the sky, all the flying animals and beasts had to avoid them and make way.


    Garen sat inside the carriage, resting with his eyes closed, when suddenly there was a man¡¯s voice from outside.


    "When did Palace Master Garen return? Why didn¡¯t you inform everyone so we can have a welcoming party?"


    The voice was very familiar, it was Grand Duke Cody, that old guy at the same level as Grand Duke Benoc, back then he had surrounded God Cloud, but was slightly injured due to the Distorted Beads, to think he had recovered so quickly.


    Pulling open the carriage curtains, he saw another golden carriage cabin pulled by a three-headed green bird, also floating in mid-air just opposite Garen¡¯s carriage. Grand Duke Cody¡¯s cherubic face appeared at the entrance to the carriage, and he smiled as he looked this way.


    "So it¡¯s Grand Duke Cody, may I know if there is some urgent reason that you¡¯re blocking my way?" Garen asked calmly.


    "The Kingdom has been split into four, now that Your Excellency Garen has returned this time, you should govern your disobedient subordinates this time, otherwise a careless mistake might lead to disastrous consequences."


    "Disastrous consequences? What disasters could happen in the Kingdom?" Garen was still looking at the other party calmly, "Or could it be, that the Grand Duke is warning me?"


    "It¡¯s up to you to interpret it however you want, I¡¯ll just leave it at that." Cody let down the curtain, his carriage making a turn and flying towards the Grand Duke¡¯s mansion.


    Garen¡¯s expression was sardonic, and then he suddenly blew out a breath of black air.


    The black air shot away, growing larger and larger, fainter and fainter, and in an instant it had become a black wind, whistling towards Grand Duke Cody¡¯s carriage.


    The three-headed green bird pulling the carriage instantly fell into a panic, screeching, while inside the cabin, Cody snorted coldly, and a layer of faint golden light emanated from the cabin, blocking the black wind and keeping it outside.


    "What do you mean by that, Palace Master Garen?!!" he howled from inside the cabin.


    "Nothing in particular, I just thought your pet seemed rather cute, so I wanted to greet it."


    Garen chuckled lightly, his carriage going past Cody¡¯s from the side, and soon disappearing into the distant sky.


    Just then, the three-headed green bird pulling Cody¡¯s carriage gave a piercing shriek, and at the same time began to melt away, in just that instant, it melted into three mounds of black liquid, just like a candle, and began to rapidly evaporate, turning into clouds of black air that rose and vanished.


    Only Cody maintained his golden light, forcefully keeping the carriage steady and floating in mid-air.


    Inside the cabin, Cody¡¯s round face was dark.


    "Form Five¡­! I never thought¡­"


    He murmured, while that little red girl in her red dress sat on his right, her fair legs swinging back and forth underneath the carriage seat.


    "You can¡¯t beat him now." The little girl¡¯s childish voice rang out in the carriage cabin.


    "It¡¯s gotten slightly troublesome, do you want to hide out for a bit?" Cody looked at the little girl, his tone strangely as though he was talking to an equal with power as strong as his.


    "It¡¯s okay." The little girl shook her head, "You just be careful."


    Cody nodded, and didn¡¯t say anything else.


    "The people from the Black Swamp Palace are growing more and more arrogant, it is true that the subordinates follow the Palace Master¡¯s behavior. Looks like I have no choice but to join forces with the people on that side?"


    "Join forces? Do you want to open up the Ultimate Protection?" The little girl asked curiously from the side.


    Cody did not reply, but his expression darkened.


    ********************


    At night, on a somewhat shorter mountain near the Kingdom, amidst the long line of fortresses covering the mountain peaks, there were many clear and bright lights, illuminating the peaks into a bright white land.


    The highest of these was a newly-built white mansion.


    In the wide and large hall, the milk-white stone walls were printed with many carvings of Great White Bear, Black Panthers and Sabertooth Tigers, these three different creatures were seen in many different images and carvings, representing the three creature totems that formed the three largest branches at the very core of the Tasura Academy, and the drawings on the walls showed many different types of development directions, there were Great White Bears with wings, some had a long and thick tentacle instead of a right arm, some had four eyes, and the same went for the Black Panthers and Sabertooth Tigers, each showing a different area of development.


    The hall was brightly lit inside, a piano band slowly playing by the wall, the slow and comforting music emanating gently through the hall, and even wafting into the darkness outside the window past the fluttering curtains.


    There was also a long rectangular table by the right side of the hall, with platters of fruits and other dishes on it, provided for the guests¡¯ consumption.


    The guests participating in the gathering were all dressed extravagantly, the men in fancy collars and the women in swaying skirts, but no matter what status these guests had, the key reason for their attending this banquet was either to see the Black Swamp Palace Master, whose reputation had skyrocketed recently, or to meet and talk to one another, building a sufficiently large web of connections.


    Just then, Garen was standing with several white-haired old men, playing with an intricate crystal glass in his hand as he listened to the old men¡¯s low conversations carefully. He wore a black-red suit, his figure long and slender, his golden hair falling over his shoulders, his jade-perfect skin the secret object of envy for all the women present.


    This world only had tuxedos previously, but Garen had decisively chopped the tails off the tuxedos, adjusting it slightly to become an Earth-like suit, and he instantly felt a lot more at home in it.


    He listened to what his teacher Emin was saying carefully, his face the picture of concentration. All around him were the highest-level elders of the Tasura Academy, the leaders of some smaller academies that were friendly with Tasura, as well as some grassroots leaders and upper-level nobles who had come to the Kingdom to join this banquet. Other than a very select few, the most of them were fairly old, at the very least in their forties.


    Garen was especially eye-catching amidst such a crowd. The higher-ups all stood together here, while the people in most of the other places were mainly the elite scholars of these academies and the higher-level nobles from the Kingdom.


    The important characters stood in one place, the younger generations and less important people stood in one circle, the division was obvious, and there was only the occasional moment when the important figures called some of their young ones over to be introduced to their peers.


    Although the younger ones all formed their own little circles, they would still steal envious glances at the upper-level circle, with Garen at the center.


    "In the blink of an eye, three years have passed, thinking back on everything that had happened these past few years, it still feels like a dream." Emin drank the fragrant wine, his gaze a mix of complicated sadness.


    "Teacher, you always like sighing about things, the Academy has been rebuilt and completely unified, wasn¡¯t that your biggest wish?" Garen said softly.


    "People are greedy by nature, or maybe it¡¯s precisely because my biggest wish and goals have been fulfilled, that¡¯s why I¡¯m feeling rather empty inside." Emin shook his head, and said self-deprecatingly, "You¡¯re the hottest topic right now, even in the East Continent you are among the best of the best, to have taught you back then, truly was my biggest pride and joy."


    "You exaggerate." Garen laughed, "There are still many things that I don¡¯t know, and I need you to teach me."


    "Don¡¯t say such modest things, you have surpassed me long ago, to be frank, I was only slightly useful to you when setting the foundations, the rest of it was all your own hard work." Emin waved his hand.


    "I bet that back then, when the Palace Master was learning the foundations, he had already demonstrated his immense talent, right?" One of the elderly members of the Academy asked with a laugh.


    "Speaking of which, as for how the Palace Master used to be, perhaps only Big Brother Emin knows best."


    Some of the elders started asking as well.


    Emin just chose some of Garen¡¯s stories from back then, he still felt vaguely awed until now.


    Back then, Garen had only shown extraordinary talent in tactics, but unfortunately, even though he had the talent, he did not want to walk the path of tactics, and insisted on specializing in totem evolution. As for using tactics to fight, that method did not suit Garen at all.


    Emin had felt quite sorry about that for some time. Mentioning that, he began to discuss some trivial matters from back then with the few elders enthusiastically.


    Garen just stood at the side and listened quietly, smiling occasionally.


    After listening for some time, he excused himself by saying he needed the washroom, leaving alone to go to the nighttime balcony outside the hall. Standing in front of the semicircular banister, he looked down into the distance, the little smattering of lights from the villages at the bottom of the mountain were like the many stars in the night sky, bunching together in constellations. The night breeze blew on his face, coolly, and with a hint of fragrance.


    Garen sniffed lightly, the fragrance seemed to come from an extreme distance, barely there and sometimes not, but even he could not tell what flowering plant it was.

 514 Trace 2

    Chapter 514: Trace 2


    Holding the banister with his hand, the smooth and cool wooden handrail was soft, and soon began to grow warmer under his fingers. It was rare for him to find time to relax, Garen stood there on the balcony, and fell into a slight silence.


    After some time.


    "Lucian, why did you run all the way here?" The balcony one floor beneath him just happened to face the second floor, and a young man''s crisp and clear voice came from below.


    "I just wanted to calm down a bit by myself." Another calm and cool man''s voice spoke, his tone was not particularly icy, but it gave one a feeling of cool distance.


    "Bales and the others are here, as are Violet and Corin, aren''t you going out to meet them?" The clear young man''s voice asked softly.


    The other person did not reply.


    "Don''t be so shy, won''t ya?"


    "..."


    "It''s so rare to see so much good food, normally it''s hard to get even a bite, if it weren''t for you bringing us in here, we probably still wouldn''t be able to touch such goods stuff, come on, join us." The clear young man seemed to be yanking him now.


    "Good food? You guys won''t really let yourselves go and eat¡­" This time the cold young man finally seemed to express some emotion. "Did you think I worked so hard to get four invitations just so you could come in here and eat?"


    "Don''t be so petty, we''re all partners through thick and thin." The clear young man patted the other person''s shoulder, "We can''t match the important guys on the second floor, in that case, wouldn''t the good food on the table be more practical?"


    "Lucian, your old man''s asking you to go to the second floor." Suddenly there was a clear voice cutting through the hustle and bustle of the first-floor hall, it was a sweet young girl''s voice.


    And then on the first floor, Lucian covered his face with his hand. The people on the first floor fell silent for a second, and then burst into laughter. Those who could make it here were either well-bred nobles or merchants with a considerable background, or eminent scholars, but under the presence of Garen and the Black Swamp Palace, everyone acted completely proper, so in such a high-level noble banquet, Lucian instantly became famous.


    His old man was also an upper-level noble, with considerable power, and Lucian had been a model among the original Kovitan nobles of his age, he was handsome and dashing, with extraordinary powers, and his snow-white skin earned him the nickname ''Snow Prince''. When he was escaping to the Kingdom from his territory, he had made friends with some common folk from the villages, and this story had been the popular gossip among the nobles for some time now.


    To think he even dared to bring some village bumpkins to such an upper-class banquet, and his father allowed him to mess around like that.


    Listening to the commotion from the hall downstairs, Garen could not keep his lips from curving upwards. These people reminded him of his life back then in Vanderman''s estate, although that life was short, it was unprecedentedly peaceful, just like the Secret Technique World.


    "Why are you here alone?" A mild young girl''s voice came from behind him.


    Garen did not reply, he merely continued to look at the distant scene of the mountains at night, enjoying his rare bit of peace.


    The girl behind him walked up to his side of her own accord, and also put her hands on the banister.


    "Could it be that even someone as powerful as Lord Garen has troubles that he cannot solve?" The girl stood on Garen''s right, wearing a long white dress that showed off her small waist, full breasts, long and slender legs, her soft body fragrance, and her fiery-red waist-length hair cascading behind her, tied with a white hairband in the middle.


    This was a very pretty and confident young girl, no more than seventeen or eighteen years in age, in the middle of her most glorious age.


    "I''m human too, I will also have common worries and troubles, is that very strange?" Garen said calmly.


    He turned his head to glance at the girl.


    "Your heart is beating very fast."


    The girl''s face stiffened slightly, and she tried her best to smile naturally.


    "I''m just slightly excited to see my idol."


    She was confident that she had the purest appearance out of everyone in the banquet, she had investigated before, Garen should be fondest of this type, pure, cute, and understanding.


    This was her chance to make it big, as long as she caught hold of this opportunity, her ailing family would instantly be resurrected from the dead, she was an ambitious woman, as long as she could make it with the Black Swamp Palace Master, no matter what price she had to pay, she was mentally prepared for it.


    But seeing Garen''s clear gaze and mild attitude, she was beginning to suspect if something had gone wrong with her attractiveness.


    "You''re still young, there are many paths in life, don''t bet everything you have before you can see everything clearly." Garen looked at the girl in front of him, for some reason he suddenly thought of his younger sister from the Secret Technique World, Ying Er, abruptly he noticed that other than their hair color and their personalities, the two of them were eerily similar in their appearances and their auras.


    I will go back there.


    He decided in his heart, it had only been three years since he transmigrated to this world, he still had a chance. He just needed to discover the secret of the Black Smoke Pot.


    If he could settle the threat posed by Hellgate, after that, he could truly start investigating the mysteries of the Black Smoke Pot.


    Garen reached out his hand and patted the girl''s hair.


    "Go back."


    A gentle power pushed the girl away lightly, rendering her speechless.


    The girl''s face was slightly pale, after looking at Garen''s back, she eventually decided to turn around and return to the hall.


    Not long later, a familiar figure walked onto the balcony. She wore a black evening gown with a corset, it was a clean and pretty long-legged woman, with legs unnaturally long, especially when compared to a normal woman''s proportions, her long brown hair tied into a ponytail that gave her a handsome look.


    "Master." The woman stood behind Garen, and spoke softly."


    "Sylvia, how are things on Sofea''s side? Is Jenny(1) still okay?" Garen turned around and asked softly.


    Since Sylvia was given to Garen by the First Princess, and the parasite in her body was removed, Garen arranged her to stay by his cousin Hathaway''s side, returning to her previous life, it was just that her job changed from the Palace District to Garen''s subordinate. She constantly updated Garen about his cousin''s safety on that side.


    "Everything is okay on Miss Sofea''s side, and Miss Jenny has entered the White Phoenix Forest Academy, and is a lot more reserved now." Sylvia was staying next door to Hathaway now, so they were more or less neighbors.


    "That''s good, about the First Princess¡­"


    "The First Princess has cut all connections with me." Sylvia had been sold to the First Princess as a slave back then, and now that she had been passed on to Garen, she had become Garen''s female slave, but thankfully Garen did not make any terrible requests of her. After some time without seeing him, if Manager Lala had not suddenly summoned her, she would have more or less forgotten that she was a slave after all.


    "Alright, that''s all." Garen nodded his head to show he understood. "Oh, yeah, call Lala in here."


    Sylvia bowed and retreated. Soon enough, Lala walked onto the balcony, dressed in a long white dress with silver trimmings.


    "Have you found the person I asked you to find?"


    "Not yet¡­" Lala frowned and lowered her head, "Sorry, milord, but according to the way Lord Leila acted when he left, it didn''t seem like he was returning to Obscuro."


    Garen mused, "Continue putting people to it, inform me immediately once you find him."


    "Understood."


    "Also, get Kid to come here."


    "Kid?" Lala was slightly confused, but she quickly realized what he meant, and smiled bitterly. "Understood." Kid was always mysterious in his appearances and disappearances, and it would not be easy to find him in such a short time, but since the boss had already asked for him, the people underneath would naturally have to work harder.


    Upon returning this time, Garen had handed the job of exchanging the Glittering Water with the Cthulhu King for Cthulhu''s Origins to the other people in the Black Swamp Palace, Lala was in charge of sending specific people, to secretly head towards the Cthulhuism Society''s base to meet with them. He no longer needed to handle this matter personally. The remaining time was to be spent researching the secrets of Kid and that little girl in red next to Cody once more.


    Just thinking about that strange little girl with her snake-like tongue, for some reason, Garen''s heart felt mysteriously uncomfortable.


    After Lala left, the hall behind him began to slowly quiet down for some reason.


    The time ticked by, and after goodness knows how long, Garen suddenly frowned, and turned around slowly.


    Just then, on the ground by the entrance into the hall, there was a small black cat with red eyes. It sat crouched on the floor, licking its lips occasionally, its large red eyes staring at Garen curiously.


    "How did you get in here?'' Garen stared at the red-eyed black cat, frowning as he asked.


    Meow~~


    The black cat meowed adorably.


    "Stop pretending!" Garen frowned even deeper, and a black wind rose out of nowhere, blowing onto the black cat with a whoosh.


    Amidst the splashing sound of water, the black cat suddenly stiffened, and its body actually started to melt within the next few seconds, like a candle baked at high heat. In an instant, it had become a puddle of black water on the floor.


    "It hurts¡­" A clear little''s girl''s voice came from the black water.


    Garen narrowed his eyes, and saw that before he knew it, a pair of bright red lips had formed in the black water, and that was where the voice was coming from.


    From the small mouth, it was as though the black water reversed in time, going back one step at a time, to form blood, bones and flesh from the black water, finally forming a completely naked, pure white little girl.


    The little girl wore nothing at all, her pale red hair falling over her shoulders, her height about half of Garen''s, her slightly developed body particularly child-like and tempting. She was not embarrassed in the slightest, however, and just stared at Garen curiously with her blood-red eyes.


    "Your existence makes me feel very uncomfortable." Garen grasped his right hand.


    Bam!


    The little girl instantly exploded into countless bits of minced meat and blood, spraying all over the floor.


    Strangely, the countless minced meat gathered together again, once more forming the little girl''s body, and she walked towards Garen, one step at a time.


    Garen''s eyes flashed vaguely with the violence and bloodlust of the Nine-Headed Dragon, a faint black mist appearing around his body.


    He did not know how this little girl found him, but it was very likely to do with his meeting Cody that morning. Now it looked like she was trying to give him a warning? Or was she here to test his strength and attitude?


    The surroundings around him seemed to have become an illusion, but it did not feel like an illusion at all, rather than calling it an illusion, it seemed to be a sort of separation, a spatial separation.


    "Why?" The little girl looked at him curiously. "Why don''t you like my body? Aren''t you guys all like this?"


    "Did Cody send you here?" Garen asked in a low voice. "You do look somewhat strange, but why did you come looking for me?"


    "Have you seen the Door to Heaven?" The little girl did not reply to his question, and instead asked another strange one of her own.


    "The Door to Heaven?"


    Translator''s Note:


    He keeps saying ÕäÄÝ, but I''m pretty sure he means Dani...

 515 Seed 1

    Chapter 515: Seed 1


    Wooo~~~


    There seemed to be a strange howling in the air, like the siren of a faraway train, or like the roar of a certain creature.


    Garen turned his head to the side, and suddenly looked at the night sky outside the balcony.


    He did not know when it started, but there were many giant silver metal rings hanging in the sky, these rings as though suspended in mid-air, the top half piercing into space, hanging in the night sky without moving in the slightest.


    The countless silver rings were all over the sky, scattered into many smatterings, extending all the way into the unseen distance. Each metal ring was more than ten meters in diameter, more than a meter in thickness, unnaturally clear.


    The moonlight fell down evenly, reflecting a faint silver light off these silver rings.


    "Did you say the Door to Heaven?" Garen turned around, once more looking at the red-eyed girl who had mysteriously appeared.


    "That is the very first origin." The girl widened her blood-red eyes. "Only Listeners can see it."


    Garen looked at the little girl in front of him, and suddenly felt some bone-piercing chill on the back of his right hand. He raised his hand, and saw an eye-catching red dot on the back of his right hand, just like a red mole.


    He remembered, this was the Imprint of the Listener that Kid had given him back then, at the time Grand Duke Cody had even asked him a strange question, whether or not Garen could show him his Imprint, but Garen had rejected him.


    "Then what is this?" He raised his hand, and waved his Imprint at the girl opposite him.


    "That is your qualifications, the qualifications you earned." The little girl walked up to Garen, and also raised her head to look at the night sky outside.


    "Only with these qualifications, can you truly see this world." The little girl said, somewhat dazedly.


    For a moment, neither of them spoke, they just looked at the scene in the sky quietly, the countless silver round rings hanging in the sky, as though it was just a strange painting.


    Garen seemed to be looking at the scene in the sky, but at the same time part of his attention was spent on staying aware of the girl¡¯s movements.


    He had not been able to kill her each of those times just now, this strange phenomenon made his heart waver slightly, it would be understandable if just like him, she had a natural talent such as Nine Lives, but strangely, his five senses or his spiritual sensitivity had vaguely noticed that the girl¡¯s true body seemed to be in some unknown space, and her body out here seemed to only be the shadow she was projecting outside, no matter how many times he killed it, he would not harm the actual body at all. It was like using the light to destroy a shadow, no matter how many times you did it, there was no way you could harm somebody like that.


    "Don¡¯t you want to go and see?" The girl laughed suddenly, "Entering this world for the first time, a world that only we Listeners could ever enter before."


    "What is your aim?" Garen glanced at her.


    "Aim? Of course." It was as though the girl only then remembered her reason for coming, "Let me think¡­ What was my aim for coming here?" She massaged her forehead, acting troubled.


    By now Garen had sort of noticed, this fella seemed to be slightly crazy, there was something wrong with her brain, her words and actions followed the changes in her emotions completely, and even her emotions were completely impossible to grasp.


    "The Listeners¡¯ world, is it a real world?" he asked again.


    "That¡¯s right¡­ This place is a strange existence, me, Kid, and more, there are ten other people in total, we were all born here." The little girl¡¯s memories were awakened by Garen¡¯s words, and her attention diverted.


    "Once, several thousand years ago, you humans were still fighting to the death over the Listener¡¯s Imprint, but hilariously, now barely a few people know about this world¡¯s existence¡­"


    "What are the benefits of this place?" Garen stared at the little girl as he continued asking.


    "Benefits?" The girl tapped her lips, "The things you find here, you can bring them out to the other side, but only the Imprinted can take them out. Hmm¡­ there¡¯s also the Door to Heaven, you can find the existence of the Door to Heaven here, isn¡¯t the ring on your hand an item from this place as well?"


    Her gaze fell on the Troll Grip that Garen was wearing.


    "Ring?" Garen touched the Troll Grip instinctively, this ring was the gift given to him by the city troll, why would it be a product of this place?


    "The City Troll, I met it before, it¡¯s really tall, and travels around everywhere, only creatures that give him enough water and food with get this ring as a present." The girl seems to know everything, suddenly she turned her head slightly, as though listening to something.


    "How did you know¡­" Garen was interrupted before he could finish.


    Shh~~


    The girl held a finger to her lips, and continued posing as though she was listening to something.


    "It¡¯s coming¡­"


    "What?" Garen frowned, staring at her.


    "It¡¯s that big tortoise. Come, I¡¯ll show you something cool!" The girl suddenly pulled Garen¡¯s hand, leaping lightly out the balcony.


    Whoosh¡­


    The two of them actually jumped straight out of the balcony, landing directly on the ground.


    Bam!


    They crashed hard onto the ground, and the girl dragged Garen into a run without any further words.


    Garen did not know what she was planning either, but he did not resist, because he could not feel any ill intent from the girl. It was as though after they chatted for a while, the feeling of discomfort she gave him grew thinner and fainter.


    The little girl pulled him and ran, leaving the mansion altogether, dashing straight down the mountain.


    At such high speeds, Garen turned around to look at the mansion, the place was still brightly illuminated, and there were still many people gathered inside, it was just that they were all frozen on the spot, motionless, as though time had stopped at that moment.


    Some people held their wine glasses and were about to sip from it, the wine inside tilting and almost about to drip out from the corners of their mouths. Some people were waving their hands with a smile, their arms suspended in mid-air. Others were turning and tilting their bodies to the music.


    The band¡¯s musician had plucked one of the strings, and the silk string bent at a slight angle, but it showed no signs of straightening out again. At the main entrance, a young man had been tripped by the door frame, and was about to fall, his body slanting in mid-air, but he just did not fall.


    Everything and everyone, all the people and creatures seemed to have had their bodies and wills frozen, only Garen and the little girl could move.


    The two of them wove through the forest, the Nightlight Moths frozen in mid-air like insects stuck in amber, embedded into the air, without moving an inch.


    As he passed by, Garen simply pulled with one hand, and with a tear, the moth¡¯s wing was torn down, the faint poison powder scattering everywhere, just like a small cloud of black dust.


    "Did you see that? This world has countless times that flow at different speeds, the world you usually see is just a level that flows at a slower-than-average speed. And once the time is at extremely slow speeds or even stops completely, these creatures moving at high-speeds will all be revealed, that is when you can truly see what they look like." The girl seemed to be talking to herself, or perhaps she was explaining to Garen.


    As the girl spoke, the scenes around them moved faster and faster, and grew more and more blurred.


    At first he could still sort of see that they were still in the Ultimate Protection area, but by the end everything had turned into blurred shadows that could not be identified.


    Garen could only be dragged by the little girl around, turning left and right as they moved at lightning speeds.


    He did not know how much time had passed, when suddenly the girl stopped abruptly.


    "Look¡­" The girl¡¯s voice came from beside his ear.


    The view around him suddenly focused into vision.


    This seemed to be a grey-black wasteland, they were surrounded by grey hills and dunes, with a smattering of black plants and moss growing on them.


    The ground was completely bald, there was not a bit of green to be seen, occasionally there would be a few tombstones stuck in the earth, but the words on them were already utterly worn off.


    Garen looked up.


    There was no moon in the sky, only countless pale blue stars scattering their faint light. The faint white cloud vapor was vaguely there, but seemed not to move at all.


    "See¡­ This is the truest view of the world¡­" The little girl released Garen¡¯s hand, smiling brilliantly.


    Bam!


    There was a deep knocking sound from far away.


    Bam!


    And another.


    Bam!


    The third sound.


    The sounds kept coming, one after the other, like footsteps, as though there was some heavy creature rushing towards here, one step at a time.


    Garen looked at that direction from a distance.


    Between the black hills, he saw a huge black tortoise crawling over to them.


    There was a small piece of grassy land on the tortoise¡¯s back, several tombstones stuck on it, slantingly, forming a small arch-shaped graveyard. From a distance, this small graveyard was actually its shell.


    The tortoise¡¯s limbs were four dried-out, branching tree roots, thick and grey-black, every time they were lifted and put down again, they would make a deep crashing noise on the ground.


    Garen stared hard at the tortoise, his wariness raised to the highest. The whole tortoise was more than ten meters tall, and as it got closer, its huge body also became clearer.


    But what surprised Garen the most was not that, it was the things behind the tortoise.


    There was actually a veritable crowd of pale blue silhouettes following behind the tortoise, these humanoid shapes floated and glowed slightly, translucent like ghosts, with men and women, young and old among them, they all wore different clothing, and had no legs underneath their bodies, having instead a cloud of blue light.


    "What is that?" Garen asked in a murmur, although he had already experienced many miraculous things in the Totem World, but this huge creature here and the meaning of the people behind him could not help but make Garen¡¯s heart stiffen.


    "That is the Giant Tortoise." The girl replied, "Normally it only exists for an instant¡­ Mm, according to your units of time, about a hundred-and-ninety-thousandth of a second. But in this world, we can see its actions clearly."


    "And these things behind it are¡­?" Garen watched the giant tortoise walk past him, carrying the large crowds of pale blue figures behind it.


    "These?" The girl followed Garen¡¯s gaze, and instantly understood that he was asking about that long line of pale blue figures. "They¡¯re spirits~~"


    "Spirits?"


    "The souls of people after they die, duh." The little girl explained casually. "Aren¡¯t you scared?" She seemed to be slightly surprised, at first she had come to see Garen out of curiosity, to find out what was so special about this young man that her host was so wary of. But the more she got to know him now, the more she felt that Garen was different from the rest.


    "You just came with me like that, aren¡¯t you scared I¡¯ll hurt you?" The little girl finally couldn¡¯t help but ask.


    "You can¡¯t hurt me." Garen laughed. Everything in front of him now, seemed to be slowly merging with the Ancient Endor legends from the Secret Technique World.


    This world, had been mentioned before in the Ancient Endor legends.


    The legendary world where everything stopped, the great hero Helra had fought here with the Serpent of Fate, and although he managed to kill the Serpent of Fate in the end, he also sacrificed an arm that stayed here forever.


    Only creatures with the same Imprint can harm each other, and that was also why the Great Sages who gave the heroes their Imprints could not fight themselves, so they had to trick the hero Helra into acting.


    Even the great Earth Mother admitted that she could not interfere with the matters here.


    But what intrigued Garen was that the legend had evidently been passed down in the Secret Technique World, and yet there was such a scene in the Totem World. The two worlds seemed to have countless connections.


    The girl was still recovering from her surprise at Garen¡¯s words, and just then, the huge graveyard tortoise had walked past them on the right, the countless blue silhouettes gathering behind it, like a blue neon-colored river, twisting and turning into oblivion.


    The humanoid spirits in the river were all dazed and lost-looking, as though they had utterly lost their self-awareness, and was just floating stupidly behind the Giant Tortoise.


    Garen couldn¡¯t help but think of the Underworld Carriage. In the library of the ruined city, that Underworld Carriage he had encountered seemed to have some strange connection to this Giant Tortoise.


    "Back when Cody was still small, I brought him to see the Giant Tortoise, and he was scared half to the death. Why don¡¯t you have any reaction at all?" The little girl¡¯s expression was full of confusion. "Don¡¯t you want to know where the Giant Tortoise will bring all these spirits?"

 516 Seed 2

    Chapter 516: Seed 2


    Garen smiled, but remained silent. According to the myths, this Giant Tortoise was the guide to the underworld, and the world that it was heading to was not a place living creatures could get involved with. Even merely looking would cause blindness.


    "It¡¯s heading towards the underworld. Don¡¯t you want to take a look?"


    "Is it?" Garen only smiled, but did not fall for her tricks at all.


    The little girl¡¯s eyes darted around.


    "Weren¡¯t you looking for Kid? I know where he is now."


    "Oh?" Garen looked at her with a faintly shocked expression. "You heard the things I said earlier?"


    "That guy Kid has constantly been hanging one at one place recently, so it would be really easy to find him." The girl had a sly look in her eyes. "He seems heartbroken."


    "Heartbroken?" Garen never thought that Kid would be so grown up.


    "Let¡¯s go, I¡¯ll take you there!" The little girl pulled Garen¡¯s hand again, before their surroundings became blurry suddenly, while countless images flashed around constantly amidst the blurriness.


    After an unknown amount of time, their surroundings stopped moving and became clear again.


    Garen stood up steadily and took in his surroundings.


    He and the little girl stood in a vast farm that was filled with sporadic clusters of large yellow pumpkins.


    Most of the pumpkins were hollowed out, and although they were some solid ones, only a few of them were left.


    The ground below his feet was pitch-black, as if it were lifeless, scorched earth.


    In the furthest and deepest end of the farm stood a wooden house. The faint sound of what sounded like Kid''s voice could be heard from within, singing to a tune.


    Garen glanced at the little girl, but realized that she had disappeared suddenly, leaving him by himself at their original spot.


    He furrowed his eyebrows, and walked towards the house on the far end of the farm.


    As the distance between them closed, and the sound of Kid¡¯s singing became clearer.


    "...if you plant a girl in spring, you¡¯ll reap many girls in autumn¡­"


    Garen¡¯s words were caught in his throat; when he came closer, he suddenly saw a small piece of empty land in front of the house, where Kid stood watering something with a kettle in his hands.


    The empty piece of land was merely an area made up of black dirt, planted in the clearing was an enlarged egg; the bottom half of the egg was stuck inside the dirt, while the top half was being watered by the kettle.


    As if he had heard something, Kid raised his head and turned towards Garen¡¯s position.


    "Nineheads Boss?"


    "What are you doing?" Garen walked towards Kid.


    "I¡¯m sowing seeds," Kid answered simply. "If I plant them in spring, I¡¯ll have a wife in autumn."


    Garen patted Kid¡¯s head, unsure of what to say.


    That little girl had a mysterious attitude. At first she seemed to harbor malicious intent towards Garen, but later realized that he was an interesting plaything and ended up playing with him later. Finally, her attitude changed again, and she sent him to Kid voluntarily. No one knew what she was actually thinking about.


    "What is this place exactly? That little girl brought me here," Garen finally asked in a low voice.


    When Kid heard him say ¡®little girl¡¯, his body shivered suddenly, as if he were scared somehow. "This is the True World, the real world, that we Listeners can come into contact with. All of the appearances that we are usually unaware of, they will all show up here. And since time has stopped here, even if one spends an eternity in here, only a few seconds would have passed outside."


    "True World?" Garen furrowed his eyebrows.


    "Yes, relatively speaking. Boss, the place where you used to be was the opposite, Normal World, a place where you were unable to see the truth directly," explained Kid elaborately. "It¡¯s rumored that the strongest Totem User can touch the borders of this world, possessing the qualifications to enter this place. In other words, things in the Normal World, they''re present here, while the things that are absent in the Normal World would still be present here. The Normal World is an extension of the what appears in the True World, except that it¡¯s just a part of its outer ring. The relationship between both of them, when loosely described as a simile, can be likened to an egg; the egg white is the Normal World, while the egg yolk is the True World."


    "So what does the Door to Heaven mean then?"


    "The True World is a visualization of all truths and all sources, while the Door to Heaven is the door to all of the sources in this world. I¡¯m unsure about it myself, but perhaps there are deeper layers of the True World inside, where deeper levels of truth and sources may be seen. Or maybe it¡¯s a whole different thing. No one has went in before, because no one can open it." Kid was honest as usual, answering everything that he was asked.


    But Garen had been thrown into this world mysteriously, and still had some doubts in his heart. Even though he had received some explanations from Kid, these uncertainties had not disappeared yet.


    "My guess is that someone wanted to open the Door to Heaven, so that girl dragged Boss here, perhaps to use Boss¡¯s powers to stop that person," Kid held the kettle and pondered. "After all, her parasitic strength isn¡¯t strong enough."


    He paused. "Or maybe, she¡¯s thinking of changing parasites¡­"


    "Whatever, just send me back first," Garen exhaled.


    "Alright," Kid nodded, before pulling Garen¡¯s hand, and leaping a step forward gently.


    Tch!


    Their surroundings flashed in a blur once again, and a loud noise echoed beside their ears, before the sound of a band slowly filled their ears.


    Garen¡¯s vision turned black and lit up again, before he realized that he was standing on the balcony as before, his hands still rested on the railing as he looked into the faraway distance. Meanwhile, Kid was standing beside him.


    "You said that she may have been looking for me because she wanted to change her parasite?" Garen merely transferred his thoughts to Kid, no longer having to open his mouth to speak to him directly.


    "Yes, that¡¯s very likely, the Door to Heaven exists within the True World, but there was once an Imprinted madman that used some unknown measures to merge a part of the True World with the real world. Now, many strange occurrences are the result of this mergence," answered Kid while nodding.


    Garen thought of Hellgate suddenly, and using unknown measures, Obscuro caused the Great Turmoil. The black copper was also part of their doing, and after the Great Turmoil, various weird occurrences also followed. The likeliest person to be this madman, was undoubtedly and certainly Hellgate.


    "Thus, since parts of both worlds have merged, the Door to Heaven will probably be revealed in reality," Kid continued to explain. "She came looking for you because she probably saw the changes that would happen afterwards. When the Door to Heaven finally appears and that Imprinted madman wants to push it open, he would definitely choose to do it in the True World where he would not be disturbed by anyone, and since time stops there, only other Imprinted individuals would be able to intervene. His threats would be very much smaller."


    "So she was making preemptive damage control measures?" Garen said immediately. "Why don¡¯t you want the Door to Heaven to be pushed open?"


    Kid became silent at once.


    After some time, he finally opened his mouth to speak again.


    "The Door to Heaven is the source of everything in the True World, but once it¡¯s pushed open¡­ We Listeners all have bad feelings about that."


    Garen had a vague feeling that it was likely the Door to Heaven had a certain link to the Black Smoke Pot that he passed through in the beginning.


    When he returned this time, he truly came into contact with the mysterious world that Kid inhabited. His heart simply defined the True World as the inner world, while reality was defined as the outer world, making everything clearer.


    Now he had grasped more than half of everything, and he was certain that the person who had plans with the inner world¡¯s Door to Heaven, was almost certainly Hellgate.


    Hellgate got out for his own goals, and he had also integrated all of the resistance forces in an attempt to uncover the true secrets of the world. Was this the true insights and thinking after achieving the peak of Form 5?


    Unfortunately, according to the original historia, he fell short in the end, and what lay behind the Door to Heaven was still something that eluded the world. However, the preparation and work underwent to open the Door to Heaven caused serious injuries, and even death to befall the people of the outer world, and although mankind¡¯s violent counter attacks that followed were enough to exceed Hellgate¡¯s limits, it eventually ended up in hatred and grief.


    "What do we need to do to open the Door to Heaven?" Garen inhaled deeply, before asking in a low voice.


    Kid fell silent again for a moment, but answered regardless.


    "The Door to Heaven is the foundation of the sources of the world, the symbol of all of the rules of truth. In order to open it¡­ One can only observe it continuously and investigate its shifts."


    "Shifts?"


    "Yes," Kid nodded. "Every time the world undergoes major shifts, shifts enough to affect the rules of changes, the Door to Heaven will undergo changes as well."


    "Major changes¡­" Garen seemed to understand the basic reasoning for Hellgate to unleash the Great Turmoil. If it was merely the doing of a mad scientist for the sake of research¡­


    Suddenly, he remembered that this planet was merely one of the countless planets in the universe, thus, did the inner world of this planet, exist on other planets as well?


    Suddenly, he realized, that if the Secret Technique World also existed inside the inner world, then, those myths, those relics¡­


    Except that the inner world was a wasteland, and there were too many strange occurrences inside, and most of them were derived from fixed rules which would not allow normal life forms to step in at all, but perhaps he would be able to find certain clues about Warlocks from there.


    Garen could now feel that he was currently walking on the path that countless Warlocks had crossed before.


    However, he was not using normal means. Besides the fact that he had crossed through the Secret Technique World, he was also carrying talents, attributes, and abilities that had no relation to Warlocks at all. Although the Black Smoke Pot¡¯s startup and pass-through was merely an accident, if the explosion of the nuclear bomb and the volcano had not happened at the same time to amplify and activate a specific power, or if the self defense necklace that Old Man had given him hadn¡¯t worked; he would have not been able to come to this world if even one of these conditions were lacking.


    Garen had a feeling that he was an illegal immigrant that had accidentally arrived on the planet where Warlocks once walked. He had initially hoped to walk on the path of the Warlocks, but because of the possibilities of his attributes and talents, in a short span of time he was able to achieve the progress that others would only reach in decades, and this terrifying rate of growth allowed him to walk in the direction of self-exploration.


    However, this speed was too fast, and did not allow him to brake at all, instantly going over his head instead.


    Earth¡¯s knowledge systems combined abilities and talents, and Garen had now walked onto a path that only belonged to himself.


    When he thought of this, Garen became aware and squeezed the railing. At this moment, Kid¡¯s voice continued to ring out beside him.


    "There was once a parasite that deduced something about the Door to Heaven, saying that it was an entrance that separated everything, that it was the door of life, and also the door of death. The inside of the entrance was chaotic, random. At the same time, it was also the source of all of the rules. Perhaps that sentence was also the reason that influence people¡¯s desires to open it."


    After listening to that sentence, for unknown reasons, Garen suddenly remembered the lonely period of time that he endured while traveling to this planet.


    Within the darkness, there seemed to be a large river that pushed him along, and now thinking back upon it, there were countless different powers that dragged him along at that time. When the Black Smoke Pot¡¯s surge of power broke through everything, it decided upon a determined force that instantly brought him to this planet.


    When the memory began to really come back to him, the Warlock¡¯s power was not the true catalyst that brought him to the Totem World. They did not drag him here, but among the countless powers that had been pulling him along, he merely pushed one of them gently, picking the direction that was best suited to himself.


    "At that time, what would happen if I had picked a different direction to fly in?" Garen could not help but consider this thought, and even though this thought flashed through his mind quickly, it was still deeply embedded in his head.

 517 War 1

    Chapter 517: War 1


    After chatting with Kid on the balcony for awhile, Garen received an invitation from Tasura Academy¡¯s Old Man, before he quickly returned to the hall on the second floor. Some of the old elders had taken the opportunity to use their titles to bring their successors in front of Garen, to ensure that he would be familiar with them.


    Garen dealt with them while remembering the strange incidents that happened when he came in contact with the little girl earlier.


    Kid had once said that only Listeners could kill other Listeners He used to think that this had a different meaning, but he had never expected to experience it firsthand today.


    That little girl had been instantly and continuously destroyed because of the Black Water True Technique¡¯s powers many times, but was not affected by it fully and was able to heal completely, Even Garen could feel that he was unable to truly touch his opponent¡¯s body, giving him a sense of curiosity towards the characteristics of Listeners.


    However, he was merely curious, as he knew that although Listeners were strange and knew many hidden secrets, it was obvious that they would not be able to affect the existence of someone of his level In the end, Kid also said that they had no way to increase their powers as all of their strengths were inherent, and would never change. No existing training methods could upgrade them, therefore, if they were undefeatable, they would always be undefeatable. Unless, they managed to swallow other Listeners.


    However, they would only receive minor upgrades from this, and even then, Form 4 was their limit; it was impossible for them to be as strong as a Form 5.


    After the banquet ended, Garen rode the flying carriage back to the Kingdom¡¯s inner palace. In the duration that followed, among the scholars of the Black Swamp Palace, those who had achieved level two and above of the Black Water True Technique were allowed to train outside, and within the Nine Snakes System, some special, minor danger quests had also started to be releasedThese quests were released by people outside the palace with large sums of money, and although the prices were slightly lower than those of the Luminarist Guild, there were still good opportunities for the scholars that were hard pressed for funds to earn some money.


    The disciples who had achieved level two of the Black Water True Technique and above already possessed a certain amount of strength and speed, and although they lacked an activated Totem Power, their extremely powerful anti-toxin abilities and their sensitivity towards liquid and water sources allowed them to quickly uncover various methods of using them.


    For instance, these included detecting various valuable Aberrated Creatures with sufficient water content, memorizing special moisture smells and collecting specific valuable plants, locating precious underground water sources, and even predicting the weather in advance. Plus, they could also explore the terrain in areas that were filled with poisonous mist, among other things.


    The Black Water True Technique¡¯s strong anti-toxin abilities gave the scholars immunity when they encountered low level poison. They also possessed strong resistance towards middle level poison as well, and a lot of outsiders and even hunting groups hired Black Swamp Palace disciples to use them as air breathability testers and water source detectors, and the results were extremely positive.


    Through the ten percent commission that they received from the quests, after more than a month of operations, the Black Swamp Palace¡¯s Nine Snakes System finally received its first income from the quests of its scholars.


    Within this month, Garen stayed inside the palace daily, only coming out occasionally to guide his three core disciples. The White Knights that he saved had gradually integrated into the environment of the inner palace, while the crybaby, the little princess from the White Wind Tribe had also systematically joined the Black Swamp Palace as well. After undergoing the tests and participating in the prodigy training camps, although her Appraisal was good, her resolve and other factors still needed to be considered.


    Most of the White Knights had also passed the tests to join the groups of scholars inside the palace, and since they were already elites with excellent talent, after they participate in the Black Swamp Palace¡¯s training camps and teamed up with one another, their progress improved quickly, especially their battle training, which soon exceeded most of the normal scholars.


    Time continued to pass day by day, and the operations of the entire Black Swamp Palace had also started to become more organized.


    ***********************


    Amidst the continuous rolling red mountains, a tower-like stone building pierced through the clouds, bright white light beams shots out of the top into infinity,, straight into the sky, releasing soft humming noises.


    The light beam resembled white cylinders that pierced through the layers of clouds, extending into faraway, unknown places.


    The afternoon sky was a light red, and gold-red rays of sunlight lingered on the horizon while a flock of white feathered birds, with lumps of flesh on their foreheads sailed past, sharp ear-piercing cries echoed from afar.


    At the entrance at the bottom of the tower-shaped building, a narrow stream of people could vaguely be seen entering and leaving continuously, and all of these people seemed to be dressed in long black robes and tights. Most of them wore black veils on their faces, regardless if they were men or women.


    The minaret was situated on a disc-shaped mountaintop. Other than the tower-shaped building on top of the mountain, there were also houses of various sizes that were scattered around. During the evening, the insides of the houses were lit up with dots of orange-red colored light.


    Throughout the surroundings of the red mountains were long stretches of red plains, and currently on the far end of the plains, near the horizon, large, light green waves had vaguely appeared.


    These waves were silent, and from afar, they resembled real flowing water that flowed slowly, but surely, towards the direction of the minaret. The entire wave was apparently made up of countless Green Armored Knights.


    These knights were all clad in green vine armor from head to toe and rode on giant green snails, while the position of the rider was fitted nicely in the empty space between the snail¡¯s head and its shell.


    These snails were more than five meters tall each, with fearsome faces and humanlike bodies that included two arms that held a gigantic steel pitchfork. They were also silent when they crawled, their bodies were shrouded in light green air currents, resembling continuously flowing wind.


    Other than these snail riders, there were also many Red Flame Snail People who stood upright within the wave, each of them was more than ten meters tall, stood out of the crowd and had smaller red shells on their backs, extremely muscular bodies, and used their evolved legs to walk. They held gigantic bloodied axes in their hands, while their two large nostrils occasionally breathed out fiery sulfur fumes. They glanced from left to right occasionally, and their gaze was extremely fearsome, as if they were constantly looking for a fight with their opponents.


    Countless snail knights charged towards the minaret slowly and silently, and even though there were bloody-eyed, surveillance birds flying around the minaret in the sky, they did not see the army below them, and continued drawing lines to mark the safe zones as usual.


    Slowly, as the wave came nearer, the faint smell of sulfur filled the air, and the people inside the minaret finally realized that something was not right.


    At this moment, the wave finally tore open their camouflage and began their charge towards the minaret on the mountain frantically.


    Roar!! The loud roars of the Snail People echoed throughout the ground.


    The Green Armored Knights roared loudly and charged forward as well, while the green snail riders leapt into the sky , flying in large herds towards the minaret with much haste.From afar, they resembled flying green meteors, forming large clouds of meteor rain.


    "Obscuro!! Obscuro!! Obscuro!!!"


    Angry, low sounding roars could be heard from the minaret. Both sides of the minaret were filled with tall red mountains and incomparably huge stalagmites, forming a forest of spikes shielding the assassins that were now moving out slowly.


    On top of the sharp stalagmite filled mountain peak, many ten meters tall Stone Giants walked out suddenly, coming out of their rock and soil camouflage, leaving large human-shaped pits on the surface of the mountain peak.


    On top of two of the tallest mountain peaks, a loud crashing noise could be heard. Four limbs grew out with a tearing noise, while the hundred meter tall mountain peaks quickly transformed into two incomparably large Stone Giants.


    Their entire bodies were blood-red, and they guarded both sides of the minaret, They roared silently in the direction of the green meteor army.


    "Hellgate! I¡¯m going to break your limbs today!! Hahaha¡­" Maniacal, loud laughter echoed down from the faraway sky, and each noise resembled endless dull crashes of thunder.


    "Phiroth¡¯s lap dog!" At the entrance of the minaret, a large group of black robed Totem Users flew upwards, following the Stone Giants while they charged at the falling green meteor army. A figure that was completely shrouded in black mist was ambushed by more than ten black robes, before they raised their hands and looked at the red clouds rolling across the sky.


    The black misty figure raised a single hand, releasing shrouds of black mist, forming a pitch-black mist whirlpool in front of himself.


    Suddenly, a loud cry that sounded like an elephant¡¯s trumpet echoed out of the middle of the whirlpool.A black Strange Bird the colour of ink flew out of the whirlpool instantly. With a gentle beat of its two pairs of wings, , it charged towards the sky like a rocket.


    Quickly, more Strange Birds flew out of the black whirlpool endlessly.After ten seconds, more than a hundred black Strange Birds had flown out of the whirlpool.


    "Black Sky¡¯s empowered Four Winged Birds? I¡¯ll experience them for myself today!" The thunderous noise echoed throughout the sky.


    The black misty figure sneered before leaping upwards, and turning into a shroud of black mist that flew towards the sky.


    On top of the mountain peak, a round transparent shield had vaguely formed around the surroundings of the minaret, and when the green meteors fell on top, they formed transparent circular ripples, before sliding downwards.


    On the ground, countless Green Armored Knights surrounded and slaughtered the Stone Giants.The violent Snail People charged towards the incomparably large mountain Giants, but the hundred meter tall Giants merely stomped on them before they heavily injured and even killed many of the violent snails, sending a frenzy of severed limbs resembling an odd, blended tomato juice everywhere, However, every time a violent snail was stomped to death, they would burst open, forming more pits of various sizes that were each ten meters deep beside both of the mountain Giants.


    The green waves and meteors surrounded the minaret closely for a seemingly endless amount of time.


    A crash could be heard throughout the sky, sending green ripples spreading out in a flash,, dispersing all of the red clouds and pushing them away, exposing the clear red sky..


    A long, white, snake-like beast struggled and turned in the sky, and on its head, a smaller-sized green spider monster was biting its face furiously while countless layers of spider webs were entangled around the long white snake.


    The two monsters possessed terrifying body sizes of over a hundred meters, and looked abnormally scary. Once the long white snake could not persevere anymore, it struggled for a moment, before finally falling from the sky.


    "The President will avenge me!!"


    A sharp, maniacal voice echoed from the snake¡¯s body.


    "Too weak! Too weak! Black Sky, is this your colossal Secret Technique? I¡¯m disappointed!" The spider released the white snake and turned around, before floating in the sky, exposing a muscular, green haired man in its abdomen. The man¡¯s body had fused with the spider, and the vital parts of his body were covered with white bone armor. Both of his eyes were filled with green hellfire, making him look unusually strange.


    Boom!


    The large white snake fell on top of the minaret violently, smashing into and toppling it.


    The white light beam flashed for a few moments, before finally breaking off completely and extinguishing.


    ******************


    Kovitan, Ultimate Protection


    The evening sky had faintly turned blue-black. White clouds drifted past slowly while rays of golden evening sunlight cascaded downwards, making it somewhat warm.


    At the back of the right side of the palace area, on a square shaped plaza.


    The surroundings of the plaza were connected by brown-yellow colored Palace buildings, while a square shaped pond in the middle clearly reflected the clouds that were drifting past in the sky. The remaining ground was covered in light green grass that had been trimmed neatly.


    Between the pond and the buildings was a light yellow lane that twisted and turned. It had black street lights throughout the road, faintly illuminating it with light yellow light.


    A few little children chased each other around the pond noisily, holding wooden toy swords in their hands, playing a game that involved beautiful girls saving princes.


    Beside the road, clusters of people engaged in their after-dinner leisure strolls. .


    Garen sat on the bench beside the pond with his arms outstretched against the back of the seat, clad in a well-fitted, pitch-black outfit that showed off his well-built physique.


    The button on the tight-fitted black shirt that he wore was open, exposing his muscular, pale chest, and the exquisite red crystal necklace that he wore on his neck.. His golden, shoulder-length hair had now been cut short, and his dark red eyes were now drooping lazily, as if he were watching the little children play on the side while resting sleepily.


    "You ran all the way here again," said a clear, cold male voice, echoing behind Garen.


    Garen tilted his head upwards, looking behind himself.


    "Ivy? What¡¯s wrong?"

 518 War 2

    Chapter 518: War 2


    The approaching man wore a plain white suit with a torn open collar and a white rose stuck in front of his chest, while the faint scent of alcohol lingered on his body.


    "When you returned, you brought a female Demon Phoenix with you, what level is she?"


    "You didn¡¯t try her?" Garen smiled.


    "She gave me a really weird feeling," said Ivy while he furrowed his eyebrows. He stood behind the bench, while standing up steadily with both of his hands on the back of the seats.


    "I wouldn¡¯t be able to explain it clearly even in an hour and a half, so you¡¯ll just have to touch it slowly to find out." Garen was uninterested in saying too much; this would involve a lot of trouble, and it was also difficult to explain. Plus, while having slightly hidden strengths could also be used as another trump card to stay alive.


    "It¡¯s fine if you don¡¯t want to talk about it, but the latest news that traveled from Daniela is that the war between Daniela and Obscuro Society started today, and this afternoon, one of Obscuro Society¡¯s valuable Black Sky bases were completely destroyed. Black Sky is nowhere to be found, while the information and research results that Obscuro Society accumulated over the course of many years was wiped out by Phiroth," explained Ivycius , furrowing his eyebrows. "What are your plans?"


    "They¡¯ve finally started the war, huh?" Garen did not seem surprised. "They¡¯ll fight their own war, and it¡¯s unlikely that the winners and losers will be decided within an hour and a half. No need to rush. That¡¯s right, how are the operations inside the palace?"


    "Shouldn¡¯t you be asking Lala that?" Despite saying that, Ivy reported the latest changes anyway. "The operations are fine. After the outside training was completed, although some of the scholars died from their injuries, they were others who took the opportunity to break through to level four, two of them actually, while three others broke through level three. Skyharp is already working on the preparations to activate the observation programs. Also, I¡¯m marrying Skyharp in a month, interested in coming?"


    "Wedding?" Garen was slightly taken aback, as he never expected Skyharp to take measures into her own hands so quickly, tying Ivy down in a such a short while.


    "Yes," Ivy¡¯s expression remained flat, without any signs of compulsion. "After so many years, it would have been difficult for her alone¡­"


    Garen¡¯s expression was strange. He was at a loss for words, as this woman Skyharp apparently had such an image in Ivycius¡¯s heart. He related it to the chat that he once had with Skyharp.


    Apparently¡­ A cultured female hoodlum would not be as frightening anymore.


    "Speaking of which, what about you and your fiance? You¡¯re not young anymore, do you still plan on dragging it further?" Ivy changed the subject to Garen.


    "There¡¯s no rush, I still have some unfinished business¡­" Garen exhaled. The things he pursued, his goals, should not leave deep marks in this world as these were not Hathaway¡¯s responsibilities. However, as he said, there were some things, that needed to be done regardless.


    Continuing the Trejons bloodline was still a responsibility that his current body would not be able to reject, and perhaps once everything was done, assuming that he was still alive, he would go and marry Hathaway then.


    "During this period of time, I¡¯m planning to leave for a trip. If anything happens and you can¡¯t handle it, just go look for Demon Phoenix."


    "Understood," nodded Ivycius. When he returned this time around, he could no longer see through Garen, and vaguely guessed that the other man had broken through already. But if he had broken through, it was strange how Garen¡¯s aura had become weaker, and more hidden. Ivycius himself had not broken through completely, and even if he had broken through, he was unclear regarding the great difference between regular Form 5 and peak Form 5.


    He relied on normal Form 5 auras to judge and measure, but judgments like these were ultimately meaningless.


    Both of them began shooting the breeze, and after understanding the main situation, they resumed their conversation by talking about the problems of Secret Technique practices. While Ivy asked most of the questions, Garen would answer, and as one of Garen¡¯s Dragon Demons, Ivycius could share a part of Garen¡¯s Swallowed Lives and recovery abilities. His powers were slightly stronger than before, and since he was also progressing to fuse, the questions that he asked were much clearer and were all related to the key aspects of breaking through to Form 5.


    This also allowed Garen to understand his rate of progress, and it was certain that Ivy would break through soon, within the next few days.


    The sky became darker, and the glow of the streetlights gradually replaced the remaining evening light.


    Garen and Ivy were discussing a key problem of Form 5 fusion, suddenly, a dull crashing noise echoed from the further end of the palace. The Nine Snakes Defense inside the palace had been disturbed while it was showering.


    Red light flashed from the red crystal necklace in front of Garen¡¯s chest, shooting out a round, translucent, dim red screen, projecting it in front of Garen.


    The scene of three Three Snake scholars surrounding one Four Snake scholar floated up on the round screen. Having three snakes meant that their Black Water True Technique was at least level three, as the number of these snake heads represented the level of their Secret Technique.


    Three level threes ambushed a single level four. Since they were low level Secret Technique practitioners, although the difference between levels was not huge, level four was the limit of activated Totem Powers. The conclusion was obvious.


    As expected, the three Three Snake scholars were knocked down on the ground, while the single Four Snake scholar was an indifferent young girl with short hair, blue eyes, white skin, and an average face, resembling a regular girl without any special traits. However, her attack move that knocked down three others made Garen¡¯s face light up faintly.


    That was not a battle skill of the Black Water True Technique, but an attack move of a completely different style.


    As if she were a psychic, the girl knew the attacks of the three others like the back of her hand, allowing her to evade them calmly, and regardless of the complexity of the attacks. She dodged all of them easily, before retaliating instantly with her own attack when they missed.


    "This is the girl who got rid of the top prodigy, Ansapello, and the second person who entered into level four," explained Ivycius on the sidelines. "She¡¯s called Pefalia, has no surname, and was born to common people. She initially only fluctuated between level two, but after going out for training once, she broke through to level four a short while after returning, activating her Totem Power."


    "Not bad, not bad, she seems to be around fifteen years old, right? Very good potential," Garen smiled.


    "She returned with a brand new battle skill tactic, saying she found it from a relic that others had already flipped through, and after it went through the Nine Snakes System¡¯s assessment, it was evaluated to be of Five Snakes-level."


    The rankings of battle skill tactics, treasures, messages, and other things were based on the degree of their values, from one to nine, separating them into nine different levels. The higher the level, the more valuable its rank. Complete legacy types like the Black Water True Technique could sometimes achieve rankings as high as Form 5 Secret Techniques, which were equivalent to the highest Nine Snakes level.


    Meanwhile, Ivycius¡¯s legacy could achieve the highest ranking of peak Form 4, which was evaluated as Eight Snakes. By this understanding, the maximum legacy for middle level Form 4 was Seven Snakes.


    The Five Snakes level was already an extremely high assessment level, and since it was an incomplete legacy, it was placed outside, and its value was equivalent to peak Form 3 Totem nurturing legacies. Those with less than ten thousand gold rumbs could not even dream of buying them.


    "Besides that, when the scholars returned from their training outside, they brought back different Totem nurturing methods and battle skill attack moves, and two more even confirmed the intelligence information regarding suitable locations to practice the Black Water True Technique." As Garen¡¯s Dragon Demon, it was natural for Ivycius to help him attend to these important matters.


    "


    Sending them out was truly a wise decision. What about Ansapello? Where is that guy now?" Garen suddenly thought of the arrogant guy who was brimming with talent.


    "Hasn¡¯t returned yet, after he broke through, he joined a hunting group and went out."


    "What Totem did he choose?"


    "Should be a Silver Crown Tiger, his talents are still unknown, that guy hides them very well," Ivycius shook his head. He admired this talented disciple highly, as he had great and wild ambitions, and a power that could still be strengthened. Although he was arrogant towards his teachers, he still possessed a required amount of respect.


    For Garen and the others, the establishment of the Black Swamp Palace and the appearance of stronger prodigy disciples meant even better things for them. Regardless of which aspect was being looked at, from the outsider¡¯s perspective, the more talented Ansapello became and the stronger he grew, he would always be a part of the Black Swamp Palace, and by extension, a part of the Black Swamp Palace¡¯s strength as well.


    As for his judgements, Garen could not think of a more suitable place to practice the Black Water True Technique than here. Leaving the Black Swamp Palace would make it harder for the disciples to progress even if they were prodigies, and from the moment he started practicing the Black Water True Technique, this path had already been decided.


    "Observe him slowly," Garen instructed softly. "Besides that, list the Snowy Mountain in the Northern Region as one of the training ranges, you can discuss this with Blizzard and the others, there should be no problems."


    "Alright."


    Garen had already rearranged the Black Water True Technique again earlier, separating it into levels according to the Totem levels, meaning that level four would officially become equivalent to the Form 1 Totem level, level five would become Form 2, level six would become Form 3, level seven would become Form 4, level eight would become Form 5, and level nine would become peak Form 5.


    The minor levels that were constantly forming because of the fusions would all be placed in level seven.


    All seven levels of the Black Water True Technique were placed into the Nine Snakes System, but the Secret Techniques remained as Secret Techniques, and although the stronger Secret Techniques were only placed slightly higher, how many people could truly achieve all of them?


    Countless people practiced Secret Techniques in the Secret Technique World, and there were many first rate exercises, but those who could truly become the King of the Century were limited to only two people; Cayduran, and Garen himself.


    Even after placing the Black Water True Technique into the system as an achievement-based exchange item, in this manner, how many people would be able to enter Form 5?


    Not even Form 5, but Form 4, how many of them were there? According to Garen¡¯s estimates, even if he managed to get one out of a hundred of these disciple scholars, that would be considerably good.


    As for Form 5, no one understood it fully. Even for the most prodigious disciples with great potential, how long would it take for them to truly become strong? Changes in their state of mind, the course of nurturing Totems, and the countless risks and dangers that they would encounter, were all unknown.


    Garen¡¯s plan for his household, and himself, was to leave a sort of foundation. Perhaps he would leave one day, but if he returned, all of the Totem Users that practiced the Black Water True Technique would become his greatest support. Not because of others, but because of the Black Water True Technique¡¯s natural characteristics; the higher level Secret Technique Users would be able to suppress the lower level Secret Technique Users easily.


    At the same time, using liquid type battle Secret Techniques like the Black Water True Technique at high levels would allow one to suppress the lower levels completely, blocking them from using even half of their powers.


    Moreover, the most important point was that even if other people managed to practice it to the peak of level nine and broke through to Form 5, the Black Water True Technique was based on the Nine-Headed Hydra¡¯s blood flow. The only person that possessed the Nine-Headed Hydra


    Totem, which was Garen, would be able to suppress the peak Secret Technique Users regardless of the fact that they had broken through Form 5.


    This was the only advantage, and it was the final advantage of the evolved Salamander that he had strengthened through his talents and abilities, and since there would neither be a second person with his attribute points and talents, nor a second person who would be able to fuse a dragon¡¯s heart, or activate the will of the Nine-Headed Hydra¡¯s bloodline, no one would ever be able to surpass him.


    These were the conclusions that Garen had come up with over the past few days, and other than himself, the remaining practitioners of the Black Water True Technique were all modeled on the flow Nine-Headed Hydra¡¯s bloodline, while he was the only person to truly possess this bloodline. Those who possessed this bloodline, were realistically able to greatly suppress the existence of the Black Water True Technique Secret Users that belonged to a level higher than themselves, stripping their opponent of the source of their power.

 519 World 1

    Chapter 519: World 1


    During the time period after that, Garen recouped his strength in the Kingdom for three whole months. During this time, while Cthulhu King left and went outside, Daniela that was currently wielded by Phiroth took the opportunity to quickly mobilize their large-scale forces to massacre Obscuro Society.


    Phiroth sent out two semi-detached clone-like subordinates to defeat a few of Obscuro Society¡¯s main bases. Then, war broke out.


    Meanwhile, the Secret Technique stone slabs that Cthulhu King agreed to send had all arrived as well, and five Cthulhus had escorted and sent them personally. Garen received them himself as well, and after he had memorized all of them, he sealed them inside the Black Swamp Palace¡¯s secret book cellar.


    Seated inside the palace study, Garen looked at the faint, constantly changing dark light screen in front of him. While screens with information from faraway lands were displayed, some of the screens that showed scenes of war, making him Garen furrow his eyebrows slightly.


    His fingers tapped against the armrest of his seat gently and rhythmically.


    Inside the study, other than himself, Lala and Demon Phoenix were also present.


    "Therefore, Phiroth plans to focus on the frontlines in a decisive battle with Obscuro Society?" Garen had thought of the possibility that it would quickly develop to this stage, but he never expected it to happen so soon. Clearly, both Phiroth and Obscuro Society were trying to speed up the war.


    Perhaps everyone still thought that Obscuro Society¡¯s Hellgate was still the same peak Form 5 from before, and although the Terraflor Society couple had died in battle, their powers were still mysterious, and unknown to many people. Therefore, it was difficult for outsiders to know the true extent of Hellgate¡¯s powers.


    Only Garen knew that Hellgate had now definitely surpassed his limits, achieving unprecedented heights.


    That was the peak that no one else had ever achieved before.


    He rubbed his temples, the thoughts in his head were still somewhat complicated.


    "According to the analysis of the current information, both parties are proceeding with final battle preparations.Nothing is out of the ordinary, and within three days, it will erupt," Lala reported the situation calmly, and no emotional distress could be heard in her voice. Understandably, with the presence of the Ultimate Protection, perhaps all of the inhabitants of the Kovitan protected area possessed the same unfazed attitude.


    Garen glanced at her, but did not say anything.


    "Then, your subordinate will take her leave." When Lala saw that Garen had not opened his mouth anymore, she bowed and withdrew herself. She had been coming over to report on the situation of the war every day during these past few days.


    "Get ready, I¡¯m going to go out for a trip soon," Garen¡¯s voice echoed behind her.


    "Yes," replied Lala quickly.


    After the room door was closed gently, the study returned to its serene state again.


    Seated on the side, Demon Phoenix yawned lazily, and since that person had been sealed for more than a thousand years, she had acquired the habit of sleeping as a method to pass time. Garen guessed that it was the primary reason why her intelligence had not developed all this while.


    "Follow me out on my trip. For a few days," said Garen.


    "No problem!" quickly answered the Demon Phoenix spiritedly. "Spending the whole day here is really getting boring, no tributes, no sacrifices, nothing at all¡­" After seeing that Garen¡¯s expression had darkened slightly, she decided not to continue.


    This person¡¯s temper had been completely suppressed by Garen, and after a short period of time, she was already mentally used to listening to Garen¡¯s will. From a certain perspective, she was a useful pet and battle power.


    ****************


    Sniff¡­ Hoo¡­


    Sniff¡­ Hoo¡­


    Within the flying carriage in the sky, noises that sounded like the breathing of a terrifying large beast echoed throughout the sky endlessly.


    Black mist and waves constantly rippled near the black carriage like living creatures, that surrounding the carriage, and dancing around it.


    Within the blue sky, with the carriage as the center, a large black shadow drifted in the surrounding area, like a drop of ink that had spilled into a blue lake, drawing a thick line in the sky.


    Inside the carriage, Garen sat in the center, while Demon Phoenix and Phantom guarded the sides, holding water bottle-like narrow-neck bottles in their hands, tipping them sideways occasionally, pouring out a clear sticky liquid.


    This liquid dripped on the floor of the carriage, and quickly flowed towards Garen who sat in the center, gathering there.


    Garen inhaled large gusts of air into his nostrils constantly, before exhaling again, forming air cyclones of different sizes, while his loud breathing noises drifted out of the carriage.


    Within a radius of more than ten kilometers in the sky, all of the creatures were scared off by the terrifying breathing noises, making them too afraid to stop within that space.


    On the ground below the path of the carriage, within the thick forest, many dark green Giant Lizards crouched down on the ground slowly, releasing frightened humming noises. The Aberrated Giant Hawk and Giant Python that were hunting left at the same time as well, as if they were scared rabbits that were escaping far away.


    A few green-skinned humanoid monsters with large protruding bellies raised their heads towards the sky, howling in awe.


    After an unknown period of time passed, the sky darkened gradually.


    Demon Phoenix and Phantom poured the last drop of liquid out of their bottles, before taking a few steps back, quietly waiting for Garen to receive his power.


    The loud breathing noises slowly became quieter, and softer, before disappearing completely.


    Garen¡¯s eyes burst open suddenly, and his eyes were like black holes that were pure darkness.


    But soon, the darkness disappeared quickly, before his pupils returned to their original light red state.


    "I never thought that Skyharp would be able to mix such an effective poisonous solution. It¡¯s really quite amazing¡­" Garen felt a new poisonous layer forming on his body, while a faint look of satisfaction appeared on his face.


    "These two bottles of Colourless Water were made by Big Sister Skyharp with the Three Colored Leaf as its core, and were mixed with nineteen different types of first-rate poisons. Twelve of those poisons came from Snowy Mountain, and the core Three Colored Leaf was a poisonous drug that one of the scholars obtained from the relics. It received a Seven Snake assessment from the system. Truly amazing."


    Phantom explained softly.


    Demon Phoenix and the others had adapted to the environment of the Black Swamp Palace quickly. After being sealed inside a small corner with no way to get out for more than a thousand years consecutively, they had no way of finding other fellows of the same level to have exchanges with, but now, the moment they encountered a fellow professional of the same level to converse with, their new lives were suddenly like heaven in comparison to their past.


    Neither did they have to calculate risks here, nor did they have to worry about being sealed, and anything they wanted would be sent over immediately. Most importantly, once they were aware of the existence of everything else that was stronger than themselves in this world, the mentalities of Demon Phoenix and the others were gradually corrected.


    "It¡¯s true that the effect is satisfactory, and it will also benefit our Black Water True Technique practitioners greatly," Garen nodded. "The Colourless Water¡¯s poison had completely fused into the effect of my previous poison, so the Black Water True Technique practitioners, from lower to higher levels, will be able to slowly use the Colourless Waters of different dilutions to train and cleanse themselves. They can use these poisons for their own benefit."


    Poisons were another one of the Black Water True Technique¡¯s special killing methods, and would be able to get rid of one¡¯s enemies silently when mixed with activated poison mist, without having to worry about large-scale enemy attacks. Garen could foresee, perhaps in the near future, that these specialized poisons would become the strongest symbols Black Swamp Palace¡¯s strength.


    "These poisons could trick the Totem Light¡¯s defense systems as they were originally harmless towards living creatures, but once it integrated with certain substances that grew inside the creature¡¯s body, it would form the most life-threatening and terrifying poison. This was a poison that grew inside living beings, and had no effect on inanimate objects," Phantom explained.


    "Living creature poisons?" Garen nodded. "Since it¡¯s like this, my simple poisonous effects will be able to reach new heights." Originally, poisonous corrosion was only effective towards Spiritualized levels and below, but with this current poisonous mix, even Form 4¡¯s would fall victim to this if they were not on guard. Poisonous Spirit Light diffusions were no longer mere decorations.


    "Demon Phoenix." Garen remembered something suddenly, and looked towards Demon Phoenix who was daydreaming.


    "What?" This person came to her senses quickly.


    "You can start preparing your Spirit Light. I¡¯m thinking I''ll need it in a short while." Garen instructed.


    All existence that had undergone Spiritualization possessed their own special Spirit Light abilities, and Demon Phoenix¡¯s ability was demonizing puppets. Any creature that died within the range of her Spirit Light would stand up again, and after being corroded by her Demon Cloud, would become Demon Phoenix¡¯s puppet subordinates.


    Unlike Garen¡¯s simple poison and corrosive Spirit Light, this Spirit Light possessed a terrifying effect that would become stronger as it was used, and this was especially apparent after the Demon Cloud Puppets were corroded, as their powers would be slightly stronger than before, therefore, although it could only corrode creatures that were Form 4 and below, it was still a frightening ability. This battle method seemed truly evil, and perhaps this was why no one knew the true reason the Great Sage sealed Demon Phoenix in the past.


    "How long do you want the Spirit Light to be on standby?"


    "Just keep it ready for now, since your Demon Cloud Spirit Light can be charged, wait until we reach our destination and look at the situation before making any moves. What is its longest continuous duration?" Garen asked carefully.


    "It depends on the degree of its strength, if the puppets only need to return to their normal level before they died, it can be sustained for a week or so. If you want to strengthen them by fifty percent, they can only last for two consecutive days," answered Demon Phoenix honestly.


    "Two days, then." After he spoke, Garen closed his eyes again.


    ***********


    Outside the borders between Daniela and Ender, inside a vast, primitive forest.


    Large twisted trees formed long stretches of shade. Within the forest were many tall moss-covered boulders, stacked up against each other and of various sizes, tangled with the roots of the large trees.


    Somewhere inside the forest, large greenish boulders and large thick tree roots intertwined with one another, forming a large, round arch, and within the shadows of the arch was a square stone door that was filled with rough old patterns.


    A slender figure dressed in a dark green cloak stood beside the stone door with both of his arms wrapped around his chest, while the corner of a dark green longbow was exposed behind his back. His entire face was covered by a green hood, and the top half of his body was hidden within the shadows of the arch, making it difficult to see his face clearly. Only the dark green veil that he wore on his face could be seen, barely exposing two falcon-like green eyes.


    The figure leaned against the left side of the stone door, waiting for something.


    The noontime sun shone down from the sky, shining through the leaves and falling onto the floor of the forest, occasionally moving slowly while the faint winds blew.


    On both sides outside the stone door, were two ashen toad creature stone carvings, both of which had large opened mouths and bulging eyes, as if they were about to spit something out in front of them. A spot of golden light fell on top of the left toad¡¯s head coincidentally.


    As time passed, this spot of light moved slowly as well.


    The dark green figure¡¯s eyes glared at the spot, as if he were judging the passing of time itself.


    Whoosh!


    Suddenly, the part of the forest near the front of the stone door was whooshed open by the wind.


    At once, the light spot on the forest floor moved continuously, in a slightly chaotic manner. It resembled a sea of golden light spots that were moving.


    Soon, the wind noises stopped, and another figure appeared in the forest suddenly. This figure was instead clad in a long red robe and wore a silver mask. Both his sleeves and the hem of his robe made it impossible to see his hands or feet, and his entire body seemed to be moving in the wind. As he floated towards the stone door slowly, only the constant crunching noise of the leaves under his feet confirmed that he was, indeed, walking with his feet.


    "You''ve arrived this early?" The red robed man looked towards the green figure beside the stone door suspiciously, his low raspy voice spoke in perfect Daniela language.


    "Just slightly earlier than you," answered the green figure faintly in a low, but clear and bright male voice with tones of coldness. "There¡¯s one more left."


    "He should be on the way." The red robed man walked towards the toad stone sculpture beside the stone door, unable to stand still.


    Both of them stopped speaking for awhile as the sky became lighter and the forest warmed up. A few tiny flying insects constantly flew in between both of them, trying to find some skin that they could suck blood from, but every time they crawled on their bodies, they would instantly be killed by an invisible force, causing them to fall off at once. Soon, there was a small round pile of dead flying insect bodies below their feet.


    Suddenly, the male green figure turned his head slowly, looking in the direction of the right side of the forest. On the empty land there, faint black mist had formed abruptly.


    The black mist became thicker and thicker, and turned darker, before the entire forest became blurry.


    Within the low visibility, a figure in black clothes walked out behind a tree trunk, taking large strides towards the two people outside the stone door.


    "Looks like I¡¯m slightly late, Cthulhu King." The black-clothed figure walked out of the black mist, with a similar black mask on his face, clad in a black shirt and long pants that clearly showed his muscular and well-built body, while a round silver buckle was used to fasten his black silk cloak, concealing every trace of his breath.

 520 World 2

    Chapter 520: World 2


    "Nine-headed Snake?" The green figure that was leaning against the wall this whole time was now slightly surprised.


    "This is our first time meeting each other, right? Divine God Palace Master." Garen¡¯s bright gold hair reflected blinding golden light under the sun, and his vision was focused accurately on the position of the green male figure.


    His opponent looked agile and tranquil, as if he had become one with the forest. At first glance he resembled a regular forest ranger, and did not fit the title of Divine God Palace Master. He was once assumed to be an impressive force, an incomparably terrifying dictator-like character, but now, there was actually a huge difference between his true image and the one that had been visualized.


    "Wasn¡¯t the original plan to get Phiroth?" Divine God Palace Master raised his eyebrows slightly while looking at Cthulhu King.


    "Are you saying I¡¯m not qualified?" A cold smile appeared on Garen¡¯s face behind his mask. Suddenly, both of his eyes seemed as if they had been dyed black by ink, completely turning into two pitch-black demon¡¯s eyes. Dark red mist drifted out from his body silently.


    He took long strides and walked towards Divine God Palace Master, and every time he raised his feet, fragrant black smoke wafted out of the footprints that he left behind. The stones and tree branches on his footprints would melt into sticky black liquid in less than a second.


    Every step he took would leave a black smoke footprint on the ground, and poisonous fumes would waft out of it slowly, like burning smoke.


    "Enough." Divine God Palace Master narrowed his eyes and waved his right hand gently, before a green seed shot out, landing beside Garen¡¯s feet accurately. The seed seemed as if it had fallen into water, as it formed green ripples on the floor where it landed, before disappearing completely.


    Garen was slightly shocked and turned his head, before noticing that his own poisonous footprints had suddenly disappeared completely, while the tree branches and stones that melted earlier had returned to their original states as well.


    He narrowed his eyes slightly, as his mind had started to gain more knowledge about Divine God Palace Master¡¯s power. When he voluntarily released his poisons earlier, he was merely testing the waters, and did not expect that his opponent¡¯s previously unconcerned reaction would lead to him displaying a part of his powers.


    Garen glanced at Cthulhu King who stood beside the stone carvings, before both of them exchanged glances quickly.


    Cthulhu King was unable to defeat Divine God Palace Master, and thus he wanted him to form an alliance with him. He even let go of his grudge against Garen that spanned over ten thousand kilometers because of this. It was clear that Divine God Palace Master had left a deep impression on him.


    "Alright, prepare to enter." Divine God Palace Master stood up immediately, and turned to walk towards the front of the stone door.


    He stretched his hand out and pushed gently.


    Ka-ka¡­


    The stone door was pushed inwards easily, exposing a dark passage inside, while dust and a strong moldy smell wafted out.


    Divine God Palace Master walked in without any hesitation, before his figure disappeared quickly.


    Cthulhu King followed behind quickly, while Garen turned his head and scanned his surroundings, as the last person to walk into the stone door.


    Behind the door was a dark, black hall. It was square, and there was a deep square pit in the middle of it, with by a seven-or-eight meter tall ashen stone sculpture inside.


    The stone sculpture depicted a beautiful girl in chiffon garments, with loose long hair, posing with both her hands carrying something, but the strangest part, was that an extra eye had been carved on her forehead.


    White mist wafted inside the hall, mixing with the dust, and making everything blurry.


    The three people entered the ruins together, before the stone door closed itself behind them slowly.


    Standing in front of the large stone sculpture, Divine God Palace Master turned around to face both of the others.


    "According to the previous exploration, the Living Secret Technique should be located at the bottom of the third level of the ruins. However, we weren¡¯t able to find the right method to enter the second level last time."


    "Why can¡¯t we just use force to break through and enter the ruins?" Garen interrupted and asked.


    "This place imprisons all forms of extraordinary force. But you can try," replied Cthulhu King simply.


    Garen¡¯s expression darkened slightly, as he reached his hand out, laid his palm flat, before the Black Water True Technique¡¯s water vapor mobilization ability started flowing suddenly.


    But his palm did not move at all.


    "No wonder this place was well preserved¡­" He could not help but laugh softly, and did not question any further.


    Divine God Palace Master remained indifferent, and continued speaking. "The way to enter the second level is to secure all three stone switches at the same time, not allowing any of them to close up again. The three of us will concentrate on one switch each, as the switches require sufficient amounts of fused Form 5 powers."


    He stopped speaking and looked at Cthulhu King.


    The latter nodded, removed a black fibrous paper scroll from his arms, opening it slowly, exposing a pitch-black sheet completely devoid of anything else. But as it was opened, white coordinate dots floated up and slowly appeared on the paper. These coordinates began to move, clearly forming multiple white lines, before a complete map was quickly drawn on the paper.


    Cthulhu King waited until the coordinates had almost disappeared once they had finished drawing before passing the map to Garen, while the latter glanced across it carefully, then passing it to Divine God Palace Master.


    "The terrain here changes on its own every time, but this map originated from this place, thus it is able to sense the changes and form a corresponding map automatically every time it enters. Therefore, we need to remember the new map everytime we enter," explained Cthulhu King.


    "There are three roads, and because the terrain here is extremely vast, according to my estimations, the entire first level of the ruins probably has an area of over ten thousand square kilometers, moreover we can only enter the ruins through the entrance, and if we were to dig underground from the outside, it would be impossible for us to find the existence of the underground palace." Cthulhu King had obviously done a sufficient amount of investigative work. "Therefore each of the three roads will require a certain amount of time, in order to avoid any risks."


    He immediately took out three blood red button-like things, each of which had been engraved with maggot-sized red symbols.


    He distributed the little things to the other two, giving one to each of them.


    "Divine God Palace Master has used this before, so I won¡¯t say too much." He looked at Garen immediately. "This is the only tool that will not be imprisoned that I managed to find after searching for a long time in the outside world. Its functions are very simple, and there¡¯s only one: color changing. Once you¡¯ve reached a switch point, and you¡¯ve opened it, please press this button five times consecutively within two seconds, so that a green road will appear automatically. A green road will also appear from our own buttons as well. Similarly, once our switches have been activated, just like before, you will be able to see our progress through this thing."


    "Within ten days, if we find the switches successfully, we should be able to enter the second level. The dangers on the first level have been cleared completely, and should not be an obstacle," Divine God Palace Master interrupted and said. "Let¡¯s go."


    He was the first one to walk towards the only pitch-black passage in front of the hall.


    Garen and Cthulhu King followed behind him closely, and all three of their figures completely disappeared in the darkness.


    *********************


    Time passed day by day¡­


    Due to Cthulhu King¡¯s absence and the shrinking of the Cthulhuism Society¡¯s forces on all fronts, the conflict between Daniela¡¯s royal family and Obscuro Society grew fiercer. The support of the Royal Alliance of Luminarists became stronger as well.


    No one anticipated Obscuro Society¡¯s fearsome tenacity that led to the formation of Totem seas, made up of many Silver Totems constantly battling against Daniela¡¯s armies, killing them.


    High level individuals from both sides suffered serious injuries. These were unavoidable casualties of war, and would continue until the war was over.


    On the fifth day after Garen entered the ruins.


    Obscuro Society¡¯s terrifying powers finally broke out, and Hellgate attacked personally, causing two of Daniela¡¯s largest core armies to collapse immediately, while the allied forces of the three territories slaughtered countless army generals before pressing forward to the Ancestral God Grounds.


    All of Daniela¡¯s strength collapsed completely at once.


    The War of Destinies has begun.


    ********************


    On top of the tall Ancestral God Tree, Phiroth stood on the largest branch, looking at the black shadow that floated in the sky from afar. That was Hellgate¡¯s Secret Technique illusion. The large, black robed that resembled the God of Death, held a decaying red sickle in its hand that looked as if it would break any moment. It was actually a terrifying weapon of war that had destroyed countless armies, and more than ten thousand allied troops within three days.


    Countless transparent bubbles flew around the Ancestral God Tree, but no one was inside anymore.


    The battle between the two strongest people from each faction had already eliminated everyone else, leaving only the both of them.


    The winner would live, the loser would die.


    Nothing more.


    The evening sky was dyed red and gold by the sunset. Countless clouds resembled waves that floated their merry way along.


    Phiroth looked up at the sky.


    "Really, I haven¡¯t seen a sunset like this in so long¡­" Traces of a smile formed at the corners of his mouth.


    "How unfortunate, just give me a little more time¡­"


    Boom!!


    The sky darkened immediately, as countless dark clouds gathered over. The sky turned from golden-red to black, almost as black as the dark, nighttime sky.


    The countless rolling clouds soon resembled boiling water that bubbled up continuously.


    Phiroth straightened his body and waved his right hand in the empty space, before a dark green, three-pronged pitchfork appeared in his hand.


    All of the Ancestral God Trees on the Ancestral God Grounds lit up, as if they were stars that were suddenly illuminated.


    Boom!


    Green light gathered below his feet into a pillar of light that shot upwards, piercing through the sky.


    The rays of green light gathered and formed an incomparably large, green human-like figure that also held a three-pronged pitchfork in its hand. Its thousand meters tall body resembled the giants from the ancient legends.


    "Only one can be the strongest!"


    Phiroth could not help but laugh maniacally, even though fresh blood was constantly gushing out of his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.


    Kachak!!


    A lightning bolt flashed past, before the giant human figure raised its three-pronged pitchfork suddenly, piercing it towards the sky.


    Kachak!


    A crunching noise could be heard, and somewhere in Daniela¡¯s deep underground area, a young man fell on the ground, choking with sobs while looking at the Life Gem that had cracked open in front of him.


    Singing noises could be heard floating down from the sky occasionally.


    "~~ Faraway dreams, when will you let me awaken. O¡¯ king, forget all your dreams, when will you finally awaken¡­ There was never a time, when the sky looked so pretty. There was never a time, when your eyes looked at me with such happiness¡­"


    Within the ruins.


    Garen¡¯s body jolted suddenly. He raised his head, as if he had heard that singing noise. The senses from the Seed of the Ancestral God allowed him to see Daniela¡¯s final scene.


    The Ancestral God Grounds turned into a bottomless, pitch-black abyss-like crack.


    Daniela¡¯s First Concubine was holding Phiroth¡¯s corpse, her silk garments resembling the wings of a butterfly as she leapt into the abyss.


    "Daniela, gone."


    Garen closed his eyes.


    At the same time, the two other people inside the ruins stopped in their tracks as well. The songs that transcended everything accompanied the collapse of the Ancestral God¡¯s powers, spreading out towards every corner of the entire East Continent.


    Following Phiroth¡¯s death in battle, the Ancestral God Grounds¡¯ destruction was complete, and the previous Ancestral Gods ceased to exist along with it. The gloomy shadows that originated from Hellgate hung like dark clouds, covering the skies of the whole world.

 521 Ancient Ruins Expedition 1

    Chapter 521: Ancient Ruins Expedition 1


    Garen took a deep breath, Phiroth¡¯s death in the fight was beyond his expectations. According to the original timeline, the battle between Hellgate and Phiroth should have lasted a little while longer. He didn¡¯t expect it to end this quick.


    Phiroth was a king stronger Cthulhu King, and was a king that was closer to exceeding his limits. One could say that aside from Hellgate, he was the strongest in the world. At least that was what shown in the original timeline.


    It¡¯s not that Garen had never thought about working with him, unfortunately, the plan was to be executed after he found the Living Secret Technique, but he didn¡¯t expect Hellgate to push his actions forward by this much.


    "Now everything can no longer be referenced off the original timeline, the changes are getting more drastic¡­" Garen made new estimates in his heart.


    Coming back, there was still a dark archaeological site in front of him, after separating with the other two people, he then wandered to his right alone.


    There was a faint blue light in the air within the site.


    Garen stood in the middle of a narrow, cuboid tunnel. Darkness enveloped him and the front and back of the class; all around him were black walls that had a slightly rough texture.


    After touching the wall on his right, an ice cold, coarse sensation travelled from his fingers.


    Garen frowned slightly. His faint red iris turned black suddenly, and the fusion power in his body started circulating. He tried to accumulate some water to be spread around for reconnaissance, but once the large fusion power hit the outside word, it immediately dispersed, as though it never happened.


    "Indeed, fusion power is limited here. Then, Nine-Headed Hydra ability is obviously suppressed too, not having nine lives is indeed troublesome. What about this?"


    He started circulating his vital energy quickly. His skin turned blood red and diminished in an instant.


    "My aura is also suppressed, looks like we can only use my normal physical power."


    Garen knew his advantages. He had possessed special abilities, and his body had already reached its limits. He is much stronger and quicker than a newly advanced Form 5.


    However,, Divine God Palace Master and Cthulhu King have always been slowly strengthening themselves through fusion through the years, they had also have reached their body¡¯s limits. Compared to them, this wasn¡¯t an advantage, but something to level the playing fields.


    Whereas Divine God Palace Master, who was not human, would very likely to have even stronger physique. Even though he looked like someone who focused on agility, he needed to remain prepared.


    In an instant, Garen had prepared for the subsequent scenarios, and he continued advancing.


    He did not intend to mask his footsteps.


    His crisp footfalls kept revertabrating throughout the faint blue tunnel, echoing back and forth.


    It was just as foggy ahead of him. Garen couldn¡¯t see anything, but he didn¡¯t have the need to. Just by the sound, he could clearly judge the rough topography ahead of him.


    As he walked straight ahead, Garen detected the slight downward inclination of the tunnel. As he continued walking down, he would most likely reach underground.


    ***********


    A few days went by.


    In the dark corridor, Garen rested by leaning against the wall, a white hand extended beneath the black robe, eating the wheat biscuits with meat bit by bit.


    He ate quickly, it only took ten-odd seconds for him to gobble down a palm-sized biscuit. After three of them, Garen took out a black metal bottle, and gulped a large gulp of water, then took out a tissue to clean his mouth and sweep away the crumbs to the ground.


    "It¡¯s been eight days¡­" Garen mumbled, he took out a red button, the dark red on top of it now had green patterns. He then carefully kept it again. He then tidied his garments and then continued walking.


    His footsteps continued bouncing off the hallway, and this sound had been his only company for days.


    A left cornering appeared in front of him. Garen walked along it, and the path widened after the curve.


    An arched round hall appeared before him.


    The hall was empty, and the walls on both sides were covered with coarse, blurred paintings. Its contents could not be determined; all that was left was a blueish-black smudge.


    Directly opposite the tunnel was a giant black arched wall, on top of it was an image of a man, alongside many crescent moons, surrounded by a blood-colored frame.


    The entire hall seemed simple, but Garen¡¯s face showed a hint of relaxation.


    "I¡¯m finally here."


    He walked into the hall and headed for the wall ahead of him and gently touched it.


    Bzzz¡­..


    A strong vibration was transmitted from his hand onto the crescent moon on the wall, Garen¡¯s eyes turned black, and the fusion power of his Form 5 surged into the moon like tidal waves.


    Time seemed to pass by slowly. After half an hour, Garen released his hands.


    With a crisp tap, a small stone drawer bounced out from beneath the crescent moon, and there was a hexagonal button inside it.


    Garen slapped the drawer with force.


    Pap!


    The drawer went into the wall again.


    Garen¡¯s eyes had also quickly returned its original red hue. He took out the button and tapped it a few times, a third green pattern appeared on it.


    "Then, I should take the original route." he turned around and began walking as he followed the plan.


    Upon leaving the hall and reentering the tunnel, Garen suddenly realized that at the original corner, there appeared an additional junction.


    It was originally a cornering, but now it became a T-junction. Leading into the right tunnel was nothing but darkness, not even the faint blue light.


    Garen stopped, then walked directly into it.


    That tunnel was even flatter, except the environment was much dustier, making it slightly hard to breathe.


    Garen touched his way down this tunnel, hence his speed was severely impacted. As he just entered, a strong feeling of purity could be felt in the atmosphere.


    This feeling was very odd, it was as though the air he usually breathed in was impeccably polluted.


    Comparatively; the air here was much cleaner, even though it was full of dust particles.


    After walking in the dark for an unknown amount of time, and even though he couldn¡¯t see anything, the echoes off the wall allowed him to regained some speed.


    Pap!


    Suddenly, Garen stopped moving.


    Roar¡­ Suddenly, a deep roar similar to a canine¡¯s preemptive attack can be heard.


    Fuu!


    Suddenly, a strong gust was blown.


    In the dark, a large shadow pounced towards Garen, this shadow nearly filled the entirety of the tunnel, standing at almost 3 meters tall and about 4 meters wide, and it had a clear roar.


    Garen did not move. With his palm flexed into a knife-hand, he met the attack directly. His knife clashed with the shadow violently, and both of them fell back one step.


    Bam!


    A deep voice reverberated across the tunnel, then came back with an echo.


    Garen was shocked and took two steps back, only regaining his balance with his hind leg stepping on a protrusion on the ground.


    He looked serious, and were warily sensing the environment around him.


    "Such strong force¡­"


    The shadow disappeared, only the echo of the clash remained.


    Garen only felt that as he chopped the opponent, it felt like hitting a piece of sturdy wood. It should have injured part of the opponent¡¯s body severely.


    He stood in the middle of the tunnel and waited for a while, only relaxing when he felt no movement, and that the opponent seemed to have retreated.


    As he squatted to check the floor, there were no signs of the beast at all. The floor still had a thick layer of dust, and it was impossible that any large sized entity had pounced forward.


    There were no marks on the floor, nor were there any sigs on the walls surrounding it.


    Garen remained unfazed, he stood up and continued walking forward.


    He believed that so long as he kept moving, the opponent will surely reappear.


    As time passed, he could no longer distinguish the night and day as the tunnel was completely pitch black at all times.


    Garen did not light his torch, as this environment did not cause any difficulty to his senses. Instead, the light from the torch would have caused the dark areas to brighten.


    Even if the opponent had been living in darkness for an extended period, it is very possible that it¡¯s a special sensing ability, he also didn¡¯t plan to occupy one arm to bear the torch.


    As he walked forward step by step, the second layer was different from the first layer, this place was not explored by Cthulhu King and Divine God Palace Master, hence there was a high danger risk.


    A place which stored the Living Secret Technique was definitely not easy to explore


    As he advanced warily, Garen did not notice two slim black needles ahead of him at all, they were dangling mid-air, aimed straight at his eyes, if he kept moving, they would no doubt pierce his pupils.


    The black needles got closer and closer to Garen¡¯s eyes.


    Pap!


    Garen suddenly stopped moving forward, and remained at his position. The black needles were no more than ten centimeters away from his eyes, but he hadn¡¯t noticed at all, as though he were blind.


    Suddenly, a large hand slapped the needles away, and carried a force equivalent from before before it was hammered into Garen¡¯s face.


    Bam!


    Garen got hammered and hit back several meters. He was knocked onto an angled wall and hugged his head while his right hand firmly grabbed onto the two needles. The tip of the needle was moments away from stabbing him blind.


    Roar!


    A deafening howl similar to a wolf¡¯s can be heard, a large black silhouette pounced towards Garen once again, this time with a gust even more violent, as though a rolling boulder came crashing towards Garen.


    The entire tunnel quaked alongside the howl, the floor rattled lightly, the dust in the tunnel got thicker as well. The dust gathered into a thick dust fog due to the quake.


    The giant shadow was extremely agile, just as the sound came to him, it almost got within a half metre from Garen, seemingly able to pounced on Garen instantaneously.


    At this time, Garen lifted his right leg and sidestepped, his other leg spun and drew out a curve, and


    Accurately sailed towards the top of the shadow.


    Both his legs connected.


    The entire shadow was clamped by Garen¡¯s legs, and with that Garen pulled them back with force, through his waist, hips, palm, and then his palms, it then hit onto the rock walls on the tunnel.


    Bam!


    The rock walls then got imprinted with two palms.


    Garen used both hands as a leverage, both his legs clamped the shadow that felt like an ice cold wire gauze. He scoffed, and then unleashed his full power, the limit on the body¡¯s power then exploded, and smashed the shadow down violently.


    Bam! Bam! Bam Bam!


    With four continuous smashing, the shadow let out a painful moan. It then disappeared, turning into a cold breeze of air and dispersed.

 522 Ancient Ruins Expedition 2

    Chapter 522: Ancient Ruins Expedition 2


    After he somersaulted and landed, Garen stood steadily, he then felt like he just came out of a brawl.


    "At least 15 points of power, that was terrifying.." he mumbled, the first clash with the shadow was actually a minor scuff, whereas the second time was its full power. Luckily Garen had familiarized himself with Secret Techniques and other martial arts, so that even if he could not use his unique abilities, as a Master-level Secret Technique user comparable to the King of the Century, all the high leveled power leveraging techniques came gushing, and were still similarly strong.


    Five times the power for one unit of strength, under the use of strong combat Secret Techniques, it was as though multiplying your own power by five against an opponent which is all brawn. This is the peak efficiency of the King of the Century. Let alone the fact that Garen actually surpassed that realm, he ha completely understood the Secret Techniques and himself, and has almost reached a level of complete transparency.


    The reason it was "almost", was because there was one final point which he had not completely understood yet, which was the talent pane in his brain.


    After defeating the shadow, Garen took out a match and torch from a bag in his robe. He lit up the match, and its tangerine-yellow spark fell on the torch, kindling the cotton cloth doused in oil.


    This torch was specially made, with its handle hollow, within it was a large amount of fuel. It bore a similar concept to an alcohol lamp, which could burn for an extended period, until the oil in the torch completely ran out.


    The bright light then illuminated a radius of four to five meters, and a faint smoke similar to that of a kitchen gas stove had since traveled further.


    Garen checked the surrounding stone walls while holding the torch; there were no signs of combat either, even the black needles in his hands had suddenly disappeared.


    "Since Cthulhu King has invited me in here, there should be a high possibility of meeting up at the end, walking further in should bear some results." Even though he didn¡¯t find any remains of the shadow, he had a rough estimation in his thoughts.


    This shadow was very strong, in this environment which suppressed unnatural powers, only with the body of form 5 which endured many years of fusion power was he strong enough to handle it.


    If it were any other regular totem user, they would probably be shredded into pieces with the initial "greeting". However, Garen had his doubts, even if he could not use his unnatural powers, he might be able to tame some mutant creature, or use Obscuro¡¯s derivator to forcefully control the larger mutants, and bring those in to fight the shadow.


    As to why Cthulhu King and Divine God Palace Master were not doing this, perhaps there were other reasons.


    Torch in hand, he continued advancing.


    The tunnel ahead of him gradually became wider, and the atmosphere was once again filled with the faint blue mist. His surroundings cleared up again.


    Garen extinguished the torch. With his eyesight, the blue light sufficed to provide a clear field of vision.


    After an unknown period of time, Garen stopped twice midway and ate three times before the tunnel¡¯s topography finally had some change.


    The blue mist turned pitch black once again, the tunnel was thrown into darkness.


    Bam!


    A large shadow pounced again, this time from behind Garen. Like a large pile of black mud, it didn¡¯t make any sound, much like an inanimate material being splashed onto Garen.


    Without hesitation, Garen did a back spin kick. This time he did not reserve any power, all the raging power in his body was leveraged. With a ferocious spin, the tip of his leg conjured deafening howl, similar to lightning.


    Bam!


    The speed of the shadow was obviously of no match for Garen. Even its ambush was instinctively countered by Garen with a kick. In that split second, it was smashed against the wall on the right like a cannonball, smashing the abnormally sturdy walls into smithereens.


    The shadow gradually disappeared, the tunnel returned to its previous calm. Only the rumbling of the debris from the wall was present.


    Garen gasped for a while. Obviously the regenerative properties of the NIne-Headed Hydra had been suppressed. This one explosive display of power had left the usually strong Garen fatigued.


    "Looks like my body¡¯s endurance is mainly dependant on Nine-Headed Hydra¡¯s vitality¡­. Without the unique powers, these immensely explosive moves seem to be unsuitable¡­"


    It was like a mixture of steel and cement, together they could sustain huge loads, but the steel within was removed, the remaining cement would be much more brittle.


    Likewise, the Nine-Headed Hydra¡¯s unique power was the steel of the cement in its genes.


    As the capacity of the body had been drastically reduced, coupled with the consistent use of such explosive moves, there would naturally be a large load on the body.


    As Garen thought about this, he couldn¡¯t help but to think about the other two people. Divine God Palace Master may still be fine, he already possessed strong and balanced build, but it may be tough for Cthulhu King.


    With such extreme suppression of unnatural power, that¡¯s obviously his strongest handicap.


    Under this environment,, his abilities will be drastically lowered, making it extremely though for him, perhaps even worse. Of course, one cannot assume he didn¡¯t have a workaround.


    Following the shadow¡¯s destruction, the tunnel quickly returned to its light blue state. By the looks of it, the tunnel will only turn dark when the shadow was attacking.


    As usual, Garen checked the surrounding for traces, but there weren¡¯t any.


    He tidied himself and continued the journey.


    As he passed through two arched halls that he had seen before, the tunnel became more and more inclined. Now it was obvious enough to feel that he was descending.


    Soon, the darkness engulfed the tunnel again, the tunnel was absent of light.


    Garen focused, waiting for the possible ambush


    Fuu!


    Suddenly, a flame was lit head of him. A tangerine-yellow flame, bright and scorching.


    Garen suddenly realized he was facing a man in front of him. A man who had his head on flames.


    He donned a black shirt, and only his head were exposed. It was clear that this was a young man. His eyes were unfocused, but he was gazing directly at Garen. His head had black curly hair, and his skin was visibly pale from the lack of exposure to sunlight.


    Oddly enough, the man¡¯s facial skin was burning along with the flame, and it quickly turned burnt yellow, and then black. Drops of human fatty oil started dripping from the burn, hitting the ground after gliding along the face.


    The man shouted, and quickly flew towards Garen.


    Bam!!


    A ball of blinding flame burst and formed a crimson red fireball, and flying through the air.


    Garen was thrown backwards due to the explosion. Both his legs tried hard to anchor him to the ground, his boots were instantaneously torn apart from the tremendous impact, and the soles even started smoking.


    Garen¡¯s hands shot up to protect his chest. His senses told him something was off at that moment, and he instinctively covered his head and torso.


    The explosion dissipated in an instant, leaving only an incessant ringing in his ears.


    Garen put down his smoking arms and examined his injuries; the outer layer of his arms were completely roasted, his skin was burnt to a hard crisp, and there were even some hints of plasma fluid oozing.


    Guu¡­.


    "Compared to before, this one¡¯s got faster speed¡­" Garen took a long sigh, the man¡¯s suicide bombing charge was unavoidable for Garen. He could only hold up his hands to defend himself, and it ended after the explosion.


    The explosion was very strong, but compared to the surrounding rock walls, Garen¡¯s body was stronger. The surrounding walls lost an entire layer, but only Garen¡¯s arms were hurt. This place suppresses unnatural powers, and the Nine-Headed Hydra lost its monstrous regenerative abilities, but the basic biological regenerative abilities of his genes was also a league above normal creatures.


    This kind of injuries only needed a few days before it fully recovered.


    As he felt the intense pain on his arms, Garen carefully observed his surroundings, the light blue mist came back, obviously the ambush this time had ended.


    He sat down with his legs crossed. The surrounding stone walls were made from an unknown material, and extremely hardy, such a strong explosion only resulted in the destruction of about a knuckle¡¯s depth of material.


    He dared not advance further; he didn¡¯t know how many suicide bombers lay ahead. If there were a lot of them, this journey would then require a better plan, and would have to redo his preparations.


    In this situation without unnatural powers, it was very cumbersome to face this kind of


    adversary.


    Jiii¡­.. Jii ¡­.


    There was a hopeful ringing sound in his pocket.


    He quickly took out the dark red button, and gently tapped both sides of the button¡¯s protrusion.


    "Something happened over at your side?" Cthulhu King¡¯s voice crackled across.


    "You felt that?" Garen was surprised.


    "A large explosion right? It was faint on my side." Cthulhu King replied coldly.


    "I faced three of them before you."


    "So what¡¯s the situation now?"


    "Really bad, most of my abilities were suppressed. Or perhaps not, they felt more like they were completely wiped away, disappeared completely. This situation is troublesome." Cthulhu King sounded anxious, his situation over there was much worse than he had estimated.


    "Can we use gunpowder here?"


    "Yes, so long as you¡¯re not using unnatural powers, or anything involving totem¡¯s power or mutated bronze¡¯s pollution. All of those will be completely suppressed. Buy normal items are not being limited here." Cthulhu King immediately understood Garen¡¯s plan. "You mean you want to use gunpowder? Guns?"


    "We could try." Garen came from Earth, so he understood the tremendous power of gunpowder in its later stages, he emphasized a lot more on gunpowder compared to the people of this world.


    "Let¡¯s plan it outside." Cthulhu King fell silent for a while and then said.


    "Self-destructing men? I have already passed that stage." a calm man¡¯s voice suddenly came in, it was Divine God Palace Master. "After the fire man, there will be a type of shadow bearing a blade. It¡¯s humanoid, with a black blade on his arm. He is strong, I am being blocked here."


    Garen and Cthulhu King¡¯s heart sank, Divine God Palace Master Actually passed the self-destructing men and reached a deeper level, Single Bladed shadow? There was actually something even more troublesome.


    "Let¡¯s meet up and plan it out at first floor, I will get my subordinates to send over something" Cthulhu King muttered.


    "Okay."


    After Garen left a marking on the walls, he immediately left.


    He had to be careful when he came in, observing every detail, so his progress was slow, but it was much faster when he returned, under his full speed, he was leaps and bounds faster than his advancement previously.

 523 Ancient Ruins Expedition 3

    Chapter 523: Ancient Ruins Expedition 3


    In the previous floor with the goddess, the two were already waiting as Garen walked out of the tunnel.


    On Divine God Palace Master was a green silk robe that looked as good as new, as though he hadn¡¯t just walked out from a battle. He laid back onto the left side of the statue and had a shuteye.


    Cthulhu King looked much worse; burn wounds of different sizes could be seen, his red robe was torn and it showed the red metal armor beneath it. He stood in front of the god¡¯s statue, as though he were observing something.


    As they saw Garen coming out, both of them diverted their gaze towards him.


    Garen wasn¡¯t in much better shape than Cthulhu King. Even though he wasn¡¯t really hurt elsewhere, his arms were completely charred, it was apparent that the injuries were concentrated.


    "We are more familiar with the topography than you, so we¡¯d arrive first." Cthulhu King nodded, "I have already ordered my subordinates for some gunpowder, anything else you need would need to be requested now, on the third floor after the second, the Living Secret Technique should have the stronger guardian, we would need to cooperate to get it."


    "Gunpowder may not work." Garen said softly, "After the fire men and single blade shadows, who knows what other troublesome characters are there. We need to prepare the best defensive equipment."


    "I got them to bring some fire extinguishers, perhaps that would work." Cthulhu King had obviously given it some thought. Unlike Divine God Palace Master, they were obviously in different leagues. If he couldn¡¯t even go against the firemen, then single blade shadows were out of the question.


    "Perhaps we can head out together." Garen suggested,


    "We don¡¯t know which tunnel would the Living Secret Technique will be in. The Three tunnels were split into three different directions, plus, there¡¯s more than just Living Secret Techniques in this ancient ruin¡­" Cthulhu King snickered.


    "Let¡¯s wait for a while."Divine God Palace Master decided, and then the three no longer said a word.


    Garen walked up to the right side of the statue, and rested by leaning against it.


    At the same time, his vision went from the hall into the lower parts of his Attribute Pane.


    "Strength 14, Agility 10, Vitality 11, Intelligence 10, Potential 54521%"


    "545 Points? That many?" Garen¡¯s eyes had a hint of surprise.


    After absorbing the Cthulhu''s Origin to increase his attributes¡¯ limits, he had always stayed in the kingdom without going anywhere. He actually hadn¡¯t managed to try out his new abilities obtained from the Cthulhu''s Origin.


    One attribute point would require 100 points. This amount was just staggering, even he couldn¡¯t increase it that much in a short time.


    After he left the kingdom for the ruins here, he had not killed mutated creatures on any large scale to increase his potential points, as he needed to avoid detection.


    "I didn¡¯t even have 100 points originally, but now it actually reached over 500 points, it¡¯s obvious that I gained these in the tunnel." Garen was thinking, "Just in time to see how much of a limit extension Cthulhu''s Origin gave me."


    He fixed his gaze upon ¡®Vitality¡¯, but his body walked over to a shadowy part of the hall behind the goddess¡¯ statue, blocking himself from the other two person¡¯s field of vision.


    As his gaze fixed in place for three seconds, the vitality pane had a sudden jump, and then blurred for a moment. When it reappeared, the number changed from 11 to 12, whereas the potential points dropped to 400-odd points. One hundred points only provided one point of attribute.


    Just after his Vitality was upgraded, Garen felt a cold breeze around his body. The burn wounds on his arm were recovering visibly quickly; the charred skin outside fell off like a hard-boiled eggs¡¯ shell, without a sound, and was caught by Garen as it gently fell to the ground.


    The previous injuries from the impact with the black shadow had also completely recovered; his body was beyond perfect at this point.


    Upgrading vitality actually had the function of regeneration, Garen actually almost forgot about it. However, as he was feeling it, the vitality pane had actually reached its limit, and could no longer be upgraded. He felt that it was a waste. If he played his cards right, this kind of regeneration could perhaps even allow leeway for another life during critical moments.


    After adding onto Vitality on top of the one point from before, he deduced out that the Cthulhu''s Origin gave around 2 points. As he looked at the remainder of the points, the feeling similar to his vitality increasing occurring again. It was very likely that the two points of his attribute limit were distributed equally.


    All this increased his limits by two points.


    This should be the function of Cthulhu Origin.


    Garen looked at the remaining three hundred odd points, he could add three more attribute points, and this would need careful consideration.


    Garen stole a glance at the other two. Cthulhu King fished out a green colored ointment bottle and carefully applied it on himself. He seemed like he was tending to his wounds.


    He did not leave the ruins for somewhere more convenient to recover. Garen then looked at Divine God Palace Master, his face had a calm, unfazed expression to it.


    "Don¡¯t be surprised, even if you headed beyond this place, you still couldn¡¯t use unnatural powers to heal these wounds.." Cthulu King noticed Garen¡¯s gaze and explained promptly. He then suddenly glanced at Garen¡¯s arms. "Your arms?"


    Garen shook his arms.


    "The injuries weren¡¯t deep to begin with, it was just the surface that¡¯s charred black." The lie was as natural as it could be.


    "Let¡¯s prepare, the gunpowder is here, as well as three reinforced shields.." Cthulhu King nodded and announced.


    Soon, a buzzing sound could be heard from the entrance of the forest, as though it were the howl of a tornado. Suddenly, a ray of white light descended upon the tunnel entrance for a few seconds. The white light slowly dispersed. Many bags of gunpowder appeared on the floor, as well as dark red inverted-triangle shields. The shields were unusually thick, and were actually ten shields stacked and reinforced into one. Its thickness was about the size of an open palm. The shields looked like three dense, heavy metal beams..


    "They¡¯re here" Cthulhu King led the way and walked over, he lifted it with one hand and lightly tossed it towards Garen, "Try one for size?"


    Garen extended his hands to catch it


    Bam!


    A shield over a meter in height handed in his arms with a loud thump.


    "Forged using the premium metals with anti-fire properties. Sayer Iron has good fire retardancy, as well as extreme defensive powers, albeit being slightly heavier." Cthulhu King said, "They weigh about two tonnes each."


    "Two tonnes plus?" Garen meticulously gauged its weight,it¡¯s already considerably light for him, but it was obvious that Cthulhu King made this based on his own specifications and body, a long-range totem user will never be nearly as strong as a close quarter combatant, let alone being in a place that negated all unnatural powers. Without unnatural powers the three of them can only rely on their sheer physical strength to use this shield. They were considerably weaker inside compared to when they were outside.


    Without unnatural powers, Garen was also left with his body and Secret Techniques, as well as combat skills. Even those Secret Techniques like the Red Jade Hand, Myriad Water Jasper Technique or Black Water True Technique have devolved into nothing but the worst of the lower class combat skills without unnatural powers.


    Without the support of unnatural powers, some techniques and abilities were for nothing but showmanship in the ruins, and were without purpose.


    As they carried the shield and distributed the gunpowder, the trio convened closely in minute details about their experiences and the time taken during their journey, and then separated once again into the second floor of the ruins.


    Compared to the first time, Garen¡¯s footsteps were much louder and heavier with a two-tonne shield on his hand, he took each step slowly.


    He could make up what the tiles were made of. It was actually sturdy enough for it to not leave any footprints even with such a load.


    Garen was much faster during his second descent. He was almost running; with the additional point on vitality, there were visible improvements, especially in terms of endurance


    With just two days, he had already advanced into the second floor met with the first wave of shadows.


    Bam! The giant wolf shadow rammed hard against the shield, and a large portion of the tiny spikes were broken off. The shadow had also been hurt from the spikes, with a painful groan, it seemed to be even more agitated.


    It expanded once again, almost taking up the entire space of the tunnel, and furiously rushed towards Garen.


    Garen put up the shield and threw it forwards with both hands and all his might.


    Fu Fu Fu!!! With deafening sounds of rotations, the shield turned into a high-speed revolving dart, which lodged into the shadow like a blade.


    Unsurprisingly, the shield hit dead center and have split the shadow open. It continued to fly for about ten meters before it hit onto a wall of a corner, more than half the shield was lodged in the wall.


    The shadow disappeared without a trace, the darkness surrounding it faded and returned to its usual blue hue.


    Garen took a long sigh, then he walked over to dislodge the shield with a great heave.


    It was a scene of serenity ahead and behind him; the blue mist continued to linger, but visibility was reduced to a ten meter distance..


    Garen continued hurrying through his journey while carrying the shield, then it was the second wave of shadows. It was similarly unimpactful beyond the scare, it was clear that having the shield made things easier.


    The third one, the fourth one, there were more shadows in this trip, but they were easily manageable.


    After half an hour, the man with the burning head appeared again.


    The yellow light immediately dashed towards Garen the moment it appeared with extreme speed. Just like an afterimage, it reached Garen in the blink of an eye.


    The shield was positioned in front of him while he knelt down with both his hands against the shield.


    Bam!!


    The tangerine-yellow fireball disappeared after a moment. In the tunnel, Garen was pushed back several meters behind the shield, and the floor was left with a streak of black charred marks.


    The shield had emitted white smoke due to its high temperature, and the air had a strong burning stench, just like the smell shorted electrical cables let out..


    Garen slowly stood up from behind the shield and saw that the tunnel returned to the usual blue, serene setting. He looked over at the charred shield, but there were minimal dents on it.


    "Not bad." he shook the shield, and the soot on top vibrated slightly and the fell out in large pieces, revealing the uneven dent of the dark red metal layer beneath it.


    As he continued advancing with the shield, the pitch darkness appeared once again.


    In the dark, a black silhouette slowly stood up from the floor, much like a liquid slowly forming a human shape.


    Garen could barely make up the opponent¡¯s features. It looked like a shadow that was about the same height as a regular person, its right arm was the shape of a blade, without palms or an arm, only a blade attached.


    The shadow charged towards Garen without uttering a word the moment it had its eyes on him; it didn¡¯t even make a sound, as though it were an actual shadow.


    Dang!!


    The blade hit the shield and left a deep cut in. Sparks flew from the clash in the darkness, brightly illuminating the darkness surrounding it for an instant.


    Seeing that one strike was ineffective, the shadow leaped upwards and suddenly disappeared in mid air, it then reappeared behind Garen, and the right arm¡¯s blade was aimed towards Garen¡¯s nape in the next chop.


    In that eye-blinking speed, one second hadn¡¯t even passed between the interval of hitting the shield to the ambush from behind.


    As the blade cut through the air, even though it didn¡¯t produce any noise, it produced a black streak in front of the blade in the instant before it touched Garen¡¯s skin, as though it completely shredded the air.


    Without being able to react, Garen hurled the shield backwards. Blind from behind, his body used the change in momentum from the hurl to move forward.


    With a thump, the shield missed any solid objects but got lodged in a wall. As usual, the shield sunk deep, sparking into embers of gold.


    The shadow reacted by avoiding it in the last moment, as though it had a premonition. Garen¡¯s speed was slightly faster than it, but before Garen had even begun hurling it, it already moved to avoid the strike, as though it could predict Garen¡¯s attacks ahead of time.

 524 Ancient Ruins Expedition 4

    Chapter 524: Ancient Ruins Expedition 4


    Whoosh¡­


    Garen stood in the tunnel, it was pitch black around him, and he had his guard up.


    The black shadow disappeared again.


    "So you can predict what my next move will be?" Garen was not surprised in the slightest, he had encountered an enemy like this in the Secret Technique World, back then his opponent had used their judgment regarding blood qi and power principles to predict what his move would be. After all, before somebody moved, there would be some inevitable signs, although these signs were very fast and disappeared in a flash, anyone with fast enough reflexes would still be able to interpret them.


    Faced with an opponent like that, Garen naturally had his countermeasures, unlike the locals like the Divine God Palace Master and the others, he had plenty of experience against such opponents.


    His speed was faster than the black shadow, so all he had to do was give the opponent no time to predict his moves.


    The corners of his mouth splitting apart, Garen stomped down hard on the ground, and the corner of the shield carved sparks and debris out of the wall on his right.


    With a swooshing sound, he swept his palm and hit these pieces of debris precisely.


    The pieces of debris, as large as a fist, shot into countless tiny stone shards in mid-air, and they did not just come from the front, at the same time, his left hand also scattered the mounds of debris, shooting out more shards.


    The whole tunnel was immediately filled with a rain of projectiles, with the patter of stones smashing into everything everywhere, the huge force behind them giving these stones an intensely terrifying speed and momentum. With Garen in the center, the space within more than ten meters of him on either side was completely filled with stones. These stones had the destructive power of bullets, and they actually set alight sparks on the wall furthest to the right.


    After smashing the stones, Garen did not hesitate, pulling back his hand and kicking out his leg, shooting out a kick above his head.


    The black shadow with its single blade just happened to appear in the one safe spot above Garen''s head, and took the full-powered kick head-on.


    Even its blade could not block in time, with a bam, the black shadow was forcefully shattered into countless black shards in mid-air, and scattered tracelessly into the air.


    His face splitting into a grin, Garen held up the Tower Shield and continued pressing forward.


    After ten more minutes, he encountered yet another single-bladed black shadow, after finishing it off in the same manner, Garen had to rest for a moment. Under these circumstances, without his special power, it was something of a burden to him as well to use his full power consecutively. Add that to the long journey on the way here, with his guard up the whole time, and even he had to take a short breather.


    For the next whole day, Garen encountered more than ten of these single-bladed black shadows, but while they started off slower than him, they soon began to move at the same speed, and even grew faster than him.


    But since their area of action was only in that small area shrouded by darkness, and their own defense was not particularly strong, faced with Garen''s wide-area attacks and his method of forcing them into corners, one by one, they still tasted bitter defeat in the end.


    If most of his powers had not been limited, just fighting based off his physical qualities now, Garen was perfectly capable of instantly releasing his Black Water Mist against these black shadows, and then they would be dropping like flies.


    But without his unnatural powers, his own powers were one or two percent of his abilities outside at most, and the other two were probably in the same situation, so the three of them advanced extremely slowly.


    Just as the three of them were continuously exterminating the shadow creatures and moving forth, in the goddess statue hall on the first floor, a man in red robes with completely white eyes suddenly walked in.


    "Have they already come in some deep?" The man muttered, he was the Light God, the second strongest person under the Cthulhu King, and he was also the person who first ''discovered'' these ruins before reporting them up to the Cthulhu King.


    But nobody would have guessed, that these ruins were actually his hometown.


    At the very beginning, he had been one of the shadow humanoids that had escaped from this place, possessing a young man''s body and finally becoming the Cthulhuism Society''s Light Cthulhu after a series of events.


    Since he was originally one of the local shadows, he was extremely familiar with the three floors of the whole ruins, and he even some of the memories from an ancient time in his mind, plus he especially familiar with the biggest advantage these ruins had to offer, in fact he knew them like the back of his hand.


    Standing in front of the goddess statue, the Light God bowed slightly and prayed fervently, in that short instant as he was bowing, his whole body rapidly turned black, quickly turning into a faint, dream-like, translucent image.


    Soundlessly, he split from one into three, and shot like lightning down the tunnels, more than twice as fast as the Cthulhu King and the others.


    In just a few hours, he was in three places at once, tailing the three of them closely as they traveled down the corridors and onto the second floor.


    In terms of power, in these ruins that limited any unnatural powers, even if he was a shadow humanoid, he still did not have any particular powers, he just had the talent to become a shadow for short periods of time, and he would die in an instant if he faced any of them.


    But naturally his aim was not to die in an instant, the reason he had lured the three ultimate fighters into these ruins was so that they could clear the obstructions for him.


    Those shadow humanoids blocking the way were beyond his ability to fight, his Light God was just one of weakest shadows from the very beginning, and the gulf between him and those powerful shadows deeper in was far too big. Without anyone else''s help, there was no way he could possibly reach the deepest parts.


    What nobody knew was that after these shadows died, they would leave their purest essence, the Void Core, in the air. These shadow''s cores had huge benefits, they were priceless treasures that could heal wounds, and they also had a certain amount of control over certain parts in the ruins, plus they were secret medicines that could directly increase the strength of one''s soul. If you were lucky enough, you might even get the legendary Ancient Endor Heirlooms.


    And as one of these shadows, if he swallowed them, he could obtain a third of its power, improving all of his attributes at once.


    But the Void Shadow Core was traceless, and extremely hard to detect, it would usually hide itself automatically, sticking to the shadowy corners of the tunnels. If they were not absorbed, these shadows would be revived, and once more gather into guardians. This was also the reason why Garen and the others had not discovered them at all.


    According to Light God''s plan, the second level should not be too hard for those three, but once the third floor was activated, and that strongest shadow came out from the secret room, it would surely get into a tangle with the three ultimate fighters, and that battle would not end anytime soon. But he knew an alternate path, that could go right around the entrance to the secret room and enter the room, so it was absolutely possible for him to take advantage of the time when the strongest shadow was distracted, to obtain the three Living Secret Techniques and the Shadow Demon Mirror.


    Light God had been waiting for this day for a long time. Unfortunately, with his power, he could not even enter the second floor, but now he had a chance, with three meat shields in front of him, he was perfectly able to follow behind safely and reap the rewards. Once he got the Living Secret Techniques, and add the Shadow Demon Mirror to that, he would become the new Master of the Ruins! The Demon Mirror could spawn countless powerful shadows, and control all the shadows in the entire ruins, the strongest of which had Form Five peak-level power, with that kind of power, he would not have to worry about the Cthulhu King and the others coming at him for revenge at all. Using the army of countless shadows to surround them, or activating the other traps in the ruins that had shut down or lost control due to the passing of time, he could easily find enough time to retreat safely through the secret escape tunnel shortcuts.


    Behind the tunnel Garen was in, Light God''s black shadow abruptly appeared where the first shadow had died, and after turning one circle on the spot, he suddenly crouched to a corner on the left side of the tunnel, picking up a fist-sized stone with one hand while the other hand reached towards the shadow amidst the debris on the ground.


    Strangely, the shadow on the ground was just like the surface of water, it had none of the hardness of the stone ground, and his black hand reached in easily, sinking inside, as though searching for something underwater. Amidst the sound of water splashing, he quickly found an irregularly-shaped black crystal from inside the shadow.


    Light God cackled, and stuffed the crystal into his mouth directly, actually swallowing it whole.


    As soon as the crystal was swallowed, his body seemed to grow slightly more solid. Standing up, Light God continued heading down the tunnel that had been cleared ahead.


    At the same time, in the other two tunnels, everywhere a shadow had perished, Light God kept finding more Shadow Cores from the corners, and he kept swallowing them.


    Light God''s body grew more and more solid, larger and larger. But his aura also became more and more hidden, harder to detect.


    *************


    Boom!!


    Garen bashed in the large-bodied shadow in front of him with his shield, after the single-bladed black shadows vanished, the next type to show up was this sort of large-bodied shadow, these black shadows were about as powerful as the ones before, and their speed was about the same as the fire people, both were slightly stronger than Garen, and even more shamelessly, they were well-versed in close combat, having two hooks instead of palms, so any touch would rip off a large chunk of Garen''s flesh.


    And yet what troubled Garen the most was not all these, but the fact that these fatties needed to be destroyed three times before they would die for real.


    This time he truly experienced how helpless his opponents had felt when they were fighting him back then.


    If he did not have an advantage in secret technique battle skills, wherein one-tenth of his power could function like five tenths, this would probably be where he stopped.


    The fat black shadow flowed on the ground for a bit, and finally utterly scattered, this thing was stronger than Garen, and faster, without the advantage granted by the secret technique battle skills, he would really have no idea how to deal with it.


    Garen panted heavily, lifted the Tower Shield and continued advancing, it had been more than ten days since he entered the second floor, but he still could not see the end ahead, and the countless shadows that emerged were growing stronger and stronger. By now, one fat shadow took him more than ten minutes to finish off, then further on¡­


    Garen licked his lips, took the canteen from his waist and poured its contents into his mouth, with a splash, a mouthful of clean and clear water flowed into his throat. He brought the canteen down and shook it, there was not much water left inside, only one fifth, it seemed.


    Although the opponents were growing stronger, he was not growing tired or annoyed in the slightest, and for a simple reason.


    Each of these shadows would give him at least 40 potential points, not 40%, but the whole 4000%, 40 potential points.


    The number of potential points corresponded with the level of power, in other words, the actual bodies of these shadows actually had power equivalent to Form Four or Five.


    No wonder the Cthulhu King had to find two whole fighters at the same level as him before he dared to explore this place. He evidently had more information that he did not divulge.


    These past few days, Garen had directly increased all of his attributes to their current maximum.


    ''Strength 16. Agility 12. Vitality 12. Intelligence 12.''


    His Strength had reached 16 points, so he was no longer at a disadvantage in terms of strength when he faced the fatty, and was instead more or less its equal.


    After achieving 12 points in Intelligence, he also finally developed a miniscule power. That was Instant Reflexes.


    After reaching 12 points, there seemed to be a fundamental change, after increasing his Intelligence, Garen clearly felt a higher increase in his reflex and reaction times.


    And the clearest embodiment of this upgrade in his battles was the appearance of a brand new ability -- Doublecast.


    He could multitask, his left and right hands using two different secret technique battle attacks at the same time, or using them separately.


    But the strongest was when he stacked on two hits for the same attack, this was using them together, and that was the true terror of this technique.


    This ability was not simply stacking up two powers, it was a true stack of two Secret Techniques.


    For example, there was a Threefold Fist Technique among the Secret Techniques, and with Doublecast, this could let him use the Threefold Fist Technique twice in quick succession, making it Sixfold!


    Its effectiveness would reach a terrifying double of the original!


    This seemed to match the way Garen had been using his Intelligence, he had never used it on planning or strategy, but put his all into becoming stronger himself, so now that his Intelligence had achieved a fundamental upgrade, it finally created such a terrifying technique.


    Rather than calling it a technique, it was more like a natural ability that had been achieved by expanding on his potential.


    Extremely powerful and fast reception and reaction, after changing, could finally more or less activate two types of Secret Techniques at once, using his powerful body as the base, to explosively achieve twice the destructive power.


    This was the first morphed technique Garen had obtained from increasing his stats.


    It made his heart burn a little with passion, and he began to hold some anticipation for the upgrades the other attributes would have as well.

 525 Ancient Ruins Expedition 5

    Chapter 525: Ancient Ruins Expedition 5


    "Aaggs! Aaggs!!"


    Amidst the loud howling, a lizardman in front of Garen abruptly collapsed to the ground, the huge red single eye on its face leaking bright red blood slightly, dripping onto the floor and emitting a strange rotting smell.


    Garen pulled back his right hand, his face slightly pale.


    In just over ten minutes, he had killed more than ten of these lizardmen consecutively, so even he had to be somewhat mentally exhausted.


    Straightening up his body and leaning onto the wall at the side, he once more picked up his water bottle and poured it into his mouth, the last drop of water reluctantly dripping into his mouth, moistening his dry lips, and causing Garen¡¯s heart to be impatient as well.


    "Who knows how long it will be before I can enter the third floor, these ruins are so huge, much bigger than what I had expected before." He watched as the lizardman on the ground slowly scattered into countless black dots of light, and the darkness around him rapidly disappeared as well, once more returning to the previous backdrop of pale blue mist.


    He glanced backwards, and it was nothing but faint blue mist behind him, misty and blurred, nothing could be seen clearly at all, the tunnel seeming to stretch into infinity in the mist.


    Taking a sharp breath, Garen continued to make his way forth. At the same time, he took that red button out of his pocket.


    By now, the black robes all over his body had already been slightly damaged, after so many battles, even he could not keep himself from getting the slightest bit injured.


    This was a space where totem power did not work, and he was only left with his own power physical martial skills and his body¡¯s attributes.


    Pressing the button, he instantly heard the crackle of static from inside.


    "Is anyone there?" Garen asked softly.


    There was no reply.


    He did not keep the button, but instead Garen kept it held in his hand, and while he continued making progress, he would ask again every so often.


    The lizardmen appeared again, these were not particularly hard to manage, but they just had special fist-fighting techniques, and were also faster than before. Still, compared to Garen, that was nothing.


    After gaining the Doublecast ability, he had basically tested his limits. His body could only tolerate three uses of Doublecast within an hour, the explosive power of this technique was extremely terrifying.


    When he was testing it, just one fist was enough to break a lizardman in half at the waist. The top half flew out extremely far, and the bottom half still did not move at all. The waist part in the middle, as well as a chunk of flesh, devolved into scraps.


    In that instant, this technique had increased the power of his simple fist swing to twice the original power.


    But the requirements for this technique were also undeniable. It took a tremendous toll on his heart and muscle tissues, if the Dragon¡¯s Heart weren¡¯t strong enough, even if his Intelligence met the mark, he probably would not have been able to achieve this technique either.


    Of Garen¡¯s physical battle skills, the most dominating was his Ten Thousand Mammoth Battle Skills, these martial skills, based off the original Mammoth Secret Technique Battle Skills, had direct attacking styles, because the Mammoth Secret Technique was a strength-type secret technique, making its style also very simple and direct.


    Of these, the four killer moves were the basics of all of Garen¡¯s physical battle skills, as for the Sky Dragon''s Crisscross that he came to understand later, despite the lame name, it had pretty considerable power, and was the fusion of the most brutal parts of his fighting killer moves.


    As Garen kept advancing, he started to consider how he could improve the fusion Sky Dragon''s Crisscross further, to form a powerful move using the explosive power of Doublecast.


    For this sort of move where he instantly and explosively stacks them on, if he used extremely complicated moves as the basis, it would definitely reduce the power in some way, extending the usage time. But if he used a move that was too simplistic, it would not have enough power.


    Then he needed to find a balanced middle point.


    After advancing for more than ten minutes, the corridor ahead of him began to extend long black shadows again.


    Out of habit, Garen stopped his footsteps, waiting for the black shadows to completely engulf him. After all these days, he was already very used to these shadows attacking him, at any such time like this, there would definitely be shadow creatures on the attack.


    Standing on the spot and awaiting it with concentration, Garen could vaguely feel that, right ahead of him, a shapely figure was slowly appearing in front of him.


    In the darkness, the figure seemed to be glowing on its own, its clear image reflected into Garen¡¯s eyes.


    Standing in front of him, was a seductive woman¡¯s body with all the proper curves.


    A skintight black leather shirt on top, a short black skirt that would just only wrap her butt at the bottom, revealing a vague glimpse at the scenery under her skirt. Further down, there was even the shape of long and round legs.


    This woman had a tall ponytail, her exposed skin pale as jade, two pitch-black swords hanging from her waist. Most eye-catching of all was the black mask on her face, with a pair of bright black almond-shaped eyes on the top half.


    Just the eyes and the skin, as well as the shape of her features under the mask, was enough to tell Garen that she was definitely a fairly good-looking beauty.


    But why would a beautiful woman suddenly show up in a place like this?


    The suspicion flashed past his heart in an instant, and instantly fell on the darkness behind the woman, there were more tiny footsteps coming from there.


    Two identically-dressed beauties in short skirts walked out once more, they stared at Garen with calm eyes, the lifeless pupils in their eyes long since scattered, but they gave Garen the impression that they were staring straight at him, as the three of them slowly drew the twin swords from their waists.


    Clang! Clang clang!


    There were three clanging sounds, and three of them beat their swords together at the same time, as though preparing to attack.


    "You three, still have your wills?" Garen could not help but ask, if they still had wills, then he could communicate with them to some degree.


    Unfortunately, the three of them did not reply, and just stomped their foot, abruptly disappearing into the darkness, instantly leaving only their six black blades slicing through the air towards Garen in the dark.


    The blades were not particularly fast, howling as they cut through the air.


    Garen did not dare to let his guard down, after walking all the way here, he had noticed that his opponents had been getting stronger and stronger, so it would not be any different here.


    His right palm pierced and flipped towards the wall.


    Fwah!


    A large piece of stone was torn off the wall and smashed towards the six black swords.


    Garen quickly took two steps back, lifted his Tower Shield and shoved it forward.


    The edges of the huge shield had long since been sharpened by Garen after these continuous days of use, and was comparable to the sturdiest war swords.


    The edge of the shield met with the first black sword.


    There was a flash of sparks in the darkness, a splash of fireworks from the clash between weapons.


    The black sword was flung far away, wholly undamaged, it just spun a few times in the air, and was soon slicing towards his direction again. The other black swords took turns attacking the Tower Shield, leaving some deep cuts into its surface, and were flung out as well, though they returned quickly and continued their attack.


    Garen brandished the shield, and knocked away the black swords once more.


    Time after time, the black swords were relentless, every time they were knocked away, they would be completely undamaged, whereas the nicks on the shield grew larger and larger.


    Garen frowned slightly, he had knocked the black swords towards the other black swords a few times, at first planning to harm the wielders of the black swords, but strangely, there was nothing behind the black swords but air.


    But Garen had clearly seen the three beautiful female swordsmen before, and his senses could even clearly tell if they were real or illusion, with no chance of a mistake.


    The black swords were not fast, neither were they very strong, but they just took no damage, no matter how hard he hit them, at the most he would leave some white marks on them, but Garen¡¯s Tower Shield, on the other hand, was getting more and more damaged.


    Garen watched the black swords¡¯ attack patterns, movement routes, and the details about his surroundings carefully, over and over again.


    The time ticked by, and Garen maintained a constant pace, knocking the black swords away time and time again, but the opponents seemed to know no weariness, sticking to him like glue.


    "So that¡¯s how it is?"


    Finally, he vaguely noticed a clue.


    When the black sword¡¯s attack made contact with its opponent, its wielder would appear from a split second, other than that, there was no other flaw.


    He could only attack the swordswoman at the exact moment the black sword hit him. And this instant was extremely short, just a hint of distraction and it would pass.


    Once he had an idea in his heart, Garen instantly took the initiative and waved the shield as he advanced, forcing the black sword back.


    In the darkness, the tiny bits of golden sparks kept lighting up, accompanied with the sound of clashing blades. Garen separated two of the swords away cleverly, and kept them alone in one area.


    Psst!


    Instantly, the Tower Shield in his hand split down the middle to form two large chunks, and Garen carried them each in one hand.


    With two deep whooshes of the wind, one of the two Tower Shields blocked four of the blade attacks at once, while the other one smashed towards the two isolated swords.


    The Tower Shield had a large area, just a light wave could take up most of the space in the tunnel. The black swords could not go around it, and had to face it head-on.


    Clang clang! Bam!


    Garen kicked out one leg, and a blurred figure behind those two swords was instantly kicked away, plastering onto the left-side wall with a bang, bringing down a rain of debris with it.


    He could see that the figure that flew out was one of the women from just now.


    After discovering the trick to it, Garen repeated it accordingly, and within two minutes, the other two women were also grievously injured and lying on the ground, their bodies revealed. The black swords also fell to the ground, becoming normal weapons.


    The three of them were only average in their physical strength and endurance, it was just that ability they had to hide themselves completely that was very challenging, but it just happened to be countered by Garen, an expert peak-level fighter with plenty of fighting experience. Compared to the ability to control even the smallest split-second opportunity, no totem user could match the number of life-and-death battles Garen had experienced in the Secret Technique World.


    The three women figures lay on the ground, but somehow were still breathing, after taking one of Garen¡¯s lightning kicks, even the lizardmen from before were on the brink of death, what was more these weaker female bodies.


    Garen walked over, bent down, and picked up one woman by her hair.


    "Can you speak?"


    Her eyes were wide open, but had no intention of replying.


    Garen slapped her twice. After two loud smacks, she seemed to react somewhat, her tightly-closed long legs underneath her short skirt twitching subconsciously, as though she wanted to escape Garen¡¯s control. But her seriously injured body could no longer move, that kick contained Garen¡¯s shock technique, and had instantly destroyed most of the woman¡¯s internal tissues and organs. According to a normal person¡¯s body condition, it was a miracle that she could still move now.


    "Do you have no will?" Garen frowned, and pulled off the woman¡¯s black mask.


    There was no jade-white skin under the mask, only a mess of blood and flesh, the whole bottom half of her face was rotten and dark red, she did not even have lips, only trembling rotting meat, as though covered with maggots.


    The terrible odor made Garen frown deeply, this body truly hated intense stenches.


    He looked at the woman from top to bottom, and suddenly tore off the woman¡¯s clothes, with a yank, he revealed the skin underneath the leather clothes, this part was all fair and white, with a clean white chest cloth tying her breasts.


    "So everything other than the face is normal?"

 526 Ancient Ruins Expedition 6

    Chapter 526: Ancient Ruins Expedition 6


    Garen snapped the woman¡¯s neck cleanly, and simply threw it aside.


    Without that ability to dematerialize, these women figures were not too different from the strength shadows he encountered in the beginning, simple and easy.


    Garen searched the other two women¡¯s bodies, and found nothing, so all he could do was twist their necks as well and leave.


    In the darkness, the three women¡¯s corpses slowly melted and faded, utterly becoming one with the darkness.


    When faced with these swordswomen, if one could not catch that split-second opportunity, no matter how strong a fighter they were, they would be destroyed by time alone. After all, the swordswomen¡¯s speed and strength were not weak by any means, and three had appeared at once.


    The battle chance could only be caught by fighters who were extremely nimble in their senses and their speed, and they had to be extraordinarily experienced. Any other type of person would have no choice but to waste away here.


    The darkness retreated rapidly, and it became the same pale blue mist once more.


    Garen stepped forward and continued on his way.


    In the time after that, wave after wave of these beautiful swordswomen kept appearing, and unlike how easily he could dispatch them in the beginning, the swordswomen began growing faster and faster, until they caused him some trouble.


    At first these swordswomen appeared in teams of three, then two, and by the end it was just one person at a time.


    As their numbers increased, their power increased steadily as well.


    By the time he reached the last single-woman team, the swordswoman¡¯s power had already achieved an extremely high level.


    The swordswoman¡¯s black sword was like a bolt of lightning in the darkness, it kept turning and slicing, leaving him without a moment to breathe. The onslaught was continuous, the extreme speeds bringing explosive power as well.


    After many collisions, the Tower Shield was utterly destroyed. Garen had no choice but to fight with his own hands.


    The last swordswoman¡¯s speed was already faster than his, reaching speeds equivalent to about 20 potential points, this seemed to be the limit, the swordswoman¡¯s attacks came at a jumping curve, and the instant the black sword twinkled, the blade was already on Garen¡¯s body.


    Garen called this technique the Leap Slash, it was not any particularly special technique, just a terrifying ability born from the swordswoman¡¯s explosive power.


    With the price of a deep cut through his shoulder, Garen took the chance to smash the swordswoman to death and win. But he had no choice except to stop as well, waiting for his body to heal naturally.


    Although he didn¡¯t have his unnatural powers here, making his healing speeds much slower, but the Nine-Headed Dragon¡¯s Heart still had a powerful recovery speed that normal creatures could not hope to match.


    After resting in the same spot for three whole days, Garen¡¯s injuries no longer affected him, so he got up and continued on.


    In these three days, he had also understood the swordswoman¡¯s final Leap Slash. The swordswoman¡¯s body was far from as powerful as his, and yet she could demonstrate such explosive speed. That was how valuable that technique was.


    After three days of reflection and study, and after so many hands-on fights with the swordswomen, Garen finally understood the key to it.


    As an expert fighter who had witnessed many secret techniques, Garen had a far stronger understanding of these secret technique battle skills without any unnatural powers than the Cthulhu King or the Divine God Palace Master. Such techniques naturally held no secrets to his eyes.


    His powerful Intelligence came into play in a big way here as well, as he successfully analyzed the principles behind the Leap Slash.


    This technique could unleash close to 20 attribute points of speed in an instant, but it required a light and sharp weapon, by controlling the weapon and the rhythm of one¡¯s body, using a special blood qi channeling technique, they could gather all the power in their body, and shoot out their weapon as though it was a hidden weapon.


    Although this technique was strong, its limit could not go any further than 20 attribute points in speed, and its power was equivalent to a Form Four battle totem outside. Outside, this sort of technique had no meaning, but in here, in the ruins where he could only use his own body to fight, the Leap Slash had a powerful effect.


    This technique may have put a heavy burden on the swordswomen, but to Garen, it was easy as pie. He could absolutely use it like a normal technique, such was the power of a strong Vitality.


    Ever since he entered the ruins, this was his second time reaping rewards from it, the first was learning the Doublecast ability, this time it was the simple Leap Slash technique.


    Both of these techniques were things he could use by himself, no matter in what surroundings, with or without totem power or Totem Light, they would not be weakened.


    Garen suddenly understood, if the legends were true, then the Warlocks definitely had the ability to travel through space, and in the starry space, there were countless planets, some with unique environments, where one could use powerful abilities to leverage on all the power of the surroundings, while others were complete wastelands that could not be leveraged at all, so those leveraging powers would be greatly diminished.


    And the only thing they could truly rely on was their own bodies. The channeling of the blood qi in their bodies, to create a tremendous power, that was the true core.


    Bringing his thoughts back, Garen finally ate the remaining jerky, and took out the red button.


    "Is anyone there?"


    These few days he had done this practically every day, asking at least once a day, but there had not been any response from the other two sides.


    This time, however, there was finally a response.


    "Nine-Headed Snake?" A hoarse voice came from the button. It was the Cthulhu King, he sounded extremely tired. "Are you okay?" The Cthulhu King followed up with a question.


    "My body is still okay, it¡¯s just that I ran out of water and food, although I can last several weeks without a problem, my body will still be inevitably weak." Garen voiced out his problem.


    "I tried, before those attacking shadows disappear completely, their meat is edible, so you can try it out." As expected of a cult leader, the Cthulhu King had even fewer taboos when it came to food than Garen, a natural born big eater.


    "Alright¡­" Garen also knew that he had no other choice right now, besides the Nine-Headed Snake¡¯s appetite was terrifyingly big, its digestion and absorption speeds also extremely scary, it could change most substances into its energy source, and it excreted its wastes in the form of poison mist, which was naturally extremely dangerous to others, but cleaned up the surroundings for Garen himself.


    "Where have you reached?" The Cthulhu King continued asking.


    "The swordswomen area."


    "Same, that last swordswoman is very troublesome, I¡¯ve been blocked here. According to the information, the third floor entrance should be right ahead, the three tunnels will converge again there." The Cthulhu King reminded, "That fellow, the Divine God Palace Master, is probably already there."


    He paused, "According to our intel, other than the three Living Secret Techniques, there should also be a Shadow Demon Mirror in there, it¡¯s an extremely powerful Heirloom that can control all the shadows in these ruins, it¡¯s a War-type Ancient Endor Heirloom, these shadows should be an effect of that Heirloom."


    "Why are you telling me all this?" Garen was slightly confused.


    "To control the Demon Mirror, you need to fuse with it for a very long time before you can embed your own spirit and will in it, it¡¯s not something you can control in a short period of time. After this, we¡¯ll still meet the strongest shadow creature, but before that I have a proposition."


    "Say it."


    "I don¡¯t want my portion of the Living Secret Techniques, I just want that Shadow Demon Mirror." The Cthulhu King said straight-facedly.


    "That Demon Mirror is linked to the rights to control all of these ruins, right?" Garen chuckled. Looking at it that way, it seemed that the two had the same value, but Living Secret Techniques could be found in other ruins as well, while the Shadow Demon Mirror could only be found here. Obtaining it would be equal to obtaining an extremely powerful shadow army. In truth, the value of the Shadow Demon Mirror was higher.


    But Garen was not really bothered with these external items, he placed more importance on upgrading himself. And obviously the Cthulhu King had a different view from his.


    "Of course."


    "What do you want from me?" Garen mused.


    After a long silence from the other side, to the point that Garen thought the line had been broken, there was finally a sound from the other side.


    "Get over here and help me settle the swordswoman leader¡­ I¡­ can¡¯t get across¡­" The Cthulhu King seemed to be clenching his teeth.


    Garen burst into laughter.


    Breaking off the button¡¯s connection, since he knew that the tunnels would merge very soon up ahead, and there should no longer be any shadow creatures ahead, he hesitated no more, and ran forward at full speed.


    ******************


    Far behind the three people in the three tunnels


    Each tunnel had a vague black shadow moving forward at high speeds, the Shadow Cores hiding in the corners on the ground constantly swallowed by this black shadow.


    His aura was growing stronger and stronger, larger and larger.


    From his initial lower Form Four level, he had rapidly grown stronger, and by the time Garen and the others faced the swordswoman leader, this shadow had already swallowed all the other Shadow Cores, growing to Form Five level power.


    Three tunnels, three shadows, each of them with Form Five level aura.


    All three were the Light God¡¯s clones, he had already been a Form Five fighter to start with, he just had not reached the peak, and the clones he had created using many years only had low-level Form Four power. Just like God Cloud from back then, peak-level Form Five power, but his clones were only at the Form Four peak, a full one level lower.


    And now, after absorbing the Shadow Cores in the ruins, the Light God¡¯s three clones were each at Form Five level power, making him exuberant.


    If even his clones had such power, if they merged together, just how strong would his actual body become? This was equivalent to absorbing all the power of the shadow creatures in the ruins, and turning them into the Light God¡¯s own reserves.


    Just like the Cthulhu King, after accumulating power over such a long time, even the exceptionally talented Phiros could not defeat him. He still forced himself into the ranks of the peak-level fighters.


    As his power increased, the Light God¡¯s ambitions grew as well, and when he occasionally sensed the three ultimate fighters moving ahead, an intense and unnamed desire began to rise in his heart.


    If the Cthulhu King died here¡­ then the Cthulhuism Society¡­ would see the birth of a new Cthulhu King!


    As for the other two, if they would obediently bow down and become his servants, they could be given a chance to live, if they were not willing¡­


    Other than the Cthulhu King, the Light God¡¯s attention was focused on Garen, this terrifying prodigy had achieved such heights in so few years, he was practically a copy of Hellgate from back then.


    Such a prodigy must have a huge secret behind him, this speed of growth was no longer something that could be explained away as talent. Just like Hellgate back then. How did Garen get the Nine-Headed Dragon totem, why did he have unlimited lives, unlike what was stated in the information? These were all unexplainable mysteries.


    There were far too many smart people in the world, they would also notice how Garen was different, but his overwhelmingly powerful abilities made it so that nobody dared to investigate any closer. Things were different now¡­


    In these ruins, under these circumstances, the Light God was confident that he could take control of the Demon Mirror, and utterly kill the three of them.

 527 Secret of the Ruins 1

    Chapter 527: Secret of the Ruins 1


    Garen stood at the end of the pitch-black tunnel, ahead was a wall sealing the tunnel shut, and there were no other branches in the path.


    He checked the surroundings carefully, but there was no way through.


    "Is it a dead end?"


    Garen narrowed his eyes, walked to the right of the tunnel, reaching out his hand to knock the hard stone wall.


    And then he walked one entire round around the dead-end tunnel, continuously rapping on the hard stone walls, making tapping sounds.


    Finally, he stopped in front of one part of the stone tunnel, and hammered it hard with his arm.


    Bam!


    The previously hard stone wall actually shattered rather easily, forming a large hole.


    With a whoosh of debris cascading down, Garen extended the area around the hole, making it larger, until it was large enough for someone to enter while bent over, only then did he stop.


    The hole was glowing faintly, completely different from the pale blue mist outside.


    Garen crawled into the hole, and emerged in another small room.


    More than ten stone tables and chairs stood neatly inside, and there were carvings of wolf beasts on the walls, there were even more than ten round nightlight gems embedded in the ceiling, forming a circle ring that lit up with a pale yellow glow.


    To others, this light was just a faint glow, and they would not even be able to see things a meter away clearly, but with Garen''s vision, the whole room was bright as day.


    The small room was cylindrical in shape, with a diameter of more than ten meters, more than ten skeletons lying all over the floor, with a layer of white membrane like cobwebs all over them, evidently these people had been dead for too long, their blood and flesh drying out until they looked like this.


    Garen walked up to these skeletons, and checked them carefully, the dozen or so skeletons were all of normal human height, and there were bits of clothes scattered around them, he just had to step on them lightly for them to disintegrate into dust.


    There was also a little arch-shaped door on the right of the room, Garen could not find anything useful on the skeletons, so he could just get up and walk into the small door, there was a narrow tunnel behind the little door, with yellow nightlight gems every ten meters embedded above,


    Garen walked several hundred meters ahead, and vaguely heard tiny footsteps from ahead, at first he thought it was the echo of his own footsteps, but once he listened closer, he noticed that the rhythm was not right, and he instantly stopped.


    The other person had evidently heard movement here as well, and stopped at almost the exact same time.


    "Nine-Headed Hydra?" There was a soft question from ahead. The voice was clear and cool, and definitely belonged to the Divine God Palace Master. The head of the nest leaders walked out from one of the three forks slowly, and faced Garen head-on.


    He was still wearing that green cloak, but the hems of the cloak were all torn up, evidently a result of the many battles along the way. But there did not seem to be many injuries on his body.


    "So the Divine God Palace Master has arrived." Garen smiled slightly in reply. "May I know how you''ve been here, Palace Master?"


    "About four days." The Divine God Palace Master had no intention of hiding it, and replied casually.


    Garen''s heart gave a jolt, if he could reach here four days in advance, that evidently meant this person was much stronger than even Garen with Doublecast. This really raised alarms in his heart.


    After all, the Divine God Palace Master was not a human, if he truly had second thoughts, it would actually be extremely troublesome to deal with him in these sealed ruins.


    Garen glanced at the branches at the detour, there were three branches in total, he was standing in one, the Divine God Palace Master stood in the one opposite him, and there was another in the center without anyone there, so it was obviously the tunnel that the Cthulhu King had gone in.


    Garen stared at the Divine God Palace Master, hesitating for a moment, and neither of them spoke anymore, the other person seemed surprised that Garen was the one who showed up first, rather than the Cthulhu King who led this whole expedition.


    "I''ll go check out how things are with the Cthulhu King''s side." Garen said quietly, and walked straight down the middle branch, while remaining wary of the Divine God Palace Master''s actions.


    It was only after he walked a long distance down the middle branch, and the Divine God Palace Master was completely out of view, that he slowly relaxed.


    Walking down the tunnel, he ran for a bit over an hour, and began to hear the sound of clashing metal in front of him.


    Soon enough, the faint blue mist in the tunnel ahead slowly faded, and was replaced by an utter and complete darkness.


    In the darkness, the red-robed Cthulhu King was being chased relentlessly by a darting black lightning bolt, seeming unnaturally out of his depth.


    "Help me!" Seeing that Garen had arrived, the Cthulhu King instantly looked overjoyed.


    Garen glanced around, there were still large shards of a chunk of the Tower Shield, it had a sharp shape, like a triangle. He kicked it up with his foot, and caught the shard in his hand with a smack.


    "Leap Slash!"


    He gathered up all the power in his body, twisted, and formed a shape like a spring, and then Garen released it rapidly as he took in a breath.


    Bong!!


    The shard in his hand instantly carved out a lightning bolt, and at the very instant the swordswoman leader connected with the half of the shield in the Cthulhu King''s hand, he slashed the swordswoman''s waist precisely.


    With a tearing sound, the swordswoman was torn in half, chopped into half at the waist.


    The body rapidly turned into black shadows and melted into the darkness, the pale blue mist filling the tunnel once more. Everything returned to being peaceful again.


    The Cthulhu King panted loudly, his chin underneath the mask dripping sweat. His long robes were also soaked with sweat, plastered to his body.


    "Much thanks." He leaned his back on the wall, took out his water bottle and gulped down some water, closing his eyes as he began to rest.


    Garen was not too bothered either, waiting quietly at the side.


    After more than half an hour, the Cthulhu King finally opened his eyes.


    "I owe you one for this time."


    "Don''t hide anything from me anymore." Garen was slightly upset about the Shadow Demon Mirror that showed up from nowhere, this news should have revealed early on, and not tacked on later. If the Cthulhu King was able to defeat this shadow swordswoman by himself, he probably would have monopolized the Demon Mirror himself.


    "It was my fault, but the Divine God Palace Master doesn''t know about this either." After Garen helped him this time, the Cthulhu King''s attitude was much gentler, and he was finally interacting with Garen as an equal of the same level. As for the grudges caused by the ten thousand mile chase from before, these were somewhat eased as well.


    "The Shadow Demon Mirror is the main control central for the whole ruins, this was never an underground city, but a military fortress, the shadow creatures left in here had actually lasted for countless years, at first the shadow team controlled by the Shadow Demon Mirror was much larger than right now, it was just that some problems appeared after such a long time."


    "I don''t care about any Shadow Demon Mirror, don''t forget the condition you agreed to before."


    "Of course." The Cthulhu King nodded, "There are three Living Secret Techniques, one is a frost-type, one has powerful life force, and there was one more that I had booked before, it''s a metal weapon-type."


    "Metal weapon works too." Garen agreed after some thought.


    "Garen, you never encountered a Living Secret Technique before, right?" The Cthulhu King called Garen''s name, in a somewhat friendly manner, he seemed to want to ease the tension between the two of them using these small details.


    "That''s right."


    "I have some info about them here, dunno if you''re interested in it." The Cthulhu King held out an olive branch, trying to fix his relationship with Garen.


    "Let''s talk as we walk." Garen was just frustrated that he did not know anything about the Living Secret Techniques, so naturally he would not reject him.


    There was no information at all about the Living Secret Techniques in the Kovitan royal library, these things were a secret that only peak-level fighters had a right to know, so there was no way it would be saved into any secret library.


    On the way back down the road ahead, the Cthulhu King told Garen everything in detail, all the general information about the Living Secret Techniques.


    Living Secret Techniques had their own innate evolution potential, if one successfully trained a normal Living Secret Technique, it would fuse all the power and blood qi in the practitioner''s body, absorbing even the source of their power, fusing and shrinking it, refining it into a Seed of Strength. This Seed would follow the direction most appropriate for the secret technique, discarding all the impurities, and reabsorbing the practitioner''s spirit and will once more, growing gradually, growing in a way that completely suited the practitioner''s own personal secret technique state.


    By then, once the secret technique was successfully trained, they would not need to learn moves anymore, and it would instead become an innate ability, almost like a talent. The so-called secret technique effect, had basically become the body''s own ability.


    The whole Living Secret Technique was just like a living creature, using the practitioner''s will and spirit, killer moves, and power source as its nutrients, after slowly growing and maturing, it would bear fruit, that being a stronger secret technique innate ability.


    It would become a natural and mysterious system rooted deep in the practitioner''s body, embedding the secret technique ability that had been refined into the practitioner''s body fully, forming an almost innate, terrifying ability.


    On the way, Garen kept going deeper into all the information the Cthulhu King was telling him about the Living Secret Techniques, the more he understood, the more amazed he felt.


    This sort of secret technique was no longer purely a secret technique, and it was instead an indescribable, mysterious seed.


    "Then can one person practice two different types of Living Secret Techniques?" After digesting the information the Cthulhu King had, he asked again.


    "Unfortunately not, but you can absorb the pros and cons of the two types of Living Secret Techniques, removing the strength secret technique system from one and inserting your own will and spirit into it again, plucking out the Seed of Strength from one Living Secret Technique, and turning it into your own power''s Seed of Strength." The Cthulhu King explained, "The Divine God Palace Master plans to do just that. Otherwise the nest leader can''t have his own Living Secret Technique at all."


    "You can do that?" Garen was slightly surprised.


    "Of course you can, but you need to really understand this Living Secret Technique, and at the same time your own secret technique system must not be rejected by it, only then can you maybe try it, and if you fail, the consequences are extremely dire, the spirit and will, as well the source of your power source that you inserted inside will disappear completely, and even the practitioner''s many years of hard effort will be utterly wasted. This is a loss of the source from your memory and your body, and it can''t be salvaged. Once you fail, the many years of power that you accumulated and tried to insert will be lost in an instant." The Cthulhu King lamented. "If the Divine God Palace Master wants to leave his destiny as a nest master, it will be very, very difficult."


    Garen nodded instinctively.


    The two of them walked forward for some time, and finally returned to the fork where the three branches met.


    The Divine God Palace Master was still leaning on the stone wall, closing his eyes and resting.


    "You''re finally here." Hearing the footsteps, he opened his eyes to look at the two of them.


    "We can enter the third floor now." The Cthulhu King nodded at him. He took a small yellow paper packet out of his pocket.


    "If you want to open up the third floor entrance as soon as possible, this would be the easiest way. I didn''t expect that I would not use it with the fire people, but ended up using it here instead."


    Garen also took out his portion of the explosive packet, and the three of them put the packets together, on the floor right in the middle of the fork. The three of them retreated respectively.


    The Cthulhu King took a match out of his pocket, lit it up, and simply threw it onto one of the fuses.


    Psst¡­


    A slight burning sound came from the fuse.

 528 Secret of the Ruins 2

    Chapter 528: Secret of the Ruins 2


    In that instant, a burst of burning red light abruptly lit up from the ground at the fork.


    Boom!!!


    The thick smell of smoke spread everywhere. The white-yellow smoke utterly covered the whole tunnel¡¯s branched exits.


    The Divine God Palace Master reached out his left hand and fanned it lightly


    Phew!


    A whirlwind started up, and his left hand seemed to leave behind a trail of after-images in an instant, as though he had sprouted more than ten palms, waving forward at the same time, which then instantly merged back into one.


    The wind that was created immediately blew the smoke into the three tunnels, and quickly revealed how the ground at the center looked like now.


    On the floor of the left by the branches, a large black irregular hole had appeared, and small black cracks could vaguely be seen in the hole. It was evidently the result of the explosion just now.


    Under these circumstances when unnatural power could not be used, it was the easiest to use a lot of special black powder to find the entrance, of course the three of them could find and create an entrance by themselves, but it would not nearly be as fast and direct as using explosives.


    The explosion had created a huge tremor, and it would reveal the hidden entrance, so they did not have to find the specific location themselves.


    "There¡¯s an entrance here as well." Just then, the Divine God Palace Master frowned slightly, his hand pressed on the right-side wall, there was also a hole with tiny cracks there, a result of the tremor.


    "Two holes, which one is it?" The Cthulhu King asked in a deep voice.


    "Do you want to split up and check?" Although Garen asked that, he was already walked to the underground hole, when his right foot stopped.


    Bam!


    A large chunk of the stone on the floor fell after one step, revealing the pitch-black tunnel underneath, it was like a deep pitch-black well, leading to god knows where.


    On the other side, the Divine God Palace Master had already quietly opened up the hole on the wall, making an oval-shaped hole that was enough for someone to enter, there was a vague blue mist coming from inside.


    The Cthulhu King narrowed his eyes, but he still followed Garen to the well. The two of them exchanged glances, and Garen just jumped, disappearing into the well directly, the Cthulhu King jumped in as well, and soon only the Divine God Palace Master was left at the fork, he looked at the hole in the ground, and then turned to walk towards the hole in the wall.


    **************


    Bam!!


    Garen landed hard on the ground, creating a middle-sized crater. The ground was a burnt-black stone floor.


    This was a huge charred-black hole, there were dark red and charred-black stone chunks all .over the walls, and a long black stone cliff in the middle of the cave. It was like a black metal bar embedded into the middle of the large oval-shaped cave.


    The cliff extended backwards, all the way connected to a pitch-black metal door on the cave walls.


    By now, Garen was half-crouching on top of the cliff, he raised his head and looked up, there was a small hole directly above him, it was the entrance he had fallen down from.


    Phew!


    Another red figure fell down, turned slightly in mid-air, and crashed towards the cliff stone floor behind Garen, also creating a crater on the ground.


    "We¡¯re here, the Hall of Glory''s Testament¡­" The Cthulhu King stood up and straightened out his long robe. His expression was slightly complicated. "This is where the Divine God Palace Master¡¯s Flame Secret Technique is. Not ours."


    "This is where the secret technique is?" Garen was slightly surprised, he looked around, but did not find any special places hiding the secret techniques at all.


    He walked to the cliffside and looked down, it was an endless pitch-black abyss down there, and he had no idea how deep it was.


    He picked up a rock the size of his head and tossed it down, but he waited for several minutes and still heard no echo.


    "So deep." Garen frowned.


    "Be careful not to fall in, that down there is the Abyss of the Dead, if you fall in, you¡¯ll just keep falling endlessly, without anything to eat or drink, falling all the way until you die." The Cthulhu King reminded him. "It¡¯s still not time for the secret technique to appear yet, we need to go into the sealed room and finish off the last guardian first, and then only can we go into the secret room to obtain the proof needed to get the Demon Mirror and the secret techniques, before we can finally split up and get our respective Secret Technique Seeds."


    "Where¡¯s the secret room?" Garen looked at the Cthulhu King, he evidently knew more about the details, so now he could only rely on the Cthulhu King to lead the way.


    "Over there." The Cthulhu King pointed a finger towards the black metal door behind the cliff.


    The two of them did not hesitate at all, walking straight towards the large metal door.


    Clack¡­


    Suddenly the large metal door began to open outwards, gradually emitting a slight clacking sound, in the middle of the large door, a bit of black abruptly appeared, and like a piece of paper being set on fire, the black burned and spread from the center towards the surroundings, the black flames flying everywhere, while the large metal door, several meters tall, was burned away soundlessly. It revealed a large bright hall behind it.


    The two of them walked inside, one after the other.


    The large hall was like a huge, wide cathedral, with the surrounding walls made of colorful glass windows, while there was a pointed ceiling several dozen meters above their heads.


    The floor was covered with old black and white interchanging bricks, the long black pews mostly damaged and old, while right ahead of them, on a dirty silver-black prayer podium, there was a black and clean thin-necked flower vase, with a wilted black rose in it.


    Garen looked towards the two sides of the cathedral, there were some round soil-yellow wooden buckets on the floor, and on the walls between the windows, there were carvings of fresh flowers and angels. Faint pillars of light shone in through some of the colorful windows¡¯ cracks.


    "Are you sure we haven¡¯t returned to the surface?" Garen narrowed his eyes as he looked at the Cthulhu King in front of him.


    "We¡¯re still way down deep underground, do you really think we could have possibly been instantly returned to the surface without any teleportation, and without us knowing?" The Cthulhu King did not even turn around as he replied in a deep voice. "Look carefully, that is not sunlight¡­ it¡¯s golden lava."


    Garen was slightly taken aback, and immediately looked at the window cracks carefully, as expected, the golden color coming from the cracks was indeed flowing slightly, it really was golden-colored lava.


    These light pillars were actually rays of light reflected from the dazzling lava.


    This entire large cathedral was actually surrounded by copious amounts of golden lava.


    Everything coming in through the cracks of the windows around them was gold-colored lava, shining down pillars of golden light, illuminating the whole cathedral and making it bright as day.


    While the two of them were observing their surroundings, a small door on the left of the cathedral also opened slowly, and a green figure walked out, it was the Divine God Palace Master who had just separated from them. When he saw that the other two were there too, he paused for a moment, and then began to consider his surroundings. When he saw the golden lava, his gaze focused as well, his expression turning serious.


    "With that, we¡¯re all here." The Cthulhu King nodded at him.


    The moment the Divine God Palace Master walked into the cathedral, the entrances they had taken to come in, be it the large door or the small one, all of them rapidly faded, vanishing. All that was left was bare walls with carved reliefs, as though there was never any entrance or large door to begin with.


    All three of them had their hearts skip a little, and they instantly walked to each either.


    Just then, in the black vase on the podium, the wilted rose moved slightly.


    Ahhh!!!


    There was a sudden scream, like the hysterical wail of a woman.


    All three of them were taken off-guard, their minds pausing for a moment, then they saw the wilted rose in the vase growing like living vines, rapidly growing many tiny black roots, looking from afar, it was as though some black liquid was flowing out of the vase, flowing down the podium, and to the ground, it was a black ¡®liquid¡¯ made of countless vines and roots.


    After the many vines and roots flowed down, they gathered and grew rapidly, becoming taller and thicker.


    Soon enough, within a dozen or so seconds, a huge black tree man, more than ten meters tall, appeared in front of the three of them.


    Roar!!


    The black tree man bent down, opening his mouth wide, and roaring in rage.


    "I will promiseseyt ma sela!!"(1) The tree man actually roared out in an unknown language.


    Countless black vines suddenly shot out of its two black holes for eyes, rapidly weaving into a huge warhammer more than ten meters long and five to six meters thick.


    Phew!!


    The huge warhammer crashed down towards the three of them.


    Barroom!


    Amidst the loud crashes, Garen and the other two separated abruptly, nimbly avoiding the hammer blow.


    But immediately after that, the tree man suddenly whipped out vines and swung them neatly behind the three, just like a whip. After several cracking sounds, the three of them were hit squarely, and flew into the corners of the cathedral like bombs.


    Boom!!


    Garen was completely dizzy and disoriented, his vision a complete mess as the world spun around him, he had been shot out straight through the air and crashed harshly into a large pile of round wooden buckets, in the midst of some shattering and crashing sounds, he shook his head, and slowly stood up among the rubble that had been the wooden bucket shards.


    He was just in time to see the giant tree man lift the warhammer, swinging it hard towards the Divine God Palace Master, who had just gotten up.


    Before the warhammer landed fully, the huge force had already created a clear circular current of air on the ground, pushing the shards of the furniture and the dust on the floor away.


    The Divine God Palace Master¡¯s ears abruptly turned black and sharp, and he even raised his arms to meet the tree giant¡¯s warhammer face-on.


    Aaaaahh!!!!!


    That piercing woman¡¯s scream rang out again, and the Divine God Palace Master¡¯s actions slowed for just a second.


    Boom!


    He was directly sunk into the ground by the huge hammer, leaving behind only a larger crater in the ground, a cloud of dust and debris flying up so nobody could see the situation inside clearly.


    "It sure has¡­ been a long time since I¡¯ve enjoyed such a one-sided disadvantage¡­" Garen chuckled under his voice, and wiped the blood flowing down his forehead.


    On the other end of the cathedral, the Cthulhu King¡¯s whole body was spinning at a high speed, his arms spread open wide, his whole person looking like a red wheel, emitting a piercing whir as he cut through the air.


    In an instant, the movement of his entire body stopped abruptly, from extreme speed to extreme stillness.


    Psst!1


    A red lightning bolt shot out from his body, and almost as soon as it did, it appeared on the brow of the tree man, it was a red throwing knife.


    With a bang, the tree man¡¯s head was thrown back slightly, and a large black hole appeared there, but it was soon filled in by black vines.


    It raised its warhammer abruptly, and swung it down towards the Cthulhu King¡¯s direction with a whoosh. But the Cthulhu King had long been ready for it, and dodged it by a hair.


    With a cacophony of sound, the long pews and several grey-white angel statues on the other end of the cathedral were instantly demolished, after the warhammer swung in one circle, it was spin in a circle and once more flew towards the Cthulhu King, who had just steadied his footing.


    However, Garen¡¯s figure had somehow appeared beneath the tree man¡¯s right foot. He drew a circle with his two arms, folding his palms together at his chest, and at the same time his chest sunk deep as he took in a long breath. It was as though his whole figure had shrunk by one size.


    "Ten Thousand Mammoth Sky Encirclement!!!"


    With a loud roar, and accompanied by the wild soundwaves, Garen¡¯s palms shot forward explosively, and crashed into the tree man¡¯s right leg.


    With the full use of his Doublecast technique, the Ten Thousand Mammoth Sky Encirclement was released in two stages. It was equal to twice the power of Garen¡¯s attack, and with his loud roar of rage and the ensuing soundwaves, it crashed into the tree man¡¯s right leg.


    Translator¡¯s note:


    This was written exactly like this (yes, English-gibberish) in the raws, no translation needed.

 529 Secret of the Ruins 3

    Chapter 529: Secret of the Ruins 3


    Ker-chak!


    The black tree man¡¯s right leg fell down kneeling, having been broken down the center.


    A large cloud of dust flew into the air, and Garen took that chance to retreat at lightning speed from beneath him, landing somewhere further away and watching the black tree man¡¯s movements from a distance.


    Just then, the Divine God Palace Master was crawling out of the deep crater, his body covered in blood, even his green cape had been utterly dyed black. He shook his head, his whole head now covered with black scales and his ears pointed.


    Psst!


    Four arms shot out from under his existing two arms, the scythe-like arms of a grasshopper, and under they glowed faintly with a flashy silver light under the golden lighting. The two arms he initially had also slowly became two scythe-like folding blades.


    His six arms in total opened and closed slightly, making snippy cutting sounds.


    Soundlessly, the Divine God Palace Master disappeared from the spot, and directly appeared, as though teleporting, in the middle of the black tree man¡¯s chest.


    With a snap, the six arms pierced deep into the black tree man¡¯s chest, and immediately afterwards, they acted like a blender, cutting at high speed, the six arm blades turning into blurred shadows that could not be seen clearly. Many vines and black roots were chopped off and flew down.


    Roar!!!


    The tree man who had just recovered his broken leg staggered back a few steps, countless black tree roots and vines extending out from all around him, like tentacles from all directions reaching towards the Divine God Palace Master.


    Die!!


    The Cthulhu King¡¯s voice said abruptly.


    In that instant, a piercing red light shot into the black tree man¡¯s right eye hole.


    The black tree man threw its head back, and fell kneeling to the ground again with a whumph.


    The red light had pierced through the back of its head, and was nailed to the wall behind it with a thump, turning out to be a sharp dagger twinkling with red light.


    The Cthulhu King somersaulted a few times in mid-air, and landed lightly underneath the flying dagger, kicking up a stone to knock the knife down with a clang, so that it landed steadily in his hand.


    By then, Garen had also appeared beside him, steadying his footing,


    "This guy is the final guardian?" He looked at the giant black tree man that was fighting the Divine God Palace Master, and asked quietly.


    "Should be, I¡¯m not very sure either." The Cthulhu King stared at the tree man, "Careful, this tree man isn¡¯t that simple."


    "You go up, I go down!"


    Garen shot out straight away, his arms like a Thousand-handed Goddess of Mercy, his palms instantly meeting in front of his chest, his eyes suddenly turning pitch-black. He was channeling the Black Water True Technique at full strength.


    "West Phoenix!!"


    There was a gust of wind like a pure bird¡¯s cry beside him.


    A pair of translucent wings of air spread open behind him.


    His palms abruptly pierced forward!


    Garen¡¯s whole person was like a piercing sword, piercing the black tree man¡¯s left leg joints in an instant. The shapeless currents formed a giant bird that screeched piercingly, almost like a solid totem, standing guard beside Garen, while at the same time, it spread open its wings and pounced towards the black tree man.


    This was purely using the peak-level shock technique, combining it with the intricate manipulation skill of the King of the Century and other higher levels, the power of this one hit had long since surpassed the West Phoenix Fist from his time in the Secret Technique World.


    His palm pressed together, he darted forward, and as the sides of his palms cut through the air, they emitted a screech like that of a huge bird, pulling in the air around him to form an incomparably sharp blade of air.


    Psst!


    The black tree man¡¯s left knee joint snapped in half with a ker-chak.


    Its whole body fell forward abruptly, and it landed face-first on the ground. A huge hole appeared in its chest, and standing in it was the Divine God Palace Master, his brow shining with a green light.


    The Cthulhu King did a somersault, his body turning into a red wheel, and he spun as he stabbed downwards.


    The red wheel stopped, and he gripped a dagger in both his hands, burying it deep into the tree man¡¯s brow.


    Bam bam bam!!


    There was a chain of explosions coming from the tree man¡¯s head. Several large holes were blown into the tree man¡¯s face.


    The three of them got up at once, leaving the tree man¡¯s body. Watching the silent tree man, they exchanged glances.


    The many vines on the tree man torso began to unravel instantly, and soon formed a huge black ring on the floor beside the tree man.


    Phwah¡­!


    The moment the ring was formed, the wounds on the tree man¡¯s body rapidly regenerated again.


    The expression on their faces changed slightly, and they rushed towards it again, but three vines twined around one of their legs each. By the time the three of them chopped off the vines around their legs, the tree man¡¯s body had completely recovered, and it crawled up again.


    "It has an Immortal Body!" The Cthulhu King was extremely familiar with this sort of ability, "We can¡¯t go against this guy with brute force, even outside it would be a Form Five peak! In here, our powers are limited, we need to think of a way!"


    "Even the Immortal Body needs a power source to regenerate, we just need to find it and destroy it." The Divine God Palace Master¡¯s icy cold voice came from nearby.


    "It¡¯s not the head, nor is it the chest." Garen¡¯s eyes lit up, "That vase!"


    "Do it!"


    The Divine God Palace Master stomped down, forming many cracks on the surface of the ground, and then he shot towards the black tree man like a missile.


    The other two also split up at the same time, forming a triangle to surround the tree man.


    Garen did not look at the other two, he just mustered up his power, and wandered around the tree man, trying to observe it and find the source of its power.


    Just now he had used Doublecast three times in a row, that took a heavy toll even on him. He was already at the limit, if he used it anymore, it would truly harm his body.


    The other two were evidently in the same boat, that terrifyingly powerful killing attacks from before should also have their cost, otherwise they would not have jumped away and rested after the black tree man collapsed.


    This time the three of them bided their time in order to recover, and carried the black tree man on a destructive wild goose chase around the cathedral hall.


    The time ticked by, and by the time the three of them were more or less recovered, the whole hall had utterly become a collapsed dump of debris.


    There were craters of different depths on the walls, the floor, and some of the windows had also cracked, some gold-colored lava forced in through the holes, like fresh blood flowing from the wounds on the walls, slow and viscous.


    There was a black circle floating around the black tree man, a spinning ring formed out of countless vines and roots, it was constantly spinning at high speeds, and its sharp edges cut everything it touched, slicing easily through everything.


    One time when the Divine God Palace Master was rushing towards the black tree man, he was touched by this circle, and three of his six arms were immediately severed, only after that could he just retreat out of this circle of blades. But even then, he had evidently taken a large blow, his eyes dim and lightless, evidently these six arm blades were not just his method of attack, they also had a close relationship with part of his body¡¯s core origin.


    After that, the three of them no longer dared to go against the black tree man with brute force, instead walking around it and waiting to recover.


    By the time the lava flowing into the cathedral gathered more and more, the space they had to maneuver began to shrink, and the three of them finally decided to face it head-on, their bodies also having more or less recovered.


    If they went on like this, without enough place to move freely, no matter how strong a person was, they would still be crushed to death by the black tree man.


    Garen¡¯s top half was practically soaked in blood, as he landed, panting, on a piece of black rock among the lava. He watched from a distance as the other two kept the rather clumsy black tree man occupied.


    "That black vase should be on his left palm!" He yelled loudly. After observing for so long, he had finally noticed where the source of the black tree man¡¯s power was. But although his body had recovered somewhat, the poisonous gases and high heat from the lava was roasting his lungs, making it so that he felt rather powerless right now.


    If it weren¡¯t for his innate poison resistance, and if someone else was in his shoes, their condition right now would probably be even worse.


    The Cthulhu King already had most of his power sapped, thanks to the poisonous gases and high heat, so he could only barely keep the black tree man busy.


    Only the Divine God Palace Master still had energy, each of his movements seeming easy and effortless, even though two of his arm blades had been chopped off, his speed still was not compromised. The lava seemed to pose no threat at all to him, he stepped in it many times, but was never damaged.


    Hearing Garen¡¯s words, the Divine God Palace Master¡¯s eyes shone, and his legs started changing shape as well, turning into two sharp silver crescent blades, piercing into the ground with several ¡®snickkk¡¯ sounds.


    In an instant, his whole person had turned into a shadow, pouncing towards the black tree man¡¯s left arm.


    Garen half-crouched on the spot, although he had forced himself to recover a bit by then, his insides were still a mess, as he was walking rounds around the tree man, he had been ambushed by the vines twice, and his body was already full on hidden injuries. If it were not for the Dragon¡¯s Heart¡¯s powerful recovery ability, he would probably have died of massive internal bleeding by now.


    Without unnatural power, the Nine-Headed Dragon¡¯s superpowered talents would not be expressed. This situation was probably the most dangerous he had been in since he transmigrated here, if the Divine God Palace Master could not finish off the black tree man, the three of them would probably all die here in this sealed room.


    "This tree man¡¯s power is at least 30 points! Its speed is about 10 points, it has the Immortal Body, and without more than 15 points in power, don¡¯t even think of penetrating its outer layer, it still has that sharp spinning ring beside it. It¡¯s basically an extremely terrifying war machine!"


    Inwardly, Garen estimated the physical attributes and abilities of this black tree person, and the result made his heart tremble slightly.


    If this creature was left outside, unless several peak-level fighters surrounded it at once, it could even have destroyed this whole world.


    And now only the Divine God Palace Master still had the means to defeat it, Garen stood up, and was just about to rush forward to continue delaying the black tree man, trying to create a chance for the Divine God Palace Master. Suddenly, a black vine shot out from behind him, and whipped towards the back of his head mercilessly.


    Garen flipped around, and jumped high into the air, as though there were eyes at the back of his head, avoiding the vines.


    And immediately after that, a sharp vine shot out from beneath his feet and through his hand. He gripped the vine tightly with his hands, holding it back from piercing his face.


    His arm and the vine were engaged in a constant tug-of-war, then Garen gradually forced the vine away from him.


    It was exactly then that, in the middle of the area, there was an explosion near the area where the Divine God Palace Master and the black tree man were fighting.


    Barroom!!


    The black cutting ring was like a bomb, turning into countless vine thorns that rained down, shooting towards all four directions.


    The many black thorns were like a black rain, shooting towards every corner of the cathedral without letting anything through.


    The countless wails of the thorns slicing through the air broke all of their eardrums at once, their ears beginning to bleed.


    But the most dangerous part was not that, it was the countless spray of thorns.


    Garen mustered up his strength, and diverted more than ten of the thorns aimed towards him, but every single one of these thorns had more than 20 strength points, so in the end, his arm strength let one through.


    Psst!


    A sharp thorn went straight through his left shoulder.


    Ahhh!!!


    Garen roared in rage, his hands practically waving into two blurred shadows, but there were still some thorns that managed to get through, piercing his right chest, stomach, and knee.


    A sense of weakness that he had not felt for a long time kept surging out from his body, Garen¡¯s right knee had been snapped, and he fell down kneeling with a bam.


    Just then, the last, largest thorn pierced straight for his brow.


    Garen gathered up the last of his strength, and blocked his head with his hands.


    Psst!!


    The thorn went right through Garen¡¯s palms, and a small part of it buried itself into his forehead.


    Garen¡¯s head fell backwards to the momentum, his whole body pushed several meters back by the force behind that thorn.


    He opened his mouth, but could not make any sound, his head tilting as he fainted to the ground. The wound on his brow began to ooze bright red blood, but it was quickly roasted into a red-black by the high heat.

 530 Secret of the Ruins 4

    Chapter 530: Secret of the Ruins 4


    Beside him, the Cthulhu King was like a sieve, everywhere except his head poked full of transparent holes, his arms and legs had been severed off as well, landing beside him. His cheeks had been pierced right through, his ears torn off and lost elsewhere, a large chunk of flesh gone from the right side of his neck, revealing the white windpipe and red arteries.


    Although he had not lost consciousness, he had it even worse than Garen, although he was still conscious, he was already utterly unable to move. Like a broken puppet, he lay on the ground, and nearly touched the lava that was extending towards him. He watched as the golden lava approached him slowly, but could not move in the slightest.


    Right now, the Divine God Palace Master was using his arm blades to impale the black vase.


    The giant black tree man crashed to the ground, turning into countless black vines and roots, these vines and roots rapidly wilted and yellowed, melting slowly, thick black smoke rising from it as it vanished from the floor.


    Other than the rubble around the whole cathedral, there was no longer any trace of the black tree man.


    The Divine God Palace Master smashed the black vase onto the floor, hard.


    Phwah!


    The vase instantly shattered into countless shards.


    Ahhh!!!


    That same piercing scream rang out again, and stopped abruptly, the pieces of the vase melting instantly, becoming the same thick black smoke, fading and vanishing away.


    The Divine God Palace Master¡¯s gaze dimmed, his arms and leg blades all turning back into normal human limbs, as soon as they turned back, he stumbled, and nearly lost his footing. Evidently he had also fought to his very limits.


    Boom¡­


    Just then, a triangular black stone platform fell down from above the cathedral, and crashed onto the floor of the cathedral.


    There was a stone statue of a kneeling angel on the platform, its eyes closed as it prayed, its hands holding a cross-shaped sword, its expression fervent, and many vines and roots surrounding its lower body.


    Directly in front of the angel statue, a clump of vines extended out, forming a black arm that held three badge-like ancient items on its palm.


    "The Secret Technique Testament¡­" The Divine God Palace Master immediately recognized the items on the palm, he took a deep breath, and tore off part of his worn-out cape so that it would not trip him. He glanced at the two people nearby.


    The Cthulhu King was on the brink of death, unable to move, while the Nine-Headed Hydra was slightly better, but even still he was badly hurt, and unconscious.


    The Divine God Palace Master stumbled towards the stone angel¡¯s platform.


    Bam!


    Suddenly a large hole was blown out of the cathedral floor to the left, a black hand sticking out of the hole and grabbing the edges.


    A black shadow jumped out of the hole, landing lightly beside the black hole, it was a humanoid figure made of pure black air, and it surveyed the situation around it.


    "As expected¡­ Just as I expected¡­ Haha¡­ Hahahaha!!!" The black shadow could not help but throw his head back and laughed heartily.


    "Who are you?" Hearing the familiar Daniela language, the Divine God Palace Master¡¯s heart sank slightly, and he stared at the black shadow. Even his steps gradually slowed from their intended path to the stone platform.


    "Although the location changed slightly, the final result is still very much to my satisfaction¡­" The black shadow gathered a pitch-black oval-shaped mirror with silver rims in its hand, there was purple mist twirling around the surface of the mirror, as though it was not solid.


    "Light God?!" The Cthulhu King from the side suddenly spoke, his voice hoarse, there was no body to his voice at all, it was just the echo of air currents.


    "King, you never thought it would be me, huh?" The Light God chortled, his body rapidly turning solid, turning back to his original Light God appearance, it was still that handsome man dressed in white with white eyes.


    It was just that his expression now was cocky to a certain extent.


    "Forget it, you three are all the world¡¯s strongest fighters, if any accident happens again that¡¯d be bad, I should send you off on your way first." The Light God held up the Demon Mirror, and shone it at the Divine God Palace Master.


    Bam!!


    The Divine God Palace Master was already almost touching the stone angel platform, but suddenly it was as though he had been hit by an invisible fist, he rolled back abruptly, lying flat on the ground, he wanted to get up, but no longer had any energy.


    "The Shadow Demon Mirror can transform creatures into powerful shadows, even their souls will have to obey me, hehe, with demon shadows as strong as the three of you¡­" The Light God could not help but laugh out loud.


    Once the three of them became demon shadows, all of their wealth, strength, power, secrets, all of it would become his, at that time, he would truly be the strongest power in the whole world, even if he wanted to unify the East and West Continents, and become the King of the World, it would not be impossible!


    Thinking of that, the heat in the Light God¡¯s heart grew so intense it threatened to overflow. He had never thought that the situation would be this good, the three ultimate fighters and the guardian had worn each other out, and now it was impossible for either side to fight back. This was basically the best possible opportunity handed to him by destiny.


    As the thoughts flashed past his head, he held up the Demon Mirror again and aimed it for the Divine God Palace Master.


    Bam!


    The Palace Master was sent flying again, but he still got up stubbornly, his gaze determined, with no hint of any wavering at all.


    The Light God began to frown, the power of the Demon Mirror changed according to the distance, the closer it was, the stronger.


    And the Divine God Palace Master evidently knew this because of the Cthulhu King, plus he himself did not dare to go too close either, who knows what other desperation moves these ultimate fighters might have, it would be troublesome if it backfired.


    He glanced at the other two, the Shadowfication worked best against people who had utterly surrendered to him, that had the highest chances of success. Although the Cthulhu King was grievously injured, if the Light God wanted to shadowfy him, he would still need to subjugate his will, this was obviously very difficult, and he was not willing to approach the Cthulhu King now, when he was still conscious, even though he was now much stronger, the Cthulhu King still had an advantage over his soul, this was a limiting method that had been buried into his soul from the very start.


    On the other hand, that Nine-Headed Hydra¡­


    The Nine-Headed Hydra was unconscious, so although he did not purposely surrender, it should still be much easier than the other two unconscious ones¡­


    Although the Light God had forcibly reached the pinnacle of power by swallowing the shadows, his previous impressions and psychological trauma made him still unwilling to face the three ultimate fighters head-on. Even if he had the Demon Mirror, he still instinctively felt as though he was no match for them. This psychological fear was the absolute impression left behind by the Cthulhu King after many, many years. It was not something that could be extinguished in a moment.


    The Light God hesitated for a moment, and then walked towards the stone angel platform, standing in front of the platform, he reached out and grabbed all three ancient black badges into his hand. He did not look at it carefully, putting it directly into his clothes. And then he leaped a few times, landing beside the unconscious Garen.


    "This is the first one, hehe!"


    The Light God pulled out the Demon Mirror, it was a black mirror the size of a washbasin, oval in shape, with tiny silver patterns on the side, every so often, there was also a small and complicated symbol, like words or perhaps patterns. There was a round pearl on the top that looked faintly purple, and there were three rings of triangular frames around it.


    The strangest part was the center of the mirror, in the middle of the mirror, as calm as the surface of a lake, there was a blurred human face, only as large as a person¡¯s palm, with eyes, a mouth, and nostrils that look like black holes, making it look like it was wailing, or terrified.


    The Light God lifted the Demon Mirror, and shone it at Garen, who was lying on the floor. The face in the mirror instantly twisted, its features instantly releasing an invisible, mysterious power. The invisible light shone down, but Garen was no longer at the place where the rays landed.


    Bam!!


    A large hand covered in scabs grabbed his hand that was holding the Demon Mirror.


    The Light God¡¯s expression stiffened, and Garen¡¯s terrifying face, covered with bloody scabs, appeared beside him.


    For that instant, his brain was utterly blank, a huge force blocking his arm stubbornly, with such powerful strength that it did not feel at all like something a heavily injured person could do.


    Scree!!!


    In that moment, it was as though he heard the piercing trill of a huge bird, instinctively, the Light God swing his fist towards Garen¡¯s stomach, his leg kicking hard at Garen¡¯s injured knee.


    Garen flung his right hand, shaking the Light God until his movements fell apart, and easily dismantled all of his attacks. And the other left arm was already coming at him with a powerful wind, forming invisible wings of air, piercing into the Light God¡¯s stomach with a hiss.


    Wah!


    The Light God spewed out a mouthful of blood, and his whole body began to fade. His lower abdomen had been completely pierced through by Garen¡¯s left arm. His body was like a dying fish, struggling on the sharp fish hook.


    "This is the kind of trash that was taking advantage of us behind our backs?" Carrying the Light God with it, Garen¡¯s right arm swung towards the ground.


    Barroom!


    A crater several meters wide opened up on the floor as a result of the West Phoenix Fist¡¯s terrifying double-amplified power, connecting to the crater beside it.


    Impaled on Garen¡¯s right arm(1), the Light God could not dematerialize anymore, and his body was brought back by the gigantic tremor. In this place that prohibited unnatural powers, he did not have the terrifying physical prowess of the other three, he only had strength and speed of his same level. Although he used to be a Shadow of Strength, and had the advantage of his strength increasing after he dematerialized, he could not use his shadow body when using the Demon Mirror, and was instead caught by Garen, who was pretending to be unconscious, so he was instantly critically injured, and was now on the brink of death."


    "Trash with just power, but without the mentality or technique, even a hundred more of you would still be crap." Garen chuckled coldly, pulling his right arm out of the Light God¡¯s abdomen, his fingernail hooking and yanking, instantly tearing off a large chunk of bright red flesh and blood, he even hooked out a large chunk of the Light God¡¯s guts, throwing all of it to the side casually.


    Beside him, the Cthulhu King also slowly hid a red needle back under his tongue.


    The green veins that had risen up slightly in the Divine God Palace Master¡¯s eyes also slowly retreated.


    With a crisp ker-chak sound, Garen tore off the Light God¡¯s head with one hand, carrying it back-handed, while he stuffed that Demon Mirror into his own clothes, but after looking for a while, he still could not find a pocket that was whole, so he had to tie up the hem of his robes, hanging it from his waist.


    Finally, he bent down to search the Light God¡¯s body, looking for the three Testaments from just now, after distinguishing them for a while, he shot two of them out.


    With two hisses, the two Testaments landed beside the other two.


    "This piece of trash dropped the Demon Mirror right into my lap, according to our deal, it should belong to me, right?" Garen laughed lightly.


    "Don¡¯t forget our deal." The Cthulhu King suddenly spoke from the side.


    Garen nodded.


    "We¡¯ll exchange in a bit."


    "Okay!"


    The Divine God Palace Master looked at Garen deeply, however, although he was a nest leader and not a human, he could still tell that these two had long since noticed that the Light God had been following them, and had staged this pretty play.


    "As expected, humans are all sly." He confirmed this again in his heart. Out of the three of them, only he had been kept out of the loop, stupidly fighting with his all against the black tree man, and now that he had been grievously hurt as well, he was now at the same level with those two.


    And there was that Light God, although he was not that strong, he was still Form Five, with powerful secret techniques and martial powers, in the hands of the Nine-Headed Hydra, though, he was as powerless as a baby, that just showed how big the difference was between the two of them, making it so that ten percent of Garen¡¯s power was enough to match the Light God¡¯s 120 percent, it was basically a steamrolling!


    The Divine God Palace Master picked up the Secret Technique Testament, and stood up without a word. No matter what, they were finally temporarily safe, although the Demon Mirror could control the shadows, but right now all the shadows had been killed, so there was no longer any power for it to control, and all that was left was to split up and get the Living Secret Techniques that were suited for each of them, as per their previous agreement.


    Translator¡¯s note:


    As usual, the raws can¡¯t seem to tell left from right¡­

 531 Secret of the Ruins 5

    Chapter 531: Secret of the Ruins 5


    After the black tree man fell, three arch-shaped black doors had also appeared slowly on the walls of the cathedral hall, as though black flames had burned through the paper surfaces, the sides of the black doors were all ashes, mingled with black and sparks.


    Garen looked at the Testament in his hand, and strode towards one of the doors, no longer looking at the other two.


    Going past the black door, he entered yet another cliff, surrounded by a limitless black abyss.


    The cliff was in a huge deep blue hole, freezing winds blowing through the air, making it unnaturally cold.


    Standing on the edge of the cliff, Garen looked down, only to see a sea of pitch-black, with the vague hint of a roiling black mist. He was all alone in here, and there was a thick layer of transparent ice on the stone walls.


    He took a deep breath, steadying his heavily injured body, and holding the ancient badges in his hand, he opened his palm calmly, then he closed his fingers down on it tightly again.


    The Testament Badge instantly sliced a small wound on his palm, the blood flowing around his palm, and dripping directly into black abyss below.


    The dark red blood drops bumped into each other and rolled about, scattering and falling into the bottomless abyss, disappearing in an instant.


    As the blood dropped down, Garen lightly released his Testament Badge, and let the blood-tainted badge slide out from his hand, also falling into the deep abyss.


    Whoosh!


    Just then, a bit of blue lit up suddenly in the deep abyss.


    At first the blue was only the size of a sesame seed, but in an instant, it expanded to the size of a fist, and in another instant, the blue abruptly rushed up from the abyss, a wave of ice cold blue air like a tide.


    A giant ice blue bird, several tens of meters tall, flapped its wings and flew out of the abyss, suspended in front of Garen in an instant, its huge bright blue eyes staring at Garen on the cliff calmly.


    The huge bird had a long tail feather, like the legendary phoenix, but it had an incomparable and terrifying icy air around it, instead of flames.


    The blue ice layer on the walls around them kept growing thicker and thicker, and within a dozen or so seconds, the whole place had become a huge ice cave.


    Clouds of almost solid cold white air surrounded the bird and Garen, singing lightly as though it was alive. That was not the sound of the wind, but rather more like a rhythm and melody.


    There was still a lot of cold blue air roiling around, expanding, a cold blue current spinning through the air like seawater.


    Garen raised his head to look at the giant bird in front of him, the huge blue wings spread open lightly, guarding him from the sides like a statue carving.


    The huge bird lowered its head slowly, its beak approaching Garen, and opening slightly.


    A dot of blue light fell out of its mouth, and hovered just in front of Garen.


    The light had a hint of pure cold inside, Garen could feel that it was not just his body that felt this cold, just looking at that dot of light, even his heart felt traces of cold.


    He reached out his right hand, and gripped the blue light dot lightly.


    He felt as though the light dot wanted to bury itself into his body, and Garen did not put up any resistance at all either, relaxing his heart and spirit, only to see the light dot dart under the skin on his palm, utterly disappearing from sight.


    As soon as the light dot vanished, the huge bird in front of him faded slowly as well, vanishing slowly as though it was an illusion. All that was left behind to prove it was not just a dream was the ice on the walls.


    Garen took in a deep breath, and carefully checked his body, but discovered nothing.


    He knew that he probably would not feel anything for a while, combining it with what the Cthulhu King said would happen before, he turned around decisively and walked towards the sealed room in the cathedral before.


    Striding back to the cathedral, he glanced at the other two black doors, and walked straight towards one of the black doors, where the Cthulhu King¡¯s scent lingered.


    Walking past the black door, he saw the Cthulhu King just barely standing on the cliff, evidently waiting for him.


    Garen tossed the Light God¡¯s head, that he had been holding this whole time, towards the Cthulhu King¡¯s direction, the head rolling to the Cthulhu King¡¯s foot, but the Cthulhu King did not even look at it.


    For world-dominating heroes like the three of them, they would never actually take such overconfident novices seriously. In the end, the Light God¡¯s self-absorbent plans and plots would have no hope of succeeding even if he was facing anyone else other than Garen.


    Precisely because he posed no threat whatsoever, they did not place any importance on him at all, forget facing him head-on or hating him.


    "Just waiting for you." The Cthulhu King looked even worse than Garen, although there was no longer blood flowing all over his body, the wounds of different sizes were still clearly visible, just one glance and more than ten wounds could be seen. Add that to his deathly pale face, and he had obviously lost a lot of blood, the fact that he could still stand out of his power and determination was enough to see how he inherited the title of Cthulhu King, proving that he was an impressive figure.


    Garen nodded at him, and strode over, taking down the Demon Mirror that he had tied up, and threw it over directly.


    The Cthulhu King also threw him his Testament directly. The two items crossed paths in mid-air, falling into their respective hands.


    Catching the Testament with a smack, Garen strode to the edge of the cliff, turning around to look at the Cthulhu King. The latter smiled at him, and wisely retreated a long distance away.


    Only then did Garen grasp the Testament again, applying slight force, so that drops of his blood instantly dripped into the abyss. After that he released the Testament again, letting it tumble down.


    In no time at all, a dot of red light lit up again deep in the abyss.


    The red light came with an intense whooshing sound, like the sound of an intense wind blowing at a huge fire, then the whole abyss just lit up suddenly, the piercing red light growing brighter and brighter, closer and closer.


    In an instant, bright red flames sprayed out of the abyss, like a sea of fire, illuminating the whole cave fiery red.


    In the middle of the flames, a huge humanoid figure, more than fifty meters tall, flapped its wings and pounced up.


    The humanoid figure was covered in red bone armor, with bat wings on its back, and every time it flapped its wings, it would bring a surge of flames.


    In just a few seconds, the red-armored figure had dashed out of the abyss, floating in front of Garen, and looking down at him slightly.


    The figure was like one of those legendary devils, with an utterly humanoid shape, black bat wings, and a pointy long black tail twisting slightly behind it. Its whole body was covered with a boiling brand-like red bone armor, and a pair of curly black horns on its head.


    What Garen admired most was the countless intricate symbols carved into its bone armor, and the black humanoid carving on the middle of its chest that seemed to be suffering. That human figure had its arms spread wide, as though crucified on the demon¡¯s chest, and its eyes were full of pitch-black smokiness, it was even wailing in a low voice.


    Just then, the devil flung its long tail, covered with layers upon layers of thorns, slightly, and it came towards Garen lightly like a snake.


    "Careful! That¡¯s the Living Secret Techniques backlash!!" Behind him, the Cthulhu King¡¯s expression changed, and he yelled hurriedly.


    "Backlash? Looks like this secret technique should be a type of demonic technique!" Garen¡¯s expression did not change. He allowed the long tail curl around him.


    There were countless scales stacking on the long tail like thorns, forming many hooks, and even the slightest touch could tear a large chunk of flesh and blood off any living body.


    With a curl of the thick long tail, it was enough to completely hide Garen away, so that he could not be seen at all.


    Garen¡¯s eyes were abruptly dyed pitch-black, surrounded by the huge tail as he stood, and suddenly he spread his arms open wide.


    Screee!!!


    The piercing cry of a huge bird rang out in the air. Currents of air flowed behind him and gathered, forming a pair of huge transparent wings, several dozens of meters long, and flapped them lightly.


    Bathump!


    Bathump!!


    Huge tremors began to spread and beat from Garen in the center, as though it was the pulse of the Earth beating.


    The Frost Living Technique that he had just absorbed was rapidly taking root and growing inside Garen¡¯s body, from his lower abdomen, growing countless tiny blue light roots, and spreading towards every corner of Garen¡¯s body.


    The most eye-catching was the Dragon¡¯s Heart in the middle of Garen¡¯s chest, the countless blue light strands surrounded and wrapped around it, the mix of blue and red forming a pulsing blue cocoon.


    The giant red devil retreated a certain distance, covering its chest with its right hand, pulling back its tail, and bowing slightly towards Garen, lowering its head and smiling as it bowed like a noble.


    Boom!!!


    The devil explosively scattered, turning into countless dark red flames, spraying everywhere and swimming about, filling the whole cave in an instant. The Cthulhu King had no choice but to retreat into the black door, watching Garen in the center of the flames from afar, that was the only place in the cave that did not have flames.


    Garen stood at the edge of the cave, a black-red cross-shaped sword impaled in the ground in front of him.


    In the middle of the sword was a carving of a suffering figure, it was just like the carving on the devil¡¯s body, its eyes flowing with black air that spilled down the black-red blade, and spreading apart on the ground, like icy cold air, sinking heavily.


    Garen reached out his hand abruptly, and gripped the blade of the cross-shaped sword lightly.


    Psst!


    A pair of black metal wings spread from the holt of the blade, the wings reflecting a faint black light, stacking and stacking, as though it was woven out of many metal wings.


    As Garen gripped it tightly, many uniform and closely-woven patterns appeared on the hilt of the blade, like twining snakes, close-knit and dense, forming a strange non-slip pattern.


    The moment he gripped the handle, Garen¡¯s originally pitch-black eyes also overflowed with two streams of black air, like the figure in agony.


    Clang!!


    The black-red cross-shaped sword was abruptly pulled out, standing straight in front of Garen, the blade of the sword as clear as a mirror, clearly reflecting Garen¡¯s face.


    Garen laughed coldly. Holding the cross-shaped sword tightly, he raised it up.


    Whoosh¡­


    In an instant, the countless red currents of flames formed a huge whirlwind of fire, as though returning to their origins, rapidly gathering towards the sword¡¯s blade.


    The many streams of flame, the many fiery snakes, all poured into the blade.


    With just over ten seconds, the whole cave had utterly cleared out, leaving behind not even a trace of fire.


    That black-red cross-shaped sword had also soundlessly faded, becoming transparent, and finally disappeared from Garen¡¯s hand.


    Garen¡¯s pitch-black eyes also slowly returned to normal.


    The cave instantly fell silent, as though the flurry of flames just now was just an illusion.


    "Congratulations, Palace Master Garen, on obtaining two Living Secret Techniques." Behind him, the Cthulhu King said loudly as he laughed, this person could give and take rather easily, and seemed to think the ends justified the means. From his arrogance at the very beginning, to his fury and helplessness afterwards, until he finally looked at Garen seriously, he could even forget about their past grudges for the greater benefit, inviting Garen to join in, to prevent the dgpm from overpowering them and monopolizing everything.


    Garen turned around, a hint of suspicion in his eyes.


    "I remembered you said before, that when obtaining the Living Secret Technique, it would often form all sorts of unique fantasies, these fantasies would mostly be an illusion formed by the unconscious emission of the secret technique¡¯s aura. But what was that just now?"


    The Cthulhu King had also seen that huge devil automatically releasing its backlash, instead smiling, bowing, and giving way to Garen. His eyes twinkled, who knows what he was thinking.


    "Or maybe¡­ maybe Your Excellency has a powerful existence in you that even Living Secret Techniques cannot resist¡­"


    He lowered his voice slightly, replying softly.

 532 Secret of the Ruins 6

    Chapter 532: Secret of the Ruins 6


    Garen looked at him deeply, that black-red cross-shaped sword was actually the materialization of the Living Secret Technique from that devil.


    And it was just then, that the two secret techniques seemed to be slowly merging inside his body, creating a strange and unique effect with his own Black Water True Technique.


    The Living Secret Techniques, especially this Secret Technique that the Cthulhu King had given him which was appropriate for himself, definitely had some special characteristics that he did not know.


    Seeing Garen''s expression sink, the Cthulhu King chuckled, leaned on the black door, and coughed a few times, heavily.


    "I didn''t trick you, this Living Secret Technique is the real deal, it just has some little side effects."


    Garen narrowed his eyes slightly, and was about to say something, but he saw the Divine God Palace Master walk out slowly from behind the Cthulhu King, and the words he had wanted to say paused in his throat.


    The Divine God Palace Master glanced at the two of them, and walked to the middle of the cliff by himself, sitting on the ground, and leaning on a protruding stone to rest.


    The three of them took up three spots in front, in the middle, and at the back of the cliff respectively, not saying anything.


    Each Living Secret Technique was an ultimate and powerful existence, once you find a Living Secret Technique that suited you, and trained it successfully, you could break past the peak of Form Five, like Hellgate, and enter Form Six, reaching a terrifying, unprecedented level. Everyone would want such a treasure, and the more the merrier.


    *********************


    More than ten thousand kilometers away from the ruins, the Enderian capital, Monolith Main City.


    The huge Monolith City was like a giant white dragon, nestled on the soil-yellow highlands.


    There were the white Enderian national flags flying everywhere in the city, the white flags with the red cross flapping loudly in the wind.


    At dawn, between the scattered swathes of green paddy fields outside the city, many teams on horseback, all dressed differently, rushed towards Monolith City under the attentive gazes of the farmers.


    Like so many differently-colored long ribbons, they flowed into the city from all directions.


    On the high walls inside the city, there were groups of totem users in white patrolling back and forth, and many Double-Headed White Eagles also flew circles in the air above the city, occasionally squawking, loud and long.


    Several huge hot-air balloons were suspended in the air, with people scattering clouds of fresh pink petals from the baskets below, forming petal rains that fell down.


    In the group headed towards Monolith City, some were riding tall horses and all other types of creatures, while others just walked, their armor bright and distinguishable. There were even some who sat in carriages pulled by flying birds and walking creatures, advancing at high speeds.


    On the two sides of Monolith City''s large white stone doors, almost a hundred meter tall, there were two giant white statues, also almost a hundred meters tall, one held a sword while the other held a shield, and both wore helmets so their faces could not be seen. There were occasionally people who stopped at the feet of these stone giants to admire them.


    Outside the city gates, the traffic kept flowing, without end, peddlers carrying fruits and vegetables, outsider totem users with weapons, swords and shields on their backs, wandering hunters with their longbows and arrows, even some stout men wearing black silk clothes, these men in silk clothes had a simple pattern of two dragon heads on their chests, and were in fact disciples of the Black Swamp Palace from Kovitan.


    "What are the Nine-Headed Hydra''s disciples doing all the way here? Could they also be here to join in the World''s Totem King Festival?"


    On the left of the large white road leading into the city, a worn old black carriage with silver edges drove in slowly, there were several black-armored guards following it, and one of the young guards spotted those few members of the Black Swamp Palace, muttering under his breath.


    "Nine-Headed Hydra?"


    The carriage''s curtain was lifted slowly, revealing a man''s face that looked curious.


    "Recently, after Phiros died in battle, his many descendants were exterminated, only his oldest son having hidden well enough to save himself. These Black Swamp Palace disciple should be out here to gain experiences, ignore them."


    "Even if the Black Swamp Palace Master himself comes here, could he be stronger than Phiros?" Another girl''s voice came out from the carriage, with an air of straightforwardness, evidently the owner was a cheery and straightforward person.


    "After coming out from underground, it''s been such a long time since I''ve seen such clear skies¡­" The woman lifted the other curtains, revealing a pretty and fair face, looking up at the sky, her bright yellow eyes revealed an ease as though she had put down a heavy burden.


    "The President has called out all of the society''s fighting power this time, and even pulled us out from underground, looks like he really means to make it big." The man said in a low voice.


    "That''s for sure, it''s just we still need to plan our move. Phiros'' final battle that time caused our President to sustain some slight injuries as well. I didn''t expect the King of Daniela to have nearly broken past that limit, if we gave him a few more years, he might really have become a great enemy of ours."


    "Thank goodness President was decisive enough, and made his move before that guy became a ticking time bomb." The man nodded in agreement. "The Divine God Palace in the south have gathered a bunch of people, seems like that old fellow hasn''t given up yet."


    The woman shook her head, and said no more.


    The man sighed.


    "After settling the King of Ender here, it''s time for we, the Black Sky Society, to unite the two continents. But I don''t know why, these past few years it''s been getting harder and harder for me to understand what the President is thinking¡­ Back then we had followed him out, just by ourselves, and after adventuring for so many years, I really don''t know if our first promise from way back then still counts."


    "Maybe¡­ the President has already forgotten¡­" The woman interrupted then, her voice extremely soft, but revealing a hint of uncertainty and worry.


    "Pass down my order, send some people to follow those guys from the Black Swamp Palace, and find a chance to clean them up." The man told his subordinates.


    "Yes!" A guard woman at the side lowered her head and accepted the order, choosing two others and leaving the team, to follow the people from the Black Swamp Palace.


    "Might as well take it as collecting some interest from God Cloud and the others," the man said softly.


    ************


    Just as the people from Black Sky were quietly entering the city.


    A hooded man dressed fully in black slowly followed the large road into the city from the other city gates.


    In the midst of the hustle and bustle, he squeezed out of the crowd quietly, and walked to the side of a fountain in the city, looking up and towards the distant heart of the city.


    There was a giant golden statue of the War God there, more than three hundred meters tall, sparkling under the morning light, the War God held a long spear, bent his right knee, and bent his body as though about to throw it, wearing just a golden gauze cloth around his body. There was a huge and thick beard on his face, a simple snake-ring belt around his waist.


    The man in black looked at the golden War God statue, the hint of a smile appearing on his bare face under his hood.


    That face had a strange metallic grey hue to it, as though he was not alive, without the slightest blush of color.


    "Eternal Night Palace¡­"


    Just then under, right underneath the War God statue, in the deepest point of the huge underground palace, up to a hundred meters deep.


    A person dressed in heavy armor and sitting on the throne suddenly raised their head, a pair of white eyes slowly lighting up in the darkness of the helmet.


    Ker-chak.


    The figure in heavy armor slowly gripped the throne''s armrest tightly.


    "Hellgate¡­ You''re finally here¡­"


    An icy woman''s voice rang from underneath the armor.


    ******************


    Inside the ruins


    Garen sat cross-legged on the tip of the cliff, staring at the other two quietly, not saying a word.


    Of the other two, one stood and one sat, but neither said a thing.


    The three of them had all gotten what they wanted, but as temporary allies, they all had their own thoughts, even if they had no ambition, they would still be worried about whether or not there was something suspicious between the other two.


    It was highly likely that the Divine God Palace Master had some plans, trying to see if he had a chance to take the things the other two had. Be it the Living Secret Technique or the Demon Mirror, neither were things that could be quickly and completely absorbed and controlled, they all required a long time to fuse and understand.


    As a nest leader, if he could kill off these two right here, then the nest leaders would have two fewer powerful enemies to face in the future, after all, such peak-level fighters were not like cabbages that could simply emerge at any time.


    But if he was to face the two of them alone, he believed that his condition right now might not allow it; one, on the other hand, was no problem. As a non-human, his recovery speed was extremely fast, and that period of time just now was already enough for him to recover part of his power.


    Garen had naturally seen through his intentions, out of wariness, he was in no rush to attack either, so he just delayed it, he was confident that his recovery was no slower than the other''s, so he was in no hurry. If at first, before he entered the ruins, he had Form Five peak-level power, then now, after learning Doublecast and spying the secrets of the Living Secret Technique, just a little, his power had gotten an even stronger boost.


    Although he did not break his limits, but compared to an old-hand elite fighter like the Cthulhu King, under these circumstances where unnatural power was limited, he was already around the same level.


    Faced with the threat of the Divine God Palace Master right now, he was not nervous either, just sitting cross-legged on the ground, to see what the other party had in mind.


    The Cthulhu King, on the other hand, had twinkling eyes, his heart somewhat unsure, his expression seemed to be saying that he was planning to let the other two fight it out and he would take advantage of it. This was already the key reason the Divine God Palace Master was wary.


    Right now, the three of them had instead formed a strange balance, and nobody dared to make the first move.


    At first the Cthulhu King did not have this intention either, but after seeing the scene with the devil just now, he began to have second thoughts.


    Looking at Garen, whose expression was steady, the Divine God Palace Master fell silent for a moment, but his gaze floated slightly towards the Cthulhu King''s direction, evidently he could not find an opportunity to attack, so he decided to switch targets instead.


    Even he, a nest leader, could read some of the Cthulhu King''s intentions.


    "Divine God Palace Master, this time all three of us have earned much from these ruins, but we are all seriously injured now, what''s say we each go back and rest, and only consider other matters once we''re healed, what do you think about that?"


    Garen spoke suddenly. He had cleverly noticed that the Divine God Palace Master''s thoughts had shifted to the Cthulhu King, and by speaking decisively now, he made it clear that he did not plan to meddle, and just wanted to go home and heal, so you can kill the Cthulhu King after I go, I won''t interfere at all.


    "Humans are all crafty and sly. I don''t trust you." The Divine God Palace Master shook his head slightly. If Garen retreated intentionally and hid, waiting for both of them to hurt each other before appearing again, that would be truly dangerous.


    "Then why don''t you leave first, and then all of us can recover, wouldn''t that be better?" Only then did Garen voice his true intentions. What he implicitly meant was, since you can''t make a move, worried about this and that, why don''t you just not do anything.


    But the Divine God Palace Master just stayed quiet and said no more, evidently trying to stall the two of them.


    Garen and the Cthulhu King exchanged a glance, and read a hint of cruelty in each other''s gazes, both of them figured out that the other wanted to join forces and kill the Divine God Palace Master.


    The atmosphere in the cave began to grow heavy.

 533 Scattered Power 1

    Chapter 533: Scattered Power 1


    The atmosphere got heavier and heavier, Garen and the Cthulhu King slowly moved their position, forming a pencil-straight line with the Divine God Palace Master in the center.


    The Divine God Palace Masters eyeballs turned slightly, the ink-green longbow on his back glowing with a hint of jade-green. He looked at the expressions and actions of the two in front and behind him, his heart sinking slightly.


    "In that case, it might be good to end things here today."


    "It¡¯s best if the Palace Master thinks that way." The Cthulhu King chuckled, and stood aside to open up a path. The shape of his mouth was slightly strange, the red needle hidden under his tongue so he could shoot it out and attack at any moment.


    The Divine God Palace Master nodded, and still did not use the long bow that remained unused, standing up slowly, his figure turning into a flash of shadow that brushed past the Cthulhu King in an instant, disappearing without a trace.


    In no time at all, there was only the Cthulhu King and Garen left on the cliff.


    "Together?" The Cthulhu King asked quietly.


    "Of course."


    Garen nodded.


    Although the Divine God Palace Master left, that was just on the surface, if he was still hiding somewhere and waiting for his chance, the dumbest thing to do would be to separate now.


    The two of them stuck together, out of wariness for the Divine God Palace Master who might still be hiding, but nothing really happened, following the crack they had fallen down from, every time they leaped up, they could instantly stab the stone wall with their arms and keeping themselves suspended. Then they could leverage on that and leap up again.


    Jumping like that again and again, soon enough, the two of them returned to the second floor branch they had used to enter the third floor.


    The branch was still covered with a pale blue mist.


    The two figures leaped out of the hole on the floor, landing lightly beside the hole, one black and one red respectively.


    The black figure was a calm-looking Garen, his golden hair cascading down his shoulder, his pitch-black demon eyes not showing any signs of receding, meaning his Black Water True Technique was constantly channeling at the highest level.


    The red figure, on the other hand, was the Cthulhu King with his body full of wounds, his face was deathly pale, and he panted heavily.


    "Looks like after going back this time, I¡¯ll need to properly rest and recover for a while."


    "Phiros is dead, the situation is extremely unstable now, do you have time to relax?" Garen raised his brow slightly. Now he could no longer compare the events to the original path, he had already turned history utterly upside down, everything had become a mess.


    Hellgate did sustain some considerable injuries after defeating Phiros, but after the Daniela War of Destinies, Ender actually did not move at all, so they evidently had some other plan.


    The Enderian King(1) and Phiros were two complete opposites, she was mad and extremely active, and most of all, she would not obey any pre-set rules, plus she was herself a peak-level totem user. Compared to Phiros, she had become famous several hundred years ago, and was a long-known peak-level fighter among the previous generation, who knows how powerful her home base was.


    This would be yet another world-ending clash.


    "Unfortunately¡­ If Phiros had been willing to join forces with me, there¡¯s no way he would have ended up like that." The Cthulhu King shook his head, lamenting.


    Garen did not say anything, he just watched the tracks left by the Divine God Palace Master around the area carefully.


    The Cthulhu King looked at him.


    "This time, both of us reaped a lot of rewards, may I know what plans Palace Master Garen has from here on out?"


    "Plans? Don¡¯t you know perfectly well what I want to do?" Garen was too lazy to beat around the bush with him, he was going to lose control of the Living Secret Technique¡¯s side effects. He moved his feet, and instantly became a shadow rushing down the way he had come.


    The Cthulhu King cackled, accepting and absorbing two Living Secret Technique Seeds at once, especially the one that he had exchanged with Garen, was not that easy a matter. But the two of them had made a deal and exchanged, neither of them had any intention of regretting it.


    Evidently, Garen had also gotten some benefits from that Living Secret Technique.


    Garen in front, and the Cthulhu King behind, both of them concentrated on rushing back, neither of them speaking.


    Right now, the green and black-red threads inside Garen¡¯s body were interweaving and tangling, darting in and around his body like countless long and thin worms, causing him unbearable agony. Thankfully, his roots were in the Secret Technique World¡¯s peak-level Black Water True Technique, so it was slowly forming a buffer between the two Living Secret Techniques, so that the two conflicts would not be too sharp, and giving him some time to breathe.


    The first Living Secret Technique he had gotten was a Frost-type. And the second looked like it would be a Fire-type, but it was actually a Metal-type, the fire devil representing the melting and forging of metal, only the black-red long sword that appeared at the end was the true Seed, the two Living Secret Technique Seeds were tangled up and clashing inside Garen¡¯s body, forming two balls, one green and one black, both spinning at high speeds. The center of the spinning was the core formed from his Black Water True Technique blood qi and the fusion power, that Garen had trained for a long time. But right now, the Black Water True Technique was being burned away quickly, every second he stayed here would cost him another portion of the Black Water True Technique¡¯s fusion power.


    Garen¡¯s heart grew more anxious, and he began to run even faster.


    Boom!


    The stone door to the ruins was broken through explosively, and a black shadow shot out, flying into the dense forest, landing on a small piece of empty land.


    There was a black eagle-drawn carriage waiting on the empty land, and a bonfire alit beside the carriage, with Demon Phoenix and Phantom reading their books beside the fire, when they heard the noises, the two of them stood up in unison, turning around to see Garen appear on top of the carriage.


    "Palace Master¡­"


    "Leave here at once!" Garen tossed the words at them, darted into the carriage, sat down cross-legged, and fell into a state of self-meditation. There was a slight sheen of sweat on his forehead, as he resisted that immense pain.


    Demon Phoenix and Phantom hurriedly put out the bonfire, got onto the carriage, and yanked hard at the ropes.


    The black eagle that had been resting instantly flapped its wings and flew up, the huge pulling forcing jerking the whole carriage hard, and then it seemed to suddenly grow lighter, rising into the air.


    The Demon Cloud Spirit Light that Garen had asked Demon Phoenix to prepare also did not come to much use this time, that thing was to prevent the other two from ganging up on him, the Demon Cloud Spirit Light was best at turning others¡¯ power into his own. It was the most effective in group battles.


    As for peak-level power, with the Form Five Demon Phoenix around, added with Garen¡¯s current recovery power, even if he did not make a move, there would still be poisonous and extremely corrosive Spirit Light aura emitted.


    Because of the merging with his aura, his Spirit Light was now a deadly weapon on its own, merged with the Demon Cloud Spirit Light, it had just nicely formed a powerful ¡®kill - convert - kill again¡¯ mode.


    Luckily, neither of the other two set down other traps, if Garen was not so affected by the Living Secret Technique side effects, perhaps this time he would have a chance instead to kill the other two, but unfortunately, he could barely protect himself right now.


    The black carriage carved out a line through the high noon air at rapid speeds, and disappeared into the sky in no time.


    On the other end of the sky, a blood-red mask appeared slowly, and then disappeared rapidly, while the Cthulhu King¡¯s figure also vanished at the same time.


    After both of them disappeared completely, outside the door to the ruins, the Divine God Palace Master¡¯s figure slowly materialized from the air, as though he had always been invisible from the start, and the other two had not noticed at all.


    Looking at the direction the two of them had left in, he touched the end of the longbow sticking out from behind his waist, a flash of hesitation in his eyes, but after a second, he still relaxed his fingers, turned around, and walked towards the other end of the forest.


    *******************


    Inside the black eagle carriage


    Garen closed his eyes tightly, biting his lower lip hard, strands of blood dripping down his chin, but he was totally unaware of it.


    Strands of black air emanated from the bottom of his body, soundlessly, creating a thin layer of ice on the wooden floor.


    He was using his heart and spirit to match the life forces of the two Living Secret Techniques, with the Black Water True Technique as a buffer that was constantly being absorbed and fused by the two Living Secret Techniques, absorbing the parts of the secret technique memories and wills that suited him, and then forming a larger, stronger clash.


    The Black Water True Technique¡¯s core grew smaller and smaller, weaker and weaker, if it went on like this, by the time the core had been utterly absorbed, all of Garen¡¯s True Technique roots would be completely gone, becoming the nutrients for the clash between the two types of Living Secret Techniques. After the conflict leveled up, there would be no more buffer in between, and just one clash would be enough to make him instantly explode, with no chance of survival.


    Garen tried his best to slow down the expenditure of his Black Water True Technique, looking for a proper rate between the buffer and absorbing speeds.


    "No! If I go on like this, I¡¯ll be sucked dry by the Living Secret Techniques sooner or later!" His thoughts were whirring quickly now. He spent so much effort for so long to reach this level, if he was forced all the way back to the start just for this one accident, it would not match his aim for coming here to these ruins.


    Reaching out his hand, he opened up his palm, his palm and fingers emitting tiny whiffs of black smoke that seemed to come alive, destroying and absorbing all of the other impurities and traces on his body, fusing away the useful ones and forcing out the useless ones.


    He took the Original Eye out from the War Chain on his arm, and fused in the black smoke. Those black flowers with the frost spirit power were also fused and absorbed into the black smoke, forming nutrients to temporarily slow down the two Living Secret Techniques.


    Only when absorbing nutrients will these two Seeds slow down their number of clashes, so although he knew this was barely helping and could make things worse, Garen had no choice but to do it. It was better than the very foundations of his Black Water True Technique being destroyed in front of his eyes.


    After the Original Eye was pulled inside, the two seeds suddenly paused abruptly, splitting into half each, and greatly reducing the speed of the clashes, after the black flowers were added in, it just slowed the spinning speed of the Frost Seed.


    This way, the endgame of being torn apart and exploding to death within possibly a day was extended to at least one week.


    These two Secret Technique Seeds were like greedy beasts, continuously absorbing the structures and sources of the same type that they did not have, trying their best to improve and perfect themselves, and as they perfected themselves, they would also release spirit energy to improve their true bodies, if there was just one type, it would just nicely improve Garen¡¯s body, and may even reach the next level. But if there were two types, that would be bad. The two spirit energies clashed with each other, you want to change it this way, he wants to change it that way, and neither giving way. In the end the one being pulled apart painfully in the center was Garen himself.


    He knew that he had been careless this time, he did not think that the Living Secret Techniques would be such dominating things, and they had their own instincts as well. But before actually experiencing it, nobody would know that the fusion of two Living Secret Techniques would create such a terrifying clash and conflict.


    "It¡¯s not like I really have no way¡­" Garen¡¯s eyes twinkled, "If I completely ground down both secret techniques, and let the places where they clash round out completely, so that they¡¯re not so sharp, and find the similarities between them, the two Living Secret Techniques can become one. All the power can be converted into mine. Only then will I truly obtain the legacy information for the Living Secret Techniques."


    Right now, because of the secret technique resistance, he had practically yet to truly obtain the ways to train and the secret technique information from the Secret Technique Seeds.


    "In that case, the required conditions are¡­" His mind spun rapidly, going through all the massive amounts of knowledge he had accumulated from before, one by one, each of the different systems trying to create models, failing and collapsing each time, then attempting to build them up again from scratch.


    Translator¡¯s Notes:


    Yep, it seems to be a female ¡®King¡¯.

 534 Scattered Power 2

    Chapter 534: Scattered Power 2


    Seconds ticked by, then minutes.


    The Black Water True Technique was being worn down constantly, while the Nine-Headed Hydra¡¯s talent and ability, Swallowed Lives, had been completely destroyed and broken down at this point. It was eliminated immediately as an impurity by both of the Secret Technique Seeds, meaning that Garen would lose his Swallowed Lives ability completely.


    All this while, he had killed innumerable enemies and overcome countless obstacles with this ability. But now, he could only stop and stare while it rapidly disappeared into black smoke following the decline of the Black Water True Technique.


    However, this was only the beginning, as the Nine-Headed Hydra¡¯s tremendous recovery abilities were beginning to decompose and dissipate slowly as well.


    Garen knew that if he did not find a solution soon, his other abilities such as Dragon¡¯s Roar, Poison Mist Corrosion, and Dragon Demon parasitism would be torn apart before decomposing one by one.


    The Black Water True Technique had fused with Garen¡¯s own Core Totem and the Nine-Headed Hydra¡¯s genes, but once it decomposed fully, other than losing his Dragon¡¯s Heart, he would also be degraded to the level of a basic Totem User, one who lacked even a Totem.


    Garen came up with various solutions and adjusted operation models but ended up destroying one after another, despite using every single one of his twelve intelligence attribute points. If he became a regular Totem User again, it would be impossible for him to create models or develop his logic skills this quickly, even if he happened to be the highest leveled Totem master.


    Garen¡¯s powerful neurons made it possible for him to use up to two techniques at once, allowing him to attempt to establish two different models simultaneously, instantly increasing his speed by twofold.


    After a seemingly endless period of time, the flying carriage jerked suddenly, as if it had landed.


    Garen opened his bloodshot eyes, before getting up to open the curtains.


    "Welcome, Palace Master!!"


    In the middle of Black Swamp Palace¡¯s plaza, more than a hundred inner palace guards and administrators formed two lines to welcome Garen. Both Skyharp and Blizzard walked towards him, but when they saw him alight from the carriage, their expressions were overcome with shock. They stopped in their tracks. Skyharp even took two steps backward.


    Garen¡¯s entire body was currently shrouded in pitch black smoke that swirled around him, binding him terrifyingly like black string. Below his feet, layers of black ice formed on the ground instantly on the plaza¡¯s white stone floor, wherever he stepped.


    While looking at both of their frightened and uncertain faces, Garen chose to skip his explanation, before a raspy noise escaped him.


    "Take me to the Nine Snakes System!"


    "I¡¯ll go inform the Technique Hall!" When Blizzard noticed the severity of the situation, he instantly turned himself into snow before dispersing throughout the ground.


    Skyharp hurriedly removed multiple bottles of fiery red medicine, before applying them directly on Garen¡¯s body.


    Shh!


    When the black smoke and red medicine came into contact, puffs of white gas formed there.


    "I can only temporarily stop your poisons from spreading further," said Skyharp truthfully.


    "I know." Garen took long strides towards the inner palace, walking directly towards the core of the Nine Snakes System¡¯s controls in the side hall.


    The black smoke was actually poisonous mist formed by the scattering of the Black Water True Technique, that had the potential to injure innocent lives in a moment of carelessness. Skyharp noticed this, and took the necessary measures to prevent it.


    Demon Phoenix and Phantom alighted the carriage with gloomy faces, staggering as they got down. It was evident that they had been poisoned slightly. Skyharp rushed over to administer the antidote to both of them.


    Meanwhile, the black hawks that pulled the carriage earlier now screeched their final breaths, collapsed on the ground, before melting into puddles of black water slowly.


    Garen walked towards the core of the Nine Snakes, leaving heavy black smoke footprints on the ground with every step he took, all the while more smoke dissipated out of his body like shadowy tentacles.


    The scattering of the Black Water True Technique caused incomprehensible pain throughout his whole body, as if numerous saws were tearing through his flesh.


    Although Garen was strong-willed, the pain made it impossible for him to walk properly. Every step he took was difficult and sluggish, and he began to stumble as well, as if incredibly heavy chains were dragging him from behind.


    Some of the decorative plants and flowers around him wilted and turned black instantly when he walked past, before melting into puddles of black water.


    Thin layers of black ice formed on the surfaces of the stone furniture. Meanwhile, the maids and guards that passed by were unable to avoid him in time froze into black ice sculptures. Some even remained in their bowing positions.


    Garen could faintly hear the ear-piercing, terrified screams that echoed throughout the palace endlessly, and the noise of frantic stomping, as well as the shattering of expensive porcelain.


    Once he had walked into the side hall where the Nine Snakes'' controls were located, he noticed that all of the Elders that were in charge during his absence had gathered there as well.


    The image of the Nine Snakes had solidified and appeared long ago, and was now bowing in front of Garen.


    Upon seeing Garen¡¯s condition, grave expressions appeared on the faces of the Elders from the Seven Night Tower and the Island Masters.


    However, Master Calingan of the Technique Hall became extremely anxious.


    "You¡¯re scattering?!" He recognized Garen¡¯s condition at once.


    The remaining Elders were currently in shock. Garen was the core of Black Swamp Palace, but during his absence, the effects of his scattering had grown severe. Everyone merely exchanged glances, unable to think of anything to say.


    "You were able to tell¡­" Garen could barely force a smile. He had already combined the knowledge systems of all three worlds to find a barely usable solution. "Nine Snakes, Master Calingan, I need an environment with sufficient pressure, water, and low temperatures. Please hurry!"


    Since Nine Snakes had collected all of the purchasable maps in the world, while Master Calingan was a high leveled Totem master, perhaps they would have a solution.


    "The current situation requires us to delay the scattering speed immediately!" As a fellow technician, Skyharp had the highest authority to speak.


    "Alert the outside immediately! Glittering Water possesses certain buffering functions! Bring the closest reserves now! Hurry!!" Master Calingan found a delaying method instantly.


    "I have searched for the best locations." The image of the Nine Snakes made a noise at once. "These three locations can be consulted. Number one: The Mesir Valley draught. The strong wind pressure there fulfills the conditions that require high pressures, and the fierce winds will remove excess heat while producing extremely low temperatures. There is also a little lake within the valley, fulfilling the criteria of water."


    "Number two: The depths of the North Sea. A freezing environment with deep waters, low pressures and temperatures, as well as a water source are all present."


    "Number three: The Mola Snow Caves. One of the Nest Leader¡¯s hideouts in the northern area where an icy pond with flowing water is located. The icy water there is a hundred times denser than mercury. Therefore, immersing oneself into its depths will also fulfill the above criteria."


    Garen muttered to himself for a moment, while his brain searched for the best location quickly.


    "To the North Sea!"


    The entire Black Swamp Palace was thrown into a frantic state. Under the petrified attention of numerous guards and maids, the Elders and Demon Phoenix carried Garen into the Flying Hawk Carriage carefully, before it flew towards the North Sea.


    All of the forces inside the Black Swamp Palace stopped their activities at once, postponed their plans, and suppressed their powers while waiting for the news.


    Meanwhile, two out of the three remaining Gargantuans in the Kingdom had already left for the Eternal Night Palace in Ender to get in on the action.


    Only the Princess¡¯s forces had remained to form an active alliance with Rainbow Domain, while a large black minaret was being built in her own mountain peak regions for unknown reasons.


    Black Swamp Palace was never interested in their power struggle or various plots. Therefore, the other forces were uninterested in their current actions as well.


    From their perspectives, Garen was merely an individual who was attempting to achieve peak levels, and as long as they did not disturb him, he would not be a threat to them at all.


    So Garen left Black Swamp Palace silently, leaving the Ultimate Protection, before flying towards the direction of the polar circles of the North Sea.


    ****************


    A few days later¡­


    The depths of the North Sea.


    A black Flying Hawk Carriage speeded over from afar, before hovering over the surface of the sea slowly.


    Suddenly, a black shadow leaped out of the carriage gently, splashing into the turbulent blue waves like an arrow.


    Crash!


    White sea spray splashed up from the icy seawater, before returning to a calm state immediately afterward.


    A sea of complete blue covered the surroundings.


    Garen fell into the sea, before rolling around, and looking upwards at the surface. He noticed the bubbles that floated around his body like strings of transparent pearls.


    His eyes, ears, nose, and mouth were filled with icy seawater, making him feel extremely suffocated.


    Rays of white light permeated the the surface of the sea and into the depths below, giving the illusion that there were multiple layers within the blue sea.


    Black smoke drifted out of Garen¡¯s body. He looked up at the light above his head, before slowly sinking into the murky depths of the sea


    The light drifted further away, before everything grew dimmer.


    His surroundings became colder and darker.


    Garen opened his eyes wider to look at the single dot of light above his head. He did not know how much time he had spent sinking.


    The black smoke mixed with the surrounding seawater, while a school of whitebait swam past him. However, after swimming for a short while, all of the fish turned over and floated, belly up, all signs of life snuffed out of them.


    Below him was an endless abyss. Garen flipped over and moved his arm gently, quickening his dive towards the depths of the pitch black sea.


    Gradually, his surroundings soon turned to darkness, devoid any light.


    Garen could now feel that the scattering effect had slowed down slightly. The heavy underwater pressures had replaced the Black Water True Technique, becoming nutrients for the Metal Secret Techniques, while the extremely low temperatures had become the corresponding nutrients for the Ice Secret Techniques, decreasing their speeds of decomposing the Black Water True Technique.


    However, this decomposition had not stopped fully, and Garen did not hesitate before diving deeper.


    Suddenly, a transparent, gigantic disc-shaped jellyfish swam over from afar. The jellyfish emitted dark blue light throughout its whole body, resembling a light bulb that could be seen clearly in the dark. When the jellyfish noticed Garen diving towards itself, it positioned its skinny tentacles and prepared to sting him. Its body froze suddenly, its light dimmed and shut down completely, before it melted into an ink-like poison that was finally dispersed by the water.


    The current depths of the waters were unknown, but the high pressures of the surroundings made it exhausting for even Garen. A regular Totem User that was Form 4 or below would implode completely within moments of entering this place.


    Although Totem Light could filter out the oxygen in seawater, it could not withstand these terrifying underwater pressures.


    This was the largest trench in the depths of the icy North Sea. Garen could not see what lay at the bottom of the sea, as it was completely dark.


    He fumbled around the trench and furiously dug a large cavern beside an upright precipice, before hiding himself inside.


    While Garen sat cross-legged inside the cavern, he noticed that the pressure had alleviated the effects of the scattering greatly. Unfortunately, his Black Water True Technique was left with its last parasitic Dragon Demon, and the last thing that was decomposing was his strongest core ability, Nine-Life!

 535 Abyss 1

    Chapter 535: Abyss 1


    The absence of the Nine-Life Talent meant that Garen would lose his greatest advantage against the other peak individuals. Therefore, he had to find a method to cure the after-effects of both his Living Secret Techniques while he remained in this delayed decomposition environment.


    Garen closed his eyes, seemingly free of worry about any trouble breathing he might encounter. This vitality underwent the modifications of the Nine-Headed Hydra¡¯s genes, he gained a Totem Light type ability entering Form 5. Absorbing oxygen from seawater was a simple skill he had acquired, as it was one of the basic abilities of Totem Light.


    It happened the moment he shut his eyes.


    Thick black mist rose from his body quickly, dispersing in all four directions.


    While Garen remained as the center, the surrounding water within a hundred mile radius gradually slowed in its flow, before appearing to almost solidify. The deep sea creatures around him escape by swimming towards the further parts of the sea.


    At this moment, the sound of a resonance signal escaped from Garen¡¯s body, transmitting itself to the flying carriage that was hovering above the surface of the sea.


    Almost instantly, more than ten giant, dark blue Sea Hawks flew over the sky. The white-clothed Totem Users in who rode on the backs of these giant birds had dignified airs about them.


    They were clad in white fur coats, and wore the symbol of the number seven in blue. Blizzard, Angel of the Night, and Spellcaster were among them.


    "Courteous Tower Lords of the Seven Night Towers, I apologize for the trouble," Ivycius¡¯s voice could be heard from the black carriage.


    "As collaborators, we would never dream of neglecting such a simple task, much less a request from the Palace Master," answered the Grand Tower Lord politely. He was a feeble old man with a white beard that covered his whole face. "Food and drinks will be sent daily, as building a continuous passageway will take a considerable amount of time."


    "That¡¯s fine," replied Ivycius. "We must request for the dwellings to be built sooner, so that Skyharp and myself will have a convenient place to stay."


    "Of course," replied the Grand Tower Lord respectfully.


    He had felt a terrifying force the moment the black carriage arrived in the north. This force had greatly exceeded the powerful strength of his own Precious Heirloom, therefore he did not dare to remain idle, and instead gathered all of the other Tower Lords to welcome the visitors immediately.


    He could only breathe a sigh of relief after witnessing Palace Master Garen sink into the depths of the sea, meaning that he had really come here just to retreat.


    Among the people that arrived, he noticed that Ivycius, and another Elder called Phantom, were also first-rate professionals of the same level as himself, while Ivycius¡¯s aura showed signs that he would break through any minute. Meanwhile, the other one, Demon Phoenix was impenetrable, meaning that facing her was like encountering an endless abyss. It was strange for such a powerful individual to merely be one of Palace Master Garen¡¯s subordinates.


    After witnessing this scene, the Grand Tower Lord thought of the good relationship between the Seven Night Tower and Black Swamp Palace, and his heart ignited with a fiery passion.


    "From today onwards, these waters will be designated as Black Swamp Palace¡¯s marine territory, and it will be our responsibility to provide the manpower to guard this place," said the Grand Tower Lord earnestly.


    "That will be unnecessary. Palace Master only requires utmost secrecy. He does not need people to guard this place as both of us will be sufficient," said Ivycius in a lowered voice.


    "Utmost secrecy, you say?" the Grand Tower Lord nodded certainly.


    Suddenly, shocked faces appeared throughout the crowd as they lowered their heads to peer into the sea.


    They could see that the previously dark blue seawater was now tinged black. Choppy waves crashed about the turbulent water, while the amount of crushed ice within the sea increased.


    Minor changes had appeared throughout the sea.


    The Grand Tower Lord¡¯s expression changed slightly, as his fingers frantically drew gestures in the air. Instantly, a ray of white light shot out of his sleeve, but disappeared in flash.


    The Grand Tower Lord closed his eyes and concentrated, attempting to detect something.


    Moments later, he opened his eyes again, his face overcome with a grave expression.


    "These changes have appeared throughout the entire hundred mile expanse of the sea!"


    "It¡¯s Palace Master!" said Demon Phoenix suddenly. "I could feel his breath!"


    The three members of Black Swamp Palace exchanged glances but remained silent, merely observing the incomprehensible changes that were occurring below them.


    However, the members of Seven Night Tower were overwhelmed with shock. If Garen managed to cause these extreme changes despite being submerged in an abyss over ten thousand miles deep, they would have to reevaluate Black Swamp Palace¡¯s strength again.


    This was not something within the reach of a regular Form 4!


    Below the crowd, within a hundred mile range of the sea, the seawater started turning dark and cold. Dead fish and struggling sea creatures floated up on certain parts of the water. Colorless poisons spread across the expanse of water, before the entire hundred mile stretch of the sea was completely polluted, into an extremely terrifying and toxic no-entry zone.


    Garen, who was currently located below the depths of the sea, was covered from head to toe in streams of green and red water. A thin layer of ice spread around him slowly while he remained in the center.


    He raised his head and looked at the darkness above him, before closing his eyes slowly and sinking to the bottom with all his might.


    *********************


    Many months later¡­


    Boom!


    Thunderous noises echoed from the rolling black clouds.


    Below the black clouds were seemingly endless red plains. Meanwhile, Nest Monsters had gathered there in large herds, resembling a huge wave.


    Giant White Bats and Red Unihorn Lizards flew around in the sky like flying insects. At a glance, they looked like clusters of little red and white dots.


    On the side of a dark red cliff where countless Nest Monsters were camping stood three silent figures, looking at the terrifying Nest Monster army in front of them.


    A slender male figure in a green cloak stood in front, shielding himself so that only his eyes were exposed. He carried a dark green longbow on his back and wore a green hood on his head, giving off an indescribable sense of mystery and quietness.


    The other two figures behind him were also clad in long grey robes, making it difficult to observe their bodies.


    Dark clouds rolled through the sky, before a round hole appeared above the heads of the three people. A ray of white light shot out of the hole and formed a white pillar of light, descending upon the green cloaked man¡¯s body.


    He stretched his hands out before, a green, dark, exquisite longbow appeared in them instantly. It was the same bow that he had been carrying on his back earlier.


    There was a spherical object at the center of the longbow that was constantly rotating.


    After two crisp clapping noises, two blood-red wheels aimed at each other appeared on both sides of the bow. Meanwhile, a small, green snake slowly appeared on the body of the bow and slithered around silently, before coiling around. Finally, it gradually stiffened in place, before turning into a snake-like embossment.


    The white light grew brighter, and along with it the faint light that reflected off the bow became clearer.


    The man in the green cloak held the bow and arrow with both hands tightly, before raising it upwards with a quick motion.


    Boom!!!


    Numerous Nest Monsters exploded in an instant, letting out angry howls.


    The Bats and Salamanders in the sky poked their necks out and screeched, while the black Mammoths, Four-Winged Giant Pythons and the other strange and powerful creatures howled in anger, as if they were about to unleash all their strength at once.


    "This is a war of vengeance!" A cold male voice echoed from the green cloak.


    *******************


    Time flew by, as more than a year had already passed since Garen entered the depths of the North Sea.


    The world fell into a surprising state of calmness.


    Obscuro Society had gathered all of their forces in Ender, but since Hellgate did not make the first move, Ender¡¯s Eternal Night Palace seemed like a powerful moat that was obstructing all of Obscuro Society¡¯s Marshalls.


    Strangely enough, Hellgate had suddenly disappeared for seemingly unknown reasons right in front of everyone.


    The World''s Totem King Festival in Ender had gone on for more than a year, and after the selections from the first match were decided, the strongest competitors were about to enter the semifinals.


    Within the span of a year, eighteen competitors were finally selected for the semifinals, and each of them were peak Totem Users from across the land. Now, they were about to enter the Eternal Night Palace for the final matches.


    Ender was simmering from within. The relationship between the local aristocracy, the army generals, the exterior forces and Obscuro Society were inexplicably complex and entangled.


    Simultaneously, something else was happening on the vast red plains on the other side of the Vicra Mountains, in the northwestern part of Ender.


    Obscuro Society¡¯s numerous Empowered armies were engaged in a frenzied battle with the Nest Monsters. The Nest Leaders¡¯ territory was a restricted area for humans, but Obscuro Society¡¯s Silver Totems had invaded their Core areas.


    Dark red, rotting corpses and skeletons could be seen everywhere, dyeing the area in a deeper shade of mahogany, while black smoke incessantly wafted out of certain places. It came from the war weapon that the Nest Leaders¡¯ had built, the Rotting Well. This weapon was able to cause a continuous rotting effect to the armors of its enemies throughout a range of many kilometers.


    The Rotting Wells resembled eyes that were flashing, with green light in the ground, but once its source was smashed open and the contents of its core flowed out, some of it remained dark and indistinguishable, while the rest of it gathered into winding, glowing green streams.


    Monster corpses and Silver Totem skeletons were piled together, while flies and other flying insects buzzed around them. Flesh-eating insects had crawled into some of the corpses as well.


    In the center of the red plains, where everything remained silent, a bright red pool was in the middle of the corpses, while the skeletons of two giant dragons formed a ring around the pool of blood.


    Divine God Palace Master sat cross-legged beside the blood pool. He wore a black eye patch over one of his eyes, while his body was still covered in the same green cloak, except that it was now torn, with holes and blood stains all over.


    Some of the blood inside the pool gathered slowly and formed a bloodied human figure. The human figure stood opposite Divine God Palace Master, while the corners of its mouth cracked suddenly, exposing a strange smile.


    "It is almost time." The volume of its voice fluctuated like a communication device with strong signal interferences.


    "That¡¯s right."


    Divine God Palace Master remained silent before closing his eyes slowly.


    "You sacrificed millions of soldiers this year just to temporarily obstruct my return to the inner world, but for what?" asked the bloodied human figure in a low voice. "The flesh of two Time Dragons in exchange for the Original Heirloom to return as the core of the bow, and a pool of the blood of millions of soldiers¡­ How generous¡­"


    Divine God Palace Master did not reply, choosing to remain silent for a moment.


    "You will die by my hand."


    He stood up and turned around, before walking far away, without the slightest hint of nostalgia.

 536 Abyss 2

    Chapter 536: Abyss 2


    He knew that this place would not be able to withstand one of the strongest Totem Users anymore. However, his continuous acts of vengeance caused serious losses towards Obscuro Society. Within the span of a year, most of Obscuro Society¡¯s Silver Totems had destroyed the blood pool in order to save Hellgate. They charged forward without caring about their own safety..


    Both sides suffered numerous casualties during the battle with the Nest Leaders, forming the red plains and sea of countless corpses.


    The absence of proper leadership resulted in the stalling of their forces by the Eternal Night Palace, causing Obscuro Society to suffer extremely difficult setbacks. Without powerful battle forces on either side, the Nest Leaders were able to obtain great advantages.


    This was the first step of the complicated plan that Divine God Palace Master had drafted out after he had obtained sufficient Living Secret Techniques.


    The King of Ender cooperated and tempted him personally, hastening the creation of the blood pool. After Hellgate had entered the inner world, he could control and interfere with his exit and entry points freely. However, these complicated plans involved too many people.


    They would only be able to obstruct Hellgate in the inner world, making it impossible for him to return temporarily. Meanwhile, it would only last for a year.


    An outcome like this¡­


    ****************


    Kovitan Kingdom


    This place had changed completely after a year.


    While Garen sealed himself at the bottom of the sea, Ivycius and Skyharp guarded the area, leaving the tasks of the Black Swamp Palace to be handled and discussed by the Elders, allowing Demon Phoenix and the other Elders that had just entered the palace to pass their time comfortably.


    The White Knight tribesman and princess that Garen had saved in the field formed a new force after entering Black Swamp Palace. The leader of the White Knights from the White Wind Tribe progressed quickly, and obtained the necessary Appraisal to practice the Black Water True Technique. Once he had coordinated and refined it to his Secret Technique, his powers broke through to Form 4 suddenly, leading him to form the White Knights of the Wind that were unwaveringly loyal to Garen. They were in stark contrast in comparison to the Black Knights of the Four Directions Sky Warriors. Once they had obtained power, their initial plan was to return to their village for vengeance. Unfortunately, their enemies had left their original locations for good and were nowhere to be seen.


    Demon Phoenix and the others spent their days enjoying themselves in a comfortable environment that most people could only dream of experiencing. Occasionally, they would travel to the North Sea to check on Garen¡¯s condition. After Garen took them out of their rural homes, they became inseparable from the new dazzling world that they had stepped into. However, their reveration for him remained deeply rooted in their hearts. They would never dare to have other intentions even if they were enticed by others.


    Within Black Swamp Palace, only Demon Phoenix and a few others were the clearest about the exact details surrounding Garen¡¯s existence. During the past year, she had restored herself to middle-level Form 5 completely. However, an exhausted feeling still lingered whenever she faced Garen.


    While Black Swamp Palace held their troops back and recuperated, the other forces in the Kingdom, including the other three Gargantuans, gathered crowds of Totem Users and civilians that were seeking refuge, before beginning to build two cities outside the protection areas.


    The Princess¡¯ constructions were finally revealed. They were called ¡®Dawn Towers¡¯, and the five towers that she had built within her domain were able to gather Totem Powers and shoot them across distances of more than a thousand meters. They also possessed the ability to amplify powers, allowing the Totem Users within her domain to experience power upgrades of up to ten percent.


    This was a frightening enhancement. Moreover, it also meant that the Princess had first-rate master Totem Forgers among her subordinates. She would definitely have Grand Duke Benoc¡¯s support behind her as well.


    Meanwhile, Grand Duke Cody concentrated all of his efforts in the new city, and gathered a large group of regular Forgers to build a superweapon called the Kars Cannon outside the city walls.


    This weapon used the Totem Light of fifty Totem Users to cause terrifying explosions within seconds. It was rumored to be the invention of a young prodigy Forger that had fled to Kovitan, thus giving the cannon its name.


    On the other hand, internal disputes of interest occurred after the heads of the guild alliances took in Totem Users from the outside, causing numerous large-scale forces to fall apart during the war. This led to changes in the political regime, causing everyone to become weaker in the end, while the Four Gargantuans were also threatened to be removed from their seats.


    Through Demon Phoenix, Garen was not completely cut off from the outside world during this period. Instead, he knew the changes and developments of the current situation clearly.


    As for the other forces in the Kingdom, Garen was unconcerned about them. This information only reached him because of the close distance between them and Black Swamp Palace. Although the palace did not participate in their affairs and remained detached, they were still aware of certain happenings.


    In comparison to the incidents that were ongoing in Daniela, everything else was unimportant. Out of the countless messages and news that he had received, the thing that shocked him most was not the news of Phiroth¡¯s death in battle. Instead, it came from the largest civilian assembly fort in the world that had been built in Daniela ¡ª Heart of Life.


    A large-scale, widespread epidemic had appeared within the Heart of Life, and before the news reached him, more than a hundred thousand people had already died from being infected there! In the beginning, the spread of this epidemic was quarantined within the fort, but once it reached this stage, they were unable to suppress it anymore, causing the situation to reach an extremely dangerous degree.


    The scariest part of this epidemic was not its hundred percent mortality rate, but the fact that it would turn the dead into zombie-like monsters. These monsters hunted the living as food and roamed about. Moreover, they would still be able to live for a few days even if their heads or hearts were destroyed fully.


    This made Garen faintly think of the living corpses that he had encountered the first time he entered the mysterious Ghost City. The surroundings of the capital of that little country were filled with the strange zombies that were described earlier.


    Vaguely, he could feel that it was highly likely that this epidemic was connected to Ghost City.


    The occurrences in Ghost City were caused by the black copper phenomena, of which the root cause was black copper, and the source of the black copper phenomena was very likely to be Hellgate.


    Since the situation had reached this degree, it had left the original timeline completely.


    Hellgate had disappeared temporarily, and another person had similarly disappeared without any news was Divine God Palace Master.


    The Three Territories had formed a temporary alliance, cooperating as one major force. The other domains were thriving prosperously, becoming the largest, ideal, living stronghold outside Ender and the Ultimate Protection area.


    ****************


    A pale blue light twinkled at the bottom of the pitch-black sea, faintly illuminating the surrounding waters beneath the deep sea.


    Within the bottomless ocean abyss, a cluster of gigantic, hundred meter tall icicles were erected in the large marine trench. The sharp icicles stood upright like an array of long transparent spears that were faintly stained black.


    In the middle of everything, within a sharp large icicle that was over ten meters thick, was the source of the twinkling pale blue light.


    In front of the icicles was a stretch of icy ground.


    As it was situated in the opening between two marine trenches, gallons of seawater had frozen into ice because of the extremely low temperatures, while the bottoms of the marine trenches were completely filled with ice, forming a gigantic ice mountain that filled the marine trenches at the bottom of the abyss.


    The ice mountain was translucent and slightly black, and behind the pale blue light in the center, situated within a large icicle, was a slender golden-haired man that had been frozen within the ice. The man was unmoving, while both of his eyes were slightly shut as if he were in deep sleep. However, it also seemed as if his gaze was fixated on something in front of him.


    Meanwhile, a handsome man with a head full of long white hair sat cross-legged on the icy floor in front of the icicle. He wore a long white robe with a silver-black belt tied around his waist while a long white sword lay flat on his knees.


    "How does it feel to break through?" An empty-sounding male voice reverberated throughout the layer of ice, as if he were speaking in a large hall, carrying echoes that sounded unconventionally graceful.


    Ivycius grasped the hilt of the sword on his knees gently, shaking his head slightly.


    "If I hadn¡¯t guarded you here personally and observed the effects and changes of your Secret Techniques towards your surroundings, I would not have entered Form 5 so quickly. The originally estimated time, is still insufficient."


    "Only a high-leveled prodigy like yourself would be able to see patterns from the traces of these Secret Technique changes," said Garen casually from within the icicle.


    Ivycius declined to comment. During this time, after he married Skyharp, he had spent all of his time guarding this underwater abyss while the professionals of Black Swamp Palace and Seven Night Tower built a simple underwater residence here.


    But before they could add the finishing touches to the place, the construction workers were forced to retreat, being unable to withstand the frightening cold air that Garen released increasingly every day.


    Ivycius, Skyharp, and Garen managed to connect with each other on a deeper level through their interactions during this time.


    Ivycius was a person who abided to his own principles closely. He chose to stay behind and guard Garen, and did not give up on him despite the ending of the Dragon Demon¡¯s bindings. He did not think of the Demon Dragon¡¯s bindings as any form of restriction at all.


    In reality, Garen had never imposed any forceful commands on him, allowing both of them to have a normal friendly relationship with each other. For both of them, the presence or absence of the Dragon Demon¡¯s bindings made no difference.


    "There have been signs of activity in the Heart of Life again, while Ender is entering the finals. How is your situation here?" asked Ivycius in a low voice.


    "Still considerably smooth." Garen did not explain it in detail.


    Both of them fell into silence. Within the period of a day, silence was their most commonly used mode of connection, as both of them preferred to enter their own worlds.


    Garen suppressed his thoughts, before placing them back within his Living Secret Techniques.


    Two of his Secret Techniques had mostly fused already, while the Black Water True Technique had reached its final scattering phase. The forced tearing of two of his main Living Secret Techniques caused his will and fusion powers to be absorbed as nutrients, leaving nothing but the last bits of his Nine-Life Talent.


    As the Nine-Life Talent was the core strength of the Nine-Headed Hydra, the fact that the extremely delayed speeds were able to support it for such a long time was already a very rare occurrence. But at this point, they were unable to evade the complete decomposition forever.


    Meanwhile, the two Living Secret Technique seeds within his body had absorbed many nutrients from the outside after a long period of time, allowing them to reach extremely desirable states.


    After a long period of bodily operation fusions, Garen¡¯s body had fully adapted to the Living Secret Technique¡¯s powerful activities. As the fusion between the two Secret Techniques deepened, the transformations within Garen¡¯s body became more integrated as well, lessening the conflicts.


    "Soon¡­ Soon¡­ Only a little while longer before I get to the essence of the mysteries of the Living Secret Technique¡­"


    As of now, he had yet to truly receive the Legacy of the Living Secret Technique. One of the reasons was due to the conflict between both of his Secret Techniques. The most troublesome part was that the true Secret Technique practice message would only be transmitted after he had finished the transformation completely.


    The Living Secret Techniques would be able to exceed their limits after coming to fruition, allowing him to achieve peak levels. This was the general consensus among strong, peak individuals.


    The fusion of two Secret Techniques would not necessarily bring positive changes. However, they were not too undesirable from his current perspective. Although he had lost many parts that conflicted with one another, the seedlings that were preserved continued to possess the presence of extremely terrifying air ripples.


    Once he received the Legacy, the presence of the Black Water True Technique and the large quantities of Living Secret Techniques that he had accumulated recently would definitely allow Garen to achieve a higher level within a short span of time. After all, he had already obtained an extremely high Secret Technique state.

 537 Abyss 3

    Chapter 537: Abyss 3


    Many months later, in the Ender Kingdom


    More than ten gigantic white hot air balloons floated in the blue sky, pulling banners filled with celebratory words and messages of congratulations for the Totem King finals behind them.


    Elite participants from various countries stood in their respective lines on the War God Plaza in the middle of the Kingdom, waiting on the plaza quietly.


    The surrounding areas were filled with people, including aristocrats, civilians, artisans, and merchants; more than half of the population of the Kingdom had gathered here. From above, all four corners of the area looked like they were filled with dark stretches, that were actually the tops of human heads. Although everyone was merely discussing and exchanging information among themselves softly, the noises they made was still loud enough to form a distinct hum.


    There was an exquisite silver diamond-shaped carved fence in the middle of the plaza, that cordoned off a circular area where Totem User finalists stood. Each of them possessed unique styles, and while some of them had calm expressions on their faces, others appeared malicious, still others were either gentle and polite, or completely indifferent.


    All of them had their trusted subordinate deputies behind them.


    Since the King of Ender had organized many competitions in the past, he had built up a fine reputation for himself all this while. If that was not the case, the elite participants from various countries would not have hastily believed that he would put up such a generous sum of wealth as the prize for the finals.


    A white, hollowed out sacrificial altar carved with various patterns was placed in the center. Below the feet of the golden War God statue, two thick books were placed on two sharp thorn-like white-gold platforms, while two sacrifices stood behind the books and flipped through their pages, loudly chanting prayers for the finals.


    More than ten beautiful young girls stood on the side and held vases, sprinkling some of the clean water that had been soaked with flower petals on the foreheads of all of the participants gently.


    Next, the participants and representatives came forward to greet the audience, while their bodies activated rings of different Spirit Lights naturally. These were recorded by specialized note-taking officers, in order to prevent impersonations or replacements.


    Finally, the inspection officer came forward to individually check the permitted items that the participants had brought with them.


    The concave black main door of the Eternal Night Palace was slowly pushed open.


    "Let the finals begin!!"


    An old feeble voice was amplified and echoed through the sky above the entire Ender Kingdom.


    Bang bang bang!!


    Suddenly, white-gold fireworks exploded throughout the sky, before tiny white-gold lights fell on the ground like gentle raindrops.


    A bell toll echoed from afar. The female sacrifices sang the eternal hymn of the Giant Divine Statue loudly, as their voices turned into physical, silver colored, transparent music notes that floated in the sky.


    The sages stood on top of the Kingdom¡¯s three holy pillars and released all of their strength simultaneously. Three crisp tearing noises could be heard, before three white-gold light beams shot out of the ground and pierced through the sky, extending through the clear sky above the fence towards the infinite universe.


    Only then were the finalists led into the Eternal Night Palace by the guides.


    At this moment, the world leaders were paying close attention to the Ender Kingdom¡¯s movements. Numerous analysis, reports, and forecast texts were constantly placed on their desks.


    Radios broadcasted the whole course and reported all of the movements that happened at the scene in real time.


    Among the group that was entering, a figure in a long black robe raised his head slightly, before the corners of his grey metallic-like mouth curled into a faint arc.


    *******************


    On top of an ashen cliff, somewhere between the Three Territories


    Black Prince sat leaning against a pile of overlapping ashen rocks on the cliff. His entire body was covered in a suit of black armor that made it impossible to see his face, except for the faint gleam of red light that flashed through his eyes that gave off a wild, beast-like violence.


    There were two other people on the cliff. One of them was a tall man, with long black hair that reached past his shoulders while a large black horse stood beside him. Thick black smoke would appear around the man and the horse¡¯s bodies occasionally.


    The other person was a woman, clad in splendid attire from head to toe. She wore an exquisite red gown with a long train that dragged behind her and a dark silver fan-shaped crown on her head. A strange, evil-looking smile flashed on her beautiful pale face from time to time.


    "Divine God Palace Master and the King of Ender¡¯s plan trapped Hellgate for a full year. Now, it seems that Hellgate was unable to find Divine God Palace Master, and decided to go directly to Ender¡¯s Eternal Night Palace instead. Who can be sure of the winners and losers this time?" said the woman in the red dress in a soft voice. It sounded as if she were speaking to herself, but also seemed as if she was asking the other two a question.


    "Ender¡¯s chances of winning are less than thirty percent," answered the knight with the black horse quietly.


    Black Prince raised his head and glanced at the Black Knight. "I refuse to flinch, even if the situation has truly reached its most dire point." His voice was hoarse, resembling the low roar of a wild beast.


    "With the core of the Three Territories as the foundation, our numerous Precious Heirlooms as the bones, and the Origins of all three of us as the blood, we must swear not to let Hellgate or the others escape from the Eternal Night Palace!" said the woman in the red dress as she lifted up the strands of hair from her shoulders gently, without a trace of seriousness or worry on her face. "We don¡¯t know how much protection power will remain in the Three Territories after this."


    The three people from each of the Three Territories had their own ideals and wills. Obscuro Society¡¯s Hellgate would perish if he continued to resist, and after Phiroth was destroyed, the decline of Ender would occur again, before their Three Territories would befall the same fate next.


    At the crossroads of life and death, the leaders of the Three Territories would finally meet again.


    All three of them became quiet at once. None of them opened their mouths again as they were all waiting for something.


    After some time, three slender white light beams lit up in the sky from afar, and pierced through the clouds.


    "It has begun¡­ That¡¯s Eternal Night Palace¡¯s Moon Scar light¡­" The woman in the red dress looked towards the beams in the distance.


    The Black Knight mounted his large horse and shook the reins before, the large smokey horse moved in that direction immediately. The sharp sound of its footsteps could be heard clearly above the static while it entered the depths of the man¡¯s heart. Moments later, the giant horse jumped off the cliff and began to trot through the sky normally as if it were walking on level ground.


    The red gleam in Black Prince¡¯s eyes flashed suddenly when he stood up, before he gradually turned transparent.


    A green light flashed beside the woman in the red dress, before a cold but handsome swordsman appeared. He held the woman¡¯s waist with one hand, while the sound of a sword echoed beneath his feet and a green light screen flashed and appeared out of thin air, pulling both of them towards the light beam hurriedly.


    ************


    "It has begun¡­"


    Clad in a white robe, a white-haired old man with a white beard stood in front of a little wooden house in a remote mountain forest in the East Continent.


    He raised his head and looked at the continuous drizzle in the sky. His gaze seemed to have passed through the clouds, allowing him to look at the shapeless changes behind them.


    Two youths in identical white clothes stood behind the old man. One of them had silvery eyes and was carefully smoothing out the wrinkles on the old man¡¯s long robe.


    "This is the first time you¡¯ve come out to bask in the sun in such a long time. What bizarre things are you about to say now, Mr Noah?" It was obvious that this was not the first time the youth had heard this old man speak.


    The other person was an even younger male youth who only smiled after hearing the things that had been said.


    "I¡¯m not joking this time, Stone." The old man had a serious expression on his face.


    "Wasn¡¯t that what you said last time?" Beckstone was dumbfounded.


    The old man turned around and grabbed Stone by his wrists suddenly.


    "Don¡¯t mind me, just go and do the things you were supposed to do. Wasting your time on an old dying person like myself just isn¡¯t worth it." The old man¡¯s face was unusually solemn.


    Beckstone and the other youth finally realized that the old man was truly being serious this time.


    He stopped his tidying actions and met the old man¡¯s gaze instead.


    "Mr Noah, are you doing this wholeheartedly?"


    The old man let go of his hands and became silent for a moment.


    "The Moon Scar Light has appeared. Therefore, the things that were prepared by us old people and both of our Presidents should truly be of use to you now¡­"


    Beckstone¡¯s heart sank for a moment. The Terraflor Society President had died because of Hellgate, while all of the involved Elders were captured in one go. The only person left in the whole Terraflor Society was this heavily injured old fellow who only had a few months left to live.


    Although Hellgate had kept to his promise of letting Terraflor Society go, the commanders below him would not release them so easily.


    Stone did not have a close relationship with these old people. He only returned this time to accompany the previous Thunder God Hannet to look for a place to nurse his injuries, but never expected to save Mr Noah by accident. After getting to know each other for a period of time, Noah gave all of his knowledge and assets to Stone. Their teacher-student relationship and Stone¡¯s own interactions with this man made him acknowledge Noah as a wise old man.


    However, when he realized that the President and Elders had already expected an ending like this long ago and had even made preparations in advance, Beckstone¡¯s heart was slightly heavy.


    "Take everything from Terraflor Society and go¡­ Go to the Eternal Night Palace¡­ Stop Hellgate," said Noah in a low voice. Suddenly, a pointed sphere like red gem was gently placed in Beckstone¡¯s hand.


    "Hellgate¡¯s goal is the Door to Heaven, so it¡¯s unnecessary for us to block him from the front," said the other youth suddenly. "Pulling open the Door to Heaven requires a great price to be paid. Therefore, as long as we wait for the right moment, we¡¯ll get a chance to work together and kill Hellgate!"


    "That¡¯s right, Mr Noah. Why do we have to stop the appearance of the Door to Heaven?" Beckstone was not confident enough to make a move at this moment either. Their forces were too weak, and if a face to face confrontation occurred, Obscuro Society would crush them easily.


    Noah exhaled slowly.


    "Hellgate has no intention of using his own powers to pull the Door to Heaven open. His true goal is to use the Eternal Night Palace¡¯s power! Now that Phiroth is dead, if the people who are coming to get Ender die as well, no one will be able to stop Hellgate¡¯s desires anymore!"


    Both Beckstone and the other youth became faintly gloomy. Regarding the death of their President and Elders, they were not emotionally moved at all. After all, they were too far apart. However, after listening to Noah explain the current situation, both of them began to form clearer judgments of the larger picture in their minds.


    "Hellgate has already promised to let our Terraflor Society go, so why do we still need to continue going in?" Beckstone¡¯s question concerned his greatest doubts.


    "Let Terraflor Society go?" A mocking expression appeared on Noah¡¯s face. "What he wants, is an obedient Terraflor Society; a secret association controlled by his people. He doesn¡¯t want an organization of previous enemies like us that will definitely cause trouble for him in the future. Moreover, it¡¯s not like we wanted to cause trouble for them. On the contrary, they were the ones who would never let us go¡­" Suddenly, Noah smiled mysteriously. "Listen¡­ They¡¯re here¡­"


    At the same time, the sound of soft footsteps echoed throughout the mountain forest, while beast-like roars could be heard occasionally.


    Suddenly, a grey membrane layer appeared across the sky.


    Clang!


    The sound of moving chains rang out throughout the sky at once.


    God Cloud¡¯s figure floated out slowly and appeared in front of the little wooden house. His head was completely bald while his body was surrounded by thin black chains. Meanwhile, his falcon-like gaze focused on old man Noah¡¯s body instantly.


    "Never thought that there would still be some scum for me to clean up, Noah Counterman."

 538 Abyss 4

    Chapter 538: Abyss 4


    Beckstone and the other youth reacted at once, and stood in front of the old man. When they noticed the increasing number of Silver Totems around them, both of their faces soon became extremely unsightly.


    "I¡¯ll hold them off! You take Mr Noah away!" shouted the other youth in a low voice.


    "No one will escape today!" sneered God Cloud. "Noah, give me the Earth Flower! A Precious Heirloom like that can only show its true value in the hands of President Hellgate!"


    Noah did not show the slightest hint of worry. Instead, he looked towards God Cloud with a mysterious smile on his face.


    Pfft!


    A flash of golden light appeared in front of them immediately.


    Beckstone and the youth were blinded for a moment, unable to see anything.


    "Amplified delivery technique!! Noah, how dare you!!!" When he heard God Cloud¡¯s furious voice, a panicked feeling washed over him as he reached over and grabbed in Noah¡¯s direction, but his hands merely met air.


    ******************


    Many days later¡­


    The depths of the North Sea.


    Garen¡¯s body, frozen inside the icicle, had a sudden, slow movement. .


    The sound of quiet footsteps echoed from the deepest, darkest end of the plaza, in front of the icicle.


    Ivycius had accompanied Skyharp to collect medicinal herbs, leaving Garen alone underneath the deep sea. This was the bottom of the deep sea, the darkest and coldest place in the entire North Sea. Under normal circumstances, no one would ever dare, or even be able to come here. However, an exception had appeared now.


    The sound of footsteps grew clearer, before a person slowly emerged from the darkness..


    This plaza was isolated from the rest of the seawater using a specialized technique. A large cavity formed in the area that allowed noise to reverberate through the ice plaza continuously, like the endless echoes across a valley.


    Pap¡­ Pap¡­ Pap¡­ Pap¡­ Pap¡­


    The person stopped in front of Garen. Its human like figure was completely shrouded within black mist, making it impossible to see its attire, appearance, skin color, and even its hair color.


    The figure raised its head slightly to look at Garen, suspended within the gigantic icicle.


    "I designed a stage, and I was wondering if Palace Master Garen would be interested to come in and see it?" The figure¡¯s voice was neither male nor female. Instead, it was a completely specialized and neutral, an obvious sign that it had been processed beforehand, making it impossible to distinguish the speaker¡¯s gender.


    "Oh?" An unusually graceful male voice could be heard from the icicle. "What a secretive fellow¡­ I don¡¯t even know your identity, yet you dived into the depths of the North Sea just to say these mysterious words to me?"


    The figure smiled. Although it was covered by black mist, Garen could still sense that it was smiling.


    "The world is balanced, and the order of survival of all creation depends on this battle. We reap only what we sow. . Aren¡¯t these the laws that govern the universe?"


    Garen remained silent, as he waited to hear what the other person would say next.


    "Throughout the entire polar region of the North Sea, areas spanning more than hundreds of nautical miles have turned into poisonous and forbidden marine territories. Palace Master, although you willingly decided to conceal yourself here for more than a year and withstood these abominable environments as the price to pay for scattering, do you truly not desire the next stage in your quest for power ?"


    Once the figure stopped speaking, silence once again covered the plaza. .


    Garen calmly focused his attention on the other party. .


    "Did you come here just to speak. ?" he asked suddenly.


    "Of course not." The figure smiled again. "I came to give Your Excellency an unexpected surprise."


    They had just finished speaking, before the figure turned into a shroud of black mist suddenly and flowed into the icicle. The black mist had merely come into contact with the ice before the sound of corrosion hissed loudly. .


    Moments later, the black mist passed through the icicle, before entering into Garen¡¯s nostrils.


    Seconds, minutes ticked by, before Garen finally shook slightly and opened his eyes again.


    "King of Ender¡­ How generous!" A satisfied smile finally appeared on Garen¡¯s face.


    Simultaneously, a strong quake could be felt from the direction Ender was in. Even in the depths of the North Sea, these vibrations were strong enough to be noticeable. Garen gladly accepted the King of Ender¡¯s gift. .


    She had lost. During the secret fight in Eternal Night Palace, Hellgate had forcibly defeated the powerful Giant Divine Statue soldiers, before controlling them with his mysterious energy, quietly turning them into his puppets in the end. However, this strong willed woman had not given up. Instead, she took the key knowledge and memories that she had stored earlier, and placed them inside a clone that she had prepared, before turning it into Garen¡¯s gift.


    This was the stage she was talking about.


    Yes, the stage had already been built. . The only missing piece was the debut of the main character. .


    A giggle could be heard, before black threads once again appeared in Garen¡¯s eyes. .


    ********************


    Ender Kingdom


    Numerous local Ender professionals, diplomatic envoys from various countries, Totem Users, and representatives of both major and minor forces were all waiting for the doors of Eternal Night Palace to open again, as well as the arrival of the final outcomes.


    Pale flower petals fluttered like rain in the wind, while the sound of hymns turned into numerous tiny silver lights that flew around the expanse of the rocky city.


    Within the largest area among the five main sections of the city, inside one of the secret aristocratic buildings.


    Goth sat in front of the third floor window steadily, while a familiar-looking woman sat opposite him.


    "Jessica¡­"


    "Aren¡¯t you happy to see me?" asked Jessica with a smile as she sat opposite him. She was clad in a long, pale white dress, as she intertwined all ten of her fingers of both hands on the table casually, currently free of any heroic spirit.


    "How is our child? Is everything still alright?"


    Goth remained silent. . He turned his head and looked out of the window; the pale flower petals and silver dots of light that cascaded like snowflakes had now piled up into a thick layer on the roof, on the opposite side of the street. The entirety of the Ender Kingdom had turned into a sparkling silver field, and every building seemed as if it had been covered in a layer of silver fluorescent powder.


    "Coincidences don¡¯t happen in this world often. Why did you have to pick such a key moment to return¡­"


    "I don¡¯t know," shrugged Jessica. "Perhaps the Totem that¡¯s controlling me decided to do this. It was involuntary. A little boat floating on the sea wouldn¡¯t know when a wave would come and swallow it either."


    When Jessica noticed that Goth¡¯s face had matured, she smiled faintly.


    "Goth, don¡¯t you want us to return to the past, to that period of time in the beginning, when we were at our happiest?" She spoke in a kind, gentle voice, her soft gaze set on man in front of her.. He was the most important man in her life; her one and only.


    "Those were the happiest days of my life¡­" Goth smiled reluctantly but felt an indescribable bitterness in his heart for some strange reason.


    "That person said that as long as you help me do something, she¡¯ll release the control she has on me," smiled Jessica sweetly.


    Looking at Jessica¡¯s sweet, familiar smile tugged and squeezed at Goth¡¯s heart, , forcing him to close his eyes. Vaguely, he knew that something incomparably pure in his life had slowly begun to shatter. .


    Jessica, who was opposite him, stood up and walked over quietly, before embracing Goth¡¯s head against her chest.


    "I know that you love me more than anything in the world , only you¡­" She nestled her chin against the top of Goth¡¯s forehead, while her eyes betrayed the traces of resentment, pain, and insanity intertwined within. .


    "As long as you destroy Garen¡¯s life, just one life¡­ she¡¯ll finally release me."


    No one knew, that after the many times that Garen had provoked Obscuro Society, Jessica, whom they were controlling, would be used as a tool to vent their anger. She was heavily injured, to the point of death, time after time, and had suffered various types of torture. At the end of the day, she would be locked in the deepest part of the filthy underground water dungeon with nothing but cockroaches and insects as food.


    Before she arrived, she had once again suffered the hand of violent abuse. . The woman that appeared suddenly changed her methods, and chose to torture her continuously instead. She did not know what had upset the other woman, but it was clear that Obscuro Society had once again suffered a great loss at the hands of Garen..


    But, it didn¡¯t matter. She was already used to it.


    Violent beatings like this did not bring her pain, but stirred a faint, strangely pleasant sensation within her instead. Compared to the torture that she had suffered in the past, this was merely child¡¯s play.


    However, what made her the happiest, was the thought that she would finally be free, as long as she killed Garen. That incredibly successful Black Swamp Palace Master, Garen.


    Why did she have to suffer in the damp, cold, smelly water dungeon, while he lived comfortably in a magnificent palace?


    While she suffered various kinds of torture and was beaten up mercilessly, the others were busy enjoying themselves and having fun¡­


    Hehehe¡­


    Jessica could not help but giggle softly.


    So many days had passed, but no one had found her, or even remembered her. She was forgotten, left in a corner of the world, forced to suffer a repetitive life of dark, endless days. .


    *********************


    Black Prince leaned against his mother¡¯s chest quietly, like a newborn baby, a sentimental smile on his face.


    "If I¡¯m able to wake the dragon up again, what will you be willing to give up in exchange?" A low male voice rang out behind him.


    "Everything," answered Black Prince softly.


    His vision blurred, before Black Prince realised that he was staring at the diplomat in front of him, while the other person was currently explaining the situation of the Ender Kingdom finals.


    He was seated on the throne in the main section of the Ambassadorial Hall while the Dragonfield Totem User officials filled the seats on both his left and right sides.


    "My thoughts wandered off again¡­"


    *********************


    As she walked through the street corners of the rocky city, it seemed as if the excitement of the finals had spread throughout every block in the Kingdom.


    Queen Earnest was dressed in plain clothes, and resembled a fragile, pretty young girl. She held Green Dragon Swordsman¡¯s wrists, making them seem like a romantic young couple strolling through the various stalls, occasionally buying cheap but cute accessories.


    Although they were squeezed by the crowd, neither of them seemed impatient at all.


    "Could we not participate in the movement this time?" For an unknown reason, Green Dragon Swordsman felt an indescribable sense of worry when he looked at Her Majesty the Queen¡¯s cheerful smile. As her long time Green Dragon Sword companion, he had an extremely sensitive instinct towards matters of survival.


    Waves of uneasiness constantly stirred within his mind..


    "Don¡¯t worry. The numerous Precious Heirlooms are the price we have to pay, while the resources of the defense foundations of the Three Territories will be used as the core. Therefore, all three of us controllers will only require a small amount of blood as a form of permission. There will be no danger at all," said Queen Earnest as she brought the swordsman¡¯s arm towards her chest slowly, letting it rest there.


    "It was really difficult for us to get here. Tonight, I am yours¡­" the Queen whispered as she gently leaned against the swordsman..


    "Let¡¯s get married when we return." A trace of gentle warmth appeared on Green Dragon Swordsman¡¯s cold, but handsome face.


    "Mmhmm."


    A light breeze blew past, while fluttering silver dots and flower petals fell on the Queen¡¯s long hair. Coupled with her milky white skin and pale lips, she was definitely the most beautiful creature in that moment. .

 539 World 1

    Chapter 539: World 1


    Within the dark and gloomy Eternal Night Palace.


    The yellow light by the wall dimly lit the round, spacious passage, which had two huge pillars textured in golden circles.


    There were a pair of triangular mirrors every few meters on the ceiling in the passage that was at least ten meters wide. The shiny mirror had reflected everything within the corridor.


    Ding!


    Suddenly, a single note of the piano echoed through the passage. The key was pressed again and again, like an anxious heart beating incessantly.


    The piano notes gradually climbed higher, from the deepest area of the Eternal Night Palace. The spherical melody traveled like a ripple.


    The notes were random and out of rhythm, nor was it pleasant to listen to. It was rather painful to the ear, as countless sharp short, tones blared.


    A person in black robes slowly traveled down the corridor with a wheelchair.


    The actions he took beneath his robes were slow. There was a white haired girl, in full armor, in the wheelchair with her eyes closed. Her pale skin was slick with sweat.


    "What a beautiful melody¡­" The person who was pushing said softly.


    "You have a very unique sense in music." The girl in the wheelchair tried her best to laugh.


    "What kind of emotion do you need to produce such a strong melody? I¡¯m really curious." The person pushing the wheelchair said.


    Their figures inside the mirror were slightly bent, and what was strange was that the reflection of the person who was pushing the wheelchair inside the mirrors, kept disappearing and reappearing. It was as if the girl was moving the wheelchair on her own.


    As the wheelchair moved forward, a white light appeared in the distance. It was the only exit from the Eternal Night Palace, and the final passage to arrive in the outer world.


    A deafening roar of a crowd cheering traveled from the outside, accompanied by the din of a master of ceremony doing an introduction.


    An ocean of heads was looking inside, and there were even two rows of beautiful ladies throwing flower petals out from a basket. Two sacraments were guarding the entrance with a silver robe and white gold flower chaplet in their hands. It was the reward for the champion.


    The man pushing the wheelchair wiped the sweat off the girl, smiled gently and pushed the wheelchair forward.


    Creak¡­


    The wheelchair was moving out of the exit, slowly but firmly. At the same time, the girl¡¯s face turned very pale.


    "Welcome the honored Eternal Night Palace Master, the King of Ender! Her Majesty Serena!!"


    The master of ceremony¡¯s voice was choked with passion, and the girl¡¯s pupil shrunk as she saw each pair of eyes in the sea of people focused solely on her.


    She opened her mouth and tried to speak, but strangely, only kept opening her mouth wider and wider. Suddenly, a pool of viscous blood gushed out and kept flowing out from her, onto her chest, and subsequently to the ground.


    In that instant, the crowd went silent. Then, a sharp scream broke the silence.


    The blood kept flowing out from the woman¡¯s mouth, as if there was an endless source within her. The ground was stained crimson as it spread around her, congealing into a pool.


    Now, the screams had erupted across the plaza, as emergency response units came rushing into the pool of blood. As their feet stepped on it, they, too, joined the screaming, as they seemingly disappeared into the pool. Their lower bodies corroded and dissolved into the pool of blood. After a few steps, they would tip and disappear completely.


    Ding ding ding¡­!!


    Bell tolls joined the chaotic symphony of noise, as the whole kingdom was slung into a state of panic.


    "Her Majesty has been assassinated!""Help!!" such were the screams that permeated the kingdom, as teams of guardians quickly gathered together and flew out of the Eternal Night Palace. They were the Ender Kingdom and multiple countries¡¯ elites.


    Boom! Boom boom!


    The hot air balloons¡¯ baskets in the sky exploded one after the other. Whatever sounds the occupants had produced, only silence remained. Only the balloons themselves could take their space, in serenity, on top of a bed of chaos.


    From a bird¡¯s eye view, the small pool of blood in the center of the Monolith City spread outward at great speed. From the size of the nail, its liquid tendrils extended into the size of a palm, then to a basin, and further and further beyond at an alarming speed.


    Whatever living being that was stained by the blood, be it a commoner or a totem user, immediately melted like a burning candle. What was their being was now thick, red, blood.


    The pool of blood continued its crusade across the city, chasing the countless fleeing citizens in every direction. An unlucky soul would find himself beneath the feet of the tsunami of bodies, and then, as he tried to get up, in the pool of unstoppable blood. Every corner of the city; merchants, alleys, shops. None were spared from the chaos.


    Screams penetrated whatever order sound had tried to form.


    And it was at this moment, that three white lights flew inside the city.


    "Gentlemen, do what you do!" A girl¡¯s voice emanated from one of the light orbs.


    "The queen is too kind!"


    "This is what we should do!"


    "We must save Her Highness!""Her Highness is already dead!""Impossible!"


    The second wave of white lights floated on top of the sea of blood, all at least form four totem users from multiple countries. The tri-country alliance, together with the King of Ender¡¯s plan, the whole line up was almost filled with the elites from the Eastern Continent.


    "Stop arguing!" One among the three lights from the first wave shouted deeply. "Great Starry Sky Sacrifice Tactic, activate!"


    Goth¡¯s eyes seemed to be on fire inside the white light. He reached out his right hand and stabbed it with a dagger, as his blood dripped down to the ground.


    The remaining two people, Queen Earnest and the Black Prince did the same..


    Kachak!!


    Countless white lightning arcs started to flash among the crowds.


    In an instant, with the three district leaders as the core, the white lightning had formed into a net.


    "Judge!!" Queen Earnest shouted.


    A white, meaty tongue came out in between the space of the lightning net and descended.


    The tongue was about a few hundred meters wide, and it seemed to not have any limit in length as it kept elongating. It was also covered with a white, disgusting fluid.


    Buzz¡­


    The earth started to tremble, as the buildings in the Monolith city started to fall apart one by one, as if they were a bunch of dominos.


    A small vortex appeared at the center of the large, bloody pool.


    The vortex became larger and larger, and expanded to the edge of the sea of blood within seconds.


    Kaboom!!


    A dark red, giant hand reached out from within sea of blood and collided with the white tongue in the sky.


    "Judgement!!"


    Goth shouted.


    The sky was immediately engulfed in darkness as dark as black clouds descended upon the city. The dark cloud kept tumbling, giving off an intense oppression.


    Bam!


    An arc of lightning appeared, lightening up the faces of the citizens and totem users who had managed to escape from the city.


    The outskirts of the Monolith City was suddenly surrounded by a huge group of people in white robes. Most of them were Divine Officers from the Ender Kingdom. The top totem users within the three districts were mixed in among them.


    They raised their hands up high, as black smoke seeped out from their bodies and gathered in the sky.


    Behind these circle of white robes, there was another circle of people in red robes. They had different kinds of Heirlooms shining in their hands. These Heirlooms kept disintegrating and turning into countless white dots, floating up in the sky.


    The black clouds in the sky then amassed into one.


    The clouds shaped themselves into a giant humanoid figure, which looked strong and muscular.


    Its muscles were packed full and its body was made purely out of the black smoke, and was large enough to cover the city. He growled as he lowered down his head.


    "Your spine is the world¡¯s to smite! Repent! Villain!"


    A wavelength made of pure energy rippled outward, turning into countless languages, and then directly into everyone¡¯s head.


    The giant reached both of his hands out and placed them upon the sea of blood.


    The world stopped to look at this moment; as countless totem users joined together and cast a feed of the Monolith City out across the world.


    The Three Districts allied with the Ender Kingdom, the remaining forces of Daniela, and countless of survivors hiding in the dark to fight the final battle against the Obscuro Society¡¯s Hellgate.


    Another giant hand appeared from the sea of blood, and resisted the giant arms made of black smoke.Both hands joined and connected, forming a huge pillar from the heavens down to hell.


    Among the three largest white dots, the Black Prince raised his head, and looked at the giant in the sky. He could even feel the gaze from the other two.


    "You need me¡­" His hands reached, outwards, touching the inner wall within the white film.


    Screech!!


    In that instant, he pulled the inner wall of white film with both of his hands.


    "What are you doing Black Prince!!??"


    A shout of rage came.


    "No!!"


    "Your Highness!""What are you doing!!"


    Waves of roars came, as banded as the totem users that came together.


    The white film that was torn apart, and slowly began to lose its glow. What replaced it was the evil smile of the Black Prince.


    His lips curled, and then he exerted once more.


    Screech!


    The film was torn split into two. He walked out of the white light surrounding him, gently made his way to the ground.


    "...Welcome back¡­" A bald man slowly emerged from the sea of blood. He smiled and looked at the approaching Black Prince.


    The Black Prince marked an arc in the middle sky, and the sea of blood automatically spread out as he landed on the side of the bald man.


    The white net of lightning took the Black Prince¡¯s betrayal and faded. The power source of its resistance was now gone. The electricity arced in all directions, collapsing in on itself and disappearing


    The giant made of black smoke dispersed along with it. The band of totem users in battle began to regurgitate crimson, as their bodies trembled and fell to the ground. Some had even imploded, showering the ground with their blood. Still others disintegrated in mid-air, their now lifeless corpses as dark as the Black Prince¡¯s betrayal.


    Goth and Queen Earnest¡¯s light film shattered, and they fell from the sky. They barely managed to flee the city, and landed safely, and were attended to by the people they¡¯d prepared earlier.


    Giant hands kept emerging from the sea of blood, one after another, right in the heart of Monolith City.


    Two became three, then five. Ten. Twenty. Fifty¡­


    An innumerable wave of crimson hands, a huge pillar column that grew unstoppably longer, reaching far into the sky.


    Goth and Earnest looked at each other and took out two, shiny blue spherical cores.


    "I didn¡¯t expect that it would come to this¡­" Earnest muttered, her heart and spirit heavy.


    "Haven¡¯t we decide on this earlier?" Goth said calmly.


    "Without the Black Prince¡¯s black district core¡­ I¡¯m not sure if it would be successful." Earnest shook her head.


    Under the protection of those around them, their gaze was transfixed on the forest of dark red arms that pierced through the clouds. The stench of blood filled the air, asserting its dominion.


    The ground trembled greatly, the sea of blood hammering the earth with incessant shocks.


    The world fell into darkness as hands blanketed the land.


    The only things still shining were the weak green light from the green spheres in their hands.


    Compared to the forest of arms, they were about as significant as ants under the leg of a giant.


    Although the current conditions of the other totem users were thrown into the unknown along with the light, at least they knew without a doubt that their first plan was a total failure.


    "I¡¯m not sure what the Queen of Ender Kingdom has in mind, but I hope the second plan is effective." Goth looked at the forest of arms, his face devoid of expression.

 540 World 2

    Chapter 540: World 2


    Inside the Cthulhuism Society, all the Cthulhus had gathered together, as they sat in a huge, oval living hall. The afternoon sunlight came into the room from the left, scattering across the long table.


    All the Cthulhus, sat in 2 rows, were looking at the monitor on the other end of the table.


    It was showing the horrible chain of events that happened in the Ender Kingdom¡¯s capital, Monolith City.


    Countless dark red arms as tall as the sky looked like giant, oppressing mountains.


    The whole living hall was in complete silence.


    ********


    Kovitan Empire


    A huge, square water mirror was floating in the sky, on top of the Kingdom, in between the peaks of three mountains.


    The water mirror was constructed by a huge amount of clear water and broadcasted the situation in Ender Kingdom, thousands of kilometers away.


    Countless citizens of the Kingdom had their heads raised, their gaze firmly fixed on the screen. They prayed, they were in pain, but most of time hold their breath as they waited for the arrival of the end.


    It was in their plan to let the others know how cruel and merciless that Obscuro Society was.


    At one of the small buildings in the Palace District.


    Sofea, and her sister Danielle, were doing some gardening in the garden. She was in a white dress, and she had a pot of water in her hand as she watered the flowers. Her gaze was also on the giant mirror up in the sky.


    The two sisters kept looking at the situation within the water mirror.


    There were masses of dark red arms, and the unending cries of citizens gravely injured. It was like a mountain of trash piled together as they ran away from the kingdom in fear.


    The earth would occasionally tear apart and swallow the crowd.


    A few people tried to maintain order, but were immediately torn apart by the wolf type totems summoned by the Obscuro Society. Those totem users who were able to fend for themselves were surrounded by multiple strong empowered totems.


    The totem users of the Obscuro Society were merciless, as they slaughtered and murdered the people escaping from the Monolith City.


    On the other screens were the battles between the remaining totem users from different countries and the empowered totems from the Obscuro Society. No one seemed to have the upper hand; the quantity of the empowered totems were far too great. A majority of the most elite totem users had entered the Eternal Night Palace, and had yet to come out.


    The explosions in the town, the guttural roars of creatures and cries of dying citizens all joined and continued a symphony of destruction across the whole city.


    The Monolith City had become a battlefield overflowing with blood.


    "Sister¡­" Danielle hugged her sister Hathaway tightly.


    "It¡¯s going to be okay¡­ We¡¯re inside the Ultimate Protection... " Hathaway tried her best to smile.


    However, the countless red hands had, indeed, faltered her heart. She found it impossible to believe what she had just said.


    No one could be sure that the Ultimate Protection would be able to defend against that terrifying strength.


    **********


    At the peak nearby the Kingdom, there was a white manor that was recently built.


    On the balcony outdoors.


    Emin was holding onto a wooden crutch, as he looked at the water mirror in the sky quietly. There were a few disciples standing behind him, watching quietly as well.


    "Teacher¡­"


    A man voiced out softly from behind.


    "We can do nothing but wait." Emin replied softly.


    "Hellgate of the Obscuro Society is simply too powerful¡­" He looked at the water mirror. He could feel the overwhelming power, even though it¡¯s so far away.


    The stronger the totem user, the more they understood just how powerful one needed to be to create such a scene.


    "The Obscuro Society will definitely eliminate any forces that pose threat to them. They will definitely come after us!"


    "We still have brother Garen! With him and the Ultimate Protection, we will definitely be fine!!"


    "Yes! We still have a chance, since we still have the Ultimate Protection and the Big Four!"


    The disciples'' voices kept coming from behind and yet Emin still lowered down his head. Deep down they knew that Hellgate was the strongest since the death of Phiroth.


    Since the Obscuro Society had directed the big turmoil of the aberrated beings, no one was fond of them, and in fact was filled with hatred.


    Many people had lost their families, relatives, and their peaceful lifestyle because of them.


    If the Obscuro Society were to succeed¡­


    *******


    The sky was trembling.


    In the sky of Ender Kingdom, countless giant dark red hands pierced through the black clouds.


    Arcs of white lightning flashed within them.


    Countless of dark red arms pierced into the clouds as if they were pillars supporting the sky.


    "All shall return¡­ All shall return¡­"


    A song could be faintly heard in the sky, spreading across Monolith City, and then the Ender Kingdom. The melody travelled through the air, across oceans, and even into the Western Continent.


    The whole world had been instantaneously filled with the same melody.


    Everyone in every country could hear its faint notes, like someone singing. The song carried with it a sad air about itself.


    The black rain started to pour onto the ground.


    The people around the Monolith City raised their heads to look at the forest of arms that pierced through the clouds.


    The black rain descended upon the land, dying them in the same shade of black.


    The rain was like oil, sticky and smelly, just like fresh blood.


    In the sky, a crack of pure, white clouds appeared.


    The pure white light pierced through the black clouds like an arrow, as it shone onto the dark red hands.


    A huge circular door of light slowly appeared above the forest of red arms, supported by them.


    The door was carved with scrawls of symbols and textures. The white gold flowery texture of carvings depicted nature in its many forms; in the form of mountain valleys, rivers, oceans, forests, snowy, mountain capped peaks mountains and many more. As one looked at it, it was as if it weren¡¯t a motionless picture. The picture was moving, alive, just like mother nature herself.


    A mirror as clear as glass was in the center of the door, but it was dark, and nothing was reflected off its surface.


    The innumerable, dark red hands reached and held onto the door, before they collectively pulled on it from the sky. The melody that floated across the land had come from this very door.


    "The Door to Heaven¡­"


    Under this door, and above the bloody Monolith City, a bald man in black robes was levitating among several white hot air balloons.


    His silver skin was rather dim under the white light, as he stared at the giant white door with his silvery eyes and smiled a smile of satisfaction.


    "Finally¡­ Finally I¡¯ve succeeded.."


    At this moment, viscous blood flowed from the red arms up to the door.


    The sea of blood pushed Hellgate upwards to the mirror, getting closer, and closer...


    Boom!!


    A layer of blue light exploded from the surface on the red sea, and halted its movement.


    A mouthful of fresh blood came out from Goth¡¯s mouth, outside the city. Goth, who had just entered the middle fifth form had instantly degraded to the elementary tier. As the Black District¡¯s core inside him exploded, his strength instantly dropped by half.


    Queen Earnest, to one side, raised the Rainbow District¡¯s core up high as she walked slowly towards the sea of blood.


    She crushed the green core in one swift movement.


    Boom!!


    The sea of blood that was climbing up to the door was once halted again. The layer of blue light shattered and disappeared.


    Hellgate stared down coldly and raised his hand.


    Queen Earnest was impacted by something invisible and was sent out flying like a ragdoll. She landed tumbled about before coming to a halt. A simple attack from him had caused a grave injury on her, and blood started to flow out from her body.


    "No!!" A green light came from behind and landed beside Earnest.


    The Green Dragon Swordman kneeled down and cradled Earnest in his arms.


    The sky was then covered in a layer of a pure, blue net, and countless huge symbols were blinking within it. The huge blue net had separated the sea of blood and the Door to Heaven; a terrifying power blasted to wind and surged out in all directions. Not a single survivor in the vicinity could open their eyes, and they fell lower and huddled their bodies when the wind blew.


    "The world!" Hellgate raised both of his hands up as he shouted.


    The sea of blood trembled.


    "The world!!"


    He raised his head as if he were trying to shout with all his might.


    A circle of blood appeared in the sky.


    "The world!!!"


    Hellgate¡¯s roar masked over the mysterious holy music.


    The blood gathered together, and gushed upwards.


    The sound of a huge impact reverberated through the land


    The blue net was torn apart, and completely drowned by the sea of blood.


    Hellgate¡¯s face turned pale. It was only natural, as he was going against two major district¡¯s energies that had been accumulated for countless years. There were also the energies from the Heirlooms, and countless of totem users. In addition, there was also the secret battle against the King of Ender and the series of major battles that followed, and also the formation to obtain full control over the Eternal Night Palace. He had also sacrificed countless of lives to pull out the Door to Heaven. Even if he was the strongest totem user in history, he wasn¡¯t able to resist the damage, as injury after injury started to appear within his body, at the same place where Phiroth hit him.


    He raised his head as his eyes turned red.


    The sea of blood behind him increased picked up speed as it pushed him to the Door to Heaven.


    "The world!!!"


    He roared!


    Kachak¡­ Boom!!


    The mirror in the center of the Door to Heaven shattered.


    The holy music stopped instantly.


    On the peak of a mountain, far away, the Cthulhu King, clad in a white robe, opened one of his red eyes.


    Within an active volcano, a single head could be seen bobbing above the lava. It was the Divine God Palace Master. The scorching hot lava flowed on his body, like springtime dew on a leaf at dawn.


    Under the abyss in the ocean, Garen, who was covered in poison and ice, slowly had his eyelids part. Krak! A fine, thin line cracked its way down the ice.


    The world, was changing.

 541 World 3

    Chapter 541: World 3


    "People once said that the sky was originally red mixed with black instead of blue."


    "Red mixed with black? Do you think that¡¯s possible?"


    "Perhaps. There are things that exist even if we don¡¯t believe it."


    Noah, who was in a wooden chair, gently placed down a copper yellow watch as he smiled.


    It was dead silent inside the small house and only a faint chirp could be heard from outside as the black rain poured nonstop outside.


    "The dance stage has been all set." He looked at the sky through the window as his body became more and more transparent.


    "Serena¡­ I really wish I can see you one more time."


    A gentle wind blew and only a robe was left onto the table and no one knew where he went.


    At the same time, in the sky of the whole Eastern Continent.


    Three silver meteors flew towards the Monolith City at great speed. The three meteors pulled out a long tail as they flew from three different directions. The sound of the shockwave deafened the sky.


    The black clouds were moving about and no one could make out if it was day or night.


    In the middle of the black cloud, the huge white door was giving off a pure white light, which pierced through the clouds as if it was the only Door to Heaven in hell.


    Three meteors landed onto the ground, forming a standard equilateral triangle.


    As the silver light shone, a deep explosion could be heard as it immediately cleared off the empowered totems from the Obscuro Society within the vicinity.


    "Ten Jedi!!" A huge green sword appeared and cut the black clouds into half in an instant.


    The sharp sword was like a green lightning as it went after Hellgate in the air.


    Clank!!


    Hellgate moved his left hand and an after image appeared in front and blocked the attack directly.


    His hand and the sword collided together and countless of green sparks appeared and spread around him and locked him in place.


    Pew pew pew pew!!!


    In an instant, a series of green sword kept attacking Hellgate with great precision.


    Nine greatswords landed onto Hellgate as fast as lightning.


    Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank clank clank! ¡­


    As they collided against each other, Hellgate who was flying towards the Door to Heaven was pushed back down.


    "Sun God King¡­" He turned his head as he looked at the origin of the green blade.


    The silver light dimmed down as the Divine Gone Palace Master¡¯s green robe appeared. He was holding an exquisite green great longbow which spanned at least ten meters long, which was larger than him. There were two sharp blades at the edge of the longbow and it¡¯s a weapon that could be even used during melee combat.


    Sizzle Sizzle¡­


    The silver light from the other two ends dimmed down as well, revealing two figures in the middle of the sky.


    The Cthulhu King and Garen was floating quietly as the three of them surrounded Hellgate.


    "Sun God King, the Cthulhu King, Black Swamp Palace Master, and the instant teleportation via the Earth Flower from the Terraflor Society¡¯s master. Looks like this is the gathering of the strongest in this world." Hellgate didn¡¯t seem anxious at all as if he was just having a chat after a meal.


    "Is this Noah¡¯s final formation?"


    The Cthulhu King¡¯s expression was heavy. He, who was in a red robe, held the magic mirror tightly in his hand as a pale face kept floating within the mirror.


    He gently jolted the magic mirror.


    Pew!


    A stream of black light instantly soared to the sky, engulfing him in the process. The light soared up the sky and started to change its shape as it formed into a big black minotaur figure. It was constructed with countless of shades, forming into a humanoid figure. The upper body was of a human and the lower body was of a fish¡¯s tail and had a black harpoon which was about ten meters in one of its hand.


    The horned humanoid gently tapped its tail.


    The Hellgate¡¯s body jolted as if there was a great force exerting onto his body.


    The fish tail moved once again.


    Hellgate¡¯s vision turned muddy as everything became out of focus. As he was covered in the shadow, his body had become 2 times denser than before.


    The fish tail moved the third time.


    Hellgate¡¯s lower body twisted and, pew!


    The shadow¡¯s left shoulder was suddenly split opened. At the same time, the same thing happened to Hellgate as well.


    "Heh¡­"


    Hellgate suddenly smirked as he gently moved his body.


    Boom!


    A circle of black light was released from his body and spread in all direction.


    "Sun God King, you¡¯ve finally created your own Living Secret Technique¡­" He glanced at the other two and immediately paid attention to the Divine God Palace Master as if the other two weren¡¯t even worth his attention and only the Divine God Palace Master was the only threat.


    Garen retreated slightly as he smiled. A black cross sword slowly appeared in his hand and grew longer over time from about one meter in length to three meters. It was filled with concentrated black smoke and slowly forming into a great halberd. At the tip of the halberd, a cold blue light could be seen.


    On the other side, the Cthulhu King who had transformed into a mermaid had countless green jellyfish behind him.


    Each and every green jellyfish pulsed as they illuminated a faint green color as their numbers kept increasing. In an instance, half of the sky was filled with them as if it was highly contagious.


    "Attack!!"


    In an instance, three people disappeared.


    The jellyfish, black halberd and green blade lit up at the same time.


    With a roar, the Divine God Palace Master grew a pair of red butterfly wings and had a pair of eyes textured onto it. The wings fluttered, creating a gush of strong wind which went towards the Hellgate. He then moved his giant longbow to produce a huge, solid green blade which pierced through the air, forming a stroke of green line.


    The Cthulhu King, who had transformed into a mermaid, rushed towards Hellgate with countless of jellyfish following him tightly from behind. He then increased his speed and the jellyfish looked like a series of green meteor showers.


    Garen took out the great halberd and held it with both of his hands.


    The black great halberd instantaneously increased its length to tens of meters and in an instance was swung towards Hellgate.


    Three of them attacked at almost the same time.


    Three of them managed to hit Hellgate and cut off countless of dark red hands in the process.


    Boom boom boom!


    Three consecutive explosions could be heard and countless of jellyfish were melted, the green blade was shattered to pieces as it was caught by Hellgate. The shattered pieces caught fire as they fell into the sea of blood but the fire did not distinguish.


    Garen¡¯s great halberd was caught by Hellgate with one hand as well and a great spark could be seen. However, as the tip was in contact with Hellgate¡¯s hand, it fired out countless of black metal spikes towards his eyes and ears.


    Hmpf!


    Hellgate scowled as he raised up his other hand and a transparent crystal wall appeared and blocked off all the spikes.


    The black metal spikes were all nailed onto the crystal wall.


    However, in that instance, the green blade pierced through his armpit and the black harpoon hit him fiercely from the top.


    The Divine God Palace Master, Cthulhu King and Garen took this opportunity to get close to him. The green longbow blade hybrid, black harpoon and the great halberd. These three weapons once again went after the Hellgate in the center.


    With the teamwork among the peak of form five, a mysterious vortex was formed with the four of them as the epicenter. The black clouds from the surrounding gathered together, forming a horrifying whirlpool.


    Buzz!!


    Suddenly, it was as if Hellgate had an additional pair of hands as afterimages of his hand could be seen and interacted with the weapons that was about to landed onto him.


    Hundreds of metals colliding against each other could be heard, trembling the sky.


    The horrifying shockwave spread out from the four of them towards the empty land.


    Cracks formed on the ground as the earth quaked!


    Shockwaves came from the sky one after the other, hitting the ground and towards the totem teams who had yet evacuated.


    There were cries of pain, agony, explosion, craziness and hopelessness.


    Countless of emotions and voices were mixed together.


    The formations created by the totem users were shattered by the shockwave as if they were all legoes. They were shattered by just a gentle touch. Those totem users and totem creatures in the sky exploded as they couldn¡¯t withstand the shockwave.


    "Is.. Is that Garen¡­?!"


    Among a team which was moving, Goth raised his head as he looked at the horrifying figure battling in the sky.


    "The King of Ender separated his wealth into three portions and gave it to these three as they¡¯re the last hope of this world." Earnest muttered as she was being carried by the Green Dragon Swordsman.


    She raised her head and looked at the horrifying battle in the sky. "Those three are the last resistance from this world¡­"


    Huh!


    The Divine God Palace Master pulled his longbow and the tips of the longbow were lighted in red, forming two arcs.


    The Cthulhu¡¯s mermaid form shrunk and condensed as if it was turning into an ancient fish creature. The contour of his black muscles could be clearly seen as well.


    The halberd in Garen¡¯s hand would occasionally turned into a sword, dagger and countless of other weapons. The transformation was smooth and natural.


    The combination attacks from those three had no flaw and with the countless of afterimages of Hellgate¡¯s hand, the situation had reached a stalemate.


    The sky was agitated as the earth cried.


    The walls of the Monolith City couldn¡¯t withstand it and start to crumble.


    This millennium old city started to disintegrate as these four fought.


    Suddenly a green light landed.


    Boom!


    Following tightly was another two black light landing onto the ground, causing the dusts and dirts to filled the air.


    Although Hellgate¡¯s hands were filled with small wounds, he seemed to know feel anything from it as he looked up and went after the Door to Heaven as the sea of blood pushed him up.


    Garen crawled out of the crater as the blue light around his body spread out.


    Hehehehe¡­


    He suddenly laughed crazily as he realized he¡¯s in a dire state. Wasn¡¯t this kind of life that he had been yearned for?


    To bet everything that he had and enjoy the battle of life or death as he met a stronger foe.


    Didn¡¯t he want to see the world from the peak when he started practicing martial arts?


    "This is it¡­ This is it¡­!!" He muttered as he could feel that his blood is boiling.


    A strong fusion of energy poured out from the seed of Living Secret Technique and with him as the epicenter, cold air leaked out from his and spread across a few hundred meters, freezing everything and turned the land into blue.


    As the ice and metal Living Secret Technique merged together, it didn¡¯t bring forth a stronger Living Secret Technique but a system that was more suitable to him.


    Garen had finally reached the final phase of merging Secret Techniques as he relied on his past experience and the wealth given by the King of Ender.


    However, this was also where countless of peak form five totem users failed.


    He raised his head up and looked at Hellgate in the sky.


    Garen suddenly disappeared from the ground.


    As if it was their plan, the other two flew towards the Hellgate as well.


    Kaboom!!


    Four of them collided against each other and a spherical shockwave spread out with them as the epicenter.


    This shockwave disintegrated countless of limbs and the fleshes flew up and rained down.


    At that instant, the three attackers¡¯ robe was torn into pieces and their bodies were showed towards every totem users.


    The Divine God Palace Master¡¯s left arms was completely gone and one section of his right knees had disappeared, leaving behind a messy injury.


    The Cthulhu King¡¯s head was split into half vertically and one could see the sky behind his head. His brain was almost split into half.


    One of Garen¡¯s eyes exploded, leaving behind a bloody hole. His body was filled with countless of small holes but it was frozen by the ice crystals to prevent any major loss of blood.


    In that instant, the three of them threw everything they had towards Hellgate.


    Two puffs of bloody mist leaked out from Hellgate¡¯s waist as his face turned pale.


    ************


    Kovitan Kingdom, which was far away.


    Hathaway held onto her mouth as she tried her best not to scream. She could feel Danielle holding her arms tightly.


    "That¡¯s.. Brother.. Garen.." Danielle muttered.


    Hathaway thought that Hellgate had recognized someone wrongly as Garen was just a form four totem users in everyone¡¯s perspective and was nowhere near the peak of form five.


    She no longer had any doubt as the black robe was torn into pieces.


    It was indeed Garen. Unknowingly, he had reached the peak of the world.


    However, she would rather Garen to be a form four as this cruel battle was not something someone in their mid twenties should experience¡­


    A sense of pride and complicated feelings kept conflicting against each other.


    Hathaway stared closely at the water mirror in the sky and realized that the one eyed man was smiling. He was smiling!


    He was enjoying such a cruel battle.


    It was something that came from within. It was his deepest emotion.


    *********


    At the other corner of the Kingdom.


    The princess and the remaining Gargantuans and elite totem users gathered together.


    No one spoke a word as the oval shaped water mirror floating in the long table was broadcasting the horrifying battle in the Ender Kingdom.


    The princess held the fan tightly in her hand as sweat had completely filled her hand. She stared closely at the water mirror and didn¡¯t want to miss out any single detail.


    As she looked at the face of this young and crazy man, she suddenly felt scared as she didn¡¯t expect the man whom she thought she knew so very well had hidden such an incredible strength.


    As she recalled the interactions with Garen in the past, she felt very conflicted.


    A sense of fear and complicated feelings kept appearing inside her heart.


    She looked at the remaining two Gargantuans and Grand Duke Cody was horrified.


    As they¡¯re fighting against each other to obtain power and authority, that young man had unknowingly surpassed them and obtained a very powerful strength.


    He was able to fight side by side with the Nest Leader Divine God Palace Master and the strongest person in the Cthulhuism Society, Cthulhu King.


    All of them had terrifying powers.


    Grand Duke Benoc¡¯s expression was calm but he was holding the arm rest tightly to the point that the metal arm rest had a mark on it.


    Everyone didn¡¯t know what to feel as they didn¡¯t expect that the young genius who once stood side by side with them in terms of strength had far surpassed them in such a short time.

 542 World 4

    Chapter 542: World 4


    Inside the Black Swamp Palace


    Countless of disciples and guardians had walked out of the palace and looked at the water mirror in the sky.


    Lala held her arms tightly and shivered as she looked at the horrifying battle in the sky. All she prayed for was that Garen would survive in the battle.


    Groups of disciples in the Black Swamp Palace was passionately observing this world class battle as it¡¯s the battle that decided the fate of this world. As the Palace Master¡¯s figure appeared in the screen, everyone¡¯s spirit had engulfed the whole palace.


    These disciples felt an immense proud as they¡¯re different from the others. They grouped themselves into two or three crowds and gathered at the balcony, entrance of the palace, residences, gardens, public, etc. In that instant, everyone was looking up at the water mirror in the sky.


    Some prayed, some shouted loudly and some were in complete rage. All the disciples of the Black Swamp Palace were cheering at the final battle in different ways.


    Ivycius and Demon Phoenix stood together with the elders.


    None of them spoke. Excluding Ivycius and Demon Phoenix, everyone¡¯s face turned pale as they¡¯re oppressed by the immense strength displayed from within.


    Some unconsciously brought themselves into the battle as they started to shiver and almost vomited blood as well.


    In this level of battle, it¡¯s best to not understand at all as those who were able to understand aura and yet unable to resist it were in the most trouble. They could feel the immense amount of strength and those strength were able to reach them mentally from afar.


    The battle inside the monitor had far surpassed everyone¡¯s imagination. It wasn¡¯t a battle for a mere mortal but a legendary battle told in the folklore!


    The black rain in the sky dropped harder.


    The holy music that appeared once in a while had another voice mixed within it.


    "Death! Death!!"


    "Death is eternal!!"


    It sounded like the whistle of the wind or the sound of the droplet.


    The Ultimate Protection in the Kovitan Empire¡¯s skies trembled as ripples appear one after the other as if there was a strong force hitting on it continuously.


    **********


    Jesicca held goth tightly as they looked at the battle in the sky.


    Those four people had went insane as everytime they collided against each other, the earth shattered and the sky roared.


    Goth held his fist so tight that his nails almost pierced through his skin. He could also feel Jessica looking at him as well.


    An explosion could be heard and countless of hand columns were torn apart.


    With the Hellgate as the epicenter, the trio was pushed down to the ground.


    One of them were pushed towards the both of them.


    It was Garen!


    Goth could clearly see that Hellgate purposely sent Garen to his location.


    Garen was hit by the giant dark red arm as he crashed onto the ground.


    The ground trembled as countless of dirts floated up into the air.


    He cough a few times, took out a silver bottle from his body and immediately drank it.


    His injury was beyond serious but a sense of excitement kept flowing out from him.


    Garen panted as he started to smile.


    He could feel that the Seed of Strength inside his body raised every time he fought. Fighting against Hellgate was like walking on a very thin thread where he would die if he were careless.


    At this moment, the hand in the Monolith City finally broke down.


    Boom!


    One hand broke apart and fall onto the ground.


    Then the next one followed along.


    The second piece, third piece.. The tenth piece¡­


    More and more hand broke apart and they weren¡¯t able to resist the strength from the Door to Heaven.


    Even if it were to strength of the Eternal Night Palace and Hellgate, it was their limit to be able to hold onto it for this long.


    It was forbidden to obtain a strength that was able to pull out the Door to Heaven and now this amount of strength wasn¡¯t able to hold on any longer.


    "Heh¡­ Hehe¡­" Garen couldn''t stop laughing.


    He wasn¡¯t sure how the other two were doing but he almost succeeded.


    "No!!" Hellgate covered the injury in his waist and the sea of blood behind him rose once more, pushing him to the Door to Heaven.


    "Die!!"


    Divine God Palace Master stroke out a green light and stabbed the back of Hellgate.


    The Cthulhu King had exhausted all of his strength and the magic mirror on his hand had no light coming out from it. His entire condition was dire and weak as he laid inside the crater, unable to move and all he could do was to look at the final battle in the sky.


    Garen got up and the black halberd in his hand transformed into a wheel of black crescent. The Living Secret Technique had almost reached its edge as he kept battling.


    As he¡¯s near the edge of surpassing Hellgate, Garen¡¯s intelligent attribute started to spin and countless of inspiration kept entering into his brain.


    Thousands of potential points that he had accumulated inside the ancient ruins started to drop at an incredible rate as if the rise of the Living Secret Technique required countless of potential points.


    Garen sort of understood that Potential points can be used to replace the time to learn the Secret Technique and the strengths that he needed can be obtained by Potential points. If he were to really encounter a threshold where there were no tiers, the potential points would be useless.


    In that instant, the convergence energy within him started tot shrink as the Ice Secret Technique and Metal Secret Technique kept fusing with each other, forming a small seed at great speed.


    The speed were then planted deep into his soul and he could feel that his soul was flying. It felt comfortable and was free from everything.


    "This is it¡­ This is it¡­ Hahahaha!!!" Garen started laughing and the whole sky was filled with his laughter.


    Jessica and Goth stood behind Garen, who noticed their presence and ensure that his aura didn¡¯t hurt them.


    Goth¡¯s expression was strange as he looked at Garen¡¯s back, as if he wanted to say something. Jessica had left everything behind as he didn¡¯t want to lose her best friend because of the tragedy in the past.


    "Becareful Garen!! Goth wants to kill you!!" Jessica suddenly shouted as she shielded Garen with her body while facing Goth.


    Garen was stunned and his mind went blank.


    Garen who was currently at the most crucial part of promotion felt it and was about to turn around.


    Stab!


    A black dagger-liked being was stabbed into Garen¡¯s back by Jessica. The dagger instantly twisted like a snake and drilled into Garen¡¯s waist.


    Goth¡¯s mind went blank as his pupil reflected Jessica¡¯s twisted smile.


    Garen was stunned as well as he pressed onto his waist with one of his hand.


    Boom!!


    A hole was blasted in his waist and fresh blood and flesh flew everywhere. A hole appeared in his abdomen and a snake flew out as it went towards Hellgate. However, Garen caught it with one of his hand and snapped it into two pieces.


    Garen walked a few steps to the front as he stared at his abdomen.


    He was interrupted at the most crucial moment during his promotion. In that instant, the seed of the Living Secret Technique became unstable and the original bloodline was obstructed and the damage was severe.


    Ugh¡­.. Agh..!!!


    He raised his head up and roared.


    With him at the epicenter, a shockwave was blasted out.


    Jessica was the first one to be sent flying off. Together with Goth, both of them were sent flying off as if they were hit by something big.


    Goth¡¯s vision turned blur as he tried to gain control of the situation and tried to reach out his hand and grab Jessica but she was falling from the sky slowly.


    He could hear Garen¡¯s agony as he was enraged and couldn¡¯t believe of the betrayal!


    "Hehehe. Die!! Die die die!! All of you should die!! Hahaha!!" Jessica started to laugh madly in the sky as her face was filled with hopelessness and bitterness and yet she didn¡¯t realize her face was filled with tears.


    Boom!


    Jessica¡¯s body was slammed onto a stone pillar and her head was pierced by a sharp stone and she instantly stopped breathing.


    Thud!


    Goth finally kneeled down and cried as he covered his face with his hands.


    The sky was then lightened by a circle of green ring.


    The whole sky was instantly brightened up.


    The Divine God Palace Master¡¯s chest was deformed by the attack and fall into the sea of blood.


    Hellgate panted as he moved his attention onto Garen.


    No one knew when, but Garen stopped shouting.


    He was calm and standing still.


    The bloody hole in his abdomen was about the size of a fist and one could clearly see the black ground behind him. However the whole was being filled by countless of red ice crystal.


    The attribute pane underneath his vision was reacting crazily.


    In the skill pane, The Black Water True Technique was something like of an unnamed Living Secret Technique. As the Living Secret Technique was learnt, even if it¡¯s not fully learnt, countless of messages appeared.


    The messages were frozen by a blue fluid as it kept gathering on the skill pane, forming a deep blue whirlpool.


    A clear name appeared inside Garen¡¯s mind.


    It was a name automatically derived after merging with the Living Secret Technique.


    He opened his lips.


    The icy blue whirlpool stopped rotating as it formed into a complicated and strong symbol.


    A blue icy crystal halberd appeared behind him, aiming at Hellgate.


    Hah!


    Garen¡¯s eye was filled with icy blue fire that completely covered his pupil and he could only see two icy blue smoke.


    Northern¡­ Trident Frost-Fire True Water technique!!


    Garen muttered softly.


    The name of the Living Secret Technique carried a mysterious magic power. As he softly muttered it, a giant dark blue whirlpool appeared behind Garen.


    It was a huge whirlpool constructed with countless of blue crystal halberds.


    The halberds were mixed together into the whirlpool like an exquisite gear as it moved slowly.


    Garen looked up and stared at Hellgate.


    Go!!!


    In that instant, a deafening chirp soared into the sky.


    Countless of icy blue halberd soared into the sky from Garen¡¯s back and the deafening chirp was created by the countless of sonic boom as the halberd moved forward.


    "This is my dream¡­ my only dream!!" Hellgate muttered as his expression became firm and his gaze, crazy.


    He raised up both of his hands.


    Countless of icy blue halberd rushed towards him and within the stream of halbert, Garen¡¯s figure appeared and with a halberd in his hand, he stabbed forward.


    "Towld!!!"


    Hellgate started laughing as he opened his hand, as if he was welcoming something.


    Thud!!!


    The sea of blood in the middle of the sky exploded and all of the dark red hands broke apart and assimilated into the sea of blood.


    The sky was completely dyed in red.


    As they were covered in fresh blood, Hellgate looked at Garen, the person who had just entered form six and destroyed what he had built.


    This was the peak of the world and no one could see them through the sea of blood.


    "Can you accept one of my request?" Hellgate smiled gently as his body was pierced through by Garen¡¯s halbert. His body was slowly disintegrating into pool of fresh blood starting from his legs.


    Garen kept quiet for a moment.


    "Say it out."


    Hellgate smiled happily.


    "Please go into the Door to Heaven in my stead. I want to know what¡¯s inside, what¡¯s inside¡­"


    Garen was stunned.


    "That¡¯s my only dream¡­"


    Hellgate smiled as his body disintegrated while one of the red light flew in front of Garen.


    It was a pure Secret Technique memory and it was a gift left behind by his opponent.


    The word dream kept reverberating in his ears as Garen looked at the gift given by Hellgate.

 543 Change 1

    Chapter 543: Change 1


    Dream.


    The only thing Hellgate was going after all these while was his dream.


    Garen used everything on his last attack. Although Hellgate was severely injured and had no energy left to pull the Door to Heaven, he still had the energy to deflect Garen¡¯s crucial attack. However, he gave up and dissipated this strength to Garen so that he could have the opportunity to enter the Door to Heaven.


    Kaboom!


    Thunder roared as an arch of lightning flashed above his head.


    Garen woke up from his unconsciousness. His abdomen was in pain and all of his body felt sour as his body was filled with countless of holes. He was like a deflated balloon, falling down from the sky.


    He looked up and found out that the black clouds were dispersing.


    The clear and white door went back into the clouds and soon returned to where it came from.


    The wind whistled as it moved his ragged clothes up and down.


    Garen hesitated for a moment but in the end he sighed.


    He reached his hand out to take the red light ball. As his finger touched the ball, it instantly fused into his skin and disappeared.


    All information regarding form six and its strongest inspiration, Living Secret Technique and its uses and understanding entered into Garen¡¯s mind.


    This was the last gift from the Hellgate.


    Garen sighed as he looked at the Door to Heaven. In the end, he chose not to go for it.


    The Door to Heaven¡¯s changes would affect this world and he didn¡¯t want to become the 2nd Hellgate.


    Huu¡­


    Suddenly, a rain poured and the black red rain disappeared as it was replaced by a normal transparent rain.


    The Door to Heaven entered into the clouds and rain poured more and more heavily.


    As the black cloud tumbled about, lightning could be constantly seen and thunder kept roaring.


    The sea of blood on the ground disappeared quickly as Hellgate disappeared. As if it didn¡¯t exist in the first place, revealing the remains of the Monolith City.


    Garen floated in the sky as he deactivated all sorts of Secret techniques and totem energy, leaving nothing extraordinary flowing inside him.


    He was merely floating in the middle of the sky as countless blood and halberd disappeared. As the dust settled, he quietly looked at the scenario from the top.


    Monolith City was filled with corpse as the people from the Obscuro Society had left. What was left remaining in the Monolith City was the remaining totem users and citizens who came rushing back in as they witnessed their abandoned houses. Some were crying as they kneeled down, some were still shivering from the fear. However, most of them looked at at Garen and bowed slightly before helping the injured.


    The Cthulhu King was carried out of the crater by the people from Cthulhuism Society and he seemed to be on his last breath.


    Although Hellgate¡¯s attack didn¡¯t attack the physical bodies, it¡¯s injured both side at the same time and even the nicknamed immortal Cthulhu King wasn¡¯t able to avoid it.


    He laid down onto the black stretcher as he looked at Garen who was descending. He opened his mouth but didn¡¯t say anything in the end


    No one noticed that the Divine God Palace Master had left the scene. He had left the place when the sea of blood disappeared and Hellgate being killed by Garen. As the Nest Leader, he would always be the enemy of the humans and with the biggest threat Hellgate being dead, he would be asking for death if he were to stay around any longer with his injury.


    As he slowly descended to the ground, Garen looked around the area. He then looked at Goth, who seemed half dead and Jessica¡¯s corpse not far away.


    He didn¡¯t know what to feel when Jessica was being used by Hellgate¡¯s as an ambush as he left a huge dagger which had the strength of a form six. He also had successfully diverted his promotion as well.


    If not for the potential points that were used to replace his life, any other totem users would¡¯ve died no matter what.


    The potential points had saved him once again and Jessica, who was used as an ambushed tool had injured herself in the process.


    As he recalled the days with them, Garen felt complicated towards the whole situation.


    Owh!


    He vomited a pool of blood.


    The fresh blood landed onto the ground and froze instantly.


    The after effects of his injuries finally surfaced as he tried to suppress the condition with his Secret Technique forcefully. In the end, he couldn¡¯t suppress if further.


    Garen didn¡¯t think much and immediately fly up and disappeared in the horizon.


    The whole battlefield was in a dire state. As the situation calmed down, countless of totem users and soldiers formed a team and started the rescue mission.


    The teams were lead by strong totem users as they went to investigate if Hellgate had truly died. They also had to face the remaining power from the Obscuro Society inside the city.


    After Garen flew away.


    Beckstone and his team who had arrived late walked out of the forest nearby the Monolith city. They looked at the broken city from afar as Beckstone slowly placed down the Earth Flower Heirloom. He was hiding inside the forest and used the Ancient Endor Heirloom to increased the trio¡¯s strength during the battle to ensure that their will weren¡¯t affected by their injuries.


    It was the cooperation between him activating the Earth Flower and Master Noah from afar that managed to send these three attackers here.


    Without this Heirloom, no one would be able to send these three here in such a short notice.


    "Is it all over?" The girl in red armor beside Beckstone asked softly. He looked at the severely broken city as she couldn¡¯t believe this was the damage caused by a few people.


    As she looked at the corpses everywhere, she shivered and unconsciously held Beckstone¡¯s arm tightly, as if this was the only way for her to find peace.


    "Perhaps¡­" Beckstone shook his head as he sighed. "If that man isn¡¯t the next Hellgate, perhaps everything will end soon."


    "That man¡­" The red armored girl was worried but she didn¡¯t say any word after that.


    "Let¡¯s go help the rescue teams." Beckstone tapped the girl¡¯s arm as he walked towards the battlefield.


    The earth that had turned black had cracks everywhere. The teams were moving in between as they looked for any survivors.


    From afar, the Monolith City looked like a circular cake that was chipped away by mice as the whole city was filled with misery.


    A rescue team leader stood at the edge of the crack as he looked at his members holding Goth up and placed him in a simply made stretcher.


    "Although we¡¯ve won this battle, we¡¯ve sacrificed way too much¡­"


    "Yes¡­" Another totem user nodded slowly. "At least half of the citizens didn¡¯t manage to escape out of the city and the rough estimation on the death toll is sixty thousands, excluding the ones missing or had missing limbs."


    "I wonder how many years Ender Kingdom require to fully recover from this battle¡­" The captain said.


    "This isn¡¯t the end." Totem user shook his head. "Those bastards from the Obscuro Society needs to be killed! We have to kill these crazy lots sooner or later!" He started to grit his teeth as he say so.


    Cris of agony and pain could be heard from afar.


    Although both of them were not citizens of the Ender Kingdom, they couldn¡¯t help themselves but to feel pity as they saw the scene. This organization appeared because of them and these truth had made them outsiders realized that the world had view the Obscuro Society as the common enemy.


    "Yea¡­ we¡¯re not done yet¡­ This is just the beginning!" The team leader saw a corpses kneeling down as they protected their children. The hatred inside the children¡¯s eye made him shiver.


    He knew that in the near future, there would be another bloody battle between Ender Kingdom and Obscuro Society.


    **********


    The world was filled with joy.


    No matter if it¡¯s humans or nest leaders, everyone was celebrating. However, most people from the Ender Kingdom were holding a funeral. Some of them buried the dead while some only had tombs containing the personal items of the deceased. The forger who was forging the tombs had become the hottest occupation but they weren¡¯t willing to earn these money. This was because they knew that the others required this money for something else other than sculpting a tomb.


    Ender Kingdom, Kovitan and Daniela.


    The already broken Eastern Continent was finally free.


    From the existence of Obscuro Society to its downfall was nothing but a few years. However, they had caused so much havoc within these few years.


    The capital of Ender Kingdom, a thousand year old city was completely destroyed. The elites from the Ender Kingdom was completely annihilated, where the strong ones were heavily injured and most of the citizens had passed away.


    On the other hand, Kovitan had lost half of their land and could only move about inside the Ultimate Protection. As they¡¯d saved some strength, they were able to reclaim some of the lands. However, this didn¡¯t mean that they could recover the lost of half of their citizens. All kinds of industries and business flunk. Compared to the days of the past, they¡¯re probably in the lost of millions of silver rumbs.


    Daniela, the holy land was turned into an abyss when Hellgate fought with Phiroth. The country¡¯s strength was less than ten percent and the place was claimed by the Cthulhuism Society. However, Cthulhu King said that he needed to isolate himself from the outside world to recover his injuries during the battle with Hellgate. His soul was seriously damaged and he had overused the magic mirror as well. This made him sacrificed a lot and the Cthulhu King was on the verge of dying due to the consecutive major attack from the Hellgate. Hence he could only isolate himself and no one knew how long it would take for him to completely recover.

 544 Change 2

    Chapter 544: Change 2


    After Divine God Palace Master''s Sun God King¡®s mysterious disappearance, all the hideout masters automatically retreated into the underground.


    The underground had been cleared out by Hellgate in secret ages ago, regardless of the occupants'' species. They had all been exterminated by Hellgate''s strong plague, the top-tiered experts had been secretly eradicated after Hellgate''s breakthrough, and mankind''s strongest organization: Elder''s Hall had been annihilated.


    It could be said that the underground had been emptied out under the leadership of Divine God Palace Master, and the lords of the hideouts have avoided the fight over resources with the humans on the surface. Instead, they began excavating the underground and formed an independent force to be reckoned with.


    All that was left on top were some mutant creatures and low-level creatures that had no intelligence. These creatures were all creatures that were considered to be trash in the eyes of the hideout leaders.


    As the time passed, the aftermath of the destruction of the Door to Heaven began to show.


    No matter if it was totem users, or even mutant creatures, all the totem powers and totem''s light began to deteriorate rapidly. The speed at which it deteriorated was similar to unplugging the sinkhole in a pool, it formed a large whirlpool that leaked all the unnatural powers.


    This war at the Door of Heaven had been coined the term "Battle of Heavens" by historians of many countries. Harp players and the musicians have all made songs out of this war, and songs and poems were uncountable, for a time after the war broke out, an inexplicable literary revolution happened.


    The corresponding opera, drama, and novels have also come into being.


    Whereas the three top-tiered experts have never appeared anymore after the war broke out, people had been exaggerating the myths due to the very same reason, and they became the symbols of the world''s strongest existence.


    **********************


    As the time passed quickly.


    50 years have passed in the blink of an eye.


    The Monolith City which fell into ruins was now full of greenery and flowers. The crumbled walls were now densely packed with moss.


    Those who came to admire its history could not help but to be mesmerized and prolong their stay, which spurred a lot of franchised hotel businesses.


    Due to the aftereffects of the way, Monolith City was full of irregularly sized cracks and rumbles and was no longer suitable to be rebuilt as a capital. Conversely, a large number of tourists have been attracted to visit this ruins of the great war, whereas the plains outside the city were developed to be a tourism-centric city called the Monolith Town.


    In the town was a white square, and in the middle of it was the memorial of the people''s heroes. It was erected in memory of the three King-level experts'' noble life stories which have almost become a myth at this point, as well as the countless innocent lives of civilians and totem users lost in this war.


    The evening light dyed the entire square yellow.


    On the side of a flower bush, a bearded tour guide is enthusiastically introducing the accounts of the things that happened 50 years ago to the tourists.


    "... the peace and serenity that we enjoy today were largely attributed to the aftermath of the Battle of the Heavens. Sun God King, Cthulhu King, Northern King, the three King-Level experts have fought here, for their own principles, the ten of thousands of subordinates and subjects behind them, they chose to risk their lives to stop Hellgate from annihilating the entire world. That war shook the heaven and earth, even the thousand-year-old Monolith City which was the capital trembled in fear from that war. The heavens howled and the earth was covered in scars; that immense power was absurd, like a legend. According to the account of one lucky survivor''s memories, the situation then was¡­.."


    "Who would believe it.. Haha.." some of the tourists began laughing softly, the laughter was deeply hurtful towards tour guides. As it contained a large amount of disbelief, sarcasm, and a suspicion that couldn''t be refuted.


    "It is now the technological era, totems? Could this pseudoscience reach this level?" someone continued saying


    "I guess the heroes were memorialized, things like totems, I have tried a few activation methods, but there weren''t many effects, aside from strengthening your body. Whereas the Secret Techniques excavated from the ruins were not bad, the combat techniques were all very practical."


    "Is it? I had just realized too, previously I have been learning Secret Technique from a teacher, it was apparently a family heirloom, it was indeed very practical."


    "How does a Secret Technique look like in real life? I have only read about them in novels."


    The group of tourists have now taken an independent topic as the core of the discussion and were socializing.


    This caused the tour guide in front of them to speechlessly shake his head this is not the first batch that was like this. To disbelieve the Battle of the Heavens, have been the common consensus among the tourists of recent years.


    They originally had some hesitation but when they reached the actual ruins, they immediately stopped believing it completely.


    There wasn''t any other reason, but the ruins looked too terrifying.


    Monolith City was a large capital with a population size over a million people and at the same time, they had a strong defensive reserve troop, to say that a war with only a few people had formed this horrifying scene, nobody would have believed it.


    Totems? Totem Users?


    Even if such a thing really existed in the history, it could barely compete against the increasingly powerful guns, bombs and cannons. It would probably be a legacy that is directly made obsolete by these technologies that grew stronger.


    Moody among the tourist group believed it, that this battleground was the aftermath of a few people''s doing. Everyone else believed that this tragic scene was the result of the explosion of countless explosives. It was undeniable that the three King-Level figures had a part in this war, but those armies and subordinates were the actual heroes that should be respected.


    This was especially so in the recent years when the affected armies'' descendants'' living conditions were exposed, and many countries began introspecting it.


    As the tour guides were in deep thoughts, he brought the tourists around the ruins of Monolith City according to his routine. Now that East Continent has tens of countries of varying size, almost all of the tourists came over to look at the historical site and achievements, the locals that were born and raised in the town could actually make a relaxing, decent living out of being a tour guide.


    "Caddy! Valerie and the rest have already finished their class, are you done yet?" A middle-aged man shouted from afar as he stood in front of a bar, waving towards the tour guide. That''s the man whom he used to play cards with, Jack, both their sons were studying in the same boarding school. Coincidentally, it was weekends today, so he should be fetching the child home.


    "Almost done!" The tour guide replied. "Give me a minute!"


    "Alright!"


    The tour guide brought the tourists to the final spot of the day, and then hurriedly met up with the middle-aged man.


    As the day fell into dusk, it was getting late.


    "Hey! Little Beck! How''s life in school?"


    "It was good. I can take care of myself." A young boy, aged 11 with silver hair and of gangly height replied.


    The father and son walked out amidst the packed crowd which was leaving school, and they walked home while holding hands.


    "Is mom alright?" Beck had a vibe of a young clan leader, with his little bag and his milky white skin, as he raised his eyebrows and asked.


    "She has to work overtime today, perhaps she will be going home late, as there was a dinner party that needed planning. But Old Beck and Lady Cyan will be coming today, they said that they want to visit their favorite grandson. I guess Lady is already in the kitchen working on your favorite cookie." the tour guide laughed.


    "Really? I meant to say since before, that that type of cookie is really too sweet."


    "But that''s the tender loving care of your grandmother."


    "But if it''s too sweet, it''s not good for the teeth, isn''t that what you said?"


    "Um¡­."


    "I guess I should learn how to politely refuse." Little Beck thought deeply while touching his chin.


    The father and son discussed along the way and played all the way home.


    The grandfather with a full head of grey hair, Old Beck was reading the newspaper, whereas Lady Cyan was indeed in the kitchen. This young-hearted lady in red attire came rushing out with a large smile on her face and gave Little Beck a smooch after hugging him.


    "Oh, my dear Little Beck I really hope you never grow up, and stay this cute eternally."


    "Please refrain from using adjectives like cute to describe your grandson, it is insulting to my character." Little Beck, whose full name was Jack Beck struggled.


    "Alright, alright, stop messing around." The grandpa who sat on the sofa put down his newspaper, he looked at that brat with a stern face. " Looks like it''s been a while since we had messaging contacts, your thoughts have been misled. Sleep with me tonight, I shall correct your recent thought process."


    "By using your experiences? That''s great! There''re more great stories!" Little Beck threw his bag aside and cheered loudly.


    "Those are not stories!" Grandpa''s face turned stern.


    "Yes yes, those are true accounts, it is your precious adventure, containing countless life''s wisdom!" Little Beck immediately followed suit.


    "Speaking of which, dad, every time you told this brat a story, it always felt so real¡­" the tour guide was asking softly beside him.


    "Those were your geezer''s personal experience! At that time, there weren''t any cannons or missiles, totem users were the true force to be reckoned with. Haven''t you been repeating the Battle of the Heavens daily? Why would you still ask such childish questions?" the old man''s face turned serious.


    "Alright, alright, Beckstone you''re always this emotional about this topic, those things were of the past, the history, speak less and take care of that heart of yours." Lady Cyan Berlina was advising with laughter on the side.


    "What did you say when you proposed to me? Didn''t you fell heads over heels over my immense strength and cool aura¡­" Beckstone looked at his old partner''s warming smile, he suddenly felt guilty and gradually spoke softly.


    "Looks like someone has been getting too much pocket money.. Hahaha¡­." Berlina still had that warm homely face.


    "Be fearless!" Little Beck suddenly shouted.


    "Correct! Be fearless!!" the duo then started sprinting away.


    Beckstone circled around while pulling his grandson, but he was internally reminiscing the times of fire and fury.


    There''s nobody who had it clearer than him.. The Battle of the Heavens among the three kings were indeed from the history.


    Even though the aftermath of the destruction of Heaven''s Door had led to the nearly complete annihilation of the totem users, the world could no longer see the existence of totem''s power and totem''s light. But only the elderly who survived that era could truly understand the near-mythical era had actually happened.


    Following the weakening of the totem''s power, the immense power of Form 5 he was once proud of have now been reduced to a regular Form 1 totem users'' totem''s power, which could only be used to conjure up some small tactics like a trick.


    Furthermore, people who had no totem''s power were completely unable to perceive the existence of the said tactics and tricks..


    Beckstone had a premonition that the Heaven''s Door had been some sort of a living object, as after it recognized the immense threat of the totem''s power, it began consciously altering the world and let this power slowly go extinct.


    " I wonder how the enemies are doing now¡­." without him knowing, he began thinking about the past again.


    "Grandpa, quick, show me some new tricks!" little Beck called out mysteriously.


    The world would have changed in the end¡­

 545 Change 3

    Chapter 545: Change 3


    In the new Kovitan capital, Escalvate.


    In the clear blue sky, flocks of birds in V-shaped formations soared through the air.


    "Sister, have you take your medication?"


    In an old but lavish looking white building.


    An old lady with a head full of white hair was carrying a grocery basket as she ascended the flight of stairs. She took out her keys to unlock the door and walked into a wide living hall.


    "Madam Dani." a maid in white skirts stood by the door as she greeted the old lady.


    "Thank you for the hard work, Little Jenny " Dani greeted the maid warmly.


    "Another quiet day¡­" a coarse elderly voice was heard from the study room near the living room.


    Dani laughed after hearing the voice and handed the basket to the maid before walking towards the study room located at the deepest corner of the living hall.


    An old lady full of white hair with a graceful figure was sitting in a red rocking chair by the full-length curtains near the study room.


    Her face was wrinkled but her eyes were calm and serene, with no traces of the pessimism and low-spiritedness of an elderly.


    "Sister, I bought your favorite goby fish. I saw someone foraging it from the wilds, so I bought all of it since it''s fresh." Dani said as she exerted large amounts of force to push open the curtains.


    "Aren''t you supposed to go to the palace festive? Why are you free to come over here?" the lady who sat on the rocking chair asked softly.


    "Isn''t it because of my worry?" Dani laughed. "Once I saw that you left your medication at my place, I immediately sent them over."


    She took a chair and sat next to her sister, Hathaway. The sisters gazed at the bright blue sky beyond the window, enjoying the serenity.


    "Speaking of which, it has already been more than 50 years, time really does fly in the blink of an eye." Hathaway sighed. " I wonder how is he now, there hasn''t been any news from the palace."


    "It was said that due to the aftermath of the battle, he is still recovering." Dani nodded, her eyes solemn. What kind of injuries would take 50 years to recover? They were afraid they were injuries that would be deemed terminal¡­ She dared not speak of such words though, as she was worried that her sister''s last hopes would be extinguished.


    After fifty years, what used to be the powerful and influential Black Swamp Palace was now the world''s second largest hybrid university in the new capital.


    After the world''s totem power was weakened to the brink of extinction, the Black Swamp Palace had invited former totem users and swiftly converted into a government-run university. Using their core martial techniques'' powerful reputation, they have established their reputation.


    In these years, numerous talented disciples have been admitted into the university, among them were the top-tiered prodigy Ansapello who became one of the few martial arts masters of the world. After continuous effort, he was hired as the leader of the Kovitan Empire''s Military Headquarters. He even opened up a separate martial arts school, which was widely available worldwide, called the Pure Hearted Fist and had many disciples under him.


    Aside from that, that girl called Pefalia had established the Blackbird Double-Handed Weapons Combat school after she left the school, and it too spread everywhere.


    There were actually many more talents that graduated from Black Swamp Palace that had established their own careers and had expanded into different industries, obtaining decent achievements of their own. Even the least of them were at least industry experts.


    Hence, there will be a moderate sized festive held in the entire new capital.


    "Has Ansapello dropped by recently?" Dani suddenly asked


    "Why? That brat visited me a few days back." Hathaway had a very good impression towards that genius who respected her. Ever since Garen had disappeared, he remained respectful towards her even through the darkest of times in the Black Swamp Palace. Even though he had already graduated, he still tried his best to help his fellow students and seniors. Though he looked arrogant, he was actually a responsible person.


    "That brat has recently proposed a resolution in the Senate, it''s slightly controversial¡­ as the nation grows stronger in recent years, it seems that the boy is becoming ambitious again." Dani frown as she spoke.


    "What did Ivy and Skyharp think about it?"


    "It''s neutral I suppose. They didn''t overtly reject nor support." Dani shook her head.


    "Then it''s best that I don''t express my opinions. The matters of the country are not something we can judge with our personal eyes. As our position differs, our perspective may differ too." Hathaway said as she shook her head. "Right, how''s that brat at your place doing?"


    "Same old, same old, he brought his family for a vacation at West Continent, leaving behind this lonely old woman alone." Dani started complaining. She lifted her head and saw her sister''s face that was no longer comparable to her youth, and her heart shivered.


    "What about you, sister? Was it worth it, waiting for that person for so many years?"


    "There''s nothing unworthy about it, I''ve grown used to waiting all these years. Plus, I don''t feel lonely at all, Lala, Ivy, Angel, Sylvia and the rest have always been visiting me. With so many friends around me, what else is there to feel unworthy about?" Hathaway had remained single even though she had been wildly popular among men when she was young. They had all been turned down politely, whereas her sister Dani had found a decent man to marry, and her family was now one of the top-tiered nobles in Kovitan. She had two sons and 5-6 grandchildren, which made every gathering a rowdy and warm one.


    In these years, the Grand Princess has inherited the title of Queen and become the honorary symbol of spirit in the Royal Family. The actual administration of the country still fell upon the Senate that was composed by the four giant influences. Among that, Black Swamp Palace took two seats, which one would consider to be the biggest influence in the entire Kovitan. Aside from that was the Grand Duke Benoc, who represented the Grand Princess, now the current Queen, as well as an organization representing the civilians. Grand Duke Cody had long been eliminated, hence his whereabouts were unknown.


    Even after the fall of totem users, the radio that had been developed all those years ago still had very holistic functions; its core still used resonance technique and not totem''s power, hence its usability was not affected.


    This had expedited the spread of messages within this world, in the midst of the high speed, high volume message transmission, technology had also abruptly improved at an exponential rate. Countless forgers from the totem world had migrated to scientific research and used their previous knowledge as a basis for many breakthrough theories and research results that took the world by storm.


    In merely fifty years, the technology evolved from the original firearms and steam engine locomotives up to the biplane, a wide variety of cannons, tanks and civilian-friendly technology, born as the results of multiple conflicts.


    With giant ferries traversing between two continents, countless water bodies have been explored.


    In the fifty years worth of recovery, the global population had dramatically increased under each country''s strong push for policies encouraging population growth.


    At the same time each technology continued its growth, the medical standards have improved tremendously. What used to be specially used by totem users, such as microscopes, incubators, training equipment and the like have all been converted for medical purposes. Mankind''s birth mortality rate had decreased drastically and everything was developing at an unprecedented rate.


    ****************************


    In a deep sea trench of North Pole.


    An immense blue ice mountain stood upon the entrance to an abyssal trench.


    In the deepest part of the ice mountain were some tiny spaces, and there was actually a man-made underwater tunnel and plaza. What used to be a place that isolated water had been ruptured and flooded with water and shards of ice.


    The plaza was dark with a hue of blue, minus a swarm of illuminating jellyfish floating through slowly, their bodies expanding and shrinking. The pale blue glow emitted by the swarm was calming and serene.


    Oddly enough, these jellyfishes were different from jellyfishes from the outer world; the ends of their tentacles emitted a faint purplish-blue light.


    Soon, a school of anchovies swam through the plaza in circling motions, they also have the similar purplish-blue hue on their sharp teeth, which seemed unusually ferocious.


    This was the world-renowned Deadly Poison Sea Territory. It didn''t mean that the seawater itself was poisonous, but rather the species inhabiting it, as for unknown reasons, all the species here carried some lethal form of poison.


    The Deadly Poison Sea Territory was considered famous in the North Pole, and there would be a certain amount of tourists expected to visit here even though the sea creatures here could not be consumed. Instead, their unique appearances left the tourists mesmerized.


    Under the ice mountain deep within the trench.


    It had been many years since anyone had entered this realm.


    Ever since the totem''s power had been destroyed, there hasn''t been any human capable of traversing such depth.


    This was the deepest trench in the entire North Pole, tens of thousand meters deep. After repeated measurements done in the recent years, this trench was rated one of the deepest existing trenches, and second place in terms of depth.


    At the deepest parts of the trench, a faint crackling sound could be heard from the inside of the odd ice mountain''s serene pitch darkness.


    "How long has it been¡­."


    Garen slowly woke up from his deep slumber.


    As he opened his eyes, his surrounding was still the same blue ice layer. This ice was from his body, forming a cryogenic hibernation area.


    Outside the icy layer, the migrating poisonous jellyfish floated by once again, Garen suddenly had a flash of realization.


    "Has it already been another ten years?" He mumbled. When that swarm of jellyfish passed through this area once every decade, up to this point, he had already witnessed it 5 times.


    "Fifty years already?" Garen''s head had some delayed memory recalling. Not being awake for exactly ten years, always being in the state of recovery, it was normal for him to be unable to recall something immediately after waking up suddenly.


    After the last time where Ivy, Skyharp and the rest of the elders came to visit thirty years ago, there hasn''t been anyone who''d come to this underwater trench.


    The water isolation plaza that was supported by totem''s power had also been ruptured, and it had turned into a wonderland for the underwater creatures.


    There were already signs of the weakening of totem''s power thirty years ago, and Ivy, who used to rely on his own power to come in, had to combine powers with the rest of the elders to forcefully come down.


    That was the last time Garen had had any contact with humans outside..


    In the later years, he relied on the special radio to contact the outside world, but then even the radio had run out of power and had broken. Since then, he''d always been alone¡­


    The totem''s powers'' had been weakened, but Garen''s body already had no totem''s power, what replaced it was the brand new Living Secret Technique. This power was not affected by the destruction of Heaven''s Door and had retained its immense power.


    This was already beyond the realm of a totem user; to be breaking through into form 6.


    Garen made a detailed scan of his own body''s condition.


    The Secret Techniques of his body had completely integrated, Northern Trident Frost-Fire True Water Evil Technique was a technique that would have been no different from a normal Living Secret Technique, but due to the interruption by Hellgate''s subordinates during the final advancement, it''d caused an anomaly on the technique''s formation, which became an evil technique. Piling onto the side effects and heavy injuries sustained in the war, the Secret Technique put him into a deep slumber recovery status, each sleep lasting more than ten years.


    Taking advantage of the immense pressure and extreme coldness as food and resource of the North Pole Deep Trench, it slowly recovered his body''s injuries.


    Alone in the vast deep sea, he stayed there for tens of years.


    Even a totem user with a mind as calm as Garen, he couldn''t help but fall into a state of mental disarray.


    He checked his body''s condition. In the final war where he killed Hellgate, the deed hadn''t earned him any potential points. But instead, his attributes and talent underwent their first changes in history.


    The real change was in the Attribute Pane.


    "Strength 18. Agility 14. Vitality 14. Intelligence 12. Potential 0%. Soul limit 20."


    Garen turned his gaze on his attribute pane and disregarded the large pile of complicated things at skill pane.


    The Attribute Pane has undergone a huge change.

 546 Change 4

    Chapter 546: Change 4


    His strength had merely been 16 points before advancing to form 6, which means 2 points had been added.


    Agility was at 12 points, increased by 2 points.


    Vitality was also at 12 points, also an increment of 2 points.


    Intelligence was the same, so there were no changes.


    For the potential points to have silently fallen to 0, Garen believed he had a theory; after killing Hellgate, he didn''t obtain any potential points, hence he didn''t have any increments. Whereas ever since his closed training, the potential points had decreased during the process of recovery over the years. Obviously, the recovery of the body via Secret Technique was due to the consumption of the potential points.


    Even though the Secret Technique absorbed the pressure and extreme cold to repair the body, the source of the power that was used to activate the recovery was ultimately the potential points.


    The Secret Technique that morphed into an evil technique, any other totem user would have died from the self-detonation from this change. But Garen had enough potential points to spare to replace his life force. This was what allowed him to survive the harsh conditions of the deep sea.


    After checking over himself carefully, Garen could feel that there was only a tiny part of his body that was completely repaired. It was obvious that the potential points had been completely exhausted, and he could only wake up from the deep recovery slumber when the Living Secret Technique lost its source.


    As well as the last Soul Limit, though he was unaware what that was.


    Garen frowned and looked over at the Soul Limit pane. A descriptive message then appeared in his head.


    ¡®Soul limit is the highest limit of one''s attributes. The life gene will increase its upper limits following one''s natural physiological properties, this was innately decided, just like all other creatures, this is a limit bottlenecked by the flesh and blood given by their parents. Whereas the soul limit helps adjust the genetic limits beyond the congenital limit, perfectly reaching a higher realm and breaking through the innate shackles.''


    Garen felt that this message had already been in his head originally, but was only activated when he paid attention to this place. This allowed him to confirm that this special ability was based off from his subconscious'' generation of such immense ability. To be able to use his understanding of the knowledge and language systems to the fullest extent, he could collate and tap into the potential of the subconscious to maximize the use of external forces, accurately reflecting his status.


    Hence, his abilities would continuously undergo changes alongside the expansion of his knowledge, though what he didn''t know would not be preemptively shown. It was the same for the Soul Limit.


    If that was the case, were his Soul Limit to be at 20 points, did it symbolize that all his attributes would be maximized at 20 points?


    As he began to doubt, he decided not to pursue it further, as the messages from the subconscious feedback were reassuring.


    His brain began to become active again as he woke up.


    Garen''s body moved slightly, and the ice layers around his body began melting.


    While he waited for tens of years'' worth of ice to melt, Garen checked on his body''s conditions.


    Living Secret Technique had broken through Form 6, which also meant it had reached its completion.


    At the peak of completion of Northern Trident Frost-Fire True Water Evil Technique, it began circulating in cycles. There was a viscous icy qi which circulated throughout his blood vessels endlessly that made Garen''s blood turn icy blue and carry an intense coldness.


    Even his blood had the effect of intense cold. Garen couldn''t help but feel very amused by such an odd sensation.


    It was obvious that there was a lack of warmth in his body, his usual body temperature was at least negative 30 degrees, but his bodily functions and blood circulation were normal, and there were no discomforts.


    This anomalous Living Secret Technique had circulated in his body, it also occasionally caused the cold stream move. It was very amusing.


    When Garen looked into this Secret Technique in detail, excluding the odd, amusing sensations, the actual functional abilities could be categorized into systems, totaled into a few types. These abilities also included the abilities acquired after advancing into Form 6.


    "Northern Trident Frost-Fire True Water Evil Technique:


    1 Control of Extreme Coldness, metal weaponry, fluid and Frost Fire, absolute control within a radius of three hundred meters.


    2 Trident Lair, an unlimited barrage of tridents. Trident owner can simultaneously move to the location of the trident.


    3 Ice Rejuvenation, slowly rejuvenate owner''s injuries. Forms defensive ice plates to protect itself.


    4 Form 6 combination power - weather manipulation, buffing from cloud formation, maximized scope of energy combination with an attribute source of their own properties, forming an advantageous ground."


    These 4 abilities were the strong abilities of Form 6 Living Secrets that could manipulate weather.


    To Garen, these abilities weren''t that important, what he cared more about were the changes in his Attribute Pane. Entering Form 6 may seem like a huge feat, but in reality, most of the offensive techniques relied on the condensation of external power.


    There weren''t many changes to his own body. That was probably why his own body''s attributes haven''t improved much.


    Aside from that, Garen realized that there was an ability that wasn''t part of the list of abilities.


    Origin Seed of Living Secret Techniques.


    This ability allowed the Living Secret Techniques to be completely recondensed as a soul seed, returning to a state of inactivity and stored into the deepest parts of your consciousness.


    Subconsciously, Garen felt that this ability could have a pivotal function. So he carefully made a mental note about this.


    The icicles had finally melted completely¡­


    Garen slowly walked out from the sky towering ice pillar, as both his legs slowly stepped down on the ice plaza.


    His surroundings were dark and there was only some faint blue luminescence from the ice, dyeing the entire area blue.


    The igloos on the plaza were still here, except there was nobody living here anymore; Ivycius and Skyharp have already left for the surface as they could not withstand the immense cold and pressure.


    Even all the experts from the Seven Knights'' Tower had retreated, leaving him here alone.


    As Garen moved around the plaza alone, even though there was no totem''s power providing him with oxygen, using his strong manipulation of water, he could use precision controls to obtain enough oxygen for his consumption.


    Garen extended his hands, and slowly touched the rough surface of the igloo, and that realistic touch sensation caused him to shudder for a moment.


    In the tens of years of inanimation, aside from his hearing and vision, the rest of the senses had been basically unused, and now that they were reactivated, this long-lost feeling made Garen tremble without realizing it.


    After some time, Garen pulled back.


    "Totem''s power has indeed disappeared¡­" He can feel the empty void of totem''s power.


    Totem''s power used to be inside all living things. While the seawater now has a feeling of unprecedented purity, there wasn''t a speck of unnatural powers.


    "This is infinitely similar to my previous world¡­" Garen suddenly had this thought.


    He floated upwards slowly, swimming towards the surface like a slow fish.


    AT this point, two giant green light bulbs lit up in a large round cave hidden between a layer of ice in a dark corner on Garen''s far right.


    It was a deep-sea octopus king which spanned over a hundred meters. It had an odd green pair of eyeballs, and as its giant tentacles swiftly latched onto the walls, with a strong pull, its entire body suddenly shrunk and it shot out of the cave like an arrow.


    The octopus king took no effort to reach Garen, but it had no hostility, but instead, it was an uncontrollable desire to get closer to Garen.


    Its giant head was lowered, indicating that it wanted Garen to sit on it.


    Garen smiled gently, and lightly sat on the octopus'' head. Its head was about thirty meters wide, Garen looked like a little pebble on it, it seemed ordinary.


    With its eight tentacles propelling it, the octopus and man swiftly glided upwards.


    As it approached the surface of the ocean, the water temperature increased as well, and the seawater around it became brighter.


    Garen looked up towards the surface, that clear layer of blue, from dark blue, to light blue until the white light on the surface of the sea. Layer by layer, it slowly ascended. But without him realizing, the octopus king stopped ascending.


    It was actually a deep-sea creature, and the water temperature here was already the limit that it could bear. Ascending any further would mean a boiling hot sensation for it, so it could only stay here.


    Garen patted its head, and he leapt off, swiftly swimming towards the surface.


    Splash!!


    He shot out of the water suddenly.


    The squawks of the seagulls, the splashing sound of the waves, as well as the blow of the whale from a place far away.


    All these things have led Garen into an inexplicably touched state.


    For in that instance, he felt the same sensation as transmigrating into a new world, just like the first time he got to this world, everything looked so clear and elegant.


    The skies were crystal clear, and as he basked in the sun, a warm sensation was felt for a moment before it was cooled by the sea breeze.


    As the seawater around him rippled, there were pools of white bubbles floating on it.


    As he looked around, there was only seemingly endless water on the horizon, as though the entire world was nothing but ocean.


    With a leap, he swiftly sprung out of the water and gently landed. The seawater under his feet freezes instantaneously and formed a sturdy white float, supporting Garen¡¯s weight.


    He stood upon the piece of ice about a meter wide as he surveyed the skies and his surroundings.


    The air around him had zero traces of totem''s power.

 547 Years 1

    Chapter 547: Years 1


    Kovitan Kingdom


    Around the mountains surrounding the Kingdom, there were many mushrooming towns and villages of different sizes.


    These villages were centered around the Kingdom, with many farms and windmills everywhere. What used to be the Kingdom was no longer just a small area, but was now a gigantic city more than ten times larger than what it used to be.


    Garen stood on the large white road far away, watching the huge city that used to be covered by the Ultimate Protection, his expression unnaturally calm.


    The Ultimate Protection above his head had vanished completely a long time ago, and there was no longer any hint of totem power in the air.


    He had come all the way here following the road, and of all the people he met along the way, basically none of them had any totem power.


    There was vaguely the sound of radio music coming from a car repair shop by the road nearby, a little boy humming as he arranged the things inside the shop.


    Coming straight at him were two bull carts with some unsold fruits. There was also a wooden plaque beside it, with a sign on it, with the words ''Square Stone Road'' on the wooden plank pointing forward.


    He had no intention of making a fuss, on his way here, after discovering the condition and general situation of the world, Garen knew that his face, that had not aged for several dozen years, represented something huge in this time.


    He walked forward slowly, his steps looking slow but actually far faster than a normal person''s walking speed.


    After going through several little towns and villages outside the city, the sky had already gone dark outside, and the road that wound around the mountain, that had led into the Kingdom and was once heavily guarded, was not too far ahead of him.


    There was nobody on guard anymore in the arrow guard tower, this was an era of peace, the arrow tower no longer posed any threat now that cannons were everywhere, and there was a sign that refused visitors on the door.


    Finding a carriage that went uphill, Garen was kindly taken up the hill together with a talkative old carriage driver, he sort of hitchhiked, as the two of them chatted idly on the way.


    The old man had also experienced the warring times, and believed completely in those matters regarding the totem users, and as he spoke, he kept on lamenting how the young people these days did not believe all that had happened back then, or how they did not respect the true history, so many of the older generation had seen the Kingdom under the Ultimate Protection with their own eyes back then.


    Now many of the elderly had passed away, the totem power had wasted away, and this younger generation began to treat the legends of the totem users with incredulity, they could not believe that those could match up to the bombs and cannons they had now, and assumed that those were just the results of the fear and respect the previous generation had, allowing things to be slowly deified.


    Garen kept nodding in time beside him, but also found out a lot about the situation in the Kingdom.


    He found out that the Black Swamp Palace had somehow become a general university now, and that prodigy disciple that he had acknowledged back then was now one of the Black Swamp Palace''s two most accomplished scholars, he even held the power in Kovitan, and was an extremely influential person throughout the whole country.


    Garen could not help but sigh inwardly, the time had passed like an arrow, and to think that the little fella back then had now become a pillar of the country.


    Just as it was about to become completely dark outside, Garen got off the carriage at the entrance to the Kingdom on top of the mountain, there were no more guards there, and instead there was a lot of traffic there, many people ascended the mountain at night in search of entertainments, and left the city at night to return to their own estates and cottages, interweaving and flowing like a stream at the city gates.


    The house prices inside the Kingdom were too high, and many people who could not afford it had to stay outside, so over time, many small areas came up around and outside the Kingdom, halfway up the mountains, and the whole Kingdom had truly become a city within a city.


    Garen walked towards the direction of his cousin Hathaway''s place, completely familiar with the way.


    Many new buildings had come up in new places around the roads and streets from several decades ago, and several places on the road had also been changed.


    He still had to ask many people before he finally found the house Hathaway was living in.


    At night, standing outside the house, Garen raised his head and looked up at the little bit of yellow lamplight on the second floor of the house. This world had no more totem power, and the technological pathway that had been developing slowly before was now blossoming.


    With the foundations of the totem forgers, the development of science far exceeded everyone''s imaginations, and electricity was created to meet the demand.


    This was originally just an unstable source that totem users had stumbled across in their experiments, and after totem power disappeared, it had finally and rapidly replaced totems in their functions.


    These forgers were also now what modern people called scientists.


    The electric lightbulb was one of these scientists'' newly-invented products.


    Garen glanced at the guard post outside the house, there was a guard sleeping there.


    Soundlessly, he darted, as though floating, past the guard post, leaping up and landing in the garden behind the metal gate.


    Walking up to the door of the house, his palm jolted towards the door, and with a crisp ''ker-chak'', the house door was opened lightly.


    Sitting on the living room sofa, an old white-haired woman with a white towel on her knee entered his line of vision.


    Maybe the sound of the door opening had attracted the old woman''s attention, she put down the book in her hand, raised her head, and glanced over at him.


    With that look, she never lowered her head again.


    Garen was also staring dazedly at the old woman on the sofa, the fifty years of time had carved deep traces on her once-handsome features. Her previously smooth and fair skin had become wrinkled, loose skin. Her once bright and beautiful eyes, had also become the muddled, calm eyes of the elderly.


    Her hair was snow-white, and Garen could only sense a vague hint of his cousin''s image from that indescribable aura of hers.


    "You¡­ you are his son?" Hathaway''s voice was slightly hoarse.


    Garen shook his head, a hint of gentleness in his eyes as he looked at his family''s cousin, who had once been pretty and handsome.


    "It''s me."


    He said softly.


    "I''ve come back."


    Hathaway''s old gaze gave a hard jolt. This familiar way of speaking, this familiar tone and gaze, it was as though she had instantly returned to the time fifty years ago, and it was as though that handsome and powerful young man had just gone overseas for a few days, saying calmly when he got home, I''ve come back.


    Hathaway''s eyes welled up, she waited so hard for more than fifty years, and now, with the passing of time, she was already this old, but Garen was just like how he was back then.


    "Don''t lie to me¡­ Did Dani get you to come here and lie to me? Did she give you the key?" She suddenly thought of something, and smiled sadly as she shook her head.


    "Dani''s fine, right?"


    Hathaway suddenly fell silent.


    All of a sudden, she realized that she no longer knew how to face Garen. After waiting so hard for several decades, with the situation being what it was right now, what ending could they have? Now that there was no longer totem power, over seventy years old was already reaching the average lifespan these days.


    She was already on the brink of death, and Garen¡­ Hathaway laughed self-condescendingly, she did not believe that this young man was the Garen from back then.


    "When did he go?" she asked suddenly.


    Garen was dazed for a moment, and instantly reacted, Hathaway thought he was dead, and had asked his ''grandson'' to find his old flame before he died.


    She still did not believe, could not believe that the Garen from back then was still so young.


    All of a sudden, a sense of faint loneliness surged out from the deepest depths of Garen''s heart.


    He looked at the old woman on the sofa, walked up to her, and half-knelt lightly, kissing the back of her hand.


    "Don''t wait anymore¡­"


    With that, Garen stood up, turned around, and left the room wordlessly.


    Behind him, Hathaway did not say anything more.


    Perhaps neither of them knew how to face each other.


    After all these years, Hathaway had truly become the matriarch of the Trejons family and the Black Swamp Palace, she had adopted one of her little sister Dani''s grandchildren as her own, to become the next heir for the Black Swamp Palace Master''s position.


    This grandchild was unnaturally excellent, and had the full support of the current Head of Military.


    And now, even if Garen came back, what was the point? Other than disturbing everyone''s peaceful lives, there was no longer any place for him here.


    Everyone, all of them, including Ivy, including Skyharp, Angel, et cetera, all of them thought Garen was already dead.


    Died in the ice-sealed extreme depths of the ocean.


    The Kingdom had even set up a memorial especially for him, every year there would be mighty officials and nobles making their way there to pay their respects.


    As for his reappearance, taking over the Black Swamp Palace again? What was the point of it?


    Back then when Garen started this organization, other than to collect information, his deepest intention was simply to leave the mark of the White Cloud Gate in this world. He had regrettably died in battle in the Secret Technique World, so he could only leave his teacher Fei Baiyun''s legacy here.


    The Black Water True Technique had traces of the Mammoth Secret Technique everywhere, it was actually equivalent to a totem version of the White Cloud Secret Technique. That was already enough.


    Leaving the house quietly, Garen walked on the brightly-lit Kingdom roads slowly, there were night stalls and night markets on both sides, with snacks, clothes and accessories, little knick-knacks, a balloon-shooting game, gambling games, and all sorts of other night market activities, making Garen feel as though he had returned to Earth.


    Before he knew it, he had actually walked back to where the Mercenary''s Guild was by himself.


    What had been the Mercenary''s Guild was now just a true and actual bar, the people coming in and out were fat rich merchants with beer bellies and all sorts of slender barmaids. Or there would be young men and women, fashionably dressed.


    Loud and noisy music floated out of the bar, and even standing outside the door, he could feel the rhythmic drumming sounds.


    Garen released his five senses, and reached into the bar.


    There was no one else with totem power inside, and they were all young people. He would occasionally ''see'' some young military officials with black military guns on their waists, and they would be the most intimidating presence here.


    As for the totem user mercenaries? What about Angel, who Garen had unconsciously come here in search of, that friend of his who was the first to join his War Chain, there was no more trace of her whatsoever. He did not know if she had died, or left¡­


    Garen stood for a while outside the bar, just staring at the bar dazedly, until some seductive young beauties came up to him to try and chat him up, only then did he slowly turn around and walk away.


    "Fifty years¡­ who''s still alive?" He asked himself in his heart.


    Those friends from back then, who was still around?


    He walked towards the direction of the Black Swamp Palace subconsciously, the night street market with the throngs of people, somehow made him feel a faint loneliness that even he was not aware of.

 548 Years 2

    Chapter 548: Years 2


    The Black Swamp Palace was no longer as heavily guarded as before, there was a notice plastered on the wall beside the door announcing the recruitment of students this year, as well as the steps and places to register. There was even a red feedback box nailed beside it.


    The university students in the prime of their lives were leaving and entering the school gates, in groups of twos and threes, the sounds of their laughing, talking, and playing permeating everywhere.


    Just above the palace gates, on a huge semicircular sign, the words ''Black Swamp University'' were clearly carved.


    Garen was dressed fully in a black, looking clean and neat, and added with his natural aura of nobility, the guard assumed that he was one of the school''s students, just raising his head for one glance before continuing to read his novel.


    Walking through the palace door, there was an extra glass cabinet on the left wall, with the school''s name list pasted up inside.


    Of these, his portrait was the very first one.


    ''Garen Trejons: The Black Swamp Palace''s first founding principal and Palace Master.


    Sun calendar 3550 -- 3592.The great founder of the Black Water True Technique Secret Technique, one of the first members of Parliament, the country''s honorary Military Commander-in-Chief, and the winner of Kovitan''s first Highest Contribution Award. He was the only person to win the 3958 World War and Peace Award. Ranked number thirteen among the World''s Historic Figures.


    With the light from the streetlamps, he looked at his own portrait, and could not help the urge to both laugh and cry. He was standing right here, alive and kicking, looking at the results of his life as written by others. Even his general time of death had been set down.


    The young man in the portrait was handsome and stern, with an aura like a lion or eagle in his eyes, his golden hair falling over his shoulders, his gaze sharp as a blade, giving the impression of a hero of an era. This was probably what the artist thought of him.


    Garen guessed inwardly.


    Going past his pane, the second place was the second row of Historic Figures.


    Demon Phoenix Trejons, had become a voyager, traveling all over the world, in the end she was caught in a storm on the left of the two continents, in the West Pole Ocean, her ship overturned and no trace found of her. By then totem power had already disappeared for more than ten years. After that, people found her and her friends'' corpses, burying them on a nameless island on the West Pole Ocean, and that island was also named after her, becoming the Demon Phoenix Island.


    "To think she actually took my last name¡­" Garen did not know how, but he still had the mood to smile.


    He continued reading.


    Ivycius and Skyharp had gone to the West Continent for an exchange, the two of them had many children and grandchildren, and had already become the highest tier family of the entire Kovitan. They were equal to the Trejons family. Recently, medical checks had found that the two of them had illnesses. In order to investigate and overcome his disease, Ivycius performed some of his own studies and research, actually becoming a famous medical expert worldwide, specializing in lymph tumors.


    His trip to the West Continent this time was to make a medical report on that matter.


    That Master Calingan from back then, and the three Master-level disciples he had chosen himself, all of them had left a deep impact on the history of the university.


    As he continued reading to the end, Garen''s heart began to grow hollow before he knew it.


    Walking past the list of Historic Figures, he walked slowly inside the school, what was once a palace had now become several different teaching and experiment blocks. He could occasionally see some foreign exchange students with different-colored skin walking around, speaking some awkward Kovitan as they tried to chat with the local students with difficulty.


    Taking a leisurely stroll around the school, Garen did not meet unexpectedly any old faces, all the people, all the faces, he did not know any single one of them.


    Walking in the Black Swamp Palace that used to be so familiar to him, was like walking into someone else''s house.


    He had also found the Black Swamp Guards modified by the Green Vine Sphere, but these Guards were no longer as powerful as they used to be, and were just a lot stronger than normal people in terms of vitality and aura, without that unnatural power they used to have in the beginning.


    Evidently the Green Vine Sphere''s modification had also been affected by the disappearance of totem power, and had utterly become a normal process.


    The main palace hall that he himself used to live, half of it had been sealed away as a historic site, and the other half had actually become a popular rendezvous spot among the students due to the dim lighting there.


    After Garen bumped into several little couples, he was no longer in the mood to survey his old home.


    If he was willing, the whole Kingdom would still return to his grasp in a very short time, but what was the point of that?


    When Garen walked out of the university, he turned around to look at the words above the palace gates, his feelings unnaturally complicated.


    His coming to this world, had been an accident after all.


    The only person he felt guilty towards in the Kingdom, perhaps in the whole Kingdom, was his cousin Hathaway, after waiting so hard for more than fifty years, the final result was that neither of them knew how to face the other, with such a great difference in their appearances.


    Or perhaps she had really taken him for his own grandson¡­


    Garen thought somewhat self-deprecatingly.


    With the disappearance of totem power, practically all the unnatural power had completely disappeared. As such, the totem users who relied on that reproduction ability to lengthen their lifespans had also naturally lost their longevity, falling one after the other.


    The world had become a world of normal people.


    The ones who were Luminarists had become knowledgeable scholars, the ones who were forgers had become scientists using the power of science to solve all. The ones who were totem users, only the very peak-level ones, could become famous martial artists.


    Before leaving the Kingdom, Garen went to visit his teacher Emin''s grave. The Tasura Academy was a clan renowned through the whole Kovitan, so Emin''s grave was covered with all sorts of fresh flowers, evidently there were disciples and students coming here to clean his grave often.


    All of the people he had once been familiar with had left forever, and this world that he had grown familiar with had once more slowly fallen into estrangement.


    Garen left the Kingdom soundlessly.


    Before leaving, he checked Hathaway''s body for illnesses, using the power of his Living Secret Techniques to freeze and clear away the roots of her diseases, allowing her to live for at least more than ten more years.


    This was the only thing he could do for her. Similarly, there were his friends from back then, Prynne and the others, Garen also made the same final arrangements for all of them.


    The secret technique he was practicing did not have the ability to increase their lifespans, and may even have other harmful side-effects to normal people. But if he controlled it carefully, he could precisely kill the diseases within a body, attaining the complete eradication of diseases.


    *******************


    The country of Black Field, Meteor Town.


    In a white graveyard outside the city limits.


    Garen sat in front of a black tombstone, holding a black beer bottle in his hand, and chugging from it every now and then.


    There was no alcohol in it, only coffee.


    Under the setting sun, the black tombstones reflected a red glow, the black tombstone with a bit of white had the following words carved clearly onto it: the Combined Graves of Goth and Jessica.


    The carvings were extremely simple, other than the row of simple names, there weren''t any other words. No summary of their lives, no singing his praises as the Black Field Master, bot even their birth and death dates.


    Just the two names.


    Perhaps this was Goth''s atonement for himself.


    After coming to the Black Field Country for the past these days, Garen had more or less found out how Goth died.


    After the Battle of Heaven, Goth''s previously strong body began to deteriorate rapidly, and in the end he died suddenly of myocardial infarction and a stroke.


    Be it Jessica''s betrayal and death, or Garen''s eventual disappearance, both had sunk the once-powerful Black Palace Master into the depths of guilt and despair.


    For some reason, as Garen sat here before Goth''s grave, he just reminisced like that with unnatural calm, his heart unexpectedly peaceful.


    He could understand Goth''s final feelings, that man looked strong on the outside, but in actuality, his heart was still as fragile as a child''s. Jessica''s betrayal was a serious blow to him, like a hard stab in the heart, hurting him so much he could barely breathe.


    With a life like that, perhaps just living in this world was a sort of agony, so he might as well die and call it quits.


    The Cthulhu King''s base was near Black Field, and he went there to look around too, but there was not a single Cthulhu there, all of them had died back when the totem power scattered.


    The Cthulhu headquarters had become an utter wasteland, and the Cthulhu King was nowhere to be found. Some people said he had left and headed for the mysterious South Pole, some said he headed underground, but more people believed that perhaps he had already died, died in an unknown corner of the world, without any of his past glory, only a body''s worth of injuries after the disappearance of totem power.


    "Why does it feel like the sky without totems is a lot cleaner?" Garen threw his head up and drank a mouthful of coffee, as though talking to Goth, or perhaps talking to himself.


    All of Goth''s achievements had practically been buried away, only some very few of the older generation still remembered the Grand Duke who was once the Black Field Master. That was why a stranger like Garen could sit in front of Goth''s grave like that, and nobody would bother.


    Some of the men and women coming here to pray in the evening glanced at him from afar, seeing Garen sit in front of the grave, they might have thought that it was just a drunk relative here to visit, so they left quickly out of understanding.


    Garen did not really care, after the initial melancholy, now his emotions had utterly gone calm.


    "These days, I suddenly have a feeling." He said softly, "As though I have become the only, lonely person in this world. You''ve gone, Teacher''s gone, Ivy and the rest are all old now, and perhaps soon, they will leave for sure as well."


    He paused.


    "All of a sudden, I don''t know what to do."


    "Everything I know is leaving me." He raised his head to look at the slowly setting twilight sun, the bright red light dying his face completely red.


    "A person''s life is just like this sun, rising and setting, no matter who it is, they won''t be able to escape this natural cycle. I''m just a few steps slower than you guys."


    Standing up, Garen just left the beer bottle in front of the tombstone.


    "After leaving this time, maybe I really won''t come back here anymore." He paused. "When I have time, I will think of you." And then he turned around, walking towards the distance, leaving.


    Without turning back, it was just like having a cup to drink with an old friend, and then going back to their respective homes, calmly.


    There was still the last stop¡­


    Garen''s heart welled with an unprecedented loneliness, this sense of loneliness had only grown stronger since it emerged in Kovitan. Like rounds and rounds of dark-colored vines, tightly, they wrapped him up in layers, at first mildly, but towards the end, they grew tighter and tighter, until he was finding it harder and harder to breathe.


    He could not help but remember Hellgate''s last moments.


    That stubborn man, had he been just like Garen was now? Having experienced the times when his friends and family left him, over and over again, that bone-deep loneliness, that obstinance that no one else could understand, perhaps that was the true source of his motivation to purely chase his ideals.


    Everything in the world would pass with time, only the everlasting principle, the ever-unchanging Door to Heaven, was always and ever standing right there.


    Garen desperately wanted to find that last person, the one who was most likely to be like him. Even if it was just a tiny comfort...

 549 Return 1

    Chapter 549: Return 1


    In the north-east direction of what used to be Daniela, among the thick forest near the sea, in an underground base headed towards the depths of the world.


    Among the dense forests, there was a lonely little town with very few people.


    Looking down from above, amidst the forest as thick as a green ocean, the town was like an irregular yellow spot, clear as can be.


    There was no sign of anyone in the town, everything around was surrounded by thick vines and grasses, from afar, the houses and buildings in the town looked like they were covered by a layer of sticky green liquid, and some was even flowing down from the roofs.


    Walking inside for a look, he saw a curtain of dense green moss and vines, and the ones drooping down from the roofs were some long leafy vines.


    Dressed fully in pitch-black, Garen walked into the town slowly.


    This was once an entrance into the underground world, countless totem users going in and out had formed a busy town for trade and exchanging supplies.


    And now, this place was merely a deserted wasteland.


    Walking slowly down the town''s streets, he would occasionally sense some movement darting through the thickets of dense foliage by the main streets, there seemed to be something small dashing past at high speeds.


    The sky was dark and heavy with clouds, as though it could rain at any time.


    Garen raised his head to look at the sky, his hands in his trouser pockets, as he walked slowly toward a house on the left with some worn and torn cloth hanging outside.


    There was some blurry writing on the large red horizontal sign that he could not read clearly, and some black bugs he could not name were crawling over it slowly.


    The house was still intact, just the doors and windows were all destroyed.


    Garen pushed open the half a door casually, and walked into the house.


    A stench of mold assaulted his nose, it was completely dim inside the house, and there was green moss all over the floor.


    It had been three days since he came to this town, and he had not discovered anything, but he still did not leave.


    He had indeed found the entrance into the underground, but unfortunately that entrance had been completely obscured a long time ago. After digging for more than a day and getting nothing in return, he simply gave up.


    It had been three days, after one more day, he will leave this place. That was his plan.


    Standing in the moldy house, Garen just stood in the doorway, raising his head to look at the sky outside the door, his heart completely calm.


    Boom¡­


    The deep sound of thunder came from the distant skies, and the sky began to grow even darker.


    "It''s going to rain¡­" Garen murmured instinctively, in this place with no other traces of human presence, he seemed to be talking to himself. But he also seemed to be talking to someone else.


    "Yeah, it''s going to rain¡­"


    Suddenly there was another voice behind him.


    Garen''s expression froze for a second, and he turned around, deep in the darkness of the house, a huge silhouette appeared.


    It was a grey-brown Mantis, a full two meters tall.


    A giant Mantis dressed like a human. It just stood there in the darkness, only revealing its head, as it stared at Garen peacefully.


    "Garen, it''s me."


    Garen''s gaze intensified, he recognized this voice. Although it was old and weak, it was indeed exactly the same as that familiar voice from back then.


    "Sun God King¡­"


    This was the Divine God Palace Master that had explored the Shadow Ruins together with them.


    Whooshhh¡­


    In an instant, the rain poured down from the sky.


    By the time he recovered, the man and the Mantis were already sitting side by side under the roof outside the house, staring at the heavy veil of rain less than a meter in front of them.


    It was as though heaven and earth had been covered by this heavy rain, nothing could be seen clearly, and this house was their only shelter.


    "I knew you would come." The Mantis said quietly, "Ever since totem power started vanishing, I just knew."


    Garen looked at the veil of rain and said nothing.


    "It''s a new era now." The Mantis seemed to smile, "It''s a miracle that I, a creature from the previous era, could last this long."


    "Where are your subordinates? Where have they all gone?" Garen asked softly.


    "Them? Most of them became normal beasts, but even more, died of old age." The Mantis replied calmly, "You know, most creatures don''t live long to begin with."


    "If you break through as well, could you continue living like me?" Garen asked calmly.


    "I don''t know." The Mantis raised its arm blades with difficulty, scratching its mandibles lightly, just like a gesture a real mantis would have. "Actually, I was supposed to die several months ago. But my premonition told me, that an old friend might come visiting."


    "So you held on until now."


    "That''s right." The Divine God Palace Master looked at the veil of rain, without any hint of fear towards his impending death, just peace.


    "Is there anything you want to tell me?" Garen fell silent.


    "Anything I want to say?" The Mantis shook its head, "These years, I''ve gone to many places, so many, many places¡­ Looking everywhere for the traces of the old era, I saw a lot, and experienced a lot. But when the Cthulhu King died in front of me, my heart suddenly went empty."


    The torn bright red cloth curtain drooped down on the right, swaying in the wind, fluttering.


    "That feeling, that you''re the only person in the world, it sure hurts¡­ There are people all around you, but not one of them is the same kind as you." The Mantis'' mouth split into a grin.


    Garen did not continue, and just looked at it quietly.


    The sky was growing darker and darker, and time continued to tick by.


    In the rain veil, the man and the Mantis chatted idly, talking about their experiences back then in the ruins, talking about their most painful experiences, their most proud moments, talking about all their stories since they were young.


    In that moment, the two of them were like best friends who spoke about everything, and most of the time, it was the Mantis who talked while Garen listened.


    The wind grew stronger, the rain grew lighter, and the Mantis'' voice grew softer and softer.


    By the time the rain had stopped completely, the Mantis was no longer breathing at all, sprawled quietly beside Garen, its body already stiff and cold.


    "The weather tomorrow might be clear." Garen did not look at the Mantis, just staring at the sky calmly, "Too bad it doesn''t matter for you and me."


    He patted the clothes on his body, and stood up. The Mantis'' corpse was already shattering slowly, soundlessly turning into something like black ash, flown away and scattering in the wind.


    "Now it''s just me¡­" Garen laughed self-condescendingly.


    He rolled up his sleeves, the small and clear Imprint on his arm was still there, so he pressed it lightly.


    The surroundings darkened.


    After a moment, it lightened up again.


    He was still standing in the doorway of the house, the scarlet-red banner straight beside him. Some of the floating leaves froze in the air on his right, some raindrops had dripped from the roof and were about to crash into the ground, but they never could.


    The world seemed to have stopped in this moment.


    Garen looked around him, there were silver rings hanging all around him in the air, each huge ring swaying occasionally, and then they soundlessly began to shatter and fall, turning into countless metal shards.


    And after the old rings collapsed, some new silver rings appeared slowly, but they still could not match up to the speed of collapse.


    Garen did not look at the whole inner world, he just reached out his hand, and a trident like an ice-blue water mirror gathered in his hand.


    Psst!


    The bottom of the trident pierced into the ground, upside-down.


    "Have you come?"


    A deep man''s voice came from the forest in front of Garen.


    "Kid?" Garen raised his head and looked forward, the Imprint telling him he was not mistaken.


    That ancient man walking out of the forest in front of him, was the one who was once Kid.


    He looked obscenely old, not at all like a person in his sixties, but more like an ancient monster who had lived for several centuries, the wrinkles on his face were as deep as gutters, his skin was like tree bark, and covered with tiny black spots.


    He wore grey cloth, holding on to an old wooden staff, and walked out of the forest like it was only natural.


    "I waited a long time for you." Kid leaned on his staff, standing quietly in front of the forest, and watching Garen.


    "What on earth happened here?" Garen walked up to him, standing in front of Kid. "Why did the totem power vanish?"


    "This is the image I left behind in the Imprint." But Kid ignored Garen completely, just saying his own thing. "The real me, and everyone else, have died in the thirty-two years since that battle."


    He paused. "If you can wake up at the very end, and see this, then perhaps you are considered lucky. This image can only last thirty years."


    Garen shut up, he had already noticed that although Kid''s eyes were looking at his direction, his pupils were not concentrated at all, and seemed to be looking through him, at the things behind him.


    "The world is collapsing. Totem power is collapsing." Kid said deeply, "This is the result of our research. Because I am the youngest, I lasted until the end. But soon enough, all unnatural things will be expelled by the Door to Heaven, including me."


    "Expelled?" Garen''s heart gave a jolt.


    "That''s right, you didn''t hear wrong." Kid nodded. "The Door to Heaven is not a dead thing, after that Battle of Heaven that time, it felt threatened, so totem power began to be eliminated. All unnatural power began to die."


    "Only those who have truly escaped the shackles, the Form Six who have escaped the control of totem power, might perhaps be able to escape the effect of the Door to Heaven completely."


    Garen listened to Kid''s explanation quietly.


    "But, in the world that no longer has totem power, even if Form Six fighters would probably be unable to touch the Door to Heaven ever again."


    Garen nodded despite himself.


    Totem power was indeed a unique power that only this world had, and after eliminating totem power, without the support of the surroundings, even if the Form Six secret techniques succeeded, forming a highly-compressed soul Seed, it would still only have the power of a Form Four during the totem era, maximum.


    But even so, in such a world without unnatural power, his power was already definitely the most powerful, unrivaled existence around.


    "Be careful, the Door to Heaven won''t let you go, it will surely try everything it can to expel you." Kid left with that line, heavily, and his whole person slowly began to fade, disappearing where he stood.


    "Be careful¡­"


    That last voice was still slowly echoing, and only then did Garen wake from his thoughts.


    "The Door to Heaven¡­"


    Before he knew it, that familiar huge set of white light doors had appeared again in the sky.


    There were countless mountains, flowing rivers, and flying birds on the door frame, like so many miniature worlds, unbelievably realistic.


    The white light shot down like pillars, going past the slowly disintegrating silver rings, and falling onto Garen''s body.


    A huge complicated will, like that of countless creatures combined, exploded into Garen''s heart.


    "Leave¡­ Leave¡­ Leave¡­"


    "Leave¡­"


    "Leave¡­..."


    The endlessly repeating will kept assaulting Garen''s heart, as though countless people were constantly howling softly into his ear.


    This combined will had no consciousness, it was just the will of countless creatures mixed together. It was a bleary, muddled will.


    Garen seemed to hear the whole world in it, animals, people, fish, birds, everything with life, all gathered into a huge current, and wrapping him up in it.


    In that moment, he seemed to feel, as though he was the last poisonous tumor in this world, and the whole world seemed to be desperately trying to expel the existence of such a tumor.


    From the dark sky, there was just one clean white light pillar surrounding Garen, falling from the sky, like a staircase to Heaven.


    Garen smiled slightly.


    This world actually had a conglomeration of wills like the Door to Heaven, and he clearly remembered that the worlds before this, the surroundings of Earth and the Secret Technique World, did not have such an existence, or perhaps they did, and he just did not notice.


    The universe sure was mysterious.


    "If possible, I''d like to go back to the place I had come from." He lightly sent out his own will. If the Door to Heaven had a consciousness, perhaps¡­


    Soon enough, a scene appeared that took him completely by surprise.


    The images and memories of his initial arrival into this world abruptly appeared in his mind.

 550 Return 2

    Chapter 550: Return 2


    Lightning sparked in the dark, cloud-laden sky, and a red comet fell towards the ground with its long, long tail. This meteor was too small and too weak, so nobody could have noticed it at all.


    The meteor pierced through the clouds amidst the clapping of thunder, rushing into an estate on the earth, that was what had once been the Vanderman Estate.


    Barroom!!


    With a clap of thunder, everything in front of him vanished in an instant.


    Garen¡¯s eyes went black, and he was suddenly no longer standing in the forest town from before.


    In the next instant, it was as though he was being yanked by an unbelievably huge force, his whole person turning into a blood-red meteor, flying into the sky of the inner world from the surface of the ground.


    Red flames burned around his body, forming a thin layer. Looking down through the layer, the ground became further and further, smaller and smaller.


    The Door to Heaven in the sky became larger and larger, closer and closer. The pitch-black mirror surface in the center was like a huge mouth of darkness, as though waiting to swallow him up.


    But strangely, a sense of familiarity surged into Garen¡¯s heart.


    He paused, giving up the energy he had gathered in order to struggle and escape, and instead felt that familiar sense closely.


    "The Black Smoke Pot...:"


    That was the feeling he had when he was leaving, pushed out of the Secret Technique World by the terrifying force of the volcano.


    Everything changed so fast, that it was like a dream.


    From meeting the Divine God Palace Master, to the sudden change in the inner world now, Garen was completely not mentally prepared for any of it.


    Whoosh!


    In an instant, the meteor shot into the Door to Heaven.


    Instantly, everything around Garen turned completely pitch-black, there was no light whatsoever, when he turned around to look, there was not even the Door to Heaven¡¯s white light, it was equally nothing but endless darkness there.


    His whole body was covered by a crimson-red flame. That flame seemed to be coming from inside his own body, gentle and warm.


    The darkness around him slowly changed, turning into the limitless and vast starry space.


    Countless silver twinkling stars were scattered all over the universe, and the nearer blue and white planets flew past him quickly like bowling balls.


    Garen could feel his speed pick up, becoming faster and faster. The blue stars around him all had long silver threads behind them, brushing past him constantly.


    He had actually been sent straight out of the planet by the Door to Heaven, and under its immense protection, he was sent flying alone in an unknown direction. It was all happening so fast, much faster than even when he arrived.


    Countless stars twinkled and flowed past him, the time passing slowly.


    After goodness knows how long, Garen suddenly saw a pale blue planet ahead of him grow closer and closer, becoming larger and larger. Soon, it took up his entire field of vision.


    The planet was being magnified in front of his eyes at a high speed, and just ahead was the pale blue ozone layer, just as the red meteor that was Garen nearly touched the ozone layer, a pitch-black whirlpool suddenly appeared in front of him, swallowing him directly.


    The whirlpool rapidly vanished, and the universe continued on as though nothing had ever happened.


    *******************


    Between two of the three continents, the Fivestar Continent and the Azure Continent, on an unknown stretch of sea.


    A scarlet-red meteor appeared in the air above the ocean as though it had teleported there.


    Boom!!


    A wave several tens of meters tall suddenly erupted in the middle of the big blue sea.


    The white pillar of waves rose high into the air, and then scattered down with a whoosh.


    A ton of seawater was spinning, forming a huge deep-blue whirlpool that was several hundred meters deep.


    In the middle of the whirlpool, a tall and lean blonde-haired man was standing above the water¡¯s surface quietly, his eyes closed tightly, his arms lightly drawing a circle around him.


    The deep-blue walls of the whirlpool around him abruptly reached out two tentacles of water that looked like snakes, twining gently around his waist, and lifting him up lightly.


    The deep-blue whirlpool shattered explosively, a large current of water surging out to form a wave several meters wide, surfing under the figure¡¯s feet and using the momentum of the whirlpool to take him towards the distant sea.


    Just then, Garen¡¯s eyes were closed, and he was rapidly checking the side effects of this journey through space. His attribute pane was clearly showing the changes in his body¡¯s condition right now.


    Compared to the last time, when his body had been destroyed in the flames, this time, with the help of the Door to Heaven taking the initiative to send him off, as well as his power being much stronger than it was before, he had somehow only sustained extremely light injuries. His organs had internal bleeding to different degrees, but after channeling his secret technique for a bit, these wounds had been completely frozen up.


    Opening his eyes abruptly, Garen looked at this blue ocean far, far away, from a distance.


    Everything was an endless sea of deep-blue, but in the direction of the ocean surface that Garen was looking it, there seemed to be a hint of a white dot.


    It was a white cruise ship, a steel cruiser!


    There were even words printed on the side of the cruise: Fivestar Continent General Merchant¡¯s Alliance, Farsea Company.


    Those were the Weisman words that Garen was absolutely familiar with.


    In that instant, the images from back then appeared in Garen¡¯s brain one by one, the ambitious Weisman Empire had set a trap for the peak-level elite fighters who entered the Black Smoke Pot Island, and eventually released that terrifying explosive that seemed to be an atomic bomb.


    The Immortal Palace, Behemoth Gate, the Number One Divine Warrior¡­


    The memories and images were flashed past Garen¡¯s eyes like a temporary illusion.


    His figure moved, falling into the water, and rapidly swimming towards the steel cruise ship.


    ********************


    On the white cruise ship


    Lindsay Whitman hugged a novel about legendary figures as she yawned out of boredom, leaning on the rails by the side of the ship, she yanked her hair that was growing longer, her long dark brown hair gone from ear-length to falling over her shoulders, flying messily in the sea breeze and irritating her.


    The high noon sun was rather piercing to the eyes, but felt warm and cozy on the skin, making her whole body feel relaxed and comfortable.


    She was only twelve years old, but she followed her father out to sea a lot, sailing the seas between the Azure Continent and the Fivestar Continent, selling all sorts of ceramics, silks and tea leaves for the company. Ever since her mother died in an accident when she was three, she had been living her life on cruise ships.


    On the wavy white ship deck, several sailors were carrying large buckets of water and washing the floor.


    This was the stern of the ship, and underwind as well, so the sea breeze blowing from ahead brought with it the aroma of fragrant and spicy stir-fried squid.


    Lindsay could not help but swallow some saliva.


    She wanted to resist her hunger, but her saliva kept coming, making her empty stomach feel all the hungrier.


    She was not pretty, and she had bad skin, her features coming from her ship captain of an old man, so she had thick brows and large eyes, thick lips and a short nose, with none of a girl¡¯s gentle beauty. Her figure was not nice either, slightly chubby around her waist, and her skin was absolutely dark, after so long living on the sea, all her skin had been baked into a glowing dark brown color, although it looked healthy, it was nothing like that fair silkiness she desired for so much.


    "Excuse me." Suddenly, a clear man¡¯s voice came from behind her.


    Lindsay instantly turned around, and as soon as she saw the person behind her, the pupils in her eyes dilated rapidly.


    This person was completely soaked from head to toe, and was clambering over the railing to climb onboard from the side of the ship, all his clothes were completely dripping wet, and plastered tight to his skin. Even more strangely, there was some seaweed left on his body.


    "Y-y-y-y-you¡­" Lindsay felt her voice shaking, but she could not control herself. She pointed at the other person, her whole body shaking.


    This was the deep sea! The deep sea!!!


    There was not even an abandoned island without several thousand nautical miles of here, and even sailing alone, it would take more than ten days before they saw any land! More than ten days before seeing land! What did that mean?


    Wasn¡¯t this deep sea area a part of the ocean that you could see either whales or sharks, either sharks or eels, and nothing at all else?


    Oh! My God! Could this be the legendary humanoid sea monster? Humanoid sea monster!? How could I have stumbled across one of those legendarily terrifying things, wasn¡¯t that something only the main characters in those legends came across? Without a world-ending divine weapon, or a super precious sword, anybody who met one of these would die without a question!


    Wait! What if this wasn¡¯t a sea monster, but was instead a fairy tale mermaid prince? She wouldn¡¯t be that unlucky, would she?!! They said mermaid princes loved eating children under the age of fifteen the most, and they would skewer them with iron poles, eating one in each bite, and usually putting away more than twenty a day¡­


    It¡¯s over¡­ it¡¯s over, it¡¯s all over¡­


    "Excuse me¡­" Garen looked at the little girl in front of him, watching her face go green and then white, and was suddenly slightly confused. "Could you lend me a set of clothes? I¡¯m a traveler who got in trouble, the passenger vessel I took from Stonecliff Continent was in a storm, and I was tossed overboard, thank goodness I met you guys."


    The little girl pointed at him woodenly, her chest rising and falling drastically, but when she heard these words, she finally recovered her senses.


    Phew¡­


    She released a long breath.


    "So you¡¯re a traveler who got thrown overboard¡­ You¡­ you scared the heck out of me¡­ Don¡¯t you know that climbing up the side of someone¡¯s ship suddenly from the middle of the sea isn¡¯t something just anyone can do?"


    "Sorry, my young friend, I gave you a scare." Garen smiled apologetically.


    His aura as an upper-level noble from the Totem World, as well as his own beautiful looks and behavior, made Lindsay¡¯s heart skip a beat.


    He spoke very good Weisman, it was just that his vocabulary was slightly outdated here and there, sounding slightly awkward and unnatural, but that gave this man an even stranger sense of charisma.


    "Are you a Grandmaster of Combat?"


    "Grandmaster of Combat?" Garen paused slightly, it had been a long time since he heard this term, and he felt something strange yet familiar surge into his heart.


    The other crew members had also noticed the situation over here by now, and more than ten crew members dressed in white who were nearby picked up their weapons and started surrounding them. Their expression all held a slight wariness and caution.


    The weapons they held in their hands included shovels, harpoons, large webs, but were mostly long silver machetes and fish guns.


    "Lindy! You come over here first!"


    A sailor with a large beard yelled towards Lindsay. His gaze on Garen was extremely nervous and wary, as though he was not seeing a person, but a terrifying ocean beast.


    More crew members surged out of a tower in the distance, and they surrounded a middle-aged man in black clothes and a round cap, that person was holding an intricate silver handgun, his expression dark as he jogged over to them.


    "Don¡¯t worry, I have no ill intentions." Garen smiled as he raised both hands. "I¡¯m just a traveler who was thrown overboard, I floated for several days before I was just lucky enough to encounter your ship."


    Just then, some of the other passengers onboard the ship also came out of their cabins, watching the action from afar.

 551 East Continent 1

    Chapter 551: East Continent 1


    "Traveler?"


    The people around them began to make a commotion.


    In the midst of the chatter, Lindsay left Garen carefully, going to stand beside the man with the big beard. Her old man the Captain also separated from the crowd, walking towards Garen with silver gun in hand.


    The man¡¯s face was covered in bristles, and he wore a blue round cap, his eyes bulging out somewhat, so he looked at others like a frog looked at insects, his gaze icy cold.


    "You¡¯re a traveler?" He did not wait for Garen¡¯s reply, continuing, "I don¡¯t care if you really are a traveler or not, since you¡¯re on my boat, you¡¯ll have to follow my rules."


    He observed Garen¡¯s clothes and appearance carefully, his expression relaxing ever so slightly.


    What he did not say was that although there were many navigation routes through this part of the sea, there would not be ships going through the same area within at least three days of each other.


    In other words, if this person really was a traveler who had been thrown overboard, then he must have survived alone in these waters for at least three days, soaking in the seawater for three days. What a preposterous thing¡­ haha.


    Putting aside how corrosive seawater was, it was very harmful to soak in it for long, and even drinking water here was a problem. Besides, there were periodically sea sharks in this area.


    But he had heard that some strong martial artists had bodies that were exceeded normal limits.


    "You are¡­ a martial artist?" He thought about it, and asked quietly.


    "Uh¡­" Garen did not understand that term for a moment, but after he translated it, he nodded slightly. "That¡¯s right, I have trained before in martial arts."


    "If you¡¯re a martial artist, that makes sense." The Captain¡¯s expression instantly softened, "May I ask, your name is¡­"


    "Garen, Garen Trejons." Inwardly, Garen quietly added on that familiar last name, Garen Trejons Lombard.


    ******************


    After some simple explanation and verification, Garen very ordinarily took on the identity of a lost traveler, and joined this ship, becoming one of the ship¡¯s passengers.


    The Weisman Captain seemed to have a lot of respect for martial artists, and asked no more about Garen¡¯s identity. He did not ask Garen for any passenger fees either, even arranging a room for him enthusiastically, and getting his own daughter Lindsay to serve him in terms of food and drink.


    After boarding the ship and settling down, Garen had not thought that just showing a little of what he could do with throwing knives, instantly arranging three throwing knives into a straight line, was enough to make the Captain¡¯s attitude change so much.


    Compared to the confusion and suspicion of the surrounding crew members, the Captain¡¯s reaction was more surprising to him, this was evidently a person who knew the world and had knowledge of many things.


    Two days after boarding the ship, Garen was arranged to stay in the VIP room in the passengers¡¯ lounge, there were even some navigation books inside that he could read. For the past two days, he had been living, eating, and resting in his room, the injuries on his body recovering rapidly.


    "Mr Garen." After tidying up the room, Lindsay looked at Garen with a look of anticipation, "Could you tell me some stories about you martial artists?"


    This was not her first time serving martial artists, but although her attitude was very proper, her potential and appearance were also very important, her appearance missed the mark by a long shot in every way, and her talent was not particularly good either, so no matter how good her attitude was, most martial artists would just tell her some stories about basic knowledge, and that was to thank her for her good attitude. As for taking her as a disciple, they did not even consider it. As for those slightly weaker ones, she herself did not want them, those normal dojo masters probably could not even defeat her own old man.


    "Stories?" Garen sat in the room, holding a ship captain¡¯s journal as he drank some specially-imported black tea. "Speaking of stories, do you know about the Battle of the Black Smoke Pot Island?"


    "Of course I know the Battle of the Black Smoke Pot Island." Lindsay nodded hard, "I heard that it was the peak of the era of Grandmasters of Combat, the two Kings of the Century faced off on the very peak of that island, but in the end the volcano erupted, and a nuclear bomb exploded, so they all fell there."


    "Oh? You know it so well?" Garen was slightly surprised.


    "Of course I do!" Lindsay answered matter-of-factly, "It was about more than sixty years ago now, that was the peak-level incident in the martial arts world. The Immortal Palace¡¯s strongest fighter in history, Sylphalan, died in that battle."


    "You even know the Immortal Palace?" Garen was suddenly interested. "More than sixty years?" He abruptly noticed that key term, and instantly fell silent.


    "Of course I know, the Immortal Palace and the Demon Gate, they¡¯re the two strongest powers in the combat world, they¡¯re the two holy grounds of combat. They are the joint organizers of the Combat Festival tournament that happens once every three years. Our ship has ferried martial artists participating in the Combat Festival more than once!" Lindsay said, with a hint of pride.


    "The Combat Festival?" Garen heard a new term again.


    "It can¡¯t be? You don¡¯t even know that?" Lindsay¡¯s eyes widened.


    "I¡¯ve always been training hard in the wilderness¡­ So¡­" Garen shrugged to indicate that he truly did not know.


    "The Combat Festival is an important tournament that the two powers use to rank and choose new generations of Grandmasters of Combat, not only do these include the Grandmasters of Combat in the traditional sense of the world, they also include mysterious martial artists who combine technology with their killing moves. It is held once every three years, and by now it¡¯s been held more than ten times. I heard that the truly strong competitors will even be chosen by the two powers to become their official members." Lindsay walked to the chair opposite Garen and sat down, explaining patiently.


    "More than sixty years¡­" Only then did Garen know, in the process of him returning, he also seemed to have used up far too much time.


    As for the Combat Festival or whatnot, that was just the method the Immortal Palace and the Demon Gate were using to find new talent as well as weed out potential threats.


    That Demon Gate was probably what used to be the Behemoth Gate, and that Immortal Palace might be the same Immortal Palace from back then, but he had not expected these two to grow so strong.


    "Other than the Immortal Palace and the Demon Gate, are there any more powerful sects in the combat world?" He continued asking with a slight hint of anticipation.


    "Other than these two¡­ there are also the Black Fist Gate, the Crimson Sand Sword, and the Celestial Circle Gate. I don¡¯t know the others, but these should be the main few."


    "Is there a White Cloud Gate, or a Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate?" Garen paused for a bit, and asked.


    "White Cloud Gate? That powerful sect that joined the Battle of the Black Smoke Pot, huh¡­" Lindsay seemed to remember now, "After that battle, the White Cloud Gate fell into obscurity, they only had that one extremely powerful Gate Master, after that the people from the Immortal Palace and the Demon Gate took revenge on them, apparently the losses and casualties were great, and most of their important legacies were lost as well. There is still a White Cloud Gate now, but it was a sect rebuilt by the some of the previous members, they don¡¯t have any complete legacies from before, so they¡¯re only considered a lowest-end sect."


    She thought back carefully. "I used to want to watch the Combat Festival very badly, but I was blocked outside and could not go in, so I just wandered around outside for a few days, but afterward I bought a book introducing the different combat sects, and they mentioned a little bit about the White Cloud Gate.


    "What about the Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate?" Garen fell silent for a moment, and continued asking.


    "I¡¯ve never heard of it before¡­." Lindsay shook her head, "That sect¡¯s name sounds super impressive, are you from this sect, Mister?" She asked somewhat curiously.


    Garen smiled, but did not reply.


    In terms of his position, not only was he the White Cloud Gate Master, he was also the Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate¡¯s number one Divine General. Sadly¡­ these identities that were once so striking, after a mere sixty or so years, had become utterly unknown.


    The White Cloud Gate had already fallen to such an extent, and the Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate, that had peak Grandmasters of Combat such as himself and Palosa, must have been suppressed by the Immortal Palace and the Behemoth Gate until it was unrecognizable.


    ******************


    In the distant Azire Continent, a small town by the sea.


    In a dilapidated old dojo¡¯s old wooden halls, several young men and women stood in a row, obediently listening to what their young senior brother was saying in a loud voice.


    "In the history of White Cloud Gate, we were once glorious as well."


    The senior brother pointed at the sign above them proudly, facing his junior brothers and sisters.


    "In our history, we once had two Divine General level Grandmasters of Combat, and four Divine Marshals, our power was definitely absolute, so as disciples of this gate, we must always remember the pride and glory of the past¡­ Always remember the Three Prides and Three Sins as dictated by our Teacher Ancestors, do not forget our sect rules, be disciplined, shoulder the responsibility of developing and strengthening our sect, take pride in your identity as a disciple of this sect, you must¡­"


    The senior brother continued on and on up there.


    The few young girls and boys below him were all groggy from the lecture, but this weekly ideology class was compulsory.


    Divine Generals, Divine Marshals? Nobody knew if those legendary levels actually existed before, they were just too far away from normal disciples like them. It was probably their Teacher Ancestor blowing their own horns.


    These days, which small sect did not make up their own glorious history? If they had nothing to say even when bluffing, and could not intimidate those rich people into a daze, who would send their sons and daughters into the sects, and pay the tuition fees?


    That was how the four or five young men and women down there were tricked into it.


    Two were children from a small-time merchant, one was the daughter of an out-of-luck noble, and two of them came from normal families in town, one boy and one girl.


    Out of these children, the youngest was only thirteen, and the oldest nineteen, having all entered the sect at different times. At first the White Cloud Gate had several dozen disciples and members, but the Iron Leg Gate nearby challenged them once, injuring some of the old masters and even grievously hurting the old Gate Master. So the disciples left and scattered, and after a few years, only these few were left of those from back then, added together with the newly-recruited ones.


    Most of these children were here because of the cheap school fees, if it were not that they truly could not afford the other expensive dojos, nobody would be willing to be a disciple under this old and dilapidated lowest-level sect.


    The First Senior Brother was still up there chattering away, as he thought about what the old man told him before he left. Good for that geezer, he had taken some of the sect¡¯s senior and junior sisters to meet the Crimson Sand Sword¡¯s invitation, helping out preparations for the Combat Festival next March.


    Just thinking about it made this First Senior Brother really mad, that damn geezer kept bringing those few pretty ladies with him everywhere, there was no time to bond at all. Wasn¡¯t the whole reason he joined in the first place because the White Cloud Gae had many pretty ladies?


    The geezer¡¯s three granddaughters, especially the youngest Lolloa, were practically white cabbages in this black mud, so tender and sweet¡­


    "First Senior Brother, you¡¯re drooling."


    He instinctively wiped the corners of his mouth, but the First Senior Brother immediately noticed something amiss, his gaze sinking as he stared harshly at one of the blonde-haired boys beneath him, that boy was hiding behind a cool-looking young girl with black hair, his expression mischievous.


    "Sit back in your own place! As a man, is it right for you to keep hiding behind your older sister!?"


    The First Senior Brother scolded him, but his gaze was quietly wandering over the cool black-haired girl.


    He had to admit, that old geezer¡¯s eye for beauties was pretty good, and his taste was the best as well. Ever since the geezer took over as Palace Master, he had started adopting baby girls from all over the place, they looked all wrinkled and ugly when they were young, but after they grew up, each of them turned out to be pretty and tender young girls.


    Putting aside their potential, there were several young male disciples who joined just for these pretty girls, if the Iron Leg Gate¡¯s challenge had not chased away most of them, right now the sect would probably be expanding like anything.


    Sigh¡­ Who knows when that damn geezer is coming back¡­


    Although the First Senior Brother was preaching ideology, his thoughts had long since flown away from here, floating towards those three cute ladies with the old geezer.

 552 East Continent 2

    Chapter 552: East Continent 2


    After listening to Lindsay¡¯s explanation about the combat world, in the next few days, Garen asked her about the relevant situation every day.


    More than sixty years, Ying Er might still be alive, but his parents¡­


    Garen sighed inwardly, time was still the strongest weapon of all.


    He suddenly had the urge to return to the White Cloud Gate and take a look. But it was obvious that the current White Cloud Gate was probably no longer in the Stonecliff Continent¡¯s Yalu Confederation.


    However, since all the famous sects will join the Combat Festival, then the old sects like the Crimson Sand Sword and the Celestial Circle Gate would definitely be there, if he went there, he might be able to meet some of his old friends from back then.


    Andrela, the King of Nightmares, the members of White Peacock from back then, were they still around now?


    If he could meet some of his old friends, he might be able to find Ying Er as well.


    Just then he was sitting in his own room, listening to Lindsay recall some of the combat world stories she knew, and he could more or less deduce the changes in the state of the world as well as their technological level.


    "...After the Battle of Black Smoke Island, the second to grasp nuclear bombs were the Yalu Confederation, and then it was the Republic of the Tulip. After all three superpower countries controlled such intimidating power, there basically were no more great wars, only a few military exercises and constant small-scale skirmishes. That was when the true value of Grandmasters of Combat could be seen."


    Lindsay spoke about all of this logically, after following her father on the sea for so many years, she had seen all sorts of people, and had many sources of information, plus she was bright enough, so Garen understood everything unnaturally well.


    "More than ten years ago, a special forces team made completely out of Grandmasters of Combat infiltrated the Republic of the Tulip, in a mere ten days, they assassinated fifteen province-level high officials consecutively, and caused a huge international uproar. That mission was the famous Flash Operation, as though teleporting in a flash, they moved from one place to another, killing instantly, meeting no resistance. This made all the countries in the world understand the terrifying power of Grandmasters of Combat in a special forces unit. And because of that, the Demon Gate and the Immortal Palace began to grow dramatically stronger, bringing the whole combat world with them. Each country began to understand the Grandmasters of Combat more, and more combat-related activities blossomed, until training in combat became a popular trend. Now, all of the countries determine the strength of their special forces according to the number and quality of the Grandmasters of Combat in their countries."


    Lindsay finished saying all that in one go, then she picked up her tea and chugged from it, moistening her throat.


    Garen watched the little fella talk and talk in front of him, acting like a little adult, and he could not help but find it slightly funny.


    "Then the Demon Gate and the Immortal Palace have their own territories, right?"


    "That is for sure, the Immortal Palace is mainly in Weisman where we are, and they have countless connections with the military. The Demon Gate is mostly based in the Yalu Confederation, and the Republic of the Tulip in the Azure Continent is the weakest, although the Crimson Sand Sword and Celestial Circle Gate are very powerful, they are still too far away from the Immortal Palace and the Demon Gate."


    The Crimson Sand Sword and Celestial Circle Gate were both forced to the Azure Continent.


    Garen understood now, the old Yale Confederation had been utterly conquered by the Behemoth Gate, while the Immortal Palace were in cahoots with Weisman. If the White Cloud Gate really still existed, and was still teaching their legacies, then they were most likely in the Azure Continent.


    Picking up the tea cup and sipping from it, Garen fell into deep thought, when suddenly he felt the cup in his hand sink a little, the hardworking young Lindsay had refilled his cup with tea.


    She had been cleaning his room and serving him tea every day for these past few days, and this young one carried out her duties respectfully, her service detailed and first-rate.


    "Is the Combat Festival held in a fixed location?" He picked up his cup and sipped again.


    "It¡¯s not, they choose a different place each time. Mr Garen, are you planning to join the Combat Festival?" Lindsay asked carefully.


    "That¡¯s right, after training for so many years, I thought I should go out and meet the people outside." Garen put down his cup, "I bet you¡¯ve practiced some things with your old man, right?"


    Lindsay¡¯s heart brightened, and she pressed down her excitement.


    "You mean¡­"


    "I won¡¯t take you in as my disciple, but I can teach you a thing or do." Garen smiled. "Get up and show me everything you learned before. The one you practice the most."


    "Yes!"


    Lindsay was instantly overjoyed, and she hurriedly moved the chair away, opening up some space.


    Standing in the empty space, she pressed her arms forward slowly, and then she raised a knee, the tip of her foot moving slowly at first, but then kicking quickly, her upward kick drawing an easy and beautiful arc.


    Turning around, side kick, forward kick, spinning stomp, warhammer downward chop, both her legs in the air as she kicked consecutively.


    In that little two meters worth of space, the girl nimbly demonstrated all sorts of different kicks in a very short time, her actions light and quick, her control excellent.


    The whoosh of her kicking kept spinning and resounding in the small room.


    "Attack me!" Garen said suddenly. "At full power!"


    Lindsay¡¯s heart was filled with joy, she knew that this was his real test for her. Her right leg was pulled back, and instantly bounced up again like a poisonous snake, turning into a black shadow and aiming for Garen¡¯s throat with a whoosh.


    Smack!


    Garen caught the tip of her foot steadily in his hand, so she could not move at all, and all the momentum seemed to have been kicked into the empty air, making Lindsay feel unspeakably uncomfortable.


    "Your basics are not bad, but they¡¯re just for show, without the secrets of blood qi, you can only beat up normal people at the most."


    "Blood qi secrets?!!" Lindsay¡¯s eyes instantly lit up, "Are you going to teach me blood qi secrets!?"


    Blood qi secrets were something only secret techniques had, and the true secret techniques among secret techniques, were the essences of all sects and true martial arts. No matter how the fist- or kick-fighting techniques were, without the secrets of channeling blood qi, they would still only be normal people, unable to reach their limits.


    And once they had this secret, only then would they truly step into the world of secret techniques, the world of martial artists.


    Garen laughed out loud, blood qi secrets were the core of secret techniques, so they were indeed precious, but he had too many secret techniques stored in his brain, and yet any low-level secret technique would be a priceless treasure to this fellow, it was a core item that could be passed down for a lifetime, and used to strengthen a family.


    Besides, even if it was just one of the low-level secret technique secrets that Garen remembered, to Lindsay, it would still be a huge opportunity.


    She knew it best herself, this was different from the era where several hundred families clashed with their secret techniques, now countries were paying a lot of attention to the power of Grandmasters of Combat, and had strict regulations over secret techniques, and especially so over the Immortal Palace and the Demon Gate, they would not allow the large-scale spreading of secret technique secrets at all, and they had strict rules over the other sects as well. As a result, other than joining the Combat Festival, those who were not chosen and did not have the opportunity, would never be able to learn true secret techniques.


    "I''ll teach you a simple leg technique. Practice more of this yourself." Garen went through some options, and found the Snake Style Leg secret technique that he had recorded under the White Cloud Gate.


    "This secret technique tip is called the Snake Style Leg, it has tremendous power, immense speed, allowing you to extend and retract your leg quickly, so you can land one hit before the enemy could even react. It''s not really a secret technique, at the most it''s only really an explosive blood qi technique."


    "It''s enough, it''s enough!!" Lindsay¡¯s smile was going to turn her face into a flower, she was so happy it was turning her silly.


    She was deeply in love with martial arts since young, but unfortunately she did not have the conditions required, so she could only keep repeating her old man''s few moves.


    After that, Garen got up and showed her the key to the Snake Style Leg, the moves, and pressure points regarding blood qi and will.


    Lindsay was indeed no prodigy, and she was barely even bright, she was just average at best. After hearing it three times, she still barely understood, so Garen had to explain it to her again in detail, analyzing the Snake Style Leg in parts, and setting several goals and steps for her, so she just had to train towards these daily goals.


    This was his way of repaying her food and accommodation services.


    Time passed by day after day, Garen stayed deep within Lindsay¡¯s family ship, just teaching Lindsay a bit about the kicking technique every day, while he spent the rest of his time alone in his room, reading books, and listening to the radio Lindsay had brought him.


    Soon enough, the ship also approached their destination -- the East Continent.


    The east side of the three continents was called the East Continent. In truth, the whole East Continent was the East side that Garen''s master, Fei Baiyun, mentioned back then. In other words, it was the place the White Cloud Gate was initially founded. For his whole life, Fei Baiyun wanted to return to the East Continent, to see his old hometown and school, but unfortunately he never managed to fulfill that wish of his, so he passed it on to Garen on his deathbed.


    Back then he had thought he would not be able to fulfill it either, but now he had somehow returned to the East Continents, though it was several decades later...


    *************


    "Hahaha¡­!"


    Amidst the hearty laughter, a large man with a black beard hugged Lindsay¡¯s old man hard, patting his back loud enough to for others hear the clapping.


    "Safe sailing, Captain Whitman! And I thought I''d only see your ship next week, but to think you''re here today!" The large black-bearded man was shirtless, revealing his powerful and healthy dark skin.


    The two of them stood on the jetty, surrounded by the laborers carrying the cargo back and forth. It was dawn, the air was clean and cold, with a faint hint of mist, veiling the whole jetty in a foggy blur.


    "You kid, Brother Feng, this time I brought a large cargo with me, if I don''t move faster, I''d regret it if all the cargo had been taken away by others!" Whitman chuckled as he added on.


    While the adults chatted on that side, the children were gathered elsewhere.


    Lindsay was standing aside, facing a boy and a girl.


    "Big Sis, this is the fifth edition of the ¡®World¡¯s Combat History¡¯, I bought it specially for you." The little boy''s face was all swollen and his nose green, but he handed her a neatly-wrapped book respectfully.


    "This is the ¡®Transmutations of the Kick¡¯ that I found." The girl handed over a book she had found as well.


    Both of them seemed about ten years old, their faces childish, but even the girl''s face was covered in bruises.


    "What''s up with your faces?" Lindsay¡¯s voice grew angry, and she asked softly. She was the Big Sister of the captains¡¯ kids here on this jetty, and because she liked martial arts, she often beat these kids into submission. The two small ones in front of her now were her ¡®true disciples¡¯, not everyone dared to touch them.


    Seeing as the two of them weren''t speaking, Lindsay humphed coldly like her father.


    "Was it Zhao Qinglan!?"


    The two of them stuttered but did not dare to reply.


    If it was the Lindsay from before, she would not dare to rush and find that Zhao Qinglan either, that person was new to the jetty, and had been studying martial arts since young, she was even better at it than Lindsay, although she was also a girl, she already weighed more than sixty kilograms despite her young age, and had tremendous strength.


    But now that she had gotten the secret of the Snake Style Leg, Lindsay was full of confidence, and was sure of her powers, so she had the urge to give it a try.

 553 Situation 1

    Chapter 553: Situation 1


    "Let¡¯s go! We¡¯ll find that damn fatty!" She pulled her two subordinates and headed towards the street deep within the jetty fiercely.


    Within a few minutes, the three of them saw Zhao Qinglan, who was showing off by beating up another little boy in the street, she was tall and heavy, her face covered with flesh, and her hair tied up into two swirls, she wore a powder-white coat, that intimidated anyone who looked at it.


    "Yoo-hoo! Lindsay, you finally got the guts to challenge me?"


    "Cut the crap, this fight decides who¡¯s stronger!" Lindsay jumped straight towards the side of the street, as soon as she stepped out, the young children who were surrounding and watching them instantly opened up some space for them.


    Heh!


    Zhao Qinglan spat some saliva onto her palm, rubbed it, and pounced forward, dashing at Lindsay will a speed and agility complete unlike her appearance, moving extremely quickly.


    As soon as the passersby looking over at them noticed that she actually had some rhyme and reason to her moves, some others stopped walking and began to watch.


    With that pounce, and according to Zhao Qinglan¡¯s strength, it should be more than enough to knock Lindsay to the ground. Once she had the other person pressed down, and unable to get up, that would mean Lindsay could only lie down and be pummeled blindly.


    Seeing Zhao Qinglan pounce at her, Lindsay panicked for a second, she had not thought that her opponent would be so fast despite looking so fat.


    Before she knew it, her right leg was pulled back abruptly, hiding behind her left leg, and her blood qi, wound up like a spring, was pressed into her right leg in pace as she adjusted her breathing.


    Psst!


    Like a released spring, in that instant, her right leg naturally shot out, like a black whip, but even more like a pouncing poisonous snake. The tip of her foot was the fangs, making a hissing sound as it swung through the air.


    The Snake Style Leg that she had been training constantly these past few days was used ever so naturally.


    Bam!


    The leg touched the right side of Zhao Qinglan¡¯s pouncing body, and her whole body rolled away, falling at the empty space by Lindsay¡¯s left foot, still swaying.


    "Ouch!" She heard a cry of pain.


    That Snake Style Leg only had one percent of its true power, mainly because Lindsay used it with the power of a child, and she was extremely unfamiliar with it, so it was far from actually embodying the shape of a snake, and hissing like one.


    But that one hit was enough to make Lindsay¡¯s heart jolt.


    For the first time, she truly knew for the first time, just how powerful this Snake Style Leg actually was.


    The kids around her cheered, these captains¡¯ children who had grown up with Lindsay had disliked Zhao Qinglan for a long time, and seeing her fall now, they all jumped with joy.


    "This is the secret you learned from that punk you picked up halfway?"


    Suddenly, a deep middle-aged man¡¯s voice came from beside Lindsay.


    "Snake Style Leg? Hehe, to think there would be someone who would simply teach others secrets!" The man¡¯s voice suddenly sounded happy at their misfortune.


    **********************


    "You surviving vermin from the Southern Sky Gate! Die!!"


    With a boom, the man in black flew into the sky, a terrifying humanoid pitch-black aura rioting behind him.


    The woman stiffened for a second, and his palm hit her directly, sending her flying and coughing blood. She spun several times in the air with a groan, before finally falling hard onto the ground.


    The woman stumbled but finally managed to steady her footing, and she actually began to run slightly faster, borrowing the momentum from before. Like a graceful swallow, she darted into a copse of trees beside her, and disappeared after a few turns.


    "Get her!!" She vaguely heard a low yell from the man in black behind her.


    The man in black took a hand towel offered by the subordinate beside him, and wiped the fresh blood off his hands, his expression hard and cold.


    "She can¡¯t escape! We finally managed to catch that little rat, I have set down an inescapable trap, and the main players inside can never escape!"


    A short woman in black laughed beside him. "Once the Divine Master(1) leaves the palace, we will just nicely have the leader of the Southern Sky Gate as a present. The Young Divine Master Jessian has personally promised, that as long as we, the North-West Nine Iron Gate can complete this matter, they will personally help us conquer the Bronze Gate¡¯s copper mine, I wonder if this is true?"


    As the two of them spoke, large groups of strong black-clothed fighters rapidly rushed into their woods, looking everywhere for her.


    "The Demon Gate Demoness Lola is also about to re-emerge from her meditative retreat, the Young Divine Master is probably doing this to prevent any future threats, as long as he settles this matter with the Southern Sky Gate completely, perhaps the Divine Master might place more importance on him." The man in black nodded.


    "I heard that the Young Divine Master has already entered the fifth level of the Omniscient Eye, and is now only two steps away from the highest peak-level. once he re-emerges this time, he will surely go toe-to-toe with the Demoness Lola. Add that to the Divine Master¡¯s tremendous power, once he comes out of his meditative retreat this time, he will surely achieve the highest peak-level, the Demon Gate is surely in trouble this time." The woman in black pressed her voice down low.


    The man in black instantly looked thoughtful.


    The Immortal Palace and the Demon Gate were the two main holy sites of the combat world, controlling countless powerful battle skills and secret techniques, so they had the highest position in the combat world. The Divine Master and the Demon Soldier were the two strongest fighters of the whole combat world, but now the Divine Master was coming out of his meditative retreat soon, and allegedly had the biggest breakthrough, achieving the highest state of secret technique training.


    But regrettably, on the Demon Gate¡¯s side, the Demon Soldier had sealed himself into a meditative retreat, but it was said that he had failed and died, so with the rise of one side and the fall of the other, the Immortal Palace had practically become the strongest power in the combat world.


    Before this, the survivors of the Southern Sky Gate had managed to live because the Demon Gate was holding them back, but now the chase was getting tighter, with Grandmasters of Combat looking for them everywhere.


    *********************


    Garen got off the cruise ship slowly, looking at the jetty in front of him.


    This was evidently a decently-sized jetty by the bay, the whole jetty was like a circle, an oval with a hole in it, and the path into the ocean was that only hole.


    There was a faint mist over the ocean, and nothing could be seen in the distance, but he could vaguely see rows upon neat rows of Chinese-style houses and buildings, on the streets between the houses, the red-skinned strong men carried their naval cargo, but there were mostly fishermen wearing their hats and preparing to go to sea. There were also quite a few bull- and horse-drawn carriages, mostly parked beside the many large ships.


    The ship that Garen himself was alighting from was already considered a large ship here, and by now there were already several horse- and bull-drawn carriages stopping beside it. The merchants and travelers getting off the carriages were discussing something with the crewmembers from the ship.


    "Mr Garen, may I know if you have any plans after getting off the ship?" Captain Whitman said from behind him, after he found out that his daughter obtained a secret kicking technique from Garen, he had gotten even more passionate.


    He would fulfill each and every one of Garen¡¯s wishes, evidently taking him for a legendary Grandmaster of Combat.


    Garen shook his head.


    "I have no plans, but I¡¯ve come out this time to see the Combat Festival happening soon."


    "The Combat Festival is naturally something everybody passionate about combat and martial artists will want to see." Captain Whitman chuckled, "But I heard that the location this year is on a small island in the ocean. It is not too long from now, that the Festival will begin. Why don¡¯t you stay with us and be greeted together with our Navy Alliance, Mr Garen? What do you think?"


    By Navy Alliance, he did not mean just his own ship, but the large alliance of the sea formed by the merchants trading and buying here in the East Continent. This huge power had also recruited several power martial artists, and although they did not know exactly how many Grandmasters of Combat there were, even the pirates by the sea had to be wary of such an alliance of over a hundred merchants. As large ocean alliances would sometimes come across rich targets, they would also take down their merchant flag and put up pirate flags to perform the fastest deal to earn money. Nobody could truly differentiate merchants and pirates.


    "That sounds fine too." Garen thought about it, his return this time was only to see how Ying Er and the others were doing for the last time. And then, if he had the chance, he wanted to see if he could discover the mysteries of the Black Smoke Pot.


    Over the past few days days, he had also tried to use his Listener¡¯s Imprint to enter the inner world, but it seemed that there was no inner world here at all. When he was in the Totem World, his Listener¡¯s Imprint could feel something mysterious. It was a feeling, as though the world itself was living.


    And it was soon proven that the Door to Heaven, as the representative final product of the Totem World, did indeed have its own life and instincts.


    But once he returned to the Secret Technique World, Garen could not feel any of that sense of life. The whole world¡¯s air seemed dead and stagnant, the Listener¡¯s Imprint did take effect, and was not affected by this planet, so he could feel the waves from inside, but this place simply did not have any inner world, so Garen had no way of getting in.


    He had a theory, that these planets were all different, the world of the Totem Planet had a planet¡¯s will, which was the Door to Heaven. And this place, the Secret Technique Planet, probably did not have such a thing.


    Perhaps not all planets were the same type, once he thought about it that way, he felt that it was understandable.


    The universe was endless and powerful, containing space, time, and everything else. It was probably only natural that there would be different planet systems and conditions.


    His thoughts turning instantly, Garen looked at the bearded captain in front of him.


    He was utterly penniless, but he could not always depend on the charity of others, so it was convenient for both of them if he was recruited by this Ocean Alliance.


    "Before the Festival begins, I¡¯ll have to continue bothering you, Captain Whitman."


    "You¡¯re too kind." Whitman hurriedly replied in a low voice, intense joy filling his face.


    Martial artists who had secret technique secrets these days were all powerful people, they moved quickly, and any normal person with a gun within ten meters would be sitting doves to them.


    The two of them chatted a bit, when suddenly they heard the soft sounds of an argument nearby.


    Garen looked towards the direction of the noise, and vaguely saw Lindsay facing off against someone else in the fog.


    "Something seems to have happened, I¡¯ll go over there and have a look."


    ****************


    "Who taught you the Snake Style Leg?! Tell me!" The middle-aged man with the cold eyes glared hard at Lindsay, his right palm was at least twice as thick as his left hand, shining with a faint purple glow, as though all of his skin was dyed with a layer of purple. This man wore a grey-green military costume, and there was even a young man about as tall as him standing next to him.


    The East Continent was currently in a state of warlordism, these private soldiers and gangsters were all over the place.


    That person was just walking past the jetty at first, but he happened to notice a child performing a prohibited secret technique, the Snake Style Leg, and was instantly overjoyed.


    Ever since the Immortal Palace declared the Martial Prohibition, anyone who caught the practitioners of those secret techniques involved, would have the right to exchange them for a secret technique or secret of equal level. Although the Snake Style Leg was only one of the lowest-level secret techniques, but for some reason, it was also one of the secret techniques that the Immortal Palace had strictly placed under prohibition.


    Of course he would not know that the Immortal Palace hated the White Cloud Gate and the Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate to the core, especially the White Cloud Gate, back then the White Cloud Gate Master Garen was unrivalled, using a normal secret technique to make it all the way to the peak, such a story seemed like a legend, no matter how you looked at it.


    And so the descendants of the Immortal Palace began to think that it was highly likely that the White Cloud Gate and the Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate had something special which allowed Garen to skyrocket upward. After a hard chase and intense search, they still could not find any clue, so they decided to put all the White Cloud Gate¡¯s and the Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate¡¯s techniques under prohibition, since they could not find the reason, then they might as well make sure that nobody could learn those martial arts techniques.


    This was actually the very foundation of the Prohibition. It was also the reason the current White Cloud Gate did not even dare to practice their own inherited secret techniques.


    Translator¡¯s note:


    ÏÉÖ÷, lit. Deity Maste

 554 Situation 2

    Chapter 554: Situation 2


    There were several dozen types of secret techniques under the Martial Prohibition, some stronger and others weaker, but most of the martial artists had memorized all of them, since these things could be traded for Immortal Palace Secret Techniques. Everyone wanted a secret technique that was most suited to them, but it was always difficult for martial artists to find a secret technique that fit them well, and the secret technique offered by the Immortal Palace were extremely numerous, so they would definitely find the one they wanted there.


    Lindsay was completely panicked and lost, she was only a twelve-year-old child after all, she might have been at the top of her age group, but when faced with an actual military punk with a gun at his waist, her heart was instantly confused.


    "I¡­ I¡­" She stuttered, at first she wanted to say some tough words, but she just could not form them. The more she could not speak, the more panicked she got, and so she was even more tongue-tied.


    "Heh." The man with the cold gaze laughed coldly, and came up to her.


    "Master Zhao, why are you still joking around with a child? I know this child as well, she¡¯s the Ocean Alliance boss¡¯ daughter, we¡¯ll inevitably meet each other all the time, so please be patient if there were any misunderstandings or if she was rude in any way." A jolly short and fat man walked out of the riotous crowd, his face all smiles as he greeted the other two with one hand over the other fist. "How about I treat you two sirs to a few drinks at Jade Garden?"


    "Fat Lan, you stay out of this matter." The cold-eyed military punk Zhao pushed the fatty away, and walked straight up to Lindsay. "Pretty bold of you, to secretly learn a demonic secret technique under Prohibition!"


    Before he finished speaking, he made to grab Lindsay.


    Smack!


    Lindsay instinctively kicked him, blowing his hand away.


    "Oh-ho, you still dare to resist!" The military punk Zhao was instantly furious, and kicked towards Lindsay hard, his foundations were naturally much stronger than the girl¡¯s, plus he was also an expert at kicking, so he instantly calculated a few ways she could dodge, his right leg kicking forth at a strange angle.


    "Master Zhao, please let her go!""Master Zhao, she¡¯s just a child!"


    Seeing that he was actually attacking her, some of the familiar faces in the crowd instantly reacted, they were all Captain Whitman¡¯s close friends, so there was no way they could just stand by and watch their niece get bullied.


    In this chaotic world, most of the people on the jetty were huddled into groups, even if normal people did not go against officials, but they still took pride in justice, and could not help but stand up to stop him.


    Bam!


    Lindsay was kicked hard in the stomach, and she fell forward onto the ground, in too much pain to get up.


    The two men who had pounced out beside her were also kicked far away by the military punk Zhao, and stumbled before they finally steadied their footing, but their faces were pale and they could not catch their breath for a while.


    "Serves you right for goddamn interfering with me! Go ahead, block me! Block! Go on blocking!!" The military punk Zhao seemed to have been provoked somewhere else, and was now taking all of his anger out on Lindsay.


    He kicked Lindsay¡¯s waist again and again, sending her rolling back and forth as though she were a toy.


    The people around them were riotous in the beginning, but they began to fall silent afterward, just standing around and watching him kick her. The few who were brave enough to stand out had been settled by this man in a few hits, and still had not recovered.


    "Stop!!" There was an explosive yell from nearby.


    The military punk Zhao¡¯s expression grew cold, and he stomped on Lindsay¡¯s head even harder.


    Of course he would not kill her, he still wanted to give her to the Immortal Palace in exchange for a secret technique, but it was more interesting to destroy this girl¡¯s face than it was to kill her.


    He had gotten used to dominating the streets, and did not think he would nearly be humiliated by this young thing today, plus he had just taken a harsh scolding from his senior officer, so his heart was burning with rage. When he hit her, he immediately started putting more force into it.


    Garen walked over to them with Whitman, and just glanced at Lindsay, who was lying on the floor, as well the pale children beside them, sensing that Lindsay was in no great danger. He then immediately moved his gaze to the two military punks.


    The situation around them was similar to that of the Huaxia period in China on Earth(1), the crowd gathered around to witness the spectacle were completely numb and expressionless.


    But for some reason, when he and Captain Whitman walked over, the gazes of everyone around them were instantly dyed with a hint of respect, including those two military punks.


    After some careful observation, he noticed that their fear and respect was not aimed at Whitman, but him.


    To be more precise, it was aimed at his shining long golden hair.


    Garen had just asked Whitman about the situation here on the East Continent, and the information he got was that it was similar to the Republican era(2).


    The place had been split up by regional warlords, as soon as the feudal dynasty collapsed, the foreign allied armies had divided up the profits on the East Continent, and there were settlements from other countries everywhere, becoming an eternal trauma in the hearts of Oriental scholars.


    The war from a few years ago and the debts they accumulated had utterly shattered the East Continent¡¯s dream of becoming the strongest country in the world, and had also torn away the veil of mystery and mythic respect that the foreign countries had historically had for the East Continent. They were hit as soon as they went down, the East Continent armies with the soldiers on horseback and their sand cannons were basically weak as lambs in the face of the foreign gunpowder cannons.


    After they terribly lost several patriotic wats, the blatant conflicts and division of territories began.


    The Yalu Confederation, Weisman, Tulip, and some other middle- or even small-scale countries.


    Each of them supported their own representatives and ambitious leaders, doing their best to grab as much profit and supplies as they could by politically manipulating the area.


    That was also when Whitman¡¯s family had gone onto the ocean and contacted foreign merchants, doing their business in trade. As locals from the East Continent, they had made contact with many foreigners over the years, and this did improve their standing somewhat. But all that was not as shocking as an actual foreign friend.


    Foreigners always looked down on the East Continent, especially ones from the strong countries. For Whitman abruptly brought a young blonde man here, it truly shocked everyone and left a huge impact.


    Such pure golden hair could only be found in some of the strongest countries on the other end of the sea. Such as Weisman, such as Tulip, such as the Yalu Confederation¡­


    Those were the three strongest countries¡­


    The military punk Zhao did indeed pull back a little, and looking at the little girl on the floor, he noticed that blood was leaking out the corner of her mouth. Evidently, this was getting complicated.


    But even if there was a foreigner here, he still did not want to let go of his long-awaited dream, to get a secret technique that truly suited him. His dream of many years could finally be fulfilled, such an intense temptation rapidly forced down his urge to run away.


    "It is a serious crime to secretly learn a Prohibited secret technique! This is the Prohibition from the Immortal Palace, a law supported by the Weisman authorities, you would know that as well, right, sir?" The military punk Zhao thought hard, and forcefully found a wordy excuse for himself. It was just that he was using the local language of the East Continent, so he had no idea if the other party could understand him.


    Garen smiled slightly, revealing a mouthful of pearly whites. Beside him, Captain Whitman was prepared to translate for him.


    But it was not as though he had done nothing over these past few days on the boat, so as soon as he spoke, it was in fluent East Continent language.


    "Prohibition? The Immortal Palace¡¯s Prohibition? What is that? Could you explain it to me?"


    "Uh¡­" The man Zhao hesitated.


    "I was the one who taught her the martial arts, do you have any opinion about that?" Garen immediately declared that he was the one who taught Lindsay.


    He did not care about any Martial Prohibition, or any warlordism, as the terrifying ruthless killer from the Black Swamp Palace, a legend even in the Totem World, that was even more so in this Secret Technique World with its lower combat level.


    Be it the Immortal Palace, or the Demon Gate, if they got in his way, then they had better be prepared to pay in blood.


    He was not one of those old-fashioned justice warriors, in order to achieve his own goals, although he was not completely immoral, it was still only natural that he would choose the most effective way to solve a problem.


    He stood here and traded useless words with these two, just to express two things.


    One, the Whitman family was not extremely close to him, as proven by the question he did not care about Lindsay who was lying on the ground. That was also to prevent that family from getting too involved with his problems.


    Two, Garen still thought it was necessary to bequeath a dead person with a few words.


    The man named Zhao was already feeling something ominous, his right hand reaching for the gun behind his waist.


    But all of a sudden, his whole body gave a jolt, his movements stiff and unable to move. It was not just him, the other man beside him who had come with him had also stiffened, and could not even speak, even his expression did not change. But he could see the same terror and fear in the other person''s eyes.


    They could not move at all!


    It was as though all the blood in his body would not listen to him.


    Demonic arts!! This was demonic arts!!!


    No wonder the Immortal Palace declared the Prohibition, such a terrifying martial arts¡­ It was like there was an avalanche in Zhao¡¯s heart, his wariness from before collapsing instantly in the face of extreme terror.


    Garen smiled at him slightly.


    "What a coincidence, I was just looking for you, come with me. Let''s discuss this properly."


    He said a few words to Whitman softly, and led the way directly to a small teahouse outside the crowd. The two military punks followed him quickly, not saying a thing.


    "Alright, break it up, everybody, break it up!!" Behind him, Whitman¡¯s subordinate was yelling, and only then did Whitman wipe the sweat off his head, carrying the unconscious Lindsay off to find a doctor.


    **************


    The three of them sat down on the second floor of the teahouse, taking Garen''s favorite position closest to the window, and nobody dared to take any of the three places around them, the owner forced a smile as he served them a pot of high-quality tea, and then hurriedly rushed downstairs, too afraid to say anything more.


    Garen very naturally controlled the blood inside their bodies, taking away their wallets, opening it up and counting the money inside. There were only seven or eight pieces of silver inside, as well as some scattered copper coins, he wondered how much that would buy.


    He put them all into one pouch and kept it carefully, tying it to his waist, and then Garen smiled at the two of them.


    "Don''t be scared, you will always come across some obstacles in life, this is just a small trial in your lives."


    He slowly released the control he had over their faces.


    The military punk named Zhao opposite him had a smile that looked worse than if he cried. He was already a hundred percent sure that he had bumped into a person from the Demon Gate that truly hated the Immortal Palace, or perhaps even a demonic martial artist who was wanted by both sides!


    "My lord, please tell me if there''s anything you need, we will definitely tell you anything we know, everything we can!"


    "Is that so?" Garen smiled slightly.


    "Then, please tell me everything about the Martial Prohibition¡­" The smile on his face grew deeper and deeper.


    They dare to declare a Martial Prohibition, prohibiting the White Cloud Gate¡¯s martial arts¡­


    Hahaha¡­ Immortal Palace, how dare you!


    Translator¡¯s notes:


    A late Neolithic period in ancient Chinese history.


    From 1912, after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, to 1949 in China.

 555 Gather 1

    Chapter 555: Gather 1


    After sitting in the teahouse for more than half an hour, Garen quickly found out most of the information in even more detail thanks to this punk Zhao.


    The East Continent was too far away from the three main continents, the martial arts world here was relatively independent, but the influence of the Immortal Palace and the Demon Gate was still prevalent here. The Martial Prohibition was still the best way for regular martial artists to obtain powerful secret techniques.


    After hearing all the information this guy had, Garen fell into deep thought.


    His motive was very simple, he just wanted to find Ying Er first, or anyone related. But now the Immortal Palace¡¯s Martial Prohibition made this thought slightly harder.


    Then how could he find the people he wanted as soon as possible?


    The best way was to borrow other powers, if he could borrow a pre-existing large-scale power, he could accomplish whatever he wanted to do with half the effort.


    "How is the situation here in the local martial arts world?" As he thought it, Garen decided to just ask.


    "L-Locally, there are three main sects, the White Dew Gate, the Black Killer Gate, and the Dragon Gate¡­" The military punk Zhao hurriedly replied. "If you''re looking for the elite fighters of the three main sects, I can also help you, I know an outer ring disciple of the Black Killer Gate, they would definitely be of use to¡­"


    "And then? Since there is already a self-made system here in the East Continent, then there would surely be someone with as much influence as some of the Immortal Palace¡¯s or the Demon Gate''s power here? Otherwise they would surely have been swallowed up, right?" Garen asked calmly.


    "Naturally, naturally, the White Dew Gate¡¯s Yue Qingdi is one of the East Continent¡¯s Three Absolutes, and there''s the Dragon Gate¡¯s Yu Qingzi, and the Black Killer Gate¡¯s freelance guest, Master Sanshan, oh, they are all what you martial artists call Aura Condensation level fighters."


    "Aura Condensation?"


    Garen had heard some natural-born elite fighters use this term back on Earth, to think it had the same meaning here.


    White Dew Gate, Black Killer Gate, Dragon Gate, these were the three strongest martial arts factions here on the East Continent.


    "That means they can almost liquify their aura, the combat classics mentioned three states, gas, liquid and solid, these states represent the levels of the Grandmasters of Combat. Other than that, the three main sects are all in cahoots with three of the main military warlords, forming alliances, of the four military warlords, Kong, Lin, Zhao, and Hu, only the Hu army does not have the support of a martial arts family." The military punk Zhao spilled everything he knew, telling Garen everything at once.


    Garen mused slightly, he knew the levels of aura very well. The White Dew Gate, based on the name itself, it might have some connection with the White Cloud Gate, so that might be worth a visit. The only problem was what excuse he should use to go there. Should he just pull out his own White Cloud Gate identification, or he go over there quietly?


    Garen found it troublesome, so he decided to forgo thinking too much about it, he would just find the White Dew Gate first.


    "Take me to the White Dew Gate, I''ll let you go once we get there." He looked at the military punk Zhao in front of him calmly, "What''s your name?"


    "Zhao¡­ Zhao Jun¡­." The military punk Zhao kept shaking all over, watching as Garen''s expression grew calmer and calmer, there was an ominous feeling in his heart.


    Whumph.


    Just then, his friend beside him fell forward onto the table and remained there motionless, as though drunk.


    Zhao Jun¡¯s heart skipped a beat, and his face went instantly pale. He could feel, his friend''s body beside him grow colder, and colder¡­


    He saw Garen, who was sitting opposite him, smile slightly, revealing eerily white teeth.


    ***************


    Between the green ocean of trees, amidst the rise and fall of the.mountains, the uneven tide of the trees seemed to have been covered by a green carpet.


    In the middle of it was a twisting small white road, like a grey-white cotton thread in the sea of trees.


    "Sixty years of Ying Xu, each as temperate as a cold summer¡¯s day."(1)


    Garen frowned as he looked at the red words on the white mountain cliff. Even standing on a small path and looking from a distance, he could tell that the words were written with steely power and depth. They gave off the air of being carefree but also delicate.


    Zhao Jun was behind him, pulling two healthy black horses, his attitude timid and respectful.


    "This is Ying Xu Valley?" Garen turned back and asked.


    "Yes, yes it is." Zhao Jun nodded hard. "This is the place the White Dew Gate receives guests!" he said very certainly.


    "Then why isn''t there a single person here?"


    "It''s morning now, someone will probably be coming soon¡­ And the White Dew Gate¡¯s standard is unnaturally high, many people have given up on being accepted as disciples." Zhao Jun replied without hesitation.


    These days, he had to withstand the feeling of his body temperature lowering every night, feeling as though he was on the verge of death, that feeling as though he was sinking into an endless darkness had increased his respect and fear toward Garen to the highest possible degree. He was even nicer to Garen than he was to his own father.


    Garen nodded nonchalantly, and strode down a fork into the forest beside the stone wall.


    There was a cool green bamboo forest on either side of the branching path, the light was slightly dim here, and the air was rather cool, making the whole place somewhat creepy.


    One in front of the other, the two of them walked slowly down the path while pulling their horses beside them, and in no time at all, a grey-black wooden square mountain entrance appeared in front of them, with the sign of the Ying Xu Valley hanging over the entrance.


    There was a flight of stone stairs beneath them, leading directly down and deeper into the mountain entrance. They could see that the steps kept extending upwards, reaching for the top, and the peak was veiled with a white mist so that the end could not be seen.


    There was a young man in green at the mountain entrance, sweeping the floor lightly with a broom.


    Garen saw the sweeping young man, his eyes narrowing slightly, he could vaguely see a hint of the White Cloud secret technique blood qi channeling method in the boy''s actions, with the power of his Northern Trident Frost-Fire True Water Evil Technique, he could not miss any movement of liquids within a two hundred meter radius. Naturally, he would be very clear about the movements of this young man''s blood.


    "Spare me, sir! Spare me, sir!" Beside him, Zhao Jun suddenly howled, turning around and running away.


    Garen did not even look at him, flicking his finger towards the back.


    Psst!


    Zhao Jun collapsed on cue, red and white blood fluids flowing slowly from the back of his head. He never moved again either.


    The young man who was sweeping over there paled instantly, screaming and throwing his broom down as he immediately ran up the mountain.


    "Somebody, help!! Somebody!! There''s been a murder!!"


    The young man practically scrambled away on all fours, disappearing in an instant.


    Garen did not bother with him either, and just walked up the stairs himself. Before walking for too long, he heard the clanging of a bell from above, followed by the sound of many disorganized footsteps.


    Garen sped up, climbing more than ten steps in one stride, and soon enough, a green-black temple appeared in front of his eyes.


    There were clouds and mist surrounding the temple, as though he was in a divine mist, and just then the doors opened wide, several elderly people dressed in black striding out of the door, surrounded by their disciples in green, walking towards the stone steps.


    Seeing Garen appear, the elders in black all froze for a moment, and immediately looked wary.


    "This layman¡­"


    "Haha¡­ There really is a shadow of the Behemoth secret technique¡­" Garen''s eyes lit up slightly. "Summon your leader."


    "Dear sir layman, for what reason doth you come?"


    One of the old men asked wordily.


    "I''m looking for your White Dew Gate for something." Garen grinned.


    "How insolent¡­" There was a dissatisfied voice from the crowd. The people moved slightly, it seemed like the disciples of the White Dew Gate were growing restless.


    "I am the person in charge here, Bai Yuqing." Suddenly there was a flash of a shadow, and an old man with snow-white hair appraisers between Green and the others, wearing white Taoist robes and holding a horsetail whisk in his hand. He looked thin as a deity, as though he was separate from the mortal world.


    "Sir layman, you have a deep gaze, it is obvious from a glance that you are no simple person, so why don''t we all sit down for a cup of cooling tea, and exchange some of our martial studies experiences?"


    "Bai Yuqing, is it?" Garen smiled slightly, "Looks like you''re the strongest person here."


    Before he finished speaking, his figure flashed, disappearing from where he stood.


    Bai Yuqing¡¯s heart tightened as well, and he also disappeared from the spot.


    The two figures instantly clashed once in the empty space in front of the Taoist temple, brushing past each other.


    Garen''s figure slowly appeared at the temple entrance, and behind the crowd, while the old priest Bai Yuqing¡¯s face was deathly pale, standing in front of the steps and wavering on his feet.


    "Im-impressive Qinggong(2)..." He raised his right hand, the sleeve on his right forearm had had a large chunk shaved off, and he only noticed afterward. "I thought that learning up to Triple Floor Qinggong was already impressive enough, to think¡­"


    As one of the White Dew Gate¡¯s elders, he was a powerful old elite fighter even amongst the Grandmasters of Combat, so even his bodily functions had decreased with age, his experience had increased instead. The kungfu he took the most pride in was his ultimate Qinggong called the Triple Floor. But he did not expect that this young man who suddenly showed up today would break past it.


    The people from the temple watching them all had terrible complexions now, shocked speechless, even their ancient Grandmaster of Combat had lost in one move, that meant nobody in all of this mountain sect could stop him, if they were to accidentally provoke this man¡­


    In this chaotic world where lives were worth nothing and people killed without batting an eyelid, anything could happen.


    Instantly, it was absolutely quiet around the temple entrance, all the gazes were trained on Garen.


    "Your Excellency¡­"


    "I need the White Dew Gate to help me find some people." Garen voiced out his demand straight away, "The people from the old White Cloud Gate back on Stonecliff Continent, as well as, the people from the Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate."


    Before his words stopped reverberating, everyone¡¯s pupils instantly dilated.


    The Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate!


    "You are a filthy survivor of the Southern Sky Gate¡­"


    Before that voice in the crowd finished his sentence, there was a bam and his head exploded, red and white brain parts splashing everywhere like a watermelon.


    A filthy survivor of the Southern Sky Gate!


    "I am the White Cloud Gate Master, the number one Divine General of the Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate, Garen Trejons Lombard, and I hereby summon all my gate members, be it the White Cloud Gate or the Southern Sky Gate."


    Garen¡¯s voice shook the whole temple, like rumbling thunder, and some of the weaker young people had gone all numb, nearly falling to the ground.


    "The Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate!! You¡­ you¡­" Bai Yuqing¡¯s face twisted, the others had not experienced that era, they did not know the terror and vastness of that battle, only they of the older generation knew, back then he had been one of the martial arts disciples who had headed to the Black Smoke Island, and he had personally witnessed that earth-shaking battle with his own eyes.


    "Ga-Garen?! You''re Garen?! The King of the Century!!" Bai Yuqing''s scalp had gone numb, all the strength he had gathered in his body instantly scattering, his gaze on Garen as though he had seen a ghost.


    "Spread the word for me." Garen''s face was calm, "There''s no problem, is there?"


    There was a loud booming noise.


    With Garen in the center, a terrifying blood-like aura exploded in an instant, in just that moment, it had utterly engulfed the whole temple.


    The blood-like aura seemed to dye even the sky red, and a strange eerie wail began to ring out.


    Translator¡¯s notes:


    Raw ¡®Ó¯ÐéÒ»¼××Ó,º®ÊîÁùÔÂÌ졯, ¡®Ying Xu¡¯ from the name of the valley also means change, turbulence, deterioration.


    ÇṦ, lit. light technique. A Chinese gravity-defying martial arts technique extremely common in wuxia. It¡¯s the stuff that makes people zip around like they¡¯re on wires.

 556 Gather 2

    Chapter 556: Gather 2


    Several days later¡­


    Boom!!


    A fist covered in a black metal fist glove instantly pierced through a tree barely thick enough for one person to hug with the length of their arms, creating a perfectly round and smooth hole, as though a high-speed diamond-tipped drill had gone through it.


    "The White Cloud Palace Master¡­" The man wearing the fist gloves panted hard, his eyes reddening.


    He raised his head abruptly.


    Ahhh!!!!


    The howl of frustration and anger instantly reverberated throughout the whole valley.


    "He¡¯s not dead¡­ not dead!! Hahahaha¡­" The man threw his head back and laughed, "Not dead! Teacher! He really isn¡¯t dead!!!"


    "Even if he really isn¡¯t dead, that person had been at the level of King of the Century even back then, do you really think you can take your revenge?" The man¡¯s expression changed instantly, and he smiled strangely, his voice even turning to that of a piercing woman¡¯s voice.


    "Teacher died, but he didn¡¯t!? He didn¡¯t die?!" The voice instantly changed again, becoming a man¡¯s voice once more. The man held his head and stumbled a few steps back.


    "If that person is the real deal, you won¡¯t be able to kill him." The woman¡¯s voice appeared again. "You are still one step away from King of the Century."


    "Why don¡¯t you ask about that guy¡¯s level?" The man¡¯s voice gave a low laugh."


    "That¡¯s right, what if it¡¯s a false alarm?" The girl¡¯s voice laughed softly. "Unfortunately, the name Garen had long been completely silenced, the only ones who know this name are all from the older generation, and the young ones have no idea what the name means. Even if someone impersonated him, an elite fighter who could defeat the White Dew Gate elder, who looks young, knows that name, and can say even Garen¡¯s surname without mistake, when he stands out like that to gather his gate members, he could invite enemies first if he¡¯s not careful. In that case, that person would either be a fool, or truly a survivor of the Southern Sky Gate, y¡¯know~~"


    "A hidden expert, is it?" The man¡¯s voice said coldly.


    "Who knows?" The woman¡¯s voice slowly fell silent, and spoke no more.


    In the forest, only the man was left standing quietly alone there, not moving at all.


    *****************


    "How¡¯s the Divine Master¡¯s condition?"


    In a white gazebo, two people dressed in black were playing chess, talking in low voices as they listened to the howls and roars from the forests, neither of them seeming particularly bothered, evidently used to it.


    "Not too bad, last time there was someone who impersonated the King of Nightmares, and this is even better, they even dare to impersonate the King of the Century, aren¡¯t they bold¡­"


    "Not necessarily, with that kind of aura, that person does not need to impersonate any elite fighter, it would be too easy for him to just make his own name for himself."


    "He is directly declaring war with our Immortal Palace. Or rather, this could very well be a ploy from the other factions directed at us."


    "Interesting¡­"


    The two of them took turns with their moves, moving extremely quickly, but with every rise and fall of their hand, the mill-sized chess board still kept on staying in play, remaining in a strange state of balance.


    "It is most likely that there really was an expert born from the Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate. There might even be a shadow of the Demon Gate in there."


    ******************


    In the thick forests of the East Continent


    The young woman in the skin-tight black clothes stumbled, leaning on a tree bark after a few steps, lowering her head to pant as she rested, then she continued laboring her way forward.


    The light of noon was bright, the golden sunlight coming down through the leaves, making the whole forest hot and humid.


    The girl¡¯s vision was growing blurred, she rubbed her eyes hard, and continued looking forward as she rushed forward.


    The sweat on her body had already totally soaked her black clothes, plastered to her body, and onto the wound on her back, making it sting with pain.


    Suddenly, her foot lost its footing, as though she was tripped by something, and she fell forward slightly, dropping to the ground with a bam.


    "Cherry!" Suddenly there was a panicked woman¡¯s voice from afar.


    A woman with white clothes and black hair made a few hasty leaps, landing beside the girl and hurriedly helping her up.


    "I¡¯m fine." The girl was slightly dizzy for a while, but now she opened her eyes again, pushing the woman away, as she stood up on her own, leaning onto a large tree beside her.


    "Aunt Nora, how¡¯s the situation up north? I was ambushed here too, so it must be even worse up north!" She forcefully steadied her head, dizzy from blood loss, and asked quietly.


    The black-haired woman frowned, and looked at her worriedly, but had no choice except to reply hurriedly.


    "In the north, with the protection of Arielle and the others, they managed to evacuate most of the people, but there were still three people who¡­ fell¡­"


    The girl fell silent.


    "That damn Immortal Palace!" She smashed her fist onto the tree trunk next to her, looking down so that her expression could not be seen.


    "The Immortal Palace pulled off this ambush splendidly, it was arranged and directed by the Young Divine Master Jessian himself. There were fifteen different-sized sects surrounding us, they are all led by the best Grandmasters of Combat." The woman in black, Nora, replied carefully. "Thank goodness we still have news of you, Miss, or else this time we¡¯ll truly have¡­"


    "I need to hurry back, if this goes on for much longer, Daddy and the others will be in danger." The girl said softly.


    "But with the news leaked this time, you¡¯ll be suspected, Miss! If you go back now, and if your injuries are discovered¡­"


    "Say no more!" The girl¡¯s expression was determined, she raised her head, revealing a fair, pretty, and pure young girl¡¯s face, her eyes were actually a rare wine-red color. Her shoulder-length purple-black hair was tied into a ponytail, well-defined and handsome. Her body was well-balanced in its curves, but she looked no more than fifteen or sixteen years old, so no matter how she acted mature, there was still a hint of childishness.


    "If I don¡¯t go back for too long, the Moon Star Gate¡¯s young gate master will definitely suspect something, and then Father and the family will be involved as well!"


    "But, if it is discovered that you got the news from the Moon Star Gate¡¯s young gate master¡­"


    "I will handle it myself, don¡¯t worry." The girl¡¯s back was against the black-haired woman, "Aunt Nora, please help me put on some medicine, I can¡¯t reach it myself."


    "Sigh¡­"


    Nora saw the mess of flesh and blood on the girl¡¯s back, and her heart twinged in pain.


    The fate and responsibility of the White Cloud Gate and the Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate were all on the shoulders of a mere fifteen-year-old girl to bear alone, even if she was from a family that had borne the King of the Century, even if she herself had outstanding martial talent, even if she had just reached the level of Grandmaster of Combat right now, and was mature beyond her years.


    But she was still a little girl that had just turned fifteen.


    Her parents, and siblings, all of them had died at the ends of the Immortal Palace. She wandered around since young, and then in order to take revenge, she had given herself up to adoption by a family of good Samaritans. On the surface, she was a rich young heiress, but secretly, she was a powerful Grandmaster of Combat with great talent and a family legacy. And every day, she had to interact with her suitors to gain information¡­


    After hurriedly bandaging up the girl¡¯s gruesome injuries, putting on some specially-made medicine, and taking out the clothes that had been prepared beforehand so she could change into them, Nora finally released a long breath.


    "Your injuries are too serious, you must not fight within a month, nor can you activate your aura, or you run the risk of becoming paralyzed¡­"


    But the girl seemed not to hear her.


    "I¡¯ll go back now. With the help of Big Sister Arielle and the others from the Azure Continent, make sure nobody comes out for anything these next few days, as for your daily supplies, I¡¯ll have my maid secretly send them to a fixed place, be careful when you come to receive them."


    "Got it."


    "Alright, go." The girl said calmly.


    "Cherry¡­ be careful!"


    "Mn."


    The girl watched Aunt Nora leap away, and quickly picked up the clothes she had changed out of, disappearing into the forest and feeling instantly relieved.


    "There really are threats on both sides¡­ Grandma Ying Er, if it were you, how would you solve this right now¡­" She muttered, lost in thought.


    *********************


    White Dew Mountain Green Cloud Temple


    On a large square plaza in the middle of the temple, a white cement square, there were about a hundred elite fighters gathered in the plaza, the hot golden sunlight sparkling, but none of them felt hot.


    Each of them felt ice-cold in their hearts.


    In the middle of the plaza, there was a man with blonde hair dressed in tight black clothes, he stood in the center with a calm expression, surrounded by four elites of the gate with their floaty white beards. All four of them wore green, but just then, their clothes had been soaked in sweat.


    An old man in white sat beside the plaza, his eyes lowered, but his hand was trembling slightly on his horsetail whisk, indicating how extremely disturbed his heart was.


    The two middle-aged man behind him were already gripping their fists tightly, their nails digging into their palms but they did not even know it. Their gazes were just fixed hard on that handsome young man with shoulder-length blonde hair in the plaza.


    "Your Excellency Garen, we have already helped you pass on the message you wanted us to, may we know if you have any other requests? You can just speak them all at once." The old man in white who was sitting in the chair spoke in a low voice, his expression solemn, but the weakened tone in his words unhidden.


    Garen also felt that bullying these average elite fighters had no point whatsoever, with his prowess in his Evil Technique, he just had to use a little force, and these people would not be able to resist at all, their blood would be controlled by the Evil Technique in an instant, becoming his own puppet. Although they had trained their secret techniques for many years, and the blood in qi in their body was a lot more stable, but to Garen, even a larger ant was still an ant, and could still be stomped to death without him noticing.


    Before he even released his presence, the elders around him were already too scared to move, and even too scared to fight.


    "I had wanted to borrow your White Dew Gate¡¯s power for a bit, the people from the Immortal Palace and the Demon Gate will reach here sooner or later, so I would still need you, Gate Master Yue, to arrange a location for us."


    "Do you really have that much confidence, Your Excellency?" Yue Qingdi could not tell how strong Garen was at all, he felt Garen¡¯s blood qi was as vast and limitless as an ocean, but how could a human¡¯s blood qi reach such a level? This was evidently an illusion caused by his secret techniques. But he had never heard of such a secret technique effect!


    He did not dare to make a move, he was one of the East Continent¡¯s Three Absolutes, the strongest Grandmaster of Combat, once he made a move, it was normal for him to win, that would be fine. But once he lost, that was a fatal blow to the reputation of the White Dew Gate.


    "Confident? Haha." Garen raised an eyebrow, this was not a matter of confidence at all, it was just that they were not on the same level to begin with.


    "Regarding the Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate, I have some new information here." A white-haired elder next to Yue Qingdi spoke suddenly.


    "Do speak." Garen looked at this person.


    That elder glanced at the Gate Master, received his approval, and immediately spoke again.


    "The Immortal Palace¡¯s Young Divine Master is gathering elites to surround and exterminate the¡­ members of the Southern Sky Gate, and there is also the cooperation of the Lin family army, we don¡¯t know what the results are. I just received the intel as well."


    "Extermination?" Garen¡¯s eyes narrowed, "Location?"


    "I don¡¯t know¡­ but we can go investigate!"

 557 Hurried 1

    Chapter 557: Hurried 1


    "The blistering midsummer period has arrived. Do you have any plans to beat the heat, Xiao Ying?"


    Within the three southern provinces under the jurisdiction of the Ling Army, inside Great West City, one of the provincial capitals of the south.


    Inside a large square courtyard on the outskirts of the provincial capital, numerous maids in white skirts accompanied Xiao Ying while she changed into a Western school girl''s uniform of a white shirt and black skirt. She walked with an effeminate boy slowly, strolling through the little flower garden in the courtyard.


    The weather was scorchingly hot, forcing the people in the garden to constantly spray themselves with water mist from the sprinkles to cool down slightly.


    Xiao Ying suppressed the pain from the wound on her back and pretended to casually observe the flower pots in the corner of the courtyard instead.


    "Beat the heat? Father said that he has already ordered some ice blocks from the Zhao family''s shop. Once we put them inside the house to distribute cold air, we won''t have to suffer blistering hot days anymore."


    "Ice blocks, huh? That''s not a bad idea," said the young man with a smile. "But I heard that the Zhao family''s shop is going to move soon. Do you know the whole story?"


    "I''m unsure¡­"


    "Rumor has it that the tracks of Demon Warriors have been discovered nearby recently. These individuals won''t shy away from any form of evil; they live to kill and burn. Not just the Zhao family, but many other merchants plan to move further away as well."


    "Does Moon Star Gate not have any way to help?" asked Xiao Ying in a slightly surprised tone.


    "Of course we have our ways. However, our plans were leaked last time, allowing the Demon Warriors to escape. Therefore, before we find the source of their information, we will not act rashly," whispered the Moon Star Gate Young Master.


    He gazed at Xiao Ying''s side profile longingly.


    "The world has been troubled with chaos recently. Xiao Ying, uncle, and aunty should move into the courtyard beside my house temporarily. It would be good to be taken care of."


    "Won''t this¡­ be very troublesome for Lord Gate Master?"


    "Of course not!" laughed Moon Star Gate Young Master. "After the information was leaked previously, I''m afraid that the Demon Warriors may find out the relationship between Xiao Ying and myself. If you don''t move over, I''m worried that you may be in danger sooner or later¡­"


    He implied something by lowering his voice for an extended period of time.


    Danger?


    Xiao Ying felt a chill creep down her spine and realized that he was threatening her.


    Dangerous Demon Warriors? Afraid that if she didn''t move in, the experts at Moon Star Gate would not hesitate to invite the Demon Warriors over for a bit?


    "I will discuss this with Father for a while." Xiao Ying combed through her long hair, allowing it to curl around her fingers.


    "Xiao Ying." Young Gate Master reached his hand out and attempted to raise the girl''s chin, but failed to do so when she dodged slightly. "You know my true intentions."


    "Young Gate Master, please behave!" Xiao Ying took a small step back while her face turned red in embarrassment.


    "Hahaha¡­" laughed Young Gate Master loudly as he turned around and left with his subordinates.


    The noise could be heard across the courtyard gates for a while, before disappearing into the noisy murmurs of the faraway street.


    Xiao Ying stood on her original spot and inhaled deeply. Only one maid, Xiao Yu, remained at her side. Currently, this little girl who was a year younger than herself was currently looking on at her mistress worriedly.


    "He''s suspicious of me¡­" said Xiao Ying softly.


    "That can''t be¡­ Wasn''t he prepared to protect milady?" asked Xiao Yu quietly in a surprised tone while she glanced at their surroundings immediately.


    She was actually a disciple of Southern Holy Fist Gate and had trained there ever since she was young. After meeting Xiao Ying at Southern Gate, her life was taken over, and she had been with her ever since to take care of her daily life.


    "This person seems gentle and courteous on the surface, as well as humble on all fronts. However, he must have been a secretly ruthless and cunning individual in order to receive Young Divine Master Jessian''s admiration. Since the information was leaked, they will definitely investigate everyone individually, and I''m certain that I have been listed as one of the suspects," analyzed Xiao Ying calmly.


    "Then¡­ Then what do we do??!" Xiao Yu turned pale immediately.


    "Moon Star Gate Young Master is viciously cruel to the bone. He is only doubtful now but has yet to confirm anything. If this was not the case, he would not waste time speaking but would have captured me immediately instead." Xiao Ying paused. "There''s no need to panic now. Go and arrange for some manpower immediately and prepare a way out for Father and Mother. We don''t have much time to think this over."


    "Alright! I will contact them at once."


    "Be careful not to be found out."


    "Understood."


    As she watched her maid Xiao Yu leave, Xiao Ying twirled a few strands of her own hair gently while standing in front of a pot of three-petaled white flowers, looking on pensively.


    That fellow definitely had his doubts. As Moon Star Gate always carried out their tasks seriously, their Gate Masters would comprise of two Elders and three Grandmasters of Combat. Meanwhile, my wounds would make it impossible for me handle them and even if I healed completely, I would not be on equal footing with these senior experts. In my current condition, not only would I be unable to fight the Grandmasters of Combat, successfully defeating that perverted Young Gate Master would be an uncertainty as well.


    She would need to think of a surefire plan¡­


    Suddenly, the sound of many people''s footsteps echoed faintly from outside the courtyard.


    Bang!


    The courtyard gates were swung open at once before the maid Xiao Yu''s half-naked body crashed inside. She used both of her arms to shield her pale, trembling chest but remained as an erotic sight nonetheless.


    Xiao Yu sobbed helplessly.


    "Milady!"


    "Just a little maid. I was wondering who leaked our secret movements. I never expected that it would be her¡­" said Moon Star Gate Young Master in a gentle voice as he walked into the courtyard slowly with Xiao Yu''s white undergarment in his hand.


    "Xiao Yu!!" Xiao Ying''s face was deathly pale as she rushed towards Xiao Yu and held her. "Yannen! What are you doing?!!" She raised her head and looked at Young Gate Master angrily while using her own body to shield Xiao Yu as best as she could.


    "I''m clearly rebelling against you¡­" Young Gate Master Yannen smiled gently. "This girl is a spy that the Demon Warriors hid beside you. Since she leaked my Gate''s secrets, she might have plotted against you as well, Xiao Ying. I''m just here to help you."


    "Demon?? I don''t know of any Demons! She is only my maid and my closest sister!" Glistening teardrops appeared in Xiao Ying''s eyes faintly. Half of it was fake, but the other half was real.


    "I only have your best interests at heart, please don''t blame me¡­" Yannen''s expression remained unchanged, but the corners of his lips curled upwards slightly.


    Whoosh!


    He opened a white paper fan in his hand.


    Suddenly, two young women ran through the gates and forcibly carried Xiao Yu out.


    "You! Put her down!" Xiao Ying merely thought of striking them, before a sharp pain pierced through the pit of her stomach at once.


    The injuries that she had sustained from the previous trip were not limited to the surface wound on her back. Instead, her heart and internal organs had suffered the heaviest injuries from the internal shock of the force. Her opponent was a refined Grandmaster of Combat who was an expert in palm destroying moves. Therefore, ten of those moves were enough for him to strike her back with his palm.


    "Don''t blame me, Xiao Ying. Matters that involve Demon Warriors will not be handled by me." Yannen sighed under his breath.


    "Milady!!" Xiao Yu was a fourteen-year-old maid who used to be an orphan that was trained by Southern Gate ever since she was young. However, she had yet to display any hidden talents even until now. "I''m sorry! I hid the truth from milady¡­"


    "Take her away."


    The courtyard gates were closed with a ¡®bang'' again before Yannen allowed someone to drape a coat around Xiao Yu to protect her modesty.


    "Send her to my room tonight after you''ve tied her up."


    "Yes," replied both of the female guards quietly and obediently.


    Xiao Yu closed her eyes in despair as she already knew what fate had in store for her.


    Yannen seemed refined and gentle on the surface. Moreover, his appearance, talents, and fighting skills were all first class. However, his true nature revealed a deranged pervert. During troubled times like these, it was rumored that he had once used two thirteen-year-old maids as playthings and killed them during the night, and although the incident was covered up, his bad reputation continued to spread around.


    The Gate Master of Moon Star Gate was also a perverted devil who liked bathing in the fresh blood of young people in a vain attempt to rejuvenate himself and retain his youth. Once she entered this place, her future days would be¡­


    Her heart sank as she bit the inside of her mouth suddenly.


    Inside the courtyard.


    Xiao Ying covered her abdomen in agony while supporting herself against the wall. Her body seemed unable to move and her vision darkened slowly while the stabbing pain in her stomach felt like a saw that was slicing through her determinedly.


    *******************


    Within a bleak and desolate black wasteland.


    Two White Dew Gate Elders escorted a white horse carriage as it traveled forth quickly. The carriage was surrounded by two groups of lightly armed knights who wore white leather gloves. They were all dressed in white clothes with the symbol of White Dew Gate on their backs in large white letters.


    They were the White Dew Gate squad that was escorting Garen on his quest to find the Young Divine Master. Their current moods were now different from when they were at the headquarters. Currently, the older guys from White Dew Gate were respectful while both of the Elders had calm expressions on their faces as well, as if they were not dissatisfied with anything.


    Garen''s casual pointers during these past few days had helped many of their disciples upgrade themselves while two of their expert-level Grandmasters of Combat received benefits as well. The feeling of almost breaking through a bottleneck situation and Garen''s continuously courteous attitude that was not only present when they entered the mountain gate had a positive effect on everyone''s demeanor, allowing both parties to respect and admire each other more.


    Inside the carriage.


    Garen sat in repose with his eyes closed while both of his hands were subconsciously pressed into a triangle in front of him. Shrouds of dull blue auras rotated around his hands slowly like little blue airholes.


    A good while passed before Garen opened his eyes suddenly while the auras in his hands dispersed slowly and disappeared into the air.


    "White Dew Gate''s Airhole Tactic makes some sense now. It seems like it has somewhat gotten close to the Living Secret Technique already¡­" pondered Garen in slight satisfaction. Hundreds of years had passed but no one in White Dew Gate had learned this Airhole Tactic successfully. As Garen had promised to help the Gate amend and perfect their Secret Techniques, Gate Master Yue Qingdi had also agreed to open up his entire depository to Garen in exchange, allowing him to examine it as he pleased.


    The numerous remaining Secret Technique exercises and battle skills increased Garen''s reading and memorizing abilities. However, he was most concerned about the Secret Technique that no one had been able to learn in hundreds of years: Airhole Tactic.


    This Secret Technique had neither attack effects nor defense abilities. Moreover, it was not a powerful internal energy Secret Method that would be able to increase one''s state and potential temporarily.


    Its only use was to condense one''s own physical strength and blood qi to form a purer aura that would burst forth.


    Garen was very interested in this because his Living Secret Techniques had already condensed themselves into the most compact Soul Seed, which was deeply rooted in the most distant corner of his soul. The revolving Airhole Tactic would condense the Soul Seed further, and although the effect was slow, he could truly feel that the Soul Seed was being condensed right now.


    The difficulty of this Secret Technique lay in the extremely accurate control of that alternated one''s aura, blood qi, and physical force. All of these came naturally to Garen, but to the other Secret Technique Users of this world, it was more difficult than touching the sky.


    "I never thought that I would be able to reap these unexpected rewards just by flipping some random pages¡­" Garen moved his palms away. "Stop the carriage."


    The carriage began to stop gradually at once, and although the coachman had yet to signal the horses to halt, he could see that the two white horses had already stopped in their tracks on their own.

 558 Hurried 2

    Chapter 558: Hurried 2


    Two of the Elders that accompanied him were the first to react before they all scanned their surroundings vigilantly.


    The White Dew Gate experts around them tensed up while their powers circulated around, a display that they were ready to make a move at any time.


    Suddenly, they heard a demure and charming female voice in their surroundings.


    "You are truly worthy to be called the hidden experts of Southern Holy Fist Gate. I thought that I had concealed myself well enough, but never expected that there would be people who would be aware of my whereabouts from twenty meters away."


    The female voice spoke in a strangely accented East Continent language, but before she had finished speaking, a bewitching woman in a black veil and a tight fitting short black silk dress had appeared on the black earth in front of the plains suddenly.


    The woman''s black hair was tied up and she held a long, thin sword in her hand. She was poised gracefully as she stood in front of the carriage alone, blocking its path. She had a pair of eyes that were as bright as stars, while the corners of her eyes were turned upwards slightly, making it look as if she were smiling.


    "Demoness Lola!!" One of the two Elders could not help but yell in horror when he recognized her.


    "Has Demon Gate come into being?!" The other Elder flipped his hands over before two silver daggers appeared in his palms suddenly. An extremely grave expression remained on his face.


    The accompanying White Dew Gate experts had never crossed paths with people from Demon Gate before, but when they saw the stern looks on their Elders'' faces, their hearts sank when they immediately realized the true power of their opponent.


    "To the hidden expert who calls himself the White Cloud Gate Master, are you really unwilling to come down and meet me?" Demoness Lola smiled daintily as she walked towards the carriage slowly.


    Pop!


    When the tip of Lola''s foot stepped within ten meters of the carriage, her expression changed suddenly while her gentle smile stiffened instantly.


    Bang!


    She stepped back immediately and leaped into the air like an arrow before flying backward a few moments later. Apparently, she was escaping even though she had just arrived.


    Shh!


    The curtains of the carriage were lifted gently while a light breeze blew past. A hand reached out in midair and caught the Demoness immediately.


    Lola retreated a few meters away frantically but fell on the floor once before leaping backward quickly again.


    That hand seemed as if it was able to pass through space because of some strange magic. It also attracted everyone''s attention as no one paid any mind to the owner of the hand itself.


    The large hand traveled a distance of more than ten minutes within a few moments before grabbing the Demoness by the throat gently while her pale, pretty face looked on in fear.


    There was a sudden flash in their surroundings.


    Lola''s vision became blurry before she realized moments later that she was already sitting inside the carriage despite being unable to move her body at all. She was lying down on the knees of the man inside the carriage obediently while her black hair fanned around her like a waterfall.


    "Black Orchid, are you alright¡­?" Garen reached his hand out to stroke Lola''s long hair gently.


    Lola, whose delicate form was still trembling moments earlier, now shook awake suddenly. She raised her head with much difficulty before laying her eyes upon a man who was as handsome as the Sun God.


    Marshall Black Orchid had once planned to poison someone, and that night was etched deeply into Garen''s memories.


    Although Lola''s appearance did not resemble Black Orchid, their quick-witted temperaments were eerily similar, meaning that if Black Orchid had not trained her personally, it would be impossible for both of them to have such similar qualities.


    "Proceed with the journey."


    The White Dew Gate experts looked at each other before realizing that the woman had been captured in that moment earlier, and was now unable to resist at all.


    "Perhaps that person was not from Behemoth Gate¡­ But merely an imposter¡­" said someone quietly.


    Both of the Elders swallowed their own saliva and glanced at each other before noticing the apparent astonishment in the other person''s eyes.


    Although they had already anticipated that Garen would be powerful, they had never expected that he would actually be this strong. Other people would be unaware of this, but as Grandmasters of Combat who could detect Lola''s presence, once they felt the heavy blood qi that surrounded her whole body and realized that she truly belonged to the Grandmaster of Combat level, they knew that she was definitely stronger than themselves.


    But now she seemed like a baby chick in Garen''s hands that could not rebel against him at all. Such powerful strength¡­ Wouldn''t it mean that he was undefeatable?!!


    Moments later, the carriage began to move slowly again.


    The control he had on Lola who was in the carriage was finally lifted.


    She seemed to be unable to get up and continued lying on Garen''s body instead. She also pressed her ample breasts against Garen''s knees intentionally. A faint sweet smell wafted from her body and permeated throughout the carriage slowly, making everyone feel relaxed and joyful.


    "Don''t tell me you know Teacher Black Orchid?" she asked softly in a gentle voice, giving off a strong pitiful feeling as if she was an adorable little animal that could easily evoke the man''s desire to protect her.


    "You''re very much like her." Garen allowed Lola to lie on his knees while he ran his hand through her smooth, shiny black hair, combing through it gently.


    "Don''t tell me that you''re truly the legendary White Cloud Gate Master, First Heavenly General of Southern Holy Fist Gate?" asked Lola daintily. She knew that she was unable to fight back, but her opponent currently had no ill intentions towards her either. Therefore, she decided to clear up the situation before saying anything else.


    Garen smiled slightly but did not reply. Instead, he turned his face away and looked out of the carriage window.


    Boom!! Boom boom boom boom!!


    Suddenly, series of explosions could be heard from a further distance away while the ground shook slightly.


    "The soldiers from the Hu Army are practicing, huh¡­" Lola''s eyes darted around. "I wonder what Gate Master''s plans are for coming into being this time? Chief Hu Qingzhi of the Hu Army has a good relationship with my Behemoth Gate, perhaps he can help Your Excellency."


    "The Hu Army, hmm?" Garen looked in that direction. "My goal is very simple, I just want to find someone from Immortal Palace."


    "And after you find them?"


    "Well, what plans did Behemoth Gate have for you to pay me a special visit like this?" Garen smiled without answering her directly and asked her another question instead.


    When Lola heard the words ¡®Behemoth Gate'', her heart trembled slightly suddenly.


    "The Marshall chief soldier perished and caused our Behemoth Gate to decline. Lola had no other choice but to come out and search for one that could support our Gate. Once I heard that Gate Master had left the mountain, I rushed over immediately."


    She made a pitiful face.


    "If Gate Master could promise to be my Gate''s diplomatic Elder, then Lola¡­ Lola would do anything you instructed¡­"


    She lay on Garen''s legs with her slim waist pushed back and her buttocks raised up high, exposing her beautiful, black silk covered long legs underneath her short dress.


    This kind of naked seduction in the form of a beautiful woman with a kitten-like obedience was currently curled up on Garen''s lap. Most men would not have been able to resist the temptation and would have granted her wishes right away.


    "You''ve truly learned Black Orchid''s tricks and tried to poison me when I wasn''t paying attention." Garen''s smile disappeared quickly before he patted Lola''s buttocks gently.


    The faint sweet scent in the carriage subsided completely before a gust of cold wind blew past them suddenly, before disappearing as soon as it came.


    "Gate Master¡­" Lola''s whole body shivered while she begged in a fragile voice. "Lola didn''t do it on purpose¡­"


    While she begged, her blood qi continued to flow throughout her body slowly, while a small crack appeared in the sword in her hand.


    Clap!


    Garen''s hand slapped against her buttocks lightly again. A strong numb sensation could be felt this time, instantly causing the blood qi in Lola''s entire body to shake furiously before scattering it completely.


    Lola raised her head while a look of disbelief appeared in her eyes.


    Within Immortal Palace and Behemoth Gate, other than Divine Master and the Demon Soldier Marshall, the strongest individuals were Young Divine Master and herself. The remaining Grandmasters of Combat were all ranked below them. Both of them were true experts with high aura condensation levels.


    Her lack of prior preparation had probably resulted in her accidental capture, or perhaps it was a temporary oversight on her part. However, the blood qi in her whole body had been activated at once, and although she had secretly used a few Secret Methods to strengthen herself, she never anticipated that a single pat from her opponent would result in the complete scattering of all of her own blood qi, without him injuring himself at all.


    The ability to use various Secret Methods to move and gather blood qi would only be able to scatter one''s blood qi, despite the fact that her opponent was an expert that was stronger than her. This Secret Method would usually cause the user to suffer reverse blood qi damages, but this person was apparently able to scatter all of her condensed blood qi easily, without suffering any harm at all.


    This ability¡­ This strength could only be used under the circumstances that one completely understood the Secret Techniques and Secret Methods that they practiced, was clear about the flow of blood qi and possessed strength that was at least one level higher. However, it was still not as simple as what the man in front of her had just displayed.


    Shock jolted through Lola''s mind like waves that drifted in and out constantly.


    She contemplated her current skills and realized that even if her master had still been alive, she would not have reached this far. Perhaps the Divine Master from Immortal Palace would be able to do it after he broke through¡­


    Divine Master? Could it be that this person in front of her was actually¡­


    The wheels of the carriage moved slowly while both of the people inside the car fell silent.


    Garen smiled while looking at Lola who was leaning against him. He gently sniffed the sweet smell of hormones that were released from her body naturally while listening to the rhythmic chimes of the carriage bells, allowing his emotions to fall into an unprecedented state of calmness.


    "I know where the Young Divine Master of Immortal Place is located!" whispered Lola suddenly.


    A smile flashed in Garen''s eyes suddenly.


    *****************


    Jessian held a short black blade in his hands and scrutinized it carefully.


    "The technique is slightly stronger than the previous one but it has not achieved my desired standard yet." He flung the short blade away but it landed on the right side of the black platform slowly, as if it was supported by an invisible force.


    One of his subordinates in black clothes came forward to store the short blade properly, before turning to leave.


    Moon Star Gate Master kept watch beside him respectfully. Aside from the guards in the courtyard, the only other person there was an old man in black tight-fitting clothing who was waiting with his head lowered.


    "We will definitely do everything in our power to find your desired blacksmith, so please wait a little longer," implored Moon Star Gate Master with his head bowed respectfully, much unlike the arrogant way he acted when he was in the provincial capital.


    "I understand your difficulties and I know that this speed is considerably fast. Therefore, I don''t mind waiting a few more days," nodded Young Divine Master Jessian faintly. "That''s right, why did the remaining members of Southern Sky Gate leave? Do you discover the reason?"


    "Yes, I found out that one of the remaining members of Southern Sky Gate planted himself as a spy within the city. He was probably hiding in a secluded place when they noticed one of our dispatched members¡­"


    "I won''t ask about the whole process. Can you assure me that the next ambush will not be leaked?"


    "Yes! I will submit to your commands and put out the military orders at once!!" announced Moon Star Gate Master while clapping a hand against his chest.


    "Then that will be all." Jessian turned to leave.


    "That''s right, Young Divine Master, recently at White Dew Mountain¡­" Moon Star Gate Master began to speak but stopped himself.


    "Just say whatever you need to say. My subordinates have always spoken as they wished," said Jessian as he turned around and stood in place.


    "The person who is pretending to be the White Cloud Gate Master over at White Dew Mountain is currently on his way over here, and might be charging towards you¡­"


    "Charging towards me?" Slight changes finally appeared on Jessian''s face. "Hehe, interesting. I won''t go looking for him since he''s already brave enough to come find me."


    "He''s suppressing White Dew Gate, and I''m afraid that he''s not good news," Moon Star Gate Master reminded him frantically.


    "It''s better if he''s an expert. Inform Nine Iron Gate and the other numerous, delighted factions and allow them to return with their teams."


    "You mean that you want them to gather here on their own before capturing all of them with one go?" Moon Star Gate Master was a knowledgeable person and could ultimately guess Young Divine Master''s intentions.


    "It will be too troublesome to search everywhere. Wouldn''t it be better to let them see a glimmer of hope on their own, gather them in one place, before reaping the wheat in one go once it has all ripened?" Jessian smiled gently. "Also, get your son to hurry up and settle the problems with that girl. If he dares to hinder my grand plans again¡­"


    Moon Star Gate Master''s face turned pale suddenly.


    At the same time, Moon Star Gate Young Master who was waiting by the doorway turned pale as well, before he quickly sank to his knees on the ground with a ¡®thump''.

 559 Declaration 1

    Chapter 559: Declaration 1


    The carriage was accompanied by the sound of ringing bells as it moved forward.


    Inside the carriage, Garen and Demoness Lola sat opposite each other. A short square table stood between them, and the dark red tabletop was currently filled with Go pieces. Garen chose the white pieces while Lola picked the black ones.


    The player of the black pieces would usually be on the offensive side and the younger player would start the game, while the white pieces would be played by the senior player.


    Garen had never expected that a game which resembled earth''s Go would exist in this world with the exact same rules as well.


    The white pieces had currently occupied most of the spaces on the checkerboard. Lola tried relentlessly to find an opening but could not find an empty space to place the black piece in her hand.


    She raised her head and looked at Garen who sat on the opposite side of her, and pouted her lips.


    "I don''t want to play anymore!"


    "Wasn''t it your grand plan to dominate the board?" Garen smiled and asked softly. "Why aren''t you going through with that?"


    "What grand plan?! What''s the use of a grand plan that involves dominating the board when I''m just going to die immediately?!" said Lola unhappily. "You don''t even have a proper plan. You just come charging over directly before immediately destroying the layout that I planned painstakingly!"


    Garen''s route did not involve any grand schemes or layouts at all. His annihilation abilities were abnormally strong, allowing him to swallow his opponent''s pieces whenever they came into contact. If the placement of his pieces were any better, it would be impossible for him not to win the game¡­


    Lola put in a lot of effort to find a method that would allow her to drag her opponent out and occupy the board at the same time. Unfortunately, she spent too little time luring her opponent out, while Garen''s precise calculations were too accurate, making it impossible for her to delay his moves. Moreover, her frazzled state of mind caused her pieces to be killed even faster¡­


    "Is this a typical example of using strength to defeat skills?" said Lola in sudden realization. "When the difference between strength levels are too great, incidents like these will occur."


    "It''s good that you understand," nodded Garen. "In theory, skills can be used to make up for the difference in strength levels, except that there are limits to that. When you reach the stage where someone''s each and every move and word requires you to rack your brains just to decipher them, that strength difference means that they can use force to defeat the skills of others."


    Lola understood this principle naturally, as her master had mentioned it before.


    "Wisdom needs to be used as a form of leverage and influence against an opponent to reach its full potential, is that right?"


    "Wisdom is actually a form of strength as well." Garen smiled and began to sweep the pieces back into their own baskets slowly. "If your wisdom is sufficient to transform the world into your chessboard and everything else into your chess pieces, you would have achieved one of the strongest powers."


    "But there are too many variables between heaven and earth. In order to reach this level, one must have basic knowledge of everything, terrifying control over information, as well as extremely powerful strength, right?" Lola asked again.


    "Therefore between one''s mind and strength, both of these paths have their own advantages and disadvantages. One will strengthen the physical body, while the other will give you leverage over everything. It depends on what others choose for themselves. The scientifically advanced guns and cannons of our current era are the results of the second path."


    Both mind and strength were the final answers that brilliant martial artists of the past generations had been searching for.


    Centuries worth of advisors, tyrannical generals, and first-rate strategists who lacked physical strength but were able to command great forces easily were once normal people that had no leverage over armies before they came into being.


    Powerful generals and elite fighters that could wipe out a battlefield would ultimately face physical limitations as well, and would never be able to exceed the combined strength of multiple people.


    Only the integration of the mind and strength and their mutual advancement and evolution, such as the balance between light and darkness, would be able to produce a harmonious state that was also the strongest state. From Garen''s perspective, the strongest state was a strength that was powerful enough but also possessed sufficient wisdom and intelligence.


    If it were compared to a measurable strength as its baseline, a strength that depended on intelligence as its leverage would not add up to much.


    But when thousands of other powers were used as the baseline to be altered by intelligence, the effect would be truly terrifying.


    Garen understood this. Therefore, his path had always comprised of prioritizing the advancement of his physical strength while supplementing it with wisdom. He chose this path because his talents and abilities allowed him to surpass limitations that most people could only dream of.


    "Human strength will always have its limits¡­" said Lola regretfully while she pondered momentarily.


    "That''s right¡­ The heart and mind can move the strength of countless people and gather them together, greatly exceeding the strength of an individual," nodded Garen. "That''s why intelligence has no limits, while physical strength will always be limited."


    Neither of them spoke for a short while, allowing the carriage to fall into silence slowly.


    Garen felt somewhat emotional. Other people assumed that the road towards strength had ended, while he believed that the road was endless.


    Clang¡­ Clang¡­


    Time ticked by before the white cuckoo clock that was hung inside the carriage rang suddenly.


    Both of them glanced at the clock that read: 16:00.


    Lola crouched beside the short table with a somewhat changed expression.


    "Gate Master Garen, if you are truly the King of the Century that fought the final battle with the previous Divine Master, then that little girl in the provincial capital is your little sister''s granddaughter¡­"


    "Oh?" Garen was shocked.


    "I''ve met her a few times," said Lola softly. "That little girl is the current Southern Sky Gate Master. During the battle on Black Smoke Island when you disappeared, Southern Sky Gate separated internally and the Sky Warriors formed their own groups and left the school of thought. Southern Sky Gate was once the result of the integration of twelve southern groups, but once they lost their unifying symbol and leader, a separation was inevitable. Some of them joined Immortal Palace while others joined Behemoth Gate. The ones who remained integrated themselves with White Cloud Gate, forming the current Southern Sky Gate.


    "Continue¡­" This was the first time Garen had heard a full explanation regarding the developments of Southern Sky Gate. He had never expected that it would still be a result of the fusion with White Cloud Gate.


    Lola rearranged her train of thought.


    "Since they were no more Holy Fists in Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate, they changed their name to Southern Sky Gate. Under the guidance of Celestial Circle Gate and King of Nightmares, their leader Ying Er was able to run everything smoothly. However, Ying Er later died of illness and left an adopted son and daughter behind, causing Southern Sky Gate to split again because of a power struggle. Since they had no ties to the new leaders, Celestial Circle Gate and King of Nightmares did not look after them anymore, while Divine Master took the opportunity to take action. Although Behemoth Gate tried to take care of them to the best of our abilities, still¡­ Still¡­"


    She made a sympathetic face and spoke with great sentiments. Anyone who had heard her speak would have noticed that someone who was so concerned with the developments of Southern Sky Gate had obviously tried to assist them wholeheartedly.


    When Garen heard that Ying Er had passed away from sickness, waves of emotion flashed in his eyes.


    "That''s how the Martial Prohibition came out?"


    "Mhmm," Lola nodded. "Nobody expected that senior Ying Er would place her true hope in her young granddaughter. When they found out, Immortal Palace''s great forces had already been established and although Behemoth Gate wants to help, it is difficult enough to protect ourselves now¡­" Lola looked like she was about to burst into tears at any moment.


    "Then what''s going on at the current White Cloud Gate?" Garen, on the other hand, seemed unusually calm.


    "Are you talking about the little school of thought in the Azure Continent?" Lola regained her composure hurriedly. "It is true that it was built by a previous White Cloud Gate disciple, but no one inherited it from long ago, and they only practice declining Secret Techniques." She was very knowledgeable, making her a worthy leader of Behemoth Gate, and also the first person in command of the soldiers there as well.


    She sneaked a glance at Garen.


    "You want to rebuild the ancestral gate?"


    Garen smiled but did not reply.


    "Andrela and King of Nightmares, are they still well?"


    "Senior Andrela is currently the strongest Sword King in Celestial Circle Gate. He has been overseeing the entire group and has not shown his skills for many years. As for senior King of Nightmares¡­ his whereabouts are unknown, but you already know that¡­ This senior has unpredictable moods and is full of changes. Therefore, nobody has been able to track his movements¡­ The only thing I know is that he''s still alive." Following the local customs, Lola explained these matters in the East Continent language, sounding unusually fluent while using the appropriate terms.


    Garen had only learned the East Continent language by speaking to that military punk Zhao. Therefore, he was not as fluent as her.


    Andrela and King of Nightmares had been a pair of good friends since long ago. They had always been inseparable, and deep down in his heart, Garen knew that if he were to find one of them, the other would definitely be nearby.


    "Also, please inform the members Celestial Circle Gate that Andrela and King of Nightmares should get over here right now!" said Garen indifferently.


    "Using your original words?" Lola''s heart beat frantically in her chest. The Celestial Circle Sword King and Nightmares were first rate masters, and although they had not made a move in many years, their powers were unfathomable. Even Divine Master tolerated Celestial Circle Gate''s repeated protection of Southern Sky Gate. Some people even said that both of them would be able to defeat Divine Master in one strike if they formed an alliance.


    "Of course." Garen turned his head and looked out of the carriage window. The black wild grasslands that they kept passing by formed layers of dark green ripples when the wind blew past.


    Suddenly, a black pigeon flapped its wings and flew inside the carriage before landing on Lola''s arm gently.


    Lola glanced at Garen before lifting one of the pigeon''s legs and removing the black scroll that was tied there.


    She pulled the black string off and opened it.


    She had only scanned through it briefly when her expression changed slightly.


    "Gate Master, I''m afraid that we need to hurry up now. There have been changes in the provincial capital. Southern Sky Gate Master may be in danger."


    "Give me more details." Garen''s expression became faintly serious.


    "Southern Sky Gate Master Xiao Ying has been put under house arrest. I''m afraid that Young Divine Master has realized her true identity."


    Before she could finish speaking, Lola felt her waist tighten suddenly while her whole body became faint. Her vision was blinded momentarily before she realized that she was being held in Garen''s arms. They had left the carriage and were rushing through the black wilderness hurriedly.


    The sound of the wind whooshed beside her ears. She could faintly hear the sharp whistling of moving air. The scenery in front of her turned into a complete blur, and she was unable to see anything clearly despite her dynamic vision.


    "Show me the way." Garen''s voice was right next to her ears.


    Lola was overwhelmed. When she looked in front, she could only see the wilderness, stones, and winding ashen path passing by quickly. When they rushed past a little stream by some grassy plains, she realized that the speed they were traveling at was faster than anything she had ever experienced on her own before.


    "I¡­ I can''t see clearly¡­" said Lola in embarrassment. She was the highest ranking master in Behemoth Gate, but she could not even see her directions properly right now¡­ Now, she had truly believed that Garen was indeed the King of the Century. Although she did not know why his appearance did not match her previous account, that was not an important matter. It was rumored that Immortal Palace''s Omniscient Eye possessed the Secret Methods to memorize one''s soul. Therefore, if a suitable body could be found, it would be disguised as rebirth.


    Garen could only slow down temporarily so that Lola could find her bearings.

 560 Declaration 2

    Chapter 560: Declaration 2


    Within Great West City, one of the provincial capitals of the south.


    Xiao Ying sat on the stone bench in the courtyard, her face frozen stiff. Her foster parents sat opposite of her with worried expressions on their faces.


    Her foster father was a middle-aged man with a black goatee who looked like a slender schoolmaster. Meanwhile, her foster mother was a wealthy-looking noblewoman who was usually dressed in red clothes and wore a necklace with large pearls on her neck.


    Two maids stood around the three people with equally anxious looks on their faces, with gazes that occasionally darted outside the courtyard wall.


    "Xiao Ying¡­ Those people outside who say they''re from Moon Star Gate, who are they actually¡­?" asked the man with the goatee quietly in a trembling voice.


    Xiao Ying glanced outside the courtyard gates. The sound of the footsteps of the Moon Star Gate guards that were patrolling outside could be heard occasionally.


    "I''m not sure either." She felt guilty for involving her foster parents.


    "Moon Star Gate Young Master will be here in a moment. He said that he wanted to invite you to Moon Star Gate," said her foster mother quietly.


    "There''s no rush, I will go with them in a little while. Please don''t worry, nothing will happen to Father and Mother." Xiao Ying forced a smile. Her current priority was to ensure her the safety of her foster parents, while the second-most important thing was to prevent the people from Southern Sky Gate from coming forth to look for her.


    This was a trap!


    She had been completely certain of that since the beginning. Perhaps they were unaware that she was the Gate Master of Southern Sky Gate. However, they would surely know the relationship between her and themselves. It was highly probable that their plan involved using her as bait to lure the other members of her Gate.


    As Xiao Ying was still young, her intelligence had not matured fully yet. When faced with dangerous situations like these, she was unable to find a way out of harm''s way even when she racked her brains. Meanwhile, Xiao Yu had also been captured, and in order to save Xiao Yu, she would also¡­


    "It is realistically impossible, but pretend to yield to that person so that we can find an opportunity to observe the situation before making our escape," said her foster father in a hushed voice.


    Xiao Ying smiled bitterly. If only it was so easy to just escape like that. It was difficult enough for Xiao Ying to use her enhanced Grandmaster of Combat senses to eavesdrop on the guards'' conversation to find out that the current provincial capital was now a large prison. Furthermore, out of the manpower that Young Divine Master had gathered, more than ten of them were Grandmaster of Combat level experts, greatly exceeding their wildest dreams.


    Bang!


    The courtyard gates were pushed open.


    Two brawny men from Moon Star Gate walked inside.


    "Miss Xiao Ying, our Young Master has invited you over," said the brawny man who stood on the left loudly.


    Xiao Ying shivered as she stood up and consoled her parents quietly before following both of the muscular men out of the courtyard.


    She was surprised to see the captured Xiao Yu standing by the doorway with red swollen eyes. She had wanted to commit suicide but failed in the end. As a commoner who was under the surveillance of many experts, it was impossible for her to find an opportunity to kill herself.


    Currently, almost twenty people from Moon Star Gate were standing around in the courtyard while an Elder with a cold gaze who was dressed in white waited on the side.


    "Please, Miss Xiao Ying," said the Elder faintly.


    Xiao Ying glanced at him and stiffened her face as she held Xiao Yu''s hand, before sitting in the white sedan chair that was waiting for her.


    "Go!"


    The bearer carried the sedan chair as his feet moved quickly throughout the remote and quiet area.


    After almost ten minutes, the sedan chair stopped again, before the bearer pulled the curtains by the door open.


    Xiao Ying was dressed in a white dress that matched the color of the sedan chair slightly. She stiffened her expression and pulled Xiao Yu out, before noticing that she was now in a different vast courtyard that did not resemble Moon Star Gate at all.


    She had been to Moon Star Gate and seen their courtyard, it was nothing like this.


    There were fake mountains and a pond in this courtyard. There were golden carps inside the pond that were swimming around slowly and happily.


    A blue haired youth in a white suit stood beside the pond and scattered fish food into the water slowly, smiling as he fed the carp. This person was clearly not from Moon Star Gate!


    The moment she laid eyes on this person, Xiao Ying''s pupils dilated when she recognized his true identity.


    Jessian!


    Young Divine Master Jessian, the true assailant who had assembled the Southern Sky Gate elimination team!


    At the first moment, Xiao Ying had already guessed that something was amiss.


    This entire courtyard was devoid of a single outsider, and even the bearer who had brought her here earlier had left quietly as well. Her acute five senses told her that there was no one within a hundred meter vicinity of this place except for the three of them.


    Jessian¡­ He was giving them a chance on purpose, a chance to rescue Southern Sky Gate. It was not a trap and there was not going to be an ambush. This was a covert plot to strike them until they collapsed completely.


    He wanted to defeat the entire Southern Sky Gate''s forces with nothing but his own strength!


    He had openly withdrawn all of his manpower and was clearly giving Southern Sky Gate a chance to ambush him and save their own members.


    But Xiao Ying''s instincts told her that something was wrong because the rumors said that Jessian was not such a straightforward person who definitely had an ambush hidden somewhere deeper.


    "You thought that I was waiting for you?" Jessian smiled. "How wrong."


    "I don''t know what you''re talking about," said Xiao Ying calmly.


    Jessian did not pay her any mind.


    "This arena was prepared for the fellow that would appear at any moment."


    Clap!


    The faint sound of a footstep could be heard from the shadows of the courtyard suddenly.


    Simultaneously, numerous figures in black clothes walked out of the shadows within the courtyard slowly.


    Xiao Ying was able to recognize the people who had appeared. There was Aunt Nora, Teacher Yue Jian who had rushed over from the Azure Continent, Uncle Ling Feng, and Big Sis Arielle. All of the remaining Southern Sky Gate masters had also arrived.


    But only Aunt Nora and Teacher Yue Jian were Grandmasters of Combat, the others¡­


    Her heart fell into the bottom of her stomach at once.


    Teacher and the others were completely unaware that Jessian had assembled an entire assassination team! Without any information from her, they were now standing in front of her blindly.


    The masked members of Southern Sky Gate in black clothes moved quickly before circling around Jessian.


    "Jessian, surrender yourself!" Aunt Nora held a double-edged sword in her hands and a worried expression on her face. However, out of all the people on site, the legendary Young Divine Master would probably have a certain amount of power.


    Aunt Nora and Yue Jian were considered as masters within the Grandmasters of Combat who belonged to the level of liquidized auras. Young Divine Master would probably belong to the level of solidified auras. Therefore, since there was only one level between them, they might have a chance to ambush him.


    She had once crossed swords with a solidifying aura master, and although there was a huge gap between their powers, Young Divine Master was still juvenile, making it highly unlikely that he would have achieved a high level.


    Jessian smiled slightly.


    "All of you can come forward at once."


    Before he had finished speaking, he raised his right hand immediately and blocked the front of his body.


    Bang!


    A black whip appeared suddenly and formed a ring around the legs of the people that approached him. The ring resembled an oval that was formed by two whips, bringing the people from each side towards his temples.


    Two clapping noises could be heard before Jessian brought his fingers together and aimed them directly at his opponent''s ankles. He turned around before two twinkling stars flew out silently, forcing Nora who had attacked him from the other side to move backward, while a chain of fragmented shadows appeared around her body the moment she was pushed backward.


    Tch!


    He raised his right hand and a silver line shot out suddenly. The sound of little bells could be heard before the silver line exploded into twinkling stars that dispersed throughout the entire courtyard. They fell down like raindrops until the walls, floor, pond, and fake mountains were all covered with tiny silver steel needles.


    The people from Southern Sky Gate could barely evade the hidden weapon. Just as they were about to pursue and attack Jessian, they realized that he was no longer standing in his original spot.


    Whoosh! A dull noise could be heard before a man in black clothes held his shoulder and rushed off, staggering as he left.


    "Southern Sky Gate! This is barely acceptable! Hahaha!!" Jessian turned into a translucent shadow that pranced around the courtyard quickly like a flash of lightning. The dots of silver light disappeared hurriedly after landing precisely on a black-clothed person every time they appeared.


    Within a few minutes, four black-clothed people had suffered injuries. Although Nora had to protect Xiao Ying and Xiao Yu, she was still embarrassed when two flying needles had successfully stabbed the back of her shoulders.


    It was fortunate that there was nothing unusual about the needles and that their injuries were not too serious.


    While they were fighting, a large group of soldiers in yellow military uniforms filled the courtyard suddenly. The Grandmasters of Combat from the ambush team had appeared around the courtyard walls. They were surrounded by martial arts firearms, while ten mortars were placed in the vicinity.


    An officer in a yellow military uniform was accompanied by a Grandmaster of Combat as they took large strides into the courtyard. Moon Star Gate Master, two other Elders, and Moon Star Gate Young Master Yannen arrived as well.


    The members of Southern Sky Gate were forced into the center of the courtyard, while ten guns were pointed directly at them.


    "Young Divine Master is truly wise! You anticipated that they would surely arrive at the last minute!" praised the officer in the yellow uniform happily. "These Southern Sky Gate scum commit crimes everywhere they go, and they don''t shy away from killing people or setting fires. By capturing all of them in one go today, Young Divine Master truly made a great contribution towards the security of my jurisdiction!"


    "You flatter me, Chief Ling," replied Jessian with a smile while a group of people gathered behind him. There were thirteen Grandmasters of Combat on site, including those from Moon Star Gate, which were probably the most powerful forces throughout the three provinces. Attempting to break out from an encirclement of such strong forces were but a fleeting dream.


    "If it wasn''t for my previous apprehension, Southern Sky Gate would not have existed until today." He glanced contemptuously at the group of injured black clothed people. "A simple trick was enough to capture them in one go. There wasn''t a single fuss¡­" Boom!!!


    Suddenly, a flash of black light pierced through the wall like a broadsword, passing through the large army before creating an opening in the courtyard walls with a ¡®bang''.


    "You waited until the final key moment to appear, can this still be considered as coping with the emergency on time?" A charming female voice echoed through the clouds of dust that filled the sky.


    "It''s fine as long as we achieve our goal," replied a male voice.


    The sound of gunshots filled the air while worried expressions appeared on the faces of the soldiers when they realized that the finest Grandmaster of Combat had arrived.


    The military officer in the yellow uniform took a few steps back quietly, allowing the other Grandmasters of Combat to shield him.


    Grave looks appeared on the faces of the Grandmasters of Combat who stood beside Young Divine Master because they knew that the first-rate master had arrived. Even though they had prepared themselves mentally much earlier, they were still worried when they encountered him in the flesh.


    "Demoness Lola, are you trying to interfere?" Jessian''s expression changed slightly.


    "Interfere?" Lola smiled daintily. "This humble lady would never dare to disturb the Heavenly General''s good mood."


    The clouds of dust subsided, gradually exposing the two figures.


    The Demoness was dressed in a short black silk dress. Although she should have been the center of everyone''s attention, they were currently focused on the golden-haired man instead.


    There was a handsome man with golden shoulder length hair, a calm face, and wine red eyes whose body was currently shrouded in dark blue mist.


    The moods of the encircled Southern Sky Gate members became more joyous at once. Meanwhile, Lola quietly released her grip on the thing that she was holding tightly moments earlier.


    "Too weak." The man''s gaze fell upon the crowd of Southern Sky Gate members.


    "Too weak indeed¡­" Jessian smiled and opened his mouth before his expression changed instantly. The face of the golden-haired man flashed before his eyes quickly.


    Tch!!


    He felt a sharp pain in his forehead while he stared off into the distance blankly in his original spot. A pool of blood shot out of the back of his head before landing on the back wall quickly, as if it was shot through by an arrow.


    Cold air wafted out from both of their bodies.


    "Omniscient Eye¡­ How I missed you."


    Garen retracted his fingers slowly, exposing the bloodied eyeball that he had gouged out of Jessian''s head.


    "Divine Master¡­ Will not¡­ Forgive you¡­"


    Bang.


    Jessian''s dead body collapsed on the ground stiffly.


    The entire audience fell deathly quiet.

 561 Fame 1

    Chapter 561: Fame 1


    Bang!


    A soldier fired his gun unintentionally.


    The bullet hit the ground below Garen''s feet, forming a little hole in the courtyard''s wet soil.


    Garen pinched the eyeball in his hand. The source of telekinetic abilities, the Omniscient Eye seemed to possess unusual magical powers. It struggled in Garen''s hand and tried to escape but was caught in his tight grip.


    A Grandmaster of Combat would possess an abnormally tenacious Life Force. There was once a master from Celestial Circle Gate whom Garen met before he became a Grandmaster of Combat but unfortunately forgot his name, and that fellow was able to struggle for a long time before dying even though he had been gravely injured. Currently, Jessian could still move to a certain extent despite his cracked head, but Garen was not surprised at all.


    However, this was not important. The incident that truly surprised him was the fact that the gouged out eyeball was consciously struggling and clearly displaying signs of abnormalities.


    His thoughts stirred slightly before a shroud of deep blue cold air covered the eyeball in his hand suddenly, before freezing it into an ice bead.


    He glanced at his surroundings before fixing his gaze on Xiao Ying who was standing in the middle and stared at him blankly.


    "Ying Er¡­?"


    "Move!!" A loud roar could be heard suddenly before all of the surrounding soldiers pulled the triggers on their guns at once.


    An exploding noise could be heard from the faraway mortar at once.


    Moments later, all of the Ling army soldiers charged forward simultaneously.


    Seemingly endless torrents of bullets and cannons were fired at the center of the courtyard frantically, as though the cost of ammunition was a small price to pay for their eradication.


    Boom!!


    Crashing noises rumbled throughout the center of the courtyard, causing humming noises to echo in everyone''s ears while the gunpowder smoke, soil, and rubble flew about everywhere, blinding everyone''s vision for a moment.


    "Water."


    A calm voice could be heard softly within the courtyard.


    Suddenly, a gust of cool breeze blew outwards from the center of the courtyard. It was a slightly moist, light breeze that blew around silently like cold winds that brushed past the surface gently.


    The Ling Army officer had retreated far away and was now looking on as the remaining Grandmasters of Combat were separated into different batches. One batch rushed over to retrieve Jessian''s corpse before retreating, while the other batch had fled off to a distance of more ten meters long ago. Only a few of them were stupid enough to stick around and confront Demoness Lola.


    A strange scene appeared at the moment when the breeze blew past.


    Whoosh!!


    At the same time, the gunshot and explosion noises ceased before all of the soldiers were suddenly covered in deep blue flames. They stood frozen in place but the flames did not burn their bodies. Instead, a crystal clear layer of blue ice began to freeze over, covering them quickly, before forming more than ten blue ice sculptures.


    Within the courtyard, almost ten soldiers, including a few Grandmasters of Combat were suddenly set on fire with the blue flames. They resembled blue torches that stood upright next to the walls and on the floor, while the deep blue flames illuminated the surrounding areas and cast them in blue light.


    Gulp.


    Demoness Lola''s little face was now pale. She swallowed while her skin was illuminated in blue light by the flames. She took a look around and felt as if time had stopped for a moment.


    Numerous bullets and cannonballs had formed holes of various sizes on the ground below Garen''s feet. They were scattered everywhere, yet none had harmed his body.


    Bang!!


    Suddenly, countless ice sculptures cracked and formed colored crystal shards as they scattered on the ground.


    The ice sculptures on the wall fell down and crashed on the ground. The ice sculptures in the courtyard collapsed one by one as well, forming blue ice shards that were tinged with blood.


    Unlike regular people, the ten Grandmasters of Combat retained more than half of their bodies after the shards of blue flame ice disappeared. However, none of them showed any signs of life anymore.


    Moments later, the only ones who survived within the courtyard were the officer in the yellow military uniform and the group of Southern Sky Gate members which stood in the middle.


    Pfoo.


    Both of the officer''s legs were shaking before he fell on his knees at once. His face was pale and he was unable to speak as his lips could only tremble.


    Garen returned his gaze indifferently.


    "I''ll let you decide what to do with him. Meanwhile, I''ll control the military forces in this area."


    Nora, Yue Jian, and two other people stood in front of Xiao Ying to shield her, while worried expressions were plastered on their faces.


    "May I ask who you might be?" Old Yue Jian stood out and asked quietly.


    Garen smiled and outstretched his hand while the blue ice crystals around him melted quickly into flowing blue water that gathered in his palm, before finally turning into a burning deep blue flame.


    "Whose disciple are you? Ying Er? Yoda, the Eight-Arm Dragon King? Or Third Senior Brother Joshua?" He asked as he returned his palm. Although he had just done a shocking act, nothing was truly as shocking as the question that had just escaped his mouth.


    "You¡­ How do you know Teacher Yoda?" The old fellow stuttered slightly while an emotional look appeared in his eyes as if he had guessed something.


    Garen tried to detect it carefully, before smiling strangely suddenly.


    "Did you manage to learn some things from Celine and Su Lin?"


    "Could it¡­ Could it be that you¡­?!!" The old fellow took a step forward with an excited look on his face. Other than that person, no one else would know secrets like these!


    "My name is Garen." Garen''s gaze passed through the crowd and fell on Xiao Ying as he noticed that she was so much like¡­ so much like Ying Er from the past.


    It grew silent, but no one dared to stir.


    The Southern Sky Gate members could only gulp as everything that they heard was too impossible to believe. They could not comprehend it at all for awhile.


    There was no information regarding the existence of the legendary White Cloud Gate Master except in portraits and photos. He had disappeared for sixty years and after he had been hit by the nuclear bomb, everyone assumed that he died. Suddenly, this person had appeared and said that he was Garen. It was normal that no one would accept these as facts so easily.


    But other than Garen, no one else would be able to freeze almost ten soldiers within a few moments while more than ten Grandmasters of Combat stood in front of him like helpless babies.


    A master of this caliber had no need to trick them.


    "After my battle with Cayduran, some strange troublesome incidents occurred. In short, it was a lucky coincidence that I did not die, but unfortunately, I could not return either, until now," said Garen nostalgically as he recalled the previous fight.


    He realized that he was looking past the crowd and straight at Xiao Ying suddenly.


    "Has Ying Er died?"


    Xiao Ying lowered her head and bit her lip but did not answer.


    Garen was speechless for a moment. His quest for unlimited power caused him to unknowingly involve the existence and emotions of the people around him. Time raced by and he lost everything that he once possessed. Even if he desired to return, he knew that he had lost his chance.


    **************


    At East Continent''s Southern Sky Gate, First Heavenly General Garen had appeared and killed fourteen first rate Grandmasters of Combat including Jessian, allowing the three provinces that were controlled by the Ling Army to fall into the hands of Southern Sky Gate.


    This news traveled far and wide like a hurricane and spread throughout the entire East Continent quickly through the radios. It travelled across the ocean at the same time, and when the masters of Stonecliff Continent, Fivestar Continent, and Azure Continent received this news simultaneously, they could hardly believe it, and chose to send representatives to East Continent to verify the information, while some of the Grandmasters of Combat made the trip there personally.


    The governments of the Three Great Countries made plans in secret. Although they were no movements on the surface, they had actually dispatched large groups of spies that traveled towards East Continent with members of Immortal Palace and Behemoth secretly.


    The news regarding Young Divine Master''s death in battle hit them like an earthquake. Other than Immortal Palace, Weisman Empire, Celestial Circle Gate, and Crimson Sand Sword Gate were also shocked by the news.


    The entire Combat World fell into a state of shock, but the first ones to react were Celestial Circle Gate strongest Sword King Andrela.


    Meanwhile, after Garen had integrated the army forces of the current three provinces, he gathered the members of White Cloud Gate and Southern Sky Gate. As Immortal Palace''s public opinion throughout the years stated that Southern Sky Gate had become a group that gathered Demon Warriors, when Garen came into being, his original title of First Heavenly General was changed into Demon God-General.


    After getting to know Xiao Ying, Garen waited in the provincial capital quietly for the arrival of Andrela and King of Nightmares. At the same time, he was also waiting for the invasion of Immortal Palace''s Divine Master.


    **************


    Night breeze blew past the top of a tall dark red tower.


    Garen stood on the top of the tower and looked down at the night view of the entire provincial capital from afar.


    Throughout the black ground, countless pale yellow lights illuminated the area like glittering stars. Some of them were lit up while others were extinguished, making them resembled a long river of light that flowed continuously.


    Garen leaned against the sloped tower top while his black and gold-trimmed cloak bunched up around his body as the wind tousled it.


    Xiao Ying knelt beside him and poured him a glass of alcohol in a little white porcelain cup slowly. After they got to know each other that day, Xiao Ying allowed herself to strip off her heavy responsibilities so that she could return to being a lively young girl again.


    Garen thought of Ying Er whenever he saw her, allowing him to treat her with the same care. Meanwhile, the little girl warmed up to him as well, partially due to his youthful appearance that made it difficult for her to treat him as an elder.


    Therefore, a strange relationship formed between them, as if they were both individuals with the same ranking.


    "Gate Master, what are you thinking of? Is it something to do with Grandmother?" Xiao Ying put the wine pot down and glanced at Garen''s side profile. The silver glow from the moonlight reflected across his face, making him look like the Moon God.


    "I think of her a lot when I look at you." Garen raised the wine cup and sipped from it slowly while a strange feeling filled his heart. "Both of you are really too similar¡­"


    "Are we?" Ying Er smiled. "Xiao Ying had heard Grandmother mention Big Bro Gate Master before as well."


    She combed through her hair after it had been blown messily by the wind, and paused.


    "¡®It felt like a dream. I blinked and realized that my own big brother had transformed into an unimaginably strong person.'' Those were Grandmother''s exact words."


    "To be honest, perhaps I was selfish in the end. I was only concerned about making myself stronger, but I forgot that I would be causing changes throughout the lives of the people around me and that these changes were not necessarily good ones," said Garen softly while he turned the wine cup in his hand and glanced at Xiao Ying guiltily. If Ying Er had remained as a normal person from the beginning to the end, perhaps her life would be happier. The burdens that Xiao Ying was forced to bear, would perhaps lessen as well.


    "Grandmother Ying Er never blamed you," Xiao Ying replied with a smile. "I never blamed you either. Everyone has their own decision-making rights, and even normal people are allowed to grasp their own lives. I want to thank you for the changes that you caused in the beginning because they gave me the right to make my own choices."


    "You''re still so young¡­" Garen''s gaze softened.


    "We have a phrase here in the East Continent that goes: ¡®Intelligence comes first, regardless of age''," said Xiao Ying frankly.


    She hesitated for a few moments.


    "Xiao Ying has a strange question to ask, but I don''t know if¡­ I already know that this question is impolite."


    "Ask away. However, I can''t promise that I''ll answer it," Garen winked with a smile.


    Xiao Ying waited for a moment before raising her head and meeting Garen''s eyes.


    "Gate Master, can you¡­ live forever without aging?"

 562 Fame 2

    Chapter 562: Fame 2


    "Immortality?" Garen snickered, unable to hold back his laughter, "If you just look at my body, it''s almost an example of immortality, but¡­." He suddenly remembered the Cthulhu King from Totem World, and his smile faded away.


    "In this world, there is no true immortality. Even if the body does not die, the soul will eventually decay. You have to understand this."


    He also thought of his first encounter with Demon Phoenix. That powerful woman who claimed to be immortal, in the end, was sealed until her brain went strange. Maybe it was due to her soul.


    "What is truly eternal in this world? Considering all things in the world, even rocks will turn to dust, melted due to high temperature or eroded by acids. Gold can exist for thousands of years but is hardly able to withstand high temperature. Life and death cycle endlessly and reproduces nonstop. Seemingly long, but in the face of the entire universe, it might be that life and death only have a slightly longer expiration date."


    "What about thoughts? When knowledge leaves its mark, it might get handed down longer than thousands of years?" Xiao Ying asked after thinking seriously.


    "It''s still within the cycle of reproduction of humans." Garen patted Xiao Ying''s hair and gently pinched her cheeks while gazing at her lowered head and blushing face. "Don''t ponder it so much, you''re still in the period of enjoying your youth."


    "Yes¡­" Xiao Ying had never enjoyed such a warm and relaxing sense of security. Ever since she was young, Ying Er had always been strict with her, and there had never been any gentle touches like just now. After the sudden changes in her life, although her adoptive parents treated her in a good way, she still had to live in fear every day. With the pressure from Southern Sky Gate, there was never a moment of rest.


    In her enjoyment, she moved closer towards Garen. Her complexion was turning redder by the minute. Sneaking a glimpse at Garen, he was looking down beneath the spire. He seemed to have found something interesting as his eyes revealed his amusement.


    Suddenly, a blurred white figure flashed by, landing a short distance from Garen''s side. That figure had a long sword at the waist, a handsome appearance, a gray beard covering at his chin and a pair of eyes dazzling like the brightest stars under the moonlight.


    Xiao Ying had never seen anyone with eyes that could seemingly emit light with glimmers of silver.


    That man''s short white hair was fluttering about in the wind, yet his eyes were only on the leaning Garen.


    "It''s been sixteen years, you have also grown old," Garen said.


    That man''s complexion turned weird.


    "I think you have the least qualification to say that."


    Garen touched his chin. It was smooth, indeed.


    He smacked his lips. His body had Fire and Ice Spirit Evil Arts. Without any interference, his body aged slower than normal people.


    "Where''s Nightmare?"


    Andrela''s complexion turned dark. "Have you heard of Genetic Meltdown?"


    Garen stiffened.


    "After you disappeared for three years, she bled all over her body. I tried everything I could to save her." Andrela said calmly, "Maybe it''s Heaven''s punishment for recklessly modifying her body."


    Garen also felt that King of Nightmares'' body was strange. Such frequent changes to the body constitution would cause destabilization. Now that it happened, sure enough¡­


    Andrela was calm as though he''d been talking about people unrelated to him.


    "After her death, I immediately took over her forces and acted as though there is still King of Nightmares. This way, the Star Ring Door and Siren Group would be able to be preserved even more. Unfortunately, the Divine Master saw through that ruse. We fought three times. I was heavily injured and he only suffered small injuries. This time, he even went through a breakthrough."


    "So intense?" Garen''s eyebrows twitched.


    "Compared to the old you, it was only one step away, but since you came back, I feel relieved now." Andrela finally showed a gentle smile.


    "Rather than Divine Master, I have a much more important matter to discuss with you."


    "Oh?"


    Xiao Ying at the side stared with her eyes wide open. She could not guess the relationship between these two. They could be said to be good friends but when one member died, Garen showed no sadness, only slight dejection.


    Garen pinched Xiao Ying''s cheeks and smiled.


    Since he met one of his old friends, some things should speed up. Especially after he saw Ying Er''s grave, he''d become even more desperate.


    "Since you are here, come out then. Playing hide-and-seek was not the style of Cayduran." He looked around, then stood up at the top of the spire, which was tens of meters tall.


    He suddenly felt dispirited. With the power he had now, if he had to face against this world''s top forces again, it would be like an adult beating up a kindergartener. The gap might perhaps be even larger.


    Was it his fate to return here in order to beat up crying children?


    With the sound of swishing wind, two more figures appeared at the spires opposite of him.


    Under the night sky, there were two men wearing silver clothes outside the tower suspended in the air as though stepping on solid ground.


    The two of them stood side-by-side. The man at the left had a weird appearance. The left half of his face appeared manly while his right half appeared feminine. He had a strong body yet he wore earrings and necklace that only females would wear. He also had his nails polished pink. When the wind blew over, there was a strong scent of perfume.


    On the other hand, the man at the right side was unrecognizable. His face was marred by numerous burn scars. He only had one of his eyes open while the other seemed to be of no use.


    With only a glimpse of this guy, Garen recognized him right away.


    "Flamingo?" he exclaimed.


    "It''s me." The disfigured guy nodded slightly, "I didn''t think it was really you, Garen." For masters standing at the top, the dispositions they were familiar with over the years, they could still recognize them easily. asdangixaw


    His hand still hold that Sword of the Sprites. Under the moonlight, the crimson sword seemed to have a faint luster of silver.


    "I can''t believe you''re still alive." Garen was angry; the scene of the graves of those sprites was still fresh in his memories.


    He scanned the darkness below the tower. Those densely packed hidden figures were like torches in the dark, much too obvious to his senses.


    "I''ll give you guys a chance, all come at me."


    "Arrogant!" The guy who was neither male nor female snapped.


    "The so-called Divine Master is only this much?" Garen took a brief look at him. From the level of his strength, he was the strongest among them. To be stronger than Flamingo, then he could only be the Divine Master.


    "Never imagine that after Sylphalan died, the successor is this kind of trash."


    He clenched his right hand and blue mist wafted through his surroundings.


    An ice blue crystal halberd slowly crystallized in his hand.


    The halberd was the length of a person and covered in a myriad of fine and exquisite silver runes. A blue-black snake curled around the top, its slender body covered in countless hard scales just like a dragon crawling around.


    Divine Master and Flamingo did not reply but the look on their face turned solemn. The pressure released by Garen was like the sea, centering on the eye of the storm and spreading the freezing energy outwards.


    "Ancient Secret Martial Skills¡­" Divine Master whispered, his eyes dyed in the color of frenzy, "King of the Century¡­it''s really the King of the Century!"


    The solidification of aura involved real matter and not merely organisms. This realm was the legendary King of the Century. What Garen was doing right now was precisely that.


    If they were using telekinesis to float in the air, then the act of Garen materializing weapon without the usage of telekinesis and rely solely on aura could only be aura solidification.


    Hong!!


    A silver halo emerged out of Divine Master surrounding his body and at the same time a fiery red halo also emerged out of Flamingo''s body. The surroundings of the both were dyed in the color of silver and red respectively.


    In the distance, the non-Grandmaster of Combat gunmen that were hiding in ambush suddenly grabbed their eyes. ¡®Pop, pop'' sounds of eyeballs bursting appeared constantly. Among the screams and wails, the top executive of Weisman Empire threw a punch at the wall furiously but did not dare to look at the tower.


    For Grandmaster of Combat of the realm of Divine Master, at the moment he released his aura, the sudden changes that came would cause anyone hostile towards him to be attacked.


    "Even looking directly¡­is not possible¡­" the top executive bit his lower lip, unaware that it was bleeding.


    There was no vibration in reality but in the eyes of Grandmaster of Combat that was spectating, it was as though the Heaven and Earth were shaking.


    Ji!!


    Above the tower, a huge fire peacock and a double-headed silvery white bird appeared. The two monsters flapped their wings and soared towards Garen who was standing at the tower.


    Those were illusions created by auras. There was no actual physical damage but it could cause mental damage to living things.


    The moment the red peacock and double-headed silvery white bird reached the tower, a line of blue silver lit up in front of them.


    The arc-shaped line of fire flashed by. In a mere moment, it had struck countless times against the Flamingo and Divine Master''s swords.


    There was no resistance. Through the swords, the blue fire on the halberd spread and burned both of them.


    Garen stored his halberd. In the Totem World, he had slain countless real monsters, not to mention monsters formed by auras.


    He had originally thought that the Divine Master would have some surprise for him. In the end, there were no changes. He did not even bring out a tenth of his strength but the duo crumbled with just a touch.


    The fusion power the Living Secret Technique displayed was like a living being. It lit up both of them and burned them like barrels of fuel.


    Andrela and Xiao Ying were originally watching alertly at the side but the battle had ended in the blink of an eye. The two were stunned as though they were meeting Garen for the first time. Looking at the two blue flames burning brighter than ever, then looking at the calm look on Garen''s face, they were utterly speechless.


    Ding.


    Suddenly, a silvery white ring fell from Divine Master.


    Surprisingly, the ring was not melting under the raging fire. It rolled out of the fire and headed towards the bottom.


    Garen waved his hand, sucking the ring onto his palm.


    With a snap, the figure of Divine Master and Flamingo froze in the blue fire and shattered into countless blue fragments. The fragments were then blown away by the wind like droplets of rain.


    Even the Crimson Sword of the Sprites turned into blue fragments.


    The halberd in Garen''s hand also shattered at the same time, turning into countless ice fragments and disappeared. He took a look at the ring in his hand. The figure of a double-headed bird was carved on it.


    "So, it has always been in the hand of the Divine Master. This thing¡­" Andrela gave Garen a complicated look.


    "What do you want to say?"Garen turned around to face him.


    "Still remember the goal that we set?"


    "You found a clue?" Garen felt curious.


    "A clue that left me helpless, perhaps the way you are now may have a solution." Andrela smiled bitterly.

 563 Mother Stream 1

    Chapter 563: Mother Stream 1


    April 25th


    Lord of Immortal Palace was killed in combat in Dongzhou by Demon God General Garen. Including Weisman Assault Team, Immortal Palace''s Grandmaster of Combat elites and Elders, nearly half were annihilated.


    Fifteen days later


    Southern Sky Gate was renamed back to Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate. Garen summoned back all the disciples, rebuilt the place and restored the techniques to be inherited. White Cloud Gate returned back to White Dew Gate and Garen became White Dew Gate''s Great Elder. Together with Celestial Circle Gate, Crimson Sand Sword, and Demon Gate, an alliance was formed. Together, they maintained the Combat Festival.


    When the news spread out, the combat world was shaken. Numerous martial artists went to Immortal Palace to verify the authenticity.


    Weisman Empire''s higher-ups declared Garen as a terrorist, gathered the remaining forces in Immortal Palace and dispatched more than ten thousands of people to subjugate the Dongzhou''s Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate.


    *********************


    The sky was clear.


    From the endless blue sea, on the horizon, numerous white navy ships slowly appeared as tiny dots. Among the densely packed dots, a middle-aged man wearing black aristocratic clothes and a captain''s hat was looking through his binoculars on the largest navy ship.


    Huala!


    The sea water crashed ashore against Garen''s legs and droplets splashed around. He stood in the sea with the sea water passing by, remaining motionless.


    Gazing at the emerging fleets of Weisman navy ships, Garen slowly raised his right hand.


    Silently, a white fog materialized and spread through his surroundings. Within seconds, the fog grew thicker and larger and soon covered an area of several hundreds of meters.


    Halberds crystallized and appeared from the mist repeatedly, suspended in mid-air with their tips aiming at the distant navy ships.


    Boom!


    Fiery red dots appeared among the navy ships. The dots flashed, and waves and jets of water splashed around Garen''s position.


    Peng Peng Peng Peng!!


    The incessant bombardment appeared like rain, but strangely, in the area of fog surrounding Garen, every single shell that went in disappeared soundlessly, as though there was a bottomless abyss swallowing up everything.


    Red dots lit up again on the navy ships. A second bombardment began.


    "Go."


    Out of nowhere, a crystalized halberd appeared in Garen''s hand and he gently pointed it at the fleet.


    Weng¡­


    Countless crystal halberds trembled, as one by one, they were covered in bluish light.


    Bang!!


    At that instant, all the halberds disappeared. In the distance, numerous fireballs appeared above the sea.


    Garen absentmindedly gazed at the sea of fire across the sea then turned around and walked away.


    Between the rocks on the shore, the people from White Dew Gate and Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate, elders from Celestial Circle Gate and representatives from Crimson Sand Sword all kneeled down. Their faces showed passion, excitement, and amazement.


    This kind of combat martial arts realm was not something a human could do. This was the highest realm that all martial artists coveted; using the force of an individual to crushed every single resistance.


    Those numerous crystal halberds were like legends and myths coming to life, piercing through the heavens and crushed all the Weisman navy ships instantly.


    Garen glanced at the crowd that kneeled down. In his heart, there was no delight in defeating the Weisman navy ships. He did not even see clearly that fleet of ships that came full of enthusiasm and had simply annihilated them dozens of miles away.


    To him, it was only materializing tens of halberds through his Secret Techniques and throw those out. After that, he only needed to enjoy the spectacle of fireballs that appeared one by one.


    Totally meaningless.


    Back on the shore, he tuned out the passionate cheers from the crowd and turned his gaze at Andrela who was standing at the right.


    In a complex mood, Andrela looked at this once-best friend of his. That kind of overwhelming strength that could not be concealed had already left the realm of martial artist and reached the point of a legend. At his peak, he knew himself that settling this fleet of navy ships was no big deal but when there were numerous elites from Immortal Palace on board, it became a different matter, not to mention there were even hidden masters from Weisman Empire and customized heavy artillery in the hands of specialized Grandmasters of Combat. Not even he could resolve all of that.


    They looked at each other and nodded simultaneously.


    After a few simple sentences, the figures of Garen accompanied by Andrela disappeared on the shore.


    After this battle, the alliance had an all-new experience on the terrifying combat strength of Garen. Some people who had conflicting views about him had let go altogether. Any and all sorts of undercurrents that emerged died down completely. In the face of absolute strength, everything else paled in comparison. Any schemes would be crushed effortlessly.


    *****************


    A few days later¡­


    Endless seawater with no land in sight splashed around, while seagulls soared up in the sky and sunlight glittered off the surface of the sea.


    Garen and Andrela were boarding a small blue boat with a white trail behind it heading towards the same place as the seagulls.


    One was sitting at the front and the other at the back with their hair tousled by the wind.


    Some time ago, the sea wind had begun sounding like the weeping of a lady.


    "There''s a small island in front. The islanders all called it the Sea Demon Island, and the island is surrounded by winds that are harsh and piercing on the ears. Normal people have no way of approaching it." Andrela introduced while controlling the boat.


    "The island has caves that are like honeycombs on the mountain. When the sea wind blows, it creates a sound like how we whistle. Maybe because a special frequency was created, those piercing sounds can mislead senses. If you lose concentration, you will lose your way."


    Garen turned serious. The sensation from Living Secret Technique made him become slightly alert.


    Standing up, he stared far ahead across the sea.


    A U-shaped green island appeared on the sea in front.


    Seagulls flocked around on the island. On the desolate yellowish green beach, not a trace of humans could be seen.


    "That''s the Sea Demon Island." Andrela also stood up. Both of them looked at the island.


    "More than ten years ago, under certain circumstances, I heard rumors about this island. The descriptions of this island''s environment and topography resembled a hidden sacred place that I found in a book from a religion."


    "Hidden sacred place?"


    "That''s right." Andrela slightly recounted, "In the record, this Sea Demon Island was once one of the places the Ancient Endor''s Mother Stream runs through."


    "Mother Stream? You are talking about the origin of streams described in the legend?" Garen recalled.


    In the legend, all the Ancient Endor''s origin of life and great warlocks such as Mother Earth would return into the embrace of the Mother Stream when their life depleted.


    "Yes, that Mother Stream." Andrela nodded. "After years of researching, guess what I found?" There was yearning in his eyes but mostly helplessness.


    "No way, did you found that Mother Stream?" Garen was stunned, "On this island? A place surrounded by the sea?!" He felt it a bit unbelievable, this place was in the middle of a sea a few days away from Dongzhou and considered a place where no one cared. Now, someone told him that there was a river on this island and it was the legendary Mother Stream, the origin of life.


    "Wait until you take a look at this Mother Stream, then you will understand." Andrela smiled bitterly.


    The both of them no longer spoke and waited in silence for the little boat to reach there, nearer and nearer.


    The sight of the yellowish green beach was getting clearer.


    After about half an hour later, the little boat stopped in a crevice between some rocks on the island. Garen froze a big chunk of ice and stoppered the crevice to stop the boat from getting washed away by the sea.


    The two of them stepped down from the boat on the island.


    The area of shallow water was of crystal clear blue. It could be seen that in the water, there were blue lights reflected on the ripples.


    Shells, marine fish, black reefs, translucent shrimps, and crabs were vibrant all around.


    Garen stepped on the soft sand beach and picked up a white conch wrapped in seaweed. To his surprise, a few white tentacles came out of the opening of the conch and started struggling around.


    "The organisms here is a little weird, take note," Andrela whispered after tying the rope on the boat.


    Standing on the island''s beach, in front of them was a lush green forest.


    From the direction of the shore into the island, the trees became even more closely compacted with their colors getting darker from light green to dark green. This showed the distribution of the plants on the island


    Standing on the beach, the weeping sounds of the wind became even clearer and even sounded demonic.


    Garen wrinkled his eyebrows; for him, the sounds had started became piercing.


    For the normal people or even average Grandmaster of Combat, this might be the limit for them. Heading in any further would become dangerous for them.


    For him and Andrela who had reached the level they stood at now, even the most vulnerable eardrums would have a certain degree of enhancement, not to mention their internal organs which were a lot tougher than the normal people. This little bit of sound was no different from listening to a radio.


    Wearing black tight-fitting cloaks, both of them headed deeper into the island.


    Andrela led the way as he was the most familiar with this island. He led Garen on a barely discernible forest trail and advanced into the dense jungle.


    The forest felt slightly hot and humid. Whether it''s the top, bottom, left or right, all around them were plants. Some plants grew crooked to the left and right, barring their way and were snapped by the both of them.


    From the gaps that could be seen, there were small insects that flew here and there, among which some of them had a blood-sucking ability and were buzzing around.


    A mixture of sour scent with the fresh scent of the plants was in the warm and humid air, making the whole thing quite strange.


    Following the trail and winding left and right, the terrain was getting lower as though they were walking into a humongous basin.


    In the forest, excluding the chirping of birds and the sounds of unknown animals, there were only the swishing sounds of both of them traveling through the forest.


    After some time, a yellow mountain was revealed before them and a small dark cave was nestled among the vines climbing around.


    Andrela stopped in front of the cave.


    "It''s here." He whispered.


    "We''re going in?"

 564 Mother Stream 2

    Chapter 564: Mother Stream 2


    "No, not exactly in there. If it wasn''t by accident, no one would have thought to enter from that passage." Andrela smiled mysteriously and led the way into the cave. Garen hurriedly followed along.


    Soon after he had advanced into the cave for some distance, he stopped. He no longer moved after standing beside a spring.


    "It''s here. I''ll lead the way, you follow."


    Once he finished speaking, he jumped straight into the spring.


    Water soon splashed around the spring with a width longer than a meter.


    Garen was confused but he also jumped into the spring.


    The moment he entered the spring, something soft and warm covered his whole body as though soaking in a hot spring.


    Strangely, the temperature of the spring was not high, only about the temperature of the sea.


    Bubbles floated up. Through the cloudy blue water, Garen saw that Andrela was waving a bright green glow stick at him at the bottom.


    He hurriedly swam like a fish in order to keep up. After training for so long at the sea, water became a second nature to him. He swam at a moderate pace behind Andrela.


    The two of them had already swum in the spring longer than ten minutes yet they were still heading further down. The surroundings of the spring were dark and it was still extending as though there was no bottom.


    Finally, the tunnel in front of them made a horizontal turn and no longer went deeper.


    After a while, another passage that turned upwards appeared.


    The whole spring was a U-shaped passage, just like the shape of the island.


    Following the passage upwards, the two of them could not help but swim faster.


    Huala!


    Inside a small dark cavern, two heads emerged out of an oval spring at a corner.


    With a loud splash, two dark figures leaped out of the water and landed firmly by the side of the spring.


    Garen snapped his fingers and a freezing white mist circled around both their cloaks and soon dissipated.


    All the moisture in their cloaks became ice and with a gentle shake, all the ice fell off on the ground.


    The water on both of them had dried instantly.


    "This is already out of the scope of Secret Techniques." Andrela sighed.


    Garen smiled without replying and only silently scanned the cavern.


    "This is the place where the Mother Stream ran through, the only point where Mother Stream can be seen" Andrela sighed, "You definitely cannot imagine what Mother Stream looks like."


    "In this cavern?" Garen was piqued by curiosity. What did the legendary Mother Stream look like in reality? He could not guess.


    "Follow me."


    Andrela walked ahead, away from the spring towards one of the cavern''s stone wall.


    Garen only noticed when he came near, the stone wall was, in fact, a hole that got blocked. The stone piece that blocked the hole was too similar to the surrounding with no apparent flaws. If no one checked properly, there was no way to know that there was a hole here.


    He also noticed that on the ground at the left side of the stone piece laid a pile of white bones. It did not seem to belong to humans. It was more like lizards'' bones put together but there was no rotten smell that drifted out.


    "I lived here for five years. Previously, creatures similar to lizards lived in the spring but it was all eaten by me." Andrela shrugged and placed all ten of his fingers on the stone piece and pulled outwards.


    With the rumbling sound of rolling stone, the stone piece moved out of the way and a hole with the height of a person was immediately revealed.


    Andrela did not go in. He only stood by the entrance quietly peering inside, his eyes showing a trace of obsession.


    A green light from inside the hole was also reflected on it.


    Garen could not help but hold his breath, similarly stunned by the amazing scene inside the hole.


    A large cavern was connected to this hole on the other side.


    Inside was a stream running from left to right with no sound whatsoever. No matter it was the sound of water, the flow of air or creatures swimming inside it, there was none.


    It was a stream dozens of meters wide.


    It was no normal stream water but some sort of glowing green fluid. It gushed out from a gray vortex on the left and rushed into a gray vortex on the right.


    The light from the stream glowed, dyeing both of them green.


    The hole they were at was located high up in the large cavern, just like one of the many holes of a beehive.


    "This is the Mother Stream¡­" Andrela muttered.


    "How are you so sure?" Garen finally snapped out of it. He could see such a spectacle in the Secret Technique World, but even if he had been through all sorts of thing, he still felt that it was incredible.


    "It''s that I''m sure¡­once you get closer you will understand." Andrela smiled bitterly.


    Slightly puzzled, Garen went inside the cavern.


    Only a step, a gentle and warm aura covered him and expelled gently.


    "This is ¡­aura!!??" He looked at Andrela, startled.


    "That''s right." Andrela nodded. "Aura is a product of Spirit. In the Ancient Ender civilization, it was also called Power of Life. In the legend, Mother Stream flows out from an unknown void into another unknown void. It contains infinite Power of Life. This is why even if this stream is not the Mother Stream, it is at least a branch of it. There is no other explanation which I could find from the records."


    Garen suddenly thought of something and adjusted his vision.


    Closing his eyes and opening it once again, the glowing green stream in front of him disappear. There was nothing in this large cavern except a vague flow of gentle air. He totally hid all the aura in his body, using the eyes of ordinary people to observe.


    Sure enough, the whole Mother Stream was unable to be seen. The location where the Mother Stream situated was originally a dried up river with nothing inside it and both sides were blocked.


    "I see, the Mother Stream in the legend can only be seen by the chosen ones. No wonder it was explained like that." Garen nodded. Releasing his aura, the green light filled his vision again.


    "You also discovered it." Andrela nodded. "I have examined it from various perspectives and basically confirmed that this is the Mother Stream."


    Garen did not reply and went silent.


    "What are you planning to do?"


    Andrela smiled bitterly.


    "I don''t have any plans. I can''t even get near it, what else can I plan?"


    "You lived here for five years, there should at least be some results."


    "This is natural." Andrela nodded, "I looked up all the information on Mother Stream. Whether it be myth legends or folk tales, none was spared. Pieced together, I had a thought."


    He leaned against the wall and explained while gazing at the Mother Stream.


    "Mother Stream, also known as Stream of Life was said to contain a secret. Rumors had it that ancient warlocks nearing their death walked into the embrace of Mother Stream. There must be some meaning to it."


    He took out a silver ring carved with a double-headed bird.


    "I found out that all the warlocks who entered the Mother Stream would wear an accessory made of silver stone. I don''t know the reason."


    "This is a ring made of the silver stone?" Garen also took out the double-headed ring he got from Divine Master.


    "Yes. I don''t know who got their hands on this material and made double-headed rings out of it. These might be the last two accessories made from silver stone in this world." Andrela regretfully said.


    "I guess that when the warlocks lost all hope, they gambled everything they have to have the one last chance."


    "What chance?"


    "The chance to reach a higher level."


    Andrela said in low voice.


    "The legend of warlocks ended with a legendary expedition. For unknown reasons, they went to war with powerful invaders from another world. Finally, both sides suffered great losses. Various gods fell. I found out that whenever great warlocks suffered grievous injuries, someone would put them into the Mother Stream to have their injuries healed. Then, they would enter into battles again."


    He paused for a while.


    "Later, the enemies found out about it. They used some sort of means to stop the healing abilities of the Mother Stream. Maybe this is the original way the Mother Stream should be. It was a Pyrrhic victory. Not long after, both sides disappear from history."


    "Your speculations are very detailed but this is all built on the fact that all the myth and legends are true." Garen nodded.


    "I tried to eliminate any interference to the best extent, sorting out all the data and compiling them. This final result should not have too many distortions." Andrela shook his head.


    "Mother Stream¡­" Garen looked at the running stream emitting green light, feeling out of this world. This feeling of standing before and looking at something that should only exist in legends, normal people would not be able to imagine it.


    Imagine looking at the Egyptian pyramids from Earth. That kind of heavy feeling from looking at history enshrouds your mind and leave nothing else in your head.


    "There must be a great secret hidden inside there. The warlocks have lifespans approaching thousand years and godlike powers. What is there on the level above them? There can only be immortality!" Andrela said seriously, then a bitter smile surfaced. "But I can''t even get close to it."


    He turned to look at Garen.


    "What I can''t do, maybe you can. Your strength already reached a level out of my imagination." His eyes contain hope and anticipation.


    Garen looked at Mother Stream, uncertainty in his eyes.


    Suddenly, he took a large step.


    Pa!


    His boots stepped firmly on the ground inside the cavern. A huge force slammed on his body intending to expel him.


    This force was vast as the sea. Even the strength of Garen''s Living Secret Technique barely held on.


    His body was covered in freezing white mist and was about to retaliate.


    Suddenly, his view passed through the Attribute Pane and his body stopped.


    In the Attribute Pane, he saw an unexpected change.

 565 Mother Stream 3

    Chapter 565: Mother Stream 3


    All the attributes on the Attribute Pane began to turn blurry, as if covered by a translucent plastic.


    This was something he had never encountered before!


    This Attribute Pane was actually a mutation, resulting from a stimulation originating from himself. That was to say, the source of Attribute Pane was actually his own body. When this kind of thing happened, it was most likely due to a new and unprecedented stimulation to his body, to the extent of affecting the root of his special ability.


    "What¡¯s the matter?" Andrela¡¯s voice came from his rear.


    Garen immediately snapped out back to reality and took a step back.


    Hu¡­


    As if caressed by a gentle breeze, the blurry Attribute Pane became clear again.


    Garen narrowed his eyes. He remained silent, but a trace of seriousness flashed past.


    "The ring¡¯s changed!" Andrela¡¯s voice resounded again.


    Garen turned his head, and saw that he was holding the silver stone ring with a feverish excitement on his face.


    A string of inexplicable words appeared on the ring.


    "Words from Ancient Ender, I recognized it." Garen had the attribute abilities. His powerful intelligence attribute allowed him to easily learn any language in the world. He learned the language of Ancient Ender from pieces of passages that he found. Together with his comprehensive analysis, he quickly found the key to mastering it.


    At this moment, Garen also noticed that the ring he took from Divine Master had the same changes, but different words of the Ancient Ender language.


    "The words from both the rings are different, come and take a look. "Andrela handed his ring to Garen.


    The rings combined together to form a complete sentence.


    "From where all begins, to where all ends..." Garen muttered a line from the two rings.


    "I see." Andrela turned serious, "The Mother Stream was also a symbol of rebirth! The beginning of life yet, also its end."


    "There¡¯s still more¡­he who holds the silver stone, through the Mother Stream¡¯s baptism, shall welcome a new life." Garen said the line from the other ring.


    Looking up, both of them saw surprise and excitement in each other¡¯s eyes.


    This was an authentic relic left behind by ancient warlocks! To a certain extent, the Mother Stream and the changes on the rings proved that the legends of ancient warlocks were not merely fiction, and were probably true.


    "I once saw on a document that Ancient Ender civilization had a ritual that allowed dying people to have a chance at life, taking with them a token from the underworld and passing through various tests, they may resurrect." Andrela said, "Now it seems that Ancient Ender civilization and warlocks are connected to each other."


    Garen nodded.


    "In other words, these two rings represent two chances of resurrection?"


    "It¡¯s not so simple. Otherwise, those dying warlocks would not have provoked Mother Stream. You have to know that Mother Stream had the ability to break down anything, stopping people from entering the cycle of reincarnation." Andrela shook his head.


    Garen could feel that these two rings were now emitting a strange radiation. This radiation combined with the power from Mother Stream actually reminded Garen of the Black Smoke Pot.


    He suspected that the Black Smoke Pot was actually a large transfer device, created by warlocks using the power of Mother Stream.


    There was only one thing different about them.


    Standing near the Mother Stream, Garen sensed that although the power from the combination was similar to Black Smoke Pot, but the sense of direction they gave off was not stable enough. From his experience with the Black Smoke Pot¡¯s transfer, he could feel that the Mother Stream had the transfer ability and the rings acted as the compass.


    However, the coordination from the rings seemed incomplete.


    Both the rings pointed to different directions, and the coordinates on the ring were still changing.


    Garen pondered for a moment while waiting for Andrela to calm down before speaking out his thoughts.


    "My guess is that the Mother Stream is the source of power for the transfer, while the rings act as a conduit. Perhaps the legend is true, and we can have a chance at resurrection."


    "You¡¯re sure?" Andrela¡¯s tone hinted at a different train of thought.


    "That time when the volcano erupted, I was transferred far away by the Black Smoke Pot, and managed to return. The feeling from that time is similar to what I feel now." Garen explained, half-truthfully.


    "But, I advise you to not jump into it recklessly. I barely survived that time."


    Not just barely. When he transferred to Totem World, he had three layers of protection. The first layer was the Eternal Starry Night Pendant given by Old Man Gregor, carved with protection charms combined with his life force. It broke during his transmigration.


    The second layer, his King of the Century¡¯s mighty body, strength, aura and Divine Statue Technique known for its defense and healing ability, the first Grandmaster of Combat in history to train a technique only possible in theory to the peak. It similarly crumbled during the transfer.


    The third and the most mysterious layer, the reason he reincarnated, was also most probably due to this. The mysterious red attribute, or more precisely the innate ability that resided in his soul that was unknowingly activated, protecting him from receiving serious damage to his soul.


    His journey back here was different. Escorted by the Door to Heaven, backed by the whole Totem World, together with strength of his body that exceeded his previous one, getting back here only resulted in some small injuries.


    The Black Smoke Pot at that time was most probably a safe passage created and arranged by the warlocks, but even that ¡®safe¡¯ passage was perilous to Garen and the others.


    Now, entering the Mother Stream was an act dangerous to even those warlocks. A danger feared by the warlocks, for Garen it was even more so, not to mention Andrela, who was far weaker than Garen.


    Garen speculated that the Black Smoke Pot was also one of the things that warlocks found using the Mother Stream. Something far stabler than the Mother Stream itself. Even that degree of stability caused Garen¡¯s body to break down completely. If it weren¡¯t for his unique soul, perhaps nothing would be left behind.


    If he used the Mother Stream¡­


    "I¡¯m going in to try." Andrela suddenly spoke.


    For a moment, the cavern went totally silent. Garen wondered if he had misheard something. He turned to look at Andrela again, trying to see if his face showed any hint that he misspoke. Unfortunately, he found nothing.


    "Are you insane!?"


    Andrela had never shown a more passionate gaze. "I¡¯m more than calm."


    "Did you know how dangerous it is?!" Garen¡¯s voice sounded very serious. "That time when I was transferred by Black Smoke Pot, just a little bit more and there would be nothing left of me."


    "I already have no chance of breaking through to the King of the Century realm¡­" Andrela¡¯s tone was very calm, "Rather than aging and withering away without any hope, I prefer to take this gamble. Even if I have a very low chance of making it out alive, I still won¡¯t give up!"


    Garen experienced it himself, and he knew just how dangerous it was. If it weren¡¯t for his peculiar soul, he would not have made it during the transfer of Black Smoke Pot, much less so for this kind of unfamiliar exploration.


    "Maybe there¡¯s another way."


    "Do you believe it?" Andrela laughed, "In the blink of an eye, since the first time we met each other, so many years have gone by. You know my personality. Pursuing my own goal, I would move forward ceaselessly. Now that I see a glimmer of hope, I would not let slip out of my hand."


    Garen frowned and did not pursue the matter anymore. When he first came here from Earth, it was all because of the mutation of his soul. The second time, he successfully went to Totem World, it was also because of his peculiar soul.


    If he were replaced with Andrela¡­


    Concerning the exploration of Mother Stream, Garen himself was also curious yet excited. Perhaps, after he did everything he wanted in this world and there was nothing left, he would choose to continue this path.


    Although his Living Secret Technique had reached a terrifying level, because this world had no totem power, there was no way for him to change lifespans. At most, he would live for a hundred years or two, maybe longer, due to the attribute of his Secret Techniques, but in the end he could not escape death.


    In fact, he was already at the age of between eighty to ninety years. Just like what Andrela said, rather than aging and withering away without any hope, he preferred to take a gamble. Maybe that way, he could grab hold of that hope.


    "What are you going to do?" Garen stopped trying to push him.


    "Get myself ready for anything. Then go in and grasp that glimmer of hope." Andrela¡¯s eyes almost lit up from the passion in them.


    This time, even Garen was unsure if he himself could take on the Mother Stream¡¯s flow. The fluctuations that appeared on his Attribute Pane were still fresh in his mind. This meant that even the special talent in his soul might get affected greatly.


    Although he had some confidence after transferring for three times, unless he was left with no choice, he would not enter the Mother Stream.


    "Let¡¯s go back first. I¡¯ll have to prepare properly. The harvest this time is a lot greater than expected¡­" Andrela showed a fervor greater than before.


    ********************


    A few years after the battle at East Continent.


    Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate was rebuilt and together with White Dew Gate, White Cloud Gate, Celestial Circle Gate, and Crimson Sand Sword. They formed the Five Gate Alliance, ruling over the entire combat world of the East Continent. The power of the alliance spread like cobwebs, covering the entirety of the continent. Even military forces were ruled under the Alliance of the Five Clans.


    The East Continent welcomed a brief period of peace.


    At the same time, the leader of the alliance, Heavenly General Garen, led the top Grandmasters of Combat in the alliance to go around on friendly diplomatic visitations to various governments, and built friendly diplomatic ties.


    Towards that Grandmaster of Combat with a terrifying strength that could annihilate the entire fleet of Weisman navy ships, the various governments displayed the friendliest welcome they could offer. Various resources and ambassadors flowed endlessly into the East Continent, bringing new blood and vigor to the entire East Continent.


    The Combat Festival jointly organized by the Five Gate Alliance also became the top choice for the alliance and various countries to pick out elites.

 566 Mother Stream 4

    Chapter 566: Mother Stream 4


    The years continued to pass, and the alliance was now handled by the Garen¡¯s descendant, Xiao Ying. After taking out the Secret Techniques polished by Garen, this young genius Grandmaster of Combat successfully received the support of all the alliance members. Using the carrot and stick approach, members of the alliance grew in numbers and the prospect of development became better.


    With the suggestion and support from part of the members, a large organization known as the Combat Association was built. It covered eighty to ninety percent of the world, and possessed the power to assess Grandmaster of Combat candidates, and the certificate that they handed out received worldwide recognition. Even the series of a martial artists¡¯ rank certificates became the qualifications of what employers seek in employing talent.


    Xiao Ying became the first President of the Association. Her personal combat skills, under Garen¡¯s tutelage, further improved, and was now only slightly inferior to Andrela. In addition to her charisma, she also had a group of loyal martial artists by her back, cementing her foothold in the combat world.


    Garen and Andrela slowly faded away from the view of the world. At the beginning, there were still some Grandmasters of Combat from the previous generation who remembered their legends. Later, talented new generations emerged and powerful martial artists became famous, the both of them then gradually hid themselves behind the scenes.


    In the past, when people mentioned a Grandmaster of Combat, the first thing that came to mind would be Garen and Andrela, and only then would Xiao Ying¡¯s name came up. Now, Xiao Ying¡¯s name would emerge first, only then would both their names be mentioned by some old generations.


    These years, both Garen and Andrela were hiding their identities, and relied on Xiao Ying¡¯s huge backings to collect things like antiques and treasures from all over the world.


    This way, the Potential points that Garen gathered, numbered in the hundreds. This was already the limit, and Andrela on the other hand secretly gathered a few articles that emitted strong telekinetic waves in preparation of entering the Mother Stream.


    The both of them stepped onto all kinds of ancient ruins and mysterious lands. Especially after Xiao Ying¡¯s position stabilized, they let go completely and went around searching for various information and treasures.


    Over time, Andrela¡¯s condition started to decline. He finally made up his mind, it was time to enter the Mother Stream.


    During these years, Garen basically had no more lingerings left.


    After all, Xiao Ying was no baby. With the gradual rise in her position and power, she became increasingly infatuated with the power she held. Different from the pure and lovely Ying Er, Garen no longer saw any trace of Ying Er in her.


    This world no longer hold anything worthy of his affection. Of the old friends that he knew, only Andrela remained.


    Now, he also chose to enter Mother Stream, betting on this one last chance.


    Garen decided that he would accompany him. If there was one person in this world that had the highest probability of surviving the Mother Stream, that person could only be him. No one knew better than him, that terrifying danger and crisis of travelling through space and time was something that was unimaginable by normal people.


    ******************


    After nearly ten years had past, inside the underground cave, standing beside the hole looking over the Mother Stream.


    Garen and Andrela had done all the preparations they could.


    "You don¡¯t need to take the risk with me." Andrela turn to look at Garen.


    "I don¡¯t have any regrets left. Besides, with my previous experience, we might be able to increase our chances for survival." Garen smiled and replied. "Furthermore, haven¡¯t we made it clear; the two rings are pointing at different directions? When we go in, we will go our separate ways. Then, we¡¯ll only have ourselves to depend on."


    At this point in life, these two only had one last thing left to pursue.


    Dreams.


    Garen did not know what Andrela¡¯s dream was, but somehow he was reminded of Cayduran, and Totem World¡¯s Hellgate. Dreams were their only motivation and goal.


    Now, he felt that he was quite similar to them.


    There was no affection for the world, the only hope they had was moving forward, and maybe one day they might be able to achieve their dreams.


    Food and wine, women and power, everything was now at their fingertips. ¡®The grass was always greener on the other side¡¯, perhaps this phrase was the most apt for them now.


    In his heart, Garen mocked himself.


    He looked at Andrela in front of him.


    There were more than ten pairs of bracelets on his arms, all of them were various relics from mysterious ruins with unknown functions. He drew his face with tattoos from Ancient Ender civilization, wore a shirt made of 5-coloured feathers, and his trousers in silver and in his hand was a skull cane.


    What made him even more speechless was that on all of his fingers and toes were full of different kinds of rings, his nose had two rings and he punched a hole on his chin and hung a chain of either bird or pheasant bones¡­


    "This is what I found in all the records, the strongest form from Ancient Ender. Are you sure you don¡¯t want to make the same preparations?" Andrela looked at Garen.


    He shook his head.


    Garen looked at his getup, speechless.


    "Alright then, if you got into trouble, don¡¯t blame me for not warning you." Andrela shrugged, looking at the hole that still had the same repulsive force and settled down his mind. "Are you ready?"


    "Yeah."


    Garen simply wore a white suit, in his right hand was the double-headed bird ring, his golden hair smoothly flowing down. There were no more preparations to be done.


    In fact, what he relied on was the hundreds of Potential point he had absorbed.


    This thing was the source that could heal his injuries.


    The cavern rippled with bright green light dancing across its surfaces.


    Andrela was the first to go in.


    Suddenly, he trembled, obviously meeting with that huge force of resistance.


    This time was different from last time. He was prepared and took out a black key, only to toss it forward.


    Dang.


    When the metal key hit the stone wall, that sound rang out.


    The sound continued ringing, and strangely, that huge repulsion force soon weakened.


    "Quick!"


    Andrela rushed to the key, picked it up and toss it once more forward.


    Garen followed him and heard the sound again. The repulsion force weakened again.


    This key was something they dug out from a ruin in Azure Continent. According to Garen, this key contained a strange power, and when they tested it, surprisingly it could weakened the repulsion force emitted by Mother Stream.


    Using the key, the both of them jumped through the hole and landed on the edge of the Mother Stream.


    The key keep ringing. Again and again, the repulsion force from the Mother Stream was diverted, forming a cavity around them. However, the force inside the key was also fading rapidly. The closer they were to the Mother Stream, the ringing became shorter.


    "Quick! The key can¡¯t hold on any longer!" Andrela rushed.


    Garen also knew how the situation was deteriorating, nodded towards Andrela. The key was then thrown violently, one last time, at the ground in front of them.


    Dang!!!


    In this last ringing, the key was riddled with cracks all over its body.


    Garen calmly jumped towards the Mother Stream. On his right side, Andrela did the same.


    Splash!


    Both jumped into the green torrent at nearly the same time. Before they could even see the bubbles, they were instantly overwhelmed by the green stream and disappeared.


    In the instant Garen jumped into the Mother Stream, Garen was unusually calm. His soul did not felt any danger, but his body was weakening rapidly.


    He looked around with his eyes wide open. His sight was filled with endless green, as though he had submerged in the green stream. Obviously, he had only jumped into the stream, but he could not see the surface above. It was as though he was at the bottom of the sea.


    As though he was in a green space instead of a stream.


    Andrela was to his right, not far away. His whole body was stiff, but his eyes showed his pain and struggle.


    The various decorations on his body were disappearing fast. The same thing was happening to his body, just like corrosion caused by acid, dissolving and becoming a part of Mother Stream.


    Andrela seemed to have seen Garen. He looked at him, his eyes showing no regrets other than his unwillingness.


    Garen helplessly looked at his old friend dissolve in the Mother Stream. A pale blue soul appeared, then melted into the stream without a trace.


    Facing the mysterious mighty Mother Stream, a Star Ring king among swordsmen like Andrela, who stood at the peak of Grandmaster of Combat, only endured a little longer than the common small fry.


    Garen felt no sadness. Witnessing death over and over again, the him now was no longer the person who had just experienced reincarnation.


    His body now was still considered intact, only that the Potential points he amassed were descending like a rocket. Soon, it would be his body.


    The Living Secret Technique was holding back the decomposition effect from Mother Stream. Perhaps the Living Secret Technique and the Mother Stream had some similarities, and the decomposition power on him was not as severe. However, with this kind of consumption, in at most ten minutes, his body would disintegrate like Andrela.


    Time was ticking.


    Garen felt as though the ring was connected to a string, taking his body along the flow of the Mother Stream towards an unknown destination.


    The Potential points were exhausted to nothing. The rest would depend on the Living Secret Technique.


    The secret technique was strong, but in the face of the decomposition of Mother Stream, it was nothing.


    Garen¡¯s fingers and toes were the first to disintegrate. An extreme pain soon travelled through his nerves to signal his brain. He was indifferent to it, but without the protection from secret technique, the most vulnerable part of his body, the eyes and eardrums soon disintegrated.


    His sight was plunged into total darkness, and his hearing was no longer able to function. Even the nerves on his skin could only feel endless pain.

 567 Newborn 1

    Chapter 567: Newborn 1


    His nose couldn''t smell anything, he wanted to shut his mouth, but he noticed that his lips were gone, even his tongue was rapidly disintegrating.


    Not long later, Garen had lost all sense of feeling, his sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste, and even his sense of pain, it was all gone.


    He had originally planned to give Andrela a hand, but he would¡¯ve never expected to be caught in such a predicament. The power of the Mother Stream was too overwhelming, making it hard for even him to last for more than a few moments.


    He felt as if he were floating in an endless abyss, there was nothing around him, he could not feel anything. It felt like the space the totem of the Nine-Headed Hydra existed in at the beginning, an empty abyss.


    Garen knew this was his soul¡¯s visualization of his senses, he guessed, his physical body might have already been completely disintegrated, leaving only his soul intact.


    Even the strength of his Living Secret Technique had been dissipated by the overwhelming force of the Mother Stream. However, that seed, the seed that contained the Northern Trident Frost-Fire True Water Evil Technique and his soul, used the protection from the soul and was floating right in front of Garen, perfectly unscathed.


    Inside this dark abyss, the seed was the only source of light, silently floating in the center, emitting a soft blue glow.


    As time waned on, Garen could only observe this soul seed to occupy himself.


    It might¡¯ve been a month, two months. A year, or even two.


    He could no longer keep count. He counted the seconds up to the billions, and as he lost count, he started all over again. This process he repeated numerous times.


    However, in all this time, he at least managed to confirm one key point.


    His soul managed to resist the decomposition capabilities of the Mother Stream, or rather, the immense amount of force exerted while traveling through space and time.


    Even after his body was disintegrated ages ago, there was no sign of any damage or harm to his soul. Even though the physical strength of the Living Secret Technique has completely been dissipated, the seed was still here.


    The increased soul limit due to Cthulhu¡¯s Origin earlier was still present, and all his abilities related to his soul still remain.


    Not only did the soul seed contain the Living Secret Technique seed, after being absorbed by Garen, it eventually assimilated Garen¡¯s style of martial arts, evolving into his personal point of origin.


    The physical strength was only half of the capabilities of the Living Secret Technique seed, but the seed¡¯s inert power is the foundation of the Living Secret Technique.


    Under the Mother Stream¡¯s decomposition, his physical body had been completely disintegrated, but Garen used the Frost-Fire True Water Evil Technique to condense most of his strength, deep within his soul and put up multiple layers of barriers on the exterior.


    He didn¡¯t know much about sealing, but only creating barriers of simple defenses by repeatedly wrapping the seed in his strength. Although his soul had already offered a temporary form of protection, he thought it was better to be safe than sorry.


    He noticed that, as time went on, the Life Technique seed was slowly changing as well, slowly becoming more and more condensed, small, and bright. As compared to physical strength, the strength of the soul seed was not tangible, it could only affect matter through a physical body, hence the parts of it that could affect matter had slowly been disintegrated by the Mother Stream.


    What remained was this abstract, intangible power.


    Garen calls this the Soul Strength. From his observations and analyses, he discovered that although Soul Strength could not directly affect matter, it could change one¡¯s physical body through things like neurons, and then, use one¡¯s physical body to affect matter. In addition, the soul seed seems to have another form of functionality, but Garen had not yet figured out the secret behind it.


    As for the exploration of the soul, even if he obtained a few items from the Cthulhu King, he was still as insignificant as a weak ant.


    In reality, all living things had souls, in other words, without them, we would just be a conjugation of multiple organisms.


    Soul Strength was the embodiment of our consciousness, memory, and spirit, our unique form of existence.


    But as time passed on, Garen was starting to feel that his soul was beginning to weaken.


    Without the support of a physical body, the soul, in its rootless state, no matter how strong, will slowly start to weaken.


    "How much time has passed?"


    His consciousness was floating in this abyss, surrounded by nothing, only darkness.


    In the center of this abyss laid the soul seed, emitting a mesmerizing blue halo, like a beautiful crystal or gem.


    All of a sudden, he felt some sort of vibration.


    Sound!


    In the outside world that he had no knowledge of, under the dark blue water of the Mother Stream, the stone and silver Vector Ring had due to its impure material, after being submerged in the Mother Stream for such a long time, finally cracked. It¡¯s originally clear, streamline path suddenly slanted towards an unknown direction.


    The glowing red light emitted by Garen¡¯s soul could also be seen to be flowing towards the new unknown direction.


    ******


    Garen started hearing some sounds, as if people were speaking.


    The voices seem to be muffled and unclear, it also seems to be in an unfamiliar language to him, somewhat like German, but with a slightly faster pace.


    That¡¯s when it hit him, his senses had returned to him.


    His hearing has recovered, so had his sense of touch, but his sight and smell remained unchanged.


    He felt like he was curled up in a tight space, surrounded by warmth, as if he was being submerged in water. He could also feel a youthful heartbeat nearby.


    As time slowly passed by, his senses started to become clearer. An interesting phenomenon has also occurred - it seems as if he had shrunk a bit in size.


    Or rather, not shrunk, but more like he had gone into a sort of embryonic state.


    While his eyes were still sealed shut, he felt oxygen and other essential nutrients being pumped in through his belly button. The abnormal act of breathing through one¡¯s stomach seemed to have amused Garen a bit.


    Through the information he gathered with his limited senses, he estimated that he reincarnated due to his special soul talents. He most likely has been turned into a baby, a baby that was still inside his pregnant mother.


    From outside the stomach, he could vaguely make out a male and a female voice, both which were very gentle, and also a small boy¡¯s voice. Sometimes he would hear yelling, although he didn¡¯t understand the language, he could discern the excitement present in the voices.


    Garen¡¯s curled up body silently started to form a vital energy and blood regulatory system while within his mother¡¯s stomach. The baby¡¯s vital energy and blood roadmap started to develop in accordance with the Frost-Fire True Water Evil Technique. Under the manipulation of his soul, a series of complex and precise actions start to take place.


    Since his old body that was thoroughly trained in the Secret Techniques was disintegrated, and this current body has barely started to develop, naturally, he¡¯d want to strengthen this body as early as possible.


    A baby¡¯s body is extremely fragile, but fortunately, he had the Living Secret Technique¡¯s immense regenerative properties, which further sped up the maturating of this body.


    However, Garen was still puzzled about one thing; the Northern Trident Frost-Fire True Water Evil Technique, such an overwhelmingly powerful Living Secret Skill, just where exactly did this power originate from?


    Normally, secret techniques use the nutrients from food to develop vital energy, then through enhancing one¡¯s vital energy and blood, improve oneself. However, the Living Secret Technique is different, it seemed like it could create a whole new, complex and precise regulatory system within a living organism¡¯s body, almost as if it was a structure formed from countless seals, images, and solids.


    These structures are naturally formed through a practitioner¡¯s accumulated daily training. While a single image can bear no significance, when you accumulate them up to a certain threshold, there would be some sort of mystical reaction.


    At the start of his embryonic stage, Garen started using his soul to clearly observe the formation process of the Living Secret Technique within his body every step of the way. Since the structure of his body was simple as most organs haven¡¯t fully developed yet, logically, this was the ideal time to observe the formation of the Living Secret Technique. However, after observing it halfway, even Garen¡¯s strong soul started feeling tired. From the dense and complex blood capillaries roadmap of the Living Secret Technique, to its effects and changes on other things like the endocrine system, even Garen started to get a headache from the overload of information.


    The effects of the formation of the Living Secret Technique at the beginning was very minor, it was barely even noticeable at first, as it was only simple changes made towards the vital energy and blood. But as time passed, maybe after a month or so, Garen started to feel the difference.


    The changes in his body under the influence from the formation of the Living Secret Technique slowly became more and more noticeable.


    This change was leaning towards the Living Secret Technique, making the physical body more compatible with the Living Secret Technique¡¯s potential, in turn strengthening it. With that, it also further sped up the changes in the body, as the strengthening reinforced the influence of the technique on the body.


    This sort of mutual reinforcement made the changes come faster and faster.


    "No wonder the Living Secret Technique is in the form of a seed. It functions just like a seed, starting slowly, then rapidly growing." Garen thought in realization.


    However, the question still remains. Where did the power of the Living Secret Technique originate from?


    From his close observation, when forming the Living Secret Technique, the baby¡¯s body seemed to have produced a special energy out of nowhere.


    It¡¯s almost as if a person started drawing complex non-repeating symbols and images at random, and these images increased to a scary degree, suddenly creating a faint source of energy. This energy, though weak, started to reinforce the imagery, creating even stronger energy.


    Although this statement may sound absurd, it was the conclusion that Garen managed to arrive at through his observations.


    This was exactly how the Living Secret Technique worked, this influential power seemed to have been created mysteriously, as if it was miraculously created from nothing, completely ignoring the Law of the Conservation of Energy.


    His infant body, under these changes, has also become strong and healthy, presenting an appropriate condition for the Living Secret Technique.


    Finally, the day he had been waiting for was finally here.


    Garren suddenly felt that his body was being forced out by a pushing pressure. From the outside, he started to hear encouraging words, accompanied by a lady¡¯s cries of pain.


    The squeezing force exerted on him started to felt stronger and stronger.


    It felt as if his entire body was being squeezed through a cramped but elastic canal, moving towards a distinct direction.


    He knew he was about to be born into the world.


    Garen had a complicated range of emotions he felt at the time. He lived through three lifetimes, but now he was once again reborn from a stranger¡¯s stomach. This lady had once again given him a physical body, given him a new life.

 568 Newborn 2

    Chapter 568: Newborn 2


    This complicated feeling made him feel a sense of lamentation, but at the same time, happiness.


    His happiness comes from the fact that he was finally able to escape the dark days of his past. As for his lamentation, he didn¡¯t know himself where that feeling originated from.


    As the squeezing force became even stronger, Garen just kept moving through the path in front of him.


    With the combination of both parties¡¯ efforts, finally, he felt a breeze of fresh air caress his skin. It felt like a tingly, stinging sensation.


    He was promptly carried up by a pair of large hands, and was slowly wiped with a warm, damp towel. As the friction from the towel increased, the pain became more and more distinct. His skin was way too sensitive, even a soft and gentle rub would cause an intense pain.


    As his umbilical cord still on his belly was swiftly cut off, that further intensified his pain, making Garen scream in pain.


    Just as he opened his mouth and tensed up his throat, the amniotic fluid in his mouth came spraying out, dripping into a small basin.


    Wa!!!!


    The deafening cry of a newborn baby immediately filled the room.


    He finally opened his eyes, his light blue eyes, after such a long time, could finally see the real world again. At that exact moment, he felt an indescribable sensation.


    This world was filled with livelihood, all of this was real. The rays of light and color gave him a sensory overload, and touched his heart in an indescribable manner.


    From the dark days of being locked in a prison, from God knows how long ago, to the exact moment of seeing light again.


    Garen felt a sudden rekindling of hope towards this world, he wanted to feel this moved for eternity, forever and ever...


    In the pure white hospital room, he saw the person who was carrying him, a nurse in blue uniform wearing a white surgical mask. She had a pair of black eyes and thick eyebrows, although her face did not look pretty with numerous pale yellow freckles, in his eyes, this nurse was the embodiment of joy and warmth.


    The nurse opened her mouth and said a few words, then gently placed him in a crib next to the bed. Inside the crib was radiating a sense of warmth, almost as if it was an incubator.


    The crib walls were made of clear glass, so he was able to see the bed through the glass. A lady with blonde and curly hair was lying on the bed, even though she could not be considered as a pretty person, she seemed gentle, looking lovingly at the crib.


    "This is a newborn." Garen opened his mouth, but due to the fact that his vocal cords weren¡¯t developed yet, all that could be heard was a child crying.


    As he slowly crawled up from the crib, moving on the soft white cloth, he slapped the glass wall of the crib. That smooth and cool sensation of the glass had him mesmerized.


    In one swift motion, the nurse¡¯s big hands rubbed some fragrant white powder all over his skin, then wrapping him once again, keeping him warm as she gently picked him up from the crib and moved him to his bed beside his mother.


    His mother gently touched his cheeks and softly uttered a few words. The warmness radiating from her eyes enveloped Garen with a sense of gentleness.


    ******


    Time flew.


    Garen was only born a month ago, and his infant body was still weak. As his brain had not been fully developed yet, it was still not able to support overly complex or clear conscious, thinking.


    Thus, he spent most of his time suckling, sleeping, and pooping.


    This embarrassing way of life made Garen, once the high and mighty leader of the White Cloud Gate and the Heavenly General of the Southern Holy Fist Gate, utterly lose his sense of self-esteem.


    It¡¯s would be fine if it were just being breastfed, but having to have someone change his diaper, that was the most humiliating thing he could experience in his lifetime! An utter disgrace!!


    Garen always had a strong sense of resistance when it came to changing his diapers. Unfortunately for him, even though his infant body was strengthened by the Living Secret Technique as compared to other babies, the functionality of the Living Secret Technique was still minute at the beginning, and only gets strong later on.


    As such, regardless of how strong his soul or secret techniques may be, the foundations of this current body were still too weak, making him no different from an actual baby. There was no use in resisting.


    Without physical matter, the soul has no way of affecting reality, that was merely natural law.


    So, no matter how embarrassing this way of living was, he had no choice but to continue as is.


    If he were to look past this issue, everything has been going well for him. His body was becoming stronger and stronger, even if he were caught in a cold breeze he wouldn¡¯t catch a cold or fall ill. His facial features were also rapidly developing, and his brain was also improving at a healthy rate. His originally fragile bones have started to become more and more sturdy, slowly allowing his body to support him crawling around.


    This was only after approximately a month¡¯s growth.


    Garen was originally planning to re-train his Frost-Fire True Water Evil Technique, but his soul seed¡¯s evil techniques could only do so much for the development of the body at this stage.


    There wasn¡¯t much else there was to change, even if one completely followed the training for the art of the Evil Techniques, it would still have some effects, but definitely not significantly drastic changes. Hence, he started trying out different secret technique training methods. He found out that most secret techniques to enhance special abilities have all lost their functionality. On the other hand, some low-level secret techniques, due to only enhancing the vital energy and blood regulation in the practitioner''s body, were able to show decent results.


    As for the Living Secret Technique, it overall only had made small improvements to the body, nothing else.


    In actuality, since Garen was born, he felt there was something off about this world.


    It wasn¡¯t the fundamental construction of this world, but rather the environment of this world, it felt as if the Earth, the Secret Technique World, the Totem World, all of them seem to be slightly different.


    Especially when he tried out his secret techniques, in his memory, there were easily hundreds of secret techniques that he knew, but when trying them out, he noticed that at a microscopic level, when his blood cells generate friction, or rather when matter generates friction, the amount of heat created was slightly smaller.


    To put it simply, the degree of heat generated from friction was definitely smaller as compared to his past three worlds.


    As the strongest Grandmaster of Combat, 6th form totem user that with a God-like existence in the Totem World, he definitely has the experience and expertise to notice even these minuscule changes.


    However, this world seemed out of place to him.


    Friction causes heat, this was one of the most basic concepts of the Laws of Conservation of Energy, if this had changed... It can only mean one of two things: the matter itself had been changed, or the blood cells in his body had been changed.


    After two more months, Garen finally developed enough strength, he took his own diaper and started rubbing it on surrounding objects. After being grabbed and swaddled numerous times by his bearded father, he finally arrived at a conclusion to his little experiment.


    It was not an issue with his own body, it was this entire world...


    Not only that, there were also minor changes to the laws of physics that he once knew. This led Garen to come up with a few hypotheses.


    He might be in a whole other universe right now.


    Even he found this hypothesis laughable. This might also possibly be the effect caused by a change in the planet itself, but this could only be confirmed at a later stage.


    Even if he managed to confirm this fact, what could he do? At this point, he was merely a baby, there was no meaning in pondering about the universe and the wider scale of things, but rather he should focus more on the development of his body and find a suitable gate of secret techniques to start his training in.


    In his countless attempts trying out the secret techniques, Garen kept using his attributes ability to check his rate of growth. He also started to observe the environment surrounding this newborn¡¯s family.


    As for the issue of language, Garen, who was fluent in more than 10 languages, was easily able to figure out the cadence and linguistic form of the language. Even though his body had not yet matured, just based on an infant¡¯s level of intellectual maturity, he was still able to swiftly grasp foundations of the native language.


    His name was decided on the 2nd week, at that point Garen was able to make some simple audible syllables, so he kept repeating the 2 syllables "Ga-ren". After frustratingly declining every new name his parents came up with, they finally saw how insistent Garen was about this name, hence deciding on the name. The name was, of course, "Garen".


    The environment of this world, or rather this planet, was normal. It was at the technological level of the Earth, as well as its degree of civilization, but this family seemed to be a bit special.


    His father, Emmer Thomas, was a University Professor, he was gentle and wise, a pacifist, had a bushy beard and glasses, and had a soft personality. For the sake of his ecology research, he brought his family to live in seclusion in a small, remote town.


    His mother, Trish Jeff, was a Psychologist. She was one of those people who applied her psychological training in her daily life. She was kind and understanding, but had an independent personality and a strong personal stance. She could be extremely kind, but when she got angry, she will be strict and harsh.


    There was also Garen¡¯s blood-related brother, Jason Thomas. This lad was 4 years old this year and had on numerous occasions tried to poke Garen with a stick while he was resting in the crib. He had a cheeky personality, at the start, he would be beaten up by their mother Trish every few days. Now that she was recovering on her maternal break, she was going to him daily. Luckily, under his father¡¯s gentle guidance and persuasive education, he spent every day undergoing ideological education. With the combined efforts from both sides, even taking up Jason¡¯s playtime, he finally realized his mistakes and apologized to his parents in tears. He promised to be a good boy from then on and turn over a new leaf, no longer harassing his younger brother, resolving this entire issue.


    The Thomas household lived in a remote location in North America, isolated from the rest of the world and surrounded by woods. The air over here was fresh, and definitely made for a great retirement home.


    Apparently, in this world, there was also an America. He learned this information while eavesdropping on his parents¡¯ conversations, but he had no other information on this. However, the description feels quite similar to his original world, but there was still no word on the existence of oriental and eastern nations like China.


    The small town they were living in was miles away from the city, as in, up to 1000 kilometers miles away. It was the very definition of being in isolation. The name of the town was Grano.


    After vaguely getting a feel for his surroundings, Garen returned his focus to regaining his potential and strength.


    Remembering the last crisis in the Totem World, he started to suspect that this might be due to the change in the surrounding environment, causing secret techniques to lose their compatibility. The weakening of the Living Secret Technique might also be attributed to the limitations of the environment. Luckily his soul seed wasn¡¯t get affected, and functioned like a perpetual motion machine, slowly emitting influential nutrients deep within his soul as if it were slowly increasing Garen¡¯s soul limit.


    One¡¯s soul limit was the deciding factor about the maximum attribute point cap one¡¯s body could achieve at a genetic level.


    In the Secret Technique World, he was able to increase his attribute point to multiple times that of an average individual; whilst in the Totem world, he was able to manipulate his body and absorb the consciousness of the Nine-Headed Hydra, increasing his attributes up to 10+ points.


    To put it simply, it was precisely his soul limit that decided the final strength he can achieve.


    Originally thinking that the soul seed was no longer of any use to him, finding out that the soul seed could raise his soul limit made Garen burst with joy.


    If he could increase his attribute limit to 100 points, he would attain unimaginable power.


    Unfortunately, the evil technique of this soul seed worked very slowly. According to his calculations, Garen estimated that it would require at least a year to raise just one attribute point.


    As the attributes got stronger, the potential points required were also higher, this was an issue that Garen hadn¡¯t found a solution to as of yet. However, this world looked nothing out of the ordinary, and seemed that there weren¡¯t any unnatural powers present in this world. There were only average people around.


    Since there weren¡¯t any risky factors, he decided to temporarily take time to decide on his actions. Without the existence of unnatural powers, the source of potential points would be another problem.

 569 Youth 1

    Chapter 569: Youth 1


    In a small bedroom with a yellow wooden floor.


    A small blue-eyed baby was in a cradle, barely standing with one hand holding the wooden support, looking out the windows at the branches swaying in the wind. Outside the window, there was a giant ash tree, swaying with each gust of wind. On the branches, two palm-sized sparrows were cheerfully chirping about.


    The still hairless Garen was just staring at the sparrows, clad with nothing but a towel wrapped around his butt and holding on to a small leather ball, he looked on in a state of distractedness. He was still considering his options for secret techniques.


    "From the list of secret techniques I have learned, after sorting them out according to their functionality and then attempting to integrate them into this body, only 53 secret techniques remain. Then, from these 53 gates¡¯ secret techniques, sorting them up by their typings, taking into account their strengths and their compatibility with this body, there would only be 13 gates left."


    Garen frowned while rubbing his chin.


    "There are essentially a few different methods of secret technique selection. One, based on their special effects, the effects after training in these sets of techniques where one would be able to produce special effects like the Red Jade Palm or the Toxic Sand Palm. Two, based on their base advantage, wherein after training in these sets of techniques, one¡¯s speed, vitality, defense, attack and other stats can attain special enhancements. Three, based on balance, these types of techniques have no extremities, and unleashes the overall potential of the body, gives one longevity and significantly enhances one¡¯s spiritual strength."


    "The Living Secret Technique had naturally turned from the first type to the third type, and it has now become a technique purely for one¡¯s health. The only bad thing about this is that it works very slowly, due to the fact that it had to spread out its potency evenly to all attributes, naturally slowing it down."


    Garen was looking through the 13 gates of secret techniques he had narrowed down.


    "Due to the changes in my body caused by the Frost-Fire True Water Evil Technique, it¡¯s still best for me to train in Ice-type abilities. I might as well just pick base on special effects. Being able to still use secret techniques in another world should probably still be counted in the categories that are derived from physical laws of this world."


    "Within the 13 gates of secret techniques, there were only 2 under the special effects type, the Black Claw of Sethe and Andelina¡¯s Capture. The Black Claw of Sethe has 4 levels, it¡¯s an Ice-Poison attribute secret technique, after every level, the Ice-Poison attribute would be strengthened. As for Andelina¡¯s Capture, although it may sound like a technique to capture targets, in reality, it¡¯s a technique that creates multiple ice needles, creating a wall of Ice Spikes."


    After a bit of hesitation, Garen still picked the Black Claw of Sethe.


    Squeak...


    The room door opened, his mother Trish walked in dressed in a white blouse and gently started helping Garen change his diaper. The 4-year-old Jason was standing at the side, watching with a strange sense of amusement glowing from his face.


    Bonk....


    Garen threw the ball in his hand without any hesitation, hitting Jason right in the face.


    Wah!!!


    The cheeky boy escaped the room in tears.


    "Jason, Jason! Stop!" Their mother Trish shouted.


    "Oh heavens, what a little devil you are, being able to bully your older brother even at this age, I can¡¯t even imagine what you¡¯d do in the future." Trish furiously glared as she pinched Garen¡¯s cheeks. After rapidly changing his diapers, she ran off to chase after Jason.


    Thus, Garen was once again alone in the room.


    He was still standing in the white cradle, continuing on with his previous thoughts


    .


    "All of these secret techniques I have narrowed down, they¡¯re all at absurdly high-leveled secret techniques, with power comparable to even the heavenly figures. Even for the Black Claw of Sethe, it¡¯s still not secret technique completely compatible with this body yet, I still need to train in order to understand the details of it. Maybe I can combine it with some concepts from other secret techniques."


    He started brainstorming again.


    As time slowly passed, Garen lived his life in this boring manner, with his mother Trish beside him, reading the latest International Journal of Psychology on her laptop whilst taking care of Garen who rarely cried or threw tantrums.


    Usually, when Garen cried once, it means he was hungry. When he cried twice, it meant that he needs to use the potty, and when he cried thrice, it means that the swaddle wrapped around him felt uncomfortable. As compared to the neighbor¡¯s kid, Serin, who was born a few months earlier, this saved Garen¡¯s parents a lot of hassle.


    However, this kind of boring routine lifestyle was absolute torture for Garen. Luckily, after a few more months, his father Emmer made a set of early education resources, planning on starting Garen¡¯s early learning.


    ******


    "Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s too early? Don¡¯t babies usually only start learning phonemes at the age of 2 or 3?" Trish said while folding Garen¡¯s baby clothes.


    "Have you ever seen a baby crawling at a month old?" Emmer countered while looking through the prepared materials and resources.


    "But I asked one of my friends who was a child specialist, she said that usually a baby should only start engaging in early language education at a few years old. If we start off too early, they will just forget what they learned as they grow up."


    "Have you ever seen a baby crawling at a month old?" Emmer asked as he picked up one of the selected books and skimmed through its contents.


    "Doing this may lead to the kid being placed under too much pressure, his attention span is still small, he¡¯s only four years old after all!" Trish said in front of Emmer, with her arms crossed.


    "Have you ever seen a baby crawling at a month old?" Emmer raised his voice and put down the book he was holding. "I suspect that our child is a prodigy!" He exclaimed seriously.


    "Alright, alright. Every parent would want to believe their child is a prodigy, or was a prodigy." Trish helplessly sat down.


    "Then, let¡¯s try it out." Emmer placed the prepared education materials in front of Garen, the cover page was filled with fancy colourful images.


    "Let¡¯s start with the basic phonemes, then the alphabet." Emmer planned everything deliberately, his previous experience with Jason made him feel confident in his plans.


    Garen opened his eyes wide, he felt that he shouldn¡¯t be too extraordinary, it would be better if he pretended to be a bit more "normal" for now.


    "The first alphabet, ¡®a...¡¯" Emmer opened his mouth at Garen.


    "..."


    "a..."


    "..."


    As such, the pair continued to stare intently at each other.


    His mother Trish stood up, speechless, and walked out. After a short moment, she returned with another baby, swaddled in a red blanket and placed her into the cradle as well.


    "This is the neighboring Serin, her mother just went outstation. Mr Walter needed people for the Public Security Team, so she asked us to take care of her child for a couple of days."


    Lil¡¯ Serin was about a couple months older than Garen, and after being placed in the cradle, all she did was sit, motionless, staring curiously at Garen with her jet black eyes.


    "If you¡¯re gonna teach Garen, you might as well teach both of them." Trish said, then walked off to read her theses.


    "¡®a...¡¯ Repeat after me, ¡®a...¡¯" Emmer didn¡¯t give up on his attempt.


    "..."


    "Come on, look at me, look into your dad¡¯s eyes, you¡¯re a prodigy, you¡¯re a prodigy, you¡¯re a prodigy you¡¯re a prodigy youreaprodigyyoureaprodigy..." Emmer¡¯s expectations started to crumble.


    "k."


    Emmer suddenly jolted in excitement.


    "No, not ¡®k¡¯, it¡¯s ¡®a¡­¡¯, look at my mouth shape."


    "k..."


    Garen followed his mouth shape, but for some weird reason the sound that came out was still "k..."


    "Oh my God!! Trish!! Trish!!" His dad was a broken man, he threw the book down and went over to call his wife.


    Garen uninterestedly shook his head, then turned his head to look at Serin.


    At this age, the baby would still be bald, like him, and distinct facial features would not have been developed yet, so he couldn¡¯t tell what she would look like in the future.


    "I guess it¡¯d be better for me to focus on my secret techniques..."


    He once again placed his attention back on his secret techniques and attribute abilities.


    Looking at his attributes:


    "Garen Thomas: Strength 0.2, Agility 0.2, Vitality 0.3, Intelligence 0.4, Potential 0%."


    "How poor..." he helplessly sighed. What about his Skill Pane?


    "Soul Type: Northern Frost-Fire True Water Evil Technique -- 1 attribute point limit increase per year. Innate Vitality change leaning towards Frost-Steel types."


    "Secret Techniques: None"


    After that, the list ended.


    This body didn¡¯t have any skills, and all his potential points were exhausted in the Mother Stream.


    Well, since he already picked a secret technique, Garen started to focus his energy on his first introductory training of the secret techniques.


    The Black Claw of Sethe had 4 levels, the first level required very specific commands, postures, and mental concentration, combined to precisely manipulate one¡¯s vital energy and blood. Only then will one be initiated into the secret technique.


    However, for Garen, having to go through all that trouble, his soul¡¯ strongest strength was that it was his body¡¯s vital energy and blood through neurons. This was actually a specialty of a Grandmaster of Combat - Aura.


    After concentrating energy into an aura, the soul would gain authority to use said aura to manipulate the body. In other words, a soul¡¯s strength could only be utilized through auras, otherwise it was no different than that of the average individual, using their soul as a form of consciousness to control their thoughts and replicate everyday actions, unable to control one¡¯s body with extreme precision.


    "The first level of the Black Claw of Sethe can train and improve one¡¯s heart, slowly improving the blood typing. This requires one to absorb the cold at 12 midnight every night when the temperature is at its lowest. This is to get the body used to the cold, so it does not harm the body. With proper special vital energy and blood regulation, one can achieve the manipulation of vital energy and blood, without harming the body in the process." Garen thought to himself in a logical manner.


    "Usually this requires a lot of strengthening from things like medication, but since my body has already been changed by evil techniques, this bit of cold won¡¯t even bother me. All I need to do know is to accordingly absorb the cold everyday at 12 midnight."


    After making that decision, Garen started to lie down to get some rest, completely ignoring Serin who was right next to him. This was his first introduction into the secret techniques, and would set a foundation for his skills in the future. He had to be extremely careful, after all, he was still only a few months old, his body must still be insanely weak.


    After awakening from his sleep in the afternoon, his mother Trish came in to feed him some milk. However, he still felt hungry, so she gave him 2 more bottles of Camel¡¯s milk, only then was Garen satisfied and went back to bed.


    In the evening, his father Emmer came in once again, thinking of attempting his early education once again. But as he noticed that Garen sound asleep, he quietly left him to wash his diapers.


    His mother Trish was in the room, occasionally checking if Lil¡¯ Serin had wet the bed. Most of her time was spent on reading the theses written in her journal. As for Lil¡¯ Jason, he was squatting in the living room completely focused on his cartoons.


    As the night fell, the sky through the window slowly turned from white to gray, then slowly darker, and finally turning pitch black, with countless stars spread all over the night sky.


    This room was on the second floor, and visible from it was a small town road, where a couple of cars would occasionally pass by. Yellow and white headlights kept flashing on the ceiling as each car passed through. The faint bickering of children also came in through the window, along with the cries of dogs and cats.


    Trish surfed the web under the desk lamp, up till late at night, before washing up and going to bed with his husband.


    After the two eventually fell asleep, Garen suddenly opened his eyes, waking up in the cradle.


    He crawled out from his swaddle, looked over at Serin who was still next to him. That girl was still sleeping soundly.


    The clock on the wall neared twelve o¡¯clock.


    Garen¡¯s upper body was completely naked, wearing only a diaper, he was sitting at the edge of the cradle, slowly awaiting the designated time.


    In the darkness, the only source of light was the streetlight from outside the window, shining dimly on the ceiling.


    Outside, a car drove past. Garen could hear the muffled sound of the car radio, and a young couple cheerfully bantering.


    Garen was sitting in the cradle, putting his hands together to form some complicated hand signs, which looked like an unruly tree branche in the shape of an "L", but also somewhat like an "A".


    His body was seated in a cross-legged position, with one eye open and the other shut.


    As every minute and every second passed, Garen maintained his posture, motionless, like a statue. However, in actual fact, his hand signs were changing with each of his heartbeats


    Dong¡­ Dong¡­ Dong¡­


    Midnight had come.


    Garen¡¯s heart suddenly vibrated, then stopped for an instant, before starting to beat at a steady, but even faster pace.


    He concentrated his aura and controlled the regulation of his body¡¯s vital energy and blood carefully and precisely.


    "Level 1 of the Black Claw of Sethe - Heart of Frost"


    On the skill pane, the secret techniques tab finally changed from "none", a complicated light red symbol started to form, its shape looking similar to Garen¡¯s first hand sign, in the shape of an "L", but also somewhat like an "A".


    "Secret Techniques:


    The Black Claw of Sethe -- LV1 Heart of Frost 1%(1/4)"


    He stayed in this position for a few more minutes. Garen the quickly recovered from his training, and felt sore all over. Looking at his skill pane, he can¡¯t help but let out a small grin.

 570 Youth 2

    Chapter 570: Youth 2


    "1% huh, getting 1% improvement just from the 1st training, that¡¯s not bad." After all, all the secret techniques he picked out of his expert memory were not just any random simple secret technique. If they weren¡¯t one discovered by the ancients, it would be a high-leveled secret technique developed by the major gates in the world of Wushu.


    Not only that, all of the selected secret techniques had a common trait; they are all secret techniques that Garen could not "see through". At his level of expertise, an average secret technique could be effortlessly mimicked by him, even without training. Only secret techniques that were at an extremely high level or self-pioneered in a field that Garen had no experience in could not be "seen through" by him.


    The Black Claw of Sethe was what he accidentally discovered from his travels with Andrela when he returned to the Secret Technique World. It was one of the 20 gates of secret techniques that made Garen hit a brick wall when trying to mimic.


    Based on his own experience, he tweaked some minor details of it to improve the overall effect of it, but even then, he was still excited to witness the tangible effects of this skill.


    This secret technique should at least be a God-tier level advanced secret technique, since even with his expertise he still couldn¡¯t see through its secrets, the effect must be well above average.


    After finishing his 1st training, Garen didn¡¯t dare to be greedy. No matter how good the food was, eating excessively would still lead to indigestion. Everything must be done in moderation.


    After cleaning up a bit, he lied down and went back to bed.


    ******


    As the days passed, Garen continued his routine of eating, drinking, sleeping, training, then repeat.


    This dull and mechanical lifestyle, along with having to pretend to be a baby in light of his dad¡¯s early education, he had to find ways to seek pleasure in this miserable life. His only joy in this lifestyle was trying to play with Lil¡¯ Serin, who was occasionally brought over, or just bullying his brother Jason Thomas.


    His mother Trish would occasionally be busy with a website for posting her theses. This was her primary source of income, for a good thesis, every time someone bought, downloaded or read it, she would get a large portion of the earnings.


    His father also recruited a new research student recently, every day he went out with this young lady, running around, claiming it was in the name of research.


    Garen couldn¡¯t believe his mother was worried about his father getting along with that beautiful young lady. In fact, she was completely calm about it.


    This household was still calm as usual.


    Garen steadily practiced the Black Claw of Sethe every day, and had consistent improvement, with almost a 1% improvement every day. He felt that the rate of growth really was absurdly quick, it must have had something to do with this modified body being extremely compatible with this gate of secret techniques.


    According to the records on this Secret Technique, finishing level 1 would at least take 10 years.


    However, at his rate of growth, he only needed slightly more than 100 days to complete the level 1 foundation training. He was truly a genius of geniuses.


    In such a peaceful environment with no threats or safety issues, even Garen started to become fully immersed in his training.


    About three months swiftly passed.


    Lil¡¯ Serin, who was occasionally brought over, had also learned how to crawl, making intelligible sounds while frolicking in the crib.


    In comparison, Garen was already able to stand up steadily in the cradle and walk on two feet. He also started to grow blonde hair like his mother¡¯s.


    A blue-eyed blonde, with skin as white as milk. Except for his dislike of speaking, Garen was no different from a normal baby. His pretending was largely based on Lil¡¯ Serin¡¯s actions, who should be slightly older than him, thus he should be considered normal.


    His mother also found an early education cartoon from somewhere and played it on loop in Garen¡¯s room every day.


    Garen was also living quite the carefree life, no one was paying much attention to him, so he could focus completely on his internal body. Whenever there seemed to be a problem with a part of his body, he could immediately use his aura to manipulate his vital energy and blood to regulate the area. As a top-level Grandmaster of Combat, he had no problems in completely understanding the structure and inner mechanisms of his body.


    His life was very relaxing, occasionally having his parents¡¯ friends or neighbors coming over to pay a visit. Garen was also occasionally brought outside to get some fresh air and sunshine. This allowed him to gain some information about the town.


    The whole town is in the shape of a gigantic circle, surrounded by luscious greenery. In the middle of it all was a town center. Every night, there would be a gathering among the seniors of the town to banter or play cards and chess.


    The town was deep in the woods, and it was said to be the originally built up by the natives. However, due to external influence and the advancement of technology, the scale of the town kept expanding. Now it was a small town with a population size in the millions.


    The town had a church, with the Reverend Father and the Mayor being the most respected people in this town, every major decision would be made by them. The town also has a Public Security Team, in charge of the security of the town and also to drive out the wildlife from the forest that entered the town.


    Garen also discovered that most of the townspeople were hunters or lumberjacks, and most of them also had their own land and use to farm their own grain and vegetables for food. There was also a beach nearby with a decently sized fishing market, and the fishermen often sent some seafood over to the town for sale. Occasionally, there would also be tourists who came here to visit. It was even considered a decent source of income.


    To put it simply, this seemed like a Heaven on Earth, everyone living here was content and law-abiding, while foreign businesses attempting to enter for profit were all driven out by the locals.


    The townspeople locals, permanent residents, and foreigners who were brought back by locals, like wives who married in. This included doctors, lawyers, restaurant owners, teachers and all sorts of other professions, creating the unique structure and exclusivity of this town.


    Garen¡¯s was reborn into the Thomas household, who were considered quite well-known within this area. After all, it was a university professor and a psychologist who decided to move into this small town to settle down. In the eyes of the townspeople, this was major news.


    Many people wanted to speak to this group of intellectuals, hoping some of their genii would rub off on them.


    Every year before Christmas, they would also receive countless gifts.


    Garen was still unsure about this world, but not only did it contain America, it also had holidays like Christmas. He even heard a few mentions of England and other terms.


    This made him wonder if he had returned to Earth.


    However, there was once his parents left him alone, he immediately seized the opportunity to use his mother¡¯s laptop, pretending to randomly press stuff, while searching for information like the world map.


    To his surprise, he found a map of this world. It looked similar to Earth, but at the same time, there were major differences.


    The area of the 5 continents were much larger than Earth¡¯s, the sea as well, it was almost 2 times the size of the Earth. Just as he was staring at the map in shock, Trish walked back in.


    "Don¡¯t go so near, there¡¯s radiation." Trish quickly took away the laptop in fear of harming the child¡¯s eyes.


    Garen was placed back into the cradle, allowing his mother to freely change his diaper while he was thinking intently.


    After all, he was quite free every day. A baby¡¯s energy seems to be limitless with no place to expend it on. Except for his Black Claw of Sethe - LV1 Heart of Frost training every night, he had nothing else to do.


    "Putting all information together, this world might be a planet similar to Earth but in a parallel universe, but I have no idea why the planet would be so much bigger in size."


    Garen refused to believe that there would be 2 planets with so many similarities within one universe, and there was also the matter of the laws of physics being different in this world. He started to confirm his suspicion.


    "This world and this universe, might not even be my original universe anymore¡­"


    He felt that continuing on doing nothing would be too boring, so he sneakily took the laptop and started to look up more information about this alternate earth.


    As compared to the pile of early education resources his dad had found, doing self-learning online courses was much faster.


    Kindergarten, primary school, lower-secondary school, he swiftly breezed through these courses. All he needed to do was vaguely skim through it, his soul¡¯s memory could remember every image it saw with just a glance.


    However, as he was about to start his upper-secondary school course, his parents confiscated the laptop with the reason being they were afraid him using it too much would affect his sight and health.


    Even though he had just been playing around with the laptop for a couple of days.


    As such, his boring life continued on. Soon, Garen was already 2 years old.


    From the cradle to his first running steps, to being able to dress, eat and use the toilet all by himself, the 2-year-old Garen was exhibiting terrifying early maturation and independence. He never threw tantrums, and was not a picky eater. Coupled with his glowing blonde hair, milk-white skin and big blue eyes, he became a hot topic around the town.


    A lot of his parents friends liked to come visit and play with Lil¡¯ Garen.


    Garen also started to show his talents in speaking, at 2 years old, while other children were childishly speaking, his sentences seemed to be deliberate, complex and well-structured, all whilst still being fluent in his expression.


    Even his height was just slightly shorter than his 6-year-old brother Jason. Jason¡¯s face was filled with acne and he was filled with energy every day. He spent his time causing trouble, whilst his brother Garen preferred to read quietly or listening to music. The two formed a stark contrast.


    Obviously, the younger Garen naturally became the favorite of his parents. This seemed to cause a mental imbalance in Jason.


    Whoosh...


    With one swift swipe, Jason took all the lollipops given by the neighbors into his pockets, then cheekily walked over to Garen looking at him.


    "All the lollipops the Uncle Walter gave us belongs to me!" he loudly exclaimed.


    "Idiot."


    Garen expressionlessly said as he walked past his brother.


    Jason stood there motionlessly, as if he was struck by lightning. After a long while, he looked over in the direction his brother left.


    "Garen how dare you insult me! I¡¯m your brother! Let me come punish you right now!"


    He shouted as he charged over towards Garen.


    Two minutes later...


    "Mama..." Jason left Garen¡¯s room in tears, running towards their parents¡¯ room.


    "How many times has it been? He still had no improvements¡­" Garen said condescendingly while shaking his head.


    On the surface, his current body¡¯s seemed to be comparable to a 5 or 6 year old boy, but in reality, his body has far exceeded that of a child, all his stats are already almost at 0.8, almost at an adult¡¯s level of strength.


    This was one of the advantages of the Heart of Frost, all of his organs had an abnormal, but steady pace of growth, becoming stronger and stronger, effectively working with the Living Secret Technique¡¯s constant modification of the blood cells and his heart.


    He did not know how long these kinds of modifications will require, but with the effects of the Heart of Frost, his heart has started to show signs of frosting. This sense of cold usually concentrated in his chest, but it would occasionally split and move through the bloodstream.


    Once the modification of his heart is complete, this 1st level would have completely reached its peak, then it would be time for him to start his training for the next level.

 571 Youth 3

    Chapter 571: Youth 3


    "Listen, Garen." His mother Trish bent down and said to her child, "I¡¯ve decided to send you the Kindergarten, otherwise you¡¯ll be idling around in the house everyday bullying your older brother. At this point, he starts trembling just at the sight of you. What do you think of this decision?"


    Garen nodded his head.


    "Kindergarten? You mean the one in town?"


    "Yes, although you may be a bit too young, but your father and I agree that you should already have met the entry requirements." Trish answered seriously.


    "Jason¡¯s going to primary school, right?" Garen suddenly changed the topic.


    "Yes, the primary school in town."


    "Then I also want to go to primary school." Garen definitely didn¡¯t want to spend his days in kindergarten playing house with the other brats, that would definitely be a waste of time.


    "Primary school requires pre-school education, do you know what is pre-school education? Also, you should call him ¡®Brother¡¯, not Jason."


    "Is that so? Well that¡¯s regretful, but I still want to go for Primary School." Garen said affirmatively. "Regarding pre-school education, haven¡¯t I already went through all that?"


    "A 2-year-old is not allowed to go to primary school, you¡¯re still too young, dear," Trish started to feel that talking to her son is getting a bit tiring.


    "Do the laws and legislations of this country state that 2-year-olds are not allowed to go to primary school?" Garen countered.


    "Where did you even learn the phrase ¡®laws and legislations¡¯?" Trish started to get a headache. "Anyways, even though you can now speak fluently, the basics of Art, Music, Math and Languages all require a strong foundation."


    "Like Jason?"


    "Like Jason."


    "But he always gets beaten by me to the verge of crying, he¡¯s far too weak."


    "..." Trish took a deep breath, "Dear, sometimes issues cannot be resolved purely through using your fists."


    "But those things have nothing to do with me beating him up."


    Garen said calmly.


    "Holy..." Trish felt as if she was gonna go mad. As a psychologist, she completely could not understand what her child was thinking.


    "Mama, what do you think about my suggestion? As a parent, you should have more confidence in your own child!"


    The result of this conversation was that Trish had fled from the room.


    She didn¡¯t know how she could persuade her own son, or maybe she needed to hatch a plan against his overly mature son, let him understand that not everything can be solved with physical strength.


    "He¡¯s completely unlike a 2 year old, in fact he seems to be more mature than even 5 or 6 year olds! Emmer, I¡¯ve run out of ideas on how to teach our son¡­..."


    Trish¡¯s voice could be heard from outside the room.


    "Don¡¯t worry, I told you, our son is a prodigy!" Emmer said proudly.


    Garen helplessly shook his head and walked over to the bookshelf, picking up a random book.


    "Hey Garen!" Jason came out of nowhere, cockily waving around a plastic bat.


    "This time I¡¯m gonna make you cry uncle!" Jason boldly exclaimed.


    Garen just glared at him and walked straight up to him, putting his book back on the shelf.


    With a left hook to the jaw, following it up with an uppercut to the gut, his opponent fell.


    "Bang!!"


    "Mama!!!" Jason threw away the plastic bat and crawled out of the room.


    Garren then proceeded the walk back to the bookshelf to continue reading.


    After this incident, Garren was once again dragged off by his father for some ideological education. The 30-minute long nonstop ideological speech was said to be his father Emmer¡¯s special move, and it was also his pacifist way of teaching that he was so proud about.


    However, when it came to Garren, the effects of this education method seemed to be less than obvious.


    Garen was definitely listening to it seriously, he confirmed that as Garen continuously nodded in agreement to his words. However, what was worrying was that there weren¡¯t any visible effects from it. After listening to the talk, he¡¯d just go back the way he was immediately after.


    This kind of peaceful lifestyle continues on.


    Garen was still forced into Kindergarten in the end, along with their neighbors¡¯ Lil¡¯ Serin. They were both enrolled together in the town¡¯s Kindergarten. The reason was that as a human, a social creature, too much interaction with people of a different age than you can cause problems. Garen had no choice but to agree, though clearly Serin was very obviously not ready for Kindergarten.


    ******


    The kindergarten was located on the west side of the town near the suburbs, it was about 300 meters away from Garen¡¯s house. It was the only rainbow colored building in a sea of gray blocks.


    The white outer wall was covered with drawings of strawberries, apples, bananas, and pineapples. The building was also surrounded by a walled fence, and within the fence were slides, tire swings, seesaws and other children¡¯s playground items.


    Inside was a wide classroom, it had white walls and a black blackboard. On the left of the classroom were 3 wide window panes.


    There were 3 big, long tables in the middle of the classroom, with reddish-brown surfaces covered with varnish, while the sharp corners were covered with a rubber protector.


    A woman wearing red sporting attire was raising both her hands, imitating a cat while singing. Although she was already 30 years old, her actions made her look like she was a lot younger.


    "Everyday is the kitty¡¯s birthday, she can eat fish every day ~"


    "Kitty likes to catch mice, yarn she also likes~"


    "She can jump and can climb, she can even swim and dive~"


    "Cute meowing in the end, kitty is our best friend~"


    Every line sang by the teacher, was then followed up by a chorus of tens of cheery kids. It combined to form an unintelligible song of gibberish, but since a child¡¯s voice was crisp and youthful, it didn¡¯t sound that bad.


    "That¡¯s right, this is Music class." Garen was sitting at the very end of one of the long tables, he was cringing slightly as he looked out at the swaying trees.


    Under the bright morning sun, the dried yellow leaves of the parasol tree were falling one after the other, creating a thick layer of autumn leaves on the ground. The janitor lady swept up the falling leaves, preventing it from being infested by caterpillars.


    This was 2 months after he had enrolled in the kindergarten, he was already bored out of his mind.


    He was pondering if he should actually display his actual maturity and intellectual level, so he can escape this torture that is being surrounded by numerous snot-nosed brats.


    "Eileen! Eileen Kurt!" the teacher shouted again.


    This was an everyday occurrence, this little girl called Eileen Kurt would always get into trouble for sleeping in class.


    Garen glanced over at the little girl in twintails, who was now standing up. She had big, watery black eyes, yellow skin with a tender complexion, and a face that still had baby fat, but still weirdly cute. However, at the moment, she had a troubled face, looking like she was on the verge of tears.


    "T-Teacher¡­ I¡¯m s-sorry¡­ It was an accident..."


    Eileen said softly.


    The teacher helplessly reprimanded her just for a bit, after all, children this age were very prone to crying, except for a few exceptions of course.


    "Garen! Garen!" The child next to him asked in a shouting whisper, "Do you know why birds can fly?"


    "Of course, it¡¯s because they have feathers."


    "What are feathers?"


    "They are hairs that grow all over the bird¡¯s body."


    "Really? You can fly if you have enough hair? But my dad has a lot of hair, why can¡¯t he fly?"


    "Because his hair is growing in the wrong places."


    "Is that so?"


    "Yes it¡¯s true, you can go back and ask your father about it, Serin," Garen said to his small friend.


    "Ok..."


    The 1st period was finally over, now they had Maths class.


    "Garen, come to the board. What is 2 + 5 =?" The Maths teacher was a bespectacled young lady who looked like she was in her early twenties, wearing a white T-shirt and a gray knee-length skirt. She was sporting a long ponytail.


    Garen immediately became the center of attention of all the kids in the class. He wearily dropped his pen he used for doodling to pass time, and walked up to the board.


    It was already autumn. He was wearing a gray turtleneck shirt, looking as if he was completely snugged in the shirt; he looked adorable.


    He took a long chalk and mindlessly wrote a big 7 on the board, then promptly walked back to his seat.


    "Did everyone see that? The answer was 7 ! 2 + 5 = 7 ! Great work Garen! Let¡¯s give Garen a round of applause!" The teacher enthusiastically clapped loudly.


    At that moment, the students in the class also started applauding for him.


    Sigh...


    Garen let out a long sigh, how many more days do I have to spend like this...


    He felt the chill in his chest getting colder and colder, but his body felt no discomfort at all. On the contrary, it felt quite comfortable, that icy chill wasn¡¯t just comfortable, it felt as pleasurable eating a cold and juicy watermelon on a hot summer day.


    However, even though his Heart of Frost training was completed, this type of modification made Garen¡¯s body temperature much lower than the average child, it also seemed to have affected Garen¡¯s body growth and facial features.


    His build was becoming more and more unisexual, if you looked at him from a distance, you wouldn¡¯t even be able to tell if he¡¯s a boy or a girl.


    Yet, Garen didn¡¯t mind that, he was still a kid after all, and kids generally don¡¯t look overly masculine or feminine anyway.


    The subjects taught in the kindergarten include Nature studies, Social studies, Maths, Language, Arts, and Music. 1 period was only 20 minutes long, so class ends very quickly, after that, they have lots of different playtimes. They have group play, outdoor play, playing house, and sometimes, even the teachers joined in.


    At these times, Garen would usually just sit at a corner and quietly draw, his loyal admirer and friend Serin would also sit right beside him, attempting to mimic his actions.


    No matter if it were crayon, watercolor or a pen, Garen was able to use it in a strangely mesmerizing manner.


    He was actually not very good at art, and even then he was purposely doing badly to prevent from blowing his cover. Hence, although his drawings look complete, they were nothing more than childish scribbles.


    Houses, sunsets, birds, watchdogs, etc. Garen would just draw anything that came to mind. However, in actuality, though no one managed to see it, Garen was secretly testing out the extent of the modification from the Heart of Frost.


    With the Heart of Frost modification in place, just by visualizing it, Garen could manipulate the movement of the chilliness, gathering it at his fingertips. This level of chilliness could only lower his finger temperature by about 10¡ãC, it would only make the skin feel slightly colder at most, hence it had no extra functionality. However, Garen just took this as a form of training to control the balanced unleashing of power, and whilst unleashing this power, silently assess the origins of it.


    Life in Kindergarten was boring, other than training his secret techniques, everything else was boring. Especially since he had to interact with the other brats and the teachers, all whilst trying to hide his actual intellectual level.

 572 Youth 4

    Chapter 572: Youth 4


    It was good that his ability to make time pass quickly was decent.


    Soon, winter came and a snowstorm engulfed the entire Grano town, turning it snow white. A thick layer of snow covered the streets and plazas, and crisp crackling sounds could be heard from footsteps upon the snow.


    After Christmas, Garen received a set of high-end drawing equipment, as well as a pretty-looking violin. Mom intended to make him acquire artistic and elegant musical skills.


    Surprisingly, Trish got pregnant again soon. Days passed in boredom.


    As the autumn of the second year came, the third kid was born.


    Vivien, Vivien Thomas was his sister''s name.


    The good news was, Garen''s kindergarten life would soon be over, as the four-year-old him would soon enter primary school.


    His brother Jason''s body had also become stronger; he was 4 years older than Garen. At 8 years old, he was now indulged in music and football. He went to the preschool when he was five, and as he entered third grade, his height had grown rapidly even for someone of the puberty age, he was already about one head higher than Garen.


    "I heard you''re coming to school soon?" Jason screamed while rushing into Garen''s room on one random day.


    "Yes."


    There was only one primary school in the town, so both siblings would be in the same school, which made Jason excited.


    "Is there something that matters?" Garen was practicing his violin, that redwood violin was pressed between his shoulder and neck, the precise control of his power allowed him to pull out a pure, uniform sound with ease.


    After a month of teaching her son, Trish no longer taught him; after she taught him the standard pose, she decided to let him self-learn online. After all, simple things like violins were completely possible to self-learn so long as the pose were fine.


    "No¡­ nothing." After that glare from his brother, Jason shivered, and he hurried out of the room. He wasn''t entirely sure why was he excited, but being happy was all that mattered.


    Compared to kindergartens, primary schools were much more normal, grade schoolers were so much stronger than kindergartners, in terms of intelligence and socializing.


    As he saw Jason run out the room, he continued his own violin training course.


    Mono practice, scale transformation, complex music variation Etude.


    With only one glance on the video''s bow style, Garen could replicate any sounds without any mistakes, as he was sensitive to minute changes to the vibration, it allowed him to swiftly master the technique.


    That was why he could be this masterful in a month.


    But, oddly enough, the tunes that he played had a cold icy feeling, instead of a melodious feeling, it spooked people.


    The more precise his controls, the more obvious this feeling became, just like a psychopath who played violin in a puddle of blood after murdering his victims.


    Oddly, this oddity didn''t attract his parents'' attention under his cover-up, he suspected that this was a problem originating from the Heart of Frost.


    Following the Heart of Frost''s peak modification, he''d achieved a realm whereby he could exude a calming aura just by standing around them.


    Heart of Frost''s official second level was to use the frost breath for battles, but Black Claw of Sethe''s strongest point was not about its near infinite control on cold poison. Instead, it was the ability to absorb the chill from organic enemies. This Secret Technique''s complete philosophy revolved similar to the Yin-Yang philosophy. In its system, all creatures were made from Yin''s Coldness and Yang''s warmth, and if one had mastered the Black Claw of Sethe, it would cause two special damage effects, one being the Yin Coldness'' damage, and the ability to absorb opponents'' Yin Coldness in their bodies.


    Once the opponent''s Yin Coldness was absorbed, their body''s heat would not be contained, and the outer cold poison which had berserk properties would continuously destroy the balancing ability of the body. This way, it could cause immense internal injuries.


    If the opponent wasn''t an expert who specialized in healing, they would find it extremely hard to counter such complicated moves.


    On the other hand, the yin coldness absorbed by Garen could be used to strengthen Garen''s Secret Technique and enhance his vitality.


    Following the greater realms achieved in Sethe''s Secret Technique, its damage and absorption power would also be strengthened.


    As Garen played the violin, he identified that he had indeed reached the peak of the first level. It was just that he wasn''t aware of when he could make a breakthrough.


    After his violin session, he wiped the pine oil off the strings to prevent corrosion of the strings, he then carefully stored the violin in the box.


    The time to enroll in primary school soon arrived.


    Little Serin was still the same class as Garen. This was neither luck nor was it planned, but because the primary school only had one preschool class¡­


    Aside from the two of them, all the children of age would join this class.


    Serin''s father was a security officer, whereas her mom was a housewife. Compared to the three children in Garen''s household, they obviously looked more well off, hence Trish asked Serin''s mom, Mrs. Feller, to pick up her children when she fetched her daughter from school.


    The primary school was on the right side of the town''s central plaza, up ahead were some shops, including a buffet restaurant, a stationary shop, florist, and some eateries.


    The life in primary school was better compared to kindergarten, but the actual situation was about the same, the curriculum was like to torture to Garen, and he had to act like his peers sometimes.


    The saving grace, however, was the fact that he could now freely use a computer, not the notebook that belonged to his mother but the desktop that he built.


    This was greatly useful for him in understanding the knowledge system of this world.


    His daily life continued to repeat itself, schooling, eating, finish school, goes home, violin practice, computer games, sleep. This repeated in an endless loop.


    Preschool, Standard 1, Standard 2, time flew by without any mishaps.


    Everything was calm as time flowed by.


    Garen observed that nobody surrounding him had any trace of abnormality, except that the families living in the town maintained their ancient prayer ceremony where they prayed to their own ancestors. Aside from that, there were no differences or anything special.


    Not only that, there seemed to be a certain barrier between the residences of the northern bound town and the rest of the territories. The people of the north were seen to be the representatives of the pastor, whereas the remaining villagers were seen to be the representatives of the mayor. The territories of the pastor had a small river stream, and as there was a deeper, more dangerous forest nearby, there were cases of wild animals attacking human beings outside of the forest. There were even cited cases of people being poisoned by venomous snakes or deaths from cheetahs'' and wolves'' attacks. Hence the primary schoolers typically refrained from playing near the river on the north.


    "That place is very dangerous, big grey wolves will come out to catch children for snacks."


    This was quoted from the teacher, word for word.


    According to Garen''s own observations, the north side did have fewer inhabitants, and the situation there was slightly worse. The thugs of the town would sometimes be seen on the streets and were mostly the familiar faces of the town, and they would normally join the festivals organized by the town.


    They usually donned an attire that obviously looked like a thug but at the same time, they also seem to be a bunch of organized folks. They were oddly disciplined and aside from the occasional brawl in the north, the rest of the citizens of the territory were all lawful people.


    As though there were someone pulling the strings from behind,


    The primary schoolers'' lives were boring, but soon there would be an interesting event.


    A school-organized picnic.


    As the two classes of Standard 2 students merged, including the school ten-odd teachers'' participation, they all set the journey to the forest nearby.


    Totalling over 40 students, wearing an assortment of clothes, each of them was excited, and so were the accompaniment of the parents.


    The forest vicinity of the picnic was guarded by the security officers, and there were patrol officers passing through this area daily, establishing it as a safe zone.


    Garen had just advanced to Standard 2, but aside from Serin, he didn''t have any friends, hence he preferred to stay at the back of the line.


    The group followed in a line and soon, they reached the safe zone and put out the tablecloth, took out their ready-made lunches from their bags. As a primary schooler, it would''ve been way too tough to have them find food out in the wilds.


    Some of the teachers were guarding the outer boundaries of the forest, and the rest of them brought the children along for preparatory works.


    The so-called picnic was actually bringing ready-made food from home to be eaten in the forest¡­.


    Garen found a shady area to lay out his own white tablecloth, beside him was Serin who wore a white skirt and had a left ponytail tied. She always liked to follow Garen around at all times with shimmering eyes.


    Sandwiches with roasted meat, corn-mixed vegetable salads, canned fish, canned fruit, little bear-shaped biscuit, sandwich jam with toffee... Each of them was taken out from Garen''s bag and were placed on the tablecloth.


    "Can we be a group?" His classmate since kindergarten, Serin came over and squatted in front of Garen''s tablecloth, she looked at her own pitiful two-piece sandwich and fruit juice, and looked at Garen''s awfully scrumptious preparation, her tender face almost couldn''t contain her drooling.


    "Eeleen, then let the three of us form a group." Garen nodded without being bothered. Actually, it was the same, be it two or three people. Compared to those naughty kids, Eeleen liked to nap more compared to the rest, while Serin was quiet.


    Of course, there was another reason, it was that these two Lolitas turned out cute and tender, even though he didn''t know how they would look like when they grew older, the kid version right now looked very cute. Just that, in comparison, Serin''s skin was better, while Eeleen was slightly darker, a little bit scrawny, maybe due to malnutrition.


    All the good food on the tablecloths made the kids surrounding them distracted, and have glared in their direction.


    The kids in town rarely had that many delicacies. As there wasn''t much interaction with the outside world, there were many ingredients that were hard to find. These snacks and sweets were bought by Trish and Emmer during their occasional trips home from college. Of course, these things were way beyond any child''s imagination, as most of the things could only be observed from the front of the television.


    Just the toffee alone had 5 brands, it was exceptionally luxurious.


    To be honest, Garen didn''t like these, but a kid should have a kid''s mannerisms, so he didn''t prepare anything else.


    Sitting on the grassland, the shade was obviously more cooling. As the sunlight brightened, the grassland was baked in golden rays, and it got warmer.

 573 Strange 1

    Chapter 573: Strange 1


    Garen was that independent kid who did not need tender loving care in the class, who also consistently churned out good grades. The most teachers did were just occasional glances, to make sure he was safe.


    Sitting on the grassland, he watched the two lolitas greedily munching on the snacks, Garen reclined against the tree in boredom, completely disregarding his own white shirt and jeans¡¯ cleanliness.


    Suddenly, an ice cold cylindrical object lightly caressed his right arm.


    "Hmm?" Garen glanced down, it was a small snake.


    A black snake with a yellow plaid pattern, with a length of about a palm.


    "Ahh!" suddenly, a primary school boy screamed. "A snake! Teacher, there¡¯s a snake!"


    That little boy cried out with his nose dripping, as he crawled and rolled away from his own tablecloth. The students around him also gradually drew away from the area.


    Both of the more experienced teachers were shocked as well, and they immediately approached Garen carefully.


    "It¡¯s a Ghastly Snake! Oh God, how can there be such venomous snakes around?!" One teacher immediately identified this snake.


    The Ghastly Snake was impeccably venomous; any adults who were bitten would die within 10 minutes from their heart numbing if no antivenom was administered on time, nevermind a grade schooler aged 7-8 years old. Once they were bitten, who knew what would happen.


    A few teachers were unable to conceal their horrified emotions.


    After a while, another Ghastly Snake showed up on a different branch, scaring the students into an even more chaotic state of panic.


    There were two now, and soon, a third snake appeared as well. It was another kind of snake, which was also highly venomous.


    Little Serin who was next to Garen had turned pale from fright, whereas Eeleen was less afraid and was staring at the venomous snake attentively.


    Garen frowned, and he looked up at the tree he was leaning upon.


    Among the branches tucked away in the dark, there was another Ghastly Snake, furthermore, this snake was much larger in terms of girth and close to the length of a forearm.


    The triangular eyes of the snake gazed coldly at Garen. This snake which had the widest girth was not discovered by others aside from Garen, but it was just a matter of time.


    At this point, multiple snakes had already surrounded the primary schoolers, gradually appearing and growing into tens of them.


    Some teachers had begun calling the security squad and their faces had all paled, unsure of what to do. Now it wasn¡¯t just the students who were in danger, even they themselves were in trouble.


    Garen frowned and with a change of gaze, he glared at the largest venomous snake.


    Unknowingly, a cold breath seeped towards the snake and touched its body.


    Hiss¡­..


    This venomous snake shuddered, and as though it met its nemesis, it turned around and fled immediately.


    In that instant, all the venomous snakes surrounding them fled into the forest, as though they had never appeared.


    "Aura?" Garen did not anticipate this, that with an intent, the Heart of Frost which had reached its peak long ago actually made a breakthrough to the second realm of Sethe; Yin Coldness¡¯ Hand.


    What surprised him the most was that his Standard 2 body could exude Aura already.


    Aura was the combination of the mental and spiritual energy, and as he¡¯d always had overbearing spirit but lacking mental energy, it resulted in an obnoxiously weak body which could not activate Aura.


    With this breakthrough to level 2, he could finally directly activate his Aura. It was a pleasant surprise.


    However¡­ This congregation of snakes made him wary, as these snakes would not venture into human territory without reason.


    He carefully looked around, but all the venomous snakes seemed to have fled along the largest snake.


    They did not harm any of the kids, other than giving them a huge scare.


    Suspicious, Garen began observing the kids and teachers carefully when he suddenly realized that there was a girl with platinum-colored hair staring in the direction where the snakes fled with a petrified expression. She stood close to Garen, completely stunned, while she wore a white skirt that was smudged with green juice from the grass.


    This girl was different from the rest, she didn¡¯t look only terrified of the venomous snakes, she even had some unknown complex mixed feelings.


    The regular kids had relaxed as soon as they saw the snakes retreating. Aside from the few who cried from the shock; the rest had begun regulating their emotions. But this girl didn¡¯t, she seemed to have felt even more frightened by their absence.


    Garen made a mental note about this girl.


    This picnic was abruptly ended, as the teachers were afraid of further incidents. They were sent back to their school as soon as possible.


    Garen also had a strange wariness of this picnic... This world appeared to be more complicated than he thought.


    **************************


    The Northern area of the town.


    In a large, white steeple church.


    In the large well-lit church, devout couples could be seen praying in the pews.


    Vagar, a pastor in a white robe, stood in front of the podium, murmuring to a pale, muscular young man.


    "Your people have been a little too active."


    "Only a small disciplining, it¡¯s just a traitor."


    The man snickered and laughed without a care.


    He has a strong physique and he wore a shirt that bared his chest, showing off glistening chest muscles. A metal belt was looped around his waist while a diamond earring adorned one ear, and his white handsome face was mysterious and wickedly charming.


    "The mayor sent his words that you should tone down, they have been dissatisfied with your recent actions." the pastor whispered, while he made some actions similar to a prayer.


    "No worries, hasn¡¯t the issue been resolved? This is just a small incident." The man bowed his head while the pastor drizzled holy water over him.


    "I sure hope so." the pastor nodded.


    After the man was drizzled with holy water, he drew a cross sign on his chest out of devotion, and then murmured a few sentences of prayers. He turned around and left the podium towards a pew for a seat.


    Soon, someone sat next to him and spoke to him softly.


    The man suddenly frowned.


    "Those troublesome women¡­" he looked into the air, as though he was thinking.


    After a while, he tapped the shoulder of the man next to him.


    "Were there any outsiders coming in recently?"


    "The foot traffic wasn¡¯t high, but most of them were tourists."


    "They only drove the snakes away?"


    "Yes, it seemed like a threat, or showing some sort of attitude to others." The subordinate replied softly.


    "Get someone to warn them. Following the agreement, the first to disobey the rules will be punished." The man said emotionlessly.


    "Okay."


    "I do not wish to see Grano¡¯s peaceful reputation to be tarnished by them. After all, we do receive a sizable portion of tourism income every year." The man shook his head as he muttered.


    "But Leader, these women have recently become more radical, what if¡­." The man¡¯s subordinate asked reservedly.


    "Then we catch a few of their men, and deal with them as usual." The man¡¯s eyes narrowed coldly.


    ********************************


    The class was rowdy; the grade schoolers ran about while chattering away, and the teacher was busy reading books on their own.


    The evening light glowed through the windows, warming the room.


    Garen¡¯s table was surrounded by a few classmates. Each of them was concentrating on the Rubik''s cube in his hands. The three-by-three cube was played like a magic trick in his hands, and he managed to get all the sides to the same color in less than a minute. And then Garen would mess it up again to repeat the entire process.


    The children would let out some surprised exclamations from time to time.


    Most of the children in the class were from the town and they were not very well-dressed, with grey, red and black hues being the majority. There also weren¡¯t many fancy accessories or good looking hairstyles, as they all dressed simply.


    In their eyes, Garen¡¯s tender white skin and shiny golden hair, such a doll-like boy was as eye-catching as a television star. It was rumored that he knew how to play the violin, and even how to use a computer to surf online. Such rumors were unintentionally spread from Serin, making Garen a legendary character in the class.


    Even the few strongest and jumpiest boys in the class dared not offend him, even though he looked weak and soft. But for an unknown reason, he felt very strong.


    "That girl over there, do you know her name? Garen glanced at the platinum-colored hair girl at the corner of the classroom while playing with the Rubik¡¯s cube.


    That girl was the one who had reacted strangely during the venomous snake incident. She was no beauty; she was scrawny and had an unhealthy skin tone, one that indicated a lack of exposure towards sunlight.


    After a buffer period of several days, Garen suddenly recalled the event that day, so he asked away while there were many classmates around him.


    "I think she''s called Syves." One child answered.


    "She''s Syves Latin, I heard that her mother passed away a few days ago, I think she was drowned to death."


    With this reply, the surrounding children quietened. They were not even ten-years-olds yet they were discussing mature topics, and it was even on matters such as death, which was rather frightening.


    "It happened after our picnic?" A voice next to Garen cried out suddenly.


    "Eh?" A flicker of suspicion crossed Garen¡¯s mind.


    "Let¡¯s stop, she has it bad enough," Serin called out in dissatisfaction.


    "Garen, don¡¯t offend Syves, she¡¯s weird." A cute girl who was near Garen spoke softly. In her eyes were unadulterated admiration, perhaps she didn''t know anything about restraint.


    "Weird? How so?" Garen asked.


    "She doesn¡¯t like to play with everyone, plus, she talked back to the teacher. I heard that she was even kidnapped once, and is no longer a good girl." she murmured softly.


    "Stop yapping." Serin stood up abruptly from the side and glared at the other girl.


    The girl was frightened by the aura let off by Serin, and she bit her lip while glancing at Garen. She felt that she couldn¡¯t afford to lose her reputation in front of the boy she adored, hence even though she was terrified, she let out a hmph and left.


    The kids around them were also taken aback by this and dispersed.

 574 Strange 2

    Chapter 574: Strange 2


    "Why were you so feisty, Serin?" Once again, Garen gently nudged Serin to sit down.


    "Nothing, I just thought that it¡¯s not right to talk behind someone¡¯s back." Little Serin replied with a huff.


    Garen suddenly felt a little strange; Serin had always been nice since their childhood, but as they grew up, Serin slowly began having her own opinions.


    Even Eeleen was the same. Also, a few girls in the class were the same and had become very proactive, as though they¡¯d matured over a short period.


    Comparatively, the boys were much slower to mature. Aside from the two boys who were the most active, the other boys actually seemed to be submissive. Sometimes, they were even frequently bullied by the girls.


    This phenomenon was utterly absurd.


    Garen¡¯s couldn¡¯t help but glance over at the weird girl with platinum-colored hair.


    "Syves Latin?"


    After the incident with the venomous snakes, the school had slowly returned to a peaceful state.


    Standard 2 soon ended uneventfully, and Standards 3, 4, and 5 without any major incidents. There were no anomalies that happened again. Garen¡¯s violin skills had improved tremendously, but following the greater mastery of the Black Sethe Claw, he occasionally lost control during his violin practice and that bone-chilling aura would leak into his music.


    The third child, Garen¡¯s sister Vivien, had also finally been enrolled in primary school, and she proudly became a member of the primary school.


    Standard 5 was the time when one would graduate to the next tier of education, but to everyone, it was an undeniable fact that Garen would qualify for the only junior high in the town.


    As the matter of fact, this place should be called Standards 6, 7, 8.


    Tick¡­


    The bell for recess had rung.


    Garen, who was now about 1.5 meters tall, stood up and began packing his notebooks into his backpack.


    Following the end of the final year examinations, the straight A¡¯s on his report made the teachers smile from ear-to-ear. As his graduation approached, the teachers prepared a dinner, with the finale being Garen¡¯s violin play.


    The twelve-year-old Garen now looked physically close to perfection. Unlike his past life, he now boasted a slender, well-balanced body, bright golden hair and his face had a hint of gender-neutrality. As he immersed himself in music all year round, he now exuded a mysterious femininity.


    He was very polite in his daily engagements too; with a kind temperament, Garen soon became one of the top two popular boys in his class.


    As for the most famous boy, Jimmy was a handsome boy with a strong physique and amazing athletic abilities. Garen had observed him from afar before, noting that this person has a healthy charm and a wild personality. He excelled in basketball, football and baseball, and had even been appointed the head of the school¡¯s PE department. With a skin tone slightly darker than wheat, he was wildly popular among the girls.


    "Hey Garen, shall we go home together?" Serin and Eeleen came by in pairs, the trios were best friends who have grown up together.


    Serin was dressed in a red T-shirt and washed out bell bottom jeans and was about Garen¡¯s height. Her fair and lovely face seemed a little rougher nowadays, as the pores became pronounced. However, her black pixie cut matched her handsome facial look, which was rather tomboyish at times.


    Eeleen, on the other hand, had become much prettier, she¡¯d gone to dye her hair one random day, and her previously black hair was now a lovely hue of burgundy. Moreover, her hair had become silkier, and one could even see the individual strands of her hair when the lighting in the room was good.


    Eeleen had a stereotypical Asian look and was completely different from Serin¡¯s Caucasian appearance. As both of them grew older, Eeleen now stood about 1.4 meters, and her skin condition was much better as compared to her childhood as her skin¡¯s texture had smoothened, and her eyes were like a pair of crescent moons when she laughed. She was comparable to the two most beautiful girls in the class and was one of the most typical crushes among the boys.


    Aside from the differences in their physical appearance, Eeleen¡¯s personality was very similar to Serin''s. She was slowly becoming more independent and opinionated, and when they were met with issues or conflicts, they might even brawl it out.


    "Is there anything more important than the final graduation dinner?" Serin snickered while covering her mouth.


    Just as the three of them walked out of the classroom and were descending to the second floor, a voice suddenly called out to Garen.


    "Garen, could you wait for a moment?" a group of upperclassmen girls appeared behind them.


    The three of them turned around. The leader of the group was a girl with shoulder-length hair and silky smooth skin. Although she looked slightly snobbish, her tall body had appropriate womanly curves, probably a student from the junior high Standard 6 class. It was apparent that this girl was confident in her body, as she wore a white skin tight tee as well as figure-hugging white jeans, showing off her perfect figure. A pair of brown leather boots gave out loud clear thumps with every step.


    The students who were passing by started to slow down when they noticed that there was some juicy drama waiting to happen, they lingered with interest in the 2 groups, waiting to see what would happen.


    "I am Raffaele." the upperclassmen proudly swept her voluminous hair back, while her boots thudded with every step she took towards Garen. "I have observed you for a long time, Garen. Why don¡¯t you become my boyfriend? Aren¡¯t you bored of being together with these two underdeveloped brats?"


    She puffed out her chest in a seductive manner. The fourteen, fifteen-year-old had already learned the ways to exhibit her body¡¯s charm.


    Garen was taken aback. Even though there were girls who wrote him love letters, they no longer approached him if he didn¡¯t reply to them, but it was certainly a first to him, for a girl to be this brazen and confessing to him in public.


    Deep inside, he was still a conservative Eastern man, and to suddenly encounter events like a public confession from girls, he couldn¡¯t help but be shocked.


    Just as he snapped back to reality and was prepared to reply, two silhouettes suddenly walked past him and blocked his path.


    "Who did you refer to as ¡®underdeveloped¡¯?"


    Serin¡¯s face turned cold.


    "Raffaele Dockman, I know you, Class 2 Standard 6, are you here for trouble?"


    "Two tomboys, having absolutely no femininity, do you think Garen would like people like you two?" Raffaele sneered as she crossed her arms.


    The girls behind her began snickering too.


    "Only our lady boss is fit for Garen, the two of you are better off blending in among the lowerclassmen, you¡¯re sorely lacking in both breasts and butts."


    "Our lady boss is the boss beyond the Standard 6, how dare you oppose her?"


    "They are children, after all, it¡¯s normal to think that they would be of the same class after graduation, we have to be considerate and forgive their silliness."


    That group of girls started chattering and laughed non-stop.


    Serin chuckled coldly for a moment.


    "Are you all made of only mouths?"


    She clenched her fists, which let out a crisp crack. Her expression turned darkened, and she was unusually angry.


    In actual fact, both Serin and Eeleen had secretly liked Garen for a long time. It was just that Eeleen had become more beautiful while she only became worse, and as they grew older, this gap only became wider. Serin then buried her affection in order to encourage Eeleen to be with Garen, it felt like the two of them had become more compatible with each other, but now, an outsider had appeared, with the intentions of ripping apart their friendships.


    Garen frowned; in his eyes, this was all but a childish drama, but as he realized that her words were a bit too offensive and that Serin and Eeleen might have been hurt, he moved his body slightly in order to stand out to talk.


    "Don¡¯t you dare meddle in!" Serin suddenly blocked him, "This is an issue among us girls, just sit back and be quiet." She sounded determined with no hesitation in her tone.


    Garen gazed at her and Eeleen beside her. Their eyes held a firm determination and sincerity and clearly, they didn¡¯t want him to mediate this disagreement.


    "Very well."


    He no longer resisted while he nodded slightly. Kids have to face these difficulties eventually in life, as this was a part of growing up.


    "How do you want to do this?" Raffaele began laughing and folded her sleeves, showing her fair, slender arms, "One-on-one?"


    "Don¡¯t even bother us again if we win!" Serin began to flex her shoulders.


    "Let me do this, you take on the other people." Eeleen took a step forward and spoke in a low voice.


    "Okay." Serin¡¯s dad was the squad leader of security, so she¡¯d learned many combat techniques from her dad. It wasn¡¯t her first couple of times in a brawl either. "Do you remember the techniques I taught you?"


    "Yeah." Eeleen nodded.


    The two girls took their stance and were prepared to fight.


    "Right here?" Raffaele frowned as she looked at the crowding spectators. "Let¡¯s change the venue, it wouldn¡¯t be fun if the teachers come over."


    "The grove of trees behind," Eeleen said impassively.


    "Sure."


    The two groups then walked down the stairs, they stormed off to the grove behind the school with a strangely grim vibe.


    "I was saying¡­" Garen was speechless, he¡¯d a small suspicion after he started primary school, but he didn¡¯t expect that these indicators had begun to exacerbate and become more obvious.


    The townspeople of this place were disproportionately female and here, the women took up the role of breadwinner. The women were also the ones who resolved conflicts, and this phenomenon was not unique to the schools, he¡¯d also observed similar experiences outside.


    Aside from working outside, women took charge of most of the similar issues. The patriarchy system of the outside world seemed to be reversed here,


    Just like now.


    Two gangs of girls prepared to fight it out over a boy, "See you at the grove after school." Wasn¡¯t that what boys would say?


    If it was the outside world, the situation would be the inverse. Two groups of men fighting for a girl, that would be the logical way¡­


    To be a protagonist being fought over, Garen felt weird, but Serin insisted that he didn¡¯t follow, it¡¯s a woman¡¯s matter and men should stand aside.


    It didn¡¯t feel logical no matter how he looked at it.


    Speaking of which, he didn¡¯t have any heterosexual attraction towards any of those girls, he was an old man inside, after all, if he was attracted to these kids, then he was truly twisted inside. Of course, this was related to the fact that Serin and Eeleen were slow to grow. If it were to be Raffaele¡¯s figure, it would have been normal to have some lust and react to the body¡¯s natural reaction at this age. Otherwise, he would have to assess if this body had any issues.

 575 Strange 3

    Chapter 575: Strange 3


    But in comparison, Garen was still much closer to Serin and Eeleen. After all, he had been so familiar with them for so long, making them friends at the very least, so he should still go check them out.


    As he thought that, Garen could not resist but walk towards the direction that they had left in. On the way, however, he encountered two girls who seemed to be there specifically to block his way.


    "Big Sis Raffaele doesn¡¯t want you going there." One of the larger girls growled at him, she was much larger in size than Garen.


    Garen looked into the distant woods, but could only see a sea of pitch black.


    Soon he would need to prepare for the event at night too, so he just shook his head, turned around and left anyway. In any case, elementary school and junior high students would not harbor any deep grudges, and even if they fought, there probably should not be any accidents.


    ****************


    The beautiful music of the violin slowly rang out on the stage.


    Garen wore a small white suit, raising his violin and playing it with his eyes slightly closed, he needed to work hard to control the sound, so that it sounded normal, if he really played as he wanted, that creepy aura from before would appear again.


    In the hall, all he could see was a sea of black, eighty or ninety percent of the school¡¯s students and teachers were here.


    Serin, Eeleen, and Raffaele''s group were there too, Serin looked somewhat depressed, her neck all red, while Raffaele was completely unharmed, so the result was evident.


    Garen put his violin down lightly, and bowed towards the bottom of the stage. There was an instant wave of thunderous applause.


    He turned around and walked off the stage, hearing the emcee speak on-stage, but that already had nothing to do with him.


    Once he got off the stage, he had not even changed out of his clothes before he saw Raffaele standing beside the stage, waiting for him to come down. She was even surrounded by some curious students.


    "Good work, Garen, come have a drink." Raffaele greeted him with a seductive smile, handing him a wet towel and a bottle of mineral water.


    Garen glanced at Serin who was nearby, she was also walking towards him, but seeing that Raffaele was there, she actually stopped walking, clenching her teeth as she waited there.


    "What happened between the two of you?" he asked, frowning.


    "Nothing really." The smile on Rafaelle''s face sank, but after a pause, she smiled again, still that calm, proudly appreciative smile. "Do you want to walk with me? Just the two of us."


    Garen ignored her, walking right up to Serin and Eeleen, Eeleen even had a fresh scratch on her face.


    He looked at the two of them exasperatedly, and quietly told them a few things, asking them if they wanted to go back with him. By then, the students in the audience were already beginning to scatter.


    ome of the students that had come over to call the three of them sensed something amiss in the atmosphere, and there was still the stone-faced Raffaele and crew, so the newcomers instantly fell silent, and had no idea what to do.


    Garen was surprised to find that Serin and Eeleen had lost, and were refusing point-blank to go back with him, what was up with that expression that said ¡®since we lost, we need to admit it¡¯?


    Watching Serin and Eeleen leave the crowd by themselves, Garen¡¯s feelings got a little out of pace, are all the kids nowadays so self-determined?


    "Now there¡¯s no one left to disturb us, right?" Raffaele said with a triumphant smile. She very naturally hugged Garen¡¯s arm, lightly leaning her well-developed chest onto him.


    Garen felt like he had a headache coming on, and decided he was too lazy to bother with these little kids¡¯ problems, things would probably go back to normal soon enough.


    He glanced at Raffaele next to him, she had shoulder-length golden hair, a seductive face, smooth skin, long and slender legs, as well as her supple breasts pressed tightly against his arm, but he could smell a faint virgin fragrance in his nostrils.


    He could tell that Raffaele¡¯s actions were making even herself slightly nervous.


    The people around them were already noticing the movements here, and there was the occasional whistle.


    Raffaele picked up Garen¡¯s hand and put it around her tiny waist, she was very confident in her own figure, leaning her entire body onto Garen¡¯s, her face flushing pink.


    "Don¡¯t you like me?" She reached her face closer, so that their lips were almost touching. "Am I not sexy enough?"


    "Although I won¡¯t exactly look a gift horse in the mouth, but you gotta at least let me know, exactly what do you like about me?" Garen asked exasperatedly. He knew that he did not really communicate with the others except for how he chatted with Serin and Eeleen sometimes.


    "I just like you, do I need a reason?" Raffaele retorted, "I want you to become my man."


    Garen opened his mouth, but did not know what to say.


    "Even if I can¡¯t get your heart, I want your body," Raffaele said forcefully.


    Uhh¡­


    Why did that sound so familiar?


    Wasn¡¯t that something men usually said to women?


    Garen was feeling rather confused, there really was something wrong with the trends in this town¡­


    Raffaele dragged Garen everywhere and showed him off to all her friends, not just her girl friends, but even some of the other girls and schoolmates in the school were beginning to raise a commotion.


    After the ball ended, Raffaele sent away everyone else and offered to send Garen back.


    On the way back, neither of them said anything, they just advanced forward quietly.


    It was only when they could vaguely see Garen¡¯s double-story house ahead, that Raffaele finally stopped walking.


    "Tomorrow I¡¯ll come get you, just wait at home like a good boy, okay?" She approached Garen, temptingly letting her twin peaks brush against Garen¡¯s chest.


    "If you listen to me, I can give you a little incentive~~~"


    "We¡¯re so soon, does this count as puppy love?" Garen asked, somewhat flabbergasted. "Although I don¡¯t dislike you, I¡¯ll still be with Serin and Eeleen tomorrow. So you don¡¯t need to come get me¡­"


    "They won¡¯t come." Raffaele laughed, "The competition between us has already decided everything, this is a battle between w...women, no one can break an ancient oath like that."


    When she mentioned the ancient oath, there was a looming and strange feeling in her eyes.


    This got Garen¡¯s alarms ringing slightly, it seemed that the duel was not just a skirmish between kids as he had first thought.


    "You are already mine," Raffaele stressed again. "Even if you don¡¯t choose me, they can¡¯t break the vow and approach you."


    "That¡¯s why I hate presumptuous kids who act like adults the most¡­" Garen felt a headache coming on.


    "Aren¡¯t you a kid as well?" Raffaele could not help but laugh. She reached over her soft hand to touch Garen¡¯s neck, and then left as fast as the wind, disappearing into the night in an instant.


    "See you tomorrow."


    A clear voice came from the distance.


    Garen watched Raffaele leave speechlessly, shook his head, and walked towards his own little home.


    "Mom, I¡¯m back!"


    Opening the door, Garen changed out of his shoes and walked inside, closing the door behind him.


    "There¡¯s cream of corn soup in the microwave, I added some black mushrooms, go heat it up yourself." His mother Trish¡¯s voice came from the study, she was evidently hard at work again, recently she was writing a research paper, and hid in her room all day. She never left her computer once she sat down in front of it, and even most of the house chores were left up to his father Emmer recently, all she did was occasionally make her children some nourishing soups.


    "Got it."


    Garen threw down his bag and violin case, putting them back in his own room, and he saw that the door to his brother Jason¡¯s room opposite his was wide open, Jason himself was sprawled on his bed, reading a book.


    "Jason, do you know Raffaele? She¡¯s an upperclassman."


    "Raffaele?" Jason turned around, he was already in high school and almost as tall as his father, having undergone a growth spurt, his room was covered in posters of boxers and the King of Boxing, each poster full of muscles and sweat.


    His dream was to become a great boxer, in other words, the legendary King of Boxing. Perhaps Garen had contributed in part to this dream as well, having grown up with countless beatings at the hands of his little brother, Jason had always had an almost perverse craving for strength, he trained his muscles every day, increasing the power of his boxing.


    "I know, Raffaele Dockman, right, she¡¯s a huge force in the school, pretty, confident, proud, she and her people have dominated the school¡¯s changing room, tennis club, music club, about a third of the territory there, she sets the rules in those places, and is a very forceful kind of girl." Jason turned around and glanced at his younger brother, "Why are you asking about her suddenly?"


    "Big Brother~~~" Their little sister Vivien ran over to them with a spring in her step, and threw herself into Garen¡¯s embrace, the little fella had inherited their mother¡¯s good genes. She was already in third grade, and looked like a pretty little loli, unnaturally adorable in her small white nightdress, her long golden hair let loose, her huge eyes blinking, and her little mouth pouting.


    "Big Bro, you look so handsome in this outfit!"


    His little sister gave Garen a thumbs-up and a huge grin.


    "Was the performance a success?"


    "Since Vivien helped me rehearse, of course, it was successful." Garen reached out his hand to pinch his younger sister¡¯s cheeks, those fair and puffy cheeks were his favorite place to pinch, he yanked them here and there, appreciating their texture.


    "I drew your portrait in art class today, do you wanna see it?" Little Vivien looked at Garen expectantly.


    "Of course I do."


    So the night passed quickly with all of his sister¡¯s shenanigans, Garen slept very early, and he did not even know when his old pops who had gone out for a survey returned.


    After completing his routine secret technique training, he soon fell asleep, and it felt like the first time he had slept so well.


    The second level of the Insidious Poison Hand was truly focused on building up Insidious power, to the point where it could be used on the enemy. He could also gather up all the poisonous substances in his body in one place, turning it into Insidious power, a side effect of that being a better quality of sleep for Garen himself.


    The only thing Garen was not satisfied with was the speed of advancement in this level of his secret technique, it had already taken him so long to reach the second level, but he was still stuck here after all this time. Although he could feel himself making progress, it was simply too slow. If he continued training according to this speed, he would need at least several years to reach the third level. The time required for every level of the Black Sethe Secret Technique increased proportionally, Garen¡¯s own talent had already drastically decreased the time needed, but even if he did decrease it, it would still mean he could only reach the third level when he turned twenty, and who knows how long it would take to reach the fourth level.


    There was only one way to solve this problem -- potential points.

 576 Strange 4

    Chapter 576: Strange 4


    He had to find something that could increase his attribute talent¡¯s potential points, that was the only way to reduce the training time. It was just that Garen had no idea how to go about it at all, all these years, he had already learned about many sorts of ancient items, but he had not sensed a hint of potential power in any of them.


    He had also tried secretly killing wild animals, like snakes or wolves, but to no effect. This made him reconsider his thoughts, he might have made a mistake in his conjectures about the source of potential points.


    If the source of potential points was merely the mysterious power of Antiques of Tragedy, then in the subsequent Totem World, killing should not have been able to increase his potential points as well.


    But in the Totem World, be it killing totem users or Aberrated creatures, each of them gave him a substantial amount of potential points, so that was strange.


    The conclusion Garen came to, was that he should make more attempts based on soul power.


    This is because the upper limit to his attribute-increasing power was the power of his soul, just as how the Evil Technique Soul Seed deep in his soul would increase the limits of his attributes slightly every year. Ever since he was born up until now, his limits had far surpassed his attribute limits from before, and was now at thirty points. It was terrifying to have an average upper limit of thirty points, but the modification power of the Soul was not limitless either, after he went from the twenty points to thirty, it had gone utterly quiet, that modification power and effect was still there, but it had stopped strengthening his soul and upper limit.


    This meant that the power of the Northern Trident Frost-Fire True Water Evil Technique could only modify this body to an excess limit of thirty points.


    Since the thing increasing his attributes¡¯ upper limits was the power of his soul, then in order to obtain attribute potential points so he can progress to the next level, he should probably need something related to the soul as well.


    Thinking of the special tragedy effect of the Antiques of Tragedy, and then thinking of the unique qualities of totem users with their totem power, Garen vaguely felt that his general direction of study should have something to do with the soul.


    But this world was still an unknown place to him even now, he had yet to see even a natural phenomenon that seemed to show unnatural power, much less something to do with the field of the soul, which was considered higher class even among the unnatural.


    Waking up feeling refreshed, Garen sat up, and pulled away the covers. He picked up the cool drinking water by his bedside and gulped straight from it, drinking a cup of plain water in the morning helped to wash out the toxins in the body.


    After getting out of bed, he walked up to the window, and pulled apart the pale yellow curtains with a whoosh.


    "Hey!!" On the clean white streets below, a pretty girl riding a bicycle was waving at him. It was Raffaele!


    She had changed into a white sleeveless T-shirt, and was wearing the same bleached jeans from yesterday, riding her bike as she smiled at Garen, waving. Her fair and supple skin reflected the glaring white light under the sun, add that to her similarly golden hair, and it seemed as though Raffaele¡¯s whole person was glowing.


    "Hurry up, Garen!" She seemed to be worried that everyone around them could not hear her, her voice unnaturally loud.


    Garen walked out of his bedroom, feeling confused, and saw Jason was also walking out with his messy golden hair opposite him, evidently frustrated by Raffaele¡¯s shocking actions as well.


    "Is this why you asked me yesterday?" He glanced at his younger brother, feeling extremely emotional. "That girl has been waiting down there since half an hour ago¡­"


    Garen was speechless.


    As they ate their breakfast, their father gave Garen a big thumbs-up, his gaze encouraging, and he grinned happily, looking just like their little sister Vivien. As expected, their little sister had picked up this ugly habit from him.


    Their mother Trish had even gotten up and was about to invite Raffaele into the house to have breakfast with them, but Garen rejected that hurriedly. He drank his milk, hastily polished off his fruit and vegetable salad, took two more slices of toast from the toaster, and rushed out of the door, just in time to see Raffaele smiling dazzlingly as she waited by the road on her bike, chatting with an aunty from the neighborhood.


    "Kiddo, what¡¯s your relationship with lil¡¯ Garen? You sure came here early to wait for him."


    "I¡­ I¡¯m his¡­ you know¡­" Raffaele lowered her head shyly, a blush rising in her cheeks.


    "What am I supposed to know? Wait, could you two be¡­" Aunty had a vivid imagination, and was instantly surprised.


    "That¡¯s right¡­"


    "You¡¯re so young, you have to take care of your body." Aunty was in disbelief, "Have you two really done that? That thing?"


    Raffaele lowered her head in embarrassment.


    Garen walked up to them speechlessly, if they spoke any more the misunderstanding would worsen, Raffaele clearly had an ulterior motive.


    The neighborhood aunty greeted Garen smilingly, and left in a hurry, claiming that she did not want to get in their way.


    "I¡¯ll take you, hop on." Raffaele smiled at Garen cheerfully.


    Garen looked left and right, usually he should be able to see Serin and Eeleen now, but neither of them was anywhere to be seen. He had no choice but to reconsider what that so-called oath did.


    "Alright." Garen let out of a breath, and took the bicycle¡¯s back seat.


    "Hold my waist, be careful not to fall."


    "It¡¯s okay, you just go ahead, I¡¯m stable here." Garen replied off-handedly.


    "Alright then."


    Raffaele did not say anything more, and stepped down hard on the pedal, making the bike shoot forward abruptly.


    The entire way there, she pedaled with all her might, making the bike go faster and faster, faster and faster, if it was anyone else under these circumstances, they would have long since gone pale with fright.


    Why isn¡¯t Garen holding my waist?


    Raffaele thought with her ulterior motive, and turned around to glance at Garen, but he had actually fallen asleep. No matter how the bike swayed, he just sat there, perfectly balanced and sound asleep.


    "This guy¡­" Raffaele was helpless.


    They went past the few streets in no time, and soon they had arrived at the school.


    The bike stopped at the school gates with a screech, and Garen opened his eyes, waking up as if on cue.


    The two of them dismounted separately.


    "Oh yeah, Garen, do you remember our promise from yesterday?" Raffaele spoke suddenly.


    "You mean the reward?" Garen raised his eyebrows.


    "This is for you." Raffaele suddenly stuffed something small and round at him, it felt cool in his palm.


    Garen raised his hand to look at it, it was an ancient black-silver badge, there was the image of a buck on it, and most of the carvings at the sides had been rubbed away, as though it had spent a lot of time in someone else¡¯s hand.


    "What is this?"


    "My grandma gave it to me, it was passed down from before, don¡¯t lose it, ¡®kay?" Raffaele said with a smile, and then, surrounded by her many underlings, she pushed the bike away from where they stood.


    Garen stood at the school gates, his expression slightly strange as he looked at the buck badge in his hand.


    Some wisps of familiar aura darted into his arm from the badge. It was just a little, of something he used to be extremely familiar with.


    "Potential points?!" Garen¡¯s heart pounded heavily.


    "No¡­ This little bit of potential power can¡¯t even form one potential point, it¡¯s just a tiny bit of the energy left on it¡­" Garen glanced at his attribute pane, the pane for his potential points jumped a bit, and blurred ever so slightly from 0%, but that was all.


    That little bit of energy from before could only make his potential point value blink slightly.


    "This is¡­ an Antique of Tragedy?" Garen picked up the buck badge.


    Throughout class that morning, he constantly played with his buck badge, and noticed that when two of the girls saw the badge in his hand, their eyes sparkled somewhat.


    These junior high students obviously seemed to know how to hide things better than elementary schoolers, but compared to an adult like Garen, they naturally could not hide anything.


    "Or maybe this thing also has some special meaning?" He caressed the badge as he mused.


    He noticed that Serin and Eeleen were sitting at the other far end of the classroom, but their gazes drifted over now and then, glancing at him, and then quickly moving away.


    "Garen, could I ask you how to solve this?" During recess, the boy behind him patted Garen¡¯s back, and passed him a little notebook with math questions.


    Garen took it, explaining the question to the boy as he watched Serin¡¯s and Eeleen¡¯s movements.


    The more he thought about it, the more he felt something off with that ancient oath, in his eyes, it was supposed to be just a minor conflict between girls, but he had not expected such a surprising outcome.


    Just then Garem saw Raffaele standing at the classroom door, dressed up all pretty, smiling as she chatted with one of her besties, their voices extremely low, as though whispering.


    Right now almost everyone knew that Raffaele and Garen had a relationship going on, even the male teacher who was packing his things and leaving the room gave Garen a mischievous look.


    Raffaele chatted quietly with her bestie, in a voice only the two of them could hear, nobody knew what they were saying, but they laughed together happily.


    They waited until all of the students had more or less left for lunch.


    Raffaele pushed away her friend, and walked into the classroom alone, going up to Garen¡¯s desk.


    "Come, let¡¯s have lunch together, I prepared some good food especially for you."


    Garen glanced at Serin and Eeleen again, they were talking among themselves there, not meeting his gaze at all.


    "Alright." He had already sensed something amiss, and decided to look into the mysteries here properly, plus the strange and ancient trend of having active girls and passive boys in this town, all of the things hidden here were piquing his interest.


    The two of them got up and walked out of the classroom, Garen practically being pulled forward by Raffaele.


    "That thing you just gave me was pretty good, I really like it."


    "I just knew you would like it, I remember you used to really like antiques." Raffaele laughed as she replied, "Don¡¯t think I was joking before, I really did pay attention to you since a long time ago, even my grandma has approved of our relationship."


    "Hah? Your grandma?" Garen felt as though his reaction was slightly delayed, "Isn¡¯t this development a little too fast?"


    "Fast? How so? If you like ¡®em, get ¡®em! Do what you want to do! Whether it¡¯s fast or slow, what¡¯s the point of comparing yourself with others?" Raffaele replied with disdain, "That was the principle my grandma told me since I was young, if I find something good, I gotta act fast, if I¡¯m slow there won¡¯t be anything left."


    "Your grandma sure is¡­ bold¡­ haha¡­" Garen did not know how to comment, wasn¡¯t her grandma worried that her granddaughter would come out of it badly?

 577 Secret 1

    Chapter 577: Secret 1


    In the vast canteen, the silver metal tables and chairs were fixed to the ground and neatly arranged on the floor, the clean white walls around them were covered with pictures of ducklings, apples, and pears.


    The students sat on the chairs in twos and threes, eating the food on the trays, while others were lining up at the canteen window to bring out their trays.


    Garen and Raffaele sat opposite each other on the right end of a long table, the two of them eating the sandwiches on their respective trays, occasionally dipping them into the cheese sauce between them, drinking some of the tomato and potato beef stew.


    There was a low buzzing around the canteen, the sound of many people talking reflecting around the empty canteen, mixed with echoes. It felt as though he could hear what they were saying, but after listening closely, all he could hear was a blur.


    Garen raised his head and looked at Raffaele sitting opposite him.


    "You haven¡¯t answered my question from last time."


    "What question?"


    "What exactly do you like about me?" Garen picked up a piece of apple with his fork and put it into his mouth.


    "Everything, probably¡­" Raffaele¡¯s expression was completely open, "If I have to choose, it¡¯s probably because you look good, so wouldn¡¯t it be really cool when I bring you out?"


    "....."


    "Then what other reason do you want?" Raffaele shrugged.


    Neither of them said anything more for some time.


    Garen felt that this person was slightly strange, she was obviously a girl, but acted like a boy.


    "Can you tell me what promise you made with Eeleen and Serin?"


    "I can¡¯t tell you that." Raffaele smiled, "But you just need to know that the power of the oath cannot be stopped. This is more than just me and them."


    "Is that so?" Garen narrowed his eyes, thinking that he might have to go back and ask his parents about these secrets of the town. The two of them had lived here for so long, they might know some of the mysteries here, more or less.


    This secret might very well involve his potential points problem.


    "Let¡¯s go play ball after eating, I have a girl friend waiting at the court for me, you can cheer me on then." Raffaele still acted as though all this was completely natural.


    Garen wanted to know more about her too, to get into the secrets of the place, so he just nodded and did not refuse.


    After eating, they went to the court for a game or two of basketball, and after class in the afternoon, Garen was escorted home by Raffaele, Raffaele insisted on sending him all the way home, just like how a boy would send his girlfriend all to way to the gate of her house.


    At home, he played with Vivien, who kept calling him Big Bro adorably, and finally waited until his parents returned home one after the other.


    In the study during the evening, Garen distracted his older brother and younger sister, sitting alone as he looked at his mother opposite him, her expression confused.


    "Is there something up? You look so serious, just like a little adult." His mother Trish laughed, reaching out her hand to pinch Garen¡¯s face. "Alright, did you get bullied at school?" She asked gently.


    Shaking his head, Garen avoided his mother¡¯s hand.


    "Mom, I wanted to ask, is there some ancient traditional oath in this town, that you must obey after you promised to make it?"


    "An oath?" Trish thought about it, perplexed, "It¡¯s been many years since we moved here, true, there is something like a ritual here, only the locals will follow it, as outsiders who moved here, we¡¯ve only heard it but haven¡¯t actually seen it. They call it something like the Oath of the Ancestors."


    "A ritual?"


    "Mn, more or less, the locals treat it like a very formal and solemn thing, their ancestors are something that you must be careful around, you can¡¯t even joke about it, if you swore at someone using their ancestors, for example, it might end up costing your life." His mother Trish told him straight-facedly. "Oh yeah, I hear a girl is pursuing you? And she¡¯s really pretty to boot? Is that so?"


    Seeing his mom¡¯s face instantly turn mischievous, Garen also figured that he would not get any more information from her. After talking for so long, she had basically said nothing.


    His mom¡¯s expression seemed to really not know anymore, so he had to give up on her end.


    After chatting idly with his mom for a bit longer, Garen left the room. He grabbed his computer notebook, a birthday present from his dad last year.


    Hammering out a line of words on the keyboard, he entered a web address into the search engine.


    There were many hits about oaths, so to reduce the range, he added a space and once more typed in America, Grano.


    Smack.


    He pressed the Enter button, and there were only five results left on the screen.


    It was an oath from something like a religious ritual, four of them were local public ritual oaths, and one was the oath students made to the national flag, swearing to uphold the American spirit.


    He read all the information about the religious rituals carefully, they were all public affairs, rituals that required many items in preparation beforehand, and they were either for the spring harvest or fishing, or an event for a holiday, with no other worth whatsoever.


    Turning off the computer, Garen sat by his bed and mused. In this town, many of the women, especially the local women, all had a special common secret, a secret that was ancient, solemn, and one that everyone seemed to obey the rules to.


    "Looks like the best way to get to the bottom of this is to use my relationship with Raffaele¡­ once we get close enough, many secrets won¡¯t be secrets anymore¡­"


    His life after that did not change much from before, the only difference was that the two girls who had always stuck with him, Serin and Eeleen, became just one girl, Raffaele. Raffaele would run over here every day, precisely on time, to meet and send Garen to school, occasionally giving him some little presents, which were always decent old gadgets and little antiques. Garen wanted to chat up Serin and Eeleen several times, but they kept avoiding him, so he had no choice but to give up.


    The days passed one after the other, and he slowly got used to Raffaele¡¯s existence as well.


    Sometimes he would give Raffaele some little items back, and their relationship began to grow warmer, like best friends but also like lovers.


    To children like them, their completely unchanged lives passed by extremely fast.


    Slowly, Eeleen and Serin gradually faded from Garen¡¯s vision, and his relationship with Raffaele became better and better. He was never someone to approach others himself, pursuing his own target, so he had no time to get to know the people around him. But the type who approached him of their own accord, such as Raffaele, slowly became an exception for him.


    There was not much difference between his junior high life and his elementary school life, the only thing was that the students grew up slightly faster, and their thought processes were slightly more mature.


    Garen practiced his secret technique every day, but his power stayed on the second level, his progress was extremely slow, and he had subtly asked Raffaele about the buck badge several times, but every time she just said that she did not know, only her grandma would know more about it. This made Garen, who was basically stuck where he was, more and more curious.


    *********************


    On the bright blue sea, the golden-red waves of twilight kept rippling about.


    A beach a hundred kilometers away from Grano.


    On the pale yellow beach, a golden-haired boy in his early teens was walking slowly toward the ocean, wearing nothing but black swimming trunks, his clothes tossed far away on a black coral rock.


    The boy had handsome features, with a hint of gentle androgyny, giving off a feeling of tender weakness. He was obviously a boy, but somehow he had a gentle beauty that made people want to protect him.


    He walked toward the seawater slowly, step by step, his feet getting submerged, followed by his calves, then his knees, thigh, stomach, chest.


    In an instant, wisps of ink-black mist extended from his body, spreading everywhere with the tide.


    The mist was like ink, rapidly dying the water around the boy black.


    The boy seemed completely oblivious to it, however, continuing to walk towards the depths of the sea.


    Strangely, the seawater that had reached his chest did not go any higher than that, even as he left the shallows and walked towards the depths, the water level did not budge at all, reaching his chest and no further than that.


    Whoosh!!


    Suddenly, there was the rippling of waves on the surface of the sea nearby, and two triangular fins rushed toward the boy from the distance. Under the mixed blue surface, there were two large blue-black giant sharks, they swam towards the boy rapidly, their fins cutting through the waves like submarines, drawing out two lines of white waves behind them.


    Just as the fins swam into the black water around the boy.


    The boy¡¯s weakness changed abruptly, his hands as pencil-straight as two sharp knives, stabbing down into the water hard.


    Psst!


    The two giant sharks exploded abruptly with two popping sounds, becoming two chunks of bloodied meat, the bloody water was quickly integrated into the black water territory around the boy, the color of bright blood quickly covered by the black, and then everything returned to the same peaceful scene at the very beginning.


    Garen raised his hands, frowning.


    "The progress is too slow¡­" He sighed.


    The Black Claw of Sethe¡¯s power had already achieved the same level as a Grandmaster of Combat, and his current body was already capable of just barely releasing his aura, so he had indeed recovered some of his power.


    But the laws of this world are different, it seemed that he could no longer fully condense his aura, and even at his current state, he could only insert his aura into an item and then use that to influence other external objects, he could no longer simply release it as he used to, and overwhelm the enemy with it alone.


    But this way, he merged his aura into the water, and into the air, turning it into something ordinary people could see as well, and not just something only for the eyes of Grandmasters of Combat. It was just that this required a lot of energy, and right now Garen could only sustain this aura release for ten minutes max, the area covered by his aura included a radius of about ten meters with him in the center, within these ten meters, any and all creatures that enter this area would be subjected to a terrifying psychological illusory pressure, while at the same time the materialized Black Sethe Insidious Palm Power would also seep into the enemy¡¯s body together with his aura, slowly weakening the opponent¡¯s vitality and speed.


    Right now, rather than saying his aura was a product of the merging of his spirit, it was more like a pure poisonous gas released from Garen¡¯s body. This poisonous gas had a powerful hallucinatory effect, and could even weaken the opponent¡¯s vitality and speed, plus it was soluble in water.


    "Garen! You went into the water again!" Far away on the beach, a slender golden-haired girl was waving at him hard. "Come up to shore, there¡¯s something I want to tell you."


    Garen turned around to look, it was Raffaele, he was very into training these days, so he would ride his motorbike to the beach for a swim every day after school, but in truth, he was practicing his application of the Black Sethe¡¯s Insidious Palm Power.


    This secret technique seemed to truly be an evil technique, it could actually absorb and dissolve the blood and flesh of other creatures, external blood and flesh even boosted his palm power significantly. Since randomly hunting and killing in the forest might attract unwanted attention, he decided to go further away, and ended up training here in the ocean, so no one actually noticed anything at all.


    As an evil technique, the Black Sethe was unique in its poison and also its potent ability for camouflage, perhaps even Grandmasters of Combat at the same level as him would not be able to sense that Garen was using any secret technique power at all. That was also something Garen was extremely satisfied with.


    Garen quickly pulled back the poisonous mist that had melted into the surrounding seawater, and turned around, heading back to shore.


    His movements were extremely natural, the lines of his body unnaturally gentle, and with every stroke, his body would swim ahead quickly, like a fish.

 578 Secret 2

    Chapter 578: Secret 2


    He quickly went back to shore and accepted the dry towel Raffaele handed him. Ever since they got to know each other, in these past two years, they had gotten so close that there was nothing they could not tell each other. Of course, they still had their respective innermost secrets that remained hidden from each other, Garen could sense that, and he could tell that it was the same with Raffaele.


    The Raffaele right now was no longer as childish as she used to be, in the past two years, she seemed to have undergone some special education, her thoughts becoming more and more mature, while her personality grew more and more aloof, other than Garen, she had fewer girl companions, and more underlings who looked up to her.


    Before she knew it, her reputation among her peers became stronger and stronger, and now that she was in her first year of high school, she had already become the most powerful boss lady in the school.


    Raffaele was wearing white swim clothes, her chest was still not very developed but small and delicate, peeking vaguely from beneath the swim clothes, her fair white arms, and smooth white long legs were her most eye-catching assets.


    Her skin was unlike other girls, as she grew older, rather than growing coarse, her skin grew smoother and softer.


    "There''s something I need to handle at school, I need to go back guest." A trace of exhaustion flashed past Raffaele¡¯s face, "You ride back on your own later, I won''t send you then."


    "No problem." Garen nodded, seeing the exhaustion on Raffaele¡¯s face, it was her true face that she only showed him. "You''re too tired, why don''t you give that organization or whatnot to someone to handle, we''re just students, we don''t need to create an organization or summat to trouble ourselves."


    "It''s fine, I can do it." Raffaele waved her hand, she had always been a forceful kind of woman and was equally formidable. "It''s just a minor problem, I can get it settled in no time."


    She was just like a ferocious lioness, powerful, fierce, but also had her proud and beautiful side.


    As she grew older, that quality of here also intensified, she could always make the best decisions, until her many peers and even her elders silently approved of her leadership.


    Simply said, she was just like a natural-born leader.


    But there was something that Garen could not understand at all, and that was the reason behind Raffaele creating a Blood Pact Group. The core members of the group were also all shrouded in mystery, and could not be seen anywhere, but there were a ton of outer members everywhere, be it boys or girls, a large portion of the excelling students had all joined this club.


    Watching Raffaele turn as though to leave, Garen suddenly pulled her back.


    "Don¡¯t rush, let me show you one last magic trick."


    Raffaele smiled, turned around and looked at Garen, her expression full of anticipation. Sometimes Garen would show her some magic tricks that looked very magical, they were very interesting, and also very fun.


    Garen smiled slightly as he held open both hands, his palm upturned in front of her.


    "There¡¯s nothing in my hands, right?"


    "And then¡­"


    He gripped his hands lightly, and then, right in front of Raffaele¡¯s eyes, he gripped them slowly, as though he was holding something in them.


    Abruptly, he spread open his fists.


    There was a small red pebble in the middle of his palms. They came in a pair, very organized and delicate, and there was a seemingly natural carving of a girl¡¯s blurry features on them.


    "Close-distance magic! Impressive!" Surprise flashed through Raffaele¡¯s eyes, her mood apparently lightened, "One each." She just took one of the pebbles, putting it in her palm carefully, and then she looked at Garen with a smile.


    "Alright, one each." Garen smiled too.


    Raffaele¡¯s thoughts had always been very mature, and also slightly odd, she seemed to be very insistent on something, an aim or ideal that was extremely hard to achieve, that was also why Garen was slowly beginning to accept her, although Raffaele¡¯s growth was incomparable to his, but compared to the other, even more childish normal students, he would naturally choose Raffaele, who he could communicate more with.


    With that subtle acknowledgment, over these past two years, the two of them had become a pair that was like friends, but also like lovers.


    Keeping the red pebble away, Garen suddenly felt a touch of warmth around his right wrist, and his hand was pulled into Raffaele¡¯s.


    Raffaele¡¯s hand grabbed his, placing his right hand on her right chest, and then pressing down slowly.


    That perky, full, and bouncy feeling, that warm touch, tinged with the bodily fragrance of a young girl, slowly permeated into his nostrils.


    "This is your reward¡­"


    Raffaele turned around and jogged away, leaving behind only her chiming, tinkling laugh.


    From afar, Garen watched Raffaele put on her shirt and trousers, get onto her own white motorbike, wave in his direction, and then kick-start the engine, beginning her journey back.


    As the motorbike picked up speed, the female rider¡¯s golden hair began to wave backward in the wind.


    In a place where Garen could not see, the pretty face under Raffaele¡¯s helmet began to grow colder as she left the beach.


    "Since you won¡¯t listen to warnings, looks like we have no choice but to start the war."


    She murmured, and the image of that stout white person with the earstuds seemed to appear in her eyes.


    ****************


    Garen remained where he stood, raising his right hand slightly and sniffing it, there was still the girl¡¯s fragrance lingering on it.


    "I never thought¡­" He shook his head and laughed, an ancient monster like him who had lived for so long, was actually beginning to truly feel something for that child-like little girl.


    In that instant, it was as though he could see his cousin Hathaway¡¯s shadow on Raffaele.


    Turning around and continuing to walk into the water, his exceptional swimming skill allowed him to tread water in the depths of the ocean, and he would not sink even if his body was upright, that was also the reason why his family had slowly begun to put down their concerns and gotten used to this habit of his.


    Returning to his previous position, Garen immersed himself into practicing the channeling of his secret technique once more, and he would occasionally use himself as bait, to lure some sea sharks that wanted to eat him, and then he would ¡®eat¡¯ them in a few strokes, using them to increase the Black Sethe¡¯s Insidious Palm Power.


    Thinking back to how Raffaele had hurried back just now, Garen suddenly thought of something. "Why don¡¯t I follow her quietly and see what she¡¯s up to?"


    Raffaele had always been secretive, he had no idea what she was doing, and he had also tried to investigate once before, but it never came up to anything. This time, however, it seemed like something important was happening, so Garen¡¯s curiosity was ever so slightly piqued.


    Looking at the sky, he saw that the setting sun was almost about to sink under the sea¡¯s horizon, and only a tiny bit of the arch was still poking out.


    Garen trained for a little longer, and only turned around to swim back to shore when the sky had nearly gotten completely dark.


    Just then, a shadow seemed to flash before his eyes, a black shadow.


    "Hmm?"


    Garen frowned slightly, and felt something was amiss, stepping onto the sand bare-footed, he suddenly turned around.


    He had no idea when, but somehow there was a delinquent standing behind him, with his hair dyed red and white.


    This man was wearing flashy clothes that practically sparkled silver, his hands in his pockets, his head cocked and his expression unhappy as he stared at Garen.


    "Who are you?" Garen asked in shock.


    "For some reason, looking at a guy like you, who¡¯s so perfect you don¡¯t look like a man, really pisses me off¡­" The delinquent said, his expression condescending.


    "Looks like you¡¯re not a normal person?" Garen asked, ever so slightly surprised.


    "Very smart, I like talking to smart people. Alright, look at my eyes." The delinquent¡¯s eyes stared hard at Garen, and his voice suddenly became softer.


    Garen felt slightly dizzy, his eyes seemed to have some strange pull and whirlpool, luring him into meeting his gaze. Garen was just about to resist, when something occurred to him, and he forced down the urge to retaliate.


    "When Raffaele comes back at night later, you find a chance to send a message to this number using your phone, a blank message. Then you do your best to keep Raffaele there, perhaps truly making her your woman would be a good way to do that." That delinquent¡¯s bleary voice seemed to come from far, far away. At the same time, he showed Garen a paper slip with a number on it, letting Garen see it closely.


    Garen relaxed his body and heart, carefully feeling this sudden feeling of fogginess, this new and unfamiliar feeling was as though his own body was reacted automatically. The delinquent in front of him was like a natural enemy, just one glance, was enough to affect most of his main bodily functions.


    Despite himself, he knew, if he just obeyed his instincts, he might actually truly have to obey the other person¡¯s instructions.


    This strange feeling of being controlled was extremely new and exciting to him.


    Unfortunately, although this feeling of being controlled might be very powerful to normal people, to the point where they could not resist it, but to him, he just needed to move his already-formed aura slightly, and he could already easily break through this feeling of being controlled.


    It was like tying an elephant with a string as thick as a hair¡­ or covering a powerful time-bomb with a paper lantern.


    By the time this feeling vanished, there was already no trace of that delinquent anywhere.


    That extremely terrifying speed, as though he teleported, also left Garen in awe.


    It was as though his physical body had no weight at all, just like a shadow, moving and stopping at will, completely disregarding momentum.


    The night breeze blew softly.


    Garen stood alone on the beach, looking at the empty space in front of him, as though that scene just now was just an illusion, and a feeling of excitement rose instantly in his heart.


    "This world¡­ is finally not so boring anymore¡­" The corners of his lips curved slightly, and he turned around, walking toward the rock with his clothes on it.


    Soon enough, amidst the roar of a motorcycle engine, a white motorbike rode down the twisting paths, headed towards Grano.


    Not long after the motorbike left, behind a rock on the beach, a brunette girl walked out slowly, she looked at the direction Garen had left in quietly, taking out a black cell phone and quickly calling a number.


    "The target has left, the plan is a success." She said softly.


    "You be careful, don¡¯t let that woman notice your movements." There was an attractive man¡¯s voice coming from the other end.


    "Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll just distract the guardian for less than a minute, and I¡¯ll just be giving some psychological hints to control them, I won¡¯t do anything more than that, so I surely won¡¯t be discovered."


    "That¡¯s good." The male voice on the phone paused, "I¡¯ll come find you at night, wait for me."


    The woman¡¯s eyes immediately lit up with a burning passion.


    "Mn, I¡¯ll wait for you¡­"


    She put down the phone, turned around, and disappeared into the crack between the rocks.

 579 Secret 3

    Chapter 579: Secret 3


    Brrr¡­


    Amidst the buzzing of the motorcycle engine.


    Raffaele rode like the wind down the path between the forests, her body leaning onto the motorbike, her hair flying in the wind, her gaze as sharp as a hawk.


    Large swathes of forests flew past her, the bike leaping up suddenly, and then falling down again hard.


    Bzzz¡­


    All of a sudden, the bike moved sideways, turned a few rounds, and abruptly stopped in a small clearing in the woods. The tires seemed to emit faint wisps of white smoke.


    Raffaele took off her helmet, looking at the few figures who walked out slowly from the surrounding woods, they were all young girls, of around her age.


    "Is Vixie back yet?" She asked nonchalantly, leaping off the bike.


    "She is, she just arrived in the afternoon train, and rushed here from the city, now she¡¯s catching up on some sleep." One of the black-haired young girls surrounding her replied respectfully.


    "What about the others? How many of those who had gone out came back?"


    "About six of them came back, the rest of them are occupied and can¡¯t come back for now." The black-haired girl said softly.


    "That¡¯s enough." Raffaele nodded, "The Blood Breeds on that side are getting too much, Grano is still our Grano, it¡¯s where our ancestors are buried, not somewhere those outsiders can show off."


    "President, you want to open fire?" A brunette girl frowned. "I don¡¯t think Serin¡¯s group would agree."


    "It doesn¡¯t matter, this is just a small lesson." Raffaele tossed her long golden hair, her eyes cold as she said so. "Their hands are reaching too far."


    "Do we need to report to the elders?" A girl asked.


    "No, this was originally their intention." Raffaele smiled, her skintight black clothes showing off her slender body, in the forest that grew gradually darker, matched with her dazzling golden hair, it showed off how deep and powerful she was.


    She looked around her, "Gather half of our people, tonight at eight, let¡¯s go to the north area together."


    "Yes."


    All of the girls around her replied respectfully.


    *****************


    Brrr¡­


    The white motorbike slowly stopped in front of Garen¡¯s house.


    Garen leaped off the bike in his black skin-tight riding clothes, in the dark of the night, on the street leading to his own house, there were several suspicious-looking people around, mixed in with the regular passersby, surrounding the whole house quietly.


    Garen looked around subtly, and noticed these people all had a common characteristic, they all looked like small-time delinquents. They seemed to be chewing gum, with their hands in their pockets, but in truth their eyes would occasionally be fixed on his house.


    "Watchmen?" Garen pushed his bike into the yard, he could feel that as soon as he pushed his bike into the house, the people watching him slowly retreated one by one.


    "Big Brother~~"


    As soon as he opened the door, his little sister Vivien bounced out and pounced onto him, the little scamp was in third grade now, wearing a dark red silk skirt, white children¡¯s stockings, her pigtails sticking up at the ends, and add that to her cherubic face, all of it made her a very standard image of the adorable loli.


    But as usual, she idolized Garen, and liked to stick to him all day.


    "Big Bro, does this look good?" Vivien darted out of Garen¡¯s embrace, and spun around on the spot, her short red skirt flying up slightly, giving off a light and pure feeling.


    "Sure, our Vivi is the cutest of all, you¡¯ll definitely be a great beauty who¡¯s loved by everyone in the future!" Garen picked Vivien up in his arms and closed the door behind him.


    "Did you bring Vivi a present?"


    "Of course."


    Garen flipped his hand and brought out a red pebble-like the ones from earlier, this one had the picture of a duckling carved onto it, and looked quite quaint.


    He tossed it at the little scamp, and little Vivien instantly bounced away, bringing the stone to show off to Jason. And then there were the sounds of impatient yelling and bright cheerful laughter, evidently the little devil was causing Jason trouble again.


    It was a completely different treatment from what Garen got.


    Garen went back to his bedroom speechlessly, pulling out his computer notebook, turning it on, and then connecting to the Internet.


    With a pitter-patter of the keyboard, he entered in the word, Grano.


    Hitting Enter, a list of the most recent news in town appeared.


    The most recent result was from one day ago.


    ¡®Two rangers from the Grano Forestry Department were attacked by wolves, the scene too gruesome for words.¡¯


    This headline caught his eye at a glance, and Garen moved his cursor, tapping this news piece lightly.


    With a light clicking sound, the page was opened.


    In the darkness, under the illumination of the white computer light, Garen carefully read that short piece of news, which only had words and no pictures.


    ¡®... The victims¡¯ necks had canine bite barks on either side, and most of their organs had been dug out and eaten by the wild wolves¡­¡¯


    He noticed these words in the news.


    Ever since he noticed something was wrong here, Garen had always been paying attention to the different news happening in Grano.


    These past few years, he had been constantly collecting news articles, and by now, he had collected up to a hundred different articles.


    "This thing again¡­" Closing the web page, Garen mused slightly. "There are at least about a dozen of these cases every year, a few tourists getting lost in the forest, or drowning to the bottom of the ocean, so that even their bodies could not be found. Haha¡­ what flawless camouflage¡­"


    He let go of the mouse, laced his fingers, and propped his arms in front of the computer.


    "Wild wolves? I''ve lived here for so long, I know there are barely any wolves here, even if someone walked in the dense forests away from the main roads, and walked for half an hour, they might still not come across any wolves, they''ve practically been cleared out by the hunters, to have a dozen wolf mauling incidents every year, what a joke."


    Turning off the computer, Garen stood up and walked to the window, reaching out his hand to peel the curtains open ever so slightly, and looking out.


    There really was still someone watching him, but it had reduced from the multiple people just now to just one.


    "Looks like Raffaele¡¯s problem is tonight." Garen was thoughtful, he mused for a bit, pulled open in his closet, and found a large black raincoat from inside, this raincoat was one that everyone in town wore, and this one was adult-sized.


    He put it over him, and in an instant his whole person was covered in that raincoat, looking just like the wide black hoods from the Totem World.


    Pulling on the good as well, and lowering his head, he instantly became a stranger whose features could not even be seen properly.


    Garen stood in front of the closet¡¯s dressing mirror, and took a slight breath.


    Crack-crack¡­


    His body abruptly began to emit a series of loud cracking sounds, and soon his whole shape had changed slightly, his shoulders were slightly broader, and he utterly hid his presence as well, standing in front of the mirror, it was as though he was merely a fashion dummy in a raincoat, with no indication of life whatsoever.


    "After investigating for so long, it''s about time I figured out the truth."


    He buttoned up his raincoat, walked up to the window, and lightly opened the window.


    The person watching him on the street down there was still smoking as he looked this way.


    Garen went around the windows by the side of the house, the back of the house was facing the woods, so the side facing the back was completely quiet, and there was barely anybody to be seen.


    He opened the window lightly, with a whoosh of wind and a flash of a black shadow, Garen darted straight out of the window, landing soundlessly on the surrounding wall underneath him, and then he landed, as though floating, into the dark recesses of the woods.


    Without a moment¡¯s hesitation, Garen walked at a normal pace into the depths of the forest, dressed in his raincoat, he was familiar with the lay of the land around here, so he was completely capable of taking a long road to the place Raffaele¡¯s house was.


    The surrounding forest was completely dark, so that he could not even see his fingers in front of him, but every so often he could see moonlight shining down from the cracks above, that was the only signpost he could see in the darkness.


    Before long, Garen suddenly stopped in his tracks.


    "Who are you!" A black shadow had somehow stood in his path before he had noticed it. It was that smoking watchman. He was dressed fully in black, and his hair was dyed white, his head tilted slightly as he leaned against a large tree.


    He was the one who asked that question.


    "Speak."


    The watchman was cold, and slightly impatient.


    Garen did not reply, and instead stood quietly on the spot, not making a sound.


    "Could you be Raffaele¡¯s¡­" White Hair¡¯s expression changed suddenly.


    Psst!


    Instantly, he disappeared from where he stood.


    A piercing wind appeared behind Garen, pale but sharp nails grabbing towards Garen¡¯s back like sharp thorns.


    Smack!


    White Hair¡¯s fingers were blocked by one arm, and he looked shocked, his figure flashing away, appearing again on Garen¡¯s other side, and this time both his hands grabbed towards Garen mercilessly.


    At the same time, he opened his mouth abruptly.


    Scree!!!


    A piercing soundwave instantly crashed into Garen¡¯s brain.


    Bam!!


    The four arms crashed into each other hard.


    White Hair instantly separated from Garen, both of them taking several steps back, their chests rising and falling heavily.


    "You¡­!" White Hair opened his mouth and was about to say something, when suddenly he saw his opponent disappear in a flash, he instantly knew that was bad, and he quickly used his arms to block the front of his body.


    In that instant, there was a loud sound in his mind, and all the hairs on his body stood on end, the arms blocking in front of him did not touch anything, even at such high speeds, his opponent could still change the direction of his attack, and he was hit straight in the stomach, causing him intense pain.


    With a bam, his whole body flew into the air, his backbone very obviously bending in the center, like a wooden plank broken in half.


    He rolled onto the ground and went quite some distance, all the way until he crashed into a large rock and broke it into smithereens, only then did he finally stop, his body a mess of blood and flesh.


    "Damn you!" White Hair leaped up, and with a crack, he actually managed to recover his broken spine, but as soon as he got up, a black shadow instantly appeared in front of him, and reached for his heart with his claw.


    White Hair hurriedly avoided it, but with a tearing sound, his right arm was forcefully torn off, and yet strangely, there was no blood coming from the wound at all.


    "Ahh!!" White Hair screamed. Using the momentum from his dodge, he instantly began to run away.


    But immediately, a fist-sized rock came shooting at his back, piercing through his chest, and dragging out a trail of flesh and blood behind it before it embedded itself into a tree trunk.


    White Hair fell face-first onto the ground, a large hole blown straight through his chest, but he immediately bounced back up, his face twisted as he continued to flee.


    "His speed and strength are about the same as mine, but his techniques are much stronger!!" White Hair was both angry and terrified, "He¡¯s definitely an experienced Vampire who¡¯s much older than me!! Damn it! Why is there suddenly an experienced Vampire here!!?"


    He accelerated madly, but did not sense any hint of killing intent or movement anywhere around him. This just emphasized how well-trained his opponent was.


    Psst!


    A white arm suddenly pierced through his neck, and a large hole was blown straight through it, creating a mess of flesh and blood.


    White Hair stiffened where he stood, his speed instantly coming to a halt.


    "The leader¡­ won¡¯t forgive you!!" White Hair forced out these few words.


    With a tearing sound, his whole body was torn into four or five chunks, scattered onto the grass and the bottom of the trees.


    Garen¡¯s figure slowly appeared on that spot. Glancing at the corpse around him, he turned around and was about to leave.


    Smack!


    Something seemed to have grabbed his ankle abruptly, a piercing pain coming from the bottom of his foot.


    Garen gave it a jolt of power.


    With a bam, he instantly jolted away from the thing at his ankle.

 580 Secret 4

    Chapter 580: Secret 4


    He looked down, it was White Hair¡¯s severed hand, its sharp nails furiously scratching about. It was this thing that grabbed on the his ankle earlier, the one that left 5 deep scratch marks.


    From afar, White Hair¡¯s skull suddenly split open wide, revealing a gigantic fanged mouth, roaring at Garen.


    "Intruder! Chief won¡¯t let you off that easily! You¡¯re dead! Dead!! Hahahahaha¡­..." White Hair loudly laughed.


    Garen bit his lip.


    "What strong life force..." Looking at his opponents ferocious fangs, those bloodshot eyes, and that pale skin, it all reminded him of a certain familiar species.


    "You¡¯re a blood breed?" He unconsciously said aloud.


    White Hair¡¯s laughter suddenly came to an abrupt stop. He looked at Garen, stunned.


    "You¡­ You¡¯re not a Vampire?"


    Bam!


    With a strong stomp, Garen bust open White Hair¡¯s head. Inside, the inside was absent of blood or flesh, just a clump of black dust, nothing else remained.


    Taking a quick look at his surroundings, he felt a twitch in his chest. Garen had a fairly clear idea as to what kind of world he was currently in now¡­


    Quickly looking through White Hair¡¯s clothing, he stood up and quickly left the scene. After walking around the woods for a bit, he dumped the clothes and walked back home.


    Following the same route, he stealthily went home, without anyone noticing his presence.


    In his own bedroom, Garen swiftly closed the curtains.


    In the darkness, without even tuning on the light, Garen started inspecting the wound he got from the fight.


    It was completely unexpected to him. The fact that when its body had already been completely torn apart, White Hair could still move freely, even to the point where it could wound his body. This kind of monstrous life force, completely eclipses the abilities of the Grandmasters of Combat.


    Seeing that his wound didn¡¯t have any infections or scars, he breathed a sigh of relief.


    Checking his Attribute Plane, his potential points did not increase at all from killing that vampire. This made him feel slightly disappointed.


    Recentering his focus, he started to ponder about the whole issue surrounding Raffaele and the Vampires.


    "This vampire, and also the delinquent from the beach, all of these signs point to Raffaele as the cause of them trying to monitor and trying to control me. Being someone who gained the attention from the Vampires, Raffaele¡¯s Blood Pact Group must not be any ordinary group¡­ Raffaele herself must also have some sort of ability comparable to the vampires as well. That kind of power¡­ coupled with the strange phenomenon and culture in the town, it must be a power only this lady can use¡­"


    Garen suddenly remembered, no matter if it were the Earth or the Secret Technique World, there had been legends about Witches.


    "What if she¡¯s a witch?" From the collections of messages he¡¯s received in the past and all the ancestral rituals taking place, he gathered that, "She¡¯s most likely a witch."


    Coming to 2 possible hypotheses, Garen immediately turned on the laptop in front of him.


    "Maybe it¡¯s time for me to start improving my technological skills, it would be good to create a programme specifically for collecting and sorting out the messages¡­" He searched the web for legends revolving around vampires and witches, but unfortunately for him, most of it were either about novels, television series, or other forms of entertainment. There were also a few search results about myths and urban legends, but most of them had been read before by him, serving no real value.


    Connecting to the website of the National Security Agency of the USA, Garen was hoping that there were some relevant records for this issue. However, maybe these kinds of confidential information wouldn¡¯t be uploaded to the Internet. It was highly possible that the information would be saved in the internal Local Area Networks of the agency, sealing it away from the public. As such, even the best hackers in the world would be rendered useless, since the Network wasn¡¯t even connected to the Internet with any cables or optical fibers.


    Unlike before, when looking through the national criminal records this time, especially the murder and disappearance cases, Garen made a new discovery.


    All the criminal reports by the government had been carefully selected. Some of the resolutions of the cases seem perfect, but it still somehow felt off. Even some of the testimonials given by eyewitnesses, they seem to be slightly flawed and occasionally had some mutually contradictory statements.


    Connecting the dots, a thought started to form in Garen¡¯s brain.


    The situation was becoming more and more clear, he was more and more sure of his hypothesis.


    "Blood Breed, Vampires, and Witches, even if they weren''t exactly the same, something similar to them exists here."


    Closing his laptop, he sat back down in the darkness.


    He heard the sounds of the door closing, his parents were home. He could vaguely hear his sister and her mother, Trish, talking,


    Garen was sitting on the edge of hs bed, thinking back about his battle with White Hair.


    The battle was quite easy. Even though his body hasn¡¯t returned to the level it was back in the Totem World, and his average stat points sat only at slightly above 2, he had his years of battle experience and his secret technique, so beating White Hair was pretty effortless.


    "His speed and strength was almost close to mine¡­ No, it might even be better than mine. He also had that absurd life force and regeneration¡­" Garen said while caressing his skin, "It was only because his technique was bad, or rather he didn¡¯t have any technique, just average level street-fighting skills. His speed was so fast to the degree that he himself wasn¡¯t able to control his movements. This kind of vampire was nothing to be feared. But that life force though¡­"


    Thinking back to the hand that could continue to attack its opponent, Garen¡¯s knowledge of vampires had increased.


    "For a pawn used to tail me, he already had strength and speed on par with me¡­ Blood Breed¡¯s advantages over an average human being sure is overwhelming."


    Garen was worried that this was not just a normal species of Vampires. From their rank, it seems like White Hair is quite a low-ranked lackey. If even a low-ranked vampire could possess this absurd speed and strength, along with that life force and regeneration, how strong would a high-ranked vampire be?


    In addition, the Blood Breed in the legends are immortal creatures.


    This point garnered Garen¡¯s attention, could they really live forever? Were they truly immortal?


    He was really curious about this.


    "Though it¡¯s probably better not to rush to find out at this time¡­ I should take it slow." He felt his slow growth of his Secret Technique - Black Claw of Sethe, although its regenerative ability was quite decent as compared to normal humans, when compared to the Blood Breed, it naturally pales in comparison.


    If the Blood Breed were all at the same level as White Hair, he could easily take down a few more of them, but if a stronger Blood Breed appears¡­ Against an absurdly strong unknown lifeform, even Garen felt a bit worried.


    After all, the Blood Breed in the legends were monstrous immortal beings. Even in the Secret Techniques world or the Totem World, there wasn''t anything that was truly immortal.


    At best, there were only beings with extreme longevity, who can live up to thousands of years, like the Demon Phoenix. However, Vampires were different¡­ If we go according to the legends, it¡¯s wasn''t just thousands of years, they could even be millions of years old¡­


    "This world was not as normal as I thought¡­"


    ******


    "What? We lost a tailing agent?"


    In the church at the North of the town, a muscular man with earrings squinted at the minion giving a report to him.


    It was the middle of the night, a group of blood-covered delinquents, most of them had some sort of injury or wound, with some major injuries such as the loss of 2 of their limbs, to minor ones like a few mere scratches.


    However, even some of the minor injuries looked absurd, there was even a guy with a metal pole impaled in his chest. The entire church looked like a horror film makeup room.


    "Yes, when it was time to change shifts, I went to find Carl, but that guy totally disappeared. I tried looking around in the surrounding areas but he was nowhere to be found, he might have left himself." The guy who was speaking was a dark-skinned, muscular male with a bandage wrapping his head, covering one of his eyes. Blood could be seen slowly seeping through the bandage.


    "Looks like it was Raffaele¡¯s work. She must¡¯ve found something out." The white chief calmly said, "This bastard seems to be much more of a handful as compared to her grandma¡­"


    "Since this line has been discovered, what are your plans for this?" The Reverend Father suddenly walked out from the side, frustratedly looking at the chief.


    "Let¡¯s leave it be for now. We¡¯ve suffered quite a bit of damage, but it should be the same for that bloody witch too. In my estimation, both parties would be needing quite some time to regroup and recover." The white man hesitated, "I can¡¯t shake the feeling that Raffaele is scheming something, that bastard is known as Grano¡¯s strongest witch, tonights actions were definitely not just a warning shot."


    "That Blood Pact Group or whatever, except for that old Witch, have less than a hundred core members. As long as you don¡¯t break your contract with the ancestors and willfully destroy the balance, no matter how strong she is she won¡¯t need to initiate in breaking the rule." The Reverend Father shook his head, "And what about those other Vampires who are roaming about outside? How are you gonna take care of that?"


    "What do those random vampires have to do with me?" The white male laughed coldly, "Let that witch take care of them. I have already sent the a message before they entered my turf: ¡®Those who don¡¯t obey me, Jaern, shall all die."


    ******


    BumTskBumTskBumTsk... My heart is ways onn fr you....cleary yt unser dain sky¡­


    In the nightclub, the DJ was mixing the music tracks with a strong rhythmic beat, with loud foreign lyrics howling through the speakers.


    The people on the dancefloor were twisting their bodies to the music under the flashing strobe lights. Some were screaming, some were clapping, and there were even couples tongue-deep with each other.


    Two big, muscular men were at the centre of this dance floor, each with a hot girl in their arms, moving their body to the beat.


    As the burly men were grabbing a handful of the girls'' breasts, a loud sound suddenly started ringing in their ears.


    The men¡¯s pupils suddenly dilated. They looked at each other, then pushed away their respective girls and forced their way out of the club.


    Ignoring the calls of the girls behind them, both of them left the bar. After talking a few turns, they arrived at a dead end alleyway.


    It was nearing midnight, the alleyway was completely empty.


    Poof!


    Two strong women appeared out of nowhere and pinned the two men against the alley wall.


    "You broke the rules."


    At the exit of the alleyway, a beautiful young lady with long blond hair appeared. She coldly glared at the two guys.


    "A witch? What rules? We didn¡¯t do anything!" One of the guys frantically said. "We just arrived today morning!"


    With a loud "bam", one of the girls kneed him in the gut, rendering him unable to speak.


    "No sucking blood in the public, this is the rules of our Grano¡­"


    "Bullshit!" The other guy interrupted, "Humans are nothing but animals, we will eat what we want whenever we want! If it wasn¡¯t for you bitches and that bunch of traitors!"


    Bam!!


    This time, the impact was much louder.


    The guy rolled back his eyes, nearly completely unconscious.


    "Traitors?" The blonde shook her head, "Slaughter them. They are not welcome in Grano."


    As she walked out of the alleyway, she could vaguely hear the sounds of the two girls¡¯ ferocious hits, coupled with the men''s desperate cries.

 581 Secret 5

    Chapter 581: Secret 5


    After a good night¡¯s sleep, Garen slowly rose from his bed.


    Taking a deep breath, he turned to look at the window. The sunlight was seeping through his curtains, making the dust in the air somewhat visible.


    He pushed away his blanket, once again looking at his wounded heel from yesterday. Except for a light red scar at the very top, it looks nothing like a wound anymore.


    Today was a weekend, so he didn¡¯t have to rush to school.


    After dressing himself, he walked up to the window and opened the curtains.


    "Hey!!"


    Raffaele was on her bike waiting for him as usual.


    Opening the window, Garen shouted, "What¡¯s the plan?"


    "How about the beach again? We can make barbecued seafood!" Raffaele answered after some thought.


    "Sure." Garen didn¡¯t invite her to come into his house. The last time she was in the house, there was an awkward atmosphere.


    "I¡¯ll be out in a bit!!" Garen shouted out loud.


    Walking out of the bedroom, Jason and his sister Vivien were already eating breakfast in the kitchen. His mother was still in her study, and his father was in the living room sitting, talking with his new research student about their learning objectives for the day.


    "Going out again?" Jason asked loudly.


    "Yea, Rafi is waiting outside." Garen sloppily picked up 2 pieces of bread and spread some tomato jam on them, chugged a few mouthfuls of milk, then walked straight towards the door.


    "Bro, you haven¡¯t even brushed your teeth!" Vivien loudly said.


    "Oh, right!" Garen placed the bread on the bathroom counter and proceeded to speedily lather his teeth with toothpaste.


    All of the sudden, the bathroom door cracked open, and in came a red-headed girl in a black dress. Looking at Garen, she was a bit shocked, but managed to recover herself and politely gave her greetings.


    "Good morning big brother Garen."


    "Oh, Morning. You are?"


    "She¡¯s my best friend Arisa! She came to visit, she¡¯s a tourist!" His sister Vivien ran it and answered. "Arisa, this is my brother."


    This girl looked no older than 10, she gave of the aura of a shy young lady. With Garen staring intently at her, she started to blush.


    "I-I¡¯m Arisa, n-n-nice to meet you, big brother Garen¡­"


    "Same here, but sorry, I have a friend outside waiting for me, so I¡¯ll leave you in my sister¡¯s care," Garen said after gargling, wiping off the remaining bubbles around his mouth.


    He did not know why, but he felt that this Arisa was a bit different from other average people, so he couldn¡¯t help but look at her a bit more.


    "Arisa is here with her older sister, but the inn was full already, I ran into her at the town center, so I offered her to stay at our house," Vivien answered seriously. "Her sister is living in Serin¡¯s place next door!"


    "Ahh that¡¯s great. Travelling at such a young age." Garen started ruffling her hair a bit, lightly patting her head, making her blush even more.


    Her hands were behind her back, playing with her fingers frantically.


    "Then I¡¯ll be off, you guys have fun! Grano is a quiet and beautiful place, I hope you guys enjoy yourselves!" Garen said with a smile, walking towards the door.


    "No worries, I¡¯ll take good care of them!" Jason confidently slapped his chest, there was a sly grin on his face, he probably was scheming on bringing them through some strange tour.


    Opening the door, a tall brunette girl with long hair was standing at the side of the gate, wearing a black slim fit windbreaker, carrying a small purse. She had an oval face and white skin, giving of a cool and unapproachable aura. At the moment, she was staring blankly at the distance.


    This beautiful cool girl was still giving off that unapproachable vibe, even when she was just staring idly at nothing.


    Garen, clad in nothing but a simple T-shirt and jeans, started pushing his white motorcycle out of his garage. The sound seemed to have startled the girl.


    She frowned as he walked over.


    "Good morning, I am Arisa¡¯s older sister. I am here to pick her up. Thank you for your hospitality from yesterday." The brunette bent down slightly and gave a proper curtsy.


    "There¡¯s no need for the formalities¡­" Garen felt that this girl was slightly too serious.


    "It¡¯s only appropriate," she replied seriously. "Nice to meet you, my name is Isaros, I¡¯m in your care."


    "Nice to meet you." Garen nodded as he opened the gate and pushed his motorcycle out. " Arisa is inside with my sister, please make yourself at home, I didn¡¯t lock the doors."


    "Then, sorry for interrupting." Isaros bowed slightly.


    Garen quickly assessed this girl, she looked younger than twenty, and had a cool aura about her. She was well-mannered but somehow spoke in a very traditional, formal manner. This made her even more unapproachable.


    Furthermore, the name "Isaros" reminded him of the colloquial name of Duskdune Shura in the Totem World - Anzera. The two were only a syllable apart, this gave Garen a strange sense of familiarity.


    "Grano is a beautiful and quiet place, I hope you guys enjoy your stay!"


    Isaros nodded with all the seriousness in the world, "Thank you."


    Garen looked back. He saw Jason frantically opening the door, his face blushing like a beetroot. He didn¡¯t even dare to look Isaros straight in the eye. Garen finally knew why he was so adamant in taking the initiative to give them a tour just now.


    Pushing his motorcycle, he waved to Raffaele, who was standing afar. They then proceeded to ride off.


    Coldly looking at the direction Garen and Raffaele headed in, Isaros slightly frowned.


    They weren¡¯t here in this town as tourists, although, how they managed to escape their pursuers from Primary Colors escaped her. Fortunately for them, this was no doubt one of the safer places they had arrived at. She could probably stay here with her younger sister for around 2 more years.


    Thinking about that, she let out a sigh of relief.


    Arisa was still so young, yet she had to put up with so much pressure, living her life like a fugitive. Hopefully, they could live here for some more time¡­ In the best case, the people from Primary Colors won¡¯t ever find them¡­ They already gave up trying to seek revenge for all the things in the past, all she wanted now was to live a peaceful, normal life, watching her sister grow up.


    ******


    Two motorcycles were speeding across the woods.


    As the sound of the motorcycle engines roared through the woods, they could see rustling leaves slowly falling to the ground.


    Garen was wearing a black helmet, following closely behind Raffaele. However, his mind was still fixated on the sisters Arisa and Isaros, from just now.


    The kind of feeling they give off, it was as if¡­ there was an indescribable kind of vibe, strange and thick, but he just couldn¡¯t put his tongue on it.


    "What are you thinking about?" Raffaele¡¯s voice interrupted his line of thought, she had apparently slowed down, now riding next to Garen.


    "Nothing much, I just had a weird dream last night, I haven¡¯t calmed down completely yet." Garen didn¡¯t dare to say that he was thinking of 2 other girls. Raffaele treated him well. When it came to things like this, she had a short temper, if he wasn¡¯t cautious he could easily piss her off. These unnecessary conflicts should just be avoided.


    "You¡¯re not thinking of other girls, are you?" Raffaele asked in suspicion.


    "Of course not. I already have you." Garen nervously laughed.


    "Hmmm."


    Raffaele once again sped up and went ahead.


    With this little interruption, Garen somehow figured out what he was feeling earlier on.


    He might be on to something here.


    The vibe he got from looking at the 2 sisters, felt similar to when he was looking at the history of the planet in the Totem World.


    Although he didn¡¯t see any special imagery or messages, but that unique vibe he got, was exactly like when he was viewing the history of the planet from outside of the planet in the Totem World!


    "This feeling..." He muttered with his head down. Although his sights were still on the road, his mind was on the sisters.


    "It should be from the Soul Seed¡­" He finally managed to distinguish this feeling he had.


    Soul seeds are hidden in the deepest parts of one¡¯s soul, at this moment, it was emitting a strange wave, affecting his current thoughts.


    He felt that, around the 2 sisters, a lot of interesting things will start to happen.


    Screech!!


    The 2 motorcycles came to a halt on the road next to the beach, sliding into the opposite direction which they came from.


    The two stepped off of their respective bikes and removed their helmets.


    "Why were you so out of it just now? Are you starting to fancy that girl from before?" Raffaele aggressively asked, her hands on her hips, standing right in front of Garen.


    "How is that possible?" Garen said, "It was just about the dream I had last night¡­"


    "Stop lying! I can see it clearly in your eyes that you were thinking of the girl you saw earlier." Raffaele interrupted.


    "Alright alright¡­ I admit it, but it was only because that girl gave off a weird vibe, nothing more." Garen meekly admitted.


    "She¡¯s just a tourist, what¡¯s so weird about that? You¡¯re my man, don¡¯t you dare go around playing with other girls! Or else, hmmmm¡­" Raffaele raised her fists up in a threatening manner, her cute appearance making such a violent pose made Garen chuckle. He couldn¡¯t resist his urge to pinch her angry face.


    The two then started to play fight a bit, chasing each other on the beach, accidentally falling into the sea getting themselves all wet.


    Going back to their bikes, while they were changing their clothes, Garen quickly took out his phone and sent a blank text to the number he got from that Vampire yesterday. After that, he deleted the message records and kept his phone.


    Looking to his side, he saw Raffaele had changed into her swimsuit.


    "What do you wanna eat? I¡¯ll go catch some for you. I might have to leave a bit earlier because I have some stuff I need to do."


    "Can¡¯t you even have some fun on just on the weekend?" Raffaele¡¯s pure white skin was glowing under the sunlight, almost as if it were forming a halo. It was surprising, that after spending so much time in the sun, her skin was as white as ever.


    "I have some stuff to do. As you know my parents are always busy with their things, when I got old enough they stopped taking care of us too much, so most I do of the stuff at home." Garen shrugged.


    "Oh, right." Raffaele leaned closer, her height was slightly shorter than Garen, she looked up at him innocently. "If there¡¯s any trouble, don¡¯t hesitate to ask me for help, don¡¯t try to carry the burden by yourself, okay?"


    "Of course, I won¡¯t forget my manly girlfriend is one of the strongest girls in town." Garen lightly grabbed her waist, his hand slowly moving downwards, almost reaching the thigh gap below her butt.


    Raffaele smiled slyly, then turned around out of his embrace.


    "Alright, since you have some stuff to do, when are you leaving?"


    "We can still play around for about 2 hours." Garen disappointedly retracted his hands.

 582 Secret 6

    Chapter 582: Secret 6


    "Well, that''s enough." Raffaele was grabbing Garen''s hand, she liked to see his helpless expression. "Speaking of which, recently there''s been a lot of stuff happening on my side as well. When it rains it pours, all kinds of troubles are starting to pile up, making me extremely busy. If it weren''t for my sisters who came back from their universities, I think I wouldn''t have any time left for even myself."


    "There sure are a lot of people coming to the town recently."


    "Yeah, all the inns are fully booked, and a lot of tourists have no choice but to stay in the townspeople''s houses. However that''s not a bad thing, and it gives everyone some bonus side income." Raffaele nodded, "It''s probably because word of ¡®that'' got out to the public."


    "That?" Garen didn''t notice anything out of the particular.


    "The biggest bear species, the Mika Bear, is supposedly the world''s biggest species of bears ever discovered, breaking even the Brown Bear''s record. It''s almost a third bigger than the Brown Bear." Raffaele softly answered, "A lot of tourists are here to find out more about the Mika Bear, but the amount of Mika Bears are very few, in my entire life here I''ve only seen 2 of them."


    "Is it really that big?" Garen was interested.


    "It is, when standing, it can go up to 4 meters in height, however, it is non-hostile in nature and won''t act aggressively towards humans unless provoked." Raffaele explained, "The 2 times I saw them was when they were out fishing."


    Although it sounded ferocious, Raffaele showed no fear in her eyes.


    Noticing this, Garen decided to change the topic.


    "Oh right. I loved the Buck Badge you gave me last time, Can you bring me to see other similar antique items?"


    "Err... That requires my grandma''s permission¡­" Raffaele hesitated.


    "I just want to look at them and admire them, you know how much I''m interested in antiques." Garen sincerely asked.


    Raffaele already knew how fond Garen was of antiques, it could even be said that his knowledge in antiques had surpassed even that of experts, at least those shown on television series anyways, or so she felt. The more she started to understand Garen''s strengths and weaknesses, the more she adored and loved this ideal man.


    Although she was hailed as Grano''s Strongest Witch with the strongest affinity for Ancient Power and her domination of all the witches from all the regional towns, besides that, Garen outshone her in every way.


    "I''ll go ask my grandma then. Like they say, Antiques are like the precious treasures of elders. They are very protective of them, it''s not within my control whether she will let you see them."


    "I understand." Garen nodded, his potential points had not increased even after all these years.


    Recently, his secret technique progression entered a slow state, and without potential points, all he could do was to grind it out with time. The degree of growth had hit new extremes of slowness, and if he wanted to get back to his previous form, it''d have to take a lot longer.


    Potential points could largely decrease the needed time and give him a distinct advantage. As such, he needed to utilize it as soon as possible.


    After killing that vampire and measuring his strength, Garen started to feel an urgent need to increase his abilities and get back to his previous form as soon as possible. Otherwise, if he met a stronger Blood Breed someday or faced an unknown power, he wouldn''t know how to react. With the power he had right now, it would be a suicide mission.


    His experience and technique did make up for some of his lack of power, but that was only in a situation where the power difference wasn''t too huge. If he had to face an opponent much stronger than him, he''d be in trouble.


    Furthermore, regarding whether the Blood Breed was actually immortal, that statement piqued his interest.


    "I''ll give you an answer latest by the day after tomorrow. As you know, my grandma is a very strict person, I''ll try to ask her when she''s in a good mood." Raffaele said apologetically.


    "Thanks!" Garen gave her a kiss on her right cheek and pulled her back into his embrace.


    Regarding Raffaele, he had very complicated feelings, his identity in this world naturally accepted her, but the Garen hidden deep in his heart seemed to treat this as nothing more than a game.


    Maybe Raffaele felt that hence she was reluctant to give her first time to him.


    Garen had lived through 2 worlds and he had already become used to keeping all his feelings to himself. In comparison with Raffaele''s astounding age, he would not easily accept her as well.


    He had already planned to take matters into his own hands if her grandmother declined his request and use the antiques in secret, hopefully activating an effect on his progression.


    After chatting for a bit on the beach, catching and cooking some scallops, the two saw that it was almost time, so Garen got on his bike and bid farewell to Raffaele.


    Raffaele saw Garen off, her long hair swaying in the sea breeze.


    A young girl in a grey shirt walked out from the crevices of the rocks from a small distance away and stood next to her.


    Looking at the infatuated expression of her chief, she let out a helpless sigh.


    From the point of view of others, regardless of whether it was the Blood Breed or the Witches, their chiefs were prideful and cold. The monstrous beauty that people call the Strongest Witch had revealed her horns since the very beginning, during which she managed to recruit all of the witches in the Alice Forest area. She was known to the witches in the other areas as the Sun''s Will. This nickname was due to her overwhelming willpower; as strong as the sun''s rays, inexorable, and a powerful leader.


    In the early years, after a meeting with North America''s chief of the Witches - the Moonlight''s Darkness, Raffaele was unanimously nominated to be the 3rd strongest witch in America. Her talent was monstrous, she had a strong heart, and left a strong impression on the Blood Breeds and the Witches from other countries who were there to witness her presence.


    However, this great being, the Queen Witch of the Forest, was now infatuated with such a normal boy.


    "What''s the matter?" Raffaele looked at her sisters on her sides.


    "Nothing much, we were just jealous of your pure relationship with Garen." The girl muttered, "Maybe I should follow your example and use a hidden identity to find a nice guy that isn''t after my position. That kind of relationship should be pure, right?"


    Raffaele started giggling, and her smile had a sense of warmth that no outsider had ever seen.


    ******


    "Sis, can we really live here for a period of time?" Arisa asked, wide-eyed staring at Isaros.


    The sisters were walking side by side in the town center, following closely behind Jason and Vivien who were leading the way. They seem to have not heard the sisters'' conversation.


    Isaros carefully assessed the surroundings.


    "This seems like a place the Primary Colours cannot get into, they haven''t found our trail, if we remain hidden for long enough, we can live here for quite some time."


    "That''s great!" Arisa couldn''t resist the joy and started skipping around gleefully.


    "Don''t worry, if we plan this well enough, they might never be able to find us in this lifetime," Isaros smiled while patting Arisa''s head.


    The Primary Colours, Asia''s strongest shadow syndicate, had countless connections with numerous governments and also a strong standing in the Asian underground world. Their leader was Rabstein Cairo, the board chairman of the third largest financial group in the world and the owner of numerous banks, energy companies, firearm dealers, and black markets.


    The Primary Colours as a whole was like a monster, having a major influence in every field, from military to politics, and legal to black markets. The sisters were merely average European girls born in a wealthy family, but because their genes were appropriate for the human strengthening experimentations of the Primary Colors, their families and lives were destroyed. Miraculously, they''d managed to escape during one of the experiments, and their life on the run had somehow led them to Grano.


    Thinking back to how the Primary Colors managed to send elite military-trained soldiers and their multiple attempts of kidnappings, it sent a shiver down her spine as she reached out to softly caress the scar on her sister''s neck.


    No one would have thought, that scar was the aftermath of a near-fatal slash to the neck that should''ve killed her. If it was not for the increased regenerative abilities from the experimentation upon her, her sister Arisa would have entered an eternal slumber.


    She had originally considered claiming revenge, but against a monster that had completely dominated the entirety of Asia, taking care of them was as simple as sending out some hired soldiers, mercenaries, and assassins. There were even more rumors about their underground sector having acquired technology like mutant soldiers and killing machines. The entire organization had completely conquered Asia''s underground world, if they used their true power against the sisters, they wouldn''t even stand a chance.


    Isaros did not want her sister to suffer anymore. She was so young, yet she already experienced countless near-death incidents...


    Even if she wanted to get revenge, thinking of the amount of increasingly powerful opponents and the Primary Colour''s seamless authority over Asia, it sent a chill down her spine. In the experimentation lab, she''d once seen that terrifying man - Rabstein Cairo. He had a nickname back there - Titan.


    That man gave off a strong fear-inducing aura, making even someone like her, who''d survived the experiments, tremble uncontrollably in fear. That strong aura made a glance at him feel as though she was a baby facing off against a ferocious lion.


    "Who cares about revenge¡­ I should just give up. As long as Arisa is happy and safe¡­" Isaros lightly nudged Arisa''s back, letting her walk together with Vivien. The two started happily chatting with each other.


    From the front, Jason kept looking back to steal a glance at her, making her chuckle.


    This household that lived peacefully in this little town of Grano, having no qualms with the world, left a strong impression on her. After chatting with Jason for a bit, Jason blurted out every detail he could about his family.


    Their parents were the standard intellectuals, were kind to others, but spend a lot of their time on their own work.


    Their children were all somewhat mature. The oldest child, Jason was very muscular, with a huge body. He liked to practice martial arts, and overall, was just a pure-hearted upper-secondary student.


    Their second son, Garen, was the most mature of them all, his position in their household hierarchy seemed to be higher than Jason''s. He was immensely handsome, had a calm demeanor, liked to play the violin, and was one of the most popular kids in school. There were even rumors that there were multiple girls fighting over him.


    Their youngest daughter, Vivien, was still a young kid, pure and energetic, sometimes weird in a cute way. She adored his brother Garen but also liked to tease and play pranks on Jason.


    This tight-knit family had Isaros a bit of envy. On the other hand, Arisa was completely immersed in the atmosphere, becoming best friends with Vivien within such a short period of time, even sharing all her treats with her, making the actual sister feel a bit jealous.

 583 Secret Technique and Reward 1

    Chapter 583: Secret Technique and Reward 1


    "Do you know why seahorses are so slow?"


    Garen looked back and asked Isaros a strange question.


    Isaros thought for a bit, then shook her head. "I don''t know."


    "Because seahorses are the smallest horse! Hahahahaha¡­" Jason started laughing out loud.


    Isaros looked at him silently, the other two young ones were also speechlessly staring at him.


    Out of the 4 people, he was the only one laughing.


    "Hahaha¡­ Err¡­ Haha¡­ Didn''t you guys find that funny?" Jason finally stopped laughing. Looking at the 3 cringing people before him, he realized how lame his joke was.


    "Err¡­ Alright¡­ Alright, let me tell another joke."


    ******


    As he slowly maneuvered his motorcycle into his garage, he noticed that no one else was here.


    The house was completely empty, needless to say, Alma and Trish had both gone off to do their own research work.


    After securing his bike, he opened the door to his house, took off his shoes, then swiftly shut the door.


    He had no clue why, but his mind was still lingering on the strange feeling he got from the sisters, the soul seed wouldn''t have this kind of reaction for no reason.


    The strange yet familiar feeling was exactly the same as when he was viewing the planet history in the Totem World.


    Quickly moving to his room, he took out his laptop and connected to the web.


    After browsing through the news about Grano, he found the first result was the Mika Bear. The appearance of the world''s largest bear species in this forest had attracted tourists not just to Grano, but also to multiple far-off small towns.


    In other news, there were more articles on wild wolves attacking humans, leaving 1 dead and 1 wounded. Other than that, nothing much had happened.


    Closing the laptop, Garen went into deep thought.


    Crack!


    A sudden crisp cracking could be heard from downstairs. If it was any other person, they would''ve probably thought that this was because some parts of the material of this wooden house had broke.


    However, Garen regained his calm, silently stood up, walked towards the door and lightly pulled on it. The door opened smoothly and silently.


    He slowly peered down from the railing of the 2nd-floor staircase.


    There was a bald man in a black leather coat, calmly walking around the room without making a sound. He was looking left and right as if he was searching for something.


    On his black leather coat, there was an image of a white phoenix stitched on the chest area. A muscular guy wearing a coat with a stitching of a white phoenix, it seemed weird. However, this person didn''t seem to care; his face was as emotionless as a piece of wood and his skin appeared like there was no blood circulating under it, as though he was wearing a mask.


    Garen silently observed his movement around the building. Ignoring all other rooms, he walked straight towards Arisa''s bedroom. He reached his hand out the touch the bedroom door, then suddenly raised his head.


    The second-floor common space was completely empty, not a soul in sight.


    The baldie frowned, slightly pushed open the door to Vivien''s bedroom. However, he did not enter the room, he just stood in the doorway and sniffed a bit.


    "Isaros''s scent isn''t present." He muttered in a soft voice, he spoke in Classical Arabic, which was written as Asia''s Quran Language.


    Garen once spent half a year learning all of the major languages in the world. At his current skill level, he could completely understand what the man was saying.


    Only then did he notice that the man was wearing a black earpiece.


    "There were some traces over here, it must''ve been her." From the earpiece came a soft female voice.


    "Looks like they''ve temporarily left the house to play, this time the mission is quite easy." The baldie said with a small grin.


    "Don''t be too careless. Earlier, all my D-ranked men were wiped out, something must be up." The voice said.


    "Don''t worry, I''m not like that D-ranked garbage." The baldie laughed lazily.


    He quickly closed the door and retraced his steps back to where he originally came from. At the same time, he was holding a long pole with a fluffy circular cloth on one end, wiping away his footsteps as he left.


    In no time, all traces of the baldie''s entrance had been removed, he then swiftly closed the door and left.


    This entire time, he did not go up to the second floor, probably because he already knew there were people upstairs.


    After the door closed, Garen''s silhouette emerged behind the door. Looking through the door viewer, seeing the baldie''s back as he walked off, he couldn''t help but let out a small grin on his face.


    "The aura of potential¡­"


    He lightly touched the places where the baldie had reached to touch, that tingling familiar aura turned his bad mood around completely.


    "That baldie is probably from some organization hunting for Arisa and her sister, his body had remnants of potential aura¡­ Looks like there is stuff with potential in this world after all. This is great news." Garen started smiling.


    He suddenly remembered about the weird feeling he got from the sisters.


    It was the same feeling he got off of Beckstone and Goth at the start. It was a special reaction of the soul, an indescribable feeling without a clear cause.


    If one had to describe it, it would be that it felt influential.


    Similar to Beckstone and Goth, Arisa and her sister should be very influential trendsetters, like the first domino in a domino show. More accurately, they could be said to be the leading actors in a paradigm shift, like the butterflies in the butterfly effect, with just one flutter of their wings, it could start a chain reaction of small influences, adding up together creating even stronger forces, and eventually becoming a gigantic tornado.


    Taking out his phone and checking the time, Garen sent a message to Raffaele.


    In almost an instant, he got a reply.


    "Already reached home, don''t worry, I''ll take care of myself"


    "That''s good"


    Garen didn''t want to cause trouble or damage on Raffaele''s side so he followed the vampire''s instructions, even though he did leave a bit earlier.


    Softly opening the door, Garen observed his surroundings. It didn''t seem that there were any people from Raffaele tasked to protect him. The baldie was also nowhere to be seen.


    He sniffed around for a bit, then walked out of his yard in a carefree manner, headed towards the byway on the left side of the road.


    No one bothered about the actions of a 10+-year-old boy. It was noon and most people were at home eating lunch, and there were barely any cars on the road, nor were there any passersby. You could only hear some vague conversations from the houses.


    The sun was shining brightly, baking the ground.


    Garen was walking on a grassy field, Grano''s forests were different from a lot of other places, the grass here grew extremely tall, and could grow up to one''s knees, completely covering one''s shins.


    Normally people had to pay attention to where they were walking due to the presence of poisonous bugs and snakes, but Garen was completely carefree about that, instead, he was completely focused on finding the baldie.


    Slowly, the number of trees started increasing, from just a few trees scattered about into a condensed canopy blocking out all sunlight.


    After a short while, in a small bush tucked between two trees, he saw two silhouettes in black leather coats. One of them was obviously the baldie who left his house just a moment ago, while the other was a black haired girl with a bombshell body.


    "Are you guys crazy? Wearing black leather in this kind of weather." Garen laughed as he walked over.


    "Who''s there!"


    The baldie roared, looking towards his direction.


    With the two''s alerted gazes on him, Garen slowly walked out of the bush, stepping on some tree roots protruding from the ground.


    "The two of you just visited me a moment ago, how can you have forgotten the owner already?"


    He laughed with his hands tucked into his pockets.


    Baldie looked as if he saw a ghost, looking over to the lady next to him in uncertainty. She shook her head, stating that she didn''t know what was going on either.


    "Who are you?"


    His hand was gripping onto his suppressed handgun on his waist.


    "What organization are the two of you from? Why did you sneak into my house?" Garen ignored their actions, though now changing his language, speaking fluently in Classical Arabic, shocking the two.


    "Fire!"


    The baldie did a combat roll and pulled out another black handgun. In a flash, he fired 3 bullets. Without even looking at the aftermath, he swiftly hid behind a tree.


    The lady also did the same thing, except in the other direction.


    6 bullets were fired spread out in the area Garen was standing. Even if Garen did not move, it would have hit him right in the forehead and at his heart.


    However, right before they fired, Garen tensed his body up and leaped forward into the bush, almost as if a slithering cobra, he rushed towards the baldie. Out of the 6 bullets, none of them hit their mark.


    He swiped his right arm forward.


    Hiss.


    His arm suddenly curved as if it was a noodle, going around the tree and pinning the hiding baldie to the tree.


    His nails turned into sharp black claws, looking almost metallic, and pinned the baldie to the tree by his neck.


    The lady on the other side looked as if she''d just seen a demon. Garen swiftly jumped in front of the baldie, his face still smiling.


    "Now will you answer my question?"


    "Y¡­ Yes¡­" The baldie gulped and motioned for the lady to drop her gun. His face was completely pale and his heart was beating like crazy, one small movement and he was done for. Looking at his opponent''s black claws, he knew that this time he had kicked a hornet''s nest.


    "What do you want to know sir? I swear we won''t hide anything from you, sir." He answered quickly without any resistance.


    "Who are you guys? What business do you have over here?"


    "We are from the Asian White Phoenix society, we were hired as mercenaries to come over to recover the escaped test subjects."


    "Asian White Phoenix? What kind of organization is that?"


    "It''s one of the main combat branches of the Primary Colors, as for the Primary Colors Organization you can probably find out a lot more about them online, sir."


    "Then, what are you referring to when you say test subjects?"


    "I really don''t know, sir. We are only external mercenaries, we have no clue about the backstory of the targets, as, sir, you may know, knowing too much isn''t always a good thing." The baldie answered sheepishly.


    "So the test subjects are Arisa and Isaros?"


    "Yes, sir. Our objective was to capture them alive and we were to only take action if we truly were unable to capture them alive."

 584 Secret Technique and Reward 2

    Chapter 584: Secret Technique and Reward 2


    Garen looked over at the lady, the two seemed to be a married couple. She was worriedly staring at the claws wrapped tightly around the baldie''s neck, trying to not move even a single inch.


    The two were only mercenaries trained by the military. Their abilities with firearms were definitely exceptional and their reaction speed was quick as well, but compared to a real Grandmaster of Combat, they would be defeated instantly.


    The same could be said if they were to fight against the monstrous beings in the town.


    The two were just average humans, and as the baldie said himself, they were just hired mercenaries.


    However, Garen''s objective was not that simple.


    He carefully looked through the pockets of the baldie, swiftly ripping out a small black wooden cross from his robes.


    The moment he made contact with that cross, a cooling aura flowed through his arm, and a sparkle blinked to life in his eyes.


    "Where did you get this thing?"


    The baldie''s face seemed to wince in pain.


    "This is a souvenir from a friend, a very good friend of mine. He asked me to always carry it and to never let it out of my sight."


    "What a great souvenir," Garen purred, satisfied.


    This cross definitely contained some potential aura, not the type that was for one-time-use, but the type that continuously flowed.


    The surface of the cross seemed to be covered by a layer of shapeless energy as if it could burst any moment.


    Garen guessed that this was the type of charm that was used against supernatural beings. If it came in contact with a supernatural being, it would burst immediately to protect baldie.


    Baldie''s friend was obviously worried about him getting into life-threatening trouble, so he gave him this necklace.


    "Looks like your friend is a great guy." Garen ripped off the necklace. His original killing intent towards the two had completely been dispersed. He started to think about how he could manipulate this two to work for him.


    After all, his sources of information right now were extremely limited, it was almost none other than the Internet. If he had two people with different identities he could use as his eyes and ears, his understanding of this world would increase even more.


    There were many ways to manipulate an enemy, but since he did not have any understanding of the unknown powers lurking in this world, it was difficult to find a way that can guarantee success¡­


    This world was full of vampires and quite possibly witches as well, and possibly other supernatural beings. At the surface level, this world seemed simple, but it was only the tip of the iceberg.


    Looking through his memories of past secret techniques, Garen decided to use a stealthier secret technique.


    If it was purely for punishing an individual, even the lowest tier skill would do, but to ensure the loyalty of the individual, this was the best method.


    Looking at the baldie, he let out a meaningful laugh. Garen loosened his grip on the baldie''s neck.


    "Thank you for all the information, but as you guys can see, this is not a town that you can mess around in. From our conversation earlier, I felt your sincerity and I applaud you for that."


    He paused for a moment, "Since you guys are mercenaries, I have a mission for you guys, I was wondering if you guys would like to accept."


    "You''re not gonna kill us?" The baldie asked, looking visibly relieved.


    "I''m not some bloodthirsty serial killer, why would I want to kill you?" Garen opened his arms, "This mission, if you guys manage to succeed, I might consider taking you guys on as disciples and teach you that powerful Battle Skill you guys saw just now."


    There was a sparkle in the baldie''s eyes, not only him, even the black-haired lady unconsciously gulped.


    Only mercenaries like them who have been in countless near-death scenarios would understand how useful having that kind of battle skill would be in combat. Furthermore, if they could be like this kid in front of them, with that terrifying reach and complete lack of fear of firearms, it was the ultimate killing ability. The opportunity to learn this skill, in the eyes of the couple, posed an irresistible temptation.


    "Are you serious?! You''re really willing to take us as apprentices and teach us that frightful technique?" Even baldie''s voice was audibly trembling. Although what was in front of him looked just like an average looking 10-year-old boy, at this point, he had completely ignored the age of the being in front of him.


    The lady at his side was still in shock, she opened her mouth trying to speak, but the words wouldn''t come out. She helplessly looked at the baldie, letting him handle everything.


    "Of course." Garen smiled. The assassination skills he had accumulated were countless, not to mention that since he was a master in the human body''s structure and a Grandmaster of Combat, his expertise in human combat could allow him to create a simple killing technique in a blink of an eye.


    Furthermore, a simple technique to him could be considered a top tier ability to others.


    "Then sir, what is your mission?" Baldie cautiously asked. This kind of amazing reward must come with a steep cost.


    "It''s simple actually." Garen raised up the wooden cross in his hand. "You see, I''m very interested in antique items, especially this kind of antiques. I want you to find out the origin and history of this item, and to find out if there are more of these similar items. Of course, it would be much better if you could find them."


    At the sight of the two confused mercenaries, he tossed the cross into the air.


    "From a quick assessment, this cross has at least 80 years of history, you guys can start from there."


    "If it''s to find out about this cross, I have an idea." The baldie proudly exclaimed.


    "Are you sure?" Garen asked with joy.


    "Yes, 100%." The baldie answered reassuringly, "I once saw some information about these crosses at the organization, the number of crosses isn''t a lot, but the price isn''t too high as well. They are often sold off as accessories."


    Garen gave him a strong pat on his shoulders.


    "Great job. As a reward, let me give you a preview of what I will teach you. You guys can then decide whether this job is worth accepting or not."


    There was a fire ignited in the duo''s eyes.


    ...


    2 hours later...


    Garen slowly walked out of the woods onto the road, his hands were in his pockets as usual as he walked towards his home.


    That wooden cross was in his pocket, and he was gripping onto it tightly.


    Hints of an icy aura kept flowing into his palm, slowly moving through his arms, to his shoulders and finally to his brain.


    Looking at his skill pane, then once again feeling the total amount of aura the cross contained, Garen estimated that this cross could provide him with at least 3 attribute points, which equated to 300% of potential value, and that was a very conservative estimate.


    After such a long, dry period with zero growth in potential value, suddenly earning so much boosted his mood tremendously.


    He suddenly started having a much better impression of Arisa and her sister. Upon the sisters'' arrival, he''d immediately managed to capture someone who gave him potential points. Maybe even more of the White Phoenix Primary Color or whatever people would come, and his potential points will slowly accumulate even more.


    Looking back to the baldie and his wife learning secret techniques.


    Garen let out a sly smirk, they were his feeler tentacles, from now on, he would no longer be like before, lacking information on the underground world.


    The skill he''d taught them wasn''t a complete secret technique. Without the support of a real secret technique, it was naturally impossible for it to be a strong secret skill.


    Furthermore, it was a secret skill that Garen had created on the spot; as the name suggested, it was the middle point between a skill and a secret technique. The learning prerequisites were low, so anyone could learn it, but it would cause certain harm to the user''s body when using it. It was a skill that sacrificed one''s own health to increase one''s ability.


    Although it could only power you up for a short period of time, it was still an extremely useful skill for the couple.


    Garen called this new skill the Shooting Shadow. It was a shooting type support secret skill which could stimulate certain nodes on the user''s body, allowing it to double their sight, hearing, and reflexes for 30 minutes. To them, this was the ultimate trump card.


    And this was only the 1st level of this skill, there were a total of 6 levels.


    The amount of sacrifice for each level was the same, it may even decrease, but its effects would only get stronger as one progressed.


    At level 6, this skill could amplify sight, hearing, and reflexes by up to 6 times.


    This made the couple pay full attention to Garen, with his support, they finally managed to attain Level 1 of this simple secret skill. After feeling the strength of the skill, the two were completely set on working for Garen.


    The side effects of this skill were very damaging; every time it was used, it would cause internal damage to the user''s body, but this kind of damage wasn''t obvious. Every time it was used, the user would need to rest for at least 3 months, otherwise, if the skill was used repeatedly in short succession, it would lead to irreversible damage to the body, like blindness or deafness.


    That was the biggest difference between secret techniques and secret skills. Secret skills came at a huge cost and couldn''t be used continuously.


    Secret Techniques, on the other hand, had no major side effects and could be used repeatedly. Just like Palosa''s 99 Acute Airholes, which gave him his reputation as the unrivaled master he was from the beginning.


    The reason the secret skill Shooting Shadow was so strong was that, when Garen was guiding the two, he used some of his own aura as a primer to stimulate a certain amount of change in their bodies, allowing them to master the skill.


    What they didn''t know was that if they wanted to continue training for this skill and get to the next level, they had to find Garen and have him stimulate their bodies again.


    In other words, their growth was all up to Garen.


    There was also one other disadvantage to secret skills.


    It was they could only be improved and could not be abandoned.


    Once you learned a secret skill, it was like walking into a dead end, and you could only continue to train. If you don''t get to the highest level but stop your training for a prolonged period of time, you will experience intense pain and your body will slowly deteriorate until your death.


    Regarding this point, Garen was prepared to improve it a bit more.


    After all, secret skills were just something he created at the moment, he needed time to perfect it.


    When he reached home, he started to record all his memories down. At dinner time, his parents were finally home, and so were Jason, Vivien and the sisters who''d spent their day outside playing. Under their parents'' invitation, the sisters also joined the family for dinner.


    Garen sent Raffaele a text.


    The reply stated that everything was fine, the other party did not try any of their schemes.


    Now that his two feeler tentacles were sent out, all he needed to do was to wait for their reports. He had also gotten his hands on his first batch of potential points, putting Garen in a cheery mood, and he gleefully gazed at Arisa and his sister.


    If this was successful, he could obtain even more crosses, giving him even more potential points. Everything was going according to plan, and with his strength rapidly increasing, he could soon find an opportunity to find out more about the vampires.


    It was still early anyway, he was still a lower-secondary student going into upper-secondary next year, and was still young.

 585 Accident 1

    Chapter 585: Accident 1


    Time passed by.


    Raffaele''s grandmother had rejected Garen''s invitation in the end. Raffaele felt very sorry about this and sent a lot of old things to him as compensation.


    High school life was no different from Junior High, other than the workload of their studies becoming heavier, but for Garen it was negligible.


    After he''d finished absorbing Black Wood Cross, due to the fact that his mental age was too disconnected from the students around him, without Raffaele to accompany him, he would be alone most of the time.


    He would go to the music classroom alone to practice, and would also find an empty room to practice his battle skills.


    He practiced his battle skills slowly. On the surface, he was merely practicing outer martial arts for his health but as long as he was willing, he could produce a deadly force in an instant from these stretches.


    Garen did not have friends other than Raffaele, whereas Raffaele had a lot of friends or rather, subordinates. These two always had one common point, something that maintained their relationship, which was loneliness.


    Even if these two were lovers, they had never let each other know their secrets.


    No matter it was Garen or Raffaele, they were the same.


    Yet, it was due to this, they felt that compared to other people, their distance was much closer.


    These few years were plain, nothing big happened in town except that a Mica bear was ¡®invited'' to leave by the National Zoo.


    ******************


    In the afternoon, the air was warm as the sun baked the ground, and withering leaves were scattered by the errant breeze.


    Behind the school outside the music classroom


    A slender young boy was standing on the podium in the music classroom and a gentle melodious tune could be heard.


    Softly, peacefully as though a person was walking quietly on a boundless field. Moonlight glimmering in the night accompanied by a refreshing cold breeze, stillness in the heart.


    The boy had white and delicate skin, a neutral gender face and golden short hair.


    Black shirt and slim black trousers perfectly outlined his slender figure.


    By the windows of the music classroom were rows of unknown trees. A golden-haired girl was sitting on the windowsill, quietly listening to the melody. The sunlight glimmered on her white dress, leaving patches of white and gold.


    "It''s Michael Sidd''s I Hope?" When the sound of the violin ended, the girl casually asked.


    "You got it right again." Garen put down the violin and carefully began its maintenance work. This violin was specially bought by his mother from one of her old friends, spending 200,000 Gallons. If this was on Earth, it would be spending over 200,000 US Dollars, although this violin''s greatest worth was in collector''s value.


    "I don''t even need to guess. I''ve heard so many times." Raffaele combed down her hair with her hand.


    "Which school are you going? Your SIT score is over 2300, there shouldn''t be any problem for you?"


    Garen walked over to the window and rested his hands on the window''s side.


    "Quite, I''m planning to go to Gullivier. The family''s supporting too."


    "I don''t think I can go there." Raffaele twirled her hair with her finger. "I took the test five times, but the highest I could get was 2000 points. I don''t think I can keep up with you. My family''s suggestion is the state''s university."


    "Studying in the state?"


    "Mhm."


    Garen went silent. After all, they''d been together for so long, affection for her had slowly grown.


    He could still remember Raffaele''s heart-shaped candles that''d caused a commotion among the students during the night.


    Over the years, she''d come to pick him up almost every morning. Occasionally, for a period of time, she would send him a variety of flowers in bouquets of 99. In everyone''s eyes, this was incredibly romantic.


    Undoubtedly, Raffaele was passionate. Perhaps in her heart, she desired someone to truly understand her and become a shelter for her heart.


    "Gullivier¡­that''s the best school in the whole of America. Perhaps this is for the best, you and your family shouldn''t have come to this countryside." Raffaele was a bit down-hearted.


    "I will be back again." Garen smiled, "My family is not moving, what are you worried about?"


    "The outside world is very exciting¡­" Raffaele was obviously a little moody.


    "Don''t you think that mentioning to other people that your boyfriend is a Gullivier student, it sounds cool?" Garen put his hand on her shoulder.


    "Who knows? After you go there, would you still put ordinary countryside girls in your eyes?" Raffaele was jealous. After knowing Garen''s family background, she knew that the gap between their families was too great.


    On the surface, his father was a university professor and his mother was a psychologist who had some reputation and Garen himself was talented and beautiful, skilled in violin and cultured, totally different from other students.


    This was also the reason she could not take her eyes off him.


    As for her, if her identity as a witch was taken away, she would just be an ordinary countryside girl who was a bit pretty and wild. Compared to those enchanting city girls who knew how to put on makeup, the gap was obvious.


    Even if she exposed her identity as a witch, it was useless, perhaps it might even scare Garen.


    Her first love, perhaps it was really the end¡­


    While thinking so, Raffaele looked up into Garen''s eyes.


    "You will remember me right?"


    "Don''t make it seems like a drama where we''re separating for life." Garen pulled on her cheeks. "We''re not shooting a film. I''m not going to disappear."


    Gullivier University was synonymous with Earth''s top few universities like Harvard, Yale and so on, one of the best universities in America. The ranks among these top three were constantly interchanging.


    This kind of university not only looked at the SIT score but also examined other aspects. Garen''s parents were also one of his admission factors.


    SIT was like American university''s SAT and ACT on Earth, splitting into two parts and using the integrated scores. All American universities used this system. The students could take the tests multiple times or only one time if they were satisfied with their results.


    After Garen figured out all of this, he had gone to apply for the examination earlier on and easily got himself a score of 2345 points. This was after his adjustments because the full score was only 2400 points¡­


    Raffaele also went with him. Unfortunately, perhaps because her education was focused not on this aspect but on witchcraft, her results were not that good. The highest score she ever got was only 2000 points.


    "After you''re gone, nobody will be here to talk to me." Raffaele also pulled at Garen''s cheeks, but he immediately escaped, so she went after him.


    "After you go to a new school, you will be able to make new friends." Garen laughed. "To be so easily worried at such a young age, you will go bald in the future."


    "You''re the bald one!" Raffaele was mad and reached out to pull at Garen''s hair but Garen still managed to dodge. By the window, one was clawing and the other was dodging.


    Du¡­Du¡­


    Raffaele''s phone rang, it only had a simple dudu sound, no music or whatsoever.


    She halted her attempts.


    "I''m going to get you for this!" after dropping a stereotypical villain''s line, she took out her phone and went to a place further away to answer.


    Garen stood by the window, watching her answering her phone. She waved at him.


    "I''m going ahead, there''s something I need to deal with!"


    "Okay! I''m also going back!" Garen nodded.


    Looking at Raffaele on her motorbike roaring away, Garen smiled. He had not told Raffaele that he was leaving tonight. This mysterious town, he could make out the situation now.


    Witches and Vampires both ruled this town. The Witches were guarding something and the Vampires had a certain understanding of them. They were vigilant of outsiders. These two were maintaining a seemingly fragile but solid relationship.


    Grano town was not famous among ordinary people, but in the world of Witches and Vampires, it should be a rather important place.


    Garen would sometimes catch some foreign Vampires and interrogate them. This basic information, he was familiar with it.


    This world''s Vampires and Blood Breed had a strict hierarchy which was maintained by control.


    High-level Blood Breed controlled low-level Blood Breed unless a special means was used to avoid it.


    Garen was not clear about high-level Blood Breed but he knew about the general hierarchy among Blood Breed.


    The first one was Death Apostle which was the highest level Garen knew.


    The second one was Upper-level Blood Breed, the third one was Middle-level Blood Breed and then Lower-level Blood Breed. The last one was the Vampires.


    Vampires were only common cannon fodder which the Blood Breed looked down upon. In fact, they were not even recognized as part of the Blood Breed clan. No matter what method they had, they could not avoid the fate of being under the control of the Blood Breed. Simply put, as long as they met a Blood Breed, they could only be unconditionally controlled.


    However, although Vampires were only the Blood Breed''s cannon fodder, to ordinary people, they had a control ability which was synonymous with hypnosis.


    They called this ability "charm".


    Death Apostle, Upper-level Blood Breed, Middle-level Blood Breed, Lower-level Blood Breed, and Vampires. That was all the information Garen could gather from the vampires'' mouth.


    Lower-level Blood Breed could freely convert Vampires, Middle-level Blood Breed could convert Lower level Blood Breed and so on. Death Apostle could convert Upper-level Blood Breed. This was the source of their absolute hierarchy.


    Unlike the Blood Breed on Earth, the Blood Breed here did not fear sunlight, not even the Vampires. They only feared silverware.


    The division level among witches was based on the vampires.


    Death Apostle Witch, Upper-level Witch, Middle-level Witch, Lower-level Witch and Spirit Seekers. This division was according to their strength. Garen had never seen how Witches fight so he did not know their fighting style and strength but based on this mysterious town, they were most likely very strong.

 586 Accident 2

    Chapter 586: Accident 2


    Garen focused more on the Blood Breed''s position.


    The entire Blood Breed was roughly divided into two factions or tendencies: the light party and the secret party.


    Light party: Due to the fact that the Blood Breed''s origin in this world was human, they regarded themselves as humans that had undergone evolution to becoming advanced humans. Therefore they should be the elite of the elites, the leader of humanity.


    This faction''s opinion was that they were part of the humans'' society. They maintained order and dominated a large part of this world.


    Secret party: This faction of Blood Breed had bloody tendencies. They regarded themselves as higher species and humans as food and livestock. Just like rearing cattle and sheep, they could eat the humans whenever they wanted. They belonged to higher species and did not consider themselves as part of the human society. This faction of Blood Breed were terrorists. They destroyed the order and were in conflict with the light party.


    However, these two tendencies were only a fad, not real parties. Some Blood Breed might change their way of thinking over time and changed from light party to secret party. Some secret party Blood Breed might integrate with the humans because they fell in love with humans, changing from secret party to light party.


    As long as it was not obvious conflicts, there would be no dispute between the two sides.


    On the whole, apart from Blood Breeds and Witches, there were no other supernatural forces. It seemed this world was ruled together by Blood Breeds and Witches.


    This made Garen feel weird but at the same time, he understood why the towns'' women had higher status than men. It was because the women held mystical powers.


    Excluding Witches and Blood Breeds, although the remaining humans had advanced technology, in the face of Blood Breeds and Vampires, they were too weak.


    They were like predators. Even the lowest Vampires could control humans and even make them commit suicide easily.


    The ability to charm humans, terrifying speed and regenerative ability. Even the top Grandmaster of Combat could barely fight against Vampires.


    However, excluding a few areas, the number of Blood Breeds and Vampires were very limited. They had restrictions on their reproduction. Even the Vampires were not free of that restrictions.


    This was Garen''s conclusion after carefully studying the components of the Vampires'' blood.


    Their core was Blood Nucleus. Although the name contained ''Nucleus'', unless the blood was totally dried up, it could not be found. This was the essence of Blood Breed which appeared in their heart when their blood was completely let out.


    Blood Nucleus required a higher level Blood Breed to separate a trace of their own Blood Nucleus to inject into a body that was sucked dry of blood, as a foundation to turn them into a lower level Blood Breed.


    At this stage, the Blood Nucleus would go through differentiation, this process consumed their own Blood Nucleus.


    Blood Nucleus was their root and their source of life. As long as their Blood Nucleus was not extinguished, apart from having their head blew up, they could regenerate and recover their wounds.


    When the situation of Blood Breed was roughly clear, Garen began to collect things like Black Wood Crosses.


    With the help of two mercenaries, the bald-headed Kaedun and his wife Hera, two more Black Wood Crosses were gathered. Along with the one originally obtained by Garen, a total of three had been collected.


    He absorbed 10 Potential points from the three crosses, which was a rather rare harvest for this world.


    These 10 Potential points were placed in the Attribute Pane, and Garen was considering how the points should be distributed.


    There were no uses for Secret Technique for now anyway. His safety was also guaranteed by Raffaele. In the eyes of other people, he was just a normal high school student and would not meet any situation that was outside of his present ability. Initially, he''d wanted to enhance his strength because he was worried about the Blood Breed invading but after knowing Raffaele''s force, Garen was not as worried anymore.


    Not to mention the faint tacit understanding between the Witches and the Blood Breeds in the town.


    Sitting on the window, Garen took a look at his Attribute pane.


    ¡®Garen Thomas.


    Strength 2.4. Agility 2.5. Vitality 2.4. Intelligence 2.1. Potential 1058%. Soul Limit 30.


    Seed of Soul: Northern Trident Frost-Fire True Water Evil Technique.''


    Below, the previous bunch of skills was no longer there except two.


    ¡®Black Claw of Sethe: Second level Insidious Hand. (Total four level)''


    ¡®Violin Mastery: Second level, proficient. (Total three level)''


    For other aspects such as education, Garen''s opinion was that maybe his subconscious regarded them as things that were not difficult, hence they were not on his list.


    His gazed at the two skills, they showed the number of potential points required for an upgrade. Black Claw of Sethe needed 5 points to upgrade a level whereas violin only needed one point to master it¡­the difference there was too big.


    After thinking, Garen still moved his gaze to Black Claw of Sethe. This Secret Technique''s origin was not clear. To ascend from the second level to the third level was unusually difficult, and he''d originally thought he needed only a few years to break through. Unfortunately, there had been no sign of breaking through until now, which made him wonder if he needed external stimulus.


    Fortunately, Second level Insidious Hand''s power was comparable to a fully mastered Mammoth Secret Technique''s highest damage from Secret Technique World. The aura also astonishingly covered an area of more than 10 meters.


    Finally, he chose to rely on external stimulus to break through.


    Garen sighed, watching his potential points drop by 5 points. Then, the Black Claw of Sethe blurred for a moment before clearing up. The whole label of the Secret Technique was faintly covered in black.


    ¡®Slaughtering hand: Third level: Bloodshed. (Can be upgraded to higher level)


    This skill originated from Bloody King, Black Sethe''s terrifying killing technique. Only after reaching the third level would it truly revealed the information within. One of the Ancient Ender''s 42 Demon Kings, Black Sethe had an unspeakable talent for killing. With a glance, souls would be extinguished and legend spoke of his hands that could send anything to the abyss whether dead or alive¡­


    "Gee¡­I knew it was no common item." Garen''s mood lightened. This was the first time he had ever heard that Ancient Ender had 42 Demon Kings.


    Black Claw of Sethe was originally something that had been dug out from ancient ruins. From the look of it, the Secret Techniques from the Secret Technique World that Garen had collected, especially those that Garen could not even see through, must have come from Ancient Ender''s different level of powerful existences.


    Less than two minutes after the Secret Technique was upgraded, Garen felt something cool gushing out from his brain and spreading throughout his body.


    In that instant, both his hands became hot and he vaguely heard some kind of raging roar.


    In a trance, Garen felt as though he could see a human-shaped murky dark smoke in front of him.


    "I wiisll kam!! Wiisll kam!!!"


    The human-shaped smoke had a pair of eyes that exuded endless light. It roared furiously and then under Garen''s gaze, it crumbled and turned into black dust entering his body through his nose, mouth, and ears.


    "Ancient Ender''s language?" Garen sat on a window, wobbly.


    From other people''s perspective, he had been sitting on a windowsill quietly from the start to the end.


    Yet, if someone got close to him, they would realize that in the white of his eyes, black smoke was swirling.


    The black smoke quickly flowed into Garen''s pupils and disappeared.


    He did not know what that thing was talking about.


    It seemed like Ancient Ender''s words but that combination of words made no sense to him.


    If he did not guess wrong, that figure should be Ancient Ender''s Demon King, Black Sethe but why was he so furious? The secret must be connected to the mysterious disappearance of the Ancient Ender''s civilization.


    Ancient Ender''s civilization was closely related to powerful warlocks. They worshipped death and yearned for death. As one of the 42 Demon Kings, Black Sethe must be among the top. So, what kind of things would make this kind of powerful existence furious to this extent?


    Garen snapped back to attention. He felt some changes in his Attribute pane and looked at it.


    What he saw shocked him.


    The previous human-shaped smoke turned into a shadow with a pair of white eyes in the Attribute pane and charged at the name Garen Thomas.


    As the shadow got nearer, Garen felt a chill in his body as though something dangerous was threatening his safety.


    "It''s trying to possess me?" Garen''s gaze turned cold. The Seed of Soul inside his body burst into a bright blue humanoid and pounced on the shadow.


    The blue figure was holding an icy blue halberd, his face looking exactly the same as the Garen of his past life.


    With his gaze cold, he waved the halberd to fight with the shadow.


    Two tiny humanoids were fighting each other furiously on the Attribute pane. It looked like two kids fighting but Garen knew this involved his life''s safety.


    The shadow was powerful beyond words. Initially, Garen was beaten without any chance to fight back but as time went by, Little Garen who had the continuous support from Seed of Soul finally managed to suppress the shadow.


    In the end, with a roar, the shadow collapsed, turning into smoke and was absorbed by the Slaughtering Hand in the Attribute pane.


    Everything became calm again.


    Garen came back from his trance. Just now he focused his attention on the Seed of Soul and fought a death match with the shadow. Even with Northern Trident Frost-Fire True Water Evil Technique, he still got beaten black and blue.


    That shadow was obviously not in its prime but with some strange techniques, it managed to suppress an Evil Technique with not a tenth of its strength. Fighting it with its strength fully recovered could truly be very dangerous¡­


    "The Seed of Soul was the condensation of all my power in Totem World. At the soul level, it has the same strength as me at my prime in Totem World, yet it could not even hold a candle to this shadow."

 587 University 1

    Chapter 587: University 1


    "Ancient Ender Demon King¡­is really strong¡­" He spat out a sigh and jumped down from the window.


    The sudden threat to his life this time allowed him to understand one of the uses of the Seed of Soul.


    Protection of his soul, and the strength which he gathered the previous world inside the Seed of Soul. This meant that at the soul level, he had extra help in the form of the strength of himself at his prime in the previous world.


    Garen felt that the Seed of Soul had much more uses than this and the protection of his soul was just a basic function.


    Only after checking over his whole body and finding nothing wrong did Garen heave a sigh of relief, pick up his violin case and walk out of the classroom towards the place where he''d parked his vehicle.


    Starting his motorbike, he rode the entire way with that human-shaped shadow on his mind.


    He vaguely felt that the shadow was not the real Black Sethe but a fraction of him. Black Claw of Sethe had two parts. He got one himself and Andrela got the other. Both had been sealed inside metal cases. Although Black Claw of Sethe was something that Garen could not completely understand, it had appeared in Secret Techniques that were hidden in other ruins. Perhaps this Black Claw of Sethe was meant as a net, and as long as someone could break through to the third level, there would be an opportunity to possess that person.


    "Unfortunate." Garen shook his head, "Even with my level, the mutation by the Seed of Soul and training since I was a child, it did not allow me to reach the third level, never mind others. Most of the people probably can''t even break through the first level. It would be a miracle if someone manages to the second level after training for tens of years."


    Putting aside these thoughts, there was no sense of crisis from Slaughtering Hand anymore. The fraction of Black Sethe should have been eliminated by the Seed of Soul. Garen was much relieved.


    He had to pack up his belongings when he reached home. At night, his father Emmer would drive him to the train station and he still had to catch a plane at the capital.


    ****************


    "Brother~~Come back to see me often." Sister Vivien had a talent in acting cute ever since she was small. Even though she was now 10 years old, she still puffed out her cheeks and stretched her arms wanting a hug.


    Garen picked her up.


    "Of course, we can''t forget our cute little Vivi."


    At the doorway connecting the living room, his mother Trish in a white shirt with jeans crossed her arms and leaned against the door.


    "Alright, that''s enough, it''s not like you won''t meet again, there''s still the holidays."


    His father Emmer brought over Garen''s bag. Inside the large brown bag was an assortment of clothes and shoes.


    "It''s almost time, let''s go. Come back whenever you can." Emmer spoke with a cigarette in his mouth.


    "Bro, remember to bring back an autographed poster!" Jason stood in the doorway of his room, unable to hold back his smile. It was apparent that with the pressure from his outstanding brother gone, he was more than a little happy.


    "I know." Garen waved at him, "The first year will be more troublesome but I should be able to take out some time to come back once I reached the second year."


    Carrying his things outside, Arisa and her sister were standing in the yard. These two sisters were very familiar with his family due to Jason and Vivien. They''d bought a secondhand house near them and had become very good neighbors.


    Once Garen was out, Arisa went over to Vivien happily and chattered non-stop while eyeing Garen sneakily.


    Apparently, a top university''s student still held some weight in the eyes of some children, comparable to some idols in the television.


    Isaros was politely talking to his mother Trish at the side, while sometimes speaking a few words to Garen, giving some pointers on her experiences traveling outside.


    Garen was quite familiar with Isaros, mainly due to Jason. He had taken the initiative to ask her out but sadly, there was no chance for Jason. On the bright side, the relationship between their two families became closer due to this.


    Isaros was somewhat seen as an elder sister in Garen''s family.


    His parents felt pity for both sisters for losing their parents so early and they were very willing to accept them. They also found a job for Isaros in a bookstore in town.


    They walked Garen to his mother''s white car and put his luggage in. Garen sat in the seat beside the driver''s and waved at them.


    "Jason, remember the mission I gave you!" Garen gave Jason a look.


    "No problem, leave it to me!" Jason patted his chest.


    In the end, Garen still told Raffaele his leaving time. Although he did not saw her, that girl must be watching here at a corner quietly.


    Garen got Jason to give Raffaele his violin which was used for practice when he was a child.


    Mother drove her car while waving to the back, slowly speeding up and soon there was nothing in the back except streetlights.


    The car quickly exited the town and traveled along the winding dark road.


    Streetlights gradually became dim. Soon, there were only the headlights from the car shining on the road and their surroundings became dark.


    Garen looked towards the front, there was nothing visible except the white line in the middle of the road. Looking back, the town was completely out of sight.


    Sometimes, there were cars passing by, though their blinding lights revealed nothing about what kind of cars they were.


    The roadside was irregularly peppered with gas stations and motels.


    There were only the sounds from the engine in his ears, nothing else.


    His mother Trish was driving the car while glancing at her son''s condition.


    "What is it? Are you nervous? That''s right huh, you grew up here and never really traveled outside once. Now that you''re out here, there should be some feelings of excitement?"


    "I''m alright. Although I looked it up on the internet beforehand, when I really traveled outside, my feelings were truly a bit excited." Garen nodded.


    "Remember the route, when you come back, travel from White Card City by train to Feinan and then get a taxi or call me to pick you up."


    "Mhm, I know."


    "Remember to get along with others at the school, the students there are all not bad, you will be able to form useful connections for your future career."


    "Understood."


    "Also, when you arrived at school and were in trouble, you can call this number." His mother Trish hesitated before giving him a number. "Call him Uncle Anke and be polite, he should be a professor in your school now."


    Garen looked at Trish''s expression, it was obvious their relationship was not simple, perhaps he was once her pursuer.


    After that, both were silent, Trish focused on her driving and occasionally talked to Garen whenever she remembered something that he had to take note of.


    Garen answered casually and focused on looking outside at the road and forest.


    Until there were more than ten minutes of silence, Trish pressed the button on the radio.


    ¡®I know you will always miss me~~~if Heaven has a window to look down~~~''


    A melodious hoarse male voice sounded in the car.


    The gentle melody made Trish hummed along.


    Garen got bored of waiting, so he closed his eyes for a short rest but he soon fell asleep.


    He woke up still in a daze when the car slowed down.


    It was lively outside the windows with the noise from the cars.


    Outside their car were different colors of lights from shops, street stalls and cars continuous passing by.


    "Almost there." Trish''s voice came from beside him.


    "What time is it now?"


    Half past ten at night, dear."


    "I slept for more than two hours?"


    "Pretty much."


    Garen stared at the unfamiliar street outside. Yellow lights and white lights with the lights from the cars kept flashing by, in front of them was traffic.


    A white convertible overtook them from the right, a dark-skinned man wearing an earring whistled loudly towards Trish.


    "Hey! Beauty!"


    Garen gave him a middle finger and the man suddenly burst out a laughter.


    Screech~~


    Trish jerked her steering wheel, the SUV sped towards the man''s sports car and almost crashed into it.


    That man got a big scare and hurriedly sped away, loudly swearing a few words but no longer daring to provoke them.


    "When you''re outside, don''t let people think you''re easy to bully and don''t hide your abilities until people are on top of you. Show it to them, let them know even if you can''t beat them, you still can make them regret. That way, most of the people would not take the initiative to provoke you, understand?" Trish took the opportunity to give Garen a lesson.


    "Of course I understand. We may not win against others but we have to let them know that they will have to pay a price when going against us. As long as the price is big enough, we will be able to protect ourselves." Garen nodded.


    "Of course, this is only when you encounter a general problem. When there are special circumstances involved, get a lawyer then. I''ve already hired a private lawyer counselor for you, if you meet some troubles in school, you can consult her in advance."


    "Is she beautiful?"


    "Of course." Trish laughed. "My senior brother''s student and also your senior sister."


    Garen shrugged.


    "She will contact you when you arrived. She''s called Caitlin, don''t forget."


    "I know, Mom really got everything arranged for me."


    The car slowly came to a halt at the train station. At the parking lot beside the train station, both of them got out of the car. Trish spoke a few words with a manager and pulled Garen to the station hall.


    Among the crowd, there were security guards and ticket inspectors, then they got to the platform.


    Trish was silent all the way. She only kept checking Garen''s luggage, wallet, identification card, guidebook, medicines for cold and diarrhea and so on.


    "Alright, that''s enough, Mom, go home." Garen got on the train, turned back and shouted. "Go home."


    Trish waved at him, her face showed a warm smile.


    "Bring back a grandchild for me before graduation!"


    She suddenly called in a loud voice.

 588 University 2

    Chapter 588: University 2


    Garen was stunned and the passengers around him laughed out loud. Among them, one big-bellied man''s reaction was the most exaggerated, with him patting his belly while drinking canned beer.


    "Your mom is really strong." He clapped Garen on the shoulders.


    Speechlessly stared at him, Garen picked up his luggage and walked towards his compartment. The train was wide so there was not much squeezing and shoving. The air-conditioner was quite cold and with the air blowing from below, sometimes he could get a whiff of smelly feet.


    Garen quickly found his compartment according to his ticket but unfortunately, a bald-headed guy was lying on both seats with his shoes off, sleeping soundly.


    After putting his luggage on the opposite luggage rack, Garen observed the guy. His face and arms were bulged out, giving him a muscular, tough appearance.


    He clapped his hand on the guy''s trousers but there was no reaction.


    "Here, sit by my side." Opposite the seat were a pair of father and daughter. It looked like the father was sending his daughter to the university. The daughter was about 18 or 19 years old and looked quite timid, while the father wore a blue worker''s uniform and had gray hair and a kind face.


    He smiled at Garen and gestured towards a space by his daughter.


    "Sit here, wait until he wakes up."


    "No need." Garen returned his smile.


    He clapped the man''s legs again, this time with more strength.


    "What!?" The man finally woke up and narrowed his eyes looking at Garen.


    "You took my space, can you get up for a bit?" Garen asked amicably.


    "Can''t you sit there?" The bald-headed man asked back, a little irritated.


    "There are people sitting there." Garen shook his head. "Will please you get up?"


    "Let me sleep for a bit longer after that I''ll give you space." The bald-headed man complained. "Young man, you''re still young. You need to learn to sympathize with adults like us."


    Garen was speechless. This time, he noticed that behind his seat, there were two more of the bald-headed man''s companions wearing black sleeveless shirts with bulging muscles and black green snake tattoos on their necks.


    One was totally bald and the other''s hair was cropped short. Both of them were looking at him.


    "Come here, sit with me for a while." Sensing the weird atmosphere, the father pulled Garen to his side.


    "When we''re outside, let''s have some understanding towards people." He smiled kindly at the sleepy bald-headed man. The two guys at the back went back to their chat.


    "Thank you, but I prefer my own seat." Garen smiled and pushed off his hands.


    Then, he stretched out his hands towards the bald-headed man''s collar.


    "Don''t you dare!"


    The two guys at the back suddenly stood up. One of them cocked his eyebrows and his hands went for Garen''s shoulders.


    Peng Peng!!


    Two consecutive kicks. Before they could figure out what happened, they felt an immense pain in their stomach and collapsed wailing.


    "Why don''t you listen when we''re talking? You can only regret when it''s too late." Garen lifted the bald-headed man by the collar and punched his stomach. The speed was so fast that before he realized, he had been thrown to his companions.


    The three guys curled up while moaning, looking like caught shrimps, who could not even straighten themselves.


    For small fries like them, he was lazy to spend more effort on them. Looking at the father and daughter''s wary expressions, he put on a smile as warm as the sun.


    A beautiful smile washed away the violence he''d displayed just a moment ago.


    Soon, two guards arrived and asked a few questions. Garen walked up and stuffed some money into the hands of the guard leader, then the three guys kneeling on the ground were dragged away.


    The whole compartment had originally been quiet, but when Garen, the weak-looking beautiful guy had settled the three thugs so easily, the attention of the whole compartment had been attracted to them and everyone was checking out Garen. The originally quiet atmosphere got even quieter.


    The father and daughter sitting at the opposite were even more curious.


    "Child, those three may have more accomplices. You must pay attention when you get off the train." The gray-haired man worriedly advised him.


    "No problem, I handled a lot of this kind of things." Garen grinned, baring his pearl white teeth. In his previous two lives, the creatures that had died in his hands numbered at least eight thousand if not ten thousand, especially in Totem World when he needed to farm Potential points. His hands were dyed with blood.


    As for those three, he did not even put the matter to heart.


    They did not know why but when they saw Garen''s shiny white teeth, they shuddered unconsciously and did not mention the three guys again.


    For some time, both sides were silent. Garen sat by the window which was his favorite seat. Originally, it was not his seat but that bald-headed man''s, but now that man had no way of using this seat, naturally, it became his.


    As for whether those three would come back for him, of course, it was impossible.


    The injury that Garen gave them would cause them at least two hours of pain until they were totally powerless. This kind of pain would be memorable for them.


    The train continued as normal.


    With an elbow on the windowsill, Garen took out a CD player with his other hand, insert a music CD and played it on loop.


    A gentle female voice harmonized with the melody and crooned in his ears.


    Garen''s fingers tapped on the table following the beat of the song. There was no sound of his tapping, as he was only gently tapping.


    The girl across him looked at him curiously, while feeling embarrassed. She tried to avert her eyesight but her curiosity was obvious. The girl''s looks were normal. Short black hair, dark blue shirt, and black jeans with no makeup and a pair of glasses.


    Garen smiled at her. She looked down quickly, her face red.


    The time on the train passed by quickly. With nothing to do, Garen took out a novel from his bag and began to read.


    Originally, he had been planning to buy a berth ticket but it had sold out early. With all the students going to university, berth tickets were difficult to purchase. He was not some spoiled brat, so he gave in and directly bought an ordinary seat.


    Travelling from Feinan to White Card City would take about eight hours, and he would arrive after midnight.


    Garen gauged the time. When he arrived, he would be just in time to catch his plane so he did not go to sleep.


    Sitting there, he observed the flow of people boarding and alighting from the train.


    To his surprise, even after hundreds of people, not one of them was a vampire or other supernatural existences. All of them were ordinary people.


    This made him realized how rare the numbers of Blood Breeds were in the human society.


    As for witches, he could not recognize them. As long as they did not display their powers, they would be the same as any other ordinary person going about their daily lives like working and studying.


    Since there was nothing worth paying his attention to, Garen went back to reading his novel. It was rare for him to have such leisure time. Whether he was in Secret Technique World or Totem World, he was always facing challenges and there was not a moment for him to rest. Here, secret techniques could not be practiced excessively. He could only do whatever he felt like in his spare time, and there was a lot of it.


    When he was bored, he also thought of the conflict between Arisa sisters and the Primary Colors organization. Ever since the time that bald mercenary had come, he''d covered up the information of both the sisters using some unknown means and now after several years, not even one mercenary had come to kill them.


    However, as Isaros'' little sister, Arisa grew up, the strange aura that was emitted by her body thickened, and felt even more similar to an aged planet.


    He had a hunch that maybe Arisa was the key person behind all these incidents.


    For now, all this had nothing to do with him, as he only needed to focus on university and find more things similar to Black Wood Cross.


    After the bald mercenary and his wife had left Primary Colors, they''d set up their own mercenary corps. Every member had Garen''s approval and learned Shooting Shadow Secret Skill.


    The members were originally very talented. Now that they had the Shooting Skill, they were like tigers which have grown wings and were comparable to those high-leveled specialized mercenaries.


    Lately, they''d become popular in the specialized talents'' circle and even received a nickname, Nighthawk.


    Sniper elites with the Shooting Shadow Secret Skill, now they became top killers. Last year in Africa, they achieved noticeably remarkable results and became the top three headhunting mercenary corps which placed them among the top ranking in mercenary circles.


    Garen gradually improved the Shooting Shadow Secret Skill and greatly reduced the side effects but the improved version only existed in his hand and was not handed out.


    Although to him, this skill was only some plaything.


    To others, this was one of the top killing techniques.


    As a creator, he had to be as clear as possible on the value of the resources in his hands, using the least cost to obtain the highest profit. This was a principle that Garen had always abided by.


    After all, a person could not always get what they wanted anytime and anywhere. Having this habit would help in making the most out of every situation.


    All this time while he was deep in thoughts, Garen did not let up on observing the people for any hidden Vampires or Blood Breeds. Apparently, their numbers were very small compared to the humans.


    Eight hours of time passed by, and the father and daughter opposite him were still watching a movie on their MP4. The train finally arrived at the White Card City.


    Garen took off his earphones, put away his low-powered CD player and smiled at the duo. Taking his bag from the opposite luggage rack, Garen smoothly disembarked at White Card City.


    The time was after midnight.


    After getting off the train, the air outside was chilly.


    The train station was empty except for the passengers that had just alighted and were headed towards the underpass. He could vaguely hear the sound of another train at a distance.


    Garen exhaled through his mouth and saw that his breath was white.


    He grabbed his bag and calmly headed for the underpass.


    The white cement floor, the bright billboard and the voice of a woman announcing the arrival of a train.


    All of it looked very normal as if after leaving Grano, the outside was just a world without any anomalies.


    No Blood Breeds, no Witches, and no extraordinary powers. It was just a normal world.

 589 University 3

    Chapter 589: University 3


    Garen picked up his bag and followed the flow of people away from the platform. The outside was full of idle vehicles. There were also a lot of unmarked black cars and women soliciting people to check in at their hotels or hitch a ride with them.


    One by one, they were like wolves hunting for prey, their eyes sharp and accurate in their search for people who did not have somebody coming to fetch them.


    As soon as Garen walked out, he was faced with three or four people.


    "Bro, lodging?"


    "Looking for transportation?"


    "Mine is very near, choose my car."


    Garen pushed away from those people and headed for the taxi stand and joined the queue behind the row of people waiting for taxis.


    Although White Card City was the state capital and the largest city in the Faya state, the Faya state was the most remote state in America and therefore it was not as advanced and orderly as other states.


    Garen took a free tourist map and could not help smiling when he saw the introductions for Grano Town.


    On the way here, he did not see even a single vampire. The world outside was surprisingly very normal.


    This world belonged to ordinary humans in the end. Blood Breeds and Witches, as long as their luck was not abysmal, the average person wouldn''t meet one in their lifetime. Perhaps, they would not be able to recognize one even if they did meet.


    Except for some areas, this world was the same as Earth.


    Soon it was Garen''s turn, he asked for the cost of the fare, then got in the taxi. There were also a boy and girl that were going to the airport. After asking Garen, they got in the same taxi.


    The couple wore matching white T-shirts with large cartoon head of a brown bear. Both looked very ordinary. From their getup, it seemed their family was not that well-off. They sat behind Garen exuding a sweet atmosphere.


    Looking at them, Garen could not help but think of his ordinary life on Earth. His first love had been the same as these two people, ordinary and sweet. Although they did not encounter any extraordinary things, immersing in their own little world might be a happy thing.


    Di Di, Di Di¡­


    At the sound of a voicemail, Garen took out his phone and tapped on it.


    "Head, where are you?" It was bald head. This guy was now very successful as the deputy. With the rise of fame, his income also climbed up and made him a millionaire. He also bought a villa at the famous Crosse vacation island.


    "I''m still at White Card City. There''s no need for you guys to come, I''ve got someone else to pick me up." Garen said.


    "How can this be, it''s so rare for Head to come out¡­Alright, alright, if you need money, it''s in the usual account. You can just use it straight away, and if it''s not enough just say the word."


    The driver beside him heard it and glanced at him. His expression changed and he seemed to be in awe.


    From the sound of it, this guy seemed to have some background.


    Garen did not know whether to laugh or cry. After reflecting on it, he immediately paid attention to his words. After a few words with the bald head, their conversation ended and the car immediately quieted down.


    Apparently, bald head''s loud voice was heard by the people at the back. For some time, Garen seemed like the boss of a gang, causing the other three to be afraid of making noise.


    "Er¡­my friend got hooked on movies¡­you guys should know about it too, that Reborn from Fire." Garen''s thoughts accelerated and shrugged it off with this explanation. Reborn from Fire was the latest gangster movie with a production cost of over millions and box office gross of over a hundred million.


    The couple was relieved but although the driver was obviously still having doubts, he drove on in silence.


    The taxi was neither fast nor slow while traveling from the train station to the airport.


    Garen looked at the time on his watch, it was 6.42 in the morning. There was still over an hour of time until the departure of his flight.


    "Are you also a student traveling to your school?"


    From the couple sitting behind him, the boy suddenly asked.


    "Erm."


    "Yes, that''s right. I''m going to Nottingham. Just finished my SIT this year. You guys too?" Garen asked in passing.


    "Yeah, we''re also going to Nottingham!" The boy suddenly got excited, "You can call me Mike and this is my girlfriend, Jelal. We just got our notice letters from Scot. Bro, which school are you from? There are five universities in Nottingham."


    Garen smiled.


    "Mine is Gullivier."


    "Oh~~~" The boy dragged out his tone when expressing his surprise. The girl also exclaimed while covering her mouth.


    "Amazing!" The girl could not help be said so, "I thought you are from Burlington Music Academy. That place is full of beautiful men like you."


    Her words did not finish before her thigh got pinched by her boyfriend Mike and the two went on with their playful antics.


    The driver shook his head while giving the back a glance. Looks like he thought of his children at home.


    "I''m Garen. Since we''re in the same city then let''s come out to have some fun when there''s opportunity."


    Not waiting for Garen to finish his words, the girl immediately agreed.


    "This is what you said, give us your contact number and don''t make excuses when that time comes!"


    Both sides exchanged contact numbers and the atmosphere became closer. The two kept asking about the specifics at Nottingham but found out that he was also someone who never traveled before. They immediately talked about the information they got from the internet and other various sources.


    During their heated discussion, the time passed by quickly.


    Soon, they reached the airport. Garen paid for the fare and the three of them got off. The couple said that Mike''s aunt would come to get them and invited Garen to eat with them.


    Garen smiled and declined. He mentioned that there was someone here to pick him up and that after arriving at school, they could pick a time and played around the whole Nottingham.


    Both of them promised just like that. Seemed like these two were very na?ve and did not have personalities that doubt others.


    After getting their tickets using their identification cards, they found out that the three of them were on the same flight so they simply acted together.


    It was not time yet so the three of them found some seats and waited for their flight notice while chatting away.


    "What''s your major? Gullivier''s best Worf Business School? Birmingham Medical School? Or the archaeology department?" Mike was very talkative, his topics were endless. Compared to Garen''s silent personality, he seemed very lively.


    "Why are your guesses only those few?" Garen put down his violin case by his legs and his bag on the seat on the other side.


    "Those few are the most famous! Worf Business School is said to have a very powerful alumni association which has a lot of graduated world-class talents like Mastan of Horizontal River Group, who is also someone I admire the most!" Mike was much more informed than the real Gullivier student here, which was Garen.


    "Weren''t the other two among the most famous places in Gullivier as well? Worf Business School ranked first for three consecutive years on Laplace, which was also the best business school among all universities. As for the medical school, Gullivier holds world-class medical seminars every few years with all kinds of themes, and scholars renowned all over the world will participate in it, so isn''t that obvious? And archaeology, the library in your school is enough for the archaeologists to research. There are a lot of books still hidden in that library that have been forgotten ages ago. I don''t even need to mention the exhibitions."


    "Amazing!"


    Jelal gave her applause at the side.


    "Talking like you are the real Gullivier student¡­"


    "Hihi, our Scot is also not bad¡­not bad¡­" Mike immediately giggled.


    "The first year will give me a lot of time to understand all that anyway, there''s no need to be anxious." Garen was indifferent to all this. Coming out to study was just a front for him to understand the differences between the worlds. Only by getting out of the small town could he understand the reality of the outside world in a more profound way.


    "You''re right, during the first year you can choose a club or something to play and the basic courses should not be difficult." Mike seemed to look forward to it. "But you guys seem to have an interview session as part of the examination, are you nervous?"


    Garen laughed: "What is there to be nervous about."


    "How many points did you score during your SIT?"


    Garen instantly put on a serious expression.


    "I don''t want to deal a blow to you¡­"


    Mike immediately hid his face.


    "I knew it¡­Ala, I need comfort¡­"


    "I warned you not to call me Ala¡­this brings back unpleasant memories." Jelal hugged Mike while patting his back.


    Mike who pretended to be in despair suddenly noticed the violin case by Garen''s foot.


    "What is this?" When he was getting more familiar and found out that Garen was not easily angered, he became even more open.


    "My hobby." Garen picked up the violin case and handed it over.


    Mike quickly opened the zipper. One glance at the long shape of violin case and people would know this was some sort of musical instrument, just that the content was unknown.


    Opening the case, a dark red exquisite ancient violin laid quietly inside.


    "Oh~~~Beautiful!" Mike whistled. "One look and we can tell it''s not some cheap stuff. Sure enough, poor families like us can''t afford something like this¡­"


    "It''s just a musical instrument¡­"Garen was at a loss for words looking at Mike.


    "Just, a, musical, instrument!" Mike held his chest as though in pain, "Just¡­ten years of my living expenses¡­no, probably a hundred years of living expenses! My heart¡­my heart is shattering¡­"


    "Enough of your act, careful of breaking it!" Jelal was obviously nervous. She took the violin away from Mike hurriedly and appreciated the violin for a moment before she carefully put it back into the case and passed it to Garen.


    The three of them chatted happily. The flow of people coming and going continued and the attention of some people was attracted to them.


    Garen''s handsome face and perfect white skin caused even some females to be envious. After a glance at him, there would be some people who would turn back to pretend to look for someone in order to take a second look at him.


    The time soon arrived. The announcer read out the number for their flight.


    Going through the security checks, after Mike''s lighter that had been hidden under the insole of his shoe was found out, his expression was as though he was grieving for a dead relative. Watching him pretending to be sad while hugging Jelal, the young lady in charge of security checks felt a bit sorry.


    Garen was completely speechless.


    After a while, the three of them got on the plane and found their seats. There was no coincidence this time, the three of them were separated to the front, middle and back of the plane respectively.

 590 University 4

    Chapter 590: University 4


    Soon, Mark was tugging at Jelal''s sleeve as he begged her to switch seats with him so that he could sit opposite to Garen.


    "What a coincidence, we''re sitting with each other again." He happily sat down opposite to Garen, in what was originally Jelal''s seat.


    "Yeah, what a coincidence." Garen sarcastically looked at him.


    It was a small airplane which had three seats on one side and two on the other, separating the seats into two columns. They were seated in the three seated column, with Garen opposite of Mike and Jelal. Besides the duo was the young girl who had been swapped out by them. She was an eastern yellow skinned girl and she looked rather quiet. She was in a black shirt with bubble sleeves and a dark red skirt which was at knee length. She even had mature black stockings on her as well.


    On Garen''s right were two old and pale elders who appeared to be in their sixties. It was surprising that they would board an airplane at their age.


    Speaking of which, Garen once had the habit of respecting the elders and adoring the children but as he faced these two elders, he couldn''t seem to respect them at all.


    Whenever he realized that he was much older than them, what was left inside him was adoring the young and not respecting the elderly. He felt rather sentimental whenever he saw elders being weak and would renew his determination in continuously improving his body.


    It was fine that the body got old but what shouldn''t get old was the soul. Once your soul felt old then you would be old for good. You would feel gloomy, hopeless and would just pass the days without any motivation, desire, and vigor. Once the soul was old, the body would follow suit.


    Hence, Garen never once felt that he was old.


    "Speaking of which, this plane is filled with students¡­" Mike felt bored as he stood up and looked around. "These are all students who''re going to Nottingham. Perhaps most of them are our alumni!"


    "Are you guys going to attend Nottingham as well?"


    The black stocking eastern girl suddenly opened her mouth. Although her American accent wasn''t natural, it was rather accurate as every pronunciation was standard, and one could hear it from the anchors on television.


    "Yeah¡­ are you an international student? From the East?" Mike was ecstatic, as the most blessed thing that could ever happen to a talkative person like him was someone initiating a conversation with him. "Your pronunciation is very good."


    "Is that so? Thank you for your praise." The girl smiled with her eyes. "My English name is Kelly, what''s yours?"


    "Mike is the name and this is my wife Jelal. Ouch alright alright I''m wrong so stop hitting me!" Mike was immediately grabbed by her. He then pointed at Garen.


    "That''s Garen. He''s been going after my wife for many years but unfortunately, she''s still mine. Hahaha!! Ah!!"


    As he was attacked at his groins, Mike finally confessed.


    They felt more familiar with each other as the four of the exchanged their names.


    Garen leaned against the window lazily as he looked out at the airport''s ground through the oval window, as though he wasn''t interested in engaging a conversation.


    On the other hand, Mike, Jelal, and Kelly were happily talking among themselves. Kelly was a student at the music academy, which was the academy Mike mentioned earlier, Burlington Music Academy and she was majoring in piano.


    What made Garen happy was that someone had managed to occupy the talkative Mike. Kelly from the East had obviously decided to use him as a sandbag for brushing up on her oral skills. She kept talking to him about everything from the beginning of the flight until the end of it and she didn''t seem to be tired of it at all.


    About half an hour later, the girl was getting more and more excited and she would even ask Mike about the tiniest detail in his family''s lifestyle. Although it was obvious that she wasn''t interested in Mike, she was willing to speak to him so that she could try out different pronunciation from different regions¡­


    Half an hour had passed and Mike was now terrified¡­ He felt that he could never be loved for the rest of his life. It was fine if the opposing party engaged a conversation with him if she was interested, but Kelly would always deflate his ego when he got excited, as she would interrupt him by saying she didn''t understand what he said earlier.


    Then the whole atmosphere went cold¡­


    Although Kelly''s pronunciation was very accurate, she had no experience in accent and this made Mike tired as he spoke to her.


    After countless times of begging to Jelal, his girlfriend decided to talk to Kelly.


    Garen sat at a corner and would occasionally stand up and looked around out of habit. He still had yet to see any Blood Breed or Vampire, as if it was a legend just like how Grano Town only existed in the movie. The world was completely normal. There was no Witch, Blood Breed or Vampire and only normal humans.


    Under this environment, he couldn''t help but suspect that he had returned to Earth. There was nothing supernatural and he was back to his life where he had no special abilities.


    He no longer took note of his attribute pane or the status of his Secret Technique and led his life as a normal person, passenger, student who was sitting on an airplane heading to his school.


    This sensation made him feel rather lost.


    After an hour or so, the conversation had reached the end, as the plane was about to descend.


    The four of them had started to become closer to one another. The eastern girl Kelly, who seemed to be out of her country for the first time, passionately exchanged contacts and KL communication methods via the internet with the three of them. They even called each other''s phones to make sure they got it right after they landed.


    While the dejected Mike seemed to be traumatized by Kelly, Jelal seemed to be talking to her happily.


    On the other hand, Garen didn''t speak much but this seemed to have attracted Kelly. Obviously, this introverted personality was something eastern people adored and Garen''s neutrally beautiful face and body played a huge role as well.


    As their ears popped from the change in pressure, the airplane finally landed with a wobble.


    It slowed down and eventually stopped.


    After the announcement, the cabin was opened and passengers got up one after another. The passengers who were once strangers had become familiar with one another, and it seemed like they got to know each other better as they talked on the plane, just like Kelly, Garen, Mike, and Jelal. Most of them were students who were about to attend Nottingham.


    As they got out of the cabin, four of them went down to retrieve their luggage and walked out of the arrival terminal together.


    The terminal inside the airport was teeming with people holding up different kinds of tags, waiting to greet those who just arrived.


    Garen sent a message to the person his mother had arranged to pick him up to tell him to not to do so. He then casually glanced around and saw Gullivier University''s pickup person. She was a young tanned girl and she seemed to be a senior at the university.


    She was standing at the most unnoticeable spot but holding the sign at the corner on the right. There was already a young Caucasian man walking towards her.


    Garen bid goodbye to Mike and the others and walked towards her.


    "Welcome, new students! The newly arrived studs and beauties!" The tanned girl shouted towards Garen''s direction. "This is the pick-up point for Gullivier so all new students, please follow my lead! Don''t get lost as we have a transit car!"


    A few guys and girls came from behind Garen and it was rather dismal that there were no presentable guys or girls other than Garen. Eight out of ten students were wearing spectacles and one could instantly tell that they did not know how to dress up properly. They always put up a serious face and he could feel the hardcore study aura from them.


    "All first years are like that¡­ They''re all this way¡­ Didn''t we still have one good looking one?" The Caucasian guy who had approached her seemed to be a pick-up personnel and he held the tanned girl''s shoulder as he looked at her sympathetically.


    "Sigh¡­"


    They then formed into groups and waited for a while as a few more people gathered around. All of them looked like geeks and the tanned girl led the teams out of the airport after no one was left.


    Along the journey, no one talked as each and every one of the first years were completely silent. Even those who tried to speak were suppressed by the quiet atmosphere.


    Gullivier was the world''s most advanced medical business university and was ranked world number one among the schools of business and top ten among the schools of medicine. Naturally, the prerequisite to be admitted into this university was to obtain a very high score on the previous exam. This was the case for the local students. The international students were required to pass their local exams before they could even attend this prestigious university. This meant that they had to frequently burn the midnight oil.


    One could say that none of the people here were normal and all of them were the best in their schools. Perhaps, based on their academic records, they were even rewarded for some sort of international record in comparison with the students from the other countries of the same age.


    Garen was able to easily enroll into this university not only because of his high score. His parents'' blessings played a role as well.


    His academic record was the worst among these students. The Gullivier''s examiner who came to see him sat quietly as he listened to Garen playing his violin for a brief moment and approved him after looking at his results. He then went to find his father Emmer for a drink¡­


    In retrospect, he was the tall, rich and handsome man among them. He wasn''t rich in terms of wealth but knowledge¡­


    The bus was in complete silence as all of them boarded the white bus.


    At least ten pairs of eyes were staring at the tanned senior. This made her swallow back her words and sit down quietly.


    Only the sound of the bus could be heard along the journey.


    It was obvious that not all first years liked to enjoy the silence but this group was a coincidence.


    Garen glanced at the man on his right, who had a small beard and had panda eyes, which made him looked like an AIDS patient who was in the final stage. He was very focused on playing the rubrics cube in his hand. It was a pure 4x4 rubrics cube.


    The rubrics cube was solved in a very short amount of time in his hand and he would then mess it up again.


    "Do you like rubrics cube? You wanna try it?" The guy glanced at Garen as if he was looking down on him. From his perspective, those who liked to dress up and take care of themselves were just nothing but show. And even if they were able to get into a university, they more or less wouldn''t make any impact.


    It was a given that dressing up and taking care of oneself required time and effort and everyone''s time and effort were limited. If one were to spend time on this portion, one would have less time for other places. Hence, they theoretically couldn''t handle everything well. Only those who were able to do so were the gifted ones and were called the all-rounders. However, at higher levels, these people were just mediocre and were just a person who was slightly better than commoners.


    "I haven''t played this before." Garen took the rubrics cube from his hand.


    The messy rubrics cube was turned here and there and then it snapped.


    "Uhm¡­"


    Garen placed the rubrics cube which was broken into two pieces back into the guy''s hand.


    "I have a strong hand¡­ This¡­ I''m sorry¡­"


    The guy blinked and looked at Garen before looking back at the rubrics cube in his hand as he gulped. He was thinking that the opposing party would either solve the rubrics cube in high speed, clueless against it or would think about solving it slowly.


    He didn''t expect that the end result would be like this.


    Garen was careless as he turned it twice before his chains of thought clicked. The moment he applied more force to it, it broke into half¡­


    Gare didn''t do it on purpose as he had placed himself in a commoner''s lifestyle. The moment his thoughts clicked he unconsciously applied too much force.


    The rubrics cube was kept back in and both of them didn''t know what to say.


    "It''s fine. It may be because I''ve been playing it for a long time and it''s on the verge of breaking apart."


    "I''ll get you a new one when you get down from the bus."


    "It''s alright. I have plenty of them." The guy kept the broken rubrics cube.


    Afterwards, both of them was thrown into silence and didn''t know what to say to each other.

 591 Admission 1

    Chapter 591: Admission 1


    On the journey towards the university, Garen was sitting by the window.


    There was nothing supernatural anywhere but normal people, normal environment, and normal weather. Everything was normal.


    Everything outside the window was empty from the beginning. Then, buildings started to appear for a while before they were replaced by green fields once more.


    The sky was cloudy as black clouds drifted in the sky.


    The bus traveled along the lane at a moderate speed. Bungalows could occasionally be seen along the road lined with green fields. Some had red walls and some were pure white. They could also see a land of black tube trees in between the houses.


    "We''re arriving soon so please be prepared." The tanned leader stood up and shouted.


    Ugh¡­


    As she finished speaking, a girl at the back couldn''t resist any longer as she took out a plastic bag and vomited inside it. Her face was pale and she looked like she''s in agony.


    "Ugh¡­" The skinny man beside Garen covered his nose as the sour, putrid smell was rancid.


    Garen, too, covered his nose as he frowned.


    "We''re arriving soon so please hold on just a little bit longer." The tanned leader shouted.


    Finally, the bus slowed down, took a turn and stopped.


    The first years immediately got down from the car and Garen took a deep breath as the people pushed each other to get down from the car.


    "Gullivier University isn''t located near Nottingham City but its outskirts. The university has formed into an independent town where lecturers, professors, and students gather and live together in this land. We also have all kinds of services as well, which in turn attracted a few citizens to lived here, increasing the trading between merchants. Gradually, it formed into Gullivier town."


    A fit girl in yellow T-shirt shouted as she was leading a group of first years in the same shirt.


    "Welcome this year''s freshies, welcome to Gullivier!" She shouted as she smiled. "We are the Senior Reception Group, pack your luggage and follow me!"


    The group of first years followed the group in yellow T-shirts blindly as they passionately helped the first years carried their luggage and filled them in the situations in the university.


    The one helping Garen carrying his stuff was a beautiful female senior. However, he mustn''t be seduced by her attractive and pure body, as she''d slapped another woman who wanted to help Garen to carry his luggage and became his guide.


    Through the senior Serena''s introduction of the university, Garen had a rough understanding of Gullivier''s overall situation.


    The whole compound was a big square and was categorized into three major school districts and many little school districts. These were something he had to be familiar with in the future.


    However, the first thing he should take note of as a freshman was to choosing his accommodation.


    The accommodation inside the university was slightly expensive but it was safe. He had to observe for himself whether the buildings outside of the university, including the small office buildings, were viable for him to rent as well.


    The first year''s assignments in Gullivier were hectic hence he also had to take note of his time management.


    The crowd passed through the yellow stone arch noisily and entered the university''s garden which had no walls.


    Their surroundings were filled with green, tall trees and there was even a green field.


    There were buildings placed at the side of the hills and some couples were sitting there talking.


    "Garen, where are you from?"


    "Where? I''m from White Card City so I''m technically a person from the Ghana State." Garen responded.


    "You''re as rare as those international students from the east then." Serena glanced at him with her chest subtly pushed up.


    She was very beautiful. She had shoulder length dark hair, big black eyes, charming, straight nose, pink small lips and her edge of her lips were colorful.


    Her eyebrows were especially slanted, giving off a savage yet fresh vibe.


    Her chest was busty and her hips were attractive, with her tight black jeans as emphasis.


    "If you''re from Ghana, then you have to be more careful. People here tend to form gangs from the same states. We don''t have many students from Ghana so you might want to consider finding a stronger group with more people."


    "Hmm. Thanks for your advice."


    As the introduced to each other along the way, Serena asked Garen for his number on her own accord and sent him to his dorm. She gave her a set of numbers and key before leaving.


    The dorm was built on a jade green field and was a fully red mountain typed building. It was about seven to eight floors high and faced the public training equipment on the field, such as swings, single parallel bar, bicycle, etc.


    Students were walking in and out of the building and Garen could feel many people were staring at him at the entrance.


    He picked up his luggage and entered the dorm as he walked along the corridor with white tiles still smelling of detergent. He arrived at the third floor, matched the numbers and opened the door. It was empty. No one was inside.


    On the other hand, the corridor was filled with people. Some students were running around in their underwear and some of them were shouting as they ran around barefooted.


    The dorm had four bedrooms and each tenant would have their own room. Garen found a room and moved all of his stuff inside. After he finished arranging everything, he noticed four new Gullivier students manual with red covers on the table in the living room.


    He picked one up and flipped through it. The cover was hard yet the inner side was as soft as fabric.


    As he turned around and closed the door, Garen carried the book to the balcony, reached out his hand and touched the balcony. The cold porcelain tile was completely free from dust.


    He could see a forest and a grey tower from the balcony. On top of the tower was a bell.


    Between the tower and the dorm was a big green field and running through it were grey lanes. There were a lot of students reading on the field.


    The previously cloudy sky had turned sunny. As the warm sunlight shone onto the field, it was even greener than before.


    As he scanned the area out of habit, everything on the field was normal and nothing out of place.


    The Secret Techniques, Secret Skills, and abilities were something that was out of place and was of no use under this environment. It was as though they were never meant to exist, and should only be seen in a vampire movie or the sort.


    In this environment with all the normal people, he had to follow the rules of the university and participate in his university life without cheating.


    He took out his phone and made a call to home.


    Ring¡­ ring¡­


    "Hello, have you reached the university?" Mother Trish''s voice could be heard.


    "I have arrived and am currently in the dorm. Everything went without a hitch and I''m going to attend the ceremony in the afternoon as written in the freshies manual." Garen replied casually. "Mum, has Raffaele visited me when I left?"


    "She did and was in tears. She left the moment I passed her Jason''s item. " Trish''s tone was rather melancholy. "It''s unfortunate that you''re so far away from her, if not you two could''ve gotten together."


    "Perhaps. Where''s pops? What''s Vivien and Jason doing?"


    "Your dad is currently chatting with the new and beautiful researcher. Vivien is currently drawing together with Arisa and Jason had gone out to read some books at the usual spot."


    "Alright, I hope he''ll succeed. To be frank, I feel that Jason is not suited with Arisa. If he doesn''t change his dream regarding his fist then his dream would be just a pipedream." Garen was speechless.


    "I feel so as well. The moment you left I heard that Isaros had injured her hands and she still insisted on working in the bookstore. Her injury was quite dire as she bled a lot. The lady was very strong as her expression didn''t change at all. With that huge injury, Jason would''ve cried a long time ago." Trish said hopelessly.


    "Isaros was injured?" Garen was stunned. As he had interacted with him for the past few years, he knew how good Isaros was. This person who had decent melee combat skills and a will of defending himself would usually have a good sense of taking care of themselves. It''s weird for him to have such an injury.


    "Yeah. The city was rather unstable the moment you left. There were a few fighting cases and those thugs from the north were admitted to the hospital due to heavy injury."


    Garen was stunned. Perhaps Raffaele had brought a few people to wage war against the Blood Breeds?


    He thought of this possibility.


    Grano and Nottingham''s Gullivier were two different worlds.


    He had basically confirmed that the world outside had no supernatural power and they did not have the unique aura similar to the Arisa sisters. Everything else seemed normal as if Grano was the only place filled with supernatural powers.


    Everything was gathered there.


    Is wasn''t just Gullivier, other places where Nighthawk reported had the same results as well.


    Even on the battlefield, they couldn''t even find any evidence of the existence of vampires or any sort. Nighthawk''s team didn''t even hear of such a thing before as well.


    It was as if the Blood Breed and Witches were in one world and the remaining people were in the other world. And these two worlds were separated by a deep layer.


    Garen stood in Nottingham. He could feel that he was far away from the center of the whirlpool. He could feel that Grano, or where ever the Arisa sisters were located, complicated things would happen. It was similar to Sylphalan in the Secret Technique world and Beckstone in the totem world. There were all the main leaders in that generation.


    As he was far away from these main characters, he naturally had obtained a normal and peaceful life.


    "Mum, if there''s anything special related to the Arisa sisters, would you mind giving me a call?" Garen said softly as he thought of it.


    "Ah, are you interested in those two? Do you want both of them? You''re indeed my most talented son!" Trish was very excited. "I already felt that these two are good girls a long time ago. When Arisa grows older, she would definitely become a beautiful lady and her sister is a researcher at Sadinshi University and would definitely suit you! Don''t worry about marriage as you can go to any small country and change your citizenship. It''s not a problem at all! You can get a huge bed and play some games during night time as well with those two sisters! Son, you really do have a great taste! Especially Arisa, your mum can tell. She''s the type where she would react coldly outside but passionate on the inside. She would definitely won''t give up on you. She''s definitely a good one! ¡­"

 592 Admission 2

    Chapter 592: Admission 2


    Speechless, Garen hung up the phone. Once Trish got excited, she wouldn''t stop talking even if you gave her half an hour.


    He looked at the time and noticed that it was still early. The first year''s ceremony would take place after lunch time so he took this opportunity to walk outside to get a rough understanding of the university''s landscape.


    He packed his stuff and as he was about to go out, the dorm''s door was opened and three thin and tall men entered. All of them were in spectacles and was talking with each other happily as they pulled their luggage.


    The one in the lead who had a crew cut hairstyle dropped his spectacles as he saw Garen inside the dorm. It was as if he was stunned when he saw a handsome man.


    "Finally. The dorm alliance finally has hope.." He muttered in an unknown language.


    "It''s not that we have hope, perhaps we can even find Gina''s dorm¡­" The one at the back with glasses muttered.


    "No one would say our dorm is poor and thin any longer! Hahaha!" The last man laughed weirdly.


    "Garen." Garen reached out his hand and greeted three of them.


    "Messi." "Alexander." "Gattelin."


    All three of them spoke in three different accents and this made Garen churn his brain to understand them.


    After fooling around, they introduced themselves to one another and chatted for a while.


    Alexander, who had cousins living here, went out to find them after the chat. Gattelin had a girlfriend and he had gone out as well. They could see that Garen was distancing himself away from them as he kept smiling at them out of politeness. Although he looked kind on the outside, he was actually very hard to approach. Both of them liked to joke around with their cold jokes. However, Garen didn''t know how to react to their jokes but to smile, smile and smile¡­


    Soon, the result of smiling appeared, which was an awkward silence. Whenever a person cracked a joke, no one laughed loudly and it would be very awkward.


    Hence, the other two decided to go out.


    On the other hand, Messi''s personality was rather open as he didn''t care about it and chatted with Garen. As he heard that Garen was about to stroll around the university compound, he insisted that he wanted to follow along.


    Two of them packed up and went out together.


    Both of them changed into T-shirts, jeans and sports shoes. They didn''t take the main road as they got out of the dorm and decided to walk across the green field.


    They looked at the school district nearby, the Weischer Tower. There were three of these towers and each district had one each. Every day, there would be students responsible for ringing it.


    The old bell ring gave the whole university a nostalgic vibe.


    "Isn''t it cool? It feels like the university in the old days and we''re the legendary elite practitioners." Messi said passionately as he would occasionally grab hold of branches along the road.


    "It feels alright." Garen nodded.


    "I heard from my brother that you can enroll in many clubs Gullivier University as a first year. However, it''s best not to join in too many of them as the assignments are slightly more hectic for the first years. If you don''t have enough time to study then you might be rejected for the specialized course that you wish to enroll in." Messi then casually asked. "What do you wish to major in?"


    "I''m not sure. Don''t we have another year to think about it? I''ll take it slowly." Garen replied with a smile.


    "I plan to major in computer science. I''m fairly decent in terms of computer technicals and one can do anything once one has mastered it. Although Gullivier''s computer science isn''t the best, it''s still much better than the others. He said as he walked and prodded a pimple on his face.


    Two of them chatted on the way as they passed by all kinds of old buildings in different sizes. Most of them were decorated with arc-shaped or triangular texture and looked like broken glasses from afar.


    Easels were placed in random spots on the field and at the side of the road. These easels of different sizes took up a portion of the field, forming a small exhibition. Students who had nothing better to do could go in and admire the arts.


    Students and professors could occasionally be seen holding cellos, accordions or flutes as they played happily.


    Other than these people, most of them were normal students who were carrying textbooks as they memorized the medical terms.


    A beautiful voice could faintly be heard from one of the buildings nearby, which seemed to be from some clubs organizing a music festival.


    Garen and Messi weren''t at the center of the attention as they walked slowly on the field.


    They messed around until lunchtime. They went to the cafeteria to get some quick bites and paid using cash via their student ID number. Afterwards, they went straight to the hall for the first year ceremony.


    The vice headmaster and the persons in charge of the three districts spoke as the crowd cheered.


    Afterwards, they gave out the student ID, cafeteria card, documents required to borrow the textbooks and medical cards with numbers on it. Every student would have a dedicated doctor responsible for their health and the information of the doctor such as his name, office location, working hours and phone number was printed on it.


    Students would have to make an appointment in advanced when they felt unwell and they would build a medical profile there. However, Garen seemed to never have an opportunity to use it.


    After the ceremony, they then started talking about the specialized courses and what to take note as first years.


    Garen didn''t get to listen to it as Messi had pulled him out of the hall.


    There were all sorts of clubs filling up the whole field. It was a simple setup where a person in charge was sitting behind the table and the name of the club written on the wooden signboard. The recruiters were all presentable seniors and the handsome and beautiful ones were in the major clubs. They were using all sorts of techniques to recruit the first years.


    There were a few new students who were seduced by the seniors'' beauty and were signing up for a club with an unknown name.


    Messi had a clear objective. He excitedly wriggled his way within the crowd as he pulled Garen to a secluded corner.


    ¡®Beauty Appreciation Club'' was clearly written on a white wooden board.


    The senior sitting at the table looked gentle and handsome. He didn''t give off a desperate or pervert vibe at all.


    "Uhh¡­ I will pass¡­" The senior immediately stood up and ran towards him when he noticed Garen was looking at him. This made a shiver run down Garen''s spine.


    "I''ll check that place out." He immediately got away from Messi and walked towards the clubs on the other side.


    No matter how loud Messi tried to shout behind him, Garen was swarmed by multiple gentle and beautiful seniors the moment he entered the area. They were showing off their clubs as they introduced it to him.


    Typically, attractive people were their favorites as this kind of resources were good to use them as a decoration in the club to lure in more people.


    It was very obvious that Garen was one of them.


    Hence, four or five beautiful seniors came towards him. In Garen''s eyes, these beautiful seniors were far less pretty than Rafaelle. However, they were considered above average within Gullivier.


    This area''s club was coincidentally filled with Sanda, grappling, fighting, fist technique, etc.


    There were a variety of styles and some styles were even from fighting games. Here, one could simply pay some fees and rent a spot to form a club. The university would be supportive as long as the club wasn''t against human society or the sort.


    Garen frowned as his ears were deafened by noisy people introducing stuff to him.


    "Junior Garen, why don''t you join our combat club?" A familiar voice could be clearly heard among the noise.


    Garen looked at where the familiar voice came from and saw his guide, senior Serena. The girl had changed into a set of black tights attire with short lace skirt. She also had white jeans with brown belts and a ponytail as she stood beside a muscular man.


    "What do you think? If you join us, you can use my name if people bully you! It''s up to you if you want to learn combat." It seemed that Serena had been targeting the first years when she was guiding the new students. No wonder the strong woman didn''t fight back when she oppressed her.


    "Combat club? That largest one?" Garen noticed the club with the biggest table in the area.


    "Yeah."


    "Sure," Garen replied. Serena was the only person that could be labeled a beauty in this university and combat was also one of his strongest assets.


    With his approval, Serena pulled Garen to the club''s registration area, in which she obstructed everyone who tried to persuade otherwise.


    He then reported his student number, dorm, and records to register for the foundation class. Under the witness of attractive people, Garen entered the combat club and became one of its members.


    Then Serena placed him at the back of the booth and his first assignment was to act as a good luck charm. Everyone who signed up with Garen had seniors assisting him throughout the process.


    A few girls who sat beside Garen were interested in him as they kept inquiring him about his interests.


    The recruitment lasted until evening hours and ended with the members packing everything up.


    The combat club wasn''t really that hectic. Occasionally, they would group together and have a sparring session, guidance from the coach and a training session. The sparring session would usually determine their clubs'' ranking and they would fight for real when there was a challenger.


    Most of the martial art hobbyists would require advice from professionals. Hence the club would often organize advisory activities where the coach would be paid, albeit little, but he could receive plenty when there were a lot of people.


    Naturally, there was free coaching as well. They were all enthusiasts within the clubs and would have bits of advice from the professionals. Occasionally, they would send someone to compete outside of the university and the university would reward them whenever they obtained results.


    The combat club once ranked third among all the universities internationally in the MBL world combat championship. They also frequently participated in international competitions for freestyle fights. Hence, the had some formidable influence within the university. Naturally, the society''s elite members would have special treatments. This was one of the reasons why the combat club became more popular.


    He found out from a few female seniors that the club even spent money to invite a coach who once won the RAB international competition. The coach was their senior''s senior Casey Bo. They also had invited a few top professionals from the open combat competition. Hence they were pretty confident in this year''s competition.


    With this setup and system, it was without a doubt, a strong temptation for martial art enthusiasts.


    With Garen sitting there for not more than ten minutes, the club had recruited at least ten people. Compared to the other clubs, they were totally in the league of their own.

 593 Fight 1

    Chapter 593: Fight 1


    The recruitment lasted until night time. After Garen had set a time for the activity, he returned back to the dorm with Messi.


    The second day of university for new students was the second examination and interview. This examination was just a repetition and those who didn''t have any issue previously would pass without a hitch.


    Among the crowds, Garen did a set of tests and replied a few questions given by the examiner, passing the examination process with ease.


    The next tasks were trivial and tedious as all the materials required for the university had to be prepared by oneself. He went to the bookstore to buy a brand new set of books, which cost him a few thousand dollars. He then contacted his mother Trish to arrange for lawyer consultations and bought some daily necessities.


    The university life was considered relaxing but his daily schedule was filled with lectures. However, as long as Garen didn''t disrupt the class, the lecturer or professor wouldn''t even care if he slept. The lecturers would ignore him after asking him a few questions, which he answered perfectly.


    This world''s universities were rather similar to Earth''s and there wasn''t much difference other than the content was slightly more difficult. After some time, they were required to hand in their thesis report, which required a lot of citations and a tedious amount of effort to search, read the materials and travel frequently between the library and dorm.


    The remaining three in the dorm soon fell into an abyss of panic, as they were so busy they couldn''t even sleep at night.


    Within a few months of admission, the thin had gotten thinner and the fat had a major weight reduction. Every day, they could only sleep for four to five hours. The prerequisites of the non-core subjects were high and the syllabus was very detailed, which put a lot of stress on the students.


    "I heard Professor Elvin is going to give a lecture at the faculty of medicine. Are you guys interested?" Messi asked loudly as he sat on the living room''s sofa as he held onto boxes of food. There was a stack of reference books in front of him and it seemed like he planned to read the books and eat at the same time.


    "I''ll get prepared. The contents of the last lecture were discussed in detail by professor Elvin. We may get some unexpected information." Alexander was highlighting main points with his pen.


    "I have club activity." Garen shrugged his shoulder as he sat on the balcony with a hot coffee placed by the window. He even had a newspaper from Nottingham in his hand as he read it while enjoying his coffee.


    Messi looked at him in sadly.


    "Don''t you think you''re a sore eye when your housemates are busy preparing their thesis in agony¡­"


    The other two roommates looked at him in jealousy. When they''re studying, Garen was sleeping (practicing Secret Technique). When they''re preparing for their thesis, Garen was drinking coffee while reading the newspaper. Now, when they''re about to go for a talk, Garen said he wanted to participate in his club activity¡­


    "Is that so?" Garen placed down the coffee. "I did my thesis too. It''s just that I''m slightly faster."


    "How is that called slightly faster?" Messi shouted. "Sometimes I really do feel like choking you to death!"


    Garen looked at him with pity.


    "Ah ah ah!!! Stop looking me with that gaze!!" Messi shouted. "Not everyone is like you, where the information you needed was in a book you''ve seen before."


    "Who knew I would be so lucky?" Garen shrugged.


    "I''m not sure why, but I feel like punching you whenever I see your smug face." The relationship between Messi and Garen had improved tremendously as they seemed to be okay with each other.


    "Alright stop fighting you two. Whenever my hand jitters the arc turns into a straight line." Gattelin, who was drawing complained.


    As the three continued to study hard, Garen shook his head, lowered his head as he continued reading the newspaper and would occasionally sip the hot coffee.


    He took out a CD player and placed a music disc into it. He then plugged in his earphones and enjoyed it. He enjoyed it so much that he would close his eyes and hummed along with the music.


    He looked at three of them working their butts off and smiled.


    "You guys are so weak."


    "Don''t stop me. I''m going to choke this bastard to death!!!" Messi couldn''t resist any longer as he leaped towards Garen.


    "Good luck!"


    "Go ahead! Punch him!!"


    Two of them from behind started shouting.


    Garen laughed as he ran away on the balcony, escaping from Messi''s grasp.


    It''s very common for these two to joke around like so even though three of them weren''t that happy with Garen for this very reason. Garen would be fooling around whenever they''re busy and the professor would always praise him instead of them.


    Messi then went back to his seat unsatisfied as he realized his time was wasted on Garen. He then shouted that he would skip lunch and focus on studying.


    Garen looked at the time and walked out of the dorm. Since the other two had brought lunch with them, he walked to the cafeteria nearby slowly.


    In the morning, he would attend lectures if he had them and would search for information for his assignment if there was no lecture. Occasionally, he would go to the music festival, exhibition, play some ball and look at the others training their combat skill. This had been Garen''s university life for the past few months.


    Gullivier''s assignments were hectic and professors had high expectations of the students. This was different from the national university back in Earth, where a thesis could be simply mixed and matched from other documents. The normal assignment would require a huge amount of reference and personal analysis towards the topic in order to pass it. A typical course exam''s result was typically determined by the professor. If he liked the essays you''ve written, you passed. If not, no matter how many lectures you''ve attended, you would most likely fail.


    He went to the cafeteria and bought three standard meals. While he''s on the way back, Garen coincidentally walked into Serena with books in her hands, whose class had just ended.


    "Today''s activity is important, so make sure you attend," Serena said.


    "Something important? What is it?" Garen was curious.


    "The president is about to leave so we''re electing a new president. There will be an interesting sparring competition!" Serena was rather excited when she said so.


    "Are you participating?" Garen looked at her strangely. "Or perhaps someone related to you is participating. There must be a reason you''re so happy, right?"


    "You''re right. My sister is participating so you''ll need to cheer for her!" Serena smiled.


    "Sure." Garen nodded.


    The peaceful lifestyle was rather boring to him recently, and now there was an event interesting enough for him to attend.


    He went back to the dorm and gave the other two their lunches. He then went back to his room, laid down on his bed, opened his laptop and looked at the records left in KL Chat.


    Mike, Jelal, and Kelly whom he met on the way here had left a message for him. After replying him, he checked on his family''s situation and Raffaelle wrote a few messages to him. The message was short and had uploaded a recent picture of her on a beach in the evening hours. In a black dress, she was squatting beside a sand castle.


    "Remember to bring some gifts back for me." -- Raffaele.


    Garen pondered for a while.


    "Are you still in Grano?" -- Garen.


    He didn''t expect to instantly obtain a response.


    "Yep. I don''t plan to go to university anymore since I don''t learn much there." -- Rafaelle.


    "Is it your grandmother''s wish?" Did she agree?" -- Garen.


    "Yep." -- Raffaele.


    Garen didn''t know what to say as he wasn''t knowledgeable in the witch''s life. However, it was indeed true that experiencing university wasn''t advantageous to Raffaele and it was just a waste of time.


    After asking about her situation, he then closed KL.


    The afternoon hours were just as usual, where there were no incidents. Garen felt as though he was a completely normal student.


    He went to two more classes, had dinner and went straight to the combat field.


    It was located in the old university''s area, inside a classroom which was once for dancing.


    When Garen arrived at the venue, it was already filled with people and a thick layer of mats had been placed at the center of the wide room. The senior members were sitting on one side while the new members were sitting on the other side. The division was clear.


    A few senior members were explaining the current situation of the club in details to the new members.


    In another corner, two muscular men were exercising, one of them were using the Pec Deck Machine while the other one was doing a sit up.


    Those two were the coaches that the club had hired.


    "Arrived already?" Serena was surrounded by a group of members and seemed to be talking about something. As she saw Garen entering from afar, she waved her hand.


    Garen nodded. Since Serena was the only person he knew in the club, he changed into a black training attire at a corner and sat together with the new members.


    The coach for the new members was a qualified senior member of the club. He was currently explaining the rules of the club and once he was almost done the explaining, he started giving the daily training.


    "Now, I would like the new members who have combat experience to stand up." The coach drank after a long day of talking.


    Among the tens of new members, five or six people stood up. There even were people who looked like in a dilemma.


    "Coach, does self-learned combat considered?"


    "Of course not." The senior shook his head.


    Garen stood up and walked to the other corner with the five or six people.


    Serena from the other side looked suspicious and shocked to find out that Garen had learned combat before.


    Among the five to six people, two of them were women. One of them was very fit and looked very strong while the other was small and had a ponytail. She seemed to be here to learn to protect herself from the perverts.


    She looked very elegant with her small face, pale skin. She looked very serious about it and this made a few men in the club whistle at her.


    "You! Come out. You''re not allowed to whistle and you can leave the club if you don''t like it." The senior member coach shouted without any mercy.


    The other three men had a typical face. Nothing was out of place and they were just normal martial art enthusiasts. They''d been observing the training for so long and couldn''t hide their excitement when they could finally participate in it.


    When Garen was observing the others, he didn''t realize the others were observing him.


    To the eyes of the new and old members, this new member who had just joined a few months ago had a different vibe compared to the other new members.


    He, who had been observing the club''s training, was about to officially go into training was not excited or frightened. He was calm as if this was an everyday occurrence to him.


    Judging from the tender and pale skin at his hands and neck, one would immediately assume that he was the type who didn''t like to train.

 594 Combat 2

    Chapter 594: Combat 2


    "You can choose not to participate in the training" Serena walked towards him and whispered to Garen.


    "It''s fine. I''m bored anyway." Garen smiled and replied.


    As a club member who was one of the few which were good looking, Garen''s main purpose was to be a showcase. However, since there was not much news regarding the Black Wood Cross recently, Garen decided to play along since he was bored.


    After taking some time to understand the situation, he was still interested in the combat club. There were a few professionals in the club but they were only considered professionals as a commoner. If they were to encounter the lowest class vampire, they could only die and this wouldn''t affect Garen''s emotions.


    The combat club had a lot of special rights in the university as they had obtained a lot of rewards before. A lot of elites could officially skip class during the competition period, even if the class was a core subject. This was what Garen was most interested in.


    The new members were then separated into two groups and a senior pulled the new members who had no experience to a corner to teach them the basics.


    Another senior pulled Garen and the others to the other side, preparing to test their skills.


    Serena was chatting with a few of the members before walking towards him. There was a tall and strong man following beside her. He had a small mustache and was in a black singlet and a camouflage pants.


    "We have Xander last year who was at a level to be able to participate in the competition. I wonder how this year''s members will be." The man looked at seven of the new members.


    "I''ve already informed Bidaen to go soft against Garen. The club is seriously imbalanced between the guy and the girls and we need him to lure in more female students. We can''t scare him off." Serena said softly.


    "Are you implying that I''m not handsome?" The muscular man complained.


    "Pfft."


    As both of them were speaking, the trial had started.


    Among them, the elegant ponytail girl and golden-haired Garen had the most attention.


    As both of them were very attractive, this had caused a lot of attention to be focused on them.


    As the trial coach, Bidaen allowed the guy with an unsatisfied expression to come out first.


    Both of them stood against each other and the trial began.


    He rushed towards Bidaen and avoided a punch from the opponent. He then collapsed onto his pelvic area.


    "Not bad. Next."


    Although Bidaen was smiling, he was shaking his head on the inside. Those who followed fully to the rules could only be considered as a beginner with some foundation.


    The man got down of the stage and in exchange, a girl went up. Her waist was lean and muscled.


    Both parties announced their name and the battle began.


    The girl took a step forward and tried to grab hold of Bidaen with both of her hands.


    Unfortunately, it was a failure as he evaded it. However, she was able to hold off Bidaen''s attack.


    "This one''s good. She has a good foundation." Serena, who was watching the spar, nodded.


    "She can become the reserve of the elite members." The muscular man nodded.


    Bidaen and the fit girl fought for some time and the girl eventually fell to the ground. She didn''t seem disappointed, and in fact looked rather excited. She panted as she muttered something about finally finding the group for her and went down the stage.


    The next person was the other guy. Bidaen had purposely placed Garen and the elegant girl at the back. This was especially true for Garen as he felt like not hitting him as he had such fair and tender skin. How much effort would one require to take care of his skin to such a level?


    The remaining few were weak and couldn''t even last a hit. They were just enthusiasts with a little bit of foundation. In terms of fighting experience, they seemed to have none.


    Finally, it was Garen''s turn.


    He walked forward.


    "Garen Thomas, please to meet you."


    "Go ahead and fight me."


    Bidaen nodded.


    "I may be stronger than the few before me, so be careful." Garen smiled as he warned him.


    "Oh?" Bidaen carefully looked at Garen''s gaze and noticed that he wasn''t joking at all. He then started to feel wary.


    As Garen noticed the opponent''s gaze, he walked towards the opponent and stood about 3 meters away from him.


    "Be careful."


    As he finished his sentence, Garen moved and instantly appeared behind the opponent. His hands were as agile as feathers as he gently moved them across Bidaen''s shoulders.


    Slam.


    Bidaen flipped and rolled a few rounds to the front as he fell. He had completely lost control of his balance and he was in shock as he looked at Garen behind him.


    It wasn''t just him, the new members nearby, together with Serena and the muscular man who were observing at the side were stunned.


    Serena, who had been about to place the lollipop into her mouth and the man who was just about to scratch his hand stopped moving and didn''t know how to react to this.


    All the new members were stunned as they didn''t know how to react to such situations.


    This corner of the room was in complete silence as no one spoke.


    After a while.


    "Fuck me! ¡­. You''re a professional!!" Bidaen muttered.


    "It''s alright." Garen shrugged.


    "What kind of footwork was that? How did it make me so confused?" Bidaen recovered quickly from his shock and what replaced it was a sense of excitement. He was a combat enthusiast who knew a lot and was obviously interested in the footwork that he had never seen before.


    "It was a simple footwork where one moves in the blindspot of the opponent. Add in some unique technique and anyone can achieve the effect of disrupting the opponent''s vision." Garen wasn''t joking as it was really a very common technique. In the Secret Technique world, even normal martial artists were able to use it proficiently.


    It was one of the popular techniques.


    This technique could only be used to toy with commoners as typical martial artists had strong senses. Once their vision was compromised, they could immediately switch into hearing and the technique was useless against them.


    Garen took into consideration that he would be facing against a commoner so he took out the most common technique in his memory.


    However, it seemed to be too advanced for this world¡­


    "It has a very interesting name, called Two-phase extermination," Garen explained. "Combined it with the footwork, one could gently gross over the opponent''s neck."


    The Two-phase Extermination was a set of martial art that wasn''t popular. As it''s practically not strong. This was the reason Garen chose this technique to engage with a commoner in this world for the very first time. However, based on the people''s reactions, Garen knew that this was too advanced.


    "Two-phase Extermination¡­" Bidaen was excited. It wasn''t just him as everyone started to feel an itch in their heart.


    Garen''s simple motion which involved a few steps and a gentle throw. The posture was very elegant and beautiful.


    No one thought that combat would portray such a beautiful posture and so practical at the same time. It''s as if this had opened a new world to them.


    "Let me try!" The impatient strong man at one side couldn''t resist any longer as he walked to the stage. "Bidaen, you take some rest and let me try it!"


    "Be careful vice president, even I don''t know how I was tricked." Bidaen nodded as he warned softly while walking to the side.


    The muscular man smiled as he raised his hands and stretched his shoulder. He then moved to the left and right as he warmed himself up.


    "My foundation is boxing. Be careful." He shouted at Garen.


    The disturbance raised by the vice president had attracted the attention of the senior members nearby and even the coach from the other side started to gather around.


    Even the new members from the other side stopped their training and joined the crowd.


    Serena walked behind Garen and said.


    "Be careful, that guy is called Jamie. He''s one of the captains of the five elite groups. Excluding the president, the five of them are the strongest. Since my sister is competing for the president slot, she has to fight against them as well."


    Garen nodded to acknowledge that he heard it.


    "Jamie is good at uppercut and the ambushed knee attack. His knee attack is nicknamed as army''s pierce. It''s very powerful so don''t assume that he would only use his hand as a fighter."


    "Hey hey hey. Don''t sell out your old friend just because he''s handsome~~~" Jamie started complaining.


    "As for me, I don''t have any special technique." Garen nodded as he started to introduce himself.


    "Let''s begin." Serena became their impromptu judge.


    The surrounding started to quiet down. Since the vice president and the elite group captain had decided to spar with a new member, it obviously meant that the new member was very capable and this attracted a huge amount of people to spectate.


    Two of them stood facing each other on the stage.


    "Since you''re a professional as well, I won''t be showing any mercy," Jamie said calmly.


    "Sure thing." Garen nodded.


    Just as he finished his sentence, Jamie plunged forward and attacked Garen from the right.


    He got to Garen, who was three meters away from him in a mere instant and attacked him from his right, aiming for his neck. The fist in the air was whistling, just like a drill rotating at high speed.


    He had used half of his normal strength in this attack. Under normal circumstances, this fist could easily punch through three to four bricks. If it were to used it on a normal person, his bones would break without a doubt. Hence, he preserved his strength as he was just testing his opponent in case that he had overestimated his opponent. It would be bad for him to severely injured someone.


    Out of habit, he attacked his opponent from the side by taking advantage of his incredible speed to attack a person''s weak spot. This was Jamie''s fighting style. As for the poisonous pierce, which was his hidden ultimate move, he couldn''t simply use it at his disposal as it would bring a heavy burden towards his knee.


    The fist was going towards Garen''s neck and suddenly, a swift sound could be heard and Jamie felt like his vision had gone blind as Garen had completely disappeared. Surprised, he stood firmly and attacked his back.


    There was still no one!


    Jamie started to feel the shiver down his spine.


    He finally understood what Bidaen experienced where the opponent disappeared right in front him and only his footsteps and wind generated could be heard.


    Panic, he used all of his might and his speed had increased by two folds.


    He even used both of his fists to attack left and right at the same time as he leaped forward.


    He tried to catch up with Garen''s speed with all his might.


    Unfortunately, he could only see the edge of his opponent''s shirt.


    He, who couldn''t even see his opponent''s figure, was not able to use his so-called ultimate skill, poisonous pierce, which was only useful when he fought his opponent face to face. Hence he wouldn''t be able to use it under this circumstances.


    Slam.


    A finger gently landed on the back of his neck.


    "I give up! I give up!"


    Helpless, Jamie raised both of his hands up and admitted defeat.


    The crowd cheered.

 595 Club 1

    Chapter 595: Club 1


    No one expected that the Vice President would actually lose to a new student.


    "A newbie who is even stronger than Xander has joined us this year!"


    "It''s so strange, Vice President couldn''t even reach his shadow no matter how he turned!"


    "His stance is so beautiful when he moves."


    "He''s probably the newbie that Serena dragged into the club. We''re going to have a good show soon."


    A group of club members huddled together and chatted noisily.


    Serena smiled happily. Tonight''s presidential election duel would be happening shortly, and she had brought in a powerful fighting force. It seemed like Big Sis''s position was now uncertain.


    "How is it going?" She looked towards Jamie, who would be taking part in the fight, and asked him softly.


    The latter''s expression had yet to return to normal.


    "Very strong," he said quietly.


    "The uncertainty of the situation has increased!" Serena laughed happily.


    "He might even be stronger than your big sister."


    The smile on Serena''s face disappeared slowly.


    "The club requirements state that only the strongest member has the right to be the president. Don''t forget that," mentioned Jamie.


    "No way¡­" Serena gulped.


    "Would it be better if that wasn''t the case?" Suddenly, another voice interrupted their conversation.


    The crowd dispersed as a tall, slender, red-haired girl walked in. There as a long and yellow-red line on the left side of her face that seemed to be a sword-fighting scar, and she was dressed in tight black leather clothing that consisted of a long sleeved top and long pants, while her loose long hair swayed as she walked over.


    "Big Sis!" Serena turned around happily while running towards the other girl''s side.


    "Participants with graceful movements are always welcomed at the main competitions. During competitions, their appearance and looks are the main factors that attract the audience''s attention. If he can really defeat me, I''ll give him the president''s position during his sophomore year," said the girl in leather clothes indifferently.


    Garen walked off the arena with a completely relaxed look on his face.


    He smiled while they cheered, and it seemed as if the entire match earlier was just a warm-up. This made it even more puzzling for the newbies and old members that were gathered around him.


    As he turned to look around himself, Garen shook his head slightly.


    The regular people in this world were too weak. When he looked at his surroundings, he realized that everyone, including that girl in the tight-fitting leather clothes, had pathetically weak auras.


    They had even remained at using ordinary people''s standards of strength and speed to determine their victors. The individual with the stronger muscles and superior strength, faster speed, and more powerful hits would have a higher chance of victory.


    No matter how much time one spent practicing these combat skills, as long as they did not train their body and mind to evolve their martial arts, they would never be as powerful as a handgun. This disappointed Garen because his original aim was to see if regular people had any strengths that were worth his attention. Unfortunately, this was it.


    Among those around him, those who were considered as combat experts could never be called martial artists, nevermind Grandmasters of Combat. This made him feel slightly bored. As a high-level expert Grandmaster of Combat, showing off his strength amongst a group of normal people who could not even reach the level of martial artists was like accidentally stepping on ants while standing on the road.


    "Are you bored?"


    Suddenly, a voice could be heard beside Garen''s ear.


    Garen was slightly shocked. He followed the source of the voice and looked over, before noticing that it came from the new girl that joined the club with him. Her long black hair was tied in a ponytail and her skin was as smooth as white snow. She also had almond-shaped eyes, pink lips and carried herself in an elegant manner.


    She was a stereotypical Eastern beauty.


    "You''re disappointed in the martial arts here? That''s why you''re bored?" said the girl coldly. She had not spoken in a loud voice, but everyone had heard the things she had said.


    The noisy scene turned silent immediately.


    "Don''t be ridiculous, an expert like Garen would obviously not be that kind of person," said a random voice, defending him.


    However, the girl continued to look at Garen quietly without saying anything.


    The smile on Garen''s face disappeared and he returned her gaze and stared at her.


    Seeing that Garen did not explain, everyone around him stopped talking as well. Since Garen did not deny it, it was now clear that those were his true feelings. This girl was right, the combat club had bored Garen.


    A stern look appeared on Vice President Jamie''s face. He looked at Garen and glanced at the girl while different emotions appeared on his face, making it difficult to guess what he was thinking about.


    Serena and her older sister looked at Garen silently as well while the surrounding atmosphere became tenser at once.


    The other club members who were present realized that something was amiss and gathered around them in large crowds.


    Garen looked around. Since they had already seen through him, he was too lazy to disguise his true feelings anymore. It was too troublesome to continue hiding his true self from a colony of ants pretending to be humans.


    "It''s true that it''s a little boring, you were right."


    The corners of his mouth curled upwards slightly. It was an extremely rare sight that this girl had been able to catch the slight change in his gaze and accurately decipher its meaning as well.


    The main point was that he had not detected any signs of abnormal powers within her.


    A slight commotion occurred the moment that sentence left his mouth, while furious expressions appeared on the faces of some of the old club members.


    "Don''t hold me back, I want to kill that guy!"


    "Big Sis Quentin is here! Let''s beat him up!"


    "We''ll wait for the President and the others to arrive before discussing it further."


    Some of them were emotional while others were calm. On the arena, some people wanted to step forward to fight Garen one-on-one but were held back by their friends. A few other members had taken their phones out and were beginning to make calls, obviously inviting others over.


    "Our new member seems really strong, huh¡­" The girl in leather clothes took long strides as she stepped into the arena and stood on the opposite side of Garen. Although her face was very similar to Serena''s, they had extremely different temperaments, making it easy for the crowd to distinguish her identity at once.


    She was Serena''s older sister, one of the Vice Presidents, Quentin.


    "Do you want to spar with me?" Quentin glared at Garen with narrowed eyes while her slender legs bounced slightly. Her whole body seemed to be shaking slightly as if she was a coiled spring that was being compressed slowly.


    "Although I feel somewhat rude to say this to Senior Sister Serena, I must admit that the combat levels here are quite low." Garen calmly disregarded her gaze. No wonder the Blood Breeds looked down on the regular humans. If all the regular people possessed the strength of those in the Secret Technique World, the Blood Breeds would not be able to look down on the humans completely even if they were any stronger, as they would end up suffering unexpected failures.


    Unfortunately, the regular people here were nothing like the martial artists of the Secret Technique World.


    A thought flashed through his mind before a good idea appeared in Garen''s mind suddenly.


    "You''re thinking of leaving?" It was that same voice from earlier again. The new Eastern girl had interrupted him again and was glaring at Garen now. "Even the Vice President is not worth a fight in your eyes, huh?" There were some wrinkles on her brow, and it was obvious that she was somewhat unhappy with Garen''s arrogance.


    "Oh??" Garen ignored the emotionally charged crowd around him but looked straight at this girl instead. "The first time, I merely assumed that you possessed acute instincts and that it was a coincidence. But since it occurred a second time, it can''t just be a coincidence."


    A panicked look appeared in the girl''s eyes faintly before she evaded Garen''s line of sight.


    "I''m just not used to your attitude. You seem polite on the surface, but you''re actually unbelievably arrogant on the inside."


    It was true that she had possessed sharp instincts ever since she was young, and was able to read the meanings behind other people''s gazes easily, making it useless no matter how hard they tried to hide it. This was an extremely sensitive talent and was especially useful when she studied psychology on her own and was able to interpret the mentalities of others'' easily.


    Garen was interested in this aspect because he knew that if this talent was used during combat, one would be able to guess the thought processes of their opponents, making it an extremely excellent combat technique.


    It now seemed that the humans were not just a pile of trash. These new thoughts allowed Garen to look at the girl with newfound interest. Suddenly, an impressive idea flashed in his mind.


    They were unlike the Nighthawks who were already set in place. Most of the students here had some potential, especially the girl that stood before him who was even more talented than the rest and seemed to already have good basic physical requirements. If he granted them an Ultimate Technique and chose a Secret technique to pass on to them, they would be able to become experts of a certain standard as long as their resolve was strong enough.


    They would not be Grandmasters of Combat but would be martial artists at least.


    Garen''s own power values were steadily increasing each day and were constantly being assisted by his potential points. He would have faced a slight threat if he had been swarmed by a group of Vampires years ago, but now he would be able to single-handedly kill dozens of them.


    They were only capable of rough and direct attack methods like simple punching, kicking, and biting. To Garen, they were nothing but an eyesore.


    During the time from the first year of junior high to high school, Garen was unable to upgrade a significant amount of potential points. However, he was able to break through to the third level of the Slaughtering Hand quickly. This Demonic Technique possessed a terrifying effect that could seize a living creature''s life force, and compared to the two lower levels, the power of the third level did not depend on the evolution of the aspects but was focused on the effects of accumulated power.


    As the most powerful Demonic Technique of the Demon King Black Sethe, the most frightening aspect of the Slaughtering Hand was its ability to absorb the life force of living creatures and accumulate it in both of its hands before releasing it when required.


    The life force accumulation abilities of the third level were able to increase its destructive power by almost three times. Coupled with Garen''s current basic strength, its power was almost equivalent to the peak powers that he had obtained in the Totem World. However, its range of affected areas was not very large.


    In other words, his powers would probably be restored completely in a short span of time. Furthermore, he would be able to reach the Form 6 level of the Totem World.


    Solely practicing his Demonic Techniques to reach level three would allow him to approach the godly Form 6 powers of the Totem World, and this made Garen slightly suspicious. However, careful research made him realize that the Soul Seeds were one of the causes.


    It seemed that the Soul Seeds possessed certain amplification effects that increased his power greatly whenever he practiced his Secret Techniques.


    When he returned to his thoughts, Garen realized that it would be troublesome for him to do the things that he wanted to do in this world if he was alone. Therefore, he needed to find a good helper. Perhaps he would be able to find an acceptable young successor among the normal people to be a helper that would be able to support him.


    While strength upgrades were an important aspect to consider, loyalty was another matter as well. Both of these were key requirements that had to be considered, as it would be troublesome if they used the Ultimate Techniques and Secret Techniques that he had taught them against himself in the future.


    "What''s your name?" Garen returned to his thoughts and looked at the girl.


    Whoosh!


    Suddenly, a whip-like black shadow flashed beside the right side of his face.


    Apparently, it was Quentin. There was a cold expression on her face while she raised her right leg up high and swung it forward while turning her body sideways. Her other leg was placed forward steadily while she struck directly towards the bottom half of Garen''s body.


    She used a great amount of force and by listening to the sound of the wind, one could tell that if she was able to kick her opponent''s body, it would certainly be the most undesirable conclusion for a man.


    Clap!


    Garen caught her leg with one hand and held it with the other, before throwing her towards the left suddenly.


    Whoosh!!


    A black shadow flew past before Quentin was thrown out of the main door outside the arena at once. A series of screams could be heard outside the door suddenly before the squeaking sound of a body sliding across the floor followed soon after.

 596 Club 2

    Chapter 596: Club 2


    The arena was filled with commotion while Serena screamed and ran out of the door. A large group of noisy onlookers ran outside and gathered around Quentin''s body while she remained on the ground.


    Quentin''s face was pale while she lay on the ground. She tried to stand but was unable to hold herself up.


    She had only suffered cramps but had not fractured any bones. Garen knew not to overdo his actions and had only planned to strike her attack position lightly to reprimand her.


    Garen shrugged his shoulders and walked towards the doorway nonchalantly despite the hostile gaze of the crowd.


    "You went a little too far." A muscular figure blocked his path.


    It belonged to one of the two coaches that had been training them earlier.


    He was a white man whose golden hair was swept back in tall peaks. His arms and legs were filled with taut muscles and a short beard grew below his chin. Meanwhile, his eyes were staring daggers into Garen.


    "I''m the coach of this club. You can call me William," said the man as he offered his hand to Garen and shook it.


    Bang!


    A loud exploding noise could be heard suddenly.


    Garen and the man crossed limbs, while Garen''s shadow appeared before him unexpectedly. Their arms were tangled with each other''s while they moved speedily, making it almost impossible to see their physical bodies except for the four shadows that intertwined with one another endlessly.


    Bang bang bang bang!!!


    Every time the noise rang out, the man''s face became slightly paler.


    Crack!!


    A depression appeared in one of the walls while the man''s face was filled with sweat. It seemed to have occurred when his opponent''s fist grazed past the side of his face, causing more than half of it to turn numb. Before he could react, another terrifying, storm-like barrage jabbed towards him again, until he was forced to step backward continuously. If he was unable to retaliate in time, he would collapse for sure.


    "Pretty good speed. Your rhythm is acceptable too."


    Garen''s voice echoed softly, causing Quentin, Serena and the others to gulp unconsciously.


    "However, your speed and strength are still too weak."


    Another explosion followed soon after.


    Suddenly.


    A cracking noise could be heard below the white male''s legs while he sank into the light red wooden floorboards underneath him. He raised both of his arms up high to block the large hands that were pushing him downwards from above.


    His face turned pale at first before it was filled with blood quickly, turning into a red mess.


    Crack!!


    The man''s entire body sank into the ground and he was soon embedded within the floorboards from below his knees.


    The students were completely silent.


    That hurricane-like fight that happened earlier allowed everyone to experience the actual violence and ferocity that was expected in a battle.


    This was true combat! This was a hot-blooded match!!


    Excitement stirred within the hearts of everyone while they watched Garen pin the coach into the ground single-handedly.


    "Abandon all weaknesses and get rid of your doubts, fears, and dreads. All of those things are useless." Garen pursed his lips and glanced around himself. "During combat, there is only one thing that needs to be done, which is to get rid of your opponent."


    The arena was completely silent. No one spoke while only the sound of coarse breathing could be heard.


    Some of the boys'' eyes turned red as Garen had ignited the passion inside them, allowing them to realize that this was real combat! This was actual fighting! Killing!


    Cold stares, violent attacks against one''s opponents, strength, speed, collisions without the slightest hesitation, and terrifying pressure were the final goals that the numerous combat enthusiasts were headed towards all along!!


    Garen looked around at the students whose passion he had just ignited before returning his hands to himself happily and standing up.


    He had merely planted a seed inside their hearts so that his reputation would be spread throughout the regular people. After that, those who were interested to pursue combat and fighting would come to him naturally.


    Frankly, it was just a temporary moment of excitement. He still felt that this world was uninteresting and other than the Witches and Blood Breeds, the regular people were not worth his attention. However, there was a probability that he would find an excellent seed among them.


    Meanwhile, he already had a vague idea for a quicker method to solve the problems regarding the time taken to upgrade his powers and the question of loyalty.


    If this worked, he would be able to form a strong human team that he would be able to control fully in a short amount of time.


    Garen glanced across the enthusiastic crowd and smiled at Serena, before taking long strides out of the arena and disappearing on the lawn.


    Since they were the outstanding students of Gullivier University, he would only need to find a few good quality seeds that possessed both brawn and brains, as these people would be suitable to become the core of his team.


    However, the decision regarding those who would engage in actual combat would require the assistance of the Nighthawks.


    But he would not rush this, as his ideas still needed to be checked carefully.


    After Garen had left, the site of the combat club became silent again.


    Although more than a hundred people had gathered here, only the sound of coarse breathing could be heard. The other coach walked forward and pulled the white coach from the floorboards. The crowd then realized that the white coach had exhausted all of his strength and was only able to collapse in a pool of his own sweat as he did not even have enough strength left to stand.


    "That young person¡­ is basically a lion!! A golden lion!!" A terrified expression flashed in his eyes. "I think he would have killed me if I was distracted for a moment! I''m serious, Jim! He would have definitely killed me!! Did you see the look in his eyes?! His gaze showed that he was looking at a dead person! I dare say that he''s definitely killed someone!"


    He lowered his head and ran all ten of his fingers through his hair while his entire body trembled.


    "When I collided with him, I couldn''t see anything but a golden mess in front of my eyes as that was the most eye-catching color on his body. I couldn''t see anything else clearly. The collision sounded like a roar and that was the only thing my ears could hear. I couldn''t divert my attention at all. Really¡­"


    Coach Jim held him and patted his back carefully.


    "I don''t think he can be a coach anymore," said Jim softly while looking at Quentin and the others.


    Quentin was completely silent.


    "President!"


    "The president is here!" shouted someone behind her.


    A muscular black male student took long strides as he walked into the arena with an equally shocked expression on his face.


    "I saw everything¡­"


    "The new members this year¡­" Quentin turned around and looked at the black student with a forced smile.


    "Give him the position of President then," pondered the black male student for a moment. "It''s just a title anyway and it doesn''t matter. According to the rules, only the strongest club member has the right to be the president. But now, even the¡­" Although he stopped speaking halfway, the meaning of his sentence was already obvious enough.


    Both of the coaches were actually fierce professionals that possessed strength surpassing that of the students. The club members, and even the president himself were unlikely to defeat either of the two coaches.


    "Both of the coaches should go and take a break first." A bespectacled gentle-looking male student walked out from behind the black male student. He was a slender Caucasian male who was dressed in white casual clothes who carried himself with an exquisite air and was clearly not of humble birth.


    "Just give him the president''s position," nodded the male student while agreeing with the black student''s suggestion. "Us four captains and Vice Presidents of the Elite Team will not have any objections. It''s fine as long as he''s the strongest member, regardless whether he''s a newbie or an old member."


    Serena nodded faintly. Garen had shown her older sister mercy, allowing her to have a favorable impression of him. Although it looked like Quentin had suffered a serious fall, she had merely been inflicted with cramps but was not injured at all.


    The main skeleton of the combat club consisted of the five captains of the Elite Team. Initially, none of them had possessed great strength but were merely masters of rich households that were passionate about combat. Therefore, together they''d provided the funds to establish the combat club. If they had not done so, the funds provided by the university and their meager competition winnings would not have been sufficient for the expenses of such a large combat club.


    The cost of equipment, activities, constantly organizing training sessions and external incentive trips were all huge expenses towards the large combat club.


    When they were finally confident about their strengths and were ready to seize the president''s position from one another, an abnormal newbie appeared suddenly.


    When Garen entered the club, the few members that planned to duel for the right to be president were now disheartened.


    When the other two captains arrived later and heard about this incident, they were wary of it at first but decided to give up on the presidential duel temporarily.


    Each of the five captains belonged to rich families and were also combat fanatics. If that were not the case, they would not have pumped so much money into the club during the past few years.


    Once everything had settled down, they began to discuss the matters concerning the new member Garen.


    ********************


    Time flew by quickly.


    More than two weeks had passed in a blink of an eye.


    The new students had gradually caught up to the hectic pace of their studies, leaving them with less free time for themselves. Meanwhile, the club activities had also started in full force.


    Some clubs organized dinners while others held dances. Other underground gatherings that had never been heard of now organized character roleplaying games, causing the students'' lives to become chaotic and messy.


    Some students moved out of their dorms and rented houses with their girlfriends instead. The hornier ones would unknowingly put on a show for the rest of their university mates in a secluded forest near the university.


    But they were only a minority. Most of the new students were still diligently working and resting.


    Their burdensome workbooks and papers were constantly being sent back by their lecturers and teachers who asked the students to redo them. Some students were even forced to sleep at two or three o''clock in the morning every day while having to wake up at five or six in the morning.


    Garen''s roommate Alexander was one of those people. As his papers were not up to standard, two papers of different subjects were sent back continuously and he was forced to rewrite them. Consequently, he''d been unable to get five full hours of sleep for the past three days.


    It was already risky enough when one''s papers were below standard, but if he failed this course and lacked too many academic credits, it would be even more exhausting to make up for that later. Furthermore, the most important part was that a Gullivier student would be sent packing if they failed more than two subjects.


    It was even worse for someone who had been a top student at their old school, as everyone who entered Gullivier had their own pride and self-esteem.


    Garen stood on the balcony and basked in the sunlight while drinking coffee and reading a newspaper. He looked over at the red-eyed Alexander and shook his head, sighing. These were the sorrows of a student of a top university. There were many new students like Alexander who would suffer similar setbacks either because they were not used to the lecturers'' cursive writing style, or because of other unknown factors that made it difficult for them to adapt to their classes.


    These setbacks would cause unsurprisingly immense pressures.


    Alexander noticed that his roommate had finished all of his tasks while he was left to fight alone. He once assumed that everyone was on a leveled playing field. However, the papers and workbooks had suddenly created a great divide between them. This feeling was like a terrible attack towards the self-esteem of the new students.


    Could it be that he was truly not as intelligent as the others? If not, why were they be able to finish everything so quickly while he took such a long time? His initial confidence would be destroyed by questions like these if he was not careful.


    However, these were merely regular papers that were used to calculate their results. When it was time for their end-of-term main paper assessments or mock papers¡­

 597 Legend 1

    Chapter 597: Legend 1


    "They either went to do their practice investigations or participate in the dance. Why didn''t you go, Garen?" Alexander raised his head from his thick notes and asked in a hoarse voice.


    "I finished the practice investigations long ago and I have no interest in the dance. What about you? Are you alright? Do you need my help?" Garen put his coffee cup down and asked concernedly.


    "I''m fine. I''ll be done soon." It was the fourth time Alexander had said this today.


    Beep beep beep¡­


    Garen''s watch beeped and interrupted Alexander while he was about to speak. He looked towards Garen and smiled before burying himself once more in his work.


    "Hello?"


    It was an unknown number, but Garen answered it at once anyway.


    "Garen? It''s me, Serena."


    "Senior Sister? What''s up?" Garen leaned on his right side on the deck chair and made himself slightly more comfortable while allowing the sunlight to shine on the left side of his body.


    "I''m using the club''s public phone to call you. You¡­ Are you free this afternoon?" asked Serena hesitantly.


    "I''m alright, I''m been less busy recently." On the other side, Alexander turned his head towards him and looked over resentfully.


    "Did you know? Everyone in the club has been calling you the Golden Lion Garen after you showed off last time. Golden Male Lion, isn''t that cool? A lot of people said that your hair flew around you like a lion''s mane when you moved your hands. You were so fierce and wild," Serena laughed charmingly.


    "It''s quite cool actually. But the club doesn''t mean much to me because the people there were too weak," said Garen without holding back, while scratching parts of his face that itched faintly.


    The creaking sound of a tightening fist could be heard through the phone faintly. Perhaps Serena had set the call on loudspeaker¡­


    The corner of Garen''s mouth curved upwards. Taunting these guys for no reason was a form of amusement to him.


    "One of them might be unable to defeat you, but a few of them could advance at the same time though," said Serena seductively in a spoiled tone that even she found hard to believe. "You should come just for a bit. I''ll give you a mysterious prize when you get here~~~"


    Serena had already planned to trick Garen into coming to the club before saying anything else. This girl was seriously crazy to the point that it was excessive. Although her words were seductive, Serena could hear the crunching noise of her own teeth grinding against each other.


    Not once had she ever acted this spoiled, even towards her own father!


    "Alright, alright. It''s going to be six o''clock in the evening soon. I''ll come after I''ve eaten my dinner. Senior Sister, you are just too cute, haha¡­" Garen grinned widely while ending the call.


    It would be good for him to visit them. The girl with the frightening intuition would make a good seed, and he had yet to get her name.


    Garen rubbed his chin and glanced at the state of his Slaughtering Hand before realizing that this Demonic Technique was more abnormal than usual.


    Its basic powers were nothing extraordinary, but when the life forces that it had absorbed were accumulated, its power would reach a terrifying degree. Furthermore, it would release the life forces of hundreds of people at once when it exploded.


    "But it hasn''t been accumulating much life force recently though¡­" Garen pondered for a moment before taking his phone out and sending a message to Baldy and the others. He gathered information regarding the existence of the Inhuman Beings for awhile.


    Baldy and the others had entered the first-rate mercenary circle, allowing them to know more information regarding the Blood Breeds and Witches while becoming a channel of communication for Garen simultaneously.


    He had yet to completely release the strongest powers of this Demonic Technique.


    However, he had noticed during his normal practice that the Soul Seed''s amplification abilities would cause the Demonic Technique''s powers to become unusually terrifying. Moreover, it would also cause frostbite-like injuries.


    "Although I don''t know for sure whether it''s a Living Secret Technique or not, I can definitely see that it''s not a Dying Secret Technique¡­ Interesting." Garen checked the state of his Secret Technique pane carefully once more before getting up and returning to his bedroom to change into a new set of clothes.


    He bundled all of his dirty clothes into a pile before throwing them into a bucket and picking it up.


    "Are you going to the laundromat? Take mine with you!" said Alexander frantically while raising his head immediately.


    "Alright."


    Garen carried both of their laundry buckets and walked out of the door slowly, walking past the bedroom corridor before going down a flight of stairs.


    Most of the new students had left for their activities, causing the rooms to be completely silent except for the sound of footsteps that echoed from a few rooms.


    The white dorms seemed somewhat empty now.


    Dong¡­ Dong¡­


    The chiming of the clock tower could be heard from far away.


    Garen carried the laundry buckets and left the dorm buildings before walking on the right side of the lawn. There was a row of little shops in front of the small path that was situated in the middle of the lawn. Students would carry their clothes inside occasionally.


    All of these were laundromats. Although there were laundry machines on every floor of the dorms, it was unfortunate that some of their amenities were older. Occasionally, they would only get a pile of damp and improperly washed clothes even after waiting more than half an hour. Furthermore, certain types of clothes could not be washed in washing machines.


    Moreover, it was troublesome for them to get their own fabric softeners and bleach. In the end, it was easier for them to just bring all of their clothes to the laundromat.


    The students who lived in the dorms were either on scholarship or from wealthy backgrounds. Thus, they were unbothered by these expenses.


    There was a simple public announcement board on the wall beside the laundromat, so Garen walked over and stood beside a few students to glance at it.


    The board was filled with messages regarding off-campus accommodation. Some of the lists had their phone numbers torn off, meaning that people had already rented those houses. The off-campus accommodation was slightly cheaper than the dorms on campus, but the safety levels and distance were a separate issue.


    The further houses were obviously cheaper, but a further distance from the university would obviously bring other problems.


    Garen glanced at a few prices on the board before turning around and looking at his watch which read: 1:32.


    "It''s still early. I don''t have any classes this afternoon, so I can go take a look around."


    Garen did as he wished and started at the center of the dorm building before walking throughout his surroundings and touring the place leisurely.


    There was a leveled area next to the dorm building that was filled with students'' bedrooms. Next, the student apartment building was on the right side of the area after a row of shops. These apartments were much more expensive than the dorms and were usually occupied by the research students.


    Further on were the teachers'' residential quarters where the university bus stop was located. The bus would arrive hourly.


    Garen strolled leisurely along the road around the university and saw a couple of students and teachers standing in front of the bus stop sign, waiting for the bus.


    The sun became hotter during the afternoon. Some people carried popsicles and ice cream cones in their hands while others held beverages or homemade drinks.


    Although most of the students were rushing around, there were others who walked around leisurely like Garen, wandering around the campus aimlessly in their slippers and pajamas.


    When Garen walked along the clock tower, he saw a group of people carrying tripods and cameras. They seemed to be either taking wedding photos or filming a drama. A director stood beside them and yelled at the passing students, telling them to mind the camera lens. The two people who seemed like a newlywed couple would break away occasionally and drink something.


    After standing on the side and observing them for a while, Garen continued to walk on the path inside the university grounds.


    When he passed a large white church-like building, he saw a bulletin board in front of the doorway that read: Lecturer Niconia''s seminar happening now ¡ª Our Lives. 3 pm ¡ª Drama Club''s play: Black Swan Velvet.


    There were already students who were walking into the church who chatted and laughed as they walked. A student couple was arguing on the side. However, they only quarreled for a while before embracing each other romantically. Some of the surrounding students that passed him whistled to themselves. Although the university was open-minded, publicly engaging in physical displays of affection right outside the lecturer''s seminar was something that only brave people would do.


    Garen observed them interestedly on the sidelines for a few moments before leaving.


    On the other side of a little mangrove forest, there were a few tea houses and coffee shops with dark brown walls. Through the floor length glass windows, he could a few students who were sitting inside and chatting happily. Some of them were even waving their hands around animatedly while trying to convey certain opinions.


    A group of youths in helmets rode past Garen on their bicycles with earplugs stuck in their ears.


    "Coming through, coming through, coming through!!!" yelled the youth in front loudly while letting go of the front of his bike.


    Brazen bike-racing within university grounds was against the rules, but it was obvious that these young people did not care.


    Garen and a few other students that were passing by allowed the bicyclists to go first. Once the group had hastily left their line of sight, he continued walking leisurely.


    Gullivier was a university that was built in an old area. It was rumored that this university had been established more than a thousand years ago. The university grounds had also survived countless fires and had to be rebuilt many times, making it even older than America.


    Garen appreciated the clean, fresh air within the university grounds. While following the path, he ended up near his own dorms unconsciously. Next, he entered a red and white large cylindrical stone door that led to a white road in front. On his left was the library area while a slope that led upwards was on his right. The road sign on the side stated that this was the animal wellness center.


    Garen pondered for a moment before going left and following the clusters of people that were walking towards the library.


    A little while later, a thirty-meters-tall dark red building towered before him. It resembled a tortoise that was crawling on the ground. The doorway was on the side of the tortoise''s body and a simple cobblestone path connected the entrance to the road.


    There were numerous zig-zagging cobblestone paths on both sides of the library. Some led to the back of the library while others twisted and turned and extended towards further places.


    Garen walked until he was a hundred meters away from the library area before stopping his footsteps and glancing at the notice board beside the road.


    ¡®Library number 13 - 17 to the right side''


    ¡®Library number 18 - 22 to the left side''


    ¡®Library number 4 straight ahead''


    The arrows from all three directions pointed towards a tablet that stood in the doorway.


    Below it was a white stone sculpture that resembled a page, and introductory messages regarding the Gullivier library area were written there.


    There were twenty-two Gullivier library buildings in total, and the largest and most beautiful library with the most books was connected to Nottingham''s library website, allowing students to get the information they needed at any time.


    The dates of the library''s establishment, years of existence, as well as some information about certain people, were all written at the back of the library.


    He glanced around uninterestedly. Garen did not enter but chose to walk on the lawn and little pathways between the libraries instead. The clusters of library buildings looked like dark red stones scattered and embedded into the green lawn.


    Librarians who were pushing books through the aisles could be seen throughout the library areas constantly. These librarians were in charge of different libraries and were responsible for ensuring that the books were returned to their right shelves. They were also responsible for delivering the books from different libraries to the students.


    Other than Garen, there were a few international students who were hanging around the lawn. Some of them carried cameras and took pictures, while others posed happily.

 598 Legend 2

    Chapter 598: Legend 2


    Garen was strolling through the empty areas when his phone beeped suddenly. He took it out and glanced at the screen before noticing that it was Mike, the chatterbox he had met on the road once.


    "Hey, handsome. Where are you? At school?"


    "Yeah. I''m just strolling around the school out of boredom." Garen stopped walking and looked at an older female student who was currently practicing her mock interview not far from him while he replied his text messages unenthusiastically.


    "No wonder you''re an outstanding student¡­ Do you want to come out for some drinks? I have some top quality girls with me here~~~"


    "Drinks? Alright, I''m so bored." After Garen had entered the university, he came in contact with Mike frequently. This fellow was naturally friendly and would message or call him randomly to chat about his university troubles. In short, he had thought of Garen as his personal ¡®venting machine''.


    "Are you bored of girls too? Did you join any clubs? I heard that the music club in your school is not bad."


    "That''s even more boring¡­" Garen leaned the back of his head against the library wall and noticed that the senior sister who was practicing her interview now had a frustrated expression on her face before she picked up a notebook thing and read it carefully.


    "Hey handsome, why does everything bore you? Your life won''t be fun that way. You know Kelly, right? That eastern girl from last time? If I hadn''t helped her that time, she would''ve been tricked into having sex with that pervert. This time, she came out especially to thank me¡­" It ended abruptly as if the phone call had been cut off suddenly when someone snatched his phone away.


    "Please don''t mind what he said earlier." A text message came through at once suddenly. "Kelly is pure. She''s still pure, I swear!" The other side of the conversation sounded somewhat chaotic now.


    Garen smiled silently. He imagined that Mike was being beaten up badly by his wife Jelal now.


    "Do you want to go out shopping together anytime soon? To buy some stuff downtown?" Garen pondered for a moment, realizing that it was time for him to buy some clothes.


    Nottingham''s weather and temperatures would vary greatly at different times. Sometimes, it would be sunny and the temperatures would be thirty-something degrees in the morning, but when it rained in the afternoon, the temperature would decrease. Although his body was physically strong and it was unnecessary for him to be concerned about keeping warm, suitable clothes were still important, as long as he did not have an excessive amount.


    Garen was still very much an eastern person to the bone, despite experiencing and living in a western style world twice.


    "Alright. My housemates and I were just planning to buy some toilet paper, a microwave oven, and a little fridge. How about we set the date for next week? Michael Selay''s concert tickets go on sale next week and I absolutely have to snag one."


    "Alright."


    Once he finished replying the text messages, Garen waited for a few moments. When there were no more messages, he kept his phone.


    He walked past the senior sister who was still practicing and passed the library area before a little zig-zagging, clear river appeared in front of him. It was seven to eight meters wide and flowed from left to right.


    Thin shafts of golden sunlight reflected off the surface of the water faintly, while a few old men and women sat on the riverbank and fished quietly while listening to the radio.


    There were sloping green lawns on both sides of the river. White granite benches were even placed in certain areas. He could see students holding books while sitting on some of the benches that were further away.


    Garen walked by the riverbank, crouched down, and stuck one of his fingers into the water, stirring it gently.


    There were a few stalks of aquatic plants that were growing beside his hand that moved along with the ripples that formed when the water was stirred, while shrouds of hot and humid air drifted over the surface faintly.


    On the right, an old man who was fishing narrowed his eyes and glanced at Garen before turning his head and resting again. He seemed to be half asleep and was just waiting for a fish to take the bait.


    Garen crouched on the riverbank and stirred the water with his left hand slowly before a few bright little silver fish swam over and nibbled his fingers gently.


    The moment the little silver fish touched his fingers, it''s body stiffened before it stopped moving completely. Its nimble little body froze and it died immediately while it sank into the depths of the river mysteriously.


    Garen narrowed his eyes slightly and observed a black crab that was crawling bossily out of a crack between some rocks on the riverbank. The crab waved its nail clipper sized claws at Garen''s fingers and attempted to clamp down on them.


    Strangely, when the crab''s claws touched Garen''s fingers, its whole body stiffened before it collapsed and sank into the bottom of the river.


    After witnessing this scene, Garen began to ponder deeply.


    When his Slaughtering Hand entered level three, the frightening aspects of this Secret Technique began to gradually show themselves.


    Most living creatures, especially the smaller and weaker ones, would only need to touch him before their Life Forces would be absorbed. The slightly larger and stronger ones would require strength roadmaps that utilized the flow of Secret Techniques.


    The Slaughtering Hand was an extremely mysterious Secret Technique exercise as it didn''t possess any specific power or energy. However, it resembled the Form 6 Totems of the Totem World which had a specialized energy because of the Living Secret Technique''s fusion powers. On its own, the Slaughtering Hand could adjust the muscles in the user''s body, as well as bioelectric currents, nerves, and hormones. It would produce a web of force pathways that were either exposed or hidden, and these forces would form a mysterious, complicated picture or image before finally forming a strange force that would attract Life Forces.


    Magical hands.


    That was how Garen described both of his hands.


    Recently, when the time he spent in level three increased, mysterious powers began to form throughout both of his hands slowly. It had a strange but beautiful charm that he could not resist. He would look at both of his hands carefully from time to time, and would unconsciously be drawn to it, making it impossible for him to tear his eyes away.


    This was very odd.


    Garen glanced at his Attribute Pane.


    ¡®Garen Thomas.


    Strength 2.8. Agility 2.7. Vitality 2.9. Intelligence 2.4. Potential 558%. Soul Limit 30.


    Seed of Soul: Northern Trident Frost-Fire True Water Evil Technique.''


    ¡®Violin grasp: Second, proficient level. (Three levels in total)''


    ¡®Slaughtering Hand: Level three: Bloodshed. (Four levels in total, can derive and evolve to higher levels)''


    Next, he looked at the information regarding Demon King Black Sethe.


    ¡®Black Sethe, one of Ancient Ender''s 42 Demon Kings possesses an indescribable killing talent. The soul of anything that he gazed upon would disappear immediately. Legend says that his hands were able to return everything to eternal silence, regardless whether they were living things or non-living things¡­''


    "His eyes and gaze were enough to make souls vanish¡­ Legend says that he was able to return everything to eternal silence. Does that sentence mean that this Secret Technique''s roots belong in the eyes and hands?" Garen seemed lost in thought.


    Strange changes had occurred in his hands now, causing him to unconsciously make guesses of that sort.


    He considered his hands carefully.


    He had ten, well-balanced and slender fingers. There were no unexpected water chestnut-like marks on his joints, making them unusually delicate-looking. His hands seemed like they were made of high-quality white jade as they were smooth and glossy, without any blemishes.


    Shh¡­!


    Suddenly, the skin on the palms of his hands began to sink inwards slowly, before two pits of the exact same size appeared there as if the flesh of his palms were caving into an abyss.


    The depressions grew deeper and larger, and within a few seconds, the depressions on his hands had almost reached the back of his hands.


    Whoosh¡­


    The depressions in his palms rotted away until two holes remained. There were now two bloody holes at the center of his palms that allowed him to see the surface of the water below.


    However, Garen did not feel any pain in his palms.


    He was slightly shocked. Before he could react, new changes began to form throughout his hands again.


    Numerous white dots that resembled age spots appeared on the back of his hands slowly. His skin began to wrinkle quickly, before shriveling up and turning old.


    Meanwhile, his fingernails turned black slowly while the skin on the spaces between his fingers began to rot, causing small holes that made it possible to faintly see his white bones inside.


    A sticky noise that sounded as if someone was stirring slime could be heard suddenly.


    Pieces of pulpy rotten flesh fell off Garen''s hands before falling into the water below and making whooshing water noises.


    Beep beep beep¡­


    A crisp text message notification noise could be heard.


    Suddenly, Garen returned to his senses. He was blinded for a moment but soon realized that his hands were perfectly fine and that the rotting sensation from earlier was merely a hallucination.


    After moving his hands for awhile, he suppressed the uncertain and shocked feelings in his mind. He took his phone out and glanced it before realizing that it was just a message that his phone provider had sent to promote some services.


    Garen kept his phone and checked his hands once again, confirming that there were no injuries.


    "These hands seem quite dangerous¡­" He was on high alert now. If his own mind had almost been stirred up by his hands, other people would definitely fall into this trap easier. The most important part was that there was no way to weaken this strange magic, as this was a special characteristic that these hands naturally possessed.


    He vaguely guessed that the principle of the Slaughtering Hand was to constantly decrease and dilute the Life Force in his hands, or perhaps remove it directly to form a Life Force hole in the world, maybe even a vacuum.


    This way, the Life Forces in the surroundings of his palms would naturally travel towards an empty space with a lower Life Force density. In other words, it was the same as constantly removing air from a specific area. When the empty spaces in that area came close to becoming a vacuum, as long as a small hole was opened when needed, the hissing sound of flowing air would be heard. That phenomenon occurred when the air from the outer world was naturally compressed and pushed so that it would fill the empty space.


    When the same type of substance was in a specific space, the substance would naturally disperse from a place with a higher density to another area with a lower density evenly, before eventually achieving a balanced state.


    Garen''s mind interpreted it that way, as it was the simplest principle of diffusion.


    He did not know how the Slaughtering Hand formed a diluted Life Force region. However, this meant that as long as he continued practicing Demonic Techniques with these hands, he would inch closer to reaching a true Life Force vacuum.


    "Perhaps I should find something to cover it¡­" Garen stuffed both of his hands into the pockets of his pants so that other people would not be able to see them.


    He stood up and walked towards the left side of the riverbank slowly.


    He walked for a while before reaching the grassy lawn. After browsing through a few little roadside shops, he finally walked out with a pair of black gloves on his hands that wrapped them up snugly. His wrists and even half of his inner arm were completely covered by these black silk gloves.


    He found the gloves in a cosplay shop. There were strange dark gold lines on them, and although Garen did not know which character they were made for, he could not deny that they looked very cool.


    Garen wore the gloves and hid both of his hands below his long white sleeves to make them less eye-catching.


    He looked at the time and realized that he had unconsciously spent two hours hanging around. It was almost 4 o''clock now.


    He decided to just turn around and walk towards the combat club''s activity area.


    He remembered that there was an eastern restaurant there with a menu outside that listed all kinds of eastern dishes, and decided to go there and try it.

 599 Seed 1

    Chapter 599: Seed 1


    While walking along the road, Garen was also thinking about the recent changes in his mentality.


    In a normal world like this, nothing in his surroundings could pose a threat towards him. It was unusual for him to be able to be completely at ease like this.


    This world did not have a special dissociating energy like the Totem Powers. Therefore, practitioners and those with unnatural powers could only depend on their own strengths to influence and destroy things. However, there was a limit to destructive powers like these. Moreover, it was also difficult for these powers to be effective in larger ranges.


    Although Garen had lived for such a long time, he had yet to clarify the situation here. The density of this world seemed normal on the surface but was actually very high.


    This applied to the density of the air, soil, or even the density of the bodies of living things. The effect of higher densities made it rarer for extraordinary individual fighting or destructive powers to exist in this world compared to the past few worlds.


    As various materials and environments were hard to destroy, destroying materials and the binding force between particles required an extremely large amount of energy that would be impossible in the previous two worlds. In other words, it meant that the same strength would become much weaker here. However, there was also a beneficial side to this, as it was more likely for stronger life states to appear in this world.


    Garen guessed that the higher ranking Upper-level Blood Breeds and Death Apostles probably existed because of this. They were able to live for more than thousands of years without decaying, but an existence like this was extremely rare in the Secret Technique World and Totem World. In comparison to the Totem World, the longevity rates here were clearly much lower.


    The concentration of substances in worlds with higher densities would naturally be more susceptible to quantitative and qualitative changes in order to achieve higher levels.


    Garen was now even more interested in the mystical elements of this world. So far, he had only come into contact with the cannon fodder level Vampires. As for the true Blood Breeds, he had yet to meet any of them.


    While walking towards the combat club''s grounds, Garen thought of the Vampire he had caught in Grano and the way he had described the Blood Breeds.


    Perhaps his heart''s desires would finally become reality.


    The beeping noise of a new text message could be heard again. Garen took his phone out and glanced at the screen, before noticing that it was Baldy.


    "Commander, I heard some news, or perhaps it''s just a rumor¡­"


    Garen''s heart stirred and he stopped walking immediately before replying the message quickly while standing under the street light on the main street.


    "Tell me."


    The other side responded instantly.


    "According to our insider, it seems like an internal strife is about to occur within the Blood Breeds."


    "Internal strife?!" Garen was shocked. "You mean¡­ The Light Party and the Secret Party?!!"


    "Yes, I was talking about them. I heard that the Secret Party had recently gathered a large group of foreign powers in preparation to seize the American Light Party''s control. The Light Party''s current forces seem very influential, but I personally feel that the old man could just be spouting nonsense." Clearly, Badly did not believe this at all.


    However, Garen was in deep thought.


    The American Light Party represented the Blood Breed forces that were more inclined towards humans. They had always been relatively amicable with the humans and had even regarded themselves as an evolved version of the humans. However, the Secret Party was different. These Blood Breeds viewed the humans as livestock and a food source. Once they had occupied their territories, the world of the normal Americans would probably be thrown into chaos.


    "Besides that, there may be some clues to something that resembles the Cross." Baldy continued sending text messages. "Rumor has it that an antique has been discovered in one of the graveyards in South Africa. The people there call it the Stone Clock of Fortune, and it has been said to bring good fortune."


    "Send someone over to try and get it from an auction. Do we have sufficient funds?" Garen replied.


    "No problem. There are many of them there, and our group has sufficient money," replied Baldy instantly.


    Out of the funds that the Nighthawks'' members received after completing quests, thirty percent would be channeled into Garen''s account as his coaching fee. Whenever they encountered difficult problems, Garen would obviously come and solve them.


    From the perspective of the Nighthawks, a group of people that were bound to Garen because of the Ultimate Techniques, this was a very generous conclusion, because they received an extremely strong commander that they could rely upon. Moreover, they were also able to learn powerful Ultimate Techniques. Therefore, it seemed as if none of them complained, or perhaps if they did, they were too afraid to show it as they could not leave these Ultimate Techniques.


    "Besides that, we can start recruiting the exterior organizations." Garen pondered for a moment before typing the words and replying the message.


    "Understood."


    The core members of the Nighthawks that formed their backbone were almost complete by now. Meanwhile, the skeleton formed with mercenary organizations from the outskirts would definitely amplify their influence and increase their occupied territories. However, this process would surely encounter obstructions from the other territorial forces, and when that time came, the outcome would depend on each side''s own measures.


    Garen put his phone down and stood on the spot while thinking deeply for a moment.


    This was not the first time that an internal strife had occurred between both of the Blood Breed parties. Unfortunately, it would always cause numerous casualties and fatalities among the innocent humans every time.


    The Light Party''s treatment of humans was more normal compared to how the Secret Party treated them, but it did not mean that they would be concerned about the lives of unimportant individuals.


    "However, all of these are still far away from me for now, and I just need to focus on restoring and upgrading my powers." Garen rubbed his chin. "The best way to upgrade my strengths quickly is to search for Potential Points and the Stone Clock of Fortune¡­"


    Garen pondered slightly for a while before putting this at the back of his mind temporarily, allowing Baldy and the others time to find a way before discussing this further.


    He continued walking in the direction of the combat club''s meeting place.


    He walked leisurely for more than half an hour before noticing that a few clusters of people were already standing in front of the doorway of the slightly old, grey hamburger-shaped building. They were all members of the combat club that were dressed in their black uniforms who were displaying notice boards in front of the doorway.


    Garen stood beside a school bus stop sign on a faraway street corner and glanced at the combat club''s activities instead of going there straightaway.


    He waited for awhile until it was almost time for the event to begin before making his way towards the Asian restaurant on the right side of the combat club slowly.


    The whole restaurant was white and shaped like a round teacup while the interior was bright and spotless. Some yellow-skinned Asian students sat inside with a few black and white students. It seemed that the business was pretty good.


    Garen found a corner seat and sat there before ordering a cup of green tea and a plate of fried rice.


    As he observed the entrance of the combat club from the other side of the French window, the memories of the previous plan flashed in Garen''s mind once again.


    However, it seemed that this plan would now require his power to reach a certain level and be restored completely before he would be able to have the proper reassurance that it would work. Otherwise, his current self would not be able to take on the enigmatic and mystical Blood Breeds and Witches that he would encounter.


    Adding manpower was important to ensure the safety of his own people. Sometimes, it was impossible for him to do many things at once, and added powers would be very beneficial in times like these because he would not have to do everything on his own.


    His fried rice was served to him quickly. There was a golden fried egg that was sprinkled with pepper and a fennel-like spice on top, making it taste rather odd. However, the green tea made it easier for Garen to finish the large plate of fried rice in a few mouthfuls. Next, he took the napkin and wiped his mouth, stood up and paid the bill, before heading in the direction of the combat club.


    A few people who stood in the doorway of the combat club seemed to recognize him at once. Some of them turned around frantically and ran inside before shouting for the others.


    Admiration and fear flashed through the eyes of the two remaining members. Looks of disbelief were also present on their faces, but they merely stood on the spot and watched him walk over.


    Garen ignored those two club members and walked right past the announcement board before entering the old large dance classroom.


    The wooden panels that he had damaged earlier were now completely fixed. Furthermore, a layer of elastic bubble-like soft material had been placed on the surface of the floor as well, turning the entire floor of the large dance classroom black.


    A row of people stood in the center of the room and was gathered around a black male student as if they were the stars and he was the moon.


    Within the crowd stood the black male student while Vice President Jamie, Quentin, Serena and three other people that Garen had not met the last time stood behind him. There was a total of six to seven people, and behind them was a crowd of club members in black clothes with white spots who stood like a dark mess as it seemed like there were more than thirty of them.


    The people that stood in a separate row clearly revealed that they were from a different grade, as there was a serious division between levels now.


    When Garen entered through the door, ten lines of sight focused on him instantly. Some of them scrutinized him and others looked at him warily, but most of them were merely sizing him up normally.


    "You''re here," Serena stepped forward and opened her mouth after receiving the signal from her older sister Quentin. "The President heard about your recent accomplishments and decided to come over and take a look at you personally¡­"


    "I came over today to say that I was planning to quit the combat club," Garen interrupted her suddenly.


    "What?!" Serena''s face became shocked at once. Other than herself, the faces of Quentin and the others changed slightly as well. Even the black President was slightly shocked and at a loss.


    "I have absolutely no interest in a combat club that''s made up of weak chickens¡­" Garen spread both of his hands out and made an impatient face. "All of you are too weak and I don''t have the heart to keep defeating you."


    "You!!"


    The surrounding members exclaimed indignantly but were immediately held back by others.


    The entire area became silent. Some of the club members'' glares became colder while others began to crack their joints, the crunching sound of bones echoed slightly.


    The faces of the President and the five team leaders and Vice Presidents of the Elite Team became unsightly.


    "Every day is leisurely to me, so if I were to come over and play house and do some rubbish training, tch tch tch¡­" Garen sneered contemptuously. "Initially, I arrived with great expectations. I never expected that¡­"


    The anger of youths could be easily provoked. These few sentences caused the sound of the breathing sounds in their surroundings to become more ragged at once.


    Only the President and the team leaders of the Elite Team remained as stern as they were before but did not react immediately. However, it was obvious that everyone was extremely unsatisfied by now.


    "If I were to let you become the president, how would you train?" The black president spoke suddenly. His eyes were ablaze with rage, but it was obvious that his self-control was even stronger.


    "Me?" Garen had never expected him to say this. "The little chicks would not be able to defeat an eagle even if their numbers increased. Only a strong rooster would stand a chance of being a worthy opponent." He had initially planned to provoke the little fellows in the club for a while to see if there were any usable seedlings in the club. However, it was obvious that the other person''s self-control was quite good, as he was able to restrain himself from using physical force.


    These provocations were probably caused by his evil inclination, but he had never expected that the effect would be different from his wishes.


    "Garen, you''re saying all of this on purpose, but what for?" Serena spoke suddenly. She knew Garen''s true personality because she was the one who had come into contact with him the most.


    Garen glanced at her and said: "If I just said that I was bored, would you believe me?"


    Serena''s little mouth did not know what to say next.


    At this moment, the black student stepped forward and walked in front.


    "I''m planning to leave the university to go into practice immediately. According to the rules, the president''s position must be held by the strongest member of the club. If you''re unhappy with the situation of the combat club, you''re allowed to come forward and change things as you please immediately. How about that?"


    When Garen saw that the president did not get angry even when he was provoked, he was slightly surprised.


    "Your patience is exceptional." He stopped speaking in the contemptuous tone from earlier before glancing at the members of the Elite Team.


    This group of people possessed above average characters as they were able to suppress their own anger without interrupting the president''s speech at all.

 600 Seed 2

    Chapter 600: Seed 2


    "I take back what I said just now, your discipline is not bad."


    He walked straight into the empty clearing.


    "As we discussed on the phone before, which one of you wants to go first? Come on."


    He stood boldly in the area, looking around nonchalantly.


    "I¡¯ll do it!!""Me!"


    Two of the Elite Team¡¯s members stepped out, they were both boys with clean-cut short hair, one of them wore black leather trousers, and had an excited smile on his face.


    "Xander, Candyce, both of them are the club¡¯s strongest rookies, they always train together, and complement each other well, they might even stand a chance." Serena said quietly to her older sister Quentin.


    But Quentin just shook her head. "There is a huge difference."


    "Hmm?" Serena looked at her sister in confusion.


    By then the two boys were already standing in front of Garen, and they exchanged a glance.


    Chack!


    The two of them took one step forward at the same time, throwing a fist each at Garen from either side. Their shoes made a sharp sound as they scraped against the floorboards.


    Bam!


    Both of their fists were blocked by Garen on both sides, and he made it look effortless.


    They were not surprised at all, and with one on the left and the other on his right, they surrounded Garen and showed off all their strength and speed, swings, hooks, kneeling him, each attack strong enough to break normal bones, but he received each of them easily.


    The three of them blurred in a flurry of fists and shadows, Garen not moving from the spot, and the two of them continuously turning around him.


    Unbelievably, Garen never even turned around, he just used his gloved hands to steadily receive the fists and kicks coming from all directions.


    "Velociraptor!!" Xander finally could not stand it anymore, he leaped back slightly, turned around, and kicked up a powerful shadow with his right leg.


    Whoosh!!


    This side kick cut through the air as loudly as a whip, and it had a powerful force behind it too, with the sharp-tipped shoes Xander wore as the focused point, it came towards Garen fiercely.


    Xander¡¯s oft-trained killer move, Velociraptor, was his strongest comeback maneuver, the key to this move was instantaneously using his explosive and substantial speed.


    "Double Lock!" The other person, Candyce, also made his move, pouncing onto Garen from the other side, his two arms acting like a pincer, twisting around Garen''s right arm fiercely, while one of his legs was jammed towards the empty space between Garen''s legs, trying to trip him.


    "Rather interesting."


    Garen retreated slightly by taking one step back, and his body instantly twisted, and somehow mysteriously darted behind the two of them, his arms spread wide and flapping lightly, like a flying bird spreading its wings.


    "There it is! The Two-Faced Extermination!!"


    Quentin¡¯s expression grew tense, and she quickly glanced at Jamie¡¯s direction, last time he had lost to this move, so he was paying extra attention this time.


    Right now it was not just him, even the president and some other powerful members of the club who had not seen Garen in action before were all now paying rapt attention to this scene.


    There were two light smacking sounds.


    Garen''s hands tapped the backs of his two opponents¡¯ heads lightly.


    The whole area was quiet.


    Even if some of the people here were seeing this move for the second time, they still felt as mystified and unbelieving as they did the first time.


    What was up with that weird footing and turning? That stance was completely unsuitable for exerting and releasing strength, so how did he display such powerful strength?


    With two sounds of impact, Xander and Candyce stumbled forward a few steps, and they finally could not help it, one fell to his knees, and the other leaned on the wall, supporting himself with both hands so he would not fall.


    Both of them had instantly gone rather pale, as though they had not recovered enough, and could not speak at all.


    Garen put his hands into his pockets, and looked at the others quietly, nobody else dared to meet his gaze, each of them subconsciously avoiding him or lowering their heads.


    "How disappointing." Garen looked at these club members who did not even dare to meet his gaze, feeling a hint of disappointment well up in his heart. "It''s one thing if you''re not strong, but even your hearts are so weak."


    He turned around and was about to leave, if there were only such weaklings and wimps in the combat club, he would also have to find another way to carry out his plan.


    "W-wait a second!!" Suddenly there was a weak voice from the corner.


    It was Xander!


    He held onto the wall with both hands, pushing away his clubmates who were trying to help him up, his eyes reddening as he stared at Garen.


    "I haven''t lost yet!!" He squeezed out the words and propped up his body, this rookie who had just joined the combat club last year was now covered in sweat, the black combat club clothes plastered to his chest and back, his face was pale, and he was obviously dead tired.


    "I! Haven''t lost yet!!" He repeated again, staring hard at Garen.


    Garen turned around, looking at this young man who was at his very limits, and actually had a minor concussion.


    It was the first time he had properly looked at a normal person without any unnatural powers in the eye.


    His seemingly condescending aura was completely gone, all that was left was a determination to never give up that bordered on madness. He was going to fight to the death!


    "Xander!"


    Someone was yelling his name, their voice trembling.


    "Blood!! You''re bleeding!!"


    A girl ran up to him and tried to support Xander¡¯s body, but he pushed her away obstinately. The overexertion caused the skin on his right fist to crack, and blood dripped onto the floorboards.


    "I haven''t lost yet!!" Xander¡¯s eyes were red, as though he has remembered something from the past, his eyes were already losing focus, or perhaps he could not even see Garen''s face clearly anymore.


    This was a boy with a story.


    Garen looked at the black president at the side, his expression was complicated.


    None of them truly looked concerned, only a bespectacled boy with a noble aura slowly walked out of the crowd. He walked up to Candyce, who was still sitting on the floor, and helped him up.


    "Xander, you''ve lost."


    He pushed up his glasses.


    "But even though you''ve lost, that doesn''t mean we have."


    There was a cold glint in his eyes underneath the glasses.


    "Do it!"


    The black president yelled abruptly.


    Bzzt, there was a piercing sound of friction from the floorboards, and six shadows flew rapidly towards Garen.


    The five leaders of the Elite Team, as well as the black president, all of them attacked at the same time, surrounding Garen.


    Bam!!


    In that instant, there were several explosions around Garen, several sounds of impact occurring at the same time, stacking into one very loud bang.


    Fists, palms, legs, and knees came at Garen from all directions, his arms were like that of a Thousand-Hand Guanyin, countless after-images appearing in that instant, stacking on top of each other, instantly apparating at the places all six of them attacked, and blocked their attacks precisely.


    "Not bad, not bad! Hahahaha!!" Garen laughed happily. "You all are not bad!! This is a seed!!!"


    Nobody understood what he was saying, right now everybody! All the club members were all looking at the powerful figure surrounded by six others, their blood boiling.


    This was a fight for the glory of the combat club, each of the club members gripped their fists tightly, clenching their teeth, wishing it was them out there on the battlefield.


    There was the constant sound of flesh meeting flesh, echoing through the room, jolting all the members¡¯ hearts.


    "Let me show you what real martial arts are like!"


    Out of the blue, Garen¡¯s voice came from the middle of the barricade.


    His arms instantly carved out countless after-images, blurring and stacking like the white wings of a bird in flight.


    "This is the true, Two-Faced Extermination!"


    In that instant, when he waved his arms with the black gloves, everyone seemed to see the spreading of a pair of white wings.


    This discrepancy gave everyone an unconscious feeling of disgust, a disgust and nausea similar to dizziness.


    The white feathered wings flapped lightly.


    Bam bam bam bam!!


    There was a series of dull collision sounds. The six figures were each sent flying backward, crashing into the floor and skidding for quite some distance.


    All six of them were in exactly the same condition, their faces deathly pale, without even a hint of color, lying on the ground for some time and unable to get up.


    The white bird¡¯s wings closed slowly, leaving several after-images in the air.


    Phew¡­


    A cold breeze spread with Garen in the center, blowing his golden hair about, as though it was a lion¡¯s mane.


    Xander¡¯s mouth hung open as he looked at his six bosses in the same state as him, and for a moment he could not say anything.


    Just then it was not just him, even the club members watching in on the battle had their fists gripped tightly, their expression shocked, but they did not know how to react.


    "You all¡­ are all not bad." Garen stared at the six people lying on the floor, as well as Xander beside them.


    Just then, that Asian girl from before that had left a deep impression on him helped Quentin up quietly, and even though she acted calm, under Garen¡¯s gaze, her body still could not help but shudder.


    In that instant just now, Garen¡¯s presence was truly rather terrifying, to these regular students, he had already held back his aura as much as he could, but he still could not help but reveal some of his true presence, it was a quality that made these students feel as though they were facing a natural enemy.


    That was the air of a Grandmaster of Combat, a natural enemy to all creatures, the true strength of the ultimate human fighter.


    "That¡¯s all for today." Garen held open his right palm lightly, and gripped it abruptly.


    Bam!


    There was the dull sound of a gaseous explosion from his hand.


    It shocked everyone present into a jolt, all the members here were not ordinary students, they were at least straight A students, so when they saw that a human could make a gaseous explosion with just one hand, their eyes opened wide, their bodies going cold, looking at Garen as though he was an alien.


    Only then did the black president and the other five understand, they were not at the same level as him at all. But the despair had barely risen in their hearts, before it was drowned out by their even more enthusiastic passion and pursuit for combat.


    That was a new level of understanding regarding the human limits, before Garen came here, no one ever imagined that the human limits could reach such a step, such a level!


    This was hope!


    Garen looked at their gazes, and knew that the seed had been sown.


    Indeed, humans could not achieve the level of a martial artist as he was showing here. But Blood Breeds were different, something of this extent was merely child¡¯s play to them.


    It was just that these students had yet to come into contact with such a level.


    "Welcome to the true combat world¡­" He looked at Xander and the Asian girl meaningfully, and then glanced at the six strongest fighters on the floor. Turning around, he strode out of the training center.

 601 Seed 3

    Chapter 601: Seed 3


    Garen left this trip to the combat club with a feeling of mild satisfaction.


    That Xander could be considered a good prospect, but his sense of hostility was too overpowering, so he needed more training. And that Asian girl was pretty good, under his presence and pressure back then, she still had the guts to stand up and support Quentin. That was the sort of bravery needed for combat.


    In fighting and killing, the most important part was actually one¡¯s heart, those with a naturally decent heart would attack without hesitation, and one-tenth of their power could have the same effect as others¡¯ full power. Those with weak hearts would keep hesitating, and even their full strength would only be as effective as one-tenth.


    Hesitation, terror, delay, these were all the most serious taboos when fighting to kill, as soon as you hesitated, your moves would slow down, your actions delayed, and naturally your power would diminish.


    Garen did not have the time to train others¡¯ hearts, so he naturally was only looking at their inherent advantage.


    Other than these two having talent, the other six from the combat club were all quite promising, although their form had been set somewhat, and they required time to change them, they could still be considered possible potential assets, with a bit of tweaking, they could still become his remote limbs to help extend his reach.


    All in all, the harvest this time was not too bad.


    Returning to his hostel, as he expected, Serena¡¯s message finally arrived after a few days of silence on the combat club¡¯s side.


    That Asian girl with the ponytail, Cece, was looking for him. But she did not know his address, so Serena was asking if she should tell her.


    "Tell her." Garen lay on his bed, holding his cellphone. "Tell her, anyone from the combat club who wants to meet me can just come over themselves."


    "Is that alright? There might be more people then." Serena asked quietly, she sounded somewhat excited as well.


    "Has the word spread? Okay, then, you find a more isolated place, and bring fewer people. Everything else, I don¡¯t mind." Garen considered for a moment, and replied flippantly.


    "Alright, then, we¡¯ll arrange everything, leave it to us." Serena replied with certainty.


    Garen hung up, his lips curving slightly.


    "Although I feel bad for you guys, isn¡¯t it also your fault for being so easy to use?"


    He was already preparing to execute his plan on the six leaders from the club, Xander, and that Asian girl Cece.


    After some deliberation and time, he had arranged a new special secret skill from scratch, just like Nighthawk and co¡¯s Shooting Shadow Secret Skill -- the Two-Faced Waterbird Fist.


    This was the unique secret skill he had invented after taking some inspiration from the White Bird Holy Fist.


    Upon activation, matching it with some special skills and moves, would allow the user¡¯s hands to create an intensely powerful internal jolting effect to inflict harm on the enemy.


    It was just like how he merely had to move his hands lightly to easily defeat the six top fighters in the combat club. The power of this secret skill lay in the user¡¯s hands, upon activation, they would become a powerful lethal weapon that even he could not control, if the power was not controlled enough, just a touch would be enough to easily incapacitate someone. But at the same time, it looked light and beautiful, the instant it injured the enemy was as light as a waterbird touching the surface of the water.


    This secret skill was even stronger than Nighthawk¡¯s Shooting Shadow Secret Skill. After activating it, the user¡¯s speed, strength, and reflexes would simultaneously double, the strongest was the Waterbird Fist¡¯s internal force, gathering in the arms with great destructive power, he just needed to touch the enemy with one finger, and it was very likely he could kill the enemy invisibly. Used well, it could even kill someone easily with the touch of a finger, by making them die to an internal wound like bleeding in the brain. Soundless, everyone none the wiser.


    Of course, the side effects would naturally also be more terrifying, it was a shortcut that could instantaneously increase someone¡¯s power dramatically, so naturally there would be a terrifying price to pay.


    Anyone who successfully practiced the Two-Faced Waterbird Fist could not let themselves stop, if they ever wanted to stop and give up, then after a certain time, the side effects would manifest, bringing the practitioner an intense and unbearable pain and itchiness all over their body. That sensation was several times worse than a regular skin disease, it was a powerful punishment applied directly to the nerve endings deep in the body.


    If the practitioner still insisted on stopping, then the internal force created from the Two-Faced Waterbird Fist would backfire, and the practitioner¡¯s blood vessels would continuously explode and split, the efficiency of their organs rapidly declining, and they would age quickly, their life fading away, until finally they died from a loss of essential blood.


    As with the Shooting Shadow Secret Technique, this secret skill also needed Garen¡¯s primer, every so often, Garen needed to give the practitioners a primer, to suppress the internal force of the Two-Faced Waterbird Fist in their bodies that was going to run wild. To use this shortcut to obtain immense power, but without a body that could properly withstand this power, they would naturally need external suppression.


    This secret skill was a terrifying technique derived from the Slaughtering Hand Demonic Technique, if they were in the Secret Technique World, this secret skill would probably be a third-grade secret technique, like the Mammoth Secret Technique, but to the people of this world, the power of this secret skill was indeed far stronger than most normal people could imagine.


    Since it was born from the Slaughtering Hand, only the primer formed by Garen, the strongest person who unifies the entire system, that was mixed with the aura from his Soul Seed, can properly suppress this internal force. That was why this secret skill was basically a tailor-made power system for him to control his subordinates.


    Once the practitioner accepted his primer and successfully trained that skill, then the aura integrated into Garen¡¯s soul could easily affect the practitioner¡¯s life, or even control their body and will.


    *********************


    A week later¡­


    In a manor in the suburbs outside the school.


    Garen sat on a red leather sofa with his fingers laced and his legs crossed, closing his eyes as though in meditation.


    The black president, Quentin, Jamie, and that bespectacled boy with the noble aura, six of them in total, stood awkwardly facing him.


    The Asian girl, Cece, and Xander stood on the other side. Cece¡¯s expression was calm, but there was a hint of excitement and desire in her eyes. Xander, on the other hand, was somewhat hesitant, his head lowered as he could not bring himself to look at Garen¡¯s face.


    Serena sat on a sofa by the side, also looking at them rather uneasily, glancing at Garen and then looking at the president and the other five.


    "Please teach us! Those things you said just before you left, weren¡¯t they meant to bring us under your wing?!!" As a girl, and a pretty one to boot, Quentin naturally took the initiative to speak.


    "We know, simply asking someone else to teach us your secret techniques, is a very impolite request." The boy with the glasses spoke, "We can pay a price, in exchange. Allow me to hire you as the club¡¯s private coach, how about a monthly salary of five hundred thousand? If it¡¯s not enough, please, just state your price."


    "Money?" Garen opened his eyes, the corners of his lips curving. "Do I look like someone who needs money?"


    He naturally had no shortage of money, what he truly needed could barely be bought with money. Otherwise he would have long ago used some psychological or hypnotic secret techniques to amass large amounts of fortune. To someone like him, rules were meant to be broken.


    "Then what do you need before you¡¯ll agree to teach us combat techniques?" The other vice president spoke, she was also a girl, with short brown-red hair, wearing a man¡¯s white shirt and well-fitting long black slacks. She also had the aura of a noble, which meant her family background must be something special, her only flaw was that she was not all that pretty.


    "Whatever conditions you have, just state them, we¡¯re all elites who are here to fulfill your conditions and are determined to learn from you. Why beat around the bush?" A boy with his hair dyed flowery and green crossed his arms and said coldly. By sitting here and posing like this, wasn¡¯t Garen trying to up his price?


    Boom!!


    In an instant, Garen¡¯s gaze turned, and it was as though the air in the whole mansion¡¯s hall shook, a huge and suffocating pressure pressing down on this boy.


    Bang bang bang!!


    The vice president who had been all cocksure before rapidly took three steps back, his face instantly reddening, his pupils dilating, staring at Garen as though he had seen a ghost.


    His chest rose and fell drastically, like rapidly blowing bellows, and in that instant alone, there was already a sheen of cold sweat on his forehead.


    "You¡­!!" This vice president¡¯s voice was shaking.


    And the others around him did not sense anything amiss at all, they just saw Garen look at him, and then he himself was so scared that he had to take three steps back before he could steady his footing.


    Quentin glanced at him condescendingly, normally she never really took this vice president seriously, she just thought he had some aura and skill, so she did not really hate him, but to think just a glance was enough to scare him to such an extent.


    The club had five vice presidents in total, Quentin herself, Jamie, and Hochman with the glasses, all three of them came from families in the business field, controlling large corporations, whereas the girl with the short auburn hair, Raelan, and the green-haired boy, Dahm had families involved in politics, so they were truly the second generation politicians of America.


    Raelan was still okay, she was more introverted, and had opened a bar of her own outside the school, so she kept a very low profile. But the green-haired Dahm was a different story, he was extremely arrogant, and lived a life of vices, it was common for him to have a different sex buddy every day, drugs, gambling, coercion into sex, all of that was normal to him. Earlier this year, he had even personally beaten a schoolmate to death, a young and defenseless girl, and in the end the verdict was self-defense, they claimed that young girl wanted to rob him.


    And the rumors had actually been silenced by his old man, the final verdict being they paid a few hundred thousands and called it a day.


    This incident made Quentin look down on this guy even more, but since he had a powerful family background, plus he was the only child that his family had gotten after so long, she decided not to break ties with him over an outsider.


    In truth, Garen had also bought some intel on the six of them from the black market through the Baldy, the most detailed information about their backgrounds.


    As the peak-level elites in an elite school, these people were all the stars of tomorrow for their respective families, the glow of a prestigious school to add on to their families¡¯ own presence, so naturally it was extremely easy for him to get information on them.


    Unlike the America he knew, the power in this world was still controlled by the authorities, and he had also seen the great achievements this green-haired boy Dahm had, forcefully killing that girl was just one of his many dirty deeds, there were more that just had not been exposed yet.


    The America in this world was also controlled by the large corporations, the power of the public opinion here was nowhere near as strong as on Earth. Of course, perhaps it was the same thing on Earth, and he just never came across that level.


    But power sure was a good thing¡­ Looking at the green-haired boy, a hint of a smile flashed through Garen¡¯s eyes.

 602 Seed 4

    Chapter 602: Seed 4


    "There¡¯s an Eastern saying that goes, skills cannot be passed down easily. You¡¯re asking me to teach you my secret skills, but if you don¡¯t show your sincerity and determination, and I just teach them to you just like that, you wouldn¡¯t appreciate something that you had obtained so easily, don¡¯t you think so?" He finally spoke.


    Looking at them, he continued.


    "I don¡¯t need money, so you can forget about that line of thought. As for how you will demonstrate your sincerity, well, that depends on your own determination, everyone has a different thing that they prize over all else. I¡¯m not asking you to bring out your deepest sincerity, it just has to be something that would hurt you to give away."


    His words made them all rather thoughtful.


    It was only that green-haired boy Dahm who, after that shock just now, had a hint of hatred flash through his eyes. He did not say anything, but it was clear he had a grudge against Garen now for causing him to lose face just now.


    "Sincerity, is it?" The black president frowned, "Sorry, my passion for combat is not enough to make me trade something I prize for it." He paused. "Apologies. Combat is just a temporary hobby of mine, to me, it¡¯s just a way to train my body, this point is a bit too far for me. I won¡¯t participate from here on out."


    Garen was not surprised, and even the others were not surprised at all.


    The black president was pulled into this to make up the numbers by the other five elite team leaders anyway, he did not have the strong family support the other five did, he still needed to fight for his own future, combat was just a hobby and training method of his, it was too much to really take that step further up, that would already depart from his initial aim.


    So although it was unfortunate, that he could not learn that legendary peak-level combat technique, this still was not his final goal.


    Shaking his head, he gave the others an apologetic glance, turning around and leaving the hall, and soon they could hear the sound of the door closing as he left.


    Garen did not really mind either, he had long since noticed that the black president was not nearly as passionate as the other five.


    And even if the remaining five did not want to learn, he did not intend to force them, the ones he truly had his eyes on were just those two, Xander and the Asian girl Cece. Their talents were strong and very suitable for the Two-Faced Waterbird Fist, their wills were pretty good too, once they learned it, they should be able to achieve a very high standard in a very short time.


    Of course if the other five vice presidents could make it, that would be even better, that meant he could indirectly influence the wide web of connections they had behind them.


    "How about we go it like this." Garen thought about it, "Cece, you start first, what I want from you is very simple."


    "What is it?" Cece¡¯s seemingly calm exterior also became slightly nervous.


    "Go out for a run, and keep running around the mansion¡¯s grassy lawn, don¡¯t stop until I tell you to stop."


    Cece widened her eyes, bit her lip and nodded hard.


    Without any hesitation, she turned around and ran towards the door, as soon as they heard the door open, she immediately started running.


    Everyone there looked at each other, they did not think Cece would be so serious.


    Quentin walked to the window and looked out, and Cece was indeed already running rounds, not stopping at all on the green grass, her gaze dead serious.


    Garen smiled. Looking at the six people here, the five vice presidents and one Xander.


    The six of them looked at Garen, ever since they saw how terrifying he was when he exploded, nobody suspected what kind of power this soft and weak-looking boy had, he might be abnormally pretty and gentle when he was calm, but as soon as he exploded, his blonde hair flying, that terrifying destructive power could destroy almost anything, that wild and violent extreme offensive power, it was as though they were not facing a person, but a real golden lion. He could run wild whenever and hurt them, that feeling of danger and threat that almost seemed to prick their skin made them all more than a little stiff in front of Garen despite themselves.


    "Actually I won¡¯t force anyone either, forget it, let¡¯s just do it this way, you all go run with Cece, don¡¯t stop until I tell you to, how¡¯s that? That¡¯s a simple enough test, right?"


    Garen said, smiling.


    "No problem, I¡¯m good at running!" Jamie grinned. "When the coach my family hired first started to train me, he asked me to run too."


    He was the first to lead the way out of the house again, following behind Cece as he ran.


    Quentin and Serena nodded, and ran out as well. After that it was the girl with the short auburn hair, Raelan, the bespectacled Hochman, and Xander.


    Finally Serena clenched her teeth, and followed them out as well.(1)


    All that was left was the green-haired Dahm, he clenched his teeth and looked at Garen, who was sitting on the sofa calmly, when suddenly he changed his mind, turned around and ran with them as well.


    The terror of that moment had also raised in him an infinite craving for power. If I was the one who had that power¡­ it was as though a torch burned in his heart.


    It would be too cool!!


    He studied combat not only for self-defense, but also because it was cool enough!


    That¡¯s right, because it was cool, just for that reason. He had been a genius since young, and was quick to learn anything, the only exception was combat, when he came into contact with it he was pleasantly surprised to realize that it was much harder than everything else, plus the moves were cool enough, and he could train up a perfect figure, so he was instantly enamored with it.


    "Wait until I learn up all of your petty tricks, then I¡¯ll get back at you!" Dahm thought sinisterly, and followed the others out to run.


    Garen was the only one left in the mansion hall, he stood up, and walked to the door as well, standing in front of the mansion¡¯s hall, he watched the eight of them run evenly on the grass.


    How nostalgic¡­


    A hint of remembrance flashed through his eyes, wasn¡¯t he the same when he was small and weak back then, didn¡¯t he also desire for and obsess over getting stronger?


    Too bad¡­ The eight of them were no more than lambs to the slaughter in his eyes, none of them knew, that the combat technique they craved so much was actually a demonic secret skill that had terrifying side effects.


    Perhaps it was because this world never had anything like secret techniques, so they had no idea that the secret skill could have such an intense side effect.


    The secret skill Two-Faced Waterbird Fist was not like the Shooting Shadow, the more they practiced this secret skill, the more they needed Garen to personally give them a primer, to suppress the Waterbird Fist¡¯s internal forces as it grows stronger, otherwise there was the chance that they would die from internal bleeding, pain all over their bodies, and the general weakening of their bodily functions.


    In other words, once they started learning this secret skill, they could not stop, if they stopped, they could trigger the side effects, and they had to continuously train in the ways of the secret skill, whether they improve or not.


    Even if someone with great talent appeared, and trained to a high level, the effect of the secret skill was precisely that the higher they trained, the more they relied on Garen¡¯s primer, and the more they were controlled by him.


    Leaning on the doorframe, Garen watched the eight of them run constantly around the grassy lawn.


    Unsurprisingly, after twenty rounds, Garen declared that Cece had passed, and after thirty rounds, after forty rounds, after fifty rounds, everyone had passed.


    The lawn was very big, just one round was about six hundred meters.


    Twenty rounds equalled twelve thousand meters, Cece ran until her clothes were drenched in sweat, when she heard Garen declare that she had passed, she just slumped to the ground. Thank goodness she had some foundation in martial arts, otherwise she really could not have withstood all that running, and even then, she had basically reached her limit.


    The others had much better foundations, thirty rounds or eighteen thousand meters, forty rounds or twenty-four thousand meters, fifty rounds and thirty thousand meters.


    The last one to stop was Jamie, he really was the best at running.


    By the time they had all finished running, more than five hours had passed.


    After all, they did not specialize in long-distance running, such a record was already very good, and they did not even rehydrate on the way.


    Garen looked at the eight of them in front of him, all dog tired, and two of the mansion¡¯s servants were serving them water, slightly salty water that had salt added to it.


    "Now that that¡¯s done, let¡¯s start."


    "N-Now?" Jamie asked, panting. He bent his waist, his hands on his knees, his sweat dripping down his chin.


    "Of course¡­" As soon as he finished speaking, Garen¡¯s figure instantly flashed, appearing beside Jamie, the five fingers on his right hand as though playing a piano, instantaneously hitting several tens of pressure points on his back.


    He was so fast that his fingers made just three crisp sounds.


    Smack! Smack! Smack!


    Nobody could see how Garen¡¯s fingers moved, they just saw a shadow flash past Jamie¡¯s back.


    "Close your eyes and feel it!" Garen¡¯s figure flashed towards the rest of them like lightning, and the series of crisp sounds kept coming. "Pay attention and feel the qi pathways in your body!!"


    His voice was like a clap of thunder, transmitted straight into their ears.


    The two servants at the side were completely dazed, the way they saw it, it was only as though Garen had walked a circle between the eight of them, because it was on their backs, they could not see Garen¡¯s movements either.


    Garen purposely avoided the cameras and the servants¡¯ gazes, using a secret hand technique to insert a wisp of his primer aura, creating a wisp of power inside their bodies, and leading it to flow according to the path of the Two-Faced Waterbird Fist.


    His aura right now could affect actual things, not like the Grandmasters of Combat in the Secret Technique World that could only affect the spirits of creatures, so he was perfectly capable of triggering their bodies, and channeling the flow of the force.


    "Feel the flow of the force, don¡¯t forget it!"


    After walking one round, Garen returned to his original position, and watched as the eight of them sat down one by one, their whole bodies stiff, their eyes closed as they tried to feel the changes in their bodies.


    It was high noon, the sun at two o¡¯clock unnaturally hot, and all eight of them sweated drastically, but none of them dared to open their eyes or say anything, all of them were extremely cautious, terrified that the movement and force inside their bodies would suddenly vanish.


    After a full dozen minutes or so, they opened their eyes slowly, each of them with energetic gazes, as though they had recovered all of the stamina they had just spent.


    "Miraculous! This is too miraculous!!" Jamie murmured, he gripped his fist, and released it again lightly, "I feel as though all my stamina has returned. Just in that little bit of time¡­!"


    "Is this the true secret of the Two-Faced Extermination? That stance and move that do not obey the laws of physics at all!?" Quentin¡¯s eyes were full of irrepressible awe. She had never thought that there was this side to combat, that feeling when she closed her eyes, and that sensation when her consciousness was guided everywhere by that icy-cold qi, it was like making love, no, compared to pure physical gratification, this feeling was even more intoxicating!


    It was not just her, even Dahm seemed to be drooling, his whole body shaking, that feeling was even more satisfying than taking drugs, so much so that he did not want to leave it at all.


    "That felt too good¡­"


    Translator¡¯s Note:


    Yes, Serena appears twice; no, I don¡¯t know why. There is literally no one else.

 603 Calming Down 1

    Chapter 603: Calming Down 1


    Garen waved his hand, telling the servants to leave on their own.


    "What I will teach you now, is an extremely powerful secret skill that I know, a so-called secret skill, is a powerful skill that should be kept secret. The reason why it should be kept secret, and in fact should not be used often, is because it is too powerful, its destructive power is too brutal, and in ancient times it was considered evil or demonic, a terrifying form of martial arts invented specifically to hunt down and kill people. Of course, times have changed, and as the years passed, this secret skill had also slowly cut down on the killing techniques, and become more focused on strengthening the user¡¯s own body, eventually turning into this peak-level skill I have here."


    "Killing martial arts¡­ I like it¡­ Hehe." There was a nearly perverse passion rising in Hochman¡¯s eyes behind the glasses. "Isn¡¯t the very fabric of martial arts and combat meant to kill others?"


    "That is true." Garen nodded, "I¡¯m telling you all this, just so that you understand the roots, and the strength of this secret skill lies in that it can maximize the potential within the human body, turning it into destructive power."


    Looking at the little lambs in front of him, a hint of sympathy flashed through Garen¡¯s heart.


    The passion in their hearts had already been utterly ignited by his words, when Garen designed this secret skill, he had sacrificed some of the agility in order to create that intense feeling of pleasure, and now it seemed to be worth it, even the weakest-willed Dahm had instantly thrown away everything else, becoming a rabid fan of this secret skill.


    Seeing the hesitation in Cece¡¯s eyes, she seemed to be hesitant towards evil or demonic arts.


    "Actually, in the society now, the true power lies in guns, and there¡¯s less and less place for martial arts to survive, as the heir to an ancient martial arts, even if it is evil or demonic, I can¡¯t stand to see it disappear just like that, and be lost forever to history." Garen said, his tone sad and pitying.


    "That¡¯s why I plan to break the rule that it can only be passed down to one person at a time, I will pass it to you all, so that this ultimate skill is not lost from my hands." He heaved a long sigh, his glowing image immediately causing the others to idolize him.


    "Now, I will officially teach you the basic moves of this martial arts, remember, you must channel that wisp of force in your bodies as you practice these moves, and continuously make it stronger, there¡¯s also a breathing method here to match, you all must remember it carefully."


    "What¡¯s the name of this skill we¡¯re learning? Is it the Two-Faced Extermination?" Quentin asked.


    "The Two-Faced Extermination is just one of the moves." Garen smiled mysteriously, "It¡¯s called, the Two-Faced Waterbird Fist¡­"


    "Waterbird¡­ The Two-Faced Waterbird Fist¡­"


    Garen waved his hand suddenly.


    After two crisp sounds, the two servants at the side directly collapsed on cue.


    The rest of them were shocked, and looked at Garen in confusion, they had all noticed that the two servants had merely fainted.


    "Don¡¯t worry, I just put them to sleep for a while." Garen¡¯s eyes curved, like two crescent moons, and they seemed to be emitting a unique magic to all eight of them here.


    He spoke in a hoarse, magnetic voice.


    "Look carefully¡­"


    "This is the basic core of the Two-Faced Waterbird Fist¡­"


    He raised his arms slowly, drawing out two straight lines in front of him, and when he reached his lower abdomen, his forearm suddenly folded outwards, as though he was hugging someone, or as though he was a veiled woman slowly spreading open her arms.


    In that instant, they watched his arms move at a speed that was neither fast nor slow, yet it seemed to bring out countless after-images, blurring their eyes, making them extremely dizzy and nauseous.


    "Illusory Spinning White Jade." Garen¡¯s voice seemed to come from the distance, floaty and unfocused.


    All eight of them watched his movements with bleary eyes, in that instance, it was as though all of Garen¡¯s skin was glowing with a white light, they knew perfectly well that it was a trick of the mind, but they still could not help but hallucinate.


    In that instant, the eight of them felt as though time had slowed down, their senses instantly slowing and dulling, as though they were in a dream.


    ******************


    On the grassy field, next to mirror-like privately-owned lake.


    There were many grey-white man-made hills nearby, with clumps of green grass amongst them, some dark-green or brown-yellow little trees scattered about sparsely.


    Hochman wore white casual clothes, standing quietly by the lake, looking at the surface of the lake, completely void of any ripples.


    It had been half a month since the day Garen taught them the Two-Faced Waterbird Fist, and in this half a month¡¯s time, the eight of them did not get any more pointers from Garen, they were just asked to keep remembering the images they had of that moment. The Two-Faced Waterbird Fist was a basic secret skill, it had some strange killing moves, but it was not the full set of martial arts, so it was perfectly capable of absorbing their individual comprehension and combat styles, forming their own personal Two-Faced Waterbird Fist.


    Hochman pushed the glasses on his nose, narrowing his eyes as he remembered the core of that perfect stance Garen had demonstrated that day.


    "Illusory Spinning White Jade¡­" he murmured softly, but strangely, no matter he thought of that posture, he just could not picture it clearly. Similarly, no matter how he tried to ignore it, the memory just would not go away.


    Like a seed covered in a white veil, it was planted deep in his heart.


    For some reason, he only had one impression of that stance in his heart, that of danger, a bewitching danger.


    "Interesting¡­ How very interesting, hahahaha¡­" Hochman could not hold back the excitement in his heart, it was as though there was a brand new world in front of him. That feeling of discovery and anticipation, and that intense pleasure from that first guidance, all of it made him sink deeply into it, as though hooked.


    Before he knew it, he began to stand by the lakeside alone, mimicking Garen¡¯s pose from that day. But no matter what, he simply could not trigger the internal force inside his body into moving.


    The foundation of the Illusory Spinning White Jade was being able to feel the internal force in one¡¯s body that seemed to channel and flow, but it also seemed to be an illusion, both there and not, after the force was successfully guided, all of one¡¯s skin would glow with a bleary jade-like color.


    Hochman stood on by the lakeside reminiscing over and over again, mimicking Garen, and slowly, his stance became more and more similar, more and more strange.


    Only he himself did not notice, unlike Garen¡¯s Illusory Spinning White Jade, his stance was less demonic and strange, but slightly more domineering.


    ************


    "Cece, why are you always so distracted these days?"


    In the large classroom, Cece sat in the back row, her eyes rather unfocused, when she was suddenly shaken by her good friend beside her.


    The lecturer teaching fervently on the podium had already pulled the mobile blackboard to him several times, erasing it and writing again, writing and erasing. She herself, however, had been unprecedentedly distracted, and the notebook in front of her was completely empty, white as it began.


    "Cece, what¡¯s the matter with you? Haven¡¯t you been a bit out of it recently, is it that time?" Her good friend Tian Jing asked quietly.


    "It¡¯s¡­ nothing, I just haven¡¯t been sleeping that well recently, maybe I have too much on my mind." Cece forced a smile.


    After that day, she often dreamed of that beautiful and dangerously bewitching stance. In her dreams, Garen¡¯s face could no longer be clearly seen, all that remained was a blur.


    As her mind wandered, the Illusory Spinning White Jade seemed to become to become a white-veiled woman, or a beautiful white bird spreading its wings.


    Sometimes, in that instant when she woke up, even Cece could not tell the difference between dreams and reality.


    "Cece, I think your skin has been getting fairer and smoother lately." Her good friend Tian Jing gasped suddenly.


    "Really?" Cece reached out her hand, and looked at the back of her hand, as expected, her skin had clearly gotten fairer and smoother, there was a faintly familiar feeling about it, like she had seen it somewhere before.


    "White Jade¡­" Cece¡¯s expression waved somewhat distractedly as she murmured.


    That was right, her skin right now was just like white jade, emitting a faint smooth and warm glow.


    She had not noticed it at all, but as she kept delving into the knowledge about the Illusory Spinning White Jade, the aura around her whole body had also changed slightly.


    "I¡¯m so jealous, your skin gets better even when you don¡¯t get enough rest¡­" Her good friend¡¯s voice came from beside her, but she sounded so very far away, as though she was at the horizon¡­


    Cece¡¯s aura slowly began to become colder, gentle, pure¡­


    Suddenly she felt as though someone was staring at her, and she turned around abruptly, the door behind her was completely empty, there was no one there at all.


    A boy who had snuck in after coming in late was caught in her stare, hugging his books to his chest, and looked left and right in confusion, trying to figure out if he was wrong in any way.


    "What¡¯s the matter?" Her friend asked beside her.


    "Nothing, I just felt as though someone was staring at me just now."


    "You think too much, with a beauty such as me sitting next to you, it¡¯d be weird if no one was staring." Tian Jing grinned wide.


    Cece smiled, it was true that she was not as pretty as her friend, but she had a rare quiet and pretty air about her.


    "Alright, let¡¯s talk later, lend me your notes later after class."


    "Come get them yourself."


    *****************


    Garen stood outside the large classroom, his back against the wall and his arms crossed in front of his chest, quietly listening to the lecturer¡¯s loud voice teaching inside the classroom, and there was the occasional question or problem from the students.


    "What rapid progress¡­" There was a satisfied smile on his lips.


    These past few days, he had been occasionally observing Cece¡¯s progress, and he was very comforted to find that even if Cece¡¯s talent was not as good as his, it was not too far behind. It had barely been half a month, and she was already on the way to the Two-Faced Waterbird Fist¡¯s true first level.


    He had divided this simple yet overpowering secret skill into four levels, extending from the Illusory Spinning White Jade, they were Jade, White, Illusion, and Spin, the words representing levels one to four in reverse order.


    Cece was now nearly entering the first level, Jade. As a normal person who had never learned any secret techniques or skills, her progress was not the result of any verbal teaching, and she had reached this level merely through that one demonstration and explanation Garen had given them that day.


    "Truly, a genius¡­"


    Straightening up, Garen slowly left the large classroom, following the mahogany wooden corridors downstairs.


    Cece was the most innocent of the eight, and she came from Asia as well, so Garen felt strangely closer to her, and thus he paid slightly more attention to her.


    Compared to the others, perhaps this girl was worth putting more effort into.


    Garen started to wonder if he should continue releasing the follow-up secret skills that he had invented, so that he could properly train Cece up.

 604 Calming Down 2

    Chapter 604: Calming Down 2


    The secret skill was only a tool he used to raise his own forces as quickly as possible, it was fast-acting and powerful, but other than the considerable side effect, there was also one inherent problem that he found quite troublesome.


    That was, if he disappeared or had to leave for a short while, the people under him would not have a chance to get their primers, and it could trigger an extremely powerful backlash instead.


    And as he recruited more and more elite members under his wing, it would also slowly become a troublesome thing to have to consistently apply primers to each of them personally.


    Garen was wondering if he should raise some generals that could control the members in his place.


    Cece was under his consideration, but he still needed to observe her for a while longer.


    Right now, no one in the combat club was fighting for the position of president anymore, the eight leaders had all silently acknowledged Garen as the only president, the true leader.


    Leaving the teaching block.


    Garen sat on a long bench by a small garden beside him, the flower garden was ring-shaped, and there was a black statue in the middle, of a little boy with one hand raised, pointing towards the distance.


    Garen sat behind the statue, taking out his phone and sending Baldy a message.


    After waiting for more than ten minutes, there was finally one reply.


    "Boss, the Stone Clock of Fortune¡¯s auction items are broken, should we sell them in pieces, or not sell them at all? I''m joining the auction tomorrow."


    Garen thought about it, "Continue on, send it to me once you get your hands on it."


    "Understood."


    After testing for a while, waiting for the bell signaling the end of this class to ring, Garen finally stood up slowly, waking back to the school area he had come from.


    *****************


    In the time after that, Garen completely put Cece and the others to the back of his head, they would still take some time to successfully achieve the technique, and even if they succeeded, it would take nearly a year before the side effect was triggered, so he was in no rush at all.


    Garen returned to that rhythmic and ordinary life he led before that.


    He was dragged into joining banquets held by some other clubs, and met more than several tens of people over just a few short days.


    They were all acquaintances he could just say a few things to, they might never meet again to chat after that, but nobody really considered that.


    The story about Garen joining the combat club began to spread, and many boys came to him upon hearing his name, while many girls would ask him out to dance at the balls. There were even three girls who subtly or not-so-subtly hinted, that they would be willing to be his sex buddies¡­


    To a lot of students, they clearly did not believe that Garen was as powerful as the rumors said. They were just interested in his good looks and well-mannered behavior, so of course there were also girls who did not like him,


    The basketball team¡¯s head cheerleader was also a first-year junior like him, she was a pretty girl with long golden curls, and she was utterly not enamored with him, every time she saw Garen, her expression would sour.


    Just like this, his life in the first year of university was not too different from other normal university students.


    It was just that their studies were heavier, their stress was higher, and there were fewer students on drugs. Of course perhaps that just meant Garen did not come into contact with him, but he had no interest at all in taking drugs, no matter how strong the effect of the drug, could it possibly more intense than the pleasure he got from controlling his own nerves with his aura?


    From what he knew, the combat club¡¯s infamous playboy Dahm had completely quit drugs. He spent all day mysteriously researching something, but nobody knew what, it was only when his useless friends saw him occasionally that they felt as though he had gotten somewhat more mysterious.


    Garen knew, that the guy had probably learned the technique.


    The reason why he classified the Two-Faced Waterbird Fist as a demonic technique, was because others could learn it too fast, and while it was fast-acting, each time one practiced it, it would come with an intense sensation of pleasure, this pleasure was much more intense than making love, it was the direct effect of the internal force stimulating the inner nerves. It made people addicted to it despite themselves, driving them to keep on training and training.


    That was the characteristic of a demonic technique, there were fast effects in the early stages, but towards the middle and late stages, it would trigger unimaginable side effects, and be much harder to progress in.


    This was something that even Garen could not control or change.


    This was the natural law of the universe, for anything at all, it would be divided into thick or thin, easy or hard, and the Two-Faced Waterbird Fist was the same.


    All he had done was bring the easiest part to the very front, putting the best in front, and putting the hard parts at the back, that was all.


    The natural laws of the universe stated that if you wanted to achieve certain heights, you needed to pay the cost in enough effort and talent, the demonic techniques seemed to be a shortcut, but in truth the only difference they had from normal techniques was the order of things.


    Some would prefer pain and then pleasure, while others preferred pleasure over the pain, it just depended on what they chose.


    It was the same with constructing a building, to reach a certain height, you either had to spend a lot of time on the foundations, slowly climbing up step by step. Or you could simply make your basics, and rapidly build towards the top.


    The former would have strong and stable foundations, if there was no fatal flaw, it could withstand even a more serious disaster.


    But things were different with the latter, perhaps progress would be extremely fast in the beginning, and no one would be able to tell the difference, but the taller it was built, the more pressure would be exerted on the foundations, and the floors could collapse with the slightest trouble, much less an actual disaster or tremor.


    It was the same with the pinnacle of any profession or secret technique, if you wanted to go higher and further, your foundations would need to be solid enough, that was the proper way. If you followed the demonic way, the higher you went, it would naturally become more dangerous, and at every step, you might collapse because your foundations could not handle the pressure.


    This was the most basic law of physics, even Garen could not change it.


    Of course, the many revision he had made also had their effect, the reason he could amplify the power of the Two-Faced Waterbird Fist so much, was because he had used the power from his own Soul Seed, and mixed it with the Slaughtering Hand demon technique¡¯s force as a primer.


    While this primer controlled his subordinates, it could also magnify and enhance their destructive power.


    The price of that was this power was something their wills and spirits could not control, which meant they naturally needed the interference of external forces to suppress the side effects and dangers of it, to balance it out.


    In other words, the Two-Faced Waterbird Fist that they were practicing was actually Garen¡¯s demonic-styled Waterbird Fist, although it was much weaker, it still had the same impressive aura-like psychological effect on outsiders and enemies, it could create a seemingly hypnotic effect, and had a special living destructive effect.


    As for the complete version of the Shooting Shadow Secret Skill, naturally the price to pay was reconstructing part of their foundations, so the progress in the early stages was extremely slow, it had practically become a proper secret skill, with the same principle as the Two-Faced Waterbird Fist.


    If Garen were to teach them the proper techniques, he could, but the problem was it would take too long, by the time they grew up, he would already have achieved a terrifying level on his own, and would not need their help at all. In that case, what was the point of building his seed faction?


    So he had no choice but to sacrifice them, at the most he would treat them differently depending on whether they were good or bad.


    *******************


    Smack.


    "Full Lights! Hahaha, I win again!!"


    Messi happily splayed the cards in his hand onto the table.


    "Pay up, pay up! It really pays to be with Garen! Hehe."


    It was not just the four of them in their dorm, there were also the two and three from the next room and the opposite room, they were teamed up in groups of two, playing cards.


    The card game was called Full Lights, and it was Garen¡¯s first time as well, it relied more on calculation and memory skills.


    But these were undeniably Garen¡¯s largest advantages, his calculation and memory skills were both decided by his attribute points, and right now his secret technique level was about to reach 3, so he was already entering a non-human level compared to the normal people.


    Messi, who was teamed up with him, was grinning so widely his mouth went sideways.


    The others just kept scolding them and cursing their luck. Even the boy among them who had taught them this game had lost so much his face was beginning to turn green.


    "What¡¯s this shit!" One of their black friends threw the cards down, "I¡¯m quitting, I¡¯m quitting, if I go on I¡¯ll lose all my living fees too!"


    This friend of theirs was undergoing an intensive language class, it was specifically for international students, but he improved rather quickly, at first he could barely understand any of their slang, but now he could communicate with the people in the hostel freely.


    "Cards aren¡¯t that fun, how about we play computer hacking and defending?" One of the young, well-mannered white boys with glasses suggested.


    "Forget it, wouldn¡¯t that just be you winning?" The other few looked at him condescendingly.


    This guy was a computer prodigy, his short-sightedness was more than seven hundred degrees because he spent too much time on the computer. In high school, he had participated in a national anonymous hacker war, and had been the main offensive power in it. Of course, no one knew if it was his tall tale or the actual truth.


    But even Garen¡¯s little bit of hacker technique was nothing to him, he could be taken down in two or three tries, and then he would write ¡®weak¡¯ in large font on Garen¡¯s desktop.


    Just a while ago, he had designed a new game, it was a hacker game of offense and defense designed to look like an entertaining tower defense game, so even newbies who were not very good at this could play.


    Of course, it still required basic calculation skills and imagination, these were necessary to break through defenses and swerve around attacks.


    But the result was completely one-sided.


    After that, he and Garen were called the Two Great Bosses of their dorm level, the Boss of Cards and the Boss of Computers.


    Garen shook his head, bored, as he began to keep the cards.


    "You were the ones who pulled me into this because you were bored, don¡¯t blame me."


    "Dammit! The move I just learned didn¡¯t work at all!" Alexander said out of pain and frustration.


    "Did you get your report to pass?" Messi asked offhandedly.


    "Of course, who do you think I am!" Alexander patted his chest, even though he had evidently lost quite a bit of weight recently, and all they could hear was the sound of him hitting bone.


    "There¡¯s a lecture in the afternoon, it¡¯s an economic research talk by that Professor Milo who just won a prize, any of you going?" A blonde boy asked from outside the dorm.


    "The Milo who just won the McDermis Prize?" Messi was instantly interested.


    "That¡¯s right, he¡¯s going on a guest lecture tour of universities all around the country, a few days back they said he was coming to our school, didn¡¯t you see?"


    "I was busy with social practice survey, see how I forgot about it?" Messi patted his head, "I planned to enter the School of Economics in the second year, I can¡¯t miss this lecture!"


    The remaining few yawned and began to scatter, while Messi discussed some economics-related topics with that boy excitedly, constantly spewing some complicated specialized terms.


    Garen was not interested in this whatsoever, he was planning to study medicine, Gullivier¡¯s two strongest aspects were economics and medicine, he had already settled on his direction of study, if he studied the medical field here, maybe he might reap some unexpected results.

 605 Startup 1

    Chapter 605: Startup 1


    Whoosh¡­


    The heavy downpour tossed the trees back and forth in the wind, clumping up in some areas and growing sparse in others. The rain beat down on the grassy field, creating a choir of splattering noises.


    Garen sat alone in a coffee shop on school grounds, lightly stirring the thick aromatic coffee in his white porcelain cup, looking at the bleary rainwater flowing straight down the windows beside him.


    "Are you alone?" A pretty girl with blonde hair walked up to Garen¡¯s table.


    Garen looked at her, and reached out his hand to give her a wave, telling her to suit herself.


    "The famous combat club president, Garen Thomas, ascended to the throne of the number one combat club¡¯s president as a first-year student, and you convinced all the club members as well, tsk-tsk¡­" The girl said, her tone sounding appreciative.


    She had a pair of thin willow-leaf brows, her eyes shining with a naked sense of penetration when she looked at someone, with none of the shyness women tend to have.


    "Are you interested in joining our kickboxing club?"


    She was wearing a pale yellow dress, her collar pulled down slightly lower, revealing a deep cleavage.


    Garen ignored her, picking up his coffee and sipping it slowly, he was still more used to drinking tea, drinking coffee made his mouth feel sour, and really uncomfortable.


    He was wondering if he should get Baldy and the others to bring some Asian tea leaves specifically for him.


    "The combat club may have a few more people, and a bit more money, but the true strength lies with our kickboxing club. Our kickboxing club¡¯s cheerleading team is the prettiest cheerleading team in the whole school, it¡¯s jammed full of pretty girls, no matter what your type is, you can find them in there, and you should know, a lot of the members have already admired you for a long time."


    This girl was practically a pimp, when she said strength, she seemed to actually mean the number of pretty girls in their cheerleading team.


    "Give me a mocha, thanks."


    She tilted her face and told a waiter who had come over.


    "Will do, please wait a moment."


    The waiter was actually also a student of the university who was working here part-time, he looked at this couple strangely, the blonde girl was a famous third-year school beauty, he knew her as well.


    "Other than that, I noticed you have the same problem as a lot of first years, your social skills aren¡¯t fitting in that well, are you too focused on your studies and not your social connections? No problem, our club will also passionately help out with a member¡¯s personal life, are you still worrying over your social skills? We can help you find a perfect clique that will belong to you alone. It¡¯ll be a perfect bridge for your social skills."


    She was very confident, the kickboxing club¡¯s cheerleading team was not made of just girls from their school, there were also the elite beauties from many schools nearby, as a top-ranked prestigious university, many girls were proud to have a boyfriend from this famous school, even beauties had their idle pride and ambition, what was more when it came to someone who had both looks and ability like Garen, if he wanted to be a playboy, a lot of times it was just a matter of intention.


    "The way I see it, if you want to be a social butterfly loved by all, if you want to handle all sorts of awkward situations and problems easily, you have actually already fulfilled most of the conditions, you just need a little¡­"


    "Too weak."


    Her voice was suddenly interrupted by Garen.


    The girl looked at him in shock as he picked up his coffee and sipped from it.


    "I just don¡¯t like to stay with a bunch of weaklings."


    Garen glanced at her, and so the two of them instantly fell quiet, the girl stammered and tried to say something else, but she had no idea what to say. She had not imagined that it was not that he was not good at social relations, he just did not like to communicate with weaklings.


    But she had her ways to deal with such prideful types as well, her eyes turned, and she was instantly smiling again.


    "True, lions never like to stick with rabbits, but our kickboxing club has exchanges will all sorts of clubs from other big-name schools every year, sometimes we even get the strongest stars of the combat world, such as Graham Christine, Gadar, the Savage Tank Rowden¡­"


    These names she mentioned were all famous Boxing Kings with titles in freestyle fighting, and they were even more impressive than the ones the combat club invited.


    This was no longer a matter of money, the kickboxing club naturally was no match for the combat club in terms of finances, but the girl herself came from a family that ran a fighting club, these titled Boxing Kings were actually elites under contract with her family¡¯s club, so they would naturally show face at her own club.


    Garen looked at her, too lazy to say anything else.


    "Uhm¡­ my name is Terri, I¡¯m now the president of the kickboxing club, if you¡¯re willing to come to our side, I can give you the position of president, this is not like the combat club where the president has no real power, I have the whole kickboxing club in my hands, whatever you want to do, I will support you."


    The blonde girl Terri had long since found out from her informant that back then, Garen had beat the combat club¡¯s coach into submission, she was desperate to get such a powerful first year, with such a first year on board, it was not impossible for them to surpass the combat club as the number one fighting club on campus.


    "I have the strongest kickboxing club behind me for support, we have the most complete and professional team of coaches, a professional team handling logistics, nutritionists who had worked for champions, a medical team, and equipment team, all of these are things the combat club cannot match."


    "Waiter, bill please." Garen stood up and waved at the water nearby.


    "Sir, this lady here has already paid your bill." The waiter walked over to them and replied politely.


    Garen glanced at Terri.


    "Then I¡¯ll be on my way, you can stay here longer, the ambiance is pretty good."


    "What a coincidence, I was planning to go too." Terri stood up with a smile, picking up her handbag and walking beside Garen. Looks like she was determined to stick to Garen.


    "It¡¯s raining right now, and you didn¡¯t bring an umbrella, wanna walk with me?" She propped up her rack, and looked at Garen teasingly.


    "I¡¯m fine." Garen walked straight out of the coffee shop, and the heavy rain outside was actually rapidly lightening, and as soon as he walked into the rain, the heavy downpour just stopped completely.


    Terri, who was just preparing to open up her umbrella, was completely struck speechless as she watched Garen walk out nonchalantly, surprise flashed through her eyes, and she quickly kept the umbrella, rushing out after him.


    Leaving the coffee shop and walking down a small path, going across a slope, they saw a row of cafes and restaurants in front of them, there were several university patrol cars stopped at the side, and a few of the university police were chatting as they ate.


    There was also a yellow-skinned female student with her parents, just walking out from the mini mart opposite the restaurant after buying something.


    Garen walked to one of the patrol cars and stood there, his black-gloved-hands in his pockets, as he looked at the girl at the mart opposite.


    That girl had long hair tied into a black ponytail, and wore a white dress, her features pretty and pure, it was the girl from the combat club that Garen had the highest hopes for, Cece.


    Every few days, he would come to observe Cece¡¯s progress, and each time he would receive a small but pleasant surprise.


    Just like Dahm, this girl did not seem like much at first, but she got faster and faster as she went, her speed increasing tremendously.


    He was not wrong, Cece and Xander were the most suited to study the Two-Faced Waterbird Fist.


    "You like that type of girl?" Terri walked up to him, following his gaze, and instantly saw the girl Cece buying things with her parents at the mini mart opposite.


    She looked at the girl¡¯s chest, it was much smaller than hers.


    "So you like this kind of little dumpling?"


    "Little dumpling?" Garen could not help but curve his lips slightly.


    "Isn¡¯t she? That yellow-skinned girl¡¯s chest not even half of mine! Why don¡¯t you touch and see?" Terri leaned her body closer towards Garen.


    "Unfortunately, I do prefer little dumplings." Garen returned her words exactly.


    "Hmph." Terri crossed her arms in front of her chest, and watched Cece opposite them quietly, together with Garen.


    The two of them did not speak for a while.


    On the other side, Cece had not noticed them there, she was just taking her parents, who lived so far away, on a rare trip around to look at this internationally-acclaimed school, to see the place where she usually lived and studied.


    She was not a self-sponsored student, and her family was not that well off economically, she was truly reliant on her scholarship, and was an excellent student who had worked her way here from her home country. As for her family situation, her family only had basic jobs, and they did not have much in the way of a family background or savings either, they were simple, honest normal people.


    Every time she saw the pride on her parents¡¯ faces, her heart would be filled with a sense of achievement and joy. She felt as though everything she had sacrificed up until now was worth it.


    Since young, she had been independent, and every time she saw how hard her parents had to work so that she could live a normal life like the students around her, her heart felt heavy. This time she had finally entered a famous school, and her fees were all paid by the scholarship, plus she even had enough for living costs, so she could finally let her parents relax.


    "Wait a sec." Just as their family was about to leave the store with their items, a white store staff ran out after them, frowning as he stared at them.


    "Could you cooperate with us for a bit? We misplaced something from the store."


    "Misplaced something?" Cece frowned. "You have sensors at the door, won¡¯t the alarm ring if something was misplaced?"


    "There are ways to avoid the sensor, please cooperate, please bring out your bags so that we can check again."


    It was not just them, there was another white couple, and some other customers who had bought things had been politely stopped, but what Cece could not stand was how the staff had only checked the others¡¯ shopping bags, whereas they insisted that Cece and her parents open their school and handbags, allowing their personal belongings to be checked.


    "What¡¯s the meaning of this? There are so many people here, why are you only checking our personal bags?!"


    The two of them started arguing, both trying to reason it out, neither giving way, and both attracting more and more attention as they went.


    After arguing for some time, she saw that her parents¡¯ expressions were somewhat awkward, with more and more people gathering around them, until the elders¡¯ faces were so red that their original color could barely be distinguished.


    The father held the mother¡¯s hand, but since they did not know the language very well, they could only watch as their daughter tried to debate with the staff member, until her face was completely scarlet.


    "Filthy chinks!"


    The father did not understand the foreign language at all, so he could only force out a friendly smile.


    That scene instantly caused a few people gathered around to burst into laughter.

 606 Startup 2

    Chapter 606: Startup 2


    "You!!"


    Cece felt the frustration pent up in her heart that threatened to overspill, she tried her best to control herself, but she still could not stop her chest from rising and falling hard.


    She looked around her, there was a student that she had met before in the crowd, but sadly that person just stood there watching, with no intention of helping, and even took out a phone to film the scene.


    "All of you!!" Her personality had always been on the cold loner side, and she only had one good friend in her circle, she barely contacted the rest of them, so she was not close with any of them at all. Friends who were not even in her circle were even less likely to help her.


    In that moment, she suddenly felt all cold, she was surrounded by so many people, but not one of them could help her, it was as though there were only herself and her parents in this world, and everyone else was their enemy. They surrounded them, laughing, rejecting. Without a single hint of friendliness.


    She had encountered racism before, but this time, when it happened in front of her parents, and she saw how her father and mother were watched like animals in a cage, terrified, Cece felt as though there was a sharp knife digging away at her flesh.


    "Take out the things you stole! Or else we¡¯re calling the cops!" The staff member pulled her hand, refusing to let go.


    The university police officers opposite them had also noticed something happening there, but to Cece¡¯s despair, they just gave the situation a few glances and fell quiet, eating their own food there, with no intention to interfere.


    Quite a few people had taken out their phones to record the whole thing, just there for the show.


    These even included the white people who had their shopping bags checked just now, in an instant, they were also in the crowd, playing the role of audience.


    Smack!!


    Suddenly, one of the students who had been filming was knocked hard from behind, and the phone instantly fell to the ground.


    A black boot stomped right on it, grinding it down nonchalantly.


    Ker-chak.


    The phone instantly disintegrated into shards.


    With a few more roars of commotion, some people in the middle of the crowd were shoved aside by a tremendous force, falling to the ground.


    Two tall and slender figures walked out from behind them.


    One man and one woman, both blonde-haired students, the boy pushed out both hands, stubbornly shoving aside the crowd.


    "My phone! Bastard!!" That student yelled.


    "Hmm?" Garen threw him a glance, and his voice was abruptly cut short.


    That student was like a choked rooster, his face instantly turning white.


    Phew!!


    "What did you say? Just now?" Garen picked the student up by the collar, and suspended him in mid-air, his height of over a hundred and eighty centimeters was more than enough to pick the other person up with one hand, like an adult manhandling a child.


    That student just happened to be the white classmate that Cece knew, he gulped down hard, waving his arms and legs about to try to touch the ground, but to no avail.


    "A bunch of wimps."


    He tossed this person aside carelessly, and glanced at everyone around them.


    "What are you looking at, scram! Weaklings!" He looked at the crowd condescendingly, his body emitting a terrifying air like a male lion.


    "You motherf*cker!!" A stout white man rushed out, aiming a fist at his back.


    Bam!


    He grabbed the man¡¯s arm with one arm, straight as an arrow, and let the man flail his arms uselessly, while Garen¡¯s own arm was as motionless as a steel pillar.


    "Trash should act like trash." Garen pinched his head and flipped him backhanded.


    The stout man immediately slid a distance away, his head colliding into the shop¡¯s door frame with a bam, and he instantly fainted. Dots of bright red leaked out from under him slowly.


    Some people had been spooked, and were about to run.


    "Your phones." Garen looked around at everyone.


    "Allow me!" Exhilarated by Garen¡¯s display of violence, Terri rushed over and quickly took one round around the crowd, grabbing all of the phones that had been filming, throwing them to the ground, and stomping on them mercilessly.


    With the sound of crisp cracking, there was also the sound of glass shattering, and five or six phones were all ground into powder. Terri even crouched down to check carefully if there were any memory cards left intact, if she found any that still seemed whole, she would add on a few more stomps, just for kicks.


    There were people cursing in the crowd, but she just caught them and gave them a kick too, so soon enough everyone who had gathered to watch promptly scattered.


    The university police seemed to know her as well, so they just all pretended not to see anything.


    "Pres¡­ President¡­" Cece looked at Garen with moist eyes, looking as though she was going to burst into tears, and her father walked up to her in a fluster, hugging her lightly.


    "You¡¯re still too weak." Garen looked at her mildly, and turned to leave. "Do your best to get stronger."


    Looking at Garen¡¯s back, Cece¡¯s tears finally overflowed, and she nodded hard in that direction.


    Terri whistled, and looked at Cece with pity.


    "Poor Little Dumpling." She turned around and hurriedly followed Garen, walking directly towards the restaurant where the university police were sitting.


    "Little Dumpling?" Cece could not comprehend what that meant.


    She could only look on in confusion as the two of them entered the small restaurant opposite.


    "What are you doing!? Assaulting the police!!"


    "Subdue him!!"


    "Requesting for back-up! Back¡­ Bleurgh!!"


    Soon, there were the sounds of crashing cutlery coming from the restaurant opposite her, as well as human cries of pain and anguish.


    In no time at all, Garen and Terri walked out without a care in the world, Terri even looked excited, continuously working her reddening fist.


    As the student passersby and Cece¡¯s family watched on in a daze, they slowly disappeared down a distant grassy slope.


    For some reason, Cece suddenly felt a wave of hot blood rush to her brain, she suddenly sort of idolized Garen¡¯s back, that tall figure was just that suave, that powerful and broad, as though it carried a golden corona like the sun, so blinding you could barely open your eyes.


    ******************


    "It feels great to cause trouble!!" Terri giggled as she followed beside Garen, her face full of excitement and exhilaration.


    From the very first moment she saw this man, she sensed that he was no ordinary man. And she was right.


    Just two minutes ago, not only did she beat up the gathered onlookers with this man, they even beat up the university police and security personnel who patrolled the school, and it was practically like beating up kindergarteners.


    That dominating aura, to be able to give no shits and forgo all the rules, made Terri feel as though she was going to orgasm.


    "Are you worrying about the consequences?" Terri giggled as she rushed in front of Garen.


    "Consequences? What consequences?" Garen retorted.


    "Not only did we hit innocent bystanders, we even beat up the university police, you should know that these are officers sent from the town police station, they¡¯re not just here for security. Aren¡¯t you worried?" Terri was so excited that he face was blushing.


    "I¡¯ll leave it to you, any problems?"


    Terri shrugged helplessly.


    Garen ignored her, assaulting an officer could be trivial or serious, but naturally his methods were beyond the imagination of normal people.


    Forget his parents¡¯ connections, just those Elite Team leaders from the combat club all had powerful families, this little bit was nothing. Since they all wanted something from him, these people would stop at nothing to settle matters for him.


    Even if it got a little more complicated, he just had to make a trip to the police station himself, there were many secret techniques that had a hypnotic effect, although the control was only temporary, but once the matter blew over, who would still remember these few tiny officers who were beaten up by students? Perhaps by then they would be unemployed, for all he knew those tiny officers would have been fired by then.


    To him, this problem was not even a problem.


    To his slight comfort, this incident might have sparked a new thirst for power in Cece, even if things did not go that way, at the very least it would have ignited her spirit and determination.


    She had good talent and a good heart, she just lacked a heart that desired to grow stronger, she lacked a strong enough motivation. Perhaps this incident would give her the push she needed.


    On the other hand, he had been an Asian as well, so he did not really like this racism either, this was one of the key reason he had gone straight up and used violence. Right now, he could do as he liked, no one could hold him back, or stop him,


    But this world was like his breathing space, he did not really want it to end up like the past few worlds, where he was just killing and killing all day without rest. He would still need to summarily obey some rules, otherwise he might change his peaceful life irrevocably.


    "What are we doing now?" Terri was dead-set on following Garen from now on, it was just too fun, compared to any orgies or crazy parties, this was much more exciting.


    "Going to a fixed location with the combat club, it just happens to the promised time." Garen replied offhandedly.


    "Promised time? I¡¯m going too!" Terri did not shirk back in the slightest. Right now, her desire to pull Garen into the kickboxing club was growing stronger and stronger.


    The two of them took twists and turns on the school¡¯s grassy fields, until Terri was growing dizzy, but she noticed that Garen was not looking at the signs at all, he seemed to be simply turning about, carefree.


    After quickly taking out their phones to get someone to help settle that incident, they soon reach a small grassy field next to a little river.


    There were people from the combat club on guard here, one glance would tell you that they were not students, each of them thick and burly, they were evidently the bodyguards the Elite Team leaders had invited here personally.


    This field was surrounded on all sides by barren hills, it just happened to be in a sunken swamp, like a small mountain valley.


    There were already several people standing on the grass, they all wore the neat black combat club attire. Dressed all in black, they had a black belt tied around their waists, and were dressed very neatly.


    Quentin, Jamie, Dahm, Hochman, and that auburn-haired girl Raelan.


    All five vice presidents were here.


    Garen brought Terri past where the bodyguards stood, the guards glanced at Terri, but probably because Garen was the one bringing her, they did not stop her.


    The two of them walked down the slope slowly, standing on the field where the others were.


    "Today we begin the first official training." Garen looked at the five vice presidents in front of him and said calmly, "Are you all ready?"


    The five of them exchanged glances, said nothing, but nodded hard towards Garen one by one.


    The five of them had truly become fanatics of the Two-Faced Waterbird Fist, after experiencing that unbelievably intense pleasure, their previous lives had lost all their color, non-stop training was the only rhythm in their lives.


    Feeling themselves growing in the midst of the pleasure, was a sense of addiction several times more intense than drugs!


    "President, you brought Terri here because¡­?" Quentin asked.


    "She¡¯s just here to observe our regular training." Garen smiled ever so mildly.


    In this time, in order to have the five of them keep up with Cece¡¯s and Xander¡¯s progress, Garen had used a special skill, allowing them to keep up with the two prodigies while in a certain state.


    Under this special training, even Dahm, who always harbored hatred towards Garen, had utterly given up on getting revenge, and was instead unbelievably terrified. Of course, this was also well within Garen¡¯s predictions.


    "Special training?" As expected, Terri was instantly interested. "Can I join as well?"


    "Unfortunately, your body has yet to reach the bare minimum requirements." Garen shook his head slightly.

 607 Startup 3

    Chapter 607: Startup 3


    "The bare minimum requirements?" Terri asked in confusion. "Is this training very powerful? Shouldn¡¯t you keep it a secret from me, your rival?"


    "That¡¯s not necessary." Garen had no intention to chase her away, he just smiled slightly. This person had an innate sense of madness and recklessness, he just needed to provoke her a bit, and that might create an unexpected effect. She was also a princess-type with a considerable family background, once he controlled her, she might still have some uses.


    Looking at the other five on the field, all five of their faces were looking vaguely pale, they had all become quite nervous, their bodies all demonstrating how uptight and aware they were.


    "Are you ready?"


    "Let¡¯s do it!"


    Jamie clenched his teeth, arched his body and posed as though ready to pounce.


    Whoosh¡­


    A slight breeze blew past them.


    Garen raised his right hand slightly, opening his palm, as though trying to catch the breeze as it went past.


    "Go!"


    Someone yelled out, but nobody knew who.


    The five people on the field all pounced abruptly, rushing towards Garen. The six figures were instantly entangled together.


    Bam!


    Garen¡¯s arm crashed into Jamie¡¯s abdomen hard, transmitted out some force, and instantly sent Jamie flying two meters away. He turned around, grabbing with his hands, and precisely catching Quentin¡¯s and Raelan¡¯s legs flying towards him, and sent them bending down.


    Ker-chak!


    The two legs instantly emitted a crisp sound, the bone evidently broken. The two of them gave a scream, stumbled back and nearly tripped.


    Smack!


    A fist hit Garen¡¯s back hard, but it was as though he had hit a wooden plank, it just sunk in slightly. The fist was immediately caught by a hand, which pulled it forward, and Hochman¡¯s body was pulled towards Garen, until suddenly he felt a pain in his chest.


    A knee to the chest.


    Hochman flew out far, and fell onto the field hard.


    He could feel his chest cracking, his muscles in agony as though torn apart.


    The last one, Dahm, kicked hard at Garen¡¯s abdomen, taking the split second window when Garen was tossing Hochman aside.


    But unfortunately, the last thing he saw was Garen¡¯s turning around and sweeping a kick at him, his long leg becoming a black whip that flew at him at high speed.


    Bam!


    His waist was directly hit by that leg whip, and he flew out abruptly as though he had been broken in half. With a splash, he crashed into the stream beside them, triggering a huge explosion of water.


    Garen took a few steps towards him, pulled him out of the river with one hand, and landed a vicious fist in his stomach.


    Bang! Bleurgh!


    Dahm¡¯s body arched as he vomited in agony, after Garen released him, he fell kneeling by the riverside, and did not get up immediately, even his pupils losing a bit of their focus from the pain.


    "Hah!!" Garen was about to pick up Dahm and continue beating him up, when suddenly there was a bark from behind him, and Jamie flew up to stomp down hard on Garen.


    With a dull wham, this kick landed perfectly on the back of Garen¡¯s kneecap.


    This was the angle that made it hardest to apply any force, any normal person would not be able to resist bending their leg when hit in that position.


    But unfortunately Garen did not react at all, as though this kick had not stomped onto his body.


    His mouth split into a grin, and he turned around, his right arm smashing towards Jamie hard like a stick.


    After getting that kick in, Jamie reacted extremely quickly, shielding his chest with his arms, and his whole body in a completely defensive stance. As soon as he steadied his stance, he felt as though a train had collided into his arms, and his bones had a painful sound of cracking and breaking, his whole body flew out backwards as though riding the wind, and everything around him moved at breakneck speeds, so that they could not even be seen properly.


    Splash!


    "Ahhh!!!"


    He was the second person to be knocked into the river.


    On the field just then, the two girls, Quentin and Raelan, were locking Garen¡¯s neck from either side.


    Their four arms were crossed like a lock, tying down his neck hard, the girls¡¯ faces were blushed red, they had evidently used all the strength they had.


    Bam!


    Blood leaked out from the corners of Hochman¡¯s lips, but he held Garen¡¯s right leg tightly.


    At the same time, Dahm was also hugging Garen¡¯s left leg with all his strength.


    "Ahhhhh!!!" Jamie crawled out of the river, standing up and rushing like mad towards Garen, lifting one leg and stomping down hard towards his stomach.


    "You¡¯ve improved." Garen¡¯s face split into a grin, his cold white teeth making the others feel cold even under the sun.


    Just when Jamie was about to hit him.


    All of Garen¡¯s muscles and features abruptly shone with a hint of black, and bulged up fiercely and instantly.


    Boom!!!


    The four of them were blown away by a huge explosive force at the same time.


    Garen¡¯s fist crashed into Jamie¡¯s leg.


    Bam bam bam bam!!


    After four consecutive explosive sounds, Jamie screamed out in agony, hugged his knee and knelt onto the ground, tears and snot flowing everywhere.


    In that instant, Garen had landed four consecutive hits on the sole of his foot. Each of the four punches had landed in the same place, the same spot.


    Everything fell calm again.


    Garen stretched his neck, making it crack.


    With him in the center, the four vice presidents were lying all over the floor, only Jamie was half-kneeling, crying in pain.


    "You¡¯ve improved since the last time, but when you try to gang up on someone, you still need to consider the difference in power."


    Nobody around him replied, the five vice presidents either had broken bones, or they were in too much pain to stand.


    "I give you half an hour to recover."


    He began to walk towards the five of them respectively, his fingers instantly becoming a blur, after he dotted one of them on the head a few times, he walked to where the next person was.


    Sometimes he would kick them impatiently, eliciting a moan of pain from the patient.


    Beside them, Terri¡¯s whole body had gone numb after watching them, her previous excitement shocked away to the ends of the world.


    "This¡­ this is training?!" She felt as though this was no longer a brawl, but an attempted murder! A blatant attempt at murder!


    Look at Quentin, one of her legs had been broken, her right arm was twisted at an unnatural angle, no matter how she looked at it, this was a serious injury, right?


    And there was Jamie, his chest had sunk in slightly, are you sure he can still move?


    And the worst was Dahm, that legendary playboy had his head hanging loosely from his neck, as though his neck bones had all been pulled out. His eyes were lifeless, his mouth foaming. Terri had already pulled out her phone and was going to call the cops¡­


    And then, a shocking scene unfolded before her eyes.


    The casualties who were dotted by Garen with his fingers, actually seemed to be able to stand in just a dozen seconds. Although they were all grunting in pain, it was already much better than before.


    "Are you an idiot? You¡¯d call the cops over something as trivial as this?" Hochman walked past her, looking at the number she had dialed, and his tone was instantly condescending.


    Terri¡¯s phone dropped to the ground, pointing at Hochman. Her face looked like she had seen a ghost, her mouth only stammering you you you but not getting a single word out.


    She had obviously seen Hochman pass out from the shock, just like Jamie, Hochman had broken at least two ribs!!


    And now??


    "It¡¯s just a tiny injury, don¡¯t blow it out of proportion." Quentin also continued, shaking her head.


    The others all seemed used to it, although they were grunting in pain, none of them were angry in the slightest.


    "Could it be that I really am an idiot?" Seeing this scene, Terri was shocked. She was beginning to wonder if something had gone wrong with her worldview.


    Those injuries just now were obviously very serious, right? Obviously, right?


    And then she saw that Dahm, who was bordering on life and death just now, was now looking at her condescendingly.


    "Alright, that¡¯s the end of our daily training." Garen stood up from beside the last person, Raelan.


    "Daily training¡­??!!!"


    In that moment, Terri¡¯s world finally collapsed.


    The five of them were acting as though it was nothing, all of them standing obediently in front of Garen, right here and now, they did not have even an ounce of the arrogance and cockiness they had outside. As though they really were regular students being taught.


    Just when Terri was on the brink of breaking down, Garen was looking at the progress of the five of them in front of him with some satisfaction.


    They were at the same level as Cece and Xander, having entered the second level one after the other.


    There was one other benefit of the Two-Faced Waterbird Fist, other than the ability to cut with one¡¯s arms slowly developing, the practitioner¡¯s own body would also have faster agility and reaction speeds, this increase was not limited to activation of the secret skill, it was applied to the changes in their everyday body.


    But the Two-Faced Waterbird Fist had a fatal weakness.


    Which was that it did not have a strong resistance or defense.


    The reason Garen gave the five of them such a daily training, was to increase their resistance to being beaten up like this. It stimulated their bodies to continuously grow stronger muscles and bones, while at the same time increasing their bodies¡¯ regenerative abilities.


    Of course, the cost was they needed to use up their life energy, or their life force, and with the little bit of life force they had, under such brutal training, they probably would use up their life after a few times, and age rapidly before they even grew old. But Garen was using his advantage with the Slaughtering Hand, to absorb some life force from animals, so the five of them could completely withstand this level of training.


    When they first started, the five of them were shocked out of their wits, but after Garen showed off his special healing later, their injuries actually recovered extremely quickly. And Garen knew where to draw the line, when it looked like their bones were broken, they were actually only dislocated, so they just needed one crack to push them back in place and the wound was completely fine again.


    This allowed the five of them to move from their initial terror until they slowly became used to it.


    At first normal people would not be so masochistic, taking one beating was one thing, but they surely would not go for a second round. However, they did not expect that after enduring one beating, their speed and pleasure when practicing the Two-Faced Waterbird Technique actually improved. And perhaps it was because there was that pain to act as a stimulus, but the pleasure they felt when training their secret skill had actually become a lot more intense than before.


    That was the key reason why the five of them seemed to revel in the pain.


    Pain and pleasure, that was their true portrait right now.


    After resting for a whole half hour, the five of them stood up one by one, and other than their bodies being a bit dirtier than before, they were not too different from when they started.


    They had already undergone this training a lot of times recently, just as Garen said, it really was only one of their daily trainings.


    This was the first official training now, so even they did not know what other training methods he had, their hearts somewhat full of anticipation, and of terror.


    Garen¡¯s figure loomed in front of them, he was not too much taller than them, but the pressure was as though there was a huge mountain pressing down on them.


    "The training after this must be kept secret." Garen turned around to look at Terri.


    Terri pointed at herself, looking confused.


    "?"


    "That means you can go now." Raelan said offhandedly, with some impatience. "Either that, or you join our training as well. You can even join the combat club!"


    Terri gulped, picked up her phone, took a deep breath, turned around, and tried to walk away calmly.


    But without her knowing it, her legs just seemed to walk faster and faster.


    There was some laughter from behind her, it seemed to be Raelan, or it might have been Quentin, those two never saw eye to eye with her, but right now Terri was in no mood to mess around with them, she just wanted to go back and search this up, she wanted to see if something really had gone wrong with her worldview.


    After Terri was well and truly out of sight, Garen turned back around, looking at the five of them.


    "Looks like you¡¯ve basically grown used to that level just now, now we shall undergo a series of special trainings."


    "I want to ask something." Hochman put the glasses he had taken off just now back on.

 608 Startup 4

    Chapter 608: Startup 4


    "What question?" Garen moved his gaze to Hochman, and instantly made him tense up.


    Hochman resisted the shuddering feeling in his heart.


    "I wanted to ask, do we really need to undergo such high difficulty training? President, you¡¯ve already achieved such a high level, is it still necessary for you to use such high difficulty training on us?"


    "Good question." Garen smiled. "I will put this question aside for now, but you will understand it yourselves in due time."


    "Alright, pretend I never asked." Hochman lowered his head.


    Garen looked around, making sure there was no one else, and the guards were also very dutiful, so he paid them no more attention.


    "The training in the second level is mainly a more focused battle-style training. I am the attacker, you need to do whatever you can to deal with me. Of course, you will win once you hit me three times. Any questions?"


    "Of course we have questions." This time it was Dahm, "What do you mean by hitting you? Does even a touch count?"


    "Guess so." Garen thought about it, and nodded nonchalantly.


    "And by three times, you¡¯re referring to the total sum for all five of us, right?" Quentin spoke.


    "Of course." Garen spread open his arms, "You can use the secret skill you¡¯ve been training all you want, no matter what you do, as long as you can touch me, hit me three times¡­"


    His body suddenly retreated abruptly, his speed slowly growing faster, faster and faster, faster and faster!


    In an instant, his figure had somehow become a flitting shadow, he was moving at a speed much faster than his usual speed.


    "From now on, I¡¯ll bring my body¡¯s qualities down to your level, I will just move faster than you do, and all you need to do, is hit me three times before I take you down!"


    Garen¡¯s voice came and went, as though it was constantly echoing around them from all directions, so that they had no idea where he was at all.


    It was just a small grassy field, and the five of them stared hard with their eyes wide and their mouths hanging open, trying to pin Garen¡¯s location down, but all they could do was see a hint of his shadow.


    Even their eyes could not keep up with his shadow!


    "Is he f*cking for real??!!" Dahm was completely shocked, "Is this still human? Can someone please tell me we¡¯re shooting a special effects film?"


    "No¡­ These aren¡¯t special effects, I¡¯m thinking this is one of the Two-Faced Waterbird Fist¡¯s true essences, he¡¯s moving in our blind spots!" Jamie said in a deep voice, "Do you remember the time the President defeated me?"


    The others grew solemn, they had evidently all recalled the day the Two-Faced Waterbird Fist first left a lasting impression on their hearts.


    Their eyes could not catch any trace of his movement as well, at first they had thought that this movement method only worked against one person at a time, but to think, this strange step was even effective against multiple people.


    "Watch out." Garen¡¯s voice came from the shadows around them.


    "The left!!" Jamie roared loudly.


    It was their left side, a fair palm peeked out lightly, and tapped Raelan on the back.


    Raelan stiffened where she stood, as though electrocuted, and then that palm caressed the right side of Raelan¡¯s neck, as though touching a lover¡¯s skin.


    Smack!


    With a soft sound, Raelan crumpled to the floor. Her whole body shook intensely, as though she was shivering, and her eyes rolled over into her head, it was like she had instantly gone insane.


    Jamie and the others were still too late to intervene, that palm was like a poisonous thorn, darting out and pulling back, all in an instant.


    By the time they reached her, it was already completely too late, Raelan lay on the floor, unconscious, her condition unknown.


    "Behind Quentin!!" Hochman yelled, and pounced over there, he had leaped up before he had even yelled out. His body seemed to blow up a current with it, pouncing down like an eagle.


    Smack.


    Softly, there was another light sound.


    Quentin had just lifted her leg, trying to turn around and do a side kick. But she was still too late, that palm tapped her waist, and she instantly crumpled to the ground again, her eyes also rolling back, her whole body shaking, her consciousness lost.


    Hochman was so close to touching that palm, but unfortunately he was still too late.


    They had lost two people in such a short time, the remaining three boys stood together, back to back, forming a triangle, their expressions anxious as they looked around them.


    "The opponent is even faster than you, and you¡¯ll fall unconscious as soon as he touches you, so what will you do now?" Garen¡¯s voice came from around them.


    Hochman¡¯s Adam¡¯s Apple bobbed up and down.


    "He¡¯s going to make a move eventually, we need someone to act as bait, the rest stick close and get ready to move!" He pressed his voice down low, just enough for the two whose backs were pressed against his to hear.


    "We can go to the water, that way we¡¯ll see him coming!" Jamie suggested.


    "It¡¯s no use, the river is too small." Dahm rejected him.


    "As for the bait, I¡¯ll do it!" Dahm took one step forward.


    Just then, that palm appeared again. Just like it a shadow, it shot out instantly from behind him, grabbing for the right side of his neck.


    "Here he comes! Go!!!"


    The other two did not wait for his signal, rushing out rapidly.


    Four arms crashed towards the figure behind that palm at the same time.


    "It¡¯s over."


    The palm did not move to tap Dahm¡¯s back at all, instead it was pulled back instantly, and taking advantage of the moment when all three swung their fists in the same direction, he tapped them all from the side.


    "It¡¯s over." Garen¡¯s voice drifted into their ears. And then there was the sound of multiple people collapsing to the ground, all three of them were touched in the neck, crumpling down, their conditions exactly the same as the two girls.


    Garen¡¯s figure appeared on the grass behind the three of them, watching the five bodies sprawled over the grass silently.


    "This was just the first time, you guys need to properly think about this, pay more attention to exploring the Two-Faced Waterbird Fist¡¯s force paths, different force pathways in different limbs create different effects. Let¡¯s end it here today."


    He checked his gloves, they were not damaged, and only then did he slowly walk into the distance, his body soon vanishing into the grassy horizon.


    Simulation battles against high-speed opponents, this was absolutely necessary.


    There weren¡¯t just humans in this world, the Blood Breed moved extremely fast, and had powerful attacks, as well as resilient lives, as long as they continued growing stronger, it would be a matter of time before they encountered them. Rather than getting ambushed later as a lesson, it was better for them to get used to it with suitable training starting from now.


    In this world, the Blood Breed was undeniably close to perfect.


    Unlike in the legends from Earth, they were not afraid of sunlight, they just did not like extremely bright surroundings. They moved fast, had terrifying destructive power, and had the natural ability to hypnotize and control humans, plus they had tremendous regenerative power, they would not die as long as their brains and Blood Nuclei were not damaged.


    If they had to have a weakness, there would only be one, which was that their defense was not that strong. Of course, this was relative, faced with Garen¡¯s offensive power, the Blood Breed¡¯s and vampires¡¯ defense was extremely weak, when destroyed with a jolt of force, they were no different than a thin sheet of paper.


    But to normal people, the Blood Breed¡¯s defense was still much stronger, about the same as a stout man wearing a thick leather coat. If they wore a piece of leather armor or the like outside, they would really be impervious to regular humans.


    Garen planned to have these five take on certain missions, he did not work so hard to train a bunch of cannon fodder. Of course he could not let them die so easily.


    Training with a high-speed opponent at this level was one thing, they still needed training to get accustomed to hypnotic secret techniques to build their resistance to the Blood Breed¡¯s hypnosis skills.


    He had plenty of time to kill anyway, other than some specific places in this world, everywhere else was just like Earth, there was no hint of any unnatural power at all, Garen was waiting for Baldy¡¯s side to come up with something that contained potential points, so for now he was just killing time, and beating up some little kids in his spare time was a decent exercise. Otherwise, if he lived and studied like normal people all day, every day, his bones would start to rust.


    Not long after Garen left.


    The five people lying on the grass woke up one after the other.


    They all looked awkward, the boys holding the tents between their legs, the girls covering the wet parts of their pants.


    This was undeniably harming the perfect image they usually kept up.


    Only Dahm was completely unfazed, sticking his pole up as he got to his feet.


    "That¡¯s too strange¡­" He murmured, "He just touched my body, and I instantly felt so good I shivered, then I fell to the ground immediately, as though all the strength had left my body, then I came. It really was f*cking weird."


    "Same here." Quentin and Raelan exchanged glances, both the girls were feeling awkward, they were not as free-spirited and promiscuous as some girls out there, they were usually very conservative with their bodies, but that feeling just now, was even more intense than masturbating, their bodies felt completely weak.


    That hand seemed to have some demonic magic, they never noticed it before, but to think that once Garen took off his glove and just touched them lightly with his palm, it was enough to destroy their defenses.


    "We either make sure he doesn¡¯t touch us, or we get over that feeling of pleasure! Otherwise we¡¯ll never be able to overcome this level of training."


    Before they knew it, they were all treating their training as the most important goal in their lives.


    None of these five were idiots, they were all elites, in fact, one could say that they were the cream of the crop.


    They could all see how precious this stuff Garen was teaching them was, this was not a world normal people could reach at all. Money and power, their families had those in bucketfuls, but something like this was not something any family could simply provide, this was their great fortune, and only an idiot would let this chance slip away. So no matter how Garen¡¯s attitude was when he taught them the secret skill, they did not think too deeply into it, perhaps they might pay the price for that, but how much could a student make them pay? Be it money or power, or just beauty, they had a limitless supply of such material riches. As heirs and heiresses political and economic empires, they were not lacking at all in this department.


    But it never occurred to them, that the price Garen was asking from them, was never as simple as they imagined.


    This training, this stimulation of pleasure, was also a method of attack that Garen had improvised from the Blood Breed, this was how the Blood Breed attacked humans, when their fangs pierced into human skin and veins, they injected a stimulating poison, that made humans feel numb and intense sexual pleasure, by dulling the human¡¯s senses and defenses, it made it harder for the human to notice that their blood was being sucked away, and they would not retaliate even until their blood had been sucked dry. This was the most terrifying aspect of the Blood Breeds.


    Garen wanted to use an even more intense stimulus to ensure that these five could withstand such attacks, that way, even if they were careless and got bitten, they would be able to escape at the first opportunity.

 609 Change 1

    Bam!!


    Garen smacked Jamie¡¯s shoulder with his palm, and sent him flying out mercilessly, falling hard onto the grass nearby.


    "Too weak."


    He shook his head, sweeping his gaze over the five people lying on the floor.


    "That¡¯s how much you¡¯ve progressed over the past week?"


    The disappointment on his face was plainly evident.


    Too scary¡­


    Quentin tried her best to prop up her body, but her legs kept shaking, as though cramped.


    That figure in the middle of the arena was like a demon god, completely unbeatable!


    They had lost track of how many times they had pounced at him, but the result every time was exactly the same, the agonizing, cramp-like shivers had become an image to represent Garen¡¯s reputation.


    Even Dahm, whose nerves were the numbest, lowered his head and refused to look Garen in the eye.


    "Do you guys think this is training?" Garen¡¯s voice reached their ears. "Of course, this is indeed training, but I hope that you will come at me with the intention to kill."


    "This is just a regular training, is that necessary?" Hochman lay on his back as he asked. The sweat all over his body had drenched his clothes, and his muscles were bulging slightly, he no longer looked as gentlemanly and weak as he did before, only his glasses showed the last traces of his scholarliness.


    "We don¡¯t have a choice¡­" Garen held his hands open, "Because you¡¯re too weak, so weak that I don¡¯t even want to hit you¡­"


    His voice had a matter-of-fact air of complaint, for some reason, the others all had the urge to beat him up.


    "You can get slightly stronger like this, I was thinking..."


    Garen buttoned the top few buttons on his black shirt.


    "Forget it, we¡¯ll call it a day, don¡¯t disturb me unless there¡¯s something important."


    "Since you¡¯ve said that." Dahm suddenly said, his voice stopping Garen in his tracks. "Then what about this!!?"


    He pulled a black handgun from out of nowhere, aiming it straight at Garen, his voice turning abruptly louder.


    Suddenly the other four around them exclaimed softly.


    "Dahm, what are you doing!!? Put down the gun!" Quentin barked sternly.


    Hochman pushed up his glasses, saying nothing.


    In truth, all five of them were already thinking of Garen as their teacher and master, the five of them were also treating each other as siblings in training.


    When it came to Dahm¡¯s thoughts, he understood it somewhat, and was not too surprised.


    Of the others, Jamie and Raelan were another duo who were closer to each other, the five of them had split into three circles, Jamie and Raelan, Hochman himself and Dahm, and Quentin was actually alone. The three circles actually had Quentin as the belt between them.


    Nobody understood Dahm as well as he did¡­


    Hochman looked at Garen with a hint of anticipation and apprehension in his eyes.


    "So, what will you do?"


    "How will you deal with guns? Guns and cannons are the main themes of this era that you so admire¡­" Dahm¡¯s face was slightly pale due to the training, but he gave a slight yet vicious grin. "You can¡¯t blame me, you¡¯re the one who said we need to come at you like we want to kill you! That way, something like this counts as well, right?"


    Garen suddenly chuckled softly, then he turned around, lifted his chin slightly, and looked at Dahm with an unprecedented gaze of contempt.


    "This is getting slightly interesting¡­"


    He pointed his finger at his temple.


    "Here, shoot here. Don¡¯t worry, just fire."


    His gaze, as though looking at a bug struggling under his feet, instantly triggered Dahm¡¯s fury, the vicious grin on his face immediately turning dark.


    "You think I don¡¯t dare to?"


    "Do you?" Garen¡¯s lips curved slightly, "Do¡­ you dare?" He said slowly, with pauses between each word.


    Bang!!


    There was the sound of a gunshot.


    At almost exactly the same time, Garen¡¯s figure appeared in front of Dahm, and he kicked Dahm¡¯s stomach hard.


    Bleurgh!


    Dahm¡¯s eyes rolled back in agony, and he instantly sprayed blood and vomit from his mouth, the gun falling out of his hand and to the ground. His whole body curled up like a shrimp, and he was kicked far and away, plastered onto the wall nearby.


    Garen went over and grabbed a fistful of his hair, lifting him up.


    "How does that feel like?" He asked with a smile.


    "Real¡­ real good¡­" Dahm forced out a few words weakly, his bloodied mouth still trying desperately to smile.


    "Don¡¯t move!" A voice came from behind Garen.


    It was Hochman!


    He held a sharp knife in his hand, pressing it hard against the back of Garen¡¯s waist.


    "We need to come at you with the intent to kill! That¡¯s what you said." Hochman held the knife, but there was a constant sweat on his forehead.


    He did not really notice it when he was so far away, but now that he was in close proximity with Garen, he could clearly tell exactly how terrifying the pressure coming from Garen was.


    The psychological trauma from these past few days of being beaten up and the terror in the depths of his heart kept pricking his nerves, telling him to get away as soon as he could! Get away from this unbeatable man.


    "I won¡¯t lose just like that!" Hochman kept yelling at himself in his heart.


    "Hochman?" Garen threw Dahm aside with one hand, turning around, and nonchalantly blocking the sharp knife at his waist. "To be able to attack me from behind soundlessly and tracelessly, you¡¯ve improved."


    Although he had lowered his body¡¯s qualities and abilities down to the same level as these people, his own level as King of the Century was not something he could change, this was a state of his heart that had a far deeper understanding of and experience with secret techniques than normal people.


    Under these circumstances, the fact that Hochman was able to hide himself and sneak up on Garen, was already a tremendous step forward.


    "Stab me." Garen¡¯s left hand moved upwards, pressing his chest, "Stab me here."


    He smiled.


    "Do you dare?" The same words that he had given Dahm just now, he was giving them to Hochman now.


    Whoosh¡­


    An invisible breeze blew in from the distance, blowing past the grass, and turning all the cold sweat on Hochman¡¯s body into an icy chill.


    "I¡¯m standing right here." Garen stared at him calmly, "Just stab me. Weaklings have no right to hesitate."


    The sharp knife was shaking.


    The sweat on Hochman¡¯s body was about to utterly seep through his clothes.


    He lowered his head and did not dare to meet Garen¡¯s eyes. He could feel his hand shaking, he was scared.


    Ahhhh!!!!!


    In that instant, the sharp knife stabbed forth.


    Hochman howled madly, the veins on his face bulging, using all the strength in his body to stab Garen.


    Bam!


    It was completely quiet on the grass.


    The five of them stared at Garen¡¯s right hand in a daze, nobody believed that this was real.


    The knife, was flicked away and snapped!


    Just as Hochman stabbed forth with all of his strength, Garen flicked his fingers, and his gloved right hand touched the knife lightly, the blade snapping on cue.


    Everything happened in an instant.


    Bam!


    A palm smacked Hochman on the right arm, and he somersaulted like an acrobat, flying into the air, and just happened to land beside Dahm, who was nearby.


    The two of them were covered in wounds, this time the injuries were not like before when Garen was holding back, these were truly internal injuries.


    He did not hold back, the power Garen used was not what he had been using for training.


    So the two of them were actually grievously injured.


    Their bodies were broken, bones snapped and blood clots everywhere, their organs were hurting intensely. Both of them could not help but bite down hard on their lower lips, so that the pain would not make them cry out.


    Garen grinned, glancing at the remaining three, Quentin, Jamie, and Raelan, all three of them did not fully comprehend what was happening as it happened so fast. Right now, they were still staring at Garen blankly.


    "Let¡¯s end it here today. But not bad, you have some understanding of it now." He tossed them a few words, and strode away from the field.


    This was behind an abandoned garden, the grass that had once been neat was now completely a mess, there were dents and holes in the wall next to them, and the cement was still falling even now.


    After Garen left, the few of them did not move for a long time.


    A group of medical personnel rushed over, as though used to it, and checked all of their bodies in a familiar manner, collecting data, giving them recovery drinks, and handling their wounds.


    "These injuries are very serious!" A doctor checked Hochman¡¯s and Dahm¡¯s bodies, his brow instantly furrowed deep. "Internal bleeding, many shattered bones, unnaturally high blood pressure, accelerated heartbeat¡­ No! Inject some antihypersensitives stat!"


    "We have some here!"


    "Send them to the main hospital! Now now now!"


    A group of people pushed the two of them hastily and left in a hurry.


    "This time, President was not holding back¡­" Quentin fell to the ground, sitting on the grass, and releasing a long breath.


    "Doesn¡¯t it feel like Hochman and Dahm are going crazy?" Jamie sat down beside her as well, smiling bitterly. "Especially Hochman, his changes are making me wary, he seems to be becoming more and more like the president, but not quite the same. I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s just me."


    "He and Dahm, they¡¯re both getting stronger. It¡¯s not just you." Raelan stood beside them, saying deeply. "I don¡¯t know what the president is planning, by training us like this, but I do know, that Dahm and Hochman might be getting closer to what the president is hoping from us¡­"


    Jamie and Quentin looked at Raelan, the red-haired girl was beginning to leave her hair long, they had not noticed it, but there was a sharp and decisive air about her now, especially between her brows, there was a sense of invasion that made others look away. The feeling of that piercing, arrow-straight gaze was a bit like President Garen¡¯s darkly feminine side, and it began to appear on her face slowly.


    Dahm and Hochman used to be their familiar companions, and Raelan as well, but now they were slowly becoming more unfamiliar, that unnamed air of mysterious danger was slowly seeping from their bodies day by day. All this made Quentin and Jamie feel more estranged.


    Not just from this world, but from the companions that they used to know so well.


    ***************


    "Faster, faster, faster! Send them to the ambulance! The patient¡¯s heartbeat is not coming down at all!"


    "Switch to matandol(1)!! Max concentration!!"


    "No¡­ no! It¡¯s no use!"


    "Switch again to antherin!!"


    "No, the needle can¡¯t go in!" The nurse was about to cry.


    Just then.


    Hochman opened his eyes abruptly, his eyes seeming to light up with a white light in the dark night.


    Smack!


    He yanked the oxygen mask off his face, and actually sat up,


    While the ring of doctors and nurses around him stared in shock, his gaze had a trace of joy, satisfaction, and violence buried deep within.


    "The terror that surpasses death¡­ So this is how it feels like¡­" He murmured softly, all the powerful muscle on his body shivering and twisting like flowing water, expanding and turning black.

 610 Change 2

    Chapter 610: Change 2


    "This feeling¡­ It¡¯s amazing¡­" He closed his eyes, as if he was completely immersed in this indescribable realm.


    Whoosh!!


    With him as the center point, a gust started to wildly whirl in all directions surrounding him, knocking even the doctors and nurses in the ambulance he to their feets.


    Almost at the exact same moment, in the ambulance carrying Dahm, a strong figure silently sat up on the stretcher, ripping out all the needles stuck to his arms.


    "This feeling¡­. Feels way stronger than before¡­" Dahm¡¯s eyes were glowing with indescribable joy, although his body was covered with ripped muscles, there was still a hint of femininity radiating from him. Raising his arm, he unconsciously remembered his memories of the state he was in during Illusory Spinning White Jade.


    "Level 3¡­ Hahahaha¡­ This is level 3! Amazing¡­ Stop the car!"


    The doctors and nurses around him were completely stunned as if they were a bunch of small animals standing in front of a ferocious beast.


    ******


    Feeling the two auras slowly building up from afar, his face unconsciously showed a hint of surprise and astonishment.


    "Interesting¡­ How interesting¡­"


    Who would have thought that Hochman and Dahm, in this time¡¯s training, would be able to conquer the fear of death and successfully enter the third level of the Illusory Spinning White Jade, which was the turning point.


    The Two-Faced Waterbird Fist was only a secret skill adapted from a normal martial art move, infused with the Aura and Qi from the Soul seed.


    What surprised Garen the most was that Hochman and Dahm, when entering into Level 3, managed to trigger his Qi from the Soul Seed and Aura hidden in their bodies, using it as a core, forming their own type of Aura-esque creation.


    This creation was not as strong as Auras, formless, as if it was purely a boost in the mental state, but still somehow managing to trigger the movement of Qi.


    "Not everything will always conform to your own plans, huh?" Garen was standing on the sloped fields outside the abandoned garden, looking at the directions the ambulance left in. That was where the two¡¯s aura was starting to form.


    He could feel how the two¡¯s auras were different from each other.


    Hochman¡¯s felt like a ferocious lion, with a cold surface restricting the wildness within, ready to burst against any opponent who tries to go against them, ripping them to shreds. It had a forceful nature to it.


    Dahm¡¯s was much more suppressed, his aura was like a slithering cobra slithering in the depths of the river, almost similar to a silent, hidden, and venomous needle, ready to poison and kill the enemy at any time.


    To Garen, the most interesting thing about this was, the two¡¯s aura seemed to have a sort of natural attraction to each other, through mutual interaction and clashing, allowing them to stand against each other, yet, at the same time, conform with each other..


    The two portions of aura originally from Garen was used to trigger the formation of two completely new and distinct auras. This kind of new creation definitely opens up the possibilities of even further fusions.


    "Two seeds that were produced individually, yet still able to fuse together¡­ How exciting¡­ When we mix the two together, I wonder what¡¯s going to happen?" Garen grinned as he looked over to the direction of the two auras.


    With the support of his primer, the two were starting to make their way towards becoming a Grandmaster of Combat. This had already far exceeded his own expectations.


    "Unfortunately, this immense strength lacked a good enough foundation¡­ How unfortunate¡­" Garen sighed, if the two had more time, energy, and willpower to properly and conventionally train the Two-Faced Waterbird Fist, the results would be even better. However, regrettably, they did not have the opportunity. They were using Garen¡¯s strength as their foundation, so from the start, their strength were destined to be limited by that.


    "Let me see if you guys can escape this fate¡­"


    After gazing at the direction of their auras for a brief moment, he turned and walked off the field.


    The two primers independently absorbed the two¡¯s Qi and Life Force, maturing into unique and polar opposite seeds. For some reason, Hochman and Dahm¡¯s seeds have a sense of hostility towards each other, they both feel that if they manage to absorb the other¡¯s seeds, they will be able to achieve an unimaginable strength.


    This was a natural attraction by the seed, it was intuition.


    Maybe they did not know it, but Garen was very clear, as their abilities become stronger, this kind of attraction would increase, If one of the two manages to absorb the other, they will come full circle and attain an almost unrivalled level of perfection. Even Garen didn¡¯t know what that level was, or how strong it would be.


    He was only the one who planted the seed, under different conditions, the seeds managed to mature and bear two different and unique fruits, that was outside of his control. This was only his 1st experiment.


    He just wanted to see how high can two of the most masculine and elite people can eventually achieve. What kind of result will they bring¡­


    Now, the seed has sprouted, there is no longer a need for his guidance.


    ******


    South Africa


    On an empty loess plain.


    With wilted bushes scattered scarcely all over, a few zebra were slowly galloping on the plains.


    On the ground, right next to a bush,the rays from the twilight sun revealed a man, covered in dirt.


    He was lying flat on the ground, one leg covered with blood splatters. From afar, there was the sound of a whimpering wild dog, it sounded almost as if it was a crying child.


    "Whew¡­" The man took a deep breath. He turned to his side looking at the other body at a bush some distance away.


    "Bane, you okay?" He licked his cracked lips, but even his saliva was dried up, he had no way of wetting his lips.


    "Still alive¡­" A feeble came from afar. "No more sleeping! We need to leave this place! I had enough of this!"


    "Agreed." Using his arms to support his body, he stood up as he surveyed his surroundings. "Hurry up and come over! We need to leave!"


    He saw a few zebras speedily galloping away in the distance.


    "My leg is broken." Bane shouted. "Call someone for help! Kenna! Use your satellite phone!"


    The man tried to reach for his backpack behind him, but then started swearing like a sailor.


    "The phone¡¯s gone, so is the bloody backpack!"


    "F*cking Levi!!" Bane cursed out loud.


    The two moved towards each other.


    Although one of Kenna¡¯s legs could no longer mover, he still limped his way over. The other guy was in an even worse condition, 3 of his limbs have been rendered useless.


    "We need to think of something¡­ Levi surely already sent his men to look for us! This is my business, I didn¡¯t want to get you wrapped up in it." Kenna muttered. Sitting down on the ground, he tried helping the other guy up.


    "I also didn''t want this, but since I¡¯ve got dragged into this predicament I don¡¯t really have a choice. Let¡¯s try to solve the issue at hand for now, our blood would attract the attention of the African Wild Dogs, they are one of the most dangerous predators in Africa! They will eat us alive!"


    The wild dog packs will hunt down their prey and devour them in a frenzy. The prey would struggle, looking as their body gets ripped into shreds, not even leaving bones as the dogs feast on them.


    "I¡¯ve already spread news about the Stone Clock of Fortune, the men in black must be scrambling all over right now, there¡¯s no way I¡¯m going to let Levi get the Stone Clock of Fortune all to himself." Kenna let out a short cackle.


    "He won¡¯t let you off easy, back at the where we found the relic you almost got buried alive. He even has his tens of minions ready to strike at any moment." Bane frowned, this middle-aged man in a white cowboy head was slowly applying some medicine onto his leg.


    "Before I came out, I already heard the news, Europe¡¯s Titian, Asia¡¯s Rasta, I even went to the pub that the mercenaries frequent to gather some intel, hehehe¡­"


    "You talking about the NIghthawks? If they¡¯re gonna take action, this is gonna be fun, hahaha¡­ cough cough!!" Bane laughed a bit, but due to the dryness in his throat he ended up coughing.


    "What I¡¯d do just to see Levi¡¯s expression when he hears about this, hahahaha¡­" Kenna laughed out loud.


    Howl!!


    The laughter suddenly stopped.


    "I think we need to focus on this task at hand for now¡­"


    ******


    "Garen Thomas, your parcel."


    At the post office, a black courier handed a palm-sized box to Garen.


    In a crowd of students, Garen took the box and proceeded to check it. The courier then took a picture of it, before he left.


    Tearing of the receipt on the box, Garen opened the box, taking out a smaller box made of a black-colored metal.


    Opening it, in the middle of the black packing foam, lies a small white fragment of something, with somewhat visible signs of wear and tear on it.


    This piece looks like it¡¯s been made quite some time ago, it was broke into a triangular shape, and was only the size of half of his palm.


    Taking it out, Garen walked towards the bench at the side of the field and sat down. He took a closer look at the fragment.


    "This looks like the fragment of some porcelain chinaware."


    Inside the box was also a folded note, he took it out and opened it.


    ¡®Commander, I¡¯m sorry, this is all we could afford to get from the auction, there were too many competing bidders from other antique collectors organisations, please check to see if it is up to your standards.¡¯


    It was the handwriting of the baldy.


    Garen smiled as he continued on observing the fragment.


    He knew this was the fragment of the Stone Clock of Fortune or something that the baldy said he found.


    Closing his eyes and closely feeling the fragment, it contained a small hint of an unknown aura.


    "There seems to be some effect?" He let go of all his self-control and unleashed his senses.


    Whoosh¡­ The shape of the fragment instantly got imprinted in his senses. Even without using his sight, he managed to reverse engineer the fragment from scratch in his mind.


    Bzzt!


    In an instant, something similar to a white spark flashed on the fragment. Garen¡¯s eyes sparkled.


    "There is! Maybe because this fragment was so small, there isn''t much potential aura left in it¡­ Using this as a basis for hypothesis, the real Stone Clock of Fortune, although wouldn¡¯t contain a lot, it would definitely still have potential value."


    Taking out his phone, he hastily sent a text to baldy.


    Almost immediately, he got a reply.


    "Understood. Then, please wait for our good news, sir." Baldy obviously understood what he meant.

 611 Fate 1

    Chapter 611: Fate 1


    Keeping his phone, Garen held on to the fragment tightly as he put it into his pocket. In a distance there was a red building that looked like a research lab, there was almost no people around that area.


    Walking through the field, the building looked like 3 rectangular wooden blocks stacked together, Garen walked in from the left entrance, entering a rustic-looking corridor.


    On the walls were circular stone windows, sunlight was sieving through the layers of leaves outside, shining onto the corridor. A few students were sitting by the window panes reading or studying something.


    Garen slowly strolled through the corridor, walking through the sunshine, feeling the changes in temperature as he walked in and out of the sunlight shining through the windows.


    "I wonder how long will this kind of lifestyle last¡­"


    He walked up to one of the circular windows and sat down, the window was almost 2 metres tall, from the inside it looked gray, but under the bright sunlight, it was splashed in a warm beige color.


    He looked at the clock, it was almost 10 in the morning.


    His life has once again back in peace.


    Everything with Baldy, with the Combat Club, with Blood Breeds and Witches, were all momentarily tossed away from his mind.


    Sitting with one of his legs raised up, he leaned on the window pane, basking in the sunlight. The warmth of the sunlight was caressing his body, giving him the urge to laze around.


    "It¡¯s been such a long time since I had a good night¡¯s sleep." A girl said out loud from somewhere behind of him, she had a thick Dorian accent.


    "Then why don¡¯t you just sleep a bit more?" Another girl laughed.


    "I don¡¯t have a choice, if only I had the time, I would even sleep till the next night if I could!"


    The two left the corridor while cheerfully bantering.


    Garen did not look over, he just silently listened to the conversation.


    "How long has it been since I had a good night¡¯s sleep?" Garen asked himself.


    He had been training his Slaughtering Hand since he was young, this was a demonic technique from one of Ancient Ender¡¯s 42 Demon Kings that bestowed upon him a mysterious power, but it also made him unable to have a good sleep for all these years. Even back when he was in the totem world, he still had a somewhat regular sleep cycle, but now, it seems that it¡¯s impossible.


    He was spacing out at the window pane for almost 2 hours, only snapping out of it when he was awakened by the sounds of people exiting the building.


    His phone suddenly beeped, he had received a text message. He whipped his phone out.


    It was by Messi.


    "Wanna have lunch? We¡¯re planning to have a group lunch with the babes from the girl¡¯s dorm, we¡¯re gonna drive out and have a picnic, how about it, wanna come?"


    "You guys enjoy yourself, I feel like going back to the dorm to have some rest." Garen answered directly after thinking for a brief moment.


    He already attained Level 3 of the Slaughtering Hand for quite some time, but it seems like the progress hasn¡¯t increased since then, in fact there seems to be no signs of progression at all.


    "Rest?"


    "Yeah, I¡¯m feeling a bit tired."


    "Alright, then I¡¯ll be heading off."


    "Enjoy yourselves."


    Garen put down his phone and looked to the distance. Across the field, there was a teapot-shaped red building, with students walking around, mostly walking towards the canteen or out of the school grounds.


    A peaceful life, without any extraordinary powers, surrounded by nothing but normalcy, he enjoyed this kind of life quite a bit.


    Buying a sandwich and a juicebox, he had a simple lunch. Garen then went back to his dorm. Since it was the weekend, the dorm was quite empty, with barely a few people in sight.


    On a bench beside the entrance, there was a guy in a white T shirt and a pair of jeans, he had a guitar on his lap, silently playing it.


    The music was clear and moving, he was completely concentrating on his music, completely ignoring Garen and the few people gathering around him. After listening for a bit, everyone could feel that their feelings have become more calm and tranquil.


    Having nothing to do, Garen lazily walked upstairs, he could hear the sizzling of a guy frying eggs in the communal pantry, the was also a scent of its fragrant aroma slowly radiating from the pantry.


    Using his key to open his unit door, he walked in. It was empty as he had expected, closing the door, he walked to his own room and grabbed his violin case, walking to the balcony.


    From the violin case he took out his violin, carefully applying rosin on the bow then tightening it. After placing a shoulder rest on the violin, he moved the violin to his shoulder and rested his chin on the chinrest.


    Zing...


    A short and crisp note could be heard.


    Slowly turning the pegs, he tuned the strings one after the other, and finally doing some fine tuning when he was done. It was better to loosen the strings slightly when it¡¯s not in use, only tightening it when you¡¯re going to play.


    "What should I play?" He was thinking back to all the songs he knows how to play. Suddenly, he felt some inspiration and started playing.


    In an instant, the melody of "Walking in the Rain" started flowing out of the violin.


    The music was elegant and clear, with perfect dynamic expression and timbre, almost like a stream calmly flowing through the mountains, continuously flowing with no end.


    Ting!


    Out of the blue, a piano was being played from somewhere else in the dorm, creating a sort of harmony, softly latching on the the violin¡¯s rhythm.


    Garen closed his eyes, the violin on his shoulder almost seemed like it was crying, as his bow swiftly moved, he unconsciously yet naturally unleashed some of his strengths.


    His music started to sound more mysterious, devilish even, affecting even the piano. The piano¡¯s melody started to lose his own style, becoming the pure accompaniment of the violin.


    Garen snapped out of it, suddenly stopping his violin.


    He held his violin at rest and looked up at the reflection of the sunlight.


    This was a melody with demonic powers¡­


    Death Waltz.


    Tang tang tang tang!!!!


    The sound of the piano also came to an abrupt stop, leading to a sudden silence.


    Soon, a commotion could be heard from afar, the school infirmary ambulance sirens could be heard getting closer.


    Garen walked up to a window, looking down at a long-haired girl being stretchered off into the ambulance.


    The sunlight was shining on his face, revealing his complicated expression.


    This was the reason he started playing the violin less and less. It was as if his hands had some sort of demonic power, anyone who gets engulfed in the music he played would go through intense suffering and pain.


    Garen held up his violin, staring at it, when suddenly, at the center of the backboard he could almost see a red eye.


    It was a fierce demonic eye, completely white, yet covered in blood capillaries.


    It was his eye¡­


    "So even this violin has been infected by me?" Garen helplessly caressed his violin.


    This violin was a present from his mother of this world, it was priceless and even said to be the one used by the great musician Richard Wagner.


    Now, this exact same violin has been infected by the aura from his demonic techniques.


    "The 42 Demon Kinds huh¡­ They¡¯re so hard to master." Garen muttered as he kept his violin.


    Lying on the reclining chair at the balcony, basking in the golden sunlight, he felt warm.


    There was a warm breeze on his face, Garen opened his eyes, noticing that he fell asleep on the balcony for quite some time.


    He stood up and walked to the sink at the balcony, splashing some water on his face.


    The water was warm, with no cooling feeling.


    He raised his head to look at the mirror.


    "Hey brother, you said you¡¯ll bring me to play."


    A charming voice could be heard from the living room.


    "Where¡¯s Papa? Mama¡¯s not here, didn¡¯t you promise that you¡¯d bring me out to play?"


    It was a small girl¡¯s voice, it sounded very familiar, but Garen couldn¡¯t quite remember who it belonged to.


    He wanted to turn his head, but for some reason, at this moment, he couldn¡¯t even execute such a simple action. His neck was as stiff as a statue, nable to be moved.


    He used his limited vision to look over at the living room with the corner of his eyes, there was a black shadow over in the living room. The shadow was slowly moving towards him, coming nearer and nearer.


    "Brother, you promised to bring me out to play."


    "Papa is not here, Mama is also not here. Brother, you promised to bring me out to play¡­"


    The girl¡¯s voice came from the shadow.


    Garen felt that the shadow was approaching him even more, getting closer and closer. An indescribable fear of the unknown started to gush into him.


    He could feel the shadow¡¯s closing presence, but he wasn¡¯t able to turn his head to look, only seeing it in the corner of his eye.


    He felt that the shadow was right behind him, the voice was right behind him. His skin started getting goosebumps, almost as if it was hit by a sudden chill.


    "Brother, you promised to bring me out to play¡­"


    Garen didn¡¯t understand why he was scared, he could feel it, something getting closer and closer to him. He didn¡¯t know what it was.


    "Garen¡­ Garen¡­"


    It seemed like someone was calling out his name.


    "Garen¡­ Wake up, Garen!"


    He was right, someone was definitely calling his name.


    "Brother, you promised to bring me out to play¡­" The black shadow was right beside him, surrounding him, he could feel something getting closer and closer to him.


    "Garen! Wake up!"


    Garen forcefully opened his eyes, he saw a white Caucasian face right in front of him, with a pimple on his nose, brown eyebrows and short hair.


    "Messi¡­"


    He noticed that he was still sleeping on the chair, lying alone on the chair, with his head tilted off to one side.


    "I fell asleep?"


    "Of course." Messi was in a somewhat formal black tuxedo. "I¡¯ve just returned from a dinner event and I see you sleeping out on the balcony."


    "Really?" Garen stood up and rubbed his face a bit.


    That was a dream just now¡­


    "What¡¯s up with you? Had a nightmare? Want me to call a chick over to comfort you?" Messi grinned while blinking at him.


    "Screw off, I¡¯m fine." Garen jokingly said, he felt that his face had a weird sense of numbness, he didn¡¯t know why.


    "Well, you take care now, to be honest, you look terrible." Messi said with a concerned look.


    "Really?" Garen was surprised, he stood up once more and walked to the mirror, looking at his appearance.


    A pale white face entered his vision.


    "You should really get some R&R. I¡¯ll be using the bath if you need me." Messi shook his head, Garen looked a bit off today. Well everyone has their own issues and privacy, it¡¯s better not to dig to deep in other people¡¯s business.


    "I¡¯m fine." Garen used his secret technique, manipulated his blood and qi, returning the colour to his face by hastening his blood circulation.


    Listening to Messi¡¯s footsteps as he walked away, Garen opened the tap and used some water to wash his face. He felt much more awake, the water was cool, gushing out of the tap.


    He grabbed a towel and wiped his face and looked down from the window. On the field, there were various couples sitting under the street lamps.


    A white car slowly approached the dorm, it was driven by a girl in a white shirt, who was waving happily at the guy who was coming out of the car.

 612 Fate 2

    Chapter 612: Fate 2


    The black clocktower in the distance looked like a gigantic upright pencil, with only a faint light flickering on the tip.


    The orange-yellowish light of a plane slowly gliding through the night sky could be seen.


    Through the open window, a gentle breeze blew, bringing a cooling sensation, along with the fresh scent of grass. There was also a hint of perfume from somewhere in the distance.


    The chirping of the crickets plagued the night, along with the occasional calls of birds. A faint semblance of singing could also be heard from afar, gentle and harmonious. It was almost like a chant of some sorts, and it was all the voices of children.


    Garen now felt more clear-headed than ever.


    Thinking back to the dream he had just now, his mind was completely hazy.


    He couldn''t remember the last time he''d felt this type of fear. Was it 10 years? 20 years? Or even 50 or 60 years?


    That feeling came almost naturally and he had no control over it, almost as if it was his body''s reflex action. He definitely didn''t encounter anything he could have feared recently.


    "What a strange dream." He used a wet towel to wipe his face as he slightly shook his head.


    Taking a deep breath, Garen hung up the towel, grabbed his violin, and returned to his bedroom. He glanced over at his laptop, but he had no intention of turning it on.


    Without even turning on the lights, he sat at the edge of his bed.


    Checking the condition of his body, as he found nothing out of the ordinary, he had no choice but to disregard it as something unimportant and pushed it to the back of his mind.


    In the upcoming days, he would only head for class, train his secret technique - Slaughtering Hand, observe Cece''s development, and train his 5 vice presidents.


    The progress of the 5 vice presidents was extremely impressive, especially the 2 - Hochman and Dahm.


    The two have started showing signs of becoming top-tier martial artists, one domineering, the other suppressed. The two have also developed their own fighting style and ideals as martial artists.


    ******


    A few months later.


    Bam bam!!


    4 arms were interlocked with one another; Hochman and Dahm were furiously grappling with each other. Their feet pounded loudly on the ground, even causing the dense spiderwebs to shake.


    Garen was clad in a white gi, silently observing the sparring from the sidelines.


    Hochman sacrificed his defense for more offensive power, putting immense power behind every hit. His body was getting stronger every day and he had his hair trimmed into a buzzcut. When he removed his glasses he looked even fiercer, emitting the aura of a lion. Every attack was infused with fearful killing intent and aura as if he wouldn''t back off before utterly destroying his opponent!


    On the other hand, Dahm focused on defense more than offense; he would stall for time as he waited for opportunities to strike. Every strike of his was deadly, they were definitely loaded with the intent to damage Hochman.


    This was not sparring, it was pure combat!!


    Jamie, Quentin, and even Raelan were looking on from the sides, completely terrified, occasionally glancing over at Garen. The president seemed to have no issue with it, it even seemed like he had a look of satisfaction on his face.


    They could only hope that Garen could stop the fight in time before any major damage had been done.


    In the empty gymnasium, multiple bodyguards of the five vice presidents surrounded them. They''d bought the entire gymnasium over as their personal training facility.


    At the middle of the gymnasium, Hochman and Dahm''s blows were creating shockwaves through the Gymnasium, pushing back even Garen, Jamie and company who were watching on the sidelines.


    Bam!


    Hochman swung his right fist, causing his entire body to whip around. His attack was as like a cannon firing, landing a devastating blow on Dahm''s left arm.


    With that blow, Dahm flew back through the air, spinning to a distance away.


    "Die!!"


    With a roar, Hochman lunged forward, putting all his body''s strength into his elbow.


    Crash!


    A hole was created on the thick wooden floor.


    Dahm dodged away just in time, but the right side of his forehead had been split open with a small trickle of blood. Yet, his cold gaze was still fixed on Hochman.


    "Hehe¡­" He suddenly let out a cold cackle, his 2 index fingers tapping lightly on his chest.


    "Spinning Moon¡­"


    Suddenly, with a flash, he vanished without a trail.


    "Up there!" Quentin loudly shouted.


    The other two followed suit and looked up, just as Dahm leaped down, not making a sound. Both his index fingers aiming for Hochman right at his eyes. His fingers looked like it was wrapped with a layer of white air in the form of sharp claws, looking extremely mysterious.


    "A Level 3 Ultimate Spinning Technique? Don''t think only you have such a skill¡­" Hochman laughed. He raised his right arm, suddenly his muscles started expanding, becoming darker and larger, covered with numerous black and blue veins.


    "Dragon Spin!!"


    Bam!


    White gas billowed out of his arm, and almost as he was propelled by a cannon, Hochman catapulted towards Dahm who was flying right at him.


    Roar!!


    It was as if a ferocious beast''s roar was ringing through the air, from an unknown beast of the same ferocity as an enraged lion.


    "Enough!"


    With a loud shout, Garen appeared between the two.


    The two shockwaves were immediately negated as Garen caught both of their arms at the same time, separating the two from each other.


    The facial muscles of Hochman almost seemed to start concentrating on his brow, forming a ferocious frown.


    His right arm was being held by Garen''s single hand. Although Garen''s arm looked normal and a lot thinner than his, with just one grab, Garen managed to negate all of his arm''s strength.


    Hochman''s skin on his entire body started to flush red, ever slowly turning darker. His body felt like it was boiling, the white air radiating from his body was his sweat being instantly evaporated from his body.


    On the other hand, Dahm''s two fingers were held tightly in Garen''s hands while he stood firmly on the ground. The killing intent in his eyes suddenly got suppressed, his facial expression returning to his gentle smile. Although he was a burly man covered in muscles, at this moment he had a gentle feminine smile, giving people around him goosebumps.


    "Well since master insists, let''s end it here for today, I have some stuff I need to do, so I''ll take my leave." He took back his hand, narcissistically rubbing his own fingers.


    "What a heartless guy, I can''t believe we used to have such a close friendship."


    Hochman pulled back his arm as well, his facial muscles returning back to usual.


    Behind them, the bodyguards of the two started helping them wipe off their sweat and treating their wounds.


    "I also have some stuff to do, so I''ll be heading off as well," Hochman said as he put on a black windbreaker handed to him by one of the bodyguards.


    The gymnasium door was opened by the guards, revealing a snowy weather.


    "Master, I''ll be taking my leave then."


    Garen nodded. Ever since he''d initiated the primer, the duo''s potential had increased rapidly, far exceeding the other three who were training together with them. They were infinitely better than Cece and Kaedun, whom Garen had placed high expectations on in the beginning.


    At this point, the duo had created their own styles of combat methods, and even after participating in Garen''s training, they''d hired top-tier experts to help further hone their skills.


    Hochman had even fought Polar Bears and African Lions with his bare hands.


    Dahm on the other hand, there were rumors of him often going into primitive tropical forests, sometimes losing contact with the world for tens of days, or even more than a month, then suddenly reappearing while dragging crocodile corpses, scaring his family.


    Both of them also set up their own Black Organizations, and the entire Nottingham underworld was dominated by their two factions, their power spreading to even other nearby states within a short period of time.


    Ever since Garen noticed that they managed to initiate the primer and create a seed, he''d stopped forcefully controlling them, most of the time only meeting them to teach them new skills. To be honest, at this point, they don''t even need that anymore, most of the time, because of the power of the seed, Hochman and Dahm would engage in lethal combat.


    They both felt that, if they manage to kill the other, it would let them attain a whole new level of strength. That sheer power would make them invincible!


    As they train more in the Two-Faced Waterbird Fist, reaching the highest levels, the more they truly understood how absurdly powerful this secret skill was.


    They had extreme levels of energy and as a result, they could support faster and clearer brain functions. Originally already elites, this allowed them to get even better results and more respect as people of higher importance within the family.


    They haven''t even graduated, yet they were already slowly taking charge of their households'' internal affairs.


    Walking out of the training facility, Hochman raised his head looking at the snowy scenery.


    "Dahm¡­ Hmmph."


    His ten bodyguards followed silently behind him.


    The row of people walked through the snow-covered grounds and entered a few black cars, the motorcade slowly leaving via the road.


    After a while, Dahm walked past in a red windbreaker and a fluffy white and brown scarf wrapped around his neck.


    His hands were casually placed in the pockets of the windbreaker as he was being surrounded by the same men in black. The only difference with Hochman was that his men had a red armband on their right arm. In the sea of these tall men, all standing at almost 2 meters tall, he was standing out even more in the middle, with his short stature.


    Reaching his hand out, one of the men immediately handed him a custom-made lipstick.


    Applying the lipstick naturally, Dahm took out a small cosmetic mirror to check his appearance. After making sure that he looked perfect, he kept the mirror with a satisfied look.


    "Hochman left in such a rush, I wonder why? Did something happen to that little apple of his?" Dahm placed his finger on under his chin, making a thinking pose.


    "Maybe there has been some problems with his business." A man in glasses suggested to him.


    "Oh? Then what about that little apple he cares so much about? His dear cousin?" Dahm raised his eyebrow.


    "It seems like she fell in love with a guy outside, a North European."


    Dahm nodded, revealing a bright smile.


    "Do you think I should add some spice? It sounds like it''ll be fun~~~"


    "In my humble opinion as your servant, now is the best time to strike at Hochman. Hochman loves his cousin, but this type of love is too overbearing and selfish, he doesn''t let her go out for activities, not even for work. All she was allowed to do was to wait patiently at home for him, this kind of life is naturally miserable and suffering. It is only natural for her to want to get out."


    The man in glasses replied gloomily, as he adjusted his glasses.

 613 Battle for the Treasure 1

    Chapter 613: Battle for the Treasure 1


    "Great point." Dahm smiled, "What a poor child¡­ Let''s create an opportunity for her then. If we could lure out Hochman that would be even better."


    "As expected of Marshall Dahm! Your plans never fail to amaze this humble servant!" The bespectacled man praised.


    "Recently the Primary Colours sent a representative on wanting to merge with our family. Since there''s nothing much happening these days, why don''t you follow me for the meeting?" Dahm nodded.


    "Thank you, Marshall!" The bespectacled man burst out in joy, not trying to hide his happiness at all.


    A row of people, similarly, walked towards a white motorcade, almost indistinguishable from the from the snow-covered ground. The motorcade slowly drove off into the distance.


    At the entrance to the gymnasium, Garen stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at the leaving motorcade, his face unconsciously letting out a satisfied smile.


    "Master¡­" Raelan said with a concerned look on his face.


    After all this time training under his wing, they noticed that despite his appearance, his mental age has far exceeded them. With all his teachings to them, the five had unconsciously started calling him "master" as a sign of respect.


    "Don''t worry." Garen raised his hand, motioning for her to stop.


    "This is their fate. I cannot stop them, and they know they can''t as well."


    "Fate? We''re only average students, how can this kind of thing exist?" Raelan looked at Garen''s back, she had never truly understood this man he called her master.


    "Average?" Garen smiled, "Do you really think that those two are ¡®average''?"


    Raelan opened her mouth to argue, but she reluctantly lowered her head.


    Up till now, she was still stuck in the 2nd level - White, and no matter what she did, she could not progress towards the 3rd level - Spin, whereas the two have already achieved the final form of the Two-Faced Waterbird Fist, with the 4th level - Illusion.


    This kind of difference was comparable to Heaven and Earth, and with just a flick of a finger, they could easily kill the three of them.


    Quentin and Jamie were in the same boat as well, not able to exceed Level 2. Although their bodies had attained a certain degree of strengthening after training in the Secret Techniques, it was underwhelmingly little as compared to Hochman and Dahm.


    "Master¡­" Quentin walked up to him, looking at Garen, "What is your goal for all of this?"


    They all had a copy of Garen''s information and notes which he''d prepared, which were intricately detailed yet extremely simple. However, when comparing what''s written in the notes and what she saw, the difference was unreal.


    Was there truly geniuses who were just born talented in this world?


    "Goal?" Garen turned around, looking at the three. "All of you are my pupils, but all of you are from different types of soil, you would bloom into different types of flowers and bear different tasting fruits. This is not my goal, I am but a teacher, an observer. Everything is left up to fate."


    "Fate?"


    "Hehehe¡­" Garen didn''t say another word. He slowly walked out of the training facility, disappearing into the snow.


    Quentin and the others looked on as he left, no longer saying anything.


    They had a gut feeling, that the clashes between Hochman and Dahm would become more and more intense.


    The two''s strengths have already far exceeded their imagination, it was unlike Garen''s inscrutable and unapproachable strength.


    Hochman had a type of sheer ferocity and force! Anyone who stood in his way needed to be annihilated! He started to treat even Garen with less respect.


    On the other hand, Dahm looked gentle and polite on the surface, yet his body was emitting a chilling vibe whenever they look at him.


    After a long while¡­


    "I asked Hochman the other day," Jamie said as he leaned on the wall. "I asked him, what happened between you and Dahm?"


    "What did he say?" Raelan looked over to Jamie. Quentin also walked up beside him.


    "He told me to ask Master."


    "So it was Master''s doing after all!!" Raelan tightened his fists.


    "Though Hochman said that he does not regret a thing. Master allowed them to become stronger and stronger, even achieving greater heights of the future." Jamie sighed, his breath visible in the frosty climate.


    "Yeah¡­ They have become stronger and stronger." Quentin nodded, you could see a hint of jealousy in her eyes. They were all training under Garen''s guidance, what made them so much stronger than the others, whilst she was still stuck at her level?


    "When I was talking to Hochman, he told me a statement that I couldn''t wrap my head around." Jamie continued.


    "What statement?"


    "He said, ¡®This world is far more complicated than you imagine.''"


    "What does he know, and what has he experienced?"


    "Who knows?" Jamie''s said expressionlessly, "He''s become like a stranger to me."


    ******


    "The seeds have already sprouted¡­" Garen was watering the potted plants in his room.


    Drops of water were flowing out of the white watering can, splashing onto the leaves and dripping into the soil.


    Hochman and Dahm''s bad attitude towards him was no longer important. What''s important was that their clashes have reached the point where they could no longer hold back.


    To Hochman, those who submit to his will would prosper and those who resist would fall. In the areas under his rule, even the government servants had no choice but to submit to him. His family has widespread influence, and along with his monstrous physical strength, they''d become an influential superpower in the area.


    On the other hand, Dahm used Nottingham as a base of operations, controlling the other areas through his family''s influence and connections. Almost like a giant snake hiding in the depths of the sea, ready to kill at any moment.


    "They''ve probably already noticed that I was the one who planted the primer in the first place¡­" Garen laughed. "But so what? The power created from the primers merging is not fake, it is an actual strength that one can feel. The two of them should understand that the most."


    He felt that he could probably leave this circle at this point as Hochman and Dahm no longer needed to be under his manipulation.


    Beep beep¡­ Beep beep¡­


    A clear notification tone rang.


    Garen looked at the sunlight shining through the balcony for a brief moment, then walked into his room and grabbed his phone located on his bed.


    ******


    South Africa


    Smash!


    A beautiful oriental porcelain vase was shattered on the ground, fragments flying all over the place.


    Huff! Huff! Huff¡­


    The baldy had one of his eyes bandaged up, his facial expression was twisted to the extreme.


    "Trash! Bloody trash!" he wheezed in the ward. The doctors and nurses were at the door, too scared to even go in.


    In the pure white ward, the group of men and women clad in black stood with indifferent expressions. The atmosphere of the entire room was gloomy, everyone inside was radiating a chilling vibe.


    "That was a trap¡­" A younger girl said softly.


    "Yeah¡­ It was a trap." The baldy nodded.


    Bam!


    He angrily kicked at the metal table in front of him, knocking it to the ground.


    "That Black Uniform, Levi." He roared in a low voice, "That sly, disgusting piece of shit! How did he manage to reduce the numbers of my, the African Hawk''s men down by four?"


    With two smacks, the doctors and nurses outside the ward were knocked unconscious and were dragged away, preventing them from hearing the confidential conversation.


    The ward was completely silent.


    "That pest that I could''ve killed with one strike! How dare he! How dare he!" Baldy was thinking back to what happened before, getting even more furious.


    "Leader, I don''t think that''s the most important issue right now, Levi had a lot of schemes prepared, we were careless this time and fell into his trap. Under normal circumstances, we would have easily defeated him." A short-haired man with a beard said.


    "No¡­" Baldy took a deep breath, "This is no longer about getting revenge. It''s too late¡­ It''s already too late. The mission has failed. The Stone Clock of Fortune has been sold by Levito and the Vincent Organisation. Our mission has failed."


    He paused, "I just sent a text to the boss."


    Suddenly, the expressions of everyone in the room changed, their faces turning white and losing their calmness and indifference.


    "You''re crazy! We haven''t failed! No! We still have a chance! We can still take back the Stone Clock of Fortune!" The young girl frantically shouted.


    "No¡­" Baldy shook his head, "This issue is out of our hands, if we hide this loss from the boss, he''ll definitely kill me."


    "Damn it!" The bearded man furiously punched the wall behind him.


    Thinking of the mysterious and torturous punishments of the boss, he couldn''t help but tremble in fear.


    ******


    Garen picked up his phone and looked at the text message, his expression instantly changed.


    "Failed? The Nighthawks lost 4 men?"


    Garen put down his phone, his eyes glowing in anger.


    He immediately called Baldy.


    The call went through in an instant.


    "Boss¡­" Baldy now longer called him Commander, Baldy would only call him that in extremely formal situations.


    "I''m coming over personally."


    After saying this, Garen immediately hung up and turned off his phone.


    Originally Garen didn''t care much about the Stone Clock of Fortune, it wasn''t important to him, the number of potential points it contained was too low. It was something that he did not need, but having it was better than not having it, that''s why he sent the Nighthawks to get it.


    Who would''ve thought the Nighthawks would fail? Even to the point where they suffered casualties. They were elites, all personally trained by him himself.


    "Damn¡­ It''s been such a long time since I''ve taken a life." Garen squinted his eyes.


    ******


    The data was sent over from the Baldy, directly to Garen''s phone.


    He vaguely understood everything that happened over in South Africa.


    There were 2 key players.


    The boss of the Black Uniform Organisation, Levi, and the archeologist Kenna.


    Kenna was an adventurer and an archeologist who was being pursued by the Black Uniform Organisation, which specialized in auctioning antiques because he knew of the whereabouts of the Stone Clock of Fortune. This led to a series of mutual grudges between him and that organization.


    The pursuer, Levi, somehow survived being buried alive by the rubble from the tomb collapsing that was caused by Kenna. Due to his grudge against Kenna, and also his greed for the secrets locked within the Stone Clock of Fortune, he decided to start pursuing Kenna. Kenna''s sister and cousin have both died at the hands of Levi. Levi also suffered multiple heavy hits from Kenna''s traps, with grudges piling up, Levi''s goal shifted from the Stone Clock of Fortune to the sole purpose of killing Kenna.


    To remove Levi from the picture, Kenna decided to stir the pot, spreading rumors and information about the Stone Clock of Fortune to the public, attracting the attention of other groups and elites.


    This was the moment the Nighthawks decided to step in.


    Baldy, with his immense strength and powerful henchmen, gave out killing orders on Kenna and Levi, thinking of finishing the two off.


    Thus, after destroying various interfering parties, they fell into a trap. With Levi''s scheming, he managed to get the other interfering parties to cooperate, defeating the Nighthawks.

 614 Battle for the Treasure 2

    Chapter 614: Battle for the Treasure 2


    In a custom suite in a South African hotel.


    "Idiot!!" Garen furiously slapped the Baldy across the face.


    Baldy''s body flew across the room, crashing through numerous tables and chairs in the process. With his body still half-lying down on the floor, he didn''t dare to stand up. Neither did he dare to wipe off the blood dripping down from his head.


    "Thinking you had enough strength to fight everyone at once, it''s because of your arrogance and pride that caused this small issue to spiral into so much trouble!" Garen said coldly.


    The Baldy looked down, not daring to make a sound.


    The remaining members of the Nighthawk were all petrified, the room was completely silent, with the only audible sound being the rapid heartbeats of the people there. All the members were soaked in cold sweat, their muscles twitching every so often, some even started bleeding from biting their lips, yet no one dared to move even a muscle.


    "Can''t even complete such a simple task, bloody useless fools!" Garen was furious, although he didn''t teach too much to this group of elites, no matter what, they were still one of the best groups in the mercenary world, with the addition of the secret skill - Shooting Shadow, they should be considered the elites of the elites. Yet they were still defeated by a bunch of humans with no supernatural abilities whatsoever.


    This completely tarnished his pride.


    While the punishment had already been given, but there was still the matters at hand to be taken care of.


    "Prepare a list of the organizations that participated in the effort of stopping you guys for me."


    After saying this, he walked out of the room with his arms crossed.


    "This is no longer just about the Stone Clock of Fortune."


    Garen moved his fist around, it''s been such a long time since he had to take matters into his own hands, he wondered if he was rusty.


    He went back to his own hotel room, looking down at Noordia city from his room window.


    The numerous red and yellow lights were placed closely, and when linked together it looked like a river of light, outlining the long road. From afar, at the center of the road, there was a huge red circle of light slowly moving forward, it was a large number of cars slowly moving along the roundabout.


    Standing in front of the window, Garen gently took off his new custom-made black gloves, revealing an eerily white pair of hands with a perfect complexion.


    They were pale white and thin, almost as if they were intricately carved out from Jade. The palms and wrists had no signs of any flaws, to the point where even hair follicles couldn''t be seen, it was truly perfection. Under the yellow room light, it looked mesmerizing, as if it had a demonic attraction.


    That was the soft glow from his hands.


    "Slaughtering hands¡­" Garen slowly felt the effects of this demonic technique on his body.


    He did not resist it, allowing it to merge with him. He''d tried to completely manipulate the demonic technique''s innate nature, but the prerequisite for that was to allow it to merge with the wielder. He could feel the changes of his mind and body through the influence of the demonic technique. However, if he wanted, he could reverse the change, though he wasn''t against this kind of change.


    He noticed that the secret techniques of the Ancient Ender''s 43 Demon Kings were the complete opposite of the Living Secret Technique.


    We could say that the Living Secret Technique used the practitioner as a base, and would change itself to become more compatible with the practitioner''s body and form a completely unique secret technique.


    On the other hand, Demonic Secret Techniques would be making the practitioner''s body more compatible with the secret technique, slowly adapting the human body to the best possible conditions for the secret technique.


    The two were completely opposite but were two of the possible ways secret techniques could evolve.


    What was different from normal secret techniques was that normal secret techniques did not have the ability to change. If it wasn''t appropriate, there was nothing you could do about it.


    Compared to a normal secret technique, a demonic technique had so much more advantages and strengths, with high practicality and a low prerequisite.


    As long as it wasn''t a body that was extremely incompatible, it could be transformed by the demonic technique, allowing one to successfully train and attain its potential.


    However, this kind of potential would lead a person with a weak will to lose their mind, eventually falling under the control of the demonic technique and becoming nothing but a mindless slave, a killing machine.


    Hence, although Demonic Techniques were the easiest to attain for beginners, it was the most dangerous secret techniques to learn. The changes in one''s will can''t be easily changed by other parties, and it has to completely rely on the practitioner''s perseverance, only then can one guarantee that they won''t lose their way.


    This was definitely one of the most dangerous secret techniques.


    Garen gave a definition to the Slaughtering Hand in his mind.


    When he was merging with the secret technique, he took note of the innate nature of the technique. This type of completely different path was extremely beneficial for its style of martial arts and his development.


    "Stone Clock of Fortune, give me a surprise."


    Looking down at the night view of the city, he slowly shifted his focus to his secret skills.


    ******


    In another high-class hotel in the same city.


    A few young people dressed in office attires were gathered around, playing cards. The table was piled with dollar bills, with more being thrown around from time and time.


    Under the warm lighting, a bespectacled man in a grey suit was puffing on a cigarette, exhaling whiffs of smoke into the room.


    "What now?" He said in a weird French accent.


    "What do you mean?"


    "We spent so much effort to damage the Nighthawks, removing one of our biggest rivals, we should at least get some benefit out of this, right? We even suffered countless casualties." The bespectacled guy said with the cigarette still in his mouth.


    "Levi from the Black Uniforms isn''t here, if you want benefits, go talk to him about it." The office lady in the black skirt sitting across him replied.


    "How long have our two groups been waiting here? Has it been 10 days? I think it definitely has. Why has there been no updates?" The black man on the side impatiently said.


    "Aren''t we just waiting for the updates? What''s there to rush? No matter if it''s Kenna or Levi, if they want to find out about that secret, they will eventually have to come here. Our men are already stationed everywhere in this area, there''s no chance they can escape." The office lady answered.


    "As long as Vincent hasn''t left, we just need to keep our eyes on him. Levi definitely already gave the stuff to him." The black man said.


    Bam!


    The room door was suddenly knocked open.


    A burly white man walked in.


    "I think we have a problem."


    He looked at the 4 people in the room.


    One of threw his cards on the table and stood up.


    "Trouble? We even defeated the strongest group in this area, the Nighthawks, what other trouble would there be?" The black man asked, leaning on the leather chair.


    "Unfortunately, it is the Nighthawks." The white man replied softly.


    The atmosphere in the room suddenly became chilly, although some of them were still forcing a smile, their eyes show that they were on high alert.


    "I just got the latest news, the real boss of the Nighthawks is here." The white man slowly said.


    "Real¡­ Boss?" the bespectacled man placed his cards face down on the table. For some unknown reason, the people in the room felt chills down their spine when they heard this statement.


    "If I remember correctly, the Nighthawks should be the strongest mercenary group in South Africa, right? Their leader had always been the bald guy, the one they call the African Hawk." The man adjusted his glasses, "Now you''re telling me, after all this time, that they had another boss? A boss controlling everything behind the scenes? Will, please tell me you''re joking."


    His hand pressing on the cards of the table started to turn pale without him even noticing.


    Under the cooperation of their mutual groups and Levi''s scheming, through multiple sacrifices, they''d finally managed to defeat the Nighthawks, even blinding one of the baldy''s eyes.


    The Nighthawks lost half of their men, losing a lot of their power, finally coming down from their throne as South Africa''s strongest mercenary group. All their enemy and rival groups of the past would definitely take this opportunity to strike them while they''re down.


    It could be said that at the moment the Nighthawks got defeated, they were at their weakest and while in that state, in the world of mercenaries, it was a death sentence.


    But now, a guy just came in and said that the Nighthawks had another leader all along, the real boss, someone who was the mastermind behind them.


    "How funny, isn''t that right, Casey? The Nighthawks were the strongest mercenary group in Africa, who has the authority to be their boss? This has got to be the joke of the century!"


    He did not notice it, but his hands were trembling uncontrollably, his face turning paler and paler, even his voice started to shake.


    He started to laugh, trying to lighten the situation.


    No one else in the room laughed.


    Seeing that he was the only one laughing, he slowly stopped and sat back down.


    "I think we''re in a lot of trouble¡­" The office lady said softly.


    "We need to first work together to get some information on the guy''s background."


    "My recon team couldn''t get any info on him." The white burly man walked through the door, then turned around and locked it.


    "Work together?"


    "Yea, work together."


    Everyone took out their laptops or their phones, moving swiftly.


    However, the bespectacled man kept pressing wrong keys, he felt that his fingers were so slippery he couldn''t even type properly, so he looked up at the others. The office lady was acting calmly, but her beads of sweat from her forehead leaked her current feelings.


    The black man had a calm look on his face, but his feet was uncontrollably shaking.


    "Got it!!" The black man suddenly yelled.


    "You got the info?" "Come on, spit it out!"


    Everyone immediately started glaring at him.


    "N-no¡­ I mean I''ve got a plan!" The black man softly uttered.


    "What plan?"


    "Get Vincent and work together! The groups that defeated the Nighthawks wasn''t just us. Even if he''s a person from ¡®that world'', he wouldn''t dare to take on so many people at once, right?" The black man said.


    They all understood, in "that world", those who had power and influence were frequently not your average person. This kind of being wasn''t something they can fend against.


    "Vincent himself no longer has much power, but rumor has it that there''s still a being standing behind him from ¡®that world''. A very strong being."


    "I found it¡­" The office lady said, his face showing visible signs of relief.


    "It''s still fine, the person is not a being from ¡®that world''. He''s just a martial artist, a normal human."


    Whew!


    In that instant, the entire room breathed a sigh of relief.

 615 Tangled 1

    Chapter 615: Tangled 1


    A few red and yellow hot air balloons floated around in the sky. There were symbols and words that were written on them with certain meanings.


    Garen raised his head and glanced over while standing on the street corner. He could not see properly because the sun was too bright and the hot air balloons were too far away, blinding his eyes and making him slightly uncomfortable.


    He was wearing a normal long-sleeved white T-shirt and dark black jeans. His muscular frame and golden tassel-like hair constantly attracted the curious gazes of the little black children in his surroundings.


    There were white communication lines drawn on some of the dilapidated streets that extended towards him in a straight line. A few dirty cars drove past slowly, before yellow-grey and black colored lines appeared and covered the floor, while heat waves radiated off the illuminated, scorching ground.


    When he glanced over at a nearby area, he noticed that this place was filled with tall old buildings. Most of them had faint yellow stains that showed their age on the surface while other areas were obviously damaged.


    This place called Caora was neither a bustling African city nor a famous tourist town. Instead, it was only a normal and unexciting little town.


    A group of black women who were balancing baskets of fruit on their heads walked past the doors of the little roadside shops. They were clad in their unique long, bright yellow local dresses and wore noisy bone bracelets on their arms while laughing and chatting.


    Garen could not understand their language at all, but this was unimportant. He glanced at the sun in the sky before getting down from the train and thinking that it was probably only twelve o''clock in the afternoon now.


    The whereabouts of Kenna and the Black Uniform Organization were probably close to this town. Furthermore, the few remaining representatives of the Relic Organization had allied themselves with Vincent, and a mercenary group called Black Knife had invited the Primary Colors local representatives who were still on good terms with the Nighthawks, in hopes that both sides would be able to reconcile in this town.


    The mediation could either be real or fake, as this was also an opportunity for them to check out the Nighthawks'' hidden powers.


    Garen agreed and asked them to come over, as the Nighthawks'' members had already been concealed completely. However, he had never made it a habit to hide anything because he had always done everything openly to crush his enemies directly. Hide? Only the weak would do that. As someone who possessed sufficient power, he would only choose to hide if there was a possibility that he would encounter a threat.


    As the row of people strolled through leisurely, Garen put on his black sunglasses while his gaze drifted from the roadside advertisement banners to the signboards.


    A few black fellows rushed forward and tried to sell him some cigarette lighters and other little knick-knacks.


    "Five dollars! Five dollars!" They yelled in fluent English, but it was possible that these were the only words they knew.


    Garen glanced at the other people around him. He realized that the sellers would not call out to the other black people, while other outsiders who were obviously tourists would encounter the same situation as him.


    He was unfamiliar with this town and did not like it because it was filled with wild animals. Moreover, wild cats and stray dogs would scurry through the streets occasionally while other animals like snakes or colorful birds were carried on people''s shoulders.


    Garen even saw a leopard with golden patches sitting inside an expensive car when it drove past him.


    This place was extremely hot, and most people were clad in short-sleeved clothes and short pants, singlets, or even long skirts that were almost transparent.


    When he walked towards the front of the street, Garen quickly stopped in front of a bar. There was a strange arc-shaped green sign that looked like a portrait in front of the bar, which was flashing with colorful red lights even in broad daylight.


    The door and doorway were shabby and it seemed as if no one was entering or exiting the place except for a fellow who walked out of the side door with a pail before pouring the water out of it and down the drain.


    Garen stood in the doorway of the bar and waited for a few moments. Two black men in white shirts walked out and nodded at him politely before pulling open the main door of the bar at once.


    The interior was pitch black, making it impossible for him to see anything, as though it was merely an endless black hole.


    Garen glanced at the men before noticing that both of their mouths were wide open and they were exposing their pearly white teeth as if they were smiling.


    "Sir, there are people waiting for you inside," said one of the black men softly in English.


    Garen smiled faintly before taking long strides into the bar while the door was closed behind him quickly. The inside of the bar was completely dark because all of the doors, windows and other places that allowed light to enter were all covered with black cloth. However, it was still surprisingly cool inside.


    Bang!!


    Suddenly, unimaginably bright light exploded throughout the entire bar at once. Instantly, the area was neatly illuminated with white light, allowing the whole place to light up.


    "Welcome. Welcome, dear Nighthawks Commander." An old man who wore a cowboy hat and large aviator sunglasses walked out. He was clad in denim clothing from head to toe and was the spitting image of an American western cowboy from the movies.


    This old man walked out and stretched his hand outwards before pointing towards the left side. He pointed at a group of people who were seated. All of them looked muscular and had tattoos on their arms and necks. Some of them lowered their heads and used pocket knives to clean their fingernails while others raised their legs and held the young black women beside them while getting up to mischief.


    The one similarity that all of them shared was the black pocket knife tattoos on their bodies.


    "The members of Black Knife." The old man in denim introduced them while smiling happily. "Those are all Vincent and Octagon Pot''s people." He pointed at another group of people who were seated on the opposite side of the black people.


    It seemed like this group of people came from all walks of life. There were office workers, women who sold vegetables, bakery bosses, lawyers, social-climbers and other kinds of people. There were obviously some differences between them and the people from Black Knife because they had some restrictions and were not as carefree as them.


    Regardless of which side they were from, Garen still felt as if they were sizing him up carefully.


    "Octagon Pot? Are you referring to the eight largest Relic Organizations in Europe?" he opened his mouth and asked.


    "Of course. That''s Octagon Pot." However, the old man did not explicitly say which one of the eight sides these group of people belonged to.


    "I''ve never seen how a mediation is conducted. Am I going to see the flow of events while I''m here today?" Garen raised his hand and asked candidly.


    "Since everyone has already arrived here, your presence shows your respect towards me and the Primary Colors. Therefore, why don''t you just be frank and tell us your wishes openly," said the old man with a smile on his face.


    The first thing Garen did after he arrived in South Africa was to use his Secret Techniques to contort his own facial structure and characteristics. Therefore, it was impossible for these people to identify his exact details. At most, they would only be able to use other channels to eliminate his possible identities but would not be able to discover the true powers that were concealed behind him.


    "Openly? Didn''t I just come here openly? What else do you want me to be open about?" Garen tilted his head and asked.


    "We did not have a major clash with the aristocrats," said the Vincent representative loudly after he stood up. "The aristocrats decided to drive us out completely when they entered the picture, and as the weaker side, we could not even resist them properly despite working together."


    "The Stone Clock of Fortune is with you?" Garen did not reply but asked him a direct question instead.


    "Of course."


    "Very good," Garen nodded. "If you want to reconcile, my requests are simple. Firstly, give me the Stone Clock of Fortune. Next, my Nighthawks group will be given eighty percent of the secret treasures. After that, I will just let this incident slide."


    Whoosh¡­


    When these words left his mouth, all of the people on site could not sit still suddenly.


    "Eighty? Hehe. That depends on whether you''re destined to take it¡­" The people from Black Knife sneered suddenly.


    A brawny black man who seemed like their leader stood up while doing tricks with a sharp pocket knife in his hand.


    "First of all, those who break the rules need to accept their punishments."


    "Hehe. I heard that the Nighthawks sniping field is virtually undefeatable on the African battlefield. Do you think you could let me experience it for a moment?" He walked towards Garen and was clearly slightly taller than him.


    "Sniping field?" Garen already knew that the Nighthawks'' own special techniques involved forming a ring with faraway sniping techniques. The snipers who were part of this ring could protect each other while killing their surrounding enemies simultaneously. They would also be able to monitor the entire area to a certain degree at the same time to create a powerful sniping technique without any blind spots.


    A few street performers who were banging on small drums walked past outside the bar. Their rhythmic drumming noises echoed throughout the area clearly, accompanying the melody of a man''s strange singing voice.


    Garen glanced around and noticed that everyone''s eyes were focused on him as if they were either waiting for him to change his mind or were waiting to see a good show.


    Black Knife and Nighthawks had always been two first-rate mercenary groups that had never dealt with each other. Black Knife had already been deeply rooted in South Africa before their first place position had been stolen by the foreign Nighthawks. They were obviously unhappy, and the Nighthawks bore the brunt of their anger by suffering injuries, as Black Knife would definitely take matters into their own hands during rare opportunities like these.


    They had initially waited for Garen to show his trump card but had never expected that he would not follow the steps from the start. Since the situation turned out like this, there was nothing left for them to be concerned about.


    Garen glanced at the people from Black Knife and noticed that some of them were already beginning to reach for their guns while others unconsciously held more and sharper cutting tools in their hands and glared at him strangely.


    "Before we continue, I still have a question that I need all of you to answer," Garen piped up suddenly.


    "What question?"


    "The people who tried to ambush my Nighthawks previously, are they all here?" A sliver of a smile appeared on the corners of Garen''s mouth suddenly.


    Shh!!


    Instantly, a bloody hole appeared on the forehead of one of the black people on site before he collapsed on the ground.


    "Attack!!"


    The Black Knife leader lunged at Garen and stretched his arms towards his neck immediately.


    Bang bang!!


    After the sound of two continuous gunshots, his arms seemed as if they had frozen in midair, and he was lucky that he was able to evade two bullets that came flying from behind Garen.


    The black male leader flipped backward before two extra silver handguns appeared in his hands. He shot the gun at Garen thrice, releasing three banging noises.


    There were no bullets flying towards him this time.


    "Our people have discovered the Nighthawks! Capture him and take him hostage!!" yelled the Black Knife leader loudly.


    The bar turned chaotic as everyone rushed to find a bunker. The sofa, bar top, tables, and chairs were all used as bunkers to shield people.


    Everyone seemed like insects whose nests had been destroyed. They ran frantically and disappeared in an instant.


    A crashing noise rang out when a stray bullet hit a crystal chandelier before the light was extinguished at once.


    Garen walked through the bar listlessly. All of them were merely normal people and he had reached the maximum point of boredom. Moreover, he had only agreed to meet them after the others had gathered on their own.


    Under the strong influence of the Primary Colors, his opponents had assumed that he would not actually make a move, but never expected that the opposite would be true instead.


    The old man in denim from the Primary Colors rolled behind the bar top effortlessly without making any unnecessary noises or movements. He was a sensible person and knew that since the other party refused to respect the Primary Colors, the first thing that he had to do now was to protect himself.


    Bang bang bang!!


    Faint but sharp gunshot noises echoed throughout the inside of the bar constantly.


    Garen walked throughout the bar confidently as if he was completely unconcerned about being hit by a stray bullet. He sat on a chair that was still perfect and poured a clear glass of spirits for himself. He did not care about the bottle and just sniffed it immediately instead before drinking a mouthful.


    The gunshot noises quickly became shorter and softer and it soon became obvious that the Nighthawks were being suppressed.


    One of the people from Black Knife rolled off the couch immediately and waved his hands.


    Bang!!


    A gunshot could be heard.


    Garen turned his head slightly when the bullet hit a brown alcohol bottle inside the alcohol cabinet behind him before alcohol and glass shards flew everywhere.


    When a glass shard flew past Garen, he deflected it easily. The glass shard flew at a speed that was impossible to be seen by human eyes before an airy hissing noise could be heard when it dug into the black man''s forehead accurately.

 616 Tangled 2

    Chapter 616: Tangled 2


    Before he could even sigh, the black man from Black Knife collapsed on the ground instantly without a single breath.


    The people from Black Knife swore at him continuously.


    Bang!


    Another gunshot could be heard before he realized that two guns were being shot at the same time. Two bullets flew towards both sides of Garen where his hiding places were located, making it completely impossible for him to hide.


    Bang bang!!


    Another two alcohol bottles exploded behind Garen but no one was able to clearly see how he had evaded them.


    "What the hell?!" The expression on the Black Knife leader''s face changed slightly as if he had thought of a possible group and quickly nodded towards his accomplices on the right side.


    It meant that it was time for their ruthless measures.


    A dot of red light lit up immediately.


    Crash!!


    With Garen as the center of the entire bar, four blindingly red fireballs exploded around him suddenly.


    The Black Knife leader flew towards him suddenly while raining down bullets in a frenzy with guns in both of his hands. Garen made complicated and mysterious dodging poses and movements at the same time.


    The sound of large groups of manpower could be heard faintly from outside the bar, but no one could tell if they were from Primary Colors or other groups.


    "Is there anything fun left?" Garen''s voice echoed behind him unexpectedly.


    The Black Knife leader was extremely shocked and rolled towards the front. He charged into the sea of flames directly without looking at the two guns that were still at the back of his hands. He leaped upwards instantly and lunged towards the bar''s black cloth covered glass windows.


    There was a crashing noise before he rolled on the street a few times before getting back up again.


    However, he could suddenly feel a slight pain in his chest. He lowered his head and looked there before noticing that a bright red patch of blood had appeared on the white shirt he was wearing.


    The blood stain became darker and bigger before spreading throughout the entire area quickly.


    "When did this¡­?" He stretched his eyes open and racked his brains but could not remember when he had been shot. Acute pain and the suffocating feeling when his lungs were completely unable to breathe spread across him quickly. He staggered forward and leaned against the pillar of the streetlight while his vision began to darken quickly.


    When he finally collapsed, he could faintly see Garen carrying a person while walking out of the bar. Meanwhile, the whole bar was engulfed in flames but no one else came out.


    The moment Garen walked out, a large crowd of people rushed towards him from all directions. Some of them held knives while others held guns, making the scene somewhat chaotic.


    While holding on to the person, he turned back to glance at the bar before his footsteps quickened suddenly, allowing him to appear at the side of the bar instantly. A black child stared at him with a blank look on his face while standing helplessly in the alley.


    Garen shouldered the bloodied person and smiled at the child before walking towards the back of the bar.


    The large crowd of people outside the alley seemed as if they had not seen him as well, but perhaps they were just turning a blind eye as this occurrence was unbelievably strange.


    Once he passed through the alley, Baldy, whose arms were covered in blood, was waiting for him at the back with two other people and two cars.


    "Boss," Baldy lowered his head and greeted him respectfully while the other two people lowered their heads as well.


    "Take care of this person for a while. This guy is a representative of Vincent. I let the Primary Colors representative escape, so contact him later." Garen flung the person in his arms on the ground.


    He was aware that they were people who were noticing and peeping at them from a faraway distance.


    "Get in the car and leave this place."


    "Boss, what about the people inside¡­?" Baldy gulped while glancing at the burning bar.


    "Aren''t they right in front of you?" answered Garen casually.


    His intended meanings were obvious. Other than the old man from the Primary Colors, the only other person left was the captured Vincent representative in front of them.


    Baldy was somewhat intimidated. The Black Knife mercenary group that was only slightly weaker than themselves could not even withstand a minute under Boss''s hands and had all died completely. This meant that¡­


    "Get in the car." He did not think about it anymore and picked up the person before turning around and getting into the sedan.


    Both of the white sedans sped up and left the scene from the back of the bar.


    On the other side, half of a black man''s face could be seen appearing from the entrance of the alley slowly.


    The black man''s forehead was filled with beads of sweat and he could only hold his breath desperately as he was too afraid to open his mouth and pant.


    "Three minutes¡­ And twelve seconds¡­" he said in an anguished voice.


    There were a few more representatives who had not entered the bar at all and had stayed in the alley instead.


    A young woman who was dressed like an office lady had turned pale while her hands relaxed and tightened unconsciously.


    "It''s fortunate that we didn''t go in," said a bespectacled man in a deep voice. "We should just inform our respective bosses for now."


    The others nodded respectively, as none of them were willing to encounter the golden-haired young man who seemed normal but was not.


    That guy was literally taking a brisk walk before he went inside to visit the bar. Moments later, bullets were sent flying and explosions occurred everywhere, but he walked out in perfect condition without any injuries or clothes in disarray.


    "What about Levi?"


    "The only way to decrypt the answer lies in Kenna''s hands, and Levi is still tracking him down," said the young woman softly. "The situation has already exceeded our control. All of the Black Knife members have died. Nighthawks'' powers have greatly exceeded our expectations, so I suggest that we inform Vincent''s big boss."


    "Did you manage to investigate that guy''s details previously?" asked someone.


    "I only eliminated the actions and whereabouts of the famous people from the surrounding countries. However, if this person appeared suddenly, we can''t do anything," the young woman shook her head.


    "I''m afraid that it''s impossible. He''s just a normal person. According to the rules, they cannot interfere with the order of the normal world as they please," said the bespectacled man in a low voice.


    "Should the middle section just retreat then?" The black man wiped the sweat from his face. "We don''t have to risk our own lives for an imaginary legend. Report the current situation and get our superiors to send more people over to sort this out."


    When the other people exchanged glances, they could see the bitterness in his eyes.


    They could report all of this to their superiors, but this would mean that everything they had contributed and all of their losses would be wasted and that a demotion would be merely be considered as a light punishment.


    "I''m afraid we don''t have to do that anymore¡­" said the office lady suddenly.


    "The latest news stated that Kenna and Levi have run into a remote village. An ancient power is entrenched in that village, and the Stone Clock of Fortune seems to have attracted their interest."


    "What happened?"


    "I don''t know. However, it will be a good idea to return. It looks like the secrets of the Stone Clock of Fortune may have finally attracted the attention of certain people."


    "I''ve heard that since Kenna is an ancient scholar, he knows a lot of mysterious people. He may have run to that village because his friends are located there," he said with furrowed eyebrows.


    "I think it will be better if we don''t interfere. We''ll discuss this later once the winners and losers have been decided," the young woman smiled bitterly. "The situation has become more and more complicated, while more powers getting involved."


    The other people nodded respectively.


    ************************


    Within a pitch black mess, an old man with a wrinkled face slowly lit a yellow oil lamp before faint yellow light illuminated the interior of the wooden house.


    There was a wooden cross on the circular window while slivers of moonlight cascaded inside.


    The old man turned his head and glanced at the bed inside the wooden house, where the figure of a black person laid on top.


    The figure belonged to a black man who was clad in a black leather jacket that was torn and messy, while his body was covered in wounds and bloody scars especially on his face, causing him to be almost disfigured. However, one could see that he used to be an above average looking, middle-aged man if they looked past the scars.


    "Oh¡­" The man stirred on the bed. "How long have I been asleep, Dahm Rose?"


    "Not very long, maybe five hours," answered the old man with a smile when he turned around. His wrinkly face resembled a chrysanthemum flower in full bloom.


    "Alright, chrysanthemum¡­ Can I ask why I always think of this plant when I look at you?" The man rubbed his head and smiled bitterly. "Looks like you''re not in such good shape either."


    "Only slightly better than you." The old man shook his head and picked up the oil lamp before walking to the front of his bed. "I''ve told you this before, that until the final key moment arrives, don''t come looking for me. Not only will there be a possibility that I won''t be able to help you, but I may cause greater dangers to befall you as well."


    "Of course I remember," smiled the black man bitterly. "But I really had no choice this time, and no other paths to choose." He lowered his head and ran both of his hands through his hair while his eyes were completely bloodshot.


    "Looks like you''re really in bad shape," the old man shook his head impatiently. "Friend, my own circumstances are not much better than yours, but if you don''t mind, you can stay at my place."


    "I was hoping that you could give me some inspiration." The man raised his head with a hopeful look in his eyes.


    "That''s useless," the old man shook his head. "When an extremely powerful force surrounds me, I have no use for inspiration." He looked at the other man and said: "Kenna, you will soon understand that whether your inspirations appear or not, the conclusion cannot be changed."


    "Don''t tell me that what we see is already the definite ending?" Kenna asked instead.


    "It is not definite, but it is certainly the correct deduction from the gathered natural information. You must understand that accidental events don''t exist in this world and that the supposed accidents are merely the final conclusions that result from the martial arts certainties that are linked up with one another," said old man Dahm Rose with a wrinkled expression.


    "I''m already relying on you since I have no other places to go anyway," said Kenna with a smile even though he had quietened down.


    "Is Liv dead?" The old man looked at his eyes but noticed that he was evading his gaze. "Not just Liv, but Corela and Bane as well."


    There was nothing but dead silence for a moment.


    "Looks like your situation can''t get any worse. Just stay with me then," the old man shook his head. "Sometimes, dying peacefully is not such a bad ending."


    "What are you saying?" Kenna asked.


    "Nothing." Dahm Rose put the oil lamp down and took out a little bottle filled with fireflies. He poured the fireflies into an earthen jar carefully.


    Strangely, the fireflies inside the earthen jar flashed but did not know how to fly away and escape.


    He took a stone pestle and began to grind the fireflies slowly while some unknown powder scattered out from there occasionally.


    "What are you doing?" Kenna noticed his weird actions.


    Rose Dahm smiled at him mysteriously but did not reply.


    Kenna got up from the bed in a slumped position and picked up a bowl at his bedside that was filled with some sticky yellow substances towards his lips before gulping all of it down in one mouthful.


    He did not know how Levi had been pursuing him. Both of them had encountered countless hardships in the wilderness and had fought each other constantly, making it impossible to mediate the hostility between them anymore. One of them was destined to die before this could finally come to a close.

 617 Tangled 3

    Chapter 617: Tangled 3


    Although he did not know Levi''s current whereabouts, as long as he was by his old friend''s side, he would be safe temporarily.


    Dahm Rose was an expert in escaping and self-preservation.


    Kenna walked to the side of the window and shifted his head to look outside before noticing that it was pitch black, except for a faint light that resembled stars from a faraway row of little houses.


    "Where is this?" he turned his head and asked.


    "My birthplace," Dahm Rose answered. He continued to grind the fireflies with his full concentration as if it was the most precious treasure. "You were unconscious for a long time and kept bouncing between a dreamlike and awakened state, so I used an ox cart that I borrowed to bring you back here."


    "Are we safe right now?" Kenna was slightly worried because Levi was not someone who was easy to get along with. Although most of the Black Uniform members had been defeated by an external power, Levi still possessed unexpected moves and strengths. That person''s willpower and physique were simply at a different level.


    "Of course it''s safe, as long as it''s before dawn tomorrow," replied Dahm Rose with his smiling wrinkled face that resembled a chrysanthemum.


    "This village is not a normal little village," he said in a low voice. "This place has the tranquility that you desire."


    "I don''t understand. You''re talking about unnatural powers? Here?" Kenna asked instead.


    "I was born here, grew up here until I left. You will like this place very soon," said Dahm Rose with hidden profound meaning.


    *********************


    The next day.


    Snap.


    An emerald green branch with a few leaves was snapped from a tree. A muscular, short-haired black man with a vicious aura that permeated throughout his whole body held the branch in his hand.


    He placed one of the leaves from the branch below his nose and sniffed it carefully.


    Shh¡­


    His nose breathed in deeply, releasing hissing noises.


    "South¡­ Kenna, you won''t be able to escape any longer¡­" The camouflage combat gear that once covered the black man''s entire body had been reduced to a torn mess comprised of a few strips of cloth that hung on his body.


    He held a black dagger in his hand and occasionally slashed at the branches and weeds that blocked his path.


    This place was the extremely strange interior of a forest and was unlike the vast olive grasslands outside, as this place consisted of a continuous stretch of olive forests that rise and fell.


    Crash¡­


    Suddenly, chaotic noises could be heard from a faraway distance behind him.


    Someone was shouting loudly in American English.


    Levi crouched down carefully, only exposing a pair of eyes while he burrowed himself into the side of his trail under some raised tree roots before turning his head and glancing behind himself.


    "Hasn''t someone checked this direction already? Why are we back here?"


    "Instructions from our superiors, don''t be too concerned."


    "We''re already lacking manpower now. I really don''t know what our superiors are thinking."


    A few men in olive camouflage gear carried guns and walked over in this direction to search the area.


    Levi lowered his head into the undergrowth and concentrated his gaze in their direction.


    He noticed that there was a symbol of a black hawk on the sleeves of these men''s uniforms.


    "Nighthawks¡­" He recognized this symbol.


    Previously, he had gathered the other forces to inflict serious damage on this mercenary group.


    "Looks like a lot of new changes have occurred during the period of time when I did not return," he thought when his mind finally understood what had happened.


    Bang!!


    Suddenly, the sound of a gunshot echoed from a faraway area before a frenzied cry of a wild ox could be heard.


    "Shit!! Kill it! Kill it!!" someone shouted loudly.


    Bang bang!!


    A few more gunshots could be heard.


    A few people who were patrolling this area raised their guns frantically. But once they heard the ox shriek, they laughed happily and put their guns down.


    "This group of rotten people. It would have been troublesome if they''d attracted the attention of the patrol group or the inspection cars. Couldn''t they have been a little more careful?"


    One of the black men spat and turned his head in the direction of the gunshot before suddenly noticing that the silence around him was somewhat terrifying.


    There were traces of alertness and uncertainty on his smiling face while his hands raised his gun upwards unconsciously.


    Kachak!


    A large hand flew towards his neck at the speed of lightning before grabbing and twisting it.


    The dead body became limp and collapsed backward before it was dragged by someone else and placed on the ground slowly.


    Levi spat and took a few things that he needed from the three corpses on the grass such as their guns, water bottles, bug spray, as well as some food and snacks.


    He pondered for a moment before picking someone who had a body size that was similar to his own, removing the other man''s clothes quickly and donning them.


    The corpses lay in the undergrowth that was half as tall as a human within the forest, making it impossible to detect any abnormalities unless one walked extremely near and took a second look.


    Levi stuck his nose out and continued his chase in a predetermined direction. He was like a silent cheetah that possessed extremely fast speed and was almost completely quiet.


    *****************


    Garen stood on top of an olive cross-country vehicle with a pair of binoculars in his hands and looked towards the far away areas. He''d changed into a tight-fitting olive mercenary uniform while a black pistol with a large diameter hung from his waist.


    Alongside him were the mercenaries that were especially in charge of driving and Baldy.


    There were four similar cross-country vehicles behind the car that were seated to the brim with the Nighthawks'' peripheral mercenary soldiers. Some of them were armed with machine guns while others had even brought miniature mortars.


    A few of the Nighthawks'' elite members had dark expressions on their faces while they checked their own equipment and sniper rifles.


    "Carlo, has each group''s investigation results been released?" Garen had already replaced Baldy and had taken over the command of the Nighthawks.


    He wore a pair of silver-rimmed glasses and a layer of blinking light had appeared on his left eyeglass, showing a little display.


    This was the latest research success that included a camera that could take pictures as well as other functions such as sound recording, short-range communication, internet searching abilities and other high-end miniature functions. This was specially made for them, and the Nighthawks referred to it as a Hawkeye.


    "It''s still alright. Everything is considerably smooth¡­ No¡­ Something has happened." A noise echoed from the earpiece that was connected to his glasses.


    Garen raised his hand.


    "Mark the location."


    All of the twenty people who were spread out between four cars began to check their own weapons while the elite members began to test their communication glasses.


    A fat man on one of the cars even raised an air cannon that was usually only used on planes¡­


    There were bombs, anti-tank grenades, air rocket projectiles and heavy mortars among these twenty people. As long as it was a strong weapon that could be handled by a single soldier, it would definitely be there.


    As the Nighthawks'' were a mercenary group that would go down to the battlefield, excluding the few elite members and the decapitation team, the rest of them formed a group with tremendous firepower. Although their group merely comprised of about twenty people, all of them were senior soldiers who had experiences the flames of war and were already able to penetrate a small-scale city within a short span of time.


    In Africa, an army like this would be considered as the cream of the crop.


    Behind the four cars was the larger mercenary group that the Nighthawks had gathered. It was a large team of over a hundred people that was known as the Nighthawk Army.


    All of them were the Nighthawks'' peripheral soldiers. They had truly thrown away all of their animosities this time because the absence of the restrictions from Black Knife and other similar mercenary groups meant that the Nighthawks'' could use a large number of their funds to quickly employ these mercenaries that had experienced the battlefield before.


    Hoards of mercenaries enthusiastically joined the Nighthawks when they heard about their military exploits such as slaughtering Black Knife. Following a powerful army into battle meant that they would receive a considerable amount of commissions and would have a higher probability of evading death as well. Therefore, the mercenaries had always preferred to join the stronger group. They were like grass on top of a wall that would always be influenced to join the side that possessed stronger powers. On the battlefield of mercenaries, one could never allow their enemies to discover that they were weaker. Despite being less powerful, it was important to fight with the confidence of a madman so that others would be afraid.


    Garen stood on top of the cross-country vehicle that was in front and turned around to glance at the three cars behind him.


    The people inside these three cars were the true inner members of the Nighthawks. Excluding the elites, these people were the true members that possessed a certain relationship to the others. Meanwhile, the ones behind them were only here while the winds favored them.


    "The position has been confirmed. One of the smaller patrol teams has been ambushed and three people have died," said Carlo''s voice through the Hawkeye.


    "Move towards that direction."


    Garen nodded. When he was dressed in his military gear, a heavy air that was both ruthless and cold spread wafted from his body unconsciously.


    "Yes, sir!"


    The convoy began to turn around before driving towards the marked direction.


    After receiving the commands from the front, the team at the back split themselves up into a few smaller groups that charged forward in a circled formation.


    Garen''s line of sight returned after he glanced at a cheetah that was climbing up a nearby tree trunk before he looked at a large herd of black animals in front.


    The convoy had not driven for a long time before a large herd of African wildebeest charged out in front of them.


    Huff huff huff¡­


    Numerous black wildebeest groaned while charging towards the convoy as if they were a wide black river that flowed throughout the olive colored grasslands continuously.


    Two twisted horns grew out of the heads of these horse-like animals that resembled cows. They were unlike buffalo as their faces were longer while their bodies were slightly slimmer.


    Nonetheless, these creatures charged and ran towards them, they were not inferior to a speedy little sedan car. They were clearly very powerful.


    The army groups could not help but stop temporarily.


    "We should be able to reach that guy soon," said Baldy quietly as he touched the bandage that he had wrapped around one of his eyes on his own. "Levi is wearing our men''s clothes, but our uniforms always have a miniature signal tracking device, making it impossible for him to escape." His expression was slightly bitter as his eye had been personally stabbed and blinded by Levi during close combat.


    "There''s no rush," said Garen lightly.


    Suddenly, he pressed down on the Hawkeye''s earpiece and turned his head around to glance behind himself.


    A soldier with a face full of greasepaint walked out of the undergrowth there and stood beside the car. He held three little yellow things that resembled embroidery needles in his hands that also seemed like normal bamboo sticks.


    "Commander, I''ve discovered three signal devices nearby from the soldiers that were ambushed," yelled the soldier loudly.


    Garen glanced at Baldy while the latter struck his fist against the car door violently, releasing a loud banging noise.


    "Do we have any other way of catching up?" asked Garen softly.


    "The satellite. In this weather, there should be no problem," answered a woman with a ponytail who stood beside Baldy. "However, I won''t be able to guarantee the precision."


    "Get to it," Garen nodded.


    The woman turned her notebook on before a blinding and chaotic screen reflected and flashed while clicking keyboard noises could be heard. Next, she turned the computer screen around and looked towards Garen and the others.


    "It can essentially confirm the approximate area, but the rental cost of the satellite is too high. I need Boss to authorize this."


    Garen looked at Baldy and nodded immediately before the latter pressed his right finger down to input his fingerprint into the computer.


    Beep¡­


    A soft noise could be heard before the woman turned the computer back towards herself again and began to focus on her investigation.


    "Although we won''t be able to find Levi''s precise whereabouts, Kenna''s specific location should not be a problem. He has a satellite phone with him, so we can use our technical means to confirm his location. He used this phone recently as well," explained the woman with the ponytail quietly. "Levi has definitely chased Kenna to his current position, so we will just need to get this."


    Garen nodded.


    The wildebeest herd had passed as well, leaving shrouds of flying yellow dust behind them.


    The convoy continued moving forward.

 618 Tangled 4

    Chapter 618: Tangled 4


    Beside a large black canyon near some grasslands, an irregular little earthy yellow village was entrenched in a low-lying area.


    The village resembled a dark plaque embedded within this light yellow prairie.


    There was an area that resembled historical ruins beside the village where both intact and crumbling stone pillars could be seen everywhere.


    Rays of evening sunlight cascaded downwards while the area remained completely silent.


    A few African elephants had been dyed red by the sun''s intense heat. The elephants used their pillar-like legs to follow the baby elephants, and whenever the baby elephants accidentally ran a few steps too far, the adult elephants would wrap their trunks around them to make them slow down.


    Beside clusters of tall green trees, a few giraffes stretched their long necks upwards and chewed the leaves while swaying their tails peacefully and quietly.


    Most of the trees in this area grew alone but would form a cluster when more than one of them grew together.


    Kenna stood at the entrance of the village and watched a group of half-naked black women gather around a bonfire. They were dancing a dance that he had never seen before. It involved them raising both of their hands and slapping their palms constantly while singing an unknown bleak-sounding song loudly.


    An old woman who looked as withered as Dahm Rose sat by the bonfire. She slapped her palms together as well while singing certain parts of the song and clapping according to the music and the beat.


    A few younger fellows beat hand drums while sitting on the side, following the rhythm closely.


    Someone else was tapping a white thigh bone and making popping noises.


    When Kenna woke up this morning, he realized immediately that Dahm Rose was gone. After being unable to find him despite searching for some time, he decided to leave the house on his own.


    The natives outside the house were very friendly towards him. Although there was a communication barrier between them, the natives would smile at him anyway.


    Inside this place, this tribal village that was completely foreign to him, Kenna was suddenly able to feel an unprecedented sense of tranquility.


    "This place is pretty good, right?" Dahm Rose''s voice echoed beside him suddenly.


    "Yes," Kenna nodded. He had gotten used to the other man''s mysterious appearances and disappearances much earlier on.


    "There are honest and simple people in this village, as well as ancient inheritors. Unfortunately¡­ We cannot stay here for long," he said regretfully.


    "Why?" asked Kenna quietly. "Didn''t you say that this place was very safe?" He touched the scar on his chin. This deep scar added to his manliness.


    "I''ll tell you the truth." When Dahm Rose turned around, a fearful expression flashed in his eyes. "We''re actually in the same boat. I''m also being hunted down by someone."


    "That can''t be true¡­" Kenna''s eyes widened. "What kind of person would be able to hunt you down?"


    "Someone that is very strong exists¡­ They''re absurdly strong," Dahm Rose replied softly. "Since you''re with me now, you may face the same dangers."


    "Dahm Rose, do you know that you''re currently giving off the same vibe as a fake medicine salesman?" Kenna simply could not believe him. This old trickster always succeeded in fooling others. Even Kenna could not remember how many times he had fallen for his lies.


    "It''s fine if you don''t believe me," Dahm Rose merely shrugged his shoulders. Neither of them continued to speak but decided to quietly appreciate the dancing of the natives that were gathered around the bonfire.


    He glanced at a certain direction in the village quietly.


    Kenna''s troubles were merely a Mortal''s worries and were not a serious issue. Compared to this, if that guy managed to catch up to him¡­


    After being chased for so many years and running and fleeing in all directions, perhaps it was time for him to face his final ending.


    When he thought about his previous struggles that occurred because he was blinded by greed, such as all of his friends who died and were buried, perhaps no one would have been able to imagine an outcome like this in the beginning.


    He was already burnt out from a life that was filled with nothing but hiding. Choosing to return to his hometown where he was born, and where he would soon die, was not a bad decision.


    Dahm Rose looked over at the old woman who stood in the middle of the crowd.


    "Don''t give up. We have been standing behind you from the beginning to the end, Dahm," implied the old woman''s gaze.


    "Yes¡­ I may have lost everything, but I still remember that I have all of you." The chrysanthemum-like smile appeared on Dahm Rose''s face again. Suddenly, he lifted both of his hands up high before balling them into a tight fist, closing his eyes devoutly, and singing along with the melody of the song loudly.


    *****************


    At the far end of the village, on top of a cliff at the border of the large canyon.


    A frail old man in nothing but dark grey bits of cloth stood under the setting sun, leaning on a cane topped with a goat''s skull and glancing in the direction of the faraway village quietly.


    There was a deep scar on the old man''s forehead. It seemed as if a sharp blade had sliced through his skin and flesh violently and it had almost cut through his skull.


    "Fate has led me here, Dahm Rose. You won''t be able to escape any longer¡­"


    The old man''s body was stooped over as if a gust of wind was enough to topple him.


    However, there were two golden male lions that were currently lying beside his feet. One of the lions was constantly shaking its mane while the fur on its muscular and streamlined body gleamed red in the evening sunlight.


    The clothes on the old man''s back seemed like numerous pieces of clothes that had been bound together. Compared to a mummy''s neat and orderly bandages, the cloth on his body was an awful mess.


    "Everything is guided by fate."


    He raised his cane slowly and tapped it on the ground lightly.


    Clap.


    Suddenly, both of the male lions by his feet roared quietly. They stood up from their initial crouching positions and shook their heads as they moved towards the village.


    Next, numerous lionesses began to appear in the forest and grasslands behind them. When counted, they were at least ten of them.


    A large herd of hyenas soon appeared behind the lion pride. They gathered together and ran towards them quickly while releasing childlike cries. They formed a black mess, and there were as many as a thousand of them.


    They swept through the grasslands like a swarm of locusts. From above, they resembled a black cloud that was drifting towards the village.


    Then, a troop of red-faced baboons appeared behind them. These powerful creatures that were so ferocious that even leopards were forced to retreat had formed a crowd. They waved their arms in the air while charging over. They ran in front and behind the hyena herd and constantly howled loudly while baring their sharp teeth.


    The old man stood on the cliff and looked down at the herd of ferocious beasts that were surging forward beside him.


    "Oh fate¡­!!" he yelled loudly at the top of his voice. "Tear everyone that obstructs your path to shreds!!"


    His words were spoken in the local aboriginal language. The syllables made it sound like a song or a hymn.


    Clang clang clang clang!!!


    The frantic sound of a gong could be heard throughout the village suddenly. The native people rushed into the village while moving their hands dexterously to prop up numerous sharp wooden railings into the ground. These wooden railings that were as thick as arms made people feel much safer.


    Fearful expressions appeared on the faces of all the villagers while they looked at the herds of wild beasts that were surging towards them from afar.


    Some of them spoke loudly in their native tongue, saying incomprehensible things.


    Some held their young children and ran into their own houses while others gripped their long spears, arrows, and other weapons tightly. However, most of them were fixated on the bonfire in the middle.


    The strongest and most mysterious Witch Doctor in the Village, Dalier, was seated there.


    Dalier had a similar cane that was made of black wood. There were different colored bone necklaces draped on the cane.


    "Don''t worry. The ancestors have always been by our side," she howled loudly. It was obvious from her appearance that she was an eighty to ninety year old woman. However, her voice was currently as loud and clear as a young person''s voice.


    When her voice rang out, the hundreds of people in the village went silent as one, as if it was magic. They gathered at the square, on the flat ground in front of the village entrance. The men raised their weapons such as spears, javelins, bows and arrows, machetes, and axes. It was clear that they had all sorts of weapons.


    Meanwhile, under the instructions of their leader, the women began to gather wooden railings, stones, and sacks of soil in a circle in front of the sturdy houses on the outskirts of the village. Soon, they had formed a temporary fortress.


    Dalier looked towards the far end of the area. She could see that the man who was standing on the faraway cliff was the true culprit of everything.


    "The messenger of disasters that resembles a plague. He has returned¡­"


    Caegarfaber. Perhaps too many people had forgotten this name.


    This was a name that once caused fear among everybody. He was a figure that made all of the tribes tremble, and he had finally returned.


    The history and stories from that time that resembled an epic were memories that Dalier would never be able to forget throughout her whole life.


    She had once assumed that Caegarfaber had died.


    She had never expected that Dahm Rose had merely lured him away and that he had only left because of that thing.


    "The Ancestral Items cannot be tarnished. They are the source of everything we have. They are the source of our bloodline!" Dalier looked towards Dahm Rose who stood among the crowd.


    Both of them exchanged glances before nodding at each other determinedly.


    Kenna could accurately feel that he had been dragged into an even more complicated situation¡­


    He watched as his old friend and the old woman exchanged amorous glances at each other while an indescribably weird feeling bubbled up inside him.


    "The current situation is slightly inappropriate¡­" he said softly.


    "We want to return to our ancestors'' arms," said Dahm Rose indifferently.


    "What the¡­" Kenna''s expression changed slightly. This time, he could vaguely tell that his old friend was not joking at all. "Are you sure?"


    "Is it because of the crystal books that you brought up?" He seemed to have figured something out. "The Arrival Book that all of you respected as your holy ancestral things?"


    "Yes. Those books have always been here with me." Dahm Rose hid within the crowd and explained everything to Kenna quietly. Currently, Dalier had begun to boost the morale of the crowd loudly in a strange, incomprehensible native language.


    Looks of grief appeared on the faces of the natives unintentionally before their morale was quickly restored by the encouragement.


    Strangely enough, the wild beasts that had gathered outside the village would automatically stop when there was a distance of ten meters left between them and the village. They would whine in fear as if there was something terrifying in front of them.


    Dahm Rose saw that the wild beasts outside had stopped. "That''s true, the goal of the person that is pursuing me is to get the ancestral book, which all of you know as the Arrival Book."


    When they saw this miraculous scene, all of the natives rejoiced at once. They yelled loudly and beat their hands against their chests while raising their spears and making terrifying noises. However, most of them were prostrated on the floor and praying to an unknown force loudly.


    "Arrival Book, huh¡­ An item with a secret that is even more troublesome than the Stone Clock of Fortune. It caused a lot of chaos previously." Even though he was not from this world, Kenna could vaguely figure out this point. The Arrival Book that possessed mystical powers was the source of these tribes'' strength that also possessed an unimaginable strength.

 619 Track 1

    Chapter 619: Track 1


    Woo¡­


    The tires of the convoy grazed against the grass while the engine made a loud noise.


    Garen sat slumped against the seat casually while both of his eyes were narrowed slightly as if he was dozing off.


    "Levi has been spotted!" said the woman with the ponytail suddenly while she was connected to the satellite. "There''s a forty-three-kilometer distance between us."


    Baldy glanced at Garen but the latter did not stir at all as if he had not heard anything.


    "Pursue him," Baldy commanded on his own. He touched his own eye which had been pierced and blinded. A look of hatred flashed through Baldy''s remaining eye.


    "But it seems like there are signs of a large gathering of animals in front," said the woman with the ponytail softly.


    "Just kill any obstructions that we encounter at once," said Baldy with furrowed eyebrows.


    "Alright." The woman with the ponytail understood that if Garen remained silent, Baldy would become the head of the group.


    They were a group that consisted of more than two hundred people who were all equipped in military gear with various heavy weapons on hand. Therefore, it was unnecessary for them to be afraid of any animals, as they would be able to get rid of a stampeding elephant herd immediately!


    The convoy continued to travel forward.


    Although Garen had wrapped his arms around himself was continuing to sleep in the car, none of the nearby elites and core members dared to let their guard down even though he was currently resting.


    They were aware of the true measures and willpower that this young golden-haired man possessed. He was nothing like a regular twenty-year-old young man but was more like an extremely determined and terrifying mercenary.


    Once in awhile, the gazes of the people in the crowd would wander towards Garen unconsciously.


    Both of Garen''s arms were wrapped around his chest while he slept in the car.


    His initial plan for visiting South Africa was to get rid of his enemies and returning after retrieving the Stone Clock of Fortune. However, he never expected that the Stone Clock of Fortune would be involved in a big secret. Moreover, the person who was holding on to it has left the city long ago as well.


    His initial plan that had involved a relaxing vacation had fallen through completely.


    He thought that this trip would merely be a simple vacation. However, it had turned into a long and arduous track.


    Furthermore, that sly Levi had used various means to lure them in the wrong direction many times. In comparison to him, their tracking expert was basically a rookie. No wonder that guy was able to live so comfortably under such dangerous circumstances.


    "Another group''s signal has been destroyed," reported the woman with the ponytail quietly.


    "F*ck!!" Baldy reached his hand out and was about to hit his fist against the car door furiously before he looked at Garen immediately and put his hand down slowly.


    How many times had they been down this road?


    Not only had Levi led them to a dead end, he had also continuously hunted down the smaller tracking groups that they had sent out. So far, more than fifteen people had already died by his hands.


    "Send out a command and tell them to switch to five people in a group. I don''t believe that he will be able to get rid of five people so easily."


    "Yes."


    A row of soldiers in the convoy began to check their weapons carefully before loading their ammunition.


    A heavy oppressive aura slowly dominated, as the convoy now resembled a proper army that was traveling towards the village beside the large canyon at a constant speed.


    ******************


    Roar!!


    A lioness lunged over in a frenzy and bit at one of the native people''s throats but was immediately stabbed in the abdomen by numerous sharp long spears.


    A pool of blood remained on the surrounding weeds, dyeing the grasslands red.


    This was only one side of the story. Numerous lions, wild dogs, and baboons lunged towards the native people''s village and bit them as if they had gone insane from consuming poison.


    Most of them were still afraid of the unknown and chose to stop outside the circle on the outskirts of the village. However, a small herd of beasts had charged into the circle with red eyes, fighting with the natives that were defending.


    The village was filled with the blood of the natives and the beasts.


    On a clean circular area in the middle of the village, no one dared to enter that area even if they were fighting, regardless whether they were man or beast.


    A few people stood in this area while the village Witch Doctor Dalier stood in the middle, raising a cane with a chain of bones up high and muttering incantations.


    Kenna stood beside her with Dahm Rose. Both of them stood slightly behind her while neither of them moved as they watched the brutal killings that were happening outside.


    Astonished, Kenna realized that the village natives were not as weak and helpless as he had expected. Instead, they seemed to possess incredible strength and speed, as well as bravery. He saw two native women work together to kill a lioness with his own eyes.


    Their strength seemed to have transformed overnight while their combat moves became abnormally adept and strong.


    Meanwhile, the men would only be ambushed by the beasts when they were worn out. Otherwise, each of them would be able to kill at least ten animals, showing that they were terrifyingly efficient.


    Sometimes, Kenna wondered if he had truly encountered God. Did the white people know that the natives were actually so fierce during the slave wars?


    His mind was frazzled and did not know what expression to put on.


    "Just smile, just keep smiling," interrupted Dahm Rose while he stood beside him.


    "Oh shit!" Kenna was shocked. "Could you not suddenly appear like that?"


    "It''s almost time," said Rose Dahm suddenly in a mysterious tone while glancing at a faraway distance. "Remember the incident at the ruins in Ceylon previously?"


    "Of course."


    "That old guy was once the owner of the ruins."


    "... You''re saying that, that old guy¡­ Those ruins were fixed for that old guy?" Kenna reacted immediately after being hit by a great surprise.


    "He was the messenger of calamities and disasters; the plague of the earth. Three hundred years ago, the tribal leaders formed once formed an alliance to use the Best Book Page to kill and seal that person. However, they never anticipated that he would resurrect now," said Dahm Rose frankly.


    "Shit¡­ Are you telling me a legend? He was killed but later resurrected himself? I''m an ancient scholar! Do you know what a scholar is? I''m a person who is well-versed in science!" Kenna really felt like punching this old man violently. "You kept bragging and saying that you''ve lived for a hundred years, and now you tell me that this guy has lived for three hundred years and still managed to resurrect himself after dying? Could you stop teasing me?"


    "Alright¡­ Old friend, seeing that you''ve regained your vigor, I am truly relieved now," Dahm Rose shrugged his shoulders helplessly.


    "Don''t interrupt me!" Kenna''s mental state had always been strong, and a little scene like this was not enough to scare him. It was like that time when he was attacked by numerous black flesh-eating insects inside the ruins. He had only been scared to the point where his body was limp but was still in much better shape compared to the other guys who had feces and urine running down their legs.


    "Be careful! It''s here!"


    Dalier stood in front of them and spoke suddenly. "Dahm Rose, help me for a bit."


    "Alright." Dahm Rose reached his hands out and started removing Dalier''s clothes.


    "Shit! Both of you should take a look at your surroundings before you fool around!!" Kenna screamed in horror.


    "You''re fooling around!!" "F*ck!" Dahm Rose and Dalier cursed at him angrily at the same time.


    "You you you¡­! I thought you couldn''t speak English?!!" Kenna pointed at Dalier as if he had just seen a ghost.


    "I''ve seen and experienced more things in my life than you! Boy, watch your mouth!" Dalier patted Kenna''s shoulder gently before this fellow behaved immediately. His entire body had stiffened and he remained unmoving.


    Only then did he realize that Dahm Rose had not removed her clothes, but has simply used his hands to grab the clothes on Dalier''s back instead.


    After both of them were interrupted by Kenna, the atmosphere became much lighter immediately and was no longer as heavy as before.


    Both of them nodded at each other before exchanging glances.


    Dalier opened her mouth and stretched her throat.


    "Woo~~~~~"


    A black book flew out of Dahm Rose''s clothes slowly.


    There was no wind but it seemed like an invisible hand was holding on to the book and allowing it to hang gently in the air in front of the two people.


    The pages of the book were flipped open slowly, displaying the black words and symbols inside that were leaning towards the left. No one was able to understand the things that were recorded in the book.


    "Best¡­ Best Book Page¡­" A frail elderly voice echoed through the faraway winds.


    The grass that grew further away seemed to be pushed aside by an unknown force while the withered grass and shrubs collapsed after being rolled over. It was as if the ground that covered the entire area had been gently combed over and pressed down, similar to someone using a tool to comb over a carpet.


    Whoosh¡­


    A strong invisible force surged towards the village and pressed down on them furiously.


    The wild beasts let out frightened roars and ran helter-skelter without stopping in their original areas as if a life-threatening force was chasing them from behind. They were completely unable to fend off the natives that were slaughtering them for the time being.


    Large herds of wild beasts fled the village in a frenzy, resembling a dark yellow torrent that soon disappeared in the faraway grasslands.


    "Woo~~~~..." Dalier continued to howl loudly as if the energy in her lungs was limitless.


    But Kenna could see that Dahm Rose was constantly taking deep breaths while his hands remained plastered against Dalier''s back as if both of their lungs were linked to each other''s.


    Roar!!


    At that moment, Kenna felt as if his own ears had gone deaf. He felt a large air current explode from the black pages while it remained floating in mid-air.


    These air currents formed a strong pressure that was used to face the large pressure that came from the further direction head-on.


    All of the surrounding natives were enveloped inside these strong pressures. They crawled on the ground and let go of their weapons before singing praises and praying at the top of their voices with extremely devout expressions.


    Bang!!


    It was obvious that there were no sounds.


    But when both of the pressures collided with each other in an airspace that was less than two meters from the village, Kenna felt as if he had heard a thunderous noise at that moment. However, it was not a real noise, but simply a loud bang that only existed within his consciousness.


    He made a conscious effort to cover his ears but could not find a way to block the thunderous noise.


    "Be careful!!" Someone pulled him suddenly. Kenna could feel that his body had moved a step towards the left before a large invisible air current gushed past his initial position at a moment when everything was hanging by a single thread.


    His shoulder had been grazed slightly and a burning pain could soon be felt there.


    He was still unable to see anything in his surroundings as his eyes were blinded by numerous colors that blended with one another and twisted around, as if many different shades had been poured into a bucket and mixed, making it impossible for him to see anything clearly.


    A faint noise could be heard in his eyes.


    "His consciousness has been shaken. It is a weak consciousness¡­ To have encountered an attack like this head-on¡­ It is truly troublesome¡­" A stuttering noise could be heard continuously as if Dalier was speaking.


    Kenna felt as if he was submerged in extremely deep water. His body movements were slowed down and he was unable to see anything and could barely able to hear a few things.


    He felt as if someone was pulling him back while he was running. He passed through a colorful path before going through a cave that twisted and turned. This went on for an unknown amount of time.


    Bang bang!!


    Suddenly, two noises that sounded like claps of thunder rang out beside his ears.


    Kenna recovered from his stupor before all of his senses returned to normal.


    Suddenly, he realized that he was no longer in the previous village. His surroundings were completely dark as if he was inside a cave tunnel.


    Dahm Rose was pulling him backward and following behind Dalier closely. All three of them were standing in front of a passageway that led to a cave opening.

 620 Track 2

    Chapter 620: Track 2


    Right in front was an empty hall made entirely out of stone. It was pitch black without any light but strangely, everything could be clearly seen. There even was an old man with a crutch standing in the center of the hall, staring quietly at them.


    "Where are we?"


    "The escape route underneath the village."


    "Where''re the villagers? Are we going to ignore them?!" Cohen kept asking.


    "Us leaving is the biggest protection we can provide them." Rose Dahm replied softly.


    "We should be very careful with what''s going to come next." Rose Dahm said in a strict tone. "I''m not joking around. We''re going to die here if we''re not careful."


    "I have encountered these situations countless of times." Cohen smiled as if he didn''t care at all.


    The old man in the living hall in front of them finally reacted. His pitch black eyes started to stare at three of them.


    The first one was Dalier. The old man stared at him for a full second before averting his gaze to the next person.


    The next person was Rose Dahm, he was stared at for three seconds.


    The last one was Cohen, who was glanced at for only a second.


    "He''s marking¡­" Dalier whispered. "The death mark¡­ This meant that one of us will be killed by him."


    "It''s an ancient ritual. According to the beliefs of the ancient witch doctor, they''re able to leave a part of their conscience on one''s body if they stared at that person long enough. Then those two would be strung together by fate and the witch doctor would be able to track the person within a certain range."


    "This also means that he''s firmed in killing one of us." Rose Dahm smiled wryly. "We''re definitely in his killing list."


    "Why don''t we hand over the book to him? That item is meaningless to us right?" Cohen whispered.


    The other two stared at him in anger and it made Cohen shrugged helplessly.


    "Alright fine, fine. Quit staring at me, I''m just merely saying it."


    "Retreat!" Suddenly, Dalier shouted.


    A faint buzzing sound came from the stone hall.


    It was like those of swarming bees and Cohen, who had experienced this before, his face turned pale and retreated without hesitation.


    Three of them ran crazily inside the tunnel.


    Cohen turned his head and looked back and had goosebumps.


    Behind them in the tunnel was countless of white worms which had a pair of transparent wings flying after them. He could even see the sharp needle-like mouth which resembled mosquitoes.


    These white bugs came in like a flash flood as they went after the trio in the tunnel.


    A fork suddenly appeared in front of them and each path led to different directions in the tunnel.


    "Here!!" Cohen went into the inner path.


    "Be careful!" A hand pulled him back.


    There was a giant stone ball that was starting to get loose.


    Boom!


    The stone ball that was at least four meters tall started to roll towards them through the passage. The old man''s face could strangely be seen on the surface of the stone. It was like of an illusion.


    "Fuck me!!" Cohen was frightened by it. If he were to run into that path earlier, he would be trapped in between the stone ball and the countless of human eating bugs and would''ve died by now.


    "You guys can''t escape." The old man''s voice came from afar.


    "Go to hell!" Cohen shouted loudly.


    Pew!!


    Suddenly a sharp stone flew past him from behind and landed on the stonewall in front as it sparked.


    "Bring it on!!" Cohen shouted.


    The trio started to dart around left and right as they kept evading the stones shot by the swarm of worms.


    The old man behind them kept waving his crutch as stones flew towards them.


    "There''s more in front!!" Dalier shouted.


    The other two looked to the front to see a huge giant stone ball rolling with the diameter of five meters towards them. As it rolled, it seemed to be able to squash everything into mincemeat inside the tunnel. Similarly, the old man''s face could be seen on the surface of the ball.


    "To the left!!" It wasn''t sure if it''s Dalier or Rose Dahm was shouting.


    Cohen couldn''t make out who''s who in the situation any longer. He barely made it as he moved to the left as he entered into a narrow space.


    Boom boom¡­


    The stone ball rolled past the trio.


    "Cohen¡­"


    Suddenly, Cohen heard someone calling out to him and he looked at where the voice came from.


    He saw the ceiling of the tunnel broke apart. As the light shone in, a human figure jumped into it.


    "Cohen, hand over the Sone Clock of Fortune." This man was a handsome white man with golden short hair. He was muscular and gave off a cold aura.


    The trio ignored him as the old man was catching up to them even after the swarm of worms was crushed by the giant stone. He somehow walked out from among the countless worms and evaded the giant stone mysteriously. As he moved his crutch, it started buzzing once more.


    "Move forward!! Quickly!!" Dalier shouted.


    Rose Dahm followed tightly from behind and Cohen was the last one running at the back.


    "Evade!!"


    Another giant stone rolled towards them.


    Coincidentally, another narrow path by the stonewall appeared and three of them hid in it.


    The stone ball went directly towards the golden-haired man. He couldn''t evade in time and there was no place for him to run but to welcome the stone ball.


    "What a pity¡­" Cohen prayed for the fellow as he was completely innocent.


    At this moment.


    Boom!!


    A loud explosion could be heard as if it was a volcano eruption.


    The giant stone was shattered into millions of pieces in the middle and what came out of it was the golden-haired man.


    "Cohen, hand over the Stone Clock of Fortune." Garen slowly walked out from the center. Countless of bugs which were surrounding him mysteriously died off and layers of them were soon accumulated on the ground.


    Cohen, who was sprinting forward with all of his might, turned around to look as he heard the explosion. He literally paused as he saw the scenario.


    "F*ck me¡­ This guy is even worse¡­!"


    The mysterious old man started shouting as he stomped his crutch.


    Five to six stone balls started rolling but were demolished by Garen''s fist. Each fist was like a dynamite.


    Everyone started to lose their calm when they saw Garen breaking the stone like he was popping a balloon.


    "What the f*cking hell!! Cohen, how did you anger this monster!!" Rose Dahm finally lost his cool. This was something out of his expectations and wasn''t in his control at all.


    "I don''t know!! I don''t even know him!!!" Cohen shouted.


    As the both of them fled frantically with Dalier leading the way, the giant stone that had been chasing them was now a tool to block the person after them.


    "Cohen!!!" Garen shouted and in an instant, the giant ball was split in half as Garen moved his hand.


    "F*ck me! Stop chasing me!!" Cohen cried as he sprinted.


    While Garen was chasing them from the back, giant stone balls would occasionally block him from them. Eventually, the mysterious old man was angered by Garen. He started shouting and would summon sharp stones and shoot them towards Garen. This made it more difficult for Garen to chase them.


    Garen was angered.


    The moment he was slightly less alert, the whole team encountered a swarm of crazy beasts and were almost separated.


    The whole team continued moving forward after killing a portion of the beasts via some heavy weapons.


    After that, they encountered trembles similar to an earthquake when the village was right before their eyes. The earth suddenly trembled and the whole village was sunk into a deep pit.


    He could avoid it in time but not so far the team.


    At least half of the Nighthawk team''s weapons was disrupted by this deep pit.


    Afterwards, Levi secretly betrayed them and he escaped into this tunnel.


    Afterwards, the trembled continued and the team which managed to reassemble for a moment were separated again. Raged, Garen went down and killed everyone in sight!!!


    After a series of incidents, he was angered as he was here to take revenge and not on a holiday!


    It took him great effort to find any movement underground. Coincidentally, he met Cohen''s team as he jumped into it.


    Since the Stone Clock of Fortune appeared right in front of him, he naturally would try to obtain it.


    Hence the current situation.


    The trio ran at the front, Garen chasing them in the middle and the old man was at the very back.


    Garen was extremely annoyed by the old man but was afraid to lose the trio if he were to deal with the old man. He was really surprised by the turn of unexpected events today.


    As long as he found Cohen, Levi shouldn''t be far away. He could deal with almost everything if he could obtain the secrets of the Stone Clock of Fortune.


    Boom!!


    Another stone ball was split in half.


    "What the f*ck! Cohen, didn''t you say you''re being chased because of a normal antique?! How could a normal antique relate to such a monster? Are you f*cking kidding me!!??" Rose Dahm lost his cool and scolded. Since these two were able to become best friends, their characters were almost the same even in the face of danger.


    "It wasn''t this guy before!!" Cohen still had the energy to reply back even though his face was drenched with sweat and he looked like he could pass out any moment.


    "Pass the Stone Clock of Fortune to him!!" Rose Dahm cried out.


    "Faster!!" Cohen agreed as well as he quickly took out a small white porcelain item.


    He immediately tossed the item behind.


    As the small bottle rotated in the air, Garen obtained it without much difficulty.


    He glanced at the small bottle and continue pursuing them.


    "F*ck! Why is he still here?!"


    Rose Dahm felt hopeless.


    "How would I know!!?" Cohen was on the verge of collapsing as his stamina was fast depleting and even he himself believed that he would die from the immense exertion.


    "What is that floating thing?" Garen squinted as he saw a black book-liked item which seemed important floating in front of them. "Hand over that for me and I will leave you alone."


    "F*ck¡­"


    Suddenly the trio felt helpless as they realized that he was looking at the book.


    Wasn''t it the same from the very beginning?

 621 Track 3

    Chapter 621: Track 3


    "What should we do now?!" Rose Dahm''s original plan had been foiled by Garen, and now he didn''t know what to do.


    Dalier looked back and didn''t say a word. His eyes were clearly filled with complicated intent.


    "Continue running and don''t panic. I still have another backup plan."


    "Alright." Rose Dahm nodded.


    Compared to the two who had extraordinary stamina, Cohen was greatly exhausted after these ten minutes of sprinting. He was already on the verge of collapsing; both of his eyes were rolling up despite his legs maintaining a surprising pace.


    As one looked closer, one could see a black aura glowing on his legs.


    Even so, he was so exhausted that he couldn''t even speak but panted all the way.


    The tunnel was pitch black and only the Best Book Page was faintly glowing.


    The tunnel became more and more narrow until the distance between the stone walls had shrunk from five meters to just a meter.


    The stone ball appearing in front became thinner and thinner to the point it should be called a stone wheel instead of a stone ball.


    The hefty footsteps from the trio kept reverberating in the tunnel. Seeing Cohen was at his limit, Rose Dahm turned around and patted on his shoulder.


    "I can temporarily lend you your energy from the next day. However, you will need to rest for a week to fully recover. Remember that."


    Cohen nodded and he suddenly felt very energetic. All the tiredness from before had completely disappeared and what replaced it was invigorating energy.


    "This feels great!!" He couldn''t help but comment.


    "To the right!!" Dalier shouted.


    The trio turned to the right and went into a corner which appeared before them. After that, they turned left and went into a pitch black nook.


    Boom boom boom¡­


    Three stone wheels rolled past them, filling up the whole passageway.


    They could still faintly hear the old man shouting at the very back.


    "Fate¡­"


    The trio didn''t dare to stop moving as they climbed out from the nook and continued running. After they climbed out of the small nook, it disappeared and reformed into the stone wall, as though the nook had never been there.


    "This is very mysterious!" Cohen replied energetically.


    "The Best Book Page''s power is endless. Dalier used its power to pull us into a space that no one but us could enter to evade the stone wheel." Rose Dahm explained.


    "What logic is that?"


    Boom!!


    A huge explosion could be heard from the back, breaking his sentence.


    "Quickly!!!" Dalier shouted "In another hundred meters just jump as far as you can! Ignore whatever is about to happen! Jump! With all your might!"


    The trio''s speed was extremely fast, just like lightning shooting through the tunnel. In that instant, it was as if their bodies were stretched as the trio became a black line and traveled a hundred meters in an instant.


    Pew!!


    It was a dead end at the front and there was no path left.


    As the trio turned here and there in the passage, Dalier was the first one to jump and climb against the stone wall.


    Sizzle!!


    A sound could be heard similar to of the noise emitted from a radio or television.


    She jumped and as she was about to collide against the stonewall, she entered the stone wall and disappeared just like one would jump into a pool.


    Without any hesitation, Rose Dahm too jumped into it as if the stone wall was just an illusion. However, in reality, that was just a mirror instead of a stone wall.


    Cohen couldn''t even react in time as his legs didn''t even listen to his commands and he was propelled into the stone wall.


    Ahhhhh!!


    He shouted as he disappeared through the stone wall.


    In an instant, the golden-haired man arrived the scene and stopped moving.


    Garen looked around but he didn''t see any trace of them. He moved the tip of his leg here and there and found the trio''s footprints.


    He then looked at the dead end in front of him.


    He then instantly appeared in front of the stone wall and gave it a good punch!!


    Boom!!


    The tunnel trembled greatly as countless stones and clouds of dust filled the air. As the wind blew and the clouds of dust settled, a web-like crack appeared on the stone wall.


    At the center of the crack was a clear hole of unknown depth.


    Garen pulled out his hand which had a leather glove on out of the stonewall and exercised his shoulder. His whole right arm was inside the stone wall, right up to his shoulder.


    "It''s solid?" He muttered skeptically.


    He looked at his surroundings.


    His gaze was filled with immense power in the dark. It was so terrifying that even the few mice present were so frightened they were petrified.


    Boom!!


    He punched the stone wall once again.


    Boom boom boom boom!!!


    Fist after fist.


    Explosions could be heard and the tunnel kept trembling.


    Garen kept punching the stone wall with both of his fists. His hands were as hard as a drill as he created holes on the stonewall with every punch.


    Suddenly, he stopped moving and looked at the back.


    Thud, thud, thud.


    The sound of a crutch hitting the floor appeared behind of Garen.


    The mysterious old man slowly appeared at the corner of the entrance. He had the skull of a mountain goat on the top of the wooden crutch in his hand, and he was staring calmly at Garen.


    "Are you¡­ a mortal?"


    The old man used a rather strange international English to ask him.


    He seemed to be surprised, skeptical and astonished.


    Hehe.


    Garen smiled as he pulled out his limb from the stone wall. As he turned around, huge pieces of rubble fell out from the stone wall.


    "Tell me, where did they go?" Garen stared at the old man like a lion staring at its prey.


    "I do not know." The old man shook his head. "Although I don''t know where they have gone to, I know they will be back here eventually."


    Once again, he analyzed Garen from head to toe.


    "Mortal, you have an unbelievable great physique and will. Do you mind telling me how you obtain such strength?"


    His body was filled with a mysterious power that couldn''t be seen.


    "As an exchange, I will teach you my source of strength."


    "Oh!" Garen patted the dust on his hand and gave a strange looking smile. This was the first time that he was in contact with a person with strong power. Compared to the Blood Breeds from the past, this old man in front of him was constantly surrounded by a mysterious force field. It looked like some sort of flowing aura yet it looked like lava. This made the person even more mysterious.


    Garen wasn''t able to determine what it was.


    "Isn''t your power only usable by women?"


    "You seem to know it well. Frankly, regardless if it''s the witches or us males, we are able to use the power of our ancestors. The only difference is that the success rate for a female is much higher as males have a lower tendency to attain peace due to their greed for power, affecting the fate of the ancestral power." The old man explained. "Hence if the women have a strong desire to obtain the ancestral power, they wouldn''t be able to contain it."


    "Are you sure they''ll be back here?" Garen repeated his question once more.


    "Of course. This is the leaping point so they won''t be able to escape here." The old man nodded.


    Garen believed him as the old man''s objective was obviously the same as his. He was after the book the trio had. Since the opponent wasn''t panicked at all, he must be telling the truth.


    "What is that black book page item?"


    The old man listened and was slightly stunned.


    "Are you chasing after something that you do not know about?" He looked at Garen in disbelief as if he couldn''t believe there was such a person in this world.


    "Aren''t you afraid that item would be harmful towards you?''


    "Something is only harmful when it excites more than your body can resist." Garen shrugged. "As long as one is strong enough, then a harmful item can only be a nutrient to a stronger self."


    "That would require you to deplete your life force. Even the Blood Breeds wouldn''t even dare to grow in such a manner." The old man said.


    "That''s my issue." Garen smiled. "Now, tell me. What is that black book page?"


    Both of them stopped talking as they stared at each other.


    After a long while.


    The old man finally opened his mouth and this time, his mood was much better.


    "That is the Best Book Page. It is said that it contains records and knowledge of an unknown world."


    "What effect does it have?"


    The old man didn''t reply immediately as he stared at Garen.


    "Your greed will lead you into the abyss."


    "The abyss won''t be able to stop me." Garen smiled and his white teeth flashed in the darkness.


    "You''re too crazy." The old man held his crutch tightly.


    "Between you guys and the Blood Breeds, who''s stronger?" Garen suddenly asked a very sensitive question.


    "Hmpf!" The old man scoffed as his eyes turned black. He held his crutch high and slammed it to the ground.


    It looked slow but in that instant, the crutch seemed to touch the ground like an illusion.


    Thud!!


    Amidst the clear sound.


    Garen''s body was reacting to it.


    Items like black snakes or sharp arrows were shot towards Garen.


    Garen gestured his hands into a claw shape and waved around in the air as sharp whistles could be heard with every strike. Multiple white lines could be seen as a vacuum was created.


    Within the darkness, his eyes were glowing red as if there was something beaming it out from the inside of his eyes. The red eyes were horrifying to watch.


    Boom!


    With a deep collision sound, the claw stopped short, less than a meter away from the old man.


    "Entanglement!" The old man shouted. There was neither light nor movement.


    Within the darkness, only the sound of the crutch hitting the ground could be heard as it reverberated in the tunnel.


    It was as if everything was an illusion for there was no light, no abnormality. The old man took a few steps back as he looked calmly at Garen.


    He had no additional movement as he stared calmly. Unknown to Garen, this stare had created a strong power.

 622 Track 4

    Chapter 622: Track 4


    This invisible energy surrounded Garen instantly.


    This energy was extremely strange as it would change based on Garen''s strength. The more strength he used, the more powerful it became. It was similar to a glue as it stuck tightly to Garen''s body.


    With his amazing speed, it was strange for Garen to let the opponent shout within this wide area.


    Under normal circumstances, he would have choked the opponent before he could even shout.


    However, it seemed that there was something that was creating distance between him and the old man.


    This made him recall those unique ones back in the totem world. Those unique ones were usually troublesome as if he didn''t have enough power to disrupt or influence the field, then he could only be played within the opponent''s palm.


    Only when he exerted a force strong enough to disrupt the surrounding, only then could he break out from the effect.


    Back in the days, he made use of the strong force exerted from the Totem Light to disrupt the stability of the surrounding so that it would be non-effective against him.


    However, he currently did not have such strength.


    Garen squinted his eyes as he grasped his right fist firmly. If there''s a need, he would immediately go for the kill.


    He had yet to truly release all his power in an instant before. However, he had been able to predict his strength based on small amounts of release and it was near towards his peak in the totem world.


    Although it was just an instant, it would most likely injure his body and would require some potential points to recover.


    If he were to release half of it¡­ It shouldn''t be any problem¡­ However, he should use his normal strength to test it first.


    Without any hesitation, Garen''s right hand was filled with explosive energy as he sprinted towards two o''clock from his relative position.


    He combined the energy with the Slaughtering Hand Secret Technique as his fist exploded.


    He lunged forth like a swordfish and with a gentle roll, he landed in an empty space a few meters away from the old man.


    However, that energy was still glued to him.


    His every action, which started from attacking to retreating was about two seconds long. Then, the old man raised up his crutch once again and slammed it down once more.


    Garen felt that his speed had reduced tremendously. His eyes flashed red as he increased his Slaughtering Hand to its maximum. Although it didn''t make use of his life force, its potency was on the same level as he was at his peak in the Secret Technique world.


    He immediately pressed his shoulder muscle with his right hand.


    Pewe!


    The muscle sunk and a gas leaked out from it as it whistled.


    Garen seemed to be in pure pain. It was a natural reaction after hitting an acupuncture point.


    After mastering the Slaughtering Hand, he had developed a lot of unique techniques and one of them was this acupuncture point.


    He found out about this point from an ancient book. Combined with the characteristic of the Slaughtering Hand with a special activation method, he was able to produce an extraordinary amount of power. In an instant, his physique would increase greatly and be able to release a great amount of life force. Although it wasn''t as powerful as the life force produced by the Slaughtering Hand, he was able to merge the life force together and form a single source of power.


    As this acupuncture point was able to bring out the most life force after excitation, Garen had named it as the Life''s Secret Point.


    As he searched through his memory in the Secret Technique World, he was able to find nine of these secret acupuncture points and had left two of them as hidden points. No one was able to use it except him. The remaining seven points were collected together and he had formed it into a set of secret skills.


    The potency of this secret technique was terrifying as he would instantly increase the status of the practitioner.


    For example, if he were to open a point, he could increase his speed by one fold. By opening two points, he was able to increase it by two folds and three folds if it were three points. This wasn''t just simply adding up the strength of the practitioner. What made it different from other secret skills was that it could be superimposed.


    It could be superimposed with other secret skills!


    This was why it was terrifying!


    If one''s physique was strong enough, one could activate the Shooting Shadow Secret Skill and Two-Faced Waterbird Fist before activating the Life''s Secret Point to achieve a strength that stood at the edge of the body''s limit.


    Perhaps he had missed the life he once had back on Earth. Since the number of points was seven in total, Garen named this secret skill as the Seven Star Life''s Secret Point. It was directly named from the Big Dipper from the ancient days of China.


    "First star!" Garen muttered.


    Hah!!


    He growled as his skin started turning black. His muscle quickly expanded and his height increased from 1.8 meters to at least 2 meters.


    It was different from the time when he had Mammoth Secret Technique and was called the King of the Century. He wasn''t as big as before but he definitely looked more fit as his black skin shone like metal.


    This was the result of activating the first star and the entangled force was immediately suppressed. It didn''t disappear but rather its effect did not affect Garen any longer.


    As he raised his legs and was about to rush towards the old man.


    "Delay!" The crutch hit the floor once more.


    The old man shouted and the invisible force surrounding him flew out and disappeared in the air between Garen and him.


    Suddenly, Garen could feel an invisible force holding his limbs. He couldn''t figure out where the source of the power was from as if it was air that was resisting him. This made him frowned.


    As he just got off from the entanglement, he now had to experience an obstruction towards his movement.


    However, due to him being two times stronger than before, he didn''t feel much of an inconvenience.


    The Seven Star Life''s Secret Point was a secret skill came about due to the life force created from the Slaughtering Hand. To him, the life force could be accumulated via the Slaughtering Hand. He was distressed over the fact that the life force accumulated from the Slaughtering Hand had to be used all at once, even though it''s powerful, instead of using it economically. After some series of thought, Garen had developed the Seven Star Life''s Secret Point, which was the most effective way to use the Life Force. It was the most efficient way to convert the life force to actual strength.


    However, this sort of secret skill was a life depleter for others and shouldn''t be used carelessly, as it would require life force to be able to use it.


    To others, life force was their lifespan.


    However, as a secret skill that could be superimposed with other techniques, it definitely possessed terrifying strength.


    Garen smiled as he twitched his body under this state.


    "Polaris Fierce Arts!!"


    He expanded once more as he pressed his chest with his finger once more and the air that was pushed away from his body could be clearly seen.


    The Polaris Fierce Arts, which was a plain secret method, was completely terrifying under his modification.


    One Punch!


    Garen threw out a right punch and in an instant, a line of vacuum was formed in the air from the extreme speed and power. His fist was so fast that the air couldn''t move in time to fill up the space he''d created, thus creating a vacuum.


    "Vacuum slash!!"


    Garen''s right fist stirred up the air in the underground.


    His golden short hair waved about like a lion''s mane as the wind blew.


    His fist reached the old man instantaneously as he opened up his fist and shaped it into a knife. He then slashed down like his hand was the sharpest knife on the planet.


    The sound of the fist in the air changed into a sharp tone.


    "Speed enhancement!!" The old man didn''t panic at all as he shouted loudly before Garen attacked. At the same time, his body moved slightly to the left and by the time the hand knife reached in front of him, the invisible force had surrounded Garen''s hand knife.


    In that instant, a strange phenomenon occurred.


    Garen''s hand suddenly grew much longer as his slashing speed had tremendously increased. On the other hand, his body''s speed remained at the same delayed speed.


    In that instant, due to the difference of speed between his hand and his body, it had torn his body.


    While his hand knife hadn''t even touched the old man, Garen could feel that his right hand was about to be torn away from his body.


    It was his first time experiencing such a strange phenomenon.


    With a mysterious force added to his powerful slash, its strength went overboard as the momentum was too powerful, causing a difference in speed between his hand and body. For a commoner, this would cause an instant injury towards the muscle and worst, he would have torn his hand apart, decapitating it in the process.


    However, Garen scoffed.


    He stomped hard to put in a new source of energy, increasing his body''s speed and reducing the strain on his hand. He had always casually exerted strength on his body. As he had surpassed the realm of the King of the Century, he had total control over his body and wouldn''t be affected by external causes!


    He instantly regained control of his hand knife.


    The duration of them exchanging blows was instant. It was so fast that one wouldn''t even have enough time to inhale or blink.


    With this exchange at such speed and reaction, both of them had acknowledged one another.


    Both knew that they were on the same level.


    The hand knife ultimately missed as it cut deep into the stone wall, leaving a deep gash on it.


    The old man unknowingly returned back to his original position two meters away from him.


    "Mortal¡­" He gently caressed the mountain goat''s skull on his crutch. "I have never seen such a strong mortal¡­"

 623 Arrangement 1

    Chapter 623: Arrangement 1


    Garen pulled out his hand from the wall.


    "What are you trying to say?"


    He couldn''t make out the source of his energy as it seemed to appear out of thin air. This made him slightly wary as the ancestral energy seemed very mysterious. He was deliberating if he should have done his research thoroughly before fighting against them.


    "Why don''t we work together?" Suddenly, the old man said something which stunned Garen.


    Pfft!


    Suddenly a wound appeared on his pale, wrinkled right cheek and fresh black blood spewed out from it. It wasn''t slow flowing but sprayed instead, as droplets splattered onto the floor.


    Then, something strange happened. The blood on the ground moved about as if it was a living worm. It then formed a black line and swiftly climbed back up and into the old man''s face through his leg as the wound recovered.


    Although Garen wasn''t injured and the energy spent using secret skills was negligible to him, this might be a good opportunity to understand the arts of the witch doctor, as the opponent''s skills were completely foreign to him.


    It wasn''t like he''d dismissed approaching Raffaele to understand everything. It was just that Raffaele was too close to his family.


    Surprisingly, this world had given him an opportunity to live a peaceful life, and he didn''t want to disrupt it just yet. In addition to that, he hadn''t been taking the arts of witchcraft seriously and he didn''t think that it would be this effective. Hence, he decided to be more alert against it.


    "Ally with you? Since we''re teaming up, it means we will have a common enemy right?" Garen shrunk and returned to his original shape. His shirt, however, was messed up by this transformation and he now looked like a playboy out for a trip.


    "The Blood Breed." The old man''s eyes turned black. "Two hundred years ago, they surrounded me and killed me, and my grandchildren placed my torn corpse into a constructing tomb during my funeral. Consequently, I revived by absorbing the energy of the universe and I was awakened by an adventurer just a few decades ago."


    "Revive¡­" Garen''s eyes flashed. "Are you saying that you can revive? If so, what''s the cost of reviving? I''m not really related to the Blood Breed, else I wouldn''t have teamed up with you for such a small matter."


    "Unfortunately, Resurrection can only be used by the powerful ones blessed by the ancestor. The path you walk is different from mine so you can''t use it." The old man shook his head. "As for the Blood Breed, are you sure you''re not related to them?" He suddenly smiled in mockery which made it strange in the tunnel.


    "Why are you laughing?" Garen''s face turned serious.


    "Your body, it''s being marked by the Blood Breed''s Illusive Trace. Did you not know that?" the old man stopped laughing but he was still smiling.


    "An Upper-level Blood Breed had marked you with Illusive Trace. Judging from its level, it''s most likely Death Apostle level." The old man smiled. "Simply put, you should have been targeted by a very powerful Blood Breed. They are always out to hunt for the best blood vessel with the strongest physique and will. Unfortunately, you''ve been targeted by one of the Death Apostles."


    Garen''s face turned pale.


    He recalled the strange dreams he had recently. They were dreams that he had never had before, where his strong will and soul were able to fully control the reaction of his body.


    However, that dream was totally out of his imagination.


    "They have taken you as the best blood source. The Blood Breeds are able to obtain mysterious power through ingesting blood and even we don''t know how they obtain their strength. Every Upper-level Blood Breed and Death Apostle are mysterious and powerful." The old man explained in a simple manner. "However, I am different from other witches as I do know a few things about them. For example, they lure, scare and even control their prey through dreams¡­"


    Garen''s pupils shrunk.


    "Dream¡­" He couldn''t help himself as the sound of explosions started to reverberate from his muscles and joints as if they were grenades implanted in them. The horrifying explosions kept ringing in series.


    "The current me is so weak that I haven''t recovered half of my strength and it appears that you''ve hidden a huge amount of life force. That power seems to be evil in your hands and perhaps this is the reason why they have yet to make a move on you yet. Perhaps he''s frightened of you too." The old man explained.


    Garen closed his eyes and pondered for a while.


    He then opened his eyes.


    "Looks like I do have the need to understand the world of the Blood Breeds¡­"


    The old man in front of him smiled with joy.


    "You''ve made a wise decision."


    Boom!!


    Suddenly an explosion could be heard.


    A shapeless void appeared behind them as if a whirlpool had occurred in mid-air and there were a few black dots floating inside it.


    The black dots became larger and larger.


    Thud!


    A black pile of items was pushed out from the whirlpool and landed on the floor.


    This pile of black stuff was actually three people clinging to one another.


    Dalier, Rose Dahm, and Cohen were hugging each other as their eyes were glazed and white fluids were dripping out from their mouths.


    What''s strange was that a faint black light was coming off from their bodies.


    "Where''s the book page?" The old man walked forward as he asked. "Tell me, where is the book page?"


    Three of them looked dazed as if they didn''t understand what he was trying to say. The black light coming off from their bodies were preventing the old man from approaching them closer.


    Garen crossed his hand as he walked to the back to observe the situation.


    Since he found out that he had been marked by the Blood Breeds, what was on his mind right now was to find a way to find out which Blood Breed had marked him instead of the Book Page.


    The nature of this power was completely unknown to him. The main issue was that he didn''t even know how the Blood Breed had marked him.


    Buzz!!


    Suddenly an electrical buzzing sound could be heard.


    The old man withdrew his right hand which was about two meters away from the bodies. A wisp of black smoke was curling from the tip of his bony finger.


    "What''s the current situation?" Garen frowned as he couldn''t understand what he was trying to do.


    "They have left." The old man frowned as well. "They made use of the nature of the power to leave this place."


    Garen was confused as he looked at the trio who were hugging each other. "Aren''t they still here?" He looked at the empty gaze in their eyes as he pondered. "Are you saying that their consciousnesses have left their bodies?"


    "Precisely." The old man nodded. "They''re relying on this method to escape from my search."


    "What''s the point? Their body is being held hostage by us and they have to return to their bodies sooner or later." Garen asked calmly.


    "That''s not the case." The old man shook his head. "They can instantly pull their bodies away from here from afar. Furthermore, if they wish, they are able to build a new body if they wish to do so."


    "What''s the rationale behind this?" Garen didn''t understand the logic behind the witch doctor or witch''s power at all.


    The old man glanced at him. "On our path, you''re not even considered as a disciple so it''s understandable that you don''t get it." He looked back and continued staring at the three bodies lying on the ground. "If you wish, I am willing to pass down some knowledge to you as a partner. Do you wish to know more?"


    "You''re willing to give me knowledge?" Garen thought that these kinds of mysterious and powerful information weren''t simply passed around. It shouldn''t be simply be revealed without any terrible ordeal. How could this guy simply pass down his knowledge?


    "It''s fine." The old man smiled. "We obtain this knowledge through dangerous means, which is searching endlessly in the universe. Even if one knows how to execute the procedure, one''s body must be willing to cooperate and believe in it. Hence, it would be meaningless if one were to just know about it as the main foundation is to control your will."


    "Your statement sounds very dubious to me," Garen whispered. "Fine. I hope to learn from you from now on. Perhaps this old knowledge would be useful to me."


    The old man laughed at him. "My name is AG so you can call me that. We still have a lot of opportunities in the future so we should deal with these fellows who stole the book page."


    Both of them stopped arguing after that. Garen took out his walkie-talkie and looked at the signal. He didn''t care much about the old man''s actions and started to contact his underlings.


    "Angie, where''s Baldy?"


    "Boss is stuck in a deep drain nearby and is trying to pull the car out." A female voice came from the walkie-talkie.


    "Are you with Cadytius?"


    "Yeah."


    "Bring your men to my place. Be careful as the ground will collapse at any given moment. Remember to bring in the heavy artillery and surveillance system."


    "Understood."


    The walkie-talkie was then switched off. This woman, Angie, and Cadytius were the best among the Nighthawks. They were elites who had practiced the Shooting Shadow Secret Skill. With their strength and the surveillance system, they could surveil a circular area of up to a few kilometers in detail.


    The mysterious old man AG walked towards the trio, sat on his knees and placed his crutch on his knees. He then placed his hands together and started to tremble as if he went crazy.


    Garen didn''t know what he was preparing to pull but he could feel an invisible force emitting out from his body as it gathered on the trio.


    "I''m going to leave so that I can track them. I hope you can stay here and take care of my body." The old man AG turned around and told Garen.


    "No problem." Garen nodded.


    As Garen finished speaking, the old man''s gaze lost its colors and immediately turned dim, just like a faded gemstone.


    Garen frowned as he circled these four people. Nothing strange happened near them as everything became peaceful once more.


    Every second passed quietly as Garen sat waiting. The immense aura given off from his body, even though it wasn''t a real aura, was strong enough to ensure the worms in the old tree didn''t get near to him.


    After a while.


    "Ah!!"


    A sharp scream was heard.


    Cohen and the other two jumped out quickly and the first thing crossed their mind was to run towards the stone wall.


    Garen reacted and with a stomp at his feet.


    Boom! He shot out and grabbed Dalier by his neck and pushed against the wall.


    Boom!


    After a huge booming sound, Dalier vomited white fluid and fainted.


    Rose Dahm and Cohen were scared as they shivered. They stood still as they stared at Garen and they didn''t even dare to make any sudden movement.


    Their faces were so pale that it seemed like they had no blood at all, as though they''d lived through their worst nightmares.


    Then, the old man AG slowly woke up.


    He took up his crutch, coughed loudly and stood up.


    "Hand over the book page. That''s mine!" He said calmly as he stared at the two with his black eyes.


    Seeing Garen and the old man standing together without any intention of fighting, they were even more horrified.


    "What do you want? The book page has been hidden by us at a place no one will ever find."


    Rose Dahm shouted loudly.


    "You people stole it away from my underground palace. Then you people claim that it is your item that you inherited from your ancestor! You people are mindless thieves!" AG said fiercely. "Fate has guided me to you. Hand it over to me and I''ll consider letting you guys live."

 624 Arrangement 2

    Chapter 624: Arrangement 2


    Garen who was at the side started to become impatient. "Cohen, What''s the secret of the Stone Clock of Fortune? Furthermore, where is Levi? Tell me."


    Cohen shook his head.


    "I don''t know. Levi should be tailing me but with all the fuss, I don''t know if he''s still around. Everything that had happened here must have been out of his imagination. The Secret of the Stone Clock of Fortune? Frankly, there''s no such treasure." He smiled wryly. "We made that out to trick you guys. The so-called treasure was the fear of unable to steer your attention with the Stone Clock of Fortune. So we made up some lies so that everyone would be in the dark."


    At the other side, the old man had planted his crutch on Rose Dahm''s chest as they whispered swiftly between them. It seemed like an ancient language as none of them could understand what they were talking about.


    As both of them were being interrogated by Garen and the old man, Garen took out a white porcelain bottle which resembled the Stone Clock of Fortune as he listened to Cohen''s explanation.


    The small bottle was similar to the eastern white jaded porcelain bottle. It had a thin neck and was only the size of a palm. One could hear something ringing inside as one shook the bottle.


    "Is this the Stone Clock of Fortune?" Garen frowned.


    He could feel that this small bottle''s surface was covered with a thin layer of cool qi. It was the qi of the potential points.


    He tried to absorb it but the layer of qi was glued onto the surface of the bottle and wouldn''t budge at all.


    "Yes. Legend says that there''s a mysterious story hidden inside the bottle. However, it looks like an antique to me." Cohen was helpless. "Believe me. We are not responsible for what happened to the Nighthawks. It was all Levi''s doing. That guy is manipulative and worked with everyone to ambush the Nighthawks¡­"


    "I know that already, which is why you''re still alive." Garen butted in. "Next I would need you to lure Levi out for me. That fucker had killed quite a number of my patrols¡­" His eyes were filled with rage.


    Cohen couldn''t help but emit cold sweat. "What do you want me to do?"


    "Simple. Bait him out." Garen smirked as he reached out his right hand and tapped even to eight locations on his body.


    Tap tap tap tap!!


    A series of clear taps could be heard and Cohen started to scream as if he was being slaughtered.


    Instantly, at least ten bones in his bodies were broken as he flopped down onto the floor. His head and neck were covered in tiny droplets of sweat.


    "No¡­ Stop¡­ I have a better idea to lure him out¡­" He begged.


    "But I believe this is the best idea, no?" Garen smiled gently but it was a horrifying one in the eyes of Cohen.


    He picked up his leg and kicked him without any mercy.


    Boom!!


    Cohen was hit by the waist. He flew and tumbled about and crashed into the stone wall by the side. Coincidentally, his leg was smashed into a sharp corner of the stone wall.


    Ouch!!


    He still had the energy to scream.


    "Oh my god! Oh my god¡­"


    Garen walked towards him and picked him up.


    "I''m going to create a scenario where you''re severely injured and was left alone in an empty wide field which was the most obvious to be spotted. To go against an enemy that could be dealt with from a shot from afar, I believe Levi would most likely make his move."


    He picked up Cohen''s head which was in immense pain.


    "He will be dead the moment he makes his move."


    The Nighthawks was his first trial and his first step in building a certain deterrence to let other forces know that he was unstoppable.


    Buzz buzz..


    The walkie-talkie suddenly rang.


    Garen took it out and a girl''s voice came out from it.


    "Captain, boss Baldy has found and obtained five Stone Clocks of Fortune. However, we have lost a few people, do you need us to go to your location immediately?"


    "Oh?" Garen''s eyes flashed. "Another five Stone Clocks of Fortune?"


    "That''s¡­ right. Excluding the Stone Clock of Fortune that has been broken, there.. Should be six more¡­" Cohen replied with agony.


    "Bring him here, send him my location."


    "Yes." An engine could be heard from the walkie-talkie.


    Garen pulled Cohen back to where he was kicked as their tussle had resulted in them leaving the dead end.


    As Garen arrived at the dead end, AG was conversing with Rose Dahm calmly in front of the big hole Garen had created with his bare hands. What''s strange was that Rose Dahm seemed to be in agony as tears were flowing out from AG''s eyes. AG was shivering as if he recalled something very sad.


    "I didn''t know¡­ never thought of¡­" AG looked contradictorily sad as he looked at Rose Dahm with a strange gaze. There were love, sadness, and pain in his gaze.


    "Love? What is with this development?" Garen frowned as he muttered while pulling Cohen to a corner, waiting quietly.


    "I¡­ I have some information¡­" Cohen whispered slowly.


    "Garen looked at him, reached out his hand and tapped onto his neck to temporarily seal Cohen''s sense towards pain.


    "Let''s hear it?"


    His expression immediately changed as he stopped feeling pain instantaneously. Disbelief with what he just experienced, he tried to move his hands and leg but to no avail, as if his limbs did not belong to him. He couldn''t do anything once he realized what happened.


    "Rose Dahm is the descendant of AG¡­"


    "?" Garen didn''t even how to react to it. They''re trying to kill each other just a moment ago and now they''re families?"


    "Rose Dahm and his siblings believe that the Best Book Page has corrupted AG. Hence the reason why they had stolen the book. He was trying to use the sealed knowledge inside purely as a tool. However, AG couldn''t comprehend it as he views the book page as his strongest source of energy. He risked his life to obtain it and it was his most precious treasure." Cohen spewed everything out.


    "I don''t care if you''re his cousin. I have seen the killing intent in AG''s gaze." Garen butted in.


    "No way¡­?" Cohen''s eye widened.


    Garen quietened down for a moment as he attempted to sense the number of potential points inside the Stone Clock of Fortune. He estimated that a bottle had about five points, which was more than he expected. Based on this calculation, if every bottle was similar to each other, then he should have twenty-five more points with the other five bottles. It was more than he had anticipated.


    He pondered for a moment and shouted towards AG.


    "AG, how do I contact you in the future?"


    AG turned around and looked at Garen and Cohen, who was in his grasp, strangely.


    "Of course through the telephone? My phone number is 8224-657930****." While he didn''t say out the last four digit, the voice was directly transferred into Garen''s ears.


    Garen memorized it instantaneously and nodded towards AG.


    Although it seemed weird that an ancient old witch was able to use a satellite phone, everything seemed possible for this guy.


    Garen felt that the witches and witch doctor he encountered during this expedition were weird as their relationships were a mess.


    With Cohen in his hand, he stopped pursuing the Best Book Page as the most important he should obtain right now was the foundation of energy AG possessed and the Page was not something that might not benefit him at all.


    Furthermore, He had the Stone Clock of Fortune and Cohen as a bait. Garen planned to deal with the hidden Levi immediately.


    That guy wasn''t willing to meet him in person and had been killing his patrols from afar.


    The elite members went out to try and search for him but to no avail. His hiding ability was out of this world.


    As he revealed his location via the walkie-talkie, Garen brought Cohen to the left side of the tunnel.


    It was pitch black. He placed down the walkie-talkie and punched upward.


    Boom!!


    Huge chunks of stones and rubbles were ejected outwards as a beam of light shone down.


    A huge hole spanning a meter wide appeared before them.


    A few huge stones fall down but Garen casually pushed them away as the stones were pushed into the stonewalls like canons.


    Cohen gulped as he saw in horror. He was afraid that the stone would crash into him if Garen were to be careless. It was a force that would instantly kill him!


    Without saying any word, Garen carried Cohen and jumped out of the hole swiftly. He then landed on the right side of the hole.


    It was a very spacious field with wilted yellow and green leaves rustling as the wind blew. A few brown antelopes which were frightened by their appearance were running away.


    The sky was incredibly blue and the sun rays were red hot.


    The giant sun on the horizon far away looked like a huge orange balloon.


    Garen was carrying Cohen across the greenish yellow field as he moved in a certain direction at great speed.


    Soon, the sound of a car engine could be heard up front and a huge group of cars appeared before them.


    Garen threw Cohen on the ground as he welcomed the team.


    "Captain!" Baldy was wrapped like a mummy. He was the first one to get down from the car as he carried a black package.


    "I didn''t disappoint you!" Baldy said as he stood in front of Garen with his back straight. Although his some part of his white bandages were seeping with blood, he didn''t mind at the very least.


    Garen took the package in his hand and looked inside. There were five identical white porcelain bottles.


    He patted Baldy''s shoulder as he nodded with a smile.


    "Not bad."


    "Captain, Jay has found Levi''s trace and he was pursuing him alone. Perhaps they are even fighting against each other as of this moment." A black haired ponytail woman walked towards him and said softly.


    "Let''s head over there together." Garen''s eye turned dim as he recalled Levi. "Looks like it''s time we capture this mouse¡­"


    He turned his head and looked at Cohen.


    "Bring that man along. Levi hates this person the most. Perhaps he can save me some trouble."


    "Yes."


    Two soldiers went over and picked up the strengthless Cohen.


    "Be careful. I broke some of his bones and will die from hemorrhaging if not careful." Garen smiled as he ordered.


    With the five small bottles in his hands, he felt a lot better.


    The next thing he should do was to absorb six of these Stone Clock of Fortunes. He didn''t expect that his subordinates would be so useful. Although he didn''t know how Baldy obtained five of these Stone Clocks of Fortune, he could see that he had put in a lot of effort from his wounds.


    As he cleared the issues here swiftly, he decided to enter the strength of that world for real.

 625 Arrangement 3

    Chapter 625: Arrangement 3


    On the yellow-green grass.


    Tap-tap-tap¡­


    The deep sound of gunshots continued on and on, rising and falling, once this side fell silent, the other side would ring out again.


    The grass was battered up by the storm of interweaving bullets, some places had even lit up in flames, emitting black smoke.


    "Split up and attack, try to keep them occupied."


    A deep and powerful voice came from behind the soldiers manning the guns.


    "Yes."


    The gunshots stopped, and the soldiers split up into groups of five, scattering into several small teams and spanning out in all directions.


    The commander had short white hair, and wore a slim-fitting black coat, his expression was cold, his eyes hidden under his slightly-black triangular sunglasses.


    He had a strong body and a cold, calm aura, as though he was an icy-cold stone pillar standing on the spot, unbreakable, unmovable.


    He was Garen¡¯s most trusted helper other than Baldy, Jay Bencott.


    This young man looked mature, but in truth he was not even twenty years old, and his true age was probably even younger than Garen. He was a child soldier since young, and his malnutrition made his hair turn white, the effects were irreversible no matter how well he lived as an adult.


    After Garen had taught him the Shooting Shadow Secret Skill, he began to idolize Garen desperately, undergoing a series of tests, and truly becoming Garen¡¯s trusted helper, joining the Nighthawks.


    "He has no bullets, no food, and he does not dare to light a fire, or else the smoke will reveal his tracks." A bespectacled female officer beside Jay said softly.


    "I exchanged a shot with him, but sadly for him I¡¯m wearing a bulletproof vest, while he isn¡¯t. There was the smell of blood, he can¡¯t get too far." Jay nodded.


    As he spoke, he opened the inner flap of his coat, and took out a bunch of small components from inside with a familiar hand, and then he rapidly constructed the components, quickly building a white handgun with a scope in his hand.


    Activating the handgun, Jay¡¯s hand gave a jolt.


    Bam!!


    A shot abruptly exploded into an empty space in the grass to their right. An earth-yellow figure leaped out of there all of a sudden, and took off in a run.


    Jay did not have any time to say anything else, and chased after him.


    The gun in his hand kept shooting as he ran.


    Bang bang bang!


    Each bullet hit the ground beneath the person¡¯s feet accurately, but every shot missed by a hair, the second before he could steady his aim, that person could defy the laws of momentum and abruptly bounce away, without any sense of rhythm whatsoever.


    "Reflexive dodging?" Jay smiled coldly. Abruptly he pulled out another white handgun from his waist.


    Instantly, there was twice the number of bullets.


    Bam!!


    A ball of fire exploded in front of the person, it was a hand grenade!


    Some of the soldiers had roughly predicted which direction they would go, and tossed a hand grenade there.


    Both of them paused for a second as a result of the jolt from the explosion, then they rolled towards the left at almost exactly the same time.


    There was the rattle of several more shots underneath that person, sending up a spray of yellow dirt.


    And the place Jay had been standing at erupted abruptly, there was actually a landmine hidden there.


    The gunshots stopped, the smog of grass and dirt temporarily blocking off visibility of this place. The soldiers in the distance stopped firing as they were afraid of hitting Jay by accident, they had tried this manner of sweeping shot many times before, it wasted a lot of bullets and was never effective.


    The two of them hid in the smoke and grass, both hidden from the other.


    Jay held his left arm, it was completely charred black, the blast had clipped his arm. He held a gun with one hand, a slight sheen of sweat on his forehead.


    Lightly, he hooked up a small stone with his foot, and applied some strength to it.


    The stone flew up instantly, landing in the grass about a meter away.


    Smack.


    The sound was extremely small, almost lost in the sound of the wind.


    Bang!


    Jay abruptly moved to the right, a cloud of yellow dirt exploded exactly where he had been, it was the splash from the impact of bullets.


    "They can estimate my location just by the backtracking from the sound and direction of the stone¡¯s landing?"


    A hint of battle-thirst appeared in his eyes.


    "It¡¯s been a long time since I¡¯ve encountered such powerful opponent¡­"


    His handgun shook, and nodded three times.


    Bang bang bang!


    In the grass that had been shot at just now, neither of the other two places that he had guessed had any traces of movement, which evidently meant he had not caught his opponent¡¯s tail.


    Jay fired off a shot and decisively changed location, there was a red cross appearing lightly in his right eye, it seemed to be a bulging cross-shaped vein, but it also looked like a blurred mark.


    This cross-shaped mark just happened to be in the middle of his pupil.


    This was the Shooting Shadow Secret Skill, after activating the Shooting Shadow, his senses, agility, and reflexes were so much higher than normal. Even the tiniest of movements around him could not evade him.


    But he had a feeling that his opponent was not that much weaker than him, even after activating the secret skill, he still could not accurately gauge his opponent¡¯s movements.


    Somersaulting and standing up abruptly, he instantly fired off a series of shots.


    Bang bang bang bang bang bang!!


    The gunshots did not stop, and there was a grunt hidden among them.


    "Got you!" The corners of Jay¡¯s lips curved. He retreated backward rapidly, the red cross in his eyes disappearing instantly.


    The large team behind him was ready in formation.


    Several mobile cannons were locked and loaded.


    In that instant, the cannons spewed out clouds of white smoke, and there were the dull sounds of something hitting the ground.


    At almost the same time, on a grassy hill nearby, there was an explosion of bright fire light, and waves of dirt flew high into the air.


    "Target identified, exterminate on the spot." Jay lay down low, hidden, and gave orders directly into the communicative earpiece of his Hawkeye sunglasses.


    "Understood."


    "Pay attention, I shot him, activate the tracking chip in the bullet right now, he can¡¯t escape." Jay told them.


    "We¡¯re already identifying the signals, please leave it to us."


    "Jay, how¡¯s the situation?" The voice in the earpiece changed suddenly, becoming Garen¡¯s low and calm voice.


    "I got Levi with my tracking bullet, he can¡¯t escape." The corners of Jay¡¯s lips curved, and he replied softly. "Please leave it to us, our people are already identifying the signals, coupled with the satellite surveillance, he¡­"


    "Watch out!!" A soldier knocked him away abruptly.


    There was a loud and piercing wail, then barroom!


    In the scarlet firelight, that soldier and Jay were both sent flying.


    "It¡¯s a helicopter! An armed helicopter! Careful!!" Only then was there a yell in his earpiece.


    Jay¡¯s head was spinning, as he crawled up from the ground.


    He could just see three black helicopters appear out of nowhere in the sky nearby, he had no idea how long they had been there, each helicopter was three times as large as regular helicopters, covered from tip to tail in cannons, just like a honeycomb. There were also two mid-air machine guns attached to each side of the helicopters. Through the glass, they could see that the people inside the helicopters were controlling the guns to aim their way.


    They were all wearing white uniforms, which probably meant they came from one organization.


    "Take cover! Take cover!!" A loud voice yelled.


    "Where are the Firethorns!? Destroy them!" Jay yanked the Hawkeye and roared.


    Whoosh whoosh!


    Two missiles flew towards the two helicopters, leaving a trail of smoke behind them.


    One was hit by a bullet, exploding in mid-air, and the other accurately hit one of the helicopters.


    Boom!!


    A cloud of red flames erupted in mid-air, the middle of the helicopter was shot into a fireball, the whole helicopter tilted down and crashed into the ground, finally bursting with a loud explosion.


    "Let me!" Jay ran back into the formation quickly, grabbing an anti-materiel rifle handed to him by a soldier. He fell belly-first onto the ground and propped up the gun, the red cross appearing in his eyes once more.


    The rifle¡¯s barrel moved slightly, the wind resistance, deflection, distance, any obstacles, all of these factors and statistics flowed past Jay¡¯s heart.


    He instantly locked down his aim.


    Bang!


    There was a dull sound from the barrel of the gun.


    In the distance, a helicopter exploded on cue. It instantly exploded into a fireball in mid-air, and spun as it crashed down.


    Its oil tank had been pierced straight through.


    There was one helicopter left.


    But by then it was too late, the last helicopter seemed to have been shocked, pouring out all of its missiles at once, six whole missiles whistled through the wind as they shot in all directions, and the machine guns also began to shoot in madly all directions.


    The barrage made the soldiers around them unable to look up for some time, some were hit by the shots, their bodies breaking into two.


    Faced with this sort of war weapon, unless you had an anti-materiel and powerful weapon, most guns were totally useless against it, you had no choice but to hunker down and take the hits.


    "Take cover! Take cover!!"


    Just then, a missile abruptly flew at them from another patch of grass, drawing out a straight path and crashing right into the helicopter.


    Boom!!


    The last helicopter also exploded into a fireball, crashing to the ground.


    In the distance, Garen put down the bazooka on his shoulder, he was standing on a camouflage jeep driving toward them at high speed, there was a long motorcade behind him, filled to the brim with many soldiers and mercenaries armed to the teeth.


    Baldy stood to Garen¡¯s right, and the girl with the ponytail stood at his left, looking like his guards.


    The men on the two sides gathered rapidly, and by then there was already thick smoke and wildfires all over the grass. Levi¡¯s shadow had disappeared from view a long time ago.


    "Boss, I put a tracking bullet in him, he can¡¯t get far!" Jay greeted Garen respectfully with a bow.


    "Everybody, comb the area for him!" Garen waved his hand, and all the vehicles behind him stopped, the groups of men began to jump off, the gun-toting elites instructing them to search in all directions.


    "Give everyone a search order every ten minutes." Garen looked at the girl with the black ponytail, and the latter nodded.


    Glancing at the three helicopters that had crashed in the distance.


    "Those are all Russian-made heavy duty helicopters, how many did you encounter just now, Baldy?"


    "Five, and more than ten elite special forces soldiers, they were troublesome. There were all mine-planting and counter-surveillance experts among them." Garen replied in a low voice.


    "Thank you for your trouble." Garen nodded, "Do you know what faction they¡¯re with?"


    "They¡¯re with White Phoenix, the Primary Colors are very unhappy with how we stopped the operation last time, they think we broke the rules they set, so they have designated us Nighthawks as a kill target, I think they were the ones who sent these teams." Baldy introduced them simply, the Primary Colors¡¯ White Phoenix used to be his old employers, so naturally he would still be familiar with them now.


    "They¡¯re with White Phoenix?" Garen¡¯s eyes narrowed. "That is a huge thing¡­"


    White Phoenix was one of the Primary Colors¡¯ combat branches, they had a very established mercenary hiring system, and they even had some extreme and mysterious power supporting them from behind, their background was too deep to fathom.


    "We can give them a little lesson, but it¡¯d be enough to target White Phoenix alone, we shouldn¡¯t declare war on them just yet." Garen was wary of the Blood Breed¡¯s high-level power. After experiencing part of the witches¡¯ high-level power, he maintained a certain sense of threat from this strange and mysterious power system.


    This system was completely unlike the knowledge he had studied before. He could barely even detect and defend against them.

 626 Arrangement 4

    Chapter 626: Arrangement 4


    Before completely understanding their system, he should not brashly declare war on them. Garen¡¯s side was not as large in scale as the Primary Colors, aside from the thousands of elite peak-level mercenaries and assassins, the Primary Colors also had immense military might and scientific power, all of which ordinary people could not defend against. Plus, it was highly likely that they had peak-level unnatural power behind them as well.


    Garen did not believe that such a large group would not have a powerful background behind them, if they did not, they probably would have swallowed whole a long time ago.


    "What should we do?" Jay was not at all scared of the Primary Colors¡¯ formidable power. He always obeyed Garen¡¯s orders unhesitatingly.


    Baldy and the black-haired girl, on the other hand, looked worried.


    "I¡¯ll handle this matter¡­" Garen said calmly. This was the time to let that old guy contribute a little, it could also be a showcase of his power, if he wanted to join forces with him, that bit of power from before was not enough to pass.


    Garen did not want to see his teammates killed off first during a real battle, leaving himself outnumbered.


    If the other person could not even teach a modern mercenary group a little lesson, then he had to reconsider whether it was worth accepting this person as an ally.


    "Found him, Levi!" The ponytailed girl said suddenly.


    "Chase him."


    Kenna was pulled out soon enough, he sat obediently beside Garen like a little chick, watching him as he called that old fellow.


    Beside him, Garen told AG what he wanted, hoping that he could show some of his sincerity and qualifications as a prospective ally.


    "No problem, this is a simple matter." AG agreed quite easily. He understood as well, facing an organization without unnatural power was very simple and easy, even Garen could do it without difficulty.


    He could sense that Garen had a terrifying aura, evil and powerful. This aura and this power, none of it was released just now.


    "We got the Best Book Page, do you want to see it?" AG continued.


    "That¡¯s yours now, if you¡¯re willing, I do want to borrow it for a look." Naturally Garen replied, he was very interested in the thing that looked very high class.


    "The next time we meet, then."


    "Okay." Hanging up, Garen accepted the change of gloves that his subordinate offered him, his gloves were basically falling apart from the friction when he was underground, and the skin on his arm was almost revealed. And this was when he actually paid attention to protecting these gloves, if it was someone else who did not have his level of control over his power, these gloves would not even last one punch.


    "Levi¡¯s appeared." Baldy reminded him in a low voice.


    "Oh?" Garen raised his head and looked forward, he actually saw someone raising his hands up straight, standing right in front of the motorcade. Two soldiers walked over to press his arms down, and two pointed at him with their guns, escorting him to the car.


    "Pretty gutsy. Does he want to talk to me directly?" Garen smiled slightly, opened the car door and jumped out to greet him, the other elites also follow him out of the car, sticking close behind him.


    Levi¡¯s expression looked calm, he did not seem scared or panicked in the slightest. He just had his arms pressed behind his back, walking up to them wordlessly.


    "Sir, he says he wants to talk directly to you." One of the mercenaries said loudly.


    "Release him." Garen waved his hand, "In front of me, he cannot resist."


    When the soldiers heard that, they did not hesitate, letting go of Levi¡¯s restraints immediately, and walking to the side to form a circle surrounding him. But their gazes were still fixed intently on Levi, full of wariness.


    Garen looked this person up and down.


    His military uniform was falling apart, but it was still recognizable as the uniform of the Nighthawks¡¯ outer circle mercenaries, his face was covered in stubble, his skin coarse, dry and cracked, there was a cut on his lip, and a white bandage wrapped around his left arm.


    Most uniquely, the large majority of his face was covered by his hair and beard, his body filthy, so he looked just like a savage.


    But the aura he was giving off was smart and decisive.


    "What do you want to say?" Garen looked at this person with interest. "You killed more than ten of my men, do you think I¡¯ll spare you?"


    "Those were just normal outer circle soldiers, you can recruit any number of them whenever you want, and they have no sense of loyalty to speak off." Levi¡¯s voice was very magnetic, just like television hosts, giving off a gentle and soft sense of comfort, while being calm and collected.


    "Even so, you collected so many people and so much power to raid my Nighthawk group, causing casualties and deaths, Bady even lost an eye. Don¡¯t tell me you don¡¯t owe me that much?" Garen said mildly.


    "That was just an accident." Levi moved his arms and shoulders, "I was gathering up all the hotshots from all the factions, and suddenly the Nighthawks just rushed in and tried to control all the masterminds, so naturally we¡¯d end up enemies."


    "Do you think that explanation would make me spare your life?" Garen smiled slightly.


    "Of course not." Levi smiled bitterly, "The truth is, even if you don¡¯t kill me, I won¡¯t be able to live for long. Just now, I was bitten by an African black-striped, so I probably have about half an hour left to live."


    Only then did the smile on Garen¡¯s face fade slowly, the African black-striped was a snake unique to this world, its venom was untreatable, a purely destructive venom. Even the most recently invented antivenoms needed to be injected beforehand for them to work, and it would be too late to apply them after one was bitten. The time taken for the antivenom to take effect was not as fast as the time taken for the snake venom to kill him.


    "In that case, why are you here?"


    "I still have a daughter, she doesn¡¯t know that I do such dangerous things, she always thought I was just a regular international tradesman."


    "What does that have to do with me?" Garen said nonchalantly.


    "I¡¯ll tell you a secret, sir, and in exchange I humbly ask that you help me to protect her." Levi hesitated, "I have no choice, I have no friends I trust enough. If I die, she will be swallowed whole by my enemies. And most importantly, she¡¯s very pretty, and very young. If she can follow by your side, I believe that at the very least, she¡¯ll live."


    "What a cruel man." Garen laughed, "I have all the information about you, that daughter of yours is only twelve, and you are willing to hand her to me, someone you don¡¯t know anything about. Aren¡¯t you worried that she might end up even worse off in my hands?"


    "I won¡¯t misjudge someone. You do not hide your personality at all, sir, that pride and arrogance is not something a normal person can bluff through. And the truly prideful people will not easily go back on their promises." Levi was indirectly flattering Garen.


    "Her mother does not come from a regular family either, but it¡¯s just a very normal family business, it has nothing to do with these grey or black areas. They obey the law, and have a good reputation. She doesn¡¯t really understand all these things I¡¯ve been doing, but she never liked them. So she can¡¯t protect Aileen."


    "Are you so sure that I¡¯d agree?" Garen retorted.


    "I¡¯m just making a gamble." Levi shrugged, "That secret has to do with the Black Uniform Organization¡¯s biggest secrets. This is also the main reason why I can be so far ahead of the regular elite soldiers."


    "Oh? What is it?" Garen was instantly interested. He waved his hand, getting his surrounding subordinates to give them some distance.


    "Regarding the Stone Clock of Fortune, the secret about the layer of mysterious power on it¡­" Levi¡¯s voice was as soft as a mosquito¡¯s hum, but with Garen¡¯s hearing, he could still clearly hear what Levi was saying.


    Finally, Garen¡¯s heart gave a heavy jolt.


    He knew, that the power Levi was talking about, should be the potential power he had always been using.


    "How can you use it? That power?" Garen¡¯s lips moved slightly, his voice transmitting straight into Levi¡¯s ears.


    Levi looked at him in surprise, seemingly taken aback by how fast he accepted it. "We have a secret method to absorb this power and keep it within our bodies, it can rapidly regenerate stamina, heal wounds, increase the rate of new cell production, and the more we absorb it, the more we use it, the stronger the human body gets, the stronger our spirit grows. We firmly believe, that this might be the brand new path for humans to reach the next stage of evolution."


    He paused, "If you are willing to trade with me, I will give you this secret method, as well as the ancient relics and artifacts that the Black Uniform Organization had collected over the years."


    But Garen was currently in utter shock, the way Levi said he used the power was exactly the same effect he had when adding his potential points to the Vitality attribute. But he observed the condition inside Levi¡¯s body with his senses for a bit, and found that this power seemed to be helpless against the venom, instead it continuously swam through his body like a living thing.


    In the Totem World, he had guessed that the potential value was a form of soul power, and if it really was so.


    The soul could be explained as the human consciousness to a certain extent, humans had a consciousness and a subconsciousness, the consciousness dictated their everyday lives. Meanwhile, the subconsciousness was in charge of delegating the human body¡¯s resources, gathering and providing energy where the body needed it.


    If the potential value was a form of soul power, then it was perfectly capable of strengthening the consciousness and the subconsciousness, increasing the speed of reflexes and nerves, strengthening the immune system and energy regeneration, and other such overall increases to the body¡¯s stats.


    "There¡¯s a side effect, right?" Garen asked suddenly.


    Levi nodded, perfectly honest.


    "Of course, but it¡¯s nothing too serious. The side effects are, after absorbing that power from the ancient relics and artifacts, your body will have a different quality, and most of these qualities will have a detrimental effect on the body to some effect, creating some strange hobbies, habits, or minor illnesses."


    Garen could guess, that this should be the biggest difference between them and himself, he had that Ability to filter off the impurities in the potential value, such that he had no side effects at all, while these people could only absorb them roughly, eating up all the good and the bad, so naturally there would be problems.


    But he was indeed very interested in the filtering system his own Ability had, this was an opportunity, a chance to explore the roots of his own Ability. Perhaps he could understand how his pulse and nerve pathways worked by examining their secret method.


    "The deal is done."


    He looked at the man in front of him, and finally agreed.

 627 Involved 1

    Chapter 627: Involved 1


    A month later¡­


    "If time was a sharp scimitar, then who is the owner behind the scimitar?"


    AG half-kneeled in a wide sand dune, the golden sand flowing through his fingers, like fine golden gravel.


    "What are you trying to say?"


    Garen stood quietly behind him, his arms crossed in front of his chest, wearing sunglasses to shield off the light.


    "I¡¯m just thinking about it." AG shook his head, staring at an oasis in the middle of the golden desert, that was the White Phoenix¡¯s headquarters here in Africa. It looked deserted here, but they just had to walk several meters forward, and there would be an alarm from the sand dunes ahead all to the way to the White Phoenix HQ, telling them that there was an intruder in their ranks.


    The hundred or so elite fighters stationed inside would also pour out, and the traps hidden everywhere would instantly shoot everywhere.


    "The security here is very tight." Garen said softly. "What do you plan to do? Within less than a minute, the whole base will become a fully-armed porcupine."


    AG smiled mysteriously. "Faced with an immobile target like this, we have too many ways to completely finish them off."


    "Oh?" Garen frowned, "If we kill them all, the effect might be a bit severe." He did not want to make enemies of the White Phoenix just yet.


    "No problem. The White Phoenix is huge in scale, they have more than a couple of enemies." AG said with a laugh.


    Garen¡¯s eyes narrowed, and he turned around instantly.


    A tall woman dressed fully in white had appeared behind him without him noticing.


    This woman stood quietly behind the two of them, wearing a set of long, figure-fitting white shirt and trousers, her wavy black hair falling over her shoulders, but she wore a white mask on her face, hiding the half of her face beneath her nose.


    "AG, do you really plan to make a move against the Primary Colors?" The woman¡¯s voice was exceedingly normal, like a regular salesgirl in a shop, not special in any way.


    But Garen and AG did not dare to let their guard down around her.


    "Nasira, how long has it been?" AG stood up, "A hundred years, or two? I remember that time when I met you at the councilman¡¯s banquet¡­"


    "That was already a long, long time ago." The woman interrupted him. "If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that you taught me way back then, I really would want to tear you to pieces right now."


    "You are as violent as ever¡­" AG smiled kindly.


    "To lure an eight-year-old little girl into the abyss of physical pleasures, back then you truly were despicable." The woman said icily.


    "Don¡¯t be so heartless, we lived together for over eighty years, you know." AG said with a gentle smile.


    "For eighty years I lived like I was in hell! You useless piece of shit that can only use your fingers!" The woman was getting angrier.


    Beside them, Garen was starting to get a headache, AG was considered a decent collaborator, once he decided to make a move, he instantly started arranging things with him, and they came here directly, ready to go.


    But his own messed-up personal relationships were the most exasperating. He had all sorts of ridiculous relationships with women, and his emotional life was more than complicated, and now it seemed that he was born sexually inept, he really could be a star in his own romantic soap opera.


    Garen did not want to bother with AG¡¯s personal life.


    "Let¡¯s begin as soon as possible, I still want to go back to America for something." He hastened them.


    "Who is he?" The woman glanced at Garen, her gaze instantly fixing onto his gloved arms.


    "Didn¡¯t anyone teach you to have manners when meeting strangers?" Garen exercised his fist, his eyes narrowing.


    "Manners? How dare you speak to me in such a tone!" A hint of violence flashed through the woman¡¯s eyes, "Anyone who walks with AG, is probably also a piece of trash!"


    "You uneducated bastard!"


    Boom!


    Before the words even finished ringing, a powerful energy erupted from Garen¡¯s body, and pressed down hard on the woman¡¯s body, almost as though it was a solid thing.


    It seemed to be a wave of air, but the sands around them showed no signs of being blown away.


    Bam!


    Only the woman herself took three loud steps back, her face reddening with blood, before she could steady her footing.


    "AG! I want to kill him!!" The woman instantly screamed, as though she was humiliated beyond belief. Her hair began to dance madly like a nest of snakes.


    Garen chucked coldly, and stomped his right foot.


    With a bang, many grains of sand shot towards the woman like bullets, as though instantly forming a storm of bullets, falling down from everywhere, unstoppable.


    It was as though Garen had stomped up a yellow mist that rushed at the woman.


    The woman screamed, and actually dashed forward, her waist twisting like an agile snake. She actually pierced through the veil of sand, rushing straight for Garen.


    "That¡¯s enough!"


    AG¡¯s voice instantly jolted towards them, like an unbreakable glass window, blocking between the two of them decisively. It seemed to a trick of the senses, making both of them stop instinctively.


    "Nasira, don¡¯t be rash. He¡¯s just an ally of mine." AG told the woman gently.


    "Your body type seems to be somewhat different?" Garen narrowed his eyes and looked at the woman, a hint of contempt on his lips, "No wonder you¡¯re so fearless. An absorbent body type, huh? I just need one hand to kill you."


    As soon as he spoke, the woman¡¯s expression changed slightly.


    Her body type was indeed her greatest advantage, it was her greatest guarantee when facing all sorts of unnatural power, but now this man had identified it so easily.


    An absorbent body type plus immensely powerful close combat techniques, as well as gunslinging skills, all of these made her fearless even when facing enemies with unnatural power. Add that to her powerful background, and Nasira always thought that the so-called strong witches that she had meant so far were all just exaggerated paper tigers, she just had to poke them with a finger to make them collapse.


    But this time, this man¡­


    For the first time ever, she swallowed the words on the tip of her tongue, and said no more.


    The three of them fell quiet again.


    Despite the ruckus on this side, the White Phoenix did not seem to notice anything at all. Those on patrol kept patrolling, those on duty kept on with their duty, some cars entered and left the base, following the only way in.


    There was always at least satellite watching over this place at all times, but somehow no one seemed to have noticed these three people here, even after so long.


    AG turned around, looking at the White Phoenix base that took up this whole oasis.


    "Their real headquarters are actually underground, it¡¯s a lot bigger than this bit on the surface.


    "What do you plan to do?" Garen asked quietly, ignoring the crazy woman.


    "Underground, we just need to make a few adjustments¡­" AG chuckled mysteriously.


    He opened his hand, there was a cloud of fine golden sand on his palm.


    The wind seemed to be getting stronger, blowing in gusts, sending their clothes billowing up and down.


    Garen shook the windbreaker he wore, putting his hands into his pockets, quietly sensing the tiniest changes in his surroundings.


    He had not used any of the potential value he absorbed from the Stone Clock of Fortune, because he was waiting for AG over here to obtain the new power system, perhaps it might be of use to him.


    Right now he was still musing over the secret method he had obtained from Levi, the secret method to absorb potential points.


    When he came back to the present, AG in front of him seemed to be silently waiting for something.


    After a long time, he suddenly moved.


    The palm holding the grains of sand turned slightly, and the sand on his palm began to spill, slipping off, and forming a straight golden line of sand as it fell to the ground.


    Strangely, it seemed as though this line of sand would never finish flowing, it kept on tilting and spilling, already forming a tall hill of sand on the ground, but there was still a pinch of sand in AG¡¯s palm.


    "See, this is the power of the earth¡­" AG smiled.


    All of a sudden.


    The line of sand in his hand bulged out, and fell to the ground as though it was wrapped around a lead ball, crashing into the ground.


    Bam!


    The earth gave a hard jolt.


    Wooo~! Wooo~! Wooo~!


    There was a piercing siren from the White Phoenix base in the distance, wave after wave.


    The people inside were confused, as the alarm kept echoing, the guards everywhere who were already wary began to receive reports, and instantly their expressions changed, as they all ran into the base.


    AG was still smiling, and a clear spherical object flowed out of the line of sand in his hand once more, crashing hard onto the pile of sand underneath.


    Bamm!!


    The ground jolted yet again, and it was as though something had shattered and collapsed, there was a deep rumbling under their feet.


    "Just a tiny bit of power, can trigger an unbelievably vast strength." AG said softly, looking at Garen and the woman.


    Clap clap clap clap¡­


    Garen smiled, and began to applaud.


    "What a fascinating use of chain reactions, so you were counting the nodes this whole time, and you used them to trigger the chain reactions."


    "Of course. This is also a method to use our power." AG nodded with a smile.


    "Hmph." The woman in white harrumphed coldly, not surprised in the slightest.


    "Let¡¯s go." The sand in the middle of AG¡¯s palm finally ran out.


    The three of them did not even look at the White Phoenix base, Garen did not know how the other two interpreted the situation, but he could already smell the faint odor of blood coming from the ground underneath his feet¡­


    His exceptional five senses allowed him to clearly feel that whenever the sand in AG¡¯s hand crashed down in a clump, a large chunk of the White Phoenix¡¯s underground base would collapse. This was an extremely intricate mysterious power, it was as though he was playing with dominos, one after the other, each force exponentially magnified, and applied directly to the essential points of the massive underground base.


    Garen knew that this was AG showing off how powerful he was.


    This user of ancient power that seemed like an ancient undead monster in the eyes of others, he had a strength that could be used almost anywhere. He was that living legend.


    The three of them turned back, walking to a jeep parked nearby behind them, then they all got onto the jeep and took their seats.


    Strangely, the jeep did not seem bothered about sand getting into it, it took a turn, and rapidly left into the distance, the tire tracks rapidly covered by the sandstorm.


    The White Phoenix behind them rumbled loudly.


    Everything on the ground that had been part of the base, crashed down hard, sinking deep into the sand.


    A huge black hole appeared where the base had been, and the vast amounts of yellow sand around it flowed into it endlessly, slowly burying the houses and buildings, the vehicles and the people.

 628 Involved 2

    Chapter 628: Involved 2


    After returning from the White Phoenix base, and separating from AG and Nasira, Garen returned straight to where the Nighthawks were based, a privately-owned estate in the wilderness.


    It was several tens of kilometers away from the city, there was the Nighthawks¡¯ surveillance equipment installed everywhere, and there were guards on duty twenty-four hours a day, so it was definitely safe.


    In a wide room, Garen swept everything out, leaving a completely empty room, with nothing save the floorboards and the walls.


    It was about a dozen meters long and wide, and felt especially vast.


    That night, there were the faint sounds of the mercenaries telling tall tales or playing cards, while others snored loudly as they slept.


    There also seemed to be the sounds of engines blaring, other than the large-scale missions, the Nighthawks also accepted small missions here and there, like a bodyguard escort service, going along for negotiations and so on. These missions were safe and easy, when normal people saw their troop appear, and laid eyes on that logo, they would all choose not to make enemies of the Nighthawks. Even if the situation in South Africa was complicated right now, some small countries and governments toppling overnight, power struggles all over the place and all the time, military revolts a dime a dozen.


    But when anyone saw the logo of the Nighthawks, they still would not choose to declare war on them. The reputation of the number one mercenary army in South Africa was still very influential, this name was built on thousands or even tens of thousands of corpses, it did not come from nowhere.


    As soon as Garen made a move, he wiped out the Black Knife¡¯s main leaders, and then chased Levi over thousands of miles, capturing Kenna, destroying the White Phoenix¡¯s support and maintenance teams.


    This series of victories had instantly shaken the mercenary scene in the whole of Africa, some people were already calling him the Nighthawk King behind his back, because not long after the White Phoenix fell prey to his hand, before the teams there could even gather and react, the White Phoenix¡¯s base somehow met with an earthquake, the whole underground collapsing, with a large number of casualties and deaths.


    Some people guessed that this was no coincidence, and could very well be man-made. But no one believed them.


    The final result was that the White Phoenix had no time to bother with Garen¡¯s matter anymore, now that the branch had encountered such a problem, incurring heavy losses, the main question was how would they report it to the Primary Colors HQ.


    One week after returning, Garen¡¯s life had returned the same old routine, waking up in the morning for his morning exercises, reading books in the noon, listening to some music, contacting his parents and friends, and going out in the afternoon, buying souvenirs everywhere like a normal tourist, eating good food. At night, he would study that secret method he had just gotten his hands on.


    As for the Stone Clock of Fortune, after Garen absorbed all of the mysterious power on it, he just tossed it to the Nighthawks, giving it to their long-time auction partner for auctioning off some day.


    Not just that, Garen even sent Jay to receive the Black Uniform Organization¡¯s property that Levi had left to him.


    Although the whole Black Uniform Organization had been utterly destroyed by the Nighthawks, their most important property, fortunes, and connections were all stored under cipher in international banks, and they required him to send someone there to retrieve them. All of this needed time.


    Garen was still waiting for the relics and antiques that the Black Uniform Organization had collected over the years, with the information collected by such an organization over the years, he might be able to find the true process and principles behind these relics producing potential value.


    "By the time the White Phoenix realize that AG was the root of the problem, they¡¯d probably grow wary as well. However¡­ AG¡¯s so-called small lesson was a bit too big, is he trying to force me into his camp?" Garen¡¯s hands were tapping in rhythm, his fingers laced lightly and placed in front of him, as though he was holding a heart in his hand, pulsing in time.


    His breathing was fast at times, slow at others, sometimes long, and sometimes strangely short.


    And as his breathing changed, the beating of the heart in his chest seemed to be the opposite of the beating in his hands, when this side rested the other side beat, and when this side beat, the other side rested. Both together formed a continuous thumping.


    As the beating continued endlessly, the cool air in Garen¡¯s body began to travel slowly, like a thin ice-cold snake, constantly swimming around his organs, as though swimming through his thoracic cavity.


    This was how he absorbed potential value through the secret method, and not by using his own Ability to filter it, this was the most primal potential energy.


    He wanted to use this method to experience the difference before and after filtering.


    This breath was only a small part of the Stone Clock of Fortune, just a tiny part, and he used it as an experiment, absorbing it using the secret method. As for the rest, he absorbed them directly using his Ability, storing them away as potential points.


    Just that was also the result of Garen¡¯s own suppression, in that instant when he absorbed it, the Ability immediately took effect, trying to instinctively absorb the potential power, but Garen tried his best to control it.


    "It has to be more impure¡­ This power¡­" Once more feeling the potential value absorbed by the secret method slowly strengthening his organs, Garen closed his eyes slightly, feeling for the tiniest changes.


    In one of the attribute panes in his field of vision, the Vitality attribute began to slowly blur and blink, it was evidently changing, but this change was extremely tiny, even the blurring was unusually minute.


    "Using this secret method to strengthen myself involves too many impurities, too much is wasted in the process, and the efficiency of using my body¡¯s own abilities to purify the power is too low, a lot of energy is lost with the impurities, compared to filtering it with my Ability, it is almost wholly ineffective."


    Garen calculated, if the Ability could create ten potential points from twelve units of primal potential power, then to achieve the same result with the secret method would require at least a hundred units.


    The difference was massive.


    And the Ability produced pure potential points, they could even be added to his skills, just by precisely strengthening the comprehension and understanding components in his brain, this was not something the coarse secret method¡¯s strengthening could hope to emulate.


    The secret method¡¯s strengthening could only strengthen his Vitality, and could not do anything more than that...


    "A failed product¡­ This level of guesswork is too low quality." Opening his eyes with some disappointment, Garen heaved a long breath, his breath mixed with an unpleasant odor, the smell of the impurities in his body being expelled.


    "My power, when temporarily boosted, might be able to reach level six, but that power will only last for a split second, and when it¡¯s over I will be heavily injured as well, requiring potential points to recover, this is far from my peak condition in the totem world. I still need many potential points to recover my body¡¯s strength."


    He glanced at the thin book on the floor next to him.


    Those were the secret notes that AG had given him before leaving, it had some basic knowledge about unnatural power. It had detailed information about the high level Blood Breeds, the Death Apostles especially, describing their powers, levels, methods and the like in great detail.


    Flipping through the pages, Garen scanned them with his eyes, and the lines of new words entered his line of vision clearly.


    When AG wrote in his book, far away from here, this book in Garen¡¯s hands could constantly update its own contents.


    It could also be a method of secret communication between the two of them.


    ¡®Among the levels of Blood Breeds, the upper level Blood Breeds are already enough to threaten you and me, we need to be wary of them. Death Apostles are far beyond our power, you must not interact with them simply, they are extremely hard to kill, and ever Death Apostle has a different yet powerful ability, they can be reborn in the body of any creature that has their blood. According to my conjecture, the one targeting you is very likely a Death Apostle.¡¯


    AG¡¯s words appeared slowly, line by line.


    Garen frowned slightly.


    "Just how destructive is a Death Apostle¡¯s power?" He took a ballpoint pen out of his pocket, and wrote quickly on the page. Strangely, as soon as he finished writing these words, AG¡¯s notes and words continued to appear underneath.


    ¡®They¡¯re not purely material, they don¡¯t have souls, we can¡¯t understand this manner of living. But it¡¯s exceedingly strange. There are different powers at the Death Apostle level, but what they have in common is that they all have immensely powerful strength, speed, and physicality. The strength physicality you demonstrated before has already achieved the pinnacle of humanity, but compared to them, you are still far beneath them.¡¯ AG replied.


    "Can you be more specific?" Garen frowned.


    Multiply the foundations that you showed back then by several dozens, or even hundreds of times.¡¯ AG responded, ¡®There were Death Apostles who were hit head-on by an experimental laser cannon, and they still managed to walk out completely unscratched. Nobody knows where their limits are, no one has defeated them in the Material World. And no one has been able to kill them in the Material World.¡¯


    "The Material World?" Garen pursued the question, "Does that mean we can kill them in some other worlds?" He remembered the inner world in the Totem World.


    ¡®They are the manipulators of consciousness, the kings of dreams, their true bodies are hidden in the Dream World, if you want to kill a Death Apostle, you need to find their true bodies on their dreams.¡¯


    "Dreams?" Garen instantly remembered that strange dream from that day.


    ¡®In dreams, they can easily control the other person¡¯s emotions, thoughts, triggering all sorts of negative feelings. All in order to achieve their goal. Sometimes they will also weave perfect dreams, fulfilling all of the dreamer¡¯s desires, trapping them within in, if you yourself cannot sense that you are in a dream, then it is highly likely that your innermost secrets will be revealed. You must be careful¡­¡¯ AG ended with an ellipsis, this usually meant he was ending the conversation.


    Garen closed the book.


    He was beginning to understand the terror of the Blood Breeds in this world. They were basically monsters living within dreams, if they really could not be killed the real world, then this would be his biggest disadvantage.


    He was completely unfamiliar with dreams, he had no experience with them whatsoever, and as for whether or not resistance to this power had anything to do with the strength of one¡¯s soul, Garen guessed that it would not be very relevant. He could tell just from that strange dream last time. The other party had easily triggered the fear in his heart, that completely inexplicable terror was something he had never experienced before.


    All of his power was based in reality, he had completely no resistance against dreams.


    "Witches can resist upper level Blood Breeds, that must mean, that the witches must have a similar resistance method." Garen hypothesized, "Looks like I have to learn the witches¡¯ power system as soon as possible."


    He did not want to become a Blood Breed, much less a cannon fodder vampire, as for an upper level Blood Breeds, all upper level Blood Breeds created their descendants, and could completely overpower their descendants¡¯ spirits, so Garen had no intention of giving himself a superior out of nowhere.


    He had better get along with the witches and become one of them first.


    The unkillable Death Apostles, such a description had raised all of his alarms, if he could not find the opponent¡¯s body in their dreams, that meant he could do absolutely nothing to them. This was already nothing to do with destructive power, they simply were not in the same territory.


    "Tell me, about your training." Garen wrote on the book pages heavily.


    ¡®You are in danger, whenever you enter the dream state of your own volition, you could be discovered and used by the enemy. Now is not yet the time.¡¯ AG replied. The words that both of them written began to fade rapidly.


    "Then when do I have to wait until?"


    ¡®When the Blood Breed descends into chaos.¡¯

 629 Prologue 1

    Chapter 629: Prologue 1


    In the largest city of England, Pruyn.


    Between the streams of countless traffic, a group of masked men dressed in black carried their bulging backpacks and rushed into the headquarters of a bank by the street.


    "On the ground! On the ground! All of you, on the ground!!" Bang bang!


    The gunshots instantly triggered everyone¡¯s nerves, the screams rang out immediately, but they were forced down again quickly, a few guards surrounded from the sides, and were just about to raise their guns, when they were instantly taken down with two more gunshots.


    This scene triggered some more soft screams.


    In the bank, there were still people withdrawing money for their work matters, as well as the staff at the counters, behind the thick bulletproof glass, the staff quickly and calmly rang the police alarm.


    Wooo~~


    A piercing siren wailed abruptly, and the whole bank¡¯s shutters fell down quickly and automatically.


    "Get rid of ¡®em." The leader in the black mask did not panic in the slightest, saying to his partners in a low voice.


    One of his partners sniggered, pulled something from his waist, and tossed it at the door.


    That black thing instantly began to spin rapidly, emitting a faint red light, this red light somehow stopped the shutters from descending, and they began to go upwards instead.


    The black-masked leader walked up to the counter, and faced down the staff inside.


    Bam!


    His hand instantly shattered the glass, the bulletproof was more than ten centimeters thick, but he still reached straight through it and grabbed the head of the staff member inside.


    With a smack, the head exploded into a bloody mist in his hands.


    "Aaaahhh!!" A female staff member beside them began screaming loudly, and in that instant, the terror spread.


    Even bulletproof glass could not stop that person.


    The smile could clearly be seen on the leader¡¯s masked face.


    "Come on¡­ Come on¡­ Hehehe, Cadytius¡­ What should you do?"


    The dozen or so black-masked people behind him began to install something in the bank, in a very disciplined manner.


    After about a dozen minutes, the group rushed out of the bank, dashing into a dead-end alley off the street, and then seemed to vanish into thin air, never showing up again.


    Barroom!!


    With a deafening explosion, the headquarters of Pruyn¡¯s largest British Billion Bank became a sea of flames just like that, and the whole bank building began to snap, starting from the first floor, tilting and falling down with a crash.


    The bank building, several tens of meters tall, was like a dying giant, its enormous shadow falling down, and crashing heavily onto the streets beneath it.


    Boom!


    The shattered glass and walls sprayed everywhere, concrete meeting concrete, cars squashed flat, some people could not make it out in time, and were buried underneath the buildings, while others were just grazed, crawling and escaping while covered in blood, there were people around them yelling, others taking out their phones to call the emergency hotline, there were some who hid behind strong walls, and even more who scuttled around everywhere, madly.


    ***************


    "On the 21st July, 2411, at noon, there was an earthshaking terror bomb attack at the crossroads of Lotus Street, in England¡¯s largest city, Pruyn. The British Billion Bank¡¯s headquarters collapsed due to an explosion, resulting in several dozen dead, and nearly a hundred injured. The incident is still under investigation, according to witness testimony, the terrorists all wore black masks and seemed to be very experienced, they seem to be extremely similar to the masterminds behind the Gatling gun incident last time¡­"


    The news reporter on the television was reporting the latest developments in the case.


    In a dim yellow luxurious suite of a hotel somewhere.


    A shirtless blonde man with a black dragon tattoo on his arm was watching the news quietly, his golden hair fell over his shoulders, and he wore a white towel, his legs propped up on the coffee table in front of the sofa, his whole person handsome and lazy.


    "Looks like they did well." A woman¡¯s voice came from the bathroom nearby, gentle and magnetic.


    "Looks like it." The blonde man nodded. "It¡¯s about time the other side makes a move as well."


    "How did you plan it?"


    "Wasn¡¯t it settled a long time ago?" The blonde man¡¯s expression stiffened somewhat. "Even if he is my uncle, once he¡¯s chosen a stand, he needs to pay for it."


    There was instantly some laughter from the bathroom, the woman seemed to be very satisfied with it.


    "This is just a little prologue." The man said softly.


    The battle between the light party and the secret party was just beginning.


    ***********************


    In the Calm Forest


    A secret area that the light party had yet to discover.


    This was the most high-tech underground base, black walls, black floors, black ceiling, it was all hard and smooth rock and stone, bright red lines carved onto the surfaces, monotonous and repetitive.


    In a conference room in the very heart of the base, there were many men and women dressed in suits, sitting in their high-backed black chairs, they whispered among each other, discussing something in low voices, some had their brows knitted tensely, others were staring at the host, and yet others were listening to their phones, nodding their heads slightly.


    The one sitting in the very center and the very front of the long table was a white-haired man in a black-striped suit, he was like an artist, his long white hair tied into a ponytail, his fingers laced and placed on the table in front of him, his expression stern and calm.


    The low voices in discussion continued unbidden, but he seemed to be wholly unaware of them.


    "A lot of things have happened recently, some of the secret party members have been acting strangely over there in America, and the witches are appearing more often now, I¡¯ve already taken certain preventive measures." A bespectacled lady on the right spoke.


    "The missing persons cases over here in Asia have not been settled yet, in fact, they seem to be escalating over the years, we don¡¯t have enough upper-level people, so we hope that the headquarters can send us some special agents to help." A yellow-skinned middle-aged man said deeply.


    "Hand in a proposal letter later." The white-haired man nodded, "Don¡¯t be too extreme with the American preventive measures, try to be gentler, your priority is to ensure that the regular citizens are not disturbed or frightened."


    "Understood."


    "The Space Agency needs extra funds, we¡¯ve had the newest, biggest breakthrough!" A fat white man hammered his fist onto the table and yelled loudly.


    "Over the years, when have you not made a breakthrough?" Someone jeered.


    "This year is different!" The fatty argued. "Funds! We need funds! As long as we have enough funds, we can immediately carry out our plan to modify the planets! It¡¯s a matter of time before we get a second Earth!"


    "How many years have you said that? Ten? Twenty? Or a hundred?" The icy lady sitting directly opposite him said contemptuously.


    "You!!" The fatty raged.


    "When it comes to space exploration, it does take a lot of funds, we can¡¯t interfere too much with that, you can try to make deals with the representatives from different governments." The white-haired man shook his head and smiled.


    "On England¡¯s side¡­ Did they cause that explosion?" The white-haired man looked at the last black-haired man of few words at the table.


    "Yes, they were the subordinates of one of the secret party¡¯s Three Moros, this was my oversight." The black-haired man lowered his head and apologized.


    "The Three Moros¡­" The white-haired man tapped the table with his fingers, and in that moment, that tapping seemed to have some kind of magic, instantly silencing the whole conference room.


    "Leave this matter to me." The black-haired man said in a low voice, "As for Lord Scarlet Moon¡¯s side, may I request backup from him if necessary?"


    "You may, if he¡¯s willing." The white-haired man nodded. "We need to suppress this matter as soon as possible, to prevent creating even more panic."


    "Understood."


    "The standards of this year¡¯s National Educational Selection are a little too high, it might be somewhat harder for us here to¡­" A new person spoke up, following the order of their seats.


    "Regarding the selection test, this year¡¯s standards were carefully calculated, we don¡¯t need people who can¡¯t meet the standards, and it just so happens that we need to be very selective with the evolutionaries for our neo-humans." The white-haired man raised his hand and gestured for the next one.


    "Some of the island countries in the Atlantic Ocean discovered some supernatural phenomena that require investigation, it might trigger a volcano eruption or even a tsunami."


    "Didn¡¯t we send a special agent over for this last time?"


    "Unfortunately, that secret agent is currently missing in action."


    "Send Bartons, he¡¯s bored with nothing to do right now. Tell him I told him to."


    The proposals, suggestions, questions and cases were all raised one by one.


    The secret party¡¯s bomb incident was actually only a very small part of this.


    But no one noticed that the glint of red light flashing through the lidded eyes of the black-haired man who was previously in charge of the secret party¡¯s bomb case.


    "The secret party has indeed not made any ¡®drastic¡¯ moves¡­ They were just lightly sweeping away some of the bugs in England."


    As for Lord Scarlet Moon, as the strongest fighter under the leader of the light party, Scarlet Moon was the number two Dearg Apostle, and should be treated properly¡­


    What if the other two Lord Death Apostles joined forces?


    The black-haired man¡¯s lips curved slightly.


    ************************


    ¡®There are four Death Apostles in total, it had always been that unchanging number. The light party has two, the secret party has one, and the last one is very mysterious, making it very hard to track this person down, so they¡¯re considered neutral.¡¯


    Sitting in the plane on the way back, Garen quietly read that yellowed ancient scroll that AG had given him.


    He sat in the Economy class, there was a bald geezer sitting next to him, who was in the middle of taking off his glasses to wipe them carefully. The young couple in front of him was laughing softly, and the two young girl behind him seemed to be flying international for the first time, they were chatting about it excitedly.


    In such a normal and peaceful environment, Garen felt as though the ancient scroll in his hand was like a script from a fantasy movie, it did not feel real at all.


    He seemed to be just a normal American university student, holding an imaginative movie script novel, and reading it carefully, as though the world inside it had absolutely nothing to do with him.


    Garen tilted his head to glance at the geezer beside him, that guy gave him a friendly smile. Then he lowered his head, put on his glasses, picked up the airplane¡¯s newspapers and began to read in his own time.


    Garen returned to his senses, and continued to read the newly updated contents on the scroll.


    Every so often, AG would update part of the contents of the scroll.


    ¡®My ally told me, that the most mysterious Death Apostle might be making an appearance soon, this will destroy the balance between the light party and the secret party.¡¯


    ¡®But the light party has the number one Death Apostle, known as the strongest Death Apostle, Ashen Castine, and the number two Death Apostle, Scarlet Moon, is also there, their advantage won¡¯t broken just like that.¡¯


    Garen flipped to the next page. Taking a ballpoint pen out of his pocket, he wrote on the pages slowly.


    ¡®What is your ally?¡¯


    There was no reply from the other side, perhaps AG had not opened the book yet.


    Garen was not particularly bothered, he continued reading the new information below.


    ¡®Your first step is to remember or be aware that you¡¯re dreaming, when you¡¯re dreaming.¡¯ AG seemed to be teaching him the first point of their power system.


    ¡®For most people, the biggest problem is that they can¡¯t tell that they¡¯re dreaming while in their dreams, they will be completely defenseless and prone to spilling their greatest secrets under the influence of their environment. It¡¯s like a place that seems completely quiet and empty, or a room that seems safe and secure, there are too many scams just like that.¡¯


    ¡®And the key for you right now, is with that Death Apostle who marked you, he is watching you at all times, so you must first be aware that you are being watched. He will exist in your dreams, once you enter your dreams, he will notice you. So you must take advantage of the moment when he is dragged into the Blood Breeds¡¯ internal conflict, find the primer he left behind, and destroy it, only then can you escape his surveillance.¡¯


    Garen put down the book, deep in thought.


    The Blood Breeds in this world were completely different from those in the previous world, these were evidently masters at manipulating wills, they swam the currents between reality and dreams, their lifespans almost endlessly long, they were an extremely strange yet powerful existence.


    This power might yet bring him an unexpected reward.

 630 Prologue 2

    Chapter 630: Prologue 2


    On a village path in the English countryside.


    On the grassy slope by the road, a pale-faced man was stumbling, his hand gripping his chest, continuously moving forward on the grass.


    With every step he took, he would squeeze out yellow and black bullets out from between the fingers gripping his chest, these bullets rained onto the ground, tumbling in the grass, but there was no trace of blood whatsoever.


    The wound between the man¡¯s fingers was only a red slit, that slit was like a mouth, spitting out bullets every so often.


    The hot sun shone down on him, but the man¡¯s skin was obviously growing paler, a mark like a red moon could be clearly seen on his brow.


    He turned around occasionally to look behind him, as though worried that someone was chasing him.


    His lips were dry and cracked, like those of someone who had gone without water for a long time.


    Psst-psst-psst!


    In an instant, three black shadows appeared around him, forming a triangle and surrounding him.


    The three shadows¡¯ faces could not be seen, they seemed to three men in black hoods, the light around was them was somewhat blurred.


    Without saying anything or making any sound at all, the three shadows appeared and rapidly pounced at the man in the middle, like three bolts of black lightning, but completely silent.


    With a similar hiss, the man in the middle seemed to blur, and he instantly disappeared from the spot, with a blink, he appeared several dozens of meters away.


    And those three shadows remained where they stood, their bodies tilting, before falling to the ground with several thumps, turning into three mounds of black ash, even their clothes completely turned to ash.


    He watched the three men disintegrate on the ground. Then the man coughed a few times.


    "You dare to harm Lord Scarlet Moon¡­ All of you¡­ should die! If the Blood Alliance hadn¡¯t sealed it off¡­ There must someone from the secret party beside Lord Ashen as well! I must think of a plan¡­"


    The man¡¯s figure quickly vanished into the woods.


    *********************


    On the airplane


    Garen fell into deep thought.


    His Slaughtering Hand secret technique originated from an Ancient Endor Demon King¡¯s peak-level secret technique, it had the powerful ability to absorb life force, this ability was very effective even against normal Blood Breeds, he just did not know if it had any effect against Blood Breeds of the Death Apostle level.


    Right now, he looked carefully at the current state of his secret techniques.


    ¡®Garen Thomas.


    ¡®Strength 2.8. Agility 2.7. Vitality 2.9. Intelligence 2.4. Potential 1558%. Soul Limit 30.


    ¡®Soul Seed: Northern Trident Frost-Fire True Water Evil Technique.¡¯


    ¡®Violin Mastery: Second level, proficient. (Total three level)''


    ¡®Slaughtering Hand: Third level: Bloodshed. (Can be upgraded to higher level)


    One of the Ancient Ender''s 42 Demon Kings, Black Sethe had an unspeakable talent for killing. With a glance, souls would be extinguished and legend spoke of his hands that could send anything to the abyss whether dead or alive¡­¡¯


    "Fifteen potential points, if I forcefully level up the Slaughtering Hand¡­" Garen wanted to calculate how effective the Slaughtering Hand would be after the upgrade, but unfortunately, this demonic technique was different from all the Living Secret Techniques that he had practiced before, so even he could not estimate how strong it would be after the upgrade.


    Garen¡¯s gaze fell on the Slaughtering Hand technique.


    Suddenly, a short and abrupt message flashed through his heart.


    ¡®To upgrade the Slaughtering Hand, you will require ten potential points.¡¯


    If he could not use the other power system to train for the time being, then it might be a good idea to develop the currently unknown future of the Slaughtering Hand.


    Garen finally set his mind on it, his gaze gathering on the Slaughter Hand.


    In that instant, the icon began to blur, and then it began to shake violently.


    The potential points cascaded madly, like a waterfall, dropping from fifteen points to a measly five points. The five points he had just obtained disappeared just like that. Now he probably had to wait until he had completely received the relics and antiques from the Black Uniform Organization before he could get another refill.


    The icon for the Slaughtering Hand began to stabilize.


    Soon enough, a brand new triangular icon, glowing with a black light, gathered and formed again.


    ¡®Slaughtering Hand: Fourth level: Massacre (now creating more formation levels¡­)


    Mad massacres brought Black Sethe immeasurable pleasure, his hands could now steal away enemy souls through specific pressure points. After the fourth level, the Slaughtering Hand will be able to gather even more life force, and, by collecting information on the practitioners themselves, it will be able to create brand new derivative levels afterward.¡¯


    ¡®Soul Seed Strengthening Effect ¡ª¡ª Frost Essence (adds frost power to attacks, can inflict frost damage on enemies. Has a very high resistance towards cold surroundings)¡¯


    Garen observed it closely for a long time, but he could not find any drastic changes in the fourth level of the Slaughtering Hand, he could just store more life force at once, and then some new details on how to deal with this secret technique naturally appeared in his brain, it was some information about some pressure points that were not elaborated on in the Slaughtering Hand Secret Technique¡¯s own records. He knew these pressure points, there were only a very few that he had not noticed himself, all of them could be fatal, but these things were utterly useless to him. He had countless secret techniques and skills that could kill others, but to beings as strange as the Blood Breeds, there was seriously nothing he could do, if what AG said was true, and he really could kill them without first finding their true bodies, then it really would be troublesome for him.


    He felt slightly disappointed, but in any case not everything will develop exactly as he hoped.


    He did not dwell on it long either, when the Battle of the Blood Breeds truly started, he could easily find an opportunity to hunt a middle or higher level Blood Breed as a guinea pig for his Slaughtering Hand.


    Just then, the ancient scroll in his hand moved slightly.


    Garen hurriedly opened the scroll lightly, putting it somewhere outsiders could not see.


    New, clear lines of words had finally appeared on the pages, AG had evidently just written them.


    ¡®The light party¡¯s number two Death Apostle, Scarlet Moon, is grievously injured and missing in action. Perhaps you can start now, the first step of your training.¡¯


    ¡®If you want to become a true witch, the first step is dreams.¡¯


    And then AG began to teach Garen about the levels among witches.


    They corresponded with the level systems of the Blood Breeds as well, Death Apostles, upper level, middle level, lower level, disciples (vampires), they had actually drawn out their levels according to the level of Blood Breeds that they could face.


    And until now, there was only one Death Apostle level female witch -- Lion Mother, the leaders of the other territories were only upper level witches at the most, and as for male witches, he was the very last upper level male witch¡­


    Male witches were actually about to disappear from the pages of history, they were being utterly eliminated by the female witches.


    ¡®That¡¯s why the Blood Breeds are so strong, because they have four Death Apostles.¡¯ AG wrote as such.


    ¡®So my power is only at the upper level as well?" Garen asked.


    ¡®Your situation is very dangerous, and also very strange, but perhaps the Blood Breeds are wary of the mysterious power in your hands, so even if you have no awareness or resistance whatsoever to their dream powers, they still have not made a move against you. You are special. However, the power in your hands cannot protect your consciousness, so you were still affected in that dream. This means your position is still very dangerous, your power is nowhere near enough to deal with attacks from Death Apostles.¡¯


    ¡®Unless you are willing to release your hands, but even that is merely a temporary measure, the Death Apostles are undying, you can¡¯t kill them. Of course, I don¡¯t really know what will happen when you face a Death Apostle either.¡¯


    Garen frowned.


    "Right now, putting aside my own power, how long will it take for me to learn the basics of your power system?"


    ¡®I don¡¯t know, maybe a month, maybe more.¡¯


    "You just said, that the number two Death Apostle named Scarlet Moon was grievously hurt and is now on the run? Didn¡¯t you say they¡¯re really hard to kill? Without finding their true bodies."


    "Two Death Apostles who were extremely familiar with him surrounded him, my news also comes from the proper channel, you don¡¯t need to doubt me. Not even the number one Death Apostle, Ashen, knows this. But it can¡¯t be hidden for long.¡¯


    "Then which side is the Death Apostle who marked me from?" Garen persisted.


    ¡®Unfortunately, I don¡¯t know, but I have a guess, a very bold guess, that maybe that Death Apostle does not belong to any side at all, the scent of its mark is something I¡¯ve never seen before.¡¯


    "Are you saying it¡¯s a new Death Apostle, who had been wandering outside the two main factions?"


    ¡®Or worse¡­¡¯


    "Then what did you mean by that ally you mentioned in the very beginning? Is it a companion of yours?" Garen pressed again.


    The other side stayed silent for a while, before replying again in words.


    ¡®The minimum requirement to become a witch is to have your own ally. That is a companion you can trust unconditionally, with no barriers between you, we usually believe that it is a part of the body¡¯s consciousness that had split away independently, but nobody has done any real research into it before. You can ask him, and he will answer all your answers, these questions are all things that you already instinctively know, you just can¡¯t dig them out from the depths of your memory.¡¯


    Garen frowned deeply.


    He did not like having to trust someone without knowing anything about them. What does that ally sound like the first signs of split personality disorder¡­


    Maybe he can just research the witches¡¯ power system, and absorb the part used to fight Blood Breeds¡­


    He began to think about that, once he got his hands on the many relics from the Black Uniform Organization¡¯s side, he might have a large intake of potential points at once, then he would have more choices.


    He had a feeling that the Slaughtering Hand¡¯s derivative levels from now on might bring him an unexpected surprise. Although he could not really tell the principles behind it¡­


    As for AG¡¯s rating of him, he naturally would not take offense, after all, he still had many things he had yet to reveal. Such as his aura, for example¡­


    **********************


    America -- Grano.


    Night, twelve minutes past ten.


    Isaros brought her sister Arisa out of the convenience store, the car had already been refueled, and she swiped her petrol card.


    Isaros gestured for her sister to get into the car first, taking out her phone to check her messages, the white light shining on her face and making it seem somewhat blindingly white.


    In an instant, the sisters had stayed here for several years. She counted, and for a moment she could not remember clearly, this peaceful life was way too comfortable, so much so that they were beginning to forget how their days were before.


    "Hey, Big Sis, there¡¯s someone lying here!" Suddenly her sister Arisa¡¯s voice came from the car.


    "Hm?"


    Isaros smoothened out her long hair, and strode over.


    Beside her white car, there was an unconscious man, dressed in rags.


    The man had no signs of any injuries or bleeding, so he looked like a homeless person.


    "Big Sis, why don¡¯t we take him home?" Arisa seemed to feel pity for him. She was always like that, she had plenty of love for all thing pitiful, be it people or animals.


    "No way, that¡¯s a man. What if he has bad intentions?" Isaros decided to use this opportunity to educate her sister.


    "Big Sis, are you scared of such a thin man?" Arisa asked in confusion, "Weren¡¯t you able to easily beat up five or six in the past?"


    Seeing her little sister¡¯s imploring expression, Isaros also sighed helplessly.


    "Fine, fine, we¡¯ll bring him back, it¡¯s not like we never encountered this before¡­"


    Neither of them noticed that the unconscious man had a mark like a scarlet moon in the middle of his brow, that was the mark of a Blood Breed under Scarlet Moon¡¯s command.

 631 Troublesome 1

    Chapter 631: Troublesome 1


    They took care of a stranger, a man that had never met before but was found passed out on the road, and they were two young girls to boot.


    This was undeniably an unbelievable thing under any circumstances, but it did indeed happen.


    Perhaps Arisa sensed something wrong as soon as she laid eyes on that man, her sympathy was triggered like never before. Or perhaps Isaros was absolutely confident in her own abilities, and did not care at all what intentions that thin homeless man might have, she just planned to bring him home, toss him something to eat, and let him rest for one night in a windless corner under her roof, that would already be the biggest good she could do for him.


    But regardless, the two of them did indeed bring this person back.


    It was exceedingly strange.


    By the time Isaros came back to her senses, she was sitting in her kitchen, with her little sister, watching that man gulp down his food while sprawled on the table.


    "Looks like the poor guy was starving¡­" Arisa said to her older sister quietly, the two sisters were sitting side by side, both rather speechless.


    "What is going on here?" Isaros glanced at her little sister, she had no idea why she allowed this filthy tramp into her house, and then let him eat at the table like he belonged here.


    "Thank you very much for your kindness." The tramp lowered his head to show his gratitude, smiling slightly, the air about him feeling nothing like a man of the streets, but more like a well-bred English gentleman.


    "My name is Perseus, I sincerely apologize for disturbing your lives, I¡¯ll leave straight away." The tramp politely stated that he would leave immediately.


    "Mr Perseus, you¡¯re not a tramp, are you?" But Arisa was beginning to feel interested in this well-mannered man. At sixteen years old, her curiosity was at its peak, she felt that this man must have some unknown story behind him, and was instantly even more curious about him.


    "Can you tell us about your past? Your mannerisms mean that you were once a very well-bred person, right?"


    Isaros wanted to speak but held back, she got the feeling that this person was not very normal.


    "I¡¯m very sorry, some natural-born characteristic of mine attracted you two, it was my mistake, and it¡¯s also our¡­ our race¡¯s self-defense ability¡­" Perseus smiled bitterly, "I am currently in a very troublesome situation, the best method is for me to leave right now, otherwise I might cause you a lot of trouble."


    "My Big Sis is really strong!" Arisa had seen how strong her sister could be, catching a blade with her bare hands was nothing, she had even faced down guns many times before, Isaros was in fact an elite fighter who had undergone White Phoenix¡¯s training regimes. She was herself a prodigy to start with, so those with average abilities could not hope to match her, even with guns.


    "Don¡¯t say that. There are many others stronger than me. Even Uncle Thomas¡¯ son, Garen, is stronger than me." She heard that Garen was training in combat every day as well, the last time she went to him for sparring, she was indeed no match for him, just in terms of fighting, Garen was strong enough to be a professional.


    "But you are strong, Big Sis." Arisa widened her eyes.


    "I think I should go now." Perseus stood up suddenly, and only then did the two of them notice his heavy British accent.


    Perseus wore a torn-up grey shirt, his jeans and shoes were both covered in a layer of grey-black, and the original white beneath it could just barely be seen.


    He quickly walked up to the kitchen window, holding up a tiny corner of the curtain to peep outside. There was the faint sound of a car engine approaching.


    "They¡¯re coming."


    "Is someone after you? Mr Perseus." Isaros could tell that his anxiety was real, "Do you want us to call the cops? The head officer in town is also a good friend of ours."


    "It doesn¡¯t matter if the police come¡­" Perseus smiled bitterly, "There¡¯s no more time, I¡¯ll be off now, thank you for your dinner."


    He quickly walked to the window on the other side of the kitchen, raising the curtains with a whoosh, then he jumped lightly, and instantly flew out of the window, vanishing from sight.


    Behind him, the sisters thought that their eyes were playing tricks on them, Arisa rubbed her eyes, and still could not see any trace of Perseus.


    "Don¡¯t dwell on it." Isaros had experienced a lot in life, and now she quickly calmed down, remembering those rumored supernatural phenomena. Alarms rang in her heart.


    She walked over and quickly closed the window, drawing the curtains.


    "Go wash up and sleep, just pretend we¡¯ve never seen this Mr Perseus."


    Arisa had been on the run with her sister for many years, so she knew when things were serious, and presently she nodded obediently without asking any more questions.


    The two sisters washed up with their respective thoughts, then they went back to their rooms and went to sleep wordlessly. But that Mr Perseus¡¯ figure was always wandering in their thoughts.


    ******************


    "Raffaele, there are Blood Breeds in town again."


    In an underground room in town, two young women were standing behind Raffaele, watching her as she went through some documents at her desk. The candlelight flickered, constantly emitting a pale golden halo of light, this light was just enough to cover the three of them, no more and no less. It formed a strange spherical space.


    "Which side are they from?" Raffaele picked up a document and asked casually.


    "There are some from the light party and the secret party." A black woman with many braids lowered her head and replied.


    "Are they the ones after Scarlet Moon?" Raffaele frowned, and immediately found it troublesome. "Grandma told me that the battle between the two sides is at its peak now, we can¡¯t interfere carelessly.


    "Then do we allow those Blood Breeds to just wreak havoc in our town?" That goes against our rules." The other white woman said grudgingly. Her older brother had been sucked dry by the Blood Breed¡¯s secret party, so after she became a witch, she harbored an unprecedented hatred towards the Blood Breed¡¯s secret party. She had always been one of those who supported taking a hard stance against the Blood Breed¡¯s secret party.


    "This is not a small matter." Raffaele tilted her face, her long golden hair shining in the candlelight. "As long as there is one Blood Breed with Scarlet Moon¡¯s blood, the Death Apostle Scarlet Moon will not die, so they will need to exterminate all the Blood Breeds with the Death Apostle¡¯s blood before they can truly eliminate Scarlet Moon. On that front, there is no way the secret party will back down, especially now that they have been greatly strengthened with two Death Apostles."


    "They won¡¯t compromise, so if we reject them, it might incite a war. This is something I can decide, as a leader of one territory."


    Raffaele stopped.


    "Inform them of our rules, as long as they don¡¯t cause widespread destruction, we will tolerate them. Otherwise, in order to survive, we will begin this war, that is our bottom line."


    "Understood."


    The two women left the circle of light and the underground room, wearing different expressions.


    Raffaele turned her head around, looking into the darkness ahead.


    "Grandma."


    It was pitch black there, but a pale old woman in a metal wheelchair slowly appeared from the shadows.


    She sat in a wheelchair, her face full of wrinkles like tree bark, but those eyes alone were extremely young, like the eyes of a teenage girl, pure and clean, as blue as the ocean.


    "Your decision was correct." The old woman nodded, "We must not be swept into the Blood Breeds¡¯ internal conflict, this is an unnatural storm, an unprecedented maelstrom, and it might very well decide the way of the world from now on. Before the Lion Mother makes her intention clear, we must make sure not to cross any boundaries."


    "What does the Lion Mother intend?" Raffaele asked.


    "All the leaders have yet to reach the old dame. The prophecy tells her that we have to wait a little longer." The old woman replied softly. "Before you become an upper level witch, don¡¯t be hasty. Your talent is the strongest of any I¡¯ve ever seen, you also have the most hope of reaching the upper level."


    Raffaele nodded quietly.


    These territory leaders, especially those in charge of border territories, were mostly middle level witches, this meant they were as powerful as middle level Blood Breeds. That sounded weak, but in truth that was extremely common, and they were actually stronger than average.


    The Blood Breeds that tended to fight with them were mostly vampires, it did not matter to the Blood Breeds how many of these cannon fodders were created, they used very, very little in the way of resources. But true Blood Breeds were a lot rarer. They were strong, noble, and due to their meager numbers, they lived easy and luxurious lives, so they would not easily reveal themselves. Most of them had assimilated with the humans, living the high life.


    They had long lives, great power, and most of them were officials in high positions, with high statuses. None of them would want to give up such comfortable lives, which was also why there were many more Blood Breeds in the light party than the secret party. Who would give up their peaceful lives, and run into one of violence and killing?


    So ninety percent of the ones who were active outside were all vampires, and occasionally there would be a lower level Blood Breed to control their promises and the conflicts with the witches.


    Under these circumstances, a middle level witch was already a very powerful presence.


    Most witches could only reach the level of disciple, and the better ones could reach the lower level, this meant they were capable of fighting lower level Blood Breeds. This already meant that they had unnatural power.


    Such witches were one in a hundred, they were already part of the core fighting force. And the powerful magical tool that had controlled the Grano witches were idolized and worshipped by the witches in other territories. The title of Sun¡¯s Will was not just for show, she had won it through tried and true battles and tests.


    "I understand." Raffaele nodded.


    The old woman nodded, satisfied, and once more disappeared into the darkness.


    Only Raffaele was left, deep in thought.


    ************************


    America, the state of Faya,


    The next morning, 11:22 am


    In a large white state bus headed to Grano.


    Everyone in the bus was groggy and sleepy, most of them were napping under the warm sunlight.


    Garen sat in his seat, watching the plains, roads, cars, and the occasional traveler on a bike all whisk past his window.


    After he got off the plane, he immediately got onto the bus, and after a few transits, he finally boarded this large tourist bus, full of people all going to Grano, although it was slower than usual, he did not have to transit anymore, so it was a lot less stressful.


    He was still holding that ancient scroll in his hand, but his thoughts were elsewhere.

 632 Troublesome 2

    Chapter 632: Troublesome 2


    It would be at least another month before the Black Uniforms¡¯ relics were transferred to him, and the situation was extremely troublesome.


    After the news of Levi¡¯s murder got out, his enemies and allies all made their moves, stealing the power and people who used to belong to the Black Uniforms, and many of their men had carried their secret to other organizations, most of the relics had been lost to outsiders.


    The Nighthawks were low on manpower and could not prevent all this from happening. All they could do was try to pick up the pieces little by little, Jay ran about here and there with his own little team, Garen had promised that he was solely in charge of the Black Uniform Organization¡¯s power and members, in other words, all the Black Uniforms would become a subsidiary of the Nighthawks under his watch. That way, he had no choice but to go all out, after all, the power getting away was all to be his in the future.


    Baldy, on the other hand, had gone back to recuperate, his wife had been in Europe on a mission, but when she heard that he was seriously injured, she rushed to Africa overnight to care for him, and now Garen had let them off on a vacation around the world.


    And now that woman with the black ponytail, Sandora, was in charge of the Nighthawks.


    While everything was still getting in order on this side, Garen also took the chance to hurry back to America, and visit his parents at home. After this he might have to delve into his training to deal with the mark of the Death Apostle.


    Suddenly there was a beeping from his phone, it was his message notification.


    ¡®Where are you now?¡¯


    It was a message from his father, Emmer.


    "Still on the road, I don¡¯t where either, but it will take at least four hours." Garen replied.


    ¡®We prepared beef chicken finger foie gras caviar soup to celebrate your first time coming home from university, it¡¯s a dish your mom¡¯s trying out. It tastes great with durian salad. You¡¯ll love it!¡¯


    Garen did not know what expression he should have.


    Just by the name itself, he could tell that the soup would definitely taste terrible, it was a soup will all meat and no vegetables at all. And there was that durian salad or something, just hearing about made his tongue feel heavy.


    ¡®Your mom has been studying nutrition recently, she thinks that by distilling most of the nutrients from meats and adding it to soup, we can get the nutrients needed without having to stuff ourselves, you¡¯ll love it once you get back.¡¯


    "What about Jason, what¡¯s he doing now?"


    ¡®He went to a Nohn state university, if you hadn¡¯t gone for the exam first, he should have gone before you. Oh yeah, after you left, Raffaele has been coming to visit a lot less frequently, but Arisa and her sister have been coming quite often, asking about you, do you want to consider choosing one of them?¡¯ This was followed by a pervy expression. ¡®I think Jason¡¯s got no chance.¡¯


    "I¡¯m still early, what¡¯s the rush?" Garen could not help but think of those two strange-looking sisters.


    They had many connections to the Primary Colors, and they had that strange air about them as well, as though they were the center of the world.


    "They¡¯re still okay, right?" He sent a message to ask.


    ¡®Not bad, Arisa¡¯s going to be in high school soon, together with little Vivien. Her older sister Isaros has many suitors, and she declared that the minimum requirement for anyone who wants to pursue her is they have to beat her head-on, didn¡¯t you beat her back then? Go for it! Don¡¯t be afraid! Your mom and I will be supporting you from behind!¡¯


    Garen could not be bothered to respond to this nonsense.


    "Have they acted strangely in any way?"


    ¡®Strangely? Nah, they¡¯re totally normal.¡¯


    "Let¡¯s discuss it when I get back." Garen replied finally.


    ¡®Sure.¡¯


    Breaking off his idle conversation with his dad Emmer, Garen quickly gave Raffaele a call.


    After a short moment of ringing, the other side picked up.


    ¡®Garen? You¡¯re coming back?¡¯ Raffaele¡¯s voice was as confident as ever.


    "How did you know? I¡¯m on the way back now. How have you been?"


    ¡®Not bad, you?"


    "Okay."


    Then there was a short silence, neither of them knew what to say.


    ¡®The town is a little chaotic recently, you shouldn¡¯t have come back now.¡¯ After the silence, Raffaele continued, ¡®Want me to accompany you around for a bit?¡¯


    "Chaotic? Hasn¡¯t Grano always been fine?" Garen heard something amiss, he actually already knew that Raffaele was probably a witch, so if even she said it was chaotic, then something serious must have happened.


    ¡®Some criminals on the run have infiltrated the town, the situation¡¯s not too great.¡¯


    "I¡¯ll leave once I see my parents, I won¡¯t be staying long anyway, so it¡¯ll be fine." Garen chuckled.


    ¡®How¡¯s school life?¡¯ Raffaele changed the subject.


    "Not bad, it¡¯s the same as always." The two of them fell quiet again.


    "Then I¡¯ll hang up now." Garen said first.


    ¡®Mm.¡¯


    The line broke off.


    Garen suddenly felt as though he did not have much to say with Raffaele anymore, before this they used to swim together, mess around together, they lived so near each other, and went to school together, but now they had nothing left in common.


    Putting down the phone, he suddenly felt a bit tired, so he closed his eyes and rested.


    "Sonny boy, you don¡¯t look so good."


    An old man sitting in front of him turned around to look at Garen, he seemed to have noticed Garen when trying to pick up something that he had dropped.


    Sitting in this bus, an exceptional-looking young man like Garen was definitely very eye-catching. For example, on the seats to his left, two young girls sitting next to each other kept peeking at him now and then.


    "I¡¯m fine, I just haven¡¯t gotten enough sun lately." Garen smiled politely.


    "Is that so?" The old man wore a round straw hat to block off the sun. He wore a thin floral print shirt and black shorts, looking every inch the fashionable geezer.


    "The last time I saw you, you were a lot better than you are now. I remember you could play the violin as well, right?" The old man said smilingly.


    "Violin?" Garen frowned. "Excuse me, do I know you?"


    "Didn¡¯t we meet last time?" The old man replied with a smile.


    His voice suddenly began to shake, twisting, blurring, becoming low and muffled.


    His face actually started to melt, dripping down like candle wax, dripping onto the floor of the bus, creating holes of different sizes at the bottom of the bus.


    Garen realized with some surprise that after the bottom of the bus was melted away, it did not reveal the high-speed freeway, but instead it showed a blurry mass of black.


    He did not know why he found the old man¡¯s face melting so natural, and was instead surprised by something else.


    His gaze could not help but gather on the black holes below, lowering his head, he could only see the old man¡¯s trousered bottom half from the corner of his eye.


    Strangely, when he wanted to focus and observe the details on the floor inside the bus, he could not focus at all, as though everything was a blur. There were no details, no patterns, no dust.


    Smack.


    He seemed to hear something.


    From the corner of his eye, he saw the old man stand up, turn around, face him, and stand motionlessly in front of him, then he suddenly lifted his leg and walked straight towards Garen.


    Garen suddenly felt an unprecedented wave of fear wash over him.


    He wanted to raise his head and look at the old man¡¯s face, but he could not move at all to complete such a simple task, he could only keep his head lowered.


    The old man¡¯s body grew closer and closer, closer and closer, and the yellow wax dripping from his upper half also grew closer.


    "What¡¯s happening here?" It was as though there was a veil over Garen¡¯s heart, his thoughts were very slow, like a baby moving on instinct, he had completely lost his ability to think, and could only watch as the old man approached him.


    Bam!


    There was an intense jolt, and Garen abruptly opened his eyes.


    Phew¡­!


    He leaned back in his seat, and stared wide-eyed at the empty seat in front of him, there was no one there at all. There was only a young woman sitting in the seats even further front, and her head was tilted as she slept.


    There was the mumble of complaints in the bus for the jerking around just now.


    "Sorry, I didn¡¯t notice a rock in the middle of the road just now, so I just went over it." The driver apologized loudly.


    Only then did Garen realize that he had fallen asleep, and all that was just a dream.


    He touched his forehead, it was completely dripping wet.


    He looked at the back of the seat in front of him again, closely, there was an ad with a beautiful woman messing with her head and posing, one hand raised up, the other hand on her waist, and she wore nothing but a blue dress with a low neckline. There was a line of small words next to it: Ancient Eastern methods, to give you back your purity.


    Underneath that, they introduced the various effects, the main services being painless flow and repairing the virgin¡¯s *...


    There was a black stain on the unknown noun, he didn¡¯t know what it was that dyed the ad. Beside it, someone had written in black ink: F*ck you!


    A strange sense of happiness instantly washed away Garen¡¯s previous indescribable emotion, he settled his heart, and touched the material on the back of the seat, it felt rough, like raincoat material.


    He looked to the left, and saw a middle-aged couple leaning on each other as they slept, there was no young girl at all.


    "What was that just now? If I wasn¡¯t awoken by the jolt of the bus, what could have happened?" As soon as Garen thought that, there was an indescribable panic in his heart, as though his very soul was facing some huge threat.


    ¡®You must realize you¡¯re dreaming while in a dream.¡¯ AG¡¯s words resurfaced in his heart.


    "How do I tell that I¡¯m dreaming when I¡¯m in a dream?" Garen thought back to all that had happened, that unprecedented sense of danger and panic did not feel false at all, if that thing that did not seem human really did touch him, then what happened to him next might really have hurt his soul.


    That was the natural warning from his Soul Seed, it was not false.


    After this contact, he knew that the person he suspected to be a Death Apostle had made his move, that dream he just had was an attack! A very dangerous attack!


    Garen concluded in his heart, taking out a tissue to wipe the sweat off his forehead.


    If he wanted to know that he was dreaming while in a dream, then following one of AG¡¯s methods, he could determine the difference using details, that was where the biggest difference between reality and dreams lay. Dreams were illusory, because they were constructed based on a human¡¯s own memories, these constructions could not be too intricate, so there would definitely be some blurred or unpresented details. That was why right now, he should be able to tell that he was not in a dream.


    Garen wiped his face with his hands, for the first time, he felt as though he could not fight back at all, and was completely ambushed by another entity.


    He looked at his attribute pane, and the number in his Spirit pane had actually dropped¡­


    From 2.4 to 2.3, it had dropped a whole 0.1.


    "As I thought¡­ That attack just now was really¡­" Garen also saw a new icon, like pitch black mist, behind his Condition pane.


    The instant his gaze moved onto it, an inexplicable piece of information flowed into his heart.


    ¡®Nightmare Weakening: The terror of the dream will constantly reduce the main body¡¯s qualities over five days, until all the attributes have dropped by an average of 0.1. The curse will last forever and has no time limitations, and the deactivation method is unknown. Warning! This curse can be stacked on!¡¯


    "Nightmare Weakening! ¡­" For the first time, for the first time ever, Garen personally felt how powerful and troublesome his opponent was.

 633 Void 1

    Chapter 633: Void 1


    An attack method outside of what he knew, outside the areas he was familiar with, to Garen, this truly was a very troublesome matter.


    Although he was not afraid of anything, and the Slaughtering Hand on both his hands had some effect, he still was not primed to deal with this.


    "Just a split second¡¯s time is enough to pull me into this dream, this ability really is very troublesome." Garen sat up straight.


    Nothing else happened on the way back, and although Garen was constantly on high alert, nothing else out of ordinary occurred all the way until he reached home.


    Several hours later, the large bus slowly arrived in Grano, the surroundings turning to lush green forests. Some places were already yellowing, it was autumn now, and there was the faint fragrance of fruit in the air.


    When he got off the bus, his older brother Jason was already waiting for him at the bus station, he stood in the crowd, tall and muscular, like a rugby player in a group of dwarves.


    "Hey!!" As soon as he saw Garen, he started yelling loudly, waving his hand hard, attracting the gazes of everyone around him.


    "Mom¡¯s waiting for us over there, in the car." Jason rushed over in a few steps, and took Garen¡¯s luggage.


    "You¡¯ve gotten so muscular." Garen hammered his chest, it felt a lot more solid.


    "Twelve sets of mixed training every day!" Jason chortled.


    Trish, who was sitting in the driver¡¯s seat, was wearing a white lady¡¯s shirt, and waved at them.


    The two of them ducked into the car, Garen sitting in front, while Jason was pushed to the back.


    "Let¡¯s go home!" Trish said with a laugh, and she hit the gas, sending the car rushing forward, then she turned around the bend and drove on home.


    The town was barely different than before, but most of the wooden houses had a new layer of paint, all white and bright.


    The car drove extremely slowly, some of the uncles and older sisters from houses by the roads nearby kept greeting Trish, and Trish replied happily each time.


    Going past the suburbs, they entered many streets, there were a lot of accessory and crafts shops by the streets, and a great many more passersby. Most of them were unfamiliar, and quite a few carried cameras around their necks, they were evidently tourists.


    "Hey."


    A few pretty young girls on bicycles slowed down when passing by Trish¡¯s car.


    One of them was actually Raffaele.


    "You¡¯re back?" She tied up her long golden hair, and was wearing a white T-shirt and long black trousers, a smile in her eyes.


    "Mm." Garen reached out his hand, outside the car window, the two of them gave each other a light high-five.


    "Aunty, we¡¯ll be going on ahead." Raffaele smiled at Trish as she said that.


    "Have fun." Trish was not very happy with Raffaele, that girl had actually turned down the opportunity to go to university, to Trish¡¯s family, that was something they could not quite understand.


    Compared to Raffaele, she was more inclined to Isaros, that girl had a good education, and was more suited to their family¡¯s pace and ideals.


    The row of girls in bikes formed a procession, going past the slow-moving saloon cars, and soon they disappeared down the road ahead in the midst of tinkling laughter.


    Garen watched their backs and said nothing. He knew that Raffaele had come over to protect him, and that was no coincidental meeting.


    "Let¡¯s go, we¡¯re going home straight away." Trish glanced at Garen, and sped up, driving home.


    *****************


    After they got back, Garen gathered with his family for a bit, discussing some of the things that had happened in school, and ate the so-called feast, even though the taste was barely bearable.


    His little Vivien kept sending messages on her phone, and she did not dress as innocently as she used to, now she had a cooler and more fierce look, plus she was no longer as warm and uninhibited with her older brother, and instead treated him with an inexplicable shyness that he did not understand.


    "Serin went to a school in the north, didn¡¯t she call you when she left?"


    "No. It¡¯s been a long time since I had any contact with her." Garen dealt with his mother¡¯s questions.


    "I hear she found a boyfriend, a real beefed-up fellow." Jason paid more attention to the other person¡¯s muscles. He never ever forgot for a second to show off his powerful muscles, "Not as beefed-up as me, though." He flexed his biceps.


    "You must be tired after the journey, why don¡¯t you clean up and go to bed early." Trish noticed that Garen was distracted.


    "Alright." Garen nodded.


    He chatted a bit with his father Emmer, then he put down his cutlery and went straight to his bed, it was exactly the same, nothing in the room at all had changed since he left.


    His blankets were new, pure white silk covers.


    Garen collapsed onto the bed.


    For some reason, he felt very sleepy, and very tired. This was extremely abnormal.


    With his Vitality, forget a few hours on the road, he could go a few days and nights without getting tired.


    But right now he did indeed feel extremely exhausted, he could barely keep his eyes open, and wanted so badly to just fall into bed and sleep it off.


    He checked his body¡¯s condition, but could not find anything out of the ordinary.


    Closing his eyes and lying on his bed, he allowed his breathing to slowly even out.


    Suddenly, his bedroom door was flung open. Someone walked in.


    "What¡¯s the matter? Are you that tired? Big Bro, you don¡¯t look so good."


    It was Vivien, her golden hair was falling over her shoulders, and she wore a feisty black T-shirt and white hot pants, revealing her long, rounded, and fair legs. She was sixteen, the purest and prettiest age.


    She pounced down on Garen¡¯s left, sprawling onto the bed.


    "Bro, did something go wrong between you and Raffaele?"


    "Kids shouldn¡¯t be so nosy." Garen was too lazy to even open his eyes, closing his eyes and lying on his back as he replied. "Do you have a boyfriend now?"


    "No! That sort of thing is too boring, I don¡¯t care either way." Vivien curled a lock of hair around her finger, "Elder Brother found one, though, from out of town."


    "Out of town?"


    "Yeah. A real decent-looking girl." Vivien described frankly.


    "Hey, be polite."


    "Yeah, yeah. Forget it, you go ahead and sleep, I¡¯ll go back to my room now." There was the sound of Vivien getting up, and then he heard the door closing, her footsteps moving further away slowly.


    Garen lay on the bed, unwilling to move.


    "Oh yeah, Bro!" Suddenly Vivien¡¯s voice rang out again, and his room door was opened then closed, the footsteps rapidly approaching.


    "What now?" Garen¡¯s head hurt slightly, all he wanted now was a little time to himself so he could consider his condition.


    "Do you think I look good today?"


    "Yes, yes.." Garen replied half-heartedly, "Little Vivien is always the prettiest and cutest."


    "You said that without even opening your eyes."


    Exasperated, Garen was about to open his eyes when he suddenly sensed something amiss, he could not open his eyes at all, as though he could not exert any force with his eyelids, his body was stiff and immobile, all he could do was lie frozen on the bed.


    His thoughts had grown slower, as though he evidently knew how to get out of this situation, but he just could not remember what to do.


    "Here it is again¡­"


    His heart gave a jolt.


    He could not defend at all against this attack on his consciousness, there was no rhyme or reason to it, just a split second was enough to put him under.


    "Bro, you don¡¯t look so good." Vivien¡¯s voice reached his ears, "You sick?"


    "Maybe, I don¡¯t know either." Garen replied.


    "Forget it, I¡¯m going to go bathe." Vivien seemed to have gotten angry, and then he heard her footsteps going away.


    The room suddenly fell silent.


    Garen lay in bed alone, his entire body as though cramped, he could not move at all, neither could he open his eyes.


    In the silence, he suddenly heard faint footsteps, calmly approaching his bedside.


    That person seemed to be walking towards him, closer, closer and closer, closer and closer.


    The footsteps only stopped beside his bed, the other person seemed to be staring at him.


    Phew¡­


    There was the sound of a faint exhalation.


    Garen felt that person seem to reach out their hands, lightly grabbing for his face.


    Boom!!!


    In an instant, a power like a cloud of flames erupted from Garen¡¯s arms, this power burned like an intense invisible fire, slowly spreading all over Garen¡¯s body.


    In that moment, Garen felt as though all the skin on the surface of his body erupted with a burning hot flame, and that flame reached that person¡¯s hands directly.


    Scree!!


    He seemed to hear a sharp scream, like the cry of a mouse. And then he opened his eyes.


    With a whoosh, everything from before vanished in an instant, as though it was all just an illusion.


    Garen felt his whole body was soaking wet, as though he had sweated profusely. He sniffled a little, and vaguely smelled a faint fragrance coming from his left. Turning his head over, he saw little Vivien lying on the bed to his left, she had fallen asleep just sprawled there, and goodness knows when she had come in.


    Lifting his upper body slightly, Garen felt the sweat flowing down his hairline and forehead, tickling him.


    He did not like this feeling, rather than face-to-face brawls to the death, this feeling that he could be ambushed at any time was much worse.


    He sensed the life force left in his arms, he had already used up a third of it.


    It was that explosion just now that managed to critically injure his opponent.


    But Garen sensed that it would not be that simple.


    Leaving his bedroom, he saw that the light in the study was still on, but he did not know who was inside.


    He walked to the washroom, taking the towel and wiping the sweat from his body.


    All of a sudden, he saw that in the crevice of his right collarbone, there was a tiny line of black words.


    He instantly froze his wiping movement, those were words he recognized.


    "Ancient Endor words?" Garen touched the line of letters on his right shoulder.


    It was as though they had somehow been tattooed on, he could not erase them no matter what.


    "The one that defeated us, was the unknown Void¡­" In a soft voice, he translated the meaning behind this sentence. "What does that mean?"


    The Ancient Endor civilization was closely related to the Warlocks¡¯ legacy, they were powerful and mysterious, pursuing the path of Death into the Underworld, for a moment they were incomparably powerful, but as though overnight, they disappeared without a trace.


    If he recalled correctly, these words were not there when he bathed last night, in other words, they just appeared today.


    Garen watched the ink and material in these words carefully, the black words had a hint of black-red, like dried blood.

 634 Void 2

    Chapter 634: Void 2


    For some reason, looking at these words, he vaguely found them slightly familiar, as though he had seen them somewhere before, but for now he could not remember where from.


    "Ancient Endor¡­ Black blood writing¡­ They just appeared today, the Slaughtering Hand activated automatically¡­" He could be certain that he did not control that sudden activation of the Slaughtering Hand, at first he had thought that it was the secret technique¡¯s instinctive self-defense mechanism, but now he felt it was not that simple.


    He bent down and used his hands to splash some water from the tap into his face, instantly feeling a lot more awake.


    "Could it be Black Sethe?" He felt that these words seemed to be speaking from an Ancient Endor point of view.


    The thing that destroyed Ancient Endor, was an unknown Void¡­


    "Looking at it that way, it makes a little sense. I¡¯m practicing the Slaughtering Hand, so strictly speaking, I¡¯m also one of the inheritors to the Ancient Endor legacy, perhaps there is a hint of Black Sethe¡¯s soul left in this secret technique."


    Garen remembered all that black mist that had gathered into the secret technique after Black Sethe was defeated. Remnants of Black Sethe¡¯s soul could easily have mingled in with it.


    If these were the words Black Sethe left behind, that would be very likely.


    The more Garen thought about it, the more he thought it was possible.


    Suddenly he remembered that when he found the original version of the Slaughtering Hand secret technique back then, the words on it were exactly the same as the ones just now!


    "Black Sethe¡­" He murmured Black Sethe¡¯s name in the Ancient Endor language, he could be certain that these words were left behind by Black Sethe, and that power just now was probably also Black Sethe lending him a hand.


    He reached out his hand to touch the words on his right shoulder.


    All of a sudden, without any foreshadowing, the words blurred slightly, and actually rapidly turned to brand new words.


    ¡®You guessed right, I am Black Sethe.¡¯


    Garen¡¯s heart gave a jolt.


    Black Sethe, one of Ancient Endor¡¯s 42 Demon Kings, he used to have that unprecedented position, he was one of the 42 people at the very peak of the civilization, so powerful that he was considered non-human, and honored as one of the 42 Demon Kings.


    "You¡¯re still alive?" Garen asked him quietly in the Ancient Endor language, suppressing the confusion and surprise in his heart.


    ¡®This is just a portion of the memories I left behind. My real soul had rotted a long time ago, the real me died several millennia ago.¡¯ The black blood writing blurred and changed again. ¡®I need your strength to maintain normal conversation, with my own power alone, I can¡¯t last long¡­¡¯


    "No problem."


    Garen did not hesitate at all, this was his first contact with an important figure from the Ancient Endor civilization, he had too many questions and mysteries he needed answered.


    Without any hesitation, he moved wisps of life force from his arms, allowing them to move down his arms and biceps, rapidly gathering at his right shoulder.


    ¡®Alright, that¡¯s enough.¡¯ Black Sethe¡¯s words appeared again, ¡®If you have any questions, ask away.¡¯


    "What do you mean by what you said just now?" Garen asked in the Ancient Endor language. "Ancient Endor was destroyed by an unknown Void? What does that mean?"


    ¡®Haven¡¯t you already been targeted?¡¯


    "What? You mean by the Blood Breed Death Apostle?" Garen replied with a question.


    ¡®Death Apostle? What¡¯s that? No no no¡­ the thing targeting you is a Void Creature, not the so-called Death Apostle." Black Sethe replied quickly, the words changing again. ¡®Back then, the Void Creatures warred against the Warlocks, fighting over domination over the world, but it ended badly for both sides, both sustained damage as never before, they are our arch enemies.¡¯


    "Void Creatures?" That was the first time Garen heard that noun, "Are they creatures from the Underworld?"


    ¡®No, the Underworld is the Underworld, that is the theoretical world we¡¯ve been chasing all our lives, there might not really an Underworld at all, our culture believes that there is a source to the Mother Stream, eternal and everlasting, forever flowing with power, that is the place we call the Underworld. That is the end of death, the source of the purest life, we want to go there, but only those who do not wish to live would want to enter the Underworld while alive.¡¯


    It was the first time Garen heard such an explanation, he had always thought that this Underworld referred to the Underworld in legends.


    "That what do you mean by Void Creatures? And what was that war you mentioned? Could you elaborate?"


    ¡®Those were two unprecedentedly powerful wars.¡¯ Black Sethe paused, ¡®Warlocks controlled everything, treating creatures from all other races as slaves, regardless of whether they were sentient or not. The Warlocks were at the very top, their power was limitless, their lives long and vast. In their exploration of the very fabric of life, they went further and further, eventually breaking past the world barrier, descending and infiltrating new worlds one after the other, that time in history, was also one of our most glorious eras. However¡­¡¯


    "However what?"


    ¡®While exploring a new world once, the Warlocks encountered pioneers just like them, those were the Void Creatures.¡¯ Black Sethe¡¯s tone was lonely as he described, ¡®The Void Creatures are powerful and greedy, they have an endless desire for domination, as soon as the two sides made contact, they began to attack each other in unison, and this lasted almost ten million years. It lasted until both sides sustained heavy losses, even losing all their legacies. That was the first war.¡¯


    ¡®And then several millennia later, our Ancient Endor slowly recovered some of our glory as Warlocks, this time we respected and worshipped the Mother Stream, and the Underworld, so we trod carefully and thoughtfully. And this time, the Void Creatures were the ones who came after us.¡¯


    "Did you win or lose?"


    ¡®In order to exterminate the Void Creatures¡¯ world, we incited the wrath of the Mother Stream, and nobody could have predicted what happened next, the wrath of the Mother Stream was far too terrifying, the Void Creatures were completely wiped out, and we were also swallowed by a huge force, the whole civilization became history overnight. Melding into part of the Mother Stream.¡¯


    Black Sethe seemed to be getting tired.


    ¡®The Void Creatures consider us enemies, they swore to hunt us down generation after generation until eternity. They swore on the name of the Mother Stream, that any creatures who inherited the civilization of the Warlocks would become their beacon in the darkness. They will follow you in your dreams, continuously attacking you, until you die.¡¯


    "What kind of an existence are they?" Garen frowned. "In this world, the powerful Blood Breeds, the Death Apostles, have an attack that is very much like theirs."


    ¡®The Blood Breed¡¯s Death Apostles? I never met them, if you can find me an example, I might be able to give you some suggestions. But I don¡¯t think they¡¯re Void Creatures.¡¯ Black Sethe replied.


    "Why?" Garen retorted.


    ¡®Because they are greedy and powerful, but they do not exist in a normal world, they are creatures who exist in the crevice between illusion and reality, the weak ones are about the same as a secret technique user at best, the strong ones can even destroy whole worlds. Can you tell me what kind of life form is this Death Apostle of the Blood Breeds you speak of?¡¯


    Garen explained everything he knew about the Blood Breed¡¯s Death Apostles in the Ancient Endor language.


    Black Sethe mused for a while.


    ¡®They¡¯re somewhat similar, but they¡¯re not the same, the Death Apostles¡¯ ability has a fundamental difference, the two of them have different systems.¡¯


    "How so? They both attack creatures through dreams, right?" Garen frowned.


    ¡®No, it¡¯s not the same.¡¯ Black Sethe explained, ¡®Death Apostles control the dreams formed by creatures themselves and sneak in, controlling their target¡¯s thoughts. The Void Creatures, however, create illusions, not just dreams, and they can forcefully drag other creatures into the illusions they create, or it might even a product of a mixture of illusion and reality.¡¯


    ¡®The power of the Void Creatures¡¯ lies mainly in confusing you as to whether they¡¯re real or not, whether you¡¯re living in an illusion or reality. Both are fundamentally different.¡¯


    With that explanation, Garen understood.


    "In that case, how can I be sure that my conversation with you now is actually taking place in reality, and is not actually an illusion?" He asked suddenly.


    ¡®The Void Creatures¡¯ illusions have an important characteristic, which is that they fear life force. You can try channeling the life force in your arms all over your body, that way you can fight their attacks to a certain extent.¡¯


    Black Sethe did not stop, continuing on.


    ¡®Their moves are somewhat similar to the Death Apostles of this world, but they are not the same, only the effect seems similar. I suspect they noticed you when you entered the Mother Stream, and that was when they targeted you, following you here.¡¯


    "Why do you say so?"


    ¡®Because they have yet to fully enter this world yet, they just sensed your scent, they¡¯re still slowly corroding and settling in this world. That¡¯s why their power is so weak.¡¯


    "This is weak¡­" Garen was speechless, "If what you say is true, that I was the one who brought this thing to this world, is that so?"


    ¡®Indeed, they are using you as their location marker, and with every dream illusory attack, they are constantly settling their place in this world. This connection is established through the link of the ancient oath. You can also sense their position similarly.¡¯


    "Then you all would have methods to deal with the Void Creatures, right? And the complete legacy of the Warlocks."


    ¡®You want that?¡¯


    "Of course."


    ¡®Then you must agree on one condition for me, or rather, give me a promise. An Eternal Oath to the Mother Stream. You must dedicate everything to completing an Eternal Oath, or else you will forever be cursed by the Mother Stream. Reply to me when you¡¯ve thought it over.¡¯ Black Sethe¡¯s words instantly faded and vanished.


    "An Eternal Oath¡­"


    Wiping the water off his face, Garen walked out of the washroom.


    He slowly released some of the life force in his arms, allowing it to flow all over his body, and he instantly felt a lot more awake, as though his senses had suddenly gotten a lot clearer.


    He just had a lot of information dumped onto him, so he needed some time to digest it properly, the fact that Black Sethe¡¯s remaining soul or rather his memory had awoken, the existence of the Void Creatures, the fact that they were not the Death Apostles, but rather an enemy he had brought into this world himself. He needed time to think over all of these things.


    It was highly unlikely that this was false, after all even if Death Apostles could control dreams, these were all things he would not be able to know, and it was impossible for them to instantly learn the Ancient Endor language, before this, Garen had never before used this language in front of outsiders.

 635 Mission 1

    Chapter 635: Mission 1


    Back in his room, Black Sethe never came out again.


    Garen sat on his bed alone, looking over his Attribute pane. Without him realizing, his spirit, also known as Intelligence, had decreased once again from 2.4 to 2.2, by 0.2 points.


    "No, the decrease should only be 0.1 isn''t it?" Garen remembered the hint he had seen before.


    Then, he noticed the change in the Nightmare Weakening icon.


    ¡®Nighmare Weakening 2: A superimposition in the Weakening. Permanent decrease by an average of 0.2 points every five days. Effects cannot be undone.''


    He quickly stood up while switching on the light and walked to a full-length mirror.


    "Trouble has come¡­" Garen''s eyebrows were furrowed.


    Previously he''d thought it was temporary but now it seemed to be permanent!


    His attributes were accumulated little by little through training since he was small. Even 0.1 point needed one of his potential points. All of a sudden he lost two 0.1 points which were equivalent to two potential points!


    "Is there a way to get rid of it? Black Sethe."


    He muttered to the mirror using Ancient Ender language.


    ¡®Make the vow and I will tell you how to lift the curse'' Black Sethe''s handwriting appeared on his reflection''s right shoulder.


    ¡®Let me remind you, once the third Nightmare Weakening superimposition arrives, your body will weaken once again, and more seriously. However, your vigilance is something worth commending. Only a little change and you realize it this soon. I expected that you would need two more days to notice it.''


    He paused.


    ¡®You need to be careful. This kind of change is irreversible. Once it''s too late, even I cannot restore what you lost. That''s why you must make your decision soon.''


    "What kind of vow do you want me to make?" Garen asked.


    ¡®A very simple vow yet a very difficult one.'' Black Sethe did not keep him in suspense. ¡®Pursue and kill Void Creatures until they are completely erased, no matter which world! Swear in the name of the Mother Stream!'' His hatred for the Void Creatures could be felt in his handwriting.


    "Is there a time limit?" Garen unexpectedly did not care about the content of this vow.


    ¡®Of course not. However, a vow in the name of Mother Stream requires you to complete it wholeheartedly. The hatred from the whole civilization will be passed on to you and you will inherit it involuntarily to kill and to pursue the existence of Void Creatures.'' Black Sethe seemed quite candid about this. ¡®I don''t want you to regret it.''


    "Do I have a choice?" Garen asked.


    Black Sethe was silent.


    ¡®Indeed not.''


    Void Creature had come for Garen and had taken a shot at him. Since this was the case, there was no need for Garen to hesitate.


    "I promise you, in the name of Mother Stream, to kill Void Creatures for life until they are annihilated completely!"


    Garen answered in a low voice.


    ¡®In the name of Ancient Ender. The soul of the warlocks will look out for you! They are supervisors yet also supporters. Their gazes are upon you and when it''s necessary, you may summon their main body in the Mother Stream to help you in your fight.'' Black Sethe replied.


    "They are still alive?"


    ¡®No, those are just traces of their past imprinted in the records of the Mother Stream. However, their strong thoughts will allow them to respond to your summon. Countless heroes, former gods and us, the forty-two Demon Kings together with all those who swear to destroy the Void Creatures will respond to your summon.'' Black Sethe answered solemnly. His voice was as though it gave off the feeling of a mission that spanned from the distant past.


    Garen also felt an incomparably heavy pressure.


    "How do I make this vow?" No matter what, he needed to solve this Nightmare Weakening curse.


    ¡®Swear with your Soul Seed. Let it vibrate.'' Black Sethe''s handwriting reappeared.


    Garen went silent for a while.


    Only then, his voice slowly sounded out.


    "I swear with my Soul Seed¡­" Just as his voice came out, the Soul Seed in his mind vibrated, as though this sentence contained a particular meaning. Weirdly, when he said it in the language of Ancient Ender, his tone sounded as though he was singing a song.


    ¡®For eternity, pursue and kill Void Creatures, until they are exterminated.''


    "For eternity, pursue and kill Void Creatures, until they are exterminated!" Garen said it out loud according to Black Sethe''s handwriting.


    At that instant, he could feel that something in between his eyebrows split and fly out into the air and disappeared. He did not know what that was but the sense of separation made him feel uncomfortable.


    ¡®That is True Soul.'' A man''s low voice sounded beside his ear.


    Garen squinted his eyes, hesitation reflected on his face.


    "Are you Black Sethe?" he whispered.


    ¡®Of course, you swore with your Soul Seed and in the name of Mother Stream. Ancient Ender language has the ability to resonate with the universe and is one of the most mysterious languages. So, your oath succeeded. A bit of your True Soul separated and returned to the Mother Stream. It became a trace that is imprinted in the Mother Stream.'' Black Sethe said, ¡®This way, my imprint is able to communicate with your imprint directly through the Mother Stream, achieving a phenomenon as though I am talking to you directly.''


    He paused.


    ''This way, when you returned to the Mother River in the future, the future generation can also summon your main body through your imprint.''


    "Will this affect me?" Garen frowned.


    ¡®Not much of an influence. This is only a sign that you are part of our inheritance. The Ancient Ender and the Ancient Warlocks are different. We believe in the Eternal Mother Stream, the mysterious and unchanging Underworld. Therefore, you are now a true successor.'' Black Sethe''s deep hoarse voice contained a certain charm.


    "Is there any meaning to all this?" Garen was puzzled.


    ¡®Of course, there is a meaning.''


    Black Sethe suddenly fell silent.


    Hiss¡­


    Suddenly, Garen found that all over his body, there were strands of black smoke gathering and condensing behind him.


    Very quickly, the black smoke formed an obscure dark figure.


    The figure was over two meters tall, taller than him, His body was made of smoke with only two red eyes in its head.


    ¡®In the name of Mother Stream, you are now granted a new destiny, Void Pursuer.''


    Black Sethe used his alluring voice to say out this sentence.


    In that instant, Garen felt that his body had become heavy. He felt as though he was wearing armor yet he could not felt anything at the same time.


    He felt his skin burning, as though something with a rough surface was chafing his skin.


    ¡®Within five days, find and kill the Void Creature that cursed you and your weakening will be eliminated. This also serves as your trial.'' Black Sethe said.


    "What''s the use? I mean this Void Pursuer identity." Garen moved his body, feeling no changes.


    ¡®Without this identity, you will not be able to get rid of your weakening even if you kill the Void Creature. This is a kind of soul illness, a soul disease.''


    After Black Sethe finished talking, his body dissipated and turned into a clump of black gas floating in the air.


    ¡®You have awakened me and practiced my Secret Techniques. To a certain extent, you can summon my imprint in the Mother Stream easily. That is if you want to.


    His voice was coming from the ball of black gas.


    "We''ll talk about it later." Garen did not give a direct response. "This means you will work with me in the future?"


    ¡®If you''re willing.''


    The ball of black gas condensed into a black ring. The surface was inlaid with two red lines made with red jewels.


    The ring floated in front of Garen. He caught the ring and wore it on his left hand''s middle finger.


    ¡®I can help you guard against the Void Creature''s attacks to a certain extent and when you summon my imprint, the cost will be lower.''


    "What is the cost of summoning?"


    ¡®It can be anything, Mother Stream is not picky as long as there is the energy of life. But you have to be careful not to overdo it because it may consume your lifespan, not the lifespan belonging to your flesh body but your soul''s lifespan.'' Black Sethe reminded him. ¡®After this, I will impart you the key to deal with Void Creatures. There is no need to hurry, the creature will come for you soon, I will help at that time¡­''


    The voice faded away.


    Garen stood in front of the full-length mirror while rubbing the black ring on his finger.


    He suspected that Black Sethe was still concealing something. In the beginning, Black Sethe was planning to take over his body but was ultimately defeated. Now, he came out to help him on his own volition without seeking anything in return. This made him even more wary.


    However, the attack of the Void Creatures was imminent and he had to resort to using his power.


    "No hurry, I''ll deal with it when it comes. Any attempt will reveal itself." Garen looked forward to even more Potential points. As long as there were sufficient Potential points, he would be able to get stronger and reached an extreme point where it might be possible to find the key to deal with Void Creatures.


    He glanced at his Attribute Pane.


    At the bottom, a new title called Void Pursuer was there.


    ¡®Void Pursuer: Successor of Ancient Ender, the mortal enemy of Void Creatures. Has the ability to heal and become stronger through plundering the core of Void Creatures. It is an ability granted by the mysterious Ancient Ender.''


    *****************


    "Arisa, please hand me my towel."


    Isaros shouted from the bathroom.


    "Alright." Arisa put down the fashion magazine in her hand, got up from her bed and ran over to the bathroom on the other end of the living room.


    Grabbing her sister''s white towel, she went exited the bathroom and instinctively glanced at the front door. There was a faint fishy odor.


    "What''s that smell?" She whispered. Slowing down her pace, she crept over to the front door.


    Suddenly, she saw some sort of red liquid flowing in through the gap in the door.


    "This is¡­" She squatted down to touch the liquid with her hand and sniffed.


    "It''s blood!" She exclaimed.


    "Sis!!"

 636 Mission 2

    Chapter 636: Mission 2


    In the bathroom, Isaros was startled. She''d heard her little sister''s shrill voice. Not waiting for her hair to dry, she rushed out of the bathroom wrapped in a bath towel. She ran to her sister in the living room while barefooted.


    She saw Arisa squatting by the front door looking nervously at her.


    "Sis, it''s blood!" Arisa lowered her voice volume. She''d experienced several years of being hunted down with her sister, and naturally, she had more experience than the people her age.


    "It came in through the door," Arisa added.


    Isaros nodded. She went over and crouched down. Stretching out her hand, she touched the blood and sniffed.


    "Open the door." She adjusted her body to the best position and said to Arisa.


    The latter nodded and carefully opened the door.


    Creak¡­after a very slight sound.


    A bloody figure was lying down outside the front door.


    Isaros who had prepared herself went over and slightly kicked the bloody figure.


    "This man seems a little familiar..."


    The bloody man laid motionless on the ground, seemingly unconscious.


    "Sis, this man seems to be that Mister Vagabond¡­?" Arisa said cautiously.


    "That Pu-something¡­" Isaros was reminded of him, the mysterious homeless guy she saw before.


    "He must have met some trouble¡­he lost a lot of blood, we have to help him!" Arisa said. Her compassionate heart was triggered again, especially towards someone she had met before.


    "Arisa, we must not cause trouble." Isaros said seriously, "The skill this person displayed last time, not even I can deal with it. If there is someone who can injure him to this extent, then that person is not someone we can cope with. This is beyond my ability, we must send him out."


    "But sis, he''s hurt this badly¡­" Arisa also knew this situation was too much for them, but she could not bear to leave this man lying here unconscious with his injuries. "He''s going to die!"


    She pleaded, "After we wake him up, we can let him go, please?"


    "This is already more than I can handle," Isaros said seriously.


    "But Sis¡­he''s hurt so badly, he''s going to die¡­" Arisa crouched beside the man and pleaded softly.


    Looking at her little sister''s teary eyes, Isaros finally relented and nodded.


    "Fine, drag him inside quickly, I''ll handle the traces of blood!"


    "Yay! Sis is the best!" Arisa knew that the situation was very serious. She immediately started dragging the man to the living room slowly.


    Isaros got a mop to clean up the blood and sprayed some air freshener. Her action was as though she was used to it. She looked around carefully and only then she closed the door.


    "The plan was to meet up with the Thomas family''s bro Garen." Isaros frowned while looking at her little sister wiping the blood from the man''s face.


    "We must send him to the hospital!" Arisa also frowned, but she was looking at the wounds on the man''s body. She used to deal with her sister''s wounds and was very experienced in this field.


    Carefully inspecting the wounds, Arisa gave out her judgment.


    "Seem to be wounds from the claws of a beast. The wounds are deep but they''ll heal well."


    She quickly found disinfectant, gauze, and bandages.


    "We can only do some first aid and send him to the hospital immediately."


    "No!"


    The man suddenly woke up with his eyes wide open and grasped at Arisa''s wrist.


    "Don''t¡­go¡­hospital¡­"


    His cleaned up face was handsome yet pale. There was no trace of blood, on the contrary, his face was pale green and traces of black could be seen.


    Both his eyes were bloodshot. His gaze contained desire and was locked on Arisa''s white wrist, specifically on the blood vessels standing out against her pale skin.


    However, rationality stopped him from doing so.


    Trying very hard to turn away his line of sight, he loosened his hold on Arisa''s hand with an apologetic look. The sisters seemed to be a little frightened.


    "Sorry, seems like I scared you just now. My condition right now is very weak, very weak. So sorry, I''ll leave immediately. I won''t bring trouble to you girls."


    He struggled to stand up but it was useless. As soon as he stood up, with a snap, his body fell to a side.


    "Ah!" Arisa exclaimed while covering her mouth.


    The man''s left knee bone broke with a crack sound and bent into an unnatural angle towards the back.


    "Never mind, it''s going to heal soon." The man did not seem to mind his broken bones at all and sat down on the floor. "It''s going to heal very soon¡­ no problem."


    "Your leg¡­!!" Arisa did not know what to say. Her wide opened eyes kept staring at the indifferent man, her heart in a mess.


    Isaros, who stood at the side, had a face of admiration. This kind of injuries was actually disregarded by him. This man, regardless of his past and identity, he was a tough guy worthy of admiration.


    "I must leave here immediately, or you girls will be dragged into trouble!" The man revealed a bitter smile while he spoke.


    Isaros quietly looked into his eyes and could feel his sincerity. The latter truly did not want to drag them into trouble.


    "No need to hurry, is someone pursuing you?" she opened her mouth and asked.


    The man nodded. "Yes, they are very strong and I''m not their opponent. The police forces are helpless. They can forcibly shut down any public forces," his face showed helplessness as he talked.


    Suddenly his expression changed as if he had detected something.


    "Coming! They''re coming! Careful!!"


    He struggled to his feet.


    "You girls hide somewhere quickly, I''ll deal with them!! They''re¡­" he shouted while standing up.


    He had not finished speaking before he was stunned at the sight of Isaros taking out a rifle from a vase. She took a shot at the left wall without looking at where she aimed at.


    Peng!!


    Peng peng peng peng!!


    Without any change in expression, she pulled the trigger continuously.


    Countless bullets flew past. None of the bullets hit the wall but struck a dark young man. Wherever his figure passed, he was shot at by the rifle.


    This man had originally been aiming for Arisa''s neck, but he''d been mowed down by the rifle. His chest was shot to pieces with his blood splattering and scattering everywhere.


    After Isaros'' bullets were spent, she casually tossed the rifle aside and withdrew a black dagger from the handle of a door at the side. This time, she lunged towards the right side with her face impassively.


    Chi!


    The black dagger drew a dark line and stabbed into the forehead of a woman behind her.


    The latter had just appeared behind her and had no opportunity to do anything before her eyes went wide and her body stood motionless.


    Hua!


    Two killers collapsed instantly and turned into two piles of black ashes.


    "They''re¡­very strong¡­" Only now did that man finished the rest of his sentence¡­


    He looked at the two piles of black ashes on the floor and turned to look at the expressionless Isaros and Arisa.


    He suddenly felt that humans were terrifying¡­


    Two vampires were done in instantly by a weak-looking girl. This totally crushed the outlook on his world, his life and his thoughts so far!


    "Sorry to have scared you," Isaros said while stowing her dagger and looking strangely at the black ashes on the floor. She frowned and said, "Can you explain why their bodies turned to ashes when they died?"


    "Sis has an ability to sense impending danger. Though these two are fast, they have no skill at all. Compared to the opponents Sis had to deal with in the past¡­they are too weak." Arisa shrugged while looking indifferent.


    They had survived in the past with only their ordinary human bodies and grew up until today, naturally, they were not so simple. Not only her Sis, she also had an ability.


    "Compared to this, we''re more interested in why they had turned into ashes when they died?" Isaros repeated her previous question.


    The man gave a wry smile.


    "Looks like I have encountered some amazing people¡­let me introduce myself again, my true name is Pritto, Pritto Scarlet Moon. I am a member of the ancient Scarlet Moon Blood Breeds."


    "Blood Breeds?" Isaros frowned and said.


    "This wasn''t your name last time right?" Arisa pointed out. "Although it''s also Pu-something?"


    "Sorry¡­last time was a fake name. I was afraid that you girls would be dragged into this, so I didn''t give out my real name."


    Pritto''s face grew paler.


    In this short span of time, the injuries all over his body had healed a lot.


    He walked over and looked at the unlucky vampire duo''s ashes and was speechless for a while.


    "Even if I didn''t want it to happen, you girls still got involved. They are on to you now."


    "Are they hard to deal with?" Isaros said calmly, "Blood Breed¡­ Just like the vampire in the legend? I''ve heard of it before but I thought it was just some fairy tale, it was real?"


    "But shouldn''t the Blood Breeds be handsome and beautiful?" Arisa was puzzled at the side and asked.


    "You girls¡­you girls are not worried?" Pritto did not know whether to laugh or cry, staring at the sisters who did not feel a shred of pressure.


    "Worry? These small fries are not hard to deal with. Why should we worry?" Isaros casually explained and began to reload the bullets in the rifle. "Just what is going on? You explain properly."


    Over the years, she had grown from the hunted into the hunter. Deadly threats to other people were just an everyday occurrence for both of the sisters. She was just upset to be involved in a dispute that had nothing to do with them.


    "This matter can only be explained slowly¡­" Pritto smiled bitterly and explained.


    "From the ancient times, Blood Breeds have been divided into two factions, the light party and the secret party and I am one of the Blood Breed subordinates serving the leader, Scarlet Moon in the light party¡­"


    "Then the ones after you came from the secret party?" Isaros had seen various formidable killer techniques. Some techniques looked like magic and so she did not show much reaction to the Blood Breeds because she treated them as some sort of mutant.


    "Yes, those two were just the lowest level vampires¡­"Pritto said, "This place is no longer safe, I''m afraid we''ll have to move."

 637 Vigilance 1

    Chapter 637: Vigilance 1


    "Garen, where did you put the shampoo? Why can''t I find it?" Trish''s loud voice called.


    Garen was sitting in the living room watching an entertainment program that also served as an education program on the TV. The fat host laughed loudly and started pulling some idols up to the stage to answer some weird questions, while laughter could be heard offstage.


    ¡®Your Mom is calling you, you''re not going?''


    Garen changed the channel expressionlessly. "Ask Vivien, she washed her hair yesterday."


    "Come and help me search for it! I can''t find it!" Trish''s voice was heard again.


    ¡®Your Mom is calling you, isn''t it bad not to go?''


    Garen stood up and went to the bathroom to get the shampoo hidden in the drawer under the sink.


    ¡®This is not the shampoo your Mom wants right? I remember she prefers that little red bottle of the Griffin brand'' Black Sethe continued without getting tired.


    "I say, why do you remember what kind of shampoo my Mom use?!" Garen finally could not take it anymore.


    ¡®Because the scent they give out is different. It''s true and you should believe me, I am not wrong on this.''


    "Garen! This is not the shampoo I want!! Where''s my red Griffin shampoo? Help me find it!" Trish''s voice came at the same time.


    Garen rolled his eyes and went back to the drawer to search again. Then, he handed it over to Trish who had her head covered in foam.


    ¡®Know the thirteen ways to open a drawer? And the 256 methods to manufacture a drawer.''


    "I don''t care about your drawer manufacturing methods. Can''t you say something useful?" Garen helplessly said.


    ¡®Well, you have to understand that it''s been thousands of years since the last time I have spoken. My True Soul in the Mother Stream can communicate with you. This is simply a miracle among miracles. Even the probability of a meteor the size of a sesame seed dropping down on your head can''t compare to this. You have to be understanding.'' Black Sethe explained. ¡®Did you know? I was called the messenger of wisdom in Ancient Ender. Everyone was interested in listening to my enlightening teachings. They all praised me and revered me. Hence, you should feel honored to have me pointing out directions at every moment. This is something that countless people dreamed of.''


    Garen continued to roll his eyes. He went back to the living room to watch his TV. Of course, that was what he displayed on the surface. He was actually practicing the Deep Control Technique that Black Sethe mentioned before. It was a training technique used to hunt Void Creatures.


    Before getting this set of skills, Black Sethe had requested him to not close the communication channel between them and to maintain it without any hindrance. Now, he regretted¡­


    He could never imagine how touching and exciting it was for a talkative person, who had been unable to talk for thousands of years, to finally be able to unleash and vent all he wanted.


    When Black Sethe finally showed his true colors, he could talk non-stop for half an hour on the topic of a vase. Starting from the manufacturing methods and the various magical vases he had seen, to the love story he had with someone because of a vase. He could even link it to an ancient spirit with a strong will that had possessed a vase and yet ended up smashed by a little maid due to her carelessness and had a tragic end¡­ The unit of measurement for all these nonsense could only be truckloads and he was certain that there were no repetitions.


    Was this the so-called ''one flower for one world''? (TLnote: Literal translation, this is a verse from a poem. )


    From one flower, he could talk about the whole world, just how high was his talking skill to reach this level?


    Garen finally chose to ignore him.


    If you chose to respond to him, he would get even more excited. He could talk about the feeling when you ate an apple, which race would get poisoned by apples and which Secret Technique would be severely affected by apples. There was once a Five Apples Religion that preached about eating five apples a day as a concept of immortality¡­


    "I say, Black Sethe." Garen switched to another channel while observing his Attribute pane. The Intelligence attribute did not weaken anymore but now Vitality was affected. His Vitality had decreased by 0.1 and became 2.8.


    ¡®¡­Do you know the history of tea tables? I have seen tea tables worshipped as a holy artifact in a different world. They felt that that tea table contained powerful wisdom and strength. There, I saw a tea table with a height of two, three hundred meters, and the space even with kettles and cups on top could allow hundreds of people to live there! That kingdom was called Tea Table and their king called himself the King of Tea Table. Their nobles were craftsmen that could create the highest grade of tea tables. Countless people would even sell their children to acquire the manufacturing method of the tea tables, all of it was to become a noble and gain riches¡­''


    "Black Sethe¡­I''m not interested in the story of Tea Table Kingdom¡­" Garen felt like he finally understood the reason this guy was one of the forty-two Demon Kings¡­ Even a master that had trained Secret Technique to its peak like him felt his head swelling, and his mind was foggy and disordered.


    ¡®Know the one hundred and eight origins of how stories came to be? Let me tell you, the first came from ancient myths, I personally did research on it¡­''


    "I¡­" Garen could feel his ears buzzing and his limit approaching. He held endless regret towards his promise with Black Sethe to maintain the communication channel between them.


    He had never imagined how talkative one person could be.


    "I wanted to ask, when will the Void Creature come and when can I begin?" Garen heard his words being engulfed by a torrent of sound, just like throwing a pebble into the sea, not even the slightest ripple could be seen.


    "Fine¡­" Garen gave up on his intention to communicate with him normally.


    He was completely unable to associate the current Black Sethe with the previous insane man that had tried to take over his body.


    While pretending to watch TV, he continued to wait for the possible sneak attack from the void creature.


    The opponent would try to weaken him through sneak attacks and let him die naturally. This was the normal practice for void creatures, as it would not cause any rebound from the laws of any world. There was no trace to be found.


    How to catch the void creature and dig out its core? This problem would be handed over to Black Sethe to solve. Garen could not do anything to it just yet. After settling this void creature, he would take some time to train until a certain level to become a true Void Pursuer.


    Now Garen lacked time, sufficient time.


    Void creatures were masters of illusion and dream. Without sufficient ability to differentiate between illusion and reality, he could only be a sitting duck.


    For now, Garen could only be a bait, a bait to lure out the void creature.


    He was sitting on the sofa watching TV unenthusiastically.


    Jason had gone hunting with his friends, Little Vivien was shaking her legs in her room while reading a book and listening to music and Trish had to go out and pick up her friend in a while. Her best friend had come over to their little town for vacation. His Dad, Emmer was sitting in front of computer typing something.


    There was only him alone sitting on the sofa watching TV in broad daylight and it was also a dull variety show that Little Vivien despised.


    He sat on the sofa and made himself as comfortable as possible. Without him realizing, he was getting sleepy and his eyelids were getting heavier.


    Black Sethe''s voice beside his ears gradually became unclear and then turned into something similar to the buzzing sound of bees and slowly drifted farther away.


    Time passed by.


    ¡®It''s here!'' A voice suddenly jerked him awake.


    He felt hazy. He did not know why but he could not lift his spirits, as though he was still in a half-asleep state.


    Black Sethe''s voice sounded beside his ears.


    ¡®For any creature with intelligence, their mind is divided into two parts. Their self-consciousness and subconsciousness. If a person''s self-consciousness has a strong sense of reasoning and self-control, then their subconsciousness will be more casual and indulgent. The more it is oppressed by the self-consciousness, the more it bounces back. And obviously, that''s the kind of person you are.''


    "Me?"


    ¡®Your control over your self-consciousness is strong. This also means that when you are in a state similar to sleeping, your subconsciousness that takes over the body control will be in an extremely casual and indulging state. This is the accumulation of your desires that were suppressed by your self-consciousness and what your subconsciousness was always trying to find ways to vent. A person needs balance. You have to understand that suppressing yourself and putting yourself in an unbalanced state in order to reach the state you want is to change yourself. Changes require a new kind of balance. It is an instinct to survive and also a law of the universe. Life has always been a cycle of balance.'' Black Sethe lectured.


    "What do I have to do now?" Garen said. He looked around in a daze. Amidst the trance, he was still lying on the sofa in the middle of the living room but he did not know since when the white sofa had become a tattered sofa. A little mouse was lying on his left side sleeping soundly.


    In the TV in front of him, a singer''s face had been stretched to look like a horse. He only had an impression of the shiny thick necklace that was hung around his neck. That necklace made him feel familiar.


    ¡®Don''t care about anything else. Just leave it to me. Observe your dream, this is your dream, look at it closely.''


    Black Sethe''s voice slowly began to sound distant and became smaller.


    Garen sat alone on the sofa in a daze. He did not want to do anything. An inexplicable sense of laziness filled his whole body. He felt very very tired. He just wanted to plop down on the sofa and continue to sleep.


    Wa!!


    Suddenly, a frog-like bellow woke him up from his daze.


    Garen opened his eyes and found that he was lying on the sofa. Trish was gently covering him with a blanket. Realizing that he was awake, Trish smiled.


    "Sleep more if you''re tired. I''ll call you for dinner."


    Garen nodded and watched Trish walked away while wiping his hair with a dry towel.


    ¡®Awake now?'' Black Sethe''s voice sounded.

 638 Vigilance 2

    Chapter 638: Vigilance 2


    "Have you succeeded?" Garen asked.


    ''Just an ordinary Void Worm. Your luck is not bad, this guy''s intelligence is pretty low. It only knows how to steal your dream''s image of your life to make you lower your vigilance so it can paralyze your nerves. No wonder its corruption is so low.'' Black Sethe said with a tone that suggested Garen was extremely lucky.


    "This is still low?" Garen was surprised. He used his hands to feel the texture of the sofa in details. It was firm and the texture felt delicate with a slightly cool temperature. All of this clearly conveyed to him that he was not dreaming right now.


    ''Of course, Void Worms are known as the weakest among the Void Creatures. Meaning that they are as weak as roadside bugs. When we go in and out of the void, sometimes we may unintentionally trample a bunch of them.''


    Black Sethe answered like it was natural.


    Garen was speechless. He was unable to imagine the strength of these Demon Kings when they were at their peak.


    ''Look at your ring.''


    When Garen heard this, he looked down at his black ring. On top of that black ring inlaid with red jewels, there was now a small purple-black crystal sticking to it. The crystal was the size of a fingernail. The surface had a texture similar to that of wood but it was translucent.


    Using his right hand to take off the piece of crystal, he felt that this crystal was just like it had grown out of the ring, similar to plucking mushrooms.


    Pinching that crystal, Garen took a sniff at it. There was a faint aroma of milk.


    ''This is Void Crystal also known as Void Core. It''s a crystal produced inside Void Creatures. Some research states that it''s the crystallization of Void Creature''s energy of life but my personal opinion is that this is just a dense bone left over from the Void Creatures. Whatever it is, this can relieve your body''s weakening condition.'' Black Sethe explained.


    "How do I use it?"


    ''You can eat it or use demonic technique to absorb its vitality, it''s up to you.''


    "May I take a look at the corpse of the Void Worm?" Garen was quite curious about the Void Creature.


    ''Unfortunately, you can''t see it. Void Creatures are mostly vague shadows or mist. Rarely are there any corpses after their death.'' Black Sethe said casually. ''Maybe you''ll meet them in the future, but not now.''


    Garen considered for a moment then put the crystal into his right hand''s glove and let it be absorbed by the demonic technique, Slaughtering Hand.


    "And then?" He asked.


    ''Then, your weakening will not go on. It will temporarily stop and on the fifth day, it will be lifted completely, that''s all.'' Black Sethe answered. ''After this, you can choose your path.''


    "What path?"


    ''The path of Warlocks, Secret Technique or summon and control. It''s all up to you. Of course, these two are just a rough classification. If you want to walk the path of practicing Secret Techniques then you can choose one Secret Technique and focus on it while continuously hunt the Void Creatures to hone your martial arts. Your Secret Technique has reached a very high level. Even in our time, you can be considered as a class of your own. If you choose choose summon and control, then you can collect Void Core to use as your summon army. In the future, you can even manage multiple summons of the ancient True Soul''s imprint to form a legion.''


    ''Simply put, this are two general paths, either go with strengthening your body or increasing numbers.''


    "Didn''t I make my choice long ago?" Garen answered.


    ''True.''


    ******************


    Grano, Faya state, State Underground Blood Union Hall.


    The wide, golden, dome-shaped hall was brightly lit. The hall that was large enough for ten thousand people was currently occupied by hundreds of people.


    Standing on top of the white stage was a gentle-looking young man wearing white-framed glasses. He wore a white suit and his hair was combed back. With a charming and gentle smile on his face, he stood on the white stage as a confident speaker with a style of his own.


    Facing the buzzing crowd with hundreds of different gazes, the young man maintained his composure.


    "In lieu of the recent rampant activities of the secret party, an order of suppression came from above. After repeated ineffective warnings, they have openly taken the most extreme action of disregarding all measures of prevention and caused the deaths of fifteen of our compatriots. As the governor of the Blood Union of Faya State, I express my deepest regrets and condolences. I received the news today that Scarlet Moon himself had received severe injuries and his subordinates everywhere have been hunted down. Pale Leaders have issued a general notice to all. Two months later, all light party members will move to hunt down the members of secret party. Any action to conceal or assist the secret party will be sentenced to two hundred years of non-blood imprisonment. I hope that everyone has reflected. Please quickly deal with anything out-of-the-line so as not to cause any unnecessary misunderstandings."


    The buzzing sounds gradually quieted down. One of the three only Faya State upper-level Blood Breeds, a bejeweled white-haired old lady, stood up.


    "Against the rampant action of the secret party, I think that the first action we should take is to protect Scarlet Moon''s direct lineage. They are now being hunted down. Why is our tracking imprint unable to find their location? I feel that there are people inside the Blood Union interfering and causing damage. We should do a thorough inspection on the Blood Union Intelligence Department!"


    After speaking, she sat down with the help of a little girl beside her.


    "I agree with Madam Vanessa''s view." Another upper-level Blood Breed stood up to speak. This was a radiant middle-aged man with a fit body, wearing a black suit and dark red tie.


    ""Faya State is ranked at the bottom among the country''s 32 states, from the status of our economy or our geography and population. Yet, even in such a region, we could not find any blood relatives of Scarlet Moon and also couldn''t contact them. This is definitely a problem with the Blood Union Intelligence Department. I suspect someone is using the Intelligence Department to prevent our tracking. If there is no proper explanation for this, we''ll have to pull out our forces in the Intelligence Department to form our own investigation team."


    This remark immediately received approvals from a large number of middle-level Blood Breeds.


    The Blood Union was originally composed of the clan members of the various clans of Blood Breeds. Every clan played a part in in it. If there really were withdrawals due to this, the so-called Blood Union would become an empty shell.


    The state governor and state leader of the Blood Union, which was the bespectacled man, frowned.


    "Isn''t it too early to make such radical remarks? Mr. Henderick, although the Blood Union has not done a good job in this matter, handling other matters has always been our most solid backing. We cannot dissolve the Blood Union due to such a little problem, this is too extreme. Regarding the tracking information, I will take measures as soon as possible. A thorough inspection will be conducted on the Intelligence Department. I can''t do anything about other states but the Faya State will give you a satisfactory answer within three months!"


    The state governor said decisively.


    "Good! Then we''ll wait three months!" said the middle-aged man, Henderick and sat down exchanging a few glances with Madam Vanessa not far from his seat.


    Half an hour later¡­..


    After the meeting was concluded, the crowd exited the hall into the corridor towards the elevator.


    Behind Henderick were more than ten middle-level and low-level Blood Breeds. He deliberately slowed down and lagged behind to walk with Madam Vanessa.


    The groups around them gradually merged and made a safe environment for them.


    Henderick, with a cigarette in his hand, took a puff and blew out two lines of green smoke through his nostrils.


    "Looks like the hands of the secret party are stretched far¡­ I''ve decided to let Aier investigate the situation. Five hundred years ago, I owed a debt to Scarlet Moon. I can''t just watch him walk into danger."


    Vanessa was holding a slender white cane and walked with a trembling gait.


    "The Tomb''s Crow Aier? He is your best subordinate¡­ Isn''t he going to be promoted to upper-level soon? I remember that one hundred and twenty years ago, he''d reached the peak of middle-level."


    "Soon, but promoting one to upper-level isn''t so easy. Perhaps there will be hope in two hundred years'' time." Henderick shook his head, "I will investigate this matter properly and I hope you will support me, madam. The governor''s attitude is somewhat suspicious¡­"


    "That''s natural. The governor''s two descendants have turned towards the secret party. One of them died by his own hands. It was still alright when the conflict between both parties had not intensified. Now, the situation has become complicated. He has become old and has no way to divide his Blood Core to make a new descendant. In the case that he loses another descendant, if anything happens to him, his position will be unstable." Vanessa sighed.


    Henderick nodded to indicate his understanding.


    "From the information that I gathered, there are fifteen hideouts of the secret party in this state. There are three places that are serious in the Biwinter city. The allied Witches there have already filed a request to control the Blood Breeds to my clan in advance. They''ve expressed dissatisfaction in the increase of the number in the secret party. I''ve sent my clan members there but at a great risk. I need your support, Madam."


    "No problem, I will let all the person in charge to cooperate with you. Elvin, Biwinter, Kama, Sili, Grano and Marseille have the largest number of secret party members. This is the classified information that my clan members got from inside the Blood Union. I hope you''ll have good results." Vanessa replied.


    "I hope so, thank you very much for the information." Henderick bowed his head. Biting his cigarette, he walked slowly towards another elevator on the other side with his people.


    Vanessa looked at Henderick''s shrinking figure and shook her head.


    "The light party has been accustomed to a gentle and peaceful life. I didn''t think that even Henderick could disregard any interests and clearly state his position. But the result is not optimistic. The light party has been too accustomed to peaceful life. The more they have, the more timid they are."


    The little girl beside her frowned.


    "I think the biggest problem is that we can''t differentiate the members of the light party from the secret party. A poisonous snake in hiding is the most terrifying."


    "That''s right. Remember to stay alert." Vanessa sighed.

 639 Training 1

    Chapter 639: Training 1


    Grano


    In a forest behind a small building, Garen was standing there paying attention to the surroundings and every swaying leaf and blade of grass. Wind gusted through the forest, sending the leaves dancing.


    His whole body was surrounded by greens and shadows. His eyes would wander occasionally, glancing at some inconspicuous place.


    ¡®Void Worm is just a scout. They already have their eyes on you. Now, you need to learn to deal with this sort of creature yourself.¡¯ Black Sethe¡¯s voice sounded beside his ear.


    "What do I need to pay attention to? How do I exterminate them?" Garen asked.


    ¡®They are just worms, very very weak, only that normal physical attacks have no effect on them. You have to cover yourself with aura. Aura is the origin of Mother Stream. It¡¯s their nemesis. You just have to condense your aura and attack them with it. That¡¯s how you settle them.¡¯


    ¡®However, the trouble now is that you cannot control yourself when you¡¯re dreaming. Your subconsciousness is bouncing back too much and causing you to completely follow your instinct. Hence, there is one thing you have to do first, which is to raise your focus in your dreams. Otherwise, you remain too susceptible to your instinct and cannot even control your actions, nevermind your aura.¡¯ Black Sethe said.


    Garen repeated: "The first step is to train my attention in my dreams, right?"


    ¡®Go on and try.¡¯


    "What about those ordinary people who don¡¯t have aura? What can they do if they encounter Void Creatures?" Garen suddenly asked.


    ¡®Search and distinguish them, or try to communicate with the risk of being contaminated to get a certain amount of knowledge about Void. Else, take the initiative to avoid them by getting out of their dreams. The flow of time they live on is different from ours. Generally, the Void Creatures live on a slower timeflow than us. Their one breath may be years for us, so don¡¯t try to compete in patience with them. That¡¯s what they¡¯re good at. Some of them can even live on for more than ten thousands of years.¡¯ Black Sethe droned on. ¡®The Void Creatures usually do not take an interest in average people. If it happens, then there are only two possibilities. One is that they¡¯re trying to pollute the human race. Because they mainly consume a constant stream of energy from biological consciousness, polluting a consciousness will make it one of their kind and a producer of their energy source. The other reason is curiosity, pure curiosity. Just like when the researchers found some ants who don¡¯t grow antenna.¡¯


    Garen nodded to indicate his understanding of the meaning behind Black Sethe¡¯s words. Although his explanation was redundant and long-winded, he understood the main points behind his teachings.


    The trees and grass swayed and not far from him were the sounds of cars and advertisements.


    Garen slowly sank his consciousness while controlling it and began to fall into a deep sleep.


    His consciousness began to grow blurry. He unconsciously leaned against a large tree. His back touched the rough surface of the bark and he sat down on the soft, moist grass. The ground was slightly warm and he could smell the faint aroma of grass.


    Without noticing, Garen closed his eyes and slowly fell asleep.


    Chirp chirp¡­chirp chirp¡­


    It seemed that there were birds chirping in the distance.


    Garen opened his eyes drowsily and found himself lying on the bed at his home. There was an electric fan blowing at him. The shape of the fan was unclear. It seemed to be white and it also seemed to be made of noodles. The wind was hot and humid.


    The surrounding walls seemed to be constantly flowing and its color was ever changing. It seemed to be brown in color. Garen felt dull and he did not know what he was doing. He tried to lower his head to see the pose he was in but he was unable to.


    ¡®Put the knife back into the box.¡¯ He suddenly had this thought and then his body floated from his bed. He found out that at the back of his room, there was an additional black knife. The knife was long and wide and its edge silvery white.


    He felt himself drawing towards it and took the knife down from a shelf that came out of nowhere. After that, out of nowhere in his hand was a box and he inserted the knife into it.


    Garen suddenly remembered that he had something he had to do but standing there and thinking for a long time, he just could not remembered what it was.


    So, he kept on standing there and kept trying to recall. Suddenly, he felt his right leg getting itchy as though a worm was crawling on it. He tried to bend over to scratch it but he could not find his right leg.


    Pa.


    A drop of dew dripped on Garen¡¯s head and slid down his nose bridge, and from his chin it rolled past his shirt collar.


    Garen opened his eyes and there was a comfortable feeling all over his body.


    ¡®Did you wake up?¡¯ Black Sethe¡¯s voice sounded right on time.


    "Seems like I did not succeed?" Garen frowned.


    ¡®It¡¯s obvious that you failed.¡¯ Black Sethe sounded happy, ¡®You weren¡¯t even aware that you were in a dream, got led around by the nose and finally you came out achieving nothing.¡¯


    "This looks troublesome." Garen frowned and said.


    ¡®That¡¯s for sure. Anyone who does this training has to do it for a long time. You¡¯ll get better through practice.¡¯


    Garen stood up. He really did feel something crawling on his right foot.


    He shook the leg of his pants and out came a small white ant. The ant flipped over from the ground and soon disappeared into the grass.


    "This is a whole new thing." Garen said in a low voice, "But I will have a lot of time to train and deal with it."


    ¡®Someone¡¯s coming.¡¯ Black Sethe¡¯s voice quickly died down.


    Garen glanced towards his left. From his point of view, he could see that on the lawn between two houses was a tall slim girl walking over. She wore white casual wear while carrying a small red bag. She had long red hair, an oval face, white skin and exuded a cold aura.


    "Isaros, long time no see." Garen smiled and gave a greeting.


    "Garen, you came to morning practice?" Isaros also noticed Garen, slightly startled. "Something cropped up yesterday so I didn¡¯t go to see you."


    "It¡¯s okay. You came for some afternoon exercise?" Garen asked.


    "Mm. I am used to doing so at this time." Isaros nodded.


    "Now that I think of it, it¡¯s been a year since the time we first practiced together here?" Garen walked forward a few steps and stood a few paces away from Isaros. Suddenly, his nose slightly twitched and he flashed her a strange look.


    "How about a spar or two?"


    Isaros¡¯ eyes lit up.


    Hu!


    She did not wait for a response and went for a side kick, blowing away the air.


    Pa!


    Garen warded off her kick but another kick came over from the right. He continued to parry and the spar went on with the third, fourth and fifth strike!


    The both of them continued with their spar with peng, peng, peng sounds.


    Isaros¡¯ speed became faster and faster. Both her legs did a series of kicks as though she¡¯d become a spinning top. Her toes were like spinning blades that constantly brushed against Garen¡¯s right hand.


    "Watch out!"


    Isaros retreated for a bit with her right knee bending up. She suddenly throw a straight kick like a cannonball forward.


    Peng!


    Both of them suddenly separated. Garen¡¯s right hand went down slowly and his face showed a charming smile.


    "You¡¯ve improved again."


    "Still can¡¯t force out your second hand." Isaros slightly sweated and shook her head.


    "Remember that trick I showed you?" Garen suddenly lowered his voice.


    He stretched open his right hand¡¯s fingers as though holding something. At this moment, a strange scene happened.


    It was as though there was wind slowing in the middle of his palm.


    Air currents as thin as strands of hair were flowing around his fingers.


    These life-like invisible currents were constantly circling in the palm of his hand.


    In that instant, Isaros felt her vision blur. She did not hear any sound but only saw a blur until Garen¡¯s right hand had already reached her forehead. His thumb stretched right in front of her left eye with just a little bit of distance.


    Only then did Isaros felt a slight chill.


    The crisis premonition that she had always been proud of had no reaction at all this time.


    "Silent Killing Technique." Garen took back his arm. His right arm lightly gripped as though holding invisible wind.


    "You have an extraordinary sense for wind and air currents. You may be able to really grasp the essence of this skill."


    There was nothing wrong with his words. This was definitely a technique, not a secret technique or some secret skill or secret method. This was just a simple trick, a trick to control the flow of air currents that through movements.


    In theory, only those who grasped vibration skills in secret techniques could achieve it. However, Garen had discovered something special about Isaros. She was very sensitive towards the impending change in the subtle flow of air. Perhaps she might possibly be able to master this skill that applied the technique that induced airflow changes.


    "Silent Killing Technique?" Isaros repeated this name. Her eyes glittered and her hands started to imitate Garen¡¯s previous actions. Although the actions were exactly the same, not even the slightest change had occurred.


    "Don¡¯t be fooled by its name. I am a law-abiding good citizen." Garen laughed. "Then I shall go back first. You should slowly practice it."


    "Okay." Isaros nodded and said but her hands were as though controlled by demons and kept repeating the previous actions.


    She felt that she could learn it.


    Garen laughed again while looking at her who¡¯d been charmed and walked towards the back door of his home.


    Aside from any selfish motives, he admired a gifted student like Isaros. She was someone who knew how precious these techniques were. She had almost died countless times before these seemingly simple techniques. Only those who had first-hand experience would know the value. For such a person, imparting a little bit of knowledge was reasonable.

 640 Training 2

    Chapter 640: Training 2


    ''You seemed very optimistic about her?'' Black Sethe said.


    "Optimistic? No, compare to those two seeds, I just admire her." Garen shook his head.


    ''Those two seeds?'' Black Sethe did not understand. He did not know what Garen had done in school.


    Garen smiled and did not answer him.


    "Isaros'' skills had already gone beyond that of normal people. This is merely something that was self-taught. What if I give her some directions?"


    ''You are really bored.'' Black Sethe said, ''The world has too many geniuses, I think you''re ust bored.''


    "Perhaps." Garen did not told Black Sethe that he had discover something different about Arisa and Isaros sisters. He did not explain anything and only hinted at it. Maybe, it could be put up for some good use in the future.


    "We should go back."


    ******************


    "Hochman!!!!"


    A mad roar sounded.


    A strong black guy waved his dagger at the bespectacled Hochman. He was like the wind, his speed very fast and even left afterimages.


    An empty field near a dumpsite, Hochman quietly leaned against the side of a black car, dressed in a black windbreaker while looking coldly at the black guy who rushed over.


    Peng!


    A side kick mercilessly came from Hochman''s right side and accurately hit the black guy''s waist and made him fall to the ground.


    There was a bald muscled guy with shiny muscles like it was made of metallic substance. He bumped his fists and grinned while walking out and picked the black guy off the ground.


    "What a fool! He dare to go against the mighty Mr. Hochman." The bald white man laughed. His right hand that was grabbing the neck of the black guy tightened. Just like grabbing a small chick, with a kacha sound, the black guy''s neck bone snapped and the light in his eyes dimmed.


    Hochman lit up a cigarette and lightly took a puff.


    "Is there any more that had not been settled?"


    "No more, this is the last one." The bald white man bowed respectfully. He was a murderer that was casted out by his family. He who had never obeyed any of his family''s commands were now like a sheep in front of this man.


    "Mister''s plan should be able to be carry out successfully."


    "There will always be something that doesn''t obey, jumping out¡­" Hochman lightly said, "Recently, the district has received a lot of attacks. Take some people and patrol. If there is any trouble, you settled it directly. Recently, the situation seemed a bit messy."


    "Yes."


    Hochman turned back to open the car door and sat on it sideways.


    Gazing at the moving scenery outside the window, Garen slowly closed his eyes.


    "Search for the details about the freaks who attacked us last night."


    The driver sitting in front nodded slightly and did not utter any word.


    Hochman slightly pondered. He could feel his secret techniques gradually reaching a breakthrough. The feeling of evolving and getting stronger was very intoxicating. Just last night, when he was doing inspection in one of his subordinate division, he unexpectedly encountered some attacks, the kind that was very strong and also proficient at using guns. His best subordinates could not even hold them back.


    Hochman shot and killed several of them on the spot. Only then, the situation was stabilized but the origin of these people were still unknown.


    Looking at the scenery outside the car passing by even faster, he gradually fell into deep thoughts.


    ******************


    "If these kind of trash still come in, just kill it." Dahm stepped on the face of the people lying on the ground, his face showing disgusts. He wore a large red gender-neutrall clothes with each of the shoulders embroidered with two large black characters. Putting together, they formed the word ''Dahm''¡­


    Around him were more than ten tall strong men bowing their heads with their complexion showing a trace of fear.


    "Drag him out." Dahm stepped on the head of the man below. That step produced a kacha sound. Whether he still lived on, it was unknown.


    A strong man quickly dragged away the man on the ground.


    The rest urged Dahm to sit at the main seat of the conference room.


    Dahm''s face had become more and more feminine. He was now exuding feminine temperament all the time but there was no tenderness that could be seen in females in him. It was only sharp and blunt.


    Although his temperament became more and more neutral but the angular face of a man was still the same. Yet, he still put on a red lipstick, faint purple eye shadow and a thin foundation. He pierced his ears and wore two shining diamond earrings.


    "Recently, there were a lot people trying to break into our headquarters. They''re really seeking death. The government has send people to help us but I refused them. Coincidentally, I am lacking some experimental materials. My Non-faced Waterbird Fist has not been perfected yet. I need some living people to try it."


    He deliberately let out a false voice that did not sound like a male. It was very shrill. People who heard it would feel their skin crawling.


    "Marshal Dahm, those people who tried to break through has very fast speed. We heard the news from a few sources of information that they are most likely people from Macquarie Organization and they have a huge backing."


    "Huge?" Dahm chuckled. He already knew the identities of those intruders. He got the message from his family not long ago. Macquarie Organization was now very ambitious and planned to expand aggressively. Their company belonged to the grey side, a mix of black and white.


    "There really are someone who seek death by trying to go against us?" Dahm stuck out his tongue and licked his fingers. "Macquarie Organization hired some mercenaries and thought that by breaking the rules, they would be able to win? Ridiculous."


    "But these are just minor problems. The main problem is with Hochman." Dahm''s line of sight went to the woman sitting at the end of the table.


    "Hochman had also been attacked but we don''t know who the opponent is." The woman promptly answered.


    Dahm felt around his chin seeming to be searching for stubbles that had not been shaven clean.


    The surrounding subordinates were now on their toes. They were scared of him. Dahm''s mood was well-known. Disobey him a little, he would take it out on you. Most of the time he would just pat you lightly on the back, then you would discover that you were urinating blood. The second day you would have kidney failure and lie in the hospital forever.


    Rumors had it that he and Hochman came from the same organization called combat club. Both had become their respective families'' leading figures and owned more than half of their families'' inheritance. Some people who disobeyed them would be change to their people.


    "Where''s that cute little apple?" Dahm suddenly asked.


    "She had safely left America. Now she had been sent by our people to Asia. We''re not sure about the specific location." A subordinate promptly answered.


    "I really want to see what Hochman would look like when he knew about this¡­" The corner of Dahm''s lips curled.


    He did not notice that his skin was becoming whiter and transparent.


    Illusory Spinning White Jade, the fourth level of the illusion and adding the seed that had sprouted inside his body had allowed his body to integrate his spirit, consciousness and aura into one and made him reached an unprecedented strength.


    "Marshal! There''s another challenger!" A shout from a subordinate came from outside the door. "It''s the Golden Belt Underground Fighter King, Leidman from Eastern Europe."


    Dahm stood up.


    "Looks like another material for experiment had come for the bounty¡­" He licked his lips. Under the gaze of everyone standing up, he walked out of the conference room.


    **************


    Time flies.


    Garen had come back to school for more than half a year.


    He did not go to the combat club. Most of the time, his whereabouts was unknown. He was no longer living in the dormitory but he went out to rent a house.


    Apart from the normal daily classes, he gradually lowered his presence. His main focus was now training in his dreams. The first step was training himself to understand that he was in a dream. This step had stopped him for a few months.


    Maybe his talent in this area was not that good. Such a slow progress disappointed him.


    From the information that he got about the mercenary industry from the Nighthawk Mercenary intelligence network, the mercenary industry now had some rumors about a mysterious group called the Combat Club.


    It was rumored that every fighters that came out of Combat Club were elites. Among the rumors was about Combat Club''s Xander who accidentally killed too much and disappear. After his total disappearance, the rumors about Combat Club were becoming widespread.


    Under the threat of being shot by guns, Xander killed six people and disappeared without a single injuries. With the threat from guns, yet he was still able to kill six people. This had no doubt made a stir in the world of fighters and mercenaries.


    In addition, there were also Dahm and Hochman who came from the Combat Club. Both were ferocious, powerful and terrifying. Guns could not do anything to them with their skills. They had totally reached an inhuman realm.


    As both of them became stronger and more well-known rumors about the mysterious and powerful Combat Club were also growing. When they ceased to go to the school''s Combat Club, it had become an empty shell. Even so, there were still quite some people coming over.


    Garen also did not expect this situation. Dahm and Hochman becoming so powerful and progressing so fast were partly due to him. The power they used was largely centered on the seed of his soul.


    The disputes among Blood Breeds did not spread to this state. To be more accurate, the states that were in this direction were not involve in any movement as if they were in a totally separate world.


    Garen did not pay attention to these slow-paced changes. He focused everything on training in his dreams. The probability of success were not high. Out of ten times, only three times were successful. There was a need to keep stressing to himself that he was about to fall asleep before he really slept, but it seemed to not be effective.


    Black Sethe suggested to use some medicine to assist him but Garen rejected it.


    Black Sethe suggested another way which was to focus on looking at his hands. Before falling asleep, carefully remembered the details of his own hands and then in his dreams, he only need to think of looking at his hands.


    This method seemed more effective. After trying several times, the success rate slowly increased.


    However, sometimes he would get distracted by stray thoughts and the strange vision inside his dreams, then he would get drifted to some unknown place.


    Unfortunately, he could not enter his dreams at will. Only when he wanted to rest his body would he be able to do so. Otherwise, the biological clock in his body would go into disorder.

 641 Ambushed 1

    Chapter 641: Ambushed 1


    Due to the fact that the time could not be adjusted freely, most of the time was spent on waiting for the exhaustion of his physical energy. Due to his suspiciousness, Garen did not continue to practice Slaughtering Hand. He had been vigilant towards Black Sethe although Black Sethe was quite harmless on the surface. However, he could not forget the situation where the original Black Sethe tried to seize his body. If it was not for his Seed of Soul, together with Northern Trident Frost-Fire True Water Evil Technique suppressing the fragment of soul, the result might be different now.


    ¡®It¡¯s useless, Slaughtering Hand is a very strong Demon Technique against the Void Creatures. You have trained it until this point and yet you¡¯re trying to convert, don¡¯t you think it¡¯s a pity?¡¯ Black Sethe said after he saw through his plan.


    "Towards something that might bring me harm, I¡¯ve never felt pity because giving up on it is not my loss but my luck." Garen answered.


    He was sitting cross-legged in a spacious wooden hall. The hall was actually a large dance hall renovated into a hall for him to meditate.


    He spent six hundreds Gallon per month which was equivalent to Earth¡¯s U.S. dollars. However, compared to the quiet environment and the large space now, the price was nothing.


    ¡®Worrying about this and that, hehe, Void Creatures will not give you the time to worry. Their intelligence are stronger than the other and their numbers are getting larger. When your progress can¡¯t keep up with the opening of the void cracks, you can only die.¡¯ Black Sethe laughed.


    Garen was too lazy to bother with him. He closed his eyes and continue to observe the situation inside his body.


    He had spent a great deal of time to observe the state of his Slaughtering Hand Demonic Technique. Although he did not find any harmful parts, but some subtle uncontrollable parts had become quite obvious. This made him stop the training of the Slaughtering Hand.


    Now, he began to think of his future path.


    He came from White Cloud Gate and trained in Mammoth Secret Technique. After that, he trained in Golden Statue Technique and achieved an unprecedented realm and reached the legendary Divine Statue Technique. He mastered the secret technique and no longer had an opponent. Even if it was Sylphalan, he had the self-confidence that at most they would just take down each other.


    On secret technique, although he had an ability to shorten the time needed for growth but there were a lot of things that needed to be understood. In the face of death, whether what he had could help in his survival, all depended on himself.


    These things were not imaginary but real growth.


    Garen recalled his experience of growth step-by-step.


    At the Totem World, the more he saw the vastness and mysteriousness of the universe, the more he was awed by it. In this world, even the civilizations as strong as Warlock¡¯s vanished. Only the universe was everlasting and unchanged.


    His original arrogance and pride slowly subsided and became a thirst for knowledge and exploration.


    Finally, in the totem world, he lost everything that he was familiar with due to the power of time. Once again, he understood the power of time, the vast power of the universe could change anything.


    Arriving at this world, he felt real peace and quiet. There was not much deceptions and not much of the survival of the fittest rule. It was mostly a peaceful growth from childhood until now. Even if there were Blood Breeds and Witches, they were all hiding without interfering with the humans. Although the place they interfered with looked wide, in fact, if it was carefully counted, it would only be small area. Ninety percent of the area were places to live and work. Most people did not have much twists and turns. They only lived honestly, day by day, year by year.


    Putting aside the little bit of extraordinary power, this world was actually just an enlarged version of the original Earth. If no one took the initiative to touch that extraordinary force, for the rest of the region, they could pick any single place and still lived out the rest of their life peacefully as a common person.


    However, this was not what he wanted.


    "What do I want?" Garen asked himself.


    "I just want to witness this world, this universe, from the bottom to the top, from the humble to the great. Just to take a look at what they are." He answered himself. "I don¡¯t want to come to this world without knowing anything and then die without knowing anything¡­"


    His heart was unwilling. He savored this unwillingness. It seemed that was source of power that moved him up till this day.


    Black Sethe was still nagging beside his ear but he did not know what he was talking about.


    Garen was just silently in a trance as though he had heard nothing. As though he was isolated from all sound leaving only the sound of his beating heart.


    That kind of deep unwillingness was as if a volcano that was about to erupt, full of thick and hot lava, exerting pressure in his chest.


    Following this flow of power that originate from inside him, he recalled all the hundreds and thousands of secret techniques and various knowledge.


    Excluding Slaughtering Hand, his secret techniques that was created and perfected by him and Northern Trident Frost-Fire True Water Evil Technique that came from Black Water True Technique that went through numerous evolutions and fusion of two Living Secret Technique seeds to become a peak Living Secret Technique and Divine Statue Technique that went through various trials to become a peak skill were the two secret techniques that were most familiar to him.


    "Since Slaughtering Hand belonged to yin element, then I should practice a secret technique of yang element to slightly bring back the balance." Garen pondered and began to search for a yang element secret technique in his mind. Secret Techniques that could enter his eyes were at least those with extraordinary origin or having very high potential and covered wide range of uses.


    However, those which could reach the level of the Divine Statue Technique were rare. Higher level secret technique like Northern Trident Frost-Fire True Water Evil Technique numbered even less. Perhaps, only Slaughtering Hand could reach this level.


    As a result, his choice was very little.


    "Extreme Heat Palm, the type that had no special effects. It should not be restricted in this world but it was only at the level of the Divine Statue Technique."


    Garen slightly hesitated but then treated it as though passing his free time. Extreme Heat Palm did not have much of a special effects and only belonged to middle grade secret techniques. Due to the fact that its cultivation period was very long and yet the results were not that good, it should be categorized under cultivation techniques for health. Its advantage was that it could provide warmth to the body. It could counter the yin nature of the Slaughtering Hand and the Seed of Soul.


    However, the level of Extreme Heat Palm was not high. This was because its creator did not have a high cultivation level. The greatest characteristics were prolonging lifespan to more than a hundred years and its attacks were continuous and full of vitality. The overall improvement to the body¡¯s quality was about the same as the previous version of Divine Statue Technique, the Golden Statue Technique. Garen did not felt any interests towards its supporting footwork technique and palm technique.


    All he needed was the warmth that was provided by technique.


    Coincidentally, the cultural relics had almost arrived. He was going to get a large number of Potential points.


    Garen took out his phone to check whether Bald head¡¯s message.


    The relics had arrived. Someone had sent it to his rented house in the suburbs but it was robbed in the middle of the journey and there was not a lot left.


    "Please rest assured. Those that dare to provoke the Nighthawk will be personally handle by me." Bald head Kaedun said. Ever since he came back from Africa, he had become more confident.


    After sending a reply to Bald head, Garen dialed another subordinate, Jay¡¯s number.


    "Jay, where are you now?"


    "Reaching the Faya state, Boss." Jay who was in charge of the Black Uniform¡¯s affairs said, "Someone intercepted us this time, we¡¯re very sorry¡­"


    "The problem this time was not due to you. Both of you can decide on these matters yourselves. What about the matter I want you to investigate?" Garen interrupted him. They could just robbed the relics back. Perhaps only those Black Uniform¡¯s men knew about this secret.


    "We investigated it clearly. The previous person-in-charge, Levi¡¯s daughter, Aileen is now twelve years old. She¡¯s studying in Medanslain Private School in Yorkshire, England. She¡¯s a very pretty little mixed-blood girl. Now, she¡¯s under the care of her mother Besna. The father, Levi Kennyton was an international businessman have some fame."


    "What about the people? Since I promised Levi, I should take good care of her." Garen asked.


    "Originally, Black Uniform Organization had ordered some people to protect Aileen. With the collapse of the organization, I continued to maintain the previous order. The people are still maintaining the protection. No changes there." Jay reported.


    "Bring her over. With her father¡¯s identity and enmity, she is doomed to be unable to live a peaceful life. We can¡¯t always protect her. Right, generally who are his enemies? The kind that would tried to attack his wife and daughter."


    "England¡¯s Earth Dragon and his small group had received huge damage from him, and the Germany¡¯s Heavy Infantry Army is an organization specialize in killing and India¡¯s Nagas also had some grudges against Levi¡­" Once Jay began talking, it was non-stop.


    Garen finally understood why Levi was willing to exchange his biggest secret for his daughter¡¯s safety. Just look at these organizations and killers that hated him to the core, with a casual mention, there were at least seven or eight famous names in the list not to mention those who were hidden in the dark.


    "Pay attention to how you deal with this matter. Do not let me down. When you encounter any problem that you could not handle, report it directly to me."


    "Understood."


    The phone disconnected.


    Garen kept his phone.


    ¡®You collect relics?¡¯ Black Sethe began.


    Garen was lazy to care about him. This guy belonged to the type which the more you talk with him, the more he got into it. If you kept ignoring him, he would quiet down. Besides, matters concerning relics was his biggest secret, naturally he would not talk about it.


    ¡®You really think that you are safe and can ignore the threats from the Void Creatures now?¡¯ Black Sethe continued. ¡®The truth is there is one more bad news which I haven¡¯t tell you.¡¯


    Garen stood up.


    "What news?"


    ¡®Hehe. It¡¯s something I found out after killing the previous Void Worm. I was afraid that you would get scared and so I did not tell you in advance.¡¯ Black Sethe said.


    Garen did not speak and just waited for him. Under normal circumstances, he would be tempted to let out the news himself.


    Sure enough, he could not hold himself back a minute later.


    ¡®I found out that Void Worm was not a solitary organism. It belonged to a colony, a race.¡¯


    "Your point is that, killing the worm would invite more trouble?" Garen asked. He walked out of the room without hurrying and closed the door behind him. He slowly walked along the corridor and could occasionally see some other people.


    ¡®That was a predator race. They have a strict hierarchy just like the colonies of bees and ants forming a synergistic group. Messing with one of them means messing with the whole lot of them.¡¯ Black Sethe gloated, ¡®I think you¡¯ll meet some trouble soon.¡¯

 642 Ambushed 2

    Chapter 642: Ambushed 2


    Garen fell silent.


    ¡®Did you think your Soul Seed and Secret Techniques could triumph against them? Don''t be naive.'' Black Sethe laughed sarcastically. ''Only techniques that specifically counters against illusions would truly be able to go against them, the current you is still leagues away from them! Without my protection, you''re just a blob of delicious cake!"


    "Then why would you protect me? I don''t recall asking for help?" Garen walked out of the corridor slowly, exited the complex entrance of his rented unit and began walking down the steps.


    Black Sethe seemed to be speechless.


    ¡®Do you think I wanted it? Isn''t it all because I''m bound to you! I''m also a goner if you croaked, did you think I protected you willingly?!''


    "And then?"


    ¡®And then you actually thought about giving up practicing the Slaughtering Hand! Give up on making me stronger! This is actually an innate Secret Technique that would make both of us stronger simultaneously, yet you want to give up on it?!'' Black Sethe suddenly fumed.


    ¡®Do you even know how much more troublesome it would be after this? Do you even know how much effort I have to put in in order to take care of these trashes? You don''t even¡­.'' He fell silent abruptly.


    Garen''s movement forward suddenly came to a halt, he''d lifted his left leg but it hadn''t landed, instead, it was still dangled mid-air.


    Suddenly his consciousness began to blur and everything around him seemed to be rapidly distanced, the sound of the cars, the ongoing foot traffic, the crisp chirping of birds, the warmth of the sunlight, all of it appeared to leave him suddenly. Once again, he fell into a psychedelic dream realm with no control over himself.


    He had originally been standing at the roadside of the building while around him were streetlights, pedestrians and youths on bicycles, the green old truck that carried stocks, the stall selling fruits, the public bus which cruising by slowly, the gardener who was watering the plants and the white collars who were rushing for work.


    But now everything seemed blurry, and he could neither see anything in detail nor hear anything clearly.


    Garen felt like he''d suddenly entered a mute blurry world where everyone''s faces couldn''t be clearly identified. It was all blurry, and the ground was shaking and vibrating.


    Bam!!


    Suddenly, a strong force came crushing down on his chest.


    Garen only felt that his chest went numb, it wasn''t really painful, but he can hear his own sternum breaking. It was a really crisp, crackling sound.


    He subconsciously wanted to swing both his arms around, but his body could not move at all.


    There seemed to be someone screaming by his ears, screaming his name, but he couldn''t hear it clearly as it was broken up.


    Bam!


    Another strong force came crashing on his left arm, his left forearm was broken instantly and was twisted into an unnatural angle. Oddly enough, Garen did not feel anything at all.


    What he could hear was the increasing anxiety of the voice, as though that voice was screaming and shouting some things.


    Bam!!


    Once again, another strong force hit his shoulders, which made Garen kneel on the ground, he could finally clearly see what''s been attacking him.


    Just a few meters away from him was an unknown creature towering over him.


    It looked like a clay doll lumped together from white clay that stood about 3 meters tall, with distinct limbs but no facial features, and all over its body were protruding dolls'' heads and limbs. It walked very slowly, as though its movements weren''t very agile.


    It lifted its arm and Garen noted that there was no palm, no fingers, just a rounded end like a rolling pin. It then swung violently at him, aiming for his head.


    Garen lifted his head, quietly looking on as the white arm came crushing down, his face was soon shadowed by the arm, but he revealed no hint of panic or horror.


    In the instant before the arm hit him.


    "Wake up!!" Suddenly, a loud voice rang at the side of the Garen''s ears. As the voice roared, it carried a heavy tremor and loud thump.


    Garen suddenly opened his eyes, he actually found himself standing on his original spot, asleep with his eyes shut.


    He was still standing in his original spot at the entrance of the building, and the sidewalk was still bustling with the boot and vehicular traffic. Nobody paid any heed to him who had been standing there with his eyes shut, perhaps most of them thought he was getting a short shut-eye from his exhaustion in order to recover.


    ¡®You were almost a goner.'' Black Sethe''s fatigued voice suddenly rang.


    "what was that just now¡­.?" Garen was slightly dumbfounded, he felt that his brain hasn''t completely recovered, it was still murky, he subconsciously extended his arm to touch his right ear canal, it was wet inside with a viscous liquid.


    As he took his finger out for a look, it was blood.


    The bright red blood was very attention-grabbing under the shine of the sunlight.


    Ka-crack!


    Suddenly Garen felt a crisp ring on his shoulder, as though the bone was broken, and then the left forearm, completely fractured with a snap.


    Lastly, it was the sternum, the successive crackling sounds made him feel stuffy in his chest for a while, and his sternum actually collapsed inwards in that instance.


    Garen took a deep breath and he began breaking out in sweat.


    The muscles around his body began moving and vibrating, the extreme precision of muscle and bone control was activated in an instant


    Ka-clack ka-clack¡­


    In an instant, a long series of joint crackles could be heard as his muscles contracted in waves, each wave producing a different amount of force much like an agilest and meticulous pair of hands which instantaneously realigned all his broken bones back in place. Afterwards, he then tightly wrapped them with his strong muscles in order to lock those bones in position.


    This was the greatest level of self-body manipulation technique, a technique that could only come in handy when the body sustained severe damage.


    Garen stood still as his body shuddered. The injuries all over his body have been stabilized, the body parts which had internal bleeding have been settled, and his wounds were closed as his blood began clotting, thanks to his strong blood-clotting ability.


    "The Devourer is here and it''s their formal army this time around, that was the White Claydoll, the regular soldier of the Devourer." Black Sethe explained while sounding fatigued, "any later and you might have died inside.''


    Garen did not say a word.


    "Do you know why in the dream realm, your body''s physique was exactly as fragile as a regular person? That''s not because you''re too weak, but they were too strong¡­. An average White Claydoll''s strength would still be over ten tonnes at their weakest, they are considered to be a pure destroyer in the dream realm, it''s lucky that the Void Creatures have not fully recovered, if they were back then they would have mobilized at least ten White Claydolls at one go and completely destroy your dream, and then forcefully drag you into their illusory realm and then rear you like a pig to be eaten at any time.


    Garen took a deep breath, it was the first time he''d sustained such heavy injuries ever since his transmigrated into this world.


    Broken left arm, collapsed sternum, shoulder completely shattered, internal bleeding, all of this had happened in a split second.


    ¡®I used my powers to forcefully pull you out of the dream just now, if you cannot get used to moving around the dream realm quickly, then you''d die at the hands of void creatures sooner or later.'' Black Sethe seemed to be oddly fatigued. ¡®We''re lucky that the flow of time for void creatures isn''t the same as ours; they''ll need some time to move over from another dimension of time. What seems to be ten minutes to them would probably equate to our ten days or even a month, so you still have some time to adapt as soon as possible.''


    Garen once again felt this familiar feeling, the sense of looming danger. Even though it was weak, he had not felt it for a long time.


    ¡®Don''t expect that you can get rebirthed after being killed by the void creatures!'' Black Sethe''s sudden statement shattered Garen''s deepest mental assurance. ¡®I don''t know how your body could achieve these kinds of space-time attributes and be able to transmigrate into another dimension upon death, but I have seen this kind of physical properties among those people who were fearless as they thought death could not touch them, but do you know what their endings were like?''


    He snickered lightly.


    ¡®In the end, they were eaten by Void Creatures and not even a shred of their souls was left, this kind of transmigrating body properties are the Void Creatures'' favorite meal.''


    ¡®Mages were immeasurably strong, and among the worlds that fell under their power, there were a few that were transdimensional. This kind of technique wasn''t anything they were new to, but they would still be defeated by the Void Creatures. I''d advise against any feel-good mentality.''


    Garen stiffened his posture, as he got into his new car and slowly started the engine to drive to the house in the countryside.


    He remained fully confident in himself; if he could train himself to be as mobile in the real world, then he was absolutely confident of meeting any opponents!


    Black Sethe on the other hand, was only snickering.


    The sky was full of fire-colored clouds in layers like a flight of stairs, it seemed to extend from near to far, as the colors got darker from butter yellow to murky gold.


    At the borders of Grandor, in a red-roofed house at a T-junction.


    Arisa and Isaros alighted from a little white car. Both of them were donned white skirts with silver buttons forming decorative lines.


    As they walked up to the front of the house with its red roof and grey walls, with the fence in between them, Isaros looked up at the structure of the building.


    The left half of the roof was slanted, whereas the right half of the roof was flat. The house''s front had some red windows scattered about but on the far right was a cylinder-shaped building with a conical top protruding out, much like a miniature version of a castle tower.


    "Pruyn should be referring to this place, there should be someone coming over later," Isaros murmured. " Arisa, you wait for me on top, close the car door properly and observe your surroundings, tell me when the time is right if you notice anything."


    "Okay." Arisa understood the severity of the issue and nodded seriously.


    Pruyn had distracted the troops that were after his life and he''d asked the sister to come pick him up. Even though this looked simple enough, they could not let down their guard at any moment, as that was the rule that had ensured their survival after all these years. Most of the time, when the situation looked safe, it was actually the most dangerous time for them.

 643 Followed 1

    Chapter 643: Followed 1


    ¡®You have no idea how scary the White Claydolls are!'' Black Sethe snickered.


    Garen didn''t pay much attention to him as he was concentrating on driving the car. He''d only recently obtained his license, but the way he controlled the vehicle was already considered quite skilled.


    As the cars in front passed by, there would be cars from behind catching up to him, while the vehicles on both sides constantly sped past each other.


    ¡®White Claydolls may be the most common troops among the Void Creatures, but it possesses an unyielding body with no regards to fatigue and pain, strong regenerative powers, and mighty strength. I reckon you wouldn''t want to meet two White Claydolls simultaneously, as they can buff each other up to increase each other''s strength. Furthermore, they do not have any acupoints, no nerves, and were designed specifically as a war machine against us mages.''


    Black Sethe explained in a sarcastic tone.


    "Are there any ways for me to temporarily gain speed inside the dream realm?" Garen suddenly asked, but his hands were still on the steering wheels, adjusting the car''s forward moving motion.


    ¡®Why would you ask this? Your own training is more important.'' Black Sethe asked in confusion.


    "If I got myself into such a situation where I can''t move once more, wouldn''t you die as I die?" Garen rebuffed, "It''s a temporary solution."


    ¡®There is, but it takes a huge toll on me.'' Black Sethe replied.


    "That''s good to know." Garen''s facial expression didn''t change, "I felt that the attack just now was just a test and the real foes will come soon, you should be prepared."


    ¡®Void Creatures'' sense of time isn''t the same as ours, so even if they wanted to launch a second attack, it wouldn''t be this quick. I understand Void Creatures are better than you¡­''


    Bam!!!


    In a loud crash, the car made a sharp turn as it spun around while braking, violently carving out a distance of tire marks before it came to a halt while positioned perpendicularly to the road.


    In that instant, Garen felt that his brain had become sluggish and his consciousness was fading swiftly, reverting back to the situation like before.


    Sethe''s voice could no longer be clearly heard, as though there was a thick cloth muffling it.


    The sound of fire started crackling around him.


    Through the car window, Garen could see that both sides of the cars were on fire and the flames appeared to engulf the sky. Not just the sides of the road, even random items on the road were burning.


    The crimson red fire was dancing upwards, much like a red ribbon.


    The surroundings and the situation on the road had quickly turned blurry, as the sky darkened all of a sudden.


    Bam!


    The back of the car was hit by a heavy blunt force and the entire car creaked loudly. The back half of the car had been flattened like an empty drink can.


    Garen hurriedly flung the door open and ran out. As he turned around for a look, three White Claydolls that were about 4 meters tall were approaching him and were swinging their giant fists as they moved forward. Among the three, one of them was lifting its right leg from the car boot.


    Garen felt that his body had become extremely slow to respond; both his legs no longer listened to his commands, and as he tried to run away with all his might, his legs did not budge at all, remaining rooted to his original spot.


    ¡®Run! This is the illusory realm of the White Claydoll!'' Sethe''s voice was transmitted for a brief moment.


    Suddenly, Garen was feeling energetic again, his body had returned to normal and everything was back under his control, even the surroundings have become clear in an instant too. He immediately knew this was Sethe''s assistance, and he turned around and ran.


    ¡®Damn it! Three White Claydolls, this is troublesome! You have to leave their realm as soon as possible, I''ll tell you how to get out¡­''


    Bam!!


    Garen leaped onto a car that was parked on the side and stepped onto the car''s windshield. With a curled up body and a bent knee, his entire body was wound like a spring.


    He didn''t even stop to listen to Sethe until he finished.


    Badumm!!


    In a large burst of noise, Garen suddenly bounced backward and was launched straight towards the three White Claydolls, much like an arrow that had been released from a bow.


    ¡®You''re courting death!!" Black Sethe shouted in anger.


    Roar!!!


    Suddenly, a giant blood-red creature emerged from within Garen''s emotionless eyes, its horrifying roar erupting as air whipped around its body.


    That was a dragon''s roar!!


    The Nine-Headed Hydra''s soul consciousness had always laid deep within Garen''s soul, merging with him was indeed the final apex predator''s will, it was the ultimate desire to survive!


    As the apex predator sitting on the top of the food chain, Nine-Headed Hydra had been bored of this peaceful world for far too long, and now it finally got a chance to rage.


    The silhouette of the giant Nine-Headed Hydra appeared behind Garen, a horrifying silhouette towering over ten meters above ground with a blood red body and countless black smoke auras.


    As Garen''s right hand extended and gripped in one of the White Claydolls'' direction, that hand seemed as though it was shrouded by the Hydra''s heads and rushed at the four-meter tall Claydoll with a violent roar.


    The Claydoll had also let out a muted roar, and it swung its fists ferociously at the unknown power ahead of it with full frontal force, even though its body size was vastly smaller compared to the Nine-Headed Hydra.


    The Nine-Headed Hydra was a little over twice its size.


    The two sides seemed like an adult preparing to joust with a child.


    Ba-dum!!


    Much like a thunderous thump from afar, the White Claydoll''s arm was snapped, pushed back towards and stuffed into its body like an eraser.


    A sudden red flush appeared on Garen''s face and his right arm had wilted, as though all of its water content in his hand had been lost and it was left mummified.


    He quickly swapped to his left arm, lifted it and swung towards another White Claydoll.


    His hand moved at an extreme speed and with an accurate hit, it carried the Nine-Headed Hydra''s rage and busted the White Claydoll''s head with one punch.


    With a thump, its head exploded and mud-like white liquid spurted out of its severed body.


    The claydoll staggered backward a few steps and fell to the ground.


    The final claydoll took a few steps back. Its face now had a terrified look as it was completely overshadowed by the huge, Nine-Headed Hydra, and it seemed to be trembling in fear.


    As it observed two of its comrades being severely injured, it dared not stop and it turned around and began running towards the horizon.


    Garen stood there without a shred of emotions on his face, he could feel his surroundings change once again; what seemed to be crystal clear have once again turned blurry.


    ¡®You''re a lunatic! Don''t pull me in if you''re seeking death!'' Black Sethe''s loud roar could be heard. ¡®You actually dared combine with the soul of Nine-Headed Hydra! Do you think that kind of creatures'' consciousness was easy to combine? That''s a descendant of one of the top 100 Void Creatures, and you actually dared to combine with its soul! Count yourself lucky that you didn''t get consumed immediately!''


    "I''m all out of power," Garen spoke softly.


    ¡®With such mediocre strength! And you actually scared away three White Claydolls! This is the biggest joke I''ve seen in my entire life!'' Black Sethe said, seemingly surprised after being angry.. ¡®If they had stayed to counterattack, then you would have completely perished! Even I can''t do anything to help you!''


    "Didn''t we succeed in the end?" Garen readjusted his body which had wounds torn open due to the vigorous movements.


    He then realized that he was still sitting in his car and his sitting position hasn''t changed at all. The only difference was that the lifeforce in both of his arms had all been released, and they felt uncomfortably empty inside.


    "I think I''ll die sooner or later thanks to you!'' Black Sethe concluded his rant.


    "Don''t you all idolize death?" Garen shrugged.


    ¡®That''s them, plus this isn''t my actual body, it perished several thousand years ago and I am now merely an independent piece of memory.'' Black Sethe answered impatiently, ¡®You''ve drained all my strength too, we need to recharge.''


    Even though he couldn''t stop scolding Garen, Black Sethe actually couldn''t suppress his excitement.


    Garen, who didn''t have the ability to even kill a single White Claydoll, had actually scared away three of them in that one instant of explosive power, this was completely out of Black Sethe''s expectations.


    This kind of bravery to meet his own destiny, the boldness to make the bravest decision in that instant and simultaneous execution, this level of decisiveness, this kind of complete confidence in himself.


    Black Sethe could suddenly see the shadow of his several thousand years old main body in Garen in that instant.


    Perhaps, he could indeed be the next Bloody King¡­.


    At this moment, in the illusory realm that was supposed to be destroyed and was engulfed in flames suddenly had a hole ripped open in space.


    A skinny white arm slowly stretched out of it and grasped onto the boundaries of the hole.


    " Al¡­ My poor brother¡­" A gentle male voice could be heard.


    Jiiii¡­.!!!


    Garen immediately floored the brakes, he then turned around to take a look, the Nine-Headed Hydra in his eyes kept rolling. In this instant, it felt as though his eyes have been transferred to another dimension''s limit and could see something approaching.


    ¡®What''s wrong with you?!'' Black Sethe asked in surprise.


    Garen did not say anything for a while.


    "Nothing." He started the car once again and sped towards his destination.


    He didn''t know why, but he could vaguely feel that something was resonating with his soul nearby. This uncomfortable feeling was especially obvious and clear.


    **********************


    Isaros nimbly avoided the glass shards scattered on the floor and frowned as she peeked at the second floor upstairs. There were traces of blood on the staircase and the handrails of the staircase have been destroyed, as though they''d been crushed by a heavy object.


    She tip-toed upstairs step-by-step.


    The scent of blood in the air got thicker and thicker.


    Oddly enough, the blood stains on the floor were getting smaller; as she reached the second floor, there was almost no blood stain at all, but the air around had a very thick smell of blood.


    The room was pin-drop silent, no noise was heard.


    Isaros'' cautious mind had taken over; she already knew that something was wrong from the moment she''d walked into the house, and the door was just a facade hiding the mess within the room that was littered all over with mostly smashed fragile items.


    Suddenly, she turned around and instantaneously pulled the trigger on her handgun behind her!


    Bam!


    A gunshot was heard, and a black shadow evaded the shot quickly. Isaros had no way of knowing if the shot had connected with the target.

 644 Followed 2

    Chapter 644: Followed 2


    Isaros did not think too much and kept firing her handgun while she instinctively retreated.


    Bam bam bam bam bam!


    Her left hand was tightly gripping her dagger and she made a crescent-shaped slash in front of her as a defensive maneuver.


    Firing a handgun while operating a knife simultaneously had almost become a second nature for her. Isaros'' eyes followed the silhouette tightly as it sped around, but her handgun was almost unable to catch up to the opponent and could only barely hit its afterimage.


    She saw that shadow circled around the second floor''s living hall once, and then immediately rushed towards her at an incredible speed while it maintained an S-shaped evasive maneuver.


    She fired two consecutive rounds that missed before she tossed the handgun aside and rolled onto the ground to avoid the pounce, then countered that attack by throwing the dagger out. She didn''t even manage to see what the outcome was, but had already hidden in a room on the side and slammed the door shut.


    With her back against the window, she quickly took out a few black colored parts from her pockets and assembled them with a speed which seemed like a series of afterimages was assembling it, and then taped it on the door behind her.


    She then rolled over, ran towards the window in front of her and jumped out after smashing the window, while both her hands held onto the ledge of the window.


    Just as she hung onto the ledge, the little device taped to the door started blinking red.


    The black shadow suddenly barged into the room.


    Ba-dum!!


    A strong explosion happened instantaneously.


    The flames engulfed everything in the room like a surging flood, including the black shadow. An immense amount of heat rushed through the windows with large clouds of smoke, and the interior of the house began burning following the large explosion.


    "Beautifully done."


    A composed, male voice was suddenly heard beside Isaros, with a hint of admiration.


    She immediately turned to her side, while her right hand was positioned like a serpent to choke the opponent''s neck.


    Isaros had not anticipated at all that she would miss someone right next to her.


    Pap!!


    The fingers were accurately caught by her opponent, and the opponent licked her fingers.


    Isaros was then able to see that person''s true colors.


    He looked just like a regular young male, clean, with a tidy attire and wore gold-framed eyeglasses, which made him look like a lawyer from a law firm. He looked gentlemanly, but his eyes had a hint of judgment. That black suit that he donned was definitely not low-class but was an elegantly-tailored suit.


    This handsome man with fair skin had pitch-black irises like two magical whirlpools which carried an oddly strong attraction, making people unable to resist staring into his gaze.


    "Hypnosis!" Isaros suddenly escaped the technique, twisted her body and her lower half then bent upwards before her body nimbly flipped back into the room. But that man seemed to be agiler than her and hopped into the room just right after her.


    Both of them stood in the middle of the sea of flames.


    "Such a beautiful lady¡­ Outstanding, charming, seeing you feels like looking back at my daughter¡­" The man sighed with a hint of nostalgia. "If she wasn''t killed by the damned light party, she would probably be as outstanding and beautiful as you."


    "Blood Breeds have reproductive abilities too?" Isaros cautiously observed her opponent, while replying him in a casual tone.


    "No, not Blood Breed, she was a pure human." The opponent didn''t seem to be willing to talk more about his past, he was looking at Isaros, "To be able to escape my hypnosis, I suppose you''re no regular human too."


    Isaros kept feeling that this man seemed oddly gracious, this odd feeling made her feel extremely uncomfortable.


    "No, you''re wrong, I''m a pure human."


    "Is it?" The man smiled. "My name is Laers, I''m the person in charge of this territory''s secret party. I had originally intended to take a walk, but I would never have expected such an outstanding girl like you."


    As Isaros felt that something wasn''t right, the opponent''s gaze turned stern, much like a beast''s calm before pouncing on its prey, which made people put down their guard.


    Suddenly, she dodged to her left.


    Jii!!


    She heard something being torn from the location where she originally was, but she didn''t stop to look. As she hit the ground with her right palm to support her weight, she swept her surroundings with a windmill kick.


    The pointed leather shoes on her were as sharp as the tip of a knife, which let out a sharp ferocious howl as it spun with a high velocity.


    With two thumps, Laers was hit, but both his arms shielded his body with a speed exceeding Isaros''. Even he couldn''t anticipate that his opponent would have such moves hidden, and it would have been too late to react if not for his own overbearing speed, which instead allowed him to proactively approach and hit her feet.


    With two consecutive hits, his face seemed unwell. The elegance from before could no longer be faked, and his face slowly started to show a shred of impatience and ferocity.


    With two bloody holes pierced on his arms, even though there was no blood flowing out, it was a thorough insult to a pure-blooded Blood Breed to be injured by a regular human.


    Roar!!


    He let out a loud roar and rushed at her after transforming into a black shadow, as he took advantage of the timing that Isaros needed to recover to close in on her.


    Pap pap pap pap!!


    The two of them had gotten themselves into a brawl. Isaros'' speed was leagues below the opponent, but her attack accuracy was frighteningly pre-emptive as she has a honed sense of danger. She seemed to be able to predict Laer''s attacks before they happened and launch a pre-emptive strike, which made Laers feel uncomfortable.


    With a bang, the two of them knocked down the remaining wooden wall which had been blown apart by the earlier explosion and burst into the hall.


    With a lunge, Isaros'' finger violently slashed at Laers'' right cheek, the poison on her nails instantly entering his body.


    His face changed in that instant.


    "How dare you!!" He roared and instantly gave up his plan to toy with his opponent, and a strong force suddenly flowed throughout his body.


    His entire person was slowly dyed an odd hue of grey, while his skin became as tough as a boulder.


    His speed has suddenly increased twofold, and just as he raised his right arm, it would hit Isaros'' shoulder.


    The immense power crashed upon Isaros'' shoulder, sending her flying.


    Laers turned into a shadow once again and closed in on Isaros, choked her and lifted her high. She could not do anything even as she struggled. His skin was as tough as a boulder and was nothing that a mere human could damage, even her dagger could only scratch the skin without dealing any significant damage.


    Laers could feel the poison spreading within his body, and as he glared at Isaros in his grasp, he turned violent.


    Bam!!


    Suddenly, a large explosion erupted from the tiles behind his body.


    The huge explosion flung away both Laers and Isaros at the same time.


    Isaros took this opportunity to escape the opponent''s choke, and she jumped out of the window pane after two coughs. Suddenly, a black shadow sped by and threw her downwards by grabbing her waist.


    Bam!!


    With yet another loud thump, her nose and mouth began bleeding, but the anti-stab garments that she wore before the entire incidents were useful in greatly reducing the damage that she received.


    "Damn it!!!" Laers'' voice could be heard from behind her.


    Isaros'' consciousness was beginning to blur, but the many years of fleeing from death''s door had unfazed her, hence she turned her body away from her original position decisively.


    Just as she rolled away, the flooring at her original position had been stomped through by Laers. The shards of wood and cement littered the ground floor.


    The house had ignited once again at this point.


    Isaros wasn''t aware that she''d rolled into a flame, which ignited her body.


    Flame, rollover, roar, sirens of a fire truck, a soft voice transmitted over a communication device.


    All of these noises weaved together into Isaros'' ears, as though it was a muffled orchestra.


    In that instant, the scene where she''d practiced with Garen resurfaced. Those unknown emotions suddenly surged through her, as though it was merging with her innate prediction ability.


    Aura began flowing around her slowly and after a few rolls, the flames on Isaros was quickly extinguished. By this time, Laers was already standing next to her, lifting her up by her neck again.


    "You mortal! To actually humiliate me to this extent! Such accomplishment!" Laers smiled deceitfully, "Perhaps I should make you my treasured collection, keep it until¡­ Jii!"


    A crisp noise had broken his speech.


    Laers was stunned with an unbelieving expression and Isaros slowly looked down at his chest.


    That slightly darkened arm has been stabbed into his body, much like a spear piercing into his heart. The arm which was smoking and black was supposed to be clearly visible to him, yet oddly enough he hadn''t noticed any movements from before. Just a light hit and his chest had already been pierced, as though his Blood Breed skin was a useless decoration.


    "Silent Killing Art¡­" Isaros had a flashback of Garen showing her this technique, there was no ripple within her heart, her head was blank, ahead of her seemed to be the scene where Garen had pointed his dagger at her own forehead.


    With a thump, Laers let go of Isaros and staggered back by a few steps. He shapeshifted once again into a shadow and disappeared from the scene.


    In the house, there was only Isaros left barely managing to stand as she stared at her right hand, stunned. On her hand was a hint of Laers'' blood.


    Silent Killing Art.


    Such a technique¡­. Was indeed too horrifying¡­


    This was the first time that she''d felt the impression that the ordinary Garen was shrouded with a layer of mystery.


    At this time, the sirens of the fire truck outside were approaching. As she snapped back into focus, she quickly jumped out of the window pane and nimbly landed on the ground with a forward roll, dispersing the majority of the landing impact. Without concern for her own injuries, she swiftly pulled open the car door.


    Arisa came out from beneath the seats, she was frightened to see that her sister was covered in blood stains and burn marks.


    "We have to leave!" Isaros said quickly.


    Arisa did not dare to speak much, she immediately took over the steering wheel and left the location swiftly.


    The house was left smoldering.

 645 Mask 1

    Chapter 645: Mask 1


    Near Gullivier University.


    Garen did not encounter any more ambushes along the way. It was already nightfall when he arrived at his house in the suburbs safely.


    "Boss." Under the guidance of Jay, a few of the newer high-leveled Black Uniform Organization members greeted Garen in an orderly manner.


    Garen nodded, alighted from the car, and strode through the main door of the villa behind Jay and the others.


    A few members of the Nighthawks opened the door for him respectfully. They led the way across the lawn and walked towards a piece of empty land behind the house.


    There were a few lorries parked on the empty land. They were covered in black cloth that was pulled over tightly, making it impossible to guess what was hidden underneath.


    "Boss, these are the goods that we gained this time," said Jay respectfully with his head bowed.


    He''d brought a few of his subordinates with him and waited at the side for Garen to check the goods.


    Garen walked in front and with the bright light from the light source beside him, he lifted up a corner of the black cloth. Large black boxes were revealed underneath.


    He could vaguely feel a kind of potential energy that was entrenched within the box and constantly lingering there.


    When he looked around, he noticed that the ten subordinates had dispersed on their own and were now keeping a close watch on their surroundings. Their chests were puffed out while their gazes were locked on the others around them.


    "There is three lorries'' worth of goods here, meaning that we have a total of 125 pieces. I will get the others back bit by bit and as soon as possible," Jay reported quietly.


    Garen nodded happily.


    "I trust you. Get someone to move all of the goods here into the villa. Besides that, get more people to manage the house, it''s too lonely living here on my own."


    "Yes, sir," Jay nodded quickly. He relayed some instructions to his subordinates quietly before a crowd of people walked inside instantly and began to open the boxes one by one to move the items into the villa.


    There were flower vases, mirrors, cutlery, oil paintings, and even ancient music boxes. Various items were moved into the villa carefully and displayed inside one of the rooms under Garen''s instructions.


    ''What do want these relics for?'' asked Black Sethe beside his ear in a puzzled manner. ''The Void Creatures could return any minute yet you still think that you have spare time to fiddle with these boring playthings.''


    "Can''t you tell?" Garen did not reply but chose to casually ask him a question instead.


    ''Tell what?'' Black Sethe obviously could not see the potential that antiques possessed.


    "I prefer collecting relics," answered Garen indifferently.


    The moving of the relics was finally completed at midnight. A line of people withdrew from the villa one by one after that. Under Jay''s commands, a group of them remained to guard the villa while the rest got into their cars and returned to the Black Uniform Organization branch.


    The Black Uniform Organization''s headquarters were located in Africa while the Nighthawks'' headquarters were established in America because of Garen. Sufficient manpower could be assembled from either location, including the elites.


    Once everyone had left, Garen remained in the storage room that was used to keep the relics alone.


    He looked at the dazzling array of relics. Some of them emitted potential energy while others were merely normal antiques.


    He spent the rest of the night separating these antiques and relics by placing the useless antiques on the side and only removing the relics with potential energy.


    Although there were 45 relics that possessed Potential Value, most of them only held a few Potential Points, while only three of them possessed a Potential Value of at least ten points.


    One of these items was a mask. It was a peculiar, ancient red-black mask and although Garen could not detect its exact Potential Value, he could detect that is was definitely a high value of at least ten or even twenty to thirty points.


    The timely delivery of these relics instantly improved his mood, while the condition of the wounds on his body had improved greatly as well.


    ''Other than their nominal collection and historical value, what other use do things like relics have?'' nagged Black Sethe again.


    Garen turned a deaf ear to him immediately. Just from being inside this room, he could already feel that his body was steadily absorbing the potential energy that the antiques and relics were emitting.


    He glanced at the Attribute Pane at the bottom of his line of sight and noticed that his Potential Value was moving slowly and blurrily. Although it was slow, it was clear that the values were truly increasing.


    He picked up a pocket watch randomly before all of the potential energy inside was quickly absorbed into his body. The cool and refreshing air currents flowed inside him from his wrists to his upper arms before rushing up his shoulders and finally entering his brain.


    His Potential Points increased by three points instantly. Meanwhile, the remaining Potential Points continued to enter slowly. It would take at least a week for him to absorb all of the Potential Points from the pocket watch completely.


    Absorbing Potential Points from antiques could not be done as quickly as killing things in the Totem World. However, it was beneficial because it was long-lasting and would arrive in a steady flow.


    Garen looked out of the window and noticed that the sky was now somewhat bright. A whole night had passed quickly. The healing of his bodily wounds had begun to slow down in certain places because he had not gotten proper rest.


    He glanced at the array of relics and antiques before him. Garen was too lazy to attend classes and decided to lie down in a pile of relics instead. He finally collapsed on an ancient but clean copper bed and fell asleep.


    The fastest method of absorption was to be with these relics at all times.


    ***************


    Time flew by quickly.


    After a few months had gone by in a flash¡­


    Under the night sky, a white sedan stopped in front of a detached villa on the outskirts slowly before a remote was used to activate the metal gates'' automatic opening.


    Garen sat in the driver''s seat and drove into the garden of the villa unhurriedly. He passed a fountain and turned the car around under the maid''s directions before driving into the underground garage slowly.


    Bang.


    He pulled the car door open and got down from the vehicle before walking out of the garage slowly.


    At night, the sky was filled with clusters of glittering stars that resembled countless tiny pale blue diamonds that were embedded in the curtains of the night.


    Garen was dressed from head to toe in a slim-fitting suit. He walked across the lawn before entering the main door of his own villa where the lights were shining brightly from within. Two people whom he had not seen for a long time were already seated inside.


    Quentin and Xander.


    Both of them seemed to be closing their eyes and resting, but when they heard the sound of the door opening and the footsteps, they opened their eyes at once and looked towards the doorway.


    When they saw Garen, both of them stood up immediately.


    "President," both of them greeted respectfully together.


    Garen had only been focusing on absorbing Potential Points and practicing his Dreaming Technique with great concentration. Concentrating his own consciousness and attention while remaining clear-headed enough to recognize that he was dreaming was something that he could already achieve quite effectively. The thing that pleasantly surprised him the most was that these exercises seemed to help his own Secret Technique levels. When the Dreaming Technique upgraded, he could feel new developments throughout his Secret Technique levels, which had remained dormant for a long time.


    There seemed to be new changes within the Slaughtering Hand that even Black Sethe had not anticipated. Garen''s Slaughtering Hand was actually achieved by practicing the Northern Trident Frost-Fire True Water Evil Technique and was not actually a pure killing-type demonic technique. Although it had undergone strange changes, no one knew if these transformations were good or bad, and the only way to find out was to observe it step-by-step.


    Within these few months, he had encountered countless raids by the White Dolls. However, when he had become more accustomed to handling them and had reached a level that was even more terrifying than the Combat World''s King of the Century, it allowed him to discover the White Doll''s weaknesses in a short span of time. This allowed him to cope with the White Dolls easily, while his upgraded Potential Points allowed his injuries to heal quickly. Once he was able to retain his consciousness and remain self-aware while dreaming, the White Dolls became insignificant to him even if two or three of them came at once.


    The ability to remain aware in that state allowed him to use his Secret Techniques and other powers without any obstructions. Therefore, he was much stronger than his muddle-headed opponents that attacked passively.


    Even without Black Sethe''s help, he was currently able to handle a few White Dolls easily at once, clearly displaying the General-level powers that Black Sethe once mentioned. Within these few months, he had killed more than ten White Dolls consecutively.


    However, all of his attention was now focused on the Void Creatures, making him completely indifferent towards the normal tasks of this world. He used his speedy regenerative powers to improve his life while pushing everything else to the back of his mind.


    His body was currently able to constantly regain its initial qualities with the help of the relics. While upgrading himself continuously, he was also able to accumulate more than 200 Potential Points. If he had not used up all of the points on his physical body because points were useless in the Dream World, he would have used all of them to strengthen his mental self instead.


    "It''s rare for you to come looking for me. Did you come because of an important manner?" Garen instructed the maid to bring three cups of green tea. Although he was now living in a Western environment, he did not like drinking coffee as it left a sour taste in his mouth, and was not as comforting as tea.


    Quentin''s eyebrows were knitted together slightly. This beautiful and sexy girl had always been straightforward but was now clearly somewhat hesitant.


    "It would be better for me to say it." Xander now resembled a normal young man that had become a part of society. He was dressed from head to toe in a well-ironed ashen suit, his hair was combed neatly and cleanly while only a little bit of his beard remained.


    "President, we came to see you this time in hopes that you would mediate personally."


    Xander''s attitude was unusually earnest.


    "Mediate?" Garen began to smile.


    Up until now, he had begun restoring his body''s natural qualities because of the large number of Potential Points within the relics. Accordingly, his body had begun to gradually upgrade the average values of his qualities. Currently, his each and every move seemed to emit a strong aura as if he possessed a gravitational force that attracted everyone''s attention unconsciously.


    "What aspect are you referring to?" he said as he looked at Xander calmly.


    Xander always felt that Garen''s eyes resembled bottomless abyss or whirlpools, and could not help but lower his own eyes unconsciously.


    "It''s about Hochman and Dahm."


    "Hochman and Dahm?" Garen rubbed his chin. "Haven''t they always had a good relationship with each other?"


    "Last night at twenty minutes past nine, both of them officially declared war against each other," said Xander softly. "Both of them have lost their sanity and even opened fire and killed people in the downtown area brazenly. Both of their families have declared war with each other completely. Dahm even used his contacts to engage the special police forces, while Hochman dispatched some mercenaries immediately."


    "They''re both adults that have their own principles. As the situation has already reached this point, it will be useless for me to appear personally anyway. Once the grudge has formed, it cannot be resolved easily. Since they''ve already decided to make their moves, they have definitely considered all the other aspects already," said Garen calmly with a smile on his face. "However, isn''t this a good thing? The strong should never shy from battle, and fighting is also another way to improve our martial arts."

 646 Mask 2

    Chapter 646: Mask 2


    When they looked at Garen''s deep and unmeasurable blue eyes, Quentin and Xander could feel a faint chill in the air for unknown reasons.


    This mysterious president who had drawn them into the martial arts hall from the beginning now seemed to be completely unconcerned about the fight between Hochman and Dahm. Instead, his attitude showed that he was supporting it.


    Hochman was currently known as the Boxing Overlord in the northern parts of America. During a fit of rage, he was once able to use his strength to break an iron pillar that was as thick as a thigh, showing that he had reached a terrifying, inhuman level. After he had crushed seven world-class boxing champions and famous underground combat fighters consecutively, his reputation reached far and wide. There was once an incident when a pistol was fired right in his face, but the speed of the trigger was no match for his quick fists. He sent his opponent flying with one punch and the man''s entire upper body lost its form immediately before his internal organs and bones were turned into a sticky mess.


    Meanwhile, Dahm was ruthless and malicious. He used fear and torture to rule over his group of subordinates. His underlings consisted of extremely vicious thugs, murderers, robbers, and other hardened criminals that were known to the public as ''Deadly Fists''. Likewise, he used his frightening and secretly cruel skills to kill others quietly, causing his subordinates and enemies to fear him greatly. He favored his underlings that possessed particularly muscular bodies and great strength but had a weird hobby that involved dressing up as a woman.


    Both of them had already become the veritable underground rulers of the entire northern part of America. Their forces were omnipresent, and with the backing of both of their families, neither money nor the government could stop them at all.


    "After all, both of them were the strongest members of our combat club¡­" said Quentin while trying to convince Garen. "Ever since the reputation of the combat club rose, the club members would always support and help each other to the point where they formed a large web of power relations. A year has passed since then and it has already developed into a large-scale network system today. As members, everyone should help each other progress so that our strengths can become more powerful. Both Hochman and Dahm were two of our most outstanding members, so we cannot¡­"


    "So what?" Garen interrupted her. "The survival of the fittest is the way of the world. They made their own choices and I have no right to interfere."


    Quentin choked up for a moment and was temporarily unable to speak.


    "You taught and guided us past the threshold. Therefore, you are our Master," said Xander quietly from the sidelines. "Right now, you''re the only person who can stop their fight."


    "The only person in this world who can stop them is you," said Xander frankly. "I''m begging you." He lowered his head heavily and bowed deeply.


    Quentin lowered her head and bowed while standing on the side as well. "We can''t just watch while they kill each other. Please!"


    Garen lifted his cup of green tea and sipped it gently.


    Quentin sneaked at a glance at this mysterious man from the corner of her eye. His each and every move was completely incomprehensible to everyone else. Meanwhile, no one knew the origins of his extraordinary martial arts skills. While the prestige of his two disciples peaked, this mysterious and powerful man was gradually known as ''Holy Fist'' by those around him.


    However, although there were people who knew his family and other information, no one could understand how his terrifyingly strong martial arts came about.


    Even though they had reached powerful stages now, both Hochman and Dahm restrained and downplayed themselves in front of Garen and continued to respect him.


    The only one who could stop both of them was him.


    Deep down, Quentin understood that. However, she was completely unaware that the real culprit that caused both of them to fight to the death was not someone else, but actually Garen himself.


    Quentin knew about the terrifying techniques that she had learned from Garen''s martial arts. They seemed like an endless path that allowed one to explore themselves infinitely¡­


    She had currently achieved the third level of the Illusory Spinning White Jade, which was the Spin level. Although she was unable to reach the fourth level and remained in her current state, her strength was already sufficient to defeat all of her enemies outside combat club.


    Her own family had started a boxing club, allowing her to clearly understand how terrifying the techniques that she had grasped truly were. After she''d accidentally overthrown two well-known boxers, she finally understood that the techniques she had grasped were terrifying murder skills that were actually derived from battle skills from countless fights. Neither mercy nor good intentions existed here, only death.


    The Two-Faced Waterbird Fist that was concealed within beautiful and graceful steps were actually deadly murderous intentions.


    In comparison, Hochman and Dahm had already started to create Waterbird Fist fighting techniques that were most suited towards themselves. Their powers seemed to constantly increase like a limitless rocket.


    "How regretful." Garen crossed all ten of his fingers and laid them on top of the table. "The Two-Faced Waterbird Fist was a fighting technique that I had passed on to all of you. In reality, once it has reached a certain level, it will separate itself into positive and negative directions because of each person''s own physical qualities. Only those with specialized talents and skills will be able to activate these special qualities. The fight between the Negative Two-Faced Waterbird Fist and Positive Two-Faced Waterbird Fist is predestined. Once they have defeated and killed their opponent and fused with the essence of their Secret Techniques, they will be able to upgrade themselves to a level that no one has ever anticipated before."


    This was the first time Garen had explained the true meaning behind the Two-Faced Waterbird Fist to both of them.


    "Negative and positive. This is the reason why it was named the Two-Faced Waterbird Fist."


    This was the first time Quentin and Xander had heard an allusion like this, and both of them were unconsciously dazed after they had heard everything. They had always thought that Hochman and Dahm could only fight to the death because of personal grudges, but now¡­ All of this seemed to be arranged by Garen from the beginning¡­


    As fellow successors of the Waterbird Fist, both of them had finally understood the true secrets of this killing technique.


    "You¡­ what is your goal?!" Xander raised his head while suppressed anger flashed in his eyes.


    "Goal?" Garen began to smile. "You guys thought that martial arts merely meant playing house? That strength could be achieved easily without having to pay a price? Perhaps you thought that you would be able to gain such frightening skills just by paying a small price? Don''t be naive."


    "The true path of martial arts has never included such a quick road to improvement. By practicing a martial art without aftereffects, they would have to spend at least ten years doing orthodox training to even dream about reaching your level. But you assumed that the martial arts that you were practicing could be considered of the same class?" sneered Garen.


    "All shortcuts require a price to be paid in exchange." He stood up after he was almost done speaking. "Alright, it''s late. Go home."


    Both of them were currently stunned and in a daze. They thought back to the earliest moment when Garen had imparted the most powerful strength to them and the moment when they received everything before their minds become muddled once more.


    They remained confused while being ushered out of the door by the maids, and only awakened from their trance while driving back on the road home.


    No wonder they were forced to congregate around Garen for a period of time under the pretense of regulating their martial arts progress. They needed Garen to personally check their progress every time, and when they thought about it now, perhaps he was checking and getting rid of everyone''s side effects.


    Both of their minds were confused and numb for a while. Neither of them was concerned about Hochman or Dahm anymore, as they needed to go back and check on the conditions of their own bodies carefully.


    **************************


    Inside a little wooden house in an unspecified forest in Grano town.


    Within a lush green forest, a little house was situated in completely silent surroundings, as if something was protecting this little wooden house that was built by this forest ranger.


    "Are you crazy? You let two normal people come into contact with Lars? That insane madman?!"


    Inside the wooden house, Pritto sat on the sofa while a beautiful woman with golden hair stood on the opposite side of him and looked on with an expression of disbelief.


    "You actually gave such an important item to two normal people? I don''t know what you experienced during this period of time, but actions like this simply make me see you as an unbelievably stupid idiot!" The woman''s chest heaved continuously, making it obvious that she was extremely furious.


    "I trust them¡­" said Pritto softly. A cigarette was held between his fingers but it was unlit.


    "Barton''s current goal is to pursue you and me. No one would think that the goods are not with us, but at the other place instead. As part of the Scarlet Moon tribe, we should not be afraid of our opponent''s middle-level hypnotic control techniques. Currently, only you and I know this secret," Pritto raised his head quietly and looked at the woman.


    "So you''re not afraid that they''ll be affected by the control of the hypnotic technique? Simply ridiculous!" said the woman in an annoyed tone.


    "I''ve tried it. They have extremely strong will powers, and they''ve also undergone various types of training to resist it, making it completely impossible to control them," Pritto explained. "Besides that, they seem to know a specialized combat skill and possess extremely strong powers."


    "No matter how strong they are, they''re still normal humans at the end of the day. The Middle-level Blood Breeds can kill them with one look! Fine¡­ Fine, fine¡­" The woman raised both of her hands. "Whatever, I don''t care. Any decisions you make will be your own problem. Anyway, if anything bad happens, it will be your personal responsibility. I don''t want to even think about caring about this anymore! Just do as you like!" She turned around and left angrily.


    Only Pritto remained seated inside the wooden house. He smiled bitterly and coughed twice while a defeated expression crept across his face slowly.


    "Frankly, I didn''t want to drag two innocent lives into this. However, I had no other choice, and before I knew it, they were already involved."


    *************************


    Inside an unspecified private meeting room in Feinan City, a short distance from Grano, within the state of Faya.


    None of the lights in the room were lit and it was pitch-black, while the smell of smoke wafted through the air faintly.


    Two middle-aged men in black windbreakers stood in front of a window. Both of their figures seemed to blend into the darkness completely as if they were merely sculptures that posed quietly in front of the window amidst the cold and gloomy air.


    "The operation has failed. Two normal people have been involved. They replaced Pritto and went to the coordinate point and even injured Lars."


    "They''re probably the subordinates of the other Blood Breeds. That fellow Lars is more concerned with saving face than his own life, and if news that a normal person was able to injure a Blood Breed gets out, not only will he be worried that others will make fun of him, but he''ll probably also get more people to come over if he can''t handle it. However, we can''t drag this out any longer. The local Witches don''t have positive attitudes towards us, so we''ll have hurry up and make our moves. Do you know Pritto''s whereabouts?"


    "He should be with Cavenly. If we can find Cavenly, we''ll definitely be able to find him as well."


    "That''s good. We must move fast. The other territories are almost done, we must not lag behind."


    "Yes."

 647 Dream 1

    Chapter 647: Dream 1


    Inside a brilliantly illuminated golden hall.


    Garen sat upright on the sofa with his eyes closed slightly, while his head and both of his arms were draped over the back of the sofa.


    He had already finished absorbing the Potential Points from the relics. He glanced at the status of his own Attribute Pane.


    ''Garen Thomas.


    Strength 2.9. Agility 2.9. Vitality 3.1. Intelligence 2.8. Potential 25648%. Soul Limit 30.''


    He had neglected to increase his attributes equally but later used his increased vitality attribute to restore himself after incurring some heavy damage. Even though this had decreased his speed, Black Sethe remained confused after much thought, and could only assume that Garen possessed extremely powerful Secret Methods. After all, there were seemingly endless amounts of outstanding skills throughout the ages, and those that were created and initiated on one''s own were not necessarily inferior in comparison to those of the past.


    Garen closed his eyes. "My biggest problem now involves moving around in the Dream World. I don''t need Black Sethe''s help anymore because I can move around as I please, but this will only work when I focus my attention. Right now my biggest problem concerns the usage of my Potential Points. I still have 256 Potential Points but I don''t know how to distribute them."


    He had not anticipated that he would receive such huge rewards this time. These two hundred points were something that the Black Uniform Organization could only accumulate after many years. Unlike himself, they could not filter their attributes and talents, and would not dare to wantonly absorb Potential Values to strengthen themselves. They would only absorb these values slowly in times of need. However, this would cause various after effects that would make them suffer untold hardships. Many of them died young, while only Levi faced the least effects because his vitality was different from the average person''s.


    Garen had already confirmed that everything in the Dream World, including abilities and knowledge, could not be strengthened using Potential Values. Instead, they could only be trained and advanced step by step. Therefore, it was impossible to hurriedly learn the techniques of the Dream World.


    His options were also limited.


    Firstly, he could strengthen all of his physical qualities equally while empowering his strength in reality as well. This would be effective towards increasing his strength in the Dream World, as the body he used in the Dream World was still his own body.


    Secondly, he could strengthen his skills and Secret Techniques. The Slaughtering Hand could be strengthened and advanced, and he could also choose other skills to improve as well. In the end, the Secret Techniques could be used to counter the Void Creatures, but he would need to pay attention to Black Sethe''s lurking dangers.


    Thirdly, he could focus on strengthening one particular attribute. Once that attribute had reached a certain level, special abilities and talents would appear the same way the Doublecast attack technique had appeared when his Intelligence had previously reached a certain milestone.


    In Garen''s perspective, although the Slaughtering Hand possessed strong powers, it also contained many hidden dangers.


    Garen''s thoughts wandered before an idea was formed when a certain Secret Method unexpectedly flashed through his thoughts.


    By summarizing his personal experiences, he''d learned that two secret roads or points had to be added to the seven secret points to activate one''s potential and create improvements within the Seven Star Life''s Secret Point. Recently, he was constantly fixing and perfecting its contents in order to repair and gradually turn it into a complete set of Secret Methods and Secret Technique practices. The effects of every level were equivalent to forming a point of a star.


    A Secret Method like this would strengthen his physical qualities equally. When he empowered his attributes and reached a certain level, there was a possibility that he would be able to reach unimaginable degrees.


    Garen made up his mind.


    He focused his sight on his Strength Attribute Pane immediately.


    It remained there for three seconds before the values of his Potential Points decreased rapidly.


    Meanwhile, his strength attribute increased from 2.9 quickly as 1 point of Potential Value would equal to an increment of 0.1 for said attribute. 2.9, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3¡­ 4.1¡­ 5.0.


    Once his data card reached 5 full points, it did not continue to expand anymore. His other attributes were too low, making it impossible for them to continue increasing. Garen understood that this was because of all of his body parts that were linked together and influenced one another.


    This 5 point strength restoration allowed him to vaguely feel the sensation of having plentiful strength as he had in the previous Totem World. Although it was not equivalent to the White Dolls and the explosive powers from the hidden life forces in both of his arms, his regular strength and movements had already reached a frightening degree. This was not merely a five-time increase of a normal individual''s strength. Instead, the strength of his entire body had reached an extremely powerful stage. Once it exploded, it would be equivalent to ten times of a normal person''s strength. This was decided by his Secret Technique state.


    His state was the deciding factor that allowed him to move all of the strength in his body, as well as the strength in every inch of his muscles.


    Even for a normal person, if they were able to release all of the strength of their muscles and unite it at once, they would be able to reach extremely strong degrees. However, regular people would only be able to gather the strength of their four limbs, while the slightly stronger ones would be able to add strength from their waist and back, and the even stronger ones could coordinate their four limbs.


    If they were able to reach the next step, they could regulate and control every muscle and fiber in their body. At this level, they would be able to gather all the strength within their body, and this was the level that Garen was currently located at.


    He had previously tested the Gene Limits of the people of this world. He''d used various Secret Methods to activate the potential of his experiments. Furthermore, he''d also used the Life Force of his arm to ensure that the other person would not die before constantly increasing their physical qualities. He discovered that they would stop increasing after 3 points, and if it went any higher, the components of the experiment''s body would collapse immediately and even his Life Force would be unable to preserve their lives.


    In other words, the people of this world which consisted of normal humans could only achieve the strongest levels of three times of the average physical qualities of a standard adult human. This was their Gene Limit.


    However, Garen''s own limits were constantly increased and strengthened by the Soul Seed as this was the crystallization of his efforts in the previous world.


    After he had increased his strength to five points and consumed 21 Potential Points, Garen''s sight fell on his Agility Pane once more.


    Similarly, once 21 Potential Points had been consumed completely, he spent 19 points on Vitality, 22 points on Intelligence and ended up consuming a total of 83 Potential Points in one go.


    "What a familiar feeling¡­"


    Garen sat on the sofa while the muscles on his body began to tremble unconsciously, turning faintly red. His body size began to expand and become more muscular while unexpectedly becoming more streamlined as well.


    The depression that had formed when he sat on the sofa was slowly beginning to sink lower as well. It was an obvious sign of his apparent weight gain.


    Bouts of strength began to flow throughout his body and Garen soon felt that his body was becoming compacted. However, the powerful strength that surged through his body did not make it harder for him to move but made him feel more lithe and graceful instead.


    He stretched his fingers out and counted them.


    Tch!


    A shroud of white gas flew out quickly. It was an air current that had been quickly released by his fingernail.


    The white smoke struck the wallpaper on the opposite wall and hit it immediately as if it was a little hammer.


    Garen glanced at his remaining Potential Points and noticed that there were only slightly more than a hundred points left. If he added them up, since his physical qualities had already exceeded five points, he would need a Potential Value of twenty points to upgrade one attribute. In other words, he would need a Potential Value of two points to upgrade each attribute by 0.1. This meant that the dividing line would be decided by the methods to produce qualitative change.


    The hundred over points that remained were completely insufficient to increase anything. He looked at the data properly and noticed that there were 173 points of Potential Value left.


    When he was bored, he had once converted his Strength Attribute Points into the equivalent strength units that he was familiar with in order to compare the strength levels between attributes clearly and conveniently.


    The one that he used the most was the strength attribute. Therefore, the data that he converted and calculated was strength.


    The strength limit of a normal person in this world was usually about 460 kilograms. This was the heaviest weight that they would be able to lift at one time, which was also the data limit that Garen had calculated after many attempts. Test values like these were plentiful within the mercenary world. Most muscular black men possessed a strength of about 300 kilograms and would be able to increase their limit by 46 kilograms through the activation of Secret Methods. Once they had passed the comatose period, some of their Life Forces would be depleted and they would suffer heavy injuries.


    According to Garen''s calculations, attributes were affected by one''s worldly environment.


    In theory, an increase of one''s Strength Attribute Points in this world was equivalent to increasing the limits of one''s strength data, meaning that it would be increased to 460 kilograms. This was the first time he had accurately represented the data conversion of attributes.


    In other words, his current five-point strength was equivalent to five times of 460 kilograms. In theory, his limit would be 5 multiplied by 460 kilograms, which would equal to 2300 kilograms or 2.3 tons of strength. Being able to lift 2.3 tons of weight in one go was possibly his current strength limit.


    Only Garen would be able to achieve limits like these. His current state allowed him to gather all of the strength in his body and utilize these limits as part of his daily life. Meanwhile, other people would only have extremely strong bodies, and once their Secret Methods were activated, they would barely be able to reach the level of his physical qualities even after consuming their life potential. Obviously, these were solely based on calculating their physical qualities without taking their Secret Techniques or Methods into account.


    Therefore, even if other people possessed the exact physical qualities that Garen had, they would not be able to exceed their limits if they did not have the same martial arts state or activated Secret Methods as him. Instead, they would only be able to achieve sixty percent of their limit.


    This strength was purely based on weight-lifting strength. In terms of boxing strength, Garen''s five points of Agility would need to be added in as well¡­


    The calculation of the Agility attribute was not as simple as multiplying the average person''s speed by five. The speed limit of the human body possessed a data limit, and the value of the Agility attribute would increase on this basis. Garen had yet to calculate this carefully but he knew that adding one point to his Agility would be able to lighten and optimize his body''s weight and dexterity. He could vaguely understand that Agility points were mainly used to lighten the bloat brought on by an increase in strength and prevent his body from becoming overly muscular.


    In reality, he felt that increasing his current Agility and Strength did not improve his speed or movements too drastically, but merely got rid of the speed reductions that were caused by his strength.


    There wasn''t a huge difference between his current speed and previously before his attributes increased. However, if he were to lift two tons with his previous speed¡­


    His current body weight was at least one hundred kilograms and his body size was not vastly different from the average person. However, his body was frighteningly dense. His previous punching speed was at least 20 meters per second when he released it quickly.


    A speed of 20 meters per second for a strength of two tons meant that forces of more than ten tons would not be able to endure his blow. Coordination of strength and speed like this meant that he had already achieved a terrifying physical impulse. Of course, his skin and skeleton would need to bear the force of this impact.


    However, an impact force that was produced by strength like this meant that regular cranes would not necessarily be able to achieve Garen''s level.


    Garen vaguely felt that among his own physical qualities such as his strength and speed, it was important to note which attribute broke through and surpassed the other more. Excessive strength and speed would cause great rebound impact forces and if he did not have strong physical qualities and physique to endure it, he would not be able to bear the force during the moment of impact with his opponent and would end up collapsing with them.

 648 Dream 2

    Chapter 648: Dream 2


    Meanwhile, Intelligence was related to nerve responses, memory, understanding and comprehension, imagination and other attributes. If these attributes decreased, it would weaken one''s grasp of their own strength, while their body coordination abilities would be insufficient as well. Furthermore, the sudden changes within his body would produce many flaws throughout the smooth Secret Techniques and combat skills that he was once involved with.


    In conclusion, all four attributes appeared to be independent and possessed their own important functions in reality. Garen had not fully comprehended it previously but was now beginning to fumble around somewhat clearly. After extensive consideration, he was able to increase all of his attributes equally. He could not exceedingly increase one particular attribute, as this would cause various burdens throughout his body, and was not as beneficial as increasing his powers in a balanced manner.


    There were finally 173 Potential Points left, and Garen decided to distribute them equally among his four attributes, adding two points to each of them. All of his attributes increased to seven points and only 13 Potential Points were left while the rest was quickly used up.


    He sat on the sofa and felt the changes in his body state.


    "Looks like I''ll need something to actually test the explosive limit of my strength¡­" Garen felt that he needed a comprehensive quality test. Strength and speed that were worth seven attribute points each was realistically equivalent to seven times of 460 kilograms, which equaled to 3.2 tons. His speed would probably remain the same, or perhaps it would increase slightly, but Garen would be unable to tell the difference. Frankly, if his agility had not exceeded his strength previously, his speed would not have exceeded certain limits. When he thought about it now, he realized some finer details. Agility was mostly used for increasing his dexterity and lessening his burdens.


    The impact force of seven points of strength, when coupled with such speed, would surely cause strength of over a hundred tons to burst forth. The power that was created when strength and speed worked together was not something that could be added and stacked simply.


    Garen raised both of his hands and looked at the translucent layer of epidermis that covered his skin. This layer of skin seemed thin but actually possessed extremely strong defensive abilities. This was another effect of upgrading all of his qualities equally.


    This was the first time he had carefully calculated the allocation of his attribute points.


    One attribute point represented a standard unit of an adult''s data limit. This provided a huge help in allowing him to understand his own powers better.


    ''Have strange changes occurred throughout your body?'' The sound of Black Sethe''s doubtful voice echoed beside his ear. ''Have you studied a special Secret Method? I can feel that some big changes have happened throughout your body.''


    "You could tell as well? This is a Secret Method practice that I came up with on my own," answered Garen casually. "I''ve been practicing it ever since I was young. It can strengthen one''s physical qualities."


    Although Black Sethe could tell that Garen was hiding something, he understood that everyone had their own secrets, and decided not to pursue the matter. Frankly, he could only faintly feel that Garen had undergone certain transformations but could not tell what they were clearly, and did not know how big these changes actually were.


    Garen moved his fist and stood up from the sofa. The clothes on his back were now wrinkled and puffed, making occasional ruffling noises when he moved.


    He returned to his bedroom and changed into an elastic singlet and shorts that he had found there. After that, Garen walked to the pool at the back of the villa and jumped in with a splash, spraying water everywhere before extending his body and swimming slowly.


    Swimming was the best way to test his coordination abilities.


    ''Your body size seems to have changed. Tch tch.'' At this moment, it was obvious that Black Sethe had felt the changes throughout Garen''s body. ''I feel like you''re a humanoid Transformer.'' Apparently, he knew what Transformers were.


    Garen smiled before pushing his head out of the water and shaking the droplets off himself silently. There were only seven points now. In the Totem World, he was once able to exceed a genetic standard of over twenty points. A strength of that degree was simply considered to be of a terrifying level, allowing him to crush ancient legendary beasts while they were still alive. He was also able to use his strength to tear those powerful Totems apart while they were still breathing.


    However, he only had seven points now. It was unfortunate that he did not have any potential points left because he wouldn''t have to worry about Void Creatures at all if he could restore himself to his Totem World state.


    ''It''s fine if you don''t want to talk about it,'' Black Sethe staggered the conversation. ''You have to be more careful now. I can sense that the Void Creatures are about to launch their new attacks soon. How are your technique practices coming along?''


    "Still fine. I''m able to move in the Dream World naturally now. However, I can feel that the consumption is quite great, not physical power but a different type of mental attention instead." Garen raised his head and swam across the surface of the water slowly while answering Black Sethe''s questions quietly.


    ''That''s normal. The Dream World consumes your subconscious attention. You have not trained yourself enough in that aspect and that''s why you get tired easily. It''s completely unrelated to physical strength, but is connected to your brain''s concentration abilities instead,'' Black Sethe explained. ''In order to move naturally, you''ll need to move on to the next step. When you''re performing activities in your dreams, the important part is to depend on a fixed base and focus all of your concentration and attention there. I noticed that your hands are your base. Now, you''ll need to observe the Dream World carefully without focusing your attention on one specific place for too long. Instead, you should scan across the area quickly before focusing on your base and hands again. This way, you won''t be affected by strange thoughts that will cause you to break away from your focused state.''


    "Base?" Garen repeated the important points once again.


    ''Of course. Didn''t you notice? Everyone -- pay attention -- everyone can be easily taken to different and unknown places by their messy and wandering thoughts in their dreams. Sometimes, strange sensations will form mysteriously which will suddenly take you from one place to another. Your Dream World is decided by your thoughts. Since your thoughts often change in your dreams, you will often form connections when you see something, and these associated things will quickly become the reality of your Dream World,'' Black Sethe explained.


    ''But, did you notice?''


    "What?"


    ''When we''re dreaming, whenever our thoughts associate with something negative such as our fears and the things that scare us, those things or scenarios often show up faster, and may even approach you.''


    Garen leaned against the side of the pool while his eyebrows furrowed slightly.


    "Are you talking about how the things we fear end up becoming real?"


    ''That''s a suitable description. You''re right. In our dreams, the things we fear will often occur. When a worry appears while we are dreaming, it''s very likely that these worries will amplify quickly before becoming a real part of our dreams.''


    "What are you trying to say?" Garen raised his furrowed eyebrows.


    ''There''s actually a reason behind this,'' Black Sethe explained. ''The Dream World is formed by the brains of living creatures like ourselves because of a reaction between the external and internal consciousness. When both of these combine together, it forms an unpredictable and uncertain environment. It will produce certain reflections and manifestations both externally and internally. For instance, when the surrounding temperature increases while you''re asleep, it affects your body temperature as well. In your dreams, you may think that you''re in a hot environment such as a desert or a dry and humid house. These are the effects of the external world on the body. Meanwhile, harmful effects will not just appear instantly. If the occurrences are too intense at any moment, you will be startled awake at once. Of course, other than external influences, your own consciousness will affect your Dream World as well.''


    Garen nodded his head slowly and pensively.


    Meanwhile, Black Sethe continued speaking. ''Our Dream Worlds will quickly alternate and manifest different things when it is influenced by the minute changes in our bodies and consciousness. This creates infinite changes within our Dream Worlds despite their seemingly illogical characteristics. These things happen because the changes influence these two aspects extremely quickly. Moreover, the things we fear are more likely to happen, and whenever these things peep into our Dream Worlds, they will quickly produce specific effects when they discover your weaknesses and loopholes that will drown you within your own fears. Most of these things are Invisible Creatures which resemble spiders that specialize in seizing your consciousness.''


    "So what does this have to do with the next step of the technique you were talking about?" Garen asked in response.


    ''You need to understand this principle clearly,'' informed Black Sethe. ''As long as you understand this principle, anyone can achieve perfect control of themselves in their environments through step-by-step self-exercises. You''re like a normal human being in these aspects and areas. Actually, you''re not even equivalent to a normal human in that respect. Our Ancient Endor race has the slowest progression speed¡­''


    "Go on." Garen was unconcerned about this personal attack. If his talents were insufficient, he would make up for it with hard work.


    ''In the Dream World, the most subtle effects towards your body from the outside world such as your sleeping position, comfort levels of your pillow, temperature of the weather, or even things like mosquito bites, bodily illnesses, and even the effect of cosmic rays passing through your body, earth''s magnetic field and the slightest change in air flow will form changes in your Dream World. Your senses will cause everything to appear. Therefore, you must understand that our Dream Worlds will be influenced by our association abilities and imaginations, including external stimuli. Your next step is to distinguish these influences in your Dream World and separate out the harmful ones that don''t belong there.''


    "That''s possible?" Garen felt that this was all very complicated. There were so many effects that were interwoven with one another, and distinguishing one from the rest would be an extremely difficult task.


    ''It''s obviously very difficult, but this is an ability that a Void Pursuer must possess. You must do this, or else you will be eaten by the Void Creatures until no part of you will be left,'' explained Black Sethe calmly. ''If you''re able to do this by practicing it for long periods of time, you will be able to form physical instincts slowly. Your body will then be able to use its instincts to naturally remove and get rid of all of the harmful influences including cosmic rays and magnetic fields, allowing it to enter a brand new, pure level. Even regular people with normal lives will be able to experience certain changes.''


    "Is there a method to do that?" Garen continued asking.


    ''You can try using your memory. Each person''s own Dream World is based on the changes that are created within their own memories. We will often produce a natural sense of familiarity even when we encounter our subconscious memories. However, if people or objects that you''ve never seen before appear, you''ll need to watch out.''


    "Watch out for what?"


    ''They could be an external influence from certain harmful things like Void Creatures¡­ Of course, it could still be something that we know as Invisible Creatures.''


    "Invisible Creatures?" Garen noticed that this was the second time that he had heard Black Sethe mention them.

 649 Traitor 1

    Chapter 649: Traitor 1


    ''Yes, Invisible Creatures exist in every world. They don''t exist within the same timeline as us humans and their concept of time is drawn-out, making their lives almost endless. They are similar to Void Creatures in this aspect, and we once assumed that Void Creatures were merely extremely strong Invisible Creatures from another world.''


    ''To return to our main point, most people are unable to see Invisible Creatures with their naked eyes. This term is used as a general name for a creature of a certain species from a particular territory. Therefore, all of the living creatures that exist within the areas and worlds within that level are simply known as Invisible Creatures because they are creatures that we cannot see. You already know that humans like us can only see light within a very small range and spectrum. There are other vast areas that we cannot see. Hence, this world and universe are still considered to be very dark in our eyes. Within some of these dark areas, there are many unimaginable life forms that are living there. These include some of the things that you should be familiar with, such as the consciousness of large trees.''


    "Large trees have consciousnesses too?" This was the first time that Garen had heard a viewpoint like this. However, he had experienced many things, and this did not shock him too severely.


    ''Yes. Many plants have different timelines from us. Their awareness and movements are slow and drawn-out, meaning that their every move and stretch can only be done once every few months. Their consciousness comes naturally, and whenever we come into contact with the consciousness of creatures like these, we should not approach them too closely because they have always possessed extremely hostile feelings towards humans. You know the reason behind that. Therefore, although any of these plants possess age-old consciousnesses and experiences, as well as other precious knowledge, we can never attain them.''


    "But then, why do some people see scenes that they have never witnessed before in their dreams, while others are rumored to have dreamed of seeing things that would happen in the future?" Garen continued asking.


    ''This is not something that you can understand now. It''s better to learn this step properly first before resuming. Furthermore, I''m not all-knowing. The universe is mysterious and both time and space undergo endless changes, making it impossible for anyone to see through them completely. What we need to do now is to simply achieve the things that we desire," Black Sethe threw out his final profound sentence before turning silent.


    This was the first time that Garen had come across a theoretical system like this. One-third of a human''s time was spent on sleeping and dreaming, and the supposed dreamless sleep was merely regular sleep where a person forgot their own dreams, as it was impossible for someone not to dream at all.


    The human body had undergone many years of evolution and abandoned many unnecessary functions. Since dreaming during sleep still remained, this phenomenon could not be without reason. Garen suddenly realized that his understanding of his own body was still far from satisfactory¡­


    After pondering in the pool for a long time, he finally rose from the water slowly before a maid came over, wiped the water off his body and wrapped him in a towel.


    He sat on the white deck chair beside the pool. Behind him were dense green thickets and clumps of grass, while little lamp stands were placed on the white brick borders around the entire swimming pool, giving off pale yellow light that looked like small cylindrical lanterns.


    Garen chose to lie on the deck chair while looking up at the starry sky. The night breeze blew gusts of cool, refreshing air towards him.


    In the left side of the brilliantly lit villa, two hired maids could be seen sweeping the rooms and changing the curtains.


    Unconsciously, Garen closed both of his eyes slowly before the sensation of drowsiness drifted through his mind.


    During his moments of blurriness, a dull noise echoed beside his ears suddenly.


    Bang!


    He opened his eyes at once before noticing from the corner of his eye that a white object was rushing towards him.


    His body rolled away involuntarily and he somersaulted beside the pool a few times before finally landing steadily at the back entrance of the villa. When he turned back to look, he noticed that a familiar shadow was reflected in his eyes.


    At the area where he was laying earlier, a gigantic five-meter tall White Doll was standing there. It resembled a toy figurine that was molded with plasticine. Numerous doll arms, legs, and heads were jumbled up inside its body, making it look extremely strange.


    "White Dolls again?" Garen moved his body for a while because he knew that he was already dreaming. Long-term exercises allowed him to focus his consciousness and move freely in his dreams.


    ''Be careful, this Doll is unlike the previous ones. It seems to belong to the squad leader level.'' Black Sethe''s voice echoed beside his ears softly.


    "I know," Garen nodded.


    The White Doll took long strides towards him. It made big steps on the surface of the swimming pool but seemed to be walking on smooth glass instead as there were no signs of it sinking at all.


    Its chubby head was devoid of all five sensory organs. There was only a little white doll''s leg that was protruding outwards like a white horn.


    ''The squad leader level White Dolls possess at least two times the strength of the normal dolls. You must be careful,'' said Black Sethe seriously.


    Garen did not reply. He dodged and moved towards his right quickly and evaded the strike from the White Doll''s fist.


    Kachak!


    When the White Doll''s fist hit the floor, it seemed as if it had struck a surface that was made of either ice or glass. It formed numerous cracks throughout the floor.


    Garen put on the bath towel and circled the White Doll. This big fellow had slow movements, and although its recovery abilities were alarming, as long as he was careful, it was not difficult to get rid of it. Before this key moment, he would''ve needed to be extremely careful to prevent himself from being sucked in by the White Doll''s speedy fists and attacks.


    However, that was not necessary anymore.


    ''Their movements are becoming more complicated. For some reason, I can smell an unpleasant smell. It''s a very familiar yet indistinguishable smell, so you''d better be more careful,'' said Black Sethe vigilantly.


    Clang!


    Suddenly, a strange, dull knocking sound could be heard.


    The White Doll''s movements had stopped, and it stood on the side and looked at Garen quietly.


    Clang!!


    There was another dull noise.


    Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!


    The sound continued to ring out rhythmically and continuously.


    It sounded as if numerous metallic sounding drum beats were sounding off simultaneously while being blended with many other noises.


    Throughout the areas surrounding the pool and villa, the forest seemed to faintly transform into a twisted and blurry high wall that was covered with dark whirlpools.


    Numerous gigantic figures walked out of the dark whirlpools slowly before it was discovered that they were similar five meters tall White Doll squad leaders as well.


    These Dolls surrounded Garen while the surface area of the pool had seemed to expand in the blink of an eye. It had become much broader, allowing the Dolls to stand on top without having to squeeze with one another.


    "They''re being serious this time, huh?" Garen lowered his body slightly while his gaze became more intense.


    ''You''ll die if you''re not careful,'' replied Black Sethe. ''Pay attention to their mud sputtering. Don''t let their white mud touch your body.''


    Six White Doll leaders surrounded Garen and forced him into the middle.


    ''Each of them has enough strength to produce at least four tons of impact forces, so don''t meet their force with even more force!'' reminded Black Sethe frantically.


    "Four tons?" The corners of Garen''s mouth curled before his right foot stomped on the ground suddenly.


    There was a banging noise before a white stone that was a meter long was sent flying from the ground, before finally being caught in his hand.


    Shh¡­


    After a violent hissing noise from gushing air, Garen''s body bent backward like a crooked bowstring. His chest rose up high while strong air currents formed something that resembled a white cyclone near his cupid''s bow.


    Bang! Boom!!!


    The stone in Garen''s hand was maniacally flung at the speed of lightning. It spun through the air speedily like a white loop and rushed towards one of the White Dolls.


    A dull banging noise was heard.


    The White Doll collapsed on the ground at once. Its entire upper body looked as if a bomb had exploded there. It was completely smashed, making it impossible to see its initial shape.


    Pfoo¡­


    Garen exhaled slowly while shrouds of white gas surrounded him. The muscles throughout his entire body were slightly raised and were somewhat larger than before, while a slightly black and extremely glossy texture now appeared all over.


    ''Shit¡­ Did you take some sort of drug??!!'' said Black Sethe finally exclaimed in a hoarse voice while stunned.


    Garen remained silent and walked towards the side of the villa before accurately striking a stone pillar that was as thick as a person with his fist.


    After a banging noise rang out, the stone pillar broke and was immediately single-handedly held up by Garen. He lifted it at once as if it was merely a large stick.


    Two Dolls had just charged over from behind him with their large white fists positioned to viciously smash Garen''s head in. At the same time, white mud droplets were constantly dripping down their bodies, and whenever the mud fell on the floor, pungent and choking fumes would form there at once.


    Before the white fists could strike Garen''s back, a crashing noise could be heard near both of the Dolls when they were violently struck by the white stone pillar. The stone pillar broke and turned into dust immediately while the Doll''s bodies were smashed into two halves at the same time. They turned into a mess of disintegrated white mud mid-air.


    The three remaining White Dolls who were unfazed by their comrades'' deaths worked together and charged towards Garen. They attempted to use their large sizes to smash Garen while boiling mud bubbled all over the surface of their bodies.


    Garen moved his body to the side and swung his right leg suddenly. He used the tips of his toes to draw a sharp arc suddenly while releasing unimaginably loud and sharp hissing air noises.


    The moment his toes touched the White Dolls'' bodies, it seemed like a sharp blade had sliced through melted butter, immediately halving the White Dolls.


    Tch tch tch!!


    Garen drew a large semi-circle in front of himself with his toes that release a sharp whistle when it sliced the three White Dolls into six parts. All six pieces of their large bodies collapsed on the ground heavily, making dull noises as they fell. However, their life forces were strong, allowing them to continue rolling and struggling on the ground while attempting to piece their bodies back together again.


    However, Garen immediately stretched his hand out and shot a few more stones at their heads. These little stones possessed bullet-like explosive forces when they were shot out, and were able to blast the three White Dolls'' heads to smithereens instantly.


    Suddenly, the entire area surrounding the pool began to quieten down as everything returned to a peaceful state.


    Garen shook off the white mud that had sputtered on his body. His bath towel had been corroded to rags, but the skin on his body was still completely unharmed as these were the terrifying results of achieving seven points of physical qualities.


    He took a few steps towards the White Doll corpses and collected all of their Void Cores.


    ''Your powers¡­'' Black Sethe suddenly had no words to describe Garen anymore. This person who was once clear-cut in his eyes was now had a thin layer of malicious air about him, making him mysterious and unpredictable.


    In the beginning, he was almost killed during his fight with the White Doll foot soldiers. However, he was now able to get rid of six leaders on his own. A difference like this¡­ He did not understand Garen at all anymore.


    "It feels different from before," said Garen suddenly.


    Black Sethe returned to his senses and suddenly smelled the pungent smell again. It was obvious that it was a sweet smell but for some reason, he still felt extremely repulsed whenever he sniffed it.


    Throughout their surroundings, the White Doll corpses on the ground gradually disappeared while the area fell into silence once more.


    ''Be careful! Dodge towards your right!!'' Black Sethe suddenly felt an extremely dangerous threat charging at them from the front. Its speed was unbelievably quick like a lightning bolt. Even a blink would be insufficient to describe its speed!


    That ray of white light burst forth ten meters in front of them and appeared in front of Garen''s face instantly.


    Clang!!!!


    A loud metallic noise that sounded like a collision could be heard before shrouds of white smoke exploded and formed a ring of dark clouds and dust.


    Both of Garen''s arms were crossed in front of his body while his palms were gently but determinedly pressed against a large silver sword. The blue veins in both of his arms were raised while the muscles in his entire body swelled up fiercely. Meanwhile, a squeaking noise could be heard continuously when he used the strength in his palms to struggle with the sword.


    Below his feet, two large spider web cracks broke through the solidified water and extended throughout the entire surface of the swimming pool.


    ''You¡­ Actually caught it?!!'' Black Sethe yelled in complete disbelief.

 650 Traitor 2

    Chapter 650: Traitor 2


    "Amazing sword technique¡­" Garen''s eyes were brimming with light.


    He waited until the mist dispersed. He then saw a tall and slender female figure standing behind the silver mark knife, which was three meters long and planted in the middle of the pool.


    She was a strange lady. She has a sensual body as both her chest and butt were protruding out, and she was in a milk-white dress without any sleeves. The skirt was split from both sides like a cheongsam, revealing her pale and delicate legs.


    Her hair was black as ink. She put away her sword as she turned it one round in the air before piercing it into the ground beside her. The sword was pierced deep into the ground and stood firmly.


    The strangest thing about her was her face.


    She was wearing a light black metal mask. On the left, it was sad and on the right it was happy.


    "Al¡­ My beloved brother." As the woman opened her mouth, a deep male tone came out instead of a woman''s. In addition, she was speaking in Ancient Endor''s language which Garen was very familiar with.


    "The traitor¡­ even the traitor has appeared¡­ What kind of luck do you have!?" even Black Sethe''s voice sounded strange. "This isn''t someone you should be facing at your level!!"


    Garen was expressionless as he ignored Black Sethe''s outburst.


    Sigh¡­


    He exhaled a stream of white gas and then he inhaled deeply. Afterimages of his right hand appeared in front of his chest as he spontaneously jabbed an acupoint at the center of his chest.


    Pew!!


    The muscle there sunk in as it formed a deep socket before a jet of air was expelled out of it.


    Garen''s body suddenly expanded as his hands turned black. His skin was like a black metal, solid and hard.


    "Who are you?" Garen asked in a deep tone. "And who''s Al?"


    "The woman laughed lightly. Her laugh was as light as a bell peal. Although it was a laugh of a girl, the moment she opened her mouth, a male''s tone came out.


    "You have the blood of my brother, the Void Nine-Headed Dragon, flowing in you. Did you not know that? Its soul and will are even fused into your soul. I have been searching for so long,"


    She reached out her right hand. Her jaded fingers were long and mellow and as she flicked her fingers, a yellow copper coin appeared out of nowhere. There was a ferocious dragon head imprinted onto the coin and the other side of the coin was a pattern of three rings connected in series.


    "I finally found its blood. It shall be mine. "She chuckled. "I am what you and the others know as the traitor¡­ the traitor who would rather become a void creature."


    "She''s an Army Level! Every traitor is at least an Army level!" Black Sethe''s voice sounded beside Garen''s ears. "She''s the upper general who commands a huge army of void creatures! It would be fine if my body is here, but¡­"


    "Are you here to kill me as well?" Garen stared at the opponent as he growled.


    "Kill you?" she started laughing as if she heard something very ridiculous. "This is not called killing¡­ this is purifying. We of the Void has always been enemies to the Underworld Civilization. There''s no room left for discussion, no?"


    "Fighting against the strong is always my dream." Garen moved his leg and strode towards the opponent. His footsteps were heavy and powerful as the dream world trembled with every of his step.


    "Interesting¡­" The opponent stopped smiling as the gaze under the mask finally took him seriously. "Looks like you''re an outstanding person from the Underworld. Back in my days when I achieved the Eighty One Magical Slash, among all the strong ones, only Caps has the same pure fighting spirit as you."


    "The opponent was once an elite who practiced Secret Technique. Every traitor was once an outstanding person in the Mage Civilization, so you have to be careful! Their Secret Techniques are definitely one of the best." Black Sethe reminded him softly.


    Garen didn''t need Black Sethe''s reminder, as he could already feel that the opponent was the same as him. She was already above the level of King of the Century and her Secret Technique had achieved the realm of the legends.


    In this world, among the Secret Techniques that he practiced, excluding the Slaughtering Hand, the Seven Star Life Secret Technique combined with his battle skills was his strongest technique. The Two-faced Waterbird Fist Technique and the other normal battle skills would probably be ineffective against this level of opponent.


    Against an opponent of this level, any secret methods or techniques that were simple could be immediately understood and similar techniques could be created by them. It was to the point where they could trace thousands of secret techniques to a single source. In this realm of Secret Techniques, they were without a doubt at the level of Master.


    Only a unique, delicate, complicated and powerful secret method was something they could use and others couldn''t. In the legend, there even were Masters who would purposely add in many disruptive techniques to blind the opponent''s vision.


    As the two of them stood still while facing each other, the dream environment started to fall apart as cracks started to appear. The swimming pool''s scenery started to tremble and black pieces started to fall away. It was as if the surrounding was set up with clothes and backdrops.


    "Unfortunately¡­ You haven''t reached the peak that you have imagined¡­ Your body is still too young." The woman whispered. "Ten years."


    "What?" Garen raised his hand and was prepared to open the second star''s acupoint. The opponent''s invisible aura was giving off so much oppression that he could barely breathe.


    "I''ll wait for you for ten years, in hopes that you can reach the peak." The woman continued. "If¡­"


    Kaboom!!!


    With an explosion, countless black rubble pieces flew behind Garen as he leaped towards the enemy, like a terrifying predator going after its prey.


    "I don''t need ten years." He muttered.


    In the dream, two black and white figures collided with each other.


    "Second star!!"


    Garen''s body expanded once more and he was now at least two meters tall. His skin was black and he looked like a metal giant. He rushed towards the woman with both of his hands aiming at her.


    He, who had activated the second star could produce hundreds of metric tons of force at this high speed.


    His hands were weapons as hard as steel as it clashed against the lady''s huge mark knife.


    In an instant, the mark knife started to vibrate at high speed like an electrical saw as it moved up and down. A strange stickiness came from the sword and was stuck to Garen''s hand. To be precise, it was more like biting down on him.


    Garen''s hands pressed hard against the mark knife. As both of them started to vibrate at high speeds, sparks started flying all over the place.


    A few hundred tons of force was instantly placed on the woman, pushing her back far away.


    "Dragon''s Spine Slash!" Her face was filled with excitement. It was the battle exhilaration when a strong fighter met another strong fighter.


    A mysterious white light which resembled a sword suddenly came out behind her and was going towards Garen''s neck. It was like a huge dragon''s tail whipping towards him. In this instant, the strength she released was even stronger than Garen''s.


    The light was incredibly fast, and Garen''s hand was glued with the big mark knife and wouldn''t budge at all. He could only see the light coming his way and he could do nothing about it.


    Without time to think, he instantly bent backward, steadied himself and stomped onto the ground with his right leg.


    Boom!


    Mixed with the explosion, countless rubble fragments from the ground were shot out at high speed. However, the woman didn''t care in the slightest as the stones freely pummeled her body; there was no marks of injury on her at all.


    However, Garen''s objective wasn''t this. A huge amount of rubble flew straight at the side of the light and upon collision, the original direction of the light was shifted.


    Then, Garen immediately used all of his strength and struck the woman''s knee.


    Two of them were separated by the reaction force.


    The dream was completely shattered as both of them were left standing in an empty space. There was nothing left in their surroundings but darkness.


    "I have underestimated you¡­" The woman said after realizing the strength from the last attack as she glanced at the surrounding.


    "Unfortunately, the environment couldn''t withstand our battle. I''ll see you again. My name is Nadia, remember it¡­"


    ''Nine-Headed Dragon Queen Nadia¡­" Black Sethe''s voice appeared once more.


    "I''m Garen," Garen announced his name as he stared at the opponent who was slowly slipping into the darkness.


    "Garen, we will meet again very soon¡­" Nadia''s voice came from afar as her voice volume gradually decreased until nothing could be heard.


    "You''re in deep shit. The Nine-Headed Dragon Queen was one of the traitors in our generation. She has eighty-one lives and every death would increase her strength by one fold. At the end of her life, she would be eighty-one times stronger than before. It''s something that can''t be imagined!" Black Sethe seemed to recall the days of the past.


    Garen suddenly recalled his days in the Totem World where he''d first obtained the talent of the Nine-Headed Dragon. With the Nine-life Talent, he could revive nine times, but compared to Nadia, the difference was too much.


    "Eighty-one times¡­" Garen''s current strength was quite close to the peak days in the Totem World. Although his body''s attributes weren''t as good as back then, activating the second star of the Seven Star Life''s Secret Point would double his current attribute, which was about twenty-one points. However, he would have to increase the life force of his Slaughtering Hand in order to meet the exhaustion of such skill as his body''s regeneration wasn''t enough to activate the second star. As for the remaining third, fourth and even the last star¡­ the current Garen wasn''t able to obtain such power as the activation of each star would require a lot of life force. With his current storage of life force, he wouldn''t be able to activate beyond the second star.

 651 Relearn 1

    Chapter 651: Relearn 1


    Kachak!


    With a clear, crisp sound, Garen, who was laying on the deck chair, immediately opened his eyes. He didn''t know when he''d fallen asleep on the chaise longue.


    He massaged his head as he slowly got up, while pain shot through his body.


    "Just now, was that real?"


    Black Sethe''s voice immediately appeared.


    ''If you wish to die you can take it as fake. Even the legendary Nine-Headed Dragon Queen Nadia has appeared and you even set a time and place to fight again in the future. Tsk tsk¡­ I wonder how brave you are, this is not the right way to seek death.''


    "If I don''t make an appointment with her, would she let me go?" Garen calmly got up.


    ''Of course not.''


    "Then there''s no difference right?"


    Garen stood up from the deck chair. His surroundings were silent and only the chirping of crickets could be faintly heard. The dark forest beside the swimming pool looked mysterious and quiet beside the yellow light.


    A female servant was sitting near a door behind the villa as she held onto the door half asleep. Her head was almost at the top of the towel on a small round table beside her.


    Garen recalled the situation that had just occurred. It was as if everything was just a dream.


    He walked around the swimming pool once and didn''t see any trace of destruction. It was completely normal.


    Suddenly, his eyes focused on a white chair on the right side of the swimming pool. He squatted down and slowly picked up a small item underneath it.


    It was a coin and seemed to be made out of some sort of a metal. It had three circles connecting each other in series imprinted on it.


    He flipped over the coin and saw an image of a ferocious dragon head on it.


    He immediately recalled back the coin in Nadia''s hand before she left.


    ''This is a coin left behind by her, which will act as a marking and token. With this here, you''ll never be disturbed by any normal void creatures until she finds you again.'' Black Sethe explained.


    Garen gently held the coin tightly. He felt that he had seen this sort of material from somewhere before.


    Suddenly, he recalled his memory where he obtained a relic from a black-shirted man and one of the relics was a mask made of a similar material. However, that mask was light black whereas the coin was yellow copper. He wasn''t sure why but he felt that these two were connected to each other.


    "What is this? What is it made of?" Garen asked softly.


    ''No idea. Perhaps it''s something Nadia created after joining the Void Creatures. Ever since she became a traitor, she would hand out this coin before she officially kills her target out of respect. Why do you ask? Who cares what this is made out of?" Black Sethe couldn''t comprehend his thoughts.


    "Nothing." Garen didn''t say much further.


    It looked like he had to start searching for relics from all over the world¡­ He wasn''t sure when would Nadia''s next visitation would be, but it shouldn''t be late.


    He kept recalling that mask. His instinct kept telling him that he could obtain an unexpected result if he were to investigate that mask.


    **************


    In the universe of the void dream, in the endless darkness, two figures swiftly appeared like comets flying across the darkness and breaking apart as both of them were shining brightly.


    This was the black dream zone where no one had ever set foot in before. It was the realm between the void and reality, where all consciousness and dreams were created. It wasn''t a place in the Material World yet it could affect the Material World.


    Two white comets trailed long white tails as they brought light to the darkness.


    Within the white lights were two thin and tall people, both male and female. The man''s eyebrows and hair were red similar to of fresh blood. He had his hair combed up and was wearing a white cloak with a black circular thorn imprinted on it.


    The girl had waist-length blue hair which was smooth as satin. Her facial features were very beautiful but her gaze was dead. Upon closer inspection, she didn''t seem to have pupils at all. Instead, what she had were two blue crystal beads. She was in a light blue soft armor with a rippled white metal texture on the side. Overall, she looked beautiful as the soft armor streamlined her body contours as if she was wearing a skintight blue dress.


    "This is Nadia''s black dream zone. She must be nearby." The man whispered as he used the Ancient Endor''s language. "Elfie, do you see any movement?"


    The blue haired lady seemed to be trying to listen for something. After a while, she frowned.


    "She seemed to have fought with someone¡­ The opponent is definitely not your typical opponent. Both of them were separated when the dream shattered and Nadia left afterward. Her current whereabouts are unknown."


    "Who could fight against her?" The man frowned. "Even the white dolls are hard to handle."


    "I don''t know. Ever since we gave up our flesh and entered the dream world, my eyesight has become poorer over time. I''ve validated it myself that I''m fine if I were to search for other stuff, but it''s different when it comes to Nadia. I suspect that she may have found a way to deal with my ability."


    Elfie whispered.


    "We are different from those Void Creatures. They''re able to absorb energy from the voids of the dream and we can''t."


    "The other hunters should have their own ways to solve this problem, right?" The man asked.


    "I don''t know if they''re other hunters. Perhaps there''s only the two of us within this vicinity¡­ We haven''t heard anything from the Headquarters for many years." Elfie softened her tone.


    Both of them became quiet as if they didn''t have the mood to speak any further.


    In the legends of many worlds, the Nine-Headed Dragon Queen Nadia was a forbidden name and she had a lot of names.


    The Good and Evil Devil, Mother of all Dragons, Giant Dragon of Destruction, Spirit Realm''s warrior, etc¡­


    Her power seemed to be endless as she would come back twice as strong with every death. They had been pursuing Nadia for countless of years and had experienced immeasurable agony and hopelessness.


    Countless of hunters have died in her hands. They were once Nadia''s friends and partners and that was the reason why they had been left unharmed each time. However, this made them even more eager to pursue her so that they could find out the reason why she had betrayed them.


    However, Nadia seemed to be avoiding them at all costs.


    "There seem to be auras of other hunters here in this world¡­" Elfie suddenly spoke.


    "Other hunters? Is it Prophet Camado? Or is it Flame''s Sicke? Perhaps Giant Sisyphus?" The man asked softly. These people were hunters they''d met within the past few years. Although they were not as strong as Nadia, each of them had their unique escape methods, which was the main reason why they still lived to this day. Perhaps, along with the rest, they were Ancient Endor''s remaining hunters.


    The remaining hunters were most likely unqualified normal hunters. They were commoners whose Secret Technique had yet to reach its peak and they usually worked together to fend off the void worms at best. As for the white dolls or void devourers, they were not something these hunters could hope to fight against.


    No matter how strong they were in the Material World, they would be just fat meat waiting to be cut apart without proper training in the Dream World.


    Among the remaining adherents of Ancient Endor, only they were able to freely track Nadia''s whereabouts in the Dream World while fighting against the Void Creatures. They were the protectors of the remaining adherents.


    The pride of the remaining Mages might end with their generation.


    ************


    Within the dream world in a certain black zone.


    Gas bubbles similar to red balloons suddenly appeared in the area. They were about fist-sized each and soon expanded as if they were being inflated.


    Soon the red bubbles had a surface area of about one kilometer.


    Inside the bubble.


    Nadia was in a white dress and had the huge silver white mark knife in her hand. She was standing quietly on a bloody battlefield, which was the scenery inside the bubble.


    There was a crimson crescent moon in the sky of the ancient battlefield. There were no stars and the sky was dyed rust red. The surrounding was filled with black hills and gullies as blood kept flowing in between the hills and gullies. The sound of the flow was very lively.


    As time passed, Nadia closed her eyes, waiting for something.


    After a few days, blood started to fly everywhere on the black ground in front of her. What came out from the ground were pitch black giant dolls slowly climbing out from it.


    Growl¡­


    They growled loudly as the ground split apart while they crawled out. Their heights and shapes were similar to the white dolls. What differentiated them from the white dolls was that they were equipped with thorny black armors from head to toe. It was very strange.


    These black dolls were at least six meters tall. They formed a line instinctively as if they knew how to order themselves up. They were so densely packed that no one knew how many of them were there.


    "Nadia?" Suddenly a man''s voice came from afar. "Why have you come to this place? This is my nest, not a tourist spot for you to sightsee."


    "Nothing. I was bored so I came for a walk." Nadia opened her eyes as she said calmly. She glanced at the group of black dolls. "Is this your newly recruited team? They look very annoying¡­"


    She then held her three-meter long sword tightly.


    "They''re so packed together that they''re annoying!!"


    With a click, the sword was unsheathed from the ground.


    "Three Light!"


    Before she finished her sentence, three silver white lights shot out, forming into three groups of vortices, which headed their way towards the black dolls.


    With Nadia''s leg as the epicenter, three silver vortices with a diameter of tens of meters shot out. These vortices were like silver mouths as they went towards the black dolls.


    "Nadia!!" The man shouted with rage as his voice was mixed with the cries of the black dolls. The three vortices started to devour the whole team and within tens of seconds, only broken limbs were left of the black doll army as they were all destroyed.

 652 Relearn 2

    Chapter 652: Relearn 2


    "Why? Do you have any comment?" Nadia put away her big sword as she asked calmly.


    That voice didn''t say any further but it tried to hold back its raging growl as much as possible. It was like one was about to shout as loud as one could but held back.


    Nadia raised her head and looked at the sky.


    "The weather is bad and it''s making my mood bad too. So annoying¡­" She stomped hard and the whole red bubble started to crack open. The surface''s thin film started to crack from the sky above her and propagated outwards.


    Boom!


    The bubble suddenly exploded like a glass ball.


    The voice cried out in pain and it didn''t dare to speak another word. In the darkness, only a vengeful gaze from a pair of red eyes stared at Nadia.


    He understood that she could be talked through if she was behaving normally. However, when she''d gone crazy, he would be seeking death if he were to speak further on.


    Nadia never cared if he was the same kind as her. Everyone knew that she had killed a lot of Hunters and Freelancers, but only the Void Creatures knew that the number of Void Creatures she had killed was far more than the former.


    "Considered myself unlucky! I''ll treat this as a natural disaster!" This Void Lord was apoplectic but he knew that he could only accept it. There was no living being which was able to kill Nadia as she had eighty-one lives that would make anyone feel hopeless. If she were to be ambushed once, she would instantly revive and become twice as strong. Perhaps the mages in the ancient era who stood at the peak, the Demon King Level Mages or Great Abyss Level Void Creatures were able to fight against her. However, those beings in the legend had passed away thousands of years ago. Only a few true spirits were left in the Mother Stream but those were nothing to be compared with.


    Nadia had always behaved based on her mood which changed on the go and no one could understand her. Hence no one had really understood her behavior but everyone knew one thing about her.


    That was to not anger her when she was feeling down.


    This Void Lord had just come back from another dream zone. He himself possessed terrifying powers, which far surpassed the base Nadia. If she were to use half of her strength at her eighty-first life, perhaps she could win against him but they had never fought against each other before.


    However, Nadia was the kind of person who would fight with you to the death if she was in a bad mood. She was purely crazy for battles. Imagine a person who was about your level was willing to fight against you to death on a whim. Furthermore, Nadia was much stronger than this guy.


    No one was willing to face such a situation. The Void Creatures had long lifespans hence no one would fight each other to death on a whim.


    He didn''t voice out anymore as he quietly left the place.


    Nadia was floating alone in the void, surrounded by the pieces of the red gas bubble. She then casually vibrated her long sword, forming a layer of white light, which pushed away all the debris. She then, with a bored look on her face, floated away into the darkness without any destination.


    A faint blood signal could be detected within the void. It was her only path that she was firmed on. It was the blood of her brother, AI the Nine-Headed Dragon''s blood. As long as she followed this trace, she would eventually arrive at the dream that she''d set foot in before. Afterwards, she would force herself into reality based on the coin she had given earlier.


    After Nadia disappeared, two white comets flew into the dream zone. It was two mysterious people in white cloaks.


    Two of them looked around them suspiciously and didn''t notice any trace of Void Creatures.


    "It''s the aura left behind by the Nine-Headed Dragon Queen. This is troublesome. We should take a detour."


    "This is what we can only do. What an unlucky day. If everything goes to plan, we would have arrived already."


    "Being impatient won''t solve the problem."


    After conversing softly, both of them took a detour and went on their way in a different direction.


    As freelancers, they had memorized the auras of any strong character. Only the strong freelancers were able to face against such a powerful character. The rest would avoid her at all cost.


    ***************


    ''Are you really trying to abandon the Slaughtering Demon Technique?''


    Black Sethe asked hopelessly.


    Garen was sitting on his knees in one of the quiet rooms in the villa. His body was covered in a transparent aura as he closed his eyes and immersed himself to complete concentration.


    "I''m not abandoning it, but I won''t learn it further." He whispered.


    ''Isn''t that the same as abandoning it?'' Black Sethe felt hopeless.


    In front of Garen was a black copper mysterious mask.


    This mask was a relic that had been able to provide him with the most potential points. He found it and placed it by his side.


    It had been at least ten days since he fought with Nadia and Garen had gathered the Void cores that he had obtained these past few days. This item was strangely solid as if it had some sort of unique effect. It surprisingly had amazing effects in treating the pollution and damage caused by the void creatures.


    ''The Void core. It was able to strengthen the capability of the hunters or you can convert them into life force and absorb them.'' Black Sethe explained softly. ''The hunters are generally powerful in the Secret Technique realm. Although there is no minimum threshold, hunters without power or capability will die in the hands of the void creatures. The hunter''s characteristics will practically change the moment they''ve sworn to the Mother Stream.''


    "I can already feel it." Garen nodded as he reconstructed his Northern Trident Frost-Fire True Water Technique in an attempt to improvise the portion that this world did not allow. There was a slight difference between this world''s physics and the previous one''s, causing the potency of this evil technique to be greatly reduced. He wasn''t able to create powerful icy blue halberds, but it was still very useful in other parts.


    He was trying to take out this most primitive portion.


    The Void core seemed to have some sort of mysterious effect on him as it could give him an endless supply of spiritual power to his consciousness. This allowed him to think at a rapid speed. At the same time, these cores were slowly shrinking.


    As Garen started to comprehend more and more, he could feel that his consciousness was flowing towards the void creatures. The Void cores seemed to have given out some sort of a radiation as his consciousness was getting more similar to those of the void creatures. This change wasn''t something bad as this allowed his consciousness to achieve a calmer and faster state. To someone who practiced Secret Technique, this was an ideal state for him to understand and deduce the Secret Techniques.


    Garen started to understand why some Martial Adepts would side with the Void Creatures. The main difference between the hunters and traitors seemed to be their Vow. The Hunters seemed to have vowed towards the Mother Stream to kill the void creatures for eternity.


    His thinking became more and more active as his thinking in terms of the Secret Technique was very instinctive.


    The core of the Northern Trident Frost-Fire True Water Technique was swiftly kicked aside and to his surprise, he found out that the core of it was the seeds of both of the Living Secret Techniques he had obtained in the ancient ruins.


    This portion of the information that could be used anywhere in every world, was surprisingly about the seeds of the Living Secret Technique he obtained previously.


    Garen wasn''t sure how long he had meditated, but when he had cut out the entire portion of the evil technique, he realized how strong the creator of the Living Secret Technique was.


    "So this is the true purpose of the seed¡­" Garen finally understood why the Living Secret Technique resembled a seed. It was because it could grow according to the different laws of different worlds.


    It was just like a seed, which would grow differently under different soils.


    Garen finally understood this with the help of the Void core. Black Sethe was still complaining in his ear. He seemed to be trying to persuade him to turn back and continue learning the Slaughtering Demon Technique.


    However, he had already found out the way to turn the Slaughtering Demon Technique''s stored life force into nutrients for his new Living Secret Technique.


    Garen sat on his knees in the middle of the room as he recalled the core knowledge of the Living Secret Technique.


    Suddenly, he opened his eyes and stared at the air in front of him.


    In his vision, he could only see two bright dots which no one knew when they''d appeared. They were floating up and down in front of him. One was dark red while the other was deep blue.


    The icy blue bird spread its wings. The huge bird had a beautiful, long tail feather as if it was the Phoenix from the legends. It had a tremendous amount of cold emitting from it and its beak was the seed.


    On the other hand, the dark red was in a devil''s shape. It had a long pointy tail and was covered in fire. It was behaving like a gentleman, giving off an elegant and seductive vibe. In front of the devil was a dark red cross sword, which was the original shape of the Metal Living Secret Technique''s seed.


    "Perhaps these two represent the knowledge of the Secret Techniques that can be used in any world." Garen realized.


    He had once chosen the wrong path and chose to learn the Slaughtering Demon Technique which had wasted his time and energy. Now, it was time for him to reaffirm his direction. He had learned a few things from learning the Slaughtering Demon Technique and had a deeper understanding of some theories. Furthermore, the Slaughtering Demon Techniques possessed the effects of storing life force, which could be used as a backup storage to recover his injuries, similar to the Nine-Headed Dragon''s Nine-life Talent which could increase his survivability.


    He now possessed his own invention secret skills, the Seven Star Life''s Secret Point, through which he could attain a terrifying height without any Secret Techniques. Once he learned a new Secret Technique, his prowess would achieve a new height and he would attain more strength to slowly surpass the strength he''d possessed in the Totem World.

 653 Mysterious Mask 1

    Chapter 653: Mysterious Mask 1


    Garen stared at the two glowing dots floating in front of him. He hesitated slightly when he realized that these two lights were not physically real but images by his brain.


    He was lucky that he was able to merge out a powerful technique last time, but he couldn''t be lucky every single time.


    He focused his gaze as he reached out his hand to touch the icy blue seed.


    As he finger touched the icy blue seed, a familiar Secret Technique image appeared in the Attribute Pane in his vision. It was an ice sculpture of a bird which spanned its wings wide. Its wings were very elegant as its body was covered with frost, just like the legendary blizzard phoenix.


    ''Unnamed Living Secret technique: First grade (Ice type Living Secret Technique, total of four grades)''


    Garen remained his expression as he felt a coolness spinning in his inner body. After that the coolness spread out with a terrifying amount of coolness all over his body, skins and organs included. This formed into a huge and complicated web.


    It was as if he knew what he was doing. The soul seed had reconstructed his body since young and in addition to Garen''s incredibly high physical attribute, Garen instantly learned it. The tough understanding and will of the Living Secret Technique were given to him without hardship.


    ''You really have done it!'' Black Sethe shouted, ''And it''s a Living Secret Technique!''


    The Slaughtering Demon Technique diminished quickly as the Living Secret Technique grew. The Slaughtering Demon Technique was supposedly the one which swallowed the Living Secret Technique. However, under Garen''s delicate control and management, he was able to completely control it, allowing the Ice Living Secret Technique to swallow it instead.


    The demon technique that he had learned had already reached an advanced level and he had instantly grasped the foundation of the Living Secret Technique. He would have to slowly grind it out in the future as he had to slowly reconstruct his body to his needs.


    ''You''re crazy! Do you know how long it is required to train yourself to reach back your current level? You abandoned the Demon Technique and the stronger your Living Secret Technique is, the life force you are able to store decreases, which makes your activated Seven Star Secret Method weaker! Your overall strength will become weaker and weaker! You''re literally committing suicide right now!'' Black Sethe shouted as she tried to persuade Garen to turn back.


    "I don''t need something impure," Garen replied calmly. Although the additional life force was useful to his Seven Star Life''s Secret Point, this alone wasn''t the reason he decided to switch his path as he knew that Black Sethe''s Demon Technique definitely had a hidden trap that no one knew.


    Instead of walking on the same path, he took a bet and relearned everything. He hoped that he could obtain more Relics to absorb the potential points before Nadia appeared. He couldn''t have won against Nadia with his previous strength, to begin with.


    As his path was getting more complicated, he decided to choose a path that was pure.


    ***********


    "Garen hasn''t been replying lately." Jason was unenthusiastically helping Trish beat the eggs with the egg beating machine, which was stirring the eggs in a big bowl.


    "You''re in your twenties! You don''t even have a girlfriend and now I have to worry about your life." Trish was busy in the kitchen. She wanted to create an egg pie but he felt that she''d messed up the procedures.


    Jason, on the other hand, was standing at the entrance of the kitchen and was about to carry the beaten eggs to her.


    "Little Vivien too, ever since she''d entered puberty, she''s started to not respect me as her brother." He said with a very bored look.


    "Isn''t that because you''ve done something wrong somewhere?" Trish didn''t have the time to tend to her son''s dilemma. "Teenagers are often rebellious. However, I''m more concerned when you will go to school. Your university''s semester should be open by now right?"


    "Who knows? I''m currently not interested in attending university." Jason said.


    "This is not something that depends on your level of interest¡­" Trish turned her head around, revealing her gloomy face. "If you don''t go to school, I will call Garen this moment and I''m sure you understand what comes after. Do you remember how much you''ve cried after you got beat up by Garen in your twenties?"


    Jason then raised his hand up to show off his biceps.


    "Call him, I''m not afraid of him anymore." He looked at his muscles in satisfaction. "Look at my muscles, I''m already at 100kg."He flexed as he tried to show off his muscles.


    "Oh my god." Trish didn''t know how to answer to her eldest son as she and Emmer weren''t into muscles at all. She wondered how she had given birth to a son who could only think of muscles.


    "By the way, the building at the edge of the town caught fire. Did you know?" Trish asked. "I heard that the people there saw the Isaros sisters."


    "No. I was with them the other day swimming on the beach. Why would they go to where the place where it caught fire." Jason replied innocently.


    "It''s best if that''s true. The police officer came to inquire about it. Even the officers in the city came to investigate. They''re preparing something but I believe the Isaros sisters wouldn''t do such a thing like causing a fire. They simply do not have the intention. I will talk about it with the city councilor John so that they won''t accuse an innocent citizen."


    Trish casually spoke her mind.


    "Okay," Jason replied casually as well as his eyes were brimming with happiness. "I''m going to watch the competition today. It''s the Battlefield Cannon! I can''t miss this!"


    "Just go." Trish was completely speechless with regards to her son.


    Jason smirked as he ran back to his room with his tight black T-shirt and jeans. The door was slammed and soon a huge noise from the computer could be heard. The sound of the competition had rung.


    Jason gently opened up his curtain as he looked at the window from another building afar.


    The building was all white and the curtain on the second floor was opened up as well, revealing a cute red-haired girl''s face. She was Arisa.


    Jason smirked as he pulled out his index finger and thumb, signaling an OK gesture.


    Arisa''s face was brimming with happiness as nodded excitedly at Jason before letting the curtains fall back down.


    After a while, Jason''s phone started to vibrate and he immediately rushed towards his phone and looked at the screen.


    It was a message from Arisa.


    ''I''ve sent the pictures to your email. With my reputation on the line, these are definitely sexy. All of the pictures were taken when my sister is changing clothes.''


    ''Thank you so much!!!'' Jason was delighted as he replied immediately. He then clumsily rushed towards his laptop and opened his email. Behold, he saw an email with a huge attachment attached to it.


    ''Do you want something even more erotic?'' Arisa sent another message.


    ''Yes!'' Jason replied. He was literally holding onto his phone as if it was the most precious treasure.


    ''I need you to help me on something¡­''


    ''You name it! As long as it''s within my capability I will do it to my fullest!'' Jason browsed his email as he placed the pictures into a hidden folder and named it as Arisa - No. 0. He then sat alone on one side and smiled immorally.


    ''Get me the latest picture of brother Garen. I want the latest picture and stop using those old pictures to reach the quota. There were a few old pictures of him from the previous batch you''ve sent me.'' Arisa was very dissatisfied.


    ''But he hasn''t been back recently. I can''t do much here.''


    ''Aren''t your hacking skills very good? Take more pictures of him.''


    Jason pondered for a bit and then he quickly opened a hidden folder, archived the files inside and sent it over to her.


    In the other room, Arisa smiled wickedly as she received the folder. After browsing it, she transferred the pictures into a hidden file and renamed it as Garen - HD.


    "Hehehe¡­" Arisa started to laugh satisfactorily.


    "Arisa! What are you doing? Can you please help me take my towel for me." Isaros''s voice called from the bathroom.


    "Okay!" Arisa quickly returned to her lady and elegant vibe. She tidied up her look before going straight to the bathroom.


    Arisa was very smart as she was able to settle the whole ordeal with just a few lewd pictures of her sister. She even managed to obtain a few high definition sexy photos of Garen.


    The whole process was perfect!


    The crystal clear water was freely flowing down from Isaro''s body as she closed her eyes while standing in the bathroom.


    Ever since the battle with the Blood Breed Lars, she had obtained some rather complicated injuries. Since she didn''t have recovery abilities as good as those Blood Breeds, it took her more than a month to actually recover to a rather normal state.


    She didn''t want to get caught in such a complicated matter. She''d only wanted to help Sir Pritto with a small matter and push everything back to the Blood Breeds so that she and her sister could return back to the peaceful and quiet life.


    However things didn''t go as she expected, instead of settling down, everything became worse. She got snared even deeper after the fight with Lars.


    Within a month, she had been ambushed by vampires three times. These vampires were like ashes as they kept interrupting her during her rest and recovery. She received the news from Pritto that these vampires were sent by Lars. He refused to let other Blood Breeds meddle as it seemed that being injured by a Mortal was too embarrassing for him. He specifically said that he would settle the matters alone to obtain back his reputation.


    The bad thing about this was that Lars had lost his cool. When a true Lower-Level Blood Breed and district person-in-charge had lost his cool, it meant that he would do anything necessary to achieve his goal.


    The good thing about this was that Lars had blocked off other Blood Breeds who wanted to dirty their hands in this mess.


    Isaros understood very well that Lars would come after her very soon.


    As she stood in the hot water bath, she unconsciously raised up her right hand. With her hand as sharp as a knife, she gently cut through the fog around her without any noise.


    "Since I can''t avoid this, then I will face it head on." Her resolution woke up from her exhaustion.


    *************


    Knock knock knock.


    After a rhythmic knock on the door, The white villa''s door was opened, revealing an elegant woman.


    "Please come on in, Master is in the study room on the second floor." A female servant in white clothes said softly to the guest.


    Hochman entered the villa with a calm expression. His bodyguards, one female, and the other male tried to follow him in but were blocked off by him.


    "You guys wait outside."


    Two of them were stunned but lowered their heads and waited outside.


    Hochman entered the living hall on the first floor. His muscles were very streamlined and he was at least two meters tall. Even his shirt couldn''t cover up the muscles on his body as each and every fiber was clearly streamlined out. His hair was combed back and he was in a purple-black suit. His black shirt was slightly open, revealing a purple crystal necklace pendant on his chest.

 654 Mysterious Mask 2

    Chapter 654: Mysterious Mask 2


    He walked up to the second floor. As he took a turn, he heard the door open once more at the bottom.


    "Welcome, Master is waiting for you on the second floor," The female servant said once more.


    Hochman leaned forward and looked down and saw Dahm in a red shirt entering the villa. He had a smile on his face and his lips were dark red as if it was a solidified blood clot.


    Dahm was much stronger than before. As he raised his head, they looked at each other and the atmosphere froze.


    The bodyguards started to panic as they clutched nervously at the guns strapped at their waist, ready to fire at a moment''s notice.


    "You''re early." Dahm smiled as he waved at him.


    Hochman nodded his head slightly.


    Two of them greeted each other as if they were at a friend''s house. Then, both of them walked to the second floor.


    Similarly, Dahm placed his bodyguards outside of the villa just like Hochman.


    Both of them stepped onto the brown floor as they walked to the study room at the far end of the floor. Hochman then gently knocked on the door.


    Knock knock knock.


    "Enter." A gentle and calm voice could be heard from inside.


    The door wasn''t locked. Hochman pushed the door open gently. The room was laid with a layer of thick grey carpet and it felt very soft when stepped onto. There were two yellow lights standing on each side, giving off a bright yellow light.


    The whole room was grey in color, including the wallpapers, tables, and chairs.


    At the center of the room were a long table and two leather chairs.


    Garen was sitting at the far end of the long table, facing its side as he looked at something. He only turned around and smiled when he heard noises.


    As they entered the room, Hochman sat on the leather chair on the left. The chair was curved to fit a person''s back smoothly. There even were golden textures on its side that couldn''t be seen if one didn''t take notice. It was a well crafted yet low-profile chair.


    Dahm entered the room and sat in the other leather chair.


    Both of them noticed a row of old picture frames and oil paintings hanging on the left side of the wall.


    "These are my collections of relic oil paintings and some ancient photos. They''re all old items." Garen smiled and explained. He was in a big white robe, similar to of pyjamas which made him looked relaxed and carefree.


    "Is there anything for you to call us here?" Hochman maintained his gaze and asked softly.


    The servant handed out three cups of fragrant coffee and immediately left the room afterward.


    "A small problem." Garen crossed his hands as he smiled.


    He raised two of his fingers, indicating the number of issues.


    "First, I need you to do me a small favor." He opened the drawer on the table and took out a black metal mask.


    The mask looked rather unusual. It was expressionless and slightly black in color. The forehead portion of the mask was densely packed with small eyes as if it was covered with small worms. It gave off a rather mysterious yet frightening vibe.


    Garen placed the mask in the center of the table.


    "If possible, get me the original version of this mask. Naturally, you can send over the fake versions to me."


    Hochman took up the mask and glanced at it before placing it back down on the table


    "No problem. If my network finds anything similar, I''ll send it to you."


    Dahm took up the mask and looked at it.


    "No problem here as well. If it''s very rare, then I can''t do anything as well. I hope you understand."


    No matter how one looked at it, with each of them arriving at such an advanced level, they had already known the tricks Garen used to control them. The Two-Face Water Bird Fist''s most secret cheat was that it required Garen''s aura and soul seed''s aura to continuously offset it. So their Two-faced Water Bird Fist technique was limited by Garen. No matter how dissatisfied both of them were to this, they couldn''t do anything before finding a way to bypass this issue.


    "Alright." Garen nodded. This mask was one of the relics that were able to give him the most potential points. With this mask, it was able to give him a third of his needed potential points. This was the reason why he viewed it as an utmost importance.


    After some of investigation, he found a terrifying truth.


    This mask was also a fake, but it was created quite a long time ago. There was a record of such mask within the black-shirted man''s records. This masked was called the Black Copper Mask, which had about twelve fake masks. According to the legend, every mask had a clue which led to the location of the real mask. If he could obtain all the Black Copper Masks, then he would be able to obtain the legendary original Black Copper Mask.


    This was a secret discovered by the black-shirted men. Only Levi and a few higher level knew about it.


    However, Garen accidentally found out that it possessed a tremendous amount of potential points, which made him interested in the mask.


    "Secondly." He looked at the two people sitting in front of him. "Quentin and Xander came for a visit. They weren''t here for the annual inner circle Secret Technique sparring adjustment. It''s related to you two."


    The whole room was in complete silence, both of them didn''t speak up at all.


    "Regarding the issues between you two, I do not wish to meddle in. You have your own circles, lives, and judgment. An outsider does not have the right to butt in. It''s just that Quentin and the other members came to beg me so I''m placed in a tough spot." Garen said.


    "I understand." Dahm smiled. "As long as Hochman agrees to reconcile, I have no issues."


    "I''ll consider it." Hochman closed his eyes and replied coldly.


    "We are a group, a family. The fist technique is what that gathers us together. The path we take may have been different, but please don''t forget the friendship we once had." Garen said calmly.


    While both of them were laughing coldly in their mind, they put on a good appearance on the outside.


    "I''m glad you two understand." Garen nodded satisfactorily


    "I heard that Master has been looking for a quiet environment to learn a fist technique recently. Hochman and I have bought an ancient styled palace building located in East Asia Nappu Mountain. We have decided to gift it to you to show our appreciation towards your teachings." Dahm said sincerely.


    Both of them seemed to be up to something as both of them spoke to Garen as if he was a legendary figure.


    They had heard the rumors of a powerful martial artist in the combat club but didn''t try to find an explanation for it, in fact, their every action had hidden motives in them. However, as they increased their strength and advanced to higher heights, they thought they could clearly see Garen''s true potential. However, it was once blurred off again as they could feel Garen''s aura which was similar to theirs. That aura was so big and powerful, it felt like it was an endless sea.


    Furthermore, Garen''s mood swung a lot. At times, he''s cruel and cold-hearted and at times he could be gentle and peaceful.


    Hence, they could only listen to him even though they wanted to betray him.


    "Palace?" Garen felt strange. Technically, they were still students. No matter how much they skipped classes, they were still students in their twenties. However, when he saw their gaze and in addition to the intel and news he had obtained, he vaguely understood their intentions.


    They planned to build a fist technique sect and make use of the powerful and mysterious technique to expand their power and authority. This would turn them into the main branch and increase their renown in the combat world. They would then stand in the position of the owners and main branch, a huge position.


    They could even have the intention of readjusting the whole combat world.


    After all, when their Two-Faced Water Fist Technique combined with their physical strength, they had already surpassed the limits of humans. This kind of strength was without a doubt something everyone would covet.


    They had the dream of opening the first sect.


    Garen suddenly understood the intention of these two. Both Hochman and Dahm were trying to come out with their own styles of Two-Faced Water Bird Fist technique.


    "Alright. Since it''s a gift from the two of you, I will accept it. That place can be a meetup point for the higher-ups of the combat club." He nodded as he accepted this luxurious gift.


    Since he was currently mastering the Dream Technique, he would require a quiet environment. He''d recently learned that the attacks of the void creatures were able to harm surrounding living beings. In order to avoid the void creatures harming innocents, it was a good idea for him to choose a secluded area to train.


    "Then I shall take my leave." Hochman stood up and bowed slightly.


    "Me too. I have other matters to deal with." Dahm stood up and said lazily.


    Frankly, when the two of them were facing Garen, a person whose face seemed flawless, they couldn''t help but feel a sense of oppression from him. This made them very uncomfortable, which was the reason why they never stayed long here.


    "Go, remember your promise," Garen said softly.


    Both of them nodded and left the room.


    As the footsteps distanced, he looked at the mask on the table. Instinctively, he reached out his hand and gently placed the mask on his face.


    Somehow, from the moment he wore the mask, he could feel his aura start to change.


    The Void Creatures started appearing in his dreams. The change was rather complicated, which was a totally different world from the material world.


    At first, Garen had suspected that he''d been feeling unwell, as the Material World hardly had any supernatural phenomenon.


    He put down the mask and examined it carefully but didn''t find anything strange about it.


    "This mask.." he could faintly feel that there was a mysterious secret hidden in it.


    ''It feels like some sort of magnetic field.'' Black Sethe spoke. "This mask has a strange magnetic field as if it could change the brainwave of a living being."


    "Alter the brainwave?" Garen was interested and Black Sethe seemed to progress rapidly as well as he absorbed the knowledge of this world. This world was too different from his previous world. The current world was set in a scientific civilization so there were a lot of things he needed to pick up.


    The mask''s surface was rather coarse as Garen took out the yellow copper coin Nadia had dropped earlier and felt its texture.


    ''This world''s law is very solid. The forces between the particles are incredibly strong and a supernatural force would require a tremendous amount of energy to surface in the Material World. Even Nadia''s overwhelming strength in the Dream World will immediately shrink in this world. She definitely had used an incredible amount of force to affect reality within the Dream World to leave a coin here.'' Black Sethe said softly. ''Similarly, this mask which is able to display such supernatural phenomenon on its own means that it has a huge secret hidden within it.''


    As he rubbed the mask and coin, Garen started to think deeply.

 655 Suppress 1

    Chapter 655: Suppress 1


    Bam!!!


    In a wide and spacious cathedral, a black figure was instantly smashed into the wall, like a butterfly stuck in a spider''s web, his arms wide open, and he was held there by the countless green strands of web silk shining on the wall behind him, completely immobile.


    He opened his mouth wide and roared wildly, but he emitted no sound whatsoever. This figure was completely pitch black, as though his whole body was made of black shadows, and he had no face at all, only a tiny bit of white light that could be seen inside his mouth when he opened it wide.


    "What kind of a dream is this?" Garen stood in the center of the cathedral, confused. He felt as though there were gazes looking at him from all directions, but when he looked that way, he could not see anyone except himself, there was only the black figure stuck on the wall.


    This was his first time having such a dream, he had not seen any of the things around him, and he could be a hundred percent certain of that because none of the patterns on the cathedral walls gave him any sort of strange feeling.


    "Black Sethe?" He called out softly, but there was no response at all from inside his mind.


    He looked up, glancing at the black figure struggling on the wall, that person was roaring wildly and madly, trying to break free from the webs. But that strange Green Death kept tightening its hold on him.


    Garen tried his best to remain focused, and not let himself be distracted by everything happening around him, otherwise, the dream would devolve into a mess again.


    He paid attention to his surroundings conservatively. The cathedral was blurred and bleary, he could obviously see the patterns around him, but when he tried to look closer, it was all a blur.


    There were tall golden human statues standing on either side of him, each of them clasping a sword that was pointed at the ground tightly with both hands, each of them more than ten meters tall.


    Garen lifted his legs and walked slowly inside the cathedral, he walked until he was underneath that stuck human figure, and he reached out his hand to touch that huge green silk web, but unfortunately there seemed to be a transparent piece of glass between him and the web, so all he could feel was a hard and smooth surface obstructing him.


    Wooo¡­


    All of a sudden there was a minute sound by his ear, and Garen''s vision blurred slightly, his eyes losing focus.


    "Mmgh¡­" He opened his eyes, and slowly straightened up from the reclining chair.


    That dream just now was so realistic and strange, that he could remember it clearly even after waking up.


    He was lying on a sofa in the second-floor living area, the alarm on his phone was ringing rhythmically. That was the alarm clock he had set beforehand.


    Yanking his pajamas, Garen got off the sofa and stood up, it was completely quiet in the little living room, the maids had all gone to sleep. It was night time, the curtains beside the large open glass windows billowed in the wind, the night breeze puffing in and out of the balcony outside.


    Garen walked to the balcony and looked outward.


    Some of the little twinkling lights in the distance were fixed, others moved, and only a couple of the shops on the opposite street were still open, the rest were all closed. Occasionally there would be a few motorcycles revving past, breaking the silence of the night.


    He picked up his phone from the coffee table, there were messages from Raffaele, from his parents, and even one from Jason, asking him when he was going back for a visit.


    There was one more message, this one from Baldy.


    After that guy went blind in one eye, he had always been angry at Levi''s daughter, yearning for revenge, but under Garen''s intimidation, he never made any real moves. His personality, however, became more and more violent.


    Garen tapped the message from Baldy.


    ''Got some news about the Mask, there''s a mask like that in a European old-money family''s collection, showed up at a private auction once. We''re communicating with the people now, hoping we can buy it, but they seem pretty firm that they''re not planning to sell the mask. Looking for another way now.''


    The message was sent last night at 11 pm. Garen glanced at the time now, it was 3.15am.


    It should be 8 or 9 in the morning where Baldy was.


    Garen sent a message directly.


    ''You can reveal a bit of your identity, if they''re willing to sell it, then they can be considered a friend of the Nighthawks to some extent.''


    After waiting for some time, there was a prompt response from the other side.


    ''Boss, this might be real hard, we Nighthawks don''t have much of a market in Europe, the main places have all been taken up by the mercenary groups here, if we were in Africa that''s fine, but here¡­ Though we seem to have a bit of a breakthrough now.''


    ''Let them state whatever conditions they need, as long as it''s not over the top, just agree to it, but remember the bottom line.'' Garen replied.


    ''Understood.''


    Garen put down the phone, by now he was already beginning to sense something different about the Black Copper Mask. After he put on the mask, he could still feel wisps of potential values streaming out of the mask, getting absorbed into his body.


    Before this Garen clearly remembered that he had absorbed all of the potential value, but now there were new wisps of potential power.


    This greatly increased his curiosity in the Mask.


    *****************


    "I promised you, Barcetina. I would not interfere with your private life before you turn twenty." In a luxurious study, a white-haired old man was talking to a young woman in a deep voice.


    "You are nineteen now, you''ll be twenty soon, and you''ll have your twentieth birthday. I, your mother, and your grandmother, all hope that you can take the family business upon your shoulders." The old man paused, "You like collecting, we let you, you like fighting, we support you, and you also like movies, all of that is fine. But. You must be very aware that your future is not like that of your friends. Our business, the business your ancestors fought for, all of it is your hands to control, to protect so that it does not all go to waste. This is your responsibility as a member of this family. This is also the price you have to pay for all that you enjoy."


    The young girl wore a white T-shirt and ripped jeans, looking just a normal delinquent girl. Her features were broad and rough, her face even looked like that of a boy, there was no hint of beauty in it anywhere, she was one of those types that people would be hard-pressed to find a way to praise.


    Her skin had large pores, was neither fair nor dark, and was instead a dirty yellow. Her short hair was dry like dead grass, she had small eyes, a large nose, and a large mouth, as a girl in the spring of her youth, she had indeed inherited all her parents'' flaws and none of their strengths.


    Just then she was listening to her grandfather''s lecture, but her heart was calm.


    "I''m not twenty yet, right? I know what to do after my birthday." Barcetine replied calmly.


    "We''re worried you don''t understand." Her grandfather retorted. "You need to know what''s important. In this world, power is the strongest thing, the sharpest weapon. The second is money, everything else that you''ve been chasing until now is meaningless."


    "It''s not meaningless." Barcetina argued, "Once you reach the top of any field, you are powerful and dazzling."


    "So what? Our connections can bring you world-class movie stars, world-class fighting trainers, the best antiques. They are the cream of their fields, but they can only earn a few dozen millions, a hundred million at most, and they''re still controlled by masterminds like us, they fade, cool down, and are forced out of their field, it''s far too easy to shut them up." The old man replied carelessly.


    "The people won''t be fooled that easily." Barcetina frowned.


    "You''re wrong." The old man shook his head, "The people can''t see the truth of the moment, that''s why they''re the easiest to fool. This is the digital age, anything real can become fake, and anything fake can become real."


    "Forget it, I don''t want to argue with you, I understand what you mean. I''ll be prepared." Barcetina stood up, patted down her jeans, turned around, and left the room.


    Coming out from her grandfather''s place, she drove her car down a shaded little path slowly, for some reason, there was deep resentment in Barcetina''s heart.


    Faced with her large family, her own power seemed so small, and so weak. The social circles that she had worked so hard to build were no more than a joke in her family''s eyes, they could easily destroy all the connections she had, and isolate her completely.


    But she did not succumb, she loved collecting and fighting, and she would use a ton of money and energy on those two every year.


    Taking out her phone, she called her good friend.


    ''Hey, is that Cam? How are things going with the newest exhibition?''


    ''What? Something happened at home, so you probably can''t make it?''


    ''Fine, fine, then how about we meet in the afternoon, and walk around a bit? Just treat it as a walk to de-stress, you have something urgent? Okay¡­''


    Hanging up, Barcetina called another number.


    ''Kris, what are you doing? What! Are you moving house? When? I''ll pick you up right now!''


    ''No need? Alright, alright¡­''


    Another friend had suddenly become cold.


    Barcetina could already feel a huge net woven by her family slowly close in on her, and she was powerless to resist.


    Clenching her teeth, she called yet another number, but this one did not even go through, nobody picked up.


    Friends, fellow enthusiasts, members of a club, the Collector Association''s number, either they did not pick up, or they had all sorts of bad news. Most of the members of the Collector Association she started even quit all at once, and the Association was on the brink of collapse


    Bam!


    "Bullshit!"


    Barcetina smashed her fist into the steering wheel, and the car stopped abruptly, followed by the sound of emergency brakes behind her.


    Her circle was so frail, none of them could withstand the pressure from her family, that was the pressure coming from all forms of society, heavy and suffocating.


    Without stopping, she tried all the different phone numbers, but the calls were either met with despairing silence, or wayward rejections.


    Slowly, she extended her reach to anyone she had ever met or called. She called all the numbers, one by one, but the results were still exasperating and hopeless, the web of connections that she thought was wide and complicated only looked vast, but it was still controlled by her family''s power, without any exceptions.


    Her emotions grew more and more despairing.


    In the end, with her last ray of hope, she called a number.


    It was the number of a stranger she had met in a friendly fighting competition in America. She was trying to find a place where a family could not reach.

 656 Suppress 2

    Chapter 656: Suppress 2


    The other party was just a fighting enthusiast who tried to buy an antique from her, they had talked a bit at a private exhibition of hers, and upon discovering that they had quite a lot to talk about, they exchanged telephone numbers, so they were acquaintances at best.


    ''Hello? Who is this?'' There was a deep male voice from the other end of the call.


    ''Is this Mr Kaedun? Do you still remember me? I''m Barcetina.''


    ''Barcetina? Oh¡­ it''s Miss Barcetina! How are you? Have you decided to sell that Mask? The price is negotiable.'' The other person''s tone grew passionate. Barcetina perked up, there was finally someone who did not reject her. After a series of neglected calls and direct rejections, her emotions had gotten more and more frustrated.


    Her heart calmed down temporarily now, as though she had seen a loophole in her family''s web, before this even the people who had already agreed to exchange or sell antiques with her had all rejected her, even those who wanted her antiques all changed their tacks, they had either been pressured, or they were given something even better. She had finally found someone normal now.


    ''About the Mask, you''re¡­ still willing¡­ to buy it?'' Barcetina asked carefully.


    ''Of course!'' Kaedun replied matter-of-factly, ''Why don''t we meet up somewhere, you decide where! I''ll fly there as soon as possible.''


    ''Sure! Make it the Stone Gate Street in New York! There''s a pretty good restaurant there. When you''re there, give me a call, and I''ll tell you exactly where to go.'' Barcetina seemed to find a ray of hope, and her mood also brightened quickly.


    "No problem!"


    *****************


    Several hours later.


    Carlilo Cafe, Stonegate Street, New York


    The impatient duo had both increased their speed in unison, and as a result, both of them arrived at the location more than an hour before their agreed time.


    Sitting at the tables furthest inside the cafe, Baldy Kaedun and Barcetina stared at each other wordlessly, and for a while, they did not know what to say.


    They sat at the right side of the cafe, and they could hear the sounds of other customers chatting around them, as well as the sounds of the waiters clearing tables and greeting others.


    The cafe had pretty decent ambiance, illuminated with a soft, pale yellow light that created a warm and gentle mood.


    "Looks like we were both early." Barcetina spoke, putting her hands on the table, as she noticed that he had also tried to speak before pulling back. "I''ll confirm with you again, you really are willing to make a deal with me?"


    Baldy nodded.


    "Of course, is there any problem?" He looked slightly confused.


    "Alright, then, let''s discuss the details." For some reason, Barcetina felt as though her body was suddenly a lot lighter, like an insect trapped in a spider web that finally pulled away slightly from its death trap, and could finally catch its breath.


    The two of them began to discuss the details about the Black Copper Mask''s market price, perhaps out of gratitude for this tiny lightness in her heart, Barcetina took the initiative to reduce the price by one third, confusing Baldy somewhat.


    After some questioning, Barcetina finally told him about her situation.


    "I want freedom! I want to do the stuff I like! But I can''t accomplish even something as simple as that." She lowered her head, solemn but with a slight hint of pain. "I''m now an upper-level professional wrestler, I don''t want to give that up just like that."


    After understanding Barcetina''s situation, Baldy seemed to think of another friend of his, and there was a new hint of understanding in his eyes.


    "I really sympathize with your situation, Miss." He thought about it, "If you just want some space that is not controlled by your family, if possible, perhaps I could introduce you a combat teacher, I guarantee this person won''t be controlled by your family."


    Barcetina thought that his tone seemed to be slightly mysterious.


    "What teacher? Are you sure you know how vast my family background is?"


    For a moment there, she felt as though Baldy Kaedun''s identity had also gotten somewhat mysterious.


    "You''ll like him." Baldy laughed, "But the teacher I''m introducing to you may be very strict, unless you really like fighting, and are willing to put in a lot of effort, it might be best if you don''t agree."


    "No problem! What condition do you have in exchange?" Barcetina asked quietly.


    "There is no condition, this person is also my teacher, he respects anyone who is dedicated to martial arts and strives to grow stronger, so he would be willing to teach them his techniques. But he has to be selective too, so if you don''t pass, he won''t teach you." Baldy was naturally talking about Garen, it was not just him, Jay, his wife Hera, and all of the other Nighthawk higher-ups were all looking for potential trainees for Garen, these trainees needed to love and aspire towards martial arts, and they also needed some background behind them, so that they were worth using and raising.


    The poor became scholars and the rich became fighters, it was difficult to achieve any real accomplishments without money and resources.


    Garen got the others to collect such trainees so that he could teach them all sorts of secret techniques as a basic means to control the way his power grew. By using the connections of these disciples of his, he could rapidly search for the Black Copper Masks all over the world.


    Barcetina was just one of the many candidates.


    The two of them settled on a time in the cafe, then Baldy left the place and got into the car his driver drove up to him. Only then did he take his phone out from his pocket and glance at the message on it, it was from Barcetina''s family, and it seemed to hint at a threat.


    "They dare to threaten me? They really think we''re honest and legal salesmen." He laughed coldly.


    "Wanna teach them a lesson?" The driver sniggered.


    "Just give them a slight warning. After all, this ain''t our turf." Baldy replied casually. "Whoever sent the message, just destroy one of their arms, don''t go overboard."


    "Got it!"


    They had always been lawless bastards, as the bosses of the African mercenary scene, and with the terrifying reputation of the Nighthawk King behind them, most violent groups would also be wary of them, now that they were on someone else''s territory, they were polite enough not to provoke the hosts, but now someone dared to challenge them.


    These mercenaries were all warmongers who carried their heads on their belts, they were extremely familiar with killing others, and some of them even moonlighted as assassins in their spare time, so now that someone had come barking at them of their own accord, these criminals that even the international police had several files on were naturally even more revved up and ready.


    Coincidentally, now that the governments were busy with the Blood Breeds'' internal conflict, trying hard to suppress all those murder cases, this was the best time to make their move.


    ********************


    Casually flipping through the photographs and information on the table, Garen looked through the ten potential candidates that his subordinates had picked out for him.


    There were boys and girls, the ages ranging from their teens to twenty.


    Putting their appearances aside, they all came from powerful backgrounds, and they were all very interested in fighting and combat, so they were perfect targets for him to control.


    Under the lamplight, Garen picked out a few from the photos and put them aside, these were the ones he could do with or without, as for the rest, he could let Xander teach them alone, then he would just go and remove the side effects himself.


    To these young people who were passionate about fighting, they craved adrenaline, liked to go on adventures and discover new things.


    Faced with a secret technique that could make them terrifyingly stronger within a few short months, he believed that none of them would able to resist such a temptation.


    They needed the primers so that they could truly walk the path of the Two-Faced Waterbird Fist, and so that they could see the effects of their strength. The intense pleasure during training that surpassed even drugs would surely keep a vice grip on the young people''s hearts.


    ''Your plan is not bad, and it will help expand your influence, but what is the point of such influence? It would take a bit too long, and Nadia could show up at any time. The scent of that coin is the location marker, and the will of the Nine-Headed Dragon''s Blood in your body is also a signboard to lead her to you. She will be here very soon. Then I''ll see how you deal with it.''


    Black Sethe was raining on his parade beside him. He did not know that Garen could use the potential power in the Mask to strengthen himself.


    Garen ignored him, this person got more excited the more attention he got.


    He separated the photos into two stacks and asked the Nighthawk member waiting outside to come in, take the two stacks of photos and info out, and pass them to the specified people.


    Only then did Garen stand up, leave the room, and enter a vast sealed room with lead-coated walls.


    This room was one that he had specially made, the walls and floor were covered with a layer of silver lead, and there was a small square white platform in the middle of the room, with that yellow-copper Dragon Head Coin set on top like a shrine.


    Closing the door with a bam, Garen walked towards the platform the coin was on.


    Boom!


    All of a sudden, Garen felt dizzy, and it was as though his vision went bleary, making him stop three meters away from the platform.


    He did not know when it started, but there was a thin white mist coming from the platform, it was like water vapor, spiraling above the coin, slowly forming a terrifying dragon head image.


    Roar!!


    The dragon head roared at Garen, it evidently made no soundwaves, but Garen could still hear that deafening dragon''s roar.


    ''That''s the location signal the coin is constantly emitting, you can try to suppress it.'' Black Sethe suggested, ''That way you can effectively lengthen the time Nadia needs to get here.''


    Garen nodded, he knew that he had been pulled into a dream by the coin''s scent, this coin was reacting more and more obviously recently, and the power it leaked out was also getting stronger, Nadia''s scent kept leaking from the coin, affecting all the surroundings and creatures around it.


    After a maid was pulled into the world of dreams by that coin and nearly starved to death there, Garen got someone to create a quarantine room like this, specifically to cordon off the coin''s gradually growing forces and impact.


    "You are merely a dead thing."


    Garen''s eye narrowed, and he took one step forward.


    Boom!!!


    A large cloud of dark blue frost power burst out from behind him, the frost power rapidly converging and solidifying, forming an image of a terrifying Nine-Headed Dragon.


    Roar!!!


    The nine dragon heads roared ferociously at the white dragon head.


    For a moment, the whole room was filled with the blue and white mist.


    ''You can''t stop me¡­'' Nadia''s voice came from the white dragon head, filled with killing intent.


    Garen ignored her completely, sitting down cross-legged, closing his eyes slightly, the dark blue mist behind him beginning to surround the white mist emitted by the coin.

 657 Scramble 1

    Chapter 657: Scramble 1


    Elvin, England, Europe.


    There was a white mansion in the outskirts, the mansion¡¯s roof had a serrated pattern, the doors and windows were all arch-shaped, and occasionally one could see round pillars supporting the building.


    A black person in a white shirt and black slacks was going in and out of the house.


    There were green grassy yards all around the mansion, each patch of grass trimmed unnaturally tidily.


    The sky was cloudy and dark, the sun covered by clouds, making the atmosphere somewhat oppressive.


    On the grass, an old black man with a red tie was casually surfing the internet on his phone, he sat in a chair under an umbrella to block off the sun, but his gaze kept wandering to a bunch of pretty women playing nearby in front of him.


    As a black man, and as the boss of England''s largest antique and relics field, he had started the Bailey Group. Having accomplished such a result in the world of the white people, Kabb already had more than enough to be proud of, so all that should be left was to sit back and enjoy a carefree life.


    But Kabb was not so relaxed at all, now that he was fifty-two, he was currently facing the second largest problem in life, aging.


    He was barely past middle-aged, but he was feeling far less energetic than he used to be, and his spirit was also constantly weakening, this feeling of constantly shriveling away made him panic.


    Luckily, he had discovered an earth-shaking secret from a rival group as it collapsed, this secret might be an important turning point for his life from now on, he could not afford to let it slip by.


    "Boss, it seems like someone''s interfering with the mask that we''re after." A subordinate walked up to him and spoke quietly in his ear.


    "Someone''s interfering?" Kabb frowned, "Who?"


    "The Neo Black Uniforms, they have the Nighthawks behind them, it''s a bit troublesome." His trusted aide Medis had an extremely powerful information web, and would not be wrong about this kind of thing.


    "They also know about the mask?" Kabb asked quietly, still pretending his eyes were on the ladies.


    "Yes, unfortunately." Medis nodded.


    "That¡¯s troublesome, I am bent on attaining all twelve masks, the Nighthawks are number one in Africa, get Viper to deal with them. Contact the Primary Colors for me, the White Phoenix would surely be willing to greet this new force that¡¯s undermining their authority."


    Kabb instantly thought of ways to deal with this, not only was he the boss of England¡¯s largest antique corporation, he was also the unifier of half of England¡¯s strongest violent groups, every move he made was enough to influence the entire English underworld.


    "Yes." Medis backed down, head lowered.


    Kabb, however, began to quickly recall all the information he had about the Nighthawks, they did not have many members, but they were the most mysterious, and they had that powerful mastermind known as the Nighthawk King behind them. This was enough to make him wary, that person was powerful enough to brazenly attack the Primary Colors, he was dangerous and extremely invasive.


    *****************


    On a passenger plane from Elvin towards Berlin, Germany


    The passengers were all groggy and sleepy, some were reading their newspapers quietly, some had put on sleeping masks, a few young people were gathered and playing cards, the stewardesses were threading through the aisles, asking questions and checking on the passengers.


    In the four seats on the left at the back of the plane, there were four young people sitting in a row and playing some sort of table game, one of them yawned slightly.


    "How much longer before we reach?" This person put down the game pieces in his hand, his expression absolutely bored.


    "Soon, soon, I can feel the plane descending." A girl said flippantly.


    "You say that every time."


    "Don¡¯t you feel more hopeful when I say that?" The girl replied nonchalantly.


    "Aihhh¡­"


    Another person put down their pieces, "Just go ahead and sleep, you guys, there should still be more than twenty minutes."


    He turned around to look at a man by the window, this man wore white leather pants, and a T-shirt with black and red stripes, his skin was fair, and there was a series of golden earrings on his ears.


    "King, what should we do when we get there?"


    "Just follow the old rules, this mission is slightly more difficult, you guys be careful. The opponent is Hera of the Nighthawks." The man called King replied casually.


    "The Nighthawks are very active in Africa, there are more wars and conflicts there, so it can¡¯t be easy to build a reputation over there. But on that note, these complicated city areas belong to us, Viper, if they want to beat us here¡­ hehe."


    The four of them were the true form of the whole Viper, as one of the top ten mercenary groups in Europe, nobody dared to underestimate their hidden ambushes and killing intent.


    "Hera has five powerful generals under her, and she herself is one of the Nighthawk King¡¯s three most trusted aides, so we must not underestimate her ability, no matter what, everyone has to be more serious this time, after finishing this job, all of us can go back and play however we want."


    King told them softly.


    "No problem.""Of course!""Let¡¯s f*ck ¡®em sideways!"


    The three of them started yelling.


    "Every member of the Nighthawks has powerful ambushing power, and they are all very alert as well, try to be quick, you can¡¯t give them any time to resist. Their combat power is all very strong, do not try to engage in close combat with them."


    "Understood!"


    This time, Viper had not only accepted the mission from the Bailey Group, there was also the Primary Colors¡¯ bounty, in this operation against the Nighthawks, they were joined by a few more of the top ten mercenary groups in Europe, each of them was in charge of one of the Nighthawks¡¯ independent members.


    The Black Uniforms¡¯ Jay, the Vice Commander Baldy Kaedun, and his wife Hera, each of them had an elite mercenary troop targeting them, to make sure this operation was completely foolproof.


    And then there was the strongest mercenary group, Blackfire, out of the hunt everywhere for the Nighthawk King¡¯s whereabouts.


    This time the Primary Colors were really determined, they had tossed out two billion pounds at once, just to make sure the Nighthawks were thoroughly exterminated.


    An invisible web was surrounding the entirety of the Nighthawks. In this web, there were several people who had crossed swords with Levi before, and there were some who fought Kaedun himself as well, they were all monstrous elites. They were so professional, that some of them had a thousand faces and you could not tell which one was real at all, some were top-level bomb experts, with bombs everywhere. Others were computer hacking prodigies, wherever there was a surveillance camera, as long as it was connected to the internet, those could be their eyes.


    There were all sorts of elites, and their supremely powerful combinations had taken on many high-difficulty missions before, most of them even had experience with the supernatural.


    And even so, the Primary Colors still secretly sent out powerful people, allegedly strong mercenaries who had been modified through experiments, specifically to deal with the Nighthawk King if he shows up.


    This operation was like a web covering heaven and earth, giving their target no way to escape.


    Although King sounded serious, the truth was he already knew in his heart, that if nothing out of the extraordinary happened, the Nighthawks were finished this time.


    ********************


    "What!? Our stuff has been stolen?" Jay¡¯s eyes immediately went cold, staring at his subordinate in front of him. "Who did it?"


    "It¡¯s Ohio Silk from Europe, they left their signature mark." His subordinate reported quietly.


    Chack!


    The glass in Jay¡¯s hand shattered, and the transparent wine flowed out of his hand.


    "Ohio Silk¡­ The number two assassins¡¯ group in Europe, huh? What¡¯s the meaning of this? Do they want to declare war on us?" His face darkened.


    His subordinate did not even dare to breathe loudly in front of him, just lowering his head and freezing still.


    "Boss, let¡¯s just fight it out, I¡¯ve always wanted to see what these European scrubs could do. They were just so f*cking cocky at the banquet last time!" A young red-haired man leaned on a wall inside the room, and spoke casually.


    "I¡¯ll go with Tran, and take fifteen of our elites, that should be enough to solve our problem." Another woman in the room said quietly, they were Jay¡¯s left and right hands respectively, they were always hanging around Jay even when they were in the Nighthawks, and now that they had swallowed up and were controlling the Black Uniforms, having learned the fistfighting skills from Jay, their strength increased tremendously. After undergoing such cruel training, their bodies¡¯ stamina had achieved a terrifying and extreme level, such that they were the elite fighters just behind Jay among the Black Uniforms.


    "There¡¯s no rush¡­ Since they dare to make a move directly, they must surely have considered our response in it as well." Jay was never an impulsive person, he mused over it, then picked up the phone to call the other members of the Nighthawks.


    After a dozen or so minutes, he put the telephone receiver down, his expression dark.


    "As expected, this is an operation targeting the entire Nighthawks, things have gone wrong on Baldy¡¯s and Hera¡¯s side as well, I suspect that our opponent will make a move immediately. You guys go and mobilize your men immediately, get them on their guard! It¡¯s highly likely they will strike tonight!"


    Hearing those words, his subordinates grew solemn as well, looks like this situation was not good.


    "Tell the lower ranks, if we get past this, everyone will get at least a hundred thousand USD as a reward, depending on their contributions," Jay promised generously.


    His two subordinates started chuckling loudly.


    Bang!!!


    Suddenly there was a gunshot, and the three of them got down to the ground instantly.


    The only person who could not react in time was the subordinate who had come to report the problem, his temple was pierced through, blood spraying, and he toppled backward.


    At the same time, deep bullet holes appeared on the tables, the sofas, the chairs, all the holes appearing at once.


    It was just one gunshot sound, sounding like the explosion of firecrackers, but the result that appeared was at least caused by several dozen guns shooting at once, and they were all high-powered guns as well.


    Jay rolled onto the ground like a snake, and darted underneath the metallic table for cover.


    He could hear the tapping and consecutive explosions above his head, who knew how many bullets were raining down onto the table.


    This was the Black Uniforms¡¯ headquarters, and the enemy actually had the ability to assault them all the way here¡­ add that to the strength of this firepower, and he could not help a chill rising in his heart.


    ****************


    In the pitch black sealed room, Garen sat cross-legged on the floor, his eyes tightly closed, and the platform with the coin right in front of him.


    Ever since that day, he had to come in here every so often to suppress Nadia¡¯s scent tracking.


    The original scent of the coin got more and more terrifying, and now anyone in a five-meter radius would get pulled into a dream, Nadia¡¯s energy would suppress their spirits until they were confused and barely conscious. But with Garen¡¯s constant suppression, this increase in its power was finally controlled, Garen kept using up the energy on the coin, greatly delaying Nadia¡¯s identification of this area.


    Strangely, by using the Nine-Headed Dragon¡¯s will to fight her in this dream state, Garen could clearly feel his secret technique training progressing even faster than before. This resistance was like a sharpening stone, making his Living Secret Technique stronger and stronger, and he soon reached the peak of the first level.

 658 Scramble 2

    Chapter 658: Scramble 2


    After sitting cross-legged in the darkness for goodness knows how long, Garen slowly got up, arranged the white night robes he was wearing and walked out of the room, faintly hearing the dissatisfied roar of the Nine-Headed Dragon behind him.


    There were several subordinates guarding the door, but they seemed not to hear anything at all, they wore the same uniform, all in white casual clothes, and one of them offered up a black box to Garen respectfully.


    "Boss, this was just sent here. It was sent by Vice Commander Kaedun."


    Garen nodded, and accepted the box.


    There were pale golden patterns embedded in the surface of the black box, like so many disorganized lines, but upon closer inspection, there was some rhythm to them.


    Opening the lock with a smack, Garen saw a slightly black copper mask in between the black silks, the mask was expressionless, its forehead covered with countless eyes, and he could vaguely see the detailed skin-like linings all over the surface, intricate and realistic.


    "The second one¡­" Garen reached out his hand to caress the mask lightly. Wisps of cool potential energy instantly surged into his palm.


    He just felt it roughly, but he could already tell that this mask would have a total of more than forty or fifty potential points, and what made him happiest was that this mask itself had the ability to constantly produce potential power, it seemed to be able to grow more as well as store a certain amount of potential value.


    If even a forgery can achieve such an effect, who knew what it would be like if he collected all twelve forgeries.


    Garen touched the wrinkles on the mask carefully, feeling the wisps of cooling energy surge into his hand, according to his initial estimates, a Mask would produce about 0.1 potential points worth of energy every day. That way, if he had twelve Masks, he would automatically receive one potential point every day, this was undoubtedly a huge sum in this world that was woefully low on potential points. And over time it would become a very substantial amount.


    "Did Kaedun say anything else?" Garen asked.


    "During the afternoon the day before yesterday, Lord Jay and Lady Hera were ambushed, Commander Kaedun had gone out personally to send the Mask, so he managed to avoid the ambush and countered the enemy instead, capturing two of their members. After some interrogation, they said that the strongest group in England, the Bailey Group, had goaded the Primary Colors into moving." His subordinate reported quickly.


    "The Bailey Group?" Garen repeated this noun again. "How¡¯s the situation? Right now."


    "Not very good, Lady Hera was grievously hurt, now Commander Kaedun has rushed over to deal with matters, and Lord Jay sustained heavy losses, although he is fine, he had lost at least half of his men in the ambush." This subordinate had recently become Garen¡¯s information specialist, not just him, but there was another small group that was founded specifically to be something like a meeting of strategists, everyone in the group had their own roles, but once there was an emergency, they would band together to solve the combat club¡¯s and Nighthawks¡¯ problems.


    They usually planned all sorts of strategies for Kaedun, Jay, and the other leaders.


    The vast amounts of information would also be transmitted here endlessly, after they reach a conclusion, the results would be sent quickly back to the various leaders. This was basically a strategy room.


    Of course, these people were all elites that Garen, Kaedun and the others invited from all over, some of them were even university lecturers, or even lecturers from Garen¡¯s own university, but after practicing the Waterbird Fist and feeling that drug-like pleasure, they could no longer leave the combat club. These people were mostly all like that, although they were intelligent, when faced with the temptation of the Waterbird Fist, they were still willing to stay in the combat club and strategize for Garen.


    "The Bailey Group, the Primary Colors¡­" Garen was starting to feel a little ticked off, to be honest, these three subordinates made things a lot more convenient for him, in the incident with the Stone Clock of Fortune, they had given him quite a haul. He had only gotten one Stone Clock himself, but Jay even snatched several more for him, saving him a lot of energy.


    And this time, Kaedun found him the second mask as well. If he had to look for it himself, it would take a lot more time and energy, after all he did not randomly attend private exhibitions.


    If he wanted to continue training without worries like this, while constantly obtaining more potential points at the same time, it seemed that he would need to move a little bit this time.


    Before this, due to the trouble caused by the Void Creatures, and his need to deal with the Nine-Headed Dragon King Nadia, he did not intend to meddle with reality too much, he did not want to waste his time and energy on reality, but it seemed that he had no choice.


    "Gather up the Nighthawks, everyone gather at Kaedun¡¯s place, but be careful on the way." He thought for a bit and directly gave his orders.


    His subordinate beside him recorded what he said, word for word.


    "Also, list down all the factions that are attacking us this time."


    Looks like he needed to upgrade Baldy and the others soon, otherwise it would really be troublesome if he had to do everything himself.


    It just so happened that he had recently perfected the Shooting Shadow Secret Skill, turning it into the Shooting Shadow Secret Technique, it had a whole array of secretive yet overwhelmingly powerful killing moves, and it also inherited that intense training pleasure from the Waterbird Fist, while also having the soul primer added to it, so the whole Shooting Shadow Secret Skill had become a powerful demonic secret technique on the same level as the Waterbird Fist.


    Baldy and the others had already trained the Shooting Shadow Secret Skill to an extremely high level, the three leaders had all reached the highest level, the Shooting Shadow sixth level, so if they started training the complete version, they would progress abnormally quickly.


    Garen had already unified the two secret techniques he created, forming a Book of Demonic Secret Techniques, otherwise known as the Demonic Book for short.


    The Two-Faced Waterbird Fist and the Shooting Shadow Secret Technique, these two legacies would become the martial arts at the core supporting the Demonic Book.


    Thinking back on it now, Baldy and the others were somewhat too weak, after they worked so hard for him over the past few years, they got less tutelage than Hochman, Dahm and the others, so this was rather unfair to them.


    Garen decided that in order to counter the way the Shooting Shadow Secret Technique could only assassinate, he would create another proper secret technique, to make up for what they lacked in head-on battles. Just like this time, once they were ambushed and put on the spot, the three main leaders of the Nighthawks could not unleash their full potential, the opponent just pushed them like that, revealing no weaknesses.


    The opposite of Shooting Shadow was Light Speed, both had to do with speed, and with that Garen already had some ideas.


    ¡®You¡¯re going to deal with trivial matters? They¡¯re just subordinates, they won¡¯t grow without experiencing some setbacks. Even if they die, that just means they¡¯re not strong enough, they have a better foundation and starting point than these people and still can¡¯t beat them, that¡¯s not your fault.¡¯ Black Sethe spoke.


    "You don¡¯t have many subordinates in Ancient Endor, do you?" Garen retorted.


    ¡®Are you trying to say that I could never gain widespread influence with this attitude and style?¡¯ Black Sethe immediately understood what he was thinking.


    "Influence is only there to make things more convenient for me, I just need to help a bit and I¡¯ll have my subordinates do the rest, compared to a life swamped with trivial matters, which would be better and more convenient for training? That would depend on what each individual thinks."


    ¡®Don¡¯t tell me you really are collecting antique masks just for that insignificant bit of energy on it?¡¯ Black Sethe was no fool, of course he could tell something was wrong with Garen¡¯s intentions.


    Garen did not reply.


    "Get me flight tickets, I¡¯ll head to Berlin myself tomorrow."


    "Yes."


    Garen picked up the Mask, turned around and walked into another quiet room, he needed the time to completely absorb the Mask¡¯s potential value, so that he could use it to increase his secret technique level.


    ***************


    Elvin, England


    Bailey Estate


    It was a bright and sunny day, with no clouds in sight.


    Kabb sat in his study, dressed in his night robes, wearing his reading glasses to read the information he had carefully.


    After he finished reading it, he put down the info and mused for a while.


    "How¡¯s the situation with Viper?"


    Medis, who was sitting opposite him, replied quickly.


    "The opponent is very stubborn, Viper lost several people before they could grievously injure Hera, but unfortunately they still could not catch nor kill her."


    "What about White Phoenix¡¯s side?"


    "Baldy Kaedun was lucky, he was out on an errand and not in the base, he just left a man to take his place and watch the base. All they killed was a replacement, and instead Baldy counterattacked, seriously hurting and capturing two men, they probably know by now that our Bailey Group is involved. Boss, you best be prepared." Medis reminded him.


    Kabb nodded.


    "The Nighthawks are still considerably obstinate, as expected of Africa¡¯s number one mercenary army, just the three masterminds are individually as powerful as one of Europe¡¯s top ten mercenary groups. With such power, if they were gathered together, perhaps even our number one Titan would not end up much."


    "Indeed." Medis agreed.


    "The Nighthawk King¡¯s reaction would probably be to gather everyone, right? The location would either be where Baldy is, or Berlin, where Hera is. We don¡¯t need to guess, Baldy is the vice, he actually controls the whole group¡¯s power, and Hera is his woman, judging by his character, he would not stay silent once his woman¡¯s been attacked, so he would surely make for Berlin."


    He picked up another file and read that as well.


    "There might very well be a reason why the Nighthawk King does not show his face publicly, in the Stone Clock of Fortune incident, he also only officially showed up after his subordinates were crippled, evidently he has something limiting him, so it¡¯s most likely that he remains hidden for now, letting Baldy and the others gather and come up with a plan."


    "This is just a possibility, what if he does show up?" Medis asked.


    "That¡¯s fine too." Kabb smiled, "Berlin is your territory, no matter how strong he is, he¡¯s just one person, and besides the elite fighters of the Primary Colors are still waiting for him, if necessary, you can help him out a little, you must make it secretive and hidden, to show that we were forced, and the Primary Colors¡¯ White Phoenix are their true enemies. We cannot interfere too much, just act as though we¡¯re observers, as long as we don¡¯t participate of our own accord, no matter who wins or loses later, at the most we¡¯ll just spend some money to call it quits. Try your best to let the Primary Colors face the Nighthawks, remember, we were forced to join, it actually has nothing to do with us. It was actually the White Phoenix who asked for our cooperation."


    Kabb¡¯s gaze turned unreadable.


    "That way, we can earn and profit, and the risks wouldn¡¯t force the other side to retaliate in desperation, their greatest enemy is the Primary Colors Group after all¡­"


    "Boss, you¡¯re hedging risks here¡­" Medis said with a laugh.


    "It¡¯s a bit like that." Kabb was surprised as well, but then he started to laugh as well.

 659 Confrontation 1

    Chapter 659: Confrontation 1


    After the two of them laughed for some time, Kabb picked up the coffee on the table and sipped from it.


    "However, on that note, do you have clues about the Nighthawk King¡¯s identity?"


    Medis nodded.


    "After you mentioned this point, I began collecting information about him from all channels. After analyzing the flight times and using our intel to thin down the possibilities, we have obtained a list of people in that period of time who might be the Nighthawk King. The information we got is slightly strange."


    "Oh? How is it strange?"


    "Judging from the flight intel, the Nighthawk King probably booked his ticket through someone else, but in the incident with the Stone Clock of Fortune, he did not hide his appearance, so after making some comparisons, we discovered the true identity of the Nighthawk King."


    "Is it very surprising?" Kabb looked at his usually calm and cunning old subordinate and friend, somewhat surprised that this man would be shocked by the Nighthawk King¡¯s true identity.


    "It is rather surprising." Medis nodded, "Garen Thomas, twenty years old, a second-year student at Gullivier University, a very mysterious person, hard to trace, he¡¯s the president of the combat-oriented combat club in school. His father is a university lecturer, his mother a psychiatrist, his family is a thoroughbred academic family, with nothing at all to do with violent groups."


    "All the more reason for us to be wary!" Kabb said abruptly, "I¡¯ve met someone like this before, one of the heads of an Italian mafia clan is also a teenage child, he looks cute and innocent, but he¡¯s a young prodigy, ruthless in his methods, and anyone who dares to look down on them will pay a hefty price."


    "Understood." Medis nodded,"Then what do we need to do?"


    Kabb touched his chin.


    "This Nighthawk King Garen, he¡¯s probably the key to truly controlling the Nighthawks, have you heard the rumors about the Nighthawks?"


    "Yes, do you mean the rumor that the Nighthawk King alone can control everyone in the Nighthawks using certain methods?"


    Medis had evidently heard about this before. He mused quietly for a while, organizing his thoughts before he continued.


    "The Nighthawks¡¯ growth is clearly evident, it might look a lot hazier to other powers, but to large groups such as ourselves and the Primary Colors, it¡¯s impossible to hide their growth patterns. It could be said that they could only break free from the White Phoenix and form the Nighthawks after Baldy Kaedun paid a visit to Grano, where Garen was, all those years ago. It is also highly likely that Garen took him under his wing since back then."


    "Tell me, for a normal kid to control an international mercenary for so many years without the latter having any intention to rebel. What methods could he be using?" Kabb asked quietly.


    "He could make an ordinary mercenary into a top-level elite in the mercenary world within a short time, besides." Medis continued, "The combat club that Garen joined also increased in strength exponentially after he joined, the previous pillars of the club made Garen their teacher, and are learning martial arts from him."


    Kabb¡¯s fingers and joints rapped the table rhythmically.


    "In that case, it seems that this Garen has a method to quickly make others stronger, be it the Nighthawks, the combat club, or even himself. For such a young man in his teens to control an international mercenary group, he must surely have an absolutely powerful way to control them. Tell me, if we can find this manipulation method, as well as this strengthening method, wouldn¡¯t we be able to create a powerful team that belongs solely to us in a very short period of time?"


    Medis nodded solemnly.


    "It is very likely."


    "I will leave this up to you, Garen must have a secret! And it is surely something extraordinary as well, I have a feeling, we might be able to get something better than we imagined from him." Kabb said with a straight face.


    "I¡¯ll go investigate right now." Medis understood how important this was as well, and stood up, "I will try to communicate with him, maybe I can get more direct information."


    "Go."


    *******************


    In the vast black cathedral


    He was surrounded by blurry walls, and could only faintly see the patterns shaking and flickering.


    Garen stood in the middle of the cathedral, there were many giant golden statues on either side of him, the statues¡¯ hands held their large swords, their heads and gazes lowered, as though they were protecting something.


    At the very deepest end of the cathedral, there was a huge green silk web on the wall. This web was actually growing and growing, like vines, slowly growing thicker and denser.


    And in the middle of the web, there was a pitch-black human figure.


    "Here again." Garen looked around him, confused.


    This dream seemed so very realistic, so much so that he could barely tell if he was in a dream or not. And every time he entered this dream, even his connection with Black Sethe would be severed.


    That black figure kept struggling in the silk web, roaring soundlessly, but it was useless, every time he struggled, he would still be held there by the silk webs, held firmly motionless.


    Garen trod on the smooth black marble floor, walking towards the deepest end of the cathedral, and soon he was standing underneath that large silk web.


    He looked up at the black figure, and reached out his hand to touch the silk web holding the man captive, but as with last time, there was something like glass between the web and his hand.


    His hand could not touch the web directly.


    "This is my second time having the same dream." Garen frowned, he looked all around him, but did not find anything else out of the ordinary. The black figure that was stuck there did not seem to see him at all, and kept struggling futilely, not even looking at him.


    Garen turned around and looked towards the large cathedral doors, those were tall and pitch-black metallic doors, a full dozen meters or so tall, they looked heavy and sturdy, embroidered with many strange patterns.


    "This is the last temple." Suddenly, there was a deep male voice from behind him.


    Garen turned around abruptly and saw a beautiful woman in a white dress walking towards him slowly, the woman¡¯s long hair danced, and she held a huge silver sword in her hand. The large, long sword formed a sharp contrast with her body, only over a meter tall, and made it hard to imagine that her petite body could drag that sword, more than three meters long, so easily while she moved.


    "Nadia." Garen recognized her, Nine-Headed Dragon King Nadia.


    "Speaking of which, even when we first met, we never talked properly face to face like this. You¡¯re suppressing my tracking ability, so I had to figure out this method to get around this problem." Nadia obviously looked like a girl, but spoke with a man¡¯s voice, giving off an extremely eerie impression.


    "What do you want to say?" Garen said calmly.


    "That old man hiding in your body, he¡¯s the memory remnants of an ancient fighter, right?" Nadia said softly, "That sort of memory is the most untrustworthy, I was nearly trapped by this thing back then." Nadia seemed extremely bored, walking up to Garen¡¯s side, and looking up at the black figure in the web.


    "You must understand, even if you¡¯re suppressing the time I descend upon you, that day will still come. Rather than waiting fruitlessly for death, how about you join me under my command? Abandon your physical form, such a thing is no more than a restriction to us, we exist merely in wills, and are that much freer than you imagine."


    Nadia spoke alluringly in the Ancient Endor language.


    "We are practically immortal, as long as our souls do not reach their limit, we will not die. In comparison, the limits of the physical body are far too insignificant. Even the best metals will rot. What¡¯s more a shell of flesh?"


    "What benefits will I get from becoming one of you?" Garen retorted.


    "Oh, there are too many, many of the invisible creatures are everlasting, they have accumulated countless knowledge and experience, once you have cast away your body, it will be easier to communicate with and learn from them. Plus, by existing as merely a will, you can exchange countless knowledge in an instant, you can travel freely through dimensions, just like how I have pulled you in here now, when in fact we are miles and miles apart." Nadia replied casually, "Stronger, more perfect. Isn¡¯t that what you¡¯re after?"


    "I have a soul with space-time attributes, all of that is meaningless to me. I have plenty of time to slowly accumulate sufficient knowledge." Garen was unfazed.


    For some reason, neither of them had any intention of fighting here. They just stood there, talking to each other obediently and quietly.


    Nadia laughed. "Your will is very pure, but you can¡¯t do it just because you think you can." He(1) looked Garen up and down, and her smile deepened. "You seem to have a secret, or rather an advantage, this advantage makes you fearless, you do not sense danger in any situation at all. And you also have extreme confidence in yourself, this confidence is already bordering on ignorance."


    "Ignorance?" Garen arched his eyebrows.


    "That¡¯s right, or rather you are blind to the world." Nadia¡¯s expression was condescending, "I really want to know, what on earth could this secret of yours be?"


    Garen¡¯s heart was calm, his largest advantage was his terrifyingly powerful natural Ability, the power to turn anything in reality into attributes and skills.


    Using potential points, he could constantly make himself stronger, power up his attributes, and the ability to turn things into skills saved him a lot of time, as for everything else, it was all built on these two matters at the core.


    Be it his secret techniques, or the secret methods and secret skills, the core to everything was actually this Ability of his, it was his Ability that worked with his space-time body to give him constant power.


    Nadia¡¯s gaze swept over him, giving him a faint sense of a threat.


    "Everyone has a secret, I am also extremely intrigued by the secret that allows you to grow exponentially stronger every time you die."


    Garen¡¯s tone did not change at all.


    "Did you know?" Nadia said suddenly. "This is an ancient temple, it¡¯s an illusory area projected by the Mother Stream in the world of dreams."


    "So what?" Garen did not know what she meant by saying that.


    "In here, Void Creatures can avoid being suppressed and hurt by the Mother Stream, because it¡¯s just a projection, and also, those with space-time bodies can hunt each other¡¯s cores¡­" She looked at Garen mysteriously, "As long as you get the other person¡¯s core, you can obtain all of their memories."


    "I really want to know, what is it that allows you to stay so calm, allows you to look disconcerted no matter what happens¡­"


    Before she even finished speaking, all of a sudden, Nadia¡¯s body turned into a white shadow, dashing at Garen.


    Her large sword danced and spun, creating an extremely piercing wail, like a huge silver wheel three or four meters in diameter, sweeping towards Garen¡¯s neck like lightning.


    "Eight Directional Chain Slash!!" Nadia yelled, and eight sword flashes shot out from behind her again, the silver sword flashes surrounded the silver wheel, forming a giant silver flower that crashed towards Garen relentlessly.


    The eight huge sword flashes followed the turning of the wheel, slicing towards Garen at high speeds, as though intent on cutting him into pieces.


    Translator¡¯s Note:


    Not sure if it¡¯s a typo or another gender-fluid character¡­ Probably the former.

 660 Confrontation 2

    Chapter 660: Confrontation 2


    "First star!!" Garen howled as he released the Seven Star Life''s Secret Point. However, he was one step late, and Nadia''s powers were now much stronger compared to the last time they had met. Her speed had also exceeded his expectations, making it impossible for him to react in time at all.


    After the first star was released, the sword flashes and the silver wheel collided with each other at the moment when her physical qualities increased rapidly.


    Boom!!!


    Both of them crashed against each other and the sword flashes burst into pieces instantly, turning into countless silver fragments that sprayed everywhere before becoming a metallic windstorm, nailing numerous fragments into the walls messily while releasing ear-piercing screeches.


    Garen was violently sent flying as well. He crashed against the transparent wall where the silk screen was located with a ¡®bang''. He felt a burning sensation in his chest at once, while a dense and sticky stench wafted out of his throat.


    Although he could not feel pain in his dreams, Garen knew that he had suffered internal injuries this time.


    Such amazing speed¡­!


    Garen could not keep up with Nadia''s speed at all during these few moments. He placed both of his arms in front of his body hastily but was barely able to block her attacks.


    Both of his arms were badly mangled and limp to the point where it was impossible to see their original shape.


    "This is Absolute Speed." Nadia walked towards him again while dragging a large sword. "I use the Ominous Space Path to speed up this move, allowing it to alter time and space momentarily. You''re already destined to be hit when I use this move."


    She moved the long sword in her hand casually and immediately positioned the tip of her sword horizontally in front of her body while supporting the blade with one hand.


    "This secret technique stresses absolute speed. The faster your speed, the stronger its power. I received this knowledge from an ancient existence in one of the worlds. Your techniques are pitifully lacking because you engage in isolated research alone without expanding your horizons. Your rate of progression is far too slow¡­"


    Boom!!


    Before she could finish speaking, a silver sword blossom bloomed immediately. When he saw the knife blossom, Garen tried his best to release the second star but remained dizzy and blurry-eyed. His body met with a violent collision before he was sent flying horizontally.


    Silver light danced in front of his eyes, making it impossible for him to see Nadia''s figure clearly.


    This move, Absolute Speed, was impossible to counter. At its moment of release, Garen could already feel that he was going to be hit. Attacking and receiving the attack were both done simultaneously, leaving only a short space of time in between. For instance, when Nadia released her attack move, Garen would already be in the state of receiving the attack. Once Nadia finished this attack move, Garen would have been hit completely, making it impossible for him to evade it.


    Although he managed to crawl up without feeling any pain, his body seemed to be bleeding. The blood flowed on the ground and spread everywhere.


    After spitting bloodied phlegm out of his mouth, Garen stood upright. Although the second star''s frighteningly strong physical qualities allowed him to suffer less severe injuries this time, he still broke a few ribs.


    "Third sword." When he heard Nadia''s voice, a silver light lit up in front of his eyes immediately again.


    "Third star!! West Phoenix!!" Garen knew that bad things were in store. He howled maniacally and stretched both of his palms forward immediately while a phoenix''s ear-piercing cry could be heard behind him. Powerful forces rotated around a mysterious orbit, creating air currents that transformed into a pair of transparent wings.


    Both of Garen''s hands tore through the air before he pressed his palms together and pierced the area in front of him furiously.


    Terrifying powers flowed through his blackened muscles and moved towards his hands in wave-like layers. His muscles rippled and flowed towards his palms continuously as if his entire body was transferring something to both of his hands.


    Clang!!!


    A sharp metallic noise could be heard as though an unimaginably heavy large metal hammer had violently struck another impossible hard item. It released terrifying sound waves that sent tingles throughout everyone''s bodies.


    At the center where both of their bodies met, two hands and a large sword wheel had collided with each other suddenly. Time stopped for a moment before a frighteningly strong air current shook the surrounding area. It resembled a violent dynamite explosion that sent both of them flying wildly.


    Garen could already feel that he had been hit at the moment of his attack. However, he continued to go forward and deliver his attack. The West Phoenix Fist was a combat technique that he had created on his own to gather and synthesize things. Its abilities included gathering air currents in its surroundings, creating resonating sound attacks that could disturb the state of mind and form large force fields with countless air flows.


    "How foolish." Nadia''s voice echoed over again, but no one knew when her figure had appeared standing in front of Garen. The air currents and white mist dispersed before she pressed one of her hands against Garen''s right eye steadily.


    Tch!!


    Her fingertips stabbed inwards at once.


    Suddenly, Garen felt the feeling of permanent loss creep into his body.


    He wanted to hide but that technique stopped him again.. When Nadia attacked, he had already been hit, before a dangerous and threatening air shrouded around him instantly.


    His figure leaped ten meters away instantly, but once he stood still, his right eye exploded instantly.


    He could see the blood and fluids from his exploded eye dripping on the ground before him.


    However, Nadia''s figure was now standing in front of him again while her finger was extended towards his left eye this time.


    "Fourth star!!!" Garen had no time to think twice and released the fourth star immediately instead. At this moment, a shock wave that could be seen by the naked eye exploded from his body suddenly.


    His body had suddenly leaped upwards, reaching a terrifying height of almost three meters. His skin had turned completely black and was giving off a metallic sheen.


    "Die!!" Garen howled, completely ignoring Nadia''s finger that was pressing against his left eye. Both of his arms struck forward like a large black hammer that brought on terrifying strength and speed that were combined with each other at this moment.


    When Garen''s hand smashed against Nadia''s head, her finger was already poking at his eye socket in an attempt to stab through his head completely.


    Hnngh!


    Nadia groaned softly and retracted her finger before touching both of Garen''s fists firmly.


    When the distance between them grew closer, her powers would become greater. She was getting closer to renewing her strength and had no need to fight with Garen to the point where both sides suffered serious losses.


    She just needed to wait for the right moment.


    Bang!!! Hmm hmm hmm¡­


    Dull vibrating noises echoed throughout the church continuously while Garen stood on the spot and panted. He had violently smashed both of Nadia''s arms and broken them with the terrifying strength of his own arms and pierced through her chest brutally while his opponent looked on with a disbelieving gaze.


    Fresh white blood sputtered out from Nadia''s body. It splashed on the ground and mixed with Garen''s red blood that had been spilled earlier. Both of them mixed with each other mysteriously, proving that they came from the same bloodline.


    "This¡­ What type of strength is this?!" Nadia was in a state of utter disbelief. Initially, Garen had only possessed a few tons of strength, but once he released the fourth star, he was able to produce terrifying impact forces.


    He possessed at least a few hundred tons of frightening strength! Maybe even more!!


    "I underestimated¡­ Your Secret Methods," she said with much difficulty while blood dripped from the corners of her mouth.


    Garen tore downwards with the strength of both of his arms and tore her into countless pieces of bloody flesh instantly. Strangely enough, these fragments floated in mid-air before weakening and disappearing quickly.


    "I was careless¡­ You won''t have such good luck next time." Nadia''s voice echoed through the air.


    Garen knelt down on the floor with a ¡®bang''. The aftereffects of releasing the fourth star were finally felt and his entire body was spasming, making him feel as if he could not control his body at all anymore.


    Both parties had suffered serious injuries this time. It was impossible for Nadia not to pay the ultimate price, while Garen himself had suffered serious injuries and given up an eye in exchange. But for some unknown reason, Garen could feel unsuppressible excitement surging from the deepest part of his heart continuously.


    His life had been peaceful and boring all along. But from this moment, it had become vivid and colorful.


    He could see that his world was turning quickly, causing unimaginably strong feelings of happiness to flow out of his heart.


    "This feeling¡­" He looked at both of his hands. They were badly mangled and his palms were almost devoid of flesh, leaving only his bones. However, these terrifying wounds could not suppress the longing he felt for the next battle.


    Garen could not help but laugh quietly. These joyful feelings that bubbled up from the deepest part of his heart made it impossible for him to hold back his laughter.


    Boom!


    The sound of a loud crash rang out beside his ears.


    The room was filled with darkness and silence.


    Garen crossed his legs and sat in front of the coin. His right eye exploded into a cloud of bloody mist instantly while crunching noises could be heard from his arms and chest. His bones had fractured immediately as all the injuries that were inflicted on him in his dreams were restored throughout his body at once.


    Bang bang bang bang!!


    A string of continuous explosions could be heard. After every explosion, Garen''s entire body ached to the point where he trembled for a moment.


    ¡®Nadia came looking for you! Damn her!!'' yelled Black Sethe angrily. ¡®That wretched slut. She actually dared to launch a surprise attack on you! She ambushed her own junior who had yet to perfect even one Secret Technique!!''


    Heehee¡­ Heeheehee¡­


    The room was suddenly filled with the sound of bloodcurdling laughter.


    Garen lowered his head while fresh blood dripped out of his right eye socket slowly and drew a bloody red line down his cheek. However, the corners of his mouth remained curled upwards.


    ¡®What are you laughing about?!'' Black Sethe felt his entire body turn numb when he heard it.


    "Isn''t this really interesting?" said Garen in a low and raspy voice. "Life is finally not as boring anymore¡­"


    He stuck his tongue out and licked the blood at the corners of lips while a potential point was quickly added to his Vitality pane.


    Instantly, the wounds on Garen''s body began to heal at a pace that was noticeable by the naked eye. His broken bones connected themselves back together speedily while his severe internal injuries healed quickly and stopped bleeding as well. Meanwhile, new skin grew over the bruises on his arms in less than ten few seconds.


    Everything except his eye.


    Garen stretched his hand out and touched his right eye. Although that space was completely empty, waves of extreme pain assaulted his nerves. However, strong feelings of joy continued to wash over him in waves, purging the dull and bored emotions that had filled his mind.


    It was impossible for his eye to be restored¡­


    He understood this truth and knew that it was impossible for potential points to restore organs that had disappeared completely. They could only heal injuries, but could not regrow severed limbs.


    But that was unimportant. Compared to his boring life, injuries like this were merely new invitations which Garen did not mind at all.


    Black Sethe was unable to say anything else. He had seen Garen''s injuries, these terrifying injuries that were enough to let any normal person meet a violent death instantly, but Garen had apparently returned to normal instantly. Moreover, these feelings and this excitement towards killing and life or death combat¡­

 661 Soul Seed 1

    Chapter 661: Soul Seed 1


    An individual''s true perseverance could only be seen when their life teetered on the fine line between life and death. It was truly a terrifying sight.


    Garen had undoubtedly achieved this. He had faced his fears calmly and had even looked down upon them without the slightest care in the world as he''d already encountered too many life-or-death situations.


    Perhaps he wouldn''t have been able to restrain himself from trembling when he''d first encountered death in the Secret Technique world. However, his current self was no longer the weak and useless normal person he used to be in the past.


    Black Sethe was completely unable to understand Garen''s feverish excitement. He could never resurrect into a living being with a physical body again as he was merely a set of incomplete memories.


    ¡®You¡­'' He opened his mouth and attempted to say something, but was unable to speak in the end.


    Garen inspected the state of his body once over. Although his right eye could not be restored anymore, more than half of the other wounds on his body had healed.


    "Nadia¡­" he murmured quietly before reaching his hand up and brushing his empty right eye socket.


    This was the first time he had suffered such serious injuries ever since he''d accomplished his martial arts. Nadia was truly an ancient master, and the slight difference between their powers allowed her to injure him to this extent.


    However, this battle had allowed Garen to understand one of the desires in the deepest part of his heart.


    Fighting with strong opponents, fighting determinedly with every ounce of his willpower, raising the stakes between life and death, scaling to even higher peaks, enjoying fights, and pursuing battles. All of these were the natural instincts that he had been concealing within the deepest part of his heart all this time.


    Garen stretched out both of his hands and looked at the scars that marked his arms. The physical pain in his flesh continued to reverberate inside him, but the intense stimulation and joyful feelings had disappeared completely by now.


    The first time he saw the difference in power between Army Level masters clearly, according to Black Sethe''s descriptions, he understood that there were separated into five different levels in Ancient Endor which included Soldier, Team, General, Army, and the highest level of Demon King.


    This was determined by the Void Creatures'' levels. He was currently at the third level of the General level while Nadia belonged to the Army level, meaning that they were only one level apart.


    Within the Void Creature world, a difference of one level represented absolute suppression. Numbers were utterly meaningless as the suppression of the levels were fatal and ultimate, without any leeway for resistance.


    "Even if I did manage to almost restore my powers to their peak levels in the Totem world, there would still be a large gap between me and Nadia." Garen finally understood that although Form 6 levels of the Totem world seemed to possess extremely powerful strength ranges, these results were tied to the strength of the world itself in reality. The strength of the Totem world was far from the strength of this current world. Therefore, the Form 6 levels of the Totem world were merely equivalent to the strength of the General level.


    "How great is the actual difference between a single level?" Garen asked suddenly.


    Black Sethe became silent for a moment as he knew what Garen was about to ask.


    ¡®The difference between you and Nadia lies in your inability to integrate all of the strength in your body properly, making it impossible for you to unearth your full potential. In reality, you also have the same Nine-Headed Dragon''s Soul Will that produces Nine-Headed Dragon''s Blood naturally. However, unlike Nadia, you were unable to unearth the terrifying resurrection abilities and talents.''


    "Unearth all of my abilities and talents?" Garen asked again.


    ¡®Yes, your abilities are varied. Nine-Headed Dragon''s Will, the Living Secret Techniques that you practice, and the numerous martial arts that you learned in the past have not completely fused together in reality. You need to get rid of the weeds and keep the flowers. The Secret Techniques in your memories are one of those "weeds". You understand them thoroughly but are unable to fuse it with your own martial arts fully. Therefore, your only choice is to create a Secret Technique that you can fully call your own. Pay attention, since this is something that will be fully yours, deciding on a direction beforehand is the right way to find the path that is most suitable to yourself which will lead you on your way.'' Black Sethe was not lying to Garen this time but was answering his question honestly instead.


    Garen began to ponder.


    Indeed, it was true that he had been learning everything in an extremely varied manner all along. Meanwhile, he had always been drifting with the tide, without a true main thread. One of the reasons was because he was unable to find a path that would constantly allow him to go in the way of justice. However, another reason was that he had not persevered through from the beginning to the end.


    In the Secret Technique world, he had learned a lot of Secret Techniques and modified them many times. Although his power and strength had increased, they were actually not pure enough and were extremely varied instead.


    In the Totem world, he learned about various Totems and modified himself to the point where he seemed like neither man nor monster, and even fusing his soul with the ancient Nine-Headed Hydra''s (1) will. This made it even more varied, and he was only able to reach peak levels in the end because of a lucky coincidence.


    The things that Black Sethe had said were not wrong. Garen had not found a path that he could walk on continuously all along.


    "Do you have any suggestions?" Garen muttered to himself for a moment before finally asking his question.


    ¡®Ancient Endor has disappeared for many years. However, the Void Creatures have flourished vigorously once again. Perhaps this is predestined,'' Black Sethe sighed. ¡®Although my suggestions may be suitable for others, they may be unsuitable for you. Therefore, you should just fuse everything you have learned so that you can truly grasp your future in your own hands.'' This sentence sounded as though he was speaking from the heart, without concealing anything.


    ¡®Ancient Endor views the Demon King level as its peak, leaving us with three paths. Each path is sufficient to lead you there.''


    "Which three paths?" Garen''s mind stirred while he continued asking.


    ¡®Life, death, and chaos,'' said Black Sethe softly. ¡®Living Secret Techniques, Dying Secret Techniques, and the Chaotic Secret Techniques that can be found between life and death. These three paths hold everything, cover everything, are vast and boundless, and contain our knowledge and understanding of the universe and the world.''


    He continued, saying: ¡®If I''m not wrong, the unknown Living Secret Technique that you are altering now should be the Hellfrost Peacock''s Living Seed.''


    "Hellfrost Peacock?" This was the first time Garen had heard of such a creature.


    ¡®Yes, it is the 32nd strongest Void Creature that went extinct long ago. It is a legacy seed that was extracted and purified by the Warlocks from Mother Stream''s True Soul imprint in exchange for paying a heavy price. Your Secret Technique uses its seed as its core, allowing it to continuously develop and evolve while growing. Its final road is actually the final growing stages of the Hellfrost Peacock.''


    "In other words, this Living Secret Technique allows people to emulate powerful Void Creatures and evolve like them?" Garen seemed to detect certain hidden meanings.


    ¡®It can be said like that. The Warlocks'' observation and research allowed them to identify the existence of the strongest beings. While learning to emulate them, some of the extremely tyrannical Void Creatures also became their modeling subjects. This Secret Technique became the Living Secret Technique seed that the Warlocks released later, and is considered as the strongest path to walk on the road of life.''


    "Will it be able to reach peak levels?" Garen asked.


    ¡®It''s possible. The Hellfrost Peacock is strongest at the Demon King level. However, the probability of this is extremely low as there is only a very low probability that the Hellfrost Peacock itself will be able to achieve the Demon King level. It is impossible to compare a real Hellfrost Peacock with a human body that is practicing to be and modeling itself after a Void Creature. Therefore, the peak of this Secret Technique should be Army level,'' explained Black Sethe.


    ¡®Without vast knowledge and a deep understanding of the true terrors of the Demon King level, you will never be able to reach that realm. Each of the Void Creature''s grades is extremely strict, and leaping across them is frankly more difficult than touching the sky. Have you finally understood how precious my Slaughtering Demon Technique is?''


    Garen''s expression remained unchanged. Getting rid of the Slaughtering Demon Technique was something that he did not regret at all. Regretting past actions and being half-hearted were meaningless, a waste of time, and not part of his nature at all.


    ¡®That was actually a high-level Demonic Technique that was equivalent to the Demon King level! It''s hopeless to even think that you''ll be able to find a Secret Technique like that ever again!'' Black Sethe began to bewitchingly persuade Garen again.


    Garen shut himself off from Black Sethe''s nonsense immediately. He focused his attention on his own state instead.


    He glanced across his Attribute Pane where the name of the unknown Secret Technique was now changed to the Hellfrost Peacock Technique. Meanwhile, while his knowledge regarding high-level Secret Techniques increased, he was gradually able to estimate the limits of Living Secret Techniques. Hence, the contents of his abilities in his Attribute Pane had gradually increased as well.


    ¡®Hellfrost Peacock Technique: Level one beginner (There are five foundation levels, three evolved levels, and eight levels in total). Once the exercises of each level have been accomplished, the bloodline will be purified to allow one to gradually draw close to the Hellfrost Peacock''s physical qualities before finally achieving the highest state, which refers to its limit, the Army level.''


    Although the other information was still unknown, this was still much better than before.


    He glanced at his potential points and noticed that there were only ten points left. He had used two or three points to heal his body but did not pay attention to the exact number, as the injuries that he''d sustained this time were too serious. Not just the injuries from fighting Nadia, but the terrifying consumption from forcefully releasing the fourth star was a fatal consumption as well. If he didn''t have potential points to make up for it, he would''ve had to give up ten years of his lifespan in exchange.


    He stood up and walked to the doorway of his room before opening the lock gently and pulling the door open.


    On the other side of the door, a maid ran over hurriedly. Her face was confused at first, but when she saw the horrible condition of Garen''s mangled right eye¡­


    Ahh!!


    Alarmed cries and terrified screams rang out continuously. The other maids in the villa stared at Garen with petrified expressions. They had gathered over from his surroundings. Some of them came from downstairs while others rushed over from the backyard. A large crowd had gathered around Garen instantly.


    Garen furrowed his brow and watched as a few of his subordinates parted the sea of people and walked over. He retrieved the Black Copper Mask that he had placed on the bookshelf earlier and wore it on his face at once.


    He raised his right hand slowly and spread all five of his fingers outwards.


    "Fantasy Fist, forget¡­!"


    After a low rumble, mysteriously alluring and gentle noises could be heard from Garen''s right palm suddenly. These noises sounded like both the rippling of a harp and the tremors of a violin that released the seductive melodies of sea sirens.


    Within the entire villa, all of the maids and subordinates were attracted by this music. Soon, their attention was unconsciously diverted towards Garen''s right hand.


    The entire second floor of the villa turned deathly quiet at once. Nobody made a sound and all of their faces remained dazed while they stared at Garen''s right hand, unable to move their sight.


    When he closed his palm gently, the music stopped suddenly. Garen put his hand down and touched the mask on his face.


    Clap clap.


    He clapped both of his hands, making crisp noises. Suddenly, all of the dazed people on this floor woke up instantly.


    The crowd was obviously somewhat confused and unsure of what to do. Some of them were completely unaware of the reason why they had arrived at the second floor suddenly. They hesitated for a moment before two maids stepped forward.


    "Master, do you have any requests?" asked one of them softly.


    Everyone noticed the traces of blood that were sputtered on Garen''s body and the Black Copper Mask on his face. However, no one could remember why he was wearing a mask. Their memories of Garen''s blinded right eye had disappeared from their minds completely as if they had never seen it.


    Translator''s note:


    (1) ¾ÅÍ·Áú here refers back to the Nine-Headed Hydra, because Garen is reminiscing about the Nine-Headed Hydra in the previous Totem world, and not referring to the current Nine-Headed Dragon.

 662 Soul Seed 2

    Chapter 662: Soul Seed 2


    This was the power of the Fantasy Fist. By using air currents and sound wave vibrations, he was able to slightly adjust another person''s brain nerves to wipe out memories from a certain time period completely. The Fantasy Fist was known as the most mysterious and terrifying fist technique because of this key aspect. Although it did not possess extremely powerful abilities, these frightening effects were enough to scare the majority of normal people.


    Although Garen did not specialize in this fist technique, his superior understanding of martial arts allowed him to use the first technique that involved forgetting without any problems.


    "Nothing. All of you can go downstairs now," answered Garen casually.


    "Yes," answered the maids and subordinates immediately before leaving.


    Once all of them had left, Garen returned to the study and got someone to serve him a cup of green tea before he sat on the leather chair alone.


    The mask on his face was the second Black Copper Mask that he''d just received. It was an exact copy of the first mask. Its main characteristic was the clusters of eyes that covered the forehead area. If it wasn''t for its ability to constantly absorb potential Qi, it would be very difficult for Garen to differentiate between the first and second mask.


    His eye had coincidentally been wounded and now he could wear the mask to conceal his injuries while also speeding up the process of absorbing potential Qi.


    He sat in front of his desk and entered a password into the heavy lockbox below.


    After a short clicking noise, the box opened.


    Garen retrieved a black hardcover notebook from the box and placed it on the table before opening it gently.


    The white paper of the first page was filled with his own handwriting.


    ¡®Two-Faced Waterbird Fist, divided into Negative Fist Technique and Positive Fist Technique.


    First level ¡ª¡ª Jade. It is reminiscent of white jade, undeniably smooth¡­''


    The words there were clearly written in simple American English, but when it was arranged in a sentence, it gave off a faintly exquisite and seductive sensation. These handwritten words seemed like an incomparably gorgeous white jade beauty that was able to attract anyone''s attention at first glance with her half exposed pale breasts and flirty poses.


    It possessed extremely seductive abilities that made others feel as if their blood vessels were about to surge impatiently.


    Garen picked up a pen and continued writing in the notebook.


    He had recorded most of the Two-Faced Waterbird Fist''s information in this notebook. While recording this, he organized all of the profound mysteries that he had learned about the Waterbird Fist once more. Unconsciously, he could feel that his martial arts were slowly but surely improving.


    While he was writing everything down, strange icy blue auras with traces of Soul Seed Qi dispersed around him slowly. This mysterious and icy Qi filled the entire study. Earlier, when his subordinates were about to enter to report new information, they unconsciously felt chills running through their bodies when they reached the doorway, causing them to stop in their tracks as they were too afraid to even knock on the door.


    While Garen continued to write slowly, the Two-Faced Waterbird Fist itself was soon pruned fully, allowing it become an extremely pure Demonic Technique. Moreover, Garen was organizing and adjusting his own martial arts while he wrote, causing his aura to release itself and overflow unconsciously before gradually entering this notebook.


    Since more than half of the Waterbird Fist''s records were already written, Garen continued to write about Shooting Shadow Secret Techniques. However, he would stop writing occasionally when he discovered certain inconsistencies regarding the Shooting Shadow Secret Techniques. He would put his pen down and ponder slowly.


    He used this notebook to record and compile information and referred to it as the Book of Demonic Secret Techniques or the Demonic Book for short.


    Garen had originated from the orthodox Secret Technique path. He was exceptionally well-versed in the right path of Secret Techniques but did not have much contact with Demonic Secret Techniques. This method of writing everything down allowed him to gain a deeper understanding of his Demonic Secret Techniques. Strangely enough, when he was writing the Demonic Book, his own aura would integrate into it slowly, causing this Demonic Book to be somewhat out of the ordinary.


    Garen was looking forward to the changes that would occur in his martial arts once he''d finished writing this Demonic Book.


    Black Sethe had once said that this organization method would deepen his understanding of martial arts. Since he was an individual who possessed a Soul Seed, once the organization process was completely finished and the effects of the Secret Techniques on the soul were dispelled, the purification of his own martial arts would occur.


    Purifying his martial arts would allow his Secret Techniques to reach a new level. Perhaps this Demonic Book could help him form a second Soul Seed as well.


    Garen had these vague feelings.


    He was unsure of how to practice the Demonic Secret Techniques. It seemed as though it could not help improve him at all and could only strengthen the power and killing abilities. However, whenever he practiced Living Secret Techniques and upgraded his level, he noticed that his physical qualities would improve while certain specialized abilities and qualities would sometimes be given to the practitioner as well.


    Regarding the Hellfrost Peacock Technique''s abilities, he was looking forward to them as well. However, the first beginner''s level would not upgrade his abilities at all. Instead, it would simply change the nature of his aura from the characteristics of the black Slaughtering Demon Technique to the icy blue frost-type aura.


    Therefore, he was looking forward to level two and above even more.


    Under the bright yellow desk lamp, Black Sethe slowly and silently condensed himself into a human-shaped black mist figure behind Garen. He looked on quietly while Garen wrote of the profound mysteries of Secret Techniques inside the Demonic Book while complicated expressions flashed in his blood red eyes faintly.


    Through the knowledge and understanding that Garen had learned, he was able to see the complexity of his findings. Although the starting point was not too high, this relentless willpower and valiant bravery in the face of death caused Black Sethe to unconsciously think of his own body.


    He could see that the Demonic Book was gradually being infected and polluted by his soul''s impurities. These impurities were the poisonous substances that were expelled from Garen''s soul. They seeped into the Demonic Book using methods that could not be seen by the naked eye and gradually transformed this normal notebook.


    Meanwhile, the Qi of Garen''s soul was slowly changing as well because it was constantly being purified. The image of the Demonic Book was unknowingly being condensed by his subconsciousness, forming a Demonic Book that was filled with the depths of his will and soul. That Demonic Book continued perfecting itself while he organized everything in reality.


    ¡®Once he has perfected this Demonic Book completely, perhaps the day will come when his second Soul Seed is formed.'' Black Sethe had already made these assumptions internally.


    Once three Soul Seeds had become his fuel and backing force, there would be a possibility for him to strengthen and push his Secret Techniques to the next level. This was the greatest use of the Soul Seed. Perhaps there would come a day where he would truly be able to push himself to the Demon King level.


    Furthermore, it could also increase the limits of one''s physical qualities, modify characteristics, and even create Living Secret Technique Seeds¡­ There were numerous functions.


    The Soul Seeds encompassed rules and knowledge, possessed an awareness of the universe, and also had its own True Soul imprints.


    It was similar to the Hellfrost Peacock Seed that was formed by condensing some of the Hellfrost Peacock''s Soul Seeds. It contained the Hellfrost Peacock''s awareness, understanding, and knowledge of itself.


    Garen had heard Black Sethe''s explanation on the uses of the Soul Seed before this. He wrote them down in the Demonic Book while thinking about the relationship between potential points and Secret Techniques.


    For most Secret Technique Levels, accumulated potential points were able to speed up the process, decreasing the time required to practice it painstakingly. Since most Secret Techniques did not require complicated sentiments or difficult conditions, they were naturally able to upgrade themselves with potential points.


    Meanwhile, it was difficult to use potential points to forcefully upgrade other high-level Secret Techniques like Living Secret Techniques. Potential points could only be used to shorten the time needed to practice uncomplicated Secret Techniques that did not have checkpoints. However, high-level Secret Techniques usually involved various hardships and dangers. Extremely powerful Halos with terrifying potential strength involved incomparable difficulties and required a lot of awareness and accumulated experiences and knowledge before it could evolve one step at a time.


    This was probably the reason why it was difficult to use potential points to strengthen and upgrade Living Secret Techniques.


    "In other words, potential points can only provide accumulated quantities, but qualitative changes depend on oneself." Garen made the conclusion before suddenly remembering the problem he had with his Soul Seed. That uncertainty became more obvious after he had fought with Nadia.


    "Right, Black Sethe," Garen closed the Demonic Book gently before speaking. "If three Soul Seeds can strengthen a General level Secret Technique and upgrade it by one level, why was Nadia still unable to achieve the Demon King level after so many years?"


    Black Sethe remained quiet for a moment before speaking slowly.


    ¡®It''s rare to find those who belong to the Demon King level now.''


    "Why?" Garen was shocked.


    ¡®The fury of Mother Stream destroyed everything who belonged to the Demon King level, regardless whether they were our own people or others. There were many things, not just Secret Techniques that were able to achieve that level. We had once tread across that summit,'' Black Sethe replied. ¡®During the ancient Warlock era, countless Warlocks were endowed with outstanding natural talents. They practiced various high-level Secret Techniques that were equivalent to the Demon King level. However, how many of them were able to reach the peak in the end?''


    He paused before continuing. ¡®It''s similar to your awareness that you''ll be able to succeed in anything as long as you fight determinedly, practice everything diligently, and add a pinch of inspiration and perseverance. But knowing it is one thing. Everyone already knows that as long as you persevere without giving up, you will succeed in the end even if you fail many times. However, there are only so many people who can actually endure numerous failures and persevere through such extents.''


    Garen was speechless because Black Sethe''s words were right.


    The greatest drawback in life was giving up.


    Even if an individual was able to face something without giving up, he would still encounter countless failures. However, even the unluckiest person would taste success one day. This was the principle behind ¡®practice makes perfect'' and ¡®failure is the mother of success''.


    He suddenly remembered the ancient Chinese teaching methods of Earth.


    Those teachings had seemed outdated at that time because they focused on making students persevere in repeatedly reading and memorizing works of famous writers.


    However, it now seemed extremely reasonable as it was suitable for everyone. It was a teaching method that could be used for anyone regardless whether they were naturally talented, slow-witted or bright.


    Memorizing something many times would allow a person to be more familiar with a certain subject, allowing them to remember their punctuation marks as well. Therefore, the surface meaning of this literary work could be understood easily.


    Meanwhile, the work of a renowned writer would contain layers of deeper meanings. The minds of most people would be unable to detect the profound meanings and philosophy behind it.


    However, once someone was undeniably familiar with the text and continued to recite it by memory, this would certainly become mentally easy. Once the surface meaning of the text was recited and understood many times, the mental strength and attention used for reciting would be freed up. They would unconsciously focus on the concealed paths and cracks within the famous work instead. As one continued to unearth more information from the cracks, they would finally be able to find the deeper meanings and philosophies there.


    This kind of wealth and knowledge that was gained from painstaking perseverance was truly the most precious thing to men. Things that could be obtained easily were not considered to be precious at all. The human subconscious was aware that anything that could be easily obtained could simply be found again in times of need. Furthermore, it knew that if it persevered slightly harder, it would be able to gain even more, leaving no need for such valuable things.

 663 Surprise Attack 1

    Chapter 663: Surprise Attack 1


    Garen''s thoughts flowed through his mind quickly for a few moments while he pondered about several things.


    Undoubtedly, he was currently at a level where he was already very familiar with his Secret Techniques and himself. However, after his countless practices to familiarize himself with this, and the numerous inspections of his own body, he had discovered secrets that were hidden deeper within.


    ¡®Our world is merely a tiny part of the dark, endless, and infinite universe. A human being''s electromagnetic spectrum can only detect less than one percent of light spectrums, while the other ninety-nine percent of this is mere darkness. Meanwhile, these are merely the results of supposed scientific and technological probing. In reality, the light waves in the universe are more extensive. Occasionally, we are completely unable to use wavelengths and frequencies to differentiate spectrums,'' said Black Sethe softly.


    "I understand these things that you are saying," said Garen quietly. "The universe that we can see is less than one percent of the true universe. This is only the light that we are able to see. Out of the parts of the universe that can be seen because of this light, we would gradually be able to unearth the true enigmas of the universe if we were able to see the remaining dark areas of the universe, is that true?"


    ¡®The Warlocks have already done a part of it. They were able to come into contact with a broader world through the Dream World. Furthermore, they were also able to contact stronger civilizations through their Secret Techniques. Once they had seen the world outside the spectrum, that magnificent and unimaginable world was something that you would not be able to comprehend at all. Various life forms and different types of marvelous laws. The universe is so mysterious but you and I are so insignificant. Even the entire Warlock civilization was but a tiny wave in the universe, and perhaps not even that. Even the Mother Stream which we regard as vast and infinite is merely a belief that we hold because of our inexperience and narrow-mindedness.''


    Garen was temporarily mesmerized by Black Sethe''s descriptions of these characteristics.


    ¡®The Underworld is what we regard as the deepest and most mystical part of our universe and is collectively known as the eternal depths. We can only see a tiny part of the universe while the rest is merely endless darkness that forms the depths of eternal mystery. We pursue the different lights that we see. Some of those lights bear knowledge while others bear the weight of history. We firmly believe that there is only one ray of light that we are able to see in this universe. That light has recorded all of the mysteries and history of the universe. Its wavelengths are unimaginable while its frequencies use units of millions of years. It views the effects of stronger gravitational forces and rules as merely light rain.'' The tone of Black Sethe''s voice made him sound like an extremely devout follower who was describing his one and only firm believe.


    ¡®That, is the Eternal Light.''


    Garen held his breath and remained silent for a moment.


    Eternal Light was a piece of information that he had been completely unable to find in his books. Although Ancient Endorian civilizations worshipped the Underworld, the thing that they were actually pursuing was the Eternal Light that recorded all knowledge.


    ¡®Legend has it that as long as you can adjust the frequency of your soul to a weird degree, you will be able to absorb a certain extent of the Eternal Light''s effects and gain some of its mysterious knowledge,'' Black Sethe lamented. ¡®It''s unfortunate that no one has been able to accomplish this successfully before. We have never been able to prove the existence of the Eternal Light the same way we have yet to prove the existence of the eternal Underworld.''


    Garen listened quietly. He had never heard these things that Black Sethe was saying before as they were the cores essences of the beliefs of the Ancient Endorian civilizations.


    ¡®Whatever, what''s the use of saying this now?'' Black Sethe was somewhat down-hearted. "Organize all of this properly. This Demonic Book may end up affecting your martial arts greatly.''


    His voice drifted off into silence. It seemed as though this conversation had caused his yearning for the once prosperous civilization to reemerge.


    Garen sat at his desk for a long time, waiting for his emotions to calm down before knocking the table slowly.


    "Come in."


    His subordinate who had been waiting outside the door for a long time pushed it open slowly before walking into the room.


    He was a young man with golden hair who was fully clad in black clothes. A silver colored ¡®7'' was embroidered on the collar of his clothes.


    "Reports that were just delivered from the hidden room." The man placed the informational documents that he was holding on Garen''s table.


    Garen picked up the information and scanned through it before his brow wrinkled slightly at once.


    Information about most of the forces that participated in carrying out surprise attacks on the Nighthawks was written there.


    The largest Primary Color group was apparently listed there. The Primary Color''s White Phoenix whose person in charge was Gremlin, an arrogant man who was currently 56 years old, had an irritable personality and was haughty and rude towards others. Garen could not understand why he was leader of White Phoenix at all.


    The Viper mercenaries were next. They were one of the top ten mercenary groups in Europe which possessed an abundance of strength. Their expertise lay in silent hunting tactics that allowed them to complete various tasks in extremely quiet conditions. The name of their commander was unknown as everyone merely referred to him as King Snake.


    The Bailey Group came after that. Their boss was called Kabb while the person in charge was Medis. His behavior was kind and gentle, and it was rumored that he only joined their operations because he was forced to participate by the Primary Colors.


    White Phoenix, Viper, and the Bailey Group were the three key participants who were involved in this incident. However, there were more than ten other smaller mercenary groups and assassin teams with lower rankings as well.


    The group that caused the greatest losses within the Nighthawks were White Phoenix and Viper. White Phoenix''s strongest subordinates, the Ohio Silk mercenary group was the second mercenary group in Europe that possessed extremely powerful fighting abilities. They had robbed Jay of the various antiques and relics that Garen had found, and were even able to suppress him to the point where he was unable to escape. He was currently still at the Black Uniform''s headquarters.


    "White Phoenix''s Ohio Silk?" Garen put the papers down. The Black Uniforms and the Nighthawks were his left and right-hand men. Meanwhile, when White Phoenix initially faced the dilemma of their destroyed headquarters, they were supposed to change their person in charge first. Instead, their previous leader remained, and they had yet to make a move until now. Currently, they had suddenly sent their strongest elite mercenary group out, meaning that they definitely had new plans by now.


    The Primary Colors were like giants, humongous giants. Consenting to these actions meant that they were really planning to make their moves against the Nighthawks.


    Garen tidied his train of thought. He knew that this fight would be inevitable. He lifted the landline telephone gently and dialed a number.


    *********************


    Jay''s body was wrapped in a black trench coat. He wore a hat and sunglasses and covered more than half of his face with a mask, making it completely impossible to see his face clearly.


    He strolled along the streets of Bailey, blending with the crowds as if he was merely an office worker who was completely unnoticeable.


    He circled around a street performer who was playing the accordion. He raised his head and glanced at the gloomy white clouds in the sky before his phone rang suddenly.


    He took his handphone out and glanced at the number before walking to the corner of an unassuming public bus stand and taking the call there.


    "Boss."


    "How''s your situation?" Garen''s voice echoed from the phone.


    "The Ohio Silk members are still pursuing me, but I managed to get rid of two of them. I need backup." Jay did not dare to let his guard down when he replied. His pupils would occasionally scan from left to right. He lowered his voice to a volume that was just enough for the other person to hear.


    "Listen, Ohio Silk members are subordinates of White Phoenix. In reality, this organization was formed when White Phoenix selected its own elite members. Their characteristics are their extremely powerful and technologically advanced equipment," Garen mentioned. "The latest weapons that the Primary Colors and White Phoenix created will likely be on them. Since you''ve been unable to escape their tracks for such a long time, it''s better for you to check if there''s anything wrong with your body."


    He paused for a moment. "I will send some people as backup. However, Ohio Silk has adjusted our surface connections. Therefore, it is very likely that the people I send over will be monitored at once. At most, they will only be able to lighten a part of your burdens."


    "This will be enough. I will head to Berlin as soon as possible." Jay had gotten used to living on the edge of life and death. His expression remained unchanged. As long as Boss did not forsake him, everything else would not be an obstacle.


    "Take care of your safety," reminded Garen finally.


    The phone call was cut off before Jay quickly deleted his call log. After that, he selected the function to forcefully erase the RAM. Storage tools would always be able to restore data to a certain extent. As long as one possessed adequate skills, a large amount of data could still be restored from hard disks that had been reformatted twice. In order to prevent Boss''s number from getting leaked, his handphone was custom made and could hide his storage more than ten times in a short space of time to ensure that it was completely secret.


    After keeping his phone, Jay stuck both of his hands into pockets and left the bus stand quickly.


    Soon after, two unassuming men in plain clothes within the crowd began to tail him from different angles and speeds.


    There was a spacious office in a silver skyscraper further away.


    Two young men sat in front of a strange-looking computer. Both of them were donning sophisticated black earphones while they stared at the computer screen with a fixed gaze.


    The shape of the computer resembled a shell that had split into two separate halves. There was a large display screen on the front while two men stood in front of two other glass screens that were nearly transparent. Various monitor screens flashed on the translucent screens endlessly.


    These screens had been separated into small palm-sized areas that were neatly arranged on the screen as if they had been captured by someone from a high angle.


    "The other party has either used obstructive clothing or something to cut off the signal. Make the electronic mosquitoes fly a little closer," said a man''s voice from behind the two others.


    "Boss, you''re here." Both of them turned their heads and stood up simultaneously.


    "Make sure to follow close behind so that you don''t lose him." The other man waved his hand uninterestedly. "How long will the odor-tracking last?"


    "About thirty-five minutes."


    The man who had arrived earlier nodded.


    "Get Lotus Pearl to move out. She just came back from her break but it''s time for her to make a move already."


    This man had a pale face, hooked beak-like nose, sinister gaze, a slightly raised lower jaw, and a height of almost 190 centimeters. There was an arrogant expression on his face whenever he spoke or looked at people.


    He was Gremlin, White Phoenix''s new person in charge. He was extremely dissatisfied with his predecessor and carried himself with a heavy air of influence from his moment of arrival.


    "The Nighthawks all have a set of specialized ways to activate their own potentials. Pay attention and see if you can capture them alive. According to the information from our research and development section, these methods of activating potential could very likely form new impacts on our current technology. It may be able to produce new results as well," Gremlin mentioned.


    "Understood," both of the people who were monitoring the situation nodded after receiving his commands.


    Their fingers clicked on the keyboard constantly while countless wireless signals were continuously released.


    The mercenaries in the outside world who were hidden amongst the crowds of normal people raised their wrists and looked at their watches at once. New sets of finely written characters and symbols flashed on their black watches occasionally.


    Anticipation began to stir in Gremlin''s heart as he watched his subordinates adjust the forces that were encircling Jay.


    Ever since the Nighthawks had made a name for themselves, the source of their powerful strengths caused people in the outside world to harbor suspicions and investigate them. Recently, a high-level Black Uniform member that was seeking shelter revealed a shocking secret.


    This was the key factor that influenced the superiors of the Primary Colors to strongly support the White Phoenix''s counter-attacks against the Nighthawks.


    When he thought of the discovery that gave normal people the chance to become extraordinarily powerful, hatred began to bubble up Gremlin''s heart.


    "We must obtain the Secret Method of absorbing the energy from antiques and relics! Since the Nighthawks are so powerful, it''s very likely that a Secret Method like this already exists! To think that they could achieve such power in the span of a few short years¡­"


    When he thought of this, his heart began to burn with rage.

 664 Surprise Attack 2

    Chapter 664: Surprise Attack 2


    Elvin, England.


    Kabb sat upright in the electronic conference room in his own estate with a kind but serious expression on his face. On his right was golden-haired Medis. This handsome man was dressed in a suit and leather shoes with an apologetic look on his face.


    There were no subordinates around them, making them the only two people who were seated inside the entire conference room.


    Sunlight cascaded inside through the windows on the left and scattered golden spots on the ground.


    A large display screen was currently projected on the wall on the opposite side of them. The face of a fierce bald man was displayed there.


    "Mr. Kabb, the movement that your group participated in caused my wife Hera to fall into a dangerous situation. Whether or not the actions of the Vipers have your support, their attitude has already decided that there is nothing left to be said between us," The bald man Kaedun''s deep voice echoed from the screen. He spoke extremely fluent English but the tone of his voice was filled with great dissatisfaction and slight anger.


    "Of course, if your people had not sent the surgical specialists in time, perhaps my people would have suffered even greater injuries. I still keep all of this in my heart."


    "Commander Kaedun." An apologetic yet impatient expression appeared on Kabb''s face. "We have indeed been participating in the Primary Color''s activities, but this does not mean that we wish to be enemies with your group. In reality, when I heard this news, I didn''t dare to believe it myself because I knew that we would be drawn into this war. Although we are the underground organization of a managing department, our true nature and duty still lie with being honest businessmen."


    "What do you mean?" Bald Kaedun did not want to bother himself with this nonsense and chose to dive into the main topic instead.


    "I accidentally deepened the conflict between both parties and caused this secret meeting to occur." The impatience on Kabb''s face became more apparent. "The information we received stated White Phoenix had sent special-class mercenaries to hunt Mr. Jay down. Therefore, I hope that you''ll be able to make prior preparations."


    "Special-class mercenaries?" It was obvious that Baldy had retracted his gaze. This was the nickname of the circle of mercenaries that belonged to the highest level within White Phoenix. Every single special-class mercenary was extremely mysterious and strong. Their task completion rate always remained at ninety percent and above. People even spread rumors that these special-class mercenaries were the true core of White Phoenix and it was very likely that they were the result of Primary Color members who were involved with technological modifications.


    Before he met Boss Garen, he was always worried that his abilities were lacking because he could not understand how these special-class mercenaries were able to be so powerful. However, it was different now. When he thought about it now, those special-class mercenaries were probably just experts who belonged to levels that were similar to his own.


    They already possessed certain specialized abilities and talents that were coupled with the latest and most technologically advanced equipment.


    The special-class mercenaries were the strongest group of people in this world. As humans, they already possessed various terrifying talents that were matched with advanced technology, allowing their single-person combat skills to easily reach frightening levels.


    Baldy''s heart tensed slightly before he calmed down immediately.


    "This piece of information was very timely and I can feel your sincerity, Mr. Kabb."


    "Actually, I have a request," said Kabb softly.


    "Please go ahead." After receiving this news and intelligence, bald Kaedun did not have any doubts towards Kabb''s sincerity anymore.


    "I was hoping that I could meet His Excellency the Nighthawk King. I don''t know if this request¡­ Of course, I''m not asking for a personal meeting, just a long-distance one," said Kabb with an honest look on his face.


    "This would require me to ask for instructions before I can give you a reply," said bald Kaedun while nodding. "If Boss agrees, I will send you an invitation link."


    "I sincerely thank you for this," said Kabb quickly.


    "The Bailey Group has shown their sincerity. As friends, it is natural for us to show our sincerity as well," nodded bald Kaedun. "Could you tell me more detailed information about the special-class mercenaries?"


    "This¡­" Kabb looked at Medis who stood beside him before the latter smiled and stood up.


    "The special-class mercenary that White Phoenix decided to send this time is ¡®Lotus Pearl''. I''m only aware of this alias, but I don''t know if it''s a real name or a nickname. We are uncertain about other things. Please forgive us."


    "Lotus Pearl, huh?" A look of realization flashed across Baldy''s eyes. As a former member of White Phoenix, it was only natural that he would recognize the name ¡®Lotus Pearl''.


    That insane woman or a believer of an evil cult, in other words.


    She was a believer in an evil cult that was known as Jagerly and followed in their almost fanatical footsteps.


    She liked using an ax to murder people and would never leave a single trace behind whenever she completed her tasks. She was arrested by the police in Europe once but the court trial concluded that she was not guilty and released her because there was no proof that she had actually killed anyone despite the fact that almost everyone knew that she was the murderer.


    Kabb was so familiar with her because this woman''s friend was the previous instructor of his batch of students who had taught them how to avoid leaving any kind of traces.


    But none of these were key aspects. Instead, it was important to note that every single special-class mercenary possessed their own ultimate techniques, abilities, or talents. Lotus Pearl''s ability was her extremely terrifying intuition.


    Her intuition allowed her to notice that something was amiss during the moment when a gun was aimed precisely at her. Furthermore, she also possessed extremely frightening skills during close combat. These skills were tied to her intuition, and as long as a pointed object was precisely aimed at her, goosebumps of various intensities would appear all over her body, allowing her to react instantly.


    Some people felt that her special skill was overly sensitive. Although regular people would feel a strange sensation on the tips of their noses when they aimed sharp objects there directly, she would amplify these instincts and spread them throughout her entire body.


    Lotus Pearl was also one of the ten most well-known special-class mercenaries in White Phoenix.


    "I never thought that it would be her¡­" When Baldy thought about engaging in close combat with an expert that was stronger than his own previous instructor, fearful feelings flashed in his mind but were overshadowed by excitement.


    Fear and excitement soon blended with each other, making it almost impossible for him to differentiate between them.


    He had once thought of the special-class mercenaries as opponents that he could never defeat. However, he was about to encounter one of them in the flesh now.


    Once the call was disconnected, Kabb immediately dialed Garen''s phone number.


    "Are you certain that you can do this?" These were the first words that came out of Garen''s mouth after he heard the entire situation.


    "No," answered Baldy honestly. "Lotus Pearl is extremely powerful. My current self is unworthy to be her opponent. Meanwhile in long-range combat¡­ It will be completely impossible for us to even find her."


    "This is your own war," Garen pondered for a moment then spoke slowly. "Martial arts requires you to be bold and powerful as you forge ahead vigorously. You cannot have any forms of hesitation or shadows in your heart. What do you choose?"


    This was the first time Baldy had experienced Garen''s brand new tone. He had never experienced this tone of voice used for teaching and guidance in the past before.


    This was a change in attitude.


    "I will work hard!" Baldy calmed his heart and spoke in a low voice. He knew that if he was unable to face this trouble, there was a possibility that Garen would substitute another person to take his position of Vice Commander because Nighthawks could not be fearful.


    Clap.


    The voice receiver of the telephone was put down.


    Garen crossed all ten of his fingers and turned his head to look out of the window. The leaves on the maple trees had begun to turn red. Some of them fell when the wind gusted and drifted downwards slowly. All of the leaves on the maple tree seemed like the feathers of flying birds that floated slowly before flying away.


    "Autumn has arrived again¡­" He stood up and walked to stand in front of the window before opening it slowly.


    There were black shadows that were faintly flashing in the surroundings outside the villa. These black shadows rushed towards the villa speedily and quietly from various blind angles as if they were insects in the shadows.


    Garen glanced at the maid who was watering the plants downstairs and closed his eye suddenly. His face that was left with only one eye was currently covered by a mask, making it impossible to see his expression.


    "The target has appeared."


    A faint noise echoed from his earpiece.


    Within the black shadows, a petite woman stopped in her tracks suddenly while sticking close to one of the blind angles near the wall of the villa. She slowly released a Black Uniform guard whose neck had been twisted brutally.


    "Pay attention and stay alert. The other person is the First Nighthawk King of Africa," said the woman quietly. "Has the equipment in the various areas been installed properly?"


    "Everything has been set up properly." "We''re just waiting for you."


    Different voices could be heard from the earpiece. If she listened closely, she could even hear that some of the voices were nearer while others were softer. This meant that different people were concealed in positions of various distances.


    A stern look flashed in the woman''s blue eyes.


    "Well then, the Hawk Hunting Plan begins now!" She commanded immediately.


    Instantly, all of the black shadows that were hidden in the ambush spots raised their various firearms and devices respectively. Some of them bent their bodies and charged towards the villa hurriedly.


    The guards they encountered on the way collapsed without a fight. It was uncertain whether they were dead or alive.


    Two sniper rifles were precisely aimed at Garen who was standing in front of the window at once.


    The dynamiters pressed down on the buttons on the explosives in their hands simultaneously.


    "Let me give the Nighthawk King a lesson that he will never forget for the rest of his life¡­ Hehe," laughed the male deputy softly. He used one eye to look at the man in front of the window through his sniper''s precise optical sight.


    His finger pulled the trigger slightly.


    Pfoo¡­ A few maple leaves blew past slowly while a blob of red rolled past the sight.


    Once the maple leaf had flown past, the silhouette in the sight had disappeared completely.


    The deputy was slightly shocked.


    "Gone!!! He''s gone!" "Pay attention to your surroundings! Stay hidden, stay hidden!!"


    "Get ready to blow up the dynamite at any time!!" "Dahm!"


    Different voices echoed from the earpiece.


    The deputy was stunned but suddenly felt a threat ambushing him from behind.


    Boom!


    He rolled towards his left immediately. He had no time to even look for his sniper rifle, and he used his other hand to remove the small dagger in his shoe while stumbling backward.


    A gentle laugh could be heard from behind him. It sounded like a male voice.


    "Members of White Phoenix?" The voice was unusually calm.


    The deputy turned around after rolling about and happened to see a man in a black mask who was standing behind him. This man was holding his rifle in his hand and rotating it about to examine it. Meanwhile, his own little dagger had fallen on the floor after he dropped it. Was the distance that he estimated from the sound of the previous noise completely wrong?


    Bang bang bang¡­!


    A string of gunshots pelted the mud and lawn beside the man''s feet and caused streaks of black mud and bits of grass to splatter. Strangely enough, none of the gunshots had actually landed in the area where he was standing, and all of the bullets had automatically formed a circle around his feet.


    This abnormal phenomenon sent chills down the deputy''s spine.


    All of his group members were absolutely God-like snipers that had been handpicked. However, none of them were able to hit the target. The only explanation for this was that this man had a strange air about him that influenced their judgment.


    It was similar to the incident that had happened earlier. Although he had clearly seen that there was a person there, the man was able to end up behind him instantly instead!


    "Don''t act rashly," said the deputy quietly. "About five powerful explosives have been placed below our feet. My group members can press the button to activate these explosives at any time depending on how things stand."


    Garen furrowed his eyebrows and looked at the man who stood in front of him. This man did not seem concerned about his own safety. Instead, he could vaguely feel that something seemed to be lingering around him. It seemed like a vibration or wave motion. At times, he would be unable to feel anything, making him wonder if this was merely an illusion.


    These wave motions made his head feel slightly uneasy.


    Bang!!


    A powerful sniper bullet flew towards him suddenly. It passed through the maple trees and the air currents, spinning quickly in the air before finally hitting the deputy''s chest.


    Boom!!


    His entire body instantly exploded into two pieces. The upper half of the body fell and collapsed on the floor in a bloody mess while the body half exploded and was sent flying towards a distance of more than a few meters away. There was a look of disbelief on his face.


    Garen put the sniper rifle down and walked towards the other places slowly.


    "We''ve gotten rid of him! I injured him!" "The Nighthawk King is not even a big deal!" "We must be careful not to be careless during the final battle!"


    Different voices echoed through their earpieces, but the woman who led the group was the only one who could vaguely sense that something was amiss.

 665 Intensification 1

    Chapter 665: Intensification 1


    Boom!! Bang!!


    A series of explosions burst around Garen but none of it accurately hit his position.


    The ground was destroyed beyond recognition and the bullets left rows and rows of bullet holes on the wall. The smokes and flames lit up more than half of the villa and most of the villa was engulfed in a sea of flames.


    Yet strangely, the red flames did not cause any disturbance to the surroundings. The surroundings were quiet and the residents of the suburban did not have any sort of reaction.


    Garen walked into the barrage of bullets. From time to time, there were balls of fire exploding in the places he''d walked through.


    "I blew him up! Hahaha!!"


    "I hit his right arm, avoid him, he went towards Jack''s directions!"


    "Ready for melee! Support cover!"


    One by one, men dressed in black came out of their hiding places and charged towards the empty air near Garen. As though performing for some sort of martial arts film, they punched and kicked and sometimes took out knives and guns to shoot a few times.


    Garen slowly walked beside them and poked their shoulders.


    Peng!


    The upper body of one person burst open and blood scattered around.


    This was the power of Fantasy Fist.


    Garen sighed. Facing these elites who had never encountered this kind of fist techniques, Fantasy Fist easily deceived their perception and allowed them to see a completely different vision.


    In this illusion, these so-called White Phoenix elites were as fragile as babies.


    Peng peng peng!!


    With the sound of gunshots, the dark figures were shooting at each other and very soon the frequency of the sounds was getting lower and eventually, there were no more sounds.


    Garen walked towards the back of the villa along the wall and stopped suddenly.


    Hong!


    The right wall with the thickness of half-a-meter was pierced through by his hand and it seized the neck of a White Phoenix man on the other side.


    With a kacha sound, this man''s struggling hands and feet immediately went limp.


    Throwing away the corpse, Garen walked through this hole that was made by him and smashed the wall once more to enlarge the hole.


    He was totally a monster right now. His combat power was terrifying and with the potential points, any kind of injuries could be healed. He had speed as fast as lightning, godly fist techniques and his body had a 7 points defense which a common knife might not even scratch.


    A random punch could muster a few tons of impact. If he went all out, coupled with his speed, he could create several hundred tons of impact and could even go as high as a thousand tons. If he added Seven Star Life''s Secret Point¡­.


    With immense strength and a strong outburst, that was how Nadia''s projection in the distance had been destroyed. With an average of seven points in his physical fitness, after opening the fourth star, he reached the limit of the body which was the genetic limit in this life. An average of thirty points was the limit of the body and it was unable to get any higher.


    The limit of power and speed coupled with a strong physique, Nadia''s projection was easily destroyed by Garen.


    At this point, the numbers in strength no longer had any meaning. For Garen, the measurement of strength in tons had no value, it was simply just numbers.


    The hundreds of tons of power that Nadia''s projection had, that was her projection''s limit but it was nowhere near Garen''s limit when he had opened his fourth star. She failed because she was unable to measure the momentary change in Garen''s power but Garen knew that even as the distance between him and Nadia shrunk, she still had her Eighty One Life Talent. Furthermore, due to the limit in his soul, he could only reach the genetic limit of thirty points and could not proceed.


    The Seven Star Life''s Secret Point was a secret method that could enhance the physical fitness for a short amount of time and cause an outburst in the form of body''s potential, but this secret method could not forcibly exceed the limit of what the body and soul could endure.


    The limit for an average person was just two or three points but Garen was different and his limit was ten times the average person. With the help of the Soul Seed, his body and soul''s limit were thirty points but not even he could surpass this limit.


    Going into the hole, Garen''s mind was full of thoughts while he searched for remnants of the White Phoenix attackers.


    Suddenly, a black knife flew from his right side, brushing the edge of Garen''s mask and stabbed soundlessly into the wall on his left side, like piercing into tofu.


    Holding the black knife was a petite girl in a black bodysuit. Her shoulders were covered with two metal plates and around her waist was a black metallic belt.


    Seeing that her attack had failed, the girl did a series of dodging actions and rolled away from Garen before she realized that Garen was still standing there, unmoving.


    The girl armed with the black knife did a half-squat and looked unusually nervous. She was covered in cold sweat. After seeing her teammates died a bizarre death one by one, she finally realized that what she saw might not necessarily be true.


    In her vision before, she saw her teammates hiding at the original ambush point but when she went over to greet them, they were motionless and unresponsive.


    In the villa, except for the sound of the flames burning, everything else was silent.


    Her vision was showing her that the one standing in front of her was not someone else but the deputy that was fighting the enemy at the very beginning, the affable young man that everyone was very familiar with.


    Her body trembled involuntarily.


    She gritted her teeth and hid in a darker corner. A teammate was also lying in the ambush point beside her, aiming a gun at the enemy.


    "Jack!" She patted her teammate on the shoulder lightly.


    The teammate did not respond. His gun''s muzzle was still aimed at the same point with the same posture as though he was a sculpture.


    The girl suppressed the chill in her heart, knowing that this was another ¡®dead man''.


    She came here with more than ten teammates but now she had encountered a lot of ¡®dead people''. They were all unresponsive. They were all very active in the beginning but now they were all completely silent.


    As long as it was the place that deputy walked past, all of her active teammates would become totally silent.


    "Illusion¡­it was all an illusion!" As though she had understood something, she quickly took out a monocle like a nervous cheetah, from her waist.


    The light blue lens on the monocle flashed and showed her some data and then went back to normal.


    A horrifying sight suddenly appeared.


    What she saw on the lens was completely different from what she saw with her other eye!


    She was not hiding at the ambush point right now. She was squatting beside the corpse of one of her teammates, her body was stained with blood and in front of her¡­


    In front of her was not the deputy she knew, it was that man. That man called King of the Night Hawk!!


    "What a poor little kitty¡­" The man looked at her with a compassionate expression.


    At the same time, she heard the voice of the deputy overlapping with that man''s voice.


    The girl''s expression fell.


    She looked around with her monocle and found the body of another teammate at the staircase.


    The lens showed the body being licked by flame. There was the burning smell of flesh.


    And in her other eye''s sight, she saw her teammate smiling and waving at her, looking as though he was calling for her to come over.


    A chill shuddered through her, from her heart to her scalp. The girl fell on her bottom.


    This was something that she had encountered for the first time. Just which was an illusion and which was real¡­


    "Real sleep is pathetic¡­" Garen raised his hands and clapped lightly.


    Pa!


    Fantasy Fist''s horrifying effect dissipated.


    He did not expect that with the support from his Soul Seed, Fantasy Fist would become so potent that the elites from White Phoenix would fall into the illusion at the first moment they saw him.


    No, it was not simply an illusion.


    Garen narrowed his eyes and stared at the petite girl in the black bodysuit. He had lifted the fist technique but there was still no light in her eyes.


    He saw something unusual in her eyes.


    Dang!


    The girl''s black knife fell to the ground and made a clear sound.


    "No!!!" She screamed as though she was looking at something terrifying.


    ¡®Watch out on the right!'' Black Sethe''s suddenly came.


    Garen dodged to the side and made a punch to his right side.


    Boom!! Dang!!


    He did know how he got to the wall''s side. This punch of his hit right on the knife that had penetrated the wall.


    However, Garen''s body was so strong that the knife broke.


    He retracted his fist, feeling something strange spreading in his heart.


    "This is not my fist technique¡­"


    ¡®It''s an Invisible Creature!'' Black Sethe warned, ¡®Careful¡­Void Creatures are just one of the many categories of Invisible Creatures and Invisible Creatures are just what we collectively called the creatures of the unknown world.''


    ¡®Just now, you were moved here and the back of your fist was directed towards the knife. If you were a normal human, you would be finished!''


    Garen narrowed his eyes and raised his right fist. He saw a little white spot on his fist. It was a mark left behind when he hit the knife with his strength.


    He turned his head and saw that girl had fainted on the ground.


    ¡®That girl''s body seemed to have some problems. Her mind seems to have been damaged by your Fantasy Fist and it activated some kind of sense. You''d better study her for a bit.'' Black Sethe said.


    Boom!


    A burning pillar fell on his head.


    Garen smashed it to bits with a punch. The embers scattered around but he was totally unhurt.


    "Hmph!" Garen snorted. He walked to the girl''s side and lifted her with one hand. His body flashed as he rushed out through the hole and disappeared from the villa.


    *****************


    In a countryside town in Europe.


    "Give me two catties of bananas, wrap them up for me."


    On a street alley, a young man stood in front of a fruit stall buying bananas. He wore a mask and his body was coated in dust, looking like a traveler that had crossed a long distance to get here.


    The lady seller gave him two catties of bananas wrapped in a black plastic bag.


    At the moment she passed over the plastic bag, the lady seller appeared to have noticed some red spots inside the collar of the man''s shirt. She seemed to have sniffed out an odor of rust and some other fishy smells mixed together.


    She could not guess what smell it was at that moment.


    "Thanks." The man said. On such a hot day, he was wrapped tightly in a dirty grey windbreaker that seemed to have never been washed.


    Taking the bananas and handing over the money, he looked to his left and right and walked into another alley.


    Taking the bananas from the bag, he peeled one of them and ate it while walking.


    Turning around a corner and passing by a garbage bin.


    Silently, an iron ax was raised behind him.


    Pa!

 666 Intensification 2

    Chapter 666: Intensification 2


    The ax struck fiercely into the wall.


    The man rolled forward to avoid the attack. Looking back, he did not see anyone.


    "Damn! If it wasn''t for the Shooting Shadow Secret Method!!" The man was furious, but he knew that even if he was at his peak condition, he would not have much chance of winning if he fought head-on with the enemy.


    Mysterious and elusive, that was the enemy''s modus operandi.


    No matter what he did these few days, he would be attacked. His food had poison, there was a bomb under his bed and a shootout using guns with silencers at midnight. There was also backstabbing without warning.


    A series of sneak attacks anywhere and anytime. No matter where he hid, the enemy would always be able to find him. There was once when he went into a toilet, a poisonous emerald green spider fell out of the toilet paper. Once bitten by this spider, if the victim was not injected with the serum within fifteen minutes, he would be beyond help. In this sort of place, not to mention the serum for this emerald green spider, a serum for a normal spider bite would not exist. Even if he was sent to the hospital, he could only wait for his death.


    When Jay came all the way here, it was totally a torture. This kind of tension was what he was scared of. He could not find the enemy and could only receive attacks one-sidedly. Keeping up his vigilance anytime and anywhere for several days, he was totally overworked and his mind was on the brink of collapse.


    "White Phoenix¡­" Jay said viciously. This horrifying killer was obviously sent by the White Phoenix, so this grudge was on White Phoenix.


    He quickly took out a banana and inspected it carefully. After no abnormalities could be found, he began to peel it.


    Boom!!!


    An explosion occurred.


    A crimson ball of fire swallowed up Jay.


    His upper body was burned into cinders and was then blown backward by the impact of the explosion on a garbage bin. There was no longer any life in him.


    *******************


    "What!! Jay died!!" Bald head roared. He clenched his phone tightly as though he was going to break the phone.


    The veins on his hands and face popped out and his complexion turned green.


    Jay died¡­..


    This was going to be a big deal¡­.


    Putting down the phone, Bald Head did not know what his feelings were like. There was a deep anger and coldness gushing out from the bottom of his heart.


    It was not just him alone in the office. There were the higher ups of the Nighthawks, his wife Hera, the computer genius Angel, explosives expert Ryan¡­ These people were those who joined the Nighthawks at the beginning and they all heard Bald Head''s roar.


    The expression on everyone''s face fell, Jay died¡­ The Black Uniforms were the ones providing their Boss with the ancient relics but they''d all been annihilated. Jay died and he''d been the boss of the Black Uniforms. This meant that the whole Black Uniform Organization had been wiped out.


    This did not concern only the relics¡­


    Jay was the right-hand man of the Boss. His status was equal to Bald Head''s and he held great authority and a lot of connections. But now, he had died¡­..


    "Lotus Pearl." Bald Head began, but he found that there was some tremble in his voice. "White Phoenix''s Lotus Pearl."


    "Where are the people we''re supposed to receive?" Hera asked on the side.


    "No reply, it''s either we have been jammed or¡­" Angel said in a low voice.


    Previously, they were holding an attitude of training their soldiers in handling this crisis. Now, following Jay''s death and the annihilation of the Black Uniform Organization, every single person here knew what sort of storm was coming.


    The fury of the Nighthawk King, how terrifying it would be.


    "Just received news, an explosion had occurred at Boss'' villa¡­. The White Phoenix''s Falcon squad was annihilated," Angel said while turning the laptop in front of her around for everyone to see.


    "Looks like this will be an all-out war." Bald Head said while lowering his head. Taking a cigarette and holding in his mouth, he did not light the cigarette.


    No one answered him. There was a depressed and solemn atmosphere around them. Facing White Phoenix, this horrifying and extreme monster, no one could afford to relax. Night Hawk''s invincible legend was completely broken by White Phoenix just now.


    ******************


    Night time.


    The bonfire crackled, releasing a yellowish red glow while illuminating the surrounding areas of the forest.


    Garen and the girl in black sat under a gigantic arched root and treated it as a shelter. Around the root, the surface of the rocks and stones were covered with green moss. Small clusters of dark green thorny plants were everywhere, and inside them were full of fluttering small grey insects.


    Garen sat quietly by the bonfire while fiddling it with a thick wooden stick.


    "One of my subordinates died." He said.


    "Must be Lotus Pearl." The petite girl hugged her knees while resting her head on top. "Gremlin must have sent her out, that dreadful woman."


    "You have been abandoned." Garen continued saying.


    "I know." The girl said. There was no sign of agitation, she seemed to have expected it. "Your excellent subordinate died, are you not sad in the slightest?"


    "Death may not necessarily be the end, it may be a new beginning." Garen said while smiling, "Of course, in return, aren''t you with me? White Phoenix''s new headquarter is not that easy to find. I''m counting on you to show me the way."


    "I won''t show you the way!" The girl said expressionlessly.


    "Never mind, I don''t need you to agree," Garen said and gave her a gentle smile. The Black Uniform Organization had been completely destroyed, although there was a great loss of power previously. However, Jay had also died, and this went beyond the boundary of what Garen could tolerate. He originally thought that with the Shooting Shadow Secret Skill, normal people would not be able to pose a threat to Jay and the others. It seemed like he was wrong.


    The girl felt a chill. These few days, her life had been abnormal. She sometimes had her memories and sometimes she didn''t. She was unclear about what she''d done and said. A lot of times, she was not clear-headed and when she woke up, she would find herself in a completely unfamiliar place.


    Everything was just like a dream. She felt that she was going to fall apart soon.


    These few days, they could swagger right under other people''s noses and yet be ignored completely. It was just like they were invisible whether they took a plane or a car.


    Directly from America to Mexico where they were right now.


    She did not know where in Mexico this place was. She only knew that when they passed by a small village, she heard people speaking Spanish in loud voices. There seemed to be no dialects mixing in their language and more like what the Indigenous people used. From what those who spoke Spanish said, this seemed to be a place in Mexico called Sidney. She did not know whether it was the name of the city or the region.


    She looked at the masked man sitting in front of her. That eerie black mask made him feel mysterious yet dangerous.


    If there was a chance¡­she hoped in her heart. Her brother was a Mexican drug lord, as long as there was a chance, she may be able to contact her brother¡­


    "Your name is Simone right?" Garen suddenly asked.


    "How did you know?" The petite girl said, alarmed.


    "This time among the Primary Colors, White Phoenix finally acted. They wouldn''t have just sent over little fellas like you to die right?" Garen suddenly laughed under his mask.


    The girl showed a sarcastic expression.


    "We already know your true identity. Someone must be on the way to Grano."


    "Oh?" Garen said. "They''re pretty quick."


    "You''re not even worried for a bit?" Simone realized and said. She had tried to escape these few days but was caught easily like he was catching little chicks, no matter what method she used. This man was always in a relaxed mood as though nothing could affect him.


    She did not know why but she wanted to see a panicked and desperate look on him.


    "From the moment I did not disguise myself, I already knew this was going to happen," Garen said as though there was no effect on his emotion.


    "You have long prepared for this?" Simone stared at his only eye, trying to find a change in his expression from under the mask.


    "Do you know what kind of people we''ve sent?" She said. "The Primary Colors'' most elite Golden Balance Organization. Each of them has strength close to special-class mercenary. They are one of the most powerful killer organizations in the world." She stared at his eye while trying to exert pressure on him with a slow tone.


    What she got in exchange was just a chuckle.


    ****************


    Grano.


    Raffaele slowly walked out of the woods while looking at the panicked group of elite killers that seemed as though they''d met a strong enemy.


    The leader was wearing a white power suit that seemed as though it contained technology from the future, despite looking like ancient armor.


    "The world is in my hands¡­"Raffaele whispered while opening her clasped hands.


    Her long blond hair was dancing in the breeze as though golden threads were drifting through the sky. A dazzling light shone from her palms.


    Weng¡­


    The ground seemed to be shaking, the air seemed to be shaking and the whole forest also seemed to be shaking. An indescribable heat had gathered in her hands.


    Chi!


    Numerous golden lines spiraled out from her hands and shot towards the surroundings, looking like DNA double helixes.


    Peng peng peng!!!


    Continuous explosions occurred where the golden strands landed, dyeing the woods with blood. The killers were helpless. They''d been pursued for several days and forced into a group. They were exhausted and had reached their limits.


    "Ah ah ah!! You monster!!" The leading killer screamed. He could not bear it anymore and charged with bloodshot eyes at Raffaele. However, he was surrounded by the golden strands and exploded with a bang, becoming a large cloud of bloody mist.


    Raffaele raised her head, her eyes glowing.


    Boom!!!


    At the same time, all the killers exploded like bombs into blood mist and were absorbed by the surrounding trees and golden strands. Except for some clothes and pieces of torn cloth, there was nothing left in the place.


    A breeze blew over and Raffaele disappeared from the spot.

 667 Annihilation 1

    Chapter 667: Annihilation 1


    Mexico, St. Jeddah


    "Ha ha ha ha¡­ Mr. Rod is indeed a man true to his words, the previous agreement has already been completed. No wonder the allies in the Alliance are convinced about Mister. It''s not without reason."


    In an underground cave beneath a dense forest that served as a modest white base, two groups of people dressed in suits were in a meeting. The leaders from both sides shook hands with each other. One of them had a head full of red hair and a strong body and was laughing loudly. His laughter reverberated throughout the underground hall.


    "Captain White Phoenix is too polite. Naturally, we couldn''t delay a request from the person-in-charge of Gremlin, so we urgently directed a batch of goods from South America and supplied it here," the person in the deep purple suit spoke. His face was full of smiles and he had a friendly look, as though he was an ordinary businessman.


    After exchanging greetings with each other, the two leaders went to a separate room, sat down and ordered coffee. Several glamorous women came in and gave both sides gentle massages.


    The small white room was covered with silvery-white metal walls. There were also bright green oval gems embedded in them. The gems seemed to be decorations but the dim green light that flashed from time to time proved that they were not mere decorations. There seemed to be special effects.


    The redhead from White Phoenix laid on the white couch, allowing the women on the side to massage his body.


    "This time, besides the shipment, Mr. Rod should have something else to discuss? Although the personnel in this new base of White Phoenix are not much, all the elites have been transferred over. So, just say anything you want."


    "So generous?" Rod smiled and said. He let a woman take off his coat, revealing the white shirt below.


    "You''ve brought us the latest Arefal materials. Without this, our armor would be just a useless piece of iron. Who would have imagined that¡­"


    Boom.


    Suddenly, a slight tremble came from the ground.


    The red-haired captain''s complexion became serious but he quickly reverted back to his original smiling face.


    "Let me go and have a look, excuse me."


    "Please go ahead." Rod made a gesture indicating that he was not offended.


    The redhead walked to the door and turned around, revealing a smile.


    "You can treat it as though I did not exist. Don''t worry, I will not ruin the mood."


    Rod mirrored his smile and indicated that he did not see anything.


    Boom!!


    Another loud roar.


    The door closed automatically and the White Phoenix captain''s expression immediately fell.


    He raised his wrist. A black-haired young woman was displayed on the surface of his black bracelet.


    "What happened?"


    The woman answered quickly.


    "An outsider had found the entrance. I''m mobilizing the surveillance¡­" the woman reported, but when she saw the monitor her calm facade was immediately broken.


    She blinked. Suspecting that something was wrong with what she had seen, she checked the monitor once again.


    "I¡­ I see someone hitting the gate of the base¡­ let me take a closer look¡­ oh my goodness¡­"


    The woman''s expression suddenly became fascinated. She opened her eyes wide as though she could not believe what she''d seen. With her mouth wide open, her face froze at this moment.


    "What happened?" the captain of the White Phoenix asked impatiently. He was the highest officer in charge of guarding the base and leading the core guards with the codename of White Phoenix. His position was only below Gremlin. In the absence of Gremlin, he was in charge of the whole base.


    He took off the monocle over his right eye. The monocle quickly displayed rows of passwords and the passwords were soon lifted.


    The surveillance footage was immediately displayed in front of him.


    At that moment, his expression too became fascinated. His mouth opened slightly and became wider.


    ******************


    Boom!!


    Garen punched a hole in a thick silvery white wall. He inserted his other hand and tore open the hole.


    Sila!!


    He tore down a big chunk of the metallic wall. Along with the shrill alarm sound and red lights flashing, the wall emitted a piercing sound of metals being twisted, and then it was ripped off like a piece of cardboard.


    Garen wore a simple black sleeveless shirt and trousers while revealing his slightly sun-tanned muscles. His muscles moved around like waves throughout his body and collected in his arms, before with some force.


    Boom!!


    Another punch revealed what was underneath the layer of wall, which was a deep hole going straight downwards. It seemed to be an underground elevator shaft.


    Garen took a look at the surveillance camera positioned in a corner.


    He could hear voices and sound of footsteps at a distance. There were also sounds of guns being adjusted.


    He jumped down into this shaft with a depth that even he did not even know.


    His goal was the central control room or the core control room.


    There would be a core control room in any base and as long as it was under control, everything else would also be under his control.


    After falling down for more than ten seconds, he could see a faint white glow at the bottom.


    Both of Garen''s feet landed with a loud bang and created a crater that was a few meters wide. Some of the tiny metallic parts fell out, rattling.


    This base was different from the normal base. It seemed unusually small but the protection was very thick.


    Garen walked out from the crater. There was a square elevator exit at his side but it was blocked by a metal door. He tore it open and went in.


    Inside was a spacious warehouse-like hall. He seemed to have landed at the very bottom.


    The hall was dark except for the flashes of red light from the alarm. A mechanical female voice was repeating an announcement in a language unfamiliar to Garen, hence he did not understand what it was reporting.


    In the central space of the hall, there were five human figures standing on the black floor. The five figures were wearing bodysuit-like white metallic armor. Their heights were different but they all had a common point; they were all donning thin white armor and it seemed like even the place where they breathed through was covered without the slightest gap.


    The leader in front stared at Garen''s horrifying sun-tanned muscles, then the metallic door that had been ripped off and thrown aside. His eyelids were twitching non-stop. He was the captain of the White Phoenix, the highest officer in charge of guarding the base and leading the core guards with the codename of White Phoenix. After watching the display, he''d immediately dressed up in armor and had come to intercept to let all of the ordinary guards get away from this person.


    The kind of monster that could even punch open metallic walls, ordinary guards were no match for him.


    "Mister, this is the White Phoenix Base under the Primary Colors Organization, did you pick a wrong target? We don''t remember offending you in any way."


    Before coming here, in that short amount time, he had checked for enemies with similar features but the answer he got was none. Though this man was wearing a black mask, the characteristics of his stature and size could at least be compared.


    "This is the strongest get-up that White Phoenix could assemble?" Garen looked at these five people. This white full-body armor seemed to be quite strong.


    Suddenly, he took a step back. A laser swept through the place he stood just now and made a black line on the floor.


    Garen''s toes moved. A stone flew up and crashed directly into the laser launcher, smashing it to pieces. After a slight sound of electricity, there was no more movement.


    "Remember, the one who killed you all is the Nighthawk King!" Garen stopped speaking nonsense and with a stomp, he blasted forward like a cannonball and crashed into the armored captain at the front.


    His right fist could not even be seen. There was only a flash and it had already smashed into the chest of its target.


    Chi chi chi¡­


    In an instant, one laser after another shot out from the five people. Their speed was so fast that the instant they were fired, the lasers have already reached the fist that Garen punched out. Green smoke was emitted.


    The foot of the armored captain made a kaka sound and propelled him backwards. His speed was only slightly slower than Garen but it was enough to dodge Garen''s punch.


    "Kill him!"


    The captain shouted.


    With some mechanical sounds, the other four armored members shot out more than ten black, fingernail-sized metal pieces that sped towards Garen from hidden locations all around.


    Boom!!


    One arm pierced through the captain''s chest, completely ignoring the armor''s defense as though it was a thin sheet of paper. The armor caved inwards, and the broken shards pierced the captain''s abdomen and tore at his red flesh.


    Just now, Garen had made a sudden acceleration at one moment and with an explosion, his arm, under the influence of its inertia, had pierced through the captain chest.


    He slammed the captain against the wall of the base.


    Only at this moment did the numerous black metal shards fly over and pierce his back.


    Boom boom boom boom!!!


    A series of explosions sounded.


    These little black metal pieces were actually miniature bombs. A series of explosions occurred on Garen''s back.


    There was smoke all over the place. The other four quickly and silently stepped back without any hesitation. They appeared to be ready to escape. Their captain''s current status was unknown but none of them were truly loyal to the White Phoenix. Everyone here was a mercenary, and none of them would throw away their lives for money.


    "He fell down here. As long as we switch off the power, he won''t be able to go up and we''ll have lots of methods to deal with him! Retreat!"


    "What about the captain?" a member who could not contact the captain asked.


    "We won''t make it! If we don''t retreat now, it will be too late!"


    "Go!"


    These few were all ruthless mercenaries. As long as they''d made a decision, they would not hesitate. They made an agreement with their communication devices instantly.


    Before the four of them finished their communication while retreating, suddenly four pieces of black metals flew over with a snap sound.


    There was only a flash in front of their eyes and the metal fragments instantly arrived in front of them with an astounding speed.


    Then, peng peng peng peng! After a few dull impact sounds, the four of them were sent flying and crashed into the wall. Incredibly, none of their bodies had been separated into halves. They seemed to be merely unconscious.

 668 Annihilation 2

    Chapter 668: Annihilation 2


    "Eh?" Garen did not expect that this armor could have such a high defense. This defensive strength already belonged to the highest level. He had not held back when he''d thrown the fragments just now. Although he hadn''t used acceleration to increase their impact, the strength of the fragments alone was enough to create a tremendous impact. The weight of several tons crashed into them, which was equivalent to a heavy truck crashing into them at full speed. They could even get out of that alive with nothing but concussions.


    He walked towards them and grabbed one of the armored members.


    "Let me try again."


    He grabbed the person''s neck with one of his hands and grabbed onto his waist with his other hand and pulled.


    Peng!


    It sounded like steel tendons were being torn apart.


    Garen was even more amazed now.


    Suddenly, he felt some slight movement from the armored person in front of him. This person had not fainted and had just been pretending. A fine blue needle popped out from his wrist guard and shot towards Garen''s abdomen.


    The needle had been smeared with black poison and it stabbed into Garen''s skin. It only penetrated Garen''s skin slightly and left a white spot before it fell to the ground.


    The pair of eyes inside the armor now held a trace of despair.


    "Hey," Garen gave a low snarl and put strength into his hands.


    Hiss!


    The whole armor was torn into two pieces and thrown aside.


    Blood splattered on to the ground. The others seemed to have truly fainted. They did not have the slightest reaction.


    His strategy was raiding the base at breakneck speed so that they would have no time to react. True enough, they could only hastily assemble their elite unit which was defeated.


    Garen stamped on each of their heads and crushed them like he was stepping on watermelons. The strongest elite squad in White Phoenix''s entire organization was wiped out just like that.


    He looked around and saw that with the flashing of the alarm, the doors of the elevator leading upstairs were closing. It was already half-closed. His toes moved and a piece of debris flew out. It was accurately stuck between the elevator''s doors so that it could not close completely.


    Only then, Garen slowly walked over, pried the elevator''s doors open and entered it.


    When he''d just walked in, the top corner of the elevator sprayed out a white mist with a hissing sound.


    "Poison gas?" Garen took a sniff and no longer cared about it. He had seven points of vitality after all. In the face of poison like this, he would only treat it as though it was a diluted pepper spray. Other than the fact that it was slightly suffocating, it has no other effects.


    Pressing the buttons on the elevator, there was no reaction. It seemed the elevator had been locked down.


    "Interesting," Garen smirked and looked upwards.


    ******************


    "Hurry up!! Lock down all the elevators below the third basement immediately! Activate all of the automatic weapons!" in the main control room, a woman issued one order after another nervously.


    Behind her were more than ten personnel sitting in rows. Some were monitoring the computers, some were adjusting equipment and some were very tense, with their hands and legs shaking and despaired expressions on their faces.


    The woman calmed herself down and quickly issued a few more orders.


    "Mr. Rod, soon there will be people escorting you safely out of the base. Please rest assured, we are absolutely confident that we are able to guarantee your safety."


    The woman turned back and spoke towards a man wearing a white armor.


    "I believe in the captain''s arrangement but what is his current status?" Rod frowned and asked. His current organization was on the same level as the Primary Colors'' White Phoenix. He was naturally clear on the strength of the White Phoenix. Their power was something that could not be easily overturned.


    "Rest assured, Captain''s condition is still well except that he''s in a stalemate." the woman replied while hiding the truth from Rod. Although she tried her best to appear calm, this time, she really had no idea what kind of enemy the White Phoenix had encountered. The enemy was just a single person and he''d charged in here crashing everywhere, claiming to be the Nighthawk King. He completely disregarded any kind of attack whether it was guns, bombs, lasers and high-speed cutting knives. Everything was useless against him!


    That horrifying figure was now moving upwards using the stairs. As for the captain¡­ White Phoenix Captain''s current status was unknown and they could not contact him. The rest of the people were seen clearly using the surveillance camera, and they''d been killed easily.


    "Damn it! It just had to be at this time when all the higher-ups are absent!" the woman thought viciously. If only the Lotus Pearl and Gremlin were here! This guy would not be so arrogant!


    Rod did not ask anymore. It was just that he was feeling uneasy. Even the White Phoenix was acting as though they were facing a formidable enemy. He did not know what sort of enemy they had provoked, but it seemed that not even the White Phoenix captain could suppress him. He''d personally met that small elite team. It was a team composed of the most elite mercenaries wearing special armor. Neither bullets nor lasers were effective on it and it was equipped with hidden killing machinery. It was definitely the most potent killing machine.


    Crash!!


    Suddenly, there was a sound of broken glass. Rod had only half worn the armor before he saw that amidst countless screams, a large hole had opened up within the floor of the main control room. A hand had directly smashed the tempered glass on the floor and was grasping at the edge of the hole.


    "Open fire! Open fire!!" The woman screamed in a distorted voice but she herself had retreated backward. With the escort of several guards, they retreated to the emergency elevator. Without even seeing the results, they had planned to escape.


    Rod''s heart thumped. He immediately ran in the opposite direction of where the woman had fled, which was the ordinary staircase.


    More than ten subordinates followed behind him.


    "Do not stand with the people from White Phoenix! We use the stairs!" Rod immediate made a decision and shouted. He quickly sprinted to the stairs and ran upwards. He felt his heart beating profusely while cold sweat oozed from his skin and was blown dry by the cool wind.


    Each of his men showed a terrified expression but they were still able to keep themselves in check.


    "He did not come for us. As long as we do not provoke him, nothing will happen to us!" One of his subordinates quickly said.


    "We need to show our identity and let that person know that we''re not with the White Phoenix!" someone quickly said.


    "How do we show?"


    "Let''s get out of here first!"


    His subordinates quickly gave out their opinions.


    Rod tried to calm himself down. He''d experienced such situations multiple times and he knew that he could only bet on his luck now, as the identity and allegiance of the other party were unknown. Now he could only hope that the woman from White Phoenix could hold on. It would perfect if she died only after they''d escaped from the base.


    How could he not know that the White Phoenix elite team were mostly dead now? He no longer held any hope for them.


    As time went on, their running speed and the rhythms of their breathing were getting faster, but everyone here had been specially trained so this sort of run was nothing to them.


    At this moment, the wall on the left side in front of them was smashed open and a figure lightly jumped out.


    Rod stopped and looked up the stairs, aghast. He saw a man with sun-tanned muscles shaking his head and moving his shoulders.


    "Wait! We''re not White Phoenix''s people!!" He quickly shouted, using the international lingua franca from America.


    Hu¡­


    A gust of wind stopped in front of Rod''s forehead. There was a piece of black metal that seemed to be part of a machine. One side of it was sharp and the other side blunt.


    The fragments stopped firmly in front of the middle of his forehead, almost touching his skin.


    Only then, Rod saw that with a flash, the man that was standing up there had appeared in front of him. He was holding firmly onto the fragments so that it did not pierce him.


    Rod was covered in cold sweat. A moment could decide whether he would live or die. Just a little more and he would''ve been sacrificed, he knew that he wouldn''t be able to forget this experience for his whole life.


    "We''re not White Phoenix''s people!" He stared at this man''s mask and repeated firmly while barely suppressing the fear in his heart. "We just came here to deliver something. Our group is Rexott Group, specializing in firearms and all kinds of precious metals. Maybe we can cooperate with each other!"


    He quickly put out the advantages of his group. Rexott Group was one of the top groups in the world. Naturally, a lot of people have heard of them. Maybe the other party might give them some face.


    All the subordinates behind looked as though they''d met a formidable enemy. Their faces were pale and none of them dared to move. The hole that had been smashed open in the hall just now had left them with the horrifying impression of a non-human.


    "Rexott Group?" The other party''s voice sounded pleasant, charming and tempting. Just based on the voice, the other party was at least a man of good looks and temperament.


    There were fifty organizations that were considered the world''s top organizations, known as The World''s Top Fifty. Primary Colors was one of the top-ranking organizations, and Rexott was around the same ranking. Both had their ups and downs but always ranked within the top ten. They were extremely powerful and their connections were everywhere. It was said that they had close relationships with many big countries.


    Garen immediately understood these people''s backings. Although both his disciples, Hochman and Dahm could sweep through half of America and they had strong financial power and large forces, even when adding in the combat clubs, they were far from competing with giants like Primary Colors and Rexott. These organizations could directly face the top levels of countries. Their policies and actions could even affect a country''s decisions and were not simply economic empires.


    This was a circle of organizations that had come to a compromise after countless struggles. Perhaps, Hochman and Dahm''s families would need a very long time to get into this circle. This was the gap in their history.


    Besides, as long as there was no vacancy, they had to develop their potential and then drag down one of the groups to have a chance at joining.


    However, this was not easy. A top circle like this was actually closely related to the supernatural powers of this world and was not merely a circle for humans.


    A thought flashed through his mind and Garen put down the fragment in his hand.


    "Rexott Group, my aim is only the Primary Colors'' White Phoenix. Since you guys are not Primary Colors'' people, I''ll let you guys go."


    Hu¡­ once these words came out, this group of people could not help but let out a sigh of relief. Seeing that Garen had caught up with them, they clearly understood that the leaders of the Primary Colors'' White Phoenix had mostly been annihilated. Otherwise, this man would not have the time to catch them.


    From the moment Garen had appeared, Rod had been observing him carefully as though trying to figure out something.


    However, the more he looked at him, the more horrified he was.


    ''He¡­ he was actually an ordinary human!!!!'' his heart was like a stormy sea.


    No features belonging to the Blood Breeds! No features belonging to the Witches!


    The parameters that were scanned from his wrists and sent back to his earphones indicated that he was just a human with excessive parameters!

 669 Annihilation 3

    Chapter 669: Annihilation 3


    Gulp¡­


    Rod barely managed to squeeze out a smile while trying to suppress the horror in his heart.


    "Thank you for your kindness, I''m called Rod Okland. May I know your name? The Rexott Group would not forget your favor."


    He was full of sincerity, thinking of the direction and hope that the higher-ups had been searching for all this time. He knew that this man in front of him might be the hope they were looking for!


    If he could really make a connection with him¡­


    His heart began pounding again and he could not calm it no matter how had he tried. He even thought that his subordinates and this man in front of him could hear his heartbeat.


    Their group had been searching for too long. The higher-ups had begun searching hundreds of years ago for that glimmer of light. However, one disappointment after another, one failure after another, had made everyone disheartened and turned their direction to the external armor and other sorts of research on equipment.


    Yet now, this man in front of him¡­


    "My name? I''m called Garen." Garen did not have any intention to hide his identity. Such a large organization could find out information about him easily as long as they wanted and he was lazy to hide it.


    "Garen¡­" Rod could no longer resist. A startling thought flashed across his mind, and although his heart was tangled and hesitant, he finally decided and gulped, "May I have the pleasure to invite you to a dinner? We''ve only had a simple relationship with the Primary Colors where we exchange materials with each other, so you don''t have to worry about us cooperating with Primary Colors. You can confirm this anytime. Not long ago, our core mercenary group clashed with the Primary Colors'' Ohio Silk mercenary group and both sides received damages and were injured."


    Garen was slightly stunned and for the first time, he took a closer look at his person in front of him.


    This man knew that he''d slaughtered the Primary Colors'' White Phoenix and yet he had the guts to invite him to dinner. Such nerves and such courage, as an ordinary person, he was excellent.


    "Rod. I will remember your name."


    He pondered for a bit and said, "Coincidentally, I need you to do me a little favor."


    "What is it? Please say it, as long as it''s within my means, I will not reject it!" Rod hurriedly answered. From the result that he''d received when he''d scanned the other party with the bracelet and analyzed with their base''s database, he was even more confident in his judgment and the words he''d said. Although making contact with this person would provoke the Primary Colors'' discontentment and fury, this person might be the hope that their higher-ups had been looking for. If there were further results, they might even be willing to help him fight the Primary Colors!


    "I still have a captive. One killer''s squad captain from the Primary Colors, but I feel that she still has some value and I need you to help me find a place to hide her."


    It was obvious from Garen''s words that letting Rod help him find a place was to pull him into this mess. Once the Primary Colors discovered this, naturally he would also bear some responsibility.


    Rod suddenly hesitated but once his sight swept over the man''s eye which held a trace of bloodlust, his heart trembled.


    "No¡­ no problem! Just a trifling matter," he replied while trying to calm himself.


    "There''s no problem then," Garen nodded in satisfaction. He turned around and walked up the stairs while beckoning, "Come with me."


    He walked for a short distance and arrived in front of a map. Previously, he''d memorized nearly the entire structure of the base.


    Now, he was familiar with it.


    Rod and his subordinates behind sighed in relief.


    "Sir, what now?"


    His subordinate stepped forward and whispered in Indigenous people''s language.


    "What else can we do? Follow him," Rod replied in an annoyed tone, using an abstruse Indigenous people''s language. There were at least dozens of indigenous languages in Mexico and the language they chose was a type that was almost lost. In order to deal with special situations like this, this served as an appropriate internal communication tool.


    "But, agreeing with that man''s request, what do we do about the Primary Colors'' side?" his subordinate asked. He understood the risk that came with this request. Although he did not understand the reason his leader actively sought the man in front of them, this did not prevent him from analyzing this situation.


    This would drag them into the fight between this man and the Primary Colors.


    Rod was advancing while staring at that man''s back.


    "Daring to charge into the Primary Colors'' base alone, if it''s not absolute certainty, then it''s absolute confidence in himself. No matter which is it, this person is not someone that is easier to deal with even when compared to Primary Colors. Before we understand the full picture, it is better that we do not make any move or promise."


    After he''d calmed down, Rod felt that the invitation just now was a bit reckless, but he was unwilling to lose this opportunity. If this man was truly the hope they''d been looking for, his position within the organization and his right to speak would improve greatly.


    They did not speak anymore. The subordinate was a clever man. He could see that Rod was taking a gamble.


    After Garen left the base and took a few steps out of the tattered metallic door, he heard the sound of an explosion behind him.


    The ground shook violently.


    Garen turned towards the group of people and smiled.


    "Using their bombs to make some fireworks seemed to have a good effect"


    "This guy¡­ blew up the entire White Phoenix base¡­" Rod muttered. Although he had some speculations, he could not help but feel a chill in his heart. These methods of his were too vicious.


    The Primary Colors would definitely go to war! No matter what sort of reason and excuse was given, the higher-ups of the Primary Colors wouldn''t meekly accept this.


    Some people gulped. They knew that the White Phoenix base was done for. This base that the Primary Colors had invested hundreds of billions had been destroyed in a huge explosion and had become an underground mass of scrap metal. A loss of hundreds of billions was in no way a small amount, even for their Roxett Group. Although this base was just an ordinary storage base, the materials inside also cost a lot of money.


    They stood in front of the doorway. Vaguely, they could hear the sound of explosions in the base that might''ve been due to some device that had blown up. They could also hear the cries of some people that did not make it out in time.


    "Help!" "No! No!!..."


    "Run! It''s going to explode again!"


    The sounds came from the ground. With Garen''s keen hearing, he could clearly hear the sounds of the movement under the ground, along with shouting, cries for help, screaming and running footsteps together with the sound of the collapsing building.


    The number of people that were too late to escape was estimated to be in the hundreds. From the beginning of his raid to the end when he came out, the time he took was less than ten minutes. In such a short time, many people had been inside the base without knowing what was happening.


    "Pity¡­" Rod''s complexion changed and drew a cross over his chest and prayed for the people trapped underground.


    He glanced at Garen. Hundreds of people had died and a lot of them were innocent, but these seemed to have no effect on Garen. He did not mind the horror that was occurring underground.


    "Let''s go. We''re going to see our cute little kitty," Garen called. After settling the base, his mood seemed to be good as he strode towards the forest.


    He was now very interested in the little kitty who had attacked him. The girl called Semone led him all the way to this base under the influence of Fantasy Fist. She would definitely be on the White Phoenix'' kill list.


    Before he''d left, Garen did not left any bindings or prohibitions on her and only told her of this fact. She was a clever person and must have realized that going back would mean forfeiting her life. Between life and death, the choice a clever person would make was evident.


    However, what Garen was interested in was not her cleverness but the trait that she had shown in the villa. The Invisible Creature seemed to be attracted to her.


    ¡®Her mind must have been damaged by Fantasy Fist and triggered her hidden talent to attract the Invisible Creature,'' Black Sethe explained. ¡®What are you going to do with that Semone?''


    "Isn''t it just right to use her to understand more about the Invisible Creatures?" Garen said while leading Rod and his men.


    He split the bushes in front of him with a machete to reveal a path that was wide enough for one man to travel. Those spiders, lizards, and snakes were scared off by the aura that came from his body and did not dare to approach. Some of the slower flying insects were swept over by his aura and fell down like rain.


    ¡®What happened at the villa should be a coincidence. The invisible creatures are not something that will come out when you want them to. Their cycle of time is very long, so if you want to use this trait of hers, I''m afraid you will be disappointed,'' Black Sethe laughed. ¡®If you have so much time, why not search for more Void Creatures and kill them to collect Void Core to treat your eye? Your eye might be able to recover slowly.''


    "This eye is still able to recover?" Garen was stunned and asked.


    ¡®Of course! Why do you think I would bother collecting Void Cores? That thing is effective in treating injuries from Void Creatures and Rebels. It just takes a long time. Though if it was converted into Medicine Stone, it will shorten the time,'' Black Sethe explained. ¡®But this is only when the distance between you and Nadia is still far. If you are closer and within the effective range for all kinds of curses, you''ll be in big trouble. Without the Void Core or Medicine Stone, you can''t make a dent in the curse. This is the case if you are a Pursuer. If it''s any other common creature, they can only face the curses head on and tried their best to resist them. Without the special trait of Pursuer, Void Core is useless for them,'' Black Sethe laughed twice and continued. ¡®Now you understand the importance of Void Core?''


    Garen nodded his head and took note of it mentally. Truthfully, from his first encounter with Nadia, perhaps the one that had occurred in a dream, he had not felt much danger. He was not anxious at all; although Nadia said she would arrive soon, she was so far away. As long as he prevented her from knowing his coordinates, he would be able to delay her arrival indefinitely.


    Hence, there had been no sense of urgency in his heart, but Black Sethe''s words had woken him. As the Nine-Headed Dragon King, Nadia did not need to arrive in this world herself. Her long-distance projection was powerful, and together with curses and combat techniques, she would be terrifying to deal with.


    Garen could not forget the time when he was cursed and had his attributes decayed. He would have to dedicate some effort to searching for more potential points to improve his body. If he received a more powerful curse at a time when he''d run out of Void Cores and was consequently unable to lift the curse, he would end up miserable.


    His extremely strong body was his biggest shield. Now that Black Sethe mentioned the curse, he decided to be warier.


    A curse from an ordinary Void Worm could already diminish his attributes, and if it was replaced by Nadia''s curse¡­

 670 Annihilation 4

    Chapter 670: Annihilation 4


    "That mask has to be found as fast as possible. The accumulation of the void creature¡¯s hollow core is also another urgent matter."


    "It is good that you understand." Black Sethe was relieved, "You and I are now in one body. If you die, I will die too, and I do not wish for you innocently fall into your own carelessness."


    Garen nodded his head.


    "Perhaps I have been relaxed in this world for too long now¡­" He came to some realization, "Then, the search for the Twelve Masks will have to speed up."


    "As long as you understand that the amount of time we have left is not much," Black Sethe pleasingly went back into hiding.


    Walking in the thick and dark forest, Garen had very quickly returned to the previous trees with the round arch root.


    Under the roots, the black bonfire ash was still there. Instead, the girl¡¯s shadow was missing.


    Garen took a look around, and his gaze stopped upon a dense cluster of black flowers.


    "You can come out."


    He said in a low voice.


    Rod and the rest quietly stopped behind him, as they waited and see if changes would occur.


    Soon, among the flowers, a blackish figure that was covered in black mud slowly stood up.


    "How did you find me?" The figure gave out a girl¡¯s voice.


    "You are too weak."


    Garen walked over and pressed his huge hands on her shoulder. She was slightly startled.


    Buzz...


    A severe yet frequent tremor suddenly rang out. It was as if the girl, Simone¡¯s whole body was shivering but instead, she was shaking much rapidly.


    The black mud and dirt that was smeared all over her body kept falling off because of the violent tremors, revealing her pale white skin underneath.


    Under the stares of Rod and the rest, as well as Simon¡¯s own attention, something miraculous happened.


    It was as if the black mud on Simon¡¯s body melted into a black water-like matter, following the curves of her body and slowly dripped down her body. It stained the of the inner part of her legs and down her heels, slowly flowing down onto the forest grass. Not only was it on her skin, but the dirt on Simone¡¯s clothes all flowed quietly down to the ground, not making a sound.


    Just within ten seconds, Simone¡¯s whole body once again turned clean, returning to her usual delicate and pretty frame.


    Her small lips were slightly opened, with wide round eyes. It was as if she was afraid to believe what she saw, she did not even dare to blink. She was afraid that if she blinked, everything in front of her would turn into an illusion and disappear.


    But the feeling of her dry and cool body kept reminding her that this was not an illusion - This was reality.


    "My Lord¡­" The few Catholics in Rod¡¯s team started praying devotedly. This was absolutely a miracle!


    Even Rod himself was stunned, his face wore the expression as if he saw a ghost.


    "Damn it! That was not recorded!" He suddenly reacted. The rest also reacted, one after the other. Such a miraculous sight and yet no one recorded it, this was absolutely a huge lost!


    Garen looked at reactions of these group of people in a funny way. That move just now would only be used by just upper martial artists who had terrific skills. However, top martial artists could also achieve the same level. Such as the saying "emerge unstained even from the filth", this referred to the realm of top martial artists.


    Releasing his hands, Garen walked back to the bonfire heap and started to check through his things. He put on his backpack and checked the remaining amount of his drink.


    He was not afraid of being poisoned unless it was a highly concentrated toxic. If not, any others toxins would also help him build up his liver function; it was the same as those who do not consume much alcohol.


    Such powerful vitality would show in all ways, not just to the degree of skin defense.


    "You failed, I suppose? White Phoenix Base is not a fun place to venture into!" After Simone was shocked, she quickly replied with a cold smile, "There is a twenty-four hours cycle surface surveillance system in the base, and we are not far from there. It will not take them long for them to find out where we are residing at. Then, they would send their elite team, and by that time, you will only be able to flee in panic!"


    Simone¡¯s words were distinct with an unforgiving tone, not paying the slightest attention the Rod and his men¡¯s weird expression.


    "What kind of people are they?"


    She frankly questioned Garen.


    "Them? These are some of my friends," Garen answered in a good temper, smiling.


    Simone took a few steps to the side of the bonfire, and sat down on his butt, not minding the dirt, "I¡¯m hungry, and I want the eat something. Quickly make me something to eat.


    These few days, she had completely lost herself. Since Garen got a hold of her, if you wanted to do anything, he could have already done it. He would not have waited until this moment. So instead of feeling afraid, why not drink and eat well, regulating her own mood.


    Garen gave a smile. From his bag, he took out some dried meat, a bottle of pure water and different types of seasoning. First, he lit up the bonfire again, then used a metal can, of which he brought to boil the meat soup. He stood up and took a walk around the surrounding of the forest. After his quick return, there were some extra plant rhizomes and mushroom in his hands; it was frightening looking at the red and green colors on them.


    With the same skill, the mud and dirt were immediately shaken off. After rinsing it with water, it was put into the can for boiling.


    Rod and his company were looking for some rocks to sit down by the side. After a couple of frightening experiences, they looked very panic-stricken too.


    Seeing that Benjamin was busy with preparing his meal, Rod hesitated for a bit.


    "Our planes and cars are not far from here. Mr. Garen, why not let¡¯s eat when we return. How does that sound? I have already reserved a room with a feast in the Leonardo Hotel."


    They had always taken the main road. With the planes and cars leading the way, they did not even have to walk through this wilderness; they could immediately enter the base. Now, there were a bunch of people, dressed in garments and wore leather shoes, walking on the forest grass. Having huge chunks of mud stuck on the sole of their shoe - Lifting their foot too felt heavy.


    "No rush, it will be done soon," Garen smiled as he answered, while he stirred the soup in the can continuously.


    As time passed in seconds and minutes, the essence of the soup slowly let out a rich scent. Even Rod, who had a habit of eating good food, could not resist salivating. One by one, his men also felt their saliva stir in their throats. All their attention was quickly captured by that pot of boiling soup in the can.


    "In this forest, there are still a lot of things that can replenish your vitality. If we just leave, then it would have been wasted," Garen simply explained.


    He then split the soup into a few bowls. The moment the soup was scooped up, she drank without hesitation as she had tried his cooking earlier on. She drank it all in one mouthful. Then very quickly, her eyes looked confused and started drooling from the edge of her mouth, her face revealed a silly smile.


    "Hehe¡­ Hehe¡­ Too delicious¡­ It¡¯s too delicious¡­"


    Once she put down her bowl, this girl started dancing and jumping. For a moment, she had seeped into her unconsciousness.


    "La~ La la! La! It smells so good¡­ Your body smells so good¡­" Simone threw herself on him, hugged him and bit him. Her snot and saliva were both dripping, both her eyes in a daze - They completely lost that spirit she had just now.


    "Be good¡­ If you listen, I will give you another bowl of soup in a bit."


    "Really?"


    "Really."


    "Alright, I¡¯ll listen. I¡¯ll be good¡­" Simone acted as if she had completely turned into a child with a few years of IQ. She leaned over on Garen and stopped moving.


    Rod, who stood at the side breathed in the delicious scent. At first, he had wanted to drink the bowl of soup. But once he saw this scene, he got the chills for a moment. The look in his eyes changed again and again towards Garen.


    After Garen calmed Simone down, he started asking some questions that they still were not clear about.


    "Other than this base, does White Phoenix have other bases?"


    "They don¡¯t."


    "Then do you know where the person in charge of the base, Gremlin went?"


    "I don¡¯t know, I just want some soup!" Simone shook her head.


    "You just had some. If you do not answer my question seriously, then I will not give it to you," Garen said with a beaming smile.


    "Gremlin took Lotus Pearl with her - I don¡¯t know." When Simone mentioned Lotus Pearl¡¯s name, her face revealed an unhappy expression, "Lotus Pearl, that cow! Her smiles are all fake, she thinks I can¡¯t see through it? That slut likes to pee standing up, and she used to be a witch. I saw her in bed with a man, with my own eyes. Then she went and found herself a not-so-secret-boytoy! Haha¡­ Boytoy¡­ She thinks nobody knows, that b*tch!"


    Even though Simon was in a situation she was unconscious of, that mean tongue of hers would never go away. Just hearing it gave the group of men cold sweat.


    Garen rubbed her brain. Suddenly, Simone gave out a dog-like sound of comfortable hum.


    "I apologize. This one here is still of use to me, so I used a slightly special method," Garen quickly smiled at Rob and his men who were frightened by it.


    The immense knowledge of subjects he had absorbed from the previous world impacted his high research attainments in hallucinogenic drugs and neuroscience. This soup was made specifically to tackle Simone¡¯s mutation that was stimulated by the Fantasy Fist, and special execution would be directed towards modulating it.


    Garen attentively examined Simone¡¯s nerves in her head and found the area that stimulated the Fantasy Fist. Hence, the targeted mixed medicinal soup should continue to stimulate that part of the brain. After some experimentation, he wanted to see if he could once again extract the Invisible Creatures.


    He was very curious towards the field of Invisible Creatures. This was an extremely broad spectrum, and it included every creature that the human cannot see; comparing the realms and worlds among them that were far away to a world with light, it would be much, much bigger.


    After packing the leftover soup, Garen single-handedly picked Simone up while carrying his backpack.


    "Let¡¯s go. Let¡¯s get on your ride for a bit."


    "The pleasure is mine!" Rob quickly replied.


    Temporarily, he refrained the thought of notifying the higher level authorities. He had to find out the opponent¡¯s ins and outs clearly. Once it had been confirmed...


    He also had his own idea; if it was really that hope that the higher authorities had been always looking for, then leaving some free time would also be a golden timing for his prior business relations! If he could hold on to it, then he would be able to keep this friendship for the first time - how precious is that!


    A row of people marked the location according to the body device, and very quickly, they found a green helicopter that was parked on an emergency heliport.


    The pilot was still smoking beside the plane, but White Phoenix¡¯s airport guards were nowhere to be found. It was obvious that they did not escape. Instead, they must have gone to examine the base of the headquarters.


    Seeing that Rod and his men had safely returned, along with them, they brought back two other weird-looking people. One gave out a whine like a dog, and the other was wearing a mask. Looking closely, they only one straight eye. The pilot wanted to immediately say something but was cut off by Rod.


    "Leave this place immediately! Go to St. Jeddah City, I want to entertain very important guests!"


    "Yes, sir!" The fine training quality the pilot had did not allow him to speak more. They could only obey and hence, he began the procedure of starting the helicopter.


    A bunch of people entered the plane, one after the other. As the sound of the huge propeller came on, the green helicopter slowly rose to the sky and sped towards the far distance. It swept through the trees and over the sea, disappearing between the border of forest and sea.

 671 Corporate 1

    Chapter 671: Corporate 1


    The space in the plane was huge and it was split into three rows. Rob and his assistant were sat at the front, in the middle were Garen and Simone, and at the back were his subordinates. There were a group of men left that could not fit into the plane. Instead, the rides on the were switched to cars, and they departed from the ground instead.


    The pilot was from Lesothy. Once he found out about its particular conditions, he quickly had an expression as if he wanted to stay out of trouble.


    Garen sat by the window, overlooking down at the moving trees and sea through the transparent glass window.


    Between the trees and sea, of dark green colors mixed with yellow and red, he could see apes and eagles appearing from time to time.


    As the plane rose up to a higher level and passed by a white waterfall entrance, Garen¡¯s supervision swept across the border of the waterfall for an instant - Standing there was a young woman supporting herself with crutches.


    This woman stood on a piece of empty land, and behind her was a small wooden house. However, the small house and the forest was merged as one. Those without supervision would not be able to tell the difference.


    As if she could sense Garen¡¯s stare, the woman raised her head towards the plane and looked at it. Her eyes were unexpectedly light golden in color, making her look very beautiful as it reflected the faint light of the golden sun.


    Garen was slightly surprised, but when he wanted to take another look, the plane had already flown past the waterfall. The height of the plane was lowered as they sped towards the huge piece of flatland, river, and forest.


    "There were once some nature-loving hermits who lived in this area. The Primary Colors Group had no problems with them. But after that, those who lived here suddenly disappeared, and some abandoned small houses were left behind. Those were the houses you saw just now," Rod turned his head to explain. He could see Garen¡¯s line of sight from the reflective mirror.


    "I saw a woman standing in front of a small house by the waterfall just now. Where is she from?" Garen asked.


    "Woman? That¡¯s not possible." Rod laughed, "The wooden houses here have been abandoned for many years now. You are talking about the woodland houses I suppose. I have been here a few times and that was what the people of Primary Colors call it. A woman used to live there but she disappeared after. According to rumors, she has been missing for many years now."


    Garen frowned.


    "I saw it. The woman¡¯s eyes were golden."


    Rob looked startled.


    "That can¡¯t be, whose eyes are golden? You must have seen wrongly. The reflection of the sunlight would have also caused an illusion."


    "Maybe it¡¯s that..." Garen temporarily tossed this small matter to the back of his mind.


    He leaned slightly into the leather chair of the back seat and started to pay attention to the Attribute Pane below his field of vision.


    ¡®Garen Thomas.


    Strength 7. Agility 7. Vitality 7. Potential 10248%. Soul limit 30.


    Seed of soul: The Northern Trident Frost-Fire True Water Evil Technique.¡¯


    ¡®Void Hunter: Many ancient civilization inheritors, who were enemies with the Void race for generations, had the ability to capture the core of the void creature and its own powerful talent. That was the power of eternal talent given by ancient mystical strength.¡¯


    ¡®Hellfrost Peacock Technique: Level one entry (Total of 5 Foundation Level, derivative level of 3, full power of 8 levels) Every level¡¯s exercise achievement would clean one¡¯s own blood, gradually growing closer towards Hellfrost Peacock¡¯s physique. The ultimate achievement would be the highest form of Hellfrost Peacock King, the limit being army level.¡¯


    ¡®Seven Star Life¡¯s Secret Point: 4th Level (Total of 7 levels)¡¯


    ¡®Violin Skills: 2nd Grade, proficient level. (Total of 3 grades)¡¯


    He realized that his potential points had already increased to the extent of over a hundred points. Evidently, it had come to a point where wearing this mask on his face played an extremely crucial role. However, it was also obvious that it had started to increase slowly now.


    This mask almost added him another one hundred potential points or so, which was an optimistic amount of revenue. Although it could not be compared to the total amount of antique he previously owned, this was the second of the Twelve Masks after all. If he could succeed in getting all the remaining masks to be in his possession, then the potential points he would receive could be an extremely impressive amount.


    His sight fell into his own Specialization Technique. The Hellfrost Peacock Technique¡¯s real effect was still not exemplified yet. What he was using now was just the original toughness of his physical fitness.


    He hesitated for a bit, then his sight fell directly onto the Hellfrost Peacock Technique continuously for three minutes. The icon of the Hellfrost Peacock technique wavered for a while, and immediately after, there was no reaction. The potential point also had no sign of any changes. It was clear that the potential points could not be used to directly strengthen himself.


    Regarding the information of this Secret Technique form suddenly appeared. Building the base was one of the effects of level one - spread the seeds all over the body. Whereas level two was where the real practice would start.


    Once level two had been achieved, according to his memory of the information on Secret Technique, his Palm Power should contain a type of strange cold toxin. If it was in Totem World, maybe it would have become a more powerful cold toxin that could overcast the surroundings. But in this world, it could only be displayed on the cold toxins of Palm Power.


    This was all the Basic Secret Technique every world had, to purely enhance physical quality. Once the Seven Star Life¡¯s Secret Point had been added, it would be enough to achieve the limit - three hundred points of strength degree, but it would still be a huge loss. This was not a simple strength and speed issue. Instead, it was a problem of the control of the Secret Technique. With that kind of knife method, the moment the knife left his hand, the opponent would immediately get hit. Not understanding either the profoundness or using the same level of Secret Technique¡¯s counterbalance would only result in getting beaten up; it would be very hard to reach a point where he could defeat Nadia, the Nine Head Dragon Queen. Yet, this Secret Technique was different. The root of the Secret Technique would come to a certain difficulty that would create various very strong effects towards the body. Who knew, but maybe it could produce a specific type of unique effect.


    Garen started focusing his attention on his thoughts about the information of level two.


    This was two conditions necessary for achieving level two.


    With current technology, arctic lands could be imitated, but white Peacock Stone?


    He only knew about the green Peacock Stone. He was unsure of the white one. Maybe this was not the type of Peacock Stone in which he knew?


    He passed the question over to Black Sethe.


    "Peacock Stone? In white? Why would you want that for?" Black Sethe seemed a bit shocked.


    "Of course I need it for practicing the Secret Technique," Garen did not cover it up.


    ¡®Then that would be a bit tricky. If I remember correctly, the Peacock Stone you ask for in the Secret Technique is not like the green stones you understand about. Instead, it is another type where the stones are inside the slime of the peacock¡¯s body,¡¯ Black Sethe explained, ¡®Peacock slime is a type of Invisible Creature. A lot of worlds have it, even this world has it. But this, you would have to search for it yourself. I¡¯m helpless in this situation.¡¯


    "Alright¡­" For a moment, Garen put down the Secret Technique¡¯s progress rate. Hellfrost Peacock Technique¡¯s name sounded very intense, but he was not specifically sure how much of an increase it would give, or whether it would help him deal with the Nine Head Dragon, Nadia who was getting more and more pressing.


    As he returned to consciousness, the helicopter was slowly landing. Simone, sat on his left, was asleep with saliva dripping onto the black shirt in front of her chest. When dried up, it gave out a horrible smell.


    "We¡¯re here, we¡¯re here." Rob hurriedly called out, "Down below, the people from our organization will act as reinforcement. Mr. Garen, you temporarily do not have to worry about Primary Color. Over here, nobody would leak this information."


    "Thank you very much," Garen nodded his head. Looking down from the plane, on top of the grey and white round airport below was engraved with a red cross. In the middle of it stood a crowd of people, waiting. They were wearing grey and green military uniform, and a beret. Their postures were upright, in their arms held a black assault machine gun.


    Garen took a look at his surroundings. Around the airport was enclosed with high walls, and there were a lot of soldiers with berets patrolling the area. It was as if this was a military base.


    The helicopter slowly descended. Rob was the first to get down the plane. He then faced the officer below and gave a salute and they saluted back at him with speed and power. After that, the leader, a soft-spoken black officer muttered a few sentences in his ear. The both of them nodded their heads, indicating that they understood each other.


    Only then, Rob quickly turned around to greet Garen.


    "Everything has been arranged, Mr. Garen." His had a smile on his face and did not have the slightest fluster or panic of talking to a terrorist, " I understand that you wanted to ask us why we value you. Since we took the initiative wanted to be friends with you, yet we did not discuss White Phoenix or Primary Color. This answer is quite a long story, why not we have a meal and talk at the same time. Is that fine with you?"


    "Many thanks for your hospitality," Garen smiled. Such top-level organization like a Rexott Group was also what he needed as a figure for an alliance.


    Such large organization would often be so exaggerated that it had the power and strength to make people feel dumbfounded. He too wasn¡¯t crazy. If it wasn¡¯t necessary, who would want to look for trouble and make enemies with these world-class organizations?


    If one got to the point where he had enemies all around the world, then that would really be a failure.


    But indeed, as Rob said, he was very curious about his counterpart¡¯s intention.


    A group of people surrounded Garen and Rob while he introduced the situation here and was headed towards the airport¡¯s dining hall.


    The airport was situated outside the city; it was built on a flatland that was opened up from a forest, beside St. Jeddah City. This time, they luxuriously invited some well known international chef from a hotel and had already prepared Garen some scrumptious dishes.


    After they sat down facing the steaming table of food in a white dining hall, Garen and Rob just randomly ate a bit, then put down their fork and knife. The taste palate here was very sweet, extremely sweet - mixing the chili and sweet drinks in a dish tasted weird.


    Rob noticed this bit, and he revealed a trace of apology.


    "My apologies, I have not welcomed you well."


    "No worries, let¡¯s talk about proper business. You guys, Rexott Group should have a deep understanding towards the Primary Colors Group right? With this amount of time, you should have found out about my identity and background, right?" Garen spoke frankly and bluntly.


    Rob mocked him.


    "Of course as you¡¯ve expected, I just received all the information," With a waved of his hand, the servants in the dining room dispersed out the door and left. However, the guards were outside the door.


    "You as Nighthawk King, and the conflict between Primary Colors and White Phoenix. Originally, we should not have mingled into this, but¡­" Rob paused, then carefully gave Garen a side eye.


    "Over here, I would like to once again confirm your identity."


    "Identity?" Garen raised his eyebrows, feeling that Rob was hinting something.


    "You, are you really a pure human being?" Rob asked each word and each sentence seriously.


    Garen was surprised. He never thought his counterpart would suddenly ask this sort of question.


    "Of course, I am pure human," He answered, without a trace of hesitation.


    Rob¡¯s eyes were staring at him, as if debating how reliable that answer was.


    "Why would I need to lie to you?" Garen laughed, and stroked Simone¡¯s small brain, "Why don¡¯t you just tell me what is wrong. I still have some other matters to sort out. I can¡¯t stay here for long."


    Rob nodded his head, lowered his head to look at his watch on his wrist, as if he finally confirmed something. His expression suddenly turned complicated, yet weird, like he was holding back some excitement to a joyful situation.


    "Then I¡¯ll just say it." He appropriately said the words, "To tell the truth, us, the Rexott group have always been researching the topic of human strength limitation. We have always attempted to search for the path of hope of becoming a normal human being. Phrasing it this way, are you able to understand?"

 672 Corporate 2

    Chapter 672: Corporate 2


    Garen put down the bowl in his hand and nodded his head.


    "Very clearly; I think I understood your idea."


    Rob nodded his head the same way.


    "Us, the Rexott Organization have always been at the forefront of the world in this area of research. Regarding the discovery and creation of human potential, we had always looked into it from a combat fight aspect. It had been a long time ago since we started experimenting with practitioners, who set out to find the limits of a human. Unfortunately, we found the human body do have a limit data."


    "Oh?" Garen was suddenly interested, "Limit data?"


    "Indeed." Rob nodded his head seriously, "The limit data refers to data that we have obtained and gathered of the maximum limit of human quality one can achieve. Power, resilience, and responsiveness - we have split the human quality into three types. Of course, there is a much more delicate division of it, but I won¡¯t say much here. With these three types of data, we got an unbelievable result - human strength does indeed have a limit. That limit is about 460 kilograms, and this refers to a pure power without any impact."


    "460 kilograms," Garen understood clearly. The statistics obtained from this data and their own research were exactly the same. He could see that their knowledge and study of this topic was not something that could have been done within a short amount of time.


    "Precisely, the data you mentioned is correct. But what does this have to do with you looking for me?"


    Rob took in a deep breath, with his eyes staring at Garen.


    "I realize that your powers have far exceeded 460 kilograms, where it has reached a horrifyingly unknown level. That is why I had to repeatedly emphasize whether you really are a true human being. Because according to our research, it is impossible for a pure human being to have such great power."


    He carefully observed Garen¡¯s expression underneath the mask.


    "And based on what I know, Mr. Garen¡¯s numerous had disciples grown rapidly under your supervision. Now, their own strengths have also reached a very high standard."


    "That I do not deny." Garen nodded his head, "I created the Two-Faced Waterbird Fist and Shooting Shadow Secret Skill, as you must have heard." When he saw Rob nodding his head as confirmation, he continued, "Since we all know each other¡¯s intentions clearly, then how do you plan to tackle my breakthrough limit?"


    Rob lifted up his hand and looked at his watch. After some hesitation, he replied.


    "What the authorities mean is that we hope you can hand over the full set of martial arts¡¯ fist materials. In exchange, we will assist you by taking over your revenge on Primary Colors Group. By looking further into your martial arts system, it would be very helpful for us to carry out evolutionary experiments on the improvements of human limitation. This is a huge matter that would help all mankind. I hope you can consider it well."


    Once he finished his sentence, his expression did not look good. As he looked at Garen¡¯s facial expression, his heart jumped - he knew it was going to end horribly.


    However, he knew that Garen used Two-Faced Waterbird Fist and Shooting Shadow Secret Skill to control the two big organizations, combat club, and Nighthawk. For them to ask him to hand over all of his martial arts'' secrets, they would be taking advantage of the situation by stealing his work.


    "Two sets of materials on martial arts¡¯ secrets?" Garen never thought the other party would bring this idea up. The Secret Technique was indeed profound, but technology was very powerful too. If he gave them all the information, maybe they might just come up with something new after a while.


    "Please don¡¯t be angry!" Rob looked terrible, and he quickly said, "We still want to add some gifts. We heard that you were looking for the Sleepless Faces. Our organization has been preserving the two masks we have used in the experiments. If you agree on the secrets, we can immediately gift the two masks to you with honor. And, we will send over the information on the other masks."


    "Sleepless Faces?" It was the first time Garen heard that term.


    "You don¡¯t know? That is the ancient name of the mask you¡¯re wearing," Rob explained. Seeing that Garen did not explode, he relaxed.


    Garen sighed heavily.


    "About the materials on Two-Faced Waterbird Fist and Shooting Shadow Secret Skill, I can give it to you, but these two Secret Techniques contain a distinct property. Without that distinct inheritance, there is no way you can train them yourself. I had to say that first, in case you have regrets in the future."


    To be honest, he picked these two Secret Techniques randomly. In his memories, there were numerous Secret Techniques - not ten, but more than hundreds of them. These were just third-rate Secret Techniques. If it wasn¡¯t for him, or his talent skills, even if he wanted to practice independently, he would at least need ten or twenty years of hard training. Still, that was the case for extraordinary appraisals.


    Rob¡¯s watch seemed to have the function of sending out whatever Garen had said. After looking at the reply on the screen of his watch, Rob nodded to show he understood.


    "The authorities hope to invite you to collaborate in the organization¡¯s higher level experiments to collect some related data. I don¡¯t know¡­"


    "That is not a problem. I also hope that there is a detailed test environment to define my true abilities," Garen said proudly. He had always wanted to test his own qualities, but there weren''t enough high-tech experiments. A general test equipment wasn¡¯t even enough for his lighter punches.


    "It will be a pleasure working with you!" For a moment, Rob was relieved, "About Primary Colors, we will take over fully on your behalf - Don¡¯t worry. Regarding the circle of nature, we will also sort that out. Your life will not be affected. And, we will also give you a satisfied reply from the White Phoenix."


    Garen nodded his head. At least he could now relax slightly since White Phoenix Base had been destroyed.


    "I still need to kill the group who murdered my assistant. That should not be a problem I suppose."


    Rob sighed.


    "That is little difficult, but that shouldn¡¯t be a big problem," The authorities¡¯ plan was obvious. The hatred between Nighthawk King and Primary Colors was deep. Since he chose to side with Nighthawk, then naturally, there would be nothing to talk about with Primary Colors. Moreover, there had always been old grudges between the top levels and Primary Colors, and they took the opportunity this time to erupt. The background characters from each circle would show up to discuss the particular matter.


    In fact, White Phoenix was not the only violent party from the Primary Colors¡¯ subordinates; there were more than ten parties, and White Phoenix was the person in charge of this area. Equivalent to a subsidiary, in the face of another world-class monopoly consultation, regional affairs of a subsidiary would not be a big problem.


    "Then it will be a pleasure working with you," Garen smiled while nodding his head.


    "Pleasure working with you too."


    Rob also gave a relaxed smile.


    "On the other hand, regarding the Sleepless Faces you mentioned just now¡­" Garen asked about his doubt he had before.


    Rob was slightly distracted.


    "I assumed you knew. Sleepless Mask is the legend of the mask you are wearing. Legend has it that the original version of this mask was named as Daylight Mask, such that when people wore it, they gain the ability to never sleep. The wearer would be full of energy without needing any sleep. That way, more time could be taken out to do other things."


    He explained.


    "You would also know that throughout human life, we spend one-third of the time on sleep. If sleep was completely unnecessary, won¡¯t that be equivalent to having one-third more of a life than compared to others?"


    Garen understood and nodded his head.


    "Hence in ancient times, when a Duke got the mask, he started a long process of imitating time. He used everything he could make use of and in the end, he had replicated twelve of the exact same mask. Undoubtedly, all the finest pattern carvings were the same. However, the functions could not be compared to the original; there wasn¡¯t even a single bit of extraordinary power in it. Under his own disappointment, he hid the Sleepless Faces in an extremely secretive place, then spread the clues on top of each of the twelve masks before he died. Whoever could find all the Sleepless Faces¡¯ replicas might even have the chance of searching for the original mask," Rob described it in detail.


    Only then did Garen understand the essential information of this mask. Generally, it would be impossible for an ordinary organization to know about these things. Only those big organizations that had been through historical changes would have had a chance to record it down. Within that short time frame, Rob must have contacted one of the organization¡¯s top levels through the device to quickly explain the context to him.


    Rob was indeed a caring person.


    "Don¡¯t you worry, we will help you sort out the issues about the mask and Primary Colors."


    Garen nodded. Indeed, facing Primary Colors alone, its top levels would be involved in the background, behind their extraordinary powers and he would be put in a situation where he would have to deal with the Nine Head Dragon King while dealing Primary Colors as well; that would not be an easy thing. If it could be less troublesome and much smoother, it would definitely be better.


    As for the Secret Technique, without his Soul Primer, if they do not train hard for ten to twenty years, they should not even have the thought of getting half its result. With that, they would only be able to enter a smaller part of the martial arts world. After that would be the martial artists'' world, which would seem like an illusion. Even entering the martial artist levels would be extremely difficult, not to mention the courageous Grandmaster of Combat.


    He had to collect all the masks as soon as possible, before the attack of the Nine Head Dragon King. The more potential points he gets, the higher the possibility of him shortening the time to strengthen himself. Now, this was Garen¡¯s real aim.


    What he needed most now was time.


    "If so, I will quickly jot down the information I have, but a lot of things need more than just a bit of information to completely describe it all."


    Garen said softly.


    Rob nodded his head.


    "As an individual, I believe your sincerity is not fake. That, you can rest assured. I will quickly get the two masks out for you. And the protectors from your hometown will arrive shortly."


    "Then I can relax," Garen nodded. Regarding the protection from his hometown, he was not very worried about that.


    Grano was made into a gathering place for witches, where even the secret party of Vampires would not dare to kill humans freely, and not to mention a group of elite human killers. As higher level intellectuals, his parents had a broad relationship with the locals. And because of their relationship with the city councilor, they were willing to do a few good things for the locals; their fame wasn¡¯t bad. Hence, in public and in private, the local witches would never allow any outsides attack the local¡¯s public figure, which could trigger panic.


    Even more so, his own arrangements should have preventative measures. At first, he arranged for the Arisa Sisters to protect his family. After being chased for many years, they were very happy to sneakily attack unwelcomed strangers.


    Hence they predicted that the team sent to Grano by White Phoenix would do more damage than anything. The background circle knew on the inside that most would call for a cease-fire. Nobody was willing to be involved in a war between races.


    More so, that was the truth.

 673 Approach 1

    Chapter 673: Approach 1


    Cynthia region, Italy


    Gremlin was dressed in a white suit, he got out of the white race car, and looked left and right.


    There was a large round plaza behind him, with many black copper statues in it, some children and tourists were milling about, and occasionally there were pigeons rising and falling in the plaza, cooing as they went.


    Gremlin glanced back as he rearranged his suit, walking rapidly to a small house in front of him.


    Bang bang bang.


    He knocked the door directly.


    With a clacking sound, the door opened from inside.


    "Quick, come in." A middle-aged woman opened the door and talked to him, her skin was dark, and she looked very plain and honest.


    "Sorry for disturbing you." Gremlin nodded, and strode inside, passing his car keys to the woman. The woman, on the other hand, went outside to drive the race car into the garage.


    The whole building was grey-black, and there were many spots on the walls, indicating its advanced age. It was not that different from a normal citizen¡¯s home.


    Gremlin went upstairs within a few strides, the room door on the second floor was open, and he stood at the door as he looked inside, seeing a white-haired old man carefully trimming the bonsai plants that filled the living room to the brim.


    The old man wore a long grey-white shirt and matching trousers, his hair was slightly long, tied into a ponytail behind his head.


    "How are thing progressing recently? Come in and sit." The old man heard the footsteps, and asked without turning around. His hands were still trimming the bonsais carefully.


    Gremlin stood at the door, lowering his head and waist slightly in place of a bow.


    "Father, something very bad happened, and I incurred extreme losses." As he spoke about of that, his expression was not particularly great.


    The old man nodded, turning around and glancing at him.


    "I heard about it as well, your base was done in. Looks like you messed with an important opponent. How do you plan to solve this?"


    Gremlin had a script ready since long ago.


    "Lotus Pearl alone probably isn¡¯t enough, I hope you can send someone else to support her."


    The old man frowned.


    "That¡¯s slightly troublesome, you have to know that I¡¯m not the only elder in the group."


    "Of course I know that." Gremlin nodded, "But even if you¡¯re not in charge, Mr Titan would surely grant you a favor¡­"


    "I won that favor with my life back in the day." The old man interrupted him. "Now that Rexott has interfered, this is no longer a simple matter and problem of dealing with the Nighthawks."


    Gremlin said nothing, staying quiet with his head lowered as he awaited his father¡¯s decision.


    The time ticked by, and neither of them spoke, there was only the snipping of the bonsai trimming.


    After a long time, the old man finally sighed.


    "That person is looking for the twelve masks, the Sleepless Faces, perhaps you can try to tackle it from there. Also, some of the techniques that he has are very useful to the group¡¯s supersoldier plan, you might be able to convince the higher-ups using this." The old man reminded him in a low voice. He turned around to look at Gremlin, "You are my only son, do not disappoint me."


    "Yes, Father." Gremlin nodded deeply.


    When he heard the old man speak, he already knew that all these reasons were for naught, the true key was that the old man had agreed, this meant that he would support his son in front of the group¡¯s higher-ups, and that was all that mattered.


    Walking out of the house, Gremlin took a deep breath, and finally felt his body relax.


    The destruction of his base was nothing, it was just some money, if he ran out of money he could just earn more, but if something went wrong with the branch that he was personally in charge of, that would truly be fatal.


    Once one reached a position like his, money and all that had become irrelevant, the more important things were position and power.


    The Nighthawks were no more than a tiny obstacle in his journey to the top, if he could not even overcome this, then there would be nothing left to say about the problems he would encounter in the future.


    Although he comforted himself like that, whenever Gremlin thought about his hundred-billion-dollar investments gone just like that, he still bled inside. Most of the White Phoenix¡¯s funds were in there, if his father weren¡¯t a high-level elder in the group, he would probably have been knocked down due to the incident.


    As for the team he lost in Grano, that hurt him even more, those were all the direct subordinates he could mobilize at will, and now he had lost every last one of them.


    "Garen of the Nighthawks!!" He repeated that name through clenched teeth in his heart.


    ****************


    Berlin, Germany


    In a very ordinary black building.


    Garen caressed the Demonic Book notes in his hand, his expression dead silent as he looked at the Nighthawk higher-ups standing in the room.


    Baldy was there, Hera was there, Angel was there as well, and so were some other higher-ups that he was not familiar with but who all had considerable positions, they were all the true core of the Nighthawks. They were also the first batch of elite Nighthawks that Garen had personally taught and raised himself.


    "Six left."


    Under the bright light of day, Garen looked at the six people in front of him with a sharp gaze.


    "Of the twelve I taught in the past, only six remain, standing in front of me now."


    He sat on the smooth black wooden chair, his gaze sweeping over the six of them again and again.


    "We lost two in the operation before, and now in three short days, Lotus Pearl took out four of you??"


    "I made a mistake as the leader." Baldy stepped out and said with his head lowered, his voice muffled.


    "The battle with the Primary Colors ends here for now, soon someone will arrive to take over, you guys go down and rest properly, after some time I want to train you personally." Garen waved his hand, lazy to say any more.


    "Take over?" Baldy Kaedun exchanged a glance with his wife Hera, and they both saw confusion in each others¡¯ eyes."


    "There will be someone in charge of handing Lotus Pearl personally as well, you guys relax, alright, you can back down now." Garen was too lazy to explain it to them, if he did not know perfectly well that he could blame Baldy and the others, with his temper, these people would soon have quite the punishment in store.


    Although Baldy and the others were confused, they still retreated out of the room obediently.


    Once everyone had left, Garen sat alone in his room, the battle with the Primary Colors had already affected his family, so he needed to settle this as soon as possible, in order to prevent his family from getting hurt further.


    After he came back from the White Phoenix¡¯s base, he had passed all the non-essential information regarding the Two-Faced Waterbird Fist to Rod, so that Rod could pass it to his superiors, and in exchange, the Rexott Group had indeed sent their core team of guards, the War God Squad.


    Their name was very cliched and lame, but they were indeed a terrifyingly powerful team, as the team sent to take over the battle between the Primary Colors and the Nighthawks wholesale, the War God Squad had terrifying moves and all sorts of talents, most of their members were elites just beneath the special class mercenaries, and their leader was a special class mercenary who had faced Lotus Pearl before, codename Dragon Turtle. Such a team was extremely rare, even within the Primary Colors.


    "I¡¯ll leave Lotus Pearl completely to you guys." Garen seemed to be speaking to himself.


    "Relax. Since the group gave us this mission, we will be wholly responsible for it." A small and skinny man walked out from behind a vase to the side of the room, he twisted his body eerily, and all the bones in his body actually began to crack, until his height of less than 120cm quickly grew to 150, 160, 170, finally reaching 180cm!


    This man was wearing elastic white clothing, his head completely bald and hairless, his skin hair, and green veins visible all over his limbs.


    Just now Baldy Kaedun and the others had been in the room for so long, but they never noticed this person at all, his camouflage skills were practically terrifying.


    Garen appraised this person carefully, he was Dragon Turtle, and he did seem to be training some method to control his blood qi inside his body. It seemed like this world was not completely void of martial arts after all.


    "My main problem is that I can¡¯t find Lotus Pearl, her hiding skills are truly impressive, and that just happens to be not my forte," Garen spoke honestly, his martial power was terrifyingly powerful, but his opponent did not show up at all, hiding in the crowd like a needle in a haystack.


    "I fought Lotus Pearl before, back when he was a man." Dragon Turtle licked his lips, "He is indeed powerful, but we Rexott are not something Lotus Pearl can handle on his own. Do not worry."


    Garen nodded.


    The other person was part of the team sent by the Rexott Group to help, taking over the vengeance between the Nighthawks and the Primary Colors completely. But even so, he still had to make sure that such a big group did not go back on their word, there was also the possibility that the two sides would band together to split up his resources.


    "As long as you can find her, I will personally handle everything else."


    Vaguely, hints of cruelty emanated from Garen¡¯s body, and Dragon Turtle¡¯s pupils dilated slightly.


    ******************


    A hidden branch, in the Rexott Group


    In a fancy, luxurious office that seemed like a hall


    A golden ceiling, silver floors, and complicated silver patterns carved everywhere. Several large chandeliers hung all over the hall, creating a regular hexagon.


    Under the sparkling white light.


    Rod and another blonde man sat opposite each other at a long table underneath the chandelier.


    Other than them, there was no one else in the entire huge office.


    "Speak, what are you planning by using the one opportunity I gave you to mobilize Dragon Turtle secretly?" The blonde man put down his knife and fork gracefully, picking up the napkin beside him to wipe his mouth, and then looking up at Rod, who was also eating.


    "Have you looked at the information I gave you? Big Brother." Rod said straight-facedly, putting down his cutlery as well.


    "I¡¯ve seen it, but I don¡¯t understand your solution to it at all." The blonde man nodded, he had beautiful features, and a cold and graceful aura, but what was most special about him was the scent of danger he emitted, like a wild beast. He was one of the few people to make it to the top of the Rexott Group all on his own power, a terrifying character.


    "The Nighthawks and the Primary Colors were never at the same level, I don¡¯t need to explain to you which to choose, right? After I stabilize the Nighthawk King, I¡¯ll team up with the Primary Colors and surround him, isn¡¯t it the better choice to split him among us? This will also benefit our relationship with the Primary Colors."

 674 Approach 2

    Chapter 674: Approach 2


    Rod nodded in understanding.


    "This is indeed a very good choice. However¡­" He raised his head and met his brother¡¯s blue-black eyes. "However, after I saw that Nighthawk King with my eyes, I felt something very strange, he rushed into the White Phoenix¡¯s base all by himself, and utterly destroyed the whole place within a dozen or so minutes, even a wall of alloy a dozen centimeters thick could not stop him¡­ But that was not the scariest part, the scariest part is that calm and controlled air of his. It was because of that air that I chose him over the Primary Colors."


    The blonde man frowned, "Rod, I always thought you were a logical person."


    "Listen to me, Brother." Rod raised his voice, "The relationship between the Primary Colors and ourselves will not improve due to something like the Nighthawks alone, neither will it turn for the worse. The competition between groups cannot be decided so simply, forget the Nighthawks, even the entire White Phoenix is nothing more than an experimental company to the Primary Colors, their losses are just the losses of one faction."


    "You are ever so childish." The blonde man looked condescending, "Following your emotions and making a choice on an impulse, do you think you won¡¯t incur losses like that?"


    He picked up the glass and sipped some of the dark blue wine gracefully, then he put it back down.


    "The Nonia Airport Project, the Brazilian resources negotiation, the Morpheus incident last time. I always have hopes and expectations for you, Rod, but you disappoint me time and again."


    Rod¡¯s face instantly flushed red.


    "This time is different, I guarantee that!" He immediately remembered Garen¡¯s mysterious figure, as though he was in control of everything. The matters that his older brother mentioned were all his past failures. But this time was truly different, that feeling¡­ that strange feeling¡­


    "That¡¯s enough." The blonde man closed his eyes, "You must understand, I don¡¯t have all the say in the group either, although the resources you sent back this time were considerable, to ask us to officially make enemies of the Primary Colors on that alone¡­ I can tolerate your impulsiveness, but the others will not."


    He paused, "Grow up, go and learn something for real, don¡¯t always mix with those trashy parasites." He looked at Rod solemnly, "You are my, Parolan¡¯s brother, remember that. You are not young anymore."


    He stood up after saying that, walking away from his seat and towards the door at the side.


    "I won¡¯t support you anymore in this matter, consider this a lesson. Failure is not scary, the scary thing is being unable to learn anything from it."


    "But Brother¡­" Rod stood up abruptly.


    The man waved his hand, saying nothing more, and quickly vanished down the side door.


    Rod¡¯s expression was twisted, but there was still an indomitable spirit in his eyes.


    He¡¯s always like this, since they were young, always like this! There was an unknown impulse in his heart, something he could not name.


    "Since you won¡¯t support me, I¡¯ll do it myself!"


    It was not as though he had only been messing around these past few years, he had also accumulated some foundations and connections of his own, and as Parolan¡¯s younger brother, naturally many people in the group were willing to give him face.


    This was not only an acknowledgment of his own opinion, it was also an opportunity for him to truly prove himself in front of his brother!


    He hesitated for a moment, and instantly took out his handphone, quickly dialing a number.


    "Is that Sally? Get Seasnake out there, the mission on that side is temporarily on hold, and Seal as well, all of them move! Let¡¯s show the Nighthawks we mean it!"


    After a pause, "Also, just stop the drilling at the oil plant, and pull out all our funds. Find a seller and sell it off, use the price we estimated before, and do it as soon as possible, a little bit of loss is fine." This was his heaviest investment, resisting the almost physical pain he felt from it, Rod clenched his teeth. If he wanted to settle this matter, he would need a considerable sum in funds. The oil plant plan held all of the funds he had collected over the years, but if he wanted to settle this, and without his brother¡¯s support, he had no choice but to mobilize everything he had.


    "But¡­ if we pull back our funds now, we will incur heavy losses. We¡¯ve been doing this for so long, and invested so much money into it, as soon as we get the oil¡­" There was hesitation on the other side.


    "Obey my orders!"


    "...Very well."


    Without his brother¡¯s support, it would be impossible to get the Sleepless Faces from inside the group without sufficient funds.


    Putting down his phone, Rod¡¯s expression held an unprecedented determination.


    "I will show you, that I am no longer than useless Rod from before¡­"


    *******************


    The setting sun emitted a red glow, like a huge scarlet ball, half of its mass peeking above the horizon.


    The top of the rolling stone hills was dyed with a pretty red color, reflected on the surface of the lake beside it. The hills were all bald, covered with stone and soil, not a tree to be seen. There were rolling green fields between the bottom of the mountains and the water, under the shadow of the hills in the sunlight, their original lush green looked slightly dark.


    A blonde man dressed completely in white walked in the shadowed fields quietly, he had handsome features and a steady but sharp aura. It was Garen, who had just arrived in Berlin.


    He raised his head to look into the distance, there were also fields and mountaintops beyond the lake, and again, the top half of these mountains was dyed red in the twilight.


    "Where is this?" He frowned deeply, the fields he was treading underfoot felt wet and damp. Looking down, he saw that he was somehow barefoot, treading on the grass without shoes.


    "Black Sethe?" he asked quietly. There was no response.


    Walking to the lakeside, he crouched down and scooped up some water with his palm. The water was warm, and he could even see some small fish staring up at him curiously through the water.


    "We meet again." A familiar voice suddenly came from behind Garen.


    "Nadia!" He stood up abruptly, turning around, and saw that a young girl had appeared on the grassy field without him noticing.


    The girl was wearing a familiar mask, one half crying and the other half smiling, her long black hair was silky and smooth, drifting slightly to the left in the wind. She wore a short black skirt like a normal girl, black tights, black shoes, a black top, only her undergarments seemed to show a hint of white.


    Her pitch-black attire formed a stark contrast with her shining white skin. Her slender figure seemed even more sleek and pure against that long hair.


    But no matter how she looked, that strange male voice allowed Garen to immediately identify her as the Nine-Headed Dragon King Nadia.


    "The vector is approaching even more rapidly¡­" Garen stared at her.


    "Very soon, I will be here very soon." Nadia¡¯s voice under the mask grew deeper.


    Garen did not reply, this was not the first time the two of them crossed swords, both of them more or less understood the other¡¯s character, there was no need for nonsense.


    Garen¡¯s hands abruptly tapped the pressure points on his own chest.


    His body expanded as though inflated with air, and glowed slightly with a strange black metallic sheen.


    Of the Seven Star Life''s Secret Points, he instantly went from the first to the fourth star.


    Whoosh!


    A current erupted around him, blowing all the grass around him into prostration.


    On the other side, Nadia directly whipped out two sharp silver thorns, putting her hands together, the two thorns rapidly expanded and extended, somehow turning into a huge sword, three meters long. The blade and hilt were three meters together, and made her figure, that was less than 170cm, seem even more petite, while making the weapon seem even heavier and larger.


    With a whoosh, the blade swept into a large silver circle, pointing at the ground diagonally, and every bit of land or grass that touched the blade seemed to be cut in half with scissors, instantly snapping into two.


    The white shadow flashed.


    Clang!!!!


    Garen gripped the large blade with both hands, his body tilting and turning, moving his hands so that he could grip and overturn the blade, but he instantly felt his hands empty, the blade pulling away.


    "Ominous Space Path!" Nadia roared suddenly.


    Garen closed his eyes, his arms grabbing abruptly towards the front. He felt a sudden pain in his face and shoulder, but his hands also grabbed Nadia¡¯s shoulders.


    The fourth star¡¯s terrifying power grabbed onto his opponent¡¯s shoulder blades so hard they cracked.


    "Die!!"


    He howled, and put his hands together suddenly.


    Bam!!


    His palms crashed into each other fiercely, but all he had left in his hands was a black shirt.


    Opening his eyes, he saw Nadia wearing her white undergarment, landing lightly on an empty space more than ten meters away with the long sword in her hand.


    Garen touched his cheek, there was a tiny scratch there that hurt slightly, but it was also in the midst of healing rapidly. After the fourth star was activated, his recovery power had also reached such a high level.


    He moved his hands about a bit. Garen raised his arms straight to shoulder height, countless currents slowly gathering in his hands.


    "These past few days, I¡¯ve always been thinking about that martial arts you used back then." He put down his arms, the vapor gathering in his palms, forming two white whirlpools.


    "Perhaps I cannot reach the level you spoke of, but I have obtained something as well."


    Boom!!


    A spray of soil and grass exploded underneath his feet, revealing a huge crater. He seemed to become an after-image, appearing in front of Nadia as though he had teleported there.


    "Cloud Dragons!!"


    There were several white dragons made of cloud vapor twining around his palms and arms, a terrifying power coursing through Garen¡¯s large body, his palms crashed mercilessly into the huge blade.


    The moment when his palms met the blade, an invisible soundwave erupted, and the terrifyingly high-frequency tremors began to rapidly take apart the materials making up the blade in the blink of an eye.


    Crack¡­ Boom!


    The large blade exploded and broke as Nadia watched on in shock.


    Roar!!


    The nine white Cloud Dragons on Garen¡¯s arms roared as they rushed at Nadia, these Cloud Dragons were completely white, but strangely their eyes were all pure blue, a blue so pure it seemed to shine from within their bodies.


    Half of the blade spun over Nadia¡¯s shoulder, crashing into the mountain behind instantly, and exploded in a mist of red.


    The dragon figures quickly rushed at her face and eyes.


    "Split!" Nadia abruptly roared into the sky, her loud voice echoed with the terrifying roars of the Nine-Headed Dragon, and nine horrifying dragon shadows appearing behind her. They snaked towards the white Cloud Dragons.

 675 Mask 1

    Chapter 675: Mask 1


    The black and white dragon figures crashed and tangled with each other, forming a large whirlwind of black and white, surrounding the two of them in the center.


    Baroom!!!


    The area both of them were standing at exploded abruptly, a grey mushroom cloud shooting in the air, the cloud vapor spreading across the ground madly, covering the lake and fields that were previously there.


    The ground was shaking and splitting around them, revealing so many terrifying cracks, each pitch-black and seemingly bottomless.


    Barroom!!


    There was another intense explosion from the center. A white shadow shot out like lightning, crashing hard into the red mountain peak, and after that intense collision, half of the mountain top split off and crashed down loudly, bringing up a cloud of smoke and dust.


    Nadia flew out of the dust cloud, a scarlet red flame in her hands, there was a huge golden dragon eye opening slowly in the middle of the flames, ferocious and terrifying.


    "Burn!!" she yelled.


    The flames in her hand expanded fiercely, forming a cloud of flames that shot up high. Led by the dragon eye, it shot towards Garen at the mountain peak like an arrow.


    Roar!!


    A tremendous dragon roar rose into the sky, the red clouds of flame extended to several hundred meters and then rapidly condensing, actually trying to form a huge red One-Eyed Dagon.


    Just as the dragon¡¯s form was about to solidify, Nadia¡¯s expression froze abruptly.


    Her body began to fade, starting with her feet.


    "Too bad¡­" Underneath the mask, her eyes seemed to smile, "I got carried away, and forgot that this is merely a projection."


    On the mountain peak, Garen was embedded into the stone, covered in blood. He opened his eyes with difficulty, staring at Nadia in the distance.


    The red dragon¡¯s terrifying aura turned into a material power, pressing down hard on his body, rendering him immobile.


    "The next time we meet, you will die." Nadia¡¯s voice came from the distance.


    Roar!!


    The One-Eyed Dragon spanning several hundred meters long in the sky roared at him once, and erupted into a red cloud, dissipating rapidly.


    His vision went dark abruptly, and when Garen opened his eyes, he found himself sitting cross-legged in the pitch-black silent room, his body bleeding profusely but soundlessly, tinging the whole room with the smell of blood.


    ¡®You got hurt again.¡¯ Black Sethe instantly noticed something amiss.


    "Cough cough¡­" Garen covered his mouth, abruptly coughing out thick blood. "Just a bit more, hahaha¡­"


    This time, the power of Nadia¡¯s projection was at least above thirty points when fully erupted, even with the Seven Star Life''s Secret Point strengthening him, he was still overwhelmingly defeated. That last hit, especially, was completely overpowering, he could not even put up a fight, that heavy pressure made all the blood qi in his body freeze completely, unable to flow.


    ¡®You can still laugh about it¡­¡¯


    Bang bang bang!!


    Instantly, there were more eruptions of bloody mists around Garen¡¯s body, this was the terrifying after-effect of activating the fourth star.


    He resisted the pain, and quickly added his potential points to his Vitality.


    Bang bang!! The blood sprayed everywhere again.


    The after-effects and his injuries kept acting up, the wounds all over his body were stuck in the middle of healing and exploding, as his potential points were added to his Vitality one by one.


    Garen also quickly took out the Void Nucleus he obtained from before, putting it aside, this thing could help heal him as well.


    Black Sethe kept quiet the whole time, watching Garen fight against his injuries silently, until half an hour later, when the explosions on Garen¡¯s body finally stopped.


    The silent room was filled with a choking smell of blood, and there was blood all over the floor and walls as well.


    ¡®Nadia grows ever closer, and her powers grow stronger as well, how do you plan to solve this?¡¯ Black Sethe spoke.


    "Phew¡­ Do you have a plan?" Garen lay on his back, ignoring the blood on the floor, his entire body exhausted as he panted for breath.


    ¡®Rather than a plan, I might have a way to delay her.¡¯ Black Sethe said quietly, ¡®If the experiment proves successful, I might be able to temporarily reduce her approaching speed, this way her projections will not grow so much stronger so quickly either, and you might have time to think about other methods.¡¯


    Garen knew that he could not continue like this, Nadia¡¯s power grew stronger with every passing day, and almost every few days, she would challenge him. Such strong battles burned away his potential points, but even more troublesome was how they took up his time and energy, plus he had no idea when she would show up, if she suddenly appeared while he was fighting an enemy¡­


    Garen calmed down.


    "Tell me, then, since you¡¯ve already mentioned it, there must be a better way to stall her."


    ¡®Void Creatures are not like us, and Nadia is a classic traitor, so I can¡¯t completely guarantee that this method is correct either, it still requires a little experimenting.¡¯ Black Sethe quickly darted out of Garen¡¯s body, countless wisps of black smoke forming a red-eyed human figure.


    ¡®Recently I discovered an interesting phenomenon, the power left on those masks of yours seems to have so effect on that coin, I¡¯m not sure if it¡¯s a good or bad effect, but after I observed it carefully, I noticed something.¡¯


    "What is it?"


    ¡®The Sleepless Face masks seem to have some isolating effect on the vector ability emitted from the coin.¡¯ Black Sethe explained, ¡®The Sleepless Faces are mysterious masks that emit a force field so that you don¡¯t need to sleep, and the vector emitted by the coin needs to reach the dark territory that we cannot usually touch, yet this emission will sometimes be twisted and cut off by the effect of the Sleepless Faces.¡¯


    Garen checked his wounds this time, his body was grievously injured and together with the after-effects, they took up four potential points to heal, no matter how many potential points he had, he could not waste them just like that. The fights were getting more and more frequent as well, their difficulty rising in tandem.


    He liked to fight, but he was not in the habit of seeking death.


    "The Sleepless Faces can cut off the coin¡¯s vector emission?" Garen frowned, an item created in this world could affect something of the Nine-Headed Dragon King? He was highly doubtful.


    ¡®Just try and you¡¯ll know.¡¯


    Garen took the mask off his face, the coin and Demonic Book were taken out at the same time, and left inside this silent room.


    He stood up, walked to the wall furthest inside the room, and lightly pulled out a secret box from the wall, the Dragon Head Coin was inside, his incomplete Demonic Book placed underneath the coin.


    ¡®Try putting the mask on the coin.¡¯ Black Sethe stood beside Garen and advised him.


    Garen put the mask in his hand over the coin lightly.


    Hiss¡­


    There was a strange sucking noise, but it seemed almost like an illusion. Garen was shocked, even with his hearing ability, he could not tell where the sound was coming from.


    All of a sudden, he seemed to see the mask¡¯s mouth move slightly, and then everything went silent.


    "This mask¡­" It was his first time properly appraising the mask he had been using as a potential points provider.


    ¡®This mask must have quite the background, but we don¡¯t need to look too deeply into it, it¡¯s fine as long as it works.¡¯ Black Sethe nodded, ¡®Now the coin has been isolated, although I don¡¯t it know how effective it actually is, it must have some effect. You still have another mask as a substitute, right.¡¯


    Garen frowned and did not say anything, just staring at the mask carefully as he seemed to think about something.


    He turned around, returning to where he had been lying, and picked up a black purple Void Nucleus from the floor. This irregularly-shaped Void Nucleus was only as large as a fist, and looked like an unknown metallic mineral, it had coarse and irregular edges.


    Garen took the Void Nucleus back to the mask, and took the mask off the coin again.


    Bam!


    He crushed the Void Nucleus in his hand, grinding it into a very fine powder, and then he poured it onto a clean patch of the floor, wiping it over the floor evenly.


    Then he put the mask onto this mound of powder.


    Black Sethe watched his movements, and seemed to understand what he was doing.


    After a moment, Garen picked up the mask lightly.


    "As I thought!" Garen¡¯s expression lit up in understanding.


    Under the influence of the mask, the powder had formed a strange image, although it was just very little of the powder on the top of the mound, with Garen¡¯s eyesight and ability to discern things, he could still clearly see the tiniest changes.


    ¡®This is the effect of the mask.¡¯ Black Sethe saw it too, ¡®The Void Nucleus and the coin exist at the same wavelength, they have countless connections and influences with that wavelength, since the mask can affect the powdered Void Nucleus, that means it can also affect the coin.¡¯


    ¡®I can sense that this effect will not be very strong, probably because this mask is only a forgery.¡¯ Black Sethe continued, ¡®Then what if you stack two masks? You can try it out.¡¯


    Garen nodded.


    After more than ten minutes, Garen took the other mask from another secret location, and put both masks over the coin.


    An unspeakable sensation immediately wafted from them.


    ¡®Something seems to have changed¡­¡¯ Garen frowned.


    ¡®Looks like it has some effect.¡¯


    "Why don¡¯t we just destroy the coin?" Garen asked something he had been meaning to ask for some time.


    ¡®Destroy it? The material existence is unchanging, it just changes from one form to another, from gathered to scattered. Energy and material are often one and the same, the coin is still now a piece of gathered material used for tracking, but once we destroy it, the shards also have the same tracking effect, they will also be much harder to handle than the whole coin.¡¯


    "Can¡¯t we chase it out of this world altogether?" Garen frowned deeply.


    ¡®Unfortunately, we can¡¯t.¡¯ Black Sethe negated that idea. ¡®Maybe a good way would be to find more Sleepless Faces.¡¯


    With that he turned into black mist and darted back into Garen¡¯s body. When he spoke to Garen as a black figure, he was just controlling a substitute, in truth he never left Garen¡¯s body.


    ¡®More Sleepless Faces should be able to form a decent force field, that would have a certain effect, right now the effect is too weak.¡¯


    Garen nodded in understanding.


    ¡®If you want to utterly isolate the vector with the Sleepless Faces, and avoid Nadia¡¯s attacks or her tracking in this world, perhaps you need to find the true original mask of legends.¡¯ Black Sethe went straight to the point.


    "The Primal Masks, huh?" Garen understood.


    ****************


    Several days later¡­


    Garen sat in his study, looking at the two black boxes in front of him. Rod was sitting opposite him, looking rather pale and haggard, and quite exhausted.


    The morning light shone in beside them, falling at Rod¡¯s feet, reflecting off his black leather boots.


    Two subordinates stood guard outside the door, one of them closing the door lightly.


    "Here are two Sleepless Faces in exchange, we¡¯re already handling Lotus Pearl¡¯s side, we¡¯ve already more or less figured out where she¡¯s hiding and placed that area under lockdown, do you want to see it for yourself, sir?" Rod said quietly.


    Garen picked up a box lightly, opening it and looking at the slightly black mask lying in a bed of black silk inside. He touched it lightly with his finger, feeling a cool air dart into his finger, before he put down this box, satisfied.


    He picked up the other box, and opened it using the same steps, touching it with his finger. Suddenly, Garen frowned.


    No energy flowed into his fingers.


    "What¡¯s the matter?"


    Rod frowned as well.

 676 Mask 2

    Chapter 676: Mask 2


    Garen did not reply, he just picked up the mask and observed it carefully.


    "The mask is real, but¡­" The potential power inside had all been sucked away.


    This discovery made Garen¡¯s heart jolt slightly, this meant that someone other than the Black Uniforms knew about the secret of the potential value.


    "Nothing, it¡¯s just not quite what I expected." Garen put down the mask, his expression recovering.


    "Then all that¡¯s left now are Lotus Pearl and the information about the remaining masks." Rod¡¯s brow relaxed as he said in a soft voice, "According to our latest information, there is also one in Germany, while investigating, our people found out that there used to be a cannibalistic tree, it¡¯s not as tame as the Snake Tree, instead it¡¯s a truly terrifying Cannibal Tree, we had gotten this information from the famous adventurer Kenna, apparently the mask is buried underneath the Cannibal Tree."


    "Kenna?" When Garen heard this name, he instantly thought of that adventurer he had released in the end back in Africa, he had let the few of them go since AG asked him to, and settled the incident with killing Levi and obtaining the Stone Clock of Fortune.


    He did not know how Kenna¡¯s friend was related to AG, but the matter ended like that.


    "You heard of him?" Rod laughed, "Speaking of which, that Kenna is a pretty interesting fella. He seems to be involved in a lot of legends everywhere."


    ************************


    Bam!


    A gunshot.


    "Run!!"


    In a valley in Germany, two men in camouflage were chasing a man and woman relentlessly.


    Of the two, the man had short brown hair, his face covered with scratches and scars. The woman was dressed in skin-tight black clothes, her movements agile as she occasionally ran while plastered to the valley¡¯s mountain walls, like a monkey.


    "Damned Mole!" The man panted as he cursed.


    He was Kenna, after hearing about the Cannibal Tree in Berlin, his old habit acted up again, and he could not help but give chase, unfortunately, he ended up unearthing an extremely large drug manufacturing organization -- Halo.


    After stumbling into Halo¡¯s bounds, he discovered a shocking truth, the true Cannibal Tree was being controlled by Halo, other than drugs, they were actually researching an extremely dangerous air pollutant virus, and this virus was based off the Cannibal Tree¡¯s sap.


    After he met a woman working undercover there, Cole, the two of them planned to wreak havoc on the base together, but to their surprise, their plans were discovered first, and now the two of them were on the run.


    It took at least a day and a night to reach the nearest town from here, they were surrounded by flat forest floors, and there was surveillance everywhere, so it was practically impossible to escape. Hence, the two of them were in such a tight spot. Faced with the powerful drug cartel, they were just normal people with a little combat skill, so they were no match at all.


    Bang bang bang!!


    Three consecutive shots rang out, and Kenna dodged by the slightest of hairs, rolling onto the ground. He then rolled into a crevice in the mountain wall, after Cole helped him up, they darted into a cave in the wall, and disappeared quickly.


    Of their pursuers, Mole, who was in the lead, reloaded his gun, his eyes sweeping the quiet valley like a hawk. These woods looked like a normal forest, and was the left-most part of the valley, there was also a small stream nearby, gurgling away.


    He could barely see anyone at all, so he gripped a pendant hanging in front of his chest, and closed his eyes.


    After a moment, he opened his eyes abruptly.


    "Over there! Let¡¯s go!" He ordered at his subordinate next to him.


    The other person followed closely without a word.


    Mole was the strongest captain in Halo, he was immensely skilled in tracking, and that was also his foundation to stay relevant in the organization.


    The two of them had been chasing Kenna and Cole for half a month now, twisting back and forth, and now they had been led into the valley by those two, playing hide and seek for so long. It was practically an insult to his reputation in the organization.


    Kenna and Cole hid in the cave, carefully and quickly spraying a small bottle of custom-made liquid to mask the scent they were emitting.


    "Guess we¡¯ve temporarily avoided Mole¡¯s tracking, his tracking is based on the scent particles in the air, since we¡¯re hiding it to this extent, we definitely won¡¯t be found."


    The woman Cole said quietly.


    The two of them were pressed against each other tightly in the small crevice in the stone wall, and they used a large stone plank to fill up the entrance to the area, this was also a result of Kenna¡¯s being inspired by the Stone Clock of Fortune incident.


    The two of them were pressed tightly against each other, Cole¡¯s protruding chest pressed into a seductive shape.


    Her face was red as she met Kenna¡¯s eyes unknowingly.


    "Who knows how long we have to stay here¡­" Kenna tried to make small chat, the two of them had supported each other through many life-and-death situations over the past few days.


    "Mole will soon send large parties out searching here¡­" Cole said quietly.


    Their breaths were about to touch. Cole could clearly feel Kenna slowly bulging down there, and her face grew even redder.


    "There must be a way¡­ as long as we¡­" Before Kenna could finish, Cole blocked his mouth with hers.


    Their tongues touched, madly intertwining.


    Their interactions over the past few days had long since bred an admiration for the other in both their hearts, Kenna¡¯s ability to joke even in the face of life and death, and his calm demeanor, as well as Cole¡¯s determination and flexibility in the face of adversity, had both become the most attractive traits in each others¡¯ eyes.


    After some tossing and turning, the two of them hugged each other tightly in the cramped space, their clothes falling rapidly, the bra strap snapping outright, as though time was slowing down.


    Kenna seemed to have returned to the most unforgettable time in his life, when the love of his life was still alive, he hugged Cole in his arms tightly, and pushed himself in deeply, merging the two into one.


    The pants that should have been intense were suppressed in the crevice.


    Mmgh!


    Cole could not help a groan at that sudden force.


    Their sweat mingled together, spreading everywhere together with the smell of that custom-made liquid.


    After goodness knew how long. The area in the crevice fell silent again.


    The two of them lay together in each others¡¯ embrace.


    "I won¡¯t be scared even if I died the very next moment¡­" Cole said quietly.


    After Mole and his boss found out about the Cannibal Tree¡¯s secret, they sent out many elites with special powers, Mole was just one of them, but his body was much stronger than average people¡¯s. It seemed that he had been strengthened by the virus obtained from the Cannibal Tree. This virus was terrifyingly contagious, and all who were infected had to obey the root of it all, the mother. Meanwhile, the one who absorbed and infected the mother, was none other than Mole¡¯s boss, the boss of the entire drug cartel Halo, Allen Hill. And Halo seemed to be related to a very famous international group as well.


    "Don¡¯t worry, there must be a way¡­" I will never let the virus spread! Kenna comforted Cole, his gaze finally turning determined.


    Cole¡¯s mission was to investigate the Cannibal Tree¡¯s general location, and to destroy the root of the virus. That was her job as a spy of the international police. It was also her revenge for her older brother¡¯s death at the hands of Halo.


    "There¡¯s no way, unless we find the source of the virus, the Cannibal Tree, it doesn¡¯t matter how many samples we destroy."


    The two of them had considered many plans, and destroyed many of Halo¡¯s samples of the virus. But they still could not prevent even more samples from being shipped all over the world in anticipation of some dastardly plot.


    After they were silent for a long time, Kenna hugged Cole tightly in his arms.


    "There¡¯s no choice, looks like we have to go to that person." Kenna said heavily, "To be honest, unless we have no choice, I really don¡¯t want to approach that person."


    He recalled his experience last time, with the mysterious AG, the ancient witchcraft, the attack of the strange beasts, and that powerful man who eventually killed the Levi, that leader of the militia, powerful and brutal, dangerous and terrifying.


    If it weren¡¯t for the little connection he had with AG, he would have died at that man¡¯s hands long ago.


    That man would surely be very interested in the Sleepless Faces¡­ that legendary antique of old.


    Kenna decided. Even if he knew it was dangerous to make contact with that person, it was for Cole, he could not just watch her die. If he could stop her revenge, he just had to help her with all he had!


    In the incident with the Stone Clock of Fortune, he was chased to the edge of his life by that man, that was practically a nightmarish monster, so scary it made him shake!


    Then he thought about the Halo boss, Allen Hill, the monster who had turned himself into something neither man nor ghost.


    "We have no other choice now, although I really don¡¯t want to approach that person, now he¡¯s our only hope." Kenna took out his satellite phone, quickly searching up the number he wanted to forget the most.


    "Who are you talking about?" Watching Kenna¡¯s movements, Cole frowned slightly. Halo was the most mysterious and strongest organization in Germany, they controlled the number one mercenary group in Germany, and was even more powerful and mysterious than the Bailey Group and the others in second and third place. What other organization could match up to such a power? And one in Germany, no less?


    "Don¡¯t worry." Kenna did not elaborate. He just wrote a long and detailed message, explaining everything simply, emphasizing the Cannibal Tree and the Sleepless Faces as the two key terms, and then looking at that number, he pressed ¡®send¡¯ hard.


    Soon enough, the words ¡®Successfully Sent¡¯ appeared.


    Kenna eased his breathing, and began to wait quietly.


    **********************


    The outskirts of Berlin


    Inside a study in a mansion


    Garen sat beside the table, looking at the screen on his phone, a hint of a smile on his face.


    There was a recently received message indicated on his phone, with an unknown sender.


    He picked up the phone, and upon reading the contents of the message, his smile deepened.


    "Looks like this is a great chance to intervene¡­"


    "Oh?" Rod looked confused.


    Garen handed Rod the phone, and within ten minutes, they found out whose number it was sent from.


    "The sender is Kenna, it¡¯s his satellite phone." Rod received the information from his subordinate, and said solemnly as he put down the phone.


    "Although I don¡¯t know where he got my number, but¡­ regardless of the method, as long as we achieve our goal¡­" Garen laced his fingers.


    "We¡¯ve determined the location, do you want to go there?" Rod raised his head to look at Garen.


    "Of course."

 677 Interference 1

    Chapter 677: Interference 1


    Valley in the outskirts, Morraso Province, Germany


    Three mountains squeezed together, forming a valley shaped like two sides of a triangle(1), there were neat green forests in the middle, and a small stream twisting down the yellow dirt roads, going through the entire valley.


    It was noon, and the clear sound of an engine came from the valley road, a convoy of military green jeeps was neatly driving down the yellow dirt roads.


    The white clouds swayed slightly in the wind, the remaining sky was completely blue. The sun shone through everything, such that nothing was hidden.


    Garen pulled back his gaze, looking at the driver in front of him.


    "There¡¯s still another half hour or so, boss."


    The one driving the car was one of the Nighthawks, Lotus Pearl was handed to Rod¡¯s subordinates, Rexott was communicating with the Primary Colors, Lotus Pearl was also testing the waters with Rod¡¯s subordinates, Seasnake and Seal, it would probably be some time before they reached a decision, even if they said they had already gotten Lotus Pearl¡¯s general position.


    Garen nodded. Moving his gaze outside the car, he watched as the valley fell back in front of his eyes. He could see grey-brown houses by the roadside, or even farms and fields.


    "Tell me about this Allen Hill."


    Rod sat next to him, and laughed.


    "He¡¯s a friend of mine since young, but we¡¯re not that close, when we were young we had a lot of fun together, but once we grew up, many things changed. We haven¡¯t met for many years as well, I didn¡¯t know how he¡¯d developed, if it weren¡¯t for this investigation, I would not know that he had so much hidden away. To think he¡¯s the boss of Germany¡¯s number one, Halo."


    He reminisced.


    "I remember he was always a very capable and ambitious guy, he was always smiling, but no one could guess what he was hiding inside. He kept his cards close to his chest."


    "How strong is his faction?" Garen went straight to the point.


    "The main reason Halo can be number one is that they are themselves a special forces mercenary group. Well, I call it a mercenary group, but it¡¯s actually just three people, Allen Hill himself should be Halo in the flesh, then there¡¯s Mole, and the last one is Su Lanjing." Rod introduced them all.


    "The name sounds Asian?"


    "That¡¯s right, an Asian immigrant to Germany, there are many like that, you know that." Rod shrugged.


    Garen nodded, when Rod came out with him today, he had just brought one person with him, a black woman codenamed Black Date, she looked very efficient.


    Garen, on the other hand, brought ten Nighthawks in three cars, ready for anything.


    The two of them chatted about the Halo organization¡¯s situation, the driver chipping in occasionally. The car twisted and turned with the road, and finally slowly stopped in front of a large grille gate made of wood.


    The large grille gate blocked the road, and there were two men in green standing guard in front of it.


    Seeing the cars approach, the two of them walked up to them one after the other, the first one chatted with the driver of the first car, and the other picked up his walkie-talkie, seemingly talking to someone through it.


    *************


    On the right side of the valley road, there were two inconspicuous figures sprawled on a slanting grassy field by the side of the mountain.


    The two of them watched the situation down on the road from a distance, one of them was Kenna and the other Cole, both of them wore simple grass-woven hats. They had a large broken branch covering over their bodies, and each of them held a small telescope.


    "They¡¯re here," Kenna said in a soft voice, looking at the convoy below. "I have no idea if it was a right choice or not to lure the Nighthawk King here."


    "This might be a new development." Cole comforted him calmly beside him, "If you hadn¡¯t informed the Nighthawk King, then Mole would not have been summoned back so suddenly, and we would not have been able to get away from there so easily."


    "Perhaps. But I keep getting the feeling that things will get even worse¡­" Kenna frowned tightly.


    "Just stay back and watch. Find a chance, it would be best if we could break away from the valley barricade, we can¡¯t stay stuck here forever," Cole said softly, this valley seemed normal, but in truth, the whole valley was surrounded by Halo¡¯s people, they searched everywhere, and had many surveillance machines in hidden places, even some of the animals and insects here had been tampered with, so it was not easy to get out.


    The two of them lay on the grassy slope, watching as the people from the Halo base behind the gate invited the green jeep convoy inside.


    A blonde man with a crew cut walked out, laughing loudly, and hugged a man who had gotten out of the convoy tightly. The two of them seemed to be close, chatting about something.


    "Shit¡­ They actually have people who are close with Allen Hill!" Kenna¡¯s expression changed drastically.


    "Don¡¯t panic¡­ It¡¯s not as bad as you think." But Cole noticed a tiny clue.


    ************


    "Hahaha!! Rod Crusoe! How many years has it been?" The blonde crew cut laughed as he enveloped Rod in a bear hug.


    "It¡¯s probably been four years, what a long time. I think the last time I saw you was in Chicago." Rod laughed as well. There was a large contrast between their sizes, he was 170cm, more than 130kg, compared to the other person, he was a bean sprout.


    The blonde crew cut was about two meters tall, looking at his powerful muscles, his shoulders considerably wider than Rod¡¯s, he should be at least 170 or 180 kg.


    "Now that you¡¯ve come to my turf this time, I must greet you well, why don¡¯t you introduce us? This is?" Allen Hill turned around, his gaze sweeping across Garen who was behind Rod, just a light glance, and his gaze froze, focused on Garen¡¯s body that was about the same size as him. As for the other person¡¯s strange mask, he narrowed his eyes slightly, but did not ask anything.


    "This is Garen, Garen Thomas, my friend." Rod hurriedly smiled as he patted Garen¡¯s shoulder while he introduced him. "He came over this time to see what the famous Halo organization is like."


    "Mn, you mentioned that over the phone, relax! I¡¯ve got everything arranged. Rod¡¯s friend is my, Allen Hill¡¯s friend." Allen Hill thumped his chest and laughed loudly, he was just wearing a white open-chested shirt, white long trousers, and leather boots, looking nothing like a person who spent most of their time in the valley. He looked more like a normal tycoon on vacation in a seaside city.


    "Then I¡¯ll be troubling you." Garen nodded and smiled.


    Every few steps they took, there were people from Halo standing neatly in two rows beside the road. There was one person in charge of leading Garen¡¯s and Rod¡¯s subordinate aside to rest, while the three leaders went through another large door, walking straight into a forest path on the left of the road.


    The path was covered with white pebbles, it looked especially delicate and fresh, twining through the woods and stretching inwards.


    Rod and Allen Hill walked ahead, talking about their childhood memories, while Garen stayed back purposely to watch the surroundings.


    There were inconspicuous bird nests, bee hives, between the tree branches, in the grass, or even the armadillo that flashed past. He could sense tiny man-made surveillance equipment on all these plants and animals.


    Garen¡¯s eyesight was outstanding, through the mask, his eyes could clearly see the traces of these surveillance equipment.


    The three of them went through the woods, reaching a white mansion built deep inside the woods.


    The black metal door opened automatically, guards came from either side to check some unknown equipment, and then they saw a black statue facing the back of the door turn slightly. It was a statue of a young girl holding a water vase, the vase¡¯s mouth faced the three of them from the side, and a red light lit up inside before extinguishing immediately.


    The three of them walked past the metal door, lush blooming gardens on either side, the green vines and the red and white flowers fighting for attention, dense and beautiful.


    Walking through the beautiful twisting garden, and to the end of the pebbled road, what appeared before the three was a white castle-like estate with a pyramidal roof.


    Two pretty women dressed as maids opened the door respectfully, bowing.


    "Welcome, Mr Rod, Mr Garen."


    The crisp voices showed that these two were no older than 25. Their maid uniforms were obviously altered, it looked as though there was just a simple piece of black and white cloth covering their upper bodies, while their lower halves were barely concealed by a little bit of skirt, extremely revealing.


    "Welcome to my kingdom, hahahaha!" Allen Hill laughed confidently, "Don¡¯t think this is a simple estate, the truth is there¡¯s something deeper to it." He stretched out his finger mysteriously and pointed downwards.


    "Underground?" Rod cocked an eyebrow.


    "Exactly!" Allen Hill nodded with a smile, "I have the newest hallucinogenic powders here, do you want to try some? I guarantee it¡¯s pure. It¡¯s not like the stuff on market." This was a drug processing company anyway, he had plenty of that stuff.


    The three of them walked into the estate, sitting in the luxurious golden hall, beautiful near-naked maids offered them fruits, cakes, and drinks. And then they left under Rod¡¯s reluctant gaze.


    "They¡¯re all top quality¡­" Rod licked his lips.


    "Hehe, they¡¯re a hundred percent obedient, if you like them, I have a pair of jewels here as well! Twins, they¡¯re extremely rare in this world, the sisters have a certain degree of telepathy, satisfaction guaranteed!" Allen Hill introduced in a low but confident voice.


    "Oh?" Rod¡¯s eyes shone, that was his favorite type, but since Garen was here on business, he resisted the urge to immediately enjoy himself right now.


    "Let¡¯s settle business first." He gulped, picked up a drink and finished in one swallow.


    "Business?" Allen Hill stopped smiling, waving his hand and indicating that he was all ears.


    "My friend Garen wants a tour of your base, he¡¯s an extremely passionate collector, and is highly interested in the legendary Sleepless Faces." Putting down his drink, Rod briefly introduced their reason for coming here.


    "Sleepless Faces? You mean that thing¡­" A hint of understanding flashed through Allen Hill¡¯s eyes, "But I don¡¯t have much to do with that thing here. If you want the best drugs, you¡¯ve come to the right place. If you need the world¡¯s best beauties, come here, and I can also satisfy your desires. But if you want that thing, there¡¯s nothing I can do." He splayed his hands, shrugging, "Sorry I can¡¯t be of more help to you."


    Translator¡¯s notes:


    Lit. shaped like the word ÈË

 678 Interference 2

    Chapter 678: Interference 2


    "Alright alright. We''re all friends so we don''t need to hide things from each other. Rexott, I have my own intel and network. I¡®ve already heard of some of the research you''re talking about," Rod confessed, "The mask is buried under the roots. You can send your people to pick it up and as an exchange, everything is negotiable."


    The smile on Allen Hill''s face slipped away.


    "Frankly speaking, I didn''t discover the mask there. That much is the truth. As to where I obtained the rumors regarding the mask underneath the tree? Such a rumor is very suspicious. Rod, we''re all old friends. You know that I''ve never lied to my friends and would help you all to the best of my capabilities! However, I''m really helpless on this issue."


    The atmosphere in the living room became stale.


    Rod quickly smiled to ease the mood.


    "Since you insist that it isn''t there. I''ll believe you. Perhaps there''s some sort of misunderstanding in the rumor."


    "That''s more like it," Allen smiled once more, "I''ll bring you guys to visit my latest water processing line later. It''s definitely one of the best in the world! All of you can buy it directly from me and I''ll sell you at a loss! Since we''re all¡­"


    "The only reason I came here is for the mask," a deep voice suddenly interrupted their conversation.


    It was Garen.


    He who had not spoken at all from the very beginning had ruined Allen Hill''s moment as he stared pointedly at Allen Hill through the mask.


    Allen''s smile froze and Rod''s smile looked very awkward as well.


    "I''ve told you that I don''t have any mask here. Where did you obtain such a rumor?" Allen frowned as he stared at Garen, trying to see the face under the mask.


    "Where I heard it doesn''t matter. What matters is you need to hand over the mask to me. I can owe you a favor," Garen said softly. Although his voice was soft, it gave off an oppression so strong that everyone felt it was very forceful.


    "I''ve said that there''s no mask here. Do you understand human language?" Allen Hill''s face turned sour without any hesitation.


    "Calm down calm down!!" Rod immediately tried to calm both of them down, "We''re all allies here so there''s no need to make the situation worse."


    "Since Rod is here, I''ll do him a favor and give you another chance," Garen''s gaze turned cold, "Hand over the mask."


    "Or else what?" Allen Hill stood up as he casually ripped off his shirt, revealing his muscles. He pushed Rod away. "How dare you threaten me under my territory?"


    "Give me some face. Calm down!!" Rod finally shouted, "We''re all allies! Can''t we sit down and settle this nicely?"


    Allen Hill started to laugh coldly as he ignored Rod''s yelling. He walked directly to and stood in front of Garen and prodded Garen''s nose with his finger.


    "Out of respect to Rod, you! Get the fuck out! Now! I will overlook anything that made me unhappy a few moments ago."


    Garen stood up and both of them stared at each other in the eyes. Garen''s height was similar to Allen Hill''s.


    Boom!!


    Suddenly a thunder-like explosion roared.


    Allen Hill, who had been standing in front of Garen, was sent flying out like a cannonball. His body crashed onto the villa''s left wall and was stuck in it with his limbs spread wide.


    Ahh!!


    As the female servant screamed, Rod''s jaw dropped as he didn''t know how to react at all. As he was about to walked up to them and stopped them from quarreling, Garen''s right hand moved at lightning speed and gave him a good punch. His right hand was like a sledgehammer as it descended on Allen Hill''s body. That instant explosion made him shiver from head to toe and his ears were still buzzing from the explosion even now.


    Ugh¡­


    Allen Hill moaned as he held his head and climbed down from the wall. He wasn''t injured from the attack at all.


    However, the moment he stabilized himself, he was then picked up by Garen by the head and slammed into the wall once more.


    Boom!!


    A hole was punched through the villa''s wall, revealing the sunlight from the outside.


    "Kill him!!" Allen Hill shouted as he struggled. He was trying his best to get away from Garen''s grasp but to no avail. His modified strength was no match for Garen.


    "Kill him!!! Su Lanjing!!" He screamed.


    He was then held up in the sky by Garen.


    Boom.


    A faint gunshot was heard.


    Garen turned around as his hand that which was holding Allen Hill up was shot with a dark red bullet, which seemed to be glowing red.


    Suddenly, a sparked flashed and the black bullet exploded.


    Garen didn''t react to the explosion as he carried Allen Hill towards where the shots were fired.


    The micro explosions from the bullets were completely ineffective against him.


    Although Rod had seen Garen''s horrifying side against White Phoenix, he still couldn''t believe his eyes when he saw it again.


    Allen Hill started to squirm in Garen''s grasp like an eel and landed softly on the floor.


    As he stood up firmly, he glared at Garen. His right hand expanded and the layer of skin strangely peeled off, transforming his right hand into a black squid-like tentacle. The tentacle was a few meters long and was as agile as a whip as it came after Garen.


    The sticky fluid that came off from the tentacle dripped onto the floor. White smoke started to appear and a rotten smell started to spread around the room.


    Clap!


    Garen grabbed hold of the tentacle with one hand and pulled it with all his might as he slammed Allen Hill onto the ground like a heavyweight.


    Boom!!!


    The floor was pierced through and a crater was formed in the cement floor as rubble flew everywhere.


    "Have mercy!! Have mercy!!!" Allen Hill begged with a rather intelligible tone. A huge amount of red and white fluids were flowing out from his body. Some of them even splattered the wall, rotting into it holes of different sizes.


    Garen stopped his action and threw Allen Hill to one corner like a ragged cloth.


    This guy had undergone through some biosurgery and turned himself into something inhuman. However, his strength was hovering somewhere around two points, which equaled to about one ton of force. What made him terrifying was the sticky fluid with a strong rotting capability.


    Even Garen, who had seven points of Vitality, felt his hand was on fire when he grabbed hold of the tentacle. It was as if there were countless small worms burrowing into his skin and it was very uncomfortable.


    He casually wiped off the fluid on his hand. He then noticed that the door of the villa had been breached as a swarm of mechanical weapons aimed at him. There even were sniper rifles'' red dots covering his entire body.


    "Consider it once more. I''m not interested in your research. Hand over the mask and I''ll let this off out of respect for Rod," Garen stared at Allen Hill who was trying to get up.


    His control was very good as the fluid didn''t hit anyone in the vicinity. Instead, only the furniture and sofa was stained.


    Cough cough cough¡­.


    Allen Hill was coughing badly as his eyes were filled with blood. As his head had been hit severely, his skin had ripped apart, revealing his white skull. White fluids kept flowing out from the side of his lips, which seemed to be a fluid with stronger corrosion.


    "We''ll stop here for the day."


    Garen was lazy to search for the mask himself, hence he looked at Rod.


    The latter was filled with hopelessness. Originally, he planned to deal it out peacefully and wished to discuss with Garen in hope that he had full authority in this matter. He didn''t expect the situation would turn out like this.


    "Let''s go," Garen patted his hands. His shirt was completely clean as if he didn''t fight someone at all. His black suit was in perfect condition.


    On the other hand, Allen Hill''s white jeans were ragged and smeared with dirt.


    Two of them walked out of the door.


    A black woman appeared behind Rod out of nowhere. She stared at Garen, then Allen who was on the floor before she followed behind Rod without a word.


    The gunners who were by the door aimed anxiously at Garen, Rod and the woman. Some of them were so nervous that they gulped, fingers stiff and trembling.


    Allen Hill who was on the ground secretly opened his mouth as he aimed at Garen''s back. Inside his mouth was a rolled green tongue similar to that of a frog as he glared at Garen sinisterly.


    Pew!!


    A faint shockwave was directed at Garen''s back.


    Roar!!


    Garen turned his head as the dragon''s shadow flashed, creating a shockwave around him. It was as if the roar of a monster had pushed the dark green tongue behind him away from his back and diverted it to the oil painting on the wall.


    Garen scoffed as he stared at Allen Hill who was on the ground. He then walked out of the main door while Rod and the woman followed tightly from behind.


    The gunners who were by the door were terrified by the roar. Their legs gave in as they trembled on the ground.


    As Allen Hill stared at Garen''s back, he tried to hold himself up but to no avail as his legs were trembling very hard despite his attempts to regain control of them.


    He was trying his best to suppress the fear in him but the fear instilled by the roar kept reappearing in his mind.


    "Damn it!" he slammed the ground as he fell to the ground once more.


    Two people came down from the second floor of the villa.


    One of them was Mole while the other was a female. Both of them were in white shirts and their expressions were horrified.


    "My custom made bullets can''t even pierce through his skin¡­" the lady seemed to be in her thirties. She had average facial figures and slightly yellow skin. She was obviously from the East.


    "I admit defeat¡­" Allen Hill moaned painfully, "Nighthawk King¡­" He was trying so hard to suppress the fear in his heart that he didn''t realize his voice was trembling.


    "Are we just going to hand it over to him just like that? The mask has completely fused with the roots. We can''t take it out without damaging it!" Mole walked over to hold up Allen with a pale face.


    "Give it to him! I don''t want to see him anymore! He''s the definition of crazy....!" Allen Hill didn''t realize that deep in his heart, he was so traumatized that he couldn''t win Garen at all. That man''s strength was like an inflating balloon, which kept getting bigger and bigger. The more he thought about it, the more he didn''t want to get himself into it.


    Unconsciously, the seed of fear had been planted deep into his soul by Garen.

 679 Increment 1

    Chapter 679: Increment 1


    On the journey back, the sound of the car engine would grumble into the car through the half-open window, allowing cool air to flow into the car.


    Garen sat in the back of the car together with Rod without any bodyguards. Rod knew that the safest place to be was beside Garen.


    "Frankly speaking, we don''t have to make such a scene. He would''ve accepted our proposal if I''d spoken nicely to him," Rod smiled wryly.


    Garen glanced at him and laughed.


    "I represent the combat club and the Nighthawks. More importantly, I am representing myself as a powerful individual while you''re representing Rexott. No matter if it''s you or me, both of us are stronger and have a larger background than him. Do you think he would fight back? He wouldn''t even dare to speak up."


    "No matter how you look at it, he was once my best friend¡­" Rod sighed. This was the first time he''d seen Garen''s prowess close-up. As a commoner and a man, he was very eager to obtain such an overwhelming strength as well.


    "Oh right. Garen, I heard that you are trying to take in the second batch of disciples. I was wondering if you could take me in?" he looked eagerly at Garen, "Your martial art, I was wondering if I could learn it?"


    "Of course," Garen relaxed and smiled, "I invented two major sects, which are the Two-Faced Water Bird Fist and Shooting Shadow Secret Technique. You''re free to choose either one of them. Didn''t I give you a set of information last time?"


    "I''ve studied it for a long time but I still don''t get it?" Rod lowered his head in shame, "There are a lot of aspects that I managed to scratch the surface of."


    "Coincidentally there''s a training meeting soon, you can join us. The two major sects that I''ve created will require my guidance before you can enter the elementary level. No one can just learn it that easily," Garen nodded.


    After interacting with Rod for several days, Garen had a few vague impressions of what kind of person he was.


    This guy didn''t seem to have any common sense and would act based on his feelings. As a decision maker, he frequently made the wrong decision and the consequences were sometimes dire. Furthermore, Rod didn''t have any shrewdness. Simply put in a rather blunt way, he was not ambitious, had no clear objective and would change his mind when he felt like it. It would be impossible for him to achieve something big.


    However, the good part was that he treated everyone sincerely and didn''t have any hidden intentions.


    That was the reason Garen was willing to interact with him. No one would like having a friend who had hidden agendas all day long.


    "That''s great! Don''t worry! I may be bad at everything but I''m very confident in my will!" Rod thumped his chest in affirmation of his confident words.


    "I hope so¡­" Garen shook his head.


    "What''s with that gaze!?" Rod was unhappy.


    ***************


    At a slope by the hill, Kenna and Cole looked at each other as they watched the team of cars and the Halo Base below preparing to go to war. They felt that they''d miscalculated their plan.


    "Perhaps the Halo are frightened?!" Kenna couldn''t help but speak out.


    Cole smiled wryly.


    "It''s not that¡­ They''re frightened of being attacked once more¡­ Didn''t you hear the alarm earlier?"


    "That owner is the one that will attack if things don''t go his way.." Kenna nodded, "What should we do now? The cannibal tree research will be destroyed¡­"


    "It''s not that simple. Don''t worry about it." Kenna shook his head, "The mask and the Cannibal Tree have fused together as one. In addition to that, based on my initial hypothesis, the Cannibal Tree is using the mask as its core. If one were to remove the mask, it would definitely kill the Cannibal Tree. Allen Hill will not give up this easily, as this is equivalent to taking away his life!"


    "Does this mean they will eventually fight?"


    "Definitely," Cole nodded in confidence, "I fear that Halo hasn''t realized what actually happened. If they were to realize it, they might really fight to the death with the Nighthawks."


    "I think we should update the Nighthawks as soon as possible," Kenna inhaled deeply.


    "There''s no need for that," Cole shook his head, "It''s best to let Nighthawks suffer some losses. Once both parties have been weakened, we will have the chance to rise above them!" She smiled shrewdly.


    Kenna knew that she had remembered her brother who had been killed by Halo. He reached out his hand and gently hugged her.


    "We shall do as you wish. We will wait and see."


    "Yeah."


    ************


    Evening hour.


    Garen was sitting quietly inside the secret chamber. The blood stains in the room had already been cleaned up by a specialized mute female servant.


    He closed his eyes tightly as his body emitted a blue aura invisible to mortals. This aura spread throughout every inch of the room as it suppressed the black aura emitted from the walls.


    As a commoner who had trained himself to this level, even if he had the help of his ability, he didn''t know how many life and death situations he''d been through. One could say that he was very lucky to be able to reach this state.


    It was technically similar to the Nine Head Dragon Queen Nadia. However, her experience was much worse than his.


    Garen closed his eyes tightly but he still could feel the token inside the wall before him releasing a faint aura. That aura was weak but tough, like a small stream in a field which flowed steadily without any hint of drying up.


    "This is through suppression with the help of the mask. The coin''s aura becomes stronger when Nadia is near," Garen muttered.


    He opened his eyes, stood up and walked slowly to the other end of the room. He reached his hand out to the usual place on the wall to pull out a small box, where the coin and Magic Code Notebook were hidden.


    Furthermore, three additional Sleepless Face Masks were stacked together on top of the coin. With the superposition of the magnetic waves of three masks, the changes became more and more obvious.


    He took the two newly obtained masks, closed his eyes and nibbled the corner of the masks.


    Two huge amounts of cooling aura immediately flowed out of the mask, as if a flash flood had occurred.


    Glancing at the attribute pane in his vision, his potential points were skyrocketing.


    It took some time to completely absorb the aura within the mask.


    After absorbing the two masks which he¡¯d obtained from Rod, his potential points had skyrocketed from one hundred plus points to three hundred plus points. Although only one of the masks contained potential points, it was able to give him two hundred plus potential value.


    Garen dropped the mask back on the table and turned to at his Attribute Pane.


    Garen Thomas.


    Strength 7. Agility 7. Vitality 7. Intelligence 7. Potential 36248%. Soul Limit 30.


    Soul Seed: Northern Trident Frost Fire True Water Evil Technique.


    ¡®Void Hunter: Grade 1.''


    ¡®Hellfrost Peacock Technique: Grade one elementary level (Total of five grades, with three grades of derivative grades, a total of eight grades) ¡®


    ¡®Seven Star Life''s Secret Point: fourth grade (maximum of seven grades).''


    ¡®Violin Skill: Grade 2, Proficient Grade (Total of three grades).''


    The real core that he had been mastering had turned into Seven Star Life''s Secret Point and Hellfrost Peacock Technique.


    The Hellfrost Peacock Technique required something called White Peacock Stone and he didn''t know where to obtain it. On the other hand, he wasn''t so worried about the Seven Star Life''s Secret Point as all he needed was enough life force and regeneration.


    After pondering for a while, Garen realized that the current limit of his Seven Star Life''s Secret Point was the fourth star. The fifth star wasn''t something he could activate just yet as his body would explode before he could attack. This wasn''t the flaw of his technique but the limits of his body.


    The theory behind the Seven Star Life''s Secret Point was to excite the acupoints of the body temporarily. This allowed a sudden outburst of the potential locked within. It was supposed to be a double-edged sword but for Garen, who possessed extraordinary regeneration and Vitality, he was able to use it consistently.


    The other secret methods were no match for this one as it could be superimposed onto Secret Techniques, bringing out his true strength.


    However, this secret method had its limit.


    When Garen was devising this secret method, it was based on multiple Secret Technique sources and self-discovery. He found out there were nine major acupoints, seven major light acupoints, and two major hidden acupoints. While these acupoints had a trending line, each and every one of them had a limit, which was the body''s genetic limitation.


    For example, a typical human''s genetic limitation was 460kg of strength. Without the Seven Star Life''s Secret Point, he could exert about 100kg of force and with it, the maximum he could raise it to was 460kg. In the future, no matter how much stars he could open with the Seven Star Life''s Secret Point, he could never exceed this limit. If he were to exceed it, his genes would instantly collapse and his body would implode as it simply wasn''t strong enough to sustain such a force.


    The Seven Star Life''s Secret Point was Garen''s accumulation as a martial adept. This horrifying secret method was able to release the limit of a human''s latent ability temporarily, giving off an incredible amount of inner pressure. This inner pressure could then be released to increase his body''s physical attribute.


    Analogically, it was similar to a fully expanded balloon with a hole that slowly released the pressure of the balloon. With every activation, there would be an additional hall which increased the expenditure of his potential points, in return for an incredible increment of his physical attribute.


    However, the condition was that he couldn''t exceed the total amount of potential points he had stored, which was the genetic limitation. There wouldn''t be a second time if it wasn''t enough for the first time.


    Hence, to the others, this secret method was a technique that should be used when one wished to perish together with the opponent.


    Garen was able to create this Masterpiece Demon Technique from the Secret Techniques that utilized the concept of perishing together with the opponent.


    "I currently have three hundred plus potential points. It''s best to prioritize Seven Star Life''s Secret Point and increase my strength and vitality first. This way, my genetic attribute will increase and I''ll be able to reach the genetic limitation of thirty points by activating the second star or third star. I don''t have to worry about any side effects from going overboard too. If I were to activate the fourth star, even if I were to win by a slight margin at the end, I may be weakened before I am able to kill off the enemy. This may allow the enemy to kill me instead. As my Vitality increases, the number of stars I can activate increase as well. Although I may not be able to exceed the thirty points limit, I at least can hold out longer."


    After some consideration, he focused his gaze on Vitality.


    Vitality had always been used for regeneration. As Garen continuously added in potential points into it, he was lacking a bit more to achieve eight points. While these minor changes didn''t show up in the Attribute Pane, the changes made with his ability were directly applied to Garen''s body needs. It would appear when he wanted it to appear and the current leap was from a single digit to double digits. With this increment, it was natural that the small changes wouldn''t show.

 680 Increment 2

    Chapter 680: Increment 2


    As the attribute points surpassed five points, every increment would require twenty potential points. All of his attribute points were currently at seven points.


    Garen focused his gaze on Vitality.


    Instantaneously, his Vitality had jumped up to 8 points and his potential points had dropped from 362 to 354.


    "Continue," Garen continued staring at the Vitality pane.


    After surpassing eight points, there would be a new change where every attribute point would require 60 potential points. In the Totem World, he''d relied on multiple massacres to obtain a huge increment. Now that he had arrived at this point the second time, Garen felt the same pain as he saw his potential points draining at a great speed.


    Immediately, the potential points dropped down from 354 to 294 as his Vitality increased from 8 points to 9 points.


    He tried to sense the condition of his body and he realized that he shouldn''t have any problem activating the fourth star. His body had greatly improved after increasing two points of Vitality. He previously could only maintain the fourth star for ten minutes or so. Now, he felt that he would be fine even if it was for half an hour. He even felt that he had reached the requirement to activate the fifth star. With his current attribute, if he were to activate the fifth star, he would reach the genetic limits of thirty points, which was about the same strength of Nadia who appeared last time.


    "The fifth star that will push me to the genetic limit¡­" Garen muttered as he quickly pressed onto the acupoint on his chest with his right hand.


    Tap tap tap!!


    His body started to expand rapidly after multiple clear taps from the afterimages of his fingers.


    His skin immediately turned black as his veins crawled all over his bodies like small snakes, including his face. His muscles which had already covered his entire body was now even more obvious.


    "This is the fourth star¡­ It''s much less suffering," Garen moved his body and noticed no discomfort.


    "Let''s continue."


    Slap!!


    Afterimages of his fingers appeared once more as he instantly tapped multiple points at his abdomen and shoulders.


    "Fifth star!!"


    Hah!!


    Boom!!


    With a deep buzz, he could no longer hold in his aura as the air started to disperse from his skin. The whole secret chamber was filled with mist. A wind blew strongly and even whistled loudly.


    It was a horrifying scene.


    Garen''s muscles at the shoulders condensed and expanded into two huge muscle hooks. It was as if there were two additional hands on his shoulder facing outwards, that looked like two huge solid pauldrons.


    The black veins and muscles tore his shirt apart. The shirt was ripped into pieces as it landed on the ground.


    He heaved a long sigh as he stretched out his right hand. The skin by his palm was purple and his veins were the width of tree branches as they thrummed along with his heartbeat.


    "This is the fifth star¡­ My current strongest limit¡­" Garen exhaled once again.


    In this state, if he were to slightly contract his muscle, he could move the muscle which was at the size of a human head. The whole room could hear his heartbeat roaring and his breathing was endless as he pulled oxygen into his lungs and expelled out the air.


    He took a step back and accidentally brushed the wall with his hand.


    With the slight touch, sparks were ¡®gently'' created as if there were two solid metals creating friction against each other while leaving behind a clear dent.


    At this level, he was much stronger than he was in the Secret Technique world by multiple times.


    "I can only last five minutes¡­"


    He exhaled as his qi and blood reduced in speed. His body shrunk back to its normal state as well.


    ¡®Your secret method¡­. hurts yourself first before hurting others,'' Black Sethe gave his honest opinion, ¡®I''ve watched countless similar kinds kill themselves from above. It''s a technique similar to that of devils which hurt themselves.''


    Garen didn''t say a word as he looked at his Vitality.


    Five minutes in his extreme state wasn''t exactly safe enough for him. He wasn''t sure if he could defeat Nadia in such a short time to ensure his survivability.


    With determination, he focused his gaze on Vitality again.


    His Vitality, which was already nine points, jumped once more and entered ten points!


    Sixty points of Potential points were reduced once more, reducing from 294 to 234.


    "With this much of Vitality, I may be holding myself in the fifth star, which is equivalent to all attributes to reach the thirty points genetic limitation. Compared to adding other attribute points, this is much worth it in the short term."


    Garen calculated the number of gains and losses he obtained and was rather satisfied with it.


    ¡®This secret method of yours allow you to reach the genetic limitation for a short amount of time. Perhaps you are able to withstand Nadia''s attack for now, but if you don''t completely seal her marking aura, she will become stronger and stronger. Nadia''s upper limit isn''t some strength you''ve encountered last time,'' Black Sethe reminded him, ¡®The strength of an Army Level isn''t something you can imagine.''


    "I understand," Garen responded, "At my current level, the Seven Star Life''s Secret Point is sufficient. It would be impossible to go beyond the genetic limitation with such a short amount of time. I need to find other ways."


    ¡®This secret method of yours¡­ Only you are able to use it¡­ It would require you to use up your body''s potential once you''ve reached the third star, which happens to be your body''s lifespan. I don''t know what method you''re using to replenish your body''s potential, but this technique definitely cannot be used by others. Mastering the Secret Technique is the better way. No matter how strong your body is, you are not able to balance the nature of the universe. The true purpose of pursuing Secret Technique is to move the universe with your body, not just for self-enhancement. You have to know that you''re currently temporarily¡­''


    Before he finished his sentence, clang!!


    Suddenly, a huge screech of metal clashing together was heard. The Secret Chamber''s wall had been hit by something.


    Garen could only feel that his ears were ringing. The space around him started to tremble and a white light appeared in front of his eyes instantaneously. It was so bright that even he couldn''t see anything in front of him clearly.


    A familiar aura charging towards him at high speed.


    Clang!!!


    Among the ringing metal collision sound.


    A terrifyingly huge aura came at him!


    "Die!!"


    "Nadia!!"


    Without much time to thin, Garen pressed onto the acupoints with both of his hands, activating the fifth star.


    Hah!!


    The aura spread everywhere wildly as he defended with his hands.


    Within the light, two overwhelming powers clashed against each other.


    There was no sound but only trembling within the space, which exceeded humans'' listening abilities.


    The secret chamber was shattered by the overwhelming power and exploded into countless black pieces, revealing the pure light from the outside.


    Garen pushed forward with both of his hands and went into an empty space.


    It was then his eyes were slowly getting used to the surroundings.


    He was standing in a space which was purely white. There was nothing around him. Everything was completely white from the top, bottom, left and right. The black pieces that were from the secret chamber had disappeared to somewhere.


    Nadia was in all black, similar to how she was dressed previously. Black short skirt, long black stockings, her long hair was flowing freely. She had a thin waist and big bust, which was the perfect figure for a woman. It was just that the mask which was half laughing and half crying which made people feel uncomfortable.


    "We meet again¡­" Nadia''s deep male tone came from afar.


    Although the two of them were a distance of tens of meters apart, the voice could be clearly heard as if it was spoken just beside his ear.


    "You really have gotten stronger," Nadia stared at Garen through her mask.


    While both of them were in masks, Garen''s mask was covered with densely packed eyes. Within the dream, it''s as if the eyes were alive as they kept wiggling about, staring at Nadia who was in front of him. However, that was Garen''s icy blue aura which he couldn''t suppress that had leaked out from the mask.


    The strength of the fifth star, the upper limits of his strength¡­


    "It''s not just me who has gotten stronger. I see you''ve gotten weaker¡­" Garen gently touched his left eye socket.


    Kaboom!!


    Almost instantaneously, both of them disappeared, each forming into white and black figures. Their figures drew clear lines amidst the white light.


    Boom!!


    His fist and her knife clashed with each other. The knife was moving up and down rapidly as it tried to saw off the black fist that was harder than diamond.


    Garen growled as he blocked the mark knife with his left hand and punched with all his might with his right hand. His right shoulder expanded, so much so that it was almost twice as big.


    It was an absolute strength!! A strength that nothing could withstand!!


    Garen''s face was as hard as metal and sparks were formed as he flung his right hand in the air. It was the extreme effects of friction between the air and his hand. His scorching red fist, which was covered with sparks flew towards Nadia''s head.


    His right fist was the same size as Nadia''s head.


    "Swallow Killing Slash!!!"


    Nadia growled as well as she withdrew a small dagger from her long sword. The dagger was covered with a layer of electricity and had blocked Garen''s fist.


    Clash!!


    Two of their overwhelming forces burst, forming a very clear shockwave as it spread out with them at the epicenter.


    The black dagger in Nadia''s hand kept vibrating. As two Secret Techniques at their most advanced state clashed against each other, they vibrated, forming friction with an incredibly high frequency that no human could hope to hear.


    "If only I could use Projection¡­!!" Nadia felt that her strength was being suppressed and her gaze looked rather panicked under the mask.


    "Die!!!"


    Garen pushed forward and the vibration of his right fist pushed away her mark knife, allowing his fist to move forward!


    Boom!!


    Nadia''s head was instantly crushed. She screamed at the top of her lungs as she melted into countless shadows.


    "I''ll be back!!"


    Nadia''s voice still remained in the space.


    Suddenly the white light surrounding him turned dark.


    Garen slowly opened his eyes.


    He was in his original position, standing in the secret chamber, in front of where the suppressed coin was located. With the superimposed electromagnetic waves emitted by the masks, he could feel the mysterious energy concentrating at one location.


    The black dragon-shaped aura on the coin was restricted to an area the size of a fist as it kept flowing within.


    ¡®It seems to be much easier this time,'' Black Sethe had just realized he''d been under attack.


    "Of course," Garen clenched his fist, The limit of strength, the overwhelming strength which could destroy everything made him nostalgic.


    The absolute and most powerful strength!!


    As he felt his own heartbeat, he couldn''t help but feel very satisfied with himself.

 681 Obtain 1

    Chapter 681: Obtain 1


    "How strong is an army level individual?"


    Garen asked as he walked out of the secret chamber.


    ¡®You were close to an army level when you activated your fifth star¡­'' Black Sethe pondered for a moment before responding.


    "Then why is there the need to learn the Peacock Technique?" Garen casually put on the shirt on the hanger by the door.


    It was already night time outside.


    The silver moonlight shone through the window and settled on his face.


    ¡®Secret Technique isn''t just strength,'' Black Sethe muttered.


    "That''s because that strength isn''t powerful enough," Garen rebutted.


    Black Sethe went silent. Recently she¡¯d been reacting strangely and would keep quiet instead of speaking up.


    However, Garen understood that the illusion created by his overwhelming increment in strength, the feeling of being able to force everything to go his way was nothing but an illusion of the strength that overflowed from his body.


    His current limit was still thirty points. This wasn''t just because of the genetic limitation, it was his soul limit as well.


    A weak and fragile soul would not be able to handle a powerful body. Similarly, a weak body would not be able to contain a powerful soul.


    A weak soul would be easily affected by the status of the physical body. One would most likely lose oneself and become a beast. On the other hand, a weak physical body would not be able to contain a powerful soul. If one were to fully utilize the strength of the soul, one would die as due to the overexertion of one''s body.


    "I can only reach the limit of a human by purely increasing the strength of my physical body. I still sleep, need oxygen to breathe and these are all my disadvantages. By practicing Secret Techniques, I can mimic other advanced beings and obtain their advantages so that I could completely eliminate any weaknesses that I have."


    Garen had finally woken up from his obsession with strength and he suddenly felt that his body had become taller and stronger. After activating the fifth star, his body was affected by the potential points once more and had become even stronger. Perhaps this was the aftermath of achieving ten points in Vitality as well.


    Just as he¡¯d upgraded himself, a battle arrived at his doorstep. Under these circumstances, Nadia was easily defeated by him.


    Perhaps this was due to the masks'' suppression on Nadia, which prevented her strength from reaching the limit of thirty points of strength. For her to go against Garen who had thirty points, she was completely oppressed and Garen managed to win the fight with a decisive punch.


    He gently touched his forehead where he''d been struck by Nadia''s Ominous Space Path. The Ominous Space Path''s unique feature was that she would counter the attack without fail if he were to attack her.


    Garen was blocking the opponent''s huge sword but his forehead had been slashed by it. However, as he was in the fifth-star state which allowed him to possess the upper limit of strength, his whole body was as tough as an alloy or even better.


    It was because of this that he was able to withstand that slash.


    "How can I defend against such an attack...?" Garen stood under the moonlight as he pondered.


    "There are three ways. Firstly, I should not let her have the opportunity or time to draw her sword at all, then this technique would be useless against me. However, that''s impossible. Traitors are a subset of Void Creatures and they can appear at any moment. No one would be able to predict when they will appear or disappear."


    Garen walked towards the window and opened it to allow the cold night air to enter the stuffy room.


    "The second approach is to decrypt the mystery of this technique and find a way to counter it. There is no perfect technique in every world but this is something I''m not able to do at the moment." Garen shook his head as the Ominous Space Path was the strongest technique he''d ever seen. To be able to counter-attack while being attacked and attack through spacetime. All the mystery was packed in that instant and his five senses weren''t able to process everything in that instant. Hence he wasn''t able to understand its mystery.


    "Then the third approach would be distraction¡­" Garen reached out his hand and looked at his ashen palm.


    Fantasy Fist was a horrifying fist technique that would misguide the opponent''s target. If he could use it against all living beings¡­


    This fist technique could be used on humans as its principle was to affect and oppress the nerves in the brain. If he could find a way to extend this effect to the soul, perhaps he could lift the original limit to beyond living beings.


    However, he didn''t possess the knowledge to modify the technique at the moment, as he was too unfamiliar with the nature of the Void Creatures.


    If this were to be completed, he would be able to distract Nadia''s power and misguide her to attack other places or even other targets. This was distraction.


    After thinking of ways to counter her technique and not achieving anything, Garen looked back at his Attribute Pane.


    He had 234 potential points remaining and it would have very little effects if he were to use it on his attributes as he couldn''t exceed that thirty points limit no matter what. He should use it for other stuff.


    He had a few options. He could add them to the Secret Technique but he was unable to increase the core of the Hellfrost Peacock Technique and he would most likely encounter the same situation if he were to change to another Living Secret Technique.


    He could use it for what he had been doing all these while, which was to recover his injuries to prevent any incidents.


    Another option was to focus on one attribute point. When it reached a certain height, a unique feature would appear.


    For example, when his intelligence reached twelve points in the Totem World, it had the effect of Double Critical Attack. It wasn''t a strength that could be achieved by using the Seven Star Life''s Secret Point. He would need to possess such characteristics in order to achieve it.


    With the Double Critical Attack, he would produce twice the amount of strength with his fists. What seemed to be a single fist would have the strength of two fists superimposed onto each other. It was the effect of disrupting the nervous system at a high level.


    That was the first time he''d obtained an ability from his attribute. Even when other attributes had reached twenty points, he didn''t obtain anything at all. Up until now, he knew that twelve points of intelligence would give him an ability.


    After pondering for awhile, he chose to increase his Intelligence.


    He focused his gaze on Intelligence and it immediately jumped from seven points.


    It reached eight points at the cost of 20 potential points. Sixty potential points to reach 9 points and another sixty potential points to reach 10 points.


    Once the Intelligence had reached 10 points, he had spent 140 potential points, leaving behind 94 points. Once the attribute had reached ten points, it would require a hundred potential point to increase it, but he currently had only 94 points.


    "I need more potential points," Garen had completely absorbed the potential points from all four masks that he had obtained and he wasn''t sure how long it would take for him to slowly recover. However, he could immediately obtain a mask from Halo and it might be able to push his Intelligence to 12 points, which would give him the Double Critical Attack effect.


    With that, his strength would be improved greatly.


    ************


    After a few days. It was a sunny day.


    The water of a fountain kept flowing down like a multi-layered cake. It was like a three-tiered mini waterfall.


    There were two small metal birds playing around on top of the fountain. It was very life-like.


    "The item is underneath there and we can''t get any closer than this." Allen Hill''s face was pale as he stood in front of Garen and Rod, pointing at a huge tree in the forest.


    The tree was black, had no leaves and there were countless thin vines coming down to the ground around it like a banyan tree. The tree was slanted slightly to the left as if it was about to topple over.


    Three of them stood inside Halo''s secret garden, looking at the mysterious cannibal tree in front of them.


    "The cannibal tree possesses a strong attack and it is very poisonous. Our people will be attacked by the vines if they get close to it and none of us are capable of resisting the poison," Allen Hill explained.


    "How about your protective suit?" Rod frowned.


    "It''s no use. Except for killing the tree from afar to obtain the mask, we''ve tried everything and failed. Unless it is a very thick protective suit made out of a unique material, it would be eroded within a very short amount of time," Allen Hill glanced at Garen, waiting for him to suggest something.


    "I''ve promised you before that we will obtain the mask without killing the cannibal tree¡­" Rod smiled wryly as he looked at Garen eagerly. Frankly speaking, it was Garen who agreed to it instead of him. In order to save time, avoid any unnecessary trouble and create more enemies, Garen chose a conservative solution which both parties agreed: To obtain the mask without killing the cannibal tree.


    Allen had agreed to bring them to where the cannibal tree was after Rod¡¯s vouch. Deep down, he knew that even if he were to reject him, he wouldn''t be able to stop Garen anyway, so he agreed in order to look like the bigger person.


    "You guys can think of the way. We''re helpless from this point on," He retreated to one side and looked at them. He had already prepared himself that the cannibal tree would be killed. He wouldn''t dare to push this issue onto Garen so naturally, Rod would be blamed for this. You could say that he had already hated Rod.


    "I''ll go for it," Garen was in a black stretch vest and exquisite black leather jeans, contouring his streamlined legs.


    He glanced at Allen Hill as he grabbed and cracked both of his hands and exercised his shoulders before walking towards the cannibal tree which was a distance away.


    It was morning and the weather wasn''t that hot yet as the sun was only half the way up. Only a small ray shone onto the garden, landing onto Garen''s right side and the ground, which made the grass greener than usual.


    What made is strange was that with the cannibal tree as the epicenter, there were no other green plants within tens of meters in diameter. Only black dirt and white bones were present.


    As the breeze blew, it couldn''t be confirmed if it was the breeze that had made the cannibal tree''s vines moved or it had started to move on its own.


    Suddenly, it was as if the tree felt threatened that it had started to vibrate.


    ¡®Wait!'' Black Sethe''s voice suddenly appeared.


    Garen stopped and stood still. "What''s wrong?" He frowned slightly. No matter if it was a cannibal tree, it was just a big tree.


    ¡®This tree feels very strange after being affected by the mask,'' Black Sethe didn''t know what exactly was happening as well, ¡®Be careful.''


    The few people behind Garen was staring tightly at him. Although they didn''t understand why he stopped moving, Rod and Allen Hill had their own thoughts as they stared at Garen, waiting for him to get near to the cannibal tree.


    Garen, who had stopped moving, started to move once more.


    Suddenly, his vision went blurry and the sky turned dim all of the sudden. The guards nearby had disappeared as well.


    Garen frowned as he felt an intense headache.


    He turned his head around and realized that Rod and Allen Hill had disappeared. He was the only one left in the garden.


    He turned back and he could faintly see a girl in white dress peeking at him around the big tree.


    The girl''s face couldn''t be seen clearly as most of her face was blocked by the vines. Only one of her eyes and long black hair could be seen. Her eye was huge and didn''t blink at all.


    Unknowingly, the sky was filled with dark clouds and it was now incredibly cloudy.


    "It''s the Dream World," Garen was very familiar with the sensation as he often entered into this realm. This allowed him to detect the abnormalities around him. He believed that he had been hypnotized by the cannibal tree and had entered the dream world. It seemed that the mask''s effect had made this tree rather strange.


    He looked at the girl by the tree as he took a few steps to the left, trying to see the woman''s face clearly.


    However, the girl kept revealing only half of his face. As he moved, the girl moved as well.


    "What a boring game," Garen smiled coldly as he walked towards the cannibal tree.


    The distance was getting shorter and shorter. Ten meters, nine meters, eight, seven, six, five¡­


    Immediately, Garen stopped.

 682 Obtain 2

    Chapter 682: Obtain 2


    He raised his arm and to his surprise, he saw lines of worms crawling beneath his skin.


    The lines were squirming slowly between his skin and muscle, like fishes swimming in water. It seemed like some sort of a worm.


    "Is this an illusion?" Garen closed his eyes and opened them once more and saw that the lines in his hands had disappeared.


    He continued walking towards the cannibal tree and the vines nearby started to move. They were so dense it looked like a person''s hair.


    Sizzle¡­


    Countless vines gathered together and swiftly knitted many black butterflies which spanned several meters wide.


    The butterflies fluttered their wings gently as they pulled at the black vines and floated before Garen.


    Cling!


    Suddenly, thin gaps were opened in the middle of the butterflies'' bodies, as if they had opened hidden mouths.


    Slash!!


    Garen shoved his hands deep into the mouth of a butterfly and tore it into halves with his hands.


    "Don''t you have anything that''s more powerful? Bring it on," Garen smiled coldly as he prowled towards the Cannibal Tree.


    That girl appeared once more and stared at Garen from the left side of the tree with one of her eyes.


    Garen reached out his hand and tried to grab the woman''s face but to no avail. He was stunned, as he didn''t expect to fail at capturing her with his speed.


    "It''s time to end this game," he raised up his right hand. His hand started to swell and his skin immediately turned black green, giving off a metal like sheen; he had activated the first star.


    He aimed at the cannibal tree and grabbed it with all his might.


    Ahh!!!


    A loud cry could be heard.


    Garen''s vision turned blurry as he pierced through the cannibal tree''s trunk with his right hand under the neutral scream.


    When he regained consciousness, he was already standing in front of the big tree. The sky was bright and he could hear the voice of Rod, Allen Hill and the guards behind him.


    His right hand was pierced deep into the tree trunk. Fresh blood was slowly flowing out of the tree trunk.


    Plop¡­


    Garen took out his hand, lowered his head and looked beneath his foot.


    The soil opened up automatically, revealing a part of the black mask.


    He crouched down and tugged the mask out with all of his strength. The familiar cool aura immediately flowed into his hands. It was the Potential Points.


    ''You killed an invisible creature,'' Black Sethe finally spoke, ''However, this invisible creature doesn''t seem to possess any strength. Other than the cannibal tree''s corrosive and poisonous characteristics, it only possesses a little bit of illusive capability. To you, it may be nothing, but for others, it is an incredibly threatening being.''


    Garen finally understood what had happened. The invisible creature existed in a world that no humans could see. Hence he had a hard time understanding their existence.


    He then quickly returned to where Rod and the others were. Both of them stared at him as if they''d seen a ghost.


    "I''ve got the mask," Garen waved the mask in his hand, "Why are you guys staring me like that?"


    Rod pointed at Garen''s shoulder. His finger was slightly trembling as if he had seen something horrifying.


    Garen lowered his head and saw a worm-like thin line squirming in his shoulder''s skin. It looked like a living being that kept squirming in his left shoulder.


    ''It''s the curse of the invisible creature,'' Black Sethe explained at the right time, ''Some of the invisible creatures will cast a curse upon those who offended them. However, in your case, you just need to purify it with the Void Core and you''ll be fine. Even so, it''s something terrifying for commoners. These thin lines are called Gluttony. They will first keep eating your muscles and then drill into your organs until you die.''


    Understanding the whole situation, Garen took out a small piece of black Void Core and gently pressed it onto the thin line.


    Green smoke started to appear.


    Sizzle¡­


    The thin line gave off some smoke and soon the pieces disappeared as if it had been absorbed into his body.


    "This item looks very strange. It looks like some sort of parasite!" Rod finally gave a sigh of relief.


    "Let''s go," Garen held onto the mask as he walked out of the garden.


    Rod followed behind closely.


    Allen Hill, who was behind him, stared at him with a complicated gaze. Garen had done it. He had obtained the mask without killing the cannibal tree. It seemed that he didn''t actually dig it out but that the cannibal tree had given it to him on itself.


    He turned around and looked at the cannibal tree. It looked spiritless and seemed to be heavily injured, but it was much better than being toppled over.


    "What''s the status on Kenna and Cole?" he whispered to Mole, who had just approached him.


    "We haven''t captured them yet, but I fear that they''re still looking for opportunities. It''s definitely them who leaked out the news for the Nighthawk King to come here all of the sudden." Mole whispered. They were quite lucky this time. If not for Rod who acted as a connection, the Nighthawk King might have forced things to go his way and Halo''s losses would have been great.


    "Are you sure Kenna and Cole are not related to the Nighthawk King in any way?" Allen Hill whispered.


    "I''ve done my research. Kenna was almost killed by the Nighthawk King once in Africa. For unknown reasons, he''d decided to let him live," Mole replied confidently as intel and tracking were his forte.


    "Then we will kill them! I''ll lead the way!" Allen Hill had decided to divert his vengeance onto them. Not only had he sustained internal injuries from Garen, his precious cannibal tree was injured as well. Furthermore, the mask underneath it had been taken away by force. To add insult to injury, he had to cooperate throughout the process instead of fighting back. This angered him to his limit.


    Garen who had walked far away then shifted away his focus as he smirked.


    He didn''t care about Kenna''s objective of using him. As long as he''d achieved his own objective, it was enough for him. It didn''t concern him in the least whether Kenna was alive or not.


    ************


    Time flew and one month had passed by in a blink of an eye. Germany''s weather had gotten colder as it entered winter in November.


    White snow blanketed the Berlin suburbs. The mask Garen obtained from the cannibal tree only possessed eighty plus points, which wasn''t a lot. It seemed that the cannibal tree was absorbing this energy as well and had used up most of the potential points, hence it didn''t have much left.


    Eighty-two points had been added to the ninety-four points that he had and in total, he now had 176 points. This was enough for him to add one point to Intelligence, achieving 11 points.


    After reaching ten points, each attribute would require an astronomical amount of potential points to increase it. One attribute point would require one hundred potential points. It would be easy if it was in the Totem world but in this world, it was extremely tedious.


    Garen had no choice but to start searching for the location of the next mask after he used up the potential points. Fortunately, the fifth mask that he had obtained from the cannibal tree had a rather good suppression effect on the dragon-shaped coin after its magnetic waves were superimposed onto it along with the other masks. The frequency of Nadia''s attacks had been greatly reduced and her strength was temporarily weakened. However, Nadia soon started to use a different method and was closing in on Garen once more. Her strength had improved and this forced Garen to search for the location of the new mask.


    According to the intel provided by Rod, the sixth mask was located in the Global Forest Belt - Memphis Forest.


    The Memphis Forest was an area unique to this world. It was like a green belt encircling the planet, spreading into the endless horizon. Rumor had it that the mask was located at the edge of a moon river. A moon river was a river which was shaped like a crescent moon and there were at least ten of them in the Memphis Forest.


    As he was about to move out to Memphis Forest, news regarding the Lotus Pearl had arrived.


    Rod had negotiated with the Primary Colors and they''d decided to give up on Lotus Pearl, and with Seasnake and Seal''s help, they''d finally killed their target in one of New Zealand''s ports.


    *************


    Squeak... Squeak¡­


    At the outskirts of Berlin on a small road, the thick white snow was trampled upon, creating a crisp crunch.


    A man in a grey coat was walking on a road that had yet to be plowed as he puffed out small clouds of breath through his mouth.


    On his right, there were tall grey villas and on his left was a densely packed snowy pine forest. Traces of black dirt could be seen underneath the white snow. The snowy road in front of him led to an unknown location and behind him was a road and a small entrance connecting to it. By the entrance, one could see a black jeep parked there.


    This man was holding a black bag. He walked forth, turned left and entered the stairs of one of the villas, before pressing the doorbell lightly.


    Ring~~~


    The doorbell kept ringing.


    After a while, the door opened with a click. A middle-aged female servant who looked rather sincere and honest opened the door. She nodded her head, gestured him to enter and didn''t say a word at all.


    The guy seemed to know who this female servant was.


    "Thank you, Marquilli," he carried his bag in before taking off his coat and hood, revealing his shiny bald head as he passed the coat to the servant.


    With one hand holding onto the bulging bag, he changed his shoes and headed directly to the second floor.


    As he stepped onto the black wooden flooring upstairs, he walked straight towards the room on the right and gently knocked on its door.


    "Please enter," a man''s voice could be heard from the inside.


    The man opened the door and saw a handsome golden haired man sitting inside. He had been about to put down his phone and glanced at him sideways. From his angle, he could faintly see the information on the phone''s screen.


    It seemed like a conversation between him and his family.


    The seated golden-haired man was still smiling gently.


    "I''ve brought the items," he immediately diverted his gaze as he didn''t dare to peek further.


    "Alright, it''s the deal with Seasnake''s subordinate, right?" the golden-haired man was Garen, who had been stationed in Berlin for quite a while. He''d practically stopped going to university and had invested his full attention in obtaining the masks. His explanation to his family was that he had opened a company on his own and university was of little use to him. He just needed it to obtain the certificate.


    Garen had looked through the course of Gullivier University and he had already submitted his thesis and research reports. As long as he passed, the university didn''t care what he was doing with his life.


    Baldy placed the black bag on the table in front of Garen.


    He opened the zip and took out a black plastic from it. He then unwrapped the plastic as he placed it on the table.


    A faint musky odor slowly diffused around the room.


    Within the bag was a human head.


    "This is Lotus Pearl, representing Mr. Rod''s sincerity," Baldy stuttered as he spoke softly.

 683 Search 1

    Chapter 683: Search 1


    "Lotus Pearl¡­" Garen put down his phone, staring at the forehead of the girl''s head that had been placed on the table with her eyes wide open.


    This girl''s appearance was extremely hideous, with a huge sarcoma growing on her right cheekbone, and due to the lack of blood circulation, her face was excessively pale. Her eyes were very small, and there was still a hint of the ruthlessness from when she was still alive.


    Stretching out his hand, Garen lightly caressed Lotus Pearl''s cheeks. They were soft, almost indistinguishable from a real human''s.


    "Bury it in front of Jay''s grave."


    "Understood," the baldy nodded, then wrapped the head back up before leaving.


    Garen rested his chin with one hand and knocked on the table with the other.


    Knock knock knock.


    Almost immediately a bell could be heard from outside the door, and the mute maid Marquilli opened the door, pushing in a white service cart. The cart was covered with a white piece of cloth and was emitting a mouthwatering aroma. All the dishes had been recreated from Garen''s memory, made by the gourmet chefs handpicked by Garen himself and the dishes were specially made just for Garen in his favorite oriental style.


    Following behind the service cart, a black-haired girl walked in. The girl was wearing a black latex bodysuit, had smooth and silky shoulder-length hair, and a pretty face. She was the female leader of the Primary Colours team, who had led the way for Garen from before.


    Underneath her disguise, she was actually a young girl who was not even 20 years old.


    After she''d brought Garen to the White Phoenix base, allowing Garen to destroy it, the Primary Colours put a bounty on her head. Hence, she didn''t dare to go anywhere else and had no other choice but to stay with Garen. Ironically, the most dangerous location had now become the safest for her.


    The hostility between the Primary Colours and the Nighthawks was mainly due to the conflict between Gremlin and Garen. However, after the merger between Garen and the Rexott Group, the Nighthawks have become a monstrous force on the same level with the Primary Colors, which put a lot of pressure on them, especially since Rod''s brother was an influential member in the top ranks of the Rexott Group.


    The Primary Colours had internal factionalism, as Gremlin''s strength was growing increasingly isolated, it became much safer to stay by Garen''s side.


    "Simone, how''s it going?" Garen smiled at this young chief. Although she was only 19 years old, she had been one of the Primary Colour''s top elite reserve members.


    "What do you mean ''How''s it going''?" Simone sat in the chair placed in front of Garen''s table, "Those kids you have to train have already arrived outside, when are you going to go and meet them?"


    "There''s no rush," Garen shook his head, "So, what are your plans?" Simone was one of the elites picked out by the Primary Colours, meaning that her talent and foundation was not something other average humans could replicate. Luring this kind of talent to his side, it was perfect for an assistant and a successor. Since Jay''s death, Garen had started to feel the void of not having an assistant.


    "My plans?" Simone was taken by surprise with that question. She didn''t have parents and had been raised by her aunt since she was young, and her step-brother was a drug lord so their relationship wasn''t close. In the Primary Colours, everyone suppressed their emotions so there weren''t many friendships, and she only had a friend in London. After considering all of this, she didn''t have any good locations to take shelter in and therefore had chosen to stay by Garen''s side.


    "If you don''t have any plans, why not just stay here and train with me?" Garen raised his arms into a fighting stance while smiling at her, "Your innate talent is great. As long as you manage to control it, you''ll gain access to that hidden strength."


    Simone stared at Garen, almost as if his two hands were glowing, giving off a warm, mesmerizing halo that held her full attention.


    "You''re trying to manipulate me again!!!" she tried her hardest to look away, but she couldn''t take her eyes off of him.


    "This isn''t manipulation," Garen murmured tenderly, "I''m only trying to help you make a decision."


    Simone started losing all strength in her body and her mind was getting a bit hazy. After a while, she passed out.


    The maid at the side was looking on with a weird look, though she still continued to place the dishes on the table. She could not understand the language and the accent the two were conversing in.


    Garen had a habit of eating in the reading room, one that he''d had for a long time.


    "Carry Ms. Simone out for some rest," Garen ordered.


    Marquilli nodded, then propped Simone on her shoulder and walked out of the room.


    Garen was once again alone in the room.


    Everything was going according to plan. Most importantly, the suppression of the Nine-Headed King Nadia was starting to have an effect; the masks were proven to have a suppressing effect on his coordinates. Unfortunately, either the coin''s strength was too great or the mask mimics'' strength was too weak; after Nadia started to get used to it, her strength had slowly been returning and she was slowly becoming stronger again. These days, the continuous confrontations with her and her suppression had put him in an unfavorable position.


    ''You need to find the remaining masks,'' Black Sethe''s voice started ringing, ''At the same time, you need to finish the Demonic Book as soon as possible as it may be able to construct your second soul seed. Once your second soul seed has been constructed, you might be able to break through your current strength limit, reaching an even higher level. Remember, no matter what, your soul is your foundation.''


    "This I understand, the two must be done at the same time," Garen answered softly while starting on his meal. Beef strips with gravy, steamed minced meat, stir-fried potato floss, braised eggplants...


    All these dishes made Garen feel as if he was back on Earth. Every time he has meals like this, he would always get this strange mixture of familiarity and unfamiliarity.


    Outside the window, it seemed that it has started to snow again, although it was almost completely silent, Garen could make out the sounds of the snow landing on the pavement on the road outside.


    He looked out the window at the white, bubble-like snow was slowly drifting down towards the earth.


    In the blink of an eye, more than 20 years have passed while living in this world, a world where Blood Breeds, Witches, and technology could coexist. The threat of void creatures was slowly approaching, complicating the overall situation of this world.


    After silently finishing his meal, Garen had the maid clean up. He sat in the room for a bit more before slowly getting up and walking out of the room, up to a pure white wall on the same floor. He then lightly tapped it a few times.


    Bam!


    The wall started to move to the left, creating a doorway into a dark, hidden room.


    Closing the room door, Garen turned on the light, illuminating his surroundings.


    He walked up to the wall at the other end of the room and lightly pressed his palm on the wall, which started to vibrate.


    Abruptly, a hidden drawer compartment sprung out from the wall.


    Inside the compartment lay the Demonic Book and the dragon-shaped coin placed under the mask.


    The Demonic Book was placed on top, and while the paper quality was obviously average material, it seemed to have been corrupted by his soul''s aura when he was writing. The entire Demonic Book now appeared to have the texture of human skin, almost as if it was made from human skin itself.


    Grabbing the pen sandwiched between the pages of the book, Garen walked back to his reading room and closed the door. He started to flip through all the things he had written down up till now.


    Two-Faced Waterbird Fist, Shooting Shadow Secret Technique, Fantasy Fist, Slaughtering Hand...


    He''d only just started writing on Slaughtering Hand; after all, this was a demonic technique from Black Sethe that even he had not fully mastered. When he was writing, he only wrote down the parts which he had a mastery of, something like a categorization of his self-understanding and knowledge system.


    ''Write down the secret techniques from your dark side, and by combining them and creating one true core, that will be the demonic technique seed, one that is most appropriate for you. Once you manage to master this created demonic technique, you''ll most likely be able to construct your second soul seed,'' Black Sethe uttered in a low tone. Recently, he sounded more and more silent, didn''t talk much and would constantly cut straight to the point.


    "This is a process for removing all impurities," Garen nodded.


    He picked up his pen and started jotting down his knowledge on the Slaughtering Hand.


    As the clock continued to tick, two hours passed quickly and Garen''s notes were more or less completed; he''d finished recording down the way to train and develop the Slaughtering Hand and his own understanding on the technique.


    Just as he finished writing his last statement, he felt as if the entire Demonic Book has transformed into a beating heart.


    Lub-dub!


    It was almost as though the entire room was beating along with it, making even Garen feel like his heartbeat was being affected by it. He felt as if at that moment, his heartbeat has synchronized with the Demonic Book.


    He closed his eyes, and the Demonic Book within his mind seemed to have done the same. As the remaining vibrations slowly dispersed, the two covers of the Two Demonic Books started to emit a dark aura.


    Garen decided to record all of his secret techniques from his dark side as well.


    He started to cautiously count the amount of dark side secret techniques he had trained before in the past.


    One of the most invincible evil techniques from his past life suddenly popped up in his mind.


    "Northern Trident Frost-Fire True Water Evil Technique¡­"


    Picking up his pen once more, Garen wrote the name of this technique into it. As soon as he finished writing, the Demonic Book seemed to start glowing blue, the blue of glacial ice.


    ******


    Crash!


    A vase was shattered on the floor.


    Gremlin''s face was lined with veins. As he gulped in deep breaths, his throat was quivering constantly, and he looked so furious that he almost looked deranged.


    In a golden room illuminated by numerous lantern lights, two of his underlings were standing right in front of him. Despite being suavely dressed in suits, the two were sweating bullets; their foreheads were completely soaked in sweat as they both bowed down, not moving a muscle.


    "Lotus Pearl died?! I just had a call with her less than half a day ago and now you guys are telling me she died?" Gremlin did not suppress a single iota of his rage.


    Lotus Pearl was one of his best soldiers, and despite weird personality, her talents as an assassin were one of the best. Even when compared to others, her skills would be considered unparalleled.


    But now, she''d died¡­


    It felt like a fire was scorching his heart.


    "Garen¡­ Thomas!!" he roared in fury.


    "Team leader¡­ The top has sent down a notice, do not clash with the Nighthawks anymore¡­" one of the underlings stated, cautiously choosing his words.


    "Scram!!"


    Gremlin lashed out in a fit of rage.


    With a loud slap, this underling was knocked to the floor, and he scrambled out of the room while holding his cheek in pain.


    "Do you think I''m out of ideas just because you kissed up to Rexott?" Gremlin chuckled with a manic expression.

 684 Search 2

    Chapter 684: Search 2


    Lotus Pearl''s death had dealt a large blow to him. She''d been one of the spec-ops soldiers on him and his father''s side, and she could even be considered the top-ranked in terms of strength in the group. She had been so easily defeated by the enemy. Even if the assailant were Rexott''s Seasnake and Seal, it was obvious that Rexott was helping the Nighthawks. The brother of Rod, Garen''s friend, was a member of the most feared groups in Rexott, the Big Four, more commonly known as the Four Shadows. Rod''s brother was the head of the Four Shadows, and if they were compared to Titan in the Primary Colours, the two were at the same level. They''ve clashed numerous times in the past, but both were always on par with each other. Against this kind of monstrous existence, Gremlin had no way of countering against it. Unless his father personally joined the fray, there would not be anyone from the group willing to clash with them just for the sake of his family''s influence.


    Looking at the last underling.


    Gremlin forcefully suppressed his rage.


    "What is the Nighthawk King doing now?"


    "According to our reports, his and Rod''s side are currently searching for the Mask of Sleepless Faces from the legends. On the surface, it is said to be because Garen likes to collect these types of antiques, but we think he may have other hidden intentions," the underling answered quickly.


    "The Mask of the Sleepless Faces?" Gremlin repeated softly, "According to the legends, there are certain types of mysterious antiques that were said to have some sort of special power, and that kind of power can allow one to achieve superhuman abilities. Is that true?"


    "According to our investigation, they most likely have some sort of use for them, but this information was mainly leaked from the Men in Black that recently left after seeing the Nighthawks'' new high ranks and it hasn''t been proven yet. We also have not developed a fundamental concrete judgment standard for these antiques and relics as of yet," the underling answered, seeing as his boss'' mood was slightly improved, he added one more line, "Should we initiate a more practical investigation? If the NIghthawk King is so passionate about this, there must be some correlation."


    "Do it, also try to investigate the secrets under Nighthawks'' control, whatever they call secret techniques or secret methods. It would become valuable information if we manage to get it in our hands. We cannot let this leak to the public." as Gremlin thought about all the mysterious methods used by the Nighthawks, he started to feel furious again. A way to allow normal humans to achieve the ultimate level of martial arts, it was undoubtedly something he had to get his hands on. Once he acquired the method of doing this, he might be able to rise up even higher within the ranks of the Primary Colors.


    ******


    Bailey Estate, Germany


    Kabb was gently cradling her baby, intimately pinching his cheeks.


    Sitting on the white semicircular balcony, she could hear familiar footsteps coming from behind her. Kabb looked back, seeing a familiar silhouette.


    "Medis, are there any updates?"


    "According to the latest reports, Garen goes into a secret room in his villa for a period of time every day, though we have no information on what he does inside."


    Medis walked up behind Kabb. This young man was sly and cunning, had a pretty face, and in terms of reconnaissance, he had many tricks up his sleeves. He was even able to gather so much information on the Nighthawk King.


    He looked at his boss'' son, whose chubby face was looking around in amusement. He then continued to speak.


    "We attempted to investigate the internal members of the Nighthawks. According to the results we''ve gotten , the whole Nighthawks group and the Combat Club should all be under Garen''s control alone. These methods seem to be as you hypothesized, boss, it should be the work of the special strength from the masks."


    "I heard that Garen is planning to go to Memphis?" Kabb smiled while she continued to play with her son. "Where did you obtain the information about the secret room?"


    "Yes, it was said that they were going to search for the masks, and this was also deduced from the movements of Rod''s men. This kind of large action operation can''t be that easily hidden. They made no effort to hide it as well," Medis nodded, "Regarding the Secret Room, I''ve used an unconscious investigation method, scheduling my people to observe the movements villa from the corner of their eyes. I told them not to observe Garen himself, but rather to focus the mute maid. As a maid in charge of serving Garen, there are a lot of things she would not be able to hide about the villa."


    "Great work. Pay extra attention to Garen''s schedules next," Kabb replied softly, "Primary Colour''s Gremlin has been suppressed but he will definitely seek revenge, especially since he lost one of his strongest soldiers when Rod started to side with Garen. With the addition of Seasnake and Seal, two experts, alongside Garen himself, this is no longer a force that we can reckon with. We need to remain on Garen''s good side if possible. Use the safest methods to continue your investigations of the secret room."


    "Understood," Medis nodded slightly to show her acknowledgment.


    Kabb pinched her son''s face.


    Poot!


    The chubby kid spat a bit on her face.


    "Hahaha, this kid''s got guts! I like it!" Kabb started laughing out loud. Medis couldn''t resist but to laugh along with her.


    ******


    Writing the Demonic Book proved to be more of a challenge that Garen had originally thought.


    Under careful scrutiny and analysis of his memories, these secret techniques he''d once thought he had completely mastered and understood now seemed to have a plethora of minor difficulties and problems. All of these were things that he''d missed in the past, and a lot of the steps that he thought he completely understood had multiple difficulties hidden within them.


    When writing about the Northern Trident Frost-Fire True Water Evil Technique, he kept running into problems one after the other, accumulating a total of more than 10 issues.


    As he was thinking about how to resolve these problems, the changes in the Demonic Book became more and more obvious.


    Now that Garen had already written down around half of his secret techniques, the Demonic Book seemed to have synchronized; almost as if it was a living plant, it started to grow along with whatever Garen wrote.


    Maybe once he finished writing this Demonic Book, it would be the most suitable time for him to develop his demonic technique. Then, through his own understanding of the demonic technique, he would be able to master the demonic technique even faster and achieve the creation of the soul seed that would allow him to exceed his limits, which was his ultimate goal.


    This was happening abnormally smoothly, unlike his progress on the other side.


    Regarding the training, all the volunteer pupils that were recommended by the Nighthawks were all spoiled brats. They were all crying to go home or wanting to give up before the first session of training even ended.


    However, they were answered with a slap from Garen, knocking them out.


    What a joke, these people were all hand picked by Garen, and most of them had decent innate talent and backgrounds. If he just let them go back, wouldn''t that be a waste of his time?


    Garen just directly used violence and brute force. He had the aid of the Nighthawks and the Combat Club in the background anyway, and with Rod''s Rexott Group backing him as well, he had nothing to worry about.


    ******


    Bam! Bam! Bam!!


    A coordinated and rhythmic sound of strikes echoed through the gymnasium.


    A group of students, clad in full black training gis, formed an orderly circle. In the middle of that circular formation stood Garen and a female student, Simone.


    Simone repeatedly dragged her body back up, persevering despite her cheeks already looking as swollen as two red steamed buns. Trickles of blood were dribbling from the corners of her lips.


    Under the bright yellow light, Simone once again lunged towards Garen.


    Yaaaa!!!


    She let out a deafening roar, almost as if trying to boost her strength. In reality, nothing out of the ordinary happened and in a flash, everything was flipped around and the muffled thump signaled that once again, she was down on the ground.


    Simone was again flung to the left by Garen with a single slap. As she tried to stand up once more, she stumbled a few steps before collapsing onto the floor. Her legs could no longer support her own body weight.


    "Was this the Close Quarters Combat that you were so proud of?" Garen''s top half was nude, and he was wearing only a pair of black trousers secured with a shiny black belt. His pale white skin starkly contrasted his aesthetic, sculpture-like muscular build, and his muscles flowed with every move.


    "During these 4 days, I had you guys go through some basic training, it wasn''t simply to torture you guys," Garen surveyed his surroundings. These people all had backgrounds in top-ranked families and firms from America and various other countries. They were candidates to become seeds like Dahm and Hochman, but since they were from different locations all over the world, they would bloom into different flowers.


    "You guys will have 3 choices: the Two-Faced Waterbird Gate, the Shooting Shadow Gate, and the White Cloud Gate¡­"


    He decided he would once again impart the White Cloud Gate''s Mammoth Secret Technique, planting its seed in this world. In reality, the Mammoth Secret Technique should no longer be called the Mammoth Secret Technique, but the Divine Statue Technique instead. It used the Divine Statue Technique as the core and combined it with the essence of the Black Water True Technique to create a shockingly powerful skill. It was a top-class secret technique that he relied on to become the king of the Secret Technique World.


    The Divine Statue Technique was a legitimate secret technique with absurd power, but what was strange was that when Garen was writing the Demonic Book, he accidentally wrote in the Divine Statue Technique. Unexpectedly, this technique had some qualities of a demonic technique, and once he used his soul aura as a primer to set the foundation, it would allow the subject to experience rapid growth and reach a very high level of strength. However, it would have very strong side effects, hence its resemblance to a demonic technique.


    Garen renamed this technique as the Demonic Statue Technique. This reminded him of the Behemoth Gate.


    Everything started from the White Cloud Gate; that was where he started, and that place also had a soft spot in his heart.


    "We already know what are the Two-Faced Waterbird Gate and the Shooting Shadow Gate, but what is the White Cloud Gate?" one of the students asked loudly, who had a heroic appearance. His name was Caesar, and he was the second-in-line to inherit his household name, which was one of the oldest and most respected households in Europe. As compared to the stunning achievements of the first-in-line, he seemed to be overshadowed in every aspect. He was one of the few students out of this batch who actually took an initiative in learning.


    Recently, word of Garen''s Combat Club had sent tremors throughout America. Dahm went all over the place organizing combat-based tournaments. Just a short while ago, he''d even worked together with Hochman to organize the World Fighting Tournament with a 50 million euro grand prize. Participants could even claim their traveling expenses from them. This attracted various experts from all over the world to participate.


    Henceforth, the names "Waterbird Fist" and "Shooting Shadow Secret Technique" spread throughout the world.


    Suddenly masters of all sorts of various fighting styles from all over the world were coming out of isolation and heading to America to participate in this tournament. There were adverts everywhere advertising this tournament and also the origins of Dahm and Hochman''s fighting styles.


    The name of the duo''s teachers was not openly revealed. He was referred to by the two companies solely by the name "Holy Fist". The only information revealed about him was that he lived up in the mountains at a place called Holy Fist Palace, and was said to be a saint who had exceeded the limitations of Fist Techniques.


    No one knew what "Holy Fist" looked like or who he or she was, and only a few core members of the Combat Club knew the true identity behind their master.


    Dahm and Hochman were the embodiments of the Waterbird Fist in the rumors.


    Some of the students, who had some insider information, understood that this man in the mask was the "Holy Fist" of the legends. Naturally, they would understand how great an opportunity this was. If all went well, they might have a chance to become the next Dahm or Hochman, attaining countless assets and authority.


    Garen looked Caesar in the eye. He was a boy who was only 19 years old and looked as if he was filled with heroic spirit as the personification of vigor.


    "White Cloud Gate is a sect that uses the Demonic Statue Technique as a foundation. This gate of secret techniques originated from an ancient form of fist style, completely different from the styles of the Waterbird Fist and the Shooting Shadow Fist. It has more of an upfront fighting style."

 685 Teach 1

    Chapter 685: Teach 1


    "An upfront fighting style?"


    Caesar couldn''t understand what this meant.


    "Isn''t Waterbird Fist also an upfront fighting style?"


    "That''s different," Garen raised his right hand and his arm started rapidly expanding.


    Bam!!!


    With just one punch, he hit the ground underneath his feet, creating a blast of dust and rubble. A huge half-meter crater appeared under his feet. The dust around him was the cement that was completely pulverized by his strike.


    The crater looked almost as if it was a hole that someone had dug out; it was nearly 10 cm deep. With the amount of the dust in the air, multiple students who unintentionally inhaled at the wrong moment started coughing uncontrollably.


    However, some of them were not even choking on the dust but were coughing because their throats had started itching from the strength of the shockwave created.


    Gulp.


    Some of the students gulped in shock.


    "This is an upfront fighting style," Garen pulled back his fist. His arm had no signs of damage at all.


    The group of students was staring at his arm, trying to find any signs of damage. Yet, they couldn''t even find a blemish on the arm.


    At that moment, the students were starting to get excited.


    If only I was that strong¡­


    That was their desire within their hearts; every man would have a natural desire to become stronger. This type of monstrous fist style seemed to have won over their attention.


    Garen was quite satisfied with the effects of his performance. He relaxed his arm and it started to return to its normal size, almost as if nothing had happened, except for the huge crater below him¡­


    "Demonic Statue Technique, the principle is enhancing your body, making it stronger and harder and pushing your strength and recovery ability to the limit in order to achieve a deity-like state at the highest level. Those who want to learn this, please stand to my right."


    Garen called loudly.


    In an instant, out of the 15 students, 8 of them, all boys, stood to the right. All of them were in high spirits, feeling very excited. Amusingly, all of these boys were all on the skinnier side, and that included Caesar.


    Out of the remaining 7 students, 5 were girls, and the other 2 boys were quite muscular. Although it seemed that they were very tempted to choose the White Cloud Gate, they all obviously had their own goals that they were very resolute on, and so they resisted the temptations offered to them.


    "The remaining can go back for today. Those who are interested in the Shooting Shadow Secret Technique, gather here at 5 am sharp tomorrow," Garen raised his index finger, "Remember, all of you can only learn 1 fist style. If you start learning another fist style before you master the first one you learned, your progress will be extremely slow and it might even take years for you to even progress to the first level. Be wary, do not be fall for the temptations of greed."


    "Yes." "Understood."


    The remaining 7 students acknowledged his statement. After witnessing Garen''s monstrous strength, none of them dared to treat him disrespectfully anymore. At the same time, all of them had completely acknowledged Garen''s teaching methods.


    The 5 girls and 2 boys left the gymnasium and walked past the Nighthawk members special defense line. They then drove back to the accommodation area nearby.


    One of the girls tried to sneak back to peep on the training, but she was promptly ushered away by the Nighthawks.


    Garen waited for the confirmation that everyone else had left, then turned to face the 8 boys before him.


    Out of the 8 boys, some of them looked well-mannered, some looked creepy, and one looked sly, but all of them, at this moment, were filled with excitement, looking excitedly at Garen.


    "Starting from now, I''ll be explaining this technique. Please give me your undivided attention, as I will not repeat myself," Garen sternly observed the students, "This lesson may completely change your lives. I do not know whether you will regret this in the future, but since you''re all already here, you can no longer turn back."


    "Master! We won''t regret it!!!" Caesar stood out and answered loudly.


    "What we want is the strength to be able to control our own fate!!" a student who looked sickly and weak also stood out. This lad''s name was Lumard, and due to doing excessive drugs, he''d become an addict, weakening his body steadily. Almost everyone in his family has given up hope for him, and he had been sent here as a last resort.


    Garen looked into the eyes of these two who''d taken the initiative to declare their intentions and made a mental note to remember who they were.


    "Alright! Now, let''s start with the 1st part!"


    The Demonic Statue Technique had 4 parts to it, the Divine Statue Technique, the Golden Statue Technique, the Metallic Statue Technique, and Bronze Statue Technique. This group of people''s bodies were in such a frail state, they had to start training from the most basic Bronze Statue Technique.


    This time, Garen did not have enough life force to support all of them; after what happened with his Slaughtering Hand, although he could still accumulate some life force, the amount has drastically decreased. This measly amount could only achieve the effect of extending life.


    Hence, he had to be much stricter in their training as compared to his training with Hochman and Dahm.


    Garen''s true motive was to cultivate his own team of people, as in this world, it was difficult to work alone. He needed even more forces to be able to live an easy and relaxed life.


    He was too focused on himself in the Secret Technique World, so when he fought with Cayduran in the end, he had been taken by surprise by a nuclear bomb, which led to him losing his first physical body. If he had a strong enough force and networking, this kind of issue wouldn''t have happened. He would have gotten the news long before these things could happen, so he wouldn''t have been taken by surprise.


    This group of students were the seeds that he''d picked out, all of them blessed with certain conditions and requirements. With the right guidance, they would eventually bloom into beautiful flowers.


    The training lasted for 4 hours. The Bronze Statue Technique was one of the most basic and fundamental "training secret techniques", combining the Mammoth Secret Technique and an adapted Breathing Secret Method. This made the students scream out in agony; all of them finally understood the true meaning of pain, and it felt as though their hearts were cramping terribly. They were lucky that they had undergone preliminary training by Garen, as the pain they endured from that managed to toughen their physiques, otherwise, they would have all passed out from the excruciating pain.


    Garen used High-Velocity Oscillations as a core method to directly stimulate the students'' blood and qi, forcing them to abide by the Breathing Secret Method and combine it with the Mammoth Secret Technique. This had great effects, as in the process, he could slowly merge the soul aura primer, making them latch on to Garen''s Soul Seed while doing their own training.


    He recently found out that ever since the soul seed aura has been planted into Hochman and company, as Hochman, Dahm, and the other Combat Club members continued to train, his own soul seed had started to have interesting changes as well, as if it had become stronger in tandem.


    After completing the session with this group of students, he had his men bring them back to their accommodations. He even had professional masseuses and nutritionists to take care of their bodies for them.


    As Garen left the gymnasium and started to drive off, he made his query to Black Sethe.


    ''Simple, even soul seeds have different levels,'' Black Sethe answered in a carefree tone, ''After years of research by the warlocks, we have found out all the different types of realms a soul can exist in. Although we could have researched even deeper, even with this amount of information was sufficient for us to utilize for a long time.''


    "A soul''s realm? What do you mean?" Garen asked while still driving.


    ''The average soul is at the first level, it''s very normal, and its strength is differentiated by its color. There''s nothing much more I can say about this, and you''ve originally started from this level so you should be even more knowledgeable in this area.''


    Garen nodded.


    ''The second level is the soul seed level, which is your current level. The reason it''s called a seed is that it is highly concentrated and condensed into one single spot. Of course, it also implies that there''s a possibility of it sprouting in the future. This level starts to have various different special effects, such as the ability to be able to change your body''s vitality, improving it to adapt to the world''s rules. This is the second level.''


    ''The third level is the true soul level, which is what I and the other warlocks once achieved. At this level, one can be considered a higher being, and your lifespan and even time itself will be greatly extended. With a true soul, you could survive in the Mother Stream, and even if you have died, if there''s an opportunity in the future, you would have a small possibility of reviving yourself. At the true soul level, the soul''s core cannot be put out or destroyed, hence the name true soul. It cannot be disintegrated by the Mother Stream, and even if you do reborn through the Mother Stream, you''ll be able to flawlessly remember everything from your past life. Your soul has its space-time attributes so it is somewhat similar to a true soul, but it is far less powerful.''


    Black Sethe gave a very detailed explanation.


    ''There are supposedly even higher levels of souls, but I have never attained them myself. There might be a few top-level warlocks that might have had a chance to reach it, but even the 3rd level is already impossibly difficult. We further separated each level to even smaller phases according to the bottlenecks in progress, creating tens of new phases in between each level in order to keep track of our growth and progress. You are currently at the basic of the soul seed level, so it''s still too early to think about all of this.''


    Garen nodded; as he had predicted, since the soul seed was called a seed, there was a possibility of it sprouting.


    ''When you''ve reached the true soul level, you will gain a true name for yourself, which is the written pronunciation of the name of your soul and must never be leaked. It has unimaginable power, in other words, the longer your true name, the stronger your soul is. Well, it''s still too early to be talking about this.'' Black Sethe brought it up, then decided that it wasn''t the correct time for this talk.


    "Soul, soul seed, true soul, 3 levels¡­" as Garen mumbled this repeatedly, his heart starting to yearn for it.


    "How many more phases does my soul seed require for it to progress further?" he asked.


    ''It''s still too early to tell. What''s more, the progress of a soul cannot be that easily predicted, We''ve only managed to research one of the paths to it and there are still numerous unknown possibilities, so you shouldn''t think too much about it now. Beings with true souls can effortlessly destroy even someone of the demon lord class, the strongest level among us Warlocks. There are a lot of Endor true souls hidden in the Mother Stream, but those are the ones who could not revive and are stuck in an unconscious state. They''re just the remnants of our civilization from the movement of the Mother Stream, largely different from real beings with true souls.''


    He paused, ''Actually, according to our theory, everyone has a true soul. In the Mother Stream, all souls will start to disintegrate until it becomes extremely small until it cannot continue to disintegrate. Then it will become a soul that cannot be disintegrated, which is what we call a true soul. If a living thing''s intelligence and senses cannot permeate the deepest part of the soul, the innermost core, once exposed to the Mother Stream, that intelligence and senses will be completely wiped out and used as materials to create a new soul. However, if you can reach the true soul level, you can retain all your memories and continuously repeat the cycle of life unless your true soul is destroyed by someone.''


    ''Even among warlocks and void creatures, there are barely a handful of these kinds of existences. You should pay no attention to it. In comparison, your soul with its space-time attributes has an advantage. This kind of soul is not that strong but can adapt to the rules of time and space, and escape the fate of being wiped out, retain memories of past lives, and can withstand the power of the Mother Stream. Although it can still be damaged, it is far stronger than average souls.''

 686 Teach 2

    Chapter 686: Teach 2


    Garen nodded.


    However, in his heart, he kept looking back to when he started on this journey.


    He knew that his soul''s space-time attributes weren''t truly natural, but something that he gained from that strange red stuff, even his innate talent had been a byproduct of that.


    After listening to Black Sethe''s explanation, he started to suspect that he''d been the test subject of a higher being''s experimentation on creating a soul with space-time attributes or possibly a byproduct from medication stimulating an evolution in his body. Whatever it was, he had definitely been ''created'' by accident. It was all luck, yet it was his fate.


    As long as he didn''t suffer damage that could completely destroy his soul, he could continue to live on just like someone with a true soul.


    Returning to his villa, his maid Marquilli poured him a cup of freshly squeezed juice and helped him hang his coat on the coathanger.


    Garen went directly to the secret room and habitually checked on the demonic book, the masks hidden in the room, and of course, the most troublesome item, the coin.


    Everything was where they should be, the five masks stacked neatly in a pile on top of the coin. The magnetic fields emitted by the masks were enveloping the coin to create an egg-shaped barrier.


    Just as he was going to conceal the secret compartment once more, he discovered a change that stopped him in his tracks.


    "This is¡­" Garen held up the first mask on top.


    The mask originally did not have any markings or blemishes, but this time, he found a small marking on it.


    At the bottom right corner of the mask, there was a marking in the form of a small black dot. It was very sharp and clear, looking almost like a punctuation mark of some sorts.


    He used his hand to gently rub the surface. There weren''t any bumps, and it didn''t feel like it was artificially added to the mask.


    He quickly looked at the other masks, and all of them had similar markings. The markings were similar in structure yet slightly differed from one another.


    ''As the energy fields strengthen to a certain degree, there will definitely be more clues,'' Black Sethe uttered softly.


    "According to the rumors, after one gathers all 12 of the masks, they will reveal the location of the prehistoric mask... Maybe the rumors were true. We''re probably the first person to gather so many masks as originally, these masks were all split up and held on to by various big organizations and antique collectors," Garen pondered.


    "Sleepless Faces, it seems that there''s more to this than I thought¡­" Garen added.


    "How is your training in the dream world as a void pursuer?'' Black Sethe suddenly asked.


    "Why do you ask?"


    ''If you''ve reached the level where you can freely move in the dream world, that means you have reached the level of visions,'' Black Sethe explained, ''Once you''ve entered the visions level, you will be able to see things that you couldn''t before. This may be helpful for finding out more clues about the masks.''


    "Vision?" Garen repeated.


    ''Yes, the dream world is filled with disillusionment, but at the same time, it also functions like a radio that can receive a lot of weak signals. Some signals may contain some white noise and useless clutter, but some are able to reflect actual reality. Dreams are actually another perception sense of a human other than the conventional five senses. Hence, if you can fully wield and hone these senses, you''ll be able to gain a lot of valuable information.''


    "The dream world as a perception sense?" this was the first time Garen had heard of something like this.


    ''You can start trying to observe your dream worlds. Anyways, Nadia is currently being temporarily suppressed by the masks and the date of her attack is still quite far off, so you might as well use this buffer time wisely.''


    Putting down the mask, Garen slowly deliberated on what Black Sethe has said, referring back to his memories of his dream worlds. Evidently, his dream world was sometimes constructed based on his own desires and imaginations, or from external influences. However, there were times that the dream world managed to reflect reality. What an interesting discovery.


    ''Over the next few nights, I''ll be expending my energy to guide you in your dream world, I''ve already had quite a bit of time to recuperate, I should have enough strength now,'' Black Sethe said.


    "Why have you suddenly become so kind?" Garen was suddenly suspicious.


    Black Sethe paused for a long time at this question, sitting in silence for a while.


    "It''s fine if you don''t want to tell me," Garen broke the silence.


    ''There''s no point in hiding it,'' Black Sethe laughed, ''I am about to disappear.''


    Hearing this, Garen was completely stunned. As time passed, he had completely gotten used to Black Sethe''s guidance, both as a teacher an as a friend. Now, he completely trusted that Black Sethe was helping him without any selfish intentions.


    After a moment of silence, Garen asked.


    "Is it because of the Slaughtering Hand?"


    ''Yes,'' Black Sethe calmly answered, ''Since the Slaughtering Demon Technique was abandoned, I''m being overwritten by the new secret techniques,'' He laughed bitterly, ''I live within the Slaughtering Hand Secret Technique, I am nothing but a past memory of the Bloody King, I do not have any means of surviving independently.''


    "Is there a solution?" Garen asked.


    What answered him was a long silence.


    Garen didn''t say anything, he just placed the mask back into the hidden compartment and walked out of the secret room.


    Maybe it was because of Black Sethe''s company that he no longer feels lonely as he did before. To be honest, he didn''t want Black Sethe to leave at all.


    "If I continue to train the Slaughtering Hand would that guarantee that your existence?" Garen softly asked.


    ''You''re willing to continue training?'' Black Sethe instantly replied in a joyous tone.


    "If I just maintain it at the first level, it''s a simple task," Garen said calmly.


    ''I knew that playing the sympathy card would work! Hahaha!'' Black Sethe laughed proudly.


    "On second thought, continuing training seems so troublesome¡­ I should just give up on it¡­" Garen playfully said.


    "Don''t!! Just name a price! I''ll do whatever I can to fulfill it for you! When have I ever cut you short, believe me!" Black Sethe shouted in panic.


    The two continued to banter, as Garen walked through the corridor, heading towards the reading room.


    In a pitch black space.


    Black Sethe was floating in the center of the space, his red eyes glowing. Only he knew that the moment the Slaughtering Hand was changed, it had destroyed the fundamental pillar of his existence. Even if Garen continued to train, there wouldn''t be any use.


    He silently stared at his increasingly transparent body, and couldn''t help but let out a bitter smile.


    Maybe if I just silently disappeared without a word, that would just be my fate as a memory¡­


    To begin with, he shouldn''t have asked for so much.


    Maybe one day, if he calls me and I do not respond, he would remember my existence as a memory¡­


    "Black Sethe, can you see it, they seem to be some sort of numbering system." Garen was already at his desks, drawing out the symbols he saw earlier.


    Ignoring his own thoughts, Black Sethe moved behind Garen in the form of black gas and looked at the symbols on the table.


    ''It does look like some kind of numbering system,'' He carefully observed each symbol on the table, ''We don''t have enough clues yet, so it''s hard for us to come up with any solution at this moment. Are there any other clues from the Men in Black?"


    "If we gather even more stuff, maybe we can get even more clues," Garen frowned.


    ''There''s another way. You can enter the dream world and learn the technique of using Visions. Maybe then you might be able to see a piece of the masks history,'' Black Sethe suggested.


    "History?"


    ''Yes. On a lot of items, there are traces that we cannot perceive normally using our five senses. Just like a painting on a piece of paper, although we can see it with our eyes, we are unable to hear it with our ears. There may be traces of these kinds of things that require a specific sense to perceive, and it most likely exists in the dream world. Hence, we might be able to get more clues if we go to the dream world,'' Black Sethe tried to explain it in simpler terms.


    "So how are we going to do this?" Garen asked.


    ''After you enter the dream world, you need to first differentiate the illusions from the reflections and refractions of reality. This is the first step, but take it slow.''


    Garen thought back to the dream world technique he''d learned so far.


    Black Sethe''s dream world technique undoubtedly gave him a lot of help; from being unable to move at all at the start until now, where he could move freely, it was almost as though he''d reached a higher level.


    He carefully sorted out the contents of the technique once more.


    Focus your mind. In the dream world, it was very easy to be disoriented or distracted. The method was to find a point to concentrate on, for example, a body part.


    You could not look for something based on the surroundings of the dream world. Since a large portion of the dream world was based on illusions, many parts of the dream world were constructed from the blurry memories dredged from the human body. If you paid too much attention to the details, it would cause the dream world to be broken. If certain details weren''t in your memory, if you paid too much attention to a missing detail, it would cause your attention to be forcefully shifted and the dream world would be destroyed.


    After you can guarantee your complete focus, you can start to use the corner of your eyes to rapidly observe the surroundings in the dream world. You cannot stop at any point, as if you do, you will start to shift your focus, breaking the dream world.


    The entire dream world is essentially a very badly made illusion, so there will be many imperfections. Once you find these imperfections, you will start to distrust the reality of everything you see in the dream world, causing you to be disillusioned, destroying the dream world.


    After you are able to observe the dream world, you would need to find the entrance, or rather the starting point to your own dream world, by realizing that you are dreaming. If you are able to feel when you have entered a dream, it would be even better. That was in preparation for the next step. Due to the high level of focus, this would produce a weirdly clear consciousness, so this process would be much simpler. However, if you started directly at this step, you would have a low chance of success, as you would easily lose your focus and attention without preparation.


    ''Now what you need to do is the 4th step,'' Black Sethe guided him in a low tone, ''From this step onwards, if you succeed, only can you truly master the art of a void pursuer.'' he explained, ''The other people of Endor and I viewed dreams as a process of inserting our consciousness into our souls, slowly going deeper and exploring the soul''s deepest parts. This allowed us to access our true souls, then imprint all our memories onto it. That is the soul''s most microscopic particles, the same particles that cannot be destroyed or disintegrated.''


    "I understood what you meant, the dream world is essentially the process of us putting our consciousness into our souls. The deeper we get, the more we find out about our soul''s hidden potentials. So the dream world is, in actuality, technically a level of the soul," Garen nodded in acknowledgment.


    ''Yes. You need to start from the starting point of your dream world, walk around intricately observing every corresponding detail around you, strengthening the dream world in the process. This will decrease the possibility of disillusionment, allowing you to remain in the dream world for a longer time.''

 687 Dragged in 1

    Chapter 687: Dragged in 1


    Practicing a technique based on dreaming was a troublesome task, as it wasn''t something you could master in one try.


    Garen cautiously asked about the details regarding the dream world technique, and also the methods for resolving the possible issues and problems he might face. If he managed to master the vision technique, according to Black Sethe, it would have some obvious effects on him in various aspects. After achieving Vision, he would be able to drastically increase his field of view, allowing him to see many things that normal people were unable to see.


    He kept the symbols he''d drawn neatly in the desk drawer and locked them up.


    ''Let''s try it out in the first dream world today,'' Black Sethe advised.


    Garen nodded as he made his way towards his bedroom. After greeting his maid, he went straight to the bathroom for a cold shower. After refreshing his body, he went straight to his bed and lay down, trying his best to relax his body.


    Lying face up on the bed, he put on his noise canceling ear muffs. Staring up at the checkered black and white ceiling, he slowly closed his eyes, breathing slowly.


    As his consciousness started to blur, he was also getting more and more sleepy.


    The key to entering the dream world was to be in a comfortable position. You simply could not move your body or exert any strength.


    After a short while, Garen started to feel his body getting lighter as if the bed itself was starting to float, and it entered a narrow black tube. It felt like he was being compressed by the strong force.


    He tried looking around, but all he could see was that he was encased in a weird, brownish, gooey substance, almost as if he was completely immobilized by mud. However, there seemed to be none on his body.


    This strange tube seemed to be alive, making small movements every few moments. He could vaguely hear a lot of different sounds; sounds of humans, cars, airplanes, even insects. It was a chaotic jumble of different noises.


    After a long time, Garen finally saw the light at the end and his entire body suddenly flew out of the tube, entering a small dark room that looked similar to his actual bedroom.


    Black wallpaper, black wall lamp, black and white checkered sofa, black and white checkered bed frame, a mini bar counter, and a giant 92-inch flat screen television on the wall.


    As Garen landed in the bedroom, he turned around. What was behind him was a room door left ajar that was slowly closing. Through the shrinking gap, he saw a dark abyss.


    Click.


    The door was closed.


    ''That is the door of your heart. Since it was closed, it means that your dream world is also closed. This is a psychological defense mechanism for defending against invisible creatures, but don''t rely too much on it,'' Black Sethe''s voice rang in Garen''s ear, but it felt as if it was played through a voice changer, with the voice constantly changing like a melody. Sometimes he sounded sharp, sometimes he sounded raspy, with his pitch constantly going up and down, it sounded very surreal.


    ''This place is your bedroom, or at least the bedroom in your dreams. Pay attention to the details in this area, we''ll set this point as the rally point for today''s training,'' Black Sethe continued.


    Garen nodded. He could clearly feel that he was in a dream, as his body wasn''t as agile as it was in the real world and his consciousness was also a bit fuzzy. The surroundings in his vision were very blurry, almost as if they were constantly changing.


    ''Let''s start by strengthening your dream world. Try to focus your sightline, start to focus on every detail of the areas nearest to you, but do not focus on something for more than two breaths. Otherwise, you''ll start to lose focus, causing the dream world to change,'' Black Sethe said softly.


    Garen started looking around his surroundings and decided to start with the small bookcase right next to him.


    The bookcase was filled with books, from books on philosophy to history, geography to science, computers to art, there''s a book of almost every genre on the shelves. However, they were just put there for display purposes; in reality, Garen hadn''t read any of them before.


    He started from left to right, scanning through the bookcase, imprinting the rows of black leather books into his mind.


    ''Find the things in your dream that are illogical, those are distractions that you should remove,'' Black Sethe reminded him.


    Keeping that in mind, Garen continued.


    History of the Earth¡­ Andrew''s Growl¡­ Astronomy and the Sky¡­ The Life of Edolas¡­


    One book after another passed in and out of Garen''s sightline.


    Suddenly, a book''s title stood out.


    "Reinhardt placed an apple on¡­" the cover of this book was very strange. The name etched on the edge looked as if they were ripples on water, and couldn''t be read clearly. The words after "on" were blurred, almost as if it was constantly changing.


    Garen moved his hand over to grab the book, placing it on his palm. It turns out that it wasn''t a book at all; flipping it over, it was a deviled egg plate.


    What a joke! Why would a plate be placed in a bookcase? It was simply illogical.


    Garen now grabbed this plate with both hands, attempting to snap it.


    At that instant, the plate softened and transformed into some sort of living slime that escaped from his grasp. It somehow burrowed its way through the wall on the right and disappeared. The wall now had a crack that wasn''t there at the start.


    ''Don''t mind it. That is something from some unknown place. When in a dream world, you may encounter various creatures from other worlds or dimensions. It''s very difficult to capture them, but you''ll get used to them soon,'' Black Sethe softly said, ''Your mission now is to remove the distraction factors from your dream world.''


    Garen felt somewhat amused.


    His current consciousness level was slightly blurrier than in real life, and it was also the case during his battle with Nadia. It was largely affected by external factors such as suppressed rationality and reason.


    Continuing to look through the bookcase, he found nothing of interest.


    He then moved on to the black cloth sofa that had a tiger-like furry texture and pattern, which seemed to be quite fluffy.


    Garen attempted to sit on it, slowly pressing his weight onto it.


    Hyaaaaa~~~~


    The sofa let out a strange moan, almost as if it was alive.


    "I don''t think sofas are supposed to make sounds like that,'' Black Sethe said.


    Garen nodded in agreement.


    The shadow of the sofa suddenly lunged forward, speeding directly towards the room door. Almost like a stream of black water, it rapidly seeped through the gap at the bottom of the door, disappearing without a trace.


    ''That was another guest from another galaxy, these guests can also be pretty useful. If you want to go visit another galaxy or enter a world in another dimension or time, they can act as great tour guides. All you need to do is grab on to their tails.''


    "We can go to other galaxies with them?" Garen started to take interest in the topic.


    ''Yes, though I need to mention that if you do that you''ll have to live in the dream world forever. If you blindly follow these tour guides away from your original location, you will be easily lost in space-time or in a different dimension, unable to find your way back. Then, you''ll have to live the rest of your life there, or maybe in the eternal emptiness of another galaxy, or maybe some rip in space-time between galaxies, staying there forever until your soul dies out.''


    "Then why are they in my dream world?" Garen sat on another sofa.


    ''No idea, these visitors all have their various goals, but one thing''s for sure, their intentions are never good,'' Black Sethe answered.


    "Alright," Garen stopped asking questions.


    After checking the sofas, he started exploring the smart television mounted on the wall.


    He tried to turn on the television, but nothing happened. There seemed to be blue sparks flying about at the sockets.


    He started touching the display of the television which looked smooth, but when he touched it, it felt strangely bumpy and uneven. Other than that, it seemed to be normal.


    Garen then moved his focus over to the television frame. Eerily, the frame was actually a thin yellow snake. The snake was even still alive, flicking its red forked tongue at Garen while hissing.


    Hiss!


    The snake suddenly lunged towards Garen, flying towards his face.


    In a state of panic, Garen reflexively reached forward to grab the snake.


    ''Don''t touch it!!'' Black Sethe shouted.


    However, it was too late; Garen had already grabbed on to the snake tightly. In a blink of an eye, he started to feel that everything around him was becoming blurry as if someone had just flashed a bright white light at his eyes. He also felt like he was moving at high speeds through something.


    After an unknown amount of time, he honestly did not know whether a long time has passed or if it was just a brief moment.


    He suddenly noticed that in front of him was a huge, pitch-black vortex, almost like a whirlpool, slowly spinning. At the center of it was an endless abyss of darkness. He was being dragged directly towards the vortex by a strong force.


    The vortex occupied almost the entirety of his field of vision, almost making it feel like it had the size of the solar system or even the Milky Way. The enormity of the vortex made him freeze in his tracks. A strange feeling of attraction was luring him towards the vortex, almost making him have the urge to just move directly into the vortex.


    ''Wake up!!''


    A sudden sharp noise came from behind him.


    Garen furiously shook his head, feeling a strong pulling force from his back, dragging him away from the vortex.


    Whoosh!!!


    Garen forced his eyes open. He was still lying on his bed, though his whole body was sore as if he''d just undergone an intensive exercise routine. It completely didn''t feel like he had just woken from his sleep.


    ''You were almost dragged into an unknown universe by a creature from another dimension,'' Black Sethe''s voice groaned from beside his ear.


    "If I really went into that vortex, what would have happened?" Garen asked as he stood up and wiped the sweat off his face.


    ''Vortex? You saw a vortex?'' Black Sethe seemed to not know what Garen saw in the dream world, ''I have no idea, you''ll probably start seeing the scenery from other dimensions or universes I guess,'' Black Sethe answered after a brief pause.


    ''This kind of thing will happen quite often, so please be more cautious. In the dream world, some of these things can be very cunning, so you shouldn''t believe everything they say, but you shouldn''t completely ignore it either. You have to be able to distinguish the truth from the lies yourself. As for entering another dimension or universe, it''s a very dangerous thing especially for you. Your soul with its space-time attributes is these visitors'' favorite prey, so they will do whatever it takes to lure you into their universe.''


    "I felt a strange sort of attraction towards that vortex just now," Garen frowned.


    ''That is for sure, as you enter another dimension or universe, it causes certain benefits for your soul''s consciousness. A trip to another universe while being conscious is not something you can do no matter how powerful you are, though it would definitely be a precious experience. However, it is a one-way road; once you enter, it''s highly likely that you''ll become lost in it forever, never being able to return.''


    "What would happen then?"


    ''To put it simply, you''ll be put in a vegetative state. Your body will still be alive, but it will no longer have a consciousness.''

 688 Dragged In 2

    Chapter 688: Dragged In 2


    Previously, Black Sethe''s words had made Garen feel disconnected from the dream realm, but this had worsened his impression of it. He now looked at it as though it was some sort of dangerous environment.


    ''To normal people, the dream realm is indeed nothing dangerous because they only wander through the realm while barely conscious, and this would not be able to attract the interest of other dimensional galaxy creatures. However, if the current you were to dive deep into it, the focus and conscious effort that you put in will be much greater than any ordinary person''s, and such an obvious prey will be just as distinguishable as a campfire in complete darkness.''


    "I''m feeling very lethargic now."


    ''Indeed, that''s because your consciousness has followed the snake for a very long distance. Take a rest, that will be it for today. You''ll need more training after this, as the Vision technique can only be trained when you have reached the depths of the second level of the dream realm. The current you can''t even reach the point of actualizing the first level,'' Black Sethe''s voice slowly softened, he too seemed to be very fatigued.


    After half a month.


    America Natiya State.


    On a highway running through barren yellow plains, there was a white car that was slowing down on the left shoulder of the white highway, which then came to a halt in front of a gas station.


    The door opened and was then slammed shut.


    A young, beautiful lady with a tall physique exited the vehicle.


    The lady was wearing sunglasses, tight purple jeans, and a white tee-shirt. She turned around and murmured to another beautiful lady in the car before she made large, purposeful strides towards the gas station.


    The sun blazed down upon the road as dazzling sunbeams blinded all of its travelers. As the heat from the sweltering road radiated in waves, some people would be sweating buckets. Strangely, the lady who had exited the car was not visibly sweating at all.


    "What month is it, for it to be this hot..."


    The teenage girl in the car was indeed Arisa, who had left Grano with her sister. She was currently dressed in a thin shirt matched with light blue jean shorts, and her outfit accentuated her slender, long legs. One of her ears was fitted with an earpiece, which was playing some music.


    "This is the southernmost region, it''s normal for it to be hotter than other regions, plus the weather forecast has also predicted that tonight''s temperature will dip into the negatives. The difference in temperature will only grow further apart," there were two more people in the car, and the one who had just spoken was a middle-aged man wearing summer beach-pants who was dozing off in the back seat.


    The other person was a lady dressed in white office attire. She had long, blonde hair tied into a neat braid, and coupled with her cold stare, she gave off a stern, sharp vibe. Both of them didn''t look like they were beyond thirty or forty years old.


    The lady glanced at the man.


    "My last trip to Natiya State was sixty years ago and back then, the temperature differences weren''t this bad. This is probably caused by the recent pollution and vegetation issues."


    Arisa spoke softly from the side, "Sixty years¡­ Lord, you Blood Breeds really do make us envious. Despite the decades you''ve lived through, you don''t look a day older."


    The lady looked at Arisa and gave her a warm smile.


    "You lot aren''t bad either; your sister has already hit the top-tiered standards among humans, and she''s almost comparable to those specialist mercenaries. To be able to do this as a human is already very impressive. After all, one''s talents are limited."


    "Of course, my sister is really strong!" Arisa stuck out her tongue and gave out a prideful grin, "Mr. Pritto, how far are we from Lars?"


    The man closed his eyes as though he was sensing something, and reopened his eyes after a moment.


    "There aren''t any traces of him nearby, meaning that he should be more than thirty kilometers away from us. We can rest easy for now."


    "It''s too bad, I''m sure we would have been much safer if we''d remained in Grano," after Pritto had met with the Arisa siblings, he had been pulled into the two Blood Breed forces'' war, though he always felt that they did the sisters wrong. Hence, during the chance opportunity where he was pressured to fall out with Lars, they had to leave Grano and rush towards the Light Party''s main camp in Natiya State.


    As the conflict worsened, the Secret Party''s advantage was strengthened, and they swarmed the Light Party strongholds en masse. Though it was unclear how they''d acquired such a tremendous number of members,the Light Party''s forces in Grano''s Faya State have also begun retreating diagonally towards the southernmost parts of America, giving up Central America entirely to the Blood Breeds of the Secret Party.


    As for the leader of Light Party who bore high hopes, the first Death Apostle Ashen Castine, she had remained silent without any action or reaction.


    Of course, in the eyes of the regular people, the two parties'' conflict appeared to be a conflict of interests between the shadow forces of two large organizations. Or perhaps it was a conflict between two extremely-wealthy organizations and was not related to any civilian.


    That was indeed the case, no matter if it was the Secret Party or Light Party, they both adhered to the rule of not overexposing the Blood Breeds, and thus anything that happened would be covered up with a layer of rationalization.


    On the other hand, the witches relied on the strength of their many alliances and had announced their neutral stand on this matter. In fact, they were also considered to be a large-scale organization as they were led by the Death Apostle, Lion Mother, hence even the Secret Party would not offend them too recklessly.


    As the Light Party retreated, Grano lost its usual security, and so the Arisa sisters also chose to leave Grano so that they wouldn''t affect other civilians. Little did they know, Raffaele was the leader of the witches. Raffaele could not insist on protecting them due to pressure from the Secret Party, and as the leader, she could not disobey Lion Mother''s decree or the conflict with the Blood Breed''s Secret Party would result in multiple casualties among their subordinates, as clearly indicated by her grandmother and other elders.


    Hence, leaving Grano has become the sisters'' only choice. After consecutively killing multiple vampires and low-level Blood Breeds from Secret Party, Isaros had been permanently recorded on the Secret Party''s hit list. For her sister''s safety, she had no choice but to flee Grano alongside Pritto and the other Scarlet Moon Blood Breeds.


    "It''s too bad¡­. If only¡­" Arisa heaved a long sigh and stared out the window. Suddenly, she seemed to have startled, as though she saw something unexpected.


    "Vivien?! Why is she here!!" Arisa shouted, and immediately flung open the door and ran towards her.


    In the gas station, there were two other cars that had stopped for refueling, and there was a small crowd of young teens standing by the side. They seemed to be on a trip, and some of them giggled as they chattered on. Among them, there was Little Vivien from Uncle Thomas'' family!!


    "Vivien?" Pritto and the young Blood Breed woman didn''t react in time, but judging from Arisa''s expression, it was obviously someone she knew.


    Suddenly, Pritto took a closer look.


    "Oh no! That''s Lars'' men!!"


    "Such coincidence?!?" the female Blood Breed was also shocked.


    "Get them back on the car!! Quick!!" Pritto closed his eyes to take a hold of the enemies'' locations.


    Meanwhile, in the gas station, Isaros had also noticed that Vivien was with other people by their cars, as well as her younger sister Arisa running over.


    Suddenly a sharp scream was heard from the car''s direction.


    "Be careful!!!" it was the female Blood Breed''s voice.


    Isaros could see streaks of black shadows rushing towards her with a glance from the corner of her eyes, as well as a few vacant cars rushing towards the cars in the kiosk.


    Bam Bam Bam!!!


    Amidst loud screaming, Vivien and her classmates were stunned.


    The cars collided with each other, causing a loud collision and in that instant, a few cars were mushed and tangled with one another. The deformed lump of several cars was heading straight towards their group.


    Vivien stood there, trembling in terror as she stared at those cars that came straight towards them. Her head had gone completely blank, and although she was trying her best to get her body to move, an overwhelming horror had completely stunned her.


    She was just a girl who''d gone on a trip with her friends after her examinations, how could such a thing happen suddenly?


    "Kill the witnesses!" called a cold, cruel man.


    At this time, Vivien suddenly felt pain on her body; a shadow had suddenly tackled her to the ground from the right, and she''d rolled some distance away.


    The immense amount of friction between the tires and the road created a loud screech, and when coupled with the shrieks of brakes, several black tire marks were burnt into the ground. It brushed by the two people and rammed straight into a pole.


    Bam!!


    The strong crash sent shivers down Vivien''s spine. Nothing actually crossed her mind, but she could feel that she was being enveloped by a soft body, and was slowly helped up after a while.


    "Dodge it!!" a familiar voice was heard from her side, Vivien felt that she was tugged towards the right with force and began running.


    She then saw Elder Sister Isaros dashing towards her with a stunning speed before engaging two black uniformed men in combat. With the loud smack of hands, the two black uniform men were deftly punched. The duo let out a dissatisfied moan and rushed towards Vivien abruptly.


    "Run!" it was Arisa''s voice.


    Vivien''s head was completely blank as she was tugged along by Arisa and ran with all her might. The two uniformed men were quickly blocked by other people and no longer chased them.


    After running for some time, the two of them reached the white car, hastily clambered in and slammed the door shut loudly before a foreign-looking, beautiful lady in the driver''s seat started the car.


    Soon, the sounds of doors opening and closing happened behind her and two other persons entered. One of them was Elder Sister Isaros whom she was familiar with. The other man, on the other hand, was a stranger in a beach attire. Both of them had flecks of blood on them.


    "Go!!"


    "Tommy!! Tommy and the rest were still there!!" Vivien had finally reacted; she screamed but she was being held firmly by Arisa.


    Vivien looked back, but she could only see the gas station going up in flames as a strong explosion discharged. The crimson-red flames and black smoke engulfed everything in its path, whether human or vehicle. The cars that have been approaching the gas station all immediately braked, which soon caused a traffic pileup.


    The car continued forward and had sped up even more while riding on the impact of the explosion.


    "This¡­ What actually¡­ happened?" Vivien suddenly felt like the entire world had become completely foreign to her. Beside her was Arisa who was still holding onto her hands tightly.


    "It''s alright, it''s alright, I''m here, Elder Sister''s here¡­ things will be fine¡­. It will be fine¡­" she could hear Arisa murmuring softly.


    "Why the hell did you bring her along? Dump her by the roadside somewhere!" the foreign lady screamed suddenly, but her voice sounded very soft as compared to the grumbling explosion.


    "She is my friend!" Arisa screamed back.


    "You are dragging her into this!!" the lady seemed to be very frustrated, bringing one non-combatant was already a hassle, now there was another one, did they not want to live anymore?!


    "Lars is in pursuit of us, not only him, there are two more Blood Breeds with levels¡­" a deep male''s voice could be heard from the passenger''s'' seat.


    "I could barely take on one," Isaros spoke softly. In fact, as of now, she was the weakest link among the combatant trio; against the pure Blood Breeds, her capabilities were obviously insufficient.


    "Then what about her?" The driver looked at Vivien who was sitting in the passenger seat.


    Isaros went quiet for a while.


    "I will contact her brother to pick her up, she will follow us for the time being."


    The driver couldn''t help but grumble.

 689 Pursue and Attack 1

    Chapter 689: Pursue and Attack 1


    Ca-clack!!


    The glass cup in his hand suddenly had multiple cracks in it.


    Garen put down the glass in his hand and calmly lifted his head to look at his subordinates who were reporting to him.


    His three subordinates were all muscular, strong and looked vicious but right now, they were all shivering and dripping with cold sweat as they bowed in front of him without the courage to stand straight.


    "Vivien¡­ was ambushed?" Garen showed a calm expression, but the calmer he looked, the more people felt that Garen was suppressing his anger internally.


    One of his subordinates'' scalp had gone numb. He felt as though Garen''s gaze was gliding across his scalp like a sharp knife, which was painful in a sense.


    "According to our intel, she was ambushed by a mysterious man at a gas station in Natiya State, and was subsequently rescued by another group of people, her current location is unknown."


    He quickly yet softly reported the issue to Garen as he endured the pain.


    Garen nodded


    "You may leave now."


    The three subordinates felt as though they obtained amnesty as they quickly turned around to leave the room. They closed the door of their car, and one could hear their sighs of relief from afar.


    The room suddenly fell into silence.


    Garen looked at the dishes presented before him, but even his favorite boiled snails in tomato soup were not attractive anymore.


    As he pushed the plates away, he picked up the phone on the table to make a call.


    The number was slightly long, and he put in a few prefix numbers before dialing the actual phone number.


    Duu¡­.


    After a few ringing tones.


    "Garen? Why are you free to give me a call?" an elderly, husky voice could be heard from the receiver of the phone.


    "AG, how did the plan go on your side?" Garen lightly tapped the table rhythmically, producing some soft tapping sounds. These sound waves dispersed across the room, and as some of those minute soundwaves bounced back, he could ascertain and sense if there were any unwanted things listening in on him.


    "I knew it," AG laughed, "Blood Breeds crossed you? You wouldn''t have proactively contacted us if things didn''t affect you."


    "You know me quite well, it seems," Garen''s face had an odd smile, "It is as you said, things revolving the Blood Breed didn''t concern me previously as I stay in the northern region of America and was largely unaffected, so naturally, I didn''t need to take an active stance with you. But¡­"


    "But now things are different?"


    "Indeed, things are different now," Garen confirmed.


    His original plans for a trip to Memphis were also affected due to this news. After receiving the news on the internal conflict among the Blood Breeds, he needed to re-evaluate the plans again.


    "What do you plan to do? We would welcome you with open arms if you decided to join us," AG chuckled.


    Garen pondered.


    His original main focus had been to look for the masks and settle Nadia''s problems first, as those imitation masks could only provide a short-term suppression. Then, he would use this time to write his very own Demonic Book to try to form a second soul seed. With regards to Blood breeds, witches, and the likes, their actions didn''t concern him as long as they did not affect him, and he would assume them to be non-existent.


    "The reason why the northern region that you''re in has never been invaded by any Blood Breed is that it was the holy site where the witches negotiated with the Blood Breeds, and also the place where Lion Mother rests," AG explained briefly through the phone, "But such peace is not permanent; following the need to expand, both forces may not care that much after all."


    Garen understood this point, as the book AG gave him before had mentioned similar contents. Through that book, he could conduct academic discussions and communications with AG in absolute secrecy, and it had also given him a much more in-depth understanding of the Blood Breeds.


    However, soon after, AG had repeatedly invited him to participate in the planning of assaults against the Blood Breeds, which were all rejected by Garen. He was already occupied with the issues revolving the Nine-Headed Dragon King Nadia, as well as the training of his own dream realm techniques.


    "Now, Secret Party is in an advantageous position, if you would like to join the fray, now would still be considered a good time. We can discuss more in the book for detailed plans."


    "Alright."


    Garen hung up the phone and stayed silent for a while before he stood up and walked towards the bookshelf. He crouched and pulled a small black hardcover book from the lowest row of books.


    As he gently flipped through the pages, there was nothing but blank tallow pages.


    ''Light Party Leader Ashen Castine has been bound by the Secret Party leaders, another Death Apostle-level Secret Party member is currently pursuing Scarlet Moon, we will need to pay close attention to two of the strongest people among the remaining forces,'' AG''s words appeared on the book''s page, ''One would be the Crimson Spear, and the other would be the Radiant Pond. These two people are both the strongest Blood Breeds under the Death Apostles while being a mastermind of the Secret Party and a Light Party Sect mastermind respectively.''


    ''I don''t want to know such useless intel,'' Garen interrupted him, ''Help me find out this thing, what forces were the ones who ambushed my sister?''


    ''I''m afraid I can''t help you with this,'' AG rejected his request, ''In America, my influences aren''t any stronger than yours. Plus, you should be getting more news on this soon. Believe me, very soon¡­.''


    ''Is this a hint from you?'' Garen distrusted this kind of superstitious prophecies.


    Ding¡­ Ding¡­


    Suddenly, the phone on his table began ringing. The monotonous yet serene bell peals were coupled with the vibration of the phone, and the phone kept moving with every vibration.


    The screen flashed and it showed an incoming call from Isaros.


    Garen squinted his eyes and accepted the call with the press of a button.


    "Hello?" he tried to sound as gentle as possible.


    "Is this Garen? I''m Isaros."


    ***************


    In Natiya State, far away.


    At the midsection of a road in the middle of some deserted area, a white car was stopped on the left side of the road. With the car doors flung open, Isaros was standing by the car while her hair was tousled by the wind. As the sun shone upon her face, a slight sheen was reflected off her face.


    Isaros was holding her phone as she spoke to Garen.


    Meanwhile, Vivien was staring blankly at her phone like a bedraggled cat, with a gaze revealing an obvious yearning for a conversation with her brother.


    Arisa was still hugging her arm, as she had no clue what the best course of action would be either.


    The two Blood Breeds, Pritto and the lady, were sitting in the front seats.


    The two of them were observing Isaros as she made the call, and Pritto was forcing a smile while the lady blatantly looked impatient.


    "Garen wants us to change directions and send his sister in the direction of Saint Francs," Isaros suddenly put down the phone, and looked towards the Blood Breed duo with a frown.


    "why don''t he just go and die!?" without waiting for Pritto''s response, the Blood Breed lady just cussed without holding back. "What are we, her nanny? Should we even need to fucking escort his sister to Saint Francs? Has his brain rusted through?"


    "Don''t you dare talk about my brother like that!" Vivien couldn''t help but shout back.


    "Your brother is an idiot!!" the female blood breed seemed to have passed an anger threshold and was shouting in fury.


    Vivien was so angry that her cheeks were ruddy and she stared at the woman with watery eyes. Her little mouth was open but yet she didn''t know how to refute, so she could only shiver in anger.


    "The backup that we were waiting for still hasn''t arrived, perhaps this is a choice. Using people''s influence to flee the Secret Party," Pritto tried to calm the situation on both sides.


    "Three low-level Blood Breeds, hundreds of vampires, do you think we can rely on regular humans'' powers to flee their pursuit? Stop joking!" the female Blood Breed said as though she heard a really funny joke.


    Isaros was speechless, only slightly shook her head, and then continued listening to the phone.


    "His people will be here within half an hour."


    "For what? To die?" the apoplectic lady snorted.


    "Okay, stop talking Kaya!" Pritto immediately held her shoulders to comfort her.


    Isaros, on the other hand, was confident in Garen.


    To be able to kill vampires and injure Lars with the Silent Killing Technique was all thanks to Garen''s teaching. In her eyes, Garen was a mysterious yet strong, weird martial artist. She could say he was half her teacher.


    "In any case, we needed to stay here until evening. It''s okay, it''s just half an hour."


    "That''s good too, we could dump these burdens on his people and their life and death will no longer be of our concern," the lady Blood Breed Kaya conceded.


    "Mind your words!" Isaros couldn''t help but shout, "My sister is not a burden."


    "Words? What words? You''re a burden too, and you dare talk back to us?" Kaya had long been dissatisfied with Pritto''s trust in them.


    "You!?" Isaros couldn''t stand this crazy b*tch''s nonstop barking any longer.


    "What? Wanna pick a fight?" Kaya was out of the car in an instant.


    "Enough! Stand down!!" Pritto finally got angry and shouted. The cheerful guy had finally snapped, and both Kaya and Isaros didn''t dare to retort after that instance.


    Isaros didn''t understand either. Kaya always seemed to be a rational person, why was she raging at everyone she saw?


    In that instant, everyone was stunned by Pritto''s words and were speechless.


    Kaya snorted before she returned to the car.


    Isaros'' chest kept heaving in fury.


    "Arisa, we''ll head over to Brother Garen''s place once he comes."


    "Sure." Arisa nodded; she''d long despised being with Kaya. This lady Blood Breed was hot-tempered and completely despised her and her sister. The arguments have not happened only once or twice these days.


    "Ugh¡­" Pritto couldn''t help but sigh, and everyone didn''t know what to say.


    "Alright, don''t be so angry, Kaya''s temper is a bit more short-fused, but she''s still a kind person. The people who''re picking them up will be her uncle, so let''s not make things too awkward."


    "Did you think I was joking?" Isaros gave him an odd look, "I was seriously considering to go to Vivien''s brother''s place. My martial arts were partially taught by him, and he definitely has a plan."


    Things have turned out this way and a joke had evolved into a fight. If they were indeed going to the Blood Breed''s area of influence, even Kaya''s territory, then wouldn''t she become Kaya''s puppet, to be played any way she desired?


    "You''re not joking?" Pritto finally began speaking to Isaros seriously.


    "Of course."

 690 Pursue and Attack 2

    Chapter 690: Pursue and Attack 2


    Jii!!


    Fresh blood spilled out from a person''s neck, spraying over several meters away like a miniature geyser.


    In the wide plains, a red shadow descended from the sky swiftly and landed upon the grasslands, before it elegantly flicked off the blood on the nails.


    Puu!


    The last person''s corpse fell to the ground. On this area of the plains, there were many corpses from unknown forces, all dressed in armored attires while gripping onto weapons like firearms and daggers. The blood flowed across the soil and dyed the plains a rusted red.


    Dahm was wearing a bright red cloak with red nail polish on his pointed nails, while his lips were dyed an odd blackish-purple shade. He was indulging in his great work at this moment.


    "Marshal, Leader Mafa is just right ahead, our tracking signal showed that he''s nearby," one baldy with a face full of scars reported while smiling, amongst a crowd of followers.


    "What about the Four Hunting Generals?" Dahm licked the blood off his fingertips with some satisfaction.


    "They''re already heading over and should have engaged Mafa''s people, but the leader Mafa is a bit hard to deal with, after all, he''s from a thousand-year-old family. Some forms of retaliation power will definitely be in place," the bald giant continued answering warily.


    "They are all either heavily injured or disabled, what''s there to worry? Let''s go too," Dahm said as he smiled and nodded.


    After such a long period of preparation, their nemesis'' ringleader, Mafa Organization, had finally been cornered in this rural area by a meticulous plan filled with step-by-step calculations, which had finally borne fruit. So long as he could kill off these opponents, the entire Mafa Organization would be effectively destroyed, and ready for him to take over.


    Suddenly Dahm activated the smart earbud in his right ears to receive an incoming call.


    "Bring all your personnel here immediately to this location," a stone-cold voice spoke over the phone without any hesitation which was transmitted over the earbud.


    Dahm''s smile then became a serious look.


    "I''m actually conducting a very important act¡­"


    "Do you not understand me?" that man''s voice was cold and cruel, as though it was a suppressed volcano, as it abruptly interrupted him.


    Dahm''s face went red and he was speechless. After such a long period of planning, he could finally take down a strong rival at long last and expand his own financial empire, but now, in such a crucial moment, he wanted her to retreat?!!


    "Yes¡­.!" he was basically shivering all over as he pushed out this word from his throat.


    Indeed, she dared not oppose that man, and she couldn''t either. This was an absolute order filled with overwhelming power.


    The waypoint has been sent to your chip, you have half an hour," clack, and the phone disconnected.


    Bam!


    The earbud exploded as a result of him tightly gripping it. The shattered pieces were scattered everywhere.


    Everyone was frightened, and a few subordinates couldn''t help but take a few steps backward, though their faces were still slashed by the shattered pieces. Even so, they did not dare to make a sound and could only endure the pain.


    Dahm looked down and picked up a chip from amidst the debris and tossed it to a subordinate specializing in hacking.


    "Everybody retreat, and head towards the location there."


    The subordinates around her were stunned. This was such a pivotal moment, and if they could get through this, they could completely annihilate the Mafa Organization. The Four Hunting Generals have also formed an enclosure.


    "But Marshal, the hunting generals are still¡­"


    Pap!!


    The person who spoke up had his skull gripped by Dahm.


    Pap!!


    His chest cavity was busted open in an instant and his flesh splattered all over the ground. As he screamed out loud, it slowly faded into silence.


    Dahm kept his head lowered while putting down his hand. The subordinates around him were terrified to the point of shivering as they knew Dahm''s violent, cruel personality had acted up again. Nobody dared to utter a word, not even exhaling loudly.


    The baldy beside her already noticed that his irises had turned blood red.


    " Heh¡­ hehehe¡­" Dahm began laughing in a deep tone.


    "Did you not hear me? Retreat, retreat!!" He shouted.


    His face paled, as he had never seen Dahm ever being this angry. He didn''t know who made him this angry, but the only thing he knew was that whoever stood in his path would definitely die.


    **********


    The rustling plains of the Central Region seemed like a yellowish-green carpet, which seemed wooly yet oddly flat.


    In the middle of the plains was a ribbon-like white road with a grey base that extended over the hills and valleys of the plains.


    Aside from the long-haul vacation buses that occasionally used that road, a convoy of pitch-black cars stood out and was very attention-grabbing. The convoy''s car surfaces were as smooth as mirrors, among the cars in the lead of the convoy.


    Among them, one of the cars was slightly larger in size than the rest.


    The car''s windows were lowered halfway and the warm breeze kept blowing into the car. Laars placed one arm over the car window as he savored the warm breeze greeting him.


    "Ahh... The smell of the sun¡­"


    He took a deep breath with a euphoric look.


    "The Blood Breeds in the movies are all afraid of sunlight, you''ll make people feel uneasy like this, Lars," Another young man with short red hair teased Lars casually while flipping through a book, giving him a side gaze.


    "But that''s just a movie," Lars laughed comfortably, "The blood Breeds in the movies were all handsome men who can charm a girl effortlessly, but in reality?"


    "Speaking of which, how strong are the Scarlet Moon Blood Breeds that we''re pursuing?" the red-haired man asked after he''d turned back to his book for a while.


    "We have you, Kurt, why would we even need to be afraid of just a few low-level Blood Breeds?" Lars said as he laughed, "You''re already close to the advancement of mid-level Blood Breed. As a member of our clan, the thirteen Blood Breeds that have advanced in the recent hundred years would definitely include a seat just for you."


    "You''re praising me too much," Kurt laughed in embarrassment.


    "This isn''t a praise," Lars shook his head, "My only concern now is that we''ll lose the Scarlet Moons ahead of us."


    "That''s okay, I can sense that they''re not far ahead¡­" Kurt shut his eyes and sensed something.


    The internal conflict among the Blood Breeds was actually coming to an end, though only these pure Blood Breeds would have these sorts of insider news.


    The leader of Light Party, Ashen Castine had been imprisoned thanks to the combined effort of the Secret Party Death Apostle leaders, in order for them to create a brand new world and to wipe out the last of Light Party survivors.


    What was left was the conflict raised among the non-Death Apostles; the war had slowly been shifted towards them. At this time, different war prodigies excelling in the art of killing have been showcased, catching the eye of the Party.


    Kurt was one of them.


    Looking at Kurt who was engrossed in his book, Lars continued speaking in a regretful tone.


    "To be honest, I have once tried to increase my own level too, intending to break free from the shackles of the Low-Level Blood Breed. Unfortunately, I couldn''t break through the bottleneck no matter how hard I tried."


    Kurt laughed.


    "Actually, you only need two requirements to advance, one is to increase your own blood purity by merging with a purer Bloodline Core. As long as this step is successful, you''ll be able to get some Bloodline essence of a higher level. With this small amount of essence, you can then feed the essence with large amounts of blood to let it grow to achieve the goal of advancement."


    "Even though I made it sound easy, the actual heritage of the purifying process was actually hard to come by¡­ The Gazing Eyes coupled with the clan''s commonly used Secret Technique ''Fresh Blood Cultivation'' was still too low of a level," Lars said regrettably, "If I had your Fifth Holy Technique.."


    "I have sworn a Blood oath that I cannot share this family''s secrets," Kurt shook his head while smiling, "You know the rules set by the Clan Elders."


    Holy Technique was a mysterious technique heritage that allows the Blood Breeds to purify their own blood to achieve a higher level. Each clan''s strongest heritage techniques were crowned with the title of a Holy Technique but in essence, only the six largest clans had Holy Techniques within the entire Blood Breed society, the Six Major Blood Breed Clans. Among them, all four Death Apostle Clans were in the ranks, while the two top-tiered Upper-Level Blood Breeds took the remaining two seats.


    The top five clans were called the Five Staves of Power. Their influence and network were intertwined with every detail of the entire Blood Breed Society''s multiple facets. Among the Five Staves of Power, there were three clans supporting the Light Party, while Secret Party only had the backing of one. However, now that there was another Death Apostle clan and one of the main supporters of the Light Party had betrayed them for unknown reasons, it caused the Scarlet Moon Death Apostle to flee with heavy injuries and go into hiding. As for the final clan, they weren''t considered an actual thriving clan by the Staves of Power.


    On that note, Lars'' clan was indeed the Secret Party supporter among the Five Staves of Power.


    That was how he could gather so many vampires under his wing, as well as the reason he managed to invite Kurt to pursue the Scarlet Moon Blood Breeds.


    "Within the Scarlet Moon Clan''s headquarters, the elders have claimed that the legendary Scarlet Moon Holy Technique is nowhere to be found. It''s said that the Scarlet Moon Holy technique is a Holy Technique with the fastest speed of blood purification and an extremely high success rate. Perhaps this is why all the major powers are this enthusiastic about searching for and destroying the Scarlet Moon Blood Breeds."


    Kurt smiled while reminding Lars on the actual mission objective.


    To be honest, he was here for the Holy Techniques too. After all, Scarlet Moon Holy Technique was considered to be a Death Apostle grade Holy Technique, and in this situation where all three Death Apostles were unable to make time, they may very well lose the chance to look for another Holy Technique to advance.


    "I have crossed fists with the few people ahead of us a few times, and according to my deduction, the Scarlet Moon Holy Technique would most likely be in the hands of the Blood Breed called Pritto," Lars spoke softly.


    "Ohh?" Kurt''s interest was piqued, "A holy technique is such an important thing, why would it be with a regular low-level Blood Breed? It''s a tad unrealistic, no?"


    "That''s why Sir Scarlet Moon would place it on a low-level Blood Breed¡­" Lars smiled as he hinted.


    Kurt''s jaw dropped but he reacted soon after.


    Indeed, when everybody was thinking of such contingency, they would definitely not place such documents on a low-level Blood Breed. If they put in a little effort on this Blood Breed and gave him some means to escape, that would make it very easy for this person to escape pursuit¡­..


    If you think of it this way, then perhaps the Scarlet Moon Holy Technique could really be with Pritto¡­


    Kurt, who was feeling disinterested in this matter was suddenly fuelled by passion. If he had the Scarlet Moon Holy Technique, perhaps he could break through the bottleneck in one go and safely advance to Middle-Level.


    "How do we split the Holy Technique once it''s in our hands?" Kurt looked at Lars.


    "The three of us were the best of friends. The Holy Technique will definitely be shared, but it''d only be among the three of us, how''s that?" Lars had obviously thought it through.


    About the other vampires that were driving, they were all their direct descendants and were under their control, so they could rest easy. Plus, if them, as a higher level Blood Breed obtained greater advancements, it would trickle to these vampires as a stronger backbone support and would allow them to develop stronger network and influences, which would benefit everyone. Naturally, they wouldn''t leak this secret out.

 691 Pursue and Attack 3

    Chapter 691: Pursue and Attack 3


    "Holy Techniques¡­ They used to be such distant treasures," Kurt lamented, "If these were peaceful times, we would never have gotten the chance to come into contact with inheritances that belonged to the Holy Technique level. Nonetheless, an opportunity has arrived now."


    "That''s right," Lars laughed before his pupils darted towards the front suddenly.


    "Oh¡­ Farne has intercepted them up ahead."


    "So soon? He always works in a timely manner," Kurt smiled as well, "I can sense that they''ve stopped. They''ve probably been surrounded so we should go there quickly. Make sure not to let the Holy Technique escape our grasp."


    Both of them laughed quietly at the same time.


    *****************


    Clang¡­ Clang¡­ Clang¡­ Clang¡­


    Rhythmic peals could be heard ringing across the plains continuously.


    It sounded as if metallic objects were crashing against each other, making melodious but somewhat shrill noises.


    In front of the white sedan car at the side of the road, Isaros, Pritto, and the others dispersed before surrounding the car. Inside the car were Arisa and little Vivien. Arisa was still alright and kept a composed look on her face. However, Vivien''s face was alarmed. She had to keep looking in all directions to reassure that someone was guarding the surrounding areas of the car in order for her to feel slightly at ease.


    She was not a rebellious young girl and had never imagined that she would encounter a dangerous situation like this. She could only accept everything passively.


    "There''s nothing to worry about¡­" beside her, she could hear Arisa consoling her before the other girl held her hand gently.


    "Mmhmm¡­" she grabbed Arisa''s hand tightly.


    "Uh-oh¡­ I didn''t think that I would encounter you guys here at an earlier time?"


    A giddy male voice echoed from outside the car.


    Accompanied by the rhythmic beats, ten pitch black human silhouettes seemed to have instantly teleported to the sides of the road by the white sedan.


    The silhouettes scattered and dispersed. Each of them had slender bodies and most of them wore black veils that concealed their facial features. The person who led the group was the only one without a veil.


    That man had a head of soft silver short hair and was dressed in silvery-white casual Western-style clothes. The rhythmic beats from earlier were the result of him clapping his palms together and making strange metallic noises. The skin on his hands was pale but made metallic noises when clapped against each other.


    "I am Farne," the man stopped clapping and smiled while looking at the few people around the car. His gaze immediately shifted towards the two young girls inside the car before Isaros used the side of her body to block his line of sight at once.


    "Farne? If you aren''t hanging around Karst anymore, why did you run all the way here?" asked Pritto in a low voice.


    Due to long periods of leisure and a good life, most of the Blood Breeds had already had lost the powerful fighting abilities that their ancestors once possessed. Other than their bodies'' naturally strong physical qualities, all of their other killing abilities had deteriorated ages ago.


    However, this was only the situation of the majority of the Blood Breeds. There was still a minority of Blood Breeds that had retained their bloodlust and cruel lifestyles, such as a group of them from the secret party. One of these Blood Breeds was Farne who was standing before them.


    "I heard that the Scarlet Moon clan was here so I rushed over frantically. Fortunately, I was able to intercept them on the way here. If I had arrived slightly later, I would have only brushed past my desired Holy Technique, no?" Farne rubbed both of his palms together and made the strange metallic scraping noise again.


    Suddenly, his gaze fell on Isaros who was the only human there.


    "Oh? Apparently, there''s a normal human here? Forgive me, you must be an elite human right? Someone who could participate in my Blood Breeds'' internal matters could not be a normal person."


    He snapped his fingers unconsciously while keenly noticing that Isaros was the weakest link among the trio.


    Although she would not necessarily lose to the other Blood Breeds in terms of combat abilities, it was impossible for her regenerative abilities, vitality, and speed to match those of a true Blood Breed.


    Isaros narrowed her gaze before staggering one step backward suddenly.


    A scratching noise could be heard before an extremely thin black line instantly appeared beneath where she stood earlier. It was deeply embedded within the thick mud on the ground, leaving only a tiny circular hole there.


    When she turned around, she noticed that both Pritto and Kaya''s faces have changed like her own, while Farne had lifted his chin slightly and was glancing at the back of the white sedan.


    No had noticed that an entourage of black cars had silently stopped at the roadside before groups of Black Uniform members got down. One characteristic that all of them possessed was that they were all donning black veils that exposed only a part of their pale and bloodless skin.


    Two extremely eye-catching men walked out from the front of the entourage slowly.


    One of them was their old acquaintance, Lars, who was dressed in his usual gentlemanly suit.


    The other person was a youth with short red hair who was dressed like a regular refined official document writer. He held a book without a cover in his hand.


    "We meet again¡­"


    Pritto''s heart fell. The thing that he was most worried about had happened. Their reinforcement troops had yet to arrive but their opponents were already present.


    Kaya''s uncle was probably still on his way but their three Blood Breed level opponents were already present. This would be dangerous¡­


    Although they had three combat strengths as well which comprised of two ranked Blood Breeds and Isaros who was almost equivalent to a ranked Blood Breed, Isaros''s regenerative abilities and physical endurance were far from an actual Blood Breed''s.


    Moreover, they had to protect the two fellows inside the car as well. This was the worst scenario!


    Lars smiled while looking at the three people who were now encircled. His lips twitched slightly when he was about to give his orders. Suddenly, he wrinkled his brows before looking at the front of the road from the corner of his eyes.


    Not just him, but the others glanced towards the road at the same time as well.


    Another long entourage of sedans was traveling here at an even speed. The car that led the entourage stopped slowly. It was clear that this was their destination.


    The car stopped and the door was opened before a slender leg in red leather boots stretched out and stepped on the ground.


    "Hehehehe¡­ Looks like I made it in time for a good show, huh¡­" a voice that was neither male nor female echoed from within the car.


    Bang, bang bang!!


    All of the car doors were opened and then closed after four men and women with various dispositions got down. There was a large crowd of fierce members behind them that carried various weapons like submachine guns and rifles. The hollow clicking sound of firearms being loaded could be heard from the group continuously.


    A man in a red trench coat got down from the car and surveyed the entire area.


    "I''m here to meet someone. The rest of you can do as you please."


    Looks of extreme dissatisfaction and frenzied bloodlust could be seen on the faces of the people in the crowd. It seemed as though an important event had been interrupted.


    "Humans?" the smile on Lars''s face disappeared slowly, "There are so many humans here that it would be troublesome to kill all of them¡­"


    "Are you going to do it or should I?" Kurt looked at Farne.


    "Humans?" the man in the red trench coat was actually Dahm who had just rushed over. His acute hearing had caught that word. "Are you talking about us?" he glanced from left to right and noticed that the Four Hunting Generals beside him were smiling faintly.


    A refined bespectacled man pushed his glasses to readjust them.


    "They''re underestimating us."


    "Underestimating?" Dahm acted as if he had heard something hilarious. Instantly, his smile disappeared. "Looks like you''ve spoiled my act of goodwill!"


    Whoosh!!


    He disappeared from his initial position instantly. His body resembled a graceful water bird when he stepped on the ground gently before leaping into the sky with both of his arms outstretched like wings. He floated gingerly towards Farne who was nearby.


    "In order to save time, could you I ask you to die please?" the corners of Dahm''s mouth were curled and his bright red lipstick made him look abnormally ferocious.


    "Are all of the humans so arrogant now?" Farne rubbed both of his hands together and made the metallic noise again. He raised his head towards the silhouette that was flying towards him and lifted his hands before punching his opponent head-on.


    His fist and Dahm''s finger made contact, but no strength could be felt.


    Farne''s face was somewhat shocked before he saw Dahm''s red silhouette gracefully appear behind him a flash. His speed had increased greatly in a mere instant, achieving speeds that had blinded him slightly when he tried to keep up with his footsteps.


    His heart froze.


    "Be careful! This person is st¡­ strange!"


    Bang!!!


    Before he could finish speaking, Farne''s entire upper body exploded from the left side suddenly while blood gushed out like a fountain. Half of it splattered on Dahm''s body and he closed his eyes as if he was drunk on happiness. He outstretched both of his arms as though he was a musician who was preparing to leave the stage after his performance.


    The remnants of the smile on Kurt''s face disappeared instantly.


    Lars''s pupils dilated as if he''d witnessed an unbelievable sight.


    Most of the surrounding Vampires that were entangled in the conflict were also dazed before collapsing in large groups at the hands of Dahm, who had taken the opportunity to open fire and wipe them out.


    Pritto looked towards Kaya with a strange expression on his face.


    "Did your uncle hire him?"


    The latter had a similarly shocked expression on her face before shaking her head slowly, "My uncle is still on his way¡­"


    Both of the Blood Breeds glanced at Isaros from the corners of their eyes. However, they noticed that Isaros had a grave expression on her face as if she''d seen the red male figure do something impossible.


    "Seize the opportunity to leave." Pritto could feel Kaya writing something on his palm. The area where they''d been surrounded earlier had now become the safest place amidst the chaos.


    Pritto nodded faintly and drew himself closer to Isaros quietly. On the other side, Isaros could sense movements as well and understood their plans after a moment of thinking. She moved closer towards the car door as they''d secretly agreed upon.


    "That strange person may be a first-rate elite-level human, but it is impossible for him to be a worthy opponent of three ranked Blood Breeds. We can leave quickly while they''re clashing with each other." Kaya whispered while moving towards the car door quietly. "My uncle will come to our aid soon."


    "I''m very sorry but you are not allowed to go anywhere."


    Suddenly, a gentle male voice interrupted her actions.


    Both Pritto and Kaya felt their heads turn numb. Neither of them had sensed that someone was behind them. Both of them turned their heads abruptly before realizing that the bespectacled man in white was standing behind a few people. They were completely unaware of the moment he''d approached them.


    "I seem to have heard some extremely terrible things earlier¡­" the bespectacled man pushed his glasses higher while a faint smile appeared on the corners of his mouth. "Blood Breeds? Could it be that those monsters with extremely fast speeds and powerful life forces are actually legendary Blood Breeds?"


    As one of the Four Hunting Generals, he was similar to Dahm because his greatest interest and hobby was fulfilling his perverted love of torturing people as well.


    "Another insignificant human!" Kaya''s expression darkened.


    Before she could finish speaking, three well-built men and women appeared in their surroundings. As the strongest and most terrifying death row criminals that Dahm had gathered, each of the Four Hunting Generals had extremely powerful and glorious pasts.


    "Oh oh oh¡­ There are real Vampires in this world, huh?" a muscular bald man who was holding an iron rod sneered viciously, "I was wondering how it was possible for the fellow that I caught previously to have such strong regenerative abilities. He could still move after I broke all four of his limbs and removed his eyes and tongue. Apparently, he was a Vampire, huh," a look of sudden realization appeared on his face.


    They were the purest thugs and world-class killers. They had gathered here as Dahm''s underlings because his cruel nature was fully compatible with their habits. Realistically speaking, Dahm could defeat them in his normal state even if the four of them worked together and perfected their training of the Waterbird Fist. Their extremely terrifying powers led Dahm to group them separately from his other subordinates by referring to them as the Four Hunting Generals which could also be interpreted as the Four Haunting Generals.


    "Don''t tell me you''re not worried about your leader?" Pritto tried to divert the quartet''s attention. As a ranked Blood Breed, he could sense a dangerous air around these four people. "He''s facing three ranked Blood Breeds¡­"


    His gaze unconsciously drifted towards the other side of the battlefield when he spoke. However, he was shocked to the point where he was unable to continue speaking after looking over there.


    Other than himself, Kaya and Isaros who stood on the sidelines and the two girls in the car were also staring at the nearby battlefield with stunned expressions on their faces.


    The man in red, Dahm laughed maniacally while entangling himself with three other figures. The repercussions of powerful air currents burst forth when the four of them collided made it difficult for the surrounding Vampires to stand up steadily, much less approach them.


    Every time Dahm outstretched his arms and flapped them, ringing explosions could be heard every time his wing-like limbs touched the bodies of the three people gently.


    All three lower-level Blood Breeds were being fatally suppressed by him. They could not even need to think about gaining the upper hand since they could not even protect themselves. It was clear that Farne who suffered a powerful direct hit recently could not even reform properly.


    "Hehehe, they would dare to collide with Marshall''s arms despite being unable to even touch his Dead Waterbird Fist?" The gigantic bald man glanced at the three Blood Breeds on the battlefield with a condescending look in his eyes.


    "Idiot! Those are three ranked Blood Breeds! Once they use that..!" Kaya could not stop herself from retorting but was held back by Pritto who did not allow her to continue speaking.


    At this moment, changes began to appear throughout the fight between the heads.

 692 Pursue and Attack 4

    Chapter 692: Pursue and Attack 4


    The Blood Breed who was called Kurt stopped suddenly. It seemed as if black halos or whirlpools had formed in his eyes while he stared daggers at Dahm who was laughing maniacally.


    Human hypnotism was a Blood Breed''s natural talent and ability! It was also a suppression ability that could restrain a human''s true genes completely.


    At this moment, Dahm''s movements suddenly slowed down. Black light flashed in the eyes of the two other Blood Breeds simultaneously while they glared at Dahm.


    "Control him! This man is too strong!" Lars yelled loudly while his face remained pale. His hardened skin was completely useless against his opponent because a single touch would cause the blood in his body to explode and burst out involuntarily.


    However, if the hypnotism could control their opponent, his strength would then be useful to them!! This would serve as a huge boost to the powers of these three people!


    Even now, a sliver of fear remained on Farne''s face. This man in red was too frightening. Farne was still traumatized by the attack and could feel that he was losing control of the blood in his body just by touching the other man.


    "This is bad! There''s something hidden in his consciousness! I can''t control him!!" yelled Kurt in a panicked state suddenly, "Retreat!!!"


    "Not good, the Marshall is about to go crazy!! Retreat quickly!!"


    The bespectacled man''s face changed at once.


    "What do we do about these people?!" yelled the bald man frantically.


    "Don''t care about them! Go!!"


    The Four Hunting Generals seemed as if they had seen something terrifying at almost the exact same moment. Each of them ran frantically in a different direction. The people around them who carried firearms were openly fighting with the crowd of Black Uniforms who wore veils over their faces. However, their opponent''s regenerative abilities and frightening speed had forced them into an unfavorable position. Soon, once they realized that their head had fled as well, they dropped their weapons quickly and ran away from the area.


    Pritto and the others stared at the Four Hunting Generals and numerous subordinates who had forsaken their leader and fled. They were unable to react towards this strange situation for a period of time.


    Ahh!!!!!


    Moments later, a sharp scream could be heard from the leader who was standing on the outskirts of the battlefield suddenly. The shrillness of the scream caused everyone''s eardrums to ache while buzzing noises made it impossible to hear other sounds.


    Boom!!!


    At the center of the area where the Blood Breeds and Dahm were fighting, a shroud of blood red mist expanded and exploded suddenly and covered the entire battlefield instantly as if it were smoke.


    Terrifying bright red smoke twirled around Dahm''s entire body at the epicenter, as if he was a supernatural being who had just walked straight out of hell. An intense bloody smell permeated the air and diffused for more than a hundred meters.


    He lowered his head while a ferocious look appeared on his face.


    "Controlling and¡­ Controlling again!! The thing I despise the most¡­ is when others control me!!!"


    The three Blood Breeds were sent flying by the violent blood mist before they rolled over and hit the ground below them. Kurt was the only one who was in slightly better shape while the other two resembled torn cloth dolls whose limbs had been twisted into strange arcs. They coughed up large mouthfuls of blood from their mouths involuntarily. Extended periods of bleeding had caused their terrifying regenerative abilities to slow down.


    Kurt ground his teeth and glared at Dahm''s somewhat blurry figure which remained in the center.


    "Retreat!!" he finally clenched his teeth and spat these words out.


    To think that three ranked Blood Breeds would be forced to retreat while facing a normal human! This was a humiliating decision and he could already imagine the ridiculous rumors that the Blood Breed society would spread around after discovering that this trio had retreated.


    "Retreat?" a strange voice that was neither male nor female echoed beside his ear.


    Dahm''s face appeared in front of Kurt immediately. His face was directly in front of Kurt''s, making it possible for him to clearly see that his opponent''s eyes were bloodshot. It was almost impossible to see the whiteness of his pupils as they seemed to be covered in layers of spider web-like blood vessels.


    Kurt''s face turned pale at once.


    He lowered his head while still in a trance and looked at his own chest before a perfectly straight pale arm stabbed through it and clamped down on his beating heart tightly.


    Bang!!


    Dahm clawed at Kurt''s face with all five fingers of his other hand at the same time. His fingernails dug deeply into Kurt''s brain before he gouged his entire face out. He used his immense strength to smash Kurt against the ground and a deep pit was formed there while soil was sent flying.


    On the other side, Farne and Lars watched on in horror as Kurt was brutally clawed to death. They wanted to move but their bodies would not respond to them at all. While the bloody mist continued to waft in the air, it seemed as though the mist had coagulated their blood, making it move as slowly as sticky glue.


    For Blood Breeds who fully depended on their blood, this was simply fatal!


    "Don''t¡­ Don''t! Don''t kill me!!" yelled Lars in fear.


    "I surrender!! You killed Kurt even though he was the Blood Breed who would inherit the Holy Technique. You will definitely be pursued and killed by the clan! However, I know how to evade the attack!! Let me go!!" yelled Farne on the side as well.


    But the current Dahm was unable to listen to reason anymore. Both of his eyes were blood red when his figure flashed like lightning and swept past both Farne and Lars instantly.


    Bang bang!! Two dull noises could be heard before both of their heads exploded immediately, just like balloons that had been filled with too much air.


    The Vampires around him who had not reacted in time instantly became Dahm''s punching bags. Their blood red figures were tossed back and forth horizontally. Massive explosions would occur every time he touched them while the blood mist restrained them from moving.


    Dahm laughed maniacally as he sank into a completely irrational state.


    Bloody flesh and severed limbs flew past. Most of them were covered in the blood mist that seemed to have thickened suddenly.


    On the other side, Pritto and Kaya were already sitting inside the car. Their foreheads were beaded with sweat while they tried to move the car. However, the engine seemed to be against them for some reason, as it refused to start at all!


    Meanwhile, Isaros covered Arisa and Vivien''s eyes tightly and stuffed rolled up paper into their ears while cradling both of their heads in her bosom.


    "Damn! It hasn''t started up yet?!" Kaya beat the car window angrily.


    The terrified screams in their surroundings had decreased.


    The front of their sedan was blocked off by the cars that the Blood Breeds had driven, forcing them to turn the corner to escape. Fortunately, the blood mist had covered them, allowing them to move freely without being countered by anyone else.


    "That monster is almost here!! Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up!!" Kaya turned around and glanced behind before feeling her soul escaping her body when she noticed that only a few Vampires remained out of the hundreds that had arrived.


    "I''m trying my best!!" Pritto was also panicking.


    Bang!!


    Suddenly, the glass of the car window was instantly smashed. A blood-covered arm grabbed Kaya violently and dragged her outside while large amounts of blood mist drifted inside.


    "Save¡­!!" Kaya could only yell out half of her sentence before she was torn out of the car.


    A crashing noise could be heard after Kaya was thrown out of the car by her throat. The tires of the sedan made scratching noises when the car was pulled by his immense strength.


    "Save me, save me, you say?! Hahahaha¡­" Dahm laughed maniacally while clutching Kaya by her throat and suspending her helpless body mid-air.


    "I''m the strongest ''Deadly Fist'', Dahm Elfman! Anyone who blocks my path must die!! Die!! Hahahaha!!"


    He raised his head towards the sky and laughed like a madman.


    The ground was a mess of corpses and severed limbs and he was the last man left standing in this pool of blood. The people in the car felt chills run down their spines when they looked at the crazed Dahm and his completely bloodsoaked body. This man seemed like a demon from hell who was neither Blood Breed nor human while fat pigs that were waiting to be slaughtered lay before him.


    "Get down from the car and run away from here!!" Pritto spat out those words hurriedly before he rushed out the car as well and charged towards Dahm. He could not just stand here and watch this man murder Kaya. Despite this woman''s venomous and harsh words, she chose to remain by her friend''s side at the most crucial moments instead of selling him out in times of fear and danger.


    Isaros took a deep breath and held both of the young girls while they got out of the car hurriedly before running towards the far end of the area quickly.


    They were only a few steps away before they heard Pritto and Kaya''s desperate screams behind them. The shrill and painful screams made it impossible for the girls not to shiver in Isaros''s arms.


    Whoosh!


    A blood red silhouette appeared in front of them suddenly.


    It was Dahm!!


    This terrifying man had apparently gotten rid of Pritto and Kaya in a few moments and had now caught up with them instantly.


    His hand stretched outwards as quick as lightning and attempted to seize the two young girls in Isaros''s arms.


    "Die¡­ Die¡­ Die!!" You want to control me? Die! Hahaha!!" It seemed as if he had lost his mind. His fingernails that were as sharp as daggers were aimed directly at the foreheads of both girls.


    Isaros could not move her body at all and could only watch as he attempted to stab the girls in her arms.


    Vivien widened her eyes and could see the blood red fingers that were approaching her through the cracks between Isaros''s fingers. The heavy shadow of death was covering her quickly.


    "Dad¡­ Mom¡­ Big brother¡­" her body had stiffened and she was shivering from fear while hallucinations appeared before her eyes.


    The fingers were getting closer and Vivien could feel their sharp coldness when her forehead was pierced painfully.


    "Garen!!!"


    Suddenly, Big Sister Isaros''s shouts echoed beside her ear and almost sounded as loud as a roar.


    The fingertips stiffened suddenly before stopping in mid-air.


    "She''s Garen''s younger sister! You cannot kill her!!" at this moment, Isaros''s impulse that nearly pushed her to tears was apparently effective!


    She could see a slight similarity between Dahm and Garen''s style of punching. However, this was merely a gamble.


    She was finally able to stop this monster''s killing spree.


    "Garen¡­" Dahm''s body shivered when he heard that name. The bloody insanity and rationality were continuously entangled in his eyes while they fought and conflicted with each other.


    Slowly, the seemingly endless amounts of blood mist seeped back into his body. His aura was returning to his body quickly, meaning that his rationality was gradually gaining the upper hand as well.


    Pfoo¡­


    The shrill whistling noise of moving air echoed from a faraway distance suddenly.


    Bang!!


    A large cloud of black mist flew over furiously like a bomb and collided against Dahm who stood dazed in place. It sent him flying more than ten meters away.


    "Dahm! You wanted to kill Master''s sister?" a cold male voice echoed from far away.


    Hochman got down from a sedan with silvery-white patterns. His entire body was contoured by terrifying and violent-looking muscles while he was dressed in a black singlet and slender Western-style trousers that covered his wide back and taut waist. A pair of blonde youthful female twins followed behind him closely.


    The collision caused Dahm to be sent flying for more than ten meters after he was hit by a basketball-sized rock. Two long black skid marks that resembled ditches were formed when his legs were dragged against the ground. He did not suffer any serious injuries except for the swelling of a few blood vessels on his cheeks.


    "Hochman¡­" he glared fiercely at the man who had just alighted from the car, "Why are you here?!"


    "What do you think?" Hochman''s handsome face glanced at him coldly, "Look at your embarrassing state. You''re neither man nor beast. Frankly, you''re a disgrace to my combat club''s reputation!"


    He glanced at the dirty battlefield that was filled with bloody severed limbs in disgust.


    "Let''s go. Take these people. Master wants to see you."

 693 Meet 1

    Chapter 693: Meet 1


    Tap¡­ Tap¡­ Tap¡­


    Inside a study in Berlin, Garen''s fingers rapped against the desktop rhythmically.


    He lowered his head and looked at Dahm who was kneeling on the ground and Hochman who stood by the side respectfully. The atmosphere was somewhat constrained.


    "Both of you were my favorite and strongest disciples," said Garen in a slow and emphasized tone.


    Neither Dahm nor Hochman spoke. However, Dahm''s body began to shiver slightly as if he was afraid of something.


    "I taught both of you so that you would enhance my Waterbird Fist." Garen looked at Dahm, "But do you see what you''ve done? You destroyed transmission radios and made it impossible for me to relay additional orders. You even almost did unforgivable things."


    Garen''s expression was calm and gentle as if he was merely chatting about potential afternoon leisure activities.


    "If I had not gotten Hochman to rush over in time, Dahm¡­"


    "It was my fault!!" Dahm lowered his head quickly, "No matter how you decide to punish me, I will endure it willingly!!"


    His voice was quaking.


    The Fist Techniques meant everything to him, and the one who controlled them was Garen. Once the source of this control was taken away¡­ Perhaps it would be impossible for him to find a new source for a certain period of time¡­ When he thought of that inhuman pain, all of the bones in his body itched to the core but he was unable to scratch or soothe it at all.


    Hochman glanced at him coldly.


    "Master, the conflict with the Blood Breeds was hard to avoid. Dahm killed the inheritor of the Holy Techniques from one of the five main Blood Breed clans. Every single Holy Technique inheritor is specially selected and is also the hope of their clan. We must make prior preparations."


    "And what is your opinion¡­?" Garen looked at his sedate disciple who had clearly never been one to openly express his joy or anger. He knew that this guy had obviously interrogated a few Vampires to acquire this information.


    "Master, please move to the Holy Fist Palace. We''ve built a base with defensive facilities that will make it absolutely safe there. The current Blood Breeds are not certain that you are the president of our combat club. In other words, they may also be unaware that the ''Holy Fist'' of the combat club refers to you. In order to face the Blood Breed clans, we must proceed with establishing and setting up complete systems. It will be impossible for loose organizations to counter the hoards of Blood Breeds that will gather," explained Hochman quietly.


    "You''re trying to say that we should unite our forces such as the combat club, Nighthawks, your Boxing Overlord club, Dahm''s Deadly Fist club, and the strengths of Quentin and the others?" said Garen when he understood what Hochman meant.


    Hochman had a grim look on his face. In comparison to Dahm, he had always been the one who could actually think subtly and deeply.


    "With the Holy Fist Palace as the core, we will gather as a large group. I believe that with Master''s strength, neither the Blood Breeds nor anyone else will be able to obstruct us," Hochman displayed his wild ambition calmly.


    "We''ll integrate the combat strength of the entire world to create a system for martial artists that will be used as our core. Therefore, everyone will respect our Holy Fist Palace as the holiest and most supreme place! Doesn''t this fulfill the true meaning behind Master''s propagation of the enigma of the Holy Fist?" although he was clearly speaking coldly in a low voice, it still sounded as if he was instigating something.


    Garen looked at his disciple carefully.


    "My Fist Techniques are ancient Fist Techniques that were used for killing. Are you sure you that you understand the meaning of these words?"


    Integrating all schools of martial arts and forming a holy land of all the martial arts in this world was equivalent to pioneering a new era. What kinds of exploits and feats were this?!


    But it would surely bring unprecedented reigns of terror that would start a war of supremacy.


    "This was the best method we could think of," Hochman nodded. It was obvious that this was not the first day that this thought had crossed his mind.


    Garen narrowed his eyes. He understood that Hochman''s desire for him to integrate all of his forces was based on his own wild ambitions. This disciple knew that he was uninterested to govern these trivial matters and preferred to shove them to other people. Meanwhile, Dahm was not a suitable candidate to take care of such a large organization because he was too cruel. Those who were truly suitable for this position were frankly far and few in between.


    "This is something we could do," said Garen slowly while mentioning the keynotes, "From the perspective of you and Dahm, the results of the international combat competition that you organized was good and very successful."


    "True," Hochman nodded, "So far, we''ve received different martial arts sects from 246 countries around the world. We''ve taken note of certain strong and special sects and registered them already. That includes the areas that they occupy, social positions, personal influence, and economic strength among other things."


    He arranged his glasses.


    "From this information, I''ve discovered that even the strongest combat sects cannot be compared to the power of our Waterbird Fist. Most of the Grandmasters of Combat are unable to counter ambushes that use firearms. Moreover, they lack experience in fighting with weapons during actual combat as most of them are merely adept in showy martial arts that are impractical."


    Garen nodded assuredly.


    "Isn''t the competition actually just an opportunity to eliminate these useless and trashy sects?"


    "Getting rid of the weeds to keep the flowers. That''s an ancient Asian saying," Hochman smiled, "Once we had finally approved and finalized the standards, we decided that there were only three main sects in the world that could truly be called martial arts sects, excluding ourselves."


    "Which three?"


    "With us as the center, there is the Eastern Fist Technique in the west that includes Wushu-like fighting sequences as their fundamental principles. These have been passed down for many years and are very valuable. They are mainly found in countries like China, India, Mongolia, and Russia among others. The Saudi Fist Technique in the south includes many types of sword moves and leg techniques and focuses on speed. It is mainly spread across Argentina, Chile, Brazil and other countries. The eastern side is more complicated as many main sects have fused and blended with each other. One of the strongest actual combat sects is the Mocksaw Sword Sect, a sword sect established by the master swordsman Mocksaw that focuses on actual combat. However, it has currently evolved into the gun and sword technique, a sword technique that is paired with firearms. It is mainly used in various countries in Europe. The ideas behind this sword technique have influenced the combat of many countries heavily. Therefore, the masters of this technique are always be invited as instructors when the special forces of various countries are undergoing training sessions," Hochman listed all the main points of these notable sects in a familiar manner.


    "Eastern Fist, Saudi Fist, and Mocksaw Sword Sect. Meanwhile, our own country has the Waterbird Fist. These are the four main notable and powerful sects in the world," Garen repeated once more, "Have you met the representatives of these sects?"


    "Of course, we have already established interactive relations as well," Hochman nodded, "There are actually many other powerful sects, but we''ve placed them in the second batch because the representatives of their sect were not powerful enough. That''s all I have to report right now. In order to establish a Holy Path for our Fist Technique, we need an overwhelming victory that will truly involve the whole world! In this respect, we need large amounts of manpower and financial resources. We will also need stronger safety measures."


    At this moment, Dahm who was kneeling beside Hochman finally flared up. The soul primer inside his body, the core of his aura had been stirred up by Garen. The painful itchiness that reached his bone marrow tortured him until his body shivered continuously. Sweat soaked through his entire shirt in a few moments while he remained kneeling on the ground.


    The muscles on his body felt as if they were being air-dried. They had started to shrivel up slowly because his skin was getting dehydrated from losing large amounts of water at once. These terrifying effects could be seen by the naked eye because he was losing water too quickly.


    Garen glanced at him.


    "This is your punishment. After two days, I will relieve you from these disciplinary actions."


    Dahm''s entire body spasmed before he lowered his head barely.


    "Thank you¡­ Master¡­" he squeezed these few words out with much difficulty before he stopped speaking altogether.


    "You will solve the problems that you created on your own. The issues with the inheritor of the Holy Technique will be solved by yourself as well. Since you created the Dead Waterbird Fist because you desired to form your own group, you need to be equipped with the ability to take responsibility as well," said Garen while waving his hand, "You can leave now."


    Only then did Dahm raise his head. He stood up with much difficulty and moved like a zombie before walking out of the room. He would need to endure this punishment for another two days. This sensation was easily more painful than frying his whole body in boiling oil. However, he had no strength to fight back as these were the retributions of taking the shortcut. While gaining powerful strength, he would be imprisoned in unbreakable shackles at the same time.


    Garen continued to ask Hochman about the other martial arts sects in the world.


    This world mainly revolved on an orbit that consisted of Blood Breeds and Witches. They were the conductors who were currently orchestrating the melodies of this world and the ones who would decide the main path that the earth would follow.


    Meanwhile, the normal martial artists formed a completely different circle. They had no extraordinary powers at all and were merely walking on the path of becoming stronger purely based on their own hard work and the integration of modern technology. Many disciples who were guilty of manslaughter that had been forced into the circle of mercenaries had naturally received training that involved blood and fire.


    Although this circle was not powerful, unifying it would be no simple task.


    *****************


    At the temporary Nighthawks base on the outskirts of Berlin.


    The base was located at the bottom of a valley in the wilderness, where the furthest road was a ten-minute car ride away.


    The entire base was once used as a training base for the German army garrison before the Nighthawks had bid for it at an auction. It became a training base for a smaller group of stationed troops after it was modified.


    Those who were inside the base performed their garrison duties strictly in an environment that was filled with guards.


    Every few steps, there would be at least one or two elite mercenaries carrying firearms while on guard. They were dressed in the exact same black soldier''s uniform. Meanwhile, monitor probes and infrared defense lines were placed in every corner of the base.


    Small-scale unmanned drones would fly across the sky at certain periods of time to patrol the area. Although no one knew how the various parameter inductors detected the threats, they were still used as additional layers of protection.


    The base consisted of unified black buildings that were metallic and glossy. Black houses were built inside a square-shaped area that cars drove past continuously. Occasionally, people who either left from missions or returned after completing them would exit and enter the base.


    Within a building that was used for medical services.


    Inside the clean white ward, three sickbeds were scattered and distributed there.


    "Pritto¡­" called a weak female voice from one of the sickbeds. "Are you still alright?"


    White light cascaded into the room from the outside through the window and shone on the blankets of the white sickbeds. There was a pale young woman with blonde hair under the blanket. Her eyelids were slightly swollen and she seemed lifeless. Currently, her head was turned sideways while she looked at the man on another sickbed.


    "Damn them! Don''t they know that male and female wards should be separated into two rooms? How dare they just throw us into a room without a single care!"


    Some of this woman''s vigor and energy seemed to have returned when she opened her mouth and began cursing suddenly.


    "Don''t be angry¡­ This place is that monster''s territory¡­ Only bad things will happen to us if we end up provoking him," the man on the sickbed beside her answered in an exhausted voice.


    These two people were Kaya and Pritto who had been personally saved by Hochman from the slaughter. Since both of them were lower-level Blood Breeds, they would not die even if their blood dried out. They would only weaken; as long as their cores were unbroken and their brains remained intact, other things would not be a problem. However, it had been sheer luck that Dahm decided to go after Isaros and the others while he went crazy. This distracted him from finishing them off with a killing blow. Otherwise, neither of them would have lived to see another day.

 694 Meet 2

    Chapter 694: Meet 2


    In Dahm''s eyes, the supposed Vampires and Blood Breeds were mere insects with slightly stronger life forces. They were not extremely different from regular humans. Although these Blood Breeds had learned many techniques and combat skills that were suitable for themselves with their enhanced lifespans, Dahm thought that these were useless and tantamount to not learning anything at all.


    "We''re still alive¡­ How fortunate¡­" Pritto seemed much weaker than Kaya. He had been stabbed in the chest by Dahm when he''d tried to save Kaya and his core would have been seized if he had not prepared himself to dodge the attack in time. However, Dahm had used his aura to suck all of Pritto''s blood out of his body, causing it to spurt outwards until not a single drop was left. This was immensely detrimental to his vitality.


    "A hoard of Blood Breeds were actually defeated by a single human, butchered even¡­" Pritto smiled bitterly, "This world is truly becoming mad¡­"


    Kaya opened her mouth and was about to mention that she was unconcerned about the attitudes of normal humans but was momentarily unable to say anything.


    "Wait till my uncle arrives. He will definitely make that fellow pay the price for hurting us!!" she was finally able to squeeze out a few hateful words.


    "Your uncle, huh? Look at that bed over there and see if¡­" Pritto gazed at his good friend with a sympathetic and compassionate look.


    The head of a slightly balding middle-aged man stretched out from the last sickbed slowly.


    He smiled bitterly and waved at Kaya.


    "I''m sorry, Kaya¡­"


    "Uncle!!" Kaya''s eyes widened immediately. A look of utter disbelief appeared on her face, "You!! How did you¡­??!!"


    The middle-aged man rubbed his nose bashfully.


    "I encountered the man named Hochman halfway through my journey and fell into a coma after he struck me with his fist. When I woke up, I was already here¡­"


    "¡­"


    "¡­"


    The sick ward was filled with awkward silence.


    Pritto did not know what to say while Kaya''s face was completely flushed. She was extremely resentful and wished that she could find a hole to bury herself.


    After some time¡­


    "That''s right, Uncle Bally. Did you come here alone?" it was clear that Pritto had a good relationship with this middle-aged Blood Breed as he was able to chat with him casually.


    "Yes, I drove here hurriedly from home. I wanted to come to your aid quickly before the secret party Blood Breeds arrived. However, I was unable to find my other friends to help in time," Uncle Bally nodded frankly.


    His human identity was based off a rich merchant. He was portly, fair, and plump with a little clump of a beard. No one would be able to guess that he was a heavily embellished, first-rate American boxer. Moreover, he was also a Blood Breed boxer and one of the light party''s few lower level Blood Breed representatives.


    "But you don''t have to worry. Although I''ve been captured, my friends and brothers from the clan should have discovered that something is amiss by now. They''ve probably made their moves already as well. We just need to wait and we''ll be fine," explained Bally assuredly. He had rushed across a distance of a thousand meters to save his niece but did not expect that he would be dragged into this as well. This made it hard for the older man to hide his emotions while he tried to redeem his reputation quickly.


    "That''s right, where are Isaros and the rest?"


    Kaya had just remembered the three other people who came with them.


    "They were taken away by the people here¡­" Bally replied.


    *****************************


    On a road on the outskirts of Berlin.


    A black limousine with silver vine-like patterns drove past steadily. It clearly did not fit in with the other cars in its surroundings as it was particularly showy.


    A car like this resembled an exquisite work of art. Its slender and streamline body seemed like a mirror that could reflect the images of people.


    Although the limousine was not traveling quickly, it steadily overtook a few large lorries and normal cars. It attracted the curious gazes of the drivers while some of them even took their phones out to snap pictures.


    This was Athena no. 4, a first class luxury manual car manufactured by Poly, one of the four largest car manufacturers in the world. It was also a limited edition vehicle that was worth more than five million Euros.


    It was also the Nighthawks'' only custom-made vehicle that was specially manufactured for Garen.


    The people inside the car couldn''t feel that it was moving at all. Instead, they merely felt as if they were sitting on the sofa at home. Even though they could see that the scenery outside was passing by rapidly, they could not tell that they were moving at all.


    Regardless if this was due to the performance of the car or the skills of the driver, both of these factors coordinated with each other to produce great results.


    Isaros and Arisa guarded little Vivien in the back seat while quietly observing and taking in their entire surroundings.


    After they left the site of the killings, they were taken away by a man that was sent by the one named Hochman. Things took a turn for the better after they were flown directly to Germany and finally placed in this luxurious car. Once they had eaten an exquisite and sumptuous dinner in the car, the emotions of all three girls had finally calmed down slowly.


    Perhaps the driver was making an effort to slow down after taking into account that they had suffered a terrible fright. The car moved slowly, making it seem as if they were not moving at all.


    "Where are we going now?" asked Vivien quietly.


    Arisa shook her head but kept holding Vivien''s hand tightly while looking at her older sister Isaros.


    Isaros nodded to show that she understood before raising her head to ask the driver.


    "Ladies, you don''t have to ask. We will be reaching Berlin immediately," the driver was a gorgeous woman with an exquisite face. She was dressed in a clean and tidy black outfit that consisted of long pants and a tight sleeveless top that wrapped itself around her body and showed off her ample bosom and beautiful figure clearly.


    "I am Quentin. I came over to pick you up according to Master''s commands," said the woman while introducing herself, "Therefore, do not worry. Everything has passed and all of you are very safe now."


    "The master you are referring to is¡­?" Isaros furrowed her eyebrows.


    "Our President Garen, you mean? How is it possible that none of you know him?" it was obvious that Quentin was slightly shocked.


    Isaros felt a chill in her heart.


    They had seen a lot of people holding firearms on their way here. Both of the terrifying professional fighters that seemed too strong to be human were apparently the ones who had sternly arranged them in an orderly and disciplined row. It was obvious that an extremely powerful force was controlling and backing the overall situation.


    She thought that she had already overestimated Garen''s strength. However, she had not anticipated to find out that she had actually underestimated the exact details of that man. What kind of world had that man named Garen actually experienced previously? He was apparently able to gain the backing and support of such strong forces.


    No... ''Support'' was not the right word. In retrospect, this strength was obviously something that he had nurtured on his own.


    The car moved forward slowly while Quentin occasionally answered Isaros''s questions on the way.


    Gradually, she finally exposed more information about Garen. Vivien had slowly recovered from her shock as well and was now interested in the topic that the other women were speaking about. The Garen that they were talking about was a completely different person from the Garen in her memories.


    The Garen that Quentin spoke about was strong, cool, and perfect. He was simply an inhuman existence that would be divinized soon.


    Meanwhile, the older brother in her memories was merely a normal guy. Apart from his slightly handsome looks and exceptional grades, nothing else was special about him.


    Both of these people were completely unrelated to each other.


    The sky slowly darkened.


    The car finally arrived at the grounds of a magnificent villa before slowing down behind a black villa.


    Whoosh¡­


    The large garage doors opened themselves automatically while being illuminated by tiny glowing red lights.


    Quentin drove the car inside slowly and stopped in a parking lot on the extreme left side. The whole garage was unusually spacious while three expensive looking race cars and a limousine were parked inside.


    Two men in black suits opened the door for the three women with respectful looks on their faces.


    "The commander has already been waiting on the second floor for some time. Please come with me."


    One of the gentle-looking blonde men spoke in fluent American English while flashing an enchanting smile at the three women inside the car. He spoke with a slight London accent which made him sound strict but refined.


    Isaros got down from the car first and stood in front of the car door to protect the two other girls while they alighted slowly. She was also taking in the sights of her surroundings at the same time.


    The garage was illuminated by gentle yellow light. When the light reflected off the surface of the car, countless dots of faint yellow light appeared throughout the garage suddenly.


    There was a transparent glass wall on the right side of the garage where they got out of the car. Through the glass, they could see a little reception room that was decorated with a sofa and some flower vases. Maids in black and white uniforms were cleaning the dust off the furniture inside.


    The blonde man who led the way walked towards a corner of the glass wall where an automated glass door was placed. A muscular black man with a concealed gun at his waist stood in the doorway and spoke a few sentences to him softly before stepping back and bowing towards the women slightly as a sign of respect.


    Isaros returned the sentiment by smiling before taking Arisa and Vivien inside quickly.


    Frankly, Arisa and herself were quite used to this. They had once entered the Primary Colors'' high-scale laboratory and had seen upper-class living conditions. Only Vivien, however, was somewhat unable to stay calm.


    Her eyes scanned the room curiously. The iron nerves and sense of adventurism that were naturally present in the bones of Americans were vividly portrayed in her. Despite almost losing her life earlier, she was apparently able to restore herself in a day.


    "Vivien¡­ Are you sure that we''re meeting your brother?" Arisa came close to her ear and asked quietly,


    "I don''t know either¡­" Vivien shook her head. Frankly, her heart was only filled with curious desire.


    All three of them entered the little reception room before the maids that were sweeping earlier lifted their skirts and executed an accurate curtsey in front of them. The trio was at a loss and did not know how to return the sentiment. Fortunately, the man who was leading the way called them over to the small door on the right side of the reception room immediately.


    There was a little elevator there with a retina and fingerprint scanner on the side of the silvery-white elevator door. Isaros saw the blonde man align his eye there and press all five of his finger pads against the scanner before the elevator door opened.


    She was keen enough to notice that there were hidden cutting laser traps inside the silver elevator as well. If an enemy were to either break into the lift and get inside hastily or enter it without the appropriate approvals, these lasers would unleash their terrifying killing abilities, making it impossible for any enemies to even exist within this tightly-sealed space.


    "A minor accident occurred when we were supposed to send you off earlier. The culprit, Marshall Dahm has been punished properly already. Frankly, Marshall Dahm''s initial motives were good before he was provoked by those few Blood Breeds who caused his emotions to become insane. We hope that all of you will no longer blame him," said the blonde man sincerely.


    Only then did Isaros notice that this man was one of Dahm''s four strongest subordinates.


    "He nearly killed us," said Isaros coldly.


    "Regardless of the kind of compensation you desire, the Marshall will swear to fulfill it. This is his sincerest apology and we hope that you will accept it." The blonde man placed a little object on Isaros''s palm gently. It felt like a little box but its contents were unknown.

 695 Plan 1

    Chapter 695: Plan 1


    Isaros pinched the object gently and hesitated momentarily.


    However, she was not hesitating about this item. Instead, she was thinking about the fact that Dahm was Garen''s subordinate, and the contradicting problems that would arrive if she did not accept Dahm''s apology.


    "Please don''t worry. No matter what, Marshall''s apology is truly sincere," replied the blonde man with a smile when he noticed her hesitance.


    Isaros nodded faintly and gently stuffed the item into the palm of Vivien who was behind her. The latter was slightly stunned and about to say something but stopped when Isaros shook her head and signaled her to keep her mouth closed.


    Ding¡­


    The elevator stopped slowly before the door opened automatically. A young woman in black tights stood guard outside the door.


    "Please follow me, all three of you," said the woman respectfully while bowing her head lightly.


    Isaros and the other two girls followed the woman out of the elevator and walked towards the right side into a corridor that was covered with a white carpet. There was a study with a faint white light at the end of the corridor. The door to the study was slightly ajar, allowing rays of light to shine outside.


    The trio followed the woman and stopped in front of the doorway. She knocked the door three times gently before pushing it open slowly.


    The inside of the room was immediately exposed before the eyes of these three people.


    Inside the spacious room, nothing was eye-catching except for the magnetic presence who was clearly seated behind the metallic silvery-white desk in the middle of the room. This figure had instantly attracted the gazes and attention of all three people.


    A young blonde man sat in the leather chair behind the desk with one hand on the armrest of the chair. His other hand was gently stroking the white jade lion paperweight on his desk. The most eye-catching thing about him was the black metal mask on his face. That mask was unusually hypnotic because it was expressionless but had clusters of little eyes on the forehead area that added mysterious and cold qualities to this man.


    "Welcome. I haven''t seen you for such a long time, Isaros, Arisa, and my beloved Little Vivien," said the man while sounding as if he was smiling.


    "You are¡­ Garen?!" Isaros could feel a sense of familiarity from his voice suddenly.


    "Big brother!!" Little Vivien who stood on the side could sense this familiarity even more. She ran over immediately and threw herself into Garen''s embrace at once. She had been in a state of anxiety throughout her journey and was finally able to release all of her emotions fully now that she had arrived here.


    Once she jumped into Garen''s embrace and smelled his familiar scent, Vivien suddenly felt as if she was wrapped in a thick security blanket. She only wished that she could bury herself in her brother''s chest and stay there forever.


    Garen hugged Vivien. The little sister whom he had grown up with had already become a sixteen or seventeen year old beauty now. She was wearing a pair of denim shorts and a white T-shirt that she had just changed into while her pale thighs were exposed. Moreover, Little Vivien sat directly on his lap and curled herself up like a little kitten that was crying against his chest.


    "You''re so big already. Alright, alright. Don''t cry." Garen held Vivien and attempted to pull her away, but this little fellow rubbed her snot and tear stained face against him instead. She would rather die than let go, forcing him to just let her stay there as she wished.


    Both Isaros and Arisa each found a chair to sit on inside the study. Meanwhile, someone else had closed the door behind them.


    Once Little Vivien''s emotions had calmed down slightly, Garen brushed against an acupuncture spot on her back and Little Vivien began to doze off suddenly before drifting into deep sleep.


    Only then did Garen raise his head to look at the two people in front of him.


    "I know that both of you definitely have a lot of questions to ask me. However, I will only answer you selectively."


    "Big brother Garen, why do you have so many subordinates?!"


    Before Isaros could speak, Arisa who stood beside her asked the first question. After experiencing Dahm and Hochman''s terrifying powers personally, her initial favorable impression and admiration of Garen were suddenly amplified all at once. Although she was still barely able to maintain her image of a virtuous maiden, for now, the bright and watery gaze that she used to stare at Garen made it seem as if the word ''worship'' was written on her face.


    "I obviously nurtured them¡­"


    "Then why are you wearing a mask?"


    "This was something that I was utterly helpless against. You just need to know that I did not wish to wear it."


    "Your mask looks really good. So cool!"


    "Thanks¡­"


    "Could I have one too?"


    "This mask is not something that can be worn by the average person¡­"


    "Big brother, how did you know that we were in danger?"


    "I have my information channels."


    "How should we repay you for saving us?"


    "Don''t worry about that¡­"


    They continued speaking, but after less than ten minutes, Garen looked on impatiently as Arisa buried herself in his embrace as well. This beautiful little girl with shoulder-length red hair used the excuse that she had been scared silly and needed a warm, strong embrace before burrowing herself against his chest.


    It was fortunate that he was tall, muscular, and almost two meters tall. The shape of his entire body had become burly after he entered the fifth star, allowing him to envelop both of these little girls in his arms without any problems.


    Arisa curled herself up in Garen''s chest with a satisfied smile on her face before falling into a deep sleep quickly.


    Suddenly, only Isaros and Garen were left in the room.


    Isaros glanced at Garen who was sitting behind the desk. There were too many questions in her head that she wanted to ask him. She wanted to ask him about his power, strength, and other things such as his true position and character¡­


    But once the words reached the corners of her mouth, she realized that she was completely unable to open it as there were too many related questions and she did not know where to begin.


    "I''m already aware of the incidents between you and the Blood Breeds," Garen spoke first after a few moments of silence, "The Holy Technique of the Scarlet Moon clan was inscribed in the depths of your consciousness. Did they obtain your approval before doing this?"


    Isaros nodded faintly after acknowledging what he had said. She was not surprised at all that Garen knew this information already.


    Garen looked at the expression on her face and smiled.


    "The Secret Party and the Light Party were fighting and it was merely an internal struggle at first. I did not anticipate that they would involve you in this."


    "We have been involved in this long ago actually. After we were listed as targets to be hunted by the Secret Party, Pritto decided to inscribe the Holy Technique in the depths of my consciousness. Compared to the Blood Breed''s powerful regenerative abilities, the characteristics of normal humans like myself were much weaker. Therefore, the people from the Secret Party would have their misgivings when they hunted us down and discovered our secret, ensuring our safety," said Isaros quietly.


    Garen''s eyelids drooped downwards.


    "With your current strength, it''s completely impossible for you to protect Arisa. Do you understand?"


    "That''s why I have a request," nodded Arisa with a determined look on her face.


    "I can''t promise anything now." Garen knew what she was about to say. He was certain that she was hoping to put Arisa in his care. However, being by his side was actually more dangerous than if she were to be with Isaros.


    "All of you should hurry towards the northern areas because the Lion Mother''s territory is there. Moreover, the Light Party''s reinforcements are there so it should be much safer. Meanwhile, here with me¡­" Garen placed both of his hands on the desk. "The period of time that follows after will be extremely dangerous."


    "But compared to us, your powers are¡­" before Isaros could finish speaking, there was a soft knock on the door.


    Knock knock knock.


    Isaros stopped speaking suddenly and picked up the coffee cup on the little table in front of her and drank from it.


    "Commander, Mr. Rod is here," said the woman who had led the way earlier called in a loud voice while standing before the door.


    "Ask him to come here," Garen replied.


    "I''ll leave first then?" Isaros stood up because she was worried that Garen would have things that he needed to discuss.


    "Your Blood Breed friends are at the base on the outskirts of the area. If you want to see them, you can just ask anyone to take you there," Garen nodded.


    Isaros nodded faintly to show that she understood.


    Garen continued by saying: "Arisa can stay here with me for a while. It''s still temporarily safe here. When the time is right, I will send her to you."


    "Thank you very much."


    "You don''t have to be so courteous. I''ve always thought of Arisa as a little sister," Garen smiled.


    Once Isaros had left the study, she could hear a set of familiar sounding footsteps approaching and walking up the stairs slowly. Not long after, Rod''s face that was completely devoid of any signs of sternness appeared at the doorway suddenly.


    This guy had changed into a checkered shirt and white boxer briefs and flinched just as he entered the room.


    "Damn, your place is so hot. Don''t you ever turn on the air conditioning?" he complained.


    "I''ve never used that toy," said Garen impatiently. The weather had become slightly unpredictable now as hot sunny days would occur in Berlin during its winter period in December. The temperature would only decrease rapidly in the evening, causing differences in temperature of over twenty degrees sometimes.


    Rod pulled a chair over in a familiar manner and sat down. He soon noticed the two beautiful young girls who were curled up in Garen''s lap behind the desk. One was red-haired while the other was blonde.


    Suddenly, this man pointed his thumb at Garen rudely.


    "Amazing! Two at one time. I had the same demeanor in my previous years!"


    "They''re my younger sisters¡­" Garen was utterly impatient with this man.


    "No worries, most of them usually start as younger sisters," laughed Rod.


    Garen did not explain any further.


    "Any developments over at your place?" he changed the subject.


    "The testing grounds have been prepared already. When do you want to test it?" said Rod frankly once his smile had finally disappeared.


    The tests that he was talking about were the Rexott Group''s experimental areas. They were going to test every aspect of Garen''s strength and physical abilities. Moreover, Garen was also eager to compare the limits of his powers with the technology of this world.


    "I have some matters to attend to now."


    "Understood. Both of them are asleep because of you, huh?" Rod spoke crudely again.


    But when he noticed traces of anger on Garen''s face, he shut his mouth quickly.


    "Alright, alright. I''ll stop joking. Looks like they''re really just your younger sisters. You can visit the testing grounds anytime you want, but we can''t really delay the other thing anymore."


    "What?"


    "I''m talking about the International Fighting Competition you''re organizing. The prize money is too high. Some special class mercenaries may attend, so you must be mentally prepared," Rod seemed to know some insider information.


    "Don''t worry. I''ll take care of it properly." Garen had taken currently taken over the competition that Hochman and Dahm had organized. The prize money had been raised again and was now at ninety million euros. This large sum of money would not be provided by Garen alone as there were many other commercial sponsors who would be present. Since the last competition was a huge success, the current one would be even more influential and dynamic.


    "That''s right, how much do you understand about Blood Breeds?" Garen pondered for a moment before asking the question.


    "Blood Breeds?" Rod''s pupils shrunk, "Why? Did you provoke them?"


    The Rexott Group was an organization that was determined to develop the potential of humans. Actually, they mainly existed because they were extremely unsatisfied with the Blood Breed''s rule and influence over the structure of the world. Therefore, they were trying to find a new path that would strengthen normal humans to achieve their end goal of surpassing the Blood Breeds.


    A goal like this would naturally require deep research of the Blood Breeds.

 696 Plan 2

    Chapter 696: Plan 2


    "It was just a small conflict."


    Rod muttered to himself.


    "Speaking about the Blood Breed, there is one person that we cannot miss out - the last King. It is said that thousands of years ago, our planet had a huge empire named Suva Dynasty. Due to unknown reasons, the entire great dynasty fell into turmoil and was on the brink of collapsing. At that time, the last emperor of the dynasty, who was also the last King of Suva used all kinds of mysterious measures in an attempt to solidify all his strength within himself so that he could restore the dynasty. Unfortunately, he did not succeed. Because his strengths were clustered together, his body fell apart. They exploded into two parts, split between his upper and lower body. However, his brain, and all five sensory features were still attached to his upper body, along with his heart too. That''s why it became the first ancestor of Blood Breed. Whereas the lower body had the reproductive organs and both his legs, symbolizing the movement and reproduction of a collective power. Hence, it was turned into the first Witch."


    "Is this the source of the myth of Blood Breed and the Witches?" It was the first time Garen of this rumor.


    "We selected this out from the various myths and legends that were mostly true. Which also means that there is a possibility that this could be true," Rod nodded and said, "That''s why Blood Breed is the strongest; it lies in their effort, five senses, as well as their ability to control the brain. While the for strongest Witch, it lies in their power to bring everyone together, no matter if it''s through fear or respect," Rod said in detail, "These were all the untold stories my brother told me. He keeps in contact with the top ranks of the Blood Breed''s five-scepter-clan. If you come across any problems that you cannot solve, maybe I can help you make some arrangements, only if it''s not a huge issue¡­"


    "Is it a big issue if a Holy Technique Inheritor was killed?"


    Rod heard the reply even before he could finish his sentence. Suddenly, he stood up from his chair. His face was stunned.


    *******************


    "Damned for life!"


    A clan would not have necessarily produced an inheritor of the Holy Technique even if it took them hundreds of years. This was every clan''s most precious future deterrent power - the most potential talent in Blood Breed, or maybe even the future support pillars of the combat power.


    Somewhere in the dark space of nothingness, black smoke clouds slowly floated around in traces of plume, as if it were silk.


    An oval egg-like shape appeared in the air, and there was no light inside. All they could see was a vague red statue figure. Beside the statue sat three figures with different qualities, but because they were all so dark, it was difficult to make out who they were.


    "Our Holy Technique Inheritor, Eeleen was the potential candidate we chose in the recent years. She cannot die in vain," A black figure spoke in a low voice. It was as if thunder reverberated in this space.


    "Don''t be so radical. We are now in the era of peace, and our clan has already claimed superiority from the action against light party. We would not want to offend any unknown force that might be powerful just because of a potential candidate,'' Another person answered lazily, "For someone who can kill Eeleen so easily, it must be the intervention of other Blood Breeds or Witches."


    "This issue involves the Wellington family''s dignity. If we don''t retaliate, our people''s confidence in us will be shaken," The last voice rang out. However, the voice could not be distinguished by gender but it carried the same thunder-like echo.


    "Only a few lower levels were killed. Why are you so emotional?" The lazy voice said lightly.


    The Wellington Clan was one of the Blood Brood''s five-sector-clan. Other than the secret party''s top Death Apostle leader, the three of them were the strongest ranking elders of Blood Breed. Any decision that had to be made for the entire Wellington, whether big or small, was discussed in this confined illusionary dream space. Who knew how many decisions they have made over this noise that had a huge impact on important issues?


    Originally, the Wellington family was a neutral clan. But following the clan of the Death Apostle, it leaned towards the secret party. Then naturally, their perspective shifted too.


    "It is now the time for us to stand for ourselves. If we don''t fight back after being provoked, it will be extremely detrimental to our clan''s ranking in the secret party," The first one who spoke with the radical voice said again, "Moreover, what do you mean by only a few lower levels were killed? Every ranked Blood Breed are a precious part of the clan!"


    "What is the name of the provocateur?" The lazy voiced asked.


    "Dahm. I think that''s the name," The unidentifiable voice replied softly.


    "Maybe we can develop our descendants? Such strong humans can be very hard to find¡­" The lazy voice sounded excited.


    "If you can convince him then it is up to you."


    For the development of vampire descendants to work, both parties must agree with it so that they would be able to let go of conscious resistance. Only then, the soul could be changed.


    "Forget it, it''s too troublesome."


    "Since the other party had the ability to kill Eeleen who was so closest to the middle rank, then let''s assign that to the middle rank judges of the clan," The radical voice said in a low tone.


    "Agreed."


    "Agreed."


    ************************


    Garen put the two girls down lightly onto the bed in the bedchamber. He covered the both of them up with a thin blanket, adjusted the room''s temperature, and left.


    ''It''s rare to seeing you so soft-hearted,'' Black Sethe, who hated being lonely appeared, ''Don''t delay the writings of the Demonic Book.''


    "I know," Garen put his hands into his pocket, "Dahm is one of the important chess pieces I have with me right now. For now, I cannot lose her. According to intelligence, the one he killed was Wellington Clan''s Holy Technique Inheritor. The other party might be responding really quickly."


    ''How do you plan to sort it out?''


    "To resolve this as quickly as possible, before the next time Nadia attacks."


    Garen walked to another study room which was a little more secretive. From the lowest level of the bookshelf, he took out a black shelled notebook. He lightly flipped it open, and impressively, there was a black gel pen in between. On the paper, some words that were written in detail were recorded.


    He held up the pen, and took off its cover as he slowly flipped to the last page of the notebook. Then, he started writing.


    ''I need to know the detailed account of the information on Wellington Clan,'' He ended the sentence with a hook-like symbol.


    For a moment, the symbol that he swiftly drew suddenly disappeared on the page.


    Garen slowly put down the pen, and waited.


    Very quickly, within ten minutes, the notebook reacted.


    ''Wellington Clan from the Blood Breed? They are one of the five scepters, and you do not want to mess with them," the AG promptly replied.


    ''As an exchange, I will participate in your next operation. How does that sound?'' Furthermore, AG helped him destroy White Phoenix Base the last time. Additionally, he provided the detailed report this time, especially since the Blood Breed really offended him. So, Garen did not intend to wait for the other party to make a move.


    AG was against Blood Breed; mainly it was those who clans that initially besieged him. However, in fact, there were not only people from secret party among the crowd, but even more of them were from the light party too. Therefore, the objective of his revenge was not between parties. Instead, his goal was the Blood Breed.


    This fellow had been scheming and calculating, planning for a shocking conspiracy, always wanting Garen to join.


    ''Then that''s a deal. You joined at the right time, just when we are preparing to stabilize the situation. The secret party is huge, so our target will be Wellington," AS gave a confident reply, ''We have already arranged the detail, and we have enough people with us. The main goal will be killing statues of Wellington''s Death Apostle. The other areas, we will rely on your men. Remember, you cannot let any of the Blood Breed''s go! The Vampires don''t matter, but if they react, all Blood Breed''s must die!''


    ''It looks to me that you have reached the stage of attacking, and it seems like I have come at the right time,'' Garen had never thought that it would be such a coincidence.


    Before this, he understood that AG did not idle around. He made use of the Blood Breed''s wrecked ashes from the large amount of shooting they did, and collected a lot of strange materials. With that, he created an extremely insidious and horrifying magical tool. In between, he visited Berlin once where Garen felt AG''s qi becoming stronger and more profound.


    Over hundreds of years accumulating in his grave, it would finally explode. He was very close to making changes that would turn the world upside that - Garen had that feeling. This old guy might be breaking through to a new level soon.


    What level would a high rank go if he broke through it? There was only one answer - Death Apostle.


    ''Among the four Death Apostles, Wellington lost to Castine the last time. Since they are far from recovering right now, this is our chance. To be honest, even if you don''t show up, we are prepared to attack. This time, we determined the two secret party clans but we could only choose one. But since that you have decided to come, we won''t hesitate,'' AG replied


    After continuing the discussion in further details with AG, Garen closed his notebook. The words he wrote at the top were slowly starting to fade away, so he left it on the study table.


    He walked to the study room window, and looked down.


    The outskirts of Berlin''s night sky was filled with stars of yellow dots. Away from the city, the white beam formed from the bright searchlight swept across the sky; he could vaguely see the reflections of both sides of streets on the Spree River.


    This bungalow was situated on a high location, just enough to overlook most of Berlin''s night view.


    A few moments later, the notebook on the table moved slightly, without a single wind blowing.


    Whoosh...


    As the subtle page flipping sounded, the notebook suddenly stopped on the last page.


    The area that was originally empty was now filled with dense writing.


    ''Wellington Clan: There are 3 upper level elders, 13 middle levels, and 492 lower levels. The number of vampires was still unknown. As secret party''s newly entered clan, Wellington was originally under the light party, but they abandoned most of the clan''s peripheral forces. In its top ranking clan, the ones who are able to fight are one of the elders among the upper level, 7 of them in the middle levels, and you can ignore the lower levels. Our aim is to use the time when Wellington himself is resting to snatch the Blood Breed clan''s Hallow Blood Statue. Once it is in our hands, we will launch a full-scale attack - Leave this part to me. Your responsibility would be resolving other resistance forces. In between specific patrol alert measures, what you have to pay attention to is to cover up your breath, as well as light sensitivity. We have prepared the latest development of Lightless Cloak so there might be a way to avoid it¡­"


    AG explained the details of the action below the page - The Wellington Clan''s defense measure, patrol route, as well as any possible responses that would go against the reaction of the Blood Breed; whatever they needed to do to achieve maximum effect.


    From his arrangements, Garen could clearly see that Garen must have another two capable assistants other than himself. At least their strengths were also at the upper level.

 697 Plan 3

    Chapter 697: Plan 3


    He remembered, the last time he parted ways with AG, that fellow was still with that girl whom he was still entangled with. It seemed like she might have been a witch.


    In AG''s planning, it was clearly demonstrated that he had the strength to destroy one of Blood''s five-scepter-clan. He could see it from the way he planned it out.


    The statistics and information were passed on for more than ten minutes before it ended. Then, Garen picked up the notebook and read.


    At the bottom, the scheduled time, place, as well as the number of people they needed were recorded.


    AG seemed a bit more relaxed with his arrangements. The only he needed was for Garen himself to show up. In fact, he already had quite a lot of things to handle here.


    Such as training seed scholars; these students would serve as the first official disciples of Holy Fist Place. The speed of a few among them was quite fast, and with the help of the Soul Primer, they had reached the standard level of typical martial artists. Even though most of it was boosted with the help of Garen''s Soul Primer, but credits must be given to their efforts and understanding towards the subject.


    Training students, observing Nadia''s qi under suppression, and search for the new masks. On top of that, he had to make arrangements for his sister, Arisa, and more. He could not allow them to stay here all day, especially for Arisa and her people. Garen felt that Isoras and Arisa were the two key figures influencing the overall situation of the world. To put it in simple terms, being with them, one would never be in a situation without trouble. Just like a certain dead student on Earth, although they had not reached the point where there was a murder everywhere they went, at least it was a typical mess.


    Yet the most troublesome one between the three of them was Nadia - he would never allow her position fall. So far, according to Garen''s contact with Nadia, she still does not have all her strength. The Army Level of Endor had a lot of strong fighters, and even up to now, they had only used projections to attack again and again for three days. But her projections only had the strength to project less than half her body. However, the terrifying thing was that this strength was only counted as her first life performance. With the true core of her Nine-Headed Dragon talent, her ability of eighty-one lives did not even activate once. Every time she dies, her strength should double up, according to the most basic body strength as a standard measurement. Once her eighty-one lives had come to its final form, all energy of her eighty-one final form would then be compiled, which would be equivalent to Nadia now but with eighty-one times of the strength.


    That was her true strength, and it was what worried Garen the most.


    He went to the secret room, took out the Demonic Book that was in a dark divider, and returned to the study room to sit down.


    Without the lights, his vision was clear enough for him to read the words on the Demonic Book under the dim moonlight, just as if it was daytime.


    He picked up the pen again. So far, there were already records of the countless Secret Techniques he had remembered from the Book of Demonic Secret Techniques. He even wrote down some of the proper secret techniques. In the end, he was enchanted by the Demonic Book which had become a powerful Demonic Secret Technique.


    Until this moment, he had already covered 89 percent of the essence of Secret Technique in this book - all the Secret Techniques he had seen, practiced, and fought before. Everything was recorded at the top of the book.


    The remaining ten percent of the content was for the toughest areas.


    That was the Living Secret Technique.


    No matter if it was Northern Trident Frost-Fire True Water Evil Technique, the Hellfrost Peacock Technique he was currently practicing, or even the other types of Demonic Living Secret Techniques such as Flame and Metal that were kept in his memories, he still could not figure them out.


    Hence, he could only note down, step by step, his own understanding, and truth to it.


    The Demonic Books increased as its content increased. It had been constantly changing since the black ink in the beginning, and to the faint glowing dark gold luster now.


    Garen lifted his pen, and slowly wrote down a new Secret Technique at the bottom of the page: Han Jade Technique. But before that, he rearranged some Secret Techniques that were not the best. A lot of them were the ones he had practiced before, such as Red Jade Palm and Mammoth Secret Technique.


    Regarding Black Water True Technique, he had recorded it down earlier.


    During the recording process, The other Demonic Book in Garen''s head was slowly changing as the surface glowed with a touch of dark gold luster.


    This book had completely turned into Demonic Book. The rare technique method on the top could allow anyone who had it the power to change their own fate. The Demonic Book itself seemed to have produced a Soul Seed qi; for anyone who practiced the Secret Technique noted at the top, they would be able to achieve that Secret Technique very quickly under the influence of the Demonic Book if they had it for a long period of time. This, along with Garen''s soul qi as a primer could be implanted to scholars as a reason.


    ''Soon¡­ The Demonic Book would be completed soon. Then, you will be able to condense the second Soul Seed. By that time, maybe you would be able to reach a new level, and enhance your basic soul limit,'' Black Sethe said with a hint of admiration. He admired Garen''s spirit of constant growth, whereas he had lost this possibility.


    "I can''t seem to understand the Living Secret Technique seed, and the Demonic Book cannot be completely done without it," Garen shook his head slightly, feeling a bit disappointed.


    ''But this type of rearranging would be very helpful for your martial arts.''


    "That is true too."


    Without saying more, Garen devoted himself to continue writing.


    ***********************


    After a couple of days.


    The sound of delicate utensils hitting the plates rang continuously.


    The white morning rays shot in through the window, and onto the table in the first floor of the villa.


    Garen and his sister, Vivien, Arisa, and Isaros, along with Rob were eating their breakfast quietly.


    The menu was oxtail stew with red wine, black ink cuttlefish, and Garen''s favorite tomato cooked snails. Even though the dishes were simple, but the taste was authentic. This was also one of the main reason why Garen chose this mute maid, Marquilli in the first place.


    "After resting for a few days, you should have recovered well? Garen radiantly looked at little Vivien. He knew that this girl had been enjoying these few days under the care of his people. Her face small face blushed red, and her mood was good.


    "Brother, you didn''t accompany us," Vivien pouted, and said unsatisfyingly, "What do you mean recovered well? My petite body has been hurt seriously. Without compensation, it will never heal¡­" This girl had thick nerves; she had quickly accepted the reality that her brother was a rich and powerful diamond bachelor. Furthermore, their family was not poor, and they lived under great conditions here. Hence naturally, she had gotten used to the life here.


    These few days, she had been obsessed with the smart swimming pool that could add hot water. At the side, there was also a 3D projector cinema. Once some of the special features were switched on, there was still an additional feature of a massage and silver light flashes. Looking down from the second floor, it was like a mercury pool, glowing with countless silver spotlights. It was very beautiful - Rob made it just for little Vivien.


    That guy loved to fool around. After a few trips here, he and little Vivien had been very happily fooling around together. He himself was about twenty-years-old. The age gap between them wasn''t huge. Since he was young, he had been fooling around under the protection of his brother. When two people who loved to fool around were suddenly brought together, they hit off well; having such chemistry was rare.


    "Where would you like to go today?" Garen lightly split the oxtail on his plate into pieces.


    "To my private garden. I have a few jaguars there, as well as white pythons. Vivien wants to adopt a small leopard," Rob answered honestly. He doesn''t know why, but since he and Vivien got together, he felt more and more guilty facing Garen - a kind of feeling as if he was facing his own brother.


    "Beware of your safety, the Blood Breed might be making a move soon. Although the there is no possibility of you attacking first, it is better to take extra precautions," Garen advised.


    "Brother, would you have some spare time later? Can you come with me?" Vivien pulled and blinked her narrow eyes at Arisa who was beside her. The latter''s cheeks suddenly blushed.


    Arisa was sitting smartly at the side, with her dark red curls falling down her shoulders. She looked exceptionally quiet with her dainty face as she bit her bottom lip. For a moment, she swept a glance at Garen. Under this situation where she was sitting opposite from him, this type of peeking could not be called a peek anymore but instead, she used a rather obvious and bold hint to show her attitude - she liked Garen.


    Even Rob could not take this burning ''peak'', but Garen still kept a calm and composed look. Suddenly, a sense of admiration arose.


    "All of you can go ahead. I still have some things to sort out," Garen answered without lifting his head up.


    However, he did not see the hint of disappointment flashed across Arisa''s face.


    When a bunch of them had finished their meal, and as they were about to leave the dining room, they came across a Nighthawk subordinate - a delicate and mature woman with black curly hair.


    This woman was tall, but the strange thing was the silver mask she wore that covered half her face. It was only covering the lower part of her face, below her nose - people were able to see her gem-like, yet magnificently colorful eyes. Those pair of eyes gave people an incomparable sense of danger, like standing unprepared in front of a crocodile or rhinoceros that might snap anytime.


    Regardless if it was Rob, Isaros, Arisa, or Vivien, they could all feel a deep chill in their hearts.


    This woman¡­ Was very powerful!


    Unconsciously, Isaros put on her best attack posture; all the muscles in her body started to tense up.


    As if the woman felt something, she swept a cold glance towards them. A scornful arc appeared at the edge of her mouth.


    She lifted her head high, and proudly walked into the dining area. Then, she closed the door with her backhand. It was followed by the sound of the chair pulling outwards on the floor.


    "Nasira, this is your Colson Fort," Garen''s voice vaguely echoed.


    Then, it seemed like the woman said something but no one could hear clearly. However, it seemed like the both of them opposed each other.


    "Who are these friends of your brother''s!" Rob now realized that he had completely put Garen into the position of his brother. He was starting to realize more as his understanding of Garen further developed. This Nighthawk King really possessed the power of terror. This was not just power, but his own strength. This quality of this terror was absolutely powerful, giving out a sense of overbearing respect.


    His every world could involuntarily convince people; his body''s aura and chi could easily coerce people around him that consciously made them listen to his orders.

 698 Plan 4

    Chapter 698: Plan 4


    "I am not very sure too. My brother has been very secretive since he was young. Even my parents did not know what he was doing the whole day. He got better and better anyway, but this part never changed," Vivien was not very concerned about these things. She treated her brother just like Arisa, carrying a sense of blind worship towards him. Especially this time where she was brought back from life, she unconsciously depended greatly on Garen.


    Rob nodded his head. To be honest, the information on Garen was simple. But just because it was simple, that was why it became very mysterious. Anybody who looked him up knew his development history. However, nobody understood how he acquired those terrifying killing skills.


    "Enough of that, let''s not think too much. Anyway, my value has been pushed to this side, let big brother deal with these things," Rob laughed.


    "Who did you call big brother?"


    Boom!


    Vivien fiercely slapped Rob''s lower abdomen, and said with a cruel face.


    "I was wrong¡­ I was wrong¡­" Rob quickly apologized, covered his stomach and left.


    ************


    Inside the dining room.


    Garen and Nasira sat opposite of each other. The table was already cleaned. On top, there was two piping hot milk coffee.


    The rich coffee smell mixed with the smell of milk spread across the room, diluting the food smell that still hasn''t left the room.


    "As the Witch Leader of Dark Colors, why are you here if there is nothing happening?" Garen looked around the dining room''s floor. He was not sure when a circle of thin black traces was spread all over the floor, forming a perfect circle that surrounded the both of their positions. He felt as if there was an inexplicable film of energy protection layer wrapping this place up, isolating the sound from the outside.


    The relationship between Nasira and Garen had not always been great. If it AG did not hold them back in time the first time they met, the two of them would have beaten each other up. Only after another two meetings did their tension gradually eased a little, but their relationship still did not improve.


    As AG''s ex-lover, a natural absorbent, and an orthodox Witch against the opposition organization, Narisa was Darker Color''s Witch Leader. Even though she had been suppressed by the forces of Lion Mother, her strength and power were still there. Moreover, her absorbent body type had an indescribable suppression towards unnatural powers.


    "If AG didn''t arrange for me to come because we are temporarily lacking in men power, do you think I would have wanted to come here?" Narisa said impatiently. She immediately threw him a black medal that she took out from her chest, "This is a token to enter the magical tool''s enveloped area. Don''t lose it, or else even if you become a Death Apostle, you could only hold on to your life for another two more hours."


    Garen caught the medal, held it up and took a look at it. In the middle of the black triangle medal was a dark purple beetle; it looked like it was alive. Even when he plucked its leg, the beetle moved, proving that this medal was made from a real beetle.


    "When we formed the Lightless Alliance, this medal was a symbol of the highest status. Now, only three of us wear this medal to represent that we are a military alliance. When there is trouble, we would send support to help each other. Is that a problem?" Nasira explained her eyebrows raised.


    "Of course that isn''t a problem," Garen nodded. His voice dropped as a faint sound came from the medal. The moving leg of the beetle''s child suddenly stopped moving.


    "Contract sealed."


    Garen did not mind at all. No matter how much stronger he gets, he was on his own. Moreover, AG had helped him for a couple of times, and the sincerity he demonstrated was definitely not fake. This exchange was normal since he disliked the Blood Breed anyway.


    Talking about that, the two worlds he was in before this were the same. He did not deny the power of an alliance to expand his own efforts. Suddenly, Garen had a thought that perhaps this was the purpose. Using whatever method regardless of the means, it did not matter if it was his own growing strength or the consequent of others'' joint alliance. If he delayed his own growth timing, then he could not refuse.


    What if this method changed? This was what my heart had decided, and among that, it would also reveal my habits and personality.


    Garen''s thought fleeted for a moment.


    "Are you listening to what I''m saying?!" Nasira''s frustrating voice was in his ears.


    "Of course," Garen came back to reality.


    "Operation time would take place one month after. The Wellington Household would also need some time to readjust their strengths. A few of them in the Middle level judging panel is on a mission to execute enemies, or either on a holiday. If we want them to come back without a reason, in terms of the inefficiency of these Blood Breed Household, we will definitely get some benefit out of this," When Nasira talked about efficiency, her mouth showed a trace of contempt.


    She was proud and had a poisonous mouth, as if she could never see eye to eye with those whom she does not approve of.


    In fact, other than the Death Apostle rank, there were only a few people in this world who could capture her attention. Among them were AG and Garen.


    "We want all of them to be there. Otherwise, isn''t it too troublesome searching for them one by one?" Nasira said casually.


    "What about the operation details?"


    "We will attack two Upper levels, and twenty of them from the Middle level. The others are up to you. However, your main aim would be destroying the Wellington Household''s Silver Demonic Statue. That is Wellington''s personal set up of a reality barrier. You can only break it with purely physical power," Nasira explained.


    "Then pass it over to me," Garen nodded.


    However, he knew one part of AG''s terrorizing plan. This guy AG made the whole Blood Breed his revenge targets. He was nurturing a type of genetically horrifying monster that would go against the Blood Breed with his hundreds of years of knowledge. Most of the Blood Breed feasted on flash and ashes as food. Hence, this monster had been nurtured to a primary phase. For it, close to three hundred Vampires, and over ten of the flesh and ashes of the Lower level Blood Breed had been sacrificed.


    AG named this monster as ''Sacrifice''.


    "That is the whole situation. AG will let you know the further details, but I''ll remind you of one thing: the Blood Breed Household has been around for over a thousand years. The accumulation looks very optimistic. However, if there isn''t enough manpower when the time comes, don''t say that I didn''t remind you," Nasira said coldly as she stood up and stridden out.


    The strange thing was that when she was at the confined door, she disappeared slowly and then she was gone like she shuttled over the door.


    Garen kept his sight, and played the beetle medal in his hand.


    **********************


    The Wellington Household in a certain location, beside a certain pool.


    "We received some news that the Witch from Dark Colors will be having her eyes on us."


    A seductive girl with red-firey hair that fell to her waist, said. She was wearing a loose black silk pajamas, vaguely showing her naked body under it. She was lying lazily on a white oriental cane chair.


    "Dark Color''s Witch''s Guild? What does this have to do with her? Those bunch of bastards is notorious. They would do anything for power, under any circumstances," A fool sat beside the blue-water pool, with a handsome yet beautiful face. She gave out a blue-haired silhouette that neither seemed male or female. Her voice was crisp and neutral; there was a slight bump on her chest, but there was Adam''s apple on her throat.


    "Who knows? Anyway, I got this news through the channel. I have no idea why those bunch of crazy people is keeping their eyes on us," The red-haired girl straightened one of her legs while one of her hands reached towards the small table for a cigarette that had a detailed black tobacco rod. She then proceeded to fill in the tobacco. With one single-handed brush, suddenly a flash of fire sparked and lighted the tobacco up, wisps of white smoke rose continuously.


    The girl took a deep breath and slowly spit out a mouthful of smoke. The white smoke changed its shape in the air. In a second, it became a small and thin snake, circling around the girl, and slowly disappeared.


    "This kind of life is really comfortable¡­" The girl moaned, seemingly lazier, "At first, I did not agree on jumping from partisan to partisan because it was just too troublesome. What is the difference between light party and secret party? They were the same anyway."


    "You can''t say it this way," The Blue haired person in the water said, "Even though Lord Castine is strong enough, but he is too softhearted. He is not a suitable candidate to lead my Blood Breed towards a great cause."


    "That means, once your fight ends and after the light party is killed, what else is there to prepare for?" The red-haired girl asked.


    "Of course it is for us to gain power," The blue-haired person replied.


    "What about after you have gained power?"


    "Then the best is if we could have a life!" The blue-haired person speechlessly rolled her eyes at her.


    "Then isn''t your life now good enough?" The red-haired girl yawned, "Nobody cares. You do whatever you like - you eat well, play well, drink well. What haven''t you experienced? I think our life now is great¡­"


    The blue-haired person was speechless, as if this girl had set it all up.


    "Hence, why do all of you even fight so desperately to survive? You guys are real fools," The red-haired girl waved her hand and said, while she continued smoking her tobacco.


    "You and I can''t see eye to eye, Tu Lan," The blue-haired person said frustratingly.


    "It is me who can''t see eye to eye with you," The red-haired girl, Tu Lan replied lazily, "We are already at the Upper level. We still have thousands of lives or even more, so what else can''t you enjoy? That''s enough, let''s not talk about this. But you should still think carefully on how to handle the Dark Colors Witch''s Guild over this period of time. I have a feeling this will not be pleasant."


    "What you''re saying is that they might attack? That''s not possible. We''re Lord Wellington''s personal commanders."


    "Who knows what those crazy people would do?" Tu Lan''s eyes narrowed, prepared for sleep.


    To be honest, as an Upper level Blood Breed who had seen too many rises and falls; she had been alive for almost four thousand years. She had witnessed the rise and falls of the dynasty, the rapid development and sudden rise of modern civilization. She had seen the first and second world war, as well as participated in the history''s famous Normandy landings. When Germany announced the war, she was a delegation of the alliance of victorious countries.


    Success and failures - what is the meaning of it all? Even a stronger winner could not hold onto the loss time. Yet, Blood Breed had been standing at the victory point right from the start. On this basis, they still wanted to fight their own war. Weren''t they just idiots?


    Even if all the Wellington Household''s Blood Breed would die in front of her, she could just continue living elsewhere and enjoy her life. The things that could excite her became less and less. As the third most horrifying existence in the Upper level Blood Breed, even with the Dead Apostles, she would rank seventh in the world.


    However, no one knew. She could now feel that there would be a breakthrough sign soon.


    She had already succeeded the pinnacle of Upper level for thousands of years, but once the breakthrough happened, maybe she would become the latest Death Apostle. Seeing those fellow Upper levels who were struggling to break through the border and still could not improve, she would occasionally imagine. Maybe it was that radical, yet full with desire mentality of hers had blocked them from moving forward.


    "Haih¡­ That''s very lame"

 699 Battle 1

    Chapter 699: Battle 1


    One month after¡­


    Hoot...


    A faint horn sound could be heard floating in the night sky as if spirits were howling. But it also sounded like a low hum of a certain animal.


    Clang...


    A man with tall and strong figure opened up the grass bushes in front of him. He looked left and right as he immediately tightened the black gun in his hand and walked forwards.


    This man was wearing a black body-hugging leather suit. He was also carrying a leather bag - his whole body was covered with a layer of protection. On both sides of his waist, he carried two matte black holsters.


    The moonlight shone down from the sky and fell onto the man''s back. It light appeared in a faint, pale white color.


    After realizing that there was nothing wrong, the man continued to walk forwards. However, there were countless men and women with robust physique walking behind him. They each carried a single-sided headset that blinked red, and they each wore reddish glasses that on their face. On the glasses, you could vaguely see the moving data on the lens.


    These people carried long sickels in their hands and swiftly cut down the surrounding grass. It opened up a piece of empty land that would allow the group behind him to move forwards conveniently.


    "Nothing found. Everything seems normal."


    "Nothing found. Everything seems normal."


    Voices reporting the situation rang out continuously. In the dark forest, there were many flashing red light spots. Every one of these light spots represented a person. With such dense light points in this forest, it meant that there were at least over a hundred of them.


    A single miniature car was driving slowly in the woods. The car was black, with a blood-red flying bird pattern on the surface.


    Impressively, a bald John was sitting in the car. His figure was two feet taller than the rest, with a body full of muscles. He wore a brown tight strap; from his shoulders to his waist, his strap was packed with dark spiked daggers. And surprisingly, these daggers did not have a handguard.


    In the forest, the trees here and the ones in other places were different. Each tree stood tall and straight. However, only one person surrounded was as thick and tall. The gap in the middle was exceptionally big.


    John held a cigarette between his mouth as he annoyingly looked towards his left and then his right.


    "Lord Hunting General, we will be approaching the destination soon. So do we still want to continue moving forward?"


    A sound came from beside John. It was a young girl with gold hair who was wearing the exact same red glasses. She greeted him with a firm salute before she spoke.


    John laughed.


    "Continue of course. Why not? We are the front line soldiers. What else is there for us to take care of? Since we are here, they must have already known that we''ve arrived."


    "But do we need to wait for the large forces waiting behind us?" The girl said with embarrassment.


    "Wait for them? Wait for them to grab the first power?" John jumped down from the car with a loud boom, he even dug a small hole in the floor with his heels. His weight was so heavy, it was frightening. It was as if his whole body was made out of steel. With his weight pressured on his feet, he would dig out a deep hole underneath every step he took.


    He waved his hand.


    "Let the explosives team prepare!"


    He quickly walked towards the front and separated the crowd who was blocking the road. Using the moonlight, John walked to the edge of a slope and looked down.


    Outside the forest, down below the slope, a humongous silver oval estate was clearly printed into his eyes.


    There were four large silver statues around the estate. Every statue was at least ten meters tall, like they were four small buildings. There was a connection of walls between the statues that was in a shape of a circle. Below, there were groups and groups of people patrolling the place.


    "This is the destination. We would want to break through the door at the side of the mermaid statue," John smiled, "Immediately report this to the authorities. Say that the enemies are personally attacking us and that we have to attack back! Let the explosives team go first to give them a huge dazzle. Hahaha!!"


    "But, the team behind us are still not here¡­"


    "Didn''t you hear what I just said?!" John turned his head over. In his eyes, there were faintly smoke traces of red.


    "Yes!" The girl could only follow his orders obediently.


    John could faintly hear a horn sound from the air.


    His face revealed a nasty yet horrifying smile. Since he had been with Marshall Dahm, this was the first task that involved in such huge operations. Moreover, he was allowed to vent freely and was given the permission to do what he was initially prohibited to do. This made him very excited. As a gangster who killed and tortured by nature, this operation was very tempting, like a hungry wolf walking into a pig''s pen.


    Peng! Peng peng peng!


    Within seconds, the periphery of the estate below lit up with a bunch of fake flame and fireball. It looked like a bunch of orange-red balloons that expanded and shrank. It ignited the land that surrounded the estate.


    Suddenly, faint noises of people escaping and screaming could be heard from the estate. If they had people with amazing vision here, they would be able to see clearly. In the midst of screaming and shouting, suddenly a black shadow was seen flashing across the estate. It then floated towards the direction of the hills where John was at as if it was effortless.


    "Kill!! Hahaha!!" John fiercely held up his hand, and was the first to rush down the hill. To one''s surprise, it was like the ancient times where they charged forwards without carrying any guns or machines.


    After a few of their own rockets shot out from behind him, the faint light from the cave reflected the blood on his face.


    ****************


    On a hill that was far away from the estate, three white helicopters were parked on a wide field beside the forest.


    The surrounding was thinly spread with people masked with white scarfs who were holding guns. These people had in their hands some assault rifle, and waist grenades. Each one of their bodies let out a smell of fresh blood.


    Immediately, beside the helicopter stood three silhouettes of different aura.


    Garen wore a white open-chested white coat, showing off muscles on his chest. His golden hair fell onto his shoulders, and he wore a black mask on his face. Both his hands were held in front of his chest as he stared quietly at the two other people who were beside him.


    "My men have already reached the periphery. Are your side of the arrangements ready?"


    A cold laugh rang out.


    "Of course they''re there. But since your men can''t wait and they have already rushed forwards to start the fight, whoever that is killed or hurt will not be my responsibility anymore."


    The one talking was a skinny old man who had a gold scarf wrapped around his head, and supported himself with a walking stick. On both sides of his legs, two bloody-eyed male lions lied on the ground. However, he was donned in a white robe. From afar, he looked much weaker than before.


    "AG, how did you end up with such a face that looked like you are neither a ghost or human?" The one who spoke was Nasira. This girl was also wearing a white dress, though she was impatiently wearing her own matching earrings. This time, she already wore the left side of her earing; it was a dark gold Eiffel Tower that was only the size of her fingernail, but it reflected a dim gold light under the moonlight.


    "It''s just a small breakthrough," AG answered plainly. However, his normal voice seemed to carry a hint of sharp laughter. It gave people chills when they heard it.


    Garen leaned onto the helicopter, and looked at his watch.


    "In ten minutes, my commander-in-chief will arrive at the battlefield."


    "My shadow army are done with their set up," Nasira satisfyingly pressed her pendant as she spoke.


    "I am also done preparing. My men are now on the north side fighting alongside Nasira''s men. I estimate that they can hold on for another ten more minutes. The silver statue is your responsibility now, Garen," AG looked at Garen with a straight face. But even with his serious tone, he gave people a feeling as if he was showing a strange grin.


    Seeing as Garen nodded his head, AG raised one hand into the air.


    Suddenly, a ripple appeared. In front of the three of them, a dark red map lit up. The name that appeared on the top took Wellington''s estate as the center.


    The estate was a huge red origin. Whereas the surrounding was filled densely with large amounts of green light dots. These green light dots were split into three parts that surrounded the estate.


    "What is this witchcraft?" Nasira asked.


    "This is not witchcraft, this is the new research tool. The whole system is projected with virtual imaging," AG answered smoothly.


    He pointed at the estate''s red dot.


    "Wellington must be done with his preparation, to prevent our attack but they would not have expected us to have enough manpower. According to intelligence, the strongest of the Wellington Household, Tu Lan has already retreated to their secret underground cave. Only the old and weak ones are holding up the fort in this estate. There are still some of them with more potential. The newly recruited team of the Middle level judging panel are all in there now, and there are two old Upper levels who have yet died."


    "We have thirty minutes to sort out this entire Blood Breed. If not, the secret party will send everything they have to help when they receive the news," AG said in a low voice, "Thirty minutes is all my magical tool can take to defend the Death Apostles. I would have to rely on you and my two babies for the rest."


    Boom!


    In a distance, red lights burst from the direction of the estate, and then towards the side of the sky.


    "It has started," AG smiled, "Let''s go and try it out."


    The three of them each boarded one of the three helicopters. The propeller started turning at high speed, and slowly lifted off the ground, flying towards that direction.


    While Garen sat on the plane, he looked down at the view.


    "Where is Dahm at now?"


    "He is already fighting with the Wellington Household. Among his Four Hunting Generals in the front-line army, three has already started the attack. But they only have with them the lower grade cannons so the losses are a little¡­"


    Nighthawk''s computer genius, Angel was sitting on the plane. This woman had a thick foundation and eyeshadow on her face as her fingers quickly knocked onto the keyboard. The computer screen flashed by so quickly that it was hard to see what it was.


    "Having losses are normal. Our opponents are not human. The losses are still in an acceptable range."


    Garen nodded. This time, he had brought his own men. Most of them were from the mercenary''s periphery, which meant they were Nighthawk''s periphery. They had no problem using high technology and advanced combat weapons but with those vampires that were piling up, they were not afraid of dying. Only then, it was obvious that they did not have enough manpower. That''s why his true subordinates were only three people: Dahm, Xander, and Quentin.


    All three of their Waterbird Fist had reached level three and above. Moreover, this time would be Dahm''s chance to redeem himself from his crimes - all process command would go through him. This bastard had commanded many wars of annihilation. His talent in fighting was very strong, and he was an expert in this field.


    "The opponent is very strong. According to the information that Lord AG shared with us, the opponent has put in at least a hundred Vampires, and dozens of Lower level Blood Breed," Angel''s voice was slightly shaking. This was the Vampires that were told in legends. If they could fight with a living thing in a legend, nothing could be compared to this battle, no matter what."


    Garen nodded.


    In fact, Dahm''s strength had already reached a horrifying stage in the Upper level. As Garen got an upgrade, so did he. Because of the ancient Soul Primer qi, Garen''s upgrade affected Dahm''s and Nasira''s own strength, giving their strength a boost with a stronger Accumulation.


    As a matter of fact, the most horrifying thing of Garen was also the most horrifying thing of the Living Secret Technique. Those subordinates who were contaminated by his soul would be able to enhance their strengths along with his and strengthen themselves.


    If Garen''s attribute quality becomes stronger, his soul subordinates would also become stronger along with him.


    Black Sethe had mentioned this a lot of times - an indicator of an Army Level¡­


    The so-called Army Level was named as army meant that one person had the ability to influence the whole army, not just himself who had the strength to defeat an army.


    This was the indicator of an Army Level, but actually, Garen was still miles away from achieving this Realm. He had only ever practiced the Northern Trident Frost-Fire True Water Evil Technique, and because of the enhancement of this evil technique soul seed, these signs started to slowly show in him.


    As a result, the enhancing part completely relied on the strengthening magnitude of the evil technique seeds.


    Looking down at the huge groups of men, it was as if an army was surrounding such huge grounds.


    "Dahm wouldn''t have mobilized the local troops directly, would he?" Garen frowned.


    "More or less," Angel nodded her head, "Marshall Dahm used the bandits as an excuse, and have secretly dispatched the cheetah of this mountain division. However, he was mainly responsible for artillery training; our men are still at the front of the palace. But Commander, no matter how well our men train, they are still a normal human. I''m afraid that attacking from the front would cause us too many losses.


    "It doesn''t matter. Just keep an eye out of the distance between us and the Blood Breed Household."


    Garen slowly said, "If we do not experience the storm, this fight would still happen sooner or later anyway."


    Garen attentively sensed the soul seeds that he sprinkled down individually, with an addition of the first batch of them from the combat club, as well as the second batch of scholars. Altogether, there were more than thirty of them. All these people had either a high status, rich background, or had shocking potential.


    Along with the enhancing of the soul seed, it was as if they had gone through a small change. Their strength had a certain degree of amplification.

 700 Battle 2

    Chapter 700: Battle 2


    ''The indicator of an Army Level is when a core Warlock has enhanced a level of strength. The commanding army, in the case where they are not superior compared to him, could share the same increase of strength with the same increase in strength level. This was the indicator,'' Black Sethe explained, ''A true Army Level does not only have a tough individual strength, but also a strong subordinate support, just like Nadia. Her Nine-Headed Dragon Army had demonstrated strong strength in many battles. Furthermore, they shared some of her own strength. However, they still lost badly in battles and in the end, they perished.''


    "This is the true Army Level?" Garen suddenly realized. No wonder the Warlocks are so tough. With this strong core army under them, and as the core expanded, then they could form countless powerful and incomparable terrorist armies. It would be a matter of course that this kind of army would definitely conquer a lot of territories.


    However, you felt that his own strength had increased from an average of two or three points to an average quality of seven points. His strength increasing span was very powerful. After all, he mainly relied on the Slaughtering Hand during all the fights before, and now, all he relied on was his own strength.


    With this kind of enhancement, not only would it double up, but instead, it would simply improve by multiple times.


    However, it seemed that Dahm''s and others'' enhancement barely even increased by a level. Originally, their Aura strength could only reach the Middle level. Though this time they achieved the ranking of an Upper level, it''s still not stable.


    Then, he found that those subordinates who had achieved the Upper level were only Dahm and Hochman. The rest who at the top of the Middle level were Quentin and Xander. Those in the normal Middle level also included that Asian girl, Cece who just recently returned to the combat club. Unexpectedly, this Cece was an Asian Battle Vein Inheritor who had practiced swordsmanship. No wonder, in the beginning, she did not show any panic in combat club. Garen was the one to give her some help behind her back. Hence, she officially joined combat club''s deep operation recently.


    After that, there were the Lower levels, and they were few and far between. There were only a few of them - Nighthawk''s Baldy, Angel, as well as few of Dahm''s and Hochman''s strongest subordinates.


    Baldy and others were mainly because they lacked Shooting Shadow Secret Skill. Although it was made up after that, they still could not compare themselves to the top Princes and Princesses, who had large amounts of resources to help them. But compared to them, they had very rich battle experiences.


    That was why, as a Lower level, they were able to fight face to face with the Blood Breed, which could be comparable to the top levels in the Mercenary.


    But with such strength to confront the entire Wellington Family, only higher level strength would be able to see through them. It would be too appalling for the lower levels.


    "This battle against the Wellington Family; on one hand, it''ll be a symbol for us, Holy Fist Palace to demonstrate our strength, and on the other, this is to end our last conflict," Garen said simply, "AG and the Dark Colors Witches are unwilling to stand behind the scenes. If that is the case, then we should take advantage of it too. The Witches are on their guards while watching the Blood Breed''s civil war from the side. This is our chance to grow."


    "I understand," Angel nodded.


    **************


    In the North side of the estate, the mist in the forest was heavy. In the darkness, it was as if a ton of knights, riding on their black war horses were slowly moving forwards.


    From time to time, the black war horses would spurt its snort, but there was no trace of white and hot air.


    Looking down from the trees, the whole forest was dense that one would not be able to realize that there were hundreds black Knights.


    "Mystical Mist Knight, the Dark Colors Witches really did set off the trump card¡­ This Wellington is in trouble now."


    Somewhere on a tree branch that was hundreds of meters away from this forest, there were two looming silhouette above the ground. One of them had an ant-like voice, which seemed to be a girl.


    "Looks like this Lightless Party can''t restrain themselves, taking the advantage of rising when this is chaos. But this is our chance. The more chaotic it is, the better," The other man said in a low voice, "If one of the three Secret Party Household is wiped out tonight, then that really would be a big issue that would reverberate the entire Blood Breed."


    "Impossible. This estate of Wellington''s was only a bait. Moreover, the other two Households will not watch them as they get wiped out. The show has just started," The girl laughed lightly.


    "Barney''s two Household has been detained by the Light Party, but support can still be sent over. Bloodshed and white machete will come over. Only then, it is time for a show."


    "You were the one who reminded them?" With one listen, the man knew it was the girl''s writing.


    "Of course. Lord Scarlet Moon was killed, and Lord Ashen is trapped. They ruined our Light Party; we suffered a heavy loss. The Secret Party should pay the price too," The girl''s tone carried a hint of bitterness and determination.


    "Be careful, an expert is coming!" The man violently pressed the girl''s head down. Suddenly, the both of them vanished into the darkness. They were completely invisible.


    Below the branches, two black horses were walking down slowly.


    There were two Knights speaking softly on top the horses. Both of their black armors were different than the other knights. They seemed to be the only ones in the group that made noise.


    The one on the left had a figure of a black heavy armor, but two points of blue lights could be seen vaguely under the black helmet.


    The other was a young girl who was carrying a machete on her waist; one of her arms was broken. Only an empty sleeve was floating in the air.


    The girl''s brows shot upwards with her sharp eyes, giving people an aura of a cruel and cold wolf. Her long black hair was tied into ten small braids, like an ethnic style.


    "Manasi, I can''t believe that you came here yourself. I thought you were still repressed in Morchon Underground Palace."


    The girl''s voice was like the wind, carrying a hint of whistle in the air.


    "Even yourself is here. What am I supposed to do in the Underground Palace?" The black knight who was called Manasi answered. His voice was like putting countless electronics into one. It was very weird.


    "The attack timing is three minutes after. Estimate it yourselves. Maybe other Households will come to assist. I need you to defend the outsiders," The girl said directly.


    "What about your men?"


    "My men will attack from the east. Those humans are coming in from the front of the south side. But I suspect that they will not be able to break through the gate," The girl laughed coldly, "We cannot fail our master''s goal. I will personally coordinate this."


    "Leader gave me half an hour. So after half an hour, I will not let my sisters sacrifice themselves without a cause. Don''t blame us if we leave you guys aside."


    "That is fine."


    The two of them continued forward, and very quickly, they had disappeared from the forest.


    The two lurking silhouette in the branches reappeared.


    Both their faces did not look happy.


    "That was close¡­ We almost got exposed! It was the black knight Manasi, and that Thousand-Legged Serpent who had surprisingly increased in two Upper level ranks¡­ I did not think that they would come over. More so, they are now related to the Dark Colors Witch!"


    "We must report this to our Lords."


    ****************


    East side.


    The silhouettes in black cloaks each carried firearms. They surged into the estate and fought into one with the red-shirt Vampires.


    A pool of blood constantly exploded in the ground, forming marks on the floor.


    The black cloaks and vampires were like two groups of black and red ants that gushed out crazily, and tangled onto one another. As the firearms were shot in close proximity, bullets were not shot out. Instead, black water arrows were shot out. Once these water arrows fell onto the Vampires'' bodies, it would quickly corrode into a big hole, dripping out large amounts of white fluid. Whereas the men in black cloaks were continuously tackled by the Vampires, then biting into them as food and ripping their veins out.


    In the center of the battlefield, two silhouettes - one black and the other red - were fighting with such quick speed. Occasionally, half a black card was spurted outwards that stuck out fiercely into the ground. Then suddenly, one after the other, holes with white fluids exploded. But at certain times, red blood was spurted outwards too; this black-shirt man was also injured.


    "Kill!" The black-shirt man shouted so fiercely that the wolf''s fangs necklace he wore suddenly lit up a white halo.


    With a sneer and taking him as the center, a white halo was suddenly spread out into a circle that expanded rapidly along the ground. The surrounding Vampires that touched the ring of halo became stiff. Their bodies quickly turned white. Very quickly, they were turned into white fluids and collapsed onto the floor.


    The red silhouette was also hit violently by the halo. To one''s surprise, as if it was hit by certain substance, it immediately flew outwards, letting out a sharp cry.


    "Aioria!"


    In a split second, red shadows sprang out from the side, joining the battle circle to attack the black-shirt men.


    Again, three were fought into one. It seemed like the black-shirt man could abuse the use of his halo as it required a lot of energy. The red shadow was heavily injured by that attack just now. The war was now at a deadlock


    ******************


    Chi!


    Chi!


    Chi!


    Dahm''s face twisted into a huge smile. He flew forwards with great speed. With every step he took and as he brushed his hands outwards, fresh blood would spurt out onto his body.


    Every Vampire that passes him would explode all of a sudden as if there were mini bombs placed in their body. With a thump, they all would turn into a cloud of blood mist.


    Under half a minute, only a few dozens of Vampires were left from the hundreds of them on the battlefield.


    A burst of fanatical cheer rang out from the entire battlefield.


    "Dahm! Dahm! Dahm! Dahm!"


    The Mercenary army shouted as they fearfully, yet respectfully raised up their weapons. Some who were abnormal lifted, tossed and shot the Vampires that only had half a body left and were still alive.


    Hahaha!


    Everywhere was filled with the smell of blood and crazy laughter.


    Dahm rejoiced by opening both his arms wide, enjoying this wonderful and sweet smell.


    "I am Dahm! Dahm Galahad! Come! Enjoy all these deaths. Death is the start of everything!" He chanted out loud.


    Whoosh!


    At this moment, a group of huge black shadows was heading over from the front with a dramatically empty sound.


    When everyone could clearly see the group of black shadow, they couldn''t help but gasp.


    Surprisingly, that turned out to be a huge iron ball with a few meters in diameter. The black iron surface was contaminated with tons of bloody stuff. It had already killed a lot of people.


    "Giant rock Aruda¡­" Dahm opened his mouth, and revealed a merciless smile.


    "You are right. You have come to provide support indeed..."


    In a moment, he jumped out fiercely, but his body was stuck to the ground. As a lightning swept below the iron ball, the red air around his body suddenly diffused outwards. Then, he headed towards the mysterious shadow behind the iron ball.


    "Die!"


    Countless spirits, as if they were a bunch of dark red snakes, let out a hissing of a breath and strange sound, biting at each other.


    "Hehehe¡­" The same cruel people laughed in a low voice. In the dark, only his pulling eyebrows could be seen, as he opened a red and bloody eye.

 701 Battle 3

    Chapter 701: Battle 3


    Clank!!!


    Arudo wielded two short daggers in his hands. He braced the daggers in front of him, blocking Dahm''s unstable aura.


    The red aura and the daggers clashed with each other as the harsh scraping of metal against metal rang out.


    A few parts of aura was sliced off, which promptly vanished.


    Arudo wasn''t a member of the Wellington Household but an elder of one of the secret household. He''d once ruled the whole Europe for hundreds of years and no one could overthrow him. He''d gone silent at the end, so no one would have expected him to appear here.


    This man was in a black shirt with two white leather strap forming an X in front of his chest. After blocking the aura''s attack, he rolled as he was pushed back by at least ten meters.


    The giant metal ball automatically moved with the chains as he pulled on them. It flew back to him and landed just beside his body, forming a crater.


    "Dead Waterbird Fist - Nightfang!"


    A red figure instantaneously passed above his head. Just like a bird flying in the middle of the night, the red wings fluttered as the figure let out a gentle and crisp chirp.


    Chirp!


    Two hidden and soundless streams of aura impaled Arudo''s shoulders through his armpits. At the same time, Dahm flew up, made a turn mid-air, tumbled around as he glided and landed at least ten meters away.


    As he landed on the ground, hundreds of streams of densely packed aura seeped out of Dahm''s body like poisonous snakes and slithered towards Arudo.


    "I''ve heard that there are a few elites from the humans. I didn''t expect them to be at this level. How disappointing¡­" Arudo smiled, revealing his white teeth.


    As he faced off against the countless aura streams, he kicked up his right leg and sent the giant metal ball flying up, which collided with hundreds of streams of aura. With one hit, most of the aura streams were dispersed, leaving behind only a few streams that had managed to slither past the metal ball''s landing site.


    He pulled out two fingers and moved lithely at lightning speed. The remaining aura streams were then detonated mid-air.


    As an upper-level Blood Breed, Arudo possessed an overwhelmingly powerful physical attribute. He had pushed his Blood Breed body to its extreme limits, and his speed, strength and regenerative power were off the charts. Only his hypnotic skill wasn''t as powerful.


    The difference between an Upper-Level Blood Breed and the other Blood Breed was that they could pull other beings into their illusions and their prey wouldn''t be able to escape from it. Although Arudo was weak in this aspect, in return, he had a strong immunity against illusions.


    A few streams of aura hit the tree trunk at the side and holes were pierced into the bark as if a bullet had shot through them. Arudo''s power was alarmingly high.


    Dahm''s expression finally looked more serious.


    He reached out his fingers and licked at his nails. His nails were stained with red and some of them had even turned purple. One would wonder just how much Blood Breed''s blood had stained his hands.


    Those that had died in his hands were not comprised solely of vampires. There also were tens of Blood Breeds that had attempted to ambush him. There were lower-level and even middle-level ones. If not for his cruelty, Arudo wouldn''t have come out in person.


    "Is this the true strength of an upper-level blood breed? ¡­" he inhaled deeply and smirked as blood flowed out from the side of his lips. Then, a strange thing occurred. His hair started to turn blood red as if his hair was being coated with a layer of blood.


    He had created a Secret Technique that suited him most based on the highest level of Two-Faced Waterbird Fist. The Death Waterbird Fist had started to show its real strength.


    "Waterbird''s Profound - Bloody Flower Outline!"


    As he shouted, Dahm instantaneously shot forward by tens of meters. As he lunged forward at great speed, a clear red line formed behind him. He placed his hands in front of his body and afterimages of them started to form. These afterimages formed into tens of petal-like red shadows which resembled a strange bloody lotus. As he got closer to Arudo at great speed, the lotus in front of him started to blossom.


    A strong and evil energy started to leak out from the bloody flower.


    Arudo laughed crazily as he threw the metal ball at him. However, as he was very agile with his skill activated, evading it didn''t pose much difficulty.


    Arudo wasn''t surprised. He started to leap forward, planning to face him head on!


    He opened up his hands as he tried to grab his opponent. At the same time, his right knee was slightly pulled up as he aimed for Dahm''s pelvic area. His actions were so smooth that it seemed like a natural reflex. Surprisingly, Arudo was a top-tier wrestler.


    He unleashed his true strength in this instance as the wind gusted while he tried to capture his opponent with his hands. The muscles of his body moved about like mice. He, who was nearly two meters tall, literally looked down on Dahm, who was almost a head shorter.


    Both of them, one black and the other red collided against each other once more, forming a bloody aura mist.


    ***************


    Hochman had a coat draped over his shoulders. He was in a black suit and was slowly moving two alloy metal balls in his hands, which produced high-pitched clanging noises.


    With a pair of gold spectacles on him and an invisible earbud in his right ear, he raised his head and stood straight in front of the big sculpture at the entrance of the Wellington Manor, admiring it. Behind him, there were at least ten of his most elite subordinates.


    Some were strong and muscular while some were small yet beautiful and golden-haired. There even were a few dwarves smirking as they gently stroked the guns in their hands.


    The white sculpture was a giant knight from the mythical Centaur clan. It was holding a huge weapon which resembled a shovel. It had no shirt on, revealing its strong muscles. The sculpture was at least ten meters tall, rivaling a small building. It stood proudly in front of everyone.


    Hochman analyzed the sculpture and realized that there was a void area in the horse''s abdomen that people were able to enter.


    There even was a small black door for accessing the void. However, the door was already opened and blood was oozing from it and could be clearly seen on the white stone floor.


    "Looks like someone else had arrived before us," Hochman observed calmly. He had taken the opportunity to come here while Dahm and the Upper-Level Blood Breed Arudo were battling against each other. It had been a timely opportunity to bring his elite team to ambush while the Blood Breeds were paying attention to the three-way battle. However, he didn''t expect other people would''ve had the same idea as him and arrived before him.


    "Let''s go."


    He led the way to the tiny door.


    Following tightly behind were three of his strongest subordinates. Similar to Dahm, he had also found three elites among the elites as his subordinates to fight against Dahm''s Four Hunting Generals.


    They were the Three Sharp Crosses, his strongest subordinates. It consisted of one very strong and muscular gigantic man and two golden-haired beautiful twins.


    The three of them had been personally trained by him. Although they did not possess as much combat experience and talent as the Four Hunting Generals, they were very agile in fighting and killing and were also able to use Hochman''s Extinction Waterbird Fist. This made them overwhelmingly powerful as they could increase their strength and speed in a very short amount of time.


    As they approach the door, Hochman immediately stopped moving as a gun was fired at the door frame right in front of him, sparking it in the process.


    He''d immediately sensed it when the bullet was fired and avoided it by a centimeter.


    "Kill him," the dwarf behind Hochman smirked as he held a knife in his mouth and entered into the shadows with more knives on hand.


    Soon, a few cries and moans could be heard from within the darkness. Then, gunshots and laughter could be heard.


    "Let''s go. The dwarf will handle everything," Hochman seemed rather confident in this dwarf.


    The group of people didn''t seem to be worried at all as they entered through the small door.


    As the Holy Fist Palace''s main army, they were responsible for the missions related to fighting and obtaining the Blood Breed''s Treasures. They had the responsibility to not allow the other two parties to obtain it first.


    After they entered the tiny door, they arrived at a narrow corridor. The invisible glass skylight had been shattered into countless shards. There were a few black piles of ashes by the corner and it was obvious that these were the ashes of Blood Breeds or Vampires.


    One of the golden-haired twins walked towards the ashes, picked up some of it and sniffed it.


    "Lower-Level Blood Breed. Looks like some strong ones have entered before us."


    Her memory astonished everyone as she had already memorized and could easily differentiate the scents of Vampire, Lower-Level and Middle-Level Blood Breed''s ashes in such a short amount of time.


    "We''ll pick up the pace," Hochman nodded.


    There were a total of six people in their team, namely Hochman, the twins, the strong man, one of the two dwarves in black guava hats and the other one who had been left behind. The dwarves seemed to be brothers.


    The remaining five continued pushing forward. As they passed through the corridor, they arrived at a blood-stained white jade fountain square. It was oval in shape and wasn''t really big. However, blood stains and ragged clothes could be seen everywhere. The air was filled with the stench of gunpowder and blood.


    "The smell of the blood is right in front of us."


    One of the twins whispered.


    Hochman raised his head and looked at the other side of the fountain, where the streetlights were blinking as if they were about to go out at any moment. There were three slender ashen men were standing underneath them.


    The trio was all in dressed in the same ancient black formal attire and each had a silver flower pinned on their lapels as decoration.


    The leader had his hair pulled all the way back, hair oil had been applied to enhanced its reflectiveness and hair gel had also been used to keep it in its desired form.


    What made everyone wary was that he was holding onto a twitching corpse with his right hand.


    Slam.


    He threw the corpse directly onto the ground in front of him.


    "Welcome to the Garden of Blood."


    Silently, a huge swarm of black smoke slowly spread out behind him and clouded the surrounding air like ink in water. It spread out in such a way that it appeared to be alive and sentient.


    Hochman squinted through his spectacles as he released a rather threatening aura.


    "Weidi? What a surprise, it''s another fellow not from the Wellington Household¡­"


    In this world, there were less than a hundred Upper-Level Blood Breeds and they weren''t found just anywhere. In addition, among these Blood Breeds, only ten to twenty of them were able to maintain their true strength at all times. To be able to encounter so many Upper-Level Blood Breeds here could only mean that the Secret Party had decided to focus their strength here. It was obvious that there was a spy who had leaked this news to the Secret Party beforehand. Since they couldn''t ambush them, they could only resort to attacking them.

 702 Battle 4

    Chapter 702: Battle 4


    Hochman stopped playing with the ringing steel balls in his hand and lightly tossed them to the subordinates behind him. What was strange was that his palms had the same brilliance as the steel balls, and making them look rather inhuman.


    "We have been waiting for you for a long time," Weidi stomped on the corpse in front of him, "This guy is the so-called elite from the Lightless Alliance and I can''t believe he stealthily came here to gain some advantages. What a stupid man."


    Before he could finish his sentence, Hochman slammed hard with his hand.


    Bam!!


    The black shadows surrounding him were abruptly shoved away from him. He then grabbed one with his hand and smashed it into the ground.


    Boom!!


    Fresh blood erupted everywhere.


    The black shadows stopped moving and started to turn into black dust.


    Hochman stood up casually as if he did something meaningless.


    "Invisibility? Interesting."


    His action in that instant made Weidi so stunned that his pupils had contracted. The black mist around him had stopped spreading and was only covering half of the area. Furthermore, it was the smaller half too as the area had been occupied by an invisible force field.


    His pupils started turning green.


    "Who exactly are you? Why do you have such power!"


    Hochman''s expression didn''t change as he slowly walked towards Weidi. As he moved forward, with each step he took, two green lights would flash mid-air near where he walked. What would then appeared were black-shirted human figures that were originally invisible. These human figures were frozen stiff as they floated in the middle of the air and each of them was maintaining a strange pose as if they were unable to move out of it.


    Boom.


    In an instant, the first black-shirted human figure exploded and turned into black ash that drifted to the ground. Then the next boom could be heard; it was the second body. Then the third, the fourth¡­


    Wherever Hochman had been, the hidden invisible Blood Breeds near him were revealed and frozen mid-air, unable to move. They then exploded into ashes one after another.


    An inexplicable and vicious shadow slowly changed its shape behind Hochman. The shadow behind him was no longer in human shape and what replaced it was a horrifying giant beast with sharp horns. The shape closely resembled the dragons from the folklores of the west.


    A calm yet powerful oppression spread from his body. With his every step, the shadow''s occupied space cast by Weidi and his members was further reduced.


    Perhaps even Garen couldn''t foresee that Hochman would be able to break through the middle-tier upper level and get close to the peak of the upper level when Garen had increased his strength. Even his soul was faintly similar to that of Garen''s, which meant that his soul possessed the overwhelming aura of the incomparably powerful Nine-Headed Dragon.


    Ahh!!!


    Weidi shouted with all his might and two white sharp fangs suddenly appeared in his mouth. His body bent and he instantly teleported behind Hochman as he attempted to tear into his neck.


    Hochman reacted by giving off a green light from his body as if he was covered with a layer of greenish, glowing fluid.


    Suddenly two white scimitars stealthily ambushed Hochman from both sides, as if there were two other Blood Breeds as strong as Weidi attacking him at once.


    One had to realize that Hochman wouldn''t even allow an ambush to come this close from a typical Blood Breed of Lower-Level and Middle-Level.


    However, these two scimitars made it. They came out of nowhere and seemed to draw very close to Hochman''s skin.


    "Waterbird''s Profound!" Hochman''s eyes instantly lit up and a shapeless whirlwind appeared around him.


    "Dual Blade!!"


    In that instant, the area was filled with white sparks that could blind someone temporarily.


    ***************


    Blood was trickling down his arms and dripping down onto the black dirt in a green field. The blood was immediately absorbed into the dirt, leaving nothing behind but soil that was slightly red.


    Dahm opened his mouth wide as he panted while staring at Arudo.


    His situation was dire; his right arm had been destroyed and a big chunk of his left arm had been torn so badly that blood was flowing out profusely.


    On the other hand, Arudo who was before him had half of his brain blown out. However, defying logic, it was recovering at a normal pace. What was inside his skull wasn''t something that resembled a brain but similar to his other parts of the body. It was filled with red thick matter which moved around.


    The newly recovered Arudo looked equally battered. His shirt was covered in holes from when he was hit by Dahm''s Waterbird Fist and had exploded innumerable times.


    The metal ball on his body had broken into multiple pieces nearby onto the ground, while both of his swords had also broken into multiple pieces as it stuck onto the dirt. So many cracks scarred the blades'' surfaces that they could no longer be used or they would immediately shatter.


    His body was equally bad. The vertical eye in the middle of his forehead was an indication of his strength. It would reflect his current strength like a thermometer. When he was at his peak, his vertical eye would be red in color. However currently, it could hardly open it and it looked very sick and pale.


    "My Blood Breed talent is unlimited regeneration. Dahm right? Let''s see how much longer you can last!" Arudo managed to laugh as he mocked his enemy. Although he had obtained the information of his enemy beforehand and knew that the opponent was no normal human, he only realized how truly powerful this human Dahm was! Unexpectedly, he was able to fight on equal ground with an Upper-Level Blood Breed who had lived for thousands of years. He was simply incredible!


    Eventually, a strange anxiousness started to dwell within him.


    The Blood Breeds who were busy with their civil wars weren''t that interested in the Holy Fist Palace that was gaining momentum in strength in the human world. They thought that no matter how strong humans could be, they would always be weaker and could pose no threat to a Lower-Level Blood Breed. Now that he had witnessed their strength¡­


    "How long I will last?" Dahm laughed loudly as he heard what he said, "Look around you."


    Arudo was slightly surprised as the Four Hunting Generals had started to spread out and weren''t even worried about their battle. There were only a few subordinates left who stood far away as they set up an instrument with unknown purposes.


    Suddenly, he could hear the churning of a helicopter''s propellers approaching from afar.


    "Could it be¡­!!??" His pupil instantly contracted as he thought of a possibility.


    *************


    Underneath the manor in a certain dark room.


    Three black figures were gathered together at the center where a pillar resembling a trophy was placed. The pillar was only half a person tall and had a basin filled with blood on top.


    The blood was slowly rotating and the reflection on the surface was as good as a mirror as it displayed the situation outside.


    "The other two households'' people have all arrived. I didn''t expect the Lightless Alliance to be so powerful. Luckily we left a few men in case of any unexpected event," a neutral tone sounded.


    The other two was staring at the situation flashing within the bloody basin and didn''t utter a single word. The atmosphere was rather intense.


    "It''s that old man AG¡­ I knew it was him!" a hoarse voice came from a black figure.


    What flashed across the basin was AG''s pale and wrinkly face. Two of his golden lions had transformed into lion head humanoids and were fighting against some Middle-Level Blood Breeds. Meanwhile, he was strolling towards the manor with his cane in hand, under the cover of numerous greenish-black bats. No Blood Breed could halt his advance.


    However, what was strange was that once he had reached a certain area, green smoke started to appear underneath his feet. It seemed like there was something blocking his path and he couldn''t proceed further.


    "He''s here for revenge," the last black figure said lazily, "I''ve told you guys not to participate in this earlier on and you guys ignored me. Now we have to face this troublesome man."


    The other two didn''t respond at all. Although they sound very confident, each Blood Breed''s sacrifice, be it a Lower-Level Blood Breed or Middle-Level Blood Breed, greatly pained them. It hurt them so much so that the pain could be described as stabbing their heart again and again with a knife.


    "What''s the current loss?" one of them asked lazily.


    "Thirteen Lower-Level teams and we have five remaining¡­" the hoarse voice responded softly, "We sent out ten Middle-Level Blood Breeds and only one has returned. However, we do not have to worry about this and the issue isn''t our household''s alone but the collective decision of the entire Secret Party. The leader has promised us to compensate for our losses. As long as we have enough Blood Essence, we can produce more Middle-Levels and Lower-Levels and recover our losses. As of now, the leader is very interested in the humans named Dahm and Hochman. He has requested us to capture them at all cost. The leader is very interested in the root of their strength. This root, this so-called Secret Technique has piqued the leader''s interest."


    "Indeed. This Secret Technique has enabled Hochman and Dahm to achieve the strength of an Upper-Level within just a few years. If we were to spread this to the mass¡­" the neutral voice said softly. Suddenly, the lazy black figure jolted and couldn''t hide his shock.


    "A few years? Are you sure they only spend a few years of their time? Instead of a certain Witch''s branched cult?!!" the lazy tone had started to wake up.


    Then, the blood in the basin started to boil as if there was a fire underneath it. The Blood started to boil rapidly to the point white vapor started to form. Even the situation inside the blood was no longer visible.


    "It''s time," the hoarse voice sounded rather excited. Although Blood Breeds'' emotions were neutral most of the time, it didn''t feel good watching their Household''s strength decreasing over time.


    "Let''s begin."


    The three black figures each reached out one of their hands and pressed down on the protruded corners of the bloody basin.


    A strange mosquito-like buzzing started to sound. It wasn''t coming from the three of them but from within the bloody basin.


    The boiling in the basin stopped and the blood started rotating once more just like before. However, the vortex was slightly different as the eye of the vortex was deepening and its speed had increased. It kept going down to the point where even a black light could be seen glowing slightly.


    At the same time, from the bird''s eye view at the top of the manor.


    With Wellington''s manor at the epicenter, the surrounding area of hundreds of meters started to tremble as layers of invisible walls started to emerge from the ground. These walls created by the members instantly separated the attackers, forming a huge invisible labyrinth.


    As the horse neighed, while the Mystical Mist Knight was battling against the powerful Blood Breeds who had blue battleaxes in their hands, they were separated by the invisible wall. Immediately, the Blood Breeds took the opportunity to knock at least ten knights off their horses.


    AG, who was standing on the field, slowly looked up at the moon in the sky. It was strange as the moon was as red as blood through the invisible wall.


    "So this is¡­ the Holy Labyrinth?"

 703 Gruesome Battle 1

    Chapter 703: Gruesome Battle 1


    The Holy Labyrinth¡­


    What a farfetched item.


    At the North, Nasira was wearing only one pristine white leather glove. She actively moved her five fingers as she tried to get used to the comfort of the glove.


    Occasionally, people in black cloaks with guns in their hands would appear beside her and rush towards the manor like killing machines without fear. They then would fight against the remaining Blood Breeds present.


    "The rumored Holy Weapon of the Blood Breed: ''The Labyrinth'' had completely disappeared from the previous Blood Breed''s civil war and hasn''t appeared in many years. I didn''t expect it to see it here¡­" Nasira looked up at the blood moon in the sky. She didn''t seem to be worried about a holy weapon being activated.


    The activation of the Holy Labyrinth had excited all of the Blood Breeds; their bodies had turned black and some of their eyes had even turned red. Their fangs and claws had lengthened and their strength and speed both increased by at least threefold.


    In an instant, the stalemate was broken and the Lightless Alliance started to lose ground on all three sides.


    Nasira''s side was especially bad, as a huge group of soldiers and horses had been separated from the main force by the Labyrinth and were unable to continue their attacks. The Mystical Mist Knights could pass through physical matter temporarily, which meant that they could attack if they pervaded through the walls. However, they weren''t able to permeate through this invisible labyrinth and could only be trapped hopelessly within a channel that didn''t even span 1 meter wide.


    With the manor as the epicenter, cries could be heard in all directions.


    Nasira gently tugged on her glove. Seeing that she had lost a considerable amount of her Mystical Mist Knights, she finally walked forward slowly. She raised her gloved hand and touched the first layer of the Labyrinth''s wall.


    Sizzle¡­


    The invisible labyrinth''s wall started to melt as if it had come in contact with an extremely corrosive substance. The wall immediately degenerated and a huge hole was quickly formed. Nasira then strode through the hole.


    At this point in time, both the Lightless Alliance and Blood Breed had suffered greatly. Two hundred of the Mystical Mist Knights that Nasira had brought along were trapped within the Labyrinth and couldn''t escape. In addition to the previous losses, there were only about ten of them left struggling while being surrounded by the ever-increasing amount of vampires.


    However, Nasira acted as if she didn''t see the situation; she fought off the underlings, corroded the invisible walls and walked further in without any hint of concern.


    "Leader!!" the remaining knights panted. They were surrounded by the vampires whenever they weren''t careful, and some of them had fallen off their horses. The leading young witch wiped off the blood on her face and attempted to escape on her horse.


    A thud could be heard as she collided with the labyrinth''s invisible wall and fell from her horse. The vampires which had surrounded her started swarming over her. These vampires had been ordered by the Upper-Level Blood Breeds and had long lost their minds, and all that was left of them was their husk and feasting ability. They had already turned into the rumored devouring vampire corpse.


    After a few cracking sounds that sent chills up everyone''s spines, what was left behind at the spot where the female knight fell were a few tattered rags. Even her bones had been devoured.


    Nasira did nothing but sigh.


    "This is a necessary sacrifice. My sisters, the Mystical Mist Knights, please rest in peace."


    "With such a huge sacrifice, what if the plan still fails¡­?" a voice came from behind. It was a tall man in a full heavy body armor. Two blue flames were glowing under the helmet and his face couldn''t be clearly seen.


    "Manasi, have you cleared your side?"


    Nasira asked softly.


    The two of them then went further in.


    "I''ve temporarily bound them with the Top Formation. This is so troublesome. I believe a few major households from the Blood Breed''s Secret Party are here. The situation is slightly worse than what we have expected," Manasi whispered.


    "However it''s still within the plan, no?" Nasira replied softly.


    The two of them soon disappeared into the night as they walked into the manor.


    *******************


    The helicopter descended slowly.


    Garen frowned as he jumped out of the cabin. As his black leather boot landed on the ground, his shoes sank into the bloody field below. The field was completely covered in fresh blood.


    A few elites from the Nighthawks jumped down from the airplane. They stood together with him as they looked at the huge battlefield at least ten meters away from them.


    It seemed like there was a huge invisible cover that had restricted the battlefield to a dome. The battle had entered its final stage and the winner was evident, considering the number of ash piles present on the field.


    The people Garen had brought along had either escaped or killed by the vampires. What was left was just a huge amount of vampires piling together in a circle as if they were attacking someone.


    "This settles it. Mortals with firearms are no match for the vampires," Garen crouched down as he dug up some dirt and sniffed at it. Most of it was the blood of the humans and it carried just a faint hint of the Blood Breeds'' scent.


    "This is something that cannot be changed," Angel whispered from behind, "The natural talent of the Blood Breed is too great and it is not something that we can hope to catch up to in such a short amount of time."


    "Where''s Dahm and Hochman?" Garen asked softly.


    Angel adjusted her spectacles as she read the data.


    "Lord Dahm is currently in front of the forest to the right and he seems to be fighting against a Blood Breed as of now. Lord Hochman has already gone deep inside and seems to be surrounded by a huge amount of Blood Breeds. However, judging from the probability of him being alive, he shouldn''t be in grave danger."


    "This is the first cleansing," Garen said calmly, "Those who manage to survive are worthy of bearing the name of the Holy Fist Palace," he glanced coldly at the elites around him.


    "That goes the same for you guys."


    "Yes!"


    The Nighthawk members immediately replied with their heads down.


    Angel adjusted her spectacles as she read out the data.


    "According to the overall intel, there are a total of six higher ranking members who have gone out to fight and that have been held off by us. There should be only a few Middle-Level and Lower-Level non-combatants inside and we should need about¡­. Wait!" Angel''s expression changed for the worse, "There seems to be a new gathering point appearing. It''s from the underground!"


    "Impossible! Wellington and the surrounding Blood Breed elites are all here. There shouldn''t be any other elites appearing!" a Nighthawk elite was in disbelief.


    "The instrument doesn''t lie," Angel''s face turned pale, "Captain, there''s a new unknown force gathering together in front of us. There''s something interrupting my scanning so I don''t know what it is."


    "What''s their power level?"


    "Undetermined."


    "How about the overall size?"


    "Indeterminable as well. The enemy has the latest jamming device," sweat started to appear on Angel''s head.


    "Isn''t this interesting?" Garen smirked and didn''t seem to be worried at all, "If everything is determined from the getgo, I don''t even need to be here."


    He then slowly walked towards the huge Holy Labyrinth.


    Everything was a test for Garen. He was using the Blood Breed to test the Holy Fist Palace''s strength.


    AG had set up a huge witchcraft nearby and was currently sapping a huge amount of fresh blood and life forces. A strange black gas started to appear from the air and ground.


    Garen reached out his hand in an attempt to grab hold of the black gas but the black gas evaded him as if it was alive and hastily swam far away like a fish.


    "Looks like it''s a success," He smiled, "Next up, we will have to see whose trump card is more superior."


    ***************


    The battle between the Lightless Alliance and Blood Breed had reached its final stage.


    With the activation of the Holy Labyrinth, it meant that the battle was nearing its conclusion.


    Dahm was struggling with the endless amount of vampires that tried to kill him. Explosions would happen each time he pushed off the surrounding vampires. However, the ashes didn''t give up and kept going after him like starving wolves.


    On the other hand, Arudo had already hidden in the forest at the side and could no longer be seen. He was like a venomous snake, hidden inside the dark corner waiting to strike a lethal blow.


    This gave Dahm a huge amount of pressure.


    This was the first time.


    This was the first time he felt anxious fighting against someone who was not Garen.


    Furthermore, the loss of blood made him annoyed. It was as if his annoyance had been incensed by the idea of him losing too much blood.


    Black figures kept revolving around him as a huge group of vampires was killed by him, and they kept producing a strange sound. Their eyes were red and it was obvious that they had long been hypnotized by the Upper-Level Blood Breeds and the only order they had was to kill their enemy even if it killed them.


    "Blood Breeds¡­ These damn bastards!!" Dahm looked very barbaric while drenched in his own blood. His makeup and attire were not as glamorous as before. His vision had started to turn muddy and he had spent most of his aura as he fought with Arudo. Now, he could only struggle with his basic skills.


    "You can''t escape," Arudo''s voice came from the forest, "As a Blood Breed, I commend your strength but unfortunately, a human will always be a human. You''ll always be flawed and this is the reason why you lose."


    "Shut up!" Dahm scolded. Then, a scream could be heard nearby. It was one of the Four Hunting Generals. His eyes twitched at every loss from among the Four Hunting Generals; it pained his heart greatly as they were his loyal subordinates!


    "Look around, your subordinates have been surrounded again. The holy weapon shines upon us and we''re back to full power. You guys, on the other hand, will slowly feel pressured physically and mentally," Arudo said coldly as his voice kept reverberating in the empty field.


    Pew!


    As Dahm wasn''t careful enough, a black shadow from the vampire swift passed his hand and a huge chunk of meat was bitten off.


    He screamed as he held onto his hands. Now that both of his hands were severely injured, he could no longer exert any force from it and blood had seemed to stop flowing out as well. He had already lost close to thirty percent of his blood. If not for being a Martial Adept who could shrink his muscles to drastically reduce the amount of blood loss, he would have fainted from excessive blood loss ages ago and be shredded into pieces.


    As Dahm finally lost his means to defend himself, Arudo came out with a perfect third eye from the forest.


    The Bloody Arudo! He who represented the Upper-Level Blood Breed. One of the rare few that could fight a good war. He looked at the surrounded Dahm while thinking of a way to develop his descendants. Even though this would make him lose some of his blood and reduce his overall strength, this person right in front of him was still rather valuable.

 704 Gruesome Battle 2

    Chapter 704: Gruesome Battle 2


    "If you wish to live, I can convert you into my descendant. How about it? You''ll be immortal and possess incredible physical characteristics such as speed, strength, and regeneration. Time will no longer be a threat to you¡­"


    "Shut up!" Dahm shouted as he started to laugh while being surrounded by vampires.


    "Idiot! You don''t even know how terrifying Teacher is. If you kill me, the Holy Fist Palace will definitely avenge me! Your friend, your household will be completely destroyed!"


    Arudo''s face turned foul and his body turned into a black line as he went past all the vampires and appeared right in front of Dahm.


    Thud!!


    Arudo punched Dahm directly in his chest. The thud resembled someone hitting against rubber and Dahm was sent flying.


    "Kill? Destroy? You''re going to die soon and your teacher, the guy from whatever Holy Palace didn''t even come to your rescue. How dare you threaten me when you''re on the verge of death?!" Arudo was furious. The surrounding vampires had been ordered by him to stop attacking. Arudo was the only one attacking now.


    "The is the inner region of the Holy Labyrinth. The more powerful a non Blood Breed is, the more restrictions he will face. Are you still hoping that Garen to come and save you? This is the first time I''ve met someone that''s this dumb," Arudo rushed towards him and gave Dahm a firm kick in the abdomen and he was sent flying once more.


    Cough cough cough¡­.


    It took Dahm some time to push himself up. His face was covered in blood and dirt but he had an evil smile on his face. He didn''t seem like he had given up at all.


    "As long as I''m alive. Eventually¡­ Eventually¡­!!" he stared at Arudo very sharply.


    About seventy percent of Dahm''s bones were broken and he would need to force himself to even twitch.


    Ever since he practiced the Waterbird Fist, he had obtained respect and strength he''d never had before. People who had a taste of power, wealth, strength and excitement would never become someone''s servant and beg again!


    Dahm''s eyes turned red as he teetered on the verge of losing his mind.


    ******************


    Boom!!


    Hochman defended himself with his hands as he blocked a punch from the stone statue in front of him.


    He groaned as the pavement underneath his leg sunk in, forming two deep holes.


    The stone statue''s hand was three meters wide and had no effect on Hochman''s hand when it attacked him. It was as if it had attacked a very solid wall and was blocked.


    Half of Weidi''s body had been torn apart and he was holding himself up against the wall, watching the humanoid stone statue summoned by the Holy Labyrinth attack Hochman.


    "This is a very small portion of the holy weapon''s true strength. You can''t win against it."


    Inside the square, Hochman''s party had only four people left as the two dwarves had been turned into bloodied meat piles. The twins'' legs had given way and they had fainted as they fell to the ground. Lastly, the giant with scars all over his face was barely holding himself up as he was attacked by the stone statue.


    There were at least ten stone statues in the area and all of them had appeared out of the blue from the dark areas of the manor. These white stone statues were dressed in heavy armor and were about seven to eight meters tall. They looked like the giants of the legends.


    Hochman''s suit had been torn apart, revealing his upper body filled with muscles. His skin was as black as obsidian, with a metallic sheen.


    He glanced at his surroundings and started smirking.


    "Although I don''t know what you''re planning, it no longer matters."


    In an instant, he retreated as fast as lightning by at least ten meters and was approaching the manor''s main gate.


    "Don''t you dare escape from me!!" Weidi was stunned and immediately shouted, "Block him!!"


    As soon as he shouted, Hochman''s body stopped moving as if it defied physics. His body halted at the side of the door and he could no longer move backward and out of it.


    Suddenly, a strange bloodied humanoid figure appeared between the entrance and his body.


    The humanoid seemed to be made entirely of fresh blood. It had no face and hair but maintained the shape of a human.


    The exit behind Hochman was completely blocked by it.


    As this humanoid appeared, Weidi and the other Blood Breed gave sighs of relief.


    "The Fresh Blood Statue!! It has finally appeared!!"


    The bloody humanoid reached out its hand. Although it looked very slow, in reality, its speed was terrifyingly fast as it pressed onto Hochman''s back.


    Boom!!


    Hochman flew away as if he was hit by a train. The muscles underneath his singlet sunk in as he was sent flying like a cannonball to the ground by the square, forming a crater which was half a meter deep.


    At this point in time, the whole square was filled with craters and it no longer resembled what it originally looked like.


    Ugh!


    Hochman could no longer hold it in and vomited a mouthful of blood.


    *********************


    "We should stop moving forward for now," AG stood just in front of Garen as he stared at the manor which had become quiet, "The Blood Breeds have activated the Fresh Blood Holy Weapon, the Labyrinth, and the statues. Our witchcraft has been affected by it and we need time to adjust it."


    Garen started frowning.


    AG looked at him.


    "There''re only ten minutes left before our plan is completed and two of the Holy Weapons are currently in their prime time. When the witchcraft is activated, their potency will reduce drastically and they will be unable to deactivate them as well. As long as we are able to obtain the two major Holy Weapons from the Blood Breeds¡­" greed started to flash across his eyes, "They will definitely know that we have been aiming for the Holy Weapons from the beginning."


    "The Silver Light Demon Statue will soon appear and will enter its weak period after ten minutes. It''s all on you after that," AG said in a serious manner.


    Garen ignored him as he turned his head and looked at Angel who was behind him, "What''s the current situation inside?"


    Angel and a few people were busy tuning a sophisticated black instrument. It looked like a mini satellite receiver and would beep as turned while it was being tuned.


    Sweat was dripping profusely from her forehead and she didn''t even have the time to wipe them off as she kept staring at the huge amount of data through her spectacles.


    "Dahm is in serious trouble! Lord Hochman is in a slightly better situation than him but he has been placed in a difficult position. Something really strong seems to have appeared inside!" she immediately replied.


    Boom!!!


    Suddenly, the ground started to raise up in the center of the manor, between the buildings. It was as if the ground suddenly erupted halfway, forming a strange protrusion.


    Kaboom!!


    There was another explosion and the protrusion finally exploded.


    Countless amounts of dirt rained down, plopping down all over the manor and surrounding districts.


    "The Silver Light Demon Statue has finally appeared," AG said with a nostalgic tone as he looked at the explosion in the center, "The Wellington Household''s strongest weapon, nicknamed the Realistic Apostle. It would require three peak-tier Upper-Level Blood Breeds to be able to barely summon this overwhelmingly powerful weapon of warfare."


    "How long more until I will be able to enter?" Garen asked.


    "Eight minutes more," AG responded immediately.


    The manor started to clear up from the explosion as the dirt spread away, revealing the core object that had caused the explosion.


    It was a silver humanoid statue which stood five meters tall.


    The statue was completely silver in color and seemed to be made out of a silver liquid. It had a pair of angelic wings, but instead of having normal human hands, it had a pair of sharp claws just like the vampires.


    As soon as the statue was formed, it immediately looked in AG''s direction and started to move its wings. Then a sharp chirp could be heard as the statue instantly disappeared.


    Boom!!


    When it reappeared, it was in front of AG and Garen, only about ten meters away from them!


    However, it was this distance that restricted the Silver Statue''s attack. The ground was lit up by countless blood-red textures. At the same time, a strong force gathered and landed on the Silver Statue''s surface, oppressing it and causing its movement to slow down.


    "How much longer?" Garen asked once more.


    "Five minutes. Soon." AG started to frown as well.


    "Lord Dahm is in critical danger!" Angel shouted out of nowhere, "His heartbeat is dropping drastically! It''s no good! Same goes for Lord Hochman as well!! His spleen is broken and his head is severely injured!!"


    Garen was suddenly in a bad mood and started to walk towards the Silver Statue.


    "Garen what are you doing! We still have another five minute before the Silver Light Demon Statue is at its weakest! If we go for it now our plan would be destroyed and the Blood Breed may even retract their Holy Weapon!!" AG was stunned and immediately blocked his path.


    "Move away!"


    Garen''s body slowly expanded and his muscles on his body started to buzz as he kept expanding.


    "It''s only two subordinates! If the plan is successful I will give you as many subordinates as you desire! I want you to calm down! Right this instance!" AG shouted.


    Buzz...


    Garen replied by inhaling deeply.


    Just like a huge whale swallowing the sea, Garen''s chest sunk in deeply and he let out a deafening shout.


    The fine buzzing sound spread all over his body once more, and it turned black from head to toe, giving off a metallic sheen.


    His big yet solid muscles looked as though stones had been embedded in his body.


    "My disciple can only die by my hands!"


    Garen''s voice seemed to have changed as it now contained a thick and horrifying tone. It was similar to one shouting into a valley, that produced multiple echoes.


    Boom!!


    A solid raging aura spread powerfully with him at its epicenter. The wind blew so hard that Angel and the others couldn''t stand straight, and even AG had to take a few steps back from his tremendous aura.


    "Calm down!!" AG shouted.


    "Waterbird''s Profound." Garen''s voice rang through the night and into the distance and echoed deep into the inner region of the Holy Labyrinth.


    "Soar!!!"


    As Garen roared, a sharp chirping sound could be heard.

 705 Awe 1

    Chapter 705: Awe 1


    The sky darkened as the ground trembled.


    Chirps were mixed into Garen''s intense roar and it resounded even in the deepest parts of the Holy Labyrinth.


    Garen then pulled his right hand back, and a vortex started to form as the air swirled on the ground while he aimed at the Holy Labyrinth in front of the manor.


    He then released the attack.


    From afar, Garen''s body looked like he was inside the abdomen of an invisible giant bird. The moment he threw his punch, the giant bird moved.


    It spanned its wings and flew forth.


    AG reacted swiftly in an attempt to block Garen''s attack. A golden hoop which looked like some sort of a wristband flew from his hand and stopped right in front of the giant bird''s beak.


    A clear explosion could be heard, but the golden hoop was as weak as an egg. The golden hoop didn''t even last for a second before it was shattered into gold pieces as it was touched by the giant bird''s beak. The golden pieces flew about, interrupting AG''s next action.


    A gully of a few meters deep had been formed in front of Garen, piling up an immense amount of black dirt which formed into a giant circular pillar. It was then sent towards the Holy Labyrinth.


    Clang!!!


    A deep ringing sound resembling a giant bell ringing could be heard, and a white supersonic soundwave spread about.


    Garen''s fist landed firmly on the Labyrinth while his fist was filled with a unique high frequency that only a Secret Technique possessed.


    Crack!


    A small crack instantly appeared on the Holy Labyrinth, which started to multiply in every direction.


    The cracks instantly propagated tens of meters up into the sky. It was as if the walls of the holy weapon had spread towards that region.


    Boom!!


    In just a moment, a hole had been created through the gigantic Holy Labyrinth.


    Garen''s fist turned into a black soil column which looked like a black thorn. It pierced through everything as it stabbed towards the deepest region of the Labyrinth.


    What accompanied the black pillar''s piercing was an overwhelmingly powerful shockwave.


    Layers of Labyrinth broke into huge pieces as if they were made out of glass.


    "The Labyrinth!!!... It''s broken¡­.!!!" AG stopped moving his hand and unconsciously, his mouth opened wider as each second passed.


    ************


    Dahm slowly closed his eyes as Arudo''s steel fist shot towards his head like a cannon.


    "Die!!!" his rage-filled shout reverberated in his ears.


    He could feel an immense pain in his head. It was the sense of crisis before the opponent''s fist would come in contact with his head. However, he had no more energy to move about.


    Then, the strange roar appeared right beside his ear as if it''d leaped through space and time itself.


    "Flight!!! ¡­"


    Yes¡­ It was just like a water bird which gently touched the surface of the water before flying up into the sky.


    "It''s teacher¡­" Dahm was unsure why, but he became very calm as he watched the fist getting closer to him. The slightly black skin, the solid fist, and five sharp Blood Breed nails clenched together.


    "Have you given up?" a voice wondered deep within him.


    Give up? Why would he!


    He was a person that was going to surpass everyone!!


    Dahm, struggling with all his might, used his last ounce of strength to open his mouth as he attempted to bite at Arudo''s fist with his teeth. However, he then realized that Arudo suddenly stopped moving as if a tape recorder had stopped rolling. He stood quietly as his fist was only a few centimeters away from his face. However, it felt like it would take forever for him to go across this distance.


    Buzz¡­ A slight wind blew past.


    Arudo''s body started to collapse as his body started to turn into fine ashes that were blown away by the wind.


    A familiar yet horrifying figure appeared behind Arudo out of nowhere. What was strange was that the figure was slowly disappearing, as if it was just an afterimage.


    "The final profound of the Waterbird Fist¡­ Flight¡­" Dahm seemed to have understood a lot of things. His eyes twitched and he fell to the ground on his rear.


    As his laugh trembled, the vampires which had surrounded him started to turn into ashes while maintaining their posture.


    Hasty footsteps could be heard from the darkness a distance away as Nighthawks uniforms and the lights of the signal swiftly approached.


    ************


    Hochman was barely able to stand firmly. He stared at the Fresh Blood Statue with blood all over its face standing a short distance away. That statue''s body was made out of constantly flowing viscous fresh blood, but it could move around freely as if it was a living human being. It had no face and no hair. It did, however, possess simple maneuvers that could kill off anything.


    The enemy didn''t seem to plan to kill him but wanted to severely injure him so that he wouldn''t have the strength to defend himself.


    "The Fresh Blood Statue, a killing machine that is automatically created near the Silver Light Demon Statue. Although its strength can''t be compared with the Silver Light Demon Statue, it does possess regeneration and defense that is superior to the Blood Breeds. It''s the perfect counter to you humans who possess incredible strength with very little regeneration ability."


    Weidi, whom Hochman had been beaten as though he was a dog, had completely recovered. Furthermore, he was even blessed by the Holy Labyrinth as he kept recovering the spiritual energy and Blood Essence that he''d previously spent.


    Without changing his expression, Hochman pressed onto his wound at the side of his abdomen. His spleen was broken and had a serious hemorrhage. However, he''d noticed them and pressed onto an acupoint to delay his injury. Currently, his most critical issue was not his severely injured body but his brain.


    In Hochman''s vision, it seemed that a few additional Fresh Blood Statues had appeared. His vision was muddy and dark. This was either due to the excessive loss of blood or the attack from the Fresh Blood Statue possessing some sort of poison.


    He shook his head as he attempted to clear his vision. Unfortunately, his vision had become even muddier.


    Suddenly, a group of Fresh Blood Statues appeared and had encircled him. All of them reached out their sharp claws at the same time as they aimed for his chest.


    Hochman at the time was in a daze. He was motionless as he stood while raising his chin as if he was looking at the night sky above.


    "Do you hear it?" he muttered, "That''s the sound of the waterbird¡­"


    The Fresh Blood Statue''s sharp claws pierced into his chest and drilled in between the lukewarm muscle and bone.


    Then¡­. It just stopped moving.


    The statue that did not possess any face, too, started looking up into the night sky.


    "What¡­ What is that!!?" Weidi raised his head as he looked above the manor. His face was filled with disbelief and terror.


    Up above the manor, there was a huge bird that was as big as, or even bigger, than the Silver Statue flying towards it. It spanned both of its wings as it pecked at the Silver Statue''s chest.


    The huge bird was half transparent. Its inner parts were filled with countless white airflows and a huge amount of black dirt. These two ingredients had merged together and made the huge bird very realistic.


    The huge bird''s wings were as wide as the legendary supernatural Phoenix''s as it dragged its long tail.


    Hochman knew of the shockwave of this move. He had seen Garen using this simple high frequency trembling technique but he''d never seen its true potential.


    The Two-Faced Waterbird Fist Technique''s Final Profoundity -- Flight.


    Its full name was the Flight of the Evil Phoenix!


    It was a horrifying fist technique derived from the West Phoenix Fist. It was also one of the strongest profoundities of the Two-Faced Water Bird Fist Technique ultimate technique.


    Perhaps other people were unable to hear anything strange, but those who had practiced Secret Technique could hear the sharp chirp of the Phoenix.


    It was the howl of the wind and it was the sound produced by the strongest technique of the Waterbird Fist!


    The Blood Breed''s holy weapon, together with the Wellington Household''s strongest warfare weapon -- the Silver Light Demon Statue versus against the Holy Fist Palace''s Two-Faced Waterbird Fist Technique''s Final Profoundity -- Flight of the Evil Phoenix.


    In an instant, a gold light so bright that it blinded anyone appeared as these two bodies collided with each other.


    Hochman was unable to open his eyes after he''d automatically closed his eyes. However, his vision was still filled with bright gold light. The gold light was so bright that it could pass his eyelids and glare into his eye receptors. It was the strongest excitement he''d ever felt.


    The sound frequency was so high that his ears could no longer pick it up. All he could see was a circle of solid grey shockwaves bursting from the golden explosion as the core spread about hundreds of meters around the region.


    Hochman was on the verge of collapsing as his ears and eyes were bleeding profusely. The blood flowed down from his cheeks, leaving four trails of red blood.


    Weidi, on the other hand, was on all fours on the ground as he grabbed tightly onto the edge of the crater. However, it was all futile as his body was pushed back by the shockwave, leaving a trail of marks on the ground.


    The Fresh Blood Statue seemed to melt away slowly like a candle. It turned into a huge amount of blood and started to vaporized into a bloody mist before disappearing into thin air as the ground trembled while the golden light bathed onto it.


    After some time.


    Hochman slowly woke up from unconsciousness. Every inch of his body was in pain and he could no longer move.


    His vision was muddy and could only see very little.


    Amidst the confusion, he tried to open his eyes wide as he attempted to look at his surrounding.


    He then started to hear clear and rhythmic footsteps. From his muddy vision, he saw a strong and horrifying figure walking towards him.


    "Teacher¡­" he moaned.


    That figure was ferocious and huge as black smoke kept surrounding his body. That black smoke was the aura that he recognized as it moved about like a living being. It spread about in the area, forming into shadows of dragon heads which looked greedy and cruel.


    He then felt that he was being lifted up.


    "Bring him back and treat his wounds," that man finally spoke and Hochman was finally at ease. He could no longer bear it and passed out.

 706 Awe 2

    Chapter 706: Awe 2


    Garen stepped on the ruins of the countless estates and when he looked around, he could see that large pieces of silver statue fragments were scattered everywhere. They were silver in color but were more likely to be made out of a high-tech alloy than the precious metal. Occasionally, the remnants of some sophisticated circuit appliances could also be seen.


    Wisps of black and white smoke were floating around the estate, and some areas were even on fire.


    Garen was bare from the waist up, and the horrifying muscles of his body were like black metal armor that twitched with every slight movement while encasing his entire body.


    It looked like the armor of a human machine, one that could morph constantly. He did not look human at all.


    The final form of the Waterbird Fist was the improved version of the West Phoenix Fist ¡ª¡ª the Flight of the Evil Phoenix. The reason why it was called Evil Phoenix was due to its terrifying lethality; this level could no longer be considered as a proper technique but an evil technique. It was why Garen had made it the Waterbird Fist''s final form, included it as a secret technique, and written it down as the final version in the demonic book. The Flight of the Evil Phoenix that was written in the demonic book would be a benchmark for the power of the Two-Faced Waterbird Fist.


    He glanced at the miserable estate once again.


    All the walls had collapsed, and the remains of the building were not over a meter in height, and he could no longer tell the artifacts apart from each other; everything had become piles of different colored dust.


    With the exception of Hochman, Dahm and all of the beings who have trained the Waterbird fist, including the few magic mist knights of the dark witches, they had all turned into piles of different colored dust when the moisture in their body had been completely evaporated.


    This was the true horror of the Flight of the Evil Phoenix.


    It destroyed the water particles in all living things under the high-frequency oscillation, and rapidly evaporated and dried to the point where it would turn anything into dust. Only secret users who have practiced the Waterbird Fist would be able to reduce its terrifying damage depending on the level of their skill.


    Just by gently touching the edge of a broken wall.


    Crash!


    The wall collapsed and released a huge cloud of dust. With the moisture absorption, high-frequency oscillation, as well as the violent impact of the air current, only the most rigid materials could survive after the being hit by the combined assault.


    The Nighthawks and the people from the Holy Fist Palace worked together to quickly carry Hochman and Dahm away. Each one of them who met Garen treated him as though he was a God-like being, with traces of respect and fanaticism.


    That kind of fist technique was like a mythological fist technique! It was beyond their logic and understanding. That was not a field that ordinary humans could stand upon, it was an extraordinary field that belonged to the blood breeds and wizards.


    While Angel was commanding her men to clean up the battlefield and help the wounded, she glanced at Garen from behind with passion and adoration.


    AG slowly caught up with Garen from the ruins, while Nasira, who had a complicated look on her face, was standing beside him along with two helpers: Manasi and a high ranked witch.


    "You''ve become stronger..." AG sighed lightly.


    "You just never understood how strong I am," Garen turned around and replied softly.


    In fact, after he''d reached this level, he was no longer interested in this world''s blood breeds.


    If it wasn''t for the pressure from Nadia regarding the void creatures, he would not have disputed over such trifling matters with the blood breed and witches. He would''ve made a move and established his superiority immediately. By doing so, the matter would not have been delayed until now.


    "What are you planning to do next? I''m done with my part," Garen casually asked.


    According to the divided tasks, all he had to do was deal with the silver magic golem, then AG and Nasira would deal with the rest.


    "Both parties are equal now," AG casually answered, "About the Upper-Level blood breeds, we have finished off the entire secret party, and now the three of us and their three elders are the last remaining forces," there was a mysterious smile on his aging face.


    Without needing instructions, Nasira, who was standing at the side, looked at the Thousand-Legged Serpent beside her, nodded slightly, and withdrew a silver snake-shaped pendant. She walked to a part of the estate ruins and dropped it on the ground lightly.


    The silver snake pendant freely fell towards the ground and made a clang when it hit a pile of black dust, which was the sound made when gold collided with iron.


    In that instant, a circle of black ripples started spreading from the ground, and the affected areas were blackened, forming a huge seven to eight meters wide black hole.


    Shadows started forming on both sides of the hole and two hound-like strange creature statues were formed. There was a stair extending downwards in the middle of the hole.


    "I''ve opened it, the actual core residence of the Wellington family, the family''s underground palace," Nasira quickly returned to her previous stance, "This part of them is similar to the vampires in the movie, they like to live underground and absorb the earth''s yin essence."


    "The Garden of the Immortals, it is their reliance and they claimed that it is an absolutely forbidden zone that can never be broken into," there was a mocking smile on AG''s face, "It seems like tonight, it will be completely destroyed."


    He strode into the underground palace with his cane and soon disappeared into the darkness.


    He was followed by Nasira and the two upper-class witches. The rest of the witches were trying to clean up the battlefield. One by one, they walked in in a well-ordered manner; they were very experienced and not even a wince was observed. Only when they saw Garen did they reveal a respectful look, but other than that they were not nervous at all. It was obvious that they were very experienced in fighting wars, or they''d planned this for a long time.


    Garen squinted.


    Things had gotten completely ugly with the blood breeds. Previously, because Raffaele and the other witches had been protecting their hometown, they protected his parents and sister too, so he only needed to add a few more bodyguards and it was enough. Moreover, the people that they used to provoke were just ordinary forces and none of them were highly ranked, so he was able to cope with it. But now, he really had to deal with it immediately.


    As for the safety of his parents, Garen had already sent people to get them. Even before he made a move, he had already expected it, that if things were to get ugly, a place like Grana would not be able to withstand their revenge, and the people that he sent should almost be at the headquarters by now.


    The headquarters was also no longer the old one in Berlin, but a new place, a remodeled palace at the summit of the American mountain which had been bought by Hochman and Dahm to be made the Holy Fist''s headquarters.


    However, Garen believed that the best defense was to attack and destroy the enemy, as there would naturally be no more danger.


    The reasons he''d come was to test the strength of his men as well as make use of the blood breeds'' power to toughen the future core members of the Holy Palace.


    The last was to test the strength of blood breeds and at the same time, repay AG''s favor. The previous attack on his sister had been just a lead.


    "Captain, are we following?" Angel whispered to him.


    "AG is about to break through, it seems like getting the two holy objects was his core objective of this mission," Garen said calmly, "I also wanted to have a look at the real immortal beings, and how powerful they are."


    He glanced at Angel.


    "You do not have to go, I will go by myself. Be careful of surprise attacks by the blood breeds, and have Quentin back you up."


    "Understood."


    Although now all the experts of the Secret Party present were either severely wounded or killed, it was not everyone from the Secret Party, and there were still two more major secret clans which could gather experts to reinforce this heavily damaged party.


    After arranging the situation properly, he jumped into the hole and glided downwards in silence like a bat.


    *******************


    Berlin


    The group of moving vehicles was the same as normal vehicles. Everyone was busy as the commanding officer barked out orders while he managing the transportation of all sorts of items.


    Several Nighthawk members dressed in plain clothing with bulging bellies glanced around the area vigilantly.


    In the evening, the carrier workers were busily working on the lower floor of the mansion; they had not even gotten to the second floor.


    Through the darkness of the second floor, blurry shadows were slowly yet steadily moving towards the secretive, hidden room on the second floor. It was as though they were the shadows of the curtains, and no one noticed their presence.


    The two groups of shadows were communicating in voices so low that ordinary people would be unable to hear.


    "He definitely left, it''s our chance."


    "The source of the weirdness must be the room on the second floor."


    "Pay attention to avoid traps."


    "Understood."


    In a suburban district forest that was less than ten kilometers away from the two groups of shadows.


    A group of people dressed in black was commanding in a nervous yet ordered manner.


    Medis and Kabb from the Bailey Group were smiling as they stared at the huge projection screen in front of them.


    "That man has finally left, it has been confirmed that he left Berlin completely and will not return anytime soon, otherwise he won''t have people moving his stuff," Medis whispered, "According to my investigation, and the news I heard from the Primary Colors group, there must be some important secret of Garen''s combat club."


    "What is the progress of the research?" Kabb whispered his question.


    "Very good, the secret technique we got out of the dying Nighthawk, after putting it into the test, the effect after deriving it in the computer is astonishing! Thirty out of a hundred people who participated in the training reached a remarkable level, they were almost comparable to the world''s top mercenaries'' levels! Even though they themselves are strong candidates, it''s undeniable that the secret technique has greatly enhanced their strength."


    "Even such a simple technique is so useful? Then will the core secret techniques not be that applicable?" Kabb was surprised.


    "It is very useful, they are all extremely horrifying killing techniques." Medis squinted his eye and revealed a foxlike smile. In that instance, something more eye-catching appeared on the projection screen.


    A few sturdy and sharp looking elite Nighthawk members were carefully carrying a box covered in black cloth out of the mansion and heading towards the car. In the void that could not be seen, the box was surrounded by some kind of oppressing yet horrifying distortion feeling, it was similar to the airflow that looked distorted above flames.


    "That is...." Medis muttered. "The secret in the secret room, it must be in that box!"


    "Get ready to make a move." Kabb giggled as he slowly took out a weird looking black mask. The forehead of the mask was covered with dense eye-like holes, and it was the same mask as Garen, the Sleepless Faces mask!

 707 Underground Palace 1

    Chapter 707: Underground Palace 1


    Inside the mansion, the two groups of black shadows quietly floated out and moved within the shadows of the stone armrest, so that no one would notice their movements.


    Somewhere not too far away from the truck, several sturdy Nighthawks members were carrying boxes towards the truck. They gently and very carefully walked along the slanted steel plate and placed the box covered in black cloth on one of the large containers they prepared in advance.


    The container was filled with a large amount of white, ice-like substance that was constantly exuding white cold mist; it was something like dry ice. As soon as the box was put into it, it was constrained, as though the box was not an object but a living thing.


    The few sturdy men quickly sealed the container with the lid and covered it with seven to eight locks.


    "Take good care of it, it''s something that the commander specified to handle with caution." A leader-like Nighthawk member whispered to the men carrying the boxes.


    "Understood, don''t worry, we will take turns to look after it." A man laughed and said in a low voice.


    The leader nodded, lowered the offloading boot of the vehicle and went to delegate the workers to move other stuff. There was a total of three carrier trucks, and he needed to verify all three of them one by one.


    The two groups of black shadows stopped under the shadow of the armrest and appeared to be waiting for something.


    Soon, everything in the villa was being moved into the trucks, they started up the trucks and it seemed like they were ready to leave.


    Some Nighthawk members jumped into the car and closed the door.


    The two men who were guarding the box both lit a cigarette, puffing on it from time to time, and exhaled rings of smoke. They were having a pleasant conversation and laughed occasionally.


    The two groups of black shadows started moving slowly. They took advantage of the moment when the car had started moving forward slightly to quickly float behind the truck carrying the box and get into the vehicle.


    Where the light shone on the shadows, two groups of transparent human shaped outlines could be vaguely seen.


    "Get in position."


    "It has already started." Both shadows were exchanging information with each other.


    Amidst the darkness, dots of red lights started flashing in a corner where the two guardsmen were not able to see.


    Chi-chi!!


    Along with two light noises, the two guardsmen fell. They clutched at their necks with their eyes rolled back, and fell to the ground twitching.


    "We got it, notify someone to pick us up."


    One of the dark shadows suddenly walked out of the shade and the air vaguely twisted for a moment before suddenly, a small thin figure appeared. It looked like a lovely little girl.


    he walked before the container with an unknown tool in her hand, and lightly pressed it along the edges of the container and clapped her hands.


    Bap!


    Along with a crisp sound, all the locks on the container was fully opened. After the lid of the container was removed, the box covered in black cloth that was exuding a white mist was seen in the middle of the container.


    The girl raised her left wrist and gently tapped on the screen of her watch. The screen started flashing and transformed into a black display, upon which a smiling old man''s face appeared on the screen.


    "How was it? You got it?" the old man was the Kabb of the Bailey group, and he was smiling while he slowly enjoyed his coffee.


    "We have arrived at the targeted area, but the targeted object is too large, so we can''t easily move it." the woman replied in a low voice.


    "Can you split it?" Kabb asked.


    "It''s difficult." the woman glanced at the box''s material under the black cloth, "It is made out of the latest alloy manufacturing technique."


    "Then drill it. Destroy the entire box quickly, you do not have much time," Kabb ordered.


    "Yes."


    The woman switched off the screen on her watch, and a small black knife popped out of her left hand, one that looked like a fruit knife. She placed the knife on top of the surface of the box under the black cloth.


    Hiss!!


    Suddenly, there were two saw-like crisscrossed razor blades at the tip of the sharp knife which was moving in a cutting motion alternatively, and also a needle-like drill in the center which was rotating constantly, causing sparks to appear on the surface of the black box.


    Toot!!!!


    Suddenly, the box made an extremely piercing alarming sound.


    "Warning!!!" the Nighthawk members started yelling outside.


    At that moment, along with a ''thump'' sound, a big hole was being made on the box beneath the black cloth.The edge of the metal bent upwards and formed a few sharp bulges. The size of the hole was sufficient for a hand to reach in.


    The girl kept her watch and drill without hesitation then stretched her hands into the hole.


    All of a sudden, she shuddered and her body felt stiff.


    "Hurry up!" the other black shadow urged urgently.


    Strangely, the woman did not respond and she remained stunned. Her hand was left motionless in the box and she was frozen still. Her forehead had started dripping with a large amount of sweat, and her eyes were wide open. It seemed like she was enduring some kind of terrifying torture.


    Thump!!!


    Suddenly, an enormous force slammed into the girl mercilessly, directly throwing her out and hit the hidden black shadow behind. The both of them moaned in pain and rolled off the moving truck.


    Before they even landed on the ground, rounds of firing gunshots were heard, and the only things left on the ground were two heavily shot bodies.


    At that moment, the hole in the box started emitting traces of invisible distortion and that small area where it was distorted vaguely looked as though it was a ferocious dragon head.


    *************


    "What happened?! They found out about it?" Kabb looked at the static monitor screen in front of him.


    "I''m afraid so." Said Medis while frowning, "The sisters rarely fail, this time they should have got into trouble. It seems like the reason why Garen left something so important here is that he''s well prepared."


    "Let''s start our first backup plan, doing it the hard way seems to be the only option." Kabb thought for a moment and said with a low voice.


    "I''ll go get ready." Medis understood what her boss meant.


    Kabb''s face got slightly gloomy.


    He had to get the masks as he''d heard from the Primary Colors that Garen had several masks with him. Moreover, it was part of Garen''s secret, which was also something that he''d wanted to uncover for a long time.


    At that time, the campsite was getting busier as Medis seemed to have arranged something, and the members of the Bailey Group started moving around urgently.


    "Do you need me to help?" suddenly, a new image popped out on his watch screen. It was a sinister looking hook-nosed man, who had his chin slightly lifted while he stared at Kabb on the other side of the screen with a hint of arrogance.


    "Mr. Gremlin." Kabb remained calm, "You''re pretty well-informed."


    "Garen ruined my dream, so how can I not pay attention to his actions?" Gremlin responded coldly, "Don''t tell me that you can''t even deal with what Garen left here? If so, then I''m disappointed in your capabilities."


    "You do not have to worry about these, I will deal with it." Kabb said with a false smile on his face, "How is your White Phoenix Base doing?"


    Upon mentioning that, Gremlin''s face twitched. Since Lesothy had put a lot of pressure on the Primary Colors, it had led to a huge setback on the reconstruction of the White Phoenix base. After all, the White Phoenix base was just one of the Primary Color Group''s branches. To them, a Violent Organization branch was not something that important. There were many other factions within the group that were happy to see his branch being suppressed.


    "It seems like you do not need my help."


    Kabb smiled, stopped talking and directly ended the contact. For now, Gremlin was worth nothing to him; he was of no importance, his branch was gradually being abandoned by the Primary Colors, and his forces had been greatly damaged by Garen. Without the deterrence of the special-class mercenaries, nevermind Garen, even to Kabb, he was just someone of no significance.


    ***********************


    Wellington family''s underground palace.


    Garen slowly walked down the underground passages. Inside the passageway, there were circular arch-type stone doors, and every few meters, there would be a greyish-yellow stone door, all of them were open.


    Garen looked forward and could not see an end to this stone tunnel.


    Garen could only vaguely see the torch of Nasira and the rest of them somewhere in front.


    He himself did not need any illumination, as his extremely strong senses were enough for him to get through any environment without any hindrance.


    The structure of the underground palace was very peculiar; both sides of the passageway were filled with yellow, nails-like steel points, and looked like the nail boards of the ancient criminal law. On top of the tunnel, there was a round dome of cloud patterned arcs. He did not know what the patterns were about, but they were bending all over the place.


    Not knowing why Garen felt that there was something wrong as he moved forward, it was as though every time he went through a door, he entered into a new environment. Through the layers of stone doors, the feeling that he felt now was completely different from when he''d entered.


    Also, he could no longer see Nasira and the rest in front of him.


    He did not know what AG had planned, but they were not the kind to rush forward and leave him behind.


    He took his phone out but there was no signal.


    To avoid destroying the valuable information in it, Garen had not brought along the notebook that enabled him to contact AG, and he figured that AG would not have brought it either.


    Garen took a few steps forward and he could sense that his surroundings were being filled with a faint dusk-like yellow light, though he did not know how the yellow light was appearing in the underground palace.


    The nail boards on both sides of the wall were filled with spikes, and there was a stone door in front which he could not see an end to the passage, which kept going downwards as though there was no end to it.


    At that point, the entire tunnel had brightened up, the yellow lighted up the entire tunnel, but the surroundings were dead silent, and he could not hear Nasira or AG at all.


    Garen looked back and forth, the door which he entered initially had completely disappeared, and all he could see was an endless amount of stone doors. All the opened stone doors were quiet yet they oddly connected to form a straight tunnel. The faint yellow light illuminated the whole tunnel.


    "It''s not the same as when I first came in." Garen frowned, "I only went through five stone doors when I came in. Is this an illusion or a maze?"


    ''It should be a maze.'' Black Sethe whispered, ''There''s something weird about this place, please be alert.''


    "I know." Garen nodded and continued walking forward.

 708 Underground Palace 2

    Chapter 708: Underground Palace 2


    A dark corner in the underground palace.


    AG was holding up his burning flame staff while he walked forward with a calm face. There was no one around him, as Nasira and the rest of them seemed to have been separated from him, and he was left alone.


    "This place... it feels weird..." he murmured to himself. "I''ve been separated by some sort of dimension force.... It seems like..."


    He looked at his surroundings with vigilance and speculation.


    The fiery flare caused his face to look slightly reddish.


    He reached his unoccupied hand into his pocket and touched something, then he instantly calmed down.


    "I will succeed this time, just one last step... one last step..."


    There was a determined look on his face once again as he strode forward.


    *****************


    Another dark corner in the underground palace.


    Manasi, who wore a full set of armor, and the thousand-legged serpent witch were following behind Nasira who was holding a torch. The both of them observed their surroundings with vigilance from time to time.


    "I can feel an extremely evil force here." the thousand-legged serpent''s tail slightly swayed, as if it was a slightly distorted living thing.


    The three of them walked through the passage. Before and behind them was endless darkness, and the torch could only illuminate an area within a few meters. The areas where the flame was not able to illuminate occasionally looked like statues of the skulls of beasts.


    "Every death apostle''s immortal garden is not the same, so you need to be careful. All we need to do is to restrain the force of the underground palace and we would have completed our mission. As long as the AG can successfully fulfill his goal, he can completely destroy this garden." Nasira whispered.


    The blue flame in Manasi''s eyes flickered a few times.


    "It seems like this is Wellington''s final card. I''ve prepared some special weapons, they will come in handy."


    The three of them were alerted and sped up towards the depths of the underground palace.


    After an unknown period of time had passed, the underground passage appeared to have become more spacious, and some deep scratches began to show up on the ground. There were also tiny writings appearing on the wall.


    "It seems like there are words on the wall."


    The thousand-legged serpent walked over and gently stroked the wall.


    "Wellington... Pearson... Dovich..." as she touched the writings, she said softly.


    "Pearson Dovich?" Nasira frowned, the name gave her a bad feeling as if she heard it somewhere.


    "There are more words behind." the thousand-legged serpent continued to reach towards the back. As her fingers touched it, she read it out softly. "Anil''s Gardens."


    Anil''s Gardens?!


    Nasira''s expression changed.


    "It''s a trap!! Anil''s Gardens! How could it be¡­!!" Even someone of her status could not help but feel a chill.


    There were many unsolved mysteries in this world, and Anil''s Garden was one of it. Rumors said that it was an underground garden someone named Anil built, but in fact, it was an underground cemetery, an underground mausoleum.


    No one knew who Anil was, and no one has found any records of the mausoleum in the history, but somewhere in the underground of a lost ruin, people unintentionally discovered the existence of Anil''s garden.


    It was known as one of the most well-known taboos in the supernatural world and was infamous because there was no way out of it.


    "Shouldn''t Anil''s Garden be in Australia? How could it appear here!!" Nasira felt her heart pounding violently, as the feeling of her plan going out of control overwhelmed her.


    "We probably have not gone too far, it''s not too late to retreat!" on the other hand, Manasi was not very nervous. Since he was a half-wizard cyborg, he has never heard of how scary Anil''s Garden was.


    Nasira shook her head slightly.


    "It''s too late, if this is Anil''s Garden, then space has already been twisted, we will definitely not find a way out. Even the time here is distorted, the both of you need to be careful."


    She took out a small wooden bird, gently tossed it, and the bird started flying backward.


    "Look."


    Manasi and thousand-legged serpent looked and were instantly stunned.


    They saw the wooden bird flapping its wings as it flew backward, after flying for just a short distance, suddenly, it was flying on the spot without moving forward before it disappeared from their sight.


    ******************


    "This space will only allow you to move forward and not backward, I used to study the three secret lands and this was no exception, the only way is to move forward," Nasira said solemnly.


    The other two were also upper-level witches and they naturally had pride and confidence in themselves, so they quickly calmed down.


    "As we move forward, we might find clues that will get us out of here," Nasira said in a low voice.


    The three of them continued to move towards the depths of the underground palace.


    ******************


    The Wellington family within a certain dark space


    "They finally went in." An elderly black shadow said with a low voice. He took his hand out of the blood pool and there was a trace of exhaustion in his voice.


    "Is that Anil''s Garden? The legendary underground cemetery in Australia which could move around like a living creature?" a woman asked with a lazy voice as she finally got a little interested.


    "To be exact, that''s the biggest secret of our family, everyone knew that Anil''s Garden is in Australia, but no one knew that there is a pathway in our family''s underground palace that connects to a second Anil''s Garden." a third black shadow explained with a neutral tone.


    "The second one? How are you clear about it, you went there before?" The slothful girl asked curiously.


    "No. Not even the landlord has not been in it, the landlord used to warn me to not try to enter the garden, or it would be very troublesome."


    "Even the landlord has not been in it?" both of them were surprised.


    "To be precise, no one has ever been in it. The entrance of the tunnel has been there since forever, but I do not know what is inside. Even the landlord was warned by his ancestors to never enter the garden. No one knows the reason why, but it was being passed down from generation to generation." the shadow with a neutral voice explained, "Which is why I do not know what''s inside, and you both should stop asking me."


    The blood pool was constantly replaying the scene when AG and the few of them entered the underground palace.


    Strangely enough, the entrance to the underground palace that they enter was not the usual entrance of the family. The blood pool showed that entrance of the family was still hidden underground, but the hole that they opened, where did it come from?


    Then, they saw AG and the rest of them jumping into the unknown underground palace entrance, and quickly disappeared.


    Just after they have all entered the hole, the entrance rapidly warped from an ancient looking appearance into a whole new appearance. The mottled and destroyed old brick stone surface of both sides of the walls suddenly morphed into a whole new wall, and even the hound-like statues on both sides of the door looked brand new. It suddenly changed from a shabby entrance into the actual underground entrance of the Wellington Family.


    "I get goosebumps all over my body every time!" the girl with a slothful voice finally revealed a dignified look on her face. "Where exactly did this entrance come from?"


    "I don''t know." The black shadow with the neutral voice replied, "The only thing I know is that the landlord activated something, then he told me about this plan."


    "They probably won''t be able to get out, let''s think about something else, one of the elders of the other two families is in our hands, and it might get very troublesome!"


    The elderly black shadow murmured, "How much do we need to pay to satisfy them?"


    "Prior to this, we have already extracted most of the Bloodline Core. As long as we get enough essence, their resurrection will not be a problem, but since it will take time to recover, we might take a massive hit," the girl with the lazy voice answered.


    "Tu Lan, this should be your turn to negotiate with them, it was us for the previous two times," the elderly shadow suggested.


    "I know, it''s so annoying."


    "There''re more words here," Manasi said with a low voice while she stroked the wall.


    "What is it?" Nasira got up from the ground somewhat irritably.


    "All those who enter the underground palace.... will become the prey of the Grim Reaper. It is a curse that no one can escape." Manasi whispered and recited the writings on the wall.


    "You''re making things up!" Nasira flicked the ash off her fingers; previously when she crouched down to check the indentations on the ground, she did not find anything.


    "Let''s move forward," she ordered coldly and seemed to have calmed down. "We better find AG and Garen as soon as possible, the sudden appearance of this strange underground palace is way beyond what we expected."


    The trio continued moving forward along the passage. The flame seemed to be moving through the endless darkness, and after a while, the passage gradually grew wider and formed an inclining downwards slope.


    Soon, the three of them could hear a subtle sound of water coming from the bottom of the slope.


    "It''s a river." The thousand-legged serpent said in a low voice, held his torch and walked towards it. From afar, they could see something sparkling under the slope and a violent underground river at the very bottom. The river was four to five meters wide and it stretched across before the three of them.


    If they wanted to move on, they must cross the river.


    They looked towards the left and right side, but both sides were being blocked by walls, and at the bottom of both walls, there was a big hole, which was where the river water flowed in.


    A small river appearing suddenly inside the tunnel was suspicious, so Nasira took the initiative to use a special energy-absorbing physique she had that was able to make all supernatural beings useless. She quickly walked to the edge of the river under the slope and gently scooped up some water with her hands.


    The water looked blackish, there was even a faint rotting smell, and after Nasira sniffed at it, she immediately threw it away.


    "There is poison in the water, be careful," she stood up and looked at the rapidly flowing river in front of her.


    The entire river was blocking the tunnel, it was roughly about seven to eight meters long.


    Nasira smoothly took a step back and then jumped over it. Her light body flew forward and in just a snap of a finger, she was on the other side of the river.


    The other two jumped in and steadily got to the opposite shore.


    The passage on both sides of the river were different; the ground of this side was rough and rocky without any man-made facilities.

 709 Attack 1

    Chapter 709: Attack 1


    There was some gray moss growing on the ground and walls, while the air seemed to be heavy with moisture, forming a faint white fog.


    Nasira looked around cautiously but did not find anything unusual.


    "Be careful, if this is really Anil''s Garden, it will definitely be a troublesome place."


    "Let me do it," Manasi the magic knight walked forward and his full body of armor started making sounds. He knelt down on one knee and rested his arms on the ground.


    "Fire of Clarity."


    A purple circular pattern lit up around his arms, and the purple snake-like pattern drilled into the ground.


    Shoom...


    A cluster of yellow flame ignited spontaneously on the ground and turned into a fiery snake, moving around as though it was a living thing.


    "Keep up with it, it will bring us to the deepest core of this area," Manasi warned and got up.


    The rest of them did not say much, but followed behind the snake tightly and moved forward rapidly. Soon, they entered a crude tunnel, and as the distance they traveled increased, the white fog around them got thicker and the air became moister.


    The bright fire snake that was leading the way started to gradually become dim, as though it was being restricted.


    Manasi had to take out a few weird looking things like a snake''s gallbladder and throw it into the flame to barely sustain the flame of the fire snake.


    Hooo...


    "What''s that sound?" Nasira suddenly stopped, "Did you both hear that?"


    At that time, the three of them were already deep into the crude looking tunnel, and they were surrounded by cold, hard rock walls.


    "Sound? What sound?" the thousand-legged serpent frowned and looked around.


    Hooo!


    Suddenly, a group of distortions passed by behind him, and two of them exclaimed and instantly attacked.


    Bang bang!!


    Two groups of black fog hit the stone wall behind the thousand-legged serpent, the impact causing quite a number of black stones to fall off the wall.


    The thousand-legged serpent reacted to it by growing a large amount of hair all over his skin, of which the texture was that of a living creature. His hair started popping out in all directions frenziedly, like needles popping out under high pressure, and most of the spiked hair hit the stone wall and made a crisp clinking sounds.


    "Watch out, above you!" Nasira shouted.


    The thousand-legged serpent hurriedly looked up, just in time to see a group of transparent distortions lunging towards his head.


    ******************


    Boom!!


    Garen punched the walls of the stone wall tunnel. A large number of rocks were smashed into powered form, scattering onto the ground and creating a deep rumble.


    A several meters deep large pit appeared on the stone wall, and numerous dense cracks spreading around it.


    "Ah?" He unclenched his fist and looked at the stone wall.


    ''This should be an independent underground passage, so there won''t be any connected tunnels around, you should just give up.'' Black Sethe said briefly.


    "This is indeed a little troublesome," Garen nodded. "If only I could fly, just like in the previous world, I could just fly straight up, and not even this place could trap me."


    ''If I''m not wrong, even if you could fly, if you don''t figure out the tricks and methods to leaving, you will probably not be able to leave.'' Black Sethe said in a low voice, ''There seems to be some sort of spatial distortion here. No matter where you go, space will eventually be twisted and you will be directed into a downwards direction. Moreover, if you go downwards, unless you break through this entire planet, you will never be able to leave.''


    "Can you find a way?" Garen continued to move forward. The surroundings of the passage changed from a bright yellow tunnel into a rough stone wall tunnel.


    ''I need time, how can I think of something all of a sudden? Just keep moving forward, so I can get to know more of the spatial rules here.''


    "Ok then."


    Garen speeded up and continued walking deeper into the tunnel.


    *****************


    "Ah!!" the thousand-legged serpent shouted. Her whole body lit up in a purplish-red glow and a purple flame started burning in her eyes. She opened her tiny mouth wide and shot out a shivering, distorted purple light, which looked like a transparent twisted tip of a knife.


    However, a strange phenomenon appeared, the purple laser went straight through the distortion and did not have any effect on it.


    Poof!!


    The thousand-legged serpent froze with a shocked expression before she was directly covered by that group of distortions. She was being wrapped in it and it looked as though she was being stuck in a huge lump of sticky glue.


    She struggled for breath, but she could not get out of the distorted slime.


    Nasira and the Manasi tried various methods to cut open the group of transparent distortions, but they were all futile. All they could do was watch as the thousand-legged serpent got smaller and smaller inside the distortion.


    Her body began to melt like a candle.


    Her face began to decay and melted into lumps of dripping light yellow fluid. Her eyes were the first one start melting, as well as her breasts, nose, and other protruded parts. Before the melted fluid could slide down any further, it would rapidly merge into the group of transparent distortion.


    "Damn it!!" Nasira attempted to use her hands to rip open the distorted slime, but it was to no avail. Her energy-absorbing physique did not work, and all she could do was watch the thousand-legged serpent struggle inside the distortion.


    Sweat started dripping down her forehead.


    "Damn it! What the hell is going on in this place?" Nasira felt pain in her hands, so she immediately took her hands out, and when she glanced at her palms, they were already a little corroded.


    "Let''s go!!" Manasi grabbed her from behind and started running backward, and after a few steps, they notice that they were just running on the spot, then they turned around and continued running forward.


    Both of them were still in shock, and the thousand-legged serpent''s twisted and hopeless face gradually disappeared behind them, consumed by the darkness. They continued moving forward by following the Fire of Clarity, and soon they put everything behind.


    "The thousand-legged serpent is an upper ranked person! Don''t worry, she will not die that easily...." Manasi comforted. However, the both of them were aware that the thousand-legged serpent was AG''s subordinate instead of a member of the Witch''s Association, and as they were not that close, it was unlikely for them to pay a huge price to save her.


    Being an upper-level person did not only represent their strength, it represented life and vitality. It also represented the same for upper-class blood breeds.


    The upper blood breeds could isolate part of their core and preserve it while their main body could still maintain its peak state, just that their endurance would be weaker. By doing so, when they need to execute an extremely dangerous mission and they were sacrificed during the process, they could extract the essence from the preserved core and quickly create a new body. Of course, reviving would cause that person to be weak for a long time, at least a year or two, but it would be better than dying directly in a fight.


    Similarly, the upper-level witches had similar tricks; they could make use a large number of secret techniques to strengthen their own body, and also the Broken Lizard Tail method, which sacrifices a part of their body when they are in a life-threatening danger. The most common way was to use their alliance.


    The alliance was the witches'' supernatural companions that belonged only to them. The alliance itself did not have high intelligence, but they were an incomprehensible illusory being that only witches could summon.


    Ah!!!!


    Suddenly, they heard a piercing scream coming from behind.


    Is was the thousand-legged serpent!


    She sounded like she was in extreme pain, the instant that they heard her piercing screams, Nasira and Manasi felt chills all over their body and they involuntarily speeded up.


    "Quick!"


    Nasira was almost sprinting.


    Before they got too far, she suddenly stopped, stood still in the tunnel and dared not move forward. Manasi who was behind her almost knocked into her.


    "What happened?"


    Nasira slightly took a step back and stared at the dark passage in front of them alertly. She did not speak and all she did was point in that direction.


    Manasi looked towards where she was pointing and saw a bald man dressed in black standing in front of the channel, blocking their way.


    The most prominent feature of that man was his shiny bald head, but strangely, there were various sized eyes covering the top of his bald head. Those were all human eyes with a sharp contrast between black and white, the eyes kept blinking, and it looked oddly creepy.


    The man stood with his back facing them, though there were dozens of eyes at the back of his head, and he was motionless. It seemed like he was not a living person, but a sculpture.


    Both Manasi and Nasira felt an inexplicable wariness of the man.


    "Let''s do it!!"


    Nasira suddenly rushed forward and made a sideway kick. Along with a terrifying roar, she took out a few transparent air bombs and threw them directly at the man.


    The air bombs were comet-shaped, and they lined out in a straight line on the back of the bald man.


    Boom!


    The air bombs exploded but the bald man was undamaged.


    Hooo!!


    Right at that moment, a huge force rushed out violently behind Nasira and hit her from behind.


    Bang!


    Nasira staggered forward, seemed to have tripped on something, lost her balance and fell forwardly onto the floor. But she immediately felt something entangling around her waist.


    She caught a glimpse of a number of black tentacles behind her, each as thick as a water bucket. The moment the tentacles entangled around her waist, they became transparent and started secreting a large amount of transparent fluid.


    Heee!!


    She immediately made a weird shrieking sound. Then, her left arm broke off and her whole body became blurry. As though she''d teleported, she disappeared on the spot and appeared in front of the tunnel, which was more than ten meters away.


    It seemed like Manasi used the Broken Lizard Tail method, and they ran into a forked road which suddenly appeared in front of them.


    "We''ll go separate ways!" Nasira shouted and ran straight ahead without turning back. The tentacles were so powerful that they were much stronger than an upper-level blood breed. Each tentacle was extremely sticky, and it was impossible to break free from it.


    At this moment, she felt the burning pain on her waist; even the Broken Lizard Tail could not even get rid of the fluid, and while this thought made her gasp in shock, she involuntarily increased her pace.


    Along the way, she dropped a few dark red disks, which automatically set off a cracking sound once they were thrown, and drilled into the ground like a tiny octopus.


    They were strengthened time bombs that she''d made specially. They were attached to extremely powerful alliance forces, in other words, the power of witches.

 710 Attack 2

    Chapter 710: Attack 2


    Witches made alliances through illusion and reality, then used the alliance as a stepping stone to utilize the magical powers of nature. They could also use their dreamland as a way to train, so they would have this terrifying ability to be much more powerful when they returned to reality.


    Even in reality, when they encounter an inevitable crisis, witches could make use of their alliances'' power to enter into their dreamland and avoid any danger. It was something similar to avoiding death through teleportation, which was the principle of the Broken Lizard Tail method that Nasira used previously.


    However, that monster''s fluid was still sticking onto Nasira, and even after she entered her dreamland, she was not able to completely get rid of it. It was horrifying because this meant that the tentacle monster''s fluid had a certain degree of spiritual energy polluting toxicity.


    She quickly ran into a tunnel, sat down at the side of the passage while gasping for air and quickly took out all sorts of things from her pocket. She placed all of them on the ground and sculpted an eye-like figure.


    "Move." She whispered.


    The eye-like figure suddenly moved on its own and disappeared into the ground.


    Thump!!


    The tunnel started shaking violently, but Nasira was not surprised; she knew that it was the bombs that she planted previously. Even though bombs infused with the power of witches were much more powerful than the usual bombs, she did not expect it to be able to stop that monster.


    She stood up and got ready to continue running forward, but before she could, a thick tentacle appeared out of nowhere, popped up behind her, and it fiercely smashed onto her back through the darkness.


    Bang! Poof!


    Nasira spat a mouthful of blood, ran forward quickly and disappeared around the corner.


    ***************


    Berlin


    "What is that thing?" Kabb had a dignified look on his face despite the sweat dripping down his temple.


    He was standing at the center of the campsite and looking at the crowd surrounding him with vigilance, while Medis stood by his side with an equally tense look.


    In just less than ten minutes, there was suddenly a man lying unconscious in the campsite, which wouldn''t have been a big deal except that man''s entire body had started decaying like rotten meat while he was unconscious. The surface of his skin was like a tattered cloth, upon which traces of dried out wounds could be seen. Through the wounds, the shriveled muscles underneath the skin could be seen, without even a tiny bit of blood oozing. A total of four to five people have collapsed without reason.


    It was why Kabb and the rest of them were on high alert.


    They immediately found that there seemed to be a black string-like thing that was wandering around the campsite, and when it found an opportunity, it would drill into a person''s skin.


    A few of them had to shoot frenziedly in order to cut it into a few parts.


    "Take it to the laboratory to study it," Kabb ordered after nothing weird happened again, only then did he take out a handkerchief to wipe off his sweat.


    "How do we get the secret of Garen''s combat club?" Medis calmed down and asked with a low voice.


    "The preparation continues."


    Ahh!!!


    Suddenly, a scream was heard coming from the direction of the guards patrolling in the forest.


    "Who''s that!?" Bang Bang bang!! a burst of gunshots was fired, accompanied by a few grenade explosions.


    All they could see in the forest were a few black shadows and the patrolling guards of the Bailey Group being entangled together.


    "They are the people from Nighthawk! Retreat!!" the patrolling captain shouted.


    Instantly, Kabb was surrounded by a large group of people who were trying to protect him. His eyelids were twitching intensely, and when he looked at his surroundings carefully, all he could see was his patrolling officers falling to the ground one by one.


    That few black shadows were running in his direction at great speed.


    The lights in the campsite shone onto one of the black shadows who was standing in front, which exposed his appearance, he was a young looking ordinary man. However, he was dressed in black from head to toe, along with a decisive and ruthless temperament.


    "How dare you spy on the combat club''s transport team... Berlin Group, how dare you!" the men were wearing black metal gloves with sharp metal thorns at the knuckle, making it look ferociously abnormal and there were even blood stains on top of it.


    "Retreat!" Kabb immediately gave this command after he recognized this man.


    Xander, the first batch of members of the club''s elite team, who once killed a number of armed forces and then disappeared. Now it seemed like he''d become even more cruel and stronger.


    Kabb squatted down, secretly walked away from the crowd and went into a camouflaged car under the cover of Medis. Once the doors and windows of the car were tightly shut, he was relieved.


    "They had such a strong alertness!" he wiped off his sweat, and the car started moving silently towards a faraway direction before speeding up to escape. As for the rest of them, as long as they died off, they would be unable to chase after him. Moreover, in no time, reinforcements would arrive, and since now the combat club was lacking in manpower, Xander alone would not be able to do much.


    "The harder they try to protect it, the more important it is to them!" Kabb''s eyes flickered, "Just in time for us to test the group of people that we have just trained."


    Medis had just wiped her sweat off with a tissue, thrown it into a rubbish bin and loosened her bow tie.


    "I''ll inform them now."


    "If the information we got from the Primary Colors is accurate, then Xander will be the only one there, as the rest of them have been sent off to do other stuff. This will be our best chance to snatch the box," Kabb whispered. "Inform Gremlin from the Primary Colors and tell him that we can do it together, and we can split what we got in half."


    It was proven that with just a little secret technique, they were able to get so much stronger, hence if he were to get even more records of the secret technique related information, it would enhance their strength in a terrifying way....


    "Gather everyone who''s available, I''m sure that I will be able to get it!" he clenched his teeth and a glimpse of determination flashed through his eyes.


    "Then should I move them here too?" Medis asked tentatively. Ever since the previous attack on the Nighthawks, their mercenary troop had suffered a heavy loss. Subsequently, the Nighthawks and the combat club have been taking revenge against them, and if they were to gather all their manpower now, they might just be completely annihilated.


    "Just do it! As long as we get it, I will reward them with 20 million euros! I don''t believe they won''t want it!" Kabb clenched his teeth.


    "We might not have enough time."


    "It doesn''t matter, they will not be back anytime soon, as long as that thing is still on the road, we can always stop it!"


    The both of them did not notice that when their car left the forest, a black shadow was standing there quietly, that person had bloody eyes and was wearing a black round cap, and he quietly watched as their car left.


    "What''s the matter? Did you find anything new?" the shadow heard a woman''s voice coming from behind.


    "I found something interesting, there''s a truck that seems to be carrying the more important belongings of the combat club and this guy found out about it, so he intends to rob it," the black shadow spoke with an authentic Berliner accent.


    "This human''s organization is very secretive..." the woman muttered,"Their leader Garen is busy with Wellington now, and I was told that this man is terrifyingly powerful and we need to immediately retreat the moment we run into him."


    "Oh?" The black shadow suddenly showed some interest. "I didn''t mishear you right... We are the upper-level blood breeds, but we need to retreat?"


    "Weidi and Yelu almost died." the woman answered quietly.


    The black shadow seemed to be stunned; he did not know how to react to that.


    "Are you joking?" he asked. "Yaludo is much stronger than me, but he almost died?"


    "That''s what I heard, but I do not know the details. Isn''t it obvious, since the leader sent us here to investigate it?" the woman said solemnly.


    "That''s surprising...." The black shadow shook his head. "If that''s true, then I''m interested in what are they shipping in the truck."


    "It is."


    The black shadow sneered, gradually became more transparent and slowly disappeared.


    ********************


    "Anyone who enters the garden will not be able to escape death..." AG gently stroked on the writings on the wall. They had been written in ancient German letters and had been carved into the walls ages ago.


    He continued touching downwards and used the torch to light up his sight.


    "No one can escape the grim reaper''s curse, so repent, sinners!" AG read the words out one by one with a straight face. He seemed to be thinking about something.


    "Anil''s Garden?" he used to study this mysterious place. It was a confined infinite space loop, and if he could not find a way out, he would never be able to leave.


    AHH!!!


    Suddenly, he heard a scream coming from the tunnel in front. It sounded like the thousand-legged serpent!


    AG had a nervous look on his face. He put his hands down and his body floated about ten meters forward. After moving through dozens of meters through that method, he soon approached the source of the sound.


    "According to the distance of the sound, this is indeed the source of the sound..."


    AG stopped and looked at the empty black tunnel. There was a forked road in front of him, on top of the stone walls of the forked road, there was a three-headed human-shaped statue with six arms and three eyes. The statue looked neither like a male or a female, though it was at the center of the forked road and it was staring downwards furiously. All six hands were holding something respectively, there was a water bottle, a circular ring, an ax, a ribbon, a short dagger, and a long stick.


    Just when he was not paying attention to what was behind him, a group of transparent distortions rose up from the ground soundlessly. The group of distortions was gradually getting bigger before it opened up like a wide-open mouth and approached him slowly.


    While AG was still looking at that statue, he seemed to have thought of something important.


    ***************


    "I''m back at the starting point," Garen frowned as he looked at the hole that he made on the wall.


    ''This place is an infinite space loop, without a higher dimensional skill, you will never be able to get out of here,'' Black Sethe explained. ''Unfortunately, these skills do not exist in my memory, only a few traces of it, which should be due to the incomplete memory. ''


    "A higher dimension? Something like Klein''s bottle?" Garen stood still.


    ''Klein''s bottle? What is that? ''


    Garen suddenly remembered that it was the physical conception of the Earth.


    "Nothing."


    Both ways were endless dark passages, so he tried punching the walls on his sides, and the ground was now littered with small piles of crushed rock pieces.


    "We might find a solution if we find the others." Garen felt like he was not able to solve this issue alone.


    ''Then continue to move forward, try to smash the passage on your sides and see if you can get into other passages,'' Black Sethe suggested. ''Since there''s no other way, destroying this place might be useful.''


    "It''s the only way."

 711 Attack 3

    Chapter 711: Attack 3


    Moving forward, a dark river gradually appeared in front of Garen. There was something moving up and down inside the river but it was blurry and he could not make out what it was.


    Garen walked to the river.


    "This was not here before."


    ''It seems to have some effect.''


    "En."


    Garen carefully checked around the river. In addition to his footprints, there were footprints of other people. Obviously, he was not the only one who''d come here.


    He leaped effortlessly and landed on the other side of the river. Looking back at the passage behind, strangely, the passage was not there. There was only darkness and nothing else.


    The passage on this side of the river was made up of rough stones, which was quite different from the passage that was made up of neatly arranged stones on the other side.


    Garen looked down at the ground. Sure enough, two clear lines of footprints continued into the rough stones passage.


    He silently followed the footprints while maintaining his alertness towards his surroundings.


    ********************


    Nasira had a pale complexion. After taking some medicine, she staggered onward for more than ten minutes before she managed to shake off the tentacles in pursuit and entered a bright and spacious hall made of black stones.


    The walls were made of egg-shaped black stones with a smooth and shiny surface.


    There was green moss on the surrounding walls of the stone hall, illuminating the entire hall with green shimmers of light.


    Nasira stood in front of an entrance on the wall of the stone hall and looked down. In the dim green light, she could see that the bottom of the hall was full of white bones. She did not know how high a pile the bones made, but the sight in front of her was undeniably a sea of bones. Sometimes, there was some movement among the bones.


    Suddenly, Nasira''s expression changed. She moved her body close to the wall and stuck to it as close as possible without moving.


    Swish!


    A shadow flashed in front of her, drilling into the stone hall made of egg-shaped stones. It was a tentacle as thick as a barrel!


    After the tentacle drilled into the egg-shaped stone hall, it opened up like a blooming flower, revealing rows upon rows of sharp teeth, and spat.


    Pu.


    A rotten corpse in the shape of a human body was spat out into the hall. After some time, the sound of the corpse falling onto the sea of bones echoed.


    The tentacle spat out some more things before it retracted rapidly and disappeared into the darkness.


    Nasira looked at this scene with glittering eyes.


    "This creature is capable of moving freely in this place?" She said with a trace of hope in her heart.


    She waited until the tentacle was retracted before moving back to the side of the entrance and cautiously took a look inside.


    he saw that the walls of the stone hall were filled with holes like a beehive. Sometimes, tentacles would drill out of these holes and spit things out as though they were vomiting. A large number of things such as corpses were spat out into this egg-like stone hall.


    These tentacles acted like sewage pipes. Nasira looked towards a distant hole and saw Manasi.


    Most of Manasi''s armor had been melted. He was lying at the edge of the hole, looking very weak. His right arm and right leg were both missing.


    Boom!!!


    At this moment, Nasira heard a loud roar behind her. Afterward came a sound as though something had collided with great force.


    Abruptly, a figure was ejected from a passage on her right. It was a white-haired man, whose body was covered in blood and scars and he was spraying blood when he shot out of the passage. Then, he fell straight down into the sea of bones without any sound.


    Nasira narrowed her eyes. Then, she saw three suspicious masked men rushing out from that same passage. They shot out a hook from each of their bodies on to the stone wall across them, deftly evaded the tentacle behind and swung down to the bottom.


    The three of them quickly reached the bottom of the stone hall and stowed their hook. After walking around the sea of bones, they entered an inconspicuous small entrance.


    Only then Nasira did notice that there was a small door at the bottom. It seemed to be a man-made white stone door. The three people entered the door and disappeared.


    She looked at the other side and saw Manasi nodding at her. Both of them planned on following the trio.


    "Follow them," suddenly, AG''s voice came from behind Nasira.


    "You finally came!" Nasira said while turning around. She saw AG walking to her slowly with his crutch, looking very calm, though there was a black stain on the hem of his clothes.


    "Are you sure? We don''t even know what those people are," Nasira frowned.


    "You''re hurt," AG did not answer her question and only tossed a small glass bottle of green ointment to her before he headed straight for the stone hall.


    Walking to the edge of the hole, his crutch slightly moved and a black gas came out beneath his feet, forming the upper body of a man. The man opened his arms and AG sat on his shoulder to fly down.


    Nasira gritted her teeth and immediately jumped over. She landed on the man together with AG.


    AG took a look at her. There was a trace of excitement in his eyes.


    "We''ll go down and follow them first. If I''m not wrong, those three should be hunters that entered from another place for that thing."


    "Hunter?"


    "That''s right. Anil''s Garden has the Scavenger, Gatekeeper and Gardener, these three horrifying existences, but since it is a garden, naturally it would have extremely rare and precious flowers and plants. If I''m not mistaken¡­ There is an extinct plant here that I need¡­" AG was in a good mood.


    "It helps¡­ in that thing of yours?" Nasira asked while standing on the black gas man''s arms and looking down at the sea of bones. The closer she looked, the more shocking it was.


    "If I got it in my hands¡­" AG said while licking his lips.


    On the other side, Manasi followed them by sliding down on the stone walls. He fell down with a loud thump while scattering bone powder everywhere.


    The three of them landed outside the small door at the bottom and grouped up. Apart from AG who looked normal, the other two looked extremely unkempt.


    Standing in front of the white stone door.


    "Do we wait for Garen?" Nasira asked.


    "Wait for ten minutes, if he does not come, we''ll go in first," AG said decisively.


    ******************


    Xander crouched down in the middle of the camp and gently wiped the grass on the ground and smelt it.


    "At least thirty people stayed here for a few hours," he reported in a low voice. The moonlight glowed on his face and his pale face shone.


    Surrounding him were more than ten elites from Nighthawk and the Combat Club.


    When a few great forces integrated into the Holy Fist Palace, a whole new powerful force began to form.


    A subordinate stood out and said.


    "Our main force went to the Wellington Manor, I think we prioritize protecting the goods."


    "You''re right Keith," Xander was someone who liked to listen to other people''s opinions. He stood up and scanned the people around him. "A lot of people are spying around for the secret behind our Combat Club''s Secret Techniques. Now that the President is away, this is the best time for them to act. We have to be even more vigilant."


    He waved his hand.


    "Let''s go back to our trucks!"


    The group evacuated the forest camp quickly and disappeared into the night.


    ************


    The trucks drove along the road in the middle of the night like a yellow snake. This place was close to the airport where cargos were transported. Occasionally, there were street lamps that were malfunctioned but their trucks'' lights illuminated the whole place.


    There was wilderness on both sides. Sometimes, tall square billboards were set up, but the rest were either hills or sparse woods.


    The sound of the engines was endless and a few guards were seen on top of the vehicles.


    "Damn, tonight is such a weird night. Hente and Patiya were knocked unconscious and couldn''t even see who knocked them out. I thought the goods were lost but nothing happened? Weird!"


    On a truck at the end of the line, a masculine Nighthawk complained while smoking.


    "People will get neurotic when dealing with these bizarre opponents all day long," tanned woman with a black butterfly tattoo on her right arm muttered while driving with a cigarette in her mouth.


    "How much you want to get is determined by how much sacrifices you are prepared to make," the woman talked like an old-timer despite her age being only twenty-something.


    "True, didn''t we chose to join the Nighthawks in order to acquire the legendary secret techniques? During the selection, so many people fought to join in. Good welfare, good treatment and it was also a large organization where we can learn the most powerful combat secret techniques. Making an effort in any organization is still making effort, but the conditions here were too good," the masculine guy sighed, took out the cigarette in his mouth and puffed out a circle of smoke.


    In fact, both of them understood that the Nighthawk Combat Club did not give out big tasks easily, and once the big tasks came, they were definitely the troublesome kind. However, to have kept them for so long, was it not their turn to repay their kindness?


    Boom!!


    Suddenly, a bright red light appeared at the front of the line, accompanied by a great shockwave.


    One by one, the trucks made an emergency stop. The people in the trucks came out with their guns. Some looked over at the flames to the front and some people were paying attention to both sides while wearing night vision goggles.


    One by one, several teams of masked people in black outfits took advantage of the night to sneak in from all sides for an attack.


    Once both sides made contact, they started firing their weaponry at each other.


    Xander jumped down from the car with a glint in his eyes. Except for him, the whole team was composed of only ordinary Nighthawk members who have acquired a small portion of secret techniques.


    He put on a pair of special glasses and green dots and red dots surrounding the trucks were immediately revealed. The green dots were allies and the red dots were the enemies attacking them.


    The green dots were decreasing non-stop. Although the red dots were also decreasing at the same time, their numbers were far greater than the green dots.

 712 Attack 4

    Chapter 712: Attack 4


    "The situation is not good¡­" Xander muttered while hiding behind the truck door. The special heavy truck''s doors were strong enough to block the normal bullets flying around.


    In this situation, not even he dared to charge in and start a killing spree. He could sense it if there were people aiming at him but if it was a stray bullet, he could not sense it whatsoever. In that case, he would not even know how he died.


    Without anyone noticing, two black shadows flashed by and quickly dived into the back of a truck in the middle of the line.


    Inside the dark truck was two slender figures.


    "Is it here?"


    "There is no mistake. Let''s see what kind of secret the Combat Club is protecting that these people would chase after them so tirelessly," a man chuckled and reached his hand out to touch the box with a hole.


    At the instance when he touched the box.


    Boom!!!!!


    A horrifying presence burst out from the box.


    No! It was like an eruption had occurred, as if a volcano had spontaneously erupted at his touch. It was as though there was a being that could not wait to squeeze out this box.


    "Take off the mask¡­.I will give you an unimaginable power and wealth¡­" a voice in the man''s mind crooned to him.


    "Take off¡­take off¡­take off¡­" the voice kept echoing inside the man''s mind.


    "Mudin!"


    A woman''s shout sounded beside his ear but the voice seemed as though it came from a place very far away.


    His whole body trembled as his fingertips touched a thin and somewhat coarse mask. The mask seemed to be full of little holes.


    The voice tempting him echoed in his mind and brought him a sense of pleasure.


    "Mudin! What happened to you?!" a woman''s voice sounded anxiously beside his ear.


    The man was tugged from behind and his hand broke its contact with the box.


    He came back to his senses.


    "I¡­I was nearly controlled!!!"


    This¡­What was this thing!!??


    He took a few steps back with his eyes full of fear while staring at the box.


    A pair of blood-shot giant red eyes slowly emerged from the dark within the truck. The eyes were incomparably tempting and dream-like. It did not have pupils that a human would have and had slightly golden vertical pupils instead.


    "Come¡­ Cute little fellow¡­ Take off the mask and I shall bestow upon you power beyond anything that you can imagine..." a voice crossed over the space and echoed directly inside the minds of two Blood Breeds.


    At this time, even the female Blood Breed had gone pale, and her body trembled unconsciously while she tried to break free from the terrifying power that controlled them. They did not know how, but the blood inside their bodies was boiling and out of their control.


    "Go!!!"


    A circle of blood lines spread out beside the woman and sent both of them flying away. They slammed into the side of the truck''s door and crashed on to the dark road before they took off.


    "No!!! Come back!! Come back here!!!"


    Only the two Blood Breeds could hear the ferocious roar. They could feel the huge temptation behind them as if it was their fate and destiny.


    "Don''t look back!! Damn it! What the hell is that!!?" the male Blood Breed''s eyes and nose were bleeding. He did not dare to turn back and madly dashed away with the female Blood Breed, leaving afterimages behind.


    ****************


    Inside the underground palace in the distant.


    Garen narrowed his eyes.


    "Someone touched the mask¡­"


    ''Never mind that, that thing is getting more and more troublesome. Even if the mask is suppressing it, as long as someone approached it rashly, they would be contaminated by the curses of the Void Creatures that you hunted down. Once the curse activated, a number of people must die before it stops. Taking away the mask is just asking for trouble,'' Black Sethe sounded as though he couldn''t care less.


    Garen nodded slightly and continued to walk.


    Somehow, there was a strange presence moving in front and the smell of blood drifted in the rough passage.


    "Looks like I have to hurry up and leave this place. I need to collect all the masks and handle the problems here as soon as possible," Garen said.


    ''That sounds about right.''


    Garen sped up his pace. Although the speed of his pace seemed slow, each of his steps crossed a distance of more than ten meters. His speed was comparable to a speeding sports car. There was no sign of him crashing into the passage despite his lightning speed.


    *******************


    Inside a hall full of magma-filled cracks.


    In an inconspicuous stone passage, AG walked in slowly with his cane and scanned the hall with a passionate and feverish gaze.


    When he saw the huge round garden in the middle of the hall, the light in his eyes became brighter and his throat trembled visibly a few times.


    Behind him, Nasira and Manasi walked out. Both of them seemed much better after temporarily stabilizing their injuries through some means.


    "Where are those people from just now?" Nasira asked in a low voice.


    "Right here, beside the garden," AG whispered, "They should be trapped in here too. They can''t get out but if they can avoid the danger effectively, they can depend on the food in the garden to survive. Seems like they used this method to survive."


    Following AG''s line of sight, Manasi pointed in the air with one of his hands. A red light spread out into a triangular mirror, revealing the situation of the three people beside the garden.


    Those three covered their faces but the black clothes on their body were ragged and their white hair was exposed. Apparently, they were not young people. However, at this time, their eyes were closed and they were murmuring as though they were praying for something while facing the garden.


    The garden was just like a normal garden, with red and blue flowers and green leaves. The only weird part was that the sizes of the garden''s plants were much too big to be normal.


    A common blue flower in there spanned a few meters in diameter. Slightly larger ones were seven or eight meters in diameter, big enough to shelter more than ten people.


    Other than that, the greenery of the whole garden seemed out of place on the dense, magma-filled cracks on the ground, as though it was not affected by the horrifyingly high temperature and the poisonous fumes.


    Boom!!


    Suddenly, AG leaped forward, avoiding a black tentacle that was as thick as a barrel.


    The tentacle was full of mouth-like suckers that were constantly sucking, giving off a horrifying feeling.


    The tentacle swept to the side and mercilessly smashed into Manasi, who did not manage to evade in time.


    Manasi had only managed to take out a short knife and block in front of his body, but the knife was broken by the tentacle without it suffering the smallest scratch. With a huge force, the tentacle smashed against his body.


    The huge force slammed him directly into the stone wall and formed a crater.


    Manasi''s forte was his strength and defense but at this moment, it was useless when facing the tentacle. He was just like a toy that had been sent flying.


    AG''s eyes revealed a sharp glint. He was nearly attacked by this thing previously from the back and hurt his body. Now, this tentacle came after him again.


    His cane moved slightly.


    "Slow!"


    A twisted transparent force fell on the tentacle, making its speed slow down until Nasira could catch up with it.


    "Burn!"


    AG shouted again.


    In an instant, the surface of the tentacle was covered in dark bloody blisters, as though it had been burnt.


    AG lifted his cane again.


    "Corrosion!!" Veins stood out on his face as he shouted; he was using all of his strength to cast so many skills.


    The top of the cane shone with black light and immediately dissipated.


    On the other side, as his voice fell, the tentacle began to rot and melt like a candle, dripping black liquid on the ground.


    The tentacle immediately released Manasi and intended to shrink back but to no avail. Nasira at the side took the opportunity to chop down and directly split the tentacle into two. The first half of the tentacle melted completely into black liquid and flowed down into the cracks on the ground before evaporating into black smoke and disappeared.


    Both of them finally heaved a sigh of relief.


    AG held his cane expressionlessly and ordered: "You guys go to the side of the garden and help me search for a flower with sharp petals. The flower has a layer of red and a layer of blue. If you guys find it, notify me immediately¡­"


    Before he finished speaking, two shadows rushed out from the hole behind them with a speed that the naked eye could not follow and appeared instantly behind AG.


    With the red light from the magma, both Nasira and Manasi could clearly see that it was two more tentacles that were darker than the previous one.


    The snake-like tentacles bound AG viciously and tightened.


    Kacha!


    The sound of broken bones came from inside AG''s body, as he opened his mouth and screamed. Black light shone again on top of the cane, spreading a huge shockwave outwards and causing the two tentacles to become loose. He took the opportunity to escape but there was blood leaking from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.


    "Go!!" He shouted. Black light shone all over his body and covered both Nasira and Manasi and then the trio morphed into a black light arrow speeding towards the garden.


    When the light arrow was mid-flight, another tentacle caught up and mercilessly crashed into the tail of the arrow.


    The light arrow came crashing down to the ground at the side of the garden and turned back into AG, Nasira, and Manasi. Just as he stood up, AG threw up a mouthful of blood.


    "So strong!! If not for the ability to turn into light, we''ll be in big trouble this time!" he frowned. His old face became older and more wrinkled.


    "Be careful, the garden is not totally safe. I''ve done some research on this place. Anil''s Garden should have three terrifying existences, the Scavenger, Gatekeeper, and Gardener. The ones we met should be the Scavengers but as long as we don''t go too deep, we should not encounter the other two monsters. If my judgment is correct, this place should be our opportunity to get out of here."


    "Opportunity?" Nasira''s mouth twitched while looking at AG throwing up mouthful after mouthful of blood. She was afraid that AG might actually die from throwing up so much blood. "You¡­ Are you okay?"


    "I won''t die¡­" AG said while nodding, "We can''t wait for Garen anymore. We''ll start right away and find that flower. That''s the key to getting out of here."

 713 Monster 1

    Chapter 713: Monster 1


    "There, seemed to be some lingering scent of them here¡­" Garen said while sniffing. He seemed to have smelled the scent of Nasira''s perfume.


    He crouched down in the passage and touched the rough rocky ground. There seemed to be a lot of holes on the ground as though a hammer had hit a lot of places here and there, making the ground uneven. There were also some pieces of crushed stones that fell from the wall.


    Hu!!


    Suddenly, a thick black tentacle shot out from the front of the passage to wrap around Garen''s waist.


    "En?!" Garen''s eyes were wide open from shock but instinctively, his right hand chopped down like a knife on the tentacle.


    Peng!!


    The tentacle was chopped by the knife-hand and its surface became full of injuries in an instant. Before the tentacle had managed to even touch Garen''s body, it had been divided into countless small pieces that flew past Garen''s sides and landed on the ground behind him. The remaining part of the tentacle twitched and quickly shrunk back into the darkness before disappearing completely.


    A strong sour odor was in the air.


    Garen frowned and covered his nose. He fanned with one hand and created a whirlwind to disperse the odor.


    The pieces of tentacle on the ground were twitching and some of them were crawling.


    Garen squatted down and picked up one of the pieces before giving it a pinch.


    "It has a strong corrosiveness."


    Having the ability to act freely here, it should be a creature from another dimension. It should be our hope of getting out of here.'' Black Sethe said.


    "Should be."


    Garen nodded and looked at the direction of the tentacle in front of him. He sped up his pace and chased it.


    *************************


    Boom boom boom!!


    Three tentacles waved around and tried to attack AG and the others. The other three masked people hid in a small corner. Their bodies were covered with the smelly sour liquid from the tentacle.


    AG and Nasira were covered in bloodstains, and their clothes looked as though they had been attacked from the side. Manasi was dragged by Nasira and avoided the tentacles'' attacks again and again.


    Lava splashed around as the debris from the crushed wall fell in.


    Soon, another tentacle rushed out from a passage and joined the attacking team.


    "Burn!" AG shouted.


    Blisters formed on the tentacle in front of him but it quickly returned to normal.


    One tentacle came flying from the side.


    Peng!


    AG was smashed down from the air like a baseball and crashed into the wall, creating another hole there.


    "AG!!" Nasira shouted as a look of anxiety appeared on her face.


    She took out a small purple fruit. It was round and looked like a peach with a sharp tip.


    Touching the purple fruit, Nasira''s face showed reluctance but when she glanced at AG on the wall, he was wrapped around by a tentacle that was tightening up. Blood was being squeezed out from his nose and mouth.


    he gritted her teeth.


    "Go!!" She threw the small fruit in the direction of AG.


    The fruit exploded in midair and turned into a purple mist. The mist condensed into an obscure human form with a presence similar to AG.


    Purple light flashed and AG, who had been constricted by the tentacle just a moment ago, appeared directly in the purple mist. He flew towards Nasira with his cane.


    His hand pulled out a pile of things which seemed like medicine drugs and threw them into his mouth.


    "Go!"


    Black light surrounded them and the three of them disappeared again into a dark light arrow that sped towards the middle of the garden. A few tentacles pursued them from the rear but when they crossed into the garden, they suddenly wilted and dried up as though something had absorbed all the moisture in them.


    The tentacles hissed and retreated quickly as if they''d been electrocuted.


    With a poof, the three of them collapsed into the huge garden and rolled on the black and yellow soil. They were breathing heavily and sweating everywhere. Manasi took off his helmet and revealed his black bald appearance. He was a young black man with a calm demeanor. The blue fire in his eyes was actually a special effect from the helmet.


    "Are you guys alright?" AG asked. He wiped the blood from his body with a defeated look. He appeared to have aged a few more years.


    Nasira stood up. Her injuries were the least serious but it might be the effect of the purple fruit she used. She looked depressed at the moment.


    "I''m okay but Manasi''s leg is broken," she responded with a wry smile, "and where is this place? Aren''t we in the garden?"


    Once she said so, the other two reacted and scanned their surroundings. They were in a lush forest, surrounded by towering dark green trees. There were pine trees, broad-leaved trees, red maple and many other species of trees.


    There were thick roots all around them. Some roots were entangled around other tree trunks and some were intertwined to form strange shapes.


    Nasira looked up at the sky. The crescent moon in the night looked like a sickle emitting a bright halo.


    Weng¡­


    Suddenly, the ground vibrated.


    Huala!


    In front of them, a black-clothed masked man ran with frightened eyes. His body brushed against the plants, making noticeable sounds.


    "Stop where you are!!" Nasira shouted. She needed to ask someone about this place.


    A purple vine flew out from her hands, wrapped around the masked man and dragged him back.


    That man was struggling while he was dragged by the vines.


    Nasira took a closer look at him. This person was unable to speak. The mask on his face was not worn but grew out of his face.


    This person seemed to have been born without a mouth and nose. There was only a pair of black eyes. He struggled with all his might but he could not speak, and only his eyes could show how frightened he was now.


    Below his eyes, everything else was dark and seemed like linen fabric.


    "This guy¡­!" Nasira was a little surprised but quickly calmed her mind. After all, in all the years she lived, she had seen all kinds of strange things.


    "Do you understand my words?" she asked loudly.


    Wuwuwu.


    The man only managed to make these sounds but his eyes were still full of horror.


    "He doesn''t understand," AG said at the side and touched the man''s head. "This man was just like the three people just now, a native from here. They don''t understand our language and intelligence¡­" He pondered for a bit and seemed to probe around the man''s head through the palm of his hand. "Intelligence is not good. Equivalent to a few years old child."


    Weng¡­


    The vibration in the ground had increased and seemed to be shaking.


    The land cracked and something seemed to be rising from the ground.


    Ah!!!.....


    A deep male voice as though chanting, sounded from the ground.


    "Dodge!!" AG''s expression changed and he leaped to the side. The other two, though slightly slower, also jumped to the other side.


    With a poof, the earth erupted and a thick large arm with a length of seven or eight meters burst out from the ground. It was a human arm!!


    Boom!!


    Another arm shot out from another place. The two arms which appeared to be dark red with a wooden texture grabbed on to the ground.


    Ah~~~~!!!


    A low groan which sounded like a mixture between a man''s helpless sigh and a scream burst forth. The sound shook the whole forest.


    The soil between the two large arms was lifted. There seemed to be something even larger coming out of the ground.


    "Run!!!" AG roared. A black light came out from his cane again but the black light was trembling, unstable and unable to spread.


    AG''s expression changed. He bit on the index finger on his other hand until it bled and touched the top of the cane.


    His index finger immediately withered and became black, thin and without energy.


    The black light finally spread and wrapped around him. This time, it sped away without changing into an arrow.


    Nasira pulled Manasi back and ran towards another direction away from the emerging arms.


    A few minutes after they left, the ground was finally broken through.


    Three heads with a diameter of seven or eight meters came out from the ground. Each of their expressions showed happiness, anger, and anguish respectively. The three heads were close together in a triangle shape, looking very strange.


    As the ground shook even more, the height of the three heads continued to rise. Below was a huge body with a width of seventeen or eighteen meters. The huge body grew taller with the three heads on top and gradually, the entire body was revealed.


    This monster that came out of the ground had a height of more than thirty meters! With three heads and six arms, the body seemed to be made out of wood with a wood grain texture all over it. The surface was carved into magnificent cloth and armor, similar to an ancient warrior with a long cloth wrapped around him. The six arms were each holding different weapons. The hair on top of the three heads was like flames and screams rang from their mouths.


    As soon as the monster came out, the head with an angry expression looked towards AG and the others.


    This monster had a very strange shape and there was an oriental feel to it. It did not seem to have a gender and between its eyebrows was a vermillion dot.


    A hand holding a large ring came crashing down, bringing the wind with it. The moon was hidden by the arm and the whole area was enshrouded in its immense shadow.


    Strangely, although the movement of the arm was slow, its target, which was AG, seemed to be unable to move his legs. His body was stiff and he could only helplessly watched as the huge arm with the ring dropped down.


    When the ring was a few meters away from his head, AG opened his mouth.


    "Mula!!!"


    A huge sound erupted from AG''s mouth. The sound rapidly distorted from its formless and invisible state into a cloud of smoke that rushed up like a rocket.


    Looking from afar, it looked like white gas burst out from AG''s mouth and rushed towards the ring.


    Peng!!!


    The ring with a diameter that was more than ten meters came crashing down like a huge rock on the white gas.

 714 Monster 2

    Chapter 714: Monster 2


    At this moment, blood burst out from all over AG''s body. He felt as though he''d been struck by lightning. He trembled and the white gas was quickly sucked back into his mouth before a huge force picked him up and flew him a distance away.


    On the other side, two more arms holding the cloth and dagger smashed towards Nasira and Manasi respectively.


    The two of them were equally miserable and bloody. They did not know how they''d evaded that attack just now. Especially Manasi, his body looked dried up. One look and anyone would know he had used a taboo technique. His armor had already been smashed to pieces and there was nothing left of it.


    The mountain-like monster with three heads and six arms stepped towards AG.


    *******************


    Swish swish swish!!!


    With three consecutive sounds, three black tentacles as thick as a barrel came rushing from the passage and smashed towards Garen with a huge force.


    Garen narrowed his eyes, giving the impression that he could either be opening or closing his eyes. He took a step and left afterimages while avoiding the collision from the three tentacles. He made a circle with his fingers and lightly tapped on the tentacles.


    Peng peng peng!!!


    The three tentacles exploded without any resistance and broke into countless pieces before splashing on to the ground. The rest of the tentacles shrank back rapidly.


    Garen sped up his pace and chased after them through the passages left and right. The broken parts of the tentacles were constantly within his sight and unable to get rid of him.


    Garen''s speed had increased to a frightening extent. Every few seconds, he had to stomp on the wall or the ground to rush forward. When he reached a corner, he was able to turn in a weird way and get through it.


    Soon, there was a green light in front of him getting brighter and brighter.


    Hu!


    With a gust of wind, Garen rushed into a giant egg-shaped cave following the tentacles.


    He rushed out of the entrance and found himself in mid-air before falling down in a curve.


    The walls around him were covered in green fluorescent moss. These moss became the only light source in this cave. In addition, there were numerous holes in all sizes that were passages leading to other places.


    Just as Garen was falling down, numerous tentacles flew out from these holes and came crashing towards him.


    These tentacles could be numbered at hundreds.


    "Waterbird Fist''s Profound!" Garen crossed his arms in front of his chest.


    "Dual Blade!!"


    With two snapping sounds, two invisible wind blades snapped out beside him to form an X-shaped white wind blade that danced around Garen.


    He moved slightly and his body was suspended in mid-air with his two arms making a complete circle.


    At the same time, the crossed wind blade moved. The ten meters long blades rolled and spun, forming a huge white circle that diced the hundreds of tentacles.


    Countless tentacles convulsed in pain. The chopped pieces fell down while dripping black blood everywhere, and it looked as though it was raining blood and pieces of meat onto the sea of white bones below.


    This scenes lasted a few seconds before Garen slowly landed with the tip of his feet on a bone. He stood on top of the tip of a sharp bone. The tip that was sharper than a needle was unable to pierce through the sole of his shoes.


    ''You are getting better at using secret techniques¡­'' Black Sethe said while heaving a sigh. ''The constant fights with Nadia, together with the long period of training that kept your life on the brink of life and death, has pushed you closer towards the style of secret techniques during our era.''


    "Isn''t that good?" Garen asked while scanning the numerous convulsing tentacles.


    ''The fist techniques of our time were simple and efficient without any extra flashy steps. Every move was created for killing. Each fist technique had its own unique characteristics and each and every one of them was profound to the extreme,'' Black Sethe sighed. ''Your present style is very similar to ours and this is the true path without any useless actions.''


    "Yes, secret techniques were originally created for killing," Garen said and jumped from the bone towards a small stone door at the side.


    There was the smell of AG and the others from there.


    With the realm he reached now and his terrifyingly strong body, even if he did not activate the Seven Star Life''s Secret Point, he would not have any problem with the numerous tentacles here.


    He had an average of seven points of attributes, ten points of vitality and eleven points of intelligence which determined his speed of reaction.


    Such a terrifying body allowed him to even carry out adjustments to the secret techniques he performed, which was equivalent to manipulating the effect of his secret techniques, just like what performed just now.


    The forte of those tentacles was their power and speed together with their toxic mucus, but all of these did not pose any problem to Garen. The characteristics of Waterbird Fist was its ability to stimulate the blood of anything it touched and achieved an effect similar to an explosion.


    Dahm had trained this explosive characteristic to the extreme. As long as he made contact, a violent explosion would occur. The power was higher than the original Waterbird Fist by a fold. On the other hand, Hochman made this explosion into a stealthy trick which traveled along the blood vessel of his enemy and attacked their heart, achieving the goal of weakening his opponent. The more he fought, the heavier the burden would be on his opponent''s heart. His opponent would end up dying due to a heart attack or ruptured heart.


    This was the difference in their development trends.


    Only Garen was using the most primitive Two-Faced Waterbird Fist, which had the Profound Three Strikes: Dual Blade, White Jade, Flight. Among them, Flight was the final profundity which combined the essence of West Phoenix Fist. The more an expert grasped the essence of Waterbird Fist, the more they were able to use this technique to control the power of air and formed a turbulent flow of attacks. This turbulence would naturally form a giant bird which served as proof that it originated from West Phoenix Fist.


    ******************


    In the moonlit forest.


    The mountain-like three-headed monster with six arms swung one of its arms forward. The cloth in the hand immediately spread open and became wider and wider before turning into a red gigantic serpent. The serpent''s crimson eyes stared down and two laser beams shot out from its eyes, cutting through numerous trees and boulders.


    Below, Nasira was unable to dodge in time. The layer of black gas that shrouded her body was touched by the red light. The black gas roiled around and was unexpectedly polluted, changing to a murky red. The red gas crept towards Nasira while polluting the rest of the gas.


    Nasira screamed and threw out a black token in her hand before escaping the black gas and retreating away.


    The black token exploded mid-air and left nothing behind.


    Before she had the time to be heartbroken, the hand holding a flask in mid-air turned towards her. The mouth of the flask was aimed at her.


    Hu¡­!!


    Suddenly a huge force of suction came from the mouth of the flask, sucking in the trees, stones, and soil. Those things which got sucked shrank and became smaller before disappearing into the flask.


    The red flask which was not even ten meters in height was acting like a black hole. It absorbed a lot of things but it did not even have the slightest hint that it was reaching its capacity.


    The suction force pulled Nasira towards the sky. She tried desperately to grab hold of some of the sturdy roots but anything that she grabbed would be sucked into the flask.


    Finally, seeing that she was flying higher and higher, her eyes turned vicious. Her left arm broke and fell off and her whole body turned blurry for a moment. A rotating weird text lit up on her forehead and flashed, before her body disappeared, reappeared in mid-air more than twenty meters away and she plunged down towards the ground.


    The blood that leaked from her missing arm sprayed around. Nasira endured the pain by gritting her teeth. She tumbled downwards to the bottom. Not far away, both Manasi''s hands were gone, and one of his legs was also halved. Apparently, he''d used the Broken Lizard Tail method three times and ended up in his current miserable state.


    In the face of a monster which had high strength, high speed, high resistance, and an overwhelming difference in abilities, other than escaping, they had no other way to deal with it.


    This three-headed monster had a surprisingly high resistance towards witchcraft. All six kind of weapons each had different abilities. The dagger could attack from a long distance, the tomahawk could deal a large web-like abnormal attack, the cloth could turn into a giant snake that attacked automatically, the flask could suck in a large number of things and the ring represented absolute strength. All the strength was concentrated on one point. If it were other weapons, they could possibly resist them, but the strength of the ring was several times that of other weapons. If they were attacked by it head-on, it could only mean trouble.


    The final weapon was a long stick that could deal damage to a wide area with a stun effect. Even if it was sweeping the wind, it could still produce the stunning effect.


    In the forest, AG concealed his presence and hid beside a fallen tree trunk. The other two learned from him and quickly concealed their presence. Their body lit up for a few moments before they blended into their surroundings.


    "Hush¡­ This monster does not have a sense of smell. It only has the sense of sight and hearing. If we''d hidden like this from the beginning, we wouldn''t have ended up this miserable," AG''s voice crossed hundreds of meters directly into Nasira and Manasi''s ears.


    "Is there any way? How do we get out of here?" Nasira used the same witchcraft to send her voice over. She took a look at herself and Manasi''s conditions and smiled bitterly. "This is really a place of absolute death. No wonder those who came in never got out. Even people like us ended up like this."


    In fact, the biggest difference between Upper-level, Middle-level, and Lower-level Blood Breeds was not in their pure strength and speed. They paid more attention to secretive and complex means because when they reached the level of Death Apostle, power meant nothing in the face of technology like missiles and bombs.


    Therefore, the strength of an Upper-Level Blood Breed was not very strong. Just like the methods of killing a person, the bullets from a pistol and the shells from a cannon had the same result. Although the difference in power was like day and night, the result was the same, so they no longer developed in this direction.


    Entering this place and encountering this sort of monstrous existence with terribly high resistances, landing themselves in this kind of mess was actually quite normal.

 715 Civilization 1

    Chapter 715: Civilization 1


    Inside the magma hall.


    Peng!


    A hand stabbed through the stone wall and scattered pebbles everywhere.


    Garen strolled out from the hole. His upper body was naked and he wore a pair of trousers with leather shoes. He gave off a neat and tidy impression, looking as if he had just finished changing his clothes and was out for a casual walk.


    He looked around the hall that was scattered with pieces of bloody meat and sniffed at the sour odor that was in the air.


    In the center of the hall was a circular garden. Taking a look from afar, it was filled with monstrous giant plants.


    Swish swish swish!!


    Three tentacles came from behind him.


    Garen grabbed towards his back with one of his hands and grasped a tentacle. He pulled the tentacle forward.


    Wu!!


    A sharp scream came from a distant place. The transmission speed of the sound wave was faster than the general sounds and reached Garen''s ears in an instant. The surrounding stones trembled and shattered into dust and crumbs.


    Ordinary people would have their eardrums broken and receive a concussion when they heard this sound wave.


    However, Garen only frowned and pulled the tentacle again.


    Peng!


    With a snap, the tentacle in his hand was ripped out by him and thrown aside by him.


    The remaining two tentacles had already shrunk back when Garen grasped one of them. They seemed to have their own independent consciousness from the way they curled back as though they were scared.


    Garen noticed this when he turned his head back.


    "Interesting¡­" the edge of his mouth curled into a smile.


    ''Don''t complicate things.'' Black Sethe voiced out and cautioned against his intention to go back to trace the source of the tentacles. ''If I''m not mistaken, these tentacles should be parasitic tentacles that have infested this place. They''ve merged with this underground palace and acts like its organs. Unless you completely destroy this underground palace, you won''t be able to kill them off.''


    "Is there nothing for me here?" Garen said and frowned.


    ''Go and take a look at the garden, there''s a fluctuation of teleportation there, maybe it''s the entrance to another place,'' Black Sethe suggested softly.


    Garen leaped and avoided the magma-filled cracks everywhere while darting towards the central green garden.


    After a few breaths, he fell on top of the garden''s white wall and peered inside.


    The strange scene inside the garden appeared before his eyes.


    Inside the garden was not some flowers, grasses, and giant plants but a twisted black vortex swirling around emitting a black glow. The edge was filled with giant plants which formed a huge garden.


    "No wonder there''s so many green plants when there''s no water and light. It''s all an illusion that acted as a bait." Garen said.


    ''This is Void Flower Seed. There''s a small space inside that acted as a world inside. You can go and take a look inside. This thing is not dangerous because it''s just a simple teleportation gate,'' Black Sethe replied. Black Sethe was well-informed, and there seemed to be nothing that he did not know.


    Garen nodded his head. He and Black Sethe shared the same body. There was no need to worry about him having malicious intents.


    He jumped slightly and fell towards the black glow. In the middle of the air, he felt a huge suction force pulling him suddenly. He immediately disappeared into the vortex of black light.


    ***************


    "Buddha Mother¡­ Holy Phoenix!"


    AG touched the surface of a huge tree with an indescribable horror in his eyes.


    "This place is the land of Buddha Mother Holy Phoenix!" he said. His lips were trembling and he seemed to be in utter astonishment.


    Nasira and Manasi were at a place not far behind him. They concealed their presence, leaving only the smell of blood in the air. They looked no different from the surrounding trees and were completely hidden.


    "Buddha Mother Holy Phoenix? What is that?" Nasira asked. She had only used an emergency treatment for her internal bleeding. She was looking exhaustedly at AG now. He seemed to have discovered some clues about this place.


    The giant''s footsteps were still shaking the ground in the distance. The only thoughts the three of them had now were on the way to leave this place.


    The amazement on AG''s face soon returned to calmness but the horror in his eyes remained.


    "There was a legend about an ancient eastern sect. The origin of this sect was a terrifying existence known as Buddha Mother. It was said that this existence appeared at the same time as the Blood Breeds, and they were the product of myth from the same era. As for Holy Phoenix, it refers to the secret method of that sect. Holy Phoenix Celestial Clothes means a divine bird that wore the light from Buddha or a feather coat that came from a divine bird. It could be an item or it could be a legacy. A shame¡­ That sect had deteriorated into a thoroughly ordinary sect. There is no longer the brilliance of that era. Unexpectedly, their history could be found here!"


    "Myth¡­Something that came from a myth really appeared in reality?" Nasira exclaimed. She was shocked and a little disbelieving. It was like telling a person that the oil lamp before their eyes was the legendary lamp that granted wishes to Aladdin, totally unbelievable.


    "I''ve also heard of it.... In the Buddhist Hindu mythology, Buddha Mother is the Holy Phoenix. Holy Phoenix was also known as The Great Luminous King of Peacock with the title of Buddha Mother. Rumor has it that she swallowed Bodhi Lotus and wailed for ten days and ten nights before giving birth to Buddha," Manasi said weakly. "Once, I went to the Buddhist headquarters but I found nothing extraordinary so I thought that it was just a myth. I never thought that¡­"


    Kacha!!


    Blue lightning flashed by and caught the three people''s attention.


    They looked up at the place where the lightning flashed by.


    Under the night sky, lightning flashed continuously with a hissing sound and weaved into a large net of blue lightning.


    In the middle of the net, an eyeball the length of a human slowly turned into a black vortex gate.


    A figure came out of the door slowly.


    It''s Garen!


    His eyes were vacant as though he had not figured out the situation.


    Weng!!!


    A huge shadow came crashing towards him. It was the ring weapon that belonged to the three-headed giant.


    The sound of lightning not only attracted the attention of AG and the others, it also caught the attention of the giant. It did not mutter any sound and went directly to smashing down the strongest weapon in its hands.


    "En?" Garen looked up. The electricity that flashed in his eyes disappeared and he saw the huge ring that came crashing down on him.


    ''It''s a creature from another dimension! Hahaha! Heaven did not disappoint us, Kill it! Get the core inside and we can get out of here!'' Black Sethe suddenly became excited and shouted in his mind.


    Garen took a deep breath which formed a whirlpool that swallowed the air in his surroundings.


    From the terrifying pressure that came down on him, he knew he had to get serious here.


    "First star!!"


    The fingers on his right hand tapped across several acupuncture points.


    "Second star!!" a dozen more acupuncture points were activated.


    "Third star!!"


    Hu!!


    All the hair on Garen''s body stood up and the muscles all over his body bulged to form an armor-like outline.


    His height increased and his palms became as big as the size of a human''s head.


    There was no technique involved. He only clenched his right hand and raised it to smash the ring.


    Activating the third star, Garen''s originally seven points immediately increased to around twenty points. This punch looked very normal but when the fist shot through the air, it created shockwaves. It was a shockwave that was created by powerful force together with secret techniques.


    "He¡­ He has the guts to face it head on!!" Nasira knew the power of that ring. It was at least two to three times the power of other weapons and it also had a suction force that made it hard to dodge.


    Now that Garen was facing the ring head on without a change in his expression, she felt that her heart had skipped a beat and her body was almost jumping.


    Comparing Garen''s three meters height to the giant''s dozens of meters was like comparing an ant to an elephant! However, with such a gap, incredibly, he still dared to face it!


    AG turned aside his body with the same stunned expression on his face while watching the scene in the sky. Manasi was gritting his teeth while staring at Garen as though he was looking at a dead man.


    At this moment, the sky flashed a bright light. A knife-like white light traveled across the giant''s ring.


    Garen had traveled across the ring in the blink of an eye and appeared at the back of the giant''s arm and stopped in mid-air.


    He stretched his body and paused for a moment before falling straight down.


    Ah!!!


    The giant let out a roar.


    Boom!!


    There was an explosion on the arm that was holding the ring. A yellow gas spread everywhere but the arm itself was not broken from the explosion.


    The giant seemed to be furious. The rest of his arms came crashing from different directions towards Garen. All the different weapons started their effects and shined with crimson light.


    Five crimson lights combined and formed a giant crimson hand before pressing on Garen.


    Peng peng peng peng!!! Weng weng¡­.


    The sound of explosions occurred continuously and overlapped with one another. In the end, only a buzzing sound could be heard. Intense tremors spread out in all directions.


    The three-headed giant''s six hands displayed a terrifying speed and left afterimages. They waved numerous times and seemed as though it became hundreds and thousands of arms, just like Thousand Hands Guan Yin.


    The huge crimson hand shone with bloody red light and came crashing down on Garen like a towering pillar.


    Boom!!!!!


    The terrifying shockwaves had made the surrounding trees collapsed. Nasira and the others had no choice but to retreat further but were still affected by the shockwaves.


    "Fourth star!!"


    In an instant, a clear voice traveled through the air, calmed down the shockwaves and spread in every direction.


    The voice sounded cool and calm with a tinge of viciousness.


    It was Garen!

 716 Civilization 2

    Chapter 716: Civilization 2


    A warm, gentle breeze blew past suddenly, and it felt as pleasant as a mother''s soft touch.


    An ear-piercing cry could be heard throughout the sky immediately. It was a bird''s cry!


    A terrifying shroud of whirlpool-like air currents gathered on the ground below the giant. It resembled a huge mouth that was waiting to swallow the giant''s arm.


    Chirp!!!


    The clear sound of a bird''s cry rang out suddenly.


    "It''s back!!! That move!" AG''s eyes flashed while he glared at the abnormal changes in the sky.


    "Waterbird Fist''s Profound, Soar of the Evil Phoenix!!" Nasira had also remembered this frightening move from long ago. She was terrified of reliving that previous experience ever again. In fact, anyone who had seen this move would never dare to forget its terrifying strength.


    At this moment, two wings abruptly flapped open from the gigantic air currents before the shadow of a gigantic flying bird flew upwards from the ground. It flew slowly at first but sped up quickly before swooping towards the forehead of the giant.


    The shadow of the giant bird was almost as large as the giant itself.


    However, a strange phenomenon appeared.


    When the three-headed and six-limbed giant saw the shadow of the gigantic bird, an apparent look of fright appeared on its face suddenly. The giant took a few steps backward quickly in an attempt to dodge the attack but to no avail.


    His gigantic arms stopped attacking at once before he lowered all three of his heads simultaneously while pitiful and fearful expressions appeared on all three of its faces.


    "Phoe¡­!!!" this was the first time that a sound other than ''ah'' had escaped the giant''s lips.


    "Phoe¡­!!! Phoe!! Phoe!!!" all three heads made the same noise loudly simultaneously.


    The gigantic flying bird approached the giant''s head suddenly. However, it flew away moments later and perched somewhere where its beak was less than one meter away from the giant''s head and did not come any closer.


    Boom!!!


    The terrifying air currents dispersed suddenly before Garen landed on the ground in front of the giant gently.


    "Phoe!!!" the giant raised his arms up high and pressed his three heads against the ground while kneeling there in a subdued manner.


    ''I think that he''s mistaken you for his previous master,'' whispered Black Sethe beside Garen''s ear.


    The giant''s heads where like humongous objects when they were directly in front of Garen. They formed black shadows that almost covered him.


    At this moment, one of the giant''s smiling faces turned around and faced Garen. It opened its mouth and stuck its black tongue out to expose the exquisite, luxurious blood-colored throne that was embedded on the tip of its tongue.


    Garen hesitated for a moment and looked at the giant before his instincts told him that he had no ill intentions.


    He walked over immediately and sat on the chair slowly.


    Kachak!


    A cracking noise could be heard before one of the mechanisms on the chair was triggered suddenly.


    The giant retracted his tongue and brought the chair back into his mouth.


    Under the moonlight, Garen was instantly dragged into the giant''s oral cavity from the outside world. However, it was not a regular oral cavity. Within the darkness, the seat seemed as if it was being pushed by an unknown force before it slid downwards. The path that he had entered now seemed like an elevator that was going downwards.


    His surroundings were filled with dots of blue light that twinkled like stars.


    ''I''m afraid that this is a large war weapon that possesses free will but can also be controlled by you,'' said Black Sethe in a slightly grave tone beside Garen''s ear. ''There aren''t any traces of Void Creatures at all¡­ How strange¡­ To think that such a terrifying and advanced civilization would exist here!''


    "You''ve never seen something like this either?" asked Garen quietly.


    ''No,'' answered Black Sethe surely, ''this civilization is extremely powerful and prosperous. The glittering lights on the walls are actually energy matrices that can absorb various kinds of energy from the outside world such as light energy, wind energy, and even thermal energy. It really is a frightening skill¡­ It''s easy for us to use a single form of energy, but to arrange and fuse so many energy matrices together while using skills that I cannot even comprehend is truly the work of an extremely advanced and developed civilization!!''


    Garen had never heard Black Sethe speak in an astonished tone before. Black Sethe was one of the Ancient Endorian Demon Kings of the past. Therefore, as a strong individual who was standing within this civilization, his opinion would naturally be of value. His tone had always been terrifyingly arrogant, but now he was subdued by this three-headed, six-limbed giant.


    "After hearing you speak like this, I have some expectations now," a sliver of a smile appeared on Garen''s face. He did not hope to return empty-handed after coming to this underground palace.


    ''I hope your expectations will be met,'' Black Sethe was somewhat looking forward to it as well.


    The seat took Garen on a downward ride continuously before a gentle golden light appeared in front of him out of the blue.


    The golden light came closer and grew brighter.


    Whoosh!


    The seat entered the golden light suddenly before embedding itself into another mechanism and stopping immediately after a clicking sound was heard from the slide below it.


    Garen''s eyes adjusted themselves to the blinding golden light slowly. Soon, he could clearly see the scenery in the golden light.


    This place was an average-sized golden circular house.


    His seat was supported in mid-air by a pillar and was coincidentally positioned in the center of the entire house.


    His surroundings were filled with various mystical golden symbols that were inscribed on the wall. They twinkled and constantly reflected golden light while the faint smell of sandalwood wafted through the air, and the sound of quiet chanting echoed through the surroundings.


    ''The symbols around you are written in Sanskrit. Since I can read them, do you need me to translate for you?'' Black Sethe''s tone was somewhat pressing.


    "No need." Garen had already become a master in linguistics long ago and had learned Sanskrit when he was ten years old.


    His eyes scanned the words around him.


    The sea of over a thousand characters was only talking about one incident.


    An existence called the Holy Phoenix created the Buddha Mother and gave her life and consciousness. However, only the Buddha Mother remained after they were defeated during a great war with enemies from the outside.


    Most of these symbols were extolling the supreme power of the Holy Phoenix and its radiant love. There was no other information besides that.


    ''Really¡­'' Black Sethe did not know what to say either. ''Within the time and space of the universe, countless brilliant and powerful civilizations emerge and disappear like resplendent nightblooms that fade after dawn. No one knows the true meaning of eternity¡­''


    Meanwhile, Garen sat on the seat quietly.


    He did not know why he could feel a strange type of Qi lingering around him.


    "Even if we transformed ourselves into existences that were as hard as diamonds, we would still disappear and be worn away by time and space¡­" he spoke softly before standing up suddenly. He stood in front of the seat and looked around at the golden symbols in his surroundings.


    He carved the shapes of the symbols into his memory continuously. Strangely enough, these symbols turned into golden threads that organized themselves into brand new characters in his mind.


    This was related to the true intentions of his Secret Technique, the Waterbird Fist. The general ideas and awareness of the original symbols would be echoed within these brand new words.


    He simply closed his eyes, released his mind and searched to realize their true meaning.


    The golden words formed golden lotus flowers in his mind that were constantly rotating and floating around.


    "Holy Phoenix Scriptures¡­"


    Once he had scanned the entire text of golden words, Garen opened his eyes and exhaled hurriedly.


    "This is a practicing technique that is completely different from Secret Techniques. I can''t learn them because the other person''s body structure was unlike my own, but I can learn from its true intentions. This powerful awareness and direction resemble Nadia''s Ominous Space Path. I can also learn of other practicing techniques from the other existences in the Void that existed during other unknown times."


    A plan formed in his mind quickly.


    These golden symbols had recorded the legendary Holy Phoenix Scriptures that the Holy Phoenix had practiced previously.


    These scriptures would lead him on the path of absolute tyranny!


    Heaven and earth would be ruled by him alone! No one could surpass him! No one would be on par with him! It would be otherwise impossible for him to achieve absolute rule, even with the Void Nine-Headed Dragon''s Will in his soul.


    Garen could vaguely feel that this civilization was related to the Buddhist teachings on Earth. Otherwise, the unexpected air that surrounded these familiar words would not exist in this world.


    ''Do you wish to tread on this path?'' Black Sethe''s voice echoed over. ''The path of tyranny, I mean. Nadia chose this path but lost in the end while her army was obliterated. You will encounter worse perils if you continue on this path. You cannot afford any failures if you chose this road and you must ensure that your soul and intentions are completely pure. You must remain true to yourself and disregard the rest!''


    "Deep in my heart, I know that everything will be fine!" Garen recited the first passage of the Holy Phoenix Scriptures. "What are the side effects of practicing the Holy Phoenix Scriptures?"


    ''According to my assumptions, these Holy Phoenix Scriptures are more potent than Nadia''s Ominous Space Path and the Nine-Headed Dragon King''s Will. It is simply a practice that should not exist in this world. If you want to tread on this path, you must be prepared to face many enemies. You must only exist in your own physical body and cannot be contained by the Earth or even the universe. Existing only in your own physical body challenges you not to subvert the rules. As you are unable to latch on to others that are stronger than yourself, those existences will naturally become your enemies. All of these are unavoidable obstacles.''


    He paused for a moment. ''It''s like a river with choppy waters. Everyone else will follow the flow of the water and go downwards while practitioners like ourselves go upwards in the opposite direction. Meanwhile, these Holy Phoenix Scriptures are more insane as they require one to charge towards the origin of the river instantly and occupy its deepest source which is above all other existences.''


    "This is clearly impossible," said Garen while shaking his head.


    ''Yes, but since this will is too strong, the existence of this civilization will continue to be utterly terrifying even if no one is able to achieve it,'' said Black Sethe surely. ''Although it is unsuitable to be practiced by you, if you''re able to fuse its true intentions and add them to your Fist Techniques, you will reach brand new heights. Perhaps it will not be impossible for you to form a Soul Seed either.''


    Soul Seed.


    Garen''s mind began to heat up. He''d collected the mask to suppress Nadia and compiled the Demonic Book to form a Soul Seed. However, a new road had opened up in front of him.


    ''The Demonic Book will not conflict with this. You can merge and grasp the will of the Holy Phoenix Scriptures completely before fusing them with the Demonic Book to form a stronger and better Soul Seed. I assume that once you have fully grasped the Holy Phoenix''s will, fused and recorded it in the Demonic Book, you will probably be able to form a second Soul Seed that will be worthy of a true battle with Nadia''s past thirty lives!'' it seemed as though Black Sethe was wholeheartedly praising these scriptures.


    "The most important thing is that we won''t go if I''m unable to grasp the Holy Phoenix Scriptures," Garen shook his head slightly while a forced smile appeared on his face.


    ''It''s good that you understand that. The dimensions of the movements and operating methods of this war weapon are probably stored in the Holy Phoenix''s true intentions. The only thing that you must be careful about is that these true intentions may affect your will and soul. Therefore, you must fuse it into a Soul Seed in the end or it will limit your future progress. All of this is due to the fact that this is not your path, but someone else''s comprehension.''


    "Understood," Garen nodded.


    He sat on the seat again and placed both of his palms flat on the armrests. He closed his eyes before the countless lotus flowers flew around in his heart like the snowflakes that danced around gently during winter.

 717 Break Away 1

    Chapter 717: Break Away 1


    The outside world


    AG, Nasira, and Manasi sat around a burning bonfire silently.


    The flames flickered and illuminated the faces of the three people there. There was not much warmth and the atmosphere was somewhat stressful.


    "Other than the three-headed, six-limbed monster here, there are definitely other troubles as well," said AG softly after recuperating for a while.


    A strange and undistinguishable air permeated throughout the gloomy woods in their surroundings.


    "I wonder what happened to Garen after he entered that monster''s stomach?" Nasira furrowed her eyebrows and looked at the faraway giant. That three-headed, six-limbed monster had stopped moving completely after Garen had entered it earlier.


    However, the other three people did not dare to approach it. If the monster were to move again, they might face even worse consequences and would not be able to escape at all in their heavily injured states.


    "Don''t forget the reason why we entered this place," AG stood up and began to stroll through the surrounding undergrowth and woods. His face was grim and slightly ashen from his injuries by the monster earlier. However, looks of happiness occasionally flashed in his eyes.


    "If my assumptions were not wrong, this is the true garden of the underground palace."


    He bent down and gently snipped off a piece of black grass that was as dark as ink and as small as a tiny person from the bottom of a large tree. Next, he kept it in his pocket and continued searching for something with his head lowered.


    "Since no one has entered this place for so many years, the medicinal herbs that grow here are frighteningly potent!"


    Nasira and Manasi looked at each other. Neither of them knew how to use medicinal herbs and could only look on while AG collected these plants from the side and walked further away from them after a while.


    After more than half an hour, while the rest of them were eating the baked rations that they had taken out, AG finally returned with a big bag of medicinal herbs.


    When they saw the look of sheer joy on his face, they were certain that he had reaped great rewards.


    "If I get to go out this time, my cultivation will definitely be able to enter the final phase!" he was able to obtain a large quantity of exotic medicinal herbs effortlessly. No matter how calm he remained, he could not help but show traces of emotions whenever he faced qualitative changes.


    As for Manasi and Nasira''s broken limb injuries, the Witch thought that it would not be too difficult to connect them with the limbs of other people.


    The important thing was whether or not it was safe now.


    After collecting the medicinal herbs, the gazes of all three people turned to the faraway giant''s body again. They did not know when Garen would be coming out and were unsure of whether Garen had fallen into the monster''s snare and was trapped there.


    The only thing they could do right now was to wait.


    "If my assumptions are not wrong, this monster should be the second guard here. A monster like this is definitely concealing a lot of secrets throughout its body. It''s best that we wait for Garen to come out before making our next move," AG decided quietly. He took out two bone plates from unknown animals and smashed them on the ground gently before many cracks appeared throughout them at once. This seemed like a divination method as he studied the cracks under the light of the fire carefully.


    "I never expected that the three of us would be trapped here while the normal humans would able to¡­" Nasira forced a smile.


    "What do you think of Garen and the Holy Fist Palace?" asked AG quietly.


    Nasira smiled bitterly while Manasi shook his head with a look of utter incomprehension on his face.


    Manasi glanced at the giant monster that was further away.


    "I don''t know how to describe that person, but it''s simply unbelievable that a normal human like himself, neither a Witch nor even a Blood Breed, was able to achieve such great heights."


    He paused for a moment, "As for the Holy Fist Palace, I think that it will definitely play a role in the future Supernatural World!"


    His tone was almost resolute and certain by now.


    "The Death Apostles will not forgive him. Meanwhile, the Blood Breeds are still dominating," AG shook his head. "It won''t be so simple."


    "But no one knows everything, right?" although Nasira was seriously injured, her arrogant personality had not been tamed at all. "For some reason, I really dislike standing with Garen. He has a dangerous air around him."


    "Me too. I don''t know what he''s hiding," AG nodded.


    Bang!


    Suddenly, the three-headed, six-limbed monster stood up slowly and got up again from its kneeling position while shaking all three of its heads slowly.


    "What is it trying to do?!" Nasira and the other two people stood up and warily observed the monster from afar.


    *******************


    Garen shut his eyes tightly while faint rays of golden light gathered around him slowly. These rays of golden light resembled golden threads that were flying and rotating around him.


    He felt as if he had suddenly turned into a golden flying bird that resembled a phoenix and was currently flying through the endless void.


    The sound of unclear but unusually ethereal sounding Sanskrit chanting drifted into his ears continuously, as if a crowd of people had gathered around him and were reciting passages quietly.


    Holy Phoenix Scriptures¡­ Holy Phoenix''s true intentions!


    Garen''s mind sank into a state of ultimate purity in an environment where he was able to truly understand himself. All of his feelings and thoughts were concentrated within himself and the only person who could detect and ponder upon them was himself.


    He closed his eyes and looked at the skill pane on his attribute pane and noticed that an additional faint gold symbol had appeared in the skill section of the Secret Techniques that he specialized in.


    ''Holy Phoenix Scriptures: Inherited from an unknown civilization. It comprehends the Holy Phoenix''s true intentions and possesses a probability of improving and condensing Soul Seeds, as well as upgrading the strength of the seed.''


    The Soul Seed determined the strength of the soul while the strength of the soul determined the limits of the physical qualities of the body.


    The current limits of Garen''s physical body was an average of thirty points, and this was after it had been strengthened by the first Soul Seed.


    There were three main phases of a soul. According to the Ancient Endorian legacy, phase one was the normal soul, phase two was the Soul Seed, while phase three was the True Soul.


    Whenever a Soul Seed was formed, it meant that an awareness that had achieved a certain degree of strength had been condensed. Throughout a lifetime, complete and intact experiences were signs of independence.


    In other words, each Soul Seed represented the coagulation of the peak moments of one''s life. It represented the paths and trajectories in one''s life when they tasted success.


    Garen did not know how the other Ancient Endorian Warlocks crossed this path, but he was forced to walk on the path of coagulating the entire essence of his lifetime in order to achieve higher levels that would allow him to form a complete seed.


    ''When you concentrate and realize things, more Soul Seeds will form and the likeliness of creating a True Soul will increase as well. Each Soul Seed can become a substitute soul that will be able to block one fatal blow towards your soul,'' Black Sethe''s voice echoed beside Garen''s ear.


    The Holy Phoenix''s true intentions and the Demonic Book''s realization were already sufficiently powerful to fuse and form a Soul Seed. This was something that Black Sethe was hoping to see as well.


    When the second Soul Seed was formed, Garen''s entire body would reach a higher level, and by then¡­


    Hum!!!


    Suddenly, the sound of a violent vibration interrupted Black Sethe''s train of thought.


    He condensed himself and formed a black smoke figure behind Garen before looking around his surroundings.


    He could only see that shrouds of golden gas were permeating inside the monstrous Buddha Mother. The large quantities of golden gas began to gather in front of Garen slowly and solidified before quickly turning into a golden, diamond-shaped gemstone that was suspended in mid-air.


    A golden arc of electricity flashed across the surface of the gemstone before pictures of sceneries from the outside world floated upwards slowly.


    Garen opened his eyes slowly and felt as if his entire body was enveloped in warmth. It felt as if he was basking under the midday sun or soaking in a steaming hot spring.


    Two rays of golden light from the gemstone reflected into his eyes and shone into the center of his pupils as clusters of information and words glided past his eyes quickly.


    All of the information regarding this monster was pouring into his eyes in a mere moment.


    A look of understanding appeared on Garen''s face at once.


    This information explained the origins and source of this monster and the methods of leaving this dangerous situation.


    This three-headed, six-limbed monster was called Buddha Mother. It was actually created by an existence known as the Holy Phoenix. Strangely enough, the information regarding this Holy Phoenix was similar to the Waterbird Fist''s Profound: Flight of the Evil Phoenix. Moreover, the Buddha Mother was ancient, had chaotic memories and just a simple consciousness. Therefore, it had mistaken this for the previous Holy Phoenix and had submitted itself without any resistance at all.


    ''Is there a way to get out?'' Black Sethe asked.


    "Indeed there is. However, it''s somewhat troublesome." Garen furrowed his eyebrows. "Large quantities of our energy resources will be depleted if we wish to escape. The Buddha Mother itself does not possess enough energy and it''ll require me to burn a part of my life energy on my own."


    ''Life energy?''


    "Yes," Garen nodded, "just like the bioenergy inside the bodies of living creatures, most humans naturally do not have it, but my strength is abundant and my vitality is strong enough. Therefore, it doesn''t matter to me."


    According to his assessment of the Buddha Mother, he estimated that if they were to leave, they would need to abandon the Buddha Mother''s large body while he would need to contribute a portion of his body''s life energy as well. This was equivalent to the vital energy and blood energy in Secret Techniques. It was a good thing that he still had potential points to make up for it. If it were anyone else, he assumed that they would just die in this place.


    Garen muttered to himself for awhile. He followed the methods that were recorded by the Buddha Mother while tweaking his state of mind.


    Hum¡­


    The entire space began to move faintly.


    ***************


    The gigantic Buddha Mother stood up slowly and swayed its three heads and six limbs. It resembled a little hill that was looking in the direction of AG and the other two people slowly.


    On the Buddha Mother''s right shoulder, a blurry figure appeared there suddenly before they realized that it was Garen who was half-naked.


    The taut muscles on his body resembled black armor while a terrifyingly ferocious air wafted from his body.


    "AG, I''ll need your help if we''re going to leave this place."


    Garen''s voice drifted over from afar and passed through the thick woods before finally arriving at the bonfire where AG and the two others were located.


    "Garen¡­" AG and the two others stood up.


    "You know how to get out of here?" a look of surprise and delight flashed across AG''s eyes.


    "Of course." Garen leaped lightly off the body of the Buddha Mother that was over ten meters tall. While the wind made whooshing noises, a banging noise could be heard suddenly when Garen landed on the floor and made a small crater in the ground while he remained half-kneeling there.


    After standing up, he took a few steps forward and seemed as if he had crossed over ten meters in less than ten seconds when his figure appeared in front of the trio instantly.


    "That monster?" AG glanced fearfully at the monster from afar.


    "Its call Buddha Mother and it can help us leave this place," said Garen without explaining anything in detail.


    The Buddha Mother was actually a living creature that possessed simple intelligence. Its absolute loyalty towards the Holy Phoenix caused it to hide here for many years without leaving.


    "What do you want us to do?" AG buried his fear of the Buddha Mother before the man in front of him. It was obvious that Garen was currently able to control and influence the extremely powerful and large fellow that stood far away from them.


    "Not only do we have to deplete all of this guy''s energy sources in order to leave this place, we will also need to burn a certain amount of energy to support it," Garen described it as the source of all its energy to simplify the situation and the explanation that followed.


    "According to the records, something even more troublesome exists in the depths of Anil''s Garden. However, we don''t have to go deeper because this space is a typical cycle. In order to break this cycle, we need to gather our strongest powers at once and condense them in one area inside the space to form a distorted and temporary hollow space before we can seize the chance to leave."


    Garen continued to explain, saying: "My strength alone will be completely insufficient. Although the Buddha Mother''s energy has occupied a large part of the consumption proportion, we still need to make up for it slightly. However, the additional amount is not something that I can endure alone."


    "Can you prove that the things you''re saying are accurate?" asked Nasira quietly.


    "We don''t have any other choice," said Garen lightly.


    "We don''t have to discuss this any further. Make the necessary preparations," commanded AG at once. He was the leader among the trio. He complied with Garen''s instructions and decided on their direction at once.

 718 Break Away 2

    Chapter 718: Break Away 2


    The four of them began their preparations quickly while adjusting their state of mind.


    This forest was not completely boundless and limitless. When Garen sat on the Buddha Mother''s body and observed his surroundings, he noticed that this entire space only spanned a radius of five or six kilometers and was actually very small. The sky appeared boundless and endless but was actually covered by a layer of transparent, semi-circular overlay, making it impossible for them to fly through.


    Two hours later.


    Within the forest, the Buddha Mother knelt on the ground on one knee slowly before AG, Garen and the other two people hid within its mouth. They used their palms to grip tightly against the inner walls of the Buddha Mother''s oral cavity so that they wouldn''t be flung about.


    Faint, golden lines gradually spread across the Buddha Mother''s body. There were only a few lines at first, but soon there were ten, more than a dozen, over a hundred before they increased and spread across the Buddha Mother''s entire body.


    Tch!!


    Suddenly, the Buddha Mother''s gigantic body surged through the sky and rose upwards towards the transparent and almost invisible overlay above.


    When it touched the overlay, the space around it became slightly distorted for a while before instantly behaving as if it had not been touched at all. Major changes occurred throughout the scenery suddenly. The night sky disappeared and was replaced by a wide magma hole above them.


    The Buddha Mother did not stop at all and continued charging upwards.


    Crash!


    The hole shook instantly for a while before a gigantic black hole was smashed open.


    The entire Buddha Mother charged towards the surface frantically like a drilling machine that was trying to excavate something. During its terrifying spurt, the spaces around it twisted continuously as if a powerful strength was determined to pull it back. However, this strength could not surpass the Buddha Mother''s own tremendous power in the end.


    Ahh¡­!!


    The Buddha Mother howled quietly before its large body speeded up suddenly. Its six limbs had begun to rotate slowly while the weapons they held moved faster to form a high-speed rotating drill.


    Its entire body began to burn while strange black flames started to light up on its wood-like body. The flames increased and burned brighter. As the flames continued to burn, its body became smaller and smaller.


    The surface of the ground seemed extremely far away before the last trace vanished from sight.


    The Buddha Mother''s body was growing smaller and smaller.


    Kachak!


    One of its arms that was holding a battle ax broke off into pieces suddenly before being engulfed by the black flames.


    While its arm burned, the Buddha Mother''s speed increased gradually before it resembled a ray of black light that was flying from the ground and piercing upwards quickly.


    Kachak!! Another one of its arms broke off into little pieces before it burned with its weapon. This time it was the arm that was holding a long rod.


    The Buddha Mother''s speed increased again before it rushed forward like a black rocket. However, the ground level seemed endless and it was clear that Garen and the others had not considered its depth when they came down.


    Immediately after that, the arms that were holding the ring and flask respectively broke off and went up in flames at the same time before its speed increased once again. However, they were still unable to see any trace of the surface.


    Next, the arm that was holding the silk ribbon and the last arm that held the short dagger broke off into smithereens together and began to burn.


    The final stage of burning increased the Buddha Mother''s speed to a terrifying degree.


    Inside the oral cavity.


    Garen and the other three people sat in a circle with their palms pressed up against the inner walls of the oral cavity tightly.


    "Begin," Garen stimulated his thoughts and transferred an idea to the Buddha Mother. Once he''d inherited the Holy Phoenix Scriptures and wiped off the scriptures and passages from the inner walls of the Buddha Mother, he became the only person who could control the existence of this gigantic living creature.


    The moment he used his thoughts to transmit his orders, a strong suction began pulling at his palms suddenly.


    At this moment, the blood essence and aura from his body gushed outwards quickly through his palms.


    The same thing happened to AG, Nasira, and Manasi. Their faces became flushed when the blood essence and witch powers from their bodies were being absorbed.


    Boom!!!


    There was a loud noise beside their ears before the scene before their eyes was filled with light!


    The four of them could neither see nor hear anything momentarily. Their visions were only filled with the endless white light.


    ****************


    Within a yellow sand desert that seemed boundless on first glance.


    A continuous stretch of rolling sand dunes stretched towards the edges of the horizon. Layers of dust and sand resembled mist when it was stirred up by the wind. Soft, scratchy noises could be heard when they danced about.


    Beside one of the sand dunes, a black flame flashed before the fire disappeared and four silhouettes appeared at the foot of the sand dune suddenly.


    One of them had a body full of taut muscles and seemed too muscular to be human. Meanwhile, the other three people comprised of two men and a woman, though all of them looked unusually confused. Their clothes were torn and the elderly male was even covering his mouth tightly, as if he was determinedly suppressing his need to vomit.


    Garen held a black wooden ball in his hand. It was only the size of a fist and was the core of the Buddha Mother that had remained after the creature was burned completely. As long as he had this thing, he could easily use materials from the outside world to reconstruct the Buddha Mother again. The body of the previous Buddha Mother was mainly created with wood because it lived in a vast forest.


    "Where is this place?" Garen kept the Buddha Mother''s core and scanned his surroundings.


    "We''ve definitely left the area this time," beside him, Nasira had already taken her phone out and checked it, before noticing that they had phone signals here.


    "There are phone signals here. Looks like we''ve truly left," AG nodded. "My phone was smashed completely. Nasira, determine our current location."


    "Doing that now." Nasira lowered her head and focused her eyes on her phone.


    All of their other equipment had been destroyed during the journey. Although Garen was not injured, he did not have a handphone with him. Therefore, he merely climbed up one of the surrounding sand dunes and stood there before looking into the distance.


    The strong winds blew the sand and dust upwards and obscured their vision, making it impossible for them to see their surroundings clearly.


    Soon, Nasira was able to contact the headquarters of the Dark Colors'' witches to determine the location of herself and the three other people.


    They were in the deepest part of the Ganneling Desert which was also the world''s largest desert.


    Even with their strength, the four of them still felt unusually hot here.


    The temperatures here reached forty to fifty degrees. Only Garen''s exceptionally strong vitality could ensure that his pores would shrink on their own to prevent the water in his body from evaporating. As for the temperature, although the lack of water loss would cause his body temperature to increase, his 10 point vitality could resist temperatures of hundreds or even a thousand degrees. Therefore, he was not worried about the temperature at all.


    The other people found other ways to combat this respectively.


    AG''s skin was pale and somewhat discolored but could turn mirror-like whenever light was present. His skin could reflect large amounts of light and heat which created the effect of lowering his body temperature.


    Nasira was even stranger as beads of water would form on the surface of her body occasionally. She seemed to possess the ability to absorb and condense water directly from her surroundings. It was obvious that the condensed water droplets on her body were not sweat.


    Finally, Manasi was slightly worse-off, but he still had his own methods of beating the heat. Purple patches began forming all over his body before the remaining pieces of armor on his body released cold air quickly and continuously to help him cool down from the broiling heat.


    The four of them decided on one direction before moving forward quickly. The rows of footprints that they left in the desert were covered in less than 30 seconds, leaving no traces behind.


    Although they were heavily injured, the powers of these four people allowed them to easily surpass the speeds of average humans and achieve the speed of a moving car.


    Midday passed and late afternoon arrived before the temperature decreased gradually. Soon, they entered the area of the desert that was further away from the center.


    Two weirdly-shaped white cars stopped right in front of them. A group of people got down from the car and walked towards Nasira and bowed in front of her respectfully. All of them were wrapped in white gauze, making it impossible to see their faces and bodies.


    When they sat in this white car, they noticed that it was traveling at a frightening speed. The vehicle left the desert while the sky was dark before entering a little town on the border.


    Only then did AG contact his own people. Throughout the journey, he did not mention the Thousand-Legged Serpent at all as if he was completely unconcerned about whether it was dead or alive. Perhaps Garen''s presence made it unnecessary for him to ask questions.


    Garen contacted his own people as well. They were currently in the southern part of Africa where the Nighthawks'' base was also located.


    At nightfall, some of his subordinates from the Nighthawks rushed over to the little town called Damu.


    During the final burst of speed and flames, the four people, including Garen, had suffered serious injuries. Therefore, they returned to continue recuperating. They did not say much to each other before joining their own subordinates.


    "I''ll definitely visit you at the Holy Fist Palace when I''m free," faint red light flashed in AG''s eyes before he left.


    "You are very welcome to do so," Garen could feel the flourishing and terrifying Qi that was being released from AG''s body. It seemed as though he was anxious to return and seal his practice. Moreover, it was also clear that the big bag of medicinal herbs that he was carrying was extremely precious to him.


    Compared to Nasira and Manasi, AG had already been much stronger than them previously. Now that he was given this opportunity, it was only a matter of time before he would be able to proceed with the terrifying living creature sacrifice that he was planning.


    Although three of them had suffered heavy losses of power and were badly mauled this time, they were able to reap great rewards. It seemed as if AG was more likely to enter the Death Apostle level now while Garen had gained the Holy Phoenix''s true intentions and the Buddha Mother''s core.


    Nasira and Manasi did not reap any physical gains, but this experience served as a great training experience for them. They were originally AG''s subordinates and part of his Lightless Alliance. Moreover, Nasira had once mentioned that AG had trained them since they were young as if they were his disciples but also his lovers, making the relationship between them very unusual.


    When they left, Garen got into the Nighthawks mercenaries'' armored car and tidied himself up before leaving this little town called Damu.


    Under the night sky, he sat in the car and looked at the nighttime scenery of Africa from afar. Along the yellow roads, gazelles would leap by occasionally while lions lay lazily by the roadside, waiting for the night which was their true hunting time.


    Roar!!


    A few lionesses and a male lion walked slowly and obstructed the middle of the road. When the heard the noises of the car, the pride of lions turned their heads and looked over. When the car lights shined on them, a glossy green sheen appeared in their eyes.


    Usually, the armored cars would wait for the lions to back off upon realizing that they were in danger. However, they did not need to trouble themselves when Garen was in the car.


    Behind the car window, he glared at the lions in front of him. His shadow that was in a sitting position twisted itself quickly and grew longer before extending towards the lion pride like a black shadow monster.


    Whoosh!!


    A few lions ran away in a frenzy before disappearing into the night without a trace.


    The deputy of the convoy was a young muscular black man whose expression turned respectful and enthusiastic immediately.


    The convoy continued moving forward. More than ten armored cars cruised through the road leisurely. Even elephant herds would flee in panic when they noticed Garen''s aura.


    "Commander, Master Hochman and Marshall Dahm have already arrived in Africa. They are currently on their way to meet you at top speed," said an informant behind him softly at this moment.


    The atmosphere within the car turned slightly stagnant at once.


    "Meet?" Garen chuckled. His face was utterly defeated and his entire body had suffered heavy injuries because his blood essence and aura were burnt. Moreover, his levels had deteriorated by a few degrees as well.


    "Looks like we went missing for a long period of time. Their injuries have healed completely. They still have the energy to meet me?"


    Garen laughed coldly.


    "Get rid of everyone in the third car," he commanded suddenly.


    The deputy was slightly shocked, and so was the informant behind him.


    "Do you not understand?" Garen eyed the deputy. The latter felt his entire body tremble suddenly before he turned on his communication device quickly and contacted the cars in the back.


    Numerous armored cars stopped suddenly and blocked off the front, forcing the entire convoy to stop. Large groups of people in armor got down from the car before a series of loud gunshots could be heard shortly after.


    Garen remained in his seat. There was a calm expression on his face but a hint of a sneer had appeared at the corners of his mouth.

 719 Situation 1

    Chapter 719: Situation 1


    "Meet?" Were they really here to meet him?


    Deep in his heart, Garen had already understood everything. After the battle with the Blood Breed Wellington, both Hochman and Dahm''s powers had reached extremely powerful levels. That battle resulted in qualitative changes that upgraded the seeds within their bodies. Furthermore, their natures would not allow them to resign themselves to being controlled by the Holy Fist Palace for an eternity.


    Loud gunshots could be heard outside the car but Garen remained in his seat quietly. He did not move and waited silently for the noises outside to cease.


    After a short while, the gunshots stopped before they were replaced by the sound of someone yanking a heavy object out of the ground and smashing it against the floor.


    All of Hochman and Dahm''s planted agents within the convoy were taken care of completely. Not a single one remained.


    The sound of car doors opening and closing again could be heard from the back quickly.


    The deputy got into the car again and spoke respectfully.


    "Commander, all of the people in the third car have been taken care of properly."


    "Continue on our journey, quickly," said Garen casually.


    Engine noises could be heard throughout the convoy again as they began to move forward.


    Seconds and minutes ticked by and the drivers switched twice. Finally, they reached a part of the road that was much better maintained. There were even simple fences on the border. Meanwhile, advertisement boards on the roadside passed them slowly.


    Soon, many cars drove towards them from the opposite directions. Most of these cars were cross-country jeeps. More passersby appeared on the side of the road as well.


    "We''re going to reach Ansett soon," said the female driver softly.


    Garen nodded and opened his eyes. He suddenly noticed that the road in front of them was getting wider.


    "Get ready to stop the convoy."


    "Yes," the female driver did not object at all. She used her communication device to contact the vehicles behind her before slowing the car down gradually.


    Moments later, two separate convoys of cars stopped beside the road in front of them from afar. Those two convoys seemed to separate the people on both sides. From afar, they could hear the sound of the engines roaring while people got down from the cars on the left and right sides respectively.


    The ones leading the way were Hochman and Dahm. One of them was extremely muscular and dressed in a black shirt and trousers while the other one had a slender body and was wearing a tight-fitting bright red leather jacket. Both of them looked strange.


    Hochman and Dahm watched the convoy approach them from afar before lowering their heads slowly as a sign of respect.


    A faint smile appeared on Garen''s face while he remained inside the car.


    The car stopped within less than five meters in front of the two men slowly while driving close to the side of the road.


    Garen opened the car door and got down before his eyes scanned across the duo in front of him.


    "You arrived really quickly," he said casually.


    "Since our Master was in trouble, our natural response as disciples was to rush over and help at the first moment. This was the right thing to do," answered Hochman quietly. "We''ve already made the necessary arrangements. We will go to the airport in front immediately and take a personal jet that will fly directly to New York. Master, please get in the car."


    "Everything has been arranged accordingly over at the Holy Fist Palace as well. You don''t have to worry, Master." Dahm stood on the sidelines and spoke respectfully in a voice that was neither feminine nor masculine.


    "You''re truly my beloved disciples, huh¡­" Garen smiled happily before taking large strides towards the luxurious and exquisite sedan that had been prepared behind the two men.


    Behind him, Hochman and Dahm clenched their fists simultaneously before a strange atmosphere began to permeate around them slowly. The power that they were concealing gathered in one place like the silence before the storm.


    Both of them glanced at Garen''s unprepared back from the corners of their eyes unconsciously.


    Garen''s face seemed abnormally defeated and this was the first time they had seen him in such a tight fix. Although they did not know the reason behind this, it was still a once in a lifetime opportunity¡­


    Faint blood red auras and light burned throughout Dahm''s body. He clenched his right hand gently and released it before the blood red nail polish on his five fingers turned brighter.


    Clap!


    Suddenly, a hand grabbed his right shoulder.


    Dahm was shocked and turned his head around to look before realizing that it was only Hochman. The other man was shaking his head at him faintly.


    Clap!


    The sound of a car door being opened could be heard from the front.


    Neither of them dared to make any more moves. Instead, they dispersed quickly and followed behind closely.


    "I just received the news that all of my men have died. It happened last night on the way back," Hochman whispered in Dahm''s ear quietly while the latter felt his heart sink slightly.


    Both of them glanced silently at Garen who was now sitting inside the car. Although Garen was not looking in their direction, they could feel a strange gaze that was directed towards them from Garen''s body.


    "Go! Return to the headquarters!"


    Hochman spoke quietly.


    Dahm took a deep breath. After being tortured previously, his whole body had become skinnier, and a fearful shadow flashed in his eyes while he followed Hochman closely.


    *************************


    Half a month later¡­


    Wellington Manor


    "What?! Those three people have left!" inside the dark hall, a frail voice could be heard suddenly. The voice sounded extremely shocked.


    Before him was a half-kneeling figure clad in a black cloak.


    "Four days ago, two of the elders left Kaska. We don''t know of their whereabouts as they did not leave any messages. However, we have intensified the search. Elder Tu Lan wanted to let you contact them personally."


    The figure spoke quietly.


    "That guy¡­" the frail voice became softer. "Get up first and then speak, Pigus."


    "Thank you, Elder," the man in the black cloak rose respectfully. "Great Elder, your subordinates want to deliver something that they found in the surroundings of the family''s secret passages. Once we appraised it, we realized that there is a seventy percent chance that this object is an important item that belongs to the Holy Fist Palace."


    "Oh?" the Great Elder sat upright in his seat while a strange expression appeared on his face. "Bring it here."


    "Yes." The man in the black cloak removed a little box with a pitch-black cover. No one knew what was inside.


    He held it with both hands respectfully before walking towards the Great Elder''s seat and passing it to him.


    "This is?" the Great Elder outstretched his hand and received the item before opening the box at once.


    But there was nothing inside!


    Bang!!!


    The man in the black cloak pressed both of his palms together in the shape of a sharp claw before striking at the Great Elder''s chest suddenly.


    Hahahaha!!


    A tearing noise could be heard from the man in the black cloak as if a powerful invisible Qi had torn him into many pieces.


    Pigus'' ferocious guffawing face was exposed underneath the cloak.


    "Great Elder, Master Dahm from the Holy Fist Palace sends his regards!"


    Boom!!!


    The Great Elder smashed one of his fist''s against Pigus'' body before sending him flying violently.


    Pigus was sent flying and crashed into the wall painfully. A large depression formed there before he bounced off and rolled on the floor. He rolled more than ten times consecutively and his entire chest had been stabbed through.


    However, the low rumble of his laughter continued to echo throughout the hall continuously.


    "You¡­ You¡­!" the Great Elder''s chest had sunk inwards. Although he was an Upper-level Blood Breed, he was unable to defend himself from a Middle-level Blood Breed''s powerful punch, which could pierce through his chest. The injuries that he had suffered could not be ignored at all.


    The thing that shocked him even more was that the injured areas were becoming unbearably itchy. It felt as if numerous little insects were constantly biting his wounds and crawling into the deeper parts.


    He glared at Pigus below him with a mixture of fear and rage. This was the core of the Wellington family that only the Elders could enter. Furthermore, its insulation effects were also extremely strong. Pigus had always been one of his most trusted confidants and one of the most elite leaders within the Middle-level Blood Breeds.


    On the ground, Pigus crawled upwards with much difficulty. However, his nimble movements allowed him to leap backward quickly before closing the distance between them in a flash.


    "Great Elder, the glory of the Wellington family has passed. There''s an ancient Asian saying that goes ''A wise man submits to circumstances''. As long as you''re willing to submit and pledge your allegiance, Master Dahm from the Holy Fist Palace will not treat you unkindly at all. Instead, he will definitely place you in a higher position!"


    A deceitful and ruthless look appeared on his face.


    "You¡­ Why did you have to betray me¡­" the Great Elder could feel that the itchiness from his chest was spreading throughout his whole body. His body''s self-healing abilities were completely useless now. He had never been a fighter, and although he possessed the physical qualities of an Upper-level Blood Breed, he could not release his fighting abilities at all. Therefore, in reality, his power was only sufficient to suppress Middle-level Blood Breeds.


    "We can only learn the ways of the supreme Fist Techniques by submitting ourselves and pledging our allegiance to the Holy Fist Palace. This is true power! As part of the secret party, didn''t we only gather to pursue power?"


    This Middle-level Blood Breed named Pigus was already being controlled by the Waterbird Fist Primer that Dahm had passed on to him.


    After the Wellington battle, Dahm and Hochman began attempting to pass on the Waterbird Fist by using their auras to set up primers as measures to control the Blood Breeds.


    These measures could truly create powerful functions that could control the life and death of a Blood Breed. However, the most important aspect was that it was still being completely supplied by Garen.


    Generations of Blood Breeds could always be suppressed by the blood in their bloodlines. The Upper levels would control the Lower levels, making the latter completely unable to resist due to the difference between their powers. However, Garen''s research regarding the soul and flesh had greatly surpassed this world. He was finally able to solve this issue after some probing.


    Using the experience that he had gained from dissecting creatures in the Totem world, Garen successfully implanted his soul primer into the blood of a Blood Breed before fusing it completely as one body. He was able to achieve his goal of properly suppressing the instincts of this blood.


    Although Garen was unable to return for half a month, he was finally able to find a way to control the Blood Breeds'' Secret Techniques. He could quietly control Middle and Lower-level Blood Breeds now, and once he obtained the poison that old man AG was refining, the scene before him would occur again.


    ****************


    Simultaneously, within the barren hills of South America


    "Dead Waterbird Fist!"


    A red shadow flashed past quickly and drew a blood red line in the air before falling on a large white stone gently.


    This place was actually a narrow valley.


    Within the valley, a figure in white clothes was sent flying horizontally in an extremely embarrassing manner. The figure crashed against one of the stone walls in the valley with a ''bang'' before falling into a pile of rubble and sand.


    After he was struck, the clothes of the figure in white were stained with a grey layer. He crawled upwards with much difficulty while faint scars could be seen all over his hands and body.


    This was a pale but handsome man who had a head of beautiful blue hair that was currently dripping with sweat and sticking to his forehead. Despite his scars, his beautiful face could still be seen.


    He turned his head around determinedly and looked at the red figure that was standing behind him on a large rock. His eyes were filled with panic and fear.


    "I''ve always hated those who are more beautiful than me¡­" a voice that was neither masculine nor feminine echoed from the large rock.


    Bang!!


    A horrific gash was opened suddenly on the left side of the man in white''s neck. Bright red blood sputtered outwards and fell on the ground. Strangely enough, the blood attempted to move backward and flow in the direction of the man in white, as if it was a living creature. However, it was immediately intercepted by a black shadow, causing it to lose its activated abilities at once. It condensed and solidified before turning into normal blood.


    Although the man in white had just suffered serious injuries, his neck was still able to heal quickly in a strange manner. The wound shrunk quickly at a speed that was visible to the naked eye.


    "You¡­!!" an expression that displayed his fear of death appeared in his eyes, exposing his thirst and desire for his life.


    "Don''t¡­ Don''t kill me¡­ Don''t!!" He begged loudly before his entire body slumped to the ground lifelessly. He was not out of strength; he had merely lost every bit of resistance in his heart.

 720 Situation 2

    Chapter 720: Situation 2


    "Is this really the Wellington family''s high-level elder? You''re too weak¡­" the red figure leaped lightly and landed before the man in white. His crimson leather boots clicked past the coagulating blood puddle.


    "I merely chased you for about ten kilometers, but that was already too much for you. You''re just like that Middle-level Blood Breed previously¡­ All of you are truly a decaying race¡­" Dahm lowered his head and looked down contemptuously upon the Wellington elder who was crawling on the ground and begging.


    After his fierce battle with the Upper-level Blood Breeds previously, his Dead Waterbird Fist had finally improved to the next level and he''d successfully created a terrifying Secret Technique. He combined the essence of the various martial arts sects and merged it with the most profound principles of the Waterbird Fist to form a fatal move that utilized steel wires and threads as weapons.


    The vibrations of his terrifying Dead Waterbird Fist were transmitted through these wires and threads to achieve the effect of death upon contact. Even though his destructive power had decreased slightly, his fighting angles were trickier and scarier as his destructive range had been increased greatly.


    At this point, the Dead Waterbird Fist had finally left the basic domain of the Waterbird Fist. It had become a Fist Technique sect that Dahm created on his own that was equivalent to the Waterbird Fist''s branching fist techniques. In theory, there were three realms of the Dead Waterbird Fist, and each realm could be separated into five levels.


    This realm relied on the control of the steel wires and threads.


    There was one wire in the first realm, two in the second realm, and three in the third.


    As for the levels of each realm, they were determined by the length of the destructive powers that controlled the steel wires.


    Dahm currently stood within the first realm, meaning that he could only control one wire. However, his length reached the fifth level and was enough to allow the steel wires to kill its enemies even after extending to a length of fifteen meters. This skill could produce terrifying fatalities and injuries; as long as an enemy touched it, their blood would burst out.


    "Don''t kill me¡­ Don''t¡­ The head of my household will come back soon and he''ll never forgive you!" the blue-haired man half begged and half-threatened him while yelling.


    "The head of your household, huh¡­?" Dahm licked his lips while his blood red lipstick stained his tongue.


    Looking down at the terrified, blue-haired elder in front of him, Dahm narrowed his eyes and took a few steps forward, before reaching his hand out and patting the other man''s head gently.


    "Don''t worry, of course I won''t kill you¡­ You''re still very useful after all¡­"


    **************


    America


    Naberdarth Mountains


    The highest peak named Ares seemed as though it could pierce the heavens. The tip of the mountain penetrated the sea of white clouds and extended into the endless sky.


    After passing through the cloud layer and continuing upwards, there was a large depression on the side of the mountain peak. Within the depression was a large, exquisite snow-white castle, one that resembled a gigantic white harp that gradually increased in height from the left side to the right.


    There was a large cylindrical pipeline extending from the left side of the castle. A substance that resembled white gas flowed out slowly and continuously down into the sea of white clouds.


    The white gas billowed like extremely cold air. The cylindrical pipeline that was releasing it had a diameter of ten meters while it was bordered by a winding mountainous path that led close to the peak.


    The snowstorm made whistling noises while snowflakes fluttered downwards like feathers. Although they piled up on the peak of the mountain continuously, somehow, there was no buildup of snow upon the path.


    The sky was bright now while snow continued to form thick clumps. A line of people walked up the little path slowly. They were all dressed in black coats and wearing hoods over their heads. Although they were walking on the slippery frozen steps, they seemed unusually steady.


    There were five people altogether, and each of their faces was fully hidden underneath the black hoods.


    Crunchy, scratching noises could be heard whenever they trod on the piles of snow on the steps.


    The person who was leading the group raised his head. He looked at the pointy white castle, which was still a few hundred steps away from them, from afar. He pulled off his hood to reveal a male face that was persevering against the cold. Only then was it obvious that this was Hochman, who had just returned after completing a mission.


    "The weather here has become increasingly abominable¡­ Ever since Master decided to move here," he murmured softly.


    Although he did not speak loudly during the snowstorm, the four people behind him were able to hear him clearly.


    "Boxing Overlord Master, aren''t these abominable weather conditions and environments coincidentally suitable for sharpening the willpower and perseverance of the students who came forward to learn from you?" this person removed his hood as well, revealing the face of a man with a burn scar on the bridge of his nose.


    This man had no hair and yellowed skin. There was a dark green tattoo of a tiger on the top of his bald head while a large gold hoop dangled from one of his earlobes, making him look unusually exotic.


    Furthermore, he spoke English with somewhat inaccurate pronunciations because he often curled the tip of his tongue.


    "Eastern Pole Gate Master has pretty good ideas," nodded Hochman in agreement.


    "Warriors should focus on Fist Techniques from the start. They should always use their external conditions as forms of nourishment to sharpen themselves to reach even higher realms!" Eastern Pole Gate Master, the diplomatic representative of the Eastern Pole Technique of the east bowed his head and spoke sincerely. He possessed a kind of revered pursuit and fanaticism regarding Fist Techniques.


    The three main Fist Techniques of the world, Eastern Pole Fist, Sandt Fist, and Mocksaw Sword Sect each had a specific niche. Their combat and martial arts styles were formed by the history, culture, beliefs, and national spirits of their own countries and it was obvious that they were influenced by their local characteristics and manners.


    The Eastern Pole Fist sect had the most techniques. They had bare-handed palm techniques, leg techniques that focused on energy, as well as techniques that utilized various weapons. However, its specialty was focusing on the strength of one''s own body during moments of killing to unearth, evolve, and train one''s own potential.


    The Eastern Pole Fist was a large organization that used ancient cultures that were inherited as the core energy of its Fist Technique. Their main focus was the discovery of the direction in which the forthcoming Eastern Pole Gate Master''s expertise lay. They prioritized training to strengthen their bodies and practiced moves to complement them.


    Hochman was bringing him to the Holy Fist Palace as he had previously communicated with the Eastern Pole Gate Master and knew that his terrifying powers were on par with his own. Hence, the Eastern Pole Gate Master had wanted to find out if Hochman''s current powers had truly reached the frightening peak upper levels.


    A major factor that influenced this was caused by Garen''s continuously terrifying improvements. However, Hochman''s strength was insufficient to take down the Eastern Pole Gate Master as that man was unimaginably powerful.


    When he saw the Eastern Pole Gate Master Du Xinglong''s sincere expression, Hochman sighed in relief.


    Other than the Blood Breeds, there were other mysterious powers that were hidden in this world. It was only that the Blood Breeds had been too prosperous that they were forced to hide their strength quietly.


    However, the current internal strife among the Blood Breeds had resulted in heavy losses. Therefore, the other forces had become involuntarily restless as well.


    "We''re almost there. The housekeeper has already prepared a banquet in the palace to welcome and entertain a few honored guests," said Hochman gently.


    "Thank you for your trouble," Eastern Pole Gate Master Du Xinglong nodded.


    The line of five people quickened their footsteps and rushed towards the mountaintop where the pristine white Holy Fist Palace was located.


    Both sides of the arched palace doors were already pushed open by the servants in preparation to welcome their guests.


    Hochman and one of his subordinates led the Eastern Pole Gate Master and his two disciples through the palace doors. They walked into a white pointed hall that was over a hundred meters tall and followed the carpet-like stones on the ground directly towards the deepest hall.


    Both sides of the hall were formed with exquisite walls that were engraved with various patterns. Strangely enough, it fitted perfectly with its crude and ancient exterior, as if there was a kind of faint harmony between them.


    A young person in white led them out of the deepest hall while walking on the left side, before passing through a long corridor that had fortified glass on the left. Through the glass, they could look down at the endless sea of clouds that created mind-blowing sceneries.


    The young person in white who led them was a local youth who had been training here regularly. These people had learned about the existence of the Holy Fist Palace through its reputation from the World''s Combat Competition. Furthermore, factors such as the large quantity of potential seeds that were sent here, the interesting combat competitions that constantly renewed people''s outlooks on general knowledge, the martial arts that could allow one to dodge bullets, strengthen vision, or even unearth one''s reactions and intelligence, as well as exiting combat and fights had attracted many youths who were interested to learn martial arts.


    Of course, the most important reason was the chain of effects that had formed after the competition, such as the individuals who practiced martial arts who relied on their five powerful senses and terrifying skills who could now excel in various jobs. Some of them even surpassed regular humans greatly. It was evident that these exercises had greatly influenced the previous employment issues of martial arts practitioners.


    This was especially apparent in the combat club that Hochman and Dahm had organized. In the initial stages, their martial arts had produced terrifying results and could even shock the American military force. Moreover, both of them were even hired as special trainers in the army. Although the effects were not extremely obvious, it still served as a test of their power.


    These reports naturally spread rapidly to the powerful countries throughout the world. Within a few years, Hochman and Dahm had transformed from regular youths who knew nothing about martial arts into terrifyingly strong martial arts masters that were regarded as overlords in their own groups.


    After Hochman was able to single-handedly defeat fifteen armed special forces soldiers, the world instantly regarded martial arts with a newfound passion.


    These were Hochman and Dahm''s plans all along. They wanted to form a holy site for martial arts in the world to upgrade the Waterbird Fist to unprecedented and terrifying heights.


    The initial results of this plan were already beginning to appear now; whenever they faced financial issues, they would receive a large amount of aid and support from the Rexott Group. Currently, the Rexott Group had already become collaborative partners with Holy Fist Palace.


    Eastern Pole Gate Master followed the guide and walked forward. They passed through ring-shaped stone doors that led to stone halls, where there were maids who helped them put on specially cleaned clothes while taking their original coats off to wash and dry.


    The row of five people arrived at a spacious training hall where ten people were currently split into two groups to practice sparring constantly. Each of them used all of their strength and did not hold behind at all.


    The eyes of all three members of Eastern Pole Gate widened.


    The sound of fists and feet colliding with one another and tragic howls could be heard continuously, while medical personnel occasionally removed the injured individuals.


    None of the ten practicing students were over thirty years old. All of them were dressed in dark grey uniforms with focused expressions on their faces. Their movements were extremely normal and only comprised of a few basic striking techniques. Nothing was exceptional except for the fact that they seemed to be unusually strong.


    "This is the training hall that is specially used for the Holy Fist Palace''s White Cloud Gate," Hochman explained.


    "White Cloud Gate?" Eastern Pole Gate Master furrowed his eyebrows slightly. "As far as I know, when the Holy Fist Palace was established, His Excellency only possessed the Shooting Shadow Secret Technique and the Waterbird Fist that were combined into eternal Fist Techniques. This White Cloud Gate is¡­?"


    "The White Cloud Secret Technique is a powerful and new martial art that was hidden by the Master and was not taught to the others previously. This Secret Technique requires longer practice durations," smiled Hochman. He raised his hand and pointed towards the highest row of seats in the hall from afar.


    "The Master is over there. The ones beside him are the chief disciples of the White Cloud Secret Techniques."


    Eastern Pole Gate Master looked towards the direction where Hochman''s finger was pointed before instantly noticing a handsome golden-haired man with a terrifyingly powerful body and a relaxed face who was seated upright on the white stone seat.


    There were more than a hundred meters between them but his gaze was detected by the other man. The man turned his head over while a bolt of lightning flashed in his eyes.


    Eastern Pole Gate Master Du Xinglong''s head became dizzy for a moment and his body shivered slightly. He had almost lost his balance as well.


    "There''s electricity in the room!!"


    He was astonished.

 721 Situation 3

    Chapter 721: Situation 3


    "Welcoming, from the East, Gate Master Du of the East Pole Gate."


    A clear voice traveled over a hundred meters, reaching their ears.


    "The banquet is ready, be my guest!"


    Garen stood up, gesturing his invitation with one hand, and then he walked into a small door on the right.


    The others hurried after him, Hochman nodding slightly at Garen, as though hinting something, before he walked away alone, without a word.


    Du Xinglong and the others followed Garen through the door, into a medium-sized private room, with a round table in the center that was already laden with a variety of dishes. Most of the dishes were oriental, they could tell that this was prepared beforehand.


    After the few of them took their seats, maids immediately served them appetizer soups.


    It was steaming hot and smelled delicious.


    But Du Xinglong''s attention was not on the food, his gaze wandering instead to fixate on Garen, who was sitting in the top seat of the table.


    "The representative of the Sandt, Tamms, is already here, and is currently showering and changing. They will be here soon, so kindly wait a while." Gare clapped, and instantly a few pretty Asian girls sat beside Du Xinglong and his two disciples. They were pure and cute, with a hint of childlike innocence. Their white robes proved that they had been selected from among the disciples and students.


    Ever since the Holy Fist Palace was established, and after the World Fistfighting Championship was held, they kept accepting combat enthusiasts from all around the world.


    Dahm and Hochman, who were good at business, straight-out began recruiting pretty and cute girls under the age of sixteen from all over the world to work in the palace, their status allowed them to learn some fistfighting basics occasionally, but they also had an enviable salary. Their job was specifically to attend to guests at parties, serve the elite members, and so on.


    These were all young girls who had signed ten-year contracts, they took shifts every half a year, after they left the mountain, they could enter the prestigious private university founded by the Hochman family and the Rexott group.


    Du Xinglong, on the other hand, was fairly unwavering, he was not affected in the slightest. His two disciples, however, were passionate to begin with, so now that they saw so many pretty Asian girls sitting so close to them, their gazes were instantly fixed onto the girls.


    Garen and Du Xinglong casually discussed the current situation regarding East Pole fistfighting, and the conversation moved to the World Fistfighting Championship that had just been held.


    "The main objective of the World Fistfighting Championship was to properly show off fistfighting to the world, instead of constantly hiding everything in an unseen corner. As martial artists, we should spread the glory of martial arts. However¡­" Du Xinglong said with a frown. "Many fist techniques were meant for killing rather than performance, once we get serious, permanent injuries or even death are all possible, the destructive power is huge. And if we treat it as merely an exchange of techniques, that would be like a tiger whose claws and teeth were wrapped up in thick cloth. Without sharp teeth and claws, the intensity of the move would naturally be reduced greatly. That way, we naturally would not be able to demonstrate properly useful fist techniques¡­ May I know what Mr Garen thinks of this?"


    "This sort of situation is bound to happen," Garen said calmly. "But we are living in a society governed by laws, martial arts are no longer a weapon of war, now they have become merely ways and methods to train one''s body, this is the general trend, and no one can change it. What we need to do is to stay calm and focused, we need to treat both competitive fists and killing fists objectively."


    "It seems Mr Garen already has an opinion?" Du Xinglong said fixedly.


    Just then, two more middle-aged men wearing golden headscarves walked in, both of them were dressed in white robes embroidered with snakes and birds, and they folded their palms, bowing respectfully at Garen after they entered.


    "Your Excellency Thams, welcome." Garen stood up with a smile. "Please, sit."


    Immediately young girls from Europe and Arab respectively came up to serve them at close quarters.


    The two of them took their respective seats, and two more entered just behind them.


    This time the two guests carried long, thin swords on their backs, wrapped in cloth. One was a man and the other a woman, their gazes piercing and flinty, so they gave off a very sharp vibe.


    They both wore long black tight-fitting clothes, with long sleeves and trousers. The sleeves reached up to half of their arms, their fingers long and fair, as well-maintained as a pianist''s fingers.


    "The current Sect Masters of the Mokso Sword Sect, Masters Sabik and Lorrisa, welcome," Garen smiled. "Now the representatives of all the top-level fistfighting techniques from all over the world are gathered here. This is the true gathering of international fistfighting!"


    "You exaggerate, Mr Garen. We merely represent a small part of the martial arts world, there are still countless legacies hiding everywhere." Sabik''s expression was serious, he seemed to be a humorless person.


    All eight of them filled the banquet table, accompanied by the girls.


    Garen had carefully selected these people, they were all the strongest martial arts sects and families in their areas, with the most influence, and each of them represented a huge step in martial arts as they attended this banquet.


    This was all due to the operation the Holy Fist Palace joined recently, in exterminating the Wellington Family from the Blood Breed''s secret party. As normal people, they actually faced the Blood Breeds head-on without falling to a disadvantage, and their main forces returned unscathed, while the Wellington Family suffered heavy losses. Although the Dark Colors witches did participate, this was still enough to prove how deep and terrifying the power of the Holy Fist Palace was.


    The groups from all over who had treated the invitations they had received with disdain instantly felt a jolt, and they each sent their people to this banquet in response. At the same time, they wanted to see if the Holy Fist Palace truly had the level of power the rumors said.


    Of these people, the East Pole Gate Master seemed the most mysterious, he sat in his place, his aura faintly seeming to become one with nature.


    Thams, the representative of the Sandt fist was the complete opposite, he had a striking presence all over his body, a strange sensation that made him impossible to ignore.


    And the two masters from Mokso remained silent, they did not seem to be the talkative type.


    After the few of them chatted for some time, they began to argue, not one side giving way. They all had martial arts knowledge dating over a century, so since they could not come to a consensus, they naturally wanted to try out some moves themselves.


    "I heard that Mr Garen from the Holy Fist Palace has the title of Fist Saint(2), known as the strongest fistfighter in America." The East Gate Master went straight to the point, "I, Du, came here to experience Mr Garen''s famous peak-level fist techniques for myself." He actually challenged Garen directly.


    Garen understood it well in his heart, every person present here had spent years perfecting their art, becoming the strongest opponents. They had practically thrown away all the luxuries in life, dedicating all their time to martial arts. They were not very well known among the sects, but they were truly the strongest of humanity, they had reached terrifying peaks in many areas. They had each surpassed the human limits using their own unique styles and ideals, elevating their skills to heights beyond human imagination.


    These people''s bodies were probably already approaching the pinnacle of human genetics.


    As soon as those words were spoken, the atmosphere in the banquet fell quiet, evidently this was everyone''s true goal.


    Garen clapped his hands, and the girls at the banquet immediately got up and left, closing the door behind them.


    He noticed that after Du Xinglong said that, his entire aura changed even more obviously, he seemed to blend in perfectly with the surroundings, his breathing even resonating vaguely with the air in the room, giving off an intense, natural pressure.


    "I created three fist techniques, the Two-Faced Waterbird Fist, the Shooting Shadow Secret Technique, and the final White Cloud Secret Technique. Which do you want to experience, Gate Master Du?" He was smiling, but the sound of his words kept assaulting Du Xinglong''s merging, and his body emitted a huge and terrifying qi.


    This qi was almost solid, everyone present could feel a huge current brush past their faces like a blade, but when they came back to their senses they realized it was merely an illusion.


    This qi was enormous and extremely powerful, pressing down on the whole room, and most of the area around Du Xinglong were all suppressed completely. He was not forced out of his merger, but the natural area he tried to merge into was also completely controlled by Garen, so he could not move at all.


    Du Xinglong''s face was slightly red, he felt the space he was in get isolated all of a sudden, his lungs began to lose their breath, a heavy pressure pressing down hard on him.


    "As expected of a master-level fighter who has achieved qi-to-mind refination¡­" He held his fist in salute and lowered his head, with just that simple test, he could already sense his opponent''s bottomless power. Even if he wanted to ask for some sparring, he could no longer say it now.


    Just the terrifying oppressive power of his opponent''s aura was enough to make his breath catch and his blood pause. Add that to the lightning on his brow (1) from before, and even if Du Xinglong was reluctant, he still had to lower his head and admit defeat.


    Eastern martial arts were divided into three main levels, namely spirit-to-qi refination, qi-to-mind refination, and mind-to-null refination. Even now, he was merely at the peak of spirit-to-qi refination, there was an entire level between him and Garen. Just by standing there, Garen could easily force him down with his body''s vitality, only qi-to-mind refination could truly break the body''s genetic barriers, and constantly strengthen oneself through one''s life.


    Garen was exactly like that, in the process of constantly gathering his soul seed, he had actually undergone the spirit-to-qi refination process, the two were very similar in principle.


    Beside them, the Sandt Fist, Thams, and his disciple, also had shocked gazes. That enormous power Garen just emitted made them feel as though they were facing a sandstorm in the desert. The suffocating pressure caused even the flow of their powerful Daylight Martial Arts qi to stutter.


    The Sandt fist was a bit like the Eastern fist technique, neither could surpass their genetic limits, so instead they cultivated many different attributes of qi, storing them in their bodies to support themselves. That was the true essence of spirit-to-qi refination, this stored-up qi could be emitted to harm enemies, or it could be used to stabilize themselves and activate their potential.


    As the peak-level fighter of the desert, although Thams'' qi had achieved a very high level, it was still a certain ways away from the East Pole Sect Master, Du Xinglong. Seeing Du Xinglong submit like that, Thams was shocked beyond words.


    "We don''t understand anything about qi-to-mind refination, martial arts were created for real battle, and we won''t know who''s stronger unless we actually cross fists. Therefore, why don''t we all show off our respective levels, whoever''s higher will be the winner, and we won''t need any more wars." Master Sabik of the Mokso Sword Sect, who had been sitting beside them, stood up slowly. "I am only here for one thing, the word ''Holy'' in the Holy Fist Palace indicates that it is at the very pinnacle of the field. If the sect holding that position does not have the power to back it up, they would be a shame to our martial arts world."


    He stared at Garen fixedly, taking the long sword covered with black cloth off his back, and quickly unsheathing the sword.


    "I, Sabik, officially challenge you, Fist Saint Garen Thomas, on behalf of the Mokso Sword Sect."


    He raised his blade, gripping it in one hand, and his other hand waved as though he was performing a magic trick. Instantly an intricate black handgun appeared in his hand, it was exactly the same color as his clothes, completely inconspicuous, but it gave off an unspeakable sense of extreme threat.


    The Mokso Sword Sect was famous for their gun-and-sword technique, a terrifying form of martial arts that merged a hot weapon with cold weapons. It was not based on any qi or spirit at all, relying solely on the edge of a sword and the destructive power of a gun to kill or maim their opponents.


    Similarly, this sword sect''s ideals had been greatly promoted throughout all the European countries, giving them a shocking degree of influence.


    Garen sat in his seat, watching Sabik quietly. He was just about to speak when suddenly his expression changed slightly, and his gaze wandered to the right, as though seeing something in the far distance through the walls.


    This was a female disciple he had put a lot of hopes on, after practicing for so long, she had finally made her move, beginning her first official important mission.


    "Fine, I accept your challenge." He brought his attention back here, looking at Sabik, whose anger was brimming at the seams.


    Translator''s note:


    ȭʥ, very similar to his other nickname, Holy Fist (ʥȭ).


    A phenomenon where people with great qi flow has that power manifest in a bolt of lightning between their eyes.

 722 Situation 4

    Chapter 722: Situation 4


    At the foot of the Holy Fist Palace mountain, there was a rather prosperous little white town -- Moyo Town.


    There were small white buildings all over the town, each house had many colorful fresh flowers. Every time the breeze blew past, there was a waft of sweet floral fragrance everywhere.


    The sky was cloudy, and in the middle of the town, beside the river flowing down from the snowy mountain, there was a white three-story house.


    "It''s not bad to come for a vacation here, huh?" Arisa ate her homemade ice-cream, her feet propped up on a deckchair. She wore red sunglasses, shorts, and a T-shirt, looking young and pretty.


    Beside her, Garen''s little sister, Vivien was lying down, the two girls resting freely under a large sun umbrella.


    "We went to all those lengths to trick Mom and Dad over here for a vacation, but we can''t stay long here, either," Vivien said exasperatedly. "What could it be, why do all of us have to come here?"


    "I don''t really know either, but Big Sis and Uncle Pritto should be here soon too. Ask them when they get here." Arisa sipped some pear juice, smoothing down her hair as she replied.


    "Big Sis Isaros is coming? Great, then we can swim together, the river water is really comfy recently." Vivien had practically partied off her rocker, with Rod from the Rexott group obeying her every desire, there was almost nothing she could not reach. It was only her brother Garen''s side that remained mysterious to her, but she was not one to insist on finding out anyway.


    Although Arisa said she did not know, she knew everything.


    She was being protected under the Holy Fist Palace. Most of the people living here were families of the Holy Fist Palace''s inner circle members, plus she was in constant contact with her sister Isaro. Nothing was a secret from her there, so naturally she knew everything about the events happening outside.


    A war had officially broken out between a large Blood Breed family and the Holy Fist Palace. They had been placed here so that they would stay out of danger, even though they were told to take a two-month vacation, the truth was that they were here to avoid the revenge of the Blood Breeds.


    There were powerful fighters patrolling all around the town, as well as all sorts of high-tech security equipment, so it was extremely safe here.


    But the situation here was stable for now, instead, she was more worried about her sister''s side.


    Her sister and Pritto had gone to investigate whether the secret party''s Scarlet Moon leader was still alive or not, but she did not know how they were progressing right now. Once they found Lord Scarlet Moon, and contacted the number one Death Apostle, Lord Ashen, that would truly be the light party''s best chance.


    Arisa knew how hard it would be, and especially after she got to know just how much stronger Blood Breeds were from Pritto, the shadow over her heart just grew darker by the day.


    The last time her sister came back to visit her, the scent on her had gotten even deeper, and when they bathed together, Arisa noticed that there were more scars on her sister''s body.


    "I wonder when this kind of life will end¡­" Arisa raised her head to look at the small building next to her, she could vaguely hear Vivien''s parents chatting and laughing inside, while her older brother Jason whined.


    "Arisa, Vivien, haven''t you had enough fun? Come on in here to help!"


    Trish yelled from inside the house.


    "Coming!!"


    The two of them hurriedly got off the chairs, and brought their cups into the house.


    Trish was wearing an apron, placing dishes onto the table, they were all new dishes that she had just learned to cook.


    Emmer was reading magazines at the side with his legs crossed, looking completely carefree.


    "I wonder when that punk Garen will come back for a visit, even if he''s gone out to work, he should stop by home once in a while!" Trish complained as she served the food.


    "Exactly, he barely even joins us when we go out on vacation as a family," Vivien agreed hurriedly. "But he rarely even meets us like this, I bet he has something important to handle. After all, he has his own company now."


    "Let him be, as long as he can survive on his own, I can''t be bothered with him." Trish and Emmer did not know what their son was doing, they just understood that Garen had started his own private company, and was now so busy that they could barely even see him.


    "Let''s eat, let''s eat!" Emmer put down his magazine and sat at the table, "Isn''t Garen doing pretty well, forget him!"


    ******************


    Wellington Manor, family headquarters


    At night, several dark shadows floated out of the darkness lightly, landing beside the manor. One of the shadows pulled something round of his pocket and pressed it lightly, then seemed to wait for something.


    The time ticked by.


    There was no movement at all in the manor.


    "What''s the matter?" the shadow spoke softly, in perfect French. "We agreed to meet here, what is the Wellington Elder doing?!"


    "Could it be broken?" another shadow asked in a low voice.


    "No way, I used it once just now," the first shadow said hesitatingly. "Elder Tu Lan and I made an agreement, and the people from Wellington were always quick to greet us. Even if they were attacked this time and are low on manpower, it makes no sense for there to be no reaction whatsoever."


    "The news I got earlier said that they had all retreated into the underground palace for hiding, and are currently trying to recover. Could there be some special equipment blocking the signal?" The other shadow hazarded a guess.


    "Let''s go in and check."


    The few shadows floated lightly into Wellington Manor, it was completely empty and silent inside, giving off an air of abandonment.


    "Something''s not right."


    The first shadow seemed to have smelled something.


    "Come, let''s go down!"


    Several shadows floated soundlessly to a piece of lawn in the middle of the manor, and activated some trigger.


    The floor immediately moved aside to reveal a pitch-black underground tunnel, with twinkling lights inside, but it seemed to be similarly deserted.


    They looked at each other, and quickly entered the tunnel.


    They went through various tunnels, pitch-black ash covering the walls and the floor. There was blood everywhere in some places, in both the underground tunnel and connecting underground palace, but there was nobody to be seen anywhere.


    The few of them ran straight for the Elders'' Room as though they knew it well, this was not their first time here at Wellington. Now that they noticed something wrong, they sped up despite themselves.


    Bam!!


    The tightly-shut stone door was knocked open abruptly, and as the shrapnel rained down, it revealed the dim interior of the Elders'' Room.


    In the middle of the room, a large long black robe fell onto the ground, but there was no one else in here. At the same time, there was even a considerable human-shaped hole in the wall.


    One of the shadows landed in front of the robes, picking them up for a sniff.


    "These are the Wellington Great Elder''s clothes¡­"


    He exchanged glances with the Blood Breed behind him, and both of them read a hint of shock in the other''s eyes.


    "Who could destroy the whole Wellington without a trace like that?!"


    "It''s the light party...! It must be!" The other one clenched his teeth, "They must still have eyes watching this place, let''s go! Now!"


    The others were all shocked, grabbing the robes and retreating rapidly.


    But none of them noticed the cracking sound made by a small black stone-like object at one corner of the walls, that was a hidden micro camera.


    *******************


    Eastern area of America, Wynea State.


    14:17 in the afternoon


    Heavy downpour


    Tu Lan walked on the streets of Benar City with a red umbrella, waiting for the traffic lights with the people who had just gotten out of work. Walking down the pedestrian sidewalk, she would even occasionally glance at the pretty clothes boutiques.


    She wore a long pale blue dress and a black silk belt around her waist, her fiery-red waist-long hair straight and smooth, glowing luxuriously.


    Her white heeled slippers stepped on the bricks lining the ground, and occasionally she would disturb some puddles.


    A few uniformed students had just gotten out of school, wearing raincoats and riding their bikes. When they passed by her on the sidewalk, the boys'' gazes were all gathered onto her, and every one of them was shocked by her beauty.


    Boom!


    In an instant, Tu Lan''s vision blurred, and everything in front of her turned pitch-black. A huge and long figure, like that of a snake, appeared in front of her slowly.


    That was a Serpent Dragon, with the same metallic black copper color!


    The Serpent Dragon rose slowly, its joint-like body looking just like a real Eastern dragon. Its huge dragon eyes stared at her slowly, there was a huge door, ancient and dull, behind it.


    Her vision blurred again, and Tu Lan returned to her senses, to find herself still standing on the main streets of Benar. The rain pattered onto the umbrella in her hand.


    "Is it another illusion?" She touched her right hand, the one that seemed ever so slightly differently-colored from her left eye.


    Serpent Dragon, that was the symbol of her achieving the level of Death Apostle. If she could truly break through that Serpent Dragon someday, and enter that door of darkness, that would be the moment she became a Death Apostle.


    This was the Black Dragon Tao Technique that she had learned from the East five hundred years ago, when she had gone traveling around the world. She merged it with her family''s holy technique, and after several centuries of perfecting and practicing it, she was approaching the final levels now.


    Moving the side of her umbrella away, Tu Lan looked up at the sky from beside the umbrella. The rain came down like silk, floating down endlessly. If one followed the rain silk all the way up to the sky, they would find what seemed to be an endless ocean of clouds.


    "Tu Lan Wellington." Suddenly, someone called her name from behind.


    Tu Lan lowered her head, and turned around to look.


    It was an Asian girl in a white dress, with porcelain skin, and waist-length pitch-black hair as smooth and lustrous as silk. Her features were delicate and flawless, reminding others of clear jade.


    But most strikingly, the girl held a small violin upside-down in her hand, the body of the violin a bloody red.


    She held the violin in one hand and the bow in the other. She stood quietly in the flow of the crowd, but strangely, not a single person around her seemed to notice her, treating her as though she did not exist.


    "You are?" Tu Lan was very sure that she did not know her, although she had seen many very different types of girls after living for almost a millennia, but not a single one had this type of aura.


    "My name is Ninox, I''m here for your life." The Asian girl held up the violin slowly, and an indescribable, strange scent began to emanate around them.


    Before they knew it, in an instant, only the two of them were left standing alone on the streets.


    The rain from the sky vanished slowly, and a pale yellow beam of sunlight shone down from the sky, landing on the two of them.


    "This is¡­!?" Tu Lan''s heart gave a jolt. The passersby and cars around her also began to fade slowly, she somehow could not see anyone else at all in this city.


    "Fantasy Fist''s Profound¡­" Ninox said softly, the violin bow sliding across the strings.

 723 Contact 1

    Chapter 723: Contact 1


    Garen sat on his seat, looking at Master Sabik of the Mokso Sword Sect with a calm expression.


    But his heart had already moved to where Cece was, far in the distance. Ninox was someone he had started raising ever since the combat club, she was one of his first students together with Hochman, Dahm and the others. Her talent was the best among them, and he had the highest hopes for her.


    Her powers had raised up to terrifying levels as his own power evolved tremendously, but none of that was the most important. The crucial key was that Cece had never faced an opponent as powerful as an upper level Blood Breed on her own before.


    Thankfully the previous two elders of the Wellington family were not much, they did not really have any combat awareness at all. They merely had the physical qualities of a powerful fighter, but had none of the power, their combat awareness was lower than even some middle levels, so they were perfect to train her with.


    "Do you plan to accept my challenge just sitting there?" Sabik''s expression grew more distorted. His opponent''s pride and arrogance were making his chest heave slightly, unlike the East Pole Gate, his techniques were not meant to raise his attitude as well as his power.


    "Be it sitting or standing, they are all the same," Garen said calmly.


    "Arrogant fool!"


    Before Sabik even finished speaking, he retreated backward abruptly, the sword and gun in his hands making a sudden sound.


    Brr!!


    Bang!


    The sound of a single gunshot and a flash of silver, blurred the eyes of everyone present.


    Garen blocked with one hand in front of him, smiling slightly. There was a mangled bullet caught between his fingers.


    Sabik''s expression changed, he had used the sword''s movements to hide the angle he truly intended to attack from, but he did not expect his opponent to predict it anyway.


    And he could actually catch a bullet with his bare hands¡­


    Without changing his expression, he pushed the power of his gun up another notch.


    "One more time!!"


    With a low roar, he transformed into a blur of spinning silver light.


    Bam!!! A hint of firelight blinked amidst the silver light.


    Everyone around them looked slightly shocked, only the East Pole Gate Master remained unmoved, his expression calm.


    Smack!!


    Garen''s right hand blocked an area slightly to the left in front of him, his expression unmoved.


    "Thank you for allowing me."


    He said calmly, reaching out his hand and opening his palm. It was not just one bullet, but there were three complete black bullets in his hand, as well as a piece of the silver blade tip that had been broken off.


    The silver light stopped, and Sabik was as pale as mud, he even stumbled back a few steps, looking at Garen with an expression of shock. Even if he had used harmless rubber bullets, the explosive power and speed of his gun were already the strongest power he could muster to kill his opponents, and yet Garen acted like he was playing with a child, not using any of his true power at all.


    "Lord Holy Fist¡­ You truly are powerful, we of the Mokso Sword Sect admire you." The female master beside him stood up and spoke frankly, but there was still a hint of unhidden shock in her eyes.


    Only then did Sabik recover, but he had no idea what to say, pulling back his gun and sword as he retreated to his seat, flushed red.


    Garen replied with a polite smile, placing the bullets and sword tip onto the table lightly. The people present all noticed that his palm showed no hint of any scratches despite catching a bullet, and were even more shocked at that.


    To these fighters, who were the strongest in the world, such power was already as extreme and terrifying as that of the Blood Breeds.


    They were powerful, but humans could naturally be hypnotized and controlled by Blood Breeds, and even the strongest wills would be influenced to some degree, so their powers deteriorated. Everyone seated here had tasted that disadvantage to some extent.


    It could be said that the people present here were the very pinnacle of humanity, the strongest in the world. They looked young, but people such as the East Pole Gate Master were already more than seventy years old. Nobody else here was younger than sixty, they had all used their entire lives and all their talent to work hard and persist, before they could achieve such dominating power.


    This time they came here especially to meet Garen, mainly because they were shocked that Garen could join the extermination of the Wellington family.


    They believed that their individual explosive power was not weaker than that of upper level blood breeds, but with the power of human hypnosis and the Blood Breeds'' terrifying physical capabilities, they were unable to resist the oppression of upper level Blood Breeds.


    "Now I believe that Lord Garen truly did join the Wellington raid," the representative of the Sandt Fist, Thams, said slowly.


    The atmosphere in the room was slightly heavy.


    "Don''t be formal, we are all members of the same family. How about this, will Lord Garen tell us about the battle when you raided the Wellington family?" the East Pole Gate Master spoke softly.


    Garen smiled slightly and clapped, and the pretty girls who had just stepped down came up again, standing behind the guests and serving them wine.


    The atmosphere calmed down a little as well.


    Only then did he speak slowly.


    "All of you have come here to the Holy Fist Palace together this time, so this makes this quite a big event for our fistfighting world. Let us first eat, everyone, and then we can go to the arena to exchange techniques."


    He was actually quite curious as well, masters like those from the Mokso Sword Sect were not as powerful as middle level Blood Breeds, and they relied completely on their guns in battle, so there was not much to see there. On the other hand, he could not quite see through the power of the East Pole Sect Master and the representatives from Sandt.


    They seemed to be trying to become one with nature, using the human limits to activate the power of nature, thus indirectly transcending the obstacle that was the inadequacies of the human body.


    Garen had always been taking the path of strengthening his own body, so he paid extra attention to these naturalistic techniques that reminded him of the Tao practitioners back home on Earth. This also represented a path completely unlike that of the Warlocks.


    *********************


    America, Wynea state.


    The amber-colored sunlight fell onto Ninox and Tu Lan.


    The two of them stood, alone, in the middle of the city. Tall buildings surrounded them, cars frozen, but there was not a single person to be seen.


    Tu Lan stared at the Asian girl in front of her.


    "That''s a very interesting fist technique, very unique, and very impressive." She looked around her, and seemed to have noticed the key to this fist technique.


    "To be able to such a powerful hypnotic power with a human body, that really does impress me. However¡­" Although she was in an illusion, she did not seem panicked in the slightest.


    "However, I had already overcome such a hypnotic illusion several hundred years ago¡­"


    Psst!


    Tu Lan''s figure instantly appeared where Ninox was, one palm stabbing mercilessly into her stomach. But immediately after that, the person in front of her slowly faded and vanished. It was merely an illusion.


    Slowly, the soft sounds of a violin playing rose around her, the music was soft and gentle, but had a hint of suppression to it, as though it was going to explode but kept pulling itself back, it made the listener feel upset.


    A figure abruptly appeared behind Tu Lan, palms slicing towards her waist like swords, her form soundless.


    Bam!


    The figure was struck apart by Tu Lan''s palm, turning into countless black shadows before vanishing.


    And then another figure pounced down from above, sharp and unrelenting.


    Bam!


    Tu Lan burst it apart as well


    Immediately a third figure appeared, and the violin music surrounding them grew gradually faster.


    The fourth, the fifth, the sixth¡­


    As Tu Lan destroyed the shadows one by one, more and more appeared around her, each stronger than the last.


    A hint of coldness began to appear in her expression and in her gaze.


    Her body spun abruptly, her arm pulling out a short sword that glittered with silver light, and she cut apart three of the figures pouncing at her with a single whoosh.


    She had vaguely noticed that the figures all around her were all shaped like that girl Ninox, but these figures were all just pitch-black shadows, they had no true form at all.


    Smack!


    Suddenly one of the figure''s palms hit her forearm, and in that instant alone, Tu Lan actually felt the blood in her arm jolt harshly, as though there was an energy trying to pull it out of her skin.


    "Waterbird Fist?!" She retreated rapidly and abruptly, leaping into the air and landing in another empty spot, but before she could steady her footing, two more figures pounced from behind her.


    "Would you quit it already!" Tu Lan''s expression sank, her eyes widening abruptly, and her pupils began to spin slowly, beating like a heart.


    "Illusive Counter!!"


    Woo¡­


    A strange sound disturbed the violin music all of a sudden.


    The scenery around her twisted and spun, like an overturned bucket of dye, making a complete mess of things.


    Tu Lan vaguely sensed a powerful wind approaching from ahead, she closed her eyes and opened them again abruptly, and found herself looking at a small city alleyway.


    That Asian girl Ninox was rushing at her like a rocket, her body suspended in mid-air, something red beating in her palms as she shot straight for her chest.


    Tu Lan raised her hands, her arms seemed to teleport in front of her chest, her palm slicing forward like knives.


    Bang bang bang bang bang!!!


    A series of palms hitting each other erupted between the two of them, Ninox faced Tu Lan while suspended in the air, the blood around her heart boiling.


    Her Fantasy Fist Profound had been broken, and this seriously damaged her own spirit and blood. She had thought this opponent would be easy to beat, just like those few middle level Blood Breeds from before, but to think she was this troublesome. How was this just slightly stronger than the other two elders that Senior Brothers Dahm and Hochman were talking about?!


    Boom!!


    Ninox''s palm suddenly missed, landing on the wall to the left. She immediately left a large handprint there, and her hand somehow crashed through the entire wall. Thankfully there was no one inside, so she did not cause any commotion.


    But immediately after that, her heart gave a jolt, her vision blurring, and she suddenly felt a pain in her right rib.


    Pff!


    An enormous force slammed into her right ribcage, and Ninox was thrown into the air, shooting backward, moaning once in pain.


    Tu Lan had no intention of pursuing her, and instead leaped in the opposite direction, easily jumping across the alley walls. Within a few leaps, she had disappeared down the entrance into another alley.


    Only then did Ninox fall hard onto the ground, spitting out a mouthful of blood.


    After she stood up with some difficulty, Tu Lan was already nowhere to be seen.


    "So powerful¡­"


    She looked at the direction Tu Lan had vanished in and murmured softly. At the same time several men and women in tight black clothing also rushed out of the alley behind her, they all had the words ''Holy Fist Technique'' sewed onto the right side of their chests.


    "Is this the power of true upper level Blood Breeds?" Cece knew that her two senior brothers had probably met regular upper level Blood Breeds with no combat awareness, that Great Elder had even been obliterated by a middle level Blood Breed using witch poison. But this one, the only female elder among the three Wellington Great Elders, was surprisingly the only one who was truly powerful.


    Seeing that her subordinates were still going to give chase, Ninox waved her hand to stop them.


    "Don''t chase them! Retreat!"


    She allowed them to help her up calmly, giving the direction Tu Lan had left in a long look.


    The opponent was much stronger than her, only such an upper level Blood Breed could demonstrate how strong Blood Breeds were meant to be.


    Looks like even if they had been rotting for a thousand years, these Blood Breeds still had some hardy roots.


    She did not know why Tu Lan did not kill her, Tu Lan was evidently one level, or even several levels higher than her in power, so if she gave chase now, she would just be running to her death.


    "But Captain, our mission¡­" One of her female subordinates still tried to protest.


    "We are no match for her." Ninox interrupted her, "The opponent has no intention of spilling blood, she probably has some other motive. Now is not the time to engage her in combat." Ninox had always been a decisive person, just like how she dared to stand up against Garen''s pressure way back then in the combat club. She did not lack courage, but continuing on now would only anger the opponent, resulting in their meaningless deaths.


    "Cece, you''re fine, right?" Amidst the rushed sound of footsteps, Quentin rushed up to her, all dressed in black. She held Ninox up, her expression somewhat worried. "I can''t believe it, is this Tu Lan really so strong, so much so that even your successful Fantasy Fist could not take her down?"


    "It''d be very hard¡­" Ninox shook her head, "The opponent''s Illusory Counter is too powerful, it''s practically a hundred times that of a normal middle level Blood Breed, my illusion was destroyed in one go. And that''s because she was being cautious from the start, so she did not show her explosive power at the very first opportunity."


    "Your injuries are really serious, we need to return to the palace now!" Quentin checked her injuries, and instantly frowned.

 724 Contact 2

    Chapter 724: Contact 2


    "Cece was gravely injured, and the opponent got away?" Garen sat in the highest seat of the practice hall, watching the disciples spar together with the other important delegates. When he received Quentin''s call, he frowned slightly.


    "The opponent is very powerful! She cannot be compared to the other two elders, Cece''s Fantasy Fist Profound was broken, and she was injured in the right rib, after checking I found that there''s some internal bleeding from the shock. Thank goodness I saved her in time."


    "Tu Lan, was it? The other people from Wellington were dealt with?" Garen asked softly.


    "All dealt with, only the Elder Tu Lan is left," Quentin replied.


    "Get Cece to come back and meet me," Garen said calmly.


    "Yes."


    Putting down the phone, even Garen was slightly surprised. Looks like he had been careless, this last Wellington Elder was actually a true upper level Blood Breed with real power, he had intended for her to be Cece''s trial run.


    Seems like everything had all gone too smoothly, so he had begun to neglect some details.


    When he returned to his senses, the people from the three main fist techniques around him were still chatting away happily, along with Hochman and some other representatives from his disciples.


    After Garen faced Master Sabik of the Mokso Sword Sect just now, the few main sects all understood that Garen''s true power was far stronger than they imagined, so they no longer dared to test him head-on. Instead, they were trying to elicit information from Garen''s disciples about his level of strength.


    According to the East Pole Gate''s estimates, Garen''s power should be equal to a Grand Master. He was only one step away from mind-to-null refination, and the level of legends. Right now in the East, there were no longer any masters at the qi-to-spirit level, only the masters of history could achieve that step.


    But they never could have imagined that Garen''s true strength lay in his terrifyingly powerful body, and not in his mind. He could instantly apply up to a thousand tons of force, that was a level far beyond his understanding. And let''s not mention the power he had upon activating the Seven Star Life''s Secret Point.


    Right now, two of the figures on the arena were leaping and jumping, intersecting with each other non-stop, each time they made contact, there would be a dull explosive sound.


    It was one of the masters of the Waterbird Fist under Hochman sparring with one of Thams'' Sandt Fist disciples.


    Strangely, the Sandt Fist gave off an impression of extreme softness, but while it was soft, it could instantaneously burst out with a force like a spring. It was just enough to fight against Hochman''s man, they were relatively well-matched.


    The people sitting at the top did also seem to treat Garen as their leader, his impressive blood qi had unconsciously covered the entire arena. Especially now that he had mixed it with the Holy Phoenix Scriptures, his dominating aura had gotten even stronger.


    That almighty aura also leaked out slightly, forcing uneasiness into the hearts of the representatives from the three main sects.


    Only the East Pole Gate Master, Du Xinglong, was slightly more relaxed. But that also meant he was even more aware that the power of the Holy Fist Palace was indeed far stronger than he ever imagined.


    "I hear that Palace Master Garen is looking for clues about the Sleepless Faces everywhere." While everyone else was focused on the sparring going down below, Du Xinglong spoke slowly. "It just so happens that I have some information about a mask that had wandered off to the East."


    "Oh? What do you mean by that, Gate Master Du?" Garen brought his attention away as he said calmly.


    "We have already sent our men out to gather the masks. We of the East Pole Gate are also rather in awe of the Holy Fist Palace''s martial arts level, so I would like to send my young grandson here for a long-term martial arts exchange program."


    "That would be fine, of course." Garen nodded. He wore a mask, but although no one could see his actual expression, they could tell from his tone that he had no intention of rejecting them.


    Du Xinglong knew very well that a chance like this, to allow his young grandson to be this close to a qi-to-mind level Grand Master, would be unthinkable of in the East. If he did not make full use of this chance, by the time more people approached Garen, he might not be able to benefit as much anymore. Once there were more people, naturally the Holy Fist Palace would place less emphasis on them.


    He understood what the Holy Fist Palace had planned, they wanted to reach a true position in the international martial arts scene, and become the true holy land for all martial arts sects.


    Since they had a Grand Master standing guard over the Holy Fist Palace, that title was naturally theirs for the taking.


    "I just happened to have the same intention." Beside them, Thams smiled as he said, "And my allied sects will surely have the same plan. When the time comes, I hope Palace Master Garen will help out our youngsters in their training."


    "Of course, of course." Garen nodded with a smile.


    For a moment there, the host and the guests were all perfectly happy, the main martial arts sects had also found a glimmer of hope in their battle against the Blood Breeds through Garen. But the truly powerful Blood Breeds were not the regular Blood Breeds, but the Death Apostles at the very top. They were the ones with power comparable to a nuclear weapon, and it all depended on whether or not the Holy Fist Palace could defend against the Death Apostles'' revenge,


    The Wellington family was not that easy to provoke, the Death Apostle Wellington would surely not let this slide, so it all depended on what happened after this.


    After some more exchanges, Garen also understood that Thams had always been close to the higher-ups of the Rexott group, his arrival here this time obviously represented the Rexott Group''s attitude to some extent.


    Manpower, financial power, and martial power, he had them all. The only thing he needed now was a chance to show off the true power of the Holy Fist Palace.


    ***************


    Standing in front of Cece''s sickbed, Garen was dressed all in white, wearing a mask as he checked Cece''s condition.


    He reached out his hand and touched Cece''s injured right ribs a few times, then he pulled his hand back slowly. Next, he opened Cece''s eyelids, checking her pupils.


    The others, Quentin and Xander, all stood at the side respectfully.


    There were only a few members of the Holy Fist Palace''s higher-ups present in this room.


    "Teacher, how is Cece''s condition?" Quentin asked, slightly worried.


    "The destruction of the Fantasy Fist Profound damaged her spirit and cranial nerves, she needs some rest. To normal people, cranial nerves cannot be regenerated, but to us, it''s possible. It just requires a longer time. Add that to the internal bleeding and shock caused by her injuries, and she will need at least two months to recover."


    Garen replied as he pulled back his hand.


    "Thank you, Teacher." Ninox hid under the covers, her face slightly red. The place on her right ribs where she was hurt was near her chest, even if it was her teacher touching her like that, she was still embarrassed to no end.


    "Is this Tu Lan really that powerful?" Xander was rather incredulous, "The other two Elders could be defeated by even a slightly stronger middle level Blood Breed, why is this one Elder so ridiculously powerful?"


    "That is my mistake." The door was pushed open, and Dahm strode in, wearing a bright red cape.


    "Greetings, Teacher." He first lowered his head in a bow to Garen, and then he began to explain the reason. "I learned about Tu Lan from one of the Blood Breeds under my control. Although as Elders, they don''t usually fight, but some of the older middle level Blood Breeds were aware of some things. Tu Lan used to be the strongest general in the Wellington family other than their chief, Wellington. Even among the upper level Blood Breeds, she was one of the very best."


    His androgynous voice revealed a hint of rare solemnity.


    "If you want to kill Tu Lan, either Hochman and I have to personally fight her, or Teacher¡­" He did not continue, but his intention was very clear. Unless Garen fought her personally, they would not be able to ensure that it would go one without a hitch.


    "How are things with the Blood Breeds'' secret party?"


    Garen did not continue that topic, and switched to another one instead.


    "The secret party has the main advantage now, most of the light party''s power had been suppressed and taken apart. As for the attack on Wellington, it looks like there''s no reaction for now, but it''s most likely gathering momentum for a bigger impact. We need to be constantly prepared for a counterattack by the Death Apostle Wellington at any time," Dahm replied seriously.


    "No news about the Death Apostles Scarlet Moon and Ashen?"


    "A little, they say that Ashen has gone missing, this is also the main reason the light party is completely falling apart. Right now, even the power of the Lion Mother cannot suppress the flames of the secret party," Dahm replied quickly.


    Garen fell silent.


    For some reason, he suddenly remembered the sisters, Isaros and Arisa, as well as that strange Scarlet Moon Blood Breed. Inexplicably, he felt as though Isaros and the others may know a bit about Ashen''s disappearance.


    The last time he secretly visited his parents, he had seen Arisa''s condition, that little girl''s air of worldliness had gotten stronger. That feeling of being part of the world''s path had grown stronger and stronger.


    Isaros and her sister was evidently the core trigger to these events, he had to be constantly aware of any developments on their part as he gathered the masks.


    Touching his right eyes lightly with his hand, that one completely blind eye kept reminding him of the approaching danger from the Void Nine-Headed Dragon King.


    He needed to pick up the pace¡­


    ********************


    Secret party Blood Union


    In a wide open white hall, in some mysterious ruins.


    There were countless crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, like so many small red suns, emitting a bright and gentle red light.


    Underneath them were three giant silver balls floating in mid-air.


    Each ball was more than ten meters in diameter, huge and round, filled with an unnamed amber fluid that bubbled occasionally.


    Strangely, there was a well-proportioned white-skinned human figure suspended in each ball of liquid.


    There were three bodies in the three balls, two male and one female. Each of them wore different but equally elaborate long robes, even the men wore long black dress-like robes with golden hems.


    "Wellington, your old base was destroyed by those witches, but you don''t seem too bothered at all." One of the blonde men in black robes opened his eyes, looking at another handsome man with otherworldly features.


    "There''s too much trash in there, so I borrowed some outside power to clean it out. My family has been rotten for too long." Wellington had short purple-red hair and a cold expression, as though he did not care about his clan''s survival at all, "After all, it''d only take me a few years to start another family again anyway."


    "Ashen has been critically wounded, without the help of the Lion Mother, he cannot hide for long. Scarlet Moon, on the other hand, that guy''s always been missing." The blonde man was thoughtful.


    "Wellington, I think you should still go back for a visit, that kid Tu Lan should be close to a breakthrough, don''t let her be interrupted just like that. There are only so few of us in this world, it''s been so long since we had a new face around here, it''s too boring¡­"


    The woman in the last sphere had completely white eyes and no pupils, her long green hair reaching her waist.


    "Oh?" Wellington looked slightly surprised, and after thinking for some time, he spoke softly.


    "Then I''ll go out for a bit. But are you sure it''s okay for just the two of you to suppress Ashen''s Blood Nucleus?"


    "Then why don''t you just get it settled sooner?" the woman laughed softly.


    "True." Wellington nodded, and turned around slowly, swimming backward lightly. Soon enough, he began to gradually disappear into the sphere.

 725 Hunt 1

    Chapter 725: Hunt 1


    Portugal, Vesnan City


    Near the seaport, there was a smattering of pale yellow boats floating on the sea. Some of them were small fishing vessels, but there were also mid-sized rafts.


    Under the twilight rays, the red light dyed the surface of the sea by the port a bright red.


    There was a constant flow of carriages by the seaside, two locals were taking their child on a walk in a stroller. On the flat concrete floor beside the port, there were several young men and women dressed in coats, one of the women had pretty features, but she looked rather cold. Surprisingly, there was a gruesome scar on the right side of her neck, it extended from her neck to the middle of her chest, and then it was blocked off by her clothes so no one could tell just how long it was.


    The woman had shoulder-length hair that was naturally red, and not dyed.


    There was also a middle-aged man standing with her, as well as a young girl.


    "Why did you call me out so late? I''m in a rush to get back for dinner," the red-haired woman said calmly.


    "Isaros, it''s been over half a year since I got you sisters involved in this mess, hasn''t it?" the middle-aged man said in a low voice, his expression guilty. "If I hadn''t met you guys back then, perhaps you would still be living peacefully in that little town."


    "What''s the point of saying that now?" Isaros said calmly. "Whatever you have to say, just spit it."


    The man looked even guiltier, hesitating for a while. Instead, it was the other girl beside them who could not take it anymore.


    "Let me be the one to say it," the girl stepped up and spoke. She looked no older than seventeen or eighteen, but the aura in her eyes was as deep as that of an old woman.


    "As we are all Scarlet Moon Blood Breeds, we hope that we can contact the human organization, the Holy Fist Palace, through you, and thus contribute to our light party." The girl spoke with no restraint whatsoever, as though this was only natural.


    "Contact the Holy Fist Palace?" Isaros frowned slightly.


    "Yes, your sister is protected by the Holy Fist Palace, so you should be pretty close to them. If you can contact them to join our forces, as a Scarlet Moon Blood Breed, I can make an exception and obtain another Blood Breed position for you." The girl spoke as though a Blood Breed position was such a glorious thing.


    Isaros frowned. Ignoring the girl, she looked straight at the middle-aged man.


    "Pritto, is this your intention?"


    Pritto smiled bitterly, it had been several weeks since they escaped the secret party in America and ran here to Portugal, and now they had officially joined an organization allied with the light party. This organization was centered around two light party upper level Blood Breeds, and secretly resisted the secret party in hiding.


    "We are too weak right now, so we do need your help to contact them, then we''ll go to America together."


    "Contacting them is no problem, but I cannot guarantee that they will give you face and agree to cooperate."


    "No problem, we''ll take over negotiations after that," the Blood Breed girl said confidently.


    *********************


    On a snowy mountain peak


    Holy Fist Palace


    The snow danced in the air, covering the entire building of the Holy Fist Palace with a thick layer of white.


    Garen sat in a room on the rightmost edge, nearest to the cliff. Sitting at his desk, he raised his pen and began to write something slowly in a black notebook.


    The room was lavishly decorated, covered in all white and gold. There was a fire burning away merrily in the fireplace, emitting a faint warmth, raising the temperature of the entire room.


    Sofa, bookshelves, single bed, and a super-thin television hanging on the wall.


    The floor was smooth white marble, strangely clean.


    Garen sat in front of a desk, it was the one he had brought over from Berlin, unchanged in the slightest.


    The black notebook underneath his hand was giving off a strange and blurry feeling. If someone wanted to see the outer appearance and the inner content of that notebook more carefully, they would end up feeling slightly dizzy. But once they moved their gaze away, they would still be naturally attracted to it, it just pulled others'' spirits into looking at it.


    The scrawling sound of pen on paper echoed through the room.


    Garen wore a mask over his eyes, and his only functioning eye, the left one, was actually shining with a hint of gold.


    After goodness knows how long, he put down his pen slowly, closed his eyes and rested for a while. Only then did he close that strange notebook.


    "I''ve already recorded down the true essence of the Holy Phoenix Scriptures, but it''s still missing something," he said softly, as though to himself.


    ''You''re still lacking some deeper understandings, if you could understand the Holy Phoenix Scriptures at a deeper level, perhaps you could speed up the completion of your Demonic Book," Black Sethe suggested.


    Garen nodded slightly.


    The Holy Phoenix Scriptures were divided into three levels and nine different states. But if one intended to really delve deep into this cultivation method, they would first need to investigate the compatibility problem he was facing with the Hellfrost Peacock Technique he was currently practicing.


    Up until now, Garen was still in the midst of finding his own path. The Peacock Technique could achieve Army Level, but it was still lacking in practice supplies and resources. He did not know how far he could take the Holy Phoenix Scriptures either, and he could even tell that this was a path doomed for destruction, yet it helped with his gathering of the Soul Seed.


    ''This is a matter of your own priorities,'' Black Sethe said softly. ''The Soul Seed strengthens your soul, and there is a high chance that you''ll encounter a dead end with the Holy Phoenix Scriptures when you need something you don''t have. The other way, with the Hellfrost Peacock Technique, you still won''t be able to level up without the required resources. It might be better for you to just practice the Holy Phoenix Scriptures first. Leave thinking about it until the incompatibility happens, right now your main job is to increase the strength of your Soul Seed. That''s where your foundations lie.''


    "True." Garen nodded, and was no longer hesitant.


    The Demonic Book was more or less complete. He had recorded all of his techniques in there, including the Holy Phoenix Scriptures that he had just learned. He should have fully completed his second Soul Seed by now, but because he did not have a deep enough understanding of the Holy Phoenix Scriptures, he was still lacking that last push.


    He glanced at his current condition and attributes.


    Garen Thomas.


    Strength 7. Agility 7. Vitality 10. Intelligence 11. Potential power 7966%. Soul limit 30.


    Soul Seed: Northern Trident Frost-Fire True Water Evil Technique


    ''Void Pursuer: inheritor of the Ancient Endor civilization, arch enemies with the Void races. Has the natural ability to heal and strengthen oneself by hunting the Void Creatures'' Cores. That is a natural power bestowed eternally by the mysterious power of Ancient Endor.''


    ''Hellfrost Peacock Technique: Grade one elementary level (Total of five grades, with three grades of derivative grades, a total of eight grades) Every time the practitioner reaches the next level, their blood and veins will be purified, and they will slowly approach the Hellfrost Peacock body type, finally becoming the ultimate form, the Hellfrost Peacock King, with Army Level being the limit.''


    ''Seven Star Life''s Secret Point: fifth grade (maximum of seven grades).''


    ''Violin Skill: Grade 2, Proficient Grade (Total of three grades).''


    ''Slaughtering Hand: first grade.''


    Looking away again, Garen was slightly disappointed that he had only accumulated so few attribute points after obtaining five masks.


    Thankfully, after the martial arts exchange event, the students that Hochman and Dahm recently taught, such as Caesar and the others, were all leaving the Holy Fist Palace to find Garen new masks. Of these groups, Dahm was heading to Memphis Forest, the sixth mask at the moon river. It had been several days since he departed, and Garen did not know how the situation was going.


    Standing up from his desk, Garen looked at the snowflakes floating down in front of his window, and suddenly felt inexplicably lost.


    Ever since he reincarnated this time, he had still been chasing after power, and he had even gotten himself involved with the huge history of war between the Void Creatures and the Ancient Endor civilization. With the threat of Nadia constantly approaching, he had no choice but to continue pressing forward.


    But the resources in this world were far too lacking, they were not nearly enough to fulfill the requirements of a peak-level secret technique. That was why he had no choice but to stop, and use his own invented technique to gather his second Soul Seed.


    If he could truly practice the Hellfrost Peacock Technique, the speed of his forming his Soul Seed would surely be exponentially faster, and he might even activate some legacies that continue from there. He would not be so at a loss about the true soul levels after that.


    Black Sethe helped him a lot with that as well, every Living and Dead Secret Technique was an extremely complex system containing part of the truth of the universe. These were not things to be created just like that.


    It seemed as though there were thousands of these peak-level secret techniques, and any one of them could lead to an extremely high level. But all of them began with caution and wariness, these steps that looked complicated or simple, each of them could lead to extremely serious results if they were changed even a little. Grievous injuries, paralysis, disabilities or even death, all were possible.


    Every step in these secret techniques had to undergo thousands of trials and countless agonizing lessons learned, before they could truly become a path to take.


    And the supplies or resources needed were also compulsory.


    Compared to the situation back there where the resources were plenty, Garen''s current situation was like eating white rice without even oil to cover it, and trying to build muscle from there.


    It was the same with peak-level secret techniques, if you wanted to be extraordinary, you would naturally need better resources. And this world had none of those.


    Looking for the training materials for the Hellfrost Peacock Technique was like looking for dry sand in the ocean.


    ''How do you plan to handle the matter with Tu Lan?'' Black Sethe asked quietly.


    Tu Lan Wellington had escaped after injuring Cece, and was now rapidly approaching the other family''s territories. If she was not dealt with quickly, and managed to escape into the other family territories, she could incite another war on an even larger scale.


    After destroying the Wellington family, the whole northern America had become part of the Holy Fist Palace''s territory. This included the few smaller countries that AG and the Dark Colors witches would cover. This was all allied territory.


    And now the Blood Breeds were still busy raiding the light party. After the battle last time, the other families knew that normal power was nowhere near enough to take down the Lightless Alliance, so they had no choice but to call a time-out. They probably planned to stabilize their internal ranks, and then gather up a force to dismantle their opponents.


    "We''ve already gathered sufficient information about Tu Lan, she should have returned to the state of Mintosa, that''s one of the secret party''s Blood Alliance bases, I''ll make a trip there myself," Garen said calmly.


    Cece was grievously hurt, there was no way he could let that slide. And those people from the Bailey Group got mixed up with the Primary Colors, so it was time he dealt with them.

 726 Hunt 2

    Chapter 726: Hunt 2


    California, America


    After a week¡­


    As she looked at the huge red and white structure of the theatre, Isaros rearranged her hat and walked into the theatre with the crowd.


    The theatre was playing the Spanish musical Wild Cats, and the female lead was singing beautifully in a clear voice.


    Beyond the stage was a half-full seating area, from which applause could be heard once every now and then.


    Isaros looked for a seat at a higher elevation while the buzz of the audiences'' chatter surrounded her. She was constantly checking on her hat as it was an aura covering hat that''s been enchanted with witchcraft, and it could alter her aura for short periods of time in order to distort the Blood Breeds'' sensing abilities.


    This was one of the assets belonging to the Holy Fist Palace''s Combat Association, and this was one of the fastest channels to contact the Combat Association.


    The seats above Isaros was empty. She waited for a while, looking as though she was paying attention and was enjoying the musical, but she was actually staying wary of her surroundings. In case Combat Association had any replies, the seats would definitely be occupied.


    Half an hour had gone by unnoticeably, when two silhouettes finally emerged silently from Isaros'' right side and were walking towards the two empty seats above Isaros as they traversed the crowd.


    The duo sat in two seats above her.


    Isaros suddenly smelled a familiar body fragrance enveloping her.


    "Sister," the person beside her finally spoke.


    Isaros turned around, her pupils dilated.


    "Arisa?! Vivien!?"


    The people sitting beside her were actually these beautiful sisters of hers, Arisa and Vivien.


    "Why are you here?" Isaros'' head suddenly looked stern.


    Once we heard news of sister, we proactively asked to come, since we haven''t met you for a long time," Risa immediately explained as she observed her sister''s concerned look. " Relax, we came out under very secretive planning. Nobody would have known."


    Now that Secret Party is pursuing me closely, it''s too dangerous to be around me!" Isaros said with a stern tone. "You''re too rash, Arisa, you even brought Vivien over! What if something dangerous happened?"


    "Relax, we have experts protecting us," Vivien raised her fist and shook it around. "Sister Quentin brought a few men over on a trip anyway, so we have followed along."


    "Quentin? One of the four warlords of the Combat Association?" Isaros also knew of the situation during the ambush on Wellington, which was directed against the Holy Fist Palace. There were two names that had begun circulating in the underground society; the Two Generals and the Four Warlords, The Two Generals were obviously referring to Hochman and Dahm, who possessed terrifying abilities comparable to high-level Blood Breeds, which could shake any Blood Breeds or Witches. Whereas the Four Warlords referred to the four people who were always managing the external affairs of the Holy Fist Palace.


    These four people were Xander, Cece, Quentin and the Vice President of the Nighthawks, Baldy. They managed most of the daily affairs and public relations, as well as directing large amounts of personnel, whether it was Combat Association''s extensive network within and beyond America, or the world-class web of relationships developed by their second batch students, or even the training and employment of Nighthawks, the purely violent organization of mercenaries.


    "That''s good if Quentin was here," Isaros sighed in relief, after knowing that Holy Fist Palace didn''t simply let these kids out without any protective measures in place. "I am here on some official business so bring me to Miss Quentin, I have some matters to discuss with her. Also, Pritto and other Light Party representatives are waiting for me outside."


    Seeing that there were indeed some official matters, Arisa had also become serious.


    "Sister Quentin is in that seat over there discussing business with someone else, let me bring you there."


    "Okay," to be honest, Isaros felt helpless too; now she was too deeply intertwined in the Scarlet Moon Clan of the Light Party. Not only had she killed off countless vampires of the Secret Party, she''d even killed off a few Low-Level Blood Breeds up to this point. More importantly, Pritto''s Scarlet Moon Holy Technique was indeed deep within her consciousness, planted by the Death Apostle of the Scarlet Moon Clan. She would be unable to remove it unless another Death Apostle extracted it.


    This has caused her to climb even higher on the Secret Party''s hit list.


    As she stood up with Arisa and Vivien, Isaros walked out of a door on her left, through a dark corridor covered in black carpets, into some sparsely distanced mid-air suites hanging from the second floor. In front of a door was a muscular woman in a black shirt who was playing with a silver knife in her hand. As that lady laid eyes upon Arisa and company, she immediately stood aside to allow entrance without uttering a word.


    Arisa smiled at the lady politely and then knocked on the door.


    "Sister Quentin."


    "Oh, Arisa, Come on in," a clear woman''s voice could be heard from within, as she spoke was a clean, neat American accent.


    The door was opened slowly from the inside. The trio walked into the suite, which already had a beautiful lady wearing a red silk cheongsam inside. Even though she was wearing such a seductive cheongsam, the lady maintained a strong, elegant vibe; and that was Quentin of the Holy Fist Palace.


    Quentin''s brows were drawn diagonally together and were straight as a pen. Her eyes were very spirited and a sharp nose coupled with her lovely fair skin; her elegant look was completed with a glass of wine in her hand and crossed, long slender legs.


    The man sitting opposite her was a balding, middle-aged man who looked terrified and as though he was showing respect towards her. Although he was obviously older than Quentin, the power hierarchy gave a misconception that she was the more senior than him.


    At this instance, the man was breaking out in cold sweat and had lowered his head in fear of looking Quentin in the eyes, which made people wonder what had happened just now.


    "Alright, since Miss Quentin have some company at the moment, I shall take my leave."


    "Please," Quentin waved her hand, "remember that you must give us the stock in time, as promised."


    "Of course milady, of course," the middle-aged man stood up and bowed repeatedly. "Thank you very much, Miss Quentin, I hope our cooperation runs smooth."


    "Likewise."


    The man then left the room hurriedly, and one could even faintly hear his relaxed sigh at the instant the door was closed.


    Quentin then moved her eyes to the trio, and her gaze landed upon Isaros who was standing behind.


    "I believe this is the Arisa''s sister, Isaros?" she stood up, indicating to the server to pour them some drinks.


    Isaros had felt a strong aura suppression upon entering the suite, which was a natural sensing ability of hers, acquired from the long period of combat with and killing of Blood Breeds and vampires. She realized that when she was against some stronger foes, the opponents'' aura would naturally produce a form of suppression.


    It was the same as Quentin who was right in front of her; the aura within her was so strong that it was beyond comprehension for humans.


    "As expected of an expert of the Holy Fist Palace," she nodded as she admitted her identity.


    Quentin smiled and took a sip off the wine in her glass.


    "Even though I really couldn''t wait to greet you, it wouldn''t have looked courteous if I didn''t take care of a few guests who''d come from faraway towns."


    She looked at the suite''s left side of the door with some deep thoughts, as though she saw through the wall there into some scenery beyond the walls.


    Bam!!


    A group of shadows suddenly barged in and rushed straight towards Quentin like black arrows. Despite the speed of their attack, they didn''t produce a single noise.


    "Ambush!" Isaros'' focus shuddered and she grabbed both Arisa and Vivien''s collars with each hand, lifting them up with ease to avoid the collision with the shadows.


    What followed were more shadows rushing into the building, targeting the trio while ignoring the waitresses'' screams.


    At this point, Quentin had already single-handedly taken down the shadow who''d first engaged her by tapping onto its head. The shadow broke down and turned into ash, obvious signs that identified a vampire.


    With a turn on her head, the slender legs beneath her cheongsam had launched a series of kicks towards the shadows outside, with a speed that seemed to be slightly above those shadows.


    As Garen''s ability had increased, her strength had also taken a giant leap forward, which made handling these vampires and Low-Level Blood Breeds a breeze.


    "Since you''re here, why don''t you stay!"


    Just as she ended her sentence, both of Quentin''s legs had hit every single shadow within a flicker of an eye.


    Bambambam!!


    With a few consecutive bursts, the shadows were sent flying and exploded into ashes.


    But in this instance, one of the shadows did not have any reaction. It advanced instead of being blown back, took a sharp turn and produced a burst of speed, rushing into Quentin''s proximity.


    With a crackling sound, the smile on Quentin''s face turned stern.


    "You are??!!" she had not even completed her sentence before she was sent flying backward, crashing onto tables and chairs in the suite, only stopping when she hit the bulletproof glass wall. There was a trickle of blood flowing from her abdomen, and it was seen dripping on the black shadow''s hand as well.


    "You¡­!!" Quentin displayed an unbelieving look as she glared at the black shadow. She could barely protect her vitals in the heat of the moment, but she still couldn''t avoid being heavily injured.


    To the surprise of Arisa and Vivien, the black shadow pulled the hood off its head, and bright red hair was flaunted. It was actually a seductive-looking, beautiful lady.


    "To be able to catch so many small fries, all the prep work I did was well worth it," Tu Lan had a satisfied smirk on her face.


    By faking that she was headed for other states and lure away the pursuer of the Holy Fist Palace, she had actually collaborated with people from the Secret Party to wait for a time to retaliate. Now that she had done it, she''d managed to catch these small fries and important people, on top of the successful retaliation.


    "Such hard work, how can I go back empty-handed?" Tu Lan smiled. She suddenly moved her wrist and blocked Quentin''s knee that had been abruptly launched towards her, before Tu Lan took a few steps back and stood in the middle of the suite.


    "Indeed¡­ it''s rare that you come out, how can let me go back empty-handed?" a calm male''s voice was suddenly heard from the doorstep behind her.


    Tu Lan''s smiling face turned ice cold in that instant. She slowly turned around to see a handsome young man, who had not been there previously, standing by the door. That man was as perfectly radiant as Apollo himself, but one of his eyes was not radiant; it held nothing but a cold gaze.


    "Garen¡­!"


    Bam!


    Tu Lan rammed the right side of the wall immediately, and chose to flee in that instant!

 727 Hunt 3

    Chapter 727: Hunt 3


    "Fantasy!"


    Unexpectedly, Garen did not give chase but simply flung out his right arm to catch Tu Lan from afar.


    Weirdly, his right palm slowly became bigger and wider, and an odd feeling that the sky was being engulfed shivered through the crowd.


    As the surrounding environment was distorted, the entire hallway felt like a twisted glass tube that was churning and shaking violently.


    Tu Lan was stunned by the sudden loss of balance but only for an instant, and she resumed fleeing at a speed that looked to be unaffected by gravity, rushing straight for the nearest theatre exit.


    Bam!!


    A large hole suddenly opened at Garen''s position, and one could directly see the space within it.


    His entire body tilted slightly before he disappeared in the blink of an eye. He was definitely hot on her heels.


    What was left was Quentin, Isaros, and co, who had only reacted only moments after the two had disappeared and dense footsteps could be faintly heard from the outside.


    "Let''s leave immediately!" Quentin could barely stand upright, with one hand pressing onto her abdomen. A sizeable wound should have broken open there as blood kept oozing from it, but it wasn''t as terrible as before; she compressed the blood vessels with muscle contraction, preventing more blood from oozing out.


    Arisa and Vivien had just recovered from the shock. Both of them wanted to help Quentin but were gently pushed away.


    "Let me do it!" Isaros carried Quentin with a stern expression and fled while leading the two other girls.


    "With Teacher here, that person would never return, but I''m afraid this is a trap. Go to the parking lot and immediately inform the allies outside and have them leave first, we will be in contact soon," even though Quentin had suffered heavy injuries, she was still conscious enough to plan ahead.


    "I know. Your injury looks bad," Isaros looked at the wound the size of a fist and her eyes couldn''t stop twitching. While Quentin was speaking with relative ease, if it had been anyone else, this injury would be enough to cause a blackout or death by shock.


    Soon, a group of people in black uniforms ran into the suite in a trained manner, and carried the heavily injured Quentin and escorted them up to a vehicle that was specially prepared for them.


    "Brother¡­ was that¡­. Brother?" Vivien asked after boarding the car, as she felt a strong sense of disbelief when recalling the golden silhouette. "Was he actually this strong? For that man to run without even attempting to combat."


    "That''s just the first time you''ve seen Teacher in action¡­" Quentin''s face was pale, but she seemed to reply with a relatively easy smile. "With Teacher here, that person won''t be able to flee. It''s obvious that Teacher took a trip here just to pursue her."


    As she spoke to the end, her expression seemed to turn cold.


    ******************


    "Black Dragon!!"


    In the rural forests, two silhouettes of black and gold were toe-to-toe in their chase.


    As the black colored silhouette roared in front, her speed increased explosively and a thin layer of black smoke seemed to dissipate from her entire body, looking like a long tail. Her speed, however, was leagues above her previous speed.


    Under the blazing sun, the golden silhouette behind didn''t seem to be alarmed; he created crater after crater on the ground under his feet with help from a terrifying explosive power to continue his pursuit.


    Suddenly, a large tree trunk beside him exploded and the blazing flames halted his momentum, creating a great distance between the two silhouettes.


    "Oh? That''s a lot of nifty toys she''s got there."


    In the high-speed movement, Garen squinted as he observed the fleeing silhouette. That explosion just now wasn''t anything special; it was just a simple technological tactic, but such a pressurized explosive bomb would still somewhat affect him in his usual condition.


    Bam!! Bam Bam Bam!!!


    Suddenly, a series of thunderous explosions coupled with an orangy-yellow flame formed a vortex around him, the tremendous impact and heat completely engulfing him.


    Taking advantage of the instance Garen was stopped, Tu Lan took a few larger leaps forward and hid within the dense forest on her right. A thick white smoke began propagating behind her out of nowhere, which seemed like an obvious escape plan.


    She actually had zero plans to return to engage in combat.


    The flame vortex engulfed the woods in the radius of tens of meters, and under the intense combustion, the smoke rose thickly into the sky and was observable from afar.


    From amidst the flames, Garen walked out without any damage. Oddly enough, whether it was the flame or the smoke, they automatically dispersed from him within a ten-odd centimeters radius, as though there was an invisible protective barrier around him.


    As he walked out of the areas affected by the flames, Garen waved his hand to disperse the smoke. He raised his head to find out that Tu Lan was nowhere to be found, even though he could still sense the remnants of her aura nearby.


    With Garen''s arsenal of Secret Techniques, peerless physique, and extra-sensitive sensory abilities, he could easily locate traces Tu Lan''s scent within the forest. The scent was as clear as a guide, leading towards the direction that she''d escaped towards.


    Jii!!


    Garen disappeared instantaneously and gave chase while he followed the scent.


    From that devastating explosion which was supposed to be powerful enough to demolish an entire skyscraper, Garen had walked out of it without harm, without even minor injuries.


    That devastating explosion had completely razed the woods and shrubs of the forest in a twenty to thirty meters radius from the detonation point, creating a charred dome-shaped area, but other than greatly reducing his speed, Garen was unaffected.


    ****************************


    Tu Lan''s high-speed fleeing had caused her to pant heavily, but she''d taken the chance to place multiple traps and bombs which were activated by Garen who was behind her. Terrifyingly, his speed was never reduced to a halt.


    In the heat of the moment, she planted the rest of her miniature high-concentration explosives in one spot, behind a large tree and set a timer of detonation. Finally, after the incredible explosion, complete with a few smoke grenades and poison gas grenades, she finally managed to flee from Garen''s pursuit. After changing directions a few times, she soon came to a halt with a bergamot forest ahead of her.


    After an extended period of full-speed sprinting, as well as high levels of mental focus to sense the pursuit behind her, even she would have greatly exhausted her mental energy.


    As she rested upon a bergamot tree, Tu Lan felt that her scalp was still numb from the imminent sense of danger of being pursued, and it felt like it hadn''t stopped, and Garen was right on her tail.


    However, following the increasingly intense sense of danger, she was pleasantly surprised to find that the Black Dragon Tao Technique had become slightly loosened.


    That Serpent dragon that guarded the gate was actually feeling the same kind of pressure, so much so it let out a deep hissing sound, as though it was asking her to advance faster.


    Secretively, Tu Lan turned her head around to feel that the sense of danger''s aura seemed to be concentrated the air around. Her surroundings had begun shaking and he was apparently coming towards her.


    "It''s all or nothing!" Tu Lan''s entire body shivered uncontrollably under that tremendous feeling of danger, but her intents were solid. She sat cross-legged, shut her eyes, and deep dove into the Black Dragon Tao Technique as her body innately guided her Blood Core into a Holy Technique state.


    In the instant she entered the Holy technique state, all of her aura disappeared instantaneously; her scent, her aura, all of it vanished without a trace in that instant, alongside every other element that could make her whereabouts trackable. It was as though she no longer existed at all.


    What was even more baffling was that the remnants of her scent also soon dispersed after she entered this state


    Tu Lan, who was sitting under the tree, had begun turning transparent and more illusory, as though she was transmigrating into another dimension.


    In order to advance to Death Apostle rank, the largest hurdle needed to be addressed; finding her own secret dream realm, and deposit all of her, including her will to live there. If she were to succeed, then even if her physical body and Blood Core were destroyed, she could resurrect from the hidden dream realm. That was the true immortality.


    Tu Lan''s biggest weakness now was that she was unable to deposit the entirety of her life and will into the Serpent Dragon Dream Realm that was created by the Black Dragon Tao Technique.


    The SDDR seemed to be independent on its own and equipped with its own consciousness and abilities. In reality, the so-called hidden dream realm was actually an invisible life that possessed an odd existence, they were very much alive, and had their own life-force.


    Death Apostles needed to be in unison with them and truly let their own life force combine inside an unknown area within a Dream creature, achieving a realm when they would not die.


    But this kind of creature normally had their own consciousness, and it would be extremely challenging to obtain their approval, moreover, the merging would take an extended period of time as well. But for some reason, either due to the Black Dragon Tao Technique or some other reason, the Serpent Dragon Gates seemed to be fond of Tu Lan, and so in this dire situation, it had finally let up a sliver, with the intention of allowing Tu Lan to advance earlier.


    Under the pressure of life and death, Tu Lan finally entered the Serpent Dragon Gates and began the process to deposit her life and will.


    This process was made to separate one''s life and will and combine them with the dream creatures. The process was extremely risky, as she would be forever lost in the dream if she made a misstep, and the entirety of her existence would be devoured by the Serpent Dragon Gate.


    But if she were to succeed, her gains would naturally be more lucrative; she would officially reach the Death Apostle Level and obtain everything that belonged to the Serpent Dragon Gate.


    Her consciousness continued to dip lower and she became half conscious.


    As the time passed, Garen who was far away was still trying to find the scent that had gone missing abruptly, making him lose the trace of Tu Lan.


    Even so, his aura told him that Tu Lan was definitely not too far away, she had merely used some sort of technique to hide.


    After more than ten minutes, suddenly, the place where Tu Lan disappeared at began glowing white.


    The white light was about the size of a firefly, but it slowly expanded, becoming bigger and brighter, until it was the size of a basketball.


    Just as the white light expanded, hints of an ancient aura began spreading from the light, as though one was walking through a historical site and experiencing an unknowing sense of vicissitudes that traversed through years of life.


    As the aura spread outwards, the trees and grass began to wilt visibly, as though their time had been hastened dramatically.


    Jii!!!


    At that instant, a pillar of light the girth of an arm shot up towards the sky, piercing through the leaves and the clouds, looking as though it limitlessly extended into space.


    The light pillar looked like an endless light rod that connected heaven and earth, and it caused the sky to grow heavy with dense clouds after it pierced into the atmosphere.


    Ca-Crack!


    Lightning struck down, followed by rumbling sounds of thunders as the blueish white light illuminated the entire forest.


    Garen slowly stopped in front of the forest and looked up at the pillar of light.


    "Is this¡­. Advancement?"


    A surge of ancient aura was spreading from ahead of him. This aura was completely different from the usual Tu Lan; although it carried her aura, there was an additional extreme ancient, rotten feel to it. as though it was the rotten aura of a creature nearing the end of its life.


    He was unknowingly right; if a dream creature''s life wasn''t nearing their end, they would never agree to combine with and be devoured by a Blood Breed. Even though this would prolong their lifespan, to be part of another''s life meant that they would completely lose their independence. Everything would be controlled by the Blood Breed host.


    "This aura¡­. Is this the Death Apostle level?" Garen murmured as he noted this unprecedented aura. He did not take immediate actions but instead, he silently gauged the differences within.


    He then slowly turned his head around.


    At some point, another silhouette that was tall and slender had walked out. It was a handsome young man with short purple hair, and he was observing from behind a shrub with a cold expression. Oddly, he also had a similar ancient aura emanating from him.


    "Oh? There were two?"


    "Holy Fist Palace, Garen." the man said with a deep voice, and slowly walked over. His body had an unsettling emptiness to it as if nothing but air was there. "Today, you will meet your end."


    The white light had suddenly diminished as well, and a silhouette slowly walked out. It was actually Tu Lan, and her injuries seemed to have healed completely, looking as good as new.

 728 Hunt 4

    Chapter 728: Hunt 4


    "Clan Leader?!" Tu Lan''s eyes turned big, and she had to take a while to calm down.


    Two people were standing opposite to each other, with Garen in the middle.


    Oddly enough, even though Garen was in the middle, he could not sense the presences of the duo, as though they were merely imaginary.


    Bam!!


    A sudden surge of purple goo spewed from the purple-haired man''s body and morphed into tentacles mid-air, whipping violently towards Garen. Their speed was terrifying yet they seemed to be enveloping the earth; it was as though the entire space was being completely engulfed by the purple goo.


    "Holy Technique number 5¡­. Pierce!!" the purple-haired man''s eyes suddenly flashed with a blinding purple light.


    At that instant, all of the tentacles that had poured out flew up and turned into spikes that rushed towards Garen from all directions, completely surrounding him.


    At the same time, Tu Lan too raised her hands. She now seemed like a changed person, as the back of her hand had a black serpent dragon tattoo. As she waved her hands lightly, a formless aura quickly condensed, forming a ferocious translucent serpent dragon about 5-6 meters tall and over ten meters long.


    The serpent dragon seemed as though it had been condensed from a stream of water. It let out a loud roar and rushed at Garen.


    With countless spikes ahead of him, and a giant serpent dragon with unknown powers diving at him.


    Badum!!


    A strong purple explosion happened and translucent shockwaves rippled away from the epicenter of the explosion.


    Strong gusts of wind floored many trees in the surrounding areas. What was even weirder was that this rippling wind had wilted the green woods by severely dehydrating the water in the plants. Even the birds and squirrels that did not escape in time lost all signs of life, and plummeted directly down to the ground, all of their vitality drained.


    Ca-Crack!!


    A bergamot tree more than ten meters in diameter had been split in half due to the strong explosion and uprooted. The tree smashed straight into the epicenter of the purple mist.


    "Is that all?" a deep voice was heard from within the mist, which rippled quickly across all directions for hundreds of meters beyond.


    The purple haired Wellington''s pupils constricted as the remnants of his senses vanished and his aura was completely depleted of vitality. Both eyes were locked upon the center of the mist.


    "Even after being in my poison cage, you actually could¡­. Bam!!" a terrifying tremor suddenly exploded from within the mist.


    With a flash of golden light, Garen''s mask appeared before him in an instant. What followed closely was his huge, thunder-like attack which landed precisely on Wellington''s chest.


    Without any resistance, the impact of up to a thousand tonnes easily pierced through Wellington''s chest, destroying all of the organs inside of it as a bloody mist sprayed out from his back.


    Garen''s right arm had pierced through Wellington''s chest, as though he had been stabbed by an iron rod.


    "You¡­!" Wellington''s eyes were filled with surprise before a large amount of bloody foam started gushing from his mouth.


    "Holy Technique. Ultimate New Star!!" suddenly, an invisible hook swung towards Garen from behind and struck his back with immense force.


    Tu Lan''s hands were connected to the other end of the hook. Her face was pale and her breathing was irregular. Although her body was visibly weak, she''d obviously put all her strength into that strike.


    Her head had gone blank when she saw Garen punching through the clan leader single-handedly. Her lips were trembling, but she didn''t know what to say. There was only one thought: I don''t want to die! Don''t want to die!!


    This intense thought had allowed her to release the accumulated explosive power that she just got from advancing.


    The Ultimate New Star''s translucent hook was continuously drilling into Garen''s clothes like a corkscrew and digging into his skin, as though it was trying to pierce through his body.


    "Just like that?" Garen turned around and looked at Tu Lan, a cold, calm, even slightly disappointed look on his face.


    Bam!


    The translucent hook was being bounced back with a strong counter, exploding into nothingness in mid-air.


    Tu Lan and Wellington''s scalps had gone numb, and chills were running all over their bodies.


    This was leagues beyond a human''s capabilities!!


    This kind of absurd sturdiness, he was clearly a monster clad in human skin!!


    Wellington''s eyes were filled with desperation, and he flung both of his arms around Garen. Ignoring the immense pain from his wound, the purple light from him became more and more concentrated.


    "Holy Technique. Ultimate Explosion!!"


    Bam!!!


    An intense purple tidal wave of flames exploded with Garen at the epicenter of the explosion.


    The intense explosion stirred up a gust that was strong enough to push Tu Lan a few meters back, as a translucent serpent dragon immediately materialized to block the explosion for her.


    That explosion just now had already gouged a huge crater, but with this second explosion, the ground was marred by a gigantic crater measuring up to sixty meters in diameter. The crater looked as smooth as a mirror.


    After some time.


    The purple flames had burnt out at last and the purple mist had similarly dissipated. The deepest part of the crater was about thirty meters below ground level.


    Garen stood there alone, and the clothes on him were somewhat scorched, and his face finally had a slight change in expression.


    In that instant just now, he''d felt a sliver of danger and so he had immediately activated the first star. As his body was strengthened by one fold, at the same time, his aura had exploded and faced Wellington''s explosion head-on. But just like that¡­.


    He raised his right hand and gently brushed a wound on his own left shoulder. It was a red bruise that was about as thick as an index finger, but the surprising thing was that bruise was actually recovering at a speed visible to the naked eyes.


    "Interesting¡­" the original disinterest in his eyes was finally gone and had been replaced with a hint of excitement.


    Even someone who had activated the Seven Star Life''s Secret Point could be injured?


    Even though it was only the first star, but this situation was unheard of even for Garen.


    "So Blood Breeds aren''t that weak after all," he looked up and gazed into the distance, as he observed a certain aura on the boundary of a crater.


    Bam!


    The glass-like crater beneath his leg suddenly cracked as Garen rushed straight towards the aura while dragging a long afterimage. His speed in that instant had ramped up to an audible level, as the howling from breaking the sound barrier could be heard in the air.


    His body began igniting from the friction against the air, looking as though he''d combusted simultaneously, as he charged towards the aura at the side of the crater.


    "Die!!"


    As he rammed through the soils of the crater that was in the way, Garen stood right in front of Tu Lan.


    At this moment, Wellington who should have self-destructed instantaneously appeared behind Tu Lan and hugged her tightly.


    "Run!"


    The duo vanished into thin air, as though they had dived into a different dimension.


    "Trying to run?" Garen sneered.


    While moving at immense speed, Garen made a grab before him with his right hand as his palms began glowing with black lights.


    The Fantasy Fist exploded instantly, and even though it was just a momentary mental illusory attack, it shocked Tu Lan and Wellington enough that the speed of their escape was disrupted.


    It was at this instance, that their fates were decided; otherwise, they might have been able to completely disappear before Garen caught up with them. They could no longer shake him off due to this momentary stun.


    Bam!!


    The palm with black lights exhibited an immense power, striking down as though it was a giant hammer, and came crashing upon them. Tu Lan and Wellington were actually crushed and their flesh and bone were splattered, much like grapes in a tub, and they became two blobs of meat lumps mixed within the soil.


    "I will be back!! Wait and see!! Garen Thomas!!" Wellington''s voice could still be heard with a gritty tone.


    Garen''s ears twitched a bit, and his right arm extended suddenly and grabbed onto something in the air.


    With a tug, a purple silhouette was pulled out of thin air, and it was actually Wellington who was crushed into mush.


    He was completely naked, and his lower half was connected to a poor pangolin, which was constantly twitching. It seemed that he had been regenerating from the pangolin''s flesh and blood.


    At this time when he had been yanked out by Garen, he couldn''t even finish his sentence before his head was slapped and exploded from the power behind it, leaving a headless corpse that fell to the ground. The remaining flesh quickly disintegrated and melted into a puddle of flesh that could no longer move.


    "You''ll never be able to kill us¡­. Kekekeke¡­" Wellington''s voice was heard again. "Our flesh and blood are spread across the entire world, even if there''re no longer any regenerating materials for us here, we can regenerate in other places in the world. Garen Thomas¡­. You''ll definitely die! I will slowly take away all that you cared about, those that you deem precious and destroy all of them!"


    Instantaneously, Garen appeared in the wood several tens of meters away and extended both of his arms. both hands simultaneously tugged two naked people out, which were actually Wellington and Tu Lan.


    "You!!" Wellington nervously wanted to blurt out, but before he could say anything, his body had exploded, reduced to countless minced bits of flesh by the Waterbird Fist.


    Tu Lan screamed out of fear but she exploded as well, reduced to flesh bits and a pool of blood.


    The surroundings had been dyed red from the bloody rain that fell.


    Garen seemed unaffected at all, and he looked at the surroundings coldly.


    "Want to try speaking again?" he asked coldly.


    This time Wellington did not dare to speak again, he clamped his lips tightly and did not dare to speak at all.


    He was regenerating inside an ant''s lair underground, using the flesh and blood of ants to regrow the most basic Blood Core and head, and he didn''t dare speak again.


    Abruptly, Garen''s head turned and he suddenly appeared on the branch of a large tree on his right. Tu Lan, who was completely naked, was there, and as Garen rushed over, she was petrified beyond reacting and could only scream.


    Ahh!!


    She could not die again! She wasn''t Wellington, who has spread countless flesh and blood all around the world, and as long as his descendants didn''t completely die off, he could still regenerate. Furthermore, his real body was within the dream, so even if all the flesh had been exhausted outside, he could still regenerate, just that it would take a bit more time.


    But she was different.


    She had just deposited her life successfully, and not only did she have insufficient flesh and descendants spread across the world, even her dream where she had deposited her life would become unstable after successive deaths.


    "No!!!


    Dang!!


    A white light suddenly appeared in front of Garen, and blocked his right arm. The air suddenly let out a sigh.


    Oddly enough, this white light which clashed with Garen''s palm was actually capable of bruising him and leave a mark, as though the light was very sharp.


    Garen felt that his spirit was shaken, and his whole body and world tremored.


    Expert!!


    He immediately retreated to his original location in an instant, and warily stared at the white light that had just appeared.


    It was a mental-type top-tier expert!!


    Garen''s eyes finally turned serious for the first time.


    The white light circled Tu Lan once and slowly landed on the floor, turning into a handsome man in white.


    "Can you let this poor junior go? Master Garen." the man had a hint of sadness in his eyes, which made this person felt like a damsel in distress.


    "Leader Ashen!!" Tu Lan who was behind him suddenly shouted out of excitement.


    Ashen?!!


    Garen''s heart was stirred.


    The world strongest Blood Breed! The First Death Apostle, Ashen Castine!?

 729 Ashen 1

    Chapter 729: Ashen 1


    Garen''s gaze was fixed on that man. He rubbed his chin, and the edge of the mask there had actually cracked slightly when it was hit by the white light.


    ''Be careful, it''s not going to be easy dealing with this guy,'' Black Sethe whispered in his ear. ''He''s a top spiritual energy user, I did not expect a master level user to appear in this world.''


    Garen slowly nodded his head and stared at that guy with his left eye.


    From his clothes to his hair, even his skin was extremely pale, this was Ashen Castine, the world''s one and only strongest Blood Breed.


    "So he''s the first Death Apostle, the Ashen Lord," Garen slowly said. "As the leader of the light party, it''s truly unexpected that you will appear to rescue the Death Apostle of the Secret Party."


    Ashen stood silently on a tree branch, and Garen was below him. The two of them were seven or eight meters apart, but the area''s atmosphere felt as if it was being vaguely split into two halves.


    He gently caressed Tu Lan''s hair with a complicated look on his face.


    "In this world, there hasn''t been any new Death Apostle for many years, so every Death Apostle is my neo-humans'' greatest assets."


    He was the leader of the Light Party and he had always advocated that the blood breeds were leaders and evolved humans, whereas the Death Apostles of the Blood Breeds were the final evolution of humans.


    Unlike the Secret Party, as they believed that the blood breeds were a higher ranked species than humans, while the Light Party considered themselves to be a member of the human race.


    "That''s your own business," Garen said calmly. "I have my own principles, and you have your own way of doing."


    Ashen was stunned, he did not think that Garen would not do him this favor, "If you insist on fighting..."


    "Show me the strength of the first leader."


    The moment Garen spoke, he lifted his right arm, which had grown bigger and thicker, and swung it at Ashen.


    Boom!!


    More terrifyingly, a large group of black shadows had suddenly burst out of his right arm. It started stretching and morphed into a huge slender arm. Then, it swung at Ashen.


    The arm was more than ten meters long and it was still stretching!


    Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang!!!


    A large area of the forest, about 10 meters wide, was directly cut down by the huge black shadow hand, and the whole forest became an open space with hand-shaped prints all around.


    Strangely, he did not find any traces of Castine, and even Tu Lan seemed to have disappeared.


    "This is a meaningless fight," Castine''s voice came from all around Garen.


    Garen sneered coldly and quickly tapped his shoulders around ten times with his left fingers.


    Hooo!


    A cache of black gas swelled up once again within him.


    "Third star! Activate!!"


    His entire body seemed to grow bigger and bigger, and the green-black blood vessels on his body looked like twisted wires. His muscles were bulging tightly, and each pec was like steel castings. At this point, he was more than two meters tall and he looked like a back metal giant.


    At the same time, his overall attributes were once again raised by an average of seven points to achieve an average twenty-one points. With this terrifying increase in sense of perception, Garen finally caught a glimpse of subtle flaws in the surrounding space.


    "Left!"


    His left arm slammed like a cannonball to the left.


    Boom!!!


    The giant green-black hand fell like a hammer on the seemingly empty space.


    Instantly, a slight muffling sound was heard, and it seemed like Ashen had been hit. A huge horrifying force suddenly created a high-frequency vibration which made the space somewhat unstable, and a small buzzing sound could be heard.


    "Holy Technique - deactivate," a clear voice was heard coming from the air.


    As he heard that sound, Garen''s pupil suddenly shrank.


    ''Be careful! It''s the nature of time ability!!'' Black Sethe warned. "Retreat!!"


    Without hesitation, Garen retreated like a black lightning bolt, and in just a blink of an eye, he was ten meters away. The moment he retreated, there was a burst of white gas that seemed to be in pursuit. A strange looking white face appeared mid-air, which opened its mouth and appeared to be growling, although there was actually no sound.


    "Fourth star!!" Garen''s body suddenly swelled and started growing once again. He put his hands together and held them high up above his head.


    "Waterbird Fist Profound ¨C White Jade!!"


    At that moment, his tanned-skinned hands morphed into a black knife and made a slice. A similar looking white destroyed shadow was being drawn in mid-air. The black knife actually drew out a white destroyed shadow!


    The difference between this and the other two profound techniques was that the White Jade was not as strong as the Flight and did not have the large-scale attack of the Dual Blade. The only ability it had was to increase the defense of both his hands to its limit and concentrate all his spiritual energy into his hands. It could forcefully increase the strength of his hands to a terrifying level in a short time, and together with Garen''s physical quality, if he were to activate the fifth star, the profound White Jade that he cast would be able to surpass the thirty points physical limit.


    Not only did this surpass the limit of his body, it also strengthened the hardness of his exterior to an extremely high level, equivalent to turning his flesh and blood into iron and steel like a non-living thing for a short period of time. By abandoning his flesh and blood, he was able to obtain an extremely great strength. Because there was no living activity, his body would not be restricted by his physical limit.


    This trick did not seem to be effective when he was against Nadia, therefore, this was his first time using it in an actual fight. Even so, without a doubt, White Jade''s effect was the strongest.


    More terrifyingly, he was able to sustain this effect for about ten minutes at a time.


    Garen''s hands turned into knives and it directly slashed the white face which was flying towards him.


    Ahh!!!!


    As if someone was screaming in pain, the moment they collided, Garen only felt a slight pain in his body, and he was pushed back by three steps!


    When his palms came in contact with the white gas, there was an explosion and the white gas evacuated. Garen had to take a few steps to stabilize his body. He did not have any problems with his palms, but the upper part of his arms seemed to be slightly affected.


    Right at this moment, Ashen Castine and Tu Lan appeared mid-air in front of the collision.


    He covered his mouth and seemed to cough, and traces of blood could be seen between his fingers.


    "So powerful.... I''ve heard about how powerful the Holy Fist Palace is but I thought they were just rumors¡­ I didn''t expect... Cough-cough!" Castine coughed.


    He stared at the young blond man in front of him. In nearly a million years, he had never met such a powerful human.


    Every breath that he took created small holes on the ground. The heat emitted from his body was as hot as a furnace, and just by getting close to him, he could feel the huge radiation of heat from his body. Even by speaking casually, the vibration could cause an ordinary person to lose consciousness.


    This level of power, he can no longer be called human...


    The blonde man standing was wearing a mask on his face, one that had countless black tiny eyes carved onto the forehead, and he stood at almost three meters tall. With his horrifying green-black muscles, it gave people the impression that he was a giant monster truck that would block the cars behind.


    Under his terrifying breathing sounds, he sucked in waves of air, and then spewed it out again, stirring up a small whirlwind around. Just by breathing, he was able to induce such a powerful air current.


    Even Castine was slightly shocked.


    Compared to his neo-human Blood Breeds, he was less like a human!


    "I thought that there weren''t any worthy strong opponents in this world," Garen slowly opened his mouth and spoke in a low voice that sounded like thunder, and his body began to expand again.


    He could actually continue to get stronger!?!


    The look on Castine''s face finally changed, and he took a few steps back from the air flow made by Garen''s speech.


    He was not the only one who was astonished; Tu Lan who was standing behind him was stunned and could not get any words out. When Garen spoke, she felt the ground tremble and the vibrations from the huge sound wave.


    A human being able to train to this level, he could no longer be considered human! Compared to Garen, she suddenly felt that the Blood Breeds were so much more ordinary....


    Hooo!!!


    A gigantic airstream started spreading in all directions with Garen as the center point, and trees were being uprooted and falling all around.


    All this was just from Garen taking a step forward, yet such a ground shacking impact had been caused.


    "Ashen Castine...." Garen stared at him quietly with his remaining left eye. "You are eligible to witness my strongest form."


    "You....!" just as Castine wanted to say something, he suddenly felt the earth shaking for a moment, as though there was an earthquake.


    "Let''s have a showdown!"


    His roar was like a thunderstorm which growled right in front of him, and even though Castine was horrifyingly strong, he was still shaken by the impact.


    At that moment, Castine saw a giant figure suddenly appearing in front of him. The giant was more than three meters tall and the shadow of his terrifying physique overshadowed him and Tu Lan.


    Armor-like bulging muscles formed on Garen''s shoulders, and the muscles on his whole body were like a horrifying ferocious heavy armor, complete with an obvious metallic sheen on them.


    His right and left palms were coming together in their direction as if he wanted to directly squash Castine to death. The palms of his hands were larger than his head and looked like two giant iron bricks, and as they closed in, they were creating a terrifying, whistling sound.


    Without having much time to think, Castine hurriedly took a few steps back.


    "Holy Technique - Light!!"


    An unknown ancient language was coming from his mouth, and his words were articulated, his speed was sharply raised and he streaked into a white light.


    This was similar to what he had done just now. The speed of the white light was extremely fast, and he instantly broke free from Garen''s range.


    But right at this moment.


    Bang!!!


    As Garen clapped his palms together, a horrifying sound wave erupted with an extremely strong vibration and explosion, which smashed into Castine and Tu Lan.


    The two of them moaned in pain at the same time and tumbled onto the grassland not far away, as blood dripped out of their ears.


    Garen moved his body forward and made a huge leap. It was actually a few meters long leap, but it seemed as though he''d teleported right in front of Castine and stepped on him!


    A loud bang was heard, and a cloud of white gas which was more than 10 meters in length and width exploded and wrapped around Garen.


    The air current swept away everything around Garen; the trees, dirt, rocks, living creatures, and even Tu Lan were blown away by the terrible explosion. Bang-bang-bang sounds were heard hundreds of meters away as huge trees were shattered. A figure slowly fell to the ground, covered in blood and on the verge of death.


    "Holy Fist Garen...."


    White gas had gathered during the explosion and formed into a white-haired man figure, which was Castine.


    He covered his mouth and could no longer hold it in; his nose and ears were bleeding, and the drops of blood dripped onto his white clothes and stained them red. The blood could no longer return to his body, which indicated that he''d completely lost his vitality.

 730 Ashen 2

    Chapter 730: Ashen 2


    One had to know that when an Upper-Level Blood Breed was wounded, his blood would flow back into the wound to prevent him from losing strength due to blood loss.


    However, as a Death Apostle, Castine didn''t manage to activate this regeneration trait at all. One could only imagine how overwhelmingly powerful Garen was. Not only did he have a ridiculously large attack range, he also had a very delicate technique to make his opponent felt hopeless.


    Castine stared at the center of the explosion quietly as the white gas dissipated slowly to reveal a bulky humanoid monster at its core.


    It was Garen!


    Castine''s pupils contracted in disbelief, as he couldn''t see even the slightest trace of injury on Garen at all.


    "You¡­" Castine tried to speak but he realized that his body was wracked with pain.


    Boom!!!


    He immediately exploded. His upper body turned into minced meat instantly and splattered everywhere on the empty field, staining the newly created crater with red bloody meat bits.


    Castine''s lower body took a few steps forward before dropping down to the ground.


    This was the horrifying part of the Waterbird Fist. One wouldn''t be safe even after completely blocking their opponent''s attack. What made it so lethal was the explosion after the contact.


    Castine''s bloody mist swiftly dissipated and turned into white vapor as it diffused into the air. Then, the white vapor condensed into one location and formed into his body once more, including the white shirt he was wearing.


    Castine regenerated back once more and now he had no visible injuries. Even so, he knew that if he couldn''t even injure his enemy while fighting to his death, then that death would be meaningless.


    A Death Apostle too would experience a reduction in regeneration rate when he died too many times in a very short span.


    There was a secret that was known only by the Death Apostles, one regarding the mystery of the Death Apostle''s immortality. It was true that a Death Apostle was immortal; as long as their dream world was not discovered, they could always resurrect.


    However, one would require physical energy to resurrect in the material world. One would require some form of energy to restructure the blood and meat of their body.


    If one was to die for more than ten times in a month, then one would wait for a certain amount of time before one resurrected once more. As one''s dying streak grew longer, the duration to be resurrected would grow longer as well.


    In the beginning, it would require a few minutes and from then on, it would keep doubling up. For each death afterward, one would require twice the amount of time as the previous death.


    Initially, one would require one minute to be resurrected. Then it would require two minutes and the next would be four minutes, eight minutes and it would keep going in such a trend. It would require very little iteration for the time to be extremely long.


    In history, there were Death Apostles who had been dealt with in such a manner.


    There were countless Death Apostles that were kept on the killing list by other Death Apostles. Eventually, the Death Apostle would spend all of his energy and be trapped inside the dream world, unable to return any more.


    His resurrected point had been thrown into the core of a volcano, which had a great temperature. Furthermore, there was powerful witchcraft inscribed and witch weapons were used as well. At the moment he was about to resurrect, he would immediately be burned to death by the high temperature alone. Afterall, his body was extremely weak when he was just resurrected. Hence, no one had remembered the existence of that Death Apostle. Perhaps now, he would require a few thousands or ten thousand years to be resurrected. No one would know as he would be considered non-existent at that point.


    Castine clearly understood the current situation he was in. His Blood Nucleus had been exhausted by the Secret Party and he had almost exhausted his blood essence as well. Even if it wasn''t spent, he was no match for that monstrous human before him.


    The situation was very detrimental to him.


    He stood inside the huge crater which spanned a few hundred meters long in radius. It was a smooth, white crater formed by the multiple explosions, and the surface at the bottom was completely flat.


    Castine stared quietly at Garen. He knew that his opponent wouldn''t be able to last in this state for long, hence it was a battle to see who could last longer.


    Garen stared back at Castine too.


    The opponent was no match for him, but¡­


    He couldn''t be in the fifth star''s state for too long. Although he had obtained the Demonic Book''s power and the blessing of the Holy Phoenix Scriptures, he could only be in this state for five hours. It would be troublesome for him if the opponent were to drag the battle for more than five hours. This was due to the fact that his body and aura would regress into a weak phase after activating the fifth star for five hours. If he were to not save some of his energy then, he would be in grave danger if he couldn''t activate his Seven Star Life''s Secret Point at all.


    Although he was much stronger than the opponent when he was in the fourth-star state, the power that Castine had revealed thus far was powerful enough to injure him at the fourth star. While it may cause just a very small injury, it may pile up over time and become serious as well.


    Afterall, he was not a Death Apostle and wouldn''t be able to resurrect indefinitely. If the opponent refused to give up and kept giving him these small injuries, it would accumulate to the point where it would be serious¡­


    Garen started to feel frightened. While his opponent was not as powerful as him, the perseverant attitude was too much for him. If Castine were able to catch him off guard and injure him slowly, the injury would accumulate to the point that it would be troublesome.


    "We really have no need to keep fighting," Castine''s voice rang from afar.


    While the two of them were hundreds of meter apart, they spoke as if they were right beside each other. This was technically true as this distance could be covered by them in the blink of an eye.


    Garen changed his gaze slightly and stomped his leg out of the blue. With that stomp, a stone popped up and he sent the stone flying out with a punch.


    Pew!!


    The stone moved so fast that a streak of red sparks followed behind the stone. It was caused by the friction between the stone and the air. The stone was shot into a layer of dirt inside the crater the right behind him.


    A cry came from the layer of dirt and it was the voice of Wellington. He wasn''t able to evade Garen''s senses and died once more at his hand.


    "Stop it!!" Castine tried to stop him but it was too late. His face was filled with anger. "I''ve said it before. There''s not much hatred between us and this battle is completely unnecessary!"


    Garen turned his head and stared at him.


    "We can stop the battle but I need you people to reach an agreement. The Holy Fist Palace and the people from the Blood Breed shall never interfere with each other."


    "No problem," Castine agreed without any hesitation.


    "I have another additional request," Garen lifted up his index finger.


    "What is it? Speak up." Castine didn''t like to battle and truly hated war deep down. From his perspective, it meant nothing to him if he had to sacrifice a little bit to stop the war.


    "I can stop killing the Death Apostle, but I''ll bring her along with me!" Garen pointed to the left at a weak presence far outside the crater.


    The owner of this presence was surprisingly Tu Lan!!


    "No way!!" Castine rejected immediately. The aggressiveness showed by his opponent was a sign that he was a cruel and torturous man. If Tu Lan were to be under him, she wouldn''t be able to escape from his grasp anymore. Garen was a person whose strength had reached an overwhelmingly powerful level, so much so that Castine wouldn''t even judge him as a standard human being. Who could be sure of how long he will live? What if he was the same as the Blood Breed? Her entire life would be over if that were the case.


    "You don''t have to worry that I will torture her. I''m just interested in the Death Apostle''s resurrection mechanism. I would not purposely torture her at all. In fact, I will treat her as a member of the Holy Fist Palace and you can observe for however long all you like," Garen seemed to have predicted Castine''s thoughts. Although his opponent was a very old man who had lived for a long time, he too was no oil lamp as he had lived through three lifetimes. The things that he had experienced couldn''t be compared with others.


    Castine pondered quietly for a while. In the past, he had also met a very powerful witch who had tried to research the Death Apostle''s immortality but to no avail. Against this overwhelmingly powerful enemy, this meant that he had been given a chance to infiltrate into the inner circle of his enemy''s base. This way, he would able to learn the secret of him being so powerful.


    If he could determine the source of his overwhelmingly powerful strength, then it would be considered a huge victory for the Blood Breeds.


    Castine started to feel excited as he thought of this.


    "It depends entirely on her whether she wants to become your underling," he purposely diverted his voice towards Tu Lan who was far away.


    "I accept!! I accept!!" Tu Lan immediately replied loudly from afar and she seemed to be crying.


    Tears were all over her face as she huddled on the ground. Her whole body would shiver whenever she saw Garen. It was obvious that she had been traumatized by his attacks. Garen''s cruelty had shed a new light on her as she died a few times.


    She was currently placed in the same mindset as Dahm, in which Garen was a person they could never hope to win in their mind. Even if there came a day where they surpassed Garen in terms of force, the mindset would cause them to unable to perform fully in front of Garen. Hence they would be defeated easily.


    It had taken a lot of effort for her to be promoted to a Death Apostle. Never had she expected that she would experience such a tragedy the moment she became a Death Apostle. Garen had indeed carved a deep impression on her.


    It wasn''t just her that was afraid of Garen, even the Dream Creature that had merged with her was afraid as well the moment it saw Garen. Their fusion was never stable to begin with, and after she''d been defeated a few times, she was at death''s door. If not for Castine''s timely arrival, history might have been made where a Death Apostle would die for the very first time.


    "I accept!!!" she cried loudly as if she was afraid that Garen would punch a hole through her hand again.


    She had originally been a normal woman from a noble household. She had been turned into a Blood Breed when a dying Blood Breed injected his Blood Nucleus into her. After entering the household, she''d slowly gathered her strength to become an Upper-Level Blood Breed and now a Death Apostle.


    Tu Lan always had a sense of insecurity with her deep down in her heart. This strange insecurity was kept her from improving her battle strength and persevering in practicing the Holy Technique. She could only suppress this insecurity deep in her heart by constantly improving herself.


    She''d thought that she could simply kill anyone when she had become a Death Apostle, as she would be one of the strongest beings in the world no matter how one looked at it. However, never did she expect that she would meet this freak, Garen. After she realized that it was futile to defend against him, the insecurity deep inside her was out of the bag. This was especially true when she saw Ashen Castine, the first Apostle helpless against that man. She gave in to her fear and fell into despair.


    "I''m glad you accepted the offer!" Garen smiled satisfactorily as he cancelled his fifth-star state. His body starting shrinking and returned to normal in a few moments, no longer looking like a monster.


    He jumped out of the crater and stood beside Tu Lan. He then gently grabbed her by the neck as if he was picking up a kitten.


    "First Apostle, we shall meet if we have the chance."


    After that, Garen picked up Tu Lan and sprinted swiftly into the sea of forests, disappearing into it.


    Castine stood still and gave off a long sigh as he looked at Garen''s shrinking figure.


    He knew that after this battle, the Holy Fist Palace would become a powerful force that could rival the Blood Breeds!

 731 Post-Battle 1

    Chapter 731: Post-Battle 1


    Word of this battle between the Holy Fist and the Death Apostles spread like wildfire. There were people who claimed they had felt the ripples of shockwaves from the battle from afar. Certain countries'' military satellite monitoring system also picked up strong signals from the area of the battle. Of course, all of these details were confidential and sealed away.


    Only the highest ranked personnel had the security clearance to access this information.


    Garen started pursuing Tu Lan Wellington from the Holy Fist Palace. On the way, Tu Lan had managed to evolve into a death apostle and successfully surrounded Garen with the help of the head of the Wellington household, but the two were easily defeated. If it weren''t for the interference of the Number One Apostle, the two would have been utterly annihilated by Garen.


    This piece of information was obtained from the internal messages of the Blood Breeds.


    Ashen had managed to escape. This was a truth admitted by the Number One Apostle himself. As the strongest Death Apostle, if he hadn''t personally interfered in this, the results of this battle would have been unpredictable.


    As the message spread, it caused tremors throughout the world.


    This shook up the entire Blood Breed civilization, both the Light Party and the Secret Party. Various investigations on the Holy Fist Palace immediately started, with countless resources and manpower all siphoned towards the tasks of finding the truth behind how a group could manage to become so strong in just a short timespan.


    Various technological or even secret means were used in attempts to investigate deeper.


    Word of the top tier martial arts from the Holy Fist Palace started to leak out, spreading throughout the world. Rumor has it that if you managed to complete the martial arts training at the Holy Fist Palace, you would attain a monstrous combat prowess similar to the Blood Breeds.


    These rumors and legends started spreading more and more, painting an even more concrete image.


    Since the Secret Party had failed to repress Ashen, after the former strongest Number One Apostle had escaped, the two factions were once again forced to return to the negotiating table, with the resources of both sides drastically diminished. Due to the immense pressure from the Holy Fist Palace and the witches, they were finally willing to talk.


    Although there''s still a sense of hostility and rivalry between the two factions, it was now far less intense.


    On the other hand, Garen and his men had escorted Tu Lan to the Bailey Group headquarters, only to find the building completely abandoned. Just as they were prepared to move to the headquarters of the Primary Colours, they received an invitation, stating that the people who targeted the Holy Fist Palace had been removed and that they would send the appropriate reparations to the Combat Club soon.


    Facing the Holy Fist Palace that was strong enough to suppress the Blood Breeds, even a group like the Primary Colours had to be cautious not to step on their tail.


    At this moment, the Combat Club''s networking circle has also been rapidly increasing. After the second batch of students left, this network started to spread throughout the globe, connecting them with influential people all over the world.


    After the battle with the Death Apostle, as the representative of the Holy Fist Palace, Garen''s fame seemed to have been raised to unparalleled heights.


    Although most people only knew about the most minute of details, to be able to defeat two allied death apostles and almost being forced to retreat with Ashen''s presence showcased Garen''s ridiculous strength.


    ******


    Holy Fist Palace


    A thick layer of snow blanketed the entire palace.


    It was late at night, and in the empty meeting hall, the smooth black marble flooring could almost reflect a person''s appearance.


    Garen sat at the highest point of the hall, while his captive, Tu Lan, stood behind him.


    On both sides stood the top-ranked members in the Combat Club and the Nighthawks, in two orderly lines.


    Dahm, Hochman, Quentin, Xander, Ninox, Baldy of the Nighthawks, and Caesar from the second batch.


    These people all stood there giving off an imposing air, giving out their reports when instructed by their master.


    The one speaking now was Xander.


    "We''ve recently captured 423 people who attempted to acquire intel about our Holy Fist Style, most of them were from the intelligence and recon agencies from various countries. Most likely, under the orders of the Blood Breed or overambitious parties. After your battle with the Death Apostles, our name has been solidified in this world. Although our numbers are nowhere near the witches or the Blood Breed, from the standpoint of high-level combat, we have master sitting here. There''s no way anyone would dare to take us lightly. Under this condition, everything is progressing rapidly as part of the plan."


    Xander bowed and moved back in line.


    Quentin, who was on his left, stood out to give her report.


    "Regarding the internal movements of the Blood Breed. According to the spies we''ve manipulated and planted within the ranks of the Blood Breed, the situation between the two factions is slowly dying down. Although there were still a few violent clashes and confrontations, the number of casualties have drastically decreased. This is most likely the effect of our threat. On the witches'' side, AG has just declared Mount Enredour to be closed. However, on the same day, a witch from the Dark Colours was ambushed, severing 3 of her limbs. This is likely an attack by the extremists from the Blood Breeds as a revenge from the battle of Wellington. I suggest that we also set up some defenses in case they decide to attack."


    "That''s natural," Garen said. "Dahm, have you finished arranging the schedule to get the Sleepless Face Mask I want?"


    Dahm hastily stood out.


    "Everything is set, we will be heading to Memphis Forest tomorrow. I''ve already sent my men to scout out the Moon River over there, preliminary investigations have narrowed it down to a few possible locations."


    "Update me with the good news then."


    "Understood."


    "Oh, I also heard that you joined the National Security Agency and got a new position," Garen usually didn''t care much about the affairs of the nation, but Dahm was from one of the most influential households in politics, hence becoming a civil servant or government official was only natural.


    "It''s a special forces department, newly founded specifically for Spec-Ops. Officially, I am the director general of this department," Dahm politely answered. As he dived deeper into the realm of the martial arts, he and Hochman had started to feel even more deeply that their absurd growth rate was completely abnormal. It wasn''t just him, everyone who had trained with Garen had the same amazing progress.


    Obviously, that was the only explanation for it. The source always led back to Garen. He must have used some method to allow them to grow alongside him.


    After learning about this and undergoing various investigations and experimentation, he and Hochman came to the understanding that their growth was based on Garen''s strength. Most of it wasn''t due to their own hard work.


    After learning about this, any thoughts of malice towards the Holy Fist Palace were completely abandoned by the two.


    Of course, that was also the reason why Garen completely did not care about the actions of those under him and gave complete control to the people under him. Except during his personal training sessions and the occasional confrontations, he completely relinquished his control on them, not caring about the internal disputes between his students.


    This lead to the two shifting their focus back towards each other. Their mutual fighting styles were similar to Yin and Yang; they were the two polar extremes of the Waterbird Fist so naturally, they weren''t on friendly terms.


    Recently Hochman had finally managed to capture his beloved cousin once again. After he found out that it was all Dahm''s doing, he was even more pissed.


    The two''s confrontations once again escalated to a new height.


    "What about the 7th mask? Hochman, have you found any leads?" Garen turned his head towards Hochman.


    "We''ve already found some clues on it," Hochman nodded. "According to our sources, the 7th mask is most likely in the hands of the Bailey Group Chairman. I''ve already sent out a command, ordering my forces to pour all their resources towards hunting Kabb and his accomplice Medis. However, even before this, the two seemed to have disappeared off our radar. They might''ve heard about our movements and went into hiding."


    "You can ask the witches from the Dark Colours for some assistance if needed. Their representative they sent to request aid should almost be here," Garen answered. "As for the amount of aid from both sides, I''ll leave the negotiations to you."


    "Alright," Hochman was now one of the heads of the largest conglomerates in the world. Unlike Dahm, he''d chose to take the path of economics and finance, but he had also achieved a similar level of influence in the world.


    For these Monthly meetings at the Holy Fist Palace, he had no choice but to squeeze out some time from his regularly packed schedule.


    Next, Caesar headed up to report on the progress of the Combat Club and its connections, some of their requests and the corresponding advantages it granted the Holy Fist Palace.


    As for the progress of the Combat Club, they now own 3 of the biggest hotel chains throughout various countries, 5 private banks, and 1 media corporation. These were only the direct affiliations. Other intermediaries include various influences the members have throughout over 30 countries, with enough influence to affect the domestic economy and politics of numerous small and medium-sized nations. However, their influences on major countries are severely limited, as those are within the control of the blood breed and the witches."


    However, with this, the effective direct income of the Holy Fist Palace was more than 30 billion per annum, and this was only the first year of their growth.


    The assets recorded under Garen''s name was valued at more than 100 billion, an unimaginable amount.


    Even Garen himself was shocked when he heard this amount. He''d never expected his wealth to increase at such a rapid rate. Only after the detailed explanation by Caesar did he understand what was going on. A large amount of these assets were mainly from the gifts or discounts given by other forces in the world, trying to get on the good side of the Combat Club. In addition, with the support of the connections of the members themselves, the growth was boosted even further.


    It had almost been a month since the battle with the apostles.


    In actuality, it hadn''t even been a year since this palace had finished its construction. However, within such a short time, this place managed to become such an influential monster.


    Tu Lan, who was standing behind Garen this whole time, was completely shell-shocked


    Listening to the reports from below her, even she could not hide her shock.


    These people giving reports all had supernatural abilities, and even the weakest amongst the bunch was at the level of a Middle-level Blood Breed. There were even 3 who have reached the level of Upper-level Blood Breeds. This level of strength has already far surpassed the old Blood Breed households. They had reached the level of a household of death apostles.


    This was only the growth of a few years.


    Garen was completely unworried about her leaking out the reports she heard, as he had no intention of hiding anything from her. He just allowed her to listen in freely on this entire session.


    Was it because he could confidently suppress her completely?


    Tu Lan started to bite her lip in frustration.


    "Lord, Ms. Vivian has a message for you. She says that Mr. Emmer and Mrs. Trish wish to see you," suddenly, a subject was brought up from below.


    Suddenly the entire hall fell silent.


    Garen, still sitting on his throne, paused briefly.


    "Reply to her that I''ll return tomorrow."


    "Understood," the subordinate below him bowed and swiftly departed.


    "That''s all for today''s meeting. Cece, please stay back for a moment," Garen calmly said.

 732 Post-Battle 2

    Chapter 732: Post-Battle 2


    Immediately, the people at the bottom bowed and silently left the hall, and only Ninox remained. She had the same style as back in her student days; she was in a pair of white skinny jeans and a knotted white T-shirt that flaunted her curves. However, her face was a bit pale, as she was still recovering from her injuries.


    She looked over at Tu Lan who was standing behind Garen. Recognizing her, she had a displeased expression. However, since Garen was there, she didn''t say anything and quietly stood there awaiting her orders.


    She was the most loyal person to Garen out of all the members of the Combat Club. Regarding the manipulation via the Soul Seed, she didn''t mind at all. On the contrary, she was extremely grateful for what Garen did for her, as it turned her life around.


    Although she would have to face a lot of dark and gory predicaments, the Fantasy Fist wasn''t as bloody as Waterbird Fist. By using Waterbird Fist as a support for Fantasy Fist, she could easily render the opponent helpless. This also meant that she had also killed a lot of people, but most of the time blood wouldn''t be spilled.


    Garen had never forced her to do anything though. Just like Dahm and Hochman, she''d started off merely as a martial arts hobbyist who had some basic training in the East. If not for her gratitude towards Garen and the influence of the soul seed primer, there was no way Ninox could''ve adapted to her current job and lifestyle at the Holy Fist Palace.


    Garen stood up from his throne. After everyone else had exited the hall, he finally walked down, with Cece and Tu Lan following closely behind him. The trio headed to the palace, towards the common resting facilities used by Garen and the members of the palace.


    Ninox had the utmost admiration towards Garen, and so she eagerly followed behind him. Tu Lan hesitated for a brief moment but reluctantly followed the two.


    "How is the training going for your Fantasy Fist?" Garen asked while he continued to walk.


    Cece politely answered.


    "I''m only one more level away from reaching the maximum level."


    "Oh?" Garen was somewhat surprised. "That''s fast progress. Looks like your innate abilities are great after all."


    The three walked to a darker corner. Garen suddenly stopped and turned around.


    "I have a task for you."


    "I await your orders, master," Ninox immediately lowered her head.


    "I want you to protect someone in secret back in my hometown of Grano," Garen calmly said. He opened up his mouth, a name immediately rang in Cece''s ears.


    She was stunned for a moment, and her eyes held a hint of disappointment. However, she quickly composed herself once more.


    "I will complete your orders."


    "Out of my apprentices, I''m most worried about you," Garen let out a sigh, "Relax your whole body."


    Ninox was once again stunned, not understanding what her master meant.


    In an instant, she saw Garen''s palm fly towards her chest. Her face immediately flushed red, and she forcefully suppressing her urge to dodge his hand, closing her eyes.


    Poke!


    Almost as if numerous sounds merged together, it created a loud sound.


    Garen''s index finger lightly poked a pressure point in between Cece''s breasts. He then slowly pulled back his hand.


    At that moment, Ninox''s chest started to boil up, almost as if her entire body was being entirely enveloped by the warmth of a hot spring. This feeling only lasted for a brief moment and it faded away almost immediately.


    "I left something inside your body that in the case of emergencies, such as when you face a life-or-death situation, it will automatically activate," Garen''s calm voice could be heard once again.


    "Apprentice¡­" Ninox suddenly realized that it was all her dirty imagination, and she immediately blushed. She slightly lowered her head, her heart beating rapidly.


    "Alright, I''m counting on you!" he patted her shoulders, "Don''t let me down."


    "Yes!" Cece frantically nodded and turned around to escape from this situation. With a few huge leaps, she even used her secret techniques to escape this embarrassing situation.


    "She likes you," Tu Lan said in a soft voice.


    "Is that so?" Garen didn''t seem surprised; Cece''s reactions were easy to read even for a normal person.


    Tu Lan could also understand Garen. After all, his existence was on a whole new level.


    An unparalleled position, monstrous strength, a handsome appearance comparable to Apollo, the God of Sun himself, he had every masculine trait that one could ever want. It would be even weirder if someone didn''t like him.


    Garen also understood how Cece felt, but a young girl''s emotions were constantly changing. She was still young and might not understand what she was feeling yet, might not know what she actually liked yet. She would only find out more when she matured, and it was still too early to tell.


    This mission he gave was also a form of training for Ninox. In the end, she still didn''t have much experience in killing and so she was still very naive.


    What Garen left inside her was the aura to unlock the first star of his Seven Star Life''s Secret Point Secret Method. That small amount of aura could allow Ninox to obtain the burst potential of the first star in emergencies. That would allow her to double all of her stats, at the cost of collapsing in exhaustion for one entire day after.


    This was his protection for her. Out of all his apprentices, Ninox had the purest intentions towards the Holy Fist Palace.


    "You can go back and rest," Garen looked Tu Lan in the eye. "Remember, you are not allowed to leave the Holy Fist Palace."


    "Yeah yeah," Tu Lan made a dejected face. "It''s not like I could leave even if I wanted to, right?"


    Her body was planted with Garen''s soul seed primer, as she''d given in to the temptation and started learning the Fantasy Fist. Even if it was the Blood Breed, after learning Garen''s secret techniques and demonic techniques, they would expectedly start to get engrossed in it. It wasn''t because the training brought them pleasure, but it was mostly because they had to find Garen every so often for him to personally refill the energy of the soul seed primer.


    Without Garen''s soul primer to suppress the effects of learning the Fantasy Fist, even if she was a death apostle, there would still be numerous side effects of migraines and even memory loss.


    However, with the pleasure getting stronger from learning the Fantasy Fist, Tu Lan, who had been bored for thousands of years, couldn''t help but delve deeper and deeper. She started taking the initiative in her training even without the orders of Garen.


    Garen also found it strange, as the Fantasy Fist didn''t always have this type of effect. Ever since it had been written into the Demonic Book, it started to have the same effects of the Waterbird Fist, a weird pleasure in learning the technique and soul resistance. Similar to the other secret techniques, it became a demonic technique with rapid progression rates.


    He guessed that this had something to do with the Demonic Book.


    After Tu Lan left, he headed towards his reading room alone.


    After closing the door, he saw the boiling hot glass of green tea freshly made from the kitchen. Inside the glass wasn''t just normal green tea leaves, there were also countless valuable herbs, all for the purpose of replenishing one''s vitality, qi and blood. The water had turned a bright shade of green due to an excessive amount of a certain ingredient used. However, if a normal person were to ingest this, it would undoubtedly have the same effects of drinking a poisonous tonic. Its frightening concentration could easily be made out from the intense aroma slowly enveloping the entire room. If a normal person were to drink this, they would definitely collapse immediately.


    However, Garen was completely used to this, he just grabbed the glass and chugged its contents down.


    "Is there any way for my right eye to recover?" Garen asked as if talking to another person.


    At that moment, Black Sethe''s voice softly rang in his ears.


    ''I''ve checked, the wounds left by Nadia has a special ability to cause permanent damage. To put it simply, after you get wounded and certain parts of your body completely stop functioning, there will be no chance of recovery. In other words, I can''t do anything else to help your eye."


    Garen lightly touched his right eye.


    "As a Void Pursuer, can''t I use the core of void creatures to repair my wounds?"


    ''That is the case, but those only apply to average wounds from normal void creatures. This ability of Nadia is something more like gene erasing. It looked as if she only attacked your right eye, but in reality, she attacked your body''s cells, removing all genes linked to your right eye in the cells, making it seem as if you never had a right eye in the first place. Naturally, there is no way of recovering from that,'' Black Sethe explained.


    ''A better plan would be to get a transplant, attaching another creature''s eyes to your body, using it on your own. However, that requires major alterations in the brain, making it risky and troublesome.''


    "Speaking of which, Nadia hasn''t appeared for a while now. Has she given up?" Garen frowned.


    ''Impossible. After being silent for such a long time, there''s a high chance she has developed a strong attack tactic. You''d better prepare yourself,'' Black Sethe flatly denied Garen''s hypothesis. ''As for your right eye, if you plan on hiding it from your parents, your best bet is to use your Fantasy Fist.''


    Garen also understood that. He just sighed and moved on.


    He shifted his sights to his own attribute pane.


    ''Garen Thomas.


    Strength 7. Agility 7. Vitality 10. Intelligence 11. Potential 7989%. Soul Limit 30.''


    The attributes with more than 10 points now required more than 100 potential points just to increase them by one point. This frightening point requirement made Garen give up on raising the other attributes. He thought it would be better to save up his points to get to 12 points of Intelligence, gaining the double hit ability.


    On the other hand, he had not met his family in a very long time, which was very weird for a child. Since his right eye couldn''t be repaired, he had no choice but to use his Fantasy Fist.


    The information on the Fantasy Fist flashed in his mind.


    His vision swiftly shifted towards his skill pane, in the panel filled with different abilities and skills, he found the Fantasy Fist.


    ''Fantasy Fist: Level 1 -- Memory Loss (Total of 4 levels)''


    ''A mysterious and scary ancient form of martial arts. Uses sound and air flow to damage or vibrate the opponents'' brains, creating a confusion effect on the opponents. Once hailed as the most feared secret martial arts.''


    The Fantasy Fist, as a top-tier martial arts technique, naturally required quite a lot of potential points to level. The system behind learning this technique was absurdly complex. Every level was as tedious as decrypting a code, and it wasn''t something a normal person could achieve.


    However, Garen was different; even his lowest attributes were at 7 points and as his Intelligence was at 11 points, his memory and comprehension level had reached an inhuman level. Furthermore, he was once a researcher back in the Totem World and had a good understanding of advanced neurology. Naturally, this made learning Fantasy Fist a simple task for him. A lot of the theories and principles behind it were nothing but just a refresher course for him.


    For a top tier martial arts technique, the first level should require 5 points...


    Garen''s vision was focussed on the icon. After 3 seconds, the icon flashed, then once again turning clear, the text displayed also changed.


    ''Fantasy Fist: Level 2-- Delirium (Total of 4 levels)''


    ''An increased effect duration, causing confusion on all 5 senses.''


    Glancing at his potential points, he''d used up 5 points. That didn''t faze Garen, and he continued to focus on the Fantasy Fist.


    Except for his Flight of the Waterbird''s Profound, there weren''t any moves from the Waterbird''s Profound that required his full potential. Even Flight of the Phoenix was the result of combining Flight with West Phoenix Fist, or else it would merely be a third-rate secret technique. It could never reach that level on its own.


    If he leveled Fantasy Fist now, he would be able to widen his arsenal. After all, Fantasy Fist was a top-class technique.

 733 Fusion and Masks 1

    Chapter 733: Fusion and Masks 1


    Shortly after, he reached the 3rd level.


    ''Level 3 --Memory Alter.''


    ''Changes memories, creates illusions and disrupts the opponents'' senses of their surroundings. At this level, one will obtain the prerequisite to learn the first Profound for this technique -- Radiant World.''


    This was the exact move that Ninox used against Tu Lan last time, forcing her opponent into an illusory world. However, because she didn''t have enough energy, she was countered by Tu Lan''s Blood Breed ability Illusive Counter, who then managed to break out of her world.


    If it managed to succeed, Tu Lan would be stuck in an illusory world fighting against an undying Ninox. No matter how many times she killed her, Ninox would just revive again at full strength.


    This would continue until Tu Lan exhausted all her energy. However, even though the Ninox in that world was just an illusion, if she got hit, it would still damage her physical body. This was the textbook case of how one''s mental state could affect one''s physical condition.


    Lastly, there was the 4th level.


    Garen once again focused for 3 seconds. The icon for Fantasy Fist blurred briefly once again, then immediately cleared up. There seemed to be slight changes to the icon as well.


    ''Fantasy Fist: Level 4 --Vanish.''


    ''All enemies being suppressed by this aura will momentarily lose their consciousness, falling under the control of the user. This effect will be automatically applied. Any opponent that comes into physical contact with the user lose partial control over parts of their body. Against weak-willed opponents, it may cause them to enter an eternal slumber, causing brain damage, and more.''


    ''Final Profound --Reincarnate (Eternal control over a weak-willed opponent, forcing them to unconsciously obey your commands) - Not Learned. The user requires 1 or more Pearl Flowers.''


    Looking at the effects of the final Profound, even Garen was in utter shock.


    The strength of Fantasy Fist had already reached such a frightening degree. However, the last material required was a Pearl Flower. Garen knew about this flower, but unfortunately, it did not seem to exist in this world; he''d read about it in a botany book back in the Totem World under the category ''Special Plants".


    At this moment, he suddenly realized that all the moves he usually used worked with the Waterbird Fist as their base. This third-rate fist technique, when combined with the West Phoenix Fist, could achieve a whole new height. Adding to the effects of the Demonic Book, its progress rate was drastically increased, its final strength largely increased and training period shortened, making it an advanced-level technique.


    He also understood that the things he learned at this point were getting more and more diverse. The four big killer moves he created in the Secret Technique World were no longer enough to meet the requirements of the current level of combat, causing him to be unable to activate the full potential of the fifth star of the skills.


    Having an excessively diverse arsenal was a troublesome thing for normal people. However, for Garen, he sorted out every single ability and technique he had, and only had to care about which secret technique he should select.


    Now that Fantasy Fist had reached level 4, its strength could also be considered to be a level higher, and so his choices have also increased.


    Reincarnate was undoubtedly strong, being able to forever alter a person''s consciousness. However, to Garen, this skill could not reach its full potential in a battle scenario. Furthermore, it even required a rare material.


    His fighting style was largely based on brute force, fitting his strong and fearless personality. However, the combat style that best utilized Fantasy Fists was a more stealthy style. Unlike his other secret techniques, it did not enhance the user''s physical abilities and was purely a control technique used to gain an advantage over opponents. It was the polar opposite of his brute force style.


    "Well... I still need to fuse the Fantasy Fist into my fighting style somehow," Garen started to brainstorm. He went back to the table he usually used to write the Demonic Book and pulled out a pen, slowly twirling it between his fingers.


    ''The Fantasy Fist''s effectivity relies on the mental and spiritual strength of the user. Except for Nadia and other void creatures, who do you think has a stronger mental and spiritual strength than you?'' Black Sethe said.


    "That''s true," Garen nodded, "but the two are still different secret techniques. One can only use one secret technique at any point in time because of the multiple overlapping variables within the meridian system. When I use Waterbird Fist, I won''t be able to use Fantasy Fist. Being able to learn both Secret Techniques was only because of my current strength, and because the parts of the meridian system for Fantasy Fist and Waterbird Fist don''t overlap too much. If it was an average person, they would''ve already suffered internal damage when they started to train."


    Garen frowned.


    ''Then, how about you try fusing them?'' Black Sethe hinted.


    "Fusion?" Garen suddenly remembered the days back when he''d first arrived in the Secret Technique World, where he kept trying to combined different martial arts. Those fusions created terrifyingly strong results. "That''s worth a shot."


    His vision returned to his Skill Pane.


    Waterbird Fist had already reached Level 4, and there weren''t any requirements displayed for its Profounds.


    Garen''s vision moved repeatedly from the two secret techniques with the intent of fusing the two. Suddenly, the two icons started to slightly vibrate, creating a miraculous result.


    The two icons started glowing red and started to beat like a heart, one stronger than the other. This seemed to insinuate which technique would become the main and which the sub. After a while, contrary to Garen''s expectations, the far superior Fantasy Fist''s red glow started to fade, whilst the third rate Waterbird Fist started to glow even brighter.


    The icon for Fantasy Fist slowly started to blur out. Together with the text detailing the technique, it slowly disappeared. On the other hand, the icon for Waterbird Fist started glowing even brighter. The icon almost looked like it was stained with bright red blood.


    Pak! A soft sound could be heard, something like a steel wire being cut in half. Garen could now see that Fantasy Fist had completely disappeared.


    Waterbird Fist also had some new changes.


    ''Mirage Waterbird Fist: Level 4 (Total 4 levels)


    A top class technique created by fusing the Fantasy Fist into the Waterbird Fist. The user can affect an opponent''s state of mind through his movements. It has 4 Profounds. The final Profound --Joyous Reincarnate.''


    This new secret technique wasn''t like his previous results, where the fusion had led to the strengthening of one of the techniques. This time, it merged the effects of both techniques.


    As Fantasy Fist and Waterbird Fist didn''t have too many overlapping variables in the Meridian system, this allowed them to support each other. The two secret techniques managed to merge and become a completely new technique.


    However, when Garen attempted to follow the blood and qi circulation of the new technique, he felt that the blood flow used by this technique was similar to what both Fantasy Fist and Waterbird Fist used. There was one trouble that he noticed.


    The areas with overlapping blood flows.


    Even though there was very little overlapping, two of the overlapped areas have already started to hurt.


    The first area was at the center of his left inner wrist, while the other was right in the middle of his lower back.


    These two areas were coincidentally the areas that require the most blood flow for this new technique.


    Hypothetically, if both the original techniques will require blood flow in a certain area, by merging the two techniques it will require blood flow to the same areas twice. This indirectly doubled the burden on the user''s body.


    "If even a body like mine would feel discomfort, looks like this new technique can''t be taught to others, I have to train it myself¡­" Garen frowned.


    ''Can you tweak it in any way?'' Black Sethe suggested.


    "Sadly I can''t¡­" Garen shook his head, "These two overlapping areas are key areas, they can''t be replaced."


    ''Well you win some you lose some,'' Garen lightly chuckled, comforting him. ''Let''s find a place to test out its strength.''


    Garen nodded and walked out of the reading room. He walked down the corridor slowly but swiftly, he moved more than 10 meters just with a couple of steps.


    Passing through the student training hall, he saw a few silhouettes engrossed in their training. Upon closer inspection, it was the students who had slower progress, and the sight made Garen happy and satisfied.


    After the 2nd batch of students, this 3rd batch of new students was no longer directly under his control as he felt no need to control this batch of students. He left it up to his 3 best pupils, Hochman, Dahm, and Cece to choose who to guide. The remaining would then be left to Quentin, Xander, and the others to deal with.


    All of his students from the 1st batch of students in the Combat Club now had the ability to release their own soul seed primer, as they have all reached a certain level of proficiency in their Secret Techniques. Although it was much weaker than Garen''s, it still managed to establish control to a certain extent.


    This also helped further develop their own strengths.


    Silently passing through the training hall, Garen walked past a few more areas to finally arrive at the pet feeding area of the palace.


    This was a circular empty atrium area, with cages of different sizes placed all around. Some of the cages had an animal, and some were empty. Occasionally, you could hear the sounds of dogs and cats.


    The air conditioner was set to a higher temperature here, unlike other areas where the temperature was lowered to train the students.


    Garen looked through the cages one by one. He stopped at a cage with white cats with an unknown owner. Inside the cage was a nest of 3 kittens, all of them pure white. They looked like 3 cute little furballs from afar. As Garen went closer, the 3 palm-sized kittens all started mewing softly and snuggled close to each other, as if they were cowering in fear.


    Garen reached his finger out with a smile, lightly poking the cage.


    Ting¡­


    A shapeless wave started rippling from the part of the steel cage that Garen touched.


    The wave rapidly covered the three kittens, then quickly disappeared.


    The steel cage cracked; the Waterbird Fist''s monstrous power had somehow managed to break through the steel bar, creating a small gap just enough for the kittens to wriggle out. However, the three kittens completely did not notice the newly created gap and remained motionless in the cage.


    Garen stood up with a satisfied smile on his face.


    "Mirage Waterbird Fist seems to be able to affect animals, though it''s not very strong," he looked at the gaze of the kittens, they completely did not notice that the cage was broken, almost like they felt that they were still locked in the cage.


    "What''s sad about this is that the effects weren''t completely intentional. As the illusions induced were natural, this cannot be used against void creatures."


    ''You can take the initiative and try it out on Nadia, it''s also a good opportunity to go check on her movements,'' Black Sethe suggested.


    "Good idea."


    Garen agreed. Nadia hadn''t made any moves for such a long time that it almost felt like the calm before a storm.


    He stood up and left the pet area, heading straight to the secret room in the palace.


    After he left, the three kittens still did not move. In the reflection in their eyes, the cage was still completely intact¡­

 734 Fusion and Masks 2

    Chapter 734: Fusion and Masks 2


    In the same empty hall, a silhouette was stuck to the center of the wall, tightly bound by countless strands of green webbing, unable to escape. He seemed to be struggling in pain.


    On both sides of the hall were rows of tall white statues, all depicting a humanoid being holding a huge sword up high, creating a solemn atmosphere.


    Garen once again stood in this hall, before the wall shrouded in green webbing. He reached his arm out to touch the green webs, but there was a sturdy glass layer preventing him from touching it. He had attempted to break it in the past, but his efforts were futile; this glass was far stronger than any material he could''ve imagined.


    Garen scanned the surroundings, the floor, and the walls, they were all covered in a layer of dust. It seemed that no one had been here for a long time.


    "Nadia?" Garen called in a low voice.


    There was no reply.


    His voice only continuously echoed through the hall.


    Garen frowned, as this was not his first time coming to this dream realm. This was his eighth time entering this place. In the past, he would come every so often to have a lethal duel with Nadia.


    Similarly, every time he entered this place, Nadia would immediately appear.


    However, this time Nadia didn''t appear.


    ''She didn''t show up? That''s impossible,'' Black Sethe''s voice rang.


    "Maybe she got wrapped up with some other stuff?" Garen guessed.


    ''Maybe.''


    Garen frowned even more. He had a bad feeling about this.


    ******


    Bottom of the Holy Fist Palace Mountain


    In a small town


    A white car slowly stopped in front of a small building. It was Garen''s house. In the warm sunshine, the car door opened, and out from the driver''s seat came a handsome young man, with hair as bright as gold.


    The man was in a white suit, and his lean figure gave off a fully balanced impression. He gently smiled at the cute young girl running out of the building.


    "Lil'' Vivien¡­"


    "Brother, welcome home!"


    The young girl''s slim youthful body dived straight into Garen''s embrace. He swung her around in a circle.


    "Mom and Dad are waiting for you inside!" Vivien seemed extremely happy.


    Garen raised his head and saw his father Emmer looking down with a strict expression from the 2nd-floor window.


    He smiled, then walked into the building.


    Behind him, more and more cars slowly stopped near the same building. A few men emerged from the cars and patrolled its vicinity.


    Walking through the doorway, Garen saw a big table at the center of the room, with something covered by a black cloth.


    Bang!!


    A frightening explosion sound rang from behind him. Just as he had let his guard down, his body was covered with countless party streamers.


    His younger sister Vivien, his older brother Jason, Alicia, and even his mother Trish had blasted party poppers at Garen.


    With the chaotic party poppers, Garen was completely covered with streamers, looking like a weird rainbow-colored creature.


    "Happy Birthday!!"


    They shouted in unison, their voices echoing in the room.


    The black cloth was pulled away, revealing a giant birthday cake at a shocking half-meter height. On it, "Happy 21st Birthday Garen" was written in pastel buttercream.


    Garen''s expression couldn''t be seen as he was covered completely by streamers, however, his eyes gave off an indescribable feeling. He always had birthday celebrations even back in the secret technique world and the totem world, but this was the first time he had such a grand and amazing celebration¡­


    "You guys shouldn''t have¡­" he softly said, but his voice was overshadowed by their giggling. In the midst of this chaotic and joyous celebration, everyone was just popping party poppers left and right.


    Garen helplessly shook his head, then walked over to the sofa at the side while brushing off the streamers draped all over him.


    When everyone had their fun and started to feel tired, the room had already become a mess. Luckily, the cake had a huge glass lid covering it, otherwise it would''ve already been completely covered by streamers.


    "Today is Garen''s birthday! Let''s sing him a celebratory song. Not just the normal birthday song, let''s sing this song I''ve written!" at this point, Trish didn''t even look like a mother, but more like a kid cheerfully shouting.


    In their eyes, Garen''s eyes were fine, he wasn''t wearing a mask and he had his same old face.


    Snap!


    The sound of a camera shutter was heard.


    Garen''s sight immediately shifted before he stood up and walked over to his little sister.


    "I thought this camera was broken?"


    Pointing at the camera, the internal components started to vibrate ever so slightly, causing some sort of change. On the surface it looked perfectly fine, though in actuality, the memory card had been damaged by his vibrations.


    "Is it broken? Then I''ll use my phone to take a photo!" Vivien asked skeptically.


    "There''s no need for the trouble," Garen picked his sister up and tossed her onto the sofa as she screamed and giggled in a high-pitched voice.


    At that moment everyone started to play around again.


    No one had noticed that on the reflection of the black television screen, Garen was wearing that strange and mysterious mask.


    *****


    Memphis Forest -- Moon River


    As the largest tropical forest in the world, Memphis Forest had countless unexplored and unmapped areas.


    Even the best research and exploration teams have not managed to completely unravel all the secrets of the various flora and fauna, swamps, crevices, unique natural terrain, strong geomagnetic disruptions, and even the existence of prehistoric beasts in this area.


    Some authorities from the Blood Breeds once brought a team over here, boasting that they would fully explore the entire Memphis Forest and share the findings of his expedition to the world. However, expectedly, after losing more than half of his team, he was forced to retreat.


    In addition to that, he himself had almost lost his own life in that expedition. Despite having sacrificed so much, he barely gained any reward.


    He only managed to successfully explore barely one-third of Memphis Forest.


    At this moment, Dahm, with his own team of elites that he''d personally chosen and trained, was trotting down the same path that that exact expedition team had used last time.


    They were surrounded by dense tropical plant life and flying venomous insects. They could see a scourge of bloodthirsty mosquitoes buzzing about, circling above the team. Furthermore, every so often, there would be some sort of red insect that resembles a leech dropping down from above, trying to burrow into their necks.


    Among the tall grass by their feet, there were countless spiderwebs tangled all over. Every few moments, there would be a team member accidentally stepping in a spiderweb, getting it stuck all over his legs.


    Suddenly, the loud chaotic chirps of a flock of startled birds came from above; there was no doubt that there were ferocious beasts ahead.


    "Be careful."


    One of the team members raised his arm up and grabbed something. Out of nowhere, he pulled out a green rope-like object.


    It was a small green snake with dark green spots all over its body. Looking at the triangular shape of its head, it was definitely a venomous snake.


    With a crack, he snapped the snake in half at the location of its heart [1]. The member who had been the targeted prey of the snake immediately thanked his teammate for saving his life.


    In the 9 hours they had been in the forest, these types of occurrences had become commonplace. Hence, everyone was constantly on high alert, ready to counter against anything from their surroundings.


    Dahm, while looking at the map in his hands, walked to the middle of the team. There was a large number of geomagnetic disruptions coming from this location, visibly affecting everything that was made of metal or used electricity.


    "The second Moon River is right ahead. Everyone, be on your guard," Dahm loudly ordered.


    "Oh!"


    Everyone loudly replied.


    Overlooking the environmental disruptions, back when they''d first approached the first Moon River, they had encountered a spotted scorpion with venom that was extremely potent. This scorpion was only palm-sized, but it was extremely fast and darted around as fast as lightning. By the time one saw it, one would already have been stung by it.


    Even Dahm could barely keep up with the frightening speed of this scorpion.


    As someone who had top-class skills, for him to barely be able to keep up with a creature like this, he felt slightly ashamed, but he had also fully understood the fearsomeness of this forest.


    After going around a few large trees that looked to be centuries old, they were suddenly greeted by a long flowing river that resembled a silver silk ribbon.


    The river had a bit of curvature, was easily several hundred meters in length and almost 30 meters in width, forming a shape of a crescent moon. Sunlight glowing from above reflected in the flowing water, making the river glimmer with a tinge of gold. It was truly a mesmerizing scene.


    "The second Moon River," Garen let out a sigh of relief and raised his hand. "Proceed with caution! Everyone spread out and pay attention to gaps and crevices."


    The group started spreading out according to his orders, stationing themselves by the riverside.


    "Something feels off?" Dahm''s instincts were telling him that there was something wrong with the current situation at the Moon River, but he just couldn''t think of what it was.


    He continued to observe his men searching around by the riverside. The magnetic fields here were a lot weaker, allowing them to use their tools and apparatus. They were using plastic detectors, rapidly searching all around.


    "M-Mr Dahm, you should tell them to be more careful. There¡­ might be a lot of ferocious beasts over here, since there aren''t any animals drinking by the river¡­" the female guide he''d forcefully dragged along voiced out with a tremor in her voice. Along the way, she had borne witness to Dahm''s fearsome abilities.


    "No animals drinking?" Dahm plainly said. "What''s there to be afraid of? It''s most likely just because the water is infested with alligators or something."


    He glanced over at the Moon River, still frowning; he felt that this wasn''t the source of his unease.


    Judging by their pace, they were already quite deep within Memphis Forest, and they have already reached the area where the previous expedition had last reached. However, he still could not sense a hostile intent strong enough to threaten the someone from the Blood Breeds.


    "Wait!! Threaten the Blood Breeds!?" Dahm suddenly realized something. If they didn''t encounter anything on their way here, then the only other possibility was a one-time-encounter of frightful levels!?


    Sploosh!!


    Emerging rapidly from the water, a gigantic creature appeared. Looking like a dark shadow, it attacked the members at the riverside with lightning fast speed.


    "Careful!!" Dahm was facing another of the same terrifying creature, and the tremendous pressure coming from it was almost suffocating even for him.


    Ahh!!!


    In a flurry of screams, he saw his men all getting injured one by one. Even the female guide was swept into the river by the monster''s tail, immediately dyeing the water around her body red. There was undoubtedly no chance of her surviving that.


    "Fucking lowlife!!" still hearing the screams of anguish from around him, Dahm''s face flushed with rage and ferocity, as his right hand morphed into a knife that he slashed furiously at the beast.

 735 Change 1

    Chapter 735: Change 1


    Shing! Shing! Shing!


    With three bloody flashes, three of the monsters were slashed open, causing a blood mist to spurt everywhere.


    Dahm wiped off the blood on his face and dashed swiftly to his team. Only the elites of the team were left fending against the monsters; the rest had either been swept into the water or were heavily injured.


    Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!


    With a chain of continuous explosions, the monsters were destroyed one by one, leaving behind only bloody mist.


    As Dahm was attempting to save the guide and one of his team members who had just been dragged into the water, the sound of machine gunshots filled the air.


    They finally managed to see what the huge beast lurking in the water looked like.


    The black monster looked like a hippopotamus with two horns on their heads, resembling those of a buffalo. At a size of almost 3 meters in height, it seemed to be a species of the giant hippopotamus.


    Additionally, on its back was a huge tail that resembled that of a crocodile''s, muscled and scaly. It was a terrifying sight.


    However, under Dahm''s flurry of attacks, these monsters were like sitting ducks. With every strike, another one would be killed. In just a short moment, he killed more than 20 of them.


    Roar!!!


    Suddenly, the ground behind him split open as a 5 meter tall humongous black beast dug out furiously from the ground and lunged towards Dahm''s back. It was speeding in like a black wave, flinging black mud, wilted leaves, and branches into the airs, rousing a thick rotting smell.


    Dahm immediately turned around, facing the lunging beast. His vision was completely filled with the monster''s size.


    His pupils started to contract. He saw that there was a strange mask embedded in the monster''s abdomen. That mask seemed so familiar!!


    ******


    Whoosh!!


    With a gust of wind, Garen appeared at the top of the guest hall''s throne. He slowly sat down.


    In the bottom right seat, an androgynous-looking Caucasian with a white veil was seated. There was a cinnabar gem embedded in the center of his brow, giving off an Indian vibe.


    On the left seats were 2 of the underlings sent by AG. They were both young witches wearing tight skirts.


    The mask Garen was wearing all this time had, for some unknown reason, turned completely silver. The eyes all over the head also started to seem much more active.


    Through the eyeholes of the mask, he peered down at his guests.


    "How is AG''s progress? It looks like it''s quite successful, right?" Garen asked softly.


    "Lord Holy Fist, Lord AG''s progress have been successfully progressing. The motive for our visit was for us Dark Color witches to seek aid from the Holy Fist Palace," the leading witch spoke earnestly.


    "Regarding the aid, taking my friendship with AG into consideration, I will accept the proposition. I''ll leave the negotiation between you and Hochman. In exchange, we also require your help regarding some issues," Garen nodded. He wasn''t actually on good terms with the Dark Colors leader Nasira, so naturally, he wouldn''t help her without any compensation.


    "We are at a standstill against the Blood Breeds, and if we break the stalemate it may lead to unpredictable results," Garen''s vision moved to the other party, the Caucasian representative from the witches'' main force.


    "So, the self-proclaimed representative from the Witches Association, what is your motive for coming here?"


    The veiled Caucasian smiled as he stood up, calmly bowing down before Garen, his hands in a praying hands pose.


    "I bring forth a declaration of friendship from Lion Mother. Maybe Lord Holy Fist would want help from my master?"


    "Oh?" Garen''s curiosity was piqued. "Tell me, what exactly would I need help in?"


    The Caucasian did not reply, but he just lightly touched his own right eye.


    Garen glared down.


    "You have a way to recover my eyes?"


    "I do not, but my master might be able to," the Caucasian politely answered.


    Garen paused for a moment as if he was thinking about some things.


    "Is there any way for you to prove this?" he asked after pondering for a short moment.


    If even Black Sethe was helpless, to the Lion Mother who was from this world, this kind of injury should be incomprehensible to her.


    A wound from the Nine-Headed Dragon Queen Nadia was not so easily cured.


    However, most importantly, for them to voluntarily offer to help repair his eyes, they must have done a lot of preparation. Thus, as compensation, they definitely desired something great.


    In this world, Garen''s one and only fear was the First Apostle Ashen, and everyone else was merely ants in his eyes. Only Ashen stood as a threat to him. However, this was only on the Blood Breed forces side, and he had not pried into the witches side of things. He lacked an understanding of the types of tricks they used.


    Listening to Garen''s doubt, the Caucasian smiled. He pulled out a pure white lily and tossed it into the air. It then naturally flew towards Garen.


    Catching the incoming lily, Garen took a deep breath, he felt overwhelmed by the strong aroma, slightly mesmerized by it. More importantly, his right eye started to ache slightly, causing him to shiver.


    "My lord wishes that if we manage to heal your wound, the Holy Fist Palace and the Blood Breeds will be able to coexist peacefully. This way, there would no longer be any bloodshed in this world¡­"


    The Caucasian had a solemn look on his face, Garen could see that this was not an act, but rather a true desire to achieve peace.


    "Ceasefire? I am not against it, but I fear the Blood Breed side would be against it," Garen calmly said.


    His overall strength was far weaker than the Blood Breeds and a ceasefire would definitely benefit him, so he definitely wouldn''t reject such a proposal.


    "For the Blood Breed side, naturally, my master will try to change their minds," the Caucasian nodded. "However, we have one more request before we can heal your eye."


    "Oh? What request is that? Tell me," Garen remained calm. The Lion Mother was the only one from the witches side who had an existence at a Death Apostle level. For her to be able to influence and suppress the Blood Breed, she was definitely no random person. What''s more, her abilities could have some effect against a wound from Nadia, which largely exceeded his expectations.


    "My master wishes that you would stop collecting the Sleepless Faces." The Caucasian said with his head lowered.


    The atmosphere suddenly sunk, as Garen''s body emitted a suppressing aura. This aura was so strong that the people below would feel as if their hearts were sealed behind a lock, and that they were suffocating.


    The Caucasian continued on impassively with his head down, "The Sleepless Faces are the cause of all these troubles and will bring disaster to the world. My master hopes that Lord Holy Fist can give up on collecting them."


    With the atmosphere in the room getting more and more serious, Garen was still seated motionlessly on top of his throne, calmly glaring at this Caucasian. Despite clearly suppressing the aura at his heart, making it difficult for him to even breathe, the Caucasian was still standing motionlessly in the room, almost as if dismissing the effects of the suppression.


    This seemed to be supported by the willpower of his belief.


    "We''ll talk about this once you actually manage to repair my eye," Garen finally answered. The strong suppressing pressure started to fade away as he started speaking.


    "I will send your message to my master," the Caucasian politely bowed.


    After the representative from the Witches Association and Lion Mother left, the Holy Fist Palace guest hall was once again in silence.


    Hochman and Quentin appeared from the corner.


    "Master, the witch organization that the Lion Mother represents are the self-proclaimed protectors of world peace, and it''s filled with sad people. They have also come to warn me before. What an annoying bunch. This time I think it''s not just something as simple as trying to ask for a ceasefire," Quentin frowned. She was in charge of recon and information collection, and she definitely had a certain amount of understanding of the strength of Lion Mother''s group.


    "These people are using world peace as a pretense, but we don''t know what their true motives are. We shouldn''t trust them so easily," Hochman chimed in.


    Garen lightly tapped on the armrests of his throne, signaling that he was thinking.


    "I know."


    The collection of the Sleepless Faces was not something that could be stopped. These masks were one of his main sources of potential points, and they could also block Nadia''s movement. No matter how you look at it, it was a precious treasure that he needed to have.


    However, the Lion Mother''s mysterious abilities which could even affect the wound on his eye, this made Garen wary. He twirled the lily in his hands; the hint of aura it had had already dispersed, and this was now just a normal water lily.


    The slight feeling in his right eye had also disappeared.


    "Lion Mother¡­" Garen sniffed the lily once again, showing an amused expression on his face.


    ******


    Outside the Holy Fist Palace


    The Caucasian was slowly moving down the mountain path. Passing through the main gate of the Holy Fist Palace, he smiled at the two guards stationed over there. With light footsteps, he sped up his pace as he continued down.


    After walking a short distance, he turned back, looking at the Holy Fist Palace.


    The white palace was sitting on top of the peak of the snowy mountain, looking like a place from a legend. Outside the Palace, groups of cloaked figures kept entering the gate, showing their identification tags. These people were selected from all over the world to come over to the Holy Fist Palace for training. They were either chosen by the Combat Club or the Nighthawks, and all of them had stable blood and qi and light footsteps despite the freezing weather.


    What the Caucasian found to be weirder was that on the way back from the Holy Fist Palace, he''d met with groups of Blood Breed and Vampires who had come to this place. The aurae they were emitting seemed to have been altered, appearing stronger than before but also slightly weird.


    "Master was right, Holy Fist Palace¡­ It''s the source of all this¡­" the Caucasian raised his head, looking at the grey sky. That unimaginable feeling of pressure and the roaring thunder, all of this managed to accentuate the strong force that this place was!


    No matter if it was humans or the Blood Breed, the Holy Fist Palace''s arms were slowly spreading to every corner of the world. Furthermore, this force was expanding at a rapid pace.


    The Caucasian started to feel a fear arise in his heart.


    He thought back to the people he met on his way down here. Whether human or Blood Breed, all of these people had a sort of a passion as if they held absolute admiration and loyalty towards the Holy Fist Palace.

 736 Change 2

    Chapter 736: Change 2


    He didn''t know how this ideal had spread out so quickly within such a short period of time. However, he knew that if this were to be left untouched, it could be very troublesome.


    He wasn''t sure if his instincts were accurate though.


    One of the main characteristics of the Holy Fist Palace was something that everyone would experience while practicing, the strange excitement induced by the Demonic Book.


    Not only they could experience an excitement that was far superior to sex while practicing, they could become stronger as well. This path was so perfect that everyone would definitely choose it! It was the perfect choice for the modern people who wanted success within a short amount of time without any hardship.


    They were able to enjoy this sensation while strengthening their bodies. Frankly, a lot of people completely didn''t care whether they had become stronger at all, as they were addicted to the adrenaline rush created during their practices.


    This was the terrifying part of the Holy Fist Palace.


    Everyone was very well informed about this as the models and practice methods were advertised during the International Combat Competition held by Dahm and Hochman.


    The two major Marshalls of the Holy Fist Palace, who had created their own individual branches of fist styles. In addition to the three Secret Techniques from the Holy Fist Palace, there was a total of five fist techniques. These fist techniques were nicknamed the Five Major Fists by hobbyists.


    It meant that these fist techniques ruled everything else and couldn''t be compared with other fist techniques!


    An extreme sensation could be felt as one practiced one of these five fist techniques. Under Garen''s guidance, Dahm and Hochman were able to simplify their fist techniques even further and create a completed lower-tier fist technique structure.


    There were at least ten middle-tier fist techniques from the Five Major Fists. Most of these fist techniques were able to achieve a certain overall effect, their practicing requirements were very simple and one could definitely feel the sensation of excitement as well. However, the downside was that they were not powerful enough.


    With these middle and lower-tier fist techniques as a means to spread out to the beginners, those hobbyists who had experienced the addictive sensation would definitely turn into fanatics and spread praise of the Holy Fist Palace through word of mouth.


    They could obtain happiness, a stronger body, and aura while training. Once they reached a certain level, they could obtain a tremendous amount of financial support from the Holy Fist Palace and get a well-paid salary.


    The most important thing was that once one reached a certain height and showed some results, there was a possibility one would be noticed by a General Level. They then would be invited into the inner circle of the combat club and become an official member of the Holy Fist Palace. After that, they would qualify to learn a stronger and more advanced fist technique.


    With this rewarding leveling system, it had attracted countless elites and talented people.


    After learning the beginner lower tier fist techniques, some of the elites who had battle experience were able to understand the unreasonable power behind these fist techniques. With the influence of their own teachings, the Holy Fist Palace became even more powerful than before.


    In a blink of an eye, a few months had passed.


    The Holy Fist Palace''s influence snowballed as it expanded rapidly throughout America, where the simplified Five Major Fists had dominated the whole region.


    There even were martial artist hobbyists from other countries that came to learn in America. After learning the fist technique for some time, the technique and skills had started a new trend of martial arts.


    The world was into martial arts all of a sudden.


    Within this period, the Secret Party of the Blood Breeds was in a temporary truce with the Light Party. After the major battle which had occurred recently, both parties had finally settled down and talk under the mediation of Lion Mother.


    Both parties had put their grudges aside in the face of the threat from the Holy Fist Palace.


    Within this period, Garen had isolated himself from the society and the Holy Fist Palace was practically managed by the two main Marshalls, Hochman and Dahm. Both of them had obtained their strength directly from Garen and they had no hope of getting out of Garen''s grasp, especially after they''d acknowledged that fact. On the contrary, they didn''t feel too conflicted being under control by him, as Garen didn''t really control them at all.


    The Holy Fist Palace became stronger over time as both of them had gathered a lot of power under them. Under similar logic, the four people below them had expanded their authorities and influenced as well and had been stationed at different locations in America as representatives of the Holy Fist Palace. At the same time, Dahm had extended his influence to the military as he handed down the simplified version of Death Waterbird King''s Fist Technique to the military.


    If not for the highly focused attacks from the heavy machine guns or the machine guns that had no blind spot, Dahm''s elite underling would be unstoppable.


    Naturally, it would be impossible to defend against wide-scale bombing. However, practicing the fist technique would not only increase the battle power of every individual soldier, it would also improve their five senses together with the Shooting Shadow Secret Technique.


    The simplified Shooting Shadow Secret Technique was considered a flawless technique to learn for the soldiers stationed on the outskirts, as they would be able to cover most distances.


    Naturally, the will and aura of a normal civilian was no match for soldiers''. The most important thing was the mentality of war, which every soldier should have so that remote operations would not be inconsistent.


    This had solved the issue of not having enough people for the Holy Fist Palace when they fought against the Witch and Blood Breeds.


    After all, Garen''s Soul Primer could only control a very small amount of people. Similarly, Hochman and Dahm''s Soul Primer couldn''t be used on many people as well. Hence, the only people who were willing to fight to their deaths were the Nighthawks and the fugitives under the two Marshals. Even though the number of people who had died in the Wellington''s war was terrible, the supplements to replace them from the military had greatly lessened the Holy Fist Palace''s recklessness.


    This was especially true when many young and energetic officers joined them, resulting in a massive expansion of the Holy Fist Palace''s power and influence.


    Garen had already taken countermeasures against hypnosis from the Blood Breeds. By using the Fantasy Fist as its foundation, he had invented a way to suppress this hypnosis. After the experiment was a success, one would be immune to the effect of a lower-tier hypnosis. Those who had a very strong and firm will could directly ignore the hypnosis at such a level.


    Under these circumstances, the humans who had been suppressed and enslaved by the Blood Breeds had finally found a way to retaliate and joined the Holy Fist Palace. As they had been suppressed for a long time, these people vented their frustration and the Holy Fist Palace started to fight against the Blood Breeds. As the two parties had suffered severe casualties through the war, the middle-level and lower-level blood breeds were defenseless against these former slaves.


    Throughout this oppression period, excluding the two parties, a lot of secluded Blood Breeds who did not wish to be involved had suffered as well.


    ************


    "Run!!!"


    Multiple human figures were running swiftly while panting in a bamboo forest in the dark, with at least ten pursuers hot on their heels. These pursuers were very agile and their breathing was long and rhythmic. They were holding clear black assault rifles with sharp knives attached at the muzzle of the guns, which could be detached as melee weapons.


    On a small hill nearby, there was a group of soldiers in black special ops uniform guarding two young military officers. These two officers were observing the situation inside the bamboo forest with their night-vision binoculars.


    "These damn mixed blood bastards! How dare they reject Colonel Raven''s goodwill during the previous reception. It was very fortunate for her that the Colonel had taken a liking to her!"


    A white officer scolded softly with a chilling gaze.


    "Blood Breeds will always act like one. Although she is but a Lower-Level Blood Breed, she is still one of the beings with long lifespans so it''s normal for her to reject him," the other man replied calmly. "However, Colonel Raven is one of the elites in my combat club who was able to obtain the teachings of an advanced level fist technique and become the direct disciple of General Crusoe. If everything goes well, the General himself may even pass down the Fist King to him, and he''ll become the third generation of the Fist King. She would be ignorant if she still rejects him then."


    The former officer went along with him and smiled.


    The truth was that he knew the Blood Breed girl who was being pursued. He once tried to chase after her as well but had been rejected by her. This made him bitter, and he had been nursing this hatred within him all this while. It was mostly him who had manipulated the Colonel to chase after her and get rejected too.


    He found a tremendous amount of sadistic pleasure in managing to pull down a princess from the very top and crushing her beneath his feet.


    Suddenly, a guttural scream could be heard from the bamboo forest.


    It sounded like the voice of one of the pursuing soldiers.


    Two officer''s expressions changed all of the sudden.


    They gestured with their hands and the special ops around them gathered and entered into the bamboo forest in a blink of an eye.


    These people had undergone the simplified fist technique training at the Holy Fist Palace and each and every one of them possessed excellent physical characteristics. Soon, cursing and angry shouts could be heard ahead.


    "Damned Monsters!!"


    "Kill him!"


    "Tom has been beaten! Quick, bring in the blood cleanser!!"


    "Quick, quick!!"


    Torchlight soon lit up in the darkness up front and a special ops soldier returned to report the situation to the two officers.


    "Sir, we have discovered a hidden camp of the Blood Breeds about one hundred and fifty yards up front. There is a total of twenty-three Blood Breeds and Vampires hiding there."


    "That many?" the cold looking officer was slightly surprised.


    "The target seems to be a pedigree member of this small household," the soldier replied softly. "Sir, please give us a command!"


    The officer hesitated for a moment as he looked at his partner by his side, who looked back at him as well as he waited for his suggestion.


    He gritted his teeth and as he was about to order them to retreat when the image of the cold and arrogant girl flashed through his mind.


    "Ah!!"


    Another scream could be heard from the soldiers up front.


    "Open fire! Open Fire!!" everyone started screaming as gunshots echoed through the bamboo forest.


    "All members engage in battle! Kill every single one of them!!" the officer had made his decision. If they were not careful, all of them would die at the hands of twenty plus Lower-Level Blood Breeds even though they were the practitioners of the Fist Technique.


    "Someone called the Wittsburg nearby for support!"


    On that night in the west of America, a war between the military and Blood Breeds had emerged.


    *************


    Boom!!


    A powerful punch by a pale fist was sent into the vampire''s chin and the vampire was sent flying away, crashing into a shop''s display window at the side of the road. The window was shattered and millions of shards scattered in all directions.


    "You guys are the worst parasites!" the white muscular man stared down at the beaten black vampire with hatred and cursed as he spat on his opponent''s face.


    He was the fifth generation practitioner of the White Cloud Secret Technique. He was in a rage as he''d found out that his cousin''s child had shown signs that his blood had been sucked by a vampire. In the past, he had not known much about the Blood Breeds, but after entering the combat club he''d obtained this information and managed to link everything up with the situations he''d encountered in his life.


    When he asked the child of his situation, he instantly realized that it was the doing of a vampire. Without any hesitation, he brought a group of his friends and rushed over.


    To fight against the vampires, those who practiced fist techniques derived from the King''s Fist would learn some tricks to counter the vampire''s skills in controlling humans.


    "I''ve warned you before!" the muscular man walked forward. His muscles were moving about like little mice. He then held up the vampire single-handedly by his hair.


    "But you turned a deaf ear to me. Now you''ll pay!!"


    Boom!!


    He punched once more. The punch was so strong, it shook the poor vampire''s brain so hard that he lost his sight temporarily.


    Through trial and error by cooperating with Tu Lan, Garen had managed to simplify the White Cloud Secret Technique, which was highly effective against the Blood Breeds. Together with the white muscular man''s natural physical attributes, he was now like a beast with armor, undefeatable and overwhelmingly powerful.


    Crowds started to gather as they looked upon the white muscular man punching the defenseless black man.


    Occasionally, the black man would counter back with all of his might. Although his speed was fast, his knife wasn''t even able to pierce through the white man''s skin. In return, his leg was grabbed and slammed onto the ground like a hammer.


    This made the crowd scream.


    This kind of situation was very common on the street and could be seen everywhere.


    Most of them were fist technique practitioners torturing the Blood Breeds and there were very few cases of Blood Breeds torturing the fist technique practitioners.


    However, as there were much more people who practiced the Holy Fist¡­ Compared to the minority of Blood Breeds, the fist technique practitioners would often come in pairs or groups. Hence most of the Blood Breeds would be beaten up and flee.


    This world that they knew was getting chaotic¡­

 737 Clue 1

    Chapter 737: Clue 1


    Holy Fist Palace


    "There is a wide scale conflict with the Blood Breeds in the western area. I''ve already sent people to handle the situation, but the situation is getting more severe by the second and we may not make it in time."


    Xander reported softly before Garen.


    He wasn''t just reporting to Garen; Quentin was there as well. Both of them looked like they were having a dilemma as they frowned.


    Inside the study room, Garen was busy reading the latest intel report. He was the only one in the room making noise as he flipped through the confidential report.


    After a while, Garen closed the document, raised his head and looked at both of them.


    "How far has the conflict with the Blood Breed spread in the region?"


    "California. It is still expanding and through word of mouth, more and more citizens have acknowledged the existence of Blood Breeds. The notion of their world being controlled by the Blood Breeds have incited the majority''s dissatisfaction. There were people in some of the cities, who practiced the fist technique, that captured the vampires and paraded on the streets as they protested the Blood Breeds holding the upper hand," Quentin explained.


    "The spread of violence wouldn''t be this fast without people from the Witches Association and AG fanning the fire, right?" Garen said coldly.


    "Yes," Quentin confirmed, "their main objective is to incite fear and hatred normal citizens towards the Blood Breeds."


    "Then we will flow with the current for now. Conflicts are unavoidable and what we can do now is wait," Garen decided calmly.


    "Wait? Shouldn''t we send some people out?" Quentin questioned.


    "There''s no point in doing so. If we can''t find the Death Apostle''s actual bodies, we cannot truly kill them. Take Tu Lan as an example," Garen shook his head.


    Speaking of Tu Lan, that person had truly fallen in love with the Holy Fist Palace. It was as if she was an addict as she hid in her room while she continuously trained the Fantasy Fist given to her. She had the Soul Primer transferred directly from Garen. She possessed the physical attributes of a Death Apostle, which could be the reason for her ridiculously fast progress.


    This made Garen very relieved. If not for the restriction of the Soul Primer''s aura, resulting in the Blood Breeds being unable to learn the King''s Fist Fist Technique, the Blood Breed would easily surpass the humans.


    She was barely under Garen''s control as of now. She was considered as one of the Holy Fist Palace''s strongest members, and below her was Dahm, Hochman, the Four Major Generals. They were no match for this Blood Breed.


    However, all of them were still considered very powerful.


    "We will leave this issue for now. We will talk about this later on when the conflict between the humans and Blood Breeds has reached a certain level. We''ll go to the meeting first," Garen stood up.


    Both disciples slightly nodded respectfully.


    Three of them exited the room, walked across a corridor and entered a magnificent silver hall.


    The hall was rectangular and there was a ten-meter-long black rectangular stone table placed in the middle of the room. Both sides of the table had been fully filled up.


    The head of Rexott and other representatives from all sorts of major fist sects were there. Furthermore, a few General Level officers from the military and politicians from multiple nations were there as well. Within such a short timespan, the Holy Fist Palace had attracted many powerhouses due to their unique and mysterious fist techniques.


    The authority they possessed in America was so powerful that no one could ignore them at all.


    These connections were made possible by Dahm and Hochman, and one of the politicians was even a member of theirs.


    The crowd had already lost their patience. This crowd had many big shots with political or finance backgrounds and they were all waiting for a youngster who was in his twenties. This notion itself made them very unhappy.


    If not for the mysterious authorities of the Holy Fist Palace that had huge influences, and the fact that they were the only strength that could fight against the Blood Breeds, these people wouldn''t even bother attending this meeting.


    Then, the main entrance of the hall was pushed open.


    Three people walked into the hall slowly. The one leading at the front was Garen who was in white Taoist clothes and a black mysterious mask. One could faintly see that one of his eyes seemed blind as there was no expression in it. His golden hair flowed freely by his shoulders and would wave around behind as he walked.


    As Garen entered the scene, the big shots by the table started discussing among themselves softly. Some of them even scoffed loudly to express their dissatisfaction, and there were some staring at Garen coldly in an attempt to mess with this youngster with tricks to gain control of the meeting.


    This meeting was filled with individuals with great authority. If anyone were able to control this power, it would not influence just America, but even Europe and other regions. After all, the big shots could penetrate anywhere with their economic power.


    Everyone started to feel greedy.


    Garen brought Quentin and Xander pass the table as they walked towards the main seats and sat down.


    "Alright, let''s commence the inner meeting of the Holy Fist Palace," he said softly.


    "Lord Holy Fist, the reason we requested this inner meeting is with regard to the increasing aggressiveness of the Blood Breeds towards the humans. We have to come up with a regulation and solution to this issue immediately. At the very least, emergency countermeasures are a must."


    A senator petitioned calmly.


    "I believe that the main objective of this meeting was to select an individual as a conference leader who is able to oversee the whole operation and make the necessary decisions," he proposed naturally. "Although Lord Garen has overwhelming power that could rival the Death Apostles, this individual requires more than just overall strength. He needs to oversee the situation and coordinate strategically."


    "When the Blood Breeds are cornered, they may ambush our weaknesses such as lord Garen''s family members or best friends. It would be very troublesome if they were to do so," another senator nodded in agreement. "We definitely need a leader who is able to plan far ahead and oversee the situation."


    "No one has to worry about this. I''ve already placed my underling''s Blood Breed members all over the country to ensure the safety of the regions. Furthermore, we have also deployed the latest technology from the Rexott Group to survey the areas all day long," Garen answered calmly.


    He understood the feeling of these people who have been oppressed by the Blood Breeds. He didn''t care in the least about overseeing the situation and such, as these could be passed down to the experts to handle it. After all, these people hated the Blood Breeds more than he did, and the only way they could obtain authority as a human being was to destroy anything that threatened them.


    "I have no comment regarding a personnel to oversee the operation. The Holy Fist Palace is a huge base and no Blood Breed outsiders can infiltrate this place, so everyone can discuss anything related to the Blood Breeds with ease," Garen said calmly.


    "Thank you, Lord Garen, for this is rather important. The powers of the Blood Breed know no bounds, and the only thing that is keeping us safe as of now is the Holy Fist Palace. It''s funny that Jackson thought that he was safe because they''d placed down safety measures around them, right?" an officer shook his head. The officer that he spoke off, Jackson, had been assassinated by a Blood Breed the previous night at two o''clock in the morning. It wasn''t just him; there were other reputable, racist senior officers of the resistance that had been killed or captured by the Blood Breeds as well. This shocked the world and was the reason why so many high ranking officers had gathered at the Holy Fist Palace today.


    "We need to strike back with all our might!! We must show those Old Generation Blood Breeds what we''re capable of!"


    "However, we first need to know how deeply the Old Generation Blood Breeds have infiltrated into our place."


    "The most important thing right now is to able to differentiate between a Blood Breed and a normal being. Our Group has developed a unique device that is able to differentiate between us and the Blood Breeds by analyzing heartbeats. We should be able to deploy this soon."


    "If the department of cardiology of the Holy Fist Palace is willing to cooperate with us, we can definitely make huge progress."


    Garen beckoned and Tu Lan immediately appeared behind him. After understanding Garen''s intention, she soon participated in the discussion. The Blood Breeds that were controlled by the Holy Fist Palace were called the New Generation Blood Breeds and they were all under the order of Tu Lan, and they formed their own branch of power. Their Soul Primer had been removed personally by Garen so that Tu Lan could inject the Soul Primer that she had created with her Secret Technique''s aura. This way, they would be directly under her.


    With a hand by his head, Garen listened to the never-ending discussion of the crowd and soon a simple countermeasure against the Blood Breed had been formed.


    Then the orders were transferred and spread out across America via wireless transmission, and everyone started moving.


    Garen observed these people getting worked up while he remained unfazed.


    Rexott Group and two other economic groups'' representatives kept giving out recommendations that were all adopted. It was no surprise, as they were the powerhouses that had been researching the Blood Breeds in the dark for countless of years. They finally had the opportunity to shine at this time.


    This was especially true for Rod''s brother. Although he looked like a cool and handsome young man, his underling had developed a special virus that could be used against the Blood Breeds. It was a biological weapon that could weaken the Blood Breeds to the point where they couldn''t muster up any power. Their limbs would tremble and they would even lose their consciousness if it was serious.


    The humans had been oppressed for far too long¡­


    Garen sighed in his mind.


    The moment he''d given them an opportunity, the power of their determination to resist had stunned even Garen.


    A biological weapon, spirit explosive grenade, infrasonic wave oscillator, blood nucleus detector, et cetera. All sorts of countermeasures had been proposed one by one. At first, the group had felt that they had limited strength, but once everyone gathered their knowledge together, they realized that their strength was more powerful than they previously thought.


    This hadn''t accounted for the senator''s super soldier programme. The super soldiers that they had trained were as strong as a Lower-Level Blood Breed. On the other hand, the Turing Group''s representative had revealed their latest research -- high-speed neuro battle suits.


    It was a suit that could enhance the human''s nervous system, running at fifty times faster than normal. A normal human would have the same reaction time as a Middle-Level or Lower-Level Blood Breed with this reaction speed. While this speed would harm the joints and muscles of the user, it was quickly resolved under the collective research from everyone.


    With the high-speed battle suit, super soldiers and the elites of every fist sects gathered together, even Tu Lan was shocked by this development. They were able to gather an army that had the strength of Lower-Level Blood Breeds in such a short amount of time!


    With these people gathered together, the strength that they were able to gather made even Garen rather surprised.


    "This is the starting point where the humans will fight back!" a person stood up and shouted passionately.


    "Today''s meeting will be engraved in history!!" there were people who started to pump their fists up in the air.


    Garen had a hunch that the battle with the Blood Breeds would soon arrive after observing this passionate bunch.

 738 Clue 2

    Chapter 738: Clue 2


    The meeting lasted until nighttime before everyone was dismissed and went to their arranged rooms to rest. However, so much passion lingered in them that they couldn''t sleep due to the excitement.


    After a series of instrumental experiments, it was shown that becoming a Blood Breed would lengthen their lifespan and practicing Secret Techniques possessed the same effect as well, though its effect was inferior as compared to the Blood Breed''s lifespan. A few of the group representatives were excited, as they were able to make contact with their respective chief scientists through long distance communication. After some inquiry, they''d found a clue on merging the Blood Breed''s gene in hopes of lengthening their own respective lifespans.


    This was one of the very few topics that caught Garen''s interest.


    After a more detailed discussion with the representative, he represented the Holy Fist Palace to purchase the high-speed neuro battle suits and its related research results, especially the Blood Breed''s genetic implantation which had piqued Garen''s interest the most.


    About two hours later after the meeting ended.


    Garen finally brought Tu Lan back to the hall in the inner region of the palace.


    The moonlight shone through the glass window at their side and bathed the ground and their shoes.


    "That meeting was an eye-opener," Tu Lan was still in disbelief. "The humans'' accumulated oppression is about to explode."


    "Yeah, and I only gave them the chance to release everything at once," Garen nodded.


    "I wouldn''t have believed it if I didn''t witness it with my own eyes. I can''t believe that humans would ever be such a threat towards the Blood Breeds," Tu Lan shook her head. "Luckily, I''m on your side."


    "Even you don''t believe that the Blood Breeds will win?" Garen frowned slightly.


    "No. It''s not that. It''s just that there are too many humans and on the other hand¡­ there''re too few Blood Breeds," Tu Lan shook her head. "Laser weapons and high explosives are enough to threaten the Blood Breeds. The humans are no longer the same as compared to a few centuries ago. Even if you didn''t exist, this strength would accumulate and would explode sooner or later."


    "You''re right," Garen nodded.


    "Report!!" a black figure suddenly appeared behind Garen and Tu Lan. "Marshall Dahm has successfully obtained a mask and is currently waiting in the golden hall." a Shooting Shadow Secret Technique practitioner reported loudly at the inner zone of the palace.


    "Oh?" Garen revealed a smile. "Finally, he hasn''t disappointed me. Do you want to go and see it together with me?" he turned to Tu Lan.


    "Of course."


    Tu Lan was very curious, as she didn''t know why this mask was so important to Garen.


    Both of them turned around and walked into a corridor on their right. After passing through a few more corridors and a small garden, they entered a silver meeting room which was almost the same size as the golden hall.


    The hall was empty inside and Dahm, who was in a black attire, was the only one standing inside with his head down. He was in a thick grey cloak which covered from his head to toe. He also had a white mask with red paint over the eyes, and one could only tell he was Dahm based on his aura.


    "What happened to you?" Garen immediately frowned the moment he entered as he saw Dahm''s excessive coverage.


    "Forgive me, teacher," Dahm''s voice sounded from the cloak. "When I was searching for the mask near the Moon River, I encountered an unknown black monster that I''d never seen before. After pursuing it for more than a month, I finally took care of this beast''s leader on top of the cliff and obtained the mask. However, I was injured by the beast leader''s acid."


    "Take off the cloak and let me have a look," Garen sat on the main seat of the living hall as he ordered impassively.


    Without hesitation, Dahm took off the cloak.


    He revealed the skin hidden under the cloak, and even though only the skin from his wrist to his neck could be seen, his skin was scarred and it looked like he had recovered from very bad blisters. His skin resembled a person aged between eight to ninety years old, and this made both Garen and Tu Lan grimace.


    "A beast that can injure even you to this extent¡­" Garen stood up and a black streak was seen as he instantly appeared before Dahm.


    Boom!!


    He punched Dahm''s chest.


    Although this punch wasn''t strong, it possessed a strange power, which was Garen''s own aura.


    The aura circled Dahm''s body and immediately returned.


    Ah!


    Dahm immediately vomited out a mouthful of black water. It was very foul-smelling, and he vomited onto the ground between their legs. The cement on the ground started to sizzle, and white vapors formed upon contact with this black acidic water.


    "The remaining poisonous water has been pushed out and with your current regenerative capability, it shouldn''t be difficult for you to heal your skin. Where''s the mask?" Garen asked coldly.


    Dahm immediately took out the mask under his cloak. What made this mask different from others was that while it looked identical to the one Garen was wearing, there were some pieces of meat at the edge of the mask. It was as if it were alive as the meat bits wriggled about freely.


    After receiving the mask, Garen suddenly felt a huge amount of potential aura entering into his body from the mask. At the same time, Tu Lan and Dahm who were at the scene could faintly hear a cry from the mask, as if it was afraid of Garen. The shredded meat at the edge of the mask wriggled wildly all of the sudden as if they were trying to escape from Garen''s grasp but to no avail. Soon the cry of the mask gradually became weaker and weaker, to the point where it could no longer be heard.


    The shredded meat at the edge fell to the ground and formed into a pool of black ash or some sort of black powder. It was very strange indeed.


    Garen stashed the mask and could still feel the huge amount of potential points flowing into his body.


    "Thank you for the hard work. As a reward, I''ll give you this," Garen extended his index finger and gently tapped Dahm on the shoulder.


    Boom!


    It was as if Dahm had been struck by lightning as he stood still and didn''t move at all. It was as though he was a device that had been put on idle mode.


    Garen then turned around and left the hall with Tu Lan, the latter being very confused as she didn''t know what had just happened. This was applicable to both the strange mask and Dahm''s change in behavior.


    That tap from Garen was the remaining level of Slaughtering Hand that had been retained. With that life force, Dahm would able to help to strengthen his inert life force and increased his physical attributes. For Garen, whose physical attribute was so strong, this was naturally negligible.


    However, this was not the case for Dahm. He had become this powerful due to his fist techniques, and his body''s physical attributes had not reached their limits yet. This life force would help Dahm master his Secret Technique at a faster rate and bring his own technique to a higher level. He could also quickly recover from a serious wound so that it wouldn''t be detrimental to his vitality.


    For Dahm, the greatest effect of this life force was an opportunity to surpass Hochman.


    "Continue searching until you''ve found all twelve masks. Only then I will pass down the strongest secret method that will greatly improve your latent ability," Garen told Dahm before he left.


    The latter lowered his head down.


    Garen believed that Dahm possessed quite a number of secret methods, and based on his understanding, it shouldn''t be hard for him to develop his own secret method, one similar to the Shooting Shadow Secret Method.


    As he left the golden hall, Garen sent Tu Lan back to her room to rest and he went to his specially made secret chamber alone.


    The secret chamber was completely dark. There was no light inside but Garen could see everything inside as if it was daytime.


    He walked into the isolated round safe and grabbed onto a thick cylinder placed at the center of the safe. He picked it up and revealed a half-meter-thick cylindrical pillar.


    The center of the cylinder was hollow, and there were masks stacked on top of one another, all on top of the Dragon Head Coin Nadia had left behind. What was strange was that the dragon-shaped aura that had always appeared on the coin had stopped flowing. There was nothing coming out of it.


    Garen frowned as the cylindrical pillar weighed about a ton. With such a heavy item, the pillar itself was a countermeasure for the safe. If no one could lift it up, it meant that no one could even move the round safe that was placed on the floor as it was even heavier than the pillar.


    ''Be careful, I have a bad feeling about this¡­" Black Sethe, who had been quiet for such a long time, finally spoke up.


    "I understand," Garen nodded. He felt a sense of crisis that wrapped around him like a spider web.


    Garen stopped thinking about other stuff as he sat on his knees, preparing himself to absorb the potential points from the sixth mask.


    ***********


    Inside a deep cave near the north pole.


    Inside a pitch black cave.


    An ashen beautiful girl in a white sweater was sitting just beside the stone wall. Her hair was very long and it was as white as snow. Her hair was so long that it flowed and spread about on the ground.


    Her white hair was at least ten meters long and was glowing faintly in white inside the cave, giving off a pure and clean vibe.


    Her long hair had completely covered her body in such a manner that no one would know whether she was sitting beside the stone wall or merely leaning against it.


    "Lion Mother, why have you invited us here?" suddenly, a red blood orb appeared beside the girl in mid-air. What came out from it was a clear male voice.


    Soon two more blood orbs slowly appeared at two other spots in the air.


    "Scarlet Moon, you''re still alive!" a girl''s voice came from another orb. She was the last one to speak among the blood orbs.


    The white-haired girl''s face looked extremely sad.


    "I even invited Lord Ashen, but it looks like he''s not joining."


    "The two parties have reconciled and it is his wish whether he wants to attend or not. You can voice out if you have any concern." a deep male tone rang from the final blood orb.


    The Lion Mother nodded her head.


    "Have you guys heard of the legend of the Sleepless Faces?"


    "The legendary mysterious mask that the mortals spread? I understood a little bit." the first blood orb responded.


    "I''ve heard of it as well." the girl spoke through her orb.


    "Realistically speaking, the Sleepless Faces is related to a secret known to very little being. It is related to the secret of immortality¡­"

 739 Clue 3

    Chapter 739: Clue 3


    "We Blood Breeds are immortal, to begin with. Why do we still need that mask?" a female Death Apostle grumbled through the blood orb impatiently.


    "Naturally, as this is not noteworthy towards us Blood Breeds at all, no one goes out to collect these masks," the Lion Mother said impassively. "However to the humans, obtaining immortality is definitely one of their greatest desires."


    "Are you suggesting that the Holy Fist Palace is currently collecting these masks?" the Death Apostle Scarlet Moon asked softly.


    "The Holy Fist Palace¡­!" the sound of grinding teeth accompanied the first blood orb''s speech. Wellington was one of the victims that had suffered a defeat at Garen''s hands, which was why he had a very strong impression of him. If Ashen hadn''t arrived in the nick of time, he would have been killed repeatedly to the point where he would have to respawn on one of his bloodlines. The pain and torture that he experienced, the sensation and incredible pain each time he had been pulverized into minced meat by a single punch from this human had completely traumatized him.


    "Are you saying that the legend of this mask is real?" Scarlet Moon asked.


    "It''s real," the Lion Mother nodded. "According to what I know, the Holy Fist Palace has already collected six masks. When they collect all twelve masks, they will be able to activate the last mask. Once Garen wears the Primal Mask, he will most likely turn into the Original Blood Breed that once roamed this world."


    "The Original Blood Breed?" a few Death Apostles didn''t really understand what it was.


    "Legend has it that the Sleepless Faces masks are actually one mask that gave life to the Original Blood Breed. However, a legend is just a legend. I''ve done my research back in the days and it''s true that the mask does possess a mysterious power. The Sleepless Faces are able to allow people to be immune to all sorts of illusions and supernatural interference from the dream world. This is the origin of how it had gotten its name, the Sleepless Faces."


    "This means that once Garen has obtained this mask, his body may become that of a Blood Breed and also possesses the immunity to all of our dream interference and illusions. Does that mean we can only handle him in the normal material world!?" the female Death Apostle''s tone turned sharp.


    "Damn it!! Fight him in the material world? Do you guys know how ridiculously strong that guy is in the material world?" Wellington shouted.


    "Patience is a virtue. Actually, I still have another important thing to announce," the Lion Mother shook her head.


    "I believe that once Garen has become the Original Blood Breed, he will have the ability to track down the locations of the Death Apostle''s dreams."


    The moment it was announced, the whole cave was thrown into quietness.


    No one spoke as these Death Apostles had realized that they were in grave danger.


    After a while, Scarlet Moon started speaking once more.


    "If it really has this capability, why had nobody attempted to search for it before?"


    "Because I''m the only one left who knows of this secret¡­" the Lion Mother replied calmly. "I''ve been alive for so long and I''ve already forgotten where I''d learned this secret. Do you really think no one attempted to search for it before?"


    "In 1871, a countess from Europe managed to collect five masks but passed away while she was on a search for the sixth mask. In 1544, the king of Greece Melsa once sent a huge army to search for the mask and managed to find six masks as well. I''ve been keeping an eye out for this mask and these are just examples."


    She said calmly as the history was just a small part of her life.


    "Everyone who tried to collect the mask would usually halt their progress when they collected six masks. There are no exceptions. However¡­"


    "What?" one of the Death Apostle raised a question but no one seemed to care as they poured all their attention onto the Lion Mother.


    "However, the Holy Fist Palace may very well be the first one to exceed this amount." the Lion Mother continued softly. "The seventh mask was in the hands of the moon river''s protector, which has been killed by someone."


    "According to what I know, Garen should have six masks including the one from the moon river, which does not exceed the amount you mentioned yet," Scarlet Moon said calmly.


    "Another mask is in the hand of someone else," Lion Mother''s words made everyone quiet down.


    "Are you really sure the Sleepless Faces is able to turn someone into the Original Blood Breed? Furthermore, that person will be able to locate where our dream worlds are?" the Death Apostle asked once more.


    "The Blood Breed''s bloodline originates from one ancestor, which was created from a miracle of life via dark magic when the humans were in search of immortality. Perhaps I should say that it was an alteration, as I''ve done a detailed research regarding the origin. The Original Bloodline should be able to sense every descendants'' location. Perhaps there is an area of effect, but by no means, it is very small scale." the Lion Mother responded.


    "I need to go and read up the old database," Scarlet Moon''s blood orb dispersed and he had left the area.


    "I need to head back and do my research as well," the female Death Apostle said softly. "My household''s Holy Weapon, the Original Eye has stored information that spanned several millennia back. I should be able to find some hints."


    "I''ll go with you," Wellington voiced out.


    "Sure."


    Two of the blood orbs dispersed as well.


    The cave became quiet once more.


    A flicker of unease could be seen in the Lion Mother''s eyes.


    "The world is turning more chaotic¡­ The Holy Fist Palace¡­ the source of all chaos," she muttered as her face was filled with sadness.


    ***********


    Garen was sitting on his knees inside the secret chamber.


    He looked at his attribute pane.


    His potential point had increased from 64 points to 174 points. This mask had provided him a decent amount of hundred plus potential points. Although it wasn''t considered much among the other masks, it was enough for him to increase his last Intelligence point.


    Without any hesitation, Garen focused his gaze on Intelligence in the pane.


    Since his Intelligence already had eleven points, he would require just another point to revert back to his strength when he was at the Totem world. After achieving twelve points, he would be able to obtain the unique effects from his physical attribute, Doublecast.


    In an instant, his potential points dropped by a hundred, leaving behind 74 points. His Intelligence then increased from eleven points to twelve points.


    Garen, who was sitting on his knees, jolted his body suddenly. He could feel a very agile and light feeling swelling inside him. He felt that his body had given him the illusion of an agile body by merely increasing one Intelligence point.


    He reached out his hand and punched straight with all his might.


    Pew pew!!


    The air in front of him boomed as two white puffs of air appeared out of thin air as his fist thrust forth, landing on the secret chamber''s wall. This resulted in two deep blade marks on the wall.


    "When I release my basic strength, the Doublecast will be activated and it will make me stronger."


    It was a weird sensation similar to one releasing all of their strength, only to realize that one still had enough strength to release it once more after that.


    He stood up and took the mask off his face. He then changed into a new one as the former mask had been slightly damaged while he fought against Ashen.


    "I''ve finally obtained the Doublecast. I should focus on obtaining the remaining masks next," Garen''s goal was clear as day. "No matter what trick Nadia has up her sleeves, I will be able to isolate her trace as long as I am able to collect all the masks, evading all dangers from her."


    ************


    At the headquarter of the Bailey Group.


    On the nineteenth floor of the Merlot building.


    Boom!


    The floor''s entrance was kicked open and a team of black-shirted police entered the place swiftly. A ''safe'' secret signal was then broadcasted immediately from their communication device.


    The nineteenth floor of this building was filled with office tables and chairs that have not been used for a long time. The leftover documents spread about everywhere and there were a few documents on the ground looked like they had been wetted before they opened the window.


    The entire nineteenth floor, which was able to fit hundreds of people, was completely empty.


    At least ten special police members positioned themselves strategically while they remained on full alert.


    Xander, who was in a black cloak, entered the room with two of his best subordinates, a woman and a man, following behind.


    He had an unlit cigarette hanging from his mouth as he scanned the whole floor.


    "Looks like it''s been abandoned as well. The Bailey Group sure is something," he took out his cigarette and said calmly.


    "Boss, we will definitely be able to track the core members of the Bailey Group if we go to the airport''s train station," the woman behind him spoke calmly.


    "I''ve already told someone to do so and I believe I should be receiving the news any moment¡­" before Xander finished his sentence, he immediately aimed at the window with a silver gun that no one saw him take out.


    Bam!


    Bam Bam!!


    Three gunshots were fired in a manner as if they had all been fired instantaneously.


    Suddenly, two gunshots could be heard from the opposite building and two bullets were flying towards him.


    The wall and the windows were shot through, leaving two clear holes. Two bullets went towards Xander at lightning speed from two different angles. He was under the impression that he couldn''t avoid it at all.


    He then raised up his gun and shot as well. His aim was so amazingly accurate that he managed to hit one of the incoming bullets slightly on the right. This shifted the bullet''s projectile path and it ricocheted into the wall and vending machine beside him.


    Xander moaned as he quickly held onto his left shoulder tightly. He didn''t manage to evade the other bullet and had taken a hit. His shoulder was immediately dripping with red blood.


    His face turned pale instantly as the opponent had fired an armor-piercing bullet from an anti-material sniper rifle! With that shot, a hole instantly appeared on his shoulder and he was completely defenseless against it.

 740 Clue 4

    Chapter 740: Clue 4


    "Take cover!!" Xander shouted at the top of his lungs, and two of his subordinates immediately moved; they rolled on the ground and hid behind a pillar to avoid being shot.


    Although he was a very powerful Martial Adept, he was a non-defense martial adept type as he practiced the Waterbird Fist Technique. Hence it was only natural that he was defenseless against the threat of human weaponry.


    On the other hand, it was completely different to those who practiced the White Cloud Secret Technique. Although they were not as fast, they were the best meat shield in this situation. There was a practitioner that practiced the White Cloud Secret Technique who, other than having natural talent, had a strange bodily characteristic as well. After reaching the second tier, he had a much higher defense than others in the same level.


    They had once tried an experiment where they used a rather weak handgun and shot his stomach at point-blank range. The result was surprising as he barely even bled. If he were the one who had been shot by the anti-equipment rifle which had pierced through a layer of obstacles, the power of it hitting onto him would be almost the same as him being shot by a handgun at point-blank range.


    The special police officers took cover but they didn''t know where the bullet was shot from.


    Soon the special forces stationed just below the building started to surround the suspected buildings nearby.


    With the support of the military and government, America was basically under the representation of the Holy Fist Palace. The majority of the Blood Breed''s strength had either moved out of America or were directly under the Holy Fist Palace. As the conflict between the Blood Breeds and normal humans kept increasing, both Blood Breeds and the neutral standing hidden Blood Breeds were all forced into the light. The majority of the neutral standing Blood Breeds joined the Holy Fist Palace and became a part of them in order to continue living their peaceful life.


    Soon, the gunners sent by the Bailey Group had been captured by the Holy Fist Palace''s Blood Breeds and was sent directly to Xander for interrogation.


    With the Blood Breed''s hypnosis on humans, the killer soon revealed his mission''s objective.


    Never in Kabb''s mind would he have expected that the Blood Breeds would enter the Holy Fist Palace, as his killers had revealed everything under hypnosis.


    Two hours later¡­


    Kabb and Medis, who were hidden in a certain basement in Los Angeles, were personally captured by Hochman himself and soon on their way to the Holy Fist Palace for their impending punishment.


    ************


    "Tell me, where''s the mask?" Garen stared calmly at the already kneeling Kabb and Medis. Both of them looked very drained and exhausted as if they''d experienced a lot of pain on their way there.


    "I have a lot of ways to make you guys speak but I''ll be merciful since I''ve interacted with you people in the past."


    Garen said with a very straight face.


    "The mask is indeed in my possession. Furthermore, I know where the remaining masks are too," Kabb answered calmly. "However, I have a condition."


    "You do not have the right to negotiate any condition."


    Garen closed his eyes, stood up and walked to the small door on his right.


    "Kill him."


    Hochman''s pupil immediately shrunk as he didn''t even notice that a blue figure had appeared beside Kabb and Medis, who were literally just beside him.


    It was Tu Lan in a blue dress. Her hair was as red as blood as they flowed around her shoulders. Her eyes were giving off a rather mysterious and seducing beauty.


    Kabb and Medis, who were half kneeling, had expected that Garen would try to make concessions in order to gain advantages for future negotiations. However, they only realized that he didn''t even care when Garen had left the room!


    With the sudden appearance of a blue-dressed woman, both of them had started to panic for real.


    His actions were completely illogical!


    Didn''t negotiation mean that both parties should take a step back and reach a point of agreement? Why did he just flip everything right at the very beginning?


    "Tell me everything you know about the Sleepless Faces," it was as if Tu Lan''s eyes were filled with a lethal spell as she easily absorbed both of their consciousnesses.


    In an instant, both of them immediately turned limp.


    No matter how much times Hochman witnessed it, the admiration kept lingering in him. Tu Lan''s hypnosis far surpassed any typical Blood Breeds. He felt that this power was too much even though he wasn''t the target.


    A few minutes later¡­


    With a relieved look on her face, Tu Lan walked towards Garen, who was watering the plants in the greenhouse.


    She then reported everything she had extracted from Kabb and Medis to Garen.


    "The Sleepless Faces is able to grant immortality? It can create the Original Blood Breed?" Garen was stunned.


    "This is what I found out according to Kabb. It is also the reason why he had been secretly trying to obtain the Sleepless Faces. Unfortunately, he doesn''t have the strength and confidence. It is very impressive that he, as a commoner, is able to get his hand on one mask," Tu Lan sighed.


    Garen pondered for a moment as he reached out his hand and gently picked a newly bloomed white rose. He then gently placed it under his nose as he admired the fragrance.


    He glanced at Tu Lan and realized that she seemed hesitant, as though she wanted to ask something.


    "You can speak what''s on your mind."


    Tu Lan hesitated for a moment but she eventually opened her mouth.


    "Since you don''t know the purpose of this mask, why are you collecting them?"


    "I have my own reason. You don''t need to know about this," Garen smiled.


    "Is it because of the mysterious energy it contains?" Tu Lan asked softly.


    "Oh? You know about it?" Garen was surprised to hear that.


    Only the founders of the Black Uniforms knew that antiques contained mysterious powers. As the higher-ups of the Black Uniforms had dispersed, it was no longer a secret and it wasn''t strange that Tu Lan knew about this.


    Garen didn''t care if people knew about it, as his natural ability was something no one can replicate.


    He was able to absorb this energy and channel it into himself to increase his abilities. This was indeed a very powerful skill. However, he wasn''t the only one who possessed this glitch-like ability, regardless of whether it was the Secret Technique world or the Totem world. For example, there was White Bird Holy Fist Palosa and his ridiculous 99 Acute Airholes. However, these were all unimportant, as what determined the victor of the battle was perseverance during the battle itself.


    It didn''t matter if it was him, Sylphalan or Pasola. They represented the peak of their generations and was the representative of generation after generation.


    They weren''t people who could be simply described as having natural talent.


    Without the will to focus and achieve their goals, it would''ve been impossible for them to reach that far.


    As Tu Lan stared at Garen from the side, she suddenly felt that this man was very mysterious, even more than a Death Apostle.


    A mere human who lived for about twenty years had reached such height in terms of power. It was as if he knew everything since young and could master everything without any guidance. Furthermore, his gaze didn''t fit a twenty-year-old youngster at all but resembled that of a very experienced old man.


    "If the Original Blood Breed story is real, the other Death Apostles will not allow you to live."


    The Death Apostles who were used to standing at the top would never allow Garen, who resembled dark clouds that would engulf all high ranking Blood Breeds and was a person who stood above everyone else just like Ashen, to live.


    "The conflict between us and the Old Generations Blood Breed cannot be avoided," Garen laughed as if he wasn''t worried at all. "But what about it? No one can stop me, including Ashen."


    He kept recalling the life he''d lived in this world. He wasn''t sure why, but he had been recollecting the days he had here.


    However, he wasn''t rejecting his memories of being born and the life he had with Rafaelle in a small town when he was young.


    "I may be out for a few days. You''ll be in charge of the Holy Fist Palace until then," Garen said all of the sudden.


    "Aren''t you afraid of the Death Apostles ambushing you?" Garen was stunned. "I won''t be able to stop them. Wellington probably hates you to the core and would strike at any given opportunity."


    "It''s not in Ashen''s personality to act like that, but you should take caution against the other two Death Apostles," Garen started frowning as well. This was indeed a problem since the masks might force the Old Generation Blood Breed to stand against him. Excluding Ashen, the remaining two Death Apostles might team up and it would be very troublesome once they do. Tu Lan alone would be helpless against them as she had just become a Death Apostle not long ago.


    The Holy Fist Palace had now become the mental icon of humans fighting against the Old Generation Blood Breeds. Hence, they couldn''t afford to be embroiled in trouble as a lot of important big shots from America had gathered in this place. Its influence was immense and strong. It would be unimaginable if the Old Generation Blood Breeds successfully attacked this place.


    "Do you have any news from AG?" Garen changed the topic.


    "No. However I heard that there was a rare glacier earthquake at the south pole where AG had locked himself away from the world. AG''s location is unknown after the large-scale glacier collapse, and we could only determine AG is still alive by using a weak positioning communication device," Tu Lan was very determined in following Garen permanently. With her lazy personality, she didn''t want to leave at all as she got to learn Secret Techniques and become stronger.


    Garen only planned to visit Raffaele. If possible, he wished to take her and her family members in so that the Blood Breeds would not take her in as a hostage after discovering their relationship.


    However now that he looked at it, he was completely chained at the Holy Fist Palace.


    *********


    In the small Grano town.


    Inside a black villa at the center of the small town.


    The main hall was completely dark. There was no light but rows of lit candles had been placed on the ground in circles all around the whole main hall.


    The yellow candlelight wobbled about as it lit up the situation inside the main hall.


    There were three beautiful girls dressed in white dresses and had white wreaths upon their heads. Under the witness of a huge group of black-shirted witches, the three ladies carried triangular silver accessories as they quietly walked towards the grey sculpture in front of them.


    The golden-haired woman who walked at the front was Grano''s youngest and most talented witch -- Raffaele.


    As she walked at the front, her expression was strict while she approached the female figure sculpture. She then stabbed her left index finger with the silver triangular accessories.


    Pop!


    Drops of fresh blood started to drip into the black basin in front of the sculpture.


    "Great Lion Mother, please accept Grano''s most attractive corolla as the purest gift to you," Rafaelle''s grandmother started singing loudly as she raised her wooden crutches high.

 741 Realm 1

    Chapter 741: Realm 1


    Along with the melody, the drop of blood in the basin had gradually gotten thicker and started spreading rapidly. From only a drop of blood, it had turned a washbasin-sized black basin with a red-stained interior.


    Raffaele raised her head, looked at the statue in the eyes, and used her bleeding index finger to gently stroke in between her eyebrows, leaving a vermillion mark.


    She closed her eyes. When the ceremony was just about to end and the witches were about to throw away the stuff, suddenly.


    Buzz!!!!


    A powerful, coarse yet gentle force suddenly befell.


    This force focussed on the statue with a dazzling, hazy white light and strangely, the stone statue started moving. The statue stretched out her right arm and gently caressed Raffaele''s cheek.


    "The Lion Mother has arrived!" the witches exclaimed in wonder.


    "The great Lion Mother! Please bless the leader of Grano!"


    "The Supreme Witch King!"


    The witches were in a joyful commotion.


    Raffaele''s grandmother had a happy look on her face while she stared at Raffaele and the statue without blinking an eye. The advent of the Lion Mother was so rare that one hand alone was enough to count the number of times it had happened. Previously, she only had the chance to communicate slightly with the Lion Mother during special holidays, but now, the will of the Witch King had appeared right before them and surprisingly came just to bless Raffaele.


    "Bless you, Grano''s Raffaele, the beautiful sun witch, you will have a greater position and power in the future...." a majestic will spirit shrouded over Raffaele.


    Raffaele had a sweet smile on her face. However, no one noticed that the liveliness in her eyes was gone, leaving only indescribable emptiness.


    *****************


    In a distant underground cave.


    The Lion Mother slowly opened her eyes, and the look of sympathy in her eyes had gotten worse.


    "Please do not put the blame on me.... In order to eliminate all sources of evil, any sacrifice will be worth it...."


    ***************


    "The seventh mask is in an ancient tomb in Asia?"


    "The Holy Fist Palace has definitely sent someone to look for it. As long as we send someone over, we will certainly be able to delay or even prevent him from getting the seventh mask."


    "Then who should we send?"


    "Someone who''s at least an Upper-Level Blood Breed as the leader. Otherwise, it would be hard for them to deal with Hochman and Dahm."


    In the hall of the Blood Union.


    The four Death Apostles of the Secret Party and Light Party were sitting in the top four seats. The Blood Breed representatives of each ancestral family surrounded the four of them, and they were all crowded into a large circle. This was the first time that both parties, the Secret Party and the Light Party, have peacefully co-existed in the Blood Alliance conference since the fight.


    Although the members of both parties were still hostile towards one another, ever since the pressure from the humans was getting bigger and heavier, their actions towards the blood breeds have gotten extreme. The newly invented detector had sleuthed out many older generation Blood Breeds, who were executed on the spot.


    Humans named the Blood Breeds who joined the Holy Fist Palace as the new generation Blood Breeds, the neo-humans, whereas the Blood Breeds that did not join the Holy Fist Palace were named as the old generation Blood Breeds. With such a distinctive classification, it greatly suppressed both the Light Party and the Secret Party, as well as the neutral Blood Breeds.


    Under such circumstances, many furious humans were unable to control their emotions and as a result, their actions against the Blood Breeds were starting to get out of control.


    At this point, the Blood Breed''s Blood Alliance had no choice but to hold an emergency meeting to discuss methods to deal with the problem they were facing.


    Surprisingly, the four Death Apostles came to an agreement regarding the issue about the Holy Fist Palace''s search of the Sleepless Faces.


    Wellington looked at the remaining two Death Apostles.


    "I did some research and found that the Sleepless Faces do have the ability to change one''s physique and convert them into ancestral Blood Breeds. In addition to having a long life, the ancestral Blood Breeds were able to locate all Death Apostles, but other than that, they had no other special abilities. Even so, I cannot help but tremble in fear at the thought of Garen being able to continue putting pressure on us."


    "I have found records on the abilities of ancestral Blood Breeds," the only female death apostle said calmly.


    "Me too," another unfamiliar looking blonde man dressed in a black robe answered curtly.


    The three of them were the three key figures of the Secret Party, and that man was the most mysterious among them.


    Scarlet Moon from the Light Party was sitting opposite to them.


    He was a pale looking dark-haired young man with a cold look on his face, and only when his eyes moved slightly could people tell that he was alive and not merely a sculpture.


    "Scarlet Moon, what do you think?" the female Death Apostle looked towards Scarlet Moon.


    "We are not participating; joining the Holy Fist Palace might also be an option," Scarlet Moon answered coldly. The two Death Apostles from the Secret Party had chased him from such a long time that even now, he has yet to regain his full strength, so he was simply unbothered about these things.


    "Fortunately, it is obvious that we have the advantage of our large number of usable manpower as compared to the Holy Fist Palace. All he has is just one Death Apostle and two Upper-Level Blood Breeds. Hence, he himself has to be in the headquarters and will not be able to leave," Wellington analyzed, "I think that we can directly launch a nuclear attack onto the Holy Fist Palace and destroy the hope of mankind with their own technology, hehe..." a glimpse of cruelty flashed through his eyes.


    When he recalled the memories of Garen slaughtering him continuously, he could not suppress the anger in his heart; that had been how Garen had traumatized him. If Garen were to find a way to kill the Death Apostles, then killing them would be easier than slaughtering a chicken if he was also able to locate the Death Apostles.


    "We clearly cannot let him find the last few masks. If possible, I suggest that we should also start looking for the last few masks, and keep them in the hands of the Blood Alliance," he suggested.


    "This could work too."


    "Since we need to stop him from getting the masks, why not just directly eliminate his organization?"


    Although the few of them did not respond to Wellington''s nuclear attack idea, it did not mean that they would give up on that method. However, the nuclear strike would be their last resort, and they will not use it until the very last minute. Otherwise, they would need to sacrifice eight hundred of them in order to kill a thousand of them, and that would be an outrageous loss.


    "Both Hochman and Dahm are only Upper-Leveled, so as long as we are careful, we can easily settle the both of them."


    "What if they are using this trick too?" the female Death Apostle frowned.


    "We can lure him into a trap, since he''s so strong, right? Let us see if a large number of strong explosives will be able to kill him, or how many toxic bombs will be enough to infect him. We can also use a thousand degrees flamethrower and laser splicing. I doubt that he will be able to survive," the blonde man in the black robe surprised Wellington by uttering those words with a calm look on his face. Furthermore, the methods that he mentioned were almost all humans'' methods. This man was obviously very familiar with the humans'' science and technology.


    "It seems like your human economic group has deeply affected you," Scarlet Moon sneered. "Once you''ve used this method, do you think that they won''t use the same method to deal with us? You should know that human beings are far greater than us in terms of numbers."


    "This is a war, and we''re supposed to resort to every possible method," the blonde man in the black robe said.


    "I agree," Wellington raised his hand. "Let''s vote to decide."


    Two hands were raised; the female Death Apostle hesitated, but still raised her hand.


    Scarlet Moon remained impassive.


    "All of you can do what you want. The Light Party won''t be participating." he hit on the armrest of his chair and gradually disappeared from his seat.


    At the same time, the representatives from the Light Party got the signal and left one after another.


    "Even without them, we can easily conquer the Holy Fist Palace," the blonde man in the black robe shrugged, maintaining his calm expression.


    *******************


    Asia, Forwade Mountains.


    The brown mountains looked like a brown giant serpent with a little white peak that lay between Asia and Europe, completely separating the two regions.


    A dozen of small countries surrounded the mountain, and Cassarne was one of them.


    Cassarne was a small Buddhist country with a population of not more than 20 million, with only five cities including the capital. The vast majority of them were Buddhists.


    During the afternoon, when the sky was still slightly dim, the bell started ringing as usual on top of Cassarne''s capital, Mount Roland.


    The heavy bronze bell was being hit repeatedly, accompanied by the temple''s distant chants.


    Bustling crowds filled the streets of Mount Roland, and from time to time, gray elephants passed by in a line. Women were walking around, dressed in veils that could only cover their upper body, and most of them had a red mark in between their eyebrows, indicating that they were married.


    On the other hand, unmarried young women kept a long braid and were without any marking in between their eyebrows. They were walking together in groups.


    From time to time, skinny and dark-skinned ascetic monks could be seen on the streets. Some of them were bare from the waist up, and with their long hair and beards, they looked very sloppy.


    Some ascetic monks were sitting cross-legged on the large piece of cement in the largest temple near Mount Roland, Garlot temple, with their eyes closed while they murmured their chants.


    Many local children and young men and women surrounded them. There were also foreign tourists who constantly took pictures with their cameras.


    There were blonde-haired and black-haired tourists. The special characteristics from different countries were gathered in this place, and even black people with skin as dark as charcoal were present.


    A fashionable female tourist with luscious blonde hair and a curvy body was wearing a pair of dark brown sunglasses as well as a beautiful black dress. Two sturdy bodyguards with closely cropped hair were following behind her.


    She saluted the ascetic monks by putting her palms together in front of them, then she started browsing the stuff from a small accessory stall. However, her eyes were inconspicuously focussed on Garlot Temple on top of the mountains.


    "It has been confirmed that the seventh mask is just below the Buddha stupa located at the back of Garlot Temple. There should be an underground ancient tomb palace," the woman heard a man''s mosquito-like thin voice in her ears.


    She nodded slightly.


    "Hold on, that place only allows devout Buddhists to enter, so you might start a large-scale riot by entering recklessly. Wait until it gets dark before entering. According to the order of Sir Caesar, it would be the best if we can retrieve the mask without alerting anyone."


    "Understood."


    The man''s voice slowly faded out.

 742 Realm 2

    Chapter 742: Realm 2


    As time passed, the woman and her bodyguards went to a small restaurant to eat, but as there were only vegetarian dishes available, they had an unsatisfied look on their faces.


    The sky gradually got dark and the street lights began to switch on.


    The woman brought along her two bodyguards and casually walked towards the alley behind the temple.


    They entered a relatively narrow alley, and there was no one inside. The three of them instantly changed from leisure and carefree to quick and speedy.


    In just the blink of an eye, they took off their robes and the woman was wearing a tight-fitting undercoat beneath.


    "Let''s go!"


    The three of them scaled the walls of the temple like geckos, and with a leap, they disappeared into the other side of the temple wall.


    But just behind them, two men in black slowly walked out of the dark alley. Both of them had blood red eyes and emitted an indescribably weird feeling.


    "That should be them. Let''s keep up with them."


    The two men were the guards sent by the Blood Breeds. Because the Blood Breeds had way more connections than the Holy Fist Palace, even though they were not interested in the Sleepless Faces, they were able to find this piece of information from a mass of information that was as vast as the skies and sea, so they followed the Holy Fist Palace''s research team everywhere they went.


    After the two blood breeds entered the palace, two slender figures appeared in the alley once again.


    A handsome and mature-looking young man who wore glasses was no other than Caesar, and a middle-aged woman with a respectful look on her face was standing beside him.


    "The blood breeds have made a move," Caesar looked in the direction the two blood breeds had gone towards. "Jean, we will follow the plan."


    "Yes, master," the middle-aged woman bowed her head.


    As the second heir to an ancient family in Europe, after Caesar had joined the Holy Fist Palace, he''d become the successor with the highest chance of inheriting his family''s power. He''d defeated the first heir using both direct and sneaky methods during this period of time, who was unable to retaliate. With the help of the Combat Club, Caesar gradually took control of the family''s hidden powers.


    "It is said that the Sleepless Faces have some kind of mysterious power, and it can strengthen one''s physical qualities. Perhaps we can intercept it and investigate it," the middle-aged woman proposed.


    "There''s no need for that," Caesar shook his head. As the heir of the family, he valued his responsibility as a member of the Holy Fist Palace, as it was the source of his power. "The mask is something that the Holy Fist master personally wants, so we cannot let anyone get it. As the master gets stronger, we, as the members of the Holy Fist Palace, will also be influenced to improve."


    In fact, he was a little tempted, but after taking into account the risk of being found out, it was not worth risking the benefits that he was getting. Even if he got stronger by using the mask, was it possible for him to be stronger than the Holy Fist Master, Garen? The answer was obvious, and he might raise suspicion in the palace with his abnormal improvements. Most importantly, after so many years, Kabb from the Bailey Group had not been able to study anything from the mask that he had gotten. Therefore, it was unrealistic for him to think that he was able to study the mask in such a short period of time.


    "Okay, let''s follow the plan."


    "Yes."


    The middle-aged woman replied in a low voice and began to send out secret signals on her phone.


    Soon, a large number of people who were ready to ambush the Cassarne, the capital of Mount Roland, started to gradually make a move.


    Hundreds of tourists sneakily moved in the direction of the Garlot Temple and surreptitiously surrounded the whole temple.


    Then, they stopped moving and slowly waited for the moment when the Blood Breeds would leave the temple.


    These tourists were elites from Caesar''s family that were trained by the Holy Fist Palace. Although they were not as powerful as the formal members of the Holy Fist Palace, they were still able to fight one-on-one against a vampire. However, the training that these people underwent were focused primarily on the Blood Breeds'' control over humans, along with some special classes to deal with high-speed rivals and specially crafted venom bullets. These poisonous bullets were invented by humans to specifically target the Blood Breeds'' constitution after the Holy Fist Palace festival. After optimizing the raw material formula, it formed a cost-effective poison against the Blood Breeds. Blood Breeds who were shot would have symptoms of weakness, and although it was not life-threatening, even an ordinary human could kill a weakened blood breed in a single blow.


    After who knew how long¡­.


    "There are here!!" suddenly, a deep voice was heard. It had an Austria German accent.


    Cho cho cho cho...


    In just a blink of an eye, there was a burst of raindrop-like silenced gunshots. Numerous poisonous bullets were fired into the night sky above the walls.


    Right at this moment, two black shadows appeared, and they were the two Blood Breeds that had gone into the temple. Just as they appeared, countless bullets were fired in their direction and being unable to dodge the barrage, the duo fell to the ground from mid-air after being hit twice, as though they were deflated balloons.


    Caesar waved his hand.


    "Bring them along and leave this place immediately!"


    The people who were previously hiding hurriedly rushed over to the two Blood Breeds, searched their bodies, put them into two sack bags and carried them away. They were extremely experienced.


    Everyone including Caesar quickly left the place. The entire process had lasted less than a minute, showcasing their terrifying efficacy.


    At the same time, at the main entrance of the temple, an old monk in a yellow robe slowly walked out of the main hall and walked towards the stupa behind from the side of the temple. He had a pious look on his face, and as he walked, he would put his palms together to greet the other resting monks.


    Soon, he arrived before the stupa, then he put his palms together to greet the old monk guarding the stupa and walked into stupa as usual for inspection.


    After walking quite a distance using the main route, there was no one around him. the old monk then gently reached his hands up and tore at his face, and he actually ripped off his whole face. A horrifying burnt face underneath was exposed, and shockingly, it was Dahm from the Holy Fist Palace, who should have been far away in the United States.


    He looked at his surroundings, quickly locked onto a direction and walked towards the tarin. When he arrived in front of a seemingly deserted stupa, he groped and searched the ground. He opened a wooden cover and exposed a dark underground passage, and this was his reward for being in disguise for such a long period of time.


    However, it seemed like someone had gotten here first as there were traces of people entering the passage.


    However, Dahm did not panic. He took off his monk robe, put on a tight-fitting black suit and walked directly into the passage like a ghostly figure, pulling the wooden cover back, reverting it to how it used to look.


    The seventh mask was definitely in this underground palace, and he knew that it would not be easy retrieving the mask.


    *******************


    Holy Fist Palace


    "The seventh mask should be similar to the sixth mask, and there should be a guardian," Garen gentle stroked the sixth mask in his hand. "No matter how well we prepare, the lack of strength is a fact that we cannot hide."


    "Caesar and Dahm both went there openly and secretly, maybe they might succeed," Tu Lan replied. "According to what the clan leader of Wellington would usually do, he will definitely send someone in advance to grab the other masks, so you be prepared."


    "They know about the other masks?" Garen asked.


    "Of course, the possibility is very high," Tu Lan nodded.


    The two of them were sitting face to face at the restaurant for dinner. Small meat patties covered in a black sauce were stacked together and a fragrant sauce had been poured on top. The dish emitted the savory aroma of minced meat, tender lamb chops, steak, mushroom soup, and sweet trout with truffle. A variety of dishes were placed in front of them, but only Tu Lan was eating happily; Garen did not have much appetite.


    "Now that Dahm has managed to get into the underground palace, if things go without a hitch, he should be able to get the mask. He just needs to be alert about the Blood Breeds," Garen said, frowning.


    Recently, he''d practiced the Holy Phoenix Scriptures and his progress was quite good when combined with the Demonic Book. The Holy Phoenix Scriptures were actually a type of reality, divided into three layers and nine small realms, and each realm corresponded to a type of spiritual form. Or perhaps, it could be described as an imaginary platform that allows one''s spiritual energy to transform and form powerful images.


    The true meaning of the Holy Phoenix had played a significant role in the formation of his soul seeds.


    According to his estimation, as long as he reached the second layer of the Holy Phoenix Scriptures, he would be able to completely gather his soul seed. However, this way of practice was totally different from his previous secret techniques.


    The most crucial part of the Holy Phoenix reality practice was to know the true meaning behind it. There would be an image of a strange living creature in each realm, and in order to proceed to the next realm, he needed to completely visualize it. After successfully visualizing it, he could then transform his spiritual energy into the same powerful creatures in a spiritual battle, and attack his opponents with a powerful force.


    But as his visualization gradually deepened, Garen vaguely felt as though there was a line connected to his body, and this line had appeared due to practicing the Holy Phoenix Scriptures.


    He had a feeling that the true meaning of the Holy Phoenix might be related to the Mother Stream.


    And Black Sethe agreed.


    It was obvious that the true meaning of the Holy Phoenix used a training method of separating one''s spirit from their physical body, which was a purely civilized spiritual method. Therefore, it was no surprise that they created a large machine such as the Buddha Mother because their physical qualities might be far weaker than their spiritual development.


    In other words, they used foreign objects to make up for their own lack of physical and combat strength. This was purely a spiritual energy training.


    As for the source of the Mother Stream, it was the greatest miracle stream that acted as a natural storage of spiritual energy. From what Black Sethe speculated, the Holy Phoenix Scriptures and the Buddha Mother might be the same as him. They were the survivors of the Mother Stream and entered into this world. Or perhaps they have lost their way and made it here.


    ''In this world, you might never find enough resources to break through to the army level. Even if you reach the second level of the soul seed, without the full development of your body and unless you are spiritually strong enough to reach the level of true soul, you will never be able to withstand Nadia''s gradually improving brute strength,'' Black Sethe said softly in Garen''s ear.


    "There are three levels to the soul seed. I have gone through the ordinary soul stage, and now I''m at the second soul seed level. How can it become a true soul?" Garen asked.

 743 Undercurrent 1

    Chapter 743: Undercurrent 1


    ''True Soul? Are you kidding? Even during our peak demon lord class period, we were not True Souls. That was just a dream. Only ancient warlocks with great achievements were able to reach that level, as their spiritual energy alone was able to distort reality, and just by saying their names, magical powers could be drawn out. The horror of True Souls is out of this world. You''re just in the second Soul Seed level and you still need to go through many small stages,'' Black Sethe explained.


    ''We call the Soul Seed levels the Soul Breeding Phase, which is divided into seven colored soul levels according to the colors of the rainbow. These correspond to the colors of the souls, and they are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple and indigo. Each level has a seed quantity requirement, and you''ll need to gather at least five soul species and merge them together to get to the next colored level. As for you, it is still way too early now; you''ve not even collected enough souls for the basic colorless second Soul Seed. When you''ve gathered more than five colorless Soul Seeds, the five Soul Seeds will start resonating and repulsing one another. This is to get rid of uncoordinated impurities and unwanted stuff, then they will finally merge together and you''ll enter into the actual seven-colored phase.''


    ''As the number of seeds increases, because each seed is a condensation of your life''s major insights, as you accumulate more seeds, unwanted stuff will be rid of and what''s left will ultimately be similar. That is the purity rule of the soul. You need to merge your seeds together under such circumstances in order to enter the next stage.''


    "It is... so far away..." Garen finally understood why Black Sethe kept repeating that it was still too early. Now he knew that it was indeed too early for him. Who knew that it would be so difficult to reach the True Soul stage, it was no wonder that even though there were so many powerful beings in the Ancient Endor, none of the demon lords climbed to a True Soul level.


    "Actually, our demon lord class is just up to the green soul realm, and at that level, our spiritual energy alone was able to crush someone of an army level. You must also understand that only this level of soul realm, after being highly concentrated, will allow you to move through space without getting hurt. One''s physical body might be adjusted because of the rules of the universe space, but the souls which are highly concentrated would hardly suffer any major damage. And this is the one true eternity pursuit."


    Garen was caught deep in his thoughts.


    He did not even notice Tu Lan leaving after the meal.


    According to what Black Sethe described, he had only gathered one soul seed so far, which he''d gathered coincidentally in the Totem world.


    ''You don''t have to overthink it, insights are the source of soul gathering, and the reason why it''s taking so long is mainly that you did not develop in this direction specifically. Only when your insights deepen to a certain level will it will start condensing, though most of the time, you might get inspired just by looking at a painting or hearing a song. When you have found out about the laws of knowledge, then your soul seed might start condensing, but there are also times when it will not condense no matter what.''


    "Indeed, I don''t really need to think too much, there''s still a long way to go," Garen nodded.


    He stood up and left the restaurant, it was already evening. He walked towards his thermostatic tub in the Holy Fist Palace. The whole area was very big, and the entire palace was as big as a small town. Initially, it had a few big buildings, but later, because of its importance, it started expanding, and now the Holy Fist Palace occupied almost the entire peak of this mountain. Garen had his own private warm water supply tub, and similarly, some other important figures also had similar warm water tubs.


    He passed through several halls and entered the bathing area, from which the sound of students'' giggles could be heard from the public bathing area on the other side.


    With the help of a young female servant, Garen put on a bathrobe and went into his private bathtub. Every day at this time, he would choose to take a warm bath here to relax.


    After about ten minutes, his cell phone rang; it was the routine report call.


    Garen picked up the phone placed on the white stone stand.


    It was a call from Ninox.


    He answered the call.


    "Master? There have been blood breeds around recently. Do you want me to bring sister Raffaele away?" Cece''s voice came from the other side of the phone.


    Garen had sent Ninox to Grano to protect Raffaele, and once in a while, she would update Garen on the situation.


    "If she wants to," Garen replied with a low voice. Raffaele did have people who were important to her, and it was impossible for him to bring all of them here together. Even the important figures who lived in the Holy Fist Palace have reached double digits. If everyone were to bring people they cared for with them, it would not fit no matter how big this place was.


    Grano


    Ninox smiled bitterly while she looked at the witches'' gathering around her. Under the dark night, these witches were holding something like a glow stick in their hands and were coming from all sides of the forest.


    They''d mistook her protection for monitoring, and it had almost led to a conflict.


    Raffaele stood in front of her and stared at the phone in her hand.


    Cece was a little frustrated, and she still did not understand the means of the witches. Therefore, although she was almost as strong as an upper-level human, she was careful so that she will not be discovered by them.


    Having gotten Garen to pick up her call, Ninox looked at the blonde woman standing in front of her.


    "Do you want to talk to the Master?" she put the phone down and handed it over.


    Raffaele looked at the phone in her hand, remained silent for a moment and shook her head.


    "I''m going to meet him."


    Her golden long hair was sparkling even under the moonlight as if it was molten spun gold.


    "Are you really from the Holy Fist Palace?" she still had doubts.


    "Of course," Ninox answered helplessly.


    Raffaele looked a little lost.


    All this while, she knew about the strong human warrior in the Holy Fist Palace who had suddenly risen to fame, who was known as the Fist Saint. He was a human who was able to stand up against the top Death Apostle of the blood breed families. Although she knew that the Fist Saint was named Garen, she did not relate him to her ex-boyfriend, Garen.


    What she did not expect was that both Garens were the same person.


    When she got Ninox to admit that, the witches around her looked slightly surprised. They knew that their leader once had a wonderful first love, and that person was just an ordinary boy. But now it seemed like that person was actually as powerful as the Death Apostles, this made the witches who were already jealous of Raffaele, even more jealous.


    Raffaele was born as the granddaughter of the leader of the witches and she was very talented, now even her boyfriend was someone who was as strong as the Death Apostles.


    How was it fair for her to get all the benefits?


    Raffaele suppressed the shock in her heart, turned around and said something to a trusted witch beside her. She told her to inform her grandmother about this as this issue might trigger something unpredictable.


    "Now the Holy Fist Palace and the Blood Breeds are on bad terms, and Master is worried that the Blood Breeds might go up to extreme lengths and even try to harm you. Therefore, he sent me to protect you secretly and bring you back to the Holy Fist Palace if necessary." Ninox could tell that Raffaele was not against the idea of leaving Grano, and she could not help but to feel relieved.


    She calmed down and began to carefully analyze Raffaele, master''s ex-girlfriend.


    She had exquisite features and a confident and beautiful appearance. She had golden, tassel-like long hair hanging down past her shoulders, which looked as if it was able to emit warmth like the sun, and it gave people a dazzling yet intense impression. Her strength was almost close to the level of a middle-level witch.


    Ninox sighed slightly in her heart when she thought about the possibility of Raffaele getting back together with her master. With this thought in mind, she was a little uncomfortable, and she started looking at Raffaele with a slightly annoyed look.


    "Get ready, when should we go?" she asked directly.


    "As soon as possible." Raffaele thought about it and answered immediately. Although she did not know why Cece''s gaze was a little hostile, she understood that something troublesome might have happened. "I don''t need to bring anything with me, so I can leave anytime."


    "Okay then. We will leave now!" Ninox nodded.


    *********************


    A peninsula beach in Asia


    After the night fell, the surface of the sea was dark and deep, with sounds of waves hitting on the riffs occasionally.


    The deserted seashore was filled with black steep reefs of various sizes, and the larger ones were stacked together with large gaps in between them. Seawater would seep through these gaps and cause a large number of sea creatures to get stuck in it.


    Right at that moment, a group of men in black quickly changed in the gaps between the big reefs. They took off their black clothing and changed into a frogman outfit with a large-capacity oxygen tank on their back.


    There were about eight to nine of them, each one of them was agile and quick, and they had all kinds of tools with them. It was obvious that they were prepared.


    "We will start searching this area today, then group four''s mission will be completed," One of the shadows whispered.


    "Are you sure that the thing that we are looking for is near the sea? Why did we not find anything after so long? There are a dozen groups looking for it and it has almost been half a month, but there is still no sign of it," another shadow asked casually.


    "Who knows? We just need to follow the orders."


    "Let''s go, Brother Xu, Henry," one of them had already put on the frogman outfit and threw a face mask to each of the two.


    All of them donned a facemask and quietly plunged into the sea along the reef''s gaps, then rapidly disappeared into the sea like swimming fishes.


    On the surface of the sea roughly ten sea miles away from the reef coast.


    Multiple small warships and fishing boats with illuminated lighting poles constantly cruised on the sea. It seemed like they were patrolling, but also seemed like they were passing by slowly.


    When their backs were facing the light, these boats would stop occasionally and a few frogmen would get up, and soon afterward, a few more frogmen would get into the water. As time went by, waves after waves of people went up and down the boats.


    On a shore further away, there were groups of frogmen who constantly carried oxygen tanks into the sea.


    A large amount of manpower was spent continuously searching this area of ??the sea.


    About a hundred nautical miles away from the seashore of the search team, towards the left, there was a cruise-like luxurious white ship.


    Hochman and two young women dressed in red and black dresses laughed and talked over at the ship''s rail, and he occasionally teased the two women to the point where they covered their mouths laughing.


    The cruise was filled with well-dressed men and women conversing with one another politely; it seemed like a luxurious gathering for the upper-class society.


    The sound of music played continuously in the hall of the cruise. There were beautiful and fashionable women walking around, and also waiters dressed in neat white suits who constantly delivered delicious food to the guests.

 744 Undercurrent 2

    Chapter 744: Undercurrent 2


    Hochman had been invited to the after-party of the Asia Financial Summit. The cruise was sponsored by a financial tycoon in Asia. Hochman had always participated various financial gatherings on behalf of his family. As the first heir to his family''s properties, he was very famous among the beautiful young ladies in the party. He was handsome, talented and rich, so he could be considered as the model example of a bachelor.


    Many ladies were willing to get to know him, and there were also quite a number of business tycoons who wanted to get on good terms with him. Even though this was a business gathering in Asia, Hochman did not need to reveal his identity as a member of the Holy Fist Palace; the status of his family alone could already be counted as the very best. Only a handful of people were able to compare their status with him.


    While he casually chatted with the two ladies, Hochman slightly diverted part of his attention to the news coming from his earphone.


    Asia was not only the place where the seventh mask is located; according to the news, it was also where the eighth and ninth masks were located. After putting in a lot of hard work and using all sorts of connections, Hochman found a sea which might be where the two masks were located. He quickly made use of the manpower in his family and began a large-scale search in the seashore vicinity.


    In the world of ordinary people, Hochman was just the first heir to the American business family and the top student of a famous university. Even though he did well in the supernatural world and had a reputation of an upper-class member of the Holy Fist Palace, to ordinary people, even some powerful business tycoons were unlikely to reach the same level as him.


    After all, there were too few supernatural beings. There were not more than ten thousand of them in the United States, including witches. It was worse in Europe since there were only a small number of blood breeds to begin with, and witches were restricted regionally as they could not leave their ancestral homes without their powers being greatly reduced.


    As for those hidden top martial arts experts, if they weren''t madmen who pursued martial arts to an extreme, it would be impossible for them to surpass the limits of the human body, and there was an even lower chance of them wasting time on fighting.


    This resulted from the fact that only less than 90 percent of the world''s population knew about the supernatural circle. It could be because most people felt that it was too complicated, but they mostly avoided it out of fear. Only upper-class humans with great influences could truly enter the circle.


    Usually, most of the mysterious incidents around the world were started by this circle. But since most people were too afraid to face it, with the witches'' memory-erasing abilities and the blood breeds'' human-control abilities, after erasing their memories, the blood breeds and humans had even fewer interactions.


    Whenever Hochman thought about it, he would have a sense of being isolated from the world. Just a moment ago, he had still been running errands for the Holy Fist Palace and had been worried about being attacked by the blood breeds. But now, it seemed as though he had returned to his carefree life as an ordinary human.


    Beauty women, wine, good food, gambling, drugs, orgies, surfing, bungee jumping, illegal boxing, keeping various extremely dangerous pets just for show, et cetera, there were all sorts of exciting events that he got to do whatever he wanted.


    This was the life that he''d once lived. It was a meaningless and corrupted life; all he did was enjoy.


    But now.


    Hochman stretched out his right hand and gently gripped it. He felt a truly rich and strong force circulating continuously within his body.


    "This is what I wanted...."


    He continued chatting with the two ladies with a straight face as though nothing happened. Occasionally, he could feel the envious gazes of the people around him, and also people pointing at him to introduce him to their children.


    "I heard that Mr. Hochman has visited the Kato Businesses, can I know what do you think about my father''s company?" a girl in a red dress said while she walked towards him from the other side. The girl had a cool look on her face with a hint of arrogance. Her black curly hair was scattered around her shoulders, and she wore an exquisite diamond necklace around her fair neck.


    Hochman looked at her carefully and immediately recognized her identity.


    The elder daughter of Kato Businesses. Kato Businesses was a world-class financial group, and it was a highly-ranked company, not just in Asia but around the world, which could be compared to the huge companies such as the Primary Colors and Rexott. They had many crossover industrial businesses and countless properties.


    He did not expect that someone of such high rank would participate in the Asia Summit Gathering, and he was a little surprised. Muneteru Riko''s identity was even more dazzling than his family''s. He did not see her just now, so she might have just boarded the cruise, or she stayed in her room all this time.


    Hochman pondered on how to answer her question.


    "Oh, it''s Ms. Muneteru Riko. Kato Businesses did leave a great impression; specifically, how distinct the hierarchy management was. There was a lot for me to learn from the visit."


    When the other two women heard the girl''s identity, they were surprised and sensibly left, leaving the two of them to talk at the side of the cruise.


    "It seems like Mr. Hochman has a good impression of my father''s company. Maybe we will have the opportunity to work together," Muneteru Riko smiled and said.


    "What do you mean?" Hochman frowned slightly.


    Muneteru Riko looked at the man standing in front of her, handsome, confident, and strong yet dangerous. Even though she was a black belt in karate, before this man, she still felt a strange sense of danger, as though she was standing before a fierce beast.


    Rumors had it that Hochman had once killed a polar bear with his bare hands. It seemed like the information was indeed true.


    After she calmed down, Muneteru Riko admired Hochman even more, if she could choose her marriage partner, she was willing to choose the man standing before her who was stronger than her.


    "I heard that you are looking for an ancient mask that was lost in this area?" Riko asked softly. "About the search, my family might be able to help you in with the marine ships, and of course, manpower will not a problem."


    "Oh?" Hochman raised an eyebrow. Everyone in the Holy Fist Palace knew that Garen was looking for the Sleepless Faces mask, and everyone was using their connections to look for the mask. Under such situation, he could only rely on his own strength to search for it, since it is said that whoever found the mask would be rewarded personally by the Holy Fist Palace. At the very least, the reward would be an increase in lifespan and strengthening of physique.


    He heard that Dahm had been rewarded previously, and his originally wounded skin had recovered in a very short period of time. His skin became even more delicate and fair, and after examining his skin with medical devices, he discovered that his physical function was much stronger than before. Also, he estimated that his maximum lifespan had been extended by ten years, which meant that he got to live ten years longer.


    Many people who suffered from a chronic disease were interested, as their illnesses would be healed and their bodies would be strengthened. In addition to that, they got to be trained personally by the Holy Fist Palace, which was why many people who seek power were interested too.


    Therefore, there were a lot more people searching for the masks.


    "What do you mean?" Hochman knew that it was impossible for her to ask nothing in return.


    "We hope to get your support in the North American businesses," Muneteru Riko answered very honestly.


    Hochman understood what she meant, as he''d heard that Kato Businesses was being attacked by a secret group in North America and so they were unable to successfully establish their business there.


    "I can think about it, but my family..." before he could finish his sentence, there was an abrupt report coming from his earphone.


    "We found it!! The two masks!! Hahaha! The twenty million bonus is ours!! Ah!!!" before they could finish cheering, he heard rounds of panicked screams.


    "What monster is that!!?"


    "Shoot! Shoot!! No!!"


    Along with a ''crack'' sound, he heard cracking sounds coming from the other side of the phone; apparently, their communication equipment was being crushed.


    Hochman had a heavy look on his face. The blood breeds have made a move...


    "Mr. Hochman?" Muneteru Riko who was standing in front of him reached out her hand and waved.


    "Marshall, we were attacked by the blood breeds, and they coming after you! Be careful!!" an anxious voice from another channel was heard.


    "Understood, do you know how strong they are?" Hochman raised his hand and give Muneteru Riko a sign to wait.


    "The detector indicates upper-class Blood Breeds! There are at least two of them!!" the one who was on the other side of the phone suddenly lowered his voice, probably because he was afraid that the Blood Breeds might hear him.


    "Quick! Get on the boat!"


    Hochman had a gloomy look on his face, and there were traces of extremely dangerous vibes radiating from his body.


    "It seems like the Blood Breeds were fully prepared.... Don''t worry about me, retreat first. I will come later."


    "Understood!" then he disconnected.


    Hochman worked out a kink in his neck as he looked at Ms. Muneteru Riko, who had a puzzled look on her face. He had spoken in German just now instead of standard international conversational English, therefore, she could not understand at all.


    "Are you in a hurry?" Muneteru Riko asked curiously. "Do you need my help?"


    "Hochman, you will not be able to escape today..."


    Suddenly, a loud male voice reverberated on top of the cruise.


    A fiery red shadow suddenly appeared on top of the cruise ship. It was a red-haired man with strong muscles all over his body. He was wearing a red leather coat, sunglasses even though it was at night, and had his hair styled into a flashy mohawk.


    He jumped down from tens of meters of height.


    Thump!!


    The deck of the cruise was very sturdy; surprisingly, there was no indentation at all.


    The man stood up, waved with his right hand and gathered crimson-colored flames into a long red sword. There were numerous mystical symbols on the sword.


    "Sword of Daybreak!" he whispered.


    In an instant, under the stunned gazes of the guests and their bodyguards, the red sword suddenly burst into a large red flame. Then, it morphed into a curvaceous flame woman figure and was launched towards Hochman at lightning speed.


    At the same time, in the shadows behind Hochman, a black female shadow slowly appeared.


    "Blood breeds'' holy weapon¡­.?" Hochman took a step back, stretched his right hand out and gathered invisible air-currents in his palm. As his hair moved around constantly, his eyes vaguely turned black.


    Under the illumination of the flame, the shadow behind Hochman suddenly became distorted and turned into a giant black shadow dragon which surrounded him silently.


    Muneteru Riko took a few steps back from the suffocating air-current and fiery flames, frightened, and sat down on the ground. She raised her hands and covered herself while she stared blankly at what was happening right before her eyes. Everything had happened in a way that she was unable to understand, and she had goose bumps all over her body. She was feeling dangerous cold-induced tremors; despite the intense heat from the flames, all she felt were chills.

 745 Fierce Battle 1

    Chapter 745: Fierce Battle 1


    "Profound ¨C War cry!"


    Hochman looked at the flame figure launching towards him at a lightning speed and swept his right hand forward. He cut through the air with his hand and shot a few transparent air blades.


    The half-moon-shaped air blades swirled towards the flame figure.


    Boom!!


    The air blades collided with the flame figure, creating a violent explosion. The crimson flames swept over the whole area like a tide that drowned the deck.


    Some of the bodyguards were caught in the fire as they did not avoid it in time and screamed pitifully as they burned.


    Some of them were blown away by the violent explosion and collided into the cabin. They were bleeding out, screaming in pain, wailing and panicking. Whether adults or children, the crowd broke out into a riot.


    As the flames dispersed, Hochman held his shoulder with one hand; a black arrow had pierced through the back of his right shoulder. There was no bleeding or wounds, and even the black arrow was starting to slowly disappear.


    But what bothered him was that he''d lost all sensation in that area of muscle that had been pierced by the arrow, as though he''d completely lost his shoulder. He could not even raise his right hand.


    "Two Blood Breeds'' Holy Weapons..." he felt a sense of danger in his heart. If it was just one Holy Weapon, it will not have been a problem facing it head-on. However, his opponents were two combat type upper-class Blood Breeds, and they were armed with two extremely horrifying Holy Weapons. This was supposed to be a fight where two men fought with their bare hands, but suddenly, his opponent had a sharp sword in his hand, and the sword was something that belonged in a god-tier level.


    ***********************


    Stupa underground palace


    Dahm moved forward quickly, took a few turns at lightning speed and moved around the underground tunnel like a gust of wind. The air was rancid and the light was dim, and only the torchlight that he brought with him formed a beam of light.


    Not long afterward, he quickly found a worshipping urn with a statue of God and stopped right in front of it.


    The worshipping urn was located in a pitch black underground hall surrounded by bizarre Buddhist mural paintings on the wall. There were celestial nymphs of unidentified gender flying everywhere, their bodies were red in color but their eyes were green. Their eyes reflected like shiny green spots of light in the dark.


    The statue of God was a bald-headed three-eyed man with his right palm placed in an upright position. He had a smile on his face and his eyes were slightly open. Inexplicably, it gave off an eerie feeling.


    "This is not just any Buddha statue!" Dahm frowned slightly; they were worshipping an unknown statue instead of the almighty Buddha statue in the underground palace of a Buddhist stupa tarin...


    He had hidden in this place for quite some time and he''d roughly studied Buddhism, but he did not recall any branch of Buddhism with a god that resembled the statue right in front of him.


    However, all his doubts disappeared when he saw a black mask in front of the statue.


    He quickly walked towards the mask, picked it up, stuffed it into the black bag that he had prepared, and tied it tightly. He glanced at his surroundings and swiftly retreated along the route that he used previously.


    Suddenly, a red light flashed through the darkness and headed right at him.


    The red light was as fast as lightning, but Dahm caught a glimpse of its face. The sharp and cold look on his face caused the pores on Dahm''s face to shrink instantly, and he even started to feel a slight pain.


    He instinctively took a step back while he put his palms together against the red light.


    He saw clearly that it was a long red sword, but under the illumination of the flashlight, it reflected a striking red light in the darkness.


    Clang!!!


    His palms came into contact with the red sword as he precisely caught the red sword in between his hands. At this instant, a red light started shining from the edge of the sword and hit on Dahm''s face heavily.


    Bang!!


    He released his hands and staggered back several steps. Blood dribbled down his hands as he covered his face with his hands.


    AHH!!!


    He screamed.


    "My face.... my beauty...." Dahm covered his face with his hand, but blood did not stop trickling through his fingers.


    It had not been easy for him to recover his beauty from his Master, but now, someone had ruined his face again!!!


    "I''ll tear you apart!" Dahm immediately put down his hands. His eyes turned blood red and he was filled with a burst of murderous rage. Bits of black threads were moving all around him.


    In a flash, the ground started to collapse silently, and he disappeared from where he was standing. Then, he turned into a bloody red shadow and ran straight in the direction of the red sword.


    Instantly, a sudden burst of airflow rushed into the dark and narrow hall. The overwhelming atmosphere shook the hall and immediately occupied all the available space in the hall.


    A series of continuous explosions were heard as Dahm constantly used his blood red hands to hit the red sword. He laughed fanatically and horrifyingly as he created countless shadows with his hands to throw it against his opponent who was in the darkness. He did not worry about his palms being cut open by the sword.


    The owner of the red sword slowly appeared out of the darkness. He was a middle-aged man with whiskers all over his face. He was dressed in a black trench coat with a white shirt and jeans. The red long sword in his hand accurately blocked all of Dahm''s disorderly attacks.


    The man had an indifferent look on his face as if he was completely unaffected by Dahm''s madness. No matter how swift and fierce Dahm''s crazy attacks were, his red longsword was able to fly up and down and accurately block all of Dahm''s attacks, as though he was blocking bullet shots.


    Thump!!


    With a ''thump'' sound, Dahm was hit by a sudden huge counterattack.


    "The bloody marshal, Dahm," the man with whiskers raised the sword single-handedly and embedded the sword into the ground of the underground palace. Then, he took a lighter and cigarette from the pocket of his trousers. He lit the cigarette and inhaled deeply. "As I expected. Although your power output is strong, your endurance is too weak."


    His eagle-like eyes were fixed on Dahm, and even the darkness was unable to impede his gaze. He clearly saw Dahm''s chest heaving violently.


    Previously, the two of them had been constantly attacking and defending; they did their utmost best and did not hold back at all. Therefore, although their power output was horrifying, the amount of energy they consumed was absolutely shocking.


    "Are you mocking me by putting your weapon down right in front of me?" Dahm''s face was hidden in the dark, it seemed like he finally finished venting and calmed down.


    "What do you think?" the man with whiskers reached for his cigarette, inhaled and exhaled the smoke through his nostrils.


    "After I kill you and break through as a Death Apostle, I will kill the guy named Garen. Then I will light a big firework there. Boom!" he mimicked the action of an explosion. "And everything will quiet down at last..."


    "You have a death wish!!"


    Dahm''s figure instantly turned into a red shadow and rushed forward. In the next moment, all the blood on his body had gathered on his hands.


    ''Chi-chi-chi''! a number of transparent fine threads flew out and shrouded the entire hall as if there had been an explosion. A large number of silk threads burst outward and cut through every corner of the hall.


    Dahm elongated all of the silk threads. As long as one came into contact with a body, it would instantly cause one''s blood to explode. This was Dahm''s scariest area-wide attack!


    An all-direction, encompassing shroud of countless silk threads.


    The man with whiskers inhaled deeply from his cigarette and the cigarette suddenly lit up.


    Clang!!


    He suddenly pulled the long sword from the ground with his right hand and rushed forward!


    As the sword was being pulled out of the ground, Dahm could not see any continuity in his movement, it was as though the sword had suddenly appeared in his hand, or he did not put down his weapon since the very beginning.


    The red sword was shining as it slashed down towards the countless silk threads.


    ***********************


    With a ''clang'' sound, the air blades cut through the flame figure.


    "The blood breeds has been planning for a long time, I need to leave immediately!!" Hochman finally understood. It was impossible for the Blood Breeds to simply send the two of them here, they must''ve concocted an entire plan. If it were up to him, he would surround three out of four exits, leaving just one exit open. From there, his prey would get hurt while they tried to escape while a faint hope was dangled before them. As they escaped, it would consume their energy, and he would easily get the final victory.


    The red-haired man standing in front of him giggled and waved his long flame sword once again.


    Whoosh-whoosh!!


    Several flame clusters were spilled from the sword. The flame clusters that fell onto the ground started burning. While it burnt, it started to deform like a like plastic clay and turned into petite female flame figures, which looked exactly the same as his initial attack.


    In a blink of an eye, there were three more female flame figures on the deck. They opened their mouth and roared, but only the sound of flame crackling can be heard.


    As the red light flashed, the three flame figures rushed towards Hochman. On the other hand, the red-haired man who was standing a distance away slowly moved backward, swung his longsword again and created a few more human-figured flame clusters.


    Hochman had a gloomy look on his face and quickly dodged towards his left. A black light was coming after him from behind and went through the clothes on his waist; he was almost shot.


    He did not have too much time to think, activated Double Fist and immediately launched a punch forward!!


    Bang!!


    There was a shallow indentation on the deck. The impact was like a thunderclap which made everyone''s feet numb.


    A huge dark shadow burst forward on top of Hochman''s punches and the very air was being stirred. There were fluctuations and vibrations just like the Profound ¨C War Cry previously.


    As expected, along with three ''chi'' sounds, three air blades were fired from Hochman''s fist and respectively split through the three flame figures.


    Hochman fiercely rushed towards the red-haired man and slammed his foot towards him.


    Boom!!


    As the deck started shaking, Hochman''s speed increased rapidly, with a huge impact like a tank.


    At the same time, the three flame figures were being split apart. Even the flames that spilled out were being shaken up, and the time it took to recreate a human figure was delayed.


    The red-haired man''s face changed slightly. He tried to dodge, but he had not expected Hochman''s speed to increase rapidly once again. Along with a muffled sound, another shallow indentation appeared on the deck once again.


    Hochman abruptly appeared right before him, and his strong arm was like a sharp blade that was swung down towards him.


    His hand-blade cut through the air and made a harsh screeching sound, similar to the screeching sound made by combat jets midflight, and a faint white line of smoke trailed the back of his palm.


    Thump!!!


    The red-haired man and Hochman slammed into each other, as though a tank had collided with an elephant. The two of them was taken aback and rolled onto the ground. By chance, Hochman dodged the two black arrows launching towards him from behind.


    Instantly, the two of them started grappling with each other on the deck. The red-haired man was completely suppressed as four arms overlapped. Every few seconds, he would be punched in the chest which caused him to continuously cough up blood. All he could do was use his red longsword to shield his body.


    Thump!


    Hochman punched a hole through his chest, but since he was able to heal rapidly, his flesh and blood wrapped around Hochman''s hand and trapped it tightly.


    "Fire!!"


    He finally shouted. He took the opportunity while Hochman was trapped, and his whole body started burning in flame. He made a flame ring and hit it straight into Hochman.


    Bang!!


    The two of them were finally separated. The red light shone brightly as the huge impact threw Hochman away. However, the direction that he flew to was a little strange; as though he was a bat, he turned around in mid-air and headed towards the direction of the sea.


    "Don''t let him escape!" the red-haired man shouted.

 746 Fierce Battle 2

    Chapter 746: Fierce Battle 2


    A black shadow quickly caught up. Impressively, it was that black-shirt girl who shot that cold arrow, but her speed was slightly slower. When she heard the sound of water while waiting beside the boat, she rushed towards the flange of the boat, and looked down on the floating Black Water Flower.


    "Damn it!" The black-shirt girl slapped the side of the boat, smashing the edge of the boat-sides. For a moment, a deep dent appeared.


    Boom!


    Suddenly, a fist smashed the sides of the boat underneath her. The fist opened up into a palm, and it fiercely caught something with one grab.


    Thump!


    The black-shirt girl looked mad, as her right thigh was caught. She violently tried to pull away, but she lost her balance and fell to the ground with a thump.


    "Profound - Disordered Flow!" Hochman said in a low voice, from the outer side of the boat.


    In a split second, the edge of the boat-side lit up with a bunch of golden sparks. Then, a tearing and piercing metal friction sound rang out.


    In the huge spark, the boat side started ripping apart, revealing the situation inside. Both of Hochman''s arms wildly chopped forwards. With every chop, the strength of his speed hit a terrifying level. Although it is not as violent as before, where it gave out a white whistle, each karate chop he did was as if it was a real blade instead, violently chopping up the Blood Breed woman''s body. Suddenly, fresh blood shot out.


    In a short second, Hochman had chopped out a dozen knives towards the front. All of them were on the Blood Breed woman''s body. Especially her chest, it was chopped until it was bloody and all caved in. With one violent kick, the Blood Breed woman flew out. Then, Hochman creased his brows; if his right shoulder wasn''t attacked, causing a loss of force in his right arm, he could have ripped the Blood Breed woman apart just now.


    Stepping onto the edge of the wrecked boat, he borrowed that strength and like a bat, he flapped the sleeves of his robe and flew away. He drifted on the surface of the water, not falling into the sea yet. An explosive sound could be heard coming from both of Hochman''s legs.


    Under his feet, water splashes burst out. It was shocking to find that both his feet were fiercely stamping on the water surface. Borrowing this strength, again, he stepped on the water like a water spider, traveling a far distance. In the blink of an eye, he had exceeded more than two hundred meters.


    "The most important thing now is not the battle with two of the Blood Breeds. Instead, it is about finding the masks that Master needs, and then we leave!" Hochman''s aim was very clear. He immediately stepped into the water and left, creating a huge thrust with every terrifying explosive power. It allowed him to travel at a much higher speed compared to the fastest motorboat.


    The cruise ship behind him quickly became smaller, darker, and more blurry in the evening.


    *******************


    Holy Fist Palace.


    "Both Marshalls were attacked?"


    Garen picked up a chess piece for a moment, then gently put in down in front of the board.


    He was playing chess with Tu Lan, sitting in a small and quiet room that was not more than a few square meters wide. On the side, a huge letter "quiet" written with a black ink on a white paper, in a Sina character.


    The Sina text was very similar to the ones on the Earth were Garen lived. However, the size Sina was far less than China, where the size of it was more than a million square kilometers. Instead, it was a combined series of smaller countries like Sina. Asia and Europe were very similar too -- there were dozens of large and small countries. Some of them were strong, and some of them were weak. Furthermore, invaded countries that participated in second world war were also included. Those that once had the world''s first Air Force, and wanted to conquer the world with force.


    "Do you need me to take a look at it?" Tu Lan looked at Garen, and put down his chess piece.


    "No need." Garen shook his head slightly, "everyone has their own things to do."


    As he put the chess piece down lightly, he removed Tu Lan''s dragon piece immediately. He saw Tu Lan''s face turned green. Even though this old-school Blood Breed had been alive for many years, all he could feel was his IQ being crushed whenever he was with Garen.


    There was no bigger picture, nor was there any tricks, but just some partial battling involved. With every partial battle, Garen would win nine battles out of ten of them.


    His calculation and deducing skills made people boil with anger. Using such simple calculation skills to crush people gave them no chance to resist. So much that seeing the chess board now gave Tu Lan a bit of a trauma since she had never won before.


    Or maybe my chess skills are too weak; if I was replaced by chess player who was strong at overlooking the bigger picture, they would definitely win, Tu Lan comforted herself.


    "Are you men in position?" Garen suddenly asked a no-brainer question.


    Tu Lan nodded.


    "They have been in their position since ten minutes ago," the both of them packed the chess pieces and put them into the chess basket.


    "Let''s wait awhile longer." After Garen kept the chess pieces, he reclined on the chair and began to repose by closing his eyes.


    He was really calm.


    Tu Lan could not help but look at him. The Older Generation Blood Breeds were attacking two of his strongest and most important men. Yet, he was no the least bit affected by it.


    Garen''s expression was calm. In his mind, the black-covered Demonic Book slowly floated and rotated around slowly. It was as if his whole body was spreading out a dull golden light. Ever since he had grasped the true meaning of Holy Phoenix, the Demonic Book became like that.


    In reality, more and more martial arts steps were recorded in the Demonic Book. Even Dahm''s and Hochman''s two new Waterbird Fists were recorded by Garen. Along with this recording, the Demonic Book was becoming stranger and stranger. Originally, it was just a simple notebook, but it slowly turned into something that had some magical effect that linked Garen''s brain with the Demonic Book.


    Most times, Garen could feel the Demonic Book, as if he was pregnant with the Soul Seed. Sometimes, he could even feel it''s beating, just like a beating heart.


    As time passed, Garen sat as still as a monk -- he did not move at all. There wasn''t even a single change in his expression, just as if he was sleeping.


    **********************


    Boom!


    In the Underground Palace, it was densely packed with red long knives and countless wired strings fighting against each other. There was no crisp sound coming from the metal, but only a combination of countless sounds, forming a muffled explosion.


    The wired strings retreated. However, Beard pushed forwards, charging towards Dahm.


    "Profound - Bloody Night!" Dahm shouted violently. Countless wired strings suddenly emerged in a pale-red color indicating a large number of spirits that were flowing along the wired string. It was as if a fluid-like liquid covered the whole strong, forming a huge red net, rushing towards Beard.


    Chi chi chi chi chi!


    A large number of wired strings carried a horrifying cutting-air sound rushed towards Beard. Some of the stone sculpture decorations that stuck out in some of the halls were cut off with just a silent and gentle graze. However, before the broken pieces fell into the floor, it was cut through once more with the flying wired strings and they all turned into countless tiny debris. With a bang, the debris exploded immediately.


    That was Dahm''s explosive power. After going through the improvement of Waterbird Fist, he used a huge amount of resources to collect and organize the martial arts information. Then, the most scientific method of deduction was used to calculate the most suitable and strongest battle method for himself.


    "Holy Technique - Faded."


    The knife in Beard''s hand was as red as blood. The front of it faced the red net, like a lightning in the night sky, or a laser. Only when it lit up did it cut through the big red net. The moment the red knife met the string, a bright light reflection from the top of the knife lit up with a clang. Unexpectedly, it cut the wired net into half.


    For the first time, Dahm''s face revealed a grave expression.


    He waved both his arms, and once again shot out many wired strings. Among three of them continuously replenished the wired strings that were broken. The rest were silently hiding in the dark, quietly creeping behind Beard.


    Chi chi!


    Right above Beard''s head, a huge chunk of heavy stone was cut through with a string.


    Boom! Just as the huge stone fell down, Beard''s sword shattered it into tiny pieces that eventually fell onto the floor, like raindrops.


    "I can''t remember clearly how many years it has been, but other than the Death Apostles, there weren''t many Blood Breeds who survived until their fifth move in front of me." Beard removed his cigarette bud and blew out a mouthful of smoke, "let''s see if you can break the record today."


    "The fourth move!" As Beard''s pupils narrowed, his whole body gave out an extremely dangerous atmosphere, "red lotus!"


    The moment the sound rang, Beard flew forwards, moving towards Dahm''s direction.


    In mid-air, with a clang that rang out beside him, four blood-red sword reflection lit up. The reflection of the sword continued to light up to a point where it kept spinning, as if it was a windmill, turning in the wind. The speed of the spin became quicker and quicker. From a distance, it looked like a red lotus flower that did not stop spinning.


    Bang bang bang!


    The red lotus immediately broke open countless wired strings, as he was getting closer to Dahm.


    In a split second, this was the first time Dahm felt a life-threatening situation where his nerves were constantly agitated. It was not the same as his past experiences. The true strength of this enemy in front of him far exceeded his. Since when did Blood Breed has such scary Upper-level Blood Breed? Even if it was a Death Apostle, it was not estimated as such.


    Seeing as the red lotus was closing in fast, Dahm''s brain could not help but flash across different solutions. However, there was nothing he could use that would truly defeat the enemy in front of him. Against his enemy, his tough metal strings were like weak ropes; once hit, then it breaks. If he directly slashed forwards, Dahm would still be able to sneak an attack on Beard''s back. But with the speed that it''s spinning in now, there would be no flaws all around him.


    This was the first time -- the first time he was faced with a single opponent, and Dahm wanted to retreat. Suddenly, he thought about the information he saw not long ago. There were five families in Blood Breed, and every family had a unique Holy Technique.


    However, it was weird that among five families, only four were Death Apostle families. Whereas when he linked up all the information he had seen, the last one was an Upper-level Blood Breed that acted as Landlord.


    Dahm''s expression finally changed. In the information, the only non-Death Apostle family''s Landlord was suddenly in the shape of Beard. It was also said that he used a long knife as a weapon. He was known as the world''s famous top-level knife master.


    The red lotus became closer, and now he was close at hand. Dahm wanted to get out, but it was as if his body was immobilized. There was an unknown attraction that locked him onto the ground so that he could not move.


    "Damn it!" Dahm wildly raised both his hands. In this life and death situation, he did not care much. If he did not retaliate, he would be chopped into minced meat!


    "Profound¡­ First Star," a low, yet familiar voice appeared in his consciousness.


    Suddenly, Dahm''s eyes were wide open. He could feel something that did not belong to him in his body. However, it was also an oddly familiar violent strength surging outwards.


    Whiz¡­


    In the blink of an eye, countless wired strings gathered in his hand and turned into one blood-colored spear that slowly suspended beside his face.


    "Flight of the Evil Phoenix¡­"


    At this moment, Dahm finally realized that the original Waterbird Fist was the final secret of the terrifyingly brutal Profound technique.


    The subtle wind flew past as the warmth brushed his face, like there was a voice reverberating in the wind.


    Could you hear it? It was the sound of the wind¡­


    Unconsciously, Dahm closed his eyes.


    Then, the sound of birds chirping rang out.


    The red lotus froze in mid-air, stopping less than one meter away from Dahm. In the red light, his pupils shrank quickly. An overwhelming sense of crisis was suddenly all over his body, giving him goosebumps. In the reflection of his red pupils, a huge transparent pair of airflow wings slowly appeared on his back.


    Retreat!


    As this had just idea risen, an overwhelming wind blew from the front. Something in the wind seemed to be mixed with something inexplicable.

 747 Fierce Battle 3

    Chapter 747: Fierce Battle 3


    Holy Fist Palace.


    Garen suddenly opened his eyes.


    "It''s time."


    He looked towards Tu Lan, who was sitting in the same position beside him.


    "Go. I will compensate you for what you''re worth."


    "Are you sure?" Tu Lan let out a breath, shook his head in annoyance, and stood up, "Forget it, I''ll be generous this time."


    She slowly walked out of the quiet room and towards the direction of her residence.


    Garen sat alone in the quiet room. His expression was indifferent. His gently stroked the chessboard, thinking.


    "It''s getting closer, and closer now," BlacK Sethe''s voice was low. His voice seldom came up lately. He was not like before, where he was very chatty. Instead, he had become more and more silent, as if his every word was like gold.


    "The Old Generation Blood Breed have joined forces to attack you, and they are sending out men with strengths who aren''t those with typical power. Are you sure that you''re not worried at all? The five big Holy Technique Family at least have around ten Upper-level Blood Breed. At first, the Wellington Family only had three Upper levels. But if they add the Holy Weapon, your people will suffer heavy losses."


    Garen shook his head.


    "Everything has been arranged. If there''s a problem, there is nothing else I can do. Just as I''ve said before, for Holy First Palace to battle against the entire Old Generation Blood Breed, our strengths are still considered very weak. That is why we cannot leave this place even if they ambush us."


    "I have this sixth sense lately that it''s best if you and your men don''t attack," Black Sethe reminded.


    "Oh? Why?" Garen was slightly taken aback.


    "There''s no reason why, because I have no idea too. It''s just a feeling," Black Sethe''s voice slowly faded into the air, and it no longer rang.


    Garen stood alone in the quiet room, with a flash of doubt in his eyes.


    *********************


    The strong winds blew against the inner walls of the Underground Palace''s Hall. The whole Underground Palace trembled and swayed violently.


    Buss!


    Dahm''s eyes looked lost. His whole body couldn''t help but be carried upwards by his wings. The transparent wings continuously fluttered. Beside him, the red spear that was like a red rifle floated beside him and he caught it in his hands. The rifle opened up circles and circles of transparent ripples -- that was the powerful effect from the vibration in the air.


    However, Beard was immediately held in mid-air by the violent surge of air. He could not move at all, and in the blink of an eye, it was as if his whole body was tied around with an invisible rope.


    "What¡­ Is this move¡­?" All of a sudden, Beard''s expression calmed down, as he looked downwards at Dahm.


    Chi!


    The red rifle impressively shot out a red line.


    Chi chi! Chi chi chi chi chi!"


    Within seconds, a big piece of red wire burst out from the rifle and aimed towards Beard from all directions.


    With one puff, and just with a blink of an eye, Beard was suspended in mid-air. His body was penetrated into a bloody mess by countless of wires.


    "This time, you win," Beard said in a deep voice.


    With a thump, he turned into a cloud of blood mist, disappearing completely. Countless bloody wires also fell to the ground, returning to its original invisible, yet transparent color.


    All the dust settled.


    Only then did the hazy look in Dahm''s eyes slowly cleared. He absentmindedly looked at both his hands and then at the broken wires that had fallen everywhere on the hall''s floor. He took a deep breath in.


    "This was the strength that master has hid in my body¡­" He muttered. Suddenly, he felt his whole body weakened. The energy he felt in his body just now suddenly faded away.


    He struggled his way to the location in which Beard exploded, but he could not find any of the things he left behind; only found some shreds of his shirt.


    "Didn''t I kill him? But at least he is heavily injured." Holding the mask tightly in his hand, he could suddenly feel the fine sand falling from above his head.


    "This place is going to collapse soon. I must leave quickly."


    He clenched his teeth and mustered the last strength in his body. Dahm quickly formed an afterimage and rushed out towards the direction of the exit.


    Not long after he left, on the left side of where Beard disappeared and in one of the dark corners, Beard''s shadow appeared once again. His whole body was covered in holes from the penetration of the wires. Only his brain was not pierced through but other parts, including his heart, was no exception.


    At this moment, he seemed unusually weak. He was using the red spear to hold his body up.


    "I miscalculated¡­ That burst of strength was completely different from that of Dahm before. That is definitely not him. Holy Fist Palace¡­" He felt slight chills in his heart. To be able to influence his disciple even through such long distance, and made him much stronger in an instant, this method was unimaginable.


    This time, before he could use his strongest Holy Technique move, he was defeated by that powerful and terrifying move.


    "Next time¡­ Next time, I will win, Dahm of Holy Fist Palace. Next time, you will not be so lucky¡­" His low voice echoed the hall but he instantly disappeared on the spot.


    *********************


    On the coastline.


    Hochman was like a gigantic black lizard, speeding in a zig-zag manner along the reefs by the sea. He was extremely fast. His body was as light as the waterbird. By the looks of it, it seemed like he was as light and effortless as if he was weightless.


    Suddenly, he raised his head, looking far away at a distant beach that was cluttered with dead bodies. The blood was flowing into the sea, faintly dying the sea water red. He did not know how much blood there was.


    "It should be here¡­" Hochman tried to adjust his earpiece. "Group five, is anyone there? Answer me! Group six, and group seven to group twelve, if you''re alive, say something!"


    His earpiece gave out a fizzle sound. After a while, there was a faint sound coming from beside his ears.


    "Marshall, we are here."


    Hochman was slightly stunned because the sound did not come from his earpiece but from the waters on his left.


    He quickly got closer to the sea surface and saw the shallow part of the sea. In the sea water between the reefs and the bloodied bodies, the water was stained red. The people here were all covered in injuries of an infant''s bite mark. Their faces looked pale and weak, as if they did not have the energy to move.


    "You''re the team leader for group nine?" Hochman frowned as he walked over. Suddenly, he stopped, "How did you end up here alone? What about the mask?"


    "The mask¡­ It''s with me, Marshall. I have a heavy injury¡­ on my back. I can''t move¡­" The man had no expression in his eyes. It looked like he was moments from dying. He forcefully lifted his hand up, as if wanting Hochman to save him. "Save me, Marshall¡­ Save¡­"


    He trembled as he used his other hand to take out the mask from his arms. Surprisingly, it was two masks; the densely packed eyes on the forehead was the biggest prove.


    As Hochman looked at it, his eyes moved around left and right, alert of his surroundings. Unconsciously, his palm gently grazed a piece of gravel on the reefs at the side.


    Only then, he slowly walked towards that wounded person.


    Roar!


    In a flash, a cloud of violent flames exploded and spread outwards without indication, taking that wounded person as the center. The red flames were like the most beautiful fireworks. Instantly, it wounded person was covered by the sea and then, it rolled towards Hochman''s direction.


    Hochman did not react in time and was quickly swept in by the flames. He only managed to raise both his hands in front to block his body.


    Bang!


    He could feel himself being violently tossed outwards by a huge impact. Immediately after, he had hit the corners of the sharp reefs that were behind him.


    With a low humph, he opened his palms. With the notion that the rock was on the right side, he hit the rock behind him. Then, he rolled onto the ground.


    Clank!


    Bullet-like stones hit the right side of the air where it originally looked empty -- there wasn''t a single person. But after the stone hit, a transparent invisible figure emerged out of nowhere.


    "You can''t run, Hochman!" The figure laughed grimly as he flew towards Hochman, who rolled away. The silver flashes in his hand seemed like some metal weapon.


    However, when he saw Hochman, the invisible figure was suddenly shocked. He had now returned to the center of the explosion and found the two masks. There were slight damages on the marks, but it wasn''t destroyed in the explosion. Only the sharp edges that bulged out were blown off.


    "I am sick of using these explosive traps." Hochman got up from the water in slight dismay. He looked to the left and right of his surroundings but no one else appeared, "more than ten of my teams are lost¡­ I will note down this fight."


    He looked intensely at the invisible figure who was standing in front of him. Out of the blue, a fish dived into the crashing waves of the sea. With a plop, he quickly jumped into the sea. After a few strokes, he was nowhere to be found.


    The invisible figure did not go after him. He or she only looked at the direction in which Hochman left at and frowned slightly.


    Minutes after, two of them who attacked Hochman before this appeared beside him -- one female and one male Upper-level Blood Breed. The red-haired man held a red longsword in his hands, as always; the girl was dressed in black, like ink, from head to toe.


    "Should we go after him?" The red-haired man asked. It seemed like the both of them who rushed forwards took this invisible figure as their leader.


    "No need." The invisible figure raised his hand, ''Hochman¡­ He is very cautious and cunning. If he had hesitated for a while more, he would have been walking any more. This bastard is quite something."


    "How should we explain this to the Chief?" The black-shirt girl asked quietly.


    "I''ll go and explain it myself. This was not our original purpose this time, it''s just a cover-up. Where are the real masks?" The invisible figure asked.


    "They are already aboard Halda''s ship. I believe no one will know it''s there?" The red-haired man laughed, "I don''t think that Hochman would know that he brought back the fake version. But since that thing looked like it survived the explosion, he might think that it''s real."


    "If it was the real masks, forget the explosion, even the lightly force could ruin it." The invisible figure shook his head, "once Hochman brings those things back, we would have more or less achieved our aim. I think the items have arrived at Blood Union''s HQ."


    "Thank goodness for Lord''s arrangements. If not, how else would the fifth Holy Technique Chief obey your arrangements?" The black-shirt girl praised her leader.


    The invisible man smiled and said nothing more.


    "Let''s go. Everything has been arranged. Now, let''s just wait for Chief''s news."


    "Understood." They slowly walked away from where they stood, and towards the deep coastal land. There were already people waiting for them there.

 748 Fierce Battle 4

    Chapter 748: Fierce Battle 4


    On the sea not far from this territorial waters, a cargo ship was slowly moving into the deeper ends of the water. The ringing of the ship''s whistle was mixed with the sounds of seagulls. The crew members wore a blend of blue and white clothes, walking back and forth on the deck.


    "There are a little more goods this time¡­ And, the price has been doubled. Has peak session been brought forwards?"


    On the side of the boat, a few of the shipment''s businessmen stood together. They were all old customers who often operate the ships under the same sea transportation group, but this time was different than the rest. The amount of money needed to be paid this time had doubled. And, their attitude this time was intransigent. There was no way they could have bargained. If it wasn''t for the unexplainable loss of cargo ships used for shipment, it would be unlikely that why have been so reluctant to promise a price rise.


    "I heard some information saying that a lot of ships nearby has been looking for something lately, like a treasure," another businessman said in a low voice.


    At this moment, a cold color suddenly flashed under one of the few women''s eyes. When she turned around, she did not know when a younger girl with black-shirt appeared.


    "Excuse me, my niece is here," she said with a smile to a few people.


    "Let''s go. Let''s talk more inside. The wind here is strong." Several businessmen smiled back with sincerity.


    The businesswoman walked towards her niece''s direction.


    "What''s wrong?" Her eyes suddenly turned red. Impressively, she was a Blood Breed hidden into a human.


    "Upper level Grina, it seems like a Holy First Palace''s Blood Breed has followed us on board." The appearance of this girl looked young. But in fact, she was already more than hundred years of age. Her expression looked serious, "I was observing her, but just now, I didn''t think that she would disappear. That''s why I wanted to report this to you immediately."


    Grina was the Castine Family''s Upper-level Blood Breed. Although the Chief did not declare that he wanted to start a war with the Holy Fist Palace, as an Older Generation Blood Breed member, her family approved of the perspective as per the people in the secret party. Holy Fist Palace was the root of causing this chaos. Only by removing Holy Fist Palace and the behind-the-scenes manipulator, Garen, can they restore the order of the world.


    "This time, we''ve joined five other Upper levels. More than half of the Blood Union''s combat Upper levels are here. We are all gathered here from all over the world, and these are the top elites of the Blood Breed. Even if we lost our enemy, what is there to fear?" Grina frowned as she said.


    "I have a feeling that something is not right," the young girl said worriedly. "I have a feeling that this Blood Breed has been following us from the start, and we''ve only noticed her now."


    "You say it''s her? That female Blood Breed?" Grina asked in return. "Which level?"


    "Should be Lower level¡­"


    "Why are you scared of a mere Lower level person?" Grina was frustrated. Looking at that complaint female Blood Breed, she did not fight it in her heart.


    "But¡­ But I have a feeling that there is something fishy about that female Blood Breed!" The young girl argued.


    "Alright, I''ll go take a look at it personally, and I''ll catch this bastard." Grina said plainly, "Bring some men to patrol the area. It''s just a fish that escaped the net."


    "Well¡­ Alright," the young girl could only nod her head.


    After her subordinate left, she started wandering around alone on the cargo ship. It looked like she was taking a stroll, but in reality, her senses had been magnified. She was constantly paying attention to her surrounding situations.


    The cargo ship was huge. Ninety out of a hundred person were container cargos that each divided into a dark storage warehouse.


    Bang!


    She slowly pushed open a metal warehouse door. Some of the darker spaces inside suddenly appeared before her eyes.


    Grina walked in confidently. She had casually walked around and inspected several warehouses. This was now the fifth area.


    The worker who opened the door gave it a pat.


    "You can take a look yourself. When you need to lock the door, just give me a shout."


    "Great, thank you." Grina smiled as she slipped him some cash. At once, the worker beamed with delight and walked away.


    Walking into the warehouse area, Grina looked left and right. There was no one in here, but she did not relax. This warehouse area was the most important place because the core items this time were hidden in this huge warehouse area.


    Hence, Grina looked unusually serious.


    "Is there something wrong here?"


    "Nothing is wrong. My main items are all there. I won''t be able to relax if I don''t take a look first." Grina was aware of her reply. Though it did not feel right, and so, she turned around. She saw a girl dressed in black windbreaker was slowly closing the warehouse''s door. One click, and it was locked.


    The person''s eyes glowed red. In fact, she was also one of the Blood Breeds on the ship. It was just that Grina could not remember such person on her team.


    "Which group are you from? Didn''t you guys go to the Eastern District?" Grina said with some dissatisfaction.


    The female Blood Breed suddenly revealed a strange smile. That smile was just like a human, as if there was no self-consciousness - a smile in which she was not aware of.


    "Grina, long time no see. You don''t even recognize me now¡­"


    She slowly said, with a light, yet lazy tone.


    Hearing this familiar tone, Grina''s heart suddenly jumped. In a second, her expression turned dignified. Her eyes were staring at the female Blood Breed opposite of her. She is merely just a Lower level Blood Breed, she should not have been able to resist the suppression of her Upper-level position.


    However, this person completely ignored this suppression, and slowly walked towards her.


    ********************


    Holy Fist Palace.


    Tu Lan''s naked body was lying in a boiling hot blood pool. The blood-red pool water gave out a strong smell. For the Blood Breeds, this was the highest quality of enjoyment. But she could not feel a single thing. Instead, she slightly frowned as more than half her body was soaked in blood.


    If anyone could go into this secret room and saw her current face, they could see it from her lifeless eyes that she had lost all consciousness.


    Hiss¡­


    The room''s stone door was slowly pushed open. Garen''s shadow appeared by the side of the blood pool, and he used his backhand to shut the stone door.


    As he looked at Tu Lan who was in the blood pool, he gave a slight frown. He then walked to the side and pressed some buttons. Suddenly, the boiling of the blood pool became much smaller. It also revealed Tu Lan''s naked upper body.


    There was no trace of lust in Garen''s eyes. He only walked to the back of Tu Lan. While he stood there, he looked down.


    The view from his angle was great. On the back of Tu Lan''s vest, a white-raised spike by the side of the pool had deeply penetrated her skin.


    "This such a wonderful ability¡­" Garen sighed.


    "Using the bloodline would create the ability to space jump. The Death Apostles in this world also have a powerful side." Black Sethe also sighed, "We just don''t know how long Tu Lan would need over there. First, suicide; then, use her own Blood Breed''s bloodline to resuscitate her body. Thanks to you, for figuring something like that out. I don''t know how long the Death Apostles of the Blood Breed take to train their bodies. But once they give up, it will be a huge loss. Have you thought about how you''re going to repay her?"


    Garen shook his head slightly.


    "She, herself has died. If her body dies here, Blood Nuclear will have fragmentation. Originally, she should have turned into black ashes immediately because the Blood Nucleus isn''t providing the blood essence. But since she''s using the Blood Breed''s blood pool, it can keep her body activated and maintain its original shape."


    "But if there isn''t any Blood Nucleus, and instead, we use other Blood Breed''s blood essence to sustain her, won''t this body lose Tu Lan''s bloodline? Then what use will she have? I think this blood essence would only sustain this body for another two hours only," Black Sethe couldn''t solve it.


    "We also did think of this," Garen took out a thick blood that emitted a crystal-red color. It looked just like human blood, or if not, the same. Garen gently and carefully held it in his hands, as if resisting from breaking it.


    "This is the blood essence that Tu Lan left with me before. No matter how the situations go, whether win or lose, I will inject this into her body in the last phase of the two hours. Then, I will welcome her back on her return."


    "You bunch of Death Apostles are using the Resuscitation Ability at its ultimate level," Black Sethe exclaimed.


    Garen gave a slight smile.


    If this technology couldn''t be studied, then won''t that be a waste of his experience on high-precision technology in the Totem world, as well as his own transplanted heart? Anyhow, he was once the top biologist and biochemist.


    Furthermore, he would not worry about the reproduction of Blood Breeds with this method because these blood essences were obtained from the Older Generation Blood Breeds, who were captured in the previous war and drained alive. With such a small pool of blood, he had killed hundreds of Lower level Blood Breeds. Yet with this sacrifice, this would only sustain a Death Apostle''s body for two hours. Even in the two hours, if she faces a life-threatening situation in the middle of it, her body would be ruined. After thousands of years of refining this body, it would be destroyed, once and for all. This was also one of the first reasons of Death Apostle Wellington''s hatred towards Garen. He had taken many years to refine his body, and just because he wasn''t careful, it was destroyed by Garen. Hence, he seemed so weak from the back.


    Regarding this method, even if the Older Generation Blood Breed''s Death Apostles had studied this method, they could not use it nor, would they dare to use it. The number of Blood Breeds would be decreasing as the war went on. No matter if it''s the Leader of Blood Breed, they would still need their men to get their hands on the resources and forces for them to provide themselves the information and resources. Else, even if the Death Apostles are stronger, when they are against human''s top weapon, they would be destroyed once the attack is focused on them. Then, they would resuscitate. Another point would be that this questions one''s moral belief. Just as in the human world, some people would bathe in human blood, and hence kill hundreds of people. However, once they were exposed, then these people would immediately be treated as the public''s enemy. It would be the same with the Blood Breed, especially when Castine, the soft-hearted, and peace-loving First Leader would be around.


    More so, the most important point would be that there weren''t any other Death Apostles who would entrust their body to someone else. And even so, only Holy Fist Palace could do it. Tu Lan was originally convinced by Garen. At first, she was almost killed by Garen. But after always being under his despotic power, and since she had never enjoyed the power and authority of a Death Apostle, she simply treated herself as a subordinate of the Holy Fist Palace who was just slightly above the Upper levels.


    Anyway, if Garen wanted to kill her, he would have already done so. He would not have left it till now. Even she did not think about it when she had figured it out, which fit in quite well with Garen''s experiment.


    "Too bad this method can only be used once, before the alternative of the Blood Breed''s blood essence is found," Garen felt slightly sorry. If he could master this method, then he could use Tu Lan''s ability as a Death Apostle and spread her Blood Breed''s bloodline to every part of the world. If anything happens, she could instantly provide support.


    "How are there so many good things in this world, and how is it that only you get the benefit of it all?" Black Sethe smiled.


    "That''s true too," Garen smiled. He just kneeled on his knees. From his arms, he took out a small white alarm clock and put it down on the floor, as it quietly guards Tu Lan''s body.

 749 Advancing 1

    Chapter 749: Advancing 1


    In the cargo ship storehouse


    Grina stared at the female Blood Breed who was walking towards her. The other person was clearly just a lower level blood Breed, but that strange feeling, that inexplicable familiarity, seemed to make her think of something.


    "What, don''t tell me you can''t recognize me anymore?" The other female Blood Breed stopped, standing ten feet away from her. To an upper level, that distance could be closed in an instant.


    "Then what about this?" The female Blood Breed smiled slightly, and her face actually began to melt like wax, automatically forming a new face as though it had a life of its own.


    This face was so very familiar, such that before it was even complete, Grina had already taken a slight step back, her expression full of shock.


    "You¡­ You''re Tu Lan!!?" Her voice was even slightly shrill.


    "Give me the mask." Tu Lan reached out her hand, maintaining the smile on her face.


    "What are you talking about? What mask?" Grina narrowed her eyes slightly, a cold sweat seeping out of her back. Behind her back, her hands were clasped together tightly.


    "Why ask the obvious?" Tu Lan looked around her. "It should be in this warehouse, right? Hurry, I don''t want to fight a former friend."


    "If you don''t want to fight, then go back. With your current power and level, why do you have to serve the Holy Fist Palace any longer?" Grina quietly observed her surroundings with the corner of her eyes, just in case anyone else showed up, or perhaps she was looking for a way to escape.


    "Serve?" Tu Lan''s smile grew sweeter. "Right now I''m doing this of my own will, where else can I get such joy if not the Holy Fist Palace?"


    Tsk¡­!


    Just then, the ship tilted to one side, thrown off balance by the large waves.


    Grina instinctively steadied her footing, and abruptly lost sight of Tu Lan. She noticed it suddenly, and retreated backward, holding her arms in front of her to block.


    Bam!!!


    A round and slender long leg crashed into her arms, coming from above and headed down, just like a war axe.


    The collision between the long leg and the two arms created a deep but powerful thud.


    Tu Lan jumped a little and spun rapidly, stomping down again.


    Bam! It was the sound of another block.


    Side kick, downward swing, downward chop. Using completely different combinations and sequences, Tu Lan''s legs took turns, attacking Grina like a storm.


    "It''s just like when we were young¡­" While Tu Lan launched her assault, her gaze was nostalgic.


    Grina kept getting pushed back, until she knocked into the crate behind her, then she ducked quickly.


    Ker-chak!


    The crate was instantly decimated, and many glass cans of beans exploded everywhere, scattering all over the floor.


    "Tu Lan¡­" Grina stared at her, her complexion pale. "Why do you¡­ Why do you obey the Holy Fist Palace when you''re so strong!!"


    The two of them split apart abruptly, standing steady a few meters away from each other.


    "Why?" Tu Lan stretched out a finger and touched her chin, looking thoughtful. "Ask me again when you can beat me," she laughed. "Ever since we were young, we grew up together, so let''s settle this with our old rules."


    Grina did not say any more, she just curved her body slightly.


    She did not understand why Tu Lan, as strong as she was, actually decided to join an organization founded by a human.


    They had been together since ancient times, they joined martial arts and sword fighting classes together, but she had never beaten her. All her life, Tu Lan had been a marker of the ultimate fighter in her heart, someone who could never fail. Perhaps it was not just her, but the same applied to all of the girls they had grown up with back then.


    Tu Lan always represented the ultimate power!


    Even though so many years had passed since then, and maybe more than half of those girls from back then had already vanished, but that glow from the past was unforgettable.


    Powerful, beautiful, lazy. As untouchable as a goddess.


    Grina had always been chasing Tu Lan''s back, ever since she became a Blood Breed, she never stopped once.


    And now, Tu Lan had even become a Death Apostle, crossing a life-or-death hurdle. No matter when, she was always that powerful and beautiful. Looking at the old friend in front of her, Tu Lan could only sigh inwardly.


    They had grown up together over several thousand years, experiencing wars, living several decades in Ancient Greek cities, surviving with each other through the Blood Breeds'' chaotic times. That was the most unforgettable time of her life.


    She took care of them, ever since they were young. Whenever they faced a challenge, she would always step up to the task, so that all the girls only saw her strongest, most perfect side. She was always smiling, always dazzling, always fearless¡­


    But no one knew that even she would feel fear, she had also been scared¡­ What they saw, had always only been her perfect facade.


    "Grina, give up¡­ Hand over the mask, and I''ll go easy on you."


    Tu Lan''s right leg drew an arch through the air, still at speeds so high that it left an after-image, so that it looked like there were countless legs stacked on top of each other.


    Her response was a fierce knee jab.


    Grina rushed at her abruptly, lifting her right knee and grabbing Tu Lan''s shoulders with her hands.


    Bam!


    Her knee was blocked, and the two of them were tangled up, a mess of arms and legs crashing into each other, emitting a series of explosive sounds.


    Thwok!


    Tu Lan''s fist landed on Grina, but the sound of contact was like hitting wood. The place where Grina was hit in the abdomen rapidly turned to wood, and then it regenerated the places that were destroyed, growing out new flesh and blood that looked like wood, so that she looked completely healed in a second.


    "Wood Petrification? Grina, you are still as innocent as ever¡­" Tu Lan licked her lips.


    Psst!


    Her body suddenly left a long after-image behind her, as though she had instantaneously become three or four people. They spun around Grina once, and then the three or four figures crashed into the center simultaneously.


    Grina''s body flew into the air, just managing to avoid the surround attack. She whipped out a silver chain with a whoosh, and tossed it around her, but all of a sudden her head hurt for a moment, and her movements paused.


    Pff!


    An intense pain erupted from her chest, and spread all over her body.


    Grina was instantly in the chest by Tu Lan''s foot, and she shot out as though from a cannon, crashing hard into the metal cover over the top of the warehouse, sinking into it.


    With the crisp sound of leather footsteps, Tu Lan walked up to the wall beneath her, and looked up.


    "Pure speed and power, is that the power of your Blood Breed Holy Technique? Looks like we truly are sisters, even the paths we take are so similar. Or perhaps I should say, were so similar."


    Seeing the disappointment in Grina''s eyes, Tu Lan suddenly felt impatient and frustrated. She was no perfect standard, she was also a normal person. She could be happy, scared, furious, jealous. Why did these people always glorify her, why did they always try to force their false ideals onto her, and then look disappointed at her?


    That sister from back then was like that, and now Grina as well!!


    "Don''t look at me like that¡­" Her smile vanished.


    But Grina did not seem to hear her at all, she had just entered the upper level after all, and she was not very strong in real combat anyway, that was why she was only in charge of espionage this time and not battle. Faced with the oppressive power of the level difference that Tu Lan emitted unknowingly, she could not even move her body, her movements sluggish.


    But she did not seem to hear anything, and continued staring at Tu Lan quietly with disappointed eyes.


    "I said, don''t look at me like that!!" Tu Lan suddenly lost her temper, her body creating after-images as she appeared in front of Grina, and hit her with her forearm.


    Pff!


    Blood sprayed everywhere from that hit, spraying out of Grina''s mouth and splattering all over Tu Lan. With that difference in level, even the blood of upper level Blood Breeds lost their activeness, and could no longer return to her body automatically. She could only bleed out like a normal human.


    "Grina¡­" The spray of blood seemed to wake Tu Lan up, and pain flashed through her eyes.


    She reached out her hand to caress Grina''s face lightly.


    "Why are you so stubborn?"


    Grina still said nothing, staring at her quietly, wisps of disappointment and sorrow in her eyes.


    "Such¡­ a disgusting gaze!" Rrrip!


    Tu Lan tore off Grina''s clothes, revealing her entire upper body. Violently, she reached out to grab Grina''s breasts.


    "Where''s the mask?"


    "..."


    Ssssk!!


    Blood splattered everywhere.


    Tu Lan actually ripped Grina''s left breast right off.


    There was no pity in her eyes, no hesitation, just cruelty.


    "Tell me, where''s the mask?"


    A sheen of sweat had broken on Grina''s forehead out of sheer pain. She panted a few times, clenched her teeth, and turned away.


    "If only it was Rosna, if it were her, she would have told me obediently a long time ago¡­" Tu Lan said calmly. Looking at Grina''s stubborn face, she began to reminisce.


    "The Sleepless Faces will push the Blood Breeds into a bottomless abyss! As a Blood Breed, you actually serve the humans of your own will, you traitor!!" Grina spat at her, but Tu Lan dodged it.


    "Whichever side makes me happy, that''s the side I''ll join. Whichever side can give me power, that''s where I belong. Isn''t that very simple?" Tu Lan replied matter-of-factly.


    The two were suspended on one of the warehouse''s metal walls, in mid-air. Tu Lan had one hand pierced through the wall to keep her suspended there, whereas Grina was simply embedded into the wall, and kept from moving by the level difference oppression.


    "Looks like I''ll just have to do it this way¡­" Tu Lan calmed her heart, and black whirlpools began to appear slowly in her eyes, meeting Grina''s gaze.


    Blood Breed Hypnosis, a special oppression ability only upper level Blood Breeds could use against lower level Blood Breeds. It was a natural talent, like Human Hypnosis.


    But strangely, Grina''s gaze only had mild contempt, she did not seem to be controlled at all.


    "Give up, all the upper levels who have organization secrets have accepted the Death Apostle chief''s power, so that we won''t be controlled by Hypnosis."


    Tu Lan harrumphed coldly, and pulled back her Hypnosis.


    The problem now was that she did not have enough time, if she could not find the mask as soon as possible, her real body would begin to deteriorate after two hours, so she needed to rush back.


    Bam!


    She knocked Grina out with one fist, dragged her down and tossed her over her shoulder, floating to the ground lightly.


    She had already completely controlled the surrounding guards here with her illusions, and anyone further out would not be able to hear the sounds coming from here anyway, that was why no other Blood Breeds from elsewhere had discovered her after so long.


    Of course she was not afraid of being discovered, she could even just forcefully control this ship.


    But that would take too long.


    Brutality flashed through her eyes, Tu Lan glanced at the mountains of crates, and made a cruel decision.


    She took out her phone, checked quickly if it was being watched, and then immediately rang a complicated number.


    The dial only beeped once, and then the call was picked up.


    "Lady Tu Lan?"


    "Track the location of this phone of mine, and send ships over immediately," Tu Lan said in a low voice.


    There was a silence on the other side, probably to track her, and a moment later.


    "Understood, we will immediately mobilize the navy, and arrive in one hour."


    "Remember to bring some navy soldiers to take over this cargo ship."


    "Understood."


    The call ended, and Tu Lan opened the warehouse door slowly, carrying Grina over her shoulder as they disappeared rapidly down the cargo ship''s corridors.

 750 Advancing 2

    Chapter 750: Advancing 2


    Half an hour later¡­


    The whole cargo ship turned around suddenly, heading for a navy port somewhere in America at full speed.


    There was the occasional gunshot or scream coming from the ship. It was the Blood Breeds that Tu Lan had controlled with Hypnosis killing their companions.


    Tu Lan was sitting in the control room, looking exhausted. The Hypnotized Blood Breed captain was changing the direction of the ship obediently, accelerating as they went.


    But even with her Death Apostle level and power, it was still unbearably exhausting to temporarily control so many Blood Breeds at once.


    After all, Death Apostles were just Blood Breeds who were slightly stronger than upper levels, their biggest advantage was their immortality. For everything else, they were not nearly as far away from upper level Blood Breeds than others thought. At the very most, one Death Apostle was equal in combat power to four or five upper levels working together, with Ashen being the obvious exception.


    So the Death Apostles'' biggest strength was their immortality, their own bodies were not overly powerful. Temporarily controlling so many Blood Breeds at once was a heavy burden even to Death Apostles. Thankfully, Tu Lan practiced the Fantasy Fist, so she could use the Fantasy Fist Fist Technique to influence the humans on the ship. However, this fist technique was only effective for a short while, or it could cause memory loss, it was just that effective in altering memories. That required concise changes to the brain, so she had no choice but to rely on her Blood Breed Hypnosis first, and use the Fantasy Fist as support. The effect was not bad, she could more or less control the whole gigantic cargo ship into changing direction.


    And by now, an hour had passed.


    ********************


    Dusk


    "The mask is fake?" Hochman hid behind a large black rock by the sea, holding his phone to his hear and listening to the voice coming from the other side.


    "Tu Lan has succeeded, return here now," Garen said calmly through the phone.


    Hochman took out his two masks slightly reluctantly, and checked them carefully. Upon closer inspection, he vaguely noticed that this mask did not seem as old as he thought. It was not noticeable at first glance, but when he looked closely, he could see markings to make it look older. Normal people may not have noticed it, but with his upper level senses, he could still notice some little things were amiss.


    Bam!!


    He smashed the mask onto the stone hard, and it shattered into countless pieces, while a large crater appeared on the rock as well.


    Hochman''s expression was cold, those Blood Breeds played him! Ever since he started off, he had never suffered quite so heavy a loss.


    Pressing the injury on his shoulder, his expression grew even colder.


    "I understand," he replied on the phone quietly. On the other side, Garen seemed to have noticed that he was pissed off as well, and hung up immediately after a soft ''Mm''.


    Tu Lan was at the level of a Death Apostle, he could not do anything to her. But there should still be one mask with Dahm¡­


    A hint of cold flashed across Hochman''s face. Picking up the phone again and trying to dial it, he went through all his powerful personal connections in his heart. Looking at the incoming call on his phone, however, he quickly decided on the best person for the job.


    After dialing the number.


    "Hello, I''m Hochman, is this Miss Muneteru Riko? I need your help for a little favor here."


    ********************


    On a luxury cruise ship


    Muneteru Riko had just sat down in her room, still shell-shocked, when her phone rang.


    Glancing at the caller, joy flashed through her eyes, and she hurriedly picked up the call.


    "Hello, this is Riko. Is this Mr. Hochman? What do you need my help with?"


    "Yes¡­ Yes, yes¡­ I understand." Hanging up the call, Muneteru Riko heaved a long sigh.


    There were too many things she wanted to ask, but after picking up the call just now, her brain had gone completely blank, so she could not ask anything.


    Hochman and those two people who look like they were filming a movie, what on earth were they?


    She had heard of rumors in her supernatural circles, but she had always assumed they were only rumors. Everyone repeated them baselessly, they were merely exaggerated fiction, but she never thought that she would have the chance today to witness such a phenomenon herself.


    She quickly dialed a few numbers and made some arrangements as Hochman requested, then she hesitated, and called her father''s number after all. But after the call went through, she hesitated, and only told her father about her plans, without mentioning anything about the cruise ship.


    She got up and walked out of the cabin, but found a pale young woman standing guard in front of her door.


    She recognized her, the woman was one of the bodyguards who followed Hochman around.


    "It''s still very dangerous on the ship, it would be better if you don''t leave your room."


    "Alright." Muneteru Riko nodded and retreated back into her room.


    Judging from that, the assailants must have been chased off the ship, or rather, the assailants had left. It was temporarily safe, then. She released a long breath.


    Returning to her room, she suddenly remembered seeing some records about the Sleepless Faces in the books back home. Her family had once purchased a large collection of books from a European family after they weakened and fell, plus she liked reading since young, so she had snuck in and read a lot of them before. She also had a certain level of understanding towards the Sleepless Faces Hochman was looking for, those books had this bit of detailed information about that mask.


    When the twelve masks were gathered, one needed to go to a certain spot to find a clue about the Final Mask. And according to the theories of that old family, there were two possibilities for that spot. All of it was recorded in that book, these things were only meant to be a record of ancient history for archeological purposes, and had no value but in collections. When Muneteru Riko thought about it now, however, she vaguely felt her chest beat fiercely.


    She realized, that this might be her chance to really delve deep into the supernatural world!


    *********************


    Dahm crawled out of the underground palace, exhausted. The moonlight shone down from outside, landing on his body and reflecting a shade of deathly white.


    Psst!


    Thin threads of blood shot out of his arms and thighs suddenly.


    Quickly tapping some acupoints to stop the bleeding, Dahm propped his body up and barely ran towards the meeting spot.


    This was the result of his activating the First Star and then using the Final Profound, he was completely burned out.


    The communicator hidden on his body had already been destroyed in the intense battle just now, so now he could not contact Caesar and the others who were outside, and could only rush out by himself.


    Stumbling out of the temple''s forest of stupas, he used the dark corners to sneak his way out of the temple, arriving in a dark alley next to it.


    "Where''s the item?" Caesar appeared at the entrance to the alley with a few others in tow.


    "With me. Let''s go, now!" Dahm said weakly.


    Seeing how weak Dahm looked, a hint of cold hesitation flashed through Caesar''s eyes.


    He was wondering if he should finish off Dahm right now, Dahm was so weak, and he had so many people on his side, so he might actually manage it if he tried. After he got the mask, he could easily say that Dahm was killed by the Blood Breeds.


    His only concern was whether or not Dahm was truly that weak, or whether it was all just a facade.


    Caesar could not resist the temptation of the mask.


    This was a chance to increase his longevity and martial arts! See how Hochman and Dahm reached the upper level in just a few years under Lord Fist Saint''s training. At such a speed, if it was Caesar and the others, they should be able to reach upper level as well!!


    Since Lord Fist Saint only needed a few years to train up an upper level fighter, he probably would not worry too much about one of them dying¡­


    Before he could help it, Caesar''s gaze on Dahm had changed.


    "I''ve informed the intelligence group before coming here, they''ll send reinforcements right away! Let''s go now, before the Blood Breeds get here!" Dahm''s gaze flashed, and he spoke quickly.


    Only then did Caesar pull back his gaze slightly.


    "Everyone, guard the Marshall, we retreat now!" He waved his hand, and the people from his family hurriedly helped Dahm up, the whole group rapidly retreating from the alley.


    *********************


    Holy Fist Palace


    Garen opened his eyes and looked at the time on the alarm clock, there were several minutes left.


    He reached out his hand and held the bottle of blood above Tu Lan.


    He squeezed the bottle until it shattered, and the blood inside began to drip down slowly. It looked like the most viscous oil-based liquid, or something like a sugar syrup, slowly dripping onto Tu Lan''s forehead.


    Strangely, not one second after the blood dripped onto her, it was rapidly absorbed into Tu Lan''s skin, without leaving a trace behind, as though her skin had absorbed it all.


    Psst!


    In the pool of blood, Tu Lan opened her eyes abruptly, and her unfocused pupils began to dilate rapidly.


    Hsss¡­


    She took a deep breath, and then released it, her chest expanding massively and then deflating like a balloon.


    "How is it?" Garen asked quietly.


    "Not bad, I''ve handed it over." Tu Lan nodded, and was not perturbed at all to show her naked body as she stood up in the pool, yanking some robes off the hangar.


    "I have two masks here, but they''re hidden somewhere in the cargo ship, so we need to check it. Send someone careful over," she said quickly.


    "No problem," Garen understood. "Two masks¡­ That''s truly some good news¡­"


    "I also have some bad news," Tu Lan said with a frown. "I heard from an old acquaintance that all the Blood Breed Death Apostles have vanished, they all went to--"


    "To look for the remaining masks?" Garen completed her sentence.


    "You know about it?" Tu Lan was slightly surprised.


    Garen looked calm.


    "It was not hard to guess." He was already this close to his second Soul Seed, he could gather it at any time, but he kept feeling as though something was missing. Even if this second Soul Seed had not been completely created and hatched, his spirit had already reached an unprecedented peak because of it. His heart was completely clear and light, like a pure mirror of water, without any ripples whatsoever.


    In the critical moment when he is gathering his Soul Seed, there must be as few impurities as possible, only the purest will could gather all the power of the soul, and highly compress it. This was also a little trick that Black Sethe taught him to speed up the process.


    "Aren''t you afraid that they''ll destroy the masks as soon as they obtain them?" Tu Lan asked in confusion.


    "If they obtain the masks, they won''t destroy them so easily¡­" Garen said calmly. "Nobody would be willing to give up that chance. This is a chance to be the first to break the Death Apostles'' myth of immortality¡­"


    Once they obtain the Final Mask and achieve the Original Bloodline, they would be able to truly threaten and suppress the other Blood Apostles. Blood Apostles would no longer be symbols of immortality, and when that happens, the one possessing the Original Bloodline would truly be the only dictator, the strongest in the world!


    Even at the level of power that Garen was at now, he still did not dare to wage full-on war with the Blood Breed Death Apostles, simply because he could not kill the Death Apostles. If he could not kill them, that just meant both sides would end up injured, and both would have lost.


    That was not what Garen hoped for, and neither was it what the Blood Breeds wanted.

 751 Evolve 1

    Chapter 751: Evolve 1


    A few days later¡­


    The Blood Breeds had sent people to every corner without holding back, in search of Dahm and Hochman''s whereabouts. However, there were no traces of Death Apostles.


    The Holy Fist Palace was hindered by their outdated and deficient intelligence fields. They did not know the exact whereabouts of the Death Apostles and could only wait silently while secretly dispatching manpower and reinforcements. The obstructions by the Blood Breeds resulted in a great reduction of their strength.


    Both sides had clashed with each other in a few cities many times. However, they had restrained themselves from creating large-scale conflicts and only confined themselves to localized standoffs.


    The weather in America gradually entered spring. During this time, Ninox, who had just returned from Grano, had finally brought Raffaele and a few of her other relatives back. They entered the village residence at the foot of a mountain near Holy Fist Palace.


    "This is Holy Fist Palace?" Raffaele raised her head and looked at the lofty snowy white mountain. It was impossible to see the mountain peak as large clusters of white clouds were clustered together, forming a sea of clouds that obstructed her vision while they drifted around the mountainside.


    The person who was walking in front and guiding them answered frantically.


    "Yes, this is the headquarters of Holy Fist Palace. It is also the Temple of the Waterbird Fist and Shooting Shadow Fist."


    All three guides were fully dressed in black robes. Ninox wore the same outfit and walked in the center before turning her head and smiling at Raffaele after hearing what she had asked.


    "Master already knows that you''re here and has prepared the banquet at the mountain top already. The next mountain path will probably require a climb of at least two hours. Of course, we will be using a cable car near the top of the mountain for part of the journey to make it more relaxing."


    "Isn''t there a public road that leads up the mountain here?" Raffaele felt slightly doubtful. She had to climb the mountain alone while the rest were left in the village at the foot of the mountain.


    "We had planned to construct one initially but decided against that to preserve the original appearance of the mountain. Moreover, climbing up this mountain on foot also served as a form of training for many martial arts practitioners. This training is beneficial towards both the mind and body. Therefore, no one has bothered to repair the road anymore," replied Ninox while smiling.


    The line of people continued to move forward while walking along the mountain path. Throughout their journey, they would occasionally encounter martial arts practitioners who were going down the mountain.


    Most of them were young people that were being led by a specially assigned leader. They were all dressed in black robes that made them resemble religious pilgrims with pious expressions on their faces.


    They could occasionally see single martial artists. These people would have determined looks on their withered faces. Moreover, their skinny bodies would be covered in torn clothes while their faces would be sunken and yellow, making them look extremely poor. They would continue inching up the mountain while facing greater heights and colder thinner air without a single sign of cowardice on their faces.


    Fortunately, the mountain path was clearly broadened already. It was seven to eight meters wide and neat white steps were built there as well. A few white semi-circular stone pavilions were built within a certain distance from each other, allowing people to rest there.


    Along the way, Raffaele looked as if her mind was secretly frightened.


    These martial artists were all normal humans who did not have the force fields of Blood Breeds or Witches around their bodies. However, they continued to display determined expressions despite clearly being normal humans.


    It was rumored that although Holy Fist Palace had only been built for a few years, incredibly sincere disciples had already appeared. One could only imagine the importance of this powerful organization in the hearts of the human martial arts practitioners.


    "These are ascetics. After the recent World Fistfighting Exchange Assembly at Holy Fist Palace, Master''s reputation as the World Fistfighting Master began to spread. As the only remaining great martial arts master, many ascetic martial artists would come over to humbly seek his teachings," Ninox explained. "According to the rules of Holy Fist Palace, ascetics who are able to hike up Holy Fist Mountain on foot and reach Holy Fist Palace without any supplies will be qualified to take a free examination to enter the palace."


    "Isn''t this actually very simple? There are only two mountainous paths that will only take a few hours to climb up. A regular person would be able to hike up the mountain on foot as long as they were slightly more robust than normal," Raffaele was rather puzzled.


    "If only it were that simple. Walk this way." Ninox guided Raffaele to the left, away from the path of the ascetics before walking on a different road that seemed more leveled. On the road, they could see many people climbing down the mountain, making the stream of people much denser than before. Most of these people seemed to possess exuberant spirits and ample vigor. They were outfitted with various ornaments and equipment. Some of them even had the faint smell of blood wafting from their bodies.


    When they saw how Ninox and the others were dressed, most of the people who were walking down the mountain gave way immediately. They saluted them faintly and waited for the group to pass as a sign of their respect before continuing their journey.


    "This place is the real mountain path that leads upwards. Meanwhile, the ascetics travel forward on the road that we were using earlier," Ninox only replied after returning the salutes of others.


    "Are there any differences?" asked Raffaele in a slightly curious tone.


    "Of course there are differences, big ones in fact," Ninox smiled. "Watchmen are placed along the path of the ascetics at certain distance intervals. They are elderly disciples who are participating in voluntarily ascetic practices within Holy Fist Palace. They will test the ascetics after a specific distance. Furthermore, some of these tests are unbelievably dangerous and even life-threatening. For instance, one of the tests requires them to walk a distance of two meters along a precipice that is only the width of a palm. The slightest mistake will send them falling into an abyss. This is a test of courage and carefulness while there are others that will test one''s willpower," a desolate but respectful look appeared on Ninox''s face.


    One of the guides beside her could not help but interrupt.


    "Those who are able to pass the tests and arrive at Holy Fist Palace are definitely outstanding elites. They will usually be instantly promoted as official members who are free to choose to enter any of the three great departments that consist of the combat club, Nighthawks, or the Holy Fist Palace headquarters."


    "That''s amazing, right?" Raffaele was slightly intrigued. As a Sun Witch, she had always been unconcerned about the powers of normal people. However, after seeing the proud look on the other person''s face while she was speaking currently, she was unable to control her mouth and asked the question suddenly.


    "Of course!"


    That person was a girl who possessed a competitive temperament.


    "Only the two great marshalls and the Four Major Generals are qualified to practice the Royal Fist Technique. Its powers are completely beyond your imagination!"


    Raffaele smiled but was slightly unconvinced. Although she had heard that Holy Fist Palace was indeed very powerful, those rumors were only based on the great strength of the Holy Fist. Was it really possible that he managed to cultivate subordinates that were equally strong within a few short years? She did not believe it.


    However, her expression froze quickly when she saw a few familiar figures walking down the mountain.


    They were the Blood Breed witnesses that she had once met at the Witches meeting. They were previously members of the Light Party and one of them was an old Middle-level Blood Breed woman. She was currently walking down the mountain with a calm expression on her face. Apparently, the other woman did not recognize her as Raffaele had initially belonged to the Lower level. The difference between them was too great and they did not have any chance to socialize at all.


    As she watched the old woman stroll down the mountain slowly, the shock in Raffaele''s heart increased suddenly.


    Soon, she saw more Blood Breeds that were emitting Middle and Lower level Qi while walking down the mountain. They were speaking casually and happily with a few people who looked like completely unassuming regular humans. Apparently, they were all on equal footing.


    This caused her small mouth to gape open slightly.


    Ninox and the others looked at her while faint feelings of pride and dignity flashed through their minds.


    The line of people quickened their footsteps and climbed up the mountain hurriedly. They soon arrived at the location of the cable car. After providing the proof, they clambered into the cable cars before traveling up the mountain along the sturdy steel cords speedily.


    When the steel cords passed through the sea of clouds, the entire stretch of whiteness around them made it impossible to see the edges.


    An intrigued expression flashed in Raffaele''s eyes.


    "How beautiful¡­"


    "Of course," Ninox smiled.


    Time ticked by before the cable car approached the Holy Fist Palace quickly. The lofty and huge white building gradually became bigger while a large cylindrical passage spouted white gas that resembled water outwards continuously.


    "What is that, the thing that is coming out?" Raffaele pointed towards the white gas and asked.


    "A specialized gas. It''s a type of gas that is extracted from the insides of the mountain. Since the temperature here is too low, the difference between the temperature of the water inside is too great, forming this white gas that gushes out. In reality, it is merely a normal ventilation installation," answered Ninox patiently.


    As the steel cords approached slowly, a few other cars in front of them that traveled downwards along the steel cords had appeared.


    There was a person in a thick coat who was with a few of his subordinates. There was a somewhat uncomfortable look on his face as he sat in the cable car.


    Raffaele glanced at one of the people before feeling her heart jump suddenly when a brutal Qi radiated from their bodies naturally. He glanced over unexpectedly and it seemed as if a ray of white light flashed in his eyes suddenly when he looked over.


    Raffaele''s mind was shocked and she lowered her head immediately. She had gained a new understanding of the strength of Holy Fist Palace.


    The convoy got down from the car and entered the palace while being guided by the people in charge. They passed through various areas before entering the inner cavity of the mountain.


    Half an hour later, Raffaele was finally taken into an area that was filled with little warm water fountains everywhere.


    A familiar figure was standing in front of a bright stone hall there, waiting for her.


    Ninox took her into the stone hall and stopped walking before leaving quietly. Once she had entered the stone hall, the stone door behind Raffaele was quietly closed, and she was alone in the room with Garen.


    There was a large wall of floor-length glass on the other side of the white stone hall. It was possible to see the endless sea of white clouds there, making it seem as if one was standing up high in the clouds.


    "Long time no see, Raffaele," the figure turned around and looked at her calmly. The person was wearing a mask on his face, but Raffaele was able to recognize his voice and tone immediately as the same Garen that she''d once known.


    "Yes, long time no see. How many years has it been since we last met?" Raffaele walked towards a chair beside Garen and sat down.


    It looked as if he was still stuck in his old ways. He still looked like a regular person from the past. However, she understood that his current self was far from the simple identity that he''d once possessed in the beginning. Perhaps he never had never been simple from the start.


    "Almost a year and two months," answered Garen casually. "Since you''ve come all this way, you should rest properly here. There will be people who are in charge of going down the mountain to buy anything you need. You could even go to the little village at the foot of the mountain if you want."


    "Are Uncle Emmer and little sister Vivien there?" Emotions stirred inside Raffaele''s eyes slightly.


    "They''re both in the little village at the bottom of the mountain," Garen did not conceal anything.


    "I''ll go and be with them then," said Raffaele while lowering her head and biting her lip. "Frankly, I''m not in the position to say this, but the things between us ended quietly a long time ago, right?"


    "Who knows?" Garen chuckled before lifting her chin gently. "Stay with my family for me. It''s inconvenient for me to accompany them constantly now, and you''re the only one who can help me."


    "Don''t do this," anger flashed in Raffaele''s eyes before she pushed Garen''s hand away. "I don''t like actions like that. They make me feel very disrespected."


    "Alright," Garen was slightly shocked. Only then did he remember that Raffaele had finally become one of the leaders of the Witches. "Okay, you should go and rest for a while first. I still have things to sort out."


    "Okay," Raffaele turned around and walked out of the main door of the stone hall quickly with slightly flushed cheeks.


    Suddenly, she felt her waist tighten as her waist was embraced by Garen from behind. Next, a slightly warm feeling began to creep up her neck.


    "Don''t worry, I will take care of everything," Garen''s voice echoed behind her.

 752 Evolve 2

    Chapter 752: Evolve 2


    Raffaele''s entire body turned numb and her cheeks became red at once. A look of uncertainty flashed in her eyes before turning into a firm expression immediately.


    "I know."


    Her voice sounded like the buzz of a mosquito when she replied and she broke free of Garen''s embrace suddenly before she pushed the door open and left.


    She shut the stone door behind her.


    Raffaele was led towards her own room by one of the people in charge.


    Behind the young female guide, she hung her head while somewhat heavy feelings filled her mind.


    "For the mission of the Witch King Mother¡­ Lion Mother¡­ Protected me so that I can finish this task successfully¡­" countless complicated ideas drifted through her mind continuously.


    As she regulated and controlled her own consciousness, she slowly sank into a state of half confusion and could only follow the young woman and walk forward instinctively.


    While she remained in this state, a faint voice echoed throughout her mind suddenly.


    "Hong Ji, you did extremely well and without raising Garen''s suspicions."


    "Witch King Mother?!" joy stirred within Raffaele''s heart suddenly before her mind shouted out internally.


    "Don''t worry, although that person is extremely powerful, he is still not an undefeatable Death Apostle. As long as he is not a Death Apostle, he will definitely have flaws. You merely need to wait for the right opportunity and be more patient¡­ Patience¡­" that voice disappeared slowly.


    Raffaele finally knew that the Lion Mother had left when her mind regained consciousness in a somewhat frustrated manner suddenly. She was one of the forty-five Witch Lion Mother''s daughters who had been chosen as members of this plan, and the most important member as well.


    Once she thought of her mission, Hong Ji became even more determined at once.


    When she thought of the possibility of having to go up against a few innocent subordinates who were merely normal people, an unbearable feeling bubbled up inside her heart. However, it was immediately suppressed forcefully.


    "Holy Fist Palace is the source of all chaos and Holy Fist Garen is the origin of Holy Fist Palace. This is to ensure that the order of the world returns to conformity¡­ Everything that I do is for order¡­"


    When she thought of this, sacred splendor appeared in the depths of her eyes once again.


    "Now all I have to do now is to observe the internal situation of Holy Fist Palace for a while, as it''s best to clarify all the divisions of strength and forces. After that, I''ll go to the foot of the mountain again¡­" a plan formed in her heart quickly.


    *********


    Inside the stone hall


    Garen stood beside one of the stone pillars that was next to the fountain in the center with a calm expression on his face. A Blood Breed subordinate in black clothes was currently standing beside him and reporting the situation quietly.


    "¡­investigated all of the related areas and searched high and low in all of the places where it could possibly exist. As of now, we have not received any information on Marshall Dahm," the male Blood Breed covered his face, making it impossible to see his expression while he reported everything in a low voice.


    "The reporting division confirmed that they lost him three days ago? What about Caesar?" Garen''s eyebrows were slightly furrowed.


    "Since Sir Caesar had to arrange for follow-up tasks to wrap everything up, he was unable to return earlier. The hidden members have been arranged to escort Marshall Dahm, but no one expected that they would encounter an ambush along the way. The members have gone missing. Judging from the traces that were left on the site, it seems like this was the doing of the Blood Breeds. However, we were still unable to determine Marshall Dahm''s whereabouts despite using every method we know. I''m extremely sorry!" said the male Blood Breed with his head lowered.


    "Dahm¡­" Garen pondered casually. "He should have a mask with him now. The probability of the Blood Breed''s actions is very likely."


    "That is indeed true. Moreover, the key point is that our strength networks are only covering the American territories. Meanwhile, the other territories are still being influenced and occupied by the forces of the Blood Breeds. This makes it impossible for us to conduct grand scale searches."


    "You can go back down first," Garen nodded.


    The male Blood Breed exited the stone hall respectfully, leaving Garen there alone.


    ''The actions of the Blood Breeds are extremely arrogant¡­'' Black Sethe''s voice drifted over.


    "Not the Blood Breeds," Garen answered simply.


    ''Oh? How do you know? If it wasn''t the Blood Breeds, who else would dare to ambush a high-level expert like Dahm?'' Black Sethe could not really understand how Garen was able to come up with such a conclusion.


    "I naturally have my own ways. But I''m certain that it''s not the Blood Breeds." Garen walked towards the front of the floor-length glass and looked out at the endless sea of white clouds. His gaze seemed to penetrate the boundless distance while looking on in an unknown direction.


    ****************


    Within a concealed valley in America


    Huff¡­


    Huff¡­


    Huff¡­


    Something sounded like the heavy breathing of a wild beast. It also sounded like the violent panting of an exhausted fierce predator.


    Dahm sat leaning against a little green moss-covered ravine inside the valley. He''d covered himself with large piles of broken tree branches and leaves to the best of his ability before stretching out his four limbs and body.


    Both of his eyes were bloodshot and he seemed unusually thin and sallow, as though he''d been unable to rest for a long time.


    Within the lush green forest around him, muffled noises and movements would echo through occasionally. These noises were enough to force him to turn his head around quickly while looking behind himself with an unusually worried expression on his face.


    It was true that he''d had no chance to rest.


    After obtaining the mask, he had been ambushed by people on the way back. All of his escorts had been killed and he''d used all of his strength to fight the enemy off before escaping quickly. Next, his opponent started to chase him quickly. While he was being pursued, he could feel that his opponent was clearly closing the gap between them. When he ran towards a place with more people, his opponent would follow him closely behind suddenly before clashing with him violently. They fought until he was forced to flee into more remote areas.


    They were forcing him into no man''s land!


    Dahm sank both of his feet inside the undergrowth and mud inside the ravine. His body was covered in bits of grass and little insects while there were countless gashes on is clothes. His entire body seemed incomparably sallow, making him look completely unlike his usual elegant Marshall''s demeanor.


    After three consecutive days of being pursued and attacked, the high state of anxiety that he was currently in due to lack of proper rest caused him to become as easily startled as a bird by the slightest noise. His body had weakened as well. He was initially able to release the first star and use the Waterbird Fist''s Final Profound, Flight of the Evil Phoenix that he was unable to control all along. However, he had overused his body, and his current lack of rest made it difficult for him to heal. His bodily deficiencies were also becoming even worse.


    "Don''t tell me I''m going to die here?!" unwillingness flashed in Dahm''s eyes.


    At this moment, the distinct noise of footsteps could be heard faintly in the forest. The noise started off slowly and paused for a while before it detected that he was here. Suddenly, the noise quickened at once and approached him instantly.


    "You can''t escape anymore!" a determined gaze flashed in Dahm''s eyes. "You may lose all chances of resisting if you keep escaping!"


    He tried to relax his body as much as he could. He tried his best to accumulate all the energy in his body despite being unable to rest for a long time while waiting quietly for his enemy and pursuer to approach him quickly.


    500 meters¡­ 400 meters¡­ 300 meters¡­ 100 meters¡­


    Crash!


    A tree branch and leaves were torn down at once before a familiar figure appeared before Dahm''s eyes.


    "Hochman!!" Dahm yelled out suddenly. "It was actually¡­ It was actually you!!!" he gritted his teeth in anger. His body had tensed up immediately even though he had just relaxed it moments ago. Intense hatred flashed in his eyes.


    Hochman''s face was calm and he''d just changed into a black suit and beautiful black leather shoes. He looked like a regular but successful man who was planning to attend a banquet. However, his attire was clearly abnormal and strange while standing in a forest in a canyon.


    He glanced casually at Dahm who was in an extremely awkward position.


    "How pitiful. To think that you would fall into such a state, Dahm. You''ve truly embarrassed Master now."


    "I knew it was you¡­!!" Dahm''s entire body trembled with rage. All this while, he would be pursued by the other person whenever he wanted to rest. Every time he thought of stopping, his opponent would approach him immediately, making it impossible for him to rest. He could never understand how someone was able to grasp his whereabouts so accurately. But in hindsight, he realized that it could only be Hochman, who was able to use the Qi connection between both of their Soul Primers to locate him.


    Dahm himself was currently unimaginably weak. He was unable to do the same thing, but it was clear that Hochman had his own ways.


    Both of them were practitioners of one of the two sides of the Waterbird Fist respectively. The Negative Waterbird Fist and Positive Waterbird Fist could only become the Two-Faced Waterbird Fist when it was combined. Unlike the other similar branches, the techniques that these two men were practicing were the strongest among the Waterbird Fists and were also the practicing pathways with the greatest power.


    Garen had once mentioned to just the two of them that although the strength of their Fist Techniques was extremely powerful, they would naturally lose a lot as well. Strength could only be obtained by paying prices that were unimaginable to normal humans. Therefore, only one person could survive between the users of the Negative and Positive Fist Techniques. The one who survived would be able to resume the fusion of the Fist Techniques and advance it to peak levels.


    As for the extent of the peak level powers, even Garen himself was unaware of what that truly meant. Since this pathway was merely a road formed by a theory that he had deduced, the true powers that it could achieve were something that he himself as the advancer of the Waterbird Fist did not know either.


    "This is truly a rare opportunity¡­ Don''t you think so, Dahm?" Hochman adjusted his glasses and walked towards Dahm slowly. "Perfecting the Waterbird Fist is the final goal that you and I should be pursuing."


    "You won''t get away with this¡­" said Dahm furiously.


    "Who knows?" Hochman spread both of his hands while a smile appeared on his face. "Actually, I''ve always been very thankful to Master for giving us a chance to improve. He was right. The results that one wishes to accomplish can only be achieved if an equivalent contribution is made. Just look at Quentin, Xander, and the others. They''re currently still at Middle levels and can never achieve Upper levels. Moreover, they are forced to struggle bitterly whenever they face just one Upper-level Blood Breed. Why is that?"


    He paused before his smile widened.


    "Because their contributions towards their martial arts were not great enough!"


    Dahm could only grit his teeth in response.


    Hochman glanced at him casually.


    "The way of our Waterbird Fist of the Holy Fist Palace is also a holy path for Fist Techniques. In reality, although other people are unaware of this, should we just remain unaware as well? The supposed holy paths are actually just demonic paths. Aren''t we just practicing demonic techniques? How would we be able to progress so quickly otherwise?"


    "The demonic technique adheres to the survival of the fittest as its main principle. Dahm¡­" his eyes turned fierce at once. "I''m stronger than you. Therefore, you''re only destined to be my stepping stone¡­ These things were already predestined."


    "If you kill me, you won''t meet a happy ending! Besides that, don''t you want the mask?!" although Dahm already knew that it was impossible for him to escape by sheer luck, a final ray of hope flashed in his eyes.


    "I''ll form the holy path after I kill you. As for the mask, it was naturally snatched by the Blood Breeds, or perhaps already destroyed." Hochman smiled before a dull crashing noise could be heard below his feet as he charged towards Dahm like a rocket. His arm expanded suddenly and became thicker and darker as if it was completely shrouded in countless dark blue veins.


    His ferocious Qi was moved by this punch as though all the air around him had been absorbed into his fist.


    The entire forest darkened slightly when it was affected by the frantic flow of air.


    "Go peacefully! I will take care of your household properly!"


    Boom!!!

 753 Bureau 1

    Chapter 753: Bureau 1


    Kasha!!


    A flash of lightning streaked across the sky.


    It illuminated the hall of Holy Fist Palace and it glowed as bright as snow for a second.


    Garen stood in the dark hall. Unconsciously, he had already been standing here for the entire afternoon.


    For an unknown reason, he was constantly disturbed by an extremely agitated feeling recently. Although he used the duration of an entire afternoon this time, he was still unable to find the root and cause of this irritation. Perhaps it was caused by practicing the Holy Phoenix Scriptures. In the end, he always felt that his emotional fluctuations were decreasing and his feelings were becoming colder. In the past, there were many things that would stir his emotions but now he only felt indifference.


    Kasha!


    The lightning struck again and illuminated the hall in blues and whites immediately.


    Garen stood in the large hall alone while the flash of lightning caused a long shadow to form behind him instantly.


    "This world¡­" he looked at the endless sea of clouds outside the window. "It''s rejecting me."


    ''You''ve felt it?'' Black Sethe''s weak voice could be heard occasionally. ''You passed through the Mother Stream accidentally. Moreover, your original plan was not to come here and your arrival in this world was merely a mistake.''


    "This world does not possess any form of consciousness. How did this phenomenon occur?" Garen could not understand.


    ''Yes¡­ Most worlds do not possess consciousness but each world has a different state. They resemble the various different types of plants,'' explained Black Sethe softly, ''but the Holy Phoenix Scriptures that you practice are scriptures that are heartless and lack character. Their goal is to heighten one''s spirit to its limits which require a large number of energy sources from the outside world. This is actually equivalent to plundering the world. Any actions that absorb energy from the outside world to strengthen oneself will naturally cause chain reactions. This is due to the changes that occur when the cycle of equilibrium is destroyed.''


    Garen remained silent for a moment before nodding his head faintly.


    "I know what you mean. It is similar to how certain beasts of prey in a mountain forest require more food when they become stronger suddenly. When the mountain forest is unable to satisfy their needs, they are forced to widen their range which will ultimately destroy the natural cycle of equilibrium in their surroundings."


    ''To be more precise, absorbing too much energy without producing an equal amount in return. It is similar to the deformed and distorted cancer cells in the human body that rob energy that is originally used for other functions. This causes faults and the destruction of the natural cycle before serious environmental changes are finally produced. These changes have also been detected by the creatures in certain areas of this world, and they are currently taking action,'' Black Sethe explained. ''This was also caused by the Holy Phoenix Scriptures'' overly extreme true intentions.''


    "Looks like this is the source of my agitation," Garen nodded. "My five senses and instincts have become sharper, making it possible for me to detect the threats that I am about to encounter in the future¡­"


    ''Your powers are getting even stronger and their influence towards their surroundings will naturally become greater as well. This is unavoidable and amplified effects like these will form traces that will make it easier for others to observe and grasp. Initially, you were not like this. However, the Holy Phoenix Scriptures were too strong and their plundering techniques were too extreme. Therefore, the changes in your surroundings were intensified,'' answered Black Sethe casually.


    Garen did not speak anymore and merely looked out of the window silently into the sea of white fluffy clouds below.


    Kachak!!


    There was a flash of lightning.


    Large sheets of rain cascaded downwards and left yarn-like traces when it was stirred by the wind.


    Dahm''s entire body was covered in fresh blood while the base of his back was pressed against the icy cold green mountain wall. He glared daggers at Hochman who stood on the opposite side of him not far away.


    Both of them stood under the heavy rain without the intention of shielding themselves from it at all.


    There were potholes everywhere on the ground. The mud inside most of these was filled with red and yellow fresh blood. It was clear that these potholes had just been formed and were quickly being filled by rainwater.


    The raindrops shook the surrounding leaves, branches, and undergrowth continuously while the wind gusted and howled. It sounded like the crying noises of a human or the ghostly howls of an animal.


    "Give up."


    The suit on Hochman''s back was already soaked through. However, he remained emotionless and looked quietly at Dahm who was nearby. The raindrops rolled off his cheeks continuously and wet his hair, causing the strands to stick against his forehead closely.


    They had already been fighting in the valley for an extremely long and continuous period of time. To prevent Dahm from counter-attacking with all of his might, or perhaps to ensure that he would win without any injuries, Hochman did not close in on him unnecessarily at all. Instead, he would chase Dahm step-by-step and step forward to clash with him occasionally. He was constantly keeping his opponent in a panicked state to exhaust him.


    The effect of this was actually very satisfying. Currently, Dahm had almost exhausted all of his energy and was unwilling to even move. To preserve his energy, he was leaning against the side of the mountain. Being unable to restore his energy for a few days had caused him to deplete his resources and fall into a troubled state much earlier on.


    "You don''t even stand a chance anymore," said Hochman lightly.


    "I was ambushed by you after I completed a mission. Master¡­ Master will not forsake me¡­" said Dahm furiously. "You''re ignoring the bigger picture and fighting a member of your own branch. Did you forget that the whereabouts of your cousin is still in my hands¡­"


    "You''re too naive¡­" Hochman laughed suddenly. "To think that you really believed that I truly liked my cousin?" He raised his head and looked at the color of the sky. "It''s almost time."


    He removed his glasses slowly and exposed his cold, sharp and narrow long eyes.


    He combed his hair backward after removing his glasses to instantly form a clean and sharp slicked-back hairstyle. An indescribably imposing manner permeated from his body faintly.


    "It''s impossible for people not to have weaknesses, Dahm," a devilishly handsome smile appeared on Hochman''s pale and chiseled face.


    "End it."


    He outstretched both of his hands and crossed all ten of his fingers to form a heart shape.


    Boom!!


    While the heavy rain continued to pour, his figure crashed through the sheets of rain suddenly. Only martial artists could notice that a large black aura had exploded suddenly around his entire body to form the black shadow of a terrifying dragon''s head that roared as it charged towards Dahm.


    "Clouded leopard!!"


    Hochman let out a low growl as his entire body charged forward in the rain. He was currently stretched out like a cheetah that was dashing forward. The air and raindrops sputtered around when he tore through them. As his speed was extremely fast, he formed a long cavity in the middle of the heavy rain.


    His Upper-level powers were being released all at once from the palms of both of Hochman''s palms where they were gathered.


    Bang!!!


    Both of his hands sank into the mountainside deeply before the entire surface collapsed with a ''crash'' after caving inwards.


    Dahm was barely able to dodge this attack. However, he was still affected by the repercussions. The raindrops that were sent flying violently hit against his body painfully like bullets, forming a few more wounds.


    "Bloody Night!!"


    He roared loudly and threw out his last two silk strings. However, they were completely exposed amidst the rain and he was unable to hide them at all, making it easy for Hochman to evade them.


    "Does God want me to die as well?!" Dahm staggered towards the left side and tottered into the rain. Feelings of dread filled his heart. His handphone and other electronics that were on him had been destroyed at the first moment. He was unable to ask for assistance as Hochman had intentionally driven away that chance as well.


    "Don''t tell me I''m really going to die here¡­" Behind him, Dahm could hear the sound of Hochman tearing through the air hurriedly. "Master¡­" the last image that floated up in his mind was the scene when Garen had first taught them the Waterbird Fist. The memories from that scene¡­ That marked the starting point of his journey into the temple of martial arts.


    "White Bear!"


    A low roar echoed behind him.


    Bang!!!


    Dahm felt a pain in his chest. He had detected the whistling sound of tearing air behind him long ago. However, his physical body was unable to keep up with his consciousness anymore. He wanted to dodge but was struck in the middle of his back.


    Pfoo¡­


    He lowered his head and spat out a mouthful of fresh blood before kneeling into the rainy dark night with a ''thump''.


    Bang!!


    Another violent jolt of pain could be felt from his back when it was hit over where his heart was located. He was hit by yet another brutal punch before the immense pain passed through his muscles and bones. It hit his heart accurately and caused it to explode suddenly.


    This was Hochman''s prized hidden Waterbird strength that was able to detonate the insides of his opponent''s body anytime. It was unlike Dahm''s own exploding blood. Hochman''s explosions were formed when he gathered his strength before releasing a one-hit killing blow.


    "Goodbye¡­ Dahm."


    Hochman''s voice echoed behind him.


    Dahm''s vision was blinded before darkening gradually. Everything began to darken before becoming blurry and turning black slowly until he was unable to see anything anymore. He could feel the strength in his body flowing away quickly while an empty feeling drifted in his mind.


    "Am I going to die?"


    He fell into darkness finally while the sound of the rain began to soften. Soon, he was unable to hear anything and his nose was unable to smell the scent of rain anymore.


    Shh!!


    A sensation that resembled the feeling of a deflating balloon was felt inside his body. Dahm felt as if he was losing something extremely important that was currently escaping and being removed quickly.


    Gradually, his consciousness fell into complete darkness.


    The roaring sound of thunder echoed in the sky.


    Hochman stood beside Dahm''s corpse quietly and looked at this man whom he''d once regarded as his best friend. His blood red aura flowed out of his body continuously before converging with his black aura.


    The blood red aura resembled a bloody stream. It flowed out of the wound on Dahm''s back continuously before crossing the ground and converging with the black shadow below his feet.


    Strong and intense emotions flooded the depths of his body and heart endlessly.


    Hochman outstretched his right hand. The flesh on his palm that was initially covered by terrifying blackened skin and muscles was currently shrouded in faint threads of blood that were crawling there. These bloody threads formed on the surface of his skin like a large red web that covered the entire surface of his body.


    "Power¡­ This kind of power¡­ Hehehehe¡­"


    Continuous feelings of fulfillment and power flooded Hochman''s heart endlessly.


    He could feel that the Qi of the Soul Primer in the depths of his spirit was continuously being nourished by this strength. Moreover, strange changes were gradually forming there.


    The Qi of the Primer there was becoming stronger and more intense.


    Boom!!


    A crashing noise could be heard. No one knew if it was the sound of thunder or the sound of an explosion in his heart.


    Hochman''s entire body trembled suddenly. He could vaguely see a figure that was fully dressed in black muslin walking out of the rain suddenly.


    "Who are you?" it was difficult to distinguish the other person''s figure in the rain and they seemed almost transparent at times, giving off a strange illusory feeling.


    "My identity is unimportant," answered the person in a soft voice. Their voice was neither masculine nor feminine, making it impossible to distinguish their sex. "The important thing is that you''re currently in an extremely important phase."


    "Oh?" Hochman kept his guard up.

 754 Bureau 2

    Chapter 754: Bureau 2


    "There are abnormalities in your soul. These abnormalities bring strange changes¡­ Let me help you."


    Before they could finish speaking, the other person''s figure disappeared abruptly. At the moment when their figure vanished, Hochman suddenly felt a pain in his own head.


    Ahh!!!


    He raised his head suddenly and roared furiously.


    The immense pain surged through his body and caught him off guard. It felt as if a giant hammer had been suddenly smashed against his head. His five senses were completely affected by the violent burning pain all at once.


    A tearing noise could be heard.


    Hochman could hear the faint sound of something ripping. Next, a strange sense of freedom filled his mind.


    "You''re free now¡­" a voice echoed in the rain.


    Hochman lowered his head in a trance. He noticed that his own body had been restored to its normal state again as if everything that happened earlier was just an illusion.


    Meanwhile, the strange feeling of constantly being controlled by Garen that was always hidden in the depths of his heart had disappeared completely now.


    "I''m free?" he asked himself quietly.


    He felt as if he had robbed something from Master. This unknown feeling was truly strange and indescribable. He was currently filled with a type of unprecedented power while the endless amounts of energy that formed a cycle inside his body made it feel as if he could crack the earth with one punch and break through any obstacle that hindered his path.


    He crouched his body downwards and took the still-perfect mask from Dahm''s body quickly before keeping it close against his bosom.


    "I can''t return anymore¡­" he murmured to himself softly before taking a final look at Dahm''s corpse. His figure flashed before he disappeared into the heavy rain instantly.


    *******************


    Holy Fist Palace


    Garen suddenly felt a sharp pain ripping through his brain.


    Woo¡­


    He buried his face in his hands suddenly and stood in the middle of the large dark hall while being unable to suppress his cold sweat for a while.


    "This is¡­?!"


    The searing pain had arrived at a strange moment and had been unusually sudden as well.


    He raised his head abruptly and looked in a direction that led to the outside of the palace.


    "It''s the Soul Primer¡­ Someone has escaped from my control! They ripped out a part of my Soul Primer and stole it!! Who was it??!!" his mind jolted with shock.


    He closed his eyes and carefully detected the Qi of the Soul Primer that had flowed out of him at once.


    The clusters of Qi seemed like galaxies of stars that were distributed throughout the dark and empty spaces in his mind. At this moment, out of the two largest stars that represented the Soul Primers, one of them had dimmed quickly while the other was shining brighter and even turning transparent quickly! It transmitted an unavoidable sense of separation.


    "It''s Dahm and Hochman!" Garen''s mind froze at once. "Dahm is dead¡­ Hochman absorbed the other pole of the Waterbird Fist''s aura¡­ But how was he able to break away from the control of my Soul Primer? How could he rip through the Qi of my soul??!!"


    ''Apparently, it was just as I had anticipated. You have trouble, Garen,'' said Black Sethe quietly.


    Garen remained silent and did not speak. However, the waves of pain from his headaches caused the veins in his face to become even more obvious, making him look ferocious as well.


    According to the principle, even though Hochman had absorbed and killed Dahm, it was still impossible for him to break free of Garen''s control. Though in hindsight, he had truly stolen a part of the Soul Primer''s Qi that belonged to him. Once he had appropriated it to himself, he was even able to successfully escape from Garen''s control of his spirit.


    There were definitely external forces that were helping him!


    "Who is it? Who''s helping him? Who could be able to help him?!" asked Garen quietly.


    Losing this Soul Primer and its Qi would spell major trouble for him. Soul Primers instinctively had perfect characteristics. However, once part of it was ripped away, life-threatening flaws would show up in the soul. If he was unable to make up for it quickly, when an enemy of the same level used direct soul attacks against him, it was very likely that Garen would collapse completely within a short span of time in his current state.


    ''You need to restore the wounds in our soul quickly! Otherwise, when Nadia appears, just one gaze of hers will be enough to kill you!!'' Black Sethe said seriously. ''You cannot have the slightest flaw or obvious deficiency between experts. One misstep will be your downfall! This is truly fatal!''


    "How could this world have measures that can counter against souls?!" Garen could feel that his headache was easing itself gradually. However, his face was still slightly uncomfortable.


    ''Since this world is so huge, it would be very normal for various mystical creatures to appear. The important thing right now is that you need to find Hochman as soon as possible to get back the soul Qi that was ripped from you! For most people, perhaps this would merely be insignificant shrouds of soul Qi that would not be a great hindrance even if they lost it. However, to experts and peak level experts especially, whenever little holes appear in their imperfections, these seemingly tiny holes will be expanded endlessly,'' reminded Black Sethe in a low voice.


    "I was careless¡­" Garen''s expression turned slightly ashen as this was the first time he had tasted such bitter regret. In this world, everything was going smoothly and he did not have any enemies at all. Even the Death Apostles were not worthy opponents in his eyes as most of them were merely cockroaches that could not be killed easily. All of his energy was directed towards Nadia as Nadia was his only true adversary. However, someone had inflicted a heavy hit upon him now!


    ''Souls are extremely important towards all life forms. Even the Qi of the Soul Primer that you released could produce a military influence that causes you and your subordinates to become strong together. Not to mention that there are many other mystical properties and effects that we have yet to discover. This is definitely not an aspect that we can overlook.''


    Garen remained silent. He thought of the years that he''d spent continuously separating shrouds of soul Qi. If all of this Qi was ripped by others violently¡­ His once powerful soul would probably be suppressed into a state of everlasting weakness¡­


    When he thought of this, Garen turned around suddenly and walked out of the main door.


    He had to bring all of the parts of his Soul Primer that had been separated as soon as possible. Although this would cause a great loss throughout the strength of his subordinates, he was unable to be preoccupied with so many things now!


    Dahm had died in battle while Hochman deserted him and fled! The repercussions that were caused by this incident would be very severe!


    ''Are you thinking of retrieving all of your Primers back? You don''t need to do that,'' said Black Sethe. ''Army level Primers like yours cannot simply be torn at any moment as they require specific timings. Among your subordinates, only Dahm and Hochman had the power to alter time while the others could not. Moreover, the consumption that is caused when one rips it is extremely great! This is something that was done on the soul level and could not be completed easily. Furthermore, the effects of the soul and Qi towards the physical body cannot overlap with one another. Losing one of them is equivalent to losing a hundred. Losses like these are negligible against the total strength of the soul itself. Only gaps and splits that are formed within perfect states and realms are the most troublesome.''


    ''However, although it will not be affected, or perhaps the probability of the effects will be very low, I still suggest that you remove everyone from the inside of the palace and check them once over. You need to pay close attention to those who display unusual states!'' Black Sethe suggested.


    "Right now, the most important thing is to capture Hochman and bring him back," Garen pushed the main door open and walked out of the stone hall briskly. The disciples who were standing guard outside the door bowed their heads and looked at him with respectful gazes while he walked towards the student''s practice hall.


    Dahm''s death and Hochman''s betrayal meant that Holy Fist Palace had lost two of its main Upper-level members at the same time. This affected Holy Fist Palace greatly, forcing him to make the necessary arrangements quickly before solving the problem of the torn souls later.


    He would only be able to fully restore his lost soul and Qi by killing Hochman and remedying the flaws in his soul.


    ***************


    Raffaele stood quietly in the doorway of the hidden room inside the palace. There was no one else in her surroundings and the sole patrol guard had just passed by to survey the cracks and gaps. There were a total of fifteen hidden rooms like this within Holy Fist Palace. She had already examined ten separate ones as her goal was to find the Sleepless Faces masks that were kept in Holy Fist Palace. There were about six of these masks that were collected in Holy Fist Palace and were definitely concealed in specific hidden places. Once she found it, she could quickly create a fake mask using the Witchcraft that Witch King Mother had prepared. This would allow her to take the real mask away quietly.


    After pushing open the stone door that led to the hidden room gently, Raffaele walked inside silently and scanned the area quickly. Other than the necessary items such as the bright candlesticks, tables, chairs, and other furniture, the room was devoid of other objects.


    She removed a little white ornament that was used a decoration from her own skirt quickly and shook it gently before a faint white light was released from the ornament suddenly, passing through the insides of the hidden room at once.


    "The same thing again¡­" Raffaele''s gaze darkened slightly while she prepared herself to leave dejectedly.


    Suddenly, the white ornament lit up again suddenly before shining directly on the wall on the opposite side of the door to the hidden room.


    "This is?!!" Raffaele''s eyes narrowed when she realized that the magical probing tool that had been given to her by the Witch King Mother would not react for no reason.


    She walked over quickly while the white light from the ornament in her hand reflected against the wall in a translucent state like glass. She could see the situation on the other side of the wall through it.


    She could see a cylindrical, average-sized cavity inside the wall where a book seemed to be placed there. The book was thick and had a hard black cover.


    For an unknown reason, this book gave Raffaele a strange and indescribable feeling. It felt as if she was not looking at a book but a sentient living creature instead.


    "This thing¡­ It''s definitely Garen''s most prized possession!" Raffaele gritted her teeth and turned her hand before removing a piece of thin red cardboard from the side pocket of her skirt. Clusters of strange symbols that seemed to be handwritten in blood covered its surface.


    There were a total of three pieces of cardboard that were similar to this one. They were specialized magical tools that were equipped with short-term transmission functions. One of these precious magical tools could only be created with the heavy price of a sacrifice. Currently, the raw materials to create this item had depleted earlier on. They were only five pieces of this left which were all in the Lion Mother''s hands. In order to counter Garen now, the Witch King Mother, Lion Mother was willing to give her three of these items at once so that Raffaele could deliver these treasures to her from Holy Fist Palace.


    "To be able to conceal it in such a hidden place¡­" she reached her hand out and pressed it against the wall before beginning to check for a switch there carefully. She just needed to remove the object and place it on the cardboard. Next, she would need to activate it gently so that it could be delivered instantly.


    After probing for some time, she soon discovered a section of the wall that was slightly smoother and cleaner than the other areas. She outstretched her hand and dug it out gently before a little ring was removed from the wall suddenly.


    She pulled it with all of her strength.


    A faint buzzing noise could be heard before a large rectangular shaped stone block immediately protruded from the wall automatically. A cylindrical metallic pillar was embedded in the middle of the stone block. There was a ring that could be pulled on the pillar.

 755 Bureau 3

    Chapter 755: Bureau 3


    Raffaele walked forward and checked if there were any switches around the ring carefully. When she had determined that she was correct, she prepared herself to extend her finger and grip the ring.


    Woo¡­! Woo¡­!


    Suddenly, the sound of an alarm could be heard clearly throughout the entire Holy Fist Palace. In only a few seconds, all of the training scholars, disciples, external trainers, and Middle and Upper-level members were all rushing towards the biggest training hall in the center of the palace.


    While the sound of close footsteps echoed, groups of internal palace members in black and white uniforms passed by the hidden room frantically.


    The main door of the hidden room had been resealed long ago but Raffaele had exited the hidden room without anyone noticing. She currently stood in the doorway, looking as if she had just happened to be passing by.


    "What happened?" Raffaele pulled over an internal palace member disciple whom she had met earlier.


    "It''s definitely a serious problem. Otherwise, Holy Fist Master would not have sounded the emergency assembly command!" the person answered frantically with a solemn look on their face. "Come with us to the training hall in the center if you want to know more."


    "Serious problem?" Raffaele''s heart stirred. She glanced at the corners and surroundings of the palace where white monitors and surveillance cameras had extended out suddenly and were beeping there. These surveillance cameras were almost the same color as the walls, making it extremely difficult to distinguish them. It was obvious that they had all of the security systems were activated immediately because of the critical state.


    She congratulated herself unconsciously. If she had hesitated earlier and left slightly later, she would definitely have been detected by the monitors. At that time, it would have been impossible for her to escape as she was a member of the enemy camp.


    Without much time to think, she merely nodded.


    "Show me the way, we''ll go together!"


    The other person nodded and pulled Raffaele along before rejoining his team in front. The footsteps of groups of people who were running echoed throughout the corridor behind him.


    ****************


    Inside the white round arch-type stone hall


    White cylindrical stone pillars stood upright throughout the area while steel chains hung from the center. Dark green chains that were thick but nimble matched the simple style of the large stone brick floors. They gave off an unsophisticated but rough look that felt barbaric yet divine.


    Each of the stone bricks on the ground was actually a large brick that was more than three meters wide. Perhaps it was unfitting to call them bricks anymore, as they were more like a typical large rock.


    Groups of scholars and internal palace members flowed through the area in one direction like streams that met at a lake. They gathered inside the hall here from entrances of different sizes before quickly forming three square formations with different uniform colors of white, black, and red.


    Bright light cascaded inside from all four stone walls, shrinking everyone''s shadows to a position that was below their feet and shining so that there were no blind spots.


    Soon, almost all of the members were present.


    Garen sat on the highest seat in the stone hall. There were two empty black high-back chairs below right below the level of his arms. Below that were the seats of the Four Major Generals while rows of seats were specially set up on the right. The ones who sat there were the other high-level important diplomats who were temporarily stationed here. Besides that, there were a few other generals and high-level leaders of organizations. Rod and his older brother were currently chatting in low voices with another director and leader of an organization, who seemed as if he had just gotten into his seat.


    The Four Major Generals sat down quickly while the crowd of Middle and Upper-level internal palace members and the other external members below them took their seats in the lower rows according to the ranks of their posts.


    Meanwhile, a few of the higher level members of the Lightless Alliance who were constantly stationed here entered the room as well. They were arranged to be seated in the VIP seats on the right side of the hall at the same level as the Four Major Generals.


    As the number of people increased, the stadium-sized hall finally quietened down gradually, displaying the members'' exceptional discipline. When most of the people there became silent, the VIPs who were whispering to each other quietened gradually as well before their gazes were focused on Garen who was seated in the highest position.


    Garen was fully dressed in black clothes while his long golden hair cascaded down his shoulders. His body sat upright on the seat like a large mountain, giving off a terrifying imposing feeling. His expression was cold as if he was thinking of something troublesome.


    The atmosphere was somewhat heavy for a while.


    When the final member entered, the whistling alarm noises finally stopped.


    The entire hall finally fell into a state of complete silence.


    There was a moment of silence while Garen waited for everyone''s concentration to be focused on him before he began to open his mouth slowly.


    "I am about to issue some unfortunate news here today."


    The initially heavy atmosphere suddenly became even more tense when that sentence was spoken. Everyone focused their attention on Garen unconsciously. Even the VIPs who were being absent-minded earlier had now sat up slightly straighter with stern looks on their faces.


    Raffaele had also been seated in the VIP section. She glanced at Garen who was seated at a high position quietly while an abnormally powerful force spiraled around that man''s entire body. The air around his seat seemed as if it was sticky together densely. Although he was seated there alone, his force field was apparently suppressing the momentum of everyone in the hall!


    It was worth mentioning that there were almost a thousand people here!


    While fearful feelings were trembling in her heart, she heard Garen continuing to speak.


    "One of the two great Marshalls, the Bloody Marshall Dahm was unfortunately killed in battle outside."


    At first, the entire hall fell silent at once. It was a deathly type of silence as everyone was convinced that they had misheard or that Garen was merely joking.


    Moments later, the attention of the crowd of a thousand people had fully focused on Garen again.


    "None of you misheard me," said Garen casually. "I wasn''t joking either. Dahm has died in battle."


    His voice trailed off. The first person to react was Dahm''s underling in red clothes, who was also his division subordinate and a member who was born to his own clan.


    The next ones who responded were the superiors from the VIP section who had the most interactions with Dahm. The others were the scholars and disciples who had learned the Royal Fist Technique from Dahm.


    Boom!!


    The entire hall seethed with shock and hubbub instantly.


    Dahm had died in battle! An individual who possessed peak standards had actually died in battle outside?


    Who could kill him? An Upper-level? Maybe a Death Apostle? Was it possible that the Blood Breeds had officially launched a full-scale ambush attack against Holy Fist Palace?


    Everyone was making assumptions. For an expert who possessed an Upper-level strength to die in battle, neither Blood Breeds nor Witches would be able to endure such pain, much less a new member of Holy Fist Palace.


    "I haven''t finished speaking," Garen waited until everyone had digested the news somewhat before he opened his mouth again. "The main reason that Dahm died in battle has nothing to do with the encirclement of the Blood Breeds."


    His gaze scanned the entire hall and everyone who felt it lowered their heads unconsciously.


    "He was killed by his fellow Marshall Hochman. Hochman has currently betrayed and fled Holy Fist Palace."


    Boom!!!


    When he finished speaking this time, an even louder uproar exploded through the hall. Everyone looked at him with widened eyes and gaping mouths when they realized that their minds were unable to keep up with these changes.


    Other than Holy Fist Garen and Tu Lan, the other two strongest Marshalls in Holy Fist Palace had disappeared completely. One of them was dead while the other had fled?! This was simply the latest piece of sensational news. If a reporter was on the scene, they would be able to sell so many copies of the newspaper at the first instant that everyone else would be green-eyed with envy.


    It was worth mentioning that among the regular humans, Holy Fist Palace was currently the highest ranking force against the Blood Breeds that most people paid attention to. Furthermore, it was also the assembly point of the hope of all of humanity.


    The current question was, how would they sort it out?


    That was the first reaction that anyone would have when they heard the news at the first moment.


    "My decision is to release commands for a counterattack on all fronts from now on. We will put up wanted signs for the Boxing Overlord Marshall Hochman and set a confirmed reward of one million euros for anyone who is able to provide information regarding his whereabouts. Those who are able to injure or kill him will be rewarded with ten million euros. Furthermore, I will personally guide them in the ways of the Fist Techniques once and increase their lifespan by two years. If someone is able to defeat him, I will personally teach them the refined meaning of the Royal Fist Technique before adding ten years to their lives."


    Garen''s voice sounded like thunder that echoed throughout the inside of the hall endlessly.


    "Regardless of whichever methods you use and whatever measures you take, you must find him! Kill him!"


    Murderous intentions that resembled dark clouds rose up in both of Garen''s eyes. These murderous intentions crept around the room and made it difficult for the thousands of people inside the stone hall to breathe. Everyone was secretly terrified of his wrath.


    Scorching hot flames burned in the eyes of the Four Major Generals. They were the only ones who understood the severity of Garen''s words. It was obvious that Hochman had not simply killed Dahm. Instead, he had done something to anger Garen as well. Under these circumstances, if he was able to achieve his goal, his position in Master''s eyes would surely be increased by a large degree. Master Garen had spent many years helping both of these Marshals increase in ranks from earlier on. He would only need to work a little harder to find new people to fill in these new ranks.


    Although they merely possessed Middle-level powers and were far from the two great Marshals, victory and defeat were not merely decided by strength many times. Otherwise, everyone would be able to discover the strongest person within the realm easily, and what need would there be for them to compete in training then?


    Tu Lan stood in the shadows of the hall and exchanged gazes with Quentin and Xander of the Four Major Generals. Both of them were in charge of one information branch respectively. One of them was responsible for the strength networks in the external combat club, though both possessed networks of strong forces. During the recent period of time, as Quentin and Xander were both occupied in learning the Fantasy Fist, they had become good friends with Tu Lan and Ninox when their interactions had increased. Of course, Tu Lan would never treat herself as their senior¡­


    Then, the few of them exchanged glances. All three of them had reasonably good relationships with one another. When they heard about Garen''s reward, all of their hearts were stirred immediately. The other rewards were good, but the prize of additional life force was an unquenchable and unattainable desire of numerous outsiders.


    This was an opportunity to lengthen their lifespan and improve their bodily functions without any harmful side effects! The eyes of a few old high-level organization leaders had lit up while their minds now burned with a passion.


    Money, martial arts knowledge, and life. A combination of these three things had stirred the desires of everyone in the hall as it encompassed the deepest yearnings of the majority.


    This was the first time Garen had mentioned the opportunity to add ten years worth of life force. The maximum amount was only five years in the past. However, he had now increased it to ten years in one go. This was equivalent to extending one''s lifespan by ten years. Especially for older individuals, the ability to live for another decade was simply a dream that could wake them up with a smile.


    When the sound of his voice trailed off after the final sentence, he was met with an enthusiastic response at once that came from the seats of the VIPs and the Four Major Generals.


    "Master, we''re willing to form an alliance and cooperate with Master Tu Lan to move forward and attack!" Quentin stood up suddenly. It was obvious that she was secretly inspired by Tu Lan.


    Tu Lan played a subtle role in Holy Fist Palace. She was higher than the Marshalls but lower than Garen. No one objected to the rumor that she was the second strongest person in the palace. However, the outsiders knew that she had betrayed the Blood Breeds to come over. They did not trust her very much while only a few superiors were aware that Tu Lan probably only remained respectfully because she was tired of being cowed in the beginning. However, she had truly learned to love the practice of Secret Techniques now and her fear towards Garen gradually turned into awe. After she had slaughtered Blood Breeds whom she once recognized as her own people, it did not matter that she gave her reputation away as she had already joined Holy Fist Palace fully.


    With Tu Lan there to perform the task, Garen was able to relax slightly. However, Hochman had absorbed Dahm''s Primer now and no one knew which stage he had grown into. Moreover, if that external force appeared again¡­


    "Alright, but you''ll need to inform me right away if you receive any news of his whereabouts."


    "Understood!" Quentin and Xander smiled happily and withdrew quickly. It was obvious that they were acting swiftly before going to prepare to leave and collect information immediately.


    Garen narrowed both of his eyes. That external force could apparently grasp the movements of Hochman and the others accurately. It was likely that they had an extensive intelligence network. Therefore, they would definitely have a source that informed them about the movements of the troops within his Holy Fist Palace as well. Furthermore, he was unsure whether the strength of Tu Lan and the other two people were enough to suppress Hochman.


    It looked like he still needed to take action personally¡­

 756 Bureau 4

    Chapter 756: Bureau 4


    Boom!!!


    On top of a snowy mountain peak somewhere in Iceland, chunks of snow exploded like bombs and scattered snow everywhere. Looking from afar, an entire right chunk of the snow peak had been blown away, looking similar to a sugarcane that was bitten off.


    The top half of the mountain crashed down and fell onto a plateau below, causing the ground to tremble.


    The sky was clear without a single cloud but the sunlight did not provide much warmth. The sunlight shone on the exploded part of the mountain peak. There was a dark cave there.


    There was a hint of green smoke coming out of the cave. That green smoke swirled around at the entrance of the cave and before it quickly dispersed as though it was a living thing.


    Cough cough cough¡­


    A slight coughing sound came from the cave. It seemed to belong to an old man''s voice.


    A moment later, an old figure with a white beard slowly walked out of the cave. He was leaning on a thick white cane and dressed in shabby clothes made from hides and skins. It seemed to be a patchwork of many different kinds of animal hides. There was a necklace made from shrunken human skulls hanging on his chest, giving off a primitive impression.


    "Finally got out¡­" the old man groused. His face was lined with wrinkles like the bark of a tree. His hair and beard were a mess like the mane of a lion, totally unkempt.


    He put his free hand by his mouth and blew.


    Piiii!!!


    A sharp whistle sound traveled through the cold wind.


    After some time, a black dot was flying in the sky in the distance.


    The black dot gradually came closer until its appearance was revealed. It was a big black hawk that had a wingspan of over four meters without a tinge of other colors. In the eyes of the black hawk was the strange old man at the bottom. It gave off a loud screech and flew down towards the old man.


    A shadow flashed by and the old man was sitting on the back of the black hawk before it had even completely flown down. Then, one man and one hawk flew away from the place.


    A few days later, the Lightless Alliance that was growing in numbers sent out a message. One of their three leaders, AG, had finally come out in spring and successfully made a breakthrough to a new realm. Originally, AG was an Upper Level but after the breakthrough, he could only be a Death Apostle.


    The Lightless Alliance, which only had two Death Apostle class experts in the ranked one Holy Fist Palace, now had another one. The Alliance had now become more powerful, to an extent that it was comparable to the Blood Breeds and Witches.


    Especially the Witches which had now become the weakest among them. AG, who represented the wizards, had had a breakthrough. Did it mean that the wizards who disappeared from history had returned once more? No one was clear.


    However, the one point that everyone understood was that Lightless Alliance had become more powerful. Supernatural powers combined with the powers of ordinary people. More and more humans, under the leadership of Holy Fist Palace, were constantly training in fist techniques. Every second and every moment that passed by meant the expansion of Holy Fist Palace and Lightless Alliance.


    In this situation, the Blood Breeds had no choice but to make a move.


    *********************


    Deep in the Blood Alliance Headquarters


    In the crimson underground, a number of huge spheres similar to glass balls floated in mid-air while moving around.


    All the Death Apostle Blood Breeds except for Ashen were gathered here, occupying each of the glass spheres.


    Wellington, Scarlet Moon, the female death apostle, the mysterious blonde man, and the last one was the Lion Mother. The Lion Mother''s real body seemed to be elsewhere, but she had projected through the sphere what appeared to be a virtual image standing in the sphere.


    The five of them opened their eyes and looked at each other in the sphere.


    "The hidden piece is in. The next step should follow the plan," Lion Mother was the first one to speak. "The world has become more and more chaotic. If it is not put back on the right track, I''m afraid there will be unpredictable severe consequences." While she was speaking, she still had a gentle and compassionate look on her face.


    "Based on my recent observation, I felt that the original plan should be slightly altered," someone gave a different opinion. It was the only female Death Apostle. She slightly frowned and stared at Lion Mother.


    "I feel that, with Garen''s personality, even if we used his parents and relatives to threaten him, the most we can achieve is to perish together with him. Besides letting him cast aside any worries, there are no other uses."


    "Why do you say that? We can use his family to exchange for the benefits we need," Wellington said. He was now developing new family descendants so his consumption was very large. Until now, his face was still greenish, evidence of his large blood consumption.


    "Though there is that kind of scenario, according to my analysis on Garen''s past, this person was, on the surface, protective of his family but deep down he was an absolutely indifferent and rational person. I expect that threatening him using his family will not yield a good enough result worth sacrificing our hidden piece which we took so much care to insert," the female Death Apostle retorted.


    "Indeed, with Garen''s personality, he will likely go straight down to fighting us to the death. Even if we kill his family, it will only fuel the fire in his heart for vengeance. In the end, it will be a war that consumes both sides with nothing to gain except damage. In comparison, the Holy Fist Palace has a huge number of humans to back them up and their speed in restoring their power and forces far outstrip us. This not worth it," Wellington also shook his head slightly and said.


    "Say, Scarlet Moon, isn''t there someone on your side that has a very good relationship with Garen''s family? Is there a chance?" he looked at Scarlet Moon and said.


    "I will not use such a despicable move," Scarlet Moon said. He looked at him indifferently and closed his eyes, refusing to say anymore.


    "Stodgy!" Wellington curse at him.


    "I also agree with this view. Garen''s personality is not the kind that succumbs to threats easily. The most we can get out of this is a war to the bitter end. It will only remove his last worries," the mysterious blonde man nodded in agreement, "My suggestion is that the hidden piece refrains from taking any action for now, so as not to expose themselves. They will be able to display the largest effect at the critical time."


    "I agree," Wellington nodded and said.


    "This is fine too," Lion Mother nodded and agreed to this method.


    *****************


    Swish swish swish¡­.


    In the bushes that stood as tall as a man, several figures flashed by. They were all dressed in black and almost blended into the darkness of the night, like ferocious nighthawks.


    At the front, there was a scarlet figure running with all its might. The speed of the scarlet figure was not slow, but the distance with its pursuers at the back was getting shorter and shorter.


    When the distance was less than three hundred meters away, the scarlet figure came to a sudden halt and turned around. The moonlight revealed a cold and handsome man''s face. It was the person who had killed Dahm and successfully escaped, Hochman.


    "Found me out so soon?" Hochman murmured at the few shadows behind him expressionlessly.


    After killing Dahm, he put on a mask and escaped since he was sure to become a wanted man in the Lightless Alliance. With the large network that Holy Fist Palace had and the mysterious means of the Dark Colors Witches. Even if he had a breakthrough, he was tracked down without realization.


    "Hochman! Die!!"


    Several shadows flashed around him at that moment, just like petals of a black flower, and withdrew four sharp knives that were stabbed towards his waist from all directions.


    "Nighthawk?" Hochman narrowed both his eyes and recognized the secret technique they used. It was Nighthawk''s improved version of Shooting Shadow Secret Technique. This secret technique of the Holy Fist Palace was the most involved in their outside work as it was specialized in high speed for assassination purpose. In order to achieve victory, they would use any methods available to them. These people who dared to come out to pursue him was obviously fierce and not scared of death.


    The blade was absolutely untouchable because it was hundred percent coated in poison. One touch would spell his death.


    "Die!"


    Flicking both his hands, Hochman sent out one transparent wind punch after another in all directions and caused the blade to bend.


    Peng!


    He kicked the belly of one of the dark shadows and made him shoot out like a cannonball. How many forces did Holy Fist Palace send out to kill him? He intended to leave one alive for interrogation purposes.


    Just then, he looked at the eyes of the four men wearing masks. There was no desire for survival reflected in the remaining three people.


    "This is bad!"


    Just as this thought appeared in his mind, he heard three bursting sounds accompanied by extremely hot waves.


    Boom!!!!


    Around Hochman, red and white flames burst out from the three figures. These fiery flame tongues surrounded Hochman.


    The flames had a diameter that was more than six meters and their colors were strange. Looking from afar, they were divided into three layers of colors. The inside was white gold, the middle was pure white and the outermost was pale red in color.


    The huge shock turned into ripples and spread out. Looking from far away, the figure of Hochman and the three people could not be seen as they were completely wrapped in flames.


    The surrounding grassland quickly turned yellow and withered before turning charred and then into ashes with sparkles on them. They were blown away by the shockwaves and some glued themselves to the surrounding grass, quickly starting another fire.


    The flame lasted a few seconds before it slowly disappeared, leaving a huge pit behind. It was more than ten meters large and there was smoke inside.


    Peng!


    A dark shadow suddenly dashed out of the deep pit and flew into the distance, leaving behind afterimages.


    Hochman felt his body boiling and his clothes were almost completely burned. There were large patches of burns on his body. The original handsome face had become unrecognizable and more than half of his hair had burned away.


    This was the combined power of the modern science and secret techniques. Three death soldiers with special explosives blew up themselves together. The power it brought was such that even a Death Apostle class like Hochman would receive grievous injurious in a moment of carelessness. After all, he did not have the kind of terrifying physique like Garen.


    Even then, the charred skin on Hochman was rapidly healing with a speed that was visible to the naked eyes.


    "Such ruthlessness!" Hochman endured the pain and sped away. Even if he was a Death Apostle class, the Holy Fist Palace was not an ordinary force. There was still a real Death Apostle, Tu Lan, there. Not only that, apart from their life force that was close to immortal, the actual gap in strength between the upper level and them was not that large. He was not a secret technique expert that was specialized in speed, hence if he was surrounded with a range of technology to delay and interfere with him, not even he could escape.


    "Surrender quietly, Hochman!" a voice came from far away. It seemed to be one of the top Nighthawk members. He could not remember clearly but it was not important right now. What was important was the shrill sound on top of his head.


    Swish!!


    A dark shadow suddenly flew over his head and Hochman felt a sudden threat from the sky. Looking up quickly, two torpedo-like white missiles flew at him with a shrill sound.

 757 Conspiracy 1

    Chapter 757: Conspiracy 1


    Boom!!


    The missiles exploded with a large shockwave and Hochman was blown away, rolling around on the ground.


    Soon, there were shrill sounds once again and a few missiles raced down from the sky like meteors.


    After a few mechanical sounds, the second wave of missiles automatically burst into more than ten warheads. They aimed for Hochman, including all of the possible places he could dodge.


    Peng peng peng peng!!...


    Amidst a series of explosions, Hochman kept dodging at a very high speed. The sparks from the explosion of missiles stuck to his body and kept burning. The fact that he could not even extinguish them spoke of his current disheveled condition. He quickly took off his cloak and hid from the warheads in the sky using the surrounding bushes.


    "Lock!"


    Suddenly, the roar of a female rang out.


    As the sound of the roar swept past, a huge invisible force fell and pressed down on Hochman.


    Roar!!


    At this moment, Hochman shook his arms and the roar of a beast came from his shadow. He broke free from the invisible force and avoided the third wave of missiles in the nick of time.


    **************


    Holy Fist Palace Tactical Hall.


    Garen''s eyes swept over the sand table in front of him. He was listening to the expert''s explanation calmly with an expressionless face.


    The white sand table displayed a map of the entire Earth, forming a miniature Earth. On top of it, some important places were marked clearly with bright red dots.


    Garen''s line of sight fell on the miniature Earth. The planet of this world was also named as Earth.


    There were three red dots flashing on the Asia and Europe region. These represented the Holy Fist Palace''s confrontations with the Blood Breeds within these two regions.


    The rest of the regions in Asia, Africa and America were relatively calm. However, there were patches of red in some places in Asia like red oil, indicating that these places were also in conflict with the Blood Breeds, just that the scale was much smaller.


    "In Asia, the red regions represent requests for support but the level of skirmishes are small and Headquarter has sent reinforcements there. Together with the local forces, there will be no problem in keeping the situation under our control." the Intelligence Department''s personnel giving the explanation was a cool beauty wearing a black uniform with flesh-colored stockings. She was currently quickly going over the general situation for Garen with a serious expression.


    "According to the latest news from our Intelligence Department, our focus is on the flashing red points, especially Europe where the Blood Breeds are deeply rooted. Their initiative to attack us is most likely a cover to attract our attention from something," the female official said.


    "What about the pursuers'' team?" Garen asked.


    "They''ve caught up but Hochman is very tenacious. We''ve sent four bombers and a team of Special Forces with full cooperation from the Palace''s fighters and support from Dark Color witches."


    "Are there any other problems?"


    "No, all other locations have enough support. The only thing the Holy Fist Palace has to do is to make up for their lack of Special Forces combat personnel. The Blood Breeds are only strong in special warfare. The local forces can still hold their own when facing them head-on in the battlefield. Taking out their speed and hypnosis, the so-called Blood Breeds only have slightly thicker skin and longer lifespan," the female official said confidently.


    "Who''s the current base commander in America?" Garen''s fingers gently tapped the America region on the miniature Earth.


    "It''s United States'' Army''s Lieutenant Strong that''s responsible for dispatching troops."


    "Ask him to make preparations, as the Blood Breeds will protect Hochman," Garen said.


    "Are you saying the Blood Breed''s large movement is a cover for Hochman, forcing us to dispatch a large number of forces to guard against them?" the female official frowned.


    "It is possible."


    Garen took a final glance at the miniature Earth. The flashing red dots and regions were still eye-catching.


    "Let the mobile team get ready to move out."


    "Yes, sir!"


    *****************


    One week later¡­.


    The border of Canada, United States.


    Hochman was running for his life. Above him came the sound of combat aircraft. Previously, an army from Canada had retreated after some discussion. Apparently, this operation to search and destroy received permission even across the border.


    During this one week, Hochman had experienced, for the first time, the feelings of those who were hunted down by him in the past, along with Dahm''s experience.


    He was continuously hunted and bombarded by the army, one group after another, and no matter where he fled, his position would be swiftly tracked down. The combination of satellite positioning and witchcraft did not allow him to find a place to hide and rest, forcing him to run forward without pause.


    When he was hungry, he could only hunt and kill wild animals and eat their meat raw. When he was thirsty, he could only drink blood most of the time. There was no chance of grilling meat and boiling soup.


    If he had not mastered the Water Bird Fist and invoked some strange and mysterious change in his body, he would have collapsed long ago.


    "Hold on, just hold on a little bit more¡­." after one week of no rest while constantly being pursued, even Hochman had reached his limit. He forced open his eyelids that were about to shut any moment and rolled away on the spot. Behind him, an air-to-ground missile exploded... or was it some sort of anti-aircraft weapon?


    These days, he was getting used to the continuous stream of army weapons with great power. The clothes on his body had become rags, the hair all over his body had been burnt off, his skin was blackened and there were burns everywhere. It was all thanks to these weapons.


    Even though his physique had become very special, enduring all the attacks up till now had rapidly weakened his recovery rate.


    However, from the moment he made the decision to kill Dahm, he had anticipated this kind of consequences. He had always suspected that the reason he was hunted down was not due to killing Dahm but to the appearance of the mysterious person, who had snatched something from his teacher, hence allowing Hochman to escape his control.


    Nonetheless, he had decided to snatch the mask, and such a result was naturally within his consideration. He had arranged for subordinates that were absolutely loyal to him to secretly contact the Blood Breeds. The Blood Breeds should have taken some kind of action.


    Both legs mechanically moved at a fast pace while doing all sorts of evasive actions. Behind him, Gatling guns swept over the ground, causing mud to splash around.


    Hochman was unmoved and sped forward. At the end of the bushes was a dark and damp jungle where the light was dim. It was the best place to escape his pursuers.


    As long as he entered the jungle, the pursuers would have a hard time to chase after him. This fact made Hochman felt relieved.


    But at this moment, a familiar figure suddenly appeared before the jungle.


    Pa pa pa!


    A series of searchlights formed a blinding beam of light and instantly enveloped Hochman in the middle, forming a huge square.


    The dazzling light temporarily blinded his sight.


    "Hochman, don''t struggle anymore," the person in front of the jungle had a good proportion. She wore a red silk cheongsam which revealed her long, curved legs in stockings. Her red hair cascaded downwards and her beautiful face gave off a cold feeling.


    The combination of her charming and cold temperament gave off an inexplicably strong and fierce aura.


    Especially that pair of apricot-red eyes, which exuded a crystalline beauty under the reflection of the white searchlights.


    "Quentin," Hochman suddenly stopped and stood in the center of the searchlights. His face was haggard and his original handsome countenance was nowhere to be seen. Even his voice was hoarse as he had not drunk water for a long time.


    "You have never won against me. Get out of my way, I don''t want to kill you."


    A hint of contempt flashed through Quentin''s eyes.


    "The current you is not in top condition."


    "You really want to go against me?" the only spot on Hochman''s body which could be considered clean was his eyes. He stared at Quentin warily, though the whites of his eyes were bloodshot.


    "Not me, but us," Quentin smiled. Immediately, a person walked out from the jungle behind, wearing a white uniform upon which the word "Holy" was sewn into the chest. It was the standard clothing of the Holy Fist Palace.


    The person had spiky hair, his body was taut with muscles and the shape of his body was similar to a bear. Even so, the steps he took were silent, which was oddly contradictory.


    "Xander¡­" Hochman recognized that person with one glance. He was one of the most powerful combatants in the Combat Club''s first batch; one of the Four Major Generals, Xander.


    "Hochman, why did you betray us?" Xander asked coldly.


    "Betray? This is not betrayal," Hochman laughed. "I am not willing to stay under other people for eternity, and my life is not destined to be used as someone else''s lapdog!"


    "You fool!" Xander said coldly. "Teacher had delegated all the authorities to us, especially you and General Dahm! I didn''t expect that you were still not satisfied. Did you think you could replace Teacher''s position?"


    "Why can''t I?" Hochman grinned. He suddenly disappeared while being surrounded by searchlights and rushed towards Quentin and Xander.


    Boom!!!


    Just then, a flame pillar burst out from the ground into the sky in front of Quentin and Xander. The flame pillar had blocked Hochman''s path.


    "Kill him!!" Quentin shouted while pulling Xander and retreating.


    In the jungle behind, flame tongues lit up his surroundings and countless bullets flew towards Hochman. All these bullets had undergone a special process using heavy metal as materials. As long as the bullets penetrated the body, it could cause heavy metal poisoning. Some of the bullets even carried explosives which could explode and deal heavier damage after piercing the target.


    After a short time, the bushes of the jungle were smashed to pieces and some places were soon lit on fire.


    In the storm of bullets, Hochman dodged left and right and impressively, not many bullets had hit him. After a few evasive moves, he leaped towards Quentin and Xander.


    "Let me!"


    Xander was not afraid and stepped forward.


    With a standard horse stance, he unleashed a punch.


    Peng!!!


    Fist against fist. Hochman and Xander both trembled. One flew back and tumbled to the ground while the other retreated a few steps with a red complexion.


    "Again!!" Xander roared and rushed forward bringing a burst of wind with him, like a tiger that was descending down the mountain.


    At this time, the surrounding ambushing gunmen had automatically stopped their actions, awaiting the results of the brawl.


    Xander rushed forward aggressively and from his waist, he delivered punches one after another like cannonballs. Fierce explosive forces were unleashed without restraint. The muscles all over his body had also twisted and tightened like wire.


    The steel-like fists were launched towards Hochman one-by-one but they were countered with the same force by Hochman. The current Hochman had reached his limit. He could not even let out aura to suppress his opponent. In his struggle, he could only barely exchange punches with Xander. Yet it was in this way that more and more internal injuries were accumulated.

 758 Conspiracy 2

    Chapter 758: Conspiracy 2


    The one week without rest was filled with explosions that could come from anywhere at any time as well as various means of attack that ranged from concealed poison needles to long-range sniper attacks, and carpet bombing to napalm bombs.


    The slightest slip of attention would lead to attacks from various high-tech weapons until he was confirmed dead.


    Any intention of getting close and killing off the pursuers would be detected by the Dark Colors Witches and experts from Holy Fist Palace. They would quickly retreat and activate debuffs with various slowing effects to deny him any chance of closing in on them. They would only attack him from afar.


    Under these conditions, he''d struggled and yet managed to kill off two mixed groups of witches and Holy Fist Palace experts. However, even more of them appeared. Squads of death soldiers had emerged; a lot of them were criminals on death row that were released just to get close to him and detonate themselves.


    He felt as if enemies were everywhere. During this period of time, the thing that made Hochman most alarmed were not those experts from Holy Fist Palace or the witches from Dark Colors, it was those ordinary people.


    They used various tricks and deceptions to design traps, landmines, animals injected with toxic poison, hallucinogenic gas and all kinds of powerful army weapons on him.


    In this kind of situation, nevermind him, even all those veteran death apostle leveled Blood Breeds would feel a headache with all these troubles.


    Previously, Hochman had almost eaten a rat that was injected with toxic poison. On the surface, there was nothing wrong with the rat but it was a poison was slow in showing effects.


    "Die! Hochman!" Xander fought wildly. All the veins on his face were bulging and he was even laughing loudly. He tapped at a few points on his chest.


    "Polaris Fierce Arts!!"


    Boom!!


    A surge of air burst out as Xander activated his secret techniques.


    Xander grew and expanded by a fold and smashed his thick arms towards Hochman. The momentum was similar to a large hammer trying to smash him to a pulp.


    Hochman hurriedly raised both his arms and slashed towards his surroundings.


    "Profound. Dual Blade!!"


    Two snapping sounds occurred. His knife hands sliced and melded two invisible air blades to form a perfect ring. The upper part of the ring went for Xander''s face whereas the lower part flew towards Xander''s legs.


    This was the original Waterbird Fist Profound''s Dual Blade.


    Even if it was the currently exhausted Hochman who activated the secret techniques, the slashes still had the sharpness of a real blade.


    Clang!!!


    Too late to change their techniques, their attacks clashed against each other.


    Xander''s arms destroyed the upper half of the air blade and hammered down on Hochman''s shoulders. The huge impact crashed down and the sound of breaking bones was heard.


    At the same time, both of Xander''s legs were unable to dodge the air slash and were hit directly, tearing through his pants and left two bloody wounds.


    Ah!!!!


    Xander howled and quickly retreated while staggering. One of the subordinates quickly grabbed hold of him. His body reverted to normal, but his thigh had been cut deeply into by a finger''s length, almost cutting off his legs completely.


    On the other hand, Hochman simply shifted his shoulders and set back his bones. Temporarily, it would not affect his actions.


    He half-kneeled on the ground and coldly stared at Quentin.


    "Just the two of you won''t be able to kill me," he said.


    "What if I join in?"


    A lazy female voice sounded behind Hochman.


    He jerked his head back and his pupils immediately shrank.


    *****************


    Armored vehicles sped down the highway. The streetlights flashed past one by one, almost connecting to form a neon yellow rope.


    Garen sat in the first armored vehicle, looking at a laptop displaying a map with the latest information from the Intelligence Department.


    The map still used red dots and red patches to indicate the extent of threats in different regions.


    There were two drivers and the one dispatched to give an analysis of the map was a black male officer.


    "Hochman has been surrounded in this area. Lady Tu Lan together with Generals Quentin and Xander have been dispatched there. They should have reached there by now. Of course, in order to catch our target alive and successfully retrieve the mask, our tactics are based on the objective of making our target fatigued and incapacitating him. Looks like the effects are quite good and we have successfully reduced Hochman''s combat capability significantly."


    "How significant?"


    "His current combat power should barely be Upper Level, but in a situation where he still has to watch out for attacks from the surroundings, he should be at his weakest," the officer answered.


    "One week without rest and he still has so much strength. This is truly a surprise¡­" Garen held his chin and muttered.


    He had a hunch that the hunt for Hochman this time to retrieve back his Soul Primer would lead him to the mysterious man that got Hochman to tear off the Soul Primer. What kind of person was able to do all these? He was feeling quite anxious.


    ''Be careful. I got a bad feeling about this,'' Black Sethe''s voice sounded weakly.


    "This is a conspiracy. From the moment my Soul Primer was torn off, I have no choice but to take action myself," Garen said.


    Black Sethe went silent. He knew what Garen said was not wrong.


    If he did not reclaim the Soul Primer, he would have a fatal flaw. If he wanted to reclaim his Soul Primer, he had to kill Hochman himself. He only had these two choices, and there was no way around it.


    Looking at the road and streetlights outside the window, Garen began to calm down himself and adjust his state.


    *******************


    At the sixth hour after Garen left the Holy Fist Palace.


    The Blood Union sent out a large number of Blood Breeds armed with guns and other kinds of weapons to attack the Holy Fist Palace and its allies.


    In just two hours'' time, the scale had escalated to an all-out war. A large number of casualties had occurred among both humans and Blood Breeds. The army had been dispatched, but the number of casualties still soared. The Blood Breeds deployed by the Blood Union numbered at least in the three digits, and their objective was to attack all the branches of Holy Fist Palace.


    This represented that the Blood Union and Holy Fist Palace was officially going to war. The battlefield was mainly concentrated in America and the news reported it as terrorists waging their holy war and the army taking action against them.


    The Dark Colors Witches Association was currently fighting against the traditional witches, but the strange thing was that the Death Apostle level members did not come out.


    *******************


    Tu Lan stood quietly behind Hochman. She wore a crisp white blouse matched with a pair of slightly washed out black jeans. Her long red hair was tied behind her head in a ponytail style, giving off an ordinary calm feeling.


    However, it was this kind of calm temperament that made Hochman''s heartbeat stop for a second.


    Although he had mentally prepared for this, when he was really faced with this terrifying Death Apostle Blood Breed that also wielded Fantasy Fist, he still felt an uncertain peril.


    "You guys really overestimate me¡­ Even Lady Tu Lan herself has come out¡­" Hochman gave a dry laugh.


    "After combining with General Dahm''s yin nature Waterbird Fist, your fist technique should have reached an unimaginable level right? Looks like it has broken through to the Upper level," Tu Lan''s expression showed indifference as she beckoned with her index finger. "I too broke through not long ago. Let''s both have a fair fight. The others will not do anything. How about it?"


    Fair fight?


    Hochman almost blew his top. He looked at the injuries all over his body. Right after he broke through the Waterbird Fist and reached the Death Apostle level, he had been chased down all over the place without any time for him to stabilize. After a week without rest, he''d then fought against Xander who stimulated his potential, adding to his injuries. He would be considered lucky if he had even half of his combat strength left. Now, he had to fight with a Death Apostle at the peak of her strength? He felt like the world had completely gone mad.


    Tu Lan gave a smile.


    "You don''t agree? Let me tell you a piece of news. The Holy Fist Master is on his way here. If you don''t grab your chance now, it will be too late to have a fair fight later."


    "The mask is with me. You guys don''t want it?" Hochman suddenly asked, taking out the eerie mask from his tattered clothes.


    At this moment, Hochman''s expression showed surprise and his gaze moved to the mask in his hand.


    Not just him, even Quentin, Xander, Tu Lan and other subordinates and soldiers'' gazes had all gathered on the eerie Sleepless Faces Mask.


    Weng¡­.


    The mask trembled and the mouth part of the mask slightly opened.


    "What is this¡­what''s going on?!" Hochman felt that he''d almost lost his grip on the mask. His other hand also grabbed on to the mask, finally suppressing its trembling.


    "That is the mask''s resonance."


    Screams suddenly came from the jungle. The screams belonged to the soldiers lying in ambush.


    At the same time, a clear male voice sounded from the forest. A man''s figure suddenly appeared behind Quentin and Xander.


    "The mask''s resonance¡­ The twelve masks, they are finally coming together¡­." another female voice suddenly sounded.


    Without Tu Lan realizing, the enchanting figure of a beautiful woman walked out from the bushes on the right side of the crowd.


    With the guns'' mechanical sounds, Tu Lan, Quentin, and Xander, together with all the subordinates they''d brought, aimed their guns at the people that had abruptly appeared.


    The captain had a bad feeling. He looked at Commander Quentin and waited for her instructions. The soldiers here were specially selected Special Forces. Even in the face of such a bizarre situation, they did not take any reckless actions and waited for the commander''s instructions while suppressing their unease.


    Quentin instinctively felt something dangerous enveloping all the people here. She looked at the current strongest person at this place, Tu Lan.


    "Blood Union¡­" Tu Lan instantly recognized the scarlet Blood Union symbol on both of them. She also recognized both of them.


    This kind of strength and this kind of atmosphere only appeared on a few people in the Blood Union. The only possibility was¡­..


    "Death Apostles¡­..How did they appear here of all places?!" Tu Lan''s heart sank.


    "That person was right, it''s here," the female Death Apostle piped up. "How do we resolve this now?"


    "No hurry, let''s wait a bit longer¡­" the blond male Death Apostle smiled. It was as though they did not notice that the surrounding gun muzzles were all aimed at them. "Garen will arrive soon¡­"


    Compared to the tattered Death Apostle level Hochman, their identity as Blood Breed Death Apostles with immortal characteristics made them invincible. On the other hand, though Hochman had survival and combat abilities on the level of a Death Apostle, he was still a human. He still lacked the Blood Breed Death Apostle''s most powerful ability¡ªimmortality.

 759 Trump Card 1

    Chapter 759: Trump Card 1


    Boom!


    Thunder rolled in the night sky, accompanied by a flash of lightning. The grassland below was illuminated for an instant, turning it snow white.


    This grassland was located somewhere at the border of Canada, and the United States was completely deserted now. Even the people at the nearest villages and towns had been relocated by the government''s army beforehand. There was not a single soul for hundreds of kilometers.


    A gust of wind passed by. The grass which stood higher than a person''s knee waved in the breeze and produced swishing sounds.


    On the grassland only tens of meters away from a jungle surrounded by mountains and hills, the grass there was currently ignited, brightening up the surrounding sky.


    The flames spread with the wind, burning up towards the distant grassland.


    A bunch of people was standing on the burnt grassland.


    Hochman was surrounded by the people and soldiers from Holy Fist Palace. Quentin and Xander were staying focussed in order to deal with anything that might happen and Tu Lan was scanning the periphery.


    Outside the crowd from Holy Fist Palace was a man and a woman leading another bunch of people. These people were all Blood Breeds and Vampires dressed in black with black cloth covering their faces, leaving their blood-red eyes exposed.


    The atmosphere grew tenser.


    "Tu Lan, why are you siding with the Holy Fist Palace when you should be a Death Apostle?" the handsome blonde man covered in black spoke.


    "I just feel that compared to the Blood Union, the Holy Fist Palace was more suited for me. This is where I can pursue my goals," Tu Lan answered seriously.


    She did not lie. Only by staying at the Holy Fist Palace was she able to receive Garen''s Soul Primer, and at the same time, she had the freedom to train in Fantasy Fist and other Secret Techniques which gave her a new goal to pursue. As compared to the boring past where she simply ate and enjoyed life, this was far meaningful.


    After tasting the pleasure of constantly getting stronger in the Holy Fist Palace, she would rather die than going back to her former life in Blood Union.


    Now, she was also a Death Apostle, the same as the other side, she had the right to make her own choices.


    "Are you really going to be standing on the side of the Holy Fist Palace?" the man frowned.


    "Herein lies my goals, my dreams, not at the Blood Union," Tu Lan confirmed. "Maybe I was unwilling yet forced to at the start, but it''s different now."


    "What a pity¡­." the female Death Apostle shook her head slightly. The number of Blood Breeds and Vampires in their surroundings were increasing.


    However, the same was happening for the common soldiers on the Holy Fist Palace side.


    Bomber aircraft and fighter jets were flying across the sky above them and the sound of helicopters grew nearer.


    The Blood Union and Holy Fist Palace were both mobilizing troops on a large scale. The forces gathering in this small area were increasing in numbers and strength.


    "Although it''s a little hasty, today is the day that Holy Fist Palace''s myth is broken," the female Death Apostle looked up at the helicopters in the sky. A red light flashed by in her eyes.


    Suddenly, a helicopter turned and violently crashed into the side of another helicopter.


    Boom!!


    Both helicopters crashed together and exploded, turning into a ball of flames.


    In an instant, countless messages were spread through their communication channel and instructions for them to retreat were conveyed. The aircraft pilots quickly fled the area in horror.


    Tu Lan observed their actions coldly without any sign of doing anything. She had guessed that the other party''s intention was to use Holy Fist Palace''s top members as bait with Hochman and the mask in his possession to lure Garen to personally come and rescue them.


    Apparently, they had prepared something to deal with Garen.


    At the same time, Tu Lan had the utmost confidence in Garen. As long as the Fist Saint came, any predicaments would not be able to stop him from advancing.


    Hochman did not expect that things would develop up to this point. Without meaning to, he seemed to have become the trigger for war between the Blood Union and Holy Fist Palace.


    He gripped the mask tightly and tried to restore his strength as much as he could. Unfortunately, he had pushed himself too much and he had not sufficiently replenished food and water, causing the recovery rate of his body to slow down. He could only barely prevent his internal injuries from worsening while stopping the bleeding.


    "Now the mask is the only trump card for my survival¡­"


    He could sense that whether from Holy Fist Palace or Blood Union, there were several lines of sight on the mask in his hand. Obviously, both sides had the intention to snatch the mask.


    Swish Swish!


    Suddenly, two more figures appeared beside the male and female Death Apostles. They were Wellington and Scarlet Moon.


    One was dressed up in a white suit and the other looked as though he had traveled far and wide. He did not have the demeanor of a Blood Breed.


    "Mongo, Marianne, everyone is here," Wellington''s sight coldly swept the surrounding, "I''ll like to see how Garen can escape this time!" his expression was calm but the words he uttered gave off the feeling that he was gnashing his teeth. Apparently, he was still holding the grudge from the time he was beaten black and blue.


    "Don''t worry, we won''t let Garen return this time," the blond handsome man said and smiled, "Holy Fist Palace, in the end, is short-lived, and today will be the day it''ll be wiped out."


    "Don''t be careless, Mongo," Scarlet Moon gave him a look, then closed his eyes to meditate.


    The other two no longer said any more words and closed their eyes to prepare.


    The pressure given off by the four Death Apostles was like the ocean pressing down on all the people here, making it hard for them to breathe.


    Tu Lan secretly activated the Fantasy Fist and signaled for everyone to get close to her before inching towards the weakest link in the circle of Blood Breeds.


    Strangely, the Blood Breeds did not seem to have any intention of stopping them.


    Tu Lan suddenly looked at the trembling mask and immediately understood.


    "These Blood Breeds must have brought all the masks they''ve acquired here. They must have some sort of special skill to activate the resonance between the masks. If the mask was used as the bargaining chip, there is no need to worry that Master would not appear."


    "What do we do now?" Quentin and Xander whispered.


    "Prepare to respond to any changes, as long as Master is here, everything will be alright," Tu Lan said.


    Half an hour soon passed by, the people from Blood Union remain unperturbed, showing their patience.


    Just then, a great tremor came from the distance.


    It was as if something was shaking violently but soon the tremor had quickly vanished.


    "Here he is!" Scarlet Moon turned his head and looked at the horizon. At the gap between the hills, black armored vehicles were heading in this direction.


    The vehicles came to a stop far away. It seemed the other side knew that the average person had little effect in this kind of fight.


    With the opening sound of the car door, a tall masked man came down from the car. This man also had blonde hair but his eyes were not blood red. It was a clear dark blue.


    The man''s attire was from the Holy Fist Palace. It was black with white edge embroidered with the word ''Holy'' both at right chest and his back.


    A thin and wrinkled little old man also got down together with him, holding a cane and wearing tattered clothes. He seemed as though a gust of wind could blow him away.


    This man was AG who had just come out from the vehicle. He had just received the news about the war between Holy Fist Palace and the Blood Union and had hurriedly come. Not only him, there were also the experts from Lightless Alliance. The leader of Dark Colors Witches Association, Nasira was hiding in the vicinity, ready to lead her people to fight. They were preparing a very strong magic circle to act as support.


    As soon as the two got off, the armored vehicles immediately evacuated. Apparently, they did not plan to stay behind on the battlefield. These armored vehicles looked tough and hard but when facing opponents on the level of Death Apostle, particularly the veteran Death Apostles, they could only be massacred. Their ability to control humans had reached the level where as long as their glance swept overhead, humans were likely to fall under their control.


    If they did not hold back from acting against the people from the Holy Fist Palace, most likely Quentin, Xander, and the others would not have been able to wait until Garen''s arrival and would''ve been forced to commit suicide under their control.


    The rain finally spilled down following the sound of thunder, giving off a depressing ambiance.


    The night sky turned darker and the moon was hidden by thick clouds. The aircraft no longer flew in the air. Under this kind of weather, low altitude flight carried a very big risk and their effects in this fight were next to nothing.


    Soon, a large number of human forces also received the orders to retreat. In such a battle, their bullets were not able to do anything to the veteran Death Apostles. Whatever missiles they had had difficulty in pinpointing their locations. The chances of damaging their allies were higher, and so it was better to withdraw their own people and plan their next move.


    Garen and AG looked at the four Death Apostles from the Blood Union. He also saw Tu Lan, Quentin and the others in the encirclement and Hochman with the mask in his hand in the middle.


    "The situation is a little complicated."


    "What are you going to do?" AG asked calmly.


    "What the Blood Breeds want was just an opportunity to fight a battle to the death with me. They want me to willingly fight them. Without resorting to such means, they won''t get what they want," Garen said. "The mask and the besieged people are used to threaten me. Of course, they may also covet the mask."


    He clapped his hands and two figures appeared behind him. They were both males wearing the white Holy Fist Palace''s attires. The two men carried a black sealed metal box and came behind him.


    With a snap sound, the box opened. Inside were all the masks that Garen had collected up-to-date. One by one the masks stacked together and were constantly trembling. The trembling was not strong but strangely, the lips of the masks were slightly open and they were getting larger until they eventually became black holes that looked like they were howling. Even the mask that Garen was wearing was no exception.


    "Sleepless Faces¡­the Blood Breeds must have brought all their masks here. Adding the mask in Hochman''s hands, altogether there are twelve masks," Garen calmly said.


    He looked at the potential points in his Attribute pane.


    ''Strength 7. Agility 7. Vitality 10. Intelligence 12. Potential 33124%. Soul Limit 30.''


    The two masks that had just arrived in his hands, gathered by Tu Lan herself, had provided him with a lot of potential points. Now that he had gotten himself more than three hundred potential points, he could upgrade his attributes by another margin. However, he hesitated and did not use them immediately.

 760 Trump Card 2

    Chapter 760: Trump Card 2


    Recently, he had looked back upon his past transmigrations. If potential points were the energy to be used as consumption for his body, then the experiences he needed to amass to form a Soul Seed were the potential points he used to upgrade his body to the limit, which were converted to energy for his soul and stored. This was a gathering process that was extreme to the limit, but this was also the only way for him to reach a higher realm.


    There were two more important reasons as to why he did not immediately boost his attributes.


    If he activated the Fifth Star and reached the highest limit for his attributes, then he would need to consume a large amount of life force. The little bit of vigor that Slaughtering Hands provided were nowhere enough. Once his life force was damaged, he could achieve a similar effect as restoration through supplementing his vitality with potential points.


    Another point was that when he activated the Fifth Star, no matter how high the basic quality of his body was, the current highest limit for his body was at an average of 30 points. Since it could not increase, then it was much more useful as resources for recovery.


    After the dispute in his heart, he looked up at the Death Apostles in the opposite.


    "Let''s go, we''re going to meet some of the most powerful people in the Blood Union."


    AG grinned.


    "This should be the century''s highest summit meeting¡­"


    He quickly followed.


    The night wind caused the rain to come down in sheets. The drizzle was like slanted lines pelting the people below.


    Even so, no one dared to speak loudly at this moment.


    Garen and AG walked closer and closer and finally stood on a hill, looking down on the Death Apostles.


    This was an arrogant attitude but the Death Apostles did not show any displeasure at this. To think that the Death Apostles who were used to being arrogant in their daily lives were now being looked down on by Garen, yet incredibly, these proud Death Apostles did not show any unpleasantness on their faces. Instead, their expressions slowly calmed down and seemed even steadier.


    The Blood Breeds opened up the encirclement and the people from Holy Fist Palace quickly got out and gathered behind Garen and AG. Upon Garen''s orders, even Tu Lan evacuated this place.


    Very quickly, there were only the four Death Apostles, Garen and AG left staring at one another in the rain.


    The only spectator left on the scene was Hochman, clutching the mask in his hands.


    His body was stiff from being sandwiched between two great pressuring auras. The mask in his hand was still trembling as though it was trying to escape.


    "The twelve masks are here," the Death Apostle, Mongo spoke. "You did come for the masks." He stared at Garen''s eyes on top of the hill without averting his gaze.


    Yet, Garen looked indifferent to his words.


    "Since you guys have spent so much effort in baiting me here, whatever means you have, use them all."


    Pa.


    He stepped forward.


    Countless shadows emerged from his feet. As though there were countless tentacles or tails spreading down the hill, they soon covered the area where the Death Apostles stood.


    The rain was blown away by the impact of the shadows. The shadows were swaying, giving off a demonic feeling.


    Weng...


    Suddenly, the Death Apostle Mongo stepped forward. The ground where the four stood began to shake.


    The earth was rent and countless cracks appeared. Lavas slowly gushed out from the cracks and formed ruddy glowing rivers.


    Under the intense shaking, a blood-red longsword made its appearance.


    The long sword was two meters long with a bloody eye etched on both the blade and the hilt. The blade was covered in black threads weaving into black roses.


    Mongo smiled and reached for the hilt.


    At this moment, the remaining three Death Apostles turned into lava and gathered on the sword in his hand, forming three rings that constantly revolved slowly around the sword.


    "Final Holy Technique¡­.Red Light Sky."


    Mongo raised the sword, with its tip pointing towards the sky.


    Boom!!


    With the sound of an explosion, a red bolt of lightning came crashing down on the hill where Garen and AG stood.


    An intense red light shone and nothing could be made out for an instant.


    Not even Garen could have expected that this attack would come from the sky.


    Countless strands of red lightning wound around Garen and stabbed at his skin like swords. AG was pushed away by him at the first sign of danger.


    Chi Chi Chi!


    Suddenly, a white ring accompanied by dark shadows appeared around Garen and instantly broke through the red lightning.


    After the lightning dispersed, Garen stood there unharmed with his left hand stretched out. The transparent wind was swirling on his hand. It was a special skill that used high-speed vibrations together with aura.


    This was a godly secret technique.


    The original Waterbird Fist Profound Dual Blade.


    Although they were the same Dual Blade, the effects produced by Garen and Hochman was as different as heaven and earth.


    "Red Light Sky¡­ It''s finally presentable¡­" Garen slightly shook his hand and the cyclone around his hand flew out and expanded in mid-air, increasing its rotary speed and turning into a whirlwind of countless sharp air blades.


    Clang!


    Mongo waved the red sword and dispersed the air blades.


    He leaped forward, heading towards Garen with his body almost parallel to the ground.


    Surprisingly, Mongo did not concern himself with the fact that his final technique had been blocked. His body turned into a red line and appeared in front of Garen like a red streak of lightning with the tip of his sword pointed towards Garen''s abdomen. A dark red liquid-like flame wavered along the blade of the sword.


    Garen stretched out his right hand and was about to block it before his instincts warned him of a crisis. Knowing that one hand alone could not handle the incoming attack, his left hand also stretched out.


    "First Star!!"


    Peng!!!


    With a dull sound, a shockwave, revealed by the rain, spread out, accompanied by aura. Hochman, who was hiding nearby, took the brunt of the shockwave and coughed up a mouthful of blood. He flew and smashed into a hill, sinking into it. The mask also flew out of his grip and it headed straight for the masks in Garen''s box.


    When Garen and Mongo confronted each other, Mongo did not show any expressions. With the red sword in his hand, his speed, power and combat mentality seemed to have been increased by several times, and even the recovery rate of his body had reached a horrifying point. He could still fight like this under the area that was suppressed by the Dragonshadow aura.


    In this close combat battle, he waved the red sword and drew trails of bloody lines, fighting on equal foot with Garen who had activated the First Star.


    In the fight between these two people, shockwaves rippled and the sound of thunder constantly shook the ground. If there were ordinary people here, just the sound of thunder could cripple their minds.


    As time went by, Garen slightly gained the upper hand. His current strength was still slightly stronger than the opponent. After activating the First Star, he had fourteen points which were a terrifying level of power for the Death Apostle.


    Boom!


    Mongo received a hit and flew out. His face was pale and his chest was slightly sunken. Apparently, his chest had taken a punch.


    While in mid-air, he crushed a red ball on the sword.


    With a poof, the red orb burst open and turned into countless red dots of light, gathering on his body. At this moment, his body glowed red. It wasn''t truly a glow, but just a reflection of light from the sword upon his body which had turned bloody, as though he was a corpse that had been skinned. Looking from afar, it was as though his body was glowing.


    The strength of the sacred weapon summoned by the four Death Apostles, Red Light Sky, did not lie in improving the overall combat capability but converting the supply of blood essence of the sword wielder into an eerie attack.


    At the moment when the red ball was broken, a little bit of dark golden light appeared on Mongo''s sword blade. That light was only the size of a thumb and looked insignificant, but it gave off an extremely dangerous feeling.


    He fell on a hill with a crashing sound and with both legs on the ground, he kicked off and charged towards Garen once again.


    With this high-speed movement, Garen''s speed was not as fast as him and he had just gotten out of a crater. Facing this slash, the blade appeared instantly in front of Garen''s face and was about to stab into his head.


    "Second Star¡­.." Garen''s both hands moved to stop the blade.


    At this moment, there was a sudden pain in his head; a terrifying and massive mental force burst out from behind him. When the attack first made its appearance, it instantly appeared in his mind as though it was destined to hit when it appeared.


    This familiar feeling¡­.


    An unprecedented sense of crisis suddenly appeared in his heart but Garen remained unmoved.


    Since he knew there was an ambush, would he come here without making any preparation?


    "Finally came out¡­." almost at the same moment when he was hit by the mental attack, Garen widened his eyes. A golden light flashed by in his pupils.


    "Holy Phoenix!!"


    The cries of a bird sounded and charged into a shadow behind him.


    "Unlimited Holy Cry!"


    There was a giggle and the figure of a slender girl flew out instantly from the shadow, landing a short distance away. She still wore the same short black skirt and black stockings. Her black hair fluttered and her face which was white as jade gave off an evil and mischievous feeling.


    The mental attack of Holy Phoenix charged at her but was blocked by an invisible barrier. The two offset each other and produced a strong turbulence.


    "Long time no see, Garen," Nadia opened her right hand and a large slender long sword appeared in her hand. The large sword was dyed in blood as though it had just been used to kill.


    At this moment, a dark golden light flashed.


    Garen''s pupils contracted. Before him, the dark golden light on Mongo''s blade flew out and fiercely stabbed towards his forehead.


    ''This is not a power that belongs to this world!! Dodge!!'' Black Sethe''s anxious voice sounded beside his ears, but it was too late.


    Garen watched as the dark golden color flew towards him and hit in between his eyebrows.


    The only thing he could do was to muster all the power in his body. The terrifying aura of the Fifth Star burst out.


    Without a sound, a circle of black nine-headed Dragonshadow burst out with Garen at the center. The immense Dragonshadow aura surged and Mongo flew away like a fired cannonball, looking as though he had been hit by a giant truck.


    Countless Dragonshadow gave off silent roars and instantly occupied an area spanning hundreds of meters in the rain.


    Nadia smiled and looked at the Dragonshadow in the sky without making a move. The frenzied aura blew her long hair to the right. Gently stretching out her hand, she seemed to want to touch the Dragonshadow that passed by her side, her eyes showing a tinge of nostalgia.


    "Only I, the Nine-Headed Dragon Queen, understood the will of Dragon King the best," Looking at the dark figures in the sky, her lips curled into a smile. "Garen, you''re finished."


    Just then, the ground beneath her feet swelled and an unimaginably powerful suction force came out of nowhere, aiming for Nadia.


    A large gray-black hand that was tens of meters wide rushed out from the ground and grabbed at Nadia.

 761 Battle 1

    Chapter 761: Battle 1


    "That''s!?" The smile on Nadia''s face froze, and she tried to jump up, but she could not move her body at all.


    Bam!!


    The huge hand gripped her tightly and exploded. With one clear sound, waves of water and soil splashed everywhere, and for a moment there, nothing could be seen.


    In the heavy rain, on the other patch of burnt black grass, Garen stood up once more in the midst of the dragon shadows and the chaos of the explosion.


    There was a bloody hole about the size of a thumb in the middle of his forehead, and blood kept flowing out from it.


    Reaching out his hand to touch the wound on his forehead, Garen licked his slightly dry lips.


    "Nadia, so it was you¡­ the person who could tear apart my soul primer, who set this ambush."


    Amidst the loud sounds and tremors, the Buddha Mother''s gigantic and gruesome body slowly bulged out from the ground.


    This was a giant up to a hundred meters tall, and from afar, it looked like a black mud monster with three heads and six arms, similar to the Divine General Nezha from Chinese legend. The three heads each expressed a different emotion: happiness, anger, and sorrow. Each of the six arms held a different weapon: a bottle, a long baton, a dagger, a silk ribbon, a war axe, and a ring.


    Of these, the mouth of the bottle was currently aimed at Nadia''s position, and it emitted a powerful suction power like that of a black hole. This was also why Nadia was fixed in the distance and could not move.


    Buddha Mother, a terrifying killing machine from an unknown civilization. Even back then, Garen did not truly face the Buddha Mother head-on, it had been scared off by Garen''s Profound, the Flight of the Evil Phoenix, and thought that it was the Holy Phoenix Scriptures, that was why it gave in of its own accord.


    Even Garen did not know what the Buddha Mother was truly capable of.


    The hundred-meter mud giant stood underneath the stormy sky, several bolts of thunder blasting past its head, the sound of thunder rolling. It looked like a strange demon god in the night, unnaturally frightening.


    Just then, one of the Buddha Mother''s hands was gripped tightly, keeping Nadia trapped tight. This hand originally held the silk ribbon, which was now floating around it on its own, functioning as automatic protection.


    Garen was currently standing on the Buddha Mother''s right shoulder, watching everything happen in the rain beneath him quietly.


    A Blood Breed Death Apostle was nothing to him, even if that Mongo gathered up the power of the other three Death Apostles, they could only barely draw with Ashen, so they had no effect on him. Perhaps he had been careless during the First Star, but if he was currently in fully-fledged Fifth Star mode, nobody could withstand even one punch from him.


    "Nadia, how on earth did you descend into this world?" Garen''s gaze moved to the Buddha Mother''s tightly-clenched fist.


    Rawr!!


    With a whoosh, the Buddha Mother wailed out. A large hole had been pierced through the back of its hand, and a black shadow flew out of it, floating quietly in the air at exactly the same height as Garen.


    The black figure stopped moving, revealing its face. It was Nadia, who had just been ambushed by the Buddha Mother. Right now her face was even paler, and a small stream of blood was flowing down her fair right arm.


    "To think you could actually harm me¡­" Nadia licked her lips. She(1) was no longer a projection now, but the actual thing. Looking at the Buddha Mother''s giant body, surprise flashed through her eyes. "I truly have no idea where you could have found this antique, to think it still works."


    Barroom!


    Lightning flashed past, instantly illuminating their faces.


    Beneath them, the Death Apostles had scattered again, becoming individuals once more, and they looked up at Garen and Nadia in the sky weakly. Carefully, they retreated to a relatively safe space. Looking up at the gigantic Buddha Mother in the empty area, they all did not know what to say. A feeling of helplessness rose in their hearts.


    "Is this the Holy Fist Palace''s true trump card? We messed up this time!" the only female Death Apostle murmured in a low voice, staring at that huge black shadowy giant. She suddenly felt as though she was watching a Transformers movie.


    "Even the Final Holy Technique State could not kill him. This Garen¡­ he is no longer human," Scarlet Moon said softly. He looked extremely weak, all three Death Apostles had just used up all of their spirit and blood to power the Final Holy Technique, so that Mongo could fight, but even then, Garen could still face them head-on and blow them away. Although they had already guessed that they would be no match for him even if they joined forces, this result was still enough to turn all their faces pale.


    "What do we do now? Where did that woman come from?" Wellington asked unhappily, of everyone here, only he hated Garen down to the very fiber of his being.


    "Forget about that! We still have our final trump card," Mongo said softly, looking at the giant Buddha Mother. "For this plan, that person had properly planned out the details with us, if even this trump card doesn''t work, then we¡­"


    "What are afraid of? We can''t beat him, but he can''t kill us either! As long as the masks can''t be gathered, the Final Mask won''t appear!" the female Death Apostle interrupted him.


    The four Death Apostles had lived for at least a thousand years, so looking at the huge Buddha Mother now, they were only shocked for a moment. After that, they recovered instantly, their long lives having made them unaccustomed to shock.


    "How are your conditions now?" Mongo looked at the others, "What about the people we brought?"


    "I don''t know, I think it''s time we retreated," Scarlet Moon said quietly.


    "Retreat? Hahaha¡­"


    As the words rang out, a trembling figure appeared behind them, blocking them quietly. It was AG, and Tu Lan stood quietly beside him. Tu Lan''s fingers were dripping with blood, and that blood seemed to belong to Blood Breeds rather than humans.


    "AG, what are you planning!?" It was still Mongo who spoke, he was the secret party''s most mysterious Death Apostle and the last to appear. It seemed that he was also the strongest, as he could speak on behalf of the other three.


    "There are three of us, and you only have two Death-Apostle-level fighters, don''t tell me you plan on keeping us here?" he spoke in a low voice.


    With a loud ''barroom'', a tremendous earthquake came from the battle not far away. Garen and that woman had evidently begun to fight for real.


    "If you were at your usual, full strength, I might not be able to keep you here. But now¡­ hahaha..." A hint of hatred appeared in AG''s eyes, "Let''s settle everything, including our grudge from before, right here and now!"


    Boom!


    With a tap of his staff, the ground sank underneath him, and a huge semi-circular crater appeared. On the other hand, he shot in the sky, flying straight for the four Death Apostles, his body looking illusory and translucent.


    Tu Lan also made her move at the same time, raising her hand and pointing it, a transparent water-like liquid flew out of her entire body, morphing into spikes that flew at the four of them.


    The four Death Apostles scattered, attempting to run away in different directions, but a purple mist immediately rose around them. This purple mist rapidly gathered into several purple walls, completely surrounding the few of them in this forest.


    "The Dark Colors Witches'' Purple Light Membrane." Mongo''s gaze changed slightly, it did not seem to occur to him that the Lightless Alliance could have gathered all their members here in such a short time, completely ignoring the Blood Alliance''s assault on their other fronts. It seemed that they were dead-set on keeping the four Death Apostles here.


    "Is there any point?" The hint of anxiety in his eyes faded, "You paid such a high price, just to kill us once?"


    Death Apostles could not be killed, that was a natural rule that could never fail.


    So no matter how weak the four Death Apostles were, they were still confident and unafraid, just looking at AG and Tu Lan with sarcastic eyes.


    "Who said we just want to kill you once?" The hatred and pleasure in AG''s eyes became even more obvious. Lifting his chin, he looked at these four Death Apostles with an unprecedented gaze of madness.


    "Seal!!!" he roared abruptly.


    In an instant, countless waves of purple mist rushed out from behind him like tails, and strangely, there was a hint of pale gold in the purple mist.


    **************


    A deep cut appeared on the Buddha Mother''s huge chest.


    It stumbled back, its feet sinking heavily onto the ground, like a giant in a swamp.


    Garen stood on the giant''s shoulder, quietly looking at Nadia, who was floating in the air.


    The heavy rain was getting thicker, the raindrops beat down on their bodies, but they did not seem to touch anything substantial at all. There were no splashes, as though the two of them were merely illusions.


    Countless gazes gathered here through different devices, each of them shocked or disbelieving as they landed on the two of them.


    Such a battle, in the eyes of outsiders, was no longer a battle between humans, but had already surpassed that to be the stuff of legends.


    Right now, Garen had completely earned his title of humanity''s strongest Holy Fist.


    And the person standing opposite him had power that was as terrifying and oppressive as the endless black clouds.


    Their battle was being relayed to the higher-ups of secret organizations all over the world through all sorts of devices.


    This was a battle that determined the fate of the world.


    "With the way you''re training your secret techniques, this world is already beginning to repel you¡­" Nadia waved the huge sword in her hand carelessly, "You should never have come here."


    "You sure know a lot." Garen''s expression did not change. He did not maintain the emission of his Fifth Star state, right now he was relying completely on the Buddha Mother to fight Nadia. He had only used the Fifth Star in that instantaneous explosion just now.


    "Looking at you, I can''t help but think of the old me." Nadia flicked her long hair lightly, her expression nostalgic. "The truth is I always wanted to kill you, mostly because you beat me a few times back then, so I wanted to save face. Thinking about it now, it was such a waste of time."


    "A Void Creature and a Void Pursuer, haven''t we always been sworn enemies? That is the True Soul vow we made to the Mother Stream," Garen said calmly.


    "That''s right, we''re destined to be enemies¡­ So whenever I see a Pursuer with the potential to grow, I can''t help but want to destroy them," Nadia smiled, carefree. "But thinking about it, this truly is a pointless battle¡­"


    Her expression looked lonely.


    "For the past ten thousand years, I''ve always been wandering in the Void, with no idea what I was doing¡­ Pointless battles, one after the other, killing off so many Pursuers."


    Garen looked at her seemingly genuine expression, and did not know what to say. Up until now, he had barely lived for as long as the last few digits of her lifespan. So when it came to such a depressingly lonely life, he did not understand, neither did he wish to understand.


    "What do you mean by talking so much?" The corner of his eyes swept across the Purple Light Membrane that had risen up in the distance, and he knew that the Lightless Alliance did it, while the Death Apostles were on the run.


    "Your plan succeeded. They''re called Death Apostles, right?" Nadia was unperturbed as she asked with a smile.


    "Since I''ve come to this planet, I should at least leave some proof that I was here. Wouldn''t you think so?" Garen replied calmly. "It''s true that the Death Apostles can''t be killed, but I can make them fall asleep, and stay asleep until the end of time."


    The rain poured down even more intensely.


    The two of them did not have anything else to say for now, because the truth was they did not bear any grudges against each other.


    After fighting for so long, be it Garen or Nadia, both of them had recognized the other''s power.


    Garen could survive so many battles with her projections even as they grew stronger, while he grew more powerful each time. He was just like Nadia herself back then, with the blood and will of the Nine-Headed Dragon. Before she knew it, she felt as though she was seeing another version of herself, walking down another road she never had.


    "The me back then failed," Nadia spoke, "then what will happen to you, walking the opposite of the road I took¡­? I look forward to it¡­"


    "Ominous Space Path!" She held up her giant sword flatly in front of her. The long silver giant sword began to distort, and several pitch-black dragon shadows appeared, swirling around it, emanating piercing wails and roars.


    Translator''s Note:


    Raws say ''he'', probably a typo.

 762 Battle 2

    Chapter 762: Battle 2


    "This time, if you can still beat me, all the grudges and debts between us will be called off." Nadia looked at Garen, who was not far away. Their battle had begun casually, then it grew frustrating due to her inability to descend upon him, then that turned to admiration and respect, and finally recognition. She had recognized him as someone worthy of the same title, a lord of the Nine-Headed Dragon.


    Suddenly, she did not want to kill Garen that badly anymore. They both had the will of the Nine-Headed Dragon, she wanted to see just how far Garen could go with it.


    Garen looked at her, having already vaguely sensed the changes in her.


    It could be said that in the beginning, Nadia had coincidentally discovered his bloodline and thus decided to retrieve the will of the Nine-Headed Dragon by casually killing him. But after failing so many times, she seemed to have changed her mind.


    "Come. Show me just how strong your true form is!"


    Garen''s body abruptly sank into the Buddha Mother''s shoulder, following a crevice of mud that had opened up automatically, he arrived directly at the very core of the Buddha Mother, the control center.


    The moment he sat on the seat, the whole Buddha Mother gave a huge jolt, a faint golden glow appearing all over its body. It had already been about a hundred meters tall, but now it grew even larger, copious amounts of soil flying up from the ground and gathering on its body, making its body seem even larger and more intimidating.


    "Come, it doesn''t matter who wins or loses."


    Garen''s voice boomed like thunder, coming from the mouths of all three of the Buddha Mother''s heads.


    In that instant, it was as though the whole Buddha Mother had become Garen''s incarnation. The two merged into one, the golden color of the Holy Phoenix Scriptures melding onto its body, making it even bigger and stronger than it had been way back in the underground garden.


    Ker-chak!!


    A bolt of lightning flashed past.


    Nadia''s long sword also moved in that instant, there was no telling if it was lightning or the gleam of a sword in the night sky. But in the blink of an eye, the huge long sword had landed abruptly straight onto the center of the Buddha Mother''s chest.


    The blade seemed to extend infinitely in a moment, and made the Buddha Mother shine with a crack like a white light from top to bottom.


    Bam!!!


    A gigantic baton landed with a crash, sending Nadia flying away. One of the Buddha Mother''s arms gripped a long baton tightly, with an explosive power that even Garen could not match.


    With a low roar, the Buddha Mother''s giant body flew into the air, chasing after Nadia, its six arms all holding different weapons that it sent crashing mercilessly into Nadia at the same time.


    Clang!!


    The huge long sword emitted a sword gleam that turned into a giant silver sword, crashing into the six weapons one after the other. The Buddha Mother was actually fighting with Nadia in mid-air, the three heads and six arms turning like clockwork, while Nadia''s giant sword was also insanely strong.


    Even more strangely, the wound on the Buddha Mother''s body from the Ominous Space Path was quickly being regenerated by the soil flying up from the ground, as though it was never wounded.


    Garen sat in the center, controlling the Buddha Mother as though it was a peak-level secret technique master. It unleashed all sorts of attacks -- grabbing, tapping, punching, holding, knocking -- effortlessly, like a true martial arts master. Matched with the Buddha Mother''s six weapons with different effects, and it was practically a flawless, unbeatable war machine.


    After a long time, the giant Buddha Mother and Nadia had both flown away from the original site of the battle, ending up in the sky above some unknown forest somewhere before they landed. Like an extreme coincidence, Hochman''s desperately escaping form just happened to appear beneath them. Watching the huge shadow descend from the sky, he threw his head back and roared in despair.


    Baroom!


    Many trees were squashed, and a large round crater large enough for two people to stand in had appeared on the ground. Hochman had already disappeared completely, turning into a mess of blood and flesh. A wisp of black smoke leaked out from beneath the Buddha Mother''s foot, darting into the Buddha Mother''s huge body.


    Nadia''s body was covered in blood, she looked quite heavily injured.


    And the Buddha Mother''s giant body was covered in wounds as well. Two of its arms had broken off, and one of its heads was gone. There was a large gash in half of its waist, which was rapidly absorbing soil and trees to recover itself.


    Roar!!!


    The Buddha Mother roared instinctively. The remaining two heads lowered, emitting a wind like a typhoon. The intense wind pressure instantly blew the grassy area where Nadia was standing into a crater shaped like a meteor.


    Faced with the giant that was the gigantic Buddha Mother, Nadia held up her long sword again. In that instant, her eyes lit up.


    Large swathes of shadow gathered behind her, forming a giant shadow Nine-Headed Dragon.


    At the same time, as though in resonance, a black light lit up in Garen''s eyes from where he was sitting inside the Buddha Mother. Countless shadows like black oil extended from underneath him, these shadows quickly spread out from the Buddha Mother''s huge body, turning into nine dragon shadows of different sizes.


    This was pure aura, and it also came from the battle of the Nine-Headed Dragon Wills. It had nothing to do with their bodies, just the connection between wills.


    "Dragon''s Roar!!"


    At nearly the same time, Nadia and Garen both chose the ability at the very core, in the deepest recesses of the Nine-Headed Dragon''s bloodline and will.


    Two terrifying Nine-Headed Dragon shadows, each up to a thousand meters tall, raised their heads at the same time, and roared furiously at the other.


    Roar¡­ Brr!!


    In the end, the roars simply became a sound of pure vibration.


    The invisible tremor began with the two of them in the center, but instantly spread up to several thousand meters around them. All living creatures around them were instantly decimated by this huge spiritual tremor.


    The giant python in the forest fell off the tree branch, utterly lifeless. The forest leopard tried its hardest and ran several steps away, but then it crashed into the ground head-first, and could no longer get up. The birds and black eagles flying in the sky stiffened instantly, and fell down like a rock, their bones shattering as they landed.


    The moment that roar and tremor blew past, it was as though the large area of green grass and trees was covered with a layer of grey, filled with a silent aura of death.


    In that invisible yet terrifying howl, the Buddha Mother instantly fell apart. It shattered into countless pieces, raining down everywhere.


    The piece at the very core collapsed completely, and a black shadow flitted out of it, it was Garen.


    All the muscles on his body were bulging up horrifically, as though forming armor plates on his shoulders. His body was several times taller than an average person, and he emitted a powerful aura, like that of a huge monstrous beast.


    Falling down from the sky, Garen stretched out his right arm, and pressed down hard.


    Bam!!!


    Amidst a loud, deep sound.


    That giant, boa-like arm crashed into a huge silver long sword.


    Garen''s expression did not change, his left arm making a light noise like a flying bird, and somehow carried up a gentle, warm wind, with a vague sound like that of crisp wind chimes.


    He instantly used the Waterbird Fist''s Final Profound, the Flight of the Evil Phoenix, with one hand.


    Garen''s left arm seemed to morph into a giant flying phoenix, flapping its wings and carrying a huge, terrifying power and penetration as it rushed for Nadia.


    At the same time, Nadia raised her left knee, and met Garen''s left arm.


    There was another flash of golden light.


    A circle of black shadows erupted between the two of them. The two huge shadowy Nine-Headed Dragons wrestled with each other, biting ferociously. In the middle of the shadows, there were Garen and Nadia.


    Bam!!


    Nadia was sent flying several dozen meters away, crashing past many trees and finally sinking into a mountain wall. Many rocks rolled off the mountain, nearly burying her whole.


    "This is absolute power."


    Garen stood on the spot, his body as large and terrifying as a demon god.


    The mask on his face had shattered completely by now, revealing the face underneath. Strangely, his forehead was currently covered in golden lines, like so many golden veins, and it made him look unnaturally gruesome.


    The Holy Phoenix Scriptures state allowed his spirit potential to reach its explosive maximum for a short period of time, gathering in his aura, so it had an extremely powerful destructive power.


    And right now, Garen in the Fifth Star state had already achieved the peak of this body. The deficiency in his soul had also been filled up, but to his surprise, there was no movement in his mind at all. The Demonic Book, that had been one step away, was now beginning to sprout after absorbing Hochman''s successful soul primer.


    Once it sprouted, he would have truly created another Soul Seed.


    "Black Sethe, do you see that? The second Seed is finally almost complete¡­" Garen glanced at Nadia''s direction, murmuring softly.


    But strangely, Black Sethe did not respond at all.


    Garen suddenly felt something amiss.


    "Black Sethe?" he called again.


    There was nothing. An ominous feeling grew in his heart.


    Hah!!


    There was a flicker of black light in front of his eyes, and Nadia suddenly appeared in front of him, slicing at him with her sword!


    Blocking the blade with a clang, Garen''s other hand reached for her head fiercely.


    Just then, the dragon shadow behind Nadia bit down on Garen''s dragon shadow.


    Garen grunted once, and retreated several steps back, a piercing pain coming from his brain.


    Steadying his footing, Garen called Black Sethe a few more times quietly, but there was no response.


    Standing beside a field of tree stumps, he suddenly lost all desire to fight.


    "To think that you still disappeared in the end." He did not feel sorrow, just the same sort of sorrow he felt in the Totem World. He was left alone again¡­


    Facing Nadia, he already knew the outcome of this match.


    "There''s no need to fight anymore," he said suddenly.


    Nadia was also standing between the trees, covered in blood and breathing fast.


    "You won." She sat down on a tree stump, and raised her head. "Don''t want to fight anymore?"


    "This body of yours is the main reason you descended here," Garen said calmly. "This is not your body." It was not her true body, meaning it could not be revived, it only had one life. It was simply one level stronger than a projection, that was all.


    "You noticed?" Nadia laughed. "Let''s call it quits, then. That friend of yours disappeared? Hahaha¡­ You feel it now, don''t you? Our very own Void¡­"


    "Is this how you''ve been living for the past ten thousand years?" Garen asked softly, his body slowly returning to his normal height. Now that the victory had been decided, the two of them became like good friends. With no intention to continue fighting, they actually stood together and began to chat idly.


    "It repeats over and over again, like a cycle. I''ve gotten used to it a long time ago," Nadia said with a carefree smile. She was beginning to bleed from all the orifices on her face, evidently her internal injuries were acting up.


    First she had fought the Buddha Mother, which, under Garen''s control, was equivalent to a larger, powered-up version of Garen, with terrifying power. After that, she fought against Garen''s true self with the Fifth Star. This body that Nadia had descended with could no longer take any more injuries, it was already on the brink of collapse.


    "You win again this time¡­" Nadia looked up at the sky, "You have to be careful, that golden secret technique of yours will be repelled by the planet. As you are right now, there''s no way to resist that. Don''t let yourself enter the Void carelessly, the war between the Warlocks and the Void is about to start again¡­"


    Sitting there, her voice gradually grew softer, smaller, weaker, until finally she was completely lifeless.


    With a smack, that huge sword also shattered completely, turning into countless dots of silver light that gradually faded into the air.


    Garen suddenly had a feeling, that perhaps it was about time to leave again. That powerful sense of repulsion was getting stronger, and he calculated the time. When his Soul Seed formed, that would be the time for him to truly leave this world.

 763 Settled 1

    Chapter 763: Settled 1


    The heavy rain flew in the wind, pouring down in spades. Visibility went no further than a couple meters.


    In the torn-up forest, trees were bent and broken, the leaves mingling with the grass, all of it slowly growing purple.


    In the middle of the forest, a large cloud of purple mist had directly covered up an area several dozen meters in diameter.


    AG and Tu Lan stood next to each other in front of the purple mist, quietly watching the roiling mist inside. A stream of purple liquid flowed out from underneath both their feet, going straight into the purple cloud.


    As the purple stream flowed away, the two of them also grew slightly paler.


    "How is it?" Tu Lan asked softly.


    AG''s whole body was drenched in the rain, the rainwater flowing down his hair and face, completely soaking his clothes, but he did not care at all. He just kept his eyes fixed on the roiling purple mist in front of him.


    "We have gathered all this poisonous mist specifically to counter them over such a long period of time, and we also melted our Death-Apostle-level vital blood into power to suppress them, they should be unconscious right now."


    " hundred and twenty-eight poisons and hallucinogens specifically targeted at Blood Breeds, even I would not be able to escape that within a short period of time. Our witchcraft will probably be successful this time." Tu Lan nodded. She had only asked so she could determine whether their plan had succeeded this time or not.


    "I never expected it, I had even been a member of the Wellington family, but now I''m gonna make a move against my own clan chief," she sighed.


    "There''s a saying from the East, that water flows to the depths and people walk towards the heights. The old and broken should be eliminated, this is the natural selection of the new over the old," AG said matter-of-factly. "Speaking of which, are you interested in becoming an Elder of our Lightless Alliance? Until now, we only have three Elders in myself, Garen and Nasira."


    "An Elder?" Tu Lan began to consider it.


    From the battle with the Death Apostles just now, she could tell that AG earned his title as a witch equivalent in power to the Death Apostles. He had strange and unpredictable moves, took the initiative to rush forth for close-distance combat, but he also later lured the enemy into breaking ranks, allowing the purple mist to instantly separate the four of them.


    Compared to Blood Breeds, witches with power equivalent to Blood Apostles definitely had many more moves. Although they did not have the immortality Blood Breeds had, their many different moves were also rather troublesome to counter.


    Tu Lan thought about it, and at the same time, the black grassy plain that had been reduced the ashes and had fallen silent, began to ring again with light footsteps.


    In the pouring rain, these footsteps were barely audible, but AG and Tu Lan were both top-level fighters, so they naturally could immediately tell where the steps were coming from, and they raised their head to look at that direction.


    Through the veil of rain, a familiar figure was slowly walking towards them.


    Blonde-haired and one-eyed, with handsome features, the clothes on his upper body had been completely stripped away, revealing powerful muscles. On his lower half, he only wore black slacks.


    "Garen!" AG''s expression lit up. "You won?!"


    It was not only him, beside him, Tu Lan looked rather happy as well. Garen''s appearance clearly indicated that he had won his battle with that mysterious woman from just now.


    "How are things on your side?" Garen glanced at the purple mist, and felt the highly poisonous mist roiling inside, frowning slightly.


    "This is the top-level poison mist I created, those four should have probably all fainted by now, their regeneration ability will definitely be drastically reduced by this," AG said confidently. "Not only is this purple mist highly poisonous, it also contains the combined power of Nasira and the hundred witches under her command, so it is completely airtight and secure. There is no way they can escape!"


    Garen nodded, and said no more. AG and Tu Lan wanted to ask him about that mysterious woman, but they did not know how to start.


    Garen was also just waiting quietly for the purple mist''s time to end.


    He had also guessed that the Blood Alliance would merge with Nadia, that was his worst case scenario, but he had prepared for it nonetheless. In the end, it proved useful.


    The Blood Alliance had already thrown everything into this gamble, even their mysterious fighter who no one knew about was willing to join the Alliance, so it was obvious that they had gotten desperate.


    "What about Ashen?" he asked quietly.


    "There''s a good guy right there. No need to worry about him, as long as we don''t kill the Death Apostles, he won''t make the first move, he should probably be recuperating in Australia right now," AG replied. "He''s already contacted me directly, the Blood Alliance has nothing to do with him from now on. I bet these guys from the Blood Alliance totally broke his heart, hehe¡­" He chuckled deeply.


    "End it quick," Garen sighed. Suddenly he felt bored of it all, fighting back and forth with the Blood Breeds was actually an exercise in futility. In his eyes, the Blood Breeds were no more than this world''s backwater natives, fragile and weak.


    But thinking about the situation from before, Garen still perked himself up, and maintain vigilance.


    After all, Madia had used this common understanding of theirs to hide her secret plan in the Blood Breed Death Apostles'' attack. It was exactly that Death Apostle Mongo whom he looked down on, that suddenly used something he could not control while attacking, and managed to wound Garen. After that, he was nearly ambushed by Nadia. If it weren''t for the Buddha Mother giving him time to catch his breath and lighten his injuries, that instant would probably have been enough to kill Garen in an instant.


    A hole in his soul as well as a sneak attack wounding the middle of his forehead., if he did not have the Buddha Mother, he might truly have fallen right there and then,


    Looking at the loud of purple mist in front of him. Garen raised his hand lightly, the shadow behind him abruptly elongating, turning into a wisp of black smoke that darted into the purple mist.


    "Let me speed up the process."


    The assimilation of the black smoke into the purple mist seemed to give it a huge push.


    This black smoke of Garen''s was actually the Slaughtering Hand Life Force that he had trained to preserve Black Sethe. By mixing this Life Force with his aura and emitting it to add it to the purple mist, he used the changes in Nasira and co''s witchcraft to turn it into a huge driving force.


    In just an instant, the roiling purple mist grew a lot thicker.


    Seeing such an intense change, AG''s pupils dilated slightly, but he hid it quickly. Beside him, Tu Lan glanced at him without her expression changing, but no one knew if she had noticed his expression. Once the Blood Alliance''s four great Death Apostles were sealed off and unconscious, the Blood Alliance would no longer be a threat, and the strongest power in the world would be the Lightless Alliance. When that time comes, the struggle for power¡­


    As Garen joined in, the purple mist finally finished its process, and as AG and Tu Lan watched on, dumbfounded, the witchcraft that should have taken another half hour rapidly began to dissipate after a mere twenty-or-so seconds.


    At the very core of the purple mist, there was a deathly pale sphere of roiling white mist, this mist slowly fell to the ground after the purple mist dissipated.


    Bam!


    The white mist sphere burst apart instantaneously, and immediately vanished without a trace. The four Death Apostles who had been there all disappeared, leaving behind a white stone plaque embedded into the ground. There were extremely complicated symbols and glyphs flowing on the stone plaque.


    "Allow me." AG took one step forward, his staff pausing after it tapped the ground.


    Instantly, the purple stream under his and Tu Lan''s feet disappeared completely, and the black smoke that Garen shot out also flew back to him of its own accord.


    Another pause.


    The symbols on the stone plaque began to spin rapidly.


    The last pause.


    Pst-pst-pst-pst!!!


    In an instant, the entire stone plaque broke apart abruptly, turning into four wisps of white smoke that shot off in four directions, disappearing into the veil of rain in an instant.


    "It is complete." AG heaved a breath, "There are specially-designed suppression tombs in the four directions, used to suppress the Death Apostles vital blood and Blood Nucleus, as long as we keep maintaining the poison supply, there''s no way they can wake up for another few thousand years."


    "Ashen is still around," Tu Lan reminded him.


    "As long as we have His Excellency Garen, Ashen is meaningless by himself," AG laughed. "We have His Excellency Garen to thank this time for heavily wounding the four Death Apostles, otherwise we would not be able to suppress them this easily either."


    "Forget it, let''s go back." Garen, however, did not look particularly happy. He turned away and walked into the heavy rain, the sound of an engine approaching from the distance, evidently the Holy Fist Palace''s army was rushing here.


    AG and Tu Lan exchanged a glance, both slightly surprised. They had destroyed the Blood Breeds and suppressed them completely, this was a great deal, but Garen seemed kind of listless and disinterested.


    But no matter what, AG still felt extremely happy. He had finally gotten his long-awaited revenge, and the troubles he had always kept in his heart were solved, so he felt unspeakably light.


    ***********************


    Within a few short days, the people in power throughout all the continents and countries in the world had all heard of the battle between the Lightless Alliance and the Blood Alliance.


    They had been controlled by the Blood Alliance before, but now they all saw the way things were going, and all turned to stand in line behind the Lightless Alliance. At that moment, thanks to mass propaganda against them, the Blood Breeds became the villains in the eyes of all. Some past events as a result of other triggers were also forced onto the Blood Breeds, in order the persuade the unknown and unknowing public.


    The United Nations quickly declared a blood-sucking rabies epidemic one week later, and made all Blood Breeds, including vampires, examples of this epidemic. They even announced the features of this disease all across the world, and requested that all countries quarantine such patients, in order to prevent them from wreaking havoc in society.


    According to the symptoms spread by the United Nations, the main characteristics of blood-sucking rabies included a pale complexion and eyes that turned red when the person was angry. The patient also needed to drink blood every so often. They also had mental problems, in that they would think that they were vampires, resulting in physical and mental confusion.


    Immediately, the Holy Fist Palace and the Lightless Alliance sent their men out to help the governments catch these ''blood-sucking patients''. The Holy Fist Palace found the Blood Alliance headquarters almost immediately. After Tu Lan took the lead and killed some stubborn ones, they absorbed most of the Blood Breeds from the old light party, and the extremist secret party members were mostly killed in secret. The global situation began to settle down.


    **********************


    Standing on the roof of a tall building, Garen''s hair billowed in the wind.


    He was holding a cup of freshly-brewed green tea, there was still steam rising from it. Standing by the banister, Garen looked down at Washington at night.


    The Capitol in the distance looked like half an upside-down cucumber, and was strangely funny. Under the illumination of the nighttime lights, the whole building was dyed platinum.


    Beside the Capitol, there was a scattering of tightly-packed buildings, their light looking like sand in a desert, more lights than one could count. The different colors -- red, yellow, white, and blue -- wove together, with some black shadows in between.


    The flow of traffic vaguely seen between the buildings was like a golden river, moving slowly but steadily, as though it was the pulse of the whole city.


    Garen drank his sweetened green tea and looked down at the gigantic city below.


    "What do you plan to do after this?" he asked quietly, in perfect Spanish.

 764 Settled 2

    Chapter 764: Settled 2


    "What plans?" a man behind him repeated softly, "I''m doing very well in Spain right now. I found a school, and now I''m teaching children."


    A slender man suddenly walked out of the pitch-black shadows on the roof. The man was dressed completely in white, and had white hair. Even his skin had a translucent sheen of white. There was an indescribable sense of freedom in his eyes. He was completely different from when Garen first met him.


    "This sure is different from the Ashen I first met," Garen said mildly.


    "I really like this kind of life right now. No battles, no plotting, it''s very calm and normal." Ashen seemed to have become a lot more cheerful.


    "I never would have thought," Garen turned around, "that the strongest Blood Breed in the world would become a teacher in a human school." He looked at the strongest Blood Breed, Castine, who had suddenly invited him here. Connecting that with the information he just received, he too felt something that he could not quite describe.


    "How are Arisa and Isaros doing?" he asked quietly.


    "Not bad, my wedding with Isaros is coming up soon, you''d better come join the celebration," Castine laughed. Although the sound still seemed soft and weak, it gave off a crystal clear feeling.


    Garen sighed a little inside. He had just found out that Isaros was getting married, and the person she was getting married to was the Blood Breed Ashen Castine. When they met the parents back then, tables were nearly flipped at the family gathering.


    Afterward, he found out that after Ashen was critically wounded in the battle with him, Isaros had found him while he was recuperating, hoping to remove the Scarlet Moon Holy Technique deep in their consciousness. Perhaps a lot of things happened when they were interacting.


    Apparently Scarlet Moon had appeared in the process as well, and assuming that Isaros and Arisa were on Garen''s side, he tried to kill them. Ashen saved their lives, and somehow or another, the two of them fell in love.


    Garen finally understood why the sisters kept giving him that indescribable feeling, this proved that the feeling was right. As a result of the Scarlet Moon Secret Technique, she had actually gotten hooked up with the number one Death Apostle. No one could have imagined this wedding, perhaps there was another long story behind it.


    "I don''t want to bother with these things anymore, isn''t your Holy Fist Palace doing a good job with it? With Tu Lan around, the Blood Breeds have a place to return to, and the world is at peace again." Castine chuckled, as though he had truly let go. "I just want to live a peaceful life, like a normal person."


    "Do you know what they''re doing?" Garen suddenly asked out of the blue.


    Castine froze for a moment, and his smile vanished.


    "I don''t want to care, and I can''t. Besides, with you around, no one would dare disturb the order, isn''t that right? --"


    "I''m leaving," Garen interrupted him.


    Both of them fell silent.


    There was only the sound of the wind blowing past the roof, carrying a hint of cold.


    "Humans are never satisfied. Once they have power, they''ll want more," Garen said calmly. "In order to attain immortality, they will come after you sooner or later."


    The Holy Fist Palace was now the number one power, and many of the higher-ups were the people in high positions from before, such as Cece, such as Quentin now, Xander, and many other higher-ups from the combat club who joined later.


    The Royal Fist Technique could extend one''s lifespan, but how could it compare to the Blood Breeds'' natural immortality? The battle had just died down, if it weren''t for Garen iron-fisted suppression, there would probably have been many people who tried to research the Blood Breeds'' immortality with violent means, and even others who would be deeply interested in the mystery of the Death Apostles. Out of the only remaining Death Apostles, Tu Lan had a high position, so no one would dare touch her. But Castine was different, he was alone outside, and his personality was unnaturally weak, if someone caught the people important to him and threatened him with them, he''d give up in a heartbeat. That was exactly how the secret party could ambush him last time.


    The human greed was limitless.


    Castine wanted a peaceful life, but that would never be more than an illusion.


    "You''re leaving?" Castine paused, "Where to?"


    "I probably can''t ever come back¡­" Garen replied calmly. Recently he could feel the repulsion of the planet grew stronger and heavier. No matter how powerful he was, he was still just a single individual. Even Nadia could not fight against a planet on her own, much less Garen. Faced with this repulsion, he could only stay for a few more days at the most.


    "Then what do you plan to do?" Castine looked at this young man, rumored to be in his twenties, and suddenly felt that his mind was far older than twenty.


    "At first I planned to pass on the position of Holy Fist to you, but now that seems impossible," Garen said calmly. When he found out that Castine was somehow Isaros'' husband, he had that thought. After all, he was the most powerful, with him in the throne, he could lord over all the Blood Breeds and humans, but now Garen could tell that he was set on retirement.


    "Come back to the Holy Fist Palace and become Vice Palace Master, I''ll pass the position of Holy Fist to Tu Lan." They were the only two suited for the job, neither of them had many ambitions, so they could hamper the Lightless Alliance and AG''s plans from the throne.


    This was especially because he would soon be retrieving all the soul primers. When that happens, the Holy Fist Palace would no longer be bound by anything material, so they would need a powerful force to keep them together.


    "I''ll consider it." Castine lowered his head and thought for a while, but still nodded slightly in the end.


    Isaros and Arisa had no parents, so they had basically become part of Garen''s family. Isaros also learned all her martial arts from Garen, and that saved her life many times. A whole series of ties made the two sides unspeakably close, until they were practically one big family. With that in mind, Garen had no reason to harm him.


    Garen had a feeling that after he left, the whole world might descend into chaos once more. The Blood Breeds'' longevity, and the Blood Breeds'' immortality, these were all the root of all chaos. On the surface, the Holy Fist Palace looked stable in power, but in truth, he had created all this with his iron fist, so once he was gone, all the factions from all over would definitely start to grow restless.


    But none of this had anything to do with him anymore, he was most concerned with his arrangements for his family. As the most loyal students of the Holy Fist Palace, Ninox, Quentin, and Xander were all reliable, and Ashen''s personality meant that he was no problem either. With this group banded together, even if Tu Lan had any other thoughts, she would not make a move easily.


    Nevertheless, nothing in the world is absolute, and even the most perfect or secure safety measures would one day be broken.


    Garen knew very well that after he left, no one in this world would be able to surpass the Blood Breed Death Apostles, and Ashen would always be the number one Blood Breed, no competition.


    After all, no one would have Soul Seeds, or attribute talents. Even the undying Blood Breeds would not be able to reach the highest heights since their secret techniques were not good enough.


    Garen sighed inwardly, in the end he still decided not to leave behind any of the true peak-level secret techniques he practiced. Other than the Fantasy Fist, be it the original Waterbird Fist, or the Shooting Shadow Secret Technique, or even the White Cloud Secret Technique, all of these secret techniques were only powerful because his soul primer maintained them at top form. They were mostly good for fighting and killing, not for leveling up and cultivating. Dahm and Hochman were only so powerful because of the soul primer.


    Once he called back the primers, their battle ability would drop a notch, and the effect would be felt the most in their practicing speed. That speed would drop drastically, the reason they could level up so quickly before was also because the after-effects were shared by the soul primer, so they did not have to worry. Once he retrieved them, that meant they would have to carry the burden of these after-effects themselves. That was when they would see just how cruel a demonic technique could be.


    They leveled up quickly and grew very powerful, but one misstep, and they would die very quickly too¡­


    Only when he thought of that did Garen realize just how big an impact his leaving would have on the whole Holy Fist Palace.


    "Aren''t you afraid that the Blood Breeds would train in the secret techniques and become unstoppable?" Castine asked.


    "The strongest Blood Breed with secret techniques would still be no match for you, secret techniques were tailored for humans after all, they would reach a certain bottleneck and be unable to progress from there, because their make-up is different," Garen said, shaking his head. He glanced at Castine. "If you can''t help it, retire."


    This sentence came out of nowhere, and Castine did not understand, but Garen''s expression when he said it carved those words deep into his mind, until he could not forget it even if he tried.


    ********************


    Holy Fist Palace


    The huge palace on the snowy mountain, matched the snowy-white ocean of clouds beneath it, made it look like it was built on the clouds, with the same airy feeling as a divine palace of the gods.


    The many people walking up the mountain were all members, come to visit, to look around, to learn, to exchange. There were also several teams from the Palace in charge of logistics and the like, practically forming several long lines, flowing into the Holy Fist Palace from all directions like streams flowing into the ocean.


    People walked in and out of the Palace, Garen was holding an internal conference, the external matters were mostly handled by Tu Lan. By now, the Holy Fist Palace had swollen up to an extreme degree, while the combat club and the Nighthawks grew bigger and stronger.


    "You guys go rest, I want to walk around on my own," Raffaele said to the two young ladies taking care of her as they walked down a corridor in the Palace.


    "Alright, please contact us with your communicator if you need anything." The two girls were happy to get a break as well, smiling as they quickly retreated.


    Raffaele watched as they slowly disappeared down the corner of the corridor, and felt her heart lighten up a bit. Then she quickly walked towards the place she had committed to memory from before.


    Ever since she received the news of the Blood Alliance''s overwhelming defeat, Raffaele understood for the first time just how powerful the Holy Fist Alliance was. Apparently the Fist Saint Garen had defeated the four Great Death Apostles all by himself, and was as unstoppable as a demon god!


    This difference was worlds apart, and it let Raffaele truly understand what Mother meant by the root of chaos. In just twenty years, he had surpassed the Death Apostles'' accumulation over several thousand years, this was an existence that should not exist, it went against the rules of nature. His very being was a tumor that disrupted the natural cycle of life.


    But according to Mother''s predictions, this Fist Saint Garen, known as the strongest in the world, still had a fatal flaw. Or rather, according to the prediction, this flaw was also the whole Holy Fist Palace''s flaw. She just had to break that flaw, and she could directly destroy the foundations of Garen''s martial arts, as well as those of the entire Holy Fist Palace higher-ups.

 765 Endnote 1

    Chapter 765: Endnote 1


    Following her memories, Raffaele quickly arrived at the secret room she had been at before.


    Opening the door to the room with ease, she walked in and closed the door behind her. Raffaele walked straight to the wall at the very bottom of the room.


    She rubbed the ring on her finger a few times, and the ruby on it immediately emitted a red laser-like light. The light shone on the wall, and immediately, it reflected a few spots of pure white back.


    Raffaele was instantly overjoyed.


    "The thing is still here. He hasn''t noticed yet!"


    She felt around the wall for a bit and found that ring again, tugging at it hard.


    Crack¡­


    Amidst the soft noises, she pulled a stone platform shaped like a cuboid out of the wall. There was a metallic cylinder embedded in the middle of the platform.


    Raffaele grabbed the cylinder''s ring. She pulled at it, but it was surprisingly heavy, and did not budge at all.


    She frowned, and began to chant softly.


    "Mother, grant me courage, blessings, and strength."


    As soon as she said those words, a red light flashed past her hands, and she just had to pull lightly, instantly lifting up the entire cylinder.


    There was a hollow space in the middle of the cylinder, and inside there was a notebook with a black shell. For some reason, this book gave off a strange feeling, as though it was absorbing all the light from its surroundings, just like a black hole.


    "This is it!" Raffaele quickly flicked her finger, and instantly held the notebook in her hands. She flipped through it lightly, and found that it was full of all sorts of high level secret techniques! She immediately looked ecstatic.


    She quickly took a red paper board from her pocket, it was covered densely with many glyphs and symbols. She pressed this against the notebook.


    "Mora!"


    She quietly recited the chant to activate it.


    Immediately, there was a burst of red light, and both the paper board and the notebook vanished at the same time.


    "I did it!" Raffaele felt instantly relieved. Pulling the cylinder back again, she quickly left the secret room, looking left and right down the corridors. Once she was sure that no one had noticed her, she strode confidently down the other corner.


    Not long after she turned the corner, Garen''s figure abruptly appeared at the entrance to the secret room. He looked at the direction Raffaele had left in, but did not enter the secret room.


    "Don''t we need to deal with her?"


    Tu Lan''s figure slowly appeared behind Garen.


    "It''s too late," Garen shook his head slightly, turning around to glance at Tu Lan. "I might need to leave."


    "Leave?" Tu Lan was slightly taken aback. "Where to?"


    "I don''t know¡­" Garen lowered his voice. "If I leave, would you be willing to protect the Holy Fist Palace for me?"


    Tu Lan looked thoughtful. She did not brush it aside, but instead she thought about it very seriously for more than ten minutes, and Garen did not seem impatient either, waiting for her quietly.


    "I think it would be hard for me to stay for a hundred years," Tu Lan spoke after much consideration. "If it weren''t for you, I would have left to train secret techniques on my own a long time ago. That would feel much better than wasting time here."


    "You sure are honest." Garen shook his head and laughed, only then did he remember that Tu Lan''s true personality had always been lazy and unambitious, living each day as it came.


    "The only reason I''d stay a hundred years would be for you." Tu Lan pouted, acting uncharacteristically mischievous. "I''ll watch your house for a hundred years."


    Her eyes shifted. "Or else¡­ Just take me with you."


    "Hah?" Garen did not expect to hear her say that all of a sudden. "Why?"


    "It''s boring without you...With you around, I have a proper target to chase," Tu Lan replied very honestly.


    Garen was speechless, and decided to just ignore her. If he could take someone with him, he would have done it a long time ago, and this time was not like the last. This time the planet was repelling him of its own accord The Holy Phoenix Scriptures truly were impressive, they could help the Buddha Mother reach another level, a terrifying level. If he was perfectly honest, without the powered-up Buddha Mother, he probably could not have defeated Nadia. In the end, when the Buddha Mother had been utterly beaten up and broken, the body Nadia had descended into was already on the brink of collapse, and he only beat her because he faced her head-on in the Fifth Star state.


    Although all these details were included in his calculations, the Buddha Mother powering up did indeed surpass his expectations, the Holy Phoenix Scriptures merged with the Buddha Mother, increasing its power again.


    "The world will become boring when you leave."


    As Garen left the corridor, Tu Lan shouted from behind him.


    "Who knows?"


    Garen shrugged.


    ********************


    On a small island near the North Pole


    The icy cold seawater kept washing over the black rocks by the shore of the little island. The whole island was covered with black rocks, and it looked just like an oval black pebble in the middle of the blue sea.


    In the blue sky, the sunlight was cold rather than warm, and the scattered clouds were like flights of stairs, floating slowly in the sky. Several fluffy white seagulls also flew past occasionally, some diving head-first into the sea and then quickly flying out again, with decently-sized fishes in their mouths.


    Somewhere in the island''s forest of black rocks, a beautiful woman with long white hair was crouching down slowly, looking at something placed on a red stone slab on the ground.


    It was a pitch-black notebook, thick, with a cover like a whirlpool that absorbed the gazes of all living creatures around it.


    The woman''s long white hair dragged on the floor, scattered all over her. Even if you looked closely, you would not know just how long it was, the strands of long hair tangled and twined together, forming a road behind her like a long train.


    She picked up the notebook lightly.


    "This is the root to the Fist Saint Garen''s martial arts?" she murmured softly, lightly brushing away the bits of dust that had landed on the book.


    "I just have to destroy it and critically wound the Fist Saint, then the world will return to its original path¡­" the woman murmured, a hint of determination in her eyes.


    She flipped open the book lightly, and the contents inside presented themselves to her eyes.


    They were lines upon lines, and paragraphs upon paragraphs of strange, unknown words. The words seem to have some sort of magic that kept her gaze glued to it, until she could not pull away.


    The martial arts contents in there had, in an instant, opened up a path for her that she had never once imagined.


    "This-- This is--?!" The woman''s expression changed slightly, and she wanted to push the book away, but her hands grabbed it tightly despite herself, keeping it within her line of vision. She suddenly had a feeling that if she could learn all the martial arts recorded here, perhaps she could walk down a brand new, unprecedented path of evolution based on her own current foundations.


    All of a sudden, she sensed an unknown gaze land on her head in an instant.


    "Satellite tracking?" She frowned slightly, looking up at the sky, then she quickly kept the notebook away, disappearing into the forest of black rocks with a few bounds.


    That gaze swept past the island and seemed to find nothing, continuing to sweep on its merry way.


    *****************


    America, the CIA


    "We didn''t find anything, perhaps our satellite system is not concise enough yet," an old admiral said softly in front a giant blue screen. He watched the red dots blinking on the world map on the screen, then he turned his head around to look at the young man dressed in white beside him.


    "Thank you for your cooperation, but I can track her myself." The man had golden hair, but one of his eyes seemed to be slightly rolled back, as though he was blind in one eye. It was Garen, who had come out from the Holy Fist Palace. "The reason I''m here this time is because I need you to help me gather manpower. I can lead the way to the Lion Mother''s old base."


    "Your Excellency the Fist Saint can actually find items that have completely disappeared? What a magical martial arts." The old admiral looked rather interested.


    "You can try to practice it if you''re interested."


    "I''ll try." The old man nodded.


    He adjusted his earpiece, listening to the collective responses from the outside world through it.


    "The fifth fleet is all ready, you can go out to sea with the ship. The fleet commander, Hente, is a fourth-generation disciple of yours, he''s training in the White Cloud Secret Technique."


    "In that case, many thanks." Garen nodded and walked up to the world map, looking at the map on the blue screen. He reached out his hand slowly, and tapped a part of the sea near the North Pole lightly with his finger.


    "Over here."


    "You sure she''s there? There''s nothing on the naval map, it''s just sea." The admiral frowned.


    "No, there''s a small island there," Garen replied with certainty.


    "Perhaps it''s a matter of proportions. Some islands are too small to be seen on the map, we can zoom in and see." The admiral did not seem to move, but the map on the screen magnified all of a sudden, zooming in from a view of the world to that piece of sea, and soon enough, a black dot the size of a sesame seed appeared on the screen.


    "Eh?" The admiral was slightly surprised. "There really is an island."


    The screen zoomed in some more, and the black dot was instantly magnified, turning from a sesame seed to a small apple, and further, until it was the size of a basin. There was the occasional wisp of the clouds floating past, covering up parts of the island.


    From the satellite footage, they could vaguely see that the island was covered with pitch-black rock formations, with no forests or any trace of green.


    "This is the biggest we can go. There seems to be something interfering," the admiral said, frowning.


    "This is the place." Garen looked at the image on the screen carefully. "Inform the fleet to head straight for this island."


    "Alright, operation codename Lionhunt, commence!" the admiral said solemnly after nodding.


    Garen looked at the black pebble island, and smiled strangely.


    "I''ll give Pentagon a copy of the Lion Mother''s knowledge about witchcraft this time, and I''ll also retrieve my things. Let''s work well together."


    "Of course, let''s." There was a hint of desire and excitement in the admiral''s eyes.


    Compared to the Holy Fist Fist Technique, he was more interested in the mysterious witchcraft, and the Lion Mother had achieved Death Apostle-levels of strength, she was the ruler of the witches all over the world. If this top-secret mission were to succeed, they would gain knowledge about Death Apostle-level witch''s training, that was a temptation beyond imagination.


    That was also why, when they found out that Gare was going to attack the ruler of the witches, many factions all gathered up their power to finally mobilize an entire American navy fleet. Under the guise of practice drills, they launched a top-secret assault straight away.


    As for the revenge of the witches after this, they knew that even the old secret party''s Blood Breeds had all been killed at the height of their power, and many of the light party''s Blood Breeds joined the Holy Fist Palace because of Ashen. Among the Blood Breeds, most of the power still rested with the light party, after all, they had been leading the Blood Breeds for far too long.


    Most of the light party''s Blood Breeds wished for a peaceful human life, that was also why they joined the Holy Fist Palace so quickly.


    Just like that, the power of the Lightless Alliance snowballed, growing bigger and stronger. In comparison, the power of the witches was diminishing, and barely worth a mention.


    With the situation the way it was, even if the witches retaliated, they would have no effect on the Lightless Alliance at the peak of their power. After all, there were just too few of them.


    "Then I''ll personally make a trip there." Garen pulled back the finger he had pressed against the map."


    "Good luck."


    "I never believed in luck," Garen smiled, and turned to leave the command room.

 766 Endnote 2

    Chapter 766: Endnote 2


    Half a day later¡­


    As the evening hours approached, the afternoon light started to dim.


    White steel battleships started to appear on the horizon one by one as they surrounded the small black island. Their thick cannons were aimed at the island and jets started to appear in the sky like a swarm of bees.


    There were at least ten military satellites in the sky monitoring this nautical area.


    Among the aircraft carriers, the largest white aircraft carrier was like a gigantic, notched, white log of driftwood as it positioned itself near an island in the deep sea area, aiming at the black island a distance away.


    Surrounding it were at least tens of ships of various sizes.


    Garen and a few high ranking captains stood at the ship''s bow, looking at the black island from afar. The evening light bathed onto them, giving off a soft luster as it reflected off their white uniforms.


    Behind them were multiple aircraft carriers with jets preparing to take off. As its engine roared, the wind gusted strongly, causing people''s shirts to flap wildly.


    Garen too was in a general military uniform. It was a unique ranking military uniform given to him by the country''s secret service to avoid being exposed during the military practice.


    Surprisingly, Baldy of the Nighthawks and Tu Lan were among the high ranking officers.


    "The surveillance aircraft has sent back its data on the details of the map. The aircraft carrier team in the area did not detect any submarines and not even a human figure," the captain reported softly to Garen through the ear microphone. The jet''s roar was so loud that they couldn''t listen properly if they talked face to face.


    "Are you sure there''s no sign of anyone?" Garen frowned.


    "Yes. There''s no sign of human activity," the captain responded personally as he knew that Garen and his men were not familiar with the fleet''s system as they were all outsiders.


    "Prepare to fire all at once," Garen took over the captain''s military binoculars as he looked at the island far away.


    The island was completely deserted and was only filled with uneven surfaces of black rocks.


    "Level this island," Garen ordered calmly.


    "Understood," the captain nodded as he commanded his fleet through the ear microphone.


    Soon, the ship at the very front started its bombardment.


    Boom boom boom boom boom¡­.!


    Among the explosions of bombardment, the first cannon barrel recoiled instantly and white smoke constantly billowed from it. Then, the remaining cannon barrels on the ship fired off at the same time.


    Following its lead, the other battleships fired off as well.


    The series of bombardment shook the whole island as smokes, vapor, dust, and pebbles flew up in the sky. The black stones on the small island were instantly turned into dust. The small island was bombarded as if it was being hammered by a person with a huge hammer, flatting everything on the surface. With every bombardment, a huge amount of black rubble flew about everywhere.


    oon the whole island was engulfed in black smoke.


    After a while, the whole island''s upper region was filled with white smokes and dust.


    "Board the island!" Garen gestured his hands and he immediately started jumping from the battleship into the sea.


    A small boat appeared out of nowhere and caught him coincidentally before heading straight for the small island at full speed.


    Tu Lan and Nighthawks jumped down as well and, similar to Garen, were caught by the boat and went straight to the island.


    Other than these three, no one else dared to get close the island. This was because Garen had arranged beforehand and stated that those who did not possess enough strength would die regardless.


    Three boats raced towards the small island. Soon they slowed down as there were huge amounts of hidden coral reefs in the shallow region surrounding the island.


    "Let''s go!"


    Garen stood up, sprinted on the water surface and went straight to the island while the others followed from behind. Tu Lan was a natural at this and Baldy of the Nighthawks, who practiced the Shooting Shadow Secret Technique, had managed to learn this in the Holy Fist Palace.


    The bombardment stopped and there were jets revolving the island, observing the situation below and feeding the latest intel to Garen and the other two.


    After a few splashes on the water, Garen gently landed on a flat surface beside the black stone crater as he adjusted his headset.


    "Be alert of the surrounding at all times. Notify me immediately as soon as you notice anything strange."


    "Understood," a response was immediately sent through the headset.


    Garen looked over the horizon and most of the obstacles on the small islands were flattened out and craters formed by the cannons could be seen everywhere. The whole area was a total mess.


    "Come out Lion Mother. I know you''re here."


    He slowly walked to the center of the island but still, no one responded.


    Without the slightest change in expression, he soon arrived at the edge of a normal looking crater with the other two as they scanned their surrounding.


    Boom!!


    He stomped the ground with all his might and the ground instantly exploded as if it was hit by an explosive, forming another crater that rivaled the crater formed by the cannon.


    What was even more ridiculous was that the rubbles flying off from the newly formed crater didn''t even hit the other two at all.


    The power he showcased with his leg made those crew members who had never witnessed the strength of the Holy Fist Palace stared with their mouths wide open.


    After stomping out a crater, he gently jumped into the crater with the other two and stomped on the ground once more.


    Boom!!


    This time, rubbles didn''t fly out from the ground but a pitch black hole was formed underneath his leg.


    "This is it!" Garen''s gaze changed a little bit. When he realized that he had found his target, he immediately jumped into the pitch black hole while Nighthawks and Tu Lan followed behind without any hesitation.


    Inside the hole was a pitch black rugged tunnel. As the trio sprinted forward, they soon noticed a faint glimpse at the front.


    It was the end of the tunnel and it was glowing blue.


    They sprinted into the light and arrived at a huge and spacious cave lighted in blue.


    There was an unimaginably beautiful naked woman with white hair standing calmly inside the cave''s flat surface. She had a black note in her hand as she calmly stared at the arrival of the trio.


    "Lion Mother?" Garen was the first one to stepped forward and asked softly.


    "Holy Fist?" the lady''s gaze was very calm. "I knew that I''d fallen into your trap and revealed my location when I heard the ruckus coming from outside."


    "You just didn''t have enough information to work with," Garen said calmly. "If you knew that I could sense the Demonic Book''s location, you wouldn''t even allow your underlings to steal the Demonic Book."


    "That''s right¡­" Lion Mother sighed. "Come to think of it, this is the only item that is the root of this result." She lowered her head as she looked at the Demonic Book in her hand with a strange, glazed stare.


    "I have tried to destroy it but no matter what I do to it, the book would instantly turn into an illusion the moment it was hit. I couldn''t destroy it no matter what."


    "Regardless, I''ve already won." Garen walked forward slowly and with each step he took, his body expanded slowly. The black and thick black smoke-liked aura started to spread out from his legs.


    "That''s right¡­ You''ve won¡­" the Lion Mother nodded and raised her head up. However, blood started to flow out from her eyes. "However, I would do everything in my power and correct the course of the world, even if it means putting my body into the abyss for eternity. Don''t you dare think that you can have it your way¡­!!!" Her last tone immediately turned from the usual calmness to a horrifyingly sharp tone.


    In an instant, a wine red light, at a speed surpassing sound, shone onto Garen as if it was an actual light.


    As the red light bathed onto Garen, his body started to twist and turn about.


    "What is the world¡­?" he was stunned because even though he didn''t feel any pain from his body, the Demonic Book''s Soul Seed started to react rapidly.


    In an instant, the world''s rejection force was multiplied by numerous folds.


    Garen''s face immediately turned pale as he immediately retracted his body''s aura back into his body, keeping only the layer of black shadow on him. It acted as a black armor that protected his body from the rejection from the planet.


    "The rejection¡­ has been increased¡­ This person!" Garen''s gaze turned sharp.


    The red light from the Lion Mother kept bathing onto Garen as if it was endlessly emitting onto him while her body started to melt like a candle.


    As the red light kept emitting onto him, the rejection force onto Garen kept increasing over time.


    "Kill her!" Garen wasn''t able to move at all and could only shout in dissatisfaction. He couldn''t leave this place now as he still had a lot of things to do!


    Before he even shouted, Tu Lan and Baldy had already sprinted forward. The twisted stream of water turned into a giant icicle but it was broken off by Tu Lan''s palm.


    A huge boom was heard and a waist thick icicle flew out instantly, piercing Lion Mother''s body without much resistance.


    Thud!


    A huge hole was created in Mother Lion''s body. She moaned even though her face had melted to the point where it couldn''t be recognized. With that attack, her body melted even faster and after a while, she had completely turned into a pool of blood, lost her humanoid shape, and even the red light had stopped as well.


    Boom boom boom!!


    Garen took a few steps back and sweat started profusely dripping from his face. It was fortunate that he''d brought Tu Lan and Baldy along in case of emergency, but he didn''t expect that he would need them this early on.


    Lion Mother was about to sense the planet''s rejection of his existence and she was attempting to hasten the process.


    "Is she dead?" Tu Lan was in disbelief as the icicle pierced her bloody body. "Is she really the Lion Mother? Would she die this easily?"


    She had prepared herself for a difficult battle since she was the most mysterious witch queen in history, but she didn''t expect her to be so easily dealt with.


    "She had used up all of her life force in exchange for the rejection force to exile me," Garen''s face was still pale as he responded. "You can say that she has no remaining energy to defend herself the moment you attacked her. She had no plan to live after this from the very beginning."


    Tu Lan and Baldy were in disbelief as the legendary Mother Lion was defeated this easily.


    "Go and check around this place," Garen leaned against the wall inside the cave as he gestured his hand to tell them to ignore him. He wasn''t injured but exhausted from the pure will of fighting against the planet''s rejection of him.


    Both of them soon found a few ancient books, bamboo piece, stone piece and a large black crystal ball with a wing mark on it inside the cave.


    "The Mother Lion should be proud of herself since she was able to give me this much trouble," Garen responded as he felt that he only had a day left or two on this planet. He didn''t know what to feel about it.


    A mere Death Apostle decided to use such a unique method against him. She must have realized that physical attacks were of no use against him before she decided to go about on this route. If she couldn''t kill him, she would rather chase him away.

 767 Endnote 3

    Chapter 767: Endnote 3


    Holy Fist Palace


    Rafaelle was sitting quietly in her room as she distractedly flipped through a thick book. The evening light shone through the window, bathing onto her white tender legs, warming them.


    "Why hasn''t anyone realized that I''ve already obtained that book?" she was confused as she stared at the book in her lap without processing the contents within it.


    Suddenly she could feel a burning sensation on her chest. Without any hesitation, she pulled out the white gold necklace and she noticed that it was turning red.


    "What''s going on?! Why is the Alert Necklace activated?!" she immediately stood up and the book thudded onto the ground.


    She held onto the necklace as she scratched her finger with the sharp edge of the necklace and rubbed some blood onto the necklace.


    "Mother?? What''s going on? Why is the necklace activating?!" she whispered


    There was no response.


    Raffaele started to panic.


    "Mother! Speak up! Mother?!"


    "Stop wasting your breath," the door was slammed opened from outside. A beautiful woman came in together with a group of strong looking members in Taoist robes with a "Holy" word sewn on it.


    "Wizard Hong Ji, you are suspected of possession of another person''s body and mind control. I shall now apprehend you in the name of Holy Fist Palace!"


    The girl scoffed with a cold look on her face.


    "You! You guys!?" Raffaele''s face immediately turned pale.


    "Bring her away!" the woman waved her hand and two female members approached her as they tried to restrain Raffaele.


    "No!!" she shouted in a sharp tone.


    Raffael''s face turned pale and she agilely took a few steps back and a few somersaults as she landed behind the sofa.


    "Die!" the beautiful woman instantly turned into a few after images as she followed Raffaelle closely while attempting to punch her.


    Hong Ji, who was impersonating Raffaelle, was actually just a normal middle-level witch. Since she was not in her own body and fighting against a stronger opponent, it was only natural that she was defenseless against her.


    "Take her away," Quentin said calmly as she stood up, turned around and left the room.


    ****************


    Evening hour


    In the small town at the bottom of the Holy Fist Palace''s mountain.


    There was a quiet room. The lights were switched off as it was pitched black. The only light source was from the sun as it shone through the window, faintly lighting the room, leaving a few spots of lights on the mattress.


    Garen stood still in the darkness as he stared at Raffaele who was laying on the bed. Her golden hair had spread about on the pillow as she slept soundly. She was like a beautiful person posing on her side, revealing her pale and delicate hand as the white blanket had completely covered the rest of her naked body.


    As he listened to Raffaele''s breath, Garen leaned against the wall and took a deep breath. He then recalled the events for the past twenty years that had occurred since he first arrived this planet.


    "Say something if you''re awake. Stop pretending that you''re asleep," he whispered.


    Raffaele slowly opened her eyes. She didn''t move at all as she was still laying by her side.


    "What do you wish to say?" she whispered.


    "I''m sorry," Garen pondered for a while before voicing up.


    Both of them didn''t say anything afterward as the room settled into an awkward silence.


    After a while.


    "Why are you apologizing?" Raffaele broke the silence.


    "You wouldn''t be involved in this if not for me," Garen said softly. "Whatever. Have a good rest."


    He turned to the doors and gently opened it.


    "Come back to Grano."


    He opened the door and left the room.


    Clicked. He closed the door not knowing what to feel. He felt a little bit of troubledness but it was negligible as he''d been calm.


    The room was quiet as usual. Perhaps Raffaele didn''t know how to express her emotions and feelings so she could only stay silent. However, both of them could feel that they couldn''t be together no matter what.


    Perhaps Raffaele had reported to her Witch Association beforehand after she knew of the downfall of Lion Mother. The witches and the Holy Fist Palace were fated to fight against each other. The weakening of the witches was avoidable as well and they would lose their power from this world.


    After losing their only Death Apostle, all the witches had lost their only protection and would hide in the darkness from now on.


    Garen was the main enemy to the witches in general and in this scenario, they wouldn''t be able to be together no matter what.


    After leaving the room, Garen slowly walked down the streets of the small town. The Demonic Book in his mind had turned into an oval-shaped bud as it looked very colorful while shining brightly like a rainbow.


    The bud was vibrating softly and no one knew when it would blossom.


    Garen understood that it would be time for him to leave this world when it had bloomed. The planet''s rejection force had already reached a critical level. The moment he relaxed, he would instantly be rejected by the planet.


    However, there were still things that he''d yet to finish. It wasn''t to take back his soul primer as the primers had already been taken back before attending the meeting. While the weakening of the Holy Fist Palace would not be immediate, it would be after a few days.


    As he walked along the streets, Garen might have looked slow with his footsteps but he was actually incredibly fast; he covered a great distance with each step. He soon arrived at the vacation resort where his family was staying.


    Lights could not be seen from the outside at all.


    Garen slowed down his footsteps as he recalled that it was currently spring and entering summer soon. Hence, his parents should be away and be giving talks. As professors of a university and well-known researchers, their workloads were greater than usual in this period.


    As for his sister, she should be either fooling around at Rexott with Rod or attending classes.


    "Guess I''ve miscalculated¡­" Garen smiled wryly.


    He originally planned to visit his family one last time, but unfortunately¡­


    He took out the key and entered the quiet and dark room.


    He walked towards the sofa and sat on it as he casually threw the keys to one side, enjoying his last moment in this world peacefully.


    It was too late for him to call their family as he might be leaving this world in twenty to thirty minutes time.


    He sat on the sofa as time passed slowly.


    No one was interrupting him as he''d ordered his subordinates to not disturb him beforehand.


    He left a message for Tu Lan and the others. It was regarding the work arrangement after he left. He also left a few gifts to AG and vouched that the Lightless Alliance, Holy Fist Palace, and AG Nasira, who was representing the Dark Colors Witches, would be in balance before he left.


    The Dark Colors Witches Association had stopped calling themselves the Witch Associate as they had officially changed their name to Shadow Council two hours ago. AG had gathered all witches, regardless of gender. Those who possessed an above average strength would be part of the Witches Council, which was part of his plan to unify the witches. Perhaps he was in a huge conference at the Witch Palace even now.


    Time passed slowly.


    Garen sat quietly on the sofa as he could faintly feel that his body was reacting strangely. It was the chain effect caused by the planet rejecting him. The magnetic field started changing and all sorts of radiative interferences started to kick him out as if he was a threat.


    Perhaps it wouldn''t be a bad option to leave quietly just like Black Sethe. Garen sincerely thought so.


    "Teacher Garen?"


    Suddenly a clear and cautious female voice came from the door.


    Garen looked at the door.


    "Cece?"


    The girl who was standing by the door was Ninox.


    She was wearing a pair of white jeans and the Holy Fist Palace''s Taoist clothes with the "Holy" word embedded in it. The female Taoist cloth streamlined her thin waist and the jeans too perfectly, showed off her thin legs and hips. Combined with her elegant face and ashen, tender skin, it gave off a beautifully refined and slightly sexy vibe.


    With a black ponytail, Cece''s eyes stared into the house.


    Garen looked at the most talented female disciple in this world and felt that his loneliness had been washed away.


    "Why are you here?"


    Ninox''s face turned red as she didn''t dare to look into Garen''s eyes.


    "I¡­ I had been visiting sister Pella for a game of chess¡­" Pella was a family member of the neighboring family, who was also a close relative of a high ranking member of the Holy Fist Palace.


    As she felt Garen''s conspicuous gaze, Ninox panicked a little. She tried to take a few steps to avoid his gaze but her legs couldn''t move at all.


    She would never dare say that the reason she came to visit Garen''s family every day was to leave a better impression on his family.


    All her follow friends who had come in contact with Garen said that they feared Garen as he gave off a mysterious and powerful vibe. It was as if he was from the God''s realm; he was so perfect that he didn''t seem human at all. Many people respected him and there even were girls idolizing him. However, she knew that it was a dream that could never be achieved as she believed that Garen would never like her type.


    However Ninox understood that teacher Garen was still a person and just like everyone else, he required companions.


    "Come and have a sit," Garen smiled. "I didn''t expect that you would be the one who would accompany me at this time. Fate can be very mysterious at times."


    "What¡­ do you mean?" Cece didn''t comprehend his words as she stuttered while walking into the house before gently closing the door. The whole living room was pitch black and the only light source was the street light shining into the house through the window.


    Garen shifted himself to make space for her so that Cece could sit on the sofa. No matter how dark it was, they weren''t affected by it at all as both of them were Secret Technique Elites that possessed strong five senses. It would be natural for them to able to see clearly in the dark room.


    "What did you mean¡­" Ninox could feel that something was amiss and quickly questioned him.


    "There will be ups and downs in life, separation, and unification. You''re still young so you may not understand the meaning behind these words, but you''ll definitely figure it out one day," Garen smiled. "I''m not saying this casually."


    "Are you leaving?" Ninox understood Garen''s intention and panicked. "Are you going into hiding?"

 768 Endnote 4

    Chapter 768: Endnote 4


    Garen lost his cool and laughed. It was indeed true that those who were in the loop would definitely link everything like that.


    After a while, he slowly reached out his hand and pulled out his index finger.


    His clean nails had started to turn half transparent.


    He smiled and gently clenched his fist, "Do you see it? It''s the law of the world¡­"


    "Law?" Ninox''s pupils contracted as she saw the half transparent finger.


    "Don''t be sad," Garen said calmly as he gently caressed Cece''s hair.


    "You''re the most talented disciple I have. Do not be constrained by your emotion."


    Cece started to feel a sense of agitation as he lowered her head and clenched her fists tightly.


    Ding¡­ Ding¡­ Ding¡­


    It was the bell from the outer world.


    Garen was stunned as he saw the buds in his mind blooming. In that instant, the bud bloomed and gave off an unparalleled golden luster¡­


    He stood up and his body involuntarily expanded to the point he reached the fifth star. His monstrous demon-liked body stirred up the airflow inside the living room.


    Hu¡­!


    A strong gust blew against Cece and she was forced to take a few steps back.


    "Teacher!" panicked and confused as to what was going on, she raised up her head and looked at Garen, who was standing in front of the window under the moonlight.


    The breeze became stronger as it blew everything in the living room off onto the carpet as it made a ruckus.


    "As my last gift to you in this world," Garen stared calmly at his most valued disciple, who was also his most loyal member.


    "Destiny depends on you, and it is also my gift to you."


    Pew!!


    A black light flashed as a black line was traced through the air, landing accurately onto Ninox''s forehead.


    In an instant, Ninox''s head raised up and she was sent a few steps back.


    "Consider this as a trace of me existing in this world¡­"


    Roar¡­


    A deep roar echoed through the room as countless black shadows crawled out of Garen, fusing together and forming the shape of the black nine-headed dragon.


    In an instant, cracks propagated on the surface of the dragon''s shadow with a clear and high tone, and it shattered into millions of pieces as if a glass sheet had been smashed.


    "Teacher!!" Ninox rushed towards him in an attempt to grab hold of the black shadow, but her efforts were futile and she clutched at nothing.


    The Nine-Headed Dragon shattered, turning into countless black debris.


    She stood still, dumbfounded. She didn''t realize that tears were flowing down her cheeks and she couldn''t stop crying at all.


    *************


    In this instance at a certain square in Madrid, Ashen was holding onto Isaros'' hand as he subtly shifted his head, gazing in a certain direction.


    "What''s wrong?" Isaros'' cheek was blushing red. She looked at him curiously and followed his gaze, only to see a street of densely packed buildings.


    "Nothing," Ashen smiled. "I just felt that someone I knew had left."


    "Left?" Isaros was curious.


    "Don''t worry about it. Let''s go watch a movie," Ashen pinched Isaros'' face affectionately as they held each other''s hands and walked into a cinema.


    **************


    Indonesia.


    "Let''s try scuba diving in the dark this time. With the lights underneath the water, it''s going to be so much more exciting than during daytime," Vivien chuckled as she checked over the scuba equipment on her.


    "How is it going, Lisa? Are you done preparing?" she looked at a petite girl in a diver''s suit.


    "All set!" Alisa gestured an OK to her.


    "How about you, Rod?" Vivien tilted her head as he looked at the tall man.


    "I''m alright¡­ I think we should dive in the day¡­ It''s very dangerous at night. What if we encountered a shark or something¡­" Rod was still worried.


    "What''s there to fear about sharks? With my brother''s underlings around, the sharks would be committing suicide if they come after us! I''m still not over the shark fin soup I had last time, so it''s a good opportunity for me to get more of it!" Little Vivien gestured in confidence. She was currently enjoying life every day and was considered a rich and beautiful girl. With such a ridiculously overwhelming background as her main support, even the high-class merchants would have to respect her.


    In addition, the trio, Vivien, Rod, and Alisa, was considered this generation''s overlords. It was fortunate that the trio''s personalities weren''t reckless and so they didn''t develop into bullies.


    Vivien pointed at a black beach nearby them.


    "There''s twenty-four-hour guard duty over there! There''s nothing to be afraid of. Let''s go down into the water!"


    She was the first one to jump from the boat and was swallowed by the sea.


    Rod and Alisa exchanged looks hopelessly and then proceeded to don their oxygen masks.


    Waters were splashed and two of them entered the deep sea with their diving suit.


    The trio did have enough capital to not care about their expenditure at all.


    Even if Garen was no longer around, Alisa''s sister was Ashen''s lover. No matter what happened to the Holy Fist Palace, Garen''s reputation as the Holy Fist would never be shaken and the upper-level members would definitely be the first ones to protect them no matter what. In such a short amount of time, the appearance of the Holy Fist had become the very icon of overwhelming strength and the mental idol of the Holy Fist Palace. Furthermore, there had already been people idolizing him before this.


    For example, Ninox, Xander, Baldy and his wife.


    ****************


    Hu!


    Raffaele got up from the bed and she was drenched in her own sweat. She seemed like she''d just had a horrible nightmare.


    Her face was pale and her gaze was rather unfocused as if she''d just realized that she was at an unknown place.


    As she used the blanket to cover her upper body, she stood up from the bed as she could faintly hear some ruckus from outside.


    She looked down from the window and could see a lot of luxurious cars, even limited edition ones, passing by the area. A lot of high-class gentlemen were getting down from the cars under the protection of bodyguards as they walked to a building nearby.


    A huge amount of military soldiers had locked the whole area down with yellow tapes.


    Raffaele opened the window and a series of soft conversations could be heard among the winds. However, they were very faint and she couldn''t hear their voices clearly.


    Her gaze shifted and she drew an invisible symbol in front of her. The voices drowned by the wind were amplified.


    "... Lord Holy Fist shouldn''t have disappeared by accident. Based on his individual strength, there should be no one who can fight against him one on one."


    "Based on this logic, does that mean that what Captain Cece said is true?"


    "It''s very likely since Lord Holy Fist''s martial arts have reached a realm beyond our imaginations. If we related him to the stories in the east, it wouldn''t be impossible for him to achieve the level of flying in the sky."


    "That''s in the realm of fantasy! I believe Lord has gone to another place to search for a stronger martial art," one of them said so.


    "Regardless, we need to announce that Lord Holy Fist has isolated himself from the world to the public. The main power of the Holy Fist Palace is him so we must delay the truth as long as possible. Furthermore, Lord Ashen is currently our Vice Palace Master. We don''t even need Lord Holy Fist to maintain our power," one of the eastern practitioners broke down his analysis.


    "This is a good idea."


    "Right. Let''s go with this for now!"


    Raffaele looked in their direction from afar and she could only see a few heads moving about as the voice came from inside the house. She didn''t realize that two contours had appeared quietly at the dark corners of her room while she was eavesdropping on them. They were the Upper-Level Blood Breeds from the Holy Fist Palace. If she had been someone with no qualifications, she would''ve been killed already.


    "Garen¡­" Raffaele muttered softly.


    ****************


    New York.


    "I hereby announce, the beginning of the world''s first Witch parliamentary election!!"


    In a hall filled with thousands of people, AG was in a white suit. His hair was neat and tidy, giving off a waxy reflection, and he had a clean and delicate silver crutch in his hand.


    He stood on the main platform as he looked at the densely packed witches. He had a feeling of satisfaction that couldn''t be described in words.


    Indeed, he had succeeded.


    After revealing his secret on how to maintain his strength while leaving his ancestral land, he had immediately gained ninety percent of the witches'' support, regardless of gender. The number one issue for the witches had always been them being unable to leave their ancestral lands. Once they did so, they would exhaust all the blessed ancestral water which they always carried along and their strength would decrease dramatically.


    Now that AG had gifted this secret technique to the masses, all male and female witches were no longer bound by this chain.


    This also meant that the witches were now qualified to stand on the world''s stage as well.


    The old witches who held power were replaced by the Shadow Council and AG was the first speaker who was elected by a majority vote. This was also a milestone of the arrival of the supernatural generation.


    The Death Apostle level AG had successfully replaced Mother Lion.


    Nasira had become the Deputy Speaker as she assisted AG.


    It was time for the Witches to rise with the world¡­


    In the same year, the Holy Fist Garen of the Holy Fist Palace had passed on as he tried to surpass his limits. Once the news was out, countless of martial art practitioners were devastated.


    While AG and the rest of the countries tried to maintain their powers in terms of supernatural strengths and the Holy Fist isolating himself from the world, this sparked everyone''s greed. Hence the world was once again thrown into chaos.


    ***************


    Garen''s vision was completely black as he felt that he was ejected out of the planet by an unknown force.


    His body had turned into a blob of black dragon-shaped aura as he was forced into the endless starry space away from the planet. He looked behind at the blue planet that was shrinking in size and dimming at the same time.


    His speed gradually increased and reached its limit.


    The surrounding stars blinked brightly and he wasn''t sure where he was heading, nor in which direction.


    "I can''t just fly out without any direction," Garen felt that his body had completely melted and became a pure aura with his soul as the guidance.


    Suddenly the universe around him started trembling.


    Splash!


    He seemed to have been dumped into some sort of fluid, as Garen thought that he had been thrown into the sea. He was caught in a ferocious tide from the vacuum space.


    His soul could clearly see that he was surrounded by light yellow river water while moving at high speed.


    "No¡­ This isn''t water¡­ This is aura in a liquid state!" Garen was stunned as he finally knew where the planet''s rejection was sending him to.


    He was at the Mother Stream! It was also the place where he''d first appeared!

 769 New World 1

    Chapter 769: New World 1


    The Mother Stream was endless as it bypassed the space-time continuum. No one knew exactly where it originated and no one could see its ending point as well. Every Secret Technique practitioner could only see its ferocious current.


    The moment Garen entered the Mother Stream, he looked out from within the river and what replaced the universe''s starry sky was a dimensional space filled with rainbow-colored light.


    "Is this the scenery of the Mother Stream?"


    It was his first time seeing himself floating in the Mother Stream this clearly.


    His accumulation last time wasn''t as vast as this time. Furthermore, his current world was of a higher level than the previous two so the aura he accumulated was exhausted at a much lower rate than last time.


    Garen could feel that his aura, which had transformed into the black nine-headed dragon, was being constantly corroded by the fluid. It was as if the fluid was a very acidic acid that kept melting him away as the surface of the black nine-headed dragon was bubbling ferociously, with small black debris turning into powder.


    "I wonder what world I''ll be placed into this time¡­" Garen looked deep into his soul and saw two glowing Soul Seeds floating inside. One was icy blue while the other was a faint yet rich gold. These two seeds were like flowers as they were placed inside beautifully.


    Buzz¡­.


    Suddenly an oppression as powerful as the sea passed by the river''s surface. A faint numbing anger and growl could be sensed from the oppression.


    "I smell it¡­ the Void Hunter... The scent of the Warlock''s descendant¡­"


    "Where is it¡­ Where is it¡­!"


    The overwhelming oppression kept surging through the Mother Stream. Series of huge waves formed as if there was an ongoing hurricane.


    The waves of pure spiritual ripples expressed the oppressor''s will clearly.


    Garen''s soul looked up and saw the seven-colored barrier writhing as it cracked loudly.


    "What is that¡­?" even before the opponent had approached any closer, he could sense an overwhelming danger when it was still outside the barrier, as it was able to induce giant waves just with its will alone.


    Deep down, Garen knew that he had encountered a super creature among the Void Creatures. Hence he suppressed his aura much as possible by reducing his surface contact with the river.


    He could faintly feel all sorts of overwhelming power from its will. The source of its strength was similar to his, which was the Soul''s Strength. However, his was at least ten times stronger than Garen''s in terms of Quantity.


    This sort of existence was something he couldn''t hope to fight against!


    "The Void Creatures¡­ No wonder Nadia warned me to not enter the Void arbitrarily¡­" Garen put his thoughts away while not having a single bit of fear at all. He was purely flowing the Mother River''s current without any destination in mind.


    After some time, a few powerful void creatures appeared outside the realm outside the river once more. Each and every one of them had at least ten Soul Seeds and their soul color was colorless. Each of them riled the Mother River and this made Garen understood how dangerous the Void Creatures outside the Mother Stream was. All he could do was to minimize his surface area to extend the time of his drift.


    It was a journey of life and death whenever he entered the Mother River. Once his aura had been completely corroded, the soul would be next in line and this would injure it severely. He would then disappear within the Mother River, becoming one of the many imprints inside it.


    The frequency of the powerful Void Creatures appearing increased as time passed.


    Eventually, Garen was able to differentiate their strength based on their will and aura alone.


    Only creatures of soul seed level were able to sense the movement inside the Mother River. Furthermore, the Soul Seed''s foundation was the colorless rank and the seven color ranks were the stronger ones. Each increment in level would mean an improvement in its quality.


    These creatures that noticed Garen''s presence were at least colorless rank. Perhaps their training regime was different from that of the humans as they had to gather tens of soul seeds even though they were still at this rank. As a human, Garen had only obtained two soul seeds and these souls'' colors weren''t even cleansed properly. This meant that he hadn''t even entered the Soul Seed Level and was nowhere close to the colorless rank.


    Fortunately, he would require only five Soul Seeds to enter the colorless rank. After all of them were purified into colorless, he would be able to step forward to the next level.


    He had drifted for a long time and soon, Garen could feel that the river''s current was slowing down and was no longer as fast as before.


    Most of his aura had been corroded away and he only had a fifth of it left. He felt that he had entered one of the many forks and with a jolt, he seemed to have crashed into a barrier as he was swept into a very narrow passage.


    As the current slowed down, he could sense that the surrounding seven-colored barrier had become weaker and thinner through his soul seed.


    After some time, Garen had exhausted all of his aurae and his own spiritual energy was being corroded.


    It was fortunate that he was much more resistant as compared to before now that he had two soul seeds, hence the corrosion rate was much slower than when he had one soul seed.


    He flowed along with the current. With his aura spent, he started to panic, as he''d put two lifetimes of effort to obtain this amount of soul strength. With it being corroded, every second counted and if one of his soul seed were to be destroyed, his effort of a lifetime would be wasted!


    The current of the Mother River slowed down as if there were something blocking just up front.


    Garen flowed along the slowing current and he soon realized that the surrounding river had changed its color into green, which was the color he saw when he first saw the Mother River.


    It changed from yellow to yellow-green to finally green.


    Within the river, he shrunk into a black blob of a sort. He went with the flow along with other contaminants.


    Garen looked around and the edge of the river had narrowed down to a few meters apart from the horizon.


    "The powerful Void Creatures from the previous days seem to have disappeared."


    Garen was unable to determine how many days had passed so he could only estimate. The powerful Void Creatures had stopped appearing and it seemed that he was headed to a rather secluded area.


    He looked around and the river was filled with contaminants such as white bone debris, strange looking metal and some rotting feathers. There even were some sort of plants and leaves as well.


    However, he didn''t encounter any soul''s substance like him drifting in the river.


    It wasn''t just his immediate surroundings, he hadn''t encountered any existence similar to him ever since he was drifting about. It was as if the Mother River bore no life.


    Time passed slowly¡­


    Soon, The seven-colored barrier above the Mother River started to crack open.


    After that, holes of various sizes appeared from the crack. Some were the size of an ant while some were as big as a fist.


    Garen looked out of these holes and could see black gas rotating like a whirlpool, leading to an unknown location.


    However, the situation didn''t allow him to delay things further as one of the two soul seeds started to show signs of corrosion. If he didn''t find a way to leave the river, he would lose one of his soul seeds in a few days!


    "I have to do something! I need select one of the holes and leave this place!" Garen had made a decision. He started to sense the colorful barrier above the Mother River. Some of these holes were so small that his body wasn''t able to fit in at all and only holes of the size of the washbasin were big enough for him to enter.


    He could sense from the black gas that these holes would lead him to an unknown universe. No one was entirely sure what sorts of dangers it had to offer but the had no choice but to choose one.


    Finally, he saw a hole the size of a washbasin.


    As he was about to be washed past it, Garen released all of his spiritual energy. The spiritual energy merged with the Mother River''s aura, turning it into a powerful force that pushed him out from the surface of the river.


    With a splash, Garen broke free from the river and went flying towards the hole.


    Thud!!


    At this moment, a wave riled up and engulfed him whole, pushing him back down.


    With a huge splash, Garen was sent back into Mother River once more.


    He panicked and tried to jump out once more. By the time he struggled free, the hole was already far away from its original location.


    "Damn it!" Garen was back into the Mother River. He could sense that his soul seed had corroded once more and he was very upset about it. These were the essence he gathered in two lifetimes and now it could be corroded at any moment.


    He had already sensed that the Mother River seemed to have a mysterious power. The Mother River had already taken him, who had been living for so long drifting in the river as one of itself and would not let go of him easily.


    He had completely missed the hole at this point. Although current was slow, it was determined to drive him far away from it.


    "No wonder there were so many of these holes, the Mother River wouldn''t flow into it."


    Garen understood what was going on.


    "I can only wait for the next opportunity¡­"


    He waited patiently. It was fortunate that the Mother River had narrowed down even further and the seven-colored barrier was filled with holes of various sizes. All of these holes were filled with black rotating whirlpools. Some were the size of a nail while some were the size of a head but it was rare to encounter one the size of a washbasin.


    Garen waited patiently. After a while, another washbasin-sized hole appeared within his vision.


    "This is the one!" he released his senses as he confirmed the location of the hole with extreme precision and started to gather his strength. He knew that he needed to immediately sprint out before the Mother River reacted when he released his strength. If not, history would repeat itself and pull him down back into the river.


    The hole was getting closer¡­ and closer...

 770 New World 2

    Chapter 770: New World 2


    As Garen waited for the best moment to leap out of the surface, his body, which was in the form of a black blob, shrunk slowly and became much smaller than before.


    Finally, when he was a small distance from the hole.


    Splash!!


    Within the crisp clear sound of the water splashing, a black shadow emerged out from the river and flew directly towards the hole.


    With a thud, the shadow was absorbed into the hole. The green river of the Mother River below reached out a whip of water which danced about for a few moments. Once it realized the target had escaped, it collapsed and everything was calm once more.


    ***************


    Garen jumped into the hole and he felt that he had jumped into a layer of black, sticky and oily substance.


    There was no light or anything around him at all.


    Garen could sense that his surrounding area spanned hundreds of meters apart, but there was nothing in here at all. There was only him moving forward at high speed.


    It seemed like an area where there was no light nor gravity. Garen could only feel that he was moving at a very high speed.


    "Luckily the Mother Stream''s corrosion doesn''t exist here, so I should be able to last for a while," Garen looked around carefully but he didn''t notice anything but himself. The sticky sensation previously had disappeared. Perhaps he had gotten used to it.


    He felt that he was transmigrating in a mysterious tunnel.


    Perhaps ten days have passed, maybe twenty days, it was so long to the point that Garen had lost track, and he had been traveling forward this whole time.


    Debris started to appear in the surroundings. He seemed to be inside a very long black passage and cracks started to appear around him. What made it strange was that he could see the light of the stars through these cracks.


    Thud!


    Suddenly everything in front of him was empty and Garen seemed to have been ejected out of some sort of a tunnel. His surrounding lit up instantly and he was ejected into a beautiful nebula.


    Garen felt that there was a fiery hot giant fireball behind him as the light radiated in all directions.


    "That''s a Guidance Star¡­" he recognized the name of the fiery golden star.


    The Guidance Star behind him had covered almost his entire field of vision. Magma was moving about lazily on the surface. Dark red magma was crawling on the surface like a worm and there were blinding golden geysers gushing at other parts of the surface as well.


    Garen, who was in the shape of a black ball, looked around to see densely packed stars blinking everywhere. Some of the light blue stars glowed faintly while some old and mysterious looking ones were stationary as he moved about.


    Garen noticed that the black tunnel that he was ejected out from had disintegrated after maintaining its shape for a short while.


    He didn''t know what that was but it was most likely the warp gates extended by the Mother River. It connected all the universe''s worlds together. It was something Black Sethe had casually mentioned before as if it was common knowledge.


    If it was the Mother River''s warp gate, then it would most likely be impossible for him to return. This was because these warp gates usually lasted for a very short amount of time. It was short-lived and would pierce through many parts of the spacetime continuum, but would be automatically disintegrated by the universe''s force. It was a once in a lifetime occurrence.


    When he had reached this space, he had no idea how long he would have to wait for the Mother River''s warp gate to open once more. According to the Warlocks'' knowledge, there were theoretically an infinite amount of worlds in this universe as the universe would die and being reborn endlessly. It could extend to countless worlds and even a minute difference would mean that it was another world as well.


    Garen floated among the stars quietly and soon could no longer sense the Mother River''s warp gate behind him. The radiation from the Guidance Star pushed him forward towards the center of his field of vision but the direction slightly deviated.


    According to the Warlocks'' research, the Mother River only existed outside the living realm. This was because the Mother River''s water was made out of liquid aura and aura was made from the living being''s spiritual essence. This meant that new beings could be born there.


    It was very much confirmed that living beings would exist near the Mother River.


    Unsurprisingly, he immediately sensed a huge blue planet in the direction where he was heading to. It was as if the planet suddenly decided to appear in his senses.


    Garen passed through a white barrier-like protective net and landed directly on the planet. What accompanied him by his sides were large amounts of debris. He seemed to have caught up to a large scale meteor shower¡­


    ***************


    "...Mother Planet''s invisible defensive net has detected an abnormally huge meteor shower today. According to the researcher, the largest meteor has a radius of 2.1cm and the smallest one is just a few mm wide. They will be burnt up by the atmosphere and there would be no debris from the meteor shower¡­"


    "You should eat more because you''ll need to go to school again tomorrow."


    Inside a rather simple white room, a family was having their lunch on a round table. There was a variety of tasty looking fried vegetables placed on the table. Steam subtly dissipated from the stew, giving off a mouthwatering fragrance.


    At the table, there was a middle-aged woman who kept dropping vegetables into the bowl of a teenager.


    There were two adults, one elder, and three children eating quietly on the table. All the plates were made from white porcelain and some part of them had already chipped off. It seemed that this family wasn''t that well off.


    The white light in the room was slightly dimmed and there was very little furniture inside as well. There were only tables, chairs, television, sofa and a picture of an old man framed onto the wall. Other than that everything was white and clean.


    The two adults'' faces were covered with wrinkles and both of them looked very tired. They were wearing their bleached working attires. They had golden hair, blue eyes, and sharp noses. However, their faces gave off an easterner''s vibe.


    The television by the side was broadcasting the evening news repeatedly.


    In the family, two of the younger siblings were looking at the big bowl of vegetable stew placed in the middle of the table. However, they didn''t reach out their hand to take it but to stare at the eldest one eating at one side.


    "You should eat more. Remember to study well in school. Your dad and I have suffered so much because we didn''t do well back then," the middle-aged woman kept passing more vegetables to the youngster.


    "I know I know. How many times do you have to say it! You''re so annoying!" The black haired, blue eyed boy grumbled. Similar to the only elder in the table, he didn''t inherit his parent''s hair color. He had a long fringe which covered at least half of his face while a look of annoyance twisted his face as he casually replied to his mother''s nagging.


    The teenager was in a clean uniform, and its collar and cuffs had a vertical blade emblem that was glowing faintly on it.


    "Alright, I''m full," the youngster placed down his bowl and hurried into his room. He immediately slammed his door after entering the room.


    "Let''s eat," it was only then the only elder voiced up while the remaining two children started reaching out their hand towards the food.


    "Take it easy¡­" both middle-aged parents smiled as they gave half of the remaining stew to their children and the meats to the elderly.


    "That''s enough. I''m an old grandma who can''t eat much. You guys can have it as both of you need to wake up early in the morning to work," the elder sighed as she pushed away the offered meat.


    Inside the room.


    The black haired youngster ran to the only computer inside and switched it on.


    His name was displayed at the corner of the computer: Nonosiva Lin.


    Nonosiva was different from his peers of the same age. He was the only hope of his family as he had been admitted into the nation''s best mech academy, Lakyusaier, with his outstanding results during his middle school days. The academy was also known as the Blackboard Academy.


    It was a very well known academy among the nearby states. It had a long history and had produced a lot of state-level senior generals. With the alliance segregated during the chaos, the districts were basically represented by the academy''s strength. This was because the academy had gathered all the powerful individuals into one and they possessed their own uniquely inherited mech sects. Out of all the academy, Blackboard Academy possessed the oldest combat strategies known in multiple states.


    With Nonosiva admitted into such a prestigious academy, it was only natural that his family had placed all of their hopes on him.


    In this society with its order on the verge of collapse, the academy had the most authority as it led the government''s military and acted as its guardian. It was every man''s dream to be able to become an official Mech Pilot.


    Nonosiva switched on his computer and quickly entered into the homepage called the new Blackboard Academy. As he was requested to enter his password, he used a scanner to scan the blue blade shaped emblem on his collar.


    The black website then revealed that the password was correct. After validating his access, he immediately went to the database.


    The Combat Techniques for all sorts of mechs appeared on the menu.


    Level one Curved Steps, Level one Lightsaber, Level one Cannon Fire Control, Level one Magnetic Cannon Technique, Level one Life Cycle Maintenance¡­


    Knowledge was categorized in detail and was displayed on the menu.


    Nonosiva ignored the purchasing catalog and went to the very bottom to key in his personal information.


    ''Nonosiva. Lin -- Possessing Level one Curved Step, Possessing Level one Cannon Fire Control, Basic Awareness Module¡­''


    To be able to receive an official rating meant that Nonosiva''s strength was considered very good among his peers. Most of his friends of the same age were still at the Basic level and were hence unqualified for a level rating.


    One should know that it was extremely difficult to even achieve the lowest level. One would only be qualified for graduation after achieving level one in every subject within eight years of study inside the academy. Nonosiva had managed to obtain two level one qualifications before the start of his second year semester, which meant that his results were indeed very impressive. He had always been among the top three in his class.


    He looked at his results and couldn''t help but to smile ecstatically. He unconsciously started touching the small crescent-shaped device inside his shirt.


    Compared to those formidable students who had good family backgrounds and outstanding personal trainers who trained them daily, he who had obtained such an amazing achievement with his poor background was only able to do so with assistance.


    He had a secret which would allow a normal student to improve rapidly and stand out from among tens of thousands of students and become one of the hundreds of elites admitted into the Blackboard Academy.

 771 Moments 1

    Chapter 771: Moments 1


    Fiddling with the Moonfang inside his pocket, he quickly registered for the assessment with his personal details.


    "Nonosiva Lin, registering for the Level 1 assessment of Magnetic Cannon."


    The Magnetic Cannon was a weapon assembled with highly magnetic metal into a cannon that fired out at top speed, achieving the specific goal of destroying metal armor in a targeted long distance attack. However, because its recoil power was strong, it would naturally be difficult to be accurate with it.


    "As long as the five levels are achieved, I''ll be eligible for professional tactics lessons!" Nonosiva mumbled, his heart blazing with determination.


    Professional tactics: each one of them was the accumulative end result of different generations of research. They were huge techniques that were combined with all sorts of brilliant tactics using the most advanced optical computers. Even the legendary inheritance tactics were improved and developed versions of these basic tactics.


    Currently, with the operation of the Will-powered Mech over the past few hundred years, there have been countless tactics that trained the consciousness. In terms of mech operating, it seemed to have reached a peaking point.


    The Mother Planet Federation and the Galactic Alliance were facing the threat of the Finite War, which had been going on for thousands of years and was soon reaching a critical point.


    All sorts of different consciousnesses have brought along their own trademarks and strengths. Even though they came in waves, the weak were eradicated and now only the cream of the crop remained.


    Every time Nonovisa reminisced about this magnificent history, there was always a desire and impulse that he could not suppress. It was said that during the campaign, there was a mech that was the strongest, which could change the situation on the battlefield on its own. It was hailed as a miracle.


    He gripped the Moonfang in his pockets.


    "I''ve got this in the bag, I can certainly pass the assessment easily!" he was strangely confident of the Moonfang that he''d unexpectedly obtained. His love and passion for the mech was also a reason why he''d chosen to enter into the school''s mech ranks.


    It had been revealed he only had normal intellectual requirements, but with this Moonfang, he was able to overcome this step and enter Blackboard Academy.


    The Moonfang had an automated control mech which helped with manipulating the battle, if it was on one''s person, it would provide one with assistance.


    Automatically calculating the projectile track while automatically avoiding any obstacle, this was just some external hack!


    Xu Wei adjusted the webpage in frustration while carefully looking over anything that was related to the assessment.


    He believed that as long as he has the Moonfang, he would easily pass.


    Nonosiva had been born into a very poor family; his parents were only ordinary office workers and the pay was just average. Meanwhile, Blackboard Academy''s fees were very expensive, and there was still a huge sum to pay as a security deposit, in case any practice mech was damaged.


    To ensure that he got to attend the academy, both of them did their best to save what they could borrow from people. Only then were they able to gather a smaller sum for his school fees and security deposit, although they still had to pay the bank loan''s interest each month.


    This high-class academy was unusually expensive, so in order to allow their older brother to have a chance to succeed, the younger brother and sister gave up their chance to further their studies, even though both of them had good grades.


    He also became the family''s only hope; everyone was proud to say that he was the oldest brother or child to outsiders, and they even let him eat his fill of the non-manufactured food first before they started eating it themselves when they were home.


    Dong...


    The doorbell chimed.


    "What?" Nonosiva was always very focused when reading his materials, and it made him impatient whenever he was disturbed.


    "Nono, your points for this month have been added to your card," his father Rondo said.


    "Okay!" Nonosiva was warmer this time. Him applying for this assessment was exactly the time that he needed the money, and there were also a few things that he wanted to buy but did not have the money to.


    His father Rondo coughed a few times, then left to rest.


    Nonosiva stood up, walked to the door and had a look. On the bench next to the door, there was a white card, and there were blue, faintly shimmering digital numbers on the top.


    He held it up and used his fingers to give the number a swipe, the numbers immediately changed.


    "Only this little!!!? Nono''s face changed, "How is this enough for me!!?" He eyed his parent''s room, his face twisted hideously.


    Bang!


    Slamming the door loudly, Nono angrily marched back in front of his computer.


    He was not content! When compared with other students, his family was not all that bad, but the other students were ampler than he was most of the time.


    This could not be helped, as the families that were able to be involved with mechs were naturally slightly well off. On the contrary, there were not a lot of students who were lucky like him.


    Rumble¡­.


    Suddenly, there was a clap of thunder rolling, and the window was slightly vibrating from it.


    By the window, the black curtain was flapping in the wind, blocking Nono''s sight and flying in his face.


    "That was a big wind..." he quickly got up to close the window.


    Swoosh!


    A bit of black light suddenly flew in from outside the window. It came in at an angle where it was blocked by the curtain and it suddenly stuck on his body before disappearing.


    "What bug was that?" Nono jumped and closed the window before checking over his body carefully. He''d felt like something has collided with his body just now, maybe it was a small bug.


    He looked for a while but did not find anything, so he went back to where he was previously and sat down.


    He never noticed that there were now tiny lines of blood vessels on his face that looked like a fine, blood-red web that covered his face, which was rather horrifying.


    Nono was only focused on the computer screen, showing no signs of distraction.


    Luckily the blood vessels on his face were only there for a while before they slowly vanished back into his skin.


    The next day


    Blackboard Academy basic training field


    Amidst the field of black sand, two gray humanoid mechs stood facing each other. They were surrounded by a multitude of red dots, each representing a surveillance detector.


    Two bots standing motionless while surrounded by red lights, it was eerily peaceful.


    The grey mech that had a shape like it was holding its belly started to have puffs of air jetting out from behind it.


    The mech was about five meters tall, and in the middle of its metal belly was a small glass window. Inside was a seventeen or eighteen-year-old teenager seated there.


    "Today''s fifth assessment, ready!" a bearded man shouted from the side of the field. He was in his 30s or 40s and was a tall and burly man. He had tanned skin, a beaten-down look and was wearing a green cap.


    Next to the man stood many similarly aged teenagers. There were guys and girls, all clad in the Blackboard Academy uniform.


    "The shooting training is secure, move out, move out, all non-related personals please leave the danger zone..." a calm robotic female voice rang throughout the field.


    The man glanced at both of the students inside the mechs.


    "The official assessment is a fight to the death, you guys be careful," he called loudly, his voice full of confidence.


    Seeing the "no problem" sign given by both mech pilots, he nodded. He illuminated his hands and then waved them down furiously.


    "Begin!"


    Woo...


    Two deep sounds of engines revving up rumbled suddenly.


    The mechs in the field started up at the same time, whipping out a grey-white pistol, and aiming at the opponent.


    The bearded man nodded, then started to explain to the students next to him.


    "Their movement is not bad, you see the pistol in their hands? That is a magnetic gun. There is no need for the real magnetic cannon in the assessment. Even though this magnetic pistol does not have the same power, it has a recoil power similar to the magnetic cannon and it''s very cost-effective to use in practice."


    The students next to him all nodded.


    "Then do you think Nonosiva can pass his assessment this time?" a girl with brown wavy hair, dark skin and a normal face asked.


    "Mina, are you two friends?" the teacher looked at her. "This is up to him to decide, but the first few assessments were not bad, so his chances of passing are high."


    "Nono is the third place of our class, but he only registered to take the level one assessment when he''s in the second year now¡­ " the boy next to Mina whispered.


    "All of you work hard, then you may be in his place too!" the teacher smiled in agreement.


    Before the voices died down, the two mechs had suddenly started moving and shooting at the same time.


    Red sparks could be seen at the mouth of the pistol briefly, but both the mechs seemed to have failed, missing each other. Instead, they were pushed backward violently by the recoil.


    The two in the field were like two grey animals, expanding their arcs quickly and avoiding all the possible areas the other could aim at. In a flash, there was dust everywhere, and only thundering engine sounds could be heard.


    They shot out magnetic bullets, managing to hit only the empty fields behind each other after missing before they were temporarily blocked by an invisible, corrugated barrier.


    Inside one of the mech, Nonosiva had one hand on one joystick, while the other was typing quickly on the tight-knit panel of buttons next to the joystick.


    He was not in sync with the mech''s mechanism; his speed when it came to robot control was not very quick, and there were a lot of moves that he was not able to do, hence the mech would dodge on its own.


    At this time, next to the mech''s control system, there was a small white silver Moonfang that emitted a white pale glow as if there was something fluorescent within, and there was a faint sound of grinding gears coming from it.


    "I am someone with a secret weapon! Hahaha!!" Nonosiva would become irritable every time he got into the mech, it was a contrast to his usual quiet self. It was as if all the pressure he suppressed were freely expressed here.


    The round screen in front suddenly shook violently; the mech also started to avoid the opponent''s shots.


    His third shot had better accuracy than the previous two, and Nono''s face glowed with satisfaction. However, using his willpower to control the mech was very draining. Controlling the mech with willpower while supporting manually with the control interface was currently the most popular method of control.


    However, to him, it was still a heavy load. As the mech quickly adjusted the steering, the huge amount of inertia created was something that he as the driver needed to take up.


    He did not realize that the Moonfang next to his hand has already been moved due to the movement of the mech and small cracks could already be seen. The temperature inside was getting higher and higher.

 772 Moment 2

    Nono was still immersed in capturing his opponent in the shooting game and did not feel any different.


    The Moonfang that he''d acquired was actually made from parts of the control assistance of a high-end mech. The resources inside were not much even in the beginning, and after idling and then being used for so long, the resources inside had nearly been used up. On top of that, it did not have a cooling feature, and as the high temperature from its usage was unable to be cooled down, the Moonfang started to crack.


    Kachak!


    Suddenly, there was a crisp sound, but it was immediately drowned out by the mech''s machinery noises inside the cockpit. Nono did not realize this at all, that the crescent moon had slowly dimmed, losing its previous white glow.


    The mech rolled to the right, avoiding the fourth shot from the opponent.


    As Nono rested for a while, he saw that the opponent''s mech was adjusting its pistol. He recognized this as the technique of a two-timed reload, but he did not panic. Even though his control speed was unable to react to the incoming attack in time, considering that his real skills were only that of a beginner''s, this kind of moment was always aided by the Moonfang''s automated control to avoid attacks like these.


    His finger was already clicking on the fire pistol button, and now all he had to do was to wait to avoid the opponent''s attack and then, attack.


    Suddenly he felt that something was wrong, why was the mech not moving?!


    "What is going on!!??" he saw that the opponent''s pistol was pointing towards him, but the mech remained quiet and he was now panicking slightly. He glanced at his Moonfang briefly, only to realize that it had cracked open and that there was no longer any light inside.


    "No!!! My Moonfang!!"


    He cried out loud, his eyes reflecting unspoken horror. If the magnetic pistol hit the cockpit, he would be disabled, if not dead!


    He tried to grab hold of the Moonfang, but the sudden wave of fear in his body had paralyzed him! His whole body was frozen and he could not even move a finger.


    At that moment, the pistol was getting lower and lower, and the finger on the faraway mech had already pulled the trigger.


    "I don''t want to die!!! No! No!!" Nono finally broke down, he cried, his face dripping with tears.


    "If you don''t want to die, then give me the body..." a voice from his heart rang.


    No one could see it, but Nono''s face was suddenly covered in multiple blood vessels. A huge, terrifying web of blood vessels covered his face in an instant.


    A dot of black passed by his deep blue eyes.


    Crash!!!


    Nono only felt his head being flung, his consciousness that was full of fear was now filled with satisfaction. He avoided the situation that he was the most fearful of, plunging straight into the unnaturally tranquil dark...


    It was only for a moment that he lost complete consciousness. He was contented, he was away from danger, but he didn''t know that once he sank, he would never have a chance to wake up again.


    The changes in the soul were abnormally complicated, but in the outside world, only a moment had passed.


    Nonon opened both his eyes wildly. His irises were now an unnerving black.


    At that moment all the fear in his face vanished, and it was replaced by a peaceful and calm expression.


    Bang!


    The magnetic cannon was fired.


    Red sparks were seen as the pistol''s grey bullet headed straight for the mech''s cockpit.


    "Something''s not right!!!" Garen had just accepted this body, and it felt wrong!


    The strength of his soul was restrained in the body and he was unable to use his strength. And this was not even the most troublesome part; the most dangerous thing was that the inner body structure and genetic arrangement of the humans here were different from the last two bodies that he had reincarnated into! Completely different!


    A piercing pain jolted the body that he''d just occupied. That was because the spirit was too powerful for the vessel that it''d occupied.


    This kind of grinding caused him to be unable to connect with the nerves completely in the body, and so even moving was extremely difficult. His whole body was in piercing pain as if a drill was digging into his bones.


    Garen tried his best to slow down the magnetic bullet, but it was too lates as he could only connect to his five senses in such a short span.


    The magnetic bullet was about to hit the cockpit, and if it was hit, this body that he had not mastered yet would be seriously wounded. A great amount of strength from the soul seed was needed to occupy a body and it could not be undone after it was occupied, otherwise, the strength of soul used earlier would be wasted. In his current situation, he could not bear to suffer this loss, for the soul seed would face a danger of collapsing.


    The most important thing was once he had occupied the body, it was equivalent to having a legal identity in this world. Should this legal identity perish, he would be decomposed forcefully by the laws of this world and there was even a possibility of him being sent back to the river.


    "What should I do!!?" Garen was thinking swiftly. He had not anticipated the incompatibilities between the body and his soul. His initial plan had been to take over the body during a crucial moment when the original body was weak, but this situation was unexpected.


    There was now a sense of an impending threat. According to this weak body, there was no way to block such a powerful weapon.


    -------


    At the field


    Of the two mechs, as the one of the left lifted its arm to fire, the one on the right unexpected froze. Its fluid motions had suddenly stopped.


    Bang!


    The gun went off.


    The students standing next to the teacher all shouted in shock at the scene. Each of their faces was nervous, and their eyes were all wide open.


    "What''s going on? Why did Nono stop!"


    "Is there something wrong with the mech?"


    "He''s done for, he''ll be heavily injured if not dead!"


    No one would have expected this outcome, and even the teacher had his mouth wide open. Even though Blackboard Academy always used the rule of survival of the fittest to run the school, if it really happened it would be a murder case, and even if the mech was faulty, there would still be punishment, even for him.


    Moreover, Nono was one of his class'' best students, one of the top three, and if anything happened, it would be a big hit to his class.


    But it was too late now, no one knew what to do. Even if they called for a halt it would be too late.


    Mina was covering her mouth with her eyes full of shock and horror; she could do nothing to help.


    Just at this moment.


    On the field, on Nono''s mech curled-up arm, its arm''s magnetic pistol suddenly readjusted its aim and pulled the trigger.


    Bang!


    The two bullets missed each other, but the huge recoil shook Nono''s mech violently.


    One in front and one at the back, both mechs seemed to be hit at the same time.


    The examinee that had fired the first shot did not manage to avoid it because he was stunned, and he knew that Nonosiva''s mech was a sure hit.


    After the two shots were blundered, both mechs had a small hole that the grey bullet was stuck in, from which leaked green smoke. The bullet was still moving but it had slowed down drastically as if it had already pierced halfway through the mech.


    As Nono''s mech had been pushed back by the recoil, causing the cockpit to move, it was the shoulder that had been shot. Even though the mech was destroyed, its pilot was okay.


    Only then did the audience let out sighs of relief. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, the teacher was relieved. Nonosiva really was his class'' best student and he was burdened with high hopes, so if anything happened here...


    "Not good! The mech on the other side got hit in the energy module!!" a student shouted out.


    The bearded man was snapped out of his relief.


    Judging the other mech''s condition, his face started to become twisted again.


    "Come save him quick!!" he yelled.


    There was a bang from the other mech at this moment and the entire mech had exploded. Half of the body was covered in flames, and the fate of the driver inside was unknown.


    --------


    Garen sat in the cockpit, his whole body drenched in sweat. Underneath his skin, the nerves of his muscles kept twitching, sending wave after wave of pain to his brain.


    "This is entirely different... This body¡­ No! Everyone''s body here is entirely different! The structure of it is entirely different!!" he shuddered.


    If it wasn''t for him pushing Nono''s spirit out completely at the final moment, lending his spirit as a last resort source of energy and using his consciousness to control the mech slightly, it would have been the end just now. If he did not have his body, the hard work from the previous world would definitely be all for naught,


    But the current situation wasn''t really great.


    The body was still violently rejecting him at times.


    This was the best body he could find after entering this planet and searching everywhere for the most suitable vessel. However, he couldn''t have known that the body''s genetics were completely different from the previous bodies''.


    Even though he was currently using his spirit to force the body to readjust, it was impossible to be active in the body in a short amount of time. The body was stiff, and he could not make even a single movement. It was as though he was a living corpse, and all he could do was to blink.


    It was because he''d suddenly forced the body to move, which had caused Nono''s body to be even more injured. A lot of his nerves were damaged, and it was not the best of situations.


    To put it frankly, there was no difference between him and a vegetable.


    Even if he fully grasped the body, it was still a long genetic rearranging and adapting process. Garen felt that this world''s structure seemed to be firmer than the Blood Breed''s world; it was as if it would have a huge rejection and suppression of any non-homologous substance.


    He''d already felt it when he was searching everywhere for a body while in the state of the spirit soul seed.


    From Nono''s shattered spirit''s stored memories, he saw the control method of the mech; it was the special power that was produced from humans'' specially trained bodies. In other words, it was a special energy field.


    It was completely different from his spirit''s strength and mental strength; it was a brand new force above the mental concentration power.


    "This could be trouble..."


    Feeling the differences in his body, his heart sank.


    He could no longer guarantee that the body was able to completely recover, and if it couldn''t recover¡­

 773 Lowest Point 1

    When everyone lent a hand to rescue the pilots from the two mechs, they discovered that both of them were already unmoving.


    On one side, Garen''s entire body was spasming while his eyes were tightly shut. It seemed as though his whole body was convulsing in an abnormal, terrifying manner.


    Meanwhile, the other blue-haired youth''s whole body was blackened with burn wounds. He had already fallen into a coma and was unaware of his current situation.


    Both of their conditions were unusually severe, prompting the bearded instructor to contact the hospital immediately when he noticed trouble. The ambulance from the hospital arrived swiftly and took both of them away.


    The remaining group of students watched the ambulance leave. Only a few people and instructors got into the ambulance and rode with it while others went to inform the school authorities and leaders to record the state of the accident and injuries. Injuries like these on school grounds were common and would require people to come over and determine if there were mishaps with the mechs. However, cases involving flawed mechs were extremely rare in this school.


    "I really don''t know why Nonosiva''s mech stopped moving suddenly. If that had not happened, this problem would not have happened during this test."


    "Who knows. Perhaps Nono himself had an illness that broke out unexpectedly?"


    "No way. He would have undergone a full physical examination when he entered the school."


    Students from various classes discussed among themselves in hushed tones before going their separate ways and walking towards their dorms. The test instructors had left and it was obvious that the remaining tests that were supposed to be held today were canceled.


    One white-haired youth furrowed his eyebrows and stood there for awhile while looking in the direction the ambulance had gone before leaving slowly.


    His name was Fervale and he was one of the top three students of class C5. He was the No. 1 student in his class throughout the entire year, and almost no one could shake him from his solid position.


    He could already understand the individual in second place clearly. There were still certain qualities which that person lacked, and this created a distance between them. Fervale was confident that he could keep this distance between them until graduation. However, he could not understand the student in third place, Nonosiva, properly. That person was extremely quiet, and only a few people were interested in being his friend in class. Therefore, not much information was known about him.


    "But this is meaningless now. These standards don''t scare me," he mumbled to himself softly before turning around and walking towards the simulation training area.


    *********************


    The ceiling was white.


    When Garen opened his eyes, the first thing that he saw was a clean white stretch. There were faint dark blue fluorescent electric circuits twinkling on the ceiling that looked very high-tech.


    "You''re awake?"


    He heard a voice beside his left ear. The voice was not speaking in a distinct language but a strange tongue-curling type of language instead. Fortunately, he was able to understand it because he had absorbed Nono''s language memories.


    He remembered that they were words from the Federation''s language.


    The person was speaking in a male voice that sounded somewhat gruff.


    Garen tried to turn his head towards the side determinedly to look at the speaker, but the stiff muscles and nerves throughout his whole body would not listen to his commands at all.


    He finally saw a muscular man with a full faced beard stand up. A large face then appeared as the man lowered his head and stared at him. He looked to be around thirty to forty years of age, and his eyebrows were slightly furrowed.


    "How do you feel? Are you alright?"


    Garen tried to open his mouth determinedly. He recognized this man as Hamm, the instructor who was in charge of the class that the previous owner of his body was studying under. Although he wanted to answer, he was unfortunately unable to control the nerves on his face and could only blink and make murmuring noises at the back of his throat.


    "You can''t even speak?" a disappointed look flashed in the man''s eyes. "The doctor''s diagnosis said that the nerves in your entire body suffered serious injuries while your muscles have cramped up. They could only force you to relax by injecting you with a tranquilizer."


    Garen made a few murmuring noises. He was still unable to speak and was getting impatient because of his inability to move.


    "Big brother Nono, are you alright?" said a female voice beside him. The instructor quickly used his hands to turn Garen''s face towards the side slightly before he was able to see the situation on his left side instantly.


    There were four male and female students sitting on his bedside currently. The one who spoke earlier was a delicate and pretty girl with a beautiful figure. This girl had short red hair and was currently gazing at him with great concern.


    Fragments of memories floated up in Garen''s mind suddenly.


    This girl''s name was Lisa and she was the current girlfriend of Nonosiva whose body he was currently inhabiting.


    There were three other people besides Lisa; Nono''s friend Aier, his partner in crime Mina, and another person whom he did not really recognize.


    The three students who were dressed in white school uniforms and blue suspenders sat beside him and looked over with concerned gazes.


    "He can''t speak. He suffered nerve damage and it''s going to be extremely troublesome now," said the instructor softly on the sidelines.


    "Did the doctor mention the cause of this?" asked Lisa.


    "He doesn''t know," Instructor Hamm shook his head.


    Garen listened to both of them speak on the side while he tidied Nono''s remaining memories quickly. The strong force that exploded outwards when he''d forcefully pushed Nono''s soul out to control the mech had created a sudden tear in his soul. Therefore, a large part of the fragments had either dispersed or disappeared. As Garen was only able to absorb the few remaining bits, the memories that he gained were incomplete.


    From the conversation between the few students and Instructor Hamm, his current situation was extremely serious. He would need to recuperate for a year so that his injured nerves and muscles could heal after the surgery.


    Garen observed the few people who had arrived carefully. Through Nonosiva''s memories, he knew that they were the only few people whom Nono considered as friends. Lisa was his girlfriend while Aier was his good friend and practice partner whom he had the best relationship with. Meanwhile, Mina was his seatmate and partner in crime whom he had always been on good terms with.


    He did not have a deep impression of the last person as they probably did not have a close relationship.


    When he heard them chatting, Garen gradually understood the entire situation.


    Nonosiva was a quiet person who did not have many friends in class. The only people that he was on good terms with were the ones who were present here. He was usually a cold, arrogant person who would not approach strangers. In reality, he was also concealing his Moonfang secret. However, in the eyes of outsiders, he seemed icy and prideful.


    Now, he had suffered severe injuries unexpectedly and had almost turned into a human vegetable. However, the instructor had mentioned that there might be a way to quicken his recovery. Unfortunately, he would then owe the academy a large sum of money for his medical fees. The opposing mech pilot that he''d wounded had also suffered serious injuries and would also require expensive medical fees.


    "Inform his family then."


    Instructor Hamm made the final decision before standing up.


    "I still have matters to sort out so I''ll be leaving first."


    It seemed as though he was in a bad mood as he took long strides out of the ward before the sound of a closing door could be heard around the corner quickly.


    Nonosiva''s few close friends were the only ones left sitting in the room now.


    Once the instructor had left, the few people who remained quickly became agitated and unsure of what to say.


    "Nono, rest well. I have some things to do too so I''ll come and see you again later," his girlfriend Lisa ground her teeth and stood up while speaking softly. Her cheeks were red and she lowered her head.


    The sound of a shutting door could be heard quickly again. The student whom he was not very familiar with got up and left silently as well.


    Only Aier and Mina remained in the room.


    Aier had short brown hair and looked like a regular and somewhat gentle youth. He took an apple out silently and began to peel it.


    "Nono, just relax and recuperate. With your standards, you''ll be able to catch up quickly when you''re better. Don''t worry."


    Garen blinked in response.


    Mina sighed.


    "Your parents are almost here. They''ll be at the hospital soon enough."


    Garen continued to blink.


    The few of them stopped speaking at once¡­ They could only sigh at the thought of Nono encountering an unexpected hardship like this despite being one of the elite students. However, both of them were Nono''s best friends and were extremely confident that he would recover quickly. Although he would owe the academy a large sum of money, he would be able to pay off that debt in the future.


    Both of them became bored while sitting on the side before they began to talk about how this situation occurred suddenly during the test.


    Garen lay on the sickbed and closed his eyes slowly while pretending to be asleep.


    Soon, he could faintly hear the sound of the parents of this body rushing over. Other than the parents, the younger brothers and sisters had arrived as well before the ward was filled with the unsuppressed sobbing noises.


    Nono''s family had average financial circumstances. It was already extremely difficult to provide for his university fees and they were only able to this by giving up the school fees of his younger siblings. The current need to fork out this large sum of money added more wrinkles on the faces of the two adults while their gazes began to darken as well.


    "Relax, relax. Nono possesses powerful strength and he''s such an excellent student. Won''t it be a simple task for him to earn big bucks once he has passed the test to become a mech pilot?" consoled Mina frantically.


    Aier agreed quickly as well and explained how mech pilots would earn their money while mentioning their yearly income that was worth millions. Coupled with their high remuneration and benefits, he would be able to clear his debts within a year. It was no big deal.


    This improved the expressions the faces of Nono''s parents slightly.


    Garen opened his eyes halfway and made a few murmuring noises to acknowledge his parents and younger siblings.


    Since he had occupied this body, he would naturally need to accept this identity.


    Next, the nurse came in and wiped down Garen''s body while the other people who were waiting inside the ward earlier went out and waited.


    Garen had finally gotten an interval to check his current body.


    He closed his eyes as his spirit sunk into his body. All of his blood veins, meridians, and organs within his entire body appeared inside his soul.


    He checked all of them carefully and could not help but sigh.


    "This difference¡­ It is somewhat wide¡­ On the surface, it seemed similar to the bodies that I inhabited in the two previous worlds. However, it''s actually completely different as the fine cell mechanisms are completely different."


    His soul was born from his bodies from the two previous worlds. While he was currently occupying this body, there were extremely strong reactions of incompatibility which had resulted in his inability to control his body until now.


    Both of his soul seeds were constantly releasing qi to modify this body. Unfortunately, the soul seeds had undergone consumptions that were too great in the Mother Stream. They could only modify themselves slowly at an extremely prolonged pace.


    Garen shifted his vision towards his own Attribute Pane. Apparently, huge changes had occurred throughout his Attribute Pane because his body had changed as well.


    ''Nonosiva Lin -- Strength 0.5, Agility 1.1, Vitality 0.3, Intelligence 1.3. Potential 0%. Soul Limit 40.''


    "Apparently my Soul Limit has upgraded because of my soul seeds. This is the only bit of good news."


    Garen''s mind was slightly consoled and he continued looking downwards.


    ''Potential -- Void Pursuer''


    ''Soul -- Northern Trident Frost-Fire True Water Evil Technique, Holy Phoenix Demonic Book.''


    ''Secret Technique -- None''


    When he saw that his Secret Technique Pane had returned to zero, impatient feelings immediately stirred in Garen''s mind. He already knew that condensing his soul seeds would mean that everything that he had practiced throughout his life would be condensed inside as well, leaving him with nothing. However, this still troubled him although it had already happened twice.


    He began to check on the more detailed parts of his current body such as the functions of the various systems, operations, and cycles. As a martial arts master, he naturally possessed extremely impressive foresight that allowed him to reach a conclusion from the first step quickly.

 774 Lowest Point 2

    "This body is completely unsuitable for practicing advanced martial arts¡­" Garen''s thoughts sank into depression at once. As this new body build was different, it could not adapt to the practices of various Secret Techniques. Moreover, a lot of time and energy would be required to modify this body to suit it to advanced Secret Techniques. Unfortunately, this was something that he could not afford to waste time on right now.


    He could only practice certain low level, average Secret Techniques such as martial arts that were used for muscle training or Secret Techniques that did not involve the control of vital energy. Pure martial arts like these which did not involve actively controlling vital energy were merely third-rate Secret Techniques that were far from White Cloud Secret Techniques.


    "Unless I modify this body completely into my previous build..." Garen began to ponder on which path he should take in the future.


    This world looked more powerful than the previous worlds. While he was travelling back and forth across planets, he could see an unimaginably large invisible protection belt that was miles apart from the space that Earth occupied.


    Through Nono''s remaining memories, he knew that this planet was probably attached to a large country called the Mother Planet Federation. Not only did this federation possess a planet, there were actually more than forty-five planets. It was worthy to be called a colossus.


    It belonged to a completely different level from the previous other planets.


    There were star rated countries which also possessed numerous planet nations. Most of these countries were attached to a larger nation called the Galactic Alliance. Both of them had been cooperating to resist the Finite people for more than a thousand years.


    During this resistance, there were other neutral parties besides the Mother Planet Federation and Galactic Alliance. They were a thousand in total and they were of various sizes, and they imparted continuous support to maintain the balance between these three giants. There were five or six planets that were larger countries and one or two smaller ones that relied on different specialities to ensure their continuous lengthy existences.


    Meanwhile, this body that he was currently inhabiting was one of the citizens who was living inside the colossus known as the Mother Planet Federation.


    However, the current situation was becoming less stable recently. The chaotic struggle and war between the three main forces had continued on for too long. It had created various debts within the country and increased the indignation between the population. In an unexpected sweep, all three forces were hit by a powerful financial storm that almost toppled their constitution. The public credibility of the national government was lost completely while the three main forces fell into internal chaos. Each major fleet set up a established an independent regime and almost formed separatist warlord regimes.


    The planet where Nono was living in was one of the planets that were controlled by the Mother Planet Federation. However, since it had already fallen into complete chaos, various powerful forces were now occupying its territory to develop themselves willfully.


    The place where they were living was part of the range that was controlled by the Blackboard Academy.


    "It''s really such a chaotic place¡­" this was the first time Garen had stepped into a world like this. It was humongous, extensive, and vast. By using a planet as a unit, certain powerful and first-rate fleets and extremely terrifying Star Cannons would be able to destroy a planet instantly.


    Worlds like these could be considered as technologically-advanced peak worlds. Garen knew this and was worried that he would need to behave himself when Nadia arrived, as there were terrifying major war weapons like Star Cannons here.


    Even if he was able to practice his Secret Techniques, he knew that relying on them while going on a rampage was still a wild idea¡­


    He calculated for a moment and realised that even if he managed to reach his 40-point Soul Limit, it could only resist the equivalent of a nuclear or hydrogen bomb. It would not be able to resist a Star Cannon that could destroy an entire planet, as the difference between their powers were simply as different as night and day.


    Other than Star Cannons, he was afraid of the war weapons in this world that could hurt his body to its limits. Terrifying civilizations that could control more than ten planets would definitely not be so simple.


    "Looks like I won''t be able to use the Secret Technique method directly anymore. If I want to condense any more Soul Seeds in this world, I should test out the power systems here."


    Garen began to recall the remaining memory fragments in Nono''s mind before transferring all of the information regarding the power systems here.


    Unfortunately, Nono was too weak and could access any high level information. Meanwhile, only a few pieces of his fragmented soul remained, making it completely impossible to view its contents. Only some information regarding the topics that were covered in the grading test remained.


    "Mech Pilots can use their Willpower to control the high level fighters during Mech battles. Powerful Mech Pilots can get the Mechs to release terrifying battle abilities. There was even a record of a Mech that was able to defeat an entire fleet during a campaign. This was the ultimate instance of personal heroism."


    Garen browsed through these fragmented memories carefully.


    "Strong and high-level Mech Pilots and equally powerful Mechs are almost equivalent to undefeatable strategic existences."


    "High rates of casualties inflicted by powerful and advanced weapons allowed Mechs to become terrifying war weapons that could even overtake battleships. Various Mech sects emerged and heralded a historic era. These sects used various Mech battling styles and specialized and celebrated abilities. The Blackboard Academy''s inherited sect used a suspended black disc as a well-known, high-speed cutting weapon and is considered as a purely long-range attack sect."


    Garen scrutinized the remaining bits of information carefully.


    He could vaguely feel that the Willpower in this world could greatly benefit his third condensed Soul Seed. Perhaps this was the fundamental route to condensing his third Soul Seed. According to Nono''s memories, the time and space of this universe had already developed his Willpower to a frightening level that was vast and endless. Numerous impressive figures of the past who had a place in history had once walked a great distance on this path.


    According to certain legends, there were sects that could use their Willpower to strengthen normal Mechs greatly and achieve powers that were vastly improved. There were even sects that could practice terrifying specialized abilities through their Willpower, allowing their Mechs to have strange specialized abilities.


    When a Mech Pilot integrated their Mechs with their Willpower, the powers that were produced were not as simple as adding one with the other. On the contrary, it was rumored that they would form terrifyingly taboo Mechs that could overpower dying stars.


    "In this world, Willpower is everything. It is an invisible form of unnatural powers that anyone can grasp. However, the difference lies between the condition of their natural talents."


    Garen''s mind understood everything.


    Although Nono had not left many fragments behind, the amount of information was still enough to surprise his mind.


    The strength of this current world and universe had surpassed the previous worlds by an unknown degree.


    Willpower was like a specialized unnatural power that could only be utilized through Willpower Mechs and other facilities. Meanwhile, every single Mech Pilot was a powerful existence that was constantly unearthing their strong Willpower.


    Vigilant feelings formed in Garen''s mind. Since this world had already possessed thorough research on something as insubstantial as Willpower, it was very likely that they would also be one step ahead in their Soul Seed research. It seemed like he would need to be even more careful from now on.


    It was fortunate that there were no unexpected or strange occurrences when he reincarnated this time.


    Even at peak levels, his current powers could not even be compared to the size of a domain of the planet, much less a dying star. Perhaps Nadia would be able to reach this degree if she used her the full extent of her powers at once.


    This was an Army-level strength!


    Garen doubted that an existence that had achieved the Demon King level of Ancient Endor existed in this world. However, it was fortunate that it was merely a rumor.


    "No, the powers of the Dying Star Level may be even stronger than the Demon King Level. They merely have different systems," Garen compared them in his mind quietly. He was becoming slightly more in awe of this world.


    "Seems like I can only advance according to the systems of this world. My top priority right now is to heal my body first. I''ll forget about modifying it for now as long as I''m able to allow this body to get used to my soul to get rid of the rejection reactions."


    Garen made up his mind and began to carefully control the vital energy that his Soul Seeds were releasing so that his body could adapt.


    On the surface, he was merely closing his eyes and resting.


    Once the nurse had finished wiping down his body, she took the water and left. His parents, younger siblings, and friends then entered and chatted softly for a while. Soon after, his family left the room, as they were worried that they would disturb him.


    When Aier and Mina saw this, they too got up and left as well. They placed some money at his bedside quietly as a contribution.


    Meanwhile, Garen continued to drift into the process of adjusting his body. However, it took a long time as his nerves had suffered serious injuries. In order to heal himself without losing his Soul Seeds, he would need to wait at least five years. Unfortunately, this duration was far too long.


    Therefore, it was important for him to wait until the restoration surgery. The medical techniques of this time period would be extremely advanced now and there would definitely be impressive basic techniques to repair damaged nerves.


    As long as the nerve restoration surgery succeeded, there was a chance that he could shorten the time period. He would be able to adjust to this body completely within half a year without any after effects.


    Although he could not practice advanced Secret Techniques, some pure mental training and simple aura and muscle exercises could be used instead.


    *********************


    Time passed day by day.


    Instructor Hamm came to visit Garen a few more times but did not say much. He was merely there so that Garen could feel relieved while recuperating and waiting for his operation.


    While his parents left for work, his younger siblings would usually come over and take care of him. They would deliver meals and help clean the ward. This gave Garen a glimpse of this family''s unity.


    However, the thing that made him feel the most helpless was the fact that his younger siblings seemed afraid of him. Although he was currently unable to move, he could still see that Nonosiva''s influence over them had been built over a long period of time. This caused his younger brother and sister to act frightened and cowardly around him.


    Although he was unable to speak now and could only lie down, neither of his younger siblings dared to look him in the eye.


    His few friends visited often as well. Mina had already come a few times and would always bring some money with her. Once, she had even brought a general ATM card with her. Usually, only individuals with at least a thousand dollars would be given these cards for their savings accounts. Although this was equivalent to the monthly earnings of an average adult, it was also the minimum monthly expense of a Blackboard Academy student.


    However, Mina put the card down without a second word and left.


    Later, Garen realized that this card contained money that was put aside by both Aier and Mina. This changed Garen''s initial impression of Nonosiva slightly. Despite his certain flaws, he could not be a terrible person if he had friends like these.


    Meanwhile, his supposed girlfriend Lisa had disappeared and had not come to see him again after the first time. It was rumored that she was currently seeing another boy.


    The upcoming operation approached.


    ******************


    Blackboard Academy


    There were lofty metallic buildings with black outer walls throughout the academy grounds. The exteriors of these buildings resembled gigantic black discs that were embedded within the ground.


    When looking at it from afar, the academy seemed like a flat white area with more than ten black discs embedded there.


    Some of these discs were larger than others and there would be a little door and entrance at the bottom. Cars and people moved between the black discs in a bustling manner. The academy was built below a tall mountain that was flattened. A large black battleship was parked at the top of the mountain where there were black symbols engraved on the surface. Meanwhile, the large academy grounds were located below the mountain.


    The pointed nose of the front of the battleship stretched over the border of the mountain and hung over the sky above the academy, casting a large dark shadow over it.


    Within a room in the front of the battleship.


    Inside a black room, a group of people sat around a round silvery-white table. They were all dressed in black uniforms and were the teachers and instructors of the academy.


    The Head Instructor and Vice Head Instructor were seated in the main seats.


    "Regarding the five series of public funds that have been allocated by our academy during this semester for one of the students named Nonosiva, I personally feel that this should not be the academy''s responsibility. There were no problems with the Mechs or the site. Therefore, the academy is not obligated to bear the cost of his operation and compensation."


    The Head Instructor was a muscular man with bronze skin who glanced at everyone while he spoke.

 775 Misfortune 1

    This was an independent council within the academy''s Mech actual combat department. The department was one of ten organizations that were responsible for the matters regarding actual combat. Despite being a grassroots council, it had the ultimate power to decide the allocated funds.


    "Nonosiva? After testing the Mechs, we determined it was definitely not an accident caused by a Mech malfunction. There were no problems when we evaluated the site either. Therefore, we shouldn''t bear the responsibility," a bespectacled middle-aged woman nodded in agreement beside him.


    "I don''t think that''s right," said Instructor Hamm while furrowing his eyebrows. "According to the rules of the whole academy, medical bills for wounds that were sustained during the curriculum need to be assumed by the academic departments. This student should definitely already have basic insurance after paying school fees for so many years."


    "However, our department is facing financial issues now. Take a look at the things that are written here¡­ Nerve restoration operation," the Head Instructor picked up a piece of white paper and furrowed his eyebrows while skimming through the information. "The cost of this operation is not insignificant. If we pay the full amount, it may affect this year''s performance bonuses¡­"


    "The Head Instructor is right."


    "We should not be responsible for providing this sum of money in any way. He''s right, we don''t need to compensate him."


    "I am in favor of the Head Instructor''s suggestion."


    Everyone who was seated there was an instructor in this department. They were the primary teachers of the academy and had obviously voiced their opinions at once when they heard that their benefits would be affected.


    Instructor Hamm''s expression became somewhat unpleasant.


    "This isn''t right though. You shouldn''t openly go against the academy''s general rules¡­"


    "People are alive but rules are not. The rules are just a piece of scrap paper if we don''t have the finances. We''re not merely being difficult, we just don''t have this ability," said the Vice Head Instructor helplessly while shrugging his shoulders.


    "That''s true, we can''t just affect the lives of everyone seated here just because of one of the students in your class. Isn''t that right, Instructor Hamm?" said someone else in a dissatisfied tone.


    Hamm scanned his surroundings before his gaze finally fell upon the face of Head Instructor Dylan.


    "He was wounded during a class test. Don''t tell me the academy actually plans to release him and let things run their course without a single concern? Won''t this make the other students in the school fearful?" he said loudly.


    Head Instructor Dylan wrinkled his brow slightly.


    "Hamm, you must remember that this is Blackboard Academy. Fearful? What is there to fear? People need to sharpen their minds to come here and those who fear will simply die when they go out into the world. Survival of the fittest and natural selection were the highest rules and school codes of the academy originally."


    "I disagree with your views!" said Hamm in an even louder tone. "When we signed the contract to join the academy, we already agreed to be responsible for these students to a certain degree! Once the students of the academy discover that we can''t even ensure their basic safety, the consequences will be unimaginable!" he attempted to persuade the Head Instructor again.


    "Alright, that''s enough. The allocated funds for this incident have been decided," Head Instructor Dylan raised his hand and exchanged glances with a few of the other instructors who were council representatives.


    "Head Instructor!" Hamm stood up suddenly.


    "Don''t waste your breath," Dylan glanced at him indifferently. "The second item is written below. Instructions have been sent from the superiors. Recently, there were wanted criminals who may have passed by through the Federation. Everyone needs to return and tell the students to be more careful when they go out. Tell them not to visit dangerous places frequently. As for the matters regarding a new eastern branch of the academy that will be built, the previous plans can be brought up now¡­"


    Fury began to burn in Hamm''s mind. He glanced around and noticed that the few instructors who were once close to him were now evading his gaze. Suddenly, a tremble ran through his mind.


    "Good! Very good!"


    He suppressed his inner fury before turning around and walking away.


    ********************


    In the hospital corridor


    "The operation fees cannot be postponed any longer," said the doctor to Instructor Hamm while furrowing his eyebrows. "It''s already been two weeks. If you drag it on any longer, it will be too late even if we do proceed with the operation. You haven''t received the allocated funds from your side?"


    Hamm nodded his head with a somber look on his face.


    "If this goes on, I''m expecting that the situation will only worsen. If this boy''s nerves are not restored in time, he may even face problems walking in the future," the doctor began to sound slightly impatient. "In the beginning, we agreed to prepare the operation measures beforehand because of the Blackboard Academy''s reputation. However, we''ve waited a long time for the funds to arrive. It''s almost time for us to place an order for our drugs, so what do you want us to do?"


    Hamm remained silent. After coaching for so many years, the most exceptional students he had taught were Fervale and Nonosiva who ranked first and third in class respectively. Now, one of his best students who had the chance to become a true Mech Pilot in the future was about to lose his life over delayed operation fees. This made him feel extremely uneasy. Misfortune like this made him recall his own bitter experiences in the past. No one had been there to support him during that time, and he could only control his life with his own strength. Fortunately, he was able to control his fate in the end. However, his Willpower had decreased by more than half of its initial value because of his heavy injuries. Finally, he could only retire as a regular instructor at the academy.


    "Trust me," he took a deep breath and made up his mind instantly. "The funds will arrive soon enough. I''m going to urge them to hasten things so that the funds will arrive in full tomorrow!"


    "Are you sure?" the doctor was somewhat doubtful.


    "I''m sure! You can prepare to perform the operation already!" Hamm lit a cigarette and took a deep puff.


    This was not his first time doing this anyway. To hell with them! He could just smoke less and save some money, right?


    His mind became calm at once.


    "Alright, I''ll trust you this time," the doctor nodded. After all, they were friends. "I''ll go and inform the operation theatre then. Also, this is a non-smoking zone!"


    "Okay."


    Hamm nodded and stubbed the cigarette on the rubbish bin beside him quickly.


    *************


    Garen lay on the sickbed. He was still unable to speak and could only make murmuring noises and blink his eyes. He could not do anything else.


    This body had sustained extremely deep injuries that were impossible to heal in a short span of time.


    His younger brother was carefully peeling a white pear beside him.


    Garen could not move at all. Instead, he could only wait for his Soul Seeds to heal his body naturally. He observed his younger brother Alan and noticed that his face had lost much of its initial cowardice and was slightly more confident by now.


    "Big Brother, you need to get well soon. You''ve been staying in the hospital for so many days and the hospital fees are so expensive. The recent earnings in our household have not been prosperous either¡­" his younger brother nagged him softly as if he was a little housewife.


    This fellow was not more than fourteen or fifteen years old. However, it seemed as if he had not developed properly as he still resembled a twelve or thirteen-year-old. His black hair was constantly hanging downwards and covering half of his face. He liked lowering his head as well and always wore large framed glasses that made it impossible to see his features clearly. Meanwhile, his skin seemed sickly and pale.


    He gave off a cowardly air that was not manly at all!


    He was constantly hit and scolded by Nonosiva because he was disgusted and embarrassed by him. However, the younger boy had never retaliated.


    He never expected that the younger brother who had always been bullied by him would now be the person that was taking care of him the most. Even his younger sister did not visit him as much as his brother.


    "What''s his name?" Garen''s mind began to ponder. "Alan? Kellen? Or is it something else?"


    He had not absorbed much of Nonosiva''s memory fragments. Therefore, he was still unclear about many things until now.


    He could only obtain some information whenever his family arrived or he heard his younger siblings speak.


    Knock knock knock.


    The sound of someone knocking a door could be heard.


    "Come in," called his younger brother softly while standing up.


    There was a squeaking noise when the door was pushed opened gently before Instructor Hamm walked inside.


    "The operation is scheduled for tomorrow so get ready, Nono," he said in a low voice while looking at Nono who was lying on the sickbed.


    Garen blinked to show that he understood.


    "The school has successfully reimbursed the medical fees. There will be a recovery period after the operation has been completed so just rest well in the hospital and don''t worry about anything else. As for your progress, there are many things that you don''t need to be frantic about," Hamm attempted to soften his tone as much as possible, despite not knowing how to console others properly.


    "Thank you, Uncle Hamm," his younger brother stood on the side and bowed immediately to display his gratitude. Although he had merely increased his volume slightly to speak in a louder tone, his face and neck were flushed already.


    "You must be Baylon. Good boy," Hamm patted the younger boy''s shoulder and nodded. "Alright, I still have matters to attend to so I''ll return to the academy first. Take good care of your older brother."


    "Un¡­ Understood¡­" Baylon was getting tongue-tied.


    "It''s bad for young men to be easily embarrassed!" Baylon''s demeanor made Hamm laugh.


    Once Hamm had left, Baylon closed the door properly and let out an unsuppressed cheer at once, "The operation fees have finally arrived!" he turned back to the front of the sickbed. "Many thanks to Uncle Instructor Hamm!"


    Garen blinked in agreement.


    "Big Brother, you''re going to get better soon," said Baylon determinedly. However, he lowered his head in fear immediately when he saw Garen''s gaze shifting over and glaring at him. It was clear that he had recalled Nonosiva''s terrifying temper.


    After receiving this good news, Garen could finally sigh in relief.


    It was true that he could heal this body, but his Soul Seeds would definitely need to pay a heavy price and he''d incur great losses. Moreover, it would take a long time. With the current support of the operation, he would be able to restore his health quickly and control his body once again.


    However, he could sense certain secrets regarding the medical fees through Instructor Hamm''s eyes earlier.


    When his parents returned in the afternoon, they paid the warding fees with a tired look on their faces. They rested at his bedside for awhile and instructed young Baylon to take care of his older brother properly. Once they discovered that the operation fees would be reimbursed, the whole family was uncharacteristically happy and sighed in relief immediately.


    It seemed as if his younger sister did not visit often because she was afraid of Nono. According to his parents, it seemed as though she liked going out a lot recently for unknown reasons. However, both of the parents were too busy working and had no time to pay attention to her. They were fine as long as she came home to eat and sleep on time.


    Everything was moving in the right direction.


    **********************


    The cool moonlight of the night shrouded the entire Blackboard City in silvery gauze.


    On a street somewhere in Blackboard City


    Numerous magnetically levitated sedan cars moved along the roads constantly, their lights creating a dazzling light show. Drunkards could occasionally be seen waddling clumsily on both sides of the pavements, spewing nonsensical songs as they went on their way.


    Between the black buildings beside the street, ten blinking black shadows could be seen vaguely. They flew and danced between the black buildings quickly.


    Whenever these black shadows fell, they would not make a sound when they landed on the walls or roofs of the buildings. They resembled spiders that could land and climb up objects quietly before dropping somewhere else gently and jumping in another direction.


    They flew around and passed through the sky but none of the cars or people below had noticed any trace of them.


    "Disperse carefully!"


    A voice echoed in the ears of one of the leaping black shadows.


    "Mind your own business!"


    It used a device to single-handedly stick itself to the wall before looking downwards at its surroundings. It jumped down suddenly and crashed into the glass window of the lofty building on the opposite side at once.


    Crash!!


    An ear-piercing alarm sounded at once while red light flashed and illuminated the entire floor.


    A few black shadows rolled and evaded the red laser lights that were scanning about. They dodged the lasers as quietly and dexterously as leopards before arriving in front of a safe. One of them stretched its hands out before a fine needle sprang out and pierced the safe immediately.

 776 Misfortune 2

    There was a clapping noise before the safe was opened. The black shadow took something out and retreated without looking back. The black shadows then leaped back out of the shattered glass window after a few somersaults. The entire process did not even last a minute. Their speed was terrifying!


    "You dare leave?!" a white shadow flew inside with a strong gust of wind. It was actually a white Spider Mech that was more than five meters tall. A male voice echoed from the inside.


    "I''ve been chasing you for half a month! Where are you going to run to now?!" the voice inside the Mech sounded somewhat exasperated.


    "You want to catch me? Are you going to try?" the black figure sneered softly and did more than ten continuous backflips over the sloping wall of the skyscraper as if it was merely flat ground before jumping over the Spider Mech instantly.


    Clap! He pressed something against the top of the Mech. However, the Spider Mech was completely unable to react in time. Both of their reaction speeds were on completely different levels.


    There was a humming noise before the Spider Mech''s movements were obstructed at once, making it unable to move at all.


    "Go!" the black figure jumped up in mid-air and spoke a few more sentences into his headset rapidly.


    Numerous lasers formed red lines that extended past his body, barely missing him. They hit the walls of the skyscraper and left burn marks there instead.


    Tch! Tch tch tch!!


    The number of red lasers increased instantly when a group of white Spider Mechs appeared near the far end of the wall. All of them had eyes that were flickering with red light as the lasers shot from their direction.


    The black figures flipped and flew outside while dodging and jumping between the lofty buildings constantly as if they were apes in a dense jungle. While the ten red lights continued to intersect with one another, the figures disappeared within the darkness between the buildings quickly.


    Simultaneously, Spider Mechs that were chasing the black figures filled the entire Blackboard City at once. Those black figures escaped into the shadows quickly and disappeared without a trace.


    ****************************


    Garen woke up from his dream suddenly.


    There was a stretch of darkness before his eyes but it seemed as though something was moving slowly outside the window of his ward.


    He twisted his head over determinedly before a pair of eyes appeared beside his pillow suddenly and glared at him intently.


    "You could actually detect me?" the owner of the eyes spoke in a low voice.


    Only then did Garen realize that the other person was merely pressed up closely against the window of the ward and had not actually entered. The pair of red eyes were huge and bright, making its female owner seem unusually close.


    "Interesting¡­" the owner of the eyes was fully dressed in black clothes. She seemed to be moving slowly and passing through the ward. She had evaded so many people and even alarm devices but had never expected to be discovered by a regular patient here.


    he hesitated for a moment. The whirring noise of an oncoming police car could be heard faintly from downstairs. The sound of the jets and engines of the Mechs could be heard as well, meaning that a large group was chasing them.


    The window was pushed opened gently before the black figure slithered inside through the opening. She was initially just passing by this area and had not expected that a patient would notice her.


    She dropped on the ground quietly and moved her arm backward to close the window. The black figure was now standing in front of Garen''s sickbed.


    "This means something. You could actually detect my movements¡­" she glanced at the sign at the front of his bed. "Your nerves sustained serious damages, huh?"


    "Who is this person?" Garen lay on his bed without a trace of panic and merely stared at the other person silently.


    This person was dressed in tight black clothes that resembled fish skin. He could vaguely see that she was a girl as she had a curvy figure. Her waist was slim and her legs were slender but he could not see her hair as it was wrapped with something. Her face was also completely covered with a black veil.


    "What are you looking at?!"


    Bang!!


    Garen felt a painful sensation in his head suddenly. The girl had lifted him in one go before she''d flung him on the ground violently, his head crashing against the hard floor with a dull thud.


    This woman''s behavior had changed drastically and she was now stepping on Garen''s body with one foot furiously.


    "Perverted little devil! Looks like I''ll have to dig out both of your eyeballs!"


    Two black needles shot out of the fingertips of her right hand before stabbing downwards directly when they were accurately positioned at Garen''s eyes.


    "This woman!!" Garen''s head was burning with fury. How dare she dig his eyeballs out for no reason?! He spat suddenly.


    There was a hissing noise when a mouthful of his spit shot out like an almost silent arrow that flew towards the woman''s right eye directly.


    "Do you want to die?!" the woman was able to dodge his saliva but her gaze had turned fearsome.


    However, her black needles had tilted slightly when she tried to evade Garen''s spit. They scratched his face and formed two deep bloody wounds there.


    There were not normal needles as their edges were actually as sharp as blades instead!


    She stomped one foot against Garen''s waist furiously before the woman leaped upwards and took a few steps backward suddenly.


    She turned her head and glanced at the ceiling and noticed that the saliva had formed a tiny depression there. Although the ceiling was wooden, it was clear that the strength that was used to shoot the saliva would have caused terrible injuries if it had hit her eyeball instead.


    "I never expected that I would encounter strange things just by entering a sick ward," the woman circled Garen carefully and investigated him for a moment. She only approached him again when she was certain that he did not have any more tricks up his sleeves.


    She elbowed Garen''s lower abdomen violently. The hit caused his body to curl up suddenly while his face turned pale.


    Next, she used her foot to step on Garen''s neck, making it almost impossible for him to breathe.


    "Move again!" the woman spat angrily. "Move!"


    There was a banging noise when she kicked Garen''s chest brutally. A cracking sound could be heard after that when his breastbone broke.


    Garen became even more furious. If it was not for his inability to move, he would have destroyed this woman with one slap at once.


    Bang!


    There was another dull thud when she used her foot to step on Garen''s abdomen violently.


    The sound of the alarm below them rang louder and it was obvious that the search team was approaching.


    Tch!


    A red laser shot in from the window suddenly, leaving a black burn mark precisely on the woman''s shoulder.


    "Damn!" The woman groaned in pain. The black needles on her fingers were pointed downwards and about to stab Garen''s eyes violently. However, she had accidentally made eye contact with him.


    His eyes resembled whirlpools and were as dark and blue as the sea. They possessed a faint but strange form of attraction.


    "I will find you."


    The woman could read the meaning behind his eyes and felt a frightened tremble in her mind suddenly.


    Tch tch tch!!


    Three red lasers intertwined to form a net that was flying towards her suddenly.


    Without much time to react, she could only leap upwards suddenly and bounce off the wall like a lizard before crashing out of the window.


    The crashing noise of broken glass could be heard before the black figure disappeared into thin air.


    The noises from the chase drifted further away quickly.


    Garen lay on the floor. His body was covered in blue and black bruises while his eyes were filled with obvious exhaustion.


    Cough cough cough¡­


    He started to cough.


    "If one of my Soul Seeds were destroyed because of you, you''re as good as dead!!" Garen glared in the direction where the woman had left.


    If he had not used the Fantasy Fist to distract the woman with his gaze at the final key moment, the alternate ending would have been extremely dangerous.


    "I''ve already sustained such serious injuries despite having just arrived in this world. What a good beginning." Garen''s gaze became even more profound.


    He had engraved that woman''s eyes into his memory. Someone who dared to almost destroy one of his Soul Seeds would surely be repaid at the right time.


    Outside the sick ward, the sound of footsteps could finally be heard. The door of the ward was opened before the security guards rushed in with the nurses.


    "A patient has been injured! Prepare a full body checkup immediately!"


    The doctor in the hospital room yelled loudly.


    ********************


    In the darkness of the night


    On the outskirts of Blackboard City


    Multiple black figures leaped and passed through the dark quickly. Their bodies would distort and become invisible occasionally. It seemed as though they were disappearing in mid-air before reappearing again after a while.


    There were at least ten black figures. Soon, all of them had gathered inside an abandoned factory on the outskirts of Blackboard City.


    The interior of the factory was completely silent except for the cricket chirps that could be heard occasionally.


    About ten black figures had gathered here and had now formed a circle.


    "Is everyone alright?" asked one of the black figures softly.


    "This test was too simple. I could get the information easily. It was completely pointless," said a female black figure flippantly.


    "Goldfish got injured though. Did everyone else see? Goldfish actually got hurt during a battle chase of this degree." a different woman could not help but laugh loudly as if she had seen something extremely funny.


    The woman called ''Goldfish'' stood among her team but remained silent. However, her red eyes grew colder.


    "I encountered an unusual accident¡­"


    "If you''re inadequate just say so. An accident? Find a better excuse," sneered the woman who was laughing loudly earlier.


    "Fifteen points will be deducted from Goldfish''s task. Any other problems?" asked the leading black figure unquestionably.


    "No¡­" Goldfish ground her teeth faintly.


    "Hey~~ Are you unhappy?" asked someone cynically.


    "If your genes were discovered by a human team because of the blood that you left behind during a real mission, we would be forced to abandon you when the time comes," said the leading black figure indifferently. "You must understand. Punishment of this degree is only done so that you will be able to gain a deeper understanding of your future."


    "I understand." Goldfish lowered her head and tightened her fist furiously.


    "Alright, this operation is dismissed. I will solve this incident with Goldfish separately through the higher-ups. Give me all of the mission items."


    All of the black figures passed the items in their hands over to him.


    *****************


    The surgery began earlier than planned.


    Garen lay face up on the operating table. The effects of the drugs from the anesthetic injection were appearing quickly.


    His mind began to turn fatigued gradually. He looked at the blindingly bright operating light above him before drifting into deep slumber.


    Yesterday''s accident resulted in even more troublesome injuries throughout his body that could only be resolved with this operation.


    An unknown amount of time passed. It could have been an hour or even two.


    Garen awakened slowly and felt numerous tearing pains throughout his entire body. The most obvious pains came from his chest and abdomen while other discomforts could be felt throughout his whole body.


    "This is a side effect from the extremely tiny robots that was placed inside your body during the surgery. The presence of pain means that your nerve restoration was successful so you''ll have to endure it."


    A low male voice echoed from his bedside.


    "I understand."


    Garen nodded slightly before reacting immediately. He could nod and even speak again!


    "Looks like the effects have been extremely good. You just need to let your nerves heal their wounds. You''ll need to recuperate for a period of time," the one who was speaking was a male doctor. He asked Garen about his various sensations for a while before carefully informing him about the things that he needed to pay attention to. Beside him, his parents and younger siblings noted everything down carefully and thanked the doctor continuously.


    Aier and Mina were also by his bedside. It seemed as if they had been waiting outside the operating theatre as well.


    "You have such good luck. To think that you would be able to survive safely after encountering death," Mina shook her head in astonishment.


    "What ''good luck''? This just means that I have great skills," Garen was in a good mood and could even joke with Mina now.


    "I need to tell you something later," Mina nodded.

 777 Trouble 1

    They waited until the doctor and the others had left and Garen''s parents had gone to work before Mina and the rest said a few words quietly and sat beside Garen''s bed again.


    "What did you want to tell me?" Garen was still unable to move his body. However, the nerves in his head were not injured so severely as they were located in the area that was protected by the Soul Seeds. Aier, who was beside him, helped to lift his head and lean it against the pillow.


    Mina paused for a moment.


    "Although the instructor forbade me from saying it, this is something that you''d need to know sooner or later. It''s about the problems with your recent operation fees."


    "Oh?" Garen furrowed his brow.


    "The cost of the operation wasn''t reimbursed by the academy?" his younger sister Ker asked in a puzzled manner. This was a question that the others wanted to ask as well.


    Mina shook her head slightly.


    "It wasn''t," she glanced at Garen and his younger brother and sister around him. "It''s not what you''re thinking. Nono, your medical bills were actually paid in advance by Instructor Hamm. The academy was completely against the application for your expenses and did not provide any funds."


    "Instructor Hamm?" Garen was slightly shocked.


    None of them spoke for a while. His younger brother and sister did not know what to say. Meanwhile, Garen had never been one to reveal his emotions. He merely leaned against the sick bed as if he was pondering something.


    Mina did not care about what Garen was thinking about and chose to finish talking about the things she knew first.


    "Aier and I asked about these things in the academy for you. Initially, you could have sent in a request for your operation fees to be reimbursed. However, the family of Oscar, the student you injured, has connections. In order to punish you for injuring Oscar badly during the test, although they could not take revenge on you directly because of the school rules, they were able to pull some strings to ruin your medical fee application easily."


    Her expression was somewhat grave when she told them everything that she knew.


    "The operation cost 1.5 million dollars. The cost of nerve restoration operations are certainly not cheap," said Aier beside her. "Even for Instructor Hamm who''s earning a good salary¡­"


    Garen glanced at Aier and Mina beside him. Both of them really had good relationships with Nono and were clearly his trustworthy friends. Most people would not put in so much thought for the sake of others.


    The people whom Nonosiva came into contact the most in the academy were Mina and Aier. Although Instructor Hamm liked him a lot as well, his affections were distributed equally among the top three students in the class, not just Nonosiva. Frankly, he had never expected the bearded man to do something like pay for his operation fees with his own money.


    The nerve restoration surgery had really helped him. The effects were even better than anticipated. Coupled with his self-healing abilities, he would only need to lay in bed for a month before he would recover completely.


    "Thanks for reminding me. I will remember Instructor Hamm''s favor," answered Garen sincerely while nodding.


    "Our instructor didn''t do this just so you could return the favor, he was only hoping that you would not lose your future just because of this accident," answered Mina honestly. "It wasn''t just you anyway. Instructor Hamm has helped many other students this way. He''s a good person."


    "Is he? Good person¡­" Garen allowed his eyelids to droop while repeating the phrase once more.


    The personalities of Garen and the previous Nonosiva were naturally different. Although Nonosiva was originally quiet and preferred to listen when he was with his friends, Mina and Aier merely assumed that he had changed after this incident. They found it somewhat strange but did not think that it was a major suspicion.


    "That''s right, your body will probably take a month to recover. Once that''s over, come to class as soon as possible to catch up. Otherwise, we won''t wait for you," Mina stood up and smiled. "It''s time to go back to class. We''re off. You should rest properly."


    Aier followed suit and stood up as well.


    "Go on. Don''t worry, I''ll be able to catch up to you in no time," Garen smiled.


    "Goodbye Big Sister Mina and Big Brother Aier," his younger brother Baylon and younger sister Ker stood up and sent them off as well.


    ******************


    A month of recuperation passed by quickly.


    Garen spent his days laying on the sickbed. At first, he was unable to move at all but could gradually move his hands slowly during the later stages. After that, he could get down from the bed and walk when his recovery speed increased.


    He was usually supported by his family members, especially his younger brother Baylon. Occasionally, his parents would come over and help as well.


    Garen did not share many sentiments with Nonosiva''s parents. But in this world, Nono''s parents were merely sincere people who had made quiet sacrifices without complaining. This gave him a slightly favorable impression of them.


    After all, the money that was used to pay for his daily hospital stays were paid for by Nono''s parents who worked from dawn to dusk. Therefore, he owed them some gratitude at least. Since he had occupied Nono''s body, he would naturally be responsible to perform the necessary duties of a son to Nono''s parents.


    His recovery went smoothly. However, the places where that woman had brutally fractured his bones were still aching slightly. Although the restoration surgery had solved the problem of his fractured bones while his Soul Seed''s stimulated restoration had been fully healed as well, the memory of the young woman with red eyes continued to appear in Garen''s mind.


    That person had nearly caused him to lose one of his Soul Seeds.


    Moreover, the most pressing issue was his Willpower.


    After Garen had occupied Nono''s body, once the body had healed completely, he began to fully test out and understand the inner workings of the body structure at the first opportunity.


    He did this in order to comprehend the true meaning of Willpower.


    Meanwhile, the conclusion that he obtained shocked him greatly.


    This thing called ''Willpower'' was actually a force field that was condensed and formed by the entire body of the people here.


    If the brains of humans could produce empty powers such as one''s consciousness, then one''s Willpower basically referred to treating one''s entire body as a brain and producing a special force field using it.


    Moreover, only people from this world possessed physiological structures that could produce Willpower.


    Once Garen had painstakingly investigated the source of Willpower, time was almost up and it was already time for him to leave the hospital.


    After a series of procedures were conducted, Instructor Hamm, Nono''s parents, family members, Mina, and Aier had arrived. Once everything was settled, Garen returned to Blackboard Academy and assumed Nonosiva''s identity.


    ***************


    Blackboard Academy


    Physical examination and testing room


    Beep beep¡­


    When the red indicator light flashed, Garen straightened his body while sitting in front of the large silver crab-like scanner so that the pincer-like scanners of the ''giant crab'' could move around his body continuously.


    "All of your health data is normal. Student Nonosiva, you should lose some weight," announced the giant crab loudly without holding anything back.


    "I''ve gotten chubbier after living on campus recently,"


    Garen got down from the machine and walked in front before speaking to Aier who was waiting on the side.


    "Where''s Mina? Why haven''t I seen her during my recovery training sessions during these past few days?"


    "The Jujitsu Association that she''s part of has been selected by someone. As the Vice President, she was forced to return to deal with the situation," Aier smiled and shrugged.


    "Oh? Why were they chosen?" Garen and the other two people had become even more familiar. Although he was a slightly cowardly person, Aier was still a young man who would truly dare to step forward for the sake of his friends. His continuous contributions during Garen''s hospitalization period had allowed him to gain Garen''s approval as well.


    "Recently, there''s a new student who''s already extremely arrogant despite just joining the academy. He''s been sweeping through the martial arts associations throughout the school for the sake of making things lively." Aier was unconcerned about matters like these. "We''re just peace-loving enthusiasts so why would we care about things like that?"


    "You''re right," Garen nodded in agreement. "We''re peace-loving enthusiasts. Things like hurting and killing just don''t suit us."


    "It reminded me immediately of the collective tests of our C series classes. The instructor''s fury was released on the top three students including yourself. Have you recovered?" Aier patted Garen''s shoulder.


    "I''m still alright." Garen did not what to say and could only answer honestly.


    "Instructor Hamm placed all of his expectations on the three of you," Aier lowered his voice. "You should go and test your Willpower since your body has healed."


    "You''re right."


    Garen did not have most of Nono''s memories. Although he could remain quiet and use the excuse of losing his memories from the severe injuries to gloss things over, he had yet to obtain enough information about the problems regarding his Willpower. All of the memory fragments regarding Willpower had disappeared and Garen had yet to come into contact with teaching materials that dealt with the Willpower aspects. He could only take one step at a time.


    Once they had heard that Nono''s body had healed completely and could already reach the standards to test his Willpower, Instructor Hamm and Mina, who was still at the Jujitsu Association, rushed over at once.


    **************


    Inside the testing room


    Tiny red and blue indicator lights flickered on the various testing equipment. A female school doctor in white clothes carefully placed a series of testing leather goods such as leather gloves, leather apron, and a leather helmet on Garen. He was made to wear all of the test attire.


    Garen stood on the testing platform. It was a circular silvery-white platform that resembled a large coin that was placed on the ground.


    Instructor Hamm stood and Aier stood on the sidelines and had arrived specifically to observe Garen''s test.


    "Good luck!" Aier raised his thumb towards Garen.


    Garen smiled and stood on the platform steadily.


    "The test is starting¡­" an old-fashioned mechanical voice echoed throughout the testing room.


    A ray of blue light rose upwards from below Garen''s feet before slowing down gradually and moving above his head.


    Even Garen felt curious now. After he had occupied Nonosiva''s body, he wondered about the changes that he would undergo. Apparently, his Willpower would form a force field that was produced by his body. Since he had replaced Nonosiva, he pondered about the changes that would happen. He could not even guess the possibilities.


    To Garen, Willpower was an incomprehensible existence that could not be physically touched. Furthermore, this was completely foreign territory and power.


    He could feel a hot sensation when the lines of blue light rose from the bottom of his feet.


    The time it took to scan him was not fast but considerably slow instead. Garen closed his eyes after looking at his current condition and state in the large mirror on the opposite side of him.


    His long black hair covered half of his face and he had pale skin that seemed as if it had never felt sunshine. His body was slightly plump and he wore the standard school uniform of a white shirt with blue stripes. He gave off a somewhat dejected air. However, faint glimpses of coolness and confidence could be seen in his blue eyes, allowing the reflection in the mirror to give off a calmer personality.


    "This test should be able to assess the true condition of this body," he already assumed that he was unlikely to possess Willpower. After all, this thing was related to his soul, but his soul had never undergone Willpower training. Therefore, it was impossible that he would have it. However, once his body had undergone certain modifications and the unconscious influence of the Soul Seeds, it was still possible that changes would occur later. Nonetheless, it would not necessarily be a high probability.


    "I''m afraid of disappointing Instructor Hamm this time," he knew that the instructor had high expectations towards Nonosiva.


    When the blue line passed over his legs and moved closer to his abdomen and rose above his chest, Garen could see Aier baring his teeth and making funny faces at him from the side. Instructor Hamm had understood something from the female school doctor''s speech as a smile had appeared on his face.


    Was there really going to be a surprise?


    He had some doubts as this body had never undergone Secret Technique training. Although he was barely able to use certain techniques to release his destructive powers, this was still a regular human body at the end that could not even hear quiet words that were spoken from afar.

 778 Trouble 2

    "Student Nono''s body has recovered perfectly. It''s almost the same as any other student that had not undergone surgery, his parameters are as normal as can be," the female school doctor was also surprised.


    "The scanning has reached the head. For the body, it has recovered to a certain extent and he should be able to take the test. Luckily it was just in time, or else C5''s class ranking would drop a lot," Hamm smiled and nodded.


    Then, the blue line finished scanning Garen''s head and finally stopped.


    The results were automatically printed on a white sheet of paper beside the doctor''s computer.


    After the ''du du'' sounds of printing stopped, the female school doctor picked up the results with a smile and examined it.


    "What''s going on?" the smile on her face stiffened.


    Seeing the look on the school doctor''s face, both Instructor Hamm and Aier felt that something was wrong.


    "What''s the matter? Dr. Lassa," Instructor Hamm moved closer, hoping to catch a glimpse of the results.


    "It''s written here, the Willpower¡­between Basic Level and Level 1?" the school doctor frowned. "It''s rare to see something like this¡­"


    "Nono''s strength had passed multiple Level 1 assessments. It should be at Level 1. There is no doubt about it," Aier frowned.


    "Maybe it''s due to the fact that he was just discharged and his state is not fully stabilized. It should be normal. Maybe it''ll completely stabilize in a few days," Instructor Hamm thought for a while and made a suggestion.


    "That is quite possible," the female school doctor nodded. "Then the conclusion is that Student Nono is completely restored," she showed a smile.


    Aier quickly gave Garen, who was still standing on top, an OK gesture.


    Garen smiled and stepped down. Suddenly, he frowned and inserted his hand into his pocket. There was a slightly hot thing inside; it was the small Moonfang.


    This fang was very important according to Nono''s memories. He had thus brought it here even for his medical check-up. To think that it would give off heat during the check-up...


    "That''s it, go back and take a good rest. Tomorrow is the test for the Mech Simulation. Let''s see how much you''ve regressed. Aier is willing to accompany you," Hamm laughed and patted Garen''s shoulder. "As for me, I won''t be coming, do your best! Don''t disappoint the academy that has helped you so much." He did not know that the fact that he''d disguised himself as the academy''s fund and paid for Garen''s medical expenses had already been exposed to the students in front of him.


    "I know." Garen nodded.


    "Alright, this is it for today. Go back and take a good rest."


    Those were the instructor''s last words.


    *******************


    Holding on to his medical report, Garen and Aier left the school infirmary and slowly walked along the huge plate-like building in the middle of the Blackboard Academy.


    The afternoon weather was a little dim and gloomy as the sun had been blocked by thick clouds. The wind stirred up the dust and leaves on the ground.


    Three blue, red and white planets were suspended in the sky, and they occupied a space of more than half of the entire sky. They peeked through the gap between the clouds.


    Garen looked up at the three huge planets, especially at the red satellite planet which was as bright as the color of blood. He understood now that he was no longer in the previous world.


    The number of people strolling around the academy was not low. Many were wearing communication devices that resembled earphones, either listening to music or playing on their personal computers. There were also those who were chatting, reading books or talking to others through their phones.


    The number of students in Blackboard Academy was not low. There were students bustling everywhere, either passing by or stopping.


    Garen was observing the environment of the academy while trying to get information about the feeling of Willpower from Aier.


    And it was through this way that he found out about a troublesome matter.


    "¡­recently, I''ve felt that the improvement of Willpower has become slower. In the beginning, it was at least the size of a hair but now it''s become a little tiny bit. I''ve been training for at least five hours every single day! It''s been more than a year and I''m still stuck in the Advanced Basic Level. I can''t break through the last level no matter what I do," Aier grumbled, with his hands tucked behind his head. "Unlike you, a genius who had a Level 1 Willpower upon entering the academy. In such a short time, you''ve already passed so many Level 1 subjects. I wished I have your talent."


    "I don''t feel it anyway," Garen tried to use vague words to answer.


    "What do you mean ''don''t feel it'', I want to grind my teeth and punch you!" Aier made a vicious expression. "Mediocre students like us don''t even know what to do!"


    "Tell me the process and feeling when you train your Willpower, and let me see if I can give you some advice," Garen smiled and answered.


    "Fine, with the help of a Level 1 master here, the hopes of me being promoted rest on your shoulders!" Aier suddenly laughed. He started to explain from the beginning the ways he''d trained his Willpower. Including his selection of textbooks, the way he trained, the difficulties he encountered during the process, the direction of his breakthrough and so on, he explained everything to Garen.


    From Aier''s perspective, Nono, who had broken through to Level 1, was an expert that was much stronger than him. In the academy, even Instructor Hamm, who was an expert that had once joined the elite troops, had only a Level 4 Willpower. The top students in the entire academy were only around Level 3. Among the Blackboard Academy''s lower graders, someone who could reach Level 1 Willpower in just a year after entering the academy would be the real cream of the crop. The average students were all struggling in the Basic Level like him. The better ones might be approaching this threshold. Only when their Willpower managed to reach Level 1 could they qualify to pilot Mechs. This was the starting point where the pilot could be ensured as compatible for piloting.


    Garen listened carefully to Aier''s story and soon he had grasped the concepts of this Willpower.


    The training for Willpower did not have a shortcut. It was something that needed painstaking efforts to accumulate bit by bit.


    In the beginning, they had to choose a training method as a starter.


    For the general training methods, if several students'' talents were about the same, then their improvement rates would be about the same, except for the effects they would achieve in the end. Those who leaned towards awareness would choose the ranged type of Mech for training, while those with fast reaction speed would choose to upgrade their Mech''s reaction speed, and the defensive type would increase the Willpower field of their armored Mech. This field would become a protective barrier that could protect the Mech when it reached a high enough level.


    Those who favored attacks would choose the type of method that would increase their firepower or attack range. All these different training methods had different tendencies which would go in different directions.


    Aier had chosen the most popular awareness type, which involved attacking from far away and was also the safest way to battle. He used a common training method on the market called >. When it reached the highest level, it could fire off all the firepower loaded in a short span of time and form a rain-like attack. Of course, that was only when it reached the highest level. Aier''s family had spent all they had to buy this training method, but there were only two levels which meant he could only reach Level 2. Aier planned to earn some money when he reached Level 2, which could be considered elite in the outside world. Trying to earn money then to buy the next level of training methods could be considered quite easy.


    This was what most students would do. Aside for those students whose families were rich and powerful and could choose better training methods, eighty percent of Blackboard students could only do things this way.


    Including the previous Nonosiva.


    And what troubled Garen currently was that his situation was totally different from what Aier had said.


    This body Nonosiva did not have any talents previously. He had also chosen the range type training method. According to the intensity level and awareness levels that Aier mentioned, Garen felt that Nono''s level of Willpower was only Middle Basic Level, which could not even be compared to Aier!


    The previous Nono had relied on the white Moonfang to stand above the rest. The Moonfang had the functions of disguising the level of Willpower and helping to control the Mech.


    Even his chosen training method was worse than Aier''s; it was the free training method that Blackboard Academy gave out: >. This was the lowest level training method that was given out for free on the market. The ultimate effect was to strengthen the Willpower without any additional effects.


    In this one month''s time, Garen had roughly understood the situation revolving this society of Blackboard. A Mech Pilot was equivalent to those who practiced secret techniques in the Secret Technique World. Yet, they did not hide. They were in control of politics and they were the most powerful army. It could be said that the elites who graduated from Blackboard Academy would hold important positions in society for sure.


    As compared to other industries, they were the guardians of the region. Under this kind of situation, those who aimed to become Mech Pilots were too numerous. This had led the society to lean towards prioritizing the industry of Mechs.


    Once a Blackboard Academy''s student walked out, as long as they had reached the criteria for graduation, at worst they could be patrol officers. This was a standard position which held certain influences. Hence, the threshold for Blackboard Academy was pushed by the masses to become higher and higher.


    "What an abnormal society¡­.." Garen had a mixture of feelings after understanding the situation.


    No wonder Nonosiva had tried everything he could to squeeze into the Blackboard Academy and had even resorted to cheating.


    He touched the Moonfang in his pocket. According to the things Aier said, he was vaguely aware that although this body had merged a part of his Willpower after recovery, he was still facing the same dilemma as the original Nonosiva; that was the fact that he only had Middle Basic Level Willpower. With this bit of Willpower, never mind controlling the Mech to fight with others, even controlling the Mech to slowly walk would be a huge burden.


    As the two chatted, they arrived at the entrance of the student dormitory. The rooms here were designed for a single person and their conditions were very good. Aier patted his shoulders.


    "See you tomorrow during the test, I''ll go back and take a rest first."


    "En, go on," Garen nodded and smiled, watching Aier walking away.


    Watching Aier''s figure walk away, he was soon blocked by the students going in and out of the dormitory. Garen began to worry about tomorrow''s test.


    "I must try the training method for Willpower soon," he muttered to himself.

 779 Analysis 1

    In one of the rooms in the school dormitory


    A black-haired boy wearing the white-blue school uniform was sitting in front of his bed and facing his table. He was flipping through the pages of a book with the title > on its cover.


    Garen had been reading this book for over half an hour.


    Putting down the book, he rubbed at his tired eyes.


    "This body is too weak¡­ It can''t even do a little bit of reading, I must exercise as soon as possible," he gently placed the book upside down on the table, leaned back and relaxed his waist.


    "The book has roughly explained the situation about the latest training methods and introduced all the Blackboard training methods. It''s considered quite good overall," Garen clapped this book that had been collected by the original Nonosiva.


    "But the problem is a little tricky¡­." Garen gently stroked the cover of the book and fell into deep thought.


    ''If the contents of the book conform to reality, then the only way I can access this world''s mainstream system is through the academy,'' Garen recalled the contents of the book.


    ''The Federal laws, the Local laws, and even all the other laws and regulations which specify that the training methods for Willpower which are eligible to be classified at the Levels of at least Level One and above, cannot be circulated. Only some people with certain identities are qualified to train and view them but they still cannot be circulated. Only the academy''s students are eligible to trade and exchange the training methods, including purchasing and giving them away. Once a member of the general public is found practicing these training methods, they would be treated as felons directly and most of them would face the death penalty. This penalty is even stricter than the gun control in China on Earth.''


    Garen rubbed the cover of the book, feeling the delicate cool surface.


    ''The formal training methods classified by Levels can only be purchased by students that are qualified, otherwise, it is illegal and they will be apprehended by the government. The legal ways to practice the training methods are through the Blackboard Academy and twelve other academies. Other than them, no one is allowed to practice or trade the training methods. Without the academies'' permission to learn the training methods for Level 3 and above, the foundation for Willpower will be directly destroyed once discovered. Vicious!''


    Garen was not someone who did not understand anything, he somewhat understood how this society worked.


    Once the Willpower was totally destroyed, the victim would completely enter a vegetative state. This was a life worse than death as even their self-awareness would be totally lost.


    "From how it looks, my identity as the best student of the Blackboard Academy is quite an advantage, although I still owe Instructor Hamm a large sum of money."


    Garen turned his head sideways and looked out the window. Through the window, he could see a large tree outside the dormitory. The tree was very tall and thick, and its leaves covered most of the gray sky, leaving only tiny gaps and dimming his room.


    "This identity as a student must not be lost," he decided on the direction he would take. "Otherwise, purchasing the training methods would become illegal."


    If a free legal identity that provided such an advantage was not well used, it would be totally outrageous. Besides, with the constant merging of his soul with this body, he had thoroughly integrated into this body with no side effects.


    It was just that the original Nonosiva''s Willpower was only at Middle Basic Level, and no matter how powerful Garen was, it was impossible to turn it into Advanced Basic Level, not to mention Level 1. He himself was a cheater who relied on the Moonfang.


    This was a tricky problem.


    Garen recalled the training methods that Nonosiva had studied in the past.


    ">," Garen pulled out a tattered booklet with a yellow cover from the bookshelf at the side.


    "This is the basic training method Nono had used previously. Generally, all the students have used this basic training method booklet. The highest it can reach is Level One and only then can they start to choose training methods that are classified by Levels. Almost reaching Level 1 is the highest that normal people are able to achieve legally."


    The relevant memories flashed through Garen''s mind.


    He moved a white tablet from the edge of the gray table''s surface and pressed down on its power button. A rotating Rubik''s Cube appeared on the screen and soon disappeared. A white window background replaced the cube, with all sorts of colorful icons on it just like an ordinary computer desktop.


    "Welcome to the Blackboard client terminal," a sweet female voice sounded from the computer. This notebook-sized tablet actually had a sound system that rivaled a home theater.


    "Student c534 auto login complete, please select the entry option," the female voice continued.


    Garen quickly tapped on the icon of the training methods market.


    Soon the screen displayed rows upon rows of small icons. Each small icon was a different training method, making people dizzy with the sheer amount.


    He scanned from the top downwards and from left to right.


    ''Six Flower Training Method'' ''Master Carseland''s Personal Training Method'' ''Aquamarine Training Method'' ''Maxwell Collar Method'' ''Laser Charging Method'' ''Willpower Stream Training''¡­.


    All sorts of strange names appeared and every single icon there was beautiful, making people feel that there were no regular things on this market.


    However, when Garen glanced at the left sidebar, it was indicated that this page contained only Level 3 training methods.


    "Level 3 training method means that the highest attainable Level is 3 and these training methods have to be purchased layer by layer," Taking a look at the prices, Garen was slightly speechless.


    An ordinary Aquamarine training method was priced at a hundred and fifty thousand Universal Points. According to his observation in this one month, it was equivalent to three hundred thousand RMB on Earth and this was only the price for one layer; the price for Level 1. After opening it, there was a follow-up instruction that in order to get the Level 2 training method, he had to pay two hundred thousand Universal Points and two hundred and fifty thousand for Level 3.


    "This market seemed to be linked to the entire federal market," Garen pressed on other training methods. It seemed that the price for Aquamarine Training Methods was considered reasonable and low.


    All of these were training methods that could reach Level 3 at most and each of them had their own strengths and advantages. There were also detailed descriptions of what might happen during different periods for people with different constitutions. They truly had excellent services.


    Garen took a look at the transaction records below. Every user who bought Level 3 training methods would have their username displayed below. The username was not fully displayed though; only the last name was displayed.


    Garen slowly looked through the Level 3 training methods market.


    After the direction of the training methods was set, it would be difficult to change it, because the Willpower that developed according to the training methods had taken shape according to its development. Even if the person succeeded in changing their direction, it would be hard to reach a very high level.


    And now that he had gotten Nonosiva''s body, on the surface he had chosen a Level 1 training method as his direction, but the truth was that it had not taken shape yet.


    Because Nonosiva could not afford to buy any training methods that were classified by Levels.


    Garen randomly browsed through the market''s catalog. After a dozen pages, they were all basically the same, just with slight differences.Never mind the outrageous pricing, some training methods even demanded that the identity of the buyer needed to have certain criteria. They were basically picky. Some were layered thickly with a merchant''s vibe; as long as it was convenient for the buyer, anything went.


    After he had roughly looked through, he turned to the Level 4 training methods.


    In the market menu that was opened, there were only a few icons to pick from.


    ''Hurricane Roar'' ''Cassis Hammer'' ''Precise Aiming Device''


    There were even a bunch of restrictions on the buyer. They had to be registered in the Federal Academies Union. According to the instructions above, the market for Level 3 training methods was relatively loose. The training methods on the market were also generally Level 3 at the highest. However, those who were able to reach Level 3, they were already considered the top elites even in the Blackboard Academy. The teaching staff was also mostly at this level. This was the accumulation of training for many years until they were so old. Most of the people were unlikely to ever reach Level 3 in their lifetime.


    When he came to his senses, Garen proceeded to the Level 5 menu.


    There was nothing in it and there was nothing after that too.


    Exiting the training methods market, Garen entered his personal center and gave a bitter smile at the remaining Universal Units in his account: 9854.


    "No wonder Nono''s room did not have even a single Level-classified training method. It''s all so expensive. This bit of money can''t even pay for a single Level-classified training method..."


    Nonosiva had been a child from an ordinary family who had entered the academy with excellent results from an ordinary high school. His Willpower reached Level 1 and he received the opportunity to study in Blackboard Region''s Blackboard Academy by squeezing out other competitors.


    Ordinary civilian students like him were numerous in the academy. Their only chance at getting Level-classified training methods was by entering the academy and received the academy''s exclusive basic training method.


    Blackboard Academy''s exclusive basic training method was > which could allow the learners to enter Level 1 and aim for Level 2, and it was the students'' openhanded benefits. Though this was the most common Level-classified training method which did not have any advantages and special abilities, it was the only chance for the civilian students to change their fates.


    "What a brutal blockade," Garen sighed.


    He stood up and began the everyday exercise that recovered his body.


    He pulled the curtains shut, switched off the computer and began to slowly move the fingers on both his hands to tap certain points on his body.


    Each time, the tap was done using the sharpest point on his fingertips. The moment he tapped, Garen''s expression was as though he had gone through a very laborious work. Soon, after more than ten minutes, every tap caused his forehead to slightly ooze with sweat.


    After more than half an hour, he slowly stopped and breathed out on the spot.


    "If it wasn''t for the fact that I can''t practice any secret techniques, it would be impossible for me to resort to practicing this outer technique filled with loopholes," Garen helplessly sighed.


    In this one month''s time, he had tried practicing all kinds of secret techniques, whether it was the White Cloud Secret Technique, Black Water True Technique, original Waterbird Fist or Slaughtering Hand. He tried a dozen advanced secret techniques and the end result was the same as what he''d expected; there was no way for secret techniques to grow here because the structure of this body was fundamentally different from the structure of the creator of secret techniques.


    So, all the secret techniques were useless here. He tried the higher level Living Secret Technique from the previous world. Without the rare materials he needed, he just gave up and forgot about it. The previous world''s Peacock Technique was stuck at the beginner level from the start until the end, and up until the moment he left, he still could not break through.


    Under such circumstances, Garen could only keep checking and reviewing his body during the hospitalization period and create a new secret technique with loopholes everywhere for himself.


    He named this secret technique >.

 780 Analysis 2

    Garen did not dare to casually practice the common outer techniques at all and he only used this method which gradually strengthened his body through external stimulation, due to the fact that he did not fully understand the structure of the meridians and the genes of this body.


    This outer technique used a special method to stimulate the muscles and meridians. Although he could not determine the core structure of the body, Garen was still able to understand the locations and functions of the blood vessels and organs clearly within a month.


    As he kept on moving in his room, slightly gray sweat gradually oozed out of the skin of his body.


    Only after an hour did he rest and walk to the bathroom mirror.


    Hua.


    He turned on the tap and cool water gushed out of it.


    Garen took out a basin and filled half of it with water. He put a towel in and soaked it before wringing it dry and covering his face.


    He savored the icy feeling on his face. After the towel was warmed by his body temperature, he removed it.


    Turning off the tap, Garen then used the towel to wipe off the sweat all over his body.


    Putting down the towel, he inadvertently noticed the reflection of his own face in the water of the basin. The face was different. Only those eyes, those dark blue eyes, were familiar, which he had seen when he had traveled to the first world.


    Taking a deep breath of cold air, Garen felt the cool breeze blowing in from the side window and went to close the curtain.


    There was the scent of baked bread wafting through the air, as well as the odor of dust accumulating in the dormitory together with the smell of ink from his notebooks.


    There was a student on the phone upstairs; the sound of a faint, gentle laughter traveled down. Other than that, it was all quiet. There was the faint sound of the wind rustling leaves and the sound of car engines passing by.


    "It''s all real¡­." Only now did Garen fully realize that he''d really arrived at another world.


    "This is really the real world, not inside a game¡­" he lightly scrubbed the towel and watched as the water in the basin turned murky.


    "Since when had seeking strength and becoming stronger become my instinct¡­." he hung the now clean towel back on the shelf. "Even someone as strong as Black Sethe, who was at a Demon King Level, ultimately perished in the space and time of the universe."


    Feeling the two rotating Soul Seeds in his mind, Garen''s tired spirit suddenly became motivated.


    "Even if I am far inferior to the Army Level, never mind the Demon King Level, there is no shortcut for me to take. The only way is forward. There is no need to think so much."


    Shaking his head, he pushed aside these thoughts and began to think about his current situation.


    "Let''s try the training method first."


    He changed to a black sleeveless shirt and trousers and sat on his bed.


    Opening the Blackboard Academy''s basic training method booklet which was printed with >, the clear writing inside reflected in Garen''s eyes.


    ''The root of Willpower comes from the body. If the consciousness is the product of the brain, then the Willpower is the product of the entire body. According to this theory, the body can be divided into countless regions of Willpower like the regions in the brain. We are going to focus on the most central regions¡ª the three main regions which include heart, lungs and stomach, the three viscera.''


    Scanning line after line of text, Garen analyzed the booklet''s contents.


    Slowly, he began to have a certain understanding of this world''s Willpower. According to the theory of Willpower, neurons existed in every organ in the human body and these neurons acted the same as the neurons in the brain. Their variety of functions were similar and in order to activate these neurons, a special field called Willpower was needed.


    "Simply put, treat the body neurons the same as the brain and eventually construct something similar to a second brain in other parts of the body to become the source for Willpower and generates the second consciousness. The second consciousness is the Willpower¡­." Garen realized. "This theory is easy to understand."


    He looked down and continued reading.


    The previous pages explained the general outline of this world''s humans'' nature. Now, it was the training for stimulation of the organs. The Blackboard Manipulation chose the stomach as the site for training. This was also the choice for almost all of the training methods on the market.


    ''The center of the stomach is the central part of the body. Naturally, the special field will converge here. This place is also the easiest place to gather Willpower¡­ Inside the human body, excluding the nerves and blood vessels, there is another invisible network that transmits energy. The middle of the stomach, the place between the ribs, is also the center of this invisible energy network¡­''


    Next was the training of the second consciousness, which was the key to Willpower.


    ''The second consciousness, which is the essence of the human instinct, comes from the depths of the human body. Before humanity learned to use words to know this world, before words were invented, humanity had been using this kind of instinctive consciousness to understand the world.''


    ''It has no words and no symbols. There are only images and only a rough understanding of the world. This is why the second consciousness is also called the cognition of the body. This kind of cognition is an innate ability. Due to the fact that we learn languages and symbols, we are forced to use the text and symbols as a connection to the world.''


    ''So, the key to training the WIllpower is to forget all the symbols.''


    Below was a list of different ways, steps, and precautions to take note during training. More importantly, the noteworthy areas were marked with red lines and notes were written on the side.


    Garen read them carefully and a general idea of Willpower was formed in his mind.


    "The so-called Willpower is the purest consciousness that is not affected by any language, words or symbols. It''s not the brain''s consciousness but the instinctive consciousness of other parts of the body. This system of this world is quite mysterious¡­." Garen flipped through the contents of the training method and compared it to the progress of his body.


    He touched the pit of his stomach. There was a feeling of some kind of cool breath there. He did not notice it previously but focusing on that place now, he felt something different.


    It was like there was a nose there slowly breathing and moving. If he focused on it, he could feel something strange, just like there was a pair of eyes there but it was closed.


    "This is the second consciousness?" Garen quickly read through the Blackboard Manipulation booklet. "Discard the thinking pattern that uses words and symbols and activates the cognitive thinking pattern. Why is the animalistic instinct of crisis gone from humans? It is because the second consciousness has been degraded by the system that uses words. Makes sense¡­"


    He put down the booklet. A list of various drugs and equipment that could stimulate the body into a pseudo state of activating the Willpower was written above. Only a few methods were available for a single person to utilize.


    Garen sat down cross-legged on the bed. He could clearly feel that above the pit of his stomach, there were traces of hair-like fine air currents circling there.


    This was the Willpower that Nono had trained.


    According to what was recorded, it was still the Middle Basic Level.


    A training method that did not use drugs and equipment was very simple. It was to concentrate on the pit of the stomach and imagine the mind hidden in the pit of the stomach and not anywhere else. Imagine the mind in the pit of the stomach without eyes, ears, and mouth, and there exists only the sense of touch.


    The method was simple but it was difficult to do it.


    Garen could not adapt to this method. After a few tries and around half an hour wasted without any results, he put it aside temporarily.


    According to the booklet, the first time training the Willpower had to be done with the help of the drugs and equipment, otherwise, the feeling could not be grasped. It could also easily affect the digestive function of the body, resulting in physical exhaustion.


    He took the Moonfang from the pocket of the clothes he had removed.


    Garen carefully inspected it in his hand.


    There was a large crack in the middle of the Moonfang. The white surface was also covered in many small cracks, like a glass that was about to break. The texture which was supposed to be as smooth as porcelain was now rough and sharp.


    He recalled one of the two methods that Nono had used.


    Garen furrowed his brows and willed a trace of the second consciousness in the pit of his stomach to come out and headed towards the Moonfang.


    Hiss¡­.


    There was a faint sound and the Moonfang suddenly lit up and slightly burned Garen''s hand. He nearly threw it on the bed.


    "It can still be used." Garen was a bit happy. "As long as it can still be used, taking care to not overload it should enable me to continue the disguise."


    He did not want the fact that his Willpower was not sufficient to be exposed right now. He had been enrolled into the academy as a student that had reached Level 1 Willpower. If his Willpower suddenly had a drastic drop, with a detailed investigation, the truth that he cheated to get into the Blackboard Academy would be discovered.


    According to the laws and regulations, a light punishment would be kicking him out of the academy and he would never be admitted a second time. Other federal academies would also be notified. A heavy punishment meant that in order to recover the contents of the training method, they would cripple his Willpower and maybe even kill him secretly. In times of chaos, human lives were not a big deal for those who held power, especially those of people who broke the rules.


    "There were only Level 3 training methods on the market and Level 4 was almost exclusive to the people in powerful organizations. Looks like I have to join a group and get a better training method using the orthodox way," Garen made a decision in his heart.


    However, it was all just wishful thinking now, as his Willpower was not even Level 1.


    He began to test the function of the Moonfang. Inserting the Willpower into the Moonfang could produce an effect similar to increasing his Willpower. Putting it in the Mech Controller and insert the Willpower could achieve an effect that allowed it to control the Mech automatically.


    This Moonfang was basically a universal amplifier device.


    After studying the Moonfang for a bit, Garen continued the training method to train his Willpower. Sadly, he seemed to have no talent for it, which was to say this body was not gifted, very mediocre. After working hard for a long time, there was only a tiny bit of feeling. No wonder Nonosiva only had this bit of improvement even after enrolling in the academy for more than a year.


    "Looks like it is necessary to find an equipment to help training the Willpower. Also, it would be better to try using the Moonfang to test manipulation¡­." Garen decided.

 781 Simulation Battle 1

    Standing up and looking out of the window, the sky had gotten dark. The white clock on the wall indicated that the time was 19.56.


    There were the sounds of cars passing by outside the window while other dormitories had gone quiet.


    Garen stuck his head outside and looked around. There were barely any sounds.


    "This time is the time when most students train their Willpower. It''s very quiet. At this time, there should also be no one using the Single Control Room and the Enlightening Room. After all, the Enlightening Room''s equipment to enlighten Willpower is only effective for those who are exposed to the Willpower training for the first time."


    Garen made up his mind and put on a clean set of uniform, taking the key with him. Looking in the mirror which reflected his face half-covered by his black hair, he felt uncomfortable and took a rubber band to tie it into a small ponytail. He combed at the stray hairs with his hand and now he looked more refreshed.


    White pale complexion, high bridge nose, pink lips and eyes that gave off a bleak and languid feeling. This was Garen''s disguise or putting it in other words, saving his energy.


    "This body is still young¡­ its malleability is quite good," Garen pulled back his hair and threw the dirty clothes into the automatic washing machine before opening the door and walking out.


    Outside the door, there were lots of students passing by. There were sounds of chatter and laughter and occasionally the electronic sounds of unknown devices.


    After the door was closed, Garen walked along the corridor to the exit of the dormitory building. The sky had completely turned dark outside. Not far away, the streetlights formed a line into the distance. Some students were talking under the streetlights.


    Recalling the location of the Enlightening Room, Garen walked along the alloyed path leading to the outside. Soon, the dormitory behind him became smaller and the lights became dimmer.


    Walking along the road fence, after following the electronic road signs around several corners and intersections, Garen quickly found the dark testing room.


    The Enlightening Room was an independent region. It was called a room but it was actually a large area consisting of several Blackboard buildings.


    The region was surrounded by a fence and there was a black staircase going upward at the gate.


    When Garen arrived here, a male student was sitting on the metal stairs with his sleeves and pant legs rolled up, his head tilted down without saying anything. Garen did not know what he was doing.


    Casually glancing at him, Garen passed by his side and crossed over the region''s gate.


    ''Scanning,'' a muffled electronic sound came from above the door frame.


    Garen paused and waited until the scan was over before going in.


    The Enlightening Room was covered in yellowish light. Some areas had lights and some had not, and these lights divided the whole place into a few areas.


    "Luckily, it''s open all day," Garen walked into the first Blackboard building door and walked along the cold dim passage.


    He randomly chose an Enlightening Room and pushed the door. It was empty inside except for a circular equipment in the center which looked like a large black stone.


    Garen walked to the edge, took out his student card and swipe the card in the slot.


    Beep¡­.


    In the center of the entire Enlightening Room, a white shaft of light immediately beamed down on the black stone equipment.


    Garen arrived and lay down on the surface of the equipment following his memory.


    ''Enlightening start¡­''


    ''Scanning the brainwave¡­.''


    ''Scanning the body index¡­''


    ''All parameters passed, starting enlightening¡­''


    After a while, in the midst of the light, a dazzling bright white light as thick as a pencil suddenly dropped down between Garen''s eyebrows like a laser.


    ''Please train according to training method¡­.'' the mechanical voice continued.


    Garen closed his eyes and began to concentrate in the pit of his stomach, visualizing the mind in the pit of the stomach.


    The Enlightening Room was different from the room at the dormitory. There seemed to be a kind of force helping Garen to easily gather his consciousness in the pit of his stomach.


    Not even ten minutes passed, he had completely entered into the training method state and treat the stomach as a second brain.


    This kind of training was like waking up from sleeping. Garen felt refreshed after the sleep.


    Looking at his surroundings, there was no movement. There was no sound outside in the corridor either. It seemed as though he was the only one in this entire region.


    Getting up from the black stone table with a bit of anticipation, he recalled the feeling of the process when he went into training.


    Closing his eyes, he only thought a bit before instantly entering the state of the training method that he imagined.


    "The effect is not bad. It was said that the Enlightening in the Enlightening Room was the human body''s greatest progress. Did I make any progress?"


    Carefully identifying the Willpower in the pit of his stomach, disappointment flashed in Garen''s eyes.


    "Nothing has changed¡­ Looks like this body does not have any talent."


    Getting up from the equipment, he tidied up his uniform before opening the door and walking out. The lights in the room behind him were automatically switched off the moment the door closed.


    His surroundings were quiet except for the sound of talking and reprimanding from afar.


    Garen did not bother himself with it. From Nonosiva''s memories, he knew that only the freshman who would come to this area once a year. It was vacant most of the time and no one would be around. This large area was vacant and not in use and was thus the ideal area for violence and dating. The previous Nono occasionally came here and saw such occurrences several times and had gotten used to it.


    Following the corridor to the outside, Garen passed by a glass corridor on his right side and saw that a little girl was surrounded by a group of girls outside on the small garden. They were pointing fingers but Garen was not sure what it was. The light was dim and the corner was in one of the darker areas, so Garen could not see anything clearly.


    He was too lazy to pay any more attention to them and immediately left the corridor. Among the girls there, the one leading the group turned back and looked at him. Although the person was very pretty and her figure was not bad, her eyes were fierce.


    Those girls did not pay any more attention to him and continued talking to the one that was surrounded by them. They seemed to be shouting.


    Garen exited the corridor and quickly left the Enlightening area. After the first Enlightening, it would be easier for him to enter the training method state. In the future, he would just come over once in a while to renew that feeling. There was no need to come here frequently.


    "But this place is very quiet, it''s a very suitable location for training alone," there were some things that were not suitable to train in the dormitory, especially when some of the necessary steps of the process included things like hitting training. This was the outer techniques'' most basic part. The noise in the dormitory was too loud but this place, on the other hand, was quiet. The monitoring was also lax and most of them were useless, making this place a very suitable training environment.


    Looking at his watch, the time had exceeded nine o''clock. This meant that he had stayed at the Enlightening Room for more than an hour.


    "There''s still time to go to the Simulation Room."


    The Simulation Room was located at the edge of the Enlightening region. He just had to follow a small path and turn a corner and he would be at the Simulation Room.


    When Garen arrived, there were people coming and going. The students that still trained hard at night were not few. Some were sweating and stank, some were looking very sad, and some were pale; it seemed their energy consumption had been too much.


    There were people who often stayed up late to train, and people who sought peaceful challenges and sparring also came here.


    This place was divided into the free area and toll area. Nono had never gone into the toll area so he did not know what was in there.


    Following the path to the free area, there were more and more people. Most of the students were coming out, regardless of gender. A lot of girls were looking untidy. In just ten seconds, Garen had already seen four or five girls mixing with more than ten guys coming out. Similarly, they stank of sweat and they had no scruples about their images.


    Thinking about it, it all made sense. Having spent so much energy training, would they have the time to dress up? If they did not dress up, of the ten points, they would still get five points.


    Walking down the aisle, the right side of the free area had a silver metallic door. It was oval and the door kept opening and closing. The students who came out occasionally were all clean and tidy whether they were males or females, completely different from the students who came out of the free area.


    That side was the toll area.


    Garen passed by the entrance of the toll area and took a look inside. There were beautiful silver boxes in the form of life maintenance pods arranged in two rows inside.


    Garen did not take another look and headed inside at a faster pace.


    Inside the free area were also rows upon rows of simulation devices. The Cockpits that were hemispherical were arranged in rows like black eggshells. The ventilation system on top was constantly making hissing sounds, sucking all the strong smells of sweat out of here.


    The time now was not considered late. There were still a lot of people around.


    Garen found a vacant machine and sat in it. He took out his student card and swiped it once before he put on the helmet before him and lay down.


    It felt like surfing the internet at an internet caf¨¦.


    The sight before him was dark.


    Di¡­.


    Instantly, a white line lit up. Following it was a rotating colorful Rubik''s cube icon.


    ''Welcome to the Simulation Battle Platform, the student number ID number has been inserted.''


    ''Loading the record¡­.'' the electronic voice continued.


    ''Mister Goof, please select your model.''


    Garen already felt exhausted. He never thought that the previous Nonosiva would get a nickname that could make people so speechless.


    However, immediately, a blue platform with a flashing red light appeared. On top of it stood three humanoid Mechs. One was white in color and the other two were red. Their structures did not look complex and precise and they also did not have any aesthetic sense. Apparently, they were some of the most common goods.


    He randomly selected a red humanoid Mech: Kegus General Mech 1.


    ''Kegus 1, long-range Mech, Armor Level 1, Fatal Point 3, Basic laser gun range 50 meters, Lethality Level 1, Mech Speed Level 2.''


    ''Overall evaluation: Level 1 Mech (Free Basic Mech)''


    "All of them are about the same, one has a thicker armor at Level 2, another has higher lethality, but this one has a higher speed. This is it."


    Ever since Buddha Mother, this was the second time Garen was in control of a Mech. Everything was quite fresh to him now.


    ''Entering holographic simulation state¡­.''


    With a hissing sound, Garen felt that his brain was abruptly disoriented and his whole body had entered another environment.


    In front of him was a circular glass window where he could see that the outside was a night sky full of twinkling stars.


    A clear screen floated in front of him, it was a white window similar to the battle platform. Inside the window were rows of buttons and small windows. It was full of writings.


    ''Reward 1000 Universal Units Challenge¡ª¡ªGlow'' ''Reward 200 Universal Units Challenge¡ª¡ªGeruby'' ''Death Match (Started) ¡ª¡ªNaro vs Corduba''


    ''Practice Match¡ªunnamed'' ''Practice Match¡ªunnamed'' ''Practice Match¡ªunnamed''...

 782 Simulation Battle 2

    There were boxes marked by various labels. Among them, practice matches were for free and the number of users was also the highest. The space behind the words Practice Match was marked by Levels, which indicated the Levels of the opponents inside.


    ''Please choose whether you want to open a room or join other users'' Battle Rooms'', the mechanical voice sounded again.


    Feeling as if he''d really entered a Mech, Garen chose a practice match at Level 1.


    ''Entering the Battle Room¡­Arena, rocky land¡­Weather, sunny''


    ''Loading data¡­. Please wait for a moment''


    After a moment, Garen saw that the circular window in front of him had brightened up. The dark starry sky was replaced by a clear blue sky and a huge white planet hung in the sky, emitting a slight white glow.


    He quickly directed his Willpower into the interface that served as a controller for the Mech.


    He suddenly became dizzy and felt like he''d been transported out of the Mech and now stood on a piece of red land. The ground was full of craters of different sizes without any sign of life. Other than the craters, all he saw was red soil. The surrounding was barren.


    The ground that was full of craters seemed to have stretched to the ends of the horizon.


    Moving his body, Garen felt as though he was immersed in a very sticky glue making it very hard for him to move.


    He raised his hand with a lot of effort. Only then did he realized that his hand was a red mechanical arm. The surface of the Mech was reflecting a red glow due to the sun rays.


    "This is the manipulation of Willpower? It''s almost the same as controlling my own body in real life¡­ Such a realistic simulation technology!" Garen admired.


    "Are you done adapting? Can we start now?" a female voice sounded from afar.


    Garen looked up.


    On the other side, a dark armored Mech was standing beside a huge crater. The Mech was like a muscular giant at six meters tall with a black ax in its hand. One look and anyone would know that it specialized in melee.


    There were more than one hundred meters of distance between the black and red Mechs. Compared to the other Mech, Garen''s Mech looked like an unbearably thin child that had gone through a stunted growth.


    "Let''s begin," Garen slightly adapted to the movement of the Mech without the Moonfang''s support.


    ''Practice Match begins, the loser will be penalized 100 Universal Units.'' the mechanical voice sounded again.


    Garen was stunned, Universal Units were money, and it had to be paid even for this ordinary practice match?


    Without giving him any more time to think, the black Mech on the opposite side suddenly sprinted and rushed towards him with a ''peng peng peng'' sound. The black ax in its hand was brandished in front of its body like a shield.


    "Another rookie," inside the black Mech, Gladys calmly stared at the opposite red Mech, watching it slowly taking out a laser gun, disappointment in her heart.


    Only by battling with experts could she improve and become stronger. This was Gladys'' motto. Although there were wins and losses, when she was confronted by a rookie, winning too easily made things meaningless.


    "That name was right on point, totally a goof," she looked at the name on top of the Mech''s head, "a melee Mech is closing in and yet he hasn''t distanced himself."


    The black Mech was approaching the red Mech at a very fast pace.


    The distance was rapidly shortening.


    50 meters, 40 meters, 20 meters, 10 meters¡­


    Peng!!


    The black Mech rolled to the right side and made a backflip, the black ax in its hand swiping out.


    Chi!


    Only then did Garen managed to lift the laser gun. Although he had made the lifting motion when he saw that black Mech coming, but his Willpower was too weak, causing his instruction to be delayed by a few seconds before his instruction was fully communicated to the Mech. It was too late when he finally managed to lift the muzzle to point at his opponent.


    With a crack sound, the red Mech was split into two from the shoulder downwards causing a huge explosion to occur.


    Garen''s sight blurred. Coming back to his senses, he had returned to the cockpit and outside the window was a boundless starry sky.


    ''Battle ended, you lost. Duration of battle is 21 seconds. 100 Universal Units was lost. 9754 remained.''


    Sitting in the cockpit, Garen recalled the brief battle just now. He finally knows the reason Nonosiva was unable to separate from the little Moonfang.


    "The Willpower without the Moonfang was totally a target that cannot move. The time between the Willpower issuing instructions to the Mech receiving the instructions was at least five seconds. Five seconds. It was totally enough time for any Mech to sprint to the front and go for the kill. Replacing it with a long-range Mech, one shot can settle it."


    "Look at the remaining 9754 Universal Units, the common students did not have that much money. It must be what Nonosiva had gathered to buy training method. With the Moonfang at his side, even if it was at this Simulation Network, he could win more than he lost with some caution. This money must have been saved by him little by little," Garen thought.


    He looked at the previous battle records of Nonosiva.


    The previously recorded battles filled up his sight, right beside the list was the time and date. Roughly looking through, there were at least hundreds of battle.


    "Only arriving at the real Level 1 can the Mech be operated freely. Otherwise, it''s a motionless living target." Garen judged the situation and took out the little Moonfang in his pocket.


    Although there were cracks in it, once he took it out and hold it in his hand, Garen suddenly felt comfortable all over his body as though an electric current had spread all over his body.


    At this moment, he felt that sitting in the Mech was a lot easier.


    "Let''s try again."


    He randomly clicked on a Level 1 practice room.


    Hiss¡­.


    ''Entering the Battle Room¡­Arena, rocky land¡­Weather, cloudy''


    ''Loading data¡­.please wait for a moment''


    Similar to the environment just now, there were craters of all sort of sizes on the red earth. A Mech without the flight function could only pay extra attention to the craters on the ground. Once they fell into the crater, the battle was as good as over.


    Garen looked across the distance.


    A white slender humanoid Mech was standing there with two half-moon shields on its arms and within its hands were two silver machetes, looking quite beautiful.


    "Another melee Mech?" Garen moved his body. This time the movement was no longer slowed down but pretty smooth.


    His hands slightly flashed and two laser guns appeared in his hands.


    A series of tips on the long-range shooting was quickly recalled in his mind.


    Although he had always been a master at melee, he had also dabbled in long-range shooting too. As long as he took into account his opponent''s moves in countering long-range Mech, it would be alright.


    "Let''s begin," Garen said.


    "Ok," a male response came.


    ''Practice Match begins, the loser will be penalized 100 Universal Units'' the mechanical voice sounded again.


    Once the voice fell, the white Mech on the other side suddenly rushed here, not by using its legs but using the blue jet thruster behind its back. The speed was astounding.


    Chi Chi Chi Chi!


    Four laser beams shot out and directly hit the head of the white Mech in front. Even with this high-speed movement, the shot was still amazingly accurate.


    Unfortunately, it was ineffective on the armored head of the white Mech that was made of an unknown material. The laser that was shot out only made a few red sparks on it.


    Garen raised both his guns and retreated backward but the opponent was too fast. The speed was on a different level.


    He could only keep changing the direction he turned. At the same time, his laser guns were shooting non-stop.


    The red laser was actually not a real laser but the so-called high-energy beam. This kind of beam was also categorized by levels of lethality. His firearms were of the lowest levels and so without hundreds of shots, penetrating the armor of this opponent was definitely a pipe-dream.


    Garen rolled and evaded the two machetes'' chops. In the middle of it, he hurriedly shot twice at the opponent''s waist. Sadly, it was still useless.


    He suddenly understood that this opponent was an expert in using expensive protective Mech armor. High-cost Mechs could only be afforded by those rich second generations students. Together with their exclusive training methods, the combined effects were naturally not something that common Mechs could easily break through.


    Shooting two more times accurately on the same spot at the waist of the white Mech, it was still ineffective. There was totally no damage that could be seen. The level of lethality was far inferior to the defense provided by the armor of the opponent.


    Even if it was also a Level 1 Mech, there was still such a large gap between them. This was not the gap in Willpower but the gap in Universal Units that was thrown into their Mech.


    "Too weak! Hahaha," in the opposite Mech, a voice sounded, "Why are you so lame? Tell me, why are you so lame?" the other party began to mock him.


    The machete abruptly accelerated and drew two silver line towards Garen.


    The jet thruster behind the white Mech''s back spewed out even more blue flames and produced an instant burst of speed, flying straight towards Garen.


    With a clang sound, a white line flashed by. The white Mech had rushed through the side of the red Mech. The silver line that was drawn by the machetes instantly cut off half of Garen''s torso. A little bit more and the red Mech would be split in half. Bursts of sparks came out of the red Mech''s waist.


    The white Mech turned around. The jet thruster behind it burst out blue flames again and it pounced towards the opponent. However, it discovered that the red Mech had run away quite a distance.


    "Still running? Die!! Stupid Prick!"


    The jet thruster at the white Mech''s back spew out a large amount of flames and with a roar, the speed became even faster.


    At this moment, Garen turned to the side slightly and incredibly avoided the white Mech''s rush by a few millimeters and swiftly passed by his side.


    "Eh¡­" the white Mech was stunned.


    Not only that, Garen lifted his foot and kicked forward.


    Peng!


    The huge force from the kick combined with the explosive instantaneous force from the jet thruster, and in front was a huge and deep crater¡­.


    Without any buffer to stop its momentum, the white Mech crashed into the crater.


    It was followed by two laser beams hitting accurately into the opening of the jet thruster. Immediately, an explosion was triggered and the jet thruster was blown to smithereens.

 783 Test 1

    There was a dull thud.


    The white Mech crashed into the crater and rolled a few times. By the time he stood up again, he was already a complete mess, covered with red dirt from the ground.


    Garen stood beside the crater and looked down, the white Mech looking at him from below at the bottom of the crater.


    "F*ck you!! If you got the balls, then f*cking kill me why don''t you!" The white Mech suddenly went ballistic, spreading open his legs and pointing at his dick. "Come! Hit me here! Hit me!"


    "Hit me, why don''t you! What, you scared?! Didn''t you enjoy tricking me just now!?" The white Mech spread his legs open and thrust at Garen. "You dare trick me! Impressive! Are you scared now? I''ll f*cking tell you, this won''t end¡­" Hah!!


    Two lasers hit his dick precisely, and wisps of green smoke rose from it slowly. That place was weaker than others, as expected. The protective armor was nowhere near as thick as other areas.


    The surroundings instantly fell quiet. The white Mech looked down at his crotch disbelievingly, and then raised his head again to look at Garen.


    Bzz-bzz!


    There were two more crisp sounds, and the smoke grew thicker¡­


    "Aaaahhhh!!!!!" The white Mech exploded.


    He pointed at Garen with one finger.


    "Don''t let me f*cking find out who you are! Otherwise you''re dead! Dead!! You dare trick me! And you dare hit my crotch!! You¡­"


    Bam!!


    Two more lasers hit the same place, and the white Mech did not even finish what he was saying before he exploded with a bang, turning into a ball of yellow flame.


    "So the weak point is at the crotch, huh¡­"


    Garen looked at the flames beneath him calmly, not feeling much of anything at all. This practice match was not an internal thing in the school anyway, it was connected to the entire Federation''s main internet. Who knows what you are, but let''s see you try to reach the Federation Government''s military division. This simulated game was organized on a website by the military''s higher-ups, in order to make sure it was completely fair, and in order to choose talents from among the people, they were very strict about personal information privacy here. If they could not manage that much, those kids with powerful parents could easily find out their opponent''s information in revenge after getting their asses whooped, and then no one would dare to go for any practice matches anymore.


    After winning, a Rubik''s cube abruptly appeared in front of Garen, and spun once.


    ''Congratulations on defeating YourDaddy. You have obtained 100 Universal Units, please keep up the good work.''


    ''YourDaddy has requested a rematch, do you accept?''


    Garen''s expression instantly turned black...


    With a smack, he immediately reached out and pressed ''Reject''.


    "What a sucker."


    Leaving the battlefield, Garen glanced around the room again. There were many, many rows of Battle Rooms.


    Even that white Mech just now, he was not someone that the previous Nonosiva could have beaten in a million years.


    Putting aside that the Mech''s weak point was at the crotch instead of the regular head and cockpit, the opponent''s Mech power was definitely not as low as Level 1 or Level 2, it would have been Level 3 at the very least. Otherwise, it could never reach such a high speed.


    For a Level 1 Mech to reach the speed of a Level 3 Mech, that would require components worth at least ten thousand Universal Units, and more than one such component too. This was basically made of money. Normally, they would reach Level 2, tops.


    There was also the opponent''s defense Mech system, a Level 1 Laser Cannon was nothing to it. This was an overwhelming difference in level, so it had to at least be Level 3 again. Its destructive power was slightly weaker, but that had to be at least Level 2 as well, just look at those twin swords that slashed off half of Garen''s waist with just a graze.


    This fellow was obviously what they called a p2player.


    From his memories, Garen could tell that Nonosiva had also encountered such rich players a few times before, and the result was completely predictable. Unsurprisingly, he was demolished, such an overwhelming pwning definitely did critical damage to his pride.


    Garen went through Nonosiva''s previous memories, there was some information of how he used to fight left in the fragments. In this planet area of the Mother Planet Federation, Nonosiva''s original ranking was number 215433, at that was including his Moonfang. He was basically a nobody.


    Garen casually chose another Level 1 practice match.


    It was still the Crater Field, this map was very popular. This time his opponent did not try anything funny, they were also a standard Level 1 normal Mech, just like Garen. The opponent''s technique was not even as good as Nono''s had been, so Garen, with his powerful combat instincts, simply shot off a few rounds at one spot, and killed him in an instant.


    After playing a few more rounds, Garen more or less got used to controlling the Mech. By the time Garen left the simulation system, it was nearly 11pm. Looking around him, he noticed that most of the people had left, but one quarter of the machines were still on. Evidently, some people were planning on staying here for the night.


    Standing up from the simulator machine, Garen stretched his body. He didn''t feel too bad, there was nothing strange, except for the fact that he had used up too much of his spirit, and felt exhausted.


    Leaving the Simulation Machine and returning to his hostel, he cleaned up half-heartedly and lay down to rest.


    *************


    Ding dong¡­. Ding dong¡­


    There was the sound of the doorbell coming from the door.


    Garen slowly woke up. This body did not have a very high quality of sleep, which meant he did not get a lot of rest.


    "Nono, get up! It''s time to go for the official simulation test!" Aier yelled from outside the door.


    Garen threw aside the covers and sat up in bed, rubbing his face.


    "Got it! Be there in a moment." Once he was slightly more awake, he quickly got out of bed and drew the curtains with a whoosh. The sun was already out outside, and he could vaguely see the entire Blackboard Academy -- several buildings shaped like black boards -- through the many trees.


    "I remember Instructor Hamm mentioned that the simulation test today officially checks how we practically control the Mech''s regenerative abilities. If all goes well, I should be able to participate in the class ranking competition." Garen recalled the information he got from before.


    The bell rang again, and he walked over to open the door. Aier dashed in like a bullet.


    "Hurry up! If we don''t go early, there will be a line until lunch. More than half the school is taking the simulation test at the seventh arena today." Aier''s hair was plaited, his originally brown hair almost exceeding his chin, just like a girl. It was slightly better and neater than when he would randomly put some braids in his hair, Garen still did not know how he did that.


    "What''s up with your hair?" Garen glanced at him. He walked to the washroom and began to wash up.


    "My older sister did it for me, don''t blame me¡­" Aier said in frustration, yanking at his plait, his expression helpless. "Hurry up, why don''t you, I bet the instructors are already at the arena. Students from other schools and going through the test over at our school, they''ve taken up most of the arena, so it''s seriously nervous in there."


    "Got it." Garen smiled, and hurried up.


    After cleaning up quickly, the two of them took their stationary and rushed towards the seventh arena.


    There were in fact a lot more students between the buildings suddenly. Other than their own white uniforms with blue stripes, there were also pure red uniforms and black-and-white ones. Evidently, the students from the other schools had arrived.


    They reached the arena quickly, but there were already many people lined up around the door. Aier dragged Garen in through the side door, where Instructor Hamm and the others were already waiting.


    Mina was there too, as well as a few other students who were also taking the test. One of the boys had white hair and a cold expression, giving off a very distant vibe.


    "Just in time." Hamm smiled as he walked towards them. "How is it? How are you healing?"


    "Very well," Garen nodded and replied politely, smiling. This Instructor Hamm had taken money out of his own wallet to pay the surgery fees, he truly was a good guy.


    Hamm nodded. "There are five people taking the test today, the first in ranking is Fervale, no one''s arguing that, and the second place has been decided as well. Third place is between you and Cole. So on one hand we''re testing how well you''re recovering today, but we''re also deciding who''s coming in third."


    "My injuries might not be fully recovered yet¡­" Garen looked somewhat troubled, he did not really want to join any class ranking competition, he''d rather use this time to study how he should be training himself.


    "You''d be representing the class in a competition for all the students in the entire year, everyone in the top ten will be awarded at least ten thousand Universal Units," Aier reminded him quietly.


    "Although I''m not fully recovered yet, but for the sake of the class''s honor, I will do my best!" Garen said loudly, thumping his chest.


    Beside him, Aier held his face and turned away.


    I really need money right now, I''m totally broke.


    Garen was completely honest with himself, and did not blush or intend to change his mind at all. Instead, he stood next to Instructor Hamm with a calm expression, shoulder-to-shoulder with the white-haired young man, Fervale.


    Thankfully only he could hear Aier''s voice, so the students did not look at him strangely.


    Instructor Hamm patted Garen''s shoulder hard, looking comforted.


    "I wasn''t wrong about you! Good luck!"


    "Mm!"


    To Garen, this was merely a trifling matter. Back when he was in the Secret Technique World, he already had no qualms in the bullying the weak from a position of strength, remember how Duskdune Shura was chased away by him?


    They waited with Instructor Hamm beside the arena for a while, and soon enough a protective barrier rose around the arena soundlessly.


    "Fervale, you go first." Hamm looked at the white-haired boy.


    "No problem." Fervale had no expression at all, he looked very reliable. He walked towards the arena entrance on the right, there was a grey warehouse attached to the back of a black board building.


    Not long after he went in, there was the buzz of an engine from the arena.


    A pure white humanoid Mech walked out of the warehouse entrance. It was six feet tall, and had sharp scythes on its arms like a mantis. It looked slightly similar to the dual-blade Mech Garen had fought, but it did not have the blue flame propeller on its back.


    ''Let the first round of the simulation tests, begin,'' a sweet robotic female voice spoke.


    After two crisp whooshing sounds, the white Mech''s two scythes abruptly sliced towards both sides, and the entire machine began to dash forward. The blades swept back and forth, waving left and right, slicing through the air crisply.


    It looked more like a living person than a Mech, when it raised its dual blades and used those blade techniques, it looked unnaturally alive.


    "Fervale''s Mech is overall rated at Upper Level 1, he''s achieved the Level 1 standard in most of his subjects, and has a very balanced skillset." Instructor Hamm nodded, satisfied. "Add that to his own close combat training, which makes him more mobile and slightly faster than others, and that means trouble for his opponent once he gets close.


    The students around him could not help but nod upon hearing that.


    The blonde girl in second place, Sara, spoke as well.


    "None of us have any objections to Fervale being first place considering his techniques, this test is just a formality. If nothing unexpected happens to Nonosiva, the three of us will be representing our class."


    The others had no objections either. There were more than fifty people in the class, and the first three had been tried and tested against them all, most of the classmates had fought the top three before.


    Compared to the top three, it would be considered impressive for the others to have one or two subjects at Level 1, after all they had only been studying for one year. All subjects at the Level 1 standard was already the minimum requirement for graduation, it was about the same as a practical entry-level Mech pilot, the only difference being actual experience.


    To normal students, this was the difference between heaven and earth.

 784 Test 2

    Garen knew very well that this difference was like someone who had nearly completed all their credits within one year of university. Or someone taking the Gaokao and having at least 600 marks after the first year of high school.


    He observed Fervale''s sword technique closely. There was a faint rhythm in it, which meant that he had evidently reached beginner-level, so he could properly deal with both offense and defense. Seeing as he was just a teenager, this was indeed remarkable.By observing like this, Garen could also more or less figure out where the martial arts development was in this world.


    After Fervale came down, the second-placed Sara went up next.


    She was a long-range shooter, a long-range target in the shape of a Mech rose up in the arena.


    There was nothing much to see there. At five hundred meters, she scored three out of ten hits, with an accuracy rate of 30%. She also landed two out of ten hits when the target was moving, but she did not land any hits when both the target and herself were moving.


    Garen calmed down instantly, there was nothing to see here at all.


    "Very good! As expected of Sara, your movements are very smooth, and you could even reach such a high accuracy rate at five hundred meters away!" Instructor Hamm clapped, looking comforted.


    The other students also applauded, all smiles.


    Only then did Garen remember that they were just year one freshmen, most freshmen could barely even walk smoothly. It was already quite impressive to be able to control a Mech to shoot so smoothly with just your Willpower. She could even hit a target five hundred meters away without computer assistance, even though her accuracy rate was slightly on the low side.


    "Last one, Nono, go!" Hamm smacked Garen''s shoulder.


    Garen nodded, and walked towards the direction of the warehouse.


    Sara met him from the front.


    "Good luck!" She smiled at him kindly. Looking at him closely, she seemed to be slightly surprised at his uncharacteristically clean and neat look.


    "Thanks." Garen nodded politely.


    Entering the warehouse, he found that it was dim and cool inside, with three Mechs standing in a row inside. There was an automated machine arm inside, attaching some components onto the Mechs.


    Garen glanced at the three Mechs, they were all the standard White Swan Mechs, all purely white. These were the Blackboard Academy''s traditional Mechs, very balanced in all the stats, known for their high level of stability.


    All three were white humanoids, so Garen just randomly chose one and stepped into the elevator.


    Amidst a whir of movement, the black elevator brought him up to the Mech''s chest and stopped there.


    With a ker-chak, the Mech''s chest opened automatically like a flower bud, revealing the control cabin inside.


    Garen jumped inside directly, and the Mech''s Protection Panel closed automatically behind him.


    He put on the control helmet, and a panoramic view immediately appeared in front of him, he could see the view outside, and there was a row of options beneath him that he could only see with the helmet on.


    ''Please choose your Weapons Mod''


    There were three mods, one long-range, one short-range, and one defense.


    Garen tapped the long-range icon, after all, Nonosiva had always been using the long-range Mech.


    Two more options leaped out of the long-range option, namely Twin Pistols and a Mono-Pistol


    He chose Twin Pistols.


    "Loading weapon mods¡­"


    With a clacking sound, the whole Mech gave a slight jolt.


    ''Loading complete. You may begin the test now.''


    The Mechanical voice spoke again.


    Garen activated his Willpower, inserting it into a small round hole in front of him. He waited until he felt that he had completely merged with the Mech before he tried to move.


    After five whole seconds, the Mech moved slowly, and took one step forward.


    "My Willpower doesn''t work at all¡­" Garen sighed, and took the little Moonfang out of his pocket rather helplessly, putting it on the right side of the control panel.


    The Moonfang seemed to have some attraction power, it stuck tight to the control panel as soon as it was placed there, and rapidly began to glow with a white light.


    Garen instantly felt a numbness like an electric current flow through his body. The sense of delay from before disappeared utterly.


    "I still have to rely on this thing."


    He took a deep breath, and watched the Moonfang''s condition carefully. Last time, Nonosiva''s Mech stopped moving because the Moonfang suddenly failed, and it nearly resulted in tragedy. Now it seemed that he had used the Moonfang too much, causing it to overload.


    Controlling his body, Garen strode out of the warehouse. The world instantly brightened as the sunlight outside his eyes, unnaturally bright, and even slightly piercing.


    The contents of the test were some basic movements, and then a set of standard battle skill simulations.


    Garen chose the Twin Pistols, so his simulation contents were not unlike Sara''s.


    A Mech target rose up five hundred meters away.


    Garen stood at the warehouse entrance and raised his two guns, releasing the safeties. These were not laser guns but guns with metal bullets, so they had some rebound.


    Bang bang!


    After two gunshots, the target in the distance lit up, which evidently meant that he had hit them.


    That was two consecutive hits, and it raised a slight murmur of surprise from the surrounding students.


    Garen glanced sideways and saw that even Instructor Hamm looked surprised, so he decided to tone it down a little. To him, someone who was already a peak-level martial arts grandmaster, he had extremely precise control over his body. Hitting a target five hundred meters away was a piece of cake, after all, the target was a five-meter-tall Mech.


    The second time, Garen purposely pressed the barrels down.


    After two more gunshots, he did not hit anything.


    There was a murmur of pity from the side.


    Garen took some time to glance at the Moonfang, the white light on it was twinkling, unlike during the online simulation battles last night. After all, he was driving a real Mech now, so it definitely took a lot more effort.


    He did not move much, and shot off the remaining rounds calmly.


    In the end, he landed three out of ten hits, just like Sara.


    After that was the moving target.


    One hit.


    When he had to move with the target, he also missed all the shots.


    In the last bit, when he had to move with the target, Garen watched in terror as the Moonfang began to emit smoke, the twinkling light growing more and more urgent. He knew that after it was damaged once, the Moonfang had also become extremely fragile. In the past, such movements would not be any problem whatsoever.


    "The test is over." Instructor Hamm''s voice came in through the barrier.


    Only then did Garen quickly stop moving, and began walking towards the warehouse slowly.


    By the time he walked to the spot in the warehouse where he was supposed to park his Mech, the Moonfang''s white light had already dimmed down. It looked like it was at the end of its tether, and was scalding hot to the touch.


    Garen took off his helmet, and lifted his hand to see the time on his white watch.


    "Approximately eleven minutes, perhaps slightly longer. The Mech can''t move too quickly, even if I maintained the same slow pace as I had in the end, I can probably only last for fifteen minutes max."


    "Looks like I have no choice but to be a long-range shooter." Garen felt helpless, he still needed to be a long-range defensive shooter, because that only required very simple movements, and did not involve complicated movements with his whole body.


    Picking up the Moonfang that was still burning his hand, Garen got out of the cockpit, and stepped onto the elevator.


    Aier was already waiting for him in the warehouse below.


    "Not bad!" Aier patted Garen''s arm with a laugh.


    "It was only okay," Garen smiled.


    He was still worried about the Moonfang, he did not know how long it would take for this thing to recover.


    "Nonosiva, would you like to fight a match with me?" A calm voice came suddenly from the warehouse entrance.


    Garen and Aier looked up to see Fervale standing at the warehouse entrance, looking their way.


    "A match?" Garen frowned. "I''m not interested."


    Fervale was slightly stunned, it did not seem to occur to him that Garen would reject him so decisively.


    He had also seen how smoothly Garen was controlling the Mech, he had achieved Sara''s results with relative ease, and had evidently not used all of his power. That was why Fervale grew interested, but he did not think that the other party would reject him so directly.


    He was not very good at speaking, so he also could not think of what to say there. Normally, once he asked, he would rarely ever get rejected. After all, his family background and his own excellent performance made the other students in his class unable to reject him.


    After a pause.


    "Fine, then," he said calmly after recovering. "The person you injured that day, some people from his family are at the staffroom now. Instructor Hamm pressed down that incident that day, but I think it''s not over yet. You be careful now."


    "Thank you." Garen had thought about that himself as well, but now that Fervale was warning him as well, he began to pay more attention to it.


    In actuality, it was his acting up last time that got the opponent spooked, that was why his opponent just froze there, and was finally hit by his retaliating shot. Half of his body had been burned up, and he nearly lost his life as well. It was all thanks to the wonders of medical technology that he got out of the hospital one month earlier than Garen.


    If Garen was still paralyzed in bed, perhaps the other guy might let him go. But now that he had somehow left the hospital good as new, the other person was probably going to try something else.


    Walking out of the warehouse with Aier, Fervale left the arena directly, walking towards the other arena, probably in order to watch how the students from other schools fared in their ranking tests.


    Garen greeted the instructor, and seeing that most of the other students had scattered to watch the other matches, Garen found an opportunity to walk with the instructor alone.


    "Instructor Hamm, I wanted to ask, how''s the family background of that student I accidentally injured last time?"


    Instructor Hamm did not look particularly surprised.


    "Did they find you?"


    "No, Fervale just reminded me there, so I wanted to know more about them," Garen replied honestly.


    "That student''s name is Corlan, someone in his family is an instructor at the academy, with decent ability, I guess. Don''t worry, I''ll help out with this matter, after all it was all just an accident, nobody meant for it to end that way," Instructor Hamm lit a cigarette and spoke after taking one puff.


    "Thank you, Instructor," Garen nodded, even though he was inwardly not bothered.


    Leave the instructor, he split up with Aier, and took one round around the arena, watching the tests in the other arenas.


    The Mechs were engaged in intense battle, their movements quick and fluid. Their techniques and skills were no lower than what Garen understood as third- or second-rate combat skills, and there were many complicated and precise movements as well. But most of these were undergoing a higher-level test.


    Even so, he had garnered a clearer understanding of this world.


    Although he was a Secret Technique Grandmaster, and had been at the peak of his era, the martial arts skills here were pretty decent as well, and they could develop into something even greater. Some of these combination skills, and all those powerful combinations of cold and hot weapons, created all sorts of strange effects. Without an understanding of how the opponent''s weapons worked, and if they used peak-level combat skills, perhaps even Garen could fall to such an opponent at his current level. After all, his body was way too weak, nowhere near as powerful as he was in his previous lives.


    After taking one round, he went back to the dorms directly, and began to train diligently.


    Right now, his biggest problem was that his power was not his own, and came instead from the Moonfang. Should he be discovered, that would be in violation of academy rules, and he would be guilty of lying to the administration. They might even disable his Willpower altogether.

 785 Hope 1

    The days passed one after the other.


    Before he knew it, a week had passed with Garem just consistently practicing this exact training regime. This body was indeed very average in quality, in a normal academy, he would probably be considered a normal student, but in the Blackboard Academy, he would only be at the very lowest level.


    If it were not for the Moonfang, he probably would not be able to survive in the academy at all. After all, students with low marks had to pay extremely high tuition fees, it would be way beyond the means of an average-income family like his.


    So even though he did not want to use the Moonfang, in order to come into contact with the main power source and powerful entities in this world, he had no choice but to keep up the lie.


    His training over the past few days had shown him just how average his body was in quality. After one week, his Willpower had only risen a tiny bit, and if he did not sense it carefully, he would not be able to tell anything was different at all.


    He was still impossibly far from the Level 1 standard.


    Because his talents were too slow to progress, Garen had no choice but to look for another method to upgrade himself. And the first thing he could think of was his special Ability''s potential points.


    Fwah¡­.


    The rain poured down outside the window, blowing the branches of large locust tree into a slant. The raindrops fell onto the surface of the leaf, onto the windows and the glass, making a pattering sound.


    Garen sat beside the table in the hostel, with a laptop in front of him. It was playing clips of Mech battles, but although Garen''s gaze was trained on the clip, his attention had actually wandered to his attribute pane.


    ''Nonosiva Lin -- Strength 0.6, Agility 1.1, Vitality 0.4, Intelligence 1.3, potential power 0%. Soul limit 40.''


    ''Willpower -- Middle Basic Level''


    ''Attribute -- Void Pursuer''


    ''Soul Seed -- Northern Trident Frost-Fire True Water Evil Technique, Holy Phoenix Demonic Book.''


    ''Secret Technique -- Imprint of Steel: increases one''s physical strength and vitality.''


    "My Strength has recovered a little bit through this training, it went up by 0.1. My Vitality went up by 0.1 as well. Not bad, considering I don''t have potential points." The truth was that Garen had been keeping an eye for anything that could contain potential points a long time ago, but unfortunately he had not discovered anything while he was at the hospital nor after returning to the academy.


    This terrifying quality of his, even slower than a snail, had completely worn away his patience. If he continued upgrading himself at this pace, he would probably need at least more than ten years to reach Level 2 or 3.


    He could not bear having to waste so much time.


    "Looks like I need to gather information about this world''s research on the human body, medical studies, and the like. Reorganizing my secret techniques is one thing, but the ultimate power of the secret techniques is really far from the Mechs in this world, it would be best if I could learn about this world here, then absorb and integrate that knowledge. I forgot to do that in the previous world, and in the end I used secret techniques to destroy the entire world''s power system. That''s very disadvantageous towards my gathering my Soul Seed, I was basically retreading old roads."


    Garen mused it over, and came to a conclusion.


    To him, normal secret techniques had brought him as far as they could go. The Soul Seed level had already surpassed normal secret techniques, and reached a brand new level. This level absorbed other sorts of understandings, and in turn gathered into different Soul Seeds.


    "Secret techniques can only be temporarily used for self-defense, if I want to reach a higher level, the only way would be to absorb the strengths of this world''s power system, perhaps that can bring me up to the next level." Garen hesitated for a moment, looking at the torrential downpour outside.


    "I''ll just make a trip to the flea market here then."


    It was still early, just slightly past two in the afternoon. Since he did not have class in the afternoon, Garen stayed in his dorm to rest and train his "Blackboard Manipulation", which meant that he had the free time now to check out the flea market near the academy.


    The market had a collection of all sorts of small-time merchants and peddlers, creating a small market where they bought and sold. They bought some small items from the students of the academy, and sold them off at a profit.


    For example, they would trade in some upper-level students photocopied notes, their training comprehensions, or small components made by the maintenance students, even the scrap metal taken out of the academy warehouses. Anything that could be used or not was thrown here for sale. As long as it had something to do with the Blackboard Academy''s Mech pilots, it was worth a considerable sum of money.


    Likewise, these merchants would also bring in materials from outside, or transport some specific items for some students, in a mutually beneficial arrangement.


    Sometimes, some of the merchants were even the academy''s own students.


    **********************


    As usual, Corlan was waiting for his younger brother at the school entrance so that they could go back home together.


    After he accidentally sustained critical injuries in the Level 1 test last time, he heard that his father had already settled this matter, and the other side was also punished accordingly, so he let it slide. He had also returned to his regular life, chatting over the phone with his girlfriend, going racing on the streets with his buddies after class, playing Mech simulation battles, and training at night.


    The heavy rain pattered at his feet, water sliding down his umbrella, almost forming a veil of water.


    "Cor, shall we go back together?" a red-haired boy waved at him and asked in the midst of the shuffling crowd at the entrance.


    "Nah, I''m waiting for my bro," Cor smiled. "Weren''t you guys supposed to go play cards? Are you still going now?"


    "My pops asked me to get something all of a sudden." The red-haired boy leaned in closer. "Oh yeah, I saw that freshman from your test last time today."


    "Oh?" Cor was slightly stunned. "Isn''t he in the hospital?"


    "Looks like he''s all better now, I don''t know when he got discharged," the red-haired boy said casually. "What do you plan to do? You just need to say the word."


    Cor''s smile faded slowly, but he did not say anything.


    "You''re at the top of our class, third in the second year! If you don''t retaliate after a freshman sent you to the hospital, wouldn''t just about anyone be able to come mess with our Class b1?" the red-haired boy said angrily.


    "The matter of the surgery fees has been settled, so that means case closed," Cor said simply after calming himself down. Glancing at the red-haired boy who still looked like he had something to say, Cor smiled again. "Alright, go play your cards!"


    "Fine fine fine, you sure are generous, the case is closed, just as you said." The red-haired boy looked at him admiringly. "I sure respect you, if it were me, I wouldn''t stop until I killed that¡­"


    "Alright, alright, hurry on," Cor interrupted him, patting the red-haired boy''s shoulder. Only then did the boy walk away with his umbrella, still ranting loudly.


    Watching the boy leave in the rain, Cor''s smile faded slowly.


    He kept remembering the situation that day.


    "That shot¡­ was it a coincidence, or¡­" He could still clearly remember the moment he was shot.


    That shot was practically impossible. It was a textbook pose, but the shooter was nearly laying sideways on the floor, the barrel barely moving. It completely ignored the delay caused by the rebound, ignored the slant caused by the difference in position, and he did not even aim, he barely just flinched.


    And even then, he could hit Cor''s cockpit precisely.


    "Big Bro," a similarly calm voice interrupted his thoughts.


    Cor came back to reality, looked at his younger brother in front of him, and smiled.


    "Let''s go, time to go home."


    His younger brother Caus was the top seat of the first year Class c2. He had short cropped blue hair and wore gold earstuds, his body tall and strong, with a faint scar on his right cheek. That was a mark left behind from a brawl in high school.


    Caus stood beside Cor, and was one whole head taller than his older brother. He cocked his head slightly, greeting two girls as they passed by. Even when he smiled, he gave off a ferocious vibe.


    Cor walked in front and Caus followed behind him. For a moment, neither spoke.


    When they went past the main academy gates, Cor suddenly stopped and turned around.


    "You don''t have to mind my business, this matter is settled."


    Caus instantly smiled widely.


    "I know, Bro, I don''t plan to mess with the guy, do I?"


    Cor frowned as he looked at his younger brother, and could not tell if he was lying or not. His little brother had always idolized him ever since they were young, treating him as his standard for everything. This time he had gotten seriously injured, went into the hospital, and nearly died. It would be weird if Caus did not do anything.


    "Forget it, let''s go back."


    He turned around, flagged down a levitating cab, and darting inside.


    Caus smiled very brightly.


    "I''ve been rather busy with some troublesome matters myself as well, so I don''t have the time to bother with your stuff. I''ll do as you say." He ducked into the cab as well, but no one saw the ruthlessness in the depths of his eyes.


    *********************


    The flea market


    There was a rectangular silver rain cover beside the academy, blocking off the heavy downpour outside.


    Under the cover, there were many small trolley stalls set up there. There were even more merchants with their wares on the floor further inside, and some people had even hung up some cloths beside the cover at the academy''s outer wall to form small stalls. It was a sea of colors inside, with all manners of items inside.


    It was raining heavily, so even the usually crowded market was relatively empty, with just a few students and outsiders wandering around the stalls, mostly merely window-shopping.


    Garen mingled in with the crowd, and examined each of the stalls one after the other.


    As long as there was anything with potential energy within five meters of him, he could be able to sense it. But he had been here for over a dozen minutes, and walked past a dozen stalls, and still he did not sense even the tiniest hint of potential energy.


    After walking past a small cart, Garen''s gaze fell slightly onto something on the cart.


    "Come come come, look at the newest Butterfield Butterfly Steel Piece, it''s perfect as a Mech''s buffer piece, it''s just two hundred points per piece," the cart owner instantly greeted him passionately. "Just put one of these where the wear and tear are the worst, and you''ll surely be able to buffer it perfectly."


    Garen glanced at the cart, there was a row of white things that looked like garlic hanging on it, strung up into circles. He had no idea what they were, but there were many metal and wooden bottles arranged underneath it, as well as other small knick-knacks.


    From Mech components to feminine skin care products, or even man-made crystal jewelry and small snacks, there was practically everything you could ever want or need.


    The cart owner was an older man in his forties, his mouth flapping endlessly without pausing even for a second. After greeting Garen, he caught the attention of three or four more customers, and for a second there business seemed to be booming.


    Garen''s gaze swept across the cart, but he still could not find any hint of potential energy. Feeling slightly disappointed, he prepared to leave.


    But suddenly he seemed to remember something, and he abruptly looked back at something beside the stall.

 786 Hope 2

    It was a small white stone, just about the size of a thumbnail, mixed in with a plate of other randomly-colored stones. There were more than just white stones in there, there were yellow, black and red stones as well. The white stone was completely inconspicuous among them. But Garen''s gaze was still fixed onto that one stone.


    "It''s a bit like¡­" He was not very sure either.


    He reached out his hand to pick up that plate of pebbles. In the black, palm-sized stainless steel plate, there were seven or eight stones just like that one.


    "These are the Rainbow Stones from the Thousand Island Region, fifty units for one. The differently-colored stones will emit colorful sparks when rubbed with a hard object, they''re mostly used in chemical experiments to make Glowing Light R," the cart owner immediately began to explain the origins and functions of the stone to Garen when he saw that Garen was interested.


    Garen knew that as well, the Mother Planet Federation was currently split up. Each of the territories was divided into regions, and different regions had different specialties.


    "Dazzling Light R? Do you mean that special combustible fuel that only high-level Mechs could use?" He searched his memory for that information.


    "Yup yup, that''s the one. You interested? I can give you a discount, you can take this whole plate back for just two hundred units." The cart owner waved his hand nonchalantly, acting as though he was just trying to clear his stock even at a huge loss.


    "A hundred units." Garen held the plate in his hand, and felt a jolt in his shock in his heart. Once he made his conclusion, he offhandedly returned an offer.


    "A hundred units?!" The cart owner''s expression immediately turned exaggerated. "I wouldn''t even be able to break even with a hundred units, a hundred and eighty at the least!"


    Garen nodded.


    "I can only do a hundred units."


    Perhaps the cart owner had never met someone so decisive when shopping. On the other end, someone was asking him about a mechanical component, that was a treasure worth five hundred units, he could earn a lot from that. After doing some calculations, he decided that these stones were just the most common item from the Thousand Island Region, and he had bought them at only five units each. Eight stones were worth only forty points, so it was a pretty good haul if he could sell them at a hundred units.


    He waved his hand.


    "Alright, alright, a hundred units it is. I''m only selling it to you because you were honest, remember to stop by again next time¡­"


    "If you have more of these white stones next time, I can buy them in bulk for twenty units each," Garen said, picking up that white stone with a smile. He seemed to be in a very good mood.


    The cart owner immediately paused, and appraised Garen carefully. "You sure?" he asked.


    "Of course, I can give you my phone number," Garen said with a nod.


    "How many do you want?" Seeing that this could be a big deal for him, the cart owner hurried calmed down the other customer, and began to discuss the prices face-to-face with Garen.


    "At least a hundred or more," Garen replied bluntly. "And I might need more later."


    "A hundred or more¡­" The cart owner licked his lips, and was thoroughly intrigued. If he bought in bulk, he might even be able to lower the price. If he bought one for four units there and sold them for twenty each here, then he would earn sixteen units for one stone, and 1600 for a hundred!


    He immediately felt immensely pleased. 1600 units was equivalent to his profits for a month. This one deal could earn him what he used to earn over a month.


    The cart owner''s eyes began to shine, and his expression grew gentler.


    "Are you sure you want more than a hundred? What if there are even more than that?"


    "I want as many as possible, but I don''t have enough funds for now, three hundred might be my extent," Garen said calmly. In truth, he was also overjoyed inside.


    If he was not mistaken, this white stone actually contained parts of the White Peacock Stone!


    He had not found any antiques or potential points, but he somehow managed to find a stone containing traces of the White Peacock Stone. This gave Garen a complicated, indescribable feeling.


    That was the White Peacock Stone, the most basic necessity for training the Hellfrost Peacock Technique. He could not make any progress in the last world just because he could not find this item, and now he had accidentally discovered it in a flea market.


    Such a precious material was being used as fuel? What a waste of resources!


    According to the knowledge in his memories, the combustible parts of the White Peacock Stone were the most useless parts. The true essence lay in what was left behind, to think that they sell the shell and toss the pearl over here.


    "Less than three hundred but more than one hundred, right? No problem!" the cart owner agreed heartily. "When do you need the stock? I can bring it in for you within two days."


    "The sooner the better, naturally," Garen replied.


    Tossing the white stone in his hand, the smile on his face grew more natural.


    The cart owner also had an irrepressible smile on his face, with his connections, it was ridiculously easy for him to get these stones.


    ******************


    Garen continued to take a few more rounds around the flea market, but he did not discover anything else, only the impure White Peacock Stones he had found by accident at that cart.


    Returning home from the flea market, Garen immediately darted into his dorm room with that stone, and hung up a ''Do Not Disturb'' sign on the door.


    Pinching the stone, Garen sat cross-legged on the bed. The curtains were drawn, it was still raining heavily outside.


    Closing his eyes quietly, Garen sank into his spiritual space.


    In the pitch-black space, the two basketball-sized Soul Seeds were spinning on their own, floating in the middle like two bright light orbs, one blue and one green, both unusually eye-catching.


    And behind the two Soul Seeds, he could vaguely see two tiny lights, the size of fireflies, floating there.


    Garen reached his consciousness over, and touched the two dots of lights lightly.


    He swept over the red light, this was a Living Secret Technique seed with the metal attribute, it required training deep in the ore mines. He could not accomplish that at all now.


    The other blue one was the Hellfrost Peacock Technique he had practised before. Ever since he stopped being able to make progress with it and left that world, this seed returned to being a Living Secret Technique seed, floating quietly in the depths of Garen''s soul.


    Once his consciousness touched the blue light, in an instant, an icy blue mist spread over his consciousness.


    Waah! Waah!


    The cry of a phoenix that sounded like a child''s wailing rang in Garen''s ears.


    The waves of blue mist from the Hellfrost Peacock Technique instantly spread out from his head.


    Sitting on the bed cross-legged, a hint of deep blue flashed past the bottom of Garen''s eyes, waves of invisible blue mist spreading out from the depths of his soul, expanding inside his body. That was a sense of deep cold, icy and slow, starting from his head and moving downward, going past his neck, his chest, spreading towards his limbs.


    "Only Living Secret Techniques can completely ignore the difference in worlds, and the difference in bodies, this is a powerful martial arts made from the most basic of rules¡­ It''s a shared principle that can be used in any world!"


    The same words were repeated in Garen''s heart.


    Waves of blue mist that could not be seen with the naked eye extended to all parts of his body.


    A dot of blue light was beating and twinkling lightly on his chest, brightening and dimming, as though it was breathing.


    Garen''s whole body was trembling slightly, this body was still different from the other ones, after all. Its basic genetic structure was different, but that was okay. No matter what structure it was, the Living Secret Technique was itself alive, so it could grow accustomed to a human''s body, slowly absorbing nutrients to grow into the secret technique system most compatible with the user''s body. Even if there were a thousand seeds given to a thousand people to train with, those thousand people would end up with a thousand different Living Secret Techniques.


    Garen''s whole body was so cold that his shivered, his skin growing whiter and whiter. It even had a trace of blue to it, and there was even a light layer of white frost on his hair.


    After nobody knew how long, the cold creeping up on his body finally retreated slightly, and only then did Garen recover, his gaze landing on his Ability''s attribute pane.


    There was a new icon on the secret technique pane.


    ''Hellfrost Peacock Technique: Grade one elementary level (Total of five grades, with three grades of derivative grades, a total of eight grades) Every time the practitioner reaches the next level, their blood and veins will be purified, and they will slowly approach the Hellfrost Peacock body type, finally becoming the ultimate form, the Hellfrost Peacock King, with Army Level being the limit.''


    "As expected, it is very easy to enter the elementary level." Garen opened his eyes, raised his hand, and looked at the white stone in his hand.


    Sensing the power pathways spread like dense spiderwebs in his body, he felt the wisps of cold energy flow tightly down these three-dimensional paths, like the tubes in the most precise piece of equipment.


    Garen moved slightly, and a wisp of cold air immediately rushed out of his palm, precisely piercing into the stone in his hand.


    The Hellfrost Peacock Technique''s first grade was very easy to reach, but it did not do much other than lowering his body temperature. This time it was different, he had the White Peacock Stone, even if it was merely an impurity, this stone naturally contained a material very similar to the Hellfrost Peacock Technique''s bloodline, so it had the effect of speeding up the Peacock Technique.


    Sitting on the bed, Garen watched as the white stone in his hand melted rapidly, and collapsed, turning into a small mound of white powder in his palm.


    "This is a Living Secret Technique, only someone who owns a Living Secret Technique seed may truly practise this secret technique," Garen was slightly thoughtful. He felt the material seep into his palm like water, and then it was rapidly split up and absorbed by the countless cold energy inside his body.


    After all the material had been split up, Garen felt as though his Peacock Technique had improved a little.


    Glancing at his skill pane, he saw that there was a new blood-red explanation symbol behind the Hellfrost Peacock Technique''s strange ice-blue peacock icon.


    ''Hellfrost Peacock Technique: Grade one elementary level, grade 2 completion at 12%.''


    "There''s 12% completion in one tiny impure stone, not bad¡­" Garen carefully stored the white ash into a small bottle and capped it properly. This was the distilled fuel for a high-level Mech, if he gathered enough of it, he could also sell it for money.


    In the next two days, he still calmed himself down and trained properly every day. The effect of the Hellfrost Peacock Technique''s first grade was very minor, and it had no effect at all on his Willpower. Garen guessed that they would help each other to some extent at the higher levels.


    Every night he would persist with joining a few simulation battles, so that he could understand the ways Mechs fought in this world.


    After going on like this for so long, he began to build a reputation for himself in battle, and he had also risen up to the top 150,000 in the Level 1 area. After winning more than ten battles consecutively, he earned more than a thousand Universal Units. Therefore, simulation battles became Garen''s only method of earning money quickly.

 787 Family 1

    In the scarlet-red Crater Field


    Two hundred meters apart, two red Mechs were dodging and shooting at each other madly. White and red lasers missed each other by hairs, most of them landing on the ground and creating many burnt black marks.


    The Mech on the left was a standard red humanoid, wielding two guns. It looked very average, and was the most basic Mech model.


    And the one on the right was a completely different Mech, a large red spider, not humanoid at all. The spider''s front four legs had four laser cannons attached to the outside of its joints, and its many digital compound eyes gave off a chilling effect.


    "Let''s call it a day here." The humanoid Mech stopped shooting suddenly, avoiding a laser beam as thick as an arm, and standing still beside a crater.


    "We still can''t decide a winner," a helpless voice came from within the spider. "How many times have we fought since we met the day before yesterday?"


    "Fifteen times, this is the sixteenth," the humanoid Mech replied.


    "Fine, sixteen¡­ I really wonder, what kind of a person are you inside?" The person inside the spider sighed. "Forget it, I''m going offline too, the money this time is yours."


    "Thanks."


    "No problem."


    With a whoosh, the red spider abruptly distorted, and disappeared from where it stood.


    ''Congratulations, you defeated Kanar. You received 1000 Universal Units, please keep up the good work.''


    The voice came from the system.


    Only then did Garen recover. Staring at the spinning cube in front of him, he chose to exit the map.


    For the past few days, he had been training the Hellfrost Peacock Technique on one hand and getting to know the online battle skills on the other. But after messing around aimlessly for some time, he had somehow actually encountered a true fighter.


    Kanar, a long-range shooter using the spider model Mech. He was more than just strong, he could control four shooters and aim them as he pleased at his enemy, and he could even properly use the crisscrossing lasers to have them reflect off each other, reaching angles that he would have never been able to shoot.


    The first time they met, Garen nearly lost badly, but thankfully his basics were also very strong. After they had gotten accustomed to each other, the two of them began their intense opposition. Garen''s precision was terrifying, no matter how his opponent changed directions, he could still track him down quickly. Even with the Spider''s mobility and leaping, his accuracy was still over 50%. But his own mobility was too low, he only ever moved in a small range.


    And the Spider''s shooting was more reliant on its unexpectedness, and was even stronger in its strange and highly mutable high-speed movements. After Garen took a few small losses, the two sides were engaged in a deadlock.


    They had fought over ten matches consecutively over two days, with equals wins and losses, but Kanar the Spider knew that this was in fact his loss, because he was using a specialized model whereas his opponent was only using the most standard Mech model.


    Garen exited the map, and returned to the selection room where everything was like a starry sky.


    He glanced at his remaining Universal Units: 12560.


    This was the result of his labor over the past few days, although there were wins and losses, he still won more than he lost. Unless he met those completely irrational outliers, who had terrifying levels of Mechs or Willpower, he would not lose.


    He tapped opened his ''friends'' panel, and there was only one name inside -- Kanar. They had bonded over their battles, and added each other as friends. But now Kanar''s icon had turned grey, he had evidently gone offline.


    "Last match." Garen glanced through the whole Level 1 battlefield, and pressed the sort by ranking option. "Let''s see how far I am from the peak-level fighters."


    Suddenly the room changed with a whoosh, and after it settled quickly, several new rooms appeared in front of him.


    Suddenly he saw a room opened by a vaguely familiar ID, the room name was: ''Dobe if you got the balls then go 1-1 with me!'' and the username with it was ''YourDaddy''.


    "This guy still hasn''t given up," Garen laughed. After he tortured this person last time, he would always open up a room and waste money to keep it there.


    This idiot was somehow one of the frontrunners in Level 1, that was evidently a result of the overwhelming advantage from his powerful specialized Willpower and the Mechs he bought with money.


    If he hadn''t tricked him last time, Garen believed that it would have been hard for him to beat that guy. Be it in Mechanical power, weaponry, or defense, he was no match for him. If he had not destroyed his opponent''s propeller back there and let him fall into the crater, Garen probably would have no other way to finish him off.


    Plus, Garen was not going into the practice match rooms anymore now, he went straight into matches with rewards of at least 1000 units or more, otherwise, he would not be able to earn at all.


    He glanced at his watch terminal, it was three in the afternoon, and there was a missed call from that shop owner over there.


    Garen was slightly happy, that must definitely mean that the White Peacock Stones were here. He dialed back quickly, and after some ringing, an old man''s head appeared on his watch screen.


    "The things are here, when are you coming over to get them?" the cart owner uncle said excitedly as soon as he saw Garen.


    "Straight to the flea market?"


    "No, come to a rented house beside it, we''ll exchange the goods and money on the spot," the uncle shook his head. "We''d be too obvious in the flea market."


    "Sure."


    "The place is at the building next to the gazebo by the right main street."


    Turning off his watch, Garen stood up and looked around him. There were not many people online to battle at this time, most students were at class.


    The classes here were not that different from the previous world, the lecturer would drag on and on, talking about nonsense for half a day. Garen went for a few classes and then decided to play hooky, no one cared about your attendance here, as long as you could pay the fees and reach the final standard required for graduation, it didn''t matter even if you didn''t attend a single class.


    Leaving his position, he picked up his school coat and walked out.


    When he left the simulation room, a few people who had been sitting up behind him got up at the same time. They exchanged a glance, and then followed him quickly.


    By the time Garen left the simulation building, it was already nearing the evening outside, the sunlight was slightly dimming, and it was not too hot.


    Garen went against the flow of the crowd, walking towards the school gates. When he passed the school gates, some students dressed in white uniforms with silver linings just happened to walk out of the school gates at the same time, their expressions somber. They got onto a silver levitating car, with teachers from the school waiting at the gate especially for them.


    When Garen walked past this group of more than ten students, he felt hints of killing intent, and he grew serious.


    "These people have all taken life and seen blood."


    He retreated to a side, mingling in with the crowd of regular students who were gathered to watch, and observed this group as they quickly got into the car.


    Some people were discussing the identities of these students in low voices.


    "They''re the elite students."


    Someone mentioned the answer.


    "The best students of the academy, huh¡­ I heard that not only do they not need to pay school fees, they even get a salary from the academy every month, and a considerable one, at that."


    "Well, duh, their powers are all Level 2 and above, they''re our Blackboard Academy''s most elite forces, usually it''s the teachers from the inner circle that teach and tutor them."


    "I heard that the elite students are students, but they''re also the academy''s central forces, wonder if that''s true," two boys were chatting softly not far from where Garen was standing.


    "It''s true, apparently there are even Level 3 and above elites among these students, they''re really powerful. An elite fighter who has an overall ranking of Level 3, if armed with a suitable Mech, could take several dozens of us, no problem," another girl replied determinedly. "My older sister is an elite student, she gets a salary of at least 50,000 units every month, it''s more than enough to handle our household expenses. She can also choose any academy lecturer she wants to tutor her, but she needs to spend a certain amount for that."


    "That''s already really good! Normal students like us can''t even meet lecturers like that, okay?" the boy from before said jealously.


    "But they have certain responsibilities too, the school''s true firepower is actually them. They will only step down if the actually enter the military or when they turn thirty, or when they become instructors end up serving as the administrators in other areas," the girl explained in detail.


    Garen got a little closer to these people, he wanted to listen more carefully. It was not just him, many of the other students were gathering, listening to the girl''s explanation.


    "But usually the elite students wouldn''t go out on missions, the police are enough to handle most regular incidents, only special cases would require these powerful Level 2 and above elites. Something must have happened outside, that''s why they''ve been mobilized."


    "I heard there was a fatal riot in East Star City, this incident involved a lot of people, I wonder if they were mobilized for that," someone said from among the crowd.


    "Should be," the girl nodded, "my older sister has moved out, she''s part of the first batch of elites, and this is the third batch. I wonder what happened, for them to mobilize three teams of elites."


    "Could it be that other regions are attacking us?"


    "How could that be? Our Blackboard Region is one of the strongest regions out there, we''d be the ones attacking others."


    Garen stoppedd listening there, turning around and darting out of the crowd. He watched as the elite students'' levitating car flew off slowly, rapidly leaving the academy gates.


    Only then did he walk towards the place he was supposed to meet that uncle.


    "I had better get the stones first before anything else, this body is too average, and I can''t find potential points. Perhaps my only hope of improving this body lies in the Hellfrost Peacock Technique."


    The academy was located in the central area of Blackboard City, other than the huge mountain wall behind it, the other three sides were all busy streets and markets, with huge swathes of bustling shops in the central business district. Honking sounds came from the flow of never-ending traffic.


    There were many outstation tourists wandering the walkways, as well as a few residents who lived nearby, and the occasional students from Bloackboard Academy. Whenever these students passed by, the people around them would always give them a glance.


    Garen mingled into the crowd, his black hair tied into a ponytail behind him. Afte.


    There were mostly tourists from abroad walking across the sidewalks, and a few residents who lived nearby, as well as a couple of Blackboard Academy students mixed in between. Whenever these students passed by, the people around them would also glance at them a little longer than usual.


    Garen mingled with the crowd, his black hair tied up into a ponytail behind his head. After he cleaned up and looked neater, he gave off a calm and quiet aura, not very handsome, but soothing to the eye.

 788 Family 2

    Beep beep¡­ Beep beep¡­


    Suddenly the Terminal on his hand started beeping. Garen raised his hand up and looked at it to realize that Nono''s father Rondo had sent in this month''s living allowance, which was about a thousand Universal Units.


    He frowned.


    Nonosiva''s family wasn''t wealthy to begin with, and they still had to support his monthly living expenses after paying for his semester''s tuition fee. This placed their family in straitened circumstances to the point where his brother and sister had to give up on going to school to reduce their expenses. All of these had to be done in order to support Nono studying in Blackboard Academy.


    One could say that the family had placed all of their hopes onto Nono. His parents scraped by and were very reluctant in eating meat at all and had to eat processed food most of the time.


    After pondering for a while, Garen walked towards specific location and gave Nono''s father, Rondo a call.


    The phone was instantly connected.


    "I can only give you this much. Nono, you should try and cut down your expenses. I''m at my limit¡­" Rondo''s tired and old face appeared at the end. His eyes were filled with blood vessels and he hadn''t slept from the overtime he had done for two straight days. He did so much to squeeze out his son''s living expenses and even gave away all of his salary. The company wasn''t bringing in money lately so he couldn''t do much more than he had already done. He had no choice but to let his wife handle the housing expenses and the monthly medicine required for his grandmother''s illness. All five members of the house needed to eat and dress, and the financial stress was making him feel stretched to his limits.


    Garen didn''t expect that Rondo would think that he was asking for money. Judging on this, it seemed that Nonosiva wouldn''t have called home unless he required more money. This was probably why his father felt so hopeless.


    He looked at the pale and tired Rondo inside the monitor. Although he wasn''t his real-life father, Garen felt touch by his actions and hence, he decided to repay them for taking over his son''s body.


    He opened his mouth but he wasn''t able to say the word ''dad''. Afterall he was much older than him.


    "I don''t need money and I have enough here. You don''t have to credit me any more Universal Units in the future, so you can save it for yourself." he took a breath before explaining it to him.


    "You don''t need money? Your academy''s expenses are huge. How are you going to survive without money?" Rondo opened his mouth wide as he looked very surprised. "Don''t worry about it. Your brother has recently started working and has gotten this month''s pay. I plan to send his money to you tomorrow but I guess I will credit it to you now."


    He immediately called someone else on the phone and soon Garen''s Terminal beeped again and another three hundred Universal Units had been credited. The payer was Baylon, who was Nono''s brother, Lon.


    Garen sighed as he recalled his brother Lon, who had to find work to support his brother''s living expenses in the academy. Frankly speaking, he was rather moved. Nonosiva''s academy life wasn''t considered luxurious but it was at least comfortable enough to not worry. At the same time, he enjoyed his peers'' respect and worship as he was able to pull out eight to nine thousand Universal Units, which was an unbelievable feat. On the other hand, his family members were very reluctant in buying any necessities and would eat the cheapest processed food available. It had been so bad to the point where his brother had to stop going to school and start working to support his living expenses.


    He was able to recall his attitude towards his family members from his memories.


    It was embarrassment, hatred and zero urge to return home.


    He had been embarrassed that he had such a poor family and had even started to hate his family members. As compared to his peers, he didn''t dare to attend most of their gatherings as the expenses were ridiculously large. The same could be said for any outing as well as his training methods, which had been provided by the academy free of charge. Meanwhile, the majority of the students would purchase a training method that would best suit them from outside.


    Under all sorts of comparisons between himself and his peers, he eventually resented his family members and wouldn''t contact them unless he needed money.


    His family was also one of the reasons he was lonely in the academy. Hence he was good friends with only Aier and Mina. However, these two who lived in the academy didn''t know of Nono''s family''s situation.


    "Don''t worry about it," Garen explained. "I''ve found a way to earn money and train myself at the same time so you don''t have to worry about my living expenses anymore. It''s true."


    Rondo was still very skeptical over all of this.


    Garen then used his terminal and credited two thousand Universal Units back to him.


    "Take this money and the additional one thousand as my support to the family. Don''t let Lon work and send him back to school."


    Rondo was stunned, and his face in the terminal stopped reacting for a few moments. Nono, who had always been requesting money from the family, had decided to send money back to them?


    "Nono¡­ you¡­ you''re not up to something bad are you¡­?"


    "Of course not!" Garen replied with confidence. "Don''t worry about it. I really have found a job inside the academy that is able to give me a small sum of money and I can train myself at the same time." he immediately sent another thousand back to his brother Lon.


    He had earned tens of thousands of Universal Units from the battlenet alone and this money was just money from a few rounds of competition. Even the thousands of Universal Units that he''d credited to them had just been his bonus.


    Even though he still needed money to buy the White Peacock Stone, he still planned to credit more back to the family.


    "Don''t worry about it. I really don''t need you to credit me any more money," Garen assured him once more.


    Only then did Rondo start to believe his story.


    "Don''t let your part-time job affect your studies," seeing that his eldest son no longer required support from the family, he felt worried and much more relaxed at the same time, because he had budgeted the family''s expenses to the bare minimum in order to pay the Blackboard Academy''s expensive tuition fees and Nono''s huge monthly expenses. If he were to be able to save this amount of money, his family''s situation would be greatly improved.


    "Alright I shall hang up first. Give Lon a call."


    "Alright. Take care of your health and study well," Rondo started nagging.


    "Understood."


    Garen hung up as he had already arrived the place where he''s supposed to meet. While he stood by the street and waited, he made a call to Baylon''s personal terminal.


    It only beeped once before someone immediately answered the terminal.


    "It''s Lon''s brother from the Blackboard Academy!" "Let me see! Let me see!" "His brother is in Blackboard Academy?! How amazing!" "My cousin brother is only from the Swordfish Academy and he threw himself out there every day."


    "Baylon, since your brother is from Blackboard Academy, when do you plan to introduce him to me?" a girl''s voice could be heard.


    Baylon''s face was shown on the Terminal and he looked very proud as he looked at the Terminal. There seemed to be quite a few of people around him. There were youngsters of his age and even the voices of adults as well and it was quite noisy.


    "Brother, why have you called?" his voice was very soft and he still gave off the timid vibe. "Also¡­ Did you just send me some money...?"


    Garen frowned slightly.


    "Who permitted you to work outside? Go back immediately! Our home doesn''t lack that little money of yours," his tone was very oppressing and this scared Baylon to the point that his face turned white.


    "The money I''d sent you just now is from my part-time job. You need to go back and prepare to go to school now! Remember to bring the leave procedure with you!" since he had taken over Nono''s body, he decided to repay his parents in his place.


    "But¡­ but¡­" Baylon was so timid that his sentence was broken off by Garen before he could say anything.


    "No buts. Go back to school now, we don''t need you to work just yet," Garen said with a stern face. Baylon was only thirteen years old and was still in high school. If he were to stop studying now, it would be impossible for him to go back in the future.


    Although Baylon was on the verge of crying, he was still chided by Garen who wanted him to go study once more. He didn''t expect Baylon to man up and fight back. Although it was just a small refute, Garen could see that Baylon liked to be around these workers and he really liked it there.


    "If you don''t feel like leaving, then you should work a part-time job after class just like me," Garen suggested. Seeing Baylon crying, he still insisted on him giving up his job. "If you need money in the future you can just tell me. I have quite an amount as of now. Don''t worry about it."


    "Oh.. okay.."


    "Alright, I''m hanging up now," with a click, the terminal was switched off. Garen raised his head and looked at the car owner uncle was currently walking towards him. Garen was standing at the blind spot of a small street with very little people around, and he seemed to not have realized Garen yet. As Garen was about to walk over and greet him, he suddenly sensed a faint sound and a gust of wind that was coming towards the back of his head.


    Without any hesitation, Garen instantly turned around and by utilizing his powerful rotational force, he used his elbow to hit the person approaching from behind.


    Boom!


    He hit a student''s head, one who was also wearing the Blackboard Academy''s uniform. He had a black cloth in his hand and it seemed that he had been attempting to cover Garen''s head with it.


    After being hit in the head, he took a few steps back dizzily and couldn''t even recover from it.


    The other two men didn''t expect things to turn out like this and growled as they planned to attack him directly. Both of them threw a punch towards Garen''s head.


    Garen gently moved to one side to allow the fists to pass through his original spot as he struck with his right knee. With a resounding thud, one person fell to the ground.


    With his fist in the air, the other man started to sweat as he saw his friend fall to the ground.


    "This guy is trained!" the guy who had just recovered shouted. "How¡­" Before he finished shouting, he felt a sensation in his stomach as he took five to six steps back and could no longer stand.


    The last man stared at Garen as he sweated. He wasn''t sure if he should retreat or attack him.


    "Who told you to ambush me?" Garen asked calmly. Although this body''s physical attributes were still weak, he could easily deal with these few fellows just based on his experiences in martial arts alone.


    If one were to use all of his force during a fight, his momentum would be at its peak and he wouldn''t be able to change his attack afterward. While this provided enough power, one could easily find its flaw when it was avoided and the opponent could be easily dealt with afterwards.


    "Ah!!" the last man shouted as he turned around and ran away. However, he didn''t manage to run too far off before Garen bent his knees and made him fall to the ground.


    Garen grabbed their wrists, looked at their terminals and kicked them once more before leaving the area.


    By then, a lot of bystanders had already gathered and even the car owner uncle looked at him in shock as he gulped and looked back at the three students.


    "Ignore them. Let''s move to a new spot," Garen gestured his hand.


    "Alright."

 789 Hint 1

    The deep green field spanned to the horizon. Black metal pieces and white rubble could be seen scattered everywhere. Some of these pieces and rubble were stabbed into the ground while some of them were laying by the bottom of the hill.


    The evening red sunlight gleamed on a black metal piece which was about three meters tall from the west, casting a shadow on the small green field.


    The sky was dyed red and layers of red clouds could be seen in the sky as well.


    Between the layers of clouds, a black shuttle battleship slowly descended. Its hull, which spanned a few thousand meters, cast a huge shadow onto the ground.


    The battleship looked like a torpedo ship. It was entirely black and had holes similar to that of a beehive. The wings at the back were slowly expanding as green flames spewed out from the bottom as a propellant.


    Pew!


    A humanoid Mech was ejected from one of the beehive-shaped holes. The Mech was black and both of its arms were heavy duty Pulse Guns while it had a shiny black circular shield on its back. Both of its shoulders had a red stripe on both sides. Overall, it looked like a firefighter.


    After the humanoid Mech, which was about four meters tall, came out of the battleship, a group of similar Mechs flew out as well. From afar, they looked like a swarm of bees that had just left their hive as they flew down.


    Among them was a slightly larger Mech. It landed gently on the largest stone and scanned the surroundings through the red beams shooting out from its mask.


    "Keep the battle under thirty minutes. Be wary of our surroundings!" a young man''s voice came from within the Mech.


    "Understood."


    The Mechs that had a Blackboard symbol on their backs started to spread out. Twenty of them started to search the area.


    Blue flames burst out behind the Mech''s legs as it moved about the field.


    After a while, a signal came from one of the Mechs.


    "I''ve found something! There''s a hole here and someone is hiding inside! He''s severely injured."


    "It''s him?! How did this happen? Send him to back immediately!"


    After a few minutes, a Mech dragged the dirty youngster back into the battleship and the remaining Mechs returned back to their respective beehive-like holes.


    *************


    Inside a dim small room.


    Garen gently opened up the big sack in front of him. Inside it was filled with White Peacock Stones of all sorts of size. He took one out and weighed it for a moment before placing it into another sack in his right hand.


    The uncle sat in front of him as he watched Garen analyze the items quietly.


    Garen took out the stones and weighed them one by one before placing them into the sack on the right. Garen''s expression was calm as he did so at a moderate pace.


    Suddenly.


    Garen held onto one of the stones tightly and frowned.


    "This¡­ isn''t the stone that I wanted, right?"


    The car owner smiled as he immediately took away the stone from Garen''s hand, "I must have made some sort of mistake¡­ Hehe."


    Garen scoffed as he continued to check the remaining stones.


    In no time, Garen found a few more counterfeits. The car owner''s face turned worse over time as beads of sweat started to appear on his forehead.


    "Have you mistaken it again? Why have you made so many mistakes?" Garen glared at him. "It seems like you''re not interested in trading with me."


    "I wouldn''t¡­ It''s unavoidable to make such mistakes with so many stones... You''re looking at two hundred of them!" the car owner started to wipe away his sweat as he said so.


    "There''s a total of two hundred and fifteen of them. I will take them all for one thousand five hundred," Garen put away the last stone and offered calmly.


    "What? A thousand five hundred?" the car owner was stunned. "Didn''t we agree on¡­"


    "I didn''t agree that you were allowed to put in some fake ones," Garen butted in.


    "But a thousand five hundred for this many¡­ These cost at least four thousand!" the car owner started to sweat even more.


    "Four thousand?" Garen laughed. "You can sell all of them if you can find someone who''s willing to pay that much." he casually leaned against the sofa as he looked at the car owner.


    "Aren''t you breaking your promise?" The owner started to panic and stood up.


    "Promise? I had planned to keep my word if you didn''t mix in some fake ones. You can''t blame me for lowering the price once you''d done so," Garen''s expression was calm. "Furthermore, your items are worth at most five points each. My price is more than just good enough. I''m fine that you''re not willing to sell it to me because I can always find another merchant to buy from."


    The car owner calculated for a while and came to the conclusion that he would be selling each at 7 points for one thousand five hundred. He would still profit as his buying price was four points. It was just that he wouldn''t be earning as much as he expected. Just as what the opposing party said, no one would be willing to buy such a huge quantity except for this student in front of him.


    He gritted his teeth as he''d thought that the student in front was a black sheep of a rich family. He didn''t expect him to slash the price to the point where he wasn''t earning good money from this trade.


    This guy was good¡­


    He looked up and stared at Garen, who was sitting firmly and seemed to be very confident as he wasn''t panicking at all. He was about to go rough on him but recalled that he had some martial arts experience. Furthermore, he was also a Blackboard Academy''s student¡­


    This student was very smart as he didn''t slash the price to the point I would outright reject him. It would be reasonable to slash the price when a fake stone was discovered. He, a blackboard student, looked like he was tight on his money. Perhaps I could¡­


    "I can sell you these for a thousand points," the car owner was determined.


    "Oh?" Garen was stunned as he didn''t expect the opponent would say so after being at a disadvantage. "What''s your condition?"


    "I wish to team up with you," the car owner sighed as he said softly. "You''re a student at the Blackboard Academy. With your social status, I wish to work with you to obtain some rather special intel from within the academy¡­ It''s a win-win situation."


    "Intel? What kind of intel?" Garen was stunned as he didn''t expect the fellow in front of him would have such a motive.


    "Intel of celebrity students inside the Blackboard Academy," the car owner said seriously. "Frankly speaking, there''s practically no one inside the academy who lacks money. It took me a long time to find a suitable partner and I hope that we can try it out. You have to understand that every outsider is very curious about the situation inside the academy. Furthermore, we can raise the celebrity students'' reputations once we reveal their information. They would be able to obtain more power and this would be very beneficial to them."


    "A very good thought," Garen nodded. "However, other people would''ve thought of it since you''re able to. Why do you think that there hasn''t been any leak for such a long time? Have you thought of this?" he smiled as he stood up while carrying the huge package that he had sifted through a while ago.


    He then used his Watch Terminal and sent over a thousand Universal Units.


    "Here''s the thousand points that you suggested. I have to go for now. Thanks"


    The car owner was stunned by Garen''s words as he realized what he meant from the hint displayed on his Terminal. As Garen was about to exit the place, he immediately stood up.


    "Hey! Can you tell me your name?"


    "Nonosiva. I will find you once more when I need you."


    "I''m Kendall! What''s your number?!" the uncle quickly followed up with another question.


    Garen looked at him and threw out a series of numbers. Although he was slightly dumb, he was able to make the right decision.


    ***********


    After returning to the dorm, Garen immediately hung the do not disturb tag, pulled his curtains shut and started his training.


    He switched on the light and poured all of the rocks onto a big piece of paper. Garen then took off his shirt and sat in front of the stones.


    "With so many mixed grade White Peacock Stones, I should be able to break through the second level, right?" he was looking forward to it.


    Technically speaking, he had yet to practice a pure Living Secret Technique. In the Totem World, his journey had been interrupted and he''d taken a stray path and learned the Evil Technique instead. In the Vampire world, his Living Secret Technique had always been capped at the first grade.


    He didn''t expect that this world would have the precious ingredients that his Living Secret Technique required. Furthermore, it was treated as trash here and was completely worthless.


    "This is the difference between this world and the rest¡­" Garen sighed emotionally as his mind immediately went into the records of the Hellfrost Peacock Technique.


    The first five grades of the Hellfrost Peacock Technique were the foundations used to change his physical attributes. Only the final three tiers were considered the realm of mastering the basics. One could only enter the last three tiers after the seed of the Living Secret Technique had sprouted. With the practitioner''s physical condition as the foundation, it could produce a unique technique that would be considered the strongest for Nonosiva''s body. Hence, it was called the Derivative Level and he would be qualified for it once he had mastered the foundations.


    "I wonder what will change when I enter the second tier," Garen slowly shut his eyes and gently pressed onto the white stones in front of him with his hands.


    Inside the room, a cold breeze started to flow out from his body as his skin started turning blue.


    On the other hand, the stones in front of him which was in contact with his hands started to crumble into dust. Quietly, the stones turned into a pile of white dust and as more dust was formed, Garen''s hand turned even bluer than before.


    The air inside the room turned cooler as cold winds kept revolving around Garen. A layer of ice started to form on the surface of the green cactus placed by the window.


    As time passed.


    Garen focused on the changes in his body.


    At the moment the impure White Peacock Stones had been absorbed, he''d felt that the coolness in his body had gone into a frenzy as it kept pouring out from his hands and absorbing the pile of white stones.


    A huge amount of viscous substance was absorbed into his body and was immediately swallowed by the cold blue lines. As the freezing lines kept swallowing the impurities, they became thicker, from the thickness of a hair to the thickness of a chopstick, and then the thickness of a finger.


    These freezing lines kept circling within his body and a layer of frost formed from where ever it had traveled.

 790 Hint 2

    Garen sat on his knees. He felt that he was on the verge of turning into an ice sculpture, as the majority of his body had been covered by an extreme cold.


    Crack¡­


    Finally, the last impure White Peacock Stone turned into dust.


    Countless icy blue lines on Garen''s palm, which couldn''t be seen with the naked eye, slowly melded into his palms.


    He stared at the Skill Pane upon which he''d finally seen a change.


    ''Hellfrost Peacock Technique: Living Secret Technique of unknown origin. First grade learned, Second grade progress at 12%.''


    The progress amount started to change.


    The rate increased over time as his progression of 12% raised to 15% at an increasing rate.


    16%... 18%... 22%... 30%... 45%... 69%... 92%... 100%!!


    The moment it reached one hundred percent, Garen could clearly see the Hellfrost Peacock Technique''s icon on the skill pane turn muddy for a while, and it looked totally different as it became clear again.


    ''Hellfrost Peacock Technique: Living Secret Technique of unknown origin. The second grade, Heart Reformation. The heart shall reform with the blood of the Hellfrost Peacock as the basis to enhance the overall quality of the body. Time required to reform: two months and fifteen days.''


    ''Third grade''s progress is 24%.''


    Garen looked at the changed icon with satisfaction as he recalled the reason he had been unable to upgrade the Hellfrost Peacock Technique. There were two requirements to enter the second grade. The first one was an extremely cold environment which was impossible, as even the cold storage wasn''t even cold enough to fulfill this requirement. Naturally, the second requirement was the White Peacock Stone.


    Although he wasn''t able to fulfill the first requirement, he could absorb a large amount of White Peacock Stones, melting them in the process to forcefully simulate the unique environment. This was the reason why he had absorbed so many impure White Peacock Stones. Even so, it had only amounted to this little progress.


    In comparison, these two hundred plus impure White Peacock Stones were equivalent to twenty plus pure White Peacock Stones. Garen only needed one to enter the second grade and the remaining had been used to simulate the extremely cold environment.


    "It''s a success," Garen clenched his fist as he felt the coldness around his body. The seed of the Living Secret Technique had absorbed the contents of the White Peacock Stones and had started to sprout inside his body.


    "Two months and fifteen days should be the time required for the Hellfrost Peacock Technique to completely reshape the heart. I wonder what effect it will bring after a complete reformation?" Garen was very eager.


    This was the traditional path the ancient Warlocks had taken.


    He stood up and took another shower as his body was now covered in a layer of faint blue viscous fluid which gave off a faint stench. It was the body''s expelled impurity from when his body was going a transformation.


    After bathing, he changed into a clean uniform before sweeping the impure White Peacock Stone dust into a bottle he had prepared earlier on. The dust completely filled the big bottle, which was as tall as a typical water bottle.


    "These remains are high energy fuels and can be sold for money."


    Garen cleaned everything before resting on his bed, in which he dozed off into his dreams.


    Beep... Beep¡­


    His Watch Terminal started ringing, which woke him up from his sleep.


    He raised his hand and looked at the Watch Terminal to find out that it was a call from Aier.


    Garen pressed a button to allow her access.


    Aier''s face appeared on the monitor.


    "What are you doing, Nono? Took you a while to answer my call."


    "I was sleeping. What''s the matter?" Garen yawned since this body was but a commoner''s body. The Hellfrost Peacock Technique''s reformation would require time to do its job and it wasn''t something that could be hurried. The strain from the frost and the absorption of the White Peacock Stones had completely exhausted this body.


    "Do you want to go and see Mina?" Aier softened her tone. "I''ve met his cousin sister today and I heard that something has been going on in Mina''s family, which was why we couldn''t see her on the battlenet."


    Garen recalled the female friend who had sat together with him, who had also kept visiting him when he was undergoing his surgery. She was considered one of Nonosiva''s two good friends.


    "When do you want to go?"


    "Tomorrow. The qualifier match officially starts the day after tomorrow, though you guys will definitely be summoned before the competition."


    "Alright."


    After confirming the time with Aier, Garen switched off the Terminal. He tried to call Mina but to no avail, hence he called Instructor Hamm to enquire the location and time for the qualifier match, along with the time and location to gather before the competition. After memorizing the details, he decided to adjust his current state.


    "Should I try out if there''re any changes to my training method?"


    After breaking through the second grade of Hellfrost Peacock Technique and changing his physical qualities, Garen guessed that it would have a positive effect on his Willpower training.


    He sat on his knees on his bed sheet once more as he tried to enter his training method once more.


    Unfortunately, there was no change and his progression was still as slow as a snail.


    After spending half an hour, Garen got out of the training method. He then switched on his laptop and opened up the news station.


    ''... Regarding the interview with the Royal Academy''s team lately, Maria Academy has sent out the first seat Suanna who holds the title of Zero Gun to welcome them. These two academies between districts have a very good relationship as they share the same view on many topics. They have also signed a technical exchange transaction document that spans across multiple districts. It''s still unsure if the cooperation between the Royal and Maria districts would put on some pressure on the alliance between Blackboard and Aurora¡­"


    Garen looked at the news'' video. Within a luxurious golden flying ship, a few guys and golden-haired girls in black skintight bodysuits interacted with one another as they posed for the reporters'' pictures.


    Maria Academy and Royal Academy were Blackboard''s neighboring districts'' powerful academies which held a lot of power. There were three major districts near Blackboard, and the ones that possessed the most lands were Royal District and Maria District. The smallest among the three was the Aurora District and there were also seven to eight small districts. With the strategy of befriending the distant and attacking the nearby districts, Blackboard Academy had allied with the Aurora district. This had obviously put pressure on the Royal and Maria District.


    "Rumor has it that Maria and Royal Academy are different from Blackboard. They''re using the standard academy training regime, which is completely different from the survival of the fittest regime here," Garen recalled the relevant information in his mind. According to the record, the Blackboard Academy was considered an irregular type. It was still fine for the typical students but it would be survival of the fittest for all of the elites. They would use the elimination method by throwing all the elite students into very dangerous missions to train them. The ones who survived would be considered the strongest elites.


    On the other hand, the majority of the academies would act in a peaceful manner as their members would be imaged as protectors. There wasn''t much competition among the students as well. However, in comparison to Blackboard, it was much harder to be admitted into those Academies.


    Garen changed the station.


    The top of the monitor showed that this was the second station of Blackboard. The Blackboard District was very huge, so huge that it was a big as a few provinces on Earth. Hence, it was natural that they had multiple stations.


    The second station was displaying some sort of recruitment advertisement. He changed the station once more to an entertainment channel where it was advertising a robot for homes, an intelligent flying car, a fully automated full body massage chair and even imported man-made adult dolls from the outer districts, which looked exactly like humans.


    Garen went back to the news station.


    After the local news, it showed the live footage of the chaos in a city. The female reporter, together with the cameraman, was squirming within the crowd.


    ''The chaos features Sir Black Star Diofie who will be officially participating in the investigation. The Blackboard''s Foreign Ministry spokesman Kreis has officially announced that they would fight back as best as possible against this chaos. They will sweep all the terrorists that endanger the society''s order and the safety of the citizens off the map!''


    The reporter squeezed herself through the crowd while reporting with difficulty.


    Garen noticed that the reporter had mentioned a name.


    "Black Star Diofie?" He knew this person. He was the Blackboard Academy''s strongest first seat, who possessed a powerful Mech which was called the Black Star. He once had an outstanding result during a battle outside the district. He had managed to take out thirty-five Special Mechs and six destroyer battleships, turning the tide of the war on his own.


    One had to realize that the Mechs he faced weren''t normal Mechs. All of his opponents were elite pilots. It wasn''t something to be proud of when one destroyed thirty-five normal Mechs, but it was a different story as he''d taken out thirty-five elite pilots.


    All pilots who were crowned elites were at the very least level two and the stronger ones were level three or even level four. The differences between skills were drastically far apart between levels.


    As Garen listened to the news, he started to understand how the world around him worked.


    Within the Mother Planet Federation, conflicts between districts increased every day and the war to conquer all would eventually happen. Hence, every academy was trying to nurture the strongest elites. The separation between districts could no longer be reversed and civil wars had been going on endlessly. If there was a ceasefire on this side, a war would occur on the other end. With the Light of the Sky''s System, which was floating in space, all nuclear weapons of mass destruction, radiation guns or strategic weapons had been disabled. However, small-scale conflicts were unavoidable.


    As he gently pressed onto the computer''s monitor, Garen stared at the news without any expression. War occurred in this district and continued in the other. Many people had died or had been severely injured everywhere and the Blackboard District just had to increase the construction investment for the civilians.


    Such was the current state of news, where their countries were peaceful and prosperous while the civilians from the outer districts couldn''t even afford a proper meal.


    After that, it started to report on news regarding the outer planet district, where they were still trying to establish a connection with the other outer planet districts.


    As the Mother Planet had fallen from within, all alliances had decided to isolate them and the communication between planets had been completely cut off. Tens of planets had turned into independent empires. It was fortunate that there were outer forces which tried to infiltrate them, or else the federation wouldn''t even have joint forces to fend off the outsiders.


    The other neighboring countries that tried to infiltrate the Federation had lost all their battles against them, and they even had a few small planet countries taken by the Federation. It was unclear what standard had been used between the planets, but they would always work together to fend off their common enemies when crisis befell them.


    The Galactic Alliance had waged a war against the Finites. It was so chaotic that they literally ignored the chaos on this part of the district.


    If this continued, the first thing Garen had been reminded of was the state during the Three Kingdoms Period. It was the same as now, as the Princes had segregated their own lands. Some attacked, some defended and some formed alliances. There were also many feudal princes everywhere.

 791 Qualifier Match 1

    As he was watching the news in his dorm, someone knocked on his door.


    Garen switched off the tablet, stood up and opened the door.


    Aier walked in with a rather angered look on her face.


    "What happened to you?" Garen felt strange.


    "It''s nothing. It''s just that I''ve got a clear picture of Mina''s condition back at home," Aier closed the door as he sat down and poured himself a cup of water. "What were you doing? Why is there a strange medicine stench in the room?"


    He frowned as he looked at the messy dorm. There were still papers left on the ground, which had previously been used to hold the stones a moment ago. There was still a little bit of remaining White Peacock Powder on it.


    "Let me clean it up," Garen rolled the papers on the ground and threw them into the dustbin. He then went to take a cloth and wiped the powder clean from the ground.


    Aier watched Garen bustling about as he leaned onto the sofa and continued speaking.


    "Mina''s family had failed their business investment and had lost a huge sum of money. They now owe a huge amount of debt."


    Garen recalled the girl who kept visiting him when he was admitted to the hospital. Although he didn''t have all of Nonosiva''s memories, he wouldn''t forget people who had treated him well. From his point of view, he could see that Mina was truly being friendly towards Nonosiva. There was no intention and she really just wanted to be friends.


    "How much does it affect her?" he pondered for a while before asking.


    Aier sighed as he was not surprised by Garen''s calm tone. Nonosiva had always been like this, quiet and introverted. For him to ask this much meant that he was very concerned with the topic at hand.


    "It may affect her tuition fee next year."


    "Tuition fee¡­" Garen nodded. The Blackboard''s annual tuition fee was seventy thousand. It might not be a lot for the wealthy students but this amount was astronomical to the typical households. Seventy thousand was the entire income of a typical family for a year and there were many families who couldn''t even earn that much.


    "I''ll think of something when I get back," Aier stayed silent for a while before speaking once more.


    "What idea can you come up with? Where''s Mina? What does she have to say about this?" Garen poured himself a cup of water, sat down and drank it.


    "What else can she do? She plans to head out and work to earn her tuition fee for next year. There was another girl who was in the same situation as her. It was her junior and her family wasn''t well off as well and decided to work outside so that she could afford to study. The job was introduced by her junior." Helplessness was written all over Aier''s face. "Before I came to your place, I''d visited her and she looked very tired and had lost a lot of weight."


    Garen nodded.


    "Don''t get hasty with Mina''s situation. I may have some idea."


    "You? What idea can you have?" Aier''s voice was raised by a few octaves. "You yourself owe the professor at least a hundred thousand."


    As he noticed that Garen didn''t seem anxious in the least, he started to feel uneasy about the whole thing.


    "You''re being impatient," Garen shook his head. "Impatience won''t solve anything and will make everything worse."


    "Yes¡­ I''ve lost myself¡­" Aier himself realized that he had lost his cool as he lowered his head and tone.


    "It''s exactly because I''m a hundred thousand plus in debt that I have to think of a plan on my own¡­" Aier broke him off before Garen managed to finish speaking.


    "Whatever. I''ll go home and tell my dad about it and hopefully he has some useful idea. You should take your time to rest." Aier didn''t wish to speak further as he stood up. "I''ll go first."


    Garen watched as he stood up and slammed the door as he left. Afterward, he stood up, didn''t say a word and just sighed. There was currently social unrest as the state of the economy was heavily dependent on the policy of the government. With the policy being changed every now and then, this sort of scenario would surface every once in a while. This was the current state of the world where the people had no power and could do nothing but to stand around and be butchered.


    **************


    The Blackboard''s qualifier match was being held in the shadow underneath the huge battleship. This shade was Blackboard Academy''s safest place.


    A silver circular light beamed down from the battleship above. From afar, it looked like a very fine silver gauze that could barely be seen. Inside the silver gauze was a huge circular arena that spanned thousands of meters in diameter.


    The white arena had been segregated into a lot of divisions, and each division was surrounded by robots that constantly maintained a protective barrier. Teams from every faculty started to pour into the arena.


    The teams walked in one by one as the cheers from the student spectators could be heard in all directions. There even were family members and students from other academies who came to witness the match. Cheers came in waves and there even were holograms of fireworks as well.


    "The current teams that are entering the arena are the teams from year B2. The top three representatives are surprisingly all women and by comparison, there was only a male competitor who barely qualified. This year seems even more one-sided¡­"


    The broadcast was filled with passion as it excitedly introduced each qualified teams.


    Other than Garen who stood among the class C5 members, there also was Fervale and the second-ranked Sara who stood straight. Fervale, as the first ranker, stood slightly in front of her and these three didn''t stand out so much among the other outstanding contestants from other classes.


    "Look at the class in front of us on the right," Fervale suddenly whispered. Among the cheers from the crowd, his voice went directly into Garen and Sara''s ear through the communication device. "Be cautious of the black-haired woman in the middle."


    Garen and Sara''s gaze shifted towards where he''d mentioned and in the middle of the three-man team of that class, a black short-haired woman was patting a fragile looking fan with long pink hair on the shoulder as she talked to her. She seemed very relaxed and an unparalleled confidence could be seen through her gaze. Her hair was thorny and by her hand gestures, she seemed to be very bold and gave off a vibe of extreme confidence.


    "That girl is Merseus, one of the top two in year C. I lost to her last year and didn''t last one minute against her," although Fervale said this calmly, a glimpse of dissatisfaction could be seen in his gaze. However, no one really knew he was angry or sad as he didn''t express himself a lot.


    "Merseus'' melee Control is at least Level Two and she is a very powerful opponent. Both of you are ranged shooters so be careful to not let her get close to you," Fervale cautioned.


    "Understood," Sara and Garen nodded.


    Garen had tested his combat capabilities without the Moonfang and he knew that he wasn''t even qualified for a level 1. With his actual skill, he could only run with the Mech but couldn''t evade any incoming attacks. Compared to the real elites, he was extremely weak.


    His strengths were actual combat outside the Mech but he was a complete novice in the Mech. Although he had experience in controlling the Buddha Mother, this world seemed different as the spiritual control was totally different than of the Buddha Mother. In this world, Willpower seemed to be the will of every single cell and was related to the cells'' biofield.


    Garen wondered if his Willpower would improve he increased his Living Secret Technique, the Hellfrost Peacock Technique to a certain level. However, the current him was still very weak.


    With his current condition, his opponent, Merseus was considered a very powerful foe.


    "Other than this person, there''s another person who is considered the strongest in our year C," Fervale was telling them the situation inside the arena. His household held some incredible amount of power and he naturally had all these intel on the enemies. In order to raise his year''s overall rank, he decided to feed his team members the opponent''s information to slightly increase the chance of winning.


    "His name is Bally Visalia, but everyone calls him Bally. He hasn''t arrived yet but that man is extremely powerful so you have to be extremely cautious against him!" Fervale started to look frightened even by just mentioning his name.


    "Powerful?" Sara squinted her eyes. "How powerful is he?"


    Fervale glanced at Sara, "Bally has a nickname called the Mech Grinder. At least half of his opponents have had eighty percent of their Mech''s body ground to dust with just his hands. His weapons are a pair of high-speed arc saws and have torn apart at least ten Mechs, killed three and heavily injured twelve people during the academy''s entrance exam."


    Huff¡­


    Sara inhaled a mouthful of cold air. While the arc saw was incredibly powerful, it required a lot of energy as well. With two arc saws, a standard mech model could only last half a minute. This meant that the person who used this sort of weapon was either crazy or very confident with himself.


    "Bally and Merseus¡­" Garen understood that he was determined to obtain the champion title during this competition. As a new student, he had his privileges where being the top three of a faculty would allow him to be admitted to the academy''s elite teams. He could also win a good amount of a hundred thousand Universal Unit as a reward or at least ten thousand Universal Units for placing in the top ten.


    Rumor had it that one could even order a custom mech as a reward if one was placed first.


    To have a personal Mech, especially the unique ones where it could be controlled by Willpower, was something very luxurious. Practically every Mech in this world was made with the biomechanical nuclear as the core, which could tap into a person''s Willpower. It was a very advanced technology.


    Hence, even a Mech of the most basic model would cost at least a hundred thousands Universal Points.


    Most importantly, the first placed would even be awarded a Mech Control Certificate. This certificate was as powerful as the other international certificates where one could legally own their own Mech, which was equivalent to a Pilot''s certificate.


    What troubled Garen was that his Willpower was still too weak. Without the Moonfang, moving would be incredibly hard and the Moonfang was obviously not suited for a drawn-out battle.


    "I can only end the battle quickly," he was very determined.


    "Now let''s welcome the representatives of the class C5. Among year C, the most promising student and top five student is Fervale, the class'' first seat¡­" it was their turn to go into the arena. Fervale led the way while Garen and Sara followed behind. The trio wore a unique red competition uniform as they walked on the black carpet, entering the circular arena through the entrance. Students of the same class shouted from both sides and there even were people whistling endlessly.

 792 Qualifier Match 2

    At these times, the class would see everyone as their classmate. They would unite and cheer on the three with sincerity, and as the rank of the class increased, the students would be treated better. For example, with every increment in ranking, their tuition fee would be discounted by ten percent. Hence their ranking would affect their tuition fee. If they were ranked third, then they only had to pay for thirty percent of the original tuition fee. If they were ranked first, then they only had to fork out ten percent of the original tuition fee and also receive permission to use the privileged facilities in the academy. These unique facilities were only opened to the talented students and hence were used as a means to intensify the competition among the students.


    The strong would become stronger and the weak would become mediocre if they didn''t put in more effort.


    As Fervale walked on the aisle, he looked very calm and casual. On the other hand, Sara felt a little uncomfortable; after all this was her first time in this situation. As for Garen, he acted in such a way that he was slightly uncomfortable as this would suit his identity and family background.


    Compared to the cheers towards Merseus, the three of them didn''t stand out and the only ones cheering were their classmates. The cheers could only heard from their back as they walked past.


    The crowds on both sidelines were like boiling water as they started to release their negative emotions.


    "Arello! Arello! Arello!"


    "Bally! Bally! Bally!! Shred him!!"


    Their supporters started cheering loudly.


    The areas that spanned less than two hundred meters on both sides were spacious black fields, which was filled with students shouting everywhere.


    Two teams walked on the black carpet.


    The leader in front of the team in front of them was a muscular man with yellow spiky hair. He had a scar that propagated from his right lips as if someone had tried to slit open his mouth to the right and it looked rather brutal.


    The team in the middle was lead by a blue-haired man who had a pair of silver earrings. With a faint smile on his face, he looked very seductive with his fit body, He too had a faint scar on the side of his face, giving off a wild vibe.


    Fervale turned his head around and looked at his team members behind him.


    "Caus Arello should be ranked number three in terms of strength for our year. He''s better than me and his strength is currently unknown. Rumor has it that he''s the strongest challenger against Bally. As one of the first seat that appeared out of nowhere, he basically has no reputation."


    He looked at the two of them by his side. Sara''s fear could be seen in her eyes and while Garen looked very calm, his fist was clenched ever so slightly, which was a sign of him losing his cool.


    "Nono, you have to be careful. Arello is the brother of the trial member you''ve injured. He will most likely target you during the competition."


    Garen nodded without saying a word.


    As the contestants entered the arena, they entered into their designated sections.


    The whole arena was separated into sections by huge amounts of Source Mechs and the schedule of the match was decided by the previous ranking.


    Garen and the other two were in class C5. After their previous class'' seniors were promoted to class B, they had left them the rank of thirteen, which was neither low nor high. However, only those who were in the top ten were able to enjoy the tuition fee reduction and special facilities.


    There were a total of fifty-six classes in their year and it was undoubtedly difficult to be in the top ten while competing against these elites.


    The sweet sounding female broadcaster started to arrange the schedule for all the elites.


    All classes would be arranged according to their previous rankings during this qualifier match. Two teams would go against each other and the winner would proceed to the next match. This elimination process would continue until the final match.


    After broadcasting the rules, while waiting for their opponents to arrive in the arena, each competitor was put under their respective coaches'' care and arrangement, who escorted them before the competition started.


    Instructor Hamm stood together with the Mech battle class''s teacher Wesson as they talked to the three of them one last time. They were standing by the wall that separated the arena into a square box. Instructor Hamm didn''t seem to be fazed by the loud noises and staff walking past them as he patted Fervale''s shoulder firmly.


    "Fervale. Remember your key moment! Your attack is smooth enough but as a melee Mech, the only thing you have to take note of is to get close to them. Since your marksmanship isn''t bad as well, I suggest you can fight in both close and long range so that you can fully utilize your advantages. If needed, you can throw the gun away and focus on melee combat."


    Fervale nodded.


    "I understand."


    Hamms softened his grip and turned to Sara.


    "Sara, you''re best at shooting a moving target while moving. You will be fine as long as you do this. I know you couldn''t utilize your full strength during the trial, but I hope you can give it your all now as this isn''t just for the class, it''s for you yourself!"


    "I understand," Sara nodded her head as she tried to calm herself down.


    "Lastly, Nono," Instructor Hamm stood in front of Garen. "I know that your body hasn''t fully recovered yet and you''re not at your best. Don''t feel burdened by this. You have a lot of potential and you''re as good as Sara when it comes to shooting. Perhaps you can fight in a style similar to hers."


    "I understand, Instructor," Garen nodded as well to show that he was prepared.


    "Come have a drink!" the nutritionist behind Instructor Hamm came forward as he passed the nutritional drinks to them. He then pulled Fervale, who was about to drink the water to a side as he personally coached him. It was very obvious that he had placed all hopes onto Fervale.


    Garen and Sara then sat quietly in their seats as they waited for their schedule to be broadcasted.


    Soon the schedule was released.


    "Class C6 will fight against class C5. the opponents will be chosen freely and the time of the competition is¡­"


    Soon it was their time to fight. While the schedule was slightly delayed, C5 was still a class that ranked at the front.


    After finishing the schedule announcement, the first match had officially begun.


    A lot of huge monitors appeared in front of the crowd, which were at least ten meters tall. They were placed in all directions so that the spectators knew of the situation inside. What was shown on the screen were the minute details of the situation and the scene within the arena. Everything could be clearly seen as the protective barrier was transparent.


    The whole setting was similar to the ancient Colosseum as the nobles, students, instructors, and even family members shouted passionately. As if it was a concert, some people had even created huge banners with some students'' names on them.


    Bam!


    The first gunshot was fired and the battle had begun.


    Suddenly, the whole arena was filled with excitement as countless pink light effect petals slowly descended. A levitating metal stage, which was the referee''s seat, was placed underneath the battleship. There were dozens of referees and they were all designated to their respective battles.


    The first match of the students had officially begun.


    Garen listened quietly to the loud cheers which came in waves as he looked at the two black and white Mechs on the big screen.


    "Every Mech is the same and the only difference between them is their colors," Sara, who was sitting beside Garen whispered.


    "Now that we know who our opponents are. What plans do you have to fight against Class C6?" she seemed rather anxious as she tried to find a topic to talk about.


    "There''s none," Garen shook his head. "We just need to perform as usual." What he said was the truth. Although his Willpower was much stronger as compared to the original Nonosiva, his strength was dramatically reduced without the Moonfang.


    The most important thing to him for this qualifier match was the hefty monetary reward and the qualification to be enlisted as an elite student, which was the ticket for him to enter the core of the academy. Once he had enter successfully, he would be able to know the academy''s true strength.


    Furthermore, he wouldn''t be able to obtain upper-level training methods without being a part of the strong ones. As a precaution, the highest training method that could be bought in the market was only level 3. One would require solid backgrounds to obtain a level 4 training method, which could only be bought by the military. This meant that this world''s strongest power was monopolized by the strong ones.


    "If we can be ranked in the top three individually, then we will be able to be of great help to Mina by reducing the tuition fee and I would be able to repay Instructor Hamm for paying my surgical fee," deep down, Garen understood. "In addition, I will be able to become an elite student by placing in the top three. I will gain support from the academy''s higher-ups and become a disciple of a professor inside the academy. My social status will definitely change instantly and my family''s condition will improve greatly. Rumor has it that the family members of the elite students are so well taken care of that they get to enjoy a huge bonus annually. In addition, they would definitely become a Field Level Officer if they were to enroll in the military. According to the Blackboard''s arrangement, the elite''s family members will be continued to be taken care of even if the elites have passed away."


    Everyone who lived in Blackboard district would want this kind of valuable resources.


    However, Blackboard was very strict towards this as they would choose their candidate through an elimination process. They even had a system to calculate the mortality rate of the elite students and at the same time, there was absolutely no loophole for favoritism and fraud.


    During the past few days, Garen had done his research on the family background of the student that he''d injured. They''d bought out all the faculty instructors and a few general instructors to dismiss the application for surgical expenses at the regular meeting. One of the instructor''s identity was an elite student alumnus.


    Boom!


    Suddenly a huge explosion forced Garen back into his senses.


    The victor was already announced between the battles of two Mechs in the huge screen as the Black Mech raised up his Long Rifle and bowed in all directions.


    The other white Mech was lying on the ground as smoke oozed out from its body. The pilot was dragged out of the Mech by the personnel and placed onto the rescuing machine as it sent him away. His condition was unknown.


    The screen then clearly gave out a headline, detailing the condition of the injured.


    Broken bones on both legs, a hole pierced through the abdomen and a portion of the intestines were plunged out. His head was drenched in blood and was currently in a coma. No one knew if he''s dead or alive and he looked seriously injured. Perhaps his life would be in danger if he wasn''t treated properly.


    The students who didn''t study in Blackboard gasped as if they''d seen the cruel side of the Blackboard Academy.


    Garen understood well that it wouldn''t be weird to have a few dozens heavily injured elites when thousands of elites were participating in the competition. Afterall, there even were injury incidents from the other academies. The Academy believed that one could only release their true potential when they were placed in a life-threatening condition.

 793 Qualifier Match 3

    The matches began one after the other.


    The highlights of the many competition areas kept flashing past the large screens, and at the same time, above the entire arena, there was a white anti-gravity warship. There were countless statistics about the wins and losses in the many arenas on the ship, as well as the scores between the different streams and classes, and the way the matches were going.


    Garen watched the arena in front of him for a while, but it was not that interesting. They were all very standard shooting, or textbook examples of fighting. Although it looked very smooth, they were not actually very strong in true battle.


    He glanced at the stats projected on the suspended screen.


    ''Bally: 1 win. Merseus: 1 win.''


    This meant that both of them had already completed their battle. To be able to finish off their opponent in such a short time showed just how strong the two of them were.


    The time passed by slowly, and finally, the announcer''s voice reached them.


    ''Fervale from C5 vs. Carrie from C6.''


    Beside him, Fervale stood up. As Instructor Hamm encouraged him on, he walked straight towards the entrance to the arena that had automatically opened up behind him.


    Not far away, their classmates sitting in the audience stands all got up and looked their way. Mina and Aier were also among them, looking at Garen, but when they saw that he was still sitting in place with no intention to move, they sat back down as well.


    Amidst the chaotic arena surroundings, they could only vaguely hear their classmates'' cries of encouragement. That little bit of motivation was drowned out by the other sounds.


    Garen sat quietly in his seat, one of his aims was to obtain top three in the qualifier match. If he wanted to get the true high-level training methods for free, he had to join the academy''s elite squad. He knew this world very well now, the way to the top was held in the hands of those in power. If he wanted to obtain information about the power system here, the best way was to join a faction with sturdy influence and roots.


    He heard the voices rising and falling around him, there was the commotion in the distance, and the surprised cries nearby.


    Garen''s heart was completely calm. According to Instructor Hamm''s intel, if all went as expected, the top three this year would end up being a race between Bally, Caus Arello, and Merseus.


    ***************


    "I think our Grade C has the competition in the bag this time. Bally, Caus, and Merseus, these three should be the main candidates for first place. The competition is actually just a match between the few of them," a young man sitting on Grade C''s seat at the adjudicators'' table said with a laugh.


    On his right, a woman with red eyes and a ponytail looked down at the match below. The woman wore a Digital Monocle over her eye, with large amounts of statistics and information flashing across it. When she heard that, the woman pressed the lens and straightened up.


    "Teacher probably made us come this time so that we could observe Merseus and Caus, to see which one of them was better suited to join us. Although they''re about the same in skill, their family backgrounds and personalities require a certain degree of deliberation as well."


    "Actually, some of the other candidates are pretty decent too, but the only ones whose overall abilities reach Level 2 are just the three of them. Even if the other excelling students have parts where they''ve reached Level 2, that would still only be for a subject or two, their overall power would not have reached a fundamental shift yet," the man said, observing the other matches casually.


    "But we can''t say that for sure either, what if there''s a black horse somewhere? Look, Verna and the others are also looking at the students this time, I bet they''re aiming for that Bally." The woman''s gaze moved to another side.


    There was a bearded man dressed in white, who was cleaning his teeth with a toothpick as he nonchalantly read the suspended display board.


    The man glanced at them, and twisted his mouth.


    "That guy''s a wild animal, he hasn''t given up since you beat him up last time. All he does every day is fight, how much of the academy''s resources has he used up on Mech repairs alone?"


    "Exactly, if only everyone was like Angecena." The red-eyed woman nodded slightly.


    "What, you mean if they were all traumatized by you like he was?" The man gave the woman an odd look.


    Not far away, at the adjudicators'' table on the other side.


    Verna noticed that the two of them were looking his way.


    "It''s that woman!" His expression grew rigid. "That crazy bitch is here too¡­"


    "One of the three Level 4 Elites, Red-Eyed Medero. In the internal battles, many of her opponents sustained permanent disabilities thanks to her, and she has several tens of thousands of people''s worth of blood on her hands. She looks like an inconspicuous female student, but she''s a terrifying executioner who''s even more violent and bloodthirsty than our group," a bespectacled male student said from behind Verna.


    "That''s the woman that even First Seat Black Star once said stands the highest chance of inheriting the title of Black Star next." When Verna saw that woman''s gaze move over to him, he felt as though someone had poured ice down his back. But in order to protect his male ego, he had no choice but to act wild and reckless, completely fearless. And he also took a toothpick out to clean his teeth¡­


    "Be careful, in Medero''s faction, her teacher Simis is the vice principal. They''re one of the academy''s three main factions and have deep-rooted power. Recently, their influence in the school has been expanding, Vice Principal Simis seems like she might be planning to fight for the position of principal. The principal is getting on in the years now, there''s a high chance that their faction can win it," the bespectacled boy reminded him softly.


    Verna accidentally stuck the toothpick into his gum, and the pain made him sweat profusely, but still he maintained his tough-guy act. Sensing that the red-eyed monster over there was still looking at him, his heart began to bleed¡­


    "Those monsters come here every year to grab the fresh blood, but you were just unlucky that you happened to bump into Red Eyes, who you offended before." The bespectacled boy had also noticed that Verna''s mouth was bleeding, and he instantly looked sympathetic.


    "As expected of Verna, you''re hard on others, but even harder on yourself. The toothpick drew blood, and you''re still completely impassive." In the distance, Red-Eyed Medero looked impressed. "Back then, I let him go precisely because I admired this tough-guy style of his, our academy needs more hard-headed people who fight to the bitter end."


    The man beside her instantly looked at her strangely.


    ****************


    "Nonosiva from C5 vs. Bankar from C6."


    Before the match, Garen stood up, watching Fervale walk down with a calm expression. His opponent from the previous match was the other side''s First Seat, the First Seats always fought each other, that was the academy''s unspoken rule.


    The other guy did not cause him much trouble, both were experts in high-speed movements, and they collided after zipping around for a bit.


    Fervale''s specialty was close-distance combat, so without using up too much energy, he used some of his basic sword techniques. From amidst the cold light, there was a shot of white light, as he had also managed to secretly prepare his Laser Cannon in the middle of the high-speed combat. That one shot landed on the opponent''s cockpit. The C6 students from last year were very impressive, and managed to get very high positions, but the freshmen this year were nowhere near as capable. Their First Seat could fight with fluid movements, but that was the extent of it.


    After winning with relative ease and getting off the stage, Fervale patted Garen''s shoulder.


    "Be slightly more careful, and you can win."


    "Got it." Garen nodded, and walked towards the tunnel entrance behind him. As per usual, Hamm hugged him and instructed him softly, telling him not to panic no matter what, and what he should do.


    "Nono! Good luck!!" He looked at the stage, and suddenly heard two voices. They were barely noticeable amidst the many cheers of the crowd, but Garen could still tell instantly that they were Aier and Mina.


    He turned around, and waved at the two of them.


    "Go! Cream ''em!"


    Instructor Hamm pushed Garen lightly with a smile.


    Garen gestured ''ok'' behind him, and quickly entered the tunnel.


    He wanted to use this Qualifier Match to test himself, just how far could his power when he merged his battle awareness with the Moon Fang.


    Walking into the tunnel and into the Mech Room, he saw several pillars of white light shoot out from the inside, hitting the surface of the Mech.


    This was a white humanoid Mech, it had square pieces of armor on its shoulders, and also two armguards on its arms and forearms. There was a spike like a fang coming from its chin over its shoulder, and like a cicada, the spike kept curving downwards and extending to his crotch. It seemed to be there as a protection system to help out with defense.


    "This is one of the academy''s standard issue Mechs. A standard Level 1 Mech." Garen looked at the humanoid Mech, five meters tall, with satisfaction.


    Beep-beep. Beep-beep.


    The reminder message beeped. He did not delay any longer and got onto the elevator. Rising with a whirr, he jumped out and into the open cockpit at the Mech''s chest.


    Smack smack smack!


    There were several sounds as the lighted control panel was powered on. He put on his helmet, and looking at the 360 degree view in front of him, the surround control system lit up with many small green LED lights and spinning model screens.


    "Blackboard Model 1 Mech, activating¡­"


    A deep digital voice spoke.


    "Stat Mod, running¡­"


    "Weapons System, running¡­"


    "Power System, warming up¡­"


    "All systems, final check."


    Garen put both hands onto the control panel, and placed the Moon Fang on the edge of the panel to his right, taking a deep breath.


    "C534, Nonosiva, take off!!"


    Psst!!


    The huge Mecha abruptly shot out, flying out with a trail of blue flames coming from its back. It followed the pitch-black Launch Tunnel out into the outside world, like a white bird spreading its wings.


    *******************


    Kar slid out of the launch tunnel lightly, landing on the arena''s alloy floor and finding his footing. The Mech''s padded feet muted his footsteps on the floor.


    The pitch-black humanoid Mech held two pitch-black short swords in its hands. Using his family''s special short sword fighting techniques, Kar could beat all the others and stand here as a representative of his class, facing the other classes. This was already a symbol of his strength, or so it seemed to him.


    Listening to the rise and fall of the cheers and angry shouts outside, Kar felt as though that was the glory that rose up for his sake.


    "Standing in an arena like this sure gets the blood boiling¡­"


    He felt slightly self-intoxicated, felt his body begin to burn slowly from top to bottom. His condition was unprecedentedly good, and he was already one of those rare competitive fighters, the more high-pressure a situation was, the better his condition would be.


    Soon enough, the opposite arena wall opened up automatically to reveal a tunnel, and his opponent''s Mech also slid out lightly, landing steadily. The opponent had chosen two Laser Cannons that had come with the Mech, the pitch-black barrels as large as a bowl. With one long and slender white cannon on each side, it did look somewhat gruesome.


    "Let the match begin!" the mechanical voice spoke.


    "Heh!" Kar activated his Mech abruptly. His overall power was Middle Level 1, so he rushed straight at the opponent, his Mech moving along a somewhat difficult S-shaped path.


    But he had barely gone a hundred meters out when the opposing cannon barrels suddenly lit up with two beams of white light. Kar felt his scalp go numb, the two white light cannons were aimed at exactly the place where he would land.


    "How is that possible!!?"


    Brr!!


    Two lasers precisely hit the same spot, the black Mech''s cockpit, with an eerie sound, and blew through the Mech''s defensive armor in almost an instant.


    Bam!


    The black Mech exploded, and the safety system shot Kar out just in time. He flew out high, and was intercepted by the medical robots around the arena.

 794 Qualifier Match 4

    Kar''s disbelieving face was still lingering in the rescue cabin.


    He had no idea how he lost, but the battle was already over.


    "Battle complete, time taken, five seconds. Winner, C534 Nonosiva," the mechanical voice announced directly.


    The white Mech Garen was controlling stood on the spot, not moving an inch, the two Laser Cannons on either side of it smoking slightly from the barrel.


    Sitting inside the Mecha, he was completely calm.


    He glanced at the Moonfang beside him, it was not really stirring. It had just flashed with a little white light just now, but now it was completely quiet again.


    "Try to reduce piloting and battle times as much as possible, settle it quickly." This was Garen''s plan.


    In the first match, Kar was given an instant KO.


    This shooting technique that concentrated the two Laser Cannon shots in one split second was wholly reliant on Garen''s powerful battle experience and his piloting precision. Using the Moonfang''s control as the main element, he tweaked it slightly, and achieved such a powerful offensive effect.


    This instantaneous battle also attracted many gazes straight away.


    ***************


    Beside the arena


    "The rascal! To think he has such a trick up his sleeve." Instructor Hamm could not keep the smile off his face. "Twin Laser Cannon Concentrated Fire, this is a Level 2 Laserfire Control technique, at the very least! I never thought that he would reveal such a hand out of nowhere like that. And he fired while his opponent was moving so quickly, too."


    Fervale''s expression was solemn as well.


    "Very impressive, even I would have a hard time against that hit."


    "His combined powers are already approaching Level 2, just with that alone," Sara could not help but say with envy. "Given that it wasn''t just a coincidence."


    Nonosiva had always been quiet, and was unknown in his class. No one would have expected him to have such a powerful skill.


    "Shouldn''t we be happier the stronger he is?" Hamm laughed out loud, and patted their shoulders. "Go on and prepare for the next round."


    In the audience stands


    Enviously, Aier looked at Garen''s Mech, standing in the arena after having killed his opponent in an instant.


    "That guy''s actually this strong? How come I never knew?"


    Mina''s mood was improving for once. Although her face was still somewhat pale, she was still genuinely happy for her friend''s win.


    "This is the first time the freshmen are showing off their true power in battle, and this was his progress so far this year. Who knows, he might actually be able to get that tuition fee exemption. Nono had been exceptional ever since he took the entrance exam, it''s perfectly normal for him to have improved like that.


    She was also very tempted by the tuition fee exemption, after all, that would save her a large amount of money. Right now, her family had practically stopped paying for her tuition fees altogether, her father was deep in debt and on the run, while her mother drowned herself in her tears all day long. It was hard for them to even live, they relied on her to work part-time every day and bring back just enough money to make ends meet.


    When Aier heard that, his expression turned guilty.


    "I misjudged him. Later I''ll apologize to him properly.


    They lost two out of three matches, so Class C6 gave up and entered the loser match-ups.


    In the second round, they fought against Class C8. Just like in the first round, Fervale finished off his opponents easily. He seemed to have been triggered by Garen, so he just rushed up and immediately hacked around, his sword unnaturally swift, fierce, and precise. Within a few strokes, he had already chopped the opponent''s First Seat into sticks, and victory was his.


    As for Garen, he still used the same Twin Barrel Concentrated Fire, but this time the first Concentrated Fire missed because they were too far apart. His opponent nearly closed the distance, but the second hit still landed at close distance, and the result was the same as the first match. His opponent was frustrated that they could not use any of their moves at all, other than running, they could not show off any other skills before their cockpit was insta-killed. The opponent that came down was a pretty little girl, who fell face-first into the female instructor''s arms and cried her eyes out.


    When Garen walked out of the Mech tunnel, he was still as expressionless as ever. The Moonfang could control the Laser Cannon Fire easily, but the Concentrated Fire skill was a product of his own refinement. If it weren''t for the fact that performing too excellently would seem unnatural, he would have finished off his opponent with the very first shot.


    The third round, the fourth, the fifth¡­


    The matches went on and on, but Garen barely used any energy at all.


    And he had also figured out the rhythm of the Moonfang''s usage, if he was just using it normally, for a duration of fewer than fifteen minutes, there would be no problem. And once he approached the fifteen-minute limit, it would grow hotter and hotter. This thing seemed to be the core component of some high-level instrument.


    As the matches continued on, the opposing classes of the same level also began to understand Garen better.


    He faced several opponents consecutively, but not once did he shoot more than three times. He would always finish off his opponent within the first or second shot, even the First Seat of C5, Fervale''s performance was outshone by his.


    After defeating more than ten battles in a row, Class C5 was solidly placed in eighth place. If Sara had not lost a few matches, they would be unbeaten now.


    And Garen, after beating several opponents in a row, finally met an opponent that could not be defeated in one hit that afternoon.


    ''C534 Nonosiva vs C1153 Cassardin.''


    The mechanical voice spoke.


    When the voice spoke, be it Garen or Fervale, their hearts both gave a little jolt.


    "No, wait! Cassardin is Class Eleven''s First Seat! Why would they have the First Seat placed third!" Instructor Hamm started yelling, getting out of his seat abruptly.


    Beside him, Fervale gripped his fist tightly, lowering his head slightly.


    "Isn''t your First Seat Nonosiva, who''s been hiding in third place?" a sarcastic voice said from beside them. It was a young man with a thin face, looking at Instructor Hamm with arms crossed in front of his chest and a cold gaze.


    When he heard that, Fervale''s head went even lower.


    On the other hand, Garen sat quietly by the side, leaning on the wall, closing his eyes for a breather.


    "Besides, it''s just an unspoken rule in the academy for the First Seats to face each other, it''s not compulsory. It''s up to me how I want to arrange it," the thin-faced instructor said calmly.


    "Pillbo!" Hamm glared at him angrily. "What are you thinking!?"


    "What am I thinking? Hehe¡­"


    The thin-faced instructor, Pillbo, gave a low laugh.


    "I''m warning you! Don''t mess around!" Hamm yelled loudly.


    "Warning me? Hah!" Pillbo laughed coldly. "You''re as naive as ever, Hamm."


    "Nono''s overall level is close to Level 2, he might not necessarily lose even when fighting the opponent''s First Seat," Fervale interrupted suddenly.


    The First Seat had to be at least Upper Level 1. Fervale seemed to be having a harder time winning sometimes, and it was not always as clear-cut as Garen''s matches, but that was also because his opponents were stronger. And Garen had always been fighting their second or third seats.


    This time, however, he was facing the First Seat. Now, this would really be troublesome.


    Hamm hesitated.


    "No problem, I can handle this," Garen replied calmly, opening his eyes.


    He had always been facing garbage opponents, so he wanted to really fight once as well, to test just how strong he really was. Otherwise, there was no point in him fighting nothing but trash that died in one hit, no matter how many shots he had to fire.


    "Be careful! That Pillbo is really heartless and cruel¡­" Hamm looked at Garen worriedly.


    "It''ll be fine."


    The mechanical announcements began again.


    Garen stood up, this time he was fighting as the First Seat. Once the match-up was announced, the audience on this side of the arena all started watching.


    For a First Seat to face a Third Seat, there was nothing to say except that Garen''s earlier performance was extremely eye-catching. The match-up this time garnered a lot of attention as well. Slowly, as more and more classes got eliminated, the audiences behind these classes began to shift their attention to the opponents who had defeated their classes, hoping a new opponent would appear to take them down.


    ''C534 Nonosiva vs C1153 Cassardin. Let the battle begin.''


    Garen sat in the cockpit, looking at the black Mech opposite him carefully. It was used Twin Pistols, just like his previous Weapons System.


    Before the starting call even faded, his opponent had already darted out with a whoosh, not to approach him, but instead moving at high-speeds to the right.


    It was a very strange movement, they would pause occasionally, and sometimes take a small leap back. It seemed rather floaty and completely irregular.


    Brr!


    Garen''s Twin Cannons fired simultaneously again, the shot ringing out abruptly, aimed straight for the black Mech''s head control system. And then¡­ for the first time, he missed. The black Mech tilted its head slightly, and the shot just brushed past, without causing any damage whatsoever.


    "Eh?" Garen''s heart grew serious, he had definitely felt 90% confident in that shot, it definitely had a high accuracy rate. But somehow it had missed.


    The opponent was still constantly moving irregularly, and two gunshots shot out with a whooshing sound, but Garen dodged those as well.


    Compared to his moving techniques, the opponent''s shooting techniques were easily seen through by Garen.


    "Should I try again? Is it a coincidence?" Garen pressed down the uncertainty in his heart.


    Ka-chak, the twin barrels moved slightly, and a white light rose in the barrels slowly.


    Brr!!


    Two rays of white light drew out two white paths, shooting straight for the opponent''s body like a bolt of straight lightning.


    And then¡­ they missed again.


    The lasers bunched into one, and shot past from under the black Mech''s hips and crotch, hitting the protective barrier behind it. It caused a series of ripples and then vanished.


    "It''s not a coincidence¡­" Garen''s heart gave a jolt, and he watched the opponent''s steps carefully. "These steps¡­"


    ****************


    "These steps¡­ Gehrs Dance Steps... It''s the Gehrs family''s Level 2 avoidance steps¡­" a solemn-looking middle-aged woman said softly in the audience, looking down at the arena from among the seats for external family members who were here to watch. "To think that young Gehrs from the Gehrs family has such an ability."


    "As expected of a First Seat, every First Seat has Upper Level 1 power, even the weakest ones would have one or two aspects that have reached Level 2," a white-haired old man beside her said while nodding. "We did right in coming to Blackboard this time, to think we could even witness these Dance Steps in such a low-level competition." His expression was nostalgic. "I remember back then, Gehrs Zeno had used these steps to defeat the twelve elites from the East. These Level 2 steps are merely the rudimentary basics."


    "That is true, it''s already very impressive for young Gehrs to have such power at this age." The woman nodded. "But his opponent is a pretty good choice as well, I saw the replays of the match just now, he''s very good at controlling the Laser Cannon fire, and his grasp of timing is not something just anyone could do."

 795 Battle Situation 1

    Garen stared at the Mech opposite him quietly. The Panoramic Mirror allowed him to see how the opponent kept moving in an irregular rhythm. These waves were completely arrhythmic, to the point where it seemed that his opponent could barely control this rhythm themselves. It was a very strange feeling.


    "So these are this world''s medium-high Mech techniques, huh? They are indeed unique." He observed his opponent''s movements carefully, as for the occasional laser attack, it was completely useless. He just needed to turn lightly to dodge them easily.


    "One more time."


    Garen tried to raise his hand.


    Brr-brr!


    Two Laser Cannons shot at his opponent, one after the other, drawing out two long white lines.


    He did not concentrate their power this time, and had instead fired off the two shots separately. The black Mech opposite was immediately slightly flustered, it used those strange steps to avoid the first shot, but could not completely avoid the second shot. The shot grazed its waist pretty badly, and wafts of green smoke began to rise from it.


    Garen glanced at the time. Even including his observation time, it had only been eight minutes, so there was still a long time until the Moonfang''s limit.


    Brr-brr! He fired off two more consecutive lasers, each locking down one of the two sides that the black Mech had to move in. This time, Garen put more precision into his aim, the first shot hitting the opponent''s right leg, while the second ones brushed past the black Mech''s waist again.


    He could vaguely hear that person''s cursing from opposite him.


    "So this is the power of a First Seat?" Garen provoked his opponent unhesitatingly, his voice transmitted through the Mech''s external speakers. "Or are you saying you''re the weakest of the First Seats?"


    "Don''t get cocky!" a furious voice said from inside the black Mech.


    Brr!


    This time the two lasers were concentrated into one, shooting straight for the enemy.


    But the black Mech actually did a strange twist, and those eerie steps appeared again, allowing it to somehow dodge the Laser Cannon shot that was as thick as an arm. At the same time he also raised his arm to fire back two shots, even while performing those strange steps, his firing technique nearly hit Garen as he tried to avoid it.


    Garen was slightly surprised as well.


    "I can''t properly predict how the opponent is moving, so it''s harder for me to avoid him as well?" It was his first time encountering such a thing since he began training his secret techniques.


    Actually, his martial arts style had always been fearless. He did not really emphasize avoiding, and was more likely to just bulldoze over his opponents with overwhelming power, completely obliterating his enemy. For something like this to happen, where he could not avoid his opponent properly, was undeniably a fresh new thing for him. This way was not very similar to how he used to fight, and he could also tell from the opponent''s Dance Steps that these techniques of his opponent''s were definitely more than just that, they seemed to be the basic version of an even higher-level fighting technique.


    "Interesting. But I should still end it quickly, no matter how strong your dodging is, you still need to have the capability to use it." Garen never wasted time, so he shot two more separate lasers at his opponent. The black Mech was grazed in the arm and the thigh again.


    Every time he shot separately like this, Garen was basically standing still on the spot, but with every shot, he would merely twist slightly to avoid the opponent''s attacks.


    Because the more places the black Mech got damaged, the quicker its degree of mobility decreased. His strange Dance Steps seemed to require a lot out of his mobility, and once that decreased, his avoiding skill deteriorated drastically as well.


    "It''s over."


    Looking at the stage, that white-haired old man spoke softly.


    "The Gehrs Dance Steps may be impressive, but young Gehrs is still not strong enough to unleash its full potential. These Dance Steps are based on irregular Willpower waves, and automatically tend to choose the best means of escape to avoid any threats. It can only unleash its full power at the Upper Levels¸ß¼¶."


    "But it''s already impressive that he can achieve this much at this age," the stern-looking woman said with a nod beside him.


    Suddenly there was a loud cry of surprise from the other arena, not from one or two people, but from several hundreds or even thousands of people at once. Many people abruptly got to their feet while looking at the stage, their mouths slightly open, as though they had seen something very surprising.


    "That is¡­!" The white-haired old man moved his gaze away, and looked at the screen showing the Grade B arena on the other side. It was broadcasting the match from a special arena.


    "The Spear of Victory!" The stern woman''s face had a rare expression of surprise. "Level 3 Willpower, Violent Heart''s final technique!! That Mech¡­ could actually consecutively unleash it twice in an instant! What an unfathomable genius!"


    "The Spear of Victory gathers a large amount of violent high-pressure electricity all around it, and it has a very powerful interference effect on Gaussian electromagnetic weapons as well as metallic weapons. In close combat, it could even drastically distort the opponent''s electric field and Willpower. It''s known as a super powerful killer move among close combat Mechs!" the old man said in a low voice. "For a Grade B, second-year university student to be able to reach the peak of Level 3 Willpower, and for them to be able to train the Violent Heart to the very peak, they must be a peak-level prodigy. Blackboard Academy, your reputation is not a lie."


    *************


    In the Grade B match arena, two Mechs, one black and the other white, were currently facing off by moving at extremely high speeds. The black Mech was holding two extremely sharp and terrifying spears that sparkled with a great deal of blue electricity tightly in both hands. Countless bolts of electricity twined and crackled around the spears, to the point that the spears'' original material and color had been completely covered up, as though the two spears were made completely of electricity.


    "Die! Gordo." An icy cold male voice came from inside the black Mech.


    "The Spear of Victory¡­ only proves that your Willpower is strong enough! If you want me to die, you''ll have to make me!" A similarly icy woman''s voice came from the white Mech opposite him.


    Clang!!


    The two Mechs collided at high speeds, one holding spears while the other wielded a sword. The huge white sword slashed the electric spears mercilessly, and the friction between them emitted a piercing metallic screech. Instantly, the electricity began to shoot down the sword''s blade fiercely.


    **************


    Garen fired off two more shots, breaking off the black Mech''s two arms, while he heard the cries of surprising coming from outside at the same time. Instantly, he knew that something had happened outside, and distracted all of the audience''s attention.


    But the black Mech was still being stubborn, he had no intention of giving in at all. His arms had been broken off, but he was still dashing at him at high speeds.


    "How stubborn." The two cannon barrels beside Garen lit up with white light again.


    Clack¡­


    Suddenly the white lights went out. Garen seemed to hear some tiny noises beside him.


    "Hmm?"


    He looked at the Moonfang on the counter abruptly, and saw that the Moonfang was twinkling continuously with a white light. It looked extremely unsteady.


    He tried to move his Mech a little.


    "Shit! I can''t move! What happened? It''s only been ten minutes!" Garen''s heart gave a jolt, and he knew he was in trouble. The whole Mech had somehow frozen completely.


    Opposite the Panoramic Mirror, the black Mech was running at him madly. The Mech used the remaining half of its right arm to hold an alloy dagger to its body, the sharp tip of the dagger piercing straight for the middle of Garen''s cockpit.


    Bang! Bang! Bang!


    As the black Mech drew closer, its steps became heavier and heavier.


    Garen was still trying to move the Mech with his Willpower. But not only was the Moonfang unable to help him control the Mech right now, it was even obstructing him, so much so that he could not even move the Mech however he tried.


    "Damn it!" A sheen of sweat broke out on his brow, the black Mech in front of him was drawing closer.


    Twenty meters! Ten meters! Five meters!! Three meters!! Two meters!!


    "Move, damn it--!!!" Garen pushed his Willpower hard.


    Whoom!!!


    There was a loud, dull sound.


    Everyone stared, wide-eyed and slack-mouthed. Instructor Hamm and Pillbo opposite him stared, wide-eyed and slack-mouthed. Even Fervale looked slightly surprised.


    On the arena, the black Mech had collapsed into a pile in front of the white Mech. He had been tripped by a small crater in the ground that had been created by one of his own shots. The whole Mech fell to the ground, and there were many small bolts of lightning crawling all over the surface of the Mech. The black dagger also gave up, falling to one side. The whole Mech could no longer stand up, sprawled in front of the white Mech.


    "Winner: Nonosiva." The sweet mechanical voice spoke again.


    Garen sat inside the cockpit, watching the white Moonfang''s white light blink continuously. He still could not control the Mech, evidently something had gone wrong with the Moonfang''s usage time again.


    After the black Mech collapsed on its own and victory was decided, Garen still waited for more than a minute before he felt the white Moonfang recover again.


    Sitting in his seat, he could not help but wonder at how close that was.


    Under those circumstances just now, if his opponent really had pierced the cockpit, it was very likely that he would be seriously injured again, and he would have lost the match. With his body the level it was right now, it was not likely that he would be able to avoid that hit quickly, and the final result would likely be a loss for him, plus critical injuries so he would not be able to continue battling. If it came to that, forget the top three, he would not even make top ten.


    When the two of them left the arena and came out, the instructor from the other side, Pillbo, left in a rage, whereas the pilot of the black Mech stared at Garen with a complicated gaze.


    "Why didn''t you finish me off?" he asked coldly.


    Garen looked at him and did not reply, leaving straight away to go to his class''s personal area.


    That pilot was just a black-haired young man with an ambitious expression, but in the end, he merely stared at Garen''s back without saying a word.


    Once he came back to the resting area, Instructor Hamm came right up and slapped Garen''s shoulder hard, his expression absolutely delighted.


    "Great job! Who knew you''d improve this much!"


    "It was all thanks to your teaching," Garen replied with a laugh. But he was still sweating inwardly from that scare from just now.


    He glanced at Fervale who was sitting at the side, expressionlessly. Fervale just sat there quietly, without uttering a word. He must still find it discomforting that his position as First Seat was taken away.


    It was break time after that, so Garen made an excuse to go to the toilet, so that he could check the Moonfang in his hand.


    The crack in the middle of the Moonfang was getting larger and larger, it looked like it was had grown by another half of its original size. Maybe that was the main reason why the Moonfang failed just now.


    "Looks like I have no choice but to shorten my battle time further¡­" Garen decided in his heart. The Moonfang''s time limit as he tested it before was fifteen minutes, but evidently unexpected accidents might happen. In order to minimize such accidents, the best way would be to reduce his battle time as much as possible.

 796 Battle Situation 2

    In the following battles, Garen and Fervale continued to defeat their opponents instantly, and the matches slowly reached the middle stages. Most of the classes had been defeated, and soon there were only ten classes left, they advanced to the Winners Bracket.


    And five stronger teams were decided in the Losers Bracket playoffs as well, so they had the right to challenge opponents in the Winners Bracket.


    Class C5, Garen''s class, had just about managed to squeeze into the end of the Winners Bracket. After Sara lost four matches consecutively, they were in ninth place. Their ranking was basically held up by Fervale and Garen.


    "I have disappointed you." Sara was in a very bad mood.


    Instructor Hamm did not say anything, he merely patted her shoulder.


    "It''s alright, sort yourself out, and just do your best in the finals tomorrow. You''ve already reached this point, it''s already better than our class ranking before this," Garen comforted her.


    "You don''t need to say it, I understand." Sara''s head was lowered, her expression pale.


    Fervale stood at the side quietly, the successful consecutive wins had helped him recover some of his confidence.


    The sky was growing dim, and after a whole day of matches, the participants and the audience alike were exhausted. They announced that the matches would continue on the second day, and the whole arena retired for the night.


    Garen politely refused to go celebrating with Instructor Hamm and the others, walking out of the arena on his own. He walked towards Aier and Mina, who were wandering around the sidelines.


    "Congratulations!"


    "Congrats to us all." Garen exchanged a glance with Mina, smiling.


    "Nono¡­ What I said before was¡­ a little impulsive¡­" Aier apologized in a tiny voice, his face red as he fidgeted.


    "It''s okay," Garen waved his hand. "Come, let''s go eat first."


    Mina said with a smile,


    "Why don''t you come to my workplace to eat? You''ll be giving us business, and the food there tastes pretty good too."


    "Sure."


    Garen did not really mind where they would eat.


    He walked with the two of them, and also got to understand the many different interesting things that happened in the arena today. He had been focused on preparing for the matches, so he missed many of the other match-ups, but Aier and Mina did not. They had always been choosing and watching the other matches through the display screens.


    According to the two of them, in this year''s qualifiers, the ones who were most favored in Grade C were Bally and Merseus, who plowed on through their matches. And that Caus also only lost one match, due to an accident. These three were commonly recognized as the strongest in Grade C.


    The first two were especially considered prodigies among prodigies, they had at least Level 2 overall power at such a young age. They were only seventeen or eighteen, but they were already equivalent to those experienced pilots who had been training most their lives, this was the terrifying difference in talent.


    Compared to them, the other Grade C students at average levels, students like Aier, were still struggling to get a few subjects to Level 1. They had not even come into contact with most of the subjects, much less participate in actual battles. Only those who had reached Level 1 in all the compulsory subjects would have reached the minimum requirement to join actual matches, because these subjects were the most basic aspects of controlling Mechs.


    Now, Grade C was divided into stages here in the arena. Bally, Merseus and the others were in the first stage, having reached Level 2 standards overall. Caus, and the dark horse that defeated him were at the second stage, they had basically reached overall Level 2 power, which meant they had at least one or several subjects at Level 2. The difference between them and Bally''s group was that they had not yet achieved Level 2 in all subjects. Garen believed that he was at this stage as well, as were Fervale and that black Mech pilot he had defeated a while ago. After that, Sara and the others were at the third stage, people at this stage could use the Mech to batte smoothly, but they only had very basic moves and techniques, there was nothing particularly outstanding about them. It depended on who was familiar with the movements, or who was thinking brightly, there was very little difference between them.


    Take Garen''s Concentrated Fire Laser Cannon technique for example, that was a Level 2 technique. To Level 1 fighters, that sort of technique meant that they would be one-shotted, it was the same for those opponents who weren''t good enough at dodging.


    But when it came to guys with Level 2 overall power, there was no way they could be defeated in one hit.


    "So your next opponent might not be someone you could defeat so simply, using your Concentrated Fire technique."


    Mina told Garen solemnly as the three of them sat in a coffee shop''s sweets corner.


    Garen nodded, of course he knew that, but that was not his problem. His main problem was his Willpower, if he had enough Willpower, he could use his own fighting skills when it came to Mech combat. But now his Willpower was too underleveled, his actual Willpower was not even at Level 1. He could not even control the Mech fluidly, in other words, this body of his was in the same grade as Aier, Mina and the other regular students, or perhaps even worse. He had to rely on the Moonfang just to get into this qualifier match, which was full of prodigies.


    It must be said that Blackboard Academy was a huge force that controlled several provinces, several thousands or even tens of thousands of students joined the school every year. This ranking competition chose the elites from among these students and had them battle each other.


    "But having reached this placing, our class has definitely improved. Now we just need to keep steady and we''ll have succeeded." Mina was very optimistic, even if they were in ninth place, they could still get a ten percent exemption off their tuition fees, and they could even use some special facilities or locations that were restricted to the top ten. These benefits were shared by the whole class. With these benefits, they could also earn a little extra outside. All of this evidently cheered her up greatly.


    "It''s hard to keep steady as well, the ones who lost towards the end were all very strong elites," Aier sighed beside them. He was a frank person, because he had said some mean things to Garen before, he had been apologizing all the way, and now he was back to normal.


    "I heard that there was once all the classes in the Losers Bracket chose to challenge one ranked class, and then they wore that class down so they could kick them out and take their place. You need to be careful of that," Mina nodded.


    Garen had naturally also investigated information like that before, so he just nodded nonchalantly when he heard that.


    With his combat experience and battle awareness, plus he had more than just the Laser Cannon in his arsenal, he just needed to be careful of the Moonfang''s time limit. Everything else was negotiable, as long as he did not get caught with his pants down like just now.


    "Relax, I''ll do my best."


    Just then, a group of students sauntered in from outside the coffee shop. They all wore Grade C uniforms, and had fierce expressions. As soon as they came in, they started looking around, as though they were looking for someone.


    "Where''s An Yixuan?" the boy in the lead, about eighteen or nineteen years old, asked loudly.


    The coffee shop fell silent for a while, a few of the waiters in charge of sending food and drinks stopping in panic.


    "I''m An Yixuan." A young boy with a cold expression stood up in the corner, staring at these newcomers calmly.


    The boy in the lead immediately walked over, surrounding the table with his group of people.


    "Come, let''s go out for a chat." Their voices instantly became smaller.


    The others could not really hear it, but seemingly because Garen''s body had achieved the second grade of the Hellfrost Peacock Technique and improved his senses somewhat, he could vaguely hear a few words here and there.


    "Next¡­ match¡­ surrender¡­ or else¡­"


    He could still understand the gist of what they were saying.


    "An Yixuan is one of those few students in the Winners Bracket that has no influential family background at all," Aier leaned forward and explained in a small voice. "I bet those people want him to concede the next match. Nono, you have to be wary of this move as well."


    Garen frowned.


    Watching the group surround An Yixuan as they walked away, he could vaguely hear that they seemed to be tempting and threatening him using the way his family would be treated at work.


    Most of the students in the Blackboard Academy were either rich or powerful, they all had special family backgrounds, and a web of influence that spanned the whole Blackboard Region. In other words, they just had to go back and tattle a little to their families, then they could already threaten the lifestyles of regular families. This was the result of great social inequality.


    The other side was evidently using the influence of this inequality to tempt An Yixuan into purposely losing the next match. This was a deal, but it was also a threat.


    He raised his head and saw that both Mina and Aier were looking at him somewhat worriedly. Instantly, he smiled slightly, showing a hint of calmness.


    "It''ll be fine, don''t worry. I''ll deal with it properly."


    All three of them came from families at the bottom of the rung in the academy, even before, Mina was not from a particularly rich or famous family. This was the main reason the three of them ended up together. Watching An Yixuan get pushed out by a bunch of rich and powerful heirs now, they felt a sense of pity and sympathy.


    But there was nothing they could do.


    According to their normal paths, a student like An Yixuan would have been enrolled in the school due to his excellent results. His tuition fees must be a heavy burden on his family, and even if he was sure to find a high-income job after graduating, it would still be unlikely that he could join the Blackboard Academy as an elite. As a graduate, however, it was very likely that he could join the government or military pilot teams. If he were to offend these powerful people now, it would be really hard for him to progress later.


    "Won''t the Academy do anything?" someone asked softly.


    "It''s not that they don''t do anything, they''re allowing this on purpose. The Academy''s higher-ups believe that family background is also part of someone''s power, if someone could overcome that with their own talent and IQ, that would mean they are truly a prodigy, and then the Academy would truly prioritize them as a talent."


    "But what if they went overboard, and the students they had been raising for so long were accidentally destroyed by assassins?"


    "The higher-ups have eyes on us, they have limits. I don''t know what the limits are, though, I just heard that from my cousin who''s in the Elites."


    Garen and the others listened to their discussion from the side, Aier and Mina feeling pretty bad about it.


    Some cakes and bread arrived at their table, as well as some specially-made fruit plates, but the three of them only ate a bit before they realized they had no appetite. These were all man-made foods, after all, not natural, and upon hearing those words, they grew even unhappier.


    Some calls came from Garen''s Terminal, they were all from the class. Instructor Hamm asked where he was eating, and whether he wanted to go out to karaoke to relax. Garen rejected him. His younger brother called to say he had seen him on TV, even if it was just a flash of his name through the match broadcasts, that was still enough to make him extremely excited.


    And then that younger sister who wad rarely ever seen actually called him, asking him about how the matches were, as though raring to show off to her friends.


    Throughout that meal, Garen never stopped receiving calls, and was actually busy for once. It took a long while before the calls finally slowed down.

 797 Blue Narcissus 1

    In the south end of Blackboard City


    Inside a small bakery somewhere.


    "Lon, your older brother is actually from Blackboard Academy, you never told us!" In the adorable, pink-themed shop, a girl with pink hair wearing a white apron whined loudly as she pulled Lon''s hair.


    "Owner, I told Shirley and the others a long time ago, don''t blame me!" Lon was also wearing a white apron, his long hair tied up. He had silky smooth white skin, and even his figure was like a girl''s. Overall, he gave off a strange sense of androgyny. He was also wearing black-rimmed glasses, so seen from afar, he did not look out of place among the group of young girls at all, he looked as simple and sweet as the rest of them.


    "Is that right?" The pink-haired girl immediately turned around to look at the other girls in the shop, and some of the other young boys and girl instantly turned away guiltily. They were all younger than the shop owner, so the girl owner treated them as her younger brothers and sisters. The relationships between the workers here at the shop were all very pure, because they were all pure-minded people. In fact, the shop owner made sure of that when she picked them.


    "It''s like this, Owner. Lon told us the last time when he was making a call, we all heard it," a bespectacled pretty boy said in a small voice. "But Lon''s brother rarely contacts him, so he slowly forgot about it¡­"


    Of course they had not forgotten about it, the truth was other than the pure Lon, all of them had noticed from the way Lon described him that Lon''s older brother, Nonosiva, actually looked down on his younger brother a lot. Although Lon clumsily tried to say good things about his brother, but Nonosiva''s arrogant, unfriendly, and domineering image slowly appeared in their hearts. So they would naturally avoid mentioning this topic to Lon.


    "At first we thought that since there were so many people in Blackboard Academy, Lon''s brother would only be a normal student there at most, but to think¡­ That guy does have the right to be haughty," a girl with curly blonde pigtails said softly beside them.


    "But Lon works so hard every day, and wears himself out just to earn money for his brother, then he still has to go to class at night as well. Despite all that, his brother doesn''t even care enough to ask, doesn''t that just make you sad?" another girl said quietly.


    "Forget it, don''t say any more. If Lon hears you, he''ll make a fuss again." The two girls looked at innocent Lon, and could not help but sigh inwardly.


    "Fine, fine, Blackboard Academy and whatnot are too far removed from us, we had better stay realistic." The pink-haired girl clapped her hands loudly, "Alright everyone, pay attention. My younger brother and his friend are coming over to help in a bit, they''ll be interning for the holidays. They''re both middle schoolers, about the same age as you, so I hope you all get along nicely."


    Whoa¡­


    The workers all gathered around her in an instant.


    "The owner''s younger brother? Is he as good-looking as me?"


    "He might be a very cute little boy. I mean, look how pretty Owner is."


    "I wonder, what kind of a guy is he? It''d be troublesome if he had a bad temper."


    "Daisy, we''re counting on you! Conquer him with your charms!"


    Seeing that all the workers were gathering curiously, the pink-haired girl put her hands on her waist happily.


    "Relax, relax, my younger brother and his friend are all nice people, especially that brother of mine, he''s a ridiculously gentle guy, so don''t you guys bully him instead."


    "Really¡­"


    "Do you have pictures?"


    "Here?" The pink-haired girl took out a color photo, but it was instantly snatched away. "You''re asking for a beating, Jasmine!"


    A girl with a silver ponytail ran off with the picture, giggling, but she was immediately surrounded.


    "Let me see¡­"


    She took the photo and shook it a little, looking at it.


    The picture showed a short young boy with a shy smile. He was not particularly handsome but he did have some good-looking features, and his messy black hair was being mussed up even more by the shop owner behind him.


    There were some words written in black pen on the bottom right corner: loos cover.


    "This is Chironese, it means my beloved family. Oh my, Owner, how touching~~~"


    Another boy grabbed the photo and read it out loud.


    "Ah, do you wanna die!?" the pink-haired girl was instantly embarrassed.


    Lon stood beside them, smiling. There was not a single customer in the shop, but everyone was having fun together. This was a very warm and comfy feeling.


    He had also seen the boy in the picture, he looked very gentle, so he must be someone who''s easy to deal with.


    **********************


    Blackboard Academy


    In the Grade C dormitory area.


    Garen had just inserted his Identity Card into the door lock and opened the dorm door with a ka-chak when suddenly something twinged in his heart. It felt as though something had activated slightly, that indescribable feeling surging from his heart, and yet he could not identify the source.


    He stood at the door quietly, his hand gripped the doorknob as he stayed completely still.


    "This feeling¡­ it''s so familiar¡­" he murmured softly.


    Ka-chak.


    There was the sound of the opposite student''s door opening behind him.


    Garen was instantly shocked out of his reverie, and he tilted his head slightly to look behind him. The boy staying opposite him was making a call through his Watch Terminal, talking as he walked into his room.


    He also pushed his door and walked inside, closing the door behind him. The footsteps of the students passing by, their chatter and laughter, the sound of the levitating car''s engine outside, he blocked all of it outside.


    "Could it be¡­ has that started?" He turned on the air-conditioner, took off his coat, and tossed it onto the chair. Then he lay down on his bed, facing upwards, as he slowly began to reminisce.


    When he chose this body back then, it was mostly also because there seemed to be some strange energy around this body. Now, it seemed that his initial decision was starting to take effect.


    He thought about it carefully. This feeling was very familiar, but not very clear, even Garen could not quite tell what it was. He thought about it carefully in bed for more than ten minutes, but he still could not figure it out.


    Sighing, he sat up again directly, and began by starting his daily training method practice.


    Glancing at the attribute pane, it seemed that his attribute was already beginning to change today.


    ''Nonosiva Lin -- Strength 0.7, Agility 1.2, Vitality 0.5, Intelligence 1.4. Potential power 0%. Soul Limit 40.''


    "All the stats have increased by 0.1 in average, not bad." Garen nodded, satisfied. "I just wonder how much the second grade of the Peacock Technique will help enhance this body. If all my average stats could increase past 1 point, that would be the best. Then, with my combat experience and techniques, even if I''m facing someone like an armed special forces officer, I would still be able to protect myself."


    When powerful secret techniques reach their respective levels, they would bring the practitioner different degrees of changes. Some would be positive, others would be negative, and yet others would be completely harmless and meaningless.


    And the Peacock Technique was the second grade of the elementary level, as the second grade of a Living Secret Technique, he did not how much it might change this body.


    Garen looked at the secret technique and other skill attributes closely as well, and something had changed there as well. There were now skills related to Willpower there.


    ''Willpower -- Middle Basic Level,


    (Training Method: Blackboard Control, the free training method from Blackboard Academy, weak training effects, advancement speed would be twelve years/level)''


    "Now the training method has finally also become a Skill, looks like it''s because I have a better understanding of the training method in this world now, that''s why my natural ability could form an understanding of it as well." Garen was thoughtful.


    "If I can make it into a Skill, that means I can power it up using potential points. But the problem is this world does not seem to have anything like potential points at all¡­" Garen frowned slightly again.


    Ding-dong¡­


    Suddenly, the doorbell rang.


    Garen glanced at the time, it was already past ten at night, who could that be?


    He had just left Aier and Mina, if it was anyone else, they would surely call him on the Watch Terminal first.


    The bell only rang once, and then it was quiet.


    Garen stood up and walked to the door to open it.


    The door cracked open, but there was no one outside at all, just a letter on the floor. On the white envelope, there was one line of words: To Nonosiva Lin.


    Garen picked up the letter and looked around again. Two chattering students walked into the dorm, but there was not anything suspicious other than that.


    He closed the door again, and brought that letter back to his bed, where he sat down.


    "Could Nonosiva have some special personal connections in this world? Or could it be¡­" Garen tore open the envelope, and pulled an unsigned letter out of it, opening it gently.


    ''Dear Nono, for the second match tomorrow, we hope you will admit defeat of your own accord.'' And then there was a picture of a blue narcissus.


    Garen saw the more words through the back of the paper, and flipped it over to see.


    ''Rondo Lin, Vice Section Manager, Negotiations Section, Commerce Department, Jusang Interregional Investment Company.''


    ''Amy Lamda, Vice Section Manager, Warehouse Section, Operations Department, Jusang Interregional Investment Company.''


    "So that''s what this means?" Garen touched the paper, and instantly understood.


    "Nonosiva''s parents are both just very normal, average workers, these Sections and Departments and whatnot, they''re telling me this is the price of my throwing the match this time¡­ Not bad, the carrot and the stick¡­ How effective."


    He knew that such a change in positions would make a huge difference to the whole family. The position of Vice Section Manager would at least double their annual income, and if both of them had their salaries doubled at the same time, the whole family''s economic situation would be drastically improved. This was the unrefutable carrot the other side was dangling in front of him.


    In this kind of Academy, faced with peers who could change his entire family''s fate with just a few words, no wonder the previous Nonosiva ended up so withdrawn, sullen, and had such low confidence. This was not the kind of pressure a teenager should have to withstand.


    "Well, how should I settle this matter?" Garen held the letter, and began to think.


    He was really taking it seriously, according to the way competition was supposed to go, the second match of the finals tomorrow should be the second match of the Losers Bracket challengers. In other words, the other person was an elite from the Losers Bracket who wanted to exchange these conditions for Class C5''s position in the Winners Bracket.


    This did not quite match Garen''s previous plans.


    "And to ask for an exchange with something like this, it''s still lacking¡­" Garen did not really mind throwing away matches, as long as he achieved his goal, such means did not matter. It was just that the other person was offering too little in exchange, so it was not worth it.


    Beep-beep¡­ Beep-beep¡­


    Suddenly his Watch Terminal began to ring, someone was calling him at this time.


    Garen raised his wrist and glanced at it. There was no incoming number, just the picture of a bunch of deep blue narcissuses. He waited for a brief moment, and then he quickly turned on his laptop. After a pattering of keys, he picked up a data cable and connected it to his Watch Terminal, and only then did he accept the call.


    "Hello, we are the Blue Narcissus. May we know if you''ve received the letter?" As soon as the call went through, a raspy woman''s voice spoke through it.


    Garen glanced at a software he had invented on his laptop, the wavy line on it rose and fell slightly. He turned back.


    "I received it, but with my capabilities, your offer is too low."


    "??" The other person was taken aback, she had not expected Garen to say that so directly. Anyone who could make it past the Qualifiers was undeniably all talented and arrogant individuals, if you wanted them to lose on purpose, they would surely not take it well. But this time, Garen was actually bargaining with her calmly.

 798 Blue Narcissus 2

    "What?" when Garen did not hear the other person''s reply, he prompted her to continue.


    "It''s just slightly unexpected. I did not anticipate that you would be able to speak to us in such a rational and calm manner," replied the woman once she had returned to normal. "If you think that the price is too low, then what is your desired amount? Could you let me know?"


    "My strength levels are enough to impact the top three competitors. Don''t you think this price is a little low?" Garen asked instead.


    "What you say is true, and your current levels prove that you undoubtedly possess extremely good character. You say that you can attack the top three, Bally, Merseus, and Caus, but the three of them are not average people that can be shaken easily," said the woman lightly.


    "I can prove it to you in the next competition," answered Garen in a straightforward manner.


    "Oh? How are you going to prove that?" the voice on the other line changed suddenly. It was now a crisp female voice that sounded somewhat cold but also strong at the same time. It was obvious that the speaker on the other side had switched temporarily.


    "How about the three Level 2 combat techniques?" replied Garen in a brisk and casual tone.


    "¡­!!!" there was no sound on the other side suddenly as they were clearly subdued.


    Indeed, even Bally and Merseus were only confirmed to have Level 2 strength through the results of the comprehensive assessment. Out of all the topics of the actual combat assessment topics, there were only ten that could truly provide a comprehensive assessment of an individual''s strength levels. Among these topics, Garen was able to achieve the Level 2 standard for three of them at once. Coupled with the Laser Cannon integrated techniques that he had displayed earlier, he was able to grasp four Level 2 techniques in total. This meant that he was almost halfway there. Everything was just as Garen had said. He had the strength to surpass the top three and was highly hopeful that he could overtake Caus'' position at least.


    "Are you certain that you''re not mistaken?" after keeping quiet for a while, the other person finally spoke again.


    "Of course," answered Garen calmly. He was undeniably and incomparably powerful in terms of combat. Although his Willpower was slightly weaker which forced him to use his basic combat techniques to display his strength, his Master-level combat experience could not be compared to the current strengths of the weaker fellows. If it was not for the Moonfang''s time limit, he could definitely snatch the third place position and get rid of Caus. However, the same could not be said for the first and second places as the Level 2 combat techniques of this world seemed to be linked to Willpower. This produced strange qualitative changes that Garen had never seen before. He could not be sure of the integrated powers that the other two would use.


    After all, his extremely weak Willpower was also a terrible shortcoming. If he was hindered for a certain duration or if changes that exceeded his expectations appeared suddenly, it would be impossible to easily ensure his victory.


    "...We will need to consider and discuss this. Please wait a moment."


    The female voice on the other line became more polite suddenly. It was obvious that Garen''s strength had exceeded their expectations greatly. Furthermore, it was just as Garen had stated. Their attempt to exchange something for the victory of a professional would be easily detected by the academy. Moreover, a normal member of the crowd would be able to see through a trick like that as well, and they would end up shooting themselves in the foot if they were not careful.


    Garen was not anxious at all. Instead, he merely pulled out his tablet computer quietly and begin to click his fingers against it gently. He had learned programming skills in the Vampire world on his own and was able to adapt to the computing input programs here quickly once he had arrived in this advanced and computerized world. The computers here were unlike the backward machines that he had used before. Meanwhile, the likes of quantum computers existed here. The concept of quantum computers stated that most computers that utilized binary systems used 0 and 1 as their basic units. When computing, countless 0''s and 1''s would circulate through the computer as its data.


    Meanwhile, quantum computers could be visualized as numerous computers that were operating inside binary system computers. When they encountered certain combinations of nested problems that were difficult to untangle, these computers would be able to solve them at the quickest speed.


    Quantum computers were computing models that used sets as units while the older computers used elements as units. Therefore, their computing abilities had been improved greatly. They could gather various methods to solve problems. This was also the main reason for the great developments throughout the Mech Battleships.Professional divisions of various types of quantum computers were able to utilize certain complicated, optimized organizational structures of Mechs several times as sets to perform unit calculation analysis. The Mechs that were assembled through this process could perform beyond people''s expectations and achieve extremely good progress.


    There were similarities between quantum computers and traditional computers because of their origins. Therefore, Garen was able to adapt to the programming models here quickly once he had come into contact with the computers in this world.


    The tablet computer that he was using now was a typical miniature quantum computer. Although it was not highly advanced and could not operate larger units, it could still react quickly towards web environments regardless of their complexity and analyze them.


    Seconds and minutes ticked by. Garen tapped against the virtual keyboard that was projected by the tablet computer continuously while the rotating image of a soundwave on the screen gradually became clearer. He had already achieved the first step of determining the current position of the other person''s phone call.


    "Your requests are very reasonable if you can truly display this strength tomorrow," the person on the other line finally spoke again.


    Within this short duration of fewer than ten minutes, Garen had managed to discover a series of information regarding Blue Narcissus in the academy.


    The Blue Narcissus organization was an internal organization of a larger scale within Blackboard Academy. As one of the three main student organizations in Blackboard, Blue Narcissus was comprised of influential officials that represented the strength of their disciples. Although their individual members did not necessarily possess great strength, their network of background relations was still the strongest out of the three main organizations. In simpler terms, they were a group that specialized in recruiting strong forces that comprised of the supposed princes and princesses in the academy.


    Unlike Black Rose that revered actual combat and strength, or the moderate Thousand Year Tree, the main idea of Blue Narcissus revolved around the notion that relations, background, and individual power were all a form of strength. However, they were more welcoming towards influential disciples as many generations of their leaders were all first-rate powerful proteges.


    "Among the three main organizations, many people actually have misunderstandings towards Blue Narcissus," explained the woman on the other line quietly. "We are not inclined towards influential individuals. On the contrary, we merely recruit geniuses who can break free of the whirlpool of power around them on their own. This matter is strictly in accordance with the academy''s purpose."


    "I understand. What do you plan to do then? Regarding my problem I mean."


    "Your conditions are something that we agree with fully," the woman answered certainly. "I am representing Blue Narcissus to agree with your requests as elites should only be given elite treatment."


    She pondered for a moment. It was possible that she was exchanging opinions with the others.


    "Regarding our cooperation with you, we now have a new method to do that. However, we don''t know if you will be willing to accept it."


    Garen pressed the enter key on the keyboard of the computer single-handedly before looking at the bunch of blue narcissus flowers once again.


    "What methods? Tell me."


    "Regarding the new methods, if you really possess the power to impact the top three, you only need to join Blue Narcissus so that we can support your claim to overtake the top three to snatch a spot for an elite personal fight. As long as you can become an elite member, I will be able to give you the best treatment for your family and your personal development. I''ve heard that¡­ Your previous surgery fees were paid for in advance by your instructor. I''m sure that you want to repay Instructor Hamm for the expenses as soon as possible, right?" it seemed as though the woman on the other line was very knowledgeable about Nonosiva''s information.


    "What kind of treatment?" Garen had always been concerned about the practical benefits only. The changes in the other person''s attitude were things that he''d anticipated as well. It was one of the main situational variables and did not greatly faze him at all.


    "Your parents'' occupations will not change but their gloomy salaries will be increased to five hundred thousand Units a year. In the academy, you will receive a certain amount of background strength and support that is given to all Blue Narcissus members. Of course, your opponent in Grade C, Arello, is included as well, and you will not have to worry about him using his family circumstances and background to suppress you. Meanwhile, I believe that you will be able to deal with the direct confrontations as you managed to teach Caus and his friends a painful lesson previously, right?" it seemed as though the woman was clearly more relaxed now.


    "Is the background strength guaranteed?" the information that Garen had investigated stated that this was the main method that Blue Narcissus used to entice students with good potential. Students with good potential that came from financially unstable families were easily oppressed by others who were influential disciples. Under these circumstances, those of them who had yet to mature were unusually weak and would squander away their talents if they were not careful. Therefore, Blue Narcissus'' actions provided a beneficial platform for them to exhibit their strong backgrounds fully while mediating and assuring the development of these students with good potentials. Finally, once these potential students had matured and become the new generation of influential individuals, most of them would not forget the ones that provided help during a key point of their lives.


    Blackboard Academy had been established for hundreds of years and these three main student organizations had stood firm through time. They naturally had their own commendable points and could not simply be known as arrogant organizations.


    However, the ones that could truly receive the exceptional treatment from Blue Narcissus were naturally only the authentic first-rate geniuses that had good futures ahead of them. They were lucky if they could even find five of these individuals within a grade. Instead, they only recruited more influential disciples in each year, naturally paling themselves in comparison to the other organizations.


    Garen pondered carefully for a moment. The main shortcoming that was faced by his current self, or rather Nonosiva, was that his family background and circumstances would cause him to be easily oppressed by powerful and influential disciples. This would also hinder his personal development. The support that Blue Narcissus was willing to provide was something that he truly needed.


    "Increasing the strength of Blue Narcissus'' elite scholars is a point that we pay close attention to. An individual who can enter the elites despite being a new student will always receive additional resources and favor as such a new student usually possesses great potential," explained the woman sincerely. "Have are your considerations going? Joining Blue Narcissus will be your best decision."


    Garen became quiet for a while. "From what I know, aren''t there two other main organizations? Black Rose and Thousand Year Tree¡­"


    "Unfortunately, your opponent Caus is a member of Thousand Year Tree while his older brother, the assessed student named Cor, is an elite Grade B member of Black Rose. They have a network of special relations within the Mech actual combat department and since you did not display any shocking aptitude or talents, it was only natural that they did not invite you," the woman did not hold back and chose to speak the truth directly instead.


    "...Okay. I agree to join Blue Narcissus," replied Garen right away after considering for a while. In his opinion, joining an organization was merely a temporary decision to borrow power. As long as this organization gave him a favorable impression, he did not mind repaying them once he had matured. Moreover, the key factor was the other party''s sincerity. The things that they had mentioned were the same as what he had discovered through his hacking skills. Therefore, this meant the other side truly wanted to recruit and invest in him.


    "The aim of Blue Narcissus is to turn each of our members into our pride and joy while becoming the dignity of our members as well," replied the woman earnestly. "You will not regret joining us."


    Garen smiled before hanging up the phone.

 799 Urgent 1

    Within the arena that was projected by a gigantic Battleship


    Bouts of cheers and screams rang out and echoed throughout the competition arena continuously as the crowd yelled excitedly. Large blimps floated across the sky above the arena while rows of new data constantly appeared on the display screen on the side of the blimp.


    ''Grade A, first place Nicotine Kate, second place Carlos, third place Minda.''


    ''Grade B, first place Kanda, second place Ruth Tribune, third place Marie.''


    ''Grade C, first place Merseus, second place Bally, third place Caus.''


    The data on the blimp''s display screen clearly showed the results of the three strongest individuals in the arena according to their grade. These rankings were not based on just their current individual results. If they had similar achievements, the results would also depend on their rankings in their respective grades to determine their positions.


    More than a hundred classes were assigned to their respective boxes in the arena. The boxes resembled little honeycomb boxes and were filled with contestants and instructors from various classes who were constantly discussing the finals that were about to start today.


    Unlike the roaring crowds at the side of the arena, most of the elite contestants inside these boxes had calm looks on their faces. Their expressions were composed as if they were not affected by the enthusiastic atmosphere at all.


    Contestants who displayed abnormal behaviors after being affected by these matters would have been eliminated by this stage already. Only those whose abilities and qualities improved throughout all aspects had remained.


    Inside a black box on the left side of the arena.


    Garen, Fervale, and Sara were listening to Instructor Hamm''s warnings quietly.


    "Today''s arena is unlike yesterday''s. When you proceed, you must remember to stay calm and collected while displaying all of your strength. Don''t leave any regrets even if you lose."


    "Understood," it seemed as though Fervale had readjusted himself and regained his previous composure. His gaze occasionally drifted in a different direction towards another box.


    Sara spoke beside Garen''s ear softly.


    "Fervale met the competitor from his family''s opposing clan yesterday. It seemed as though his opponent had said something to provoke him."


    Garen glanced over in the direction of Fervale''s gaze and coincidentally noticed a girl with light green hair who was grimacing at Fervale and running her finger across her throat. The girl with short hair looked extremely fierce and had a robust figure. There was a scar at the corner of her brow and her pure white school uniform gave off a clean and nimble disposition.


    He noticed that Fervale had begun to tighten his fist slightly.


    "Really¡­" Garen heard Sara sigh and shake her head beside him as if she was already aware of certain ulterior motives.


    However, he was too lazy to ask because it was almost his turn to step forward.


    ''Nonosiva of Class C5 vs Enzo of C14.''


    While the mechanical announcer''s voice rang out, Garen entered the Mech in the passageway quickly.


    *************************


    A bakery in the southern part of the city


    "It''s Lon''s big brother! Come and look quickly!"


    the shop assistant Shirley was yelling loudly.


    Suddenly, everyone else inside the shop glanced over, including a couple of customers who were busy choosing cakes.


    "Stop yelling," Lon rushed over with an embarrassed look on his face and pulled Shirley away while his cheeks continued to blush.


    On the television screen, two Mech Pilots were displayed on separate screens while they were getting into their respective machines. In front of half of a white Mech that was shown, a black-haired young man who had just sat inside his Mech had attracted the attention of everyone inside the shop immediately. When Shirley pointed at him, everyone discovered that he was Lon''s older brother Nonosiva.


    The black-haired young man on the screen had a calm expression on his face. Both of his eyes were deep blue valleys that gave off cool dispositions. His blue and white Blackboard Academy uniform hugged his well-built figure tightly.


    When he sat upright inside the Mech, a black helmet above him lowered itself automatically and covered the youth''s average-looking face. Next, numerous electronic display screens around him began to light up progressively in succession before the blue and white fluorescent lights illuminated the interior of the Mech.


    ''Currently broadcasting live is the first match of the Winners Bracket of Grade C. Enzo from class C14 is here to challenge Nonosiva of class C5. Both of these participants are new elite students who have only entered Blackboard Academy for a year. Within the short span of a year, both of them achieved considerable progress. Compared to Nonosiva''s impressive record of consecutive victories, student Enzo encountered the current first ranked competitor Merseus halfway and unfortunately lost¡­''


    The scene on the television screen moved to the two seated announcers suddenly. A beautiful female announcer and a white-haired old man sat side by side while facing the audience. They were currently introducing the achievements and identities of the two individuals on screen who were about to face off.


    "So cool!"


    A young male shop assistant who stood beside Lon could not help but exclaim softly.


    These were the sentiments that most of the other people inside the shop shared as well. On the left, Enzo was a young woman with long white hair. A composed expression was plastered on her beautiful face. Meanwhile, Nonosiva on the right gave off a cold and emotionless air.


    "Are these Mech Pilots?" beside the shop owner with long pink hair, a black-haired boy stared at the two people on screen with a look of faint admiration in his glimmering eyes. "How cool!" he murmured.


    "You must study hard so that you''ll have a chance to be like them in the future!" the shop owner laughed happily and slapped her palm against the boy''s head.


    "Ouch! Sis, why did you hit me again?!"


    "I''m just encouraging you!" "What kind of encouragement is this?!"


    Lon stood on the side silently and watched in awe at the black-haired boy who was now covering his head and running around. Although he was currently balancing his life between working and studying with much difficulty, it was inevitable that this situation would affect his studies. Therefore, his results had started to deteriorate gradually.


    "Perhaps I could properly learn some pastry making skills in the future to become a normal but dependable person¡­" he raised his head and looked at his older brother on screen who was currently waiting to begin his battle while a strange glimmer flashed in his eyes.


    "Lon!" someone clapped his shoulder gently at once.


    Lon returned to his senses immediately before noticing that the black-haired boy was already standing in front of him now.


    "Don''t worry, you''ll have a chance next time as well!" the boy smiled at him shyly.


    "You are not your older brother; you are you. It doesn''t matter if you don''t want a cold older brother like him because we''ll be your siblings in the future!" beside him, Shirley bounced over with the shop assistant Daisy.


    In the shop, Lon was sincere, honest and hardworking. He displayed natural talents when learning pastry making techniques and was also a kind person who constantly helped others whenever he could and would never refuse them. This had won him the friendship of his co-workers.


    When he saw the crowd that gathered around him, Lon''s heart was unusually touched.


    "I¡­"


    "The competition has begun!" suddenly, noises that indicated that the match had started echoing from the television.


    *******************


    The moment the words begin to drift off, two white laser beams shot out suddenly from the white Mech that Garen was controlling. The strong force from the laser cannons resembled two sharp swords that were piercing towards the chest of the black Mech. However, they were speedily evaded by their agile opponent.


    At this moment, Garen had apparently discarded the Laser Cannons that he held in his hands earlier. Instead, he placed his hand behind his back and removed a hidden Gaussian Electromagnetic Gun. When his opponent was dodging the laser cannons, he was able to level the barrel of the Electromagnetic Gun properly.


    The thick black barrel was aimed precisely at the black Mech.


    Bang!


    The black bomb passed through a distance of more than ten meters instantly and hit the transparent screen behind the black Mech directly before rebounding and hitting the jet engine behind it.


    Boom!!


    The black Mech lost all movement and stumbled a few steps forward before collapsing on the ground.


    It was hit with another bomb before the top of the Mech exploded, causing the fight to end.


    "This is¡­ Rebound Interference!!"


    Outside the arena, Instructor Hamm stood up in disbelief while a look of incredible surprise appeared on his face, "Another Level 2 technique!!"


    Loud cheers exploded throughout the crowd outside the arena. Rebound Interference, a Level 2 technique was a Level 2 technique used by Mech Pilots. It was one of the three fighting techniques that did not require Willpower. It used various judgments and calculations from the outside world and used long-range weapons to form rebounds or refraction effects from shooting.


    By using Rebound Interference and his integrated Laser Cannons from earlier, Nonosiva had already displayed two powerful techniques that did not need to be combined with Willpower.


    Garen kept his Gaussian Guns and turned to walk out of the passageway without even glancing back at the black Mech on the ground.


    On the other side, Fervale was using a different black Mech to fight frantically. The intensity of this fight was far fiercer than the one over here. Meanwhile, Sara had yet to step into the field but had already entered the waiting passage.


    The three lowest ranked competitors of the Winners Bracket from each class had already been matched with their opponents.


    Happy and prideful expressions appeared on both Aier and Mina''s faces when they watched the competition that had ended within moments. The ability to exhibit displays of strength and achievements like these so easily despite reaching such advanced stages undoubtedly showed Garen''s incomparably powerful innate strength.


    Meanwhile, on the seats behind them, a few composed-looking students nodded faintly when they witnessed Garen''s performance while hints of astonishment flashed in their eyes.


    ***********************


    The bakery


    "He actually used the Rebound Interference technique! I really cannot believe that this technique would be displayed by a first-year student who just entered the school!" the announcer exclaimed quietly and covered her little mouth while looking at the fight on the display screen.


    "Although we''ve previously already seen the first-rate techniques such as short-range bursts and victories that were won by spears of electric currents, I''m still amazed to see skills of such difficulty being displayed by youths despite their young ages," the old man that was speaking shook his head in admiration. "When we compare our elderly selves to these young people, it seems as if we have simply wasted our years. They are truly the geniuses of Blackboard Academy."


    "That''s right. Young geniuses will always emerge during Blackboard Academy''s Elite Qualifier Matches every year. Moreover, they will always exhibit amazing performances," nodded the other announcer.


    "Indeed, since he is already able to use Level 2 techniques with ease, as long as he continues to train in actual combat, this young man will be able to reach the standard of a captain who can lead the Mech Pilots to fight on the battlefield. Furthermore, he''s not even eighteen years old yet," praised the old man.


    "He is truly amazing¡­ The students of Blackboard Academy are really first-class geniuses¡­" the black-haired youth began to exclaim unconsciously again. When he noticed Lon staring blankly in a daze from the corner of his eye, the youth involuntarily stroked the little item that he had picked up not long ago.


    "But I won''t fall behind either. With this, I will be able to become an excellent Mech Pilot as well!"


    "Don''t touch my pure body as you please!" a voice that was both feminine and masculine entered his mind suddenly.


    "Oh¡­ I''m sorry. That was unintentional," the black-haired youth immediately apologized in his head.


    "Don''t worry, the future you long for will not be bleak. Although you are merely a piece of garbage without the slightest hint of aptitude, there are still certain types of garbage that can be useful," the voice spoke in a lofty tone without concealing its disdain at all.


    "Is my aptitude really that terrible¡­? Don''t tell me I''m actually less than average?" said the youth helplessly.

 800 Urgent 2

    "Compared to that normal fellow beside you, the difference between both of your aptitudes is equivalent to the difference between a firefly and the moon. I''d be praising you excessively if I said that you were average," answered the voice scornfully. "If you had not recognized my noble self by a lucky coincidence, I''d assume that you would be forced to spend your entire life gathering scrap metals."


    The expression on the youth''s face collapsed in defeat immediately as the other person''s words had instantly made him feel uncertain and hopeless about his future.


    "Don''t worry, as long as your humble self listens to your Master''s instructions and does as your great Master commands, you will definitely surpass your wildest dreams in the future. That''s right, what is your name?"


    "Clint¡­ Clint Beza¡­" answered the youth feebly.


    "Alright, Clint whatever, I need you to do something now."


    "Do what?"


    "Stick me on the body of the youth beside you temporarily. I need to probe him for a while. If this is successful, this guy can probably become one of your underlings," said the voice in a straightforward manner. "At the present stage, your ignorant and useless self has made it impossible for me to use too much strength. Therefore, finding some trustworthy people to control as your subordinates is the first task that you must prepare."


    "Baylon is my friend, not my subordinate," young Clint corrected the voice weakly. His life had begun to change slowly ever since he''d picked up the thing after he came over to his older sister''s place to experience the working life. He said meaningless things to restore his past glory and accepted the approval of others reluctantly. In the end, his life was immediately turned upside down.


    "Garbage is basically garbage. You don''t even have the guts to assume the responsibility for someone else''s fate?"


    Clint glanced at Lon beside him and saw the exact same desire and admiration in his eyes towards the Mechs.


    "Moreover, even if I dared to undertake the responsibility, you would still require resources to modify yourself, right? Wouldn''t you need time as well?"


    "Alright, the decision is yours. Stick me on the surface of that guy''s skin once you''ve finished thinking." the voice fell to a lower tone immediately.


    Although he did not know why the once tyrannical other party had suddenly become so good-natured, Clint could still sigh in momentary relief.


    He shifted his gaze towards the television screen again where a Mech fight scene between students of higher grades was being shown on the screen currently.


    "Master Red Moon¡­"


    "What''s the matter? Speak now if you have something to say. I''m very busy!" said the voice impatiently.


    "I¡­ Could I achieve Lon''s older brother''s¡­ Could I achieve the level of Lon''s older brother?" Clint lowered his head in uncertainty.


    "His level? Your goals are too low, don''t you think?" the voice that was referred to as ''Red Moon'' said scornfully. "Moreover, you really think that the guy called Nonosiva is amazing?"


    "Umm¡­ Isn''t he amazing? He could use Level 2 techniques despite his young age¡­"


    "Hehe¡­ Is it really like that?" Red Moon sneered. "Patterning actions like that meant that his Willpower¡­ Enough, you wouldn''t understand even if I told you. You will know next time!"


    "Oh¡­"


    ***************


    The third match


    Garen sat inside the Mech and inhaled deeply. Using his Willpower for long periods of time formed a faint ache around his temples. This was caused by his extreme lack of Willpower. Despite possessing the Moonfang''s additional abilities, extended durations of fighting would still increase the burden on his Willpower.


    However, this was also a part of the competition. Fighting for extended periods of time would test the endurance of his Willpower.


    On the opposite arena, a Black Mech stood facing him on the black alloy ground like a giant approaching enemy. It held a silver towering shield that covered half of its body in one hand. This whole towering shield resembled a mirror that could speedily reflect light beam type weapons or attacks. Moreover, it was made of a durable alloy that possessed even better defensive effects against Gaussian type live ammunition weapons.


    "The competition has reached a standstill. London, the Elite from the Losers Bracket is currently up against the instant killer Nonosiva who has a record of consecutive victories. How will the results turn out?" the commentator''s voice could be heard faintly from the outside.


    Garen''s face was expressionless. He had already come so far and would truly become the ultimate victor in the Winners Bracket after winning a few more rounds.


    His opponent on the other side, London, had defeated Sara. Their leader was currently in the finals with Fervale, but no one knew how the results would turn out.


    If Fervale was defeated¡­ The position of Class C would not go any further. They would not be allowed to participate in the internal matches within the Winners Bracket and their previously significant ninth place position would be displaced, causing them to fall to eleventh place instantly.


    "But¡­" Garen stared at the Black Mech opposite him while his head continued to hurt slightly. That guy basically resembled a tortoiseshell. Regardless whether he hit him with a shot from his Concentrated Laser Cannon or used his Rebound Interference technique, his attacks would constantly be resisted and unloaded by his opponent''s Impregnable Wall technique. Moreover, his opponent was an extremely patient person as it was obvious that they were delaying their defense and counter attacking tactics.


    Bang!!


    A loud explosion could be heard from the Gaussian Cannon suddenly before a black cannonball hit the upper right corner of the Black Mech''s towering shield instantly. It attempted to hit the shield until it was sent flying sideways.


    However, it seemed as if the Black Mech had anticipated this much earlier. It turned its body to the side while the shield suddenly moved slightly simultaneously as well.


    Clang!


    The black Mech stumbled a few steps backward. It was facing Garen sideways now while directly using the center of its shield to counter the cannon balls by deflecting and sending them flying at once.


    "Blocked again! Student London''s Level 2 technique Impregnable Wall has been using the core position of its shield to ward off its enemies attacks. Nonosiva''s Gaussian Cannons were sent flying directly as well," the commentator who was only prepared for the final match spoke hurriedly.


    "This is a tortoiseshell!" Garen glanced at the time quickly: 8 minutes.


    "I need to finish this immediately!"


    Bang!


    The black Gaussian Cannon exploded again before the cannon shot out again after a cooling down period of ten seconds.


    Before waiting for the next cooling down period, Garen did not look at the outcome but chose to switch to his Laser Cannon before shooting again.


    White laser beams hit against one side of London''s shield for a period of time while the entire arena was only filled with the attack shots from Garen''s side. Meanwhile, London could merely defend himself.


    As the competition continued to progress, Garen encountered stronger opponents as well. Meanwhile, the consumption of his Willpower became greater. Initially, his Willpower was only at the middle section of the foundation level as he could not even reach one proper level. However, after continuously fighting numerous matches, his Willpower restoration could not fully keep up with his depletion anymore.


    Clang!


    Black Light flashed from the Gaussian Cannon, finally hitting London''s shield sideways slightly. When it exposed the body of the Mech behind it, only then did the audience realize that all of the continuous Gaussian Cannons from earlier had hit against the same spot without much deviation.


    "That''s it¡­" Garen adjusted his Laser Cannon slightly while white light gathered at the barrel.


    It was over¡­


    Tch!


    Suddenly, the white Moonfang light in the control console flashed before dimming suddenly.


    "This again!!" Garen immediately sensed that something was amiss. He lost control of the Mech''s body instantly while the Mech became abnormally delayed and seemingly unable to react again! "Not this time again!!" a gloomy expression flashed across his face.


    Seconds and minutes ticked by while the white light of the Laser Cannon disappeared as everything returned to a calm state again. Garen''s White Mech stood in its spot quietly while facing the Black Mech on the other side. The arena turned completely silent for a while.


    The Black Mech glanced at the shield in its hand and became silent for a moment.


    Almost ten seconds later.


    "I surrender."


    The voice of the Black Mech Pilot London echoed over.


    The Black Mech discarded its towering shield and only then did the crowd realize that its shield was currently full of holes. It was almost pierced through. It was obvious that if this went on for a little while longer, this towering shield would become completely useless. Therefore, admitting defeat right now allowed him to lose without being embarrassed completely.


    ''Winner, Nonosiva of Class C5!''


    The cold mechanical voice was replaced with the announcer''s enthusiastic voice.


    Most of the students cheered happily, especially the students of Class C5 who were extremely excited.


    On the other side, Fervale cut off the right arm of his opponent''s Mech in one swift movement. Sparks were flying all over his Mech and it was obvious that he was reaching his limit soon. Moreover, both of the Mechs were undeniably worn-out. It seemed as if he had only won this victory through endurance and perseverance.


    ''Winner, Fervale of Class C5!''


    Similar noises rang out while Fervale sat inside his Mech and closed his eyes slightly while his exhausted face turned pale.


    There was a screen on the side of the blimp that floated across the sky. The ranking of class C5 remained steadily at the ninth place as they had finally defeated the three challenging classes from the Losers Bracket.


    Garen raised his head and glanced at the rankings while pressure began to form in his mind. If his opponent had continued to attack without giving up during the risky situation earlier, he might have become the loser instead.


    His extremely weak Willpower made it more difficult for him when he encountered subsequent opponents. Without an abundance of Willpower to sustain himself, he could only depend on the Moonfang''s control and coordination. He could truly be dragged to death if he encountered long-lasting tortoiseshell-like opponents again.


    "Willpower¡­ I need to solve this problem quickly." when he recalled the continuous times he had screwed up during important moments, Garen knew that the source of his problems was still his weak Willpower.


    The unstable circumstances that appeared because of the Moonfang made it difficult for him to grasp the situation when he encountered defensive opponents. If he did not solve this problem, the following internal matches in the Winners Bracket would be very troublesome.


    Once he had gotten out of the Mech, he congratulated and celebrated with the others. Next, he underwent restoring massage treatments and replenished his nutrition fluids. When the arena closed in the evening, Garen declined the offer to celebrate the results of keeping their ninth place position again. Instead, he left the arena alone and walked towards his dorm.


    The finals would be held on the third day. There would be an internal match in the Winners Bracket where the top three competitors would be selected as the Elite participants who entered the school this year. Most of the competitors in the Winners Bracket had grasped one Level 2 technique and none of them would be easily defeated.


    Garen was currently somewhat clearer about his level now. In situations where Willpower was strictly limited, he could only use his combat experience for fighting techniques that did not require Willpower. However, this was merely one factor as his limited Willpower made it impossible for him to fight for extended periods of time. Furthermore, the inability to use fighting techniques that were combined with Willpower made it difficult for him to counter his opponent''s Willpower techniques.


    In the following final match, he would also need to watch out for accidental situations where the Moonfang would screw up suddenly.


    "This is so troublesome¡­" Garen walked on the road back while constantly focusing on the changing time on his Attribute Pane that represented the time taken for his heart to be modified. The schedule that was counting down kept shrinking continuously.


    "I can only find a way to solve this by using Secret Techniques. I can probably use White Peacock Stones to speed up the modification of the Peacock Technique."


    Garen returned to his dorm and clicked his terminal communication''s address book immediately once he had closed the door. He looked for the contact number of the bearded merchant and called him at once.


    After a continuous beeping waiting tone, the other side was connected quickly.


    "Why are you calling so early? The goods aren''t here yet," said the bearded merchant suspiciously.


    "When will the second batch of goods arrive?" Garen asked directly without making any small talk.


    "If all goes well, it will be here by noon tomorrow. After all, they''re being delivered from other areas and the quantities this time are slightly larger as well."

 801 Pressure 1

    "The price is still the same as the last time. The difference in the wholesale price that you gain from distributing it will be your commission. Urge them to hurry up and send the things to me as soon as possible."


    Garen furrowed his eyebrows when he spoke.


    "Are you that anxious? Alright, I''ll take a look at the process in between to see where it is now. I''ll try to speed them up," Beardy sounded somewhat helpless. "As for the commission and whatnot," he wavered for a while before becoming slightly more sincere in the end. "I don''t want the commission or anything like that. I''ve already earned a lot just by doing this."


    Cooperation was something that required a long duration of perseverance and it was clear that Beardy understood this. If he wanted this business deal to be repeated in the future, he could not give the other party a reason to change business partners. Moreover, he would need to show him that he was a superior associate as much as possible.


    "That''s right, what is your name?" asked Garen suddenly.


    "Kendall¡­" the bearded man sounded somewhat impatient as he had clearly introduced himself previously.


    "Alright, Kendall. If you can deliver the items to the academy by tonight, I will increase the payment by an additional five Units for each item," said Garen while attempting to lure him in with the promise of an immediate gain.


    After coming to this world and encountering mysterious Willpower systems, he could vaguely feel, and had a premonition that this Willpower was actually a powerful force that was not inferior to his Secret Technique systems. Through his martial arts consciousness, he could vaguely see the future of Willpower training methods through this.


    The ability to dominate civilizations in the universe that used planetary territories as units while occupying peak forces meant that it was highly likely that these systems were hiding certain powerful aspects that were unknown to most people.


    "Tonight?" the person on the other terminal became silent for a while as if he was considering something.


    Garen was not anxious and chose to wait quietly instead. He required a large batch of goods this time. He had spent one thousand Units for two hundred pieces previously, which meant that he had almost spent five Units for each piece. Although it was not a huge leap when the price increased to five Units per piece, it was important to note that he was buying more than two thousand pieces this time. Therefore, he would be performing a transaction of over ten thousand Units at once. Transactions like these were not considered as minor business deals in physical stores, much less for little vendors like him who only had enough capital to run pushcart businesses.


    "All of the White Stones will arrive at your doorstep before three o''clock in the morning tomorrow!" finally, Kendall''s confident voice echoed from the other line. His tone was firm and it seemed as though he had made up his mind.


    "Alright, I''ll be waiting for your news!" when Garen heard the other man''s words earlier, he could tell that Kendall truly planned to display his resolution during this business deal. The expenses and energy that was needed midway throughout the process to shorten the route by half of its required duration was not something that a regular small vendor could provide. It was clear that Kendall was planning to put in all of his effort to invest in this business. The important part was to flaunt his sincerity and cooperation abilities.


    After he had disconnected from the terminal, Garen inhaled deeply.


    "I need to make up for the shortcomings in my Willpower immediately. This world feels more complicated the deeper I dive in¡­"


    He sat in front of the desk and turned his tablet computer on before beginning to do research on information regarding high-level fighting techniques.


    Unfortunately, there were no web pages with related information as most of them were banned and taken down. Although they were a few websites with information regarding Mech battles, these things looked extremely inauthentic and did not possess great referencing values.


    After spending a period of time in this world, Garen had unconsciously assimilated into this place gradually. The information regarding the greatest strength in this world was naturally the subject that he wished to understand the most.


    He clicked through web pages continuously while looking for the related information on his computer. He relied on his hacking techniques, and although he was not very familiar with these converted techniques yet, it was still easy for him to find information.


    After passing through conventional channels, Garen was able to find certain advanced information about certain Mech Pilot assessments quickly.


    A white square frame was displayed on the light blue background of the screen. Inside the box, the assessment subjects that advanced Mech Pilots were supposed to go through were listed in neat rows.


    ''Compulsory to achieve Level 4 in Willpower tests''


    ''Possesses a suitable Mech that belongs solely to themselves''


    ''More than one qualifying record''


    ''Has been issued a certificate of qualification by authorized governmental branches''


    "There is still no concrete information regarding strength comparisons," Garen pushed his tablet away. "It''s clear that an administrator who is even more skilled than me is currently controlling the information here. My hacking techniques are only impressive compared to those of the average person. There is still a great difference between me and the real first-class hackers." he was already aware of this matter.


    "I was already used to powers that were equivalent to Fifth Star levels in the previous world. Right now, I really cannot adapt to such a weak body¡­" Garen furrowed his eyebrows and clicked on the battle network messaging client AL. This was a communications software that was similar to QQ which could only be used to connect battle networks.


    He had a lot of good friends on the AL website. They were large clusters and groups of them, but he had not contacted many of them after adding them as contacts. Perhaps some of them had even deleted Nono''s number from their list of ''good friends'' long ago.


    Garen clicked on the friend list pane that marked his unknown contacts. There were two colorful avatar images that were blinking there. He glanced at these avatars but did not click the images to connect with them in the end. After all, these were Nono''s friends, not his.


    There did not seem to be any messages in the bottom right corner of his AL page. Instead, there were only two advertisements from the AL officials.


    This was the first time that Garen had used Nono''s number to look at his interpersonal circles.


    There were only a few high school students in his circle of good friends and two groups of friends from elementary school. Next, there were his good friends Aier and Mina and his family members. Other than that, he did not seem to have any other relationship networks.


    "This is so simple," he randomly glanced through the messages from his circle of schoolmates and noticed that none of them were substantial. One circle was basically dead while the other one was much livelier. However, none of them mentioned Nonosiva, making it seem as if he was not part of the group at all. Even though he was currently an exceptional student of Blackboard Academy and now possessed an enviable identity, it seemed as though no one was aware of this, as the conversations inside the circle showed that none of these people knew of the situation at all.


    After getting to know Nonosiva''s interpersonal circle, Garen understood the facts better now. He closed the AL tab and glanced at the Terminal before noticing that there were a bunch of unread messages on his Watch Terminal that came from an unknown number.


    ''We''ve already seen your performance today. Someone will meet you at your place tonight to proceed with the registration. Looking forward to your cooperation. -- Blue Narcissus (This message will delete itself automatically after it has been read)''


    ''Notification regarding the arrangement of the individual matches. The matches will be organized in this manner: First round of the finals vs the eighth group of the Winners Bracket. Second round of the finals vs the sixth group of the Winners Bracket. Groups will be automatically allocated once the winners are determined.'' This notification was released by the academy.


    Garen responded to Blue Narcissus before turning the lights off quietly. He sat cross-legged on his bed while practicing his training methods. No one would disturb him at this hour as Aier and the others knew that he would be taking part in the finals tomorrow. Therefore, it was important for him to rest now.


    Time ticked by slowly.


    The sound of slow footsteps could be heard outside the window faintly, coupled with the occasional noise of passing cars.


    Garen immersed himself into his training methods. Although he could not sense any progress, practicing this was still better than sitting around lazily. The aptitude of this physical body was too mediocre, and sitting around in an elite school like Blackboard Academy while remaining indifferent would cause him to become inferior. If he was unable to fix this, Nonosiva would become useless during his senior year of high school even with the Moonfang. Next, he would be exposed for cheating and finally expelled from the Academy. After facing a blow like this, it would become extremely difficult for him to become a Mech Pilot for the rest of his life. However, for the students in the Academy, becoming a Mech Pilot was something that was bound to happen in time. This was the stark difference between them.


    Knock knock.


    A soft noise could be heard from the door to the room suddenly. It was not the sound of the doorbell, but a soft knocking noise instead.


    Garen opened his eyes and got up before walking to the door. He looked outside through the peephole and saw a young woman in a cream-colored school uniform. The woman wore glasses and had long brown hair that was slung over her left shoulder and reached the front of her chest. She gave off a gentle air.


    Garen opened the door with a ''click'' before sizing up the other person faintly.


    "You are?"


    "I''m here to help you with the registration process," the woman smiled casually.


    "Please come in."


    Garen nodded and turned his body sideways so that she could enter.


    "My name is Kris, and you are Nonosiva Lin, right?"


    The young woman walked into the room and took in her surroundings before asking casually.


    "What do we need to do?" Garen turned his head and immediately heard a crisp clicking noise. He happened to see Kris take a small camera-like object out before snapping his picture.


    "We are registering your photograph. Please press your finger here for a while to register your fingerprint," Kris took a tablet computer out and turned the screen towards Garen.


    Garen stretched his hand out and pressed on the screen before a brief beeping noise could be heard from the computer suddenly.


    "Okay, that''s all. We will specially create a membership badge for you soon. You just need to focus on the competition now," Kris smiled.


    "It''s so simple?" Garen was slightly surprised.


    "It has always been this simple. There will be a three-dimensional image modeling scan after this. It will be done once you''ve entered. All of your personal information will be recorded in your archives since you''re a Grade C member of Blue Narcissus now," Kris nodded.


    "The next part will be key."


    "What?"


    Garen gestured for her to sit before both of them sat on the two chairs beside the table together.


    Kris lifted her legs slightly before moving backward and leaning against the back of the chair.


    "Student Nono, regarding your opponent in the finals tomorrow, we have already listed certain information about their previous match records. You can find out some things about their strength levels so that you will be prepared. Besides that, as a member of Blue Narcissus, if you become an elite member, you will receive a membership card for Lyles General Hall. You will be able to enjoy many free services there such as gym facilities, entertainment, and lodging. The membership card that is worth a hundred thousand Universal Units yearly will also allow you to enjoy free consumer benefits throughout the whole Blackboard Region. It is equivalent to a converted bank card."


    "Such good treatment?" Garen was somewhat tongue-tied. They were willing to invest a hundred thousand Units on him without determining that he was actually sincere in joining Blue Narcissus. This was truly a bold move on their part.


    "Of course, Lyles will also provide many other convenient communication services and hiring services for you. If you want to purchase certain contrabands, this can be done as well," Kris smiled. "There are many restricted items outside but Lyles can supply these things, including land. As long as you are capable, you will definitely be able to accept employment opportunities from other people through this platform to earn a sizeable profit or side income."


    "This is very convenient¡­" Garen nodded slightly. Regarding the supposed contrabands, they were definitely referring to a few specific items such as drugs, military supplies, and¡­ territories. Other than the Blackboard Region, there were many other territories that were owned by noble lordships. The nobles and lords once possessed legal territories, but after the chaotic period, in order to exchange their land to develop more technological resources, it was excusable for most of them to sell a portion of their territories. The law had prohibited the buying and selling of territorial lands. However, everyone was already aware of the real situation. No one cared about these matters, and no one was powerful enough to control it anyway.

 802 Pressure 2

    "Territory¡­ Really¡­?" Garen''s emotions were slightly moved. If he was able to obtain a territory of his own and become a noble lord, the land would merely be secondary as the truly important benefits and rights that he would gain from this was that many illegal matters would become legal through the right of a noble lord. This was the most important thing to him.


    "You''re probably aware that although many territories are actually extremely small areas, all of them are still very valuable. Therefore, there are still many people who scramble after these territories madly despite being unable to find a way to purchase them. Meanwhile, Blue Narcissus provides a means for our own internal members to obtain this land as a benefit. Neither Black Rose nor Thousand Year Tree provides this benefit. This is something that only Blue Narcissus has specially obtained," Kris could see Garen''s fervent interest towards these territories.


    "Looks like I''ve made a wise decision," Garen smiled.


    "Of course," Kris took out a pendrive that looked like a gold pendant the size of a fingernail. It looked like a shell-shaped piece of jewelry. "All of this is information. I''ll be leaving first. May you be victorious in your match tomorrow!" she stood up.


    "Thank you very much," Garen stood up as well and nodded.


    Kris shook Garen''s hand lightly before turning around and exiting the door.


    Once she heard the clicking noise of the door shutting behind her, she nodded towards a young man who was waiting in the corridor. Both of them walked together and left the new students'' dorm.


    "How did it go?" the male student was also dressed in a cream-colored school uniform. This was the uniform of Grade B. Meanwhile, the students of Grade C wore pure white uniforms.


    "It was very strange. This Nonosiva was completely unlike the rumors. He gave off an air of experience," a faintly surprised expression had appeared on Kris'' face. "I felt as if I was dealing with an old man. He spoke steadily and remained indifferent the entire time. He did not seem like a young person at all."


    "Isn''t that a good thing? If he possesses good potential, just form a close relationship with him. There are many students in the Academy who can pretend like this. You don''t need to be shocked," said the male student while smiling.


    "I don''t think he''s pretending¡­" Kris furrowed her eyebrows slightly. "He just gives off an extremely strange air. Realistically speaking, he should feel some pressure at least since the final match is about to begin. However, I noticed that his mental state could not be better."


    "Alright, stop overthinking. These things aren''t related to us. It will be even better if this Nono has good potential."


    "You''re right," Kris nodded and changed the subject. "What should we have for supper tonight?"


    "Let''s go take a look. We ate things with a lot of calories during lunch so I don''t really feel like eating now."


    Both of them walked down the road that was lined with street lights under the night sky. They resembled the other student couples that snuggled closely next to each other. Frankly, they did not look any different from the rest at all.


    ****************


    Whoosh!


    Garen pulled the curtains together and sat in front of the computer. All of the hard drive''s contents had been downloaded offline into the tablet computer.


    There were four files in total and he opened one to investigate it carefully.


    The state of the finals was immediately displayed in front of him. Compared to the academy''s simple announcement about the match, the information here was clearly more abundant.


    Moreover, the thing that caught Garen''s attention was not the class rankings but the individual rankings instead.


    Once they had reached this stage, class C5 had already secured their position in the top ten. However, overtaking the next few positions would be a problem. The subsequent fighting matches would all be Total Defeat Matches.


    ''Total Defeat Matches refer to matches where victories will only be determined once all of the competitors on the other side have been defeated.''


    ''Three-on-three matches will be held. The previous rule of three wins out of two matches has been abolished. The new standard states that all of the members of the opposing team must be defeated before a winner is determined.''


    ''This decision has taken the final match into consideration, as well as the strength of the entire group and the Elite competitors. The Total Defeat model is used to create a strength assessment that is ultimately fair.''


    ''The final match will split the first three competitors into three melee groups. This will ensure that the three strongest competitors from the individual battles will form three groups of powerful individuals. Therefore, each person will be given one chance to challenge¡­''


    Garen glanced through the information continuously while time ticked by.


    Unconsciously, the night sky became darker. Numerous videos of his opponents for the next day were attached to this information. They were arranged in detail and Garen was fully absorbed when he watched them.


    The more he watched, the more apprehensive he became.


    The weakest opponent that he would face tomorrow was already at the same level as London, whom he had encountered today. None of them had any weaknesses and were all characters with sharp minds. Although it seemed as though they lacked fighting experience, each of them was still able to use specialized techniques that were combined with their Willpower. Their unusually powerful levels had exceeded Garen''s expectations and imagination.


    One of his opponent''s information stated that he had previously used a Willpower move known as the Electric Wave Hammer.


    The Electric Wave Hammer was an external Willpower weapon that was produced by integrating one''s Willpower and Mech to release a warhammer-like force field that could not be seen or touched. However, it could pass through Mech armor to injure the opposing pilot''s somatic functions directly. Opponents who possessed Willpower levels that were similar to his own were the only ones who could detect and see the Electric Wave Hammer prior to its attack. Therefore, they would be able to dodge or defend themselves from it. Meanwhile, they could only defend themselves if they possessed specialized measures.


    After going through it carefully, Garen understood this technique was not considered as the strongest among the Level 2 or higher techniques. There were other powerful techniques that could only be used if one''s Willpower was strong enough. For instance, the Willpower Slicing Blade, another opponent''s finishing blow that possessed great destructive power. When facing opponents whose Willpower was much weaker than his own, he could simply destroy them within a second. One direct strike against the body of his opposing Mech Pilot would form a sharp attack that resembled knife wounds.


    "How troublesome," Garen''s eyebrows were furrowed. After coming to this world, he had always retained a strong ego. Although this place was a tremendously technologically advanced world, he still felt as if it was far from the Ancient Endorian Secret Technique civilizations in terms of developing his potential. However, he had now realized that the paths that were opened up by Willpower were not inferior to those of Ancient Endor in terms of strength¡­


    "These are two civilizations that are going in different directions. It looks like I''ll have to be careful in the future," after looking at the specific effects of these highly destructive moves, Garen stopped belittling them completely before acknowledging the Willpower strength systems properly.


    "How would I compete with these techniques that were solely based on Willpower?" although it had been explained in the information, Willpower techniques that could pass through Mechs and injure the Mech Pilots directly were extremely rare. Moreover, they would consume a lot of the attacker''s Willpower as well. Therefore, they could only be used in close proximity. Most of them were techniques that were integrated with one''s Mech to produce more powerful forces. Meanwhile, just because other techniques were rarer did not mean that were non-existent.


    Garen purposely selected the information regarding Willpower techniques before searching online again.


    ''Willpower fights are slightly similar to mental strength fights. They are not always valuable as they require a large contribution for low returns. Moreover, they can only be used for one-on-one combat. There are many limitations and conditions as well. In long distances in outer space, these abilities are not very useful as the Mech Pilot''s Willpower will not be able to surpass the level of high energy particle winds and the great distance between themselves and their enemies to be able to hit them precisely. Therefore, this technique is mainly used for ground-level combat.''


    Garen became more apprehensive as he continued reading. If he encountered techniques that were purely based on Willpower in situations where it was impossible for him to detect them as they could neither be seen nor felt, there would be no way for him to counter his opponent''s direct attack. He had simulated this in his mind numerous times but he could not even win five times in the end. This was also done in the situation where the Moonfang could be used unlimited times.


    His mood was becoming slightly more serious.


    "Seems like I can only aim for the top three spots at most¡­"


    From this information, he had also discovered that Mech Pilots whose Willpower had reached Level 3 could use these techniques in their normal lives. In other words, they could still use these dangerous techniques despite separating themselves from their Mechs. This was also one of the main reasons why Level 2 Mech Pilots were well-respected by others.


    ****************


    Blackboard Academy''s simulated battleground


    Caus and the other red-haired male student sat across each other at the rest area. They watched the roaring Mechs clashing outside the glass window continuously while drinking purified fruit essence.


    The ruby-like essence was sucked upwards through the straw inside the glass cup and gave off a glass-like luster when light shone on it.


    "All of the information you wanted is here. Moreover, that guy has joined Blue Narcissus as well," the red-haired male student passed a piece of paper with information over.


    Caus took it and put his cup down before beginning to flip through and read it slowly.


    "I did not intend to use tricks initially as secret maneuvers are meaningless. Isn''t it better to publicly beat him up until he becomes a begging dog that kneels before me in front of everyone in the arena?" he smiled.


    "You''re certainly in high spirits," said the red-haired male student while yawning. "I also have the assessment that I got from the leaves over there."


    "What are the comments?"


    "Just the usual General Excellence level grades."


    "Oh? He defeated a good number of Excellent level opponents consecutively, so why was he awarded such a low grade? General Excellence only means that he is an outstanding student within his own class in the entire academy," Caus was now interested.


    "This fellow Nonosiva has a fatal weakness," the red-haired male student straightened one of his index fingers. "It''s his Willpower! It''s too weak."


    Caus seemed lost in thought suddenly.


    "Did you notice? When Nonosiva fights, he never uses fighting techniques that need to be combined with Willpower. Moreover, he''s well-known for using two out of the three main techniques that don''t require Willpower. What does this mean?" said the red-haired male student confidently.


    "This means that his Willpower is extremely weak. It''s so weak that he''s unwilling to even consume a tiny bit of it. Otherwise, it will probably affect his endurance during the battle matches," Caus nodded faintly while a glimmer of understanding flashed across his eyes. "In other words, I''m planning to attack his weak point."


    "Two tactics," said the red-haired male student while raising two fingers. "If he''s able to charge at you from the front, you have two choices. The first one is to use your Willpower Techniques to get rid of him. The second one is to drag him out slowly to his death. Compared to that Impregnable Wall London, your defense techniques have almost reached Level 3. Furthermore, you are almost on par with Merseus in this aspect. You can actually play with him until he dies."


    A smile appeared on Caus'' face suddenly.


    The red-haired male student glanced at him wordlessly.


    "To be honest, I really don''t understand you. You could get rid of that guy in one go with your Stunt Phantom Beam Blade. You could even disable him easily by cutting off a limb if you didn''t want to kill him. Does it make sense to use such a powerful weapon against a normal student?"


    "He almost murdered my older brother. What do you think?" Caus glared at him coldly.


    "Don''t glare at me. I was just saying," the red-haired male student shrugged and yawned. His gaze suddenly shifted towards a little red gadget on Caus'' shirt collar. "F*ck! You''re actually planning to bring this gadget into the arena even though you''re only going up against a normal student who hasn''t even reached Level 2?!"


    He was momentarily stunned. He had always known that Caus was despicable but never expected that he could be much worse than he had imagined.


    "Safety first," Caus smiled and flipped the little gadget inside his collar to shield it.


    "Really¡­ Caus, this is the first time that I''ve thought you were exceptionally despicable."


    "Thank you for the compliment."


    "Willpower Booster¡­ And a hidden version as well¡­" The red-haired male student was finally speechless when he saw the other person keeping the red square item. They were allowed to use this item, and even Merseus and Bally would realistically possess one for themselves. However, they would not use it during unimportant periods because of two reasons. Firstly, this item was consumable and very precious. Secondly, extended periods of usage would cause them to become dependent on it.


    This gadget was like a stimulant that would be consumed before a long-distance race. It could be hidden so that it would not be easily discovered. Moreover, it would also produce certain amplifying effects towards their Willpower. However, the effects would be weaker when it was used on higher level Willpower.


    Despite possessing Level 2 Willpower now, Caus was still unable to let go of such a minor booster.

 803 Advancement 1

    As night approached.


    Garen sat on his bed as he inhaled and exhaled quietly.


    The light wasn''t switched on in the room. Everything was pitched black, and through the tree leaves and branches outside, one could faintly see the lights from the streets blinking from afar.


    The Watch Terminal on Garen''s wrist suddenly lit up.


    Beep beep¡­


    He immediately opened his eyes, raised up the watch and the contact number was shown. It was Kendall.


    "He finally calls," he gave a sigh of relief as he answered the call.


    Kendall''s head appeared on the terminal.


    "The stock has arrived. Do you want me to send it directly to your place?" the beardy uncle''s eyes were red and he looked very tired.


    "I''ll meet you outside the entrance of the academy," Garen nodded. "Thank you for your hard work."


    "It''s fine, just prepare the Universal Points," the beardy uncle gulped down huge amounts of water. "I''ll be there in about ten minutes or so."


    "I''ll go out now."


    "It''s a truck numbered c563171."


    "Understood."


    Garen hung up the terminal and swiftly donned his coat uniform. He then grabbed his keys and left the dorm.


    It was extremely cold and quiet outside and no one could be seen moving about at all. He looked at the time and it was two hours and forty-two minutes past midnight. Almost all of the students had already fallen asleep.


    As he walked out of his dorm, the cold wing welcomed him. The street lights formed a line by the side of the road, stretching it into the darkness. Moonlight wasn''t present as it was covered by the clouds.


    Garen wasn''t able to differentiate the direction as he walked towards the illuminated streets.


    He walked across the field in the academy. The academy''s buildings stood silently as if it was a huge black box placed on the land. Some had some electronic lights blinking on them while some were completely dark.


    As he arrived at the emergency area, Garen took out a coin and placed it into a coin box for a white academy car.


    The white academy car suddenly lit up and the driver''s dashboard turned green as it rang.


    ''Welcome to using the Blackboard Academy''s car, please enter your destination,'' a female robotic voice rang loud and clear in the quiet night.


    "Number 1 Gate Entrance," Garen sat in the passenger seat.


    ''Please fasten your seatbelt and press # to confirm once more.''


    Garen started laughing as he heard her because he recalled the days back on Earth where the phone would say the same thing as well.


    He sat down before the car activated and started moving along the road inside the quiet academy.


    Along the road, he occasionally stumbled upon some students who came back late at this hour. Some of them were so tipsy that they slept in the academy''s car. There even were couples who were groping one another in the car without any shame or fear of people seeing them.


    However, there were very little people present.


    After ten minutes or so, the pitched black number 1 gate came into sight.


    There were levitating vehicles from the outsiders parked at the entrance. The Academy''s car beeped twice as it reached the entrance.


    ''We have arrived at the destination. Please leave the car.''


    Garen jumped down from the car and walked out of the gate as he squirmed through the gaps between the levitating cars. Further out there was a lively night market with many blinking lights. The whole area was filled with yellow and red lights, music and the sizzling sounds of a midnight barbeque.


    There were a lot of people on the streets who were enjoying their supper. Some of them were drinking while talking about random stuff while there were some who were about to leave the area. There were also people who had just arrived. A portion of these people were students from the academy as they were in the Blackboard''s uniform.


    Garen looked around and saw a middle-aged man in a thick coat exhaling white vapor at the side of the street.


    Behind this man was an old black car. He stood beside the car as he kept rubbing both of his hands. His nose was red and he kept taking out tissue paper to blow his nose.


    He towards him and gently tapped the man''s shoulder from behind.


    "Ahhh¡­!!" The middle-aged man was startled as he turned around quickly. He gave a sigh of relief when he saw that it was Garen.


    "Don''t you know you can scare out my soul like that!" Kendall looked very fragile as if he had lost a lot of weight. "I''m sorry I couldn''t attend your competition as the location was quite far away this time. However, the quality of the items are good so I went a little further than usual."


    "Thanks for your hard work," Garen felt bad as he realized that Kendall was doing his best for him. He also could see that he was very sincere towards him this time around. "Let''s go find a place and drink."


    "Everything''s on you!" Kendall immediately said so.


    "Fine. I''ll treat you," Garen didn''t care in the least as he gestured his hand.


    He locked the car and then they proceeded towards a drinking place that was still open and requested for a single room.


    The white drinking place''s environment was pretty good and the noise isolation of the single room was pretty good as well. As the majority of the Blackboard Academy''s students were rich and didn''t care how much they spent as long as they enjoyed themselves, the shops just outside the academy were very expensive but the quality and services were top notch.


    Piping hot milk and coffee were soon served to them along with a few almond cakes. The yellow and soft cakes looked very delicious and there were even fresh red cherries placed at the center of the cakes as well.


    "Please enjoy yourself," the young female worker bowed smoothly before leaving the room.


    "Alright let''s hear it. How many have you gotten this time?" Garen sipped on the coffee. This world had a drink that was similar to coffee. Although it had a lot of other drinks available, he preferred the drinks he was used to as this brought forth a slight nostalgia.


    Kendall slurped down the whole cup of coffee and stuffed the cakes into his mouth as swallowed them whole before taking a breather.


    "The total amount is two thousand five hundred and sixty-two pieces. The quality will not disappoint you! I''ve taken all of these from a few merchants who sell these white stones. I even bought their items for the whole season!"


    He then took out a white stone from his shirt and passed it to him.


    "Take a look at it. This is a sample that I''ve taken out from the stash."


    The moment Garen got hold of it, he instantly felt that the White Peacock Stone essence within the stone was much purer than the previously obtained one. This meant that there were less impurities and the high energy fuel and white peacock stones were more concentrated.


    He raised the stone up and placed it by the light as he carefully examined it.


    "Nice. Where are the others?"


    "It''s in the car outside. There''re at least two thousand of these and it''s huge!" Kendall took up a wet napkin to wipe the dirt off his face.


    "I need to check the rest."


    "Of course."


    Garen wasn''t in a hurry so he waited for Kendall to rest for a while more and had something to eat while checking his the current amount of his Universal Units. He had been earning his Universal Units through the battlenet and had earned about fourteen thousands six hundred Universal Units from the countless of games that he had played.


    There were a total of 2562 pieces of the stones. If each stone costs 5 units, then he would need a total of 12810 units.


    This was a huge sum of money. Kendall, who had forked out his money beforehand to buy this huge amount of white stones, had taken a huge risk. Ten thousand universal units were considered a few months'' salaries for a small timer like him. If Garen were to reject all of these stones, he would have been at a loss. You could say that Kendall had wholly invested in Garen with the utmost sincerity.


    After Kendall had finished eating the food and rested for a full ten minutes, Garen then stood up and walked towards his car to check the material.


    All two thousand of the stones were of good quality unlike last time, where there were a few fake ones. This made Garen very satisfied with him. With his Peacock Technique, he could instantly know the quality of the stone by just pressing on it. With his hands, he had examined the stones in no time.


    Two of them then walked back into the single room and sat down.


    Without any hesitation, Garen immediately sent 13000 points to Kendall, leaving himself only 1600 points.


    "You can keep the change. Take it as the reward for your risk."


    Kendall didn''t reject it and accepted it with all his heart. He knew that Garen was the standard person who didn''t care about money from his previous encounter. This time around he decided to show his sincerity so that he could earn his rightful amount.


    "I still have another thing I need to raise to you," he continued after receiving the Universal Units.


    "What is it?" Garen took up a dessert and ate it slowly.


    "All of the merchants were shocked that when I wanted such a huge amount of Rainbow Stones. You have to understand that those who really wanted the high energy fuel from these ingredients would never use the Rainbow Stones as it contains too many impurities. Furthermore, it''s simply not profitable if they were to increase their price. Hence the sales of these stones were mediocre at best. However, with the number of stones I''ve purchased from them, the owner caught wind of it and wanted to meet the true purchaser of the Rainbow Stones in person," Kendall explained honestly. "I''m not certain if you still want these stones in the future but if you do¡­ it''s better to establish a long-term partnership."


    Garen crossed his fingers. The reason he purchased these Rainbow Stones was to train his technique. Although the Hellfrost Peacock Technique would not require these stones in the future, it could still enhance the training process and it was very important to him as it could bring him back to his strength within the shortest time frame.


    Currently, he wasn''t lacking in Secret Techniques nor Secret Methods. The only thing he was lacking was energy accumulation, and the Rainbow Stones were able to fill this hole.


    "That man is trying to bypass you to make a trade directly with me. Are you not concerned that I will bypass you?" Garen felt rather puzzled and fired back a question.


    Kendall smiled.


    "The only good point about me is that I know my worth. I''m not needed in this business and if you were to bypass me and deal with him directly, I''m fine with that since I''m not in the loss at all."


    He was very sincere and truthful towards Garen.


    Garen smiled back.


    "How about this. I may still need your help in the future. Our chances of working together are still plenty so you don''t have to worry at all. I''ll take these items for the time being so you can wait for my news."


    "No problem!" Kendall nodded as he sent the source owner''s number to Garen. He then sat comfortably on the chair. "You can go back first as I still need to rest a bit more. You don''t get to have a rich person treating you to this place often and I wouldn''t even dare to enter this expensive place! It''s simply not worth it to leave within such a short amount of time."


    Garen shook his head and stood up, speechless. "Alright, then you should take a good rest. I will call you once the finals are over."


    "I''ll wait for your news," Kendall waved his hand.


    Garen paid for the bill and walked out of the shop. He then walked towards the car and took out a big sack of stones. The sack was very dense but due to his physical changes, it wasn''t too heavy for him.


    With the package in hand, he swiftly returned to the academy, sat in an academy''s car, threw in a coin and went back to his dorm.


    There were no hiccups between the journey and by the time he had reached his dorm, it was already four o''clock. As the final would start at nine in the morning, he still had another five hours before the competition started. Although Garen only slept for a few hours, he felt very refreshed.

 804 Advancement 2

    After returning to his dorm, Garen pulled his curtains shut, locked the door and immediately took out the bottle that had been used to store the high energy fuel powder. This time, he had prepared a huge number of bottles to store them.


    It was the same procedure as before.


    He spread out a huge cloth and poured the stones onto it before he took off his shirt and sat on his knees in front of the stones.


    This time, the amount and quality of the stones far exceed the previous ones.


    After finishing his preparation, he closed his eyes as he slowly adjusted the Living Secret Technique''s Seed inside of him, which was the Hellfrost Peacock Technique''s core. In an instant, his body was covered in a mysterious blue layer, as a sense of coolness spread out his body. The temperature of the room started to drop slowly.


    He reached out his hands and gently placed them in front of the stones.


    Crack. Two of the stones that were lightly touched by him rolled down and turned into two piles of white dust before it reached the cloth.


    Then, the pile of stones started to break down, disintegrate and turned into white dust that slipped through the gaps between the stones


    The sound of the falling sand kept rustling inside the room.


    Garen started to observe the overall changes in his body.


    He felt that his body was like a deflated balloon that was being inflated without rest. Under his supervision, the series of blue frost lines quickly flowed into his palm. It was different from the last time where he did not require to use the frost blue lines in his body. The White Peacock Stone''s essence would naturally be absorbed into his palms and it seemed to be much safer as well.


    As huge amounts of frost stream entered into his body, they were absorbed by the blue lines in his body and kept flowing through the five elements of his body.


    These icy blue lines had automatically formed a complex web inside his body. It didn''t follow the path of the meridians, arteries nor the nervous system. In fact, it had formed its own route independent of the other two major systems. It seemed to have created a new biological system of its own with the seed of the living secret technique as its core.


    As Garen observed the automatic circulatory system of the seed of the living secret technique, he finally understood the principles behind it.


    As time passed, he noticed that the Hellfrost Peacock Technique in his attribute pane started to change.


    ''Secret technique -- Hellfrost Peacock Technique, Living Secret technique of unknown origin. Second grade Heart Reformation. The heart shall be reformed with the Hellfrost Peacock as the standard in order to improve the overall physical attributes of the body. Time required: Two months and six days.''


    ''Third grade''s progress at 25%''


    This was the previous data that Garen had seen. However, as the huge amount of frost streams entered his body, the third grade''s progress bar started to turn muddy.


    As the cold stream was absorbed into and started moving around his body, Garen could feel that the stream had entered into his heart, giving him a new strength. Countless frost lines gathered by his heart and with every frost line inserted into his heart, he gained a new momentum.


    Bam!


    A clear and crisp sound could be heard from the heart.


    However, it was this sound that indicated that the third grade''s progress of the Hellfrost Peacock Technique had increased.


    ''Third-grade progress is at 26%.''


    "It increased!" Garen was slightly excited.


    Immediately, the progression bar started to increase at an increasing pace.


    27%... 28%... 29%... 31%...


    The value kept increasing at a steady pace. As the huge amount of frost lines entered the heart, Garen could clearly feel that his heart was becoming stronger and stronger, to the point his chest was about to burst.


    He stared at the progression bar as it reached 40%, 60%, 80% and finally 90%!


    Suddenly Garen felt as if his heart had been torn apart as a muffled splash was heard.


    He opened his eyes and looked down at his chest. It was glowing blue, so brightly so that the light penetrated through his ribs and muscles. It shone so brightly that it gave off a weird vibe in the dark room.


    ''Hellfrost Peacock Technique''s Heart Transformation enhancement has ended, third grade''s progression has reached 100%.''


    The instant he saw this sentence, Garen felt an excruciating pain emitting from his chest. The pain was so excruciating that it was similar to someone twisting his heart or even scratching on it. The pain was transmitted to his brain, surpassing every pain that he''d ever felt in his entire existence.


    However, since Garen was once the strongest being of the worlds he''d once lived in, he naturally wasn''t afraid of such pain.


    As the second grade''s heart transformation was completed and reached the end of third grade, the pain was most likely due to the extremely shortened duration of the time-consuming process of reforming his body.


    He endured the pain as he sat quietly in front of the stone while the stones slowly turned into a pile of white dust.


    After some time, he regained consciousness. He was sweating profusely and felt extremely tired but his body was better than before.


    "It finally ended¡­"


    Garen loosened up the moment he saw his attribute pane.


    "Finally there''s a qualitative change."


    At a glance, his body seemed to have changed completely and it was the first time that it had a qualitative change.


    ''Nonosiva. Lin -- Strength 1.7, Agility 1.5, Vitality 18, Intelligence 1.5. Potential 0%. Soul Limit 40''


    ''Potential Quality -- Void Hunter''


    ''Soul Seed -- Northern Trident Frost-Fire True Water technique, Holy Phoenix Demonic Book.''


    ''Secret Technique -- Hellfrost Peacock technique: Living Secret Technique of unknown origin. With the Hellfrost Peacock''s bloodline as the standard to reform the heart to achieve an enhanced body. Time required: Completed.''


    The third grade had completely reformed his stomach to match the peacock''s swallowing ability. In combination with the stomach''s ability to take up almost any sort of item and the heart''s reformation, he had gained the ability to eat everything.


    ''Obtained a natural ability -- Devour (Hellfrost Peacock Technique has opened up the basic powerful ability of the Queen of Peacock)''


    ''Fourth grade progression at 11%.''


    ''(A total of five grades of foundations and three grades of derivative level) With every progression of a grade, the body will cleanse the blood to gradually acclimate towards the Hellfrost Peacock''s constitution. It will eventually reach its highest form, and its limit is at Army Level.''


    ''Imprint of Steel: to enhance one''s body to increase his strength and vitality.''


    "There''s an average increment in all attributes. Although it isn''t much, Strength has increased considerably, Agility has increased by 0.3, Vitality by 1 point and Intelligence being the least, which is only about 0.1. However, the main dish of today''s result is the natural ability¡­" Garen''s vision was on the new icon at the back of the Secret Technique. It was an icon that represented his latest natural ability, Devour.


    As his vision landed on it, information was immediately sent to his consciousness.


    ''Queen of Peacock''s Devour -- A unique devour ability from the Hellfrost Peacock. One can devour most materials to improve one''s physical characteristics. The impurities that were devoured can be stored, condensed and formed into a Distorted Seed that can infect other beings.''


    "Distorted Seed? Infection?"


    Not only did his physical characteristics improve upon achieving grade three, he also had obtained an additional Devour ability. It was obvious that this natural ability must have a unique effect.


    He shifted his gaze to the Distorted seed.


    ''Distorted Seed: the Hellfrost Peacock is naturally able to release a very strong radiation from its body, which is able to distort the status of any living being near it, infecting them into a strange battle machine that has no consciousness. The Hellfrost Peacock Technique mimics this ability by emitting this radiation to distort the material into a Distorted Seed that can infiltrate into the enemy''s heart without detection. It would then turn them into a powerful killing monster. The radiation would increase their attribute by roughly 1.5 times.''


    Garen couldn''t help but frown as he read the message.


    "This ability will be very useful during a war but in this world where wars are between planets¡­ I wouldn''t be able to get close to the enemy with this ability."


    He continued reading to find out more about the effects of the Distorted Seed.


    ''...In order for the Hellfrost Peacock to cleanse itself and its surroundings, it releases the radiation to pollute the surrounding environment. The Distorted Seed''s presence will kill anything other than the Hellfrost Peacock. The slain beings will then explode, releasing a stench into the air and surroundings, giving off a strong radiation to the surroundings.''


    "It''s indeed useless¡­" Garen''s frown deepened. "Let''s look at the enhancement effect of Devour."


    He reorganized the Living Secret technique''s seed to extract the information of the Devour ability that had been previously locked. Suddenly Devour''s information changed once more.


    ''Queen of Peacock''s Devor-- There is nothing the Hellfrost Peacock is unable to digest. It is able to devour metal, alloy, woods, living beings, stones, and liquid. If your vitality is strong enough, you can even devour lava. All the energy obtained through digestion can be used to create the Distorted Seed and enhance one''s body. The enhancement maximum effect is to increase the original attribute by five points. Once one had reached the advanced stage, one can even release the frost to freeze the enemy, giving birth to a new derivative ability called Freezing.''


    Most of the information was useless to him.


    "With me being in the interplanetary era, the Distorted Seed is rather ineffective. On the other hand, the ability to freeze my opponent by devouring items to reach the advanced stage is definitely useful."


    Garen looked at the effect of Freezing and found out that it had a long range of at least a hundred meters. He could also apply it to weapons to shoot it out. When he applied it to the guns, he could deal damage and freeze his opponent at the same time.


    With so much information at hand, Although the Secret Technique was still in its foundation phase, the potential that it revealed was considered good. It''s just that it didn''t suit the world he was currently in.


    However, he had an endless supply of impure White Peacock Stones. With the next level up, he was confident that a stronger ability would appear, which made him very excited about what''s to come.


    "Next up is the most important part," Garen stood up and put on his shirt. His body was cold and was giving off a faint aroma. "Once I''ve reached the third grade, how much has it affect my Willpower? This is the main point¡­"

 805 Opponent 1

    He closed his eyes once again and calmed himself down. Garen''s vision fell onto the part where it stated his Willpower.


    ''Willpower ¡ª Middle Basic Level,


    (Training method: Blackboard Manipulation. Blackboard Academy''s training method is free of charge. However, continuous training would result in weaker effects. The speed of progress would be one level for every twelve years)''


    "Is that still on the Middle Level?" Garen frowned slightly. But just at that moment, a faint cold current slowly trickled down into his upper abdomen, the first position of his practiced Willpower.


    The moment the cold current entered his upper abdomen, his Willpower''s Skill Pane finally changed a little.


    Suddenly, it was as if the words of the Middle Basic Level jumped about. It went blur for a while, and then it became clearer once again. However, the words had now turned into Upper Level.


    ''Willpower ¡ª Upper Basic Level, (to strengthen the increase of a certain level of Living Secret Technique)''


    "It has an effect!" Garen relaxed. According to his deduction and analysis, the first position of the training method is the upper abdomen which is also the stomach. Hence, the Living Secret Technique should be able to strengthen the quality of his whole body. Naturally, his stomach would definitely strengthen too, and it would be affecting the training method of Willpower. After all, Willpower came from the awareness field that gathered all the cells. If all the cells had strengthened, then the increase of Willpower was without a doubt.


    "If in that case, in the meantime, while I''m practicing the Living Secret Technique, my Willpower will definitely increase," He sighed with relief. He was afraid that the Living Secret Technique would not affect Willpower at all.


    He then checked the slight magnitude increase of Willpower.


    At first, he was close to achieving the Upper Level. Now that he had been promoted to the Upper Level, he was almost at the top of this level.


    In fact, the different levels were just a way of dividing each range of category. Even the middle had it''s gap. The increase of Living Secret technique this time had also directly increased his level of Willpower. Even though Upper Basic Level would not achieve the same standard as Level 1 and it could not freely control a mech, compared to before, this was a huge improvement.


    "At least there is hope." Garen started putting the impurities of the White Peacock Stone powder into the bottle. This power was still mixed with some other mineral impurities, but it was much easier to collect when compared to before. With slight processing, then he would be able to extract the expensive high-energy fuel powder. When the time comes, he could then solve his money issues very quickly.


    Garen saw the terminal on his watch. On the top, there were only about few thousand Universal Units left; with so little money, he had almost spent it all without noticing. Even worse, he had spent two hundred over Units for buying someone dinner. Now, he only had 1402 left.


    "I have to think of ways to earn money. If I can make another batch of White Peacock Stone next time, then I should be able to breakthrough Level 1. But I would not be able to make it now. I just had a breakthrough and I still need time to stabilize. I also don''t have money to buy enough White Rainbow Stone," Garen did a mental calculation.


    He then looked at the bottles of powder that were ready.


    "These powder will be able to earn me some money, but I need to have a reasonable cover up. Otherwise, how can I, a mere scholar separate such high-energy fuel powder? Once people start realizing this cheap technique I use, it would be a crime!"


    The only place that can separate such high-energy fuel powder is¡­


    "The laboratory, a biochemical plant, research base, and more. Only these places with high precision technology can achieve this separation of fuel."


    Garen pondered.


    "How can I put on this layer of leather?"


    On one hand, he did not have a clue as to how he could do it. If he built his own laboratory but he did not have connections with strong capital resources, then he did not even need to think about it. However, a laboratory was the third cheapest option out of all.


    For a moment, he tossed that idea out of his head. Garen looked at the time, where the sky was slightly brighter. Even though he did not sleep for the most of the night, but he was still very awake. It seemed like the advanced Peacock Technique had also strengthened his vitality.


    He simply woke up and straight away took a shower. After that, he sat cross-legged on the bed and started practicing the training method.


    In such a meditational-like state, time passed by very quickly. In the blink of an eye, the alarm he had set on his Watch Terminal started ringing.


    When Garen opened his eyes, he could already vaguely hear scholars'' talking and footsteps as they passed by. He could also make out the sparsely beeping horns of the suspended vehicles that constantly came in from the outside.


    He let out a long sigh. Garen could feel the Willpower in his body that still had not reacted. From that feeling, he knew that this time''s training method had not much of an effect and it was far less refreshing than absorbing the White Peacock Stone.


    "It seems like money is the most important thing at this point."


    Very quickly, Instructor Hamm had called.


    "How are you? How was your rest?" Instructor Hamm''s chubby face appeared on his Watch Terminal. His face also carried a hint of drunken flush; his hair was in a mess. It looked like he did not sleep after the celebration last night.


    "I''m good," Garen nodded his head. "Instructor, you guys did not celebrate the whole night, did you?"


    "Ha¡­ Let''s not mention that. Do your best today. To be honest, I don''t think I can be as satisfied as I am calling you now. After this, no matter if you win or lose, we have already won! Don''t put too much pressure on yourself," Hamm cheerfully waved his hand.


    "I understand. All I have to do is put in all my effort -- I will do my best," Garen understandingly nodded his head.


    "As long as you understand, it''s good enough. You should quickly come out for breakfast. I''ll hang up first."


    "Okay."


    After he hung up, Garen looked at his SMS messages. There were his parents'' messages -- encouraging him to do his best in the competition, be aware of his safety, don''t be too hard on himself. Then, it was his siblings'' congratulatory messages, as well as some of Aier and Mina''s congratulations and questions.


    Once he was done with all his replies, Garen blow-dried his hair, and immediately put on his Moonfang before he left.


    Outside, the entire school was broadcasting the review of the final''s results. Garen avoided those that were not relevant, and only picked out the important ones.


    "In the semi-finals of this Qualifier Match, Merseus used the Level 3 technique of a triple beam gun to suppress Nobis''s red shield. Finally, she broke the limit with an easy victory using the back raid ion jammer. That was the third time Merseus had demonstrated the Level 3 technique. Does this indicate that she is about the enter Level 3''s general standard? Even if we use our Blackboard''s criterion, Level 3''s standard is considered an Instructor''s level of standard. Since she was young, Merseus was already a talent. When she was ten or more, she could activate her Willpower and practiced the toughest development of the Hourglass training method. Even at nineteen-years-old, she could break through to the standard of Level 3. This speed of progress¡­"


    After that, it was a series of words that praised Merseus. Merseus, this young female scholar who was in the same class, and had such unbeatable strength and figure such that she had already been imprinted into the minds of all the scholars who were in the same class.


    While Garen was walking, he was eating a nutritious meal that he bought at the road-side shop -- a bread, milk box, and a nutritious ball. These were artificially produced by synthesizing grain supplies. Although it looked like bread and milk, in reality, it is not. Instead, it is a replicated product. The real and natural food products were really expensive. For an average family, they would only be able to afford it during special occasions.


    Since the exploitation of various high-energy fuels, the rapid development of scientific and technological civilization, and the reckless destruction of the war, it has caused the planet''s ecological environment to worsen. The disadvantage it brought was that food could only be synthesized, just like drugs. Otherwise, there would not be enough food to go around. The pressure of the population was so huge that even things such as hybrid grains were useless.


    Along the path to the Academy, he got onto the Academy''s car and went straight to the Arena.


    The Arena was almost full, half filled with a crowd. Most of them were scholars'' parents, who rushed here from the outside just to watch the battle. Nonosiva''s parents were working in the outer states; his younger brother was working, or maybe he did not come because he was afraid, and his sister had disappeared all day. He did not know what was going on too.


    "Hey, I''m here."


    When he walked into the Arena, Kendall''s voice came from the upper right side. Following the sound, Garen looked up and could not believe that this bastard really did come into the Academy to watch the battle.


    He waved at him and immediately walked towards the area where the contestants would enter into the field.


    The Arena was getting livelier. There weren''t a lot of remaining contestants. When Caus, Bally, Merseus, and more entered the field, they attracted a lot of attention.


    After going through the same prompts as before, the competition officially began.


    Garen sat quietly in his contestant area, eating the breakfast in his hands. As the synthesized food went into his stomach, he used the ability from the Peacock Technique to swallow.


    When he swallowed, he could feel the food in his stomach digesting at a stunning speed. He stuffed a bread, that was the size of his fist, into his mouth. Within half a minute, it was completely digested as if he had not eaten at all.


    When he finished eating, he then drank four bottles of nutrient solution under both Fervale''s and Sara''s shocked gaze. The solution flushed into his stomach like it was a bottomless pit; no one could even see the bloating of his stomach.


    Garen himself felt a little weird too. But he could feel the insides of his body, the lower part of his stomach, vaguely storing a cold liquid thing. As his food intake increased, the thing became bigger and bigger.


    "In the meantime, while the swallowing ability increases the magnitude of the body''s quality, it can also condense the produced impurities to form a power that can freeze the opponent. Unless this is that thing?"


    Garen guessed.


    However, there wasn''t much time left. Very quickly, it would be his turn to compete.


    ''Class of C5''s Nonosiva versus C2''s Long Yuka."


    The broadcasted voice immediately rang out.


    Garen stood up from his seat.


    "All the best!" Instructor Hamm pumped his first in the air and smiled, "Be careful of your safety and that''s all. It doesn''t matter if you lose."


    "Don''t worry," Garen replied with a ''no problem'' gesture. He smiled for a bit and quickly walked towards the opened passageway into the Arena.


    At this stage, most of the opponents were absolutely the top elite talents. No one was here because of luck.


    As he sat in the Mech, Garen eyes squinted and stared at the black Mech on the opposite side.


    "Long Yuka? Weird name."


    ''The competition has now entered the battle of the top ten. Now, Team Grade C will compete. Long Yuka, ranked in eighth class will compete against Nonosiva, who is ranked in ninth class. Both of them are powerful in their own ways -- Long Yuka''s previous battle results barely lost to both Bally and Usala in two separate battles, even though he won all his other battles. Whereas Nonosiva is much more powerful. He never lost a single battle, and entered the finals with his absolute victory¡­"


    The broadcast was not a mechanical sound anymore. Instead, it was a professional narrator spluttering as he explained the situation of the competition.


    In the Arena, two Mechs confronted each other with a distance of over a hundred meters. Similarly, both of them had chosen the long-range shooting method. More so, it was a similar long-range defense play with long range weapons as well as defensive shields.


    The huge black and white shield tower covered the almost half of the back of the two Mech''s body.


    Although this shield looked mighty, if they did not know how two use it, it would only take two hits for it to be broken.

 806 Opponent 2

    Garen activated his shield.


    "Let the competition begin!"


    Just as the word ''begin'' fell out, he raised two of his Gaussian gun.


    As the muffled gun sound rang out, the Gaussian cannon shot out two black-lines of afterimages. Suddenly, it hit the front of the black Mech''s shield tower. Then after it slid off the shield tower, it was deflected towards the two sides and it immediately bounced off. It was as if it has some invisible power that attracted both the cannons.


    ''Let''s not play along with these useless testings. Let''s see it for real," the opponent''s voice came from within the black Mech across from him. With this backhand, he took out a black and round ball-like thing that was the size of the Mech''s fist.


    "Watch out for my tracking grenade!"


    Before the voice rang, he quickly moved towards the left to avoid the next cannon. Then, he violently dived towards the front.


    Among the whistling, the black-round ball was flying directly towards the top of Garen''s head. After that, it exploded with a bang, and it was turned into black and small round pearls which sprinkled right down to his face.


    "Heavy magnetic interference grenade!"


    Garen''s heart jumped. Even this weapon could be used by the opponent -- this was the mass killing weapon that could only be used three times in Level 2 of Willpower. The strong interference strength would create a huge distorted signal the moment it touches the Mech. In turn, it would then affect the Mech''s internal signal transmission, causing the Mech''s movements to slow down. There was also the possibility that it might even paralyze the Mech.


    "You have to dodge it!"


    During times like this, he must move. In this range of scattershot, even if he used his shield to block it, the falling bullets would automatically connect to the magnetic field. Then, it would affect the Mech''s energy consumption, which would increase the burden as well.


    The Moonfang that was originally used to control the Mech was already tough and unstable. If he added this thing to the Mech, the rate of losing would be much bigger!


    For the first time, Garen felt that this competition was out of his control.


    "Luckily my Willpower was upgraded yesterday. Hence, the burden on the Moonfang has lessened a lot more. So, it should be able to support a slightly more intense movement," this idea flashed across his mind.


    He took a glance at the countless iron bullets that were falling down and he suddenly slammed into the ground. He quickly rolled out towards the right side to create some distance. Then, with a muffled thump, he fired a Gaussian Gun from his body when he was rolling. The bullet brushed past the black Mech''s shoulder while he wasn''t paying attention, nearly hitting the head''s control center. It scared the opponent so much that it gave him a cold sweat.


    "Amazing! However, only such an opponent is worthy for me to kill!" It seemed like Long Yuka was getting even more excited. Once again, he took out a heavy magnetic interference grenade and he tossed it again.


    Puff!


    A huge amount of grenade overwhelmingly shrouded Garen again.


    For a Mech, up to ten meters of coverage area could be avoided with just one movement. But Garen''s Willpower was short. So this time, he could only roll away to avoid the coverage network. As he raised up his hand, it was another two shots again.


    The Gaussian Cannon was just the correct size for Mechs. Lifting it up with one hand was also very easy, but the cannon still fell onto the opponent''s shield and it was bounced off again.


    "The turtle shell again!" Even though Garen had expected this earlier when he was looking through the details of his opponent, it still felt frustrating when he had encountered it for real.


    Among the two Mechs in the competition, one Mech hid and the other one threw grenades; occasional Gaussian gunshot sounds were heard. The competition was at a deadlock for a moment.


    The white Mech that Garen controlled rolled on the ground to dodge the opponent''s grenade again and again, but it seemed like the power of the heavy magnetic interference grenade had affected the Willpower. It was certainly the power of the technique that the opponent had combined with the Willpower that seemed a little strange.


    He could vaguely feel that his Willpower was becoming slower. He couldn''t help but feel slightly fearful.


    Once again, another roll. Garen had unconsciously gotten closer to the black Mech. Their distance was not more than twenty meters apart.


    The Moonfang did not leak this time as if it was because of the strengthening of Willpower. Garen felt slightly calmer. But he realized that only two minutes had passed after he quickly took a look at the time.


    Seeing as the black Mech did not notice the closing distance between them, Garen quickly dodged to the left to avoid the bullets that were falling onto the floor.


    A sneer came from inside the black Mech as he raised his hand again. This bastard was prepared to throw another grenade! Furthermore, he was throwing it directly in front of him!


    Just as he lifted his hand, the grenade was still in his hand.


    Garen hastily fixed his gaze.


    "Now!"


    He suddenly dashed forward and the Mech almost threw himself over; the blue thruster on his back burst violently with the strongest blue flame.


    Bang!


    The two Mechs fiercely slammed into each other and then they slid away from each other with about a ten-meter distance on the ground.


    "You bastard!" The black Mech, Long Yuka made an angry sound and violently twisted the grenade in his hand.


    Bang!


    The grenade instantly burst opened large bullets, drawing both Mechs inwards. As if the large black bullets had a life of their own, it was sucked onto the surface of the two Mechs.


    A shocked sound suddenly came from the audience. It was obvious that no one had expected this to happen.


    Garen''s expression turned cold as his right elbow straightened for a moment. At the same time, while one of his knees was stuck in between the opponent''s legs, he used his other hand to pull the trigger of Gaussian gun.


    Elbow, and cannon -- they both shot up and out at the same time.


    Hong!


    The white Mech''s close-body combat was a rookie move, Garen had consecutively hit all spots with almost no pause. However, the shields of the two Mechs had flew off from the impact of the hit just now and there was nothing stopping him anymore.


    As the explosion rumbled, the black Mech''s cockpit immediately burst into flames. Then, a black rescue capsule popped out and was pulled upwards by the gravitational field.


    ''The competition ends there with Nonosiva as the winner!"


    The electronic sounds in the Arena rang out.


    Garen''s white Mech was also covered with cracks that were caused by the explosion. However, it was naturally much better if he compared it to his opponent whom which he gave a surprise attack to.


    ''This is a shocking victory! Scholar Long Yuka practices the Giant Current Training Method that was passed down from his family. The total amount of Willpower he had was nearly twice as much as that of an average person''s training method in his generation. This is why he is able to use heavy magnetic interference grenade as a conventional weapon. But who would expect him to die in the hands of a long-range opponent using close body combat? Undoubtedly, it was his carelessness but it was also due to the opponent''s variety of powerful and comprehensive tactics,'' the narrator started explaining again.


    Standing up quietly, Garen lifted his head up and looked at Long Yuka''s unsatisfied face that was in the rescue capsule. This yellow-haired young man did not seem to believe that he had lost the competition.


    He took a look at his Moonfang and sure enough, the series of violent movements just now had made this thing sparkle again. He estimated that it would not last much longer before it retires.


    Only then did Garen slowly drove the Mech towards the outside. He did not dare to make the movements too big, nor too fast, but only at a slow pace.


    Though others felt as if he was exceptionally calm.


    ''It seems that even though contestant Nonosiva is in the finals, he is still very calm. After his victory, he is going back to the Mech Warehouse in his uniquely slow pace. He has proved himself to be one of the only four contestants to date that has a record of an absolute victory,'' the narrator''s sound constantly echoed in the air.


    Garen could not be bothered to think about it. After changing his Mech, he still had to compete in the Wheel Battle. Hence, he could only rest for a bit. Fervale should also be starting his finals by now. If they did not win, other opponents in other classes would deal with him as they continued.


    Back in the Mech Warehouse, he immediately leaned onto the wall to catch some rest after he came out from the Mech. He watched as the damaged white Mech got carried away and a new white Mech walked in again from the inner Warehouse. Rays of repair lights hit the surface of the Mech''s body. There was no one around, he was the only one there. Everything else was the automated facilities. But he could clearly feel that the surrounding monitoring equipment was placed in every corner, constantly monitoring everything that goes on in here.


    "Only the first opponent and it was already such a troublesome one¡­"


    After letting out a harsh sigh, Garen closed his eyes to repose his energy.


    If it would be unpredictable, then he would need to face two strong opponents later on.


    ******************


    Both of Fervale''s eyes were already squinting from the sweat that was dripping downwards. He did not dare to wipe it off, he could only try his very best to keep it open. He fixed his eyes on the white Mech who was wrestling him.


    The two Mechs on the Arena tightly smashed into each other, with their elbows tangled up. They constantly fought like a bull that exerts its force from its horns.


    When the Mech''s capabilities are the same, the only thing that would determine a win or a lose was the Mech Pilot. The strong or weak strength Mech Pilot''s Willpower, or whether the posture taken was favorable, would be the key to winning.


    Fervale did not know how he had ended up in this wrestling position, but he knew that this was the position that would benefit him the most.


    "Don''t waste your energy," a light tone came from the Mech opposite of him. It was a girl. "Since we were young, when have you won? I did not switch schools his time to waste my time on you."


    "I will win!" Fervale did not speak much. All he did was mobilized his Willpower and continued to inject it into his Mech''s input port.


    "It''s useless."


    As the white Mech''s knees hit forwards, directly breaking into Fervale''s chest, a series of sparks ignited.


    The two of them were now separated by a little distance. It was at this moment, the white Mech suddenly dashed forwards. Her elbows and knees quickly burst outwards, like a thunderstorm heading towards Fervale.


    Bang bang bang bang bang!


    Fervale reluctantly shielded himself one time after another, but his whole Mech body was constantly pushed backward.


    "Damn it! Why, why, why! Why can''t I win this time!" Hia face was becoming more and more ferocious. As if he did not care about his life anymore, his Willpower wildly entered input port with all that he had.


    But to no avail, the Mech lost its balance and violently flew backward. Immediately after, the white Mech''s arrows chased after him and it was directly aimed at his elbow.


    Thump!


    Fervale felt a huge force pulling him out.


    "I lost¡­"


    He knew it was the rescue capsule.


    "Such weakling¡­" He lowered his head. Through the glass, he could see his opponent, the green-haired girl''s arrogant expression.


    ''Class of C2''s Celine won!'' The electronic voice rang out.


    Fervale closed his eyes. He had once again lost to her. As they were growing up, he had never won once. Even if it was only once!


    Celine was the family''s genius. No matter if it was the family''s inner competition, or for the future inheritance for her father''s hard-earned business, if no one could beat her in the end, then the inheritance would only go to Celine, according to family tradition.


    Whereas his inheritance rights would be taken away by Celine because of his incompetence. The family would only allow the strongest person to be the successor; there would not be any exceptions.


    Celine is unbeatable¡­


    That girl not only has Level 2 of comprehensive strength, she even has the full details that would enable her to challenge Merseus and Bally!

 807 Celine 1

    "He lost? It seems like this fellow will not be able to face me now," Caus simply said as he looked down at the Arena.


    A few boys crowded around him and laughed at what he said.


    "Should we give that guy a little more seasoning since he dared to beat my younger brother up the last time?" Someone said.


    Caus looked down at Nonosiva''s tired face. Suddenly, he did not know what struck him but he felt a slight boredom. How would he, someone who was destined to be one of the top three competitors, waste his energy on such a nobody?


    "That''s funny. My opponents should be Merseus and Bally. Even with that role, he still did not get into the finals. If he can win this round, then we''ll talk about it again."


    He looked at the black-haired guy who was walking towards him from the other side.


    "Did you get the information I wanted?"


    "I got it, but it''s not very detailed. No one really knows all of Bally''s true cards and I have also put in all my effort only to find out one trick of his," the black-haired man shook his head slightly.


    "One trick is good enough," a hint of surprise flashed across Caus''s eyes.


    "Let me deduce it this time for you."


    "Thank you."


    "No need. Just don''t forget us once you''ve entered the elite," the black-haired man smiled gently.


    "Of course not!" Caus solemnly nodded his head. He simply took a glance at Nono who was below and faintly inclined his head to say a few words to the people beside him.


    "Go and give Celine a tip on that bastard''s weak spots. I don''t have time to waste on this bastard."


    "Understood," a young one by his side nodded his head.


    *****************


    Blackboard Academy, in the Upper-Level Control Hall of a huge Battleship.


    The black arched hall was densely inlaid with silver gemstones. Four tall black seats were suspended in the air by strong magnetic force and it each occupied 4 different positions, forming a square. Virtual three-dimensional figures vaguely flickered on top of the seats; there were three older people and one middle-aged woman.


    The middle-aged woman''s face did not show the slightest trace of aging, but everyone who knew her knew that she was the oldest among all the other Deans in the Academy. Cruz von Shaw was now two hundred and fifty-nine years old. Since she took on this position as the Dean, she had now been in charge for a solid seventy-nine years.


    This elder who had survived for two centuries did not show signs of aging because of her strong Willpower. She had thus been the most powerful Strategic Level Mech Pilot when it came to repressing the Blackboard Region. She had also been awarded the Three Star Honor by the Mother Planet Federation. She had destroyed tons of local Mechs on the battlefield and her impressive reputation spreads throughout the battlefield.


    At the moment, Cruz''s both eyes revealed a rare tension as she silently stared at the rotating silver spherical model that was in the middle of the hall.


    "What do the three of think about this?" She suddenly said, after observing the sphere.


    The other three elders were the Academy''s older professors who were highly respected. They were all strong Mech Pilots, but their ranks were a notch lower when compared to the Dean.


    Similarly, the three of them looked carefully at the rotating silver sphere that was in the middle. Their faces revealed a dignified expression, especially when the white light flashed continuously on the surface of the sphere.


    "I do not know the source of the rumor, nor where it came from," a bald-headed old man with a head full of wrinkles said in a deep voice. "But it does not matter if this rumor is true or false, it is not a good thing for Blackboard Region."


    "Why isn''t it a good thing? The bigger the risk, the more benefits we''ll get. If we could get one component of the Forbidden Mech, then it would elevate the quality of our entire Academy!" Another old woman argued.


    "Then we would need to have the ability to be able to bear the risk!" The old man frowned as he looked the other person in the eyes.


    "Have you become a coward?" The old woman sneered.


    "It seems to me that you''ve gone crazy from your pharmaceutical research."


    The both of them were at each other''s necks with their disagreement and they were not willing to compromise.


    "Quit arguing. Didn''t Karfi bring back a surviving child from that attack?" Lastly, a white-haired, but radiant-faced professor spoke up; both his eyes had a faint sense of sharpness. Obviously, he was another careerist who did not like being left out -- his name was Sims. To date, he was named one of the two strongest Mech Pilots in the Academy''s history. He was the next best, after the Dean who had not shown her skills for many years. At the same time, he held the position of the Academy''s Vice Dean. He was wise and a firm advocate of the theory of force.


    "What about the child that Karfi brought back?" It seemed like Dean Cruz had thought of that too. Karfi was one of the Academy''s strongest Black Star out of three, and he was the old woman professor, Baba''s inheriting disciple. Within the Academy, there were only three Level 4 elite students.


    "The Black Star has left for the Polar Region. In such a short time frame, we could only estimate to allow these three boys to represent us. It is also a form of training," Professor Sims simply said.


    "What do you mean?" Dean Cruz looked at her old friend whom she had known for many years.


    "It can be said that this kid, Black Star Diofie is the strongest talent that our own Academy has brought up. He is destined to surpass all of us," Sims smiled. "But even tigers who live alone in the mountains will not be able to beat a pride of lions. Even the most powerful people need their own forces -- they need to have their own people to help. That''s why we had to allow Medero and the three of them to truly become Diofie''s right-hand assistants."


    Cruz frowned slightly.


    "Will there be any danger?"


    "If the nested eagles never fly out from their mother''s nest, they will never really spread their wings," Sims maintained the same smile.


    "I agree with this point," The old-woman professor, Baba nodded her head.


    The last person just kept his mouth shut, neither agreed or disagreed.


    "Behind this time''s Forbidden Mech issue, there must be a relatively larger organization to promote this, just as it was twenty years ago. But if it''s only within our Region, I will still have the confidence that would ensure the three kids'' personal safety." After Sim said those words, he did not speak again.


    Dean Cruz let out a long sigh.


    "Alright then. I''ll pass on this Forbidden Mech issue to the trio of the Black Light to go ahead with the investigation."


    "That''s good too. This case is now settled," Baba nodded her head. "Then what about the little Kid who was saved?"


    "He and the Forbidden Mech must be related. His family was destroyed and it seems like his enemy is looking for something too. If it''s possible, ask him clearly on the valuable items his family possess for their opponent to be making such a big thing out of it -- whether it includes having a component of the Forbidden Mech," Cruz instructed.


    "Alright, I will ask Karfi clearly," Baba nodded her head once again to show her understanding of this matter.


    "Then let''s end it here today. Dismiss,'' Cruz slapped the button on the chair and suddenly, the three of their virtual image disappeared in a blink of an eye.


    ******************


    ''The second round -- Nonosiva versus Celine!''


    The mechanical sound rang out. Garen took control of the white Mech and slowly walked out to the aisle, without using the Ejection System immediately.


    It gave him a shock when he noticed that his opponent was using two red boxing gloves. The black Mech forgo-ed the weapons in its hands and instead, it was clenched into a fist, wearing a red pair of spiked gloves. By the looks of it, it seemed a little ferocious but it also seemed a little flimsy.


    Because other than that, there were no other protective measures.


    The opponent stood firmly. It seemed like it wasn''t moving, giving people a hint of energy that it was as stable as the mountain.


    Garen''s Willpower had strengthened and upgraded to another level. He could vaguely feel a certain magnitude of his Willpower''s force on his outer body. At this moment, he could too clearly feel the uniquely strong force that was emitting from his opponent''s body. It made him shudder with fear.


    "The opponent this time will be very troublesome¡­" Garen recalled all of Celine''s information. On the top of the message, it showed that his opponent had only just achieved a Level 2 of Willpower. But looking at her now, it seemed like his opponent had hidden the truth from his informant too. This bastard''s standard was above Level 2¡­


    Celine frowned as she stared at her opponent''s white Mech. At first, she had wanted to choose white, but she did not expect her opponent to choose the same color. This made her a little unhappy.


    "Ms. Celine, can you hear me?"


    Suddenly, a clear voice echoed inside the Mech.


    "Madon? What happened?" Celine sat quietly in her seat and asked calmly.


    "I just received news. Your current opponent''s enemy has sent you his weak points -- his absolute weak points. This opponent of yours, Nonosiva''s Willpower is¡­"


    "Weak points?" Celine bluntly cut off his sentence, "Does it seem like I would need you to tell me his weak points? Or are you saying that I won''t be able to beat him?"


    "That wasn''t what I meant--"


    "I don''t want to listen to your nonsense, stupid," Celine stripped him off his ego. "In front of a stronger competitor, the weak point of the weaker competitor is their whole body! If you can''t even understand that, then you''re really stupid!"


    Her communications immediately quiet down and only rapid breathing sounds were heard. Madon was also very enraged. However, although it was obvious, he could only keep it to himself.


    ''Let the competition begin!'' the starting voice suddenly rang out.


    Celine coldly shut off all her channel communications and directly focused her attention onto the opponent''s body.


    Thump!


    Both of her Mech''s legs violently jumped off the ground. The jet flames on her back spouted disorderly in mid-air. The Mech flew in a strange arc-shaped curve and dived towards her opponent.


    Small Arc Leap! It was one of the lowest depletion steps of Level 2. For normal students, it was one of the most difficult steps of Level 2. Whereas for her, it was easy natural as breathing


    With three ''pengs'', the black Mech was like a flying bat. However, she was flapping her wings much faster than a bat, throwing herself towards the white Mech from mid-air.


    The sharp spikes on her fist fiercely scratched two red scars on Garen''s head. However, what was even more surprising was that as she did her trick, a gush of inexplicable tremor suddenly spread throughout.


    Boom!


    Two Mechs had hit each other abruptly. In turn, Garen''s white Mech was smashed and it staggered backward. His right shoulder revealed a scar. The Gaussian Gun too flew out of his hand; as it rotated in the air, it hit the protective barrier and fell downwards.


    "What is this thing?!" Garen sat in the Mech feeling dizzy. Just now, as his opponent leaped in the air, he had wanted to aim and shoot many times, but his opponent had strangely dodged it. It was impossible for him to aim. More so, the most important thing was that his opponent seemed like she could naturally emit a certain sense of heavy interference power from a single movement. This interference had seriously affected his ability to react. If it wasn''t for the strengthening of his Peacock Technique, his vitality was different than before. Under this interference force, he foresaw that he would not be able to hold on to his life until the end.


    "Shockwave Killing Fist! It seems like Celine had been practicing the powerful Shockwave Killing Fist, which is almost a Level 3 skill! No wonder she''s named the top talent in the family! Celine really deserves it!" The broadcaster''s voice rang in the arena, through the speakers.

 808 Celine 2

    Garen felt a shiver in his heart.


    The Shockwave Killing Fist, he had only heard of the name of this combat skill before. With every strike and blow, it could create a strong concussing effect on the opponent''s willpower, and even those with willpower on par with her''s would be affected by these blows, causing their reflexes to be slowed. Unless you had undergone training to strengthen and enhance the stability of your willpower, against this kind of opponent, even if you had a stronger willpower, you may still lose the battle in a David and Goliath fashion.


    "Hahaha! How interesting! To think you managed to survive the first hit!" Celine''s voice rang from the black mech opposite him. She lunged towards him once again. With her level 2 Dodging Techniques along with the effects of the concussive blow, Garen did not have even the slightest chance of getting his aim right.


    On the other hand, close combat required that he get closer to the opponent, making him susceptible to even stronger concussions.


    "What a terrifying bastard!" for the first time in his life, he felt a complete lack of confidence. He had always had the upper hand against his enemies, but this was the first time his abilities and strength were weaker than his opponents.


    He saw his opponent dashing towards him.


    "What can I do!?" Numerous possibilities of countermeasures flashed through Garen''s mind, but even for a Master-level veteran with tons of combat experience, he was rendered helpless against this type technique that combines willpower. All the information he had gathered about Celine could be thrown out the window, as this bastard''s hidden strength was too terrifying, its level was even comparable to Merseus'' strength.


    If only Garen wasn''t piloting this mech, but rather fighting with his physical body, Garen would have countless methods to temporarily stimulate his potential as a countermeasure. However, when it came to piloting a mech, his options were very limited.


    "I can''t possibly be defeated here by a brat that''s so much younger than me¡­" as Garen scanned over the Moonfang, he started to feel a sense of adrenaline he hadn''t felt in decades. Only when backed into a corner could a situation be considered a difficult challenge! He hadn''t felt this way in a very long time.


    Maneuvering the mech to crouch down, he avoided the two flying fists piercing at his head. Then, with a fierce kick, he propelled himself upwards!


    Whoosh! The flames from his thrusters were at maximum intensity!


    In an instant, the white mech did an action completely out of anyone''s imaginations.


    From a crouching position, the mech''s legs kicked upwards. The sharp bit of the leg''s armor pierced into the cockpit where Celine was in.


    "How could this be!!?" Celine started to panic. "His willpower was definitely far weaker than mine! How could he possibly manage to counter-attack with such a swift movement without being affected by my strikes!?" She could not wrap her head around how this could''ve happened. Judging from their difference in willpower, her opponent should have at least a few seconds of input delay when it comes to maneuvering the mech. With that amount of delay, even she would be rendered helpless. However, this opponent she was facing right now managed to not just dodge her attack, but even successfully hit a counterattack of his own!?


    "This has got to be a joke¡­"


    From the stands, the two spectators from Blue Narcissus stood up in awe. It wasn''t just them, almost the entire stadium stood up, giving him a standing ovation.


    "Did this fellow not get affected?"


    "Impossible! Based on his performance just now, he was definitely affected!"


    The two stood there in shock over the scene that just presented itself in front of their eyes.


    At the judge''s seat floating at the top.


    "This is¡­" Red-Eyed Medero was completely shell-shocked, her vision scanning through the tournament brackets, locating the finals for Grade C. "Even under the suppression of his willpower, this guy managed to do all that¡­? This fellow¡­"


    "What''s wrong?" A guy by her side asked with a weird look. He seemed to have missed the key part of the battle.


    "Nothing much, it''s still too early for me to say anything." Medero started to question what she just saw.


    ******


    Clank!!


    The black mech''s arms collided with the legs, causing a loud crash.


    Both parties were knocked back by the tremendous force of the impact, flying backward as they lost their balance.


    After a couple of flips, Garen rapidly got back on his feet, whilst Celine, in the black mech, used a burst of her thrusters in an attempt to regain her balance.


    Staring down her opponent, beads of sweat started dripping down Celine''s forehead.


    "You¡­ didn''t get suppressed?!"


    "Who knows?" Garen''s calm voice rang from inside the white mech.


    He was undoubtedly being suppressed, but at that instant, he predicted his opponent''s likely course of action from a combat standpoint, then input the actions beforehand. In other words, even before Celine did anything, he had already predicted her moves.


    This was the fearsomeness of a Master-Level martial artist, he could completely see through his opponent''s actions. Every one of his opponent''s actions was within his calculations.


    Even exceeding the Master-Level, Garen was at the level of King of the Century. At this level, they could completely see through all the tricks each other had up their sleeves, rendering all their special moves and secret techniques useless. The deciding factor in such a bout would be a clash of overbearing absolute force. At the level of King of the Century, they could achieve a level where they only needed to rely on open tactics, forcing their opponents to have no choice but to take the initiative and use their full potential in a burst to counter incoming attacks at any moment.


    Hence, even though his abilities were restricted when piloting his mech, Garen was not a small fry that could easily be defeated.


    "Come on!"


    Celine refused to believe that he could completely counter her every move.


    The black mech lunged forward once more, the two mechs exchanged blows. Almost as if two humans fighting, with a flurry of strikes and blocks from both sides.


    As the fight went on, Celine started to feel worried. It felt almost as if the opposing white mech was covered with eyes on all corners, all of her hidden tricks were completely seen through. What''s even weirder, she had multiple opportunities to deal the killing blow, but somehow in a swift move, the opponent managed to turn the situation around, forcing the battle back into a competition of pure strength.


    She felt that her no matter what she did, she was completely seen through by her opponent, almost as if he was peering into the deepest parts of her mind, seeing all her secrets. This induced fear caused her reflexes to slow down, and her strikes were also getting meeker.


    "This bastard¡­" Celine was drenched in sweat. "I''m sure he was being suppressed by my willpower, how is this even possible! How could he still move like that!!?" she was certain that her opponent''s willpower was still being suppressed by hers.


    All of a sudden, she hesitated with her actions for just a brief moment. Not being able to react in time, Celine felt a blow on the mech''s legs.


    The warning alarm for damaged circuit boards started to ring.


    The damaged modules on the leg started to flash red.


    At this moment, Celine saw a gigantic fist flying towards her.


    Due to her moment of carelessness, she was immediately forced into a corner.


    Her feelings of disbelief started bursting out from her heart.


    "I am Celine!! I will not be defeated!!" looking at the fist that was getting closer, she had a frenzied look in her eye.


    "Go to hell!!"


    A piercing sense of willpower suddenly burst out.


    Shapeless Needle!


    As Garen''s fist pounded onto his opponent''s cockpit, at the exact moment, he felt a sudden strong piercing willpower forcefully passing through the mech, stabbing him in his chest.


    Willpower Attack!


    He suddenly felt that this was his opponent''s Hail Mary attack.


    Unable to dodge or block, Garen could only follow his backup plan, concentrating all of his willpower together, preparing to take the opponent''s attack head-on.


    This type of attack that used pure willpower at the cellular level, if he didn''t manage to block it, would directly destroy his willpower at the cellular level. This would cause all affected body parts to lose their functionality, losing their livelihood, almost as if it was an attack on his body matter itself.


    Bang!


    It almost seemed as if an explosion had erupted in his mind as an immense pain started spreading throughout his body, originating from his chest.


    Even Garen, who was unprepared for this attack, let out a long sigh, his face was extremely pale. At that moment, his willpower that had just evolved was almost dispersed, almost turning him back into an average human.


    At the same time, at the center of his chest right above his stomach, a black dot started to form on the skin underneath his clothes. The dot started spreading out, almost like a drop of black ink in a body of water, expanding to the size of a fist. All the spots where the skin turned black felt almost like a wilted plant, as it had lost all its shine and elasticity.


    The two mechs staggered back a few steps, then stood motionless.


    With the last blow onto the cockpit, Celine was bleeding profusely from her eyes and ears and passed out on the pilot''s seat. Her appearance was completely ravaged.


    On the other hand, Garen was hit by that piercing willpower and his body was permanently damaged. He was also heavily concussed and unable to come back into consciousness for the time being. He took had suffered serious injuries.


    The two were both unable to continue their battle and could only remain idle.


    ''Results of the battle: the two parties are unable to continue the battle. It is a draw.'' the result was quickly delivered by the judge''s panel. It seemed like the judges did not want to have any permanent damage done to these two unimaginably powerful geniuses just because of a competition like this. Hence, they reached a decisive conclusion as the result of this battle.


    "It''s a Draw!"


    Instructor Hamm and the others finally breathed a sigh of relief. Neither him, Fervale, nor Sara could''ve predicted that just within one year, Nonosiva could improve so much, reaching such an amazing level. To put it in a more concrete manner, even though his willpower did not strengthen too much, his combat prowess seemed to have had a huge leap after his injury from last time.


    "Celine¡­ Draw¡­" Fervale stared at the screen displaying the results with a complicated expression. He couldn''t believe that the undefeatable Celine was almost defeated by Nonosiva, who he had always seen as inferior to him. To put it bluntly, for someone who was utterly defeated by Celine earlier on, it was a complete mockery of himself.


    "Don''t think too much of it. After all, Nono is also one of the members of our class," Instructor Hamm patted his back to comfort him.


    "I understand." Fervale nodded while taking a deep breath.


    ******


    On the Arena


    Numerous ambulances and technical crew rushed to the scene. They were each checking on the condition of the mech and the pilots.


    Garen was carried out of the mech. Looking at the black patch of dead skin on Garen''s chest sent a shiver down the paramedics'' spines. This kind of wound caused by the sheer force of willpower was the hardest to deal with. To their surprise, Garen was still conscious; although his forehead was drenched in sweat, he was definitely still conscious. He tilted his head over to look at his opponent Celine who was being dragged out of the mech right opposite of him.


    Celine''s body was completely covered with blood as she was being dragged out, and her body was as stiff as a plank. The paramedics immediately attached an oxygen mask to her and rushed her stretcher to the ambulance.


    Swiftly, the two were carried onto the same ambulance and transported out of the arena, leaving a trail of ambulance sirens. The technical crew also started towing the two mechs off the arena.


    This was the worst injury Garen had sustained in this body to date. The damaged parts of his chest were not the problem, but the traces of Celine''s willpower around those parts were troublesome. These traces was what was left from Celine shattering her own concentrated willpower, the remaining power. All of these traces were a portion of the power from the strike earlier, preventing his body''s recovery system from repairing his injuries.


    There was a pair of doctors and nurses next to each stretcher attending to them to monitor their condition.


    "You''re too good!" Celine said through the oxygen mask.

 809 Rising Wind 1

    "Are you praising yourself? It was you who beat me up into such a state," Garen said calmly. He intentionally squirmed a bit to mimic being in pain, pretending~ to make an agonized expression. Truthfully, this kind of pain was almost commonplace to him. If not to appear more normal, he could even sit up and move about. Furthermore, he could even treat his own wounds, but that would not fit his appearance as a kid who hadn''t even hit his twenties.


    "To tell you the truth, I was aiming to get into the Top 3 to become an Elite Student," Celine thought back to the feeling she felt earlier, almost as if her entirety was being seen through. It left a bitter taste in her heart.


    "What a coincidence, I was thinking the same thing," Garen ''forcefully'' let out a chuckle.


    "Oh?" Celine turned her head towards him. "And here I thought there were a lot more experts like you over here at Blackboard."


    Garen remained silent. He continued lying there letting the nurse wipe off his sweat.


    "If there really were so many experts, then my dreams of getting into the Top 3 would be impossible," Celine continued.


    "What was the name of that pure willpower attack that you used at the end?" Garen already knew that the tournament was already over for him, but he managed to show his true potential. Gaining the attention and respect from Blue Narcissus shouldn''t be an issue now, so he might as well focus on the stuff he was interested in in the meantime.


    "It''s Shapeless Needle, a skill that I can only use once," as Celine was speaking to an opponent of her level, she has completely lost the prideful air she had earlier and looked a lot calmer. "Pure willpower-based techniques are extremely difficult, even I only managed to learn two types - Willpower Concussion and Shapeless Needle. In addition, most of them require a lot of self-exertion."


    She paused, "You, on the other hand, even though you were being suppressed by me, how did you manage to initiate that strong counterattack?"


    Garen laughed, although Celine could be foulmouthed at times, she wasn''t necessarily a bad person; she simply just has a desire to attain more strength.


    "That was purely just my offensive instincts, I could predict your actions," he didn''t hide anything from her, as even if he revealed this to her, there was no way she could easily learn this. This was something that can only be obtained from large amounts of experience in combat and a high level of physical prowess. Otherwise, with the countless amounts of martial artists present in the Secret Technique World, there wouldn''t only be a couple of King of the Century level experts.


    Unsurprisingly, Celine also understood that point.


    "What are you talking about, this level of proficiency can only be achieved by the likes of the Inheriting Pilots. How old do you think you are?"


    "Well, your offensive tactics weren''t that advanced either," Garen responded.


    "Err¡­" Celine was left speechless. It was true that if the opponent were much better when it comes to such tactics and strategies, this would not be impossible.


    However, Garen managed to read in between the lines of what she was saying.


    "Do you mean that there really have been people who managed to achieve that high level of proficiency?"


    That had to be a joke, out of billions of people, barely a handful could be considered at the King of Century level. How could there easily be such a person here?


    "Of course, Inheriting Pilots are all experts in battle strategy, this degree of offensive instinct would only be the foundations of their skills," Celine naturally replied.


    Garen pondered a bit more, this was indeed nothing too surprising.


    The King of the Centuries of the Secret Technique World were hailed as kings, but in that world, the number of people who practiced secret techniques was only a few million. Out of that number, there was a one in a million chance that they would become a King of the Century. On the other hand, in this world, taking the entire planet as a unit of measurement, this planet contains easily billions in population. Learning to pilot mechs was also one of the most mainstream paths and out of the billions of people, at least tens of millions would pursue a career in mech piloting. There were countless students from institutions and academies all aiming to become a mech pilot, aspiring to be the one-man-army of the heroic legends.


    With this ratio, having more King of the Century level people would not be strange at all.


    Celine did not notice Garen''s pondering look as she continued to talk to herself.


    "Even within our Blackboard Academy, there are these types of experts. Dean Cruz and Vice Dean Sims are both top-level experts. Combining their expertise with their willpower, their strength is almost comparable to the fearsomeness of the one-man-army from the legends." Celine''s eyes were full of admiration.


    "Alright, let''s change the topic. Since we got a tie in our match, I wonder what arrangements they would have for us," Garen asked.


    "There are no arrangements. We won''t be able to continue on in the tournament. Damn! If I didn''t have to face you, I could''ve easily beaten Caus. I might''ve even stood a chance in a heads-up battle against Bally," Celine had a dissatisfied look on her face.


    "Save your strength for healing your injuries. If you''re dissatisfied, just go back to challenge them in the future," Garen lazily said.


    Celine suddenly felt like a deflated balloon, glaring daggers at Garen. She helplessly just turned her head and went to rest.


    ******


    Caus was seated in the contestant area, discussing the previous bout with instructors.


    "Those two fellows¡­" beads of sweat started to form on his forehead.


    "If you were the one facing off against them, do you have the confidence to win?" the instructor asked in a low voice.


    Caus wanted to answer but he still had his own dignity, and the answer wouldn''t change anything anyway. Disregarding everything else, merely with the Willpower Concussion technique, he would''ve been utterly defeated, or even just one-shotted.


    "Let''s just focus on your preparations for the next match," the instructor sighed. "Don''t think too much of it. Since they have already left the battlefield, let''s just consider that your fortune. There are only 3 top spots after all."


    Caus let out a long breath.


    "Understood."


    However, one thing continued to linger in his mind, since when had Nonosiva possessed such a strong potential and strength? If he continued on with their grudges, was it really worth it? It was something he had to take into consideration. Luckily he wasn''t the one who directly confronted him back then, he was only supporting his juniors in their actions. He could push all the blame onto them and start over with a clean slate.


    When faced with an opponent that you cannot easily escape, especially if the opponent was one that constantly grew stronger, under these conditions and the constraints of a legal system, no matter what grudges one had before, the first thing anyone would think of wouldn''t be how to defeat the opponent, but rather how to solve this issue.


    Only a dumbass would continue on under these conditions.


    Caus had already planned out his strategy to win over Nonosiva. The guy was from a poor background, giving him some small benefits should be enough, this shouldn''t be too big of an issue.


    ******


    Garen was forced to withdraw from the tournament as a result of his draw with Celine. Although they didn''t manage to advance to the final stage, they managed to show off their true potential and extraordinary abilities. The top brass should give some sort of acknowledgment.


    After settling the placings for the tournaments, Instructor Hamm, Fervale and company rushed off to the hospital after the ambulances. Mia and Aier also followed them.


    From the spectator stands, the two Blue Narcissus spectators were exchanging their opinions.


    "Let''s just report it as it is, we''ll just leave it to the people in charge of Grade C to decide."


    "I think they should pass, they have the makings of an Elite Student."


    "However, the fact is that they still didn''t pass, I think¡­" the two didn''t continue on, they genuinely felt sorry for Garen''s misfortune. "They definitely had the potential to be Elite Students, what a waste."


    "Yeah."


    The tournament did not come to a halt just because of Garen and Celine''s withdrawal. The tournament continued on as scheduled after a wave of discussions at the judges'' seat. Regrettably, they still remained inconclusive and they decided to focus on the upcoming matches in the meantime.


    However, the recordings of Garen and Celine''s battle were leaked out, and their reputations as prodigies started to spread. Whether Garen or Celine, the battle had proven their abilities as pilots. Although both of them were heavily injured in the match and were forced to withdraw from the tournament, their final battle had left a lasting impression on everyone who saw it.


    As Merseus, Bally, and Caus made their way into the Elite Council, Nonosiva and Celine also became the strongest First Seats in every Grade C student''s heart.


    Especially mid-level students like Fervale, they were mostly students who had Upper Level 1 willpower, they were far weaker as compared to Celine who almost reached Level 3 willpower. They were also the ones who fully understood the difference in their strengths. Regarding Nono who managed to hold his own against Celine, linking it with his past winning streak, they naturally also regarded him as a perceived Level 3 when he combines his general abilities.


    Who would''ve thought that an expert like Nonosiva was still at a Level 1 willpower? If Celine had started off the battle with her pure willpower attacks, it was unlikely that Garen would have been able to attain this result.


    At the same time, all throughout the Blackboard Region, all eyes were on the Qualifier Match of the Academy. The matches sent shockwaves through the outer areas of the Southwest region of Blackboard.


    ******


    Southwest of the Blackboard Region


    The sky was a stretch of clear blue, without a cloud in sight.


    Hiss!!


    Suddenly, a twisted black ball appeared in the sky out of nowhere. The ball was engulfed in glowing black electric discharge, making a crackling sound. The ball started off at the size of a soccer ball, but it rapidly expanded.


    Bang!


    With a loud noise, the ball burst open, revealing a damaged black and red mech. The mech was in humanoid form, and half of its head had been sliced off by a sharp object. Its right arm and leg were covered with some sort of cast in an attempt to keep it in one piece. It was holding a long black curved knife, but the knife was full of chips and had various dents and blunt edges on it as if it had been used to block strikes.


    Just as the black and red mech appeared, it started nosediving straight towards the ground. Although it was trying to stay afloat using its thrusters, it could barely slow down the fall.


    "I''m¡­ not done¡­!!" from inside the mech, a voice shouted in agony.


    Crash!!


    The mech collided with a hard rocky cliff and exploded into countless bits and pieces. The yellow and red flames formed intersecting light rings, slicing through everything it came in contact with. Only after spreading a few hundred meters did it slowly fade away.


    All the areas that were sliced through by the two light rings were perfectly cut through.


    The edge of the rocky cliff also started to crumble, as if the light ring had sliced off a huge portion of the cliff.

 810 Rising Wind 2

    It was at this moment that a black ball of sparks appeared in the middle of the sky once again. The ball exploded, this time revealing a white and red humanoid mech.


    The mech was more than 10 meters tall with a lean and elegant shape. However, its arms inspired a sense of curiosity from everyone who looked at it. One of them was holding onto a snowy white alloy sword that looked like a straight letter opener while the other didn''t have a hand structure; instead, the arm was in the shape of a cannon barrel. There were some symbols and patterns carved in dark red at the area around the cannon lip and muzzle, giving it an antique vibe.


    However, the thing that stood out the most about the mech was the soft green fluorescence shining from all the gaps on its chest and shoulder plates, almost as if a neon green liquid was flowing through all of these crevices. These growing green crevices seemed to naturally form a single character: Light.


    "How dare he attempt such a stunt even after being so heavily damaged? Serves him right!" a cold and hoarse voice sounded from inside the mech.


    All of a sudden, numerous white humanoid mechs appeared behind this mech. All of them had the white-red color scheme, but none were as intricately designed as the mech leading them. They all had a simple green diamond-shaped gem embedded in their chests.


    "Go down there and retrieve the parts," The leader said emotionlessly.


    "Understood."


    Out of the 5 mechs that just appeared, 3 of them nosedived downwards while the remaining 2 started circling the area as if they were patrolling.


    "Based on your potential, to be able to force me, the Great Light Mech, to personally take action, you should be proud," the leader mech sneered as he looked down at the remains of the exploded mech.


    Almost immediately, the results of the search were reported back, neatly organized on the mech''s quantum computer. Pieces of black machine parts start popping up on the computer screen.


    "The next target is¡­?"


    Inside the Great Light Mech, a young man in a white mask quickly opened the email that he had just received.


    Swiftly scanning through the contents of the message, the man''s sharp eyes squinted slightly, showing a hint of surprise.


    "There''s also a fragment in the Blackboard Region? Well since I''m already here, I might as well go get it."


    ******


    Blackboard City South District


    Inside a bakery with the sign "One for All Bakery" at the corner of the street.


    The interior of the building was dimly lit with a warm yellow light, creating a warm and cozy atmosphere even during the day.


    Clint Beza was seated on a chair in a lazy, half-asleep state, looking almost like a droopy slime. Saliva was slowly flowing out from the corner of his lip, dripping down his chin. The saliva was dangling from the side his face, creating some sort of thin saliva thread.


    Whew¡­


    With a slight breeze, the dangling saliva thread swung towards Clint''s shirt collar, creating a damp dark stain.


    Slurp¡­


    Clint sucked up his saliva, then continued to sleep with his head tilted to the side


    "Oh my god!!! Ohmygodohmygodohmygod! Goddammit! We''re screwed! This time we''re screwed!" out of nowhere, a loud shriek rang out in his ear. The loud sound made Clint feel a sense of numbness throughout his body and it immediately woke him from his slumber.


    Clint looked dazed. After taking a moment to regain his composure, he cupped his ears and started roaring loudly.


    "What are you doing! My ears! Ears¡­!"


    "You''re screwed!" Red Moon answered concisely.


    "Why?" Clint asked. "Why am I screwed?"


    "You''re dead!"


    "Why?" Clint asked on with a confused look.


    "You are an idiot! Dead! This time we''re dead!" Red Moon continued to shout.


    "Oh my god¡­" Clint held his head as he cried out in agony.


    After 10 minutes of forcefully resisting the intensely loud shouts, Clint went to attend a few customers before finally getting an opportunity to use the washroom.


    "Lord Red Moon, what the heck are you going on about this time! I can''t take it anymore, I really can''t take it anymore! If you continue on my sanity levels will definitely go down, really!"


    Pulling down his pants, he sat his ass down on the toilet and let out a long sigh.


    "I have unfortunate news to tell you," Red Moon angrily answered, "We''ve been found out!"


    "Found out? What do you mean?" Clint was once again confused.


    "An expert is now on the hunt for my parts, and they''re already here in the Blackboard Region," Red Moon said in a serious tone, "I''m not joking around this time. If we get found, we''ll be dead meat. I''ll get reformatted, and you will definitely be silenced!"


    Clint felt a cold sweat drip down his forehead.


    "S-Silence¡­ You don''t mean¡­ They''re going to kill me???"


    How could this kind of television drama progression happen to himself in real life?


    "You better believe it," Red Moon replied coldly. "I''m telling the truth. My original body was once known as the Forbidden Mech by your people, one of the strongest tiered mechs in space. Even if it''s just one of my parts, it would be considered a valuable treasure worth a small fortune to the average person. For an expert to come and collect my parts is no surprise. The only thing out of my expectations was that they somehow managed to find out about my existence. Is it really a coincidence?"


    "Forbidden Mech¡­" Clint swallowed hard, feeling as if he was getting dragged deeper and deeper into this hole he dug. "Lord Red Moon¡­ You''re just joking with me right¡­?"


    "Do you think I''m in the mood to play around with you?" Red Moon directly interrupted his thoughts. "We need to find a way to escape our pursuers!"


    "Oh my god¡­ Ohmigod¡­ Oh, God!" This time Clint started gasping.


    "The most important thing right now is to avoid being found by our pursuers. I can feel that my part is nearby this area, though I don''t know whether they can pinpoint our exact location right now. However, just in case, I''ll switch into a power-saver mode to reduce the signal reception," Red Moon rapidly reported the situation. "After this I might not be able to sense their location, but the same can also be said for them. You shouldn''t have to worry too much for now. This is Blackboard City, the center of the entire Blackboard Region. It is surrounded by Blackboard Academy''s most elite mech division, so they wouldn''t dare to try any funny business over here."


    "So does this mean that I''m safe?" Clint''s face was as white as a sheet, he was so terrified.


    "You''re safe for now. All we can do now is to bet everything on this. If they can find us even after I cut off all connections, then it''ll all be down to our luck," Red Moon explained.


    "What if I just throw you away right now?" Clint suddenly thought of an idea.


    "Too late!" Red Moon laughed coldly. "Your body already has my mark, and anyone who comes in contact with me will be tainted by a sort of aura. This type of radiation-based aura will be easily recognized by them. With such an obvious trace, they will definitely kill you off."


    "No!!" Clint shouted with his head in his arms. Luckily everyone else had all left for lunch, he was the only one left in the shop.


    "Lord, please have mercy on me. I''m only a normal 16-year-old teen, I''m not some prodigy harem protagonist from those works of fiction!!"


    "Just accept your fate, effortlessly leaving this up to luck is actually a great option for you. You''re nothing more than a useless waste of space anyways," Red Moon scoffed. "Sooner or later, everyone connected to you will also be dragged into this ordeal. Your sister, your parents, your only friend Darby, Baylon, all of them will also be killed. Their only mistake was being related to a piece of shit like you."


    "You must be just scaring me," Clint suddenly calmed down. "That''s definitely it, Lord Red Moon, you have always liked to scare me. Making this time''s attempt so realistic must be all part of your plan, it''s my loss. Well, I''ll be on my way, I need to get back to watching the shop."


    "Scaring you? Are you in denial?" Red Moon was speechless.


    "Sis and the others are going to be back soon, I should hurry back, or else I''ll be scolded again," Clint felt almost zen-like. He stood up and flushed the toilet.


    "So not being able to handle reality forced him into a shell of his own delusions huh¡­" Red Moon had nothing left to say. Looking at the image from the parts, their opponents weren''t shady characters. They will definitely attempt something big. Well when it really becomes a problem, that''ll give this guy the wake-up call he needs.


    ******


    "This is my second time being hospitalized just within this short semester," Garen said as he laid back in the upper-class intensive care unit as he carefreely conversed with Celine.


    These two were admitted this time due to mutually inflicted injuries. Taking into account their stellar performance, the council acknowledged their abilities and potential, so these sorts of medical arrangements were mere trivialities.


    The doctors and nurses had just come in a while ago to re-apply their medication. They had then left to allow the two to get some rest.


    One of Celine''s legs were wrapped with a white cloth and elevated by a stand. She was completely bandaged up like a dumpling, only revealing her eyes, nostrils, and mouth.


    "It''s only your second time?" it was by Celine''s request that she was transferred to this shared ward. She was quite interested in this fellow Nono. Even if he was a prodigy student, he was still just from an average household. How did he manage to get so strong in combat capabilities that he could manage to fight on equal footing against herself, who was using willpower techniques? This was undoubtedly a miracle.


    "I would get hospitalized once a week, at the very least," she casually said.


    "Every week? Why?" Garen was feeling bored anyways, so he might as well have a chat with this person.


    "Assaults, challenges, and all sorts of troublesome stuff would all lead to injuries. Every so often, I just found myself in a situation where I need to be hospitalized," Celine said thoughtlessly. She looked over at Garen. Other than a bandage across the chest with some applied medication, he looked no different from other average patients. Looking at his rosy face, an average person wouldn''t even believe that he had sustained an injury.


    "You have quite a sturdy body don''t you, must be all the combat training paying off."


    "I''m still doing decently," Garen crossed his legs, shifting into a more comfortable position. "By the way, you specifically requested to be transferred to my ward, anything I can help you with?"


    No matter how much Celine lacks in femininity, she was ultimately still a girl, an 18-year old young teenage girl. Transferring into his ward like this, rumors about the two would surely spread.


    "I feel that even my private coaches are no match for you when it comes to combat abilities. I want to learn the art of combat from you," Celine said in a straightforward fashion.


    "You have no qualms about being injured so badly by me?" Garen was surprised by her request, as he didn''t expect this girl to have such a personality.


    "I do mind¡­ but that''s why I want to learn the basics of combat from you!" Celine answered sincerely.


    "I will charge you," Garen frowned.


    "Just state your price," Celine answered ostentatiously. "How do ten thousand Units per day sound?"


    "My training is very harsh," Garen actually started to consider it, as he''d been lacking in funds recently.


    "Harsh training is not a problem. As long as my limbs are still attached, I can take it," Celine answered without hesitation.


    Garen was speechless, just what kind of training had she previously undergone? This level of commitment was mind-boggling¡­ It felt like a matter of life and death.


    "Oh right, what''s going on between you and that guy Fervale?" Garen asked directly. He felt that Celine was quite pure-hearted to be honest, she purely wanted to get stronger. Her battle philosophy was completely different from Fervale.


    "That guy is completely useless. He''s too weak. Even after wasting so many resources, he only grew by that insignificant amount. I was born stronger than him, that''s why the household chose me as the heir. After losing that position to me, he probably felt jealous. That''s most likely why he always had a grudge against me," Celine casually explained. "I originally thought that this grudge would serve as motivation for him to get better, but he''s always caught up with impure thoughts. He has lost his focus on improving himself to pursue that business force or whatever. What an idiot."


    Thinking back about that guy Fervale, Garen could definitely feel that he was too narrow-minded. His heart was filled with impure intentions, unlike Celine who was completely pure. Not being able to focus on one thing at a time, how could he ever surpass a training junkie like Celine? Him being left in the dust was no surprise at all.

 811 Rising Wind 3

    "These injuries will probably take about half a month to heal. Just lying here all day is quite boring, do you have any ideas?" Celine asked while humming cheerfully.


    "Ideas?" Garen was about to speak, but the ward door suddenly burst open. In came Instructor Hamm and a yellow-haired man with a neatly shaved buzz cut.


    "If you''re bored, why not go on the Battlenet?" The yellow-haired man said.


    "Coach, you came?" Celine looked at the yellow-haired man. It wasn''t a look of pure and utter respect, it was more like a look one would give a friend.


    "I went to your ward earlier but you weren''t there. After asking the nurses, they told me that you transferred to another ward. It was at that moment I knew that you were definitely after contestant Nonosiva over here," The yellow-haired man shrugged nonchalantly.


    On the other hand, Instructor Hamm had a worried look as he stood at Garen''s bedside. Following closely behind him was Mina and Aier, and also a few others from Garen''s class. They were all here to visit Garen.


    "Instructor," Garen turned over while trying to stand up, but he was stopped by Instructor Hamm. Hence, he had no choice but to lie back down on his bed.


    "Rest well, don''t think too much about formalities right now," Instructor Hamm patted him on his shoulder. "You already did amazingly well and now it''s time for you to take a break."


    "If it wasn''t for meeting you, I would''ve breezed straight through to the top 3," Celine chimed in from his side.


    Garen ignored her words and asked the instructor about the situation regarding the tournament. As expected, after they had taken their leave, the tournament progressed to its final stage and the final 3 were decided. Unsurprisingly, Merseus got first place, almost one-shotting Bally, who was in second place, with his Level 3 Double Magnetic Field Line Cut. As for the third place Caus, this kid knew his own limits and didn''t even attempt to challenge Merseus for his first place. Thus, the rankings for this tournament were decided.


    The spectator team at the judge''s seat came to the decision of accepting the three as Elite Students on the fly, allowing them to enter the council and choose their own specialization for their training.


    "They''re currently holding the closing ceremony for the finals, but a lot of people have already left earlier. So, we decided to come over to visit you guys," Mina said with a smile on her face. "Nono, this time you''ve really came into the limelight. To be able to suddenly get such a huge leap in rankings, our class getting 9th rank was all thanks to you."


    "Well, I can rest easy now knowing that you guys are doing fine," Instructor Hamm laughed. "Mina is right, the academy will reward prize money for getting 9th rank. However, since the judge''s panel unanimously agreed that your strength and potential was on par with 4th place. Thus, although you won''t get the treatment of the 4th ranked student, the amount of prize money awarded to you is equivalent to that of a 4th ranked student. So that''s some good news for you."


    "How much is there?" Garen was suddenly energized at the mention of prize money. He was truly in need of money right now, mainly because the impure White Peacock Stones required to learn the Peacock Technique were burning a hole through his wallet. As he progressed deeper and deeper into this ''hobby'' of his, the accumulated requirements got increasingly higher. If he already needed so much money at this point in time, surely he would need even more in the future. If he didn''t start saving up now, he''d definitely go bankrupt.


    Instructor Hamm and company paid no mind to it, after all, Nono was from a poor household, so him being excited about prize money was, of course, completely natural.


    "Eighty thousand!" Instructor Hamm answered with a cheeky grin, showing off his pearly whites.


    Eighty thousand, for a normal household, would be approximately a year worth of household income or even more. Now, just by getting the 4th place in a tournament, he''d managed to get his hands on this gigantic sum in the form of prize money.


    Garen felt as if he was relieved of a great burden, as the prize money solved his current worries for now. The third batch of white Rainbow Stones was in sight.


    ''However, directly purchasing these Rainbow Stones isn''t worth it. All the high-energy fuel powder I obtained can be covertly resold off, I just need to find an anonymous trading service. This eighty thousand can be used to purchase a small laboratory. Using that as a cover, I can bleach the fuel powder and sell it off.''


    Garen started thinking of different alternatives. On the surface, he was still casually chatting with Instructor Hamm, Mina, and Aier, and also thanking his classmates for their thoughts and prayers. However, the only thing Garen had on his mind at the time was the question of how he could bleach the fuel powder he had on hand.


    Based on his prior research, in the current market, the high-energy fuel powder he had was currently, even in its most impure form, worth about 120 thousand universal Units per thousand grams. Of course, that was only the retail price, and if he sold it in large quantities, the price would no doubt be slightly cheaper. However, even if he only charged 100 thousand Units per thousand grams, he would still make a killing.


    Garen thoroughly calculated the amount of powder he''d obtained from absorbing the White Peacock Stones from the start. The first batch was some stone powder that cost him 1000 Units, and the amount of powder that remained was approximately 2 kilograms. That amount managed to completely fill a bottle. This powder was also very dense, and it also had a bit weight to it. The second batch was the powder that remained from his previous absorption, it was easily 20 kilograms in weight and had cost more than 10 thousand Units.


    In other words, if the degree of purity could hit the standard, his investment of 1000 Units would easily net 200 thousand Units in returns. This was an insane 1:200 rate of returns!


    "The current problem now is the question of how to solve the anonymity issue. With this huge amount of profits, there would be plenty of people investigating me and my methods in a fit of jealousy. What kind of cover can I use to prevent that?" Garen was still a bit unfamiliar with these sorts of schemes.


    After staying with Garen for a little longer, Instructor Hamm and company finally left to give Garen and Celine some time to rest.


    "Hey, Celine," Garen called out to the green haired girl.


    "What''s up?" this girl suddenly opened her eyes, as if she was a cobra that had just awakened. For a young girl to be able to give off such a vibe, it was obviously the results of the intense training of her willpower attributes.


    "Normally speaking, if you were to obtain a batch of chemical raw materials from an unknown source, how would you go about exchanging it for money?" Garen asked directly, not even trying to hide anything. This kind of training techniques wasn''t something that others could learn anyway since the Life Secret Technique was something that only a person with a soul seed could learn. In this world, except for him, it was impossible for anyone else to have the second seed for the Hellfrost Peacock Technique. Even if thieves stole the powder from him, he could easily just create even more from his training.


    "Chemical raw material from an unknown source?" Celine was amused by the question. She had no idea how this topic suddenly came up. Now that she thought about it, Nonosiva must''ve gotten his hands on some sort of stuff and is trying to earn some money from it.


    As she was quite fond of Garen and wanted him to teach her in the future, she felt that there was no harm in giving him some aid.


    "You can just hand it to me, if the amount isn''t too much, I can directly exchange it for Universal Units. This way, you don''t have to worry about anything in the future," she said in a carefree tone.


    "How are your guys going to go about doing it?" Garen questioned on.


    "I have friends from various professions that deal with different types of illegal items and undocumented assets and valuables. They will have their means to settle this. Why do you ask? Do you have some goods you need to settle?" Celine looked over at Garen with suspicion. Based off of his looks, he seemed to be from a simple and innocent background with a completely clean record. Why would he come in contact with these kinds of stuff?


    "What if I can provide a long-term source for these types of undocumented valuables?" Garen continued on.


    "If that''s the case¡­" Celine started to frown. "I''m not very interested in these kinds of stuff, but if you''re really keen on doing this I can introduce you to some of my connections. He should be more familiar with these sorts of topics, this issue should be trivial to him."


    She looked Garen in the eye and said, "However, you have to guarantee that the source of the goods won''t cause trouble."


    "That''s not a problem," Garen nodded.


    "Then I don''t think there''ll be any issues. I''ll give you his number so you can contact him directly. I''ll give him a heads up in advance," Celine nodded.


    Garen continued on with his queries about this issue. When he hit on the issue of the laboratory, Celine was suddenly shocked.


    "This project of yours, at a larger scale, would cost tens of millions or even up to a billion. Even at a smaller scale, it would at the very least take tens of thousands of Units just for attaining the laboratory itself. It''s common sense that no matter how amazing the facilities and equipment are, if you do not have a decent human researcher, it wouldn''t yield any good results. On the other hand, if you have a good researcher, but you only have mediocre equipment, you''ll still manage to yield decent results."


    She suddenly realized something as she looked over at Garen once more.


    "You cheeky bastard¡­ Did you come up with some sort of new technique or skill?"


    All these teenagers who were talented enough to hold the title of genius or prodigy weren''t people to be taken lightly. Especially for people like Celine who was from a huge influential household, they grew up surrounded by all sorts of big-shots. Naturally, their mental responsiveness was very high, and they were usually able to piece together everything accurately with just a couple of clues.


    Garen also felt that there was no point in hiding anything.


    "Yes, I developed a new technique. The goods produced from it are worth quite a bit, but it should just be mere pocket change for you."


    "What stage is it at?" Celine got more curious.


    "Do you want to become a shareholder?" Garen chuckled. "If you help me settle the underground issues, I''ll give you 10% of the shares. Think of it as my gift to you, you don''t need to do anything except for helping out once in a while during key stages of the project."


    Celine was seriously considering his offer.


    "Alright, this is such a blatant bribery-based relationship though!"


    Garen was very calm about this. He knew that if he took all the profits for himself there would be a lot of trouble. With such a large cash flow, it would be near impossible to hide from the rich and the powerful. For an average person like him to have such a high yield technique, he would definitely be viewed as a sinner. Rather than having to deal with the pressure from other forces in the future, it would be easier for him to just start strengthening relationships right now to protect him.


    In this case, for someone like Celine who is from a rich and powerful household, she was definitely a prime candidate to form a strong connection with. There was no such thing as too much money after all. Even if Celine wasn''t too mindful her wealth, there was still no reason to refuse.


    "How much would the approximate income for this project be?" Celine lowered her head, seemingly deep in thought. She then raised her head and continued, "To be honest, I truly just want to become your friend, I''m afraid that you''ll still have reservations about teaching me."


    "The monthly income should be at least 100 thousand Units," Garen didn''t dare to promise too much, so he gave a conservative estimation.


    "100 thousand Units per month¡­ That''s still somewhat acceptable, count me in." Celine nodded after a brief moment of hesitation. For her, this amount nothing much at all. In her current position, even if she took only her own assets in her household into account, the number of funds she could liquidate within a year would easily be over a few million. If Garen''s monthly income was around 100 thousand, giving her 10% of it would be approximately 10-20 thousand per month, it was just pocket change to her.


    "I meant that your income would be 100 thousand Units per month," Garen noticed that she seemed to misunderstand his statement.


    "!?"


    Celine was completely shocked, she could only stare at Garen in disbelief.

 812 Rising Wind 4

    "There''s no mistake. For 10% of the shares, if everything goes smoothly that month, your income for the month would be easily 100 thousand Units," Garen said casually. Observing Celine''s look of disbelief, he helplessly let out a sigh.


    "Go on, keep on blowing your trumpet," Celine scowled as she grabbed a date and tossed it into her mouth.


    "Why would I want to lie to you about this?" Garen said seriously, "This technique is something only I can achieve, there''s no one else who is able to do it, so I don''t mind telling you about it." In reality, no matter how he calculated, this was already an extremely conservative estimate. However, as per Garen''s hypothesis, at this level of cash flow, to someone as rich and powerful as Celine, although it wasn''t too much, it was enough to lure her in without attracting too much attention from the higher-ups. With someone like Celine as his shield, it was the option that presented the least risk and the safest option available to him.


    "You better not be scamming me," seeing Garen''s seriousness through his statements, Celine''s facial expression started to soften. She started to suppress the concerns in her heart and said with a very serious tone, "If your project will really rake in such a huge amount of profits, I can help you get in contact with a couple of my connections."


    "Of course, I wouldn''t joke about something as big as this," knowing that he''d managed to lure her in, Garen nodded seriously.


    After thinking for a while, Celine continued to inquire more about the details of the project.


    Garen responded to all her queries assuredly. He was once a top class specialist back in the various regions of the Totem World, and his knowledge had reached the absurd level of even being able to conduct a heart transplant and alter the genes and souls of others. Dealing with Celine was nothing more than just throwing out a couple of new theories to impress her.


    It was just a matter of changing the names of the existing theories from the Totem World and attaching a prefix and suffix to the theory itself. This made the theory seem even greater and mind-boggling. With this simple method, he''d completely stunned Celine.


    After the explanation of 3 core theories, Celine started to understand the message behind Garen''s technique a bit more. With this, she confirmed that he wasn''t just tooting his own horn. With her newfound trust towards Garen, she started to connect him with her own circle of friends.


    Nonosiva was a genius from a normal household and a future mech pilot, and even just being a genius within Blackboard Academy would''ve given him a promising future. For him to make his way up the ranks of the military wouldn''t be a surprising thing. Now, if he could garner enough funds, resources, and support, his future opportunities would be limitless.


    After all, a few of the young generals in the past in the military had similar humble beginnings. It was completely possible for Nono to become a general in the future.


    Unconsciously, Celine''s impression of Garen started to change. For a genius like him with enough potential, along with an offer with enough profit, these two conditions allow this person to be able to negotiate with her on equal standing. At the very least, she no longer underestimated this person''s capabilities.


    After a hanging up from a call, Celine slouched back with a look of exhaustion.


    "Luckily you already proved your worth to the higher-ups in the academy. Otherwise, your background would''ve been too lacking in credibility. There would be no way for you to be able to retain this amount of profits."


    "Have you set the time for the meeting?" Garen overheard a portion of her conversation earlier.


    "Yeah, after we get discharged, we''ll have a look at your goods. They want to inspect the quality of the goods before agreeing to anything. If the fuel powder quality is decent enough, there won''t be any issues," Celine nodded. "I''ve contacted a few people, there were two that were quite keen on this deal. They will come view the goods together at a later date. One of those guys come from an even more influential background than me, so you should take care not to offend him. Otherwise, there''ll be a lot of trouble coming our way." she cautioned him.


    "I understand," Garen nodded his head with a smile. He knew there was hope in achieving his goals. With his current identity as Nonosiva, he was nothing more than an average person in the eyes of the others.


    ******


    Blackboard Region Border


    Noon, Sunny


    The green hills looked as though they were covered by a gigantic green rug which stretched all the way to the horizon.


    Shoo shoo shoo!


    A fleet of black humanoid mechs with circular discs imprinted on their chest plates was engaging in a battle over the hills against numerous red and white mechs.


    "Who the hell are you guys!? Don''t you guys know that we''re the stationed troops over here at the Blackboard Region Borders!?" one of the black mechs loudly roared. The response to his question came in the form of a white steel trident being stabbed through the cockpit at its chest.


    "No...!" Bang! The black mech exploded in a ball of flames. The white and red mech that stood right in front of him pulled his trident back, seemingly letting out a few chuckles.


    "Open fire!"


    The remaining black mechs readied their double-handed cannons and started firing in the direction of the white and red mechs. Light orange cannon shots started raining down through the sky, but somehow none of the shots managed to land anywhere close to the white and red mechs.


    "Too slow! Too slow! Hahaha!" one of the white and red mechs burst out in laughter, easily dodging the cannon shots coming its way. With a swift flick of its trident, it managed to slash through another black mech''s chest.


    Bang!


    Another one burst into a ball of flames.


    Meanwhile, the remaining black mechs had their backs against a wall. Comparing the pilots'' skills or the mechs, the black mechs were vastly inferior to the white and red mechs on both aspects. At this point, their frontlines have almost been completely annihilated.


    It was at this moment that a huge black mech started rising up from below.


    "How dare you invade my Blackboard Region!" this black mech clad in a Viking helm roared out loudly. With a sword in one hand and a shield in the other, the mech charged straight towards the white and red mechs above.


    On his way up, he passed by an out of position white and red mech. With a flash of silver light, a clean cut appeared across the cockpit of the white and red mech. After a couple of sparks, the entire mech exploded as it crashed down to the ground.


    "Invaders! Go to hell!" the mech in the Viking helm let out another hoarse roar. Raising up his shield, he aimed the pointed edge on the center of his shield at the leading white and red mech and charged straight towards it.


    "Finally, someone who''s somewhat decent appeared," the white and red mech let out a chuckle. With a flip, it started lunging downwards while throwing his trident towards its opponent. At the same time, the mech''s mouth started to turn slightly red as it opened its mouth.


    Whooo!!


    A bright red laser was fired from its mouth, directed towards the Viking helm mech.


    "What? A laser from the mouth!?" the Viking helm mech was surprised."But this kind of particle doesn''t stand a chance against my shield! Moron!"


    What he failed to notice was that the particle beam wasn''t aimed at him to begin with. It was aimed at the handle of the trident that he''d thrown earlier with utmost precision, creating a huge explosion.


    Bam!


    In a puff of smoke, the trident was propelled by the explosion, causing it to accelerate to tremendous speeds and even break the sound barrier. In an instant, it hit the side of the black mech''s shield.


    Clank!


    The Viking helm mech''s shield was flung away and a large chunk of his right upper shoulder was ripped away by the trident, revealing the malfunctioning circuit boards.


    At the last moment, he''d managed to steer the mech away using high leveled piloting skill, narrowly escaping death. However, this near-death experience definitely left him drenched in cold sweat.


    Hearing the sound of the trident crashing to the ground, the Viking helm mech no longer underestimated his opponent. He raised his two-handed sword up as he glared at his opponent with absolute concentration.


    "Oh? You managed to dodge that. You''re not half bad," the leader of the white and red mechs had a glowing green gem embedded in its chest plate, looking slightly different from the other red and white mechs. Although the voice from inside the mech had been heavily altered electronically, from that monotonous line, he could sense the mocking tone the opponent had.


    "Who the hell are you people!?" the Viking helm mech shouted loudly, "I am Commander Bender of the 7th Squad of the Blackboard Region Borders Stationed Military! Name yourself! Invaders!"


    "Your level should almost be at around Level 4, not bad," the white and red mech laughed coldly, "but that''s as far as you''ll go."


    "We''ve wasted enough time, Milu," out of nowhere, another black electric ball appeared next to the white and red mech. From inside the ball, out came another white and red mech with a similar green gem on its chest plate, with the same electronically altered voice. "The leaders are gonna be here soon, let''s stop wasting time."


    "Understood! Understood! I rarely get to come out on these expeditions, so I had a little too much fun."


    The Viking helm mech started to feel like he was in danger.


    "Another one!?" He frantically pressed the emergency report button in the mech cockpit.


    Woo¡­ Woo¡­ Woo¡­


    For the first time in years, a piercing alarm sounded from below.


    "Let''s finish this quickly!" the second green gem mech said coldly.


    "Stop nagging!"


    The two mechs suddenly lunged down at high speed, far exceeding their movement speed from earlieras well as the reaction speed of a Level 4 mech pilot''s willpower. The movement left a streak of green across the sky.


    The two green trails intersected right at the location of the Viking helm mech which was attempting to escape. After the exchange, the two mechs appeared once again.


    Bang!!


    The Viking helm mech immediately burst open and was engulfed in flames as it crashed towards the ground.


    At the same time, the other black mechs were also being picked off one by one, exploding into balls of fire.


    A few of the white and red mechs moved to the ground to collect the remains of their fallen allies. After collecting everything, they charged towards the Blackboard Region. After a short while, the sky was once again filled with countless silhouettes of mechs. All of them were the white and red mechs, with one of leaving a trail of green light as it moved. They formed a huge "Light" character in the sky, standing out a lot.


    "Pick up your paces. Once we''ve approached the target, everyone will scatter and move individually. We will regroup once again at the target location, understand?" the green light mech gave out his orders as they sped through the sky.


    "Understood," four voices echoed one another.


    The synchronized answer displayed the amount of discipline this group had.


    This team consisted of 4 green gem mechs, all with a glowing green diamond gem embedded in their white and red mechs. If the Viking helm mech who had just been defeated saw this time, he would''ve been shell-shocked.


    The green gem on the mechs symbolized that they were mech pilots who are almost at Level 5. Now, there were four of these people just within this team. However, what was more terrifying was that the one leading this group was someone who''s even stronger. It was someone that exceeded even Level 5.


    Suddenly, the green light mech turned his attention to his right.


    "That was unexpectedly fast," inside the mech, a red-headed male in a white mask said with his head held low. His mech followed suit and went into a fighting stance.


    "It''s the Blackboard Academy Elites, Sir Guccidor!" the entire team came to an immediate halt as one of the green gem mechs reported.


    "They must be the Elite Students stationed at the nearby Academy Branch. Don''t get too cocky, these types of enemies are at least Level 3 and above." The leader Guccidor cautioned calmly. "The opponent has a Level 5 Instructor level experts in their ranks. If we do not manage to end this confrontation within 2 minutes, all members scatter and retreat."


    "Yes!"


    Guccidor was calmly observing the fire red humanoid mech flying over in the distance. On the back of the mech, two wings were spread wide. Its diamond-shaped eyes were glowing in an icy cold green.


    "Level 5 expert¡­ Fiery Kaizen! How interesting¡­" he let out a small grin.


    Clank!


    A straight alloy knife sprung out from his mech''s arm.

 813 Woven Web 1

    Time flew by, and Garen and Celine had already stayed in the hospital for over half a month. After a few visits from friends and family, the two were safely discharged, as the injuries on their body were almost fully healed even after there was a small hiccup in the middle of recovery. Garen''s physique received praises from his attending doctors and nurses, as it was a physique attained by strong athletes, yet it was seen on a normal student.


    With an average of 1.5 points increment from normal people''s physical attributes, he displayed nearly twice the overall qualities of a normal human body.


    Upon his return to the academy, the final match had already ended. The award money was directly transferred to Garen''s account.


    Life returned to the daily routine of classes and training in the battlenet. However, the two geniuses that had emerged from the finals, Celine and Nonosiva, had slightly prolonged the excitement. These two bastards that suddenly came out of nowhere nearly had the chance to claim the thrones of the top three and drag Caus down by a notch.


    Of course, Garen didn''t have the time to care for such trivial matters. He was busy attending to the clients Celine had contacted, after all, Blue Narcissus had gained some publicity after this.


    Within his dorm, Garen greeted them with his hand extended to welcome them in.


    "There''s not much for me to serve you, but do sit anywhere as you please."


    The two people who just came in observed every corner of his dorm room. These two people were clients introduced by Celine to examine the goods, in respect to Celine, as well as potentially reap greater benefits. The two of them had personally come instead of sending their henchmen to examine the goods.


    Among the two, one of them was a gentle-looking man wearing a white shirt and glasses, the other was a red-dressed girl with slightly puffy shoulder-length hair.


    "Student Nono, let''s not delay any longer, just show us the goods." the man was named Wade, and he didn''t mention his surname. Regardless, he was still rich and influential. He adjusted his glasses before returning his gaze to Garen.


    "I''ve already prepared the goods, however, it would be impossible to display it out in the open. I shall show it to you immediately," Garen nodded. He then retrieved a bottle of highly potent fuel powder from the cupboard in his room.


    Within the transparent glass bottle he just brought out were powdery, pale yellow shards. Some were still clumped into tiny pebbles.


    Garen passed the bottle to the man and then retrieved another one for the girl to examine.


    "For the two of you to have personally come all this way, it is obvious that you''re familiar with this thing. Tell me, what you think of its purity?" Garen smiled as he said.


    The two lowered their heads, opened the bottle and poured out a little of its contents. They examined it closely.


    The girl dabbed her finger into it and gave it a taste.


    "Quite good, there are higher amounts of impurities as well," the girl replied softly. Her name was Vivienne Sina, and apart from her family''s background, she was familiar with chemical productions. Her family business thrived on it.


    "A thousand kilograms of these could net a purity around 600 kilograms. The ratio itself is quite good already."


    "I just need to know, how much is your purchase price altogether?" Garen waved his hand, his back leaned against the cupboard and asked with a smile.


    "Purchase price¡­ let''s not talk about that for now, we''re much more interested in the methods of extraction for this," the girl smiled while twirling a few strands of her silky hair around the tip of her finger. "If you can provide information of the extraction methods, I''ll be willing to offer this price."


    She extended two fingers on one hand and formed a fist with the other.


    "Two million." [1]


    For a normal academy student, even if he was a bit of a genius, a genius who had not matured bore no significance. To offer two million Units was her giving face to Celine.


    "How is it? The price is quite high already," the girl tossed the bottle back and forth and smiled as she replied.


    "High?" Garen anticipated such problems would surface early on, hence he wasn''t provoked, "That bottle in your hand alone is worth more than ten million, yet you''re telling me that you''re purchasing the extraction techniques for two million? If I were to truly intend to hand over the knowledge of the techniques, why wouldn''t I donate it to the academy higher-ups? I''ll be able to attain the higher-ups'' attention as well, maybe even receive closer attention in nurturing me when I become an elite."


    The girl''s smile slowly faded away.


    "Two million is already not a small amount... There are some things that can''t even be bought once gone, even with all the money in the world."


    "Oh? Are you threatening me?" Garen remained unfazed. "With just your two master bodyguards standing right outside the door?" he wore a shy smile, like how a normal boy saw his crush.


    "Perhaps Celine did not mention to you what would happen to anyone who threatens me within 50 meters?"


    "Ho ho ho ho¡­." the girl nodded and replied, "You truly are formidable in a fight. But no matter how long you can last in one, some things only require one instance to eliminate someone."


    "I will kill you first before that happens," Garen narrowed his eyes.


    "You''re quite mad!"


    "You may try."


    The atmosphere suddenly froze, as a red electronic key appeared in the girl''s hand. Her thumb rested on its red button, ready to press it at any moment.


    Garen folded his arms across his chest, silently staring down his opponent as a sliver of killing intent oozed into his stance. For such a thing as killing intent, which bore no visible shape, it was more like a physical display of determination. From a person''s actions and gaze, along with various subtle movements, one could determine whether or not that person truly intended to kill. A true killing intent, when released through spoken words and the body''s base capability, could completely and truly manifest as an intent of desiring death upon another. This form of biological electric field could generate subtle effects on another being. This was what most people could interpret as a killing intent.


    Perhaps other wouldn''t be able to tell the difference, yet the man with the glasses at the side secretly exuded already. He was able to tell, that Garen really would kill without hesitance if they can''t come to an agreement! This sort of killing intent was the kind that he would commonly see on his master bodyguards.


    "Alright, alright, everyone, take a step back, each of you take one step back," the man hurriedly stepped between the two to mediate.


    If a fight really broke out, Blackboard Academy''s law and security system would arrive on foot within the vicinity in thirty seconds. Under the cooperation of a squad of various genius masters, it could be assumed that anyone would be caught to face trial before even escaping through the academy gates.


    With the strengths of Blackboard Academy, no one would care whether you were a normal student or an influential disciple. The patrol squads upholding academy laws consisted of elites from the inner academy. In a situation where they monitored everywhere, even if the person had any viable connections, he or she could only bring them up after being detained.


    And once detained, the elderly shareholders within the inner academy court couldn''t be persuaded with valuable riches. They would stick by the judgment even if it was execution by firing squads, regardless of identity or background, in the name of equality! The only exception was if the person in question was a genius in the academy, then he or she may be looked upon with a more positive light.


    As such, Garen had bet on them being unable to fight on academy grounds. Only then did he dare to threaten his opponent without wavering.


    "Actually, as long as we don''t demand the extraction techniques, then there will be many agreements to be made. We all seek to profit together, yes?" he smiled, as he took the initiative to warm the atmosphere.


    The girl''s eyes darted around before she smiled as well.


    "My sincere apologies, it was merely a joke just now. I wanted to see how big of a determination you have in safeguarding your techniques. You should know that if we were to cooperate, and others came in to scour your techniques, one misstep could waste all our invested time and money. So I decided to test you beforehand."


    She changed the topic.


    "But truth to be told, I do have thoughts of purchasing the extraction techniques. Although I was joking just now, if student Nono really does decide to sell it, remember to contact me first, alright~" the girl twirled a few strands of her hairs as her body leaned forward, suddenly closing the gap between her and Garen. Her body was releasing a perfumed scent mixed with her body''s natural scent, which permeated Garen''s nostrils.


    "I will definitely remember you. Student Vivienne," Garen replied without a change in his expression.


    The two smiled at one another. The sensation of readying themselves to draw blood from before had vanished completely.


    "I''ve brought a contract regarding our cooperation, it entails the terms and conditions for our joint business. Take a look," Garen took out several white sheets of information he''d prepared beforehand from below his study desk. He separated them into two piles for each of them to see.


    The two received and read through them as doubt and suspicion lightly flashed across their faces.


    In the contract, it was stated that the two of them shall contribute in two parts, improving purity levels and trade marketing. Each of them shall reap in ten percent of the profits. This treatment¡­ it wasn''t bad, rather, it was too good.


    "You certainly drive a crude bargain here¡­" the man with the glasses, Wade, exclaimed slightly, "if we go according to your calculations, when we reach the expected return for a month, with each of us receiving ten percent of the profits, there will be at least ten million Units to be gained from dividing it all. It would total up to over hundred million units in a year! What we want to do, however, can be handled by anyone else which we could easily find, as the demand for highly potent fuel powders now is high everywhere."


    The red-dressed girl, Vivienne, kept quiet and remained motionless.


    "Though it''s easy to talk about it, for us to be responsible for the aspects of sales and trading, we''ll definitely be targets of investigation for the source it all. And when that happens, there will be a lot of problems coming our way. This contract is not enough."


    Garen remained unchanged in his expression.


    "So what Miss Vivienne suggesting is?"


    "Without our protection, your goods can never be distributed. The risks are too high. I guarantee that there are many who wish to interfere. You alone reaping seventy percent is too much," Vivienne calmly objected. "I primarily handle sales and trading, so I bear the highest risks. I want an additional thirty percent."


    Additional thirty percent!


    The heart of the man with glasses skipped a beat. Although he was familiar with Vivienne''s personality, he always knew that her appetite knew no bounds. She was used to extravagant personal spendings and thus had accumulated a huge debt. But for her to immediately ask for forty percent of the profits upon investing in a trading post? Even this condition was slightly over the top for the most overbearing of influential individuals to demand of.


    And with so much likely interferences from others? Business would only net around less than two hundred million in a month. Though it would still be acceptable in the eyes of children, such amounts were paltry in the eyes of masterminds.


    "I cannot allow thirty percent. Truth to be told, Miss Vivienne, setting yours and Celine''s cut aside along with following the example figures, twenty percent is accounted for profit turnovers and tax payments. Moreover, the remaining fifty percent does not belong to me entirely," he replied honestly.


    "Oh?" Vivienne was stunned, "Tell us, who else is there? Perhaps this person will be willing to show face to the Sina Family," she replied without a change in her expression.


    "Thirty percent of it will be donated to the Blue Narcissus public funds. It will act as shared funds for everyone belonging to the organization," Garen shared a much more shocking statement with an unfazed expression.


    "The public funds of Blue Narcissus!?" this time, even Vivienne''s heart jumped greatly.


    For the first time, she carefully stared and measured this boy from a commoner background with her very eyes. His name was Nonosiva, yes? She recalled this person''s name. Such daring confidence! To easily donate away thirty percent of profits which amounted to more than thirty million units a month, all to contribute towards the Blue Narcissus public funds.


    From what she knew.


    All donations would be openly displayed on the public screens of Blue Narcissus. This sum would be distributed equally to every single member. Although it bore no huge effects on an individual scale, it would certainly address a few problems.


    TL Note:


    [1] The raws state ¶þÊ®Íò, where Íò is a unit representing ten thousand, hence Vivienne Sina''s gesture was twenty instead of two.

 814 Woven Web 2

    Firstly, the family influence of the head of finance in Blue Narcissus, Britney, stemmed from the inner circles of the academy. Her power capabilities stretched out far and wide, yet she could only be described as a scrooge. If any money, once pocketed by her, was requested to be refunded, it would be the end of her! As a member of the Sina Family, although Vivienne herself possessed a wide reach of connections and power in Blackboard City and several nearby cities, when compared to the Britney Family which was truly on a high level, it was on a completely different tier altogether.


    The Family companies within Blackboard City were all powerful in their own right. Their influences could be broken down into four levels overall: small-sized, medium-sized, large-sized, which was capable of altering the balance of the city''s economy, as well as the heavy-sized, which completely dominated the seats of leaders! Vivienne''s Sina Family belonged to only the large-sized power group. Britney''s, however, belonged to the heavy-sized group. Those who belonged to the heavy-sized power groups were all closely interconnected with those with power.


    Secondly, in order to withdraw money donated to Blue Narcissus, such an action will need to be publicly announced on screen. This was financial transparency. Moreover, every member would naturally receive an email notification regarding it as well. Following human nature, in regards to one''s financial assets, the more the better. Nothing could go wrong with increasing numbers, as it would always be a delight to see.


    The moment people heard that their assets were lowered, however, people would start feeling uncomfortable. They would certainly mind, especially when there''s a decrease out of the blue.


    More than ten million Units of income, all of it could be divided to each member as a small gift or bonus every month. For Vivienne to barge in and snatch away this part of the profits would mean going against everyone in Blue Narcissus. It would still be acceptable if she was a member of Blue Narcissus. The problem was, she was a member of Thousand Year Tree.


    Blue Narcissus housed two thousand influential disciples, including but not limited to princes and princesses. If this group of people was ever displeased¡­ Vivienne gave up the notion of that train of thought.


    Truly a man who''s aware of his own strengths and weaknesses in situations! There could only be gains if you were willing to lose, anyone can understand the meaning of it. However, only a rare few could successfully integrate it into their actions.


    She carefully stared at Garen, as if she was trying to engrave the person in her memory.


    "No offense is intended, but if I were you, I couldn''t possibly do what you suggested," she''d finally wholly recognized the person before her as an equal to discuss dealings with. She saw from the person before her a towering demeanor and presence similar to that of her father''s.


    "For things like money, the bigger the hunger, the more profits one can consume. So long as one refrains from being too greedy, that is," Garen chuckled.


    "Yeah. Not too greedy," Vivienne had considered herself to be a bold and cunning person already. Never did she imagine that she would encounter someone greater than her at the same age. "Nonosiva, let us proceed according to your contract''s terms then. For the first shipment of White Rainbow Stones, do you need my help in finding a channel?" this time she gave in for real. This fellow before her had gained the attention of the academy''s higher-ups, even more so within the sights of the prince and princesses within Blue Narcissus. All of these were enough weight for her to speak with him on equal footing.


    "There will be no need for your help in the matter, I''ve already found some channels. I am just in the middle of selecting the most optimal one," Garen politely rejected.


    "How about this then. Here I have some contacts for enquiring information. If you have need of their services, you can just directly contact them. Give them my name, and they will definitely give you face," Vivienne nodded. "Regarding the shipment teams, however, I will not be involved in the matter. That would be the strength of the Celine Family."


    "May our partnership lead to great wealth," upon seeing the atmosphere shift to warmth, the man with the glasses, Wade, finally let out a sigh of relief and extended his hand.


    Garen and Vivienne extended theirs as well. The three of them placed their hands on top of one another, signifying their mutual agreement.


    After further discussing the details and dates of their partnership, Vivienne and Wade bid farewell and left, bringing with them their bodyguards outside.


    After traveling a few hundred meters away, Vivienne hung her head in silence as she tread forward, so low that she didn''t notice her family''s hover car. If not for the bodyguard''s reminder, she would''ve walked straight past it.


    "Still thinking about that Nonosiva?" Wade could see through her thoughts.


    "Yeah," Vivienne nodded, "this person is very impressive. He didn''t seem like someone who''s yet to reach his twenties," she recalled that Nonosiva had been calm and collected from the beginning up to the end, without a stutter nor any sign of shock throughout. That pair of deep blue eyes appeared like pools of calm water, unmoving and untampered. She took in a small breath of cold air as she thought about him.


    "That fellow¡­. It felt as if the entire flow of the discussion went accordingly to his expectations. He displayed his determination and ruthlessness, then revealed his true intentions in the end with the backing of Blue Narcissus acting as his shield. He was both harsh and gentle¡­. Facing him made me feel like I was facing my grandfather."


    "The old man?" Wade was stunned.


    "No, I meant his presence," Vivienne instinctively shook her head, "his methods and speech skills were not considered amazing. However, he gave off this sensation whereby he''ll act as he soon as he spoke about something with no wavering hesitation. That once he makes a decision, no outside forces will be able to change what he sets on¡­ This person is really impressive! Now that I think about it, I''m slightly afraid of him even."


    Wade was somewhat surprised. This was the second time Vivienne had praised him with the word ''impressive''. It was obvious that Nonosiva had left a very deep impression on her.


    Upon seeing Wade''s somewhat confused look, Vivienne huffed. She knew that he had little to no experience in dealing with these methods of deceit, as his mind was not sensitive enough to these sort of matters. She then explained to him.


    "You only look at one point. From the beginning till the end, we could say that none of our objectives were achieved. Not a single bit of progress was made. Everything from this document of information and terms of the contract were all prepared by him beforehand. In other words, our trip here has led us to return with empty hands."


    With that said, Wade was slightly astonished as well.


    "So you''re saying, that before we even reached there, he already knew how it would end?"


    "Not that he knew how it would end, but rather having it ended according to what he wanted," Vivienne''s gaze grew distant. "He''s so young, probably eighteen years old this year¡­"


    "Don''t think too much about it, Vivienne," Wade smiled bitterly.


    "I''m not overthinking, it''s just¡­ Forget it, not going to talk about it." Vivienne knew that she matured faster than most, and boys and girls of the same age had no idea on how to have fun with her. She''d integrated herself into the society of adults way too early, while Wade was different.


    ****************


    Inside the dormitory.


    After Vivienne and Wade had left, Garen locked the door. He opened the computer terminal in his watch and looked through the list of contacts.


    What he said to Vivienne were not lies. True enough, before his period of stay in the hospital, he''d contacted the people of Blue Narcissus to transfer the information he had along with plans for the donations. A recently joined member of the organization came before Vivienne and Wade did. This Blue Narcissus member came earlier to examine the products and left with a contract detailing the thirty percent profits of the deal.


    The head of finance in Blue Narcissus, Britney, was extremely happy. She even took the initiative in calling him when she joined a ball. She encouraged him and gave him the contact of the deputy head of the department. She told him that if he contacted the man, he would always be ready to assist his needs.


    Garen had predicted as such and thought as much. The one thing he couldn''t foresee was that¡­ the public screens of Blue Narcissus did not display any new entries of assets.


    "No doubt Britney has taken everything for herself¡­." Garen smiled bitterly.


    This was favorable as well, however. Compared to dividing it for every single member whereby nobody would bat an eye, it was better for all of it to be given to Britney. His goals were achieved anyway. Besides, this outcome reeled in a greater impact.


    Britney''s family possessed a tremendous influence over Blackboard Academy and the entire Blackboard City. Her family was one of the two most powerful families in the entire Blackboard City. They kept close or indirect connections with two of the three highest ranking professors in the academy.


    The aftereffect of his ''tribute'' being entirely consumed was that Garen had reeled in an even bigger fish than he''d originally intended.


    "No matter, the outcome is all the same anyway," he looked at the list of contacts. He''d already figured as much. If the income was rapidly realized into fruition, then his network of special relations would rapidly expand. Only then could he truly root himself into interwoven connections and link all of it into one tremendous power. Right from the start, the matter of income hadn''t concerned him at all and it was alright as long as he had enough to spend. With tens of millions as profit, it would be sufficient for his businesses to flourish. More importantly, a higher purity level of highly potent fuel powders required him to gather White Peacock Stones. As such, his most crucial goal would be achieved. As long as these influential disciples aspired to reap in fortunes, then he''d have access to an endless supply of free White Peacock Stones. That way it wouldn''t attract unwanted attention due to an overflow of shipments, nor would it be stolen by interfering outsiders due to trading divisions'' application of highly potent fuel powders.


    If not for the fear of raising suspicions, Garen would''ve set aside ten percent for performance shares instead of the current forty percent.


    Thirty percent had been given to Britney, and another thirty percent divided between Vivienne, Wade, and Celine. The remaining forty percent was for him alone.


    As he pondered, Garen rubbed above his lips and felt a slight growth of mustache on him.


    "It is still a little too much for me. I can still divide it out, just to avoid drawing attention to myself. But who should I divide it to?"


    Britney of Blue Narcissus was already not bad, as she would be able to keep this small business under wraps. Then the next step would be seeking out those influential disciples who were keen on splurging, in debt or aspiring to start up a business of their own. It would be slightly risky to invest in just one city as well. It would be best to build a network in the city which supplied White Rainbow Stones.


    As he pondered carefully, Garen didn''t have any potential candidates. He set aside that notion for now.


    If this worked out successfully, then his greatest profit would be the endless supply of White Peacock Stones and the grand network of connections.


    Two million Units worth of income was just an initial estimation. As the Hellfrost Peacock Technique further developed in growth down the line, the demand for White Peacock Stones would continually increase. Profit would snowball more and more as well. When that happened, this stream of small income for influential disciples would gradually garner more and more attention. As for Nonosiva (Garen), he would become a key figure who was respected by all through this extraction technique.


    As for the risks of the technique being stolen, however, until that time came, Garen was confident that he would have completely matured and his potential would have transformed into that of formidable power. He''d then gain the ability to speak terms with influential disciples on even grounds.


    The network of special relations as of now would become a shield for his life. Whoever decided to threaten him would be going against everyone within this beneficial network. Anyone would rethink carefully and weigh the consequences before they would act against him. This was his actual goal.


    "Next, time to see how things are with Kendall," Garen dialed the number for the old driver, Kendall. Ever since this fellow had shipped over those White Rainbow Stones, he''d returned home to rest. Now, he presumed that Kendall was waiting anxiously.

 815 Woven Web 3

    Inside the Blackboard Academy courtyard.


    In a corridor within the battleship navy base with silver walls and ceilings, a young man in black with a red disc insignia on his back walked slowly down the corridor. His tall, slender figure, calm expression, and shiny black hair tied in a ponytail gave off a sophisticated air.


    As he turned around a corner, the young man reached a fork in the path. The right corridor led down a pitch black path while the path forward was a long-winded silver corridor, with only a couple of light bulbs blinking on the walls.


    Sssst¡­


    Suddenly, a white screen extended out from atop the ceiling at the corridor in front of him. The electronic screen expanded automatically and unfolded from one screen to three which aligned with one another, in a similar fashion to unfolding paper.


    All three screens suddenly blinked to life, the middle screen revealing a face of a platinum-haired beauty.


    "Blacklight 11, please directly head towards the meeting room. The three professors are in a discussion regarding the newest intel," the beautiful girl spoke to the young man in a lowered voice.


    "I understand," the young man nodded, "Can you guide me please, I am unfamiliar with the newly configured layout."


    "Not a problem."


    The beautiful girl smiled. She pressed a few buttons on the control panel before her. Suddenly, the silver metal flooring below the young man rose panel by panel automatically. These panels reconstructed themselves into a curved-shaped, mini silver hover car. The young man was then lifted up by it.


    "Careful with your words, my grandfather is not in the best of moods," the platinum-haired beauty gently reminded.


    "I know, I know," the young man with the ponytail smiled and waved his hand. He was carried by the mini hover car and traveled deep within the corridors at high speed.


    As he swiftly traveled in the empty and quiet battleship corridor for half an hour, white light beamed out from the front of the hovercar and lit up the dark corridors.


    The ponytailed youngster observed the changes in his surroundings.


    "Why is there a need for headquarters to be this big? What is this? A labyrinth? It''s about the size of a city!"


    Soon, the hovercar reached a crossroad. As he exited from the path he traveled, two hover cars exited from two other paths simultaneously. Both had passengers onboard as well.


    A black-haired girl and a brute, both wearing the same black shirt with red disc insignia.


    "Borus, it''s been a while," the young man greeted the brute.


    "Ah, Matthew and Allie. For all three of us to be summoned, wonder what kind of mess we will be tasked to handle? A rare occasion indeed," with mane-like yellow hair and a small yellow beard below his chin, he bore a wild appearance.


    The black-haired girl remained unmoved; she seemed to be the quiet type.


    The young man with the ponytail chuckled. He waited till the three hover cars had converged and entered the wide corridor in front of them before speaking again.


    "I heard there was trouble at the borders. Heard anything?"


    "Oh.. trouble? What kind of trouble? I''ve been spending most of my time on the battlenet lately," Borus took out a piece of chocolate out of nowhere and popped it into his mouth.


    "A rather irksome one. There''s a military camp in the outer plains, and all of its members are former elite students. If they can''t even handle this, then it''s obvious as to why we''re all summoned here," Matthew nodded. "Enough chatter, we''re almost there."


    Their hover cars soon entered a ring-shaped, silver grand hall.


    A halo of yellow light glowed above them and crimson crystal lining was spread across the floor, resembling a vast completed circuitry.


    The halo directly lit up the ring region below, which consisted of three hovering seats levitating high above the ground. A thin layer of light from a white screen surrounded it. A seated person could be seen through the screens.


    "You''ve arrived?" an aged voice sounded from beyond the screen. "Please be seated."


    The way to the corridors around the grand hall was automatically sealed shut and replaced by sturdy metallic silver walls.


    Boom!


    After the walls had descended, the surfaces of the grand hall pulsed with a vibrant layer of silver light, disappearing as quickly as it appeared.


    "To have urgently summoned you all this time around, the purpose is to address the attack from unidentified forces in the outer plains," the old man spoke in a lowered voice.


    Matthew looked at the three hovering seats before him. The three seats were positioned ten meters away from one another in a circular formation, yet they only took up a tenth of the grand hall''s entirety. Located in the central area of the grand hall, it had a vast and chilling atmosphere.


    "Unidentified forces in the outer plains? Is there any updated intel?" he adjusted himself and answered.


    "Although I''m aware it''s not good to bother any of you on your days off, only the three of you are the closest to that point," the old man sighed.


    As the meeting started, the entire flooring of the grand hall had lit up unexpectedly, emitting a slightly dazzling light which shone through the circuit-like crimson linings.


    A moment of hissing sounds passed before the entire flooring then transfigured into a huge display screen. A view of towering mountains and rivers was revealed before the three people.


    Between the intertwining lush ravines, two human-shaped mechs, one red with white and one red, soared in a high-speed pursuit to kill. Gauss rounds and red laser beams were fired all around the area. A gigantic ax weaponry and wings lined with chainsaw blades on the red mech continuously clashed with the opponent, inducing piercing sounds upon impact.


    Boom!!


    A grenade was lobbed from the person below the engagement, leading to a sudden explosion. It engulfed a large, ten-meter area in a sea of flames.


    Matthew instantly recognized the red-winged mech.


    "Fiery Kaizen Zabrook, a graduate from the previous batch. Who could possibly be a match for him at this level?"


    "That''s Phantom Steps, alright," the yellow-haired brute at the side rubbed his small beard and said. A glint of interest in his eyes. "Just as I couldn''t find a worthy opponent, then this fellow came along? How convenient¡­."


    "Your mission is to stop this assault mech which has entered my borders. They all share the same red and white distinction in appearance," the old man''s voice resounded through the screen.


    "If possible, ascertain their origins," another old lady answered from beyond the lit up screens, carrying a note of concern in her voice.


    "I have no problems with killing, but I''ll be leaving the fuss of gathering intel to Allie," the yellow-haired brute plucked a strand from his beard and fidgeted with it.


    "Not a problem," the black-haired girl finally voiced out.


    Matthew remained silent. He continued to spectate the combat between Kaizen and the opposition with his head lowered.


    "Did you just say the opposing ''squad''? How many people are there overall?"


    "For strengths of this caliber, there should be three people at least."


    "Three, eh? Should be around four or five if that''s the case. I can have some fun this time around. Hehe..." the yellow-haired brute snickered.


    "From the looks of things, they still have an ace leader in their ranks. I''ve already dispatched Medero."


    "Huh? Medero¡­"


    As the three of them heard this name, the yellow-haired brute reacted the most strongly.


    "Not to worry, Shadi. The opposition is fairly strong. The three of you alone wouldn''t necessarily be enough to handle them," the old man assured them.


    "Booooooriiiiing! There''s no need for us now with Medero sent out!" the brute, Shadi, clutched at his hair in frustration. "Damn it, I might as well return to the battlenet!"


    "There will be opportunities for us, I''m sure," Matthew gazed at the intense battle visualized below and spoke in a lowered voice. "The opposition is no ordinary force¡­"


    "Do not underestimate your enemies. Go now," the old man ordered. "The mission points amount to fifteen million, following level three protocols."


    "Aww yeah! This I like!" Shadi shouted aloud.


    Matthew couldn''t help but whistle in response. Allie, however, lowered her head in silence with fists clenched.


    Rumble!!


    In that instant, in the screen below, Fiery Kaizen in his red mech had finally found an opening and fired a merciless strike at the red and white mech. It directly struck the red and white mech at the chest region.


    In the end, it was a tie with both suffered severe damage. The two mechs fell from the sky, thick clouds of smoke following their descent.


    This instant suddenly caught everyone''s attention. The three individuals within the grand hall were astonished at what had transpired.


    "What happened!? Wasn''t that last hit supposed to be Senior Kaizen''s opportune strike!?" Matthew said in a lowered voice.


    "This is where I''m asking you all to be wary of." The old man answered in a lowered voice, "Best if you could salvage the wreckage of their mechs. This can be considered a training for all of you. It can''t be helped, but your instructors are needed to be dispatched."


    "Understood."


    **********************


    "It''s a pleasure meeting you, I am Carlos Raymundo Bojack Mishka. This is my full name, and as you can see, I am noblemen from the Angela Kingdom."


    In Garen''s watch terminal, the screen displayed a curly-haired man dressed in a golden-brown, extravagant garment. The man in his extravagant robe wore long socks of white. His head of curly golden hair gave off the impression of a golden retriever.


    Even more cringe-worthy, however, was the immediately obvious, fake and distasteful smile on his face.


    Such a distorted smile completely ruined his initially dashing appearance. He resembled a hilarious, comedic clown.


    "Pleasure meeting you. I am Nonosiva, your current long-term contract business client," Garen replied with the same manner of speaking, a calm smile on his face.


    This must be a minor person of territorial nobility that took great lengths in establishing contact with him. The White Rainbow Stones production sites in his territory were conveniently much more profitable in terms of cost performance index and transport costs.


    Earlier, Garen had looked him up through the information provided by Kendall for a clearer understanding of the man. He then immediately called the man''s number.


    At first, he thought that this man would be the same as the graceful nobles in the Totem World. He didn''t expect to meet this sort of character.


    Looking at the man''s appearance, it felt like he was trying to mimic someone''s composure, yet never quite managed to bring it into effect. In the end, the result was a look of giddiness and that of a complete fool.


    Did all minor nobles of the Angela Kingdom act in this manner?


    Garen had rated him very poorly in his mind. Judging by the man''s getup, he was most likely someone who thought highly of himself.


    The Angela Kingdom was actually the Polar Region in the outer borders of Blackboard Region. Famously known for their aurora residue production, various Rainbow Stones were byproducts of aurora residue borders, similar to how soot was produced from burning fuel. Due to costly chemical production methods, their value of application was fairly low. As such, they were treated as mere trinkets and accessories by conventional businessmen.


    Rather than a constitutional monarchy, the Polar Region still followed the imperial preference ruling system. The king belonged to the highest nobility with absolute command over the militia and the lands of the kingdom.


    "Regarding the issues of White Rainbow Stones¡­ could you lower the price on your side a little more¡­?" after affirming the man''s identity, he began to flex his silver tongue.


    Carlos acted as such on the opposite end as well. The business deal this time around was different from past dealings. In one month, the interest rate within the entire territory would rise by fifty percent. The White Rainbow Stones were small stones scattered all around in their area. As they were in abundance, they had little to no value. From Carlos''s perspective, he would gain this pile of money in exchange for nothing from this deal.

 816 Woven Web 4

    The negotiation price between the two individuals fluctuated up and down as the duo began their long-winded battle between silver tongues. Both listed out various reasons and the difficulties they had to face, trying their best to steer towards the most beneficial outcome for themselves.


    Half an hour soon passed. The terminal on Garen''s watch chimed; the first batch of highly potent fuel powders had been sold. A total of ten bottles were in this shipment, and each bottle weighed around a thousand grams. They were sold not in accordance with market value, but through a channel found by Blue Narcissus. As it was a test batch and sold in small quantities, Garen released the first batch. Costing ten million Units per kilogram of highly potent fuel powders, as he expected, did not have many transactions.


    He used his hacking skills to scour for the value differences on the internet. He ran simulations in comparing prices to ensure that both sides would gain profits without suffering too much loss on his end.


    As he glanced at the figures displayed on his watch, he''d obtained a hundred million units of profit in total. Forty million Units were transferred to his account, and more than thirty million remained after tax deduction.


    "Money sure does flow around quick¡­."


    With more than enough leverage, Garen''s foundation suddenly became more than enough for his means.


    "For the first batch, we need five hundred pieces. Shouldn''t be a problem, yes? All of them must adhere to the previous large sizes with no inferior qualities," Garen straight up demanded five hundred pieces. "This will only be the initial quantity. May our partnership be a successful one, as we may increase our orders in the future."


    "Five hundred pieces¡­." Carlos gulped. These stones would at most cost additional labor fees, and the rest would purely be profit since these stones were everywhere. He was so broke to the point of being unable to sustain himself. Previously, he''d taken the initiative to seek out Kendall. Setting aside his dignity to act truly produced a different outcome.


    "I''ll give you a rounded up price. In accordance with our previously negotiated price, it will be three Units per piece. The total amount will be a thousand and five hundred Units, including labor fees," Garen happily transferred a thousand and five hundred Units over. "This is just the initial order. If our partnership goes well, we may increase the quantity in future orders."


    This amount of money was nothing to him. With more than thirty million just transferred into his account, a little over a thousand Units was mere rain droplets in his eyes.


    "You are simply too generous," Carlos was excited beyond words. He was actually a minor noble that had declared bankruptcy. Although the territory he''d inherited from his family was quite vast, there wasn''t an abundance of valuable resources. With the White Rainbow Stones, he could still manage to profit off them a little. In the past, he''d barely scraped by each day. Each shipment would only be around ten pieces or more, and it would take a long time to sell them all out before a second batch was needed to restock.


    After living life with a tightened belt until recently, the only servant left in his family was an old butler. Not a single residence remained on his land, as no one was willing to stay long-term in a godforsaken area. Even hiring people to gather rocks required him to travel a long distance to another small town.


    The garment that he had on him now was the only one he could get his hands on. It was a garment for the leader of the household passed down from his grandfather. The long periods of dire lifestyle had left him breathless, but now he''d finally seen a turning point!


    "Sir Carlos, from what I gathered from my assistant, Kendall, I understand your predicament. Our previous partnership had led to great success for both of us, and this following deal will solidify the foundation of our partnership. If we can reach a long-term direction in our partnership, I believe it will be a huge help to the development of your kingdom," Garen answered through the terminal.


    "Long-term partnership..." Carlos gulped.


    The two further discussed the overall details of the shipment, ascertaining the deal.


    Carlos requested for three days; he''d definitely be able to successfully deliver the goods in three days'' time. After hearing that Garen was a Blackboard Academy student, he was especially confident that things would work out. Most of the students in Blackboard Academy were extremely wealthy, and a little over a thousand Units wouldn''t even bother them. Perhaps a single meal for them would cost as much. A big spender client like this needed to be kept close!


    Upon resolving the issue of resources, although it was only a spoken agreement, Garen felt quite assured as he was aware that sources of White Rainbow Stones could be found everywhere. However, this particular family was more willing to deal than most. His partner''s attitude was great to work with as well. He considered the man as the most suitable business partner for this.


    Moreover, it was better to provide help to someone in dire need of it as compared to going extra lengths to sweeten the deal. If he could find an even more reliable business partner in the Polar Region, it would be much more favorable for him.


    Garen decided to get some rest in his dormitory since he had continually managed matters one after another. He was mildly fatigued too. He sat on his bed and practiced on his training methods but as always, there was little to no effects for him. It seemed that this method truly didn''t match with his traits.


    "Guess I can only hope that absorbing high-grade White Peacock Stones will increase my Willpower," Garen heaved a sigh as he laid down.


    "Next, I''ll test out the power of absorption, Devour."


    Concerned that the hospital staff would find out his secret, he had no chance to use this power as his body condition was constantly monitored during his stay in the hospital. Now that he had returned to his dorm, he didn''t need to worry as much anymore.


    "How do I activate Devour? What should I devour in order to produce effects?"


    Garen picked up a glossy red apple from the table, which emitted a mild fragrance. With it in his grasps, he felt a minor chill seeping into his palm.


    "Devour!"


    Garen gently lifted up the apple as his inner body activated the Hellfrost Peacock Technique.


    In that instant, countless thin, blue lines emitted from his palms without a sound. The lines acted as if they were piercing a balloon, surging into the apple''s core. Garen''s Attribute Pane blurred slightly before it returned to normal with no obvious changes. It was clear that an apple provided too little help to his body.


    However, his stomach oddly felt full.


    Garen''s eyes gleamed as he recalled the message implied in a secret technique from his past life.


    He then picked up the alloy pen stand from his study table. The pen stand was entirely coated in silver and molded into a statue of the world''s most brilliant physicist, Larz. Now in Garen''s hand, however, it was gradually enveloped by the same blue lines which were as thin as hairs, slowly reforming it into a blue firefly.


    Minutes and seconds passed as the blue firefly slowly shrunk and became thinner.


    As Garen held the blue firefly, he felt a thin stream of sticky residue seeping into his palm. The countless blue lines then spread throughout his body, and the wounds on his body seemed to be recovering slightly.


    After another half an hour had passed, the blue firefly finally ceased shrinking, and remained still.


    "It''s still being devoured, only at an extremely slow pace¡­" Garen furrowed his brows. "Based on the speed of devouring, it would take a few months to finish the process. Perhaps it was true that nothing can''t be devoured, only the rate of the process would differ."


    A thought came to his mind. He relaxed his grasp on the blue firefly, revealing the unrecognizable pen stand. The pen stand looked as if it had been melted at high temperatures and transformed into an unidentifiable metal object. Its surface was unusually smooth to the touch.


    Next, he dug out rubber, pure copper, pure steel, water, cotton, and various other materials to test out the technique.


    "This devouring power produces different effects with different materials. It''s likely that ninety percent of materials provide nothing more than effects of sustenance and healing. These alone are impressive enough though, as I''m only at the most basic level of using it. If I raise it to higher levels, I may produce even greater effects."


    As he''d imagined, the Hellfrost Peacock could devour a variety of things to recover from any damage taken in an instant. From here, he knew that this would be complicated to figure out.


    "Metals provided healing to wounds, food can provide sustenance, while cotton had no effects. For objects of too little density, I could barely supplement my body structure with essential elements. What about highly potent fuel powders then?"


    Garen suddenly thought of the wastes produced by White Peacock Stones, this stuff was a fuel that would produce a large amount of heat upon burning.


    He quickly found some leftovers of the powder in his dorm cupboard.


    With the powder in his palm, Garen activated Devour once more.


    Once again, a large number of blue lines stem from his palm. As if they were countless tentacles, they vigorously enveloped the pouch of powder.


    Sizzle....


    The reaction was different from the other objects. When highly potent fuel powder was devoured, noises of crackling explosives were produced.


    A reenergizing heat wave surged into Garen''s body. This heat wave produced no effects. But after encircling his body, it quickly converged in front of his abdominal area, forming a spherical object.


    Garen gave a mystified look at it. He felt as if it formed into a ball of meat, slightly moving about.


    "This is¡­" a thought suddenly came to mind. "This thing, could it be a contaminated power waste produced by Hellfrost Peacock? A Distorted Seed?"


    A Distorted Seed was radiation material naturally produced by the Hellfrost Peacock. This radiation would distort the state of surrounding beings, corrupting them into bizarre, non-sentient battle machines. The Hellfrost Peacock Technique mimicked this power and produced this kind of radiation, which was able to converge into Distorted Seeds. When planted in an enemy''s heart, it would turn them into a mindless and formidable killing machine. Body quality stats and other characteristics would be multiplied by 1.5 times of their base power through the radiation.


    "Not entirely. This is probably the partial product of Distorted Seeds," Garen determined. "To think that highly potent fuel powders could churn out Distorted Seeds. This seems to be normal though. The Hellfrost Peacock is categorized as an ice lifeform, so naturally, it would not need heat energy. Instead, it would transform heat energy into Distorted Seeds, able to harm others while expelling waste formed in its body."


    "Perhaps I can find a chance to test out the effects of the Distorted Seeds. If this thing can be modified according to my will, rather than a mindless killing machine, it can be used as a quick buff and provide power to others. That would be great," Garen was getting excited at the thought.


    Even if a Hellfrost Peacock couldn''t control the Distorted Seeds, with its highly rigid blood veins capable of suppressing the Distorted Seed parasites and its potential threat intimidation, it wouldn''t rule out the possibility of it being a way to buff the Hellfrost Peacock''s powers. If he could retain his will and be able to control the unsheathing of its fangs, then¡­


    An idea struck Garen''s mind.


    The scientific technology in this world was too advanced. The research and development of human willpower rivaled to that of divine spirits. A grand scale war could even wipe out entire planets. As for the development of strengths of the human body, however, it had not been developed to the same degree of advancement.

 817 Advance 1

    The southern region of Blackboard City.


    City outskirts.


    By a vast and mighty river, at a remote spot by the riverside.


    A black-haired young man, slightly over ten years of age, kicked away pebbles with each step, casually walking around along the riverside. He didn''t seem to be over the age of sixteen appearance-wise. The young boy''s face was filled with helplessness.


    He saw there was no one in his immediate surroundings, and couldn''t help but speak out.


    "Master Red Moon, did you find the thing you were looking for?"


    "Hush now! What''s the rush?" an irritated voice scolded next to his ear.


    "But we''ve been walking around for half an hour. What about returning home? We''re definitely going to be late again," the young boy felt even more helpless now. He looked at the bakery uniform he was still wearing, "I heard in recent news that many thugs run amok here. It would be troublesome if we encountered them!"


    "What''s there to fear? You have me around!" Red Moon flared up. "Hush now, I''ll strangle you if you make any more noise! F*ck, you made what I''d sensed just now disappear!"


    The young boy quivered and immediately went quiet.


    This young boy was the junior manager of One For All Bakery, Clint. In a white servant attire, him treading along the riverside was an odd sight.


    A surge of river water stirred by strong gusts of wind vigorously splashed against the muddy riverside in waves.


    Suddenly a rushing wave rose up and collided with the riverside.


    Splash!


    Large sprays of water were abruptly stirred up, soaking Clint entirely. He couldn''t react in time when it happened. His entire uniform was soaked in an instant, drenching his person as well.


    "Ah!!! My uniform!" ae shouted out loud. He miserably patted down his wet uniform. A gust blew by, and he sneezed immediately after.


    "How can I be so unlucky!!"


    "I told you to not scream! Or else I''ll give you a beating!" Red Moon scolded harshly.


    The young man felt helpless. He could only scan left and right. Luckily, no one had appeared to see this sorry sight, otherwise, he would''ve been very embarrassed.


    "You can''t even withstand a small issue? Then wouldn''t you go crazy if you encounter that bunch of people?" Red Moon commented in a contemptuous manner.


    "I''m just an ordinary guy, I have nothing to with any mech wars or whatever. That would be a job for the police," the young man, Clint, wrung out some water from his clothes. He felt that he was having the worst luck today.


    "Even if you were an ordinary person before, the moment you picked me up, you were no longer normal. Do you understand this?" Red Moon calmly spoke in a much warmer tone than usual.


    "But the Blackboard City military is tremendously strong. There''s no need for us to worry about that group you mentioned," Clint helplessly replied.


    "You sure do enjoy relying on others, huh? Always deciding on letting others handle the troubles? Have you never thought of turning it all around and becoming someone others can rely upon?" Red Moon asked in return.


    Clint fell silent. Although his core personality was weak, it didn''t mean that he couldn''t differentiate between good and bad. He desired to repay and take care of his sister, as well as finding his biological parents while helping his close friends.


    "Did you forget about Darby?" his dream was to become a dashing mech pilot. Did you forget about Baylon? His dream was to no longer be a burden to his family and brother. And your sister, her biggest dream was for you to become truly independent, to become a mature man! Not someone who only knows to cower behind others'' protection, and shrink yourself away into your own pathetic shell the moment trouble arises."


    Red Moon had never properly lectured anyone before; this was his first time doing so.


    Clint remained quiet. He was well aware of his family''s wishes and the dreams of his friends, and so he, too, had aspired to contribute to making them a reality. However, wanting to act and really starting to make them come true were two entirely different matters.


    "Tell me, are you a selfish person?" Red Moon asked in a loud voice, "If your answer is yes, then I will just look for another compatible person, just so I won''t waste any more time on you. You should just live the rest of your life as a good-for-nothing coward."


    Clint lowered his head and continued to remain silent, took him awhile before he voiced out.


    "But¡­ but¡­"


    "But what!?"


    Sizzle!


    Abruptly, an arc of blue electricity lit up on Clint''s body. After the crackling of a few electrical sparks, Clint knelt down on the ground as small wisps of smoke wafted from his body. His body then began twitching.


    His pupils dilated and his eyes widened without blinking.


    "This painful sensation stems from abdominal injuries," Red Moon''s voice ringed in the boy''s ears. "Aren''t you scared of pain? Then allow me to have you get a feel for it."


    Sssss¡­!


    After another wave of electric current sounds, Clint dropped down onto the floor. His body went through spasms, resembling an out-of-water shrimp.


    "This is the sensation of mutilation, have a taste of it."


    Sssss¡­


    "This is the pain of ruptured organs."


    "Aaarghh¡­" Clint uncontrollably drooled and it dripped onto his clothes and the ground. He wanted to close his mouth, but the agonizing pain going through his body had left his mind went blank and his body unresponsive.


    Clack!!


    "This is the pain of having your neck snapped," Red Moon''s cold voice rang in the boy''s ears. "Had enough?"


    Clint had no way of replying anymore. All he wanted to do was just lay down on the ground. Sweat poured out from all over his body, soaking his clothes and leaving a person-shaped wet spot on the ground.


    He felt something lodged in his throat, preventing him from making any form of sound. He could only make unintelligible sounds.


    "Can you feel it? These are the possible pains you can feel in war," Red Moon laughed coldly, "Whatever you''re terrified of or have a fear of are all of these things. Can you feel it?"


    Clint had no idea what went wrong with him. Once he''d truly experienced these pains, he suddenly stopped being afraid of them in his mind.


    A feeling of "what I was afraid of was just that?" washed over him.


    "How about now? Are you still scared!?" Red Moon continued to ask.


    Clint felt surprised when all of the pain disappeared from his body like flowing water.


    He straightened up his body, knelt, then quietly stood up from the ground. A feeling of rebirth washed over him.


    "This was what you feared of all along, terrified of even," Red Moon giggled. "Don''t you have the feeling of ''that''s all there''s to it''?"


    Clint wiped away the sweat and tears from his face and nodded slightly.


    "A little¡­"


    "Damn you, you idiot! Don''t you know how to fight back?" this was not what Red Moon expected to see, but instead, a rebellious spirit awakened by the torture the boy had received! A person without bloodlust would have no way of going against the various endeavors and enemies he would face in the future. He had intentionally tortured Clint, hopefully ridding him of his fears, and another goal was to hopefully trigger his rage and wrath, producing a will to fight back.


    "I know you''re doing this for my sake, Master Red Moon," Clint answered seriously.


    "You imbecile!" Red Moon flared up in response. "Is your brain full of dog turds? You''re not even the least bit enraged at me torturing you? Can you even consider yourself a man? Dog turd! Idiot, imbecile! Buffoon!! ...Forget it, I''m done with you. Today''s objective was partially achieved. Next time when you get into a fight or whatever and you feel these kinds of pain, surely you won''t be afraid of them anymore, right?"


    "Ma...maybe¡­" Clint scratched his head, unsure of himself.


    "The next time someone decides to bully you, punch him!" Red Moon replied straightforwardly.


    "Why? I don''t like to fight," Clint replied honestly.


    "Forget it, forget it. Let''s no speak of it any further. Looking at you infuriates me!" Red Moon was irritated once more.


    Under Red Moon''s guidance, Clint continued to tread along the river bay. Before he could walk far, he was already ordered to stop.


    "Right here!" Red Moon shouted, "Pay attention, it''s right here. Stay back a little, be careful! I''m going to make my move!"


    "Huh?" Clint carelessly didn''t react in time.


    Suddenly, he saw a humongous shadow slowly rising from within the river. The shadow was about two to three meters in diameter and length, and rapidly rising from the bottom of the river.


    Splash!!


    Amidst torrential splashing, a black, metallic wreckage broke through the river surface. It hovered in the air and then soared directly towards Clint''s direction.


    "Woah, woah¡­!" Clint couldn''t resist shouting out loud.


    "Enough gawking!" Red Moon flared up, "Hurry and get out of the way, I need to put this thing down! I''m tired as hell!"


    Clint then snapped back to his senses and hurriedly dodged to the right.


    The giant metallic wreckage slowly descended from where it positioned itself. The wreckage was entirely pitch black, and a partially intact black disc logo still remained on its surface.


    "What is this?" Clint walked over and encircled it for inspection.


    "Blackboard manufactured mech wreckage."


    "Why are you bothering with this, master? What''s the use of a wrecked junk?"


    "I did this for you, you imbecile!" Red Moon flared up once again.


    "Oh..."


    Red Moon''s voice had carried a note of fatigue.


    "Alright, you should return home for today. That''s it for now. People normally wouldn''t bother taking this away once it''s dumped here. We''ll come back tomorrow."


    "Oh¡­"


    "Fortunately, the Blackboard Region had no areas for selling salvage. Otherwise, this thing would''ve been lifted away to one for sure," Red Moon seemed really tired. "Move on now, go back and rest. We need to accelerate progress, or else it will really be futile to fight back when that group comes along."


    "With Blackboard Academy around, they definitely won''t come. You can relax, master," Clint attempted to comforted Red Moon.


    "Don''t tell me to relax, you idiot!" Red Moon felt that this pig-like companion really deserved a beating. If there were two opponents, it might as well be a ''one against three'' scenario!


    No one was fully aware of how powerful that group was. Through the intel obtained from documents, he was quite aware of what they''re capable of.


    Their ordinary pilots were all at the standard of level four willpower, the stronger ones being level five, and to reach that degree¡­ Furthermore, their mechs seemed to be of the odd variant. He recalled the last sound phenomenon produced by the mechs.


    "Great Light Mech¡­ damn it all¡­ If not for the fact that my mechanical body was utterly destroyed, you small fries wouldn''t even stand a chance against me!"


    "What Great Light Mech?" Clint said in confusion.


    "That is the opponent we''ll be facing soon. Be sure to remember this name."


    "Oh¡­ relax, the Blackboard army is really impressive."


    "I want to beat you up again!" Looking at Clint''s face, Red Moon was infuriated once more.

 818 Advance 2

    "At 4 am yesterday, the remains of a white mech were discovered in the South Plains area. According to investigations, it was probably a wandering mech that entered our borders without permission, and was therefore shot down by our pilots stationed there. Now, three of the militaries Black-Clothed Generals have already moved out, and are practicing military drills, while they completely eliminate threats and search through the area. Would unrelated personnel please evacuate the area as soon as possible¡­"


    Garen stood in the bathroom, allowing the hot water to wash down his head, wiping the sweat stains off his body as he listened to the news being broadcasted in the living room.


    The whooshing sound of water mingled with the sound of the news, and gave off a strangely peaceful feeling.


    "Black-Clothed Generals?" His expression changed slightly. Others might not be so aware of it, but he had recently been using his hacker skills to search up information regarding pilots, so he was particularly sensitive towards these sorts of information.


    "The Black-Clothed Generals are another name for the Academy''s Black Light Squad, in other words, it''s an umbrella term for the elite students. Some of the elite students are stationed outside, so they''re called the Black-Clothed Generals outside, they all have the military title of major general. Here are at least fifteen powerful pilots under the command of every Black-Clothed General, and these pilots are not your average pilots. To think they brought out three teams at once this time¡­"


    Garen turned off the water, yanked down a dry towel hanging beside him, and covered his head with it, rubbing his hair dry.


    Wiping the water off his body, he walked out of the bathroom and put on his clean underwear that was warmed in the dryer. Then, he walked straight into the living room and sat down in front of the computer.


    "Did something happen again? How troublesome¡­"


    He glanced at the images on the news nonchalantly, pressing Previous and Pause. The picture of the white-and-red mech remains was especially eye-catching.


    Turning off the news, he picked up his Watch Terminal and looked at the time.


    "It''s almost time.


    Ding¡­ ding¡­


    There was the sound of the bell from the door.


    "Please enter."


    Garen pressed a button on the computer, and the house door opened automatically, making a crisp smacking sound.


    The door was pushed open, and a large, tall boy walked in. His skin was dark and his hair short, his aura giving off a sharp and stormy feeling.


    "You are Nonosiva? I''m Mondo, from the second year. I''ll spare the long introductions, let''s get straight to business."


    "Sure," Garen nodded and stood up. "Please sit, do you want some tea?"


    "No. This is your proof of membership card, please keep it carefully." The boy Mondo evidently had a decent impression of Garen, he did not seem to look down on Garen because of his family background at all. Instead, he spoke to Garen as though they were complete equals.


    "Also, because of your excellent performance at the finals, the management team has decided to give you full Level Two support. As for what that entails, you can use the card to check the website, it''s stated there.


    "Understood." Garen accepted the silver-white card. There was a black V on it, and some delicate patterns like vines on the sides. It looked very intricate and extravagant.


    "Also, if there''s anything urgent, you can call this number directly. He''s Lady Britney''s direct disciple, he can easily settle any normal problems, such as that kid you offended." Mondo pressed around his Terminal, and sent Garen the contact of a third-year boy called Gurs.


    Mondo gave Garen a friendly smile.


    "Lady Britney really likes you, and she told us to take special care of you. Otherwise I wouldn''t be the one here today, it would be a regular worker instead."


    "Then I owe my thanks to Lady Britney," Garen smiled as well, his Terminal moving slightly.


    "As long as you understand," said Mondo with a satisfied smile. Seeing the more than ten thousand units that had suddenly appeared on his watch, he was in an extremely good mood.


    He patted Garen''s shoulder.


    "If you have any problems from now on, you can come look for me. There''s no need to bother Lady Britney and Gurs with everything. As a senior, it''s expected of me take care of my juniors."


    "I won''t forget you, senior." Garen nodded, in a good mood as well.


    "I won''t forget such a generous and direct new member either!" Mondo had a very good impression of this Nonosiva.


    The two of them quickly exchanged their contact methods, as a third-year student, Mondo had evidently started to dabble in society, so he was pretty familiar with haggling. The two of them exchanged their respective limits, so Garen knew what kind of problems he could go to Mondo with, and which problems he should not trouble him with.


    99% of the members in Blue Narcissus were rich and powerful, but there was no such thing as too much money. And Mondo''s family was very strict, so he did not have much allowance. That was why he placed more emphasis on this money-making method, constantly telling Garen to come to him in case of trouble. His grandfather, who was in charge of the family, was a boss of the Blackboard Region army, and was also one of the academy''s lecturers, so it was easy for him to mobilize of the city''s defense corps. It was even possible for him to hire one of the elite students, the Black-Clothed Generals.


    This was the part that really shocked Garen.


    The title of Black-Clothed General was a military position that the elite students had to reach Level Five at least to obtain, and this inconspicuous boy in front of him could actually reach such a level. He had to appreciate the power of the members of Blue Narcissus here. It was no wonder that even though so many new students joined the academy every year, the number of Blue Narcissus members had always been maintained at several thousand members. This was more than one in a hundred, it was one in a thousand, or even ten thousand. Because many of the Blue Narcissus'' higher-ups were actually students who had graduated, and they had fifty- or sixty-year-olds in key positions as well. With a web of connections like that, they represented what was basically ultimate power.


    After Mondo left, Garen closed the door, and arranged his connections in his heart.


    "Now that Department Head Britney''s side is slightly more stable now, as long as it was not too troublesome, it would be easy for me to borrow some influence now. In that case, the Blue Narcissus'' Department Head Britney, Mondo, Gurs. On Celine''s side, there''s Vivienne, Wade. The Blue Narcissus has more influence on department checks, as well as the backgrounds and powers inside the Blackboard Region, they can also influence some small-scale military mobilizations. From the results of my investigations, I should be able to mobilize a team of about ten Level One pilots. In other words, my connections with the Blue Narcissus are mostly to help increase my actual power in the Blackboard Region."


    He balanced the weight of the favors he had bought with the money this time.


    "And then there''s Celine and Vivienne, they mostly lean towards a wide reach of influence. Celine''s family business spans the different regions, so they can get news and intel quite easily, plus it''s easy for them to buy all sorts of supplies as well. They have a certain amount of influence in the other regions, and Vivienne''s family seems to be involved with the black market and high-interest loans as well, so I should be able to get some forbidden items as well. For example, high-level training methods that even the Blue Narcissus would not dare to sell out in the open¡­ as well as hiring outside mercenary groups for jobs. They''re a lot more complicated than the Blue Narcissus'' side."


    He analyzed the meaning of each side''s relationship with him, and how to borrow power. Now, when he was at his weakest, it was key that he borrow power and influence so that he could develop quickly.


    "But the foundation and core of all these connections is still my own strength and development."


    Garen released a breath. He was going to reach the peak of his training method very soon, the Blackboard training method could only reach Level One, and after that the academy would not provide any more higher-level training methods for free. At the most, they would only provide the right to train with higher-level training methods, after all most people were not allowed to obtain Level Three or above training methods without a certain background. But if he wanted to get the actual content, he would need to work for the school, or simply use money to buy it, or he could sign a contract to become a lifetime worker for the academy. Only then could he get the training method to continue training.


    "Without a training method, no matter how much stronger the Peacock Technique makes me, I still wouldn''t know which direction to go. I need to find a training method that fits my Willpower ASAP."


    The Peacock Technique''s strengthening as it levels up was actually a forceful push as he advanced down the path with his training methods. If the path ahead was unclear, it would also naturally appropriate that power for some other uses, and not to strengthen his Willpower.


    "I don''t know enough about Willpower right now, if I had enough information and intel, maybe I could try to invent a Willpower training method of my own, but unfortunately I need money and position to get a higher-level one."


    He brought out the website that led to a market selling training methods again.


    Each training method was shockingly expensive, and they only sold a maximum of Level Three ones on the market. If you wanted anything higher, you needed a proof of identity. Unless you were from the military or a core member of some faction, you were not allowed to buy it, no matter how much money you offered.


    Garen''s ambition went way further than Level Three, the way he saw it, many of these training methods were all just abridged versions, if he wanted to create his own complete version, it would take too much time and energy, so it was not worth it.


    "Looks like I still need to settle with the connections from Vivienne and Celine. A slightly higher-level training method¡­ can''t be cheap." He looked at the prices on the site that started by the ten thousands, and these were just the Level Three ones. The higher level ones were not allowed to be sold, so their prices should be a lot more astronomical than these ones.


    "Forget it, I''ll slowly accumulate money, and get a Level Three one first."


    He began to browse the site.


    It was not quite the same as what he saw last time, and the prices had changed as well. Many of the training methods were different too, some had evidently sold many copies, so the prices were lower. Some were on a limited-time sale too, with signs indicating that it was recommended by the website, or endorsed by some XXX famous pilot, some XXX famous training method, the fastest training method, and so on.


    Glancing through it, Garen set his gaze on four training methods.


    ''Herculean Warhammer -- increases the power of Will-powered mechs, the degree with which increases by level. At Level Three, the increase is at 200%. This training method has a special effect with regards to Willpower defense, it has very effective defense against Willpower techniques of Level Three and below¡­ Each level is sold at 380000 Universal Units.''


    ''Wind Words -- increases the speed of Willpower control, allowing you to play with your opponents like the wind, and grasp victory in your hands easily. At Level Three, the mech''s speed will be increased by 35%. At the same time, it also speeds up Willpower manipulation to a certain extent. Suitable for speed-type pilots. Each level is sold at 400000 Universal Units.''


    ''Galaxy Glow -- training method that allows control of several mechs, allowing your Will to split up, and carefully control several units at once to attack. The number of splits depends on the level, Level One allows one split, Level Two allows two, Level Three allows three. Suitable for fortification-type pilots. Each level is sold at 260000 Universal Units.''


    ''Sword of the Sun -- training method that adds on an effect, it adds a layer of high heat to the mech''s fists, allowing it to burn and melt the enemy''s outer shell, thus increasing destructive power. At the same time it produced high radiation, and has a certain negative effect on the opponent. Suitable for close combat pilots, each level is sold at 190000 Universal Units. Be warned that this method is very hard to learn, please consider carefully.''


    These four training methods were all top quality to Garen, they were very suitable for his fighting style. And most importantly, these four methods seemed to hide the potential to grow, as though they were the abridged versions of some high-level techniques. There was a chance they could be perfected later, and there were many other training methods that looked impressive or cheap, and seemed more worth it, but in truth there was no other chance to advance after that.

 819 Ripples 1

    "So which training method should I use for now?"


    Garen glanced at the four training methods in front of him, each had their own pros and cons.


    "Since I was going the long-range shooter route before, then I might as well go for long-range."


    Eventually, he still decided to continue as a long-range shooter, this was a path he had never taken before. Perhaps this might lead to new discoveries in his martial arts away, because he had always specialized in close combat before.


    After making his choice, he moved his cursor to Galaxy Glow, and pressed confirm to buy the first level.


    Smack.


    ''Ding-dong, you have successfully purchased Galaxy Glow, a note from the seller: this training method is slightly harder to level up, if you need a higher-level training method, please go to Thousand Star Region''s Thousand Star Academy for further study.''


    Garen soon saw the ''Download Complete'' notification on his Watch Terminal.


    That was a yellow-covered book that looked like a traditional tome. It appeared on the screen of his Watch Terminal, and he pressed it lightly, flipping the pages inside. It was all covered in small and compact letters.


    ''The Way of the Thousand Gods, begins with earnestness.''


    The first line of the opening was a condensed sentence that seemed like Mandarin.


    ''Every part of the human body had its own hidden consciousness, that is the instinctual will in the deepest recesses of the body. Fighting, eating, defending, attacking! Its most direct expression can be seen in the immune system and the natural reflexes. Any cell or tissue in the human body has its own independent and primal will, before they specialize and gather into the other organs, tissues, or cells, they are each the most primal living cell. And what we are trying to do, is to reactivate the instinctual will of these cells once more.''


    "Interesting." Garen glanced at it, and seemed to find this theory somewhat possible. So he continued reading.


    ''The cell''s natural reflexes are to absorb, attack, defend, or escape, but all of these have a complete theme, and that is survival. The human body, and other living creatures, are made of countless such cells. Therefore, the most basic instinct at the core of the human body, the strongest instinct, is also survival. The desire to survive is the source of all motivation, it''s the basic reason why people fight, in order to live, in order to have better lives. Everything humans do is so that they can reach this aim. Because this is the collective will of countless cells, the deepest will at the very core of every cell in the human body.''


    ''The Way of the Thousand Gods intends to activate this deepest level of consciousness, activating the cells in every part and allowing them to have their own battle instinct. Theoretically, according to the structure of the different cells, many of our prodigious predecessors have experimented and discovered that the most the human body can achieve is¡­'' And the remainder was wiped away, just plain white with nothing else. Evidently, the person who leaked it out did not want outsiders to see that.


    Garen was growing more fascinated, this theory was rather deep, huh. It definitely was not something a mere Level Three training method could cover. He understood that this thing was definitely the abridged version of a higher-level training method, looks like this training method had some history behind its roots.


    After the part that was obscured, there was just a tiny bit of the remaining training method left. It only had three levels and three grades. Two of the levels were empty, he could only see them once he bought them.


    And now all he could see what the first grade, or the Level One training method. There were also many training videos, lectures, live battle demonstration, and practical applications attached.


    Garen looked at it briefly.


    He was already at the Advanced Basic Level, and he was this close to properly achieving Level One. When he reached that, he would no longer have to rely on the Moonfang to disguise himself. To him, this was something he had been looking forward to for a long time. He just needed to get through this period steadily.


    He immediately practiced once according to the training method he had just obtained. As expected, a slightly higher-level training method was different, he could instantly feel that his rate of progress was unspeakably better than the previous Blackboard training method, where he could not feel anything at all.


    If he continued at this pace, he would just need four or five months, and if all went well, he would have reached Level One. But even these four or five months were too long.


    "Now I wait for the white Rainbow Stones."


    Garen looked at the light outside the window, it was especially bright at eight or nine o''clock.


    "It''s been a while since I left the house, maybe I should go for a walk."


    There was something happening outside the academy, because he could hear a constant stream of soothing music, it seemed to be something like a dance tune.


    Garen walked up to the window and opened it to look outside first. Through the cracks in the »±Ê÷µÄ, he could see a man-made grassy slope beside the alloy floor. There was a radio on the lawn, and they were having a friendly dance event out in the open, or rather, it was a friendly dance training session.


    Some of the students were not very talented, and some did not try very hard either. They came to the academy to meet people and make connections, so there were countless such events.


    The person organizing this open-air dance hall was an elegant man with long green hair, he wore the third years'' uniform, and stood beside the floor with a smile, holding a glass of jade-green wine as he chatted occasionally with the students around him.


    There was a band playing softly in the middle of the dance floor, composed fully of good-looking men and women who would occasionally flirt with the other students.


    Garen had also begun to understand the habits of the students here, as long as they fancied each other, the culture here did not really place much importance on virginity. If someone caught your eye, it was common to just rent a room at night and have a one-off thing. And it was very hard to determine if a woman was a virgin or not too, because it was too easy to fix that membrane. And thanks to their Willpower training, there were also many women who resembled young girls in terms of their bodies, looks, and aura, even if they had already slept with many men.


    The training of Willpower had improved humanity''s genes, so there were more and more good-looking men and women. Even if they were not handsome or beautiful, they could make up for it with their presence, so it was not surprising that things were so open here.


    He drew the curtains completely, opening the windows, and allowing air to enter the room.


    Only then did Garen wash up, put on his clothes, and walk to the door.


    Just as he had opened the door with a clack.


    "Hey, Nonosiva, are you going to get breakfast?" Apparently, a girl had moved into the opposite dorm at some point. She looked cute and sweet, with shoulder-length curly light brown hair. She wore a small tight white skirt with a black pattern, it was very short, and nearly revealed the roots of her thighs. Her legs were very long and round, though, and she wore a thin black silk hose around them, which showed how much thought she put into them.


    The girl smiled sweetly at Garen, and she was even holding a pale yellow straw hat in her hands, dotted with small white flowers.


    "How do you know my name?" Garen was slightly surprised.


    "Over there." The girl pointed at the wall to Garen''s right with a smile.


    Garen turned around to look, and saw his name and classroom hanging on the wall.


    "Do you want to go together?" She winked at him. "I just moved here two days ago, do you mind showing me around?"


    Garen looked at his watch, closed the training method book, and set up a password on it.


    "You''re Lucianne-Kell?" He looked at the sign on her door. "Sure, I can show you around, come with me."


    "I just entered the school recently, so I''m not very familiar with the surroundings, I hope you''ll take care of me, Nono." Kell was very friendly from the start, she did not seem scared of strangers at all.


    "It''s very nice to meet you," Garen smiled and nodded politely. "What about the person who was staying there before?"


    "Left the school, they were advised to drop out because their results didn''t make the mark. What to do, we can''t relax for a moment, even if we''ve managed to enter the school." Lucianne-Kell shrugged helplessly, holding her palms up, and then she turned her gaze. "I heard that Nono''s in second year now, and you''re one of the Academy''s few First Seats, could you help tutor me when you have time? I''m always kinda scared when it comes to controlling mechs¡­ I never know what to do."


    "If I have time, I''ll consider."


    Garen smiled.


    As the two of them continued walking, many people greeted Garen as though it was natural. Most of them were people he had met before but never spoken to, and now they were all acting familiar with him, waving and greeting him naturally.


    "You''ve finally come out, it''s good for you to come out for a walk when you got time, y''know." Two boys from his class met Garen and Kell, and smiled at them **ly(1).


    "Yeah, it''s really boring to stay in the dorm all day too. I saw them having a ball outside, so I came out to admire it for a bit, and relax." Garen was not very close to these boys, but at least he knew them a lot better than the others, so his smile was a lot more natural as well.


    "I hear Mondo went to your place a few days back, is that for real?" one of the boys came up to him and asked quietly.


    "Mondo?" Garen was taken by surprise, he had not thought it would be that guy''s influence.


    "Yeah, Mondo is one of the military''s big heirs, he''s pretty powerful in the academy too, and he went to your place personally. Everyone''s talking about that now," the boy said in a very small voice.


    "It''s not much, just about me joining the Blue Narcissus. He just happened to be coming over to give me the membership card, it was on his way." Garen knew that the fact that he had joined the Blue Narcissus would get out really soon. After all, the other Thousand Year Trees and Black Roses were not going to keep it a secret for him, and besides, it was not that big a deal.


    "Blue Narcissus¡­!" But as soon as he said it, the two boys'' mouths turned O-shaped, and even the pupils of a girl who just happened to be passing by dilated.


    As for Lucianne-Kell, who was beside him, her face gave a huge jolt.


    The three of them instantly fell silent, they evidently needed time to digest the weight of that news.


    Garen felt as though he had underestimated the importance of the Blue Narcissus organization, or rather, its position in the hearts of regular students.


    "You mean that extremely mysterious Blue Narcissus, whose members are all heirs and heiresses?" the other boy could not help but ask.


    "Is there a problem?" Garen asked in confusion.


    "Throughout the whole school, do you have any idea how many people can join the Blue Narcissus every year? It''s less than five per grade! Oh my god!" the boy instantly lost it, looking at how calm Garen seemed, it was as though a stampede had run through his heart. This was such incredibly good news, and this guy did not act like it at all! He was wandering out here like it was nothing!


    "Whatever, I''m gonna go get breakfast."


    Looking at the two boys wordlessly, Garen went past them by himself.


    Lucianne-Kell stared for a moment, and then hurried to catch up.


    Translator''s Notes:


    No idea why this was censored?

 820 Ripples 2

    On the way to the canteen, more and more people greeted Garen enthusiastically, and most of them were people he had seen just once, yet they were greeting him automatically like they were the best of friends. Most of these came from families that were not particularly well-off, but not too bad either. In fact, the students with really bad backgrounds did not approach him at all.


    When he reached the canteen, he grabbed some food and drink before sitting down. Lucianne-Kell sat down opposite Garen of her own initiative, and within half a minute, some students approached them, greeted Garen, and sat down beside him.


    This situation was exactly the same as when those heirs and heiresses showed up. Some of the students sat down as though in awe of the great weather, and then began to talk among themselves. They would occasionally pull Garen into the topic, teasing him. These conversations looked very natural, but in truth all of them were instinctively observing Garen''s reactions.


    Before he knew it, there were five or six other students sitting around him with Garen in the center, and they had formed a small social circle. This also allowed them to subtly block off the other students who wanted to approach him, so several students who had arrived late left quietly and rather regrettably.


    Inwardly, Garen understood the reason.


    He had demonstrated his potential, and then joined a powerful group such as the Blue Narcissus. Plus there were rumors that he was connected to Mondo, so of course his future was full of potential. He would definitely become a Field Level Officer or even Major General. To the normal students around him, someone like him should be approached before he fully developed, that was the best time to try and get in his good books.


    Most of the students believed that opportunity came to those who knocked on its door, if you did nothing at all for yourself, even the biggest opportunity would eventually come to nothing. Sometimes you had to be slightly more shameless, and then maybe you would obtain a chance that others would need to work for years to reach.


    These people truly chased after power, going where the tide did. They were shameless enough to be nothing more than grass by the wall, you could give them some small jobs, but Garen knew that they would be the first to run if anything serious happened.


    Still, he could not act too independent in the academy, plus many of these people were also good-looking young men and women. At the very least they were eye candy, so Garen just let them be.


    He sat in his seat and ate his mushroom braised chicken at his own pace. The way Garen ate was very strange, he would dip his bread and buns into the chicken soup and eat them like that. He would usually finish one fist-sized bun in three bites, and he never stopped. Within ten minutes, he had stuffed three peoples'' worth of food into his stomach.


    After that, he picked up the napkin and wiped his mouth elegantly. When he was reincarnated into the Totem World, the combination of his lifelong aristocracy training and huge appetite gave him some strange eating habits. It looked very classical and gentle, but he ate a terrifying amount.


    By the time the people around him noticed something amiss, they saw that nothing was left of the pile of things on the table in front of Garen.


    "Did you always eat so much, Nono? No wonder you''re so good at Mech battles!" Kell, who was sitting opposite, was evidently there to purposely get closer to Garen, and now she asked in a small, tender voice.


    "It''s not that much," Garen replied calmly. He held up his watch to check the time. "It''s getting late, I plan to attend Professor Ser''s class on interference."


    "I''ll go too, I''ve nothing else to do anyway," Kell said, taking the initiative.


    "Me too! You don''t mind, do you, Nono?" The one who spoke was a pretty girl from Nonosiva''s class, her results were completely average, and her Willpower was only at Middle Basic Level as well, but her looks and her figure were very decent. She had a proper Eastern girl''s features, her black hair tied up, her skin fair and smooth. Her large eyes were black and bright, with the textbook almond-shaped eyes and cherry lips. She gave off an impression of a jade-white china doll, and when she sat quietly, she had the aura of a young girl in the spring of youth.


    The girl was called Vera, she looked pure and innocent, but she was a well-known bootlicker in the class. Apparently, she was often seen going in and out of entertainment with the rich boys.


    "If you won''t find it boring, sure." Garen smiled and stood.


    As soon as he got up, he saw Mina and Aier sitting not far away. Both of them looked at him slightly worriedly, and just happened to meet his gaze.


    "If you''re here, why didn''t you come say hi?" Garen walked up to them, smiling. Only friends in need were friends indeed. He split the crowd, and walked straight up to them.


    "Well, we saw you were surrounded by so many people, including some pretty girls, so we didn''t want to disturb you." Mina was slightly unhappy, but seeing that Nono still greeted them the same way he always did, she heaved a sigh of relief inwardly.


    "Isn''t that Aier? You guys are here too, sorry I didn''t notice you just now," Vera said with a smile, walking out from beside Garen. She knew Aier, the little boy who had once written her love letters. He was very pure and innocent, but she had not thought that he would be this close to Nono, so that was a possible breakthrough.


    "Vera¡­" Aier saw Vera standing next to Garen, and dejection flashed across his eyes. He had always had a crush on Vera.


    Garen was lazy to bother with these soap dramas, the class was going to start soon. He had nothing to do anyway, studying more would never go wrong. The classes in the academy were all free to join, if you wanted to attend then go, as long as you pass the final test, nobody really cared how you studied anyway.


    After becoming famous, a situation like this would also be very normal. There were many people who wanted to approach the powerful, and some students with good connections would surely also have found out that he was praised by the Blue Narcissus'' Britney. That was why this was happening.


    After chatting with Aier and Mina for some time, Garen was practically pushed by the group into the students'' lecture area.


    Kell and Vera had completely taken over the positions on his left and right. Garen did not really care right now anyway, this way he was no different from the other rich and powerful heirs, so he could use that to disguise himself.


    The days passed by.


    Soon, the second batch of white Rainbow Stones would be arriving as well, and the teaching time he agreed on with Celine was fast approaching as well.


    Garen made some slight preparations, and then he went with Perry, the representative from Blue Narcissus, as well as Celine''s representative, Wade, to receive the cargo. This was the first time, so all three sides needed to familiarize themselves with the process. The car sending the cargo was a normal cargo vehicle from Celine''s family. There were five hundred pieces in this first batch, they were the first primary materials.


    Garen used the several tens of thousands of units he had left after buying the training method to rent a small factory for distillation for a month. There was a fully automated production line to increase the purity of the flammable powders, to achieve the market''s minimal requirements.


    But this was all beside the point, the main reason for his helplessness was how, after absorbing all of the more than five hundred White Rainbow Stones in this batch, he still showed no signs of leveling up. The progress of the Hellfrost Peacock Technique''s fourth grade rose from 11% to 78%, and it did not go any further than that. Evidently, that little bit was no longer enough for it to use up, and he needed more.


    On the other hand, the high-energy fuel powder created from these five hundred or more stones was enough to fill twenty or thirty bottles. He had invested 1500 units, and 500 more units went to safe transport of the materials, so his main cost was 2000 units. In return, he obtained 25 bottles of powder, each 25kg in weight. Each kilogram cost ten thousand units at the very least. So his final profit would be about 2.5 million, and considering the split in profits, Garen would obtain 40% for himself, so that would be a million units.


    Looking at the number of Universal Units in his watch, Garen finally relaxed as well.


    He still owed Instructor Hamm more than a million in surgical fees, so now he finally felt like there was some hope for him to return it all. He would also need a lot of money for the training methods after this, but he needed to be wary of the speed and regularity every month.


    Earning money too fast was not a good thing, it would be easy to invite the greed and envy of others.


    Garen tried his best to control the speed with which he produced the powder, partly because he was afraid of attracting attention, but also because he wanted to control the demands of the market. As soon he tossed out the refined powders, there were already military factories and research centers taking them, they practically fought for it. This situation made Garen secretly glad that his plan was correct, if he had not first connected with the two powers and had them cover for him, then those waves of commercial spies would already be enough for him to lose big. Just looking at how thirsty those buying powers seemed to be, no one would believe him if he said he did not have any forces suppressing them.


    He set his pace at buying five hundred pieces twice a month, it was not too much, and this way he would earn about 5 million each time. 10% of that was 500 thousand units. Celine was not interested in 100 thousand or so, but he had to perk up and pay attention if it was 500 thousand. If he was already like that, as someone from a family of merchants, Vivienne and Wade would be even more so. 500 thousand units in profits every month got their hearts palpitating slightly, then they would think about the 40% Nonosiva had, and both would feel even weaker.


    In June, as their first time cooperating, Garen had a total profit of five million. Taking away the change, he paid 20% or one fifth in taxes. Of the remaining four million, he took 40% in profits, and ended up with 1.6 million more units in his account.


    He used most of this 1.6 million to pay back his debt to Instructor Hamm, and then he used the remaining 200 thousand or so to pay for the factory''s rental and overhead, and he also gave some away as salaries for the people who had safely navigated the purchase and delivery of the White Rainbow Stones. He gave Kendall ten thousand as a bonus so he could send it back to his family, and then he gathered up the remaining hundred thousand units into a whole number.


    These hundred thousand units were his true modal for him to set his foundations.


    At the same time, as Nonosiva, he had officially entered the second year of university, becoming a second-year student at the academy.


    As for his Willpower, as long as he could absorb the White Peacock Stone again next month, he should be able to reach the fourth grade. The Hellfrost Peacock Technique''s basics were divided into five grades, the first five grades were just setting the foundations. There were three more grades after that, and that was where its power could really be displayed. Garen had already vaguely noticed that the Peacock Technique was not very beneficial to his body in itself, it mainly increased his special abilities. This also made him look forward to the upcoming fourth grade, because that was a fundamental shift. Once he reached it, his Willpower would be forced to increase, and he would then properly be in Level One, so he would no longer have to rely on the Moonfang. He could be a mech pilot all on his own.


    And just then, ripples finally began to spread through the Blackboard Region as well. Some rumors about the White Light terrorist organization began to spread through the region, apparently the White Light Organization''s Great Light Mech had already entered the Blackboard Region, breaking past the defense army and Black-Clothed General''s barricades.


    So the three large states, more than ten provinces, several dozen cities of different sizes, as well as the several hundred villages and towns in the Blackboard Region all began to up their security at the same time. Thankfully, they did not overdo it, they just activated many more surveillance cameras and increased the number of mechs on patrol. Normal people would just find security slightly tighter, only the professionals could sense the subtle undercurrent of chaos in the Blackfield Region.


    Nobody knew that the Black-Clothed General had actually already completely lost track of the White Light Mech, and it was already hidden somewhere in the Blackboard Region.

 821 Fair 1

    Evening, in the second largest town in the Blackboard Region, Nocto City


    The many tall buildings were like pencil blades stuck into the ground, straight as an arrow. The buildings would occasionally sparkle with white or green, yellow lights, and there was the vaguely of music as well.


    Between the buildings, there were many suspended bridges connecting them, and these flowed with a constant stream of levitating cars. The car lights were like a river of neon lights, from afar, it looked like a sparkling string of pearls.


    A row of wild geese lined up in a row neatly, slowly flying through the gap between buildings. Crossing over the bridges, flying over the cars, they flew slowly over a few patrolling white mechs.


    Whoosh.


    A humanoid white mech raised its head and glanced at the geese.


    "What is it? Cady," another mech beside it asked.


    "Nothing. I just saw some wild geese, and that always reminds me of the situation back home. I wonder what it''s like back there now," the white mech replied softly.


    "Go see it if you have time, after all, once this martial law period is over, the higher-ups have said we get a week off," his companion said with a laugh.


    "True, I do plan to go back for real this time," the white mech laughed as well.


    Whoosh!


    Suddenly a spot of white light flew across the sky above the city.


    "What''s that?" The two of them looked up and noticed the white light.


    "Don''t know, a signal glare?"


    "Scan it."


    "It seems to be a firework that was reflected back."


    "A firework? Is it one of those new types? It''s so bright."


    "Forget it, let''s keep walking, once we complete our mission today we can go back and have a feast."


    The two mechs slowly continued to fly towards their determined destination.


    Meanwhile, the white dot landed in a very normal pitch-black alley somewhere in the city.


    The white light floated in the air lightly for a while, and then it landed onto the ground slowly. With a whoosh, the air twisted and turned transparent, then somehow a whole man''s body began to appear above the white dot.


    He wore a white skin-tight suit, and there was a red line of light that kept flowing on his body, from his head down his back, blinking and twinkling continuously.


    "I have arrived safely," he smiled, the corners of his lips curving. Glancing around his surroundings, he found that the alley was completely void of people, and there was only a stray dog sprawled on top of some rubbish cans.


    "Is everything okay? Ace," a woman''s icy-cold voice came from the man''s collar.


    "No problem, everything''s going swell. This degree of security is no threat at all, their scanning is too lame!" the man replied relaxedly. Unzipping the skin-tight suit he wore, he revealed a T-shirt and black leather pants. He pressed the suit lightly, and it instantly and automatically shrunk, turning into an ornate thick silver belt. Wearing it casually around his waist, the man instantly became a normal young person living in the city. He gave off a fashionable and wild feeling.


    "I have to say, these clothes are pretty good, Six Flowers."


    "Thank you for the praise. That is an affirmation of my taste," the icy lady replied. "I graduated from fashion design, after all."


    "Now that''s a surprise." The man smoothened his hair, spiking up all of his short deep blue hair, so that it looked like a burning blaze reaching upwards. He also completely revealed his face, so handsome it was slightly devilish.


    "Alright, I''d better explore this place properly, it looks like this Blackboard Region is doing pretty well for itself."


    "I hope you have fun, sir, but please don''t forget your mission."


    "Of course."


    "We will handle the search for the Black-Clothed General, please don''t worry about that."


    Turning off his communicator, the blue-haired man chuckled and strode out of the alley. As he passed, that sprawled stray dog suddenly had a fit, and fell down sideways, its whole body shaking. Blood flowed out of its eyes, and with two popping sounds, the wild dog''s eyeballs exploded.


    "The optical nerves will also retain some information¡­" the man murmured, as he quickly melded into the crowd down the street.


    **********************


    The Blackboard Academy, in a large lecture room


    A white-haired lecturer in a black suit was talking his tongue off in the front, never once stopping. Most of the several hundred students at the bottom were seriously writing notes, while others were simply recording video and audio.


    Only the lecturer''s voice echoed through the classroom.


    The seventy-eight-year-old lecturer, Andre was one of the few people in the Academy who fully supported the Deadlight Cannon Crossfire Web, he believed that once the Deadlight Cannon Fire crossed enough times, and was concentrated enough, then even the strongest close combat mech would be helpless when fighting in a small area.


    "As for the claims that close combat mechs will be countered by the large battleships, right now, close combat mechs are countered by the large battleships, whereas large battleships are countered by long-range shooting mechs. And long-range mechs are countered by close combat mechs. They are all interconnected, this is the fixed rule that we concluded from many wars."


    In a corner of the classroom.


    Garen held his notebook and was very seriously doing his notes. Somehow a bunch of rich and powerful heirs had gathered around as though it was natural, quite a few of them had decent backgrounds, and were top of the grade as well. They were all sitting next to him, some were taking notes and listening to class properly, and some were talking and joking with the only girl in the group.


    The rumors about Britney''s praise of Garen had finally completely come out. As the person who held the true power in Blue Narcissus, Britney was already the Head of the academy''s Logistics Department, and she was also in charge of Blue Narcissus'' finances. The power of her family was terrifying, and although she had never met Garen officially, she was already very obviously on his side.


    Vera and Kell also sat beside Garen, both of them looking very close to and reliant on him. They could also feel the contemptuous and jealous gazes from around them, so they felt slightly cocky. After all, the early bird caught the worm.


    "Nono, that guy''s here too?" a boy beside Vera, called Monty, said suddenly.


    "What?" Garen paused slightly, and looked at him for a moment before following his gaze to find a somewhat familiar figure.


    Short blue hair, earrings, a tall figure. That boy was currently noting something down, his head lowered.


    "It''s the young brother of that Cor who put you in the hospital last time. Last time he brought people over and wanted to teach you a lesson, remember that?" chuckled Monty.


    "That incident, huh¡­" Garen frowned.


    "It was not just that, this guy came looking for trouble during the finals as well, trying to trip you up. I heard that he spread the rumor saying that your weakness was your Willpower wasn''t strong enough," said Monty with a cold laugh. He was Mondo''s younger brother, and his older brother had specifically told him to approach Nonosiva, so this was the best opportunity to show up. Others were afraid of those siblings, but Monty''s family was not intimidated by Cor and Caus. Even if they had the Thousand Year Tree and Black Rose behind them, he had the Blue Narcissus behind him too, so he was not scared of their background. Besides, they were more than a level beneath him in the organization, why would there be anyone willing to cross him for their sake.


    "What do you want me to do? We''re bros, so just say the word and I''ll get them on it."


    Garen spun the pen in his fingers.


    "It''s all in the past, this way the grudges will never end, so just forget it."


    "You sure are generous," said Monty with a laugh.


    "Nono was never a calculative person," Vera said softly, as though she was part of the family.


    "Fine, fine, fine." Monty threw two boys a glance, and the two boys sitting behind Garen stood up with a smile, walking out of the classroom. One of the larger guys was working his fists, making loud cracking sounds.


    Garen sensed it, but he pretended not to, and he lowered his head and continued to write notes.


    Monty laughed.


    "I''m going to the loo."


    "Mm-hmm."


    Bam!!!


    In a dark corner of the corridor outside, a red-haired boy was hit by a ferocious knee jab, crashing into the wall as blood leaked out the corner of his mouth. His whole face was white, and he was in so much pain he could not even straighten up.


    The two large boys pulled him up hard.


    "Isn''t he a tough guy, that Caus? He dares to play tricks on my friend, hehe¡­ I wanna see if he would dare to leave the room for his friend."


    Monty crossed his arms over his chest, leaning at the exit and he stared at the red-haired boy, laughing coldly.


    "You''re one of Cor''s best friends, and you''re pretty close to Caus too recently. I''ve informed that guy, let''s see if he dares to show his face."


    "Monty¡­ We never provoked you!" said the red-haired boy, his voice muffled.


    "You provoked me, alright." Monty spat on the ground and rubbed it with his foot. "Caus still hasn''t come out? It''s only a dozen seconds by foot from the class, looks like he''s forsaken you and ran off on his own."


    "What are you trying to do? This has nothing to do with me¡­" The red-haired boy''s heart was growing cold, he knew that these people were so domineering in their grade that even the lecturers could not control them. Their backgrounds were so powerful that no one would say anything even if they permanently disfigured a student or two. To them, it was just a matter of money.


    "You''re looking for me, right?" Caus suddenly walked out from a corner and stood behind Monty. Looking at the red-haired student''s blood-covered face, his expression darkened. "Monty, what on earth are you trying to do?"


    "Yo, yo¡­ If it isn''t Caus, our newly promoted elite student? That won''t do~~ Elite students are impressive, what are we normal students to do from now on? Master Caus is a future star¡­ Smack!!"


    There was suddenly a loud and crisp sound.


    Everyone was frozen, no one had thought that Monty would suddenly lash out without warning. Monty was also an expert in fighting, especially in close combat. For him to lash out suddenly, even Caus could not react in time.


    He slapped Caus straight in the face, and laughed brutally.


    "How is it? Mr. Elite? Fight me?"


    Smack!


    There was another slap, and the other side of Caus'' face began to swell.


    "Why aren''t you fighting back? Aren''t you the inner school''s powerful elite student, why aren''t you resisting?" Monty said eerily. "What do you mean by not fighting back?"


    Smack!


    Smack! Smack! Smack! ¡­


    The slaps landed on Caus'' face one after the other. He continued to stand there quietly, not making a move to fight back, but his previously handsome face was already completed swollen.


    In the classroom, Garen raised his watch, and looked at the video sent to it. Seeing that Caus had no intention of fighting back, he remained expressionless, turning off the connection, and continued to listen to the class.

 822 Fair 2

    In some pale yellow plains on the outskirts of Nocto


    Three black mechs landed slowly on the wild plains, covered with wilted wild grass.


    "According to our sources, the signal first showed up around here," the first black mech with bull horns on its head spoke first.


    "With the intel department''s outdated techniques? I bet they were played with again," another mech, this one holding a huge scythe, said grumpily. "Do you have any real info or not, Matthew? Running around like this all day is tiring too."


    "That depends on Allie." Matthew sat in his mech, looking as gentlemanly as ever. " Boris, how did you feel about that mech you finished off last time?"


    "How did I feel?" The mech with the giant scythe paused. "Should be Level Five Willpower, I might not be able to finish ''em off myself. But with Allie''s interference, and your long-range shooting, it was still very easy. One hit K.O.! Hehe!"


    "According to the latest intel, that guy was just someone who had fell behind the pack, you better pray that we don''t meet the main team before that big sister arrives here," Matthew said helplessly. "Level Five, huh¡­ I wonder how long it''ll take for me to get in there."


    "We''re still young, what are you so worried about?" Boris tsked. "As long as we get into Level Five, we get to become Black-Clothed Generals, and then we can enjoy a life of luxury, hehe¡­"


    "Someone''s coming! Watch out!" Allie, who had been the only one keeping silent, spoke suddenly.


    "Which direction?"


    "North-east, the actual location is unknown, it''s coming fast, very fast!" Allie said hurriedly, and then she suddenly jumped back, retreating. "Standard dodge!"


    The three mechs were like birds caught by surprise, they instantly bounced more than ten meters away.


    Boom!!!


    A white meteor crashed in the distance. The meteor showed itself, and it was actually a huge white-and-red mech, crouching in the middle of the deep crater in the ground, sharp thorns forming a shell like that of a tortoise on its back.


    "Go! Kill him!" Matthew yelled abruptly, turning around and running.


    Boris and Allie split up suddenly, the two of them dashing at the white-and-red fiercely.


    "Dammit! I fricking found the big fishes as soon as I landed!" the white-and-red mech cursed, splaying open both of his palms and revealing the pitch-black cannon barrels on them.


    Hah!


    Intense electricity spewed out of the cannons.


    Without them noticing, a large group of countless white mechs had rapidly appeared in the distant sky, all of them marked with the logo of the Blackboard Region, and then they began to fly towards the area of the conflict.


    *********************


    "Oh¡­ oh¡­ Just like that! Just like that!! Oh~~~~!! It''s coming out!!"


    Clint Beza looked on speechlessly as a large piece of metal shrapnel flew out of the river in front of him, landing slowly beside the riverbank. All he could hear was Red Moon''s disgusting shouting.


    "It''s so wonderful, how many years has it been? How many years have I not felt what it''s like to have a body¡­ Tsk-tsk," Red Moon''s voice was full of joy. "This alloy sure is good, I never thought we could find such wonder alloy material in this trash region, looks like it''s not good for nothing after all."


    "Are you happy, Master?" Clint watched as the metal corpses piled up behind him.


    "Sure I am, after fishing for more than ten days, I only managed to gather these few things, guess I gotta be happy for now," Red Moon replied quickly. "Hurry up, hurry up, don''t dally around, you gotta get ready to combine this!"


    "Put it together? You want me to put it together?!" Clint''s mouth fell open. "How am I going to combine it? I have no idea!"


    "What are you afraid of, I''m right here!" Red Moon said with disdain. "Combine them and then we can go look for more resources!"


    "But how do I do that!" Clint was finally at the end of his rope, grabbing his hair hard.


    "You still don''t feel it?" Red Moon''s voice took a rare, serious turn.


    "What?"


    "Your body, your body''s hidden Willpower, it''s finally been activated."


    "Hah?" Clint did not understand, "Willpower? Since when did I have Willpower?"


    "You idiot! If you didn''t have Willpower, how would you be able to carry out so many things?!" Red Moon howled, as though wishing he would grow up. "Your Willpower''s attribute is moving material things! Idiot!"


    "Hah?"


    "Hah, your ass!! Now get moving!" Red Moon was utterly incensed.


    "But this is so big¡­ Could I go back and get someone to help¡­" Clint scratched his hair in frustration, saying in a small voice.


    "Go and move it! The heck ''bout getting anyone else!" Red Moon was even more pissed now, "You got me, the universe''s number one Forbidden Mech core, helping you, so what the hell are scared of! Get moving!"


    Clint was completely helpless, if he did not go help, he would surely be electrocuted again. He was sick and tired of that seizure-like feeling, so he had to go up obediently, and look for the lightest piece to carry.


    Aiming for the black shard the size of a face basin, he rubbed his hands and went up to grab the edges, pulling it up fiercely.


    Whoosh!


    The shard was surprisingly light.


    "Eh?" Clint was stunned, weighing the metal shard in his hand. "It''s so light¡­"


    "Light, my ass! It''s because you got stronger!" Red Moon continued to scold him. "Do you fricking think that I''ve been electrocuting you and wasting my energy all this time? Grow some wits, won''t you!" Now that they were closer, this guy''s real personality was completely revealed. At first he still pretended slightly, but now that he was sure of Clint''s weak personality, he could not even be bothered to pretend anymore.


    "But why would Willpower be like this?" Clint may be dumb, but that did not mean he had no general knowledge at all. Willpower would not be this strong as soon as it was activated. "Shouldn''t Willpower be very weak in the beginning, and it can''t be used on material things and people, right?"


    "Do I look normal to you? Let me tell you, I''m so great that even my piss smells good, what''s more the secret techniques I taught you!" Red Moon was slightly full of himself now.


    "If it was just normal middle- or low-level Willpower activation, it might end up like what you said, but if I''m the one doing things, do you really think it would be that sort of garbage?" he chuckled. "The Nine Mega Cannon training method trains up Willpower to match my electric healing, so the effect is really impressive! Tripling your strength is a small matter!"


    "If your talent wasn''t so trashy, if you could learn my Milky Way Extinction, I guarantee you could become Superman in a second!" Sensing the shock on Clint''s expression, Red Moon got even cockier.


    "So cool....!"


    "Of course, who do you think I am? Back then, all on my own I swept through¡­ Uh, let''s forget about that, hurry up and combine them! This is the combination blueprint! Remember it closely!" Red Moon changed the topic, and sent him a blueprint straight through his brain.


    "In accordance with your wishes, you can choose your support members, so the first one you decided on is Darby, and the last one is Baylon?"


    "Yeah," Clint nodded solemnly. "I''ll ask him last."


    "Why the heck woulda ask!"


    But this time, Clint actually decided to ignore Red Moon for once. Seeing how quickly and resolutely he turned on his Watch Terminal, Red Moon also did not scold him for once.


    Soon enough, the call to Baylon went through, and on the opposite side, Baylon''s handsome smiling face appeared on the screen.


    "Where''d you go, Clint? It''s really busy in the shop, how could you not come help?"


    "Lon. There''s something I want to ask you." The more time Clint spent with Red Moon, the more mysterious and complicated he felt to Clint. He did not know if it was right for him to bring Lon into this either, but he had a feeling that once he went down this road, perhaps he really might not be able to turn back later."


    "What''s the matter? Tell me." Seeing Clint look so serious, the smile on Baylon''s face froze slightly as well.


    "If you have a chance so that you could become a true pilot, and drive your ideal mech into battle, but in return you need to face many dangerous and troublesome things, would you choose to take that chance?" asked Clint carefully, choosing his words with caution.


    "I would!" Lon paused for a moment, and then replied with determination. He lowered his head, but from behind his hair, his eyes shone with the light of desire for his dreams. "I want to catch up to my brother¡­ I¡­ Becoming a pilot¡­ has always been my biggest dream. Isn''t it natural to face danger in battle?" His voice weakened, but his eyes grew brighter. "But this is all just a hypothesis, alright, forget it and come back to help. Owner''s getting angry," he laughed again.


    "I understand." Clint severed the connection suddenly. "I''ve decided, the last person is Lon."


    "You sure?"


    "Positive!"


    "Although that guy''s no good, he''s much more talented than you, hmm¡­ The confirmation imprint I gave him includes the Bright King Jisaiya''s training method. Since you''re positive, I''ll activate it now, got it!?" Red Moon asked again.


    "What do you mean by activating the imprint?"


    "That means I''ll send the training method into his mind, and at the same time I need to activate his body''s potential using the electricity I gave him last time, so his Willpower will reach Level One. That''s the thing you guys call Level One Willpower," Red Moon explained.


    "We can reach Level One that easily?" Clint was completely dazed. "Then what about me?"


    "You''re already Level One." Red Moon was at a loss for words. "Of course, without my activation, if you had gotten a normal training method, you could be training for several dozens of years before you could enter Level One."


    "But I''ll warn you in advance, that kid Baylon? Something''s odd about his body, so there might be some strange changes after his imprint is activated, you better be mentally prepared for that."


    "What changes?"


    "I don''t know for sure either. After this, you had still better continue practicing the training method properly every day, just like I taught you before. Find some heavy things and carry them around, that training method is the one with the lowest requirements for talent, all you need to do is work hard. If all goes well, you can definitely reach seven or eight levels."


    "Got it¡­ It''s just¡­ isn''t this unfair to those people who had to train so many years just to reach Level One Willpower¡­" Clint said as scratched his head.


    "Unfair?" Of course they''re different from you," Red Moon explained, his tone turning gentler. Your Willpower was upgraded and activated with the help of my imprint, unlike them, your Willpower has one large flaw."


    "Flaw? What flaw?" Clint was starting to get worried.


    "Half of your Willpower comes from you guys, and the other half belongs to me, so when you use it, if I don''t agree, you won''t be able to control your mech as freely as they can. Also, after leaving the mech, your Willpower will be halved. In other words, no matter what you do, you must make sure your opponents don''t find out who you are. If they catch you when you don''t have your mech, your Willpower will only be half of what it usually is, and the result, hehe, you know what will happen."


    "Is that it? I can deal with that, is there any way to savage it?"


    "No, you should be glad you have Willpower at all, now go do your work."


    "Okay¡­"


    Seeing Clint start to carry and transport the shards obediently, Red Moon pressed the activation switch for an imprint in his own core. That was the switch to the imprint hidden in Lon''s body beforehand.


    In an instant, a few invisible signals crossed a large distance and landed in Lon''s body, just as he was busying about in the bakery so far away.


    Lon placed the plate on the table, turned around and walked towards the counter. Suddenly, his whole body stiffened abruptly, and in an instant, he froze on the spot, not moving at all, as a mysterious numbing feeling spread from somewhere inside his body. He vaguely felt as though there was something new in his brain, something that looked very complicated and very high-class.

 823 Training 1

    Bang!


    Caus crashed against the wall violently. His nose was bruised and his face was swollen while his body was covered in dirt from the floor. He pushed himself up off the ground and looked at Monty and the others, who were sneering at him coldly.


    "How is it? Does it feel good?" Monty stepped forward and pinched his cheek.


    "Frankly, I''ve been annoyed at you for a long time. First Seat of the first grade, you''re truly something."


    "Are you done?" Caus lowered his head and spat out blood and saliva while his face remained expressionless.


    When Monty noticed Caus'' persistent cold gaze, his heart trembled slightly for unknown reasons. "Still holding up?"


    He furiously kicked his foot outwards again.


    Bang!


    The pointed end of his shoe struck Caus'' lower abdomen and caused him to bend over even further. The pain forced him to curl up like a dried shrimp before he fell onto the ground sideways.


    Caus remained silent and held his head quietly without even sighing. His behavior made Monty feel extremely uncomfortable. Meanwhile, the red-haired male student who stood on the side had become dazed long ago after witnessing everything, as he''d never expected Monty to act so harshly.


    "That''s enough, Monty. This is pretty extreme," suddenly, the voice of a young man echoed from the corner.


    Monty turned around and looked before noticing a tall but otherwise normal looking male student standing in the doorway suddenly. This fellow had tanned skin and looked extremely simple and plain. Furthermore, there were no prominent features on his square face. However, he gave off a composed and resolute air when he spoke.


    "Hey~ It''s Nicholas, the Elite Student," said Monty cynically.


    "Show me some respect," Nicholas calmly glanced at Caus who was still lying on the ground.


    "Show you some respect?" Monty sneered but did not refuse him immediately. Although he did not fear Nicholas, he was still wondering whether it would be worth offending a strong individual with a good future just for Nonosiva''s sake. Therefore, he was merely judging if his actions were worth the repercussions.


    After hesitating for a moment.


    "Alright, this matter ends here because of my respect for you," he waved his hand so that his other friends would release Caus and the red-haired male student.


    "Many thanks," in reality, Nicholas had been somewhat anxious earlier. Monty had a lot of support from the other Elite Students who were also advanced, highly-skilled Mech Pilots. Therefore, he was usually arrogant. Nicholas had never expected that Monty would actually respect him. Clearly, the person who was receiving his blows earlier was not very significant.


    He walked over and helped Caus. Once he saw Monty and his group of people leaving slowly, Nicholas could finally feel his heart relaxing slightly.


    Inside the classroom


    Garen lifted his watch and observed the situation above him while remaining expressionless. However, Vera and Kell, who were beside him, were somewhat displeased.


    "You''re just going to let him off lightly? Aren''t you making it too convenient for him?" Vera could not help but say.


    "It''s no big deal, just pay attention in class," Garen did not express it openly, but the animosity between Caus and himself had been settled completely at this moment. However, this was probably Monty''s main goal, forcing him to rely on the other party''s background strength even more.


    This matter was settled just like that. After a full day of class, Garen did not see Caus return to the classroom either.


    When he returned to the dorm, another student who was walking with him informed him that Caus had been taken away by his older brother. There was nothing else after that, as his older brother Cor did not express anything. It was clear that he merely planned to endure everything.


    The stormy winds calmed down.


    Garen''s life became a series of daily routines. He would spend a few hours practicing his Training Methods daily before spending some time with Monty, Vera, and the others, especially Vera and Kell. Due to their personal conditions, both of them came into contact with more people and had a wider source of information. Furthermore, their figurative short-sightedness made them a suitable and definite source for Garen to receive information. Meanwhile, Monty and the others seemed rough but were actually more pessimistic individuals who were unsuitable for intimate friendships. Most of the time, their information was not timely either. However, Garen continued to maintain good ties with Monty. Of course, these people were not useless either. With the help of Monty and the others, Garen was gradually able to become one of the main tyrants in his grade that no one dared to mess with, despite not having this intention at all.


    The second-grade course was really dull.


    Theory classes took up a large portion of their days while practical classes were mainly focused on experiments of accelerated gravitational forces. Therefore, they would need to sit inside the narrow Mech simulations and practice continuously to adapt themselves to higher levels of accelerated gravitational forces and inertia. They were training the adaptive abilities of their bodies to get used to more intense Mech Piloting in order to prepare themselves for actual practice. In order to become a true Level One Mech Pilot, one would need to be equipped with comprehensive fighting abilities. Therefore, subjecting themselves to intense acceleration and inertia was a vital part of their training.


    After the acceleration adapting training, it was rumored that there was a simulated battle environment to help them adapt to radiation and a tactic simulation experiment to develop different areas of their brains, besides other actual combat courses. These things were mainly determined by the different levels and types of Willpower that humans used to adapt to different environments.


    Most of the time, Garen would cut class right after grasping these things quickly. He would either practice his Training Methods in his dorm room or go and discuss sales with Celine and the others.


    Each day, time passed slowly until more than half a month went by in the blink of an eye.


    *************


    Katak.


    The pale green pool ball was hit by the white cue ball lightly before it rolled slowly towards the hole at the corner after the collision.


    Beside the pool table, Celine got up and used a cloth to wipe the cue while happily watching the green ball roll into the hole.


    She was dressed in a white shirt and a little black vest over trousers and shiny leather shoes, which gave off a fine and mature air. At first glance, it was uncertain if people would be able to notice that she was actually a girl. Moreover, she was only a young female student who was not even twenty years old.


    Garen stood on the side while dressed in a black shirt. Both of his hands were twirling the cue unenthusiastically while looking on as Celine continued to hit the balls.


    The bright but soothing light cascaded downwards from above. There was a black ''L'' shaped bar counter on the side while soft slow music played. Meanwhile, a female bartender was dazzling them with her techniques before she finished shaking the cocktail quickly. The colorful alcoholic drink formed bubbles of various pale shades when the rays of light reflected against it.


    Both of them were currently inside one of the underground cellars that Celine''s family owned. This place was located within a short distance from the academy and was used as a temporary residence when Celine made special purchases.


    "How are the recent business sales?" asked Garen simply in a bored manner when he noticed that Celine was about to clear the table in one go.


    "Still alright. With your blessings, everything is going smoothly except that the sales operations are far too relaxed. I feel guilty every time I get one-tenth of the profits," Celine looked at her own results happily and smiled while getting up.


    "It doesn''t matter. Without your support, more money would be depleted because of many other things. You should rest at ease," Garen smiled.


    "Actually, I did not have any sales at all. When news broke out at Vivienne''s side recently, a crowd of people flocked over immediately to inquire about the supply and quantity of goods. Dozens of bottles of powder were ordered at once," Celine was extremely satisfied with their collaboration this time. After receiving two consecutive payments, she gradually began to look forward to these collaborations. She gradually warmed up to Garen as their relationship became closer as well. Besides their mutual support for each other, both of them had favorable opinions of each other as well, allowing them to naturally have a close friendship.


    "I don''t have any problems in that aspect. However, the progress of your combat training is still really terrible," said Garen while shaking his head. "I''ve used various methods to train and guide you but you''re still unable to meet my demands."


    "Don''t you think that your demands are too high?" Celine asked in a puzzled tone. "I couldn''t even meet your demands despite risking my own life."


    "Try again during today''s training in a little while." Garen was getting impatient. As a high-level martial arts master, he had his own honor as well. If the students he taught merely turned out to be garbage, they would definitely affect his reputation when they went out into the world.


    Although he took great precautions to only teach Celine certain unimportant combat theories and general knowledge and made sure that she followed these principles and knowledge to undergo her training, the effects and results were unsatisfactory. However, he had seen Celine''s vigor for training. She had an insane passion for it and dedicated almost all of her time in training.


    "You really don''t see me as a woman¡­" whenever Celine mentioned training, her thoughts would become somewhat silent. When she thought of Garen''s state during training, she often felt that he was strange despite her being a maniac who was always striving to become stronger.


    "I should do that," Garen watched as the last ball on the table was finally hit into the hole before a female server walked over and arranged the balls properly again. He snapped his fingers before picking the white cue ball up and placing it in the right position.


    "Actually, ball games like these are much simpler. If no one disturbs me, I can usually clear the table in one go. For instance¡­"


    He moved the cue gently.


    Pop.


    When the crisp noise rang out, the pool balls that were arranged properly on the table dispersed immediately. Next, they rolled calmly and slowly towards all of the holes in the surroundings.


    Plop plop plop plop¡­


    Moments later, a series of noises that indicated that the balls were rolling into the holes lingered continuously.


    Celine began clapping instantly while a defeated look appeared on her face.


    "Despite already knowing that your level of abnormality is out of the ordinary, I still feel unhappy whenever I see things like this. I''ve been playing pool for more than a year but I''m still not as good as you even though you only learned it two hours ago."


    "This is the difference between geniuses and normal people," it was rare for Garen to make jokes like these.


    "Perhaps you''re right," Celine did not laugh along but shook her head instead. "Let''s go back up."


    "Mmhmm."


    Both of them put away the cues and climbed up the steps that led to the surface from the underground cellar. There was a large majestic hall at the entrance that led to the surface. The large hall was completely golden while various oil paintings depicting happy scenes were hung on the surrounding walls. Some of the paintings depicted countryside life while others depicted either metropolis scenes or portraits of prominent figures. Most of them were oil paintings of various Mech models.


    A few maids attended to them and took them to wash their hands. Next, they drank some natural water before changing into a set of bandage style clothing that was especially worn during training.


    One of Celine''s main habits during training was her love of wearing different types of bandage style clothing. White bandages could be wound around her chest and other more cumbersome and voluptuous parts of her body to reduce air resistance while increasing the speed of her combat movements. She was a paranoid person who would always notice the slightest bit of inefficiency.


    Meanwhile, Garen was different. He changed into bandaged style clothing as well because Celine strongly suggested it but wore special protective tight clothing on top. The white protective clothing resembled a somewhat tighter white windbreaker that was both beautiful and practical.


    Once both of them had changed into a new set of clothes, they entered the actual combat hall that they normally used. It was a square hall that was more than one hundred square meters wide. The surrounding walls, ceiling, and floors were covered with a thick layer of black alloy walls. This type of alloy that was known as Issim had a high level of toughness and strong spontaneous recovery abilities. It was mostly used to build the outer shell of Mechs. The true affluence of Celine''s family could clearly be seen from their usage of this material to build this room.


    Almost seven to eight hundred thousand Units were spent to build a room like this.

 824 Training 2

    Celine had short light green hair. Although there were a few scars on her face, she still possessed a seductive figure and fair, smooth skin. In spite of the bandages wrapped around her chest as a binder, both of her ample peaks continued to protrude distinctively, exposing two extremely eye-catching buds. Long periods of training had streamlined her slender figure and caused her previously round but proportionally long limbs to tighten firmly without a single gap. Meanwhile, her hips and buttocks were merely covered by bandages that were wrapped into trouser-like shapes that only reached her knees while the other parts of her legs were completely bare. From afar, she gave off a wild charm.


    However, Garen had seen all kinds of beautiful women. Naturally, his emotions would not be aroused by such a sight. There was only an extremely determined student standing in front of him now.


    "After going through so many consecutive classes, your endurance test is finally over. Today''s task is acute awareness train¡­"


    "Hold on," Celine interrupted him suddenly. "You''ve been training me all this while but I can finally feel that my progress has increased recently. We haven''t personally engaged in actual combat yet, so why don''t we try it properly today?"


    "Try it?" Garen pondered for a moment. "That''s fine too. However, are you sure that you want actual trial training?"


    "What''s wrong? Is that not okay?" Celine raised her eyebrows and asked determinedly.


    "It''s fine, of course. I had this plan in mind earlier as well. I''m merely bringing it forward somewhat now," said Garen casually.


    "So we''re going to do it?" Celine laughed twice and bounced on the spot lightly.


    "Pay attention, I''m going to start now!"


    Garen raised his hand and looked at his watch, "One minute."


    He then casually told her, "I''ll destroy you in one minute."


    "Wanna try?" suddenly, Celine felt unconvinced.


    Pfoo!


    She had barely finished speaking and before Garen could even raise his head fully, Celine had charged over spontaneously. She kicked her leg upwards towards Garen''s chin violently while her slender leg caused a strong gust to roll up and whistle.


    If she had managed to land this kick on a regular person, her victim would already have been admitted to the hospital for serious injuries such as fractured bones.


    However, this was not the case for Garen.


    He deflected her move with one hand.


    Bang!


    When the instep of her long leg collided and intertwined with the back of his hand, Garen swayed on the spot lightly while Celine stumbled a few steps backward before making great efforts to stand steadily.


    "Use all of your strength. You''re too weak," said Garen simply.


    "Easy for you to say!" Celine had fought to the point where she was provoked now. She grasped the daggers on the weapons rack beside her quickly before taking a sudden big stride forward and charging over again.


    Three whooshing noises could be heard as three knives streaked across, leaving faint gleams of dazzling light. However, none of the knives hit their target as all of them were gingerly evaded by Garen without requiring him to move his footsteps at all.


    "Useless," Garen slapped his right hand downwards. He hit Celine''s arm lightly before releasing an extremely dull but loud noise that sent the daggers flying.


    A banging noise could be heard before the bandages on Celine''s arms tore open and dispersed suddenly. A large bloody mess appeared on her arms immediately.


    "That was really strong! Again!" Celine did not show any signs of anger but laughed instead. She took large strides and approached while preparing herself for close combat. Her elbows and one of her knees attacked in three different directions simultaneously. She formed a strange pose while the strong winds stirred around her. In her current state, she resembled a fearsome tiger that was about to pounce.


    A whooshing noise could be heard suddenly when she leaped directly into the air. However, she had overexerted herself and was struck downwards by the back of Garen''s hand. A tearing noise sounded through the air immediately before the bandages that covered her entire back fell apart and tore completely. The bandages around her chest tore open at once as well while a pair of white jade-like rabbits bounced out immediately in an extremely seductive manner.


    "Such quick speed!" Celine did not seem to care at all. She had truly practiced to the point of madness and was completely unconcerned that her modesty had been exposed. Instead, she pounced over immediately. She had placed her hands together closely and interlocked them before stepping forward and closing in on Garen. Her hands were ready to seize the key fibers and muscles at Garen''s weakest points.


    Garen had many experiences that would help him counter close combat like this. Moreover, the current qualities of his physical body were greater than those of the average person on all fronts. This allowed him to achieve almost twice the level of a regular strong man. Even though Celine was strong enough, she was still just a woman at the end of the day. Currently, she was still at a young age and had yet to mature fully. Therefore, her strength and speed were still somewhat slower.


    Both of them engaged in hand-to-hand combat while facing each other as the shadows of their fists and legs intertwined continuously.


    "Spiralling Leg!" suddenly, Celine rolled on the ground before moving her legs in a looping motion towards Garen''s thighs. She was using extremely great force that would cause an average person''s bones to break immediately if they were hit. The continuous sweeping motions of her legs formed a series of circular arcs that approached Garen relentlessly.


    Garen lightly jumped vertically, only dodging the hit at the most critical moment.


    "Are you just going to dodge?!" roared Celine.


    "Dodge?" Garen smiled and swiped his right leg down steadily while immediately kicking his left leg forward swiftly without any other fancy movements.


    Bang!


    When both of their legs clashed, the bandages around her legs tore open and flew away at the same time.


    Garen was lucky. The tremendous force had caused Celine''s tight bandages to tear open at once. Furthermore, all the white bandages on her upper thighs had scattered completely. Her upper body was naked now while the lower part of her body could almost be seen as well.


    "Still want to fight?" asked Garen, smiling.


    "Of course!" Celine did not have the slightest hint of hesitation. Instead, she charged forward and continued approaching. "I haven''t lost yet!"


    Their fists collided constantly with each other''s before the occasional sweeping movements of their legs were added into the mix as well.


    Shh!


    The fists and legs of both people intertwined immediately again before the last bandage on Celine''s body tore and flew away.


    "Stop creating trouble," Garen stretched out both of his arms slowly before increasing the pace and performing a chain of hammering punches several moments later. Both of his hands formed a large hammer that struck Celine''s right arm so quickly that it was impossible for her to react in time.


    Bang!


    She took two steps backward.


    The second punch slammed against the top of her breasts immediately, causing her to become slightly dazed.


    The third punch.


    Garen stepped in a circular motion and moved behind Celine before landed three consecutive punches on her. Every punch landed on the back of her waist, releasing dull thunderous quakes.


    After the loud bang, Celine was sent flying at once. She hit the ground painfully and stopped moving completely.


    "That was ruthless!" she could still speak and even giggle. "This is finally strong enough!"


    "Still coming?" Garen looked down at her.


    "I haven''t lost yet!" for unknown reasons, Celine''s face was redder now while pink and red flushes appeared on her neck as well. "Keep going!" she had managed to support herself and stand up again after taking great pains to do it.


    "This is the continuous Twelve Flying Dragon Fist that I wanted to pass on to you," Garen tapped both of his fists together gently and made a noise that sounded like two blocks of wood colliding against each other. "Observe carefully."


    Instantly, he dashed forwards like a slender arrow and appeared like a ghost in front of Celine who had just gotten up.


    Bang bang bang bang bang!!


    His fists rained down upon Celine, bringing countless fragmented shadows with them. His punches landed on her chest and abdomen and when Garen turned, his punches became even stronger immediately when they landed on Celine''s back. The powerful shocks across her front and back mutually canceled each other out, forcing Celine''s body to remain on the spot without moving.


    For the final punch, Garen pushed both of his hands forward and clapped downwards.


    Boom!


    Celine''s entire body collapsed, starting from her shoulder. She rolled forwards painfully for more than ten meters while nearly crashing into the wall.


    She coughed and spat out a mouthful of blood.


    "Haha! That was fun!! Again!!" her voice had become strange.


    "Enough. You don''t even have enough strength to fight back anymore," said Garen indifferently. He could vaguely smell a strange scent that he could not place. It resembled the bodily odor of a virgin faintly. He glanced over at Celine before noticing that the area between her legs was wet. Apparently, this fight had aroused her¡­


    "Eh? It obviously hurt when you hit me earlier, so why does it feel nice instead now?" Celine could feel a strange sensation just by lying on the ground.


    "This person¡­ Don''t tell me she''s a masochist¡­" Garen could feel the annoyance forming black lines across his head faintly. He turned his head and looked away to avoid being rude.


    "What''s wrong with being a little wet? There''s nothing to be embarrassed about, it''s just a bodily instinct. Isn''t this just an orgasm that they talk about in the books? How strange," Celine sat on the ground casually and pointed at Garen while teasing him. "We''re just individuals who are pursuing ultimate strength, we don''t need to care about insignificant things like our flesh bodies."


    Once she had finished speaking, she stretched her legs open without a care and began to inspect the condition of her lower body right in front of Garen without covering herself at all.


    This rendered Garen completely speechless. Despite experiencing three different worlds, this was the first time he had encountered such a strange specimen. If this accident had not occurred, he would not have discovered Celine''s masochistic nature and her endearingly silly personality.


    "I''m going to leave first. This is about basic politeness," Garen was helpless and could only turn around and walk towards the doorway.


    "Do as you please. If you can''t even free yourself from these worldly bindings, how are you going to pursue the ultimate sources of power?" Celine''s taunts echoed behind him. "I never thought of you as someone who cared about worldly customs initially, but now I see that you can''t even let go of such things. How unfortunate."


    "This strange person¡­" Garen stumbled. It was truly impossible for him to understand the type of environment that this person had been brought up in.


    "Remember to bring me some tissues back if you''re going out. It''s really uncomfortable to be wet down here."


    The moment he opened the door, Garen heard some noises behind him immediately.


    The maids who were standing in the doorway had heard as well while dazed expressions appeared on their faces suddenly.


    "You¡­ Both of you¡­"


    "Go get tissues!" Garen''s head was filled with unexpected rage and slight exhaustion. Perverts like Celine had no sense of shame. If this was the true meaning of being free of all moral bindings, then he would rather¡­


    "Oh¡­ Under¡­ Understood¡­" the little maid had suffered a great shock. Her face turned as red as an apple at once but she sneaked a quick glance into the room before running away and leaving hurriedly.


    Garen saw that there were other maids inside the hall whose faces were also flushed. They were other students from the academy who were hired as help. Most of them were young girls who had yet to experience real life. Therefore, their faces turned completely red at once when they heard people speaking about such topics.


    Moments later, the maid who had dashed away earlier returned and lowered her blushing face before speaking softly.


    "Would¡­ Would you¡­ need this as well?" she took out a transparent little sheath shyly and passed it towards Garen who stood in front of her.


    "I just need some tissue¡­" Garen scratched his head and said softly. "Frankly, there''s nothing between Celine and I. You must understand, an accident happened during training. You know what I mean¡­"


    He explained patiently but it seemed as if the maid had misunderstood something as a look of comprehension flashed across her face suddenly.


    "Oh¡­ I understand. It''s that thing, is it¡­"


    Just then¡­


    "What are you doing?! You haven''t brought it yet and you''ve caused it to drip across the entire floor!" Celine''s loud yells echoed from within the room again. Her voice was extremely loud, allowing the entire hall to hear her words clearly¡­


    Garen felt an impulse to raise his hands towards the sky and utter a long cry. As he looked on at the hall full of shocked faces, he knew that it would be impossible for him to get rid of their suspicions no matter what he did.


    He took the tissue paper for Celine quickly. When he saw the mischievous look on the girl''s face, he knew immediately that she had done everything on purpose.


    "This is the power of worldly customs. Watch, hehe," she sat on the ground and laughed. Frankly, this girl was not bad looking and was actually quite pretty. She had a good figure and face despite her fierce personality. She liked fighting and was crude. If she had not undergone the latest scar restoration surgery, it would not be a problem for her to pass off as a man who had more than seven scars on his chest.


    When Garen remembered the cartoon that he had once watched on earth, the same black lines of annoyance formed on his head again.


    "Keep sitting down if you want to die!"


    "I''m just sitting here and you''re already threatening to hit me~~" Celine''s face deserved to be slapped. "Lucky for you, I haven''t had enough fun yet."


    "I¡­!" Garen was speechless.

 825 Destiny 1

    After leaving the room with Celine and changing their clothes, the girl continued to smack her lips while relishing the feeling from earlier.


    Both of them sat in a separate room in the little restaurant and were personally served cups of hot tea. They lifted the cups and drank from them slowly.


    "The new batch of goods has almost arrived. Should I get the convoy to send it directly to your factory or should they be sent somewhere else?" Celine took a big gulp of her tea before placing the cup down slowly and asking her question.


    "Sending it to the factory will be fine. I''m taking the blended solution there to solve the issues," Garen nodded and said. He had taken the effort to look for an experimental solution that seemed mysterious but was actually just a normal mediator to conceal the process of his Peacock Technique absorbing the compositions of the Peacock Stones.


    Fortunately, the absorption process of his Peacock Technique could not be seen by most obstructed auras. The numerous blue lines that seemed extremely distinct could not actually be seen by most people. This applied to those with strong Willpowers as well. Garen had secretly looked for one of Celine''s bodyguards once to test this out. This man had Level 3 Willpower and although he was supposedly just a bodyguard, he was actually an individual that Celine really respected as those who possessed Level 3 Willpower were considered as high-level individuals. Even though he could not surpass the Level 3''s in the army who were skilled in actual combat, those in his level could not simply be hired easily.


    After testing it out with him, Garen discovered that the blue lines could not be discovered by most people.


    "That will be fine too," Celine raised her arm and looked down at her watch. The convoy would arrive soon.


    "That''s good. I''ll go get the goods. Will they be at the same place?" Garen stood up.


    "Of course. Should I just add today''s tally to your account directly?" Celine asked casually; she was too lazy to get up and send him off.


    "Up to you. Or you could just deduct it from my account. Frankly, we don''t have to be so concerned about this sum of money," Garen waved his hand and turned around before exiting the little hall. He passed the teacup in his hand to the maid outside the doorway.


    After leaving Celine''s villa and walking out of the main door of the white flower garden, Garen saw two young girls walking into the villa from the side door coincidentally. They looked like Celine''s friends.


    "That girl has normal female friends too? How weird."


    He rearranged the collar of his shirt and walked out of the main door of the garden. The car that Celine had arranged for him earlier was waiting outside now. It was a fully black streamline Casipa sedan car that he liked. It looked like small-scale flying fish model interstellar airship. Surveillance cameras and lights were installed all over the body of the black car while the exhaust opening at the back resembled numerous cannons.


    He pulled the car door open and sat inside. The driver looked like an earnest middle-aged man.


    "Same place?" he asked in a low voice.


    "Yeah, sorry for troubling you again, Uncle Carway."


    "What are you talking about?" the driver laughed as the car started moving slowly.


    He sat inside the car and watched the scenery outside the car disappearing past. The pedestrians on the side of the road moved past the car window occasionally while his car sped past a few Hover Cars as unhappy drivers honked at him from behind.


    They traveled from the academy, which was also where they''d left Celine''s residence. They went down the road around Blackboard Region and passed through a long stretch of student residential areas. Students who did not wish to stay in the academy would either buy or rent houses in this residential area. Next, they passed through the Commercial District where the number of cars and people had gradually increased greatly.


    There were many traffic lights in the Commercial District. They had to wait for five or six traffic lights consecutively. Although more than half an hour had passed, they had barely passed through the Commercial District to enter the actual ring road that bordered the city.


    There were fewer cars on the ring road and Garen was soon overcome by boredom. He decided to send a few text messages to Nono''s family to ask about their recent situation.


    Nono''s parents'' new work positions suited them very well and they put all their energy into adapting to their work. They had spent many years working at the lower levels before being promoted to new positions that were neither too high nor too low. These positions were just right for them and allowed them to develop themselves to their fullest potentials.


    After gradually communicating with each other more frequently, their tone of speaking became more confident and cheerful, unlike their previously silent manners. Frankly, they were unaware that everything was due to Garen''s efforts. Instead, they assumed that their quiet contributions were finally properly noticed by their company which had decided to promote them to their new positions.


    After knowing the gist of his family''s situation, Garen was satisfied and decided to ask about the circumstances of his younger siblings.


    "Your younger sister has gotten herself into a bad society with a scoundrel named Ansel. She won''t listen to us no matter how we urge her! She starts smashing things and throwing temper tantrums for the most trivial reasons¡­" when she spoke of her youngest daughter, his mother spat out all of her bottled-up grievances and feelings of helplessness. As she lamented, her previously cheerful tone disappeared at once.


    "The last time she came home was a week ago. We nearly made a police report because we thought that she had gone missing. In the end, she ran home suddenly and we only realized that nothing was wrong when we found her asleep at home. I''m too afraid to even ask about her personal matters now. There was even an instance where more than ten scoundrels came to our doorstep to invite her out to dinner¡­"


    His mother sighed heavily,"It''s fortunate that your younger brother is still very obedient. He''s working at that bakery while attending night classes. According to him, all of his coworkers are gentle and he likes working there. He won''t leave that job even though our circumstances at home have improved slightly."


    "I offered to let him attend a regular school once. What did he say about that?" Garen raised his eyebrows slightly and asked.


    "He felt that he wouldn''t be able to catch up in a regular school or integrate into it properly after delaying it for such a long time. He''s fine with attending night school because he can just take regular exams later," replied his mother.


    "It''s good that he made his own decisions," Garen nodded.


    "Recently, however, your father and I have discovered that something is not quite right with your brother," said his mother after hesitating for a while.


    "What''s wrong?"


    "I feel like he''s always hiding something. I don''t know what he''s doing and his voice has become extremely quiet. His entire body seems paler while his chin has become sharper. If I didn''t see him daily, I would have assumed that he was someone else," said his mother with an uncertain look on her face while speaking on the Terminal screen. "He won''t say anything even when I ask him and I''ve started to stop worrying just like I have with that girl."


    "Is that so¡­? I''ll go and look for him to chat when I''m free. Perhaps there is something that''s bothering him but he''s just too uncomfortable to talk about it," Garen smiled faintly. "Don''t worry, it shouldn''t be a serious matter."


    "Yes, it''s fortunate that you''ve grown up, Nono. You''ve become wise¡­" said his mother while looking at him with a relieved expression on her face.


    Unconsciously, during this short period of time, Garen had gradually become the backbone of this family. He was also their main pillar of support.


    He turned off the Terminal and stroked the screen on his watch gently while feeling its cool smooth surface. He remained silent and merely sat there quietly while pondering something.


    The driver Uncle Carway glanced at him through the rearview mirror but remained quiet to avoid disturbing him.


    The car drove across the ring road quickly. They finally reached the delivery location, an old abandoned factory, after ten minutes.


    Their surroundings were completely devoid of people. Only stray cats and dogs could be seen passing through the area occasionally before vanishing into the nearby undergrowth here.


    Two little white trucks were already waiting at the entrance of the factory. A young man in white clothes stood beside the vehicle and walked over automatically when he saw Garen get down from the car on the other side.


    "I apologize for troubling you with having to personally check the goods this time."


    He shook hands with Garen while smiling enthusiastically. This fellow had sunken cheeks and the air of a soldier around him. He had actually served in the military service before.


    "I wanted the goods, so it''s only right that I come over and take a look at them," Garen nodded without wasting time on unnecessary chatter. He walked over to the back of the truck and pulled the trunk door open with a ''clang'' before looking inside.


    A large wooden box was placed inside the dark boot of the vehicle. After jumping on top of the car, Garen opened the box quickly. The box was filled to the brim with white Rainbow Stones that were the size of a fist and were clearly of good quality.


    "Don''t worry. All of these are fine objects that we picked out carefully. None of them are unsatisfactory!" said the skinny man outside the car.


    Garen picked up two random stones. It looked as if he was rubbing the white Rainbow Stones together and checking their quality. However, he was actually using his Peacock Technique to test the stones secretly.


    "They''re truly not bad," after checking them for awhile and confirming that these stones were of sufficient weight, Garen put the stones in his hand back down and closed the box before jumping off the truck again.


    "You can send them to the Factory Number One directly. We''ve taken over the goods so you can return and report on your task now."


    The skinny man nodded and smiled. He was not one of Celine''s people. Instead, he and the other person who had driven were Vivienne''s people who were also members of Blue Narcissus. Garen had hired them over as temporary workers just to perform minor tasks.


    After receiving the goods successfully, Garen sat inside a truck with a new driver and returned on the same road.


    The road was not as congested this time, allowing them to return to Blackboard Academy within twenty minutes.


    Without any delay, he jumped out of the car and returned to his dorm room to take the solution that he had prepared earlier before entering the truck alone and getting the driver to take him to the factory immediately. He stayed in the car alone without allowing anyone else to enter.


    Inside the dark car, Garen could vaguely feel some swaying movements from the car. He ignored them and raised his head to look at the surveillance cameras inside the car. He reached his hand outwards and covered it directly until the corners. Next, he placed a little hat on it that he had specially prepared earlier to cover the range of its line of sight.


    Once all of his preparations were completed, Garen sat down and crossed his legs while looking at the whole box of white Rainbow Stones in front of him.


    "This is a critical moment that will impact my absorption¡­" he murmured quietly while looking at the Attribute Pane at the bottom of his vision. There was only a distance of approximately twenty percent before his Peacock Technique could reach Level 4. This box of white Rainbow Stones would definitely help him surpass his limitations to truly reach the first grade of Level 1 Willpower.


    "Begin¡­ Truly break off the little Moonfang now and enter Level 1 Willpower¡­ Obtain the true strength that belongs to you¡­"


    He took a deep breath and outstretched his hand to open the lid on the box.


    ******************


    Beside Blackboard River


    Pfoo¡­ Pfoo¡­ Pfoo¡­


    Clint''s forehead was beaded with sweat. He bent his waist and panted while supporting himself with his hands on his knees.


    While looking at the large pile of black Mech pieces in front of him, a strange sense of accomplishment stirred in his head suddenly.


    "How¡­ How is it¡­? I went through great pains to piece together a complete¡­ system¡­" as he looked on at the pile of odds and ends, although they looked extremely miserable, he knew that these items were sufficient as the basis of the first step to establishing the detection abilities that would allow them to distinguish and determine enemies.


    "What ''how''? You''re just using your basic physical body to live, so what''s the big deal?" said Red Moon impatiently. "Don''t disturb me. I''m still investigating the original documents regarding the links of the interior circuits."


    "Sigh¡­" Clint felt slightly discouraged as he''d initially expected that he would receive Red Moon''s praise instead. "What are we going to do next?"


    "Keep assembling the parts. Follow the blueprints the same way I taught you earlier and link the parts to form the shape I want," Red Moon explained. He sounded somewhat distracted when he spoke and it was obvious that he was busy with something else.


    "Understood¡­"


    Clint''s hair was constantly blown backward by the river breeze, making him seem like a child''s shaggy toy.


    When he walked over to check some parts that he had picked up, Clint was about to move his hand to shift a piece when he suddenly saw a person walking towards him slowly from the far end of the river bank. This person''s figure was very familiar but also slightly strange. They were dressed from head to toe in black clothing and had covered themselves up fully even on a hot sunny day like this. They even wore a baseball cap and large sunglasses that shielded more than half of their face.

 826 Destiny 2

    "Lon?" Clint pursued him and yelled loudly.


    The other person was looking around initially as Clint had been blocked by the pile of parts here. Once he heard the shouts, he noticed Clint there immediately and ran towards him.


    "Is it really you, Lon?!" once the other person had approached him, a surprised look appeared on Clint''s face when he finally recognized the figure in black clothing. "Why are you dressed like this when you''re not even a big celebrity? You look like you''re afraid of meeting someone you know."


    Baylon stopped walking and rested while panting lightly.


    "Clint, do you know what happened to my body? After you spoke to me that day, I felt as if my mind was suddenly filled with many unknown things while my body seems to have become weird and different."


    He couldn''t explain it but Clint had always felt that Lon was somewhat strange, as if something was not quite right with him.


    "It''s not a big deal actually, hehe¡­ I met with a minor accident and I need your help¡­ One of my friends¡­" Before he could finish speaking, his eyes widened suddenly while his gaze drifted behind Baylon towards the further end of the river bank. "What''s that?"


    He had barely finished speaking before the little white dot in the sky above the river bank flew towards them suddenly.


    It was actually a large pure white blood-sucking mosquito that was as smooth as a mirror on the surface. He could tell that it was a technologically advanced object at the first glance. Its most prominent features were its blood red eyes and sharp blood sucking mouthpart that was a meter long. It looked abnormally fierce.


    The mosquito noticed Clint and Baylon instantly.


    ''Suspicious targets have been discovered. Preliminary steps to approach them are in progress. Willpower force field sampling¡­''


    This mosquito was at least two meters long and two meters wide. It looked like a normal blood-sucker that had been enlarged numerous times. Its wings were currently vibrating and making buzzing noises as it flew towards Clint and the other boy.


    ''Target is being verified¡­ One of the pieces has been determined. It has not been expanded yet. Will begin attacking and attempting to retrieve it," a cold mechanical noise echoed from within the mosquito''s body.


    Moments later, its cold blood red eyes glared at Clint and Baylon instantly.


    "Eh¡­ This is¡­? Damn! It''s a colony of drones!!!" said Red Moon suddenly when he recognized them and was shaken from his thoughts in a flustered manner. "Someone has discovered me! Escape quickly!!"


    "Eh?" Clint stood on the spot in a daze without reacting.


    Hiss¡­


    Two noises that sounded like air jets could be heard as two of the white mosquito''s sharp skinny legs broke off suddenly. It spurted towards Clint and Baylon instantly and flew towards them.


    Both of its fine legs carefully sprayed murky red flames outwards. Shockingly, both of them were actually two disguised targeting missiles!


    Clint and Baylon were both shocked and could not react to their current situation at all.


    "It''s a condensed missile!" Red Moon''s voice rang out suddenly.


    Instantly, Clint understood.


    It seemed as if everything that Red Moon had said was true. The supposed Forbidden Mech and unknown forces that were pursuing him and the potential dangers he would encounter in the future¡­ Everything was true.


    Regarding these matters, he''d initially assumed that the other person was just joking, teasing, kidding! Things like this only occurred in novels and would not happen to him for no reason. Although he had always done things according to Red Moon''s instructions, he had never believed any of these things deep inside his heart.


    However, while looking at the two condensed missiles that were flying quickly towards him now, Clint suddenly understood everything at once.


    At this point, the missiles had only been flying here for less than two seconds after they were launched. Despite the short span of time, Clint had already thought about many things within these two seconds.


    As the missile approached closer, everything seemed as if it was being shot in slow motion. His mind became completely empty as he''d never encountered a situation like this before. What was he supposed to do? Hide? Where would he go to hide? What kind of place would he hide in? How would he hide? What would he do? He did not know anything. Unfamiliar feelings of helplessness flooded his mind.


    "That''s right! Lon is still here!!" suddenly, he thought of Baylon who was in front of him. "I can drag him into this too!!"


    "You can''t involve him!!"


    Clint felt a strange strength stirring in the depths of his heart suddenly.


    He reached his hand out and used his mightiest strength and fastest speed to push himself in front of Baylon''s body in one quick movement.


    "You should stay out of the way! Why do you care whether other people live or die??!!" scolded Red Moon loudly while hiding inside his mind. When he noticed suddenly that something was not quite right with the directions of Clint''s movements, he made some quick calculations before his mind nearly exploded with anger.


    "You idiot! Go left! Left!!!! My God!!! For God''s sake, why are you so stupid?!!"


    They could have definitely have evaded the dangers easily if Clint had not made it into a fatal situation. Coincidentally, the direction in which he threw himself towards and later pushed Baylon was where the missile was actually headed¡­


    "Forget about it, I''ll take matters into my own hands¡­" desperate times called for desperate measures, and Red Moon had no choice but to take action and interfere with the flying missile''s tracking to deflect it towards two other sides.


    Sure enough, once the interference signal was released, both of the missiles instantly flew towards two separate sides. After two explosions rang out, everything became peaceful again.


    "Pfoo¡­" Red Moon exhaled heavily. "You''re going to scare me to death sooner or later if this continues."


    ''Target discovered. Self-destruction sequence in progress¡­'' suddenly, a beeping mechanical noise could be heard from one of the white mosquitos on the other side.


    "What?" Red Moon was dumbfounded.


    Clint who had just breathed a sigh of relief was stunned as well.


    They watched the mosquito shrink its body into a ball before deconstructing and assembling itself into a silvery white sphere. There was a glimmering pale red layer shining off its surface.


    "Damn! It''s a freaking Fuel Air Explosive!!" Red Moon could not help but curse.


    It was a weapon of mass destruction with a range of two hundred meters! The Fuel Air Explosive was so powerful that people who were hiding underground would suffer the repercussions and die as well. It could remove all the air and oxygen in the area within moments too.


    "To hell with your¡­!!"


    He could not even finish cursing in time. The only thing they could hear was thunderous¡­


    Boom!!


    At that moment, a white light shined brightly and exploded within seconds. It turned into a thin white cloud that dispersed in every direction.


    A white mushroom-like cloud rose from the side of the river bank and reached ten meters above it. It covered more than two to three hundred meters of the grounds in the surroundings.


    The Mech pieces were blown away by the explosion, causing most of them to fly away. There were only a few sharp pieces that remained in their original locations because they had been stabbed in the ground earlier.


    The intense cloud explosion blew all of the bits and pieces in their surroundings away. The terrifying impact force tore the steel to shreds and lifted the muddy water from the river bank. The force crashed into the ground, exposing the black mud that was hidden many meters below.


    At the center of the white clouds, fiery red flames had begun to burn, covering a range of over two hundred square meters within moments.


    At this moment, a dark red dot lit up where Clint was located suddenly. Its redness was as deep and dark as blood. It was also dense and sticky like a liquid droplet that coagulated after puddles of blood had evaporated.


    "Red King¡­" a low voice that could be heard indistinctly echoed from the sky.


    Pfoo!!


    Numerous blood-red clouds floated out of the blood droplets suddenly. The bloody clouds formed a large sphere that contained wandering nebulae, a glimmering Milky Way, and countless twinkling stars.


    Within the endless galaxy, an unimaginably large scarlet Mech floated above the center of the nebula quietly.


    The humanlike red Mech had an extremely long tail that was coiled around its body like a snake.


    Ka¡­


    The Mech raised its head slowly as if it was looking at something in the sky or the universe.


    Boom!!


    The blood clouds exploded suddenly and formed a red circular ripple. The exploded red cloud immediately canceled out the impact of the flames of the Fuel Air Explosive that were sweeping over.


    Simultaneously, a strange vibration passed through their surroundings in that moment¡­ It traveled further and further away¡­


    *************************


    At the bottom of an abyss


    A pure white Mech that was immersed in lava opened its eyes suddenly before the third golden eye on its forehead too opened.


    "Forbidden¡­ Hahahaha¡­ I''ve finally found it!!" the sound of deep, strange male laughter echoed from inside the Mech.


    The white Mech was more than sixty meters tall and beginning to float out of the lava slowly. It exposed its elegant and fine airframe before two large white pauldrons extended from its body sideways. From afar, they seemed like a second pair of arms.


    A red glowing line of lava flowed downwards from the center of the Mech''s body while the numerous red lines formed a gigantic star symbol.


    Within the surroundings of the abyss, two other white Mechs with the exact same symbol on their chests in glowing green lines stood upright. They were the Great Light Mechs that had trespassed into Blackboard Region.


    *************************


    Blackboard Academy


    Hall of the Power Holders


    The positions where the virtual images of the three head professors were located lit up clearly. The three figures appeared here one by one.


    "These forces are¡­" the Dean gripped the armrest of the chair lightly.


    "Forbidden¡­" Vice Principal Simis answered softly. "Finally¡­ The legendary Forbidden Core has appeared here¡­ Can you sense the hidden messages in the forces there?"


    "Red King¡­ Is this an opportunity¡­ Or a catastrophe¡­?" the old woman''s eyes were downcast.


    "In any case, we have to find the location of that item immediately! Holders! We may decide to either protect or capture them, but everything is still too early now," said the Dean, making the final decision.


    "We have no choice but to request for Black Star to return."


    "There''s no need for that, there aren''t many people who can detect these forces. Getting Medero to sort it out will be fine," said Vice Principal Simis, shaking his head. "Black Star''s hasty return will only make people more suspicious. They may even focus their gazes over here."


    "Alright." Dean Cruz von Shaw reached her hand out and tapped the area in front of her lightly before a virtual display floated out in front of her. "Fortunately, this force can only be sensed by those around us. If the other regions find out, the outcome will be inconceivable. We must set up an interference for the force immediately."


    *********************


    Inside the car


    Strangely, Garen felt as if some of his Willpower forces were scattering faintly. He was unable to sense these forces at first, and could not detect this strength as well if his soul was not much stronger than most and if he did not possess a few Soul Seeds.


    "This is¡­"


    He stretched his hand out and pressed it against a white Rainbow Stone. He was planning to absorb some of its Peacock Stone properties. He could sense the different types of information inside these subtle forces.


    "It seems like some major changes have occurred¡­" Garen''s Soul Seeds could detect the general situation of the world. He had previously used this ability to determine where the protagonists in the worldly situations where located. Once again, his Soul Seeds were clearly experiencing these feelings again.


    After hesitating for a while, he cast aside the distracting thoughts in his mind.


    "No matter what changes have occurred, they are not something that my current self can grasp. Only by ensuring that I am strong enough will I have the right to gain benefits."


    He focused his mind and pressed one hand downwards with great force before closing his eyes.


    Shh¡­


    Numerous blue lines stretched out of his palm slowly before piercing through the white Rainbow Stones inside the box.

 827 Destiny 3

    The large pile of White Peacock Stone fragments was absorbed by the blue lines before flowing into Garen''s body continuously.


    On the Attribute Pane inside his vision, the changes within the Hellfrost Peacock Technique had gradually occurred.


    ''Secret Technique -- Hellfrost Peacock Technique: Living Secret Technique, origins unknown. Level Two Heart Reformation uses the Hellfrost Peacock''s blood as the standard for the Heart Reformation to achieve the aim of strengthening the physique of the entire body progressively. Reformation time: completed.''


    ''Level Three Stomach Reformation has been completed. Peacocks possess great swallowing abilities and their stomachs can digest almost any substance. Once it has been integrated with Heart Reformation, it will create the Devour ability.''


    ''Natural ability obtained: Devour (The Queen of Peacocks'' basic but strongest talent). Produces Distorted Seeds.''


    ''Completion rate of Level Four is at 78%.''


    From 78%, it slowly crawled to 80%, and then jumped to 90%... 100%!


    The moment it reached the one hundred percent mark, Garen suddenly felt a cold sensation surging out from his heart and flowing towards the various parts of his body. It felt as if he had suddenly jumped into an icy pond on a hot sunny day. It felt really nice at first until the temperature grew colder and caused his entire body to ache!


    "Mmm¡­" Garen could not help but make a noise. However, he had yet to notice that many special changes had already occurred in his body while he sat cross-legged in the car.


    It felt as if his entire body was pulsing like a beating heart. Meanwhile, a thin blue icy layer had covered the surface of his body. This icy layer was constantly extending itself towards his surroundings. It extended from the floor inside the car towards the other objects around it.


    His hair was gradually turning somewhat blueish as well. It seemed as if his Secret Techniques were beginning to modify his physical body and its properties progressively. The color of his pupils was darkening to an extremely dark blue.


    The icons on his Attribute Pane were currently transforming from blurry images to clearer ones, and changes had begun to appear throughout the information and messages regarding the initial Hellfrost Peacock Technique.


    ''Secret Technique -- Hellfrost Peacock Technique: Living Secret Technique, Level Four. Completion rate of Level Five is at 7%.''


    ''Natural Ability Obtained -- Devour (Devours various living things to restore body)''


    ''Natural Ability Obtained -- Distorted Seed (Creating chaos is the Hellfrost Peacock''s favorite pastime)''


    ''Natural Ability Obtained -- Cold Chaos (Causes fluctuations in time and space naturally and releases cold air naturally within an area of ten meters to create a chaotic low-temperature area with the lowest point at ten degrees. Simultaneously, there is a low probability that it will trigger confusion within the minds of its enemies, causing them to attack randomly)''


    "It seems like Cold Chaos is the ability that I gained after completing Level Four. I get new abilities even before completing new levels. This is pretty good," Garen examined his abilities carefully. Strangely enough, each ability that was formed by the Living Secret Techniques had corresponded with his body completely like the Natural Abilities. When he used them, it felt the same as using his Attribute Abilities. It felt as if he had been born with these talents.


    "They are truly mystical Living Secret Techniques," he turned around and looked at his surroundings. Everything around him, including the floor of the car, was releasing gloomy cold air faintly. Moreover, the source of this cold air was his own body.


    "The effects are not that great but they would probably be very useful in the Secret Technique World instead. Since this is a powerful world with Mechs that can destroy planets, these abilities are not as significant anymore."


    He studied the dispersing cold air carefully. It did not consume a large portion of his energy as it was almost the same temperature as his own body. He tried to suppress and restrain this cold air slowly.


    "A range of ten meters. If I suppress it for some time before it''s released suddenly, perhaps it can be used to scare others. After engaging in a fierce battle for a long time, releasing it will probably affect my opponent''s bodily temperatures as well. This is not bad."


    Although there were temperature cycle systems inside the Mechs that would help them remain at constant temperatures, these objects require specific resources. Meanwhile, Garen''s chill could seemingly pass through the Mech''s materials. Moreover, there was a low probability that it could affect his opponent''s minds as well. Therefore, these abilities would have unimaginable uses during large scale battles if he developed and strengthened them properly.


    Garen sucked the chills back into his body and investigated the other changes that he had undergone. The most important part was his Willpower.


    ''Willpower -- Lower Level One, (Obtained an additional level of strengthening and increasing abilities from the Living Secret Techniques)''


    (Training Method: Blackboard Manipulation, Blackboard Academy''s free Training Method. Continuous training weakens its effects and its progression speed has been set at every twelve years for each level) The highest level is Level One.''


    "Finally¡­" Garen was extremely emotional at this moment. He had been constantly anxious about relying on the Moonfang all this while because he was worried that someone might see through him. Moreover, he could not fight for extended periods of time because the Moonfang would collapse and stop working after exceeding a certain time frame.


    Now, however, he had finally been able to achieve the true standard of Level One!


    At this moment, he was truly standing on the same starting line as the other geniuses in the Academy. Although he had a late start and was slightly slower, it was still better than when he could only disguise himself and use the Moonfang previously.


    Lower Level One was where most of the Elites in the classes of the Academy were located. The first three seats in each class would rightfully be placed in that position. The First Seat was not achievable right now, but he had definitely surpassed the standards and levels of most students already. If he needed to retake certain subjects to reach his standard, it was also possible for Garen to request for graduation exams now as well.


    While looking at the box full of high-energy fuel powder, Garen poured the solution that he had brought with him inside and stirred it for a little while to conceal the traces of his absorption.


    He had not reached the factory yet but Garen was not anxious at all. He continued to sit inside the car and began to check the upgrades that had occurred in his Peacock Technique this time and the changes to his physical body.


    He had memorized the initial data clearly.


    ''Nonosiva Lin -- Strength 1.7, Agility 1.5, Vitality 1.8, Intelligence 1.5, Potential 0%. Soul Limit 40.''


    His gaze shifted to check his current data.


    ''Nonosiva Lin -- Strength 2.1, Agility 2.0, Vitality 2.7, Intelligence 1.9, Potential 0%. Soul Limit 40.''


    "Strength has increased by 0.4, Agility by 0.5, while my Vitality has increased by a maximum of 0.9. That''s certainly expected of a living creature that consumes Vitality. Finally, my Intelligence has increased by 0.4. My qualities seemed to have increased evenly except for the emphasis on Vitality."


    Garen stood up and felt the sensations throughout his vastly improved body.


    His physical qualities had already reached his peak levels in the Secret Technique World. Most bullets and weapons would be ineffective towards his current self. However, it was different that time. The Secrets Techniques that he''d practiced previously were Golden Statue Techniques which were widely known as Defensive Secret Techniques that were used for guarding. Once he had entered the highest realm, he realized that they were completely different from the normal grade levels. Therefore, the current qualities of his physical body had not necessarily achieved the actual combat abilities that he had previously possessed in the Secret Technique World yet.


    "In other words, my Living Secret Techniques do not have any specific combat or attacking experiences yet. Perhaps an inclination towards one of my body''s physical qualities during training or a certain aim is improving my Vitality levels," Garen murmured when he''d suddenly thought of this point.


    The Hellfrost Peacock Technique continued to deepen and upgrade continuously because of his training, while some vague development towards reaching inhuman levels had also appeared. Garen had noticed this point as well.


    After gathering his thoughts, he took care of the high-energy fuel powder quickly and closed the lid of the box. This thing was as precious as gold.


    The car had begun to slow down as well. It was a sign that they had almost arrived at their destination.


    After a short while, Garen felt the car jolt suddenly before finally rolling to a stop. He got up and took the cover off the monitor.


    "We''ve arrived, Mr. Nono," the driver''s voice echoed from the monitor.


    "I know."


    Garen opened the car door and got down while carrying the box that weighed more than a hundred pounds and walking directly into the nearby factory.


    This place was a desolate area that was surrounded by fields. There was not a soul in sight, and the lonely factory sat a short distance from him.


    Four to five bodyguards got down and encircled Garen before accompanying him towards the factory.


    It was important to note that the box that Garen was holding was worth millions of Universal Units. Therefore, extremely strict guarding measures were naturally important.


    They had only taken a few steps before all of the guards inside the factory came out. There were more than ten of these men and each of them had laser guns and knives at their waists. Their bodies exuded powerful vibes.


    They were obviously professionals who had previously seen blood.


    There were no incidents during the handover as Celine and Vivienne''s subordinates were among these people, and people from Blue Narcissus were observing them as well. Their surroundings had seemed desolate but there were actually many hidden individuals who had been stationed there secretly.


    After receiving profits of hundreds of thousands several times, all three parties had started to value this business because there was still a possibility for it to increase continuously.


    The factory manager''s name was Geen and he was a young man with blonde hair. He was dressed in a suit and leather shoes when he walked out to greet Garen. He observed every single person around Garen carefully as if he was trying to discern something.


    "Mr. Nono, although our personal relationship allows us to somewhat talk personally despite being strangers, as you are a major shareholder that controls four layers of profits, I think that you should look for bodyguards."


    "Where''s Kendall? I will consider this aspect," Garen nodded. He had already thought of recruiting some subordinates to guard his personal safety. He had an income of over one million Units each month and a business that was constantly improving. It would mean bad news if he was targeted by others. The weapons in this world were not as simple as those in the previous worlds. Who could be sure that an unknown, extremely powerful weapon wouldn''t appear suddenly?


    "Mr. Kendall had left for Sicalia earlier, but he should be on his way back now."


    "Yes, I was the one who asked him to go there. But since he hasn''t returned yet, could he have encountered some problems on the road?" Garen nodded.


    "It seems that the garrison had cordoned the road off temporarily and delayed his return."


    "In regards to bodyguards, do you have any good suggestions?" Garen asked directly. He knew that this man was from foreign lands and previously had social connections to elite talents. This man had sought refuge with six different forces before finally leaving with his own. He was the type of person whose heart could not settle down. The most important aspect was that he was not one of the three main cooperative forces.


    "Speaking of candidates, I actually have a few," Geen smiled and walked into the factory while being guarded by a separate group of people just like Garen.


    "The Giant Shark Mercenaries hail from the Maria Region. They have twenty members and are rumored to possess the strength of forty people in a terrifying net of firepower. There is also the Charm Mercenary Troop that is filled with only the finest and most beautiful mercenaries of a high standard. They have six members and if each of their beauties is worth their price¡­ You should know what that means¡­" Geen cast a perverted gaze at Garen.


    "I''m only looking at their strength and cost," said Garen while his expression remained unchanged.


    "In terms of strength, both of these groups are first-rate mercenaries. Their average strengths are at Level Two while their Commanders and Vice Commanders are at Level Three standards and possess their own unique skills. As for cost, it''s good timing that they''re off-duty now and living casual and relaxed lives. Therefore, they won''t be expensive to hire. The Giant Shark Mercenaries cost two hundred thousand each month excluding food and living expenses. Meanwhile, Charm costs one hundred and forty thousand each month," Geen clearly had some connections with both of these mercenary groups.

 828 Fate 4

    "I''ll pick Charm then. They''re cheap and I get to see some beautiful girls. I''ll have eye candies and the expenditure isn''t huge as well since I have to maintain their Mechs, right?" Garen did his research on this aspect.


    "Indeed. The Mech''s maintenance cost is within the tens of thousands per month bracket and that isn''t considered expensive at all. I knew that you would have chosen Charm. This is a newly formed mercenary group and they''re cheaper because they aren''t that well known. Furthermore, they are willing to do their best to get their name out there," Geen started smirking.


    "Hey, didn''t you just say that they''re on vacation here? And now they''re a newly formed group?" Garen felt that he was being cheated.


    "Don''t worry about it. They definitely have the quality and you''ll get to see the pretty girls. Isn''t it a win-win situation? The Charm mercenary group consists of pure, charming enchanting, busty girls. There''s a variety of them~~" Geen said enticingly.


    "This¡­" Garen acted as if he was in a dilemma as this was the kind of his reaction that he should possess for his puberty age.


    "Believe in me. It''ll be fine!" Geen held onto Garen''s shoulder as he said with a smile on his face. "What''s most important is that they''re seriously lacking male populations in the Maria Region. One of the main reason they came here is to find an outstanding male to leave his seeds for them. Do you know what I mean?" His smile became even more perverted as he continued.


    Leaving his seeds¡­


    Garen had heard of such a rumor where the population of male to female ratio in the Maria Region was one to nine. There were very few numbers of males in the region, so much so that the whole country was governed by females. There were also a lot of rumors in the Maria Region that the girls didn''t wish to be married and yet wished to enjoy life and give birth to offsprings. Hence such a behavior had sprung about.


    Once they had found an outstanding male, they would spend some time with him and lead a ''breeding'' lifestyle. Once they had obtained the seeds they would return back to their country.


    "Are you saying that this mercenary group¡­" Garen''s eyelid started twitching.


    "You''re correct. Their other motive is what you''re thinking right now¡­" Geen started smirking.


    In order to maintain their population count of Maria Domain, the seeding phenomena were very common among the females from the Maria Domain. However, it was rare for a group of beautiful women to seek a breeder together.


    Furthermore, rumor had it that the women from that region were very dominant and initiative. If they were to get married to a man, the man would be fated to stay at home and do the house chores, taking care of the kids and supporting the woman from behind¡­


    There were even unrestrained women who liked prostitution where they would find handsome men from foreign countries to have a go with them¡­


    However, it was for the best¡­


    Frankly speaking, Garen wasn''t even interested in the strength of the mercenary group. These maids could only be used to run some errands at best. In case he encountered any trouble, he could push the blame to the mercenary group to avoid any unnecessary trouble as well.


    With his current physical strength, he could kill everyone in the vicinity with ten steps or less, including the elites who possessed level three Willpower. Garen''s martial arts were so great that they wouldn''t even have the time to activate their Willpower before dying to Garen''s attack.


    However, once there was a distance between them or he was fighting against a Mech, he would be powerless as he would be seriously threatened by just pure Willpower alone.


    Furthermore, there were all sorts of protections on a Mech as well. Fortunately, there were very few people permitted to operate a mech in the Blackboard Region so it wasn''t much of a concern.


    "I guess it''s decided then. I''ll rely on you to get them here when the time comes," Garen had determined that money was just a number to him at this point. He had managed to purchase the level three training methods that he wanted within a short amount of time. Furthermore, money wasn''t required for him to train his Peacock Technique and the main purpose of him hiring mercenaries was to protect his family and cover himself up.


    The mercenary group''s purpose wasn''t just as simple as accepting every protection mission, he would also need them to fight against that technique as well¡­ He simply needed to react to the situation rather than having to protect himself against any ambushes.


    "I''ll handle it!" Geen patted his own chest.


    ***************


    Clang!


    Clint dug himself out from the ruins with difficulty as he pushed aside the metal scraps above his head. Dust was floating about in the air and he couldn''t see his surroundings clearly.


    "Lon!!"


    He started shouting.


    There was no reaction¡­


    Clint was completely covered in dirt and had small wounds all over him. His shirt had been torn into scraps and it looked like a ragged cloth.


    "Lon! Where are you?" he shouted as his face started to turn anxious.


    "He¡­ Here¡­" suddenly, a fragile-sounding voice came from behind.


    Clint immediately turned around and saw a person whose face couldn''t be recognized and was as dirty as him under the ruins.


    He recognized that it was Lon''s voice and immediately went forward and pushed the junk away from him.


    "You alright?"


    "I''m fine¡­ Just some slight injuries," it was a miracle that Lon hadn''t been seriously injured and was able to live from that explosion.


    "That explosion earlier¡­" Clint recalled what had transpired just a moment ago.


    "Was a fart! Run for your life!" Red Moon''s voice came from beside him.


    "Master Red Moon!" Clint was very happy to see him. "Did you protect us?"


    "Naturally! Pack up and let''s scram out of here! Your boss has just used all of his accumulated strength to protect you, but we''ll all be dead even if a mosquito decides to attack us!" although Red Moon spoke arrogantly, a faint note of fragility could be heard in his tone.


    "The Mech Assembly is fine. Please take this," as Red Moon finished speaking, Clint saw a red vortex suddenly appearing in front of him. Then an item flew out of the vortex and dropped into his hand.


    This red item resembled a nail clipper yet at the same time, it looked like a clamp. It was the length of half a finger and there were numbers and symbols which was almost worn off as they looked very faint. It seemed to have existed for a very long time.


    "What is this?"


    Out of curiosity, Clint tried to figure out what it was.


    "How can you be so dense! Do as I say, quickly! We need to gather up all the stuff that we have obtained. Take only the good ones and ignore the rest! Quick!! Trouble is just around the corner!" Red Moon scolded.


    "DId¡­ someone speak?" finally, Baylon who was standing at one side finally spoke up. "Is it a communication device?"


    "You idiot. Help me this instant! You''re Baylon, right? I''ve sacrificed a lot for your level one Willpower. If you''re useless in this situation, how are you supposed to warm the bed up for Clint!" Red Moon didn''t care if Baylon had accepted any of this as he directed his anger towards him.


    "Huh?" after hearing what he''d said, not just Baylon, even Clint was stunned.


    "This guy is a fake. He''d returned back to his original form after his Willpower was modified. Stop acting as if it was a strange thing!" Red Moon replied unhappily.


    "A fake... " Clint then stared at Baylon with his eyes wide open. "Master Red Moon. Do you mean that¡­ Lon¡­ Lon is a girl!!" He increased his tone.


    "Don''t worry about it. She''s a beauty," Red Moon said with a perverted face. "It''s been a while I''ve watched an adult video. You guys should do the deed in front of me after this. Entertainment these days are truly boring!"


    Both Clint and Baylon started blushing as they stood still in the ruins, not know what to do.


    "You idiots. Start packing the stuff and run! Why the f*ck are you still standing there!" Red Moon couldn''t hold back and started spewing vulgarities once more.


    "Okay¡­ okay.." two of them replied immediately.


    That small item was stupidly easy to use. One just had to aim at the item that one wanted to pack and gently press onto it. The items would then vanish as if it was swallowed into another dimension.


    The packing was finished in a very short amount of time. After picking up the well-conditioned goods, both of them ran towards a deserted river bank and called Clint''s sister with the Watch Terminal at the same time so that she could send someone over with a new set of clean clothes.


    ************


    Bam!!


    A pair of white and black Mechs collided strongly against each other. Wielding a sword with only one of its arms, the Black Mech lightly gestured with its right hand and a black frisbee suddenly appeared in the sky, flying forth at high speed. It spun as it tried to cut through the White Mech. It formed a black line as it came down from the sky, but it was instantly sent away by the opponent''s attack.


    Surrounding them was the wilderness of the Blackboard Doman''s outskirts. Not far away from here, there was another Black Mech aiming at the White Mech and attempting to snipe it. Both Black Mechs had a Blackboard emblem on them


    "Matthew!" the Black Mech which was engaged in the battle shouted as it immediately backed off.


    Boom!!


    A clear laser cannon was shot and landed on the back of the White Mech, which made it stagger. However, it was very strange as there were no signs of injuries on the White Mech as if the cannon had been completely ineffective against it.


    "With my Weakening Field activated, all long-range attacks will never be able to leave a scratch on my Mech. How can you still not get it after trying so many times?" The White Mech said as a green diamond-shaped crystal could be seen on its front. The crystal was faintly reflecting the sunlight, giving off an illusion that it was glowing.


    "Even if it''s ineffective, at least it can exhaust your WIllpower and Mech''s Power Source," the Black Mech which was in close combat replied.


    "How foolish. Both of your strengths are level four at best. Even if you had perfect coordination, you could only delay me for that little bit. Can''t Blackboard send a stronger person than you to fight me?" the White Mech looked around. "Oh right. Where has that cute little girl run off to? I love my girls to be under eighteen heh. Furthermore, she''s pretty good looking too. If you''re willing to hand over her to me, I''ll consider letting you guys live."


    "Go to hell!"


    Matthew fired off another cannon shot from afar and hit the White Mech''s head. However, there was no effect and only a small wisp of white smoke drifted from its head.


    "What kind of monster is he!! Even the level five instructors in the academy aren''t this powerful!" Boris stared at the red white Mech as despair started to overwhelm him.


    His close combat skills were overwhelmingly powerful and long-range attacks didn''t work on him as all incoming projectiles within an area of a hundred meters would be slowed down, decreasing its energy source and its potency.

 829 Lurk 1

    "Did the instructor send us here so that he can humiliate us?" Boris cracked his occasional cold joke and it was obvious that his opponent didn''t appreciate it.


    The Red-White Mech started chirping loudly as it immediately leaped forward while spinning its body at high speed. With swords in both of its hands, it looked like a top spinning at high speed.


    Straight gouges were left in the ground as the sword slashed the surface.


    "Quentin Slash! Hahaha! Go to hell!!!" a twisted laughter came from within the Red-White Mech.


    The rotating slashes were moving towards Boris, who didn''t have the time to evade at all. He then grabbed the Blackboard Frisbee and stabbed it into the ground in front of him.


    Clank!!


    White sparks could be seen as the swords clashed against the frisbee.


    Boris took a few steps back as half of his Mech was completely chopped off. It was fortunate that the Cockpit located at the chest was unharmed so he could still move.


    On the other hand, a long dagger could be seen on the Red-White Mech. The dagger had been pierced deep into his back. It almost pierced through the cockpit and this made the pilot of the Red White Mech sweat coldly.


    "Who''s there!! Show yourself!?" he turned around immediately as he knew that this person, who was able to overcome his Weakening Field, was definitely not the same guy who could only hide from afar and shoot at him.


    Within the sands and dust that floated in the air, a pair of red eyes glowed faintly as a huge black object walked towards him slowly.


    Bam.


    The black object casually threw aside a red white Mech''s head as it slowly walked out from the sandstorm. There were still markings and electric arcs sparking from the bottom of the head. It was obvious that it had been ripped off from a Mech just a moment ago.


    Hiss¡­


    With the black Mech as the epicenter, the air blew in all directions and trembling could be felt in an area of several hundred meters.


    "This is.. the Willpower Field¡­ Hiss...!" the Red-White Mech inhaled deeply. "No! This doesn''t make sense! You¡­ How can you gather a Willpower Field at such a young age!? How is that possible!?"


    "It''s Sister Red-Eyed Medero!!" Boris finally recognized that person. "Big sister! How''s Allie?!"


    "I''ve saved her so she''s fine. Originally I''m supposed to be here as an insurance but I didn''t expect the opponent to be this strong," Medero responded calmly. "You guys can retreat now because I alone will be enough to handle him."


    "Understood!" Matthew and Boris had already given up on fighting this Red-White Mech monster a long time ago as long-ranged attacks were completely ineffective against him and he was overwhelmingly powerful in melee combat. He was obviously an opponent of a different class.


    Two Mechs immediately flew back to where they came from.


    They could see the remains of many Mechs along the way back, including those of the Red-White Mechs in small amounts. Some Mech soldiers that had, fortunately, survived the attack had gathered together and helped their allies as ambulances from the city swarmed to their location.


    As both of them landed, they were immediately surrounded by multiple ambulances and were taken out of their Mechs.


    Matthew was drenched in blood and sweat and these fluids had completely soaked his shirt. While he looked like he was seriously injured, it was just a phenomenon where his blood vessels had burst due to the immense stress from operating the Mech.


    "What the current situation? What''s the death count?" it was the first thing he asked the moment he got out of the Mech.


    Only one out of four Adjutants had managed to survive and she had survived because she had been shielded at the last moment. Her eyes were so swollen that it was unknown how many times she''d cried.


    "It''s terrible¡­ The opponent''s Mechs are too powerful¡­ They could reflect everything we threw at them back to us and around thirty Pilots have died from this welcoming gift."


    "What about now¡­" Boris laid onto the stretcher. Both of his arms were broken and blood kept flowing out from his face. This was the results of fighting against a level five Pilot.


    "Forty-two pilots out of two hundred are left," the adjutant responded softly.


    The surrounding medical officers couldn''t hold in their emotions and started crying, as most of the participants were their friends and relatives. They had volunteered to be here so that they could obtain the news firsthand as they were worried about the status of the war, but¡­


    "Have we found out who our enemies are?" Matthew calmed down as an oxygen mask was strapped to his face.


    "The enemies claimed to be the Shining Mech. Each of them possessed the strength of a level five and if it weren''t for lord Medero arriving in the nick of time¡­" the adjutant couldn''t speak further.


    Level five!


    Each and every one of them possessed the strength of a level five and they were fighting against these powerful people as their enemies¡­


    Matthew couldn''t help but shiver at the thought of it.


    What sort of concept did the level five represent? Within the Blackboard Academy, which was the most luxurious academy in the Blackboard Region, those who managed to achieve level five were all instructors and there were only a total of hundred plus of them. Furthermore, they were all aged thirty and above. Only these people were able to serve as teachers and guests everywhere and under any power. Their salaries were at the very top and they were very well treated. There was no need for them to go on the battlefield on their own to kill one another. Then, there were those enemies, whose weakest forces possessed level five strength¡­


    "What kind of monsters are they?!" Boris couldn''t hold in his emotion.


    "The White Light terrorist organization. Their Shining Mech was just a common grade Mech¡­ They had an even stronger Mech called the Great Light Mech," Matthew said quietly. "The situation is above what we are able to handle. There''s no point in dragging more people into the battle as it will only increase our death counts. We need the support of stronger Pilots!" Matthew stated calmly.


    "Level Five pilots are the academy''s war preparation grade resources. They wouldn''t be mobilized if it wasn''t a battle between regions unless even big sister isn''t able to handle the situation," Boris shook his head. "Once Black Star is back, all of them, including the Great Light Mech, shall die!"


    "Yes, we still have lord Black Star!" Matthew nodded in agreement. Black Star, who was famed to be the strongest first seat in the academy, would definitely handle the situation the moment he returned.


    ****************


    "Red Eye Medero! One of the most talented people in Blackboard."


    At this side of the battle, Medero''s Black Mech was surrounded by three Red-White Mechs. All three of them had a green crystal from the Shining Mech in the middle of their chests.


    "Be careful. This woman is very hard to deal with! Although she''s not a level five, she''s still going to give us a hard time!" the Mech who had been fighting alone against Medero was trembling as half of his Mech was surrounded by a black electric current.


    "It''s the Paralytic Power. Be careful and don''t let her get near to you!"


    The three Mechs that were surrounding Medero started to fly up as they formed a triangular formation.


    "If it wasn''t for me wanting to surpass Black Star, you typical level five fools wouldn''t dare fool around in front of me¡­" Medero sat inside the Mech, and her eyes were red to a point they were turning purple and were on the verge of bleeding. This was her unique Willpower Training Method -- Red Eye. Its special effect was to be able to instantly see through her opponent Mech''s weak points. It was truly a terrifying unique Willpower.


    "Thunderwhip!"


    Medero attacked out of nowhere as both of her hands were now wielding a pair of purple electric whips.


    Kashak!


    The purple-red whips lashed out, forming a circle chain of electric arcs which landed around two of the Mechs in front of her.


    Without any delayed action, an electric stream burst out from behind Medero and appeared in between the two Mechs instantly, and she swung her hands.


    Boom boom!!


    Two of the Red-White Mechs each had one of their arms torn off, dropping to the ground.


    "It''s the Acceleration Field! Retreat! Her speed is too fast!" the only functioning Red-White Mech missed his shot as he shot at where Medero had originally been standing. By the time he reacted, two of his teammates had already been defeated. If he weren''t a pilot with a level five Willpower, he wouldn''t be able to react in time. If he were a slightly weaker pilot, he would''ve instantly exploded in that instant.


    Medero''s Field Characteristic was speed, where she was able to increase her speed by up to a horrifying thirty percent in a short amount of time, which was about her Mech''s limit. A typical pilot wouldn''t be able to handle this technique, nor even these Shining Mech Pilots¡­


    Without any word, these three Shining Mechs turned around and split up into three different directions.


    "Don''t think you can run away from me!" Medero clapped her hand and formed a more intense purple-red arc.


    With a sizzling noise, a purple light flashed and two of the Bright Mechs were split into halves at their waists and exploded in mid-air.


    However, this short time frame had given the last Mech an opportunity to escape from her grasp.


    Medero''s gaze was extremely focused as she formed another arc. Another purple light was shot up and landed on the back of the Bright Mech, which was a few thousand meters away from her.


    Unfortunately, the distance was too great and her opponent was a level five pilot as well. At the most critical moment, he released a stream of white light and diverted the direction of the electric arc. However, this wasn''t without any cost as half of the Bright Mech was burnt. It looked like an empty can from afar as its waist sunk in.


    The Bright Mech instantly disappeared as a series of black lightning balls appeared.


    "Dimensional Jump?" Medero put away her electric whips and allowed it to move about freely in her hand.


    "What a strong body for it to be able to escape safely after taking an attack from my Thunderwhip. No wonder even General Xin was unable to hold these people back. There are so many level five pilots¡­ the White Light Group¡­"


    Medero sat inside the Mech as she pondered.


    The vibe she had from these level five pilots was that they weren''t nurtured in the traditional way, but were half-baked products from some sort of potential excitation. All of them were hysterical and she couldn''t sense any hope in them. However their Mechs'' characteristics were very powerful and it even had a unique Willpower ability, namely the Rebound.


    To be able to rebound an attack of a certain caliber and also possess an even stronger ability to teleport about, these abilities would be very effective if used at the right moment.


    "I need to investigate further."


    "Lord Medero," a few Black Mechs slowly landed from the sky.


    "Black Shirt General? How''s the other location?" Medero asked softly as she deactivated her fighting form, shrinking her Mech down a considerable size.


    "There''s a total of 23 places that were ambushed in the whole region and all of them occurred within an hour. All of the opponents were just like those Red-White Bright Mechs. Including you, there were a total of twenty-three squads that moved to the front lines and the current situation should be under control now," the other guy responded seriously.


    "Are there any instructions from the teachers?"


    "Principal Simis hopes that you can investigate the whereabouts of these Great Light Mechs that have infiltrated the Blackboard Region. The enemy was very powerful as he was able to escape under the attack of three squads."


    "Oh? Even three squads weren''t enough to stop him?" Medero''s tone turned heavy as even she would feel seriously threatened when fighting against a squad, never mind three. That was a squad consisting of ten Black Shirted Generals, and it was the strongest in the Blackboard Region excluding the military squad formed by the instructors! The weakest members were at least level three and the leader of these Black Shirted Generals were all elites of the academy who possessed the prestige of level five.

 830 Lurk 2

    "According to the latest intel, there are two stronger ones among the Bright Mechs which possess similar strengths to those of the Black-Clothed Generals. Furthermore, the Great Light Mechs possess a much stronger strength that could possibly be categorized in the realm of level six. Even the academy was considering mobilizing the Instructor Squad to attack them."


    "Level six¡­" Medero lowered her head. "Promoting from level five to level six has a very crucial threshold. It would be impossible to attain level six without inheriting a Mech, and if that were the case, the opponent''s body and Willpower definitely plays a huge role."


    "Indeed. We are currently taking steps to gather more intel. An Inherited Mech would have involved a lot of regions and it''s impossible for them to appear out of nowhere."


    "Update me as soon as you have any results."


    Even Medero had lost her cool as the Inherited Mech was involved, as that was a demarcation line for a Pilot. Any pilots who were level five and below were just Model Mechs where the Willpower and Pilots were separated. After attaining level six, the Pilots would merge with the Mech and fuse into a terrifying state, and the differences in strength would be drastically far apart.


    "Even though it looks like it''s only one level apart, only people of our level are able to understand the difference in strength and the difficulty in attaining such strength. We''re lucky that the Great Light Mech decided to not go on a killing spree. Did he not show his full strength? What''s the point of that then? There''s definitely a huge motive for them to infiltrate into Blackboard Region!" Medero was lost in her deep thoughts.


    **********


    "Twelve Flying Dragon Fist!"


    Garen punched with only one of his hands. Many afterimages of his fist landed on Celine''s elite bodyguard.


    Twelve holes were punched through the bodyguard''s white suit by these densely packed punches, revealing his undershirt. He was able to render the bodyguard helpless with pure air pressure as he fell unconscious to the ground.


    "Twelve Flying Dragon Fist!" a similar roar could be heard behind Garen. That was Celine. This girl didn''t seem to behave like a girl at all as she sprinted towards Garen in her high-strength alloy wire clothing as she mimicked Garen''s battle skills.


    She took the opportunity to flank him while Garen was dealing with the bodyguard.


    Garen turned around and countered the punches with his other hand.


    "Too slow, and you lack strength!"


    Boom boom boom boom¡­


    The punches clashed against each other and Celine was pushed back, sliding on the ground as if she was a deflated ball...


    "The essential of the Flying Dragon Fist is that it can react to the course of the battle at any given moment. Once the opponent has lost his momentum to any of the punches, you can turn these feint punches into actual punches. This same concept can be used on Mechs during battle as well, which is also the basis of my teaching to you."


    Garen walked towards Celine confidently and reached out his hands as he attempted to pick her up.


    "An opening!!" Celine laughed as she released her Twelve Flying Dragon Fist, where all twelve punches were aiming at Garen''s weak point, the armpit.


    "It''s pointless."


    Garen gently moved to the side as he easily avoided these afterimages. However, Celine unexpectedly changed her course of attack and slapped onto Garen''s waist.


    Slap!


    "Interesting," Garen was stunned that he was touched by a beginner when he''d let his guard down. Although it was an ambush, it was a very rare event.


    Although he wasn''t very adept in the arts of evading and quick reaction, he was still a top-class martial artist.


    "Fuck! It''s so tough! It''s hurts!!!" Celine immediately felt that something was wrong when she hit Garen with all her might. Her palm was swollen and red immediately. "How do you even get this kind of tough body!"


    "I''m your master. Don''t you think I should have something hidden under my sleeve?" Garen laughed. "According to our promise, I will only teach you the basics of martial arts and Twelve Flying Dragon Fist. How you develop in the future will depend entirely on you."


    Combining his physical attributes, which were twice as high as a typical person''s, and the simple theory of Qigong, he was able to harden his skin to a certain degree to easily counter against Celine''s futile attack.


    "Skills under your sleeve? I like it! I want to learn!" Celine''s eyes were glowing. This person was a martial arts fanatic and would immediately hop up and down the moment she heard something that interested her. In an instant, she pounced to Garen''s side. "Teach me! Just let me know what you want in return!"


    "These things are useless in Mechs. Why do you want to learn them?"Garen said hopelessly.


    "That''s true¡­" Celine was disappointed. "Whatever. I think I''m more suited to the Willpower Martial Art."


    "Willpower Martial Art is the strongest battle skill for a pilot," Garen nodded.


    "However, the good bits are the abilities that are derived from the Willpower itself. If their martial arts are of equal level, then these abilities will decide the victor of the battle," Celine shook his head.


    "While Willpower Abilities are very powerful, you shouldn''t look down on martial arts," Garen frowned as he felt that Celine''s concept was rather wrong.


    "There are many strong pilots with powerful Willpower Abilities such as Frozen Wing, Fiery Storm, and even Phantom Superimpose, Prediction. Furthermore, rumor has it that there are even stronger ones, such as traveling through space and attacking or defending against their opponents with dimensional shards," Celine looked in another direction.


    "Travelling through space¡­" Garen was stunned as well. As Nonosiva''s level was too low, he didn''t have information regarding the scenarios above him. Now that Celine had told him about their prowess, he finally understood the true strength of the Willpower arts.


    "These things are too far away from us so let''s not think about them. What else do you have that can be applied to Mechs. Teach me, teach me!" Celine was holding onto Garen''s hand as she kept shouting. Since she was in her tight body attire, her breast and slim waist were sticking tightly onto Garen''s body, as if she was a spoiled child.


    Their positions looked rather sexual as Celine''s height was only slightly shorter than Garen. Even the bodyguard had quietly left the training room as he closed the door.


    "My path is different than yours so there are very limited theories that I can teach you, and even fewer can be applied to Mechs," after Garen had achieved level one Willpower, he was thinking if he should increase his absorption rate. However, this would naturally bring some trouble to him. There would definitely be someone who would try to pull him down once his techniques had further improved. On the other hand, Celine''s household would be a bridge to the outer world, where he could complete his breakthrough.


    Celine herself didn''t place money as her first priority. When interacting with her, she seemed to be very interested in martial arts and this meant that there shouldn''t be any issue with cooperating with her.


    Garen was considering if he should deepen his partnership with her.


    "Celine, I have a feeling that I will have a breakthrough in Willpower so I feel like traveling about outside, but¡­"


    "What''s wrong? If you want to go out, just go. There''s nothing to worry about," Celine released Garen unhappily after realizing that he had changed the topic.


    "Ever since there''s been a new breakthrough in my technique, I''ve felt that I''ve too many shares on my end. Hence... I plan to reduce the shares in my hand. Can you help me find a suitable candidate?" Garen said softly.


    If he were to increase his production of this high energy powder, Garen knew that he would not be able to hold on to forty percent of his share.


    "This might be a problem," seeing that he''d decided to discuss an important matter, Celine had become serious as well. "We, the Veron Household, may be able to absorb this. How much more can you increase your production?"


    Garen knew that the Veron Household had networked themselves to the upper levels without any issues as they held a considerable amount of authority. During this period of interaction with Celine, he''d suspected that the Veron Household might possess an Inherited Mech, which was a level six elite. It wouldn''t even be a problem for them to live well over hundreds of years. According to Celine, the pilot would fuse with the Mech once they reached level six. Their body would evolve together with the Mech and enter a completely different realm. Hence the stage a level six pilot stood upon was vastly different from those below, as their life, lifespan, physical attributes would all increase tremendously.


    After calculating the production rate in detail mentally, Garen estimated the amount that he needed to exhaust. Now that he was able to stand firmly and could improve his strength at a faster pace, he made his decision.


    "Approximately ten times or more than the current production rate!"


    "Ten times!" Celine''s eyes were opened wide. "That nets you tens of millions per month! What the fuck!! That''s my annual expenditure!!!"


    "Your expenditure is that huge!?" Garen was stunned as well.


    "Yes. During this period of learning martial arts with you, I''ve returned last month and eliminated a branch household''s candidate so our ranking has increased. Heh." Celine was very proud of herself.


    "Your household has branches?" Garen couldn''t help but feel that the Veron Household was quite mysterious.


    "To be precise, we are the branch household and the main household is one of the fifteen households of the Mother Planet Federation," Celine said with a slight degree of arrogance. "This profit is too huge and I don''t dare to take up your offer as this involves a change in the market and will affect the original values of the share market. We alone would not be able to absorb such a huge amount."


    "Then who do you think is able to take up such an amount?" Garen asked softly.


    "The Blackboard Region will definitely be affected, as this production rate would definitely catch the attention of the higher-ups. After all, these are military resources," Celine had gradually calmed down. "I think¡­ you''re not on the right path. Perhaps you can communicate with the higher-ups of the academy with this technology since you''re already on the academy''s radar. Someone has already caught wind of your technique."


    "Communicate with the higher-ups? Who should I contact? Minister Britney?" Garen wasn''t familiar with these people. After knowing how troublesome this issue was, he was considering if he should go to the rainbow stone''s production area alone to absorb everything at once to avoid all the complicated issues. However, this would attract everyone''s attention after leaving behind all the high energy powder. In addition, this was a good way to earn money as well, so he didn''t want to throw everything down the drain.


    He didn''t need to force himself to improve drastically in such a short amount of time as it wasn''t bad for him to improve at a steady pace as well.


    "I know of an honorable noble in the Polar Region. He has slightly more authority there and great influence as well. That person likes martial arts as much as I do too. However, I''ll give you a heads up that I''m not too close to him and I''m only in contact with him purely because of martial arts. We stand on equal footing and neither of us is better than the other," Celine explained. "Their Mech''s strength is as good as ours. As long as you''re okay with it, I can introduce him to you."


    "Honorable noble¡­" typically in the Polar Region, only the nobles from the royal bloodline were able to be crowned as an honorable noble. These people often had strong backgrounds and shouldn''t be messed with. Naturally, they possessed tremendous power and would be ranked higher than Celine or even Britney. This person was indeed a big shot and those who were able to contact him were definitely very important people as well.


    Naturally, there were very few of these people.


    "I''ll wait for your good news then," Garen decided after some thought. "I heard that if one has a good network, one can also become a noble in the Polar Region, right?"


    "That''s true, but there''s an annual limit and you''ll be able to obtain a very small amount of land. The cost is very huge and there will be a rental period as well. Why do you ask? Do you have such an intention?" Celine questioned. "Well, you can just buy yourself into nobility once your income has increased."


    "It is my dream to have my own land¡­" Garen acted as if he was looking forward to it, but in actual fact, what he wanted was to find a land that could give him a huge number of Rainbow stones. This way, no one would be able to interrupt him as he absorbed all of them in peace. This was the reason why he wanted a plot of land!


    Furthermore, there were a lot of things and experiments that he wanted to keep off the radar. He didn''t dare to fool around in the academy grounds as there were a lot of surveillance and powerful people around.

 831 Lurk 3

    At the outskirts of Blackboard Region.


    In the wilderness, a crippled, half transparent red-white mech materialized and landed gently on the ground as it flew out from a black electric ball that had momentarily appeared in the sky.


    "Hahaha!! I managed to escape! That fucking bitch! Sooner or later I will strip her bare and enjoy myself on a bed!!" the Red-White Mech tumbled a few steps forward before laying on the ground. White smoke was coming out from its body and weird noises were coming out from it as well.


    "Where is this?"


    The Mech shrunk with the cockpit as the epicenter to the point it became a small white ring. A man in a tight white suit, whose body was smoking, appeared underneath as the ring fell onto his palm.


    "The Body is ninety percent damaged¡­ sh*t!!... What a terrifying woman. Even the Absolute Light Curtain wasn''t able to completely block her attack," the man had white hair and looked rather pale as he gritted his teeth and cursed under his breath.


    He raised his head and looked towards the horizon, in the direction of the Blackboard Region.


    "I''m close to the target. Unfortunately, my communication device is broken, I wouldn''t be able to know how the others are doing."


    He took out a white small item that resembled a compass and gently pressed on it. Immediately, red blinking dots started appearing on the screen.


    "I''m the first one to get close to the target?" Hehehe¡­ There''s still hope!" the man''s eyes glowed.


    Howl¡­


    Suddenly a deep roar could be heard from behind.


    Behind him, at least ten grey giant wolves that stood at the height of half a man appeared. These wolves growled at him as their eyes glowed green in color. Each and every one of them looked extremely hungry.


    "Evolved Creatures?" the man turned around. "Normal class Evolved Creatures dare to approach an elite like me? You''re courting death!"


    The Evolved Creatures came about when the humans entered the interplanetary era, and interplanetary interactions caused the virus to spread and mutate from one planet to another. After a long period of time, the powerful Evolved Creatures were born. Most of these creatures maintained their physical features and had their physical attributes boosted tremendously to adapt to the ever harsh environment.


    Simply put, they were the latest generation of wild creatures. Although they were stronger than their ancestors, they were still ranked lower on the food chain when faced with humans.


    The man gently touched his forehead with his finger and an invisible ripple spread out. As these ripples came in contact with the wolves, tens of these wolves immediately exploded and died.


    The impact of a level five Willpower was so powerful that it could easily kill these lower Willpower beasts with a small ripple. This was because their Willpower was much lower, even when compared to a commoner.


    "It''s time to infiltrate the region, heh. The Forbidden Core¡­ it''s something that is hindering all the good stuff," the man stood up and his shirt automatically transformed into an outdoor photographer''s get up. He even had an anesthesia gun on his back for self-defense.


    The man adjusted his looks and smiled satisfactorily as he walked directly towards the Blackboard Region. There was a perfect boundary line over there. There were quite wide boundary zones separating the regions. These zones were uninhabitable by humans as most of these places contained high radiation and their environments were very harsh. After all, most of the planets that were populated by humans weren''t a hundred percent livable for humans, and most of these places had their environments altered artificially by atmospheric alteration technology to suit human needs. Even so, there were many places that were dangerous and uninhabitable for humans upon the surface of the planet.


    ***********


    "Life No. 1! Attack!!"


    Ugh!!...


    Red Moon almost vomited a mouthful of blood as he stared at Clint, who was surrounded by a bunch of stupidly huge Mechs with an awkwardness that couldn''t be described by words. He couldn''t believe that the Mech that he''d assembled with his blood, sweat, and tears had been called Life No. 1!?


    He then shifted his attention to the table beside Baylon. The appearance was according to the regulation as it once again turned into a small red pin.


    "Why are you naming them so casually..!!?" Red Moon stared at the Black Mech in the garden helplessly. "My order to you is to assemble these mechs as fast as you can. Why are you not increasing your pace!"


    Clint changed into a black attire as he walked around the Mech with a stupid smile on his face. "This is a Mech!! Hahahaha! I too have a Mech now!! Hahaha¡­"


    "This¡­ I''ve finished applying the machine oil for you¡­ Lord Red Moon," Baylon mustered up her courage to speak up softly as she put away the handkerchief that had been used to apply oil onto the pin.


    "Okay. It feels good after taking a bath. Put me back into where I fit, quickly," Red Moon was rather satisfied with her.


    "Alright¡­" after Baylon knew about her transformation and Red Moon''s identity, she was quick to accept reality. Although this person looked weak and fragile, she too had harbored a dream of becoming a pilot for a long time and the people who gave her the opportunity were Red Moon and Clint. She was very grateful to them, so she would do everything to the best of her abilities for them.


    "Is there anything else you want me to do, Lord Red Moon?" Baylon asked softly.


    "Hmmm, there''s nothing for you to do now. You haven''t slept since you came back yesterday so you should go and have a good rest. Compared to that idiot over there, you sure are quick to accept the truth, and you have a strong mental fortitude as well," Red Moon admired Baylon.


    "Understood. Thank you for your praise, Lord Red Moon¡­" Baylon felt shy as she lowered her head. "Although I''m useless¡­ I can still do some simple house chores."


    "Alright. Go get some rest and leave the rest to me!" Red Moon urged.


    "Okay."


    Baylon stood up with her face red and walked into the house.


    The incidents were still replaying endlessly in her mind.


    With all of these sudden changes, her tone had started to turn neutral. She had always thought that she wasn''t manly enough and this transformation seemed to have ripened this temperament. Her chest started bulging and underneath her¡­


    Although her brain was filled with a lot of explanations, the training method consisted of its relevant explanation, which was obviously added in by Lord Red Moon. However, Baylon still felt like hiding her figure from the public. After cleaning herself up yesterday, she''d immediately covered herself up from the top down to her leg with a black attire, which was made out of a combination of two black shirts. In addition to that, she''d even used a mask to cover half of her face, revealing only her eyes. To make herself even more hidden, Baylon even wore a pair of huge spectacles to hide her face.


    "Pilot¡­" she sat at the edge of her bed as she clenched her fist silently. "It feels just like a dream¡­ Do I really have the potential to become a pilot?"


    She still couldn''t believe it herself.


    "Don''t worry. Soon the opportunity will present itself," Red Moon''s voice had directly pierced through her soul.


    "Lord Red Moon¡­"


    Ahhh¡­!!


    Outside, Clint started shouting loudly as if something bad had happened to him.


    After the explosion incident, they had crafted a lie that they were caught in the battle between Mechs and fed it to his sister. They had then temporarily settled down in this secluded garden.


    The bakery shop owner whom Clint''s sister worked for soon returned back into the city to handle the inquiries, and this morning Red Moon had just realized that the secluded areas were now locked down and no one could go in and out freely. The strange behavior was obvious and it might be because Blackboard Region may have discovered the importance of the ripples that he had spread out. In order to protect himself, Red Moon was on the move once more¡­


    "Quickly set up my Mech! Stop slacking!" Red Moon shouted loudly.


    "I understand!!! Ah!" Clint, who was a very careless person, needed to be scolded and supervised daily by Red Moon. If not, he wouldn''t be able to finish his tasks in assembling the Mech in time.


    "I''ve exhausted what little amount of energy I have left to disguise the environment for a maximum of twelve hours. If you''re not done within twelve hours, we''re all going to die!" Red Moon scolded angrily.


    Inside the house, Baylon lay down and looked at her broken Watch Terminal.


    "I wonder if mum and dad are worried¡­ There''s even brother and sister¡­ Perhaps as someone who isn''t that significant, no one would be sad over my disappearance¡­"


    Her family had sacrificed her sister and her future to place all their hopes on her brother Nonosiva as he was admitted into the Blackboard Academy. Everyone hoped that he could turn the family''s condition around for the better. No matter if it was her parents or grandparents, they didn''t really care for her and her sister at all; all they cared about was her elder brother Nono for he had been the favorite son since young.


    Baylon was still fine as many of her friends were friendly and comforted her. However, it was a different story for her sister as she had been mixing with others on the streets since young. She had given up on herself and decided to not care for anything as she didn''t have the money to attend school. Technically speaking, she and her sister were on totally different paths.


    Inside the garden.


    Clint exhaled as he placed the big mechanical piece in his hand into a sunken part.


    Suddenly a red line appeared in between them and two parts were immediately pulled together and fit in.


    With a mechanical noise, the final part of the Mech had been successfully assembled.


    "I''ve already set up the connection installation procedure beforehand so that the assembly wouldn''t be too difficult. The only problem with this is that it would require a considerable amount of strength. You don''t lack the strength but if you were smarter, the assembly would''ve finished a long time ago."


    Red Moon started to complain about him with an unhappy tone.


    "Isn''t this finished¡­" Clint felt helpless.


    "Finished my *ss! If it was another person, he would''ve finished two Mechs with the time you''ve taken! You piece of shit. How dare you talk back with such low efficiency!"


    "Yes yes, I am a piece of shit¡­" Clint was already immune to his insults as he talked back while he climbed up the Mech through its knee with some difficulty. With Red Moon''s instructions, he soon finished assembling the cockpit''s entry as well.


    Sizzle¡­


    White gas started to spew out slowly from the cockpit as it opened up slowly. Inside, it was completely filled with the smell of chemical and mechanical oil.


    "Well, hurry up! Go in there and try it out!"


    "Okay¡­"


    As Clint sat inside the cockpit, he felt that he had sat on something sticky and wet. After all, the environment inside was still rather humid.


    "Currently, the habitation system isn''t installed in the cockpit. There is no hydraulic suspension, radiation reduction, nothing. This is because I made this Mech from scratch, so other than the control system, every other system is currently down. Those that can still be used have already been taken off since most of their parts were abandoned due to the high repair fee. They''re not functional even though I''ve fixed them." Red Moon''s voice could be heard from the outside. "Next, you need to try and pour in your Willpower and learn to walk."

 832 Lurk 4

    "Understood!" Clint sat in the cockpit as he recalled the few times he saw a Pilot''s behavior inside. He then felt inspired and tried to mimic what he recalled from the movie.


    "Life No. 1! Engage!!''


    "Engage my ass!! Stop it!!"


    Boom!!


    The Black Mech immediately fell down in the center of the garden, and dust flew up into the air. The Black Mech looked like an old farmer carrying a huge wok on its back as its arms were dismally crossed over its chest while it toppled facedown onto the ground.


    The whole garden shook along with a few of the toys hanging on the wall. Alarms blared and red lights swung about, but fortunately, there were no more movements and the red light started to dim down over time.


    "You idiot!! Get your ass up!!" Red Moon''s shouting had Clint trembling from head to toe as he quickly ordered the Mech to stand up.


    As long as he had enough Willpower, it would be very easy to make the Mech walk. It was just that he had been too caught up in the moment and the problem had arisen.


    "It''s my fault boss! Boss!!" the first thing Clint did was to beg for forgiveness. However, it was too late¡­


    "Ahhh!!!!"


    With the terrified cry, even Baylon, who was inside the room, was scared to the point she curled up.


    Inside the cockpit, Clint twitched his body to fit in as he sat in a very awkward position.


    "Alright, let that be a lesson for you. You know what''ll happen if you fool around with the Mech next time," Red Moon was angry, but at the same time, he''d calmed down. "Alright, now listen to me."


    "Yes¡­" Clint was running out of strength.


    "This Mech will listen to your orders and it''s named the Life No.1. However, these are not important. What''s important is what I''m going to tell you right now!" it was one of those rare moments where Red Moon spoke seriously.


    Clint immediately sat properly and focused. Although he was tortured by Red Moon on a daily basis, he knew that Red Moon really wanted the best for him deep in his heart. Hence he was actually very grateful to Red Moon.


    "Firstly, the current Mech you''re driving has no Habitable System, Hydraulic Suspension, nothing. This means that the moment you enter into those harsh environments, you can only rely on your body to stay alive. These include high-pressure environments, vacuum space, and even high inertial momentum. You have to be careful as the moment the Mech enters these harsh environments, your life will be in grave danger."


    Clint listened half-heartedly as he already knew of these troublesome conditions from all the Mech movies he''d watched. However, he didn''t have a general idea how dangerous it really was as his brain was all muddled. However, Red Moon didn''t care what his current state of mind was and continued.


    "However, you have your advantages as well, especially the advantage that I''ve given you!"


    He paused for a moment, "To others, this Mech is technically garbage, as they may complain that it uses up too much energy for even attempting to pick up a heavy object. However, this Mech is something very useful to you because you''re different from the other Pilots."


    Red Moon''s tone turned more serious over time.


    "The Forbidden Mech''s strength comes from its forbidden power source!"


    "Its forbidden power source?"


    Noting that Clint asking a question, Red Moon held a satisfied expression on his face and continued.


    "The Forbidden Mech has all sorts of unique abilities, and my strongest ability is the Memory of War!!"


    "Memory of War? What''s that?" Clint''s instincts told him that it was something incredible.


    "Memory of War means that you''re able to obtain the other Pilot''s technique and experience if you''ve sat in their Mech before. You would keep absorbing their experiences and attain powerful strength through this. This skill or ability belongs uniquely to me. A powerful ability that only Lord Red Moon possesses!" Red Moon explained proudly.


    "Oh~~~!"


    "In other words, as long as you have a Mech and enough combat experience with a Mech, you''re able to activate the previous techniques that you used. This is the true strength of the Forbidden Mech and the reason why it''s forbidden!" Red Moon said. "This is also the reason why I wanted you to collect those broken parts."


    **********


    "It''s a pleasure meeting you, we''re the Charm mercenary group that you''ve hired."


    Inside a hotel outside the Academy, the moment Garen entered the room, he saw a few beautiful women waving and smiling at him.


    Under the soft yellow light, he was in a white suit that he had just changed into. He closed the door and looked at these five young women who were either standing up or sitting down.


    Among these girls, the oldest one was not more than thirty and the youngest one was only about fifteen to sixteen years old. Just as what he''d understood from earlier, they were all beautiful and elegant and all of them were in tight black miniskirt uniforms. The moment he opened the door and glanced at them, Garen knew that the golden curly hair girl in the center was the leader.


    "Who''s Captain Inari? I came here the moment I finished my class. My schedule is very tight so we need to schedule our time as soon as possible."Garen didn''t plan to beat around the bush with these girls and went straight to the main point.


    "That''s cool. I''m Inari," as expected, the golden curly hair girl walked forward and replied firmly, giving off a very noble, lady-like vibe.


    "Have you received the employment contract?" Garen asked immediately.


    "Yes. We do not have any additional requests here," Inari replied instantly.


    "Same goes to me. Let''s sign the agreement then. I''ll give you the money based on the schedule we''ve set earlier, where I will give you the first half and the remaining half after everything is over," Garen said calmly.


    "No problem."


    Inari nodded and both parties pointed their Watch Terminals at each other''s. After a while, a soft ring of confirmation came from their Terminals.


    Garen was currently in a very panicked state.


    The White Light Terrorist Group was running rampant, causing the Blackboard Region''s security to tighten up considerably. If he were to slack further, he might not be able to reach the edge in such a short time. Hence he had to make a quick decision.


    After discussing with Celine, he decided to hire the Charm mercenary group to protect himself as he traveled to the Polar Region to meet the honorable noble.


    At the same time, if he were able to sell himself with his profit and obtain a small piece of land, that would be the best course for him.


    "I need to head towards the Polar Region and meet a very important person right now. Hence I need you guys to follow me to that region," Garen went straight to the point.


    "What!" "I just arrived and we''re going out again¡­" "It can''t be~~~"


    All of the beautiful women started complaining.


    Inari was slightly surprised as well and reassessed Garen once more. Their motive in approaching Nonosiva was just a peak in interest as they wanted to steal his training method back home. However, their actual motive lay elsewhere, and if possible, they wanted to get in contact with the Blackboard Academy''s Blue Narcissus with Nonosiva as the bridge. They wanted to obtain the seed of those talented men and return back to their country.


    "It''s fine if you don''t wish to go. I can always hire someone else," Garen couldn''t care less of what they thought as he had already applied a vacation leave to the academy and Instructor Hamm had already sent it to the academy on his behalf. The notice would be processed in a very short while.


    "As the region doesn''t allow non-military civilians to operate a Mech, we are unable to use them and we have sent all the Mechs for maintenance. I''m afraid we may not be able to take them out¡­" it was obvious that Inari wasn''t willing to leave the place.


    "Then I''ll assign you another mission. You guys can protect my family in the dark. My house address is located here up north in the region," Garen sent his house address to them via his Watch Terminal. Although he knew that they already knew of this due to their prior research, he still had to act it through.


    "I''m fine with that," Charm was hoping that their mission would have some free time in between as well. These women weren''t just a breeding team from Maria, they were also highly ranked intelligence spies in disguise. They would occasionally assassinate a person or two, so it''s normal for them to change up their identities and relax for a bit.


    Although Garen didn''t consider up to such an extent, based on his probing, he knew that the opponent had an even more important objective than to steal his technique. Hence he didn''t bother with them. With his vast experience in martial arts, he knew that four out of five of these women were no longer virgins based on their physical structure. Furthermore, they''re all veterans acting pure and innocent.


    He wasn''t interested in them at all, as the most important objective to him was to meet the honorable noble. He didn''t want to miss this opportunity Celine had presented to him. If he managed to establish a connection with him, his future development would be much easier.


    "Then it shall be arranged so. I hope you guys can do your best," Garen glanced at them emotionlessly as he felt that they were a bunch of mysterious people.


    "Don''t worry about it. Being a bodyguard is a very simple and easy task," Inari nodded as she smiled.


    "I''m glad to hear that. I shall take my leave now," Garen didn''t hesitate for a moment as he turned around and walked towards the door.


    As Garen walked out of the room, a waiter was pushing a dining car across the corridor. As Garen stood by the door as he waited for the dining car to pass through, he was thinking how to shake off the attention from the people paying attention to him so that he could successfully meeting the honorable noble. If Blue Narcissus were to find out that he had given the profit to the honorable noble, it might create some bad reputation. Hence he had to be extremely careful before finishing his objective.


    He walked on the thick red carpet towards the elevator. As he pressed the button and waiting for the arrival of the elevator, a fat merchant holding onto two beautiful women walked out of the elevator. The tipsy merchant glanced at Garen and gave him a few more looks the moment he saw the Blackboard Academy''s emblem on his uniform.


    Garen walked into the elevator to see two female hotel workers who seemed to have just finished their work whispering to each other at the corner of the elevator. As they saw Garen entering, they stopped talking as they noticed the Blackboard Academy''s emblem.


    As the elevator slowly closed its door, out of nowhere.


    "Hmm¡­!?" Garen immediately opened his eyes and saw a white-haired man walking past him on the red carpet through the gap of the door. He had come out from another elevator from the right.


    "That man¡­" he shivered. That man seemed to be as strong as him. His presence was similar to of a monster and extremely powerful. He gave off a vibe that he was like a nuclear bomb that could explode at any given moment.


    In that instant, that white-haired man seemed to have felt his gaze as well. He turned around but unfortunately, he was unable to see Garen inside the elevator as the door had completely shut.


    "What was that thing? It didn''t feel like a human¡­" the sensation was indeed very strange. He narrowed his eyes but he didn''t think of it further as his body was very tired. "I should rest first since the target has already reached the city. Hehe... looks like it''s my time to shine."

 833 Extraterritorial 1

    In the dark green night.


    The ground was full of black spikes protruding from the floor. Some of them were humongous metal plates, some were the battleship''s bow, but most of them were strips of broken alloy steel bars. The entire ground was densely covered with a large jungle, erected with steel trees.


    Between various metal trees rising from the ground, there was a small path that was the width of an earthworm, stretching and leading towards the distance.


    On a small black road, the white motorcade was moving as slow as a snail, driving along the small and winding path.


    Hoot¡­


    The engine sounds of the motorcade were extremely low. The yellow lamp post constantly swept across its surroundings, then penetrated its light through the green mist and into the distance.


    The motorcade was formed with four white armored cars. At the back of each car, it was equipped with a thick and solid turret. Furthermore, each car was twenty meters long, six meters tall. When you look up at it, it was like a moving beast. But among these giant steel trees, it suddenly seemed extremely small.


    In forth car, the space inside was split into blocks of private rooms. Each private room was in a round ball-like shape occupied with two bunk beds that could accommodate four people.


    Garen was placed on the third bed, on one of the top bunk; beside him was the car''s window. His head was inclined slightly to the side while it was covered with the blankets. Looking out of the window, he caught the night scenes that were constantly changing, feeling a sense of novelty.


    The large land of metal trees outside looked like real giant trees that had its fangs out, claws spread, and limbs extending, giving people a spooky feeling. Staring out at the window, he could make out the nearby remaining signs of the production trademark on the top that was illuminated by a light beam. Yet, when he looked further beyond the distance, he could see darkness.


    Three planets in blue, white, and white were suspended in the sky, taking over half of the sky. However, as they intertwined with the moonlight that was shining down, it formed a mysterious green color through the night sky and fog.


    Garen looked at the scenery outside his window and felt slightly depressed.


    "Is this your first time away?"


    The uncle, who was his roommate on the lower bunk, asked while he had his hand behind his head.


    "The scenery out there is the radiation belt between cities. The belt of our Mother Planet Federation is considered minimal. At least it doesn''t affect laypeople''s body functions as long as they don''t stay there for long."


    Garen did not make a sound. He only moved his body.


    Though the uncle did not mind, so he continued.


    "Out there, it''s like living in the deep ends of an ocean -- the cold, deep radiation of the poisonous fog is everywhere. Even plants are killed by the distortion of the radiation. Only a few types of microbe spores are still surviving," he took out a lighter to light his cigarette up and then took a nice puff.


    "I have missed this¡­"


    Garen frowned slightly.


    "Is it possible for you not to smoke? I hate the smell of smoke."


    "Really? I apologize. I forgot that young look of yours. Hahaha¡­" The uncle chuckled as he pressed the cigarette bud into the ashtray that was on his bedside table.


    "Can you talk about the radiation belt that is in between the cities?" Garen continued to observe the green environment outside and asked in a low voice. "It is indeed my first time out of the city. Before that, I thought that it would be a very nice natural environment. I did not cross my mind that it would be like this¡­"


    "Is it too miserable?" The uncle laughed again, "Young one, you really are very lucky, to have such a hardworking father who fought hard to build you a solid foundation or maybe it was the luck from your ancestors, that allowed you to successfully become a citizen in the Inter-Region. But a lot of other people do not have that fate." He paused for a bit, as if he was recalling his memories.


    "The rest of the Mother Planet Federation places have not been in contact with each other for over tens of years. I''m not quite sure about their situation but I understand our Mother Planet better. Furthermore, I''ve been traveling around this planet for quite a long time now."


    "Oh? Uncle, why don''t you tell me something?" Garen suddenly showed interest. "How can the Inter-Region be such a desolate scene with no signs of life at all?"


    "Not all Inter-Regions are like that. Some places are still normal, filled with nature and even though this is the outer part of the Blackboard Region, it is still pretty normal during the day. It only happens to this part of the Region when night falls -- the radiation belt would appear. In this Interstellar Era, it has given humans tremendous scientific and technological advancement. We can now move mountains and sea, there''s nothing we can''t do! Even the sun has succumbed to the feet of humanity. However, with such strong scientific technology, it has brought us the same awful destruction. And that is the side effect of technology that is caused by the radiation belt. Our excessive exploitation of the planet''s resources, over-extraction of heat from the planet''s crust, and excessively drawing and consuming stellar heat energy that can benefit the radiation belt have ruined the planet''s ecological cycle. Without enough radiation from the sun and without enough heat energy from the planet, without taking into account the areas that are within scientific technology, other places have slowly become desolated or strange," the uncle explained fluently and poured out his emotions.


    "So that''s the drawbacks of this Interstellar Era?" Garen could understand it very well.


    "Yes. Substance Annihilation Energy is one of the last century''s greatest human invention. But who would''ve thought that was the real root cause to the destruction of the environment? At the cost of destroying substances, a tremendous amount of energy was released. This energy is the most basic force that could construct planetary substances. By constantly stimulating the consumption, in the end, the planet substances'' most basic source is consumed just like the ancient nuclear power research. Everybody was ecstatic when they discovered nuclear power -- the same as when they discovered fossil fuel and coal! Since the planet is so big, people think that there must be tons of fossil fuel and coal and they will never be able to use it all. The same logic applies here where people think that there are tons of radioactive substances and since the universe is so big anyway, they definitely would not be able to finish it¡­"


    The uncle nagged incessantly in a low voice.


    As he went on, Garen could not hear him clearly anymore. Instead, the two sleeping women opposite from them were snoring louder and louder.


    They were two fat women. By the looks of it, it seemed like they were in their thirties or forties. They both wore a gold necklace and they snored repeatedly as they slept on their bed.


    Outside the window, the faint engine sound of the motorcade could be heard.


    "Kid, after leaving Blackboard Region, where do you plan to go? You look like you''re either from Blackboard Region or a citizen from the Inner Region," the uncle at the bottom bunk asked softly. "Anyway, since the both of them opposite from us are still here and I can''t sleep, why don''t let''s chat for a bit?"


    "I''m going to the Polar Region." Garen changed into a set of normal clothes when he got onto the car -- a black t-shirt and grey long pants. He did not look like he would attract attention. More so, he looked like a young worker from a poor family.


    "The standard of living in Polar Region is a little higher than Blackboard Region''s pricing. Even the salary is a little higher. It''ll be much harder working there but at least you''ll get to save some money, so it''s not bad." The uncle seemed like an expert in this area.


    "Is that so? How''s the situation there?" Garen casually asked. He had planned to go there quietly first. Whether it''s after solving the territorial issues or carrying out his own plan within legal parameters, it all had to be extremely concealed. So, in order to get rid of those who were keeping track of his actions behind his back, he took a long time to succeed. However, even then, he did not know whether that would work at all.


    "Polar Region is built from an Empire. Different nobility''s territorial has different rules. Since Blackboard Region is an Alliance, the citizens are treated very well and you can definitely find a good living there. Though the quality of education there isn''t the best. So such as you, a citizen from a strong region would be a better talent compared to their own people. There are more positions that you can hold¡­"


    The uncle was talking incessantly again.


    Garen answered him from time to time. From Blackboard Region, he took a train to the border of Masiro City, then he took another train to Ice City. Finally, he found the transit motorcade that crosses the border without being noticed and it did not travel on the same tracks as the official motorcade. Garen chose this kind of transit motorcade that seemed like the smuggle people across borders to travel towards the Polar Region.


    Only then could he stop and limit his course of action from being known to others.


    Yet along this journey, he fully acknowledged the number of people, among the citizens, who practiced Willpower.


    Basically, there was one out of ten of them in Blackboard Region. By the borders of Ice City, he could identify one out of twenty or thirty people. The majority of the remaining ones were normal people who did not have Willpower. After all, not everyone liked the fighting lifestyle of a Mech Pilot. A lot of people wanted a balanced and simple life.


    However, after they were out of the city, he could barely see people who were Willpower practitioners. One day when he was on the train, he could sense a group of Mercenaries who had a certain level of fighting and shooting skills, but he could not see Willpower among any of them. On this aspect, it was obvious that the Academy''s management of their Training Method was very strict.


    When the internet mentioned that there were thousands of Willpower practitioners on this planet, he sometimes doubted how they could calculate that. But when he thought expensive the Training Method was, it suddenly all made sense.


    It must be that the Willpower practitioners were all gathered in very few places.


    As Garen listened to the uncle''s dull rambling, he slowly slipped into a dream state.


    Without knowing how long it had been.


    Bang!


    A loud, deafening sound suddenly rang out and woke Garen up from his sleep.


    He forced his eyes open and his muscles were unusually tensed, prepared to be alert of his surroundings.


    "What''s wrong? What happened?"


    Travelers from the other rooms were asking as well.


    "The sky is not bright yet! What is the problem? Why did the car stop?" Somebody scolded.


    The uncle on the lower bunk scratched his head when he woke up. The two fat ladies on the opposite side seemed to have hit their bodies as they sat up crying in pain.


    "It''s the Solemn Fire! Tsk tsk, it is beautiful! Quickly, take a picture!" As if the uncle suddenly realized something.


    Garen quickly followed his vision and realized it was happening outside the window. Then, he looked out the window.


    In the green night scene outside and between countless steel trees, he could see a strip of pale yellow flame burning vertically out of thin air in the distance and floated into mid-air like a pupil dilating vertically in the night. Looking at it carefully, those with good vision could see the flames jumping up and down.


    "What is that?" It was the first time Garen saw this scenery.


    "That''s called the Solemn Fire, but nobody knows why! Anyway, it is said that some scholars have studied it before. Other than a pile of technical terms, the main effect is to induce the natural phenomena of the poisonous fog from the radiation, similar to the wildfire produced by the phosphorus combustion. Traveling tourists would see it as a sign of safety for the journey. It represents good luck and safe journey."


    Very quickly, or maybe the drivers stopped to take pictures of the Solemn Fire, the motorcade slowly moved forwards once again.


    "There were many Solemn Fires here a few years ago. It''s lesser now; it''s quite rare to see it and it feels great," the uncle crossed his legs.


    "Solemn Fire, huh?"

 834 Extraterritorial 2

    In his knowledge, there was also a record of this sorts in the Totem World. The features that were recorded were the same, but it wasn''t called Solemn Fire, it was called the Green Crystal Fire. It was an effect of self-ignition caused by a low-ignition mineral deposit of the Green Crystal. These mineral deposits were unusual. Its flames did not ignite on his body. Instead, it ignited by itself when it was ten meters above him.


    "If it''s Green Crystal, maybe I can try to make a nutrient solution to improve the cellular quality. If Willpower really comes from the Willpower cells in the whole body, then by directly tackling to strengthen the Region''s cells, it might be able to create a good effect," Garen''s head scanned through huge amounts of drugs that were in the Totem World. He had learned all of this from the pharmacist that was his subordinate. If there''s a chance, maybe he might give it a try.


    After he broke through his Level 1 of Willpower, he started to switch up the new Training Methods he just bought.


    ''Galactic Halo -- A complex manipulation explosive Training Method. Your Willpower would be able to split into numbers. At the same time, it could subtly manipulate multiple units to attack. The split quantity is determined and divided by level -- Level 1, one split; Level 2, two splits; Level 3, three splits. It is suitable for Mech Pilots who are obstructive. Price per level is 260 thousand points.''


    Three levels in total would cost more than 800 thousand points. The transaction tax and platform fees would be shockingly high.


    Now, he had just started practicing Level 1. The depth of the Galactic Halo had to be much stronger than Blackboard Training Method. Not only on its efficiency, but also a variety of basic knowledge. Regarding the improvement in his future progress, all aspects would go beyond what he has right now.


    "The excavation of the nature of Willpower cells -- by looking at it this way, there seems to be some research on Totem World''s drugs. Although it is not very developed, when looking at it from another angle of research, it seems very innovate," Garen pondered carefully. Unknowingly, the sky had brightened up slowly.


    Whereas on how to excavate the Willpower of these cells, he felt that these Training Methods of Willpower seemed similar to the birth of the secret weapon. Who knew, maybe he could even use other universes'' space and time, interchangeably.


    He got out of bed in the morning and hurriedly ate the breakfast of dry food in which he brought. Holding onto the carton of milk, he went back to his bed to continue with his rest and pondered.


    Without noticing, it had started pouring with rain outside and it had soaked through the land of metal trees. As they entered into a huge patch of field, leopards could be seen crossing the field in the far distance, from time to time. Each giant leopard was fifty to sixty meters long, excluding the tail. When they ran, they were heavy and fast. The leopard''s dazzling gold stripes reflected under the sun and gave out a stunning shine.


    The passengers in the car each took out their cameras to capture the sight. However, only passengers in the black motorcade had a chance to catch that view. If they were on the standard tracks, only the express train could be taken to travel between countries. It would then take a fixed track and the speed would be extremely fast, so all the scenery would have been hard to catch.


    As noon approached, the rain got heavier and heavier. The fields started to become slightly troublesome swamps. The speed of the motorcade started to slow down as well.


    During noon, one of the cars fell into a small swamp and could not get out. The motorcade crews had to get down to sort it out. Even a few gunmen walked around the area to chase away the monsters that might appear.


    It took them quite a while to pull out the car -- it was very tough. By that time, it was already night time and it was obvious that they could not arrive by the estimated timing.


    At night, there were people playing with cards in the compartments. They even had a few guards who came in to drink and sing along. The sound was so loud, nobody could sleep.


    This lifestyle lasted for the next few days. Finally, by noon of the third day, the motorcade entered the border of Polar Region.


    Just as they were about to arrive at the scheduled destination, Cairo Morgan City, he took the chance to escape the Motorcade quietly when he went to pee. Following the route that he had investigated before, he went out alone, towards the destination he had planned.


    *******************


    Roar!


    Thunder and lightning flashed across the sky. For a moment, it illuminated the huge silver city down below.


    Beyond the sky, a black single aircraft was spinning a huge propellor and was headed towards this direction at a high speed. An aircraft and a helicopter had similar features, but the difference was in the seat-like thing that was hanging under the propeller, just nice to fit one person.


    When Garen sat on the chair, he looked down.


    "This is¡­?" He pulled out the map on his watch and looked. The side of the Terminal was blinking red, the screen was showing a row of words, ''Warning! The huge source of radiation would affect the terminal signal transmission. Please leave the radiation area immediately."


    Ignoring the warnings, Garen immediately started to download the map


    Along the borders and into the Inter-Region, in between Blackboard Region and Polar Region, there were three deserted areas that did not matter. It had no resources, only extremely harmful radiation. When people show up here, even if they were driving a Mech, they would need to increase their energy consumption to resist the power of the radiation source. This would be a dangerous area that is harmful towards the human.


    "Mechanical ruins -- over here should be the ancient city of mechanical ruins. The place in which I want to go to is the Colorful Lake. So, I will still need to keep walking forward."


    Garen gave a tap on his watch. The top part suddenly revealed his current location. If he walked forward towards the winding road that stretches far, he would only be able to arrive at this destination in other few more hours.


    "In total, there are a total of six Colorful Lakes that are nearby. Here, it is one of the safest out of two. The huge radiation area¡­" Garen extended his hand and pulled out the protective suit on the other hand. Underneath him, he felt a huge radiation energy. It felt just like static energy, where goosebumps rise as if the hairs on his body were all standing.


    He checked his Attribute Pane.


    "There is no effect. Comparing the radiation to Hellfrost Peacock, this is nasty radiation of the ancestor of all living monsters," he pulled his zipper with satisfaction.


    Overlooking down from the sky, it was a panoramic view of everything underneath.


    The silver building, that was like the building block factory, was built one after the other. The neatly slanted metal pillars were lined on both sides of the buildings like spider legs. Though, it looked more like the ends of an electronic component that had been inlaid on the silver ground.


    The wind whistled as it passed, suddenly the sound of fine metal clashing sounds was heard.


    Garen just flew into the city of ruins. Looking over from his position, he could not see the border completely. The buildings shone brightly as if it was not abandoned at all. No one would be able to make out that this place was the ancient City of Ruins that had been abandoned for more than three thousand years.


    As he flew inward, the radiation inside felt stronger. Although Garen was wearing a protective suit, he could feel his hair standing on his whole body.


    He let out a slight cold energy radiation that the Hellfrost Peacock had been suppressing. The moment the cold energy radiation was let out, it instantly pushed downwards in a shapeless form to neutralize the radiation.


    The air was getting colder. From a temperature of over ten degrees, it quickly dropped down to below zero degrees. However, the strange thing was that not the slightest snow could be seen from the huge city below.


    "There isn''t a single breath of life here¡­" Garen kept looking outwards but his line of vision still could not catch any signs of the city border.


    He held on tight to the handle on his right and lifted it up.


    Hoot¡­


    The single aircraft suddenly rose up and flew towards a higher altitude.


    Beep beep beep¡­


    The square display in front of him showed the altitude of the aircraft: 1124 meters.


    "Almost there."


    Garen stopped pulling the handle that raised the aircraft''s altitude. Instead, he looked down again.


    On the right side, in front of the Machinery City, a metal cliff extended above a bunch of buildings like the flight deck of an aircraft carrier. A long stretch that led to a sudden huge thing.


    An old and shabby black airshift was floating on the deck. The airship had no light, no flame of power. It only floated up and down a little.


    "This city is a little strange. With so much metal resources and equipment, someone should come back for some recycling. Why hasn''t anyone come over to use this block of ruins in over three thousand years?


    Garen was a little suspicious. For it to have existed for such a long time, it must have had its reasons.


    "Enough. The less trouble, the better. My current strength is not strong enough for me to deal with a lot of possible dangers. Let me look for Colorful Lake, and then I can continue this debate." He suppressed his curiosity. Then, he started maneuvering the aircraft around the center of the city and flew towards the established route.


    After more than ten hours of passing through the city of mechanical ruins, Garen finally saw the rolling red mountains in front.


    In between the gigantic red mountains, he could make out a giant arc that stood there, from afar.


    The height of the stone arc was towering over hundreds of meters. Just like the arch of a tree root, a hollow space was formed from the ground and a piece of dark red disc that was hundreds of meters in diameter floated in the middle of the hollow space.


    The dark red disc was densely packed with numerous patterns and symbols. All of them shone with a breathing-like rhythmic light, and they were still turning a little.


    "I''m here, the gate of the inter-domain border."


    Garen knew he was almost there when he saw the stone cave.


    From afar, the border gate looked like a round-arched door, except that there was no knocker at the center. Instead, a round disc, formed with rays of dark red light was floating in the middle. The round disc wasn''t an entity, but it was a huge pattern intertwined with numerous rays of light.


    "From the records, the establishment of the inter-domain border gate on the Mother Planet has at least been five thousand years. It has a long history and the craftsmanship is ancient. Until now, none of the scholars know the purpose and significance of this disc pattern that is formed with rays of light. No matter how they map or experiment, it only shows that this is a simple map that does not involve lights."


    Garen stopped for a while to observe the huge Light-Patterned Disc carefully. Then, he continued to fly towards his destination.


    However, he was still within the huge radiation range of the city of machinery ruins. After Garen flew passed the border gate, it had been another ten hours or more. From the night before up to the morning of the second day, he could finally see the edge of the Colorful Lake.


    The edge was dark green as if the algae had covered the ground, like a blanket. He was flying above this ground for about a few minutes until a full picture of the lake appeared in front of him.


    "This is the legendary Colorful Lake?"


    Borrowing the morning sun, Garen looked forwards and he was stunned.


    The huge dark green lake sat quietly in the middle of the land, like a big and round green basin that is filled with thick, green lake water.


    There were things floating on the surface of the lake. It was either rubbish or it was some floating pale-yellow paste that revealed some soft, pale green plants that were growing out of the water. Looking for afar, these pale green plants were like a pattern that was formed with the natural condensation of the paste in the lake.


    Some of it were only half a meter tall, and some others were much taller than that. Some of it looked like some water plant, and some of them looked like a dry small tree, but there were also some that had grown into a plant with big leaves, just like a lotus leaf. All of them floated motionless on the water. The more he looked, the more like looked disgusting and lifeless.


    From far away, Garen could already smell the disgusting, and unpleasant smell.


    "This is not the fluid of the Peacock''s mucus¡­" He looked at the lake. He could not even sense a single hint of Peacock mucus from the inside. "This is purely the substances that have been contaminated by the radiation. In this case, if the substances I''ve absorbed from the White Rainbow Stone are from this environment, then my Peacock Technique¡­"


    He suddenly felt a little faint. The closer he got to the lake, the more he felt the suffocating, poisonous gas and the horrible stench of odor.

 835 Truth 1

    As the sky darkened and the clouds grew thicker, the previous sunny weather was nowhere to be seen.


    Garen floated over the Colorful Lake, slightly nauseated at the disgusting smell and radiation.


    As the sound of the wind grew louder, he lowered the aircraft and headed downwards slowly. As he approached the Colorful Lake, the horrible stench bombarded his sense of smell, making his eyes water.


    The dark green lake was like a huge pot of gooey paste with some places bubbling non-stop. The bubbles swelled up and became like balloons; they floated up and left the surface of the lake, but they did not fly high before popping, leaving rancid green droplets behind.


    Garen gently landed on a blanket of green algae by the lake and raised his hand to look at his protective clothing. The original black protective clothing had become slightly yellow. The huge amount of radiation had suppressed Garen''s cold energy radiation until it had retreated into the protective clothing before it barely managed to go against it.


    "The pollution here is too serious¡­" he looked around and saw no living things or any plants in the surrounding.


    "Firstly, I should look for the site where the White Rainbow Stones are," he slowly walked along the edge of the lake.


    Before long, at a place between the lake and the blanket of algae, he could vaguely see colorful stones of different sizes. There were white, red, green, yellow and even more colors.


    Garen went forward, picked up a white stone and shook off the lake water on it.


    "It does contain the kind of material that the Peacock''s mucus has and it can provide help to my Peacock''s technique to evolve and train¡­ This place is an uncomfortable and disgusting place for others but for me, it''s a blessed land¡­"


    Garen gently pressed on the white stone. Immediately, the white stone looked as though it was weathered away and turned into powder, which was sprinkled down by Garen into the lake. It melted into the lake and there were no signs of it again.


    The sky got darker, and there were only a few lights peeking through the thick dark clouds. Without the light, Colorful Lake appeared an even darker shade of green and the bubbles from the lake had lessened, making the lake appear calmer.


    "I need to find a good place, a place with more white stones to concentrate on absorbing¡­"


    He squatted down, enduring the stench, and dipped his hand slightly into the green lake.


    Hiss¡­


    A trace of white smoke came out from the fingertip of the protective glove and the smell of something burnt wafted in the air.


    The stench was just like a toilet after taking a dump, mixed with the smell of burnt plastics; pungent and disgusting.


    Garen held his breath. There was a small hole on the fingertip of his protective glove, which had been corroded by the lake water. At the moment the lake water touched the skin on his finger, it was surrounded by a large number of blue threads.


    "Devour!" he retracted his finger and the little bit of lake water surrounded by the blue threads immediately drilled back into his skin.


    Putong!


    Suddenly, Garen heard a loud heartbeat of his own heart.


    The lake water that was wrapped up was decomposed into tiny bits of unknown black materials. These black materials were unable to be used by Peacock technique, as the nutrients and energy contained inside were too little and most of it was poisonous toxins. After being swallowed by the blue threads, it was categorized as impurities and was directly transferred to the ''tumor'' in his chest.


    "Lake water that has no worth¡­ It can only be used for Distorted Seed¡­" Garen frowned and stood up.


    Resuming his walk along the edge of the lake, Garen carefully observed the distribution of the white stones.


    After more than two hours when the sky was totally dark, he switched on the radioactive light. The green light illuminated the surroundings not far from him.


    "Fortunately, the cold energy radiation surrounds my body, or else the radioactive light might get damaged," Garen held the lantern-like radioactive light and continued his observation on the distribution.


    Before he knew it, time flew by quickly.


    "Hai!"


    Suddenly, a voice came from the sky. It was a voice that belonged to a man.


    "This is our turf, stranger!"


    Garen looked up and saw that in the distance, a small group of miniature black Mechs was flying towards him. This kind of Mech was only half the size of a normal Mech. Around two meters tall, it looked like a layer of dark metal armor that was wrapped around a person. Rather than a Mech, calling it a metal coat was more fitting.


    The number of members of this small group of Mechs totaled to six units. The sound of the engines billowing flames came from their back. The yellow flames that were spat out were very small and inconspicuous in the night sky.


    The other party was wearing night goggles which obviously meant that they could still see without light.


    "This Colorful Lake belonged to us, Hornet, get out, get the hell out of here!"


    "Super-miniature Mechs?" Garen recognized the other party''s equipment. This kind of super-miniature Mech was one of the most popular armed devices for people without Willpower.


    A flexible operation, strong defensive ability, adaptability to many kinds of harsh environment and it could also fly freely. With the addition of various weapon systems, it could even threaten ordinary Mech pilots. Generally, three or four units of super-miniature Mechs could threaten regular Mech pilots if they had plenty of weapons. Their defensive abilities were equivalent to one-fifth up to one-third of the normal Mech''s, but they were much more dexterous. It was just that their cost was very high; the price of two units of normal Mech was equivalent to that of one unit of super-miniature Mech¡­


    "Did you hear me?" the Mech at the front shouted loudly after seeing that Garen gave no response.


    "Forget it, kill him and throw into the lake and nobody will ever find out. This is the secret location that we found, no outsiders must know about it."


    A Mech behind said in a low voice.


    Below, Garen scowled.


    In this kind of situation, the other party easily said things that meant to silence him by killing. It was clear that the chaos in this region had slightly exceeded what he imagined.


    Before he''d finished gathering his thoughts, Garen saw flames being shot at him from the hand of the Mech in front.


    Almost at the same time, he moved to the left. The ground he''d stood on originally was now full of small holes the size of bullets.


    "Ordinary guns? They''re still using this outdated primitive weapon," Garen dodged and looked at his original position.


    At the fourth level of the Peacock technique, the overall quality of his body had greatly improved. Although there was still quite some distance to the peak of his strength from before, he had some confidence in dealing with any danger. Coincidently, he also wanted to try out the power when he combined the Peacock technique with martial arts.


    "This brat is so slippery!" he heard a shout from a Mech above.


    Regardless, Garen lightly jumped and incredibly crossed over four or five meters and landed on a stone beside the lake and stomped.


    Peng!!


    He jumped to a height of seven or eight meters and in the blink of an eye, he abruptly appeared in front of the Mech which had opened fire.


    "Single Whip''s Mark!"


    His right hand suddenly swelled up to almost twice its original size in mid-air, and like a black metallic fan, it swung down upon the Mech.


    Weng!!


    The Mech did not even make a sound nor reaction before it crashed downwards into the lake, creating large waves.


    "I never thought that the oriental martial arts absorbed from the previous world to be so useful," Garen slowly landed, stood at his original position and moved his body.


    His actual strength was not as terrifying as what it appeared to be. It was because, as a Mech pilot, he was very clear on the weaknesses that Mechs had. Against the super-miniature Mech coat, he could naturally find the flaws they had and proceed to deal a fatal blow to the thruster. It was not so much that the other party was blown downwards by him, it was more of the other party getting crushed by the immense weight of their Mech coat.


    However, the people in the sky above did not know this. All they saw was a guy wearing a common protective clothing jumping and slamming down a Mech.


    They did not respond for a long time to what had happened. They just remained afloat in mid-air.


    "Henry¡­ Henry was knocked down by that guy with a single blow!" a Mech started to turn around, intending to escape.


    "What are you afraid of?! It''s just an accident! Henry''s thruster was suddenly out of flames, I saw it clearly!" the first voice that had suggested killing him suddenly sounded and quickly calmed down his companions.


    For a time, the remaining five Mechs began to hover in the air, staring at Garen. Soon, they switched to covert communications and began to fly upwards.


    "Kill him!!"


    Garen was able to sneak attack a Mech just now, in fact, it was just that the angle had coincidentally been in his favor. Now that the other party had become vigilant, it would be more difficult for him.


    He only had a body that was twice as good as the general human body. Against the strength of alloy in this era, he was still powerless and unable to penetrate through it.


    Looking at the Mechs that got higher and higher above, Garen did not feel anything. He had fought countless battles in his life. Even now that he had to fight Mechs with his physical body in such a harsh environment, he did not waver.


    He had seen too many environments that were much worse than this, this little handicap was nothing.


    "Except, how do I get rid of the rest of them¡­?" just as this thought flashed through his mind, he saw bursts of fire and the sky was filled with bullets raining down on him. A large barrage of bullets flew downwards, forcing him to move around quickly to avoid them.


    Some of the large stones on the ground were riddled with bullets until countless holes were seen, and the blanket of algae on the ground had been shot into pulp. Clouds of dust-like green gas billowed up.


    In the midst of his rapid movements, Garen picked up a few blocks of stones and used them as hidden weapons to fling mercilessly at the Mechs in the sky.


    The man who had been hit only shook a few times before continuing to attack without any effect whatsoever.


    "Such a tough alloy!" Garen realized, it was unlike the era of Secret Techniques, where a wall that was more than ten centimeters would be directly smashed. Even if it was that tough metallic armor, the shock produced by the high speed would make the pilot inside feel terrible.


    But now, it seemed that the Mechs had pretty good shock absorber devices.


    "Using the physical body to go against the Mechs, even the most fragile super-miniature Mechs, is so difficult¡­what a hassle," Garen moved quickly, picking up a dark green branch by the lake and dipping into the lake.


    "Let''s see what this can do."


    He jumped to the left side and borrowed the force from a green tree by the lake to fling the branch in his hand after a backward flip.


    The branch flew directly towards the Mech giving out the commands in the sky. The end that was dipped into the lake hit the right side of the head of the Mech.


    Pa!


    With a crisp sound, the lake water from the branch splashed on the head of the machine.


    "Ah!!!" he screamed and fell straight down, and no more sound was heard from him.


    The remaining four Mechs were dumbfounded. For a moment, the sound of gunfire stopped.


    Pa Pa Pa!


    Three more branches covered with lake water was shot up and hit the same places on the Mechs.


    The three Mechs also let out screams before falling downwards.


    The last Mech was trembling and the gun in its hand was almost dropped. It remained suspended in mid-air, afraid of making any movements.

 836 Truth 2

    Beneath, Garen was gasping for breath. It was easy for him to throw out so many branches, but for all of them to accurately hit the tiny opening in the air filtration system, it was a demanding yet delicate task which exhausted most of his concentration. It was partly because he also had to pay attention to avoid the rain of bullets while being careful of where he stepped on in his high-speed movements all around the place.


    "Luckily, I''m familiar with the super-miniature Mech since the content of my classes included information about it, or else I really wouldn''t know how to deal with such a troublesome turtle shell. I can''t penetrate it and the impact would be dealt with by the shock absorber device¡­"


    He walked to the side of the only Mech that had not fallen into the lake and gave it a kick. There was no response.


    "You, come down."


    He looked up at the last Mech and said.


    That guy gave a shudder and obediently flew down in front of Garen. He quickly threw away the gun in his hand and raise his hands in submission.


    "Take off the Mech coat on this guy," Garen ordered.


    "Ye¡­ Yes!"


    The last person managed to give a reply while being scared stiff and immediately started to skillfully strip the Mech coat off the person on the ground.


    Garen stood watching at the side and casually asked a few questions.


    "Just now, I heard that you guys called yourselves Hornets and that this is your turf?"


    After sensing that Garen did not have the intention to kill him, this person began to relax for a bit.


    "Yes Boss, we, the Hornets are the owners of this site. We owned all the resources like the Rainbow stones and Black sands."


    "How many people are there in the Hornets? With Mechs like you guys," Garen asked while observing his actions.


    "Around twenty. We are the fifth team and the larger team among the two small teams, and there is only one boss," that person put the Mech coat beside Garen.


    The one who had been wearing the Mech coat was a dark-skinned middle-aged woman who lay senseless. When she came into contact with the air, with a slight twitch, her body began to rot and melt like a burning candle. Starting from her skin, she began to melt into a puddle of dark green liquid that flowed towards the Colorful Lake.


    Garen already knew that this person had died a while ago. From the moment the lake water entered the air filtration system, both layers of air filtration devices were corroded and the air within had instantly turned poisonous and disgusting. With these people''s physiques, they naturally could not stand it for even half a second and were immediately poisoned to death.


    "This is your Mech coat¡­" this person stood at a side with a somewhat subservient attitude and placed the Mech coat in front of Garen.


    "Are there any other forces around here? You guys have been living in this place?" Garen asked in a low voice.


    "Yes, we are radioactive people whose bodies were contaminated in some parts and have a certain degree of toxicity. We were not allowed to live in any regions except for certain areas that were designated," that person answered hastily. "You are not a radioactive person, so why would you come here? Generally, the regular people are not willing to contact us, even for a little bit."


    "Why?" Garen picked up the Mech coat and examined it.


    "Because the radiation in radioactive people is contagious. This is a disease that has no cure. A slight inattention and the natural people would get infected as well. All the natural people that are infected will be expelled from the region and then they can join the radioactive people," this person explained in a small voice. "We have no way to live, so we can only hoard the small bit of resources left in between the regions, collect them and exchange them with the natural people''s government and merchants for necessities. Food and drinks, things needed in our homes and also water that has no contamination, everything we need."


    "Doesn''t it rain often?" Garen furrowed his brows. From this person''s words, he seemed to have touched on a side that was not exposed in this world.


    "That''s right, but the pollution on the planet is so serious that even the rain is polluted and poisonous. Without a good filtration system, the water cannot be drunk in any way. Those who drink them will get sick and die off quickly. The natural people''s government does not care about us. No medicine, no medical facilities, and even clean water requires for us to trade our lives for it!" when talking about the tragedy of the radiation, this person seemed to have forgotten his fear earlier and spoke with resentment. His tone was full of envy of the natural people and hatred for the government.


    "Natural people¡­radioactive people¡­" Garen had never noticed any information about this on the Web. It had obviously been censored by the government so that the natural people would not know anything about this dark side of them.


    "Are there a lot of radioactive people?" he continued asking.


    "A lot," this person answered in a low voice.


    "What''s your name?" Garen looked at the man carefully.


    "I am called Mondeo, sir," this guy took out a small thing from his waist and handed it over. "Sir, this is a map of the Hornets'' turf."


    Garen took Mondeo''s map and lightly pressed the button on this little device.


    With a beep, a red light shot out from a small hole in front of this little thing and projected directly a crude map on the ground. The names on top of it were written badly.


    The Blackboard region and Polar Region were among them.


    The thing that surprised Garen the most was that as compared to other territories, the two regions were like two sesame seeds on top of layered flatbread [1] and completely inconspicuous.


    He took a deep breath before he moved his finger to other vast territories outside the regions.


    "These territories are all under the influence of radiation?!"


    That''s right, sir!" Mondeo nodded. "The natural people''s regions are only small areas that radioactive people yearn for. There is no need to worry about the food we eat and the clothes we wear. There''s no need to worry about fighting with dangerous mutated life forms and no need to rob territory and food by killing people. A place where every radioactive people aspires to live in. Some people have calculated that even if there were radioactive people dying every day, our number will still be more than ten times that of the natural people. And with the pollution getting worse, every day, there will be natural people being driven out for various reasons to become radioactive people."


    At this moment, Garen truly understood the extent to which the Mother Planet Federation had decayed.


    Radioactive people¡­ this huge group of people was completely covered up by the government. The region had even established a perfect blockade system so that the people could continue to live on in ignorance.


    "Has there been any radioactive people that have entered the region?" Garen asked.


    "Not that I have heard of," Mondeo shook his head. "But sir, you must be a natural person, right? If you have a Watch Terminal, then after coming to the radiation belt, you will need to go through radiation checkup. There may also be a memory sweep."


    "Radiation checkup? Memory sweep¡­?" Garen knew what these two meant, especially the checkup for radiation. The Cold radiation in his body must not be detected. And the memory sweep¡­ This technology was used to enter the memory and let other people take a look layer by layer and make changes to them!


    The natural people did not know the details, thinking that only the recent part of the memory would be eliminated, but as a student in Blackboard Academy, Garen knew better. This technology was a method that completely discarded human rights laws!


    For a time, his face under the protective clothing turned gloomy.


    "Once the fact that you have been to the radiation belt is identified, you will be ordered to go through a memory sweep, which is the rule," Mondeo continued. "Rumor has it that there was once a region''s big shot''s nephew who came out to the radiation belt, and when he went back, he was still ordered to go through the memory sweep. Although the big shot was furious, he could not do anything about it and a lot of his family''s secrets were leaked out."


    "Is there a lot of this radiation belt between the domains? Does it only exist in between the Polar Region and Blackboard Region?"


    Garen pondered for a bit and asked again.


    "No, it''s like this everywhere. Our team has one that came from another radiation belt. Every region separates the area where they conduct their activities, and outside their activity area is entirely radiation belt. No natural person is willing to approach the radiation belt because they may never be able to go back," Mondeo sighed.


    Garen carefully sorted out all the relevant information he had received in the past.


    Mother Planet''s huge environment and their borders rearranged themselves in his mind.


    On the huge blue planet, on the pieces of continents, the regions were like gems dotted in the earth, small and precious, while outside, the periphery was all the radiation belt that was caused by pollution from the technology era.


    The Academies Union was the most powerful force; they controlled everything, maintained order and blocked everything from the outside, but there was also a civil war raging inside. They should be the mastermind that sustained the current relationship between the natural people and the radioactive people.


    "Alright let''s stop talking about all these," Garen diverted the conversation. "How many Colorful Lakes are here?"


    "Colorful Lake¡­ there''s only one that has reached this Flaming light level. We have to send people to patrol every day and it''s our team''s turn today," Mondeo quickly answered. He guessed that Garen should be a natural person that had been expelled today and did not know the importance of resources.


    "Sir, if it''s necessary, you''d better collect some Rainbow stones as resources to exchange for food and water. Food and water are very precious in the radiation belt."


    "Thanks for the reminder," Garen nodded. The Rainbow stones were common items inside the region, and he would have never thought that in the radiation belt, it had become one of the precious and important resources needed for survival. If he had not come out, he would have never have known that the Mother Planet was in such a bad state.


    "Aside from the billions of people on Mother Planet, how many people are living in the radiation belt? This number is a big unknown¡­" he pondered with a heavy heart.


    "Alright, you can go now," Garen waved his hand, indicating that Mondeo could leave now. This guy was quite smart. In the beginning, he was still so scared that he wanted to escape but now he was very cooperative with no indication of doing anything else.


    Mondeo looked as though he was granted amnesty and quickly ran far away. After some distance, he turned to look back and saw that Garen did not have any intention to kill him. Only then did he fly up and rush away.


    Garen watched until he was completely out of sight before picking up a piece of the Mech parts on the ground.


    "An outdated technology¡­ It''s an equipment with materials from at least fifty or sixty years ago." he touched the production label on one of the parts: Polar ¡ª¡ª13329760.


    Looking back at the Colorful Lake, so far, he had only found small white stones which could not even compare to the batches that other people had brought over for him to absorb.


    He had understood completely now. The white stones he had absorbed previously must have been accumulated by a lot of radioactive people.


    "This is far less efficient than getting accumulated and absorbed all at once. Forget it, it''s better to go back. Luckily, the Watch Terminal was frozen by my Cold Energy radiation and its functions were suspended."


    He looked around and his gaze settled on the large Colorful Lake.


    "But, since I have come, I can''t just go back empty-handed. This Colorful Lake¡­"


    TL note:


    [1] Raws stated Shaobing (ÉÕ±ý), translated to layered flatbread.

 837 Absorption 1

    Pu!


    The sound of bubbling water filled his surroundings.


    His vision was a field of dark green and nothing else. His whole body exuded a strong Cold Energy radiation which resisted the highly poisonous water that was constantly trying to attack the surface of his skin. He held his breath and continued swimming down.


    The lake water was very viscous. Without using any special skills, he could not even begin diving. Garen had even hung a big stone from his body to help get himself downwards.


    Not long after he''d dived in, his arms seemed to have touched something hard. It seemed to be moveable.


    "What''s that?"


    Garen pulled it over and suddenly a pale face appeared in front of him. The face belonged to a female corpse and one of her arms had been grabbed by Garen.


    The female corpse''s eyes were wide open, though her eyeballs were waterlogged to the extent they were green and black. Her clothes had been corroded and destroyed and most of her body was covered in rotting holes.


    Throwing it aside, Garen continued to dive quietly while remaining vigilant at all times.


    Gu lu¡­


    A few bubbles floated upwards. The deeper he went, the clearer the water got; from dark green, it gradually turned to a shade of pale green similar to fresh water.


    Garen could hold his breath for half an hour without any problems. The constitution of his body had become something that far exceeded normal humans after the transformation by the Hellfrost Peacock Technique. It was becoming the basic larva of the gigantic universe creature, the Hellfrost Peacock. After the foundations, he would completely become the basic larva. In his current state, the radiation which was deadly to normal people would not affect him as long as the Cold Energy around him did not disappear.


    Hua¡­


    Suddenly, Garen seemed to have heard a sound from his right. He looked over through his protective goggles but he could not see anything at all aside from the water''s green tint.


    Then, finger-long black worms appeared around him in the lake water. They were just like caterpillars with their whole body ensconced in a black and shiny black shell. They moved their body segment by segment and crept towards Garen from all over the place.


    Garen was surprised and hurriedly increased the Cold Energy, enlarging the perimeter until it reached a meter away from him.


    Soon, the first caterpillar entered the range of the Cold Energy. It quickly turned into an ice stick and sank downwards. The second one also entered into the range and frozen into ice. The same went for the third and the fourth¡­ until the twenty-fifth one.


    Only then did Garen sigh in relief. In order to kill these worms, he had consumed at least half of his Cold Energy.


    He swam for a bit while looking around, but he did not see any more of these caterpillars.


    He began to consider if he should continue diving down¡­


    "With my capabilities, if I continue diving down, the pressure may shorten my diving time, it''d be better if I have diving equipment on."


    He stretched out his hand and stirred the lake water. After brushing away some muddy sediments, he could faintly see some things a few meters away.


    He seemed to have seen a dark shadow swimming towards him.


    "What is that?"


    The dark shadow swam nearer and nearer¡­


    Soon, it entered the Garen''s visual range.


    It was a black water snake. The length of its body was around ten meters, but only had the thickness of an arm. It had teeth that were similar to those of cutlassfish and its eyes glow green in the lake.


    Garen was not surprised but he was a little happy; this guy was obviously a beast that lived in this water.


    He reached out his hand towards the head of the snake and a faint fluctuation spread out.


    A look of awe and delight flashed in the eyes of the snake, showing its extraordinary intelligence. It let Garen stroke its head and gently wrapped its body around Garen, forming a circle.


    "Bring me to a place that has a lot of this thing¡­" Garen took out a fist-sized white stone from the pocket of his protective clothing, shaking it at the snake.


    His eyes flashed with a faint trace of gold color from the Ancient Nine-Headed Dragon, it was purely a wave that was used for communication. After passing the message to the snake using the way of the Totem World, he was still not sure whether it could understand him and could only keep a close eye on this guy.


    The water snake''s eyes revealed doubts at this but it bit the white stone and turned around, swimming downwards towards the left.


    Garen hurriedly grabbed onto its tail and his body was brought downwards at a high speed.


    The flow of water on both his sides rushed around in a fast manner. The snake''s body simply flowed freely and it was ten times faster than him. After half a minute, there was a dark cliff wall that was full of caves of different sizes like a honeycomb.


    The water snake led Garen into a large cave and drilled inside for several minutes. In the middle of it, he encountered a lot of those black worms again. They had grouped together and seemed to be eating something.


    The water snake seemed to be wary of the worms and the worms also took the initiative to avoid the water snake. Both groups did not encroach upon each other and only passed by.


    Garen, who was still holding onto the tail of the water snake, also felt his scalp tingling. He had killed off more than twenty of them just now using half of his Cold Energy. Now there were even more of them here, at least thousands of them. If they fought under such circumstances, then the chances of him dying would be very high.


    Fortunately, the Will of the spirit of the Ancient Nine-Headed Dragon allowed him to be closer to the water snakes and avoid being entangled by these worms.


    Glancing back at the thing that was being eaten by the swarm of worms, it was a piece of broken metal alloy. The worms'' sharp teeth constantly tore away at the piece of metal, making cracking sounds.


    Passing by the swarm of worms, the water snake began to go up along the tunnel of the cave swiftly.


    After some time, around ten minutes to twenty minutes, there was a sloshing sound of water above him.


    Garen suddenly felt that he had broken through the surface of the water. He had been brought by the water snake into a somewhat warm cave.


    He took a deep breath. The air outside was quickly filtered through the air filtration system in his protective clothing and was replaced by air that was safe to breathe. After that, he began to take a look around his surroundings.


    The cave was not big; it was only about the size of a small living room.


    However, Garen''s eyes suddenly opened wide with traces of joy.


    All around the walls of the cave, including the ground, was paved in white. Surprisingly, it was all large chunks of White Peacock Stone!!


    The whole cave was made up of the White Peacock Stone!


    "This is the mine for the White Peacock Stone!"


    Garen patted the water snake''s head to express his satisfaction.


    The snake gave a hissing sound that displayed its happiness. It then turned around in circles before spitting out the White Peacock Stone in its mouth.


    "Go ahead, go and take a good rest."


    Garen let go of the water snake and began to explore the structure of the cave carefully. Walking up to the wall, he pressed a button on the collar of the protective clothing.


    ''Recording the route taken¡­'' a line of words appeared on Garen''s goggles.


    The route that was taken to come here was quickly recorded down by the chip in the protective clothing.


    Sorting out the route, Garen pondered for a bit before going to the wall on the right side, where he removed his protective clothing and exposed his hand directly to the air.


    He no longer suppressed the natural release of the Cold Energy radiation and pressed his palm to the wall.


    Hiss¡­ Peng!


    After the hissing sound, white smoke came out from between his palm and the wall.


    A large number of blue threads came out from Garen''s palm and drilled into the stone wall as though they were greedy parasites, absorbing the matter in the White Peacock Stone.


    The stone wall soon broke down into powder. As though it was contagious, the area that broke down from the contact with Garen''s palm soon spread out. Less than half a minute later, the stone wall around the cave began to shake slightly. All the White Peacock stone began to break down into a large amount of powder and fell down.


    Garen stood in front of the wall with his eyes closed, his body produced some creaking sounds and blue scales started appearing on the surface of his body. His face, body, arms, ears, the skin all over him was covered with scales similar to those of snakes. The protective clothing was gradually filled with a disgusting smell, which was becoming more and more unpleasant.


    Opening his eyes, Garen saw the changes on his body.


    "The closer you get to the Fifth level, the more the body becomes inhuman¡­"


    Looking at the progress on his Attribute Panel, the completion of the Fifth level had already reached 42% and it was still rapidly increasing.


    "As long as I reach the Basic level, there should be a very high qualitative change which should not disappoint me," Garen recalled the record of the Living Secret Technique and closed his eyes again to absorb the essence of the White Peacock Stone.


    His body began to change more and more. his arms began to grow out some sharp points, and on his back, dark blue filaments that were as dense as grass was beginning to grow out; it was similar to hair, but it could easily move around.


    The biggest change was his body size and his height began to grow from the original 1.78 meter until it was almost 2 meters. His body''s muscles became more distinct and the scales on his skin became more obvious. He looked like a warrior that was wearing an armor made of snake scales.


    Time passed by, as Garen gradually became immersed in the thrill of getting stronger.


    ******************


    Beside the Colorful Lake


    The sky gradually turned bright and in the distance, there were more than ten black Mech coats. This group of people was all in the same super-miniature Mechs just like the previous group of Hornets.


    This group of Mechs landed and started searching around the lake.


    "Boss! I found one aircraft for single use, the model is very new! It should be something that those natural people brought out!"


    One of the Mech coats found the single aircraft that was left behind by Garen.


    Hearing of the clues, the tallest among the group flew over and landed in front of the aircraft and knocked on the aircraft''s propeller.


    "It must be that natural person. Since it was casually put here, then it''s either that he threw it aside or he couldn''t take it away," his voice was rough but his words revealed his attentiveness.


    There was a slight commotion. There seemed to be some people who did not understand the meaning of these words.


    "Boss means that this person either left this thing alone or there was an accident and he couldn''t come back temporarily," a female voice explained on one side.


    "Mondeo, are you sure that that natural person killed off your team without wearing any Mech!?" Boss turned around and asked the Mech coat at the very back.


    "Yes, absolutely. If it was not for my wits or the fact that he wanted to leave someone alive to ask for information, I''m afraid I won''t be alive and standing here!" Mondeo quickly answered.


    The Boss went silent for a while and saw that the group of Mech users was waiting for him to make a decision.


    A natural person, a powerful one that appeared abruptly in this place with the ability to quickly kill off five Mech coats was likely to be able to kill off this group of ten Mech coats.


    "Do not provoke him, this person is very strong. Maybe it''s an expert that was sent out by those big shots in the region to carry out a task. Even if he''s not, he alone is not someone we can deal with."


    "Those five Mech coats were found, Boss. Why not just retreat first?" someone suggested.


    "Retreat, leave this area alone for a while. Do not come here until after that man leaves," the Boss took the suggestion without being embarrassed about it. In the radiation belt, the strong ruled. Avoidance and escape were not shameful.


    The group of people brought the Mech coats and quickly left. Mondeo finally fell in at the end of the line and looked back at the Colorful Lake.


    "Natural person¡­" a trace of longing flashed through his eyes.

 838 Absorption 2

    Hua¡­


    The cave that Garen was in had its size increased from the original 10 meters'' width to 20 meters.


    The White Peacock Stone that formed the wall had also begun to turn yellowish; apparently, its purity was decreasing. The ground had now accumulated a thick layer of fine white powder.


    The water snake had been hiding in the lake, circling around while waiting for Garen. Its pair of green eyes stared at Garen''s location with curiosity and awe.


    Cough cough¡­


    After a few coughs, a figure walked out from amidst the white powder. It was Garen who was wearing his black protective clothing.


    The surface of his protective clothing was covered in white powder and his body had returned to its original state without any abnormalities.


    "There''s nothing left to absorb¡­ The quantity this time is very good. But compared to the accumulation that was transported for me to absorb previously, the efficiency is not much higher. The stones that were collected by them were all high purity stones and their quantity was also significant. The absorption from that time was equivalent to a third of what I absorbed here."


    Garen brushed away the powder on his body and compared the harvest this time.


    "Even so, the advantage of coming out is that I can freely do the absorption. As long as I find the place, I can absorb straight away without any repercussions."


    Looking at his Attribute Panel, the progress of the Fifth level had increased again.


    ''Secret Technique ¡ª Hellfrost Peacock Technique: Living Secret Technique, Fourth Level, Fifth Level completion rate: 72%.''


    "If I could find such a place again, I should be able to completely break through to the Fifth level," Garen was in a great mood.


    Looking around at the powder on the ground, it was all high-energy fuel powder. Although it was not purified and there were a lot of impurities, it could still be used.


    Garen stretched out his hand and blue threads came out.


    "Devour!"


    The skill was activated fully and the places where the threads made contact, all of the white powder there disappeared soundlessly.


    At the same time, Garen felt that the Distorted Seed in his chest was growing heavier and larger.


    A few minutes later, the entire layer of white powder, which had been more than a meter thick, was completely absorbed into Garen''s body.


    He already had a bulge on his chest.


    Rip!!


    After a ripping sound, a hole appeared at the bulge on his chest. Garen quickly pulled down the zipper on the protective clothing. With a sticky sound from the hole, a ball of flesh was squeezed out.


    The hole in the chest quickly closed up and recovered.


    Garen pressed on the wound. There was not a single hint of pain.


    "It was as I thought, this Living Secret Technique is a path of evolution, and the more I move forward, the less human I become," he murmured while looking at the lump of flesh in his hand.


    "This is the Distorted Seed?"


    The meat ball was the size of a rugby ball. Its surface was smooth but covered with the white and red muscles that branched all over like a web.


    "What''s the use of this thing?" Garen did not find a way to use it with the Living Secret Technique. He gently threw it away and took a few steps back.


    The Distorted Seed fell on the floor and squirmed for a bit.


    Peng!!


    A violent explosion occurred and a large amount of blood and transparent liquid burst out, affecting a wide area which was more than half of the cave. All the places that were affected were all covered in a thick layer of blue frost.


    "What is this? A portable bomb?" Garen shook his head. "Completely useless. If it was in the ancient times, the power is certainly strong, but in this age of technology, the power is too small, the area it covers is also small and the way to manufacture it is also inconvenient. As expected, the Distorted Seed was a liability."


    Garen looked at the water snake in the lake, where it was trying to shrink itself. It seemed to fear the ice that had been produced from the explosion.


    "Come here," Garen beckoned it over.


    The water snake sprang out of the lake''s surface and slithered to the Garen''s side while hissing.


    "Bring me to another place that''s like this."


    Without any hesitation, the water snake motioned for Garen to grab on to its tail, turned around and slid back towards the lake.


    This time, the water snake took only a few minutes before finding a similar cave.


    Garen spent another half an hour absorbing the essence of the cave. The completion of the Fifth Level reached 92%. Then, the third time¡­


    Repeating this over and over, Garen did not know how many times he had let the water snake take him to find the White Peacock Stones. Sometimes it was in caves and sometimes it was at the bottom of the lake, but there was never a time that he returned empty-handed. A large amount of powder was swallowed up by him to form Distorted Seeds that were left at each location.


    In this manner, he stayed at the Colorful Lake for two days until the agreed time to leave the border. Garen was reluctant to leave the Colorful Lake. After checking the aircraft, he flew towards the direction where he came from. At the same time, all the Distorted Seeds that he had deposited were all detonated at the same time, forming an ice cold zone at the bottom of the lake. This was to eliminate any potential danger that could come out of others discovering a large amount of highly explosive powder.


    That water snake was given a name, Black Line. At the time when Garen was leaving, it circled around Garen many times to display its reluctance. This snake was considered to have quite a high intelligence similar to trained dogs. Now it had some kind of attachment to Garen. After swimming for a long time on the surface of the lake, it slowly dove down. Before Garen left, he had fed it a little bit of his blood as repayment for its help during these last few days. That drop of blood contained the transformation power of the Hellfrost Peacock, but he did not know whether the water snake could absorb it.


    ********************


    The border of the Polar Region


    In the red glow of the evening sky, there were milky, translucent circles fluttering about. They looked like smoke rings in the yellowish red sky tinted with light green, similar to someone using a paintbrush to leave traces in the sky.


    The land was formed of smooth plains and rolling hills. There was a meandering green river flowing between the hills, like a light green silk belt that grew out of the earth, flat yet reflective of the luster of the sky.


    At a place at the riverbank, a single black aircraft landed unsteadily. A man covered in black protective clothing was pouring water over his body in the river, washing away the large amounts of radiation residue and dirt off the protective clothing. It was Garen, who had just come from the direction of the Colorful Lake.


    Beep beep beep¡­


    The beeping sound came from the aircraft.


    Garen turned around to look at it and then as though he had heard something, he looked up at the sky.


    A huge black and gray disk slowly came out from the sky above him. Its body was flashing with black lightning, which was the residual energy from space jumping.


    The flying disk was hundreds of meters in diameter and covered in serrated folds. A few white electric lights were flashing and a ring that looked like a suction cup hung below it.


    The flying saucer flew to the top of Garen before the ring underneath it turned and slowly opened in the middle, revealing another circular plate within.


    Garen pressed on the Watch Terminal within his protective clothing, sending out a message that could be received in an open channel.


    Shua¡­


    The second layer of the flying saucer slowly opened and an invisible gravitational attraction was cast over Garen.


    Zap!


    The black lightning flashed and then Garen turned into a ball of black lightning that shot towards the bottom of the flying saucer.


    The two layers quickly closed up and the flying saucer slowly continued to fly into the distance.


    Only the aircraft was left behind on the ground beside the river.


    *************


    "Welcome, guest from Blackboard Region."


    In the dark, Garen heard a pleasant voice ringing in his ears.


    He opened his eyes and before him was a big dark blue hall.


    The smooth ground looked as though it was made from a translucent material similar to a sapphire crystal, and it clearly reflected his own image.


    His surroundings were empty and on top was an image of the huge ring pattern of the flying saucer, though the ceiling was a silvery white color. The entire hall was circular in shape and surrounded by circular windows, through which the sights of the beautiful Polar Region could be seen.


    The evening hue of the sky dyed the earth red and the aurora circles in the sky continued moving about as though they were alive.


    With a glance, he could see the landscape far away.


    However, all of these did not appeal to Garen. What attracted his attention the most was the three one-meter wide silver metal balls that were floating not far away from him.


    The three metal balls were arranged in an equilateral triangle and they were constantly floating up and down while slightly rotating.


    "Are you Your Highness Mingway?"


    Garen looked around but no one was visible around him.


    "Yes, I am Mingway. Since you''re Celine''s friend, then you wouldn''t find me for no reason. Say it, what is it that requires me to use a flying saucer to get you?"


    The voice said calmly.


    "I have a business here, but unfortunately, I cannot support it alone. I need to find a powerful collaborator, so Celine recommended you," Garen carefully picked his words. "High-energy fuel powder, have you ever heard of this thing?"


    "Fuel powder? There are more than ten kinds of High-energy fuel powder businesses in my hands, which one are you talking about?" that voice seemed to be a little interested and asked carefully.


    "It''s the powder that is extracted from Rainbow stones," Garen reminded. Looking at this flying saucer, he knew that this Honorable Noble called Mingway had a high status and was rich to a certain extent.


    "Oh, it''s that one¡­ what about the profit margin?"


    The middle silver metal ball among the three slowly stopped rotating and the features of a male face slowly appeared on its surface.


    The face slowly opened its eyes. They were pitch black and the face silently stared at Garen below.


    "I''m different from that Celine; although I also like martial arts, since someone had sent money to me, I will naturally accept."


    Garen''s expression remained unchanged.


    "There may be earnings of up to ten millions of Units per month."


    The face then pondered.


    "Okay, I accept this splitting. Say it, what kind of help do you need? This is not a small amount, what is it do you want to exchange?"


    Before Garen came here, he had already thought it over. Wanting a territory was not realistic, especially after he had gone to the radiation belt''s Colorful Lake, found the White Peacock stones mine and gauged the absorption''s efficiency. He might have a significant increase in a short period of time, but this progress could not be relied upon for long-term improvements. It was better to let others help him collect them. The efficiency of the absorption was still not very good.


    Therefore, this territory plan was not that useful. In that case, the deal this time should include diverting attention and greedy people away from himself and also exchanging for some things that were hard to get¡­like training methods.


    "I want Level Four and Level Five of the training method Galaxy Glow."


    Garen thought for a bit before conveying his first intention.

 839 Mingway 1

    "Galaxy Glow?" Mingway pondered. A moment later, he slowly answered, "I''m sorry, I can''t promise you this. I do have the follow-up of the Galaxy Glow training methods but I don''t have the qualification to sell it. The right belongs to the Academies Union."


    "Not qualified?" Garen''s heart sank. If even the Honorable Noble was not qualified, then perhaps the only chance he had was with the Academies Union.


    "The follow-up training methods of Galaxy Glow are very precious. It is not something that you can buy with money alone. If you need other training methods, then I can give you a full set. With the profit that you provided this time, I can offer you a full set of Level Five training methods. How about it?" Mingway tempted him.


    "Level Five...quite low¡­" Garen shook his head although he did need a training method to outline the path that he could take.


    If the Living Secret Technique could forcefully increase Willpower as a power source that could be manipulated, then training methods could draw out his direction and the way forward. Without it, he could not forcefully continue to upgrade the Level of his Willpower.


    Originally, when he had come to this world, he had intended to mainly absorb and use the world''s local power system while using his own martial arts as a supplement.


    "Quite low? Hehe¡­" Mingway could not help but laugh. The little guy in front of him only had Level One Willpower, yet he still thought that a Level Five training method was quite low? A lot of people could spend a lifetime training and yet be unable to reach Level Four Willpower. For a normal qualified pilot, a Level Five training method was already a godly training manual. If he was lucky enough to reach Level Five, then he could enter the ranks of top experts. As long as he did not meet those abnormal inheriting pilots, for everything else, it could be counted as a lifetime of abundant wealth.


    "Let me tell you the truth. Count it as me giving Celine face, I''ll give you an in-depth explanation," he stopped laughing.


    Garen was not angry. He only looked at the face in the ball calmly.


    "Level Five, in the Blackboard Region alone, which has hundreds of millions of people, there are fewer than two hundred people who have their hands on it. This ratio is one in a million. If you can reach Level Five in this lifetime, you would already be thanking gods, as this is the peak for normal people. Perhaps you''re comparing yourself to people like Celine, but the power they have behind them is beyond your imagination. It would be better for you to be humble and take a step at a time. Slow and steady wins the race, don''t bite off more than you can chew," Mingway kindly explained and reminded him.


    Garen''s expression remained the same and nodded lightly.


    "It seems that I was too naive. Then let''s exchange for the full set of Level Five training methods but just that one is not enough."


    "Of course, I''ll let you pick two more things from my stash, how about it?" Mingway answered generously. "The treasures in the stash are at least worth tens of millions per piece. If you''re lucky and have good eyesight, you may even get treasures that are worth hundreds of millions and maybe even billions~" he gave a triumphant laughter.


    "As expected of an Honorable Noble, you even dare to bring treasures that are worth billions around with you¡­"Garen said with a sigh.


    "Honorable Nobles like us may still lack things, but money and antiques are just too much to count. To be honest, if what you offered was not a business of high-energy fuel powder, I wouldn''t even have bothered with you," after this deal had been settled, Mingway''s voice became languid. "Alright, I have two of these full sets of training methods. There''re not many of these, and those that can be spread around without consequences are even fewer. So, I can only give you two choices."


    With a swish sound, a board of crystal rose out from the ground before Garen. There were several lines of words in there mixed with three-dimensional diagrams.


    The first one was a diagram of a soaring black eagle followed by a text explanation.


    ''Crouched Eagle Talon: Level Five training method, a training method that trains Willpower based around attacks using claws with high-speed charges. Every Level will increase the speed of the Mech by a level. A field of Willpower will appear to strengthen the hands of the Mech and greatly increase the hardness of defense.''


    The second one was a pair of triangular silver pieces that were stacked together in a fragmented way.


    ''Block Lock: Level Five Training Method, greatly increases compatibility with the Mech, a great number of parts can be applied to the Mech during maintenance. Every Level can increase the defensive performance level. Level Five can unlock the ability to analyze the weakness of enemy''s Mech.''


    "There''re only these two?" Garen wrinkled his brows. At the top of each Level increase, there was a label. These were strictly classified in accordance with the standard set by the Mother Planet Federation.


    The performance of Mechs from Level One until Level Five, each model of a new series of Mech that appeared would give out five levels of data of their theoretical best values.


    Speed, Strength, Armor defense, Compatibility, Detection range and so on would all have their corresponding levels. To increase the value on top of the Mech''s original values by a level, this was a basic trait of the general training methods.


    Both the training methods that Mingway gave out were very mediocre. Their saving grace was the high levels that prevented them from appearing on the market.


    "If it''s only these two kinds, with a little bit of luck I would be able to get them from the Blackboard Academy. Don''t forget, I''m also a member of the Blue Narcissus," Garen added.


    "True, you can get Level Five training methods as long as you can meet the requirements of the Blackboard Academy and you''re also the academy''s prospective elite student. There is a great possibility. If it''s like that, this will really be a loss for you," Mingway also felt a bit embarrassed, "Let''s do it this way, if you''re not afraid of trouble, I can give you other sets of the more troublesome training methods. These training methods were acquired through some not so legal means. Once someone finds out that you''re training these, you may get into trouble. Are you afraid?"


    "The power?"


    "Of course I won''t let you down."


    "Fine then, let me see first!" Garen answered decisively without any hesitation.


    Mingway''s could not help but take a few more looks at him.


    "What a personality, no wonder Celine praised and recommended you."


    With a swish sound, the crystal board in front of Garen change immediately. Three new training methods surfaced. There were no diagrams this time, only lines of words.


    ''Yuri''s Kiss: Level Five training method. The basic version of the inherited training methods Yuri''s Kiss. Each Level will increase the practitioner''s speed and strength by 1.5 times. Side effects: The process can cause extreme pain, one practitioner fell into insanity while training it.''


    ''Moonlight: Level Five training method, incomplete version, originally one of the nine training methods of the Moonlight Saintly Sect. Each level can theoretically increase speed by two levels. Side effects: twice the pressure on the body. A speed that is too fast can create a strong burden on the pilot; more than two times the pressure is put on normal pilots. Some practitioners had trained to a certain level but died abruptly due to their own physical deficiencies.''


    ''Glowing Radiance: Level Five training method, one of the self-created training methods by a master from the west, a special training method that was designed to create Modulated Biochemical Pool for personal use. Each level of Modulated Biochemical Pool can enhance 0.5 level of armor enhancement. Side effect: The progress is very difficult.''


    "What is this thing from the last one?" Garen asked. When he saw this Modulated Biochemical Pool, his mind clicked.


    "The Modulated Biochemical Pool is a miniature factory used to create biochemical machine soldiers. This kind of technology has almost ceased to exist now because the training method is very difficult and the soldiers that are created from the biochemical pool are far less powerful than pilots. It belongs to the category of technology that has been eliminated but since it''s quite good to be used purely for research," Mingway casually explained, "I collected it out of curiosity. I bet no one is training this sort of ancient and outdated training method now. You''re better off not using it."


    "So what''s the problem with this training method?" Garen was very interested in this. The use of the Biochemical Pool might be able to complement his current condition.


    "The problem is that increasing the Level is hard," Mingway answered. "I''d advise you not to think about it. There were once inheriting pilots that tried to train in it but that pilot did not even achieve Level Four."


    "I choose the previous Crouched Eagle Talon plus this Glowing Radiance, how about it?" Garen thought for a bit and simply said.


    "No problem, the robot will take you to the stash. I have to deal with something now, so I''ll come back later," Mingway readily agreed; these two were useless to him anyway. His own training method was the cutting-edge enhancement training method. In the beginning, there was not much difference between the training methods but later, the difference would become more obvious.


    The voice went away and the ball also returned to its original state.


    Garen waited for a while in the hall. Soon, a silvery white robot with wheels on its bottom half rolled over and led him to the right where an elevator slowly descended.


    After getting into the elevator which went upwards for more than ten seconds, turned into another passage and moved forward for another ten seconds, it soon came to a halt.


    "Destination arrived, please enter, this is the third stash of His Highness Mingway. You can choose any two things inside and no more," the robot''s mechanical voice sounded. "Please transmit the cooperation agreement to me, I will check it and pass it on to His Highness."


    Garen lifted his Watch Terminal and transmitted the agreement that had been prepared earlier to the robot. At the same time, he transferred the first earnings over to it.


    The robot''s red electronic eyes flashed a few times as it completed the transmission. It moved aside and it seemed as though it was checking the agreement.


    Garen walked into the small black hall before him.


    Inside, it was pitch black, but the moment he stepped into the small hall, lots of yellowish light brightened up his surroundings.


    The small hall was circular in shape and a large stone-gray bird statue stood in the middle. This large bird''s posture was weird. Its wings were unfolded with one foot raised as though it was about to step forward. Its height was more than five meters, which was equivalent to that of a Mech.


    He did not know whether it was an illusion, but from the moment Garen walked into the small hall, the large bird statue''s eyes seemed like they were staring at him.


    Ignoring the large bird statue, Garen began to walk around the small hall.


    The small hall was filled with icy-blue light balls the size of a human head. There were two white rings that were constantly circling around a sphere like satellite rings. Inside the rings were the so-called treasures.


    Walking around, Garen took a look at every single one of them. Some were seemingly ordinary hats, some were small bottles holding transparent liquid, there were also some swimwear and underwear that had been worn by women. There were ancient-looking black metallic helmets, ancient knight''s armor and so on.


    Garen was completely unclear of the value of these things. He only observed them along his way, intending to get a general idea of Honorable Noble Mingway''s collection. As for his choice, picking any two things would do.


    When he walked until the back of the large bird, a strange cane suddenly caught Garen''s eye. The cane was very long and its upper half was capped by a ball of light. It was long, dark and smooth, seemingly made out of wood. The top was set with silver ornaments, and its white silver was carved into the shape of many thin roots that clutched an ovular crimson jewel.


    "This cane¡­" a ripple occurred within Garen''s heart. A feeling that seemed familiar yet foreign slowly emerged inside his heart. He gently picked up the cane and savored the mysterious feeling inside his heart.


    "That is Staff of Absolute Yin. Since you have picked it up, then it''s counted as the first thing you''ve chosen," Honorable Noble Mingway''s voice sounded again. "What do you choose as the second item?"


    "Staff of Absolute Yin? Can you explain what it does?"


    "It''s an antique with a long history, and the material it''s made of is somewhat special. It was said that only the elders of the Mother Planet Federation are eligible to use it, but the federation had been divided for such a long time that this thing has already lost its symbolic identity. Now it''s just a pretty ornament with some collectible value," Mingway laughed scornfully. "By the way, this thing''s value is only twenty million at most."

 840 Mingway 2

    "It''s fine, as long as I like it," Garen smiled, watching as the ball of light atop the staff scattered by itself. He spun the staff gracefully in his hand, it felt good.


    "Alright, seeing as you chose wrong with the first item, I''ll recommend you something you can use." Mingway seemed slightly apologetic. "In the corner to your right, there''s a small silver-white box, do you see it? That''s called the Instantaneous Paper Box, it''s a single-use item. When you open it, there will be an explosive field of repulsion, it''s as powerful as an inheriting pilot''s single use of his Willpower force field. It only works once, and it cannot kill or injure your opponent. The most it can do is push away the opponent, for a range of fifteen meters, it''s something that can save your life at a crucial moment."


    "Alright, I''ll take it." Garen took his advice and chose the Instantaneous Paper Box. Now he had two items, the Staff of Absolute Yin and the Instantaneous Paper Box.


    "Right, you can go rest for a bit in the Flying Saucer Room, I''ll send you straight to the edge of the Radiation Area, to the legal entrance into the Blackboard Region, so that it''ll save you some trouble.


    "Thank you, Your Highness," said Garen politely.


    "By helping you, aren''t I also helping myself?" Mingway was very open about it.


    Garen was in a good mood. Led by the robot, he left the small hall, and began to unlock and demagnetize the items. Everything in the vault was fortified with powerful magnetism, in order to prevent them from emitting any force fields that might be noticed by outsiders.


    A white pillar of light was suspended from the ceiling above. Garen put the Staff of Absolute Yin inside first, and let it float in the pillar of light.


    Smack!


    Garen''s expression changed immediately. Nobody noticed, Mingway had already left, and the robot was also still controlling the light pillar so it could demagnetize the items. No one noticed that Garen''s gaze had become extremely, extremely strange, his expression changing for a moment before quickly returning to normal. Still, he could not suppress that hint of surprise and joy deep in his eyes.


    After a clear sound, wisps of black air flashed around the staff, and then quickly vanished.


    Garen reached his hand inside to grab the staff, and pulled it out lightly. Then he put the Instantaneous Paper Box inside, and let it float there.


    No one saw that he held the staff tightly, very tightly...


    **********************


    The room where the Flying Saucers rested were many spherical rooms, and each sphere was hanging on so many silver racks, that it looked from afar as though the hall was lined with two rows of World Cup trophies...


    The living area was cold and empty. Led by the robot, Garen entered a bedroom, and checked the surveillance situation around it. The room was very safe, the walls were all made of very high-quality alloys, so normal explosives would not even make a mark on them.


    As soon as he closed the door, he grasped the Staff of Absolute Yin.


    The thing felt strangely smooth and round, like human skin.


    Closing his eyes lightly, Garen took a deep breath.


    He began to softly rub the red ruby on the tip of the staff, the surface of the ruby had many black cracks, like melted lava. It was strangely beautiful.


    Wisps of an indescribable cool air flowed into his body through his fingers, and that long-awaited feeling made Garen sink into it for a moment.


    "I found them at last... potential points..."


    After observing his surroundings carefully for a moment, Garen got up and turned on the computer in the room. Sitting there, he quickly checked the situation after he had left, acting as though he was surfing the Internet out of boredom.


    As he clicked the mouse, large amounts of screens and images flashed through his eyes. He had filtered out a vast amount of information and sites out of the countless information given to him, and collected them in his mind.


    "The Blackboard and other regions are all currently embroiled in the whirlpool that is the White Light Organization... This seems to relate to a bigger picture... There''s something impressive in the Blackboard Region, it''s the center of everything."


    Long ago he had already noticed it, but he did not pay too much attention to it. More and more outsiders were appearing in Blackboard City, that could not be a coincidence. Through all this information, he could only grasp some rough ideas. So he could use them to figure out what the bigger picture was like.


    "But no matter what problems there are in the region, none of it has anything to do with me. I just need to take it step by step, and proceed according to plan, then nothing will go wrong." Garen quickly clicked a couple of pages, his fingers brushing past the keyboard with a whoosh.


    He gathered all the serious incidents that had happened in the region recently and put them together in a file. By listing them all down from the top, he could see that it was not just the Blackboard Region, but even the Polar Region and the Maria Region, as well as others, were beginning to make their moves.


    Garen''s intelligence was twice that of a normal person, his reflex speed and logical thinking skills abnormally fast. Soon enough, he had more or less figured out that something major was happening in the Blackboard Region.


    It was highly likely that the strange actions from the White Light Organization and other main regions were also as a result of this.


    "The elite students and the higher-ups are mostly in charge of the serious incidents outside, most students remain unaffected, so I can ignore this. The Blackboard Region has caught everyone''s attention, but on the other hand the Polar Region''s battle for territory is not really in the spotlight now... Maybe I could give it a try." Garen''s thoughts jumped over all this, and landed on the territory he had decided on. He could use this chance to ask Mingway about it, Mingway was also a rich noble from the Polar Region, so he would probably have influence in that sense.


    The battle in the Blackboard Region was too far away from him, what he needed to do now was to increase his own powers as soon as possible.


    Ever since he reincarnated here, his recovery speed had been too slow.


    "Last time I absorbed the White Peacock Stones and increased my limit, but I had always been holding it back, so that I could wait for a good enough training method and increase them together."


    With his bare hands, Garen picked up two stacks of printed information on the table next to the computer in the room. These were the two stacks of training information that Mingway had asked someone to put in the room beforehand.


    He flipped through them. Glowing Radiance was his main focus, Crouched Eagle Talon was only a generalized training method, like Galaxy Glow, they could be bought on the market. Or rather, out of any people on the street who were currently practicing training methods, a couple of them would use this Crouched Eagle Talon. But most people could only reach Level Three at the most, while this version was Level Five, so it was much better. Garen had seen them on the market before, but they were too average so he never really considered them.


    "Alright, this is the one, this is the highest level training method I''ve come into contact with. If I couldn''t reach Mingway, perhaps I could only buy this at a high price from Blue Narcissus."


    Garen flipped open the Crouched Eagle Talon, and began to read it carefully, page by page. It was relatively easy for him to switch from training with the Galaxy Glow to this one, because he did not go deep with that one, and his Willpower had yet to fully reach that special state.


    The training method was very simple, Garen just read it once and he could already completely understand its secret. Unlike the previous training method, the Crouching Eagle Talon first activated the arms, activating the Willpower in the arms. Since this one was the most-used part, so it was very easy for regular people to do that as long as their Willpower was strong enough.


    Following the steps stated there, he just had to move his current Willpower into forming two imprints. After they stayed in each of his arms for a short while, when he could feel that the imprints had fully formed and were sealed into his arms, that would be proof that he succeeded with the first grade.


    Garen''s Willpower had already reached Level One anyway, so he could just ignore the basics. He flipped to the second grade, second level content.


    Feeling the impulse to level up that was being suppressed inside him by the Hellfrost Peacock Technique, Garen let his Willpower relax slightly, releasing the suppression.


    Woo... Woo...


    Suddenly there was a sound by his ear that sounded like a child''s cry, it was the cry of the peacock.


    Just like that, sitting in front of the computer, Garen turned his body around, and let his leather chair spin with his momentum. His skin began to turn faintly blue, a mild ice-blue color.


    A hint of a warm touch spread from the right side of his face. Without him noticing, an icy-blue peacock, slender and beautiful, had appeared behind him. It stretched out its neck, lightly caressing the side of Garen''s face.


    The peacock was translucent, softly making its faint cry.


    Whoosh...!


    All of a sudden, Garen opened his eyes, but he saw nothing beside him. There was no peacock at all. He touched his right cheek lightly, there seemed to be something more there.


    Turning off the computer screen, he used the half-transparent screen as a mirror.


    Garen abruptly found that there was a new, mysterious icy-blue mark on his right cheek. It was an image like that of a flying bird, covering half of his face. Most strangely, the mark seemed to have been embedded into his skin, it did not look like it was drawn on at all.


    "Did I just completely step over the Basic Level, just like that?" He did not feel like he had changed a lot.


    He checked the attribute pane in his vision.


    ''Nonosiva Lin ¨C Strength 3.1, Agility 3.0, Vitality 4.7, Intelligence 2.1, Potential 0%. Soul limit 40.''


    ''Willpower ¨C Lower Second Level, (Obtained a certain degree of strengthening from the Living Secret Technique)


    (Training Method: Crouching Eagle Talon Level Two.''


    ''Potential Quality ¡ª Void Pursuer''


    ''Soul Seed ¨C Northern Trident Frost-Fire True Water Evil Technique, Holy Phoenix Demonic Book.''


    ''Secret Technique ¨C Hellfrost Peacock Technique: Living Secret Technique, Level Five. Completion rate of Level Five is at 100%.


    ''Natural Ability Obtained -- Devour (Devours various living things to restore body)''


    ''Natural Ability Obtained -- Distorted Seed (Creating chaos is the Hellfrost Peacock''s favorite pastime)''


    ''Natural Ability Obtained -- Cold Chaos (Causes fluctuations in time and space naturally and releases cold air naturally within an area of twenty meters to create a chaotic low-temperature area with the lowest point at zero degrees. Simultaneously, there is a low probability that it will trigger confusion within the minds of its enemies, causing them to attack randomly)''


    "Overall my attributes increased by more than three points, I''ve improved a lot. The average is about twice what it was, I knew that I would get a big upgrade once I got past the Basic Level.


    And then there''s Cold Chaos. Its range was increased to twenty meters, and its temperature reached 0 degrees. I guess I could kinda use it."


    Garen looked at his changes, somewhat satisfied.


    "The main point is that my Willpower has finally reached Level Two. I knew that increasing Living Secret Techniques would strengthen my whole body, that little bit of additional effect would also allow my Willpower to increase as well. As expected of the powerful secret technique that can be used all over the universes."


    "Now, let''s take a look at the only item with potential power that I''ve found since coming to this world..."


    Garen moved his gaze to the Staff of Absolute Yin, his gaze burning hot. If he could obtain potential points, then his speed of improvement would increase tremendously.

 841 Fog 1

    Potential points could rapidly reduce the time needed, as long as he had a strong enough spirit, he could improve in the shortest time with no side effects. Some weaker, lower level techniques could even be forcefully upgraded using potential points.


    Garen''s eyes flashed slightly, as though he was holding the staff and examining it carefully, but in truth, he was feeling the constant flow of that refreshing air into his body.


    Only when he caressed the gem on the staff slightly would that refreshing air appear, this is how it was different from the Antique of Tragedy from before.


    Looking at his attribute pane, he saw that after such a long time, the potential power pane finally began to move slowly.


    ''Nonosiva Lin ¨C Strength 3.1, Agility 3.0, Vitality 4.7, Intelligence 2.1, Potential 10%. Soul limit 40.''


    Just a few seconds of caressing gave him 10% potential value. Although it was not fast, it was still better than nothing. He had used up a lot of potential value and potential points when he was drifting in the Mother Stream, if he could have kept some of it, he would not have been so lost in this world for so long.


    Carefully examining his skill pane, Garen chose the skills that could be upgraded with potential points. Unsurprisingly, the low-level Willpower training method, Crouching Eagle Talon, just happened to be forcefully upgradable using the potential points.


    "Is it equal to a middle-level secret technique, huh? Two points to increase one level. Looks like it''s not too low-level once it''s related to supernatural powers."


    Garen calculated how many potential points he needed, and came up with a comparison.


    In the Secret Technique World, low-level secret techniques needed 1 point to upgrade by one level, middle-level ones needed 2, and high-level ones needed 5. High-level ones also needed to fulfill certain special secret technique training requirements. The Crouching Eagle Talon needed two points to level up once, so it seemed to belong to the same level as middle-level secret techniques.


    Finding the hope to leveling up quickly, Garen began to investigate the staff in his hand meticulously, trying to find the source of the emission of potential power.


    When he just grabbed the gem, there was no power coming out. But he just had to caress the gem lightly, and a few refreshing wisps would appear. It would not work if he rubbed it too hard either, so it looked like he needed to use the right amount of force to touch and caress it, so that the potential power would reach its maximum value.


    He stopped caressing it and found a small knife instead, trying to scratch the red gem on the tip of the staff lightly.


    Amidst the scratching sounds, he actually managed to scratch off tiny bits of powder. He did not know what the gem was made of, it was not very hard, and seemed instead like a normal piece of concrete.


    After he scratched off a bit of the surface, Garen used his finger to lightly rub the place that was shaved off.


    Psst...


    A large gust of potential energy surged into his body abruptly, as endless as a river And strangely, this surge was slowly weakening as time passed by.


    "I knew it! This thing has a self-regenerating ingredient." Garen noticed that the surface of the crystal had somehow become smooth again, the scratches he had made with the knife disappearing in a flash.


    His potential value shot up from 20% to 83%, and then it started to slow down.


    102%... 111%... 137%... 144%... 150%... Finally, it stopped at 153%.


    "Why has it stopped?"


    Garen used the knife to scratch the crystal again, and then touched the place that was shaved with his finger. However, there was no longer a huge surge like before, the speed of increase just sped up ever so slightly.


    After that, he constantly tried many other ways, shaving off a lot more powder from the crystal gem. These powders would naturally evaporate and disappear into the air, while the gem on the tip of the staff no longer exploded with power like the first time. Every time he scratched it, the flow would only grow slightly bigger, and then it would not really move anymore.


    His initial hypothesis was that the gem on the Staff of Ultimate Yin was probably a treasure that could generate potential power on its own. This treasure would gather some potential power inside it, but it could not store much, and the power would also be slowly released and wasted. That was why there would be a small surge like before.


    Garen quickly found details about the Staff of Ultimate Yin from the Internet.


    He discovered that the staff had always represented life, reproduction and activeness, it was the symbol of the Mother Planet Federation''s Tree Root Elder. No one knew how many there were, but they were extremely rare and valuable.


    Within two hours, Garen had finally collected 200% in potential value, meaning he had two potential points.


    Without hesitation, he poured the potential points into the Crouching Eagle Talon.


    The moment the potential points took effect, his arms made a cracking sound, as though there was a rope or something tying Garen''s arms up tightly. Round and round, they seemed to suffocate him.


    "It''s so tight..."


    Garen raised his arms, feeling like back then when he cultivated his Golden Statue Technique. His arms were very tight.


    "Too bad I''m not in the same universe so I can''t cultivate the Golden Statue Technique, but I can make up for it by training the basics of the Crouching Eagle Talon." Garen could feel his Willpower increasing again slowly. Under the effect of the potential points, it was moving towards Level Three. Relaxing in his heart, Garen began to wonder how he could strengthen this training method.


    Based on his martial arts that had once reached the top and approached Army Level, and his experience with secret techniques, it was very easy for him to patch up a low-level training method like this, and reach the point where his body and Willpower were in sync.


    Soon enough Garen modeled an easier path in his heart, taking apart everything he could use from the Divine Statue Technique that was once his strongest, and melding it with the Crouching Eagle Talon. Without changing the part of the Crouching Eagle Talon that cultivated the Willpower, he made up for its shortcomings in upgrading his arms instead.


    Secret techniques trained the general qualities, such as the resilience of the body cells, wheres Willpower was a deep-level living force generated from the cells, the two of them should work together pretty well.


    Garen checked a lot of information, and it was because the strength of the body had an effect on Willpower, so that there even used to be a school of pilots who trained their bodies to the extreme. Eventually, however, it was lost because it could not spread far enough.


    "Since I''ve found a direction, I can try to merge it for a bit."


    With the effect of the potential points, Garen was no longer worried about his improvement speed, but rather about the direction he should advance in. His own level was enough to reach a very high level, but if he did not grasp the direction right, he might restrict his own development, or end up in a dead-end, delaying himself.


    ***************


    Blackboard Region, Blackboard Academy


    Under the quiet tree, Vera slowly walked up to the boys'' dormitory building.


    It had been a few days since Nonosiva left, and his student card was getting slightly magnetized, so the school issued him a new one. Instructor Hamm noticed that Nono and Vera were close, so he passed it to her to pass to him.


    Along with that girl from before, Vera kept sticking to Nonosiva like glue recently. She used to be just a very normal pretty girl in the class who just happened to be slightly more innocent-looking, but after approaching Nono, even if he was not very close to her, she had still earned the respect of many of her classmates. Some students from the other classes even treat her as though she was Nono''s girlfriend.


    Vera particularly enjoyed the feeling of kowtowing and envy from among girls, she believed that she was naturally meant to enjoy life.


    Holding the student card, Vera openly walked into the dorm building. Some of the students who were familiar with her greeted her with smiles.


    Vera walked to Nono''s dorm door, and hesitated for a while, before lightly inserting the student card into the scanning machine at the door.


    Boop-boop.


    The scanner lock made a few sounds, and then there was the smack of the door opening automatically.


    "I''ll leave after I put this student card down, when Nono comes back, he''ll renew the information and change out the old ones," she thought, walking inside and placing the student card on the table in the room.


    She turned around and was about to leave, but there was an unbearable itch in her heart, and she just could not take that step.


    "Nono''s not here anyway, so I might as well see what secrets he''s hiding... How could he get those princes from the Blue Narcissus to place so much emphasis on him..."


    Vera''s heart was slowly starting to burn.


    Closing the door lightly, she looked around her, and then drew the blinds.


    First, she looked in the bedside drawers, after flipping through them, she found just plain clean underwear, socks, and the like. There was nothing really else.


    Then came the desk, she opened each of the drawers that were lined up. The first held study notes and materials, the second electronic components, chargers, and so on. As for the third drawer, Vera yanked it hard, but somehow could not open it.


    "Could it be the secret in this drawer?" Her heart burned, and she looked around the room, but she could not find a key. Finally, she tried waving the student card at the lock.


    Boop-boop... smack!


    It was unlocked.


    Vera was instantly overjoyed, and she pulled open the drawer quickly.


    Inside, there was a thick stack of white documents.


    "What''s this!?" She picked them up and flipped through them casually. "Contract for high-energy fuel powder...? Signed by...Nonosiva... Vivienne... Celine..."


    Hiss... Suddenly she took a sharp intake of breath. On the document, she saw a large string of numbers spelling out a gargantuan sum.


    That was almost a million Universal Units! And that was just for one month!


    "The document says that all the contractees will earn according to these percentages... Nono himself will get this much! That''s... that''s practically free money!" Vera was in complete shock, feeling as though her eyes were sparkling with gold.


    She took out all the documents quickly, and found large stacks of cash at the very bottom. The pale green notes were all the largest denominator, a thousand units, and such a thick pile would probably mean several hundred thousand units.


    "So much money...!" Although Vera''s family was very rich, they were also rather strict with how much pocket money they gave their kids. The children would not get more than ten thousand a month, and her family was only average compared to others in the school. Outside, she might be considered a princess or a rich young miss, but here, she was completely unassuming.


    Under these circumstances, the power relations and money struggles between girls became the way to measure the standard worth of the pretty girls.


    Vera often found herself with less than enough money every month, after going to so many of those high-end consumer places, she always ended up with nothing. But compared to some other girls, some of them may not even be able to buy a bag.


    She had secretly looked for ways to earn money everywhere, but unfortunately, she did not meet with much luck. Several times, she had to resist the urge to find a sugar daddy. She held back in the end, though, because she believed that with her conditions, she would surely be able to find a rich and powerful guy someday.

 842 Fog 2

    "So much money..." Now there was so much cash right in front of Vera''s eyes. Looking at the messy bundles of cash, it was obvious to her that their owner did not take them seriously. He had just tossed them in carelessly, and there was even a smattering of smaller change underneath the huge notes.


    "Nono would surely not care about the money in this drawer, he gets a cut of more than two million every month... This tiny sum must surely just be a pittance for him..." Vera gulped. "If I take a bit... just a bit... Surely he would not notice..."


    Greed surged in her heart. Such a thick wad of cash, if she simply pulled out a dozen or so notes, that would surely not make an impact at all, surely she would not be noticed...


    Such thoughts kept echoing inside her mind.


    After hesitating for a while, Vera finally reached out her hand, and expertly pulled seven or eight thousand-unit notes from the stack.


    "Just this... Nono wouldn''t notice, for sure." She closed the drawer with a whoosh, feeling her heart pound extremely quickly.


    Stuffing the notes into her wallet anxiously, she got up and arranged her hair.


    She put everything back the way it was, opened the blinds, and opened the door. But Vera''s heart kept replaying that terrifying sum on that document.


    She paused for a moment, but in the end, she still turned around quickly. Closing the door, she found that document again, and she quickly took several pictures of it with her Watch Terminal.


    "I might be able to sell this for a pretty sum..."


    She smiled, satisfied, and finally closed the drawer again, leaving the room reluctantly.


    ***************


    In the Blackboard Region, Caesura City


    The huge cylindrical chimneys were dyed a yellow-red by the twilight rays.


    There were many skyscrapers and streets between the chimneys, but compared to the size of the chimneys, these buildings were as small as toys, like the uneven grass on a lawn.


    Between the streets, there was a constant flow of levitating cars, as though they were the pulse of a city that flowed with fresh metallic blood.


    Boom!


    Suddenly, there was a large explosion of crimson flames at the bottom of the largest chimney. It was a high-end residential area that was lavishly decorated, and the two mansions in the very center were completely engulfed in flames, turning into black scraps in an instant.


    Thick black smoke floated out from the burning remains, and soon enough, the sirens of ambulances, police cars, and fire engines arrived at the scene. A large crowd of people alighted from the cars, and quickly began to secure the area.


    Beside the burning remains, the crimson firelight dyed everything within a ten-meter radius bright red.


    Ker-chak! Ker-chak, ker-chak...


    Buddy quickly took a few close-range shots with his high-quality camera, his expression somewhat somber.


    There were a few more reporters from the news agency behind him, but unlike him, they looked extremely excited.


    "Hehe, this is big news!" said someone in a soft voice.


    "We''re lucky, we got here at the first opportunity, and go first-hand information," the other person said excitedly. "My aunt''s husband just happens to be the inspector in charge of maintaining order here, otherwise we would still need about ten minutes of source investigation."


    Buddy was not in as good as the mood as the two of them, though.


    "Such an explosion could instantly override all the defense systems, and destroy all the Energy Barriers. Only a strong enough pulse wave bomb can do that..."


    "Isn''t that perfect? We can just call this explosion the Pulse Wave Incident." The reporter behind him hurriedly noted down the headline.


    "But very few people know that one of the previous Three Black Rain Generals, the strongest veteran pilot under the last generation''s Black Star, Bordo Miserman lives here," said Buddy in a somber voice.


    "The Three Black Rain Generals?! Buddy, are you kidding me? The Three Black Rain Generals are the three strongest pilots under Black Star, even if they have retired, they still enjoy the privileges of Great Generals here in our Blackboard Region!" The reporters'' expression changed immediately, a regular terrorist attack and a pointed attack were two completely different things.


    "I''m sure of it, I came here for a special interview before, interviewing General Bordo''s grandson." Buddy looked at the fire quietly. The fire brigade sprayed pillars of water at the fire hurriedly, and the smell of dry fire-extinguishing powder, as well as oxygen-absorbing liquid, proliferated everywhere.


    "No way, the Black Rain Generals should be enjoying their retirement in Blackboard Academy!"


    "Very few people know that Bordo didn''t actually enter the academy, and instead he lived alone as a normal person, with his family. It''s not just him, several other important officials did the same," said Buddy quietly.


    Instantly, their hearts began to feel heavy.


    "So you''re saying... this explosion, it was aimed for General Bordo?" someone asked.


    "It''s very likely," Buddy nodded. "If it really was an attack aimed at him, with General Bordo''s skills, to think that he could still be destroyed so calmly...Then the enemy''s powers must be..." Suddenly, he felt a chill down his spine.


    ***********************


    "This just in, there was a terrorist attack in the city of Caesura yesterday. A pulse wave bomb blew through two houses in a high-end residential area. Fortunately, because of the peak-hour traffic from the end of office hours, there were very few people in the buildings. The number of casualties and fatalities were few, including about a dozen members of the elderly and children..."


    Accompanied by the sound of the television news, Clint was sprawled onto the table in his room, wolfing down his food. There was a plate with an entire kilogram of seafood fried rice, with some octopus, lots of shrimp shells, chunks of fish, strands of seaweed. He poured all of it into his mouth, as though that mouth was an endless abyss.


    "One more portion!"


    Smack!


    Clint smashed the empty plate onto the table and yelled.


    "You''ve already eaten three portions..." Baylon said helplessly beside him, wearing an apron. She was the one who made the fried rice, having rushed out to buy ingredients and trying it out blindly after some studying. Personally, he(1) felt the taste was so-so, but Clint ate it like it was a delicacy.


    "He''s a pig, ignore him, and fill your own stomach first," Red Moon''s voice rang out slowly.


    "I can''t help it either!! I just never feel full, there must be something wrong with that training method you gave me! I didn''t use to be like this!" Clint cried out in defense.


    "Sure, the Nine Mega Cannon training method increases your appetite, but not to this extent. The more you eat, the more that means your energy efficiency is low, you waste too much, so you need to absorb a lot more energy to make up for your Willpower consumption."


    "What''s that mean? I don''t get it..." Clint asked honestly.


    "It means you''re too stupid, that''s why you eat so much," Red Moon stated mercilessly.


    "Oh! Don''t blame me, there must be something wrong with your training method!" Clint finally knew how to resist, after accepting a brand new plate of fried rice from Baylon, he continued to dig in.


    "That idiot." Red Moon was utterly speechless, and turned his attention instead to Baylon, dressed in a white apron.


    After this kid''s Willpower was activated, perhaps as a result of the training method, but mostly because of his own body, Baylon had somehow quickly become such a sweet, pure, and pretty figure.


    Slender, weak, tall and long, curves in all the right places, large watery eyes that looked like they were about to cry at any moment. Long hair hanging loose, matched with fair and supple skin, gave off a gently beautiful impression that just begged for love and pity.


    "As expected, you fail as a boy, it''s better to be a girl and find someone to take care of you," Red Moon said exasperatedly. "It''s unnatural. Tsk-tsk..."


    "The more I train with that Bright Queen Jisaiya method, the more I feel my body change. What''s up with that...?" asked Baylon, embarrassed.


    "It''s normal, that''s the training method inherited from the legendary Bright Queen, it''s a Three-Only type, and it can evolve, allowing the pilot''s body to advance together with it from the very beginning," Red Moon explained.


    "What do you mean by Three-Only attributes?"


    "It means what it says, in the whole world, only three people can practice this training method, because the Bright Queen Jisaiya only left behind three imprints. If you have the chance to reach the peak, you''ll enter a race to obtain the imprints, and achieve the actual, complete main imprint. But it''s still far, far too early. That woman, the Bright Queen, died too soon, and she was a picky one too. If it weren''t for the fact that her training method was still kinda decent, I wouldn''t wanna get close to her."


    Red Moon seemed to have a very bad impression of the Bright Queen.


    "Lon! One more bowl!!"


    Beside them, Clint had somehow finished a large plate of rice in such a short time, slamming the plate onto the table and yelling again.


    "There''s... There''s no more..." Baylon was utterly shocked, seeing how Clint still looked unsatisfied, she began to panic... "You ate it all..." She was about to cry. She had made seven people''s worth of food, and this guy finished it all, even she had not gotten a chance to eat yet.


    "Urk..." Clint noticed that he had eaten too much as well, and scratched his head awkwardly. "Um... Uh... Ah!!" Suddenly, he screamed.


    "Careful! Something''s coming!" In an instant, Red Moon hit Clint hard with a bolt of electricity, making him cry out in pain.


    "Everyone, hold your breaths!"


    Suddenly, the lights in the room went off, and everything was plunged into darkness. There was only the faint smell of fried rice lingering in the air.


    Outside the room, in the garden, a tattered tall black shadow slowly appeared outside the wall.


    "The Forbidden..." A deep male voice came from within the shadow. "Found it, right here..."


    Smack!


    Suddenly, a beacon of light was turned on, shining onto the shadow and revealing most of its body. It was a tattered and broken-up white-and-red mech, six meters tall!


    "Do it!!"


    Amidst the shouts, a similarly huge humanoid shadow jumped out from the house, crashing straight for the Red-White Mech. Underneath the illumination of the light, they saw that this black shadow was actually just a broken trash mech made up of assorted parts.


    "Fool!"


    The Red-White Mech did not give way at all, crashing its arms forward.


    Bam!!!


    The two crashed into each other.


    "Eh? What tremendous strength!" A surprised voice came from inside the Red-White Mech. "But if all you have is strength, you''re still just a piece of trash."


    Waving him away, the Red-White Mech swept with its leg, and hit the opponent''s waist with a clang, sending him flying out and crashing into a large portion of the wall at the side.


    "Clint!!" cried Baylon worriedly from inside the room.


    "Hand over the Forbidden Core, and I will spare your life," the Red-White Mech chuckled, stamping on his body so that he could not get up.


    Clint felt weak all over, he could not use any strength at all.


    "Idiot! I let you drive mechs so that you could run errands, not to fight! You idiotic moron, don''t you understand human speak!!" Red Moon scolded madly beside his ear.


    "What to do...?"


    "What to do my ass! Run!!"


    All of a sudden, Clint''s mech found a huge burst of energy. He stood up abruptly and ran away as fast as his legs could take him. When he passed Baylon, he picked up Baylon lightly, and then ran into the distance even more madly.


    After this full-strength crash, the Red-White Mech''s engine nearly exploded. He was already at the end of his rope, his mech was nearly collapsing after his battle with Red-Eyed Medero, so he did not dare to exert too much force at all.


    And now a tiny Level One minnow had managed to escape from him, that really pissed him off.


    Amidst the roar of the engine, he quickly gave chase. The two mechs, one after the other, soon disappeared into the night.

 843 Eagle’s Nest 1

    It was not easy, switching to the Crouched Eagle Talon training method. After Garen was sent straight to the borders of the Blackboard Region by the Flying Saucer, he came down using one of the single-person flying machines His Highness Mingway gave him. Without much delay, he arrived back inside the Blackboard Region directly.


    Just as Garen expected, the security and scanning were the same level as they were back in the Blackboard Academy. So he had been scared for nothing, he could cheat his way through with just that little Moonfang.


    The whole Blackboard Region was currently in chaos thanks to the White Light, it had been proven that the Pulse Wave Incident was the terrorist organization White Light''s doing. The policemen and army squads from all over began to move out in earnest, and for a moment there the whole region was being rocked by the reaction.


    On the way back to the Academy''s Blackboard City, Garen could see new notices and declarations by the police all over the place, such as how to save oneself in the face of a terrorist attack.


    After two days on the road, he finally returned to Blackboard Academy. Upon replying to the greetings from his friends and fellow students one by one, he went straight back to his dorm.


    Ker-chak!


    The door opened, and the first thing Garen saw was the student card on the table.


    "A new card? Someone''s been in my room." He reacted quickly, and looked around to see if he could find any clues.


    The position of the curtain was not right, that was probably tampered with before. There was a slight mark on the thin layer of dust on his desk, that someone must have messed with it.


    Garen bent down and wiped the handles of the drawers lightly, then he brought it to his nose and sniffed it. All three handles had a faint smell of perfume.


    "It''s a woman. Perfume like this must be a fairly young woman."


    His expression was calm.


    "It should be the girl who brought the student card here, seeing as there was no one here, she could not help but mess around a bit. If the higher-ups let her bring the student card here, she must be someone who seems to be closer to me in the eyes of the public, and a member of the school as well. And in this school, the ones who seem to be closer to me are the likes of Vivienne, Celine and the rest."


    Garen''s brain turned slightly, and he quickly came to a conclusion.


    "Celine does not like perfume, and Vivienne always uses the most expensive and trendiest brands. This perfume smells like the type those innocent-looking girls like, but it''s not too expensive. If it''s not that valuable, it can''t be Vivienne. In that case, it has to be those people, Kell or Vera."


    "I just have to ask who helped to send me my student card, and I''ll know."


    He pulled open the last drawer. The notes and documents were exactly as he left them, but the wad of notes seemed to be slightly thinner.


    "As I thought, I need a more private room."


    Standing up, Garen shook out his joints.


    Now that he had reached Level Three Willpower, he felt as though his base was not too steady, and his Willpower was not solid enough. It was evidently because he progressed too quickly.


    After the Willpower in his arms was activated, before he even learned to control them properly, he had already reached the next level, Level Three.


    The Level Three Crouched Eagle Talon had very powerful malleability and general accessibility, but Garen had advanced too quickly. As soon as he reached Level Two, he went straight into Level Three. He did not have time to get used to controlling it at Level Two at all.


    "I need to spend some time on stabilizing my power." Garen was aware of this problem as well.


    After washing up, he began to spend time in his room training his body in correspondence with the Divine Statue Technique. Adapting it with his battle experience that went even beyond King of the Century, he began to slowly create an even more perfect version of the Crouched Eagle Talon. Most importantly, the Crouched Eagle Talon used to be a very normal Level Five training method, one that could not reach Level Six inheritance. Under Garen''s changes, however, it seemed to be moving to a new level. He could not be sure if he was right about the deductions regarding the training method after this, but it was vaguely moving away from the original path.


    He trained and tweaked it a bit in his room, and then he practiced the Waterbird Fist that he was most familiar with in the previous world. Due to the difference in universe and space, the Waterbird Fist required a makeover before it could be used again. Out of the Waterbird Fist Profounds, only the purest and most powerful Profounds could be isolated away. Using his Willpower as well as his body, he could use the Final Profound, Flight, with up to 90% of its original power.


    Garen rearranged the pure combat techniques from the Totem World. Other than the Living Secret Techniques, the only things he could still use from the Totem World were the Ten Thousand Mammoth Battle Skills. The Ten Thousand Mammoths Battle Skills were actually a complete set of fighting skills that he crafted from his foundations in the Secret Technique World, and it was basically a head-on fighting style.


    Meanwhile, Flight used the pinnacle of skill, so the two were completely different.


    Combat skills were combat skills, the purest combat skills had nothing to do with secret techniques or methods, but certain combat skills had different methods at the core driving them, so naturally, they would have wildly different powers and styles.


    Garen figured out everything he could use in this world, and spent three days in his room, completely isolated. He even turned off his Watch Terminal, so that he could concentrate properly on perfecting it. From his own martial arts, from the Demonic Book martial arts, from the Seven Star Life''s Secret Point, he collected and gathered them all.


    He cut out all the parts that could not be used due to the different world setting. Vaguely, he noticed that after his Willpower grew stronger, the ideas his mind came up with also seemed to be more perfect, as though there was a second brain helping him out with thoughts and calculations. For many questions, as soon as he started thinking about it, he could instantly and clearly get his intended answer. The simple logical processes in the meanwhile were all solved in an instant.


    He brought out all the pure combat skills, the things he could use in this world. He filtered them through these past three worlds, assessing them with different rules. Many of them looked strong, but Garen threw away the parts with many limitations.


    Three days later...


    A brand new form of martial arts finally began to take shape in his hands.


    Garen renamed these martial arts the Ten Thousand True Technique. It was a very simple and very plain name. Ten Thousand meant many, and True meant true nature and thusness(1), it could mostly be used limitlessly even across universes.


    Actually, the Ten Thousand True Technique was not just a normal external martial arts technique, it was also a method that could temporarily stimulate his body''s explosive power.


    Garen used all the secret methods he knew, taking away the limited parts and then continuing to model and derive the usable parts, finally forming the Ten Thousand True Technique''s Nine Level Body System.


    This Nine Level Body System was related to the Seven Star Life''s Secret Point, but it was not as ridiculously powerful. Instead, it was gentler. According to Garen''s calculations, this would be more adaptable to other universes as well.


    After running his techniques past so many rules from so many worlds, it was equal to him straining the impurities off his martial arts, revealing the smooth surface underneath.


    The Ten Thousand True Technique represented Garen''s aim for his future position.


    No matter what power system it was, as long as he was in human shape, as long as he had his basic organs, the Ten Thousand True Technique would work.


    After melding his own fighting techniques into one, Garen began to train the Ten Thousand True Technique anew. His roots were strong, and he had long achieved the nine levels of state of mind required, so he very easily reached Level Three. After that, he needed to constantly train his own body.


    ***************


    The Academy''s physical fighting training area was a special place that the Blackboard Academy had designed especially for students who liked to practice their actual combat. It was as large as five football fields, and there was a transparent ceiling of reinforced glass above them. The sunlight came shining down, and the high-powered air ventilation machines around them kept buzzing lightly.


    There were rows of punching bags and alloy pillars lined up closely, and every so often there were even cube-shaped three-story buildings. The buildings were made completely of glass walls, so everything outside could be seen clearly.


    In the afternoon, there were still many people sweating it out in the training arena, training relentlessly. They trained in alone, in pairs, even in groups surrounding one person. There were also those doing health exercises... boys and girls as well, including some middle-aged people or members of the elderly.


    There were also some professional athletes. Track, endurance, sprint, hurdles, they were all there. Many people came here every day to train their bodies, all the equipment was free to use, and it was very close to the canteen as well, so it was very convenient.


    Garen changed into some black gym clothes, wearing a black belt around his waist. Walking into the training field, he heard the yells of a group of people playing football in the distance, while on the other side, there was also a group of girls practicing aerobics. Other than the mech course, there were also many other students in the other courses.


    Although piloting was indeed a very important and prized profession, that did not mean everyone wanted to be a pilot. There were students majoring in battleship command, or art, or languages, or engineering.


    On the field, there was an uproar of shouts. In the large area in the center, there were several dozen students dressed in different clothes and running sparsely from each other, while two coaches count the time at the side.


    Alone, Garen walked to a row of training equipment that no one was using. The equipment was very old, and there were even some sweat stains left over on them. Evidently, someone had just finished using them.


    The area in front of this was a small plastic training field. Several boys and girls were gathered in front of a female teacher as she taught them to dance, while there were things like double or single bars beside them.


    From here, he could just see the situation on the running track diagonally ahead. The athletes were all running round and round at even speeds. Although they looked to be sweating a lot, their breathing was still even and rhythmic, clearly showing that they were very experienced runners.


    Garen pulled back his inquisitive gaze, and walked up to the heaviest black sandbag.


    Bam!!


    The heavy black metal sandbag was hit by Garen''s forearm, and was sent rocking wildly out.


    Garen took off his shirt, revealing his well-defined muscles. He put black gloves on his hands, and all his skin was slightly dark. Among those on the training field, he was considered average.


    He came here just to get used to the changes in his body, in his Willpower, and to sort out the conglomeration of his martial arts. By going into the Third Level Ten Thousand True Technique straight away, his body had improved by three times that of others. This was also the change brought by the Hellfrost Peacock Technique, but this change was not something he had controlled and built up over time. So if he wanted to utilize his most powerful potential smoothly, he needed to get used to his own level.


    Bang bang! Bang!


    Garen began to punch the target again and again. He did not put a lot of force into every punch, but he tried to keep it in a very small and precise area, carefully sensing the waves and tremors in his body.


    Using tremors to understand his own body, that was a special martial arts that only Garen had, it was one of the training methods from the Secret Technique World.


    There were no special movements, he just let loose punch after punch, occasionally unleashing a side-kick, knocking the heavy sandbag into swinging back and forth, as though it was going to snap and fall at any moment. It whooshed loudly, the giant swinging metal sandbag giving off a very unstable and dangerous feeling.


    After showcasing all of his basic fist techniques, Garen carefully felt his own power level, and the minute changes in his body. At the same time, he used the Ten Thousand True Technique to use the different levels of vibrations from all over his body to strengthen and open up his body from a very deep level. Unlike training methods, this started from the outside and worked inwards. In some manner of speaking, the Ten Thousand True Technique was one of the most balanced external techniques. Especially after merging with Garen''s Seven Star Life''s Secret Point secret method, each level had some of the power as though he had permanently opened one of the secret points, hence permanently activating his body''s potential and increasing his body''s quality. It was not by much, not too exaggerated, but it had also lost the Seven Star Life''s Secret Point secret method''s terrifying backlash effect, becoming gentler and safe.


    The Divine Statue Technique trained one''s body, but merging the Divine Statue Technique with the Crouched Eagle Talon, he could strengthen his Willpower, and he could strengthen his arms and body to a certain degree as well.


    Together, the two of them trained his body and his Willpower at the same time, balancing it out as they progressed together.

 844 Eagle’s Nest 2

    After completing his set of fist techniques, Garen was starting to sweat slightly as well. It was not tiring to practice his punches, but it took quite a lot of mental energy to slowly adjust the vibrations. Different areas required different frequencies of vibrations so that they could be unearthed properly, these were the Ten Thousand True Technique''s strict requirements. To the outsider''s eye, it looked like a very simple, very standard fighting method, but only Garen knew that the various vibrations inside were the truly difficult part.


    With a smack, he steadied the sandbag that swung at him. Only then did Garen notice that someone had been standing next to him and watching him. He looked like a well-mannered, fair and clean boy. He did not say anything, just smiling at Garen, then he walked to the side and started taking off his clothes. This revealed the tight white singlet underneath, followed by the fair but powerful and well-defined muscles. It looked like he was here to train as well.


    The boy shook out his joints a little on the spot, and then found another sandbag and started practicing as well.


    Garen watched him nonchalantly. This person had very good basics, and was very serious in his training, his attention fully focused on one point.


    He could not be too bothered with others as well, so Garen rested for a while and then began his next round of training.


    Time ticked by, and Garen took another short break. He picked up the saltwater he brought and drank a few sips from it, wiping the sweat from his body.


    All the students were gathered on these large drill grounds, there were too many students from the other courses, so not many people noticed that he, the mech genius, was training his body here in the corner. It ended up being pretty quiet.


    He used the heaviest metal sandbag, so the boy training next to him gave him occasional glances of envy. He was evidently very surprised at Garen''s strength. To think Garen could move several hundred kilos worth of a metal sandbag.


    Soon enough, it seemed to be time for group training. More and more people arrived to train hitting and punching with their arms.


    Garen sensed that one small team was here specifically to train the Crouched Eagle Talon training method. The Crouched Eagle Talon was a very accessible training method, like Outbreak of Rain and Wind Words, it was a Level Three version of the training method that was available in the market. These few types of training methods were very popular in the academy, because they had higher worth for the money. So out of the mech school students, 90%n of them used one of these training methods.


    After that, only the poorer students used the Blackboard training method, that was something only students who could not afford any of the other training methods at all used. Any students with just a little bit of fortune would choose training methods like Outbreak of Rain, Wind Words or Crouched Eagle Talon. Compared to the free Blackboard training method, these training methods were slightly better, and had that slight edge when it came to building foundations. As their levels increased, the difference would become huge by the end.


    This was the reason you must not fall behind at the starting line.


    Garen himself cultivated the Crouched Eagle Talon, so he quickly noticed that group of people among all the students, because they were all cultivating the Crouched Eagle Talon. There were other teams who all practiced Wind Words, or Outbreak of Rain. Students who used the same training method would instinctively gather together, so that they could discuss their problems.


    These students were mostly all just Basic Level, the slightly better ones were only Upper Level One. But there were many older students who looked like they were in their third or fourth year, leading the team as they answered the others'' questions.


    Garen had experience with aura, so it was very easy for him to sense their level through their spirits.


    Since they all trained with the Crouched Eagle Talon, Garen was very intrigued by this world''s own matter of cultivation. Everything he learned was from the Internet. The textbooks only spoke about the Blackboard training method.


    Wiping the sweat from his body, Garen picked up his clothes and bottle, walking towards that group.


    The small group was standing in the middle of the large field, forming their own little circle like everyone else. Every so often, some people would leave, but others would join.


    "...When you enter Level One from the Basic Level, there would be a small leap. Your Willpower would make a small leap. It sounds very abstract, but in truth, that feeling is like going up a step. After taking one step upwards, if you turn around and look back again, you''ll be seeing a world from a higher perspective. Following the same logic, the Crouched Eagle Talon is better than most training methods at training the arms, and this shows in your control of the mech..." The only older girl was explaining the basics of training to her juniors and freshmen, dressed in a white blouse with puffy sleeves, and dark blue faded long jeans. She looked simple, clean, and professional.


    Garen walked over and looked at the circle of juniors, sighing slightly in his heart. Not long ago he had been one of the freshmen as well, but now he was a senior to these students.


    This group of students all had young and innocent faces, their eyes full of curiosity and patience. Evidently, they had full confidence in their training method paths.


    "Before coming into contact with training methods, everyone dreams that they might be that prodigy, one in ten thousand, but reality is cruel..." Garen shook his head slightly. Standing at the side quietly, he listened to that senior explain the process of training, and compared each step to his own process. He also noticed a lot of things he had missed out, as this senior mentioned some little ways to use the Crouched Eagle Talon in battle that also opened Garen''s eyes. He was pretty impressed, these were evidently the special tricks passed down through generations of students, so they were naturally unique in their own ways.


    "Hey, handsome, do you practice the Crouched Eagle Talon as well?" A young girl with curly black hair patted Garen''s back lightly. "What bulging muscles...!" she exclaimed.


    "They''re okay, my basics aren''t that strong," Garen nodded. "What''s that senior sister''s name? I didn''t know so many girls liked the Crouched Eagle Talon."


    "She''s Sofia, a fourth-year senior in the mech course. Her Crouched Eagle Talon is really powerful, and she''s in the top ten of the Eagle''s Nest in her grade. She and Senior Soron take time out of their schedules every two days to teach everyone here on this field," explained the girl softly.


    "What''s the Eagle''s Nest?"


    "It''s the group society formed by all the students in the academy who cultivate the Crouched Eagle Talon. The Wind Words, the Outbreak of Rain Club, they''re all like that. You actually don''t know?" The girl seemed slightly shocked. "No wonder your basics aren''t good, we need to communicate with our fellow students a lot if we want to progress together. If you''re free, come attend class from now on, or you can join our Eagle''s Nest too."


    "Are there a lot of strong fighters in there?" asked Garen.


    "Of course, I hear that a Level Five instructor would occasionally come and teach the inner members and higher-ups too. No one else gets this treatment outside," said the girl dreamily.


    "Level Five instructor..." Garen''s heart twinged. He had risen too quickly, so his roots were not strong. This might just be his chance to learn from everyone''s experience and skills.


    "Whaddaya say, tempted, right? I''ll talk to them for you," said the girl without waiting for a response, hurriedly dragging Garen into the crowd.


    Soon enough, the two of them reached a table that was set up inside.


    "I brought a newbie for registration! Hurry, hurry, don''t delay!" the little girl yelled, smacking the table.


    The table was placed inside the crowd, and when everyone was blocking it, even Garen did not notice it. Only when he walked in did he see that there were two young people sitting behind it. It was one boy and one girl, the boy was handsome and gentle, while the girl was pretty and cute. They were clearly walking ads here to recruit newbies.


    "Come, my friend, register your name, class, and Willpower level." Seeing that it was a boy who arrived, the cute girl stood up and began to greet him, handing Garen a form.


    "This is so..." Garen felt something in his heart. In the previous world, he had joined the combat club, but now he was joining the Eagle''s nest in this world instead. It gave him a strange sense of familiarity.


    Filling up the form quickly, he handed it over.


    The girl glanced at it, and her eyes immediately lit up.


    "Oh, so it''s Nonosiva. I never thought that you would switch to the Crouched Eagle Talon. You''re the First Seat prodigy from the freshmen ranking competition!" The girl was slightly excited. "Come, come, let me introduce you to Senior Sofia!"


    The little girl who brought Garen here was slightly surprised as well, she did not think that the person she just randomly dragged here would be the First Seat of the freshmen last year.


    The boy who had been sitting got up as well, smiling.


    "Welcome, Nono, to the Eagle''s Nest. We''re one of the most populated clubs in the academy, because a lot of people chose the Crouched Eagle Talon. I didn''t think that you would choose the Eagle Talon too."


    The two of them shook hands, both very friendly.


    Garen could sense that this guy was a fourth-year senior as well. His Willpower was slightly hidden, as though something was blocking it, so he could not tell what level the boy was just based on his spirit. But Garen could tell that he was at least Level Two.


    The Crouched Eagle Talon advanced very quickly, and was very easy to learn. The first few levels were all relatively doable, so it was the most normal and commonly-used among the accessible training methods. It was equivalent to the Iron Skin technique or the Tongbeiquan from martial arts novels, the skills everyone knew. Since it had a naturally low level, it would always be slightly weaker than other training methods that were slightly stronger, even at the same level of Willpower.


    "It''s last year''s First Seat of the freshmen, Nonosiva!"


    "Even he''s chosen our Eagle''s Nest, the Crouched Eagle Talon must have its strengths!"


    "Yeah, it must be good since the most people chose it, otherwise why would so many people choose it?"


    The students around him were getting excited. Nono''s reputation was considerably widespread, even those who did not watch the competition felt as though they had to look up at him once they heard the title of Freshmen''s First Seat. Instantly, Nono''s image was rapidly magnified. Once they heard Nono''s level, they were even more shocked.


    He was only in second-year, but he had already reached Level One, the standard people achieved at or after the fourth year. Level One was already the minimum requirement for graduation, but of course Blackboard Academy''s students all had more ambition than that, so most of them aimed for a higher level. This was equivalent to normal undergraduates and Masters students or Ph.D. students. The higher you studied, the stronger you were, and naturally the treatment you received after graduating was vastly different.


    In academies, it was very common for first-years to be at the Basic level, most of them studied and trained properly. A majority of the students studied just so that they could pass the semester exams. Only a few of them really pushed hard, and never stopped working. Just imagine, how many people could earn enough credits to graduate within the first year? It was practically a miracle.


    There were very few Levels Ones in second year as well, but by then there would be individual elites. Still, they would rarely even reach Level One. Even now, Garen did not actually meet the graduation requirements. Even if his Willpower was at a high enough level, he still needed to meet the mark with many other subjects.


    Only in third year would you find some students who had accumulated enough credits. Garen had also planned to complete all his exams and subjects by third year. Students studied at Blackboard Academy for eight years in total, and to obtain enough credits by third year, you needed to take many, many subjects. It would total up to more than a hundred and ten subjects, and you had to reach Level One in all of them. Many subjects had overlapping study hours, which was also why it was very hard to gather enough credits.

 845 Actual Battle 1

    The group of people parted like the red sea, revealing Sofia, who was giving a lecture at the front.


    She raised her head and looked over in his direction.


    "I''ve heard everything, Mr. Nono, last cohort''s freshmen''s First Seat. I never thought that you would''ve improved the Crouched Eagle Talon Technique as well," Sofia''s voice was soft and gentle and it had a mesmerizing effect.


    "The reason I joined the Eagle''s Nest was that I hoped to learn more from stronger fellow practitioners. Of course, I also wanted to exchange knowledge with my fellow practitioners regarding the theories and concepts behind the Crouched Eagle Talon Technique," Garen sincerely expressed his intents.


    "That is to be expected. Everyone who joins the Eagle''s Nest has the same intentions. Only through these sorts of exchanges there would there be clashes in schools of thought, and only then can we see improvement. As compared to the mindset of those who have just enrolled in the school, having access to the combined experience and abilities of everyone here from both the present and the past will allow us to make the most out of our training methods," Sofia articulated.


    "If you don''t mind, I would like to go and view the Eagle''s Nest immediately," Garen said. He started to feel that his foundation for this technique was not concrete enough and this Eagle''s Nest might be able to solve his concerns.


    If he did not have a concrete foundation, it would make it harder for him to progress to the next level. It may even lead to him facing more trouble when up against an opponent of the same level, especially when it comes to a battle of Willpower.


    "Sounds like a plan," Sofia was also a very straight-forward person. Despite her gentle appearance, she was actually exceptionally fervent in her interests. Seeing how direct Garen was, she too loosened up.


    "Peach, bring Mr. Nono to the headquarters and give him a tour of the place. There are many seniors stationed at the headquarters, feel free to direct any questions you have to them."


    When facing a genius, naturally he was allowed some form of special treatment. Furthermore, the method of choice for the Eagle''s Nest was to allow everyone to progress at their own pace and not interfere too much with the students. This did not apply only to Nono; it was also the case for the genius from last year, Klaibe, who has since been promoted into a senior of the elite Black-Clothed Generals, with the title of Demonic Shadow Duncan. This was all part of their tradition.


    "Since this is your first time in the headquarters, I should tell you this. If you''re interested in challenging any seniors over here, you can select one senior to challenge daily. Take note that this refers to Close Quarters Combat and not a mech battle," it was almost as if Sofia had already seen through Garen''s character, and not wanting to beat around the bush, she went straight to the point.


    "Alright."


    Garen nodded.


    The surrounding students started to mumble aloud, challenging seniors was everyone''s right after all. Once you''ve entered the Eagle''s Nest, your ranking here is determined by your actual potential and abilities. Challenging stronger opponents was key in this type of ranking system.


    However, these ranks would not give you too much of an advantage, it mainly allows you to access journals and notes on the Crouched Eagle Talon Technique left behind by seniors of the past. These archives of information were all from the masters who had trained in the Crouched Eagle Talon Technique in the past and contained information from the various methods and the different aspects of mastering this technique. However, if you failed to reach a certain level with these techniques, it would have adverse side effects on your body, so it''s better not to fly too close to the sun.


    The two''s conversation was short and concise with no small talk in between. Just by looking at Garen, she knew that he would be interested in these challenges and archives. Most people would have already understood that Garen was interested in the archived records of the Eagle''s Nest. For a technique to be practiced after such a long time, yet still remain unparalleled in strength, naturally, it must have had its own unique complexities and theories behind it.


    The young girl known as Peach, who was also the cute girl that was in charge of the new members earlier, stood up and guided Garen towards a nearby bus station. Following closely behind them was a group of students, all curious about the developments of Garen, leaving only a handful of students in Sofia''s class.


    Looking at this situation, Sofia helplessly let out a sigh. She might as well just bring everyone along at this point.


    With that, a whole class of students boarded the academy''s bus, leaving the drilling grounds as they headed towards the direction of the Eagle''s Nest.


    ******


    The Eagle''s Nest was a medium-sized den-like structure in the Blackboard Academy. It looked like a gigantic eagle''s nest on the surface, but in actuality, it was constructed from reinforced metal alloys.


    The inside of the building was separated into a few different sections, one of which was the training hall.


    Above the white ground of the training hall was a transparent glass ceiling. At this moment, the hall was surrounded by various students stationed at the Eagle''s Nest, most of them being second-years and third-years. A lot of them were casually chatting while spectating the two people below.


    Following Sofia''s lead, Garen was brought to the side of the hall, looking down at the two below.


    "Today''s challenge is between the two below. Katja, who is ranked thirty-second, is challenging Seris, who is ranked twenty-first," Sofia softly introduced the two to Garen.


    "These two look like they''re quite strong, otherwise, the people who followed us just now wouldn''t have left their positions to observe the battle themselves," Garen nodded.


    "That''s no surprise. The Eagle''s Nest serves as a gathering place for all students practicing the Crouched Eagle Talon Technique. Just the Level Five experts would already amount to more than fifty people, with a lot of them being instructors or Black-Clothed Generals. Some even attained high ranks in the military and take up important positions throughout the Blackboard Region. Although our Crouched Eagle Talon is no match for students of the same level practicing other skills, we have the advantage of numbers!" Sofia proudly exclaimed. "We don''t have the strongest technique, but the value of mastering this technique is definitely comparable to even the best techniques, it is one of a kind."


    "That''s true," Garen nodded once again.


    "There are numerous geniuses within the Eagle''s Nest, and some of them were even in a situation like yours; people who just barely missed the opportunity to become elite students. It might be worthwhile for you guys to interact and befriend each other in the future," Sofia suggested.


    Garen agreed and continued to watch the battle happening below him. The two stopped talking and the surrounding spectators also quietened down, closely observing the bout that was about to start.


    Ding!


    With a loud ring, the two people below sprang into action.


    Their movements were almost in sync, making wide hand motions with every step. At the same time, they were rapidly striking at each other. Although it looked like completely normal strikes, it gave off an ever-changing strong aura.


    Smack! The two crossed arms. To everyone''s surprise, they were using the exact same move on equal grounds.


    "I see that your training on the Eagle Wing Strike has gone well!" the ranked twenty-first Seris said loudly.


    "I''ll definitely defeat you this time!" Katja loudly roared as he lunged forward. His arms were like sharp blades, slicing towards the opponent repeatedly. The action was almost on par with an actual completed Secret Technique, with very few flaws when it came to both attacking and defending.


    This sent a shiver down Garen''s spine.


    "Their actions are all meticulously calculated and simulated with a quantum calculator, down to every slightest movement. Every possible flaw that they find will be countered with intense training for the scenario. This is the greatest advantage of combining technology with traditional training. In the Eagle''s Nest, you also have access to a huge bonus. You can use the Martial Arts Servers passed down from the seniors to undergo countless simulations to improve your own martial arts," Sofia explained to Garen. "These simulations will use countless variables to intricately calculate and pinpoint the biggest flaws that your techniques and errors may present within the shortest amount of time. With proper utilization of this, it would produce results equal to ten years of personal training."


    "With these forms of strict training, there shouldn''t be many people who managed to achieve it, right?" Garen asked softly.


    "Of course not. There were only three people in the entire history of the Eagle''s Nest who managed to complete the Martial Arts Server''s training fully. The best possible combat style for the Crouched Eagle Talon is not something that can be easily achieved," Sofia looked at Garen in amazement; she didn''t think he would be able to understand this much just from her brief introductions.


    "The Martial Arts Simulation Servers have every noteworthy technique, experience, and information since the creation of the Eagle''s Nest up till now saved in its memory bank. It can calculate the best way to maximize one''s potential through an analysis of one''s physical and mental capabilities. Of course, this requires some authorization. We call this the ''Flawless Martial Arts'' technique, and it requires a higher level of authorization for the members to access this technology."


    "That''s understandable," Garen nodded.


    The two stopped talking once again, closely observing the battle occurring right below them.


    In the training hall below, Katja was starting to get pushed back by Seris, forcing him into a corner. The two were both using Flawless Martial Arts, but he obviously had more flaws than his opponent. In a battle with both sides having equal speed and strength, he would undoubtedly be in a disadvantageous position.


    Almost as if he was dissatisfied with himself being forced into a disadvantageous position, Katja turned around, his arms suddenly turned completely red. It wasn''t the red you saw from swellings, but rather a red comparable to the color of fresh blood.


    "Don''t get too cocky! Swooping Eagle Slaughter!!" a twisted form of Willpower started to boil from Katja''s body, creating vortex-like cones of wind that wrapped around his arms. It almost looked like two electric drills was attached to Katja''s arms as he lunged towards Seris.


    "A Willpower secret skill? Do you think you''re the only one who can use something like that?" Seris laughed. "Extreme Pierce!"


    He pointed out his index fingers, each finger pointing at one of Katja''s arms. The fingers rapidly turned black as they swelled with blood, to the point where they looked like they had become gigantic blood clots. The air surrounding him started to whirl up like a hurricane.


    "Katja has lost," Looking at the stage, Garen exclaimed.


    "Oh?" Sofia looked at him curiously. "You have really great eyesight huh?"


    "Is going down for the challenges the fastest way to raise your rank and gain authorization?" Garen wanted to experience what this Flawless Martial Arts simulation room feels like. After all, it was his first time seeing such high-tech martial arts training.


    "The Flawless Martial Arts system is most effectively utilized for finding your own flaws, but only the top fifty in the ranks are authorized to access this technology. Don''t look down on this ranking," Sofia reminded, "The three geniuses I''ve trained in the past, they all started off arrogant just like you, challenging the seniors immediately after they entered. However, none of them managed to win their first two battles."


    "It''s fine," Garen shook his head as he started walking towards the stage. "I''ll give it a shot."


    He wasn''t just interested in the Flawless Martial Arts, but also the Willpower secret skills the two had used just now. The feeling those skills gave off, it felt like they were using their Willpower in similar manners to how people use their internal energy in wuxia novels.


    Moves utilizing Willpower would be much faster and stronger, and they could even enter the opponent''s body and cause pure physical damage to the body. Through his observations, he noticed that the two had the capabilities to release their Willpower from long ranges, but they did not attempt to do so. This meant that the techniques they used weren''t that high leveled.


    Katja was knocked down on the floor, his face completely flushed red. Other than that, he seemed to be fine. Seris walked up to him and helped him up.


    At this moment, Garen had entered the training hall from one of the entrances, closely assessing the two from a closer distance.


    He didn''t feel anything from afar, but with a closer look at this distance, he realized that these two were both Level Three experts! No wonder they were in the top fifty of the Eagle''s Nest, they weren''t just some random characters.


    However, after pondering for a bit, There were hundreds of Level Five professors and instructors within the whole Blackboard Academy, it wasn''t surprising that there were even more Level Three or Four reserves present. After all, this was the place with the strongest people in the Blackboard Region.


    This two seemed to already be at the level of the fifth-years, having already gone through half of the eight-year education system of the Blackboard Academy. However, being able to attain Level Three at this stage was still a great feat.


    No longer paying attention to the interactions between the two, Garen walked towards the white stone plaque erected at the side of the hall. The plaque displayed the rankings of the members of the Eagle''s Nest, listing everyone in the top fifty.


    The first person on the list was someone called Sajeena, with Level Five Willpower. This was recorded two years ago, when she was a sixth-year, it should be nearing her graduation soon.


    At this point, Sofia had finally caught up to him. Following behind her were a group of youths that seemed interested in what was happening over here. They all gave off a strong aura with their Willpower; it seemed that all of them were very skilled students.


    "You want to challenge someone now?" Sofia looked at this genius who had just joined this group. Geniuses were all the same after all; he had the same mentality as the other two geniuses she brought in before. When they saw someone who was stronger than them, they were unable to resist the urge to challenge them, hoping to become stronger.


    "The students of our Blackboard Academy take pride in their strengths, and wanting to take on challenges is only natural. Take your pick; if the name is glowing, it means that they are currently present in the Eagle''s Nest. Of course, those selected have the right to reject three challenges a day. Furthermore, no grudges should be held if anyone is injured in the battle," a proper-looking bespectacled young lad next to Sofia said in a soft voice.


    "My name is Anjay Terin, ranked fifteenth. I heard the freshmen''s First Seat had just joined us, so I came over to have a look."


    "Nice to meet you," Garen shook his hand. "What''s the minimum authorization required to use the Flawless Martial Arts simulations?" Garen was no longer overly prideful. This world was not one where he could simply mess around in. These Willpower experts were quick-thinkers, had amazing battle senses, had more experience in the mysterious power form manipulating their Willpower, and could often have a terrifying explosiveness when it comes to their strengths. Seeing as his own Willpower manipulation was still very limited, he felt that it was best not to be too full of himself.


    "Everyone within the top fifty will receive authorization to access it, but the amount of time allocated to you would also vary with rank. Those at the top ranks are even authorized to organize competitions and tournaments with the other clubs. So what do you think? Want to give it a shot?" this guy had a gentle and polite tone, but he seemed to be a battle-loving individual underneath the surface.


    Interestingly, it seemed that everyone Garen had come across in the Eagle''s Nest seemed to have this sort of personality. They all seemed to be very passionate about battles and have a strong desire to improve themselves.

 846 Actual Battle 2

    "Why not?" Garen replied with a cheeky grin, revealing his pearly whites.


    He turned his head towards the plaque and looked at the glowing names on the list. Randomly, he picked the guy at the forty-eighth rank.


    The light flashed momentarily, symbolizing that the fellow had rejected his challenge.


    Picking another person, he selected the one at rank forty-two this time. Once again, the light flashed briefly, showing that his challenge was rejected.


    "At this rate, it seems like no one would want to face me. I guess it''s because I''m still a nobody who has no rank, so they probably see me as just a small fry," Garen frowned at Sofia and Anjay Terin.


    "I have an idea," Anjay smiled, his smile gave off a sly vibe. "I haven''t pwned noobs [1] in a long time. How about I personally come on to let you try?"


    "You?" Garen calmly looked him in the eye. His heart was starting to fill up with a sense of adrenaline, it was the feeling of his Willpower flowing through his arms as if the Crouched Eagle Talons itself had the "battle-loving" attribute.


    "Senior, are you not afraid of being overthrown?"


    "It all depends on the person claiming they can overthrow me," Anjay Terin started to chuckle as shapeless waves started to ripple from his body. It turned out that he was a level four expert.


    This sent a chill up Garen''s spine.


    "Get onto the stage! Newbies tend to have an air of arrogance when they first join. I still remember the first day where I was dissatisfied just like you when I was being wrecked by my seniors. If you''re dissatisfied, then get up on the stage and give it your all!" Anjay Terin took off his clothes and walked up to the stage. The other two from earlier had already left the stage and the surrounding spectators also prepared to take their leave. However, as they saw the ranked fifteenth Anjay Terin walking up to the stage preparing to fight, most people stopped and turned back. A few people started asking around about what''s going to happen. Meanwhile, Sofia and company, who were the only ones who knew about the situation, started receiving countless notifications from their watches.


    Garen''s vision flashed for a moment as he also walked up to the stage. Stripping off his clothes he threw it down the stage, miraculously hanging it onto the clothes rack at below the stage.


    He had already adapted to the basics of the Crouched Eagle Talon technique. Along with his training for the basic Divine Statue Technique, he had managed to vastly increase the hardness of his two arms. Although he hadn''t faced off against a Crouched Eagle Talon user of the same level yet, he was confident that he wouldn''t be weaker than someone of the same level.


    Garen felt that he was like a new expert who had just started training his Internal Energy, whilst the Eagle''s Nest was a large established Martial Arts Sect that was filled with countless skilled elders, all with their own experiences and battle capabilities.


    As the two got onto the stage, the surrounding chatter got louder and louder. More and more people learned about the identities of the two on stage right now. One was a veteran expert, whilst the other was the debuting freshmen First Seat who had just started training in the Crouched Eagle Talon Technique.


    Just based on the difference in Willpower, most people wouldn''t even blink an eye at Garen. Although the entire academic break has passed, approximately 6 months have passed since the tournament, but at the time of the tournament, Garen had only displayed a Level One Willpower. He did not engage in any Willpower counterattacks, so at best, he would only be at a Level Two.


    At this Level of Willpower, going up against a Level Four Willpower expert, undoubtedly he would be utterly destroyed.


    Of course, as he stepped onto the stage, he started to feel something awry. The man standing on the opposite end, Anjay Terin, had almost no weak spots on his body, and the only two points that seemed flawed looked like a bait for the enemy. This would''ve lured in the average youth, but for someone like Garen, he could easily detect the legitimacy of the weak spots.


    "Ranked fifteenth¡­ so this is what Level Four Willpower feels like? The Eagle''s Nest is amazing!" Garen exclaimed in excitement.


    "Come! The strong shall stand tall! Let''s start!" Anjay Terin seemed to be hyped up by the momentum of going onto the stage, his eyes were opened wide as his body slowly emitted a strong energy field.


    "Alright!"


    Garen felt as if he was back in the Secret Technique World where his aura had been unparalleled, and he started to feel his passion rising up within him.


    In his first step, he chained a few stomps off the stage, propelling him towards his opponent. It wasn''t any special technique, it was just a simple strike. He was not using the Ten Thousand True Technique, he even suppressed his own body''s abilities, reverting himself into the level of an average human being, all of this just to fully experience the true potential and ability of the Crouched Eagle Talon Technique.


    "You''ve got guts!" Anjay Terin laughed out loud, his right arm transforming into a claw in response to the incoming attack.


    Without any fancy tricks, the two clashed.


    Clunk!!


    The two of them were both knocked back by two steps, both glaring at each other with a sense of amazement.


    "Great Eagle Claw! Once more!" Garen coldly huffed, his two arms smoothly raised up like a giant eagle, lunging fiercely at his opponent. Strangely, his feet were repeatedly kicking as he was in the air, these kicks seemed to cause a small gust, allowing him to manipulate his direction in the air. The two claws were slashing through the air, creating a loud screech. If these were real claws, they would be able to easily slice through even the hardest metal boards.


    The spectating students were completely stunned, and those who had originally looked down on Garen started to change their impression on him. This freshmen First Seat had far exceeded their imaginations.


    "It''s Level three! This degree of strength and hardness is at the very least Level three. Look at the color of his skin, it has a glow unlike other people, it''s obviously strengthened using some form of genetic potion, or else there''s no way it could have this sort of change. However, what sort of genetic potion did he use to be able to increase the hardness of his flesh to such an absurd level?"


    Sofia could tell just with a glance that Garen''s arms were not normal, this was not something that could be achieved purely through the use of one''s Willpower.


    "What a fearsome strike, Anjay Terin might have to use his full potential," another boy started to nod in agreement.


    "That might be true, but I can''t help but feel that there''s still something up that Nono''s sleeve," Sofia shook her head.


    At this point, the tides of the battle had started to change.


    Garen had already changed his direction mid-air thrice now, and even Anjay Terin was taken aback by this strange move, though he still managed to immediately respond to it. Without a second thought, he stretched out his arms, creating two black slashes through the air, almost like an eagle''s claws awaiting the incoming attack.


    "You think I''d be afraid of you!?" he roared loudly. Using his Willpower, he increased his movement speed to the extreme, to the point where a trail of his silhouette was visible, lunging straight towards Garen.


    "Eagle Dragon!!"


    With a loud pant, Anjay Terin''s claws made contact with Garen''s palms.


    The two collided briefly, creating a huge crash. Garen was flung back, furiously stomping on the ground to stop the momentum and leaving countless deep footprints on the ground.


    What was weird was that his palms had started to emit some white smoke as if he had just been scorched by something, and his skin was still red hot.


    "Nono isn''t the only one who can strengthen himself with a genetic potion," a few of the students at the side of the hall started laughing.


    "It''s Anjay Terin''s Fire Snake Strengthening Potion! So that''s the awesomeness of a potion that can only be obtained with a huge sum of cash!"


    "That Nono isn''t bad himself, if it was just another Level three, he would have been critically wounded by that one strike just now!"


    The surrounding crowd started to make more noise.


    Garen remained expressionless as he moved his palms around for a bit. The white smoke from his palms started to dissipate, the high temperature leaving no damage on his palms at all. This left the opposing Anjay Terin completely stunned.


    "Was that a Willpower secret skill?" Garen asked.


    "Of course not! This was just a gene strengthening potion, if I use my Willpower secret technique, it would cause a huge mess, you''re just a newbie after¡­"


    "It''s fine," Garen interrupted. "Your other moves shouldn''t have any effects, I''m only interested in your Willpower secret skills."


    Being interrupted was supposed to be something rude, but Anjay Terin seemed to reveal a hungry smile. Although he looked like a gentle person, in actuality, he was someone who loved to battle and fight. Seeing someone like Garen who liked to talk with his fists, he felt completely refreshed.


    "I''ll let you have a taste of my Willpower secret skill then!"


    Just as he finished his sentence, he raised his arms up high, leaving a silhouette in front of his body.


    "Blink!!!"


    In an instant, Anjay Terin seemed to have disappeared into thin air, leaving an ear-piercing boom in the air. In that instance, his speed was raised to an extreme degree.


    At this speed, almost within a blink of an eye, he could leap a few meters in distance. Even with Garen''s amazing reflexes, he wouldn''t be able to respond in time. It felt like his opponent had disregarded air resistance and his entire body was engulfed and supported purely with Willpower. In a blink of an eye, he had already been hit.


    At that moment, Garen felt the same feeling that he had felt when he fought with the Nine-Headed Dragon Queen Nadia.


    With a loud bang, Garen was sent flying. Even though his arms had reflexively put up a guard and blocked the blow in front of him, it still connected. With this hit, he flew through the air as if he was a human cannonball, crashing into the wall surrounding the stage.


    This was the fearsomeness of a high-level Willpower, it could largely strengthen and support the pilot''s physical body, and in the process, create terrifying explosive power. The strength of the Crouched Eagle Talon Technique lay within this terrifying explosive speed and the strength and sturdiness of the arms. For an expert who was ranked fifteenth, this used up almost half of Anjay Terin''s power.


    "It''s the end."


    That was the one notion all the spectators had in their heads.


    After being hit by a direct hit from Anjay Terin''s Willpower secret skill, even just the impact from the Willpower was enough to have Nonosiva kick the bucket, but now with his arms under influence of the genetic strengthening potion, he wouldn''t even stand a chance.


    However, to everyone''s surprise, a low laugh started ringing from inside the walls.


    "Heh¡­ Hehehehe¡­" Garen couldn''t help but laugh, "Not bad¡­ this type of enemy¡­ This era¡­"


    The fearsomeness and explosiveness of Willpower attacks, this let Garen finally understand why there were no secret techniques being developed in this era.


    The reason was that the humans of this world have already found another path that led them to a similar strength.


    If one were to see secret techniques as a way of enhancing oneself with the goal of evolution, then Willpower secret skills would be creating a whole new power with the goal of changing oneself.


    If the two were compared, it would be like the contrast between a warrior and a wizard. A warrior would be able to maintain his strength at all times while having a strong aura, while a wizard could obtain an explosive strength for a short period of time, having an immensely high offensive output, but low vitality.


    If this hit had landed on any other Level Three Willpower student, he would undoubtedly be severely wounded. However, Garen was different; he had 3 times the vitality of a normal person in addition to the amazing regenerative properties of the Hellfrost Peacock Technique. This strike was merely a scratch on someone like him.


    However, judging from this strike, this Anjay Terin had at least half the level of his actual offensive prowess.


    Licking his lips, Garen felt a sense of passion and excitement he had never felt since he had entered this world. In his last world, he had no worthy opponent; he had already been unparalleled in strength from the moment he was born, and standing at the top without a rival was an exceptionally boring feeling. However, in this world, there were existences which could destroy even stars, and he had also experienced the potential power of a Willpower secret skill.


    Garen could finally afford to be serious¡­


    Looking at Anjay Terin who seemingly started to tremble slightly, Garen let out a smile. His body started to emit a monstrous beast-like aura.


    Crack¡­ As he walked out from the dent of the wall, rubble started to fall off from behind him. Amazingly, there wasn''t any sign of wounds on his body, and even that light wound from earlier had already completely recovered.


    "Be careful," before he even finished the sentence, Garen had completely vanished. "Ten Thousand True Technique, Destruction!"


    A clear white airwave sliced through the air, heading towards Anjay Terin.


    Anjay Terin steeled himself, his body once again bursting with the strong shapeless energy field from earlier.


    "Blink!!"


    With a loud roar, he aimed his claws as he lunged towards his opponent.

 847 Difference 1

    Their arms clashed and created a shockwave that rippled through the hall, sending the surrounding dust flying all over the place.


    Garen and Anjay Terin were having a fierce bout. As their arms collided at high speeds, they gave out loud clunks as if two pieces of metal were hitting against each other.


    Without using any other techniques and purely the abilities within his arms, Garen managed to force Anjay Terin into a corner within just a few seconds. Using only just one arm, he could block his opponent''s two-handed attacks. With each swipe, he could completely parry his opponent''s attacks.


    His other hand reached into the space between them and his palm struck Anjay Terin directly in the chest.


    Bam!


    With a strike on Anjay Terin''s chest, his face immediately turned pale. Backing up a few steps to regain his stability, he looked at this freshmen First Seat. At that moment, he had no idea what to say as his pale face had patches of red. Seeing this sight, the whole training hall fell silent.


    Bit-by-bit, Anjay Terin started to feel that this freshman Nonosiva''s martial arts were almost as flawless as his. More importantly, his every action and skill gave off an indescribable sense of suppression. This type of feeling wasn''t the bloodlust you felt from the top-ranked students who were experts in actual battles, it felt more like¡­ an indescribable fear-inducing feeling.


    "For you to reach this Level at this age¡­ I''ve underestimated you," Anjay Terin clutched at his chest as his face turned even paler.


    "You''re not bad yourself," Garen shook his head slightly. "Continue?"


    "I¡­" Anjay Terin wanted to say something, but he was interrupted by another voice.


    "Leave this to me, Anjay."


    Nearby, a man with long black hair jumped up to the stage with a flip. Taking off his black jacket, he threw it towards his friend.


    "Barry?" Anjay Terin stopped talking and he opted to leave the stage as instructed. Right before he left, he gave Garen a word of caution, "Be careful, this is fellow is ranked seventh, and he has a bad temper."


    Garen nodded, accepting his opponent''s good intentions. He shifted his sight towards the man who had just arrived on the stage. This Barry guy seemed to be surrounded by a black mist, giving off a mysterious vibe.


    "Rank seven¡­ He looks different from the others," he felt that his opponent''s mental will was almost like it''s not from just one person, but rather, a culmination of two people''s wills.


    "Level 3 Willpower. To be able to utilize it to this level was solely due to your physical body''s capabilities," Barry''s line of sight seemed as if it could scan through everything, almost as if his eyes were faintly flashing with a white dot of light.


    Garen felt a chill in his heart. He remained silent, glaring at his new opponent.


    "Your vitality is terrifying. It should either be from being submerged in a strengthening potion or from some genetic altering ray. However, that doesn''t matter," Barry smiled. "All of these are irrelevant. Although your vitality can increase your body''s defense and speed, only pure Willpower suppression stands above all."


    "Pure Willpower suppression?" Garen raised his guard, as he was still not very familiar with the true Willpower secret skills and he could only base his reactions on his observations. His opponent was an expert who was ranked seventh. Out of all the people practicing the Crouched Eagle Talon in Blackboard Academy, he was among the top ranks of the pyramid. Looking at his age and aura, he didn''t seem like a rookie when it came to actual killing. This kind of opponent was enough for him to actually fight with full seriousness.


    "As a fellow genius from the Eagle''s Nest, let me show you some pointers¡­!!" before the word "pointers" even finished, Barry waved his right arm. His arm was like a sharp blade, slicing through the air, shooting forth a bloody and sweet aura. A shadow of an arm started forming in the air, almost like a snake, slithering towards Garen.


    On the ground, all things touched by the arm''s shadow started losing their color as if they were starting to rot. This displayed the terrifying power of the shadow''s toxicity, as something as durable as the alloy ground had started to rot just within an instant, if it was human skin, the person would be instantly disintegrated.


    "Poison!" Garen frowned as he immediately jumped back, dodging the shadow''s pursuit. However, a poisonous mist had started to engulf the opponent in a few meters'' radius, and there was no way for Garen to enter.


    Barry stood at the center of the stage like a curled up porcupine; there was no way to get close to him.


    Bam!


    The shadow of another arm struck Garen from behind. Although Garen managed to dodge in time, there was still some black mist sticking onto him. This black mist felt as if it has a mind of their own, slowly moving around on Garen''s skin as it pleased. With a shake, Garen managed to get it off of him.


    The two continued on in this cat and mouse battle, with one on the offensive while the other remaining on the defensive. Unconsciously, Garen was completely suppressed.


    Even though he had not released the restraints of he placed on his body, his opponent still managed to suppress him using Willpower secret skills. This gave Garen a sense of excitement; if a rank seven fellow was able to unleash this amount of battle potential without a mech, it showed how fearsome Willpower support could be.


    For a pilot with a strong Willpower, even without his mech, he would still have the battle prowess of an expert in internal energy, and so defeating an average person would be completely effortless. The development of their own cells had reached an absurd level.


    Thinking of this, Garen finally started to loosen the restraints on his body. At the end of the day, these people had a stronger Willpower than him, but their vitality was not that much different from an average person''s. Take Barry whom he was currently facing for example, based on his reflexes and physical strength, he had at most 1.2 or 1.3 times the vitality of an average person. In other words, he was only that much stronger than the average person. This also displayed how Willpower training could only support your capabilities for a brief moment. Without the support, his capabilities were no different from an average person''s.


    After Garen made sure of the difference between secret techniques and Willpower secret skills, without uttering a single word, he lunged forward, straightened his palm as if it was a knife, and fiercely struck forward.


    Whoosh!!


    With a screech, his palm created a shapeless air flow, dispersing the poison mist in front of him. Taking advantage of the poison mist being dissipated, he immediately charged, throwing a fist at Barry''s direction.


    "Poison Pond!" Barry opened his mouth as the Willpower in his body started bursting out. That wasn''t a Level Four Willpower, it was Level Five!


    A strong Willpower started to flow out in all directions as a formless energy field, almost like a huge wave, that crashed towards Garen''s body.


    He was flung back and his legs skidded along the ground, leaving long black marks; even the soles of his leather shoes had been completely burned through.


    Garen''s body was completely engulfed in his own Willpower in order to protect him from the damage caused by the opponent''s poison mist. However, he started to feel a searing pain in his mind; it seemed like his Willpower had been damaged, and it would need some time to heal.


    A Level Five against a Level Three, as expected, the difference was still quite a large leap. If not for Garen''s monstrous vitality, he would probably have been knocked out cold.


    Silently standing in the same spot, Garen could hear the shouts of amazement from all around him. Most of them were in admiration of Barry''s terrifying poison technique, but there were also a few that were praising him. For someone who had just entered the Eagle''s Nest, even as the freshmen First Seat, he''d managed to hold his own against so many attacks by Barry, who stood at rank seven.


    Garen had restrained his own physical capabilities to that of an above average human. Even so, he did not expect that even with his myriad of battle experience, he would be forced into a corner by an opponent to the extent where he had his Willpower damaged. This was obviously the result of his unfamiliarity of his opponent''s abilities. That last Willpower wave was something that could not be dodged. It was a wave that spread in all directions, and the only counter was hard defense.


    Squinting his eyes, Garen simulated the battle if he had released all his restraints. The end result would''ve been a tie, leaving both parties heavily damaged. His opponent''s poison techniques were dangerous, but he could still take on the poison damage if he dealt a Hail Mary attack, heavily damaging his opponent.


    This gave Garen a sense of exhilaration; he had almost reached the epitome of power in the Secret Techniques World, but here, he was already being suppressed by a pilot without his mech. Although he no longer had the monstrous Divine Statue Technique, just with his body''s diverse battle experiences, he could only reach such a level. If that was the case, how strong would the pilots of an even higher rank be?


    However, his current physical capabilities were still small, it was only 3 times the average person, and he was still far from his actual level back in that world, much less his level in the Totem World. This result was expected.


    Garen was in shock on this end, not knowing that Barry on the other end was even more shocked.


    "This bastard¡­ This bastard is a bloody monster!!" although Barry remained calm on the surface, he was trembling on the inside.


    "Out of all the Level Five pilots, I have the best physical capabilities! From reflexes, vitality, strength, to speed, all of it had been strengthened using special potions, and I''d even been through multiple genetic alteration rays. My physical capabilities should have far exceeded the average human''s! I can unleash my body''s full potential up to 100%! Even those military experts who had undergone special training shouldn''t even be a match for me!"


    Barry''s mind was in complete turmoil.


    "Only those martial artists who have spent their lives practicing purely martial arts should have better physical capabilities than me! How can this freshman¡­" Barry''s pursuit to strengthen his physical capabilities was something that even most traditional Level Five pilots could not attain.


    There weren''t many pilots who would focus so much on training their physical bodies because their strength lay within their mechs. No matter how strong their physical body was, when up against even the weakest mechs, they would still be completely destroyed. Rather than spending time on their physical bodies, most people would spend more time training in their respective mechs.


    This had caused most people to pursue strength by focusing solely on their Willpower. When it came to physical capabilities, Barry was already considered among the cream of the crop.


    Barry was someone who had participated in countless combat tournaments in the Blackboard Region, even winning two gold medals and a silver medal! He had also worked part-time as a tutor for a few generals and their combat training before. He was someone who had crawled back from the depths of hell itself.


    Suppressing his trembling heart, he cleared his throat.


    "How long have you trained in combat?"


    The two were no longer in battle, they just stood opposite each other. Hearing his opponent''s question, Garen felt that both sides had no intent to continue.


    "I started when I was young. Why do you ask?"


    This opponent''s reflexes were even faster that Anjay Terin''s from earlier. He also had great battle senses, and he''d chosen an extremely appropriate timing to activate his explosive Willpower. He was a worthy opponent.


    The white dots in Barry''s eyes started to light up once more. He carefully scanned Garen once more and started to frown.


    "You chose a wrong path¡­ No matter how strong your body is, you still stand no chance against a mech. A pilot''s path relies on Willpower, over-strengthening one''s body is a waste of time and energy and will cause one to lose focus. You should have been able to progress even faster."


    "My Willpower is already fast enough¡­" Garen lightly shook his head.


    Barry let out a sigh.


    "How meaningless. Your physical capabilities are strong, and you are able to stand on equal grounds with me in this current situation. But, once we step into a mech, believe me when I say I will be able to destroy you in one hit," he calmly said while pointing his index finger at him.


    Garen''s heart trembled slightly. His sharp five senses could tell that everything his opponent said was the truth. There was no sign of any joking or mockery, it was a sincere statement.

 848 Difference 2

    Barry shook his head.


    "No matter how amazing your martial arts are, you will never be comparable to even the weakest Mech. The legendary strongest martial artist Cheng Xingyao from the Mother Planet Federation two centuries ago was rumored to have been able to break a boulder with a strike and kill a rhinoceros or an elephant with a fist. However, his body was barely on par with a Level Two radioactive mutated creature. That is the extent of the human body, regardless of any trick you use. On the other hand, a Level Two creature can easily be defeated by a Level Two pilot in a Mech. Two Level Two Mechs will be able to defeat a Level Three creature, while Mater Cheng Xingyao died in the claws of a level Three creature."


    His speech was extremely blunt as there was nothing for him to hide. Countless Eagle''s Nest students around them also nodded in agreement with his statement. All of a sudden, the chattering of discussions filled the hall; this topic that Barry had brought up had sparked the conversation between students about the topic of what was the healthy balance between Mech training and physical training.


    Barry sincerely looked at Garen.


    "Let me give you a word of advice, a pilot''s strength lies in his Mech. A high Leveled Mech can destroy the world, as such, only a high leveled pilot can reach the piloting requirements. With every level, the increase in strength of the Mech is something that far exceeds what a human alone can achieve. On the other hand, even if you forgo training for just a day, your body will start to become weaker. Think about that!"


    He turned around and jumped off the stage. Grabbing his jacket, he walked out of the training hall with his friends who were accompanying him from earlier.


    Garen had not uttered a word since the very beginning; he was listening silently to him.


    He understood that his opponent had good intentions, they were fellow Eagle''s Nest students after all. They were both Crouched Eagle Talon practitioners and, in the eyes of outsiders, from the same group. His opponent honestly hoped that he could carefully think about this problem.


    However, what they didn''t know was that his Willpower was raised solely just by having the Life Secret Technique. Giving up his pursuit of secret techniques would mean giving up his own growth, causing the growth of his Willpower to come to an abrupt halt. Even the slightest improvements would take a minimum of 10 years.


    "Unless you can hold your own against a Mech, a human''s strength alone is nothing but an illusion," as Garen jumped down, Sofia too gave him some advice.


    Anjay Terin also nodded in agreement,


    Garen became silent.


    "Can you show me the actual difference?"


    The two looked at each other.


    "Allow me," Sofia nodded. His performance on stage earlier had already fully displayed Nonosiva''s innate talent as a genius, surpassing even the likes of other Elite Students. Managing to reach a Level Three Willpower when he was still a second-year, it was enough for her to invest her attention in him.


    "Follow me."


    ******


    Half an hour later¡­


    The three of them, followed by a group of curious students, arrived at the simulation battle area.


    Countless Battlenet stations were neatly arranged in this area. Every pair of stations were placed opposing each other as if symbolizing a duel between the two.


    "This is where most duels take place. Go on, battle simulations don''t cost anything, and it''s the safest method," Sofia explained as she entered the cockpit on the right and laid back.


    Garen followed suit and entered the left cockpit.


    Closing his eyes, the Nerve Link Equipment connected itself to his head.


    Shooop!


    He opened his eyes to a pitch black scene. Suddenly, a line of text flashed in front of his eyes.


    ''Welcome to Eagle''s Nest Battlegrounds. Please enter your name.''


    "Nonosiva," Garen answered softly.


    ''Name verified. Ranking unknown. Please wait shortly while initializing background¡­'' the text changed and disappeared after a brief moment.


    After a while, a bright light flashed in front of Garen''s eyes. After his eyes adjusted to the sudden change in brightness, he observed his surroundings.


    He was standing in the middle of a wide silver and white hall with a floor that was smooth and flat and seemingly made entirely from alloyed metal. On his right was a black wall with a metal emblem of a black sword and shield embedded at the center. On his right was a huge glass window pane, revealing a beautiful sunset. There were even a couple of airships and battleships slowly drifting through the sky.


    ''Virtual background initialization complete. Please select your Mech,'' an electronic voice rang in his ears.


    Garen moved his body around and noticed a rectangular screen that had appeared in front of him. The screen displayed the silhouettes of the different Mechs available.


    There were Mechs ranging from Level One all the way to Level Five, but due to his Willpower Level, he was limited to only Level Three and lower Mechs. Directly tapping on the image of the Level Three Mech, Garen started to read the details of each of the Mechs.


    After perusing for a moment, Garen selected the Mech that he liked the most.


    ''Wings of Freedom: Level Three Strength-Type Mech. A standard issue Mech used by the Erlan military. Firepower Level Three, Speed Level Three, Defense Level Two, Strength Level Two. Special Equipment Skill: Heart of Freedom. Gains explosive speed for a short period of time. Increase the user''s speed by one level. When this skill ends, decreases the user''s strength by one level for ten seconds.''


    This Mech was completely blue, and it seemed to be a Dragonlance wielding slender knight. It had a pointy helmet, revealing only the nose and the mouth below the eyes. It gave off a mysterious charm.


    He tapped on the image of the WIngs of Freedom. Immediately, Garen felt his surroundings shift. In the blink of an eye, he was now seated inside a blue cockpit, and there was a bright circular screen in front of him, displaying the situation outside.


    On the surrounding blue walls, there were countless lines connected to the various controls and lights.


    "You''ve finished selecting your Mech? The Wings of Freedom, huh?" on the opposite side of the hall, a dark red Mech appeared out of nowhere. It was also a humanoid form, but it was dual wielding a pair of rapiers and lightly tapping them together to create a crisp clanking sound. That Mech didn''t have any outstanding features, giving off a very plain vibe.


    "My Mech is the lowest tier Level Five Mech, the Red Fish," Sofia introduced. "I purposely selected the worst Level five Mech to demonstrate how the difference in Willpower levels can have a terrifying difference in strength when it comes to manipulating a Mech."


    Garen did not answer. He manipulated the Mech to move its limbs around a bit.


    "Ready?" the Red Fish raised one of its rapiers.


    "Okay," Garen responded.


    "Be careful. What I''m going to use is the Red Fish Mech''s most basic move, the Rushing Cross Slash. It is a basic move that any Level Five pilot will be able to use," Sofia responsibly explained her next move.


    "Understood. Come at me!" Garen readied his Mech. At Level Three Willpower, he could already completely stop relying on the Moonfang, allowing him to freely control the Mech. The agility, speed, reflexes and strength stats of a Level Three Mech shocked him. This Level Three Mech had an equivalent to the combined stats of two Level One Mechs. This was not just a simple equation of "1+1=2". In an actual battle, one Level Three Mech would be able to defeat ten level One Mechs at once.


    "Careful!" Sofia once again warned. "Rushing Cross Slash!"


    The lights at the Red Fish''s feet started flashing red, and its two rapiers were held close to the two sides of its body, their tips before the Mech''s face.


    .


    Vroom!!


    A loud engine ignition sound rang loudly as the Red Fish Mech suddenly had an explosive burst of speed, moving hundreds of meters with just a leap. Thrusting the two rapiers forwards, it left a trail resembling a red cross in the air.


    This speed had far exceeded that of the Level Three Mech. Leaping hundreds of meters in an instant and charging straight towards Garen''s Mech, this kind of explosiveness didn''t even allow room for Garen''s Willpower to react and maneuver the Mech away. He had no choice but to forcefully raise his lance up, attempting to use the opponent''s momentum to pierce through it.


    Within that short time, it was the best he could do.


    However, what exceeded Garen''s expectations was that even at that explosive speed, the Red Fish could still manage to make adjustments to its movements. Leaning the Mech slightly to the right, she managed to catch the Dragonlance right below the Mech''s armpit, allowing her to continue charging forward. As she made contact, the rapiers in her hands fiercely slashed through the body of the Wings of Freedom Mech.


    Despite Garen already using the skill Heart of Freedom to momentarily increase his speed, he was still far slower than his opponent. In an instant, the chest region of his Mech was slashed through by the rapiers.


    His vision suddenly turned to black. Whoosh! Everything surrounding him disappeared, leaving him in a pitch darkness.


    ''Pilot Sofia Wins!'' the electronic voice rang out loud once more.


    Pshhhh¡­


    The cockpit automatically opened up.


    Garen slowly stood up and walked out of the cockpit. Sofia was already a step ahead of him, silently looking at him. The surrounding students who followed him here, including Anjay Terin, were all here. The students started chattering amongst themselves, but Anjay Terin showed an unsurprised look.


    "How was it? Were you able to feel the difference now?" Sofia softly asked. "My actual Willpower is only at Level Three, but I was able to use my authorization to alter it and pilot a Level Five Mech. Even though it was the weakest Level Five Mech, you should be able to understand the difference in strength between the levels of the Mechs now. I was also once like you, and I got completely thrashed by a Level four Mech in the past as well."


    "Why is the difference so big?" Garen thought back to the scene at the battlegrounds just now. He now understood that the difference between Mechs had far exceeded his imaginations.


    "This is the strongest point of a will-powered Mech - the internal speed-change system. It allows the nerves of the pilot themselves to speed up, and this speed boost will increase based on the Level of the pilot''s Willpower. In the eyes of a pilot, the world after the speed boost will become an extremely slow world, and every action, if not above a certain speed, would be seen as a normal person''s slow movement, almost like the slow-motion effects from movies," Sofia explained.


    "Furthermore, this was only an average level. A high-leveled pilot would even be able to manipulate the Mech to emit an energy field. If the opposing Mech is not at a high enough level, it wouldn''t even be able to get close to it," Anjay Terin continued solemnly. "For example, the Magnetized Energy Field can create a strong magnetic field that can affect the balance of both the pilot and the Mech. Unless you''re piloting a non-metal Mech, you''d have no hope of even getting remotely close to the opponent''s Mech. You would then be at the mercy of your opponent''s long-range attacks. There''s also the Reflective Energy Field, this is the forte of the White Light Organization. According to the information we have, apparently all Mechs of a lower level than the user, no matter how strong their attacks, would have it reflected right back at them. It''s straight up an unbeatable noob pwning [1] machine!"


    Garen started to frown even more. The difference between the Level of Willpower could be greatly amplified by the Mech, increasing it to such a degree. Needless to say, he had underestimated the terror of the will-powered Mechs by a longshot.


    "Looks like only a Mech can defeat a Mech¡­ Unless he has an army of people who have mastered secret techniques, or if he reaches the level of a demon lord, he would still be no match for the destructive prowess of a Mech," Garen finally understood the different levels of the Mechs in this world.


    He did use its full potential in that bout just now, but even if his physical capabilities were stronger, against that Mech''s attacks, unless he has reached an impossibly high level, the human body could never withstand the impact of that strike. That strike packed at least a few hundred tonnes of force, and that was only taking into account the physical impact of the strike; it did not factor in the damage from the opponent''s Willpower.

 849 Investigation 1

    The difference caused by Mechs.


    After leaving the Eagle''s Nest, this was the only thing on Garen''s mind.


    The entire atmosphere of the Eagle''s Nest had a very upbeat and crazed feeling to it as the members inside were all extremely passionate, though albeit prone to violence. Garen started to faintly feel that this had something to do with the Crouched Eagle Talon training method.


    It was even the same for him; he too was starting to be slightly affected after starting to train this technique.


    According to Sofia''s description, other training methods would also bear similar side effects. For example, for the Trails of the Wind technique, regardless of the practitioner''s temper, as they mastered the technique, their attitude would have a certain degree of change. They would become more adaptable, agile, varied and quick-thinking.


    Another example would be the Brutal Hammer; its practitioners seemed to develop a certain type of attitude. They would become more inclined to use violence and torture, have bad tempers and were overall maniacal.


    In comparison, the practitioners of the Crouched Eagle Talon would only become stronger and be more prideful of their strengths.


    In the upcoming days, he went to the Eagle''s Nest daily and trained with the experts there. With the help of the Staff of Absolute Yin, he also managed to accumulate more and more potential points. However, before completely mastering his foundations, Garen decided to hold back from using these potential points. There was no meaning in increasing his strength that way; as someone who had trained in secret techniques before, he fully understood the importance of establishing a strong foundation. If the foundation was not stable, even when facing an opponent at the same level, one''s weak point could be easily exploited into an effortless defeat.


    In lethal combat, every flaw could be a fatal one. As such, if one did not have a strong foundation, it would cause one to have numerous flaws.


    As the days flew by, half a month had passed in a blink of an eye.


    In the canteen, at the noisy dining hall.


    "What? Baylon is missing?" Garen exclaimed as he looked at his watch.


    "Yeah. We had always thought he was working as a live-in full-time worker at that bakery. He would usually contact us every fortnight. This time, when we called over, they said he had left for home a long time ago. But we haven''t even seen Lon in ages!" from the watch screen, he could see that his mother Amy had a worried look on her face. "We''ve tried everything we could, but there were no results. It''s all up to you now!"


    Garen reminisced about his impression on Lon. He was a bashful, gentle, introverted fellow, always had long hair, and was the type who didn''t dare to raise his voice. This type of person wouldn''t intentionally cut off all contact with his family. Judging by his personality, something must have happened that prevented him from contacting home.


    "What about dad?"


    "He''s still busy working on some stuff at his office, and he also has an urgent meeting this afternoon. He is probably preparing for it now," Amy looked extremely fatigued. "Recently, your grandma fell sick again and she also has some problems with her leg, so your dad is also busy taking care of her. Furthermore¡­" at this point, Amy''s face was once again filled with concern.


    "Furthermore what?"


    "Furthermore, the police came by this morning for some investigation. They say your brother, he''s¡­ somehow related to the terrorist attack case, so they needed to come in to do some investigations." Within one day, his mother Amy had gone through so much bad news, it was surely extremely taxing on her body.


    "Terrorist?" did they mean White Light?


    Garen frowned. Ever since he had received Blue Narcissus'' endorsement, his family''s financial status had become much better, but new problems had started to pop up one after another. At first, when he had selected Nonosiva, it was because the Soul Seed felt that he had a different aura from others. However, after such a long time, there still weren''t any major changes. On the contrary, now his brother Baylon had such a problem befalling him¡­


    "Apparently it also had something to do with the younger brother of the bakery owner. Now that the warrants are out, what should we do? Your younger brother had to live a bitter life alone ever since he was young¡­ If something were to happen to him¡­" as she spoke, his mother Amy started to sob intermittently.


    "Don''t worry mom, I''ll try to use my connections over here to do some investigations on the issue," Garen comforted her. "Alright, I''ll go get some people to help, I''ll report back to you tonight."


    "Okay, try to be as fast as possible! If something were to happen to your brother¡­"


    Hanging up, Garen took a deep breath. The soul seed started to have a slight movement; it seemed like it was possibly something big this time.


    After thinking for a bit, he started calling up people from his network.


    "Is this Celine? I need a favor, my brother might be in trouble. I''ve no idea of the circumstances, so can you help me dig up some info? Alright alright, I''ll treat you to dinner sometime soon, bye."


    "Vivienne, I have something I''d like you to help me investigate. My brother is in some sort of trouble, he went missing around half a month ago, okay, alright, thanks!"


    "Kendall, is the Charm Mercenary Troop available? Can you get them to investigate what''s going on at my brother''s side? Give them the mission to protect my little brother at all costs. Of course, I mean now! Why do you think I pay you guys so much every month? Alright, thanks! Buck up! Alright."


    After countless calls, Garen slumped down while deep in thought. The Nutritious Meal in front of him was only half-finished, but his eating speed became slower and slower and suddenly came to a complete stop.


    "What''s up? Is there any trouble? I heard you make a few phone calls earlier," Sofia walked up to his side. She was carrying a tray with a small portion Nutritious Meal and a glass of apple juice.


    "Oh, it''s Sofia," Garen politely gave her a greeting, though he was still frowning. Baylon had always seen him as his idol and aspiration. He was a kind young lad, giving up his opportunity to go to school to Garen, his older brother. Although Garen wasn''t actually his brother, since he was occupying his brother''s body, he had to at least do his part.


    "There''s some trouble that popped up back home. My younger brother went missing."


    "Looking for people is my specialty," Sofia nodded. "If you don''t mind, let me help you out."


    "Then I''ll have no choice but to trouble you, senior," Garen didn''t hold back; it was only natural to help each other with favors, this was a part of human communication.


    "It''s nothing much. Wait for my update, I''ll have a report sent to you latest by tonight," Sofia smiled.


    "Alright, enjoy your meal, I''ll take my leave first. I have to settle some issues at the academy," Garen stood up.


    "The Eagle''s Nest is currently giving out investigation missions, it''s all high-level missions given in the name of the military. All pilots who are Level One and above can take up the missions. Coincidentally, there were a few missions regarding the rumors of terrorist activity within the city. If you don''t mind, you can take those up. Maybe you can get some more information from the military side regarding this situation," Sofia suggested.


    "Oh? I''ll take a look in a bit, thanks for the info," Garen nodded


    Without even slowing down, Garen headed directly towards the Eagle''s Nest. After asking for directions from a few members, he arrived at a small room. One of the walls inside was replaced by a huge display screen. The screen listed the missions given by various parts of the military from all over the region to the Eagle''s Nest and the associated rewards.


    Amongst these, were things like investigating the mysterious Mech outside the city, night time security patrol, training accompaniment, fire department support, Mech beta testing, and more.


    Tens of missions were listed on the screen, with the list being refreshed every few seconds. Sometimes, new missions would appear, while at other times a mission would be displayed as cleared as the entry slowly faded away.


    There were a lot of students here picking their missions. As Garen walked in, he was recognized by many people. Ever since his battle at the training hall last time, he had gained a small amount of fame. For someone at his age to have already attained Level Three Willpower, within the Eagle''s Nest, he was easily ranked within the top three hundred. Furthermore, he had even joined the Blue Narcissus as an elite chosen by Britney. Although he did not become an elite student, if not for his bout with Celine, both of them would have undoubtedly entered the ranks of the elite students without a hitch. In addition, he had managed to improve his Willpower from Level One to Level Three just within the short timespan of half a year. His potential was unmeasurable.


    Hence, no one dared to underestimate him. Upon his entrance, they unconsciously parted like the red sea, all greeting him with smiles on their faces.


    Garen nodded to them in thanks. This group of people looked to be at least Level One or Two, and those who dared to come view the missions weren''t average students. He proceeded to the spot they created for him and started to look at the missions.


    Soon, he found the mission given out by the military, which was a mission of investigating and patrolling around Blackboard City. He immediately called the listed contact number and left his name and student number in the voicemail as identification.


    As he was about to leave the room, a muscular man with short blue hair walked in. The two looked at each other face-to-face, noticing the force of the Level Three Willpower engulfing each other.


    "Nonosiva?" the guy smiled. "Big Bro Anjay Terin told me all about you, he said you were awesome! I''m Kembe, I guess I''m in luck, to think I would meet the Freshmen''s First Seat in the flesh."


    "I was only lucky, Level Three Willpower is something quite common in the Eagles Nest," Garen humbly replied.


    "This isn''t something you can chalk up to luck," Kembe shook his head. "Why the rush, did you get an urgent mission? Need any help?"


    "Thanks for the offer, but there''s no need. Let''s talk more next time, it''s almost time for my mission to start," Garen motioned at his watch.


    "Ah alright, let''s chat next time, I''m also planning on taking up a mission for fun," Kembe casually said. "Why don''t we swap our contact info? If you''re free, we can even go grab a drink or two. I heard that even Barry couldn''t defeat you that day at the training hall! That''s awesome!"


    "Alright, let''s see when both of us free then," Garen nodded.


    As the two walked past each other, Garen looked at the time once more. While awaiting the confirmation of the mission, he still had a bit of time. After pondering for a moment, he decided to head to class.


    The number of familiar faces in the class had decreased by quite a bit. A lot of people had failed to reach the required grades for certain subjects and were forced to retain a year. There were also a few people from other classes that were transferred here to make up the numbers. This was a normal occurrence in Blackboard Academy. Every year, there would be some students dropping out, some students being retained, some successfully being promoted to the next year, and some classes would be merged if they didn''t have enough students left.


    Walking into the noisy classroom, he was just in time for the next class. Other than a few elite aces in the class, most of the students went to class as usual, as it was the best way for them to earn academic points. Aces like Garen or Fervale, on the other hand, managed to earn their academic points through attaining the top ranks in various competitions. Even accepting missions from the Eagle''s Nest or taking assessments could grant him academic points, which, needless to say, was completely effortless for Garen.


    As Garen walked into the classroom, many students'' gazes shifted towards him. Some went over and gave him a passionate greeting, while others seem to be silently observing him and gossiping about him. Fervale was also not here; his seat was empty.


    Vera and Kell were at their seats busy revising for their test, so they haven''t been together with Garen recently. However, upon noticing Garen''s arrival they stood up and walked towards him.


    "Nono, what brings you to class today?" Kell asked while holding up her long wavy bangs.


    "I came to talk to Vera about some stuff," Garen''s sight shifted towards Vera, and his calm yet sharp gaze upon her made her shrink away. "C''mon, let''s talk outside."

 850 Investigate 2

    "O¡­ Okay," Vera felt goosebumps appearing all over her body. She followed Garen out of the classroom before standing still at a corner.


    "Were you the one who delivered the dorm keys to me previously?" asked Garen directly.


    "Yes¡­ You weren''t here so they told me to send them to your dorm," Vera tried her best to look natural.


    "Did you touch the things?"


    Vera froze at once.


    "What¡­ What things? What are you talking about?"


    "The documents in my drawer," Garen reached his hand out and patted her face. "Didn''t you know that going through other people''s stuff without their permission is actually against the rules¡­"


    "I didn''t! Don''t accuse me!" Vera went to great lengths to plaster an innocent expression on her face but her heartbeat sped up instead.


    "Whatever. I don''t have time for silly chats with you. I''m aware of your current situation. You''re not getting enough money from your family, right? Don''t worry, I have money but I''ll need you to help me do some things. As long as you make yourself pretty, I have no qualms about spending tens of thousands on you," said Garen calmly. "You''re allowed to refuse, of course. But if that happens, I have a recording of you in my hands now and I''ll have no choice but to send it to the Academy for them to screen it publicly."


    He raised his watch. The screen was currently displaying the interior of his dorm room clearly and showed Vera opening his drawers sneakily. She even took some cash from the lowest drawer and stuffed it into her pocket.


    "I wonder how the ''little boys'' who admire you will react once they find out about these recordings. And your best friends as well¡­" Garen looked on coldly while Vera''s face turned pale instantly. Panicked and helpless looks appeared in her eyes faintly.


    "You¡­ I didn''t do it on purpose¡­ I was wrong! Really, it was just a moment of confusion¡­" Vera was rambling slightly now.


    "That''s enough. I don''t care whether it happened in a moment of confusion or not. I''ll look for you when I need you. That''s all."


    Garen pinched her cheeks before turning around and leaving.


    *************************


    At night


    Garen sat leisurely on a bench at the roadside of the Academy and quietly flipped through the related information that was sent through various channels.


    The whereabouts of his little brother Baylon remained unclear. He had only discovered that his last appearance was in the One for All Bakery, the little shop where he used to work. After the loud explosion occurred by the river, no one saw him ever again.


    It seemed as though all the channels had only received the same information, including Vivienne, Sofia, and the others.


    Beep beep, beep beep¡­


    "Hey, Kendall? No news? Alright, okay, yeah," after disconnecting the call, Garen knitted his eyebrows closely together again. His instincts told him that the case involving his little brother Baylon this time was not a minor issue, unfortunately. His Soul Seeds had been trembling faintly until now. Therefore, this was clearly a serious problem that would affect and change the bigger picture.


    His phone rang again immediately. The caller was a middle-aged man who was in charge of issuing tasks in the military headquarters.


    "Student Nonosiva, I''m so happy that a Level Three student like yourself chose the task that we issued. We have drafted a small group for this task that will comprise of fifteen members with you as the captain. You will lead the patrol throughout certain territories for a duration of one month. You can choose one of the remaining available regions as the location of your task."


    "Understood. A small group of fifteen people. What kind of patrolling method will we be using? What opponents will we be going up against?" Garen continued asking.


    "You will be using the Mechs to patrol and counter a broken red and white-colored Mech. Once you''ve encountered your opponent, please inform the headquarters at the first moment and stall it. If possible, go all-out and kill your opponent," replied the middle-aged man meticulously.


    "This is a map with the regions you may choose from," He was sent a map that segregated the Blackboard Region into smaller areas.


    Garen glanced at the map and noticed that it divided the region into a total of more than thirty pieces. The tasks within almost half of these areas had been accepted. Within the remaining areas, he chose the place that was closest to his home without hesitation. Fortunately, that area had not been chosen yet.


    "Your map has been determined. Meet with your team members by tomorrow and set your own meeting point. This is your group number," a group number was given to him by the person on the other line.


    Garen nodded and asked a few more questions about some important matters before disconnecting the call.


    Moments after the phone call had been disconnected, he received another phone call from Celine. When he glanced at it, he noticed that there were more than ten unanswered phone calls previously, meaning that she had been calling him much earlier.


    Just as he answered, the sound of Celine''s heavy breathing echoed from the other line instantly.


    "Nono, guess what I''ve found?!"


    His instincts told him that something was amiss. Garen sat up straighter suddenly. "What happened? Don''t tell me you''ve made another great discovery?"


    "It''s more than just a great discovery!" said Celine angrily. "I went looking for one of my friends in the higher level intelligence departments of the Academy because of the situation with your little brother. Later, I ended up discovering a shocking secret from him!"


    "Tell me!" from Celine''s experience, everything was a shocking secret to her. No one could imagine how astonishing this secret truly was. Garen calmed his own breathing quickly and listened carefully to the voice on the other side of his Watch Terminal.


    "Have you heard of the Forbidden Mech?" Celine''s first sentence made Garen''s heart tremble.


    "Legend has it that it''s a mythical Mech and a strategic war weapon that can destroy planets. It''s the ultimate and strongest existence in the whole universe!" said Celine immediately without waiting for Garen''s reply.


    "So how is it related to the secret you discovered?"


    "Three hundred years ago, the Forbidden Mech of our Mother Planet Federation was defeated in a crossfire, causing to collapse into many fragments that were scattered throughout various planets. They were known as Forbidden Parts. Our Mother Planet obtained a few of these fragments," explained Celine quietly. "Do you know why Blackboard Academy dispatched groups of Black-Clothed Generals and Elite Students in such large scales previously? To find these Forbidden fragments! Furthermore, the information that I obtained stated that the large explosion by the river outside the city recently was very likely to be caused by the core component of the Forbidden Mech-- the Forbidden Knowledge Core!"


    "Knowledge Core?!" Garen was shocked. His emotions were unconsciously stirred. "Are you certain that the Forbidden Knowledge Core is still intact?!"


    "The members of the White Light Organization moved out in great numbers because of this. They are currently clashing with the professionals of the Academy and neither party is giving the other any leeway," said Celine hurriedly. "I obtained accurate information. That Knowledge Core can summon a temporary projection of the Forbidden Mech that will release its Forbidden Abilities for a short period of time. It cannot do this without an intact core!"


    Garen became silent. This information was somewhat serious and he needed to digest it properly for a while. This situation was similar to a regular person encountering a fortunate coincidence suddenly. Now that a fine weapon had seemingly appeared somewhere nearby, he would be able to gain tremendous powers if he was able to practice using it successfully.


    The Forbidden Knowledge Core was similar in that sense. Garen was in urgent need of a Training Method. Strong, advanced Training methods were usually considered to have reached their peaks once they had achieved Level Five. Any further and they would have entered the Inherited Mech''s territory, which had its own strengths and weaknesses. Meanwhile, the Forbidden Mech was considered as the pinnacle of the Star Levels and was a first-rate existence even in comparison to the Inherited Mech.


    A Knowledge Core like this would definitely have a lot of exceptionally powerful Training Methods and various scientific information recorded inside its databank. If an idiot obtained those things, particularly the Training Methods, they would be able to change their lives and become extremely successful. They could even seek to dominate the region.


    "The people in the higher levels of the Academy are participating in this as well. This is an extremely rare chance!" said Celine in a tempting manner.


    "We''re too weak. We won''t gain any benefits if we join them now," said Garen calmly while returning to his normal train of thought. Although his heart was aroused, he knew that he needed to estimate his own strengths accordingly before moving forward.


    "That may be true, but we are still students of the Academy. If we can help the Academy obtain the Core¡­ From what I''ve heard, the White and Red Mech that you are looking for comes from one of the terrorists in the White Light Terrorist Organization. He hasn''t retreated despite his heavy injuries and has been constantly pursuing it. It''s very likely that he possesses the Forbidden Core," said Celine quickly. "If we can help the Academy get the Core, the reward won''t be too bad, don''t you think?"


    Garen''s face was expressionless but his mind had already started to stir.


    "I will begin my patrolling task tomorrow."


    "I will report the latest information to you constantly. You can pilot the Mechs within the district and that will still be perfectly legitimate. No one will dare to gossip about you. If needed, I will transfer all of my household''s Mech Pilots and get them to move out and help you!" said Celine in a determined tone suddenly.


    "Alright."


    "That will be all."


    Garen disconnected the line while his gaze deepened. He stood up from the bench and walked back towards his own dorm room.


    ********************


    The next day


    Ten black Mechs descended onto a landing field on the border of Blackboard Region slowly.


    On the backs of these black human-shaped Mechs were red disc-shaped shields that made it look like they were carrying red straw hats. Their muscular bodies, red eyes, the standardized doubled edged machetes in their hands and their Swordfish Type A Engines were the standard equipment that was allocated by the city.


    The morning sunlight cascaded downwards. Moments later, a larger black Mech flew over and landed in front of these ten Mechs.


    "Sir!!"


    Suddenly, loud cries echoed from the waiting Mechs simultaneously like thunder. The sound was amplified outside the Mechs and caused surrounding grounds to quake because of the noisy hums.


    Garen stood in front of these ten people. All of them were a part of a standard battle team that the military had allocated to him. They were individuals that were tasked and sent from other academies. Moreover, they were students that were educated in the other Mech academies in the region. Some of them were also veterans who had performed such tasks before and were very experienced. They were clearly here to be his deputies and warn him about things.


    "Hello everyone. I''m Nonosiva from Blackboard Academy. I''m the standard leader who will be in charge of leading the tasks. I hope that we can work together properly for the following duration."


    From his tone, Garen''s calm and unflurried emotions could be heard clearly.


    The few veterans in the crowd were slightly surprised by this. Although he was an Elite Student of Blackboard Academy, it was abnormal for him to behave so calmly during his first military mission.


    "Alright, begin reporting your names and levels now!" Garen waved his hand downwards quickly while the whooshing sound of wind echoed instantly as he pointed at the first Mech on the right.


    "Sir!" this Mech belonged to one of the veterans who stood forward and replied loudly while using the standard military gestures. "Ansaro! Level One Mech Pilot!!"


    "Carrie! Level One Mech Pilot!"


    "Sebatton! Level One Mech Pilot!!"


    ¡­


    ¡­


    Within moments, all of the Mech team members had stepped forward and listed themselves one after another. The thing that surprised Garen slightly was that one of them was a Level Two Mech Pilot. That person came from another academy in the city, War Academy, which was one of the three main Elites.

 851 Patrol 1

    "War Academy? Is that the academy in the Egret Block?" asked Garen while looking at the Level Two individual.


    He had a kind and sincere face, slightly tanned skin, and looked very serious. However, a look of concealed dishonesty was faintly seeping out of his narrow eyes.


    "Reporting, sir! My name is Alexander!"


    "Regardless of what you were called previously, you will be given new serial numbers and code names now. Choose the name of an animal to be used with your allocated number. Come up with the names on your own," Garen raised his wristwatch and pressed it gently. A rustling noise could be heard as the serial numbers of the fifteen members and himself were distributed quickly.


    Seconds later, the serial numbers were determined and transmitted to them respectively.


    His animal prefix was "lion" and his group was known as the lion''s pride while Garen was called Lion No. 1. Meanwhile, the other members arranged themselves according to their power rankings until No. 16.


    While looking at the row of soldiers who were standing in front of him, Garen was not completely sure how to arrange them as he had never actually been enlisted in the military before. However, he only needed to achieve his aim and the priority of this task was to complete the patrol and hunt down the enemy that would probably appear. The territory had already been confirmed and this entire area, as well as its surroundings, was their responsibility now.


    "Listen up, in busy areas and places where there are endless streams of people, you are not authorized to collide with others carelessly at high speeds in order to avoid accidentally injuring the masses. All of you have Magnetic Cords, so cast them outwards when you encounter the enemy and lock them down while waiting for support. Do all you can to avoid injuring civilians!" Garen followed the first criteria and began assigning the tasks. Although the people before him were aware of this already, he was still obligated to emphasize certain things once again. In the event that an innocent bystander was hurt, he would still be partially responsible even if the damage was not caused by his own actions, but by one of his subordinate members.


    The rules comprised of not injuring the common people, not destroying buildings carelessly, and not leaving the patrol grounds without permission. They would also need to report before leaving the group. He was prepared to move the group at any moment when the alarms at various positions sounded.


    More than ten minutes had passed before every single rule had been listed out.


    "Everyone, assign yourselves to your fixed territories now and report to me immediately if you encounter any situations!"


    Garen passed the maps which had been marked with the specific areas to each of his fifteen group members. Other than himself who would be patrolling from place to place, the others would guard a fixed area within a certain range. They would report and communicate with each other after a fixed duration of time to indicate that there were no problems.


    On the drill grounds, once the fifteen Mechs were assigned to specific territories, they rose into the sky and dispersed, flying in all four directions.


    Garen stood on the drill grounds and single-handedly pulled out a broadsword that he had prepared earlier before waving it around casually.


    "Although it''s not that smooth, it was still made with pretty good materials."


    This was his first task. If he completed it successfully, his collaborations with the military would gradually increase in the future. He would even be able to get a job and wages in the military much earlier without even having to graduate. This was also one of the main ways for the military to win over the students of Blackboard Academy.


    Although the military and the Academy had a relationship of subordination, the military had actually been under the command of a different ringleader all along. This ringleader represented a large group of Elites that had previously left a specific faction of the academy. Even though their high-end powers were no match for the Academy, their numbers exceeded the Academy''s greatly. Therefore, the military had high hopes for these exceptional individuals.


    "The students who practiced the Crouched Eagle Talon would probably be influenced by certain Training Methods, causing them to become belligerent and aggressive. This would be in line with the military''s style. Therefore, both sides would be able to work well with each other. If this task was given to another organization other than Eagle''s Nest, the other groups would not necessarily be able to obtain a patrolling task like this."


    When Garen''s mind finally comprehended everything, he sheathed his broadsword and glanced at his communication device and noticed that his group members had almost arrived at their respective patrolling spots.


    He only needed to wait for his team members to report their situations at any time. After that, they would change their patrol areas slightly after a certain period of time.


    After resting on the drill grounds for more than ten minutes, Garen piloted his Mech and soared into the sky. He flew towards the area where the first member, No. 2 was currently patrolling.


    He passed over a street where there were bustling crowds. He could occasionally see white spider-shaped super-miniature Mech policemen. These human-controlled miniature Mechs were entrusted to solve issues pertaining to public security. Each of these white spiders was more than three meters tall and were Mechs that constantly patrolled at the sides of the streets while moving slowly.


    There were two sidewalks closer to the center that were filled with clusters of office workers and vegetable vendors. Elementary and junior high school students on their way to class could occasionally be seen mixed in the crowd. Closer to the middle where the center of the road was located were streams of different types of vehicles. There were little push carts, electric motorcycles, and most of all, bicycles, followed by the scooters that were mostly used by the working class.


    The cacophony of beeping and honking noises of car horns filled his ears and students squealed and joked loudly while electric bicycle bells chimed, motorcycle engines roared and vendors argued loudly. The noises mixed with one another and formed a picture of the daily life on this entire street.


    Students would occasionally cast gazes of admiration at the Mechs that flew past them. Meanwhile, deep looks that indicated a strong sense of security could be seen in the eyes of the people that were walking down the street whenever they saw a Patrol Mech by the road.


    The Black Mech that Garen was piloting flew in front of a building on the right side of the street slowly. His silenced engine would not make awful noises as long as he was not using the highest power output.


    Blue flames shot out of the back of the black human-shaped Mech as it moved forward along the street slowly.


    There was a stretch of motley people and cars below. Instantly, the Black Mech which was wielding two knives in its hands appeared within Garen''s field of vision. On the custom heavy landing platform at the side of the street, Alexander, who was also known as member No. 2, was placed in a large, chaotic area where the foot traffic was highest because he was a professional whose strength was only second to Garen.


    When he saw Garen approaching, Alexander made a deep bow. He straightened the palm of his right hand and placed it sideways against his left shoulder in a brief yet energetic manner.


    "Sir!"


    "Yes, always guard the Mechs with your full attention. You can relax slightly. Don''t be too anxious because our unit is set to guard this place for an entire day," Garen reminded him.


    "Understood," Alexander smiled. "Sir, someone came over and gave me some bribes earlier but I don''t know¡­"


    "Bribes?" Garen was shocked but reacted immediately. They were merely the patrol team and the Spider Mechs of the garrison would be here to solve problems that were out of their domain. However, they were nominally at a higher level than the garrison. Therefore, it would be really easy for them to find the instigator who was trying to create trouble for the garrison.


    "Did someone from the garrison send it over?"


    "They''re local thugs. Unlike us who come here occasionally, they''re always here¡­" giggled Alexander. "There''s a pretty good massage parlor below. Sir, if you don''t want to¡­" this fellow began to laugh excessively.


    "This¡­"


    "I heard that their pretty boys are not bad¡­"


    Garen''s emotions were slightly aroused at first. He could have gotten a massage and soaked in a warm bath to relax his body for a while. However, the last sentence made him feel cold aversion the moment he heard it.


    "You go on your own, I''m going to continue patrolling. Just make sure not to be too presumptuous."


    The probability of them encountering terrorists within the district was extremely low. Individuals who were allowed to accept tasks within the district would not only be physically strong but would also come from pretty good backgrounds. After all, patrolling the busy areas was a lucrative job. Garen did not want to offend these people.


    He controlled the Mech and left the busy area. There was a large clear river in front of him that resembled a winding ribbon. White steamboats of various sizes sailing across the glittering surface of the river.


    In the morning sunlight, Garen piloted his Mech slowly and flew towards a heavy landing platform by the river before docking there. When he looked over at the opposite side of the river, the Blackboard Region''s symbolic suspended Garden Trade City stood upright on the other side.


    The buildings throughout the entire trade city resembled sharp pencils that protruded out of the ground. They were more than a thousand meters tall and fully white. Neons signs and billboards of various colors filled the area while publicity airships flew around and circled the area while scattering advertisements occasionally.


    Compared to the liveliness by the river, the trade city was much noisier. It seemed as if an exciting ceremony was being held there as the sound of music and singing would drift over at times.


    Garen looked over from afar and saw the crowds who stood shoulder-to-shoulder like a pile of black sesame seeds. He could only see the tops of their dark heads.


    Faint morning sunlight cascaded on the surface of the water, appearing like a river of sparkling diamonds.


    Garen decided to stop temporarily. He sat cross-legged on the heavy circular spot and rested quietly. Once he had turned the Mech off and pushed the engine button, everything fell into a state of peacefulness.


    After all, he was still waiting for Celine''s intelligence reports. The other members would probably be unwilling for him to close in on them while the patrolled the area anyway. Therefore, as long as there were no issues in this area, everything would be fine.


    He reached his hand outwards and pressed a button near the lower front part.


    Whoosh¡­


    A soft noise could be heard before the Mech''s cockpit raised itself outwards and upwards slowly like an egg with a half-opened shell. Garen, who sat in the driver''s seat, was soon exposed.


    He removed his helmet and got up from his seat in the cockpit immediately. He controlled one of the Mech''s arms and lowered it to the ground before walking down that arm and standing at the side of the platform. The pleasantly cool breeze by the river blew at him as he breathed in the fresh air.


    The sound of moving cars from the street, conversations of the pedestrians, and noisy chatter of the elementary and junior high schoolers could be vaguely heard behind him.


    Garen combed his hand through his hair. Unknowingly, his hair had almost reached his shoulders while the sleek black locks had begun to shine as well. The radiation of the Hellfrost Peacock Technique gave it a faint bluish tint.


    He lifted both of his hands and observed his white and blue skin. It had become almost transparent and completely smooth as all of his previous scars and blemishes had disappeared completely.


    "Beautification is definitely one of the Living Secret Technique''s best uses," Garen could not help but laugh at himself while unzipping his piloting uniform. Once the tight black clothes were slightly loosened, his shirt collar became a straight collar that touched both sides of his neck. His strong muscles and contours were soon exposed.


    After he had switched bodies and practiced the Hellfrost Peacock Technique, Nonosiva''s previously slender and skinny body was completely gone. It was replaced by a strong and muscular physique instead. He had gained the perfect upside-down-triangle-shaped muscles on his upper body while his arms were taut and strong. He stood on the side of the heavy platform and draped his black clothes over his body.


    Perhaps Garen''s soul was another reason why there was a faint glimmer in his eyes despite his seemingly normal external appearance. Even through his hair, his piercing gaze gave him an astute aura.


    The corners of Nonosiva''s mouth had already been pointing downwards previously. It gave him a threatening air that made others think that he could flare up at any moment, making it even more difficult for people to approach him throughout his life. People who were the slightest bit weaker than him would not even dare to meet his eye when they stood in front of him.


    His imposing physique, cold expression and somewhat glimmering and piercing eyes were features that made him seem like a suppressed volcano that could erupt any moment. However, Garen himself did not even possess those traits¡­


    Nonetheless, these signs caused him to appear as his current state, which also happened to be extremely fierce.

 852 Patrol 2

    Pfoo¡­


    Garen took a deep breath before exhaling it slowly.


    "Come and look quickly, that''s a Black Cloud Level Advanced Mech!!" the sound of joyful childish squeals echoed behind him suddenly.


    "Hmm?"


    Garen turned his head and looked at a group of passing school children on the road who were looking fervently at the gigantic Mechs here now. All of them were clearly fanatical Mech enthusiasts.


    However, their initially enthusiastic expressions froze instantly when they saw him turn his head suddenly.


    A few elementary school students who were carrying their bags took a few steps back when they were scared off by his "fierce" face.


    "So¡­ So cool!! No wonder he''s the man who can pilot the Black Cloud!!" said a little boy loudly while pointing at him.


    "Little guys¡­" Garen opened his mouth and smile. However, his smile clearly made him look fiercer, vaguely making it seem as if he was sneering ferociously.


    "Run, quick!!" the group of school children scattered and disappeared without a trace instantly.


    Garen stroked his face wordlessly. No wonder Vera had shrunk so fearfully even though he had just said a few words to her. Apparently, he had grown an extremely deterrent face without even realizing.


    "I should continue patrolling¡­" Garen exhaled and got into his cockpit again.


    Time ticked by slowly. His Potential Points continued to accumulate but Garen did not plan on using them. His greatest problem now was his lack of a solid foundation. After completing his tasks every day, he would hone particular aspects of the Crouched Eagle Talon''s Training Methods as well as the functions and means of response to their various Techniques.


    His patrolling days passed day by day. Every day fell into the same old schedule and he would inspect the condition of his team members'' tasks. In reality, Garen would just choose the patrol areas of a random team member to observe. He would be too lazy to visit the others. Therefore, most of his time was spent on the heavy platform by the river where he would rest and enjoy the cool breeze while breathing in the fresh air.


    The elementary and junior high school students who passed by when they were either going to or leaving school daily would always give him a calming atmosphere.


    As time passed, Garen''s understanding of the Crouched Eagle Talon''s abilities allowed him to catch up to the other advanced students in the Eagle''s Nest quickly. The initial lack of foundation that was caused by his speedy upgrades was offset quickly.


    More than ten days passed in the blink of an eye.


    The weather gradually turned colder. Although the faint morning sunlight was still present, the temperature had definitely lowered. The sunlight could not be felt even when it was shining down on his body directly.


    Garen stood beside the heavy platform as usual and gazed at the faraway scenery.


    Beep beep, beep beep¡­


    The noise of a ringing phone call could be sounded from his watch slowly.


    He pressed it to answer the call.


    "I''ve found some information about your little brother," Celine''s first words gave Garen a jolt. "Nothing out of the ordinary. He was pulled aside by the big explosion by the river. Also, he may have been involved with the White Light Terrorist Organization so you''ll need to be prepared."


    "In other words, both of these events are actually the same thing?" Garen furrowed his eyebrows.


    "That may be the case. Although the superiors have released the ten of your patrol team members all over that region to capture the Red-White Mech, no one is actually expecting you to seize it. From the information I gathered, you just need to find an extremely dilapidated, pieced together black Mech to find the Forbidden Core."


    "Old black-colored Mech?" Garen repeated. "What about my brother?"


    "I''m unclear about the full situation, but I can give you an address I obtained from the information at the intelligence department. The other person''s place of refuge is probably there."


    The information was transmitted over quickly. Garen opened it and glanced through while his gaze flickered.


    "From the looks of it, it''s very likely that this place is in the area where I''m stationed."


    "That''s true. Although we don''t know the reason behind it, it''s true that the other person is currently fleeing towards your area," said Celine certainly. "You should be careful of your surrounding situation at all times."


    "Yeah."


    "Then will be all. I''ll be here to assist you at any time. Call this number during critical moments."


    "Got it."


    After ending the call, Garen''s mind became more solemn. He could now confirm that his little brother Baylon was related to this incident.


    "If Lon was really involved in this, there should be an important reason why the culprit would be rushing over in this direction. They would probably be coming here to visit their parents or family. This reasoning is somewhat plausible. Except that¡­ How would they be able to escape successfully in the situation that their tracks are exposed?"


    Garen concluded that the other party definitely possessed exceptionally strong escape measures that other people did not know of.


    He got into the Mech again. There was a sputtering noise before blue flames were released from the back of the Mech and it flew upwards slowly. He began his investigation along the fixed patrolling roadmap.


    Time continued to pass slowly from mid-morning to noon. The place remained calm even after he ate his lunch. However, Garen sensed that something was amiss when he patrolled the fifth district.


    The fifth district was filled with factories, warehouses, storehouses and the likes. There were few signs of human habitation while the area was full of tall "alleys" that were formed by the spaces between factories. Cars could be seen passing through this area occasionally.


    There were even fewer people to be seen during the late afternoon.


    Garen landed on the heavy platform slowly. His extremely acute senses allowed him to detect that something was not quite right although he was still inside the Mech.


    Garen furrowed his eyebrows slightly and began to use his senses to carefully distinguish the source of the abnormalities.


    Tch!


    He opened the cockpit and jumped right out before landing on the ground.


    "It''s shaking!"


    Both of his eyes were narrowed.


    "The ground is shaking¡­"


    These tremors were extremely weak as the sensors could not detect them as well. However, Garen''s exceptionally strong five senses allowed him to feel these things clearly. It seemed as if a heavy object was running around underground.


    "It''s a Mech!!" he figured out the answer immediately. "The sewers!"


    He somersaulted instantly and got into the Mech. He piloted it towards the nearest entrance to the sewers. These few days of patrolling and his prior memories of the map of this area had allowed him to be familiarized with the topography here much earlier on.


    He quickly obtained the blueprints of the sewers from their website off the internet and tried to memorize it while flying towards the entrance rapidly.


    He could already see the entrance to the sewers moments after he arrived there. The cover that was specially provided for the engineering Mechs had been removed. The insides of the sewers were completely dark while a trail of wet footprints was left at the side of the road. They were clearly Mech footprints.


    "It''s really here!!"


    Garen picked up the communication device quickly. He was about to call his group members but immediately halted further actions. Instead, he dialed the number that Celine had given him directly.


    "How is everything?!"


    "Bring your people over here. Determine my location and hurry!"


    "Understood!"


    Without saying anything else, the phone call was disconnected.


    Garen pursued the footprints carefully with his full attention. The factory area was extremely huge, but no one knew where the guard who had been stationed here had run off to. Hardly anybody was here and even the garrison''s Spider Mechs were nowhere to be seen.


    Garen piloted his Mech quickly in pursuit before passing through an open area instantly. He made a sharp left turn and entered an alley between factory buildings.


    Coincidentally, a damaged black Mech currently had its back to him and was dashing into a different entrance of the alley. Strangely enough, this Mech did not have a flight engine. However, it was almost silent whenever its feet stepped on the ground.


    "I''ve caught you!"


    Garen''s engine roared suddenly while his Mech charged over at once. Swords appeared in both of its hands instantly.


    Clint was scared out of his wits when he noticed the Black Mech charging up behind him through the sensor on his back.


    "I''m going to die!!" he yelled loudly.


    "I can still help you make a short distance leap! Be careful!" roared Red Moon. "Duck!"


    Tch!


    The moment Garen sliced at his opponent, the old Black Mech spun and disappeared from its original spot as if it had completely dispersed in thin air. A tornado spun out from its initial position.


    Garen''s face remained unchanged as he had expected earlier on that his opponent would have troublesome escape measures like these.


    His Mech squatted on the ground and used the sensors on its head to listen carefully after prostrating there.


    Moments later, the Mech rose up and flew off speedily in a different direction.


    *******************


    Clint fled between the warehouses quickly while panting and sweating profusely.


    Bang!


    An exquisite Black Mech landed in front of him suddenly and obstructed his path. His violent Dual Blades swept over like two shrouds of silvery grey mist.


    "Duck!!" without saying another word, Red Moon flickered and leaped away.


    Tch!


    Clint was blinded before he appeared in a different alley.


    "That guy¡­ Too scary¡­ At least I managed to counter a few of that Red-White guy''s moves. How was it impossible that I didn''t have any strength to resist this guy at all?!" said Clint with a confused look on his face.


    "It''s different! The White Light''s Mech didn''t even have a solid foundation. Other than its strength, everything else about it was rubbish. It''s obvious that this current Mech has an extremely solid foundation and exceptionally incredible techniques and combat abilities. It''s completely unlike most of the others that only rely on Willpower abilities," explained Red Moon quickly.


    A shroud of silvery grey mist shot over suddenly and appeared in front of his eyes instantly.


    "Be careful!!" Red Moon could not even yell in time.


    Clint could only feel a tremor running through the body of his Mech suddenly. His shoulder was directly pierced by a long sword that split it open. After that, the sword crashed violently against the ground behind his body and stabbed into it deeply while releasing a brief scratching noise.


    Electric sparks illuminated the Mech''s damaged body. Before he could even think, a black Mech descended from the sky and a sword was placed right over his head.


    Clang!!


    During a moment when his life was in imminent peril, Clint raised his right arm to block the attack while kicking his right leg outwards towards his opponent''s lower body simultaneously.


    "Behold my ultimate move!" Bang!!


    The leg of Clint''s Mech separated itself automatically at once and turned into a rocket that shot outwards. It flew towards the fork of Garen''s Mech''s legs. Unfortunately, Garen lifted his knee at the key moment and kicked it towards the other side.


    "How is that possible?!! Even Red-White fell for this trick!!" Clint yelled in disbelief.


    "Escape quickly! This guy isn''t someone you can handle!!" Red Moon moved and flickered again.


    During these dangerous instances, the light that reflected off a silvery grey blade only sliced through thin air.


    "You fled really quickly," Garen sheathed his sword and stood still while red light shined out of his Mech''s eyes.


    "Has everyone arrived?" he asked softly while raising his watch.


    "Yes, sir. Mistress told us to listen to all of your instructions," answered the man on the other line.


    "Be careful when you disperse and separate from one another. Move out within five hundred meters of my surroundings. That guy could not have leaped much further. His energy is depleting too and his distance gets shorter each time," instructed Garen.


    "Understood."


    The Mech Pilots that were sent from Celine''s household operated super-miniature Mechs to avoid bringing attention to themselves. The military and garrison were the only ones who were allowed to operate Mechs in the districts publicly. Therefore, Garen was able to use his status as part of the military to patrol openly.

 853 Track 1

    "Moving on, let me see your powers¡­ little guy." Garen lifted the Dual Blade from the ground. A scraping noise could be heard when the two surfaces rubbed against each other. Meanwhile, the red light inside the eyes of Garen''s Mech grew more intense.


    Whoosh!


    A thunderous noise echoed from the Mech while Garen rose into the sky again and flew towards another location that was resonating.


    ************


    The Mech that Clint was piloting dashed across the ground as if it was flying. The speed of this Mech was extremely fast and it did not look as heavy as its outer shell. There was a faint crack on its arm from blocking Garen''s sword. The leg that it had released earlier for its sneak attack had automatically flown back as well, further proving Red Moon''s adept Mech modification abilities.


    Most of the alleys in the factory area were large and broad. They were completely suitable for Mechs to run through at high speeds. Clint''s Mech did not make any footstep noises at all. Its electromagnetic induction was even bound by a specialized Energy Field that prevented it from leaking at all.


    "What do we do now?" asked Clint while panting violently. When the Mech ran, the Mech Pilot themselves would bear the exhaustion.


    If the mysterious Nine Mega Cannon Training Method had not allowed him to achieve extremely powerful physical qualities, a Mech Pilot unlike himself would have been out of breath long ago. After all, this damaged Mech lacked buffering equipment. Therefore, after engaging in a few highly difficult actions for more than ten seconds, Clint''s entire body would experience disproportionate blood flow and become dizzy because of the inertia when the Mech moved.


    "What else can we do? Run!" said Red Moon impatiently. "Look for an opportunity to escape into the sewers below!"


    "We''re going there again¡­"


    "What else do you plan on doing?"


    "O¡­ Okay¡­" Clint was helpless. The sewers were excruciatingly smelly and if he had a choice, he would not go down there a second time. Unfortunately, the current situation left him no other option.


    The damaged black Mech resembled an abnormally nimble disabled person who could run and jump down the entrance of the nearest sewer instantly.


    "Look out behind you!!" yelled Red Moon suddenly.


    Clint rolled forward quickly. This move had allowed him to escape from the Red-White Mech many times. He used the strength of the Nine Mega Cannon to roll forward quickly while exerting a large amount of force. The further he traveled, the faster he moved. This move was truly worthy to be an ultimate move for escaping and saving one''s life during a battle.


    Bang!


    A deep sword mark appeared on the ground suddenly where Clint had been earlier.


    A Blackboard Mech descended from the sky behind him and stood there with one knee on the ground. This Mech was actually the one that Garen was using previously.


    "He''s here again! Damn it! Go as fast as you can!!" panic filled Red Moon''s mind. Every Jump would deplete his energy sources that had been accumulated over many years. "Curses! If only I hadn''t consumed so much energy during the explosion previously¡­"


    Clint took a big step and leaped forward after hearing those words. He had barely dodged the blade that had come at him directly from behind.


    "Still thinking of rolling away?" a cold voice echoed behind him while another gust of chilly wind blew over. At this moment, a second blade came flying at him again.


    "This speed is amazing!!" yelled Red Moon while summoning his last bouts of strength. "Blink!!"


    Tch!


    Clint moved instantly and was blinded suddenly. He did not know where he had landed in the blink of an eye. However, it was clear that he had not entered the sewer successfully.


    "Ugh¡­ Blegh!!!" When he was finally unable to hold himself back, Clint sat in the cockpit and barfed violently. These continuous Jumps and Blinks had finally taken their toll on his body. It seemed as though the gates to the dam that was his stomach had finally opened, causing him to vomit everything out messily. Yellow, white, and brown substances blended with one another like sticky Chinese congee.


    The cockpit was instantly filled with a disgusting sour stench.


    "Don''t get it on my body, you disgusting smelly kid!" yelled Red Moon furiously.


    willpower


    The Mech continued to roll forward. It got up and took big steps before running forward again. Clint was unable to tell which direction he was going in anymore and just ran around carelessly.


    "Found you! Bastard!" a terribly battered Red-White Mech appeared behind him suddenly. The Mech''s entire body was thrashed and seemed to be in even worse conditions than Clint''s Mech. More than half of the light green crystal that was embedded in its chest was broken, making it seem dim and lustreless.


    "It''s that Red-White guy! We''re dead!" Clint was exhausted from puking and could barely run forward while the distance between Red-White and himself grew closer.


    "Don''t be afraid, I''ve prepared a secret weapon for you!" said Red Moon hurriedly.


    "What secret weapon?!"


    "Touch the small of your back for a bit!"


    Clint followed his instructions and immediately touched that area.


    Shh¡­


    A large object that was thick, huge and dark bounced out and landed in Clint''s hands suddenly.


    "So¡­ So huge¡­!" while looking at the large item in his hands, Clint could not help but exclaim in shock.


    "Like hell it''s huge! Hurry up! Turn around and hit him!" Red Moon roared.


    Clint held the Gigantic Club in his hands tightly. This club was almost half as thick as his body and he did not know how it had been stuffed there. Clint did not think twice and rolled on the ground instead. He was looking upwards initially but when he rolled backward suddenly, he ended up colliding directly into Red-White who was behind him.


    Windy, whooshing noises could be heard suddenly when he smashed the Gigantic Club in his hand towards his opponent. Instantly, the tip of the club twinkled for awhile and appeared behind Red-White''s body immediately.


    "You''re asking to die!" the Red-White Mech sneered coldly and tried to seize the Gigantic Club single-handedly. Although its Level Five Willpower had sustained serious injuries, it did not have to exert much strength on a Level One small fry. He would exceed the Level One greatly even if they were fighting recklessly.


    Bang!! Caught off guard, he ended up grasping at thin air instead as the tip of the club had apparently disappeared a meter in front of him. Next, Red-White could only feel pain in the back of his head. His sensors became fuzzy instantly.


    A brief hissing noise could be heard as Clint disappeared before his eyes again.


    "Oh¡­ Sh*t!!!" Red-White flared up.


    ******************


    "Just now¡­ What was that? It was awesome!" asked Clint as he ran frantically while enduring the pain with great difficulty.


    "It was the Gigantic Magnetic Club and Small Area Spatial Extension Technique. They are fatal moves that are used during critical moments! If you had not destroyed the skin of my Mech, we would have gotten rid of that Red-White who''s hot on our heels earlier on," replied Red Moon furiously.


    "In front!" Clint stopped in his tracks suddenly when a few super-miniature Mechs with Blackboard symbols appeared in front of him. These super-miniature Mechs were only the height of an average person and wore fitted uniforms on their bodies like steel soldiers.


    The one similarity between them was the Willpower forces that lingered on their bodies, which were all much stronger than Clint''s.


    "You could escape for such a long time despite the captain''s pursuit of you? Stop right there!"


    The leading soldier outstretched both of his arms before vibrating Willpower forces shot out of its body suddenly and crashed towards Clint.


    Hum¡­


    The distorted Willpower forces resembled a comet. It was colorless and scentless but moved extremely quickly. Three consecutive waves of these forces connected and formed a line that rushed towards him. The floors and walls seemed distorted by the forces as they turned into soft substances that vibrated constantly.


    "It''s that guy''s subordinates! Retreat!!" a hint of tiredness could be heard in Red Moon''s voice. "Duck!"


    Clint felt as if his body had turned numb to these illusions that were happening now. He was already immune to the strong distortions caused by Dimensional Jumps.


    When his vision was blinded suddenly, he appeared in front of the gigantic Black Mech again.


    "Eh¡­ What a coincidence¡­" Clint''s face was deathly pale. He smiled and opened his mouth to speak. "Blegh!!"


    He vomited violently again suddenly. The rest of his breakfast came tumbling out, mixed with his yellow bile juices. He remained slumped in the cockpit seat while his entire outfit from the chest downwards was covered in a layer of vomit.


    Whoosh!!


    A ray of silvery grey light that was reflected off his blade slashed downwards from above.


    Clint reacted by swinging the Gigantic Club in front and smashing it this way instantly. The tip of the Gigantic Club disappeared within moments as if it had pierced through thin air before it appeared at the back of the Black Mech''s head.


    Clang!


    Moments later, a silvery grey machete appeared in front of the Gigantic Club and blocked it. It was barely able to deflect this sneak attack.


    "This move is useless against that guy! Damn! Move!" roared Red Moon angrily while Clint was blinded again.


    Whoosh whoosh! Two rays of light that were reflected off the blade illuminated Clint''s initial position and left two bright scratch marks there. It was only a moment too slow.


    Garen stood on his initial spot quietly while sheathing his sword slowly.


    "He can''t run far. Keep pursuing him."


    "Yes," a few replies echoed from his communication Terminal.


    While glancing at the sensory map inside the Mech, he noticed that the red dot was now nearby. Garen continued to breathe more steadily.


    "This is your final struggle against death."


    He sat down in the alley while sticking his Dual Blades into both sides of the ground.


    **************


    "Oh¡­ Blegh¡­" Clint puked up more large mouthfuls of vomit. There were obvious traces of blood floating around in the rancid puddle. They were signs that the inside of his stomach was bleeding. "I¡­ I can''t do this anymore¡­"


    "How dare you, as a man, admit that something is impossible!! You stupid kid, you never listen when I tell you to practice more often and now you think you know everything! Hurry up and run! You can''t stay here!" yelled Red Moon.


    "I can''t¡­ I really can''t¡­" Clint felt as if his surroundings were spinning. He could not handle these many Jumps despite the foundation of his Nine Mega Cannon Training Method. His body collapsed limply while his eyesight had become slightly fuzzy, making everything look blurry.


    "What''s wrong? Did it not work just now¡­?" Clint could barely run while asking about the previous situation.


    "That guy''s reaction speed is way too fast and his basic combat skills are terrifying. People like these are typical cases of exceptionally talented fighters! Most people have secret moves and can attack sneakily but things like that are completely useless against professionals like this!" explained Red Moon quickly. "I''m going to prepare an ultimate move with the last third of my remaining energy.Hopefully, it''ll help us overcome this hurdle. If we''re unsuccessful, we''ll be truly dead this time. With less than two-thirds of my energy left, I will fall into a coma. If that happens, you''ll lose all hope of fleeing and staying alive if you''re left with nothing but your own powers!"


    "How much¡­ Time¡­ Do you need?" asked Clint with great difficulty. He did not continue Jumping to allow his body to recuperate slightly. "I can''t do this anymore. I''ll really die if I keep Jumping!"


    "I know, your bodily systems and cycles will collapse instantly if you Jump another two times. There won''t be any way for you to survive if you can''t find a way to heal yourself!" replied Red Moon. "Escape this way! The last entrance into the sewers is in front. We will win have the battle once you enter the sewers!"


    "I feel like I''m about to die¡­" Clint was unbearably weak.


    "Little Lon is waiting for you at home!! If you don''t want to die just fight for my damn sake!!"


    "I¡­"


    "Move!!" Red Moon Blinked immediately before the Mech charged forwards instantly. It leaped across a distance of a few dozen meters before appearing in another alley where the entrance to the sewers lay in front.


    The dark black drain cover was like a dreamlike angel now. Through Clint''s eyes, it resembled the most beautiful and perfect bride in the world. He outstretched his arms while hot tears flooded his eyes and charged towards it.


    "Ahh~~~ Drain cover!!!" right now, his eyes were brimming with tears.


    It seemed as though time had slowed down instantly. This beautiful moment became slower and slower.


    Suddenly, a Black Mech walked over slowly and used its strong, tall body to block the drain cover completely while obstructing the path in front of him.


    At this moment, the happiness and joyful tears in Clint''s eyes dried up and vanished.


    "No~~~!!!"

 854 Track 2

    "This is the fugitive that our captain has been pursuing for half a day?" a male voice filled with disdain echoed from the Black Mech. This Mech was slighter smaller than Garen''s Mech and did not look as strong or powerful as Garen''s. Its body was muscular but clearly slimmer and slightly weaker. It held the exact same long silvery grey swords in both of its hands tightly.


    If Garen''s Mech resembled a typically powerful and threatening swordsman, this other Mech was simply an unconventional boorish knife wielder.


    "This isn''t the previous guy! You have a chance!" yelled Red Moon. "Bl¡­ ink!!"


    Shh!!


    Clint''s vision became blurry while his own Mech appeared behind the Black Mech. The perfect drain cover appeared in front of him again.


    Alexander was both angry and shocked. His opponent had actually disappeared in front of his eyes instantly. When he had just stopped belittling him, he heard an alarm behind himself. He turned around quickly but noticed that Clint was now by the drain cover that was more than ten meters away from him. Clint was currently reaching towards the drain cover.


    "You!!"


    A ray of white light shot towards him suddenly and struck the waist of Clint''s Mech. The banging noise made him somersault before he was sent flying for quite a distance.


    Soon after, a ray of white light that was as thick as a water pipe shot over and hit the cockpit of Alexander''s Mech accurately. Boom!!!


    The Mech exploded at once and turned into a fireball from which countless metal fragments burst open.


    Alexander catapulted himself out of the cockpit during this moment of imminent danger.


    "A Willpower-amplified exploding particle bomb!! He actually dared to use such a dangerous plaything in the district!!" beads of cold sweat had formed on his body while he was flying through the air in a frightened state.


    At this moment, Clint was still fine enough to flip himself over and start running immediately. The Red-White Mech continued pursuing him and prepared to open fire. However, it was obstructed by the forces of a shapeless magnetic field instantly.


    With Clint as the center, numerous shapeless magnetic field ripples were distributed throughout the surroundings of the Mech suddenly.


    "I''m going to lose everything this time!!!" roared Red Moon. "Strong Magnetic Field Shock, Glow!!!"


    Screech!!


    The magnetic fields around Clint''s Mech were instantly amplified greatly while the range of ripples spread towards all four directions quickly like the waves in the sea. It restrained the Red-White Mech behind it forcefully, making it temporarily unable to move.


    The intense magnetic fields caused temporary magnetization to appear throughout more than half of his Mech''s components, seemingly paralyzing his Mech.


    Strangely enough, although Clint''s body was in the center of the magnetic field, he was not affected by it at all.


    "Run!!" before Red Moon could even finish speaking, Clint lowered his head and ran frantically as if it was a conditioned reflex.


    He collided with the wall of a factory with a ''bang'' and passed through an empty warehouse. He burst out of another wall and crashed into a different alley after that.


    "Oh, sh*t!!!"


    While Red Moon cursed angrily, Clint stopped suddenly. He froze on his initial spot at the center of the alley.


    A drain cover appeared within less than a hundred meters in front of him. Unfortunately, a Blackboard Mech was quietly sitting in front of the drain cover with its legs crossed.


    Garen sat inside the Mech quietly in the alley and glared at the damaged Black Mech that Clint was piloting. Red light illuminated both of his Mech''s eyes while he remained unmoving like a sleeping lion.


    Kachak.


    The Mech stood up slowly. An indescribably oppressive feeling drifted out of its body and spread towards his surroundings faintly.


    Clint stood in the alley as well but did not dare to move. Droplets of cold sweat dripped down his temples and the tip of his nose. The frightening aura that this Mech was emitting was much more intense than the damaged Red-White Mech that he had encountered earlier.


    "This guy again¡­ He''s part of Blackboard Academy''s patrol squad and at least Level Three!" Red Moon''s tone was both serious and angry. "This is troublesome. Get ready to Blink for a short distance. Can you take it, Clint?"


    "¡­!!"


    Clint wanted to cry but did not have any tears left and wanted to vomit but could not do that either. He looked at the magnificent and strong black outer shell of the other person''s Mech that had detailed and exquisite silver patterns. When it stood there, he knew that it was a superior product at first glance. However, he looked at his own Mech and saw a body that was filled with dirty stains and four legs that had missing chunks in some places and numerous dents in others. When he compared both of them, his own Mech merely comprised of odds and ends.


    He glanced at the exquisite shiny silvery grey Dual Blades in his opponent''s hands and looked at the dark club that he held. The feelings that were felt by a poor dwarf when he encountered a tall, rich, handsome man resonated within his heart clearly.


    "Give me the Forbidden Core and I''ll let you live," Garen held the Dual Blades and crossed them in front of his chest calmly while making crisp clinking noises.


    "Blink!!" hollered Red Moon suddenly. The crippled Mech became distorted suddenly and disappeared on the spot instantly. When it appeared again, it was already more than ten meters behind Garen''s Mech.


    Garen remained silent and leaped backward instantly. He flipped around while swinging his machete outwards. He had managed to catch up to Clint within a short period of time.


    Bang!!


    Moments later, a silvery grey machete cut through the air and stabbed the back of Clint''s Mech''s head violently. The attack caused him to stagger before he took a few quick steps forward suddenly. His head crashed into the side of the wall and formed a large hole in the cement.


    "What''s going on? Didn''t I transmit it already?" yelled Clint. Electric sparks glimmered and filled the cockpit. The Mech had suffered serious injuries while the sensors had been sliced through and damaged instantly.


    "That guy¡­ isn''t an average Level Three!!" said Red Moon seriously.


    "Then what do we do now?!" Clint could hear the heavy footsteps echoing behind him now. The crippled Red-White Mech from the White Light Organization was catching up to him again.


    "Don''t panic, just wait for a while first. Things will definitely turn out for the better¡­" Red Moon lowered his voice. His mind was anxious as well as his initial surefire escape plan was suddenly stopped by a team captain from Blackboard Academy. Numerous fatal flaws had appeared now and he needed to find a way to fix them!


    "Where''s the Forbidden Core?" Garen''s voice rang out again. "For a weakling like yourself, possessing treasures that exceed your abilities is an omen of death."


    He took a step forward. "Come, give it to me."


    Clint''s Mech took an involuntary step backward. One hit had fully damaged the sensors in his head. Would he be completely dead after another attack?


    Sweat continued to bead on his forehead and drip down his cheeks before falling on his collar and chest. Some of the vomit that had dried up earlier had become moist and sticky again.


    "What do I do? What do I do? What do I do¡­.!!!" his mind was a chaotic mess. Clint did not know what to do at all. Red Moon had formed a link with him, but once he was gone, Clint would lose his own life as well. This link was formed by a complete fusion in his body''s genetic level and was not the usual Mech contract.


    "Turn left!!" Red Moon''s thunderous roars echoed beside his ears immediately.


    Clint operated his Mech and made a left turn by using his conditioned reflexes.


    Tch!!


    A beam of pure white light swept past the side of his Mech''s body. The laser beam that was initially shooting towards his back hit Garen who was in front of Clint by accident.


    Puff!


    The laser beam did not hit him but collided with his silvery grey long sword instead and formed shrouds of green smoke there.


    During this life-threatening moment, Garen raised his machete and used it to blocked the area in front of him. He was able to accurately deflect the laser beams that were passing through and coming towards him.


    "Who!" Garen lifted his eyes and glanced at the other side of the alley behind Clint.


    Pfoo¡­ Pfoo¡­ Pfoo¡­


    The sound of violent exhausted panting echoed from there. A Red-White Mech stood on the other side of the white light and held a white Laser Gun that was more than two meters long in its hand. White smoke was faintly wafting out of the barrel.


    "I''ve got you¡­ Stupid kid! Let''s see where you''ll run this time!" the Red-White Mech sneered. "The Forbidden Core is mine¡­!"


    "The Red-White Mech? You''ve arrived at such a good time!" Garen crossed his Dual Blades and moved his feet slightly while a fearsome and offensive aura dispersed from his body faintly. The engine at the back of his mech revved slightly and spat out small blue flames. These flames seemed delicate but could actually explode in a terrifying manner at any time.


    A crashing noise rang out when he charged forward suddenly. He soared high up into the sky and swung his blades over while the incredibly sharp swords formed ear-piercing shrieks when they tore through the air. Most of the air currents rolled around the alley endlessly as piles of dust were blown around by the blades, forming a strange scene. It seemed as if the empty space within the entire alley had been frozen by the movements of his blades.


    Bang!!!


    Both of the Mechs collided harshly. The guns in the hands of the Red-White Mech were instantly split into two halves while the Mech stumbled a few steps back and could barely stand up steadily.


    "You?!!" only then did the Red-White Mech look towards Garen''s Black Mech. "The team from Blackboard Academy? You''re just a Level Three¡­"


    He dared to taunt him but remained frozen on his initial spot as he was too afraid to make any rash movements. He had been in a good state initially and perhaps had previously assumed that a Level Three individual was not a threat. However, things were different now. Almost eighty percent of his Mech had sustained damage while he was gravely injured as well. A mere Level Three was standing in front of him, but he gave off a threatening air faintly for unknown reasons.


    "True Technique -- Destruction!!" roared Garen softly. The frequency of his explosions increased within a short span of time and his Mech charged forward suddenly again. Its speed had almost doubled.


    Clang!!!


    His Dual Blades split into two waterfall-like parts suddenly and sliced towards both sides of the Red-White Mech separately. The light from the blades resembled two muddled ribbons that flitted through the alley and cut the Red-White Mech''s chest and head accurately.


    "What the hell?!" the Red-White Mech could only take a step back as thin ripples appeared throughout its body. It managed to slow down the piercing light slightly, allowing its body to barely evade the two blades. However, the cockpit at the front of its chest was still inflicted with a cut that was a few centimeters thick. The cracking sound of damaged electric circuits could be heard, filing the area with the sound of static.


    "You bastard¡­!!!"


    It seemed as though the two Mechs had switched places when Garen turned around quickly. He glanced at his own right thigh where a deep cut wound had appeared there suddenly.


    "External manifestations in the Mech Energy Fields? As expected of a Level Five expert of White Light."


    When he crossed his Dual Blades, Garen could feel the distorted Willpower Energy Fields that were flowing in his surroundings and wrapping themselves around him. These Energy Fields slowed the movements of his whole body down constantly. It felt as if his entire body was trapped in mud, forcing him to deplete a lot of energy whenever he moved.


    "Get lost if you don''t want to die!!" roared the Red-White Mech angrily.


    The corners of Garen''s mouth curled and he laughed. The body of his Mech bowed slightly as if he was a tightly-coiled spring that was brimming with a strength that kept growing more frightening.


    The Dual Blades were held parallel to both of his arms while the Black Mech itself resembled a crouching male eagle with wings that were slowly being spread.


    A bluish-white aura rose from Garen''s body slowly.


    Pfoo!!!


    The aura dispersed suddenly and caused everything around it to freeze slowly. White frost began forming on the ground while intricate ice crystals appeared on the walls gradually.


    Clint stood on the side and shivered from the chill.


    "Retreat quickly! It''s Frost Radiation!!" Red Moon reminded him loudly while hints of shock could be heard in his voice. "How is this possible?! Frost Radiation should only appear at the Frozen Lake, so why would it occur here?!"


    Clint piloted the Mech backward by several steps for more than ten meters before feeling slightly warmer. However, a thin layer of ice had formed on his body. It was suffocatingly cold.


    "No¡­ I can''t do this¡­ I''m going to die¡­" the vomit that covered his body had frozen and stuck to his body. It seemed as if illusions were appearing in front of his eyes.


    "You¡­??!!" the Red-White Mech was pushed backward by the cold Energy Fields while he looked at Garen in shock.


    Garen stood up slowly as bluish-white cold air dispersed throughout the area with him at the center. It seemed as though the cries of a small child were trapped in the cold air. It was strangely horrifying.

 855 Turning Point 1

    The battlefield was in a frozen state as the Hellfrost Peacock Technique finally revealed its true strength for the very first time in public.


    With Garen''s Mech as the epicenter, a thin layer of frost was created within the radius of at least ten meters. The air turned cool and the strange cry of a kid could be heard everywhere as if it had appeared out of thin air.


    "What sorcery is this!!" the Red-White Mech immediately took a few steps back. Although the Mech would be able to maintain its core temperature, the strange child''s cry couldn''t be avoided.


    Garen stretched the Mech body as if he was one with the Mech.


    "Now that your Energy Field''s been deactivated, what else can you do?''


    Before he even finished his sentence, he''d pounced forward and attacked with two slashes which formed blades of light.


    Boom!!


    The two Mechs collided with each other together as both swords clashed against the spear, leaving two markings that were at least ten centimeters deep.


    A huge amount of frost started to propagate from the spear towards the Red-White Mech.


    "Go to hell!!" the Red-White Mech shouted as it released all of its Energy Field at full force while retreating at full speed. The Advanced Mech had finally revealed its terrifying potential as its speed was so fast that even Garen wasn''t able to see its afterimage.


    What could only be seen were red and white shadows moving about and in that instance, the dagger in its hand was speeding towards Garen''s cockpit. Strangely, it took three turns to actually inflict a blow; it avoided Garen''s block twice before it pierced into Garen''s left shoulder with great precision on its third swing.


    Thud!


    The dagger pierced deep into Garen''s left Mech shoulder, snapping off one of the most crucial joints.


    Gared scoffed as he moved his knee forward, snapping the cracked spear into half and throwing it towards the cockpit in front of him.


    The Red-White Mech attempted to evade his attack only to realize that its hand which was holding onto the dagger was grabbed tightly by Garen and he couldn''t move at all. If its body were in a good condition, perhaps it could overcome him with its Mech''s strength which was higher than Garen, but that was not the case here.


    Boom!!


    A huge amount of Mech debris in white and black spread everywhere. The debris spread everywhere between the two Mechs as both of them suffered serious damage.


    Garen couldn''t care less as he released his opponent with his only functional hand. As he attempted to elbow him, he grabbed his blade in reverse and manipulated the edge of the blade with five of his extremely agile Mech fingers and pierced it into the opponent''s cockpit.


    With these two unavoidable attacks, both Mechs were glued to each other once more.


    Debris started flying everywhere once more as the Red-White mech managed to marginally avoid the attack. However, its waist was seriously damaged


    Both Mechs were in a seriously damaged condition and the icy blue frost had already spread out so much that the Red-White Mech''s legs were already frozen, seriously affecting its movement.


    For the second time, the Red-White Mech''s pilot felt that death was knocking on his door. He had experienced this when he fought against Red Eye Medero, where he could do nothing but run for his life. However, it was different this time.


    "You''re merely a Level Three Mech¡­.!!" he sat inside the Mech with his face blocked by his hair as he raged and trembled. "Just a mere Level Three¡­!!"


    Garen''s expression remained the same as red alarms and sirens kept ringing in his ears while his Mech''s condition worsened by the second.


    The red lights flashed directly onto his face but he was completely unaffected by it.


    "The last hit."


    Willpower started rippling around his body.


    "Crouched Eagle Talon¡­ I''m going all out¡­"


    Bursts of Willpower kept gathering in both his hands and the Mech''s hands at the same time. As one of its arms were already damaged to the point where it could no longer move, the invisible wave only appeared in one of his hands.


    Hah!!


    As the light flashed, his black arm immediately raised up and the machete in his hand looked like a silver line slashing down from above.


    "Reflect!!!"


    The Red-White Mech shouted as loud as it could.


    As the tip of the machete came in contact with the Red-White Mech, the tremendous amount of energy was instantly absorbed by the Mech in an instant, as if the surface of the Red-White Mech was an endless abyss that took in all of the energy.


    At the same time, a huge force bounded out from the Red-White Mech that closely resembled the afterimage of the machete. It was a half transparent afterimage that was made out of pure Willpower!


    Garen''s pupils shrunk in that instant as the Willpower surrounding him was dispersed while a stronger Willpower overwhelmed him. However, he was fast enough to evade the speed of the incoming Machete''s afterimage as the afterimage hit onto his right leg.


    Clank!!


    The afterimage cut off the Black Mech''s leg, and after piercing through its leg, it slammed into the wall just beside Clint''s Mech. Its force was so strong that the wall sunk in, leaving behind a deep indentation.


    This made Clint, who was completely worn out, started sweating all over his body.


    "This is the infamous Reflect?!" Red Moon was able to understand the ability''s theory clearly. As a fellow Mech, even he couldn''t help but squeal at such a unique ability.


    "The Dimensional Reflection Technique. I can''t believe it has been made possible on a non-Inherited Mech¡­ What kind of¡­" Red Moon didn''t know what word he should use to describe the genius who had invented this ability.


    "We should leave as soon as possible¡­ while these two crazies are fighting to their deaths¡­" Clint who was placed in a series of shock was so mentally exhausted that even his words felt weak.


    As Red Moon was about to speak up, he suddenly felt a new wave of energy from the battlefield.


    "Fuck me! A Level Four!! A Level Four''s signal!!"


    "What Level Four?" Clint asked weakly.


    "That Blackboard''s Captain had an unexpected breakthrough during this deathmatch and he is now a Level Four elite!" Red Moon had the urge to spew vulgarities out of his mouth. Upon closer observation, "We''re good. He''s using a training method called the Crouched Eagle Talon that is easy to advance further. I''ve heard of this training method before, where its increment for each level up isn''t huge and can only be considered a below average training method. It''s only advantage is that it''s easy to level up."


    "Does the training method play such a big role?" Clint could barely hold the Mech up as he started walking away slowly from the battlefield.


    "It plays a very big role. A Top Inherited training method, such as the Nine Mega Cannon''s one level up can allow you to reach a Mech Level of Three. Every Mech is categorized into its standard Level by its worst condition to the limits that can be theoretically achieved. The categorization would be fixed to the standard and this is the most crucial information that needs to be published the moment a Mech has been announced." Red Moon explained quickly. "On the other hand, the difference in training methods will show itself by using a Mech of the same Level. You''re Nine Mega Cannon is currently Level One, which increases your strength by about three levels. On the other hand where your opponent uses a typical training method, its typical level up would increase its strength by one level or slightly more. In comparison, there would be a two-level difference in each level up, a four-level difference in two level up, and if you level up three times, the difference would be six levels apart. The further you level up, the more drastic the difference. This is just based on simple calculation without any change in factors. Realistically speaking, the Top Inherited training method would improve in all aspects instead of just one."


    Red Moon was very wary of the condition of the battle.


    "That Captain operating the Mech should be using the Crouched Eagle Talon. Hence a level Four increment would equal to a Level Four power, which was used on the Mech''s arm to instantly increase its power. This gives a huge boost in hardening its arm, which is his training method''s effect."


    "What about that Red-White guy?"


    "He should be using a slightly better training method. Judging from the looks of it, it should be an above-average tier. With one level up, it is able to increase its speed and duration of the power source by one level. This is also the reason why even though his Mech is eighty to ninety percent damaged, he could still chase him for a long period of time. If it were a typical Mech, it''d been no longer operational a long time ago," Red Moon stared at it closely. "The Red-White is a Level five pilot, so his increment, by right, should be at Level five as well. However, with the pilot seriously injured, the Mech is unable to perform at its full potential. Since he has exhausted his Willpower as well, his current Level is at most Level Four. In addition to all of these, his opponent''s melee combat skill is extraordinarily good to the point where he can predict his moves and attack or defend in advance, resulting in the current stalemate situation¡­"


    "Be careful!!" he started shouting.


    Clint paused instantly and a thud could be heard as a huge stone slammed into the wall in front of him like a cannon, indenting the wall by a considerable amount of depth. It was a stone that had been sent flying from the battle behind.


    He was so shocked that cold sweat leaked from his body profusely. With his Mech''s current condition, this huge boulder would''ve taken away his puny life if not for Red Moon''s Protection Field.


    "Alright, let''s keep moving," Red Moon ordered.


    Clint turned his head back to look at the battlefield.


    Two Mechs, one black and the other white, were entangled together as waves of powerful Energy Field and cool air spread out, distorting the environment and air in the surrounding. It was so great that even light waves were started to distort faintly and he could only see two Mech silhouettes fighting against each other.


    Both Garen and Red-White were fighting to their deaths.


    Although Garen''s fighting instincts were very overwhelming, the opponent was stronger with his short bursts of Level five Willpower. In combination with the difference in Levels between their Mechs, he could only match the opponent''s strength even though he had used his potential points to attain the power of a Level Four.


    It was especially true towards the reflective technique which he couldn''t understand, as he''d finally experienced the trouble in dealing with these White Light Mechs firsthand. He truly was an elite that could avoid being caught within Blackboard Region for such a long time.


    However, even though his opponent was strong and had a powerful Level five Willpower Reflection technique, he was able to see through his opponent''s intention with his Ten Thousand True Technique Battle Skills so that he could defend himself beforehand while attacking his weak points. He was able to fight toe to toe with him even though the opponent''s Mech was stronger than his in every aspect.


    The Hellfrost Peacock Technique was barely able to cancel out the opponent''s Level five Willpower''s Deceleration Force Field as both Mechs'' reaction speeds were lowered down to an observable level. However as the Cold Chaos''s level was slightly lower, he was slowly being restrained by the opponent''s Energy Field.


    Garen could feel that the strain towards the Mech and his body was stronger over time.


    As he had a very strong body, he wasn''t really affected by it, but it was not the case for his Mech as it was a standard Level Three model of the Academy. In addition to this, his Mech was far inferior as compared to the Level five Mech and the strain was worse with the interference of the Energy Field, to the point where moving had started to prove difficult. The chances of him winning were fluctuating up and down.


    The person inside the Red-White Mech was worse off as the strange cry of a child kept echoing in his ears. No matter how much he tried to filter out the noise, it kept disrupting his thoughts and mentality. It was so annoying to the point where he started to feel uncomfortable and his consciousness started turning muddled.


    Deep down inside him, he had an urge to release all of the stress that was welling up inside him.


    However, he controlled himself from doing so as he knew very well that if he were to act impulsively and go all out without caution in this deathmatch between two Level Four''s, he would be, without a doubt, the one that would be instantly killed!


    However, the more he tried to control himself, the stronger his urge became.


    He started to feel annoyed as he couldn''t find his opponent''s weakness even after fighting with him for so long, as he seemed to be extremely experienced in melee combat. It was as if he was a veteran that had just come out from a dead volcano. He had even used a few techniques in order to trick his opponent, but the opponent seemed to see through his intention in an instant and countered him. Even his most confident Duplicate Chain had been seen through, and he had no choice but to fight against him without any tricks.

 856 Turning Point 2

    "Damn it!!!"


    A typical Level Three or Four would have made a mistake within ten moves and he would have used the opportunity to finish him off, unlike the current situation. While he still had the upper hand in terms of speed, he had no choice but to fight the opponent without any tricks, especially against that hardened arm that had obviously been enhanced through a training method to the point where it rivaled his Level Five body. Both Mechs'' conditions worsened as their battle continued.


    With his Mech that was on the verge of breaking, if this continued...


    Both of them were fighting to their deaths, and at this point of the battle, the two things that would change the tide of the battle were stronger will and Willpower.


    Garen remained expressionless even though one of his Mech''s legs and arms had been torn off and he could only fight with his remaining hand and shield himself with his crippled hand. With his sword-wielding hand, he was able to set up a layer of defense in front of him. Although he was a master in fist technique, he also had some experience in sword techniques. With a sword as an extension of his arm, he could still fight on the same level.


    One could say that Willpower resembled the Mech''s internal energy. As both Mechs fought against each other, it increased the hardness Garen''s arm and strength for a short amount of time whereas it increased the Red-White''s speed and stamina.


    While it increased their physical capabilities, both of their Willpowers were clashing against each other in its most primitive form.


    As Garen''s Willpower was weaker by a Level and didn''t possess the same quality as his opponent, he had to deactivate it within two seconds or else his WIllpower would gradually be reduced. Once his opponent had infiltrated his body, it would spell his defeat.


    Clank!!


    The dagger and machete from both Mechs clashed against each other as the blades started to chip away slowly. In this high-level battle, even their weapons were unable to withstand the impacts and had started to break down even though they were enhanced with Willpower.


    As the Willpower''s Energy Field clashed with radioactive coolness, it formed an absolute isolation barrier within an area of several tens of meters. The frost that had just formed on the ground immediately shattered and the flow of the frost was slowed down by the Energy Field as it was gradually overpowered by it. However, the strange cry of a child wasn''t affected at all.


    One of the Red-White Mech''s leg and two of its hands had been unevenly damaged. As it separated from Garen''s Mech, it leaned its back against the wall as panting could be heard from the cockpit.


    The Red-White pilot was started seeing illusions as he kept seeing spots of red light resembling Mars moving about in front of him and obstructing his vision. He rubbed at his eyes in an attempt to clear his vision, but the number of red spots was increasing, to the point that it was starting to affect his vision.


    After all, he was a Level Four pilot that was boosted to Level Five too quickly. His foundation wasn''t solid enough due to the sudden level up. In addition to that, his Willpower wasn''t strong enough as well. As he was had lived and worked under oppression and fear within White Light, the Cold Chaos had finally found its way into affecting his spirit in this hopeless situation.


    "Hehe¡­ Mother¡­ I see you, mother¡­ Where are you? Don''t go¡­" his consciousness was starting to become muddy as saliva started dripping out of his mouth while it was wide open. Hallucinations started to visualize in front of him as well.


    He opened his arms wide as he attempted to hug something though there was nothing there.


    Garen walked towards him and stared at the Red-White Mech which had already slumped onto the ground.


    "Mother¡­ Don''t leave me behind¡­ Don''t throw me away¡­" the effect of the Cold Chaos became stronger as the Red-White pilot''s consciousness was thrown into utter chaos. He seemed to have submerged himself into his deepest memories.


    "Sob¡­ It''s hot¡­ so hot¡­"


    Garen raised his long sword.


    Chop!!


    **********


    Clint leaped as he maneuvered the Mech to avoid a chain of cannons. Under Red Moon''s instructions, he had managed to escape from a group of Miniature Mechs with his agile mobility.


    "Quickly!!!"


    Red Moon kept urging him.


    "I''m doing my best!!" blood started trickling out from Clint''s eyes, ears and nose as he evaded a sudden ambush with a high-difficulty maneuver. As he kept jumping to run for his life earlier, it had put a serious strain on his body over time. Although his internal organs were protected by a top class training method, Willpower Protection, large areas of his organs had started bleeding profusely after so much exertion.


    "I¡­" as he tried to open his mouth to speak up, a mouthful of blood obstructed his throat and he couldn''t voice out at all.


    "You!!" Red Moon could sense how serious the situation was.


    Sizzle!!!


    The Mech stopped moving abruptly.


    The Blackboard Mech eventually caught up to him in front of the alley in front. He stood at the entrance of the alley as he waited for Clint.


    Compared to Clint who didn''t have a suspension system, Garen basically flew instead of running on the ground as it was much faster this way.


    "It''s over," Garen threw the head of the Red-White Mech which he was holding onto the ground, and it rolled solidly to the side of Clint''s Mech.


    The Miniature Mech''s Pilots slowly stepped back as they only attacked within the shadows. They couldn''t be discovered by everyone else. They had given a valid excuse to the other households that they were helping the Blackboard Region with its public order. They had achieved their objective, which was to delay the pace of Clint''s Mech so that he would slow down. Their objective was never to destroy him as that mission should be completed by Nonosiva himself.


    Gradually, signs of activities around the alley cease to exist, leaving only Garen and Clint facing each other.


    "The Forbidden Core," Garen reached out his hand. "Give it to me. You''re still a child, and you shouldn''t be living a life of fleeing every day. You should be in school enjoying your youth, friends, and romance. You''re not supposed to run for your life in a dirty sewer."


    He tried to use his words to affect Clint''s mentality.


    He, too, was afraid that Clint would destroy the core out of determination. No one knew if the forbidden core was solid or fragile because no one had really seen the item before. It could be of any shape and state.


    However, he knew that his opponent was just a kid as he didn''t cover up his voice while speaking.


    "I¡­" Clint took a step back as the horrifying battle between the Black and Red-White Mech kept replaying in his mind. The opposing party had managed to win against the Red-White Mech and he knew that he couldn''t defend himself against him.


    Kachak¡­


    Garen''s Mech moved towards him slowly as he managed to temporarily fix the broken parts with his backup supply to the point where it didn''t affect the Mech''s normal activity. With it functioning perfectly, this had increased the fear and pressure in Clint''s mind so much so that he started shivering.


    "Your heart is seriously damaged. You''ll die within two hours if you don''t accept any treatment," Garen applied more mental pressure to his opponent. He was able to clearly sense the opponent''s concealed heart with his extremely strong senses.


    Clint was on the verge of crying¡­ It wasn''t that he didn''t want to hand it over to him, it''s that he would die too if he handed it over.


    "Between death and your treasure, are you still confused as to which one is more important? Perhaps the forbidden core had formed a connection with you to the point that you were unable to hand it over to me?" Garen guessed calmly.


    Clint shivered as Garen was able to come to a logical conclusion that was closest to the truth by just observing his actions. This terrifying manifestation¡­


    "Is this the strength of a Level Four and Level Five pilot??" he was traumatized.


    Boom!!


    Within the loud explosion, Garen pounced towards him and punched Clint''s cockpit on the left which sent the Mech flying away. The Mech crashed into the wall on the side. Garen followed tightly and stepped onto Clint''s chest with his foot. He then raised his machete up high as the tip of the blade glistened.


    His action was so fast that Clint had not been able to react in time at all. He was still in a mentally shaken state and in addition to that, his body was so seriously injured that he didn''t have any energy left to evade. He could only tell that his vision had immediately turned muddy and the sky had started spinning about. The next thing he knew, he was already down on the ground and the Machete which was held high up and about to pierce down.


    His mind was totally blank, as he stared at the sharp edge of the knife.


    Tsk!!!


    "Brother! No!!"


    In that exact moment, a familiar voice shouted at Garen from his side.


    However, the sword had already pierced into the cockpit.


    Blood was slowly flowing out from the cracks of the cockpit.


    A similar Black Pieced-together Mech entered the alley, appearing beside Garen. The cockpit cover opened up slowly, revealing an elegant girl sitting inside it.


    Garen looked over. Although he was sure that he heard his brother''s voice...


    He moved his lips as he looked at the elegant girl whose face was stained with tears. Although her hair was black and she had a pair of almond-shaped eyes and small lips with a pale skin tone, the mental state was clearly¡­


    "Brother¡­" the woman cried hysterically as she shouted.


    Garen pondered for a while as he finally put together the beautiful girl in front of him and the man he recalled in his memory.


    "You¡­ You''re Lon?!"


    Baylon bit her lips as she nodded her head.


    "Clint, he''s my friend¡­" for the very first time, she dared to look at Nono in the eye. She had never dared to look her brother in the eyes since young.


    However, this time could be the only time in her entire life she had ever done so. Perhaps it was the training method that had changed her, or perhaps it was because she was worried about Clint.


    Even Garen didn''t know what to do in this situation.


    Clint''s Mech made a ruckus as it rolled about after pulling the sword out of itself. He rolled to the other side of the wall, leaning against it as Clint panted loudly inside the cockpit.


    His left thumb had been chopped off and his left leg was almost completely amputated by the machete. He was very fortunate that Red Moon had twisted the trajectory of the machete with his Manipulation Field at the very last second. If he had not done so, he surely would have died to this attack.


    However, every sacrifice came with a price; Red Moon had exhausted the very last bit of his energy and had fallen into a coma.


    "It''s fortunate that I called Lon here. Don''t worry, you''ll be fine. Lon''s Willpower is best at healing wounds¡­ I will need about ten days to replenish my energy, so if you don''t have anything to do, go sunbathe or something¡­" Red Moon parted with his final words as he went into a comatose state.


    Garen was still looking at Baylon as she struggled.


    Baylon immediately pulled Clint up as she stared at Garen sorrowfully while holding Clint up. She then brought him along and disappeared into the entrance of the sewer with her face dripping with tears.


    Garen moved the Machete in his hand but didn''t pursue them any further. The Mech standing still within the shadows was like a sculpture.


    A Black Mech then landed just beside Garen.


    "Captain! Are you just going to let them go like this? Even if she''s your sister, you¡­"


    Clank!! Buzz¡­!!


    Garen immediately cut the Black Mech in half as he slashed his blade downwards.


    Boom!!


    The Black Mech immediately exploded and turned into a ball of flame.


    The fire bathed Garen''s Mech in red light as he put his blade away. He stared in the direction which Baylon had left and walked away in the opposite direction.

 857 Clue 1

    "What''re you going to do?"


    Inside a silence room within Celine''s household, Garen and Celine were sitting facing each other as they casually ate deer jerky as snacks.


    "To think that you''d kill one of your patrols, isn''t it hard to explain it to the higher-ups?" Celine looked at Garen lazily who sat opposite her.


    "Indole died while on duty as he fought bravely against the terrorist. It was unfortunate that he died as he attempted to protect me," Garen casually responded.


    "Do you really think the higher levels will believe you?" Celine curled her lips.


    "Does it matter whether they do or don''t?" Garen couldn''t care less. "Regardless, we have sacrificed a lot in the battlefield. One of my men died in the line of duty, a Mech was destroyed and I myself have suffered serious injuries. Ultimately we still managed to detain the terrorist of the White Light. The result is more than enough. Furthermore, the majority of the people do not know about the Forbidden Mech, so the outsiders would only view this as a battle between the terrorist group and the patrol team."


    "How do you plan to deceive your way out of this?" Celine wasn''t convinced at all.


    "What do you mean deceive?" Garen frowned as he picked up a glass of red fruit wine and lightly sipped it. "I did my best and defeated a Level Five Red-White Mech. Although the enemy was seriously injured, it''is still a feat that could only be done by a few. Furthermore, didn''t your men handle the rest while I took care of most of the small fries?"


    "You can''t deceive the higher levels with such an excuse. It''s still acceptable if you plan to deceive them in the short term, however, the beans will spill in the long term. Even I can''t guarantee that things won''t leak out even though I''ve gathered so many men," Celine glanced at Garen and felt that this man was cruel to the core as he was able to kill his partner that he''d just teamed up with. He was completely different from the typical student and was the type of person who would not stop at anything once he had snapped.


    "Don''t worry about it," Garen smiled. "The most important thing is that I won by a slight margin, the Forbidden Core had escaped and is not in my hand. Everyone will definitely set their eyes on the Forbidden Core. Furthermore, the White Light''s Mech definitely has a technological instrument that is able to track the Forbidden Core. As long as we have that instrument, the most they would do is to not credit the whole thing to me."


    "Seriously?" Celine didn''t think of this at all. "As long as we have the tracking device, we will definitely be able to track the location of the Forbidden Core and you''ll definitely be cleared of suspicion. If that''s the case, then the most dangerous period is the buffer period we''re in right now. Even so, with your identity, Britney and a bunch of us around you, and that man from the Polar Region, the higher levels will definitely have second thoughts about killing you."


    As her thought process chained up to this point, she finally let out a sigh of relief.


    "Since you know about this, wouldn''t it be the same if you let the core escape? The moment the higher ups get their hands on the Red-White Mech''s tracking device, they would mobilize the majority of Blackboard Region''s power and then finding these few people won''t be too hard of a task," Celine puzzled.


    "Does that matter? If they can''t survive this little obstacle, it''s better for them to just die," Garen shrugged nonchalantly.


    "Seriously¡­" Celine was hopeless. "Whatever, whatever. Thinking of all these is give me headaches. Let''s go! Let''s have a match!" she immediately stood up. "If you make me worry again, I will beat you up for real!!" She raised her fist and said angrily.


    "That''s fine since you can''t beat me, to begin with," Garen continued sipping his drink slowly without any change in expression as if he was asking for a beating.


    "You¡­!"


    ***********


    In the warehouse area.


    It was the battlefield where Garen and the Red-White had fought to the death. A man and a woman had come to the area with a mechanical arm-like instrument. The police force had already locked the entire place down; the police car''s lights kept spinning and as it shone onto the people within the area, it revealed their strange expressions.


    Both of them walked through the blockade and as they arrived at the barrier, they gently placed their hand on the barrier.


    "Beep¡­ Verification of the Special Detectives is complete. Please enter."


    A beautiful woman''s voice rang out of nowhere.


    The officers inside the area turned their heads around and looked at the newcomers. The bystanders too turned their attention towards them.


    "Special Detectives?"


    Among the crowd, a middle-aged man who had a mottled beard tipped his hat and looked at them through the gap as well.


    "Even the Special Detectives have arrived for this terrorist attack. I heard that the government would only send these officers to the scene if the situation is extremely serious," a civilian whispered.


    "What actually happened here to the point where they had to make a huge scene and lock down the whole warehouse area?"


    "I heard that there was an intense battle between the terrorist and the patrol team. Ultimately, the patrol team won by a slight margin but they had lost three Mechs and one of the academy students died in the line of duty"


    An uncle laughed, "It looks like a scandal. This has never happened in the past. However, ever since the assassination of that military officer, trouble started to appear everywhere."


    "What trouble?"


    The bearded man questioned him, acting as if he was a bystander as well, "Do you mean the assassination of one of the Three Black Rain Generals?"


    "I''m afraid not, as that incident had already spread out. The assassin has yet to be caught and is on the wanted list everywhere. The higher-ups have tried to suppress the incident multiple times but to no avail, and it has been spread about everywhere. Perhaps the Pilots from the White Light Group have infiltrated everywhere in this region and have been carrying out their activities in the dark," The uncle continued chuckling. "I migrated here as I heard that it would be safer here in the Blackboard Region, but¡­" he shook his head.


    The bearded man pondered for a while and quietly left the crowd after listening to them for a while. He then took out his Watch Terminal, called a number and reported the news over.


    Inside the alley.


    Two Special Detectives were squatting down at the center of the alley as they examined the area thoroughly.


    "There''re traces of strong Willpower in the area and it''s obvious that it''s a Level Five Energy Field," the male Special Detective murmured. "It should be from the White Light Group''s Mech of the report. Have you discovered anything over there?"


    The female Special Detective frowned as she reached out her finger and touched the layer of white stains on the wall. Her blue irises started rotating as if her eyeballs were rotating together and it looked very inhuman. However, it only lasted for a moment before it returned back to their normal state.


    "Surprisingly, there''s a trace of Cold Radiation¡­ Although someone tried to eliminate it on purpose, I could still sense a slight trace of radiation left behind."


    "Cold Radiation? Is it from the Quick Frost Grenade?" the man asked softly.


    "I''m afraid¡­ According to the report, this is the location where the Blackboard''s top student fought with the terrorist. One of them most likely possessed a secret weapon," the woman shook her head.


    "Officer, we''ve found something! Come take a look!" the police force''s captain called as he walked towards them.


    As both of them walked over to him, they saw that the captain was holding a small exquisite white stone sculpture in his Traceless Glove. The stone looked like a man was squatting down or sitting on his knees, and its face and attire were unclear to the point where it looked like a stone that was shaped naturally. As to why it was exquisite, the back of the stone''s head was etched with a detailed and complicated circular texture which looked to be a magical formation of overlapping circles.


    "What''s this?"


    "I''ve found it on the body of the terrorist. I can''t believe this thing is still intact after that explosion. Even our researcher isn''t able to detect what this item is made from," the police captain said as he walked towards them. This man, who was known for his sharp observation, was a muscular man who had climbed up from the bottom of the ladder to become an elite pilot.


    "This is¡­" the female detective took the item and examined it closely. "This is an ancient tracking device¡­"


    "Perhaps¡­?" the male detective seemed to have recalled something.


    At the same time, the female detective had thought of something as well and they exchanged glances with each other.


    "Let''s report it immediately!"


    "What about the remaining traces of radiation?"


    "Ignore it. The most important thing now is that we need to find out is if this is what we think it is!"


    **********


    In the sewers.


    It was dark, cold and smelly.


    Two scraped-together black Mechs walked slowly as they moved forward.


    Clint''s wound had been healed by Baylon''s Willpower. Although it wasn''t a complete heal, it was able to prevent his injury from worsening.


    Time passed by.


    After running for a considerable amount of time, both of them felt safer when they arrived at a place deep the sewers, which Red Moon had arranged earlier. This place was narrow but it was big enough to fit two Mechs.


    "Sigh¡­" Clint opened up the cockpit and walked out from it. He was extremely dirty as he laid on the ground. He was fortunate that Baylon didn''t mind how dirty he was at all as she carried him along.


    "Your injury is very serious, so stop moving about!!" Baylon felt relieved when she saw Clint''s wound; her Willpower was able to release a Life Field that would supply life force to Clint. At the same time, it would cast a layer of absolute protection which prevented bacteria from invading his body.


    "Lon¡­ How did you know that that was your brother?" Clint tried his best to put a smile on his face as this pain was nothing compared to Red Moon''s daily ''teachings''... No, Red Moon''s classes were much more painful than this, which was the reason why he was able to endure the pain for a long period of time.


    "It was uncle Red Moon who told me about it," Baylon responded as she found a grooved metal piece that she could use to pour some water on him. Although the water in the sewer was dirty, it could still be used to wash one''s body after filtering it with the Mech''s system.


    "Red Moon said so? What''s going on?" Clint wasn''t able to move at all from the moment he relaxed. He started to feel dizzy, and he could only lay down and wait for death even if he were to be placed in the same dangerous situation he had just experienced. As he calmed down and gave the biggest sigh of relief in his life, his body switched to recovery mode.


    This was similar to someone wanting to sleep after too much training. However, as Clint was afraid that he might never wake up if he fell asleep, he tried to stay awake and kept finding topics to talk about. Most of the movies he had watched had people who slept and passed away peacefully, which had traumatized him deeply.


    "He told me to rush over as you were in grave danger. He even told me that my brother¡­ my brother, he¡­" Baylon looked at Clint''s missing left thumb and his left leg that had been on the verge of being amputated. Although the wound had stitched up together, it was still shocking to see the red flesh and she was very guilty about it.


    "I''m sorry Clint. It''s my fault. I only wanted to go home and see my parents, brother, and sister. I didn''t expect¡­ expect everything would unfold like this¡­" she couldn''t help herself but to cry once more.


    "Don''t blame it on your brother. I believe he has his reasons," Clint tried his best to act that he didn''t care at all as he patted her hair. "I''m a person who has done many good deeds and good karma will definitely come back for me. See, I didn''t die, right? If your brother didn''t evade at the very last second, I''m sure I would have died from it."


    He didn''t know that it wasn''t Garen''s error but Red Moon''s handiwork; he had twisted the space to save Clint''s life. As Red Moon didn''t mention anything about this to him, he really believed that Garen had decided to not kill him at the very last second.


    "But your finger¡­" tears kept rolling down from Baylon''s red eyes.


    "Didn''t Master Red Moon said that I will be fine? Don''t worry about it. This isn''t something you should bear alone as I wanted to go back and visit my sister as well. Stop feeling bad about it, I didn''t die, right?" Clint comforted her clumsily.


    "Did Red Moon really say so?" Baylon continued crying as she asked skeptically.


    "Definitely. Although I''m not sure why I''m sure he has his reasons, "Clint nodded. "Your brother is a good person, it''s just that he doesn''t express it. In fact, he''s the type of person who would act coldly on the outside but feel emotional on the inside! Trust me on this, for I have never judged people wrongly with my experience!" he smiled as he revealed his set of white teeth.


    "You really don''t blame him for this?"


    "Yes. Really."


    Baylon pondered for a moment as she bit her lips.


    "Then¡­ can I send some of the items to him? Now that I''ve become like so, no one should know except for you and me¡­"


    Clint was helpless as the situation changed too quickly.

 858 Clue 2

    At noon, Garen and Celine were sparring again in the training room. After correcting her flaws and mistakes and training her hard, Garen left Celine''s place as he sat in the Levitating Car which had come to pick him up.


    The Charm Mercenary group''s leader had personally driven the car to fetch him.


    The captain of the group who had shoulder-length golden curly hair was none other than Inari.


    This elegant captain who was in the driver seat kept looking at Garen who sat beside her. She seemed to have obtained intel of his battle in the alley.


    "What are you looking at, Ms. irresponsible Captain?" Garen glanced at her coldly. "You didn''t finish a single one of the tasks I''d assigned to you. I feel that it''s pointless to hire you guys."


    Inari was slightly frozen as she didn''t expect Garen to scold her the moment he opened his mouth.


    "Sir Nono, please don''t be mean to us. We are doing our best. You have to understand that the White Light''s Mech was overwhelmingly powerful. We''re just Level One and Two Pilots. How could we ever hope to fight against those Level Five elites?"


    "Then what''s the point of me hiring you people?" Garen adjusted his hair which had been blown around by the wind as he looked at the view through the windshield while they sped along the highway.


    "We weren''t just sitting there and do nothing, Sir Nono," Inari smiled. It was the very first time that she had worked with a man that treated them equally as a mercenary. In the past, all their employers were just men who kept staring them as if they were some sort of meat instead of mercenaries.


    This time around, she felt a sense of respect from Garen''s attitude. It was a respect that she had been yearning for a long time.


    "Let''s hear about it. What can you guys do?" Garen asked softly.


    Inari smiled again once more.


    "I assume you''ve heard of the pulse wave incident, right?"


    Garen nodded as he had just received intel on it from Kendall that the special detectives that had been mobilized by the higher-ups had focused their attention on the tracking device. They were too busy to pay heed to his radiation and the death of his team member. Even the portrayal of his immense talent and battle sense were neglected. It was obvious that the Forbidden Core was so important that the higher-ups were willing to ignore the rest.


    He was happy with the results as well. If he were to obtain the core and hand it over, he might have been silenced by them as well. After all, no one could be sure that he hadn''t obtained any mysterious intel from the core. He would be dead the moment there was the slightest suspicion towards him.


    This result was the best for him, where the higher-ups managed to obtain the tracking device. When he returned back to his team, he had purposely stabbed his Mech to make it seem like he was seriously injured from the Reflection and was too weak to chase after them. This was to prevent him from being suspected.


    He was barely able to suppress the issue as this issue itself could be serious on its own. He was fortunate that he had been in good relationships with the higher-ups and Britney had tried to speak on behalf of him. In addition to that, Celine had sent people to tend the matter along with the Honorable Noble. Hence, the higher-ups had stopped going after him and focused their full attention on the Forbidden Core''s tracking device.


    As he came back to his senses, Inari had already started her explanation.


    "The main culprits of the pulse wave incident were the elites from the white light group," she said softly. "It wasn''t one of their members that you''d faced but their actual elite!"


    "Oh?" Garen felt worried now; he had to reveal his trump card to fight, and even so, he had barely been able to kill a typical member who was in a seriously injured condition. If he were in perfect condition, Garen would''ve been the first one to run away.


    It was similar to a young trainee who had encountered a legendary elite. Their skills were not of the same rank and they weren''t even just a level apart. Garen could''ve died from his internal energy alone.


    If the person and his Mech were in a good condition, he wouldn''t have been able to move from his Energy Field and he wouldn''t be able to use any battle skills at all.


    "The White Light Group has the Shining Mech, which was the one you''ve encountered. The one who had performed the assassination was a Great Light Mech, which is considered a leader who manages the Shining Mech. He possesses incredible strength!" Inari said seriously. "Also, I''ve heard some intel regarding the Great Light Mech."


    "How is that related to me?" Garen questioned back.


    "Since you''ve killed one of their Shining Mechs, regardless if he was a traitor, you''re the main reason the Blackboard Region''s higher-ups have obtained the tracking device from the Mech. The opponent will definitely hunt for you when they fight against the higher-ups," Inari was very direct with a slight sense of ridicule in her tone. "When that time comes, no matter how gifted you are, the result of fighting against a few Level Fives and an even stronger pilot in the perfect condition would spell¡­"


    "That is my issue," Garen narrowed his eyes.


    "So? Do you know how important we are now?" Inari smiled as she continued driving. Suddenly she felt something crawling up into her white T-shirt from below which went straight to her breasts. Her bra was taken off and both of her breasts were squeezed tightly and all she felt was an immense pain.


    "You!!" her face blushed. Since she was driving on the road at high speed, she didn''t dare to take her hands off the wheel else she would risk being in an accident.


    Inari felt that her breasts were being fondled with as though they were just toys. This made her very embarrassed.


    "Even if you''re useful in this aspect, so what?" Garen casually responded as he felt the soft sensation on his hand without changing his facial expression. "Everything else is just an excuse if you don''t perform your duty."


    Inari suddenly felt that her T-shirt was being pulled upward. The side windows of the car were transparent. Without the cover, everyone on the streets could''ve seen her body the moment her shirt was taken off.


    "Don''t you dare!!" Inari gritted.


    "I am only giving you a warning," Garen gently tapped on her body and a cold item came out from his sleeve and stuck lightly onto the underside of Inari''s breasts.


    It was a light blue ball of meat. As it stuck onto her skin, it naturally opened up like a crumpled paper attempting to return back to its original shape. It soon became thinner and thinner until it was completely attached to her skin. Then, it started assimilating into the skin.


    However, Inari didn''t seem to realize at all as she squirmed her body about embarrassingly, trying to get away from Garen''s hand.


    The Distorted Seed¡­


    Garen had created the seed of the Hellfrost Peacock which could create monsters. He then gently placed it into Inari''s heart. As long as he willed it, it would instantly explode and turn Inari into a chaotic radioactive monster.


    Garen put away his hands without any change in his expression as if he had done nothing at all.


    "If you like this kind of foreplay, I''ll let you play with Julie and the others when we get back instead of fooling around on the highway! Please hold yourself back!" Inari scolded in embarrassment.


    "I''m not satisfied with your attitude," Garen reached out his hand and pinched Inari''s chin.


    Crack!!


    "Ah!!! You¡­!!" Inari felt an intense pain in her chin, so strong that the sound of bone cracking could be heard. Her inklings of pride and contempt were immediately replaced by a sense of fear.


    "A decoration has its own uses," Garen moved his hands away calmly.


    "Are you still a man! How dare you touch me when you can''t win verbally!"


    "Of course, isn''t this what men do best?" Garen questioned her back.


    Inari was speechless.


    "Alright let''s stop fooling around. Drive the car safely," Garen had a sudden interest in releasing his Distorted Seed''s parasite into her. He wanted to try out how effective it is and would activate it when the opportunity arose.


    He decided on Inari as his subject because he had the right opportunity and this girl seemed to be very mysterious as well. She also seemed to have a rich amount of intel and channels, and hence she could be his ears.


    He suddenly realized that he now had a lot of sudden urges to fool around, unlike back in the days where he kept fighting for his life. All this time, his life was about fighting and nothing else.


    "Is this the effect of having more Soul Seeds?" he touched his chin as he listened to Inari''s complaints.It seemed that Inari wasn''t completely rejecting his ''sudden ambush''. This was most likely because of his battle strength and his wealth, which gave this materialistic woman a good impression.


    After putting away all these nonsensical thoughts, Garen recalled the scenario where he had let Clint and his brother escaped.


    As his sword was bent in that instant, he had heard a voice from the cockpit, or one could say that the voice had been directly transferred into his consciousness.


    "What you really need is a truly powerful Willpower Training Method. With your talent, you''re burying it by only using the Crouched Eagle Talon," this voice immediately pointed out his weakness.


    Garen stopped moving as he stood still. Although Baylon was speaking beside him and Clint was moving, he focused his attention on the voice.


    "Who are you? What are you trying to tell me?" he tried to question back in his mind.


    "I want your core, are you interested in doing a trade with me?" the voice continued asking.


    "Trade? Can you give me what I want?"


    "Naturally."


    After exchanging information.


    Garen moved his machete and chose not to chase after Baylon and Clint who were running away.


    He had originally planned on persuading the person who had the core to pursue what he needed, but he didn''t expect that the opponent had thought of working with him as well.


    What he didn''t expect the most was that his own brother had turned into that appearance. Furthermore, he seemed to be in a good relationship with the man who possessed the core.


    He didn''t plan to kill Clint as well and followed along with the flow when his machete was diverted. He wanted to observe in detail how different a person who could shock the Soul Seed was as compared to the rest.


    In the end, both of them were satisfied with the results.


    However, the only thing Garen was unsatisfied was to see that his brother Baylon was dressed up like a girl, or perhaps he had a transsexual operation, as it didn''t make any sense for him to turn into that state. Fortunately, he had killed the only witness and no one knew that his brother was related to the person who possessed the core.

 859 Line of Sight 1

    Fortunately, the core had given him a training method that seemed to be rather unique.


    After the warehouse incident, Garen had downloaded the confidential document that was transferred via the core to him from the Mech''s computer. He then proceeded to wipe off all traces of it once he had done so. Once he had reached home and recovered the data, he made sure that he did not leave behind any loopholes multiple times before he deleted all the records. He even destroyed the hard disc and used a new one in order to prevent any leaks.


    "After this incident, I should start analyzing the training methods that I obtained," according to Garen''s estimation, this training method was no ordinary training method as it was at least a Level Five. However, he had no intention of retraining himself. If he were to abandon his Crouched Eagle Talon, it would be extremely difficult as his Willpower had already taken to its shape. Similar to a stone sculpture, it would be difficult to change it to another shape once its external shape was formed. He would have to exhaust more material and time if he were to start over.


    As Inari kept driving along the road, Garen was thinking of a way to further perfect his Crouched Eagle Talon.


    He didn''t plan to abandon this training method at all. In fact, he planned to improve it.


    This was because the new training method was completely irrelevant to the Crouched Eagle Talon in terms of the involvement of body parts. The three main body parts involved with the Crouched Eagle Talon were the hands and chest.


    On the other hand, the new training method involved his head, legs, and the back, which was the most important part. There were a total of four body parts and they did not overlap with the Crouch Eagle Talon. This seemed to have been considered by the Core.


    Two training methods could be overlap and not interfere with each other. This was equivalent to wearing two sets of equipment and utilizing one of them whenever needed.


    Unfortunately, the Crouched Eagle Talon could only go up to Level Five. Naturally, he could go the Eagle''s Nest and spend his Quest Points or Contribution Points to obtain the information for all five levels. However, the price wasn''t cheap as it was at least equivalent to hundreds of thousands of Universal Units.


    Even so, the Crouched Eagle Talon was still a high-cost performance training method to the public since there were very few training methods that could reach Level Five.


    Garen had realized that the strength of his Crouched Eagle Talon was just a mere Level Three. This was probably because he would need a military identity to reach Level Four. Before taking on the mission, he would have had no opportunities to be qualified to possess such an identity. However, after contributing to them with his strength, it was slightly easier for him to obtain a military identity and it should not be a problem for him to obtain all five levels of the training method.


    Beep beep¡­ Beep beep¡­


    As Garen was lost in his thoughts, his watch started beeping.


    He raised his wrist to eye level to find out that it was a new message.


    ''The Merit Awarding Ceremony will be held at the second military division. The time will be tomorrow at 16:00. Please arrive beforehand.''


    "Where is the Second Military Division located?"


    Garen casually asked.


    Inari who had been messed with by Garen didn''t dare to mess with him anymore and decided to be very honest with him.


    "It''s just beside the Empire State Building in the Magical Rose District. Why do you ask? Are the upper levels going to award the merits?"


    "Yep. You''re good guessing these kinds of stuff, no?"


    Garen glanced at her as he knew that this girl possessed a great amount of intel.


    Inari didn''t dare to speak further as she displayed the location of the place clearly on the vehicle''s map. They didn''t speak further after Garen copied it into his Watch Terminal.


    They encountered a few red lights along their journey back to the Blackboard Academy.


    The sky gradually turned dark while the number of cars increased as the peak hours were approaching. Red cars and buses started appearing more and more and their speed gradually slowed down.


    A few motorcyclists in helmets and sports enthusiasts who had passed by Garen''s car would whistle and laugh loudly when they saw Inari in the driver''s seat.


    "These kids!" Inari scoffed.


    "You grew up around these people," Garen casually laughed.


    Inari didn''t refute as she seemed to be traumatized by Garen''s ambush.


    The traffic jam became worse as everyone had just got off from work. Occasionally, honks could be heard from the front and back.


    The traffic jam was terrible and the vehicles could only move at a snail''s pace. The VIP lane which was three meters above the ground was empty as usual. Since the cars at the bottom did not have the authority and the capability to rise up to that level, they could only move slowly at the bottom lane.


    By the time they arrived Blackboard Academy, the sky had already turned dark.


    Garen immediately went to report to the academy, called up his instructor and a few good friends, and took his dinner before going back to his dorm.


    As he reached his dorm, he immediately looked around in an attempt to uncover any hidden cameras or bugs in every suspicious spot. Garen even used specialized scanning devices to ensure there was no spying in the area before tidying up the training method that he had obtained.


    It was a nameless training method and the information that might have names involved were edited. It was obviously the doing of the Forbidden Core.


    However, these were not important. What was the most important was that this training method showed signs of being capped at Level Six.


    Although there were only five levels given by the Forbidden Core, it was obvious that there were signs of Level Six at the end of the information. It was something Garen could easily spot from the training method''s information.


    "Planning to use this to negotiate with me, eh?" he managed to guess the Forbidden Core''s intention to use such a high-level training method as its offer. In addition to that, he''d even planned to rope him into this troublesome situation with his brother Baylon.


    "However, this is fine by me as well."


    Garen was willing to take a step back as the training method that was given by the other party was incredibly powerful. According to Garen''s estimation, it was most likely the legendary Inherited Level.


    Only training methods that could reach Level Six were considered an Inherited Level. There was one major distinction between an Inherited Pilot and a normal Pilot, which was that the latter was much stronger than the former. The drastic difference was comparable to that of an elite from the sacred martial art academy and a typical martial artist who lived by the streets. Their strengths were simply not in the same realm.


    However, the most important take here was that the weakest Inherited Pilot was a Level Six.


    He had temporarily named this training method as the Forbidden Training Method, which came from the very idea that it was a training method that was forbidden.


    The main parts involved were the back, legs, and head. With each level up, it would increase the Mech''s Reflex, Endurance, and Recovery by a level each.


    Reflex was a skill that temporarily increased the Pilot''s sudden movements by increasing the response of the Pilot''s nerves. This would increase the reaction time of the Pilot and Mech as a whole.


    On the other hand, Endurance was similar to what the Red-White Mech had showcased, where it would increase its lifespan by reducing its energy lost via energy channeling. It would increase the lifespan of the reserved energy and hence Endurance. This meant that it could ensure the Mech retained mobility for as long as possible.


    As for Recovery, it was the core of the training method. Before this, Garen had never heard of a training method that could heal on its own.


    This unique ability was exclusive only to the Inherited Mech. The Inherited Mech could be best described as a Mech that had gained life. As long as it had energy, it would have the ability to slowly regenerate itself.


    This training method surprisingly had the Recovery ability from the very beginning, which was to say that it was the most powerful aspect of the training method.


    Garen could also feel that the reason why the Forbidden Core had given him this training method was that it would not clash with his Crouched Eagle Talon.


    As he thought until here, Garen walked into the bathroom, took off his clothes and stood underneath the shower head, naked. He then turned on the cold water and allowed it to drip from his head to his toes.


    As he looked over his current status, he felt relieved.


    "The Potential Points have accumulated to this amount?"


    With the Staff of Absolute Yin in his possession, it had given him an unlimited source of potential points. As long as he rubbed this staff for an hour each day, it would give Garen two Potential Points. It would then wilt but even so, it had given Garen enough cushion to face any problem.


    The Instantaneous Paper Box that he had obtained together with the staff was a one-time-use item that could repel the Energy Field. Garen had been keeping it and had yet to use it, unlike the Staff of Absolute Yin which he had been utilizing on a daily basis.


    The gem in the Staff of Absolute Yin was a treasure that could automatically generate potential points as it would store a small number of energy points inside of itself. Similarly, it would release them slowly. Hence Garen had to absorb the stored Potential Points inside frequently in order to not waste his time.


    However, the effect of it being slow was that he could only absorb a maximum of two points per day. The rate would be greatly reduced afterward.


    Even so, Garen was extremely satisfied with it.


    Several days'' worth of accumulated potential points had been used to increase his Willpower by a level to reach Level Four when he''d fought against the Red-White Mech. After spending two potential points, he had sixteen points remaining.


    "Sixteen points¡­ I can use all of them at once to increase this training method. The reason why the Crouched Eagle Talon has no Level Six is simply that the limit of this training method is Level Five. Hence, a lot of people would try to earn more money and buy a better training method once they have reached level five and relearn it again with the Crouched Eagle Talon as their base. It is a viable way to earn money and learn a new training method at the same time," Garen pondered as he started channeling his Willpower slowly into both of his legs according to the forbidden record. This was the first level of this new training method.


    It was a good opportunity for him to obtain an Inherited Training Method. If he were to try to obtain an Inherited Training Method through the traditional way in the academy, he would have no choice but to enter a household, pledge a Mech''s oath and carve an absolute command order algorithm onto his own Inherited Mech. Furthermore, he would have to abide by a strict restraint on which training methods he could learn and he would not be allowed to leak any of this out to the public.


    It would be equivalent to becoming the sect''s underling or fighter. Their contract would at least require from them decades of services or else, one would never be able to obtain Inherited Level resources. As these items were strictly controlled, they lived in a different realm from typical Pilots.


    Garen didn''t want to become a slave to any household. However, he would be capped at Level Five without these Inherited Training Methods and have no hopes of improving further, just like Red Eye Medero.


    Medero was not able to obtain the relevant resources and training method because she didn''t join any Inherited powerhouses. Furthermore, her academy teacher, who was one of the Three Heads, didn''t let them obtain any Inherited Level Training Method for some reason. Till this date, excluding the Three Heads, only Black Rain had obtained an Inherited Training Method. The rest didn''t have the opportunity and even among the bunch of instructors, ninety percent of them were capped at Level Five. They had been training themselves at this level for so long and yet there were no improvements.


    There was only one special instructor who had managed to breakthrough into the Inherited Level on his own. He then inherited this to the Academy but was not able to improve further than Level Six.

 860 Line of Sight 2

    This was how things were at the moment. It was the same throughout the Blackboard Region, Polar Region, Maria Region, and other surrounding regions where everything related to Inherited Level was under strict control; even Red-eyed Medero could not obtain a Level Six Training Method to reach Level Six despite having served the academy for such a long period of time. Moreover, for huge influential households like the one Celine was from, or elites, there would only be a single digit number of pilots with Inherited Level training methods and Mechs. If Celine herself did not reach the top three in her entire clan, she could only attain Level Five at most.


    If that was the case for such rich and powerful individuals, what of Garen himself?


    Regarding Inheritance, the teacher would need to make a careful selection and scrutinize each generation. The level of aptitude and will required were extremely high and not everyone could easily meet these conditions.


    After learning of these circumstances, Garen immediately set his sights on the Forbidden Core. This could be the only opportunity for him to acquire an Inherited Level training method.


    Standing underneath the cold shower, Garen started to recall the Level One content of the Forbidden Training Method.


    "¡­Inherited training methods vastly differ from ordinary training methods whereby the human fuses with the Mech to eventually replace oneself with foreign objects, while the original self would huddle up in the inner core of the Mech, achieving the state of a body within a body. At that level, the original self would exist as the core of life, reaching the theoretical limit of a human lifespan. Every kind of exhaustion and damage will be borne by the Mech''s body. At the same time, foreign objects can be used to recuperate and evolve the Mech''s body whereby their essence would be extracted to feed the original core, prolonging and evolving the levels of limitations of human life. This is one of the basic concepts in the early journey of Inheriting."


    Garen had read this numerous times but was still deeply shaken as he read it again. This kind of means equaled to constructing a truly mighty outer shell with life in it.


    "According to the Yin-yang theory and the ways of the Secret Techniques, the source of life, also known as the innate vitality of the body, are fixed since birth, not just in human beings but in all kinds of living things. It cannot regenerate and can only be exhausted. Growth and development will expend innate vitality, while injuries and illness will result in the depletion of vitality for recovery; facing enormous stimulation will also exhaust vitality."


    "Life is like a brand new candle; birth is when the candle is lit while death is when it burns out. This is the essence of life," Garen contemplated on the matter.


    "No wonder some people view life as a journey. The candle is given by parents, by this universe. The parents, coming together under an appropriate circumstance influenced by the universe, will produce offspring and give us flesh. Our flesh results in thinking, which will then evolve into a will that influences the body. There are pros and cons to this type of influence. When the self is not influenced by distracting thoughts and desires will all miscellaneous cravings be altered and meld together for the purpose of feeding back into the innate vitality. Only then can one walk upon the path of evolution. Using the whole of self as a motivation for evolving¡­"


    Combining the universal view and life view of the ways of the Secret Techniques, Ancient Endor, and other philosophies during Earth times, Garen formed his own kind of philosophical theory.


    The function of philosophy was to point out a direction and to see the future clearly.


    With the merging of the Inherited Mech theory from this world, Garen was able to visualize a whole new path before him.


    "Right¡­ If growing causes the exhaustion of innate vitality, why not construct a brand new body since the original body solely acts as a bearing tool? By cutting down exhaustion, growth and development, aging, and illness, it would certainly be possible to achieve a non-deteriorating life pattern under the protection of the mech''s body. In this case, it would most likely prolong one''s lifespan," Garen nodded and continued reading attentively.


    "Perhaps there are still many other schools of thought. Even so, the fundamental direction is as such: living things themselves have adaptability. This kind of adaptability is known as evolving or devolving. Changes occur in response to the environment and the genes of generations upon generations are modified to better integrate into the life pattern of the natural universe. This is inherent. It is an inherent trait for us to blend in with the natural universe as one. Every person of remarkable talent can learn to reflect on the law of nature and universe to quicken this process. Our learning ability can speed up our inherent adaptability, although this kind of adapting will cause the loss of life."


    "Why do living things have such adaptability?"


    This question appeared next.


    Garen was able to grasp some ideas. He had known about all these things previously but they were not put together like this and had never elicited such a strong emotion in him.


    "Because the instinct to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages is incongruous with nature, there will always be friction and resistance."


    "For example, the tree that grows out of the forested area will easily be blown down by the wind, or the animal that eats only a single type of plant will die off when that particular type of plant goes extinct due to natural causes."


    "In human society, if we do not integrate into it, we will be viewed as strange species, be discriminated against and face prejudices. The friction with the outside world will also increase."


    "If the tender skin does not grow thick when it is constantly being blown at by the wind, chilblains will start to develop. If the strength of resisting heat does not increase when constantly being in a high-temperature environment, one will be scalded every day. There are many more similar principles¡­"


    The notes of the training method kept going deeper, and Garen continuously deepened the engraving of the imprint in both of his legs in accordance with the content of the Forbidden Training Method.


    "In order to reduce all kinds of friction with the outer world and to prevent the energy of life from depleting, previous wise men have racked their brains and figured out a whole new path, which is the Mech."


    "One will still be affected and have to suffer from the universe and light radiation as long as the person exists in this universe. Although many of the beams are beneficial at the same time, many forerunners have exchanged precious experience and knowledge on how to sift out the beneficial parts and reject the depleting parts. The Mech, as the mechanism of choice, emerged as the times demanded. Combat is actually just one of its additional functions."


    Garen nodded in understanding. This kind of pathway''s concept was way different from the direction of Secret Techniques. The Secret Technique''s concept was to exhaust all of the innate vitality in the shortest amount of time to upgrade oneself. When one reached the level of unending tapping, one would be able to transmigrate and revive even though the body had rotted. What differed was the switching of a bodily shell.


    Both differed in their essence.


    The Secret Technique was about enhancing the enduring essence of the body and integrating the imprint of the will of life into it.


    On the other hand, the Mech used a foreign object as a protective shell to protect the body so that it could endure and prolong its development.


    Put simply, that was what it meant.


    The focus of Secret Techniques was on afterlife while for the Mech, it was the present life. They were somewhat similar to the philosophies of Buddhism and Taoism on Earth.


    Garen''s mind became clearer as he comprehended this. By corroborating the strength systems of countless worlds with one another, he began to see clearly the path he was to take.


    "By utilizing the strength of technology, the mech acts as an outer body to strengthen the original body and feed back into the body, thus achieving an indestructible state and maximum lifespan. Building on this foundation, the toxins and impurities of the body will be filtered out repeatedly while unused functions would be eliminated, leaving purely the source of life and reverting the human body to its primitive state. The substitution of the Mech as the body will turn into a brand new life¡­"


    As Garen looked over the text repeatedly, the current situation he was in dawned on him. He wondered whether the Forbidden Core had come from such beginnings and if it possible that the Forbidden Core was, in fact, the pilot of the Forbidden Mech itself. After all, it was highly unlikely that a body would contain a second consciousness. Yet, the universe was so big that nothing was to be surprised at, even in such circumstances.


    Garen put aside his suspicion.


    Recalling the situation of Blackboard Academy, he suddenly realized that no one in the whole of the academy had ever made it known that they were Level Six, not even the instructors and professors. Even for those instructors who had made it to Level Six and left a legacy behind, they only stayed in the inner courtyard all year round and no one had ever seen their faces before. As for the big three professors, nobody had an idea of what their statuses were, as not a single person had ever seen them in combat nor had their Mechs ever appeared before anyone.


    At this moment, Garen felt his legs getting slightly numb as the engraving of the imprint was half done. The basic level was completed gradually without much complication under his abundant Willpower.


    He continued to read on.


    "Exploiting all favorable resources by non-stop absorption of foreign objects to strengthen oneself. The pathway of the Mech is essentially the path of exploiting."


    "When at Level Six, there will be a sense of resonance between the human and the Mech to attain the state of fusing into a single entity, while the Mech will also gain the ability of self-healing."


    "Upon reaching Level Seven, the Mech will tentatively begin to fuse with the human body and parts of the body organs will start to degenerate. Some pilots will remain in the Mech so that their nerves will connect with the Mech naturally, whereas in some cases, the Mech will become an enclosed armor that covers the surface area of the human being''s skin. Not only that, it can condense and disintegrate to fuse into the pilot''s heart. The pilot may look like an ordinary person, but in reality, his combatting capability is equal to that of a large-size mech."


    "At Level Eight¡­" it stopped abruptly just like that.


    Garen knew that this was the doing of the Forbidden Core. Nevertheless, through the philosophy views that he had read, he now roughly knew the direction he was heading towards.


    It was nothing more than the fusion of the body to become the source of life by constructing a new body using foreign objects. This was a step-by-step interchange process just like how a silkworm secreted silk to build its cocoon before emerging as a moth. This conformed to the natural ways of evolution.


    "Each unique Inherited Mech demands various specific materials to construct the Mech''s outer body. However, they all require a common material, which is Worma Crystal. Originating from the Well of Black Abyss, the Worma Crystal is a type of powerful ore which contains a high purity level of life energy. It does not just replenish the source of life but also is a scarce material that is essential for evolving to a higher level. That is the reason why the Mother Planet Federation and the Galatic Alliance are at war with the Finite people. Generations of powerful Inherited Level pilots engaged in a life-and-death battle with the Finite people''s Inherited pilots in order to take possession of large tracts in the Well of Black Abyss. Amidst the great amount of slaughtering and death, the life energy that dissipated was absorbed by the Well of Black Abyss to produce new Worma Crystal. This is the truth of the warfare. Everyone fought tacitly with the purpose of killing the opponent to obtain more resources for growth and evolvement. Pillaging, plundering and pillaging again! This is the essence of Mech. At the heart of it, it is to make use of the Well of Black Abyss to produce other sources of life, evolving oneself and head towards the way of eternity¡­"


    Whir!!


    A sound rang in Garen''s mind. Forbidden Training Method Level One had finally been attained. Two white ray prints appeared faintly on both of his knees before disappearing quickly.

 861 Military Rank 1

    Clint carefully scraped the green moss off the sewer pipelines into the small dish in his hands. Immediately, there was a smile on his face.


    "There will be more ingredients for tonight''s dinner."


    In the dark and gloomy sewers, there was an underground river that flowed rapidly on the right side. At times, there was some white and yellow floating debris drifting by. Most of it was a layer of thick oily sludge that stank from afar.


    However, Clint had gotten used to it. He looked around for more spots with such moss and scraped off the only bit of moss in the sewer into his small dish.


    During these few days in the sewers, he had encountered multiple instances of underground pursuit. They were not by the pilots above ground but by mutated rodents that lived in the depths of the sewer and would appear in big groups every few hours. These rodents with glowing red eyes could gnaw through any objects. In order to conserve the mech''s energy, Clint did not dare to misuse the mech. It was a rigged-up mech in the first place. The power furnace was an old model and lots of its energy had been used up. A majority of what was left of the energy had been used for Red Moon''s recovery while the final bit was reserved for the opening of the hatch door.


    Thinking of this, Clint sighed. Putting away the moss, he touched his stomach and it still felt a bit sore to the touch. He looked at the time, turned around and headed back to his hiding spot.


    "Ten more minutes until the group of rodents appear. There should be enough time."


    After walking for a distance, he quickly wormed his way into a narrow crevice that was located in a small space between the pipelines. There was an indistinctive white light shining from the inside and a wet glaze was seen when the light reflected off the floor of the sewer.


    Clint walked in and saw Baylon roasting a dried rodent. Both of them had been living like this for the past two days. They were only left with eating this as they had finished their dried food supplies. Luckily, Baylon''s Bright King Training Method could eradicate most diseases and infections; otherwise, eating this unhygienic stuff would cost both of them their lives.


    The light came from the electric wire of a Mech. It was not very bright since it had to be used conservatively.


    "How is it? How''s the situation outside?" Baylon looked over with wide eyes. She had now completely transfigured into a female, or to put in another way, she was a female all the while. It''s just that the training method helped shed off the epidermis layer.


    Sitting on her knees by the fire, Baylon''s face was red and she looked rather worn out.


    "Fortunately, no one seems to be coming after us," Clint nodded and smiled helplessly. "Maybe this is part of the radiation area, so they don''t dare to chase us down? Their bodies could acquire the radiation disease after staying in a radiated area for a long period of time."


    "Yea¡­" Baylon nodded and lifted her arms. Grey spots faintly appeared on them as if the skin had shriveled.


    "I heard that it is hard to treat radiation disease¡­" her eyes dimmed, "once a person has the radiation disease, there''s no way to live in the regions anymore¡­"


    "Don''t worry, there has to be a way when Lord Red Moon wakes up!" Clint was always full of hope and confidence even though he himself did not know where this confidence came from, "If I myself have no hope, then there really isn''t any hope at all."


    "Yea... Lord Red Moon is very powerful. There sure is a way to solve it," Baylon relaxed slightly. They had constantly viewed Red Moon as all-capable. Even though he had a foul mouth, he could always think of a way to resolve any matter. As compared to that, radiation disease did not seemed like a big issue.


    Both of them quietly worked together to clean the moss with filtered water. They then boiled some soup with the dried rodent meat and moss. This food had been their main sustenance.


    After boiling for some time, a booming roar thundered from the outside of the passageway. It sounded as if it came from afar.


    The look on Clint and Baylon''s faces changed. They swiftly got up and blocked the only access to this small and narrow space using a piece of the shattered alloy plate from the mech. The alloy plate fitted in nicely to conceal this place. Clint braced both of his hands against the alloy plate in fear of it being knocked down.


    On the other side, Baylon quickly extinguished the fire, leaving only a little material for starting a fire and covered the soup before spreading out clothing on top of it.


    Not long after, there were several thudding sounds outside of the alloy plate, as if there were numerous little things ramming against the alloy plate non-stop. Clint had started to sweat and was exerting great effort. With his Level One Nine Mega Cannon Training Method, his strength was several times that of ordinary people, and yet, he still felt remarkably strained.


    One could only imagine how great the impact coming from the outside was.


    After an unknown amount of time had passed, the ramming sounds began to weaken. The blue veins on his forehead started to subside and he had sweated profusely.


    He let out a long sigh and slid down onto the floor after the last ramming sound had died down.


    "Hoo¡­ hoo¡­ hoo¡­" the sound of huffing and puffing as intense as a racehorse could be heard.


    "Come, drink some water¡­" as there were no cups, Baylon filled the indented part of a small piece of alloy plate with water and brought it over.


    "Thanks," Clint took it and gulped it down.


    "Did you hear something?" Baylon suddenly asked warily.


    "What? Heard what?" Clint was stunned.


    "I¡­ I think I heard the sound of someone shouting on the outside¡­" Baylon replied uncertainly.


    "There''s someone?!" Clint stood up, his eyes filled with worry.


    Both of them lightened their breathing and Clint could hear it too.


    "Carl!" "Carl, where are you?"


    "Captain Carl!" "Big brother Carl~"


    It did not sound like a person but a group of people with male and female voices looking for someone named Carl.


    Clint carefully removed the alloy plate and poked his head out. He saw that at the end of the passageway where the rodent group had wreaked havoc, there was a group of people with fire torches approaching. What was most surprising was that these people were not wearing any radiation suits in this radiation area.


    There were males and females, and all of them were more or less wearing nail plates made of metal on their bodies; some on their shoulders; some as helmets; but mostly on their arms, chests, and abdomens.


    In the group of more than a dozen people, many of them wore torn clothing and some of their faces had radiation scars that could not be covered up.


    "So many Radiation people¡­" Clint instantly knew that these were ordinary people with radiation disease, just like them.


    He suddenly did not know what to do. In the absence of Red Moon, their safety was in their own hands. They would be lucky if this was a group of kind-hearted people. But if they had any bad intention¡­ then he and Lon would¡­


    "Who''s there?!" the leader of the group, a woman in a red shirt, shouted suddenly and looked over in his direction.


    Clint jumped in shock and fell onto the floor, making a louder sound.


    This group of people hurried over in an instant. Baylon quickly helped Clint to get up. Both of them huddled together and gazed at the access point. Soon, a husky, muscular man cautiously made his way inside. He was somewhat stunned when he saw Clint and Baylon.


    "Chief, it is two kids!" he shouted loudly.


    "Are you joking? How can little kids survive in this place?" the redshirt woman walked in and was surprised as well when she saw Clint and Baylon. "You guys¡­ This is the region''s sewer''s dark maze, with radiation poison and mutated rodents everywhere. You guys actually¡­"


    "Hel¡­ Hello¡­" Clint forced a smile and greeted them.


    **************


    Blackboard Region Police Agency Mobile Hall


    "This is the report," Garen submitted the paper report in his hands. He was standing at the center of the large hall with the deputy director of the Agency seated in front of him. He was a bald, middle-aged man who had a small patch of yellow hair at his chin, making him look stern.


    "You are part of the military and the academy. Being able to strike dead the terrorist in a kamikaze style with Level Three capability even though he was heavily injured, this combat record still exceeds the capability spectrum of an ordinary student," the baldy browsed through the document and nodded his head while commenting.


    "As is customary, the police bureau will hand over all your state-of-the-battle records and someone from the military will award you for your merit. Please wait patiently."


    "I understand," Garen nodded his head.


    "However, you must be mentally prepared," the baldy looked up at Garen. "The mission this time had exceeded the scope of your assignment. No one would have thought that you could defeat a terrorist and it was only hoped that could stall the opponent, but¡­" he paused. "Well, I won''t say any more unnecessary things. The elite team that was in charge of this matter are rather disgruntled at you, so be prepared for the handing over of the mission as you might encounter some provocation."


    "Is it from the elite students?" Garen asked rhetorically.


    "It''s good that you know," the baldy seemed to admire Garen as he smiled and nodded. "Alright, you may go now. The military will send out the notice of military credit very shortly, so don''t be anxious."


    "Understood."


    Garen nodded. He gave a salute with the back of his right hand pressing against his left cheek and bent over slightly to give a bow.


    He then stood to attention, turned around and left.


    Garen let out a breath as he exited the hall of the Agency. The deputy director of the Agency was definitely a powerhouse with hidden depths. He was most certainly be a Level Five pilot, though not one who practiced any ordinary training method; the wave motion of the willpower energy field emitted by him gave off an intangible pressure.


    This kind of feeling was many times stronger than when that of the Red-White Mech.


    "He could fight against two at least," Garen estimated in a low voice. Two of the Red-White Mechs might not even stand a chance against the Deputy Director. As expected, powerful and respected people in Blackboard Region had made it to a point of reality.


    Capability determined everything. With capability, you could occupy important positions, while without enough capability, it would be impossible to be raised to a top position regardless of how knowledgeable you were. This was also the result of a single mech soldier''s capability of turning the tide.


    Leaving the police agency, the guard stations were right next to it. A few of the guards who happened to pass by saw Garen from afar and greeted him warmly. These were the police members of Garen''s patrol area.


    After exchanging some general pleasantries with them, Garen learned of the current situation and had some ideas in mind. He then immediately took a cab home.


    His parents and sister were all at home. Due to the brother''s disappearance, everyone was feeling down and waiting for Garen''s latest news.


    As he entered the room, his father who had been sitting on the couch instantly stood up.


    "How''s it? Nono? Lon''s situation¡­"

 862 Military Rank 2

    Garen shook his head a little. In reality, he had only pretended to inquire around about his brother''s situation. He did not dare to tell the truth but buried it deep inside his heart. After all, this involved the Forbidden Core, and his family would not be able to bear the consequences at the present moment. Revealing the truth would only bring disaster.


    The parents'' hearts immediately sank as they saw Garen shaking his head. Amy, the mother, lowered her head and began to cry.


    Only the sister, the youngest one, had an appearance of nonchalance. She was still chewing on bubblegum, eyes revealing indifference.


    "Look at all of you. Isn''t he just temporarily missing? If it can''t be done in the light, we could do it under the table. There''s got to be a way for sure. Cry cry cry. Can you get back the person just by crying?!"


    Ker the sister commented impatiently. She was now extremely different from before. Wearing a white short skirt with a crop top, she had applied bright red lipstick, thick foundation makeup, and dark eyeshadow. She had on a pair of huge silver earrings and was sitting on the chair with one leg crossed high, unbothered about whether her underwear would be exposed.


    "How could you speak like this?!" Rondo the father stood up and reprimanded.


    "So what?! Want to beat me? Just go ahead! Beat here!" the sister stood up, pointed to her own face and responded loudly, "You didn''t manage to beat me to death the last time, why not you just do it this time! I''m sick of living anyway! There''s no point staying in this house at all!"


    "Ker¡­" Amy the mother opened her mouth to speak but was cut short by the sister right away.


    "In any case, I am no good at all besides bringing shame to you all. Just come. Beat me to death. I have no intention of living anyway," Ker''s voice grew louder. When she saw that her father could not give any response, a pleasant expression instantly appeared on her face.


    "That''s enough!"


    Garen bellowed.


    It was entirely silent in the house. The sister Ker gnashed her teeth tightly and dared not speak anymore. Ever since young, she and Baylon had always been fearful of Nono. Despite the fact that she had ''seen the world'' outside, she was still afraid of him.


    The father slumped into a chair, lit another cigarette and sucked on it fiercely with his head down.


    For a moment, there was only the sound of the mother sobbing.


    Garen''s face looked black as he sat down and looked at Ker.


    "From now on, you will go out and mingle lesser. Do you hear me?!"


    Ker pursed her lips tightly and turned her head away.


    "Look at the way you dressed! What do you look like when you''re on the street?" Garen softened his tone, "Regarding Lon''s situation, I have a little progress. I know that he is still safe even though I couldn''t find him yet. Pa, ma, you don''t need to worry."


    "Sigh¡­" Rondo, the father, exhaled deeply. "It''s all my fault. I shouldn''t have agreed to let him work¡­"


    "This is nobody''s fault. None of us could have expected that this was going to happen," Garen replied in a low voice. "Alright then. Everyone continue to go to work as usual. I will handle this matter."


    "Is Lon really alright?" the mother, Amy wiped away the streak of tears on her face.


    "Really," Garen knew that Red Moon, this Core, had lots of tricks up its sleeve. There should not be any jeopardy while under his care.


    "Nono, you must find your brother and bring him back. You must!!" the mother cried, distressed, as her eyes filled with tears once more.


    "I will¡­" Garen nodded.


    Garen left his house with a heavy heart.


    He truly did not know if he could find Baylon. Even if he could, there was still no way of telling whether the family would accept her current self.


    He was not discriminating against transsexuals. It was just that in such a life, one would have to face countless discriminations and setbacks. Moreover, there were too many people who were over-subjective and who looked at others with preconceived ideas.


    Since he had now become this person, Nonosiva, and had received the favor of his parents, it was only natural for him to be responsible for taking good care of his family.


    Leaving his home, Garen made a trip to the patrol station. The only life that was lost had been replaced with a na?ve looking, short red-haired girl who seemed to have a strong sense of justice.


    Alexander, who had been allocated a new Mech, was commended and officially became a Second Lieutenant in the military. This guy was boasting to the other teams about the newly added black stripe on his shoulder. His face was beaming with pride.


    Not only him, all the members under Garen''s leadership had been commended as well and were given a Sergeant''s rank. As they were Level One pilots, this ranking among the Mech''s troops would cause them to be one level higher than the other teams. This made everyone super excited.


    "Assemble!!!" Garen stood with his hands behind his back. As he was already in a bad mood, seeing this bunch of happy people made him felt sullen.


    When he was in a bad mood, he would want others to feel the same as him.


    After a loud roar, the dozen of team members in the field trembled and hurriedly ran to form a line before him.


    Shoo!


    Couldn''t say that it was a tidy salutation.


    "Team leader!" their voices sounded in unison though.


    Before Garen had any say, Alexander could not hold back and decided to speak.


    "Team leader, the award notice of your military credit has arrived!"


    "Mine came too?" Garen had been ready to take it out on the team members until he was distracted by what he heard.


    "It''s this!"


    Alexander carefully took out a tiny silver circular board from his pocket and threw it on the ground.


    The circular board immediately released silver halos, forming a one-meter-wide silver light board. A middle-aged female military officer dressed in black military suit gradually appeared on it. The two stars on her shoulder meant that she was actually a Colonel level military officer.


    "Holographic projection?" Garen was stunned and immediately gave a salute next.


    The other party rapidly returned the salute too.


    "Second Lieutenant Nonosiva Lin, due to your outstanding gallantry during the terrorist attack, you are commended for a first class-merit award. The military staff have decided to confer on you the Captain rank. You can search the military web to be aware of all your privileges."


    Garen knew that his provisional rank initially was Second Lieutenant due to the benefits of joining the military with willpower Level Three. Currently, he had been promoted by two levels instantly to the level of Captain just because of a one-time military procurement.


    It was said that at the Captain level, one would acquire lots of benefits. As for the higher field ranks, that would be the stratum where its members held true power in their hands. Every field rank in Blackboard Zone had to have a minimum of Level Four capability and either brilliant combat records or a powerful curriculum vitae. These were the backbones that held the power of the military and their numbers did not even reach one thousand. Since the numbers were so few, the ranks would not be granted easily.


    "Besides that, the patrol unit that you are leading at the moment will be your permanent team from now on, so there would not be any more changes to the members. You have your own appointing rights. All that''s needed is just a report to the staff department later on."


    After the female Colonel made her brief announcement, she gave another salute before the image vanished.


    Garen returned the salute and his face showed that he was deep in thought.


    "A small permanent unit and my own appointing rights.¡­ Doesn''t this mean that I can build my own company? Looks like my performance has attracted the attention of the higher-ups. Even so, are they thinking of training me or are they simply observing me?"


    Ever since he had leveled up that nameless Forbidden Training Method, he''d felt that his body and mind were constantly being restored. After using Secret Techniques to examine, he was surprised to discover that all the hidden injuries sustained from his previous practices were being repaired through the vibration of the Willpower from this training method. It followed the most natural and harmonious way of blending into the body to become as one.


    It was like bringing along medical equipment so that even the minor wounds could be treated anytime.


    He did not rush to advance to Level Two because if he were to practice and advance with his own efforts, there would not be any indications. However, using potential points to advance would also be a waste because the training method level this time was a little higher, which had surpassed Crouched Eagle Talon and reached the level of high-level Secret Techniques or even a higher standard. If a mid-level Secret Technique needed two points to upgrade one level, then high-level Secret Techniques would need five points. As for this training method, it actually needed as many as ten points to advance one level.


    Garen did not have much left in stock. Every day he could only accumulate two points, which was why he planned to focus on advancing the Living Secret Technique; in order for the Living Secret Technique to spur on the advancement of Crouched Eagle Talon and this unknown training method. The overall efficiency would be higher this way because it would be advancing all three at the same time.


    The Living Secret Technique had begun to advance slowly under the plentiful supply of White Peacock Stone. Garen''s Hellfrost Peacock Technique leaped over the highest level of the foundation stage, which was Level Five. The level after this would be leaving the foundation stage and formally entering the practice phase. The Hellfrost Peacock Technique would also start to manifest its power as time went by.


    Then again, when Garen had persisted in following the Living Secret Technique to train his body, he did not notice any trends. The effects of White Peacock Stone had weakened immensely and so it was apparent that it was only beneficial for the laying of the foundation, but other times¡­


    Now he finally acquired potential points. With the Staff of Absolute Yin in his possession, Garen could accumulate two potential points every day. The initial number of points at twelve had currently risen to twenty in just a few days'' time.


    "Alright, dismiss," Garen''s mood had been turned around because of the promotion of rank. He waved his hands to dismiss everyone.


    Only then did the team members disperse and vanish quickly, as if they were amnestied. From afar, you could still hear a group of people with bent arms around one another''s shoulders suggesting to drink and eat at a restaurant.


    Garen could not be bothered about these scoundrels. Except for Alexander, the rest were all useless. You couldn''t even see their shadows during crucial times. Among those he''d summoned, only Alexander had taken the initiative to come without the fear of danger and was almost annihilated by the terrorist.


    "The reason I could win this time depended on Cold Chaos of the Hellfrost Peacock Technique. This thing is simply a bug. It can seep into the Mech and affect the body of the pilot. For those who do not have a strong will, it can also act as a big killer weapon by muddling up their minds," Garen reckoned in his heart. If it were not for Cold Chaos, he probably would have gotten seriously injured and might not have been able to make the opponent stayed put. Victory would definitely not have come this easily.


    "Previously, there was a lack of White Peacock Stones to advance the Living Secret Technique. Now that this condition has been met, I should be able to utilize the potential points to advance and bypass the accumulation of time, shouldn''t I?"


    He surmised.


    His gaze fell upon his Attribute pane and he focused on the Living Secret Technique Hellfrost Peacock Technique.


    ''Secret Technique -- Hellfrost Peacock Technique: Living Secret Technique, Level Six, Completion rate of Level Six at 1%.


    ''Natural Ability Obtained -- Devour Level One (Devours innumerable living things to restore the body).''


    ''Natural Ability Obtained -- Distorted Seed Level Two (Creating chaos is the Hellfrost Peacock''s favorite pastime)''


    ''Natural Ability Obtained -- Cold Chaos Level Three (Causes fluctuations in time and space and releases cold air naturally within an area of 20 meters to create a chaotic low-temperature area with the lowest point at zero degrees. Simultaneously, there is a small chance of muddling up the enemies'' mind, causing them to attack randomly)''


    ''(Five foundation levels and three levels in derivative level, totaling up to eight levels in the whole technique) Achieving each level will cleanse the blood of the body to gradually acclimate towards the Hellfrost Peacock''s constitution and eventually reach its highest form with its limit at Army Level.''


    There were still twenty potential points left.


    Garen attempted to add the potential points into the Living Secret Technique. Regretfully, it did not work. The Living Secret Technique was still the same as before. It would not accept the advancement brought forth by the potential points.


    He realized, however, that the potential points seemed to be able to advance the three additional natural abilities from the Peacock Technique.


    The three abilities advanced according to the standard of high-level Secret Techniques. Each level would require five potential points.


    Garen hesitated; he could use the potential points to advance these natural abilities or to use them on new training methods. He was unsure of which move to make.


    The effect of the natural ability Cold Chaos was very strong and it could have a sudden effect of clearing the site. Its training method equated to inner force, which was the source of the formidable force in all moves. It would be very useful when facing a powerhouse one-on-one. However, the subsequent training method was in the hands of the Forbidden Core.

 863 A Sudden Turn of Events 1

    He hesitated for a moment and decided to invest in the training method since it was the root of all things. In this world, the difference in the level of training method had an effect on status, power, etc.


    Even though his Level Four Crouched Eagle Talon seemed to be at a high level, it was actually only parallel to the Level Two of other people''s top training methods. The only edge he had was a greater amount of Willpower and nothing else.


    His sight fell on the Attribution pane. After gazing for a number of seconds, the Unnamed Training Method ability blurred for a moment. When it became clear again, it had leaped to another level.


    It jumped from Level One to Level Two.


    ''Forbidden Training Method: Level Two achieved (a total of five levels, Incomplete), Reflexes advanced to Level Two, Endurance advanced to Level Two, Self-repairing advanced to Level Two. Involving the back, both legs, and the head.''


    Garen felt the changes of the attributions after they had advanced, not just from those that were indicated, but also from those that were not marked out. A whole new Willpower had condensed in his inner body core within the Willpower of Crouched Eagle Talon. It was slowly moving in a circular flow by itself, like the nature of rivers.


    "I don''t think Level Four of Crouched Eagle Talon can be concealed as it would be noticed by many of the practitioners who are above Level Four. But with its Willpower enveloping the forbidden Willpower, the latter should be able to remain hidden," Garen knew in his heart that because there was no conflict in this nature of enveloping, the force field emanated by the Forbidden Training Method willpower could be kept hidden. People would think that he had the outer layer Crouched Eagle Talon willpower and neglect the other willpower on the inside.


    Five potential points had vanished due to the advancement.


    Garen looked at the remaining fifteen points and decided to use them all up in a go. He pored over the Forbidden Training Method.


    Hiss¡­


    The icon of the training method instantly blurred. This time, it did not clear up even after a number of seconds but remained hazy.


    After half a minute, the icon of the training method finally became visible once more. It was not the former pitch-black patch anymore but a fluttering four-winged bird. Similar to an eagle, the four-winged bird had sharply curved claws and looked as if it was diving to catch something.


    Garen gazed at the progress.


    ''Forbidden Training Method: Level Five (a total of five levels, Incomplete), Reflexes, Endurance, and Self-repairing Level Five, resulting in special derivative strength: Heart of Endurance ¨C greatly improving the effects of Self-repairing, level of amplification reached level one. The strength of Self-Repairing is now at Level Six standard.''


    "Heart of Endurance?" Garen frowned a little as he thought of a vague possibility. "Does this mean that for better quality training methods, arriving at a certain level would yield this kind of derivative strength?"


    Due to the lack of information in this area, he could not compare it with other higher level training methods. Nonetheless, the power shown by the training method given by the Forbidden Core had surpassed his expectations.


    If this training method focused on one of these attributions: explosiveness, speed, or strength, reaching this level would be terrific because the force produced together by three Level Fives was unimaginable.


    After standing on the training grounds for some time, Garen let out a small breath. Around him, there was a sudden burst of faint air-waves. If someone were to inspect closely, they would realize that those were not air-waves but a pure energy field that was spreading out towards the surroundings. This could only happen when the Willpower had reached a certain level of purity. It was also the hallmark of a Level Five pilot. Someone at Level Four might be able to master the energy field and spread it out all over their body surface to fight against the enemy. However, it was a different case for Level Five. The most formidable strength of the Level Five pilot was that the energy field could be dispersed through the mech. Every type of Willpower Energy Field had its own unique special effect, just like Internal Force, where both had exclusive corrosive power. And so, when used by itself, even the gentlest Willpower would have an effect on the enemy although its properties would be different.


    Garen paid close attention to the feeling of the flow, immense amount and purity of Level Five Willpower.


    After releasing it for a while, he swiftly collected it back and enveloped it using Level Four Crouched Eagle Talon''s Willpower.


    To advance from Level Four to Level Five, the common pilots would usually need a couple of years to break through to another level because this involved the matter of will. Garen, however, did not need to worry about it because from the Soul Will point of view, Garen was still stronger than the common pilot in this area even though he was not of the same system.


    "Looks like I''ll need some time to adjust to this new strength," Garen opened his palms. There were still strands of willpower force field that he could not contain emanating from the edge of his palms. This was due to the unconscious dissipation of the sudden spike in Willpower.


    It was just like when a person gained Herculean strength all of a sudden; when he lifted a cup with the same amount of strength he usually used, the cup would instantly be shattered.


    As he quietly practiced the control of Willpower, Garen was able to hold in the force field of the new Willpower. People generally would need years of work to arrive at this step but Garen did not have this issue.


    A few days passed by in a flash.


    Garen completed his patrolling assignment. Since he was conferred with the rank of Captain, it came with many privileges such as being presented with special commodity facilities not just for him but his family as well. Formerly, he and his family were unqualified to purchase these things but now they could do so. There were products such as gene enhancement fluid, all kinds of nutritional fluid and mixed essence to prolong lifespan and boost the body''s constitution, a platform for repairing mechanisms and¡­ he could purchase his own Mech!


    Garen''s life became a routine of going to the academy for a while every day and spending most of his time at the provisional encampment to train the members. He would send some of the members off one after another because they were still students and would not stay here permanently. There were also some who came from lower-level academies and poor family backgrounds, and they would persist in signing the agreement of joining the military service formally; thus, becoming a member of the unit.


    Garen also officially gave a name to the unit. Since the mechs were generally configured as a double-edge type of humanoid Mech, he succinctly named the unit as Double-Edge Unit.


    The remaining five members were not a patrol unit tasked with patrolling anymore but had become a standalone special unit that could accept independent assignments. This was also the main type of teams in the Blackboard Region.


    Many of the scholars would use this way to accumulate military credits after they had graduated. The military would give out assignments and various parties would go and complete them. Later on, members who had performed outstandingly and served for a period of time would be chosen to join the military''s Black-Clothed General Army.


    Everything went smoothly for more than half a month without any problems.


    Besides training the five members every day, Garen would practice familiarizing himself with his newly obtained training method Willpower and take note of the whereabouts of the Forbidden Core through various channels.


    The everyday training caused the five members to complain about the hardship. Alexander, who liked to shirk work, contrasted sharply with that short red-haired girl who would complete the training tasks more than necessary. The other three who did not have a good family background and came from the lower quality academies in Blackboard Region were randomly assigned to be here. Even though every day they would cry out in misery, they would still complete the training tasks without slacking.


    Garen was satisfied with this development. Since the higher-ups had bestowed upon him the authority over this unit, he wanted to build this team and made it into his own force. He followed Celine''s method by halving their training so that they could really develop their battle skills and improve their combatting achievements. Though they were unable to reach the level of elite in this short amount of time, at any rate, there would not be any incident like the last time where only Alexander responded and acted rashly.


    At least in terms of boldness and discipline, these five were not rookies anymore.


    More than half a month had passed in the blink of an eye.


    The Eagle''s Nest martial arts computer simulation that Garen had applied to use had finally been approved and a timetable had been drawn up. In order to avoid clashing with other people''s time, he was scheduled for the weekend, on Sunday afternoon.


    Garen had always wanted to have a look at the Eagle''s Nest Simulation Computer. After receiving the notice, he hastily arranged everything on hand and hurriedly drove over to the Eagle''s Nest headquarter on Sunday afternoon. He had not been there for a long time.


    **********


    The Eagle''s Nest appeared to be as deserted and quiet as it was before. It looked like a silver bird nest from afar. There were not many people going in and coming out of it since it was a weekend. Most scholars either had some business to attend to or they would go home to spend time with their families and rest. Some would be working, so there were not many people who would come here to train.


    After all, there were designated places for training. The only thing to be done here was to refine one''s martial arts through simulation, interact with other Eagle''s Nest members and receive external assignments.


    For the first two items, there would only be a greater number of people at specific times. Regarding the external assignments, there would not be suitable ones available all the time.


    Garen got down from the school bus and hurried towards the Eagle''s Nest.


    The gatekeeper on duty was a retired old man who smiled and greeted him.


    "I haven''t seen you for a long time, Nono," the old man was sipping a rich wine, sitting with his legs crossed. He knew all the famous scholars in Eagle''s Nest. This old man had once been a member of Eagle''s Nest when he was young, but he''d gotten into an accident and broke his leg. He''d become depressed even though he had a prosthetic leg. That was one of the reasons that many Eagle''s Nest scholars, who prided themselves as elites, looked down upon him.


    But Garen did not discriminate him in any way.


    "It''s been long, Abel," he smiled and waved. He had always felt that this old man did not appear as simple he seemed to be. No one had ever seen him drive a Mech in the past few decades he had been a gatekeeper.


    As he entered Eagle''s Nest with big strides, the inside was rather empty. Only a dozen or so people were leisurely training with one another in the training hall located at the center. The simulation combat rooms were also vacant with hardly anyone inside.


    Only the entrance to the Assignment Room had some people. There would always be someone waiting there so that they could snatch away any high-value assignments that became available.


    The top battling teams in Eagle''s Nest would usually send someone to keep watch here. The model of these teams was akin to the model of Garen''s current unit whereby the teams were established after they had completed assignments and performed deeds of merit.


    Garen headed over there and had a quick glance.


    Hornet Battle Team, Stinger-net Battle Team, Bell Ring Battle Team, Love-me-leave-me-not Battle Team¡­


    These four were the strongest among the Eagle''s Nest teams. Their capabilities were not known but it was said that there were elite students in all of them. Those elite students who could resonate strongly with their Mechs were rising stars and had great hopes of attaining Level Five and above. Naturally, they would have powerful capabilities.


    The top four battle teams would station themselves in the Assignment Room all year round. Inside, there was also a counter to recruit people at the same time.


    Garen''s presence attracted the attention of a few as they recognized Garen''s identity. This Nonosiva, who had created a commotion when he had first joined Eagle''s Nest and was once the Freshmen''s First Seat, had naturally acquired quite a reputation for himself.


    Nono did not pay any attention to them but walked past the Assignment Room and headed towards the martial arts simulation room on the utmost left. He swiped his student card and opened his eye wide.


    Two red lights moved slightly, aimed at his pupils and flickered for a split second.


    "Appointment found. Student Nono, wishing you a pleasant abuse," the female computer voice sounded in a mischievous manner.

 864 A Sudden Turn of Events 2

    The door slid open without a sound.


    Garen entered slowly.


    It was an average-sized cylindrical room with silvery grey walls that had pipelines all over them.


    In the center of the room was a huge silver ball of light formed by countless silver strands.


    If you looked carefully, you would see that there were numerous data formula symbols circulating within the silver ball. There was also something that looked like planetary rings moving in a reversed flow.


    Garen approached it. Uncountable minuscule white laser light bulbs suddenly lit up from the floor and shone at the ceiling above, forming several thin white beams of light.


    Garen stopped in his steps and observed the laser lights on the floor.


    Hiss¡­ The countless laser light beams instantaneously distorted and formed a silver humanoid.


    This humanoid had the same height and size as him but without any facial features, skin, hair or clothes, as if it was a fluid robot made out of molten silver.


    "First stage of simulation begin¡­"


    The female computer voice sounded from above.


    Garen''s pupils constricted. In just a split second, the silver humanoid was charging at him in long strides, causing the ground to quake.


    He suddenly felt an immense pressure coming down on him, suppressing his strength constitution to an ordinary person''s level and his Level Four Crouched Eagle Talon Willpower to Level One standard.


    The silver silhouette''s arm bent forward and ferociously elbowed Garen''s face.


    Boom!


    Silver fluid splattered as Garen blocked the elbow with a single arm. A storm of attacks followed. The silver humanoid''s violent way of attacking was, in fact, his most frequently used attacking style.


    Elbow tip, palm knife, side-kick and forward stomp. Every move was a basic combat technique, but when chained together, they gave off a wild and ferocious feel.


    Boom boom boom boom!!!


    Numerous deep explosive sounds reverberated. Garen and the silver humanoid exchanged more than ten strokes. Both parties took a few steps back and charged towards the opponent without any hesitation, attacking continuously.


    Fist against fist. Palm knife against palm knife.


    Garen''s face did not change. He paid close attention to his own style of attack and began to comprehend how this martial arts simulation could help correct his flaws.


    The way this simulation quantum computer worked was by creating another self so that one could observe the exchanging of strokes and learn the pros and cons of one''s martial arts.


    Both of them exchanged a flurry of blows. Not a single one showed any flaws. Garen''s martial arts had been thoroughly refined and tempered endless times, and so there would not be any loopholes. Since the silver humanoid was a computer simulation, the machinery would not show any weak points as well. It was a draw state as two flawless powerhouses competed with each other.


    "Without flaws¡­ this is my martial arts?" Garen gave another blow to the silver humanoid, "Wrong. My martial arts can''t be this shallow¡­ I can create flaws despite there being none!"


    He bellowed as both of his arms warped like spirals and transformed into dozens of fictional and real palm shadows.


    Twelve Flying Dragon Fist!


    Because he did not want to expose the true depths of this combat technique which he had taught Celine, he could only use this type of ordinary technique.


    The silver humanoid was not tricked by the fictional moves and instantly produced many phantom fists. In the midst of all the phantom images, two fists collided with precision.


    Bang!


    The returned seismic energy caused both of them to be unsteady and forced them to fall back a number of steps.


    Garen''s Crouched Eagle Talon willpower exploded abruptly. The air shook. With arms like a hawk, he suddenly charged forward and struck the silver humanoid''s epigastrium with a punch.


    Splash¡­


    The humanoid disintegrated and vanished completely.


    "This is martial arts simulation? Battling with a flawless silver humanoid to grasp where my weaknesses and strengths are? Still, it was only a virtual figure simulation. Just a simple simulation as such is not enough to build combat awareness. Countless plots and schemes are needed as well."


    Garen let out a breath and felt that he did not gain anything.


    "Second stage of simulation, begin¡­" the female computer voice sounded again.


    The silver humanoid reappeared with a different look. He seemed stronger this time.


    A punch came swiftly accompanied by the sound of whistling wind.


    Garen still had the body constitution of an ordinary person. Staring at that fist, his heart skipped a beat. This humanoid had twice the attributes of an ordinary person. He himself was suppressed and was forced to fight with someone who was stronger than him!


    His mind promptly spun and he made a similar punch. Halfway through, he changed his fist to a palm move and cut at the edge of the silver humanoid''s fist to make it go sideways.


    Though in an instant, the counterpart abruptly released a mighty Willpower which struck the edge of his palm where it met the fist.


    That was Level Four Crouched Eagle Talon Willpower as well, and it rushed out from their contact point.


    Garen mustered up his Willpower to confront it. The power technique of high-level martial artists, Quake, was fiercely launched.


    After several buzzing sounds, the silver humanoid''s Willpower broke off and it collapsed into a puddle of mud.


    The power of Quake, a high-level technique that Secret Technique practitioners must practice, was not something that could be easily simulated. This was because it involved extremely complicated coordination control of the spirit and the body.


    The computer did not have a spirit. The simulation of Willpower was programmed by someone beforehand because otherwise, it would not be able to produce even the slightest bit of Willpower. That was why this kind of simulated Quake was incapable and could only be defeated.


    "Second stage finished. Would you like to enter the third stage? Willpower is advanced by one level, and the physical body by two levels with an additional Mad-blast attribute. Please take note, extreme attribute, the third stage would be to simulate the practitioner''s theoretical strongest form," the female computer voice sounded again.


    "Oh? My theoretical strongest form?" Garen was piqued. "Come on then."


    He was getting a little excited.


    The silver humanoid formed once again. This time, it had a unique, half-transparent fluid body.


    Whoosh¡­ An explosive willpower energy field burst forth all of a sudden. It was Level Five. The humanoid''s body randomly made some hand-strokes and it tore the air instantly, creating ear-piercing sounds.


    "Come on!" Garen smirked and initiated the attack, "Twelve Flying Dragon Fist!"


    Dozens of fist shadows were sent forth in a barrage of fists. But in a flash, a violent and forceful energy field spread out. Without any movement, the humanoid simply stood on the spot, lifted his hand and flicked it at Garen.


    Boom!!


    Everything was wiped out.


    Garen suddenly opened his eyes.


    He was still standing in front of the huge silver light ball. There was nothing else around. No silver humanoid, no countless laser lights. It was as if he had just entered and fallen asleep standing.


    "Silent hypnosis¡­ or illusion system?" Garen closed his eyes. Scene after scene of what just happened clearly appeared in his mind.


    "What a fascinating technology¡­"


    "Congratulations on passing the second level. You are rewarded with Intelligent Robot Beginner Skill."


    A tiny half-transparent virtual chip appeared before him. Garen reached out his hands and lightly touched it. The chip immediately disappeared to becoming countless black lines which wormed into his terminal watch.


    "Martial arts simulation correction ended. Evaluation result ¨C Your martial arts are perfect without any loopholes. Martial arts simulation correction is not of much use to you," the female computer voice concluded.


    "Em¡­ Besides me, how many have made it to the second level?"


    "Up ''til now, one thousand two hundred and eighty-six people."


    "How ''bout the third level?"


    "The third level is a theoretical battle model. Only one has made it through."


    "Alright¡­"


    Exiting the simulation battle room, Garen did not receive any suggestions from the computer. Usually, when people left the room, they would receive suggestions from the quantum central computer regarding the strengths and weaknesses of their martial arts. The conclusion for him, however, was perfect and flawless.


    Nonetheless, Garen was concerned about the third level because there actually was someone who made it through. Despite the huge difference in Willpower and the body, someone managed to break through this level. What a rare sight it is.


    This was a pure power suppressing technique. And so, it was no longer an issue of technique. When a person could not even approach the opponent, what kind of battle method could he employ to win?


    The Willpower in the third level had reached the peak of Level Five. When the energy field was dispersed, you could not even go near the body. Garen could not think of a way to defeat that state of himself.


    Walking out of the simulation room, he still tried to ask.


    "Could you tell me the name of the person who passed the third level?"


    "A hundred and twenty-four years ago, Gero Kavis."


    Gero Kavis?


    Garen repeated this name in his heart. This was the first time he realized that there was someone who could beat him in martial arts combat.


    Fighting against a stronger opponent was never his way of martial arts. Yet, he admired the ones who could make it on this path.


    After exiting Eagle''s Nest, a call came in.


    "Nono, this is the latest news. The Great Light Mech of White Light Organization had declared war against Blackboard Academy at East Fate City. They have announced that they will take over East Fate City and have dispatched dozens of Shining Mechs. All of them are Level Five pilots! How imposing! What''s more, the capabilities shown by those Great Light Mechs surpass half of the Level Five pilots! They have defeated dozens of Black-Clothed Generals!"


    "Doesn''t that mean this is an act of war?!" Garen was shocked.


    "I''m afraid so. An instructor from the academy had set out with a team. It''s an Inheriting instructor, Thomas Andrew of Genre Red Whale. This is the first time an Inheriting pilot has been dispatched. I am already prepared to go and watch the battle. Are you going or not!?" Celine spoke quickly, "If you''re coming then come to Yellow Rose area, elevator-platform number four."


    "I''m coming now!"


    Garen replied promptly.


    "Remember to bring your Mech! This time, it''s not going to be peaceful."


    "Understood."


    Garen nodded.


    As he finished the call, there was a trace of complicated emotions in his eyes.


    "White Light dared to declare war against the whole of Blackboard Region. With this kind of capability, there surely won''t be just one Great Light Mech!"


    A battle at Inheriting level... Regardless of everything, this was the top level battle strength of this world. He had to go and see for himself. This was a one in a million chance!

 865 Watching the Battle 1

    East Fate City


    Looking down from a high altitude, the extensive dark grey city grounds below burst into a cluster of blue lights.


    These bright blue flames rose into the sky without spreading. They merely burned in small areas of ??the city, unleashing eye-piercing blue flares. Thick white smoke billowed upwards through the flares and formed a vast greyish-white smoke cloud over the entire city.


    Swish!!


    A blue light beam descended from the sky and crashed into a grey high-rise building in the city. The blue ray instantly destroyed the center structural layer of the high-rise and penetrated straight through it.


    With a thud, the entire high-rise collapsed into a pile of rubble.


    "Warning again! Warning again!! All East Fate citizens, please immediately hide and flee the city. All citizens of East Fate, please immediately hide and flee the city to avoid injury," Unfeeling announcements came and went, playing from a huge blue-black battleship hovering over the city.


    These battleships looked like beetles that had been magnified many times and had spiking mouthpieces. Blue lights were spewing out from these mouthpieces.


    Dozens of large battleships floated over the East Fate City and moved slowly, constantly scanning and capturing the ruins of the empty city below.


    The residents of East Fate City who could hide had already hidden and those who could run had already fled, leaving an empty city.


    The dead bodies and casualties over these days were not being precisely calculated anymore. Perhaps it had passed ten thousand, twenty thousand, or even a million.


    In a huge beetle battleship, Garen and Celine stood together behind a group of commanders. Like many of the other youngsters from big businesses and huge households who were watching the battle, they did not make a sound. They were quietly listening to the big boss and commanders conversing at the front.


    Standing in front of the crowd before a giant floor-to-ceiling window were three top pilots wearing a major general-ranked military uniform. An intense force field of Level Five Willpower was emanating off them without any restraints.


    They were the supreme commanders and the tactical logistics team who were here this time to deal with the White Light Great Light Mech.


    "If the real Great Light Mech appears in area A, His Highness Red Whale might not be able to arrive in time. We will need to resist the other party for at least ten minutes or more and hold him down regardless of the casualties. That is a result we cannot afford."


    "But the other party is in the dark and we are in the light. The key to campaign battles is in intelligence. They do not know which areas our main deployment are at. We also do not know which area their raids are hiding in," the other man frowned.


    "All the representatives of the major households here can raise up any suggestions you have. If it is indeed valuable, our military department and the academy will give out great rewards," a long-eyebrowed Major General shifted his gaze over and looked in the direction where the wealthy youngsters were whispering among one another.


    The reason why these people were called here was to make use of the power of the various households. Maybe there would be many unexpected channels in these households that could come into play.


    This was also the practice of repeated battles.


    "For the defense alert in the twelve areas of East Fate City, I think our Bane household can contribute," a chubby young man raised his hand and said. "A new type of jamming device developed by our family can locate the enemy''s specific position in jamming mode, which is equivalent to the enhanced bat fighter system. We are willing to contribute a hundred sets for free."


    "The Bane household right? Thank you for your support! How are the specific settings and moving condition of this type of jammer..."


    "The specific parameters are as such..."


    The two began to carefully discuss the layout plan.


    The rest of the crowd were still whispering to one another. Garen and Celine stood at the back where they had deliberately walked to.


    "Where''s your Mech?" Celine whispered.


    "In the battleship''s Mech depot, why?" Garen asked.


    "Take note, we are now really entering the battle zone. My Mech is a high-grade good brought out from the household. I can jump and leave at any time during crucial moments. Yours is just an ordinary good. If there is any problem, you will be in trouble," Celine whispered.


    "I know," Garen nodded. "But benefits and risks coexist, don''t they? Being able to watch an Inherited level battle doesn''t come easily. The last Inherited-level battle record was a few decades ago. It was even classified as the highest level of confidentiality. We have no way to access it. Now that there is this opportunity, it would be a waste if we do not take hold of it."


    "If we can find the key to Inherited Level, it will be very helpful for our advancement in the future."


    Minutes and seconds passed by. Garen and Celine conversed softly. Like everyone else, the two appeared to be inconspicuous in a group of rich youngsters who were dressed in fancy clothes.


    After some time, a Shining Mech figure finally appeared.


    A Shining Mech suddenly leaped and appeared in front of the battleship, wielding a dagger as it dashed towards them in an attempt to pierce through the thick armor with its lone strength.


    "Kill him!"


    The commander waved his hand and several Blackboard Mechs flew out to meet it.


    All of them were Black-Clothed Generals. They stood directly before the Shining Mech in a group.


    The second batch of Blackboard Mechs flew out next. When they were about to lay siege to the other side, they encountered another Shining Mech.


    Under the gloomy clouds, the Mechs could only be seen as interweaving red and white firepower in the air.


    Suddenly, a beetle battleship exploded a distance away. Huge red flames spread across the sky, engulfing an area of hundreds of meters in the city below.


    Two black and white humanoid Mechs flew out of the fireball. One of the Mechs was black with striking red eyes and two huge red scythes in its hands.


    The other Mech was fully white, and both hands clutched a giant machete that glittered brightly. It was pursuing and hacking at the black Mech.


    "It''s Master Red-Eyed Medero!!" someone who recognized the black Mech called out in the battleship.


    "Go and call for backup!" someone shouted.


    "No! That''s the strongest no.5 Shining Mech under the Great Light Mech. I have seen the records before. None of us can be its opponent! Even Master Medero would not be able to hold out. We will only die if we go out!" someone opposed.


    "Yes, and they''re too close to each other and are entangled in close combat. If we can''t keep up with their rhythm, we''ll be doing a disservice!"


    A group of people quickly concluded. The three commanders did not voice out and were calm and steady as if they already had a plan for this situation. However, some people were already feeling a little scared. A similar beetle battleship had been blown up, indicating that their side was not guaranteed to be safe.


    "With the presence of Master Red Whale there won''t be a problem!" someone said confidently. This statement slightly calmed the worried crowd. After all, this ship of theirs was different from other ships. This ship was carrying important figures and the defense force was also more than three times stronger.


    Medero dragged the No.5 Shining Mech and left the area speedily, heading towards other areas. Very soon, they were out of sight.


    Over on this side, the victor and the loser of the battle between the Shining Mechs and Blackboard Mechs of the battleship had also emerged. One Shining Mech had exploded while the other had fled; the Blackboard Mechs had lost two and a third had to be written off and could not fight again.


    "Have you ever wondered why these White Light Mechs chose East Fate City for their declaration of war?" Garen looked at the Shining Mech that was fleeing away further and asked in a low voice.


    Celine shook her head.


    "I''ve never thought about it. But, the household analysts have analyzed that the real reason should be to attract attention and actually seek other purposes."


    "It''s possible. But the biggest possibility is that they are trying to figure out how much combat power Blackboard Region can currently deploy."


    Garen conjectured, "From the previous pulse wave incident to the current formal declaration of war, perhaps there will be a greater action later on. I feel that such a huge price and action is no longer for the purpose of getting something."


    Celine thought deeply.


    "Indeed. This kind of move should not be simply for that. If it is only for that purpose, they could have done it secretly. There is no need to make such a big fanfare. Too much power is spent here on direct confrontation."


    "So I''m guessing that it is likely that White Light itself is tangled up with Blackboard Region in something else," Garen whispered.


    "Other aspects of the entanglement?" Celine thought about it.


    At this moment, there was a sudden sound of an explosion from the battleship.


    Pewwww!


    An ear-piercing harsh noise came from above.


    The entire observation window of the battleship immediately became red. It was blinding and more than a dozen people''s eyesight were affected in an instant. They screamed as tears flowed from their clenched eyes.


    The battleship shook violently and returned to its calmed state.


    "It''s Master Red Whale''s Bright Eyes!!" one commander shouted, "Don''t worry, Master Red Whale has made his move. I believe it will soon be a success!"


    Pewwwww!


    Suddenly there was a shrill cry again. The floor-to-ceiling window turned red once more.


    Garen did not close his eyes but looked straight at the vast red light. Such brightness was nothing to him.


    But from the cries of these two voices, he had a bad feeling.


    While everyone was closing their eyes to avoid the red light, he promptly held Celine''s hand and swiftly moved backward, running towards the Mech depot. Their footsteps were silent and no one actually realized when they entered another passageway.


    "What are you doing!?" Celine shook off his hand and asked loudly.


    "I''m afraid there''s a bit of danger," Garen explained as he walked. He quickly came to the Mech depot and took out his special permit. He brushed it in front of the guard and got permission.


    After the electronic door opened automatically, he pulled Celine inside.


    "Find your Mech right away. We may have to flee here quickly."


    "What do you mean? How could it be!?" Celine said unbelievingly. "We actually have a troop of thirty-two Black-Clothed Generals escorting our battleship. It''s impossible to have any problems!"


    "Of course it is unlikely that something will happen now. But what if His Highness Red Whale is defeated?" Garen said plainly.


    "That¡­ shouldn''t be possible!" Celine looked a little sluggish.


    "There''s nothing that''s impossible! I''m not here just to simply go one round around the city and then head back. Wouldn''t you want to watch an Inherited Level battle up close? The battle should be happening above our heads right now."


    Garen enticed.


    "You''re crazy!" Celine''s eyes widened. "Both of us, Level Two and Level Three brats go up close to watch a life-and-death battle of Level Six Inherited Levels?"


    "I''m not crazy. If you want to go then get into your Mech!" Garen went straight to the front of his Mech and stepped onto the elevator platform.


    Wuuu¡­


    The elevator-platform sensed the arrival of the owner and slowly rose.


    Celine clenched her teeth and spoke no further. She quickly ran to her own elevator platform.


    Her Mech was a black double shield humanoid with silver borders. Her two shields were weapons of destruction with sharp serrations at the edge, not just for defending.


    At this time, Garen had already jumped into his own Mech and sat in the cockpit. He hit the activate key.


    Duuu¡­


    The Mech glowed all around. Blocks of floating light curtains and strips of white data flowed and surrounded the body.


    ''Double Blade Captain, proceed with armor charge?" the battleship central computer enquired.


    "Of course," Garen sat up straight, his eyes sparkling with excitement. He took out a small black box from his pocket. It was obvious that the surface of the box had been disguised so that it looked ordinary.


    He pressed the box to the console and the entire box melted directly into the inner parts of the Mech.


    "Double Edge No. 1, all set to go."


    "Combat readiness system complete by default."


    "Combat readiness system complete by default."


    "Ejection device ready!"


    "Ejection device ready!"


    "Set off!"


    Boom!


    The Double Edge Mech lit up at once. The gigantic body blasted off and launched through the opening of the spiral pathway above.

 866 Watching the Battle 2

    Just a split second behind, the wolf shield from Celine''s Mech also flew out. Two Mechs shot out of the battleship leaving a long trail of white smoke behind them. They flew straight up into the skies above.


    At this moment, there was also a large number of different types of black and white Mechs flying up into the sky besides them. For a time, it was like many missile-shaped fireworks had flown into the sky.


    The entire airspace of East Fate City was densely packed with numerous Mechs.


    Up high at several kilometers'' altitude, two Mechs, one red and one white, were entangled in a high-speed battle.


    The red Mech had circles of scarlet chains floating at its back that was constantly looking for a chance to bite like a poisonous snake. The whole body also exuded traces of Willpower ripples.


    Pointed sharp knives extended from the white Mech''s fingertips. Each of them was half the length of a Mech''s body and they looked ferocious. They formed a storm of twisted metal blades with the white Mech as the center point.


    As Garen and Celine came up, they were not the first group of people to do so. Several Mechs were already hovering around, watching from far.


    "This is the Inherited-level battle? It doesn''t look any different from our kind of fight?" Celine doubted.


    "The difference is huge," Garen murmured, "watch their actions."


    Celine was reminded and began to watch closely every subtle movement of the two Mechs.


    "This... This is..." not only did she saw with her own eyes that something was wrong, the detection equipment carried by her Mech itself also issued a warning signal. "Each time they clash, they have an average of fifteen Level Five pilots'' amount of power!? Isn''t this too exaggerated?!"


    "This is Mech Resonance," Garen had noticed the clues. "They are resonating with their own Mechs and have reached a very high level. At Level Six, the Mechs themselves are already equivalent to a living organism. They also have a potential explosion mechanism similar to that of a human body. It is Resonance that is able to take what was burst out from this kind of potential..."


    "Watch out!" Garen pulled Celine''s Mech all of a sudden and retreated in a rush.


    Pewwwww!!


    Horrifying red lights suddenly flashed across the sky.


    Red Whale and the Great Light Mech simultaneously burst into action.


    Countless shadows of chains suddenly appeared behind Red Whale, hurling and whirling towards the other party.


    The outbreak at this moment was way beyond the previous conventional battle. Each chain carried along a terrible impact and variable frequency magnetic field. They stabbed towards the Great Light Mech in an overwhelming manner from all angles like serpents.


    "Red Whale Contend!"


    An aged and low-pitched man''s voice rang through the sky.


    "Old man! Your move is antiquated!!" a raging man''s voice came from the Great Light Mech.


    "Pool of Radiance!"


    The Great Light Mech suddenly erupted. Copious amounts of white liquid light dripped down the Mech''s legs and floated in the air, forming an oval white pool.


    The red chains came into contact with the white light pool and everything was submerged in red and white light. Nothing could be seen.


    In the midst of the silence, a huge tornado formed by the turbulent flow of red and white energy was slowly taking shape.


    Garen once again tugged Celine and hurriedly retreated a few kilometers. Only then, did they break away from the hurricane''s traction.


    Some of the Mechs who were watching the battle were one step slower. Several Mechs with Level Four and Level Five force fields were dragged into it and instantly smashed into pieces. Seeing this chilled the hearts of the others and they flew far away once again to keep themselves safe.


    The red-white tornado stood at the center of East Fate City. It slowly spun and absorbed everything around it that could be absorbed. Looking into it from far, Garen''s eyesight could barely distinguish the silhouettes of the two Mechs. They were still confronting each other!


    "This kind of power...!!!" although Celine''s main household also had an Inherited Level pilot, his status had not reached such a high level yet. This was also the first time he had seen a battle between Inherited Level pilots.


    "I am finally understanding a little why pilots are the strongest players in the universe," Celine licked her dry lips as her eyes were filled with irrepressible amazement.


    Garen also felt the same.


    Although the density quality of this level of destructive power was not too high, the scope of this destruction... He speculated that to physically fight against this level of destruction power, his physical constitution had to be at least more than 30 points. Even still, there was still a possibility of getting hurt.


    This level had reached the terror level of the last battle in the Totem World.


    And this was only the capability of Level Six. According to the training method given to him by Forbidden Core, after it, there were still Level Seven and Level Eight¡­ maybe even Level Nine¡­


    In all fairness, though Garen had always focused on Secret Techniques, such a level of relying on individual strength to destroy the planet was beyond even the power of Demon Lord Class. Ancient Endor''s Demon Kings might have been able to be invincible across the time and space of the surrounding parallel universes, but they were still inferior to the top Mechs in terms of pure destructive power. Although they might be able to achieve similar destructive effects through other methods, they would definitely not be so straightforward.


    "Then again, there''s no need to belittle oneself. The merits of the Demon Lord Class is that its strength lies in other aspects. Its true soul is immortal and the demon can never die and will reincarnate. Even if the true soul is destroyed, as long as Mother Stream does not vanish, it can have a chance to make a comeback. But, it is almost impossible for the Mech to achieve this level. Although they are powerful, they cannot completely destroy the Demon Lord Class," Garen was slightly relieved, though he still had a slight worry in his heart. He did not have the qualification to see the highest level Mechs. Perhaps there could be new top technologies and capabilities appearing.


    The huge tornado slowly spun, connecting the earth and the sky. This terrorizing scene also caught the attention of all the troops around.


    The battle between Inherited Levels had once again shown itself to the world after several decades.


    This was no longer the level that quantity could make up for.


    Garen quietly piloted his Mech and looked at the tornado from far. However, he was looking for a way out in the comparison of Secret Techniques and the Willpower system of the Mech.


    He was seeking for a way to absorb the civilizational advantages of this system and integrate it with his own strengths.


    Boom!!


    The tornado collapsed. Two figures burst out of it and crashed into the ruined city below, creating two huge pits.


    There was a distorted black light in one of the pits, from which the Great Light Mech jumped out and escaped. The spatial lockdown device that came after was one step too late.


    In another pit, the Red Whale Mech flew up again, wobbling slightly. Obviously, he had been seriously injured. There was a huge crack in the Mech''s chest and abdomen. What flowed out from the inside was not the same type of components as the ordinary Mechs but a type of liquid silver mucus.


    The Red Whale Mech was quickly led away by a special Mech medical team.


    Garen and the group of watching pilots also left and returned to the original battleship.


    Unlike the general pilots, on the surface, he appeared to have Level Four Crouched Eagle Talon Willpower but in fact, he had Level Five Forbidden Willpower on the inside. This training method given by Forbidden Core seemed very advanced. Although it did not look like the type that focused on battle, its level must be far greater than a general training method like Crouched Eagle Talon.


    Garen could feel that the quality of the Forbidden Willpower had surpassed Crouched Eagle Talon''s by at least three times the density. Now that it had reached Level Five, even though it had been forcefully advanced using all of his potential points in one breath, it could somehow derive a special ability to increase self-repair by one level. That was already extremely abnormal on its own.


    "It''s presumable that the Forbidden Core would never have thought that I could rush to Level Five in such a short period of time," Garen thought. "The White Light Organization officially had declared war. Obviously, there can''t be just one Great Light Mech in place. There definitely should be a countermove. But now that no countermove has appeared, perhaps their main attention is really on the Forbidden Core. Could it be that I was thinking wrongly about it previously?"


    He was puzzled. He stared at the distant sky towards the direction of East Fate City, where the White Light Organization had set up their defense area.


    "Nonosiva."


    Suddenly a loud call rang out in his mind.


    Garen stiffened. He did not discern how the sound had been transmitted to him.


    "I am the Forbidden Core that made a deal with you, Red Moon. You could actually break through the training method levels in such a short time. Your talents are truly beyond my expectations."


    "So, it means that you really did some tricks to the training method?" Garen''s face darkened.


    "Certainly. But surely you would have checked it many times, didn''t you? There were no dangerous changes."


    "Breaking through one level was the basis for you to be able to contact me?" Garen asked.


    "This training method which I have given you is called Big Phantom Sound. It came from an ancient Inheriting sect that used to be glorious for a while. Their pilots used tones as their attacking weapons. At the same time, what was more outstanding about them was that they could achieve long-distance resonance communication technique even at this kind of low level," Red Moon simply explained.


    "Is there really such a powerful means of communication?" Garen did not believe it. The other party did not even know where he was, but the voice could cross over numerous disturbances in between the distance and still be heard clearly. Just a simple explanation of Big Phantom Sound would not sit well with him.


    "Of course, there is a little bit of assistance," Red Moon was not embarrassed to be seen through. "That idiot Clint has to make me worry about everything. There was no other way. I separated an imprint of mine and told him that there were only two imprints can be used."


    "What''s this imprint that you''re talking about?" Garen''s face looked a little darker, faintly feeling unsettled.


    "Of course, it''s the inherited imprint of the Forbidden Mech!" Red Moon simply answered. "This, in effect, is the usage rights of Forbidden Mech that many had attempted but failed to seize. Only those who have a Forbidden Inheriting imprint can qualify to participate in the final battle. Of course, a Mech can only pick one pilot and the others are sub-imprints, all of which is to assist and ensure the existence of the main imprint."


    "Are you joking with me?" Garen''s expression changed.


    "You thought I was joking with you? Let me tell you, boy, once you get into my boat, you can never think of going back!" Red Moon''s true form was beginning to show. "Once you abolish this level of Willpower, it will also affect all the Willpower you''ve had before and destroy them all! All the years of your hard work being destroyed instantly, heheheh..."


    "You want me to assist the main imprint?" Garen suddenly smirked. "What a na?ve idea you have."


    "The main imprint has absolute suppression on the sub-imprints. It would be useless even if you wanted to bring harm to it," Red Moon chuckled sinisterly. "Once you make your move, your Inherited Mech in the future will completely disintegrate in one go and directly explode!"


    "Merely an imprint?" Garen was too lazy to talk nonsense with him. "You really think that I couldn''t get rid of it?"


    While talking, he had already begun to examine his entire body. He quickly found a floating object like a dandelion seed inside the unknown Willpower.


    Truly, there was no way to move this thing using Willpower. But, Garen sneered and switched to the means of Secret Techniques. Blood flowed inside his body and numerous Living Secret Technique blue lines spread out and rushed toward the seed imprint.

 867 Changes 1

    Numerous blue lines rushed at the object that looked like a dandelion seed from all angles like a living creature and surrounded it.


    Garen slowed down and became more and more gentle. Who knew what else the Forbidden Core had placed inside? If something went wrong, it would be very troublesome. After all, it was inside his body.


    "Are you vainly attempting to remove the imprint? Just stop your wishful thinking. This thing cannot be handled by a low-level guy like you," Red Moon laughed.


    Before the voice had faded away, there was a light cracking sound.


    The large number of blue lines that Garen had manipulated had wrapped around the seed completely. As they tightened and shrunk non-stop, they actually crushed it savagely.


    There was no reaction. Garen had been ready to deal with any trouble and problems that might have arisen. However, after the seed was crushed, no unexpected changes occurred.


    He gently manipulated the blue lines to draw the seed into the palm of his hand and formed a cluster of blue lines.


    "Be fractured."


    As his voice sounded, the Living Secret Technique lines that were connected to the rear of the cluster of blue lines suddenly tore and broke. The cluster of lines independently formed a single ball and flew out of the Mech through the Mech''s nacelle.


    Boom!


    The cluster of lines suddenly shattered and turned into countless blue light spots. Bits and pieces of the seed fragments inside were clearly visible.


    "Oh...?" the voice of Red Moon promptly became a bit surprised. "You actually removed the seed..."


    He did not seem too surprised.


    "I did not expect you to have reached the point where you can eliminate the seed imprint on your own... But, the real core part is not what you can imagine..."


    "You really think that your imprint can be planted on anybody? That''s rather unbelievable?" Garen sneered.


    He absent-mindedly held out his hand and opened them again. There were other clusters of blue lines gathering in the palm of his hand.


    "Fracture..."


    Clusters of blue lines broke off and flew out of the Mech.


    "What!!" Red Moon''s countenance finally changed. "You...!!??"


    Garen stretched his hand towards the clusters on lines in the air and gently made a grasping movement.


    "Wait! Don''t!!"


    Red Moon suddenly yelled anxiously.


    Crunch!!


    Almost at the same time, all the clusters of lines burst together, turning into numerous blue light spots, slowly dissipating and faded away between heaven and earth.


    In that instant, Garen''s face went pale. He bent down and vomited a big mouthful of blood.


    "You!!" Red Moon''s voice broke off abruptly and disappeared instantly.


    Garen was faintly aware that something was amiss. This separation seemed to have stripped off most of the imprint restrictions. But, there were still some remaining parts that could not be completely isolated. These parts seemed to be the most crucial points but they were deeply connected to his heart and brain.


    He could clearly feel that a slight wave of force field was constantly emanating from a distant place. It was not the force field of a human, but a kind of an irregular pulse, sometimes fast and sometimes slow.


    Without any reason, he knew in his heart that it was Red Moon''s pulse.


    "Is this the main source of the imprint?" Garen was suddenly enlightened. As a master of the body''s soul manipulation, he was able to keep abreast of the slightest changes in himself. Although he did not know the means by which Red Moon had planted the imprint on his body, at this moment, he could still clearly feel the remaining functions of the imprint.


    The parts that restricted him had been forcibly eliminated using Living Secret Technique. However, the remaining part was Red Moon''s most fundamental source-of-life imprint. This thing could not be eliminated because it did not bring any harm to the body itself but had great benefits instead.


    If an ordinary person thoroughly integrated this source-of-life imprint, he or she might be able to instantaneously stimulate Willpower and gain a level. The activation of potential was the function of the imprint.


    Garen''s body did not have any rejection towards anything that did not harm his body.


    There was basically no way to transfer this remaining part. It had already been deeply connected to the heart and brain and had begun to slowly release its own energy.


    Garen closed his eyes slightly. He did not realize that this imprint would be so difficult to deal with. Absorbing the source of this imprint would undoubtedly benefit him greatly. However, it would also covertly create a direct connection with Red Moon. If he chose not to absorb it, on the other hand, it would leave crippling injuries to this body because it was already connected to the heart and brain. After removing Red Moon''s limitation control, there was only one choice left at all.


    "Forbidden imprint? Since there are only parts that are good for me, then why should I not accept this gift?" Garen opened his eyes and there were blue traces washing over them.


    Waves of Living Secret Technique blue lines emerged from the Secret Technique core inside of his body and quickly wrapped around the remaining sources of the imprint.


    ******************


    Radiation area


    On the deserted grey-yellow grassland, Clint, who was slowly following a convoy, suddenly trembled.


    "What happened to you? Clint!" Baylon asked worriedly when she saw his abnormal reaction.


    The two were closely following the team of people they had met in the sewers. This team was a small group in the radiation belt, an outgoing search team affiliated with a survival site. They specialized in hunting for edible mutated living beings and water sources with a low level of radiation. At the same time, they were also tasked with clearing all the hidden dangers of the surrounding areas.


    "All right? Clint kid," a yellow-bearded uncle at his side patted Clint''s shoulder. He was the only chemist in the team and could use a variety of radioactive materials and mutated biological plants to combine and mix together into an agent called poisonous mist. It could dispel the radiating poisonous fog in many places for a short time.


    "I''m... I''m okay," Clint drew back his body and lowered his head. His face, however, showed an unexpected joy.


    "Watch your path carefully. You both just came out from the region. The danger of the radiation belt is not what you can imagine. Many times, even a small scorpion that suddenly appeared out of the ground can kill you easily. We can''t afford any antidotes and serum at all," the uncle said earnestly. "Even if it''s an ordinary cold, it will quickly weaken a strong man as well. The viruses in the radiation belt are far more powerful than in the regions and drugs are even more expensive than gold and diamonds!"


    "I understand, uncle," Clint nodded wearily and looked at the tightly bundled-up Baylon. Unlike these Radiation people here on the outside, their skins had not been exposed much and seemed a lot more tender. Under the gentle reminder of the convoy''s big sister, Baylon quickly covered up her face and body.


    In the radiation belt, even beautiful women could attract unprecedented disasters.


    Seeing that Clint was alright, Baylon continued to hurry along while slowly twisting together the rattans of radiation plants in the car. After soaking this kind of entwined rattan in oil and tanning them, they could be woven into durable pouches. These pouches could not be pierced through by the fangs of mutated living beings. They made the best carrying bags and could be exchanged for some basic food items and drinking water in the team.


    There were more than a dozen people in the convoy. Everyone had to work in order to obtain grade three filtered water and food. These food contained radioactive toxins. Eating them would result in more severe radiation sickness and finally, the body would rot and die. However, as long as it was not consumed continuously, drinking some water with the purity level of grade two and above would allow the body to self-detoxify without any serious problems.


    As for drinking water that was less than grade two, the residual toxins would result in more ulcers and radiation spots on the body. So long as they did not eat it at frequent intervals, there would be no problem.


    The team gradually calmed down.


    Clint suppressed the joy in him and began to communicate with Red Moon in his heart.


    .


    "What! Radiation belt!?" Red Moon felt a little irritated after learning of where they were.


    "You guys actually entered the radiation belt?! Even the food here is poisonous and the water source is filled with bacterial viruses and radiation toxins. Surviving itself is an issue if you don''t have filtration equipment! It''s worse than in the desert!" Red Moon seemed to be familiar with the radiation belt.


    "Yeah¡­" Clint had some understanding of it during these days. "In the radiation belt, Big Sister told me that the most important things are pure water filters and medicines. Any team without a pure water filter cannot survive for more than three days. When facing any trouble, antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs will be the key to saving lives. Previously inside the region, we could buy a pile of these easily in the stores. Outside here, I did not expect it to be..."


    He became silent. Those who had not been to the outside of the region would not have any idea that there existed a world out there which was arduous to live in and that this world was actually the main environment of the entire mother planet.


    "You''ve finally found out? You all used to be little kids that lived in a greenhouse. In the radiation belt, anyone, pay attention, anyone would do anything just for a small piece of food or a vial of high-grade pure water. Women would sell their bodies, men would toil like beasts of burden and fight desperately with mutated beings. Anyone who can live above fifty years of age is blessed," Red Moon seemed to be deeply moved. "What bad news..."


    "So what do we do now?" Clint was at a loss.


    "It''s okay. I have found a foreign aid for you. But it''s a pity that he can''t help you for the time being... Hey!!" Red Moon suddenly screamed in pain in the middle of the conversation. "That damn freak! How did he get rid of my imprint!" his voice turned into doubt.


    "What''s wrong, Lord?" Clint asked cautiously.


    "Nothing, it''s none of your business. Go and make sure you train your Willpower!" Red Moon replied impatiently. Comparing Nono whose talent had been overlooked by him the first time with this trash-looking maggot, his anger rose.


    "Oh..."


    Red Moon was distracted just now. He was simultaneously talking to Clint and Nonosiva, who was far away. But, the result was that there was a forced disconnection from that side. The outer layer that was mainly the means of his imprint control was actually eliminated and left with the source alone. This equaled to peeling off the shell from a shell-enveloped sweet and consuming the sweet itself.


    "But it won''t be all lost if it''s eaten¡­" Red Moon said to himself.


    Looking at the silly-faced Clint again, Red Moon''s heart was filled with sadness once more. If it wasn''t due to not having any other way and having to pick this trash as the main heir, choosing a real one-in-a-million talent like Nonosiva would certainly have restored some of his glory by now; maybe already even reaching the standard of Level Five.

 868 Changes 2

    "However, I am quite clear about the temper of that guy over there. I have to go along with him. Otherwise, things will backfire. Over on this side, I can use the way of the wolf..." Red Moon was sulking due to the Nono incident. He looked at Clint and suddenly gave a sinister smile.


    "Clint!"


    "Ah... Eh?" Clint was just about to get into the state of training his Willpower but was jolted awake. He opened his eyes and had a blank look on his face.


    "From today onwards, I will arrange training tasks for you every day. If they are not completed, there will be various punishments. In order to improve your strength and combat awareness as quickly as possible, this is the only way we can do it. After all, we are now in the radiation belt. There are dangers here everywhere and if you do not increase self-awareness, you may not know even know how you died."


    "Oh¡­ Oh¡­ I see, I''ll work hard!" Clint nodded his head with seriousness.


    "That''s good. You have to know that once you don''t finish the task, I will punish you by forcefully taking over your body. You have to be clear about this. Well, for the first task of the day, engrave the first layer of the Willpower imprint once again!"


    "Ah??" Clint was stunned. Engraving Willpower imprint was the way to training Willpower. Each different training method would have a different imprint and each layer of training method would also have an imprint in increasing complexity which had to be engraved on different parts of the body to activate the Willpower of the cells in that part.


    This was also the main method for training Willpower; repeated engraving would deepen the traces. This was the way to continuously progress in the training method.


    In the past, it was possible to engrave an imprint once in four days under his normal state. This was considered to be very good for Clint, who had been forcefully advanced to Willpower Level One. Yet now, Red Moon actually asked him to engrave once a day!


    "Lord... this..."


    "If you cannot do it, you will go for a naked run! Or go show your little wee-wee[1] in front of the convoy''s Big Sister and shout three times, "I''m a scum!"" Red Moon grinned slyly.


    "F*ck..." there was absolutely no way he was doing that!!


    Clint''s head immediately went numb and he had goosebumps all over his body. Quickly, without saying anything else, his whole body and mind went into the state of Willpower training.


    He knew that Red Moon would walk his talk. In the event of such a terrible incident, his reputation would be sullied for the rest of his life!


    *********************


    Garen walked into the academy. The number of students in the academy had decreased significantly as many students had received tasks of patrolling in the city, similar to the tasks he did before, as there was a lack of manpower.


    Besides Blackboard Academy, other academies in the region were also doing the same thing. The higher-ups of Blackboard had officially entered into a war with the White Light Organization. With East Fate City as the frontline, both sides had invested large numbers of standard Mech units. The Blackboard army and the Ray Print Mech of White Light had been killing each other. There would be a big scale battle every three days while every two days, a small-scale one. The death toll on both sides was increasing.


    The White Light Organization had shown more than just the strength of a terrorist organization. East Fate City was located at the border and back of the Maria Region. It was impossible that this situation did not have the acknowledgment and support of the other two regions.


    Blackboard was now dealing with the issue of the forbidden core as well as the implication of a possible inter-region war.


    Garen paced slowly on the sidewalk of the academy. The green belt beside that was planted with safflowers had been trimmed neatly. Looking ahead, there were maglev circular displays the size of washbasins playing the news.


    ''In recent days, the Polar Region and our military have been conducting joint military training. The newest submarine-launched missiles have been revealed. According to relevant sources, the new missiles have not only enhanced the scatter-tracking on the foundation of the Nightingale models, they have also been equipped with a special erosion-type force field generator on their warheads. It can effectively carry out powerful interference attacks on high-level pilots¡­"


    The news broadcaster smiled and spoke confidently as if local high-level pilots could completely overpower the terrorists with just a new type of missile.


    Garen strolled past the display as he observed the increasingly tense atmosphere in the Blackboard Region. The atmosphere of the war had already seeped into the academy, where soldiers in military uniforms were often seen entering and leaving the campus.


    "My uncle was involved in the research of the new missile. The actual power is not as imagined..." a few passing students shook their heads while discussing among one another.


    "How is the situation in East Fate City?"


    "Not sure. We were only responsible for the periphery cleaning."


    "If you are an elite student, you will certainly receive an inner job."


    "Some did receive it, but the casualties were quite severe. I heard that even Senior Red Eyes was seriously injured."


    Several students discussed while passing by on Garen''s right. They all looked like senior students, each emanating the force field of Level One Willpower. The senior-level eight-petaled flower silver logo was also worn on their chests. Eight years of schooling was the normal level of most students. For the tens of thousands of students in Blackboard Academy, ninety percent of them were actually at such a level. They made up the majority of ordinary people in the academy.


    Even if the students were studying at home, they were also talking about the war.


    For elites like Garen who could achieve Level Three Willpower, many of them had a lot of military ranks and they could officially enter the battlefield as military soldiers.


    He continued to stroll forward. It was already late afternoon. The sun was rather dim, though it still shone on his military uniform. The black belt strapped diagonally to his shoulder reflected the light and dragged out a long shadow behind him.


    The gap between students was vast sometimes.


    Garen sighed in his heart.


    All of them were students and yet, some barely met the graduation criteria. They only had Level One Willpower and could only serve as foot soldiers. Some, in reverse, could serve as one of the main players in the middle stratum.


    This was just like the universities of Earth. Some students would be approached by top companies offering them high salaries while they were still schooling and had even built their own businesses with billions in net worth; whereas, some of them were still wasting their lives away and had to submit resume after resume to seek for a minimum-wage job after graduating.


    Some had been able to leave their names in notable research papers while some could only plagiarize from elsewhere for their dissertation.


    With a sigh and some stirring in his emotions, Garen quickened his pace and rapidly moved toward his destination.


    The students he encountered on the road all showed sights of envy as they saw the Captain-rank military uniform on him. Being able to achieve the rank of a captain at such a young age, it was obvious that it was either someone in the family or he himself must have served with distinction. His future prospects were limitless. As long as one had reached Willpower Level Four, being a field officer was certain. If one were lucky enough to advance to Level Five, one could attain the general level.


    Some first and second-year juniors and third and fourth-year seniors all thought that Garen was at least a year five student. They could not help but gaze over.


    Garen kept his gaze straight and walked directly towards his destination.


    A white mountain-shaped building stood more than one hundred meters away. There was a stone monument inserted on the edge of the green belt. The upper part was engraved with the words: Academy Main Building.


    After adjusting the collar of his shirt, Garen strode towards the white stone staircase in front of the building.


    ************


    Pap.


    The jade-colored stone paperweight was slowly lowered and made a crisp sound on the redwood table.


    "You want to apply for a jump in levels?" in the red office, the head of the department, Ansader, sat in his chair and calmly looked at the student in front of him who had submitted his application. This was the fourth student he had met today requesting a jump in levels. He had not been surprised.


    But what really astounded him was that this student was able to attain the rank of captain when he was just a second-year student.


    He looked down at the paper report.


    "The reason you gave is that you have already reached the graduation standard in the academic subjects and you hope to formally join the military to become an official member. I have already received the test results. They were really good," Ansader carefully considered his words.


    "Thank you, chief," Garen stood upright and looked straight ahead. It was a standard officer''s posture.


    "Although your request completely complies with the standards, your application is indeed very difficult for me," Ansader murmured. "No one had ever jumped across such a large span in one go. You want to jump from the second year straight to graduation. Do you think that you could finish eight years of schooling in just two years?"


    "Chief, according to my investigation, there were indeed some precedents. Four people from the Black Rain Generals have had such a cross-level record. Black Star, Red Eyes, and five others have also made such a big leap," Garen answered truthfully.


    "You did your homework well," Ansader rubbed his temples. It was not the first time he had encountered this kind of genius who thought he was the best in the world and would mention Black Star and Red Eyes at every turn. In fact, this happened quite often. Geniuses were always proud, thinking that they could be compared to any great celebrity and that the world''s successful powerhouses were only a little bit luckier than they were.


    "Well, you were last year''s freshmen''s First Seat. Although you couldn''t get into the elite, it was due to the accident between you and Celine which caused you two to fight too early. Not being able to continue in the competition was an accident as well," to tell the truth, Ansader still admired this genius Nono, who had worked hard with his own efforts and climbed up step by step. Seeing such a genius would always remind him of his past self.


    "I will write a letter of recommendation for you. You can take the letter and go to Professor Van Doe in the inner courtyard. He is a good friend of mine and the leading master in the Crouched Eagle Talon Training Method. He has been exploring the feasibility of Level Six Crouched Eagle Talon in the inner court."


    It was not the first time that Ansader had done this. In any case, several geniuses could be found in each semester and he would send them to his old friends. Professor Van Doe was famous for his superb Crouched Eagle Talon Willpower. It was just that he had faded out from people''s horizon a hundred years ago which was why he was not known in the eyes of the juniors nowadays.


    "Professor Van Doe?" Garen did not expect this result. "If I enter the inner courtyard, would I get the qualification to accept tasks that go out to the radiation belt?"


    "Radiation belt? You want to go out?" Ansader''s eyes suddenly sharpened.


    "Yes! I know the truth about the radiation belt," Garen said frankly, his voice became smaller.


    Both their vision met and Garen did not avoid it.

 869 Resonance Stage 1

    "The radiation belt is an inevitable region between the regions," Ansader withdrew his gaze and sighed.


    "Since you wanted to go, I will talk to my old friend. However, you have to understand that once you have radiation disease, you will never be able to return."


    "I know," Garen nodded.


    "If you know it, then..."


    "I have a personal business that I need to attend to and it can only be resolved at the radiation belt. Actually, I have been there once before," Garen did not hide his intention.


    "Is it?" Ansader naturally could find out the record of Garen leaving the region but he was pleased with the frankness of him.


    He quickly wrote down the relevant approval documents and then sent a message to his old friend. There was a prompt reply after waiting for a short while.


    "Alright, you can go now. It''s the inner courtyard mural area no. 13, Van Doe Manor."


    "Understood," Garen nodded, stood to attention and turned around to leave.


    "Let Fire Spirit in."


    The voice of Ansader came faintly from behind.


    *********************************


    Blackboard Region, East Fate City Emergency Action Center


    In a black, dark base, numerous black buildings looked like black plates that had been inserted into the ground upside down. They had a unique design and stood up to several hundreds of meters in height.


    At this time, various small, black spaceships with dimly sparkling sapphire-like lights were flying out of these plates continuously.


    Black Mechs slowly rose from the ground, ready to storm the frontline.


    At the bottom of the building, an outdoor balcony protruded from part of the building. Two young men in white uniforms were standing together at this moment.


    "The Shining Mechs that were deployed by White Light have emerged in the battle zone. Their purpose is very obvious, charging straight into the radiation belt," said a white long-haired man with glasses. He had a slender figure and a gentle temperament.


    He was an emergency responder of the Blackboard Special Operation Team and a member of the team that was dedicated to assisting Red-Eyed Medero.


    "What is the intention of Master Medero?" another woman with short red hair and a provocative look randomly asked as she stood by his side and scratched her short hair.


    "If Master Phoebe can free up her hands and make a sudden attack while His Highness Red Whale and the other party''s Great Light Mech are wounded at the same time..." the man said in a low voice.


    "Their purpose is very obvious. It is the forbidden core that escaped from the sewers," the woman nodded. "So, Master Phoebe had already begun the chase. At the same time, most of our special teams have been dispatched. I was specifically left behind to exchange information and contact with you."


    "You all have a specific position of the core?" the man was stunned.


    "There may be some clues," the woman replied. "Three minutes ago, Master had contacted once saying that they would be arriving at the target location."


    "That''s great," the man smiled.


    ************


    Somewhere in the vast grasslands of the radiation belt


    Jade-white shuttle-looking battleships slowly took off; some from the ground while some directly emerged from the underground.


    Groups of flying spaceships like flew up like white bees from the ground and rushed out of the clouds. They flew straight towards the sky, appearing like an inverted rain.


    Boom!


    In the midst of such an overwhelming army, a jade-white humanoid Mech with horns slowly descended and looked up at the magnificent skies around him.


    "Found the place where the core is. Boss asks you to go in person," a voice came from behind the Mech.


    "Understood. Boss was severely injured in the battle with Red Whale. Now is the time for us to shine," Red Jade Horn Mech responded. It was a calm voice of a woman.


    "Maria will send someone to assist you. Rest assured, with their traction light, you can always jump off and leave," whispered that voice.


    "Huh! These hypocritical people of the inner region only dare to move out in the name of our White Light," Red Jade Horn sneered. Blue flames spewed out behind her and she flew into the distance.


    "Twin Pole has already gone ahead. This time the problem should be easy to manage. Red Bud, you should go too. Be sure to stall the guys from Blackboard. The forbidden core must fall into our hands. Be careful not to be found out by Royal''s side. The motive of the people from Royal Academy is not that simple..." the voice whispered.


    "Understood." two white fighter jets took off slowly and chased after Red Jade Horn.


    "If possible, kill all observers except for the core. The information must be contained and prevented from spreading out."


    *******************


    Somewhere else on the grasslands of the radiation belt


    In a grassy village that looked like a grey spot, an old and rusted large-size Mech stood in the center of the village. It was surrounded by a variety of shabby and crude-looking cabins and buildings. They were built in the simplest ways using obsolete cement.


    Between the buildings, figures wearing dilapidated clothes came out one after another. There were men and women, young and old. All of them were all pale and they had rough skin. Some were leaning against their doors, watching the outsiders who were entering the village.


    Some of them sat at the front door and kept grinding their knives. Their eyes followed the outsiders. Even the children who were playing were holding dead scorpions and dead snakes in their hands, their eyes staring at the team.


    Clint and the group slowly followed the convoy and walked through the village, constantly feeling the hairs all over their bodies stand up as they were stared at by these people.


    The entire convoy of more than a dozen people each looked relaxed. But beneath that, the atmosphere was much more nervous than usual, forming a condition in which the external appeared calm while the internal was on edge.


    "Anyone in the village may take your life at any time. Everyone wants a better life, better food, better water and more beautiful women. These are the guarantee and the premium resources for a village to continue to prosper," one of the big sisters named Wu Dan whispered to Clint and Baylon, explaining some information to be kept in mind.


    "What do their need of resources have anything to do with us?" Clint asked innocently.


    "Because it is lawless in the radiation belt. The strong are respected, and whatever you want requires power. This kind of power does not rely solely on capability but also here," Big Sister pointed to her own head.


    Looking at the crowd with their staring eyes filled with defensiveness and greed, Clint''s heart felt unbearably oppressed.


    If he had not come out and had a look in person, he would not have thought that there was such a cruel world outside of the region.


    "If there really is no food, even human flesh is often eaten. As such, the population is not just a good use of labor and reproduction tool but also as food stocks," big sister Wu Dan said lightly. "So even if you guys have nothing and are going to starve to death, you must be careful of a good-hearted person who offers you a meal. This is because your flesh and bones may be viewed as resources in their eyes."


    Baylon covered her mouth, feeling nauseous.


    Clint also felt repulsed, goosebumps raising all over his body.


    "This is the radiation belt. For many years, there have not been any changes regardless of which planet it is," Red Moon''s voice sounded in his mind. "Human lives are worthless in the radiation belt. Every day, many people will be killed or wounded; killed for revenge, for love, for no reason, or out of loathing. The ordinary people here who are powerless are at risk of death at all times. You guys must be careful. As the activator of the forbidden imprint, the biggest drawback is that without the Mech, you are just an ordinary person and you cannot use Willpower," he cautioned.


    "Isn''t there still strength?" Clint tightened his fist.


    "It''s useless. No one will fight with you on the front. Here, just a bit of poison could knock you to the ground. Poison is the most abundant thing in the radiation belt," Red Moon said coldly.


    Looking at these villagers'' eyes, Clint suddenly felt a fear of solitary and helplessness. Unconsciously, he clung to Baylon''s little hand and the two were walking closer and closer to each other.


    Wu Dan smiled slightly at the sight of this and did not say anything more. The original second team leader had died on this trip. However, she had not expected to acquire two little guys coming from the region. It was a pleasant surprise. If she could get all kinds of useful knowledge and intelligence about the inside of the region from them as much as possible, then it would also be of a great help to the team.


    The convoy had now slowly driven to the front of a cabin with a dome. Wu Dan got out of the car, took out the key and jiggled it in her hand.


    "Let''s go. Everybody check the equipment. All those that need to be modified, report them to me!" she raised her voice.


    Woo-hoo!!


    Everyone in the convoy cheered. The fatigue they felt on the way had suddenly been reduced by half.


    "Come, let''s go and have a drink together," the yellow-bearded uncle patted Clint and Baylon on the shoulder and laughed.


    "We... We don''t drink..." Clint''s face reddened and he waved his hand. Baylon hid behind him and didn''t dare to speak up.


    "How can you not know how to drink?! Men who do not drink are simply wimps plus idiots!" the yellow bearded uncle chuckled, "Let''s go, let''s go. Come and accompany uncle, I have a good drink!"


    "But we really don''t know¡­"


    "How would you know if you don''t drink at all?!"


    Clint was dragged into the cabin by Yellow Beard and two other young people.


    The cabin looked small from the outside but on the inside, there was an underground passage in the middle of the room. Looking down on the stone steps below, music and laughter could be heard coming out from beneath. It was bustling with noise.


    The yellow-bearded uncle tugged Clint and went below.


    "Seeing you two guys reminds me of my nephew, who also didn''t know how to drink. But in the end? He also loved this stuff after drinking just a few times!"


    "This thing called wine¡­ people who don''t drink can''t understand that kind of feeling. This is the only thing that you can rely on to truly relax and rest in this kind of place," Yellow Beard brought the two and the rest of the convoy into the underground hall.


    Red and green lights shone in the hall. It was a freak dance show with all kinds of beautifully and gorgeously dressed women and bizarrely dressed people everywhere. Some were doing fire-breathing performances; some had fist-sized holes in their earlobes and looked terrifying; some had the word ''scum'' carved on their faces and weren''t bothered by it. They mocked and jeered at others loudly.


    The group of people pushed through the crowd and sat down at the bar. Big Sister was nowhere to be seen. Some of the other team members swarmed in and before long, they had blended into the crowd and were having fun wildly.


    Soon, there were only three people, the yellow-bearded uncle, Clint and Baylon.


    "Now that we''ve arrived here, we can have a good rest. This is a desert hotel. No one is allowed to start a private fight here. Otherwise, you won''t be giving face to the managing gang of this territory. If you don''t give face to the territory gang, you won''t be able to do anything."


    Pap!


    "Same old," the bartender placed two bright orange-yellow-colored drinks in front of the three of them heavily, nodded at Yellow Beard and turned to handle the other guests.


    "Come, drink!" Yellow Beard took one of the mugs and gulped down a big mouthful.

 870 Resonance Stage 2

    Clint, on the other hand, went to sniff at it. It seemed to be very fragrant, and smelled like lemons. All of a sudden a large hand reached over, picked up the cup and poured half of the alcohol inside into another empty cup.


    "You can''t drink so much on your own, this portion is for the two of you!" Yellow Beard laughed heartily, picking up his own cup again and guzzling it madly.


    "Thanks, uncle."


    Clint looked at the cups hesitantly, and reached out his hand to pass one cup to Baylon.


    "Are we really going to drink that?" Baylon asked hesitantly.


    "Just try a little..." reminded Red Moon softly. "Everything in the radiation belt is very dangerous."


    "Got it." Clint nodded, and bent down to lick the wine lightly with the tip of his tongue. Instantly, a refreshingly sour, intense taste of alcohol entered his mouth.


    Urk...


    It was just a little, but his face was already turning red, the things in front of him beginning to sway.


    Baylon was even faster. While he was still slightly dizzy, Baylon had simply collapsed onto the bar counter with a thud, and lay there unmoving.


    Clint opened his mouth and tried to speak, but his lips felt numb and swollen, and he could barely make any noise at all.


    Bam!


    He collapsed onto the bar as well.


    "Eh?" The yellow bearded uncle looked at them in surprise, and was instantly speechless. "These two kiddos can''t even take that little bit of wine? I''ve been holding back, y''know?"


    "You settled it so quickly?" Only then did Big Sister Wu Dan walk to the counter, looking at the two young ones who were passed out. "Them?"


    "Too weak, they fell just by tasting some Yellow Lemon," the yellow bearded uncle shrugged.


    Wutan was quite tempted, a hint of struggle flashing through her eyes.


    Similarly, the yellow bearded uncle also glanced at her, with a similarly unknown emotion rising in his eyes.


    The two of them did not have any ill intentions to begin with, but now, with such a great opportunity...


    Wutan clenched her teeth, and turned her head away, reluctance flashing through her eyes.


    "Bring them in, Lil'' Four is running out of time, if we have these two..."


    Yellow Beard sighed, and glanced at the two young ones.


    "Don''t blame us... We had no choice, either."


    He got up and lifted them, one in each arm, before striding towards the small door behind the bar counter.


    The bartenders and the other people seemed completely used to it, they had no intention of moving at all.


    One of the bartenders glanced at the two young ones who were being carted away.


    "Hoho, two fresh ones, one boy and one girl. The girl can be deflowered immediately and sold to the brothel, but the boy is quite a looker too, smooth skin and juicy flesh. Recently there have fewer meat pigs, huh? Such fresh produce is really hard to find now. The last time I had a pie, the meat inside wasn''t all that fresh anymore." He lit a cigarette and puffed nonchalantly.


    "The Boss and the leaders are all here, they should be able to get a good price for that. That woman Wu Dan is going to get rich," continued the other bouncer with a laugh.


    "That''s a matter of luck as well, she walked out and caught two little lambs just like that."


    Clint was picked up and brought away dazedly, but he was not completely out of it, and he had heard their words perfectly clearly. His heart instantly sank.


    "The situation''s terrible." Red Moon''s voice was slightly anxious as well. At first, he had not thought that Clint and Baylon would so inexperienced as to collapse with just a little wine. Wutan and the others did not really have bad intentions to begin with, so he did not really remind them, but now that the two of them were sitting ducks, the situation was going from bad to worse.


    "Clint! Clint! Wake up! Wake up now!!" He kept yelling Clint''s name, trying to wake him up. If he had not fallen asleep because he used his power too much consequently before, and now all his power could only barely maintain his consciousness, he would be able to remove the alcohol from Clint''s body right now with the power of the Forbidden Mech.


    "I... I..." Clint was barely conscious, but he was as anxious as Red Moon inside. The only problem was that he could not move his body at all.


    Red Moon was boiling over with rage as well, he had lost all his powers, and now thanks to one moment''s carelessness, Clint and Baylon were in such a dangerous state. This was really bad.


    Clint and Baylon could not use their Willpower at all when they were away from their Mechs. And he did not have any power at all as well right now. If they were not careful, Clint might become the first inheritor of the Forbidden Mech to be easily killed off by normal people.


    ********************


    Blackboard Academy


    The Inner Courtyard was a strange and wide underground space. If Garen did not have someone leading him down here, he would not have dreamed that the school''s Inner Courtyard would be a huge empty abyss several thousand meters underground.


    Above them was a simulated sky, with a golden sun slowly shining down on the earth. Unlike normal suns, however, there was a metallic silver ring around this golden sun, like a satellite ring.


    Looking at the bright scenery outside, Garen pulled back his gaze, and sat quietly in his seat, waiting.


    Right now he was sitting in a meeting lounge that was neither big nor small, and there was a black metal table in front of him. The wooden chair behind had a thick black leather cushion on it.


    But no one was sitting there right now.


    Ker-chak.


    The door to the meeting lounge opened.


    A wrinkled old man holding a staff walked in slowly, and then, glancing at Garen, sat in the chair behind the table.


    The old man wore something like a long white robe, and Garen could vaguely see a line of deep blue code numbers printed on the right of his neck. They looked like tattoos.


    "You''re here because that guy Ansader introduced you. We''ll cut the small talk, I''ll teach you properly. But you need to give me something equivalent in exchange. You get that, right?" said the old man mildly.


    "Yes." Garen lowered his head in a sign of respect.


    "I, Van Doe, don''t have many rules, but you must strictly obey all of them." The old man coughed twice, his tone softening. "You have two senior brothers and one senior sister, they are all experts at the Crouched Eagle Talon as well, and you will meet them later. Now, show me your Willpower so I can see your progress, and then I can teach you better as well."


    "I understand, Teacher," replied Garen respectfully. He could tell that this old man was far from just Level Five. His own internal Nameless Training Method was already at Level Five, but he could not tell how powerful this old man was at all.


    Before coming here, he had already investigated Old Man Van Doe''s reputation. In order to protect him, the prodigious elite, as well as due to the fact that he could reach Level Three Willpower in such a short time, Ansader did not treat him lightly. The teacher he recommended was one of the strongest among the Inner Courtyard''s professors. Actually, the academy had very few professors, most of them were strong fighters among the instructors. The title of professor came from a selection among the instructors anyway.


    And Van Doe was one of the best of the professors, he rarely revealed his power, so nobody knew if he was really only at Level Five. Most believed that he had already long surpassed Level Five. There was a large gap between Levels Five and Six, unlike the other levels, there was also a long endurance period between these two levels.


    The levels could be divided into four, namely New-Moon, Half-Moon, Full-Moon, and Two-Moons. There was a large difference between the four levels as well, because with different resonance degrees, there was a large difference in the amount of resonance power they could unleash. That was why the peak of elite students and the many instructors actually used these four levels to gauge their strength.


    The Inherited Level was not that easy to enter, and once someone entered it, they would have basically surpassed the limits of the human body. It was immensely terrifying, the resonance skills released in battle can reach Army Level straight away. Fighting an army with one man, that is the power of the Inherited Level.


    And since ancient times, countless prodigies and elites had tried to enter Inherited Level, but less than 1% of them actually made it. Most of the rest could only stay at the Full-Moon Level, and could not go further than that.


    Faced with these four levels, humans matched them to resonance data and levels.


    Between Levels Five and Six, there was detailed information about Mech resonance, and this information decided that from 10% to 30%, one would be in New-Moon Level. 30% to 50% was Half-Moon, 50% to 90% was Full-Moon, and finally, 90% up to the people endlessly approaching 100%, that was the final Two-Moons Level.


    Only those who truly reached 100% could enter the Inherited Level.


    Garen was now just dabbling into Level Five, forget resonance Skills, he did not even have any clue about his own Mech. Without a mech of their own, no matter how strong a pilot''s Willpower was, when faced with a true high-level Mech, they would still fall like flies. After all, without the boost of a Mech, the pilot''s own Willpower Energy Field could not even penetrate the opponent Mech''s defense fields.


    A victory by using the power of Willpower alone would only appear in battles against low-level Mechs, Mechs that were Level Four and above all had the ability to increase Willpower and form a Willpower Defense Field System.


    Garen looked at the geezer who looked like he had one foot in the grave from the corner of his eye.


    At the same time, he slowly emitted his Crouched Eagle Talon Willpower.


    "Definitely not a regular Level Five, New-Moon, Half-Moon, Full-Moon, Two-Moons, I wonder what level this old man actually is," he hazarded guesses inwardly. Unfortunately, once he reached Level Five, it was not so easy to advance anymore just by practicing training methods. Most importantly, he needed his own Mech, only then could he continue to progress. So he had no frame of reference for anything higher than that.


    Van Doe half-closed his eyes,as though resting, but also as though he was carefully sensing Garen''s Willpower.


    After a long while, he finally spoke.


    "Not bad, not bad indeed. No wonder that old boy Ansader recommended you to me so seriously. Level Four Crouched Eagle Talon, and you seem to be practicing another training method as well. You truly have great talent to reach such a level at such a young age."


    He said that, but he did not look very happy at all.


    "However, it seems that you did not train your Willpower the normal way. Instead, it looks like you used some external force to forcefully raise it. Although you tried to fix your basics later, you still have too many holes. Once you enter a battle of Willpower, in the long run, you''ll be in trouble."


    Garen''s heart gave a jolt. Although he already had a very high opinion of this old man, he never thought that he could come up with so much in such a short time.


    "I don''t know how you forcefully upgraded it. There are many ways, and although all of them can only be encountered by luck, that''s still your luck, and not that of others." The old man took out a gold-rimmed pipe, put some tobacco into it, and snapped his fingers. He actually managed to light a spark in the air, and used it to light his pipe.


    "That''s why you don''t have to worry that I''ll reveal your secret," Van Doe said calmly. "I am always fair to my disciples, but I''m also very strict. If you do not reach my requirements, then do not blame me for not showing you face. After all, your true talents are only slightly below-average, the chances of you making a breakthrough in resonance are minuscule at best."


    Only then did Garen understand why the old man showed no fondness for him even after knowing his level.


    "Sixty years ago, I accepted a student just like you, he reached a high level of Willpower at a very young age. But when it came to the hurdle of resonance, he spent eighty years before he could just barely make it to New-Moon Level. So my suggestion to you is that you should gather more wealth and equipment now, a good Mech will be very helpful to you in increasing your resonance as well. Although your natural talent is terrible, with a good enough Mech, you might still be able to advance at an average speed. Do not be too disappointed," Van Doe comforted him.


    "I understand, Teacher."Garen was slightly relieved, the old man still could not sense his hidden internal Level Five Willpower, that meant that the training method the Forbidden Core gave him was still high enough in level, and mysterious enough to fool him.

 871 Fila 1

    As for resonance degrees, or several years of painful endurance, he did not truly believe that he would be held back for so long without breaking through.


    Since he had the Nameless Training Method, his own side-project-- the Hellfrost Peacock Technique, and even the help of his potential points, he did not believe he would be stuck there.


    Van Doe looked at Garen, and seemed to have noticed how he did not appear to believe it.


    "But that''s fine, Level Four Willpower is enough for you to get some things done already. You can accept missions only elite students can take, to earn credits and Quest Points. Those can be used to exchange for skills or ingredients you require."


    "I understand."


    "Good." Van Doe took a small white item from his drawer, and tossed it casually. It fell right in front of Garen, who caught it precisely.


    "That''s your Elite ID Tag, make sure you don''t lose it. The competition between elite students is a lot crueler than you imagine. There is no name on the tag, so if it was taken away, you would lose your status as an elite. If you don''t get it back within a month, you will be chased out of the Inner Courtyard."


    "Chased out of the Inner Courtyard..." Garen had not known about that rule.


    "You know the three most important professors of the Inner Courtyard, they''re the principal and vice principals. They don''t have many students, but all their students are very powerful, even the weakest is at Half-Moon Level. Don''t provoke them. Other than that there are students of the Inherited Level instructors and professors, Red Whale and Rain Veil. Just make sure you don''t get on their bad side. The others are fine, you can treat them however you like. Of course, on the condition that you can beat them." Van Doe picked up his pipe and took a sharp puff of it. "The rules of the Inner Courtyard state that you can hurt each other during battles normally, but you can''t kill anyone."


    "I understand."


    Garen replied respectfully.


    "Well, now you''ve understood the gist of it. Every five days, I''ll have a lecture about the Crouched Eagle Talon, and your senior brothers and sister will rush back for it too. When they come back, you can meet them. For now, leave," Van Doe chased him away.


    "Yes."


    Garen lowered his head and retreated out of the room.


    The huge space inside the Inner Courtyard was just like the real world.


    There was a bright and dazzling sun in the sky, as well as orderly streets and rows of properly-arranged buildings of different heights. He could vaguely see the yellow and white lines marking the grey roads between the buildings.


    The flow of traffic and pedestrians moved at different speeds down the roads.


    Compared to outside, however, it was much quieter in here.


    Coming out from Professor Van Doe''s house, Garen lifted his hand and glanced at his wristwatch. He had received some messages just now, but he had temporarily turned it to Silent, so he had just felt a slight vibration.


    The Caller ID on the watch indicated that it was Celine.


    "How''s it? How does it feel to enter the Inner Courtyard?"


    "I don''t feel anything in particular. This place is very large, it looks just like another separate reality. The surroundings they created here are very realistic," said Garen as he casually walked towards one of the streets.


    After walking for some time, he found a spot, and sat down on a long bench. The bench was at the crossroads, so it was close to the point of highest traffic.


    Garen talked to Celine disinterestedly while he observed the passersby here nonchalantly.


    "As expected of the Inner Courtyard, any random stranger just walking around here has Level Two Willpower at the very least. On average, most of the people here are at Level Three," sighed Garen, his eyes fixed on the people walking past him.


    "Of course, the monsters in the Inner Courtyard are all the elites of the elites, carefully chosen every year. Even the two of us did not make it in the beginning," Celine chuckled. "At first I was making preparations too, to get into the Inner Courtyard beforehand, but I never thought you would be so far ahead of me. As expected of someone with military credit, I''m starting to wonder if I should go and get some for myself."


    "Go ahead, your powers are pretty much there. Just go and patrol somewhere, catch some terrorists a few times, and it won''t be hard for you to create some military credit," said Garen approvingly. "Now that the White Light has declared war, many terrorists in the area are just raring to go. It''s the best chance for you guys to make a name for yourselves."


    "True. I feel like I''m going to breakthrough my level soon. It should be this month or next, then I''ll be in Level Three too," said Celine very frankly.


    "Congratulations." Garen felt speechless. If he did not have the help of the secret techniques and potential points, there was no way he could have reached Level Three so quickly. Celine truly was a real peak-level prodigy, she was already on the verge of Level Three just like that.


    "After a while, we plan to work together to buy some Lamda Alloy, you interested?"


    "Lamda Alloy?" Garen knew about that, it was a main material used in creating high-level Mechs, its specs were very good in all aspects. It was one of the best materials to make close-range Mechs.


    "Yeah, we gotta start prepping now, right? The most basic materials for making Mechs, engine skills, quantum brain skills, and kinetic frames, those are the four most important foundations. These things are definitely resources required for battle strategies, don''t even think about finding them lying about the market. Even on the black market, you could only buy a bit of these for a ridiculous price. At the most, they can only be used for repairs. If you really wanted to get some, you needed to barter through your connections. If you''re interested, you can start buying with us as well, I''ll put your name in, it''s on me."


    "Is that okay?" Garen knew that the inner circles of Celine''s main family branch had some of the quota on these precious skills and materials. If he added his name to Celine''s, that meant he was taking away her already-limited Mech quota.


    "It''s fine, it''s all thanks to you that my ranking could rise, you''re my teacher, y''know!" Celine chortled. This girl, she looked pretty good, and had a good body too, but that laugh... was even manlier than a man''s, completely carefree and with none of a girl''s self-awareness.


    "Well, okay then." Garen felt slightly guilty. The last time they intercepted the White Light''s Shining Mech, Red-White, Celine had not gotten any benefits from it at all. She had taken such a huge risk for nothing, and now he had to rely on her again.


    But right now he really did not have channels to buy rare materials, perhaps he should look around the Blue Narcissus'' place, apparently they had channels especially for this. Only he did not know if he could buy such high-grade stuff.


    Actually, Garen did not harbor many hopes, If it was that easy to obtain, Celine would not try so hard to find any channel. After all, it was a simple matter to get a member of Blue Narcissus to buy something for her.


    "Okay, then you send someone over. I''ll get someone from this side to meet you," Celine said shortly.


    "I''ll send Kendall over to discuss with your man, as for the general details..." Garen''s voice stopped suddenly, his gaze sweeping over a slightly familiar figure, and his eyes abruptly narrowing.


    That was a woman''s figure, long and slender, with some very long legs by proportion. She wore black leather clothes, her long golden hair let loose over her shoulder. She had curves in all the right places, and gave off an intensely sexy, well-trained aura.


    This woman walked out from a convenience store on the street, holding a plastic bag in her hand, with some vegetables and fruits in it. Yawning, she walked towards a large black bike by the roadside.


    "...I''ll call you back later, something urgent''s come up," said Garen to his watch, and then he cut the connection. Standing up, he strode straight towards the woman.


    But his gaze was trained on a small alley beside the woman, as though he was a passerby who wanted to walk into the alley.


    The woman turned around, glanced at him, and yawned again. Her eyes were the perfect peach-blossom almond-shape, her pupils were scarlet red and very beautiful.


    "It''s her!"


    Garen had already remembered, this woman was that person dressed in black who had suddenly barged into his hospital room, back when he had first come to this world and was grievously injured. Her eyes, and her basically unchanged body proportions, all immediately reminded him of the situation back there.


    This was the woman who nearly ruined this body''s eyes, and even worse, she nearly destroyed one of his Soul Seeds when he just arrived in this world.


    Back then Garen had already decided that he would definitely find her again, and repay her properly for what she had done. However, he had never found her again, until he just stumbled into her in the Inner Courtyard.


    The blonde-haired, red-eyed woman looked to be no older than twenty. Right now, she had none of the sharp edge she had back then, she just looked like a regular beauty who was extremely mentally tired.


    She gave Garen a strange look, and put the bag into the bike''s carrier at the back. Lifting one of her long legs, she got onto the heavy-duty bike.


    With a ''vroom'', the engine kicked into gear. The bike moved slowly, and was getting ready to take off.


    Just then, Garen reached less than a meter away from her, and reached out his hand abruptly.


    Psst!!


    His hand, arched like a claw, seemed to tear through the wind, making a hissing sound as it grabbed for the woman''s weakest area, her neck. With this claw, Garen had used 30% of his power. If a regular person was grabbed by him like that, they would surely be unable to resist. All the power in their bodies would be jolted away, and they would be helpless. If they tried to resist him face-on, with Garen''s vitality and strength, even regular weapons would not be able to block this move of his. As long as they were not peak-level weapons, stuff like blades would just be broken in half.


    This grab was evidently completely out of the woman''s expectations, both her hands were on the motorcycle handlebars, and it was too late for her to react when she saw his claw coming.


    "You!!"


    Her pupils dilated abruptly.


    Boom!!


    A transparent jolt exploded around her.


    The huge force sent both the woman and Garen flying. The heavy-duty bike was sent flying diagonally, and crashed hard into a wall, making a dull thud.


    The woman was evidently fine, and she began to run as soon as she got up. In her hand, she held a small item like a white jade, and it was still dimming slightly. Evidently, it was the source of that explosion just now.


    Turning around and glancing at Garen, she saw that he was getting up from the ground, completely unharmed. The woman''s heart grew colder.


    "He''s fine!? He took a hit from my Heavenly Water Blast and he''s completely fine! You gotta be kidding me..."


    She said nothing else, but ran even faster.


    Garen shook his head, the impact just now was equivalent to a small hand grenade. But with his terrifying Vitality stat, that was nearly at five points, and the Hellfrost Peacock Technique''s automatic Frost Protection, not a hair on his head was harmed.


    Still, he could not block the force of the impact, and was sent flying.


    Looking up, he saw that the woman had run quite a distance. He snorted coldly, and began to give chase.


    "Trying to run, are you!"


    Within a few seconds, Garen was already no more than several meters behind the woman. He reached out his large hand, and grabbed at her abruptly.


    Psst!


    A white laser shot past Garen''s claw. It landed on the wall but did not leave any mark except for a wisp of black smoke.


    "Stop!"


    A young man in a black suit rushed over, and he was somehow running at the same speed as Garen. Facing Garen, he smashed his forearm at Garen''s head. Strangely, his forearm had bolts of blue lightning coming from it, giving Garen a sense of immense threat.

 872 Fila 2

    Garen turned over, and pushed his opponent''s elbow with the shoe. With a thump, he used the strength from his opponent and moved back a few steps, staring at this man who suddenly appeared.


    "What''s wrong? No one said that it''s not alright to seek revenge between Elite Students, did they?"


    "I don''t care if you''re seeking for revenge, but blatant use of Range Blasting Weapons on the streets is a violation of rules!" The man stared coldly at Garen. "Let''s go, come with me to the Administrative Bureau!"


    "The Administrative Bureau?" Garen knew that the Administrative Bureau was the department in charge of the Inner Courtyard''s security. What he didn''t know was that he would be meeting them under these circumstances.


    "Come with me!" The man reached out to grab onto Garen''s arm as sparks danced on the tip of his fingers. "It would be an assault if you resist. If you don''t want to be jailed up for about a year, you better be honest with me!"


    "It was that woman there, just now, who used the Blasting Weapon. Surely you can''t blame me for that?" Garen argued.


    "I don''t care. You''re the one with the biggest threat here." The man did not bother, grabbing Garen by the arm.


    How could Garen submit to an arrest like that? So with one step back, he dodged.


    The man closed in with every step, but Garen continued to dodge. The both of them twisted and turned like a game of catch. In a short few seconds, they had exchanged more than ten moves.


    "Many thanks, brother!"


    From the distance, he heard a woman''s voice thanking him.


    Garen''s face sunk. He instantly knew that this man was on her side. But as he looked at the shield of the Administrative Bureau''s on his arm, and he was indeed a real Police Officer. However, the Administrative Bureau here was not like the officers from other places, who were merely laypeople with the strength of Level One or Two. These team of officers was formed with the Inner Courtyard''s Elite Students. Most often, these officers would possess the quality of Level Two or Three. There were many masters of Level Four and Five as well, but more so, there were also masters of the New-Moon Level and Half-Moon Level.


    He suddenly had a plan. As he took a step forward, he crossed over from the side of the man, like a phantom, and quickly chased after the woman.


    "How dare you resist arrest!" The man''s eyes widened. This was the first time some had escaped from him so easily.


    Though unfortunately, when Garen showed revealed his true strength, his speed was much faster than the man''s. In a few steps, he had caught up with her, few meters behind.


    "At first, you almost killed me in the hospital. It was hard enough catching you this time, and you think you could escape?" Garen said with a straight face.


    Only then did the woman recalled what was going on here, her eyes revealed a fierce stare.


    "If I would have known, I would''ve gotten rid you little bastard!" She gritted her teeth, but she did not stop in steps. From the fleeting exchange they had a moment ago, she felt that her opponent''s close combat skills far exceeded hers.


    If he was caught, he would be facing a situation with only death involved.


    "If you knew? If that is just mere empty talk, then you will die here today!"


    Before he could finish his last word, Garen fiercely rushed forward in a ghost-like manner. His palm was directed towards the woman''s chest.


    No wind, nor whistling sound could be heard from the punch, only a black shadow flashed past. The heart of Garen''s palm was almost touching the back of the woman''s leather clothes.


    As if she could feel a chill running down her back, she felt a strong dangerous instinct that enveloped her whole body. From the reflective mirror that was on the street in front of her, she could clearly see Garen''s movements behind her.


    Immediately, her scalp went numb, and she knew she was in trouble.


    Bang!


    A wave of blast once again exploded around her as she violently shook away the palm that Garen hit her chest with.


    "Brother, save me please!" She screamed out loud.


    The blast wave shook Garen back for a few steps, but the same moves didn''t affect him much. He too had prepared for this explosion and that''s why he wasn''t blasted too far away. As he took a step forwards, he rushed towards her again.


    Whereas it was a different case for the woman herself -- she was blasted dizzy. After that, she slowly struggled to stand up.


    Bang bang!


    Suddenly, a pair of arms with electricity fiercely grabbed into Garen''s shoulders.


    "I''ve caught you!" All these while, that Administrative Bureau man was taking the opportunity to catch him. It was unclear what tricks he used, but there was not a single sound was made as he was pressed onto Garen''s shoulders.


    He then looked at the woman who was getting up, and a harsh look flashed across his eyes. When his knee jerked and slammed onto Garen''s vest, the area that was hit formed a black spark of electricity. This was the explosive current that came from the Traceless Personal Mech that he wore. Usually, it is only used for capturing criminals with heavy crimes. No matter how strong his body was, this hit would have given any other Mechs a huge hole, let alone a human. The metal would have made him physically disabled!


    Seeing as his favorite junior was forced into a corner by this guy, he was immediately enraged. With one knee, he fiercely smashed it forwards.


    At the same time, his Level Four Willpower rushed forward with a loud crash.


    Spike!


    For a moment, the Willpower turned into a sharp prick that was stabbing towards the back of Garen''s brain.


    Sensing danger, Garen''s expression turned cold. His body was suddenly startled, and he broke free from the opponent''s grip. His body twisted and turned. In the end, he escaped the Willpower''s stab and punched the guy with his backhand.


    "How are you assault me!" The man yelled.


    Swosh!


    The punch was a meter away from his face, and it stopped there. It scared him until he started sweating profusely.


    Garen lifted his head to look at the monitoring camera that was placed on the top of the corner of the street. He let out a cold snot. He could say that he was seeking revenge when he was chasing the girl before this because that was still within the rules of the Inner Courtyard. However, if he had hit this Administrative Bureau''s officer, then he would have committed a crime.


    Garen glared coldly at the sluggish man, turned around, and quickly chased after the woman. Unless his Willpower far exceeded his Level, then if not, there would not have been a Mech Pilot in this Mech. In his eyes, that was good-for-nothing; there was no difference between him and a normal person.


    The man touched the wrinkle on his face that was agitated by the strong winds. He was lifeless for while, but then he roared out loud. From his waist, he pulled out a Laser Cannon and aimed it towards Garen''s vest.


    "Die!"


    Chi!


    This time wasn''t the same as the safe white laser before, its effects weren''t much. This time, the laser carried a tint of silver, as if it immediately hit Garen''s vest the moment it shot out.


    This was not the Authoritative Bureau''s standard Laser Cannon. Instead, it was the man''s own High-Energy Destruction Gun. This was an individual combat weapon that would only be used to tackle small battleships! It can even penetrate through armored alloyed plates.


    The silver laser was like a silver line that was behind Garen in an instant.


    In a flash, a strong sense of danger crept into his mind. There was no time for him to turn around, and so, his left foot took a step to the right.


    Bang!


    His whole body suddenly tilted and turned around to face the side, maintaining his standing position. At the same time, a powerful radiating field violently spread, and distorted the air density around the body for a moment.


    Hiss!


    It was a close call, but the silver laser did not hit the vest after all. Instead, from Garen''s back, it slanted slightly downwards and brushed outwards, away from him. It hit a rubbish bin not far from where they were, and penetrated in. Nobody knew how far down the ground it went.


    However, Garen''s back was dug out by the laser, giving him a bloody wound. A red line stretched vertically across his back. His blood was dripping down, wetting the edges of the shirt that was burnt.


    Garen grunted, as his muscles relaxed. It was activated in one second and then relaxed the next automatically, just like a worm that was trying to wriggle its way. Under his skin, the muscles naturally goes through peristalsis to replenish the blood from the wound. Once it recovers, just like closing a door, the wound would close into a red scar.


    This terrifying individual combat weapon was not designed to oppose human, it was designed to attack battleships!


    Even though he was proud of his physique, he was vulnerable under these weapons.


    Although he avoided a fatal blow, just because of the blasting force that erupted when he was trying to dodge, Garen tumbled hard and fell on top of the rubbish bin.


    With a bang, a rolled down from the top of the bin. He leaped down immediately with the help of one hand.


    He did not chase after the woman. He lifted his hand, feeling as if he broke something. However, he quickly turned around and dashed towards the Authoritative Bureau''s man who was behind him.


    That man''s face was evil. To one''s surprise, he still wanted to continue to fire, but before he could aim, he saw Garen''s distorted wondering. His figure was traveling in a completely irregular pattern as he rushed forward. A claw was silently directed towards his neck.


    At that moment, the shadow of death loomed upon him.


    A hint of fear finally surfaced on the man''s face. However, as it was already night time, the claw was almost at his neck. He could feel the sharp nails already on the skin of his neck.


    Boom!


    At this moment, a huge surge of Willpower suddenly rushed in from the side. It was as if this entire street was distorted with Willpower; even the light in the air was vibrating slightly.


    The impact of the huge surge of Willpower was transparent and colorless. As it formed into a snake-like shape, it coldly rushed towards Garen''s presence.


    The impact of the giant snake''s Willpower was quite fast. It was even faster than all the pilots that Garen has ever witnessed. That speed was instantaneous. The next moment, it was in front of him.


    As Garen lifted his eyes, it seemed like everything had slowed down. His frantic Level Five Willpower in his body was aroused with a crazy sympathetic response. It wanted to broke out to defend this terrifying Willpower.


    But in the end, he did not make it.


    Rumble!


    A loud noise echoed in his brain, causing Garen''s whole body to roll out, and was pushed away.


    This surge of Willpower was exceeding Level Five, and it had achieved a strange degree of change. Even though the impact was from afar, all of Garen''s defenses on the surface of his body was instantly shattered. It was as if his body was attacked by a baseball that was shot at a high speed.


    At this moment, not only did Garen''s wound that was just healed burst out with blood, all the organs in his body felt as if an invisible hand was squeezing them hard at the same time. It was like it wanted to tear all of it to shreds.


    That surge of terrifying giant snake Willpower suddenly broke through his defense, and went into his body, wanting to tear all his organs in his body.


    Ouch!


    He couldn''t control it as he spat out a mouth full of black blood. Garen''s vision went black. This opponent''s aim was to kill him after all, not leaving any chance for mercy. If it was any other Pilot, the ones without the right physique would definitely die!


    Without the slightest hesitation, Garen held onto the heavy damages on his body. After he was pushed outwards, you used a similar technique like the Gecko Wall technique the moment he was about to hit the wall. As he slid towards the wall, he channeled it into an upward momentum, and with a few movements, he disappeared on the wall.


    From a distance, he heard the Authoritative Bureau''s man''s voice shout in surprise.


    "Captain Fila!"


    "Fila!"


    Garen remembered this name while he moved at an accelerating speed. He bore the horrible pull of Willpower in his organs, and head towards his Inner Courtyard''s Master''s place.


    The places where the major professors were, in the Inner Courtyard, absolutely did not allow fights. Between Elite Students, they were not allowed to kill each other. At most, it could only cause them injuries, but the rules were the rules. With the cruel and evil personalities of each Elite Students, as long as it was a non-monitored area, killing duels of sorts would often happen. There were even people who would use an aircraft to bombard and kill. Just as long as they weren''t caught, it would be fine.


    This was also the reason why the Authoritative Bureau man was carrying with him a High-Energy Destruction Gun.

 873 Resonance Degrees 1

    In the alley, a young man wearing grey army uniform walked in. He took a look at the girl on the floor, and then another look at the Authoritative Bureau man by his side who was scared from the shock. In the end, his eyes fell upon the monitoring camera on the wall that was broken by something. That was the camera that Garen smashed just now.


    "You two are useless! You couldn''t get rid of the new student even with the Destruction Gun."


    He wore a thick greyish-black cloak on this back. The cloak wasn''t long, it just completely covered his entire back. On the top, it was as if it was animal fur; it shone in a glossy luster. A blood colored sword pattern in the center was wrapped between two concentric circles, making it seem like the blood red color was aiming at the star-shaped pattern, and giving off a luxurious and mysterious feeling.


    "Brother Fila! He¡­ That guy before this! He wanted to kill me!" At that moment, the Authoritative Bureau''s man''s face became pale as he cried out loud. In that split second just now, he almost thought he was going to die. That terrifying claw did not give him the chance the react. Even if his Level Four Willpower had greatly improved his response speed and strength, he still would not be able to defend himself under that claw.


    "Goldfish," Fila ignored him. Instead, he looked at the woman on the floor, "if it wasn''t for your brother, I would not even be bothered with your personal enmity." There wasn''t a single hint of warmth and emotion in his eyes. It was as if he was a real snake, even his pupils were vertical.


    "Thank you, Senior Fila," Goldfish seemed a little afraid of this man as she stood up and answered with her head down, and low voice. Her body was also shaking a little, uncontrollably. Her eyes glanced at the formal clothes in which Fila was wearing. Her heart was pumping.


    Fila was ranked as the best expert under Red-Eyed Medero. In the whole of the Inner Courtyard, he ranked fifth. Although he was a level lower compared to Red Eyes'' and others'' Full-Moon Level, for an average student, he was far more powerful than the top three of the preparatory three.


    The reason was that his character was always the same, neither happy nor angry. He was just moody.


    Yet in his formal clothes, it was obvious that he was prepared to attend a formal ceremony. So she was the one who ruined his mood¡­ Although this account did not seem like a big deal, Fila would definitely make her brother remember this!


    Only then did Goldfish felt a cold breeze. Fila''s greed was infamous throughout the Inner Courtyard. Almost everyone who had dealt with him has suffered.


    This time, she really hated that new guy that attacked her so much, that she gnashed her teeth. However, she could imagine that her brother might not have known how much it would cost to settle this Fila.


    The Authoritative Bureau man suddenly thought of that as well, and his face became darker.


    -----------------------


    Slowly walking into the small courtyard of Professor Van Doe''s villa, Garen lifted his head to let the detection device core scan his pupil.


    "Poor Student Nono, you look like you''re suffering from a serious injury. Do you need me to arrange a treatment for you?" The villa''s detection device had the sharp voice of a middle-aged man. It was this villa''s central management intelligence -- Hill.


    "No need. I will not fall for your poor quality drugs," Garen laughed as if he had no injuries, and then he slowly entered the front courtyard. However, his pale face still could not hide the huge amount of energy he lost.


    The strong Willpower was still tormenting his body. If it wasn''t for this physique, that was stronger than most people, there was no way he could have defended himself from the pulling of that Willpower.


    The Level Five unknown Willpower was constantly resisting the remnants of the opponent''s Willpower. But it was obvious that their levels were very far apart, as if with one touch and he would collapse.


    "Why are you calling it poor quality drugs? The injury in your body is an invasion of Willpower, and it is not an ordinary trick; it is a Half-Moon Level Master''s Willpower. More so, it is one of those who is about to break through," Hill giggled. "You really don''t need my help? If you''re not careful, do you know this is a fatal injury?"


    As a Knowledge Core, he was not any other normal intelligence. Instead, he used to be a human. Furthermore, he was an experiment that surprisingly survived in Van Doe''s experiment. His memories were washed away, but he became the biochemical brain that manages this place.


    Over hundreds of years, it probably had seen many Students that had High Level Willpower invade their bodies. With this kind of injury, there usually isn''t any professional expelling devices. Only a small number of students were able to make the medicine using their own secret medicine. Without drug assistance, most of them would either end up disabled, or helpless because of the dysfunction of the internal organs.


    When Garen came here, the first thing he did was understand the various commodity price lists provided by this intelligence. With comparison to the price out there, this was simply the world''s top profiteer. Originally, the prices in the Inner Courtyard had to be twice as expensive as the outside world. However, the prices in here were double the price of the Inner Courtyard''s which was absolutely a death trap.


    Listening to Hill''s grumbling behind his back, Garen walked back to his room as if nothing had happened. As a Student of Van Doe, he had to pay a learning fee of one million Universal Units every year. At the same time, he had to assist the Professor by carrying out at last three experimental jobs. What he got in return was a shelter from the Professor, as well as the rights to purchase special goods that are not available elsewhere.


    One should know that even though Hill was greedy, he still had good things that could not be bought elsewhere. Many of them were Hill''s private stuff.


    Moreover, another benefit he had was having a small room for him to live in.


    As he entered the room, the walls of the bedroom were white. There was a bed, a chair, a table with a lamp, and nothing else.


    Garen shut the door, and it gave a beep-like sound of the door locking.


    Only then did he let out a harsh breath. The wound on his back was burning with pain, and his internal organs were still entangled with his Willpower. However, this Willpower given by the Forbidden Core, Red Moon seemed to be very powerful. Although the Levels weren''t that far apart, it was still able to hold on for two seconds, unlike the destructiveness of the eagle''s claw Willpower. In this constant consumption, one would be able to constantly use that touch of unrooted Willpower.


    "That bastard is amazing," Garen harshly spit out a breath. This was still him. If it was someone else, their organs would have exploded in the very beginning. There was no way they could have lived.


    "Fila¡­"


    From his own suitcase, he took out his tablet and typed quickly. Once he was online, he started searching.


    A red virtual keyboard was projected downwards onto the table. Garen quickly extended his hand and a knocking sound of his typing could be heard.


    With the knocking sounds of the keyboard, all the information regarding the Inner Courtyard''s Fila quickly appeared.


    A photo of a handsome man with a slight trace of blemishes showed up. He was dressed in a military uniform, with the silvery colonel ranking Silver Star sat on both his shoulders.


    ''Fila Remington -- ranked fifth in the Inner Courtyard, a top talent from the Remington Family. The Chief of the 105th Senior Students of the Inner Courtyard. Age: ? . Captain of the Special Forces in the Inner Courtyard''s Administrative Bureau. Commander-in-Chief of the Third Military Mech Corps of the Military Command. The year of 78, he achieved first in the battle of special pilots between three regions. The year of 52, he achieved third place in the Task Force Competition of the Central Academy. He got a special engine as a reward. He has served as the Director of Central Reporting''s Special Service Department in the Blackboard Region, Vice President of the Hualian Commerce Association, Managing Director of Annier Group¡­"


    Behind that was a series of his various titles.


    Garen swept his eyes across that bunch of titles, completely ignore a huge chunk of useless information, and looked at the evaluations at the end.


    ''Strength evaluation: Level Five of Half-Moon Level; could break through to Full-Moon Level at any time. As the older group of the Inner Courtyard''s Elite Students, Fila is famous for his Shapeless Snake Training Method. However, he was always suppressed by the top four, causing him to not improve further. He does not make a breakthrough by suppressing his own strength might be because he wanted to lay a better foundation in order for him to defeat the top four experts.


    "Half-Moon Level," Garen sighed. He could feel the Willpower in his body was gradually consumed by his own Level Five nameless Willpower. Only a little of the battling remnants were left, so it should not take much longer until it would be completely gone.


    Garen was now much more relaxed.


    "No doubt it''s the Support Training Method." Garen had also searched for anything related to the results of heavy damages caused by Willpower. Under the circumstances of no professional instrumental treatment, or no medicinal assistance, the results were either ending up a disabled person or death. There were no exceptions. Such injury like the bleeding of the arteries, if it is not treated quickly, the end result would be death.


    However, this training method given by Red Eyes allowed him to self-repair to defeat foreign Willpower.


    It was also his original plan, that if it did not go well, his only choice was for Hill to take a look at him. But now, he had put away most of his worries.


    Fila''s name was repeating in his mind. Garen also paid attention to several other of his comprehensive rankings.


    In the history of the entire Inner Courtyard, there were 48 people whom he needed to beware of, those Students who had achieved Level Five. Among them, eight people had achieved New-Moon Level, another four had achieved Half-Moon Level, and only three people had achieved Full-Moon Level. However, the surprising thing was that these masters either went to the army or held a position in some other places like Britney who had her name at the top. But in fact, she had left Inner Courtyard at an early age, becoming one of the leaders of the Blue Narcissus.


    As for the three candidates of Three Black Rain Generals, they were also in the rankings. Just that they were positioned very far behind. More so, they only had a Level Four of Willpower.


    It was obvious that this ranking was old information. Most of the figures above were comprehensive rankings of students who had graduated in the past.


    It wasn''t the current ranking of the students in the Inner Courtyard.


    Again, Garen carefully searched for current information.


    A new list appeared on the screen. Though unfortunately, this list represented the current rankings of the masters of the Inner Courtyard. This made him a little disappointed, but Fila''s name did not exist on this list.


    Ranked as the first was Black Star Diofie. Then among three of them ranked after him were Red-Eyed Medero, and he could not recognize the other two men -- Karfi and Narisiss.


    After the three of them were the three young people, who were known as Black Light, were honored as the future Three Black Rain Generals. However, the three of them only had Level Four of Willpower, not even close to Level Five. At the same time, there were still in the midst of training their Mechs. Though the resonance degree tests were very high, and they had a Half-Moon Level. They were masters with high potential.


    Then, it was followed by the masters of Black Light. From the fourth ranking to the fifteenth, there were fifteen people in total. These people had special benefits of calling themselves as the Black Light Reserve. However, there wasn''t a lot of information on that.


    This list was much weaker than the ones before, but only a few names could be found on both the lists. Among one of them was Black Star Diofie, and then it was the three of them from the top -- Red-Eyed Medero, Karfi, and Narisiss. They were all masters of Full-Moon Level. Another thing Garen accidentally realized was that status of Medero and the other three seemed a little weird. The information on their Willpowers was labeled as Level Four, though it was obvious that it was because of their special training method.


    After he finished reading the information, Garen left his tablet aside and stood up. His fingers were constantly messaging his abdomen area, in a special rhythmic way.


    "These both sheets of ranking is a little messy. Figures from previous rankings remained on the current list." He had also heard that Medero had been constantly overlaying and training her Willpower, wanting to break through to the Full-Moon Level, and then into the Double-Moon; she wanted to pace himself with the Black Stars. In fact, she had entered Level Five for quite some years now.


    Putting this useless information aside, Garen focused his attention on Fila.


    Master of Half-Moon Level. It was needless to say that no matter which rankings, he would be at the front of the top ten masters.


    Furthermore, looking at the surprise attack just now, that guy had rich battle experience. The use of his Willpower Field was filled with fire, even his lethality was horrifying.


    Coming into this world, Garen had prepared his foundations for situations like this, but this was the first where he was in trouble.

 874 Resonance Degrees 2

    "The Willpowers of the current students are not that strong. The strongest three only had a Level Four of Willpower even though they have a Full-Moon Level of battle power. So the resonance degrees and the Willpower can be trained separately as two targets. Whereas Red-Eyed Medero and more who suppress their Willpower and increase the resonance degrees must have a special secret."


    Garen analyzed it in his mind.


    The current three Elite Students were all on Level Four, but their strengths were terrifyingly unusual. They were the most powerful candidates for the Black Star.


    Since Fila was an ex-student who had already graduated, he was not in the current rankings. Nevertheless, that ranking list he was in was done quite a while ago. As a result, it was still unclear what his strengths were.


    He reorganized the two lists in his head and combined it into one.


    There was no debate that Black Star Diofie would rank first,


    Behind him would be Medero and the other two, Fila, Britney and the other ex-masters. These people were ranked differently in different lists as there was no battle. He did not know who was stronger, or weaker than the other. To know their strengths, he would need an insider information to understand.


    After that would be the Generals of the Black Star Reserve, followed by many other New-Moon characters.


    "The reliability of this ranking is quite high." Using the compilation of various information that Garen had found, he had arranged it into a list. After all, different websites had different rankings. They also had different views on the strength evaluations of these masters.


    The key point was that these masters were top talents. They would improve all the time, and so it was normal for the rankings of their strengths to change very quickly. It was also possible for someone to emerge suddenly as a master.


    Garen''s own comprehensive ranking had maintained itself for many years, and the changes weren''t much.


    "Fila is actually in the second echelon¡­" Garen thought about that attack just now -- that surge and form of his Willpower, the Shapeless Snake. "Moreover, this is a situation with no Mechs. If he had a Mech, I have no idea how strong his Willpower will get!"


    He had to admit that he was a very strong opponent. He was a prominent figure who was on the same level as one of Blue Narcissus''s Higher-Level, Britney. So compared to him, Nonosiva, who had just entered the Inner Courtyard as an Elite Student, their differences weren''t huge.


    Garen had not started cultivating his Resonance Degrees. As he did not even have a Mech. there was no need to mention anything about achieving New-Moon or Half-Moon Level.


    Sitting with his legs crossed on the bed, he began to sink his Willpower into his body.


    The Level Five of nameless Willpower had already removed the Shapeless Snake Willpower in his body. When the Level Five''s strong healing ability played it''s part, along with the five points that were close to his physique, the damages of his internal organs were quickly repaired.


    Getting close to the five points were classified as non-human. Even with this injury, his self-healing ability was very terrifying.


    Garen''s Willpower could see the slow recovery of the wounds in his organs very clearly. A huge amount of blood was surging in his blood vessels, carrying tons of nutrients to each organ at a high speed.


    The wound kept healing at a rate that was visible to the eyes.


    "The Willpowers of Level Five Masters with high resonance level, what trick do they use?" While Garen urged his body to heal the wounds, he pondered on that question. Even getting close to the five points of the physique could not defend the impact from the attack of opponent''s Willpower Field.


    After his injury was stabilized, he took out his tablet to inquire again. As expected, all the information regarding the resonance degrees were wiped off. There was no trace of the disappearance.


    However, the internet in Inner Courtyard was terrifyingly safe. Garen had tried to hack it, but unfortunately, there was no effect.


    He might as well gave Celine a call.


    "Resonance degrees? I might have heard of this¡­" Celine was a little surprised. "It is said that it is a high-end thing. If you want to break through to Inherited Level, it won''t happen without a hundred percent of resonance degrees."


    "Regarding how resonance degrees will affect your strength, do you know the specific information?" Garen asked in detail.


    "I''m not so sure about that. I can look it up in the family''s internal database for you. Hold on¡­"


    Very quickly, the knocking sound of her typing could be heard.


    "I got it! Resonance degrees¡­ Once Level Five of Willpower is achieved, one would have to face a parametric. It is a key index to integrate with a Mech which would greatly improve your combat skills. Specific information¡­ I don''t have enough confidentiality," Celine got a little annoyed. "I''m sorry, my Level is not enough to look at this information."


    Garen had expected it.


    "It''s nothing. After all, you''re only at Level Three of Willpower; you''re not qualified to understand. I''ll ask someone else."


    "Alright¡­"


    After he hung up, Garen called Vivienne. Similarly, she did not even know what resonance degrees were. Compared to Celine, Vivienne''s Willpower only differed in one Level...


    Garen put down the phone. Maybe in his contacts, only those rich and nobel guys would know about this. Though it was only a friendship where they exchanged benefits once; they had not crossed to a high-level of friendship yet.


    "It seems like I can only ask the professor." He moved his body, and felt that there was nothing serious in his organs anymore. The rest that still hurt was his vitality, which he needed time to replenish slowly. So, he opened the door and walked out.


    He went to the second floor to find Professor Van Doe on the phone in his study room. It seemed like an old friend that he had a good relationship with. From time to time, he could hear laughter coming out from the room. Garen did not even understand the language he was using. It might be a minor language used in the Outer Region.


    He waited at the door until the Professor was done with his call. After that, he lightly knocked on the door.


    "Enter."


    Professor Van Doe replied in his usual indifferent tone.


    Garen pushed open the door and entered.


    "Professor."


    "Is there something wrong?" Van Doe lifted his eyes to look at Garen. For a moment, he frowned. "You''re hurt? We will not entertain the clashes between Students. You can only bring your injury upon yourself."


    Garen nodded.


    "I hope to understand more information regarding the resonance degrees. I hope Professor can give me some guidance."


    "You understand how weak you are in the Inner Courtyard?" Van Doe''s expression softened. He then pulled out a drawer, took out a file of information, and passed it immediately to Garen. "All the information on resonance degrees are in there. You had to have your own Mech, only then you would be able to cultivate the resonance degrees. This is a key indicator of Level Five and Level Six. If you decide to change Mechs, this parameter must be recultivated. You should do some studying about it."


    "Understood. Thank you, Professor," Garen nodded his head, and was ready to leave after he took the information.


    "This information has a fee of 500 thousand Units. Please remember to reimburse Hill. After you''re done with it, do not leak it. Otherwise, do not look for me if you''re caught," Van Doe''s voice came from behind him.


    Garen had known that this was the result. He replied as he walked out the room, holding the information.


    He looked at the information in his hand. It was just a thin piece of paper with a few pages, and that was worth 500 thousand Units¡­ This was the reason why he did not want to look for Professor Van Doe.


    In the Inner Courtyard, anything regarding learning came with a hefty fee. The price of anything here was not something that could be afforded by an average person. But relatively speaking, many good things or techniques were available to purchase here -- things that one would not be able to find in other places, even top secret knowledge.


    Holding onto the information, Garen was directly headed to the Canceling Room which was a place used to destroy things.


    From the second floor to the first, it was only a minute walk. In this period of time, Garen had memorized all the information.


    He casually disposed the information along with the contents of the Canceling Room, and into the room.


    "Resonance degrees¡­ The New-Moon Level''s resonance degrees could improve the pilot''s strength by twenty percent. This increment includes Willpower as well as a simultaneous increase of Mech amplification field. That meant that when there is no Mech, Willpower will increase by twenty percent. However, on the Mech, the increment would be twice the amount, resulting in an amazing forty percent¡­"


    "After that would be Half-Moon Level. The degree of increment would measure up to around forty percent. No wonder that bastard''s Willpower was so terrifying. Originally he was in Level Five. Though after so many years of accumulation and the weight of his Upper position, he must not be lacking in all kinds of resources. With an increment of forty percent¡­" The information had recorded down some key points. "Achieving Half-Moon Level would be the first step towards using the Mech Integration Agent. During the initial integration, while the Mech and one''s own body goes through some adjustment, it would naturally create a resonance technique."


    "Full-Moon Level would achieve an increment of around sixty percent. Driving the Mech would double the strength, and the resonance technique would gradually improve. The strength would far exceed any other Pilot."


    "Double-Moon Level would achieve an increment of eighty percent and above. Every person''s Double-Moon Level would be different. That is the key to entering the realm of inheritance. One would need to have perfect synchronization with the Mech and their body to finally head towards the perfect goal. The rest is unknown."


    Each section, regarding the resonance degrees, were arranged in his head.


    At that moment, Garen felt that his injuries had healed completely. Although it might have looked serious just now, the physique of his Hellfrost Peacock was not generally strong. And even though it was not as tough as top defenses, the powerful self-healing ability of the Hellfrost Peacock had shown its power.


    In legends, the Hellfrost Peacock devours innumerable substances in the battle. While bearing the countless attacks and damages, no matter if it was a soul or physical attack, it would be to quickly respond to an enormous body through a terrifying swallow.


    Although it is not as strong as combat power, it is one of the dozens of the largest strategic behemoths. As long as it was still alive, the ubiquitous chaos of radiation and coldness could bring endless nightmare to the enemy.


    Often times, the outer damage would not even recover as fast as it does inside.


    Garen tried to stimulate his Willpower. Both of the Willpower did not leave behind any aftereffect. This was in the state where he did not use the swallowing ability.


    "No doubt it is the Hellfrost Peacock Technique¡­"


    "After this, I should carefully consider the problems of the resonance degrees. Only then should I take a look at the differences between the Elites of high resonance degrees and I."


    He straightened out his clothes, and walked out the huge door of the villa.


    It was quiet outside; no many people were passing by. In the distance, a small red shuttle-like spacecraft was flying around. Around it, laser cutters were firing out from two black Mechs that were formed into one.


    Most of them on the road were young faces. A few stopped to watch, whereas the remaining ones had on an expression as if it was nothing new. They just went on with what they were initially doing.


    Bang!


    Sometimes, the small aircraft would suddenly land on the ground, and burst into a ball of fire. The wreckage would hit the buildings around. However, it then activates circles of ripples that does not harm the pavement.


    The two Mechs in front were hacking each other up for a while. Regardless of the flames, a green-haired girl was pulled out from the wreckage of the aircraft and they flew away.


    "This is so destructive¡­" Garen rubbed his belly as the pain of the pulling of his Willpower was still fresh in his mind. A flash of bright light flashed across his eyes, so he turned around and slowly walked towards that direction.

 875 Real Inner Courtyard 1

    The Inner Courtyard was made up of three libraries, sixteen training grounds, thirty-six wrestling rings, and the residential houses of numerous professors, instructors, and Elite Students.


    It was also a fully Gothic city. The flow of people there and their consumption demands required shops to be built there. The presence of the stores then produced sparse differences in the rate of foot traffic there.


    Garen walked a full circle around the periphery of the Inner Courtyard carefully and ensured that his tracks would not be discovered by Fila and the others. There were surveillance cameras everywhere, but most of them had been damaged by other people. The areas that were not covered by cameras were completely covered in traces of fights among students. Blood stains could even be seen on certain walls.


    This was the Inner Courtyard, the real Blackboard Academy where the weak were the prey of the strong.


    Fighting was prohibited in the department headquarters cum administration building in the center of the area. However, they could fight in the other places that were monitored by the cameras as long as they did not kill others. Meanwhile, no one would care about their actions within the unmonitored areas.


    This place prioritized the survival of the fittest and weaklings would be eaten from the first moment they stepped foot inside.


    When Garen was walking over, he saw many groups of students that were actually part of organized factions. There were also Mech fights everywhere while Willpower contests resembled frequent fireworks explosions.


    He had gained many legitimate benefits after entering the Inner Courtyard, such as specialized training grounds.


    These training grounds were equipped with first-class technology that could create battle simulations with any opponent. The entire Inner Courtyard was only able to maintain such great momentum despite cutting themselves off from the outside world because of these ruthless mechanisms.


    After Garen had carefully evaded a few brawls and scuffles that were occurring on the streets, he finally arrived at a black rectangular multistoried building.


    This building was was perfectly straight and strong, and it stood out from the crowd of silvery white buildings as it looked abnormally eye-catching.


    A circle of thin dark-red crystal-like rings was suspended in mid-air around the buildings. They were surprisingly beautiful.


    Garen raised his head and admired the power and influence of the rings. He could vaguely feel immense Willpower forces coming from above that were way beyond the abilities of an average person. He felt as if the Willpowers of numerous people were being gathered in one place to form a terrifyingly powerful Energy Field.


    There were dried blood stains on the steps in front of the training grounds. There were faint cracks in certain places while it was impossible to form holes in other areas even if they were struck by airborne explosions. He had not expected to see any sign of damage on the steps.


    Garen glanced around briefly and noticed two middle-aged people passing him from behind. Without even looking at their surroundings, they took large strides and entered the training grounds before disappearing behind a large pitch black door, as if they had been teleported instantly.


    A group of blonde, nonconformist youths walked out of the black door together with solemn looks on their faces and blood stains on the corners of their mouths. If they tied white silk scarves around their heads, they would have looked like the master martial artists portrayed in the daily papers, who had held fatal grudges during the era of the Republic of China.


    None of them paid any attention to Garen. Those who entered and left this place would only have either exhausted or solemn expressions on their faces.


    The training grounds and library were special benefits for the Elite Students. These were the most important part of the other benefits were for their family members. Although there were monetary allowances, they were never sufficient for the expenses within the Inner Courtyard.


    From an outsider''s perspective, the students of the Inner Courtyard received unimaginably large allowances. However, every single one of them was actually extremely poor.


    Many students who had reportedly been sacrificed themselves during missions had actually died because of the vicious fighting within the Inner Courtyard.


    Garen thought of the things he had seen on the way and the information he had obtained by using his watch to access the internet in the Inner Courtyard. He exhaled firmly.


    "This is the real Blackboard Academy¡­"


    He took large strides and walked into the black door.


    Bang!!


    Moments after he stepped foot inside, he saw a human figure being flung across the room violently. The figure was plastered against the large arch-shaped wall on the left side before it slid down slowly seconds later.


    The person who had been sent flying was not that old. He looked to be about twenty years old and was a man with a face full of bruises. His Willpower seemed to be around Level Three.


    The attackers who stood on the right side were a group of four to five people. Their leader, who had short black hair and wore black leather gloves, was currently doing wrist exercising movements.


    "Anything else you want to say?" Black Gloves asked casually while looking at the young man on the ground. "You weren''t my opponent three years ago, and you''re still completely hopeless three years later."


    The man on the ground tried to crawl up determinedly even though his body looked terribly injured. He had suffered serious internal injuries and could only lie on the ground weakly after numerous attempts to get up.


    A few curious onlookers were scattered around the area while Garen stood on the edge and eavesdropped for a while.


    The attacker and the victim had once been good friends who had, unfortunately, fallen out after falling in love with the same girl. They had initially planned to use peaceful measures to compete with each other, but their friendship ties were severed at once when the girl had died in an accident while trying to save the current victim of the attack.


    Garen stopped and looked for awhile before turning around and walking towards another arch-shaped passage on the left side. That passage was one of the two entrances to the training grounds and rooms.


    He had not gone too far along the passage before he saw two males clashing with each other against the wall. Both of them had terrifying looks on their faces while their lips were right next to each other''s ears as if they were whispering something. Suddenly, the male who was pinned against the wall suffered a blow to his stomach and spat blood immediately.


    The male who had attacked cast a threatening glance at Garen but remained silent as he continued with his own business.


    Garen furrowed his eyebrows; he realized that the chaos here was worse than usual.


    After walking further inside for a period of time, he saw a boy and girl who were badly bruised and clad in nothing but their underwear. They were in the middle of a circle of people who were constantly pushing them around. It was clear that they were being bullied.


    Garen glanced at the room. The information above stated that the degree of the simulations here could only reach Level Two Willpower. Therefore, they could only simulate opponents with Level Two Willpower. Garen continued to walk deeper.


    Along the passage that began to spiral gradually, Garen could see various acts of bullying, fighting, and quarreling happening after a specific distance. If he had forgotten that he had actually entered an Inner Courtyard of Elite Students, Garen would have suspected that he had walked into a completely chaotic fallen city.


    People were being robbed, chased, beaten, charged with protection, confronted by other factions, and even raped. Anything that was imaginable could be seen here.


    "Save me!" while walking past a group of people, a badly beaten up female student in the middle of a crowd reached her hand towards Garen and begged for help.


    Garen could see that she was about to be beaten to death as she was wearing a fifth-year student''s uniform despite only having Level 2 Willpower. Mediocre individuals like herself who did not have any natural talents and possessed lower than Level Three Willpower would always be the easiest bullying targets here.


    Ignoring the chaos here, Garen quickened his steps and soon arrived at a place where there were fewer people scattered about.


    The information on the doors to the rooms gradually increased to Level Four and Five Willpower simulations before the Resonance Degree divisions slowly appeared after that.


    There were very few people entering and leaving this place except for a few whose expressions were advising him not to enter this place. Some of them furrowed their eyebrows lightly when they saw Garen walking inside. However, they remained silent when they felt the Level Four Willpower wafting out of his body.


    Willpower forces were the best way to display one''s own identity and level here. There were only a few Elite Students within the Inner Courtyard who had achieved Level Four. Moreover, if they had not achieved their Resonance Degrees, those with Level Four Willpowers could not be compared to regular Level Three''s or Four''s as they were merely middle ranking individuals within the Inner Courtyard.


    Garen chose a random room and noticed that most of the rooms here had Level Four Willpower simulation abilities and New-Moon Level Resonance Degrees.


    He picked a random room and walked inside.


    He moved his hand backward and closed the door firmly. The inside of this room was snow-white and completely empty without any furniture. The floor, walls, and ceiling were completely flat and bright.


    ''Welcome to the simulation training grounds. Please choose your fight simulation.''


    ''1 -- Regular simulation, undergo daily training, consumes 1 Quest Point every hour.''


    ''2 -- Strengthening simulation, undergo fighting simulations with other students, consumes 10 Quest Points as payment for challenging the opponent.''


    ''3 -- Vicious simulation, fight a simulation of the current record holder, consumes 20 Quest Points as payment to avenge the record holder.''


    ''Rankings will be formed after each challenge according to one''s combat power. These rankings will be integrated within the rankings of the entire Inner Courtyard.''


    A cold but neutral computerized voice echoed beside Garen''s ear.


    ''Selection method is voice-controlled, please choose.''


    "Select simulation 1," said Garen calmly.


    ''Simulation 1, regular, simulated opponent is being formed. Level Four Willpower, New-Moon Level Resonance Degree. Fighting method: bare-handed.''


    A distorted transparent figure was gradually formed ten meters in front of Garen. It rose from the ground quickly before parts of its silhouette were speedily formed. A beautiful girl with bountiful, bright red curly hair was formed there.


    ''Opponent has been formed. The strongest New-Moon Level competitor in this room with Level Four Willpower, Havana. Fight- begin.''


    There was a brief beeping noise.


    The red-haired young lady''s gaze was stern when she moved both of her legs at once and leaped forward suddenly like a tiger that was flying over. The cries of a large tiger could be heard around her body vaguely while a transparent, blurry, tiger-shaped Energy Field enveloped her entire body.


    Garen leaped forward and countered her with one direct punch.


    Boom!!


    His fist and her tiger claw clashed with each other, forming a strong cyclone. Their flesh bodies did not come into direct contact but both of their Energy Fields collided with each other directly before forming a whirlwind-like Willpower explosion.


    "Tiger Lightning Whip!!" the girl spun around and swung one leg over. Crimson light flashed across her thigh.


    Her whip-like leg formed a crimson after image that hit Garen''s left inner arm at once.


    There was a quick banging noise and Garen took two steps backward as the tremendous collisions that were far beyond Level Four Willpower crashed against him. His gaze stiffened when he realized that this person was definitely not using normal Training Methods.


    It was impossible for his Level Four Crouched Eagle Talons to counter it. He would need to adjust the Level Five components of his body to offset the impact of this Willpower.


    Havana began moving quickly as both of her legs swept continuously, each time faster than the last. However, it was obvious that the level of her Vitality was far from Garen''s in close combat. Nonetheless, this girl''s strongest ability was enveloping her body in an Energy Field. She was not afraid of strong collisions and possessed terrifying explosive force.


    Garen was always able to block off her attacks during the most important moments. Time passed slowly before his opponent''s rhythm became quicker and more frantic unconsciously.


    The thing that shocked Garen the most was that the Willpower inside his body had been shifted to counter his opponent''s speed, which had increased gradually. This involved his Level Four Crouched Eagle Talon and the nameless Level Five Willpower inside his body.


    "Faint Resonance Technique: Red Lotus!!"


    Suddenly, Havana spun both of her arms as numerous red electric currents appeared around her body. They bloomed instantly like crimson electric flowers and made crackling noises while covering more than ten meters of the surrounding area.


    These electric currents swept around her surroundings like a whip.


    Garen was instantly hit by one of the exploding electric currents. He was forced to take a few steps backward before rolling over and dropping to the ground far away. Only then was he able to dodge this explosive move.


    "Amazing¡­ I think I know Resonance Degrees affect and amplify Willpower now¡­"


    Garen could clearly feel that the New-Moon Level Resonance Degree Willpowers possessed their own awareness. They soon felt like continuous dynamite-like explosions when they crept into his body. When the Willpower inside his body was unable to counterattack and destroy them in time, they exploded to cause even more damage.

 876 Real Inner Courtyard 2

    When he detected that he had suffered some internal injuries, Garen vaguely understood the terrifying effects of Resonance Degrees and realized that they could produce special abilities from within one''s Willpower.


    On the opposite side of him, it seemed as if Havana''s ultimate move had ended and she had run out of Willpower. She disappeared slowly after that.


    ''Times up. The fight has resulted in a tie so there will be no rewards or penalties of Quest Points. Please exit the room,'' the computerized voice spoke again slowly.


    Without another word, Garen walked out of the room and entered a different one under the indifferent glances of other people. He entered a room with Level Five Willpower and New-Moon Level Resonance Degrees this time.


    He underwent the same process and selected the same options before fighting an hour-long battle again.


    A strong naked man with a dark green sun tattoo on his chest appeared this time. The records in the computer stated that his name was Conbasque.


    "Barbaric Strength¡­" the hefty fellow swept his right hand in front of his chest before a frighteningly bloody wound appeared on the skin there suddenly. The holographic image of a black bear appeared beside him and began to circle his body before disappearing slowly.


    The man then took long strides towards Garen.


    Garen did not want to show any signs of weakness and decided to use his Level Five Willpower to face him head on and seize him in one go.


    His opponent swung his arm over in a scratching motion as well. Both of their palms came into contact momentarily.


    Roar!


    The roar of the bear could be heard from the strong man''s body.


    Garen staggered and was forced to take more than ten steps backward when he was hit by the tremendous quake.


    "What powerful strength!"


    Shocked looks appeared in his eyes but he was not afraid at all. Unlike these genetically strengthened Mech Pilots who only possessed Willpower, his biggest advantage was his hidden Secret Techniques and his strong physique.


    Once his Living Secret Technique and Hellfrost Peacock Technique had fused within his physique, there were two main abilities that had formed there. The first one was his terrifyingly powerful regenerative abilities; injuries that were normally considered serious among other Mech Pilots could be healed within a short period of time when they were inflicted on Garen. This was how the Peacock''s body strengthened him. The next effect was intense Cold Radiation. This move was used as a trump card. However, he would always need to get rid of those who witnessed him using this move, as it would be his own fault if he was chased out of the inner region after being mistakenly identified as one of the Radioactive People.


    "Again!"


    Garen used the Ten Thousand True Technique secretly and shaped his hands into fists before turning his body sideways and charging over in that direction. The Ten Thousand True Technique had its own set of specialized skills that were extremely amazing and could utilize three different moves when he used it with all of his strength.


    In other words, although it was impossible for practitioners of other battle skills to use different moves once they had used up all of their strength, Garen was different. When he was not using these specialized moves, the Ten Thousand True Technique was his strongest close combat skill that was also the greatest accomplishment of his martial arts.


    His opponent let out a bear''s roar once more before clawing at him again.


    Clap!


    Garen relaxed his fist and opened it into a palm suddenly, before clasping his opponent''s wrist from the side and snapping it brutally.


    Crack!


    A crisp noise could be heard from his wrist but it was not completely broken yet.


    At this moment, a terrifying, thunderous Willpower explosion occurred beside Garen''s ear.


    The explosion that was caused by this move would have caused the ears of any other Mech Pilot to bleed from the vibrations and become extremely dizzy. However, Garen was only dizzy for a moment before returning to his normal state at once.


    His powerful regenerative abilities could be seen immediately.


    "Exceptional!"


    Upon realizing that he could not break his opponent''s wrist with one hand, Garen outstretched his other hand at the same time and used both of them to pull downwards.


    There was a clapping noise before the hefty fellow swung his other arm downwards and attempted to slap Garen''s cheek. Snake-like hissing noises could be heard when his palm came crashing over. It was obvious that it was possessed by a certain creature''s Willpower.


    The slapping motion resembled a snake even more closely when it used its quick speed to move even faster than before.


    The hefty fellow let out a fierce roar and took one step forward before the neighs of war-horses could be heard. They stomped on the ground loudly and the entire room shook for a moment. His Willpower turned into the shape of a warhorse in the blink of an eye.


    As an experienced veteran, Garen was naturally unafraid of surprise attacks like these. Garen positioned his elbow horizontally and dodged the snake-shaped palm. Meanwhile, he turned his body sideways and casually dodged his opponent''s colliding stance.


    His basic attributes were still weak right now and he did not have many advantages as compared to these other Mech Pilots that had used genetic adjustments to strengthen themselves. The amplification of his opponent''s Willpower by his Resonance Degree was alarming. Moreover, amplified Willpower would also strengthen the Energy Fields around one''s body as well. Therefore, he was able to form extremely powerful and terrifying short-term combat abilities.


    Essentially, the short-term explosions in this world were extremely amazing. This was another advantage of Willpower. In other words, these attacks were like firearms that were already loaded with bullets. As long as the bullets had not run out yet, these weapons would greatly surpass the combat strength of average people.


    If an individual''s basic attributes were at least ten points each, they would definitely be able to defeat opponents of these levels. However, his current Vitality attribute was unable to affect his Willpower greatly and he was merely slightly faster, stronger and had better regenerative abilities in comparison to the average Mech Pilot. He could not compare his own abilities to the advantages of using Willpower Energy Fields.


    If he was fighting with an opponent who was also a practitioner of the Crouched Eagle Talon, they would be able to see that Garen had Attribute Points and advantages that were worthy of pride. However, the strongest opponent in this room that he was currently fighting used first rate and rare Training Methods and Willpower. Therefore, Garen''s assumed advantages were not as prominent anymore.


    Garen fought with his opponent while experiencing the effects of his Resonance Degree carefully. He was forced to painstakingly counter his opponent many times which injured his body in the process. It was clear that Level Five New-Moon Level individuals were not opponents that he could take on right now.


    As he still did not possess sufficient knowledge of Level Five opponents, after the match ended in a draw again, Garen decided to find another room that did not have a Level Five Resonance Degree opponent.


    His next opponent was a walk in the park, which made him feel that they were much weaker than the previous New-Moon Level opponents. It was also obvious that their actual combat strength was not even half of that of the earlier opponents.


    Garen was able to suppress his new opponent easily. When he used all of his Level Five Willpower, the few advantages that he possessed within his physical body began to appear as well.


    He entered a few more rooms with Level Five Willpowers without Resonance Degrees. Garen was gradually able to understand the current rankings of his power clearly.


    He was currently between Level Five and Level Five of the New-Moon Level. He could not defeat New-Moon Level individuals directly but could hold them off for a certain period of time.


    The sky had already darkened as it was already past ten o''clock at night when he finally walked out from the training rooms.


    There were slightly fewer people around him now as numerous students with Level Four Willpower were entering and leaving Level Five rooms. There were about ten rooms around him that were empty while the rest were lit up with red lights above their doors, indicating that they were occupied.


    Garen looked down on these students who only possessed Level Four Willpower. Moreover, the students that were entering and leaving around him did not look like students at all. There were middle-aged people, old people, and even a few dwarves who were even shorter than average.


    Garen felt that they resembled a large gathering of freaks rather than students.


    He could not understand why there was so few Level Four students in the ranking list when he could see so many other Level Four candidates here. This Inner Courtyard continued to give off an abnormally chaotic feeling.


    The Outer Courtyard was a haven in comparison to the Inner Courtyard. It was no wonder that the Elite Students in the Inner Courtyard would not leave unless they were going out for quests. If a ban had not been set in place, there were definitely other measures that confined them here.


    "Hello, you must be the new student that came in from the Outer Courtyard, right?" suddenly, a gentle voice echoed over from beside Garen while he was observing his surroundings.


    He turned in that direction and saw a white-haired youth with round-framed glasses looking at him and smiling. He was dressed like a model student and wore clean and neat clothes. He was surprisingly normal-looking and made Garen feel as if he had momentarily returned to the Outer Courtyard.


    "You are?" he furrowed his eyebrows. In an environment like this, normal people like this person were definitely the most abnormal.


    "My name is Anda. I''ve been observing you here for a long time now. I never expected that you would enter so many rooms consecutively and still have any energy to spare afterward. You made it look extremely relaxing. It seems that you''re not a normal Outer Courtyard student, huh¡­" he pushed up his glasses and smiled while flattering him.


    "It was alright. I merely entered to take a look. It''s not like I actually did anything. I mainly did not expect that the people inside would be so amazing," said Garen while smiling gently. He was disguising himself as well. He was previously born in a family of aristocratic territorial lords and had to make sure that he did not seem lower than the other person.


    "Disregarding your hour-long foray is being too humble. After entering the Inner Courtyard, you probably saw the environment here. We jokingly say that this place is equivalent to the second wasteland and is comparable to an actual radiation wasteland. The only difference is that the food and drinks here are slightly more abundant," said the bespectacled Anda softly. "Walk with me?"


    "Okay." Garen was looking for someone to chat about the situation here anyway.


    Both of them walked through a passage that led outside. Strangely enough, Garen realized that the bespectacled Anda''s reputation seemed to travel far and wide. Fearful looks appeared on the faces of the people in their surroundings when they saw him. They would give way and form a path for him wordlessly.


    While they were walking, Anda briefly introduced the situation, general knowledge, as well as certain important things that happened here while speaking to Garen.


    Garen multitasked while listening. He was pondering about how he would face that girl Fila later.


    Since he could not fight Level Five New-Moon Level individuals, Half-Moon Levels would be even harder to counter. Meanwhile, that girl Fila was almost at the Full-Moon Level by now. After spending all of the resources that he had accumulated throughout the years on his Mech, he was currently at the critical breakthrough point. Therefore, he could surpass himself greatly at any time.


    Garen thought about his advantages carefully.


    He had two advantages. One of them was his Living Secret Technique and his trump card, the Cold Radiation from his Hellfrost Peacock Technique, which was his upper hand against the other Mech Pilots. He also had Devour and powerful regenerative abilities that were his hidden strengths that were longer lasting and greater than the abilities of other Mech Pilots.


    His second advantage was that his body''s Attributes were able to utilize Potential Points to upgrade itself constantly. The Staff of Yin allowed him to accumulate two Potential Points daily. Therefore, he would be able to grow consistently as long as he had enough time. As long as he was able to achieve at least ten points on average for his physique, he would be able to fight opponents with Level Five Willpower directly.


    Furthermore, his Ten Thousand True Technique had fused with his Seven Star Life''s Secret Point. Although they could not be used interchangeably because the laws of their respective universes were different, there were still certain pressure points that possessed amplification effects. Perhaps it could not do certain things, but increasing his combat ability by twofold was definitely not a problem.


    He could not utilize the Seven Star Life''s Secret Point fully because the bodily components of the humans here were different. However, the Ten Thousand True Technique''s greatest advantage meant that he would not have to get used to different bodies next time. This External Technique used large parts of the universe and was formed by some of the principles behind Garen''s Living Secret Technique. Therefore, although it did not possess as much strength, it was impossible to find compatibility like this with any other Secret Techniques.


    There were two paths in front of him now. The first path required him to upgrade his Living Secret Technique, which meant that his Hellfrost Peacock Technique would definitely undergo impressive qualitative changes in the future. However, this path was slightly more difficult.


    The second path would need him to upgrade his Attributes and use the Ten Thousand True Technique to improve himself.

 877 Ruthless 1

    Although the effects of Garen''s martial arts environment were much stronger than those of other people''s, the desire to achieve a great advantage with martial arts within the foundation of the perfect fight simulations and practices in this world was merely a pipe dream.


    Once the martial arts environment surpassed the King of the Century level, Garen would then obtain great advantages that came from being on the same playing field. He would be able to grasp opportunities in a more precise manner than other people. He could also do things without hesitating or wasting any of his combat energy. Furthermore, his combat strategies and instincts would undergo shocking improvements.


    However, this meant that only his martial arts would become strong. When he encountered situations with enemies that possessed exceptional Willpower techniques and belonged to high levels, it would be completely impossible for him to anticipate all of his opponent''s various abilities. Therefore, he could only take the most conservative approach to achieve the highest probability of winning reliably.


    He was only able to progressively display the true strength of his martial arts environment once he had gradually learned more about Willpower techniques through numerous reports, information, and experience.


    The only thing that Garen could use now was his combat strategies. However, these strategies could not help him at all if he did not practice and perfect his martial arts and combat skills, as these things relied on an individual''s own selections and style.


    Once he had arranged the information in his mind, Garen decided to upgrade his Living Secret Technique immediately. After all, this ability could improve his physical Attributes and even his Willpower level.


    As for the methods of using upgrades that required Potential Points, Garen chatted with Anda leisurely while secretly thinking of ways to add his Potential Points to the Hellfrost Peacock Technique. As expected, there was no way to upgrade the Hellfrost Peacock Technique in one go. It seemed as though its progress had been paused because something was lacking. However, a few of his Potential Points had disappeared, making it clear that some of them had been consumed.


    Garen furrowed his eyebrows slightly and used his Willpower to activate the Living Secret Technique core inside his body. A series of information flowed out.


    "I need both the Red Peacock Stone and the White Peacock Stone to enter the next stage?" Garen recalled the ores that he had seen previously. The White Peacock Stone was a variation of the Rainbow Stone while the Red Peacock Stone that was described by the Living Secret Technique was actually the Red Rainbow Stone. However, the production rate of these stones was much lower as compared to the White Rainbow Stone and they were sourced from different places as well.


    His Hellfrost Peacock Technique had almost reached the Level Six stage. However, its progress rate had been stuck at 5% all this while without moving at all.


    "¡­We''ve almost arrived at the battlegrounds, do you want to go in and take a look? This is an impressive place," he had not noticed when Anda had started talking about the battlegrounds beside him.


    Garen''s mind snapped back to reality and realized that they were very far from the training grounds now. They were now walking in front of a huge circular ashen building in the Inner Courtyard. This place was completely tranquil as there were only a few people who were leaving and entering. Most of them were rushing inside with furious looks on their faces.


    "This is a place to settle grudges, whether fatal or not. Of course, there are only a handful of people who actually come here to duel while most of them are here to watch the mutated beasts fight. This place hosts major gambling tournaments and is also the biggest place to select and purchase mutated beasts. Most of these mutated beasts can help with quests when they are brought outside to the radiation belts," Anda smiled while explaining.


    "Mutated beasts?" this was the first time that Garen had heard of people keeping these playthings as pets.


    "Wanna go in and take a look? You can occasionally find good things inside the battlegrounds," Anda smiled.


    "Alright, just be frank," said Garen while glancing at the edge of the battlegrounds. "What were you planning to do when you reached out to me personally? Don''t just say that you wanted to chat because you were bored."


    Anda pushed his glasses.


    "Naturally, I wanted to get some people to join my quest unit. I''ve already gotten three people to join but I need two more suitable candidates. You''ve caught my eye."


    "You''re certain that I''ll be useful even though I''m merely a new student who just entered?" said Garen calmly.


    "You managed to escape Fila''s grasp and survive despite just entering this place. Moreover, it seems like all your wounds have healed in less than half a day. You may be a newbie but you''re not a regular person¡­" Anda smiled again.


    Garen was shocked. This fellow''s information sources were extremely active. He had just healed and come out to understand his circumstances, yet the other person had been able to obtain detailed information about him instantly.


    "You are certainly well-informed."


    "Those who are able to prosper eternally in the Inner Courtyard definitely have their own strong suits," Anda stood still and patted nonexistent dirt off his clothes. "Don''t worry about Fila and the others. That girl is arrogant, but she will not look for you again if she didn''t kill you the first time unless you provoke her on your own. She''s currently facing a critical moment in her life and is about to face a great enemy. Once she releases the strength that she has accumulated, there is a high probability that she will be able to enter the perfect stage of the Full-Moon Level. When she stands side-by-side with Red-Eyed Medero, she will have the chance to fight him for a place in Black Star."


    "Other than Fila, I offended two other people as well."


    "Don''t worry about those two. If you don''t have enough strength to defeat them, it will make no difference if you die by their hands or if you die during the quest," Anda smiled while saying these cold words.


    "You don''t sound like a twenty year old guy at all," spat Garen while furrowing his eyebrows.


    "I''m so sorry. I''m actually 108 years old this year," said Anda with an indifferent look on his face. "After spending more than forty years in the Inner Courtyard, I even managed to unearth a few top class prodigies in the beginning."


    More than a hundred years old?!


    Garen was astonished because this guy did not look as if he was over a hundred years old.


    "You don''t have to act so surprisedly. Forgive me for going through your information, but I discovered that you were born in a normal family. Therefore, it is natural that you would not know many of the higher level Mech Pilot''s hidden secrets," smiled Anda. "Do you know why so many Pilots in the Inner Courtyard view Resonance Degrees so highly?"


    "It''s rumored that only individuals with the highest Resonance Degrees will be able to enter the Inherited Level," answered Garen calmly.


    "That is only one of the reasons. There''s another reason that nobody can evade. It is also the reason why everybody suppresses their own strength and Willpower in every possible way. It is the main reason why they are constantly trying to break through their Resonance Degrees," Anda raised a finger. "That reason is their lifespan."


    "Lifespan?"


    "Yes, lifespan," a strange look glimmered in Anda''s eyes. "In theory, an individual can use certain measures to improve themselves and enter the Inherited Level once their Resonance Degrees have achieved the Full-Moon Level. This level is called Full-Moon to indicate that it is full and perfect. The main reason why numerous Full-Moon Level individuals have painstakingly suppressed themselves in vain to enter the Two-Moons Level before promoting themselves naturally is for the sake of their lifespans. Once they have entered the Full-Moon Level, their lifespans will increase by ten years every time their Resonance Degrees increase by 1%. This is the general consensus of the secret that those of the higher levels are hiding."


    "Those with Resonance Degrees of less than 90% are already part of the Full-Moon Level, so the 10% gap between the Full-Moon Level and Two-Moons Level would allow them to increase their lifespans by a hundred years?!" Garen was slightly shocked as well.


    "Yes. It''s like this, although the current Genetic Adjustment Technology and Biochemical Technology are extremely advanced, things like lifespans depend on things that happen by chance. Those that belong to the Inherited Level and the levels below that only have one chance to increase their lifespans. Therefore, no one would be willing to give up on something like that. Why do you think Red-Eyed Medero refused to enter the Inherited Level for such a long time? One reason was that her tutor did not give her Inherited Level Training Methods. However, the main reason for her refusal to enter the Inherited Level was because she wanted to lay down her foundation and be well-prepared," Anda explained matter-of-factly.


    "An individual''s Resonance Degree is like a magnifying glass that can increase the foundation of one''s strength. If the foundation of your Willpower is too weak, it will naturally remain weak even when it is amplified. However, if the foundation of your strength is strong but you failed to increase it sufficiently, you will not become any stronger. Both of these factors need to increase proportionally for it to work best," said Anda calmly while rearranging his glasses.


    "So what kind of help were you hoping gain after coming all this way to find me?" Garen asked the most important question. He did not believe that the other man would be so kind as to come here specially to help him clear his doubts.


    "I need your healing abilities," the glow from a nearby light source reflected off Anda''s glasses. It was a bright, snowy light.


    "Healing abilities?"


    "You managed to heal your deadly wounds in one afternoon. Do you know if you can use this ability on others?" asked Anda honestly with a sincere expression on his face.


    "My healing abilities can be used to backup and support other people. However, the effects will not be as strong as when they are used on me," nodded Garen. His nameless Willpower did have healing effects on other people. However, it could only restore their physical wounds and did not seem to have any effects on the restoration of their Willpower. This Willpower was mainly used to heal Mechs instead. However, it would probably not have any healing effects on Mechs than belonged to levels that were lower than the Inherited Level.


    "I guessed so too," Anda nodded and smiled. "Our unit is coincidentally lacking a support member, so we''ll leave this to you."


    "Don''t tell me you don''t have medicine or things like that?"


    "Of course we do. However, the distance of our quest is too great and our expenses for medicine will be too burdensome as well," answered Anda. "Have you heard of the Mingchuan Snowy Mountain?"


    "Mingchuan Snowy Mountain? The large snowy mountains on the border of the radiation belt? You''re not afraid of going there despite the hordes of mutated beasts?" asked Garen. He had seen some information about that place once. His upgraded Intelligence gave him a photographic memory that greatly surpassed the abilities of regular people. Although the information had been vague, he still had some impressions of it.


    "The traces of the radiation belts that were left behind on the Mother Planet are everywhere. Although they are dangerous, the risks and rewards are acceptable. Naturally, our main plan was to accept the quest because we would gain Quest Points no matter where we went while obtaining certain things that we were looking for. Unless you decide to join us, we cannot simply leak any more information."


    Garen quietened down for a moment and began to consider his gains and losses.


    "Can you give me a hint about what this is about?"


    "Of course I can. It has to do with the Mech materials that both you and I desire," nodded Anda. "Moreover, they are materials for the main parts such as the frame systems."


    "I''ll need to return and consider this for some time," Naturally, Garen would not agree so easily when he did not know anything about this quest.


    "Let''s exchange contact details. If you don''t contact me personally after ten days, I''ll assume that you''ve declined," Anda tapped his watch against Garen''s to exchange their contact details. "I''ll leave first then."


    "Alright, thank you for providing this information," Garen thanked him sincerely. The other man had actually given him a lot of information. Although he did not know if it was truly reliable, at least he had a rough idea now.


    "Fila is just part of a neutral party. There are three main parties in the Inner Courtyard and you can check the others as long as you don''t interfere with these three. Go back and investigate them properly," Anda waved without turning around and entered one of the battlegrounds in front immediately.


    Garen watched him leave the area and enter the battleground before he turned around and walked in the other direction. He wanted to go to the library now as he could probably find more information there.


    ************************


    "Clint¡­"


    "Clint¡­ Clint¡­"


    "Wake up now¡­ Wake up¡­"


    A voice that was calling out his name echoed beside Clint''s ear continuously. It seemed as if it was drifting over from an extremely far place and was somewhat fuzzy and unclear.


    Clint woke up from his deep slumber slowly.


    It seemed as if he had fallen asleep on a huge bed. The room was pitch black and the silhouette of a man could be seen sitting beside the bed while smoking.


    "Awake?" the man''s voice was very hoarse as if his throat had suffered serious injuries. The sound of leaking air could be heard when he spoke.


    "Where am I?" Clint tried to raise his body while he was still dazed but soon realized that his entire body was stiff and completely immobile. "Where''s Lon? Lon¡­"


    "Are you talking about that girl? She''s sleeping next door," said the man before taking another puff of his cigarette.


    "You¡­ Were you the one who saved us?" asked Clint carefully. He realized suddenly that his body was completely naked! He became frightened immediately.


    "Yeah. I happened to be carrying out a vendetta against that shop when I saw both of you being taken away. I decided to save you just because I was there," when the man stood up, the lines of his taut muscles could be seen vaguely.


    "I would have ignored you if you hadn''t looked like someone I knew. Hurry up and get out of here once you''ve rested. I''m going to leave now too."


    The man walked out of the door while he was still speaking. Once the room door was opened, blinding golden sunlight cascaded inside and illuminated the entire room at once.


    Clint could feel that his eyesight was somewhat blurry. He could only squint his eyes shut while the man walked out and disappeared on the other side. Red Moon''s voice began to echo in his mind again.


    "How was it? Did you get any rest?"


    "Lord Red Moon!" Clint could not stop the tears that were brimming in his eyes which had almost overflown. It seemed as though he had found his birth mother suddenly.


    "Don''t cry, don''t cry. I used your Willpower to hypnotize that man for a while before he agreed to save both of you. Isn''t everything all right now?" it was rare for Red Moon to speak gently like this.


    "But¡­ But¡­" this was the first time Clint had cried so pitifully.


    "Don''t worry, Lon is fine. That man wasn''t interested in her at all. He didn''t even touch the clothes on her back," consoled Red Moon.


    "But¡­ My backside really hurts¡­" Clint began to cry loudly.


    "¡­"


    Red Moon was unaware of what had happened because he had used too much strength. He was unaware of the frightening things that Clint had undergone after he fainted again. After looking at the expression of inconsolable grief on Clint''s face, he vowed not to ask about his experiences during these dark moments of his life ever again.

 878 Ruthless 2

    In a different room.


    Baylon hugged the blanket tightly and curled into herself on the bed while taking in her entire surroundings.


    After fainting from intoxication, she had woken up and found herself lying on this bed. There was no one around her and the room door was locked shut.


    Suddenly, a familiar cry echoed from the next room.


    "It''s Clint!!" she was happily surprised at once. She crept over anxiously and leaned against the wall closely while listening carefully.


    "Clint!! Is it you?!" she yelled loudly.


    The cries from the next room softened at once. Half a second later, a timid voice drifted over.


    "Lon?"


    "It''s really you!" Baylon''s mind was freed of anxiety immediately.


    "Alright, little girl. You''re all right now. I''ve examined the area and both of you are currently in a place that is almost a thousand kilometers from the previous shop. You''ll be staying at this inn temporarily," the sound waves of Red Moon''s voice were transferred into her mind.


    "Clint. What happened to Clint? Why is he crying so sadly?" Kind Baylon was concerned about her friend immediately.


    "He''s fine¡­ He just encountered one of life''s minor obstacles¡­" Red Moon did not know how to explain this either. The things that were supposed to happen had occurred already¡­


    "Is he really okay?" Baylon was still worried.


    "Don''t worry. A man will definitely be able to get over a small pain like this," consoled Red Moon. "The person who saved you has left. It''s best that both of you get up immediately to check your surroundings and geographical conditions. This place is just a temporary residence so other than yourselves, there aren''t any other living things, food, or even water here. If you don''t hurry up and find a way out, don''t blame me if you end up starving to death here."


    These words echoed in the minds of these two people simultaneously. Both of them had been able to distinguish when Red Moon was being honest or lying long ago. Now, they could clearly tell that Red Moon was speaking the truth. They crawled out of bed immediately while Clint looked around for clothes that he could wear.


    He pushed the door open and walked out.


    Bright, burning golden sunlight cascaded inside and spread across his skin, leaving a painful burning sensation there. Their surroundings were primarily a stretch of barren wilderness that included yellow-green plains and a little winding stream could occasionally be seen. Strangely enough, the water in the stream was green while thin shrouds of green mist would rise from it faintly.


    The entire place was deathly quiet and there was not even a single fly to be seen.


    Baylon looked into the distance. Near the horizon, a man in an eye-catching leather jacket could be seen riding his motorcycle speedily into the distance faintly. Strangely enough, the motorcycle was silent.


    "That man saved you. This place was initially just a dilapidated hut that he turned into a temporary resting stop," explained Red Moon softly.


    "What should we do now?" Baylon felt suddenly thirsty.


    "Think of a way to survive," answered Red Moon solemnly. "You can''t drink the water here because it''s toxic. Since there are no other living things, it means that there won''t be any pieces of radioactive meat for you to eat either. It''s a good thing that I had brought some edible supplies with me in my space knob. I can support you for a period of time, but if you don''t find a way to solve your food problem within a week, you will definitely starve to death in this radioactive wasteland."


    "This is the radiation belt, huh¡­" this was the first time Baylon had felt the brutality of the radiation belt. First, it was the betrayal of the supposedly kind Big Sister and Yellow Bearded Uncle, and now they were in a situation where they had nothing to eat or drink. At this moment, the lack of food and water had become a life-threatening issue.


    "Think of it as a form of self-training," Red Moon sighed. "This is one of the main reasons why most people in the radiation belts don''t live past seventy or eighty years. They can''t preserve their health whenever they drink water, and their food sources are limited to a few plants and mostly the flesh of mutated beasts with lower rates of radiation inside their bodies. Most of the time, they are only able to consume a fist-sized amount of meat from mutated beasts that are the size of buffalos. After risking their lives to kill these animals, the food they get is usually only enough for one person."


    While listening to Red Moon''s explanations, Baylon suddenly understood the brutality and hardships that were part of the radiation belt wastelands.


    "What would my big brother do if he was here?" she murmured softly.


    "Your brother¡­ I guess he would be at ease here," Red Moon recalled the man whom he had judged wrongly. "That guy¡­ has an extreme ruthlessness in his bones¡­"


    ******************


    After circling the Inner Courtyard a few times, Garen realized that it was impossible for him to encounter that male student from the administration office again. There were no traces of that female student nicknamed Goldfish either. Meanwhile, he heard from others that Fila had gone to participate in some ceremony.


    Once he had visited the library and read up on more of the general information here, Garen finally understood the makings of the entire Inner Courtyard properly.


    To put it simply, the Inner Courtyard was the true, ruthless side of Blackboard Academy, while the Outer Courtyard was merely a place to train military and government personnel. The Outer Courtyard was mild and gentle while the Inner Courtyard was where the savage fights took place.


    Quest Points were needed for everything. They were needed for training, purchasing items, duels, and everything else. Of course, one could pay with Universal Units instead if they were wealthy. However, the prices of the items here could hardly be borne by average multi-millionaires, as the goods here were twice the price of their normal rates outside. Moreover, the more valuable items here were easily priced at millions of Universal Units while they were actually much cheaper when they were bought with Quest Points instead.


    It was obvious that life throughout the entire Inner Courtyard revolved around Quest Points.


    Most of the professors and instructors in the Inner Courtyard were aloof and detached. They usually stayed within their own domains and hardly left; perhaps one wouldn''t even notice if they went out.


    The students were the only ones who were active in the Inner Courtyard. The professors and instructors would never involve themselves in the fights between students and would be sent home if they died or became useless. Perhaps they would even be placed in simple positions if necessary.


    The students in the Inner Courtyard were distributed into three main parties; the Black Star Party where the Black Star was the head, the Black Rain Party that was led by Red-Eyed Medero and three others, and Leo that was led by the exchange and transfer students.


    There were many other smaller and larger organizations and many strong drifters like Fila. Garen understood that there were others like Anda who formed temporary groups and quest units. Most of them did not have close relationships and would only work together on quests. There were probably twenty groups like this in the Inner Courtyard.


    Batches of students in higher grades such as Fifth-year and Sixth-year students would enter the Inner Courtyard yearly because this was the only place that contained information about Resonance Degrees that could surpass Level Six Inherited Levels. Therefore, many people continued to rush over continuously for a chance to find a rare opportunity despite being aware of the abnormal dangers here.


    The life of an Inner Courtyard student was very simple.


    There was nothing but quests. They would constantly accumulate the necessary resources for their Mechs, various techniques, and Training Methods. Other than quests, they needed to complete specific durations of training sessions during public classes. They would use up a lot of Quest Points if they failed to complete these training sessions. When their Quest Points were insufficient, they would be kicked out of the Inner Courtyard and all of their memories regarding Resonance Degrees would be wiped completely.


    The two main things were their quests and public classes. These public classes were supposedly classes but were actually more like tests. They were used to get rid of batches of students that could not meet the mark while quests were used to continuously train the students'' progress.


    The tutors and even outsiders would constantly release quests for the Elite Students of the Inner Courtyard. Students that were able to survive in this environment would definitely surpass the even first-rate cream of the crop of the Outer Courtyard.


    Quest Points meant everything here. They could be used for business transactions, payments, punishment, and could even be used to purchase various techniques and materials that people of the outside world had never even heard of.


    Meanwhile, the relationship between the students and tutors here were more like business partners that traded in technical knowledge rather than merely students and teachers. The tutors were like sellers who peddled various technique knowledge while providing the students with secret, high-grade information.


    The students would trade technique knowledge among themselves as well while the tutors would turn a blind eye to their actions. Therefore, they would be able to purchase technique knowledge from certain powerful or high-level instructors and professors. Moreover, they would be able to gain even more Quest Points if they traded this knowledge. This would also show the key difference between high and low rankings.


    Garen thought of his own Professor Van Doe. He was considered to rank in the middle of the Inner Courtyard but was actually concealing the depths of his powers. However, most of the instructors and professors here would hide most of their true strengths. On the surface, Van Doe only belonged to Level Five of the Twin-Moons Level. In reality, no one knew the true extent of his strength. There were twenty to thirty other professors like him in the Inner Courtyard that had indistinguishable powers.


    Once he had understood the initial parts of this information from various aspects, Garen began to gain a brief understanding of life in the Inner Courtyard.


    As for Anda''s invitation to join his quest, Garen had gathered some information from the quest section of the library. He learned that they would truly need to travel for a long journey and would need to pass through the radiation belt and even pilot Mechs. They would also need to pass through a vast terrain along the way. The entire quest would take at least half a month up to a whole month to complete.


    Garen had thought of visiting the radiation belt as well. Red Moon had previously informed him that they had already entered the radiation belt and he wanted to see if he could find Clint and the others.


    He would also need time to purchase the Red Peacock Stone.


    Upon returning to the tutors'' villas and entering his own room, Garen contacted Kendall''s external phone number immediately.


    "Boss! Tell me your instructions!" after relying on Garen, Kendall had become the boss of a larger than average company. His main business was arranging the transport of Rainbow Stones. Once he had gained Garen''s trust, his daily life was completely smooth sailing. His face on the screen of Garen''s watch was currently rounder and chubbier like a smiling Buddha.


    "Purchase Red Rainbow Stones on the market immediately. It''s best if you find a stable goods supply channel."


    "How much do you need?"


    "Get two tonnes from the market and just store them first. Separate ten percent of the profits and purchase them slowly once you''ve found a channel. Send me a report of the revenue and expenditure accounts once every two months," said Garen in a straightforward manner.


    "No problem, this will be easy. Numerous clients have chased me previously to ask if I needed anymore Rainbow Stones of other colors," Kendall''s eyes became two slits when he laughed. Then, he happened to think of something. "Boss, there are more of the other colored Rainbow Stones but their purity levels are lower. Their prices might be slightly more expensive than White Rainbow Stones too¡­"


    "Don''t worry about the expenses, just be as quick as possible," Garen pondered for a moment. "Buy two tonnes of the other Rainbow Stones and kept them in the warehouse as well in case we need to transfer them suddenly."


    "Understood, it will be done in less than two months! However, it will probably take a longer time for them to be sent over. After all, the red ones are scattered within a wider area and their production rate in a single area is very low." Kendall sounded extremely confident when he spoke. It was clear that he had obtained the channels of many clients previously and knew the necessary information like the back of his hand.


    "No problem. It''ll be fine as long as you can to do it. I''ll be waiting for your good news."


    "I swear that I won''t let you down!"


    Garen exhaled slowly once he had disconnected the phone call.


    "It''s time for me to solve the problem with Goldfish and that guy¡­"

 879 Take Action 1

    On the top floor of the multistoried building, the strong wind tousled Garen''s hair and clothes. He stood at the edge of the floor, allowing the gigantic billboard to block more than half of his body while he lowered his head and looked downwards.


    On the street below that stretched between two tall buildings, among the people on the pavement, a young man and woman walked out of a building and walked along the street together towards a few parked motorcycles.


    Through the corner of his eye, Garen saw that the red-haired girl who was currently chatting with two males was actually Goldfish whom he had seen previously.


    "Apparently the information I received from Anda was pretty accurate," that guy named Anda was clearly an information trader as the information that he received from him for one hundred thousand points was extremely reliable.


    Garen raised his watch and glanced at his own Quest Points.


    "I only have three points left after going to the training room even though I had twenty points in the beginning¡­ Looks like I''ll have to get some Quest Points soon or it''ll be troublesome during the examinations."


    He lowered his head and stared below at Goldfish who was saying goodbye to the two boys and walking with another girl back to her motorcycle. He turned around and rushed downstairs but Goldfish had already gotten on her motorcycle and left the building area once he had reached the bottom floor.


    Garen had fully memorized the terrain of this area clearly a long time ago. He used the alleys and shortcuts to follow Goldfish closely. After modifying his body, he was almost able to match the speed of the motorcycle when he ran at full speed.


    While following her closely from behind slowly, he saw Goldfish arriving in front of an ashen, pointed multistoried building a little while later. She stopped her motorcycle, switched off the engine and got down.


    Garen glanced at the name of the owner of this large building that was marked on the side.


    "Von Anise. The information states that this person is one of the instructors in the inner domain but this place looks very unassuming¡­"


    After hesitating for a moment, Garen walked out of the alley and took large strides towards the doorway of the building that Goldfish entered.


    Goldfish was pushing the revolving glass door that led to the lower floor of the building when she saw a figure behind her that was reflected by the glass suddenly.


    "It''s that person from that day!" she was shocked. "He actually followed me all the way here! How did he find me!" she had begged her seniors to help her find information about the man but they had yet to give it to her even until now. She had never expected that the other person would be slightly faster than herself.


    Fortunately, she could still use that item for a third time.


    Goldfish reached into her pants pocket and grasped the item inside her pocket tightly while steadying her mind.


    he turned around and faced her opponent head-on while getting out of the way so that other people could come and go.


    "Should we step aside and chat?" the voice of the other man drifted over. Goldfish furrowed her eyebrows and looked at him. He had short black hair, dark blue eyes, and pale skin. He looked vicious even though the corners of his mouth were curled when he smiled which made it seem as if he was sneering cruelly. His body was muscular and he gave off an oppressive atmosphere faintly when he stood there.


    "Do you always move so quickly?" Goldfish teased.


    "It was just luck," Garen smiled.


    "What do you want to talk about?" Goldfish observed her opponent''s actions and stance carefully. After suffering terrible injuries the last time, she knew that this man was strong. However, should she really be fighting right in front of the building where her tutor was staying?


    While looking at this man cautiously, Goldfish made a mental note to be extremely careful.


    The other person smiled.


    "I still remember the first time I was in the hospital. You came into my room at night, ambushed me, and almost mauled me. I''m here to repay you."


    Goldfish recalled everything immediately. He was the strange young man whom she had encountered that night, the same person she had met suddenly while carrying out her mission. Her memory of him was still so vibrant even though a long period of time had passed since then.


    "What are you planning to do?" fear began to fill her mind. She looked on as the other man continued to smile calmly as if he had no intention of taking action against her at all. However, she could not understand why she felt terrified while standing on the opposite side of him.


    "The compensation for that night and the injuries that Fila inflicted on me previously will be part of your debt to pay. How many Quest Points do you have now?" asked Garen calmly.


    "I have two hundred and sixty-three points and I''ll transfer all of them to you! Don''t come back and bother me!" Goldfish took a step back and tried to increase the distance between herself and the other person. Fila had just happened to pass by coincidentally when she saved Goldfish and her seniors that one time. However, it was impossible for her to have such good luck every single time.


    "So few points," Garen twisted his neck.


    "What do you mean ''few points''?! We only managed to accumulate these Quest Points after doing many difficult quests over a long period of time!" Goldfish''s voice had become slightly higher. However, she tried her best to suppress it immediately. "How do you plan on letting me off then?! I still have more than a million Universal Units and I can transfer all of them to you too. I also have a few techniques on me that I can give you too!"


    She knew that she would have no way to live if she did not solve this problem properly now. Her opponent was not someone that a Level Two individual like herself would be able to defeat.


    Initially, Garen had come over to try and understand the situation better and planned to find an opportunity to kill his opponent later. However, he had never expected that this woman would be tactful enough to admit defeat immediately. This made it difficult for him to go on with his original plans.


    Just as he was hesitating, Goldfish opened her mouth again.


    "Tell me your requirements. I have some girls in my downlines that I can let you play with, including myself if that''s what you want. As long as you stop looking for me and giving me trouble. Anything is fine."


    "What are you¡­" Garen was slightly shocked.


    "That''s right. Why do you think I have so many Quest Points?" Goldfish brushed her long hair away from her forehead. "I''m the one they call ''Thorn'', so wouldn''t it be natural that I have so many beautiful roses around me?"


    The supposed ''Thorn'' was actually a female pimp who engaged in the flesh trade while the female students below her merely nicknamed her with this euphemism.


    Garen understood at once when he heard everything.


    "Thorn? No wonder you have so much savings and tricks despite your low level."


    "Since I''ve already admitted defeat, you can either kill me or dismember me now," Goldfish stretched both of her arms open and raised her ample bosom intentionally.


    "If it''s going to be like this, we have certainly solved our problems quickly," Garen smiled. "Tell me the information about the person from the Administrative Bureau who made a move that day then¡­"


    Tch!!


    He charged forward suddenly and curled his finger upwards like a hook before stabbing it in front.


    A popping noise could be heard before a wet, bloody eyeball was gouged out of Goldfish''s eye socket. While she screamed in pain, Garen used his palm to hit her lower abdomen swiftly.


    Goldfish''s entire body was sent flying before she collided with the glass door behind her violently. The glass did not break from the collision but the impact caused her to bounce back right after she hit the door.


    "This will write off our previous grudges," smiled Garen while walking over. He stomped downwards and cracked Goldfish''s right thigh bone in one movement.


    Ahh!!!


    The latter let out a blood-curdling cry instantly.


    None of the surrounding passersby came forward to stop them. When they witnessed the violence happening right in front of their eyes, most of the people who were entering and leaving the building walked around the pair instead and hastened their footsteps to leave the area quickly.


    No one would be willing to intentionally start a fight with a Level Four pilot here in a low-level territory like this. Therefore, most of them just evaded him and left.


    Goldfish wailed painfully and pressed one hand against her thigh while using her other hand to cover her eye. Every single trace of her beautiful disposition had disappeared, leaving nothing but miserable howls. Large puddles of sweat that had formed from the intense pain drenched her entire body and soaked through most of her clothes. Next, dark patches appeared where they were dirtied by the dust on the ground.


    Garen shook his head faintly.


    "Remember to pass me the information."


    "I¡­ I will!" Goldfish ground her teeth and trembled when she spoke. The pain that was coursing through her body made it almost impossible for her to focus her attention.


    "And about the Quest Points, transfer two hundred to me. Forget about the Universal Units," said Garen casually.


    After forcing Goldfish to transfer her Quest Points and give him the information about the person from the Administrative Bureau, Garen leisurely left the area.


    "I''ll come and look for you again if I need to," he waved at Goldfish with his back towards her and left in a relaxed and happy manner.


    Goldfish''s soft curses echoed behind him from afar.


    "Don''t think I didn''t hear that~" Garen''s single sentence was enough to scare Goldfish into shutting her mouth tightly.


    ******************


    Reagan''s mind felt somewhat disturbed when he exited the Administrative Bureau.


    He had just received news that the ''Thorn'' Goldfish had been ambushed outside the doorway of her own home. One of her eyes had been blinded while one of her legs had become lame. Her opponent was violent and cruel and there was no way to fit her with new artificial parts yet. It was rumored that he had used special measures to completely destroy the edges of the parts that could be used for artificial implants.


    Goldfish had almost lost her own life as well. The scariest part was that her opponent''s moves were as precise as surgical operations as there had not been much bleeding. Instead, most of her bleeding was internal.


    Goldfish was completely quiet when they saved her life. She remained silent and left the hospital immediately after paying the treatment fees.


    Some people said that her attacker was a black haired, muscular man who was tall and looked vicious.


    This made Reagan immediately think of the man that he had helped Goldfish get rid of recently. If Fila had not coincidentally inflicted him with critical injuries that time¡­


    "There''s no way that it could be that man¡­" he shook his head and walked out of the Administrative Bureau. He greeted a few of his colleagues before walking towards the underground carpark.


    "That man was badly injured by Senior Fila. He wouldn''t be able to heal his injuries so quickly regardless of the treatment methods that he used. Moreover, according to what Senior Fila said, if that person didn''t die in the fight, he would be crippled at least." Reagan walked into the quiet and empty underground car park. He walked to the side of his car quickly before pulling the door open.


    "Hi, how are you?"


    Suddenly, he saw a black-haired man sitting in his own car. This man had dark blue eyes and was currently stretching his hand outwards and greeting him while exposing his pearly white teeth.


    "You!" Reagan wondered if he had walked to the wrong car. He was just about to open his mouth and ask when he was suddenly overcome by a bout of dizziness.


    He lowered his head in a daze and looked at his lower abdomen. A pale arm had appeared there suddenly and was now stabbing deeply into his stomach. Blood flowed down his pant leg continuously and dyed his shoes red. It dripped on the ground and formed a little puddle of bright red fresh blood there.


    Instantly, he looked over at the other man''s hand that was being outstretched slowly. However, there was not a single drop of blood there.


    "A favor for what happened during the last few days. Thank you so much for your care," Garen''s smile was both alluring and vicious.


    "You¡­!!" said Reagan in disbelief while covering the wound on his abdomen. However, the hole there was too big and he could actually see the ground behind him faintly through his stomach.


    He knew that he would not be able to leave today.


    "My big sister¡­ will not forgive you!!" he staggered a few steps backward and sat on the ground. His face had already turned ghostly pale because of the dangerous blood loss he was suffering.


    Vroom¡­ The sound of a car engine could be heard before a Hover Car was positioned towards his body precisely. The car traveled at the quickest speed before crashing into him violently.


    A popping noise could be heard when Reagan was smashed in between the car and the wall. He turned into a mess of bloody red bits of flesh before he stopped moving completely.


    Garen sat in the driver''s seat and turned the engine off and got out of the car. He had turned off the automatic surveillance cameras in the car park long ago and was not worried that any traces of his identity as the killer would be recorded.


    "This has been solved as well. The last one is Fila," he took his gloves off and rubbed his slightly cold hands together before turning around and walking out of the car park exit.


    Coincidentally, a slender man in white clothes was walking down the slope that led to the car park slowly. He held his car keys in his hands and watched Garen who was walking out. The tip of his nose twitched slightly as if he had smelled something unpleasant. Unconsciously, he glanced at Garen once again.


    Garen turned to him and curled his mouth into a smile before walking out of the car park leisurely.


    Mech Pilots with strong Willpowers were incredibly powerful when they were prepared. However, their reaction speeds and accomplishments could never surpass Secret Technique users when they were ambushed suddenly. Mech Pilots needed to adjust their Willpower to strengthen their bodies to use both attack and defense moves. Moreover, Willpower could not be used unconsciously and required nerve reactions before they could come into effect.

 880 Take Action 2

    These pilots were like superpowers that were physically weak; or like mages, who were powerful when they were fully prepared, but once they were caught off guard, the previous scene would occur. Reagan could not even react and was killed with one blow in a split second.


    Their bodies did not have the protection of energy field. Without gene enhancement, they could not even match some of those trained musclemen.


    "In that case, maybe Fila should also be the same case. Perhaps I can go and see if there is a chance to move in," Garen assessed.


    The biggest weakness of pilots was that they could not maintain their state of strength at all times like Secret Technique practitioners. Their Willpower was equivalent to the bullets in a pistol that had to be reloaded after opening fire. Therefore, they would not be in a state of preparedness at all times because this kind of state would exhaust Willpower.


    In this way, they were not that powerful in their usual daily state. When faced with threats that they could not respond in time to, it would likely be the end of them.


    Walking out of the parking lot, Garen looked up at the artificial sun. The sun, which was surrounded by silver halos, was shining unceasingly with its great brilliancy.


    He had found the best way to deal with pilots, which was close-range attacks. When the opponent did not even have a chance to react with their Willpower, he would be able to hit them hard.


    Pilots without the protection of Willpower Field were, at best, slightly stronger than ordinary people.


    They were not like Secret Technique practitioners, who would always have a robust physique defense on par with their own strength.


    "Freeze!" suddenly, a man''s voice shouted from behind.


    Garen did not care. Yet, he felt a sudden cold at his back and immediately bowed his head. He mustered his Willpower and reached out his hand above his head, making a grabbing movement.


    A hard and sharp feeling instantly reached his fingertips and Garen retracted his fingers in the nick of time but was still scraped a little.


    Only then did he saw clearly what was passing over his head.


    It was a mechanical bee the size of a fist. The bees were made of silvery-white metal while the wings behind were of non-metal materials that were vibrating at high speed. Some parts of the body were even covered with some kind of flesh and blood, giving the impression of a fusion of mechanical and biochemical science and technology.


    Garen looked at his fingers and a layer of skin had been broken unknowingly. Blood was vaguely seen.


    "I told you to freeze!" the man''s voice rang again.


    Garen turned around. He actually completely ignored the mechanical bees that were still flying in mid-air but looked directly at the man in a white shirt who was coming after him.


    This man was the man who had just entered the parking lot.


    His face clouded over and there was an identical mechanical bee hovering around him.


    "Daring to murder in the Administrative Bureau, you sure are bold!"


    Garen felt that it was strange that he did not feel any Willpower of aggressive nature on the other party. There was only a layer of protective film like a protective cover overlying the person.


    "What murder? No idea what you''re talking about, friend," Garen shrugged innocently. "You may have a mouth but you wouldn''t want to simply frame a good person."


    "Whether it''s framing or not, we''ll know for sure once you follow me back to the Administrative Bureau!" the man''s voice had not faded out.


    Garen then felt a strong rush of wind at the back of his head. Without looking back, he lowered his head, stomped the floor and leaped backward like a compressed spring, drawing out a perfect arc. The oncoming bees rushed past him and before they could even respond, he had disappeared around the corner in just a few steps.


    "What a terrific skill!" when the white-shirt man saw this scene, his face expression immediately turned serious. "Even the mechanical bees with Level Three speed couldn''t catch up with him¡­" his eyes flickered. He decided not to get involved in this matter. The opponent this time was not an average person. This response was purely that of a veteran killer, and not someone to mess around with.


    *****************


    Sprinting on the edge of the street, Garen did not sense any tracking behind him. He gradually slowed down and quickly returned to the same posture as the average shopping person, looking left and right.


    Although the inner courtyard was very chaotic, there were not many who would strike openly on some of the monitored streets. In many places, once someone began an assault, there would be people who would come over to maintain order. These people who maintained order were not from the Administrative Bureau. Instead, some of them looked like students, obviously the managing gang of the area here.


    Whenever an assault occurred, it was natural for the gang and manager of the site to be responsible for the aftermath.


    There was no good or evil here, no compassion nor mercy.


    As Garen strolled along, he had seen a lot of that. A pure and beautiful young girl with two watery eyes had been lured into the alley by several bad students. After half a minute, it was the shrieking of the few bad students that was heard instead.


    Several lovely girls who looked like they were going shopping were quarreling with someone at the entrance of a shop. One of the girls was hot-tempered and she slapped a seemingly strong-looking bald man. Both of his arms were fractured as his whole person flew more than ten meters away.


    Of course, not all cases were of this contrast. But throughout the way, all of those people who dared to shop on the streets was not someone to be messed with. They either had powerful capabilities or they had at least some objects for body protection on them.


    The inner courtyard was always in chaos. There was no difference even in those street areas that had people in charge of them.


    Robbery, fighting, revenge, high-energy gunfire, semi-mechanized armor brawls and small-sized spacecraft chasing battles; for people who were generally weaker without special means, even walking on the street was an extremely absurd thing.


    Garen had nearly been affected several times. The horrific strength of thermal weapons was something that even he did not want to experience himself.


    As he carefully rushed back, he began to think about the means used by the man he had just met.


    At the same time, he quickly checked on his wristwatch, which could connect to the inner courtyard network here and access tons of information that could not be found in the outside world.


    Soon, a job other than pilot appeared in front of Garen.


    ''Energy machinist ¡ª a powerful career that uses various biochemical technology and mechanical intelligence to create bodyguards, tools, experimental platforms, and more. One needs a special kind of Willpower and mastery over a lot of professional knowledge, which is divided into many schools. There are energy machinists who focus their research on warfare and there are the scientific kinds of energy machinists who research on drugs.''


    "Energy machinist?" Garen suddenly recalled the Glowing Radiance Training Method, the kind that did not have any combat power. That had been seen during the trade with the Honorable Noble.


    "Wasn''t biochemical modulation technology eliminated many years ago? How is it that the inner courtyard actually has energy machinists, such talents who could master biochemical machinery?"


    He was slightly curious and continued to inquire.


    ''Energy machinists differs from modulation engineers, who used biochemical pools in the ancient times. They mainly rely on mechanical intelligence and used biochemical technology as a supplement. This has a lot of advantages over modulation engineers. The biggest point is that they can have their own research platform and use it to synthesize many materials and components which are needed for high-end Mechs. It can accelerate the repair and treatment of high-end Mechs, improve technology and strengthen their power and other comprehensive maintenance.''


    ''The numbers of energy machinists in the inner courtyard are extremely few. Often, their own actual combat capabilities are not high but they have a good relationship with many high-end pilots. They are one of the rare talents.''


    Garen looked through the data carefully and skimmed through other special rare occupations. He found that besides pilots, there were energy machinists and biochemists, two of the most complex professions. He already had some understanding towards energy machinists. If the role an energy machinist played for the pilot was to concentrate on the maintenance and treatment of the Mech, then the biochemist was responsible for the treatment and maintenance of the pilot.


    ''Biochemist ¡ª a special occupation based on pharmacy, biochemistry, and virology. Many biochemists advanced from the doctors'' profession. They are mainly responsible for the high-end treatment of injuries, treatment of congenital diseases, intractable diseases and various troublesome illnesses of high-level pilots. Their status is more sublime than that of the energy machinist and their numbers are extremely few.''


    There were no other special and rare occupations worthy of attention anymore.


    "Energy machinists are responsible for the repair and maintenance of high-end Mechs. That being said, the general maintenance factories are unable to meet the needs of high-end pilots. In this way, an energy machinist would surely master the secrets of many high-end Mechs. Tsk tsk¡­ What a huge network..." Garen was secretly astonished. "With a talent like this, touching him would equate to meddling with an entire interest group."


    "I''m sure biochemists would be similar as well."


    Suddenly, he was moved in his heart. With his biochemistry attainments, it should be a lot easier for him than the average person to become a biochemist.


    Plus, the potential points might also be able to help. These two kinds of occupations were more suitable for him to build potential background forces and be the main strategy to buy him time to grow up.


    "However, both professions need special training in non-combat Willpower. This is a troublesome condition," Garen pondered about the solution while walking towards Professor Van Doe''s little villa.


    Upon returning to the villa, he approached the smart hub, Hill, right away and asked of the whereabouts of the professor. It was almost time for a lecture. Just a few days after entering the inner courtyard, he had almost forgotten that Professor Van Doe would have a lecture once every five days.


    "You''re asking about biochemist and energy machinists? Every student is interested in these two professions. Of course, they''ve all failed," Hill laughed at him mercilessly. "There are no relevant training methods for biochemists. There are two for energy machinists though. You can choose to buy one and minor in it."


    Sitting on the wooden sofa in the living room on the first floor, Garen sighed with relief.


    "What''s the price?"


    "I''ll give it to you cheaper. Rounding it up, it is two hundred quest points," Hill mentioned a random price. This guy was clearly aiming for the two hundred quest points that Garen had just obtained. He could check the account of every student who entered the villa to know how many quest points they have. He really was a profiteer.


    "Which two are they?" Garen was not bothered by it. Quest points or whatever, he could go and snatch them if there was not enough. He was never a good person.


    "Wow, you really want to buy. But judging by your aptitude, you may be able to do a good job in this energy machinist line. Many genius pilots will choose to minor in this occupation. After all, who is willing to let the secrets of their future high-end Mechs fall into the hands of others? Am I not right? Many of the energy machinists whom I have seen in the inner courtyard have a similar temperament as you."


    "Forget about it, Hill. How many times have you said this to me since the beginning? After coaxing so many people, you''re still trying to coax a new junior!" a woman strode into the living room.


    This woman had large bones and was taller than the average person. She looked like a female giant and was more than two meters tall, donning a red dress that contrasted her pale yellow long hair.


    Behind the woman were a tender-looking young boy and a young girl. The two were of youthful age, estimated to be only eighteen or nineteen years old. They actually had the symbol of a freshman on their clothes.


    "These are the two juniors selected by Teacher this time, Milo and Nehri," the woman introduced to Garen with a smile, "I''m your senior sister, Galafil, born with giant disease. Don''t mind it."


    Garen smiled and stood up


    .


    "I''m Nonosiva. You guys can just call me Nono," he got up and the left-over bloody smell from the earlier murder instantly diffused. Galafil squinted her eyes a little.


    This guy¡­ was not a simple character...


    Gallafil had originally thought that this junior, just like the others, needed some guidance before daring to lead a normal life in the inner courtyard. She did not expect this guy to be someone not of good nature as well.


    The two freshmen, Milo and Nehri, had a sense of closeness as they looked at Garen. Apparently, their similar identities as newcomers naturally narrowed their distance in between.


    Milo was the little boy. He was going to try to talk to Nono but was slightly pulled back by Senior Sister.

 881 Planning 1

    Garen sized up these two people. They were obviously newcomers who had not experienced any battle or endeavors. They might not even have an understanding of the environment and the competition system in Blackboard Academy itself.


    Slightly revealing a smile, Garen''s line of sight shifted to his senior sister, Galafil.


    "Tomorrow should be the time for teacher''s lecture. Do you know if the other two senior brothers will come?"


    "Maybe yes, but one of them went to the annular meteorite belt. It might be a long time before he comes back," Galafil said casually and sat down with the two newcomers.


    Garen did not mind and sat down.


    "Alright, Hill, let''s continue our trade from just now."


    "No problem, no problem!" the smart hub, Hill, answered quickly.


    Soon, a transparent light screen appeared before Garen. There were countless densely-packed numbers and lines flowing on it. They then quickly stopped and only showed two lines of words.


    "These are the energy machinist training methods you wanted. They are the latest training methods that anyone can practice though it may take a little longer time..." Hill laughed.


    "A little longer?" Galafil, who was watching coldly from the side, interjected with disdain, "Not even one percent of progress in a year is still called ''a little''?"


    Obviously, she intended to remind Garen that it was a pit that he would not be able to come out from once he jumped in.


    "Just because you couldn''t do it doesn''t mean others can''t," Hill retorted. "I can see that Nono is clearly not an ordinary person and maybe he really does have the composition of an energy machinist. Once you become an energy machinist, there would absolutely be no problem living it up!"


    "Wasn''t that the same thing you once told me?"


    "That is because your own aptitude couldn''t succeed, who can you blame? I had always reminded you and hinted you since the beginning but in the end, you..."


    One person and one core started quarreling with each other.


    Garen could not be bothered about the argument between the two but simply glanced at the description above.


    ''Energy machinist training method ¡ª NIS: An orthodox school founded by the ancient Elsie Republic''s grandmaster, Neer. They have the most standard advancement progress of an energy machinist. Their level of fusion of machinery and biochemistry was second to none. They were mainly famous for the manufacturing of flying-insects type of energy machinery.''


    ''Training method special skills: Each level enhances the experimental platform to produce energy machinery with 0.5 level of basic defense, 0.5 level of speed.''


    ''Energy mechanist training method ¡ª Laura Wireless Control: a cumulative training method created by the mystery grandmaster energy machinist, Laura. The most special characteristic of the experimental platform is its cumulative nature. It will naturally create a high intelligence combat energy machinery every other year and their numbers will depend on the level of the platform. Energy machinery does not impose any Willpower burden on the energy machinist. It is an automated intelligent control but the defect is that it may be affected by possible electromagnetic influences. If there are enough materials and energy resources, then it is easy to create an army of energy machinery. The prerequisite is, of course, a sufficiently large platform control.''


    ''Training method special skills: Each stage can increase the upper limit of the mechanical capacity of the platform by 1 (all the energy machinist''s energy machinery have an initial upper limit of 1) and each level can reduce the consumption of energy machinery manufacturing by 5%.''


    ''Take note: The above training method may consume more time and more resources.''


    Looking at these two types of energy machinist training methods, Garen also roughly understood that the main strength of an energy machinist would be coming from the energy machinery and that the manufacturing process of energy machinery required a lot of resources and energy.


    "This is a job which only wealthy people can afford. Even if it is a rich person, spending too much energy on the energy machinist training method would not yield a good future all the same," Galafil was watching by the side. She sounded casual but was in fact, reminding Garen.


    "Are energy machinists able to extract the materials themselves?" Garen suddenly asked.


    "Of course," Hill replied quickly. "Any energy machinist can purify or synthesize materials like metals. Of course, he would need an energy furnace."


    "Then I want... NIS," Garen chose this as his attempt.


    He did not forget that he had acquired a similar training method, Glowing Radiance, from the Honorable Nobles.


    That training method was very bizarre. It only emphasized the design of the biochemical modulation pool.


    "No problem!" Hill was instantly joyful and giggled. With the sound of a ring, all the quest points in Garen''s account were swept away.


    The NIS training method also appeared in the database of his wristwatch. He lowered his head and began to look it up slowly.


    For a moment, the people on the sofa slowly quietened. Galafil and the duo also noticed this change. There was nothing to say. They began chatting in a small voice, their volume lowered by a lot.


    Garen quickly glanced through the NIS training method and found that it was not very similar to Glowing Radiance Training Method. However, there was something in common. Both mentioned a very important object, the biochemical modulation pool.


    The mainstream of an energy machinist was to concentrate on creating a variety of energy machinery with semi-Willpower control. Whether they were auxiliary type, combat type or logistics type, each type could have a great application. Many of these creative technologies could even revolutionize the technology of the entire industry. They were the top-level scientific research talents.


    Of course, the basic learning knowledge required was also enormous. Besides the basic sciences which had about twenty-something fields themselves, there was also advanced high-level learning, high-energy mathematics, magnetic field research, energy-saving magnetic materials, nano-electronics, nano-biotechnology, cyclical fusion energy bases... and all sorts of research sciences.


    Even though there were training methods to improve brain intelligence, many things had simply reached the level of pure aerial. One had to establish a model from physical reality, calculate and find the formula patterns, use these formulas to infer new formulae and then use them to calculate all kinds of physical phenomena to derive a new physical model. Building on this foundation, quantum computers were then used for the accumulation of phenomena or the qualitative transformation of phenomena to form the ultimate desired state... A primary state¡­


    This was the process that a primary target state needed to reach. In the midst of it, it involved numerous basic constants, basic calculations and various types of complicated work. There must also be a sufficiently powerful quantum computer, otherwise, it would not have the capabilities to calculate and deduce.


    The primary state may be the most common application environment parameter on many energy machinist''s platforms. Tens of thousands of parameters were always needed on the platform.


    When understanding up to this point, Garen finally understood why energy machinists were so rare. It seemed that the degree of complexity involved in all this was far from the perception of those pilots who relied on natural talent to have their way.


    However, there was a slight advantage to be an energy machinist. Its training method could be learned by anyone. The government never restricted this aspect of content. It did not require any kind of identity or the likes to be able to learn it. But even so, without a vast accumulation of knowledge, resources and wealth as reserves, it was impossible for an energy machinist to develop even a single hair.


    "True enough, what a burning-money industry..." Garen sighed.


    "If you have tons of money, you don''t have to be afraid of anything. Of course, there are too many people with too much money, but the possibility of becoming an energy machinist is only one in ten-thousandths," Galafil took up the cup of coffee delivered by the smart hub and sipped it.


    Garen silently nodded, sorted out the information obtained and returned directly to his room. He did not have any intention to communicate with the other two newcomers.


    Milo stood up and tried to stop him but Galafil pulled him back and shook her head slightly. He could only watch as Garen entered his room, closed the door and made a locking beep sound.


    "Senior sister, why didn''t you let me..." Milo sat down, confused, and looked at Galafil. He knew that the other person had a good heart and was not like that kind of person who deliberately did bad things.


    Nehri, who was beside him, was also puzzled and looked over. Obviously, she had also had this doubt in her heart.


    Galafil put down her coffee.


    "The guy is not an average person. He has killed people."


    What¡­


    In two exclamations, both Milo and Nehri were frightened. They were new students who had just entered the academy, chosen because of some special relationship and was brought in by Professor Van Doe, not due to achievement but relations.


    "Don''t provoke him," Galafil said bluntly. "There is a kind of people who, on the surface, can speak gently in conversations and looks very good-tempered. But once the tables are turned, he can eat you up in an instant without leaving any bones."


    "That person is also a freshman, right?" Milo''s face paled as he asked. Killing someone? Never mind killing someone, he even had never used a knife to kill chickens before. Seeing others fight would also terrify him.


    Nehri, who was beside, was similar. She clutched at Milo''s arm tightly.


    "There are also big differences among freshmen," Galafil shook her head. "It will be alright if you don''t provoke him in any way."


    As time passed, Garen had spent eight or nine days at Teacher Van Doe''s place. It was time for the appointment with Anda.


    Every day, he merely stayed behind closed doors in the villa and studied the newly acquired training method while accumulating enough potential points to spare.


    Galafil and the other senior brothers were here. As expected, both of them had Level Five Willpower. At the same time, their Resonance Degrees were at New-Moon level and they had their own Mechs. The two even had a space button; this sort of thing was a space object that could instantly store and release the Mech. This was an eye-opener for Garen. It was the first time he had seen space storage technology that he had only seen in novels previously.


    Then, there was teacher Van Doe''s lecture.


    Without any intention of waiting for the progress of Garen and the two newcomers, Van Doe talked on and on for an hour. Various kinds of parameters and conventional formulae needed to be remembered. Many formulae further produced even more complex formulae. Overlapping one another, they finally formed a complex Willpower resonance skill ¡ª Sand Eagle, which was a combination of hundreds of complex theoretical theories and numbers.


    This was a true resonance technique that was summed up by Van Doe using Crouched Eagle Talon. He continuously deduced Crouched Eagle Talon, which had only five levels, and finally, after years of calculation, he had finally gotten this resonance skill, Sand Eagle, which could increase resonance degree.


    This resonance technique was rather strange. At least, it seemed so to Garen. This was because as long as it was constantly practiced, it would slowly increase Crouched Eagle Talon Willpower and the Mech''s resonance degree. This resonance technique was not used for fighting at all but for cultivation instead.


    Furthermore, it could not be replaced by computers. Each time, one had to calculate from scratch and simulate it in the brain. From this kind of simulation calculations, the Willpower would produce different calculation fluctuations and affect the Mech''s core. The specific principle involved resonance theory. This world''s resonance theory had far surpassed the foundation of Garen''s own research and exploration in the Totem World and had reached a very high level.


    During these days in the villa, Garen continuously absorbed these highly sophisticated knowledge systems. With his collection of the broadcast knowledge systems of several worlds, Garen actually felt that it was very difficult to cope with these things. He had only managed to deduce Sand Eagle to around 60% on his own before he was stuck. He was able to break through the previous techniques, but the later parts involved further various types of calculations. Even when he calculated until his brain felt like exploding, it was still not clear. Many times, he would feel dizzy as the calculations went on and on.


    During this time, the two newcomers Milo and Nehri finally experienced the cruelty of the inner courtyard.


    From the few days that they went out, they would return with swelling faces, many bruises on their bodies and sometimes even with limps. Galafil did not interfere. After all, the two had to stand independently in the inner courtyard sooner or later. If she intervened as she pleased, it would be very bad for their growth.


    Moreover, the most important thing was that in the inner courtyard, veterans like them were not invincible. Professor Van Doe had old students. Other mentors also had old students. Everyone had their own troubles and opponents, and problems as such.


    The two children also seemed to have integrity and were unbending. They insisted on not seeking help from their senior sisters or brothers when they came back but suffered alone.


    Fortunately, although they all came back with injuries every day, each time they would recover quite well. The treatment conditions in the villa were still not too bad. Dealing with these kinds of external injuries did not take too much time to resolve. The people who bullied them also seemed to know to weigh their actions. There were no serious injuries that would cause sequela. After draining the pool to get the fish[1], they knew that there was no more income for them.


    Creak!


    Milo was sitting in the living room while Nehri was helping him bandage his calf. He turned his head and saw that Nonosiva''s room door had opened, after days of him not coming out.

 882 Planning 2

    Garen walked out the door. He saw that Milo and Nehri were covered in injuries but his face remained expressionless. He just calmly found Hill the smart hub, asked about something, then strode out of the living room door and walked towards the door.


    "Be careful! There are people guarding outside!" Milo saw an unsuspecting Garen heading out and quickly shouted to him kindly. "There are a lot of people out there guarding and waiting for us to go out!" his face was red from embarrassment, having to admit that those people were all here because of them.


    Since they could be easily bullied and robbed, this had caught the attention of more and more people. Everyone wanted to come and have a share.


    Nonosiva was also a newcomer. If he was robbed due to their own affairs, Milo would feel very guilty.


    "I''m not the same as you," Garen said without looking back.


    Stepping out of the door, when his footsteps had just landed on the ground of the street, a group of vicious-looking students came up from both sides of the villa and encircled him.


    None of these students had the elite temperament that they once had when there were selected to enter the Inner Courtyard. They had been completely transformed by the brutal competition system of the Inner Courtyard.


    "You guys... are obstructive!" Garen looked around and roughly estimated the level of the people here. There were fifteen people in total, a mix of males and females, but the most powerful force field was only of Level Three.


    "Boy, what are you talking about?! We do remember the old students of this villa. With this face of yours, you still want to pose as an old man and scare us? Wake up!" a fat woman with a scar on her face sneered.


    "Hand over your quest points and your Universal Units!"


    "Don''t make us use our fists!"


    A group of people snickered.


    Milo saw this scene from the living room and instantly felt anxious. He wanted to rush out to save the man but was suddenly held back by a big hand. Looking back, it was big sister Galafil.


    "Senior sister, you!"


    "Don''t be noisy! That new student is not a rookie like you," Galafil looked solemnly at the back of Garen. "Watch closely. Even as a newcomer, what a great difference there is between you two. If you want revenge, there is still a long way to go!"


    Milo was stunned.


    Boom!!


    At this instant, a frantic storm suddenly rolled across the outside of the villa. When he turned his head around to look again, there was only Nono left. He was holding a person''s head with one hand and dangling him in the air with that person hitting his arm frantically.


    Bang!


    The man was randomly thrown out by Nono and slammed into a hovering car that just happened to be driving past on the road. The hovering car diverted violently and almost caused a car accident. The owner of the car did not even dare to let out a fart. He made a turn and quickly accelerated to leave. The man rolled down and laid on his back. All the passing vehicles went around him. He seemed to have fainted.


    Most of the people from the group who had previously surrounded Nono were seriously injured and unconscious; some had broken arms, some their ribs had collapsed and some had warped thighs, but most of them were bleeding from their nostrils and mouth. Just by one look, one could tell that those serious injuries were directly caused by powerful Willpower.


    "All of them were injured by Willpower, and the technique was very precise. There is no one dead, but without recuperating for ten days up to half a month, they shouldn''t even think of getting out of bed. Tsk tsk¡­ how vicious," Galafil sighed.


    "So... so strong!" Milo''s jaw dropped wide open.


    "Super..." Nehri clutched Milo''s arm tightly; even when her nails were about to leave marks on it, the two did not notice.


    "That guy... has actually helped you cleaned up your mess," Galafil shook her head. "I was thinking of letting you guys have more training."


    Milos lowered his head, feeling slightly ashamed. He had originally thought that senior sister completely did not care about them.


    "Why... He is also a newcomer, why is he so much better than us...!"


    "Yeah, similarly a newcomer, but why? Think about it." Galafil turned and returned to her room, leaving Milo and Nehri to their own thoughts.


    When they looked up again, Nonosiva was no longer visible outside the door.


    ******************


    Inner Courtyard Library No.1


    A bustling crowd was continuously going up and down the hundreds of stone steps in the library. Everyone was unconsciously keeping a safe distance from others. Though the steps seemed wide, the people behind would rather wait for others to go first, unwilling to get too close together.


    There were pairs of black humanoid statues on each side of the steps at every interval of a certain distance.


    Garen wore a newly-bought black trench coat and his whole body was thoroughly covered up. He was standing behind a statue of a woman holding a harp, singing with her head down. This suit of clothes had cost him all of his remaining Universal Units. Everything in his account had been spent on these clothes.


    It seemed to be just ordinary clothing, but it was a powerful body-fitting armor material with Level Two defense. The most important function was that it could cut off all careful force field detection and search that were below Inherited level so that others could not figure out his level of Willpower.


    Even for Inherited level, the salesperson vowed that it would still provide a certain concealment effect. However, according to Garen''s own deduction using an instrument, the most conservative estimation of dealing with Inherited-level Willpower was that its concealing effect would be useful if the other party scanned on a large scale. But, if they paid a little attention, then it would be of no use.


    Having suffered such a big loss, he did not feel happy as he did not test it out before leaving.


    Pilots and Secret Technique practitioners were different. Once they were unable to respond, they would just be ordinary people who were more powerful than the average person. Garen''s coming here was due to the information obtained from Anda about Fila''s recent work and rest schedule. It had cost him about twenty thousand Universal Units, not cheap at all.


    Library No. 1 was a key database for the Inner Courtyard to store orbital particle data and they could not be borrowed away. One could only read the information by entering the library area and using the wireless connection to connect to the database. Upon leaving the library, all information would be deleted automatically. There was a number of administrative staff who would be supervising visitors to prevent copying.


    Fila had recently been searching for information about orbital particle data and would come here every day.


    Garen quietly leaned behind the statue. There were many people like him, and he looked just like one of those students out for revenge and thus was inconspicuous. This kind of scene was everywhere in the Inner Courtyard. Every day, there were people who were waiting to get their revenge.


    Beside him was a pair of a young female and male who were smoking cigarettes. The female''s hair was multicolored but her face and body shape looked good. She glimpsed over at Garen.


    "Hey buddy, are you also looking for someone?" she approached with a casual look.


    "Yeah, you guys too?"


    Garen smiled, looking gentle.


    "My sister was beaten up by someone. This time, I found the guy who did it and purposely came to keep watch," the girl puffed on the cigarette and said bluntly. "Fire Snake, you know him? It was that lad who actually dared to touch my sister."


    She was observing Garen''s expression out of the corner of her eyes, trying to spot a surprised look from the other party. However, Garen was still smiling plainly and seemed to not know the person Fire Snake at all.


    "You don''t know Fire Snake?" the boy beside could not help but ask. "Forget it. That person should be reaching soon. Don''t talk to him, pay attention. Crewe''s people are also here."


    Soon, two more males came over and whispered something to that boy, as if discussing something.


    A few people took out their ray guns and the atmosphere instantly became tense. The ray guns had a destructive power of Level One. There would not be a problem dealing with ordinary Level One armor and Willpower Level Three students.


    Garen took two steps back and gave the crowd enough space. He watched them preparing their weapons, sharp knives, firearms and even a single laser cannon with Level Two power.


    This group of people looked like they were ready for war. Using these weapons to deal with Level Four Willpower would not be a problem too. That single laser cannon could completely penetrate the Willpower field formed by Level Four Willpower. The Willpower field was something that could be stimulated individually, but to stimulate it while driving the Mech, that would need Level Five Willpower.


    Garen shook his head slightly. This time, he was also well prepared. In order to cope with the Fila''s possible tricks, he had spent millions and even tens of millions of Universal Units. He had also robbed more than a dozen people and used their quest points to buy some decent equipment.


    Looking at these people in an undisguised manner, it was obvious that they did not intend to keep it a secret. The other party probably also knew that they would be keeping watch outside.


    Just then, a slender and capable figure finally walked out the door of Library No.1.


    Fila was in a black tight-fitting outfit and was still wearing a short cloak behind him. The weird thing was that he actually had four eyebrows. There was a pair of long, red eyebrows growing on top of the two eyebrows of an average person.


    Behind him were three people who seemed to be bodyguards. Each was emanating the fluctuation of Willpower fields.


    The group walked out of the library. All the passers-by around made way and did not dare to be too close to the group of people.


    "It''s Fila!"


    "Fila who ranks top five. Tsk tsk. I heard that he was challenged by Reyla, who ranks at ninth place, today. They should be going to the battleground now," a group of people who were keeping watch beside Garen discussed in whispers.


    "Britney personally entered the Inner Courtyard some time ago and talked with Fila for more than ten minutes. Don''t know if it''ll have any impact on the North District."


    "Who knows? If whatever that was discussed by the top-levels could be randomly guessed by us, it would be peculiar."


    A group of people discussed in low voices.


    The multicolored-haired girl sighed as she listened to the group''s frivolous chat. Unwilling to say much, she was bored and shifted her gaze back to her side.


    "!!!"


    Garen was assembling a single combined missile silo here!


    A six-meter tall missile silo was almost completely assembled by this guy! And the direction of the aim...


    The girl looked back and immediately felt her heart slowed down by half a beat. It was aiming at Fila''s group!


    "You, you, you, you, you!!!!" she pointed to Garen and for a moment, she could not even speak clearly.


    In an instant, she saw Garen taking out one thing after another from underneath his clothes.


    High-powered explosives, a high-energy radiation gun, disposable biochemical acid bombs, an orbital field generator that was at least Level Five power and worth ten million! This terrifying range of weapons, with the lethality of minimum Level Four, was casually brought out by Garen.


    The other people here were suddenly attracted by the things laid out by Garen. They were all dumbfounded.


    These things, without tens of millions of Universal Units and hundreds of quest points, were nearly impossible to acquire.


    Using tens of millions of Universal Units to smash someone...


    If these things were to be used outside, they could destroy more than half of the city!

 883 Sneak Attack 1

    "I¡­ I¡­ F...!!" the multicolored-haired girl could not close her mouth and was utterly shocked.


    All kinds of mass-destructive weapons and powerful bombs that were only used against air battleships, so many of these were being brought out by this guy at one go!


    Such a big move was naturally unable to be completely concealed. Exclamations were just heard at Garen''s side when Fila looked over here. At first sight, the two''s vision instantly locked onto each other.


    With a boom, the six-meter-high silo suddenly fired a white stream of light. It made a perfect circular arc as it was accurately aimed at Fila below, racing towards him.


    The two were hundreds of meters apart. The stone steps of the library were very wide, roughly more than two hundred meters. At this time, it was too late too to dodge. Fila''s pupils instantly constricted.


    "Spread out!"


    He only had time to yell.


    Several people behind him their faces immediately changed. They promptly separated and leaped away but were still a step too late.


    A mass of blinding white light exploded, covering a hundred meters area of the entire flight of steps. Many innocent students were also caught up in it.


    The more than five-meters-high aurora missile, with its instant high heat explosion, could destroy a Level Five Willpower field more than a dozen times in a flash. Even so, it could be neutralized if there were more Level Five Willpower fields because it would level out the power of the missile.


    Intense light and heat burst forth, and Fila could only feel a scalding sensation. His clothes were singed and burned instantaneously. Everything around him was pale white and nothing could be seen at all. He let out his Willpower field in the form of a great snake but was still hit by the huge blast, and blood spurted out from his mouth.


    "Damn you!!!"


    He hollered. It was the first time in his life that he suffered so much damage. He forcefully withstood the energy field of the aurora missile and darted towards Garen, who was not far away.


    But just then, he saw that Garen had just released several automatic tracking-type radiation bombs, which were flying over. The bombs were like small fishes that were being released, creating circular arcs from all directions and surrounding here.


    "Good luck," Garen lifted his hand to his forehead and he flicked it lightly. He smiled and turned around to leave.


    Blazing light and heat erupted again. At that moment, it was as if there were numerous birds shrieking at the same time. The large number of bombs and horrific weapons released by Garen, with their automatic tracking devices, all hit the target at the same time. The explosion caused Fila to be shaken to the core and his Willpower field had not been stabilized yet. At this instant, the pilot''s Willpower was out of control and could not be controlled.


    A thick black smoke broke out behind. Harsh sirens could be heard all over the city.


    Garen made several jumps and swiftly landed on the top of a hovering car. He stood up and turned his head back to look at the scene he had made.


    At the entrance of the library, a pillar of smoke continued to rise to the sky. It was also mingling with Fila''s unwilling angry roars but he was entangled with the energy field generator and so, was unable to get out.


    "True enough, there sure is a difference in using a huge amount of money to buy a force field generator that can immobilize battleships. The effect is so powerful." Garen touched his chin and pondered. "Including this set of clothing, all the money that was robbed from others and this month''s income had all been used up."


    He looked at his wristwatch and there were three hundred and thirty-one Universal Units left.


    "This is the power of wealth...but I have to prevent others from dealing with me the same way."


    Nonetheless, Garen knew that others could not have had such terrific actuarial power like him, who could calculate Fila''s counteractions against some of the explosive force of the weapons and how much damage the remaining destructive force would cause.


    This scene that Garen made, its power seemed horrific and even Level Five energy fields without a New-Moon Level resonance degree would also perish. However, after Fila''s full resistance, the residual lethality was, in reality, not as terrible as imagined. At the most, it would heavily injure Level Three and Two ordinary students. This did not violate the regulation of no killing within the monitored area.


    Garen had used more than a dozen small binding force field tools to lock all the power within a certain range simultaneously. At the moment of explosion, these binding force field tools would detonate together. As one-off props, they would offset a part of the explosion power and at the same time, blow away those who were unrelated. This was the real reason that the death of other students had been avoided.


    Explosive range, possible blasting points around the lethality parameters, possible responses from Fila, and the timely use of the force field generator to prevent Fila from running around and causing the tracking blast to impact others.


    All of these had been designed by Garen through multiple simulated environments and computer modeling several hundred times before he''d come up with a perfect action plan.


    "This is the terrifying part about high IQ crimes..." looking at his own hands, Garen himself felt that he was terrible.


    "I don''t know how the situation of that Fila guy is. He should be expected to be either seriously injured or crippled. I''ve spilled part of the strength of his energy field," Garen smiled and looked in the direction of the library. It was only a shrinking cube at this time.


    *********************


    "Ah... Ah!!!!!"


    Boom!!


    A statue was broken by Fila and it flew out tens of meters.


    He was surrounded by thick black pythons and looked like an ancient deity, except that his clothing was tattered, his body was blue-black here and there, and more than half of his hair had been burned off, like a featherless rooster. His original display of powerful force and his prestige were all lost with this ridiculous image.


    He vented by smashing the statues around him ferociously and his body was releasing black smoke. He looked more like a refugee who had fled here from somewhere.


    A few of his men around him had also been hurt but apparently, they were in a much better state than he was. This bombing attack was obviously targeted at him alone. All the lethality was restrained by the force field binding device in a small range and he took about 80% of it.


    This horrific calculation and accuracy made Fila felt uncomfortable at this moment.


    The most important thing was that the other party''s use of such brutal measures had not yet triggered the participation of the city Administrative Bureau''s automatic management mechanism. Thus it was clear that such a method had not even cost the life of an ordinary student except for heavy injuries at the most. In this era, as long as there was enough money, one who was heavily injured could be restored or even have their limbs replaced.


    "This is the terrifying part..." after Fila had vented for a while, his heart gradually returned to its original calmness. The colorless silver-streaked internal armor on his body slowly lit up and continued to flow. This was also the main reason he had not been seriously injured in the sneak attack just now. Such a high-tech internal armor had counteracted most of the lethality, but it also looked like it had to be scrapped.


    "...accurate to this point, it seems that the one who did this is not an average person..." Fila pulled off his tattered top and internal armor and swept his eyes across the onlooking students. The surrounding people felt as if they had fallen into an ice cave and swiftly retreated. There were not many people who were watching the excitement, to begin with. They were afraid that they would be dragged into it. After being frightened by him, everyone scattered like birds and animals and there was not a silhouette left to be seen.


    His three men moaned as they crawled up from the ground. One had his arm blown off while half of the body of another was almost scorched. The last person had lost his hearing.


    Looking at the terrible condition of his men, Fila was furious. He was suddenly attacked and even his own men were also tragically hurt.


    "Find out!! Go find out!! Find out that guy''s identity, patronage, find it all out!!" he roared, unable to suppress his rage.


    The thunderous roars echoed non-stop. Fila''s terrifying Willpower field continued to fluctuate like a turbulent river. Ordinary people might not see it, but a powerhouse on the same level could see that he was not lightly hurt.


    Tens of millions of Universal Units had been burned at the same time and could destroy most of the city in the outside world. Now, all of them were gathered together at one point for him to bear it all. Even if this guy were to have countless of life-saving props, the energy field was so powerful that it was enough to confront the Red-White Shining Mech''s pilot. At this time, he was also dazed by this money-laden surprise attack.


    "Tsk tsk tsk... how awkward..." at the bottom of the steps, a tall man in a green trench coat led a group of people out of the car and walked up the stone steps. The leading man was like a natural leader. There was a peaceful yet depressed feeling of heaviness. He had exquisite facial features and skin. People could not help but wonder if he underwent plastic surgery.


    "The ranking changes every day. It seems that today, I, Reyla, can pick up a good bargain," the man in the green trench coat snapped his fingers lightly and all of a sudden, all around him were crowds of people. One by one, Level Three and Level Four students slowly came out of hiding. There were a total of twenty or thirty people, all wearing green badges, obviously the subordinates of the man in the green trench coat.


    "Reyla, you think you can win against me because I''m injured?" Fila''s bronze-colored upper body was naked as he stared straight at the man below.


    "Win against you?" the contemptuous man shook his head slightly. "It took me so much of effort to get so many people here. It''s not to win you, but... to kill you!!"


    Before his voice had faded away, all the green badge students around glowed green at the same time. With a bang, a huge green net was agglomerated. It instantly enclosed Fila and his men with the speed of light.


    "This is! Dimensional ion defense field!" Fila''s expression finally changed.


    "Yeah yeah, it''s that. I managed to acquire some of its wreckage sixty-five years ago, spent tons of money to deduce and perfect it. Please don''t disappoint me..." Reyla grinned, his eyes flashing with a fox-like radiance.


    A total of more than thirty people''s Willpower had been gathered together at the same time to form a huge torrent energy field, suppressing Fila''s group of four in it.


    "Break through!!" with a fiery roar, Fila no longer held back. His whole body''s Willpower resonated and a seemingly rhythmic pulsing black light spread out in circles of powerful force field, which counteracted the pressure from the surrounding energy field.


    His entire person was like an arrow released from the bowstring. As the explosion under his feet produced a huge driving force, he charged towards the front where Reyla was at.


    *****************


    "How spectacular..." looking far into the green reticle erected in the distance, Garen gently jumped down from the top of the hovering car. He twisted both his feet, directly counteracting the inertia force and landed lightly on a bridge above the road.


    In the direction of Library No.1, clouds of green smoke rose and a giant bowl-shaped green reticle was clearly visible. However, the strange thing was that there were no vehicles of the Administrative Bureau moving towards that side. Obviously, the guy who made his move later on also had a powerful background. Under such circumstances, the Administrative Bureau could only choose to turn a blind eye and simply stand neutral.


    "I say, no wonder those weapon bombs were sold to me so easily. Now it seems that someone had planned it. This guy is very calculating and even wanted to drag me into it. Luckily, I left in time," Garen put his hands into the pockets of his pants and took out a pair of sunglasses. The moment he put the sunglasses on, his entire face had begun to have a slight change. His body contours and features began to give off an obscure feeling. Although his body''s strong muscles were still in shape, he now looked completely different from the previous image.

 884 Sneak Attack 2

    "But so many lethal weapons actually could not kill him!" Garen frowned slightly. The strength of Level Five Half-Moon level had exceeded his expectations. It even could increase the force field to this extent. This kind of defense field, would it be comparable to the average Level Five Mech?


    The weapons he had used in one breath, although their power was diffused, should not have been able to be withstood by the human body.


    "It seems like that there is some kind of life-saving defense on him, similar to Goldfish."


    He was not afraid of the other party coming to his doorstep. Prior to the fact that Fila wanted to get rid of him, both sides had already bred enmity. As a Secret Technique practitioner himself, alertness was at its peak at all times. He was not afraid at all of others'' secret attacks because he was much stronger in this area as compared to other pilots.


    As for the involvement of relatives, such things might be left unattended in the Outer Courtyard. However, in the Inner Courtyard, especially the conflicts among powerhouses, no one would do such a stupid thing. Each powerhouse was of either Level Four with resonance degree, Level Five or even Level Five with resonance degree. These powerhouses, if pushed too far and lurked as assassins, no common guard on the outside would be able to withstand them. One had to know that in the outside world, any pilots with Level Three or Level Four Willpower were able to lead a very good life. The cost of hiring was extraordinarily expensive. It also depended on the hirer''s qualification and whether the pilots were willing.


    Once the rule was broken and powerhouses with Level Five Willpower or with resonance degree lurked as assassins or terrorists, this kind of lethality, just by looking at the previous Red-White Shining Mechs, one would know that with just a few people, they could destroy an entire big city. This was in fact, a result of a direct confrontation. If it were to happen in the dark... That was why the fight between powerhouses primarily targeted the opponent itself. Only the pilots who really had no scruples would use the means of dying together.


    Putting aside all these, Garen recalled the energy field that Fila had released just a moment ago. That split-second outburst of energy field force was definitely his true level, and he compared the gap with his own energy field.


    He held out his hand and strands of invisible, soft energy field gradually covered the back of his hands as if they were made of water, seemingly without any big defensive force.


    "The restorative power from the training method given by Red Moon is strong enough, but it does not have any defensive force at all. It should be part of a certain type of combination training method," he guessed. "There must be another part of the training method that specializes in defensive attacks."


    The more he practiced during these times, the more he had the feeling that this training method had been split up.


    Looking up again at the quivering green and black lights in the direction of the library, it was clear that the guys that showed up later had engaged Fila.


    "Should I go and have a look?" Garen rubbed his chin.


    The quivering became stronger and suddenly, the black swelled sharply, instantly occupying the upper hand. This made Garen''s eyes narrowed slightly.


    "Looks like he has used another hidden card... He''s certainly a baron who had lived for so many years. There are so many cards up his sleeve that can be used," Fila''s appearance seemed to be, if not less than half, one-third of his actual age.


    Garen carefully calculated. Although he did not remember specifically how long he had lived, he might be estimated at four or five hundred years old. Tallying up his years from a few worlds, it had unknowingly been this long.


    Fila''s data did not explicitly mention his age, but it could also be roughly estimated that he should be two hundred years old. His appearance looked young but he was actually an old man.


    The enhancing of life through the means of science and technology, plus a resonance degree, was enough to ensure a person who had authority and money would easily live past two hundred years old.


    Seeing that Fila had regained the upper hand, Garen gave up his thoughts of going back to the watch the battle and slowly walked down the bridge. A few guys from the Administrative Bureau had rushed in front of him, hands holding high-energy ray guns.


    "It''s this area, how come it has disappeared!!? It should be here according to the route of that car!"


    "It may be around! Find it!"


    One of them grabbed Garen''s clothes.


    "Hey! Did you see this person passing by here?!" he straightaway turned his wristwatch and pulled up an image of a familiar face while yelling at Garen.


    Garen looked at it. It was actually the image of his disguised face earlier on.


    He shook his head.


    "No, I only saw a dark shadow flashed past and disappeared¡­ Officer, is this person a wanted criminal?" he had a calm, fearless, but somewhat curious mien.


    Such a demeanor was common in the Inner Courtyard. Some geniuses with a bit of capability would always have this kind of expression.


    Seeing Garen responded calmly, that person also eased up and shook his head, obviously afraid of offending someone inexplicably.


    "Not a wanted criminal, just a person who had messed with someone he shouldn''t mess with... It''s misfortunate for this boy. Alright then, thanks a lot, buddy."


    He relaxed his arm and walked away. Together with the few other members, they quickly found a direction and ran towards it, disappearing on one end of the flyover quickly.


    Garen silently watched those people leave and walked off the bridge from the other end, slowly heading towards the Professor Van Doe''s villa.


    *******************


    In front of the library


    Fila bent over with both hands on his knees. His sweat, a mixture of blood and water, was dripping slowly from his hair to his chin and to the ground.


    His original youthful skin was now slowly wrinkling and slackening to that of an older person''s.


    "The expenditure of Willpower was too much..." he touched his facial skin. "It has been a long time since I last fought to this kind of degree..."


    All his men were unconscious and there was a whole pack of people lying around; all were the men brought by Reyla.


    Most of them were seriously injured. No one was killed. After all, even with their statuses, killing elite students in front of everyone would also cause a huge trouble. And so, the two had also restrained the scope of the affected area.


    Reyla was half-kneeling on the steps not far away. There were bloody holes three-fingers-wide upon his body and the edges of the wounds appeared charred.


    "Still, to have such great strength despite being injured... Indeed, it''s Fila," he braced himself to stand up. "No wonder I''ve been suppressed by you for so many years. It turns out that you¡­"


    A black line suddenly flashed and fiercely hit Reyla''s body. It flung him away with a thud and he flew into the center of a building behind him that stood opposite the library. He went through the glass and shot into the interior of someone else''s house.


    "Go!" Fila yelled. Several black shadows appeared by his side out of thin air, simultaneously carried the unconscious men on the shoulder while helping him rapidly to the hovering car not far away.


    The green reticle at the top of the head had been extinguished previously without them noticing.


    Fila was fighting back the feeling of fainting. After holding out until he was inside the hovering car and seeing the white-haired old man who was driving, he was finally relieved.


    "Return to the residence!"


    "Hurry! Reyla being thrown off by Master in one shot is only temporary!" the old man was serious-looking. He could see that at the position where Reyla had been thrown towards, a green translucent tentacle had suddenly popped up, like a marine monster. A huge green octopus with a diameter of four or five meters waved countless of tentacles and wormed through the holes in the building. In the center of the mouthpiece was Reyla, laid spreadeagle. His hair was flying while his face was covered in blood, and his lower body was completely integrated into the octopus.


    "Fila! I want you dead!!!"


    "Resonance skill? How terrifying!" the old man was shocked at Reyla''s appearance. He looked back at the unconscious Fila and continued to accelerate. "Master shouldn''t have lost to him initially. If it weren''t for that killer... That kind of professional skills, it wasn''t like a regular rookie, definitely a veteran of veterans. The Administrative Bureau actually had nothing on him."


    As for the high-level killings of Reyla and Fila, the Authority Bureau was powerless. Both sides had a vast network of forces behind their back, offsetting each other. What was compared in this kind of situation were their individual strengths.


    The old man kept on driving and frantically speeding up until he could not see Reyla''s octopus form. Only then did he slow down.


    "While in the state of activated resonance skill, the individual is lacking in speed. Without the help of a Mech, he wouldn''t dare to simply give a chase. It''s still okay, still okay," he let out a long breath.


    "Uncle... Have we got away?" Fila''s somewhat weak voice came from the back.


    "Managed to. We have to immediately counteract the other party''s subsequent arrangements. Reyla''s Deep-sea Organization will never let us leave so easily. He had arranged a large number of measures in this duel," the old man nodded.


    "How careless of me. I didn''t expect the killer from the beginning to actually have such a strong simulation actuarial power that he would dare to use so many weapons of mass destruction. And still, he did not kill any elite students!" Fila rubbed one side of his head, both eyes slowly leaking tears of blood. This was the result of excessive use of his Willpower and the aftereffect from the outburst of resonance skill.


    "If it weren''t for the first wave of attack that had exhausted at least one-third of your Willpower, you wouldn''t be beaten by Reyla to this state." The old man nodded.


    "What did leader say?" Fila closed his eyes, found a paper towel in the car and wiped away the bloody tears.


    "To have you go to the Outer Courtyard and stay away, or perform a simple task and go out to have a walk. Deep-sea has shed all pretense of cordiality and will not stop hunting you," the old man replied.


    "What''s the attitude of Black Rose?" Fila blew out a breath, picked up a bottle of water that had automatically appeared before him and drank a sip, gargled, and spat it out into the retractable trash can in front.


    "Similar as Thousand Year Tree, to maintain neutrality. We can''t change their stance since we''re a foreign organization. They have no reason to care about the killings," the old man replied.


    "A group of scum!" Fila fiercely punched into the seat''s real leather. "When leader finishes the plan, all of them will have to die sooner or later!!"


    "Master, aren''t you already aligned with Blue Narcissus?"


    "That group of vampires just thinks of money, money, money all day long! The details are not yet completely settled, but they are already thinking of money!" Fila said crossly. "It takes too much to reach the target and their appetite is too big."


    "Remember the Willpower of the killer from the sneak attack? This type of high IQ killer must be dealt with as soon as possible, otherwise, it will be very troublesome later on," The old man remarked in a low voice.


    "Remember, but although that person does not have a resonance degree, his combat awareness is very sophisticated."


    "What level of Willpower?"


    "It should be around Level Four or Five."


    "Should I inform the three Masters?" the old man took a look at Fila from the rearview mirror.


    "Since he is a killer, just hire their old rivals to start with it. Give a reward of one hundred million. Best to capture alive, halve it if he is dead. Put it up on the Exterminet." Fila gritted his teeth.


    "Exterminet? The top killers there only have Level Five Willpower, can it be done?"


    "It''s okay. The price floor of Exterminet is too high. We have to keep the money to negotiate with Blue Narcissus, that group of vampires. It is not enough to use that much. Exterminet is sufficient. Moreover, if they cannot do it alone, don''t they know to partner together?"


    "Alright then, I will put it up once I get back."

 885 Black Flood 1

    One punch out.


    Garen quietly felt the flow, changes, and the regularity of his own fist.


    Retracting his fist again, with a swish, he struck an Axe hand blow.


    He was studying a Mech combat technique, the special skill from the Crouched Eagle Talon course. The Willpower combat technique of the Eagle Stream learned in the Outer Courtyard could not be compared to the one from the Inner Courtyard. Because of that, Professor Van Doe specially taught him a type of powerful skill ¡ª¡ª Black Wind, which could allow the Crouched Eagle Talon''s Willpower to burst forth for a short while.


    This skill was the result of Van Doe''s decades of research, developing the powerful skill of Crouched Eagle Talon''s Willpower to the greatest extent. It could burst out the most powerful Willpower force through both arms in an instant. The principle was very complicated and one would need to feel and distinguish the finest vibration regularities and frequency of change to trigger an intricate chain reaction.


    Garen punched out once again and made an exploding air blast in the air, like a firecracker.


    "Mech combat techniques are divided into four steps: footwork, technique, killing move, and resonance skill. Footwork can influence the speed of evasion, et cetera. Technique is a conventional battle mode while resonating skill is a special battle trick. These are the strongest points of a pilot."


    "Unfortunately, it is impossible to have resonance skill without owning one''s own Mech. Without resonance skill, it is impossible to defeat Fila..."


    Garen knew that the feud between him and Fila was deep-seated. Even if he did not take any action, he himself would make his move. This was an issue of sooner or later.


    "The main problem now is to build my own personal Mech, so the energy machinist ability will be crucial... I can extract the materials by myself and even own a small-scale concentrated processing plant."


    Garen practiced the Mech combat technique while alternating between one hand and the other. The depth and precision of Black Wind were far beyond his imagination. Each move had to be accurate to a certain extent, or a careless, subtle error would lead to the emergence of chain errors and in the end, it would not be shaped.


    The strength and uniqueness of this Killing Move also gave him great inspiration. At this time, he also integrated it into his own concept of martial arts.


    "From the task I''ve agreed upon with Anda, I will be able to obtain Lamda Alloy. This type of material is used to make the main body of the Mech. The index is excellent in all aspects, and it can be considered within the upper-middle tier. After that, it''s the engine skill, kinetic frames system, and Willpower connection system. The main things are the material and engine. Everything else can be bought with money."


    Garen had worked it out. The most important thing in making his own Mech was the material and engine skill, to build up the main body of the shelf first before anything else.


    These precious materials were not allowed to be sold on the market. As a medium-high-end Mech material, a type of metal like Lamda was a scarce resource that could not be purchased at all. Everyone would keep it in their own hands.


    If you wanted to buy, it would be calculated in terms of millions of Universal Units.


    As he experimented with the subtle manipulation of Black Wind, Garen was also constantly pondering the next arrangements within his heart.


    Currently, he was aiming to upgrade his Living Secret Technique. But before the needed Red Peacock Stone arrived, he could only start with his personal Mech first. Regarding the area of energy machinist, he could only use his potential points for the time being. With a few points, he could only be considered as beginner level since he had not even reached Willpower Level One. The training method of the energy machinist appeared to be of high level. Without wanting to waste potential points, Garen intended to see whether the advancement of the Living Secret Technique could enhance this Willpower training method together.


    If it could be done together, it would save a lot more resources and effort.


    With the advancement of the Living Secret Technique, attaining the upgrade of the primary Crouched Eagle Talon, unnamed Willpower and the sub-Willpower of the energy machinist simultaneously and enhancing all three would be of exceptional value to him.


    As for the extra potential points, he intended to use all of them to improve his body constitution and the various professional knowledge systems needed in the other aspects of being an energy machinist.


    "Black Wind!!"


    Suddenly, Garen bellowed as his arms trembled, sending out a black, visible flow of air. It flew in all directions and the black gas vanished within a distance of less than a meter.


    However, Garen did not control it well and it almost met him.


    Quickly moving sideways, he gave way to the oncoming Black Wind, but his clothes inevitably came into contact with it.


    The black training clothes that he had originally put on were instantly destroyed into powdery grains that sprinkled on the ground. A metal button had also been turned into powder.


    "Terrific!" Garen narrowed his eyes. "What kind of energy is this? Even metal alloys are so easily destroyed."


    Although the skill he displayed was through the steps given by Teacher Van Doe, he had not figured out the specific principles himself. After all, this thing was only produced by professors of high-end intellect such as Van Doe after decades of research. Furthermore, the scientific and technological level of this world far exceeded those of other worlds that Garen had experienced. For this kind of annihilating phenomenon, Garen was not very clear about it.


    Seeing this scene, the initial him who had not been very invested into this skill was now suddenly full of interest in it.


    "That kind of energy seems to be very powerful. Try again!"


    Garen made an open stance and slowly started to concentrate on following Teacher Van Doe''s instructional steps. Bit by bit, he combined the vibrations, Willpower frequency and a certain amount of mental will guidance. Spirit, Willpower, blood flow and his own movements; these four parts began to gradually combine and condense into a form of invisible symbols and vortexes. These symbol vortexes began to further assemble and formed little pyramids.


    A total number of three invisible pyramids, arranged in a triangle, was suspended in front of Garen.


    "Black Wind!"


    Whoosh...


    A subtle black air flow appeared and the three pyramids collapsed at the same time, turning into a black wind, blowing towards the front sector in a fan-shaped cone.


    It was billowed in an area of more than a meter before the black wind slowly disappeared.


    Garen opened his mouth and suddenly, his vision went black and his body staggered, nearly falling to the ground. Luckily, he quickly reached out and grabbed the chair by his side.


    "What a great exhaustion..!" he was secretly shocked. "With my current body constitution and the internal Level Five Willpower, I was actually unable to cope with it after releasing the skill twice. My body was drained and the blood loss is terrible!"


    Only after a few minutes of rest did Garen ease back and recover his strength. He wanted to try to release Black Wind once more but unfortunately, without enough blood and spirit, there was no way to use this skill anymore.


    In one full day, all of his interest was captured by this skill taught by Professor Van Doe. He began to diligently study it, trying to find out what the mystery of this skill was.


    ***************


    The second floor of the villa


    Van Doe was holding a tobacco pipe and slowly smoking it. From time to time, smoke rings were puffed out through his nostrils. They were well-formed, one linked to another, and they gave off a slight satisfaction. Sitting alone in the study room, there was a semi-transparent circular screen on his desk. The image of another person was displayed on it. He was a white-haired old man dressed meticulously in a black suit.


    "Still studying the structure of Glass Fire?" Van Doe asked casually.


    "Isn''t it the same as you wanting to further your Annihilating Wind?" the old man in the suit answered lightly. "These three stages of Black Wind, Death Wind, and Annihilating Wind, your Crouched Eagle Talon should have reached the peak of the Two-Moon level, right?"


    Van Doe smiled.


    "It''s a pity... If Crouched Eagle Talon can break through to Level Six and you use it to promote Annihilating Wind, the power will surely rise to a point of terror. The compatibility of the two is really too high."


    "You still haven''t given up after so many years, otherwise you could have reached the seventh Non-falling level," the old man in the suit said calmly. "In those years you claimed to be invincible within two meters, the close combat of Annihilating Wind defeated the whole academy. Apart from the three big professors, no one was your opponent. But now, look at how many people who were not as good as you were, who are slowly reaching your level and even surpassing you."


    "...Do you still want to persuade me to give up?" Van Doe smoked the tobacco pipe deeply and the smoke at the end of the pipe lit up.


    "I have said it too many times. I''m too lazy to say anymore," the old man in the black suit sighed. "The materials you requested have arrived at the Inner Courtyard warehouse. You can pick them up at any time. In them are some Star Stones that I have toiled to find."


    "Thanks a lot," Van Doe smiled. "All these years, I''ve been relying on you to help me collect the Star Stones. Whatever trouble you may have, feel free to let me know. Don''t mind it. Although these old bones of mine are not as good as they used to be, they still have some capabilities."


    "If Annihilating Wind Van Doe had no use, then no one in the Inner Courtyard would dare to say that they are still useful," the old man in the black suit laughed. "Nothing much. Have you received the two kids I sent over?"


    "Mm-hmm, they''re the last bloodline of that family?"


    "Yeah... I was still a step too late... Similar to the child from the last rubble, everyone else died due to the fragments of Forbidden Mech incident... This time may really require you to go into action during critical moments. My sect''s degree of control in the radiation belt is not as strong as yours. There are a lot of variables in the radiation belt surrounding Blackboard Region recently."


    "Go ahead. Just know that my Black Flood Party will always stand behind you. Don''t worry about it. At the most, I will go to the Polar Region again to look for my seniors," Van Doe said while laughing.


    "Truly, it''s Inheriting big sects like you that are easy-going¡­ Never fighting alone¡­"


    The black suit old man sighed.


    The two old men suddenly could not help but laugh.


    "Well, this will be it. I have something to deal with here. As for those two children, I''ll be counting on you. They have good talent, which was why I chose them and sent them to you. After all, your conditions over there are much better than here on my side."


    "Got it."


    The screen was instantly turned off and the light also dissipated. It was the projection of a virtual screen.


    There was still a smile on Van Doe''s face when all of a sudden, it changed and the smile on his face instantly vanished. He seemed to have noticed something.


    "Just now... it seems that someone had released the force field of Black Wind? Could it be Galafil?" his Inherited Killing Move was never covered up because the difficulty of merely releasing it was far beyond the imaginations of ordinary pilots. The calculations and spirit, blood, Willpower, and movements involved required a very sophisticated coordination. Even if it were to be put out in the open for the pilots to cooperate and learn, there would be no way of releasing any bit of Black Wind force field, not to mention the substance of Black Wind.


    Van Doe frowned slightly.


    "Doesn''t she know that using Black Wind in the villa could easily destroy the building?"

 886 Black Flood 2

    "Connect me with Hill," he said plainly.


    "Dear master, Hill is here for you," the smart hub slowly formed a fuzzy black human form on the desk.


    "Are Galafil, Kaneer and Ernst all back?"


    "No, master. Galafil went to the training ground to teach the two new children. Ernst went out to have a drink with friends and might come back late. Only Kaneer is in the villa now," Hill replied honestly.


    "It''s him. Forget it, he has always been steady and has a sense of proportion," Van Doe nodded and said no more. As the basic assessment criteria for the official entry into his Inheriting Sect, the difficulty of Black Wind was very scary. Even a Level Three disciple would not use this skill so easily. Presumably, Kaneer had his own thoughts.


    As for the other new students in the villa, those students could only be viewed as trainees in the eyes of Van Doe, still under observation. Did they want to use Black Wind? Then they would have to wait for another eight to ten years to see if there would be any chance. At the outset, he himself, as a genius, had to spend three months before unleashing the first Black Wind, and after that, he had fainted on the spot.


    For the in-villa trainees, because both parties only had a transactional relationship, so long as they could release the force field of Black Wind, they would be regarded as his entry student. As for such people, even after decades of experience, he had only acquired three people, which were these three disciples. Moreover, they did not originate from Blackboard.


    As a large Inheriting sect that spanned across several regions, Black Flood Party had many powerhouses, as numerous as the clouds, even the other major regions would not dare to belittle them. In this area, it was a top ranked powerful sect that was second to none. As long as Black Wind could release a force field albeit, without the real substance, one would be regarded as a disciple of Black Flood Party.


    In Black Flood Party, one would be a real top-end genius if one could release the force field of Black Wind within a month. That person would be a top elite who would immediately be qualified to go through the Sect Master assessment. So long as there were no major moral problems, becoming a Sect Master or Divine Wind General was nothing more difficult than nailing a nail into the door panel [1], with nothing more to say.


    Soon, another wave of force was poured out. This wave of movement was very subtle and only top powerhouses such as Van Doe could feel it. This time, he laughed instead. The force field of Black Wind was much weaker this time. Indeed, Kaneer had his own sense of proportion.


    Tapping the table, he was planning to look at the monitor of Kaneer''s training room. Each disciple and student has their own independent training room. But after giving some thoughts to it, he decided to respect his disciple''s privacy.


    Looking at the color of the sky on the outside, the artificial sun showed a subtle yellow glow.


    "It''s time for afternoon tea. Hill, arrange for a visit to the tea restaurant."


    "Understood. The transfer has been arranged," Hill answered quickly.


    Van Doe got up and took down his black coat from the hanger and put it on. The door opened automatically. He strode out and walked to a small single room near the second-floor stairs. Inside the room was a cylindrical silver cylinder and inside the cylinder, there were dense electrographic blue-ray lines. In the center of it was a pattern similar to a blue eye, slowly turning around.


    Van Doe went to the cylinder.


    Swish!


    A burst of blue current flashed.


    Whoop-whoop! Whoop-whoop!


    Suddenly, a sharp siren rang in the villa.


    "What''s the matter!?" Van Doe was still not sent away. His face sank. "Hill!" He felt the force field of Black Wind again.


    "It was Black Wind that had destroyed the superconducting circuit environment in the wall!" Hill quickly emerged beside him.


    "Kaneer, this boy..." Van Doe frowned and strode out of the transfer room.


    Before he had stepped down the stairs, he saw Kaneer coming upstairs with a strange look on his face.


    "Teacher..." the blond man with a seemingly calm appearance opened his mouth and saw Van Doe with his dark face.


    "How many times have I told you, pay attention to the area when using Black Wind, take note of the range, you..."


    Whoosh!


    Suddenly it was a flash of Black Wind force field again.


    Van Doe''s face froze, Kaneer''s face expression was also instantly still.


    The two men blinked and looked at each other.


    "Just now, was it you who used Black Wind?" Van Doe softened and toned down his voice and asked carefully.


    "Wasn''t it Teacher using it?" Kaneer''s expression was interesting. Perplexed, curious and surprised; this handsome young man had a completely puzzled expression.


    "Then... are the two of them back?" Van Doe frowned, thought for a moment, and continued to wonder.


    "No, I just went to both of their training rooms. Nobody was there, so I came up to see if it was Teacher..." he could not continue with his words. He eyes met with Van Doe''s and instantly, they made from each other''s gaze a guess that was closest to the truth.


    "Hill!!!" Van Doe shouted.


    "Here!!!"


    Hill was frightened and quickly appeared beside the two.


    "Which training room was being occupied just now, take me there! Hurry!" Van Doe could not care about anything else at the moment and commanded hurriedly,


    "Yes¡­ Yes!!!" Hill was scared and hurriedly floated downwards.


    The two, master and disciple, quickly followed behind. The speed of the three almost left behind afterimages.


    In a few blinks, they came to the door of a training room.


    "The door is locked!" Kaneer pushed the door but failed to open it.


    Bang!


    Van Doe kicked the door.


    The door immediately opened wide. Hill stood by the side and stared blankly at the two who rushed inside and shouted.


    "No one move! Raise your hands!!"


    Van Doe rushed in and yelled. At first sight, he saw a strange figure standing in the middle of the training room, staring blankly at the two people who had just rushed in.


    He instantaneously shifted his vision and it fell on the slowly dissipating subtle force field on the man''s hands.


    "That is... Black Wind force field!!!"


    "Damn!!"


    The expression of the two people was a wonderful one. Kaneer, who had always been steady, could not be calm and mouthed off a profanity.


    "The force field... Just now! ...was released by you!??" the sound of Van Doe was quivering. He felt that human language could no longer express his excitement at this time.


    Garen stared blankly at the two, his head nodded slightly up and down.


    Thump!!


    Two big hands smacked onto his shoulders. Then, he saw his always boring-looking teacher looked at him affectionately.


    "Damn...!"


    Thousands of words, all condensed in this one swear word.


    *********************


    After an hour of questioning...


    Van Doe and Kaneer, master and disciple, both brought Garen to the encrypted meeting room, sealed off all the possibility of sound leakage, and finally, completely figured out the reasons for the incident.


    It turned out that Garen was really just trying to release Black Wind. He did not expect it to be more powerful than he had imagined, so he began to study the specific response time and see the minimum threshold of how much time he would need before being able to use Black Wind again.


    Who knew that the subsequent attempts were unsuccessful and he could only release the basic, weak force field. He had not been very concerned about this kind of vague force field and thought that the power was weak. But he did not expect this wave of force field to contact the wall unknowingly, eroding a large hole and even damaging the various blue-light-emitting circuit lines inside.


    After that, it was the process in which Van Doe the two were stunned.


    After asking everything, he looked at Nonosiva, who was sitting on his seat with a rule-abiding face. This boy, even the fluff above his mouth had not even grown thick yet. There was a mixed feeling within Van Doe and Kaneer.


    The throats of the two people bobbed, but no words came out of it.


    After a bit of pondering, Van Doe finally opened up with some difficulty.


    "Are you sure you have never been exposed to the Black Wind Killing Move before?"


    "Yes, teacher," Garen nodded. "You could easily check it out from my home background."


    "Yeah... Yeah..." Van Doe looked at this calm-looking young man, recalling the pain and struggle he had when he was training Black Wind, even often getting headaches at night and being unable to fall asleep due to the overuse of his brain. Looking at this kid again, his face relaxed, there was nothing much to say about releasing once, but releasing a second time! And in the course of a day, he even attempted the third time, the fourth time!! The entanglement of Van Doe''s heart was like thousands of llamas dashing past [2].


    Looked at his disciple, Kaneer, by the side, this guy was rubbing his temples intensely, his eyes shut with a painful expression.


    "Are¡­you still able to release Black Wind now?" Van Doe asked softly.


    "I''m afraid I can''t do it. This move is too much for my body," Garen shook his head.


    "We don''t need substance, as long as there is a little force field. The exhaustion for that is very small," Van Doe responded cautiously.


    "No problem with that."


    Garen stood up and his fingers began to twist and overlap to make rapid, accurate and complex gestures. At the same time, his Willpower was released in a filigree winding form. Synchronizing with his blood and spirit, they began to gather together. The four combined to form a kind of strange rune.


    One by one, the symbolic runes were produced continuously. These runes were all optimized combinations of modeling after multiple calculations, one linked to the next. As long as one was not shaped well, it would affect the construction of the next one. Then, the effort would be wasted.


    Over time, the first pyramid appeared.


    A few minutes later, the second pyramid also appeared, followed by the third.


    The moment the third pyramid was about to be completed, all three shattered. Traces of transparent Black Wind force field scattered away.


    Van Doe opened his hand and a shapeless Willpower enveloped this wave of Black Wind force field. He gently pinched it, wiping it out.


    He gazed at Garen with a complex feeling.


    "Who would have expected... that I would still be able to meet such a talented student in my remaining years¡­"


    "Hahhh..." Kaneer, on one side, could not help but sigh deeply. Compared with this junior brother, his qualifications were no different from dog''s poop. It took him many years before releasing the force field successfully. The gap between the two was greater than the hardness difference between a stone and tofu.


    At this time, Garen could almost guess the teacher''s focus through his series of expressions. The difficulty of Black Wind was indeed very high. He had expected it to probably cause some commotions. However, he did not expect it to result in such a huge aftermath.


    "Are... you willing to formally join my Black Flood Party?" Van Doe settled down, and officially, solemnly asked Garen.


    "Black Flood Party?" it was the first time Garen had heard the name of this faction.


    "This world seems to be divided into and ruled by regions, though in effect, there is also the division according to groups of factions by a collection of force," Van Doe explained in detail. "Inheriting Sect. This is a strong force that is truly terrifying. In any Inheriting Sect, the worst pilot is also of Level Six. This is because to be able to be an Inheriter, only Level Six pilots have the right to be called Inheriting Level.


    "Is Black Smoke Party an Inheriting Sect?"


    "Yes, it is the second largest super-party in Blackboard Region and Polar Region. Our powerhouses in the Black Smoke Party are as numerous as the clouds. There exist powerhouse of Level Six and even above. Sect Master was the top stratum of the seventh Non-falling level many years ago, owning a corresponding Black Star Mech. Moreover, he is not yet our strongest Inheriting pilot. You will know these things later on. You just have to be clear that the power of our sect is second to none in Blackboard Region and Polar Region. Basically, nobody dares to disrespect us," Van Doe said with a slight pride.


    "Aside from Black Smoke Party, are there other factions?" Garen asked.


    "Yes, but these two regions are our main sites," Van Doe waved his hand. "The sects mostly exist in the form of academies. Blackboard Academy in Blackboard Region is, in fact, a mechanism for us and the Blackboard sect to select top disciples. After screening them in the Outer Courtyard, they are brought to the Inner Courtyard. After the brutal competition in Inner Courtyard, the strongest group can become the successors of the Inheriting level once they enter Level Six. Of course, geniuses like you are an exception."


    TL Notes:


    [1] A Chinese idiom for once something has been decided, it becomes a fact and could not be changed.


    [2] To express utter shock and amazement.

 887 Depart 1

    "Prodigy?" Garen frowned. "You might have been mistaken, Teacher, my talents might not be that great..."


    "As long as you''re not utterly hopeless, you can be built up with resources. For our Black Flood Party, the hardest part is that resonance skill killing moves are too difficult. Many of those so-called talented prodigies can''t manage a single one, anybody who can finish learning Black Wind within a year would already be considered highly worth cultivating. I know what your talent is like, it''s not that great, but we can still build you up with resources," said Van Doe nonchalantly, waving his large hand.


    As expected of a rich school, they had the funds for anything.


    Garen''s heart calmed down slightly.


    "I have a question, Teacher."


    "Speak."


    Garen sorted out his thoughts.


    "It''s about matching training method Willpower with Mechs. One type of Willpower can only be matched with one Mech, so does that mean the other sub-types of Willpower would be useless? They can''t reach Inherited Level?"


    "Exactly, you can only achieve resonance with one Mech. A Mech can also only match one type of Willpower, that''s something that cannot be helped. If you want to change your Willpower training method, you must then also change the makeup of your Mech, so that you can adjust your resonance degrees," said Van Doe, nodding. "Our Black Flood Party''s strongest Black Flood''s Wind Training Method is just like that, it can only fit our school''s Black Flood Style Mech."


    Only then did Kaneer recover, staring at Garen with a complicated gaze.


    "Back then, Teacher invented the Crouched Eagle Talon just so he could find a training method that suited the Black Flood''s Wind Killing Move better."


    "Teacher was the one who invented the Crouched Eagle Talon?!" This time, Garen was truly shocked. Just how old was this geezer... They say the Crouched Eagle Talon showed up more than two hundred years ago, and back then, the prodigy in the Crouched Eagle Talon''s quantum computer, those simulated fighting techniques...


    Perhaps he was the same age as Garen...


    Garen glanced at the old man secretly, and did find some things strange, just like he thought. The old man''s skin was slightly stiff. Somehow, he could not see a heartbeat in the old man''s chest, and even his breathing seemed overly rhythmic.


    "Alright, kiddo, first I''ll tell you the general situation right now. Since you''ve joined our Black Flood Party, you can more or less ignore most of the powerhouses in the Blackboard and Polar Regions. Publicly, at least, you overpower them, but there are still some people who you can''t cross for now."


    Van Doe''s smile grew deeper.


    With a whoosh and a tap of his finger, a large map appeared on the table between the three of them. The map was made out of countless blue lines, forming a large picture of the four regions, the Blackboard Region, Polar Region, Maria Region, and Royal Region.


    The mountains and rivers on the map were very clearly pictured, they looked very realistic and detailed. If it were not for the fact that they were all blue, it would be no different from actually looking down at a three-dimensional sandbox from the sky.


    Van Doe pointed at the center of the map.


    "This is the Blackboard Region, where we are."


    With a buzz, one part of the map lit up in red. The word ''Blackboard'' appeared on it.


    "This one, slightly further away, is the Polar Region."


    He pointed again.


    A part that was just slightly connected to the Blackboard Region stretched out, and lit up another oval-shaped area. All of it was red.


    "The Blackboard Region had their Three Marshalls and One Star. That means the three Great Professors, those immortal geezers controlling the whole of Blackboard, and the Black Star. You can''t cross these people. Pay attention now. Especially that punk, Black Star Diofie, he''s pretty strong, and really cruel too. He jokes with you on the surface, but secretly he''ll stab you faster than anyone else."


    Garen nodded, showing that he understood.


    "In the Blackboard Region, these are the people you shouldn''t cross, the others would give me face to some extent," Van Doe said.


    "And then, the Polar Region." His finger slid across the map, moving to the Polar Region.


    "This is where our Black Flood Party is based, you need to pay attention to two things. First, the Twelve Divine Wind Generals. Divine Wind General is the title given to the strongest fighters in the Black Flood Party, some of them are even stronger than the Party Leader. Don''t cross them, there are factions inside the Black Flood Party as well. You gotta understand, as long as there are people, there will be cliques. That''s especially true once there are more people, there will also be larger divisions among humans, perhaps in principles, perhaps in personalities, or maybe even in interests or hobbies. The social distances as a result of that will naturally differ."


    "And then, when there''s the occasional conflict, they would naturally split into different factions," Garen continued from where Van Doe left off, showing that he understood.


    "As long as you understand." Van Doe nodded in satisfaction. "Of course, there are factions among the Twelve Divine Wind Generals who favor us as well, one of them being my teacher Osiris."


    "Understood."


    Garen nodded. The Blackboard Region''s Three Marshals and One Star, the Polar Region''s Twelve Divine Wind Generals, they all seemed to be forbidden existences. Their own power was enough to suppress most problems and conflicts. That was what Teacher Van Doe was trying to tell him.


    "And then there''s the Maria Region, they have the Zero Pistol Sue-Anna. If you meet them, just run. They have a seven-man Anthem Brigade, every single one of them is crazy, they''re famous for being completely unreasonable. Don''t provoke them unless you''re Inherited Level. In the Royal Region, be aware of the party called Spiral Tower, no one else matters. The people in this party are all religious fanatics, they''ll self-detonate anytime if they can''t beat you. Compared to those White Light people, I think the Spiral Tower are more like terrorists. The others are all just normal school or party members, nothing much to be worried about, you should be fine seeing how experienced you are."


    Garen memorized them one by one, Blackboard Regions Three Marshals and One Star, Polar Region''s Twelve Divine Wind Generals, Maria Region''s Zero-Pistol Sue-Anna, and the Royal Region''s Spiral Tower.


    These were all things he had to be wary of.


    Van Doe was in a very good mood, so he took out his pipe, lit it, and started to smoke.


    "Of course, you don''t have to be too careful either. It''s rare for these people and factions to make a move once in a few years, because once you reach a certain level, like Black Star Diofie, you''ll need to search everywhere for materials and techniques that suit you. You would be constantly consuming them to evolve your own Mech. After all, Level Six Inherited Level is when you start your foundations. At that level, their schedules are vastly longer than regular people''s. Although it seems like there''s a lot of them, it''s very common for them to only communicate without showing up for a dozen years or so, unless something extremely serious happens."


    Garen nodded in understanding.


    Beside him, Kaneer added,


    "Anyway, even after so many years of being Teacher''s student, I''ve still only encountered one of Maria''s Anthem Brigade members in the past decade or so, and even then, we just exchanged a glance from a long distance away before separating. The more active ones in the regions are the Outer Courtyard''s elite students and a few people from the Inner Courtyard. The ones who are active in the radiation belt tend to be the true Inner Courtyard elites from the different regions, they''re something like the Black-Clothed Generals. People like us, higher-ups from the Inner Courtyard, only tend to stand guard at the places that are more strategic in battle."


    "In other words, people at your level, Senior Brother, tend to be generals standing guard at important fortresses?" That was what Garen understood of it.


    "Yeah, this level is mostly at Level Five New-Moon, that''s the lowest." Kaneer nodded. Suddenly, he received a message on his watch, and lowered his head to glance at it, frowning. "There''s an assassination order for you on the Exterminet? Nono, did you offend someone important?"


    "Exterminet?"


    "Yep, it''s an assassination website, I do some part-time work for spare change there too." Kanner nodded. "We don''t know who set it up, but the bounty is ten million Universal Units, that''s quite a sum."


    Beside them, Van Doe looked displeased.


    "Exterminet?" he began to say something, but then he instantly thought of something, and calmed down. "Right now, we''re the ones who should not reveal Nono''s background, before he has his own Mech, it''s far too dangerous."


    "Teacher, are you saying that some people might try to make a move?" Kaneer frowned deeply as well, his expression solemn. Evidently, some people are not so easy to deal with, or at least they would be a lot more troublesome than the ten-million-unit bounty on the Exterminet.


    "It''s very likely, maybe they don''t want our party to get stronger. Even if they turn hostile, as long as no one knows, they still have nothing to fear." Van Doe stood up and started walking around the room, pacing back and forth.


    After a few minutes, he suddenly stopped.


    "We cannot reveal Nono''s talent, just give him the status of a normal disciple. However..." He flipped his palm, and a translucent cube that looked like plastic appeared in his palm.


    "Take this."


    He stuffed the translucent cube at Garen.


    "This is..."


    Garen accepted the cube. It looked just like a little palm-sized brick, and was slightly heavy, but it was not hard either. Instead, it was extremely soft, if he pinched it slightly, his finger would sink inside.


    "Twinkling Cube," said Van Doe solemnly. "I left an Inherited Level Willpower blade in there, it''s equivalent to Level Six without resonance, and you can use it three times. Against an opponent who isn''t Inherited Level, you can use this thing to turn the tables on them, it''s slightly weaker than a Level Five Two-Moons Level using all their power to activate a resonance skill. It''s enough to keep you safe."


    Garen nodded heavily. This thing was evidently very precious, or else Van Doe would not have considered for some time before taking it out. He could tell just by looking at his Senior Brother Kaneer''s expression of envy.


    "Thank you, Teacher."


    "If it weren''t for the fact that this thing can only keep Willpower that strong... Sigh..." Van Doe let out a long breath. "Alright, now let''s test your condition."


    "How are you going to test?"


    Before Garen even finished speaking, there was a blur in front of his eyes, and he was patted lightly on both his shoulders and his back, three times in all. With his reflex speed, he still could not keep up, and by the time he reacted, he had been hit three times.


    He saw Van Doe reappear in front of him.


    It was a very strange feeling. He could clearly feel that Teacher Van Doe had patted him three times, but no matter what he just could not pinpoint exactly when those three hits landed. It felt as though they were all completed at the same time, but when he thought about it carefully, it felt as though Van Doe just walked over, not too quickly or slowly, and just patted him three times casually.

 888 Depart 2

    "It''s a deceptive effect caused by Willpower, because the difference in Willpower is too great, so there seems to be a time difference." Van Doe smiled. "My Willpower is too much higher than yours, overwhelming yours, and creating a deceptive effect, such that your reaction speed and awareness of time are made several dozen times slower than reality. In other words, you became slow, and I became fast."


    "There''s an effect like that!?" Garen''s heart felt slightly cold, the difference in Willpower could somehow restrict his sense of the passing of time. That way, no matter how powerful his reflexes were, when they were slowed down to such an extent, he would still be several times slower than he should be!


    "This is the effect of more than a complete level''s worth of difference in Willpower. Of course, the difference in the quality of that Willpower influences it as well, so at a high level, the difference in Willpower can allow peak-level pilots to take on a hundred people at once. This is the principle behind that. To normal people without Willpower, they might even be slowed down several hundred times. But of course, this suppression cannot last long, it''s a universal skill from among the explosive resonance skills. You can only use it after you reach Inherited Level, and it''s very impressive if you can maintain it for half a minute," explained Van Doe.


    "Half a minute... It doesn''t have to be that long, just a second of that suppression can make up for almost all other disadvantages... No wonder..." Garen ran through all the heroic legends about peak-level pilots in his heart. Most of them could turn the tables on others who were stronger. At the most critical moment, in the middle of raging battlefields, they won by taking off the enemy general''s head. With such an explosive resonance technique, even a pig can become a super pig...


    "I hear that you plan to go into the radiation belt with some others to look for Mech materials?" Van Doe asked again. The old man did have impressive intelligence channels.


    Garen secretly thought that he never mentioned that to anyone, but the old man still found out anyway.


    "Yes. Lamda Alloy."


    "Lamda Alloy is not very good. At your current level, it would be better for you to use Lunar Alloy. It''s slightly pricier, but it can grow, so it would be decent for the main body of the Mech before you reach Inherited Level. If you use Lamda Alloy, you''ll need to upgrade again by Half-Moon Level, so it would be more troublesome," said Van Doe thoughtfully. "I have some Lunar Alloy here, but it''s not enough. I''ll give you more later. It''s good for you to go to the radiation belt too, we won''t openly declare your identity for now, so you can still wander around freely. Once you go public, you might not encounter some smaller problems, but once you do meet a problem, that would be a life-or-death one."


    "I understand, the stronger I become, the stronger my enemies will be as well," Garen nodded.


    "As long as you understand. Other than Lamda Alloy, the place that you''re going has one more thing, you can go get it as well." Van Doe flipped a small piece of dark red metal out of his pocket.


    "Blood Silver. At your level, it''s perfect for the heat-insulating shell outside the engine. With this, you can use a lot of engine skills later.


    "But you must remember that this thing expires very quickly, and there''s no real way to preserve it for a long time. If you don''t bring it back within two months and work with it to fix its shape, you''ll just have to go get it again."


    "Around where should I get it?" Garen carefully observed the Blood Silver''s external characteristics.


    "There''s a base there, report my name once you get there. One of our Black Flood Party''s pilots stationed there will immediately pass it to you. This thing is really precious, remember not to show it to anyone. That bit is also one of the few precious things I have left..." Van Doe instructed him carefully. "Powerful engine techniques and the potential to grow in the future are all related to the materials making up the Mech, Blood Silver is a treasure that you won''t stop benefiting from, so you must remember to use it before its expiry date once you get it. Otherwise, it''ll be a huge waste!"


    "Understood."


    Garen nodded solemnly.


    *******************


    The public radiation zone, between the Polar Region and the Blackboard Region.


    It was twilight, the sun slowly setting in the red sky. Most of it was obscured by thick black clouds, and only a small portion of the light landed on the ground beneath.


    The huge black mountains rose from the earth, rising and falling, forming many sharp peaks that were sparsely decorated with greenery.


    The mountain peaks stood on the black earth, like so many black trees growing on the ground. Some even had branches, with pale yellow lights twinkling on them.


    Several windows of different sizes had somehow opened up on these mountain ''branches'', dim yellow lamplight shining out from within.


    The taller peaks were several hundred meters tall, with the occasional red or yellow lights. Others were only several dozen meters tall, with defense cannons stationed at the top.


    On the ground between the mountains, there were many scattered black or grey buildings, looking like wooden blocks that were just simply tossed there. They were of different sizes, and had no order to them at all. Around the buildings, there were patches of green farmland, with thick lush greenery growing within. The breeze constantly blew ripples into the emerald plants.


    On a cliff not too far away from this housing area, four tall black humanoid Mechs were slowly landing, standing lightly on the thick and moist black soil on the cliff.


    One of the Mech moved its large foot casually, and squashed a black two-tailed scorpion.


    The four Mechs were all completely inconspicuous, their bodies painted to look old and damaged. There were even some broken parts here and there, revealing the old grey circuits inside.


    Complete Mechs were very rare in the radiation era, and here were four of them. Although they were all extremely damaged, it was still more than most factions could afford. In a normal village of a hundred or so residents, just one of these would be treated as something of a guardian god.


    Brr...


    In the sky, three giant mutated black Flying Batoids flew past slowly, casting their humongous shadows. These gigantic creatures looked like electric eels but with two thick fan-shaped wings of flesh that flapped up and down as they flew ahead, dragging their long tails behind them.


    Three of the Mechs underneath raised their heads and looked at them, their red eyes twinkling with scanner light.


    "Mutated Giant Batoids, they look like kites from a distance. The scenery is pretty good here," said a low man''s voice from one of the Mechs.


    "It''s a kite that can move by itself. That thing is more than ten meters long, and it was born with an anti-gravity organ. When it gets violent, it''s practically inhuman!" another Mech joked.


    "It never was human to begin with..." another Mech continued. Inside, Garen took out a water bottle and chugged from it hard.


    "It''s so cold... Anda, where do we go now? According to the map, this should be Flying Batoid City. We still need to pass three more locations before we can reach our destination," a woman''s deep voice asked from the last Mech.


    This group of people was Anda and Garen''s team, who had come out to get the Lamda Alloy. Other than material collection, this quest team also wanted to buy facial Lamda Alloy for themselves, the price difference inside and outside the Region was ridiculously large.


    Anda invited two people along, one man and one woman. Together with Garen, they were four in total, forming a temporary team for the quest. After finishing the procedure to leave, they flew non-stop to their destination, but because the distance was too great, and the energy winds were too strong, the burden on the Mechs and the energy furnace was too much. So according to plan, the four of them landed at the first supply point, with the intention of replenishing their energy resources here.


    "Aves, please scan the area to see if there are any surveillance points around here. Be aware of our surroundings," said Anda, as he began to delegate jobs.


    "No problem."


    "Linda, I''ll leave underground surveilance to you."


    "Leave it to me."


    "Garen, you and I are the strongest, so we''ll stay in the middle and watch the sky, while also supporting Aves. That''s okay, right?"


    "Sure."


    Since they went out on the excursion, they all used pseudonyms, and Garen went back to the name he was used to using for the past few worlds.


    "They''re perfectly fine Blackboard Standard Mechs, but we camouflaged them to look this beat up. The disguise itself took me five thousand units! If we don''t earn back from this, I''ll have lost big!" Aves complained as he began to fly, advancing slowly in one direction.


    Linda stayed in place, taking a long and thin black metal needle from behind her waist. She pulled with both hands, and it instantly extended to a full five meters, which she stuck hard into the ground.


    Psst! The thin needle was embedded into the ground, and instantly, a wave of small vibrations spread from it. They scattered from the cliff, following the surface of the earth. Wherever there was soil or rocks, many tiny poisonous bugs were forced out of the ground, scampering everywhere like a particularly nauseating swarm.


    Garen crossed his arms over his chest, leaning on a stalagmite as he quietly watched the others prepare to set up camp.


    The other two people who had come out with Anda this time were Linda and Aves. One was a young woman with long brown hair, ordinary features, and a normal figure. There was nothing exceptional about her, be it in the way she did things or her appearance. Everything was by the books, and very steady. Her emitted Willpower force field was at Level Four, give or take, but he did not know if she had any resonance degrees.


    And the other one, Aves, seemed like a bit of a rash man. He looked to be about twenty-four or five, and always liked dressing up and showing off. He used cologne, and seemed to make a big deal of his appearance. At first glance, he looked like a rich young master who could not handle hard work, but along the way, surprisingly, he did not act spoiled at all, and was instead very experienced in the way he handled things. He was particularly good at surveillance.


    Along the way, the four of them had prepared a large amount of food and water. Within six days, they arrived at the first supply point, Flying Batoid City.


    "This is the largest radiation city in the public radiation zone near Blackboard?" Garen looked at the rather small town beneath him. It did not have a wall, and even had farmlands instead. The tree-shaped mountains around it were all armed with defensive cannons to some extent, so it looked like it had good security, at least.


    "To the radiation people living in the radiation belt, that''s how it is," replied Anda nonchalantly, as he fiddled with an unknown piece of equipment.


    "Flying Batoid City is most famous for having a guardian-like radiation mutated creature act as their soldiers. It''s those Flying Batoids in the sky, as long as you don''t attack them, they won''t attack humans themselves. This place has clean Level One water, Level One food and meat, and good living conditions, with stable security. Only the elite radiation people in the radiation belt have the right to live here."


    "The last time I came here with another team, the food here was very cheap. Just a bit of clean water without radiation is considered Level One Water here, one liter is enough to buy a pretty girl. Although she was a radiation person, but that body and that face... tsk tsk... I got a great feel of that, alright." Aves had flown back without them noticing.


    "What''s the point of touching through a hazmat suit?" said Anda exasperatedly, glancing at him.


    "Actually, I nearly wanted to bring her back. I mean, that girl only had one tiny radiation mark the size of a fingernail on her butt, everything else was just like a normal person!" argued Aves. "I bet that even the prettiest leader of the luxury district in the city would only be at that level!"


    "You can only enjoy the life of a peak-level noble here in the radiation belt," said Anda calmly.


    "Everyone''s like that the first time they come out here, right?" Aves clicked his tongue.


    Garen listened to them bicker, but his gaze had already floated into the unknown distance.


    An extremely weak signal was barely touching his Willpower. That was the communication signal from Red Moon, but because of the great distance, it was unnaturally weak.


    Garen calmed his heart down, and carefully decoded the message in the signal. It was a very common Rice Code, a message coded through a simple combination of rhythms.


    He began to translate and read it carefully.

 889 Quiet 1

    "We... in danger... deal... second half of training method... come quick...." Red Moon''s message was not very long, but its meaning was very simple and precise.


    "They" evidently meant Clint, and his younger brother Lon. The three of them were in danger, which clearly meant that they had come across some trouble in the radiation belt.


    Garen rubbed his chin as he thought about it. He allowed the Mech''s quantum computer to calculate the distance that the signal was coming from.


    "If he came to the radiation belt without a hazmat suit, then he''d really be in trouble. Baylon, that kid..." He was worried that if Baylon really was infected by the radiation, and became a radiation person, no matter how small a radiation mark he had, he would still be forever ostracized from all the Regions.


    Radiation disease was incurable, that was a fact acknowledged by all the regions, without exception.


    Soon, the computer had calculated the distance.


    ''The signal came from a distance of: 235 kilometers, 23 degrees to the North-West.''


    ''Warning, warning, insufficient reserves in energy furnace, the battery must be changed now. Power remaining 4%.''


    "I''ll go charge my battery first, otherwise I won''t be able to move after several kilometers."


    Garen heaved a long breath, and quickly put on a sealed hazmat suit. Actually, even if he did not suit up, no radiation would be able to infect him, because as a Peacock larva, he was already the largest source of radiation. Nobody could block the cold radiation he emitted, it could even affect their hearts. But he still had to be aware of his identity on the surface.


    Inside the Mech, he held a short staff in his hand. It was the Staff of Ultimate Yin. Taking it with him, Garen was slowly sent out of the cockpit, forming a separate cabin on his own. And then the outer door to the Mech opened slowly.


    Pfft!


    There was a spray of white gas that emanated everywhere.


    Wearing a hazmat suit, Garen slowly jumped forward, and landed lightly on the soil beside the cliff.


    The other three people also walked out of their respective Mechs in their suits. They were all wrapped up in thick black clothes as though it was winter, but unlike winter clothing, they also had to wear a transparent glass helmet over their heads. The helmet was completely transparent, so unless they looked at it closely, no one would notice that they were wearing something like that. It was extremely well-hidden.


    Other than that, not a single patch of their skin was exposed. It was all covered tightly, with black gloves on their hands. They even had a Blackboard pattern on the back of the hands, it looked like an eye.


    Anda walked at the very front, looking at the Flying Batoid City beneath them.


    "I''ve contacted the City Master already, someone needs to stand watch over the base when we''re charging batteries. The radiation people will send someone here specifically for this, we just need to pay with two bottles of Level One water. Everyone else can go explore and play around. Who''s willing to stay behind?"


    "I''ll do it." Aves raised his hand. "I can only look and not play anyway, if I get all riled up, I''ll still have to finish it off myself. What a pain. I''m not going."


    "Fine."


    The other three, Anda, Linda, and Garen, all climbed down the right side of the cliff. There was a flight of ninety-degree stairs there, covered with moss. Evidently, they were used often.


    The three of them walked down the stairs for several minutes, and soon enough they came across a stone door to a guard station. There was a black person carrying a gun on his back, standing guard there.


    "It''s the three sires!" The black man snapped a salute at the three of them. Their salute was really strange their right hand pressed against their forehead at a ninety-degree angle. Their accent was just a little flatter than the people inside the regions, their tongue did not curl at all.


    Anda nodded, leading Linda and Garen inside.


    As they continued down the mountain path, they saw more and more man-made buildings, with railing that was painted blue. Occasionally they would come across radiation people, all of them carrying large baskets on their backs, but who knew what they had come out here to pick.


    Garen peeked into one of their baskets, and found that it was full of plant roots and green grass, and there was the occasionally useful herb as well.


    All the radioactive people who saw them along the way, whether they were dressed simply or luxuriously, all scattered to the sides in fearful respect, allowing the three of them to pass.


    A woman carrying a child even clapped her hand to her child''s mouth tightly. No matter how hard the one-year-old child cried, she refused to let go, but some sound still escaped. Anda heard it, and glanced over with a frown.


    With a bang, the woman actually knocked out her own child mercilessly, and fell to her knees, dragging the child with her, her head lowered. She dared not say a single thing, and just kept kowtowing on the ground.


    "These are radiation people." Anda''s tone was mild, but it had a hint of contempt. "Forget Inner Courtyard elites like us, they can''t even provoke the regular Outer Courtyard students."


    "Over here, our position is even scarier than the emperor," Linda said with a sigh. It clearly was not her first time here either.


    "What about the ruler here?" Garen asked.


    "Just a fatty who sits around waiting to die, he can''t even get up, he''s over four hundred pounds in weight," Anda said contemptuously. "According to the rules, the rulers here must also bow and show their respect to us when they meet us, but these parasites are at the top, so of course they don''t want to do that in front of so many people. That''s why they find reasons to avoid meeting us, and get their subordinates to greet us instead. It''s a very common thing here, as long as they treat people like us well, they don''t have anything to worry about. Over here, people are worth the least, the most valuable things here are clean food and water, nothing else can match up to these two."


    The three of them walked into the farmlands of the Flying Batoid City beneath them. The green farms surrounded the whole city, but rather than the regular paddy or wheat, they were filled with a strange plant. It had a green stem like paddy, but on top it was a fat, squirming green maggot. The maggot was curled up, tightly hugging the tip of the plant, swaying and swinging in the breeze.


    Soon enough, a radiation man with a strong body greeted them up front, getting on his knees and bowing in front of them in the middle of the path between the crops.


    "Representing the City Master, Vendant is here to greet the arrival of my three lords." There were four people behind him, all of them seemed to be teenagers. The two men were handsome and strong, the two women beautiful and pure. They were all subtly dressed to look pretty and sexy.


    "Follow the old rules," said Anda nonchalantly. "Garen, you choose, of the two girls, which do you prefer? These should be the best the city has to offer."


    Garen was speechless, glancing at the two girls behind the man Vendant. Although they were beautiful, while he was dressed in his hazmat suit, he could only watch and touch, so what was the point?


    "These people will only act as a guide and warm your bed, we might have to rest here for the night, and leave again tomorrow," Anda explained simply.


    "Then I''ll choose this one." Garen casually pointed at the long-haired girl who looked purer. She had pitch-black hair falling over her shoulders, like an Asian, with large black eyes, fair skin, and neatly-trimmed bangs in front of her forehead. Her lips were a very decent pink color. Her body was curved in all the right places as well, wearing black skin-tight clothes that looked slightly like a swimsuit. It was very thin, and could not cover any of the sensitive parts of her body. Especially her long slender fair legs, her clothes made her seem as though she was merely wearing underwear, so even if the girl kept trying to pull her clothes to cover the area between her legs, it was still useless. The overly tight clothes made her completely unable to cover the extra parts of her body.


    Hearing that Garen choose her, her face instantly blushed with a clear red hue, and she lowered her head in a way that invited pity.


    The other was a blonde girl who was also extremely pretty. Not a single radiation mark could be found on her body, but she wore a slave''s collar around her neck, to elicit a man''s urge to conquer her.


    Kneeling on the ground, Vendant heaved a sigh of relief. They had hurriedly found these four slaves from the radiation people around here when they heard that important people were the Regions were coming. The slaves were all superior breeds that had less than 10% radiation marks on them, although they were still pretty, they were nevertheless slightly less presentable than the carefully selected ones from before. He was also terrified that the guests would be dissatisfied, plus there were so few of them, so he was even more panicked, but thankfully it seemed that this group was more easygoing.


    "Then I''ll take the other one." Anda pointed at the other blonde girl, he was evidently used to this process.


    Linda chose a young boy who looked very shy, he was very handsome, and looked just like a girl.


    The last boy was slightly disappointed as Vendant sent someone to lead him away.


    "It''s a bit rushed this time, and the stock you chose isn''t that great, but we won''t blame you. We''re just here to rest for one night, and we''ll be leaving tomorrow, so hurry and arrange a place for us to rest," Anda instructed.


    Vendant lowered his head and agreed to everything. "Yes, yes."


    The three boys and girls behind Garen''s group were all slightly shocked, after all Vendant was the City Master''s close follower, so he had always been wild and irrepressible in the city. But in front of these three masters, he was just slightly better than a dog.


    Walking into Flying Batoid City, Garen finally experienced the true wilderness, chaos, and rot of the radiation belt.


    The buildings were white, or black, and the city walls were made of ancient cement, some places dyed with dark red blood stains that no one bothered to clean. It was unnaturally busy on the streets, with radiation people walking their mutated dogs everywhere. Some were huge, tall brutes who were more than three meters tall, but there were also dwarfs who were so small and thin they looked like children. Some had an extra arm on their backs, some had rotting noses, so their whole face was completely flat.


    There were all sorts of radiation people, and according to Vendant''s introduction, these people''s various mutations caused their bodies to change in different ways.


    Wherever the three of them passed, all of the radiation people were forcefully pushed aside by the soldiers, opening up a wide path. Quickly, the three of them got onto the car that was arranged for previously, it was the most broken-down model that was already out of production in the Regions, but here, it was evidently the highest form of indulgence.


    In the radiation belt, the only ones who could afford to use batteries and enjoy life were all nobles among nobles, the VIPs among VIPs.


    Garen was arranged in a car with the girl who seemed to be sixteen or seventeen. She was clearly very nervous, but she was also extremely curious, and was unnaturally excited to be sitting in this car.


    "You were born in the radiation belt?" asked Garen casually, as he looked at the crowds in the streets outside the window.


    "Y-Yes, sir."


    "What''s your name?"


    "Little Bitch, sir..."


    "A terrible name." Garen was exasperated, why that of all names?


    "Sir... In Flying Batoid City, only the nobles can give themselves names. If we normal civilians want to live, the higher-ups will give us names..." Little Bitch replied, looking depressed. "And we''re lucky, compared to the meat people..."


    She was indeed pretty, but in Flying Batoid City, there were meat people even prettier than her.


    "What are meat people?" Garen''s curiosity was slightly piqued.


    "People who are reared in pens, they constantly mate in the pens, perfecting their genes like dog pedigrees. Once the mutations caused by the inbreeding are removed, they are made to grow faster using hormones. The pretty ones with good quality are sent out as slaves, the ones with poor quality are made into pigs for meat, and killed for food..." explained Little Bitch in a low voice.


    Garen was shocked for a moment as well.


    That was treating humans inhumanly, they were even more like livestock than actual beasts.


    "In the radiation belt, what is law?" he suddenly asked out of the blue.


    Little Bitch blinked in confusion, she did not understand what he was trying to ask.


    Garen sighed, and said no more. Leaning his back on the leather seats, he crossed his legs and began to rest.


    As the car drove on, Garen did not look at the demonic streets of Flying Batoid City anymore, and he only opened his eyes slowly when they reached their accommodation.


    Getting out of the car, Garen saw a large white manor in front of him, surrounded by tall walls. As soon as they went past the gate, there was a large round four-tiered fountain, dark red water sprayed from the tip and flowed down the sides, the blood-like color piercing to the eye.

 890 Quiet 2

    There were all many tidily-dressed men and women waiting inside the mansion.


    After that, they were arranged rooms, and chose their style of entertainment. By style of entertainment, they meant the surroundings required to satisfy any guest.


    If you liked food, for example, they would bring you into an environment made of high-quality low-radiation food. The room was made of chocolate, the bed made of milk candy, and all the plants in the garden were sweet fruits, whereas the swimming pool was filled with milk.


    If you liked pretty women, they would also take you to a special place, where all the pretty women around you were naked, and there were sex toys everywhere, so you could just grab a woman whenever and play with them however you liked.


    If you were gay, then there were all the best men for you to choose, beautiful ones, handsome ones, strong ones, cool ones, dressed in all sorts of uniforms to seduce you.


    In this mansion, whatever you wanted, other than the luxurious Level One food and drinks, everything else you desired could be fulfilled whenever. Even if you liked killing, they would arrange people for you to kill, one after the other, in however many ways you wanted.


    This, was the Paradise Mansion, the meat people mansion in mountains!


    "Everyone here is a meat person?" Garen walked at the very end of the line, observing the many people lined up in two rows, welcoming him in. There were men and women, young and old, but they all had one thing in common¡ªtheir eyes were lifeless and dim, only a very few just barely had a hint of consciousness, but the rest had stiff robotic movements.


    "Yeah..." Little Bitch replied softly. She was clearly slightly scared, grabbing Garen''s arm tightly, her whole body practically pressed against his. "Everyone here has had chips implanted, they can''t escape at all. Some of them only have the IQ of a seven- or eight-year-old, but some others are slightly smarter, they were once normal people who committed crimes."


    "Seriously..." Garen shook his head, he had learned even more about the cruelty of the radiation belt.


    In the hall, Vendant very wisely retreated, leaving Anda, Linda, and Graen standing in front of the choice pillars in the main hall.


    "You can choose your style of entertainment here, if they don''t have it, you can describe what you want yourself, and enter it using Willpower. If there aren''t any conflicts with the main system, you can make new entertainment areas to your own liking," Anda introduced. "I''ve played here a few times, it''s really not bad. Too bad the highest-grade anti-radiation medicine only comes in small shippings for the peak-level people every year, because if you can take off your hazmat suit here to play, that would truly be paradise."


    Anda was evidently a lot more relaxed than before, he looked at Garen.


    "This is your first time, Garen, so play to your heart''s content. When you choose an area here, no one can enter without your permission, so you can fulfill any dark thoughts or fetishes here, hehe..."


    "Boring," Garen replied calmly, and glanced casually at the choices there.


    Killing, pretty women, pretty men, gourmet food, dog pen, theme park, torture...


    There was a long list of entertainment modes, it even covered the whole side of the pillar. There was even a second page, he gave it a glance, and saw at least a hundred options there. There were even categories.


    "You have to choose one, this is the Paradise Mansion, if you don''t choose any entertainment, when word gets out, no one will believe you''re straight," Anda approached Garen and said with a dark smile.


    This made Garen, who was going to choose the quiet option, roll his eyes. His finger moved and landed on a random choice, he was too lazy to even look at it. Other than the violent ones, there were even many written in strange symbols he could not understand, and the mode he chose was one of these strangely-coded ones.


    "Let''s go." Garen saw the pillar indicate where he needed to go, and in the midst of Anda''s dark laughter, and Linda''s helpless gaze, he led Little Bitch and strode into a small door that had automatically opened on the left.


    Anda carefully chose an option on the stone pillar, and also walked into a small door, hugging the blonde girl.


    Only Linda was left, but her gaze flashed a little. She did not pick any option, but instead walked out of the hall, and raised her watch outside the door to project a virtual keyboard. After tapping out a simple code to spell out a secret message, and delivering the mail, she finally returned to the pillar and picked the quiet option, leading the pretty boy into a small door.


    ****************


    Flying Batoid City, City Master Quarters.


    At the peak of the tallest mountain tree in town, there was a huge empty hall. At the very top of the large empty black space, there was a huge throne, and a huge bald fat man, seven or eight meters wide, five or six meters tall, lay there.


    The fatty was covered in fatty flesh, his layers of flesh falling downwards due to gravity, and piling on top of the flesh underneath that, forming folds like a thousand-layer crepe. From afar, he looked like a large pile of white flesh made into a mountain.


    The fatty''s two triangular eyes kept blinking, and he bit a long black pipe, half a meter long. in his mouth. There were two naked voluptuous women by his side, constantly massaging his body and head.


    "The ones who had come this time are Blackboard Academy''s Inner Courtyard elites, you must be extra, extra careful with how you greet them," the fatty instructed lazily, looking at Vendant who was kneeling on the floor beneath him.


    "I greeted the three lords with the First-Grade rules, please do not worry, City Master," replied Vendant loudly, his head lowered.


    "That''s good." The City Master nodded, but his chin was too fat, so the action was not very noticeable. "Pay attention, and see if you can get some techniques regarding Repair Troughs from them. Our own Repair Troughs still lack too many critical techniques, if we can complete it quickly, we can also quickly form the Poison People Division."


    "Also, don''t let the other City Masters know that the three lords are here."


    "Yes."


    Vendant got up and was about to leave, but suddenly he touched his earpiece, where his subordinate''s report was coming in.


    He frowned slightly.


    "There''s one more thing, Lord City Master."


    "What is it? Speak," the fat City Master said calmly, puffing from the pipe.


    "One of the three lords wants to borrow our military strength to go out and find some people." Vendant paused. "It is that new lord, codenamed Garen, it should be his first time in the radiation belt."


    "Oh? It''s the easiest to get good things out of new lords like that... Not bad, not bad, fulfill his desires. Since he''s looking for people, send the best Panther Squad out, and have them obey his every word." The City Master waved his hand generously.


    "Yes, I will give them the order to mobilize now," replied Vendant respectfully.


    Neither of them noticed that a pitch-black insect was blinking its compound eyes in a dark corner of the hall. Its entire body was made completely out of cold mechanics. Through some invisible waves, the voices here were transmitted to a faraway distance.


    ***************


    Inside the Blackboard Region, in a certain private estate in Blackboard City.


    Fila strode towards the second floor of the mansion, his expression dark, and saw a carefree young man watching the TV projected onto the wall, holding a remote control. Behind him, there was a pretty girl carefully fanning him.


    That bastard, there was automatic air-conditioning right there, but he just refused to turn it on.


    Fila cursed him inwardly.


    "Where''s Big Bro?" he asked the young man quietly.


    "I don''t know... Five, why do you look so unfortunate? You look like a dead dog, y''know~~" The young man made no attempt to hide his jest.


    If it weren''t that he could not beat this son of a... Fila felt as though the veins in his forehead were going to pop.


    "It was just an accident." Suddenly something occurred to him, and he tried his best to reply in a nondescript manner.


    "Accident?"


    The young man looked just like those regular hooligans on the street, his short hair dyed blonde, and he even left a small lock of white hair hanging over the left side of his forehead, all curled up, as though he thought he looked handsome and flirtatious. His white lounge clothes did not match his dark skin, the clothes themselves were luxury items worth more than ten thousand, but when he wore them, he looked like a backwater bumpkin lord.


    "Yes, an accident." Fila acted as though he did not want to talk about it.


    "Interesting." The young man lifted his watch and checked it quickly. When he saw the process, he was instantly even more interested. "You were beaten up that badly by a newbie?" He smiled, completely hooked. "Interesting, how very interesting!"


    "What''s it to do with you?! I''ll deal with it myself, I''m warning you, Ice Dragon, I''ll deal with my own matters! If you dare to interfere, I won''t consider you my brother!" said Fila coldly.


    "Five, that''s where you''re wrong..." The young man called Ice Dragon stood up. "You''re all alone, and you only got a few kitties under you. If you don''t come to me, your big bro, when stuff like this happens, people will say that my little brother doesn''t come to me even when he''s in trouble, and then how will I face the world?!" he said loudly, patting his chest. "Relax, and leave this to me! I''ll deal with that punk for you directly!"


    "It''s my own--" Fila acted unhappy, but before he could even finish his sentence, he was suddenly pressed down by a heavy pressure. For a second there he was completely shocked, and could not say a thing.


    This guy got even stronger...!


    Ice Dragon''s hands pressed down on Fila''s shoulders, as he was all smiles.


    "We''re brothers, and you still act so distant..." All of a sudden, his expression instantly became icy cold. "Are you really trying to make me lose face...!" Hints of cold killing intent emanated from him, keeping Fila locked down tight.


    This madman!


    Fila''s heart grew cold, and he no longer dared to provoke this person, so he forced out a smile.


    "Of course not..."


    "That''s best." Ice Dragon smiled again. "Recently Big Bro''s men are starting to leave some hints, everything goes according to plan. In just two more months, we can probably successfully obtain that person''s information."


    "So fast!" Fila''s expression changed slightly.


    "Get ready, then... Three Marshals and One Star or whatnot, I''ve wanted to meet them for some time now..." Deep-seated killing intent flashed through Ice Dragon''s eyes. "But before that, I''ll go settle the kid that bullied my brother, that''ll be my appetizer..."

 891 Approaching Battle 1

    In an isolated green-black wilderness


    In the large patches of black swamp and plains, there was a single little inn standing alone in the center. The grey-white building looked just like a wooden toy house used for children''s games, in that it did not look steady at all.


    Clint was sprawled on a pitch-black, broken-down Mech, holding something like a tweezer tool. He even had a few oily screws in his mouth, and was repairing his own Mech cockpit with an expression of intense concentration.


    "Third screw on the left, tighten it again, and be careful of the energy circuits there, if you knock them askew, you''ll have to start all over again."


    Red Moon''s instructions kept coming, guiding Clint to quickly settle some of the minor problems the Mech had.


    Amidst the clinking noises, Clint spat out the things in his mouth.


    "Lord Red Moon, can this thing even be fixed? I''ve been working for a few days now, but it''s still exactly the same."


    "It was damaged too badly in the chase from before, so you got no choice. You should thank your lucky stars if it can even be fixed at all," replied Red Moon exasperatedly. "Lonnie''s one is still in one piece, at the very least, so if this one really can''t, you''ll just have to make do. Oh, and there aren''t that many energy batteries for the energy furnace anymore, so you''ll need to find new batteries. This isn''t the city, where you can find many batteries anywhere. In the radiation belt, the hardest part is finding supplies, not just for people, but for Mechs as well."


    "Can''t we just toss them into your space, like last time?" asked Clint, confused.


    "Of course not, you''ll be done for if your enemies reach you here. Unlike normal pilots, you''re the fast-growing type, your Willpower improved really quickly, but at the same time, when you''re not in your Mechs, you can''t use your Willpower at all," reminded Red Moon. "Don''t tell me you forgot?"


    "Of course not," Clint pouted. The intense pain in his butt from before was still fresh in his mind, he did not know what happened, but he did not dare to recall such terrifying memories.


    "Alright, hurry up," Red Moon rushed him.


    "Clint, it''s time to eat." Just then, Baylon''s voice came from the inn below, she was wearing an apron hastily tied on with black cloth, and yelled as she walked out of the door.


    "Let''s go, time to eat!"


    Clint jumped out of the Mech. The Nine Mega Cannon Training Method had drastically strengthened his body, such that it was nothing for him to jump down from several meters up.


    Once he entered the inn, in the small hall behind the front door, he saw two bowls of pale yellow thick soup on the table. They looked very average, but smelled very good. He had no idea what they were made of.


    There was the aroma of meat and a faint smell of green grass in the air.


    "Smells so good..." Clint took a deep breath, and when he saw that Baylon was ready with the ladle, his face instantly broke into a smile.


    "Sorry, there''s nothing much left to eat anymore... There were just a few cans left, I used up the rest of our water to make this..." Baylon''s expression was pained as she said that.


    "It''s okay, how much longer can our supplies last?" Clint sat down and immediately began to shovel the food into his mouth.


    "Two more days..." Baylon lowered her head.


    "!!??"


    Clint instantly looked up, his expression incredulous.


    "Although the rat meat that we made into jerky has been kept into Lord Red Moon''s space, we just don''t have enough water... And in the incident last time, the Mech filter system that we took out was taken away..." Baylon replied, her head lowered.


    "Looking for food and water in the radiation belt is a very troublesome matter, but compared to being hunted, it''s still a lot easier..." Red Moon said calmly, having expected this a long time ago.


    It placed most of its attention on Baylon, who was slowly sitting down.


    "Lonnie."


    "Ah... huh?"


    "You secretly asked about the second half of the training method for your brother, and I gave it all to you. But every training method in the world requires all of one''s undivided attention, in other words, one person can only choose one training method to resonate with in their lifetime. The others can only be their support. If your brother chooses this training method as his main, then when he builds a Mech in the future, he will require extremely, extremely high-level materials. And on this planet, such materials..."


    "They don''t exist?" A hint of disappointment flashed through Baylon''s eyes. "My older brother... had always been stronger than me since we were young. No matter what happened, he would always be proud, fearless, advancing without hesitation..."


    Red Moon and Clint did not say anything, and just looked at her quietly.


    "He will surely have a way... He''ll make the best choice! I trust him to," Baylon said determinedly.


    "Sure, but even if he doesn''t choose this training method as his main, a lot of the contents in it will still work with his Willpower and benefit him," said Red Moon consolingly. If at first he had released this training method to stabilize Garen, now he was truly and sincerely offering a solution.


    "In this world, the best things are the ones that suit you. No matter how high-level the other stuff is, no matter strong, that will still be the strength of others. Your brother... he is a prodigy... so don''t worry."


    Baylon nodded. She never doubted that. As an older brother, Nono''s image had long ago left the deepest impressions in her heart.


    The two of them picked up their bowls and drank their soup slowly. After they were done eating, Baylon cleared the plates and prepared to wash them.


    Suddenly there was a faint rumble reaching them slowly from afar.


    The floor began to tremble, and bolts of faint electricity spread from the distance like waves.


    The two of them froze at almost the exact same time.


    "That''s...!??" Clint''s heart began to tremble intensely despite himself.


    "It''s Red-White!" Red Moon''s yell woke the two of them up. "Lonnie, get into the Mech!! Now!"


    Clint''s Mech was not fixed yet, and could not move, so the only one that was intact now was Baylon''s Mech.


    Baylon''s eyes first flashed with deep fear and hesitation.


    "I... I..."


    "You, you, my foot! If you don''t wanna die, get on the f*cking thing!!" Red Moon began to curse loudly.


    In the midst of the yelling, Baylon was all dazed and confused. By the time she recovered, she was already sitting in the broken-up old patchwork Mech.


    The Willpower produced by Bright Queen Jisaiya''s training method was like so many tiny spiders, constantly spitting out blue silk threads that spread from inside her body, connecting to the entire Mech from top to bottom.


    "Get ready to move!" reminded Red Moon. "Lonnie, Clint and I are depending on you to protect us now. If you don''t want to die, fight! The opponent is not really a peak-level Red-White Mech, it''s just a straggling soldier on patrol. If you still can''t beat ''em, then we''re probably truly done for."


    "I... I can''t..." Baylon''s heart was pounding loudly. The heavy responsibility and pressure weighed down on her, to the point where she was struggling to breathe.


    "Just do it with all your might. Even if you fail, no one will blame you." Just then, Clint''s voice came from inside the Mech.


    "My ass!! Move aside, you idiot, even if you got a death wish, I ain''t lived enough yet!" Red Moon interrupted Clint abruptly. "Punk-ass, if you can''t beat that small fry, both of y''all will run naked!!"


    "R-r-r-run naked...!!!" Baylon''s little face instantly turned into a tomato with a whoomph.


    On the distant horizon, a red-and-white humanoid Mech with a wolf''s head was flying at them at top speeds.


    "Go--!!" With a sudden squeeze of Willpower, Baylon felt herself dashing forward. She was actually striding towards the opponent madly, the engine behind her exploding to life, and forcing the Mech to slowly shoot towards the enemy.


    Aaaaaaahhh----


    She started screaming abruptly, as she watched the wolf-headed humanoid Mech come closer and closer, closer and closer.


    "Where''d this junk bucket come from?" a hoarse woman''s voice said from within the other Mech.


    Seeing that the Mechs were going to crash into each other, Baylon''s heart ran cold, and she tried to salvage the situation, flustered. But she had no idea how to react.


    "Idiot! You don''t even know the basic movements!?" Red Moon''s voice began to howl.


    For some reason, for a second there, it was as though Red Moon''s voice overlapped with another voice in her memory.


    Baylon''s eyes suddenly lost focus, as though she had suddenly returned to the past, when she asked her brother to teach her basic combat skills.


    "A Mech''s basic combat is actually just like a human''s own movements, the Will-powered Mechs can perfectly express any movement of the human body." Nonosiva''s eyes were filled with contempt as he looked down on Baylon.


    "Remember, Baylon, when it comes to fighting, it doesn''t matter who''s stronger, but it''s the person who can use the power correctly who wins. No matter how weak this person is, once the power is used right, the difference between them will also be like heaven and earth."


    "Just like right now."


    Whoosh!


    Nono kicked out suddenly, his foot landing in Baylon''s stomach.


    "What should you do?! Tell me!"


    Bam! Mrgh...


    Baylon hugged his stomach, and refused to let himself fall.


    "Re-retreat."


    "Moron! Attack! Attack, damn you----!!"


    "Attack..."


    The familiar scenes flashed through Baylon''s eyes. The Red-White Mech in the distance was actually also raising its right leg, stomping at her. This scene was somehow coincidentally just like the move her brother Nonosiva demonstrated back then. Her brother''s voice from not too long ago seemed to still be ringing in her ears.


    "Defend? Retreat? Idiot!! Defending is so you can prolong your time to attack! Retreating is so that you can find a better angle to attack. All of this is for one aim only, and that is... to kill your opponent."


    Bam!!!


    In that instant, the two Mechs crashed into each other. Baylon''s arms waved around, her fists smashing hard into her opponent''s head. At the same time, she twisted her waist, and somehow eerily dodged the Red-White Mech''s stomp.


    These strange moves surprised both Clint and Red Moon, who were watching from a distance.


    From afar, Baylon''s Mech looked like an expert acrobatic dancer, avoiding the opponent''s dangerous attacks while at the same time using a powerful, assassin-like fist technique.


    "Baylon, that punk... Who is she mimicking...?" asked Red Moon softly, puzzled.


    "Mimicking?" Clint was confused. "What''s that mean?"

 892 Approaching Battle 2

    "The Bright Queen, Jisaiya, was one of those rare fighters who was known for having a thousand faces. She could accurately recreate the abilities of powerful pilots who she had fought before, or who had taught her in the best styles. This included mimicking their styles, personalities, and some of their special skills. Looking at it now, it seems that Baylon has truly entered our ranks. It''s just that..." Red Moon sighed.


    "It''s just what? That''s a very powerful ability, if I had that too, wouldn''t I become a powerhouse in a heartbeat!?" Clint was extremely relieved.


    "It''s just that when using this training method, the Willpower produced should ideally be mimicking a pilot who is powerful enough. The first person she mimics is especially important, this will drastically influence the main fighting style that she decides on in the future. I thought she picked that Red-White fella at first. But to think she actually chose..."


    "Who?"


    "Her brother, Nonosiva Lin."


    "Isn''t that very strong?"


    "Yes, but the opponent is no normal pilot... They''re at least around Level Three, and Nonosiva is probably only at Level Three or Four right now. The mimicking level can only reach less than a third of the target at most, so against this opponent... her chances are slim." And, after this...It did not continue about the future, as the opponents grow stronger from now on, then her first target for mimicry might...


    Whoosh!!


    The pitch-black glint of a sword lit up instantly. It drew their attention completely.


    In the distance, Baylon was engaged in battle with the Red-White small fry, and that strange sword glint kept twinkling. Just then, Baylon''s figure actually began to merge with Nono''s Mech that Clint encountered that day.


    Agile, dodging, but when she attacked, she gathered up all her power. That fierce decisiveness was not something Baylon, who was on the battlefield for the first time, could do.


    Clang! The Mech''s four arms crossed, and Baylon was forced back several steps by the powerful Willpower. In a pure contest of Willpowers, she was far weaker than the enemy.


    "Retreating... is also for a better... attack!!!" Cruel brutality flashed past Baylon''s eyes. Her entire Willpower somehow rose by a whole level.


    In an instant, the blade in her hand shook hard, and a wisp of sharp Willpower darted into it. The blade twinkled out like an illusion, and then shot out explosively, vanishing into the air.


    Boom!!


    In an instant, a large chunk of the Red-White Mech''s right arm exploded suddenly, and burst into bright red flames.


    "You...!!!" Inside Red-White, that woman wanted to say something, her voice mixed with shock, surprise, fear, and... pain. But she could not say it.


    With a barroom, the Red-White Mech suddenly exploded. The Mech itself scattered into countless components, shooting out everywhere.


    And Baylon''s Mech just stood there quietly, the era of a grandmaster slowly emanating from her. That aura was extremely familiar to Clint, it reminded him, despite himself, of that terrifying Mech that stood up slowly in the darkness back there.


    "Well, f*ck me, that was fast!! This... is this a level-up when approaching battle??!!" Red Moon was a complete mess, having seen that scene. "Ain''t that my f*cking specialty?!"


    "Level-up?" It was Clint''s first time seeing Baylon control a Mech too, he did not think their battle results would be so incomparable!!


    "The reason she could win was mostly because of that last hit, Baylon reached Level Two Willpower. The strength of the Bright Queen Training Method lies in the mimicking, in the healing, but the key thing is that every level can increase the Mech''s speed and penetration power by two levels. In other words, at Level Two Willpower, Lonnie can increase to the speed and penetration power of a Level Four pilot using a regular training method. Add that to her mimicking a powerhouse pilot''s fighting style, and she just happens to be the weak point of any high-defense Mech! Once she reaches Level Two of the Bright Queen Training Method, even a regular Level Four pilot is no match for her, what progress speed..."


    Red Moon explained solemnly.


    "I just didn''t think that she could level up in her first battle. But after preparing for so long, it is about time for her. She was just one step faster than you. But even if she did level up, that opponent was no regular pilot, right...? How could she, so easily..."


    Clint smiled bitterly. Even Lonnie could finish off that opponent, but last time he had been chased like a dead stray, and was nearly finished off.


    "Don''t be dejected, look at what kind of opponents you faced back then! With your standards, being able to run away is already beyond your level, you''re definitely stronger than Lonnie!" Red Moon comforted him.


    "No one comforts people like that, you know?" Clint was flabbergasted.


    After teasing Clint for a bit, Red Moon recovered too, and kept feeling that something was off. That aura that Lonnie was emitting during her mimicry, there seemed to be something slightly wrong about it. He kept feeling as though he had seen it before... But where??


    After all, even if she leveled up to Level Two, she shouldn''t be able to finish the opponent off so quickly, right? That was a Level Three Red-White pilot!


    Red Moon was just going to say something, when it seemed to realize something.


    "F*ck me! Isn''t that the Willpower Field that only Level Five powerhouses have!!!"


    Boom!


    Just then, amidst the bright red firelight, Baylon''s Mech suddenly fell on its back into the ground, motionless. Intense sparks and holes suddenly appeared on the Mech. Evidently, after the split-second explosion just now, the whole Mech was completely useless now.


    "Damn! The pilot she mimicked was too strong!! Get Lonnie out now, you need to find a place for her to heal!" Seeing that, Red Moon hurriedly yelled out orders. "Mimicking takes a lot of spirit and energy every time, to mimic a Level Five powerhouse at Lonnie''s level is basically wasting her life force! Take her away now!!"


    Clint''s expression changed, and he hesitated no more. Rushing up quickly, he used his enormous strength to force the cockpit door open, lifting the unconscious Baylon out from inside.


    The two of them quickly kept their Mechs and some of the bits left over from Red-White, and ran into the distance.


    *********************


    Flying Batoid City


    Garen, who was sitting cross-legged quietly on the luxurious bed, opened his eyes suddenly.


    "Hm?" He seemed to have sensed some wisp of mysterious energy just now, but the moment it touched him, it vanished instantly. Those wisps of energy seemed to bring him a slightly familiar feeling.


    "What... was that?" He looked around him.


    Inside the fancy and luxurious room, there were many naked female bodies that were held up by metal hooks in their chins. These female corpses were all sealed in something that looked like a glass cylinder, standing there quietly all around the room like decorative pieces.


    The female corpses came in a variety of shapes and sizes, but they had one thing in common. They were all extremely beautiful ¨C innocent, seductive, adorable, knowledgeable. There were eight corpse pillars in total, revealing that naked sense of sex and violence.


    Little Bitch was cowering in the inner side of the bed, leaning against the wall as she shook. She was completely naked from head to toe, and her body showed every sign that Garen had enjoyed her completely.


    Garen, on the other hand, stayed between her and the corpse pillars, quietly adjusting his body''s condition. It had been such a long time since he let loose like that, so he considered it one of his rare breaks to completely relax his tense nerves.


    Thinking back to that scent he picked up for just a second there, Garen still did not know where it came from, so he could only commit it to memory, waiting for a chance to catch the target again the next time it showed up.


    Standing up, Garen walked out of the room, and behind him, Little Bitch hurriedly got up as well. Her body was covered in bruises from being squeezed and pinched too much, her long hair falling loose, and she wore nothing but a clean white bathrobe. She did not want to stay in the room for even a second, but if Garen did not ask to change it, she did not dare to say anything extra either, so she just had to tolerate it quietly.


    There was a fully-automated machine in the room that could turn a living person into a corpse pillar, and that constantly filled her with intense terror.


    The two of them left the room one after the other, and saw a beautiful, intricate little garden outside.


    The red, yellow and pink flowers blossomed in bunches, with a hidden little grey-white path between them.


    Some pots were suspended, some climbed up the grapevine racks, and there were even some benches and small tables placed among the green branches and leaves for leisure purposes. There were already intricate sweet drinks on the tables.


    Garen looked down the grey-white path, and saw Vendant, the person who had welcomed them yesterday, standing at the door at the end of the path.


    He bowed, and spoke respectfully.


    "The manpower you requested is ready, and can leave at any moment."


    "Very good. As a reward, if you can find the people I''m looking for, then when I return I will give you sufficient compensation." Garen nodded, he planned from the very start to borrow their strength in the radiation belt to look for Baylon, Red Moon, and the others.


    "We are honored to serve you, but recently the White Light Organization''s Mechs are starting to patrol all around the radiation belt, so our territory has been drastically reduced..." Vendant said simply.


    "Just try your best." Garen frowned. Lifting his hand to check Anda''s message, he learned that everyone was going to depart soon, they had gotten enough batteries. "When we return, we will also pass through here for supplies, so I hope you won''t disappoint me."


    "If we find the targets, my lord, could we possibly change the compensation we receive in return?" asked Vendant, very respectfully.


    "Speak."


    "We hope to obtain relevant techniques regarding Nutrient Repair Troughs."


    "Repair Troughs? Aren''t those just simple Maintenance Stations?" Garen was speechless. That was severely outdated technology in the Regions, these people''s level of technology was probably the result of researching broken Mechs that were tossed away and eliminated many years ago. To think that after so long, nobody from the Regions ever gave them the newest technology...


    As though sensing Garen''s confusion and contempt, Vendant explained with a bitter smile.


    "Regarding the latest technology, because we don''t have enough alloys and raw material, there''s no point even if we obtain it. Our only way is to trade for the technology we can use. There''s no helping it."


    "I see, I''ll obtain it for you when we get back." Garen nodded nonchalantly, these techniques were sold for ten Universal Units in the Inner Courtyard, even if he gave them for free, he would not want to waste the space.


    There were probably too few pilots who came out of the Regions, and even fewer who acted independently like this. Even if there were any, the chances that they would just happen to arrive at Flying Batoid City were even lower. That was why there were situations like these.


    "Thank you for your generosity, is there anything else you need, my lord?" Vendant asked respectfully, his head lowered.


    "This woman..." Garen looked around at Little Bitch behind him. It was her first time, and she offered it to him, plus her personality did not seem so twisted, so he could put some time into her.


    "She is already your private property, sir," continued Vendant hurriedly.


    "Mn, give her a job, I''ll come check on her now and then." Garen nodded. He wanted to set up a source of intel here in the radiation belt too. The environment here was cruel, but there was still a lot he could make use of here.


    To outsiders, this place was extremely dangerous as they could get the radiation disease if they were not careful, so they would avoid this place whenever possible. But to him, such low levels of radiation was nothing.


    "That is perfectly fine."


    "Let''s go! Garen!"


    Anda''s voice came from the watch.


    Garen checked his watch, it was around ten in the morning.


    "I''m coming now."


    "Next stop, the War Wastes."


    "Got it."


    After arranging everything, Garen hurried towards the place where the Mechs were parked.

 893 Hunt 1

    The black mountain peaks flitted past beneath them one after the other, as the four Mechs slowly flew past the black mountain ranges, advancing quickly in a specific direction.


    Beneath them, on the peaks of the various mountains, between some stone platforms on the sides or peaks of some mountains, they could also vaguely see black-grey wastes and ruins. There were even some abandoned bases, with the faint movement of creatures that could not be seen clearly within.


    The ruins were scattered sparsely all over, and some had several huge yellow cogs of different sizes exposed to the elements. The cogs turned slowly, occasionally spewing out white smoke.


    Garen looked down to watch the scenery and ruins beneath him.


    "Are there people in these ruined bases? Why are they still moving now?"


    The Mech was on auto-pilot, so the pilots were not controlling them, and basically acted as independent passengers. That naturally meant they could also talk freely and discuss other matters.


    A red symbol lit up slightly on the control panel in front of him, and Linda''s voice came from it.


    "Garen, this is your first time out here, and you don''t know the place that well yet. Basically no one actually lives in these ruins, the reason they can move on their own is mostly because of some geothermal sources, but since this is the radiation zone, even though the geothermal energy here is considerable, its radiation pollution is even more so. That''s why even radiation people don''t dare to approach this place too often. Firstly, because the radiation interference here is too severe, so if they''re not careful, they''ll get an even more troublesome disease. Secondly, there are a lot of radioactive mutated beasts and radioactive corpses there. Most normal people can''t handle that at all."


    "Radioactive corpses?"


    "Yeah, after being exposed to enough radiation and mutating, corpses will develop an innate desire to hunt for food. That''s why they will be reanimated, and start wandering around on their own. When there is enough radiation energy, they''ll be free to hunt around everywhere, but once the energy is depleted, they will collapse to the ground and become corpses again. So it depends on your luck when you enter ruins as well, if you''re lucky, you might be able to find some documents or materials that are more valuable," Linda explained with a smile. "I went into some ruins before as well, but it''s very dangerous in there, and regular pilots will practically just turn into food in there. Unless you are Level Three or above, it''s best not to think about going in."


    Garen agreed, and thanked Linda for her explanation. Then he began to observe the ruins beneath him.


    As they continued advancing, soon enough, Anda''s voice came in through the intercom.


    "Careful, there''s a flock of mutated birds ahead."


    Just ahead of the four Mechs, a swarm of black birds was headed right for them.


    These birds were each about a meter long, and their bodies were not too different from regular birds. But they had two pairs, or four furry fox ears on their heads, and their mouths were not straight like other birds. Instead, they were like so many sharp hooks.


    Squawk squawk squawk...


    In the midst of the piercing noise.


    Anda''s Mech suddenly emitted a sound wave field.


    As the sound wave spread out, the flock of mutated birds instantly appeared to panic, and most of the birds scattered in all directions. Only a few of the strongest birds kept rushing at them, and seemed even fiercer for it.


    Anda''s high-powered ray gun kept shooting, and a dozen bolts of white light shot out, accurately hitting the heads of these birds, and utterly destroying them. The corpses fell down, but before they even reached the ground, they were surrounded by swarms of what appeared to be blood-sucking flying bugs that came out of nowhere. In no time at all, only a bunch of skeletons were left crashing into the ground.


    Garen was at the back of the team, and seeing how easily Anda handled the mutated birds, he slowly relaxed the guard that he had put up.


    "Ahead of us is the largest war ruins in these parts, the War Wastes. If we search here for a bit, we may be lucky enough to find newly-condensed mutated metals," said Anda''s voice through the intercom.


    "Be careful, there are many radioactive corpses hidden in the War Wastes, and some of the mutated beasts are very strong as well. There are even things like Level Four mutated beasts, don''t cause too much of a commotion and stir trouble," Anda instructed carefully.


    The few of them all indicated that they understood, and began to lower the Mech''s height, flying towards the largest huge black mountain range directly ahead of them.


    The black mountain was far taller than all the other mountains around it, compared to its surroundings, it looked like an adult towering over children. Even if three people scanned the huge mountain from within their Mechs, they still would not be able to see the edges of the mountain through their scanning visions, and could only see the large swathe of black mountain rock.


    "There''s a pretty decent name here, it''s called the Sleeping Forest. If you don''t wake it up, everything''s easy," said Aves loudly, after whistling once. "I hear that pilots have even found really precious ancient energy furnaces and nuclear weapons here, that stuff can be traded for a whole customized Mech, y''know!"


    "If it''s a slightly better nuclear weapon, you''ll be lucky to trade it for a small-scale battleship," replied Anda with a laugh. "Be careful, the radiation will reach warning levels soon, we need to use extra energy to form a barrier in there to avoid being infected. I''ve installed anti-radiation equipment in all three Mechs, but this takes up a ton of energy. If we can''t find anything within an hour, we have to all gather here, we can''t stay for long. Otherwise, don''t blame me for not reminding you if you get the radiation disease."


    "Got it!" X3


    The four Mechs instantly scattered, and headed for the large black-grey metal city at the peak of the mountain.


    The closer Garen got, the more he found the city on the peak strange.


    It was dead, and had no sense of life whatsoever, but there was an immense pressure that seemed like it might explode at any time. There were floating pieces of metal and huge yellow twisting cogs everywhere.


    As the city of ruins grew closer and closer, larger and larger, he split up with the rest of the team, and flew towards the eastern side of the city alone.


    The city was extremely vast, about as big as Blackboard City. Garen simply flew towards one of the three large areas, and randomly landed one on of the colored boxes there. There were more than ten such boxes in the whole area, and each was the size of Flying Batoid City.


    In the wide streets, all that was left of the old bumper car fields was a regular shelter tarpaulin to keep out the rain. The Ferris Wheel, with its many broken support pillars, was like a battered windmill. It would occasionally move randomly, creaking loudly as it went.


    The angle Garen had flown into just happened to be a theme park. The Mech landed slowly, right next to a merry-go-round on its right. The spinning red wooden horses moved slowly, and even emitted crisp-sounding music.


    ''Lalala... lalala... The kite is flying... fish are swimming... the quiet life needs more to be satisfied, lalala... lalala...''


    Garen could even still understand the music from the merry-go-round. Although the accent was slightly strange, and it was a little girl''s voice, he could still understand what was being said.


    Gusts of cold wind blew past, and as he looked across the whole city area, he found no sense of life in the theme park. Except for a few things that were moving on their own, the whole place was practically deserted.


    Bang... bang bang bang...


    Garen raised his Mech''s steps, and walked forward. The heavy Mech walked around the theme park, the vibrations from its steps spreading, and the empty echoes returning in response.


    "This place... sure is deserted." Garen frowned tightly, for some reason, he kept feeling a mysterious threat from this place. It was mild, and faint, but it felt as though something here could actually threaten his life.


    The empty theme park gave him a very uncomfortable feeling.


    Creak.


    Suddenly, there was a sound from behind him. Garen quickly activated the sensor behind him, and saw that it was a swing in the empty space moving faintly, as though someone had just stood up from it.


    Pulling back his gaze, Garen began to move again, pausing here and there.


    Soon enough, the theme park''s entrance was right ahead of him. It was an arch-shaped painted door, but many parts of the white paint had been washed off by the tides of time.


    There was a model of a clown, more than five meters tall, at the side of the gate. It was dressed completely in red, and had bright red curly hair, two round red cherries pasted onto its cheeks. It looked like it might really make a child smile.


    Crash!


    Suddenly, there was the sound of glass shattering.


    Garen frowned, and turned on the intercom. Aves had probably gone off in that direction.


    "Aves?" he tried asking, but there was no reply.


    There was just crackling in the intercom, it was all just intense static and interference.


    Turning off the intercom with a smack, Garen knew that it would not work here anymore. Looks like he could only contact them once he was out of here.


    The instant he walked out of the theme park, Garen instinctively felt as though the clown''s eyes had moved a little.


    He could not help but turn around and looked at the clown statue carefully. It was clearly made of stone and metal, its eyes were just drawn on.


    "Was it an illusion?" Garen had always had faith in his instincts, but now he could not help but doubt.


    He turned around and walked towards the door. Outside the theme park, there was a pitch-black dark alleyway, with tall buildings on both sides blocking off half of the light. Above, there were slightly dim, lead-colored clouds; below, it was the dark and shadow-lit streets. The ground was clean, and there were no signs of damage. But there simply was not a lot of light, so it looked rather dark and dingy.


    "There should be usable materials in here..." Garen thought about it, and turned off his Mech''s scanner. However, the problem was that the interference of the radiation here was too immense, and he could not use it at all. The scanner was filled with countless red dots, it was evidently malfunctioning because of the interference.


    All of a sudden, he seemed to sense something aiming at him.


    The Mech stopped abruptly, and took one step to the left.


    Bam!!


    A deep crater appeared in the place he was supposed to walk to.


    "Who!"


    Garen followed the direction the bullet crater came from, and just happened to see a blurred silhouette fading away quickly.


    He was just going to activate the Mech to give chase, when suddenly he felt a chill from beside him.


    "Shit! It was that..."


    Barroom!!


    In the intense explosion of green light, the entire street and the two large buildings on either side of it was bathed in a sickly green.


    Super-effective acid missiles!!


    The large amount of green liquid sprayed everywhere. Even if he reacted at lightning speed, dodging part of it, a little bit still got onto his Mech''s anti-radiation barrier.


    The transparent barrier sizzled on contact with the green acid.


    Garen flew back far, and entered the theme park before he could check the condition of his Mech. The person who ambushed him just now was definitely no ordinary person, such super-effective acid missiles might not work so well outside, but under these highly radioactive conditions, its effect was extremely considerable. It could consume large amounts of the energy used by the anti-radiation barrier, but the opponent could not take down the barrier here, or else the intense radioactive pollution would instantly corrode the pilot and their Mech, leaving them to become radioactive people, which was a fate worse than death. To immediately fall from being a high-level hotshot to becoming the most average, low-level radiation person!


    The Mech was not damaged too severely, but the explosion of the acid missile had taken up at least 20% of the Mech''s energy resources.


    Garen thought back to that ambush from just now, the movements were lightning fast, and his own Willpower somehow could not lock on the target, so that person had to be at least Level Three. And most importantly, their actions seemed very well-rehearsed, they had fired off a shot and retreated without even waiting to see the results. This was the main reason they could avoid Garen''s detection even though they were only Level Three.

 894 Hunt 2

    On the other end, within the waste ruins.


    Two pale yellow Mechs were surrounding Anda''s standard Blackboard Mech, from the front and the back, in the middle of the main street.


    "You never thought this would happen, right? It only took us three days since the Hunting Order was released to find you, but you sure run fast, little punk!" said one yellow Mech, laughing coldly.


    "That woman sure is cold, to actually send the two of you to hunt me. I bet she really paid for it, huh?" Sitting inside the Mech, Anda''s voice was calm, but nobody could see the sheen of sweat on his forehead now. The two extremely powerful and troublesome Willpowers were suppressing him tightly, making him unable to get away and escape. Because he knew that as soon as he moved, he would be immediately destroyed by their long-range attack!


    "You offended the First Young Miss and still managed to get so far away, that makes you unprecedented. Now don''t say we didn''t give you a chance, since we''re from the same family, you can make a move first." A cold woman''s voice came from the yellow Mech behind him,


    "Windling, if you get involved in a family''s power struggle for succession, you won''t get off easy even if you are a Level Five Guest, don''t you get that?!" Anda said loudly.


    "Of course I understand," replied the woman behind him. "But it was your fault for killing the Young Miss''s fiance, it can''t be helped that the two of us were invited out for that."


    "Hehe, if I don''t kill him, do I just wait for him to kill me? I have no interest in sitting around and waiting to do," Anda laughed coldly.


    "Are you still trying to buy time? Give it up, those teammates of yours can barely protect themselves, do you truly think they''ll have the time to rush over and help you?" said Windling calmly. "Even if you are all the prodigious elites from the Blackboard Academy''s Inner Courtyard, before your potential becomes power, it is still merely potential."


    "Do you still dare to kill them? The elites of the Inner Courtyard are no joke, you know."


    "Kill them? Of course that''s impossible, we just want them to retreat of their own accord." Before Windling finished her sentence, she abruptly drew two long silver-white pistols, and aimed one of them at Anda. "Alright, let''s get this over with, quick."


    Pop-pop!


    There were two dull noises from the barrel of the pistols, which flew into the air and turned into two huge yellow silk webs that headed straight for Anda, threatening to engulf him.


    ******************


    Garen carefully used something to scratch the liquid off his barrier. The metal that was covered by the acid quickly began to emit wisps of white smoke as they corroded. It was even starting to soften, turning from solid and hard to something as soft as leather.


    The opponent''s aim was very clear, they just wanted him to leave these ruins. The attack just now clearly used super-effective acid missiles to those ends, they had no intention of actually taking his life.


    Glancing at the energy the Mech had left, he saw that there was only 52% remaining. After the long journey here, he had still had 80%, but now there was only 52% left. Evidently, this was the result of the acid missile just now as well as the high radiation levels here.


    "Since you want me to leave here, there must be an untold secret here in these ruins. Either that, or... they want us to split up from someone in the team, breaking up our formation so we act separately." Using the answer from before, Garen instantly came up with two ideas. "And the opponent has no killing intent, which must mean they know our team''s identity. In that case, the second option would be highly likely."


    "Garen, you there?" Suddenly, Linda''s voice came from above.


    Garen turned around, and saw Linda slowly letting her Mech descend from the sky above him and to the side. "I finally found you guys, Aves has already run here. He was also attacked by an acid missile, they don''t want to kill us, it''s more like they want to chase us away. After I contacted Aves, his Mech was running really low on energy, so I told him to go back first."


    "Do you know who attacked us?" asked Garen in a low voice.


    "I don''t know, but... I went to Captain Anda''s location, but I couldn''t find him. I just noticed that there were marks on the ground indicating he was attacked by missiles, evidently the people attacking us did not use acid missiles against the Captain," said Linda, somewhat worriedly.


    Garen narrowed his eyes, slightly surprised that Linda could find all three of them within such a short period of time. After all, the interference here was through the roof, the sensors on the Mech were practically disabled, so they could only rely on their own sense of direction.


    But everyone had their own secrets, those who dared to accept this quest and come out here would all be above average characters. After all, the radiation belt was not somewhere regular pilots would simply agree to enter.


    "What do you suggest?" Garen thought about it, and asked quietly.


    "I suspect that they''re trying to separate us from the Captain. Their true aim, should be Captain Anda!" said Linda softly. It went without saying that both of them knew that Anda was also an alias.


    "What I mean is, since this is Captain Anda''s own problem, we should just let him settle it himself. After all, this is his private matter."


    "Is that what you think?" Garen''s voice was calm.


    "Of course."


    "Then let''s wait outside for now." Garen had no intention of interfering with Anda''s personal matters either. And he was not worried about those attackers, he was more concerned with that feeling of discomfort he got from these ruins.


    The two Mechs slowly rose into the air, one after the other, and flew towards the outskirts of the ruins.


    Barroom!!


    Suddenly there was an intense explosion in the distance, and they could vaguely hear Anda''s angry howl, like that of an injured beast.


    "Looks like Captain''s having a hard time..." Linda stopped her Mech slowly, staying suspended in mid-air.


    "What do you want to do?" As soon as Garen spoke, he saw Linda dash towards the source of the sound.


    He hesitated for a moment in mid-air, but in the end Garen quickly followed her.


    *****************


    "Endless!"


    "!" The Yellow Mech was like a peacock with its tail feathers open, instantly shooting out several dozen or even up to a hundred white laser rays from its back. Each of these lasers was as thick as a finger, and they covered the sky as they turned and pounced at Anda.


    On the other end, the Yellow Mech Windling was watching coldly, her arms crossed.


    Psst-psst-psst!


    Countless laser rays pierced through the surrounding buildings, and rushed out towards Anda from the ground in all directions.


    Anda quickly took flight, and as he performed a series of movements to avoid them, he also constantly shot out many high-powered ray gun lasers, to neutralize the many white laser rays. Even so, he was still hit occasionally, and kept groaning out in pain.


    "Endless!" He also released an explosion of countless white lasers, but these lasers were nowhere near as bright as his opponent''s.


    Just now, he had used this same move to fight against the opponent, but unfortunately he had failed. Be it in their Willpower, special techniques, or their skill in their killing moves, or even how well they matched their Mechs, Anda was at the disadvantage.


    This time, the many white lasers he released neutralized most of the opponent''s similar white lasers, but some of them still hit Anda''s Mech''s shoulders, sizzling on contact.


    With a bang, he crashed into the ground, his back leaning against the buildings on one side of the street.


    "Give it up, and hand over the map, we''ll make it painless for you," said Windling emotionlessly from the side.


    "Hehe, if you want it, come get it yourself," replied Anda with a cold laugh.


    "Foolish." Windling straightened up, and shook out her joints. Whoosh!


    Four metallic silver thorns appeared from her back suddenly, sparkling in the light like a fan. The Mech''s hands reached back and pulled out two silver thorns, then she began to walk towards Anda slowly.


    Beside them, the other Mech wisely chose to stop attacking, and instead let the two of them go one-on-one.


    In that second, Windling''s steps suddenly crossed, and she slid, ending up beside Anda. The thorns in her hands pierced at Anda''s waist like an illusion, and her whole Mech body left a series of shadows as the other thorn stabbed towards the head of Anda''s Mech.


    And by then, the speed of Anda''s Mech had been reduced considerably, it seemed to be far slower than it had been.


    Just then, Garen and Linda were already nearby. Seeing this scene, Garen''s heart was slightly shaken. This Windling was actually also a real-life Level Five powerhouse. To normal people, a Level Five powerhouse was truly a peak-level pilot, and they usually could only barely see one once every few years. To think Garen bumped into a new Level Five powerhouse so soon on his excursion.


    And this one was not sent here by the Academy.


    He had seen the way she fought, and knew that this Yellow Mech had clearly undergone countless battles. She evidently had an unnatural level of fighting experience, there was no hesitation whatsoever in her movements. They were fast, merciless, precise.


    "The two of you, please turn back for now. We''re handling personal matters here." Just then, a man''s voice came from behind Garen and Linda.


    The two of them turned around, and saw that a Yellow Mech had appeared there without them knowing. "We are the subordinates of the Thousand Year Tree, Lord Donnie Largewood, here to settle some private grievances with your captain, Anda. I ask for your kind cooperation."


    "Higher-ups from Thousand Year Tree, huh? Donnie Largewood..." Garen knew this person, he had the same status as Britney in Blue Narcissus, and was also a famous peak-level higher-up among the Thousand Year Trees. In a group like the Thousand Year Trees, anyone who could reach a high position surely fought their way up with their true power.


    "Anda has an important item needed for our quest, and you were the ones who attacked us first, isn''t that a bit too much?" Linda replied loudly.


    But by then, Garen had vaguely sensed that more Mechs were beginning to surround the two of them, the other side was just trying to buy time!


    He and Linda exchanged a glance through the intercom, and at almost exactly the same time, just as the other side was going to reply, the two of them yelled simultaneously.


    "Do it!!"


    Psst!!


    A small and delicate white dagger instantly flew out of Linda''s hand, and abruptly pierced the back of Garen''s waist.


    Garen was just stepping forward and getting ready to dash, pulling out a long black blade with his right hand at lightning speeds. He slashed straight down at the opponent''s head, his speed instantly reaching the limits of this Mech.


    But he never thought that Linda, who was behind him, would instantly ambush him!


    "You?!??"


    "Die!!" Linda''s dagger abruptly emitted some blue light, and became even faster, as though she was holding a blinding ball of blue light, that she smashed towards the side of Garen''s Mech.


    There was a sizzling sound.


    Garen turned around, and somehow managed to pull back in the unlikeliest situation. If it was anyone else, they would not be able to pull back under the influence of such explosive momentum, but Garen did it. That was how powerful his Ten Thousand True Technique was as a combat skill, as the final combination of all his martial arts, and added to his true Level Five power that he did not completely unleash yet, he could only reach the surface of Level Four Willpower.


    Moving instantly, one of Garen''s hands turning into a fierce fist, crashing into Linda''s cockpit. He was actually going for the kill in exchange for getting injured himself!

 895 Abrupt Change 1

    Linda''s pupils shrunk as she wasn''t willing to fight Garen to death. She was an assassin, not a fighter who fought to the death. She was stunned as her opponent was able to react in time and counter. Her flawless assassination attempt was all for nothing.


    At this point in time, she couldn''t do much but to feel unfortunate as all she could do now was take a step back far away from him.


    Garen, who had been ambushed, couldn''t pay attention to her as the surrounding Yellow Mechs had released a series of white homing missiles aimed at him at the same time.


    Lines of white smoke from the homing missiles were left in the air as they zoomed towards him from all directions.


    Kaboom!!


    The missiles exploded, turning the area where Garen''s Mech''s stood into a sea of fire as thick smoke kept coming out from it.


    The Pilots inside the yellow Mechs frowned as they could sense that their opponent did not walk the same path as them, yet he was able to counter ambush them.


    The lead Mech hesitated for a moment before raising his hand, gesturing everyone to fall back.


    "It''s an assassin from the Exterminet, so don''t spread this to anyone else."


    The Yellow Mechs stopped attacking after they had fired all of their homing missiles. Their opponent had used them to his advantage when he ambushed them at the moment they attacked him. These members of the Thousand Year Tree were obviously unhappy when they were used by the Exterminet''s assassin, who was not to be trifled with.


    "Big brother, why don''t we keep them in check here, since we outnumber them¡­"


    "Idiot! Why would you want to fight to the death whenever you feel like it? Don''t you think that they would fight back? And when they do, won''t people die? I didn''t bring you out to simply kill anyone! I have the responsibility to bring you all back safe and sound!" the Yellow Mech leader scoffed. "That is an elite from the inner academy. He''s not some common Pilot that we can kill!"


    The Mech who recommended a massacre stopped voicing out.


    Garen''s body started appearing once more. Even he couldn''t avoid being injured from all that firepower directed at him in that instant. This was especially true towards Linda''s ambush, where she had almost destroyed her body''s waist support. The waist support was a critical point of a spinal support system as the body would only lay on the ground and not move once it was destroyed.


    The Willpower-powered Mech was about to form similar structures to of a living being.


    He was fortunate that he was able to gather his Level Five Willpower to form a Body Field which blocked off most of the explosion and repelled the ambushed attack. However, his body had been slightly damaged and he was left with about thirty percent of his energy source.


    Crack crack¡­


    Garen''s Black Mech moved slowly as he punched with all his might to the left with his fist.


    Boom.


    Linda''s Black Mech which appeared on the left was hit and instantly pushed back.


    "Why did you ambush me?" Garen, who was inside the Mech didn''t change his expression as he asked. He who had not trusted them from the beginning had nothing much to say now that he was being ambushed. However, he was rather skeptical of this ambush in this critical period. Linda''s personality was not very suspicious and he himself knew that he hadn''t offended her in any way as well.


    "Someone had offered one hundred million in place of your head," Linda laughed. Although her body was pushed back, she seemed to possess a high defense as she was not injured at all.


    "Is it the Exterminet?" Garen suddenly understood the situation. However, with his personality, he didn''t care at all as she wouldn''t be a threat to her even if she, a Level Four, tried to ambush him¡­


    As this idea surfaced in his mind, a powerful Willpower slowly surged up around him.


    Three similar Level Five Willpower-powered Mechs started flying up as they surrounded Garen. In addition to Linda who was a Level Four elite¡­ The powers they revealed in that instant was clearly the Resonance Skills as it wouldn''t be this powerful otherwise. It was the strength of a Level Five who knew the Resonance Skill.


    In that instant, there were four elites of his caliber that had surrounded Garen.


    Even the Yellow Mechs had nothing to say when such a scenario unfolded before their eyes.


    "Boss, what should we do now?" a Yellow Mech whispered. "We''ve just ambushed that person. If he were to lump us together with these assassins¡­"


    "What else can we do?! We don''t interfere with other people''s business!" the lead Yellow Mech waved its hand. "Everyone retreat!"


    Within a few seconds, every Yellow Mech in the scene had retreated and hidden.


    They were here to assassinate Anda and were not on the same team as these assassins from the Exterminet. This person who was willing to reward a hundred million Universal Unit for a person''s head definitely had a deep background and was someone who shouldn''t be messed with. As for the ambush earlier, it would be easier to explain to the others if Anda were to survive as they were simply defending themselves from the other party''s ambush. However, if they were to be lumped together with the assassins, then it would spell trouble for both parties.


    The situation was completely chaotic.


    Anda was being oppressed by Windling, his body covered in injuries, on the streets between the buildings on the right. On his right over a row of buildings, Garen was being surrounded by assassins from the Exterminet.


    Four Level Five Willpower had locked onto Garen''s body.


    His heart sank for a moment. Even if he currently possessed the skill of a Level Five Pilot, he was still being surrounded by four powerhouses of the same caliber. Some of them were probably powerhouses from within the Inner Courtyard, who at least had a trump card or two that could at least ensure their safety. Elites who were able to enter the Inner Courtyard were at least flawless in their Combat Skills and each of them possessed unique killing moves. In comparison, they were at least on the same calibers as those Grandmasters of Combat who practiced Living Secret Techniques, where their skills were at least half of Garen''s.


    Fortunately, he had taken measures against assassins from the Exterminet once he was aware of their existence.


    Garen slowly took out a small and exquisite black box.


    He then looked at his body''s remaining energy, which had about 28% left.


    "I''ll end this battle quickly!" Linda scoffed as she was the first one to leap forward. At the same time, the other three followed along tightly as they attacked. The other two surrounded him as the last one stood behind with a Deadlight Cannon on his shoulder, with its muzzle glowing faintly red.


    "Earth Shattering Slash!!" a stroke of white light in the form of a knife appeared on Linda''s dagger as it shattered the ground and slashed towards Garen at great speed.


    Suddenly, the White Light Knife split into three as they arched and went towards Garen in three different directions.


    Garen jumped lightly. With two black knives in his hands, Garen danced around as he took the shape of a black ball to block the incoming attacks of two Mechs from the side. The overwhelmingly powerful Level Five Willpower bypassed through Garen''s knives and clashed with his Willpower.


    A buzz was heard and his Level Four Crouched Eagle Talon Willpower was instantly broken while the other two Willpowers were slightly weakened. These two Willpowers continued moving towards the body''s core. Once they reached the core of the body, the Mech would be under their control no matter how strong the Mech was.


    Garen gathered his unnamed Level Five Willpower and separated them into two portions to counter them.


    Boom!!


    Three Level Five Willpowers clashed against one another at the same time and exploded from Garen''s battle knives. Those who were outside of the battle could clearly see that the knives'' bodies were twisted for a slight moment as an invisible force field was released.


    Clank. Three of the Mechs were pushed back as Garen and the other two Pilots sustained light injuries.


    "What training method is this!? For a Willpower to be able to possess such strong qualities and be able to counter one''s full force with only half of his strength?!" Linda was shocked but her greed started taking over after a while.


    "If only I could obtain such a training method¡­"


    "Fire!" the Assassin Mech from afar finally attacked as a red beam was fired from the canon, as it vaporized everything in its trajectory and the surroundings of its beam.


    With a high energy red laser cannon firing at Garen, he had no choice but to evade this bucket-thick red pillar with all his might.


    Linda immediately took a step back as she gritted her teeth. A black lightning grenade appeared in her hand out of nowhere, and she immediately threw it towards Garen as her heart ached.


    The black lightning grenade cracked open as it shot out a huge amount of blue plasma. This plasma was glowing intensely as electric arcs spread about and behind Garen, sealing his only route in evading the attacks.


    This highly concentrated plasma grenade had cost six million each and was able to deal serious damage to a Level Five Mech.


    Death awaited Garen if he moved to the front and the plasma grenade had covered his entire back. It occurred the moment Garen decided to back off from the two Level Five Mechs before him.


    The assassins'' cooperation was very tacit as there were not a moment of pause in between their attacks.


    Garen was in a period of delay as he was slightly numbed by the barrage of two Willpowers. Although his body reacted the moment it sensed danger, his body was still a normal standard model from the Blackboard Region. It was still acceptable when reacting to a normal condition, but his follow up actions after consecutive fine-tuned response motions couldn''t keep up to speed. There was too much Willpower information in a very short amount of time and it had been bottlenecked within the Body''s system, causing his Body to be not able to react in time.


    However, it was this instance that made Garen realize that it was necessary for him to have a Mech of his own for him to unleash his full potential. It would be his demise if he were to keep using a Mech that did not suit him!!


    With his Mech unable to move, Garen was unable to do anything to avoid the incoming attacks.


    Sizzle!!


    The thick Deadlight was shot directly at Garen and huge amounts of plasma liquid kept eroding his Energy Field, depleting his remaining energy source even further.


    As the Deadlight was about to penetrate the Mech''s protective field, a sawtooth-like shockwave instantly spread outwards with Garen as the epicenter without any sound and warning.


    The edge of the sawtooth shockwave kept spinning and it brought forth a powerful momentum as it pushed away and disintegrated the Deadlight and plasma at the same time.


    Garen sat inside the cockpit as the black box inside his hand broke down slowly and turned into a pile of fine black dust, slipping through the gaps of his fingers.


    It was an Instantaneous Paper Box, a life-saving item that he had obtained from the Honorable Noble. It was able to instantly release an Inherited Level momentum that spanned out fifteen meters. However, it did not possess any lethality and could only be used for self-protection.


    The sawtooth-like shockwave had such a strong momentum that it had even sent the assassin Mechs flying. Linda was pushed back as well as she crashed into the building by the side, leaving a clear indentation.


    In that instant, Garen maneuvered his Body as he leaped out of the area so that he was no longer trapped. While he wanted to kill them, it would be difficult as he had spent too much energy. His power source was insufficient to begin with, and it had plunged down to the critical point as he was continuously ambushed. In the end, he was left with 12% and it would still continue to deplete.


    Garen flew up into the sky and saw that the assassin with the Deadlight Cannon was still trying to attack him as he pointed the cannon towards him. However, Garen immediately flew towards him as he shut off his main engine while he fell down from the sky. He had made use the momentum gained from the gravity and engine to change his trajectory.


    Boom!


    The cannon missed as a red line was drawn in the sky.

 896 Abrupt Change 2

    "Damn it! This guy is cunning to the point he''s still alive!" the assassin threw away the Deadlight Cannon that was on the verge of melting due to the high temperature. It was an inferior product as it could only be fired twice and could no longer be used.


    "That was a one-time-use explosion instrument. It''s pure momentum and possesses no lethality! Go after him!" Linda walked forward as she activated her Mech to chase after him.


    What had been thought to be a foolproof siege had failed. If they were to let their opponent escape, then they could no longer remain in the assassination business. This was especially true towards both of the Level Five assassins as they had only done so little before being pushed back by their opponent''s instrument. They were practically useless!


    The intense battle had raised some attention from the other side as Windling looked at the other side through the building''s gap and was stunned as she saw Garen''s Mech flying off at immense speed. At that crucial moment, Anda executed his killing moves twice in a row as the superimposed Endless Beam was now doubled. Even though his original killing move had low lethality, it would be greatly enhanced if its strength were doubled.


    Pew pew pew!!


    A huge amount of white beams had densely covered the whole street. This gave Windling and the other person a run for their money. Who knew that Anda, who was on the verge of death, could still release such a horrifying skill.


    An electric mist spread about around Anda''s body similar to the blood mist that could be seen when a person exploded. Although his Mech looked similar to a standard model from the outside, the inner section of his Mech had been modified so many times that it was practically one of the best in the region.


    However, his Body had suffered major damage as he had used Endless consecutively in such a short amount of time. 80% of the systems were down and the body had lost its combat capability as only the engine was still functional.


    Anda took this opportunity to fly up in the sky under the cover of the endless white beams towards Garen and the killers.


    It only took Windling two seconds to neutralize all the white beams with her Endless Neutralization. She looked up at the sky as she stared at Anda who was getting further away with a gloomy face. He was already out of the range of her Endless long range attack.


    "Chase after him! He can''t run that far!!"


    ***************


    Garen sat inside the cockpit without any change in expression while the Body was slicing through the air at high speed. He had been chased so many times that he had gotten used to it.


    Although the Body was able to enhance a person''s capability, it could only be a burden if it didn''t have any energy.


    All four assassins behind him were Elites from the Inner Courtyard. He could still easily solve the situation if he were in his usual condition. After all, a pilot was only slightly stronger than a commoner under normal circumstances. If there were only three people, he could kill them directly since he had a higher quality Willpower and combat skills that far surpassed theirs. He could have easily dealt with them with his skills.


    However, with the fourth person in the field, Garen''s lack of power and where his limits were were apparent to himself.


    With his current strength, it would be the top news if it were to spread that he had taken care of three elites of the same level without Resonance. One had to realize that even the strongest young elite within the Blackboard Region, Blackstar, could only fight against two people when he had been at his level.


    These Level Five Pilots were no ordinary pilots from common households. Those Pilots'' martial arts were filled with flaws. Excluding Garen, any same Level Pilot from the Inner Courtyard or even the Level Four could easily handle them.


    Any of the four assassins behind Garen could easily kill two normal Level Five Pilots. This was the clear difference between elites and non-elites.


    Take the Red-White Mech that Garen had killed as an example. If he were to encounter these four back then, he would be killed in an instant as these four people were equivalent to at least five Red-White Mechs when they teamed up. The Red-White back then had been a product of Leveling up at an incredible rate so all he could rely on was the strength of his Mech.


    "How embarrassing¡­ I can only run for my life since the Mech doesn''t have enough energy," Garen wasn''t anxious at all. Even if he had lost his Body, he wouldn''t be infected by the radiation sickness when exposed to the external environment, unlike other Pilots. He would at most escape from his cockpit and hide.


    Although he was being chased, his opponent''s energy sources were finite. They had at least exhausted half of their energy from all of the chasing, including this flight. Even if they had brought along their backup energy packs, they would still require time to stop and recharge their energy sources.


    This was especially the case for Linda as her energy should be similar to his, where it was on the verge of depletion.


    Garen smirked.


    Although the Instantaneous Box had been exhausted, he still had more items up his sleeves¡­


    The engine in Garen''s Mech would occasionally release a burst to avoid the long range attacks that came from behind with great precision. At the same time, he managed to reduce the air drag so he was always slightly faster than the Mechs behind chasing him at full speed.


    He rushed into the forest of radioactive stone pillars the instant he landed on the ground and quickly flew out from an unimaginable angle as he escaped once more.


    "This bastard!!" Linda gritted her teeth as she chased from behind.


    Warnings of energy depletion were constantly sent out to the Body. She was almost out of energy and yet the Black Mech in front of her could still fly about freely.


    Rumor had it that technically skilled Pilots were able to reduce the air drag to the extent that they were able to increase their speed and reduce energy consumption at the same time. The key to achieving this was the minor adjustment of one''s Willpower. She had seen this technique before from the powerhouses within the organization but she didn''t expect Garen to know this technique as well.


    "Even if you can reduce your energy consumption while flying, you''ll still have to deal with them even when I''m out of energy! You can''t possibly escape from us!" she muttered angrily. She had been so confident in this mission that she believed she could easily earn the hundred million Units bounty. However, she didn''t expect her target to be so cunning.


    "Fuck!!!" one of the assassin pilots shouted through the communication device out of the blue.


    "Rainstorm, what are you doing!" Linda saw the Mech behind her jolted.


    "The high energy fan has run out of juice!" Rainstorm cried in frustration. "We wouldn''t have let him slip through our fingers this easily if we knew that he was a Level Five Pilot!"


    "I''d done a background check on this kid. He''s a normal Pilot that came from the Outer Courtyard, but how could he possesses such a powerful and high-quality Willpower training method?! Furthermore, he possessed the quality of a normal Pilot when he was in his first year and yet he has suddenly become a Level Five Pilot whose skill has risen so quickly recently with this training method. One could dismiss him as a talent who went unnoticed if he were a Level Four, or perhaps the Level Five Crouched Eagle Talon is not a big deal. However, this high-quality Level Five training method is definitely something! He''s only in his third year too! There are only a few others in this year with a high-quality Level Five Willpower and each of them has a very powerful background! He''s definitely hiding something big from everyone!" the other Pilot said in a deep tone.


    "Our employer has sent his men to that bastard''s home in hopes of finding some clue. If he can''t find anything there, the least we can do is to kidnap his family and threaten him. Hehe, if we are able to reveal the secret to boost the Level of Willpower within a short amount of time to the public, do you think the Blackboard''s higher-ups will let him off the hook?" the last Pilot started smirking.


    "Only us here know that this bastard possesses a unique Level Five Willpower. Since our employer isn''t afraid of breaking the rules, why should we be!" Rainstorm smirked. "Perhaps the reason why our employer is willing to go this far is to get his hands on this bastard''s unique training method!"


    As these people mused with one another, they soon followed Garen to a huge crack in the ground. It was pitch black inside and was filled with teeth-like spikes as they crossed over one another. From afar, it looked like the ground had opened up its big jagged mouth.


    Garen took a few turns as he went into the crevice and disappeared.


    "Fuck! Chase after him!"


    Linda was the first to react as she was also the only one who possessed resonance among the others. Although she wasn''t operating her own Exclusive Mech, she was still very fast in responding to situations.


    The rest tried to catch up but they started to lose track of Garen''s Willpower. It seemed that the crevice possessed a strong radioactive disruption field.


    Radiation came in many forms in the radiation belt. According to the existing records, scientists have identified at least six hundred types of radiation and there were at least a thousands of them that could be detected but were unknown to them. As for those that were unable to be detected but had palpable effects, there were so many that the scientists had lost count. This was the reason why humans were very afraid of the radiation belt.


    They went inside without hesitation as they flew through the gaps in pitch black condition at high speed.


    Within these crevices, a few radioactive people in mini Mechs could be seen by the walls as they seemed to be harvesting something from the wall.


    "Who''s there!!?" a few eagle shaped Mechs started levitating beside these group of radioactive people as it rumbled.


    "This is the Nottingham Household''s Mineral Zone. Outsiders shall leave immediately!!" one of the Eagle Mechs shouted.


    The other two Eagle Mechs started to levitate and attempted to block the four Blackboard Mechs. They were a Level Three and Level Two respectively. It seemed that the Nottingham Household was not an ordinary household as they were able to deploy Pilots of such levels even in these places.


    If it were a typical Mineral Zone, an employer would typically deploy a Level One Pilot to monitor these radioactive people in Mini Mechs instead of deploying a Level Two or Three.


    "Die!"


    One of the Blackboard assassins increased his speed and clashed against two of the Eagles.


    Pew pew! Boom!!


    Two of the Eagles turned into fireballs instantly as they shattered into pieces. These pieces then crashed into the stone walls, causing deaths and serious injuries among the radioactive people.


    The fiery fireball had lit up the whole crevice.


    Linda and the rest didn''t stop as they continued chasing after Garen who was just in front of them.


    "Hold on just a bit more! He should be running out of energy soon! He can last ten minutes at most!" Linda shouted.


    The group of four could see Garen flying gracefully between the crevices far away. When they were about to catch up to him, he immediately took a few turns and wriggled out of their grasps.


    Soon they encountered another group of Eagle Mechs. However, they seemed to have received advance intel and started attacking them without any hesitation.


    Two Level Fives led the team of at least ten Level Two Mechs as they approached them. They possessed tremendous power and these two Level Five Pilots seemed to be the top dogs in this Mineral Mine.


    One could obviously see that this mineral mine was unusually important as a deploying a Level Five in this zone wasn''t something a typical household could do. No one had heard of the Nottingham Household before and these four assassins didn''t care in the least. If they could deal with a Level Five elite from the Inner Courtyard, a Level Five from the Outer Courtyard meant nothing to them.


    Within seconds, these four had taken care of the group of Mechs without much difficulty.


    The four assassins moved forwards as explosions reverberated behind them.


    They were at a loss as they couldn''t understand why these people were attacking them instead of Garen.


    The whole area had become quiet after two of the Level Five Pilots had been taken care of and no more Pilots dared to attack them. Afterall, a Level Five Pilot was a household''s strongest soldier and if they were disposed of this easily¡­ This would be considered a huge loss for any Household.


    However, these four assassins didn''t expect something right after they had flown away from the scene.


    The old Level Five Pilot was still alive as he struggled with all his might to send a distress signal while retching up blood in the Cockpit.


    "Emergency! Emergency¡­ Unknown Blackboard Mech intruders have appeared. Their strength¡­ is above Level Five¡­ Requesting Annihilation¡­" the old Pilot shut his eyes after muttering his last word as his Mech which had its cockpit pierced through fell into the endless abyss.


    Garen and the assassins whom he had lured over did not realize that a storm was slowly brewing because of their chase.


    Far away in one of the bases of White Light.


    As countless Mechs kept taking off and landing at the base, a pure white Great Light Mech slowly opened its eyes.


    A transparent monitor appeared in front of him, showing clearly the torment that had been done by the four Blackboard Mechs towards the Nottingham Household''s Pilots.


    "My Mastery Energy Mine!! Someone dared to lay their hands on my Mineral Mine!! Looks like I have yet to kill enough people¡­"


    A horrifying white aura slowly appeared around her body as it formed into a poisonous snake which resembled a ribbon. The ten-kilometer square base started to tremble from her Willpower alone.


    "What are you doing, Nottingham! Our Lord has sent you here to defend the base, not to kill people!" a melodious female tone came from his side. It was from a red slender looking Female Mech which was holding a blade and shield.


    "What am I planning to do? Hahaha¡­ Unlike that useless Danfur, I am not a coward who ran away after being beaten by Red-Whale!" Nottingham moved as her Body turned into a streak of white light before flying far away out of the base.


    "Everything finally calmed down and some idiot decides to agitate this madman! Damn it! This is going to be troublesome!" The Red Mech was very annoyed as she immediately turned around and flew towards the communication tower.

 897 Accident 1

    Garen stuck his Body close to the black stone wall, as he tried to camouflage himself with his surroundings.


    The Willpower around his body changed his appearance into a complex pattern slowly like a chameleon. This helical pattern covered his entire body as he managed to use his colorless Willpower to merge himself with the stone wall before him.


    This was the Crouched Eagle Talon''s Exclusive Color Changing Cloaking Technique. This was different from the Crouched Eagle Talon of the Outer Courtyard as Professor Van Doe had modified this training Method to the point it had two new stronger abilities, which were Black Wind and Color Changing Cloaking Technique.


    This was the main difference between the simplified version of the Crouched Eagle Talon which was spread in the Outer Courtyard and Van Doe''s Crouched Eagle Talon.


    Vroom vroom!!


    Four Black Mechs flew past Garen, not realizing that their target was hiding in the corner.


    He could still hear Linda and the others scolding one another repeatedly.


    Garen sat quietly inside the Cockpit as insects resembling fireflies drifted around him while glowing green.


    After he felt that the assassins had flown very far in, Garen gently reached out his hand and grabbed the dot of light. The small green insect crawled about in his hand. It looked like a beetle as its wings were glowing green.


    "Got rid of them easily," he laughed softly as he ignited his engine and maneuvered his camouflage Mech out of the crevice. He knew that once the assassins felt something was amiss, they would immediately turn around to look for him.


    However, he would have left the area safely before that happened.


    As he flew out of the crevice slowly, he noticed that the surroundings were very quiet as either all the Pilots from the Nottingham Household had evacuated the area or all of them had perished. Garen felt apologetic towards these innocent people as if it weren''t for him luring his enemies here, these people wouldn''t have died.


    He had relied on his aura and cloaked himself to evade any detection from these people so they were welcomed with the four assassins instead of him.


    "I will remember your sacrifices," Garen turned around and looked at the base of the cliff which was on the verge of collapse as he flew directly towards the nearest supply point.


    *************


    "Something''s not right! Why can''t we detect any signal at the front!?" Linda immediately stopped the chase.


    Rainstorm, who was beside her, had started to suspect that something was amiss as well.


    "Perhaps that bastard has some sort of Exclusive cloaking ability?"


    If I have a cloaking ability, what would I do if I were being chased?" Linda rubbed her forehead as she pondered. She had been in the assassination business for a few decades and this was the first time she had met such a troublesome newbie.


    "If I were him, I would make use of this cloaking ability and head towards a troublesome place in order to let the others slow us down. At the same time, I would find an opportunity to conceal myself!" one of the assassins spoke.


    "Damn it! That bastard must have run outside! Chase after him!" Linda clenched her fist.


    "He''s definitely going towards the nearest supply point to get some energy batteries! We¡­" before the assassin had managed to finish his sentence, he looked up as if he''d seen something unimaginable.


    Linda and the others looked over curiously to realize that the light around the assassin''s body surface was rather strange as it was brighter than usual.


    Vroom¡­


    A deep horse stampeding noise could be faintly heard from the sky as a streak of red and yellow light flew towards them from afar.


    The meteor broke the sound barrier as it drew a long, smoky yellow tail. The blinding light shone onto four of the Mechs as their Mechs reflected a faint metallic luster.


    "What is that!?" Rainstorm felt something bad was about to happen.


    "I don''t know¡­"


    "What is that?! That''s an Inheriting Pilot!! Run for your lives!" Linda lost her cool as she turned around and escaped without any hesitation.


    The remaining three Mechs paused for a moment before following in her footsteps. They had completely disregarded their energy consumption as they tried to escape with the maximum output.


    Four streams of blue fire behind their back resembled wings.


    "Great Light Chain!!" a faint tyrannical voice could be heard from the sky.


    Suddenly, a few thin pure-white chains were shot out from the red yellow meteor as it zoomed towards the four assassins at a speed similar to that of a Laser Cannon projectile. The chains caught up to them easily before they tied their targets up in a matter of seconds.


    These chains became tighter for three of them as it reacted to their Willpower''s Energy Field. It appeared to be becoming tighter the more they struggled.


    "What is this!?"


    Linda was stunned as she immediately took out a green viscous substance and gripped it tightly in her hand.


    It popped and the liquid exploded, turning into a cloud of green mist. Within the mist, a face appeared as it slowly opened its eyes.


    At the same time, her Mech was covered with a layer of green mist. At the center of her Mech, a face which spanned ten meters in diameter opened its eyes slowly as it glared at the Great Light Mech behind her.


    Two streams of green lights were shot out as they hit the Great Light Mech at a speed faster than that of a laser.


    "The Light of Numbness? It''s the disciple of Bear Angus!! Hahahaha! It''s worth coming here after all!!" ear-piercing laughter came within the Great Light Mech. "I''ll go and sort this out with Bear after I''ve captured you. I''d been considering avenging my brothers'' injuries from last time!"


    The green light was able to halt her for a split second before the Great Light Mech dove downwards and pulled the chain along with the four Mechs towards her.


    The four of them did everything they could to escape from the chain but to no avail. It was as if the chain was an illusion and yet it was able to tie securely onto their Body''s back.


    Their faces turned pale within their cockpits as they were reeled in.


    "This is the end¡­" Linda shivered.


    Boom!!


    Her final view was of countless white Flood of Light covering the sky as they went after her.


    **************


    Far away on a black field.


    Garen looked up at the red yellow meteor which sped through the sky towards the black crevice.


    He felt a faint wave of vibration as if it was an oppression which came from the root of Willpower.


    "A powerhouse has arrived¡­" his heart sank. He was confident in escaping from these four, but this person was way out of his league. It was definitely a powerhouse with its own Exclusive Mech. Once a powerhouse had its own Exclusive Mech, excluding the troublesome power of Resonance, even the basic abilities of an Exclusive Mech which far surpassed that of the standard model''s were troublesome enough to deal with.


    His cloaking technique that had been used to evade detection from his enemies earlier might not work on this person. Who knew what sort of advance detecting instruments were installed on that Exclusive Mech?


    "I wonder what happened to Linda and her team. Judging from the looks of it, this person should be the powerhouse of the Nottingham Household¡­" Garen laughed at their misfortune as he went towards the nearest supply point merrily.


    As he flew forward for about ten minutes, The resonance behind him could no longer be felt. He flew around the deserted radioactive field and occasionally spotted yellow puddles. Yellow acidic mist kept vaporizing from the water and the white bones of worms and corpses could be seen by the edge of the puddles.


    Dirty, giant grey mice that were at least a meter long could be seen climbing up from the edges of the puddles.


    He looked left and right and all he could see was the desert which spanned towards the horizon and his Mech was left with 2% of energy left.


    He had no choice but to stop after a few minutes.


    Garen had already prepared to move forward on his own in the hazmat suit.


    He didn''t bring much drink and food with him as his main parcel was in the care of Anda''s team.


    He flew until the smallest bit of energy was left in his Mech.


    Garen looked around and couldn''t see anything. He then looked at the map and the nearest supply point was a small radioactive people''s village, which was a ten minutes flight away. It was not enough for him to reach his destination with the energy left.


    As an individual weapon, the Mech was considered very powerful. However, its long-distance navigation was far inferior to the Battleship, which was the reason why Battleships were used to transport Mechs to their desired locations. No matter how powerful a Mech''s energy furnace was, it wasn''t as long-lasting as those of Battleships. Afterall, the battleship was designed with transportation and navigation in mind. In this era, the main battle forces were the miniaturized battle jets and Mechs.


    Perhaps there existed a Mech that had a long-lasting energy furnace, but it would require a Pilot of a higher level in order to operate it. If a powerful Mech were to be operated by an unqualified Pilot, it would be too much for the Pilot to handle during the activation phase. The end result would either be the Pilot being unable to move it or suffering severe injuries from attempting to forcefully move it.


    Kachak!


    Garen opened the cockpit and walked out with his black hazmat suit on. He jumped lightly and landed firmly on the field. He even had a small staff in his hand, which was the Staff of Absolute Yin that he always carried along with him.


    As the cockpit behind him slowly shut, the Mech''s eye dimmed as the energy source was completely depleted.


    Garen looked around and did not see any sign of human activity.


    The largest zone was the radioactive belt after leaving the city regions. This planet''s surface area was much larger as compared to of Earth.


    "I need to find a fuel source for the Mech as soon as possible."


    After recalling the closest supply point, Garen immediately sprinted towards the location.


    After a few steps of running, a few yellow earthworms sprung up from the ground and lunged towards his mask. These earthworms had only one bloody eye and mouth, similar to that of a spider. It kept opening and closing its mouth, giving off a repulsive vibe.


    Garen gently flicked these earthworms away but his powerful fingers didn''t seem to do any harm towards them. These earthworms then sprung up again after falling onto the ground.


    Hmpf!


    Garen scoffed as a big blue jagged mouth opened up from his left palm. Countless blue tentacles sprouted out from it and pulled the earthworms into its mouth, ingested them and swallowed them.


    The potential of the Hellfrost Peacock Technique had started to surface as his ability Devour finally showed signs of prowess after the slow evolution.


    The strange radiation from the earthworms entered into his body while they were being devoured through his palms. However, under the control of Garen''s Willpower, it stopped spreading as it reached his left shoulder. It then formed into small seeds, which were prototypes of the Distorted Seed.


    The huge mouth that appeared on his palm had torn his hazmat suit apart as well. Hence, Garen decided to rip the hazmat suit away from his left palm. As he was about to feel the difference between the radiations, his expression immediately changed and he sprinted far away from where he was standing.


    After he left, the pure white Mech slowly appeared behind the Black Mech. The green diamond shaped crystal on its body was structured in such a manner that it formed a huge green light network. This network was clearly in the shape of the word ''light'' in the universal language.


    It was the Great Light Mech from White Light.


    "Aren''t you fast at running away!" Nottingham scanned her surroundings.


    "You managed to lure people in and kill two of my Level Five underlings! If I were to let you escape this easily, doesn''t that imply that I, Nottingham, am practically useless?" She scoffed. She raised her left shoulder and a small compartment opened up under her arm, revealing a bottle of bubbling dark green liquid.


    She used her other hand to pull out the test tube and threw it in front of her.


    The test tube broke and the green liquid exploded into a cloud of green mist, spreading into the surroundings slowly.


    Soon, clear footprints appeared on the field. These footprints were illuminated green and they stretched forward in the direction Garen was running towards.


    "This way."


    Nottingham smirked as she followed the green footprints.

 898 Accident 2

    Garen ran forward hurriedly. His enhanced physical qualities allowed him to move at a great speed for an hour and a half without any difficulty.


    He could vaguely see the edges of a dilapidated village in front of him.


    Suddenly, he stopped, thinking and muttering to himself for a moment, before his Willpower shifted again and concealed his entire body completely before he fumbled towards the fence at the side of the village.


    This village resembled a ferocious-looking fortress that was covered in sharp spikes. It was completely grey and there were puncture marks and holes that were left behind by cannons everywhere. He could vaguely hear the sound of human cries echoing from the inside. Meanwhile, a few stray dogs with festering bodies that were leaking pus from the sides roamed around the empty areas outside. The ground was barren and filled with potholes formed by cannon balls and explosions.


    This was the true portrayal of most of the villages in the radiation belt. As the people here had neither strong nor sturdy protective measures, it was completely impossible for them to confront the powerful mutated creatures. Furthermore, it was even harder for them to withstand the various types of strong and abnormal radiation.


    Garen circled the fortress once while evading a few peep holes.


    The sky darkened gradually while a large cluster of grey clouds floated across the sky. They gathered closer before becoming denser above his head. He could hear the sound of thunder vaguely and realized that it might rain soon.


    Garen carefully altered the footprints that he had left behind when he arrived and rearranged them as if he were walking in the direction of the fortress. Next, he looked for a smelly yellow pond and immersed himself inside it gently.


    Just as he entered the water, a large swarm of underwater blood-sucking insects that resembled flies made buzzing noises beside him and flew over. However, they collapsed when they were killed by the tremors that were formed when Garen used his Secret Techniques.


    He could not smell the disgusting stench from the water due to the filtration system in his hazmat suit. The Cold Radiation that was released from his palms blocked off the parts of the water that it touched and froze the liquid into ice immediately.


    Garen entered the pond gingerly.


    He felt the sticky liquid submerge his legs, lower abdomen, and finally his chest. It felt as if he was soaking in a pool of glue.


    Finally, his neck was the only part left. Garen relaxed his breathing and hugged the Staff of Absolute Yin tightly while sinking downwards slowly.


    Shh¡­


    "Warning! Warning! Warning! A large amount of toxic radioactive liquid has entered the face''s gas filtration system! Please change your hazmat suit quickly within one minute! Please change your hazmat suit quickly within one¡­" the sound stopped abruptly. The hazmat suit''s simple intelligence system had been completely eroded and destroyed.


    A pungent stench corroded through the hazmat suit suddenly before completely enveloping Garen''s entire body within it.


    A huge colony of radioactive mutated parasites was present in this liquid. These tiny creatures that resembled maggots writhed around constantly while attempting to burrow their way into Garen''s pores.


    However, they were destroyed and killed by the tremors that he produced constantly.


    Garen maintained this vibrating state slowly while concealing his qi.


    Earlier, his exceptionally sensitive five senses had been detecting serious threats all this while. He understood from the first moment that his strong opponent had definitely caught up to him. Therefore, he chose to escape quickly and immediately.


    However, the extremely thick radiation and venomous insects in the smelly pond where he was currently inside had cut him off from his sense of crisis completely. At the same time, it obscured his qi fully as well when he fused with the whole pond.


    Rare feelings of excitement filled Garen''s mind. A long, long time had passed since he had encountered and felt nervousness like this. He had not experienced the feeling of being suddenly and almost fatally pursued by an enemy or the adrenaline that came from the likelihood of a sudden death for an extremely long time. Stimuli like this allowed him to truly feel like he was living in this world on this planet.


    Despite hiding inside the pond now, he could still faintly feel thin shrouds of qi that guaranteed that a crisis was about to happen. Although it was much weaker now, it was definitely still present.


    "I''ll take a gamble. Since I can''t detect my opponent''s qi, it''s very likely that he can''t sense my current location either!" Garen''s mind became quiet while he tried to subdue his qi as best as he could.


    After a few continuous quakes, he soon realized that it was more convenient for him to use the Cold Radiation to speedily chase the harmful radioactive mutated insects away. Instead of suppressing a part of his Cold Radiation, he might as well allow it to disperse freely while lowering the rate of his heart beats simultaneously.


    As expected, these initiatives were extremely effective and it was clear that his opponent was securing his tracks according to his life qi.


    "If he still manages to discover me despite everything or chooses not to appear at all, the only thing I can do is lose a Soul Seed and reincarnate once again¡­!" Garen made up his mind and fell into a deep sleep as his heart rate slowed itself down gradually. This was the most effective way of preventing himself from being detected by the other party.


    His heart fell into a state of complete stillness quickly. Layers of ice and frost covered Garen''s body from head to toe fully. He was frozen into a large block of ice that sank into the depths of the pond. As his heart stopped beating, Garen''s consciousness became completely still as well and he became fully comatose.


    **************


    In front of the fortress beyond the pond, a spotless White Mech soon emerged slowly. It looked as if it had blinked out of thin air and was now standing upright at the head of the fort.


    Within Nottingham''s gaze, a light green silk thread that only she could see was constantly directing her towards the tracks of the escapees in front.


    "Huh?" the light green silk thread in front of her eyes trembled suddenly. It had been pointing towards the back of the fortress when it broke abruptly and became blurry before it was no longer able to detect directions anymore.


    "You can''t even find lifelines? Something''s up." an expression that indicated that she had discovered her opponent appeared on Nottingham''s face instantly.


    Her gaze fell on the fortress in front of her while she waved her hand casually.


    A white chain of light flew outwards suddenly and pierced through the numerous layers of defensive boards around the fortress continuously while making crackling noises. The sound of numerous human cries and moans of pain echoed from the inside. She could faintly hear a bout of flurried noises.


    Boom!


    The fortress'' heavy black metal main door was yanked and sent flying at once.


    Motley groups of soldiers with looks of despair on their faces were revealed inside. These people held firearms and simple cannons. All of them aimed their weapons at Nottingham but none of them dared to shoot.


    "Respected Mech Pilot, sir! We never¡­" an elderly man with white hair came forward and spoke loudly but was sent flying by one of Nottingham''s slanted chains before he could finish speaking. He fell on the faraway plains with a ''bang'' while the flesh on his body became a bloody mess. It looked as if he was no longer alive.


    "Of course I''m aware that you''ve already paid sufficient protection fees, but what does that matter?" sneered Nottingham. It was obvious that this was not her first time doing this as she was extremely familiar with this set of excuses.


    Terrified looks appeared on the crowds of men and women of various ages inside the fortress. A few soldiers who were clad in Miniature Mechs carried ray guns and old-fashioned cartridge firearms but could only stand on the spot helplessly as they were too afraid to even raise the barrels of their guns. Women who were carrying their children could only cover the mouths of their young tightly to prevent their cries from escaping.


    Some people were praying to God or a certain Forbidden Mech Pilot.


    Boom¡­


    The sound of thunder became clearer while dark clouds filled the sky as if a storm was about to begin at any time.


    While looking at the group of people that resembled lambs that did not even dare to breathe in front of her, Nottingham was filled with a sense of boredom suddenly.


    "How boring¡­ Hey kid, if you still refuse to come out, how about I kill every single person in front of me here?"


    After waiting for awhile, there were still no movements at all.


    "You''re doing this on purpose¡­ To think you were able to hide from my Lifeline Tracking!" Nottingham looked at her surroundings while cruel thoughts stirred in her mind.


    "If it''s going to be like this, I''ll just destroy this whole area completely!! Let''s see how you''ll hide then!"


    She sneered while her Body soared into the sky suddenly. Numerous pure white chains flew out of her hands continuously and dispersed throughout all four corners of the area while constantly charging towards the ground below despite the terrain.


    "Resonance Skill! Hurricane Chains!!!" Nottingham stretched both of her arms out widely while countless white chains flew out of her hands suddenly at once. They formed numerous white silk threads when they dispersed and flew downwards.


    While glancing over at these countless dazzling chains, one could see that there were actually more than thousands upon thousands of them!! Compared to Anda''s family''s Endless, it was clear that she had exceeded their numbers greatly. Endless could only make it seem like there was an abundance of a certain thing for a short time. In reality, Endless could only create a few hundred more of that item while the Hurricane Chains were able to create more than ten thousand of them at once. Moreover, every single one of these chains could overshadow the fully released Willpower of an average Level Three or Four Mech Pilot.


    While floating in the air, Nottingham removed an outer shell-like layer that covered the interior of her Cockpit slowly before exposing the inside of the Cockpit that was protected by transparent crystal glass.


    A cold-looking woman with white hair that resembled a lion''s mane sat upright in the driver''s seat. Both of her hands were pressing the buttons on the control panel while her fierce eyes that resembled that of a goshawk gazed on sharply and threateningly.


    She was appreciating the scene that was formed by the large amount of Resonance Skills that she had released. There was a terrifying hurricane comprised of 9999 chains of light which could destroy an entire area of a range of a few hundred meters within moments.


    Within the light chains, the fortress was constantly being pierced through and exploded before it collapsed. Some of the people inside were stabbed while others were killed by the explosions. Most of them were trampled to death by the panicked crowds. Fresh blood and the remains of the building flew everywhere while the fields outside became bumpy like the crater-filled surface of the moon instantly.


    Suddenly, her gaze was drawn towards a strange pond immediately.


    There were two light chains that clearly exploded within the vicinity of the pond earlier but it had not destroyed the pond at all. It seemed as though extremely cold air was being released at the bottom of the pond continuously while she could vaguely see something that was resisting the repercussions of the light chain explosions there.


    "Hiding here?!" the corners of Nottingham''s mouth curled up into a savage arc.


    She held both of her hands together before a pure white Light Sphere appeared there.


    She threw it downwards violently.


    Boom!!!


    The intense white light exploded suddenly while countless rays of light dispersed and scattered everywhere. The polluted pond water evaporated instantly during the explosions before a pale blue block of ice within the large amounts of gas exploded into smithereens. There was nothing else besides that.


    "Huh?"


    Nottingham furrowed his eyebrows.


    Inside the pond, Garen''s body had become extremely muscular. Actually, he had sunk further into the sludge at the bottom of the pond after the tremors from the last two light chain explosions before he was buried deep inside.


    Due to this, the following Light Sphere that exploded against his back violently now formed a large bloody wound there.


    He furrowed his brows slightly. He had regained consciousness for a moment because of the intense pain but continued to suppress himself determinedly.


    He knew that fighting an Inherited Level master with his current powers would undoubtedly be like countering a rock with an egg as the difference between their strength levels were too great! He could only have a chance of defeating his opponent if he either possessed his own personal Mech, grasped the Resonance Skills, achieved higher levels of his Living Secret Technique or upgraded his physical Attributes to thirty points on average.


    In this universe and age, Inherited Level Mech Pilots were top class professionals that could dominate their opponents. They would always be a highly ranked army general within the main forces.


    Nottingham''s eyebrows were knitted together tightly while a pure white Light Sphere appeared in her hands again. He wanted to continue probing this strange pond for awhile.


    "Nottingham! Would the genius that was known as the fifth-ranked member of White Light show such shameful behavior?" a faraway voice echoed over suddenly.


    Within the blurriness, a gust of pitch black wind blew over from a distance like a gigantic sandy tornado. The black wind pulled everything from the ground and everything that it sucked inside seemed to disappear without a trace as if it was a deep bottomless pit. It swallowed everything around it continuously and formed an ebony tornado that grew more and more violent.


    "Black wind? Is it someone from the Black Flood Party?" Bloodthirsty intentions appeared on Nottingham''s face immediately. "What good timing¡­ I heard that the Black Winds of the Black Flood Party possess terrifying powers. What a rare chance for me to encounter it today¡­"


    She glanced at the blue ice block in the pond below her and sneered coldly while furiously flinging another Light Sphere that was even bigger than the previous one.


    Boom!!!


    While the sound of the Light Sphere''s explosion rang out, another loud noise could be simultaneously heard from the Mech that he was piloting when it collided frontally with a gigantic black tornado.


    Within the sludge at the bottom of the pond, the Light Sphere exploded suddenly and caused a large amount of mud to gasify. The icy blue ice block was blown to pieces instantly, vaguely exposing Garen''s body below.


    This surprise attack that was amplified by Nottingham''s Inherited Level strength had cracked the ice block above Garen''s body instantly and pushed him further into the ground violently after the explosion.


    Garen opened his eyes gradually and exhaled resolutely while detecting the two Inherited Level Mech Pilots that were flying far away from the fight while white light and black winds intertwined in the sky and whizzed constantly.


    He withdrew his Willpower and crawled out of the deep pit with much difficulty. Although his body was badly damaged from the explosion, his restoration abilities from his Potential Points and his automatic healing from the Peacock''s body were currently repairing his bodily wounds at a speed that could be seen by the naked eye.


    As long as he was not completely killed in one hit, he would always have the ability to heal himself and his serious injuries.


    Garen patted his body and removed the Staff of Absolute Yin that he was holding against his chest tightly. Suddenly, the expression on his face darkened when he looked at the Staff of Absolute Yin in front of his own eyes.


    More than half of the gemstone at the very top of the staff had been destroyed!


    He used his hands to rub the remaining gemstones quickly and did not move at all after that.


    Garen''s emotions sank to an all-time low instantly!

 899 Worsen 1

    The Staff of Absolute Yin was the only thing that could provide him with Potential Points. However, it had been completely blown to pieces during this accident.


    Garen stared at the staff in his hands and put it down quietly after a few moments.


    He had never been one to overly rely on Potential Points and a long time had passed since he had been the Garen of the Secret Technique World that had to depend on Potential Points to improve by leaps and bounds. Without the Staff of Absolute Yin, his suddenly improved speed would now slow down slightly. Meanwhile, the hundred-odd Potential Points that he had accumulated previously would only be sufficient for a period of time.


    While standing up from the deep pit, the wound on Garen''s back healed itself quickly.


    He looked at the black cloud and white light that were constantly blending and intertwining with each other in the faraway sky. They were actually two main Inherited Level Mech Pilots who were currently engaging in battle.


    "What a scoundrel¡­"


    Suddenly, a male voice could be heard from the side vaguely.


    Garen raised his eyes and looked over. He could already detect this person''s Willpower much earlier on before they had revealed themselves. It was extremely familiar.


    A man in a black hazmat suit was standing beside a deep pit nearby quietly. White smoke was continuously wafting out of the exploded pit under his foot.


    There was a filtration helmet over this man''s face that resembled a gas mask that had two pipes at the back, making it impossible to see his face clearly.


    "Anda, you''re not dead yet?" Garen smiled while lifting his feet quickly and walking in the direction of the other man. As expected, the master of the Black Flood Party was probably a guardian that his teacher had called to assist him. Otherwise, it would be unlikely for a rescuer to appear so coincidentally in a remote place like this.


    Therefore, he would need to leave this place as soon as possible during this gap in time.


    Both of them ran in the direction of the ruins quickly. Their movements were completely in sync during this period of time, as if they had planned everything beforehand.


    After going through the ruins of the fortress for a while, Garen discovered a perfect energy battery immediately and carried it on his shoulder. Anda found a large box of energy batteries that he was looking for as well.


    Unlike Garen who lifted it in one go and carried it on his shoulder, Anda could only pick up a few energy batteries with higher densities from the box quietly.


    When he saw Garen pick up a few hundred kilograms worth of energy batteries from the ground in one go easily, Anda''s face contorted for awhile. Finally, he could only helplessly glance at the energy box that he had found before giving up.


    "You don''t want it?" Garen asked when he walked over and pointed at the energy box in which only a few energy batteries had been taken.


    "¡­"


    "I''ll take it then," Garen grabbed it with his other hand and simply carried the entire box of energy batteries off the ground in an extremely relaxed manner.


    Anda''s eyelids twitched and his mouth gaped open as if he was about to say something. However, he did not speak in the end.


    Once both of them had found their required items, they ran quickly in the direction where their Mechs were previously located.


    Garen carried two boxes of goods on his own. He did not plan to conceal his physical fitness this time. He was moving faster now than when he had arrived. When he arrived, he was constantly getting rid of the tracks that he left behind. However, he did not have to do that when he was returning.


    They returned to the location of their Mechs within a few minutes.


    As expected, Anda''s Mech was parked here as well.


    "I saw that you had left your Mech here and I came over after hearing the fighting noises over here," Anda shrugged behind him. He looked on as Garen flung the heavy boxes of energy batteries in both of his hands on the ground.


    Bang bang!


    Two heavy banging noises could be heard before two deep depressions appeared on the ground when it sank downwards.


    "This freak!" Anda''s mind was filled with fear. Regardless of his combat standard, if he were to use this abnormal strength on a person, they would definitely suffer serious injuries if they did not die. He made a mental note to avoid clashing with Garen in the event that he did not have his Mech.


    Both of them remained silent and opened the energy boxes in their respective Mechs quickly while dumping the energy batteries inside at once.


    Garen dumped more than half of a box''s worth of energy batteries inside and filled the Mech''s energy to the brim at once. He carried the remaining ones into the Cockpit on his own, making it obvious that he had no intention of sharing it with Anda.


    Garen had just entered the Cockpit when he immediately heard an unknown message that was left behind.


    ''I can only hold him off for twenty minutes. It will be up to you after that, be careful.''


    The message did not have a beginning or an end but Garen understood immediately that this was probably a message from the Inherited Level master of the Black Flood Party.


    "Twenty minutes¡­" he took a deep breath. "That''s enough!"


    The red warning light went out and was replaced by numerous blue light sources that were fully charged and lit up brightly. They illuminated his face in pale blue and white shades.


    After touching the control panel in front of him gently, Garen investigated the state of the Mech''s damage. Many parts of it were damaged but there were no major issues. There would not be any problems as long as the engine was still working.


    Willpower was transferred into the Mech''s Body quickly.


    ''Launching engines at full power!''


    Without taking the energy consumption into account, blue flares that resembled a waterfall flowed down the back of the Mech''s entire Body suddenly.


    Boom!!


    While the entire Mech trembled for a while, a large and deep pit appeared on the ground when it was hit by the spurting flares. Next, Garen flew forward in one direction.


    "Hey, Garen! Wait for me!" Anda flew closely behind.


    "Why are you following me?"


    "When I invited you to join me in the beginning, I was considering if the guys that you provoked would be able to make good scapegoats. This clearly proves my initial brilliance now!" said Anda in a somewhat pleased tone.


    "If it wasn''t for you, I wouldn''t have been able to escape from danger so easily either. I was initially certain that I would die this time! You''re actually a great supporter!"


    "So now that we''re even, you don''t have a reason to follow me anymore!" answered Garen simply.


    "I realized suddenly that following you has given me the best fortune I''ve ever experienced in my life!" Anda had made up his mind to latch on to influential people. Upon discovering that Garen was actually a supporter of the Black Flood Party, only an idiot would not follow this group closely behind after finding out this secret or give up an opportunity to escape danger like this! His own household was stronger than the Black Flood Party that was basically scum!


    The two Mechs staggered but flew quickly, one behind the other. Soon, they had left two light grey marks in the sky.


    Garen could not be bothered with that other guy Anda. The troublesome part now was that the guardian of Black Flood Party could only hold his opponent off for twenty minutes. If he was unable to break away from Nottingham''s fatal pursuit within those twenty minutes, he would truly fall into a dangerous situation this time.


    The key point now was that he was too afraid to turn back and return to the original path. That route was too exposed and people with the slightest bit of awareness would definitely arrange for their subordinates to conceal themselves along this path.


    Therefore, it was particularly important for him to find an escape route.


    While sitting in the Cockpit, Garen glanced at the damaged Staff of Absolute Yin while a trace of ruthlessness flashed across his eyes.


    "Nottingham¡­ I''ll make you pay for this next time!" he had been badly injured while his precious treasure had been destroyed. He did not even get half of his desired Mech materials during this trip and ended up using an Instantaneous Paper Box instead. After being subjected to such terrible damages, he had simply suffered great losses.


    "You''re merely returning after being forced to escape with a body full of injuries. Are you resigned to that?!" the sound of Anda''s intercom echoed behind him.


    "Do you have any other ideas?"


    Garen knew that this man was well-informed. He often had clever thoughts inside the Region and he was certain that he had a particular plan in mind now.


    "Nottingham is the fifth-ranking Mech prodigy in White Light and he''s known as one of the Great Lights. However, prodigies are always incredibly arrogant. Therefore, he has definitely offended many people before¡­" sneered Anda cunningly. "There are surely a few people who would hope for the opposite of a peaceful life for him¡­"


    "Why don''t you tell me your plan?" Garen had always been too lazy to use this part of his brain. Now that there were people who specialized in this aspect, he could naturally relax.


    "Although the White Light Organization is very powerful, it is still an merely an organization at that is filled with internal disagreements and conflict¡­ From what I know, Nottingham''s nemesis Anlusa is another one of the seven Great Lights who cannot get along with Nottingham at all. Both of them have always been at odds so we just need to inform her that Nottingham has been surrounded by powerhouses from the Black Flood Party. If you could contact your Teacher¡­" a sinister smile appeared on Anda''s face again.


    "Do you think it''s so simple? Even if she was surrounded, she would still release a call for help before she died, right?" asked Garen while furrowing his eyebrows.


    "Of course it won''t be simple. However, conditions are merely things that are created by people¡­ While there are places where one can transmit messages easily, there are definitely other places where communication is impossible¡­" said Anda mysteriously.


    "You''re saying lie low beforehand to allow White Light''s Anlusa to obstruct the support teams while my Teacher ambushes her while she''s alone?" Garen furrowed his eyebrows. This plan was actually very possible, but he would need to safely transmit his message to White Light''s Anlusa on the other side first. This was difficult because both sides were in warring states. Therefore, their messages would undergo strict encryption. Furthermore, they would change their encryption methods after a certain period of time. If they were able to decipher these messages easily, they could simply become the decoding officers in the intelligence departments of the army by now. Individuals who could easily decipher their enemy''s decrypted messages would be undisputed trump cards and first-rate talents in any force.


    The second difficulty was that his Teacher in the Black Flood Party would not listen to plans properly. Moreover, it was usually the teachers who instructed the students, not the other way around. Meanwhile, the great distance created an issue with whether his Teacher would be able to arrive in time.


    "You have good ideas but it will be difficult to put them into practice. Do you have any way of getting into White Light''s encrypted information channels?" Garen continued to ask.


    "I have a friend who managed to accidentally get into the decrypted channel that White Light is currently using." he could tell at once that Anda was not being fully honest when he answered. It was obvious that this person was a highly secretive individual.


    "We don''t have a great success rate," Garen pondered carefully for a while and shook his head. "Try thinking about the losses that we incurred during this trip. We didn''t do much but suffered terrible injuries and heavy losses instead." He had initially planned to come out and personally look for his little brother and the others. His other goal was to train his Mech Controlling Skills for awhile. Looking for materials for his Exclusive Mech was merely an excuse. However, he had not expected that he would encounter these incidents instead.


    "Spending some money to reward those who forge alloy as one of the materials of Exclusive Mechs should not be a problem, right? You could just release a few quests asking others to help you. Since you came out all this way on your own, you would surely have another goal," Anda reasoned. "I have another plan. Since Nottingham has been pursuing you all this while, don''t you want to breathe a long sigh of relief?"


    "What''s your plan?" Garen was really curious now. Nottingham was an Inherited Level Mech Pilot who could kill the strongest Level Five Mech Pilot within seconds. This guy merely possessed normal Level Five powers and did not even have Resonance Degrees. Did he really have a way of retaliating against an Inherited Level Mech Pilot?


    "Mastery Energy Ores, have you heard of them? Supply ores that need to be melted in the Mechs of Inherited Level individuals. I discovered a canyon when I was coming over here previously that may be the reason why you were being pursued. You lured the Mech Pilot guards that mined for Nottingham and killed all of them. It would be surprising if she wasn''t furious," said Anda in a relaxed manner. This guy certainly had a nimble mind as he was able to make accurate guesses by connecting a series of inferences and verified information to make the entire truth of the situation come to light.


    "Are you talking about¡­ stealing from the mine?"


    "Correct! Mastery Energy Ores need to be stored in extremely low and freezing temperatures. These items are continuously needed by Inherited Level Mech Pilots as well because all Mech Pilots constantly need to melt new alloy into their own Mech Bodies. Therefore, these things are always used as universal exchanging currency among Inherited Level Mech Pilots. After all, they don''t lack Universal Units at all as the only thing that they require more of are resources that will help them improve," explained Anda quickly.


    "Lead the way!"


    "Follow me!"


    Anda did not say anything else before turning around and charging towards a new direction.


    A short while later, both of them returned to the front of a deathly quiet large crevice again. The inside of the canyon that was filled with interlocking saw-like growths was completely quiet except for the whistling sound of wind.


    Two Mechs passed the teeth-like cracks, one after the other. He did not know what techniques Anda was using to be able to find a grey wall immediately without having to detour at all. This wall did not look any different from the other stone walls around them.


    He raised his hand and punched it violently.


    Boom!


    A large hole appeared on the wall of the mountain while dense white cold air surged out from the inside instantly.


    When he looked inside, he could see clusters of identical icy blue ores that were the same size as energy batteries stacked inside neatly like a little hill.


    These ores had blue metallic surfaces while slight shape changes had occurred throughout the areas that had somewhat higher temperatures. It looked as if they were in a state where they could melt.

 900 Worsen 2

    "So many!!!" even Anda was shocked by the contents of the cave before him. "No one would even sell one of these Mastery Energy Ores on the market for less than ten million Units¡­ I wouldn''t be able to use all of these either¡­"


    There were more than a thousand pieces in front of him here!


    Layers upon layers of blue rectangular brick-like objects were stacked on each other. At a glance, he could tell that there were at least ten thousand of them!


    "I''m rich!!! I''m rich!!! Hahaha!!" Anda leaped over while laughing maniacally. He jumped into the pile of Mastery Energy Ores and rolled about.


    Garen''s heart was currently involuntarily pounding in his chest as well. He had experienced many worlds but had never seen riches worth hundred of billions in front of him at one time. His emotions became slightly stressed as well. These things were items that were needed by Inherited Level Mech Pilots were always in short supply!


    "Stop wasting time and take as many as you carry quickly. Go immediately!" although he did not know how Anda had discovered such a hidden mining spot, the most important task right now was to take all of these riches away hurriedly!


    "You''re right!" Anda forced himself to suppress his emotions and calm down slightly. Although his sight was still tinted by feelings of unsuppressable frenzy, at least he was much better now than when he was dizzy with success earlier.


    A problem had emerged. How would they be able to take all of these Mastery Energy Ores away when they were so many of them?


    The Inherited Level Mech Pilots were the only ones who were authorized to use Space Equipment while the others with lower level Willpower did not have the same right and could only carry them with their hands.


    If they planned on using both of their Mechs to lift all ten thousand pieces of Mastery Energy Ores, they were merely looking down on these little Mastery Energy Ores as the weight of these items were actually three times heavier than energy batteries!


    The weight of more than ten thousand pieces was simply terrifying.


    A box of one hundred energy batteries would weigh almost one hundred kilograms while more than ten thousand energy batteries would weigh over ten thousand kilograms!! They would weigh almost ten tonnes, while the Mastery Energy Ores were three times heavier!


    The current amount weighed almost one hundred tonnes¡­


    A hundred tonnes!


    After converting the weight, Anda was not the only one who seized the items maniacally. Despite possessing physical fitness that greatly surpassed that of regular people, Garen''s eyelids began to twitch wildly. If his body could reach an average of thirty points, he could consider this, but now¡­


    "Take as much as you can!" Garen stepped forward determinedly, jumped down from his Mech at once and began to carry piles of Mastery Energy Ores into his Cockpit. He added more energy batteries into his Mech worriedly and filled up his slightly depleted energy resources once again.


    Unfortunately, he could only carry a few hundred pieces before he was exhausted. Without Space Equipment, these things were far too dense to the point where their weight would overload most Mechs. Garen''s Mech was Blackboard''s outstanding military system Mech. It was a Captain Level Mech that given to squad captains like himself as its functions were slightly more powerful than regular Blackboard Mechs. However, once it was filled with three hundred pieces of Mastery Energy Ores, he could only lament helplessly and look on while leaving the rest of this big pile of riches behind.


    Meanwhile, Anda was could not bear it at all. After carrying more than ten pieces with much difficulty, he began panting from exhaustion. His Mech frequently reminded him that there were insufficient resources for the journey back. When its weight increased greatly, the Mech would use up even more resources. However, he had not taken enough energy batteries earlier¡­


    Both of them finally suppressed the greedy intentions in their minds and backed out of the cave. After exchanging glances with the other man, Garen grabbed a rock before flinging it inside both furiously and precisely. It struck the automatic cooling unit inside coincidentally.


    A clicking noise could be heard as the cooling unit leaked gas slowly. It released a large amount of unknown white gas before the temperature inside the cave rose rapidly.


    "What a shame¡­ Truly," Anda shook his head and sighed. Once the Mastery Energy Ores were removed as individual pieces, if they were not stored at low temperatures, they would become deformed and deteriorate before becoming another useless metal. Moreover, they would also release a lot of heat energy.


    "We don''t know how long these Mastery Energy Ores have been stored here because there are so many of them. If we destroyed all of them at once, Nottingham would definitely go insane with anger!" he laughed sadistically.


    Garen turned around at once and flew along the path they had come by.


    "Let''s go!"


    "Hey, wait up! I might not have enough energy batteries and I don''t think I can make the journey back after traveling for some time. I was hoping that you could share some of your energy batteries with me. After all, I found this place so a little request like this wouldn''t be too much, right?" Anda took the opportunity to bring up his requests.


    "I''ll give you ten pieces for one Mastery Energy Ore of the same size," Garen answered casually.


    "What the?! You''re robbing me!! One energy battery is sold for only ten Universal Units on the market!!! You''re crazy if you''re trying to take advantage of my bad luck!!" Anda cried angrily.


    "The energy batteries now and the energy batteries then are different, no?"


    Two Mechs flew further away and disappeared into the sky quickly.


    Almost half an hour later, a white Great Light Mech flew towards the entrance of the cave quickly.


    Nottingham was slightly bruised while the surface of her Mech was covered with traces of corrosion.


    "Damn you, Black Flood Party! Just you wait! Sooner or later¡­" she said before continuously cursing bitterly.


    "I need to move the hidden ores away," during the period of time when she had discovered the Mastery Energy Ores, she had begun to reduce the production rate of the ores secretly. In order to evade paying heavy taxes to the organization, she had quietly hidden more than half of their production numbers. She did not dare to put these hidden ores in her own base so she formed a cave beside the mine and hid them there instead. She had taken half of these ores previously to refurbish her Mech completely and was confident that she would enter the next level. When she heard that there were issues in the mines this time, she rushed over in a panic because she was worried about the large number of personal ores that she had concealed there!


    These ores had been stockpiled there for almost half a year! Most Mastery Energy Ores would be exhausted in half a year. In other words, these hidden ores made up at least half of the mine''s entire worth!


    "I''ll return once I''ve taken the ores quickly. I should be able to pound and smelt them to the next stage. Wait for me to enter the Great Light realm, Anlusa! Hehehe¡­" Nottingham laughed coldly while being filled with bloodthirsty thoughts.


    She had entrusted her hopes in these mineral reserves for more than half a year. They were also important safeguards that could guarantee her future promotions. Furthermore, a lot of her blood, sweat, and tears had gone into concealing these great riches.


    Suddenly, she could see a large hole in the wall of the mountain from afar. Uneasy feelings rose in her heart faintly.


    Her Mech accelerated and flew over quickly before landing in front of the cave.


    "This¡­ This is¡­!!!" she looked at the hole in the damaged mountain wall blankly. It was completely empty on the inside. All of the Mastery Energy Ores had released frighteningly hot temperatures after they had melted, causing the entire cave to glow bright red.


    "My ores¡­" she collapsed with a ''plop''. She had initially planned to take all of the Mastery Energy Ores back with her when she returned after killing everyone else. Without proper cooling measures, these things would not be able to freeze quickly. Instead, they would release a large amount of hot air rapidly and destroy themselves automatically.


    She had initially planned to pick a jumping spot and return right after visiting the mines.


    However, now¡­ Now¡­ Everything was gone!


    Nottingham''s pupils shrunk immediately as a disheartened look appeared on her face.


    "Ahhhhh!!!!!"


    She lifted her head upwards suddenly and yelled angrily. She felt as if her heart had been painfully smashed by a hammer.


    Blood surged through her veins as she shouted.


    "Aurora!!!"


    A circle of white light exploded suddenly with her at the center. It seemed as though thunder had exploded throughout the ground. There was a crashing noise as a large crack appeared in her surroundings. A grey pillar pierced through the sky and collapsed abruptly while scattering everywhere. Moments later, it formed a huge sandstorm that covered a distance of a few hundred meters!!


    **********************


    Inside a tattered, abandoned, and unmanned little house


    Clint''s body was covered with painful injuries. Famished and thirsty, he cradled Baylon in his arms while carefully hiding in the shadows by the wall below the window inside the house.


    "When will Lonnie wake up, Lord Red Moon?"


    "How could you be so stupid! I''m not a human so how would I know when she would awaken?!"


    "Then will the people from White Light continue to chase us?" Clint thought carefully for a moment before asking a different question.


    "There''s something wrong with your brain! I''m not a White Light member so how would I know if they''re going to chase us?!" said Red Moon impatiently.


    "So what should we do now?" asked Clint in a slightly guilty tone.


    "Could you be any stupider?! I''m not you, so how would I be able to tell you what to do now?!" Red Moon yelled.


    He had tried to contact Nonosiva numerous times continuously. Unfortunately, the disturbances were too great and the connection was always intermittent and ineffective. Every time he tried to speak clearly, the line would disconnect automatically. Until now, he was unable to send a single message clearly.


    This filled him with even more fury.


    "But¡­ our food¡­ is about to run out soon¡­" the scoldings had caused Clint to hang his head extremely low.


    "You are basically as brainless as a damn pig! Do you know how pigs die? They did from stupidity!!" Red Moon was fuming with anger.


    "I wouldn''t be able to magnify my Lord''s exceptional intelligence if it wasn''t for my stupidity," Clint had decided to abandon his principles after being scolded numerous times.


    Red Moon was in a daze.


    "Damn! When did this guy learn to speak like this?"


    After being interrupted by Clint, the fury in Red Moon''s mind subsided slightly. He truly felt that it was wrong to vent his anger on Clint whenever he encountered trouble. He decided to make it up to him properly.


    "It''s not a big issue that you''re lacking food now. You must know that there are still many edible things in the radiation belt. As long as you understand basic biochemistry and botany principles, you can survive in the radiation belt safely. However, I must mention beforehand that this is a matter of luck as well," his tone had finally lightened up.


    While looking at Baylon who was lying in Clint''s lap, he recalled that this girl was too aggressive earlier. However, she had drifted into a deep coma now and her body''s immunity had decreased greatly while being in the radiation belt, which was an abominable environment. This had caused the initial radiation contamination in her body to speed up as well.


    Large pieces of rotten grey skin had appeared over Baylon''s face and body now. Most of the skin and flesh on her hands and arms had rotted as well and her bones could almost be seen underneath.


    After forcing her to suffer for so many consecutive days, they had thought of every possible method to heal her but could only watch as her condition kept worsening.


    "Looks like we can''t save her¡­" at a glance, Red Moon could already tell that the radiation disease had already entered Baylon''s internal organs by now. After failing to contact Nonosiva many times, he knew that his only hope that Novosiva would send medicine over had been destroyed.


    No one understood the radiation disease. When the previous White King had attempted to analyze the essence of the radiation disease, he had ended up failing in the end as well.


    Frankly, Red Moon could not bear to watch the kind child-like Baylon gradually inch towards death without being able to do anything.


    However, forcing herself to break through previously had caused a great strain on her body. Without enough medication, she would be completely helpless.


    "Just give up."


    "What? My Lord, did you say something?" Clint changed his sitting position to make himself more comfortable while cradling Baylon carefully.


    "¡­ I said, just give up¡­"


    "What are you saying? Lonnie is still fine. She''s just sleeping because she overexerted herself earlier," said Clint, smiling.


    "You can''t save her anymore¡­" Red Moon said honestly while his emotions remained downcast. "Without the anti-radiation drugs or the ability to get out of an environment that has been contaminated by radiation, I can''t heal her with my Imprints either¡­"


    "I believe that Lonnie will be fine!" the smile on Clint''s face had disappeared and was replaced by an unfamiliar firmness. "The anti-radiation drugs¡­ will definitely be found¡­"

 901 True Nature 1

    Glug¡­


    A string of bubbles in the green liquid inside the cup rose up slowly before the surface of the water exploded.


    Ice Dragon leaned across the tabletop and looked at his own drinking cup. Through the walls of the cup, his eye that was stretched wide open could be seen.


    He lifted the cup and gulped the contents down quickly in one go.


    Glug glug glug¡­


    A few swallows later, all of the light green liquid had disappeared completely without a single drop left.


    "Ice Dragon, the people from Exterminet have failed," a bald man who wore a face mask murmured in a low voice while standing behind him.


    "Failure was something that I had anticipated. Where are we now?" asked Ice Dragon while placing the cup down.


    "We''ve almost arrived at the radiation belt. According to the speed of our battleship, we should be able to reach the assassination point by midnight. However, the intelligence officers have analyzed that Nonosiva has probably joined the Black Flood Party. A few Black Flood Party members have left to meet him earlier."


    "I don''t care what party he''s in," laughed Ice Dragon. "Anyway, I''m just here to let my brother vent. That bastard Fila has always been a hypocrite. It''s obvious that he really wants my help but he just rambles on instead. Does he really think that I''m unaware of his intentions?"


    "Should we continue to exert ourselves then?"


    "Exert ourselves? When did I ask you to exert yourself? Perhaps you really thought that Fila would count on me to get rid of that Nonosiva?" Ice Dragon did not possess the features of a newly rich individual that was apparent when Fila spoke. Instead, it was replaced by reservation and experience. His frivolous exterior hid his inner composure and shrewdness.


    "You must know that there are ranking disputes within the interior of White Light as well¡­ Of course, it would not be a bad thing if we actually encountered that little bastard. I wouldn''t mind taking action and practicing for a bit."


    "What do you mean?"


    "Find me a Level Four Mech, I''ll use it to get Nonosiva. It won''t be any fun to kill him with one shot¡­ Perhaps I''ll be able to learn a thing or two from him as well," Ice Dragon had never been a reckless person but had always been combative instead. However, the basis of his combative nature was to strengthen himself. Compared to everything else, his greatest interest was to improve himself through actual combat. Meanwhile, his favorite hobby was to place himself on the same level as other first rate Elites so that he could learn from their strong points and make up for his own weaknesses.


    "But¡­ Fila would not have placed all of his hopes on us only. Therefore, he might have gone to look for his¡­" said the masked man while furrowing his eyebrows.


    "No problem, if that Nonosiva dies so easily, I''ll just take this opportunity to come out and take a vacation to relax," Ice Dragon smiled.


    ***************


    "What? Someone''s here again?!" Van Doe held a teacup while his hand trembled slightly. "What about my junior, Brian?"


    A man in a red robe stood in front of him and answered respectfully.


    "Master Brian has suffered light injuries after blocking White Light''s Nottingham and has returned to replenish his energy batteries first. It''s temporarily impossible for him to attack."


    "So many powerhouses are already after Nono even though he only left for a few days? He really knows how to create trouble for me!" Fila was completely speechless and lifted his teacup to drink a few mouthfuls of tea. "Relay a message to the Seventh Divine Wind General for me and get him to assist us for a while. Tell him that this will repay the mercy that I showed him previously."


    "Understood." a red light flashed around the man in the red robe before he disappeared in front of Fila''s eyes immediately. Apparently, he was just a three-dimensional holographic image.


    Once the man had left, Van Doe knitted his brows together faintly.


    "However, the trouble he stirs up can be beneficial at times too. The people of White Light have always been cancerous in this region. Perhaps this will be an opportunity for us to drag them out once and for all. Geniuses can only mature when they charge forward¡­ Just like the Divine Wind Generals of the past, which one of them did not emerge from the bloody slaughterhouses?"


    Despite speaking like this, his actual actions were not ambiguous at all. He released a chain of messages quickly before the lines of his countless relationship networks were activated.


    It had been extremely difficult for him to obtain such a strong and amazing first rate prodigy. If he did not take care of him properly, he would definitely regret it for an entire lifetime!


    His numerous planted agents and open-wire lines began to stir.


    ******************


    On the black plains


    Two Black Mechs flew in the direction of Blackboard Region while carrying heavy burdens. These Mechs looked heavy but no one knew the exact weight of the load they were carrying. This caused their Bodies to shake slightly as if they could collapse at any time.


    Garen and Anda had traveled for three consecutive days already. No one had tried to ambush them along the way but the sole presence of the mutated beasts that they passed by was enough to give them headaches.


    In order to maintain a low temperature inside the cabin to store the Mastery Energy Ores, Anda was on the verge of death. Despite being a Level Five powerhouse, he was unable to sustain his own body temperature and was on the brink of collapsing. However, it was still commendable that half of his body''s energy was still remaining. Furthermore, the flying and sanitation functions in his Mech were still working even though the other functions were almost destroyed in the terrible battle earlier.


    "After finding so many Mastery Energy Ores, it seems like we''ve reaped a lot of rewards after returning from this trip," said Anda in an exhausted voice.


    "This was all thanks to you. Otherwise, I wouldn''t have been able to find so many ores." Garen sighed with some emotion. Unlike Anda, his current state was way too relaxed. His own Cold Radiation abilities had frozen the Mastery Energy Ores to prevent them from melting. Moreover, low temperatures did not affect him at all.


    "Sigh¡­ How much longer will it take for us to arrive¡­" Anda sighed.


    Garen did not reply as he was pondering the troubles regarding the Staff of Absolute Yin. The Staff of Absolute Yin was not exclusive and there were other people on the Mother Planet that had this item. However, as most of them did not actually use it, it was purely used a symbol of power previously. Therefore, most of them would only think of it as a collectible.


    Nonetheless, obtaining another Staff of Absolute Yin would not be something that he could easily do now. Firstly, he would need to find people who actually possessed these Staffs of Absolute Yin.


    When he thought of this, Garen felt his head ache slightly. Each person''s collected articles were actually their personal secrets. Therefore, if they did not reveal these things willingly, no one would know what they collected. The Staff of Absolute Yin was once an emblem of the Planet Elder''s power and those who managed to collect it would be extremely wealthy. The price in exchange for it would definitely be great.


    His mind became stressed when he thought of this. After Nottingham had destroyed his most precious staff, this excursion would have been a terrible loss if Anda had not found the hiding spot of the Mastery Energy Ores.


    He recalled Nottingham''s ultimately oppressive strength. Garen simulated it in his mind and wondered about the reactions that would occur if he used all of his Potential Points on his physical Attributes. In the end, he knew that it was impossible.


    His opponent''s Mech already possessed too much power on its own.


    Its explosive force was basically equivalent to a heavy-duty battleship that could release full-powered explosions. When the support from the Black Flood Party powerhouse arrived, the movements from the violent fight between them resulted in repercussions with Level Four strength. The terrifying difference in power between Inherited Levels and those below them could be seen clearly.


    The differences in power were not merely caused by individual differences in Willpower. Instead, they were mainly affected by the difference between Mech qualities as certain Mechs could amplify their power several times, greatly exceeding the average Mechs.


    While his mind remained impatient, Garen tried to use his Potential Points to increase the level of his Willpower.


    Unfortunately, there was no way to upgrade it. It was clear now that his nameless Willpower had reached a point of qualitative change and could not simply be upgraded just by accumulating them.


    Meanwhile, it seemed as though his Crouched Eagle Talon could still be upgraded. However, Garen understood that the main problem right now was still his Mech as there was a ten times difference between the magnification of an Exclusive Mech and a normal Mech.


    This was another main reason why he was unable to withstand the little Light Sphere that Nottingham had suddenly thrown at him previously.


    The Light Sphere that Nottingham flung over previously possessed powers that were of the same level as Level Five Mechs that attacked at full force. As for the power of the thousands of Level Three light ray attacks, they were even scarier because one hit was equivalent to an assault from almost ten thousand Level Three to Four Mech Pilots who were controlling their Mechs simultaneously.


    He glanced at his Living Secret Technique again. He felt as if this Secret Technique was not particularly useful because his Mech and himself had suffered damages and injuries after their last consecutive encounters. It seemed as though he had no retaliation abilities at all as his Living Secret Technique was not especially useful in the Mech Pilot universe or eras that were heavily influenced by explosive weapons with terrifying powers.


    "How am I going to bring the Secret Technique''s advantages into play?" Garen flew while sinking into deep thought. He had thought about this problem previously but had never experienced it so vividly in his life until now.


    Living Secret Techniques were truly terrifying when they were trained to the point of the highest realm and could definitely contend with Inherited Level Mech Pilots. However, there was still a long way to go before he could reach the highest realm. It was not just the Holy Spirit Level that he had yet to achieve. Instead, he was not even at the Demon King Level or even the Army Level below it.


    Another important factor that led to this dilemma was the need to reconstruct the people of this world. Their physiological structure was completely different, forcing him to investigate the processes and experiences that he needed to practice again.


    After thinking carefully, Garen realized that ever since he came to this world, there was not much leeway for him to develop the advantages of his Living Secret Technique.


    Other than that time when he killed his Red-White enemy previously, there were no other opportunities for him to use them. Furthermore, he did not dare to release them carelessly either.


    ''The advantages of Living Secret Techniques affect one''s physical fitness. Therefore, during individual battles that are fought outside of the Mech, there would probably be two advantages of my Secret Techniques. Firstly, once I obtain my Exclusive Mech after entering the Inherited Level, most Mech Pilots custom-make their own Exclusive Mechs according to the various factors of their qualities. Those with stronger physical bodies will get Mechs that are able to bear heavier loads, allowing them to choose Mechs that belong to stronger levels. My physical fitness would definitely exceed that of most Mech Pilots, as I''ve been coursing through a higher level since the beginning,'' Garen thought.


    ''The second advantage refers to the abilities that are derived from my Living Secret Technique. Three examples of these are Devour, Distorted Seed, and Cold Chaos which are actually suitable to be placed in the logistics or support positions. However, there are unsuitable for facing direct attacks. Devour allows my fighting abilities to last longer, Distorted Seed lets me control certain parts and units and turn them into killing machines while Cold Chaos weakens my opponent slightly and creates confusion. These abilities have actually been reminding me that the Hellfrost Peacock Technique is not a Secret Technique that can be used for direct combat at all. On the contrary, it is a strategy-type Secret Technique that is used to manipulate other units and subordinates on the battlefield!''


    Garen had only begun to vaguely understand the qualities of the Hellfrost Peacock Technique now. Moreover, once he had broken through the foundation level and entered the real levels, these abilities did not increase his physical fitness like the Divine Statue Technique at all. However, its resistance against radiation was simply insane. The signs from all sides clearly showed that the Hellfrost Peacock Technique was truly a strategic Secret Technique that was suitable as a support base.


    He did not make any wrong guesses. Actually, during the warring period against the Warlocks, the Hellfrost Peacock Technique had always appeared as a mincing machine on the battlefield. Whenever it was present, death by cold and chaotic minds would cause a lot of casualties on the opposite side. If there was no way to counter it, a single Hellfrost Peacock would be able to destroy an entire civilization completely!


    ''Therefore, if I want to solidify the Hellfrost Peacock Technique''s Soul Seed this time, should I walked on the path of logistics instead?'' realization bubbled up in Garen''s mind. As he was merely using logistic and support-type Secret Techniques to strengthen his External Techniques previously, it would clearly be impossible for him to find the right path.


    However, this was also related to specific features of the Living Secret Technique. Living Secret Techniques would not release all of their own information from the beginning but would continuously reveal those Secret Techniques memories slowly as the individual trained and improved. This allowed people to gradually understand the true features of Secret Techniques.


    When Garen successfully fused the Hellfrost Peacock Technique and another Evil Technique in the beginning, it was fully considered as a direct combat method. Therefore, he had mistakenly included this specific Secret Technique as a pure direct combat Secret Technique.


    Once he had thought about the key factors properly now, his head had cleared up immediately.


    Therefore, the most important part of the Hellfrost Peacock Technique is that it can affect control while acting as the support as well!" when he thought of this, Garen''s eyes lit up at once. Suddenly, he thought of another suitable direction that seemed pretty good


    -- Energy Machinist!!


    Coincidentally, he had two sets of Willpower Training Methods that were aligned with Energy Machinists; One of them was Glowing Radiance that had been obtained through an exchange with the Honorable Noble. The other Training Method had been obtained from Professor Van Doe''s information databank.


    Strictly speaking, Glowing Radiance was the Training Method of an ancient Modulation Engineer. Modulation Engineers were mainly focused on biochemical technology and less focused on mechanical technology.


    Meanwhile, Energy Machinists were the opposite as they focused less on biochemical technology and more on mechanical technology.


    Garen turned his thoughts into actions. Using his watch, he opened his databank and flipped through the Energy Machinist Training Methods that he had bought earlier.


    ''Energy Machinist Training Method ¡ª NIS: An orthodox school founded by the ancient Elsie Republic''s grandmaster, Neer. They have the most standard progression stages of Energy Machinists. Their fusion of machinery and biochemistry has achieved levels that are second to none. They were mainly famous for manufacturing flying insect-types of Energy Machinery.''


    ''Training Method Specialities: Each level upgrades the experimental platform to produce energy machinery with 0.5 level of basic defense and 0.5 level of speed.''


    Once he had established his direction of development, Garen adjusted his route to perfect strengthening himself once again.


    Although the Nameless Training Method was good and at a sufficient level, compared to the perfected Inherited Crouched Eagle Talon, it fell short by a substantial degree. He decided to purify his Willpower and specialize in the Crouched Eagle Talon in the future to support the NIS Energy Machinist. He would also specialize in Mech combat while using energy machines to support it.


    There were too many roads to power. However, no one possessed enough energy to strike a balance between all of these roads. Therefore, they could only walk to the highest point by concentrating on one path properly.


    "I never expected that I would walk on the wrong path because I had unknowingly been too obsessed with Training Methods of higher levels¡­" Garen''s head was completely clear now. The thoughts that had unknowingly entered his heart when he had first come to this world were finally being stripped away slowly.


    "Although the Crouched Eagle Talon is not strong yet, with the Inheritance from the Black Flood Party, it is still much more powerful than the unknown Nameless Training Method. Apparently, I was forsaking the things that were in front of me for others that were much further away¡­"


    Garen relaxed his mind immediately.


    He looked at the Willpower of the Nameless Training Method that was spinning inside his body constantly.


    A thought stirred in his mind.


    Hum¡­


    A shapeless force dispersed throughout his body suddenly. Next, they continuously turned into light breezes that dissipated slowly.


    The composition of the Willpower of the Nameless Training Method was breaking down as Garen was voluntarily giving up this unknown high-level Training Method. The structure of the Willpower that was trained by this method was currently breaking down while the Willpower of the Crouched Eagle Talon was being absorbed slowly.


    As the nameless Level Five Willpower disappeared slowly, although a portion of it was reabsorbed again by the Crouched Eagle Talon, almost half of his Willpower dispersed out of his body after turning into just forces, completely breaking down into waste.

 902 True Nature 2

    Garen did not seem regretful at all. He had always been fumbling through his journey while going forward as he needed to experience different paths to condense Soul Seeds. In other words, it was impossible to condense even more Soul Seeds if he walked along one path resolutely. This was another key reason why so many people in the Ancient Endorian civilizations had found it so difficult to break through despite having long lives.


    Faint forces were forming around his body now. Two imprint marks appeared clearly on both of his arms again. They were the imprints of the Crouched Eagle Talon''s Willpower. After absorbing a large amount of the high quality Level Five Willpower that had dissipated earlier, the Crouched Eagle Talon had finally underwent qualitative changes. When there were no more Potential Points to force his upgrades, Garen''s entire body trembled suddenly.


    The imprints on both of his arms became dim and were replaced by two black Willpower Imprints on his shoulders. These were Imprint lines that would constantly need to be condensed and simulated. Every time these lines were condensed, it would be considered as practice. Garen had sketched them within a short amount of time as he could still easily remember the Imprint of the Level Five Crouched Eagle Talon.


    Sketching Imprints was another way to practice one''s Training Methods.


    Without his Level Five Nameless Willpower, Garen did not know what to do. Despite being weaker now, he felt more relaxed. Feelings of complete clarity floated through his mind constantly.


    Only then did he understand that he had been too greedy and had wanted too many things previously. As for not being pure enough, he knew that desiring for excessive much power instead of developing his own strength was actually barely satisfactory. If he was someone else who did not have strong martial arts experiences to support themselves, he would have died in battle much earlier on.


    Once most of the Nameless Willpower had dispersed and he had finally cut off the beneficial relationship between Red Moon and himself completely, the only thing that remained was a faint Imprint.


    He was also left with Level One Nameless Willpower. With the bond preserving his Imprint, Garen could faintly feel that the Crouched Eagle Talon''s Willpower would be completely destroyed as well if he got rid of this last bit of Level One Willpower fully. This was another key element that was had been used to threaten him in the pool earlier.


    "Just Level One Willpower," Garen laughed coldly and was unbothered by it. The absence of a method to solve it now would not mean that he could not find a way to fix it in the future. Instead, he focused his attention on entering Level Five again with the Crouched Eagle Talon this time.


    There were no particular differences. Other than the muscles in his arms becoming more solid, his explosive force increasing by one level and his Willpower increasing, there were no other changes.


    "My future focal points will be the Crouched Eagle Talon and Energy Machinist NIS," Garen decided on his direction. He felt that he had both gained and lost too much during his previous pursuits. Although his Living Secret Technique upgrades were able to upgrade all of his Willpower as well, another problem that he faced was not wanting to use the hundred over Potential Points that he had accumulated.


    Life was about winning and losing. Therefore, he would just go and look for more Potential Points if he ran out! There would be losses and gains in everything anyway. When he thought of how he had continuously stopped himself from advancing merely because he was trying to save up on Potential Points, Garen laughed softly.


    He was also slightly apprehensive of the various obstacles that he had unknowingly encountered on the path forward.


    He knew that part of it was caused by using too much of his Potential Points to upgrade himself in the past. This had prevented him from going through many mental experiences that now caused problems to surface.


    He fixed his issue of going in the wrong direction and also got rid of his Nameless Willpower.


    Garen began to concentrate on investigating the Energy Machinist NIS Training Method in his hands now. This was the standard Training Method that was used by five out of ten Energy Machinists. However, its progression rate was extremely slow as most people who were not first rate geniuses at mathematical calculation would assume that everything was nonsense when they first entered.


    Most of them would study it intensively for a year but the majority would not be able to understand even one percent of it.


    Even though she was Professor Van Doe''s elite disciple, Galafil fell into the above category as well. One could only imagine its true difficulty.


    ''Individuals who are not mathematical geniuses should not even think of attempting.''


    These were the first words that had been said when he had opened the Training Method.


    Garen had instinctively overlooked this. His Intelligence Attribute possessed enhanced calculation abilities and he did not believe that his current 2.1 points of Intelligence could not meet the requirements of this Training Method.


    When he ended up glancing at it quickly, the first question made him somewhat dumbstruck.


    ''Level One requirements: Solve two equations simultaneously. Extract the root of these equations to the twelfth decimal point. The time limit is ten minutes.''


    Simple mental arithmetic was already a terrifying request that most people could not complete. Meanwhile, they were now requiring him to simultaneously solve two¡­ And he was only given ten minutes?!


    After coming to this world, this was the first time Garen had felt the terrifying importance that the people of this world placed on brain development.


    He furrowed his eyebrows and gritted his teeth.


    "Try it then talk!"


    After glancing through the test questions, Garen closed his eyes and memorized them. He pressed a button on his watch to start the timer while his brain began to calculate answers quickly at the same time.


    He had participated in all of the classes in the Academy but their level of difficulty had never been as troublesome as what he was experiencing now. Although his 2.1 points level of Intelligence and memory were shocking, currently, he clearly understood why less than one in a hundred people were able to progress through these elite conditions. These Training Methods were basically specially designed for bookworms and top students.


    It did not require anything else except for mathematical calculation abilities!


    While closing his eyes and calculating, the nerves on Garen''s temples almost bulged out as well.


    Ding.


    Ten minutes were up.


    He opened his eyes impatiently and had barely managed to calculate it¡­


    He stated both of his answers and compared them with the answers that were displayed on his watch''s information screen before exhaling a long breath firmly.


    "I was barely able to calculate it, how scary¡­ No wonder there are only so few Energy Machinists despite this being an era of terrifying mental developments. No wonder, no wonder¡­" he finally understood it completely.


    He shut his eyes and rested his mind for a moment before opening it again and browsing through the contents at the back.


    Sure enough, the strings of calculations at the back were extremely complicated. Most of the time, the conclusions and inferences from the calculations in front were used in the calculations at the back. The conclusions and inferences became longer and more complicated as well.


    Unconsciously, the amount of sweat on Garen''s forehead had increased. He needed to constantly memorize the conclusions in front. Otherwise, he would not be able to understand the quick calculations at the back that were linked to one another.


    There would even be occasional leaps sometimes. The information would display the conclusions matter-of-factly but Garen would need to spend half a day calculating before he would be able to understand the inferences and conclusions that they used as formulae. Other times, he wondered about the clever methods they used to calculate the final answers, as too much had been left out of the calculation process in the middle¡­


    Less than an hour had passed but Garen''s body was almost entirely soaked in sweat!


    "No! I need to think harder!"


    Garen closed his eyes quickly and shifted his attention towards his Attribute Pane.


    After browsing through so much information, he realized that the Energy Machinist''s power was mainly obtained from Energy Machinery that was cultivated from biochemical pools and experimental platforms. The power of the Energy Machinery was derived from the Training Method amplification. The forging materials belonged to similar levels as piloted Mechs except that they were switched with driverless Mechs.


    Garen desired combat method would be able to utilize his Secret Technique abilities fully. It would use his radiation to affect the biochemical pool to forge even more powerful biochemical Energy Machinery. He could condense the Distorted Seeds as Energy Machinists would need to use either intelligent chips, biological brains, or hearts as the core of their Energy Machinery.


    After carefully rereading the information, Garen verified the feasibility of his ideas.


    The stronger the core of his Energy Machinery was, the greater the changes made towards the mutation of its materials would be. Hence, many Energy Machinists would enter the radiation belts to find radioactive mutated materials that were strong enough. Furthermore, Garen was unfazed by the radiation on his own Distorted Seed anymore.


    It was important to note that a good core could not simply be found when needed. However, he could have as many Distorted Seeds as his heart desired! By using his Distorted Seed as a core or a heart, as long as he had sufficient materials, he would be able to use the biochemical pool to quickly forge single-use war weapons by using the mutated creatures that he cultivated.


    "It''s very feasible!" Garen made up his mind. As some Energy Machinists would engage in gang fights, it would be an issue if those who served as cannon fodder were unable to upgrade their strength because material cores were too difficult to find. Unlike the rest, as long as he had a sufficient amount of Distorted Seeds, he did not even have to use control chips because of his body. The parasites of the Distorted Seeds would not be able to attack him because he was the main body. Moreover, they could be somewhat controlled by him as well.


    The only thing he required was the cultivation means of the Energy Machinists.


    "I''ve upgraded my Intelligence slightly because the direction that this Training Method is going towards is exhausting my brain¡­"


    Garen felt a slight headache oncoming. When he glanced at his progress, he already knew that he had only improved by 0.5%. Although it was much better than most people, if he were to use this progression rate to train as an Energy Machinist, he would not even need to dream of entering the first level until a few years later. Level One Energy Machinists could only forge scouting Energy Machinery while Level Twos had slightly more combat abilities and were able to forge small-scale combat Energy Machinery.


    He would need to reach Level Four or Five at least if he wanted to form combat abilities. Only then would he be able to forge medium-level Energy Machinery where one individual would be equivalent to a small-scale army.


    The Training Methods of Energy Machinists involved more than simply sketching Willpower Imprints. Instead, they would require people to constantly solve calculation cycles. Difficult calculations like these would automatically stir up Willpower to naturally form Willpower Imprints. Strangely enough, the Willpower Imprints of Energy Machinists would not be on their own bodies but would float an inch away from the back of their heads where it was impossible for the naked eye to see.


    Garen''s gaze fell on his Attribute Pane. He pushed the large pile of topics behind him and allowed his eyes to scan across the single Attribute Pane immediately.


    ''Nonosiva Lin -- Strength 3.1, Agility 3.0, Vitality 4.7, Intelligence 2.1, Potential 12530%. Soul Limit 40.''


    "I have 125 Potential Points? I''ll increase my Intelligence first!"


    This time, Garen could truly feel that the Energy Machinist path would correspond with his own Living Secret Technique very well.


    His gaze focused on his Intelligence and there was a brief whooshing noise as his Potential Points began to decrease quickly while his Intelligence started to increase and become clearer from its blurry state.


    As long as each Attribute had a value of less than five points, ten Potential Points would be enough to upgrade one Attribute. Almost thirty of his Potential Points had disappeared at once and he was left with 98 Potential Points. Meanwhile, his Intelligence had increased to the 5 points immediately.


    Garen paused. There were still many uses for his Potential Points and it was unnecessary for him to use all of them on his Intelligence. Five points of Intelligence was sufficient.


    He attempted the cycle calculations from the question bank. It was much easier this time as his arithmetic abilities had been enhanced by twofold. Garen was now able to complete the first level of the question bank easily.


    He felt as though these complicated calculations were merely math questions that were slightly harder. They were not at a level that made his head dizzy anymore.


    Unknowingly, Garen had finished calculating the entire first level of the question bank.


    Hum!!


    A tiny music note that was shaped like three chestnuts appeared an inch behind Garen. Apparently, it was so simple to achieve Level One! The moment the music notes condensed, bouts of Willpower surged out of one of them quickly and rushed into Garen''s brain. They formed little silver spouts that resembled cyclones and occupied a small corner in Garen''s mental space where his Soul Seed was located.


    "Apparently, it''s this easy!!" Garen widened his eyes in shock. He had never expected that Energy Machinists would be able to achieve the appropriate levels instantly as long as their arithmetic abilities were sufficient! There were simply no major obstacles at all! The thing that shocked him the most was the information and messages that he received after entering Level One. It stated that Level One Energy Machinists had the right to use Space Equipment!!!


    His mouth gaped open and he was at a loss for words. Energy Machinists were basically the cream of the crop and perfect beings among the Mech Pilots.

 903 Return 1

    Carefully checking the function of Willpower imprint of Energy machinist.


    No ability to attack and no ability to recover; sure enough, without the Biochemical Pool and the test bench, the Willpower of Energy machinist was useless.


    After trying out a variety of methods without any result, Garen also slowly gave up. He knew that without the Biochemical Pool and test bench, he could just stop thinking about this Willpower.


    He proceeded to look at the second part. Unfortunately, the second part was a very complex 3-dimensional spiral formula. It was a 3-dimensional building model that was made up of a large number of formulas from the top to the bottom. The strange part was that the formulas shared similar elements to many other computational formulas, from the calculations to the answers. Each equation formed an extremely complex model structure.


    "It''s a fine piece of art," Garen squinted at it, impressed. Almost not a single digit on the building model could be changed, otherwise, the whole model would collapse immediately.


    After looking at this model, the prerequisites for the second part finally came out.


    "Construct a 9*9*9 (diminishing from the bottom to the top) pyramid structure based on the classical computational formula rules on the first part."


    "Sure enough¡­" Garen went speechless. The conclusion from the first part could be used as a formula. There were hundreds of them and they were going to be used to build this kind of mathematical model.


    This structure was a bit similar to the traditional Sudoku game except that it was a lot more complicated because the calculations involved were sequential and the numbers that were derived have to be shared. The condition was that it had to be done by mental calculations or else there would be serious consequences.


    Garen did a bit of the calculation and was temporarily unable to get a lead on it. He had been the top student from a prestigious university and the top chemist from the Totem World. However, to complete this level of combination models in a short period of time using only mental calculation, this difficulty could not be described using the word ''difficult'' any longer; it was the difference between heaven and earth.


    He did not dare to imagine how other Energy machinists were doing the training. This level of mental calculation was almost inhuman.


    After getting no result from the calculations, the two Mechs had almost arrived at the destination that was set previously¡ªCole Town.


    In the radiation belt, those towns with the name Cole, Kirino, Tom and the like were numerous. Though they were called towns, in fact, they were just small villages.


    On the black plains, only a single hill could be seen in this area of dozens of kilometers and Cole Town was constructed inside this hill in a semi-enclosed way. A lot of mutated plants were also transplanted around, making the concealment quite thorough.


    Garen came all the way just to come to this Cole Town. He even had a small dispute with Anda due to this. After seeing that he could not persuade Garen, he did not leave and followed him around closely.


    Garen was too lazy to be bothered with him. He did not forget the purpose of coming out this time.


    Swish Swish!!


    After the sound barrier was broken twice, two black Mechs arrived on top of the hill.


    Garen sent a message through the channel that was given by his teacher, "I am Nonosiva."


    Soon, a small opening appeared automatically on the hill and an unmanned aircraft flew out. It looked like a miniature helicopter with a small black baggage hanging on it.


    Garen stretched out his hand and grabbed the baggage.


    At this moment, the computer screen in front of him suddenly flashed and blurred with a hissing sound and a middle-aged man with a bald head in the middle appeared.


    "Sir Nono, this is the harvest this year, please check. Also, Sir Yefei had arrived at the Flying Batoid City. The Lord had informed that you can go back to the Flying Batoid City directly," The bald-headed man said.


    "Understood, it''s been hard on you," Garen nodded and said with a smile.


    "This is what I should do," the bald-headed man hurriedly bowed his head to express his subservience.


    After the screen went off, Garen had almost finished disinfecting the baggage and used the robotic arm in the compartment to open it. Inside was a freezer that was giving off white smoke. The freezer contained a transparent crystal ball and inside it was filled with mercury-like translucent viscous liquid that was blood-red in color.


    "This is Blood Silver?" Garen relaxed. One of the goals of this trip had been achieved and there was just one more; that was searching for his younger brother Baylon, Red Moon and the others. Since he had taken over Nono''s body, making the lives of his friends and relatives better was one of the repayments he had to do.


    Besides, without the sacrifices of Baylon and his family, the original body could not have entered the Blackboard Academy so easily and even got a good foundation for progress.


    "Where are we going now? We''re not going back yet?" after receiving the Blood Silver, Garen and Anda''s two poor Mechs quickly flew in a random direction for a while until Anda finally opened his mouth.


    "We''re going to the Flying Batoid City, but we can''t just go straight there. We need to find a safe route," Garen answered casually.


    "You want to go back to Flying Batoid City!?" Anda said shockingly. "So many people are waiting to ambush you on the way back! Going back to die?"


    "So what?" Garen was unmoved. "How about you stop following me?"


    Anda sat in the cockpit rolling his eyes.


    "No way! This is for your safety, this is the first time for you to come out to the radiation belt, and it will be bad if you get some radiation sickness. So, it''s better for us to move together."


    Garen clicked his tongue knowing that this guy wanted to rely on Black Flood Party to avoid the White Light''s pursuit.


    After some energy batteries were consumed on the way, the weight on the Mechs was reduced and the burden from bearing the Mastery Energy Ore was a lot less, making their actions easier. Garen had shamelessly taken over the Mastery Energy Ore that had been stolen previously.


    On the way here, he had made clear the value of the Mastery Energy Ore. Although there was a price for it on the market, no one would sell it. There was demand for this thing but there was no supply. Generally, the inheriting pilots did not have enough for themselves to use. Using it for transactions with Inheriting pilots would totally be lucrative.


    Garen had calculated that if he turned the amount of Mastery Energy Ore he had gotten into resources, he would have enough to construct his Mech with low-level materials. As long as he had his own Mech, he would have the qualification to move toward the Inheriting Level. Without his own personal Mech, there was no use thinking of resonance degrees. Without resonance degrees, he could not even achieve New-Moon Level, much less Half-Moon Level, Full-Moon Level, Two-Moons Level and Inheriting Level.


    There were about hundreds of these Mastery Energy Ores occupying about 90% of the weight of the Mech which greatly reduced the flexibility and speed of the Mech.


    Therefore, both of them could only try to change the course of their route so as to shake off their possible pursuers.


    "Do you want to know why I''m being hunted by those people?" bored, Anda began to chat with Garen.


    "Why?"


    "Because¡­ I killed their young chief. Or maybe I should say ''our'' young chief because I was once a member of that clan," Anda smiled and said.


    "Then?"


    "Then? Then I obviously escaped. I entered Blackboard Academy because only the elites of the Blackboard Academy were feared by the clan and they would not dare to commit murder inside the academy," Anda laughed.


    Garen made an ''en'' sound. He was not interested in continuing to listen anymore. After all, it must be something along the line of facing difficulty in advancing, working hard, coupled with some luck before escaping from the clan''s grasp and now barely had a firm footing.


    Anda made a ''hehe'' laugh and noticed that Garen was not interested, so he changed the subject.


    "Hey Garen, you know¡­our Mechs carried so much load and it''s all so valuable, if we encounter a few elite Mechs attacking us now, then there''s gonna be a lot of fun¡­ hehehe¡­"


    "Hehehe¡­," Garen also laughed, his face turned green while looking at the white humanoid Mech with a dragon head on the plains in front of him. "You are one hell of a talent¡­"


    Anda also turned pale. His laughter became smaller and smaller.


    With a ''Pa'' sound, he slapped himself on the mouth.


    "This crow mouth!"


    "What to do now?"


    "Escape!!!"


    Garen turned around and escape without another word.


    With such a large weight, a slightly complex action might cause the engine to be unable to keep up and crash. However, if they were told to give up the Mastery Energy Ore, forget it, they had put their lives on the line in order to get it, and giving it up so easily was not the style of them both.


    Looking at the two Mechs escaping, the dragon-headed humanoid Mech was puzzled and pulled out the white sword that was stabbed into the ground in front of it.


    "Didn''t they say that guy was very fierce? Unless he encountered an opponent that he absolutely could not withstand, he would normally fight first, why is it so different from the data?"


    In the white cockpit, Ice Dragon touched his chin and wondered.


    "Sir, the special detector found a high-energy response from the two Mechs! The other side seemed to have activated the low-temperature refrigeration function!" a subordinate on the stealth battleship that was hidden in the sky above appeared on the Mech''s screen.


    "Oh? High-energy response? They''ve got some good stuff? No wonder they ran away when they saw me!" Ice Dragon''s eyes immediately brightened up. "Let''s go! Catch up and see what the stuff is!"


    He clapped the dashboard and the dragon-headed humanoid Mech spat out white flames and headed straight for the two Mechs ahead.


    On the black plains, there were two black Mechs fleeing in front and behind them was a white Mech catching up to them. The distance between them was rapidly shrinking.


    With the peng peng peng sounds of running, the two Mechs in front were unable to continue flying. They were half-flying while borrowing the kicking force from their legs, looking cumbersome and clumsy. It was apparent with one look that the Mechs were too heavy.


    "He''s catching up! What do we do now!?" Anda shouted, looking at the dragon-headed humanoid Mech that was getting closer. He could recognize at first glance that the other party was one of White Light. At the second glance, he could see that although the other party''s Body only had the fluctuation intensity of a Level Four, his Willpower''s sense of crisis was constantly warning him to run! Run! Run!!


    "You stall him! I''ll get reinforcements!" Garen shouted. His speed suddenly increased a lot. He was actually using the special technique of reducing the air resistance and overtook Anda.


    "Stall your sister!" Anda was shedding tears. He could finally see clearly Garen''s shameless nature. "Why don''t you go and stall him instead!?"


    "Hehe, I am faster than you, the probability of me escaping is higher," Garen answered and laughed.

 904 Return 2

    "You!!" Anda clenched his teeth and turned around to look at the white dragon-headed Mech. To his astonishment, the Mech had actually caught up to within 20 meters.


    Boom!!


    Anda started worrying. An amount of Willpower was ejected behind him like a bullet all of a sudden, which actually increased the Mech''s forward speed.


    "Trust me! I will be back to save you!" Garen yelled from the front, "I guarantee you on my honor!"


    "As if your honor is useful!" Anda shouted. Seeing he had almost been caught up to, he quickly fired off another burst of Willpower. As he accelerated his Mech, the Mech behind him slowed down.


    "Why are the both of you running around?" Ice Dragon asked from the back, "I''m not even planning to kill you!"


    "Then why are you chasing after us!!!" Anda shrieked.


    "It''s your guilty conscience. You were both running, so there must have been something going on. Either you were doing something bad or sneaking around, either way, it''s nothing good!" Ice Dragon contemplated, "After all, I am a person who loves punishing the evil and praising the good!"


    "Are you crazy!" Anda roared.


    "If you''re cussing, you''re definitely not a good person!" Ice Dragon was getting kooky again, letting out a devilish laugh as his speed hiked up once again.


    "I -" Anda urgently released another spurt of Willpower.


    Both of them knew that their Mechs were loaded now and if they were to battle, needless to say, their combat power would not even be able to defeat a normal Level Five Pilot, let alone the terrifying creature at the back who was able to send shivers to their Willpower by just the sight of him.


    That was also why Garen started running without a word in the first place.


    The three of them put up a fair fight - catching up for a moment, then being thrown off the next second, closing in on each other, then getting thrown off again.


    In the beginning, Ice Dragon was just fooling around. However, even when he started to get serious, he was still unable to catch up with the two people in the front. Naturally, he was shocked.


    Nonosiva at the front was still alright with his Hurrying Technique, all smooth and quick. However, Anda at the back clearly had no techniques but he had plenty of weird tricks up his sleeves such as blasting out stone columns. Although the attacks were simply dismissed, they still successfully slowed down Ice Dragon''s speed.


    Occasionally it was the ice on the ground, a slip of attention and one would actually trip, even slightly affecting the ejector engine.


    There was also a minor shift in the Magnetic Field. A sudden alteration of the field and the Level Four Mech already almost fell. Although Ice Dragon seemed young, he had actually lived for almost two hundred years already. Even at his Inherited Level, there were some tricks even he was not able to recognize.


    Nonetheless, tricks were still tricks after all and they had their limits at the end.


    Ice Dragon could finally confirm that Anda had used up all his tricks. After approximately an hour''s chasing around, he was getting bored already. With just a flip, the Mech rolled and shrunk its body. It leaped in front of Anda and landed with a thump, blocking off Anda''s route entirely.


    At the same time, with a wave of an arm, a ray of white light shot directly through Garen''s body.


    The white light was sharp and soundless, just a vague thin line right at Garen''s spine. Once the spot was hit, his body would be instantly paralyzed and he would be unable to move.


    At this moment, Garen yanked out his sword and swung it fiercely.


    Clank!


    The exact moment the blade met the white light, both bounced off each other immediately.


    Garen promptly stabled himself, then noticed a small chip on his blade. The white light darted through the ground, vanishing underground with just a tiny hole left to be seen on the surface.


    "Alright, alright. Come and fight me for one round then. If you make me happy, I would consider letting you leave," Ice Dragon smirked.


    "Anda! We''re counting on you!" Garen yelled, decelerating his Mech.


    Ice Dragon actually stopped and directed his attention to Anda, as if Anda had finally picked up his interest. He had no plans of killing Nonosiva anyways, neither did he planned to save Fila. As for standing up for his brothers, he could just return and report that he killed two people.


    He was now more intrigued by the fact that Anda had tricks even he himself had never seen before.


    Anda was close to tears but could not bring himself to shed a tear. Once again, he was awestruck by Garen''s shameless self.


    "You bastard!!"


    Garen could not believe that this guy would be so easily killed and that he had no intentions of killing. At most, he just deserved a mean beating. As for abandoning his comrades and such treacherous beliefs, he never cared much about such little things. As long as there was an adequate opportunity, he would definitely not be constrained by what the average person scrupled.


    He believed that Anda would not take long to recover from a beating to catch up.


    Continuing his journey, he soon came across the black plains. The yellow grassland was before him, where tracts of yellow-green meadow were being disturbed by the harsh wind.


    This time around, standing at the front of the meadow were two familiar white Level Five Shining Mechs from White Light.


    The area was completely empty except for the two Mechs standing quietly on the ground. Both bodies were exuding a faint sense of force intended to kill as if they were surrounded by an army of hostile Mechs.


    "Special Willpower Training Method!" Knowing this bunch would not be an easy defeat, Garen''s heart sank slightly.


    Even in the Inner Courtyard, people rarely revisited special training methods. These methods were not necessarily able to strengthen your Consciousness but the ability to keep track of all kinds of abilities made one impossible to guard against.


    Furthermore, those who dared to practice Special Willpower were confident geniuses.


    "After chasing you for so long, we finally caught up," the Mech on the left whispered in a low tone which resembled a young man''s. "I didn''t expect you to actually be able to avoid our ambush for so long even though you almost escaped our range. Gee, you''re actually not bad¡­"


    An intrepid killing intent erupted from his Willpower, forming a clear round whirlpool that blew the grass and dirt around.


    Bang!


    His body took the first step as he leaped into the air.


    "Go to hell!"


    Clang!!


    A white moon appears above Garen''s body, glowing as drops of white liquid dripped from it.


    Instantly, black dual blades, crossing against each other, appeared in Garen''s hands. A surge of black breeze brewed in the sky as the white liquid trickled on his head.


    Ding!!


    Garen narrowed his eyes..


    ********************


    "If you can''t do it, why not just give up hope in the beginning?"


    At the other end of Radiation Belt, Red Moon was quietly watching Clint who was kneeling beside Baylon. The young teen showed an unfamiliar look of perseverance and determination, making him seem foreign.


    "Since it''s already decided, there''s no giving up halfway, end of the discussion," Clint muttered. "Lord, tell me, how do I do it?"


    "You have to think it through, there is very little hope left for Lonnie. Now that we are fully surrounded outside, it won''t take long for the white Mechs to come. When that time comes, you might not even have the chance to run away," it was just like the first time Red Moon had met Clint in his memory, this normal child was just slightly cowardly but tough at the same time, just like any other average child.


    "If Lonnie dies, you can find a brand new compatible imprint. However, if you do decide to save her, she doesn''t stand much chance! In return, her recovery percentage can''t even reach ten percent," Red Moon spoke solemnly.


    Clint did not answer, but raised his head and calmly stared at his virtual image. In this teen''s eyes, it was as if a familiar surge of burning red flames was ignited.


    Red Moon''s heart soared.


    "Bring her along this escape route, then use the small technique I just taught you and swiftly switch directions. Only Shining Mech Pilots are able to bring along some radiation drugs. Otherwise, it would be the chaotic city shops. Which do you choose?"


    "Which way is the fastest route?"


    "Find the Shining Mech, but each Mech is a Level Five Mech Pilot. You wouldn''t stand a chance against them even one-on-one."


    "Lord, now that you''ve brought this up, there will certainly be a way to solve this," Clint said sternly.


    "Are you really willing to risk your own life?" Red Moon could not help but ask once more.


    Clint was silent, then stressed on each syllable and said.


    "I will not give up on my comrades!"


    "..."


    "The front five transitions must not have the slightest mistakes. I''ve already worked out the best way to avoid, all you need to do is to follow suit, even your actions at the back can''t be greater than 10% deviation. I will mark clearly on the Mech''s computer. If you can''t do it, not only will you die, but she¡­ will die as well." Red Moon could see the determination in the young teen, and so made his own efforts to squeeze a tiny ray of hope.


    "After leaving the encirclement, the opponent''s body has approximately less than three seconds of a reflex gap. If you are unable to transform four times within three seconds, they will begin their long-range attack, and the chances of you being hit is a hundred percent. However, continuously changing your body will be a severe burden on your body. In the end, once you''re almost nearing the Mech, the opponent only requires one Willpower Pierce to finish you off with the short distance between the both of you," Red Moon stated calmly.


    "What about after finding the Shining Mech?"


    "By that time, you will have to rely on your luck. I will help you steal the drugs, all I need is fifteen seconds. If you can survive that period of time, then Lonnie has a chance of surviving."


    "Fifteen seconds¡­" Clint bowed his head, hands pushed deep into his hair, an unspeakable fear was constantly stirring in his mind. He knew the extent of a Shining Mech.


    That was the true complete picture of Red-White''s power levels, just one Willpower Pierce and he would be gone. Maybe even just a glace, and he''d be facing death.


    "You can''t do it," Red Moon''s voice softened, "This isn''t even risking your life, you''re practically committing suicide. Give it up, Clint."


    Give up¡­ Give up¡­ Give up¡­


    Give up¡­


    Give up¡­ ?


    Questions constantly echoed in Clint''s mind.


    He was just a Level One Willpower Pilot, and he was actually planning to pin down a Level Five Pilot within fifteen seconds. Even if he practiced the top training method, it was only equivalent to a normal Level Three Pilot, and he would still stand no chance against a Level Five Mech.


    Even with Lord Red Moon''s imparted skills to self-mutilate, Clint understood that his survival rate was very, very low.


    He looked down at Baylon''s half corroded face.


    He stood back up.


    "Let''s go, Lord, it''s time to get prepared."

 905 Blocked 1

    Ding¡­


    The dark storm welcomed white droplets, making sounds of crisp percussion, just like bells blowing in the wind.


    Garen squinted his eyes when a glaring white light exploded right before his eyes.


    "You fell for it! Hahaha!!" the shining white Mech moved its body, passing like a phantom around him, and stabbed a knife against Garen''s vest from behind.


    The stab happened silently, as well as the shining white light; not even the slightest sound could be heard.


    Usually, Pilots would not even know where the opponent attacked from.


    However, Garen was different; he instantly felt the ambush behind him. Just when he was about to whip out his blade to block the attack, his engine was overloaded so he could not make it on time.


    When the engine load got too much, the body''s reflex would be slowed down by a large scale.


    "Boom!"


    He growled.


    An ice-blue force of air crashed against him, spreading outwards as he stood at the center.


    Layers of frost covered the once withered meadow almost immediately, even the insects that were still crawling around were frozen into ice.


    A large amount of frost started spreading from the surface of Garen''s body and soon covered the entire body.


    The blade attacking from behind was affected by the ice-blue radiation and abruptly slowed. Right when the tip of the blade came into contact with Garen''s Mech, there was a vicious tremble.


    "Changing Blade!" this man was still calm and collected. Facing the trembling tip of the ice-blue blade, it was as if a lot of blades had appeared at the same time. All of a sudden, what seemed to be a straight raid in the first place instantly became a prick on the ramp, stabbing Garen''s Mech in the back of its head.


    "What an expert!!" Garen''s heart skipped a beat. Generally, ordinary people, under such encounters, would only manage to change moves once in that instance.


    However, it was different for stronger experts who would be able to respond by changing their moves twice. Not only was it just a matter of reflex, the consciousness involved in decision making played a big part too. Even a little hesitation would not reach this level when it came to transforming moves.


    Although it just seemed as if it was just one more transformation move, the requirements for the mind and speed of response were extremely harsh.


    For those able to transform thrice in just an instant, they would already be nearing the realm of King of the Century.


    Being able to transform moves four times in an instant, Garen''s martial arts realm has already gone beyond the realm of the King of the Century. To be able to transform his moves four times after making a move was already terrifying in the eyes of ordinary people, but he was still unsatisfied. He was still in pursuit of a higher realm.


    After coming to this world, he had met a lot of expert masters but fighting-wise, he had yet met one who had impressed him.


    The man in front was, in fact, the first true combat master who had actually swayed him so far, unlike other pilots who merely relied on their Willpower.


    "Nice move!"


    Seeing the opponent''s move transform once again, Garen''s heart jerked.


    His body shifted to the left when the blade in his hand pierced right beneath his armpit.


    Among the sounds of sneering, the blade accurately blocked the ambush from behind. Both blades made contact, producing a loud bang.


    Under the strong impact, both blades bent, cracked and broke. Both tips of the blades shot around with a chi-chi sound, unexpectedly shooting towards Garen and both Shining Mechs.


    As the blade whooshed by, both Shining Mechs split apart. Garen''s body remained smooth whereas the opponent''s body was clearly stabbed by half of a blade.


    "Brilliant!" the Shining Mech exclaimed in awe. "It''s such a shame. You''re such a good fighter, but you''re going to die here in this wasteland."


    Judging by his tone, it was not the same young man anymore but an odd young man''s.


    "Who are you people?" though Garen had his own speculations, he could not resist the urge to ask them directly.


    "There''s nothing to hide, we''re just people hired by Fila. Kid, you offended plenty of people in this city whom you shouldn''t have. Just blame your bad luck," the Shining Mech that had made the first move previously took a step back while the other one, who had been sitting back and watching, took a step front. Both Mechs stood side by side, emitting a vague white light.


    "I''m sorry, kid," the Shining Mech that was about to make a move started laughing, "Your combat level is strong indeed, but do you actually think you can handle the both of us at once?"


    As the last syllable came out, both Mechs roared up and rushed towards Garen. Two honed leg blades, side by side, slashed diagonally across Garen''s waist in an ''X'' shape, the white blades aiming to cut Garen''s Mech in half at his waist.


    The sharp piercing sound of the blades resembled a shrill whistle, close enough to pierce through one''s eardrums.


    Strangely, when the two Mechs moved at the same time, they gave off an extremely tacit understanding, as if both Mechs were of the same person, like images reflected by a mirror.


    "Twins?!" Garen went silent. After all, his body was slowing down due to the tremendous load. Looking at the incoming assault from the front, he fiercely lifted the Mech and kicked upwards.


    Dodging the strikes from both Mechs right on time, he kicked one of the Shining Mechs.


    Clang clang! At the crisp sound of impact, both Shining Mechs darted downwards at the same time at the same speed. The move made just now turned out to be just a decoy.


    As the leg blades intersected, Garen twisted his body to avoid the frontal edge, then landed a kick on the side of the tool.


    With a wham, the three separated. Garen flipped over once more but the right half of his body was marked by a clear scar already.


    Seated in the body, Garen''s eyebrows were knitted tightly against each other. He knew he did react but because of the overload burden on the body''s engine, he had been delayed for a moment. Stopping briefly in the middle of combat against an expert master would actually cause him his life.


    In addition to the gap between the two Shining Mechs, the other side of the body seemed to be able to react quicker than him. It was all thanks to his martial arts realm being stronger than his opponent; it gave him the opportunity to transform once more and escape on time, or else he would have probably been dead by now.


    "It seems like I have to leave the Knowledge ore here¡­" Garen knew deep in his mind that if he continued dragging the ore around, he might actually be unable to escape because the load on his body would reduce at least half of his power.


    If his body was just a little lighter, he would be slightly more at ease to deal with these two Mechs.


    On the other hand, the Frost Radiation did not seem to affect the enemy. The anarchy caused by Cold Chaos was not hundred percent effective, but there is a certain probability of an onset. Needless to say, this moment was certainly a no-show.


    "One more time!!"


    Both Level Five Shining Mechs rushed forward once again as a flash of white moon appeared and a drop of white liquid dripped down its edge. Without Garen''s offense this time around, the white liquid exploded into a wheel of white light, nearly blinding Garen''s sight.


    Hidden within the white light, two blades whirled towards Garen.


    In the cabin, Garen tracked backward lightly. Even if his eyes were temporarily blinded, dodging an attack was still extremely easy.


    But then, a click sound emerged from the engine and the entire Mech moved.


    Chi chi!!


    Two marks appeared on Garen''s body once more.


    Garen''s face darkened as the Mech''s engine once again delayed his reflexes.


    "Black Wind!!"


    He extended both his arms as a trace of black air blew out from his arms. Suddenly, with just an action and a crooked aim, the large whiff of Black Wind immediately rushed towards the two Mechs, but surprisingly, it failed to hurt either one of them.


    The two Shining Mechs were startled and once they realized that the Black Wind had missed them, they let out a breath of relief.


    "It seems that you have yet to master this skill!!"


    Using Black Wind one more time, Garen felt uneasy. An uncomfortable feeling started to spread from his arms and his skin started to hurt severely. He knew that this was the aftermath of overusing the Black Wind as this was a highly destructive skill. He had tried it once at Professor Van Doe''s and he could not even use it several times back then. His limit was at least once every two hours as he needed the two hours to recover from just one shot. However, this was the very first time he was able to use it twice continuously in such a short amount of time and clearly, something was wrong.


    An excruciating pain shot through both his arms.


    Just then, two fleeing figures loomed on the prairie behind the trio. It was Anda and the dragon-headed Mech.


    "Garen ~~~~" Anda started shouted from far away, a look of sorrow written all over his face.


    Garen turned back and glanced swiftly.


    There was no any other way anymore. It was time to let loose of the load, get rid of these two and leave straight away!


    His intuition told him that the dragon-headed Mech would be far more dangerous and a bigger threat than the two Mechs in front of him. Even his Willpower was warning him already.


    He snorted coldly. The isolated cabin behind his body suddenly released a bunch of Mastery Energy Ores, at least a quarter of the entire load!


    His Mech instantly recovered it''s engine power from the red negative level back to its normal level. On the other hand, the Mastery Energy Ores released outside started melting immediately. Observed by the naked eye, the ores melted into a pool of silver-metal liquid then began to evaporate rapidly.


    This could have made billions of fortune¡­


    Even Garen could feel his heart aching.


    However, under the reduced weight, merely two Level Five Pilots who have yet reached the New-Moon Level could still be easily dealt with within three moves as there was no more burden and the body could accelerate under such circumstances.


    Garen''s eyes narrowed as the blade started vibrating slowly. The shock technique used by expert warriors was used, causing the blade formed to be as lethal as an electric chainsaw.


    "Actually!!?? Nevermind, I don''t want to play anymore! Scram!"


    Contrary to what he expected, both Shining Mechs in front of him glanced at the two figures chasing up behind and straight away turned and ran without a word!


    Two rays of white flames were ejected from the rear of the body as the Shining Mechs darted towards the distance.


    What a big loss¡­ !


    Garen turned around and stared at the pool of melted Knowledge ores, his heart hurting a little already. A quarter of the ores gone all of a sudden, that could have been thousands of dollars already! A market value of tens of millions, that was the extent of billions of dollars.


    But now was not the time to be bitter.


    Raising his Mech''s engine. Garen blasted full power without a word and flew towards the other direction.


    What he did not know was the two Shining Mechs were actually the Ice Dragon''s men and not sent by Fila. Even Ice Dragon did not have the rights to assign such masters like them for such quests. In fact, they had just wanted to come out and have fun. But if the Ice Dragon was to find out that the Mechs had left their assigned positions just to come out and play, they would have gotten into deep trouble. That was why the mere sight of Ice Dragon had been enough to chase them away.


    Just like the Ice Dragon, his elite Pilots were also highly skilled masters and obsessed with all sorts of violent combat. When they fought, life and death were not an issue to them as they view such combat as merely a game. This was why their combat skills were able to be trained to an extent that was recognized by the powerful Garen.


    Three Mechs arranged themselves in a line, one chasing after the other, constantly flying over the prairie.

 906 Blocked 2

    As the afternoon passed, the sky dimmed and the sun glowed upon the grassland, dyeing everything in golden red.


    At night, the lights on three Mechs shook like they were high-speed floating cars.


    In the morning, a flock of mutated birds flew across the sky.


    Anda feebly turned around and took a glance; that dragon-headed humanoid Mech was still there.


    "¡­This guy¡­ won''t get tired?"


    "Fun! Hahahaha...!" Ice Dragon''s refreshed laughter came from the back. "It''s been a long time since I last had such a marathon exercise, Hahahaha!!! One two one! One two one! One two one¡­"


    This guy even started yelling cadence calls.


    "My God!" Anda slapped his forehead. "This guy is a psycho! I was running a one-night marathon with a psychopath all along?"


    Suddenly, Ice Dragon seemed to have received some sort of message while sitting in his cockpit. His face that had been all smiles a moment ago suddenly frowned.


    "What is this! What a bummer! Even though I was able to meet with such a fun guy," he curled his lips and touched his chin.


    "I say, Fourth, you''re someone who''s going to break through the Seventh Non-falling Level. Is it okay to play house with a mere Level Five?"


    A white-haired man at the corner of the screen said helplessly.


    "How about just killing them off?" Ice Dragon touched his chin, his eyes suddenly flashed with an intent to kill.


    "Forget it, you still have to go back and change to another Mech before you can do it, as for Fila''s problem, let him handle it. If he can''t even handle this kind of problem, he doesn''t have the qualification to be the Fifth. However, it''s not that Second brother likes to lecture you, but you are so emotional and you always do things based on your mood, it makes people very uncomfortable! We can''t even find you when we need you."


    "Second, this is your mistake. I, Ice Dragon, have always obeyed the arrangements of my superior. I''ve always listened to what they said," Ice Dragon laughed.


    "I said don''t call me Second[1]!" the white-haired man''s face twitched.


    "Second, you have always been second, if I don''t call you Second, do I call you second younger brother?" Ice Dragon feigned a frightened expression. "Second younger brother, what happened to you!? Second younger brother!"


    "I say¡­Fourth¡­," the white-haired man closed his eyes as the veins on his forehead bulged. "I am your second elder brother! Not your second younger brother!"


    "Is two bigger than four?" Ice Dragon was surprised. "My number is bigger than yours, why can''t I call you second younger brother?" suddenly his expression changed, "Un¡­ unless you want me to call you¡­ second elder sister?!"


    Boom!


    The sound of the screen bursting came from the other side.


    "Don''t stop me, I''m going to kill him!! Kill him!!!" the sound of Second raging came on and off.


    The screen was completely dark now.


    Ice Dragon stroked his chin.


    "Second, you really have a mental problem¡­ from narcissism to transsexuality¡­ huu¡­" he shuddered. "Now that I''ve realized the fact that I had lived with a pervert under the same roof; that was dangerous!"


    Suddenly, his expression changed.


    "Unless the reason that the First made him the Second is¡­ because¡­he doesn''t have ''Second''!!?? [2]"


    His expression changed rapidly.


    "It''s over, it''s over, it''s over!! Living together for so many years, has my chastity been long gone??"


    This guy was totally a psycho, talking to himself. He completely did not notice that although the screen had turned dark, sounds could still be transmitted.


    "F***!! Ice Dragon, if you dare to come back, I''m going to f****** kill you!!!" Second, on the other side, had totally blown his top. The surrounding people were trying to calm him.


    "Be honest, Second! Have you ever done anything to my chastity! Be honest!" Ice Dragon''s expression had turned gloomy.


    Boom!


    The screen had totally turned black and no sound came out again.


    "Sure enough¡­ silence means that you admit it!" Ice Dragon shivered. "I didn''t think that I''d recognize your true nature now! Second, you truly are a pervert!" he shouted to the sky.


    "I was only five years old at that time! Five years old!!! Yet you had the heart to do this!!"


    Two lines of tears flowed out from his eyes.


    "Er¡­ sir, you seemed to have been seven years old when you joined the organization¡­" the voice of his subordinate inside the headset could not help but remind him.


    "Er¡­ seven years old? Did I remember it wrong?" Ice Dragon wiped away his tears. With doubt in his eyes, he seemed to have finally recalled something and rubbed his temples. "A lot of people said that my brain has problems, does my brain really have problems?"


    "How could it be!? Sir, your brain is number one in the world, how could there be a problem, anyone can remember things wrongly! You have nothing to worry about!" the subordinate quickly comforted him.


    "Really?" Ice Dragon stroked his chin. Looking at the two people running in front, he suddenly felt down-hearted.


    "Forget it forget it, all of you go back, I have to properly check the problem concerning my chastity. These two should be solved by Fila, that brat, himself."


    "Yes, sir."


    Ice Dragon did not say another word. He turned around and ran, looking as though he was a murderer that was escaping.


    ***************


    Hu¡­hu¡­hu¡­


    Anda and Garen were breathing heavily.


    Let alone Anda who was tired like hell, even Garen, who possessed extraordinary physique, was tired. They had endured a long-distance marathon that, while consuming Willpower to support the Mech to escape, had lasted nearly two days one night. Even if his recovery was astounding, his mind was exhausted.


    It was evening again and two Mechs was lying down on the grass, disregarding any image they had. The two people in the cockpit completely relaxed their bodies to recover themselves rapidly.


    "That madman is finally gone!" Anda was very weak now. With severe thirst and hunger, on top of exhaustion of his Willpower and body, he had two dark circles under his eyes now. He had lost weight and looked like a skeleton now.


    Garen was still the same except that his body and Willpower were exhausted.


    "That guy is probably an expert of Full-Moon Level, we were lucky to be able to escape," he took deep breaths and quickly exhaled in a rhythmic way.


    "What do we do now?" Anda had decided to follow Garen all the way.


    "What to do? We fly straight to Flying Batoid City," Garen calmly got up from the ground. "Let me give you a suggestion. That dragon-headed Mech was actually playing around with you. The next time you see him, escape right away."


    Anda gave a wry smile and also struggled to stand up.


    The two of them stood up and looked far away at the sky where two white spots appeared. Astounding killing intent came out from the white spots.


    One of them was Windling''s Mech that was hunting Anda. With her arms crossed and her Mech straight, she was rushing towards this side.


    The other one was a Mech as white as a jade that did not conceal the fluctuation on its body, which exceeded Level Five. Although it exceeded Level Five, it had yet to reach Inherited Level but was somewhere in between.


    Looking closely, they could see that this Shining Mech had been specially modified. Although it was not an Exclusive Mech, it was not a simple Shining Mech either.


    "Windling, you dare to collude with the White Light''s terrorist organization!" Anda saw them and roared while trying to suppress the tremble in his heart.


    "Collusion?" Windling sneered. "After killing you guys, no one will know about this relationship right?"


    "It''s for real this time," Garen whispered. He had abandoned one-fourth of the Mastery Energy Ores. It would not greatly affect the Mech''s performance now which was about 80% of its total strength. It was just that there was no way to use the Black Wind now. Originally, he was supposed to wait for one hour for his body to recover, but due to his continuous usage previously, both his arms were now injured. He estimated that before he recovered, there was no way for him to use Black Wind.


    This kind of injuries on his body had been recovered by Garen using the Potential points once. It had been effective and the wound had closed up, but the strange thing was that he still could not use Black Wind. He did not know what other place had been injured that even Potential points could not completely repair.


    Black Wind was not available, thus he could only use the ordinary Ten Thousand True Technique to go against opponents. If they had some strong special skills, then it was going to be tough for them.


    Although the Ten Thousand True Technique was very useful for Mechs, when it encountered some strange special skills or those resonance skills, the outcome would be hard to predict. There were a lot of special skills and resonance skills in this world that were totally unreasonable and strong to an unbelievable extent.


    For combat techniques like Crouched Eagle Talon, it was sufficient when facing common Mech pilots, but to deal with opponents such as those in front of them, they would just die faster.


    Perhaps Professor Van Doe had some matching battle skills but for whatever reasons, he did not give them out. Garen could only use his own set first.


    "Anda, if you don''t want to die then throw away part of the Mastery Energy Ore," Garen directly send a message over.


    "I''ve long thrown them away¡­," Anda gave a wry smile. "Or else I would''ve been caught by that Madman."


    "¡­How much did you throw away?"


    "Half of them¡­"


    Both of them had treasures on them. If they just went all out and clashed with them, they were both reluctant so they had to think of a way to escape.


    "Do you have any idea?" Garen saw that the other parties were approaching and asked. His heart had also grown tense. His intuition told him that the two in front of them were not like the ones playing around. The two in front of them were here to kill them!


    "What Level can you handle? That Windling is a New Moon Level Five."


    "I don''t know, but I should barely get by," Garen had seen the power of resonance skills, having tested in the inner courtyard. When he had the nameless Level Five Willpower, he had been able to cope and delay for a while. Now that he was Level Five in Crouched Eagle Talon, he reckoned that he could barely get a draw at most.


    "The other one is also New Moon Level Five. It''s getting troublesome now," Anda gave a bitter smile. "If we really cannot do it, then let''s just throw away the Mastery Energy Ore and escape."


    The problem now was that the other side was more powerful than them, and they themselves were weighed down by the Mastery Energy Ores causing their combat capabilities to diminish. If they really fought, there was no way to keep the Mastery Energy Ores safe. There was no use in having money if they lost their lives trying to secure it.


    Of course, using the ore as bait to lure and delay the other party in order to escape was no problem. However, this meant that the dangers they went through these days were all in vain and they gained nothing.


    The problem now was that they would have to throw away the ores to keep their lives, and keeping the ores meant throwing away their lives.


    Garen did not have the confidence to fight such strong opponents under the condition that his Mech could not perform fully. However, he had decided that once the fight broke out, he would immediately drop all the ores and lure them to pick them up while he escaped.


    Compared to his life, materialistic gains were something that he could get again. However, throwing away so many Mastery Energy Ores, the progress to building his own Exclusive Mech would return to zero. He would have to search for sufficient resources again and after reaching Energy Machinist Level One, and he also needed a large number of resources to build his Biochemical Pool and test lab. The Energy Machinist was an occupation that burnt a lot of money. He did not know how long it would take to build a suitable Biochemical Station even if he saved up his millions of Units income every month.

 907 Deadpit 1

    Blackboard Academy


    A few young ladies dressed in yellow with metallic bracelets on their wrists were standing in front of the central classroom building.


    It may be hustling and bustling, but regardless, whoever who passed by would stole a glance at the ladies, but not daring to look straight at them. Not because of their beauty, but because they exuded a presence so strong that made people uncomfortable and flinch, yet somehow would not dare to look straight at them.


    "Rumors had it that five elites had recently emerged from the Blackboard Academy. I wonder if we will be able to meet them officially during this trip." One girl in yellow dress said while toying with her curly hair.


    "Apart from the Little Three Marshals and One Star, there''s nothing else to explore in the Blackboard Academy right?" Another girl asked.


    "Our Zero Gun elder sister will deal with Black Star Diofie but from the way I see it, other than Diofie, the rest are all losers. We, as one of the Nine Phoenix, have already reached the outer court but no one is here to welcome us."


    "That''s right, the Blackboard Academy''s people is really proud that they don''t give Nine Phoenix face. They knew we sneaked in, but did not even bother and even pretended to not know about it. Why don''t Elder Sister directly challenge the inner courtyard training tower?"


    The few girls kept chatting but a girl standing in the middle amongst them kept her face straight and cold. She had short eyebrows, slanted high on both sides above her eyes.


    She kept looking at her wrist watch and seemed to be searching for information from it.


    A moment later, she looked up and said quietly.


    "Let''s not wait any longer. No one is going to greet us when we are the ones sneaking in. Other than the Little Three Marshals and One Star, are there any other people who are that good?"


    "There is, Elder Sister. The three big organizations here have some elites. They even made a ranking so the people up there should be quite good. They should conform to the standards of our objectives."


    Just as she finished her sentence, several people wearing student uniforms came down. They looked grim and dark.


    The few girls also suddenly found out that without them realizing, they had been surrounded by the outer court students who gathered around as if to watch a show. The students surrounding them even had a kind of three layers by three layers formation.


    The students of Blackboard Academy were not fools. These people had stood for so long in front of the general classroom building and they did not looked like they were here to tour the Academy, albeit sometimes they do get visitors who do just that.


    Those who were observant noted the uniforms the girls were wearing. The unique uniforms belonged to the Maria Region, and could only be found from the true elite of Maria Academy. This was the real reason that more and more people were gathering to see what was happening.


    Why were the Maria Region''s people here? The Maria Academy and the Blackboard Academy never got along with each other.


    More and more people were gathering, and the sound of whispers grew louder. Most of the crowd were there to see what was going to happen; whereas some people went off to inform the other elites as it seemed like these girls were here to cause trouble.


    "Ladies, who is Rapid Gun Leanna from the Nine Phoenix?" The young man in front asked.


    He had a scar on his nose that originated from a burn, adding on as a little flaw to his good looking features. The moment he opened his mouth, he was asking for the leader of the party straight away.


    One girl stepped forward and replied in a polite tone.


    "The reason we came here this time was due to the rumor that the Blackboard Academy recently had talented students which include Red-Eyed Medero whose name had spread wide and far. Elder sister Leanna coincidentally passed by this region and wanted to come and see how excellent the students here are."


    As soon as she finished speaking, sounds of booing immediately broke out among the surrounding crowd.


    "Rapid Gun Leanna? We have never heard of her? You want to compare with our Sir Medero, you have to see how much you''re worth!" Someone in the crowd sneered out loud.


    "That''s right! How random for a ''rapid gun'' to just walk in and challenge our Sir Medero anytime? When will he have any time to rest?"


    "Sir Medero is not someone a random mob can challenge!"


    The crowd suddenly got into a commotion.


    Leanna raised her eyebrows slightly and gave a cold smile.


    "You all have a point. If that''s the case, then I will just casually challenge an inner court elite other than Medero. Let me see if there is someone worth looking for from Blackboard Academy."


    She stepped forward.


    "I will stand here and accept any challenge. If there is anyone who can win against me, I will give away Silverlake Alloy on the spot, how about it?"


    Silverlake Alloy!!


    This was a material that was a lot more precious than the engine materials like Blood Silver. There''s a high price for it but there are no sales as not everybody would be able afford it as one Silverlake Alloy at its lowest standard purity would be priced at 2.5 billion for just a mere one kilogram!


    The crowd fell into a dead silent.


    Even if the Academy is a place where all rich children from the Blackboard Region gathered, it is still shocking to know and face somebody who could just throw out a few billions just like that as part of a bet.


    A group of guys who were walking past the crowd also heard Leanna''s proclamation. The leading guy in blonde hair had a sudden thought in mind and instead of heading to the dormitory, he turned around instead and strode towards the crowd.


    "There is no need for Sir Medero to come out. I, Kanasien, ranked twenty-sixth will challeng you!" Greed flashed in the eyes of the blond guy. He was gathering materials to construct his own Exclusive Mech and the materials came right on time!


    Leanna curled her lips.


    "Alright, you''ll do. Whether it''s Willpower combat or martial arts, pick whichever you want. Of course, if you want, you can also choose resonance degrees Mech combat." She flipped her long hair and said.


    Just as her voice faded away, Kanasien''s complexion suddenly change, resonance degree??


    This opponent was an elite who had at least reach the New Moon Level!


    At the same time, those in the crowd who were fast to catch on also now realized something amiss.


    This group of ladies led by Leanna came here not for some friendly interaction¡­they were either here to cause trouble or here with some other agenda!


    "Let''s begin!" Leanna smiled and stepped forward, the remaining girls behind her sneered at the dumbfounded Kanasien.


    *******************


    Radiation Belt


    Garen and Anda both looked at the two elite Mechs flying in the sky getting closer.


    "Together or separate?"


    Anda smiled helplessly. "Let''s separate and joined up at Flying Batoid City, any problem?"


    "Alright."


    Garen did not say another word. He turned around and flew to the right side as the legs of the Mech leapt.


    With a bang, black soil and grass flew around everywhere. The Mech also used this recoil force to fly and shot towards the distance.


    Anda on the other side was close to the ground and gaining speed faster and faster. Soon, a trace of faint silver light appeared on the surface of the Mech. Just as this trace of light glittered, Anda''s speed suddenly increased much more.


    However, inside the cockpit, Anda was enduing an intense pain. His face was flushed with veins popping out on his face as if his blood was going to explore from his body anytime.


    "Chase them!!" Windling and the other pilot split up and chased after them.


    Garen looked at the ground that was increasingly speeding back behind and his heart grew calmer.


    After a long journey and without sufficient rest, parts of the Mech Body were now highly fatigue. Adding on to the toil was the radiation that seeped through the erosion damage which was inflicted on parts of the Body. Thus, energy consumption was higher and speed was not up to par.


    Black Wind had not recovered yet and the Nameless Level Five Willpower was not there. Now he did not have the capability to confront a New Moon Level. With only the Crouched Eagle Talons, he was far from being the opponent for the people chasing close behind. He had gone for a simulation battle with a New Moon Level opponent in the training room before. Without the Mech, he could confront them and it was a tie on the battle. However, with the Mech, he was far from being a match. It was due to the resonance which provided large amount of support in the manipulation.


    "Coming out this time, as long as I can keep this batch of Mastery Energy Ore and the Blood Silver, all will be worth it!" Garen calculated in his mind. He activated the rear sensor and swept through the Mech chasing behind. The opponent''s speed was faster than his and was about to catch up!


    "I have to think of a solution."


    Garen narrowed his eyes and worked his brain furiously.


    Suddenly, the grass in front of him appeared wet and the ground seemed to be soft.


    Garen''s mind lighted up.


    The Body suddenly rushed out and stomped on this area. He stepped on the area that was harder compare to others.


    One second after his Mech Body passed by, the white Body behind also shot out at a high speed and stepped on the area which he had just stomped on.


    Both of them were trying to preserve energy in the engine that was used for the flying and relied on running with their legs. This allowed Garen to formulate a plan.


    Suddenly, Garen''s Mech Body in front seemed to twist slightly and lost a little balance. This balance, in the eyes of the powerhouses, only needed a moment to adjust back but the common pilots generally were not able to detect it.


    However the white Mech behind chose this moment to increased its speed explosively.


    A sinister laugh came out from inside the Mech.


    "Still thinking of running! Gale Claw!!"


    His Mech Body stretched out its hand and brought out greenish energy blades which formed a large green hand extending out to press upon the back of Garen''s Mech.


    Garen staggered and swerved to avoid the claw in the nick of time before landing on the right side of the grass.


    The white Mech laughed and stepped forward.


    Chi!


    Suddenly the leg of his Mech unexpectedly sank into the ground.


    A quagmire!! Not good!


    The white Mech was startled and suddenly a bright light flashed in front of his eyes, and a strong, black line struck down.


    Wu¡­!!


    The black line flashed and split the quagmire, hitting the white Mech on its hands which it raised up in a haste.


    With a loud clanging sound, golden sparks came out from the clash between both Mechs. The sword slipped from the claws and sliced in the same direction towards the white Mech.


    "What, again?!" The white Mech was not able to take action fast enough and stomped on the ground instinctively wanting to borrow the force to get out of here, but its Body was sinking deeper.


    Although this guy had resonance degree and belonged to the New Moon Level, he was far from the people he met previously. His combat experience was so bad!


    "Resonance skill! Poison Vine!!"


    The white Mech seemed to have blew his top. He was forced by a guy with no resonance skill into this chaotic state. A roar came from the cockpit.


    Garen''s complexion remain unchanged and stepped back. His legs condensed a small piece of ice on the quagmire, just enough to borrow its force.


    Traces of invisible Cold Chaos Field came out and seeped into the opponent''s Mech.


    There was no one else here. Even if he released Cold Chaos, no one would realized.


    At that moment, a large amount of illusory twisted green vines spurted out from the white Mech''s surroundings and flew out in all direction. At the same time, his overall speed, dexterity and power had increased by at least 30%!


    Noticing the change in speed, Garen quickly retracted his sword and retreated but a large amount of vines followed him closely. Each of the vines was as thick as his Body''s waist and wherever it passed by, it released a green gas which corroded the grass into black puddles. The poison was horrendously evil.


    The white Mech released five large vines and more than ten small vines as though it had turned into a mutated creature. It bared its claws and let out a roar.

 908 Dead Pit 2

    "So this is the resonance skill?" Garen stood far off away looking at the man lacking actual combat experience. He was suffering from mental confusion by Cold Chaos and was simply directing his resonance skills against something imaginary.


    "Amazing!" For someone who was not particularly good in any aspects to be able to release such powerful strength in an instant just because of the resonance skill, it is pretty unbelievable.


    Garen sighed. If it was not for Cold Chaos, he would have suffered at the outbreak of the enemy. Even if he did survive, his Mech would have been corroded or damaged severely.


    Moreover, after the resonance skill was stimulated, the white Mech''s speed strength improved by approximately 30%. In addition to the large number of vines which contains highly toxic corrosive effect, his Mech could have¡­


    "Damn, this is no good!!"


    Garen was startled. The enemy actually managed to get out from the shackles of the illusion, and as if suddenly teleported in front of him with a huge bunch of vines were swarming towards him.


    "What ability is that!!?" Not only did he suddenly shifted in front of his sight, but also escaped the illusion as if the Cold Chaos did not affect him at all.


    "Stupid! I may be incompetent, but with the aid of a master within a short distance leap, I am able to kill anyone I want! Hehehe!! Go to hell!!"


    The white Pilot seated in the cabin roared. Hanging from his chest was a white, shimmering necklace which was helping to resist against the mental confusion created by the Cold Chaos.


    Several thick vines were swarmed towards Garen. Its dark green surface dripped of disgusting, green slime. As the slime made contact with the ground, it rapidly evaporated into a fermented mist.


    Chi chi chi!!


    Only three swings were yielded from the blade to cut the vines.


    Both blades in Garen''s hands broke at the same time, melting into a form of black liquid dripping on the ground.


    His body retreated swiftly as a large area of his front external armor was being corroded, exposing strips of his silver skeletal system.


    Without his external armor and only left with his skeletal system, Garen''s Mech was at risk of being instantly paralyzed if he was shot by even just an ordinary high-powered ray gun.


    "Hahaha!! Too many people have died from this move of mine! Did you really think that I was completely incompetent?" Sinister laughter was heard from the white Mech.


    "As expected, New-Moon Level is nothing simple!" Garen finally understood the cruel reality that in order to achieve New-Moon Level Five Resonance, those masters must have experienced a lot of combat. Even the guy in sight right now who seemed harmless had tricks beneath his sleeves.


    If any other Level Five Pilot was to be replaced by the move previously, he might have been caught by the vines and his body completely ruined by the corrosion. Even some of the New-Moon Level Resonance Pilots under such ambush might not even be able to use their resonance skills on time before getting themselves killed.


    "This guy¡­ trying to be a ringer huh?" At first, Garen thought that the person was just another good-for-nothing young man from a rich family who had been forcefully nurtured. Maybe he was a little talented, but unexpectedly¡­


    "Run! You better keep running, you little pest! I wasted so much time and energy chasing after you! You better run!" The white Mech let out an arrogant laugh.


    "With just your ability and you dare to challenge Big Brother Fila, do you really not know how to spell the word death!"


    The vines around him danced around madly as if they were turning into a huge monster. From far away, they look like a gigantic vine monster at least ten meters long. Not just was it entirely green, but it was also continuously dripping a large amount of disgusting slime.


    "Now, I want you to give me everything you have with you, then kneel on the ground and call me Grandpa thrice. Maybe then I would consider to spare your life."


    The white Mech exclaimed in a frenzy of rage.


    "You have a death wish."


    Garen scoffed and threw away his half corroded blade. Straightening his body, he released his Mech''s defense.


    "It seems that you really do want to die¡­bastard!" The white Mech''s voice suddenly turned low and solemn.


    "I''m begging you to kill me," Garen grinned with a hint of mischief. "Please."


    "I asked you to beg me!!"


    With a loud rumble, the vines around the white Mech burst once again and expanded twice its original size before darting towards Garen''s direction.


    Simultaneously, it flung out massive amounts of green slime everywhere. Even the stones were etched in puddles of black liquid, with white smoke fizzling up.


    Just when the white Mech was about to charge towards Garen, something happened¡­


    Ow!!


    A humongous black mouth suddenly emerged from the quagmire and grabbed the white Mech at his entire lower body together with the vines.


    This mouth was no different than a fish''s. It was black with smooth shiny edges, just that ithere were large, thick tentacles within. The tip of the tentacles actually had suction cups the size of a basin, which pegged the white Mech down tightly.


    Springing out all of a sudden, the gigantic fish''s mouth was at least twenty meters wide and had at least hundreds of suction cups sucking onto the white Mech tightly, while making a sharp, sucking sound.


    "No¡­!!! You beast¡­! No!!!" The white Mech froze for a moment as if it was paralyzed by the beast''s toxins. Motionless, it was just howling in pain.


    Snap!


    The fish swallowed the white Mech in whole.


    Garen who was just watching from the side was shocked and frightened. This was the true Level Five New-Moon Powerhouse! The Mech which almost ruined him just moments ago was entirely vulnerable in the hands of this mutated creature.


    Previously, he could also tell that there was something fishy about this quagmire hence attracting the white Mech to go there. However, he did not expect that he would feel a sort of hidden threat during the battling process hence he had intentionally tried to stay away from its murky waters.


    His soul intuition told him that this quagmire was definitely dangerous.


    And now, a New-Moon Level Mech that he was unable to defeat was just swallowed by a gigantic fish beast in just one gobble.


    The gigantic fish had no eyes, just an enormous mouth above the water surface. After biting around for a moment, it retracted back into the quagmire when it did not sense anything else for it to gobble further.


    The strange thing was the hole in the quagmire caused by the beast somehow returned to its original form along with its retraction. Large tracts of the quagmire automatically moved from its surrounding and formed a disguise unrecognizable from its previous form.


    Garen stood on the edge, his body continued radiating icy Cold Radiation. The frost froze the scent emitting from his Mech. He deduced that this beast mainly relied on scent and breathings to identify its prey, then deliberately reduced its own breathing to the minimum, hoping to lure the arrogant white Mech to step into its trap.


    And that was how a tragic incident happened ¡­


    "Gee¡­such misfortune, not even a single bone is left." After retreating about ten meters back, then only did Garen felt the faint hint of threat slowly disappearing.


    "The Radiation Belt really is full of danger. This has got to be the first time I witnessed a terrifying mutated beast strong enough to threaten a Pilot."


    Heaving a sigh of relief, Garen turned around and flew towards the direction of the Flying Batoid City.


    Shortly after he left, a black shadow fell from the clouds above, surveyed the quagmire area and then looked towards the direction of where Garen was heading.


    "He is no doubt the gifted student who is much taken care of by Professor Van Doe, not even once did he need me to help or interfere along the way," the black shadow said lightly. "Even though he was still a student, he actually managed to deal with the White Light Elite Army Powerhouse. What are these children nowadays?"


    The enemies faced by Nonosiva and Anda were beyond the range of the academy''s usuals, almost like the Three Marshals and One Star, nearing the cruel reality of the adults'' world.


    Within the academy, perhaps a New-Moon Level Five Pilot would make the top class of the human chain already. However outside the academy, although such level Pilots were uncommon, they were not rare. After all, the students'' time of growth were at maximum a fraction of the others, sometimes even one-tenth or one-fifth. With such a gap, a lack of power could not be simply made up by just talent or hard work.


    As one of the geniuses respected by Black Flood, how could he simply roam around without any extra security? Even Garen managed to work this out, and was not concerned for his safety, which was also why he seemed to be calm and collected the whole time.


    "If no trouble lies ahead, it is time to send a message to the professor," the shadow muttered. He leaped back into the sky and ejected blue flames from his back, flying into the distance and disappeared among the grassland margin in a blink of an eye.


    ************


    "Who else!?"


    Blackboard Academy, right in front of the central teaching block.


    The huge courtyard was filled with nearly hundreds of people from other academies, standing across crowd were a group of girls. Nobody in the crowd spoke a word.


    Lying in front of Leanna was a man''s charred body. He was not dead, but his body''s Willpower had nearly deteriorated by half. This was the consequence of accepting a quick gunfight challenge with Leanna.


    "Blackboard Academy, also known as the most brutal, dark academy. It seems that it is only so." A girl standing beside Leanna sneered out loud and laughed.


    "Where is your so-called strongest Three Marshals and One Star? Come out, stop using such garbage to drag time," Leanna commented lightly as she loosened her wrist joints.


    Buzz¡­


    The students around now only realized that these girls were not joking, and were really challenging the elite of Blackboard Academy - the small Three Marshals and One Star.


    The infamous rapid gun, Leanna of Maria Academy, was just a nobody before this. But right here, right now, this was the stage for her talent to bloom.


    This girl is actually using Blackboard Academy as a stepping stone for her to shine!


    "Small Three Marshals and One Star had been known as the strongest of the younger generation. Who knew someone would actually stand out to challenge them?" An unknown sharp voice sounded from the crowd.


    Leanna''s mouth slightly curved upwards, only she herself knew what her true intention was. She purposely picked a time where Three Marshals and One Star were away from the academy and came to challenge them just to make herself known.


    The first one who voiced out among the crowd was actually a student from Blackboard Academy whom she just bought off.


    Three Marshals and One Star were the strongest presence known in Blackboard. Ranking forefront, they were no doubt the most powerful beings in the academy. Ranked first was naturally Diofie, nicknamed Black Star, who was also the main support of Blackboard Academy in the future, followed by three parallels, Red-Eyed Medero, Karfi and Narisiss.


    The four of them were collectively known as Blackboard Academy''s Three Marshals and One Star. As to the small Three Marshals and One Star, those were just the recent rise of new powerhouses over the years but they were nothing compared to these four people. As for the others? The ones ranked behind like Britney, Fila, and others, they would not even appear on such occasions. They were not just princesses at a higher status, they also had connections so there was no way they would exert deadly forces just for Blackboard''s sake. However, even given a shot, Leanna would not be afraid. Her true target this time around was actually Britney, the fourth rank star¡­

 909 Return 1

    "People from the Maria Region dare to be this arrogant?"


    An army of black Mechs flew across the sky. A few of them descended slowly, suspending in the air right above the teaching block, overlooking below.


    The one that spoke was a Mech with two curved horns attached to its chest.


    "Who are you?! Get down here!"


    Leanna looked up, two rays of electrical light shot out from her eyes with a bang. The blue electrical lights with rolls of thunder shot towards the Mechs in the air.


    At the same time, the men in the sky released a black fog-like Willpower Mist Force which was fiercely sweeping downwards.


    As the blue electrical light came into contact with the black mist, an electrical light followed by a shutter sound broke through the blanket of darkness, hitting the surface of the black body. Its Pilot let out a painful howl as it took a few steps back.


    "Stupid," a look of underestimation flashed through her eyes. "Do they think they can just rely on a Mech booster?"


    "Right! The Blackboard Region is getting less and less advanced nowadays, using Mech boosters when they can''t guarantee a winning fight. If this is the case, we might as well drive our bodies over for a battle. Three Marshals and One Star, they''re just alright," a woman behind Leanna grunted loudly.


    "You bitch!!" The black body could not suppress its anger and roared. He was very pissed. Not only was he being shot at while driving a body, but he was shot by a woman in front of a huge crowd!


    "Calm down, Jack! She''s targeting the people of Blue Narcissus. Just observe quietly." Just as Jack was about to attack back, a tremendous power from behind held him down instantly.


    Leanna sneered.


    "I will be here waiting for three days. If your so-called small Three Marshals and One Star don''t show up by then, I''ll know that I''ve witnessed Blackboard''s so-called elites..."


    She turned to lead the way towards the dormitory area with the other women quickly keeping up behind her. No one dared to step in their way and they soon disappeared into the crowd.


    "Let''s go!"


    The black Mechs continued to soar in the sky, flying in the direction of the Inner Courtyard.


    Inside the main teaching block, there was a huge French window in the middle of the room.


    Several masters were observing the commotion beneath them.


    "Not bad, Maria Region is producing more and more outstanding disciples. It seems that they are progressing pretty well." A bearded middle-aged man commented with a smile.


    "Just right to give these lazy kids some motivation to work hard instead of constantly thinking that they''re the top elites, maybe all they need is a trigger." Another plump middle-aged woman nodded. "So long they grasp well to a certain degree and do not go over the line."


    "That young lady has probably reached Half-Moon Level already and she''s only thirty years old. How young," another master muttered.


    "She''s the daughter of the Maria Region''s King. Besides her illustrious background and abundant resources, she also has talent. For her to be able to reach this level is not surprising at all."


    "Notify all the chiefs to hand up a list of outstanding students from each department. We shall pick suitable candidates to fight this young lady," the middle-aged woman instructed.


    "Understood."


    "The candidates must be strong. Those slightly weaker ones might be ruined if they are unable to endure through it all. Uh, this kid sure knows how to pick the right time. The elites are all out?"


    The middle-aged woman was silent, as she remembered the Three Marshals and One Star were all out on quests.


    "I shall go report to the Vice-Chancellor now." A master turned and walked out of the room. There was only one president in the Outer Courtyard who is also the Dean. In reality, the Chancellor did not have much matter to worry about whereas the other vice president was the one managing the academy issues.


    Soon, offices from other teaching blocks had received the notice from the Vice-Chancellor to assign elite students from each department to accept Leanna''s challenge.


    Inside an office full of mahogany furniture, two men let out continuous sighs as they chatted. One was leaning against the mahogany desk, the other seated on a leather chair behind the desk, both of them wearing the same bitter expressions on their face.


    "My department, Supporting Combat department, won''t be able to make it. Their average level of Willpower is weaker than the Main Battle department by another level. It''s up to you, Ansader." The one standing said helplessly.


    "I have no way either," Ansader was the chief of the War Machinery department, also mainly responsible for the mobilization of the department. "Besides the Boot System, don''t we still have the Field Battle department and the Specialty Department? No way we''re bearing all these right?"


    He too observed what just happened outside the window, a Half-Moon Level Five Resonance Degree. This level was considered elite in the Inner Courtyard already. How was he supposed to find someone suitable from his department?


    "Didn''t you recommend a few prodigies to the academy every year? Filter through the ones who got admitted and shortlist the few exceptional ones," the man standing by the side asked.


    He dropped by on purpose to find potential students to represent the Supporting Combat department for the upcoming challenge so they won''t lose too badly. He did not have any other plans as the kids over at the Supporting Combat department simply would not have stood a chance against the power of Willpower. 99 percent of the students could not even build an Exclusive Mech, let alone achieving Half-Moon Level resonance degree. If they can''t even reach Level Five Willpower, needless to say, resonance degree is pretty much impossible to achieve.


    Majority of the Pilot students generally waited until they graduate and earn money before building their own bodies, then producing resonance degree.


    "I do recommend people but it''s not easy to find someone at Half-Moon Level Five!" Ansader let out a wry smile with his hands spread open. "Those few who achieved Half-Moon Levels in the academy''s Inner Courtyard are either out on quests or not in the academy, so tell me where do I go look for such people?"


    "Well, the Chancellor had already let the word out that every department in the academy must nominate at least two students. The seniors won''t do as Leanna is a neo-human student, and is one of the top five outstanding prodigies of the Maria Academy. If we dispatch the seniors, it wouldn''t matter even if we win," the standing master said.


    "That is to say so." Ansader was getting frustrated as he rubbed his temples. "Students of the Half-Moon Level can''t be old either, how are we going to find someone suitable!"


    Both of them were very well aware that within the whole of Blackboard, the ones who reached Half-Moon Level were just a handful of people. Ranking behind the Three Marshals and One Star were Britney, Fila, and the others. Of course, they had already graduated. However, the ones who were currently active on duty were Medero, Karfi and Narisiss. The three of them were actually old already but they had special reasons as to why they still stayed in the standings.


    "I''m getting a headache from this¡­ did the three parties of the academy respond?" He looked up and asked.


    "Among the three parties, the Black Star Party is keeping quiet; the Black Rain party led by Medero and the others would probably send their backup Black Rain team to take action, it''s just a matter of sending who." The man heaved a sigh before replying.


    In fact, both of them knew that within the whole of Blackboard, the ones who managed to reach Half-Moon Level Five were truly just a handful of people. After the Black Star, it was Medero, Karfi and Narisiss, then Britney, Fila and Leila. These people were the pillars of strength for Blackboard. The first four were known as the Three Marshals and One Star by the outside world, whereas the three at the back were star students who were highly sought after by countless other academies. They were truly the only ones above Half-Moon Level Five.


    "Where did this Leanna come from? How is it that I''ve never heard about her before today¡­" Ansader sank into deep thought.


    "Nevermind, someone notified Britney already¡­" the master standing at the side frowned while taking a look at his watch displaying the clear message.


    "Who informed her? Isn''t she holidaying in South Sea? How is she able to return so soon with such short notice?" Ansadar frowned and asked.


    "It was intentional."


    "It should be directed at her alone," Ansader nodded in agreement.


    Both of them felt a sense of premeditated atmosphere in the air.


    "This is troublesome¡­ Blue Narcissus has never been known for its combat skills," Ansader commented softly.


    Both of them stood up and went to the French window. Far away, multiple blue airships were moving in the direction of the entrance of the Inner Courtyard.


    ******************


    Radiation Belt, Flying Batoid City


    Floating across the calm quiet sky of the Flying Batoid City were gigantic flying batoids. These creatures with fan-like wings would constantly let out a long cattle roar.


    The huge black trees stood high like forts on the mountain, with lights flickering from the people''s homes.


    Below the grey town was a green farmland with its crops swaying gently in the breeze. The crops were bizarre looking, and at the top of it was an extraordinarily, fat green maggot which seemed like it was squirming once in a while.


    Garen''s tattered body flew from a distance, suspending over the town and slowly descend once he reached the city''s main gate.


    "Lord!" Two teams came swarming towards Garen. Vendant who hosted Garen the previous time reappeared, "Lord, you are back! Where are the other masters?"


    He took a step forward and gave Garen a respectful bow.


    "Don''t ask questions that you should not be asking. Get me a new armor for my Mech." Exhausted, Garen exited the body. After rushing back without stopping for any breaks and constantly on the watch throughout the way, he was tired.


    "Nobody is allowed to open the cabin. If anything goes wrong, you will not be able to afford to bear the consequences! Don''t say I didn''t warn you!" The knowledge ores were likely to melt if he cabin is opened and exposed to the temperature outside.


    "Yes, yes, yes!" Vendant acknowledged hurriedly. With a wave of his hand, he motioned the men behind him to search for a tractor to drag the body into another garage.


    Truth be told, Garen was not worried about sombody opening the body''s cabin and ruining the knowledge ores. After all, nobody dared to disobey his command as this area was close by to the Blackboard Region and there were plenty of Blackboard Pilots patrolling around.


    Moreover, the difference in strength between both sides is very large. People from the White Light would not dare to enter this area so if the people here promised not to open the cabin, they would definitely not do so.


    Led by Vendant, Garen entered the city once again. This time around, he opted for a quiet, comfortable place to just sleep instead of his usual choice of entertainment.


    When he woke up, Little Bitch was already resting beside him naked.


    "Hu¡­"


    He groggily chose a place groggily last night to sleep. Sitting up, he surveyed his surroundings. The bedroom was clean and neat with a low radiation count. Every corner of the room was spotless and it was obvious the room was well kept.


    Bright rays of sunlight shone in and the crisp sound of birds chirping could be heard. This was considered rare in the region since it had been a long time the region had birds.


    "You are awake?" Little Bitch also woke up around the same time, hazily straightening her frame.


    "Go back to sleep," said Garen. He got down from the bed and walked out of the bedroom. He was still dressed in his radiation suit so he did not need a jacket.


    The small yard outside had a lot of green plants that looked very good.


    "Oh, you''re awake. Did you have a good night''s sleep?" Anda was seated in the middle of the yard by a small stone table. He had a tablet in his hands, which was playing a TV series showing a man and a woman hugging each other and crying. It was obviously one of those old-school TV plots where one of them was diagnosed with cancer.


    Garen walked over to sit beside him. Picking up the drink on the table, he poured it into the filter pipe of the radiation suit.


    "When did you come back?"


    "Yesterday. Actually, you arrived just two hours earlier than me." Anda smiled, "I say, you are so insensitive. You said you will ditch me and you did just that. If it wasn''t for my little tricks, I would have been crippled already just because of the psycho. Then we met the lunatics, you said run and you really did ran."


    "Isn''t singling one by one out not good? Look at us, our limbs are still intact," Garen laughed.


    "So how was it?" Anda inched nearer and asked mysteriously.


    "How what? Don''t come any closer." Garen swiftly distanced himself away from Anda. After experiencing such a life-death experience, they could get along much better now.


    "Stop pretending, you definitely took more stash than me!" Anda cried out loud. The calm and mature composure seen in this guy from the beginning was gone, and all that was left was his thick-skinned attitude.


    "What are you planning to do?" Garen pondered for a moment and asked.

 910 Return 2

    "Me? I just don''t want to always be on the run, constantly chased by people who want to kill me. I''m just going to settle with building Exclusive Mechs this time with my return. I have already found a processing laboratory and most of the materials, in addition to the stash this time around, I should be able to build a pretty decent body," Anda explained proudly.


    Garen nodded. This bastard really was not bad. If it was not for him, they would not have been able to find where the Mastery Energy Ores were hidden. Come to think of it, Anda was the reason he was able to receive so many benefits. However, listening to the tone of the bastard right this moment, it was clear that he was as experienced as a hunting dog.


    At the thought of that, Garen''s expression turned serious and solemn.


    "If you ever need any help with other quests like this, feel free to find me and I will try my best if it is within my capability!"


    Anda immediately gave him a look of despise.


    Actually, the only reason why the both of them got along harmoniously was that they were the same kind of people. Life and death meant nothing to them and they had strong wills, not something an ordinary Pilot was able to relate to.


    "To be honest I am still being hunted by my family, and you had offended Fila and the bunch of people. From the look of it, they seem to be related to White Light. You have bigger problems than me, man," Anda sneered. "The psycho probably came for you, while I was just unlucky enough to be dragged into this mess."


    "Forget about it then!" Garen was speechless. Honestly, he also did not want to be on the run anymore. Now that he was in possession of the Mastery Energy Ores, Blood Silver, and with the materials for the body prepared by Master Fila, he just needed to go back to construct most of the plane''s body. The only thing lacking this moment were the engine skills and materials for the skeletal system.


    The energy machinist''s biochemical pool was just right in radiation belt. The Flying Batoid City acted as the largest pool in the radiation belt to have sufficient materials for a biochemical pool, especially the one needed by most -- the Stony Heart Cells.


    "My body still lacks a proper sensory system and there''s nothing much to do here already, so I''m planning to return to finish up and return to the region in the afternoon. What about you?" Anda asked.


    "I still need engine skills and skeletal materials. I will go to the marketplace this afternoon to get some radiation materials, then return after taking care of some other things. No rush at all," Garen shook his head.


    Anda murmured in thought.


    "Although we failed the quest this time, we should be satisfied with what we managed to get. The engine skills can be bought, but in terms of materials, more specifically, the materials to construct the skeletal system, I am still missing parts that are needed for the joint. These parts are rare, but I might have a way to get them. Just tell me when the body is finished, we can do a bulk order so it would be cheaper."


    "My goodness, bulk order¡­" Garen was speechless once again. As elites of the Inner Courtyard, they could exchange technology and materials with their masters. If it was something difficult even for them to acquire, naturally it was harder for the outsiders. Yet Anda even has the nerve to bring up ordering it in bulk as if it was something common.


    "Consider it settled then! This is my personal secret connection''s password. Just contact me if you need anything!" Anda gave Garen his contact.


    Both of them stood up. Looking at Anda leaving hurriedly, Garen could not help but feel relieved. Although the mission was unsuccessful, the purpose was still achieved indirectly. With a sufficient supply of Blood Silver and Mastery Energy Ores, it was enough for him to create the costly Pilot biochemical pool. With the amount of radiation materials collected, he should be able to create something of excellent quality.


    This time, the search for Blood Silver was ridden with all sorts of trouble. It was definitely getting messier outside. The friction between the regions was worsening by the day. Even Level Five powerhouses like them could barely make it back. It was no wonder nobody volunteered to step out the radiation belt.


    Just as these thoughts surfaced, Garen could hear the sound of a body''s engine flying overhead. It were three black Mechs slowly flying towards the Flying Batoid City''s landing point. Each of them had a clear Blackboard logo and a large white ''V'' printed on its side, indicating that they are from the Blackboard region -- not from the Blackboard Academy but from other academies.


    **********************


    The three white-V Mechs touched down slowly. Each Mech was holding a blue triangular shield, and carrying a white sword on its back military-style.


    "This is the Flying Batoid City. Both of you must be extremely careful during this trip! Understand?" One of the Mechs said coldly, it was actually a young girl.


    "Yes, we understand, big sister." The other two Mechs quickly responded.


    The staff from the Flying Batoid City walked up and received them. They started to clean the three Mechs by removing the excess radiation from their armor and painting the spots which got 6chipped off.


    The cabins of the three Mechs opened, and out walked two men and a lady. They were all dressed in blue and white striped radiation suits, their face mask was completely transparent. At first glance, it resembled a space suit and you could see the person''s entire face in it.


    "Master Vecil, welcome to the Flying Batoid City once again!" A fat man who literally rolled his way in greeted them with a grinning face.


    "Enough, I am not in the mood to exchange courtesies. Just arrange our rooms for us to rest," the woman-in-charge answered in an icy tone.


    "Yes, yes, yes."


    Vecil and the duo turned to go but then noticed a black Mech parked in an open space not far away. The Mech''s body was barely recognizable, its armor seemed ruined by a corrosive substance. If it was not the fact that the shape still resembled a Blackboard Mech, it would have been probably been scrapped off.


    "Such a body damaged to this extent yet still wanting to fix it? Is this some sort of a joke?" The woman commented scornfully as she turned to exit the hangar.


    "Yes, yes, yes, what Master said is¡­" The fat man agreed repeatedly.


    "Huh? Wait, Big Sister!" A young looking teenager among the trio suddenly called out to Vecil who was leading the group. When he looked back inadvertently just now, he actually saw that the broken Mech was exposing some sort of skeletal material that was seemingly better than their body''s material.


    "What is it?" Vecil looked back impatiently.


    The young boy pointed towards the smashed body with a flicker of surprise in his eyes.


    "Big sister, that Mech''s skeletal system¡­" He lowered his voice intentionally.


    Just as he pointed out, the other two only realized what stood out. Even though damaged, the Mech''s skeletal system''s material was actually still much better than theirs! The silver white emitted a faint glow of blue ¨C it was obviously coated with an expensive blue gel which could only be seen in Mechs above average. Generally, such materials were difficult to be found in the market. If you had no special connections, there was no way you would be able to snag it.


    Vecil also noticed something abnormal about the Mech and her eyes turned bigger.


    "That set of broken body looks just exactly like that one we dragged in the last time we were out¡­how did it end up here!?" She whispered harshly.


    "This¡­" The little fat man did not know anything about this. He and Vendant just minded their own business. They do not maintain a good relationship, and they both don''t even communicate with each other. "I''m not really sure¡­"


    "I will go to check and see. Thank you for helping me to keep this garbage when I dragged it back earlier on. This time around, I''ll drag it back along with me." Vecil gave a satisfied smile, "I will give you exactly the skills you requested for."


    The trio strolled casually towards the broken black Mech. As they were nearing it, the three of them realized that this destroyed Mech actually used materials comparable to the military''s finest grade. Whether it was the bones, the Willpower transmission tube, or the sensors at each assembled part, everything was specially picked out.


    Vecil was getting more satisfied as the minutes passed.


    "Come!" She shouted.


    "Here, here, here¡­" The little fat man and a few other maintenance staff ran over straight away.


    "Remove these sensors and the Willpower transmission tube from the top, then install it on our body. I can''t believe, the garbage we dragged back last time actually had good parts," Vecil said with contentment.


    Soon, a few of the maintenance staff removed the parts from the black body and fixed them onto the blue body.


    "I''ll go have a look!"


    The young man beside her pounced at the direction of the elevator platform excitedly, who was then lifted and sent in front of the cabin.


    "Open the cabin!" Vecil ordered.


    "Big sister, something is weird! There''s air-conditioning in the cabin!" The young man exclaimed loudly.


    "Ah?" Vecil scowled. She followed suit and leaped up several meters high, landing on the elevator platform. She looked in through the surface of the transparent armor.


    A subordinate beside the little fat man mumbled into his ears.


    "Boss, this body was brought in by Vendant and he ordered that the cabin must not be opened. Maybe you should say something?"


    "My ass! Ignore him! We should do according to what Master Vecil says! If we end up angering her, she would be unhappy and you know the consequences!" The little fat man''s face was dark.


    "But¡­" The subordinate wanted to say something but was interrupted by the little fat man.


    "How long will it take for you to go find Vendant now? Ten minutes? Twenty minutes? Even if you notified him through the communication device and ask him to come over, what if he stirred things up and cause trouble? Can you afford to bear the consequences?" The little fat man sneered.


    Frightened and sweating in fear, the subordinate nodded his head.


    "You have to understand, Master Vecil is one of the important VIP in this city! You must not delay her wants and needs!"


    At this very moment, Vecil and the other man were standing in front of the cockpit and looking inside.


    Vecil''s heart was pounding faster by the second. Through the glass and the white frost, she saw stacks of blue-white dense metal blocks. The blocks were shiny and seemed like they were processed by a factory machine.


    "This¡­this is¡­is this¡­!!" She suddenly felt as if a huge chunk of pie fell from the sky and hit her hard. She couldn''t help but feel delirious with joy.


    Yes, those were the legendary Mastery Energy Ores that only Pilots could use! One block of that could easily trade for thousands and millions!


    After repeatedly confirming her findings, an irrepressible ecstasy from within caused her to smile twistedly. It was a result of her trying to suppress her facial expressions, an absolute contrast to the amount of joy flooding her.


    "Let''s go! We must leave the region right away!!" A crazy idea formed in her mind. "As long as we get hold of all these, I will never to worry about my entire life anymore! There will be endless of wealth for me!!"


    Vecil''s body was shaking.


    They must immediately get their hands on this large fortune. Vecil only had this one thought in mind. To her, nothing else mattered anymore.


    Drive the body and leave immediately!!

 911 Settle

    "What! Is someone making a move on Sir Garen''s Mech?!!"


    In a pub somewhere in Flying Batoid City, Vendant expression changed drastically as he pushed away the beautiful woman at his side and stood up in shock.


    "Didn''t I tell you guys to not let anyone know that Sir Garen''s Mech Body is under repair?!" Vendant felt a chill rushing to the back of his mind. His back was soaked in cold sweat.


    The expression on Sir Garen''s face when he instructed him was very clear how important that Mech was. This was the body that a Blackboard Academy''s elite pilot regarded with high importance!


    If anything happened, 10,000 of his lives were not even be enough to appease Sir Garen!!


    Vendant''s shocked expression also affected the subordinate who reported to him. His face paled too as he did not expect the consequences would be so serious. Looking at Vendant''s face, it seemed as though the sky was about to fall!


    Vendant paced back and forth in a corner of the pub.


    "Notify the City Master immediately! I will assemble the miniature Mech team!" Vendant was decisive and immediately instructed his subordinate to contact the leader of Flying Batoid City.


    "But¡­there''s¡­there''s still Master Vecil¡­"


    "Damn your but!!!" Vendant kicked his subordinate mercilessly. "If he is enraged, even Vecil will die!!"


    He roared loudly and bolted out of the pub, running towards Garen''s dwelling.


    *****************


    At the courtyard, Garen was quietly practicing what was once the most basic set of secret technique. It looked ordinary and does not seem to be different than those which was generally practiced for wellbeing purposes. However, as he moved around slowly, a faint flow of air around him started to gather and pick up speed.


    It was very tranquil in the peaceful Flying Batoid City. The people here were satisfied as long as there was enough food in this radiation belt. What they yearned for was to live a life inside the regions but due to the radiation, they could never return to the region ever again. The only possible exception was their children.


    Children born from radioactive people had a chance of not having any radioactive sickness. These babies appeared to produce some kind of antibody due to their radioactive parents, causing them to be immune to certain radiation sickness.


    It is the parents'' greatest hope that the people from the region would select their children. Henceforth, their children would soared high with their ambitions and became part of the region''s people.


    This was why there were always a lot of people gathering outside the courtyard where Garen was staying. Even with the guards, people still crowd around and most of them were young parents with their children. Some of the children seem be newborns, whereas some were a few years old. There were even children around the age of 11 or 12 who were brought there. Surprisingly, the children had no traces of radiation on them.


    These people looked on hopefully at Garen in the courtyard. They hoped that Garen would take a liking to their children. Those who were immune to radiation also had naturally good talent. Training their Willpower would generally yield positive results.


    However, even if that was the case, the radioactive people were commonly discriminated against. Adding on to that, those who were able to bring people inside the regions all had very strong background with pilots. That was why the last time Garen and the others were here, these people did not gather around.


    But it was different this time. The people found out Garen and the others'' identities from the guards.


    The inner court elites of the Blackboard Academy!!


    The Blackboard Academy''s name itself was already an awe. 99 percent of the students who gathered there were children of the wealthy and powerful. They all come from strong backgrounds and forces, which helps to add on to their identity as Mech pilots. Although most people would not understand what does ''inner court'' means, but they at least understood the meaning of elite.


    Noble status, elite Mech pilot. Subconsciously, they all started to form such an impression on Garen.


    "Sir!! Sir!!!"


    Just then, a guard riding a black horse-like creature from afar rushed down the streets, knocking down a lot of people in the process while crying out loud.


    The door of the courtyard that Garen was in was actually opened. In fact, he did have the intention of picking a few of these kids and bringing them into the region. He noted a few of those who are talented when they were practicing secret techniques. It was sad to know that these talented ones were not noticed, and learning more from the guards, some of them who were more than 10 years of age also missed the chance the previous two times when a pilot was there. What a pity.


    Most importantly, the children here have lots of life experience, and even though they were young at age, they are all very matured and sensible. They knew how to read people''s expressions and moods and were street smart. They could be treated as adults even if they were to be brought into the region. For him who lacked confidants, they could be his subordinates.


    Hearing the guard''s cries and rushing in, Garen frowned and stopped his practice.


    "What''s the matter?"


    The guard rushed down from his ride and panted heavily. He rushed up to Garen and whispered in his ears.


    Garen''s expression changed.


    "Let''s go!! Bring me there!"


    He pulled up the guard and strode out the courtyard.


    *****************


    Inside the Mech Maintenance Hangar


    Vecil had somebody to tie the black Mech to her Body. The cockpit of the black Mech was so cold that she could not endure for long with her physique. However, if the Mastery Energy Ore was cooled, it was likely to release high temperature and melt down. In order to avoid any accident, Veci decide to tie the black Mech to her own Mech.


    She was instructing the worker to use the semi-automatic robotic arm to firmly tie the two bodies together.


    Soon, both Mechs were bounded tightly.


    "Let''s get out of here now!!" Vecil glanced at both of her companions and winked.


    Both of them could not keep the the smile off their faces any longer. After knowing that there were so much Master Energy Ores, their whole world was shaking as if a huge pie dropped out of the sky. It took them awhile to react to their findings.


    The three of them split up and went to their respective Mechs.


    Under Vecil''s orders, the little fat man and the others were nervously keeping a look out so that no one could enter.


    "Wait!!!"


    Suddenly, a loud growl came from the hangar''s entrance.


    It was Vendant at the slope of the entrance gate of the underground hangar. He bolted in angrily and was unsteady on his feet and fell. He picked himself up quickly and continued to run towards Vecil and the others.


    "Master Vecil!! You cannot touch that Mech!!!" He shouted as he ran faster. His voice was hoarse from his shoutings, and he sounded as if his mother has passed away.


    "What? I cannot touch?" Veci was surprised.


    "That Mech belonged to somebody important from the Blackboard Academy!! You must not touch it under any circumstances! Or else the whole Flying Batoid City will be in trouble!!!" Vendant roared loudly as he ran.


    "Blackboard Academy''s Mech?" Veci''s heart shook. Her academy was ranked third, naturally she knew how terrifying the number one Blackboard Academy was inside the region. If there were 100 elite pilots, then 80 of them must be from Blackboard.


    "What do we do now, Big Sister!?" The young boy was also nervous. He was just still living his fantasy moment but now he was panicking. Robbing a Blackboard Academy''s Mech inside the Blackboard Region, needless to say, it was definitely a capital punishment!


    "What Blackboard Mech!! Trying to scare me! Don''t even think about it! Let''s go!" Veci suddenly roared. "How could it be so coincident? We met a Blackboard''s pilot going through their maintenance the moment we go out? We can''t even f****** meet a few pilots in Flying Batoid City in a year!! It must be fake!"


    She turned around and rushed into her cockpit even faster. As long as she got into the cockpit and started the Mech, not even a Level Five pilot could catch up with her Level Four Mech at their own speed. Without a body, the difference in speed between a pilot and a Mech on the same level was vast.


    Her two companions also came to a realization that with this wealth, even if they could not stay in Blackboard Region, they could still live as they like at Maria Region or Royal Region! There was no need to care about Blackboard Region!


    After hearing Vendant''s words, they ran even faster.


    Chasing from the back, Vendant wanted to cry but there were no tears. For the sake of confidentiality, he did not tell anyone that Sir Garen''s Mech was being maintained here. This was also Sir Garen''s orders. He never thought that V Academy''s Vecil and two others would be blinded by their greed. This was truly uncalled for.


    He thought that the moment he yelled out Blackboard''s name, those three would stop. He never expected that they would actually be more decisive and ran away faster. They were obviously planning to escape with the things they robbed!


    Seeing the three of them were fast approaching the lift platform, Vendant knew he had to make a choice. Whatever the stuffs are that made these three pilots so greedy to the point that they are willing to forsake everything, it must be extremely valuable and priceless. Needless to say, even if he sold off his whole family up to his ancestors, he may not even still be able to compensate for the losses. And for somebody with such riches¡­there was no need to even think, his status is surely higher than the City Master!


    If they really managed to escape with the valuable items¡­not only his whole family will die, all the people here and those related to them would get convicted and killed off by the City Master!


    Vendant roared again, waking up all the maintenance workers and the little fat man to their sense. "Do not let them get away! Otherwise it will be genocide for us all!!"


    At this moment, the little fat man finally reached his senses. His mouth trembled and he wanted to say something, his heart was beating so fast that he did not know what to say or do.


    "Shoot them!!!"


    A cold hum resounded throughout the hangar.


    Chi Chi Chi!!


    Numerous lines of green rays aimed and shot at the three persons who were still running to the lift platform. One of them glared and three, small triangular blue shields floated in mid-air and shielded off the shooting rays.


    "Shoot them, shoot them, shoot them!!" The little fat man finally reacted and shouted instructions too. Knowing that he had gotten himself into deep trouble, his complexion was green, and sweat was forming and streaming down his chin and neck non-stop.


    All the ray guns used for repairing and maintenance were now directed and shot at the three convicts. Unfortunately, the guns were not powerful enough as they were all used for engineering works and were too short-ranged. Those who were closer managed to shoot but were all blocked by the shields.


    The three of them managed to escape into their respective cockpits and close the lids.


    "Let''s go!!" Veci shouted.

 912 Alliance

    Suddenly, the three Mechs soared into the sky and their backs shot out blue flames about one meter long. The thick ropes that were stuck on their bodies snapped off and the sheer force of it caused it to whip two other people. They bled all over their bodies and crashed into the wall before falling to the ground, dead.


    The Mechs forced open the ceiling of the hangar before flying out.


    Garen who had just arrived at the hangar narrowed his eyes, staring at the middle Mech. His black Mech was precisely tied to its back.


    He glanced over the area with his eyes.


    Shua!!


    He did a series of backflips and left behind vivid after-images and arrived at a huge piece of black metal, one meter thick.


    "Up!!" he growled and picked up the piece of metal so easily as if he was uprooting a willow tree before rotating his body like a spinning top.


    Amid the sound of wind, the piece of metal let out a shrill sound, hurting the ears of all the people in the hangar.


    The spinning top then suddenly stop.


    ''Boom!!!''


    The sharp end of the black piece of metal was thrown out by Garen like a railgun, straight for the blue Mech that was turning.


    Clang! A loud sound was produced.


    The metal did not pierce through the Mech''s armor and bounced off.


    "Idiot!" Veci was startled inside the Mech but now that she saw this scene, her heart relaxed.


    Just as everyone below were disappointed, something changed.


    The black Body that was tied to the back of Veci''s Mech suddenly slid and fell. It turned out that the black metallic rope that was tied around her was broken.


    Garen''s expression remain unchanged. Looking at the black Body that fell down from the sky, he took a few steps back, giving the Body some distance to land.


    With a loud sound, the black Mech crashed down on top of the hangar by the edge of the entrance and then tumbled down through the opening and rolled towards the crowd of people.


    Peng!!


    Little fatty and the others did not even managed to react before they were crushed into pulp, leaving only traces of flesh and blood on the ground. Blood kept flowing out from under the Mech.


    Garen was expressionless. He did not even look at the blood by his feet before slowly walking forward and slipping into the cockpit.


    In the sky, Veci saw this scene unfold and was totally dumbfounded. Adding to that, her two companions were as dumbfounded as she was.


    He could precisely throw up a piece of metal weighing a hundred kilograms with flesh and blood, accurately smash apart the metallic rope tied around the Mech. Although the armour of the Mech had been tampered with to ensure its toughness was stronger than any normal metal, the metallic rope that was found hastily did not have the same toughness.


    "Weng¡­"


    The eyes of the black Mech on the ground lit up. A strong and terrifying aura spead and the Level Five Willpower and Field activated.


    The black Mech pushed the ground with both its hands and jumped upwards with its thrusters releasing blue flames behind it while charging towards the three in the sky.


    "L-Level Five Pilot!??!!" Veci''s eyes showed traces of fear. "Run!!"


    She roared. There was no will to even resist it in her heart so she directly activated the largest output of the thruster and flew away.


    The talent of a pilot also had its limits. This talent decided not only the speed but also the upper limit of the the training method.


    Those with a normal talent had a limit to their willpower. Even if they spent their lifetime in training, the would only be able to reach a certain level of their own limit, which was Level Four.


    Only excellent pilots could reach Level Five in their lifetime and it was the level of those who were instructors and professors in academies.


    Veci herself was one of the most outstanding people in the V Academy. She naturally understood what Level Five pilots signified.


    The talent of a pilot was the innate limit of the body. The body was like a fixed basin and the amount of water the basin could hold was fixed from birth. Normal people was limited at Level Four and outstanding ones could become Level Five. The world of Level Five pilots were different from normal people. They did not seek wealth, but instead something ethereal like Resonance pilot and Inheriting pilot.


    Due to the fact that the limit of a human body was Level Five, only with the help of Exclusive Mech with a resonance degree could they gradually improve their talent and improve even further.


    Veci was already thirty years old and was close to graduation but had barely entered the initial stage of Level Four. If she did not earn some money now, she would not be able to enter and exit the radiation belt with the academy''s name. She would also lose the method which would enable her to earn a lot of money.


    However, the change that had happened was something she had never thought of.


    Without another word, the three Mechas flew away with full power.


    "One Level Four and two Level Three. This kind of trash dares to meddle with my Mech?" Garen sat inside the cockpit and moved his Willpower.


    Crouched Eagle Talons'' explosive force burst and a circle of white gas bloomed and slowly spread out.


    Comparing explosive force in limited range, the Crouched Eagle Talons was comparable to those training methods that were quite good!!


    The black Mech became a black line and his standard was a level higher than the other three. Those three Mechs were branded Mech that could be found in the market and was similar to Battlenet''s Mechs, which used civilian technology. Compared to the military''s Blackboard Captain-class Mech, they were inferior and no to mention that Garen himself had a skill that allowed him to speed up his flying.


    Garen''s Mech shot out as fast as lightning with both arms open like a large black bird. One of his arms got around the neck of Vici''s Mech and in a flash, he had all three Mechs by their necks in his arm. He mercilessly slammed them down onto the ground which caused a gust of wind to pass.


    Peng! Boom!


    The three Mechs that were caught in his arms like slices of bread were smashed violently onto the ground, causing the whole Flying Batoid City to tremble.


    One of the Mechs who would not bear the impact exploded into flames and fragments, causing the other two Mech pilots that were to scream in panic. Due to the close proximity, both Mechs were greatly damaged and burnt.


    "Don''t kill me, I beg you!"


    Sounds of cries and screams came from inside Veci''s cockpit. This woman was on the verge of collapse and the moment of greed caused her endless remorse. She had always had a careful attitude, even when she was out in the radiation belt so that she could avoid disaster again. She never thought that one time of greediness could cause such a consequence.


    Garen pulled out a sword from the waist of one of the Mechs and stabbed the cockpit of another Mech by his side. A subtle sound came from inside and then blood started flowing along the sword. The armor that was heated up by the explosion then evaporated the blood, which caused a fishy smell and a hissing sound.


    While ignoring her pleading cries, Garen tore off the sensor on Veci''s Mech, along with other things he needed like scabbard. Within a flash, the sword in his hand chopped off all four limbs of the blue Mech. The strong armor of the Mech was no different to tofu under his sword skill. This was not the only difference in their Mechs'' specs. Although it was only a common, standard sword, it had transformed into a weapon of God in Garen''s hand. His understanding of the gaps in the Mechs'' Body allowed him to cut through them easily.


    "No!!!" Veci seemed to have noticed her end and her body jerked.


    Chi!!


    The tip of the sword pierced through the cockpit without even a hint of hindrance.


    Her voice stopped.


    Garen stood up and stowed the blue sword in his hand. This came just in time as both his swords had corroded and now, he had obtained another weapon to use.


    Opening the cockpit, he started inspecting the bodies on the pilot. One of them were completely unrecognizable due to the explosion and nothing much remained while the other was penniless and had nothing valuable.


    As for Veci''s body, he found a V Academy''s eighth year student card and a silver-white identity card. He brought them both back to his Mech and read the information inside. On the identity card was written something like Namu Clan.


    "Such a small clan and yet she dare rob them?" Garen helplessly said.


    The Mech went back to the hangar where all the workers had already gathered. With Vendant in the lead, they were all kneeling with their heads hanging down and did not dare move a muscle. There were pieces of debris that had flew and fallen at their side with the edges covered in blood. Vendant and the others'' heads and backs were covered in blood and wounds. Apparently, the debris had fallen on them and caused those injuries.


    Other people were gathered at the side with bewildered expressions on their faces.


    "Find out who helped those three pilots and get rid of them", Garen said. The Mech slowly fell and Garen came out of the cockpit and jumped down. He got out of the hangar while ignoring the people who were kneeling. This allowed Vendant and the others to sigh in relief.


    In radiation belt, the most worthless thing was human life. They thought they were going to die for sure but did not expect that Garen would spare their lives. If it were other people in the radiation belt, they would have been executed at the first sign. There were too many people that were implicated in genocide due to the failure of important tasks they were in charge of. There would also be people ready to join Flying Batoid City out there.


    Garen had not gotten far away from the hangdar before there were cries pleading for mercy. Unexpectedly, just as he returned to his small courtyard, he saw the crowd standing outside, staring at a figure in a black cloak.


    All the radioactive people only dared to stay outside the courtyard but this man dared to stand in the middle of it and he seemed to be waiting for Garen to come back. As though sensing his line of eyesight, the man turned around and revealed a face covered by a silver white mask.


    "I''ve been waiting for you."

 913 Rescue 1

    "Who are you?" The black cloak chuckled.


    "Waiting for me?"


    Garen froze. He had left Blackboard Academy not long ago as it was under absolute secrecy. Moreover, no one knew of the route and time of his return. So, how did this person find him here?


    There was doubt in his mind, so he separated from the crowds and walked over to the man.


    "A few days ago, we found some abnormal energy reaction from somewhere in this area"


    The man''s purple lips under his cape did not move and yet, his voice passed perfectly into Garen''s ears.


    Garen noticed that the crowd around him did not give any attention because no one else heard this person speak.


    "We''ll talk more when we get inside," the man said while he strode into the courtyard. He then waved his hand and the for of the courtyard was instantly shut, blocking the view of the outsiders.


    Regarding his Mech, the incident just now was a trivial matter. It would be considered not bad if there were a few people who would come here the whole year long. No pilots in the inner region were willing to come here and take the risk of contracting the radiation disease. Most of them could do other tasks to earn money. Although it may take more time, safety was a priority.


    The previous incident of snatching Master Energy Ore was a one in a thousandth percentage.


    Garen however, was not worried. His cabin was completely locked and unless someone was a high-level with decrypting talent, they would not be able to open the door unless they move the entire Mech away. However, this was his teacher''s Black Flood Party''s patrolling site. Even if they ran away, he could contact the patrolling powerhouse anything to get it back. Furthermore, White Light''s people would not dare mess around within an area of ten thousand meters.


    "There''s no need. Here will do," the man said as he flung his arm. A black shadow shot out accurately at Garen and his hand caught it.


    Garen looked and saw that in his hand, was a pitch-black metal key. It was simple and antique-looking. It looked like any ordinary key that had been used for a long time, except that there were very few notches on its side, only a single tine.


    "This is one of the identities of an Energy Machinist. You have succeeded in becoming a Level One Energy Machinist and are eligible to enter the energy trading market", the black-cloaked man said with a deep tone.


    "Energy Machinist?" Garen was surprised. He had never told anyone about his breakthrough to Level One Energy Machinist Willpower. He did not expect the other party to find him that quickly and pass him this so-called key.


    "Who are you guys?" Garen asked with narrowed eyes.


    "Federation of Energy Machinists. You will understand when you enter the market, but please do not expose the location of the Energy Market even though it will shift once in a while", the man chuckled.


    "Alright, young lad, see you when I see you."


    He flapped his cloak, turned around and headed towards the small garden of the courtyard. As he walked between the flowers, his body started to fade and become increasingly transparent until it completely vanished.


    "What means is this!?" Garen was shocked in his mind. He had never seen such a hand even in Secret Technique World and Totem World. As he thought around it, this was the era of great cosmic science and technology and any kind of technology suddenly appearing was not impossible. It could be invisibility or some other kind of powerful skill, no one could know for sure.


    "Energy Market¡­", holding the key in his hand, Garen felt for the first time that this world was not as simple as he had imagined it to be. Pilots were probably only one of the segments here.


    Garen was not very bothered because the other party did not seem to have any bad intentions, so he carefully tucked away the key.


    It had been days since Veci and the others of the V Academy had been killed. Garen continued to stay in Flying Batoid City as he waited for the return of the team sent out by City Master to look for Clint and others. At the same time, he was also collecting materials for the making of biochemical pool in Flying Batoid City. The outgoing search party finally returned after seven days and brought some not-so-good news with them.


    The whereabouts of Clint and others had been tracked down, but they seemed to be pursued by White Light''s people.


    ***********


    "Pursued?"


    Garen sat in his own courtyard. The hand that was flipping the pages of an old book paused momentarily.


    "What is the strength of those who are pursuing them?"


    The one reporting was Vendant, who still had a white gauze on his face. He bent over to answer.


    "We do not know much about their exact strength, but as we observed from a distance, they were at least Level Three elite Mech soldiers. Shining Mech seems to be involved as well."


    "Oh?" Garen was dazed. Shining Mech was the level of the Red-White which he killed off last time in the inner region, Level Five. It also relied on special Mech ability and its capability was very strong. Of course, not all Shining Mech were of Level Five only. There had to be a powerhouse with resonance degree.


    But what astounded him was that resonance degree could only be stimulated with an Exclusive Mech. So how did the Shining Mechs coordinate and stimulate it? Was it relayed over to the person to adapt to the Mech''s body?


    "What is the situation of the people who were being pursued?"


    "Unclear. However, the Shining Mechs were roaming around and should still be searching on a vast scale. It''s very likely that they have not been found yet. Our people dared not to get too close in fear that we might be killed by the other party", Vendant replied softly.


    Garen lightly put down the book in his hands and began to deliberate.


    He had to make sure that Baylon was alright before he could bring the news back to his family. After all, he needed to construct the main frame of his Exclusive Mech which meant that he would head back for a long time before being able to come out again. Although not all the materials had been found, some of the less important parts could be bought with Universal Units nonetheless.


    "No, no", a voice suddenly rang in his mind.


    "Red Moon?" Garen immediately responded. He waved off Vendant and at the same time, passed him the tech information that City Master needed and let him take it away. It was remuneration for helping him search for the materials of the biochemical pool.


    After Vendant had left the courtyard with the others and shut the door, Garen had Little Bitch sit on his lap, reach out his hands and caressed freely while conversing with Red Moon in his mind.


    "That''s right. It''s me. Finally, the signal is clear. The radiation interference is too strong." Red Moon let out a heavy breath. "Looks liked you should be very near to where we are. You must come over right away to rescue them."


    "Rescue them?"


    "Clint is dying and Lonnie can''t hold on much longer as well. If you don''t come, they will all die!" Red Moon briefly said.


    "What''s the matter? How much longer can they hold out?" Garen''s gaze became serious.


    "Three days. If you don''t come, then there really is no hope. I can only cover for them for three more days at the most. My energy is running out", Red Moon said helplessly. "Lonnie has contracted radiation disease and it''s quite serious. Her whole body has wilted and she has become extremely skinny. Clint is also heavily injured and his wounds are seriously infected. In order to seize some medication to slow down Lonnie''s radiation disease, he¡­Sigh, you will know when you get here."


    "Specific location", Garen said with unrest in his voice. He had achieved one of his goals of this trip. As long as they were not dead, with current science and technology means of treatment, they could still be saved.


    "I will point out the direction for you! It''s not far from Flying Batoid City, but be careful of White Light''s Shining Mech! They have dispatched many elites in search of the core!" Red Moon said solemnly. "Don''t bring anyone else. Our situation is very dangerous! Whether is it White Light or other people from the region, they are all seeking us!"


    Disconnecting, Garen could clearly feel Red Moon''s Willpower leaving rapidly.


    Pushing off Little Bitch, he got up, pushed open the door and instructed the two soldiers who were standing guard.


    "Prepare for me the anti-injury and anti-radiation drugs. Two standard sets!"


    "Yes, sir!" The two guards looked at each other. One of them quickly ran to the medical center in the city. Since all the expenses were reimbursed by City Master Quarters, just recording it directly in the bookkeeping would do.


    Soon, two standard medical treatment packages were placed in front of Garen. The small, white, square packages contained anti-inflammatory drugs, large portions of anti-radiation drugs, bactericidal water, gauze tape for dressing, blood test device, some oral medicine and more.


    After examining them, Garen took them and headed out of Flying Batoid City alone.


    *************


    Inside a concealed small cave in the underground hundreds of meter away from Flying Batoid City.


    Clint was straining to carry Lonnie''s body and walking deeper into the cave one step at a time.


    He had found the anti-radiation medicine, but the amount the Shining Mechs had with them were far too little. Although it was stolen by Red Moon, the dose could only be used to prevent mitigation. It was not much of a help for Lonnie''s condition.


    After the two miraculously stole the medicine from the Shining Mechs, in their moment of exhaustion, they finally managed to make one last leap and fled away.


    "Almost there. It''s right in front." Deep in the cave, a dark-skinned girl with many little black braids was walking in front of Clint. She held a fire torch and her body had the obvious odor of radiation disease. In the midst of the burning sound of the torch, it reflected her thin and slender body and face.


    It was this girl who had rescued them when Clint had fainted and helped them from being found by White Light''s patrolling searching-soldiers.


    "Lola, how much longer to arrival?" Clint did not have a trace of blood on his face. His lips were cracked and his skin was as if it had been soaked in water, white and blistering. It gave off a feeling of puffiness and his entire body had expanded. Some places even appeared swollen and purple.


    "Soon, soon. We usually live in the underground of the city. All the people there are those who could not survive on the ground. They are either wanted criminals, or the resisting strength that are being hunted down everywhere", the girl revealed her white teeth as she turned back and said smilingly.


    "Resisting strength? Resist what?" Clint''s voice was a bit hoarse as he asked.


    "Of course it is against those who caused us to fall to this point. Regions, each big region, all the people of the region are our target of resistance", the girl said in a low voice. "Some called us the Underground Rebel Army."


    "Underground Rebel Army?" It was the first time Clint had heard of this term.


    "We have been observing you for a long time. The hut where you previously lived in was one of our temporary strongholds. It was our people who planned to rest there but unexpectedly found you two there", the little girl, Lola, briefly explained. "Then we found out that you are newcomers who have just came out from the region and are being hunted and struck everywhere , and did not even have the awareness of basic self-protection. It was extremely miserable. Even our children are better than you."


    The girl Lola''s words made Clint speechless and his face flushed.


    ''Uueehh!''


    His throat had a sudden itch and he vomited a mouthful of blood.


    Purple blood with tiny black worms that were vaguely seen crawling in it.


    "This¡­ This is¡­" Clint saw that there were actually worms in his blood. His heart instantly became cold and he was terrified. Standing on the spot with his face looking defeated, "Lord¡­ How much longer can I live¡­?" he asked tremblingly in his heart.


    "If all goes well¡­ three hours." Red Moon paused for a moment before replying in a low voice.

 914 Rescue 2

    "These are bloodworms!!" Lola who was in front, heard the commotion and looked back, she was instantly taken aback. Looking down at the blood and spotting the worms, she was so frightened that she immediately took a big step back.


    "You!"


    She looked up shockingly at Clint and the dry body that he was carrying by his side which looked more like a dead body.


    After being parasitized by bloodworms, people could not live for more than five hours. This was common sense in the radiation belt. Thinking of this, Lola looked at the disastrous-looking face of this young man and her heart sank.


    "Looks like I''m going to die", Clint sat down on the floor, too demotivated to continue the journey. He was going to die anyway, continuing the journey or not would end up with the same result.


    "I''ll go get you medicine! There is a way for blood filariasis!" Lola gritted her teeth and swiftly ran deep into the cave, but she understood that it would take at least six hours to go to and fro. This amount of time was not enough at all. Furthermore, the medicine for bloodworms was an extremely expensive drug in the Underground Cave Rebel Army.


    "I''ll tell uncle. There may be a glimmer of hope!" Lola made up her mind and quickly sped up, running deep into the cave.


    Clint sat down at the side of the cave hole and looked up at the surrounding cave walls. There was a faint green light on the wall. It was the only lighting in the cave.


    He touched his right rib, where a fist-sized blood-hole wound was. The flesh on the edge had rotted and there were many tiny bloodworms growing there. These black, earthworm-like bugs were constantly worming in and out of the flesh and blood. Yet, Clint did not feel pain because the nerves were already paralyzed.


    From the blood hole of this wound, he could even reach in with his hand to touch his internal organs.


    The stench that he was emitting was growing stronger.


    "This time will really not work..." Clint sat down helplessly. There was deep fear and panic in his eyes, so much so that his voice was trembling.


    "Hold on!" Red Moon encouraged. "There is still hope! Believe me!"


    "I wonder what my sister is doing..." Clint blankly stared in front of him, but his consciousness had drifted off elsewhere.


    He did not even dare to look at his own body because it was so unbearable that it made him contemplate taking his own life.


    Lonnie had been in a coma for a long time. Although he had given her radiation drugs, the dose was not strong enough and her situation was still deteriorating. Perhaps it would not take long for her to die like him.


    Time went by, minutes and seconds.


    *********************


    Garen sprinted across the grassland. He had a simple miniature-Mech on him. His body was almost floating on the ground. Every time his feet touched the ground, he had ran approximately seven or eight meters. It was very scary, almost the same as the average Mech''s low-flying speed.


    uddenly, he stopped in his track and dropped onto the edge of a deep pit in the grassland.


    This pit was obviously the remnants of a bomb blast. Some fragmentary components of the Blackboard Mech''s body were faintly visible inside. Clearly, there was a confrontation between Blackboard patrols and White Light soldiers.


    ''Whirrr¡­''


    A white Mech flew at a low altitude and was rushing towards Garen. Without any inquiries or speech, it gave a slash of the knife, as if to cut Garen into half.


    "The hell with you!!" Garen looked up and thrust out a strong Willpower Pierce.


    With a loud bang, the white Mech fell to the ground, rolled a few times and there was no more movement.


    An ordinary Level Three Mech soldier, even with the Mech''s outer armor, was no opponent to Garen''s single Willpower Pierce. Without reaching Level Five, even with the Mech, one would not be the opponent of Level Five in close range. Once the moves were seen through, a Willpower Pierce within a range of ten meters would end the battle.


    Therefore, pilots of Level Five and above were very dangerous. They generally used long-range focused attacks.


    The Mech rolled on the ground. Garen approached it and wanted to pull the cabin door open but the door was tough and the switch could not be easily destroyed by him. He could only let it be, so he jumped off the Mech''s body and rushed towards the direction pointed out by Red Moon.


    Clint''s death would have a very troublesome effect on him. It would cause him to lose the Willpower.


    Fortunately, as he dispelled the nameless Willpower, the Willpower that this imprint could affect would only be Crouched Eagle Talon. It would not have any effect towards the Energy Machinist Willpower that was acquired later on.


    Obviously, this imprint was aimed at the previously accumulated Willpower. But for the part that was completely re-cultivate later, there was no way to implicate it.


    "That is, if I completely break off the connection with Red Moon and destroy the last layer of the nameless Willpower, then the imprint will be destroyed and the Level Four Crouched Eagle Talon will be affected and completely destroyed as well, leaving only the residual remains of Level One."


    Garen thought about it while dashing. He was not one to be controlled by others.


    "For other people, this loss is huge, but for me, it is not a big issue. As long as there is potential, re-cultivating is not a big problem!"


    "It''s just that this connection with Forbidden core may be useful in the future. It''s a pity if it''s broken"


    He made up his mind that this imprint could serve as the key to connecting with Red Moon. Clint and the group did not look like they would easily die off. Red Moon, this mysterious Forbidden Core, was definitely not a simple character and might be of great use later on.


    Unconsciously, the location that was established with Red Moon gradually appeared in his field of vision.


    Suddenly, Garen made a leap and easily hid in a grassland radiation ditch by the side. He laid flat on his body and soaked his entire body in the ditch, masking the temperature and the color of the miniature-Mech.


    Three White Light soldiers roared past overhead and held a rifle-like weapon in their hands.


    Two of them had two horizontal lines engraved on them while the other only had one. Judging by the Mech''s Willpower force field, it was apparent that they were two Level Two soldiers and one Level One soldier.


    After waiting for the three Mech soldiers to fly away, Garen jumped up and rushed forward with a spray of water.


    Very quickly, he evaded the White Light patrolling soldiers a few more times and finally came to the location where Red Moon had pointed out.


    Opening a camouflage mud-board on the ground, the deep black tunnel below was exposed. Garen jumped into it and closed the lid with a backhand.


    The moment he hid inside, Garen felt the horrifying vibration of Willpower exploding on the ground outside.


    The ground shook violently, like an earthquake.


    "This is...!!??" Garen hid in the ground and did not immediately go down. He stopped in his track and carefully felt the movement on the outside.


    Suddenly, there was a frantic laughter outside and it seemed like it belonged to a man.


    "Hahahaha!! Run! Still want to run?? After killing the people under my command, you actually dare to run!"


    Boom!!


    Another violent wave of vibration came and the earth seemed to tremble.


    Garen tensed up and felt that someone was fighting outside.


    "Karfi! Don''t go too far!! This is our White Light area!" Another man shouted angrily.


    "What about it! If I want to chase, I chase. If I want to kill, I kill!!" Karfi said coldly. "Double-end Robbing! Die!!"


    "You... actually broke through Inheriting level¡­!!"


    Before the voice fell off, a fierce wave of force field once again shook the entire ground.


    Even Garen, who was hiding in the ground, felt a numbness in his body.


    "This... is Inheriting level!"


    Garen looked up as if to see through the mud and watch the battle on the outside.


    He now noticed this wave of force field. Similar to the Red Whale''s battle he had watched, this was also of Inheriting level!


    "Karfi¡­ the existence of Three Marshalls and One Star, similar as Medero, is terrifying. Some time ago, there was news that Medero had broken through to Level Five Twin Moon Level. After suppressing himself for so long, he finally reached the peak of Twin Moon in one-shot. Unexpectedly, the same Three Marshalls Karfi also broke through Inheriting level. Truly the top talent of this era!"


    Garen mused. The progressing speed of these geniuses were horrific. Some accumulated non-stop while some were not known. If it were not for coincidentally coming across Karfi battling White Light''s high-level pilot here, he probably would not even know that Karfi had already broken through Inheriting level.


    "Master Nottingham would not let you off! Retreat!!" There seemed to be someone else. After that, the friction of the beam cannons with the air produced strange tearing sounds.


    In Karfi''s mad laughter, it seemed that he had killed some of White Light''s people. Then, it was completely quiet on the outside. Finally, it was the sound of the Mech flying away.


    Garen slowly walked and headed towards the deeper parts of the cave silently. He did not expect that the so-called task of Three Marshalls would be coming directly to this outer region field to hone themselves. The progressing speed of these geniuses was extremely scary. Perhaps in less than a few years'' time, there would be a qualitative change.


    Among Medero the trio, he wondered who else had broken through Inheriting level, whether it was a recent breakthrough, or had already made a breakthrough long ago but stayed hidden.


    After all, the trio had become Three Marshalls for many years.


    Taking a deep breath and throwing off these thoughts, Garen sped up.


    "After dealing with all these issues, then it''s putting all the effort into creating my Exclusive Mech! I must step into the resonance level as soon as possible!"


    There were still some potential points that were sufficient for the time being. The main thing was to improve his strength first, so that he could be better emboldened to compete for resources and at the same time, have better capability to collect the new Staff of Absolute Yin!


    Accelerating his pace, Garen took the medical package and quickly ran towards Red Moon''s location point. His speed was getting increasingly faster!


    Soon, a glowing light red dot appeared in front of Garen''s view.


    Clint''s disastrous face was facing him and he was already unconscious.


    "Hurry! Clint is going to die! It''s blood filariasis!" Red Moon''s voice sounded panicky, but it was also very weak. "My accumulated energy was used to forcibly jump once. I can''t hold on any longer. Everything up next will depend on you!"


    "Got it!" ,Garen nodded. That little red light finally was unable to hold out and completely extinguished.


    Garen lifted Clint''s eyelid and examined his eyes. He quickly took off his jacket and saw the terrible wound and the black tiny worms that were worming in and out of the blood vessels near the wound.


    "Humph!"


    Garen placed his hand on Clint''s chest. The Secret Technique was a practitioner''s high-level technique and Quake, was initiated. Due to his power in reaching the peak of Martial Arts realm, Garen was able to precisely control the vibrations to kill all the bloodworms inside of Clint''s body.


    These worms were much more fragile than flesh and bones and so, they were all killed instantly.


    Garen reached out and gave a hard smack. Clint instantly vomited a large mouthful of blood and the floor was covered with the corpse of worms and it was all black.


    Pulling off a halved-worm from Clint''s mouth, Garen quickly examined his physical condition. His fingertips gently stroked the wound under the ribs and a large piece of rotting flesh was cut off.


    In Totem World, Garen was a leading biochemical expert who could perform a heart fusion transplant on himself, not to mention this kind of common emergency surgery.


    After stopping the blood using a vein-cutting manner, he then opened the medical bag and took out the drugs. Quickly feeding Clint the drugs to kill the worms in the body, he disinfected, sutured and dressed the wound. Garen then looked at Lonnie who was by the side.


    Baylon was already emaciated. The entire person looked like a patient suffering from muscular dystrophy for a long time, delicate and fragile. Her skin was somewhat transparent and she was unconscious as well.


    First, she was consecutively given three doses of anti-radiation drugs. Then, Garen quickly took off her clothes and began a full body examination for the spots that had the most serious accumulation of the radiation germs.


    The parts underneath the skin that had the most radiation germs could be clearly identified through the color of the skin.


    There were too many radiation germs on Lonnie''s body. Even the bloodworms in Clint''s body did not dare to worm in.


    Large chunks of purple-black skin resembled one huge black mole after another. Lonnie''s entire body was shrivelled, like being soaked in water for a long time. The skin was completely inflexible and apart from the black moles, it was terrifying white and pale, completely unrecognizable as a human.


    Using fingernail instead of a scalpel, the severely infected skin of Baylon was cut off and covered with artificial skin. After suturing, Garen quickly looked for a blood bag and began a blood transfusion for Baylon.


    Two bags of blood flowed into the body rapidly under his fingering method.


    Baylon''s heart was instantly filled with new vitality and gradually began to recover. The anti-radiation drugs also started to show its effect. Most of the radiation germs began to vanish as they were killed.


    Like a miracle, Baylon''s body seemed to be like a blown-up doll. The thin body shell slowly recovered in a speed visible to the naked eye and returned to its normal appearance. The over-whiteness of the skin was completely gone and the soft-breasted chest on the body also began to slowly rise.


    When Garen saw this scene, he was stunned and slightly displeased. Some of the emotions originating from Nonosiva affected him and caused frustration. A good brother actually underwent sex reassignment surgery and became a sister!


    But looking at that pair of plump breasts, Garen did not see any traces of surgery. This made him somewhat puzzled and stretched out his hands to squeeze it. The feel was very natural!


    "What?"


    After all, parts of Nonosiva''s memories in Garen were still somewhat worried about his younger brother and sister. Although he had always looked down upon them, they were still this body''s only family in this world.


    He could not help but reach out and carefully rub again, looking for signs of surgery left, right, up and down. And yet, there was no sign of the slightest.


    Garen''s eyes narrowed and felt that something was off.


    Suddenly, he reached out, grabbed Lonnie''s trousers and pulled it down.


    Baylon''s pants were taken off together with her panties.


    The entire lower body was completely exposed in front of Garen.


    "This!!" He scrutinized. It was totally a girl''s construction.


    "It''s not sex reassignment surgery! Even if this world''s biomedical technology is powerful, there would still be traces of it! This was not something that can be caused by surgery!"


    Garen quickly put Lonnie''s pants back on and stood up.


    "Was it the influence of the training method?" He suddenly thought of a possibility, silently watching the two lying on the ground.

 915 Two Years 1

    Whether it was the effect of the training method or not, it was likely to be related to Red Moon.


    A glimpse of understanding flashed through Garen''s mind.


    The origin of Red Moon, this Forbidden Core, was very mysterious. No one knew how it came to Mother Planet, or how he was involved with Clint.


    Pushing aside these thoughts, Garen reviewed the injuries of the two. Now he was faced with a dilemma, should he bring them back?


    "People with radiation disease were not allowed to enter the inner region at all. This is unavoidable... Once discovered, they will have to be executed immediately." Garen knew about this rule. "But if I don''t take them back, there are battles everywhere on the outside... Security is also a big issue."


    After contemplating in his heart, Garen squatted down and still did not choose to take the two away. With Red Moon here, both of them should not have too many problems. Since they had overcame difficult and dangerous situations before, what might come next would just be a little hardship at the most.


    Furthermore, when he had just checked, he discovered that the Willpower of both of them had actually broke through to Level Two. And in the light Level Two fluctuations, there vaguely was the general pilot''s Level Three or Four. It simply was terrifying.


    "Indeed it''s Red Moon, the existence of Forbidden Core... In this kind of in-defiance-of-nature training method, advancing one level is equivalent to other people advancing two or three levels." While being astounded at the same time, Garen cautiously left some medicine and necessary pure drinking water behind. Eventually, he chose to leave.


    Staying in the radiation belt now with the care of Red Moon, perhaps this was the greatest training for them.


    Radiation disease might affect the body''s immune system, life expectancy, and body constitution, but even so, there was Red Moon. To live past fifty or sixty years was definitely not a problem. Even seventy or eighty years was not impossible. This guy''s means seemed to be endless.


    It was also said that when the pilot''s Willpower reached Inheriting level, there would be physical reincarnation, which would remove most of the symptoms of the disease.


    After carefully inspecting for dangerous creatures around and determining that there was no danger, Garen chose to leave quietly.


    He could not have any ties with Clint and the other two at this stage and must not allow others to know of this relationship. Both Blackboard and White Light were currently searching for them both and the temptation of Forbidden Core was simply deadly for a pilot''s force.


    Garen quickly returned following the original way he had come from. He believed that Red Moon would handle the situation well. This was White Light''s patrol area. If he did not hurry to leave, the battle just now would definitely attract a large number of high-level White Light pilots and that would only make it harder to leave.


    As he opened the mud-board at the entrance of the tunnel, Garen quickly rolled over and rushed out, speedily leaving and heading towards the way that he had come from. The mud-board slowly fell back into place and before it had touched the ground, his figure had already disappeared at the end of the plain.


    In the underpass, depths of the tunnel beside the unconscious Clint and Baylon, subtle footsteps could be heard.


    In the darkness, an ordinary middle-aged man dressed in brown leather slowly emerged and was whistling. Suddenly, he saw Clint lying on the edge of the tunnel.


    "What?"


    His eyes flashed and he instantly fixed his sight on Baylon among the two. Fair-skinned, beautiful facial features, high chest, and slim waist; this was simply the highest grade kind of young girl to radiation people.


    Gulp. The man swallowed his saliva, quickly walked over and squatted down.


    "Hey, wake up", he pushed Baylon''s arm.


    No response.


    "Still alive? Wake up, wake up!" He continued to push Clint''s arm. Seeing that there was no response from the two, the man''s throat bobbed even more. He reached out his quivering hands towards Baylon''s towering breast.


    Pap.


    Suddenly, something seemed to roll down from Clint''s body just as he moved.


    His line of sight moved towards it, but he could not withdraw it again. Even the sight of Baylon that had attracted him previously could not cause him to return his gaze.


    "Water, it actually is pure water!!"


    It was a transparent glass bottle filled with clear water. That type of clear-color water, at a glance, could only appear in at least grade two or higher grade pure water!!


    In the radiation belt, the lower the radiation level of pure water, the better the water quality and the more effective it was for radiation people to detoxify.


    Consuming true pure water without radiation in large amount could discharge the radiation viruses out of the radiation people''s body and result in the lowest one percent of radiation constitution. This kind of radiation constitution could greatly enhance life expectancy. The general body constitution of radiation people had about fifty percent degree of radiation. This was the counterbalance achieved between the body''s immune system and the radiation virus. The lower the degree of radiation, life expectancy and what not would increase.


    It was said that the highest one percent of radiation constitution could even live longer than those in the inner region. Perhaps the long-term radiation variation had changed the constitution of the people in the outer region so that they became more robust. As long as there was enough pure water, they could exceed the weak body constitution of the inner region people who were like hothouse flowers.


    Gulp...


    Another greedy bobbing sound from the throat. The middle-aged man''s claws reached out and with lightning speed, grabbed the bottle of pure water. He dared not open it hastily as he was afraid of polluting the water.


    Then, he quickly found some anti-inflammatory drugs, anti-radiation drugs, and other things left behind by Garen beside Clint.


    These things were basically expensive items in the radiation belt. The middle-aged man who quickly collected the good things, could not suppress his excitement. When he looked at the two people, a murderous look flashed in his eyes.


    "If I kill these two people, then these things will all be mine..."


    This idea continued to turn over in his mind.


    He slowly extended his hand and bit by bit, stretched it out towards Clint''s throat.


    "Whoo¡­"


    A strong wave of Willpower force field suddenly spread out. Clint made a sound and so happened to slowly regained consciousness.


    A pair of eyes directly met the middle-aged man.


    He blinked and realized that his injuries were much better. He looked at the medical bandage and other objects that were in the man''s other hand.


    "Was it you who saved us?" he asked blankly. After examining Lonnie who was beside, it seemed that her situation had also improved by a great deal.


    The man was just an ordinary person with Level One Willpower. At this time, his face was a little stiff. Feeling the force field of Level Two with its amplitude actually exceeding that of a Level Three pilot''s force field, his heart trembled.


    He managed to squeeze a smile.


    "These bandages, these medicines..." Clint''s eyes widened and instantly got up. "Thank you so much!" He bowed his head low. "If it weren''t for you, who knows what would have happened to my companion and I!"


    Looking at the unabashed, pure gratitude on Clint''s face, a flash of doubt appeared in the eyes of the man.


    Was this guy not aware of the existence of the medicine?


    "What happened to you guys? How come you''re here?" He tried to make himself smile more naturally and asked gently.


    "My partner and I were seriously injured. There was no other way. When we arrived here, we were completely unconscious. We haven''t had water and food for two days." Clint said with a wry smile. Through this journey of experience, the originally-somewhat-na?ve-him had become a little serious now.


    "It''s alright now that you''re fine. It''s alright."


    "I really can''t thank you enough", Clint knew how important the medicine and water were in the radiation belt. His eyes were full of gratefulness. "If it weren''t for you, we would probably really have died here."


    "It''s nothing, it''s nothing. Seeing you is like seeing my younger brother and sister." When the man had confirmed that the person before him really did not seem to know anything at all, he was overjoyed. At the same time, he also began to play pretense.


    "My name is Clint. She is Lonnie. And you are?", Clint introduced himself.


    "This is where the Underground Rebel Army is. I am a member of it. How did you come here?" the man asked.


    "We came in with a girl named Lola. If it weren''t for her, we would already be..." Clint said helplessly. "She had previously said that she would go and take some medicine for us. She should be back soon. "


    "So, that''s how it is." The man''s eyes flickered. "I''m Ning''en. I have lived here for four years. If you don''t have a place to go to, just come with me. At least I can lead you the way." He was now completely certain that the two individuals in front of him were indeed unaware of the medicine and water on them. Otherwise, they would not have said that Lola had gone to get some medicine for them.


    Although he was unclear of what was going on, it was impossible for him to give up such a large sum of wealth. He had to secure these two people first before anything else!


    He also knew Lola, that child, who was relatively well-known in this area. She particularly liked helping people and could be considered as an unusual being among the radiation people. She was still willing to continue helping others no matter how much losses she had suffered.


    "Really thank you so much!" Clint immediately rejoiced.


    "Come with me. I will inform Lola", the man smiled and his facial expression was much more natural.


    *****************


    Upon returning to Flying Batoid City, Garen went to the City Master''s material warehouse and exchanged some of the required radioactive materials with the little remaining drinking water. Although the main material of the biochemical pool was not found, other auxiliary materials were available and they were all prepared in many portions. After all, he was also afraid of failure. Novices naturally had to prepare more.


    For the rest of the time, he either cultivated his Willpower or went to the hangar to look at how the repair of his Mech''s outer shell was progressing. It just needed a little covering of an outer layer shell. Regarding the Mastery Energy Ore inside, after the last incident, the people here were now keeping a strict watch. The City Master had sent a large group of miniature-Mech soldiers to stand guard and at the same time, changed a maintenance point for Garen, which belonged to his personal maintenance ground. This greatly enhanced the security.


    Nobody here knew what the Mastery Energy Ore was like. Without Garen unlocking the cabin himself, unless the cabin was forcibly broken into, no one could open the door to see what was on the inside. This was because Garen learned his lesson and had filled the inside with lots of yellow smoke gas, completely covering all of the Mastery Energy Ore. At the same time, the transparent cabin shell was painted black so that people could not see the things that were on the inside.


    After taking such measures, adding to the protection of City Master, the safety factor rose greatly.


    There would only be a few pilots flying through Flying Batoid City in a year. Under normal circumstances, no pilots were willing to deal with radiation people too much. Therefore, the last situation was really a result of Garen''s poor luck.


    After a few days had passed, the materials had been bought back, and no more new types of radiation materials had been found, only then did Garen decided to leave. Although he did not reach the final destination of this trip since he was intercepted and had to turn back halfway, the overall goal was still achieved and the material used to construct the Mech''s body had been found. The auxiliary materials for the Energy Machinist''s biochemical pool were also at hand. However, what was troublesome was that many of the materials for the biochemical pool had a shelf life. Some of them could only last a very short period of time, just a few days. Garen''s use of cold storage could only extend their shelf life to half a month.


    After rearranging and checking the situation of the Mech''s body, he supplemented and traded some energy batteries. Finally, he took off and left Flying Batoid City, flying speedily towards the direction of Blackboard Region.


    This time back, he must build his Exclusive Mech and create a biochemical pool. The way of Energy Machinist should be the best path for him to develop his Living Secret Technique.


    It did not matter back then since he did not know the special nature of this profession before and could only take the single route of being a pilot. But now that he knew of it, naturally he could not deviate from the main theme.


    Garen intended to create his own Exclusive Mech while carrying out the transformation of the biochemical pool, developing both sides together. If he could do it, maybe the course of Energy Machinist would be his main direction.


    ******************


    Time flew by and in the flash of an eye, two years had already passed.


    The battle between Blackboard Region and White Light went into a stalemate. In relation to Maria Academy challenging Blackboard Academy, no one could actually fight. After twenty-three consecutive wins, the friction between the students of both academies began to intensify.


    Later on, one of the Three Marshalls and One Star, Karfi, continuously went out to hunt and kill the members of White Light. Once, he actually caught a Maria Region pilot mixing with White Light. Naturally, a war broke out.


    There were continuously large and small-scale battles between the two sides. Maria Region publicly supported White Light, but the confrontation of Inheriting-level was not many. It seemed that both sides were constantly accumulating and suppressing their own strength, like two spring fists, constantly pushing back in order to erupt a powerful moment.


    On the other side, Royal Region was involved with Central Academy of Mother Planet. All kinds of friendship exchange students'' activities and so on were constantly being done as if taking the stance of sitting on the mountain and watching the tigers fight.


    But everyone knew that this region must also be the source of support behind White Light Organization.


    Polar Region, on the other hand, had an outbreak of civil war. There was a frictional conflict between the royal family and the territorial and aristocratic alliances. A large-scale civil war broke out and it had been surging for a time.


    It seemed that the peaceful state that had been going on for decades would once again revert back into war.


    As for Garen, after he returned to the region, he never went out but instead put all his effort into creating his Exclusive Mech, not giving Fila any chance to retaliate. It was a calm and peaceful period for him.

 916 Two Years 2

    Somewhere in the underground space in Blackboard Academy, a simple Mech which only had its skeleton built was quietly erected inside the hangar. Unlike the surrounding black standard Mechs, this Mech''s body was entirely made of the most advanced middle-grade material, using Erm Alloy Steel as its skeleton system. Through the empty skeleton, one could see the heart of the engine flashing a white light.


    The entire Mech was like a giant''s skeleton frame, but with a vibrant heart.


    The Mech''s body was seven meters tall, with a long tail like a Tyrannosaurus rex hanging behind it. Although the main body material had not yet been filled in, it had already given people a strong sense of terror.


    Around the body were a large number of thick black cables connecting to it, as well as large and small robots that were constantly going up and down, working on the details. There were several engineers below executing remote commands.


    The Mech''s body was facing a white semi-circular observatory platform which extended from the wall. Although it was enclosed with thick, high-strength glass, the condition of the Mech could be clearly seen from the inside of it.


    At this time, a few people were standing in the observatory platform.


    All of them were wearing dark-black military uniforms and they were tall and striking. A tight black belt was pulled diagonally from the shoulder and buckled at the waist to give off a concise and capable temperament.


    "Captain Nono, your Mech''s body has been built for two years with an investment of 1.8 billion. The major systems are all in place, except for the last one. Filling in the main material will complete it all. I was wondering, if you are satisfied with the engineering process of our White Dragon Base?", a middle-aged man with short white hair asked with a faint smile.


    As one of Blackboard Region''s Black Flood Party in-house Mech manufacturing base, he had personally led his students and vice-president to oversee this Mech for two years, giving serious attention to this young man.


    Using two years to build a Mech from scratch, especially an exclusive Mech, was not considered a long time. However, having half of the base concentrating on processing just one Mech, it was extremely shocking.


    White Dragon Base manufactured hundreds of units of standard Mechs every year. Now all of them were discontinued in order to give way to this huge investment of exclusive Mech.


    All this was due to the terrific strength of the young man in front of him.


    Thinking of this, the man''s heart could not help but trembled.


    He looked at this strong, lion-like man standing in front of himself.


    He was probably twenty-two years old but was already able to create his own Exclusive Mech... Such a genius was undoubtedly rare even in Black Flood Party. After all, a Level Five pilot, who was also this rich, was hard to come by, what more such a young one.


    Hearing his question, the young man in front chuckled.


    "Don''t say that. These two years were all dependant on the full support of Major Baylor to reach this level of progress. If it were the normal manufacturing speed in other places, don''t even think about it without at least three to five years. Many things could not be that easily arranged even with a lot of money."


    "You are very modest, but for the next filling material, we will need you to prepare it as soon as possible. According to your plan for the Mech, the filling material must be of higher grade. For the best kind of materials to be used in a Level Five Mech, I''m afraid the cost..." Major Baylor didn''t finish his sentence, but everybody knew what followed.


    Such high-grade materials could not be bought with Universal Units.


    Garen smiled and looked at the white shimmer that was wrapped around the engine of his Mech''s body. In it were vague traces of blood. It was the special luster of Blood Silver.


    In the past two years, he had sold most of the Mastery Energy Ore through his teacher and had gotten lots of the materials for the manufacturing of Exclusive Mech. However, because the materials he needed were too high-graded, it was very difficult to find all of them even through the exchange with his teacher. Therefore, after spending so much time, he had barely managed to gather most of the things. Now, he only lacked one thing, the main filling material of the Mech''s body.


    "The filling material must first meet the conductivity of Willpower. Then, it is the hardness index, tenacity index, memory metal index, corrosion resistance, radiation resistance, temperature tolerance, et cetera. I have carefully selected. The best one should be Ring Light Silver", Garen replied.


    "Ring Light Silver? This is a rare metal that is difficult to find even in the whole of Blackboard Region..." Baylor frowned slightly. He was only euphemistically reminding him, but he was speechless on the inside. Ring Light Silver was a type of precious metal that the general pilots could only manage to buy small portions of to fuse into their own Mech''s body for the purpose of enhancing the performance of the Mech''s body. Nonosiva actually wanted to use Ring Light Silver to completely build the entire Mech''s body. This was no different from building a house with diamonds! Luxury to the extreme!


    "I''ve got some prospects in this matter", Garen did not say much.


    With the full support of Blackboard Academy these two years and the full support of Teacher Van Doe, everything was going well. However, the only thing that made him unhappy was that Fila had advanced again and he seemed to be ready to break through to Twin Moon Level.


    As one of the top geniuses that had emerged in recent decades, the recent progress of Fila was getting increasingly faster, probably triggered by Medero.


    It was said that within a month''s time, he would be able to reach Twin Moon Level.


    Garen himself was still at Level Five without the slightest improvement. Instead, he had familiarize himself with a variety of skills in the area of Energy Machinist. His Energy Machinist Willpower had entered Level Two. The Energy Machinist''s computing power advancing method was very strange. The Willpower imprint did not exist in the body at all, so that even with potential points, the existence of the Energy Machinist imprint could not be found.


    This made Garen very surprised. In the case that the pilot''s training method could not be advanced, he chose to focus on the area of Energy Machinist. After raising the intelligence attribute to eight points, his computing power had leaped a big step and successfully entered Level Two. However, there was bit of trouble with Level Three. The required computing power actually rose a lot which made Garen faintly sceptical that he seemed to lack a very important thing of an Energy Machinist. He did not believe that all the Energy Machinists in this world could have much stronger computing power than he had now.


    After talking to Baylor about the details of the Mech''s body processing, Garen left White Dragon Base and returned to his villa that was on a mountain nearby.


    In these two years, his parents had opened a construction company and used the ties that Garen pulled to acquire projects, earning with much joy. Every year, they would easily earn millions of Universal Units.


    After the disappearance of his brother Baylon, the family slowly got used to life without Baylon, whereas the only sister of Garen did not go outside and mingle around much anymore. Instead, she was hooked on gambling. She would mix with some so-called princesses'' clique all day long in the name of Garen and was living it up.


    Garen was too lazy to bother about her. Now, he was already the eighth grade elite of Blackboard Academy Inner Courtyard. After continuously jumping grades and passing the assessments easily, he had successfully became Teacher Van Doe''s not-very-outstanding, but also not-a-mediocre disciple.


    By virtue of the reputation and influence of Black Flood Party and the conflict with Fila, he also had minor fame in Inner Courtyard and had actually entered the top 100 in the overall rankings.


    Inside the villa, Garen had just entered the door when he saw a familiar figure sitting on the couch in his hall, boringly clicking on the TV.


    "Celine, no training today?" He smiled and walked over, taking took off his coat and handing it to the maid. Someone beside sent over a warm natural juice.


    It was handed to Celine but Garen took it and drank it himself.


    Celine was dressed in a tight-fitting, white leather suit with a little dark golden flower logo on her shoulder. It looked somewhat mysterious.


    Glancing at Garen, she grinned.


    "Is your Mech completed? Running over there every day, you think it''s a junk battleship that could be completed in such a short time?"


    This girl kept shoulder-length hair, but also seemed to have dyed her hair, the same black as Garen''s. Her body was getting hotter, her front and back protruding, waist slender, legs slim and powerful. She had one of her leg crossed and both arms laid out on both sides of the sofa. It was very chic and gave off a strong and powerful feeling like that of a leopardess.


    "It is still lacking the last material, Ring Light Silver", Garen sat down, grabbed the remote control board next to her and changed the TV to a military channel.


    "Damn, still fighting to watch TV with me. How old are you now? Already a captain yet still snatching the TV from me, an ordinary student!" Celine retorted.


    "You broke through?" Garen smiled and sized her up. The Willpower force field had already reached the zenith of Level Four. Indeed, this girl was from a big household. There was no shortage of resources and her talent was not-too-bad. It seemed that she could use her own Exclusive Mech before the age of thirty.


    "Although I''m not as abnormal as you are, I could still manage to advance." Celine nodded arbitrarily. "Black Flood Party''s top talents like you cannot be compared with me, this type of small household. Tsk tsk. Look at you. Ring Light Silver. Although I have guessed that you are very ambitious, yet using Ring Light Silver as material¡­" She put her thumb up, indicating that she was incomparable with him.


    "Does your side have a way to source this?"


    "I can find some of it. How much do you want?"


    "Five tons", Garen lifted up a hand.


    "I can only provide you with half of it", Celine frowned. "The household also has a great demand for Ring Light Silver. It is priced according to the internal procurement. With my authority, I could give you half price."


    "Thanks a lot then. This can also save me a lot of money", Garen smiled.


    "Why don''t you just go and die! With tens of millions of income a month, you would have made at least a thousand million in these two years! Talk about saving more money!" Celine scorned.


    Garen himself however, had a clear understanding in his heart. The absorption of White Rainbow Stone was of no use to him anymore and the progress of Living Secret Technique was extremely slow. It had already been two years but, it was only eighteen percent complete. From the original two percent till now, it seemed that there was a direct resistant to the Rainbow Stones. The advancing of Hellfrost Peacock Technique Level Six seemed to be harder than all the previous levels.


    Most of the Mastery Energy Ore that he obtained had been sold to acquire nearly three billion worth of materials. Most of them were spent on the Mech while the leftovers were used to purchase some materials and technologies for the Energy Machinist''s experimental platform. He did not have much left now.


    However, fortunately, the cost of the Ring Light Silver should not exceed one billion, and so the money at hand could still cover it.


    "There will be an auction very soon. Although this item, Ring Light Silver, is rare, but the annual output is also very large. The main reason is that its expense is huge, so the shortage of output leads to a high price. The finale of that auction is a piece of four-tons, natural Ring Light Silver. The purity is said to be very high. If you are interested, you can go and have a look", Celine mentioned briefly.


    She then added another sentence.


    "Fila is also said to be going."


    "Fila?" The corner of Garen''s mouth ticked up slightly. "This guy recently had been snatching the Rainbow Stone mine source from me and putting a lot of effort into doing it."


    "What are you going to do? That person is probably a Twin Moon Level powerhouse", Celine was suddenly piqued.


    "So what? As long as I don''t go out of the region and if he dares to touch me in Blackboard Region, my senior brother would also dare to take action against him in the open", Garen was not worried about this at all even though Fila took him seriously. His Black Wind, which could only be released once an hour originally, could now be released dozens of times without any problem. He could even release a plume of the more advanced black smoke. This was the powerful capability that could only be used by the Divine Wind General and it belonged to a more purified Black Wind. Although it took a longer time to build a superimposed pyramid, it could already reflect his terrific savvy. It did not matter if the body constitution was slow, his understanding of Black Wind was unattainable for anyone.


    A Divine Wind General''s strength was that wherever one went, black smoke would fill that place. Just with a horrific automatic territory-liked attack, it could easily destroy any lower-level pilots.

 917 Energy Machinist 1

    After chatting with Celine in the hall, Garen sent her away. When he had finished his meal, he went back to his room to cultivate his training method. Currently, all that he was cultivating was the Energy Machinist''s training method because Crouched Eagle Talon could not be progressed as it required an Exclusive Mech to produce resonance degree.


    He lived this lifestyle for nearly two years. Every day, he would calculate the Energy Machinist''s Level Three training question bank.


    Sitting cross-legged alone in a cultivating room, Garen meticulously calculated a large number of computational models displayed on the wall while constantly using Willpower to repeatedly stack them. In this horrific process of complex computation, he could feel that his Willpower had gradually changed and become better in calculating. The Willpower that emerged from the Energy Machinist Imprint was completely different from that of Crouched Eagle Talon''s Willpower.


    Crouched Eagle Talon was entrenched in the arms, almost like two groups of cold Blackboard air current. Using his inner vision, Garen could easily identify it.


    The Energy Machinist''s Willpower was a kind of vague air mass in which its shape was indistinguishable. Sometimes, it was round and other times it was a square. However, more often, it was a distorted, irregular air mass which was transparent on the inside. Without looking carefully, its presence could not be noticed at all. Moreover, the Energy Machinist''s Willpower was located in the void at the back of the head and not in the human body at all.


    This totally overturned all the knowledge that Garen had previously learned about Willpower training method.


    In the white room, Garen sat cross-legged and closed his eyes slightly. Behind the back of his head were two seemingly transparent spiky masses which were floating about. They were emitting a faintly transparent gas that was drifting upwards.


    "Intelligence has reached eight points. From henceforth, to raise every one point will need sixty potential points. Currently, the remaining thirty points are not enough. I must find the Staff of Absolute Yin as soon as possible!"


    He had been searching for the whereabouts of the Staff of Absolute Yin in recent years. Through various channels, he managed to find a clue. However, because he had to get his Exclusive Mech done for the time being, he could not spare his time to go look for it.


    With the ongoing war between White Light and Blackboard Region, there could be extremely dangerous encounters everywhere in the radiation belt which made it far more dangerous than before.


    After practicing calculating for a while and feeling a little increase in the Energy Machinist Willpower, Garen was satisfied and opened his eyes. But he realized that time had flew past and it was almost eight at night. It was already dark outside. Looking through the window, he could see a black shuttle-shaped battleship patrolling in the sky not far away. Its surface was covered with a lot of flashing lights.


    Garen let out a breath. He took out a black key from the pocket of his shirt. There was only one tine on the key. No matter how he looked at it, the key was too simple and did not look like it was used to open a door. What kind of door could be opened with just one tine? That would not be able to keep the thief out at all.


    Every time he finished practicing calculating, he would take out this key to carefully check and scrutinize it. Intuition told him that this key was not a simple object.


    Through the tines of a variety of sophisticated instruments, Garen realized that the material of this key was very solid and basically, there was nothing that could destroy it.


    Holding the key repeatedly in the palm of his hand, suddenly, Garen froze. He held the lower end of the key and put it upright in front of his eyes, examining it carefully.


    Every detail of this key had been fully engraved in his mind in these few years and he was extremely familiar with it.


    But now, this key actually had an additional super tiny black diamond pattern, only the size of a grain. It looked complicated, making him dizzy.


    Garen gazed at this pattern carefully. It looked like many flower patterns superimposing on one another. It also looked like a lot of weird symbols combined in a pile, giving a mysterious and ancient feeling.


    As he focused his attention on this pattern, suddenly, a white light burst out from the pattern. It split accurately into two beams and shot into Garen''s eyes.


    Woom...


    Garen felt a kind of inexplicable dizzy feeling in his head. His vision went white and he only felt a spinning sensation in his head and his upper body became very heavy.


    His eyes were covered with white light and nothing could be seen. Only his ears could hear the subtle sound of the air tearing, as if he was flying at a high speed, but his skin did not feel any real airflow.


    After he had slowly adapted to the spotlight caused by the white light in front of him, he did not know what was going on but found himself standing in front of a small white wooden door. There was a flower-like intricate pattern carved on the wooden door, except that Garen had never seen this flower before.


    "Welcome to the Federation of Energy Machinists", a crisp girl''s voice sounded from the door.


    "This is the place where Energy Machinists can communicate with one another. The area you are at is Mother Planet a54 area; the number of people is 789. You are the 790th newly added official Energy Machinist. Please keep your identity key well. If it is lost, please go to the Central Academy Energy Machinist Division to replace it. Thank you for your cooperation and I wish you a pleasant time."


    The female''s voice faded.


    The door in front of Garen opened with a bang.


    Outside, a somewhat lively square with a fountain pool appeared in front of him. The people coming and going were dressed differently. They did not look like they came from the same place but looked more like a mixture of different ethnic groups of various nationalities. Their skin complexion varied from white, black, yellow and red with a variety of shades. Garen even saw two human beings with two lizard tails, squatting at a stall and bargaining with the stall owner.


    A burst of lively voices flooded the door, making him a little surprised.


    As he attempted to walk through the small door, Garen tucked away his key and looked at the sky and the surroundings.


    The sky was a very ordinary blue sky with white clouds, but there was no sun. Still, it was very bright but he could not tell where the light came from.


    Around was a medium-size circular town structure, surrounded by ordinary single-storey houses that were neither too high nor too low. Beside the houses hung different patterns of gray-brown cloth, fluttering slightly with the breeze. What was very strange was that when Garen looked at these fabrics, he could recognize the meaning of the fabric patterns. These fabrics were the names of various shops.


    "Can you not block the road?"


    A voice sounded from his right. It was a dark-skinned woman with a white headscarf. She was tall and thin and looked emaciated, almost comparable to a mummy.


    Garen was stunned and made way for her, watching the woman walk through him and head towards a shop on the left.


    He just so happened to be standing at the left side of the stairs to this shop.


    "Is this place an illusion or..." Garen frowned and carefully distinguished his body.


    Soon he discovered that the core of Living Secret Technique was missing from his body. His Soul Seed had also disappeared. It was apparent that this place was purely a virtual community.


    "Real illusion simulation?"


    He began to imitate other people and went one round past the circular shops of the town. There were many people entering and exiting the shops, but the flow of people was even greater at the street vendors. The fountain square in the middle of dozens of shops was densely packed with little stalls. It seemed that over time, there were more and more people setting up stalls.


    Garen tried to walk towards the main door of a shop.


    However, he found that a transparent barrier was blocking him. A bald man beside him strode up the steps and gave a contemptuous look at him.


    "You have no money and still want to enter the shop?? Stupid."


    Garen was not angry, as if he had not heard him, but continued to explore everything here.


    He began experimenting with all the dozens of circular shops around the square but found that he could enter none of them. And over time, some shops would suddenly disappear in a flash. After that, other shops would automatically move closer to one another like wooden blocks to expand themselves and fill in the gap left by the previous shop.


    "How magical", Garen tried to break the corner of the wall of a shop but found it to be extremely hard and could not be damaged. It seemed that the rule imposed here was firmly regulated so that it could not be destroyed.


    "This brainless man is still here, how retarded. He actually wanted to pull off the wall stone here?" That bald headed man just happened to walk out of the shop, followed by a beautiful woman with a charming face. The two were cuddling tightly together, almost like they were merging into one.


    Garen gave him a glance and ignored him.


    "How does the Federation even have this kind of country pigs? How annoying to look at." Baldhead started to curse arrogantly.


    Another thin red-skinned man was about to enter the shop at this time, but was pushed to one side by him.


    "Go away. So f****ing frustrating to see Red Ghost."


    The red-skinned man was silent and did not dare to reply.


    Baldhead swaggered his way out and headed towards another shop.


    Garen looked up at the cloth of this shop, Intelligence Point.


    Obviously, a place to sell intel.


    He tried to go in but regretfully, that transparent light screen blocked him.


    "Don''t waste your energy. Without money, you cannot enter the shop. This place will automatically detect the money you have on you." The red-skinned man who had been pushed away just now, smiled bitterly and told Garen, but he did not enter. Instead, he walked over to the side of the steps to the shop where Garen was at.


    "Are you here for the first time?" His Universal language accent was very standard. Clearly, there was some kind of language translation system here.


    "Yeah." Garen nodded. "May I ask, what is this place actually?"


    "The more you come, the more you will know." The red-skinned man whispered. "This is a small trading market of the Federation of Energy Machinists. It is a virtual market that only trades knowledge and technology, known as a knowledge market. However, there will be an item market that will be held in real time. There will truly be many people at that time and you can directly trade real items there."


    "Knowledge market? Item market?" Garen frowned. "Is this place convened by that Energy Machinists whatever federation?"


    "Of course, all Energy Machinists will be automatically issued a guide key from the guide to enter this virtual world and conduct various transactions. This is where the true secret of Energy Machinists lies. Only Energy Machinists are able to enter here. There isn''t any way for others to get in and out." The red-skinned man explained softly, "This is your first time in here and you didn''t even have your tutor with you. Be cautious when you trade so that you don''t get cheated."


    "Who are the people involved in the market here? Are they from the same area?" Garen continued to ask since it was difficult to meet someone who was willing to answer him.


    "No. The people here could be from anywhere. Some of their appearance may not even be true. There are expensive face-changing tools that can allow people to modify themselves. The people here might be from nearby planets, star regions, or even Energy Machinists from space ships caravans who are passing by. Anything is possible." The red-skinned man shook his head and said.


    "Thank you for your explanation. I haven''t asked for your name yet."


    "Olse, my name is Olse. There is still a long list of surnames behind it but there is no need to bring it up. I''m an Energy Machinist of a caravan that is passing by here, only Level Three." The red-skinned man smiled ruefully. "Level Three Energy Machinist is considered the lowest degree of level here."


    "I''m Garen. It can''t be true. Level Three is actually the lowest level?" Garen said. He had worked hard to practice calculating for two years and until now, he was only Level Two, not even close to Level Three. And this person in front of him actually said that Level Three was the lowest level at the bottom.


    "Indeed, it''s like that. What to do? I do not have a good Energy Machine Imprint. The one I am using is the lowest grade Wasp Imprint. Its auxiliary calculation is only three times and it can only create the lowest level of Investigating Wasps", Olse smiled bitterly again. "The higher grade Energy Machine Imprint is too expensive. Our caravan gathered all the funds and only managed to buy me such an ordinary imprint. Energy Machinist is simply a money-burning profession."


    "Energy Machine Imprint? What is that?" Garen heard about this for the first time.


    "What? You don''t even know what Energy Machine Imprint is!?" Olse''s expression this time instantly turned bizarre. "What kind of tutor did you really have? Without the support of the Energy Machine Imprint, don''t even think that that our Energy Machinist''s computing power could enter the third level!"


    Garen was slightly shocked. Sure enough, he had always felt that he was probably missing something. He did not expect that the facts had completely confirmed his conjecture. Indeed, what he lacked seemed to be something that was absolutely indispensable to an Energy Machinist ¨C an Energy Machine Imprint.


    "Come come come. Let''s go and have a drink first. I really admire you. Your tutor didn''t tell you about the basic knowledge before letting you in here", Olse shook his head helplessly.


    The two went in front of one another to a tavern-like shop at the edge. Olse paid for Garen so that he could finally enter the shop.


    Inside the tavern was very large. A vast area like that of a football field was filled with white tables and chairs of the same size. They were sparsely occupied as the people sat far apart, even their voices were not heard. Clearly, there was sound insulation.


    The two found a seat by the wall and sat down. Olse then knocked on the table.


    "I want two ale. Hot."


    With a whoosh, two hot cups of light brown ale immediately appeared before the two, all of which were large cups and there was a lot of bubbles overflowing out of it. When the bubbles were about to drop onto the table, they immediately disappeared.


    "Thank you." Garen nodded. There was no waiter here so it seemed that there was an automatic program controlling everything.

 918 Energy Machinist 2

    "Its okay, back then I was abandoned by my teacher as well, and had to come in here to explore on my own. I know how much you have to go through to reach the beginner level if you start off exploring without any real knowledge." Olse drank a gulp of the ale, and sighed, "That''s why every time I see a rookie come in, I''ll help them however I can."


    "Could you tell me what the Energy Machine Imprint is?" asked Garen in a low voice.


    "The Energy Machine Imprint is a mysterious, magical piece of special equipment that you can embed into your Willpower Imprint. It can improve our calculation skills, simplifying a lot of those complicated, repetitive methods. With it, we just need to find the calculation method, and calculate it once. After that, the Energy Mech Imprint will record down the calculation method, and then it can calculate that way every time, greatly reducing the burden on we Energy Machinists," Olse explained.


    "It''s like my Yellow Wasp Imprint." He snapped his fingers, and a piece of metal in the image of a yellow wasp slowly appeared behind him, suspended in mid-air and glowing with a faint yellow light. "He can more or less triple my calculation speed and ability, and this includes counting statistics. In real combat, it can automatically control the Biochemical Pool to create more Yellow Wasp Surveillance Soldiers. These surveillance soldiers work well in space, and can spray out particles to help them move at high speeds. They have no offensive power, and can only move quickly or share their vision with you, that''s why they can only be surveillance soldiers. As the lowest-level Yellow Wasps, mine can only scan a radius of fifty kilometers, and is only active for half an hour. If you get the material, you can use it for the re-synthesis next time, you''ll only lose 50% of the materials that way."


    "Can''t I store it in the Biochemical Pool to start with?" asked Garen.


    "You can''t, it won''t work. The Biochemical Pool can only make on-the-spot ones, longer-lasting ones can only be evolved through the experimental platform, so that they acquire new functions. And the longer-lasting ones require many expensive materials, it''s just like creating a Mech, the skills required are very troublesome too," Olse said helplessly. "Just how hopeless is your teacher? They didn''t teach you anything properly."


    "Uh... To be honest, I''m self-taught, I don''t really have a teacher," replied Garen honestly, and also slightly exasperatedly. "I didn''t think that the path of an Energy Machinist was so complicated, at first I had thought it was about the same as regular training methods, but I didn''t know it was this troublesome."


    "Well, of course, you were self-taught-- What!" It seemed that only then did Olse react, and he stood up abruptly, his expression full of shock as he stared at Garen. "You''re self-taught?!"


    "Yeah..." Garen nodded.


    "H-How long did you spend?" Olse''s voice was trembling slightly.


    "Urk¡ªSix years." Garen thought about it, and decided not to say two years, so he tripled it. Looking at the way this guy was reacting, it seemed that the fact that he was self-taught was already a miracle in itself.


    "Six years, huh... No wonder." Olse heaved a long sigh of relief, and sat down. "I was saying that you''re still so young, if you were self-taught and still managed to become a Level Two Energy Machinist within three years, then that would be truly terrifying. But even so, without a teacher, you are still rather exceptional to reach Level Two in six years."


    "I see..." Garen nodded.


    "I don''t really know about the Energy Machinist parties over here, but I advise you to find a decent party and apply for the recruitment test to join, it is impossible for you to advance in this line without a teacher, because there are a lot of things you simply won''t come into contact with if you''re self-taught," advised Olse sincerely.


    "Join a party? How do I join?" Garen was interested.


    "Most of the Inherited Level pilots from the pilot parties would have Energy Machinist parties working together with them, it''s very common for the two sides to help each other fill the gaps. So you just need to find a powerful Inherited Level faction, and you should be able to find a corresponding Energy Machinist party. If you can learn so much yourself, you can totally try out the test."


    "Yup, I will." Garen instantly thought of the Black Flood Party. He was in the Black Flood Party now, and they might have an Energy Machinist in their ranks too.


    "Alright, I''m headed off now too, the ships are going to leave this region soon, and the signal will grow weaker and weaker. I''m from the Tidal Thunder Planet, you can come by for a vacation if you have time, I''ll show you around," said Olse with a smile as he got up.


    "I will if I get the chance." Garen nodded, and stood up as well.


    The other person disappeared with a whoosh, and after his vision blurred for a moment, he also appeared in the plaza outside the shop.


    There were a lot fewer people in the plaza now. The stalls had also become sparser, they had evidently either completed their deals, or the vendors had simply left.


    Garen continued to walk around the area, looking at the wares sold on the stalls. In the end he realized that they were mostly strange and bizarre materials, some were things he had seen briefly introduced in the Energy Machinist training methods, but most were completely unheard of.


    "The wing of a Flying Mantis, it can be installed onto biochemical creatures, it''ll be even faster than a Level 2 Mech!"


    "The unihorn of a Burrowing Mole increases your sharpness by one level for half an hour."


    "The distilled genetic liquid of an unknown mutated snake, it can increase the vitality of mutated creatures from the Biochemical Pool by 0.4 levels for ten minutes."


    "The gallbladder of a Giant Bear, price fixed at fifty crystals, no haggling."


    Some of the stalls had a screen introducing the uses of their wares, while other items seemed to be too common or famous, so there was no explanation, just the prices.


    The stall owners did not yell, they just relied on the rectangular screens beside them to show their advertising.


    The plaza was not big, and soon enough Garen had finished looking at most of the stalls. He noticed that they were mostly used for the Biochemical Pool, most of them were materials or items used to modify the cannon fodder creatures that came from the Pool.


    Only a few of them were used for the experimental platform, but those tended to be very expensive and were sold as soon as they were brought out.


    "Scram!"


    Suddenly there was a shout from ahead.


    Garen raised his head and glanced there, and realized that it was actually those two raucous baldies from before. Right now, the two of them were kicking a young man with rabbit ears, making him fall hard on his butt.


    "You dare fight for the stuff that I want? You should consider it an honor to be able to hand them to me! You have no sense of the glory bestowed upon you!" Baldhead was as raucous as ever, but no one around them dared to step up. Someone who dared to be this high-key would certainly have a powerful background.


    "But I''ve even paid the money already!" The rabbit-eared young man got up, and started arguing, his expression pained.


    "So what if you''ve paid? You''re trash from a backward place, it''s your fortune to be able to stand and speak in front of me, how dare to speak back!" As his girlfriend giggled away, Baldhead slapped the rabbit-eared young man hard.


    Garen was completely speechless, he really could bump into such people all the time. That included in the Federation of Energy Machinists, even though it sounded all high and mighty.


    But when he saw that Baldhead actually slapped him, and the rabbit-eared young man''s face was even starting to swell, he became slightly surprised.


    "You can just start hitting people here?"


    "Of course, you can''t kill anyone, but other than that, all the attacks here will cause the same amount of pain and damage," said a talkative old man who was watching from the sidelines. "That baldy is from the Mother Planet''s Magnetic Field, that''s one of the three strongest Energy Machinist factions, together with Star Cloud and Black Blade. That''s why no one dares to interfere."


    "Magnetic Field, Star Cloud, Black Blade." Garen quietly memorized these three names.


    "If you encounter that baldy, just tolerate him. Most normal people can''t afford to provoke him, that''s a huge faction with an Inherited Level Energy Machinist," the old man sighed, shaking his head.


    "Inherited Level powers, how impressive," a young man could not help but say sarcastically, his expression cold.


    "Shh, you''ll get in trouble if they hear you," the young man''s companion hurriedly yanked his hand.


    Garen watched that baldy over there calmly, he understood the position of Energy machinists now. And as one of the strongest Energy Machinist parties of the Mother Planet, he did not know just how powerful that was, but he did know it was at least at the same level as the Black Flood Party. It was impressive indeed.


    "Baldhead Monba is the most overbearing person in this market, nobody dares to fight him," said a low voice.


    "So what? If he continues on like this, he''ll meet his match sooner or later."


    Garen could not be bothered with this, and turned around to leave. Suddenly his gaze swept across the crowd, and he froze on the spot.


    A familiar figure appeared in front of him. Skintight white leather clothes, with some dark gold patterns on the shoulder. That sexy figure, curves in all the right places, and that clear scar on her pretty face that did nothing to hide her charismatic aura, making her seem stronger instead.


    "Celine!"


    Celine had not seen him yet, and instead she walked up, frowning, until she was behind Baldhead. Then she kicked him hard.


    Bam.


    Baldhead turned around and grabbed her long leg.


    "You dare ambush me!" When Baldhead turned around and saw Celine, his fierce expression instantly turned slightly pervy. "Yo, not bad, what a pretty little lady."


    "Let me go! Or you''ll suffer the consequences!" A hint of coldness flashed through Celine''s eyes. She had not thought that Baldhead would be so good at close combat, and would react so quickly.


    "That''s strange. Everyone saw that it was this woman who purposely attacked me first," said Baldhead loudly, laughing coldly.


    "Celine, it has nothing to do with you!" The rabbit-eared young man hurriedly rushed over and tried to separate the two of them, but Baldhead blocked him and then swept him away. He fell onto the ground with a whoomph, and groaned, unable to get up.


    "So you two know each other..." Baldhead looked up Celine''s long legs to the place between them pervertedly. "What pretty legs, let me cop a nice feel." His other hand flew out and caressed Celine''s inner thigh.


    "Let go!" Celine''s expression turned cold, and she gave him a hard jolt, but unexpectedly, she could not escape his control. Feeling that hand go past her knee and towards her the inner sides of her thigh, she started to grow anxious.


    But for some reason, she felt all the energy slowly leaving her body.


    "Celine, you''ve encountered a powerhouse, haven''t you? I told you a long time ago, there will always be someone stronger than you." Suddenly, a familiar voice came from beside her.


    Celine followed the voice and somehow saw Garen looking at her with a smile, walking to her slowly.

 919 Auction 1

    "And what the hell are you?" Baldhead glared at him coldly, staring at Garen as he approached.


    "It''s all a misunderstanding, let''s make love, not war, and call it quits, shall we?" Garen said with a smile.


    Joy flashed through Celine''s eyes, she knew just how powerful Garen was. While Baldhead was distracted, she gave her legs a jolt, and spun them hard, breaking free from his grip. She quickly took two steps back.


    But that sense of powerlessness did not disappear.


    "You used poison?!" Her expression instantly changed slightly.


    "What do you mean by poison, little pretty?" Baldhead laughed, his eyes narrowed. "Did you think that you can get away unharmed after touching my body?"


    "Didn''t you hear what I said?" Garen walked over and stood in front of Celine, facing Baldhead. "It was all just a misunderstanding, let us all calm down, and understand each other better."


    He would not put him and his companion in trouble just for something as meaningless as pity.


    Baldhead seemed to have a considerable background and strength, it would truly be troublesome if he provoked a powerful faction just like that.


    "I say, who do you think you are? Scram!" Baldhead''s expression turned cold. He actually stomped forward, his large foot aiming hard towards Garen''s face.


    Garen tilted his body away slightly, avoiding that stomp, and then he abruptly grabbed Baldhead''s stomping foot with his hand. He released a slight breath.


    "Garen, you never were the type to hold yourself back!" said Celine from behind, mercilessly.


    "We can''t kill anyone here, so it''s pointless to fight back and forth, we should all try to be more peaceful," said Garen, his expression calm as he shook his head.


    When they heard that, Baldhead and the people around him all paused for a moment, they vaguely felt a hint of cold killing intent from Garen. All their hearts shook slightly.


    Looks like this guy was a tough one too. The surrounding crowd knew that now.


    At the same time, having been blocked, one of Baldhead''s legs was being held in Garen''s hands. But as Garen exerted more force in his grip, there began to be a faint sound of bone cracking.


    "Let go!!" A sheen of sweat appeared on Baldhead''s forehead.


    "Relax, can''t we all sit down and chat properly?" Garen smiled.


    "I''m telling you to let go! Bastard!" howled Baldhead fiercely.


    "Let him go! Unless you want to die outside, away from home," the seductive woman beside Baldhead spoke as well, staring at Garen icily.


    "Okay, okay... I''ll let go." Garen smiled and relaxed his grip lightly, letting go of Baldhead''s leg.


    All of a sudden, he turned around, and his booted leg became a grey shadow that whipped over. As though it was truly a lightning-fast whip, it even made an exploding sound in the air.


    Bam!!


    Blood sprayed everywhere. Baldhead''s whole head had been blown apart, blood and brain matter spewing all over the place. His body fell to his knees stiffly, and as the woman beside him screamed, he fell forward, and was completely lifeless.


    In an instant, his corpse had turned into a large field of white lights that scattered and vanished.


    "Tsk-tsk-tsk... See, it''s not like I can kill him for real, this will lead to troublesome consequence," said Garen, shaking his head.


    "You¡ªy-you!!" That seductive woman could not even speak properly anymore, all the blood had drained out of her face, and she pointed at Garen as she stumbled backward. Suddenly she seemed to trip on something, falling to the ground, but she could not get up again no matter what she tried.


    "That''s what I said, there''s no way you could be that kind of soft, weak, useless type of guy." Celine seemed to have recovered some too, so she walked up to Garen and stood shoulder to shoulder with him. She lifted one leg, and kicked up a metal shard that was on the floor.


    The metal shard spun quickly, and nailed itself into the woman''s brow.


    With a bam, the woman fell onto her back, turned into many white lights, and vanished.


    The people who had gathered to watch were all shocked, these two were unnaturally ruthless, and just seeing how decisively they acted, they surely must be that type of cold-blooded, killing maniac from the real world outside. Otherwise, they would not have simply taken lives just like that in here.


    "Alright, everyone, break it up, break it up," said Garen loudly, waving his hand. "This is just a virtual world anyway, it''s not like they''re really dead, so it''s fine."


    "Young man, you two have done it now!" the old man who had been talking and standing next to Garen just now spoke. "That baldy was from the Magnetic Field, if they discover your location in the real world..." He did not complete that sentence, but they knew the immense severity of it from his expression alone.


    "It''s fine."


    Since Garen made his move, he would naturally have been prepared for this situation.


    "Are the people from Magnetic Field that big a deal?" said Celine coldly. She had settled some messages for Garen beforehand, otherwise Garen would not have acted so decisively either.


    "Let''s go!"


    She split the crowd apart, and left with Garen, one after the other.


    Bam bam!


    After two crisp sounds, the two of them instantly exploded into many white dots, and vanished from that strange space.


    In the room, Garen opened his eyes slowly, and lifted his wrist to see the contact request from Celine.


    He tapped ''confirm'' lightly.


    "Nono, that baldy is just the younger brother of some Level Three Energy Machinist in Magnetic Field, don''t worry, it''ll be fine." Celine''s face appeared on his wristwatch. "Last time I went to the main family''s ranking competition and won ninth, so I finally reached Level One of that Energy Machinist level I''ve been keeping a count on. I found one of the elders in the family to be my teacher, but I never thought I would bump into you there."


    Garen did not expect it either, to think he could meet Celine in the Federation of Energy Machinists'' virtual space. After she learned all those combat skills from him, this little brat''s position in the family kept rising as well. From her original place several dozen steps down, she had risen to ninth in the past two years. Even if he had not stepped out back there, Celine would not have gone down so easily, she would surely have her own way of dealing with it.


    "Magnetic Field is the weakest faction in the Federation of Energy Machinists, the Star Cloud that I''m in never got along with Black Blade, but if it weren''t for the conflict between the two of us, Magnetic Field would not have had a snowball''s chance in hell. So Magnetic Field can show off a bit in front of regular Energy Machinists, but to us, even if my family''s Energy Machinists aren''t all that impressive, compared to small fry like him, hmph..." Celine explained in detail. "Your Black Flood Party has Energy Machinists too, they''re also in Star Cloud. When you get back, you can ask if you get the chance. To people with large factions behind them like us, there''s no need to worry about trash like that at all, it''s good enough that we''re not dominating the streets like that."


    "You sure are direct." Garen had more or less understand where he stood, and he knew now that after all that mess, they probably had a higher status that Baldhead. The shade under a large tree was wider, after all.


    "I always was! If it wasn''t in a virtual space, and was in reality instead, I''d have offed him with one shot a long time ago!" Celine was still unhappy.


    "Alright, if we have time, we can enter the special ability space together. I don''t have a teacher at all now, neither do I have an Energy Machine Imprint, so it''s not easy for me. Could you get me one?" said Garen with a smile.


    "It''s not that easy to decide on an Energy Machine Imprint, if you decide on one, it''ll take up a slot in your Willpower. Two levels of Willpower can only support one Energy Machine Imprint, and once you''ve decided on it, it''s practically impossible to change it, no, it''s more than impossible!" said Celine solemnly. "I heard my teacher say that once you''ve decided on an Imprint, you have to be Inherited Level or higher before you can change it, and even then you''ll need to use up a ton of resources."


    Hearing Celine advise him so seriously, Garen also learned the importance of this, and his intention to carelessly look for one just to scrape by lessened.


    "What are the prices of the Energy Machine Imprints like?"


    "They''re usually between two to five billion units each, and these are the lower grade ones. Many people want the better ones, and Energy Machinists are all pretty loaded, so once the competition gets heated, the price can vary drastically. At the highest point, a decent Imprint even sold for more than forty billion. As for the even better ones, the peak-level Imprints, don''t even think about them, no one will even sell them. It takes a lot of time and effort to create one of these, to an Energy Machinist, it''s a long and pointless effort. Without up to a hundred years, don''t even think about creating a stable Imprint. That''s why the Imprints we''re using now were mostly the product of our elders'' efforts from more than a hundred years ago."


    Garen was beginning to see how complicated the field of Energy Machinists was.


    "Give me a copy of your info regarding Energy Machinists."


    "Sure. I''ll arrange it and hand it to you later." Celine nodded.


    After hanging up, Garen quickly received all sorts of basic info about Energy Machinists. And he had a better understanding of the whole deal with Energy Machinists now too.


    Energy Machinists mostly formed units according to the teacher, students, and the workshop, the different numbers of styles resulted in the workshops forming many different parties.


    One workshop could consist of just one Energy Machinist, or it could have many, depending on the scale.


    Energy Machine Imprints were tools Energy Machinists created to support themselves, at first they were just very normal high-functioning support tools, but after many generations of improvement and distillation of Willpower, the power of the Energy Machine Imprints grew stronger and stronger, and gradually more perfect. That was why Imprints with a longer duration of Inheritance tended to be stronger, and many Energy Machinists who could not afford ready-made Imprints also resorted to creating their own. But those may just be empty white boards, that required using Willpower to carve and strengthen step by step, from the very beginning. These had no strengthening effect at all.


    So the longer the duration of Inheritance, the stronger the Imprint. Some Imprints had even become the foundations of many parties.


    Energy Machinists did not interact much with each other normally either, they tended to research their own thing, and only gather on specific dates, exchanging knowledge and making deals for items and Imprints through the special ability space.


    In other words, the Energy Machine Imprint was just like a pilot''s personal Mech, its importance could not be overstated.


    The difference was that every Energy Machinist was not just limited to one, they could have multiple Imprints.


    In the time after that, as expected, Baldhead, who was killed off, made no ripples whatsoever. He had evidently been suppressed by Celine''s power, he was just a small fry from the lower levels of Magnetic Field, compared to the elite of a large family and party on this side, the difference was decided instantly.


    The days passed one after the other, and soon, the day of the auction was upon them.


    The Ring Light Silver auction that Garen had been waiting for all this time had finally arrived.

 920 Auction 2

    The auction will take place in a remote mansion deep within the mountain forests of the Blackboard Region.


    On the surface, it was just a lonely white private vacation home, but five hundred meters underground, there was a huge square underground space.


    The space was like a giant opera house, with thick red carpets adorned with gold patterns, and neat lines of white seats arranged compactly. On the two sides, there were many floating box seats, they were just suspended light golden spheres, with the fixed number of each box carved on the outside.


    Just then, the lower seats of the auction were almost completely packed with people, most of them properly dressed, the so-called upper classes. There were also others who did not sweat the details and dressed like the normal people on the street. The sounds of whispers and the buzz of voices kept echoing through the whole area.


    The important guests on the two sides were also beginning to enter their boxes now.


    Garen and Celine appeared at the leaping point to enter the room on the left, and they followed the path, walking towards one of the boxes.


    There were quite a few VIPs like them, and all of them were walking along the walls on the sides to enter their boxes now.


    "Looks like the organizer of this auction is a pretty big deal." Garen swept his gaze across the area. The people in front and behind him were all the sort of hotshot characters you saw on the television. There was a constant stream of celebrities and public figures as well.


    Some of the young students with considerable backgrounds that they were familiar with were here as well. Of course, he was also one such student with a considerable background, so he was no different from these prodigies and elites.


    "Are you going to use your alias Garen, or your real name to bid?" asked Celine in a low voice beside him.


    "My real name, I guess, quite a few people know me here." Garen smiled. These past two years, Celine also knew that his alias was Garen.


    "Nono." Suddenly a voice came from not far ahead, it was a beautiful woman dressed in a black cocktail dress who turned around to smile at them, while standing with two men. The voice came from the beautiful lady.


    "It''s Vivienne and Wade." Garen smiled as he greeted them. These two were the people he worked with for the Rainbow Stone business. At first, they did not get along so well because they were just business partners, but after that, they began to familiarize with each other, and their relationship grew better. Even so, they were barely just normal friends.


    Vivienne was pretty calculative for a woman, back when they were haggling prices, she showed that she had considerable business acumen. These two years, she had been developing very nicely as well and was getting hold of more resources and channels within the family.


    The Sina family that Vivienne belonged to had wide connections and influences in Blackboard and even several of the regions around it. Although their higher-ups were not particularly powerful, their influence was spread extremely wide. They were a large-scale power, just beneath the peak-level factions.


    Garen looked at the last person. He was dressed in a normal grey suit, with short grey hair, and looked like a very young, pretty boy.


    "This is?"


    "My friend, Penton."


    Vivienne introduced with a smile.


    Penton reached out his hand to shake Garen''s lightly.


    "Nice to meet you."


    "Yeah, nice to meet you too," Garen replied with a smile, the latest information instantly appearing in his head. Rumor had it that Vivienne fancied a regular young man with no background despite her family''s objections and nearly broke it off with her family members. Looking at it now, this young man called Penton was standing beside Vivienne, and their stances seemed to be hinting that they were dating, so this could likely be that rumored boyfriend.


    Although Garen did not know why she would bring a normal man with no background or talent here, he still greeted them politely.


    Seeing Garen''s actions, gratitude flashed through Vivienne''s eyes.


    She had already taken Penton to meet several young talents and young heirs from the upper classes, but the only one who treated them equally without contempt was Garen.


    "Celine, you are very beautiful today." Vivienne looked at Celine beside him. The whole Blackboard Region knew about the relationship between Nonosiva and Celine, those busybodies mostly arranged the two of them into a couple, and they were considered to be very well-matched. However, the two people themselves had no such intention.


    "You''re very pretty too, Vivienne," Celine nodded and said with a smile. She was wearing a large white knitted coat, wrapped tightly around her like a jacket, and her hair was plaited into an intricate, elegant lady''s style. On one side, her green hair was tied into small, uniform braids and pinned to her head, whereas the other side was a simple bun. Two white pearl studs stood out on her earlobes. She looked magnificent and cold.


    "I went to the Polar Region''s Wellforest Mountains a while ago, and found a pretty decent project regarding Frigid Stones, are you two interested?" Beside them, Wade never stopped talking about business.


    "I think I''ll pass, if you''re not doing business with Vivienne, I wouldn''t dare to invest haphazardly," said Celine relentlessly.


    Garen, on the other hand, just laughed.


    "Give me the market report after some time, I''ll consider."


    Wade was instantly overjoyed and began to talk endlessly about his business plan with Garen.


    "Vivienne, it''s been a while."


    They were about turn around and walk towards their box seats when someone else greeted them from behind.


    Turning around, Vivienne''s expression turned cold.


    "Brenforst."


    The blonde man behind them held a folding fan in his hand as he smiled, two middle-aged pilots following behind him. Waves of Level Three Willpower spread from them slowly, both of them were actually Level Three pilots.


    To normal people, a Level Three pilot was already a very formidable presence, and Vivienne''s family was not a peak-level one. Her own bodyguards were only at the same level, so this guy was obviously equal to her in standing.


    "I wonder, how are your preparations going for the exchange meeting this time? The man beside you is your so-called beau, right?" Brenforst was a genius among the Blackboard Region''s business circles.


    Actually, even though the circles were extremely large in the Blackboard Region, the people inside at a certain level were still the same familiar old faces.


    "You don''t have to worry," said Vivienne with a cold laugh. "I won''t disappoint you at the exchange meeting."


    "That puts my mind at ease." Brenforst smiled as he nodded, and walked past their group. He did not know Celine or Garen, perhaps he had heard of them, but he had never met them in person. Celine and Garen actually belonged in a circle one level higher than theirs.


    "The people here are all heirs from powerful families, or else they are elites from large factions with considerable backgrounds. I wonder, this boy that Miss Vivienne has brought today, what right do you have to join our circle?"


    Someone else spoke from behind, as they walked out of a leaping point and came out of a room.


    The voice made even Brenforst, who was about to leave, turn around to watch the show.


    The one who spoke was dressed in a white suit, and his eyes were piercing, giving off a sharp aura.


    "Jacht, since when have you had the right to speak in my matters?" said Vivienne icily.


    The man in the white suit, Jacht, laughed coldly.


    "Vivienne, get that boy to speak for himself, what kind of a man hides behind a woman?"


    Vivienne''s expression was freezing cold, and she was about to speak, but Penton, who was standing beside her, reached out his hand to stop her. He stepped out instead.


    "And what right do you have to speak to me? Other than your family background, you''re just a piece of trash."


    "Trash?" Jacht''s expression changed.


    "How dare you!" A middle-aged man stepped up from behind him, and reached out his arm fiercely, pressing for Penton''s head.


    His fingers were sharp, and actually seemed to glow slightly blue, they had evidently been strengthened by some mutated genetic liquid. They even left a sweet fragrance in the air as they sliced through, making those who smelled it feel dizzy.


    "Scram!!" Penton did not give way at all, blocking with one hand in front of him. His arm suddenly bulged, his whole hand growing one size larger. Like a monster, his skin turned green-grey, the green veins popping.


    Bam!


    The two arms crashed into each other, and the middle-aged man was actually forced back, taking three steps back before he could steady himself.


    "What strength!" someone gasped in admiration.


    Everyone looked towards his feet and saw that the middle-aged man had left three clear footsteps in the hardwood floor. It was evidently the marks left behind by his trying to divert the momentum.


    "Martial arts powerhouse!" Jacht''s eyes narrowed. Clearly, he was angry for real this time.


    Garen and Celine stood at the sidelines and watched, with no intention of interfering whatsoever. For one, this conflict was completely meaningless, and even boring, in their eyes. Also, Jacht''s own status was not at the same level as theirs.


    "Nono." Suddenly, Celine yanked Garen''s sleeve. "Over there." She gestured with her eyes and looked towards the opposite direction of the corridor.


    Garen followed her gaze, and saw, on the corridor to the box seat opposite them, Fila looking back at them calmly, dressed in white. There was someone beside him, skinny and pale, short in stature. He seemed to be young, and looked like a drug addict, weak and powerless, and completely unenergetic.


    This young man frowned as he looked in Garen''s direction, and saw Garen and Celine as well. His eyes lit up slightly when he saw Celine, but other than that, he just hugged the pretty woman beside him and walked into the box seat, as though completely disregarding Garen''s and Celine''s statuses.


    "Who''s that person next to Fila?" Garen frowned slightly.


    "I''m not sure, I''ll get someone to investigate right now." Celine sensed something amiss as well. Although Fila did not dare to make a move against Garen directly due to the pressure from Black Flood, that guy had plenty of tricks up his sleeve, so they had to be careful.


    The group entered the box seats, and by the time Garen and Celine left, the conflict between Vivienne and Jacht had escalated slightly. That young man called Penton actually went toe-to-toe, not allowing Jacht to get back at him at all, and was somehow keeping his own against the two bodyguards.


    Shockingly, this young man was actually a Level Two pilot. Although his Willpower was not very strong, he could still take more than a hit from Level Three Willpower. Add that to his powerful martial arts, and he never backed down, from the start to the finish.


    This gave Garen and the others a fairly good impression of him, but it also angered some of the other upper-class heirs that some kid from a regular family would actually look down on them as a whole.


    That guy just kept saying that you upper-class boys were all trash! You''re nothing without that layer of skin, and he insulted them from all aspects, instantly inviting all of their hatred!


    Even Celine, who was sitting beside them, occasionally felt like punching someone. The sounds from outside kept coming through the open door, but soon enough, things slowly calmed down. Vivienne''s older brother, her cousin Azeria appeared, and calmed down the conflict between them. Plus, the auction was about to begin, so both sides entered their boxes and said no more. The grudge remained, however.


    "Previously Vivienne''s Cina family and Jacht''s Duncan family ran into some arguments regarding economic distribution, and tempers ran high on both sides. That''s why Jacht also wanted to attack them using the unsavory fact that Vivienne was dating a commoner," explained Celine nonchalantly as she sat down and took a gulp from her drink.


    "There have been a lot of changes within the region lately, the military items market keeps on expanding, and our collaborative business is doing better by the day. If it weren''t for the fact that the benefits from her project with you keep increasing, she would surely have been pulled down from the position of manager a long time ago. Looks like it''s all thanks to you," said Celine with a laugh.


    "T''was just a coincidence." Garen shrugged and pressed a button, the room door instantly closing automatically. "The auction this time might be slightly troublesome, I only have one and a half billion in mobile assets, so I might not be able to get what I want."


    "I can provide a billion on my side, if that''s not enough, I can use my identity to pay a certain portion in advance. I''m just worried Fila will probably try to make things harder for you!" said Celine in a low voice.


    "Yeah, I can''t possibly give up the Ring Light Silver, and Fila probably knows that too. We can''t underestimate his intelligence division."


    Pak pak pak!


    Suddenly, a row of blinding white lights was instantly switched on outside, shining down on the main stage.


    "The auction has officially begun, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Earth''s Heart Auction Center!" A high man''s voice rose suddenly, his tone as though singing.

 921 Auction and Ambush 1

    After that excited announcement, the whole auction was bathed in bright white light, the powerful spotlights all around them lighting up one by one.


    Bam!!


    A ring of fire abruptly exploded on the very front of the stage, like a rocket shooting into the sky.


    The platinum-colored flames fell slowly with time, fading, and then a handsome man, tall and slender, and dressed in white, appeared on the stage without anyone else noticing.


    He raised his arms high, and bent his waist, bowing low towards the crowd below him.


    "Welcome, everyone, to the auction."


    "I am Earl Platinum. I believe that everyone here understands just how precious time is, so I will not beat around the bush, let us now go to the main topic of the night." The man snapped his fingers loudly.


    Two large men carried a white box from the side onto the stage. The box had deep patterns engraved onto it, and in these path-like craters, there were actually several thin platinum-colored snakes.


    The live snakes kept swimming regularly through the pathways, with no intention of escaping the box.


    "The first Serpent Crate, Light of Frenya, the mysterious crown originating from Frenya. Apparently, it has magical rays that can prolong one''s youth."


    White smoke sprayed out of the crate slowly, revealing a slightly small platinum crown resting in the middle of black swan down.


    "Bidding begins at sixty million. Starting from now!"


    "Are you interested?" Garen looked at Celine with a laugh.


    "I''m not that kind of idiotic woman who puts everything else aside just to make myself look good all the time," Celine clicked her tongue, picked up her drink, and took a sip from it. "Rather than using so much money to buy a white elephant like that, I might as well just go for one round of Genetic Amelioration."


    Garen did not comment further, and just turned his attention downward, without making an offer.


    The bidding below had already begun, and as expected, all the voices bidding were female. Such an intricate crown could not even be worn out once bought, so he had no idea why these people were trying to buy it.


    Soon enough, the crown was successfully sold, and they proceeded to the next Snake Crate.


    "The second Snake Crate, Auto-Equip Armor, also known as Mech Armor, it''s a must-have for powerful pilots. Bidding starts at three hundred million."


    This caught Garen''s eye somewhat, but he knew of it as well. Auto-Equip Armor had always been something only Inherited Level pilots could use. He did not even have his own specialized Mech yet, it was still far too early for him.


    Soon enough, this thing was bought by a merchant with a large pot belly, evidently not for his own use. It was very likely meant to be a gift.


    The third item followed closely after that, and the fourth. They were all just rare gems, nothing else special.


    By the sixth item, the box seat opposite theirs finally made a move.


    The VIP in the first box seat obtained this Snake Crate, even before the crate was opened, he just bought it for ten times the starting price. No one knew what was inside.


    That did cause some ripples through the auction.


    The few items after that were all bought away by the VIPs in the box seats, and the prices grew higher and higher as well. A completely average vase was even raised to a terrifying price of one point six billion.


    "Maybe some higher-up from some family is here, otherwise they would not have such buying ability," said Celine with a laugh.


    "I hear that some of the family leaders of the smaller families will even come here in person, using all their assets to bid for some things. I never thought that it might very well be true." Garen shook his head. "The next one is the Ring Light Silver I want."


    "I hope everything goes well, our highest budget is two and a half billion, if we can''t buy it with that much, then we''ll have no chance." Celine nodded, Ring Light Silver usually would not exceed a hundred million per ton, but now Garen was desperately in need of a large amount of the stuff. If someone interfered with the bidding, it was very likely that the price would increase to a troublesome amount.


    "The next Snake Crate is something everyone is familiar with, the one everyone knows as a rare and precious material ¨C Ring Light Silver!!! Ten tons!!"


    The host started yelling loudly.


    The crate beside him spewed white smoke slowly, and opened up, revealing a clean white bank storage receipt for the Ring Light Silver.


    "These ten tons of Ring Light Silver are the greatest essence that we at the auction discovered in some mountains deep with the dangerous radiation zone. They have not been cut, or modified by radiation in any way! Completely original, with no trace of any preservatives guaranteed~! Bidding starts at, five hundred million!!"


    "It''s half that of market price, if no one offers for it, the auction would have lost big," said Celine with a laugh, when she heard the price from below.


    "No way, this thing was shipped here especially for customers like us, it''d be weird if there were no offers for it," Garen laughed, and pressed the panel in front of him lightly.


    "One billion."


    A calm voice appeared on the site.


    "One billion! Box Number Five offers one billion, is anyone willing to go higher! This is a complete piece of ten-ton Ring Light Silver, once in a hundred years. If it was diluted and used according to standard measurements, it could increase a hundred standard issue Mechs by 0.2 levels!!" roared the host.


    "One point one billion!" Someone made an offer.


    "One point five billion!" Garen said directly, raising to price to a terrifying extent. It was instantly approaching the highest bidding price yet, of one point six billion.


    The place was also starting to grow rowdy, countless gazes focusing on Box Number Five, as though guessing who the person inside could possibly be.


    In another box seat opposite them.


    Fila and that thin, weak young man were sitting side by side, both of them accompanied by a half-naked beauty, and currently they were looking down at the auction beneath them.


    "Remington, that''s Ring Light Silver, if you want to create a powerful, high-quality luxury private battleship for yourself, then Ring Light Silver is more suitable than Dream Gold. They''re both memory metals, but the silver''s memory regeneration abilities are superior to Dream Gold''s. Although it may not be hard enough, you can use it for a long time without having to repair or maintain it too often, so it can save you a lot of effort. Of course, the price is just as high," suggested Fila with a smile.


    "It''s just as high? That''s okay, my principle has always been to buy expensive things, rather than the right things," said the thin man proudly, his chin raised. "It won''t do if it''s too cheap, that will damage my status and reputation."


    He tapped the panel in front of him.


    "Two billion!"


    The reporting of the price instant destroyed the previous highest price of one point five billion.


    "Box Number Two offers two billion! Two billion!!" The host was getting even more excited, evidently even he had never seen a price as high as twenty billion. It just went up by five hundred million just like that, evidently that person had cash to spare.


    Garen''s expression went cold and he stared at Box Number Two opposite him. If he remembered correctly, that was the place Fila had gone in.


    "Someone''s playing games." Beside him, Celine''s expression grew cold as well, and she smiled coldly. "It is Fila, as I thought."


    "It might not be just playing around," Garen shook his head slightly. "Two point five billion!"


    He put down his bid immediately, raising the price to the highest he could take.


    There was no way he could gather so much Ring Light Silver on the market, several dozens of kilograms would already be fortunate, so he needed these ten tons of Ring Light Silver!


    Rather than increasing the price slowly, he would rather increase it by five hundred million at once, letting the opponent think he still had plenty left in his budget so that they would retreat rather than risk both sides losing out.


    But unfortunately, and contrary to Garen''s expectations, the other party raised the bid.


    "Three billion!" a calm voice said.


    The whole place erupted, and the noise grew louder. Three billion, that price was already far beyond what these ten tons of Right Light Silver should cost. The discussions grew louder and louder, anyone who attended the auction here was definitely rich, but three billion was already more than half of some people''s entire fortunes, so it was completely normal that this would incite a frenzy of discussion.


    Inside the box seat, Garen''s expression was dark.


    "I can still use five million that my family gave in advance..." Celine said quietly beside him.


    Garen raised his hand, telling her that she should stop talking. Then he tapped the panel lightly.


    "Three billion... Fila, are you trying to pick a fight?"


    "What do you mean, picking a fight? It''s an auction, I''m just bidding like usual, if you don''t have money then scram, don''t embarrass yourself here!" Fila cold laugh came from the other side.


    Garen narrowed his eyes. "You must know, that no matter how good something is, you better make sure you''re alive to enjoy it..."


    "Are you threatening me?!" Fila''s voice was icy.


    The two of them were in direct conflict, their voices clashing through the bidding equipment, as though sparks were actually flying.


    The others in the auction hall were all interested as well, it was rare to see a butting of heads like this.


    "Nonosiva, you think you''re so f*cking great, don''t you?" Suddenly, a rather feeble voice was broadcasted across the area as well. "No matter how mad you are, you''re still a dog belonging to our Black Flood! What right do you have to be so cocky!"


    "And who the hell are you! How dare you speak to me like that?" Garen''s expression was approaching sub-zero.


    "The hell are you! Why don''t you run on back and ask your teacher who the hell I am! How dare a dog bark crazily in front of their master, I''ll break your legs, all three of them!" The voice on the other side was growing more and more furious.


    "Even your teacher doesn''t dare to talk like that in front of me, who the f*ck do you think you are! Son of a bitch! If we weren''t at this place, you watch out, I''ll squash you as soon as you leave!"


    Garen''s expression grew stormier and stormier. These past few years, he kept climbing the ranks, but his abilities did not improve as much. That was already reason for him to be in a bad mood, but now there was such an arrogant piece of trash blocking his way forward.


    "I found it!" said Celine suddenly beside him. "The one talking is one of the higher-ups from your Black Flood Party!"


    Garen turned off the panel and heard the other side cursing loudly again.


    "Who is he?"


    "The son of the Black Flood Party''s seventh Divine Wind General, Remington!"


    Bam!!


    Garen smashed his fist into the armrest, and the armrest made of alloy actually bent under the force.


    "Nono!" Celine frowned deeply, shaking her head at him. "Control yourself, there''s a Resonance pilot on the other side! And more than just one! Your senior brother won''t stand out for you either. The Divine Wind Generals are too powerful!"


    Garen took a deep breath, right now it was true that he did not have the right to fight this person. Divine Wind Generals, only fighter pilots above Level Six in the Black Flood Party had the right to claim the title of Divine Wind General. It was not just merely a title, you needed extreme power to be able to shoulder it. Even among the Inherited Level pilots, only the ones at the very top had the right to that title.


    "The Seventh Divine Wind General, if I''m not mistaken, he should be from the faction opposing ours." Garen took a deep breath.


    "I forfeit this bid," Garen said softly, pressing the panel.


    "Atta boy, a dog should act like a dog! A disobedient dog will be beaten to death by their master," Remington''s cocky voice came from the opposite box.


    "I hope the Seventh Divine Wind General can protect you all forever..." Garen said coldly, and then got up and walked away.


    "What a joke, you''re just trash who can''t even reach Resonance Level!"


    Garen did not reply to that. If he stayed for any longer, he would just be humiliating himself. He could not bother them, and they stood in the way of what he needed most, so there was no point in staying any longer.


    Celine got up as well, and their leaving made the lights in the box go off.


    The two of them followed the path and reached the leaping point room. And at the same time, Remington successfully obtained the item he was bidding for.


    "The Seventh Divine Wind General has made a move as well, he''s obviously preparing to suppress you."


    "Not necessarily, consider his position, there''s no point to him suppressing a junior like me. He has his own descendants too, wouldn''t he be worried about my teacher''s faction opposing him as well? That will just lead to losses on both sides." Garen shook his head slightly.


    "That''s not for sure either, the Seventh Divine Wind General was always an arrogant one, he never did care about preserving face or the like," said Celine softly, according to the information she had found.


    "What do you plan to do now that you didn''t get the Ring Light Silver you were looking for?"


    "Are there any other channels?" asked Garen.


    "No, there''s no more Ring Light Silver, you can only a lower level metal to replace it."


    "If I don''t use Ring Light Silver, the Mech will be weaker in functionality, and later I''ll need to upgrade it with different materials. That''s too bad, if I had Ring Light Silver, I wouldn''t need to change materials even after I reach Inherited Level," sighed Garen.


    "What do you plan to do?" asked Celine softly. "Do you want to get someone to intercept and rob them?"

 922 Auction and Ambush 2

    "If I made a move now, even an idiot would know I was the one behind it." Garen was speechless. "Plus there are two Resonance pilots here, if their Mechs are excellent as well, it will be very troublesome. Even I might be no match for them."


    "True, and Fila is here too. His power is near Two Moons Level, so he''s a huge threat as well." Celine frowned too.


    "Unless, I could mobilize large-scale forces to raid them, bring out the brigade. But that may result in many casualties." Garen took a deep breath. As a Captain in the army who fought alone, he also had an independent squad under his leadership. After two years of selections and training, the members were now all powerful pilots, at least Level Three or above. Some of them were even Level Five like him, and were just slightly weaker in combat power. And there were many more people in the squad than there were when they raided Red-White two years ago. Perhaps it was due to special wartime privileges, but there were more than seventy members in the squad, more than seventy of the strongest students from all the different schools.


    After they were brought together by mutual benefit, Garen also successfully built bonds between these pilots, so that they had the same goals in mind, and all swore loyalty to him.


    Such a force, driving Mechs to attack a bunch of Resonance pilots with no Mechs, could easily result in a one-sided slaughter as long as they had good battle ethics. Pilots without Mechs could only rely on their Willpower''s attacking skill, but that had too short a range, and faced with the Mech''s complete dominance in all areas, it would be no fight at all.


    Of course, the other side was politically powerful as well, but there was one very important point, being that the area closest to this auction was Garen''s territory.


    Garen was slightly hesitant as well, wondering if he should go ahead and rob them of the Ring Light Silver. Once he did that, the conflict now would instantly escalate, and he was not mentally prepared to face off against a Divine Wind General yet.


    In the two years, his Living Secret Technique, the Hellfrost Peacock Technique, had already reached a very crucial point. It was now over 90% complete, perhaps he could soon break past this level''s extremely slow progress pace.


    But according to the latter part of the Living Secret Technique records, the seventh and eighth levels after the sixth all required a lot of time and devouring to advance steadily, so they were not something he could accomplish in a short time. After all, the peak of the eighth level should be the theoretical Army Level power.


    According to Garen''s calculations, the Army Level should be equivalent to Inherited Level and above in this world, but he did not know which level within the Inherited system it would reach.


    Similarly, it was not that easy to reach Inherited Level. It required a lot of time and an increase in understanding.


    "Once I reach the seventh grade, the Living Secret Technique will probably change completely. And I have the ingredients prepared for my Biochemical Pool, and I finally found the most critical one, the Mila Cells. When I match the Biochemical Pool with the Living Secret Technique, I wonder how they will change..."


    Garen had already prepared the ingredients for more than two years, but he never found that key item, the Mila Cells.


    That was the main reproductive cell in the Biochemical Pool, it constructed the main body. It always came from the middle of some strange rocks that grew in the radiation belt, so it was also known as Stoneheart Flesh. Eating it could greatly strengthen someone''s vitality, prolong their lifespan, and it could only be kept for a very short time, like five days.


    That was why Garen could never find suitable Mila Cells.


    "Do you want to grab it or not! I can mobilize some of my family''s forces to help as well, we probably can''t stop them from leaving, but if you want to grab that heavy Ring Light Silver, it shouldn''t be a problem," said Celine softly.


    "There''s no rush, once the auction is over, just pay constant attention to their transport route." A hint of flint flashed through Garen''s eyes. "I''ll go ask my teacher first."


    "Alright."


    There was a fountain of white light spewing from underneath the leaping point and engulfing the two of them. In an instant, the white light vanished, and the two of them disappeared from the leaping point as well.


    *****************************


    The radiation belt outside the Blackboard Region


    On the wide grey-black grassy plains, the sun was setting, the red twilight rays casting a layer of golden-red all over everything.


    A black convoy lined up like a long snake, driving out endlessly from the entrance checkpoint into Blackboard, driving out endlessly into the white veil that separated the region from the radiation belt. It was as though they had come out of a foam filter, the many large heavy-duty trucks rumbling along, headed towards the distant grasslands.


    The commanding soldier at the checkpoint waited until the last heavy truck had left before he finally put down the automatic wall behind the veil of light slowly, surrounding the whole Blackboard Region once more.


    There were many levitating airships on each side of the convoy, and one black-armored guard standing on each airship. They each held long machine guns in their hands, and had curved warswords in their hands. Their left eyes twinkled with a faint red light, as they constantly scanned the movements around them.


    There was no cargo inside the hold of one large truck in the middle of the convoy. Instead, it was decorated into a comfortable lounge for resting and chatting. Looking through the cracks in the windows and the curtains now, you could see some people partying, drinking, and singing inside.


    Far away from the convoy, there were several small black dots hiding behind the small hill rising from the plains, watching the moving convoy from afar. These small dots were actually several pitch-black tall humanoid Mechs.


    Two of the Mechs were hiding behind the hill, and seemed to be the leaders of the lot.


    "It''s confirmed, the mission is to kill Fila and all the Mech guards in there. If you can''t do that, destroy the radiation protection, then they''ll all become radiation people," said the leader coldly.


    "Leader, are we really going to do it? The opponents are Resonance pilots at the peak of Full Moon," the assistant pilot beside him said quietly.


    "Riches come with risks, as long as he doesn''t have his Mech, and he''s not Inherited Level, what''s there to be scared of!? And after that we can get a billion in rewards. Once this gig is over, we call go back and live peacefully, we won''t have to live life on the edge anymore," said the leader calmly. "So even if I know there''s a high chance we can''t make it back, and we''re being used as scouts to test the opponent, I have no other choice."


    He looked at the convoy moving slowly in the distance.


    "I''m forty now, my talents have reached their limit. There''s no point in continuing to fight, so I might as well end on a bang, we''ll take this load and call it quits!"


    His Mech gave a jolt, and the faint force of a Level Four pilot was released slowly.


    Similarly, all the Mechs around him emitted Level Four forces slowly. They were the elite force that Garen had carefully chosen and gathered over the past two years. At first these had all been killer pilots who had committed crimes, but Garen used his position and the wartime bureaucracy to secretly bail them out with money, so that they were now one of his secret assets.


    But now, this force was going out as cannon fodder just to test Fila and the others.


    "Move out." A pale blue light appeared slowly on the back of the leader''s Mech.


    Similarly, the other Mechs replied dully, all their Mechs lighting up with a faint blue light from the back.


    Boom!!


    At the same time, a large amount of blue flames sprayed out of the engine exhaust, more than ten Mechs shooting into the air at once. The Level Four forces rumbled towards the black convoy.


    Of these, the three elites, the strongest fighters and the leader, were placed in the very middle of the team, heading straight for the car in the middle, the one Fila was on.


    "Enemy ambush!!"


    As soon as a guard Mech rang the alarm, it was shot directly in the cockpit, and fell on its back.


    Most of the guard Mechs were also dispatched with at the first possible moment, but just as these guards were going to fall completely. A powerful Level Five force quickly rushed out of one of the heavy truck holds.


    Barroom, the hold was shattered, and there was actually a clean white Mech curled up inside. The Mech''s eyes lit up with a faint green light, and then it suddenly stretched out, shooting out like a bolt of lightning.


    "Insects!" Fila''s voice came booming out of the Mech, with extreme arrogance and contempt.


    Several high-powered lasers shot the surface of his cockpit, but they were blocked by a layer of transparent light, so he remained completely unharmed.


    Backhandedly, he pulled out a large blade that was completely silver and bright.


    "Thunder Snake Slash!"


    A bolt of blue-purple lightning flashed across the sky above the convoy. At lightning speed, it landed on three of the ambushing Mechs.


    Bam bam bam!


    The three Mechs burst into fireballs and crashed down at the same time.


    "It''s Fila! Damn it! The Mech was hidden in the cargo hold!" When the three of them including the leader saw Fila appear, they were instantly shocked out of their wits, and turned around to run.


    On the other side, Fila laughed coldly, swinging his blade and effortless releasing yet another bolt of blue-purple lightning, demolishing several more black Mechs in the ambush.


    The Full-Moon Level powerhouse was practically unbeatable. Forget these average Level Four pilots, even those three strongest ones, at the peak of Level Four, could not even take a hit.


    He strode towards the three Mechs, chasing them, the blade in his hand crackling like thunder as he slashed a Mech beside him. He was unstoppable!


    Just then, other than Fila, two more Resonance Mechs flew out slowly, slaughtering the black Mechs that were here on an ambush.


    Fila laughed coldly as he chased down the three strongest Mechs.


    "You''re already here, so why would you try to run? Level Four pilot killers, I wonder if Nonosiva will regret it if they were all lost!"


    His Mech quickly caught up to the three Mechs at the front.


    But just then, a strange force abruptly spread from the three Mechs at the front.


    Ba-thump!


    Fila''s expression changed slightly, suddenly realizing that the Willpower force fields around the three Mechs ahead had started to distort violently. Their Mechs instantly froze in mid-air, as though they could self-explode at any time.


    He quickly stopped his Mech, maintaining his distance. After all, if their Willpower exploded together with their Mechs, the impact would be terrifying. Even as he was now, his Defense Field would be greatly reduced. For the sake of several regular Level Four pilots he could destroy at any time, it was not worth it.


    Ba-thump!


    There was another muffled sound from three Mechs. That force field was like a heartbeat, but it was far beyond a normal human pulse, as though it was a giant drum, strangely deep and impactful.


    "Ah-- Aaaaahhhh--!!"


    All of a sudden, terrifying screams came from the three Mechs ahead.


    As the screams went on, inside the three Mechs, the skin of the three Level Four peak pilots kept rippling and distorting, as though there were countless insects crawling under their skin. Their eyes kept bulging, extremely bloodshot. As the screams continued, hard black scales began to grow all over their bodies slowly. The many scales covered every inch of their body surface.


    At the same time, their hearts all beat once, and their skin simply burst open. Countless blue-black slimy tentacles whooshed out of from inside, waving around in the air.


    Instantly, the Willpower inside their bodies began to expand and mutate, increasing madly from the peak of Level Four to Level Five... Mid Level Five... Peak Level Five.


    And as they continued to mutate, the nature of their Willpower somehow also began to change drastically in a terrifying way.


    Their bodies, including their Mechs, all began to emit a deep blue Cold Radiation.


    The three Mechs began to slouch slightly, their arms hanging down, and they panted terrifyingly, like wild beasts.


    Fila narrowed his eyes, staring at the strange changes occuring in the three Mechs in front of him. He did not believe that these tiny Peak Level Four pilots could harm him through any methods, but the effect of this strange mutation had stunned him slightly as well. From Peak Level Four, they had instantly reached Peak Level Five, this was such a terrifying increase in Willpower. And the three Mechs had even automatically formed a Level Five Willpower Defense Field.


    Whoosh... waves of Cold Radiation blew towards him, and even Fila felt his heart grow slightly cold.


    "These are just Level Four pilots, too... What if they were Level Five...?" Staring at the three mutated Mechs in front of him, he could not help but feel a chill, deep in his heart.

 923 Counterattack 1

    "Are mutated measures like these secret methods or medicine?"


    A similar thought had crossed Fila''s mind recently. Suddenly, from the bottom of his field of vision, he saw two blue curved lines shooting downwards from mid-air that nearly hit the surface of his Mech Body.


    "Screen!!" he growled softly.


    The Willpower Defense Field System firmly formed in front of his body and became much more substantial. It blocked both of the blue curved lines that flew towards his face. The lines did not budge against his force field for a few moments but disappeared slowly after that.


    Meanwhile, two of the three Bodies in front of him had apparently disappeared without a trace while two shadows appeared beside him on both sides. Both of them held daggers and pierced them into Fila''s waist instantly. Cold blue air wafted out of the sharp blades faintly.


    For unknown reasons, the speed of both of these Bodies became abnormally fast. They were now more than one and a half times faster than they were previously. When Fila reacted, the edges of their blades had already pierced through his Willpower Field.


    "Roll!!"


    A sense of crisis had arrived and he roared frantically as his Willpower Field twisted itself quickly and stopped the two daggers that flew towards him on both sides.


    He stretched both of his arms and held the head of one Body with each of them. He smashed them together brutally so that both of the Bodies in front of him collided against one other in the middle.


    At this moment, he was overcome with intense feelings of danger suddenly. Fila did not even have enough time to think before he dashed upwards into the sky in an attempt to flee further away from these two Level Five Bodies. However, he was one step too late.


    Boom boom!!!


    Two loud explosions could be heard suddenly as the fragments of his Willpower rolled away in a frenzy with the flames throughout their surroundings in a range of more than ten meters. As he was unable to escape in time, Fila was violently swept away as well.


    The tremendous explosive force of the impact shook Fila''s Willpower Field to the verge of collapse, almost destroying it completely. After all, this was the full strength of the self-explosion of two first-rate Level Five Mech Pilots.


    Just when he had almost breathed a sigh of relief, a huge explosion occurred right above his head and suddenly came down.


    Fila raised his head and happened to see a crimson red fireball falling from the sky. It was about to fall and collide with his head directly like a fiery red shooting star.


    Boom!!


    In the sky above the grassy plains, a frontal collision occurred between the red shooting star and the White Body. The Body of Fila''s Mech was completely enveloped by flames, making it impossible for him to see anything clearly during that time.


    When both of the Resonance Mechs from the convoy rushed over to assist him immediately, everything had ended already.


    Both of them and a few remaining Bodyguard Mechs observed the exploding fireball but none dared to approach it too closely.


    "This is the impact of the self-destruction of Level Five Mech Pilots. They knew much earlier that Master Fila would be in the convoy!" said one of the Remington Mech Pilots softly with a pained look on his face.


    "Pay attention to your surroundings at all times to prevent any more of the enemy''s sneak attacks!" yelled someone else.


    The remaining bodyguards dispersed quickly and stood guard throughout their surroundings.


    However, everyone''s attention was still focused on the gigantic red fireball that was suspended in mid-air. If anything happened to Fila, they would be in great danger regardless if they resumed their journey by continuing to go forward or by returning. If their enemy were able to dispatch formations and ambushes like this, it would definitely occur again once it had happened the first time. Without Fila''s support, the ending would be too ghastly to imagine.


    The gigantic fireball that had a diameter of over ten meters finally dissipated.


    A White Body that was stained with black burn marks appeared slowly. One of its arms was charred black while burning flames continued to dance on the Body. Some sticky-looking substances that were burning fell off its body and burned black holes of different sizes on the grassy plains below. They were clearly burning at frightening temperatures.


    "Master Fila!"


    "Are you alright? Master!"


    Two Resonance Mech Pilots asked loudly.


    "I''m fine¡­" Fila sat inside the cockpit with a slightly fearful look on his face. "When those three Level Five Mech Pilots destroyed themselves simultaneously, their powers were already enough to pierce through my Defense Fields, threatening the cockpit. Fortunately, I was able to block it by sacrificing one of my arms in the end."


    "They are forces that actually dare to oppose our convoy?!" said a flustered voice from the convoy suddenly. "Uncle Fila, how am I going to explain to Father if anything happens to you?"


    Fila''s Mech Body raised its hand.


    "Don''t worry, it''ll be fine once I return and fix it." He sat inside the Cockpit with a solemn look on his face.


    "Who would be so brave to actually ambush us?!"


    "To think that someone would dare to ambush the convoy of Divine Wind Generals! Most people could not even imagine themselves being so brave!"


    "But what if it''s someone within the Divine Wind Generals?" sneered Fila while interrupting the conversation between the others.


    "Someone within Black Flood Party?" said a Resonance Mech Pilot before becoming silent and not daring to speak anymore. Within a giant like the Black Flood Party, each Divine Wind General was an Inherited Mech Pilot whose powers stretched over the two main territories and were unimaginably strong.


    The other voices turned silent at once as well except for Remington who continued to curse.


    However, his father did not have particularly many enemies. Nonetheless, one would naturally offend many people while on the path to reaching the level of a Divine Wind General. Most Divine Wind Generals would be unwilling to make their Level Five Mech Pilots kill themselves while ambushing a convoy. Therefore, he would not be able to guess the culprit either.


    "Could it be that Nonosiva?" asked Remington angrily.


    "It''s unlikely," Fila shook his head slightly. "It would be impossible for him to gain such strength so quickly. I thought that it was caused by one of his people at first but I''m not so certain about that now. The ability to get three Level Five Mech Pilots to self-destruct immediately is not something that can be done by the average person. Even Divine Wind Generals would be pained by this."


    "Then who is it? If I find out who it is, I''ll be damned if I don''t get Father to slaughter all of them!" said Remington while displaying his own resentment. However, he did not sound truly furious as this matter was not any of his business. The real target of the enemy''s sneak attack was not him but Fila instead. Therefore, he was only anxious in the beginning but had steadied himself after that.


    "Could it be him?" Fila narrowed his eyes and his gaze slightly.


    ****************************


    "Failed."


    Garen was not shocked at all when he detected information from his Living Secret Technique that his Distorted Seed had disappeared.


    He was currently taking turns with Celine while playing military chess calmly.


    Both of them sat upright on the balcony outside Celine''s villa. A gentle breeze blew while soft music played comfortingly.


    Celine who was sitting on the opposite side of him moved a chess piece with one hand while supporting her chin with the other as she yawned.


    The afternoon sun shined on both of their bodies and made them feel slightly warm.


    Garen lifted a chess piece gently and placed it on an empty spot that Celine was not paying attention to.


    "Kill steal!"


    "Ah, I lost again¡­" Celine looked on helplessly when her General piece was killed at once. Her hand swiped across the board and scattered the other pieces messily. "I don''t wanna play anymore. I keep losing despite playing for more than ten rounds. It''s meaningless now."


    "Then what do you want to play?" Garen smiled.


    "I''ve learned the numbing ability that the bald guy used previously. Why don''t I show you once?" giggled Celine mysteriously at once.


    "Are you talking about that Energy Machinist baldy who called himself a magnetic field?" asked Garen.


    "Yes, that numbing ability was pretty neat. Although he used a consumable substance, it produced some pretty good effects by being able to paralyze others for two seconds," Celine nodded. "However, it wasn''t effective enough against me!" she said with a confident look on her face.


    "If it wasn''t for me previously, I''m afraid that he would''ve done all he could to molest you, right?" Garen shook his head while smiling.


    "Bullshit!" Celine stood up. "I''ve made a huge pile of these toys so why don''t you take one now and try it?!"


    Without even thinking, Garen already knew that this girl had definitely used a lot of these to create a resistance drug for herself. She had only come to him now after obtaining complete immunity.


    This girl''s had always possessed an abnormally headstrong personality.


    "I heard that Fila''s convoy was ambushed." Garen changed the subject suddenly because he had too many matters to solve and simply did not have time to spend his day playing with Celine everywhere.


    "Ambushed? How is he? Is he dead?" Celine became interested suddenly and sat down again.


    "Fila is lightly wounded and Remington is fine. Meanwhile, more than half of the regular bodyguards are dead but the powerhouses are fine," answered Garen matter-of-factly.


    "What a shame", Celine shook her head. Suddenly, she raised her head and glared at Garen again. "It wasn''t caused by someone you sent, right?"


    "How would that be possible?!" Garen waved his hands continuously. "The attackers were Level Five Mech Pilots but so am I. Do you think that I''m able to influence such high leveled Mech Pilots? You''d need to know your limits even if you were joking!"


    "I know, I know" Celine felt that this was unrealistic as well. "Whatever, it doesn''t matter whether he''s dead or not. Right, what do you plan to do since you don''t have enough Ring Light Silver? Your Appraisal"


    "Without sufficient Ring Light Silver, I can only use some Level One items to substitute them this one time. Although its performance will suffer slightly because of this, I will just be careful to select those of best quality," Garen shook his head. "Although my Appraisal is slightly lower than the other first-rate prodigies, I won''t face any problems achieving Level Five. As long as I reach Level Five and obtain my Exclusive Mech, I will be able to enter the Resonance Degrees. I will need to look at my developments while threading on the next path."


    "That''s true as well. As long as you achieve excellent Appraisal, your personal development will be the only obstacle that limits your advancement. Encounters, luck, and power are things that you cannot lack", Celine nodded. "How are the preparations of the materials for your biochemical pool?"


    "Almost done. I can begin constructing the cultivation immediately. It''s being done at an extremely fast speed and will be formed in two or three more days. Most of my time is being spent on looking for materials", Garen said with a smile.


    Regarding the biochemical pool, he was extremely looking forward to it because he was a Level Two Energy Machinist now.


    "What about your Energy Machine Imprint? What have you chosen?" Celine continued to ask.


    "I''ve already decided that the first one will be the Investigating Hawk. Its functions are more practical and I will be able to develop and evolve it to Level Two in the future. It''s not bad."


    All Energy Machine Imprints would start at low levels initially. Moreover, once they were determined, they would occupy a location that could form Imprints. For Energy Machinist, it was extremely important they could only produce a control space after every two levels. Therefore, it was an important step to decide which Energy Machine Imprint would be placed into the control space because they would need to pay an extremely heavy price if they wanted to change it in the future.


    "There''s no need to rush, I''ll decide later once the biochemical pool is done", said Garen casually while smiling. He was not anxious at all because he knew that he would be able to take a huge step and advance forward if he found an Energy Machine Imprint that could reproduce his powerful calculation abilities. Compared to most of the other Energy Machinists who did not have Energy Machine Imprints, they would only reach the standard of a Level One Energy Machinist after at least ten years of perseverance and calculation. Meanwhile, after relying on his powerful Intelligence Attribute, he was able to forcibly break through the large gap that seemed like a moat between him and the others within a short span of time. No one knew that he had surpassed these obstacles and obtained his Level Two Energy Machinist status merely within one or two years.


    After chatting with Celine for awhile, Garen stood up and excused himself before sitting in the convoy that was surrounded by bodyguards and returning to his own villa.


    Throughout the journey, he recalled the battle scenes that were transferred back to him through the Distorted Seed.


    Other than the abilities of mutated creatures, he had not expected that the Distorted Seed possessed short-term sensory sharing abilities as well. This allowed him to temporarily witness the battle scenes.


    "The three Level Four Mech Pilots that were hosts of the Distorted Seed parasites were actually upgraded to the peak of Level Five immediately. They even possessed radioactive cold air that could increase the energy consumption of their enemies that were attacking the Energy Fields of their Bodies. While battling other Level Five Mech Pilots, their combat abilities were sometimes slightly weaker but the radioactive cold air was able to make up for the difference. As long as they were not fighting exceptional, top-notch Mech Pilot prodigies, most of the other Level Fives would be like this. I really did not expect that the Distorted Seed would give me such great surprises¡­"


    Garen''s mind considered that the results of this ambush were truly unexpected. He did not think that the explosion of the Distorted Seeds would produce such great power. He had only planned to test out an experiment initially but had now discovered that the effects were extraordinarily great.


    "Now that the Level Four Mech Pilots in my hands have been used up completely, where else will I be able to find high-level Mech Pilots?" Garen began to ponder slightly.


    "High-level Mech Pilots have always been opponents that were drawn over by other forces. If those Mech Pilots had not committed crimes that caused their infamous reputations to be scattered about, which then made other unwilling to hire them, I wouldn''t have been able to entice them either. High-level Mech Pilots¡­ High-level Mech Pilots¡­", Garen furrowed his eyebrows and pondered.

 924 Counterattack 2

    "Looks like I''ll only be able to come up with a solution from prison. Perhaps Professor might have a solution. There would definitely be some pretty talented individuals in the Black Flood Party''s heavy-duty offenders prison."


    While sitting inside the car, Garen began to arrange his next plan carefully.


    "If managed to infiltrate the Black Flood Party''s heavy-duty offenders prison and implant my parasites into one or two strong Mech Pilots, although I would be unable to control the life or death of a Mech Pilot that possessed a Distorted Seed at any time, the units that hosted parasites would not to attack me as the main body. On the contrary, once they entered the battlefield, they would only get rid of other creatures of different species than themselves. They would also control the time of the mutated distortions on their own. It''s unlikely that most people would reject these conditions. After all, this would also be an opportunity for them to upgrade their level by a great extent."


    "Additionally other than Mech Pilots, perhaps the other mutated creatures outside the radiation belts would make pretty good parasite hosts as they are already naturally strong, I''m certain that their powers would increase greatly if they were implanted with parasites¡­"


    A plan formed in Garen''s mind slowly.


    Although his own powers were not strong as they had reached a standstill, the strength of the Hellfrost Peacock Technique had finally begun to appear, slowly. This conformed to the power levels that were famously associated with Living Secret Techniques.


    "I''ll build a biochemical pool now first and attempt to implant parasites into the biochemical creatures. Perhaps there will be somewhat impressive discoveries."


    Ideas floated around in Garen''s mind. He did not know what kind of changes would occur throughout the explosive troops that were formed in the biochemical pools after they fused with the Distorted Seed. According to the theories and inferences, perhaps the Distorted Seed would get rid of the biochemical creatures'' limited numbers as it would be impossible for the biochemical creatures that had fallen into chaos to accept the control of the biochemical pool. Therefore, as long as he had sufficient materials, he would be able to continuously create a limitless pool of explosive soldiers within a short span of time.


    "If the theories are proven¡­" Garen''s mind began to burn with enthusiasm. "The other Energy Machinists have their own control quotas such as the Level Two Energy Machinists being able to control two biochemical creatures. The Energy Machinist''s somewhat impressive Training Methods allow them to increase the limit by one creature while the biochemical pool lets them control another one, which adds up to two creatures in total. If my Distorted Seed works, I will be able to create an endless amount until I have enough of them as long as my Distorted Seeds are sufficient!"


    Boom!!!


    Suddenly, a burning blue meteor descended from the sky and fell in front of the car that he was sitting inside. It soared towards Garen''s car and flew directly towards it.


    "Die!!"


    A low voice echoed furiously.


    The tremendously terrifying momentum seemed almost physical when its strong pressure collided against Garen''s body brutally.


    Bang! Bang! Bang!!


    The drivers and bodyguards from the surrounding cars were immediately blasted into pieces of bloody flesh that could be turned into cans of human minced meat. They were unable to endure this tremendous pressure at all.


    This strength was not merely gravity or any other kind of Energy Field. Instead, it was purely the stress of extremely strong Willpower!!


    Garen felt as if his entire body had sunk into a glue-like swamp as it was absolutely difficult to move. His eyes widened when he heard continuous cracking noises coming from the bones inside his body. The blood and flesh of certain parts of his body had gradually collapsed as well while the cells and organizations kept on breaking down and dying.


    Red trails of blood flowed out of his nostrils, ears, and eyes slowly.


    As the heavy pressure continued to close in on him, Garen''s vision became a complete blur. He was unable to see anything clearly while his ears were filled with a brief popping noise before he became deaf as well.


    "This power¡­??!"


    Beep¡­ Beep¡­ Beep¡­


    A series of hurried alarm noises echoed throughout the car continuously. Strangely enough, the city''s defense installations had not reacted during this surprise attack. However, guarding shields that were used for segregation appeared immediately throughout a large expanse of the surroundings.


    A beautiful sky blue Humanoid Mech with a Body that as smooth as a mirror was currently extending its body while flying down slowly from a crackle of blue flames.


    He carried a slender spear on his back that had black flames burning faintly at its tip.


    The most eye-catching thing about it was the snowy white, silver-rimmed cloak that was hung on the left shoulder of its Body. The word ''wind'' was written in big letters on the cloak.


    The sky colored Body stretched its large handout and attempted to violently grab Garen who was inside the car below.


    "You dare!!"


    A roar could be heard.


    A ray of light that was reflected off the blade shot downwards and pierced through the shield from afar. It hit the large hand of the blue Body violently and forced it to take a few steps backward.


    A low voice echoed from afar.


    "Seventh! You will suffer the consequences if you dare lay a finger on him today!!"


    Another similar dark blue mirror-like Body floated down slowly and appeared in the sky nearby. The same silvery-white cloak hung from its left shoulder with the word ''wind'' written there in large letters. The difference between it and the Mech Body with the long spear was that there was a slender pitch black thin sword that was as dark as ink which hung from its waist.


    "If I find the person who dared to ambush my son, don''t blame me for humiliating you, Six", huffed the Body with the long spear coldly. He turned around and walked away unhurriedly before his Body sank into an empty space and disappeared without a trace.


    The Body with a black sword that remained lowered its head and glanced at Garen whose entire body was covered in blood inside the car.


    "Be careful, Seventh will take action immediately with the slightest suspicion. Don''t clash with Remington anymore in the future. He has never needed proof."


    He turned around and slipped into an empty space as well.


    Only then did the terrifyingly powerful pressure disappear slowly.


    Once that frightening pressure had finally disappeared gradually, only then did Garen heal from that heavy force slowly.


    He felt like a heavy-duty truck had run over his entire body continuously. Blood was pouring out of all of his five sensory organs while most of the muscles in his body had torn. Large cracks had of various extents had appeared throughout the bones of his whole body as well. Moreover, most of his internal organs were bleeding.


    He opened and closed his mouth in an attempt to speak but the only thing that escaped his throat was a violent tearing pain.


    "Divine Wind General¡­" He closed his eyes and carved this name into his mind firmly.


    He had no strength left to resist.


    He had never once encountered an enemy that could strip him of all power to resist and this stopped him from being able to move as well.


    The terrifyingly oppressive Willpower caused his whole body to become critically injured to the point where he was at the brink of death. Previously, he had tried to think about the strength of the Divine Wind General Level many times. However, he had never expected that the power of the other party would actually reach this degree.


    Other than himself, most of the pedestrians in the surroundings of the small town had exploded because of this ominous pressure and none of them had survived.


    Within a range and vicinity of over a hundred meters, no one else had survived other than him. The other person''s unscrupulous nature had reached an extent that could not be glossed over at all.


    He used his last bits of strength to add one Potential Point to his Vitality. Finally, Garen fell into a coma completely when he was unable to endure it anymore. His body had suffered extremely critical injuries in which the best state of healing was when his Willpower was in a dormant state.


    *********************


    Within the confusion, Garen felt as if he had heard a noise.


    There was nothing but darkness in front of him while his Willpower was slightly blurry as well.


    "How much longer will it take for him to wake up?" It sounded like Celine''s voice speaking extremely coldly.


    "I''m not sure about the whole situation. However, his injuries are really very serious. A normal person would have died much earlier if they suffered injuries of this degree. I never expected that someone like him who had suffered a terrifying ambush like this would actually survive so tenaciously. Our hospital has only seen a handful of living examples like this," said another unfamiliar voice. "His vitality is extremely strong. Many times, we only need to guide him faintly for a while before he''s able to heal himself quickly and automatically. This is truly rare!"


    "Will he suffer any disabilities?" Celine continued to ask. "He''s already been in a coma for five days!"


    "We''ve assembled all of the first-rate medical teams and the treatment plans that they have formulated is definitely the most suitable one for him. Disabilities, perhaps there will be certain effects but these will depend on the condition of his healing in the future."


    "I believe that he''ll be fine."


    "We will do all we can. Sigh"


    The sound of a door being opened could be heard.


    Garen could feel his Willpower clearing up gradually. Various memories and scenes replayed in his mind again.


    "That''s right, I was ambushed¡­"


    The powerful sky blue Body appeared in his mind.


    "Divine Wind General¡­"


    When he opened his eyes slowly, Garen could see the white ceiling.


    "You''re awake!!" Celine''s face burst into his field of vision immediately. She looked sallow as if she had not rested for a long time. She had dark circles around her eyes and was much thinner than before. When she saw that Garen had awakened, the surprise on her face was very apparent.


    "You''ve finally woken up!!" She sighed in relief quickly. "I''ll go look for a doctor!"


    "No need."


    Garen opened his mouth and spoke.


    "How long have I been unconscious?" He could hear his own voice. It sounded very hoarse like a pair of bellows that were leaking air.


    "Five days and five nights. Someone tried to stab you to death and I killed five or six people because of them", answered Celine softy. "You can rest properly. I''m here, don''t worry."


    Garen nodded. His entire body was heavily injured while both his Willpower and physical body were at the brink of collapsing. There were many people who wanted to take his life, especially those who wanted the Rainbow Stones in his hands to refine their skills and powers. This item and his business had made many people envious for a long time. Garen would never dare to let his guard down in the presence of the other collaborative partners except for Celine who was the only committed individual whom he could trust. After all, he gained profits of at least a few hundred million every year.


    "Be careful of the Seventh Divine Wind General because Fila would never let such a rare opportunity go. He will definitely make his move!!" said Garen in a low voice.


    "I know", Celine nodded with a solemn look on her face. "My household''s latest security systems have been installed in every corner of this building. The five different tests will be able to stop the entry and exit of all hidden equipment. The powerhouses from my household are keeping guard outside. What should we do with the people that your Professor sent?"


    "Ask them to patrol the periphery temporarily. If Professor''s friends hadn''t come to save me that other day, I would''ve died right there and then", said Garen coldly. "Don''t worry, I''ll heal in no time. My body will not be a huge obstacle". However, he was not speaking honestly. He could heal his body with his Potential Points but had no way of healing his Willpower. The Willpower of his Crouched Eagle Talon had suffered serious damages and nearly collapsed. Therefore, it would need at least a few years to heal. Even if he had built his Exclusive Mech perfectly, he would not be able to continue entering and controlling it in his current state. Meanwhile, he only had 37 Potential Points left. Hence, although he could use these Potential Points to quicken the healing process, the speed of his healing would unintentionally reveal his biggest secret. Regardless of anything, he could not control the Exclusive Mech or become a Resonance Mech Pilot at the first instance.


    He would either need to delay this for at least a year or proceed with everything in the dark.


    "What plans do you have?" asked Celine after being quiet for a while.


    "What other plans could I have? My opponent is the Seventh Divine Wind General and I would be fighting overwhelming odds if I were to fight him with my current strength", answered Garen calmly.


    "The Black Flood Party is dominating the Polar Region exclusively and they have the strength of overlords. Forgive me, I have no way of mobilizing my household to confront them directly. However, I can still represent myself!" said Celine softly.


    "I know and I don''t blame you. This matter was not an issue that arose when I offended Remington. The main reason is probably the fact that my Professor''s sect over there could not handle them. They merely used this minor issue as an excuse to set out."


    "Your Professor said the same thing. He said that it''s very likely that the other party knows about your talents already. He told you to keep your guard up because the Seventh Wind General has always been thick-skinned. He has never had any emotional burdens even when personally taking action against younger members of his family", said Celine in an even softer tone.


    "Don''t worry, I will make him pay", Garen took a deep breath and looked at the Attribute Pane at the bottom of his eyes.


    Thanks to the Divine Wind General''s contributions, his Hellfrost Peacock Technique that was slightly lacking previously had finally broken through to Level Seven.


    The critical injuries that he had sustained this time had failed to achieve their desired effect. Instead, his Living Secret Technique had modified the Vitality of his body completely.


    While observing the new changes that had appeared throughout his Living Secret Technique, Garen''s eyes became colder.


    ''Secret Technique -- Hellfrost Peacock Technique: Living Secret Technique, Level Seven. 0% completion rate of Level Seven.


    Natural Ability Obtained -- Devoured Energy Field 3 (Devours all living creatures within a certain range to heal itself and condense Distorted Seeds. Its largest diameter is ten meters).


    Natural Ability Obtained -- Distorted Seed 3 (Creating chaos is the Hellfrost Peacock''s greatest hobby. Increases qualities and upgrades them by three times. Mutated organisms will produce contamination effects. Contaminated organisms will mutate automatically and become secondary distorted organisms. Qualities will increase by 1.5 times.)


    Natural Ability Obtained -- Cold Chaos 3 (The main body will cause fluctuations of time and space naturally. With the main body as the center, cold air was naturally be released within a surrounding range of 20 meters to form a chaotic low-temperature area where the lowest temperature will be -20 degrees. Simultaneously, there is a small possibility that it will cause chaos within the senses of its enemies, causing them to attack randomly.)


    Devour had upgraded the effects of his range. The main improvements could be seen in the Distorted Seed as it was now upgraded to a Level Three Distorted Seed. The mutated qualities had been increased from their initial 1.5 times to their current three times. This was a terrifying extent as once a peak Level Four Mech Pilot''s mutation was increased from its initial 1.5 times and it was strengthened in all aspects, they would automatically become a peak Level Five Mech Pilot. Meanwhile, now that he had been upgraded by three times, he did not know what kind of level he would enter. Moreover, he had gained contamination effects as well which simply turned him into a chaotic powerful killing machine!!


    The truly frightening part of the Hellfrost Peacock Technique had started to gradually display itself finally. It was not directed at himself but was a terrifying power that was similar to developing an army!

 925 Bureau 1

    Garen was aware that he had been recently oppressed by the Divine Wind General''s terrifying Willpower Energy Field. It caused his entire body to collapse and a lot of internal and external bleeding. His Crouched Eagle Talon that was also a important element of his resistance was immediately destroyed as well, leaving him with only his Level Two NIS Energy Machinist Willpower. Despite being a Level Five Mech Pilot powerhouse earlier, he had completely turned into a normal Level Two Energy Machinist. Moreover, he could not be considered as a true Energy Machinist because he did not have his own Energy Machine Imprint and biochemical pool.


    If someone were to ambush him again, a single Willpower attack from a Level Three Mech Pilot was all that was needed to get rid of him immediately. The Willpowers of Energy Machinists were simply not designed for combat.


    "Don''t worry, I will arrange everything", Celine could see the anxiety on Garen''s face. "You just need to rest well!"


    "My Willpower, it might be destroyed", Garen raised his head and glanced at her with a calm look on his face.


    "I believe in your talents. Besides that, you''re still young and you''ll be able to get back up sooner or later!" The expression on Celine''s face was slightly pained but she managed to force a smile. "After all, you''re Celine, the combat master!"


    It was easy to say but rebuilding Willpower, especially combat Willpower simply needed an extended amount of time. Special cases like these where the foundation was destroyed and needed to be rebuilt needed twice the amount of time taken for normal repairs.


    Both Garen and Celine actually understood that although they only spent two to three years studying the practices of the Crouched Eagle Talon in the beginning, this time frame included the fact that they had transferred certain parts of studying other types of Willpower beforehand. It was important to note that Nonosiva had actually spent at least five or six years practicing these things previously. If this increased by twofold, he would need another ten years. Meanwhile, no one could be able to tell how many unknown Mech Pilots would be able to surpass him greatly within these ten years despite not being as good as him in the past.


    "Alright, you should just rest well. I''ll go and get more medicine for you", Celine stood up and ran out of the sick ward as if she was fleeing because she did not know how to console him.


    Garen laid on the sickbed alone. He raised his head and looked at the ceiling.


    "I must heal my Willpower as soon as possible. Otherwise, I won''t even have the basic ability to protect myself!"


    Without any hesitation, he tried manipulating some of his basic Willpower again. He began to follow the trajectory of the Crouched Eagle Talon before sketching the Willpower Imprints on his arms slowly.


    Suddenly, there were no signs before a sharp pain surged throughout his arms and pounded against the depths of his brain violently.


    Boom!!!


    A terrifyingly deafening ramming noise could be heard.


    Immediately, Garen felt like two gongs had smashed beside his ears loudly. His ears became deaf for awhile before they were filled with humming noises.


    His head became dizzy and his eyes were blinded at once while his mind was hazy. Even his basic Willpower became drowsy immediately after being hit by the impact.


    After waiting for half a minute, the noise and tremors gradually disappeared and weakened.


    Only then did Garen realize that the powerful sky blue Willpower was entrenched within both of his own arms. They were like two live skinny snakes that had forcibly occupied the spaces that were actually suitable for the engraving of Willpower Imprints.


    The deafening noises from before were not caused by other things. Instead, they occurred when those two shrouds of Willpower were attempting to rush into his mind. The crashing noise occurred when they clashed with the Soul Seed''s strong defense.


    During this moment, the shroud of Crouched Eagle Talon Willpower that had just condensed had now completely vanished into thin air. This made Garen''s face even more contorted with pain.


    "Such venomous measures!" Only then did he understand why the Seventh Divine Wind General had left so easily. As it turned out, his true intentions were actually here!


    He discovered suddenly that once he had arrived in this world, he had encountered many obstacles but did not know their true sources.


    As his Willpower sank into the surroundings of his Soul Seed, Garen used another the strong detection abilities of another two Soul Seeds to begin sensing the state of his own body again.


    Seconds and minutes ticked by and his consciousness could sense that Celine had returned once again. She changed two bottles of energy water with the ones that she was holding. She sat at Garen''s bedside for awhile before leaving temporarily.


    Garen fell into a state of semi-deep sleep. He forgot the time and the current condition of his wounds.


    He used his entire body and mind to focus on his Soul Seed that was sensing the state of his own body. He felt that his journey ever since he arrived in this world had always been filled with obstacles while the things that he wanted to develop were constantly suffering from damages and obstructions. There was something that was not quite right with this state.


    As time continued to pass, Garen could gradually feel that something was abnormal.


    Some unknown forces started hovering around his own body. These forces were very strange and could conceal themselves very well. If it was not for the Soul Seeds extremely strange detection abilities that could even sense the abnormalities between worlds, he could not detect the movements of these forces.


    "What is this?" Suspicions flashed through Garen''s mind.


    These forces seemed somewhat familiar and caused him to vaguely associate it with certain negative memories.


    They were the exact same unknown forces that he had sensed the first time he saw Clint and his own younger brother Baylon.


    "Could it be something that only the main forces and influencers of the world possess?" Garen recalled Isaros and her sister that he had once met in the previous world who had these same forces wafting around their bodies.


    "I definitely did not have these forces around my body in the beginning. I''m certain about that. So when did these things produce themselves then?" faint uncertainties stirred in Garen''s mind. The Soul Seed''s instincts were telling him that the source of all his bad luck stemmed from these strange and nameless forces.


    "Everyone who possesses these things are the centers that many other major events revolve around. They have the ability to change the turning points and progress of these major events and can control many aspects of various matters. In other words, they can be temporarily known as the forces of cause and effect."


    This definition was very vivid. Everyone who possessed these forces of cause and effect, from Goth to Isaros and her sister, were key figures who were implicated in a great number of interrelated events.


    "I don''t know the main functions of these things or their sources. However, according to my identity, the most likely source is Baylon and my connection with respect to Red Moon."


    Garen analyzed this step by step and felt that it was most likely that these forces of cause and effect stemmed from Baylon, Clint, and Red Moon.


    After straightening out some things, he retreated slightly further away from his Soul Seed slowly and allowed his consciousness to return to his body before opening his eyes and noticing that his vision was completely black.


    Faint rays of light cascaded inside the window while the curtains were slightly raised by the breeze. Celine was sleeping on a temporary bed on the right side and held the remote control of an alarm device in her hand tightly. Her breathing was even and gentle, giving off the feeling that she would wake up at any moment.


    Garen did not know how long she had been keeping guard. However, he saw that her face was extremely sallow while dark eye circles could be seen there clearly. Garen''s heart felt slightly warm. Celine who had already entered Level Four had started to cultivate her Resonance Degrees with the Exclusive Mech that her household had already prepared for her much earlier. Despite being considered as one of the prodigious Mech Pilots, she had actually been willing to quietly guard him for such a long time.


    Even though a long duration of time had passed, he had not seen any of the other collaborative partners come over to visit him for awhile. Over there, perhaps the professor had come over before Garen had regained consciousness.


    Garen remembered that Celine had mentioned in the beginning that some of Professor''s people were guarding the periphery. His mind settled slightly then.


    Once he had composed himself he entered his dreams slowly once again and discovered that his body had actually almost healed completely after lying down for so many days. However, the important part was still the restoration of his Willpower. There was currently no way to reconstruct it fully because it was being obstructed by the two shrouds of sky blue colored Willpower. Without combative Willpower, he would be unable to pilot even basic Level One Mechs.


    During the next few days, Garen attempted to use the Living Secret Technique''s Devoured Energy Field to try and devour both of the foreign Willpowers. It was indeed effective but its speed was terribly slow. After focusing and attempting to devour it for an hour, he could only consume less than 1% of the sky blue colored Willpower.


    The density and mass of both of these Willpowers were simply insanely high! It was more than a few times stronger than his own initial Level Five Crouched Eagle Talon Willpower. The fact that the Living Secret Technique''s Devour talent could consume it was indeed a miracle.


    However, it was extremely exhausting to focus all his efforts into devouring it like this. Garen could only use it continuously for an hour each day.


    A few more days passed before Professor Van Doe''s people finally arrived.


    The door to the ward was opened slowly before two hefty men in black military coats followed behind the doctor and walked inside.


    Both of them had thick eyebrows and big eyes and it looked as if their features were slightly similar.


    The man in front glanced at Garen who was on the bed. His eyebrows furrowed slightly suddenly and his gaze fell on Garen''s arms immediately. His facial expressions became somewhat contorted and solemn.


    The male doctor changed his drugs quickly and checked the indicated parameters on the examination apparatus at the side. There were no abnormalities. After leaving a few instructions, he exited the ward. The two people who had followed him inside earlier were the only ones who remained there.


    Celine had zeroed in on the duo much earlier. She had stood up and was looking at them suspiciously now.


    "I''m the biochemist, Bamente."


    The first sentence that came out of the first man''s mouth was enough to shock both Celine and Garen. He glared at Garen who was lying on the sick bed and took a few steps towards him and looked at both of his arms carefully. Next, he removed an exquisite silvery-white badge swiftly. It was a badge that was only given to biochemists.


    "Your Professor Van Doe spent a huge sum of money to hire me. I''m here to see if there''s any hope of restoring the Willpower in your body."


    Biochemists!


    There were less than a hundred people within the entire Blackboard Region that worked in this rare field. Therefore, the price to hire any one of them would be extraordinarily high. The fact that Professor Van Doe was willing to hire a first-class individual to come and treat him definitely gave Celine and Garen great hope.


    "Relax and let me take a look." Bamente furrowed his eyebrows and held one of Garen''s arms gently. Shrouds of gentle Willpower burrowed into his skin slowly like silk threads before binding the sky blue colored Willpower inside his arms.


    Garen adjusted his muscles frantically and tried his best to relax his body.


    He could feel that the thread-like Willpower was extremely gentle but tough. If he did not feel it carefully, he would not be able to detect its presence or movements.


    "This situation is very troublesome. Two Inherited Willpowers remain inside both of your arms. Whenever the Willpower Training Imprints inside your arms are involved, both of these foreign Willpowers will be activated. They will destroy the new Willpowers that you have recently trained at once", Bamente''s face was slightly solemn and it was clear that the situation was intractable.


    "How do we solve it?" asked Garen softly.


    "I have two plans. The first one is that I would perform long-term Willpower surgery on you that will take a month at least. However, I won''t be able to assure you that there won''t be any side effects. The second one is to find another Inherited Mech Pilot of the source with the exact same characteristics to either offset or draw out the remaining bits of this foreign Willpower. You will only be able to rebuild the Willpower Imprints on both of your arms after that," said Bamente casually.


    While speaking, the Willpower threads that were being released from his hands continuously burrowed into Garen''s brain quietly.


    Garen knitted his eyebrows and was about to speak. Suddenly, an intense impact force hammered his head brutally at once, striking him to the point where his mind became blurry. The large amounts of thin Willpower threads had suddenly hit the defense that his Soul Seed had formed.


    "What are you doing??!!" howled Garen in pain.


    "This is an inevitable reactionary procedure. Why are you panicking? Did you think that the remaining Willpower of an Inherited Level Mech Pilot could be dispelled so easily? Idiot!"


    He realized that something was wrong when he noticed that the expression on Bamente''s face had not change at all. Instead, a sneer had appeared there faintly.


    "You must believe in my treatment procedures! Don''t just complain or I''ll turn around and leave immediately!" he said coldly.


    "You!!"


    Boom!!


    Numerous shrouds of Willpower threads travelled towards the defense area in Garen''s mind and struck it like a large hammer. It hit the Soul Seed''s defenses brutally.


    Garen''s entire body trembled. The impact had shaken him to the point where he was unable to speak. Immediately, Bamente Willpower retracted suddenly before surging towards the sky blue colored Willpower in his arms at once.


    He exhaled. Meanwhile, Celine who had stood up and was prepared to make a move at any time relaxed when she saw him calm down. She relaxed her tense body slowly.


    Just then, Bamente''s Willpower charged into the sky blue colored Willpower suddenly. There was a crashing noise as both of these Willpowers fused into one. They became twice as large as their previous size and transformed into a blue python that sprung itself towards Garen''s brain suddenly!!


    Then, a cunning smile finally appeared on the corners of Bamente''s mouth while he stood with his back towards Celine.


    Something was not right!!


    Fatal life-threatening feelings filled Garen''s mind at once. He focused all of the strength in his body in one step before both of his feet pressed down against Bamente''s lower abdomen in an attempt to kick him away.


    "Hold him down!! The remaining Willpower is going out of control! This is a vital period!! Hurry!" Bamente plastered a frantic expression on his face and yelled loudly.


    Celine and the other man rushed forward at once and held Garen down quickly.

 926 Bureau 2

    Garen''s strength became limp and much weaker after being shaken by the impact. It was utterly impossible for him to kick Bamente off completely. It was clear that the other man had undergone genetic strengthening as his vitality was extremely strong. The combined strength of these three people would be enough to press the struggling Garen down firmly.


    The sky blue colored Willpower that was twice as strong as his own was finally collected together before it charged towards Garen''s brain immediately.


    "Trying to kill me? In your dreams!!" In the depths of Garen''s soul, the ancient Nine-Headed Dragon''s Will roared suddenly and rushed out immediately from the depths behind the two Soul Seeds like a great soul storm that rolled towards the defense in his mind violently.


    Roar!!!


    Within moments, it seemed like the terrifying roars of invisible beasts inside his mind had shaken the entire hospital room.


    There was a brief crashing noise.


    The sky blue colored Willpower crashed against the Soul Seed''s defense in his mind violently and broke it to pieces. It collided brutally against the Nine-Headed Dragon''s Will that came rolling out.


    Boom!!


    It seemed as if Bamente had been hit by a train from the front. His body was sent flying backwards and he crashed against the wall behind the sick bed painfully before releasing loud banging noises. Fresh blood sputtered out of his mouth continuously.


    Flashes of gold twinkled in Garen''s eyes before they rolled backwards when he fell unconscious.


    The two other people were rendered helpless by the tremendous changes and tremors.


    "Doctor! Doctor!!" Celine gritted her teeth and hurriedly pressed the alerting alarm bell in her hand.


    Meanwhile, the other man supported Bamente who was still continuously spitting blood.


    "I can''t treat his sickness¡­ Go!" Bamente squeezed out his last words before leaning against the other man and leaving the hospital room quickly.


    After some frenzied rescuing that occurred soon after, Garen was sent to the emergency room for two whole hours before he was taken back to his hospital room again. After seeing that his complexion had returned to normal, Celine''s breathing became calm again and only then did she allow herself to sigh in relief slowly.


    Garen had awakened slowly now as well but his face was unusually contorted.


    More than half of his internal injuries that had healed earlier had become even worse now. After this impactful collision, the sky blue colored Willpower dispersed throughout every inch of his body. Shrouds of it now existed within all of his injuries. Other than his head which was protected by the Nine-Headed Dragon''s Will, it was extremely difficult for him to move the other parts of his body.


    He only said one sentence when he noticed Celine who was keeping guard outside the emergency room.


    "That Bamente tried to kill me!"


    Celine''s expression changed immediately. She had realized that something was amiss much earlier. However, since the other person was a biochemist, she assumed that he had certain strange treatment measures that no one knew about. She had been enduring it patiently all this while but once Garen had confirmed it now, she finally discovered that there was something that was actually not right with that person.


    "Was it Fila?!"


    "It could be a Divine Wind General as well. It''s even likely that it''s someone that I offended in the past," said Garen calmly. The Nine-Headed Dragon''s Will was purely a soul ability. If the other person''s intentions had not infiltrated his mind, it would not have activated the Nine-Headed Dragon''s instinctive defense consciousness. However, collisions like these caused him to become extremely exhausted.


    "There are a lot of people who want me dead."


    Once Garen had returned to his hospital room, he sat down and leaned against the bed with Celine''s support.


    Celine''s expression was pained as well. She had not expected an outcome like this either.


    "I won''t let anyone come near you!" she said firmly.


    "You can''t guard against it forever," Garen shook his head. "This place isn''t safe anymore. From today onwards, don''t let anyone besides yourself and Professor approach me."


    "Alright," Celine nodded solemnly.


    "I won''t be using these medications either. Get my people to surround this place," said Garen calmly. "Tell Professor about this information. Perhaps he will have a plan."


    "I''ll make a call immediately," Celine stood up and said.


    *****************


    In the surroundings of the hospital in Dawn City where Garen was currently located, within the circles of buildings and streams of people, one could vaguely see a few mysterious people that were dressed in normal clothing who were unconsciously gazing in the direction of the hospital.


    Most of these mysterious people had bulges around their waists as if they had stuffed items there.


    Inside the hall of a residential building near the hospital.


    Two men were standing in front of the window and looking towards the hospital window where Nonosiva was located from afar.


    "I was about to make a move when I was shaken and forced backwards by something. It''s very likely that it was the life-saving object that Van Doe had given him," said the man with the thick eyebrows and big eyes softly while holding the curtains with his right hand. He was the biochemist Bamente who had tried to cure Garen earlier.


    "If you were forced to return with serious injuries as well, he will definitely be unable to use that object again. If a Level Five biochemist like yourself was injured by the aftereffects of the tremors, a wounded person like himself probably sustained injuries that are even worse than yours," said another man, smiling. "Our manpower has been prepared. The military''s garrison has informed us that everything has been arranged in order. Once we''ve received the message from Van Doe''s side, we will move out immediately."


    "Then the little bastard is dead for sure. Five Shining Mechs and more than twenty Level Four Captain Level machine soldiers. Tch tch, they''ve been disguised the acts of normal terrorists. This scale is truly great!" praised Bamente.


    "The few Level Four Mech Pilots that Celine assembled will not be able to stand a single blow. However, we should wait awhile before commencing. The follow-up preparations should be completed soon," said the man softly while smiling.


    ********************


    Blackboard Inner Courtyard


    Van Doe put the phone down with a pained look on his face and glared at the blonde man in front of him.


    "You''re saying that Nono''s Willpower has collapsed completely?!"


    "According to the information that was sent back, that is true," the man nodded. "Moreover, according to the investigation of the Intelligence Bureau, it''s very likely that Nonosiva possesses the related characteristics of radioactive people."


    "Radioactive people!"


    Van Doe glared at the man in front of him firmly before his gaze blinked occasionally.


    "Professor, what do we do now?" asked the man quietly.


    "Are you saying that his Willpower is completely destroyed? There''s no hope of restoring it?" asked Van Doe softly while lowering his head.


    "I''m afraid so. The Seventh Divine Wind General''s Willpower that remained in him will completely absorb the Crouched Eagle Talon''s Willpower that he obtained from training. If he doesn''t get rid of the remaining Willpower first, he will be unable to practice the Crouched Eagle Talon. Moreover, it will be even harder for him improve the skills of the Black Wind. He will either need at least three years to get rid of it or he will need an Inherited Level powerhouse to help him dispel it constantly. Professor, if I may speak frankly, we cannot pay this price for an individual who may only grow into a genius. It''s not worth it."


    The blonde man continued to advise him, "Some compensation resources have been sent over from the Seventh Divine Wind General''s side. We don''t have to intensify the conflict with them because of a future genius anymore."


    He paused before saying, "Nonosiva has become useless."


    After hesitating for a long time, Van Doe exhaled a long breath.


    "What a shame¡­ A genius like this¡­" His eyelids drooped slowly.


    The blonde man knew that once these words were said, it meant that his teacher had truly given up on Nonosiva completely.


    This powerful genius of humble birth had finally been forced into an abyss after offending too many people that he should not have provoked.


    **********************


    "What?! The military has instructed the units urgently and transferred them forward to the radiation belt for their missions?! What kind of joke is this?!" Celine could not help but roar angrily while standing in the corridor of the hospital.


    They possessed the combat strength of a perfect unit! Their lowest level members would be Level Three Mech Pilots at least. Other than Garen, the highest ones would be peak Level Fours. Did the military actually transfer orders and compel these forces to leave for their mission immediately by assigning them to another place?


    Did they actually send them to another place during this key moment when they needed to protect their strength? Could their intentions be any more obvious?!


    Unsuppressible rage boiled in Celine''s mind.


    "I''m very sorry, this is an order from the headquarters and there''s nothing we can do about it either." The person in charge at the defense base answered her coldly and briefly before disconnecting the call immediately.


    Celine''s face had turned bright red with rage. She dialed the phone number of a close uncle who was the head of their household. Unfortunately, the line could not connect.


    "Celine," a masculine shout echoed behind her.


    Celine turned around and saw the captain of her household''s external bodyguard team who was an honest and sedate middle-aged man named Hann.


    "What''s the matter, Hann?" Celine tried her best to suppress the negative emotions in her mind. She asked casually, "Didn''t I ask all of you to stand guard outside?"


    "I''m very sorry¡­ An order came from the household to tell us that we must return immediately," said Hann quietly while lowering his head helplessly.


    Celine''s pupils contracted.


    "Who gave that order?!"


    "Your father, Master Cameron¡­" answered Hann softly.


    Bang!


    "Damn!!" Celine''s fist smashed against the hospital wall, forming a little hollow pit there.


    Her mind was filled with chaos. It was obvious that the other party was gaining momentum by doing all of this. They were stripping them of all their protective layers in preparation for their final move.


    "What do we do?!!" Her mind was a disorderly mess. She did not know how to counter her enemy''s moves at all.


    From the situation that was revealed from the previous phone call, it seemed as though Nono''s professor might have given up as well. The pressure from the other party resembled a tidal wave that was huge and could oppress others to the point of suffocation.


    The staff that were keeping guard outside were mainly the household''s bodyguard units that she had arranged to be placed there. Once they were disabled, the entire hospital would lose all of its defensive strength at once!


    "Your father''s intentions were for you to return with him as well." Hann''s voice echoed over again.


    "Get lost!!"


    Suddenly, Celine yelled angrily.


    "Get lost, all of you!! It won''t make any difference if I guard this place by my damn self!" She was slightly hysterical now. Celine flung the surgical cotton in her hands everywhere and walked briskly before running towards Garen''s hospital room.


    She needed transfer Nono and get him out of here immediately!


    Bang!


    Suddenly, a shadow flashed behind her and hit the back of her neck gently.


    "Who?!" Unexpectedly, Celine turned her body and dodged it while her elbow struck behind her quickly. She moved her other hand backwards like a whip rapidly and hit the neck of the oncoming person!


    "Twelve Flying Dragon Hand!!"


    Through Garen''s guidance, she was able to suddenly use the Twelve Flying Dragon Fist that she had reformed. Her blade-like hand turned into a large cluster of shadows but were continuously dodged by the person behind her immediately.


    That person dodged her frantically and finally increased the distance between them suddenly.


    "It''s me! Celine!" A low but dignified voice could be heard.


    "Uncle?!" Celine was shocked when she noticed the other man''s face suddenly.


    Immediately, a strong Willpower assault surged over violently. Celine felt her mind turning black before she became unaware of anything else.


    The person who had arrived lifted her on his shoulder and rushed towards Hann and glanced at him coldly.


    "Evacuate everyone immediately! This place is extremely dangerous!"


    "Yes!" Hann forced a smile.


    ****************


    Inside the hospital ward


    Garen lay on the sickbed quietly. Celine had left a long time ago, more than half an hour in fact. These days, she had never left for more than fifteen minutes. However, more than half an hour had already passed...


    The entire hospital was completely empty. There were no noises at all as if there were no more human voices left for now. It seemed as though the doctors and nurses that were always walking around had disappeared as well.


    "Am I the only one left?"


    Garen murmured softly and turned his head to look out of the window. This hospital was once a private hospital while Dawn City was an unassuming small town. It would be too easy if the other party wanted to evacuate the area.

 927 Desperate Situation 1

    Outside the hospital, within the surroundings of the dark grey blocks, the pedestrians and residents had been evacuated urgently. Only empty neighborhoods and houses remained while the crowds that had been dispersed were held back outside the separation lines. They looked on at the private hospital in the center from afar.


    On top of a building, several people who were in charged stood on the edge of the roof, issuing commands while on-site.


    One of them wore a white suit and looked as if he had just walked out of a ball. His platinum hair was combed out with a layer of hairspray. When the afternoon sun cascaded on it, layers of light were reflected faintly.


    "Logan, how are the arrangements for each aspect?" asked the man quietly.


    "Almost done. All of the powerhouses that I arranged have been hidden properly. The Remington household''s forces have been dispersed throughout a range and area of a hundred meters. The three main units of the Third Mechanical Army have complied fully with the first garrison to monitor and control the three aspects of the ground, underground, and sky. A single mosquito would not even be able to escape from here!"


    A thin man stood on the side, and reported quietly.


    "I just don''t understand why a single heavily wounded and disabled individual would require so much combat manpower? Can''t it be done just by entering and seizing him directly?"


    "What you don''t understand is that this isn''t just a regular arresting activity but more of an exhibition of power. Moreover, we still don''t know the exact moves that he''s hiding up his sleeves," the man shook his head slightly. He reached his hand out and tidied his four strange eyebrows before a smile appeared on his face.


    "Anyway, there''s nothing wrong with being slightly more careful."


    He looked down. He saw a large army of black Miniature Mechs, who wore black badges and were dressed in the Remington forces'' military outfits, started to approach the hospital building gradually. They carried large black shields that were big enough to cover their whole bodies while marching forward slowly from all directions.


    In the sky, Mech Soldiers from the Third Mechanical Army flew over gradually as well. Although most of them were Level One Mech Soldiers, since this was a small town, it was already quite impressive that they were able to assemble more than ten of these forms of manpower during these critical moments.


    The people from the Intelligence Bureau had installed monitors and protective screen measures around the area. They had even installed simple laser interception networks in certain important areas.


    Fila had previously held the post of the Commander in Chief of the Third Mechanical Army. Hence, he was able to assemble and loan the strengths of his subordinates currently. He had held the post of the director of the Intelligence Bureau as well. Once again, it was easy for him to obtain his own forces. However, he still refused to let his guard down because he could still remember the ambush that he had encountered in the radiation belt. A pressing feeling continued to stir in his mind because he was uncertain whether Nonosiva had actually planned that raid. After all, an average young person would never be able to grasp mutated skills like that. Yet regardless of whoever was controlling these things, he had no choice but to get rid of this lurking danger as soon as possible because of the arrangement of the crisis that would soon follow.


    Although this was seemingly just another encirclement, it was also an opportunity for him to display his own strength.


    With a wave of his hand, Fila had finally given the final order to attack.


    He had spread an inescapable net, and had laid it out completely.


    His style was to stand on the spot while he slaughtering others!


    **********************


    Bang!


    The door to the hospital room was pushed open at once. Following that, a black Miniature Mech soldier charged inside and aimed the barrel of its gun at a patient''s bed precisely.


    "No one?!"


    "Search!"


    A Mech Soldier moved forward and pressed the bedding.


    "The temperature is 28.5 degrees and there is still residual heat. According to the calculations of the temperature and the air conditioning, he should have left two minutes ago."


    "Open the residual body heat tracks and trace them."


    There was a brief clapping noise before the entire room immediately became completely bright red under the gaze of the Mech Soldier.


    "Nothing! What''s the matter?!" There were no traces of residual body heat inside the room at all.


    Suddenly, a bright red shadow flew downwards into its line of sight, and harshly fell on top of the Mech Soldier''s head.


    There was a crisp cracking noise before the person''s neck was twisted and broken, killing him in the process.


    The red shadow turned a few more times. When the other people were unable to pull the trigger in time, it disappeared moments later within the hospital room.


    Bang bang bang bang!


    Loud gunshots could be heard inside the hospital room while bullets flew about.


    "Jamie!! Oh sh*t!"


    Pfoo!


    Another red shadow pounced over suddenly, and landed behind the other Mech Soldiers. Both of its arms shot forward. Then like two venomous snakes, it violently bit the back of both their heads.


    There were two simultaneous cracking noises but it seemed as though only one was heard.


    The armor plates on the back of both of these Mech Soldiers'' heads were pierced through by his bare-hand. He violently stabbed both of his fingers inside them, leaving two bloody holes.


    Garen resembled a large bat that soared upwards after biting these two people to death. He then proceeded to hang upside down on the ceiling once again. Strange enough, the back of his body was able to absorb itself onto the ceiling as if he was a wall painting that was hung upside down.


    The last remaining Mech Soldier below staggered about in an attempt to escape the room. However, it only managed to run a few steps away before feeling that the bottom of its feet had stiffened.


    He lowered his head to look. Only then did it realize that a thick layer of ice had frozen the legs of his Mech without him even noticing. Moreover, this icy layer was spreading at a speed that even the naked eye could see.


    He suddenly felt as though he could sense something. He raised his head immediately, and looked at the ceiling but it could only see a red shadow rushing towards his face at the final moment.


    Garen used one hand to press onto the Mech Soldier while a gush of frighteningly intense cold air was suddenly released from his entire body.


    Ever since his Living Secret Technique had broken through Level Seven, both his Cold Radiation and Cold Chaos abilities were upgraded. He could release extremely cold temperatures of -20 degrees unexpectedly, allowing him to quickly freeze and delay the movements of the Mech Soldiers when his enemies were helplessly panicking. At the same time, although these individuals were initially well-trained combat soldiers, when they were affected by the Cold Chaos'' mental confusion effects, they would become easily spooked and anxious during the state of disorder. This allowed Garen''s surprise attacks to succeed smoothly.


    He floated down, and landed gently while his complexion remained pale.


    Slaughtering numerous Mech Soldiers in a row by force was not an impressive feat. The troublesome part was having to pierce through the Miniature Mechs that were worn by the Mech Soldiers. Although these things did not have particularly strong defenses, their fingers would suffer great harm if they penetrated it with bare hands.


    Garen raised his hand. Solid icicles had frozen both of his forefingers due to the frigid air. Coupled with the quick movements of his hands, he was able to penetrate the Mech Soldier''s armor. However, his palm and wrist had suffered slight fractures because of this.


    "There are gunshot noises here! Hurry, hurry!!" Loud yells echoed outside.


    Tch!!


    The left wall was suddenly penetrated by a ray of red light that was shooting towards Garen''s face. It was an armor-piercing projectile! Like a red line, the miniature armor-piercing projectile directly pierced through multiple layers of walls.


    Garen somersaulted, and narrowly dodged the shooting armor-piercing projectile. However, he still felt a violent, burning pain on his face at the same time. A cold sensation that was tinged with burning heat quickly spread from the wound on his face and onto the other parts of his body.


    "It''s poisonous!"


    He added one Potential Point to his Vitality immediately. His Potential diffused quickly to rapidly suppress the poison from spreading.


    Garen dragged the corpse of a random Mech Soldier and violently smashed it against the wall on the opposite side. Next, he rushed out of the hospital room door.


    Just as he had exited the room, two shrouds of fiery red fluttering light shot over from the right side of the stairs.


    Boom boom!


    When both of the intense flames exploded, Garen''s body was sent flying brutally as he was unable to react in time.


    Bang bang bang bang!


    The Big Mechs outside had started raking the whole area with machine gunfire. Heavy-duty machine guns swept across the hospital in a frenzy.


    Bullet holes pierced through the walls. On the white walls, the bullet holes resembled black snakes that were rushing towards Garen.


    Garen rolled over again and discovered that his entire body was charred black from the explosions. He had just crawled up before he saw two strings of bullets inching towards him. The corridor of the entire hospital was shot up, and covered in a thousand holes while rays of sunlight cascaded in through the numerous bullet holes on the other side.


    The ground of the entire building made violent crashing noises as if it was roaring.


    His ears were filled with buzzing noises. Other than the noise of the bombs and machine guns, he could not hear anything else.


    Garen stared fixedly at the black chain of bullets that was quickly moving towards him from the bullet holes. He dodged, and crouched down to evade the assault of the bullet chain before a series of noises that came from running Mech Soldiers suddenly echoed from the stairs behind him.


    Bang!


    He immediately moved, just before a ray of red light pierced through the floorboards below. It formed a pillar of fire that was more than a meter tall when it burst through.


    The whole hospital started to burn.


    "Arson?" Garen''s face remained indifferent because he was not afraid of death. He could not even clearly remember the number of times he had stared death in the face. Nonetheless, it was not his style to simply die here.


    Miniature Mechs were not afraid of the scorching flames at all. It was easy for them to endure high temperatures of a few hundred degrees. However, the same did not apply to Garen because he had a flesh body. It was clear that the other party intended to burn him alive here.


    Columns of bursting flame constantly exploded from the ground. Garen continuously dodged the flame pillars on the floorboards. With a few somersaults backward, he bounced towards the stairs at the back. He leaped gently, like a fish that had just jumped out of the surface of the water, before coincidentally landing on the head of a Mech Soldier that had just charged through the stairs. He sandwiched it with both his legs before twisting and breaking his enemy''s neck with a ''crack''. He pressed downwards with the tip of his toes. Then, he swiftly pulled the trigger on the machine gun in the Mech Soldier''s hand. He supported himself against it and jumped before evading the shooting sweep that followed.


    Boom boom boom boom!


    After numerous consecutive gunshots, all of the bullets landed accurately on the head of the Mech Soldier upstairs while Garen was somersaulting.


    It only took a single encounter for all five of the Mech Soldiers upstairs to be killed.


    Without his Willpower, it was impossible for him to confront the enemy directly. He could only rely on his speedy movements to dodge the potential Willpower assaults. Currently, the only thing that he could depend on was his powerful battle skills, and great physical fitness.


    While the rest had yet to react, Garen operated a Mech Soldier and ran towards the part of the building with the thickest bearing walls.


    While running, he quickly stripped the Mech Soldier of the Miniature Mech that it was wearing and placed it on himself.


    These Miniature Mechs were different from the ones in the radiation belt. They were considered as boosting-type Mechs that could be worn separately. They could increase the defense and power of the wearer. They were even fitted externally with certain communication devices that were used for detecting and probing.


    Just as he had put it on, Garen could instantly hear noises coming out from the pager inside the Mech continuously.


    "Wolf Five, Wolf Five, move forward to the second floor to assist immediately. Use the vertex bomb to destroy the second floor. Try your best to catch him while he''s still alive, if possible!"


    Garen did not reply verbally but pretended to pant hoarsely and respond ambiguously instead.


    He glanced at the blinking red dot on the board. Those were the numbers, and locations of all the Mech Soldiers.


    "Catch me alive? Hehe." A cold expression appeared on Garen''s face. He knew that it was very likely that the other party was planning to seize him to take the Rainbow Stone techniques that he had obtained.


    If they had gotten rid of him on the spot in the beginning, perhaps he would not have an escape route now. However, the order to catch him while he was still alive gave him a lot of empty space to move around.


    He moved his hand backward and removed the fixed-point hand grenade from the waist of the Miniature Mech and pressed it against the right wall.


    Garen ran forward quickly.


    Boom!


    Stretches of fiery red flames shot out and exploded behind him. After dodging the flames and explosions, he returned to his previous location at the hole-ridden area. He exchanged the machine gun in his hand for an armor-piercing projectile model. He aimed it precisely at the wall on the other side of the hole-ridden room and shot it directly.


    Red lines were shot out.


    Boom!


    The armor-piercing projectile penetrated the wall and accurately hit the body of another Mech Soldier that had just passed by. Perhaps it had struck the ammunition bundle on its body because suddenly, a large explosion occurred. It sent intense tremors throughout the entire second floor.


    "Damn!"


    The sound of a cursing man echoed from the pager.


    "He''s just an injured cripple!"


    The corners of Garen''s mouth curled into a cold-blooded arc.


    He rolled across the floor and moved his hand backward to remove another armor-piercing projectile. He aimed it accurately so that it would pierce through the wall before shooting it outside the hospital.


    In the sky outside, the Cockpit of a Big Mech was penetrated by that shot. It fell down crookedly, making a crashing noise before turning completely silent.


    Garen''s speedy movements allowed him to enter the hospital and get rid of more than ten Mech Soldiers by using armor-piercing projectiles. Occasionally, Garen would replenish the armor-piercing projectiles that he had used. He managed to shoot down five or six Big Mechs outside.


    On top of the command building outside.


    The expression on Fila''s face remained unchanged as he continued to wave his hand.


    "Everyone, withdraw! Abandon the mission to seize him alive, just demolish everything!"


    "But¡­" Beside him, Logan''s eyebrows were knitted together tightly as he attempted to open his mouth to speak.


    "Do you still not understand? Within ten minutes, the thirty Miniature Mech Soldiers that entered were completely slaughtered. Five of the Big Mechs outside were killed as well! That Nonosiva is truly not the pushover that we had imagined," huffed Fila coldly.


    "Send the Elite Team forward," Logan gritted his teeth and said. "That''s a yearly profit of hundreds of millions!" The Mechanical Army that he was part of spent three hundred million a year. If they were able to seize this technique, its effects on the interest of the Mechanical Army would make anyone emotionally affected.


    Fila''s mind turned cold. Despite just being relieved of office recently, some of his initial subordinates had stopped listening to his orders already.


    "Do as you please. But if something happens, don''t blame me for not reminding you! Besides that, my men won''t leave anyone alive."


    "Commander, I don''t have a choice. Our military allowances have been cut each year. Although this sum of money may be insignificant to you, it''s still a large sum of income for us!" said Logan softly. If it was not for the money, Fila''s instructions would not be able to truly stop him either as he was currently the Commander in Chief.


    Fila sighed coldly. He glanced at this man who was previously his groveling subordinate who had now matured into an individual who had dared to look him in the eye.


    He turned around because he could not be bothered with looking at him anymore. He stuffed his hand into the pocket of his shirt immediately and walked towards the exit downstairs.


    "I hope that you won''t mess it up." Once they were in this state, there were no survival routes left for a minor force like Nonosiva. He did not have to watch anymore.


    "Don''t worry!" A smile appeared on Logan''s face. He rearranged the microphone at the corner of his mouth. "Powerhouse Team, forward! He''s just a lowly piece of garbage with Level One Willpower. If you''re unable to seize him despite that, all of you can just die!"

 928 Desperate Situation 2

    Garen shook out the armor-piercing shells from the gun as he leaned against the hospital''s ruined wall on the first floor.


    Everyone who had entered the building had already been killed. So, he acted in such a way that made it seem like he was on the verge of dying. He switched off the relay instrument from the Mini Mech. He laid at a side of the ruins while reducing his Mech''s temperature with the Cold Radiation to the point where the body temperature was indistinguishable.


    If his opponent primarily used heat to detect any signs of life, then they would not be able to detect him as long as he could blend in with the surrounding temperature.


    He would have a chance to survive as long as the opponent intends to capture him alive.


    Garen''s highly intense spirit and continuous actions had made him extremely tired as he had exhausted a huge amount of spiritual energy.


    His eyelids became heavier over time. He felt as if it was difficult to keep his eyes open, that they could shut down at any time and never open again.


    The hospital was in a disastrous state - corpses, fiery fires, bullets, and debris of Mechs could be seen everywhere. A document room, nearby the hospital, was broken as the documents inside were slowly burning. The plastics which were sandwiched in between the papers were slowly turning black, giving off viscous smoke.


    The hospital was filled with smoke. It was so bad that one would not be able to see their fingers if they reached their hands out. Crackles were occasionally heard from the wooden furniture that was burning at high temperature.


    The power to annihilate dozens of Miniaturized Mech alone was Garen''s raw strength. Without including his unique ability, the Hellfrost Peacock Technique, it was about three times more than a typical person. Ultimately, Garen''s unrivaled prowess in martial arts had made him a classical killing machine, so much so that even the military specialist powerhouses were no match for him.


    Boom.


    The wall on the first floor was punched through, and the stone debris flew about in the air as multiple human figures slowly walked in.


    The man who was at the front reached out his right hand, as if he was grasping onto something.


    "Sun Finger Ring."


    A circular golden halo appeared underneath his feet and spread out across the floor. Similar to the ripples spreading about on the surface of the water, the halo would automatically reflect once it reached the wall or any obstacles. After a few seconds, the whole area, including the ceiling was filled with these golden ripples.


    Garen was stunned. It was impossible for him to avoid it as he could only see the golden ripples bouncing about on his body.


    At the same time, he sensed that these people''s eyes were on him.


    "I''ve been discovered!!"


    He was startled as their first reaction was to shoot at him with their guns instead. He immediately rolled to the side and jumped up with his legs.


    "Hand of Void!"


    The other girl shouted.


    A powerful strength enveloped Garen as if an elusive huge hand had captured him while he was in the mid-air.


    However, the Hand of Void was immediately neutralized with a sea of Cold Radiation. Garen then leaped into the Hospital''s kitchen to hide and no noise was heard after that.


    The leader turned his body and the armor-piercing bullets burst opened the left side of the wall. To these group of powerhouses, avoiding these bullets was something very common to them. They wouldn''t be injured unless the path of the bullet was extremely curved or a refraction bullet was used.


    "I can''t locate him with my Sun Finger Ring. You guys shall move accordingly," The leader said calmly.


    "Well, duh?" The black-shirted girl behind him scoffed. Then she walked into the hole in the wall, and stared at the viscous smoke inside with a frown.


    "Wind of Void!"


    Invisible strong wind emerged as she raised both of her hands up, forming a small gray tornado inside the hospital, carrying away all the combustion in the oxygen.


    The fiery fire distinguished at the speed that was visible to the naked eye. Though very quickly, all the smoke was gathered by the tornado, and was sent away through the hole in the wall. Immediately after, it exploded, and the smoke slowly floated upwards.


    In a split second, the huge fire in the whole hospital was distinguished.


    "I expect nothing less from a Level Five Resonance Powerhouse. To possess Resonance of this level is simply amazing to witness," The lead man shrugged and he wasn''t angry at all.


    The black-shirted woman walked into the kitchen without any sense of fear. She didn''t seem to care about any sort of ambush, whether it was guns or explosives.


    Another four people from the powerhouse group entered the area. They were all criminals who had been sentenced to death but was kept alive by the military. They were equally assigned among the military groups as an ultimate weapon. Majority of them were Level Five Powerhouses, and the minority of them were Resonance Pilots. Since their Exclusives Mechs were destroyed, they could only release a set of simple Willpower techniques. However, under their overpoweringly strong Willpower, these techniques were strong enough to bend reality itself.


    "Be careful. This kid was once a topnotch Level Five Pilot as well." Seeing how the woman ignored him, he quickly followed up as well.


    Both of them walked together as they entered the kitchen on the first floor.


    The kitchen was huge. It was a place for the nurses, doctors, and patients to eat.


    White cloths that were half burnt were hung in there. However, no one was sure what their purpose was.


    "Those words you said back in Tienye Canyon? What did you mean?" The man walked to the woman''s side and whispered into her ears.


    "It is however you would want to interpret it," the woman said coldly.


    "That incident isn''t my fault. I can''t do anything if you insist on pushing the blame on me. However, can you please understand the whole situation?" The man said helplessly.


    "What situation? Haven''t you already done it?" The woman stared at him coldly.


    "I have said that it''s a misunderstanding¡­" His expression changed before he could finish speaking, while he grabbed onto the girl''s shoulder.


    Boom!


    Suddenly, a human figure raised from the curtain, and rushed towards the woman.


    At the same time, the Cold Radiation was cast upon the both of them, hitting them hard as they were about to activate their Willpower abilities.


    Boom!


    The man took a few steps back once he was hit. Whereas the girl was kicked in the abdomen by Garen.


    "Void!!"


    As she screamed, a powerful Willpower was released from the woman''s body.


    The invisible force spread outwards, with the woman as the epicenter. The rubbles, Miniature Mech, and even the corpses on the ground were sent flying everywhere. All the cloth in the kitchen were torn apart. In the howling wind, Garen''s body flew out as if he was hit by a train.


    He spat out a huge amount of blood from his mouth.


    Garen felt that most of his bones were broken. Along with this hit, his injured body suffered even more damage. He had been relying on an exhausting huge amount of Potential Points to forcingly suppress his injury since Potential Points could be used to increase the regeneration process. However, it was being restrained by the Divine Wind General''s residual Willpower, resulting in a very slow regeneration.


    To make his injury worse, he was now hit by such a powerful Willpower.


    Garen laid on the ground; he was unable to move. His skin was cracked and not a single part of him looked unharmed. He had literally become a blood man, drenched in blood from head to toe, and was on his last breath. He was on the verge of unconsciousness as he couldn''t control the inner injury of his body. The Potential Points were unable to recover the injury caused by two heavy attacks.


    "That''s a close one. Is this guy really a Level One trash?!" The two had just calmed down from the shock of the sudden ambush.


    The duo walked towards Garen''s side, and kicked his head.


    "He''s almost dead," The woman frowned. Although she was kicked in the abdomen, she didn''t suffer many injuries as she had a strong body and managed to released her Willpower in time. She seemed fine, excluding her pale face. "How should we deal with him?"


    "Bring him out of this place. The interrogator would make him spill out whatever we need to know." The man shrugged as he looked at the corpses and Miniature Mech around the area. "To be honest, I''m really interested in how this guy has managed to kill so many people."


    He walked towards the corpse, and flipped it with his leg as he tried to find the lethal wound.


    Suddenly, he gasped softly.


    There was no sign of wound from the corpse. What made it even stranger was that the corpse seemed like an empty shell. Other than the layer of skin, the internal organs seemed to have been sucked dry. It was like a predator spider that used a poison to melt the internal organs of its prey. After the prey died, it would then slowly suck it dry, leaving behind a layer of empty shell.


    The man suddenly shivered. He had never seen such an assassination technique before.


    "Let''s move out quickly," The woman said softly from behind.


    "Alright." The man turned around. However, his pupil shrunk as a sharp dagger was pierced through his heart without mercy.


    Crack!


    The dagger twisted deeper into the wound.


    The attacker was the woman. Her appearance was rather bizarre, with red eyes and her skin covered in a layer of light grey transparent scale. She looked rather cold yet explosive, as if she was a volcano that was on the verge of explosion.


    "Snow¡­"


    The man tried his best to reach out his hand, trying to touch the woman''s face. However, the gaze in his eyes dimmed down as the dagger that had pierced his heart twisted once more.


    Thump.


    He fell to his face.


    Roar!


    The woman who had been mutated with the Distorted Seed started to cry in agony; tears flowed out of her eyes. However, as her body mutated further on, she was gradually covered in a thicker grey scale.


    Crack!


    A long and sharp tail emerged out from her back - a part of her new mutated body.


    Under the effect of the Distorted Seed, the powerful Half Moon Grade Willpower quickly evolved. It became one time¡­ Two times¡­ Three times more powerful!!


    In that instant, the woman''s strength tripled, and her body size increased tremendously. A third grey-white eye started appearing on her forehead.


    "Go¡­ Kill them all! Kill everything that you can see¡­"


    Garen laughed mercilessly as he laid on the ground.


    One could only wonder how powerful a Half Moon Grade Powerhouse could be under the parasitic effect of the Distorted Seed? He was eager to know as well.


    In an instant, the woman disappeared. It wasn''t just her Willpowered that had become stronger. Her physical attributes had tripled as well.


    This was where the Hellfrost Peacock Technique shone the most. Its main prowess didn''t come from its host. Instead, it is to create chaos and control beings via the Distorted Seed. Once it is planted on a powerful being, it would increase their strength further to create chaos, killing everything in sight.


    After the mutated woman monster rushed out of the room, the sound of Mech exploding was instantly heard.


    The screams of fear and panic could be heard everywhere.


    "What is that!?""It''s a monster! Fire!!"


    Roar!


    The woman would occasionally scream at the top of her lungs.


    Garen didn''t know how powerful a Half Moon Grade Powerhouse was with their strength tripled. However, he knew that this was the best time for him to escape as the chaos would soon be under controlled. Even if a mutated monster had the strength of an Inherited Level, a powerful Pilot would be able to handle it. Without intelligence and wisdom, it would still be a monster without intelligence no matter how powerful it was. Its only purpose was to create chaos.


    He then wore the equipment that belonged to the corpses that he had sucked dry with Hellfrost Peacock''s blue strands and walked out of the hospital, acting as a Mech that was on the verge of dying.


    It was already a mess when he walked out. The team that had surrounded the area was gone. What was left was just a pile of corpses. After the woman had mutated, the true power of the Willpower of Void was no longer when it was applied on a Mech. She was already a killer machine with her enhanced physical characteristics. Within half a minute, she had managed to annihilate everything outside. The Void of Winds was everywhere, tearing the Mechs apart.


    The Miniature Mechs survivors on the ground who tried to get up from the puddle of blood immediately dropped back down to the ground again as they were shot by Garen.


    After a few shots, Garen then added two Potential Points into his Vitality to counter the residual Willpower on his body. Following that, his body''s injury started to recover slowly, in which he was able to recover a little bit of energy eventually.


    With the gun at his crutch, Garen walked towards a broken Big Mech with a limp. It was completely broken from the explosions and no part of it was perfect. It was fated to be sent to the garbage station.


    Garen circled the Mech for a few rounds as he couldn''t fight against the tiredness in him. He then opened the Mech''s empty homing missile compartment located at the right leg as if it was a normal thing to do. He then jumped into it, covered it up, and fell into deep sleep.

 929 Hope 1

    "Heh¡­ here here. Yes! Throw it over here."


    A few tow truck drivers were maneuvering their vehicles as they tried to throw the Mech''s arm into the pile of garbage mountain.


    At the edge of the garbage mountain just outside the Dawn City, tow trucks were transferring the remains from the horrible incident in the city to the garbage mountain.


    It formed mountains of garbages that were waiting to be burnt.


    The black tow truck pulled a Mech that was beyond repair, and threw it into the pile of rubbish. Then, it turned around and left the area. The whole area was now quiet.


    Although this area is just on the edge of the region radioactive belt, it was already considered as within the radioactive belt. Before the garbage was burnt off, these garbage mountains were the main income of the radioactive people. In order to occupy these garbage mountains, many small-scale attacks had emerged in the radioactive people''s town that was nearby this area. In the end, a small town called Lion had successfully obtained the ownership in this area.


    The morning sky gradually turned into an evening sky. from the horizon, a convoy drove by the radioactive people slowly came into view. As the radiation was at the lowest during evening hours, it was the time where the radioactive people were the most active.


    The convoy was greyish-black, and it mainly consisted of motorbikes and trucks. Most of the radioactive people wore leather shirts, leather pants, and a pair of windproof glasses. They were tall and muscular, carrying guns and bullets on their back.


    "Look kids! It''s the latest Mech from the region! Hahaha! We finally have something to work with!" The bald, and muscular leader laughed happily. He looked ecstatic as he looked at the newly formed garbage mountain.


    "I hope there''s a well-conditioned life support system since the one we had was broken beyond repair!" A red-haired ponytail woman said with a grass stick in her mouth.


    "Big Sis''s habit of sleeping naked still hasn''t changed at all! Haha!" The man in the convoy teased.


    "Come after me if you have the balls!" The red-haired woman pointed a middle finger towards her back. "You''re trash if you''re just all talks!"


    "I don''t think the person who dares to go after you have yet to be born!" The crowd in the convoy laughed as if they weren''t fazed at all.


    "Tsk!"


    The woman looked at the pile of garbages that was far away as she scanned through the eye-catching remains of the Mechs. "It looks like something big had happened in the region. These were all military grade Mechs and they''re destroyed to this state."


    Baldy nodded in agreement.


    "It looks like they were destroyed by some strong torsion, and shear stress instead of firearms."


    Soon, the convoy arrived at the foot of the garbage mountains. All of them got down of the car, and wore their Half Mechanical Arms that could boost their strength. They then proceed to disassemble the Mechs for useful materials and parts.


    The red-haired woman operated the mechanical arm without any expression. Then, she naturally disassembled the parts. Her movements and techniques were so natural that it would put the mechanical experts from the region to shame. This amazing skill of hers was trained in the radiation belt since she was young. These pair of mechanical arms could not only be used to tear the Mech apart, it could be used to tear a person apart too!


    Her name was East Perrin. She''s the leader of Leo City, largest within the Dawn City. On the other hand, Baldy was her assistant. Regardless if it was physical or intellectual attributes, no radiation people could hope to match them if they did not undergo education or training.


    East Perrin tore down the parts naturally as she observed the others'' actions. Occasionally, she would comment on her underling''s techniques. This sight was incredibly rare among the radiation people. Compared to the other cities, Leo City was one of the extreme minority of the radiation people who teamed up, and worked alongside each other. Although their quantity wasn''t large, they were extremely united. More so, they enjoyed everything together, including having a feast. It could be considered a miracle in the deserted radiation where food was more valuable than gold.


    All these were made possible because of East Perrin''s leadership.


    As East Perrin was tearing down the Mechs and instructing her underling, her hand suddenly jolted as if she had encountered a part that couldn''t be torn apart.


    She regained her focus, and looked at the item in front of her. It was thick, big, and completely black like a dirty black wooden pile. There was even a thin slit where missiles would fire out from.


    "Part of the leg?"


    East Perrin popped her hands out from the mechanical arms, and touched the item with her bare hands. A sudden sensation of frost radiated from the part and into her bone, causing her to sneeze loudly.


    "How could it be this cold?" A hint of excitement started to show on her face. She had been disassembling Mech''s parts for quite a long time now. Occasionally, she would encounter a unique and powerful weapon that was similar to the Quick Frost Bomb. Perhaps this would be one of those Quick Frost Bomb that was yet to be discovered.


    After pondering for a while, she attempted to cut away the Mech''s leg through the small gap in the missile''s chamber. Unfortunately, the small gap was frozen with an incredibly tough ice, and she was unable to cut it away.


    She then decided to carry the whole part up before she threw it into the truck behind her.


    "This is mine and no one can touch this! It may be very dangerous!" She ordered. After that, she continued to search through among the trash.


    It only took them awhile to search through everything, and the convoy left the area afterwards.


    Approximately an hour later, a fleet of black soldiers flew out from the region, to the pile of garbages to conduct a thorough research.


    "I''ve said this before, who do you think would know when this pile of garbages was disposed here? How is it possible for someone to hide inside the remains of a Mech. These were garbages that were about to be burnt to crisps," A soldier complained frustratingly from within.


    "Let''s not care about it that much and follow the orders," Another soldier said softly. "This is Lord Biochemist''s order. We''re fine as long as Lord Fila doesn''t find out."


    "I understand."


    The group of people then took out the Biochemist''s life detector, and started scanning the surrounding.


    Only a small portion of the remains of the Mech was taken away earlier by the convoy. As the majority of the parts were still here, and the damage done to the Mechs were extremely severe, no one could determine which parts were taken away.


    "Say, why do you think Lord Biochemist is so concerned about a wounded man?"


    "Who knows. I heard that this patient has a strong physical characteristic that was similar to a radiation people. So his corpse has a high research value."


    The group of people scanned the area as they discussed. However, they didn''t manage to find anything, so they had no choice but to go back empty-handed.


    Far away inside an invisible flying ship.


    Bamente, the Biochemist frowned as he stared in that direction.


    "Perhaps I have guessed wrongly? Is that mutant really Nonosiva?"


    He lowered his head as he looked at the genetic report, recalling that a merely wounded soldier could push him, who possessed a Level Five Willpower away with that mysterious strength¡­ He was getting excited as his instinct told him that if he was able to find the source of this strength, it would lead him to a path of unrivaled strength.


    He had already known that something was off during the test. Although he suspected that there could be someone hiding inside the remains of the Mech, he didn''t voice out. Instead, he told someone to transport the debris to this location. Unfortunately, Fila wasted his time by asking a few questions, causing him not to be the first one to reach the area.


    After the scanning team had left the area, he got down from the flying ship personally with his scanning equipment. He then scanned the whole area on his own.


    Again, he didn''t find anything.


    "Looks like that mutant was really a mutated Nonosiva¡­" He gave a sigh of relief as he looked extremely disappointed. "What a waste¡­ That man is nowhere to be found. Once the gene has decayed, the information within the gene would become a mess. It would be as difficult as finding liquid substance inside a pile of ashes if I want to obtain anything useful from it."


    Feeling extremely disappointed, he turned around, headed back to the invisible ship, and left the area.


    ***************


    "What? He''s nowhere to be found?!" Fila frowned as he stared at the underling who reported the situation.


    "Rumor has it that he became that overpowered mutated monster. Although we didn''t find any genetic link from that monster, the only explanation is that Nonosiva has turned into that wild monster that destroyed the whole team," The underling replied softly.


    Inside the office, Fila threw the pen in his hand into the pen holder as he opened the document in front of him. He then fiddled with his hair using his fingers.


    "Then, what happened to that monster?"


    "It was severely injured by the Black-Clothed General who was guarding the area, and escaped into the radiation belt. Since half of its body was torn apart, it might not live for long," The underling immediately replied. "According to the Lord Black-Clothed General, that monster shows no sign of intelligence. He only knows how to create chaos. It would kill anything on sight, and does not care for anything else. Sometimes, it would even try to eat the corpse."


    "According to the genetic scientists'' report that was submitted later, the monster''s strength has a limit. Its strength relies on a large scale, one-time use of burning his body''s potential to unleash his true strength. It''s equivalent to burning its own life force. According to the intensity, it can only live for four days at most before its genes are destroyed. With that, it would die."


    He continued speaking.


    "We''ve obtained a huge amount of cards that stored the Universal Units from Nonosiva''s house. We also found a contract agreement to purchase the Rainbow Stones, and Refined Fuel Powder. In addition to that, we also found some good antiques and a captain-ranked model Mech in his garage."


    "What about the incomplete Exclusive Mech from the White Dragon''s Base?" Fila was most concerned about this as the cheapest Exclusive Mech was still much more expensive than a typical Mech. It was the main item of value.


    "It was obtained by the Black Flood Party when they intercepted our men outside of the house," The underling said helplessly.


    "Whatever. This incident ends here. A crippled will be of no threat to us even if he survives." Fila gestured his hand to tell the underling to leave the room.


    After the underling left, he sat back in his seat, and looked at the document that was half organized. After that, he took out a projector and a laptop, in which the former projected out a holographic keyboard as he typed swiftly on it.


    Soon, he entered a colorful pornographic website. As he clicked swiftly, seemingly at random, the webpage suddenly turned black, revealing a cold and pale old man with white hair.


    "The plan is almost done and according to schedule. All we need is your order," Fila said respectfully.


    "All the penetrations are completed?" The old man asked in a deep tone.

 930 Hope 2

    "I''ve put in ten days of effort, and I have figured out its overall movement and tracking. I''ve just sorted them out a moment ago." Fila picked up the normal-looking document as he answered.


    Within this period of time, his main job was to handle these large-scale movements. He had spent countless of days and nights on it. He even read half of the report regarding Nonosiva''s encirclement and suppression that he devised himself before going back to work.


    "Ice Dragon, Dark Light, Thorn, and I have finished our deployment and can proceed with the killing at a moment''s notice," Fila answered as he nodded his head.


    "Be wary of their actions. That man is notorious for his arbitrary," The old man warned.


    "We will. Obtaining intel is my specialty. Don''t worry about it," Fila replied with confidence.


    "Good." The old white haired man nodded his head before he disappeared from the monitor and the pornographic website turned back on.


    Fila closed the website, and started checking every step of the movement that had been arranged. No mistakes were tolerable in this plan as this had been planned for so many years, just waiting for this moment.


    ****************


    Universal Calendar Year 11527, 25th August.


    A huge incident had startled the whole region.


    Peace had been around for many years as war had reached a stalemate. The talented First Seat of Blackboard Region, Black Star Diofie had challenged Maria Region''s top powerhouse, Suanna. Both of them had agreed to fight to death at the Mars Canyon located in the dangerous radiation belt.


    The terrifying power of Inherited Level had doubled the size of the Mars Canyon. What made everyone surprised was that both Black Star Diofie and Suanna had disappeared; they were nowhere to be found. Even the investigation team couldn''t find any trace of them at all.


    Both Blackboard and Maria Region were angered as they, both powerful regions, couldn''t sustain a loss that involved their First Seat geniuses.


    Both parties had voiced out. They blamed the each other''s party and that was the mastermind behind this conspiracy. One would need to have an extraordinary power in order to make an Inherited Level powerhouse disappear.


    The frictions between two regions grew stronger as the frequency of conflict between Black Star and Suanna''s soldiers kept rising. Both regions had increased the number of soldiers standing by at the border, causing the whole situation rather anxious.


    Under this circumstances, Blackboard Region''s new generation was promoted. Medero, Karfi, and Narissis were all promoted to Inherited Level, becoming the new pillars of the Blackboard Region.


    It had been two months since Nonosiva was surrounded, and his parents had received notice that he had become a traitor to the country. All of his property and resources under his name were confiscated.


    The Nonosiva family''s heavenly days were now thrown into an endless abyss¡­


    ***************


    Outside of Blackboard Region was Leo City in the radiation belt.


    The city looked extremely strange as huge black stones were everywhere, and people were living in these weirdly shaped stones. They had used a special instrument to dig into these stones. It was a house that could provide them with warmth and coolness during winter and summer. Some stones were half buried underground, which could be used as a basement.


    The largest black stone inside had been carved into Leo City''s emblem, the lion.


    It was also where the leader East Perrin lived in.


    It was early in the morning as the hunter and Acquisition Team exited the city through the metal gate via motorcycles and trucks at great speed.


    Every day, they went to the radioactive pond nearby to hunt for mutated fish -- it was the main source of food for these radiation people. They would occasionally gather some good tasting fruit. Although it had its illusive side effect, the entertainments in the city were just playing chess, cards, and nothing else.


    The Acquisition Team would head out to the energy harvesters which they had set beforehand. These harvesters were able to absorb light and wind energy to store it in an empty energy battery. It could then be reused as an energy source. At the same time, it functioned as the patrol team, patrolling around the territory.


    With Leo City as the epicenter, their territory spanned about twenty kilometers square wide.


    East Perrin stood by the window on the second floor of her house as she looked at the fleet leaving, she sighed at them. Her red hair was messy and she was only wearing a thin layer of white, half-transparent pajama. There was a lion-shaped scar on her shoulder that was given to her by radiation. She also had a black lion tattoo on her body, which was also the origin of the city''s name.


    It seemed like East Perrin didn''t sleep well last night as she yawned and went back into her bedroom.


    Her bedroom was different from a typical girl''s bedroom. Inside this medium sized room, excluding the bed, it was filled with oil stains, parts, mechanical equipment, and a messy instrument that was half assembled.


    The whole room smelled rather strong and pleasing as it was a combination of her body odor and the smell of the oils.


    East Perrin''s parents were both radiation people. though she had never entered the region before. She had heard stories of the inner region ever since she was young, and that was why she had decided to find a location near the region as a territory.


    With her powerful strength and her mechanical knowledge, she had gathered a group of people. At the same time, she built herself a water purifier with the parts obtained from the garbage pile.


    This water purifier was named as Eve by everyone. It would be able to purify radioactive water down to 10%, which was considered a good technology in the radiation belt.


    With her mechanical expertise, she had built a powerful self-defense system for the city. She even trained a group of maintenance members who were good in these techniques.


    Hence, Leo City was born.


    "It has been so many years¡­" East Perrin grabbed onto her hair as she picked up a mirror, staring at an elegant female face. Though what she saw was a tired looking face instead of the awkward and wild look that her underlings always saw.


    She was only nineteen, but she had learned how to be independent in the radiation belt since she was five. She had killed thirty-two people when she was almost raped at ten. By the age of thirteen, she followed a Pilot who was up to no good, yet she ran away from him after obtaining a technique from him. By the age of sixteen, she had already killed hundreds of people with her own hands.


    In the radiation belt, one could not survive without being cruel. That was the truth.


    "This kind of lifestyle is truly boring¡­" East Perrin shook her head as she tried to throw out the useless dilemma in her mind.


    She then casually picked up an electromagnetic detecting instrument and walked to the corner of the room where the Mech''s leg was placed -- the one that she took away the last time. Almost two meters of the thigh part of the body was black, and it gave off a natural cold and frosty radiation. This had only gradually changed within this period of time, and that made East Perrin very curious.


    She had used many ways to try to open the missile chamber that was located in the Mech''s leg but it was to no avail. Even the with the strength of the larger cutting machine, it was unable to cut it open.


    The hardness of this part had far surpassed any standard hardness scale.


    She picked up the instrument and started to analyze the electromagnetic sensitivity in different areas of the part. Through the sensitivity result, she could combine it with other analysis to determine the weakest point in the part. She would then work her way up from that part, in order to save her time.


    However, through her continuous research, she had found a strange regularity inside the frozen part.


    Once, when she had accidentally spilled over the Life Support''s nutritional liquid onto the part, she surprisingly found a response from the radioactive instrument.


    She had realized that the intensity of radiation on the surface of that part had a slight increased by 0.1 degrees.


    "A response towards nutrients, eh?" She stood up and stroked her chin. "Let''s see how much of a reaction can you give off today!"


    She then picked up a bottle of an overly concentrated, lower grade nutritional liquid which even the radiation people did not dare to ingest. She then proceeded tp opened the bottle cap. The greyish-white bottle contained the thick viscous nutritional liquid that resembled milk. It was so thick that it dripped out in a clump, and fell onto the center of the Mech''s leg.


    A strange phenomenon occurred.


    The surface of the part faintly glowed with a tinge of blue. However, the blue stood out more especially on the surrounding area where the nutritional liquid was dropped on.


    East Perrin crouched down and got closer to the part. She could clearly see that the surface of the part was giving off a faint frosty-white air while it absorbed the nutritional liquid on the surface like a cotton.


    The highly concentrated nutritional liquid was considered toxic towards the radiation people. However, the part wasn''t affected by the slightest. This made East Perrin extremely amazed.


    Beep beep¡­


    The radiation instrument beside her started beeping.


    She reached out her hand and picked it up to see that the reading had increased once more.


    "Its radioactive measurement has increased fifteen times more than the initial value. However, what''s strange is that this cold radiation seems to radiate half a meter out of its surrounding. Hehe¡­" East Perrin couldn''t comprehend such a phenomenon.


    As she looked at thigh part that was quickly absorbing all the nutritional liquid, she suddenly had a wild idea.


    She took a glance at the big bottle of nutritional liquid in her hand.


    "Since you like this so much, let''s see how much can you absorb then!"


    Out of curiosity, she opened the bottle and poured everything onto the leg.


    Silently, the nutritional liquid kept flowing out of the bottle, but the moment the liquid came into contact with the part, the Mech''s part had absorbed all of them clean.


    After that, East Perrin had lost interest in this item. She left for her bedroom after recording down the radiation reading. There were a lot of daily activities she had to deal with within the territory so she couldn''t neglect her duties by just focusing on her interest.


    Within the pitch black space inside the Mech''s part where she couldn''t see.


    Garen was in a fetal position inside the part. Due to his injury, it made his body become as dry as a corpse. However, blue thin lines were madly crawling out from his body and connected themselves to the inner wall of the Mech''s leg as it kept absorbing the radioactive nutrients from the outside.


    Along with the absorbed nutrients, Garen''s body gradually started to wake up from deep hibernation.


    The potential points and the residual inherited blue colored Willpower were still battling against each other within his body. On the other hand, the Living Secret Technique was slowly absorbing the nutritional liquid, growing stronger to the point where his body was finally recovering at a snail''s pace.


    At first, Garen was on the verge of dying. Though after absorbing the nutritional liquid, he was finally able to restore his strength.

 931 Awaken 1

    A distance away from Leo City, an abandoned highway among the remote hills.


    At this moment, a team of men in short braids, riding on red motorcycles was hollering. They were making weird sounds as they whipped the metal chains in the air, constantly forming shadows hovering above their heads.


    "Woo!"


    "We discovered a new town, hahaha!!"


    "Seems like we now have new food!"


    "Eat! Eat! Eat!" Someone yelled.


    On the leading motorcycle, there was a man with the longest whip in his hands. His eyes were slightly swollen, his skin a pasty white. The weird thing was that the braid behind him was different from the others. His black whip seemed to be moving faintly like a living creature, slowly crawling about his neck.


    "It''s been five days since we have eaten, I''m so hungry¡­" The leading man muttered.


    A passerby on a motorcycle slowly moved in the direction of the small town in front, and the town nearby just happened to be the rival of Leo City -- Vulture City.


    The leader of the town was a strong, conceited man with a good hand in heavy artillery skills.


    "The hog we captured just yesterday had said, there are still five towns ahead in front of this region. Most of them survive by relying on garbage rummaging. The town was pretty big, about two-three hundred population. Seems like we will be able to eat some good food!" A motorcycle at the edge picked up its speed, laughing and exchanged smiles with the leader of the group.


    "Take care of the town first!" The Chief raised his right arm up. His fingers were as red as blood, sharp and slender, just like five razor-sharp miniature daggers.


    "Forward!" He suddenly shouted. It was followed by a strong enormous sound wave that erupted from his throat. The entire surface of the road shook ferociously.


    A small town in the distance, under the morning sun at the observatory, a sentinel quickly rang the electronic alarm.


    The continuous beeping sound of the alarm spread in all directions.


    The collection team and the hunting team who were still out working around the area speedily returned.


    The town was a mess. The leader was a brawny man with short hair, who was swiftly making his way up to the observatory. He took the electronic binoculars and looked towards the side.


    "It''s the hunters¡­" The brawny man muttered.


    "Hunters?!! Don''t they just roam around the northeast area? Why would they suddenly come here!" The deputy, who was by the edge, jumped in shock and hurriedly asked.


    "Maybe something happened there, perhaps some other reasons. These monsters were prowling around the area. It''s no surprise that they made it here," the brawny man flung the binoculars to the deputy. "See for yourself."


    He turned to glance at the dozen of young adults who had begun with manpower preparations for the upcoming battle.


    "Prepare for battle!"


    "Huo!"


    The people below raised their firearms, and weapons one by one in response.


    "Boss, we''ve never battled the hunters. Should we go seek backup from the other towns?" The deputy started to feel anxious.


    "What are you afraid of? I''m here!" The brawn man cast a glance of annoyance towards him.


    Hunters, a unique race of the radiation belt, are classified as the humans who were infected by the radiation disease. They practice cannibalism; they are brutal, temperamental, and powerful. However, most of their character had been affected by their instinctive desire to eat. Therefore, their characteristics are a mess - they only know how to attack with instinct. As for slightly complicated logical operations, they have trouble understanding and carrying out simple actions.


    The radiation belt had the highest number of hunters. People who were driven out of the region after being infected by the radiation disease were everywhere. Eventually, they became hunters. This ratio would constitute up to 60%, and as for the rest, they were either dead or objects of exploitations. It would be relatively rare, especially for a normal human, to have the ability to survive.


    The most barbarous thing was that hunters do not have a long lifeline. They only have just about five to six years. In spite of that, their fecundity was extremely frightening. Comparable to spiders, hunters are able to give birth to five or six, seven or eight, even at least ten children at once. Not only that, once someone became a hunter, their body would carry a forceful virus which would be sufficient to infect a normal radioactive person to become the same kind of low-class hunter. This was the most horrible part.


    Fecundity, coupled with the pollution, was a major key to hunters being able to survive in this era of science and technology.


    In fact, they were the highest population in the radiation belt. Normally, radioactive people would build up many defense systems to not only resist the threat of ubiquitous mutated insects but also to guard against them.


    Boom!


    A deafening sound of explosion blasted, severely hitting the army of hunters not far away.


    The huge impact force of the explosion overturned the abandoned road, ripping off the cement road mercilessly. Blocks of cement hit the hunters on their head but only left minor wounds before it bounced away weakly.


    Few of the hunters taking the lead were sporting a bloody face. Wiping their face grimly, they let out a higher-pitched howl. Even their glares toward the town in the distance became more murderous.


    "Kill!"


    "Eat!"


    The group of people growled. Some of them only knew a few simple word pronunciations.


    The entire team was about twenty people. With that, the army formed into the shape of two serpents, and they dashed towards the small town at full speed.


    With a ''bang'', another long-ranged explosion landed, breaking the ground. A hunter was hit by the pieces of rocks and his body burst open on the spot. A mixture of flesh and blood splashed in all directions; the battle had officially begun.


    *******************


    Leo Town.


    East Perrin looked down at the sand model before her.


    The two deputies were crouching by her side, sharing the same frown while staring at the sand model.


    The three of them were the strongest in the entire Leo Town. Both deputies were Level Two Willpower Masters whereas East Perrin was a Level Three Master. That was also one of the vital reason to why she became the leader of Leo Town.


    "Adger who was on patrol duty earlier came over to report that he had spotted sight of hunters roaming about in the Northeast side. I didn''t believe it until Xiao Dong, who just came by, reporting that they have gotten complete pictures of hunters rushing in the direction of Vulture Town. They were almost caught by the hunters too. Imagine if they had been discovered by these monsters, these kids would definitely not be able to make it back!" The deputy, Caster said solemnly.


    "How many were there roughly?" East Perrin placed her index finger in her mouth and began biting them slowly.


    "Looking at the picture, there should be at least twenty of them," Caster replied.


    The other deputy, Mellon was a much older man with a beard that had faint white glows from within.


    "I had once encountered a hunter in a small town somewhere in the East. They may be mad, but they have a strong physique. Some of the stronger ones are even good enough to fight against the mutated beasts, though their lifeline is pretty short. The worst thing is, hunters are cannibals so there will simply be no negotiations. They only kill!"


    "What about their fighting power?" Caster asked.


    "It''s tough, but as long as two Level Two hunters don''t show up at the same time, the others should not be a major difficulty. They''re afraid of firearms, so just take note of the number. It is mainly those Level Two or above hunters who would have the Hardened Skin Ability. Other than explosions, there''s no other way that you can defeat them!" Mellon shrugged reluctantly, "Thinking back to that year when the hunters attacked the town, I still shudder with fear."


    "What do you guys think? Will the Vulture Town be able to hold them down?" East Perrin whispered.


    "I don''t know¡­" Mellon shook his head, "If there are no Level Two hunters, they should be alright. However, if there is¡­ I''m afraid we must be prepared to face a vast amount of hunters. Their rate of pollution is pretty quick¡­"


    What Mellon said sent chills down East Perrin''s, and Caster''s spines.


    "Hopefully the Vulture Town is able to hold them down!" East Perrin stood up, "Immediately release the surveillance drones over Vulture Town. Energy consumption doesn''t matter. This is not the time to save money!"


    "Alright, I shall start arranging everything," Mellon nodded.


    "Don''t forget to check the weapons storage -- how many energy batteries do we still have, how much stock for bullets do we still have. Send a few people from the processing workshop."


    "The processing workshop has only one automatic bullet production line. Sending people over won''t increase production, because only two thousand bullets can be produced within a day. On the other hand, energy batteries are better stocked in comparison. I''m just worried that the ray gun isn''t strong enough¡­" Mellon let out a wry smile.


    "We can''t possibly expect everyone to step up with a blade and fight, right?" East Perrin was getting slightly irritated.


    "What about the other towns?" Caster asked quietly, "If we really can''t do it, why not retreat?"


    "Retreat?" East Perrin was also considering this dilemma. With Mellon, the old encyclopedia by her side, they had a clear understanding of the hunters'' strength and what the hunters were capable of. However, if there were even just two Level Two hunters among the twenty other hunters, they were all in deep trouble. In reality, Level Two hunters were the equivalent of two heavily-armed standard Mechs. Even though this was just a theoretical comparison, a Level Two Pilot would definitely be stronger than a Level Two hunter.


    While the three of them were hesitating, a pager rang from Caster''s waist.


    "Uncle Caster! A hunter just turned up!!" Noises could be heard from the other side.


    "A lot of¡­ A lot!!""Run! Back to town!"


    "Oh my God! There must be at least fifty or sixty of them!!"


    Voices were mixed together, and the three of them were seemingly frowning more and more.


    "What is going on there? Talk!" Caster yelled.


    "They''re everywhere in this town! The town has been surrounded! The whole town has been surrounded! Oh my God!" The one holding onto the pager replied loudly.


    The trio swiftly ran out of the room and approached the observatory to look towards the distance.


    Just one glance and the trio was completely shocked.


    The town was packed with hunters everywhere. Their eyes were swollen, skin a shade of ghastly pale white, black hair with short braids at the back. Each of them was agile and seemed healthy. Some of them even had their disgusting saliva drooling from their mouths.


    From all corners of Leo Town, the collection team and the hunting team had returned. About thirty of them poured into the town and instantly, the construction of Leo Town''s war fortress was resumed.


    Steel gates were fiercely dropped down against the ground.


    Soon, the entire town formed a cylindrical dark gray fortress. The fences and gates were made from a thick layer of alloy that was as thick as a palm. Above the fence stood thirty young men who were holding their weapons, looking downwards.


    A lot of them shared a look of nervous, but most of them had a natural expression. Although they had never come into contact with the hunters, they had experienced a lot of battles, and they were confident in each other.


    The three leaders were calm and confident too, standing on the observatory with composure. This motivated them and brought them the confidence to fight.


    "Attack!" East Perrin raised her arm, shouting into the megaphone handed by the deputy.


    Bang bang bang!


    A series of gunshots began.


    A few hunters were knocked onto the ground, blood oozing out of their heads.


    These hunters did not seem to have a leader, but neither did they seem hungry. They were just wandering around dazed. At this moment, forced by the sound of gunshots, they stopped in their tracks, surveying the whole town.


    Woo!


    Suddenly, a dramatic high-pitched whistling sound could be heard from the distance. It seemed as if a hunter was howling.


    "It''s a Level Two hunter!!" Mellon''s expression paled immediately.


    East Perrin and Caster also felt that the whole situation had just gotten even more complicated.


    "What do we do?!" Caster looked at East Perrin.


    "What''s the speed for hunters?" East Perrin asked in a low tone.


    "Really fast, we probably can''t outrun them," Mellon shook his head.

 932 Awaken 2

    "Then let''s prepare ourselves fully, see if they dare to come through!" There was a look of determination on East Perrin''s face. "We have firepower and defense, our food supply can probably last us for two weeks. I don''t believe they would be able to stick around that long!"


    Both deputies nodded in agreement, and left to quickly survey the surroundings of the town in case there were loopholes in their defense system.


    The defense team was divided into two groups of fifteen men each; one will patrol whereas the other returned to rest.


    Soon, the predators which were gathering outside head towards the direction of the sounds. Not much longer, they were moving as fast as the vehicles, vanishing upon the horizon.


    The people in town let out a sigh of relief.


    However, through her binoculars, East Pirren could see that there were still predators far in the surroundings and still keeping their eyes on this town.


    She then understood better. "We''ve been marked," she thought to herself. The predators may not be smart, but their sense of logic was still there and was sufficient enough to make simple plans and strategies.


    She has witnessed a predator''s speed. If they were to leave this town, it would not take long for the predators to catch up. Without any defense, they would not even have much resistance power to fight back.


    "Guess we will just have to stand strong then." A sense of danger lurked in her mind.


    However, she was not aware that not only this area was compromised. In fact, as long as there was a crack on the ground in the radiation belt, large pack of predators will enter non-stop through the crack.


    They will kill anybody on sight, and destroy any towns they see! They are like wild dogs, generally breaking out into the open once every century but this time it happened earlier and nobody expected it.


    Only the radiation belt will experience this kind of catastrophe. The other territories raised up their own isolation shields, completely cutting off all contact from the radiation belt. The territories looked as if they were islands amongst the sea with their white lights, the Blackboard region''s outpost were also disengaged and commanded to return to the region.


    The territories were strong but they did not expand much, allowing the radioactive people to enjoy and dig out the many minerals around the region and used it to deal business with people from the region. Because of this, they could only maintain their territory and strength this much during the predator wave. It is not that they did not want to expand, but the general folks within the territory had no idea how the predator wave will actually add on to the horror and stress if they do expand.


    The entire surface of the mother planet, all the territories including Central Academy, were just like a cluster of stars distributed randomly at the center of the four cardinal points around the area, were all surrounded by the predators.


    On the other hand, the stronghold of the radiation belt was that everyone was mostly holed up. Such a predator wave would last a day and only withdraw during nightfall.


    Just like that every day. Even if it''s just half a day would give the radioactive people hope.


    *******************


    Nightfall came quietly.


    Even though it was quiet for the whole day, East Perrin was exhausted from the intense pent-up feelings.


    She needs to be at the forefront constantly, to provide support, to calm everyone down and to avoid chaos in town. Being the strongest radioactive person in town, if she herself were to fall, the whole town will surely collapse as well.


    Back in her bedroom, she glanced at the parts of the thigh unit at the corner of the room. Its upper clasp held a bottle of nutrient solution which was already completely absorbed, leaving just a gray crust covering the surface of the component. That was the residue of the nutrient solution.


    "You really did finish it?" East Perrin walked over in surprise and picked up the bottle. Looking at the bottle, it really was empty.


    "Anyways, this highly radioactive nutrient solution was previously used for gardening purposes, we have plenty of it. It will be good to see how much exactly you can absorb!" East Perrin walked out of the bedroom and ordered her people to send over another dozen bottles of unwanted nutrient solution.


    She poured all of the nutrients onto the part.


    The surface of the part was covered with a clear, blue shade of the nutrient solution, and it was being absorbed at a speed that the naked eye could observe.


    "Gee¡­" East Perrin''s curiosity got stronger. Amongst the many kinds of mutated creatures she had seen since she was young, she had never seen such an abnormal transformation.


    And it was inside the unit where she could not see.


    Garen''s curled up body had recovered to his usual size. His eyes flickered slightly and he seemed to be regaining his conscious.


    The strange thing was, the two marks of Energy Machinists which were floating behind him started to glow. The Energy Machinist Key on Garen''s body which was not broken also seemed to be vibrating slowly.


    ''Verifying Level Two energy machinist qualification, are you able to participate in the special ability space market in the vicinity?''


    A subtle sense of Willpower force asked Garen.


    "Energy Machinist¡­ market?" Garen asked in a daze.


    "... Participate."


    ''Confirmation is complete. Commencing separation of Willpower, entering the special ability space¡­''


    Waking up and opening his eyes, Garen glanced around the surrounding darkness. Within seconds, he felt as if he had entered a rainbow-like cylindrical tunnel, flying upwards swiftly.


    Not long after, the end of the tunnel appeared in a form of glowing, white light.


    Flying out from the cylindrical tunnel, Garen covered both of his eyes instinctively to let it slowly adjust to the sudden brightness.


    He was at the plaza which he visited last time. But this plaza seemed to be slightly different.


    Its ground was made of white jade, a water fountain with a levitating leaping dolphin was right in the middle, as if Anti-gravity Skills was used.


    There were not many shops surrounding the square, just five or six. Maybe that was why the plaza seemed relatively small.


    "Garen!!"


    Suddenly, a woman''s voice arose from a distance.


    Garen lifted his head and looked over just to see a haggard Celine running over quickly. They were not surrounded by many people, at most about twenty or thirty people.


    A few energy machinists were squatting by the stalls communicating with the stall owners in silence. Some were standing and asking questions as if investigating something.


    There were also a few who were standing together and exchanging whispers. Celine walked over swiftly without attracting attention, and pulled Garen aside towards a corner.


    "Relax, only you can hear my voice!" Celine said loudly. Her face was filled with joy. "I knew you were alive!"


    "I also thought I will die." Garen shook his head. "Such bad luck, both factions somehow dragged me into their battle. I guess destruction pursues the great."


    "Destruction pursues the great? Nice saying," Celine nodded in agreement, her eyes were slightly red.


    "I''ve been here waiting for you for almost ten days. There is a predator wave, the special ability space is now the only medium to communicate and trade items. Furthermore, all territories in the area are completely out of touch, hence the influence is really small. Even if you are a wanted fugitive, nobody here would care. Heinous energy machinists here are also treated equally, so as long as you don''t disobey the law set by the Federation of Energy Machinists, everything from the outside world no longer matters."


    "That''s great then!" Garen sighed in relief. Thinking back what happened this time around, he did not expect Professor Van Doe to give up on him. On the other hand, their opponent the Divine Wind would definitely not allow the Van Doe faction to have another prodigy, hence seized the opportunity. In the end, the slightly weaker Van Doe side had to retreat.


    A prodigy who was dead or crippled would just be a dead waste, that was perhaps the main reason why Van Doe gave up at the end.


    "Where are you now? If you need help you had better be quick, I''m at the Polar Region already. The protection shield is not closed completely. Have you escaped the territory?" Celine asked quickly.


    "How do you know!?" Garen asked in shock.


    "The energy machinist''s key in your body has a weak signal over here. Besides me, nobody knows you entered this area or crossed over to the special ability space, so I can roughly sense your presence," Celine responded instantly. She looked left and right nervously.


    "Listen, I can''t do much about most of your things. I tried my best with your Exclusive Mech but still wasn''t able to get it back from Fila. I have already hid some of the leftover Mastery Energy Ores earlier. As for the materials for your biochemical pool, I only managed to hide the Mila Cells. The other rare materials that you''ve been collecting this past two years had been taken by Professor Van Doe''s men. If you still want your Mila Cells, I can immediately send it over before the predators break into air territory."


    "Van Doe took them?" Garen was stunned.


    "You don''t believe me?" A look of sarcasm flashed in Celine''s face.


    "When you were at your worst, your professor sent men to your place right away and rummaged the whole place just to find information on how you process the Rainbow Stone. Unfortunately, they came up with nothing. He thought he was secretive enough to hide his tracks well but what he didn''t know was that I had people at your place at all times to keep a lookout."


    Garen remained silent.


    "Now that we''re under their watch, I don''t have time. Other than your family, the men sent by your professor wanted me to surrender your skills information too. Hehe." Celine snickered.


    "There has been zero news from Fila''s side but as for your professor, he''s been sending men every day to keep a lookout on me. What happened to your family was also his doing, Fila doesn''t even bother meddling with your family."


    Garen pondered for a while and asked.


    "What happened to my family?"


    "They were detained. Your sister was captured and sent to Van Doe, God knows what he did to her. I rushed over immediately to bring her out but I think she was drugged as she was heavily disoriented, answering every question I asked. As for your parents¡­their company was shut down and they have disappeared, but don''t worry, I won''t let anything happen to them!!" Celine said firmly in a low voice.


    Garen took a deep breath. Even though he had no feelings attachment towards this dimension''s Nonosiva family, but he was still the reason they were facing such disasters.


    "Thank you." He patted Celine''s shoulder firmly.


    "What are you planning to do?" Celine asked warily, "Please don''t do anything impulsive! You can''t win them!"


    "Don''t worry, I might not be able to make it as a Pilot but I still am an energy machinist." He had a cold glare in his eyes.


    The Seventh Divine Wind General, Van Doe, Fila. Truth be said, he did not blame the Divine Wind General or Fila. As the enemy, using tactics to fight back was normal.


    But what was saddening was that as his own professor, Van Doe did not give him the education and knowledge he needed. Everything he knew about the Black Wind was already something given that people of the Black Flood Party knew already. In the end, he became the sacrifice of a battle between two factions, he became the interest of a trade. The one who gained the most in the end, was still Professor Van Doe himself.

 933 Siege 1

    In reality, all Van doe did was utilized a little energy to activate the Inherited Level to protect him. Even if his prodigy disciple was killed by hostile enemies, the Black Flood Party would compensate and maintained the balance needed but he was certain that this was not what he will only be getting. Compared to parts of the harvest, Van Doe had already gotten more than enough but he was still greedy and continued to do evil.


    "I will return sooner or later¡­don''t worry," Garen muttered. As the top Martial Arts Master, there was no way he would give up this easily because of one obstacle.


    "When do you want the Mila Cells? Just set a venue and I will arrange aircrafts to send it over," Celine said softly.


    Garen understood how sticky the situation was. The other materials needed for the Biochemical Pool could be found easily in the radiation belt, except for Mila Cells which were considered a scarce mineral and not easy to be found.


    "I''m outside the radiation belt, but am not sure exactly where. I actually just woke up from my coma."


    "I can send the cells to your area using aerial drones. I will give you a cipher to receive the signals. Once the drones reach your area, you can use it to open it and retrieve the stuffs. If you don''t use the cipher, it will self-destruct." Celine took out a small, black metal that resembled a matchbox.


    "This is an automatic signal transmitter that will help the drone to locate your Energy Machinist Key''s signal. Once you''ve retrieve the cells, destroy the transmitter immediately. You must remember this! Be careful!"


    "Yes, I understand!"


    Garen know that Celine is most probably the only support he still had within the Blackboard territory. They share a relationship which seemed like master and apprentice, but also good friends at the same time. The pressure that they both faced now was something unimaginable to the ordinary.


    He patted Celine''s shoulder. "You have to be careful too!"


    "Don''t worry, I''ll be fine!" Celine smiled, but it seemed somewhat strained. "Alright, I should leave now before they discover my tracks and send out Energy Machinists after me. Remember, the cipher code is¡­take care."


    "Okay."


    Garen''s heart emptied a little as Celine gradually fade out of view. He felt as if he was the only one left in the world.


    He suddenly thought of Clint, Baylon and the mysterious Red Moon. Perhaps they have already officially embarked on a path of their own.


    Looking around, the Energy Machinists around him were communicating wordlessly with the people, but something seemed different from the last time.


    Moreover, the appearances of these Energy Machinists did not seemed as clean and neat as the people in the territories, but more like the radioactive people in the radiation belt.


    "Is it possible that radioactive people are able to become Energy Machinists?" Garen had this dubious thought in mind.


    He walked into a random shop to look around.


    Inside, rows of counters showed that they were no different from an ordinary store. Several customers were wandering inside leisurely, some of them were bargaining with the pretty sales lady.


    Nobody noticed Garen when he walked in.


    He glanced casually at the items behind the glass counter.


    Navy blue roots, crimson red stones, and a writhing, black, half-grass-half-insect. There were also broken pieces of metal nameplates, and things that looked like fossils of living creatures'' fingerprints.


    Even the names on it were strange.


    Tears of the Sun, Wind Gauntlets, Freezing Stone, Beautiful Roots, Crab Legs.


    "Excuse me, is there anything you need?" Someone came over and ask.


    Garen looked up and saw a young, beautiful sales girl.


    "This is my first time entering the special ability space, may I know what''s the currency used here?"


    "We use Spar Stones, a type of energy stone. To be exact, it''s Energy Crystals. Spar Stone is actually a universal currency, and one of it can be exchanged for 100,000 Mother Planet Universal Units," The friendly sales clerk replied.


    "You''re an Energy Machinist too?" Garen was slightly curious. According to Celine, one can directly bring out the physical objects here, which made him even more curious about this special ability space. However if one can actually do that, the cost of it would definitely be high. Otherwise, Celine would not have risked the danger and sent the drones over, but came over herself to trade directly.


    "Sorry, our sales clerks are not Energy Machinists. We are just ordinary people hired by the Federation of Energy Machinists," The sales clerk answered patiently, and shook her head with a smile.


    "How do I earn Spar Stones then?" Garen asked.


    "Spar Stones can be earned through the sales of patented techniques, completion of delegated tasks, jobs at stores and much more other ways. If you possess of good materials, those can also be sold to gain interest, but it''d better be the top materials because it is slightly difficult to bring physical objects into the special ability space. It comes with a high price, one kilogram of physical object will cost at least 200, 000 Crystals." The sales clerk explained in a hushed tone.


    "200,000 Crystals for just one kilogram¡­" Garen finally understood why Celine would choose such a risky method to transport the Milar Cells. "Can I trade in my Universal Units for Spar Stones?"


    "Sorry, Spar Stones can be exchanged for Universal Units but it is impossible for the other way around." The sales clerk smiled, "Do you need anything else?"


    She could already tell that the young man in front of her was a rookie without an instructor.


    Every year, the ability market would encounter many such rookies. Unlike the other sales clerk, she did not discriminate against the rookies. After all, they were not even comparable to Energy Machinists and had no way to achieve that level. What qualifications do they have to discriminate others? So even if the other person had no intentions of purchasing, she would still be happy to answer all sort of questions to clear their confusion.


    "Sea Sand, what are you doing there? We have customers waiting for you at the reception!" A girl''s cry came from the inside of the shop.


    The sales lady in front of Garen immediately responded.


    "Coming."


    "If you still need anything, please wait for a bit and I will be right back to answer your questions.


    Please excuse me," Sea Sand smiled at Garen apologetically.


    "It''s alright, you go get busy." Garen knew he was now penniless, to be actually served by someone even just for a bit was not bad already.


    "Sea Sand!" The voice urged again.


    Sea Sand gave a small bow towards Garen before quickly dashing back into the store.


    Her friendly service left a good impression with Garen.


    He turned around in the store, once again approaching the counter by the door and discovered Mila Cells there.


    ''Mila Cells: The fundamental cell needed in building an Energy Machinist''s Biochemical Pool. Highly corrosive, radiation resistant, Level Five hardness, with automatic repairing function. Priced at 4,999 Crystals.''


    The small pellets of Mila Cells seemed like a blob of grey brain mass, still slightly squirming. It looked disgusting.


    However, Garen knew that if it is provided with sufficient nutrients and organic matter, a pool-sized mold of a Biochemical Pool would be able to form within just a matter of one hour''s time.


    "5,000 Crystals¡­in order to bring out the special ability space, I''d need another 200,000 Crystals¡­this is definitely something not an ordinary person can afford," Garen shook his head while he exited the shop.


    He turned around to look at the shop''s name: Come Again.


    "This name is actually easy to remember."


    He strolled around the square when he realized that an Energy Machinist stood in front of the dolphin water fountain in the middle of the plaza, and pressed his palm on it. He could not tell what the person was doing.


    He waited for the Energy Machinist to release his hand, opened his eyes and left before he followed suit. He held his hand out similarly and place his palm on the dolphin.


    An icy smooth rush spread within him, and a melodious, electronic female sound rang in his head.


    "Welcome to the teleport system, please select your destination."


    A sheet of translucent panel instantly bounced in front of Garen, on the surface of the panel were each delivery points.


    Above the surface was simply just a model of the Mother Planet, points of lights shone like the stars indicating the choices of destination.


    Garen''s sight fell on one of the points and the edge of the corresponding light immediately emerged into sight with price, the name of location and specialty.


    The planet was turning slowly, there were three large spots which were most attractive, looking as if the moon was surrounded by various shining, bright stars.


    The first one was Polar City, located in the vast ocean.


    The second one was Blue Sky, it seemed that the town itself was always moving.


    The third one was Nagadako Town, which was the brightest spot among the three. At the side of the display, it was introduced as the Alliance City Center of the Mother Planet.


    Garen casually looked around, the cheapest teleport point cost at least five to 600 Crystals, if he were to teleport to any of the three huge towns far away, it would cost up to 10,000!


    "Everything needs money¡­" Garen left the dolphin and recited exit thrice in his head. All at once, he felt his surroundings glow in colors of the rainbow and he was back to the tunnel which he came from in the first place.


    When the dizziness faded, he opened both eyes.


    He was back within the missile compartment of the thigh unit.


    Slightly moving his body, he slowly withdrew his natural Cold Radiation and started controlling the frost which was slowly spreading, accelerating the melting process.


    A thick layer of ice had already formed within the internal part of the thigh unit, gradually melting rapidly as the time increased.


    As time passed, Garen finally saw the opening of the frozen part melt away.


    He reached out his hand to push and all of a sudden, he was sprung out of the unit as silent as a raccoon.


    He was unsure about the situation outside so he got into an alert posture in the first place.


    However, just seconds after exiting the thigh unit, Garen sensed something was wrong.


    In the large bed beside him, a naked, slim girl was asleep comfortably. The bedroom seemed to belong to the girl, the door and windows were tightly locked.


    When he sprung out, he coincidentally landed at the side of the girl''s bed.


    The girl''s skin was fair, and seemed to glow like ivory under the moonlight. She slept like a starfish, and she did not even use a blanket. She seemed like she was muttering something while sound asleep, her long slender legs twitching occasionally, even her toes would move from time to time.


    "Where is this?" Garen moved his sight away from the girl and glanced around. Walking towards the curtains, he gently lifted the curtain and looked out to see the unique architectural wasteland style that only belonged to no other than the radiation belt.


    Grey, dilapidated, but strong and ferocious at the same time, just like a beast drifting off to slumber.


    Just as he released the curtain, he sensed a breeze from his back. Lightly tapping with the back of his hand, Garen dodged to his side and avoided the blow from the back.


    At the same time, his finger tapped on the abdomen of the person behind him.


    Crack!

 934 Siege 2

    The attacker bended her waist slightly, held back the pain, and swung a powerful kick at Garen''s head.


    Bang!


    Raising his arm to to grab the attacking leg, Garen realized that the attacker was the girl who was supposedly sound asleep just now.


    One of her legs was now locked on Garen''s neck. With only one leg standing, she could not use much energy to attack, what more to hide her private area which was now pulled open and clearly seen by Garen. She was not even trying to cover it. She suddenly produced a black dagger in hand and stabbed it at Garen''s waist ferociously.


    "Let go!"


    Garen grabbed her wrist accurately, and with a twist, took down her dagger.


    "Who are you?!" The girl glared at Garen coldly. She tried hard to wriggle her legs to close them but could not exert energy to do so.


    "Were you the one who rescued me?" Garen motioned towards the thigh unit with his chin.


    "You were the one inside?" The girl seemed surprised, then noticed that the both of them were in an inappropriate position and that his eyes were directed at her private parts.


    "Are you having a good look?" Her face turned cold once again.


    "That is none of my business," Garen let go of her and took a step towards the side. There was a glimpse of smile in his eyes.


    With a cold face, she put on her pajamas.


    "Why were you hiding inside?"


    "Take a guess." Garen found a chair to sit down. "This is the radiation belt, right?"


    "You''re from the territory?" The girl understood him. If he was a radioactive person, he would not have asked within or outside the domain because radioactive people were not allowed into the domain.


    "I''m Garen," Garen leaned back in the chair and introduced himself. "Your place seems troubled."


    "I''m East Perrin, and this is Leo Town, a small town in the radiation belt near Blackboard Region for radioactive people. If you are from the domain, you should''ve heard about the predators'' wave then?" East Perrin explained swiftly.


    "I don''t care who you are, where you are from, and what your background is. Our biggest trouble now is that the predators will be attacking soon. If we don''t have a solution to that, we will all die here! So do you have any ideas or strategies? If you don''t, I believe you should help contribute and see how to help us defeat the predator wave."


    Garen may have showed up in an odd way, but she had no time to find out who he was ¨C not during a dangerous period like this, anybody who popped out will surely be food to the predators and won''t be able to escape. An extra pair of hands means one more share of strength.


    "Well, you sure are straightforward. Predator wave, huh?" Garen came across it from the academy Inner Courtyard''s library. If it was not for his elite rank in the Inner Courtyard, he would not even had a chance to read about the predator wave.


    Predators were extreme mutated humans. They looked like normal human beings on the outside, but they in fact had already detached from the general human species and became a completely different species of their own.


    The predators were extremely atrocious. Long-range attack meant nothing to them as they have hard and tough skins which greatly deflect the force of ray guns and other long-ranged firearms. Only short-ranged attacks and explosives would inflict the biggest harm on them.


    These were private and confidential information stored in the library, not to be leaked to others.


    "Aren''t you worried that I''m a bad person?" Garen regarded the girl standing in front of him with respect. She was charmingly bold.


    "I don''t care if you''re a bad person or one of the good guys, as long as you''re human, you''re going to die when the predators come attacking." East Perrin started to suit up and put on her full armor.


    "If we go according to rules, I should have you locked up and keep you under surveillance for a period of time. However, we do not have sufficient manpower now. So if you don''t want to die, you better come with us and help to defend."


    Garen laughed.


    "Do you think I''m joking?" East Perrien glared at him coldly. "Follow me."


    She quickly unlocked the door and walked out.


    Garen followed her out of the bedroom. It was an an ordinary second-floor corridor with iron railings. Down the stairs on the left, ten or so men were squatting in the open space. They looked tired and drained. An elderly with a white-gray beard came over and looked at Garen.


    "Perrin, who is he?"


    "An unlucky bastard who was seeking refuge in the Mech''s missile compartment," East Perrin replied casually. "What''s the situation now?"


    "Most of the predators have moved to Vulture Town. I tried using my wireless signal to contact the people there but there was no response, most probably¡­" Malone muttered.


    "Damn it!"


    East Perrin frowned.


    "If we go on like this, we will die from being siege alive!"


    Listening to their conversation, Garen observed that the men around did not look happy when they saw him walking out from East Perrin''s room..


    He did not mind, though. His powers have yet to be regenerated. If East Perrin were to attack him with Willpower force, he would be dead meat; but it was pretty obvious that this girl did not know any Willpower techniques.


    After all, these techniques were exceptionally rare to achieve within the domain.


    Without any Willpower force techniques and based on his current physique, if he was up against these people who just throw punches and kicks, it would simply be a unilateral massacre.


    "You guys do now that the predators are less active at night?" Garen could not bear the pointless discussion going on beside him and decided to butt in.


    "At night?" East Perrin was stunned for a moment. "How do you know?"


    "Me? I was a former top student after all." Garen smiled. "Let''s go, we''ll have a look at the situation from above the wall first."


    East Perrin glanced at Malone, and he nodded giving his consent.


    "Alright."


    East Perrin and Garen casually greeted the others who were resting before she led him to the interior wall''s ladder to climb up the ten-meter high black iron enclosure.


    Garen assumed that the predator wave just started and would not be much of a problem. They could leverage nighttime to rest and defend again during the daytime.


    However when they reached the top and he had a good look at the surroundings through the infrared binoculars, he was instantly speechless.


    "How can there be so many of them!!?" His face fell all of a sudden.


    Standing beside him, Malone and East Perrin were devastated once again. They thought that as someone from the domain, Garen would be knowledgeable and would be able to come up with some sort of strategy. They both had their hopes high, but it seemed like their only glimmer of hope has also vanished.


    Garen was astonished. The predators'' shadows could be seen everywhere. Huddling close and tight together, there could be more than hundreds of them. They do not even know if there were any Level Two or even higher level predators among the crowd.


    He was only left with Level One Willpower, and his Energy Machinist Willpower was not fit for battle. He had only his martial arts skills but that will not help much. The defense set up by the predators was not something he could easily defeat as well; the most he could was to kill ten of them but the others would just swarm up and he would be screwed for sure.


    "This is troublesome¡­" Setting down the binoculars, Garen looked grim.


    "You''re from the domain, do you have any ideas? If it''s troublesome, that means there''s still hope!" East Perrin''s eyes flashed as she asked quickly.


    "I do have an idea, but it all depends on when will the predators attacking and how long are your people able to delay the attack," Garen replied lightly.


    If only he was alone, it would be much easier. He could just simply pop a Distortion Seed in and he would stand a chance to escape already. However, one of the biggest disadvantages of consuming the Distortion Seed was that it is uncontrollable. Besides the host''s body, the parasites would madly attack any other living creatures around until the host finishes all potential and the genes crash.


    In other words, once he relies on the Distortion Seed, he might kill everyone around him, including East Perrin who saved his life. That was something he did not wish to happen.


    Furthermore, if there were higher ranked predators with extraordinary speed and power around, using the Distortion Seed will not help much as well.


    "Then tell us, what should we do!?" East Perrin asked immediately.


    "Just drag the time, all I need is time!" Garen recalled some strategies from an Energy Machinist recording. If there was a Biochemical Pool, he could actually process his own cannon fodder. In addition to the Distortion Seed, he can produce longer lasting cannon fodders that would not easily crumble so fast. With that, he would be able to increase their defense system immensely. The dead bodies of the predators could also be used to process new materials for the cannon fodder too.


    "How long, exactly?" East Perrin asked in a hushed tone.


    "I don''t know, but I''m waiting as well. At least we still have a glimmer of hope, right?" Looking at the distance, Garen replied softly.


    Malone and East Perrin were silent.


    He was right, this was better than no hope at all.


    "I''ll go calm everyone down," She turned and went down the ladder.


    With the predator siege for the past few days, the people were frightened. They did not know how long would the predators stay, but their food supplies could only last for just a week. If they were still under siege after a week, nothing mattered anymore because they were going to starve to death.


    Malone remained above the wall, staring at Garen.


    "Young man, we are now in the same boat, none of us can escape. Even if we are able to hold our defense, what about our food?"


    "What do your people eat before this?" Garen asked.


    "Mutated fish from the radiation lake."


    "The predators can be eaten also..." Garen said lightly.


    Malone shuddered. He felt a chill rising up behind his back. This was something said by one who have never eaten it before.


    Staring at Garen''s back, his guts told him that the future of Leo Town will change because of this young man.


    Malone turned around and left.


    Garen continued to stay up and looked around when all of a sudden, sounds of panic could be heard from below.


    "Caster! Caster has escaped!"


    Somebody was yelling. It sounded like chaos below.


    One of the gates opened and a motorcycle rushed out in full speed. Its engine was roaring and ejecting blue flames similar to those by a Mech.


    "Damn it! He took the only power furnace we have!"


    "That was the only power furnace in the processing workshop!! If we don''t have weapons we''re screwed! Damn you, Caster!!!"


    "Half of the drinks are gone! Even the food!" One by one, the voices were getting louder.


    Garen looked at the motorcycle charging ahead as fast as lightning towards the North where the number of predators were the least.


    "An escapee? If there''s a first there''s going to be a second¡­" Garen murmured.


    Below, East Perrin and Malone were both staring grimly at the motorcycle rushing across the distance through the embrasure.


    As one of the three leaders of the town, Caster had the nerve to run away himself. Not only did he dare to bring along almost half of the town''s food supplies, he even took the only power furnace in town that was used to produce firepower.


    "Without the power furnace, we won''t even have our production line anymore!" Malone said solemnly.


    East Perrin bit her lips but remained silent, her nails digging into her palms hard. The small glimmer of hope they originally had moments ago just became a little smaller¡­

 935 Imprint 1

    Boom!


    An explosion was heard in the distance.


    The motorcycle elevated high into the sky. It was rushing towards the predator crowd when it wanted to elevate up and sweep through them when an unknown force smacked it hard. With a loud bang, both motorcycle and human exploded in pieces.


    "I knew it," Garen muttered, staring at the flames from above the wall.


    It did not take long for East Perrin and Malone to climb up. Seeing the flames, they were silent with a grim expression in their eyes.


    "We are surrounded completely. The predators are taking their time, devouring and digesting people from the other towns first. We''re no different from animals waiting in the slaughterhouse," Garen sneered. "That guy was delusional to escape in the first place, he was seeking death."


    Malone and East Perrin were dead silent.


    The noisy crowd below went silent. They now know that Carter did not make it. Any remaining glimmer of hope seemed to vanish now. Carter still failed to escape even when using a Mech''s power furnace as his motorcycle engine ¨C his death may helped to vent their spleen, but it was still somewhat tragic and sorrowful.


    Turning back, Garen saw that East Perrin seemed to still be in a daze without any reaction. He scoffed.


    "Go down and keep an eye on the people, be careful of them feeling resigned and abandoning themselves as despair would only increase their radiation level! With the increase in the levels, they can turn into predators. This is a way to avoid death, and this would not be the first time for anybody to do so."


    East Perrin had yet to recover from her daze. Not only did the betrayal of her deputy of many years hit her hard, but the fact that she could barely see a trace of hope made her mentally exhausted. She did not know what to do.


    Smack!


    Garen smacked her hard on the butt.


    "Go!"


    East Perrin came around and glared at Garen.


    "You just asked for a fight!"


    "You can''t beat me anyway," Garen said lightly.


    East Perrin knew Garen was not just sitting around waiting for death, once again she held onto this glimmer of hope to live on, then quickly made her way downstairs to watch out for her people. Although the people of Leo Town were slightly more cooperative, but if someone like Caster betrayed, there might just be a second Caster¡­and a third Caster.


    Malone looked at Garen deeply. Even he would not know how to escape in such a situation, but this young man¡­the look in his eyes was not despair, but tenacious and perseverance.


    Turning around, he followed East Perrin down.


    At a time like this, Garen''s unknown past did not matter. Under such extreme circumstances, even if there were other plans and if it did not work, they will all die anyway.


    Other than believing in Garen, they did not have many choices left.


    Even finding explosives to blow up and perish together was not a plan, the town did not have many explosives.


    As the both of them left, another duo came up to Garen -- a male and female with strong physiques, looking strong and courageous.


    "Uncle Malone asked us to come assist you, just give us the orders and we''ll help!" The guy said in a loud voice.


    Garen nodded.


    "Just let one-third of the people to guard above now and let the others rest. They simply won''t survive with just two shifts." Garen started giving orders immediately. These two were also the first step for him to understand the authority power in this town.


    However, he would not care less if he had power over the town, what could he possibly do with a town of thirty, forty people at most?


    "Alright." The man went to pass the word to Malone.


    Garen looked at the woman left behind.


    "Go gather all the high radiation food in town, I''ll need it."


    "Got it!"


    The woman nodded.


    "Once you''re done, update your leader East Perrin. I shall go have a rest. Oh, bring me some food, please." Garen added.


    The woman seemed reluctant to do so, but headed down anyway.


    Garen had one last glance at the distance before going down. According to the predators'' nature, they would not attack at nighttime. He felt at ease, the ten people above the fence should be sufficient to guard the town for now.


    Not wanting to greet people, he asked East Perrin to arrange a room for him to rest.


    After eating a plate of gooey mashed potatoes, he was full. Closing the door so that people would not disturb him, he held onto his Energy Machinist''s key and his Willpower gradually slowed down.


    He could feel the key emitting small vibrations towards his head. It was just what Celine had said about the function of the black box which would always send out transmitting signals.


    "I still have no idea how long do I need to wait to get the Mila Cells¡­" Garen let out a long sigh. If he could choose, he seriously did not want to use the uncontrollable Distortion Seed. The best plan was using a Biochemical Pool which is controllable, and a Distortion Seed to increase its radiation rate. With that, he would be able to form the perfect controlling formation strength. He read this in an Energy Machinist training book once and after all sorts of theoretical calculations, he was sure this would work.


    "I should go find an Energy Machinist Imprint first, or else I can''t even produce the most basic cannon fodder. Without the imprint, designing our own cannon fodder beings would cost a great deal. I need at least a large-scale quantum computing power constantly calculating for three months straight. That would be the lowest level of computing power. An Energy Machinist''s computing power in terms of biochemical models would be much stronger compared to a quantum computing power."


    An Energy Machinist Imprint was considered as a completed biochemical organism model which only needed raw materials to continuously produce cannon fodder using the Biochemical Pool. For example, calculating the experiment bench process, the model made through the imprinting process would act as the model. Once the raw materials were added in, the next batch of cannon fodder could be produced already. The efficiency would be extremely high.


    Not only that, some popular Energy Machinist Imprint went through rounds of improvements by Energy Machinists; as compared to the new cannon fodder he developed himself which reached decent levels regardless of saving of raw materials, power, speed, maintainability, or the stability of its form.


    That was why Energy Machinists will purchase the Energy Machinist Imprints that they require personally, then make further improvements from its basic core, unless they were those from the Federation of Energy Machinists who were always running experiments in the laboratory.


    It was safe to say that every capable Energy Machinist was also a chemist, biologist, and a geneticist.


    The melodious sound of the robotic female voice sounded again.


    ''Please select your trading point.''


    Garen had entered the rainbow-like cylindrical tunnel once again and right in front of him was a piece of translucent panel which was displaying the possible trading points nearby.


    Garen could see his own spot that was marked with a clear red spot while there were another three points nearby. Two of them were slightly brighter, whereas the other one was slightly dimmer as if it was going to blow out any moment.


    He tried to connect his Willpower to the brightest spot.


    ''Jade Workshop: This is a private space. The owner is Energy Machinist, Harbin Jasper. Entrance fee is one Crystal.'' The feminine voice explained.


    Garen smiled bitterly as he looked at himself. His hand rummaged around for a bit and quickly came across the black key which clearly showed his current financial status, which was a zero.


    ''Your Spar Stones are not sufficient. Please come back after reloading.''


    The robotic, feminine voice said again.


    Garen tried to find another spot but all the others needed a cost of one Crystal and there were no other free trading points around. He actually just wanted to go the free trading point from earlier on but unfortunately, the timings were not fixed, and are only open from time to time.


    He tried the third spot last, the one that was getting dimmer by the second.


    ''Coco Biochemical Shop: This is a private space, anyone may enter anonymously. Entrance fee is not needed.''


    "Fortunately I still have somewhere to go." Garen sighed in relief. He wouldn''t have known how else to produce an Energy Machinist Imprint which has the most complicated Willpower structure. In reality, it was equivalent to using an Energy Machinist''s Willpower as the main material, add on a few other items and a precise computing calculator would be built.


    Some people might think that just a mere change in Willpower would not change a thing.


    Yet the earliest computer was actually just a combination of various metals and other sorts of material then assembled together. If there was no structural assembling, the computer would just be a bunch of separate raw materials without any meaning to it.


    After selecting the trading point, Garen instantly felt his body accelerate and soon, he was flying through the rainbow tunnel once again before reaching the entrance.


    The glowing white light was not as dazzling as before.


    Garen landed on the ground lightly and began eyeing the surrounding environment.


    It was a brown, empty wooden hut but with a store layout. Dimmed lightings hung on its walls. As its yellow light shone down, there was an odd sense of tranquility.


    There was an L-shaped counter, but not much of the things could be seen behind its glass. The store should be the size of a small basketball court but there were only three customers in it including Garen. The customer in front was talking to a little girl behind the counter, but they did not seem to have reached a common ground. The customer turned and shook his head slowly before disappearing, obviously fed up and left.


    The red-haired little girl behind the counter tugged on her ponytail, but her pretty oval face seemed to look disappointed. She has on a light brown apron as a uniform. Tall and slender, her physique matured well with a slim waist and full chest.


    The other customer seemed to be just browsing and had no intentions of buying. The entire store screamed of loneliness.


    Garen walked a few steps to the front and looked at the awards hanging on the side of the wall that was framed by wooden frames. There was also a huge silver bull''s head with two sharp horns.

 936 Imprint 2

    "That is the golden award for the Silver Horn Energy Machinist Competition which our store won!" Seeing Garen looking at it with interest, the girl squeezed a smile on her face and walked over to introduce it to him. She looked like she was only 14 or 15 years old. She was very tired at this time, but she still had to take the initiative to serve the customers.


    "I''m sorry, I am not here to buy anything." Garen apologized, and pointed to a job advertisement on the side. "I''m a rookie Energy Machinist, only Level Two. I''d like to get a job to earn some crystals."


    After the little girl heard of this, her originally revived spirit immediately diminished.


    "Oh, looking for a job...we do need OEMs. You can see that the things on the counters aren''t in order. We sell Energy Machine Imprints and auxiliary materials. Many things need to be processed by ourselves after we have purchased them, especially the subtle processing of the materials. The Energy Machine Imprint also requires someone to fine-tune and inspect it. Besides that, the store is also lacking staff. But the wages...is a little low."


    "How much?" Garen nodded.


    "How about two hundred crystals a week?" the little girl said cautiously.


    Garen did not know about the market rate at all, but only frowned and looked at the little girl.


    "Can you call the shots here?"


    "Yes, this is my shop." The little girl nodded. In fact, in the general market, there were a lot of things that could be done by a Level Two Energy Machinist. The price of two hundred crystals a week was very low as the normal price was four hundred crystals a week. However, this shop was almost unsustainable. It was even almost impossible to preserve this ancestral point and the annual maintenance fee was also unaffordable. Without more hard work, the position in this special ability space might be completely eliminated before long.


    "My name is Lan. This shop is under my grandfather''s name. He is sick now, so only my senior brother, senior sister and I are taking care of the business together," the little girl explained briefly.


    Garen nodded, but what he needed most now was the Energy Machine Imprint. Everything else was not important. Furthermore, the cheapest Energy Machine Imprint was very expensive, something that he could afford at all.


    "I am alright with the offer, but I am in some trouble and urgently need an Energy Machine Imprint. I wonder if you can give me an Energy Machine Imprint in advance. The lowest grade is fine too." He had no choice now. The predators may attack the town he was in at any moment. If he did not quickly strengthen his defense ability, regardless of how strong he was, he would still die when faced with an endless sea of predators..


    "In advance?" the little girl looked at him blankly. "I''ll have to go back and ask...but if you agree, you must come over to finish the minimum requirement of the OEM tasks in a week after signing the contract. Otherwise, the special ability space will regard that you broke the law and you will very likely lose your eligibility to re-enter the space. You have to understand that."


    "If that''s how it is, then it''s not a problem." Garen nodded. He had no other choice. He could not go to any other shops as he was penniless. The conditions here might not be good, but this was his only choice.


    There were also two other shops which might offer higher wages but he could not even get in.


    He watched as the little girl turned back and walked into the shop.


    Garen wandered around in the shop. There were indeed not many things on the counter. There were very little types of Energy Machine Imprint, only five or six types. All were either of aqua category or ground category. There was not the more popular aerial and underground imprints.


    Aerial cannon fodder and underground cannon fodder were relatively decent Energy Machine Imprints. For example, the color-changing bat could execute long-distance invasion and its concealing strength and durability were strong. Because it could discolor and be in a stealth mode for a long time without consuming much energy, it was much more durable than the general imprints.


    Another example was the underground earthworm, which could go deep into the earth to look for hidden underground bases. It was very popular in some special environments. Its concealing strength was very strong and it had certain toxins.


    These were very decent peripheral cannon fodder.


    However, there was none of it here. There were only ordinary wild wolf and saber-toothed tiger -- these general power cannon fodder creatures were large-in-size with short endurance time.


    Of course, a wild wolf and a saber-toothed tiger will have stronger frontal combat capabilities compared to the color-changing bats. However, in this technological era, you may possess great physical strength, but if you lack the ability to dodge could cause you to be shot down.


    Therefore, ordinary, medium and large-sized biological systems were the lowest-priced Energy Machine Imprints.


    Energy Machine Imprints called for faster speed, better accuracy, and more powerful.


    Garen scanned over them again and only saw the wild wolf and saber-toothed tiger. Others were aqua cannon fodders. This place was a 100, 000 miles away from the sea, so it was only natural that these imprints could not be sold off.


    Shaking his head, he heard the sound of footsteps. Looking up, he saw the little girl Lan walking out, followed by a tall, thin young man.


    The man was dressed in a white apron, both hands wearing metal gloves that were stained with oil. His face was weary and he looked tired. He looked to be not more than 20 years of age, roughly similar to Garen.


    "Hello, I''m the disciple of the boss here, Mincar. Are you the one who want to work as an OEM?" The man came over, opened the counter door and stopped in front of Garen.


    "Yes, that''s me." Garen nodded.


    "So, what can you do? Have you had any prior experience?" The man asked with a hint of expectation. "I''m sorry to ask this although the salary is so low. This is also to make it easier for you to get into the state of working."


    "Err..." The question caught Garen off guard. He had not even been inside the special ability space for a few times, let alone what work he had done. "To be honest, I am a rookie Energy Machinist and I do not even have an Energy Machine Imprint, let alone be a helper or held any job before."


    He answered frankly. It was difficult to cover up in this kind of place, so he might as well be honest and straightforward.


    "A rookie?" A trace of disappointment flashed across Mincar''s face, but he also nodded understandingly. "I understand. If you were an Energy Machinist with work experience, I guess you wouldn''t come here to work for us that easily."


    He paused. "Is this arrangement alright with you then? Currently, there are only me and my other junior sister working in our shop. Lan is responsible for sales, but we are only good at aqua and ground biochemical imprint processing. We don''t know other aspects at all. I am now trying to carry out the imprint processing of aerial unit. For the ground imprint processing that I was originally responsible for, I will give you a part of the workload. You just have to complete one piece a week. It shouldn''t be a problem, yeah?"


    "One?" Garen nodded. The lowest grade of imprint would also require thousands of crystals. It was not what he could afford. Completing a ground imprint a week did not seem to be a difficult task. "I have not tried it before. Could I give it a try first before saying more?"


    "Sure."


    They took Garen into the inside of the shop and into another workshop-like room.


    Inside were some sphere-like floaters. There were dozens of silver spheres hovering by themselves, each of different sizes. They were transparent and their contents could be seen clearly from the outside.


    Each of the spheres was like an embryo that was gestating. Inside was a colourful swirl that was whirling non-stop and in it there seemed to be a multi-coloured milky way, which was exceptionally beautiful.


    Mincar pointed to the biggest sphere and introduced.


    "This is the Energy Machine Imprint that is being processed and nurtured, a lion-tiger imprint. The smaller the size of an Energy Machine Imprint, the more functions it has and the more powerful it is, the more complex the calculations will be. The Energy Machinist must always follow closely the data variation in the Cultivation Sphere to guide and weave the gene strands we need during the pivotal steps and inject our Willpower. The imprint that is finally bred will record all the processes within the Cultivation Sphere."


    He tapped the sphere and smiled wryly.


    "Of course, in this cultivation process, the fewer the mistakes, the more perfect it is. This is because for every mistake, even if it is corrected later on, the Energy Machine Imprint that is bred out will commit the same mistake when creating cannon fodders in the Biochemical Pool. It will be a waste of time and material. Every time they are wasted as such, through accumulation, the quality of the whole imprint will be greatly reduced."


    "That is true." Garen nodded in understanding.


    "The general standard is that no more than five mistakes should be committed, either that or the waste rate cannot exceed ten percent," Mincar explained simply.


    "When we operate the Cultivation Sphere, all the operations will be recorded by the Energy Machine Imprint. The smoother the process, the more perfect the final imprint will naturally be and the lesser the loss. We are like inscribing sections of programs on the imprint. These programs are irreversible. The mistakes can only be remedied and cannot be altered. Therefore, every mistake will directly determine the quality of the final imprint. This is the making of an Energy Machine Imprint."


    Lan, standing on the side, also nodded and said.


    "So, during the making of an Energy Machine Imprint, a person usually only specializes in one type. Cross-domain operation is only looking for death. Apart from the old monsters who have too much time to spend, the rest of the people won''t even think about it."


    "You little girl," Mincar smiled bitterly and shook his head. "Do you think I wish to do so?"


    Listening to all these helped Garen to better understand now.


    They were like burning CDs. The person who bought the imprint was like playing a CD. Each time they created and bred biochemical cannon fodders, it would akin to them playing a CD. The more mistakes there were on the CD, would affect whether the playing of the CD was smooth or not; whether there would be glitches in the middle; whether the picture was clear or not, or it was blur, et cetera.


    "It''s good that you understand." Mincar nodded. "If you have agree, you can sign a contract here. We can agree to give you an Energy Machine Imprint in advance. After all, even if you didn''t mention it, we will still do the same because the efficiency of an Energy Machinist without an Energy Machine Imprint is extremely low. That is not what we want. As for the type of Energy Machine Imprint, you can pick it yourself. You can have any of it that is in the shop. There is nothing very good anyway. The cost of it will be directly recorded in your pay and gradually deducted from it."


    "Alright."


    Garen nodded with satisfaction.


    "When do I start work?"


    "Tomorrow. You can first choose your imprint and familiarize yourself with the use of it today. I will teach you how to operate the Cultivation Sphere tomorrow." Mincar instructed. "How long do you plan to work?"


    "Let''s try one month."


    "Fine. I will prepare the agreement then."


    "Alright." Garen agreed and took the contract that soon appeared in Mincar''s hand. After reading it once and making sure that there were no traps, he quickly signed his name on it.


    Dang!


    With a light sound, the contract smoked and turned into black soot in Garen''s hand.


    "This represents that the contract is in effect." Mincar nodded. "Lan, please take him to choose an imprint. The price will be calculated at the cost price."


    "Got it." Lan was smiling. She pulled at her red, long ponytail, turned around and gave Garen a friendly smile. "How do I call you?"


    "Garen." Garen smiled. "Just call me Garen."


    "How terrific, Brother Garen. At such a young age, you are already a Level Two Energy Machinist. Your teacher must be a very profound Energy Machinist, right?" Lan brought Garen out of the workshop room and returned to the shop outside.

 937 Plight 1

    "I didn''t have a teacher. It was all self-taught and it took me six years," Garen used the previous story again.


    "Self-taught?! Is that possible?!" Lan was so shocked that her eyes widened. "I have tried many times and I couldn''t do it! I haven''t even passed Level One now..." She was saddened. "It''s been seven years... Grandpa taught me since I was young."


    "Er..." Garen didn''t know what to say.


    They walked slowly along the counter.


    "Brother Garen, you can pick whatever you like. Our business has been getting worse and worse after Grandpa fell ill. After selling off the previous stocks, senior brother and sister had to do some not-so-good quality imprints themselves and sell them to support the shop."


    She whispered. There was no one in the store anymore. The last customer who was only having a look around had also left. The soft lights that were dim reflected the silent surrounding. Only Lan''s voice echoed a little.


    Garen nodded silently and listened to Lan''s introduction while scanning the few kinds of Energy Machine Imprint on the counter.


    "All the imprints uses basic Level One imprint as the main body. The seniors are all Level Three Energy Machinists. They have insufficient computing power to process Level Two Energy Machine Imprint. The Energy Machine Imprint is divided into two parts, computation and production. The computation part is the main body, which had to be purchased from the Federation. It is the part that is responsible for the calculation and increasing the Energy Machinist''s computing power. The production part is what you just saw. It is responsible for controlling and guiding the production of cannon fodder in the Biochemical Pool. The processing part that we are in charge of is the second block," Lan introduced, slowly moving forward.


    "In other words, we purchase semi-finished products and then process them into finished products before selling them, right?" Garen asked.


    "That is the case. However, all the main bodies of Level One imprints are similar and the computing power is increased by a factor of three. The key lies in the second block of the processing of the Production Mod. If an ordinary imprint main body met a powerhouse who could process it into a decent Production Mod, for instance, the powerful cannon fodder such as the demon worm, then there will be a leap in price," Lan said with some envy.


    "That''s how it is..." Garen nodded to express understanding. Although he did not want to decide on his first imprint this rashly, there was no other way. The situation now was critical and time did not allow him to carefully make a choice.


    His sight swept across the counter and landed directly on the Wild Wolf.


    "That one then. Wild Wolf Imprint."


    He pointed to the Energy Machine Imprint on the counter and said.


    "Are you sure you want that?" Lan asked.


    "Yup, I''ll have that." Garen nodded.


    "The Wild Wolf is fast in speed, has sharp claws and is capable of night vision, but its defense is not good. This imprint is a proud work done by senior brother. I will give you the best one. The wastage rate is only five percent. It is one of senior brother''s proudest work," Lan deftly retrieved a gray shimmering soft object from a small cabinet under the counter.


    All the Energy Machine Imprints were like different colors of cotton candy, soft and without shape.


    "Are all Energy Machine Imprints like this?" Garen asked curiously.


    "Of course not. This is only a Level One Energy Machine Imprint and it generally can be used by Level One Energy Machinist. There are also Energy Machine Imprints used by Level Two Energy Machinists, or Level Three, Four, Five. When you have money later on, you can equip yourself with a Level Two Energy Machine Imprint once you reach Level Three. Remember, it is very hard to change this stuff once it is fixed. Like primitive cells, once you have already developed them into a piece of beef, if you want to change it into a bovine bone later on, it will be very difficult," Lan exclaimed.


    "I understand," Garen nodded.


    "Looks like you really don''t know anything," Lan shook her finger and said, "well, this is for you," she handed the imprint and put it into Garen''s raised hand.


    "Eat it. When you go back and retrofit, it will be painful. Just endure it and it will be fine. It generally lasts for an hour. Remember to pay attention to safety. This is the time when an Energy Machinist is most vulnerable. Regardless of how powerful an Energy Machinist is, it''s all the same."


    "Got it."


    Garen nodded solemnly.


    After an indistinct twist of color, Garen suddenly returned to his room.


    He raised his hand and saw that he was holding a clump of shimmering gray cotton.


    "This is the Wild Wolf Imprint?" He did not hesitate and stuffed it into his mouth.


    What was strange was that when that thing touched the mouth, it immediately whooshed inside, as if it was a living thing. It slipped down the throat like liquid and it was cold, like gulping a bowl of ice water.


    Garen barely swallowed and felt a tumble in his stomach.


    The Willpower behind his head slowly vibrated, as if there was something cold that was radiating out a lot of silk tentacles, slowly wrapping around the two imprints at the back of his brain.


    With a whirring sound, a sudden huge shock rushed into his brain and Garen felt a cramp in his stomach, like the churning of rivers and seas. He felt like vomiting. Feeling nausea, he began to burp and continuously spurt out unpleasant gas.


    White spots appeared before his eyes as if someone was using their fingers to firmly press on his eyes. He saw many white spots dispersing non-stop.


    He leaned forward and suppressed the pain as he walked to the room''s single-seated sofa and sat down, taking a deep breath.


    Although this kind of nausea and pain was unbearable, it was nothing to Garen. The pain of reworking his heart was much stronger than this. After a slight adjustment, he was able to stay calm and move about freely. However, the faint beads of sweat on his forehead showed that he was not in a good condition at this time.


    After adapting to this severe pain, Garen headed to the side of the window. The sky had already lit up and it seemed to be early in the morning.


    Weird sound like the howling of wolves could be faintly heard outside in a distance, but this surrounding terrain could not possibly have wolves. Even if there were, they would have been annihilated by the radiation people. The only possibility was the Predators.


    "It''s about to begin..." Garen murmured. Looking at the horizon where the sky was in the distance, he hoped everything would be well.


    Even though he was in the room, he could feel the tremendous pressure from the people walking around on the outside.


    Anxious, uneasy and forcing themselves to calm down, that kind of repression.


    This was the entire mien of the thirty or forty people in the whole of Leo City.


    Through the window, Garen saw someone holding a sharp metal spear and was swinging it around non-stop. There were some who were constantly rubbing their hands, sitting on the steps of the doorway and mumbling about something with their heads down.


    The howling sounds came from outside, but no one lifted their heads to take a look. The whole city was increasingly quiet. No one spoke. Occasionally, one could hear the cries of babies. However, even the children who were a few years old were seriously doing what they could to help, whereas, the adults were constantly adjusting their physical status so that they could remain at their peak at all times.


    Letting down the curtains, Garen knew he could do nothing now. The Wild Wolf Imprint seemed to be transforming the two Willpower imprints at the back of his head. This transformation was very rapid and precise. Many times, it would also extract some subtle substances from his own body to include in the transformation. This was also the key reason as to why the human body felt severe pain.


    Garen looked up at the time, 6:21.


    The wall clock ticked, its sound crisp and rhythmical.


    He sat down, slowly relaxed his body and carefully observed the transformation of this Willpower Imprint. But unfortunately, such transformation was too rapid and the degree of sophistication far exceeded his imagination. Just watching for a few minutes, his conscious was a little blurred and his energy was over-exhausted. He could only stop.


    Sitting quietly on the sofa, the sofa cushion under his buttocks was soft and firm. It was a leather surface and there seemed to be metal springs inside of it. It was bouncy when one sat down on it.


    Minutes and seconds ticked by.


    The sky was getting brighter outside.


    Someone started to call on the men guarding the wall to prepare for a change of shift. Three rounds of shifts, this was previously arranged by Garen.


    The footsteps of the guards who passed through the room were sparse. The people who came down were breathing deeply. No one spoke. There were only heavy breaths.


    Garen looked up and glanced at the time, 6:44.


    It had been twenty-three minutes.


    The pain in his body continued and the intensity was increasing. He endured it, quietly sitting on the sofa and waited for everything to past.


    6:51.


    There were subtle noises coming from the outside and there was the sound of gunfire. Hurried footsteps swept past the room and it seemed that someone was running to the wall.


    "It''s alright. Just a few Predators who had been singled out rushed over and was gotten rid of," said a voice. Then everything went quiet again.


    6:59.


    There was a knock on the door and then came the voice of East Perrin from the outside.


    "Are you there? It''s going to be daylight soon."


    "Don''t worry. There''s no need to rush," Garen sat on the couch with his eyes closed. His sweat ran down his forehead towards the edge of his cheeks and dripped on his clothes. The clothes he wore were still the plain clothes from the inner region. There was blood, engine oil and black soot on it. The outfit looked like a painter''s work suit. Besides the long sleeves and long pants, it was hard to spot any pattern or color. There were smudges all over.


    Hearing Garen''s answer, East Perrin was silent and went away again.


    7:12.


    Gunshots were heard outside once more. This time, it was no ordinary gunfire, but a clutter of noises.


    In the midst of the mess, there was the voice of people cursing and occasionally, someone screaming.


    "It had really begun..." Garen opened his eyes, but he could do nothing except for moving about freely.


    Boom boom boom!!


    East Perrin knocked at the door again.


    "A group of Predators came from the outside but have been repulsed by us. I suspect they are just testing our forces. A few brothers have died."


    "Help me prepare some basic materials," Garen raised his voice. "The root of Loquat leaves and Dragon-beard Grass. The higher the radiation, the better they are; more than 20 grams each. The blood and brain of radiation beasts, higher grade would be even better. If not, general ones would do as well. The more, the better. Also, Tomb-branches and Winter Flowers..."


    He casually named a series of things, all which were common materials in the radiation belt. These things more or less had radiation. Many of them were used as substitutes for the Nutritional Liquid to create the Biochemical Pool. Garen had no other way. Although these alternatives might be less effective and might affect the strength of the final bred-creatures, there was no other way. Just create some first and see how it goes later on.

 938 Plight 2

    With enough Nutritional Liquid, this was the basis of everything.


    "I remember them," outside of the door, East Perrin repeated what Garen had asked for. Her memory was not bad and she could remember everything just by hearing once. Soon, she left and seemed to be going somewhere to find the materials.


    However, as noises arose from the outside, Garen knew that he was wrong. Voices of exclamations were faintly heard.


    "Chief has gone out!!"


    "Why is she when it''s so dangerous!?"


    "Get back! Big sister!"


    People shouted again and again but no response was heard from East Perrin.


    Within ten minutes, she had returned.


    "Thank God!"


    "Chief, you can never run a risk again! You are our only hope!"


    "Chief...!""Chief..."


    Flustered voices followed, with the voice of East Perrin constantly apologizing.


    Garen looked up, and suddenly, all the pain in his body disappeared without a trace as if it had never emerged before.


    Time, 7:22.


    "Finally it has ended..." Garen let out a sigh of relief and wiped his sweat with both hands. He felt that there was a difference in the two imprints behind him.


    He found a mirror and looked at himself. Under the control of his Willpower, a greatly altered Willpower imprint gradually appeared.


    The original two imprints had now become a larger single unit. The original diamond shape had also turned into the form of a tiny wild wolf with a black body and green eyes. It didn''t look too bad, even a bit ferocious.


    "This is Energy Machine Imprint?" Garen tried again to calculate the stereoscopic computational model for the advancing of Level Three Energy Machinist. Sure enough, it was no ordinary task. It was almost incomparable to the previous straining effort.


    "If there was enough time, I need five days to break through to Energy Machinist Level Three!" He made a simple calculation of the progress in his mind.


    "Sure enough, having three times more the computing power is different."


    "The materials have been found!" The voice of East Perrin came from outside of the door, calm and exhausted.


    Garen stood up and walked over to open the door. He looked at East Perrin, her hair scattered over her forehead. This agile and brave woman still had a straight face on. There was a thin trace of blood on her cheek. Clearly, the trip was not entirely smooth.


    The tight gray dress she wore was snagged and had several holes. Blood marks were vaguely visible on the skin.


    "Take me there," Garen exclaimed.


    *****************


    On the edge of the processing workshop at the rear of Leo City, a square pit was dug out in an open space. It was piled with a variety of messy materials, including roots, flowers, bloody flesh and bones.


    Garen and East Perrin stood alone in front of the pit.


    "What do you want to do?" East Perrin asked Garen. "Everything has been found for you."


    "There is still a lacking of one last thing," Garen said plainly.


    "Still lacking!?" East Perrin''s eyes widened. "Few of my brothers are dead because of these things, I myself almost died outside. Now you tell me that there is still something lacking?!"


    "What''s lacking cannot be found by you," Garen said plainly. "We''re all in the same boat together now. If you die and I''ll also die. What''s there to be desperate about?"


    East Perrin wiped her face.


    "Alright, I''ll calm down. Now there are a few waves of small-scale attacks out there. The number is about a dozen. But when I went out and looked through the telescope, Vulture City has basically been digested. The Predators inside seems to have begun to shift out and head over here. We don''t have much time."


    "How much longer? An estimation?" Garen asked.


    "No more than three days. Although the number of Predators has increased, their speed has also reduced. It takes five days to walk over here from Vulture City. Since the speed of the Predators are fast, it should take them about three days to journey here. The discrepancy would not be huge," East Perrin answered in a low voice.


    "Just wait for it. There will be hope," Garen jumped down and began to pick up a piece of material by hand. Traces of Cold Radiation flashed in his hand from time to time, freezing the better part of the material to prevent it from deteriorating.


    East Perrin did not know what to do and could only watch from the edge.


    "Prepare a room for me, a bigger one," Garen ordered.


    "Alright."


    Minutes and seconds ticked by and it was time for breakfast. Radiation people were accustomed to eating two meals a day, one about nine in the morning and another at six in the evening. However now, when the few women who were in-charged of meals served some food to eat, not many people had the appetite. There were children silently helping to refill the food and water.


    Garen directly consumed the highly irradiated Nutritional Liquid. With a grab, blue threads emerged from his palm and directly absorbed the Nutritional Liquid, leaving only useless impurities behind.


    Time passed quickly and noon soon arrived. Garen looked up to the sky from time to time as he was waiting for the drone sent out by Celine. If his luck was alright, perhaps with the distance from Polar Region to here, it would reach today.


    East Perrin had already gone to defense. Now the atmosphere in the town was somewhat in despair. Without her taking command in the city, it was very likely that something catastrophic would happen.


    Garen stayed here alone and quietly worked on the material in his hands.


    Two large basins were placed beside each other and the parts he had dealt with were placed in them.


    The Predators were gradually approaching. There were definitely Level Two Predators in the vast army. When Garen saw the end of Caster who had tried to escape, he knew that he had hit jackpot. A one in a million Level Two Predator was actually present here.


    According to the data records, Level Two Predators could produce a Willpower Field-liked Mind Force, which could produce a substantial effect. This was the scene that everyone saw at that time. Caster was crushed by an invisible force and died without leaving a complete corpse behind.


    "Now that there is Energy Machine Imprint and most of the materials are available, the only thing that is lacking is the Biochemical Pool..." Garen lifted up his head and looked at the gray-blue sky.


    This was the fifteenth time he had looked to the sky today.


    This time, the margin of the endless sky finally did not disappoint him. A blue dot was flying at high speed toward this side. Its outline looked like a drone.


    Garen''s face finally showed a smile. If it came any later, he probably would have to consider expanding one Soul Seed to reincarnate...


    He quickly jumped out of the pit and ran to look for East Perrin to have her tell everyone not to shoot down the drone in the sky.


    At this moment, as soon he ran out from the rear of the city, he realized that something was amiss.


    There was no one in the houses of the city. Everyone seemed to be concentrated at the front and vague screams could be heard from that side.


    From far, East Perrin saw Garen ran out.


    "Be careful! There are Predators that have sneaked in! They are invisible!" She yelled.


    Invisible Predators!!


    Garen was surprised. This was a rare species among the Predators! How could there be any here?


    He suddenly felt a deep chill coming behind him.


    He spun around, gave a sidekick, and released cold air!


    Three fluent and continuous moves emerged instantly.


    Garen felt as is he had kicked something hard. With a loud boom, a large amount of cold air quickly covered the entire body of that object which he had kicked. The hoarfrost completely revealed its form.


    This humanoid creature was kicked right in the head. It stumbled out a few steps, drowsily fell to the ground, and was swamped by the subsequent white air, directly freezing into a large piece of ice.


    Garen looked at his trousers. There was blood on it. With his physical fitness, he was actually at a disadvantage in the direct confrontation just now. Moreover, he felt some pain in his bones where there were probably some fractures.


    "This is the Invisible Predator?"


    He took a close look at this thing. It had the same shape of a human but without hands. There were two stout, octopus-like tentacles at that place of its arms.


    East Perrin also brought some people as she rushed over here. When she saw the ice on the ground, she sucked in a breath of cold air.


    "This is the guy who had killed eight of my brothers and sisters!" She raised her hand and shot the ice to pieces.


    Krak!


    The whole piece of ice shattered into glass-like pieces.


    Garen glanced behind East Perrin. There were only more than a dozen people left. It seemed that these were the remaining manpower of the entire city. There were also a few children and women who were covered in blood.


    "What about the rest?"


    "All dead..." East Perrin replied in a low voice. There was also blood on her face and it was unclear whether it was hers or someone else''s.


    "We have no idea when the Invisible Predator sneaked in. When we realized it, it had already killed half of the logistics personnel. It also killed a few men who had gone over to help," the old man Malone said palely.


    At this time, the drone flew down from the sky and descended towards Garen.


    Someone raised their gun and aimed it at the drone out of conditioned reflex.


    "Don''t shoot!" Garen quickly shouted.


    This made everyone loosen up a little. They watched Garen reach out his hands to grab the small drone and took down a small fist-sized black box from it.


    "Take care," he whispered the cipher to the black box.


    Pap. The box opened automatically. The cover rose slowly, revealing a round thing wrapped in white silk.


    Garen took out this thing and left the rest of it with East Perrin.


    "This stuff can be used as an investigating drone."


    "What is that?!" East Perrin looked at the ball in his hand.


    "This is hope!"


    Garen answered without looking back and hurriedly ran towards the rear of the city.


    Following the path between the houses in the city, he went straight back to the side of the pit. Garen lifted the material basin that he managed and walked into a large, empty stone house on the right.


    This stone house just so happened to have a basement. It was the residence left by a man who had died in battle. He had no wife and children, so this place was assigned to Garen as a laboratory house.


    Uncovering the fist-size thing in his hand, it was a black stone.


    Garen gripped the stone with both of his hands and applied force to both sides of it.


    Krak!


    The stone was divided into two in a crisp sound and a piece of pale yellow soft meat fell out. It was caught by Garen.


    "This is it! Mila Cells, Stoneheart Flesh... The main part of the Biochemical Pool!!" Garen knew that in the present plight, there finally was hope...

 939 Hope 1

    The Stoneheart Flesh in his hand was like a soft and warm cotton.


    Garen held it and smelled a faint scent that seemed to be coming from his arm, not from the air but really from his arm.


    This feeling was very strange. As if the palm of his hand had become a nose, he even felt as though there was something soft lightly touching the tip of his nose.


    He walked to the center of the basement and set aside the Stoneheart Flesh. He then picked up the shovel in the basement and began to dig into the ground.


    This was the interior of the stone house, so the excavated ground was also part of the entire stone.


    Garen dug a small pit and stopped. He then picked up the Stoneheart Flesh beside him and put it in as if sowing a seed. After placing the Stoneheart Flesh, he took out a black spray that had a few small black fruits on it and gently crushed the small fruits.


    A few drops of black juice slowly dribbled down his fingers and onto the surface of the Stoneheart Flesh.


    Hiss¡­


    A clear white steam rose, along with a pungent scent.


    Suddenly, the Stoneheart Flesh began to wriggle slowly like a viscous liquid. It began to spread around, covering a large surrounding area.


    In less than a few minutes, a large piece of pale yellow fleshy membrane was formed and it covered the ground. It was still moving.


    Garen stood by the side and waited quietly.


    As time passed, the fleshy membrane on the ground gradually became darker in color, slightly grayish.


    Sssrraaak...


    A hole gradually cracked in the center of the fleshy membrane and it seemed to be emitting steam.


    Garen''s gaze was fixed on the spot where the crack was. In it was darkness and nothing could be seen.


    As time went on, the rift increasingly got bigger and wider.


    The entire rift gradually formed a round crater with a diameter of about two or three meters and the color of the entire fleshy membrane gradually turned black. It was no longer wriggling but was becoming more rigid and solidified.


    Garen once again took out the two half-shell of the Stoneheart Flesh, gently chipped off some powder, and sprinkled it evenly on the four corners of the fleshy membrane that had turned into a black flesh-pool.


    The flesh-pool, which was still moving slightly, instantly became still and was even more condensed and solid.


    "Done... my Biochemical Pool," Garen was relieved. Finally, following the records of the Energy Machinist training method, his first Biochemical Pool had succeeded. Although the whole process was very simple, he had been constantly worried. After all, this thing was the key to whether he could survive this crisis.


    Quickly taking the well-mixed Nutritional Liquid for the Biochemical Pool, he slowly poured it down the edge of the Biochemical Pool. Several kinds of well-mixed biochemical fluids quickly mixed together. Garen then squatted down and slowly released his Energy Machinist Willpower.


    The Energy Machine Imprint at the back of his head suddenly disappeared. They disintegrated into countless transparent silk strands and densely pierced into the edge of the Biochemical Pool. They were like needles, swimming and quivering between the flesh and blood of the Biochemical Pool, forming many vein-like bulging things.


    A virtual screen was faintly displayed before Garen''s eyes.


    ''Wild Wolf Imprint is ready. Please name your Biochemical Pool.'' This text message appeared on the light screen.


    "Just call Wild Wolf No. 1." Garen took a random name for easy memory.


    ''Wild Wolf No.1 has been completed. The biochemical fluid in Biochemical Pool is filled. The analysis level is Level One basic level and can cultivate fifteen Level One creatures. After that, it needs to be refilled.''


    The light screen showed the information and data of the Biochemical Pool.


    ''Please insert the basic organization.''


    Garen stood up but his body''s Energy Machine Imprint remained in the Biochemical Pool. He went out to move the pre-prepared flesh and blood of mutated beast into the black Biochemical Pool.


    Splash.


    The mutated beast that looked like a wild boar was directly submerged in the biochemical fluid and soon, it melted like a candle.


    A series of tiny bubbles constantly emerged from the Biochemical Pool, accompanied by strange gurgling sounds.


    ''Basic organization had been acquired complete. Begin to create wild wolf units?'' The light screen informed again.


    Garen answered yes with his consciousness.


    The light screen suddenly disappeared. This was a virtual screen that was presented in front of an Energy Machinist through the direct connection of Willpower. Others could not see it except for the Energy Machinist themselves. This also ensured the high degree of mystery and safety level of an Energy Machinist.


    With the feedback through his Willpower, Garen could control the progress of the Biochemical Pool anytime. It could be stopped and restarted at any time.


    In accordance with the standard of an Energy Machinist''s number of control, him being a Level Two Energy Machinist could only control one imprint. In other words, he could control only one cannon fodder. If there was an experimental platform, he could then create an elite unit, which was the elite version of cannon fodder. However, the experimental platform was not something that he could obtain now. It required a lot of materials and high technical requirements. Generally, only very wealthy Energy Machinists would dare to build an experimental platform while still at a low level because they could use space tools to bring it alongside with them.


    Simply put, what low-end Energy Machinists did was actually the work of ancient Modulation Engineers. Theirs was a purely biochemical route. This was because the elite version of biochemical machinery was the patent of the experimental platform, the general Energy Machinists would not even think about it if they had not reached a high level.


    In addition, this profession itself demanded crazy computing power. The untalented person at most would be a low-level Energy Machinist for his whole life. If one could become a Level Three or Four Energy Machinist, one would be considered not bad. What more those high levels of Level Five, Inheriting Level and above.


    Most of the general Energy Machinists in the market reached their limit at Level Three. This was because the entry requirement for Energy Machinists was too high and more time would be needed as the level increased. Therefore, without talent, it would take a lot of time to accumulate practices. This had also caused a lot of Energy Machinists to reach the stage of Level Three and Four only when they were at seventy or eighty years old. Level Four was the limit that most people could achieve.


    However, Garen was different. He had potential points that could increase intelligence and computing power. Even with his current computing power talent, he was at the top level, a standard genius amongst the general Energy Machinists. One had to know that the profession of Energy Machinist could only be undertaken by people who were computing genius and of super scholar level, whereas, the geniuses of Energy Machinists would truly be the top prodigies among the average people.


    A series of situational information flashed through Garen''s thoughts but his eyes were focused on the changes in the Biochemical Pool. The milk-like colored biochemical fluid that was poured in had now begun to tumble. The body of the mutated beast that had just been thrown in had completely dissolved and now, small algae-like floaters began to appear on the surface of the liquid. With the passage of time, this kind of floating object was also increasing.


    In the basement, a faint stench began to develop slowly. It was a bit like the smell of mutton and was also somewhat like the smell of fish.


    Garen did not have any changes in his facial expression. He just quietly stared at the biochemical fluid in the Biochemical Pool and waited for the result. At the same time, he also had to carefully calculate how much time it took to cultivate one time. After all, the conditions here were not of standard conditions. The biochemical fluid was made using many substitutes, the cultivating environment was also not maintained with the optimum temperature and humidity radiation instruments and so on. In such an environment, the general data on the record had lost its meaning and so, the calculation time for the actual operation of the unit was required.


    *********************


    In a distance from Leo City, large groups of Predators slowly gathered towards this side. Their numbers totaled tens of thousands.


    The Predators that first appeared were now riding motorcycles at the rear end. It was as if they were monitoring and were constantly making an unintelligible roaring sound.


    The speed of the entire Predator group was not fast, but their number was packed and the entire grassland horizon seemed to be completely occupied. The number of over ten thousand simply made them looked vast and enormous.


    Vulture City had become history. It had been completely destroyed behind the Predator group. There was no living person, bones and rotting flesh were everywhere. Skulls and limbs that were not gnawed finished were scattered on the ground.


    On the walls, ground, and gates were dried blackened blood spots. Two lengths of human intestines were used as ropes to secure the door knockers on the main gate. To make the rope, countless people''s intestines were taken to be twisted into the thickness of a small arm. It looked tough and had turned black.


    Caw, caw!!


    A flock of scavenger crows flew down. They were flapping their wings and jumping here and there from time to time, competing for carrion.


    "Charge!!"


    The Level Two Predator leader in the Predator group roared.


    "Hiss!!"


    All the Predators lifted their heads and yelled as if they were responding to the leader''s call.


    From the sky, it could be clearly seen that at this time, more and more Predators were gradually encircling Leo City as the center point from all directions. Not only Leo City, but the remaining towns were also like standalone islands teetering in the vast sea.


    *************************


    "Managed to contact the people of Doe City?" East Perrin stared at the communication staff who was running over here and asked.


    "No... The signal disturbance was too much. We couldn''t hear any sound at all." The communication staff was trained by Malone. Although his skill was still satisfactory, due to the lack of good equipment, he could only reply the Chief helplessly.


    "Could it be that Doe City has boded ill?" East Perrin mumbled.


    "Don''t worry that much. We will hold out as long as we can," Malone whispered from the side. "That Garen still has not come out?"


    "Still in the basement. Don''t know what he''s doing," East Perrin shook her head. "I have placed some people nearby him. As soon as he comes out, we will know."


    "You can''t pin your hopes on him alone," Malone said in a low voice.


    "Do we still have a choice?" East Perrin gave a wry smile. "If it wasn''t for not having any other way, who would pin their hopes on someone whom they had not known for a long time?"


    "How about digging a tunnel?" Malone suggested.


    "We don''t have the energy and time. And if what you say is true, that the Predators originally came out from the crevices in the ground, then digging tunnels would likely be even worse," East Perrin replied helplessly.

 940 Hope 2

    East Perrin looked at the sparse figures of Predators who were watching her from afar and sighed. She looked back at the people left on defense duties on the wall. There were only a dozen or so left and all of them were haggard and listless. They had eaten and drank to their heart''s content, consuming the original portion of those who were dead. Since they were about to die now and might not live till tomorrow, it was completely meaningless to save on food.


    "If another Invisible Predator like the previous one comes, just a few more of them and everyone will die," Malone tiredly remarked on one side.


    East Perrin nodded and stopped talking. She was already extremely tired.


    If it were not for the little hope on Garen''s side, she might not have been able to hold out and just wanted to give up on her fate.


    Looking back at the direction of the stone house where Garen was at, East Perrin renewed her perseverance.


    "Never give up until the end."


    She recalled her mother''s last words. This was also the law of survival she had been depending on all the while in the radiation belt.


    *****************************


    Basement


    After one hour...


    Garen carefully watched the bloody creature that was taking shape in the Biochemical Pool. It was a one point six meter wolf dog-like animal. It seemed to have only the torso and the limbs had not fully developed. There was also no skin and the whole body was bloody, like a wild dog that was just skinned.


    But what impressed Garen the most was that pair of eyes, dark green, giving people goosebumps.


    He looked up at the timetable he had brought in.


    "It''s been an hour. The theoretical time has been reached, but it has not yet been completed. Maybe the cultivation environment is not ideal, the quality of the biochemical fluid is insufficient, and other reasons also lead to that."


    He murmured the calculating of time.


    The color of the biochemical fluid seemed to be slightly lighter at this time, not as rich as it was at the beginning.


    He continued to wait and did not shift his gaze away from the Biochemical Pool for a moment.


    He watched the wild wolf''s limbs began to lengthen and develop fully. Then it was the tail and afterward, black skin gradually covered all over it.


    Awoooo!


    A black wild wolf slowly crawled out of the edge of the Biochemical Pool. When it shook its whole body, thick black hairs quickly grew. It crouched in front of Garen.


    It was an hour and a half from the time he had put in the material to begin cultivating.


    Garen walked over to it, ignoring the biochemical fluid that was still on the wild wolf, and reached out to gently stroke the head of the wolf.


    The wild wolf was half a man''s height in its squatting position, the same level as Garen''s chest. As its head was being stroked, it also made a deep sound. There was no resistance at all.


    Garen observed the wolf carefully. This guy looked no different from a normal wild wolf, except that its claws were sharper, its physique was stronger, and it looked like its combat power was not bad.


    One could comprehend with a little imagination. If it were really an ordinary wild wolf, it would be impossible to get a rating of Level One combat power. After all, the Level One standard was based on the standard of a Level One pilot operating a Mech.


    "Next is the most critical step..." Garen also began to feel nervous.


    Although the wild wolf was only an ordinary Level One basic cannon fodder, the combat power was similar to that of a Level One Mech soldier, only slightly weaker than it. In fact, two wolves could barely confront a single Mech soldier. But if adding in the Distorted Seed...


    Garen''s outstretched palm slowly cracked open a mouth-like gap and a large number of blue silk threads swarmed out of it. In the center of the silk threads, a twisted and wriggling clump of blue flesh slowly wormed out. When stroking the wolf''s head, it silently touched the space on top of the head between its ears.


    Ssss...


    The Distorted Seed drilled in as if it was virtual and penetrated directly through the wild wolf''s skull.


    Wooo!!


    The wild wolf instantly froze. Its eyes bulged slightly as the glittering green eyes began to fill with red blood traces. Its whole body also started to swell up slowly. Its claws continued to lengthen, growing thicker and harder. Its back was vaguely arched with two strong muscles while its ears grew furrier and a little longer.


    The entire body length extended to nearly two meters.


    "The unit that had Distorted Seed attached to it will have their original quality increased by three times. I wonder how the wild wolf''s strength will be after this increment..." Garen looked at the transformed wolf. "From now on, all these upgraded units will be called Big Wild Wolf."


    He named it simply.


    "Squat down!"


    He ordered.


    The Big Wild Wolf immediately squatted down and was very obedient. Obviously, the Distorted Seed did not affect the control center in its brain. That was the most critical core for Energy Machinists to control the cannon fodder units, same as what was deduced by Garen before.


    The Big Wild Wolf gained a powerful growth from the Distorted Seed and had perfectly acquired the Energy Machinist''s brain control.


    "The trouble now is that the Distorted Seed is not limited by its quantity and as many as possible can be developed, but there is a problem in controlling it. On the contrary, the quantity of the Energy Machinist''s cannon fodder units is limited but there is no problem in controlling it."


    "Quantity and control. How to get the best balance between them both...?" Garen was brooding.


    If he abandoned control, he could create an unlimited number of Big Wild Wolves as long as there were materials and biochemical fluid. He would be completely unrestricted by the upper limit number of control imposed on the Energy Machinist.


    However, if he wanted absolute control, then the number would naturally not go up because his current Energy Machine Imprint could only control one Big Wild Wolf. The characteristic of an Energy Machinist was that with the advancement of every two levels, the upper limit number of control would increase by one.


    In other words, Level Two could control one, Level Four could control two, Inheriting Level Six could control three, progressing as such. Of course, because of the huge limit of the number, most people would choose to continuously strengthen the unit creature of their control. They would enhance it as much as possible and take the elite route.


    In fact, there were also Energy Machinists who took the group fight route, but the individual strength of the cannon fodder would not be worth mentioning. This was also a very cost-effective way to burn money and was not subjected to the environment.


    The way of the group route was to separately implant control chips for each cannon fodder unit. The advantage of doing so was that it would not completely burden the Energy Machine Imprint. The disadvantage was that it would lose the increment brought about by the Energy Machine Imprint.


    This was because every level of the Energy Machine training method would upgrade one''s control unit.


    Just like Garen''s NIS training method, each level could increase the speed and basic defense of his control unit by 0.5 level. This way, compared to the ordinary cannon fodder wild wolf, the wild wolf controlled by Garen could now have one level of advancement in speed and basic defense. The combat power would have increased a lot.


    Of course, if this kind of wild wolf made by the same Level Two Energy Machinist was encountered, then it would naturally be about the same.


    "Quantity... What I need now is the number that I can control..." Garen stared at the Big Wild Wolf and was deep in thought.


    He used to be the top biochemistry master in Totem World and had a world of sedimentation and knowledge of civilization for the cultivation of biological genes. He had more different development ideas than the scientists in this world.


    "The limitation of quantity is in the upper limit control of the training method. So if I want to increase the number, I will have to either increase the level of training method or weaken the training method Willpower required by one creature. If controlling one creature would need one unit of Willpower, then if I could reduce it to 0.5 a unit, I would be able to control two creatures."


    Garen found the source.


    "Then where is the key module where the Energy Machine Imprint controls the wild wolf?"


    His consciousness went deep into the Energy Machine Imprint and began to trace the extremely complex structure to find the relevant module.


    The Energy Machine Imprint was like a sophisticated manufactured quantum computer. There actually were traces that could be followed and the division of work in each major modules was clear.


    Garen quickly found the module from the records of the Energy Machinist training method.


    The Energy Machine Imprint was divided into two parts, the computing part and the production part. The Control Mod was part of the production part. It was a very compact black box-like encryption block. Many thin lines were stretched out from the inside and were gently waving like tentacles. They were releasing an inexplicable fluctuating signal. This seemed to be the source for controlling the Big Wild Wolf.


    "The controlling of the wild wolf doesn''t seem to be done through wireless signals?" Garen analyzed carefully and experimented several times before coming to the conclusion. "Instead, the built-in structure of the wild wolf''s brain was implanted in advance so that it will instinctively view me as its master and intuitively obey my commands. At the same time, it seemed that a linguistic system has been implanted in it. Are these cannon fodders capable of comprehending simple command language?"


    Garen reached a somewhat ridiculous conclusion, but in line with logic, this conclusion was indeed highly reliable.


    "Can I transfer over here some of the techniques used to control the Silver Totems back then?" Garen began to ponder. The Silver Totems had given him a lot of help at the beginning. Despite its insignificant role in the later period, it did give a huge boost due to the early accumulation.


    The current Energy Machinists were somewhat like controlling the Silver Totems at that time and both had somewhat similar effects.


    "Back then, Black Sky''s crystal ball''s derivator was the core used to control the Silver Totems. The principle of that thing was to use a kind of ore called Resonance Stone to control remotely, which was not much limited by quantity. If I can find something resembling Resonance Stone as an alternative, maybe I can overcome this limitation."


    Garen''s heart moved as he seemed to find a breakthrough.


    The Silver Totems in Totem World used the means of resonance to perform complex control.


    The resonance of Resonance Stone actually only had a few simple combinations, but the people of Black sky used these combinations as basic units, like how computers used 0s and 1s to combine a myriad of different kinds of software. They also used this kind of combinations to construct an extremely complex crystal ball derivation to achieve the goal of controlling Silver Totems using resonance.


    Garen had studied this skill back then. Adding on the information obtained from the help of that female in-house staff of Black Sky, he had done a thorough research on it. It was originally thought that he would not be using it in the future but he did not expect to be able to actually use it again here.


    "In this world, although the research on resonance is not in-depth, many of the materials that can generate resonance are available." A variety of materials that Garen had seen before on the computer instantly flashed through Garen''s mind. Most of which were plants and part of them were marine life.


    He went out, picked up all the remaining unused materials and began to search through them.


    Although the plants that could generate resonance were very rare, many plants in effect had such phenomena. Fortunately, there were many such plants in the radiation belt. Through resonance, these plants transmitted basic information including environmental information, survival suitability, and so on, in order to choose the optimum living environment.

 941 Big Wild Wolf 1

    He flipped through it and searched for a while. This thing was rather common in this world, the scientific developments meant that the research about the inner workings of practically anything was frankly shocking. Naturally, this world also had Resonance research, but it was not nearly so advanced as to use Resonance to make algorithms, because physicists now were already researching the even more advanced photonic computers. These used pure light as the main care of the computer''s calculations, so compared to quantum computers, these photonic computers functioned on a completely different principle.


    Quantum computers had the advantage in solving complicated problems with more variables, as well as in modular computing. By calculating according to quantum modules as the singular unit, it actually also involved some separate principles in Resonance regarding quantum interference. But it was not as advanced as how the Totem World utilized Resonance.


    Photonic computers had the advantage in traditional computing basics, as they could greatly increase the computing speed, reduce the usage of energy, and worked at far faster speeds than before. They could compute many operations at the same time, and were very good at correcting mistakes as well. Even if there were some small mistakes in the process, these would not affect the final result. With a higher-level aim in mind, the physicists naturally would not bring their attention back to Resonance research, with its vague future.


    Even though Resonance research had many benefits for long distance communication, this long distance communications had long ago been realized through material-energy conversion, so there was even less need for this research. They could convert material directly into energy, and could thus leap across long distances, reaching their destinations directly, before turning back to material. It was far superior to backward technology such as Resonance.


    Garen broke out of his thoughts, and carefully picked out an egg-like stone with red fire patterns from a pile of materials. The stone was very small, just about the size of a fingernail, and seemed to be the egg of some insect.


    Garen shook the egg slightly, and tapped it onto his fist lightly.


    A crack immediately appeared on the stone.


    "This is it, the Resonance substitute, the hardened rhizome of a plant."


    Garen was more than just a martial artist, he was also a powerful scientist, and experimenter.


    Using Resonance skills to create a core, and controlling multiple cannon fodder creatures at the same time, only he would dare think of something like that, and under these circumstances where they had no high-tech gadgets as well.


    "This is not a project I can complete in a couple of days..." Garen put the rhizome aside, and suddenly woke up from his experimenting fever. "In that case, I can analyze and distinguish the signal coming from the Energy Machine Imprint, then I can reduce it. It should be okay if there is just a small portion of the control signals released, right? Although this will influence the Big Wild Wolf''s logical thinking skills, it will also greatly increase the number I can control."


    Garen had once gotten an Energy Machinist, or rather, an ancient Modulation Engineer''s training method from the Honorable Noble, it was called Glowing Radiance.


    There were some explanations and information about this in that book.


    "Reduce the control power on one single unit, spread it up, and do your best to increase the number..."


    Garen''s will entered his Energy Machine Imprint, and started to analyze the functions and principles behind each signal.


    It was as though many tentacles bounced out of the Energy Machine Imprint, and each tentacle was a different color. When the cannon fodder creatures saw each type of tentacle appear, they would perform the corresponding action as though they had received orders. This was a secretive manipulation skill using light to differentiate the functions.


    Of course, that was just a simile, the actual process was a lot more complicated than that.


    But to Garen as he was now, with the help of the Energy Machine Imprint, his computing skills were already thrice the original value, and his computing skills were already far, far more advanced than regular Energy Machinists. Once they were tripled, that speed was beyond the human imagination.


    Within two short hours, Garen had completely analyzed all of the complicated signals, splitting them into many parts. The main control Willpower only used up one-tenth of the Energy Machine Imprint''s Control Mod, and most of the remaining controlling aspects were mostly some free, meaningless controls. Stuff like controlling their eating, excreting, sleeping, or even the playing or healing they would have as pets, Garen was totally capable of using the Distorted Seed''s innate ability to replace these, and it made them even stronger.


    He directly turned off some useless parts, and only maintained the basic main controls, some basic commands such as attack, stop, move freely, rest, and so on. This also saved up on a lot of the Control Mod''s operations.


    After he used his Willpower to trim the Energy Machine Imprint again, Garen instantly felt his control of the Big Wild Wolf fade considerably.


    "Sit!"


    Garen barked at the Big Wild Wolf softly.


    There was no response. The thing continued to stand there, occasionally sticking out its tongue, looking really dumb as it stared at Garen.


    "Rest!"


    Garen tried again.


    This time, there was a response.


    The Big Wild Wolf walked around in a circle and then found a spot that looked very comfortable to lie down, its whole body relaxing, and quickly entering rest mode.


    "As I thought, the controls were greatly reduced and lightened. Maybe I can try to control several, in that case."


    Garen brought his gaze back to the BiochEnergy Machine Imprintcal Pool.


    Suddenly, there was a slight tremor from outside.


    "Something happened again?" Garen gave the Big Wild Wolf an order to follow him, and the man and wolf ran out of the basement, looking at the large gate in the distant wall ahead, where someone seemed to be yelling loudly.


    The two people on the right who seemed to be keeping watch over Garen''s basement burst into a sprint, running towards the city wall.


    "What happened!?" asked Garen, rushing over and grabbing one of them.


    That person was first given a shock by the large wolf, and then he raised his gun to shoot it, but Garen immediately pressed his arm down.


    "That''s my pet! Tell me, quick, what happened?"


    "It''s the Invisible Predators, they''ve come in again!" The man could not break free from Garen''s arm, and his face turned red. "Let go of me! I need to save them!" he yelled.


    "Do you want to save them, or do you want to die?" said Garen coldly.


    He turned around to look at the Big Wild Wolf behind him, using his Willpower to code it as No 1 quickly.


    "Follow him, and attack these creatures."


    Garen directly gave it an image of the Predators using his Willpower, and that included Invisible Predators.


    The Big Wild Wolf howled softly in reply, and followed behind that man.


    Only then did Garen let go of the man, letting him run away. At the same time, Garen moved towards the direction of the gate and the wall, constantly vigilant of the surroundings, in case someone mistakenly shot at the Big Wild Wolf.


    Leo City initially had thirty-four villagers, but now there were only seven or eight left. With East Perrin and Malone, they had exactly ten, and their manpower looked sparse standing on the wall. It was extremely empty, and they were far too small compared to the city that could take several hundred residents.


    Right now, they stood on the wall by the main gate, spread out and vigilant of the situation beneath them as they held their guns, but there was despair in most of their eyes.


    Ten of them was not enough to guard all the checkpoints on the wall. If they guarded the front, the back would be left wide open.


    When Garen brought two people and a Big Wild Wolf to them, they were all slightly dazed.


    The Big Wild Wolf followed closely beside Garen. Its body looked to be almost two meters, its appearance ferocious, similar to other mutated beasts, and it did not attack anyone at all. But no one could remember if anyone reared such a fierce dog in the town.


    Only Malone and East Perrin showed a glimmer of hope. East Perrin got off the wall of her own accord, and greeted Garen.


    "This is the hope you mentioned?" she asked quietly.


    "Yes." Garen nodded. "There will be more than one, and it can replace the dead men to patrol the town. It''s very fast too, and can be maintained for a long time. One of these would be equal to at least two people."


    Joy flashed through East Perrin''s eyes.


    "How many more can you make?"


    "Depends on the time and materials," replied Garen softly.


    East Perrin nodded, and quickly ran to explain the Big Wild Wolf to the others. She did not say much, she just told them that this big thing would help protect the town. Although the townspeople were wondering where it came from, this was not the time to sweat the small stuff.


    And Malone seemed to have an inkling of a guess, in his seventy or eighty years of life, he had indeed seen something similar.


    He approached Garen, and while East Perrin was on the other side introducing the Big Wild Wolf, he asked Garen quietly.


    "Energy Machinist?"


    Garen paused, and then smiled.


    "You know too?"


    "I saw one when I was young, it''s a very impressive profession, most people can''t even meet them." Malone nodded.


    Just when everyone seemed to have a glimmer of hope.


    Suddenly the Big Wild Wolf abruptly pounced at an empty space to the right, its sharp teeth and claws slicing through the wind, as it clawed at the air.


    There was a tear, and something seemed to get caught, instantly torn in half by the sharp claws.


    "Invisible Predators!!" someone gasped.


    Only then did the rest realize that the thing pressed under the Big Wild Wolf''s paw was an Invisible Predator that had snuck in. Its invisibility had been torn apart, and it showed itself, the Big Wild Wolf chomping down on its corpse''s flesh and blood.


    It never occurred to Garen that the Big Wild Wolf might actually eat the Invisible Predator''s corpse directly.


    This was an unexpected change, but he sensed it carefully and found that the Big Wild Wolf''s genetic structure seemed to be even more stable after eating, echoing back a signal that lasted even longer. So he made no attempt to stop it.


    "There seem to be some accidental changes that I can''t control." Garen carefully observed the way the Big Wild Wolf ate the Invisible Predator, to see if there were any signs of it being infected by the radiation disease on the Invisible Predator.


    It seemed to be due to the Distorted Seed, but the Big Wild Wolf seemed completely unaffected. It ate up most of the corpse in a few large bites, and even crunched up the bone, chewing it and swallowing down, without wasting anything.


    "Kill them freely, but do not leave this area." Garen gave the Big Wild Wolf the order to only hunt the Invisible Predators within the town, and then to rest once it was tired.


    He watched as the Big Wild Wolf made a few large leaps, quickly vanishing behind a stone house in the town.


    Rip!


    There was another low scream, and yet another Invisible Predator bit the dust.


    While it sent a chill down the spines of the survivors, they also felt a long-lost sense of security.

 942 Big Wild Wolf 2

    "With this big guy, we can finally relax a little," murmured Malone softly.


    "Yeah, it can find the Predators through their scent, and it can see in the dark as well. It''s quick, and can patrol the whole town once in a few minutes." Garen nodded.


    Right now, although the Predator Army would arrive within a day, and there was heavy pressure weighing down on all of them, they still felt a deep spring of hope at seeing this powerful living tank join their side, killing the Predators they could not see everywhere.


    No one said anything, the survivors just stared at Garen quietly, deep hope in their eyes. They just knew that Garen was someone from the regions that their leader had brought back, and nothing else. But right now, in their darkest hour, Garen stood out and gave them all some hope.


    "Why didn''t you bring it out sooner!!?" Suddenly, an angry voice came from the crowd.


    A young man with a scar on his forehead stared at Garen, his face scarlet.


    "If you had taken it out sooner, we wouldn''t have had to lose so many people! If you had taken it out sooner, would we still be in this situation right now?!" The young man rushed out and swung a fist at Garen.


    "It''s all your fault!! We''re in this state because of you!!"


    He howled, his fist aimed for Garen as he shouted.


    Garen reached out a hand and caught his fist.


    "Fool. If I really could take it out sooner, would you need to run out here and tell me?!" Garen said icily. "If it weren''t for the fact that your leader saved me, I couldn''t be bothered with your lives. What does it matter to me if you live or die??" he said directly, without hiding.


    "You!! Listen to that! Listen! What monstrous crap is he spouting?!" the young man roared angrily.


    But no one responded, the others, including his companions, just looked at him coldly. No one in the radiation belt was foolish, no one knew what this young man wanted to accomplish by running out here, maybe he just needed somewhere to vent. But no one was going to join in on his madness.


    "Barr, your older sister and father were killed by the Invisible Predators, this has nothing to do with Mr Garen. Just as he said, if Leader hadn''t saved him, he would not bother with our lives at all. And Mr Garen was working his head off just now, we all know it. That large hound didn''t appear before, and now it''s here, everyone can imagine what happened in between," said a slightly older middle-aged lady softly, stepping out. "If Mr Garen could have brought it out earlier, he would have. There were more of us before, and add that to the hound''s power, it would naturally be easier to defend and survive. But he didn''t take it out, so what does that mean? Are you implying Mr Garen has no intention to survive?!"


    The more she said, the stricter she sounded, her eyes staring at the young man, Barr. The latter''s sorrow and fury slowly quieted down, to be replaced with deep shame.


    "Alright, we only have this few people left in Leo City, but we''ve weathered even tougher times before," said East Perrin loudly, walking out of the crowd. While the Predators were not here yet, and it was relatively quiet around them, she needed to unify everyone as best as she could.


    "Do you still remember the attack of the Mutated Earth Demons? How many did we lose then? In the end we only had fifteen left, but we rebuilt the town anyway."


    "Yeah, the new ones all died, we''re just left with the old hands now..." someone added.


    The others all nodded.


    East Perrin looked around her and said calmly.


    "So, now that Mr Garen has given us hope, from now on, we all obey Mr Garen''s orders. We might still get through this yet!"


    She had passed on the authority, even if there was not much authority left in a town of ten people, this was her way of making her attitude clear.


    Nobody had any objections, so the decision passed easily, everyone knew that Garen was their only hope. Everyone else was pessimistic and had sunk into despair, but this person who appeared mysteriously was different. Evidently, he had some confidence in himself.


    Under Garen''s calm, quiet leadership, everyone, including East Perrin, perked up, their spirits picking up again.


    Rip!


    There was the sound of the Big Wild Wolf killing Predators again in the distance, it had evidently killed off another Invisible Predator.


    This allowed the hope to grow in everyone''s hearts.


    If there were a few more of these Big Wild Wolves...


    "From now on, everyone must listen to what Mr Garen says. My position as leader will officially be passed on to him. No objections?" said East Perrin loudly.


    No one spoke, they all gave their silent agreement.


    "Now, what do you have in mind, Garen?" Just then, Malone spoke, looking at Garen.


    "The Big Wild Wolf will patrol and kill any Predators that might have entered the town, you guys just have to guard the walls. Await my further orders!" Garen nodded calmly, and turned around to walk towards the Biochemical Pool behind the town.


    "There''s still a day before the Predator Army arrives, we need to gather up as much strength as we can."


    "Okay!"


    That wave of chaos calmed down just like that, and Garen also became the leader of Leo Town in name. Although everyone still followed East Perrin''s lead, this would also slowly change and solidify with time.


    Returning to the basement, Garen poured the second batch of materials into the Biochemical Pool again, and then he crouched down, his hand pressed against the side of the pool.


    Instantly, a large number of Willpower threads from the Energy Machine Imprint shot out, rushing into the middle of the Biochemical Pool like a vast web of blood capillaries.


    Big Wild Wolf production, round two, begin!


    The second round of production took up to two whole hours.


    Garen also edited the control methods the same way, and then gave it orders, sending it to the wall to help the others patrol. The Big Wild Wolf, strengthened by the Distorted Seed, was way stronger than the cannon fodder from before. With their vitality tripled, and with their innate fighting power, forget wolves, even humans could become overpowered killing machines.


    Garen did not know just how strong the Big Wild Wolf could be after strengthening, but it was undeniably much, much more powerful than a Level One Predator.


    Outside.


    When the second Big Wild Wolf appeared, everyone let out a suppressed cheer.


    That huge ferocious body, long, sharp claws, and fangs, those powerful muscles and features, these all represented safety in the eyes of the residents.


    As soon as this parasite of the Distorted Seed that Garen named the Big Wild Wolf appeared, everyone seemed to look a little more relaxed than before.


    It was time for their afternoon meal again, and the five people left on the wall scattered to keep watch, working together with the Big Wild Wolf to maintain vigilance. Under Garen''s orders, the others sat down to eat.


    East Perrin followed the Predator-hunting Big Wild Wolf through the town, and found a hole in the wall that the Predators were using to enter the town. After she got some people to fill it in, there was no longer a hidden threat to their safety. Now that it was freed, that Big Wild Wolf was also ordered by Garen to patrol the wall, as an extra measure of security.


    Malone and the others who had come down from the wall lowered their heads and kept drinking their meat soup, eating a mixed-flour pancake with dried vegetables. They would occasionally raise their heads to see the two Big Wild Wolves patrolling the wall and howling sometimes, and a sense of safety rose uncontrollably in their hearts.


    "It sure feels good to have such powerful pets defending the town..."


    That middle-aged woman who had berated the young man, Barr, sighed now.


    "Yeah, thank goodness for Mr Garen''s help..." Malone smiled, and glanced at the others, who were either crouching or sitting down. Although it was quieter in the town now, it was already not as despairing and depressing as before.


    "I think Mr Garen is a powerful Energy Machinist, I''ve seen such powerhouses before when I was young, they are head and shoulders above everyone else, even the lord pilots don''t dare to offend them," said Malone softly.


    "Energy Machinists, huh..." The middle-aged woman seemed a little dreamy. "Mr Garen is still so young..."


    "If I could become an Energy Machinist too..." said a little boy beside them with clenched teeth and fist, he and the other little girl were the only two adolescents that had survived out of all the children in the town.


    Soon enough, another two hours had passed, and another Big Wild Wolf, almost two meters in size, ran out of the basement behind the town.


    As soon as this big guy came out of the basement, it went straight behind the town and climbed a wall there, starting to guard the back of the town.


    Around the wall, the three Big Wild Wolves would occasionally pause, and occasionally they would run again. They were much faster than the average person and could recover from just a short break. They instantly brought a profound sense of safety to the townspeople.


    It slowly grew darker, and everyone split up into groups. Five would continue standing guard, while the other five stayed back and rested to recover their energy. Add that to the three Big Wild Wolves, and it looked like they had more than enough manpower.


    Malone brought two people to the water purifier to collect drinking water, while also checking on their battery collector. Although it took a long time to collect batteries in the town, it was still better than nothing.


    They were busy, so after East Perrin arranged the defenses, she went to the basement to await Garen''s orders.


    At seven o''clock in the night.


    Another Big Wild Wolf ran out of the basement, this was the fourth one.


    The four large beasts, each about two meters in size, ran all around the town''s defense wall, running and pausing at breaks, each of them guarding one side with the discipline of an army.


    For a town that could take several hundred people like this, that was not particularly stringent, but the Big Wild Wolves were surprisingly fast, dashing here and there, flashing past a dozen meters in the blink of an eye.


    At night, just as the townspeople were changing shifts, the two who had not completely gotten off the wall started yelling suddenly and loudly.


    "The Predators are coming!!"


    That voice was like dynamite, instantly waking everyone up.


    Everyone picked up their weapons and rushed up the wall, getting ready to defend their home at any moment.


    There were only six able-bodied left in the town who could hold their guns, putting aside the two children and the elderly Malone, as well as East Perrin, the leader, which meant that only six people could actually fight.


    But add that to the four Big Wild Wolves, and that meant there were actually ten people.


    Malone used the moonlight to look down from above, sprawled on the wall.


    He saw more than ten Predators rushing at them on their hands and legs. Their eyes glowed red, and they had actually chosen night time, the time that Predators detested the most, to attack.

 943 Skill 1

    "Fire!!" The middle-aged woman yelled the command.


    Ra-ta-ta-ta¡­


    The smattering of gunshots was heard, and four Predators collapsed, but ten more continued to rush madly.


    They were extremely fast, each of them panting in a low voice, and soon they reached the bottom of the wall, climbing up it with their hands and feet.


    And the Predators that had been shot earlier also got up again somehow, they only seemed to be slightly injured, so they rushed towards the wall again, casting despair on the townspeople. There was another hail of gunshots.


    This time, the Predators did not even bother collapsing, they just took it in stride and continued advancing. Be it laser pistols or bullet ones, they were pathetically ineffective.


    Just then, another Big Wild Wolf rushed out of the basement behind, this was the fifth one. At the same time, East Perrin arrived with Garen''s order.


    "Retreat, everyone, leave them to the Big Wild Wolves!"


    Although some were reluctant, and some hesitated, but seeing as the Predators had already begun to climb the wall, the six of them quickly got off. They had gotten halfway down the stairs when they heard the low roars of the Big Wild Wolves behind them, as well as the screams of the Predators.


    The Big Wild Wolves were like wolves in a flock of sheep, as long as their claws or teeth touched a Predator, they would tear out a long and terrible gash.


    They ran around the wall at high speeds, hunting any Predators that would dare to climb up.


    One Big Wild Wolf was pouncing at a Predator that had just gotten up, but before the latter could even react, the Big Wild Wolf had already reached out its claws and yanked the Predator onto the floor with a crash. It bent its head and bit, biting off half of the Predator''s head, chewing it roughly, and then swallowing.


    Another Big Wild Wolf faced off against three Predators that had climbed up together, tearing off half of the two Predators'' heads with one paw each. At the same time, however, the last Predator scratched its neck fiercely with a claw, leaving a long blood-red gash.


    The Big Wild Wolf turned around and jumped away, and then it suddenly lashed out with its hind leg, sending that final Predator flying high and away from the wall. It crashed onto a stone in the distance, and was instantly doomed. Its back had been completely smashed.


    Within thirty seconds, by the time the last Predator was torn apart by the wolves and taken away in two separate halves, everyone, including East Perrin, was feeling slightly dazed.


    They had guessed that these Big Wild Wolves would be very powerful, but they never thought they would be this powerful.


    The fourteen Predators were all completely wiped out by these five Big Wild Wolves, and now, even their corpses were not spared, devoured completely.


    As all of this happened in front of their eyes, all they could feel was a deep sense of safety!!


    "We might be able to survive!!" murmured Malone softly.


    No one argued, everyone felt the same way just then.


    **********************


    In the basement, Garen was constantly observing the five Big Wild Wolves that he had released.


    He noticed that by eating, these Big Wild Wolves seemed to have obtained a large boost to their survival times. Apparently the Distorted Seed could use food consumption to stabilize their disintegrating genetic strains, this was something he had never noticed.


    Normally, even those cannon fodder units that became parasites would not survive for longer than three hours. But he noticed that, after every time they ate and completely regained their energy, they could extend this survival time. One meal could extend their survival time by five hours, the second time they ate after that, it would increase by another ten hours.


    He realized that the source of this was most likely the Distorted Seed he had released.


    "Looks like the Distorted Seed still has many skills that I have yet to discover¡­" He recalled the information and records about the Hellfrost Peacock Technique.


    There was not much there about Distorted Seeds, but indeed, if the Distorted Seed''s parasites could only last for a short time, then wouldn''t the Hellfrost Peacock Technique have to constantly repeat the parasitism? That way, how many times would parasitism have to occur before they could reach a considerable number in order to create chaos?


    Such a power was completely unrealistic.


    Garen vaguely understood now, maybe creatures with the Distorted Seed embedded in them could use large amounts of food consumption to assure their own survival.


    "That way, if the woman I planted one on last time was lucky, she might still be alive now¡­" Garen remembered that Level Five Half-Moon powerhouse woman that he had planted a parasite on in order to escape.


    "My hypothesis from before is wrong as well, a unit that releases explosive power after being given a Distorted Seed parasite can theoretically continue to exist infinitely. There is no time limit," Garen muttered.


    He sensed the Energy Machine Imprint Control Mod he had, there were already five simplified Big Wild Wolves, and he could control five more, that was his current limit.


    Unless his Energy Machinist level could increase, and his Willpower could make a leap forward as well, otherwise the most he could control right now was ten Big Wild Wolves.


    "With my computing power, if I can delay it for a little longer, I should be perfectly capable of entering the third Energy Machinist level within a short time, and the upper limit will increase then as well. When necessary, I''ll just have to reduce the defense area." Garen counted inwardly, ten Big Wild Wolves were already a very considerable fighting force.


    According to the previous battle, one Big Wild Wolf was equivalent to at least five Predators, then ten Big Wild Wolves would be equal in power to fifty Predators. In a head-on battle, he might not be able to beat the hundreds of thousands of Predators, but if it was just defending a small area¡­ That should be no problem.


    "But just defending like this won''t work either, we need to change to a place that''s easier to defend. This town is surrounded by plains, the area that we need to defend is far too large, it won''t work at all." Garen started to consider moving bases.


    "We''ll put that aside for now, it''s extremely hard to find a more suitable defense point in the plains. First, let''s try to use the Resonance Skill from the Totem World, if it works, then we can pit them against each other and break the production limit, and mass-produce these Big Wild Wolves."


    Garen began to use the Energy Machine Imprint''s computing power to calculate the likelihood of this plan.


    The Energy Machine Imprint was just like a computer processor installed into his brain, it was extremely useful and convenient. Now that the Biochemical Pool was ready as well, Garen had some foundations to carry out his research and experiments too.


    He continued to raise more Big Wild Wolves, but at the same time, he began his research on how to use Resonation Skills to perform simple manipulation. Thankfully, he had ready-made information and a large amount of experimental data from the Totem World for reference. All Garen had to do was test the accuracy of the data, and then create a set of simple controllers that used Resonation at their core, to solve the whole problem.


    Time flew by.


    Even though he had a lot of information from the Totem World to refer to, Garen still came across a lot of trouble in his bid to recreate the Crystal Derivator.


    The quantity limit was very hard to remove, he had already tried all he could to save up on the more unimportant aspects of Willpower control, but he still came to a dead-end. The most important problem was materials, what materials he had to use to reach the effect he wanted, and what transmission medium the resonation code required.


    There were none of the experimental prerequisites he needed here, Garen had nothing at all on hand right now.


    After laboring around for some time, Garen put down the work in his hands and asked East Perrin, who was outside, to not let anyone in. He released the sixth Big Wild Wolf that he had created, and locked the door to the basement from inside. Picking up the key, he began to enter the special ability space.


    If he stayed away from it any longer, he would probably be considered as having broken the contract, he had no intention of never being able to enter the special ability space again.


    ***************


    "Hey, Garen, you''re finally here." Inside the shop, Lan''s face puffed up as soon as she saw Garen. "You kept us waiting so long, and you really cut it close¡­"


    Garen laughed rather sheepishly, after living for so long, it was his first time being told off by someone who was younger than him.


    "Where''s Mincar? I''ll go help right now."


    "How''s your Energy Machine Imprint? You got accustomed to the fusion?" Lan asked, concerned.


    "No problem. I tried using it a few times, it''s very effective," replied Garen with a smile.


    "Mincar''s inside, Senior Sister has gone to join the Energy Machinist Creation Contest, so he''s the only one holding up in there. I can''t do anything either. Please, help out my senior brother," said Lan softly.


    "Sure, I will." Garen nodded, and pulled aside the shop''s hoardings to walk inside. He followed the small corridor, turning to the left, and soon enough, he arrived at the experiment lab.


    "I''m here." He knocked the door.


    "Come in."


    It was Mincar''s voice.


    Garen pushed the door open, and saw that his hands were pressed against a large floating sphere, his eyes closed slightly. There seemed to be a mound of red cotton candy growing inside the sphere, but Garen did not know what kind of Energy Machine Imprint he was creating.


    "What do you want me to do?" asked Garen. It was his first time, so he did not know how to step in.


    "Within a week, it''s enough if you can independently create a passable Level One basic Energy Machine Imprint," Mincar said calmly, opening his eyes. "You can try using a smaller Cultivation Sphere, smaller Cultivation Spheres mean that the Energy Machine Imprints it cultivates are simpler, but conversely, they are larger in size."


    "Oh, okay." Garen walked up to one of the Cultivation Sphere, and he started to listen to Mincar''s explanation about how to lead his Willpower into the Cultivation Sphere, how to control it finely, and how to perform the intricate etchings to form the production part of the Energy Machine Imprint.


    First, he had to try to understand the thing he wanted to cultivate, what imprint it was, or what kind of creature Energy Machine Imprint it was, for example. If you wanted to study the Saber-Toothed Tiger''s Energy Machine Imprint, then you would need to be absolutely familiar with the Saber-Toothed Tiger''s genetic make-up, using the cooperation between your own Energy Machine Imprint and your brain to grasp it completely. That way, when creating the Energy Machine Imprint, you would know precisely well how to create and Saber-Toothed Tiger and what it required. Hence, the process would be unnaturally clear to you.


    "Actually, our understanding of many creatures'' genetics has been analyzed to an unbelievable degree, so we just need to recall the parts of the genetic chain that we need. At the same time, we must remember how they are combined, what sort of environment or conditions are required for successful cultivation and so on. In the production process, we should find a type of cannon fodder that''s more useful, and produce that."


    Mincar continued to explain, "You can''t just judge based on how powerful they are, you need to look at the larger picture, For example, the Saber-Toothed Tiger originally had a genetic aura ability called King''s Majesty, this is the reason certain creatures would naturally feel fear upon seeing it. But this ability is completely useless against stronger opponents, and it requires many materials to make, so we need to get rid of it."Skill 1


    "Fire!!" The middle-aged woman yelled the command.


    Ra-ta-ta-ta¡­


    The smattering of gunshots was heard, and four Predators collapsed, but ten more continued to rush madly.


    They were extremely fast, each of them panting in a low voice, and soon they reached the bottom of the wall, climbing up it with their hands and feet.


    And the Predators that had been shot earlier also got up again somehow, they only seemed to be slightly injured, so they rushed towards the wall again, casting despair on the townspeople. There was another hail of gunshots.


    This time, the Predators did not even bother collapsing, they just took it in stride and continued advancing. Be it laser pistols or bullet ones, they were pathetically ineffective.


    Just then, another Big Wild Wolf rushed out of the basement behind, this was the fifth one. At the same time, East Perrin arrived with Garen''s order.


    "Retreat, everyone, leave them to the Big Wild Wolves!"


    Although some were reluctant, and some hesitated, but seeing as the Predators had already begun to climb the wall, the six of them quickly got off. They had gotten halfway down the stairs when they heard the low roars of the Big Wild Wolves behind them, as well as the screams of the Predators.


    The Big Wild Wolves were like wolves in a flock of sheep, as long as their claws or teeth touched a Predator, they would tear out a long and terrible gash.


    They ran around the wall at high speeds, hunting any Predators that would dare to climb up.


    One Big Wild Wolf was pouncing at a Predator that had just gotten up, but before the latter could even react, the Big Wild Wolf had already reached out its claws and yanked the Predator onto the floor with a crash. It bent its head and bit, biting off half of the Predator''s head, chewing it roughly, and then swallowing.


    Another Big Wild Wolf faced off against three Predators that had climbed up together, tearing off half of the two Predators'' heads with one paw each. At the same time, however, the last Predator scratched its neck fiercely with a claw, leaving a long blood-red gash.


    The Big Wild Wolf turned around and jumped away, and then it suddenly lashed out with its hind leg, sending that final Predator flying high and away from the wall. It crashed onto a stone in the distance, and was instantly doomed. Its back had been completely smashed.


    Within thirty seconds, by the time the last Predator was torn apart by the wolves and taken away in two separate halves, everyone, including East Perrin, was feeling slightly dazed.


    They had guessed that these Big Wild Wolves would be very powerful, but they never thought they would be this powerful.


    The fourteen Predators were all completely wiped out by these five Big Wild Wolves, and now, even their corpses were not spared, devoured completely.


    As all of this happened in front of their eyes, all they could feel with a deep sense of safety!!


    "We might be able to survive!!" murmured Malone softly.


    No one argued, everyone felt the same way just then.


    **********************


    In the basement, Garen was constantly observing the five Big Wild Wolves that he had released.


    He noticed that by eating, these Big Wild Wolves seemed to have obtained a large boost to their survival times. Apparently the Distorted Seed could use food consumption to stabilize their disintegrating genetic strains, this was something he had never noticed.


    Normally, even those cannon fodder units that became parasites would not survive for longer than three hours. But he noticed that, after every time they ate and completely regained their energy, they could extend this survival time. One meal could extend their survival time by five hours, the second time they ate after that, it would increase by another ten hours.


    He realized that the source of this was most likely the Distorted Seed he had released.


    "Looks like the Distorted Seed still has many skills that I have yet to discover¡­" He recalled the information and records about the Hellfrost Peacock Technique.


    There was not much there about Distorted Seeds, but indeed, if the Distorted Seed''s parasites could only last for a short time, then wouldn''t the Hellfrost Peacock Technique have to constantly repeat the parasitism? That way, how many times would parasitism have to occur before they could reach a considerable number in order to create chaos?


    Such a power was completely unrealistic.


    Garen vaguely understood now, maybe creatures with the Distorted Seed embedded in them could use large amounts of food consumption to assure their own survival.


    "That way, if the woman I planted one on last time was lucky, she might still be alive now¡­" Garen remembered that Level Five Half-Moon powerhouse woman that he had planted a parasite on in order to escape.


    "My hypothesis from before is wrong as well, a unit that releases explosive power after being given a Distorted Seed parasite can theoretically continue to exist infinitely. There is no time limit," Garen muttered.


    He sensed the Energy Machine Imprint Control Mod he had, there were already five simplified Big Wild Wolves, and he could control five more, that was his current limit.


    Unless his Energy Machinist level could increase, and his Willpower could make a leap forward as well, otherwise the most he could control right now was ten Big Wild Wolves.


    "With my computing power, if I can delay it for a little longer, I should be perfectly capable of entering the third Energy Machinist level within a short time, and the upper limit will increase then as well. When necessary, I''ll just have to reduce the defense area." Garen counted inwardly, ten Big Wild Wolves were already a very considerable fighting force.


    According to the previous battle, one Big Wild Wolf was equivalent to at least five Predators, then ten Big Wild Wolves would be equal in power to fifty Predators. In a head-on battle, he might not be able to beat the hundreds of thousands of Predators, but if it was just defending a small area¡­ That should be no problem.


    "But just defending like this won''t work either, we need to change to a place that''s easier to defend. This town is surrounded by plains, the area that we need to defend is far too large, it won''t work at all." Garen started to consider moving bases.


    "We''ll put that aside for now, it''s extremely hard to find a more suitable defense point in the plains. First, let''s try to use the Resonance Skill from the Totem World, if it works, then we can pit them against each other and break the production limit, and mass-produce these Big Wild Wolves."


    Garen began to use the Energy Machine Imprint''s computing power to calculate the likelihood of this plan.


    The Energy Machine Imprint was just like a computer processor installed into his brain, it was extremely useful and convenient. Now that the Biochemical Pool was ready as well, Garen had some foundations to carry out his research and experiments too.


    He continued to raise more Big Wild Wolves, but at the same time, he began his research on how to use Resonation Skills to perform simple manipulation. Thankfully, he had ready-made information and a large amount of experimental data from the Totem World for reference. All Garen had to do was test the accuracy of the data, and then create a set of simple controllers that used Resonation at their core, to solve the whole problem.


    Time flew by.


    Even though he had a lot of information from the Totem World to refer to, Garen still came across a lot of trouble in his bid to recreate the Crystal Derivator.


    The quantity limit was very hard to remove, he had already tried all he could to save up on the more unimportant aspects of Willpower control, but he still came to a dead-end. The most important problem was materials, what materials he had to use to reach the effect he wanted, and what transmission medium the resonation code required.


    There were none of the experimental prerequisites he needed here, Garen had nothing at all on hand right now.


    After laboring around for some time, Garen put down the work in his hands and asked East Perrin, who was outside, to not let anyone in. He released the sixth Big Wild Wolf that he had created, and locked the door to the basement from inside. Picking up the key, he began to enter the special ability space.


    If he stayed away from it any longer, he would probably be considered as having broken the contract, he had no intention of never being able to enter the special ability space again.


    ***************


    "Hey, Garen, you''re finally here." Inside the shop, Lan''s face puffed up as soon as she saw Garen. "You kept us waiting so long, and you really cut it close¡­"


    Garen laughed rather sheepishly, after living for so long, it was his first time being told off by someone who was younger than him.


    "Where''s Mincar? I''ll go help right now."


    "How''s your Energy Machine Imprint? You got accustomed to the fusion?" Lan asked, concerned.


    "No problem. I tried using it a few times, it''s very effective," replied Garen with a smile.


    "Mincar''s inside, Senior Sister has gone to join the Energy Machinist Creation Contest, so he''s the only one holding up in there. I can''t do anything either. Please, help out my senior brother," said Lan softly.


    "Sure, I will." Garen nodded, and pulled aside the shop''s hoardings to walk inside. He followed the small corridor, turning to the left, and soon enough, he arrived at the experiment lab.


    "I''m here." He knocked the door.


    "Come in."


    It was Mincar''s voice.


    Garen pushed the door open, and saw that his hands were pressed against a large floating sphere, his eyes closed slightly. There seemed to be a mound of red cotton candy growing inside the sphere, but Garen did not know what kind of Energy Machine Imprint he was creating.


    "What do you want me to do?" asked Garen. It was his first time, so he did not know how to step in.


    "Within a week, it''s enough if you can independently create a passable Level One basic Energy Machine Imprint," Mincar said calmly, opening his eyes. "You can try using a smaller Cultivation Sphere, smaller Cultivation Spheres mean that the Energy Machine Imprints it cultivates are simpler, but conversely, they are larger in size."


    "Oh, okay." Garen walked up to one of the Cultivation Sphere, and he started to listen to Mincar''s explanation about how to lead his Willpower into the Cultivation Sphere, how to control it finely, and how to perform the intricate etchings to form the production part of the Energy Machine Imprint.


    First, he had to try to understand the thing he wanted to cultivate, what imprint it was, or what kind of creature Energy Machine Imprint it was, for example. If you wanted to study the Saber-Toothed Tiger''s Energy Machine Imprint, then you would need to be absolutely familiar with the Saber-Toothed Tiger''s genetic make-up, using the cooperation between your own Energy Machine Imprint and your brain to grasp it completely. That way, when creating the Energy Machine Imprint, you would know precisely well how to create and Saber-Toothed Tiger and what it required. Hence, the process would be unnaturally clear to you.


    "Actually, our understanding of many creatures'' genetics has been analyzed to an unbelievable degree, so we just need to recall the parts of the genetic chain that we need. At the same time, we must remember how they are combined, what sort of environment or conditions are required for successful cultivation and so on. In the production process, we should find a type of cannon fodder that''s more useful, and produce that."


    Mincar continued to explain, "You can''t just judge based on how powerful they are, you need to look at the larger picture, For example, the Saber-Toothed Tiger originally had a genetic aura ability called King''s Majesty, this is the reason certain creatures would naturally feel fear upon seeing it. But this ability is completely useless against stronger opponents, and it requires many materials to make, so we need to get rid of it."

 944 Skill 2

    Mincar took his hand off the sphere in front of him and put it down, looking at Garen.


    "We need to find a way, a way to create cannon fodder that''s strong enough but using the least resources, or a way that''s useful enough. The one you''ve chosen now is a Pet Lion''s sphere, as a Pet Lion, it''s usually reared by humans as pets. It doesn''t need sharp teeth and claws with blood grooves, and it looks sweet and adorable on the outside as well. It has a gentle disposition, as well as a pretty and majestic appearance. Of course, this would be different for those people who like ferocious beasts."


    Garen nodded to indicate that he understood.


    "Then how should I analyze it? What do I need to use to control the gene chain?"


    "This is the little thing we use the most often in this lab." Mincar walked to the side and took a small white sphere off the window sill, throwing it to Garen directly.


    After the white sphere was tossed out, it gradually slowed down, and finally floated in front of Garen.


    It was a silver-white sphere, about the size of an egg, and it had something like a camera lens in the middle that was even turning and adjusting slightly.


    "Genetic Operators, an extremely precise instrument that can only be used with Energy Machinist Willpower." Mincar clapped his hands. "This thing is worth more than a million crystals, remember to be careful with it. There''s a computer control panel on it, you can search up the genetic chains of the creatures you''re looking for. You''ll need to remember a lot of things, so I suggest you choose the simplest one to start with."


    He turned around and left the lab after saying that, leaving Garen there alone.


    Garen picked up the sphere and played with it for a bit, but as soon as he touched, he felt his right eye blurring slightly.


    He blinked, and instantly felt the field of vision in his right eye expand. Everything had instantly been magnified, as though he had gone through an extremely long tunnel. After the dizziness passed, Garen saw a tiny particle of dust floating in front of his right eye. It had a strange hexagonal hole on it, and a strange-looking little bug had started living in it, constantly poking its black head out of the little hole.


    "Is this a magnification effect?" Garen instantly realized that his right eye seemed to have zoomed in a spot in front of him.


    Without further hesitation, he used his left eye to lock on to a position, and looked for the Cultivation Sphere as well. Soon enough, he found a small sphere that cultivated a wild wolf imprint.


    Wild Wolves were low-practicality creatures among the cannon fodders, since they used up quite a lot of energy but were not all that powerful. Still, since Garen had a Wild Wolf Imprint now, he planned to research the principles behind it properly, to see if there was a simpler, more convenient way to reach the quantity limit.


    He tried to release his Willpower threads, and as expected, those threads that used to be as thin as strands of hair, in the extremely magnified vision of his right eye, was made of even more, even thinner strands of threads woven together. Each thinner thread could be controlled, so Garen tried it, and confirmed his suspicions.


    He tried to control the threads to approach that mound of grey cotton candy inside the Cultivation Sphere, that was a very primal grey cell. It was oval-shaped, and the cell nucleus looked like a walnut, surrounded by three black dots like satellites.


    "How do I operate it?" Garen grabbed his laptop with one hand, there was a lot of internal information there. The Genetic Operator required very powerful computing power to maintain, because it was constantly burning up a lot of the Energy Machinist''s computing power. Garen felt as though he was a water tank being filled up, the burden on his computing power was just like the water being poured in. As time went on, he felt heavier and heavier.


    After operating the super-thin Willpower threads for some time, Garen had no choice but to stop and rest for a while, giving his burning brain some reprieve. He read the information on the computer carefully, there was several hundred M''s worth of words and data on the genetic construct of Wild Wolves, which was equivalent to several hundreds of millions, or even up to a billion characters. These were all words he had to memorize¡­


    "That''s why they say Energy Machinists are all monsters!" Garen could not help but swear. "No wonder I need the Energy Machine Imprint to continue to improve, without the save function of the Energy Machine Imprint, an average person could try for their entire life and it still would not be enough for them to memorize all this information."


    He rested for a while, and then started to let the computer flip the pages quickly, so his eyes could scan the information and save it into the Energy Machine Imprint. But the speed of the page-turning was extremely fast, several pages would have passed before an average person could even register what it was seeing.


    This was the part of the Imprint that was responsible for computing power, the Computing Mod had a whole set of functions, including basic ones like saving, computing, and sending information. But just because he saved it, did not mean that it was his now, he still needed to memorize it to properly transfer it into his brain''s memory.


    Put simply, this so-called Energy Machine Imprint was like a chip in the brain created from Willpower. It could help Energy Machinists perform all sorts of complicated operations.


    But to Garen, who was himself an expert in biology, this was nothing. He already had a deep understanding of genetics from the Totem World.


    To create an Energy Machine Imprint, he could use the gene fragments that already existed in the creatures, and then he could choose what to take and what to discard. But mostly, it involved him using his understanding of the creature''s gene chain to create a new gene fragment on his own, and then splicing it perfectly into the creature.


    Cutting it, adding in the necessary features, standardizing the creature while specializing its abilities, and then reducing the energy consumption as well as the production times -- these were all things Energy Machinists needed to do when creating an Energy Machine Imprint.


    "The better you understand the creature, the more you will know about kind of gene fragments this type of creature can handle without falling apart, and at the same time, you also need to reach a new, delicate equilibrium." Garen quickly understood the meaning behind this job.


    It was indeed very difficult; to completely study a creature, including its genetic information, every stage of its physical development, its internal equilibrium, its endocrine exchange metabolism, and so one, would undeniably he a Herculean task.


    But Garen had strong foundations in this, and after adding that to his terrifying computing power that was far beyond that of a regular Level Two Energy Machinist, he was soon trying his hand at modifying the Wild Wolf Imprint''s Production Mod. The first attempt ended in resolute failure.


    But with the steadiness of his operating, as well as his using his computing power to fix it constantly, it was easy for him to gain full control of a mere Level One Imprint in no time. He just had to try twice, and succeeded easily.


    At first Mincar had thought he would need a week to understand this, but he got it completely within two short hours.


    Undoubtedly, having put so many potential points into his Intelligence, Garen was now an undisputed genius.


    But learning his lesson from last time, after successfully producing a Wild Wolf Imprint that used less than 10% of the energy, he did not stop, and continued to modify the Imprint until it was practically unrecognizable, and even purposely made a few more difficult mistakes, putting on the appearance of what a normal, average Energy Machinist should be like.


    It might not be a good thing to stand out too much too easily.


    He checked the time, and only then did Garen realize that more than two hours had passed. Mincar had not returned yet, and he had finished reading the information, so he decided to study how to increase the upper limit of the number of cannon fodders he could control.


    This included reducing the consumption of Willpower when controlling each unit, like Garen used just now. He could also use other items, like something that could amplify and support the Willpower, magnifying it, so that he could also reach his aim of a large-scale increase in the number of cannon fodders he could control.


    Other than that, someone had also found the best combination to control the cannon fodder, using electronic chips to support the controlling, and the disadvantages of using that to replace Willpowers on most fronts, et cetera.


    There was an essay there that mentioned this.


    "Undeniably, the Energy Machinist is a powerful profession that developed from the ancient Modulation Engineers, and they are also the singular battle unit with the most potential in history, by a long shot! Even the most powerful Inherited Level pilot cannot match the potential of the Energy Machinist is large-scale battles. In that case, the upper limit of the creatures they can control has always been a huge problem plaguing low-level Energy Machinists. Most times, it is true that the cannon fodders can achieve unexpected effects. Therefore, to solve this problem, I would like to introduce a new idea. That is to self-distributed control units, L-units for short. This skill should be able to let Energy Machinists control a few of the other cores, and then using those cores to distribute control to many other cannon fodder creatures. A few of those cf creatures can also control cf creatures of the level beneath them, and as the layers go on, it will result in a powerful leveling system.''


    This essay clearly defined the units, and Garen could not help but admire the technology of the time. Each of those peak-level scientists was the real deal, his only specialty was the little bit of background he had from the civilization of another world. In other aspects, he was lacking compared to these people.


    "This is a level-based control system like that of the military, but it requires a great deal of resources to sustain. Compared to producing a squad like this, it would be more effective to use all those resources to properly train an elite task force." Garen shook his head slightly.


    This was followed by the detailed aspects of the essay, including the production process of a basic unit. But it was set aside because there were too many core techniques that were missing, in the Interstellar Age, there were too many weapons of mass destruction, so no matter how many cannon fodders you had, they could not match up to one peak-level powerhouse.


    These skills naturally fell by the wayside, and no one provided them any more funds to advance the research. Even the author had probably more or less forgotten about it by now.


    But when Garen read through it, he realized that the theory in this essay fit his Resonation Skill very well.


    He could use the Resonation principle to create a control system, use his Willpower to control this system, and then use this system to connect to other energy sources, to control the large horde of cannon fodder underneath that.


    "It''s perfect!"


    Garen could not help a sigh of wonder, and then he quickly memorized this essay. But the essay also mentioned a production instrument that was necessary for creating the parts and the chip, as well an instrument to insert them safely, and finally they were missing a reliable control core communication skill, one that was not easily interfered with, and would not decrease with distance.


    The first two were harder, but the last one could be easily substituted with Resonation Skill.


    "That''s the one!" Garen turned off the website, feeling extremely pleased.


    If he could just realize this skill, then he could break through the upper limit for the number of cannon fodders an Energy Machinist could control. In other words, as long as he had the materials, he could spawn Big Wild Wolves infinitely from the Biochemical Pool.

 945 Rush 1

    When he left the special ability space, Garen was in a great mood.


    In the world of Energy Machinists, he did indeed get different inspirations from all sorts of knowledge. In this high tech era, this Universal Age, this sort of information was the largest motivator. Every second of every day, there would be clashes between intelligence and flashes of thought.


    In the stone basement, it was all quiet. He could hear almost nothing from outside, evidently the Predators had yet to begin their large-scale attack.


    Garen glanced at the Biochemical Pool, he had used up more than half of the biochemical liquid inside, even the color was looking slightly pale. Still, it looked like it had some uses left in it.


    "It''s too bad, if the biochemical liquid was better, I could reduce the production time of the Big Wild Wolves. One an hour would be easy."


    Garen sighed for a while, and began the production the seventh Big Wild Wolf anew before he walked out of the basement. There was a small hall on the first floor, and East Perrin was sitting, or rather leaning on a damaged metal chair. Her long hair cascaded down, and she slept deeply in the chair, leaning crookedly. She really did look utterly exhausted.


    There were several pots of properly processed materials next to her, these seemed to have just arrived. He had no idea when she had left the town, as more Predators gathered outside, it grew more and more dangerous to go out. He had no idea what pains and tribulations she had to go through to obtain this pot of materials.


    Garen was slightly moved.


    He looked at East Perrin''s sexy slanted figure, her pretty features, the grey clothes she wore pressing her breasts into a seductive cleavage. Her long legs were closed tightly, practically revealing that shape between her legs. This woman was not wearing underwear¡­


    "If she was in the regions, such a beauty would surely have a sponsor, and end up a canary in a golden cage, huh? But in the radiation belt, she had fought her way to the position of leader of a town. When two people have the same natural talent, a large difference lies in the surroundings, huh?"


    Seeing that East Perrin was sleeping soundly, Garen decided not to disturb her. Perhaps after the next sunrise, there would be a drawn-out, large-scale defense battle. Those who were lucky might survive, but those who were so fortunate would be glad to get off with death, rumor had it that some Predators liked to slowly chew away at someone''s limbs while they were still alive. They would emit a toxin with numbing effects, paralyzing a person''s senses, so that the victim could watch his legs being eaten off with his own eyes before dying, or even seeing his whole lower half getting slowly chewed and divided up.


    Even Garen felt that such a horrific scene would be too cruel.


    Walking out of the stone house, he saw that the sky, about to break into dawn, was completely pitch-black. Even the moon and stars had been hidden behind the clouds, the weather growing more and more oppressive, as though there was a storm coming.


    Garen could clearly feel the oppressive air of nervousness outside.


    The six Big Wild Wolves were either standing or sprawled on the wall, some of them walking, others resting with their eyes closed.


    From a distance, he could see the wandering green wolf eyes on the wall.


    Their presence had given the town''s remaining residents a strong sense of security, as though they were an automatic defense line. Without anyone watching them, they could still constantly protect everyone.


    Garen''s appearance seemed to have surprised the people outside, and he could see signs of cooking fires all around. Evidently, the current townspeople were using this underground basement as the center of the city.


    The other ten, including East Perrin, all surrounded Garen''s basement.


    "It''s starting¡­" Garen saw Malone come over and heard him speak softly.


    "Yeah, they should attack at dawn." Garen nodded.


    The other eight had all gathered here, two of them children and the other six adults. The impulsive young man who had argued against Garen yesterday was here too, as well as that middle-aged woman who scolded him. The many dirty faces surrounded Garen. They each held the gun and ammunition with the strongest resultant force in their hands, it was a submachine gun that was similar to a service pistol.


    "I''m afraid we won''t be able to defend this place¡­" Garen shook his head. "The place is too big. There are too many areas to defend, if they come with a large-scale attack, the Predators won''t just attack from one side like before, they will surely attack from all sides, and climb the walls at the same time.


    "We can choose the most solid building to protect as our base," someone suggested.


    "But that way we''ll eventually be trapped there until we die!" retorted the middle-aged woman.


    "That''s right," Garen nodded in agreement. "Indeed, we''ll just end up being surrounded until we die. We''ll need to find a secure place that would be most easily defended, and use that as our new base, we can''t stay here anymore¡­ Or else we''ll all die!"


    Everyone fell silent at his words. Actually, none of them were stupid, those who could make it this far were all elites who were stronger in physical and mental capacity. Everyone had thought of that, but their attachment to Leo City made them reluctant to leave it. Now that Garen had voiced it out, however, no one would object.


    Because everyone knew that he spoke the truth.


    "With the six Big Wild Wolves around now, we can still rest for a while, but we might not have so much time after that," said Garen calmly. "That''s why I need you to think properly, we need to find a place with a water that''s easily defended, preferably with only one or two sides that need defending. That would greatly reduce our burden."


    "How about Radiation Lake?" asked Malone in a small voice. "I remember there was a very large underground cave there."


    "Maybe not a cave, the Predators came from underground, they might know other ways of digging," Garen shook his head.


    "Then what about on top of the mountain?" The one who spoke was a petite young girl, her face was covered in mud so her features could not be seen clearly, but there did seem to be many bloody scars all over her face. Still, she seemed to have developed very nicely, revealing her fair white waist, white bandages wound around her chest several times tightly. And then she used her long black hair to cover it.


    "Her name is Sinno(1), she''s the daughter of Sincan, who was the strongest hunter in town. When she was young, she thought that her pretty face would invite trouble and danger, so she carved up her own face with a knife. She''s a feisty one," Malone introduced the situation to Garen softly. "Never underestimate her because she''s a woman, of all the adults here, she is the most capable in battle."


    That meant she was the number one battle general.


    Garen knew what Malone meant, the strongest person in the whole town was actually this girl called Sinno, who looked no older than twenty. She did not look very buff or muscular either, and instead gave off a very nimble impression. She was clearly a skilled and agile fighter.


    Normally, if he could win over the strongest fighter in a group, he would be able to easily earn the respect of the group, that was the way things usually worked.


    Malone''s explanation also probably meant that he hoped Garen could convince this Sinno.


    "Sinno, was it?" Garen looked at the girl. "Where do you mean by on top of the mountain?"


    "I once ran in the wilderness for three days and nights in pursuit of a mutated beast, but finally I got careless and was attacked. As I was near death, I accidentally discovered a natural barrier that could be used for defending," said Sinno calmly. "The mountain peak there is a large round disc, surrounded by cliffs everywhere, and there''s only one way up the mountain. Even that way is just a very narrow crack in the cliffs."


    "How about the mountain rock?" Garen asked with a frown. "If the rock is not hard enough, the Predators can still dig through and destroy the internal structure of the mountain."


    "I''m not sure about that." Sinno shook her head. She was no expert on this, so naturally she would not have noticed the hardness of the rock or anything like that."


    "Are there any other places?" asked Garen, looking around him.


    "What about the ancient cities?" Malone spoke.


    "No, the radiation levels are too high there, no one can survive without protection." Garen shook his head slightly. He had been to the ruins of an ancient city before, it looked like a very complete mechanical city, and even the anti-gravity levitating airships were completely undamaged, but there was no one there, simply because everything there had extremely intense malicious radiation.


    Even he needed to use the Cold Radiation constantly to resist it before he could safely pass through. Even if an average person dressed in a hazmat suit and stayed in the Mech, they would not dare to stay for long. Rumor had it that there were documents stating that someone had sent an intelligent unmanned bot inside to explore, but even the unmanned bot could only stay there for less than a dozen minutes before it would start to melt and meld under the radiation, becoming part of the ancient city. Severing the connection.


    "Don''t even consider the ancient city, it''s far too dangerous," Garen rejected it again.


    "We''ll just go to the mountaintop that Sinno suggested! Everyone, make your preparations!" said Garen loudly.


    Everyone instantly scattered, and began to gather the things they needed. Regarding the transport they would leave with, Garen found a small airship that could just fit the ten of them, but it could not go very high, so it would surely be attacked by the Predators. That just meant that the crucial point lay in how they would break through the enemy ranks¡­


    Considering the Predators'' thick skin that acted as a shield for long-range attacks, Garen woke East Perrin up and asked her to find some of the heavy rotary propellers that they had pulled out of the garbage pile. These were ancient antiques that only rotary propeller plans could use, but they were extremely huge, and almost half as long as the airship. After they sharpened the sides of the rotary propeller, the back and either side of the huge propellers had become a terrifying weapon that could cut and kill. The sparkling silver edges of the propeller were like sharp blades.


    "Make them spin." Garen ordered people to hurriedly attach three engines from the trucks on land to the propellers, and the high-efficiency engines were plenty powerful enough. The modification took just over ten minutes, everyone working against the clock at lightning speed.


    "Make ''em spin!"


    Garen stood behind the airship and yelled, pointing at the rotary propellers.


    Whoosh whoosh whoosh¡­


    The engines instantly started, and the propellers began to turn fiercely, creating a terrifying in their wake.


    Garen picked up a piece of wood randomly and tossed it. With a crack, the plank was instantly cut into several pieces that shot away in all directions, nearly hitting some people.


    He nodded in satisfaction and organized the people to pile up the bodies of the battle-dead, piling them all up at the entrance to the very center of the city. This was so that the bodies could become bait, tempting the Predators to come in and eat, thus buying a little more time for the survivors.

 946 Rush 2

    The emotional reactions that Garen was initially worried about were not present amongst any of the people here. In the radiation belt, those who had died were fully dead. No one felt silly nostalgia towards the corpses. Even if they were somewhat emotional, everyone could understand these current sentiments as many of them had done similar things to survive in the past.


    The harshness of the radiation belt had entered the depths of everyone''s hearts long ago.


    Woo¡­


    The low howls of the Predators echoed from afar. It was obvious that the Predator Army was about to arrive soon. The sky was about to turn bright as well.


    "It is much faster than we had expected¡­" Malone''s face was solemn.


    "Where''s the water purifying filter? Move it up!" yelled Garen loudly. No one was defending the enclosure now. When the Big Wild Wolf was present, everyone was helping out here instead.


    A few people worked together to move the water purifier up the Flying Ship. Then, they brought the remaining bits of radioactive meat jerky and other food up there as well.


    Garen quickly returned to the basement. There, the Seventh Big Wild Wolf already came out and was crouching on the basement ground while resting. When it saw Garen enter, the Big Wild Wolf whined and fawned over him immediately.


    After quickly altering his instructions, Garen used the Energy Machinist Imprint to release orders towards the Biochemical Pool.


    Suddenly, across the floor of the entire basement, the Biochemical Pool slowly shrunk. Most of the biochemical fluid that was running out ended up evaporating quickly. The entire biochemical pool drew itself inwards rapidly and formed a gigantic black flesh ball. As time passed, the flesh ball shrunk within the pit on the ground. From its original diameter of over one meter, it slowly shrank to about the size of a soccer ball.


    Garen walked over and grabbed it in one go, lifting it.


    One of the benefits of using Stoneheart Flesh to build a Biochemical Pool was being able to take it along. Of course, this was only the lowest level of biochemical pools. There were more advanced ones that were items that could enter physical spaces completely to circulate on their own and form perfect nurturing and production environments. They were much more efficient than Stoneheart Flesh Biochemical Pools and were able to conserve materials better.


    As he carried the Biochemical Pool and the materials that East Perrin had wrapped properly while the Big Wild Wolf walked beside his feet, Garen walked out of the basement quickly. He waved a few times at the crowds that had already packed while everyone walked up into the Flying Ship one after another.


    Initially, the entire Flying Ship was shaped like a shuttle and completely black. However, since it was scraped out of the rubbish dump, it looked like something that had been patched together raggedly from the outside. It did not have half of the smooth aesthetic or sense of beauty that was expected of a Flying Ship.


    A row of people walked up into the Flying Ship in succession.


    No one knew whether they would be able to break out of the enclosure successfully. Garen stood at the head of the Flying Ship and could see from the sensors that their surroundings were filled with large clusters of red dots. This Flying Ship could only fly at low altitudes and nothing higher than five meters. It was a normal anti-gravity floating Flying Ship that could not travel at great speed because it was not a high ranking commodity in the region.


    He assumed that it was highly likely that they would have to pay a severe price along with this journey¡­


    Standing at the front of the Flying Ship, Garen gazed into the faraway distance.


    On the further end of the dark grey grassy plains, large clusters of black Predators were charging forward towards them now. In a short while, they would flood Leo City fully like black tidewater.


    He gazed away. The first break of dawn was gradually appearing in the sky now. East Perrin and Malone were seated on both sides of Garen respectively. They were responsible for operating a series of control conditions in the Flying Ship. All of the other seven people had already boarded the ship.


    "What about the Big Wild Wolves?" East Perrin worriedly looked out of the Flying Ship''s window at the Big Wild Wolves that were still standing fast at the enclosure.


    "I''ll let them return," nodded Garen to indicate that he understood. He used his Willpower and Energy Machinist Imprint to send a signal to the seven Big Wild Wolves immediately, allowing them to return to the Flying Ship quickly.


    He did not let them board the Ship but got them to follow it from below instead.


    "The Flying Ship is too small and has only enough space to accommodate us. Allowing the Big Wild Wolves to board the Ship would only create heavier burdens for us. Therefore, I got them to help us break through the enclosure from below instead so that they could assist our escape," answered Garen calmly under East Perrin''s doubtful gaze.


    "How unfortunate¡­" said Malone quietly.


    It was truly unfortunate. Garen had used two hours to individually nurture every single one of these Big Wild Wolves. However, as they followed the Flying Ship to break out of the enclosure, an unknown number of them had already died on the ground. It was uncertain whether the entire herd would be obliterated completely.


    "Has the escape direction been determined?" instructed Garen.


    Only then did East Perrin start to set the direction frantically. This was her first time operating a Flying Ship and it was clear that she had not gotten the hang of it yet.


    She was only able to reply to him after a short while.


    "Determined completely."


    "How many Predators are there in front?"


    "About two thousand. We might stand a chance if we charge forward at the fastest speed!" Malone replied him immediately.


    "Alright," Garen nodded. "Once you''re unable to charge forward anymore, just leave the Flying Ship and walk up the mountain!"


    "Yes!"


    "Okay!"


    Although it was easy to say, all three of them actually knew that once they were unable to charge forward, they would be waiting to die at the moment when the Flying Ship fell.


    "Let''s go then," Garen issued his final command.


    Finally, the small-scale Flying Ship began to gradually lift itself into the sky lopsidedly. Next, it turned its body and flew in the direction of a large door that was open on the right side of the city.


    The seven Big Wild Wolves leaped down towards the enclosure and followed the Flying Ship closely from below. They possessed great speed that made it seem as if they were faster than the Flying Ship and were able to follow the crowd that was ten meters above their heads with ease.


    Whoosh!!


    The black Flying Ship resembled a black flying fish. It fled the cylindrical Leo City speedily and flew quickly in the direction towards the right. Seven dots below it followed closely behind.


    Large dark clusters of Predators stood in the direction in front of them.


    Pfoo pfoo pfoo¡­


    The Flying Ship that was moving slowly at first then charged towards the Predator Waves. The screw rudders that were installed on its side, back and front began rotating quickly. These screw rudders had been polished before. Other than the one at the back, none of them had radian angles and would not form thrusts that would affect the speed and forward direction of the Flying Ship.


    The rotating screws resembled three grey circular faint shadows that were constantly releasing humming noises that indicated high speeds.


    The Flying Ship was like a little fish that had plunged into black water. In the blink of an eye, it had burrowed into the Predator Waves immediately.


    The seven Big Wild Wolves below leaped into the Predator Waves as well and began to slaughter them maniacally.


    The moment they met with the seven or eight Predators that pounced on them, the Predators were brutally cut into numerous pieces immediately by the gigantic screw rudders. Some of the remaining Predators were pushed a few steps backward when they were hit by the corpses that were flung out.


    However, the engines of the screw rudders were slightly burdened by the additional weight.


    The front of the sharp Flying Ship resembled an awl. A brief popping noise could be heard when it pierced through the middle of the Predator clusters firmly. In the blink of an eye, it had struck and injured five or six Predators.


    There were one or two Predators that were sent flying. However, it was inevitable that the speed of the Flying Ship had slowed down immensely as if it had sunken into mud.


    The remaining Predators pounced around in all directions, resembling the motions of wrapping a dumpling when they pressed against the ship at once. Despite their comrades getting chopped into pieces by the screw rudders, they were not the slightest bit afraid.


    "Speed up!!" Garen yelled loudly inside the cockpit of the Flying Ship. With panicked looks on their faces, Malone and East Perrin held the control handles and tried their best to make the Flying Ship charge forward.


    "The screw rudders are going to stop turning soon!" echoed Sinno''s shouts from the pager.


    "Keep holding on! Start using the guns to shoot them off the areas that they''re pouncing on!" commanded Garen loudly.


    The sound of gunshots followed quickly after. The seven Big Wild Wolves squeezed against the Flying Ship closely and formed a little circle. They bit and killed the Predators that were trying to leap towards the Flying Ship. This allowed the pressure against the Flying Ship''s screw rudders to decrease greatly. They started turning quickly again soon.


    Bullet cartridges from the heavy machine gun that was installed inside the Flying Ship swept through continuously and sent the approaching Predators flying. Currently, the Flying Ship had traveled more than a hundred meters through the Predator Waves. The Flying Ship was also barely able to preserve itself within its little safety circle without getting damaged. Although the wounds on the bodies of the Big Wild Wolves kept increasing, everything was still worthwhile as long as they were able to charge through the Predator Waves.


    Roar!!


    Suddenly, a furious roar echoed directly in front of them.


    The vibration of the sound waves caused the ground to tremble violently.


    "It''s a Level Two Predator!!" The expression on Malone''s face changed immediately while he was still piloting the Flying Ship.


    "I''m coming!"


    Garen used his Willpower to control the Big Wild Wolves below him and separated three from the pack quickly. He made them pounce in the direction of the roar immediately.


    Bang!!


    Two Big Wild Wolves collided with a grey shadow in mid-air. Both of the Big Wild Wolves whined and rushed backward while fresh blood flowed from their heads after getting hit. The remaining Big Wild Wolf opened its mouth and bared his fangs in an attempt to bite the back of the grey shadow''s neck. However, it was sent flying after getting slapped by the other party. It seemed as though its waist was now broken fractured from the assault.


    The grey shadow had to pay a price too as its momentum and inertia decreased at once. However, when it fell on the heads of two Predators on the ground, it used the soles of its feet to squeeze and explode the brains of the Predators, causing them to roar madly.


    The shadow was actually a muscular man in a grey vest. He was blind in one eye but his mouth was filled with sharp teeth. Meanwhile, a strange greenish gray color had appeared throughout the skin of his body that seemed to be lacking elasticity.


    Two vicious-looking deep bloody wounds could be seen on his chest and back clearly. Blood flowed out of the open gash continuously but as time passed, it could be seen with the naked eye that the wound was shrinking slowly.


    "How strong!" Garen''s pupils widened. The moment he saw this Level Two Predator, he could already feel that this could not be compared to the average Level Ones.


    "Another four!" In one breath, he made all of the Big Wild Wolves pounce forward. These Big Wild Wolves that were strengthened three times in Level One were much stronger than regular cannon fodder. Their sharp claws and fangs were their most terrifying weapons.


    However, this Level Two Predator possessed quick movements and was not slower than the Big Wild Wolves. Coupled with his violent strength, there would be an additional layer of invisible strength whenever he landed a punch on one of the Big Wild Wolves which made it difficult for them to get up even after a long time. Next, the surrounding Predators would rush forward and crowd around it before tearing it to pieces and biting it to death immediately. That was the power of the Energy Field that Level Two Predators specially possessed which was similar to the invisible Mind Force.


    If they were not so many lower level Predators here, perhaps the Big Wild Wolves would not lose their fight against the Level Two Predator. However, under circumstances like these, as long as one of the Big Wild Wolf''s movements were delayed, the surrounding Predators would seize the chance to pounce forward.


    The four Big Wild Wolves and the previous three others were instantly submerged by the Predator Waves. Their final contribution was biting off an arm and leg of the Level Two Predator and making its speed decrease greatly. It was instantly left behind as it angrily watched the Flying Ship escape nearby.


    Once the threat of the Level Two Predator had been diminished, the surrounding Predators gradually lessened as well. Some of them were not fast enough to follow the Flying Ship and were gradually left behind. The critical attacks of the screw rudders and machine gun immediately got rid of the Predators that were trying to pursue them. The occasional Predators that managed to hang on the Ship and sneak past the entrance of the cabin were immediately attacked and killed from all sides by Sinno and the others there.


    Suddenly, the Flying Ship shook violently while the dark Predator Waves in front disappeared completely.


    When the last few Predators were flung away by the screw rudders, everyone breathed a huge sigh of relief¡­ They made it through! They had finally made it through!!


    At this moment, a loud whistle echoed from the back of the Flying Ship.


    It was a gigantic metal fragment that had been violently thrown by someone. Its sharp edges spun rapidly and formed a terrifyingly huge razor that was about to crash against the Flying Ship.


    Roar!!!


    In the faraway distance behind them, a Predator whose skin was completely bright red raised its head towards the sky and roared furiously before charging towards the Flying Ship speedily.

 947 New Direction 1

    "That''s a Level Three Predator!! Oh my God!" Malone yelled.


    "Run!!!" Garen had only seen that Predator from afar but could already feel a faint piercing pain in his eyes. Level Three Predators were equivalent to first-rate Level Three Mech Pilots. He would not be afraid if he still had his initial Willpower, but now that a sea of Predators was chasing him, even the strongest Mech Pilot that ventured into those dangerous waters would die if they were not of Inherited Level. Moreover, his combat Willpower had become useless long ago. Therefore, he could only rely on his non-combative Willpower that was not even a complete system yet.


    The Flying Ship increased its speed and moved forward. However, it had already reached its maximum load, making it impossible for the Ship to increase its speed now. In the end, there was no way for them to dodge the gigantic metal fragment that was rushing at them from behind.


    Bang!!


    After a heavy collision noise could be heard, the fragment that was spinning quickly penetrated the back half of the Flying Ship immediately. It seemed as if it had embedded itself inside suddenly, piercing the back of the Flying Ship deeply. The screw rudders that were still rotating earlier were immediately smashed to the point where they had twisted and broke off. The entire Flying Ship had become terribly slanted and almost penetrated the ground.


    It was fortunate that the Flying Ship''s anti-gravity and acceleration systems were located at the bottom of the Ship. Otherwise, the motive power that propelled the Ship forward would be destroyed immediately.


    Garen, Malone, and East Perrin had panicked expressions on their faces inside the cockpit. After charging through the sea of Predators and seeing a glimmer of hope, none of them wanted to fall so easily here.


    "Fire backwards!" Garen commanded.


    Without needing to be ordered, the people in the cabin at the back of the Flying Ship had already steadied their bodies and started to shoot at the back.


    The previous collision had killed two people immediately. This caused the remaining people who were frightened earlier to explode madly with rage now. The operated the machine guns and raked the back with continuous machine gunfire maniacally as if they were leaning towards this fearful mentality.


    After the resistance from the chains of bullets from four machine guns, the speed of the Level Three Predator behind them slowed down. The bullets that hit his body ricocheted off continuously. He did not have a single scar and chose to ignore them completely. However, his speed was slightly decreased because of this. After a few tries, the Level Three Predator had realized that it was impossible for him to chase the Flying Ship. He had also separated himself from the rest of the group and was too far away from them now. Therefore, he could only turn around and leave angrily.


    Black smoke was coming out of the tail end of the Flying Ship. After moving forward crookedly and escaping for a certain distance, it was barely able to keep itself from falling completely. It moved shakily and flew forward while enduring everything continuously.


    Ten minutes later, the crowd was still on edge. They did not dare to relax because they were afraid that another sudden ambush would occur again. However, misfortune did not befall them.


    The Flying Ship finally left the region where the Predators had gathered. When they could no longer see a single red dot on the sensor, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.


    "We''re safe¡­"


    "Finally safe!!"


    "Fanny! Are you okay? Fanny!" Inside the passenger cabin, other than the two corpses that were rolled up and taken outside, another person had their pulmonary lobe pierced by a piece of gigantic metal fragment that had flew over and penetrated the Flying Ship. Only when they had relaxed did they realize that his lower body was covered and overflowing with fresh blood. However, this person did not seem to understand the current situation. He had only realized that his hand were covered in blood when he wiped the wound near his lungs.


    "Where are the hemostatic drugs?! Hurry! Hemostatic drugs!" yelled Sinno when he rushed over and covered Fanny''s wound.


    "There are infectious reactions! Damn! There are germs and viruses from the Predator!!" screamed the youth that had defied Garen previously.


    "Shut up!"


    Whack!


    Sinno slapped him painfully.


    Someone brought over the remaining bits of hemostatic medicine and other drugs that could resist infections.


    "I''ve lost too much blood. I know that I can''t go on any longer so don''t waste the medicine on me," Fanny smiled, his face devoid of any signs of rosiness.


    "How could that be?! Fanny, there''s nothing wrong with you! Nothing at all!!" yelled Sinno. She and Fanny had an intriguing relationship. They were like comrades-in-arms that had a friendship where they could live peacefully while relying on the other person. However, they were also like brother and sister. Fanny would always help Sinno check her openings and plug her loopholes when she was not paying attention.


    "He''s already been infected! There''s no cure!! We can''t waste the medicine on him! This belongs to all of us!!!" yelled the youth again despite being hit earlier. The slap had caused both of his eyes to turn bright red while one of his cheeks had immediately swelled up badly.


    "Damn! I freaking told you to shut up!!" Suddenly, Sinno threaded on his abdomen with one foot and kicked the fellow two meters away, causing him to nearly fall out of the gap at the end of the damaged Flying Ship.


    "Say another word and I''ll kill you!!" Sinno glared at him fiercely. Her body was trembling as she pointed at the youth, as if she could murder him at any time.


    "This medicine was originally retrieved by both Sinno and Fanny. It''s only right that we use it on them," said a boy quietly with a slightly sentimental look on his face. He was one of the two children who had brought the medicine.


    The hemostatic medicine was applied on Fanny''s wound evenly. However, it could not stop the edges of the wound from being infected continuously. The edges started to turn purple rapidly and lose its elasticity. It slowly began to release a rotten stench as well.


    "Don''t waste it." Fanny tried to move away but was firmly held in place by Sinno.


    In the radiation belt, a little bit of medicine was the price to pay in exchange for a life many times. Therefore, all medicine was more valuable than gold and much more expensive than it as well.


    Only four adults were left at the back of the Flying Ship. Both of the children had remained unharmed because they hid themselves in the safety of the middle of the Flying Ship. If Fanny died, Sinno, the middle-aged woman, and the male youth would be the only three adults left.


    After the catastrophe within the vast Leo City, there were only these few people left. The atmosphere inside the Flying Ship was clearly much more desolate now.


    "That''s right! Mr. Garen! Mr. Garen is amazing so it''s possible that he might have a solution?!" yelled the boy suddenly.


    These words instantly lit up the eyes of the other people.


    Indeed, Garen had been mysterious ever since he showed up. He was even able to use his mysterious means to create a large herd of Big Wild Wolves that were used as his strong wild animal-like pets to help everyone defend the area. If it was not for him, none of the people here would have survived.


    If the seven Big Wild Wolves were not there, the Predator that was hiding inside the city would have devoured and killed everyone.


    It was not an understatement to say that Garen had saved everyone here.


    "I''ll go look for him!"


    Sinno bounced up quickly and rushed towards the cockpit in front like a cheetah.


    She pushed the door open instantly but did not run inside when she saw Garen walking towards her while furrowing his eyebrows.


    "You don''t have to call me. I''ve seen your circumstances."


    He quickly walked towards Fanny and crouched down beside his body while checking his wound for a little while.


    The wound was located at the left side of his lungs. It was so severe that it affected Fanny''s breathing, forcing him to take big gulps of air while gasping for breath. Murmuring noises escaped his throat occasionally, making it obvious that the internal bleeding in his lungs was getting more serious.


    He checked Fanny''s pulse and noticed that it was very fast while his breathing was rapid and his complexion was getting paler. His blood pressure was gradually lowering as well.


    Click click click! Garen snapped his fingers three times and tapped the main arteries throughout Fanny''s body that were connected to his lungs a few times. He used his pressure points, a jolting technique and coupled it with his own Cold Radiation to freeze Fanny''s blood vessels temporarily.


    "What does it feel like?" he asked quickly.


    "Cold¡­ So cold¡­" Fanny''s lips had started to turn purple.


    Garen pressed his hand against Fanny''s wound before a thin layer of ice rapidly formed there. Other than the affected external wound, the ice moved inside and froze the internal injuries in his lungs completely as well. In a place where the lines of vision of others could not reach, thin blue strands shot out of Garen''s fingertip at once. It burrowed into Fanny''s lungs and began to hungrily devour the blood that had accumulated there. It resembled a little snake that was swallowing something delicious.


    Less than ten seconds later, it had devoured the accumulated blood in Fanny''s lungs completely.


    "The issue of blood in his lungs has been solved. The infection however¡­" Garen retracted the strands from the Living Secret Technique and stood up while furrowing his eyebrows. "I''m unfamiliar with the Predator''s virus and I''ve never researched it. I don''t have any experimental apparatus here either, so I don''t have a solution for now."


    "What apparatus do you need?!" Sinno stood up. Her posture indicated that she would go and get anything that Garen required immediately.


    "You won''t be able to get any of them in time," Garen shook his head.


    "I swear I''ll give you anything you want as long as you save him!!" growled Sinno softly. Both of her eyes were bloodshot and her hands were curled into tight fists.


    Fanny''s consciousness had become blurry now, making it seem as if he was about to fall into shock soon. Garen stepped forward and quickly tapped some of his pressure points lightly while using his Secret Technique to temporarily stabilize the situation to the best of his abilities.


    "You swear to give me anything I want?" Garen sneered. "What right do you have to say that? Do you really think you can give me what I desire? Don''t say silly things if you don''t know anything."


    Sinno clenched her fists tightly while her entire body trembled. She resembled a fierce beast that could go crazy at any time.


    Ahh!!!!


    She howled furiously as if she wanted to release all of the pain in her mind by yelling.


    "I have only one solution which will barely sustain his life. However, the repercussions of this solution are extremely severe. From today onwards, his life will not be his own but will be completely controlled by me instead," Garen opened his mouth and said slowly. "Moreover, he could become a terrifying monster at any time."


    "As long as he survives anything is fine!" Sinno nodded firmly. She immediately made the decision on behalf of Fanny who was no longer conscious.


    "Alright!"


    Garen nodded and knelt down. He had swallowed a lot of highly radioactive Nutritional Liquid and his body was filled with Distorted Seeds. Therefore, he could release them as he pleased now. The Distorted Seed seemed like a living creature that possessed numerous octopus tentacles that were waving about. Garen pressed it against Fanny''s chest gently.


    Since he was moving at rapid speed, no one could clearly see the thing in his hand. They could only see a blue shadow that flashed past.


    From the perspective of an outsider, it seemed as though Garen had simply pressed an open palm against Fanny''s chest where his heart was located.


    "Alright, wait for it to be over," Garen stood up. Despite not knowing the power of the Predator''s virus, he was extremely confident with the strength of his Hellfrost Peacock. The Hellfrost Peacock was considered a frightening beast in the universe that could rule the whole world. Although the ''world'' in that context was referring to a planet, he could still see the magnitude of the power of Hellfrost Peacock that belonged to the Planet Overlord Level.


    If the Predator virus did not belong to the Planet Overlord Level, it would merely be nutrients for the Hellfrost Peacock''s Distorted Seed.


    The effects were truly fast as well. Right after he placed the Distorted Seed inside Fanny''s body, his condition improved rapidly. His breathing gradually regained its vigor and his heart rate slowly returned to normal too. The infections in his wound did not worsen and the only thing that shocked the others was the light gray outer shell layer that started to cover his entire body faintly. It seemed like a layer of scales.


    "These are special cells that I retrieved from the bodies of the mutated creatures. I can control them to strengthen the bodies of other people. Nothing happens when they are not activated but once that happens, the side effects will be terrifying. He will immediately become a powerful monster that will slaughter everyone but me."

 948 New Direction 2

    Garen explained the functions of the Distorted Seed in a simple manner, which immediately gave the few people inside the Ship chills. Was this not another version of a Predator?


    As someone who could research cells like these, Garen had started to faintly exude the air of a mad scientist. This made the small group of people revere him even more.


    "All of you need to be careful because I won''t be able to control him after he changes," Garen reminded them seriously.


    Indeed, the Distorted Seed could lengthen a person''s lifespan after they consumed it. Measures like this could indeed be individual means to save someone who had fallen into a state of complete despair. After all, the hosts of the parasitic Distorted Seeds would not become monsters immediately. As long as Garen did not activate it, it would not activate itself either. Therefore, it could live a steady life like a normal human. Moreover, the great qualities that were brought on by the Distorted Seed were beneficial towards humans. Two examples of this were the female student that was a host of the parasitic Distorted Seed in the Inner Courtyard and Inari, the commander of the mercenary group that was given a special mission. As long as Garen did not activate the Seeds, both of them would continue being his spies who would not be discovered by others.


    It was unfortunate that Garen had undergone the process of being ambushed too early and could not activate these hidden forces in time. All of these changes happened too quickly.


    After solving Fanny''s issue, Garen realized immediately that the few people here were looking at him slightly differently now. Although his image had now turned into that of a mad scientist, these measures were still considered by the crowd as the ultimate life-saving solution even when they were not wounded with fatal injuries! Within harsh environments like the radiation belt, no one would mind turning into a monster as long as it meant that they could continue surviving. Moreover, this was also a chance for them to become stronger.


    After looking at everyone''s bewildered expressions, Garen returned to the cockpit quickly. Malone and East Perrin were still determinedly piloting the Flying Ship forward in a fixed direction


    "How did it go?" asked East Perrin.


    "It''s solved," Garen exhaled and sat down. "How much longer before we arrive?"


    "We might need a few more hours but we don''t know if this thing will be able to hold itself together until we reach the place" continued Malone beside him. "Leo City was destroyed and we''re the only few people left. Next time¡­"


    "What are you scared of? We managed to survive even though there were only so few of us! Next time, as long as it''s safe enough and we have food and water, won''t it be easy for us to recruit others?" replied East Perrin nonchalantly.


    "The Predator Waves was not a small issue that would only occur in one or two places," interrupted Garen abruptly.


    "What do you mean?" East Perrin glanced at Garen in shock.


    "I was talking about the Predator Waves," Garen looked her in the eye firmly and spat out the words individually. "This isn''t a simple issue that only occurs in one or two regions. Predators are currently on every inch of the Mother Planet. Every single region has cut off communication with the outside world and even trash isn''t sent outside anymore, do you understand?"


    The arrival of this information was too sudden, causing East Perrin to almost forget that she was currently piloting the Flying Ship. She had nearly loosened her grip and almost allowed the Flying Ship to crash on the ground below.


    "It isn''t just happening now. The Predator Waves will sustain themselves for a long time," said Garen simply. "Predators that can fly might even appear next time and those that can breathe underwater might appear in the sea. That will be truly disastrous. They break out once every other hundred years."


    East Perrin steadied the Flying Ship and blanked out for a short while before looking at Malone.


    "It''s true," sighed Malone while nodding.


    "It''s true?" East Perrin was slightly sluggish now.


    The entire planet was filled with Predators. Other than the regions, there were no other places that were completely safe. Where would they go?


    "Why do you think any of those regions haven''t expanded despite having such powerful forces? They could purify the radioactive areas slowly but none of them have done that. It''s because of the Predator Waves that occur every hundred years," Malone explained. "I experienced it once previously."


    Experienced it once?


    Garen glanced at this old man in a rather surprised manner. Was this fellow saying that he was actually more than a hundred years old? This was not a simple feat under the circumstance that the average lifespan within the radiation belt was only seventy to eighty years old. If this man was actually able to live for more than a hundred years, one could well imagine that he had a story behind it.


    "We need a secure base. If that mountaintop is unsuitable, we need to think of another solution!" said Garen certainly. "I don''t wish to die by the hands of those unintelligent pieces of garbage."


    "I feel the same way," said Malone in a low voice. "I''ve lived for more than a hundred years but I still want to live for a longer period of time. I don''t plan on dying yet."


    "Stupid old man, if you don''t want to die yet despite already living for such a long time, it''s less likely that young people like us are thinking of dying!" East Perrin rejuvenated immediately. Since her previous days were already tainted with blood from the edge of her blade, it made no difference that her current days were only slightly more dangerous.


    "Right now, I''m only hoping that there won''t be any Predators in the place that we''re going to¡­" said Garen simply.


    "No one lives there. If there aren''t any people, there shouldn''t be any Predators either¡­" said East Perrin hesitantly.


    ***********************


    On the dark gray grassy plains, an abnormally shaped black stone mountain stood upright on the grass quietly.


    The mountain resembled a gigantic black rock that was stabbed into the ground while upside down. It was shaped like a trapezoid while the surface of its terrain was filled with bumpy potholes that resembled bullet holes. The strangest part of it was the presence of a thin canyon that could be used as a walkway up to the side of the body of the mountain. The other parts were nothing but sheer cliffs and overhanging rocks while an abundance of various types of moss grew on the surface of the hollow pits. Therefore, the cliff was extremely slippery, making it impossible for people to climb it or hang ropes there.


    The body of the entire mountain looked like a pyramid that had been smashed upside down by a giant. However, this strange shape was able to stand on the ground extremely firmly.


    Currently, on the grassy plains near the body of the mountain, a damaged, shuttle shaped Flying Ship that was filled with patches was crookedly flying towards the only canyon path near the mountaintop. The Flying Ship that was only slightly longer than ten meters merely resembled a little earthworm in comparison to the mountain that was more than a hundred meters tall. Their size difference was not worth mentioning at all.


    If it was not for the eye-catching black smoke that was coming out of the back of the Flying Ship, there was a probability that no one would be able to easily discover this terribly damaged little Flying Ship that seemed as though it would explode at any moment.


    "It''s here."


    Inside the cockpit of the Flying Ship, Sinno spoke excitedly and pointed at the mountain in front while standing behind the trio that were seated.


    "This is the place I visited previously! This place is very strange because blades of grass don''t grow on the mountain. Instead, only slippery moss grows here. If it wasn''t for my good fortune previously, I don''t know how I would''ve managed to climb up. I don''t think I would''ve been able to survive until today," she said in a slightly glad tone.


    "Do you have any other valuable information?" asked Garen quietly. "Regarding this mountain, what other dangers are there? Or other places that we should pay attention to?"


    "I don''t know, I''m only aware that this mountain is extremely slippery. However, it won''t be slippery anymore once you''ve climbed to the flat ground at the top of the mountain. The moss only grows on the slopes and cliffs, making this place an ideal base," Sinno shook her head.


    "Let''s climb up then," Garen nodded and signaled East Perrin and Malone to start accelerating before flying towards the mountain''s sole little path.


    The Flying Ship faintly shook for awhile and tilted before it began to climb up the black mountain. The strange canyon provided the only path that led up to the mountaintop. There were tall, straight cliffs and mountain walls on both sides, leaving a little path in the middle of the canyon that was not even ten meters wide. It seemed as though people had dug it out so that they could go up and down the mountain.


    The Flying Ship climbed up the middle of the canyon and approached the center of mountain closer.


    Soon, a winding stream appeared on the right side. It flowed down along the ground of the mountain slowly. The stream was very small and only as wide as an opened palm. However, it would not be a problem for it to fill the needs of the few people that were currently here. There would not be any problems as long as they used the water purifier to filter it.


    When they saw the water, the agitated people inside the Flying Ship calmed down immediately. In the radiation belt, the thing that frightened them the most was a lack of water.


    "There''s a small lake that collects water throughout the year at the top. A water source is not a problem at all," added Sinno. "This is a key reason why I said this place would make the most suitable base. However, the quality of the water here isn''t very good. It''s likely that it''ll be highly radioactive even after being filtered."


    "If we can''t even secure our lives now, it doesn''t matter if we end up drinking some highly radioactive water as long as we can continue surviving. A shorter lifespan is still better than death!" huffed Malone. "How is Fanny''s condition?"


    "He''s quietened down and his condition has improved. He should be better after a few more days." When she said this, Sinno''s gaze had simply brightened when she looked at Garen. Other than gratitude, there was also a longing for this terrifying self-healing ability that could be seen in her eyes. In the radiation belt, someone who possessed regenerative abilities like these could simply increase their rate of survival by more than half!


    "Don''t look at me like that. You''ll see how troublesome it will be in the future," Garen shook his head.


    When the Distorted Seed went crazy, he would not be able to control it when it went on a killing spree against any living thing. Garen himself was afraid of that insanity as well.


    He shook his head again when he thought of that.


    The Flying Ship was gradually reaching the mountaintop soon. As the high density glass in front turned from darkness to light, the entire Flying Ship flew out of the little canyon path quickly and arrived at the mountaintop immediately.


    The mountaintop was a large stretch of empty black flat ground. There were some bumpy pits while water had accumulated in certain areas. There was a huge lake at the right edge of the mountain. Two narrow streams flowed down both sides of the lake. One of the streams was the one that they had seen earlier while the other one cascaded down the cliff of the mountain. It looked like a white ribbon that was suspended from the cliff which was constantly being blown by the wind.


    The most beautiful one of these water sources was the lake that had a diameter of at least one hundred meters. It was completely azure as the highly radioactive lake water produced a pure blue color that resembled the sky. There were no grassy plants inside except for the abundance of moss. All of the moss was blue as if the were the true reason behind the blueness of the lake water.


    When looking at the lake from afar, schools of tiny black fish could be seen swimming about freely.


    "What a good place!" Garen could not help but praise it as well.


    "The radiation levels are twice as high as the flat ground. More severe side effects of the radiation illness will appear if you spend more than three days here," said Malone while furrowing his brows when he saw the Flying Ship''s sensors that were detecting the radiation levels here. "No wonder none of the radioactive people came up to live here. This place looks beautiful but it''s actually a hell hole!"


    The tilted Flying Ship decelerated to a steady pace gradually before finally stopping at the edge of the lake slowly.


    "I''m going down to take a look." At this moment, Garen had released the Cold Radiation that he was concealing within his body earlier. He walked out of the cockpit under the strange and amazed gazes of the two others.


    "Mr. Garen is truly a mad scientist. The ability to modify himself into this state is¡­ truly¡­ amazing!" A strange look had appeared in Malone''s eyes. He had never expected to spend so much time beside a person who was so highly radioactive while being able to remain in good health himself. Moreover, this highly radioactive person had neither serious illnesses or weaknesses nor had he lost his mind and turned into a Predator. This was the strangest part that made people wonder about him.


    "Mr. Garen is our hope now," nodded East Perrin with a look on her face that indicated that this was not an accident at all because she had seen this scene long ago.

 949 Building a New Base 1

    Garen walked out of the Flying Ship. He reached his hand out to grasp the edge of the door frame at the exit of the Flying Ship. He could feel a strong burning sensation from the radiation that was coming towards his face and body. This sensation was trying to enter his body through his breathing.


    The radiation levels were truly high and the Flying Ship''s anti-radiation panels would not be able to withstand it for much longer.


    Judgments stirred in his mind.


    He walked along the mountaintop towards the edge of the lake where the water was sky-blue like a large pure blue gemstone. Small ripples stirred across the surface of the lake when the wind blew past.


    When they saw Garen walking over, a few tiny fishes swam over in his direction curiously. They poked their little mouths above the surface of the water in a peculiar manner that he could not understand.


    Garen felt the air carefully and noticed that the temperature here was about twenty degrees warmer. It was slightly hot and more humid. The water vapor was probably being evaporated from the lake.


    "If the issue of high radiation levels was not a problem, this would be a very good place to live."


    Garen crouched down and picked up a small, broken stone and then gently threw it into the water.


    A ''plop'' could be heard before one of the tiny fishes in the water was struck by the stone. It floated up before strands of blue blood dissipated. The other fishes dispersed quickly.


    Garen reached into the water and picked up the dead body of the tiny fish. He sniffed it before putting it into his mouth and gently biting a piece of the fish''s flesh. He chewed it carefully and slowly.


    It tasted slightly salty and somewhat fishy but the radiation levels was not too strong.


    "It''s edible. Moreover, the salt content has lessened, so it shouldn''t be poisonous," Garen nodded before standing up.


    He started to wander around the entire mountaintop which was a wide and flat area that had a diameter of over two hundred meters. Although it was not extremely smooth, it was still a very suitable place for these few people to live.


    This was the safest spot because the only path to the mountaintop was located in a narrow entrance near the edge. That place resembled a tunnel that led all the way down to the foot of the mountain. As long as they defended it properly, they would be able to completely block off the passage up the mountain.


    The other passengers on the Flying Ship had alighted the vehicle one by one. They sized up their surrounding environments. When they discovered that the tiny fishes in the lake were edible, everyone else relaxed as well.


    "There''s water and a small amount of food here. We could definitely breed these edible tiny fishes manually," said Malone immediately when he saw the scenery in front of him.


    "How many more days will our food supply last us?" Garen turned around and asked.


    "About a week. Although half of it was taken away, we don''t have that many people left now since many of us died. Therefore, if we ration it out equally, we still have a lot of food left," answered East Perrin in low spirits.


    "Get ready to tear down the Flying Ship. Block off this passage completely and use it to make a door that can be opened and closed. Next, use parts of the metal and some rocks to put up a little house. No problem, right?" commanded Garen.


    "No problem."


    Every one of these people were outdoor survival powerhouses. In the radiation belt, these were vital survival skills. Moreover, they had brought electric saws and drills and other similar tools to increase their work speed and make it more convenient this time. They were more efficient than usual.


    The four adults including Fanny began to come down. They held the handles together and prepared to set up the simple house.


    The electric saw, cutting apparatus, and motor-driven excavator were taken down from the Flying Ship. East Perrin quickly and efficiently removed the motor equipment from the back of the Flying Ship. Although it was not very powerful and could not compare to a Mech''s power furnace because the Flying Ship had its own power furnace, as long as they added some energy batteries, they would be able to modify it into a device for the automatic doors to open and close.


    As for building the house, they tore down the things in the Flying Ship that could be used. Next, they used means such as welding screws together and connecting them together. Less than half an hour later, with the help of the four adults and two children, a large triangle tent near the lake was pitched. It had an extremely simple structure that only composed of three large metal boards that were welded together to form a pyramid. Inside, a few pieces of the Flying Ship''s skeleton was fixed in the middle while a little door was cut open on the side. After adding a simple lock and chain clasp, everything was done.


    Everyone piled the cotton-padded quilts and other similar items that they had brought with them into the tent. Next, they fixed the corners and remaining bits of the tent into the ground.


    "The stones here are so hard!"


    While holding the electric drill and painstakingly drilling for a long time, the middle-aged woman furrowed her eyebrows and said, "I''ve changed the drill tip of the electric drill three times but I''ve only managed to make a few holes."


    "Isn''t it better if it''s hard?" Garen nodded and said, "That way, the Predators can''t charge up here easily."


    He grabbed a piece of metal single-handedly and smashed it by the side of the entrance to the passage violently. Next, the male youth who had defied him previously took a tool and welded this metal piece in a fixed position at the edge of the passage.


    The entire Flying Ship that was over ten meters long was quickly dismantled to near completion. Only three parts of the Ship''s skeleton remained inside.


    Meanwhile, a pointed large metal tent that was seven to eight meters wide was built on the flat ground of the mountaintop. It would be sufficient for the people here to go in and shield themselves from the sun and rain.


    The corners of the tent were fixed by melting the metal there. Coupled with the thick palm-sized nails that were nailed to the ground deeply, it was clear that the tent was extremely stable.


    "What do we do with this anti-gravity engine?" East Perrin held a dark motor-like little object and walked over.


    Garen glanced at this thing.


    "We can use it to bear loads. We might be able to use it when we''re transporting items. Put it aside first and make sure to maintain it properly."


    "Speaking of that, we''re almost out of maintenance oil," said East Perrin helplessly.


    Garen nodded to indicate that he understood.


    "We''ll talk about this another time. I''ll go look for a somewhere to place my Biochemical Pool."


    East Perrin nodded and turned around before looking for something else to do.


    Garen picked up the flesh ball that was once his Biochemical Pool and walked up to another stretch of flat ground on the mountaintop. He crouched down and stuck his palm closely against the ground.


    The cool stones were hard to the touch. He moved slightly before the Blue Strands flowed out of his palm swiftly and silently. The strands began to devour the stones on the ground madly.


    In theory, the Hellfrost Peacock could devour all things. However, it devoured certain things at slower speeds.


    Garen felt it carefully. The Hellfrost Peacock''s rate of devouring the black stones on this mountain was not slow. Moreover, during the devouring process, bouts of strange energy surged through his body faintly. After being refined by the Hellfrost Peacock Technique, this energy was able to fuse with his Living Secret Technique slowly. He was unsure of the exact nature of this energy but knew that it was not part of the Blue Strands. However, it''s purity level seemed very high because it was able to exist independently within the Hellfrost Peacock Technique.


    "I don''t know the functions of this thing," Garen knitted his eyebrows together and relaxed his palm. However, he was surprised when he realized that he had corroded a large deep black hole on the ground after a short amount of time. When he looked down into it from above, it seemed at least one meter deep.


    "This is a good way to build a house." He thought of this point suddenly.


    He decided to just press both of his hands close to the ground.


    Seemingly countless Blue Strands from his Living Secret Technique flowed into the stone on the ground. It began to consume this stone greedily.


    As time passed, a gigantic underground hole gradually formed on the mountain floor. Moreover, by following Garen''s calculations, the strands had accurately built a hollow underground structure that resembled a gigantic underground base. It extended all the way to the edge of the lake and stopped below everyone''s feet.


    The hollow underground space was divided into three levels. The top level was where everyone would live and make decisions. The living space was on the right while the meeting room for decision making was on the left. Below them was a large space in the middle that Garen had not decided a use for yet. The space was ten meters high and lowest level was an area that he had left for himself to arrange the Biochemical Pool and do experiments.


    After opening a door upstairs, Garen jumped inside at once. The Living Secret Technique''s digging speed amazed Garen himself as well. Within less than an hour, it had dug a huge space underground that was enough to accommodate hundreds of people.


    He began to quickly build a flight of stairs and make other arrangements inside. He also made a ventilation channel that led outside to ensure that there was air circulation.


    Garen only stopped after being busy for more than an hour. He emerged from the underground again and walked up the flight of stone stairs that he had built. Garen saw that a few people had gathered around the entrance outside, including East Perrin and a few others that were glancing at him suspiciously.


    "I used special means to dig a hole. We can probably stay here safely for a while," Garen shrugged. "Don''t look at me that way. I merely used certain corrosive abilities to excavate a hole quickly. If I had used the tools and brute force, I don''t think I could dig such a good underground space even after a few months."


    "Mr. Garen is simply¡­ He''s simply¡­" Both of the children were too amazed to speak.


    "The means of Energy Machinists are not something that we can imagine." Malone was the first one to explain. He used this time to inform the others that Garen was an Energy Machinist. This career was extremely mysterious and powerful in the eyes of most people. Currently, Garen had become even more omnipotent to them¡­


    When they realized that he was a mysteriously powerful Energy Machinist, the little group nodded in a slightly relieved manner.


    "If you could actually build such a good place, why did you make us dismantle steel boards outside earlier?" quietly muttered East Perrin somewhat bitterly while glaring at Garen.


    "Alright, let''s move the things inside now," Garen clapped his hands. "The task of preparing meals will be handed to you as well. I''m going to arrange the defenses."


    He did not bother with the arrangements that the others would make. He needed to arrange his Biochemical Pool immediately and start nurturing Big Wild Wolves. Otherwise, since there were only a few people here, trouble would definitely ensue if they encountered Predators.


    He ran to the bottom level quickly. After setting up a few more ventilation passages only then did Garen give up on the other tasks so that he could dig a hole to position his Biochemical Pool. He threw the ball inside and watched as it expanded into a little circular pond automatically. After that, he followed the steps to handle his materials and mixed the Biochemical Fluid properly before pouring it into a few Predator corpses that had been prepared earlier.


    Garen had not expected that the Predators would replace the flesh of the mutated beasts that were used as the Biochemical Pool''s nurturing material. The effects were extraordinarily excellent as well. It seemed as though it was abundant in nutrients.


    The pool water quickly turned into a dark red color that resembled dead blood cells. Moreover, the water in the middle of the pool tossed about continuously.


    Garen knelt beside the Biochemical Pool. Countless strands of his Energy Machinist Willpower burrowed into the Biochemical Pool before an invisible panel that could be seen by no one else except himself appeared before his eyes.


    The current state of the Biochemical Pool was displayed clearly there. This was a control panel that was embedded in the Energy Machine Imprint. Once it had integrated with the Biochemical Pool, he could monitor its state any time.


    The model of a black Big Wild Wolf was displayed on the panel.


    ''Big Wild Wolf: Speed 1, Defense 0.5, Vitality Restoration 0.5, Destructive Power 1, No Additional Abilities.''


    This was the Wild Wolf Imprint template that was usually produced by Energy Machinists that used Biochemical Pools. However, as Garen''s Willpower continuously manipulated and nurtured the characteristics of the Biochemical Pool, some of his Willpower had slowly seeped into the Wild Wolf embryos in the Biochemical Pool.


    Slight changes appeared in the data on the panel.


    ''Big Wild Wolf: Speed 1+1, Defense 0.5+1, Vitality Restoration 0.5, Destructive Power 1. Additional Effects: Level Two NIS Willpower has been strengthened (Speed +1, Basic Defense +1)''

 950 Building a New Base 2

    "This is one of the benefits that I obtained from practicing the Energy Machinist NIS Training Method," understood Garen clearly. Everything could be seen clearly on this condition panel.


    This time, the Biochemical Fluid that had synthesized with the Predator corpse seemed quite good. It was of good quality and was produced in a shorter span of time than earlier. Within less than an hour and a half, the first Big Wild Wolf walked out of the Biochemical Pool and shook the Biochemical Fluid off its body. Thick black fur had started growing on the surface of the Big Wild Wolf''s body at a speed that could be seen by the naked eye.


    Garen stroked its neck.


    "Go now, follow the passage and go down. Hunt the surrounding Predators that are nearby," he had modified the control model before transmitting a set of the Predator''s images.


    He reached his hand out and placed a Distorted Seed into the Big Wild Wolf''s body gently. He watched it run out of the third level quickly before rushing outside.


    The door at the first level was not built yet. The sound of cheering could be heard faintly when the Big Wild Wolf ran out now.


    It was clear that the Big Wild Wolf''s combat abilities had received sufficient approval from everyone. They looked at it as if it were a guardian deity.


    Garen smiled and examined the next embryo that he was breeding.


    He knelt beside it and began to practice the Level Three Energy Machinist grade. He would be able to enter Level Three soon enough and the Big Wild Wolf would become slightly stronger after that. Simultaneously, his own Willpower would be able to perform computing operations that were even more advanced. The shop in the special ability space had assisted him greatly, especially regarding the various knowledge in the Energy Machinist aspect. He did not have a teacher initially and was extremely deficient in this aspect. However, working in the shop was a good opportunity for him to familiarize himself with the world of Energy Machinists.


    After feeling the clusters of Inherited Level Mech Pilot Willpower in his body, ripples began stirring in Garen''s mind faintly.


    The Seventh Divine Wind General''s attack was too brutal. Moreover, the additional assault from the Biochemist Bamente made it impossible for him to train both his combat abilities and strength until now. He had no way of practicing his combat Training Methods either. Fortunately, he could still rely on the path of an Energy Machinist to advance forward. Otherwise, this reincarnation would be truly wasted.


    "I''ll wait until I''ve reached the Advanced Energy Machinist Level. Perhaps I''ll be able to find a way to get rid of the remnants of this Willpower."


    After slowly closing his eyes, Garen allowed the Energy Machine Imprint to produce Big Wild Wolves automatically while he began to carefully compute the Level Three Energy Machinist multidimensional computing module.


    *****************


    Time passed quickly and in the blink of an eye, Garen and the others had already spent two days on the mountaintop.


    Within a couple of days, Garen had already made up for the previous ten Big Wild Wolves completely. All of them were Big Wild Wolves that were strengthened by the Distorted Seeds. Each of them were almost two meters long, possessed robust builds, and looked like little calves. Garen released all of them down the mountain to hunt the surrounding Predators freely. Occasionally, they would bring some Predator corpses back to him to be used as nurturing materials for the Biochemical Pool.


    As long as these ten Big Wild Wolves had spacious and circular terrains, they would form a wolf pack that had no problems ambushing little groups of Predators. According to the feedback that Garen had received, this pack of ten wolves had already killed almost twenty Predators within the two days.


    Almost all of the wandering Predators near the mountain had been slaughtered. Thus, the Big Bad Wolves had carved out a circle with a diameter of a few hundred meters in the center of the mountain that was completely safe.


    This allowed East Perrin and the others on the mountain to finally be completely relieved temporarily. During the past two days, they rushed down the mountain after being informed about this by Garen and collected the materials from their surroundings that were needed to cultivate the Biochemical Fluid. They also dug out some edible plant rhizomes while the old man Malone began to research and test the types of food that the tiny fish inside the little pond liked to eat in preparation to proceed with the breeding.


    Meanwhile, Garen went to the special ability space on the side to do his work while constantly training his Willpower processes simultaneously. Finally, he managed to achieve new progress.


    At noon on the third day, within the third level of the cave, Garen laid face up on a simple stone bed. Both of his eyes were tightly shut but tiny beads of sweat were pouring out of the skin on his entire body. It seemed as though he was using a tremendous amount of strength and consuming a large amount of it.


    In the air in front of Garen''s face that no one else could see, a complicated multidimensional structure that resembled a tower of building blocks was currently suspended there.


    This structure resembled a little toy. It was only a few centimeters tall and was hanging in front of Garen''s forehead. The entire little toy was made up of hundreds of tiny wooden building blocks. Symbols and numbers that formed equations regarding mathematical functions were carved on each of these wooden blocks.


    As time continued to pass, one of the mathematical wooden blocks at the top moved left of the formation and moved automatically. That answer of the equation on the wooden block had been solved by Garen.


    These were the Energy Machinist''s Level Three computing modules. There was more than a single answer for each of these wooden blocks and there would always be various answers. The permutations and combinations that were achieved when different answers were selected would continuously produce various chain reactions.


    Garen needed to find the most suitable permutations and combinations for these answers. Next, he would need to arrange them into a brand new broader question that could be solved. After solving the main question, he would finally achieve Level Three.


    These were known as double prime factoring that was a task that needed to be done by all Level Three Energy Machinists. They needed to solve the first equation by factoring it and solving hundreds of other difficult equations. Next, they would need to choose a suitable answer to form the second equation. However, this equation would need to be solvable. If it could not be solved, it meant that their combination had failed and they would need to start over again. Even if they were able to solve it, the second question that they had formulated could not be too simple. Despite managing to compute it and become a Level Three Energy Machinist, their potential would be limited if they continued to walk down that path.


    In other words, those who took shortcuts and did not challenge themselves would definitely not go far. On the other hand, prodigies who spent their time on unnecessary minor issues would waste a lot of time and mental effort. Therefore, Energy Machinists needed to grasp everything in a balanced manner on their own.


    The processes of double prime factoring were extremely terrifying. Through the perspective of an average person, they were simply frightening mathematical questions that were difficult to solve. However, Energy Machinists looked at it as a level for them to ensure that they had a solid foundation at Level Three before leaping to greater heights. If they had set this foundation properly, they would able to reach further distances in the future. Additionally, if they had resorted to tricks to solve the second prime factor with a simple solution, they would probably stop progressing at Level Three as well.


    This was because the changes in the Willpower characteristics that were triggered by Level Three were the cornerstones that were used to set up their future Willpower modules.


    Energy Machinists constantly used these difficult computing equations as a method to produce a series of complicated but subtle qualitative changes within their Willpower. They would finally be able to accomplish even higher grades of Willpower once they had succeeded. This was the road to advancement for Energy Machinists.


    Garen understood this as well. However, he had already factorized the first prime number more than ten times. It would be simpler for him to use his current Prodigy Level computing power to find a simple factor to form the second equation, but he would naturally not desire to go down on that path.


    Therefore, he continued calculating it again.


    He had already achieved 8 points of Intelligence in his Attribute Pane. This was a terrifying value as it indicated that his Intelligence had synthesized with his computing power to become at least eight times better than the average human. Of course, many abnormal qualitative changes would occur throughout this distance of eight times. It was similar to the martial arts principle which stated that one would not be able to see the other side if the balance was not right.


    Currently, he had already reached a level that where he would be considered an intellectual genius among Energy Machinists.


    His strong computing power that was increased by three times revolved madly while the sweat on Garen''s forehead increased. The muscles throughout his entire body had started to spasm and twitch while his face turned pale and his breathing quickened gradually.


    The movements and speed of the module at his forehead accelerated and changes quickly started to appear.


    Suddenly, a cracking noise could be heard.


    Garen could only feel as if subtle increases of power had occurred in his brain instantly. It seemed as though some parts had been enlightened at once. Initially, he could not see the places beyond his reach clearly. However, they had become slightly easier to grasp immediately.


    He was able to solve the first of a hundred questions rapidly before the second one formed automatically. The second mathematical problem more complicated and harder to understand.


    Garen forced his brain to relax. The second mathematical problem was something that he had learned before. It was a function equation that was extremely complicated. Moreover, it was one of the classic difficult mathematical problems in this world.


    When the familiar solving process floated past his Willpower, Garen could only hear a soft melodious noise. Immediately, it seemed as though his Willpower had been unlocked. It floated out gently as if it had just burst through the surface of the water from the depths of the ocean at once.


    He did it!!!


    He let out a long sigh of relief as the unusual condition that caused a heavy burden in his body gradually disappeared.


    After resting for awhile, he opened his eyes and sat up. He felt as if his entire body was exhausted. Mentally, he really, really wanted to sleep.


    "Being able to automatically form stereotypically difficult questions like that mean that I can surpass Level Three Energy Machinist equations of mid-range to upper-level difficulties. The possibility of discovering an exceptional Energy Machinist is only one in a hundred. Moreover, they would need to spend a few months doing this while I only needed a few days¡­"


    He glanced at the value of his Intelligence Points.


    He shockingly discovered that his Intelligence had increased again from 8.0 to 8.1 this time. It was clear that this minor progress had trained his brain as well.


    "If Energy Machinists trained their brains like this daily, it will definitely become energy to continuously increase their computing power for a certain period of time. It reached an abnormal degree progressively¡­ The person that invented Energy Machinist Training Methods is truly terrifying¡­" Garen sighed.


    (Unfortunately, it would be perfect if I still had sufficient Potential Points. I only have 32 Potential Points left now. After reaching 8 Intelligence Points, I would still need another 60 Points if I wanted to increase it by one more level. My gains could not make up for my losses even if I found another Staff of Absolute Yin) thought Garen.


    Although he was slightly regretful that his Potential Points could only help him in limited amounts, Garen was not completely remorseful over this fact because he knew that he could not rely on Potential Points forever. Once he became too dependent on this thing, would he collapse completely after encountering a minor hitch in the future?


    Therefore, Garen had become conscious of this issue long ago. Many times, he would intentionally refrain from relying on Potential Points to strengthen himself. Instead, he would rely more heavily on the knowledge that he gained from different worlds as strength and use them as his final trump cards.


    This applied to his current self as well. The thing that helped him the most was no longer merely Potential Points, as he had the Living Secret Technique and Hellfrost Peacock Technique as well now.


    The Distorted Seeds could increase a living creature''s physical fitness by three times. This gave him a sturdy foundation while living in troubled times.


    (Long periods of grinding lie ahead after becoming Level Three Energy Machinists. The difficult aspect of Level Four Energy Machinists is the triple prime factoring. Since there''s an additional level in comparison to Level Three, it becomes much harder. Without an overall outlook and computing powers that are strong enough, I don''t even have to think of advancing even more) Garen had finally understood.


    Level Four Energy Machinists were the true divide between Lower and Middle-Level Energy Machinists. Level Four Energy Machinists could possess two Energy Machine Imprints and could create two cannon fodder creatures and two elite modified creatures.


    He had also discovered through Mincar that Level Four Energy Machinists also served as great support levels for many renowned workshops and the backbones of major business alliances. In more current and popular terms, this was similar to the difference between college students and professors within a college setting. Within a factory, they would be positioned about the workers at the bottom level. They would be in charge of the skills that would be used by the individuals in the lower levels that served as the nucleus and framework of the organization. Moreover, there were a group of people in a level that no organization could lack.


    They were the white-collar workers that possessed some power within the special ability spaces throughout the entire Energy Machinist society.


    "But since I want to enter Level Four, it''ll probably take at least half a year more." Garen tried to calculate his progress rate. Level Four would require him to form modules and answer them after that. Therefore, he would need to spend an extremely long time doing that. Half a year was too long. It would be a waste for him to merely spend such an extended period of time purely computing in one place. It would be more beneficial if he were to try solving that other technique instead.


    Garen could solve the L-units Skills that he used to control the upper limits of the quantities of Big Wild Wolves.


    According to the materials and skills that he currently possessed for Resonation, these were accumulated from the developments of a civilization in the world. They had integrated with the composition of the L-units and definitely possessed a probability of being implemented.

 951 Production Thread 1

    After becoming a Level Three Machinist, Garen stood up from his bed, wishing to solve the upper limits of controlling the Big Wild Wolf. In order to do this, he first had to produce a Production Threads for the chips. Garen had already chosen a type of plant for the Resonation aspect, which could still produce pheromones even after being separated. This could be used as the foundation code for communication.


    Garen found a towel to wipe the sweat off his body before heading up to the third floor. He reached the second floor, which was where East Perrin and a few other females were temporarily living in. They had their own rooms at the corner of the second floor, just like Garen. They had used the doors from the flying ship as their doors, which was a perfect fit after Garen cutting it down to the proper size.


    East Perrin and the only small girl were sitting together, enjoying their meal. Both of them seemed to be whispering about something.


    Garen walked up to them, seeing them acting very friendly with each other as they whispered into each other''s ears.


    His footsteps seemed to have shocked the young girl as she quickly rushed to the other side of the room to sit down. She lowered her blushed face as she didn''t dare to look at Garen.


    East Perrin was standing there trying to hold off her laughter.


    "What are you laughing at? What are you guys whispering about?" Garen had never treated the women in the radiation belt as women as the people here were very agile and brave. The women here were on par with the men and they could do anything the men could.


    "We are talking about you," East Perrin shook her head. "I can''t help it. This little girl loves you but she doesn''t dare to confess her feeling towards you. Hence, she can only whisper it to me," she spoke out loudly in broad daylight.


    Ah!


    The little girl by the side screamed as she covered her face and ran away.


    Garen was speechless and even more so for East Perrin.


    "She says she wants to give away her virginity to you. Are you interested in it?" East Perrin looked at Garen boldly. Her expression was very honest but her gaze was extremely mischievous.


    "Alright now is not the time to talk nonsense. Come with me," Garen said calmly.


    "To where?"


    "To find a Production Thread that could produce the chips. Do you know where to find one?" Garen asked.


    "Production Thread?" East Perrin rubbed her chin. "Actually, I do know where to find one. However, it is slightly far from here. Since we''re going out, we should find some washable clothes for everyone," she pulled her shirt down.


    Her tight gray shirt was ragged. Since she wasn''t wearing a bra, her raw body was streamlined across the shirt with two pokies protruding out of the shirt without any cover.


    "What do you think? Feel like fucking me, right?" East Perrin looked at Garen teasingly.


    "You better do your work!" Garen rolled his eyes as he reached out his hands and grabbed her breast.


    "Hey, that''s painful!"


    East Perrin avoided him helplessly.


    The relationship between a male and female in the radiation belt was pretty direct. If one had an interest, they could directly go into their room and they could start mating immediately if the opposing party did not reject the offer. It''s totally fine for them to give birth without any marriage or tedious etiquette. The radiation people did not know what their life-span was, hence their motto in life was to enjoy life while it lasted. For a person such as East Perrin, who was still a virgin at such an age was considered extremely rare.


    It''s not that Garen wasn''t interested in her. Afterall, there were urges he as a man could not hold back. However, he would lose his sex drive because he would recall Celine every time he tried to make his move. Celine might still be bearing the stress that he was supposed to bear or was trying her best to protect his family. How could he have forgotten such a favor?


    "Alright, get ready to move out," Garen said coldly.


    "Yes, boss!" East Perrin placed her tongue out and intentionally walked to her room in front of Garen while sticking out her butt.


    ***************


    In the gray field, the rebel army was holding banners while a team of at least a dozen people moving forward slowly.


    Although this group of people were all in gray-black attires, they looked like they were stained with blood as if they had just lost a war.


    The one who walked at the front was a young man with a black headscarf on his head. He looked very persevere but his eyes showed a sign of gentleness. His soft and gentle black hair would move about as wind blew across his face.


    There was also a gentle and graceful girl in a veil walking beside him. The duo led the team while two muscular men carried the flags behind them.


    "Hurry! Everyone, please hold out a bit longer! We''re reaching the stronghold soon!" the man in black headscarf shouted.


    "Clint, are you sure you won''t attract the predators while you simply shout out?" The muscular man carrying the flag looked at the man in the black headscarf hopelessly.


    "Trust me on this," Clint turned his head around and revealed his white teeth as he smiled. "As a man, this is my seventh sense!"


    What he relied on was not his own intuition but Red Moon''s scanning device on his body.


    "Alright, I''ll believe you once more since you''ve rarely gotten it wrong," the muscular man shrugged helplessly.


    "Ouch!"


    One of the team members shouted out of the blue as he crouched down and covered his leg.


    The veiled girl at the front of the team immediately went to check on him.


    "You''ve been stung by a scorpion. You''ll be fine."


    The man nodded as he gritted his teeth.


    The girl used her nails to cut open the man''s swollen area, causing a huge amount of viscous blood spilling out from the wound to the field nearby. Then, the girl''s finger glowed green. It shone onto the wound and the recovery was sped up multiple time, healing it in no time.


    Within ten seconds, the wound was fully healed.


    "No matter how many times I witness it, your Willpower is definitely incredible Lon!" Clint praised. "If it weren''t for you, we''d be in big trouble."


    "It is my responsibility," Baylon smiled. "I wonder where brother had gone to."


    One could see that she missed him just by looking into her beautiful eyes.


    "I wonder too. We heard the news that he had been surrounded and killed when we entered the region and couldn''t believe our ears. If Red Moon didn''t inform us that he''s still alive, I would think that he is already dead!" Clint nodded.


    They had led a life of freedom in the underground rebel army for the past two years. There were no laws and very little restrains there. Since they had enough strength, they stood firm with their own feet under the guidance of the person who had saved their lives, becoming one of the main forces in the underground rebel army. Clint had reached level three in his Nine Mega Cannon Training Method and possessed the strength similar to a top-notch Level Five Pilot. Although he was still no match to the Inherited Level powerhouses, his strength was on par with a New-Moon Level Resonance Pilot.


    Due to special circumstances, they were not able to unleash their true Willpower potential without operating a Mech. However, if they were able to get their hands on a Mech, they would be nothing but powerful. Fairy was a person who was considered their trump card in the rebel army.


    On the other hand, Baylon had been stuck at Level Two after trying to mimic her brother Nonosiva''s fighting style. According to Redmoon, she had damaged her root as she tried to breakthrough into Level Two without sufficient foundation. Although she was promoted, it would be hard for her to increase further without proper treatment of her damaged root.


    Hence, Baylon was still stuck at Level Two which was about as strong as a typical Level Four Pilot.


    Both of them managed to make a lot of new friends underground but they still couldn''t find Nonosiva''s location. After being saved by Nonosiva once, Clint was very grateful and respectful towards Baylon''s brother. Recalling his overwhelming strength back then, he felt that he was out of his league even to this date.


    No matter how many times Red Moon had told him that he was no longer weaker than Nonosiva when he''s operating a Mech, Clint still strongly felt that he would still lose to him if they were to fight.


    "If Nono big brother is still around, I wonder what kind of realm his strength would have reached¡­" Clint said emotionally.


    "Those Fila, Van Doe and the Seventh Divine Wind General are too cruel! I will definitely avenge brother someday!" Baylon clenched her fist as she muttered.


    "Then you better start working hard," a lazy voice flashed across both of their heads. It was Red Moon''s. "You should abandon that trickster, the sooner the better. I have already told you guys many times that you were not saved by him but Nonosiva but you guys always put a deaf ear on me. It''s unfortunate that we cannot get in touch with him due to the large disruption or else we would have known the truth by now."


    "He was there on the scene, how could it not be him?" Nonosiva may have came beforehand but I believe uncle is still the one who saved us," Clint said hopelessly. "Red Moon, I will be angry if you say any further. Uncle is our lifesaver. Even if he didn''t save us back then, he had helped us out so many times during these times. Ever since my sister passed away, he has been my only family so could you please not slander him?"


    "You idiot! I don''t even know how to scold you now. You even helped him count his money when he sold you guys off," Red Moon said hopelessly. "Fine whatever. Fortunately, Lon is getting good at healing people. If not for Lon the last few times, you would have died from that old hag Squid."


    "Nothing I can do about it¡­ Squid is an Inherited Level and I''m no match for him¡­" Clint scratched his head as he said honestly.


    "Let''s move on quickly or else we won''t be able to reach the Ancient Ruins before the sky turns dark," Baylon said softly.


    "Fine, let''s hurry up. The place we''re currently heading, the Eighth Ancient Ruin, has a very high intensity of radiation. We will be relying on Lon if anybody''s radiation sickness worsens," Clint said softly.


    "Sure no problem," Baylon nodded.


    She looked ahead with a slight sense of melancholy.


    Brother¡­ Where are you? I now possess the ability to heal the residual Willpower of an Inherited Level Pilot, which meant that I now have what it takes to heal your injury. If you''re still alive, I prayed to God that Lord Red Moon would be able to contact you¡­


    *************


    On the grey field, three black dots were sprinting swiftly in it. They were three giant wolves which bodies spanned about two meters long. Its bodies were covered in black fur and were carrying two men and a girl in ragged clothes on their back.


    "The Seventh Ancient Ruins? Someone dared to go there even though it''s an ancient ruin?" Garen was riding on the giant wolf firmly as he turned his head to the left and spoke to East Perrin.


    "Yes. In this vicinity of the radiation belt, if there is any place to search for a Production Thread which was used to produce the Chip Element, then the only possible place is the Seventh Ancient Ruins. Those garbage mountains wouldn''t even have these kinds of stuff and would only have some parts at most. On the other hand, The radiation intensity on the Seventh Ancient Ruins was lower than the other year. Although it was still three times more intense than outside, it was nothing compared to the other Ancient Ruins," East Perrin nodded as she replied.


    "When we reach there, Fanny and I will enter the ruin and you''ll be waiting for us outside," Garen nodded. "Afterall, the amount of radiation we can resist is much higher than you."


    "Alright, I will hide outside while waiting for you two. If I encounter a large scale attack from the predators, I will send out the signal," East Perrin knew that she would not be useful inside and would only cause trouble if she were to do so. Hence, she didn''t press onto the issue further.

 952 Production Thread 2

    The three giant wolves ran for multiple hours before the white abandoned stone structures appeared on the horizon. Some of the structures had cylindrical column and some walls were already broken. There was also a lot of toy-like rubbish that was spread across the floor. The ruin looked extremely old.


    They eventually entered the inner regions of the ancient ruins as the wolves kept pressing on.


    Surrounding that area, abandoned building structures became more and more as they entered.


    "Be careful. This ancient ruin is different from the other ruins. Rumor has it that people often encounter a frightening scene. Those who do not encounter it would return safely while those who encounter the frightening scene had all disappeared and they never returned." East Perrin stopped in his tracks as the intensity of the radiation would be unbearable for him if he were to keep moving forward.


    "Relax. We will come out the moment we find the Production Thread that can be used to create the Chip Element. We just need to get our hands on the main item, the Control Terminal and the remaining parts of the Production Thread can be sourced elsewhere. There are many replacement parts that can produce the same precision," Fanny smiled as he comforted, "wait for our good news here."


    "Yes, it''s fine. Don''t worry about us and wait for our news back home," Garen nodded as well.


    "Alright then." East Perrin walked towards one of the broken walls and squatted down as he got down from the wolf''s back. "I will hide here while I wait for the two of you. Come back soon."


    Garen and Fanny gave an okay gesture with their hands as they rode the wolves and entered deeper into the Seventh Ancient Ruins.


    The entire Seventh Ancient Ruins was like an abandoned mechanical factory. Some areas looked like a broken grand theater that had not been used for a long time. The exquisitely decorated stage and machines in the area were all broken.


    The black machining tools, cutting platform, and heavy-duty roller were neatly arranged just beside the grand theater. It looked extremely strange as if someone had done some performance with the heavy duty roller.


    Frankly speaking, who would really use a heavy-duty roller as a part of their performance?


    Garen and Fanny walked passed a Ferris wheel. Instead of having seats on the red Ferris wheel, there were sharp blades and the Ferris wheel would squeak about as the wind blew gently.


    Both of them looked around as they searched for the much-needed machining tool. The current radiation they were experiencing was thrice the amount compared to outside. Garen had started releasing his Cold Radiation to cancel off to restrain the exposure from the high-intensity radiation. Fanny showered himself within the Cold Radiation and wasn''t affected by it at all. This was all thanks to the modified Distorted Seed.


    Wa wa wa¡­


    Suddenly, a child-like cry could be heard from their side.


    Growl¡­ The giant wolves stopped their footsteps and started to growl.


    Garen and Fanny looked around and saw a few alarm clocks with limbs flying in midair, running away from them, though they weren''t too far away. They then disappeared, as if they were like some meddling kids fooling around.


    Beep beep beep¡­ Click click...


    A sudden noise came from the other side as a few gears with butterfly wings flew past them.


    "What is this!" Garen immediately picked up a pebble and threw it at one of the gears. The palm-sized gear was hit straight at the center with great precision.


    The pebble pierced through the gear and surprisingly, blood started bleeding out from the center of the gear, just like a human would. It then dropped to the ground and disappeared the moment it touched the ground. The remaining gear butterflies seemed to be shocked by the event as they flew about randomly until they gradually vanished.


    Then, an innocent laughter of a child filled the entire area.


    "Let''s hurry up. Something strange is going on here." Garen felt that the soul of the Nine Headed Dragon deep within him was on guard. His face turned serious. He knew that if something could threaten the Nine Headed Dragon, it was definitely something dangerous.


    "Alright," Fanny felt something strange going on as well.


    Both of them ushered the giant wolves to run inside while they kept looking around for the Production Thread they wanted.


    The black factory equipment, white abandoned buildings, and the red stages were everywhere. Occasionally, the Ferris wheel and wooden carriage were stuck in between them.


    Lalala¡­ Lalala¡­ Suddenly, towards the front-left side, a rectangular silver machining tool with four of its limbs was skipping about while humming a song.


    "What the hell! I just saw a machining tool taking a stroll!" Fanny was speechless as he stared at the bloated machining tool twitching its stomach about. It was walking around happily.


    "What''s troublesome is that thing on it." Garen didn''t pay attention to the strange machining tool but rather the brown bear puppet on it.


    The small bear puppet looked very cute with its two black eyes, white mouth, and nose. Its limbs were holding onto the machining tools. Suddenly, as if it had noticed their presence, it turned its head around. Its lips then arched upwards, revealing a very cute smile.


    Suddenly, its lips cracked open and the bear''s mouth was extended to its ears! It revealed a sinister smile, as well as its sharp fangs.


    "F*ck me! What is that thing!?" Fanny''s jaw dropped as he saw the bear puppet pounced towards them with its wide mouth open. As that happened, its body grew bigger and bigger.


    The inside of its mouth was blood red and it kept giving off a stench that no word could describe. Its mouth expanded quickly from the size of a palm to a meter, two meters, three meters, and five meters wide before it pounced towards them!


    By the time it was in front of them, that mouth was already six meters wide!


    Roar!


    A deep and fierce growl came from Garen in which this shapeless roar stunned the bear.


    Poof!


    The bear immediately turned around and fled like a deflating balloon as it flew far away. Within seconds, it had disappeared from their sight.


    They regained their composure after that.


    Fanny was drench in cold sweat and he didn''t even have the intention to evade it at all! He knew that he was in danger but he had no intention of evading or attacking. All he did was stare at the bloody big mouth that was coming towards them.


    "I''ve¡­ seen a ghost!" He muttered.


    Garen''s face was gloomy as well.


    It was an evil force that involved the soul, the dream world, illusions, and a lot of other stuff. All these while he had thought that the force didn''t discriminate evil or justice but used the nature of the user. However, when he sensed the aura of the little bear, he finally understood what a real evil force was!


    "Bring that machining tool along and we''re leaving!" He said.


    By the time Fanny looked at that tool again, it had already turned back to normal, standing firmly on the ground. He didn''t even know how he came out alive from that incident.


    The tool no longer had long legs, a bear puppet or even taking a stroll on its own. Fanny felt that what he just saw was just an illusion.


    "Did I just witness an illusion?" He whispered.


    "If you think that it is an illusion, then it is. If you think that is real, then it shall be real," Garen replied coldly. Since he had some knowledge of the Witch''s aspect of the Dream World and its system, he knew how profound the system was. The damage done in the Dream World would often leave its mark in the Material World as well.


    The duo brought the giant wolves along to the machining tool to take off the control terminal and a few high precision main parts. They then put them into the parcels that they brought along.


    "Let''s leave immediately!" Garen didn''t want to stay here any longer before the evil aura started to gather once more. It was formless and seemed to be a pure illusion of evil energy. Inside it was a combination of pain, evil thoughts, jealousy, tyranny, innocence, and cuteness clustered together into an entity.


    Both of them immediately left the area with the main parts of the machining tools.


    A few palm-sized soybeans with nose, eyes, and mouth started singing as it rolled beside them, floating in the air.


    Choo choo! Choo choo! Choo choo choo choo!


    It mimicked the noise of a train as they kept on rolling.


    "F*ck off!" Fanny waved his hands as he felt that the sound was making him dizzy.


    However, he couldn''t touch these soybeans with his hands.


    Then, the gears with butterfly wings started to appear once more as it kept flying around and above their heads.


    "Hurry!" Garen felt that that evil energy was getting stronger. If not for the consciousness of the Nine Headed Dragon that was threatening them, they might have already been swallowed by this energy.


    He wouldn''t be able last long as the consciousness of the Nine Headed Dragon wasn''t something he could control at will unless he had mastered his Secret Technique.


    The duo ran for their lives as they followed the path they came from.


    As they ran, the ground started to move, causing them and the wolves to not be able to stand firmly.


    "It''s trying to¡­ stop us... from leaving¡­" Garen turned his head around and his voice seemed to have slowed down, making it sound deeper and slower just like a movie being played in slow motion.


    "Run¡­" Fanny realized his voice became very slow and deep as he shouted.


    Moreover, Fanny''s ears, nose, and eyes started bleeding. Red blood slowly flowed down his cheeks.


    He wiped off the blood out of fear. As he tried to increase his pace, the giant wolf underneath him started to behave strangely. It kneeled down and refused to run any further.


    "Run!" Suddenly a powerful force pulled along his collar and threw him out.


    Fanny could only feel that the sky was spinning around as he was thrown very far away. The next thing he felt was a heavy crash onto the field outside of the Ancient Ruins.


    Boom!


    Ouch¡­ As he regained his consciousness, he saw Garen flying out behind him and started running once more the moment he got to his feet.


    Two giant wolves were left behind. They were instantly swallowed by the invisible force and they vanished.


    "Run!" Garen shouted as they, including East Perrin who was hiding, started running away from the Seventh Ancient Ruins.

 953 Accumulation 1

    "What is that thing!?" Fanny kept wiping off the blood flowing out from his face -- it was very sticky. He didn''t feel any pain and experience but only numbness as if her face was injected with a dose of anesthetic.


    The three of them walked back through the path they came from. Since they had lost two giant wolves, they had no choice but to head back slowly.


    "I don''t know." Garen shook his head. "Do you guys believe in the soul?" He questioned back.


    Fanny frowned as he pondered.


    "Lord Garen, are you trying to say that thing is a soul?"


    "Not just any soul. That was an accumulation of polluted negative energy. You can view it as a polluted spiritual field." Garen used the world''s system as an analogy to explain.


    "That thing is a cluster of different content and isn''t something that can be handled with an average way."


    "What did you guys encounter?" East Perrin was curious as she listened from the sideline. She was stunned too when she saw that Fanny''s face was covered with blood.


    "Something extremely strange. I will tell you everything once we get back." Fanny shook his head and he didn''t want to go back in there for the rest of her life.


    "Now that we have everything, we need to go back as soon as possible. We may not outrun those Predators if we were to encounter them," Garen said casually. From the soul that he had encountered in the Ancient Ruins, he understood that even though this world was very technologically advanced, it would still be connected to the realm of soul once it had reached its limits. Otherwise, he wouldn''t be able to explain the phenomenon inside the ancient ruins.


    However, from the encounter, he could sense that the Seventh Ancient Ruins contained something strange that no one knew about. This strange being was able to involve itself in the realm of the soul as it was able to activate the consciousness of the Nine Headed Dragon. If the strongest man in this world had its way around the soul, he would have to be extremely careful in the future, and not rely heavily on the idea of him being able to reincarnate again and again without fear. If he were to encounter a powerhouse who had knowledge in souls, he would be in danger as he would be defenseless while reincarnating. If that were the case, he might have permanently lost his life.


    "Okay let''s quicken our pace and head back home." Garen increased his pace as he led the way.


    The other two followed along behind. Frankly speaking, East Perrin felt a sense of security ever since Garen became a leader. She, who had never relied on someone felt very much at ease.


    She let out a sigh of relief upon realizing that she was no longer the leader who had to independently lead Leo City.


    "Perhaps it''s better to rely on someone sometimes," East Perrin blushed as she looked at Garen''s back.


    The trio then quickly journeyed their way back home.


    Suddenly, Garen stopped moving and he looked far into the horizon. There was a line of black dots at the other end of the field.


    "They''re human. Unsure which team it is," He said softly.


    "Do you want to get in contact with them?" East Perrin lowered down her voice.


    Garen pondered for a moment and eventually shook his head.


    "In this current chaotic situation, we wouldn''t know what their intention is, right? Whatever, it''s fine. We are relatively safe even on our own. At the moment, everyone can be considered as the enemy since we''re all in the same situation."


    "Indeed. The radiation belt has always been chaotic. There are radiation people who eat their own kind to survive in this harsh environment," Fanny agreed, "it seems like they''re here for the ancient ruins as well. With their team of this scale, they''re definitely stronger than us."


    "True. If you don''t have the strength, you don''t have the qualification to speak up or make demands," East Perrin nodded in agreement as well.


    "Let''s go." Garen turned around and left as the other two followed along.


    He didn''t realize that the Nameless Forbidden Willpower inside him was pulsating slightly as Red Moon''s Willpower was trying to contact him. However, the pulsation was undetectable under the restriction of the Inherited Level of the Seventh Wind General.


    The team of three people and a wolf walked further. Soon, they disappeared from the horizon of the field.


    About a kilometer away from them, Clint put away his binoculars as he stood on the field.


    "Looks like a team of three people and a wolf. What a strange combination."


    "What''s so strange about it? You can encounter all sorts of strange combinations in this field," Red Moon said boringly. He seemed to have sensed the slight pulse of his Willpower. However, it was too weak to the point that he thought he had mistaken it for something else.


    "Let''s go and look for that thing we want," Baylon urged, "it will get dark if we don''t hurry up."


    "Alright. The Seventh Ancient Ruin is just up ahead. The sky is turning dark so everyone, hurry up!" Clint shouted as he waved his hand.


    "Oh!"


    The team behind him started cheering. They were all convinced that he was a good leader despite his young age. It wasn''t just his sincerity, but every time there was a dangerous situation, he would be the first one to fight back with his overwhelming strength.


    It''s practically impossible to find a person with such personality in the radiation belt.


    Clint and Baylon lead the team as they headed towards the Seventh Ancient Ruins.


    The invisible world''s force field surrounding the two of them, which Garen called it the Force of Cause and Effect, was becoming more and more concentrated.


    As they closed their distance, the evil force inside the Seventh Ancient Ruins became stronger. If someone could see this energy, then they would see a dark cloud engulfing the entire Seventh Ancient Ruins, reaching its hand out towards Clint and his people.


    No one knew that they were heading towards the death''s doorstep on this journey. That place was also where Clint and Baylon would be facing death!


    If Garen could analyze the information on the Force of Cause and Effect on himself, he would know that the Seventh Ancient Ruins would be one of the places where Clint and his team were fated to die. He was just merely testing the water for the future main character.


    High risk came with a high reward; this was the never changing truth. If he was able to successfully escape from death, then the reward and growth he would obtain from this place would be tremendous.


    The Force of Cause and Effect had far surpassed Garen''s expectation in this world as it was hinted that it had the power to control fate itself. Compared to the world Garen had lived in, it was much stronger than the rest.


    *****************


    As they returned back to the black stone mountains, Garen immediately started to work on finishing the Production Thread. As a mechanical expert, East Perrin helped out as well while the others helped out in improving the lifestyle and setting up all kinds of safety features.


    Malone''s experiment in farming the edible small fishes was showing some results. However, due to the high intensity radiation on the mountain, he started coughing recently. If he wasn''t careful, he would contract a flu.


    However, everyone was experiencing the same thing. Although the top of the mountain was very safe, the radiation was too intense, causing everyone''s physique to drop.


    As time passed, Garen started working under Mincar in the Special Ability Space while he kept fixing the chip''s Production Thread. However, a new problem surfaced. In order to produce the chip, he needed a laptop, which could be replaced with the old quantum computer model on the Flying Ship. However, the chip also required Gui Mineral, aluminum, and copper. Since he didn''t have the blueprint of the chip, it was impossible for Garen to design the control chip''s circuit on his own as he wasn''t an expert in this.


    Fortunately, old man Mincar knew where to obtain the rare earth mineral, Gui Mineral. The aluminum and copper could be obtained by processing the materials used by the Flying Ship. Unfortunately, it would be slightly troublesome to obtain them as they did not have any instrument in extracting these materials. Hence, they were not able to obtain those of good quality.


    "I''ve heard of a chip that was completely built on organic materials instead of metals. It uses bioelectricity to process the computation. Moreover, the miniature computer to create the chip is smaller than a hair''s width." After understanding Garen''s obstacle, he came up with a good idea.


    "Living Chip?" Garen reacted immediately, "Has someone created such an item before?"


    "Of course. We don''t need to fully create a Living Chip. What I mean is that since they are able to create a chip based on different parts of a living being, isn''t it the same if we use the organic material to replace the metal resources that we lack?" Mincar smiled.


    Garen was stunned. He then nodded after pondering for some time.


    "Hmm. It''s worth a try."


    His Energy Machine Imprint was the best high-performance computer and the organic materials were abundant natural resources as well. A living being was just nature''s way to store all of the organic materials in one place.


    He was able to manufacture the core of the chip with the Production Thread. After throwing it into the Biochemical Pool and improvising it with the Energy Machine Imprint, he was able to combine everything together with organic materials of different properties.


    After experimenting for three days, Garen had finally invented a semi-biological chip.


    *************


    "Now that the chip has been resolved, the next step is to combining everything to create the Core Terminal!" Garen was very happy. If he could finish building the core, he would solve the problem of controlling the giant wolves in certain amounts.


    He came out from the basement with a messy hair only to see East Perrin and the others were not around. The second floor was eerily quiet; not a noise could be heard.


    "East Perrin!" He frowned as he shouted.


    There was no response.


    Slam.


    Suddenly, a gentle knock was heard from the room at the far end.


    Garen had been in the basement for two days straight and had no clue to what had happened outside.


    He immediately rushed to that room. He tried to open it but it seemed to be locked from the inside.


    He pointed at the keyhole with his finger as a blue line shot out, melting it into a circular hole.


    Click, the metal door was opened.


    However, something seemed to be preventing the door from opening.


    Garen used some force to push open the door.


    Boom.


    A hot naked woman''s body was pushed away from the door.


    It was East Perrin. She seemed to be in the middle of a shower and even had a bowl of water in the middle of the room. There even was white foams on her body covering her breast and private part.


    "Uhh¡­ Uhh¡­" East Perrin''s face turned pale and didn''t know how to react.

 954 Accumulation 2

    "How are you!" Garen was stunned and instantly crouched down to hold onto her body. Her pulse was beating rapidly; her body was emitting a strong radiation contamination.


    "Radiation¡­" She struggled to let out a weak voice.


    Garen blanked out for a bit before turning towards her.


    "Can you endure such a high radiation? I actually expected this day to come, but I didn''t expect it to be this soon. Be careful! I will begin now."


    East Perrin nodded her head. She knew that no matter what happened, she would be reformed by Garen and became just like Fanny. Her life was in Garen''s hands. Once the mutation broke out, she would lose herself entirely, but how much worse could this be compared to before? Like it or not, Garen would be the leader. There wasn''t a single person who would not follow every single one of his commands. Without him, they would have been dead long ago.


    Garen held his hand out and gently pressed it onto East Perrin''s left breast. With a blue, soundless fleeting flash, it ended. She did not even feel a thing.


    The Distorted Seed Parasitism swiftly entered the heart and became one whole with the myocardium straight away.


    Within seconds, East Perrin''s breathing slowed down, her heartbeat rate decreased rapidly. A vast amount of Cold Radiation radiated from her heart, which was taken as the center and towards every part of her body, swallowing the vicious radiation virus.


    "Well¡­ Good." Just approximately ten seconds and she could speak already, "There''s still Sinno and the others. They might not be able to hold on much longer."


    "Alright, I''ll go straight away!" Garen nodded, "This move was supposed to be the last resort. I did not expect to use it this early."


    "Whether we''re controlled or not, you''re our leader anyway. So what''s the difference before and after the reformation?" East Perrin sat up, not bothered by the fact that Garen could see her naked upper body. "Go. We have long entrusted our fate to you."


    Garen sighed and stood up. East Perrin did save him once back then. However, he had a different attitude towards this girl and felt things differently when it came to her, just as if she was another Celine.


    He could feel the heat of East Perrin''s gaze on him. Turning around to avoid her gaze, he left the bedroom to get out of this place.


    After stopping by a few other bedrooms, sure enough, Fanny was sound asleep, drooling everywhere while the others were showing various degrees of symptoms of the radiation disease that was worsening by the second.


    Garen gave them the choice, the decision to reform.


    Not surprisingly, nobody objected. During times like these, even the most selfish young men were filled with gratitude towards Garen.


    Everyone had their hearts focused on Garen.


    Batch after batch of Distorted Seeds, the radiation disease was finally wiped out. However, everyone had become the host of the Distorted Seed Parasitism including the two children. As long as they do not trigger the Distorted Seed, nothing would go wrong. Besides the ordinary, their immune system and physique were enhanced three times. Strong flakes of resistance appeared and their Willpower increased by three times as well. They all had become terrifying monsters who could just lose their sanity and go on a killing spree at any moment.


    Garen had warned each and every one of them on the ways to activate the Distorted Seed. It was very simple -- just break down into utter despair and anger, then they would automatically activate the mutation and become killing machines. The other method was for Garen to activate the Distorted Seed''s mutation manually.


    Once the hidden problem was solved, the people under the mountains returned to their ordinary lives. Malone stopped coughing and was back to rearing fishes all day. Under Garen''s command, a few lucky Big Wild Wolves brought back a mutated creature which was a type similar to sheep but had two heads instead. This was a mutation caused by the radiation. The two-headed sheep had stout horns, strong impact force when it ran, and an astonishing combat force. It managed to injure three Big Wild Wolves before it was brought back dead.


    This enormous sheep was at least two hundred kilos heavy. Both of the children helped to skin it and air-dried a part of its meat so that it could be made into dried meat. Whereas the other part was given to Garen who used his Cold Radiation to freeze it before storing it temporarily. It was to be eaten in the future.


    Yet, if it was before the reformation, it would have been worrisome to feed normal people with food which had undergone the Cold Radiation. However, they were now under Parasitism so it did not matter anymore. The Cold Radiation would actually benefit the hosts of Parasitism, causing them to feel more comfortable as if they had existed in an environment of their optimal temperature and humidity.


    The Resonation Core Control that Garen made according to the control chip was completed by imitating the Crystal Derivator. Using condensed biological rubber, he made a transparent Rubber Ball Controller that seemed like a crystal ball. He named it The Black Sky to commemorate the Totem World''s contribution towards the technical core of The Black Sky Research Organization.


    ********************


    East Perrin carefully marked a scratch on the wall. With this, she had kept track of how long they had been in the summit.


    "This is our twelfth day here."


    In the basement, everyone was gathered there to listen to East Perrin speak, and that included Garen.


    East Perrin was making a summary report of all aspects in this duration of time.


    "After twelve days, our food supply should still be able to last us for another month. Whether if it''s the frozen water which was made by Mr Garen beforehand or distilled water from the lake, we have sufficient water," She paused, "our biggest problem right now is that we are running out of energy batteries!"


    "This is a problem I''ve been worrying about since earlier on as we didn''t bring much energy batteries in the first place. The flying ship was stored with too many essential supplies, so we had no choice but to cut down our burden by reducing the energy batteries on board. Having such a problem now is unavoidable." Malone nodded in agreement in his seat.


    "So how are we going to solve this problem? After our discussion, all of you can cut down on your electrical appliances and use just a few of the battery collectors to charge your energy batteries. However, this is just a temporary solution as energy batteries have their life expectancies -- a limited number of charges. Moreover, we''ve been using second-hand batteries which won''t even last long. If going to the wasteland is still a choice, we''d still have a chance. There are so many abandoned energy batteries there, I''m sure we can find something decent and replaceable, but we don''t even have this path anymore. So, what do we do?"


    "We did meet a few other groups earlier on. Is it possible to trade with them?" Fanny frowned, "Maybe search for the other groups that are gathering defense points and have a trade?"


    "That would be hard, but still a plan," Garen nodded.


    "What about inside the ancient ruins?" Sinno asked in a hushed tone.


    "Don''t bring up that hell of a place. Even the thought of it still gives me chills. If it''s just a mutated monster standing in front of me, I can still face it. But that creature didn''t know when to land a blow and it only ran! It was hell!"


    "That bad?" Sinno asked in disbelief.


    "You weren''t there so you wouldn''t know," Fanny did not want to think about it anymore.


    "There''s still one other way, in which that would also be our only last way," East Perrin said lightly, "the Underground Rebel Army has not only the complete energy batteries'' Production Thread but an extremely powerful force. However, those people are exceptionally ferocious and their purpose is to fight against the domain. Also, not forgetting that they looked down on us radioactive people in this area. I''ve been there once. People like us are deemed as low-grade people. It was horrible. So after being there the first time, I never wanted to go back again."


    "Actually, there are some of the Rebel Army who are the nicer ones," Malone spoke softly, "but the ratio is too darn small. This probably won''t work."


    "Seems like everyone is out of ideas¡­" Garen smiled lightly. "So let me add something right here. I may need a large amount of different biochemical fluid these days so I would need everyone''s help to come, help me harvest and store them."


    "You didn''t have to say that, we actually noticed it already. While we were out, we observed the distribution of plants and insects that you need. Malone has already transplanted some over here, on the summit," East Perrin answered with a smile.


    "Huh? Transplant?" Garen paused.


    "Yeah, moved up to the summit together with the soil." East Perrin nodded, "The drones I released reported that approximately thousands of Predators were seen in the distance. Those Predators seemed to have begun waves of transferring and their motive is still unknown. Therefore, to take precautions, we have already started various preparations."


    "What?" Garen asked calmly.


    "Besides transplant, we have also used the Big Wild Wolves to investigate the population distribution of the Predators. One thing we can confirm is that recently, there has been almost thousands of Predators migrating towards our direction and it is very likely that they might attack us. The others are still moving towards different directions, so we''re still unsure of those that are further away but that''s all for the ones that are near us now."


    East Perrin simply explained.


    "In our investigation details, we found out that the first wave of Predators that are most likely to migrate towards us is the Level Three Predators who had failed to chase after our Flying Ship."


    "Level Three Predators?" Garen frowned lightly. He had seen the powers that these creatures possess. Even just a human mutation could reach the level of a Level Three Pilot steering a Level Three Mech; they were not easy at all.


    "Can we at least estimate their date of migration?" He raised his head and asked.


    "That I''m not sure, but we shall investigate it ourselves," East Perrin replied. The Big Wild Wolves had yet responded to such a complicated message. They could only send people over to investigate through the drones, but they were lacking energy batteries for the drones so they could only go over it personally. Although it was slightly dangerous, they could risk this bit just to evade a bigger danger.


    "Water supply is not a problem at the summit. We can drink and rinse directly from the lake water. Food supply can still last for another month. Regarding warmth¡­" East Perrin laughed and everyone started laughing. They were no longer afraid of the Cold Radiation emitting from Garen, not to mention the cold temperature.


    "So we''re safe for now," she finally concluded.


    "Let me know when you have news regarding the Predators then," Garen nodded and said, "I will be busy, so East Perrin and Malone are in charge of everything. Everyone shall assist the both of them. That shouldn''t be a problem, right?"


    "Of course," East Perrin nodded whereas Malone smiled and signaled an "okay" with his hand -- a hand sign he learned from Garen.


    "Sinno, you shall be responsible for educating the two children then," Garen cast a glance towards the two kids by the side. Both of them had gone through the pain of losing their home. They needed way more perseverance and guts than the other kids. With that, they should be considered as talents in the making.


    "I have arranged a Willpower training method for you to study. Just remember not to leak it out to others. Of course, everyone in the summit is free to learn but this cannot be leaked to the public. If this was leaked, it would be a big trouble as some people might need to be responsible¡­" Garen straight away took out the training method of the Crouched Eagle Talon and placed it on the desk.


    Since the Black Flood Party had given up on him, they had treated him as a sacrifice. Hence, he would not hold back anymore.


    During mass productions of the chip and the breeding of the Big Bad Wolves, he did not have much combat power. If he could arm the power of his underlings together, the strength formed would actually turn out to be powerful.


    In particular, East Perrin who had a Level Three Willpower herself. She just had no knowledge of some of the pure Willpower sudden assault techniques. However, all these were written in the book by Garen already. This small booklet contained all the techniques of the Crouched Eagle Talon.


    With the Willpower sudden assault techniques, East Perrin''s combat force would not only surpass Garen but if they were to fight against each other, Garen''s Willpower would be destructed instantly. Even against Level Two Predators, one pierce of her Willpower and she could defeat the enemy instantaneously. This was the advantage of the pure Willpower technique. It was also the reason why it was so rare, because it really is very precious.

 955 Reform 1

    Now that Garen did not have his combat awareness and his usual Energy Machinist experimental platform, he was completely vulnerable in the hands of Willpower powerhouses. Just a powerhouse with a Level Two or Three Willpower Technique would be sufficient to defeat his Willpower. Even though his physique could still handle the impact of a Willpower attack below Level Three, he could not merely rely on his Willpower to defend himself from the enemy.


    To fight against Predators who use Field Combat, Garen did not have much of a plan as well. If they were to fight upfront, they definitely did not stand a chance.


    So he thought of training the underlings such as East Perrin and more. After all, they were still the elites of Leo Town. Leo Town was still considered as one of the safer regions in the radiation belt. Before they entered, everyone was required to go through an elimination before they entered the town. They had also experience brutal war, fighting against the Predators. The fact that they did not die upon the claws of the Stealth Predators proved that their combat skills were still decent.


    Especially East Perrin and Sinno; if Garen was not mistaken, East Perrin was able to achieve Level Three Willpower even with just little training in the radiation belt. Whereas Sinno was able to finish such a cruel quest with just Level One Willpower. To become the strongest combat warrior in Leo Town was not easy at all.


    East Perrin was probably extremely gifted in the area of Willpower. All she needed was a little spark to ignite her hidden potential.


    As for Sinno, he should personally find out how it is possible for her to be this powerful.


    At this moment, Garen wanted to enter the special ability space to work so that he could earn enough Spar Stones to purchase a flying Energy Mechanist Imprint. Now that he had the sufficient energy machinery skills, along with a little more training in Mincar to produce more functional energy machines, he should be able to raise his pay.


    As long as he did not showcase too much talent, just a little bit, he should be fine.


    "Alright, that''s all for now. Sinno, your case is different from East Perrin, come along with me," Garen got up and walk towards the ground three basement.


    Sinno cast a glance at Fanny who nodded to her, then followed quickly behind Garen.


    Sinno was petite, her black hair draped over her shoulders like a shawl, nearly covering her entire face including the horrible scars. She was still wearing her clothes from before, her chest wrapped several times with simple white bandages. She was wearing an extremely thin pair of black shorts which displayed her slim and pale thighs which were full of scars. Although she seemed petite and adorable, her delicate proportions were slender yet full.


    After the both of them left, Fanny looked at Malone suggestively in which he also returned the same look.


    "Since when did the both of you started having such intense passion!?" East Perrin, who was by their side showed a nauseated expression.


    he held up the small booklet of training methods and simply flipped through the pages. Immediately, she stood up. Even her arms were slightly trembling.


    "This¡­ This!!"


    "What is it?" Malone asked with a frown, but he had sort of guessed the possibilities already.


    The others were shocked by East Perrin''s action.


    "This is the minimum superior level of the training methods! And it''s complete!" East Perrin took a deep breath and looked up to the others around her.


    Hiss¡­


    The crowd was instantly speechless.


    Training methods retrieved from the radiation belt were mostly incomplete, some of them were even wrong. People from the domain were not allowed to pass on techniques to the radioactive people; that was a rule in which everyone obeyed by. After all, if the rule was ever violated, the region that leaked out the method would swarm out in full force to get rid of the radioactive people who might be practicing the training method. There had been a few cases in history and they always ended up with the annihilation of the radioactive people who practice it.


    "It''s different now¡­" All the bystanders had nearly experienced death once, they were braver than the ordinary bunch. They did not bother about the catastrophe that might be caused by this certain training method. However, they were surprised by the hope and force that it would bring!


    "You''re right, it is different now." A middle-aged woman approached East Perrin and picked up the booklet from her hands. The woman was reading it cautiously as if it was the most precious treasure in the universe.


    Nobody knew the amount of luck and bloodshed needed to acquire a decent training method in the radiation belt, which would not even be completed. However, the training method right in front of them right now was a superior leveled method which meant that there would at least be five levels of training methods. This was something only the military and the elites could get in the region!


    If this was to be leaked out, perhaps the entire population of radioactive people of the radiation belt, except for the Underground Rebel Army, would go insane. This was something so valuable!


    The middle-aged woman was shaking violently.


    Suddenly, she screamed.


    "There''s even the Pure Willpower Application Skill!!? Oh my God!"


    "What!?" The smile on Malone''s face froze instantly. He expected Garen to be generous, but he did not expect Garen to be overly generous.


    East Perrin was the one who gave the biggest reaction. For her to be able to reach Level Three merely by practicing through her broken training method was considered a close enough miracle. If it was not for her past few near-death experiences, she would not have accomplished it. However, her Willpower was born with a defect as well, which lack of activeness than the average person. Besides that, her body was lacking increment, so she was unable to carry out Willpower training and the usage of Willpower Attack to detach purely from a Mech. Aside from being able to defend herself from high-level Willpower attacks, as well as piloting a Mech with super speed and power, her Level Three Willpower brought her prestige and a healthy physique.


    Now that she had the complete training method in addition to the Pure Willpower Usage Skill, all she needed was some time to rebuild herself, to convert all her Willpower into this training method''s Willpower. With that, she would be able to transform from a Pilot, who could be easily defeated by a Level One Willpower combat powerhouse like Garen into a powerful Level Three Pilot. East Perrin understood clearly how compelling the power of the pure Willpower attack. With just one attack, those ranked below Level Three Willpower with slightly weaker physiques would fall easily at the impact of the Willpower cells. They would be severely injured within seconds with no power of resistance. This would be purely inhibition only. They would stand no chance at all.


    "Copy this at once and I want each of you to memorize this. Then destroy it on the spot! This cannot be leaked out or we will be in deep trouble!" Malone recovered from his initial shock. Although a complete superior training method was not something the Underground Rebel Army would be interested in, the Pure Willpower Usage Skill was the confidential core skill that they stressed on. If the army was to find out that they had their hands on something like this, needless to say, the army would kill countless of lives just so they do not lose their advantage.


    Several people thought of this and became nervous. However, they swiftly started to get papers to copy it down in silence.


    "Mr Garen, what kind of person are you? Why were you forced to hide in the missile compartment of a Mech? You''re such a powerful mysterious person. What kind of enemy would cause a mighty person as you to escape from the region?" Waves of confusion flooded East Perrin''s mind.


    "Stop overthinking," Malone said softly. "We are now Mr Garen''s strength, his blade, and his sword! Let''s all grow stronger and move forward together. The stronger we are, the stronger Mr Garen gets!"


    East Perrin nodded firmly. Looking at the others around her, they might all have different thoughts, but right now they were all a strength that was strongly bound together. Perhaps some of them had goals of their own, and some of them were satisfying their egos to become stronger. Take the two children as an example, they even had the thought of seeking revenge on the Predators to become stronger. However, it was undeniable that they viewed Garen as their leader and had their hearts focused on him. The reformation and Parasitism that their bodies went through, the strong glimmer of hope they had in their hands, it was all given by Garen.


    "Everyone, let''s work harder and become stronger!" East Perrin had a thousand words in her mind but she did not know where to start but in the end, everything came down to this one sentence.


    The two children nodded heavily with a hint of sparkle in their eyes.


    The middle-aged woman bit her lips lightly. She seemed to be recalling some painful memories, her expression filled with hatred.


    The young man held his fist tight, a look of fierce ambition in his eyes.


    Fanny remained silent and watched East Perrin. He used to have an adorable girl, but unfortunately, she was taken away by someone from the radiation belt. Now that he had the strength and a newfound hope, he would be able to find his daughter¡­


    Everyone had their own desires, including East Perrin. Her goal was to protect everyone, to rebuild a safe environment like Leo Town so that everyone could live peacefully without worries. This was her number one goal, but everything seemed to have changed. After the Predators destroyed her home, she should be loathing the Predators and aim to seek vengeance, but the first thing she could think of was Garen''s lonely and exhausted back.


    In all her life, this was the very first time a sight of someone''s mere shadow was enough to accelerate her heartbeat, to make her eager to help.


    "Yes, I will become stronger. I will catch up with his footsteps and be strong enough to help him!"


    She told herself firmly in her heart.


    *******************


    Ground Three Basement


    Garen stood by the biochemical pool, staring quietly into the green sticky water. Behind him stood a curious Sinno.


    She did not understand why Garen wanted to speak to her alone.


    If he wanted to sleep with her, East Perrin had a much more beautiful body and she even took the initiative, but she had been rejected several times, everyone knew. So sleeping with her should be out of the way.


    "Don''t think too much." Garen said lightly, "I brought you here only because I have one question for you."


    "What question? Just ask." Sinno straightened up, getting skittish because of the freaky Frankenstein environment.


    "I heard you''ve been training on the basic training method for several years now, yet you still can''t produce more Willpower?" Garen asked softly.


    "Yes." Sinno nodded, "But I can still become stronger even without Willpower!" She answered tentatively.

 956 Reform 2

    "In terms of training your body, you''ve already pushed it to the limits, but can you fight against a Level Two Willpower Pilot? Not the ones from the radiation belt but the real Level Two Pilots who pilot a Mech and have Willpower attack techniques."


    Sinno was speechless as shook her head.


    "Obviously, you don''t have tricks to break into defense. Even if there are another hundred of soldiers like you, one Level Two Mech Pilot would kill all of you in an instant, don''t you think?" Garen smiled and turned around to face her.


    Even though she was not reconciled, what Garen said was just the truth.


    Sinno had nothing to say, so she remained silent.


    "You are very strong, but that is for an average person who doesn''t know Willpower attack techniques in the wilderness of the radiation belt. Ignore the Pilots from the domain or the Underground Rebel Army, you can''t even fight a Level One Mech Pilot. Am I right?" Garen was bluntly discriminating her confidence.


    "I wasn''t born with Willpower, that is my fate," Sinno said softly.


    "Are you happy?" Garen smiled lightly.


    Sinno remained silent.


    "You''re willing to ruin the pretty face you were born with just so that you do not stir up trouble, not attract lust. Don''t you remember the pain you felt when you were destroying your face? And why was that? All because you couldn''t elevate your Willpower, you couldn''t protect your own beauty. Just to avoid being hoisted away to become a slave, you''d rather ruin your own face. All this just because you are powerless."


    Every single word said by Garen hit Sinno deep in her heart.


    "What do you want me to do, just say it and I''ll do whatever you say!" Sinno clenched her fist hard.


    "I need you to cooperate with me, to let me experiment on you," Garen said.


    "Is there a possibility that I might die?" Sinno asked.


    "Yes, you might die, or you might become stronger. You might also become a mutated creature, neither human or monster. You better think it through!" Garen reminded her.


    He had an ambitious experiment plan brewing in his mind. This experiment would be a continuation of the one he carried out back in the Totem World.


    Maybe he would be able to path a new way of power.


    "It''s alright, you''re right. I''m still far away from true strength." Sinno took a deep breath to prepare herself. "Nobody gets something without reason, that is something I''ve understood since I was a little girl. If I want something, I have to give something in return."


    "Do you need anesthetic?" Garen asked with satisfaction.


    "Will it affect the outcome?"


    "Of course," Garen nodded.


    "No need then." Sinno inhaled deeply, "What do you need me to do?"


    Garen walked in front of her and pressed her head gently. A weak vibration was transmitted from his hand and towards Sinno''s entire body, swiftly checking through her body and muscular conditions.


    "The Distorted Seed has fixed a lot of hidden injuries that you didn''t notice last time. Your body is now in good condition, which is suitable for the procedure. Alright, come here."


    Garen led her to an experimental platform that was built from stone.


    Holding her hand, he placed it on the surface of the platform.


    "I shall now run a skin allergy test, do tell me if you feel any pain."


    "Alright."


    Garen placed her hands flat on the table, then picked up a metal syringe which was prepared earlier on. From a sealed bottle, he drew out a small amount of red solution which was still boiling. Gently, he then dripped the solution on the skin of Sinno''s outer arm.


    White smoke was still fuming from the red liquid, but once dripped on Sinno''s body, she held the urge to pull back her arm. She could only watch as the drop of red liquid dripped onto her outer arm, onto the surface of her skin.


    Weird thing was, it did not hurt at all. It was just slightly chilly.


    "This type of experimental solution has an extremely low boiling point, just twenty-five degrees. So even if it is boiling, you won''t feel it burn," Garen explained.


    Just when Sinno was going to nod her head, she felt a soft prick extending from where a drip of the solution made contact with her skin.


    "There''s a little sting," she said softly.


    "Is that so? Well, the causticity is unavoidable." Garen touched his chin, "You were reformed by my Distorted Seed though, so your body is able to adapt according to stimulations from the external environment. You should be alright."


    What he wanted to do was to achieve what he did back in Totem World where he successfully excluded all reaction and transplanted a stronger biological organ to attain a higher level of strength.


    For someone who was born without Willpower like Sinno, who wanted strength and craved for power, but had the sufficient perseverance, she was the perfect experimental subject. If he succeeds on Sinno, then he could carry out the reformation on himself.


    "Is the sting gone yet?"


    "No." Sinno was slightly frowning as she continued to stare at the drop of red solution on the skin of her outer arm.


    After waiting for approximately ten minutes, with Garen repeating the question for five times, the sixth time, Sinno finally did not feel the sting anymore. It seemed as if her body had adapted to the corrosive solution.


    "It doesn''t hurt anymore?"


    "Not anymore."


    Garen nodded his head in pleasure.


    "Now take off all your clothes. I will apply a layer of this solution all over your body and you need to mentally prepare yourself. Just now it was just a little sting, but now you will be feeling the pain all over your body. You have to hold on!"


    Sinno nodded with no hesitation.


    She ripped away the bandage around her chest and took off her black shorts. She was not wearing underwear. In the radiation belt, most girls had no underwear to wear. They were already worried about every meal and their safety, so it was no surprise that they did not bother to look for such hassling things like underwear. After all, water supply for baths was expensive enough. There were more girls like Sinno who just wrapped their chest and left their lower body naked, maybe stuff in some cotton sort of object.


    The whole of Sinno''s bare body was presented right before Garen''s eyes, but what surprised Garen was the parts where her body was covered with clothes earlier on now revealed horrifying red scars. There were two of those that extended from her hips all the way to her thighs, almost ripping her bottom into half. If it was not for the coverage of her shorts, it seemed as if there were two blood-red centipedes trying to make their way into her bottom half. It was eerily horrifying.


    "It''s very ugly huh?" Sinno covered up her three points and asked in a low voice. It was obvious that she was a girl who cared about beauty, or else she would not have purposely covered up all the ugly parts of her body and only showed parts of her without scars.


    "Have a few more looks now, you might not be able to see them anymore." Garen held out his hand and touched the scars on Sinno''s face gently. It did not feel like an ordinary girl''s smooth and delicate skin, but bumpy like a bunch of maggots heaped up together.


    Crouching down, he carefully began to coat a layer of red solution on Sinno''s body.


    Soon enough, Sinno was covered by a red layer.


    Slowly as time passed, Sinno started shivering as the red solution was slowly stimulating her nerves.


    "This is to let you adapt in advance so I didn''t use a large amount of it. Until you''ve fully adapted to it, then I''ll coat another layer of it with higher concentration. Lastly, I will then soak you in the real unprocessed biochemical fluid." Garen explained, "Hold it in, this is to increase your resistivity towards the corrosive solution."


    Sinno nodded firmly but tears and snot were streaming down her face. The pain was spreading everywhere in her body, wave after wave of stinging pain that she was unable to resist. She felt as if her consciousness was slowly starting to bury itself underneath all the pain.


    Garen began stacking small metal plates on her heart, abdomen and on her head.


    The old quantum computer by the side was closely monitoring her body condition to avoid any accidents. Even though the adaptation of the Distorted Seed was relatively strong, it was only after it was activated. Now that it had yet to be activated, Sinno''s body was just like any other average person. Only thing was that her resistance, body health, and resilience was slightly stronger.


    As minutes and seconds passed, Sinno finally stopped shivering and collapsed in a pool of sweat. The weird thing was, not one drop of the red solution was washed off.


    Garen began to use a special form of liquid to wash away the redness on her body. After coating on a layer of blue solution, the redness was finally washed away. Then, the peculiar thing happened - the original scars on Sinno''s skin were faded.


    The hideous scars were actually fading away slowly.


    "This thing here has the ability to remove scars." Garen stood up and smiled, "Alright, come again next time then. From today onwards, drop by once a day to do it. Come by around this time, got it?"


    "Alright." Sinno touched the scars on her face with astonishment. They really did fade and she could feel that they were lighter than before.


    "Alright, off you go," Garen waved her off.


    Sinno got dressed and walked off on her own.


    In the following days, Garen gradually increased the amount and number of the solution.


    Towards the back, Garen even wanted to apply the solution on her most private place.


    As Sinno slowly opened up and fully cooperated, Garen began making weird requests.


    For example, he would request for her to dip into a sink filled with the solution. While she was soaked in the solution, she had to open her eyes from time to time to let the solution enter her eyes and also to purposely allow the solution to be poured into her ears. Besides that, he would request for her to drink a small amount of the solution, sometimes even heating the solution at the same time, or sometimes it was cool. Every time the solution was heated, it easily produced a vast amount of vapor and he would ask Sinno to inhale them.


    He just had one goal which was to let the internal and external of her body adapt to this corrosive solution.


    On the ninth day, there was finally a new change.


    The concentration of the solution increased once again. As she made contact with the solution, she felt the same sting as she did the first time, the pain was maybe even more intense but she resisted.


    This step, however, was the beginning of the nightmare which was to come. There seemed to be a new addition to the solution which made the itching everywhere on her body unbearable. But she was surprised to find that many of the scars on her body had actually disappeared. Her skin returned to its normal tone, becoming white and delicate. Whereas her original delicate skin became even shinier. She also felt that her lungs became more comfortable, her breaths were bigger and each inhale took a longer time.


    This was the part where Garen reformed her lungs. Lungs are directly related to one''s biological hair. In addition to the corrosive solution that corrected her skin, it was no surprise that Sinno''s scars were disappearing rapidly.


    However, all this was just Garen''s preparation work as Sinno''s body had just adapted to the new concentrated solution. Finally, the real reformation shall begin.


    The biochemical fluid used for the reformation was a type of highly concentrated corrosive liquid that would immediately corrode any ordinary being who jumps in it. This was also why Garen diluted the solution multiple times to let Sinno slowly adapt to the special biochemical fluid.


    Lastly, the only missing part was a powerful organ that needed to be reformed.


    As to which organ and which living creature, Garen was still deciding.

 957 Alienation 1

    On the 13th day of Sinno''s reformation, Garen was working at the special ability space while monitoring Sinno''s body condition closely. East Perrin was in charge of the dynamics of their surroundings. Being the leader of Leo Town originally, it was no sweat for East Perrin to control such a small base with so little people. She handled things with high proficiency to the point that Garen need not have to worry a thing. Based on what Garen observed, this lady would have no problem even if she were to lead over thousands of people in a large compound. This allowed him to truly focus on what concerned him the most at the moment.


    As he started to familiarize himself with the Energy Machine Imprint at the special ability space, Garen gave the Big Wild Wolves a slight reformation, layering another coat of thin bony scales on the surface of their bodies. This was the result of self-secretion of its own disposal frame and was able to increase the Big Wild Wolves'' self-defense mechanism.


    Within 10 days'' time, the reproductive quantity of the Big Wild Wolves had increased to nearly 30. In reality, they could still continue to reproduce, but this quantity was the optimum because the surrounding grassland was not sufficient to supply mutated creatures such as the Big Wild Wolves. The Predators did not dare to disturb the big units while the smaller units of Predators were killed by Big Wild Wolves when they were hunting. Without food supply, the reproduction of the wolves would be pointless, and they would enter a state of weakness within a short period of time.


    Materials were another problem. The raw materials used for the biochemical pool are finishing, that was the limit and they could not continue cultivating.


    Garen straight away controlled the numbers by its whole and at the same time conserved some of the remaining materials for purposes of repairing the wolves. He could actually cultivate a few more but there was no point for him to cut it this close. If he finished up the materials, it would be a huge problem if he needed to cultivate more in the future. He searched all over for the basic biochemical fluid field and there was only this little left, so he had no choice but to search for them further from here.


    Now that Sinno''s adaptation strength was growing, it was only a matter of time that they could reach the final step of completely submerging in the biochemical fluid, in order to be fully reformed by Garen as a biochemical creature. This was also the basic requirement to reform.


    Garen also tried to search on the internet for information on reforming the human body at the special ability space but they were all classified as confidential information. Reformation of the human''s body was a taboo universally, so he ended up with not much information to begin with. All he knew was that a few energy machinery grandmasters were issued a killing order for experimenting with human reformation. They have disappeared ever since.


    Garen could only test around the waters by himself. The good thing was he did some in-depth study on genes and biological structures back in Totem World. Although there were many challenges to overcome, he could still find other ways to circumvent the difficulties.


    What troubled him now was what sort of powerful biological organ was he going to transplant for Sinno.


    Sinno was not born with the gift of Willpower and that could be a disadvantage when it came down to her resistance against Willpower battles. Furthermore, she could not pilot a Mech. The only two choices were either strengthening her physique to achieve the level where mutated creatures in flesh were able to resist Mechs; or activating her inherence of Willpower so that she had the capability to use her Willpower.


    Sinno definitely had strong endurance, and in addition to her excellent combat talent, Garen wanted to let her strengthen her physique instead of the latter.


    As for the choice of organ, Garen did not have many choices. It was either the two-headed sheep or the Predator. In comparison, the structure of a predator''s organ may be more suitable. As long as he could find a high level predator, it would be a powerful one as it is currently the specimen that people from the region is very much afraid of.


    Unfortunately, predators have a high concentration of pollution from its radiation virus. Garen had no confidence that he could take care of a virus that the entire region had no way of curing so long. Therefore, this plan would have to be put aside temporarily.


    He first chose a special organ from the two-headed sheep ¨C its intestines. In such grasslands, the two-headed sheep were creatures with the highest adaptation ability. Even if there were poisonous grass root plants, the sheep were able to just eat them as energy nutrients for the body. This was strongly related to their powerful intestines and their digestive systems.


    Garen did not change the structure of Sinno''s mouth, but only strengthened her esophagus. He transplanted the intestines '' small cells into her body. Under the control of the quantum computer, Sinno''s body attained a new type of biological balance under Garen''s precise calculation. Garen continued to carry out depth replacements. After a deep coma of three days and three nights in the biochemical fluid, the first step of Sinno''s reformation had reached its desired result.


    The strongest part of the two-headed sheep was its immunity towards virus ¨C that was also successfully transplanted into Sinno.


    But there was a price to be paid for it. Sinno has lost most of her taste sensory in her tongue. This was an after effect of the nerves not being able to correspond during the transplantation.


    Receiving the powerful immunity and being able to digest large amounts of toxic may not seemed to do much in increasing Sinno''s combat power, but she did feel the effectiveness of the reformation. What Garen had to do next was to research on how to let Sinno unleash her most powerful potential under such resistance. To be able to succeed on his first try led Garen to be more confident for his next transplantation. Sinno and Garen firmly believed that if they could find a stronger biological cell, her strength would continue to increase.


    In the meantime, East Perrin and the others were progressing fast in altering the Crouched Eagle Talon Willpower. East Perrin who was originally at Level Three Willpower was as fast as ever. While Garen was reforming Sinno''s body, East Perrin had already completely altered her original Willpower to the Crouched Eagle Talon Willpower. Both her arms were covered with an extremely robust translucent Willpower Field. This was the specialty of the Crouched Eagle Talon. Her explosive force also increased significantly.


    Even though she had not fully learned the attack techniques of Pure Willpower, but at least she had a decent defense ability now if she would to encounter attacks. In addition to her complete post-consciousness, even if she was to face the same level of Willpower attack, she would no longer crumble at the first impact like before.


    East Perrin could be considered a true Level Three Mech Pilot now.


    During this period of time, the grassland outside the summit finally showed some signs.


    ********************


    "Are the predators here?"


    East Perrin asked solemnly as she was walked towards the temporary war room.


    There were only a few words engraved on the war room''s door. Other than the two children and Sinno, all the other young adults were gathered in the room.


    East Perrin, Malone, Fanny, and the impulsive young man whose name was Belebar, the middle-aged woman who was always steady and silent, Shangrella, were also there.


    For a long period of time, Belebar went from constantly doubting Garen, to gradually being convinced by Garen. Just that this guy was not simple, and seemed like he had something more going on in his mind under that facade.


    The five people present in the room were the only elites left in the small base. They went through hell and several near-death experiences, and were definitely the absolute exclusive fighters. Now that they are all gathered here, it was only natural to discuss and come up with a strategy.


    Garen handed over the things used to control the Big Wild Wolves to East Perrin. Since the wolves were hosts of the Distorted Seed, it was impossible for all biological creatures to turn and attack Garen so it was safe to say that their safety was not a major issue now. He had also simplified the control method so that East Perrin could easily control them. There were about 30 Big Wild Wolves, each of them almost the same level as a Level Two Predator. That meant that they have a compelling strength in their hands.


    East Perrin closed the door properly and looked at the people present. Instantly, her leadership prevailed as how it was in Leo Town.


    "Fanny, tell us how''s the situation?"


    Fanny nodded and cleared his throat as everyone sat down around the old table.


    "When I was controlling the drone on patrol, I noticed that a small group of predators have appeared towards the West side. The downside was these predators seemed to have a certain disciplined formation with zero conflicts among themselves. After observing them for two days, I believe that this small group is probably from one of the larger group, and there could be approximately 2,000 to 5,000 of them."


    As soon as he finished his sentence, everybody''s faces changed. The number of predators that attacked Leo Town back then was about this number.


    "I''m not done speaking," Fanny continued gloomily. "According to my observation and Master Malone''s past experiences, the bigger the number of predators, the more the higher ranked predators there will be among them. With a group consisting of thousands, plus the high ranked predators that we faced the last time, this time there is likely to be more vicious and Level Three predators."


    "According to our experiment, the Big Wild Wolf is indeed strong, but its power is only equivalent to a Level Two Predator. Three Big Wild Wolves can only face one Level Two Predator, and we only have 30 wolves¡­" Malone continued.


    "The summit is easy to defend and hard to be attacked so let''s just focus our power at the top." The young man Belebar said in a hushed tone.


    "With such a big group of predators, the food supply they need on a daily basis is not a small number so I don''t think they will be able to stay put for long. The only path leading to this summit is the canyon trail and that is what we need to defend. All we need are five Big Wild Wolves to block the path securely, and with the cooperation of our people we should be able to protect the summit safely."


    "You can put it that way, but what if they dawdle with us?" The middle-aged woman Shangrella asked lightly.


    East Perrin frowned and pondered.


    "There is no way we''re giving up this summit. There aren''t any other places around us that are suitable for defense. If we let the Big Wild Wolves guard the canyon, they should be able to hold up some time. What about our food supply at the summit?"


    "We have enough food to last us for about a month, I froze all the dried meat so they won''t go to waste. Don''t worry about water too. We''re not concerned with the high concentration of radiation anymore so we can live safely on the top of the mountain. The fishes I breed are still not needed at the moment but after some time, they''d be able to provide us with a certain amount of meat. When the time comes, we just need to plant some edible vegetables and fruits and we''d be able to fend for ourselves on top of the mountain." Malone said with a slight hint of pride, he was now fully responsible for the logistics.


    "That is good." East Perrin looked at everyone. "I have now fully converted all my Willpower. My body feels replenished but I''m not sure to what extent. I''ll be able to find out when I stand guard later on. No matter how we fight back, we just have to defend this one trail."


    As everybody nodded in agreement, she continued, "I shall immediately report this to Mr Garen, we will need his support to replenish and renourish the Big Wild Wolves."


    "I will go check the defense areas." Shangrella stood up and said.


    "I will go check on the two children."


    Everyone got up and left.


    East Perrin went to Fanny and looked again at the recording of the predators and their formation. The situation was worse than what she imagined. The predators were not only big in numbers, but they were also approaching rapidly.


    "It''s too bad we don''t have enough transplanted herbs medicine to have enough Big Wild Wolves, or else we wouldn''t have to be this afraid of such lowly!" East Perrin sneered. Her home was destroyed by these monsters. Even she herself was almost killed by them. Everyone in the base had unspeakable hatred towards the Predators.


    "Bring the recording and follow me, we''re going to see Mr Garen." She motioned towards the disk containing the tape.


    The both of them turned and left the war room, walking towards the third ground basement.


    They descended the basement steps and pushed open a heavy, stone door. A stone grey corridor appeared. A Big Wild Wolf was crouched right in the middle of the corridor passage, its eyes were closed and it was snoring. Hearing sounds, it got up immediately and stared intently at the two people who walked in. Recognizing them, he lazed back down on the floor.


    East Perrin and Fanny walked past the Big Wild Wolf and down the corridor, and entered a small, empty room. There was a sour stench in the room.


    "Every time I enter this sterilization chamber, I feel as if my nose just breathed in a mouthful of chilli powder¡­" Fanny forced on a wry smile.


    "There''s nothing I can do, this is Mr Garen''s order to ensure that the biochemical room does not face any disturbance and achieve its best efficiency." East Perrin did not like the smell as well but there was nothing she could do, this was a disinfecting gas they had to go through.


    After staying for a couple of minutes in the room, the both of them approached a small door in the corner. Pushing the door opened, they enter a wide stone hall. Right in the middle of the hall was a pool filled with blood-red biochemical fluid. There was a fragrant smell in the air with a slight hint of blood in it.

 958 Alienation 2

    Garen was only wearing a pair of shorts. His naked upper body displayed his well-sculpted muscles and body physique. He was rinsing a pale red solution onto his body, while Sinno was lying completely naked in a smaller basin on the side, her body curled up as if she was asleep.


    There were a couple of strangely shaped tables and countertops by the room with different apparatus and computers connected with several grey tubes to the biochemical pool in the middle. With sucking sounds from time-to-time, the liquid was constantly being sucked up by the tubes before it passed through an unknown black machine, and entered into another tube leading back to the pool. There was minimum motion, and almost zero waves and swirls in the biochemical pool.


    "You guys are here, is there anything important?" Garen sensed the arrival of both East Perrin and Fanny earlier on and turned over to look at them. They have not met for a while, and his skin seemed so much fairer, his lips were slightly darkened and there was a faint, unpleasant look in his eyes that gave people an uneasy feeling.


    During this period of time, Garen started his own adaptation process. With the vast amount of corrosive biochemical fluid constantly triggering his body, his body had to adapt to it invariably.


    Now that he had fully given up on taking the path of a Combat Willpower Pilot, he took the time to try out a few combat techniques on his own. Unfortunately, all he had was an inhumane painful experience without achieving any further outcome.


    There was no way he could get rid of the Seventh Divine Wind General Willpower within his body, so the only way was the Energy Machinist Combination Secret Technique. As he slowly tried to comprehend this pathway in this short period of time, Garen knew that such powerful Energy Machinists do exist, that Inherited Leveled Energy Machinists were definitely scary and they were nothing lesser than a Pilot.


    And so he made up his mind to take this pathway.


    The third level of the NIS training method allowed him to handle different low levels of reformation. But in order to achieve the next level which is the fourth level of the Energy Machinist Realm, it was not something doable within a short period of time.


    "The Predators are here." East Perrin said solemnly.


    "How many of them?"


    "At least 3,000 and above, around 5,000."


    "3,000¡­" Garen did not give much of a reaction, "What do you have in mind?"


    "We stand guard at the summit because it is easy to defend and hard to be attacked. We can hold our ground for a period of time and with the help of the Big Wild Wolves, we should be able to drag on until the Predators leave. They are a big army, and won''t be able to stay long here because we''ve already searched for all possible edible creatures in the surroundings. As long as we can uphold our front for just a few days, it should not be a problem." East Perrin replied.


    "Then let''s do according to what you have planned then, don''t disturb me until the very last moment. Sinno, you go along too." Garen commanded.


    Sinno opened her eyes slowly. Although her powers did not increase much, her body''s resistivity towards poison and the corrosive liquid has definitely increased. Even her body fluid was sensing corrosiveness in her reformed intestines.


    Standing up naked, Sinno caught the shirt that Garen threw to her and dressed herself. East Perrin was in awe that Sinno''s skin was now so much better than before; the scars on her face had faded to the point that they could be barely seen. Her beauty was slowly revealed once again.


    Both of them got dressed and left the underground hall. Garen closed his eyes, trying to focus his vision on the NIS training method.


    He had fully understood the function of potential points, and that was only during the accumulation phase where one can use potential points to accelerate the stage. But once there was a stage that required a certain special requirement to pass, then potential points would be of no help.


    He was about to enter the accumulation phase. Even though his computing power was considerably strong, what he lacked was not something substantial energy could accumulate, but his knowledge on the different computing powers. He was not sure whether potential points could accelerate such a thing, but he could try step by step.


    Energy Machinist was merely just a fighting process of computing power. The stronger the computing power, the stronger the Willpower, the more it is able to relate to Energy Machinist Skills.


    "However, if an Energy Machinist''s Willpower is able to affect the increment of computing power then¡­my potential points might be able to increase my computing power."


    Garen''s sight returned to the NIS Energy Machinist training method.


    He paused for at least three seconds.


    No reaction¡­ The NIS icon only shivered slightly, but after that there was no more movement.


    Garen still have a small glimmer of hope due to the little reaction, hence he never stopped trying almost every single day.


    "Is it possible that the other Energy Machinists also did not find a way to quickly increase their Willpower and their computing power?" Garen was lost in his thoughts.


    All he could think of at the moment was how to break through Level Four Energy Machinist. He was not sure whether the Predators were going to send flying units, so he had to increase his Energy Machine Imprint to find a flight unit to cultivate. Furthermore, as the Predator Waves increased, more and more high levelled Predators would continue to appear to the point that even the domain would not be able to avoid this matter. Even big domains with Inheritance Level powerhouses like Central Academy had to retreat.


    If he did not improve himself soon, he was afraid that soon enough everyone would be defeated and die.


    Trying the Level Four computing Energy Machinist model once again, the results were still not achieved even halfway through. The difference was too big. A Level Four Energy Machinist was considered qualitative changing, already being one of the backbones of the Energy Machinist force. A lot of people took nearly 10 years to reach this level while Garen over here wanted to achieve such a high level in such a short period of time. This seemed highly impossible in the eyes of an average person.


    "Seems like in order to break through Level Four, I''d have to pay a visit to the special ability space to search for clues¡­or else if I continue to calculate from now, it''d take another 10 or more years. Such calculation speed will make it entirely impossible to breakthrough." Garen calculated the time mentally in his head and started to feel helpless.


    He had no clue how long the outbreak of the Predator Wave would last, so increasing his strength as soon as possible was just something he had to do.


    ********************


    At the edge of the small black mountaintop, East Perrin and the others stood at the peak and looked downwards. Groups of Predators were slowly emerging like a dense ant colony in the large greyish brow prairie at the bottom.


    The five adults on top of the mountain stared hard at the enemies; a few of the Big Wild Wolves arched their heads to the side as they howled.


    The sky was just starting to turn bright. The sun radiated soft reddish rays of light, coloring the clouds a faint shade of red.


    The wind blew strongly into their hairs, as if tugging on their hair roots wanting to pull it out.


    Woo¡­


    Sharp whistling sounds came from the packed Predators group below, but it was unclear which level Predator led the outcry.


    The densely packed Predators were all humans who used to be alive, and they were forcing their way up towards the mountain.


    "They''re coming¡­" East Perrin whispered. "The Big Wild Wolves are in position already, now we just wait and see what kind of formation they will use to attack us."


    "So we just wait and watch?" Sinno asked.


    "Going out there would be suicide."


    "What if we can distract the Predators?" Sinno pondered and asked.


    "There''s no way we can distract that many of them, at most just a small unit of them." East Perrin thought of this idea long ago already.


    Suddenly as the Predators closed in, everyone stopped talking and just lowered their heads to watch the big group fast approaching below.


    All of a sudden, a few units of Predators split up amongst the crowd and started dashing up the mountain.


    "Incoming! Prepare for battle!!" East Perrin shouted.


    The five of them instantly rushed to defend the only trail that led up the summit.


    Four Big Wild Wolves were already standing guard along the way in front. They could feel the incoming threat closing by. The wolves got into position and let out an aggressive howl.


    Whiz whiz whiz!!


    About ten or so black shadows suddenly appeared on the trail, running towards the Big Wild Wolves at top speed.


    The wolf kicked its hind legs strongly and rushed forward.


    One of the shadows suddenly flipped in the air and managed to avoid the wolf''s bite, then rushed towards East Perrin and the others who were at the back.


    "It''s an advanced Predator!!" East Perrin took one glance at the enemy and she instantly realized that this creature was the Level Three Predator who chased after them in the flying ship the other day.


    The Predator''s body was covered in pus and it was extremely hideous. With a ferocious expression, it roared and dived towards East Perrin.


    "Be careful!!" A few people by the side called out at the same time. They wanted to come over to help but the Predator was too fast and they could not react on time.


    In shock, East Perrin did not have time to retreat. However, she arched her body and rushed out fiercely, crossing paths with the Predator. Both of them seemed to exchange their positions just nice.


    "Cha!"


    East Perrin let out a low growl, barely using half of her Willpower Pierce, shattering the Predator into shivers. At the same time, she advanced and with a short blade in hand, her Crouched Eagle Talon Willpower caused her explosive force to reach another level which was at least double of her previous level. The strength in both her arms was incredibly strong too.


    With a clank, the silver blade flashed.


    With this attack, she could feel how completely different it was from before. Previously, her dodging the attack in the first place would have been awkward hence don''t even talk about counterattacking.


    Now with a wave of her sword, she could feel the strong powerful force slicing through the air.


    Taking advantage of the Predator''s delayed movements, she sliced her sword again.


    Clang!!!


    The short blade swiftly landed on the Predator''s arm, making harsh contact with the Predator''s tough skin. With a tear, the blade continued to impact a force and drew a palm-sized wound at the side of the Predator''s waist and blood came gushing out.


    The huge impulsive force caused both Predator and East Perrin to bounce back.


    East Perrin found out in pleasant surprise that both of her arms felt numb instead of the expected painful tear. If she had made such a move earlier on, she would have torn her ligaments and then have her bones broken.


    "So this is the true power of a Level Three Pilot?!!" A sense of indescribable joy overwhelmed East Perrin. The strength that she was experiencing was nowhere near her previous Level Three Willpower state. The reformed her could easily defeat four of the old version of her.

 959 Light 1

    Blackboard Region


    Blackboard Academy Headquarters


    "What''s the situation now?" Dean Cruz von Shaw stared at the three-dimensional model of the floating star in front of him. The white model had scarlet patches spreading all over its surface.


    "The Predator Wave has reached the end of its first phase. It is expected to end soon. There are three more years before it enters the second phase. We only have such a gap period to find the Forbidden Core."


    The other two professors appeared as virtual images in their seats. One of them, Vice Principal Simis, said.


    "Your disciple is still training outside. Aren''t you afraid that something will happen to her?" The old woman Babar looked at Simis. "There is also that old guy who couldn''t stand to be left alone. He even personally led a team to go out a few days ago. What a joke if people were to know about it. One of the great three professors of Blackboard actually led a team to catch two less than 30 years-old youngsters?"


    "Didn''t Dean''s Black Star go too? At this critical time...who doesn''t want to get that thing?" Simis sneered.


    Other than the chief dean, it was just them three great professors. Among the three great professors, only two of them present here were eligible to run for the position of dean. The other person was weak. Unwilling to be overlooked, he took the initiative to seek out the Forbidden Core. In fact, he did not report to the academy in advance. This caused both of them to be greatly astounded.


    "There is a gap period between the Predator Waves. Not only our academy knows it, other academies will definitely send their manpower also. The fluctuations sensed by the planet detector indicate that location. Central Academy will probably intervene this time," Chief Dean Shaw murmured. She looked almost like an average, middle-aged woman. No one would have imagined that she was already over two hundred years old.


    "It probably would be fun if anyone comes across a piece of it." Babar laughed.


    "Huh!" Simis snorted. The manpower force he sent out was the weakest among the three of them. Led only by Medero, the situation was naturally unfavorable to him.


    He glanced at Chief Dean Shaw.


    Black Star, the disciple sent out by this old woman, his strength was now unfathomable. In the early years, he had reached a point where he was only a little weaker than these old professors. Now, it was even more difficult to know what level he was at...seeing the old woman''s calm face, he probably¡­


    His heart felt defeated when he thought of this. Although their disciples were taught by both of them, he was far less than Shaw. The aptitude of Medero and Black Star were almost the same at the beginning. But now, Black Star''s strength was far more than that of Medero, reaching an abnormally powerful state. (Was this difference the reason I failed to obtain the position of dean back them?)


    Beep beep¡­Beep beep...


    uddenly, there was an electronic sound in the hall.


    "What happened?" Babar asked with dissatisfaction.


    A soft electronic female voice sounded.


    "Three presidents, the latest information from the intelligence department."


    As the voice travelled, a white carrier pigeon flew out of nowhere and gently landed on Dean Shaw''s shoulder.


    With a boom, the white carrier pigeon instantly exploded into white powder pieces, which then automatically reorganized in the air and turned into a white letterhead paper. It gently fell onto Shaw''s opened palm.


    After taking a quick look at it, Shaw toss the notepaper into the hands of the other two.


    When both of them read it, their facial expression changed slightly.


    "Central Academy is sending somebody over..." Babar mumbled with a solemn face.


    "As the leader of the academy alliance, it was impossible for them to not have any response until now." Simis nodded. "What surprised me was that they actually sent Sun Scorch. That''s their strongest elite organization strength."


    "Just relying on Black Star and the others, I''m afraid..." Babar had just resented the force sent out by the chief dean was too powerful. Now, he was worried that they would be too weak and be supressed by Central Academy.


    "It doesn''t matter." Shaw maintained her composure. "Let them hone themselves. It would be best if they can grab the core. If they can''t, there''s no need to force it..."


    The notepaper flew back into her hands, silently breaking into a whole lot of white powder and disappearing into the air.


    How easily said by the old woman!


    The other two were scolding in their hearts.


    "Who from Sun Scorch is coming?" Simis asked.


    "It is still unclear," the electronic female voice replied. "But the intelligence department analyzed that it is most likely to be led by Sun Scorch Hunter Whale Harpoon."


    "How troublesome¡­The position of Hunter Whale Harpoon has always been known for its strength and range of attack. The effect of clearing the site is terrible..." Simis frowned.


    "Don''t worry about it. Encountering such a situation when going out for missions are inevitable." Shaw shook her head. "Alright, that will be all for today. Dismiss." Her body dispersed in one shot and disappeared from the projection stage.


    "Must send back-up!" Simis said firmly.


    "The question is who?" Babar shook his head slightly. "We can''t compare with Central Academy..."


    "Then ask Royal Region. The strength of Central Academy is too strong. We can only go against them if we join forces together," Simis said coldly. "This is the territory of our four major regions. We can temporarily suspend the battle with White Light."


    "That will do too," Babar agreed.


    ********************


    Whoosh!!


    A number of white Mechs produced twisted fluctuations as they dashed across the blue sky. They were in a natural herringbone formation and they uniformly emitted blue flames behind them.


    They were headed by a white Mech whose arms were crossed in front of his chest. He had behind him a spiked tail like a lizard and his forehead was inlaid with a green diamond crystal. He looked mysterious and powerful. The rest of the white Mechs were shockingly a large group of Great Light Mechs. All of them were actually the most powerful Inherited Level pilots from White Light Organization!


    At the white machine base below, the White Light workers at work looked up at the Mechs flying across the sky.


    "Oh wow! What a vast battle array..." A staff dressed in a white suit who was tightening a screw could not help but sighed. "Six Great Light Mechs, even Lord of Lights has been dispatched..."


    "Focus and do your job well! We are not qualified to know the matters above!" Another foreman came over to pat him on the shoulder.


    "Looking at their direction, it seems that they are preparing to go out into the radiation belt... Looks like a battle is about to begin again..." The foreman sighed and turned to continue his patrol.


    **********************


    Outer space


    In the starry black sky, a silver metallic aircraft like a hedgehog was slowly encircling around Mother Planet. On top of it, spots of silver light flashed from time to time.


    On the side of the aircraft, a pop-up metal plate was projecting the ground conditions of the Mother Planet below. The image of the entire Mother Planet rotated slowly on the metal plate and a red dot was clearly shining on it. This dot was continuously sending out water-like ripples to its surrounding.


    The location of the little dot was the Seventh Ruins where Clint and others had entered...


    *********************


    Special ability space


    Garen pushed the Cultivation Sphere skillfully away from his hands. A hint of fatigue flashed across his face.


    Looking at the finished cultivated new Wild Wolf Energy Machine Imprint in the Cultivation Sphere, there was a satisfying look on his face.


    "Not bad. This is the fifth imprint you have successfully produced this week." Mincar nodded by the side and smiled. He had always had an apathetic and distant stone face. But upon seeing Garen''s achievements, he gradually began to show more and more smiles.


    This made Garen, who had purposely slacked off a little, knew that he might have still somewhat overdid it.


    Mincar reached for the Cultivation Sphere that Garen had finished nurturing and opened it. He then gently removed the Energy Machine Imprint from the inside.


    "As a novice Energy Machinist, you have done well enough, Garen. At least in my past several years as an Energy Machinist, I have only met a dozen or so talents like you."


    "A dozen or so?" Garen was a little surprised. He could only acquire such terrific computing power through adding points to his intelligence, but others would not have such a good condition. Even so, there were more than a dozen of them? This world of Energy Machinist was no ordinary deep!


    "Yea, I only saw one or two in a year during the most glorious time in my teacher''s shop. Not to mention now, after so many years it''s just you alone," Mincar mused. "Our point is just a virtual little point in the special ability space. Your talent shouldn''t be buried at our place here. You should go to a bigger place to showcase your talent. I had originally planned to have you stay with us. But now, I know that asking you to stay will only be holding you back," Mincar said sincerely.


    Patting the shoulders of Garen, the two had gotten along well with each other during this period of working together. And so, these small moves also appeared natural.


    "Come with me. As you''re a newcomer, I''ll tell you the true side of the special ability space..." He turned around and headed out of the lab.


    "The true side?" Garen narrowed his eyes and followed.


    The two men walked along the corridor and went deeper into it.


    While walking, Mincar explained quietly.


    "The special ability space is a huge overall space that is formed by units of space points. The space point is the basic unit of the whole special ability space. Ours is the smallest type of space point and there are more advanced virtual space points, even the highest level of real space point!"


    "Real space point?"


    "Yes, it simply means that that space had actually left the scope of virtual network and had become a real, massive dimensional space which can be inhabited by human beings. Everything in it is real. If you wanted to go in, your physical body has to enter together as well, unlike the virtual points like ours which only need our mental essence." Mincar nodded as he explained and continued to walk forward.


    "There actually exist a real special ability space that can be occupied by people?" Garen was astounded. This was equivalent to the technology of turning unreality into reality. Only those who really understood the difficulty of it can understand how terrific the technology is needed for it.


    "Yeah... Historically, the two Energy Machinist Master who claimed to be the strongest in history have opened up and discovered this strange space. They then altered and modified it to finally form a special space unique to us Energy Machinist --- special ability." Mincar quickly crossed the corridor and entered into a cloister which had a pool fountain.


    "Also, apart from us, pilots have a space that is entirely theirs. This you will know eventually. No need to mention it here. Simply put, from any of the points that are covered by the special ability space, regardless of any virtual points, you can enter into the real point, which is the real existence of the special ability space, at any time."


    "Entering the real point..."

 960 Light 2

    "Yes, this is the crux to me saying all these to you." Mincar nodded and finally came to a white door with a silver bat handle. He gently pushed the door open.


    Inside was a white screen of light. There was nothing else and nothing could be seen.


    "This is the gateway to the real point. It''s the teleporting point to one of the three main cities in the special ability space. Once you enter it, your spirit and body will enter that space together." Mincar said nonchalantly.


    "How big are the three main cities?" Garen asked with a slight curiosity.


    "Huge. Each main city is almost as big as a region on Mother Planet. Not all who live in it are Energy Machinists. There are also aborigines but many of these aborigines make a living by providing services for Energy Machinists. You will know how it is once you have gone in."


    "Why would you think of helping me to enter the main city? It should be very costly, right?" Garen asked.


    "That is for sure. It did cost quite a lot, but I also have my own interest at heart." Mincar was frank. "My teacher is seriously ill in bed. There is no way for senior and junior sisters to take up the burden. Keeping you here will only delay your progress, so why not send you to a better platform. Maybe when you have reached greater heights, you can come back to help us a little. That is my only hope." He forced a smile. "Regardless of how small we are as a tiny sect, we are a registered place. There are two recommended spots an annual basis. It would be a waste not to use them. I have already recommended no less than ten people to go to the main city before you, awaiting the same hope from them."


    "You are just casting a widespread net..." Garen shook his head and was speechless.


    "I can''t help it. We will not be able to maintain this point any longer. Perhaps it will not be long before this point will completely collapse and vanish. My junior sisters and I will also leave here then. So, it''s better to send you there in advance while there are still places available," Mincar spoke frankly.


    Garen was also able to understand. During his time as a helper here, although he was able to produce Wild Wolf Imprint, there were increasingly fewer people entering the shop. This was not something that he could help now.


    "It will collapse soon here and we will leave. If you want to go to the main city or metropolis, it is best to let me know in advance." Mincar finally said.


    "Which metropolis is it?" Garen remembered that the Energy Machinist space had three main cities on Mother Planet.


    "This is directly connected to the City of Nagadako, which is also the main city of Central Metropolis. It is the most prosperous place," Mincar answered. "It has the most comprehensive and capable Energy Machine Imprints and the greatest self-modification energy machinery technology."


    "Self-modification?"


    "Yup. That is retrofitting oneself. The modification of other human bodies is against the law but no one would care if you modify your own body. The City of Nagadako is very skilled in this respect. This is because the most powerful metropolitan City Master of all time is a Naga Energy Machinist with a double snake tail. They have transformed their ordinary human body to a pinnacle state. Even if they don''t use biochemical cannon fodder and elite units from the experimental platform, their individual strength is powerful enough."


    He turned to look at Garen.


    "I see that you seem to be taking this path of self-modification, so going to the City of Nagadako would be your best choice. What do you think?"


    Garen was silent for a while.


    "This is indeed the case." The change in his body could easily be noticed by Mincar this type of senior Energy Machinist.


    "When you want to leave, let me know in advance so that I can prepare the application," Mincar concluded.


    "Yea, I will." Garen nodded. In fact, he knew that he was sure to leave, but it was just a matter of time. After all, the radiation belt was not a place to stay for long. He did not find Clint and Baylon either, so he could only drop it. The issue now was how to place East Perrin and the others.


    "Does the main city of the real space point take people in?" he asked.


    "Yes they do, but it''s not what you and I can afford now. Only the top powerhouse can afford such expenses." Mincar revealed a smile. "If you want to take someone with you, I have no way of helping you with that."


    "Actually, I''m in the radiation belt now. If my subordinates left me, their survival will be..." Although Garen did not finish his sentence, Mincar could guess what was coming next.


    "The radiation belt has a secret region of Energy Machinists. Don''t you know?" He was slightly surprised. "It is not only you who have radiation people subordinates. Many of us Energy Machinists come into contact with radiation. There are many of those who have radiation people as subordinates. Although they cannot be brought into the region, there is a single place near the region that accommodates these people. These people are regarded as followers. Later on, when they have become high-level Energy Machinist and have their own advanced Biochemical Pool, they can get rid of their radiation disease. Although the cost is not little, it is better than having no hope at all, right?"


    "Such a place exist?" Garen was also hearing this for the first time.


    "Yes, otherwise where do you think the anti-radiation protection technology in other regions come from? It came from us. A biochemist and what not could do it if it was thousands of years ago, but right now... hehe." Mincar seemed to be displeased with Biochemists and sneered.


    "What are the conditions for bringing people in?"


    "There''s no need for that as long as you prove that you are an Energy Machinist. Oh right, if you can work up some military credits there, it will be very helpful for you in relation to an Energy Machinist''s way of actual combat. It would be best if you can befriend other Energy Machinists. Humans are social creatures after all. It is impossible to embark to a higher level if one doesn''t communicate with others and just stay behind closed doors..."


    "That''s right..." Garen seriously considered this. Although he felt that there was some deeper meaning to Mincar''s proposal, his main consideration for now was the placement of East Perrin and the others. At the same time, he had to go to other points to inquire carefully whether the information mentioned by Mincar was true or not.


    After leaving Mincar''s special ability point, Garen went directly to the other two nearest points. The flow of people inside was very large when of course, compared to Mincar''s Coco Energy Machinery shop. Garen had been working during this period of time so he had earned some crystal stones. Sending some crystal stones as inquiring fee, he found a few people and asked about the details of the information provided by Mincar.


    He learned that Mincar indeed did not lie to him and everything he said was truthful. The surrounding radiation belt truly had a gathering place for radiation people who were followers. However, every Energy Machinist could only bring two people in accordance to each level. In other words, as he was now a Level Three Energy Machinist, he could bring six people in. There were six spots. At the base, there was East Perrin, Sinno, Fanny, Malone and adding on two children, a total of six people. Including the two remaining adults, Bar and Shangrella, that would be eight people.


    Unless he could reach Level Four, there was no way of bringing them all in. This was not mentioned by Mincar.


    One of the Energy Machinist who took Garen''s money was kind enough to provide him with additional information. After learning that he was in the depths of the radiation belt, this Energy Machinist reminded him that each major region, for the first time, had dispatched powerhouses during the gap period of the first and second Predator Wave for some reason and advised him to be careful.


    "It is said that they are looking for some core. This news has now spread all over the place. Tsk tsk. Being able to cause the regions to send out so many powerhouses to grab it, this thing must be no ordinary powerful!" These were the original words of that Energy Machinist.


    "I have heard that there are now powerhouses who have gone to the Seventh Ruins."


    Garen suddenly thought of the mysterious Red Moon that was with Clint and Baylon. Reminiscing the series of major events that had occurred before, they seemed to revolve around Clint and others non-stop and even more so now. If he did not infer wrongly, the Forbidden Core definitely was related with Red Moon. These powerhouses going out definitely meant that they had found the whereabouts of Red Moon and the others.


    "The Seventh Ruins..." He had been to that place. It was strange, mysterious and extremely dangerous. But now, he had yet to take revenge on Seventh Divine Wind General and there was still that Fila and that mercenary Teacher Van Doe. Also, the residual Willpower in his own body had not been eliminated. Just by depending on the number of Big Wild Wolves, he could do nothing about it at all.


    The four major regions and White Light people, as well as Central Academy, had sent their people there. All the powerhouses gathered together as if they were all affirmed that there must be something they need in the Seventh Ruins.


    After some deliberation, he decided to send East Perrin and the others to that secret Energy Machinist''s base. He would then leave to go to the main city to develop. Otherwise, staying in this small place would not enable him to come in contact with the higher-level knowledge of Energy Machinists.


    He now could feel more strongly that Energy Machinists had a complete system for training and education. It was not something that a self-learned person like him could attain. If he could receive formal education, adding on his conditions and advantages, he would definitely achieve greater heights.


    After all, he was a monster who could increase his intelligence computing power through potential points. The intelligence of an average person was limited. No matter how much they trained, they still had an inherent natural restriction and physical bottleneck. But if Garen could find more potential points, there would certainly be a breakthrough in the limit!


    After setting his mind, Garen got a map to the secret point from Naga, and at the same time, he began to send East Perrin and the others to patrol further into the surroundings and investigate the flow pattern of the Predators.


    Although the recent small-scale Predators attack was repulsed by East Perrin and the others, who had a great increase in their strength and fully demonstrating their capability, this time was different. He wanted to take these people to a farther place, at least a distance of hundreds of kilometers away. The danger level was different from before. It required careful planning.


    *********************


    "What? You all don''t want to go!?" Garen frowned as he stared at East Perrin.


    Clearly, this woman represented the opinion of the others.


    "Yes, we don''t want to leave this place. With the presence of Big Wild Wolves, we can totally guard this place firmly. With the training method, we can also have the hope of advancing through communicating with one another. This place is secretive and suitable for living. The old man had transplanted the plants and the small fish reared were already starting its cycle of breeding. We are able to live well here."


    East Perrin said firmly.


    "There is still a second-stage Predators Wave coming up next," Garen said solemnly.


    "I know, but there is still the basement. We are doing modification works so it''s okay to stay underground all the time. We just have to reserve food in advance!" East Perrin responded with a definite affirmation, apparently having thought through it.

 961 Rescue 1

    "Reserve food in advance... easily said. Have you calculated thoroughly the amount of food you need? And how long will the aerial Predators be out in the air? Do you know? The Big Wild Wolves will no longer have the opportunity to replenish after I leave. You lose one of it, the number will be one lesser. With such a small bit of strength, can you say that you can be safe?" Garen frowned.


    "It doesn''t matter. We have worked it out. If the food is properly stocked, we can hold out for more than a year!" East Perrin nodded and her eyes flashed with a fierce light. "If it is really not enough, we have alternative methods."


    "What methods?" Garen narrowed his eyes.


    "Since our current physique has been modified, we could even eat Predator meat..." East Perrin said in a low voice.


    Garen was quiet, but he could comprehend it. Now that everything in the wild had been eaten up by the Predators, once the food was not enough, the only thing that could be used as a food source was the Predators themselves. In the radiation belt, there were many cases of people eating people. What was more, Predators were no longer in the category of human beings.


    "Are you all worried about the training method and training techniques?" he asked.


    "Yes." East Perrin nodded fiercely. "What you have given to us is too precious. Once people find out about this, it might be more dangerous in the wild. The radiation concentration here is very high so most people would not come here. It is the best natural barrier to completely isolate outsiders'' view."


    Garen pondered carefully. The others did not matter to him, but East Perrin saved him before. He could not completely abandon this debt of gratitude no matter what. He must consider her future moves clearly.


    He asked about the arrangements and plans of East Perrin and the others here, the farming situation, and so on. After careful calculations, perhaps they might be able to survive here, provided that there were no accidental, unforeseen incidents.


    "Since you have already decided, I won''t stop you then. But, I''m sure to leave. You must understand this." Garen said quietly.


    "We know. From the time you appeared in Leo City, I know that you would not stick with us for long." East Perrin nodded.


    "Sinno can follow me. Her modification has not yet been completed. Of course, this has to be on her own accord. The modification thus far has been successful and she now has a strong resistance to radiation. But, there will also be more risk if we continue it."


    "I have no opinion." Sinno slowly entered from the outside. The doorway gradually revealed the appearance of others. Clearly, everyone had arrived. This was a critical moment that would decide the direction of their future development. Garen''s departure was a very serious matter. This means that from now on, they would have to protect themselves with their own strength rather than relying on the number of Big Wild Wolves. Of course, thirty Big Wild Wolves were enough for them to protect themselves for a period of time. There would not be any pressure in encountering small scale of Predators.


    Garen had long heard their voices outside. He glanced at them and slowly nodded.


    "Since all of you have reached an agreement, then I too..."


    Boom!!!


    Suddenly, there was a thunderous roar in the distance. The whole mountain seemed to shake violently.


    Ah~~Ah! ~~~~! !


    A piercing screaming-liked sound travelled from far to near, penetrating the rock formations of the mountain and drilled into everyone''s ears.


    Immediately, there was a painful expression on everyone''s faces.


    A vague music rang in the air, as if many people were singing psalms or chanting. Layers upon layers of choruses kept on sounded non-stop.


    Garen''s face changed. He rushed up and knocked out everyone. Sure enough, once fainted, the crowd''s faces quickly became much more normal. This kind of voice belonged to a mental attack.


    He rushed out of the basement, passed through the third and second floor at the fastest speed and jumped out of the exit.


    Whoosh! The sound of wind... sound of singing... a sharp whistling sound from the battleships swishing past the in the sky above!


    A glaring white light approached and came into view. In the distance was a multi-colored, transparent, illusory huge tree. It was slowly extending into the sky and those layers of ballad seemed to be coming from there.


    From far, the tree looked a few thousand meters tall. The thick trunk was constantly flowing with illusory translucent colored energy liquid. It was surrounded by a large number of Mech dots that were tinier than ants.


    The eruption of energy fluctuations by these Mechs looked like the size of a fingernail from far. Time to time, some Mech dots would explode in the sky and fall. Fleets of warships farther away were flying towards the giant tree. Countless Mechs continuously darted out of the battleships. At first glance, there were thousands of them, almost covering the entire sky.


    "What a spectacle..." Garen suck in a breath of cold air. Looking from afar, the battle situation was divided into three powers: black-white logo, gold line logo, and a completely silver force.


    The Mechs and battleships of Blackboard and Polar Region had a black-white round pattern. The black-white symbol on them represented a force.


    The combined fleet of Maria Region and Royal Region had gray-gold lines flowing on the surface of their battleship and Mech. Among them were powerful White Light Mechs. The gold line was their signature.


    There was also a force that was entirely silver, whether it was the Mech or the battleship. The barrels on their body were far longer than that of others. Just a humanoid Mech would have no less than a dozen large barrels, looking savage like spikes. Among them was a leading Mech with a round silver rotating disk behind its back. On it were full of sophisticated and complicated mechanical structures. It was not known what its usage was.


    The strangest thing was that the Mechs of this force was generally larger than that of the two major forces. They gave off a kind of inexplicable, peculiar aura.


    The power situation of the three forces was very strange. Both Blackboard and Maria-Royal seemed to have only dispatched ordinary general pilots to fight and exhaust one another, whereas, the real powerhouse were still waiting and watching. There was no big move between them.


    Similarly, the silver force was motionless here. Although they had the fewest number of people with only hundreds of them, they seemed to be taken seriously by all.


    Garen looked up at the distant sky. The Mechs collided with each other and exploded, bursting out yellow-red flames like the blossoming of flowers in the sky. The sound of the explosion could be faintly heard, but more were the sound of muffled thunder rumbling. That was due to the infrasound vibrations formed by a large number of explosions together.


    In the sky, hundreds of Mechs and dozens of huge battleships fired at each other, entangling in battle.


    Under the blue sky and white clouds, black missiles fell down like meteoroids from time to time and left deep, empty pits of various sizes on the ground. White laser beams flickered and disappeared, like a flash of the sword which was quickly extinguished instantly.


    Only a few laser beams would last for a while. They first gradually became thicker and brighter before they slowly thinned out and darkened.


    Garen stood on the edge of the hill. Occasionally, dark colored battleships would break out of the clouds above him and flew towards the battlefield at high speed. At the same time, numerous Mechs would fly out of the battleships. Looking up to the sky, there was not a spot that was not occupied by the Mechs or battleships. The entire sky was slightly dim, even the light was obscured by these war machines.


    Nobody bothered about the hills below, not to mention a little person on the top of it. Garen stood on the edge and looked at the battlefield. The leaders of the three forces seemed to be negotiating about something. After a while, the colorful giant tree began to move slowly and swayed its branches around. It seemed like something new had happened.


    The three powerful forces suddenly became excited. Garen saw a Mech from the silver force headed straight towards the other two coalition forces.


    "Central Sun Scorch, Hunter Whale!" A deafening deep groan burst forth from that Mech.


    "Maria, Zero Rifle!" The gold line side flew out a slender, feminine white female Mech. Unmatched with her figure, she carried a huge heavy rifle several times longer than her body, looking anomalous.


    After the two Mechs had revealed their names, there was no nonsense and they immediately engaged.


    Now and then, Zero Rifle would shoot out beams of golden lines. The strange thing was these rays were actually able to bend and round the corners on their own. Their speed was extremely fast. From a distance, they were like golden nematodes, twisting and turning, constantly trying to penetrate into the body of the silver Mech on the opposite.


    The silver Mech seemed to easily wave back and repel the attack of the golden lines. Occasionally, he would take a step forward. Behind him, several of the golden lines would automatically collide with each other and melt away as he closed in step by step. Zero Rifle was easily forced to move back bit by bit.


    "How strong..." Garen watched from a long way off. The Mechs appeared as small dots due to the great distance. And yet, the energy attack that they broke out was actually the size of a palm. The proportion was astonishing. Even as Garen stood here, he could feel a slight sense of pressure, like a strong wind blowing on his cheek.


    "Zero Rifle is being suppressed¡­ truly the powerhouse of Central Academy!" It was also Garen''s first time seeing the Mech pilot from Central Academy. All these pilots were gathered together at this time and seemed to be fighting madly for some secret treasure.


    At this moment, a branch on the giant tree discharged a spot of white light.


    This light spot was like stirring up a hornet''s nest. Instantly, the entire three forces of Mechs had no difference in faction. All of them rushed madly to the light spot tossed out by the giant tree, as if that was an extremely powerful treasure!


    Even Zero Rifle who was still battling Hunter Whale, the Central Academy''s Mech, stopped fighting and darted straight to the light spot.


    Unexpectedly, the light spot could automatically dodge. It twisted and turned, evading all the Mechs. Not even one of them could successfully seize it.


    Pew!


    Suddenly, the giant tree spitted out a white light spot again, followed by the third and fourth. More and more light spots appeared, flying everywhere. All the powerhouses were dispatched to catch the light spots.


    In particular, the Inherited Level powerhouses. Looking at each one of them from afar, their characteristics could be noted clearly. The ones that were covered with an unmatched Willpower shield and were rampant were of Inherited Level.


    They appeared to consciously avoid colliding with one another that were of the same level, and shuttled around the general Mechs to catch the white light spots.


    Garen soon found Seventh Divine Wind General from Blackboard Region. That blue long-barrelled gun Mech with its obvious characteristic had a mirror-like outer shell as blue as the sky. There were other similar blue Mechs around him. All of them emitted with a strong force field, directly clearing the site they were at.


    Obviously, these were the four great Divine Wind General of Black Flood Party. They all wore the same one-shoulder cloak and a large word, Wind, was written on it.


    "Hahahaha!! Black Flood Divine Wind General? Let me see if you are worthy of your title!!" Another acquaintance from White Light appeared in Garen''s vision. Ice Dragon! His familiar tone had always been very characteristic. It was difficult for Garen to forget after he had heard it once, or one could say that it was difficult for anyone who have heard of his distinctive tone to forget it.


    A large Great Light Mech from White Light emerged and bolted straight towards the four Divine Wind Generals.


    "Ice Dragon! Don''t get in the way!!" A Divine Wind General rushed out. With the two knives in hand, he gave a cross-slash and was entangled with Ice Dragon.


    "Four, don''t get caught up with him!" The Divine Wind General leader bellowed, "Six and Seven, go force back that mad lunatic together!"


    "I''ll use resonance skill, hurry!" Seventh Divine Wind General shouted. A dark cloud of black mass appeared in his hand and was gradually getting larger and darker. Very soon, it turned into a cloud of black airflow mass and was suspended between his palms.


    Sixth Divine Wind General hurriedly darted out without saying much and provided close support. His single-broadsword was slashing out non-stop. The terrifying force field between the Inherited Levels constantly clashed together. Ice Dragon was only at a disadvantage for a moment.


    "Resonance skills, Ice Cicada!! Hahahaha!!" Ice Dragon did not retreat but was even more fanatical. He seemed to be in full excitement and hysteria.


    His Mech suddenly spewed out four white insect-like objects. The four things automatically turned and pierced towards two Divine Wind Generals. The speed was so fast that the two could not react. It was just a moment and those things were already in sight.


    "Six, Four, don''t get entangled!" The Divine Wind General leader roared.


    "Resonance skill. Black Dragon Sword!!" Seventh Divine Wind General incorporated the long spear pike in his hands with black mass and brought up a large gust of black wind. A huge force field power distorted the airflow, whirled and emerged before him, and then madly¡­struck the back of the Divine Wind General leader who was beside him.


    Boom!!! Black gas tumbled all over.


    The Divine Wind General leader''s body was pierced through from the back and the sharp tip of the spear pike penetrated the cockpit at the chest. The huge force thrust his whole body forward.


    "You¡­!"


    He looked down at the tip of the spear pike unbelievably.

 962 Rescue 2

    "Third brother!!!" Sixth Divine Wind General''s eyes widened and his jaw dropped when he looked back and saw this scene. Wanting to turn around to rescue him, his back so happened to be hit by Ice Cicada. His whole Mech was covered with white frost and his action became slow.


    At this moment, Fourth Divine Wind General who was having a close combat with Ice Dragon suddenly spun around and struck Sixth Divine Wind General''s back with his two knives.


    He acted extremely fast. Despite being hit by Ice Cicada, it was as if nothing had happened. Needless to say, it must be some kind of trick that he and Ice Dragon were playing.


    Bang!


    Sixth Divine Wind General forcefully raised his arm to use a backhand with his armor and deflected the blade and avoided the danger of being cleaved at the cockpit. But because of this, one of his arm was also cut off by the two knives. He crashed to the ground like a kite with a broken string.


    Meanwhile, Third Divine Wind General, who was pierced through, slowly and silently disintegrated into a mass of black particles. It seemed that there was something weird about the weapon used by Seventh Divine Wind General.


    At this time, the giant tree discharged several white light spots again. Numerous Mechs were snatching it madly. The situation became increasingly chaotic.


    Fourth and Seventh Divine Wind General exchanged a look with Ice Dragon in the sky.


    "Don''t bother about him. Grabbing the thing is more important!"


    Fourth Divine Wind General spoke in a low voice.


    The three broke up and darted straight towards three light points.


    The change of events here was only a small one among the three forces. Not only here, there were also powerhouses from Polar Region who rebelled. Under the circumstance where several of the Inherited Level powerhouses were unprepared and did not completely activate their force field, they were sneakily attacked by their own powerhouses, injuring and killing many.


    Even Black Star spun around and battled with Medero and the many powerhouses from the same region. He seemed to be at ease as he strolled about, clearly a traitor in this operation!


    More than half of the powerhouses in Blackboard Laser Coalition rebelled and fell apart.


    The battle situation in the sky was chaotic.


    On the top of the hill, Garen narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at the direction in which Sixth Divine Wind General fell. With a thought in mind, a Big Wild Wolf slowly stepped out from behind and knelt beside him.


    Reaching out, he gently stroked the head of the Big Wild Wolf.


    "Sixth Divine Wind General...that''s him?"


    ************************


    Below the giant tree, nearby the Seventh Ruins.


    Wreckages of battleships and Mechs of all sizes were scattered all over the ground. Pits of different sizes were formed as they crashed into the ground. Some places still had fire burning slowly. Occasionally, there would be a loud blast caused by the explosion of the kinetic furnace.


    In a larger dark pit, a dark blue humanoid Mech with its right arm broken was lying silently in it.


    Du...


    The Mech cabin opened automatically and a human body wearing a black combat suit and a helmet rolled out from the inside. His entire body was bundled up tightly and there was a white word, Wind, on his shoulder.


    He weakly rolled over to the bottom of the pit, unable to move at all. He forcefully turned over and looked up at the complex battle situation in the sky. His vision gradually began to blur.


    ''Body health index dropped to twenty, warning, warning! Peripheral nerves damaged in large areas, Willpower cannot control the body, Willpower core is seriously impaired. Please send a distress signal immediately. Please send a distress signal immediately!'' The built-in intelligence of the combat uniform continued to sound.


    "Hehe... Can''t control?" He smirked. The sharp pain in his body came wave after wave. That sneak attack and direct hit from Ice Dragon''s Ice Cicada had heavily injured him completely. His consciousness became more and more blurred and unclear at this time.


    ''Warning! Warning! Please send out a rescue signal right away. Sixth Divine Wind General, Your Excellency, your physical condition is very bad. Failing to get help in half an hour''s time will lead to permanent paralysis!'' The sound of built-in intelligence kept on ringing.


    But he could not hear it clearly anymore. The voice in his ears seemed to be getting farther, and farther...


    Send out a distress signal? Now the people of Blackboard and Polar were being hunted down. It was already difficult for them to protect themselves. Who would come and help him? Could help him? Sending out a signal would only draw the enemy.


    "Not-falling Level..." He finally managed to raise his hand and with his last effort, pressed the intelligent system switch on the combat suit to completely shut down the system. The noisy warning sound disappeared completely.


    His eyelids continued to drop and become heavier and heavier, heavier and heavier. The light in front of him was also increasingly dimmed.


    "Finally... found you..." Vaguely, he heard someone talking.


    Is it the enemy? This thought flashed through his blurry mind.


    The view before him moved, like someone was helping him up.


    Pap pap! Pap Pap.


    A few slaps on the cheeks, but no pain was felt.


    "Still alive? That''s good!"


    His eyelids finally closed completely. This sentence was the last sound he heard.


    *******************


    No idea how long it had been...maybe a day, maybe two days or maybe more.


    He began to awaken and his body felt warm. The sun was shining on the skin of his body.


    "Sun? How can there be sunlight shining through the protective clothing onto the skin in the radiation belt?" His brain was still somewhat chaotic.


    "You''re awake?"


    A man''s voice sounded around him.


    At the third floor of the basement in a gray-black single stone room, Garen hands were in his pockets. He had changed his clothes at this time to the ones stripped off from the Mech pilots who died in the battle. His previous clothes were tattered since long ago. So he grabbed a few more sets back during the chaos in the battlefield. Unfortunately, there were a number of others who were also searching the corpses like he did. The rest of the Inherited Level corpses were seized by others. Since he was now physically injured, his strength was too weak. Being able to bring this guy back was considered good enough.


    He looked at the guy on the sickbed who was wearing a tight-fitting black combat suit with a big word, Wind, on his shoulder. His head was wrapped in a helmet and there was no way to see what he looked like.


    In order to avoid any misunderstanding from the other party, he did not touch anything on this guy''s body, not even his clothes.


    "Have something to eat." Garen gestured with the fish soup in his hands. It was just cooked and was emitting steam and aroma. The thick fish soup had fish and dissolved fishbone in it, making the whole soup a pale white.


    Sixth Divine Wind General tried to move his arm but there was no response.


    "It was you who rescued me?" He asked in a small voice.


    "Who else?" Garen shrugged and placed the fish soup on the stone table.


    "Let me introduce myself. My name is Garen, the newbie who was once rescued by you, the one who offended Seventh Divine Wind General and was almost gotten rid of. Remember?"


    Six immediately recalled that he had indeed rescued a beginner-level genius. His name was Nonosiva?


    He looked at Garen, eyes puzzled and alert.


    Garen smiled.


    "Nono was my name. Now, I''m called Garen."


    Six nodded after a moment of silence.


    "I remember you."


    "Things will be easier then." Garen laughed. "Since you have regained consciousness, is there a good way to treat yourself? You are a Divine Wind General, Inherited Level top pilot! You would have some means, right?"


    "..."


    The smile on Garen''s face could not hold out any longer.


    "You don''t have? You''re Divine Wind General! Inherited Level top pilot? Don''t tell me you don''t have any first aid treatment method!?"


    "..."


    Garen was baffled. Looking at the silent and pitiful Sixth Divine Wind General, he sighed.


    "About your physical condition, you should be clear about it, yea? Same as mine, being injured by residual Willpower. Most of your Willpower had to be used to resist the opponent''s Willpower. If you want to recover, the duration has to be counted by years."


    "I know." Six nodded. His head was the only part that he could move freely for now. "The entire body''s nerves had broken down, the body and Will had been separated and most of the Willpower is being suppressed. I am basically a useless person now. My strength is not even half of what it was during my peak period."


    Garen was speechless. This guy knew everything and his situation was even worse than himself back then. At that time, he was only hurt by the little Willpower released by Inherited Level. This guy was attacked by the enemy who wanted to completely kill him. If it were not for his powerful Willpower, the general person in his condition would have exploded and die any minute. He was simply a human bomb.


    The Willpower remained in his body was constantly trying to blow him up from the inside so that he was in a kind of internal tearing pain at any moment.


    "What are your plans for now?" Garen asked. "I saved you merely because you have saved me back then. One for one."


    "One for one?" Six repeated and did not speak.


    Time passed slowly. He did not speak for a long time. His eyes looked misty and he seemed to be recalling something.


    "They won''t let me go. They will definitely come here to search for me. It is better for you to throw me out. Otherwise, even if it''s in the radiation belt, you will also die." Six said plainly.


    "I certainly know that powerhouses like you will not be easily let go, different from me back then." Garen said naturally, "So I intend to leave immediately. From the looks of it, Blackboard and Polar are bound to be chaotic."


    "You can''t escape."


    "I have my way."


    "The strength of the regions is not what you can imagine. Even in the radiation belt, you and I can''t run. We are dead," Six said plainly.


    "No, we''re not. My way can definitely avoid them!" Garen said assuredly.


    "What do you know...? You''re just a little guy who hasn''t even touch the barrier..." Six sighed. "In the five levels of Inherited level, the third Non-falling Level powerhouse''s strength is beyond your imagination. No matter how we escape, we are sure to be dead. It is only a matter of time."


    "Little guy? What right do you have to say that I''m a little guy?" Garen laughed and was not angry. The way of Energy Machinist could not be simply leaked out so naturally, the other party was unclear since he did not know.


    "I have lived for more than 500 years. You tell me, do I have the right?" Six answered calmly.


    "500 years old!" Garen was shocked. Even though he had now travelled through a few worlds, but whether he was 500 years old was still in question. From this point of view, besides having richer experiences than the other party, this guy truly had the right to call him a little guy.

 963 Departure 1

    "Alright, even if you are more than 500 years old and are older than me, what about that?" Garen exhaled. "The key question now is, what are your plans for the future?"


    "We will not have a future." Six faintly closed his eyes. "I advise you to better leave this place immediately. Stay further away, then perhaps there would still be chance of living."


    "Can high radiation levels prevent their search?" Garen suddenly asked.


    Six opened his eyes and gave a puzzled look.


    "Don''t you feel any difference in the environment here?" Garen smiled.


    Only then did Six felt that something was amiss. The radiation concentration here was denser than that in the outside world, at least twice as much as outside.


    Garen did not elaborate but let him sense the situation here quietly. He went out and started packing. High radiation concentration could indeed cut off various searching signals, but this was not certain. It could only extend time. The key now was to arrive as quickly as possible at the secret region where the Energy Machinists were located. That was where outsiders could never enter.


    Six Divine Wind General had once saved his life. Repaying any debt of gratitude he owed was Garen''s principle. It was impossible for him to give up and flee on his own. Therefore, the most urgent thing now was to prepare to leave as soon as possible.


    The distance to Secret Region from here was not close.


    He kept the Biochemical Pool away properly, took some food packs and placed them on two Big Wild Wolves.


    East Perrin and the others from the top floor of the basement were waiting at the entrance of the second floor. They had already helped Garen packed some necessary equipment, such as a one-time toxin detection capsule, which was used to detect poison in water sources and food to identify whether they were consumable. They did not use it when they came here so it was given to Garen.


    There were also some remaining low-radiation pieces of meat and water from the base. This was what Garen specifically wanted for Sixth Divine Wind General. He did not need it for himself.


    In addition, some miscellaneous small things were also being packed by the crowd.


    "You...really want to leave?" East Perrin approached him and asked in a low voice.


    Garen signalled to Sinno to pick up the bundle and nodded.


    "This time, all of you staying here must utilize the high radiation concentration to hide yourself. Do not expose yourself. The next Predator Wave will be more violent. Be careful."


    "Yes, we will." East Perrin nodded. The rest of the people were in a tacit understanding and did not disturb the two. East Perrin liked Garen and everyone felt it. But now, she could not go with him.


    Truth to be told, at the bottom of her heart, East Perrin wanted Garen to ask her, but¡­she could not leave behind these last few people of Leo City. There were also two children and she was the strongest powerhouse here. If she were to leave, their survival rate would be very low even with the Big Wild Wolves here. Moreover, them staying here was the best way as compared to going away with Garen. After all, there were many people in that Secret Region. Once the training method skill they acquire was exposed, it was hard to predict the consequences.


    After carefully consideration, as long as this place was hidden properly, it was entirely possible to build a small, self-sufficient base in the hills. Living on for many years would not be a problem. It would be much safer to wait until years later when their training method had reached a certain level before going out again.


    "Alright, Sinno. Let''s go." Garen patted East Perrin''s shoulders. During this period of time here, he had successfully managed to avoid the threat of Predators by borrowing the strength of Leo City. Of course, he had also helped them to survive and preserved a remnant. As all good things must come to an end, it was time to leave now.


    Sinno carried the bundle and walked behind Garen. They returned to the room where Sixth Divine Wind General was lying in and put him on a simple stretcher placed on the back of a Big Wild Wolf. Garen and Sinno each rode a Big Wild Wolf.


    They headed towards the exit of the second floor of the basement.


    Sixth Divine Wind General also saw this strange group of people. He was surprised that they were all doing fine in this area of ??high radiation level. However, the people''s attention were all focused on Garen and Sinno.


    The three people rode the Big Wild Wolf to the second floor. Others also followed to the second floor. Upon reaching the exit of the first floor, the basement slate was pushed upwards and the three Big Wild Wolves went out one after another. Their movements were slow and steady.


    "Will you still come back?!" East Perrin suddenly shouted after Garen from behind.


    Garen waved his hand.


    "If it is destined."


    He went down along the hill. East Perrin and the party stood on top of the hill and looked down at Garen the three who were slowly descending. Malone clutched East Perrin''s hand tightly.


    "He is just a passer-by. This place is just a brief stopover in his life. We...are two different kinds of people..." Malone sighed. He had witnessed too many separations in his life. He was clear that although East Perrin had an excellent aptitude, she could only advance to the vertex of Level Five and at the most five. This was the limit in radiation belt. Without a Mech, even the strongest talents could not break into the resonance level. What was more, he had repeatedly checked that the aptitude limit of East Perrin was indeed at Level Five. This is a limitation by the genes.


    About Garen''s aptitude, he was not able to see through it. Although he did not check it, the future of Energy Machinist could only be known by the Energy Machinist themselves. From the look of Garen''s various performances, Level Five would not be his end.


    East Perrin looked at the three people below from far. The three Big Wild Wolves gradually could only be seen as little spots.


    She felt a little melancholy. But with Garen gone, life had to go on still. She also had to lead the last remnant of Leo City to kick-start and regenerate into a new and stronger Leo City!


    Fanny stood behind the two. Watching the firmly-forward moving Sinno, he sighed softly. He had always treated this girl as his own sister. Now that his sister was leaving, he could no longer continue to follow her back and protect her¡­


    Pat.


    One hand rested on his shoulder. The middle-aged woman, Shangrella looked at him with a comforting gaze.


    "Sinno will live well, even better than us, because she followed Mr. Garen."


    Fanny nodded heavily and did not speak but only sighed deeply.


    *********************


    Night fell. A red moon hung in the sky. Beside it were two blue and white satellites that were smaller in size. They were releasing a faint light in the night sky.


    On the grayish black grassland, the three persons rode the Big Wild Wolves and headed steadily towards a direction in the grassland.


    The three Big Wild Wolves were arranged in an inverted-V formation. The one Garen rode was on the front. Sixth Divine Wind General was tied on a stretcher with a rope to prevent him from falling. However, the continuous undulating back of the Big Wild Wolf was not suitable for lying down, making him extremely uncomfortable.


    Sinno''s gaze was steady as she followed behind Garen. She was constantly alert of their surroundings and its movements.


    The grey-black grassland looked endless. The wind blew through the grass from time to time and made a buzzing sound.


    "Where do you want to go?" Six asked in a low voice, but the sound was clear enough for both to hear.


    "Can''t say for the time being, but you can be assured that I will do my best to protect you." Garen answered without looking back. He was not only moving forward currently. At the same time, he was working on the calculations of Energy Machinist Level Four. Big Wild Wolf already had the direction to the destination in its mind. He only needed to sit firmly on its back.


    "Was that Willpower transmission?" Garen noticed that the voice just now was unique.


    Six nodded.


    "This is a simple skill that can be used once Willpower achieve resonance skill. Some talented ones do not even need resonance level." He sized up the Big Wild Wolf underneath his body. "You are also an Energy Machinist. I overlooked that."


    "This is the basic reconnaissance unit that I developed myself. How is it? Not bad, right?" Garen knew that the other party was well-informed and probably also knew much about Energy Machinists.


    "I don''t know much about your profession, but I have seen some reconnaissance cannon fodder creatures. Yours can sustain for a very long duration. As a reconnaissance force, it is almost the same as the regular Level One combat army unit." Six nodded slightly and gave a good evaluation. "The speed of some Level One combat army unit, like the more powerful poisonous bees, eagles-type, or leopards-type, is just like yours. Combining with other qualities, this wolf can be considered as medium-low class of Level One. Considering it is only a reconnaissance unit, this is very good."


    "Oh? Just medium-low?" Garen looked back at him. "Then what''s considered as medium and high class?"


    "I have not come across many. Most of the Energy Machinists stay on their own sites. The average person would not provoke them. This group of people is known to be notoriously difficult to deal with. They deal with radiation a lot and are feared by many. Generally, they also won''t randomly go to other pilots'' places." Six shook his head slightly. "But I''ve heard that only Level Four Energy Machinists are capable of creating the official combat army units. Official combat army units. The Level One combat army elite units developed by some Energy Machinists who took the elite path could fight with Level Two pilots. That is terrific. Some who took the group route are able to nurture a multi-headed combat unit. Their joint attack and array tactics are all very strong. If the same level Energy Machinists can hid properly, they would be invincible. If they can''t win, they can flee and escape once the situation turns bad."


    Garen nodded. He had also found out about these from Mincar''s internal network, but they were not as clear as Six''s systematic description.


    "Also, some Energy Machinists are part-time pilots. Although they are not strong, they are not without combat strength. Utilizing some group-influence props is of no problem. Of course, this kind of prop is expensive, but Energy Machinist is not a profession that lacks money," Six calmly said. "I can probably guess where you are headed."


    "Oh?"


    "Is it Secret Region?"


    Garen smiled and did not deny it.


    "If it is Secret Region, indeed it is possible to avoid the other party''s search. However, the premise is that we can get there." Six looked up at the night sky. "They are here."


    Whoooom!!


    A red meteor suddenly descended down from the sky and flew in the direction of Garen them three. Even though it was a few kilometres away, the powerful and terrible energy field was so apparent that Garen and Sinno could scarcely breathe.


    "Inherited Level again!!" Garen''s face stiffened. The last scene in which he was suppressed by Seventh Divine Wind General once again came to mind. In this moment, the situation was completely the same with back then, except that the place had changed to the grassland in radiation belt.


    "It''s Four¡­he is still a few kilometers away, He had only preliminary sensed my direction but hasn''t really found me yet. Go quickly!" Sixth Divine Wind General calmly instructed.

 964 Departure 2

    Garen nodded hard, and ordered the slightly panicked Big Wild Wolves to pick up the pace and run as though their lives depended on it.


    "What on earth are they doing to determine your location!?" he roared without looking back.


    "Willpower, we Divine Wind Generals are connected to the Black Flood Holy Pillar by our Willpower, it will give us a larger boost in power, but it will also be able to track our general location." Sixth''s expression remained impassive as he looked up at the red shooting stars in the distant sky. Right then, the three of them turned to the left and spun rapidly, slowly leaving the direction that the shooting star was coming from.


    Only then did Garen and Sinno heave a sigh of relief.


    The two of them realized that their hearts were pounding extremely quickly. In that moment just now, Garen even felt as though he might have to use the trump card that he had been saving to keep himself alive. All this time, in order to increase his chances of survival, he had created a single trump card according to the standards of the Energy Machinists. But this thing was single-use only, once he used it, it would be gone. He had modified it based on the Instantaneous Paper Box that he had used up back then, although its function was gone, its shell and materials remained. These were all precious materials, so Garen used the Energy Machinist''s internal network to find a small tool that could accumulate Willpower. He inserted the Willpower that he had accumulated for a long time inside it, it was probably ten times as concentrated as his current Willpower by now. If it weren''t for the resilience of the Instantaneous Paper Box''s materials, such a small tool would have been destroyed a long time ago.


    But precisely because of that, Garen could barely just make a small item with great single-use explosive power. If he could ignite that Willpower once, it would form a short-term Impact Storm. Its power would probably be considerable, but he really could not be sure against an Inherited Level.


    He just had to pray that the Cold Radiation coming off from him would be enough to hide their scents, and could influence the Inherited Level''s sense of direction to a certain extent.


    If the opponent really caught up to them, their imminent doom was almost certain.


    Although they would very likely die if he caught up to them, the Sixth Divine Wind General had saved Garen before, so he did not give up or abandon him in his time of need, and the results were very clear.


    The Divine Wind General knew that as well, that was why he kept asking Garen to leave him and save himself.


    "If you have any tricks you can use to save yourself, better get them ready now," said Garen without looking back. He did not believe that the Sixth Divine Wind General would have nothing of the sort.


    "I''ve already used it," replied the Sixth Divine Wind General calmly. "Look above you."


    Garen and Sinno instantly looked up, and saw a slightly black semicircular defense shield covering the tops of their heads. This shield was translucent and barely there, vaguely hanging above them, and moving as they moved.


    "This Willpower Barrier should be able to block off our scents to a certain degree, but I can''t hold it for long," said Sixth softly.


    He seemed to treat everything with indifference, no matter how serious the matter, he still used this calm and cool tone.


    Be it losing the most precious thing to a pilot, his personalized Mech; his own grave injuries, to the point of paralysis; or the fact that he was running for his life, and could die at any moment. He did not seem to have many variations in his emotions, as though he was forever this calm and collected.


    "How long can you hold it?" Garen asked in a low voice.


    "Twenty minutes, I need to rest for half an hour in between."


    "That''s enough!" Garen calculated the rough distance, and found that it should be fine.


    He looked up, and saw the red shooting star crash into the ground hard from the distance. Even the plains were shaking slightly, making a loud wailing sound.


    Garen turned around, and looked at the Sixth Divine Wind General.


    "I have one last plan, I can rapidly heal your injuries, but without Mechs, the chances of us surviving aren''t high. The only way is to go Berserk, but there''s a high chance that you''ll become something like us, and your mind will be under my control. If there''s no choice¡­"


    He let the Big Wild Wolf approach Sixth, and stuffed a handful of something blue at his left chest.


    "If you really have no choice, then release the automatic Willpower protection over your heart. But when that happens, there will be no more turning back. You must remember, unless you''re desperate, don''t use it," Garen kept reminding him.


    Sixth looked down at the thing in front of his chest, it looked just like a plump blue ball of flesh, fist-sized, completely blue, and covered with tiny blue tentacles that twitched slightly. Strangely, as soon as it touched his chest, it immediately attached itself to him, as though it had a mind of its own.


    "It''s very odd, but also a very fascinating power." For the first time, there was surprise in his eyes. Even with his level of Willpower, he still could not analyze what this thing was made of! And this was coming from an Energy Machinist who could not even reach Resonance Skills.


    This kid¡­


    For the first time, he began to have a bit of faith in his young friend, Garen. At first, he thought that with the ambush and betrayal to him, as well as the murder of Third Brother, the Black Flood Party and Blackboard were more or less done with. He thought it was over, and there was nothing left but inevitable death, but he never thought there might still very well be a chance here.


    He was just lucky, to be saved by the young one he had saved once before. Just like that, he escaped the misfortune of being caught by the enemy at the first chance, and now he might actually have a hope of escaping this completely.


    An Energy Machinist with merely Level Three Willpower¡­


    He looked at Garen in front of him again, a ray of hope finally rising in his eyes.


    Suddenly there was a flash of red, and a group of Predators appeared from underground abruptly, pouncing straight at the three of them, who were still running.


    Roar!


    Garen flicked his fingers several times in succession, and with a few soft whooshes, his powerful physicality meant that the sharp stones he had shot out as secret weapons nailed themselves into the Predators'' heads, wiping most of them as soon as they were in sight.


    "They''re just Level One Predators! Don''t delay!" he roared, and drew a long sword that had been hanging beside the Big Wild Wolf. Bending over and slashing once, he cut fiercely at a Predator right in front of him following the Big Wild Wolf''s assault.


    Sinno also learned from him, and blocked one of the Predator''s pounce attacks with her sword.


    The three of them hastened up and quickly left the few remaining Predators behind, rushing forth without even looking back.


    Although Garen''s current Living Secret Technique, the Hellfrost Peacock Technique, was not the type for head-on attacks, he still had his foundations from his original fighting techniques, as well as his own Ten Thousand True Technique, a summary of everything. If he just relied on his foundations in secret techniques and was not hit face-on by Willpower impact, even a Level Five pilot would die if Garen ambushed them. But if it was a direct confrontation of Willpowers, he would only be able to take a Level Three pilot''s impact at the most.


    The head-on fighting power of the seventh grade Hellfrost Peacock Technique was really not that strong. After all, he mostly created forces such as his squads, in the world where secret techniques were everywhere, practitioners of the Hellfrost Peacock Technique were mostly targets to be protected¡­


    Kekkekkekke¡­


    A piercing laugh came from ahead, and a pale grey shadow quickly pounced at Garen, who was at the very front. It was very fast, much faster than most Level One Predators, so it had to be at least Level Two.


    This Predator had waited for the other Predators to rush out as scouts before it made a move itself, so it evidently had the makings of sentience.


    It wore grey rags on its body, and they could tell that this was probably once a woman with a decent body. But now its nails were sharp, just like knives, and it somersaulted in mid-air as it clawed at Garen. If these claws landed, even the external armor of a Level Two Mech would crack.


    Naturally, Garen''s body was nowhere near as hard as Mech Materials, but his speed was not something Level Two pilots could match.


    He watched the claws come at him, this was his first time fighting a Predator above Level One himself, without relying on the Big Wild Wolf, and just purely using his own fighting power and the quality of his Living Secret Techniques.


    "Eagle Stream!" Garen barked, and used the move he was most familiar with from the Crouched Eagle Talon, his arm accurately diverting the claws from the side, and then both arms blocking the Predator''s two claws tightly.


    Die!


    He suddenly used his explosive force, and actually jumped up from the Wild Wolf''s back, charging into the Predator''s waist and hitting it with his knee.


    His knee just happened to smash upwards from the Predator''s knee, ker-chak!


    Amidst the intense noise, the Predator opened its mouth in silent agony, its waist almost broken in two. It crashed hard into the ground beside them, and was motionless.


    Garen floated lightly back onto the wolf''s back, his knee bleeding slightly. Although he has used the hardest part of his body, his knee, to hit the softest part of the enemy''s waist, the hardness of a Level Two Predator''s body was still beyond his expectations, so he still hurt his right knee.


    But he had also objectively tested his current fighting power, using his own abilities and quickly finishing off the opponent in the instant before the Level Two Predator could use the Void Mind Force to attack. If the opponent used that power, however, he might be in trouble. And as for Level Three Predators, unless his body was strengthened up another notch, and he could also get the first advantage, there was no other way for him to break past the surface of a Level Three Predator''s defensive skin.


    Thankfully, the Hellfrost Peacock Technique was the best at recovering from injuries, and add that to the help from the potential points, it meant that as long as Garen was not dead, he would be able to heal from even the severest wounds on his own. However, when it came to injuries in Willpower, the secret techniques and potential points would be powerless to help, this seemed to be a completely different thing.


    "Nice technique!" praised the Sixth Divine Wind General from behind him. "Your fighting skills look like that of an expert, not a bit more and not a bit less, precise and accurate."


    "You flatter me. No matter how strong my fighting skills are, if my Willpower can''t even break past others'' force fields, it''s all pointless," replied Garen with a laugh.


    "I hear that there are powerhouses among the Energy Machinists who strengthen their own bodies, they absorb martial arts powerhouses, and if they can withstand the strengthening, their future potential would be boundless," said the Sixth Divine Wind General, shaking his head. "Of course, you''re also an Energy Machinist, so naturally you would also know that."


    "Yes, I do know a bit about that, but that form of strengthening can only be done by oneself to themselves, if you modify someone else, that''s illegal." Garen nodded. Of course, he was not worried about his modifications of Sinno, because radiation people had no rights¡­ and were not protected by the law. By that he meant normal people, those without radiation.


    "Illegal? Stuff like the law depends on who decided it. Haven''t you heard of a rule called special treatment? The law changes according to special situations as well," said Sixth meaningfully.


    "Are you saying that according to the law, certain people can be modified by other Energy Machinists?" Garen asked. "True, this stuff happens all the time, it''s no surprise."


    "But there must be a high standard of selection for fighting skills like that, right?" Beside them, Sinno spoke softly for the first time in a while.


    "It''s a very cruel selection, I hear only one out a thousand gets chosen. The thousand of them must be free from any previous genetic strengthening, and they''d all be thrown into a ring to kill each other. Only the final survivor can receive the special treatment and be modified," said Sixth calmly.


    "What if the last two kill each other?" asked Sinno.


    "Then they wait for the next round."


    For a moment, all three were silent. Even Sinno never thought that there would be a group of people even more tragic than the radiation people. Only one survives out a thousand, such cruelty evidently could not be on the right side of the law.


    The rest of the journey was relatively safe, after the three of them avoided a large group of Predators and the Search Mech team occasionally scattered around the sky, they quickly realized that the many Search Mechs were starting to retreat, while the number of Predators just kept increasing. Sixth decided it was because the Flying Predators would be here soon, and once they appear, the advantage the Mechs had in the sky would be instantly reduced to nothing. In order to avoid too many casualties, the Mechs had to retreat quickly.


    And they just happened to use that short period of calm to finally reach the Secret Region of the Energy Machinists on Garen''s map. And when they saw this region, none of them could have guessed that this place actually looked like this.

 965 Close Call 1

    There was an oppressive flock of black flying birds in the sky, with eagles, gulls, and even tiny sparrows, or strange-looking colorful birds. There were countless translucent strings connected to the bottom of the birds, and these strings were all connected to a huge, enormous shadow at the very bottom.


    It was a giant oval-shaped platform, like a silver moving castle made of silver. It even had some things that looked like chimneys sticking out, constantly spewing black smoke.


    Garen and the other two rode on the Big Wild Wolves, looking at the huge moving castle platform in the sky ahead of them. They were all kind of stunned, and completely at a loss for words to describe that big guy, which was at least several thousand meters large.


    "Just those few birds would actually be able to move such a big thing?" Sinno murmured, she could not believe that merely several thousand birds would be able to tow such a terrifying castle. It had to be at least several thousand tons, and it was made of metal to boot.


    "It probably has an anti-gravity device, the birds might just be there to lead the way," said Sixth in a deep voice, it was also his first time seeing the Energy Machinist''s Secret Region. He glanced at Garen, and noticed that the key-like item in front of his chest was glowing slightly. That was the logo of the Energy Machinists, without that thing, they would not be able to see that large thing even if they were even closer by. The whole Secret Region only showed itself automatically when Energy Machinists approached, or rather, it was always in an invisible state to start with. Only those who were shielded by the force field of the Energy Machinists'' key deserved to see that huge castle.


    "I know we can already see it, but in truth it''s quite far away. That''s because the Region itself is too huge, and the weather is good today, without any fog or clouds, that''s the only reason we can see the whole thing clearly. Alright, let''s continue on our way, it should still be about an hour away," said Garen softly.


    The other two nodded, and the three of them rested slightly, towed by the Big Wild Wolves, before they continued to rush towards the gigantic flying castle.


    ****************************


    "Damn it!! You sure run fast!"


    Barroom!


    There was a huge sound accompanied by an explosion of red light, and a dark blue humanoid Mech holding twin swords slashed at a decently-sized hill in front of it, as though venting its anger. The red light and energy virtual attack shattered the hill into pieces, earth and grass flying everywhere. But before the spray could get too far, it was rapidly melted by the black smoke, turning into ash and vanishing.


    "Lord Fourth, according to the test results, they probably did not get far. The Sixth, Masanra, was grievously injured, and he would surely be unable to move unassisted, so someone must be helping him! Not only did they rescue him from the battlefield afterward, they should still be taking him away from the area through the night, wandering around everywhere," a soft voice said from one of the two slightly paler blue humanoid Mechs standing behind the Fourth Wind General, it was the one on the left.


    "What do you suggest? Sixth has the Willpower barrier that can prevent tracking, Illusory Light. Even in the whole Blackboard Region, his Illusory Light is among the best skills to block Willpower. Even I can''t track him," Fourth asked with a cold snort.


    "It can block Willpower waves, but it won''t be so easy to block other signals," said that subordinate darkly.


    "Aura and Biological Radiation don''t work well in the radiation belt," said Fourth coldly. "Lingering Willpower will also be blocked off by the barrier."


    "Not those usual ways, I mean¡­ deduce it using the highest possibility." The subordinate chuckled. "My lord, think about it, the Flying Predators will be coming any time now, and at this point, even we have to retreat into the regions to defend ourselves. And there are so few of them, so if they want to survive, they only two possible choices."


    Fourth''s eyes instantly lit up.


    "You''re right, I''ve been relying on technology too much, I forgot that even basic deductions could lead us to clues. Not bad, you!"


    Fourth nodded, his tone becoming considerably more gentle.


    "If they want to avoid the Flying Predators, one option for them is to find a place and hide themselves completely, hiding their scents and falling into deep hibernation, so that they would have a certain chance of avoiding the Predators. And the other option, would be to hide in a secret area that''s even safer."


    "As expected of my wise lord!"


    Fourth laughed coldly.


    "And now we have people guarding all the large regions, plus they''re too far from here. They''re in a rush, so they would not possibly choose somewhere too far away, it has to be somewhere nearby. And there are just two safe spots around here, both belonging to the Underground Rebel Army."


    "The Underground Rebel Army''s secret spots have already been closed down completely," said the other subordinate softly.


    "Oh? Are you sure?" Fourth looked at his other trusted aide.


    "Certain!" replied the man steadily.


    "Then this might be slightly troublesome¡­" Fourth touched his chin in the cockpit, deep in thought.


    "My lord¡­ There might be one more thing that you seemed to have forgotten," the subordinate who had spoken first said again, a hint of a smile in his voice.


    "Oh? Do you mean¡­" Fourth paused slightly. "The Energy Machinists'' Moving Castle? Could the person he rescued him be an Energy Machinist? Is it really such a coincidence? Energy Machinists are few and far between, at such a critical moment¡­"


    "According to our observations, there weren''t any footprints or similar trails left behind, but we found many marks that looked like they came from a pack of wolves. Evidently, there might be surviving groups of some wolf-like creature around here. If the opponent is an Energy Machinist, they always have had many tricks up their sleeves. It would not be impossible for them to temporarily tame a few Wild Wolves to help them escape using chips. After all, these Wild Wolves are no more than Level One creatures at best," said the man with extraordinary confidence. "Besides, according to my observations just now, among the wolf tracks, three of them were headed straight for the general direction of the Moving Castle, without any hesitation. This, together with your general sense of direction from before, sir¡­"


    "Let''s go! No matter how unlikely it could be, let''s go to the Moving Castle!" Fourth humphed coldly. The Mech leapt from the ground, blue flames shooting from its back, making the cape on the Divine Wind General''s shoulder flap in the wind. He flew like the wind towards the direction Garen and the others had run in.


    The other two followed closely, leaving only the debris and chaos as a result of his venting behind.


    ***********************


    The Moving Castle moved slowly. From afar, one could only see how slowly it was floating, and as they grew closer, the details of the Moving Castle began to gradually appear in front of the three of them.


    Silver-white walls, complicated carvings that looked like electric circuits, blue electricity pulsing through it, and the occasionally buzzing vibration.


    As they got closer, underneath the huge Moving Castle, there was a projection of a translucent, illusory green pillar of light. The pillar of light was like an empty cylindrical pillar, as though a green stick had descended down from the underbelly of the Castle and embedded itself into the ground, becoming the connecting apparatus for others to enter the Castle.


    When Garen and the others were about to arrive, even from a distance, they could see at least several dozen people, some with more followers than others, lining up to enter the Moving Castle.


    There was a large clock counting down on the green light pillar, indicating that there were only 32 minutes left, and the number kept decreasing.


    The people lining up all wore different clothes, but they all had one thing in common, which was they all had an Energy Machinist key, either in their hands or hanging conspicuously somewhere on their bodies. They all had at least a few followers standing next to them, most of the followers were dressed neatly, and many of them had outstanding appearances or body figures. The male Energy Machinists were mostly surrounded by extreme beauties, and the female Energy Machinists had beautiful or handsome men standing around them. But the thing that surprised Garen the most was that these followers mostly had strangely dazed gazes, giving off a feeling of dispirited despair. They even wore black dog-like collars around their necks.


    Garen''s arrival was not eye-catching at all, two more Energy Machinists had arrived at the same time, also rising a panther and a lion respectively. Jumping off the Wild Wolf, Garen lined up at the very end of the line, slowly waiting for his turn to enter.


    The person in front of him was a fatty, who was currently lowering his head to play what looked like a high difficulty counting game on the small game console in his hand. Two other thin and tall people lined up behind Garen''s group, their eyes dark. They each wore a red bangle, one on the left hand and the other on the right, and it seemed like they were brothers.


    The wind grew stronger, time passed slowly, and people entered the pillar underneath the Moving Castle one by one. After each one entered, there was a short waiting period, presumably for registration and verification of some information. It was not going very fast.


    It was also Garen''s first time seeing other Energy Machinists in the real world, and as he observed the others, he found that most Energy Machinists dressed completely differently, and there was no rhyme or reason to them.


    The fatty in front of him looked like a rich merchant, all meaty like that. He seemed to have noticed that Garen was watching him as well, and turned around to give Garen a friendly smile. His followers were two extremely seductive and beautiful young ladies, even if they wore long white robes, Garen could still vaguely see their sexy bodies and beautiful faces.


    And the two brothers behind had their arms crossed in front of their chests, closing their eyes and resting, acting arrogantly as though ignoring everyone. They did indeed have the right to be arrogant, their Willpower forces seemed to be Level Four, the panther and the lion they were riding were both half-machinized elite units, which meant that they were evidently rich enough to own an experimental platform. Only by owning the other necessity besides the Biochemical Pool, the experimental platform, would they be able to properly modify a cannon fodder creature in depth, so that it would not disappear immediately. Other than lasting longer, its fighting power and other abilities would also be greatly increased.


    The two of them also noticed that Garen was watching them, and the one that seemed to be the older brother opened his eyes coldly. He glanced at Garen, and then his gaze instantly locked on the Sixth Divine Wind General, who was lying on the wolf''s back. A hint of wariness flashed past his eyes.


    "Hmph!" With a cold harumph, he closed his eyes again and ignored them. Evidently, the Sixth Divine Wind General''s Willpower forces made him exceedingly wary.


    Garen knew that his own Willpower was too weak, so he would be noticed if he stared, so his eyes stopped wandering. He just stood quietly in line, waiting his turn.


    Time passed slowly, and soon two more Energy Machinists joined the line. No one said anything, they were all here to leave their followers, those without followers could have left a long time ago.


    "You have to fulfill your promise!" Suddenly, a cold woman''s voice came from the back of the line.


    There was a young girl with one of the newly-arrived Energy Machinists, she had pitch-black skin that looked just like coal, and her body was unnaturally seductive and sexy. Even so, she was not the type that Energy Machinists here would go for. It was practically a miracle that the Energy Machinist took her in as a follower.


    The Energy Machinist had a tiny black goatee, a bit like a middle-aged academic scholar from the ancient Hua-Xia dynasties, his aura calm and collected.


    "Do not worry, I will naturally keep my word," he replied to the girl''s question calmly, his expression unchanging.


    The girl hmphed coldly, as though disbelieving, but she had no choice but to let it slide.


    The Energy Machinist who looked like a middle-aged scholar also only had Level Three Willpower, like Garen. And he did not have any cannon fodder creatures with him either, having apparently arrived here through other means.

 966 Close Call 2

    Garen looked at the duo a little longer, and that middle-aged scholar turned around to smile at him, his expression gentle and extremely amiable.


    After waiting for a little longer, there were only ten people left in front of them in the line, but just then, a giant White Snake-Necked Dragon came flying from the distant sky. It had large meaty wings like a bat, and was completely white, its long and graceful snake-like neck occasionally making some clear and slightly hoarse roars.


    There were five or six people sitting on the Snake-Necked Dragon, all dressed completely in black, wearing black metallic helmets on their heads, and overall looking very mysterious.


    The Snake-Necked Dragon, more than ten meters long, landed on the ground, and automatically began to shrink with a whoosh, turning into a ball of white light that flew into the ring of the leader of the black helmets.


    "Space Equipment!" gasped an Energy Machinist from inside the line.


    Garen was shocked too.


    Among the Mech pilots, only Inherited Level pilots could use Space Equipment. The standard was naturally high for Energy Machinists as well, unless you were a Level Five Energy Machinist, you could forget about using one of these. And even among the Level Five Energy Machinists, only the rich and powerful could afford one of these.


    As soon as this group descended, they did not even line up, and walked straight towards the round pillar entrance.


    "Are you trying to cut the line?!" roared an Energy Machinist in the line who had been intercepted.


    "Scram!" One of the black-helmeted people glared, and an invisible force field immediately exploded, sending someone flying out from the line.


    "This force field!" Garen''s eyes dilated slightly, this force field reminded him of the Mind Force Field that Level Two Predators used the most often, the two were extremely similar in quality!


    "You guessed right, the formation of the Predators might have something to do with Energy Machinists¡­" said Sixth, talking to him through Willpower.


    "Don''t tell me that the Predator Tide was because of Energy Machinists¡­" Garen guessed.


    "A lot of people have that conjecture, but be it on the Mother Planet or the other galaxies around, Energy Machinists are the most powerful, this is not a world revolving around pilots. The pilots'' territory is near the edge of the war with the Finite people, there are too many elites and peak-level pilots there, or even Regent Level ones. This is the inner region, it has always been Energy Machinist territory. So even if people are guessing that they have been experimenting on radiation people, nobody is willing to provoke the Energy Machinists," explained Sixth calmly.


    "Are we Energy Machinists very powerful?" Garen was not very sure about how peak-level pilots looked at Energy Machinists, so he asked somewhat curiously.


    "Very powerful?" Sixth shook his head. "You''re not very powerful, you''re extremely powerful! You guys made the Mother Planet radiation belt, and not just here, but the radiation belts on other planets and in other galaxies, they were all once experimental sites for you Energy Machinists. In recent years, especially, with the Regent Level pilots falling one after the other, the Energy Machinists have been developing with unstoppable momentum, and with no balance or restriction. They''ve been getting terrifyingly strong, and exceedingly brazen.


    "Then why haven''t I seen many Energy Machinists before this?" Garen said with a frown.


    "That''s simple, because this is the territory of the Academies Union, but it''s still only a small piece of land. Once you leave it, you''ll find that Energy Machinists are king, every merchant fleet has an Energy Machinist in charge. An Energy Machinist of the same level is equivalent to several pilots, and powerful pilots also need Energy Machinists to fix and maintain their Mechs. That''s why the position of Energy Machinists aren''t threatened at all, and instead, most of the pilots will even protect them for sure. This is reality," replied Sixth calmly. "The strongest ones on the Mother Planet are the Level Ten Perpetual Motioners, and at least half of the Perpetual Motioners are closely related to the Energy Machinists, in fact sometimes they are Energy Machinists themselves."


    "Perpetual Motioners¡­ Level Ten¡­"


    It was Garen''s first time hearing about even higher levels among pilots.


    "Be it pilots or Energy Machinists, after a certain level, they will reach the point where their fighting power is unaffected by numbers. And after we break past Level Five, and go through the Resonance stage, that''s Level Six. The so-called Level Seven is what we call the Non-falling level, this is a drastic and fundamental change. Non-falling means that, in a war, when these fighters appear, they practically will never fall. Their power is strong enough for them to just bulldoze through, if an army has just one of these level fighters, unless the opponent has a powerhouse of the same level, they''ll just have to retreat. Non-falling Levels are absolute powerhouses even among the Inherited Levels.


    Sixth explained it to Garen patiently.


    "Of course, you''re just merely Level Three now, all this is way too far away from you. Level Ten¡­ Perpetual Motioners might even live up to a thousand years. They are one step away from Regent Level, and that''s practically a living legend, living history¡­ You have to understand, Non-falling Levels are already kings of an area, with one hit, they can easily destroy the balance of a planet, or a huge battleship. The rest is too far away from us, so there''s no need to think about it."


    Garen was quiet inside. Undeniably, forget Regent Level, even the Non-falling Level was way past the highest point he had ever reached. The Non-falling Levels could boss their way through space, and had already surpassed the peak-level destructive power he had in the Totem World. It was common to destroy a large battleship or the balance of the planet with just one hit. So it seemed that the Ancient Endor civilization might actually lose to how scary this world is. In any case, they could not match this world in terms of pure destructive power.


    "The Non-falling Levels can destroy the balance of nature, so won''t it be easy to destroy all life on a planet?" Garen asked.


    "It''s very simple, but with Energy Machinists around, they can fix and maintain the balance. Stronger Energy Machinists can even repair a planet. Non-falling levels usually were not allowed to fight on the surface of the planet, so most people went into space. Alright, let''s talk about something, it doesn''t matter even if you know now, so just treat it as listening to a story." Sixth smiled, the Non-falling level had always been his life''s dream, and it was once right in front of his eyes, but now there was no more hope left for it. Even if the kid in front of him now had that potential, he still did not know how much he would have to go through to make it possible. If he was lucky, he might be able to see a glimmer of hope after a hundred years. If he was unlucky, even if he lived several centuries, it might be decent for him to have even reached Inherited Level.


    As you went higher up in levels, the harder it got, and the larger the gap between stages, it was beyond the imagination of normal people.


    As they chatted, they were soon at the front of the line, with only one person left in front of them.


    Psst!!


    Suddenly, a long crimson arc shot out from behind them.


    "Sixth, where are you trying to go? You left on your own without telling your Big Brother, did I do something to offend you?"


    An icy cold voice full of killing intent echoed through the sky.


    Sixth''s and Garen''s expression changed drastically, and they turned around to see that long crimson arc headed straight for the three of them.


    "He actually chased us all the way here!"


    "Is that your enemy?" The fatty in front of them turned around and saw the long crimson arc as well, his gaze looking shocked. "Well I''ll be, it''s the Divine Wind General¡­ An Inherited Level powerhouse, you boys sure know how to get in trouble!" His eyes turned, and he made way to the left.


    "Hurry, you first! This is a matter of life-and-death, it is!"


    "Go!!"


    Garen blanked out for a second, but then he immediately picked up Sixth with one hand and Sinno with the other, rushing towards the pillar ahead without another word.


    "Thanks, friend!" Garen quickly tossed him those words. "I''ll be waiting for you on the inside!"


    "No problem! I''ve made friends with the five biggest troublemakers so far, and they''re all talents! Haha!" Strangely, the fatty patted his round belly, and laughed in a frank way. "You, brother, are the sixth!"


    When Garen heard the last bit, he felt slightly exasperated too. He was lucky to have met such a wonderfully weird one, otherwise it would not be so easy, he would surely get into a fight if he tried to cut the line.


    The fatty watched Garen and the others rush into the pillar, his eyeballs turning everywhere.


    "Hehe, he dares to provoke a Level Six powerhouse even though he''s only Level Three, that guy must surely be a talent as well. If those boys and girls got together, then that would be really fun, they''re all troublemakers, and they''re all dastardly characters. With such a long line of enemies lining up behind them, they''re all people with big and powerful people out for their blood."


    "What do you mean by calling us characters, that sounds awful. We''re prodigies, prodigies, you hear me!?" A small and slender hand appeared at his waist, it was the pretty young girl that had always been on his left who had reached out and pinched his waist hard. She had also disguised herself as a Follower to escape with the fatty.


    "Yes yes yes, prodigy, prodigy! You are the most dazzling prodigy in the Mother Planet, no, the whole galaxy! Beautiful, majestic, unrivaled, even your fart can kill off the best of the elites just by how good it smells!! No one else can, I mean, they don''t have the right to be mentioned in the same breath as you¡­" The fatty hurriedly flattered her against his will.


    "You sure got a sweet mouth on you, but I like it." The girl pulled her hand back. "You said it so well, does that mean you want to smell my fart?"


    "Urk¡­" The fatty was shocked too, he did not think this girl would have no sense of shame at all.


    "What? Are you telling me everything you said just now was fake?" The girl laughed coldly.


    "I wouldn''t dare¡­ I¡­ I¡­" The fatty began to sweat, even if the lady was a beauty, that was still a fart! Who the heck would be willing to smell someone else''s fart? But he knew that this lady was never one to go back on her word, if she said she could do it then she would. What if¡­


    "Are you trying to run!!"


    All of a sudden, the Fourth Divine Wind General behind them yelled unabashedly, his Mech running straight for the green pillar. Inside the cockpit, his eyes were cold.


    "Do you think I can''t get to you just because you went into the Teleportation Pillar?"


    "Damn you! Who the heck do you think you are!! You dare interrupt me just when I''m building up the mood here, do you have a death wish!" The fatty turned around decisively and swore, changing the topic.


    The Divine Wind General could not be bothered to reply, the Mech pulled out a long sword from mid-air, and directly swung it at the fatty. There was roiling black smoke on the blade, just a touch, and unless you had an Inherited Level defense protecting you, the only fate awaiting you was instant death.


    "This is the Energy Machinists'' Moving Castle! It''s not your Black Flood Party''s backyard, Fourth Divine Wind General." An old, white-haired woman appeared out of nowhere behind the fatty, and she stuck out her tongue, her bright red tongue instantly lengthening and shooting out like a sharp sword. It morphed into a metallic thorn, which crashed into the Divine Wind General''s long sword together with an immense Inherited Level force.


    Bam!


    The sword and the tongue collided, the blade swerving and losing its mark before it was pulled back into its sheath by Divine Wind General, as fast as lightning. At his level, he did not hesitate at all in attacking or retreating, and his every movement was as smooth as water.


    "Inherited Level modification?" said the Fourth Wind General coldly.


    The old woman was hunched over, looking so weak it was like she already had one foot in the grave. She stood in front of the fatty protectively, not saying a word, and just took out a small and delicate pale golden insignia, showing it off. It was like a pale golden patterned badge, hexagonal in shape.


    When the Fourth Divine Wind General saw this badge, his expression changed slightly as well.


    "Sir¡­" His two trusted aides behind him also saw it, and the smarter one reminded him softly.


    "I know!" Fourth nodded slightly. "Sixth is useless now, he won''t be able to recover without more than ten years rest, so it does not really matter to the bigger picture if we kill him now or not. With a powerhouse from that family protecting him¡­ I bet the Boss won''t blame me either."


    "A wise decision, my lord."


    Fourth narrowed his eyes, and was silent for a moment. He locked gazes with the old woman for a while, and even through the cockpit, it was as though he could sense that terrifying bloodlust, like a wild beast or a flood, hidden under her seemingly old and weak exterior.


    Although she should be slightly weaker than him, it was still not worth it to offend that faction of power for someone like Sixth, who did not affect the bigger picture.


    "Let''s go!!"


    He turned around without another word, leading the two of them away quickly, turning into a long arc again and vanishing into the distant sky.


    Inside the pillar, Garen and Sixth finally heaved a slight sigh of relief. They knew that this time, they were probably safe for real now.

 967 City of Nagadako 1

    When the situation took a sudden turn for the worse, the fatty''s mysterious offer of help also confused Garen, Sixth, and Sinno slightly.


    Even if he had a powerful background and protector, it should not be enough for him to offend an Inherited Level powerhouse for a complete stranger.


    Inside the pillar, a person dressed in black robes, his face covered, stood in the middle quietly, looking at Garen and company coldly.


    "If you want to go in, hurry! There are still people waiting behind you!"


    "Alright." Garen also knew that this was no time to talk, and he nodded at the other man, taking out his key.


    That person reached out his hand and pointed at Garen and company.


    Suddenly, there was a burst of bright light, and there was an intense white light everywhere. This phenomenon only lasted for less than two seconds.


    By the time Garen and the others recovered, their surroundings were slowly growing dimmer, and returning to the regular level of brightness.


    They were surrounded completely by a large semicircular barrier made of a blue membrane, and the floor was made of a grey-white metal. There were many semicircular bunkers all over the place, all squeezed together. These bunkers were like tumors growing on the ground, all of different heights and sizes, but they were all uniformly black hemispheres, with different titles and names hanging outside.


    The three of them glanced across and saw that it was completely empty around, with not a soul in sight, and only the occasional blue line streaking across the sky above them.


    "Moving with teleportation alone, how lavish!" The Sixth Divine Wind General sighed slightly. "Energy Machinists are rich and powerful indeed."


    "Welcome to the home of Energy Machinists, please walk forward to the teleportation point, you and your Followers will be teleported to a bunker room that was automatically assigned to you. In there, you can don your everyday living and exchanges, but if you wish to go to the battlefield to earn military credit and crystals, you''ll need to take three steps back. Thank you for your cooperation, this is Surveillance and Management: The Fifth Energy Machinist Star Tower."


    There was a sweet and lovable voice coming slowly from the sky.


    "Let''s go." Garen led the way out of where they had begun, leaving the Big Wild Wolf behind, because it would follow them back by itself. Sinno, on the other hand, struggled to carry the Sixth Divine Wind General, following closely behind Garen.


    The three of them took three steps forward, and suddenly their vision blurred. In an instant, they had arrived in a pitch-black hemispherical room, and the ceiling above was made of a hard material that looked like stone. It was another meter above the tops of their heads, and underneath it, there was a secret trapdoor on the floor that led underground. Evidently, there was more space underground.


    Garen went down for a look and found three more rooms, a large hall, and a washroom there. There was something that looked like a quantum computer in the hall, a large black metal shelf installed beside the computer. As Garen approached, words of welcome appeared on the computer screen, and the metal shelf beside it beeped twice before opening automatically. Inside, a mechanical table offered them fragrant dishes. Fish, meat, chicken, duck, vegetables, fruits, there was everything you could ask for.


    There was even the option to choose what kind of food you wanted on the computer screen.


    "This place is not bad," Sixth said with some admiration.


    "You might have to stay here for a while." Garen nodded in agreement, this place was pretty good, the Energy Machinist Region was in charge of food and drink, and the living area was well-hidden enough. Even they did know which bunker they lived in, there was a teleport option on the computer, so everyone could come and go using just teleportation, which made things very convenient.


    This also proved that most Energy Machinists stayed at home, cooping up at home to research things was evidently their favorite pastime, otherwise this place would not be designed like this.


    "Most Energy Machinists are researchers, of course, if you meet a Modified Berserker, that is the direct opposite," said Sixth softly. "They are the only group of Energy Machinists who like to fight, they feel that war is the most basic motivation for the evolution of creatures. Among the Energy Machinists, they have at least more than half of the power."


    Garen nodded.


    "Alright, you guys go rest for now. Sinno, take better care of Sixth, I''ll go look for that little fatty who helped us."


    "Mn, okay. If possible, try to make friends with him," Sixth told him quietly.


    Garen nodded and stood in front of the computer in the underground lab, choosing the option to get teleported out.


    With a swoosh and a blurring of his vision, he was instantly back on the platform he was previously on, and it was still quite empty around him, with no one sight.


    The little fatty that helped him just now seemed to be waiting for him purposely, standing at the teleportation point as he chatted to the person beside him, grinning widely. When he saw Garen appear, the little fatty instantly approached him with a laugh.


    "Gad." He stretched out his hand.


    "Garen." Garen stretched out his hand shook Gad''s. "Thanks a lot for your help just now, or else I could have been in danger."


    "It''s no big deal, I just waited a little longer, that''s all, it''s nothing. I''ve always admired young people with potential who can get in trouble!" the fatty said with a chuckle. "So you don''t have to worry about it."


    "You helped me, and I''ll remember that," said Garen calmly. "Tell me how to contact you, maybe next time I''ll have a chance to help you."


    "Aw, it''s no fun to say it like that." The fatty waved his hand. "My favorite thing to do is make friends, my logic is that if anyone who can get in trouble and not die, then they are surely elites who can stand the trials of life."


    "That is a very interesting theory you have there," Garen chuckled.


    "Alright, let''s go, no more delaying," said one of the pretty girls next to the fatty.


    The fatty seemed to be slightly scared of this girl, and he nodded quickly.


    "Alright, I''ll be on my way, you do whatever you need to," he said softly.


    Garen could tell that he had no intention of getting too close to Garen, and he would not even give his contact details, his helping Garen was a spur of the moment decision. So Garen did not say anything more, and gave way to let the three of them pass.


    Together with the two beautiful girls, the fatty took a few steps forward, and they quickly faded and vanished with a whoosh, instantly transferring into the bunker and out of sight.


    Garen stood on the spot and looked around him, and indeed, he did not see anyone else come out. Everyone stayed in their own bunkers, the whole area under the light blue protective barrier was completely quiet. Evidently, even the bunkers were soundproof, so that the whole place appeared to be deserted.


    Garen stood on the teleportation point and looked around. There were countless bunkers around, squeezed together, at least several hundred if not a thousand, by rough estimates.


    With a whoosh, that tall and thin middle-aged scholar showed up this time, and he still had that girl with coal-like skin beside him. The two of them maintained a strange distance, they were not too close, but neither were they too distant, so Garen had no idea what their relationship was.


    As soon as the two of them appeared, they saw Garen next to them. The scholar smiled at him politely, and quickly took a few steps forward, disappearing from the spot with a whoosh.


    Garen watched a few more Energy Machinists who were teleported there, each of them had Followers, and quite a few of them looked troubled, their expression dark. They were all evidently the type to consider every possibility, but at the same time they could maintain the basic pretenses of manners on the surface, and put on blatantly false masks.


    He examined his surroundings for a while, and tried to walk out of this small teleportation point, but unfortunately it did not seem to work. The teleportation point was about five meters in diameter, and it was not a very large area. As soon as he stepped out of this area, he would be instantly sent back to his bunker. Garen did not dare to step back recklessly, and kept stepping forward instead, walking in circles. If he stepped back, that would mean going to the battlefield to earn military credit. He was not going to just rush into the battlefield without any prior knowledge of the situation there.


    Since he had gotten all the information he could here, Garen went back to his own bunker, he just had to simply walk forward and out of the five-meter diameter to do that.


    There was a computer in the underground room for searching information, and this computer was very strange. It was connected to a teleportation drawer, he just had to choose what he wanted on the computer, as long as it fell within the free one crystal range. Converted to the standard currency, one crystal could be exchanged for a hundred thousand Mother Planet Universal Units. A hundred thousand Universal Units was enough for an Energy Machinist to live here on the bare necessities for several years, given that they did not simply waste the money, of course.


    Garen checked his account, the computer had been automatically connected to his own account. This one crystal was a free gift from the Energy Machinist Secret Area''s Fifth Star Tower to all the Energy Machinists who entered here, but other than this one complementary crystal, he had also earned a bit in the shop. After all, after entering Level Three, his status had changed. A Level Two Energy Machinist earned two hundred crystals in salary every week, and Level Three Energy Machinists earned five hundred crystals. Garen had just paid off the debt he owed for the advance payment of the Energy Machine Imprint, and now he still had three hundred crystals left.


    "Three hundred crystals left, that''s enough." Garen took out two hundred crystals directly, and put them into his designated account in this bunker computer. He was going far away, into the special ability space, and it might be a long time before he could come back. On the other hand, the Sixth Divine Wind General needed to heal his wounds, so he had to stay here to avoid the dangers outside. These two hundred crystals would be enough for the two of them to live here for a long time, after all, this was equivalent to twenty million Universal Units outside, as long as they did not buy things without thinking, it would be enough to last them several decades or even a century.


    "You''re leaving?" Sixth was laid down on the black leather sofa in the hall by Sinno, quietly. He turned his head, and his eyes behind the black metal helmet stared straight at Garen, who was sitting in front of the computer.


    "Yes, I need to know more about the way to progress from here as an Energy Machinist, my training method only goes up to Level Five, and I''m still missing a lot of basic prerequisites, it is way too hard to be self-taught in this field," replied Garen determinedly.


    The Energy Machinist''s Secret Area was only a temporary resting point for him, but to Sixth, this was the safest hiding spot. The Energy Machinists were unbelievably powerful, even the powerful factions among the pilots would never be able to oppose the Energy Machinists in this part of the galaxy.


    "I will find a chance to take you with me," Garen told Sinno. "But I can''t do it now. If you take care of Sixth here, though, he might be able to give you some tips."


    Sinno always had plenty of faith in Garen, and when she heard that, she looked at Sixth. Along the way here, she had also noticed that this mysterious Sixth person was evidently very powerful. When he was in full health, he had even saved the mysterious Garen, anyone who could do that was basically untouchable and so high above her in her eyes. Now she had the chance to be taught by him, this was naturally an unprecedented opportunity for her!


    "After you leave, I''ll have to rely on her to take care of me. Don''t worry, I''ll help teach this child, but you better move fast. I''ll be fully healed in ten years at the most, and if you don''t return before then, I won''t wait for you," said Sixth calmly.

 968 City of Nagadako 2

    "Feel free to leave once you''re recovered, that way we''ll be even," replied Garen calmly. "I''m only helping you because you saved me before, anyway."


    "That''s different, back then I didn''t go all the way to save you, so I still owe you one." Sixth was very calculative in this respect.


    "Whatever, it''s up to you how you want to think about it." Garen turned around to look at Sinno. "But if you really feel like you owe me, then help me teach this child. Although she has no talent in terms of Willpower, her own determination and battle instincts are both extraordinary."


    When Sixth heard that, he properly looked at Sinno for the first time. "That is your request? If I train her properly, I''ll have returned the favor?"


    "Yes." Garen nodded in affirmation.


    "No talent in Willpower¡­ That is indeed a tad difficult, but as long as she''s not a complete Insulator, any so-called lack of talent is merely a fallacy. Most people can''t do it, but that doesn''t mean we Inherited Levels can''t," said Sixth with a hint of pride. "Within five years, I''ll have her on the path of Willpower."


    As soon as he said that, Sinno was utterly shocked, but even Garen was slightly surprised. If he dared to say it so decisively, that meant that Sinno definitely had a chance of breaking past her limitations, and truly becoming a practitioner of Willpower!


    "I-- I can actually--!!!??" Sinno instantly stood up in agitation. She had previously been completely silent, but now even she was abnormally flushed and agitated.


    "If I say you can, you can!" Sixth replied evenly. "Do not doubt it, just follow my instructions, and I guarantee that you will be able to break past your limits within five years."


    "Great, then it''s settled." Garen was smiling slightly as well. Rather than have him undergo to modification and the mutated organ transplant, Sinno was better suited for this path. He was also happy for this strong young girl. And once he settled matters with this young one, he could properly focus on entering the Central Metropolis.


    ********************


    Several days later¡­


    Energy Machinist Region, the Follower Registration Tower


    The tall black tower was surrounded by faint wisps of white clouds, and above it was the pale blue barrier. Outside the barrier, there were large flocks of countless flying birds.


    There were many people going in and out of the black tower, and now, at the registration counter on the second floor.


    In front of the black wooden table, a few Energy Machinists were standing and writing their departure time as well as their Followers'' approximate time of residence on the virtual screen, using their fingers in place of pens.


    Garen quickly wrote down how long he planned to let his Followers stay here, it was about a hundred years. The free accomodation here stopped at ten years, and for every decade after that, it cost ten crystals in fees as a form of rental.


    Although he had not anticipated that there would be rental fees here, the two hundred crystals he left for them would still be enough for them to use.


    In the end, Garen took out his black key, and pressed it hard against the end of the completed registration form.


    With a buzz, the key left an impression of its shape on the screen, and a complicated wolf-shaped image appeared on the screen as well.


    As for the place of contact that he was leaving for, Garen directly wrote down the City of Nagadako.


    "My friend, you''re going to the City of Nagadako too?" a slightly familiar voice appeared beside him.


    Garen turned around and saw that it was that plump and fair fatty. He had approached Garen before Garen knew it, and there was a white screen floating in front of him as well, the words City of Nagadako written there as well.


    "That place is the haven for learning modifier techniques, I''m very interested in modifying myself, so naturally I would want to go there." Garen nodded. "What about you?"


    "My home is there, I''m just going back." The fatty scratched his head. He had changed into an intricate and bright red long robe, and he wore seven or eight gold and silver jeweled rings on his fingers, looking a bit like a villager who struck it rich. The blonde hair on the top of his head had been braided into many tiny braids, but the very middle of his head was completely bald, without a single strand of hair.


    "I say, is this your first time going to the City of Nagadako?"


    "Yes, it is."


    "Then don''t forget to visit the Star Core Plaza!" the fatty said, licking his lips.


    "Star Core Plaza?"


    "There''s the stone monument left behind the Regent Level at the very top there, and there''s a Royal Area as well, with the Nilan tree left by the Milky Way Empress there. The Selection Plaza underneath Nilan tree is specially dedicated to selecting talents for low-level Energy Machinists in the main city, and countless people participate in the selections there. A lot of the different sects, big and small, have people stationed there all year long. If you want to get the best and most legitimate Energy Machinists education, you have to join a sect," explained the little fatty quietly.


    "I have to?" Garen was slightly perplexed. "I''ve searched it up online before, the City of Nagadako should have libraries and teachers for a fee, right?"


    "Of course there''s that, but there''s no way those self-taught independent Energy Machinists can progress as quickly as those cultivated in parties. And most importantly, only the sects have the two most crucial materials," said the fatty mysteriously.


    "What materials?" Another Energy Machinist who was filling up the form beside them also approached them, looking very interested. Evidently, not many people knew about the things the little fatty was saying.


    "I mean the Star Cores and Set Secret Tactics!" the little fatty chortled.


    "Star Cores and Set Secret Tactics?" It was Garen''s first time hearing about these two things.


    "Most people don''t really know why the Energy Machinists in the sects usually have their own powerful abilities, and be it their own fighting power or that of their cannon fodders, they''re all much stronger than average Energy Machinists. They can even take the normal ones three-to-one easily. And the key behind all this is the Secret Tactics."


    "Then what about the Star Cores?" asked the Energy Machinist beside them, frowning.


    "The Star Core? That is a necessary item for entering Inherited Level." The little fatty raised a finger and wagged it. "Without it, no matter how talented you are, you won''t be able to reach Inherited Level. This is a natural resource, only sects have it, and if a regular civilian Energy Machinist wants to reach the Inherited Level, they only have one choice, and that is to join a sect."


    He reached out his hand and patted Garen''s shoulder.


    "Brother, since your face is basically saying you''re clueless, I suggest you search it up on the Eliminet."


    With that, he turned and walked away, carefree, the form in front of him completed a long time ago.


    That Energy Machinist who looked just as clueless as Garen exchanged a glance with him, and both of them clearly meant to go back and immediately search it up on that so-called Eliminet.


    Garen returned from the Registration Tower, but he did not go back into the bunker, and went straight into the special ability space instead.


    And finally, he got a reply to the message he had sent Celine through the special ability space. Everything was fine on Celine''s side, since she was growing stronger by the day, her family had retrieved her from the Blackboard Region ahead of schedule. In order to avoid the ensuing chaos, Celine had used her special rights to fetch Nono''s parents and younger sister away too. It was a stroke of fortune amidst the misfortune that they managed to avoid the chaos of the battle in the Blackboard Region now.


    Garen quickly gave her a reply, telling her where he had been, and at the same time, he told her that he was going to the City of Nagadako soon.


    Then, he arranged all the things he had prepared in advance.


    He still had a hundred crystals on him, and since he could not increase his Living Secret Technique without the Red Peacock Stones, he decided to put that aside for now. It would take a long time to reach Energy Machinist Level Four, so he had no hope of that for now. Right now, the only way he was stronger than other Energy Machinists was in terms of his close combat skills, as well as the strengthening effect his Distorted Seed had on the Imprint Creatures.


    It was the same creature, but Garen could use the Distorted Seed to strengthen it to three times its original power. In every other aspect, he was pretty much the same as Energy Machinists at the same level, and in fact, he was much farther behind many of the richer Energy Machinists. But the regular cannon fodders than had been tripled in strength would be enough to power up the elite creatures that could only be produced for the experimental table. This would give him an immense advantage. If used well, he should be able to gather a large number of resources quickly.


    Upon hearing that little fatty''s suggestion, Garen went onto the website called the Eliminet. Its main business was in assassination and intel, and it was very easy for him to log on using the Energy Machinists'' intranet, but it would not work through the internet outside. There was a lot of information on it, and Garen bought a few things according to his needs. He did not spend too much, just over ten crystals.


    After all the preparations were complete, he was without any worries for now. Garen sent a message straight to Mincar.


    More than ten minutes later...


    In front of the clear white door of light, Mincar had his hands tucked into his wide sleeves, standing there, straight as a pencil and as quiet, as he watched Garen.


    "Are you all ready?"


    "Yes, I am."


    "Once you get there, there are a few paths you can take. Firstly, you can join the selection and get the opportunity to join a sect, but that''s still too early for you right now. Secondly, you can find a place to work part-time, to earn your living fees, which are extremely high in large cities like this, so you should be mentally prepared. And once you go, it won''t be so easy to come back," Mincar advised him.


    "I understand." Garen nodded. He had to go, if he kept messing around here, he may not be able to return to his original peak power of Level Five even if he did wait another few years. Unless he went to a large place, he would not be able to get more resources. And then finishing off the Seventh Divine Wind General and Fila would just be a foolish dream.


    "In that case, I wish you the best of luck," Mincar said softly at the end. He gave way, and took out a pink crystal gently, tossing it lightly into the door of white light.


    Boom!


    A beam of intense white light burst forth, turning into an illusory white image that gently moved forward to envelop Garen, who was in front of the door, into its embrace.


    *******************


    Outer space, on the surface of a desolate pale yellow planet.


    There were many tall brown-yellow volcanoes standing on the surface of the planet, all of them glowing with a metallic sheen, thin and sharp. Beams of clear white light kept shooting out from the peaks, rushing into the sky like so many white pillars.


    On the surface of the ground between the many volcanoes, many brown-yellow buildings were stacked up like pieces of junk, scattered without any rhyme or reason. Some were skyscrapers shaped like rectangular pillars, and many others had roofs shaped like scythes. There were also many airships of different colors and sizes ascending and descending in the sky, or else flying forward slowly.


    Throughout the whole city, there were many white lights sparkling. When each light lit up, someone somewhere appeared or disappeared.


    A long flow of people rushed out from the airship that had landed, while others walked out from the elevator at the bottom of the volcanoes. As soon as they came out, the many cab drivers waiting there would pounce. Each of them entered their respective cabs.


    On the wide pale yellow road, the levitating cars flew away with their passengers, and more cabs took their place, offloading their passengers.


    At the bottom of one of the metallic volcanoes, inside the huge yellow arch-shaped door, another wave of arrivals walked out of the large black door that looked like a veil of water.


    These arrivals were all dressed differently, as though a large group of actors had mixed together before they could change out of their costumes. Some looked like rich merchants, others like students, there were workers, soldiers and commanding officers, some that looked like housewives, and even those who looked like beggars.


    Of this crowd, among those on the left near the main door, there was a well-built young man dressed in a white skin-tight pilot''s costume, his long black hair falling over his shoulders, and his eyes constantly observing the situation from behind his hair.


    His hair had covered up most of his face, and he looked disheveled. As he walked with the crowd, he was soon targeted by a cab driver as well.

 969 Star Core Plaza 1

    "Good day sir, to where are we headed?" Asked the driver as he squeezed over, looking particularly brawny.


    Garen looked at the filthy street around him, it was completely unlike the urban main city which he imagined, instead, it felt more similar to the time when he was going to the train station during the New Years back on Earth.


    The street ahead of him was an unorganized mess. It was completely fenced up by a light silver metal bar, forcing those who wished to leave the street to go through two big inspection gates.


    All the people within the fence were seemingly squeezing against each other. Shoulder-to-shoulder, Garen was completely surrounded by the crowd. It wasn''t just the energy machinists who had come out, but also a lot of taxi drivers who squeezed their ways in along with them. These drivers were abnormally passionate, some even doubled as a tour guide.


    The man on his left was excitedly and loudly introducing the attractions of the city while simultaneously guaranteeing that he offered the best prices around as he pounded his chest.


    However, there were multiple others doing the exact same thing all around the area, all with the same weird accent, as if they were reciting a badly translated script.


    The comparably wider street ahead was even more chaotic. There were some people frantically sorting out their luggage, some holding their children''s hands outside while waiting for someone. There were even a few of them speaking on the phone through a holographic screen projected right in front of them.


    The people in the crowd were moving all around, most of them were using a hovering trolley to port their luggage. Some had a scrolling screen floating above their heads as they moved, exhibiting some seemingly illegible red texts.


    A cacophony of shouting could be heard. They were shouting out names, calling for their family members, yelling to maintain the order of the place, and much more, all blending together to form a disorderly mess.


    It gave off the feeling as if he had arrived in a distant world.


    Garen narrowed his eyes. Leaning on the door as support, he narrowly avoided being squished by the moving crowd.


    "Bring me straight to the Star Core Plaza."


    The burly driver nodded, revealing a bright smile.


    "Star Core Plaza? You must be one of the people taking the Selection Test, right? Coincidentally, I am going to bring two others just like you over there. Follow me, dear customer, we can take the express pathway over there."


    Garen followed the driver as they squeezed through the crowd, swiftly maneuvering themselves through the masses, exiting the street over the gap in the metallic alloy bar. There was an old-looking taxi parked over there. The car did not have any tires, but it was visibly spurting out a white flow of particles.


    The driver opened the door and sat in the driver''s seat as if it was his second nature, Garen followed suit as he opened the door to the backseat. As he motioned into the car, he saw two others already seated inside, they were a boy and a girl. Both of them looked very young, looking no older than 20 years old.


    The boy looked seemingly average. He looked meek and wore glasses, giving off a nerdy and frail vibe, despite having a more tanned skin tone. He seemed to be the introverted, silent-type.


    The girl looked even younger, she was at most 17 years old. She looked extremely pretty and had a thin, lovely figure. Wearing a female white silk T-shirt, a micro mini skirt, and a pair of high denier black leggings, her chest perked up into two bulges under her shirt. Along with her pale and blemishless face, and her clear, watery eyes, she gave off the impression of a pure and beautiful young girl.


    Looking at Garen who just sat in the car, her eyes suddenly brightened up. Quickly tidying up her hair, she had her hair styled in a short ponytail and long arched bangs that dropped down to her chin level, making her appear even more charming.


    Without a doubt, even if Garen''s hair was even messier, his well-toned body figure and sharp facial features would completely blow the other guy out of the water. In addition to that, in this world, Nono was barely in his twenties, he was still extremely young. His neat combat attire only served to complement his charismatic aura.


    He immediately gained the attention of the girl.


    "Since you''re all going to the Star Core Plaza, y''''all don''t mind if I grabbed one more passenger, right?" The driver chuckled as he turned his head over to the passengers in his backseat.


    The three of them had no objections.


    Once again, the driver left the car and started soliciting for customers. It seemed like he tweaked the translation system, for the language in which he was shouting happened to be one which Garen could not understand.


    After a brief moment, he brought over a bespectacled girl. This girl did not utter a word, she merely looked at her watch and moved to the front seat of the taxi without even glancing at the three other passengers seated behind her.


    "Alright, let''s head out!"


    As the driver went back to the driver''s seat, he turned back and said out loud, "Let''s just get this out of the way, I''ll charge all of you a fixed price of 2 crystals each for the one-way journey."


    "No problem." The glasses girl nodded, while the other two agreed as well, implying that the price seemed reasonable. Naturally, Garen nodded in agreement as well. Based on the reactions of the other passengers, this was a normal rate.


    As the car slowly started to move, the green symbol next to the drivers'' window turned red, signaling that the taxi was no longer accepting passengers.


    "The distance of the trip is 442 km. The fare is monitored by Flying Traffic Management. Please direct all complaints to the company support site along with the number plate of the taxi." A sweet sounding female voice rang out loud.


    Garen looked out to see the buildings they were passing by. Most of the buildings were constructed with a combination of light-yellow bricks and metal. As they moved further and further away from the volcano station exit, he could only see the vague shape of the huge volcano and the light pillar coming out from it.


    Along the way, no one spoke a word. The girl was fiddling around on her phone, whilst the guy was doing some light reading.


    As time passed by, they started to feel sleepy, all of them started to yawn. Only Garen was still completely energized, showing little to no sign of fatigue.


    Bang!!


    The car suddenly started to shake violently. A strong magnetic field suddenly passed by, one strong enough to disrupt the willpower energy field of the passengers.


    In the midst of the screams, the passengers in the car got knocked into each other.


    The people in front weren''t affected too heavily. The bespectacled girl knocked her head on the car door, causing some slight red flushing on her face.


    Unfortunately, the people in the back were not so lucky. Garen was still fine, even if he lost control of his willpower, he still had his abilities as a martial artist. This amount of disruption and shaking was not enough to knock him off balance. However, although he maintained his balance, the girl by his side desperately grabbed on to Garen as a pivot point. Pulling his wrists with both her hands, her entire body limped onto Garen.


    As the car stabilized, the driver in front started apologizing to his customers. He said that it was due to the magnetic storm in the air, he had no way of avoiding it. It was a natural disaster that would range from a few days to a couple hours. It was a very common occurrence in this area.


    "I''m sorry¡­" Realizing that her body was stuck onto Garen''s, the girl suddenly flushed red in with embarrassment.


    "No worries." Garen gently smiled.


    The girl let go of one of her hands, her face still blushing. Looking like she was still a baby, she frantically used her free hand to tidy up her mini skirt, whilst still holding on to Garen''s wrist tightly with her other hand.


    Just as she let go of her other hand.


    Clang!


    With a loud sound, the car started to shake again once more. It was a second wave of the magnetic storm.


    The inside of the car suddenly fell silent.


    The girl screamed out once more. This time, Garen did not manage to maintain his balance fully. The magnetic storm seemed to affect a human''s balance as well. If he was alone, he should have no problem maintaining his balance, but now, one of his arms was being pulled by the girl, throwing off his center of gravity. With a tug, Garen felt his body being dragged off-balance to his right.


    Garen exerted strength with both his arms, but he noticed that his muscles were losing strength. Looks like a magnetic storm was not something to be underestimated, it did not merely affect one''s willpower. However, as he started to lose strength, his life secret technique started to kick in within his body. His arms suddenly felt a surge of strength, flailing around looking for their respective centers of gravity, stabilizing his body at once.


    "Ahh!" At this moment, a feminine moan sounded from his side.


    Garen felt something wrong. Looking to his right, he immediately felt embarrassed.


    As it turned out, while trying to maintain his balance, his right arm, still being held tightly by the girl, fell directly onto the girl''s thigh right below her mini skirt. He could feel the gentle warmth her thigh was emitting. As that was happening, the girl frantically pulled onto her skirt with her other hand, trying to push away Garen''s hand. However, unexpectedly, as she was trying to cover herself, it made it look like Garen had reached his hands under her skirt, touching her between her legs.


    "Err¡­" Garen quickly pulled back his hand. As someone who has lived as long as him, this was the first time he had accidentally taken advantage of someone else in this manner.


    No one noticed the scene that just happened between the two. Everyone else was busy trying to sort themselves out. The silent bespectacled boy was in a corner holding onto his head in pain, panting out loud. The driver in front was swearing out of frustration. The bespectacled girl took out a hand mirror and was touching up her make-up.


    "Sorry...," Garen muttered softly.


    "It¡­ It''s okay." The girl shyly lowered her head.


    After those two incidents, the trip continued on without a hitch, the four passengers also found a common topic of discussion. With the topic of the magnetic storm in mind, the four slowly started to open up and chat with each other.


    A round of self-introduction occurred. It turned out that, save for the bespectacled girl in front, all three of the backseat passengers were here to participate in the Selection Test.


    The girl''s name as Liz, the bespectacled boy''s name was Accord. They didn''t state where they were from, but from the looks of it, they were both at the standard of a Level 3 energy machinist. However, that was normal, participants in the Selection Tests were most commonly Level 3 energy machinists, Level 4s would be considered rare, and Level 5s were almost never-before-seen in these tests. All Level 5s who were aged below 30 would have no doubt gotten themselves a guaranteed entrance, they did not need to bother with these sorts of selection tests.


    "There are a lot of participants for the selection every year, but I heard that the judges this year were all veterans of void battlefields, they are from the standard Actual Combat Faction. They most likely will put more attention towards the actual combat prowess of the participants." The bespectacled guy frowned. "My weakest area is actual combat, this is not looking good for me."


    "I think most people aren''t that well-versed in actual combat either, so we''re all essentially in the same boat." Liz seemed to have recovered from her flustered self earlier. She continued, "Looking at the past few years, the tests were largely focused on the participant''s abilities in calculation and analyses. From my perspective, a greater emphasis given to actual battles might even make it easier. After all, most people have trouble with actual battles... Most of the participants of the selection test are energy machinists from the theory faction. If we do engage in actual battle, we''d all be on even playing grounds."


    "Logically speaking, that would be the case. It''s just that my Flowerbird''s Prison is still far from perfect yet¡­" The bespectacled guy said, rather regretfully.


    "It''s the same for my Rainbow Chicken as well. How many of us Level 3 energy machinists do you think have fully developed a skill perfectly?" Liz comforted him; it seemed like she was a pure-hearted young girl with a kind and gentle personality. "Don''t worry too much about it. There''s probably some guy out there who''s even more worried than you. Don''t you think so too, Big Bro Garen?"


    Garen nodded.


    "Actual combat isn''t actually as hard as you guys think. However, if you lack the actual experience, you have no choice but to compensate for it with a stronger concentration. As long as you''re not the one making a mistake, you will win. It''s a slow process, don''t rush it."


    Out of the three, he had the greatest stamina and also a great physical condition. His physical appearance had utterly overshadowed the bespectacled guy. He spoke with sheer confidence, giving people no reason to doubt his words and easily managing to convince others.


    "Big Bro Garen, can you give us some tips on which areas we should pay attention to during an actual battle?" The bespectacled boy softly, but sincerely uttered.


    As he brought up this topic, the girl Liz also shifted her gaze towards Garen. Although she was still slightly blushing from the incident earlier, it seemed that she had calmed down a lot.

 970 Star Core Plaza 2

    "For actual battles¡­ The most important thing to focus on would be the weak points. The weak points I''m speaking off aren''t just the simple flaws of a person, but rather, it''s the difference in ability between you and your opponents in different aspects. You may have a high speed, but if your opponent has a faster speed than you, then your speed would still be a weak point in that particular battle. Similarly, if you have enough strength, but your current opponent is still stronger than you, then even if your strength was your best attribute, it would still be a weak point, and vice versa. Thus, in a duel, the most important key is to test out the waters first, trying to measure your opponent''s average stats and how it compares to yours. Then, using this information, you can maximize your advantages over them to target their weak points. In theory, this is common sense, but it''s not as easy as one might think in actuality."


    "True, the theory behind it seems simple enough, but to be able to do that, we must first know how to do it as well as disallowing your opponent to see through you first. In addition to that, there are also issues about hidden abilities and other issues to worry about. How troublesome." The bespectacled boy meticulously pointed out his concerns as he nodded in agreement.


    Garen nodded.


    "You''re a sharp one, well this will all be down to the methods and strategies you use against your opponent in an actual battle." Looking at the earnest attitudes of the two, they definitely were not your average energy machinists. Being able to reach Level 3 at their age, they were undoubtedly geniuses in their own right. Even for Garen, if it was not for his unusually high level of intelligence, he would not have been able to reach the level of a Level 3 energy machinist so fast. Making some friends in this place would not be a bad idea.


    He started to teach them some basic and easy-to-understand actual combat tips and techniques based on his experience.


    During this trip that barely lasted 2 hours, Garen had answered countless queries from the two. Though the bespectacled boy seemed to be clueless about actual battles, his theoretical knowledge was unbelievably vast. Even for areas where Garen did not have a solid grasp on, he could easily break it down into simple explanations, displaying a strong analyzing capability. The girl was comparably more average, but she would still be considered a genius under normal circumstances.


    The three decided to participate in the test together and became friends.


    As the taxi continuously moved forward, the crowd density in the street also started increasing; the same could be said about the number of cars on the streets, leading up to a traffic congestion. Looking at the front, the roads were filled with cars closely packed due to the backed-up traffic. However, the driver seemed to be unconcerned by the situation.


    "Only slightly more than 10 minutes more till we reach the plaza, that place is full of selection test arenas, with fifty-one big arenas and ninety-nine small ones, to get a grand total of one hundred and fifty arenas each hosted by their respective sects. These sects are spread through the major continents of Planet Naga, where they have an extremely low population and high amounts of resources. The bigger arenas are built by the bigger sects, whilst the smaller ones are built by the smaller sects. Every year, this place would have a huge inflow of foreigners, all coming for the selection tests, creating a strong and prospering consumer chain. There are hotels and inns all around the place, finding a place to stay shouldn''t be an issue. The fees are also quite affordable, considering the ease of accessibility to food and other services which can be found everywhere around the area. There are some shops that even sell selection test preparation booklets." The driver introduced.


    "One hundred and fifty sects. Why are there so many sects on Planet Naga?" Garen just realized the City of Nagadako referred to an entire planet. According to the explanation by Accord, it was located in a two-dimensional space separate from where the Mother Planet was.


    "There is more than just that, Planet Naga has thousands of sects. As long as you reach Inherited Level, you will have the right to apply to form a sect. The etymology of the naming for ''Inherited Level'' comes from this system, the word ''Inherited'' refers to the permission to let your skills be inherited by the next generation." Accord muttered. "The ones that were able to build arenas over here are all at least Overlord level sects in at least one aspect."


    Garen nodded. In a blink of an eye, ten minutes have passed, they had finally escaped the traffic gridlock and disembarked from their ride.


    They alighted at a crowded street and moved towards the sidewalk on the left. Looking at the direction the taxi drove off in, they saw rows of tall pale yellow buildings on both sides of the road.


    In front of them was what seemed like a park surrounded by a black, human-height fence. There was a flashing red light installed on the fence, on top of it was a sign. The sign had the phrase "temporarily unavailable" written on it in five different languages.


    Peering in from outside the fence, one could see a few cylindrical structures being erected from the ground, with different patterns and images drawn on top of them. Some were complex and pretty, whilst others were minimalistic and abstract. It gave off a grand, yet at the same time elegant feeling.


    There were a lot of people taking photos with their friends in front of the fence.


    Garen noticed that in this city, not everyone was an energy machinist, most of the people were just your average joe, with no willpower control at all. Only one third out of all the people had some form of willpower wave emitting from themselves, Garen was secretly keeping count of the ratio as he walked past the crowds. Out of this group, there were approximately half of them who only have the willpower of a Level 1 or 2 energy machinist. The remaining people were mostly Level 3 or 4, with the youths being Level 3s and most of the Level 4s being at least in their 30s. He also observed a few extremely rare cases of Level 5s, with most of them being seniors, with even the youngest one being in his 40s.


    "Are there really no younger Level 4s?" Garen muttered in disappointment.


    "Of course there are, but most of them would have already been recruited as elites by the major forces. A lot of them would also already have met the requirements to aim for the Inherited Level. These people wouldn''t usually come around these areas filled with commoners. Even if they did, they would at the very least come disguised, we probably wouldn''t even manage to recognize them." Liz shook her head.


    The three walked up to take a closer look, besides the "temporarily unavailable" text, the sign also displayed that the opening day was tomorrow.


    "Looks like it''s not open today, why not we come back tomorrow then. I''m going to talk a walk at Figures Plaza, you two want to tag along?" Accord asked softly.


    "Figures Plaza? Why not!" Liz nodded. "I''ve long wanted to see the stone plaque left behind by the Regent Level Greats of the past!"


    Naturally, Garen did not object to this plan. He had nothing planned for the day anyway, and there was no harm in going over to take a look.


    Figures Plaza was located at the right of Star Core Plaza, following the flow of pedestrians along the street through a dark alleyway, they soon arrived at a wide area filled with white plaques.


    There was an oval signboard floating in the sky above them, displaying the names of each of the figures and their respective plaque location.


    There seemed to be a lot of tourists walking around here, most of them were carrying their backpacks and pulling their luggage, whilst others were like Garen and company, carefreely walking around the area.


    Some distance away, there were a few minotaurs in black uniforms around the area as security guards. These minotaurs all had the head of a bull and a body of a man, wielding Mountain-splitting Axes. Their body was completely pale yellow, in a similar shade as their weapons. They stood still without even budging slightly, almost as if they were statues. If not for them slightly puffing up their chest and exhaling a white gas occasionally, no one would even think that they were living creatures.


    These minotaurs were all clad in sets of yellow armors, the huge axes they were wielding was at least 3 meters in length, erected on the ground like a pillar. What stood out the most in this scenery was the rows of clear advertisements etched on the side of the axes.


    ''Silver Hawk Battleaxes, Ever Triumphant.''


    ''This product is fully sponsored by El Processing Division''


    ''Additional Sharpness Level 2 - Sharp-Edged Gazette''


    ''Alice-brand Chocolate, satisfaction with every bite¡­''


    Lines and lines of advertising slogans completely ruined the intimidating image of the huge minotaurs standing at a height of more than 2 meters tall.


    There were even some people getting close to the minotaurs and talking photos beside them.


    There was even a beautiful young girl who went forward and placed her arm around one of the minotaur''s shoulder for a chance to take a photo.


    "Look over here, big boy!" She loudly shouted.


    The minotaur slightly tilted his body towards the camera, his gaze was sharp. In an instant, his bulky muscles started to tense up, as he let out a small smile.


    Snap!


    With a flash of the camera, the girl happily gave the minotaur a crystal as payment before running back to her friends.


    "This is painful to watch¡­" Liz said while her eye started to twitch.


    "At this day and age, even guards have to make a living somehow¡­" Accord said as he readjusted his glasses.


    The trio followed the crowd as they walked through the entrance guarded by the minotaurs, entering a sea of stone plaques. They were all erected at around five to six meters in height, with little to no blemishes on the surfaces.


    Garen was originally quite interested in this, he planned to carefully look through the plaques left behind by the great Regent Level figures. Unfortunately, just as he walked in, he was completely stupefied, he couldn''t recognize any of the plaques, and he had could not read anything engraved on them as well. On the other hand, Liz, who displayed a great linguistic foundation, was even able to read a few of the plaques out for the other two.


    A lot of other tourists were facing the same problems as the trio. To them, these Regent Level plaques were no different from any random stone plaque, there were no visibly different parts, leaving them disappointed,


    A lot of the tourist just swiftly took a few photos before leaving the place.


    Garen originally thought that there would be some remnants of the Regent Level figures that he would be able to sense, but after noticing that the stone plaques had remnants of being artificially restored before, he was completely disappointed.


    The three also stumbled upon a record stone plaque. According to the records, this place has been destroyed and rebuilt a total of 4 times. It is now used merely as a symbolic landmark for Nagadako, representing the union and alliance between the Regent Levels here back then and the beginning of the Nagadako''s golden age in history.


    After a tour of the area, the three found their efforts to be fruitless. They just took a group photo and went to the nearby photo-printing shop. After receiving a photo each, they left the area as well.


    While they were pondering where to go next, they stumbled upon a tour group that seemed to be checking their headcount. The trio decided to just follow the group to find a place of accommodation.


    They soon arrived at a row of small inns a short distance away.


    Outside the inn, there were countless colorful flyers posted all around the area. There was also a small group of hover-motorcyclists waiting outside, chatting with each other whilst taking a smoke.


    The three of them walked into the inn, Garen decided to take a single room. This showed him how expensive the cost of living here was. Even for a simple and unsightly inn like this one, it cost him 50 crystals a night. He only had 100 crystals left on him at the moment, so after this transaction, he would only be left with 50, and that had yet to take into account his expenses for his meals.


    Fortunately for him, the boss gave him a complementary meal consisting of what resembled a braised meat. It was sweet and sour, and did not taste that bad.


    The people in the opposite room from Garen''s room seemed to be having an argument. The walls lacked a good soundproofing, and so the noise made its way into his room. He could hear various noises, and even occasionally the sounds of babies crying loudly.


    Under these conditions, he might as well start on his calculations for his Level 4 model while waiting for the opening of the selection tests tomorrow. He originally did not plan on staying the night in this inn, but he did not expect Star Core Plaza, which boasted to be open every day of the year, to be temporarily closed.

 971 Arena 1

    After some time, Garen was awakened by the sounds of a heated argument.


    "My stuff isn''t something anyone can take," a seemingly young male voice rang out loud.


    "The stuff I want is not something anyone can deny me!" A cocky female voice calmly said.


    What followed was a loud and violent shockwave.


    Garen was awakened from his calculations. He let out a big sigh and looked up at the ceiling that was flaking dust. The shockwaves continued one after another, seemingly never-ending.


    He stood up, walked to the window, drew open the curtain and looked down where two small silhouettes were standing facing each other on the street below. In between the two silhouettes, a red and a blue shadow kept rapidly colliding with each other. From the looks of it, the blue shadow seemed to be at a disadvantage because every time it got hit it would let out a loud moan.


    It could clearly be seen that the two silhouettes were both below the age of 20. The boy was in a blue shirt, with a silver bracelet around his wrist, emitting multiple spots of silverish light. The blue shadow in front of him seemed to be getting forced into a corner.


    On the other hand, the girl was waving a golden can in her hand, giving off a prideful aura. She was instructing the red shadow to attack continuously, almost as if the waving was conducting the red shadow''s every move, like a whip continuously whipping forth.


    The willpower shockwaves from their battle caused ripples that were at least Level Three in strength. Looking at the core of the battle where the strength was most intense, it was even at Level Four degrees of power.


    There were many Energy Machinists surrounding and watching the bout. In this location, it was impossible to bring out large-sized Self-Defense Evolved Creatures. One could only carry super-small-sized strong types or utilize space equipment, but both of these methods were far too expensive. Even if this was the city of Nagadako, a super-small-sized evolved creature was not something the average energy machinist could afford.


    This was comparable to having a person earn tens of thousands bucks per month when the average monthly income was two or three thousand bucks. Everyone would be using a cheap ten buck wallet, whilst the person would be using a pure leather wallet worth thousands.


    It''s the same in this situation. Those who own super-small-sized evolved creatures would at the very least be from a wealthy household. It was considered a brand and a status symbol after all.


    However, at this point, the two were displaying an unmovable arrogance in their actions. The boy was being suppressed so much that he had started to lose his breath. His blue shadow started to move slower and slower, becoming clearer and clearer. Slowly, the shape of the shadow could finally be made out, it was a tiny hummingbird that was completely blue in color.


    As the hummingbird''s movements slowed down, the other red shadow also slowed down its attacks in response.


    urprisingly, the red shadow was a palm-sized red skeleton. The red skeleton was floating in the air, with a pair of red wings flapping rapidly on its back.


    "Hand out the stuff," the girl put out her hand. "Your hummingbird is no match against my skeleton."


    "Red skeleton! Hmph!" The boy coldly sighed, his face pale. Finally, with a toss, he threw a brownish ball to the ground, turned around and left.


    The figure of the hummingbird slowly started to fade away, then disappearing into the boy''s body.


    "Looks like you at least have some tact!" the girl chuckled as she picked up the brownish ball. She glanced around at the surrounding energy machinists, then returned to her cold emotionless expression as she turned around and left the area.


    Garen let out a breath in amazement.


    "This is indeed the central city, where the energy machinists are the most advanced. The elites from all around the universe have gathered here. To be a Level 4 energy machinist at the age of 20, this degree is far crazier than me."


    Garen did some calculations and it would take more than 10 years for him to successfully get to Level 4. However, in this 10 years, there''s no telling how far these geniuses would have already progressed.


    "This time, the body I got was certainly average in the willpower aspect¡­" Garen let out a sigh, closed the curtains and continued his calculations. All achievements relied on slowly accumulating small steps.


    Word of the battle between the hummingbird and the red skeleton started to spread. Soon, a recorded video of the two''s confrontation got uploaded to the Internet. Garen took out some time to use the inn''s public computer to watch the video, but he couldn''t learn anything from it. The skills used by the two were one tier higher than his capabilities so it wasn''t something he could learn at this time.


    The elite evolved creatures they used were at least Level 4 or 5 in terms of combat power. He might not even be able to withstand their attacks even back when he was in his strongest state and in a mech.


    After all, he was only testing the waters.


    After an uneventful night, early in the morning of the next day, Liz and Accord came over and knocked on his door. Garen had already washed up earlier. The three then proceeded to make their way towards the selection tests.


    At the time, plenty of youths planning on taking the selection tests had already gathered at the Star Core Plaza. Almost all of them were below 20 years old, with barely a handful of people in their 20s.


    Walking amongst the crowd, Garen and company did not look anywhere out of the ordinary.


    Bong!!!


    A melodious clock bell sounded from within the Star Core Plaza.


    The fence started to vibrate and instantly faded away, almost as if it was never there in the first place.


    At this moment, a mustached man in what seemed to be yellow royal garbs walked out from inside. He pridefully surveyed the people in the crowds who were eagerly awaiting their entrance.


    "Routine maintenance inspection has just been completed. Please prepare to enter the arena. Today, we will open five big arenas and all small arenas, so please make your choice wisely. Let me give you a word of warning, do not be overambitious. Try to select an arena of a sect that is most appropriate for your personal growth, and not based on the overall strength of the sect. Of course, stronger sects will naturally give you more advantages and benefits, but you will also have to take up the corresponding duties. If you do not have the mental preparation to take up these duties, you may leave."


    He paused briefly.


    "Everyone will only have the opportunity to select their arena of choice once. In the end, the combined ranking competition will be held."


    After he finished talking, he slowly raised his hands, turned around and shot up into the sky, disappearing into the distance in a flash.


    At the gate of the Star Core Plaza, the crowd stood there briefly in shock, before slowly funneling themselves into the plaza. Everyone who entered the premises would have an internal map of the plaza appearing in their hands.


    Garen also received one, the map clearly stated all the specialties and characteristics of the arenas, what sect they belong to and where their actual location was.


    As the three walked through the masses of people whilst Garen was looking down at his map, Liz suddenly patted him on his shoulder.


    "Look, it''s the hummingbird user!" Liz said softly, looking at the direction of the person on her right.


    Garen and Accord, followed suit to see that it was indeed the hummingbird user from the battle yesterday. The boy in the blue shirt had a cold and sour expression, his silver bracelet looked matte and dull, it was not as bright and shiny as it was in yesterday''s battle. It seems like it wasn''t activated yet.


    In front of him, there was naturally a small sized area being created as he moves. This was not because people were intentionally making space for him out of respect but rather because his body was emitting a slight willpower energy field that forcefully parted the crowds in front to him like the red sea.


    "It''s a Level 5 energy field¡­ There''s no doubt about it, he''s one of the big three seeded participants in our competition area," Accord said as he adjusted his glasses once more.


    Garen nodded, he could also feel his opponent''s strength. For him to attain a Level 5 energy field at his age was amazing. Moreover, it seemed like he was not a Level 5 energy machinist, but rather just a Level 4. He used an experiment platform to create his own evolved beast to reach Level 5.


    "He was the one who fought against the red skeleton girl yesterday night right below where we stayed. He lost the match though," Liz muttered softly.


    "You guys saw it too?" Accord asked. "Him, the red skeleton user and another person, they are considered the prodigies of our competition area. We need to be cautious of them during the combined competition."


    Garen and Liz nodded in agreement.


    These types of geniuses amongst energy machinists all have terrifying calculating prowess. A lot of the tactics used by them would be very hard to be assessed by their opponents and all of them would already have a fully prepared a counterplan and battle tactics. They most likely have already been through countless simulation battles. So in that battle, they''d much rather skip all the tactics and just fight through a clash of strength.


    In these situations, for rookies who have to face the hummingbird user, they would be out of luck.


    After assessing his current strength, Garen came to the conclusion that if he faces this person, his chances of winning were extremely slim. The speed of that hummingbird was too high, there was no conceivable way for him to dodge it. Furthermore, that Level 5 energy field was not something he could break through easily.


    "Let''s go," he said with a frown on his face.


    "Mmm."


    The two others followed closely behind as they proceeded to the arenas deeper in the Plaza.


    The Star Core Plaza was filled with countless dry and withered trees of all shapes and sizes. The dark blue color of the dried tree bark made the trees look like weird evolved creatures, neatly stationed at two sides surrounding the plaza.


    In the plaza, there were also a few minotaur guards patrolling the area. They looked the same as the ones from Figures Plaza, with the only difference being the lack of advertisements on their axes, giving off an intimidating aura.


    The crowds slowly separated into the respective branching roads in the plaza, the people walking around Garen and company has also visibly decreased.


    "Where are you guys planning to go? Which sect do you plan to choose?" Accord asked while seemingly recording something into his PDA.


    Liz grinned, "I''m headed to the Dragon Light Sect. I''ve been admiring the Dragon Light of the Dragon Light Sect for ages now, it''s very pretty and strong."


    "I still haven''t decided," Garen shook his head whilst looking at the major sects listed on the plaza map. The list was completely filled with the names of countless sects.


    Accord kept his PDA and chuckled.


    "It must be fate that the three of us would be here together today. I''m planning on going for the Star Cloud Sect. I don''t know if I''ll be able to make the cut or not, but this has always been my dream since I was young."


    "That''s one of the Big Three Sects¡­ How ambitious!" Liz said in admiration. "Too bad I don''t have the confidence to try it. We don''t have absolute God-given talents, our willpower is also not strong enough, the odds of getting into one of the Big Three Sects are too low."


    "Well, that''s still better than me, I still have no clue about what sect I want to join," Garen chuckled bitterly. He looked towards Accord and asked, "Do you have any suggestions for me? Accord?"


    In this trip, the three could be considered fellow students of the same level. Accord had great knowledge of theoretical aspects, Garen was filled with combat experience, and Liz was good in a linguistic aspect. With that, the three managed to help make up for each other''s weak points, forming a decent bond through their interactions. Energy machinists are mostly rational people, there would not be anyone who would want to decline these types of mutually beneficial relationships.

 972 Arena 2

    "My only suggestion for you, Garen, is to choose your own path that you think suits you best. Don''t focus on the strength and size of the sects. Of course, the strength of a sect can have a positive impact on your growth, but during the distribution of their resources, those who lack the prerequisites would naturally receive fewer study resources, as it would just be a waste of time and resources. It''s not worth the candle," Accord answered sincerely.


    "That''s true. I''m more suited for Frost Radiation style energy machines. Are there any in this list that belongs to that type of style?" Garen asked once more. If he just goes by the information displayed on this map, there would be no feasible way for him to make an informed choice. The characteristics of each sect were not something that could be easily you could search up on the web, there would be a lot of minor details people who are unfamiliar with the sect itself would never understand.


    Accord answered while looking at Garen seriously.


    "To be honest, Garen, your actual combat prowess is absurdly strong, if you feel the styles that use Frost Radiation suits you the best, then you should narrow it down to the sects that specialize in Frost Radiation. Give me your map, I''ll help narrow down the list for you, then you can choose one that fits your style the best. I''ll also key in some of the key strengths and weaknesses of these sects for you."


    "Mmm, thanks!" Garen nodded.


    "Don''t worry about it. My actual combat ability was too weak, as you were telling us about your combat experience, I was covered in cold sweat. If you didn''t bring up a lot of those tips and common problems, I would most likely be destroyed as soon as the fight started. Let''s benefit from each other," Accord calmly said as he adjusted his glasses once more.


    He grabbed Garen''s map and rapidly pointed out thirteen Frost Radiation based sects and their respective arenas. At the same time, using his PDA, he made minor changes to the contents on Garen''s map, displaying the characteristics and styles of these sects.


    It could be seen that he was still a baby in the woods, still treating others with a heart full of sincerity.


    After a while, Garen was handed back the map, it now displayed thirteen bookmarked locations for the sects and arenas.


    "What are you guys doing?"


    Nearby, a group of young Level 2 energy machinists seemed to have gotten into an altercation with another Level 3 energy machinist. The noise was loud enough to be heard even from their location.


    The Level 3 energy machinists had her hair in small pigtails, her face was showing an arrogant expression.


    "How can good-for-nothing trash like you, being only Level 1 and Level 2, even wish to come to Burton Island? Keep on dreaming!"


    This person did not release their energy machine but rather lunged over personally. Surprisingly, he used a set of very familiar combination combat skills. Suddenly, two gill-like breathing organs appeared on the back of his hands, continuously spraying out a white gas. In an instant of explosive acceleration, every punch packed he threw packed two to three times the original power.


    The group of Level 1 and 2 machinists were only kids, they stood absolutely no chance against him. All of them got knocked to the ground in an instant. Many youths started surrounding them to get a look at what was going on, but none of them attempted to stop the fight but instead, they just stood there looking at the scene coldly.


    There were countless similar cases that had happened in this place, a few of strong young energy machinists, to reduce the competition in their arena, would hire an even stronger person to stand guard outside the arena to take care of their competitors.


    Garen surveyed the surroundings, he had already memorized the basics of the map in his hand, carefully keeping it back into his pocket.


    At this moment, the Level 3 energy machinists who started the fight glanced over, his sights falling on Garen and company.


    The others also looked on as if a show was going to happen.


    Garen looked around once more and realized that amongst all the people nearby, their Level 3 strength was considered quite high in comparison. Furthermore, the path they were headed was directly past the place where the fight took place.


    There were a lot of people coming to this area, most of them seemed to have similar dressing styles, with pale yellowish accessories on them, seemingly all locals. On the other hand, the handful of people in varied clothing all had slightly stronger Willpower and spoke with weird accents. Clearly, they were from a foreign land.


    Garen also noticed that it was not just the three of them. Everyone from foreign lands was at least Level 2 or 3, one whole tier higher than the average of the locals.


    "Let''s not stay here, we need to move," Accord said softly.


    The three minded their own business and started to walk away, this made the tense face of the guy who started the fight to slowly relax. He looked over, gave them a smile and left the scene.


    The group of knocked out energy machinists was left out cold on the ground.


    After walking a bit more, Liz was the first to part ways. The arena she was headed to was just up ahead.


    The three exchanged their contact information via their energy machinists key, promising to keep in contact. Briefly, after that, Accord also walked off on his own. He seemed to be quite mature for his age and very introverted, but he might also be slightly overambitious. He had looked down on Liz slightly but was able to see Garen as an equal. His tone towards Garen was very respectful.


    Garen had too much life experience and has also seen countless types of people. He had no trouble noticing the slightly hidden intricacies in Accord''s shifts in his tones, though he didn''t point it out.


    A person''s life passes by in the flash of his eyes, who knows what type of person Accord would grow up to be, how he would treat others. He would never have a condescending attitude and look down on others, especially towards this group of energy machinists who posses frightful calculation and analytical prowess.


    After the two left, he looked up the bookmarks on his map and the sects he was interested in, then he picked out what he deemed to be the most suitable sect and arena for himself.


    ******


    At the far right area of the Star Core Plaza near the outer wall, in a middle-sized sect arena, a long queue of people was patiently waiting to have the judge register their names.


    While the queue was still growing, there were also people who left the area dejected, after their application was rejected. On the other hand, those who managed to would proudly or calmly enter the arena into an empty space, patiently awaiting instruction from the staff.


    Two middle-aged men in white uniforms stood at the sides coldly staring at the surroundings. They had a sign hanging on their chest, clearly displaying the words "Ice Rainbow Sect".


    Garen had been in line for quite some time and it was finally his turn.


    Walking to the front, he tapped his energy machinists key in front of the judge in charge of the registration.


    Beep.


    The key started to light up, the display screen in the hands of the judge also started to display the related information.


    ''Garen, 21 years old, Level 3 Energy Machinist, Training Method NIS Universal Simplified Version, Place of Birth: Frontier.''


    "Level 3¡­ Not bad," the judge nodded, signaling Garen to wait at the side.


    Garen breathed out a sigh of relief as he walked towards the group of other participants who passed. The Ice Rainbow Sect was one of the strongest major sects below the Big Three Sects, it was a Southern Sect. The arena over here was used only for preliminary testings. There would still be a secondary testing once they head over the headquarters of the sect where it was intermediate in difficulty.


    Garen chose this sect because his current body did not have a good enough Willpower quality. It was at best considered average, if he attempted to head over to even better sects, he would no doubt be rejected instantly, wasting his opportunity.


    This opportunity was something that everyone had only once a year. If he gets rejected this time, he would have to wait an entire year for his next opportunity. He did not have so much time and money to afford such a luxury.


    It seems like the first batch of selection tests had already been done earlier, he was part of the second batch.


    After thirty minutes, the number of registered participants had reached the quota. The people who still wish to register would have to wait till after this batch of selection tests are finished. However, no one was in a rush, the Star Core Plaza was open almost every day of the year, the big arenas are opened based on the schedules, whilst the small arenas are always open. As long as you had the potential, it didn''t matter which day you come to take the test.


    Garen stood in the middle of the group, he was surrounded by energy machinists'' Willpower force. His Level 3 Willpower did not stand out at all in this group. Almost everyone here was Level 3, with the exception of two Level 2s who were extremely young, being at most twelve years old, and a Level 4 young man who was resting his eyes with his arms crossed.


    The judge in charge of registration earlier headed up on stage and took out a sign to put on stage. It displayed the rules of the selection tests. It seemed like he was too lazy to even speak, he just pointed at the sign and went off the stage back to his seat.


    The sign said:


    Second Selection Test -- Elimination Competition. Top three based on actual battles, where ranking are decided based on the number of wins. Those who win 10 consecutive matches may stay. The remaining people will leave the arena.


    Third Selection Test. Test for the appraisal limit. Those with high scores may stay, those with low scores will leave.


    Final Selection Test. Participate in the combined selection test, those who ranked within the top one hundred will stay.


    The rules were simple.


    Immediately, two people had already taken the stage. It was a fat boy and a small girl. They familiarly released their respective energy machines, one was a big human-sized spider and the other was a flying swordfish. They were both elite templates. The two jumped straight into an intense battle. The spider''s limbs were as sharp as a knife''s edge, it could also spit out webs to trap the opponent; whilst the swordfish could instantly use an explosive acceleration to pierce through its opponent and had terrifying firepower. The swordfish was repeatedly weaving through the spider webs set up by the spider.


    The judge was below with a computer positioned vertically, with the built-in camera pointing towards the stage, seemingly recording the battle.


    Garen was stood at the side, observing the battle while paying attention to the two middle-aged men in white uniforms. The two were clearly men from Ice Rainbow. They did not talk to the judge at all, making the atmosphere very tense.


    "What the hell?" The energy machinists on his side started whining.


    Garen noticed that a batch of participants consists of 30 people, but they would only take in the top three and the people who managed to win ten battles consecutively. This made the competition very intense. Of course, taking the top three was much easier than to win ten battles consecutively.


    Given that the Level 4 energy machinist was definitely going to take a spot, no one bothered even trying to take his spot form him.


    As for the remaining two spots¡­


    Garen looked through his belongings. He could not bring the biochemical pond over, it was left in the energy machinists'' secret region. Except for his energy machinist key, he did not bring anything at all.


    He started to consider how he would rank within this group of people.


    He had no way of using energy machine evolved creatures, he did not have an experimental platform, nor did he have a micro-type evolved creature. He was in the same predicament as a lot of the other energy machinists here. There was a specialized public-use biochemical pond somewhere nearby and everyone was allowed to use it once for free. However, he was out of time, the Ice Rainbow Sect mainly targets support-type energy machines, focussing primarily on self-strengthening. Unless absolutely necessary, it would be better to just display his own self-strengthening skills.


    Whilst the people on stage were still fighting, Garen saw a few energy machinists coming out from the public-use biochemical pond. There were flower-like items floating around their bodies. Energy Machinists then had countless tricks up their sleeves and he had no idea what those flowers were.


    "Black Jade Dragon Beast!!!"


    Suddenly, a loud insuppressible roar sounded from afar, almost as if it was the roar of a rhinoceros stampeding towards the arena. This caused everyone to look over at the direction where the sound was coming from.


    "Black Jade Dragon?!" The judge''s face lost color for a brief moment as he stood up and looked over at that direction, his face showing signs of jealousy.

 973 975 Sect 1

    Not just him, even the two men in white uniforms were also looking in that direction.


    "This has already been the fifth case of special talent prodigies this month¡­ As expected of a big arena."


    "Even if we''re not some talented prodigy, we will still eventually become stronger than them!" A youth said in a dissatisfied manner.


    Most of the people here were still kids, only a handful were full-fledged adults, Garen included. Listening to the words of the kids around them, even if these energy machinists had strong calculative abilities, they still lacked emotional stability. At this moment, they could not help but feel a surging feeling of jealousy.


    Using this chance while everyone was still saving their full potential, Garen quickly surveyed the people surrounding him. The few youths with a more veiled willpower were all remaining calm, fully confident in their abilities.


    "Without an experimental platform, my potential is only limited to my close combat. I''m definitely at a disadvantage against these guys. Whilst everyone was still saving their full potential, I should use this opportunity to go on stage and earn my 10 wins as quickly as possible. No point trying to snatch away others'' rankings."


    A few thoughts flashed across Garen''s mind. He had been hiding, intentionally keeping a low profile, befriending Accord and Liz, all for two goals. The first was to fully understand the unfamiliar situation surrounding energy machinists. Now that he has a clear grasp of the situation, he learned that the energy machinists world has the same rules as any other world. As long as you don''t cross the line, everything is based on your own potential.


    The second¡­ Although he originally still had his worries, there had not been any problems in such a long time, there shouldn''t be any big issues happening soon.


    He remembered the series of unfortunate events that happened back in the Blackboard Region which he was still slightly haunted by.


    At this point, the fat boy on stage had already been defeated. To be defeated by a little girl who was at least seven or eight years younger than him, He frantically fled the arena in shame after he bowed to the judge.


    "Now¡­ It''s time to test it out. Let''s see whether or not my original hypothesis is true¡­"


    With a swift leap, he lightly landed on the stage, standing right across of the little girl.


    Hiss¡­


    The swordfish next to the little girl started making snake hissing noises.


    Without useless chatter, the two just nodded at each other.


    "Be careful¡­" Garen said softly. Before he even finished, he furiously stomped down onto the floor.


    Bam!


    The entire stage started to shake, an ice blue mist radiation started to rapidly spread, completely engulfing the little girl and her swordfish in an instant.


    A small black paper box suddenly appeared in Garen''s hands, inside it contained strong Willpower forces.


    Hiss¡­ A void shadow stopped in front of the box in that instant, as if it was a car that activated it''s emergency brakes. It was the small swordfish. If Garen had been even slightly slower in taking out the box, he would have been pierced through and been forced off the stage.


    "I concede," the little girl''s face turned green as she uttered out those words. In that instant, the terrifying strong Willpower forces started to expand, if it was released, her opponent''s Willpower storm would have hit the entire stage. The first victim would be the swordfish, it was very likely that her swordfish that she spent so long creating could have had its Willpower core annihilated in an instant. She wasn''t even sure if she could manage to survive through the Willpower storm herself. Hence, at that key moment, she stopped her attack.


    The little girl jumped off the stage, and started bawling her eyes out. Carrying he swordfish in her hands, she left the selection test arena in tears.


    Garen started to feel the guilt of bullying a child, but he swiftly discarded this notion and focussed on his next opponent.


    At this point, the icy cold energy radiation had completely covered the arena''s stage. This made the energy machinists on the bottom quite concerned. This level of energy field radiation required him to maintain his energy every minute was a frightful task. They realized that he wasn''t just your average joe.


    A thin and tall man jumped up to the stage. He looked like a stick of bamboo and he also did not have any energy machines. He relied only on his speed when he jumped onto the stage just now, he attempted to run circles around Garen and shoot him with the freeze ray he was equipped with. Unfortunately for him, the freeze ray seemed to have no effect on Garen. On the contrary, he started to get frost bites from the frost radiation, forcing him to helplessly get off the stage.


    The next two who came up to the stage to test their luck were also helpless against Garen. At this point, the frost radiation had reached around -20¡ãC. Even staying up on the stage for a brief moment would start to numb their entire body. It slowed down not just their physical movements but also their thinking speed.


    Garen only used two moves so far, releasing the frost radiation and occasionally holding up the paper box. This huge threat he had on his hands was so strong that even the Level 4 energy machinist couldn''t help but put his attention on the box, showing a worried expression.


    "The fourth."


    Looking at his fourth opponent was what seemed like a twelve-year-old child, Garen silently counted in his heart.


    Ding.


    Suddenly, his key emitted a crisp notification tone.


    Liz''s voice could suddenly be heard.


    ''Garen, I have successfully entered the sect, good luck to you.''


    ''Good luck,'' Garen replied.


    Using the paper box in his hand to accurately block his opponent''s attacks, after a few more tries, his opponent helplessly got off the stage once more. When the willpower accumulated in the box had reached such frightening levels, even the Level 4 would not be able to block it.


    The judge sitting below speechlessly shook his head. Garen employing this sort of strategy had made him slightly disappointed, but since Garen was able to release frost radiation for such a long time, it proves that Garen had a certain talent, so he just turned a blind eye to it.


    Next, Garen used the same paper box tactic and his extreme reflexes, he managed to completely stall his six remaining opponents into submission via the effects of his frost radiation. If not for the ruling that they had to finish the battle within a fixed amount of time, he wouldn''t have been so successful.


    After successfully winning his 10 matches, Garen decided to quit while he was ahead, so he voluntarily leaped off the stage. This shameless act shocked not just the judge, but also the two men in white uniform.


    At the end of the day, Garen only managed to show his extreme reflexes and his ability to release frost radiation, with literally nothing else.


    The schedule then quickly progressed to the second phase, the test for their appraisal limits.


    Garen barely passed it. The Ice Rainbow Sect''s requirements were not that high, Garen''s modification of the traditional Frost Radiation showed that he had a certain degree of modification and combat prowess. Thus, even though his appraisal limits were not that high, he was still given a pass.


    Looking through the results slip of the test, Garen saw the stats for his bottleneck limit stated clearly at the very top.


    "Bottleneck is Level 5, that''s not too bad¡­" Bottlenecks represent the maximum Level one can manage to achieve, just that the amount of time needed in the later levels would be much longer. "50 years¡­" Garen was speechless.


    This estimates shows that in theory, he could reach the level of a Level 5 energy machinists, but that would require at least 50 years of continuous hard work.


    However, the most important part was that he successfully passed the test. A few of the Level 4 limit participants had been rejected. Garen learned that even though he barely made the cut, his quality as an energy machinist still wasn''t as bad as he originally expected.


    The final combined selection test was also a fluke. The others were having awesome battles, but only Garen was holding onto his paper box and being a one-trick pony. The opponents were all extremely wary of him and chose to avoid him as a whole. After all, there was no need to actually, since the rankings were based off win counts. Thus Garen got past the test easily once again.


    Furthermore, he did not break any rules, the paper box he was using was completely built by himself, so it abides by the competition regulations.


    In the end, there were a few people attempting to imitate his tactics, but they were easily defeated. This showed them that this type of tactic was not something anyone can pull off, it required an inhuman reaction speed and reflexes.


    Out of the final five that passed, Garen was one that was being despised by the others.


    Every batch would have around three to five passing participants, Garen was seen as the worst performing person in this group.


    After several hours, all of the candidates have been confirmed. From a total of five batches, there was a total of twenty people.


    There were three Level 4s ranked at the very front. Surprisingly, the hummingbird user Garen had seen earlier was one of them. However, it was understandable, since the Ice Rainbow Sect is one of the strongest sects outside the Big Three Sects. For him to choose this sect was no surprise at all.


    "Howmet, look at this¡­" The judge saw that the numbers were almost enough, so he softly asked at the direction of one of the white uniformed man.


    The white uniformed man slowly floated up and landed on the stage, looking down at the passing candidates.


    "These ones should do," he reached out and grabbed a short dark golden cane from his sleeves and lightly waved it around. The tip of the cane suddenly shot out a white light, as if a peacock spreading its feathers it turned into countless light spots, slowly falling onto everyone below.


    "Grounded Prison, Command, Aiz!" He roared in a low voice.


    Immediately, the light spots on the bodies of the candidates started to lightly vibrate.


    They started to shoot out both weak and strong pillars of light, pointed at the sky.


    These light pillars could go up to 2 meters in height, with the shortest barely reaching the top of their heads. With the uneven heights, it looked like a white light pole behind their backs when looked from afar.


    Garen''s back also had a pillar of light, it wasn''t too tall or too short, it was in the middle amongst all of these pillars.


    The white uniformed man pulled back his hand and slowly flew above all of the candidates. Everyone that his sight scanned started to feel shivers down their spine. The sharp gaze of those two eyes felt like a knife cutting through your skin, making the person ache.


    "Nilo, these people, are there too many of them?" The other white uniformed man flew past and said softly. The two bodies were emitting a strong inheriting level energy field as if it was nothing, forcing everyone''s head downwards.


    "It does seem like we have too many." The white uniformed man Nilo nodded his head and frowned. His gaze landed on Garen. "This person¡­"


    "His performance was decent, although he made use of some exploits, his reflexes are extraordinary. In addition to that, he seemed to have made great self-modifications, adapting the radiation and halo-type energies. I''d say that he''s fine," the judge''s voice rang from below.


    Nilo nodded.


    "You, you and you!"


    He simply pointed towards three others, they were the three people with the worst performance other than Garen. "You may leave. Your ranks are too low, you''ve been eliminated!"


    Instantly, the faces of the three candidates changed drastically. It was two white-collar-looking men and a model student-looking girl and after they got called out, their faces looked horrible.


    "On what basis!!?" One of the white-collar guys interrupted out loud. "Our performance wasn''t the worst! On what basis do you want us to leave!" He purposely increased the volume of his voice to cause a commotion.


    "On what basis?" Nilo laughed coldly, "When I tell you to leave, you will leave! On the basis of me, Nilo''s, authority as the supervisor''s disciple!"


    Garen looked coldly from the sides. He was indeed not a match for these people, but after he had experienced their attacks, wanting to beat these people would not be a difficult task. After all, the difference in strength was not that big. The only thing was that a lot of people would dismiss his skills as nothing but fancy flourishes.

 974 Sect 2

    The moment they heard he was the infamous supervisor''s disciple, all three people hesitated slightly. The first person who stepped forward earlier turned timid immediately and retracted his outstretched hand.


    "Then why is he still standing here despite being ranked last?! You''re doing this illegally! I refuse to accept this!" The young girl yelled loudly unexpectedly.


    "You refuse?" Nilo narrowed his eyes. He glanced at Garen but saw that the expression on his face was unperturbed, as though the current situation here had nothing to do with him at all. Suddenly, an ill feeling rose up in his mind when he thought of another member of the sect who was very similar to him.


    I strived for your reputation but you remained indifferent without being flattered or even showing the slightest hint of gratefulness? Fine! That''s just fine!


    Nilo had always been petty. Now that he was unhappy as well, the four people including Garen looked like eyesores to him.


    "I refuse to accept this!!" The girl continued to scream loudly.


    "Then just refuse!"


    A stern look flashed in Nilo''s eyes before he raised his palm up high and drew it towards the girl below.


    Bang!


    The stress of the invisible force field sent the girl flying at once. A splash of blood sputtered out in mid-air before she crashed violently against the sharp corner of the high platform. She rolled down and fell on the ground face up.


    When Garen saw this scene, his mind tensed up slightly. He felt as if something was amiss and that his previous assumptions were beginning to show traces of being confirmed. Now that the selection quota had been fulfilled, those who had not succeeded would need to wait until next year before they could return. If he had to wait another year, would that mean that he would be left behind by his peers?


    He glanced at Nilo and noticed that his facial expressions were becoming more contorted. The feelings in his mind which indicated that something was amiss became clearer.


    Suddenly!


    "All four of you can just get out now!" roared Nilo in a low voice irritably. Four invisible force fields were shot out in front of his body suddenly. The force fields wound themselves around the four people including Garen and flew out immediately.


    Sure enough!


    Garen was speechless. This was an unexpected disaster. He could vaguely feel that his assumptions had probably hit the nail on the head again¡­


    While his body was suspended in mid-air, he felt a bout of dizziness from the lack of balance. While determinedly steadying his body, he saw that a few people in the crowd who were standing there earlier now had joyful expressions on their faces because of the misfortune that had befallen him. His mind remained speechless. Despite his best efforts to downplay everything, he could not shake off the bad luck of stirring up trouble.


    It seemed as though he had been constantly encountering misfortune ever since Red Moon planted that unknown Willpower inside him. Terrible incidents had befallen him one after another continuously, simply making him a comet of disaster.


    There was a ''bang'' before all four people were thrown out far away again. Garen took a protective stance naturally. After rolling a full circle on the ground, he stood up quickly and did not resemble someone who was in a difficult position at all.


    The examiner who admired Garen more than the others sighed faintly when he saw this.


    "That person possesses the rare glowing abilities¡­" he continued to comment. The examiner himself was also threading on the path to become an expert in modifying glowing types. Therefore, when he saw that Garen was of this rare type as well, he was internally somewhat protective of him.


    "That''s enough talk of that. Trash like him who can only resort to using tricks will still be useless no matter how much they practice. He''ll only be a waste of resources if we let him through," Nilo waved his hand. "This matter ends here. How many people does our sect select every year? Do we still lack someone like this?"


    The examiner was helpless and did not speak anymore.


    On the other side, Garen''s face became slightly contorted. However, it was unrealistic for him to truly use his strength to force these elites to submit. The only thing that he could excel in now were the Big Wild Wolves. Unfortunately, the strengthened Big Wild Wolves only possessed Level One combat power that was close to Level Two at the most. Without an experimental platform, he could not use his Level Three Energy Machinist abilities to create an experimental piece of elite Energy Machinery at all. Thus, he had no other choice but to use tricks.


    When he noticed that the examiner seemed as though he had given up completely, Garen''s heart sank. If everything was delayed for a year, Garen did not know how much his progress would lag behind in comparison to the others. At his current age, a single year would mean a world of difference to a year in the future. His body would grow and mature in this year and the time that had passed would never return. This information was part of the Energy Machinist''s general knowledge. Once they had reached twenty-five years of age, the maturing of their rains would stagnate completely. Therefore, every year before they reached the age of twenty-five was a time where they could change their destiny.


    Nilo did not even glance at the four people that he had flung outside. Instead, he merely raised his head and looked at the faraway sky.


    In the direction of a different contest platform that was far away, a long cry echoed over now. It sounded like a loud yell of a bird.


    At that moment, a huge snowy white Giant Hawk flapped its wings and flew towards the heads of the crowd. In a few short moments, it slowed down from its initial great speed. It spread its large wings open and covered the people below while its ferocious talons clawed at Nilo''s head.


    There was a whooshing noise before a ray of blinding white light was released from its two talons. The light enveloped Nilo and the other selected candidates. It wrapped them up and they disappeared without a trace.


    The Giant Hawk turned and circled the area before flying towards the direction where it had come from. It flapped its wings a few times before disappearing at the horizon.


    The remaining people stood on the ground and looked at the Giant Hawk that had flown far away. Some of them sighed admiringly with emotion.


    The four people including Garen that had been thrown out arranged their clothes and packed up. Garen glared coldly at the girl who kept shouting her disapproval earlier before turning around and leaving. This was truly unacceptable. He could merely find a job first and pass the year for now.


    This world was unlike the previous ones because it was exceptionally difficult for him to develop himself. Moreover, he had jumped into a completely unknown territory and could not even gain much support from his Potential Points. Furthermore, his incomprehensible bad luck had caused him to fall into this state now as well.


    "All of you, wait a moment!" Just when a few of them were planning to leave, the last examiner that had remained called out and asked them to wait. "Are you interested in joining the next ranked sect? Although it''s slightly weaker, you will still receive Star Core treatment."


    "Are you joking?!" After being thrown out and getting humiliated, one of the men that looked like a white collar worker turned around and asked crudely. The other two merely ignored the examiner and left quickly without even turning their heads.


    "Star Core?" Garen''s mind stirred. He dusted himself off and walked over. From the corner of his eye, he could see that the white collar worker was looking at him as if he was an idiot. However, Garen was unconcerned and walked forward to talk to the examiner.


    "I would never lie to you. We examiners are not sent from the sects where the examinations are being held. Instead, we are members of external sects that were merely invited her to be examiners. I have no reason to lie or trick you," said the examiner sincerely while stroking his white beard. "Of course, I would never force you if you were unwilling."


    Garen had good feelings towards this examiner. He did not know why this man had spoken on behalf of him earlier. Although he did not succeed, at least his good intentions were something that Garen would remember.


    "You''re not someone that was sent by the sect to the arena?"


    "You don''t even know simple things like this. You''re just another careless hick from the countryside," cursed the male white-collar worker before he turned around and walked away. He had quickly left for a different arena in another area with the crowd that was not lively anymore. The contest that was being held here earlier had ended already and the arena would only be reopened again tomorrow.


    "Will there really be a Star Core?" asked Garen quietly.


    "Of course. Although the choices are extremely little and there are only Star Cores of the lowest level, it''s still better than nothing," replied the examiner while nodding. "What do you say? Are you interested?"


    "Is it a frost-type sect?"


    "If you''re looking for frost-types, I can suggest a sect that you can go to. It should be rather suitable for you," said the examiner softly.


    Garen asked some questions regarding specific information carefully.


    Apparently, the second rate sect that the examiner was talking about specialized in inviting the remaining members that were initially selected by larger sects. However, it was obvious that their resources and other factors such as safety and database were not equivalent to the larger sects and were actually much worse than them. Fortunately, despite only having those of the lowest grade, they still had Star Cores nonetheless. Even if he was able to reach the Inherited Level by relying on this, he would still only achieve the lowest level. Moreover, the success rate of this particular Star Core was frighteningly low.


    The second rate sect that the examiner was talking about was called Scarlet Snow Sect. It was a smaller-scale sect that was not far from Ice Rainbow Sect. They had about ten members and their sect was once brilliant. However, the faults of their Training Methods and Inherited books caused them to decline halfway, making them an inferior minor sect now.


    Very few people were willing to join sects like these. The examiner had only asked Garen this additional question because he was good friends with one of the Elders inside.


    "Scarlet Snow Sect¡­" Garen had always felt that this Energy Machinist Sect was slightly weird. It seemed as though certain parts of it was slightly familiar for unknown reasons. However, he was indifferent towards all sects. Perhaps the strength of the weakest foundations could be instantly increased immensely once they were strengthened by Distorted Seeds. Perhaps everything would be made much easier when he relied on his powers to find resources everywhere when the time came. Currently, he was lacking the Energy Machinist''s important system education the most. The Star Core was something that he would only need much later on. Moreover, it was still very early now.


    "Are there any entry requirements?" asked Garen. "I''m not young anymore and I don''t want to waste any more time."


    "There are no requirements. With your Appraisal, you will definitely become a candidate to be an Elder''s disciple immediately upon joining. However, you''ll need to think this through. Once you join this sect, this will be recorded in the Federation of Energy Machinists. You won''t be able to change sects anymore in the future," the examiner mentioned kindly.


    "It''s very normal to not be able to change sects," nodded Garen. He was able to achieve Level Three by learning on his own and he believed that he would definitely be able to turn over a new leaf as long as he was given system training lessons!


    "Could you take me there to have a look?"


    "No, the sect''s encampment is extremely secretive. However, I can tell you that this is the only frost-type second rate sect that I can recommend to you. The rest are of different natures and will not suit you," said the examiner frankly. "You need to consider this carefully. Perhaps it won''t be late to return next year again."


    "Next year?" Garen shook his head. "Alright, I''ll join the Scarlet Snow Sect."


    "Are you sure?"


    "I''m sure!" answered Garen in a calm and concise manner.


    The examiner sighed in relief. He had managed to finally get a third candidate for his old friend. He could report back on his task now.


    The absence of Star Cores that were of good enough quality was equivalent to not being able to see hope of achieving Inherited Levels. Coupled with the fact that the Scarlet Snow Sect''s powers were declining day by day. Therefore, no one was willing to join this sect that was gradually waning. Faults had appeared within more than half of their Inherited books. There were also issues with the Star Core and Inherited Secret Tactics which were two of the sect''s most important things. Naturally, it was the rationale that no one would be willing to join this sect. Moreover, the other sects had conditions that were much greater and better than those of Scarlet Snow Sect.


    However, Garen was unconcerned because he merely needed training for his Energy Machinist systems. Since he was already able to achieve Level Three by studying on his own, there would be no problems throughout the road ahead as long as there was someone here to help him. As for the Star Core, it would be enough as long as it was there. He could not delay this for another year because he was already too old and his assessed value would decrease. More problems would arise as his age approached twenty-five years. He felt that it would be impossible for him to breakthrough to the Level Four Energy Machinist Level after a year. Perhaps his assessment value would be even lower than his current value when he reached twenty-two years of age. His range of selections would decrease greatly as well.


    The most important part was that he was still worried about the unknown Forbidden Willpower inside his own body. The thing that Red Moon had planted inside his body was abnormally tight. It was uncertain when misfortune would befall him again. A Star Core with a slightly lower probability was better than none at all, right? This was what he thought.

 975 Scarlet Snow Sect 1

    In the examiner''s perspective, examiners like himself had outstanding strength within the second rate sects. Many of them were actually bearing the burden of being the third party that was invited here to observe the progress of the examination objectively to ensure that it was fair. He would receive some rewards from his old friend after completing this task, and reciprocation would be considered impressive.


    When he saw that Garen had agreed, the examiner sighed in relief faintly and relaxed. This time, most of his quota had been fulfilled already. Moreover, he had something to give in exchange for his reward while preserving his old friend''s reputation.


    "Garen, you can come with me now. I''ll inform someone from Scarlet Snow Sect to meet you soon. The distance between their encampment and this place are not that far actually. You will be able to arrive there on your own after being sent there a few times," he smiled while mentioning this.


    "I don''t have any problems with that," nodded Garen.


    Once he had decided to follow the examiner, both of them turned and walked towards the other arenas.


    As he observed each of the arenas, every time the examiner encountered the remaining contestants who were not chosen in the end, as long as they had pretty good fitness levels, he would go forward and attempt to attract these contestants by speaking to them. However, all of the contestants that he tried to attract could not be bothered with him. Meanwhile, those who stepped forward voluntarily to speak to him were merely Level One or Level Two Energy Machinists who were already more than twenty years old. Despite achieving high levels, their Appraisal was too low and they had already reached their personal peak levels. Therefore, they were useless individuals who were not impactful enough to reach Level Five or Inherited Levels.


    Along the way, there was only one more individual that joined Garen''s side. That person was also a young man like himself who dressed plainly and only possessed average Appraisal and Level Two Willpower. However, he was only nineteen years old.


    After walking circles around all of the smaller arenas, the examiner was unable to enlist any more recruits. He could only take Garen and the other young man back resentfully.


    "Next, we''ll be going to the main arena. However, we''re mainly going there so that both of you can expand your horizons and gain greater knowledge. It''ll be impossible for me to recruit people there but both of you should take this opportunity to broaden your view of the world. It''ll be good for you to see what the stronger prodigies are like," said the examiner while turning around to speak to Garen and the other young man.


    Garen and the other person nodded faintly to indicate that they understood.


    The trio left the smaller arena area and was enveloped by an Energy Field before rising into the sky. They soared upwards for more than a few hundred meters at once before flying directly towards the centermost area of the Star Core Plaza.


    Below them, the entire Star Core Plaza was oval shaped. There were three white high platforms in the center that were the same exact size. The tops of these platforms were currently shrouded in a layer of light yellow energy membrane.


    Through the membrane, they could see that a few people were engaging in close combat while others were prompting beasts to sprint forward and attack.


    Garen lowered his head and looked over. He could feel that the three of them were flying directly towards the centermost arena.


    A familiar silhouette was coincidentally driving someone off the platform in the arena.


    "Red Skeleton, one hundred and twenty-three victories!" said a gentle female voice.


    It was truly the girl in red who had compelled and seized Hummingbird previously. Tiny red skeletons with two wings each were currently flying around her. Almost six of them could be seen if you counted carefully.


    "Tch Tch¡­ Red Skeleton, this girl has managed to touch the edges of the Inherited Level despite only being eighteen years old¡­ Once she has obtained the Star Core and continues to work hard for two more years, she''ll definitely reach the Inherited Level once she comes out," praised the examiner while clicking his tongue. Behind him, Garen and the other man became jumpy with fear. Was she only eighteen years old?


    "That''s impossible! Her current Forces are clearly almost Level Five so how could she only be eighteen years old?" The other young man found this somewhat hard to believe.


    "It isn''t impossible. This little girl is probably the successor of her household. She had probably undergone special nurturing and training ever since she was young," the examiner shook his head. "Moreover, it''s obvious that she possesses the best talents in her household. She would definitely possess Accelerated Talents. Therefore, it''s almost certain that she will enter a large sect."


    Many other Energy Machinists had stepped forward to observe the match, much like these three people. Most of them had lowered their altitudes gradually while suspending themselves in mid-air around the high platforms below. These people could rely on their Energy Fields to hang in the air. All of them were Inherited Level individuals who released Forces that were extremely powerful. They had also weaved a densely packed Willpower net high up in the sky.


    A few people who had used aircraft to fly up did not have enough strength to support themselves. Within the blink of an eye, they were entangled by the numerous Willpower webs that forced them to drop downwards.


    The examiner glanced at these people coldly.


    "Only Inherited Level individuals have the right to suspend themselves here. Aircraft? They obviously don''t know their own strength."


    The trio descended gently on the edges of the high platform in the center. They paid close attention to the movements inside quietly just like everyone else.


    "Examiner, what are Accelerated Talents?" Garen had noticed this term that he had never heard of before.


    "Accelerated Talents refer to a higher level of talent Appraisal that is present within most talents," the examiner turned back and glanced at Garen. "Since your Appraisal is Level Five, Level Five would be your maximum limitations in theory. Although there is a probability that you can rush to the Inherited Level, it''s extremely low. Elites would regard your Appraisal as being weak but you would be a prodigy in the eyes of the average person."


    Garen nodded to indicate that he understood.


    "In other words, the thing that would be accelerated is my Appraisal?"


    "Right, there''s still one level or division above your Appraisal that we call Resonance. This level corresponds with the Resonance of the Mech Pilot inside, or simply replaces them. This means that their combat powers can definitely achieve Resonance Levels. People like these would have computing powers that are slightly stronger than yours once they are upgraded. Any higher and they would be the supposed Accelerated Talents," said the examiner while praising them slightly.


    "How much stronger are the Accelerated Talents in comparison to us?" The one who asked this question was the young man who stood on the side and sounded somewhat unsatisfied. He was only nineteen years old and after hearing that he was naturally unlike others, his train of thought had diverged somewhat.


    "How much stronger?" the examiner shook his head. "Statistically, once they have upgraded them, the computing powers of Resonance Talents are forty to sixty percent stronger on average. They improve much faster than you and are able to develop themselves into stronger combat elites. They can also use stronger and more complicated Secret Tactics in actual combat."


    "Sixty percent!! Then¡­ what about Accelerated Talents?" The young man was slightly subdued now.


    "The increase of their computing powers are usually almost similar to those with Resonance Levels. However, the key aspect is that they have an ability called Acceleration which can upgrade their computing powers by twofold in a short span of time. When they release it after integrating it with their Secret Tactics, most obstacles or bottleneck situations that resemble natural moats to others are simply pieces of cake to them. Perhaps both of you will be able to rely on your determination to catch up to them in the beginning. However, as time passes later, the distance between you will become bigger. Both of you will be unable to surpass the obstacles while they will continuously force their way forwards without stopping for even one step."


    "Are there many Accelerated Talents?" asked Garen quietly.


    "No, it would be impressive if there was even one of them within a thousand Energy Machinists. Of course, within a large population base like this, there would be more than a few who had reached the Accelerated class," replied the examiner. "The Accelerated class is a standardized division for the most outstanding talents."


    All three of them stopped talking and merely looked downwards quietly at Red Skeleton''s fight.


    The girl called Red Skeleton did not move. She was hugging her own chest with both of her arms while numerous red skeletons flew around her as quickly as lightning. They continuously flew towards her opponent quickly and attacked him from all sides.


    Within such a short span of time, three people had already collapsed after stepping forward and were all disposed of quickly.


    Among the people who had stepped forward was a person who was similar to Garen. This person possessed a rare radioactive glow as well and was able to use this radiation to affect their opponent while strengthening their own Energy Machinery. However, they did not have radiation achievements that were equivalent to Garen''s own. The defense systems that this person had established seemed nominal as he was sent flying immediately after being defeated.


    "Too weak! Are you sure that you''re an Elite who''s here to participate in the Star Cloud Arena and not a piece of trash that merely came here from the dump to try and make a fortune?" sneered Red Skeleton sharply in a loud voice.


    There were some Energy Machinists below who had been attacked to the point where they were afraid. It looked like there were hundreds of them there who were now somewhat indignant after hearing the things that she had said.


    A few middle-aged male and female examiners were sitting at the side of the arena with looks of admiration on their faces. They sat at the side of the arena and chatted while looking like they were enjoying the current situation very much.


    Boom!!


    Suddenly, a thunderous noise could be heard not far away. They could vaguely tell that it came from the high platform on the right side of the main arena.


    "Red Skeleton! I heard long ago that your powers were astonishing, so what use is it for you to simply yell while standing inside your little circle over there? Everyone here possesses triple Acceleration, so why don''t you fight me if you dare!!" A deep and resounding male voice echoed from another side. Although his voice was deep, a tinge of immaturity could still be heard in his tone.


    "Do you think that I''ll go over just because you''re asking me to? Wouldn''t I just lose my reputation that way?" sneered Red Skeleton sharply. Her voice traveled towards the protective membrane that was far away and pierced through it.


    "If you''re afraid then so be it. Why do you have to resort to hiding it?" said the voice disdainfully.


    "I''m afraid?!" Red Skeleton''s hair stood on end immediately like a hissing kitten as she was slightly threatened now. "You''d dare to come over here if you had the skills, right?!"


    "What are you yelling about?! Just get over there if you want to fight, stop yelling here!" Another person in the main arena who did not want to seem weak began to make noise as well. The voice of the person sounded like a young boy who did not sound older than fifteen.


    "Black Jade Dragon Beast?" A hint of dread appeared on Red Skeleton''s delicate face. It was very rare for her to stop disagreeing or refuting.


    The deep male voice on the other side did not turn silent.


    "The Black Jade Dragon Vitality? That''s one of the legendary peak Talent Vitalities. I, Mammoth, desire to experience if your powers are truly stronger than my fierce brute force!"


    "You''ll get a chance to see it," replied Black Jade Dragon coldly.


    After that, all three of them stopped speaking. The three main arenas were extremely close to each other but the trio continued on with their selection procedures quietly. However, these procedures were merely formalities to them.


    After taking Garen and the other person to observe Red Skeleton, he took them to see the other two remaining arenas.


    The youth called Black Jade Dragon was a child of only fourteen years old. He was dressed like a girl and was covered from head to toe in gold. He operated a type of Energy Machinery that resembled a large golden peacock-like bird. It was obvious that this kid loved the color gold. He had an extremely fine appearance and was abnormally pretty while golden ornaments and jewelry dangled from his whole body.


    Meanwhile, Mammoth who stood on the other side was quite the opposite because he had a rough and boorish style. The top half of his body was naked and his skin was dark. A picture of a white sun was tattooed on his body while numerous Unihorn White Wolves were creeping beside his body. Each of these White Wolves were the size of little calves and were at least Level Four Energy Machinery. He had dominated the entire arena and would only charge forward and personally engage in close combat with peak Level Five Energy Machinists that the White Wolves could not handle. This person had managed to modify himself to reach peak Level Five degrees. His strength was astonishing and he was able to use a set of combined boxing techniques. There were only a few Energy Machinists who could withstand his set of boxing techniques.


    The youth Black Jade Dragon, Red Skeleton, and young Mammoth were the three strongest and most eye-catching individuals within the three main arenas.


    Garen and the two other people walked around the main arenas. Most of the people who were selected to join the contest were extremely confident in themselves. The ones with the weakest Talents were of similar levels to Garen and the other youth. Therefore, both of them clicked their tongues in admiration secretly.

 976 Scarlet Snow Sect 2

    The battles of each of the three main prodigies ended quickly. The examiner then took Garen and the other young man and flew towards the outside of the main arena.


    "Guru, you only managed to bring two people today, huh?" A bald man with a white beard who was fully dressed in white flew over from the faraway sky. Three youths followed behind him. There were two girls and a boy.


    "I could say the same about you. Your gains weren''t much bigger," said the examiner helplessly while shaking his head.


    "We only get our turn after the main sects are done with their selections. This is something we can''t help," nodded the bald old man while stroking the bushy white beard that covered his entire face. "Alright, I''ll send these people off first. Let''s go drinking at the same old place later."


    "Mmhmm, okay," the examiner agreed. He took Garen and the other young man away before walking past the bald old man.


    Garen flew off with him while being wrapped in the Energy Field. He gazed downwards while they traveled past Star Core Plaza below them quickly. Stretches of areas filled with light yellow buildings were left behind instantly.


    He passed by the inn that he was staying at yesterday quickly as well as the monumental forest of famous people.


    Whoosh!


    A light green aircraft shuttled past the three people. It created strong winds that caused ripples to surge through the examiner''s invisible Energy Field.


    The examiner was unbothered and continued flying forward. High-speed aircraft would occasionally fly past him quickly.


    Soon, the long stretches of houses and buildings below them became more spaced out and dilapidated. The aircraft that were flying past them at low altitudes decreased significantly as well.


    A soft crashing noise that sounded like a moving water source echoed from below.


    Garen looked downwards. They had currently arrived at the top of a continuous stretch of yellow rolling mountains. Down below, a gigantic white waterfall was slowly flowing behind it.


    "This is the Guana Great Falls which is one of the most famous scenic spots in Planet Naga. There are many types of creatures living inside these waters. Energy Machinists from different places who want to research natural genetic banks come here to retrieve samples. Both of you can come here next time too," explained the examiner softly.


    He pointed at the edges of the waterfall. Many tourists were currently taking pictures there. There were even a few suspended aircraft that were hanging in mid-air above the waters of the waterfall. They were trying to salvage something unknown from the there.


    After passing by the waterfall, the trio entered a gigantic yellowish brown ring. It was actually a ring-shaped building that was made up of layers of circles that were stacked on top of each other. When looking down at it from above, it resembled a pile of rings of various sizes that were placed together.


    A white beam of light was shooting out of the center of the ring in an eye-catching manner. It was abnormally thick and faint buzzing vibrating noises were faintly echoing from it.


    "We''re here," the examiner flew downwards and rushed into the gigantic light beam in the middle. His speed continuously increased as he kept going.


    "Pay attention to your balance! This is a public teleportation light beam. Accelerate and go towards the transfer zone on your own!" He threw out the last sentence quickly as his current speed had reached an extremely fast degree.


    Garen could only feel that light beam approaching him at full speed. It was getting bigger and thicker before his entire field of vision was filled with white light instantly.


    Hum!!


    That buzzing noise flooded his ears and made it completely impossible for him to hear any other noises. There were no sensations throughout his body either, as if he had immediately fallen into a world that had nothing but white light.


    About a few seconds later, his vision brightened suddenly before a vast wild forest that was filled with vibrant and dark green shades appeared.


    The earth was slightly black while the surrounding plants were lush and green. The herds of deer below them scattered and ran off in all directions because they were frightened.


    In the faraway sky, a thick clump of purely white clouds were shaped like a funnel. The lowest point of the funnel that was also the sharp end at the bottom happened to be connected to the top of a white tower in the forest below.


    The tower was slender and serene like a thin inclined pyramid. Black aircraft that were the size of flies revolved around it. From afar, these aircraft that were moving extremely slowly emphasized the hugeness and magnificence of the tower.


    "This is the Fermium Cloud Tower. It was Scarlet Snow Sect''s most dazzling and illustrious symbol previously. However, once the sect dwindled, it lost its Cloud Circulatory System. Hence, fewer people were willing to come to come here after that," the examiner Guru sighed.


    "It''s truly magnificent¡­" the other young man praised sincerely.


    Garen praised it as well and nodded. Although he did not know the function of the Cloud Circulatory System, it was obvious that it was an extremely important installation.


    "Is the Scarlet Snow Sect inside this place?"


    The examiner glanced at him and nodded impatiently.


    "Just wait a little longer, we''re almost there."


    The trio floated mid-air silently. The white light beam that teleported them here was only capable of performing one-way teleportation. Hence, there were no traces of the white light beam on the place where the trip had appeared. It was clear that they would need to use other means to go back from here.


    Within less than five minutes, a white streamlined Flying Ship approached them from afar. It shot out towards the front of the trio before halting quickly.


    "Alright, this is the designated public transport Flying Ship. You can get on now," said the examiner while patting Garen''s shoulder.


    A little square shaped door was opened on the Flying Ship now. A White youth with a delicate and pretty face was standing in the doorway.


    "Master Guru, I apologize for the troubles you had to undergo throughout your joinery while escorting these new members here."


    "It wasn''t a big deal. I made a promise to all of you and I would certainly deliver. These two are little prodigies from the Central Metropolis who can also be considered as Elites. Including the three previous ones, I have fulfilled my promise to the Elders," nodded Guru. Unlike the incident in Nagadako, he sounded slightly more dignified and proud this time. There were also subtle changes in his manner.


    "Many thanks, Master Guru," the youth bent his waist and bowed respectfully. He wore a little pauldron on his shoulder. This piece of armor was entirely white and had sharp edges. A little red heart was painted on it as well.


    Guru turned his head and nodded at Garen with a kind expression on his face.


    "Alright, you can go now. He was sent by Scarlet Snow to meet you. The Core Disciples with white armor and red heart statuses are specially sent to take you to the sect''s headquarters," his attitude was completely different while speaking to people like Garen who were prodigies that had a chance of entering the Inherited Level.


    Garen nodded while a hint of shyness on his face.


    "Thank you very much for your care throughout our journey, Master Guru. Would it be possible for you to leave a method of contact so that you could teach me again in the future?"


    "Of course I could," Guru smiled. He used one of his hands to pat Garen''s shoulder again before a hologram of a key appeared in his hand suddenly. He burrowed it in Garen''s chest before it disappeared without a trace. "Okay, I''ve given you a method to contact me. Work hard and keep advancing. I have very good prospects for you!"


    "Yes," responded Garen certainly and respectfully. Despite being an Inherited Level powerhouse, the other party treated him kindly. This treatment was also given to him to see his future potential. Therefore, he needed to work hard and give him a good impression on the surface at least.


    While watching Guru fly away with the other young man swiftly, Garen turned around and embarked the Flying Ship while smiling at the other youth who had a delicate face.


    "Hello, I''m Garen. This is my first time coming to the Scarlet Snow Sect. Senior brother, could you introduce the circumstances of the sect to me please?"


    "My name is Bainster but I''m unworthy to be your senior brother," said the youth while smiling and waving his hand. "Of course I can explain everything to you because that''s my job. You came from the Central Metropolis and were able to become Two Hearted Disciples directly. In comparison to prodigies who can compete with each other for the Star Core, One Hearted Disciples like myself are nothing, but come with me first, it''s not convenient to talk here."


    "Okay, yes."


    Both of them walked along the path inside. There were only a few people who were sitting in the seats and most of them were closing their eyes and resting in a sleepy manner. A few others who were slightly more awake evaded the gaze of the delicate looking youth slightly. They lowered their heads and did not look at him. Some of them looked at Garen instead with hints of admiration in their gazes.


    Both of them walked into the front section of the Flying Ship. They entered a luxurious VIP cabin and sat down in their own seats.


    Both of them were the only two people inside the entire white cabin that was the size of a hall.


    The youth took out two bottles of beverages that resembled fruit juice from a machine beside him and passed one bottle to Garen.


    "Although our Scarlet Snow Sect isn''t impressive in the Central Metropolis, we are still a pretty good mid-range force within the White Cloud Continent. We also have more than ten Three Hearted Disciples with the highest Cores. Oh, that''s right, the Three Hearted Disciples in our sect are all powerhouses that have entered the Resonance Levels."


    "They only become Three Hearted after they''ve achieved the Resonance Levels?" asked Garen in a slightly surprised manner.


    "Yes," nodded Bainster while smiling. He was already extremely glad to be able to get this job because this was a good chance for him to form a good relationship with the new Two Hearted Disciple prodigies in the first instance. He had paid a heavy price in exchange for this job.


    "Our Scarlet Snow Sect currently has three Elders that whose rankings have never deteriorated. The strongest one is the guardian beast, Lord Labourcast. We don''t even know the grade of this old man''s true strength but we do know his level has never worsened. He''s the strongest support pillar within our sect. He''s also one of the five Inherited Level supervisors. After that, there are more than ten Three Hearted Disciples who have achieved the Resonance stage. Following them are the Two Hearted Disciples including yourself, senior brother. There are probably a few hundred of you. Next up are the One Hearted Disciples like myself of which I''m afraid there are more than a thousand. At the bottom of the pyramid are the odd-job workers, servants, and maids. There''s also a trade center for radioactive people slaves. Energy Machinists like ourselves no longer need to fear the radiation disease after achieving Level Three. Therefore, the radioactive people slave Center exists for us to select goods at valuable prices. Senior brother, you can go there and take a look later."


    "Radioactive slaves? Where do these slaves come from?" Garen''s mind trembled slightly.


    "It''s rumored that there were captured from the radiation belts on other planets," Bainster moved closer to him and lowered his voice. "I''ve heard that the larger sects have their own slave planets that are specially used to breed radioactive people."


    "Slave planets¡­" A thought stirred in Garen''s mind. Slave planet?! They were using the populations of entire planets to breed slaves?


    Massive plans, policies, and forces like these¡­ were simply shocking!


    He had never imagined that ancient and savage practices like slavery would actually exist on such a technologically advanced planet in this era.


    "There are probably more than ten thousand odd-job workers, maids, and radioactive people in total. Therefore, our Scarlet Snow Sect''s headquarters have fully occupied an entire mountain. One of these mountains has been separated into five bases. Three of the main Elders occupy one of the bases respectively while Lord Labourcast occupies one of them. The remaining base is used as the dwelling area for most of the disciples, odd-job workers, and slaves.


    "Then who provides for the daily needs of the sect?" asked Garen quietly while suppressing his shock at the slave planet.


    "The daily needs of the sect are sent to the hill of the mountain every day by specialized people. They will then be transported up the mountain. The food and drink will go through various safety measures. Moreover, our sect has its own group of corporations," said Bainster softly. "Do you know the Planet Naga Space Transportation Corporation? Our sect has shares in that as well."


    The blank look on Garen''s face indicated that he was slightly disappointed. However, he fixed it quickly.


    "You will discover more things when the time comes."


    The Flying Ship turned quickly. It traveled for ten minutes above the forest before quickly descending near the bottom of a large mountain on the left side of Fermium Cloud Tower.


    There was a popping noise before the door of the Flying Ship was opened. After that, both Garen and Bainster walked out.


    There were already people who were waiting for them at the foot of the mountain outside the forest. There were all dressed in similar white clothes with the symbol of the One Hearted Disciples on their shoulders. There was a middle-aged man at the front who had a Paul from that was silver and different from the others. He was currently smiling while looking in the direction of Garen and the other youth who were walking out of the Flying Ship''s door.

 977 Strict Training 1

    "Welcome to the Scarlet Snow Sect," said the middle-aged man in a clear and loud voice while stretching both of his hands once Garen and the other young man approached him. This man had long thick golden curls that resembled a large hairy towel that was draped over his head. It looked somewhat strange.


    Simultaneously, the remaining One Hearted Disciples opened their mouths and spoke in a synchronized manner.


    "Welcome to Scarlet Snow!"


    "My name is Garen and I''ve come here to gain knowledge. Please guide me," Garen bent his body slightly and bowed respectfully.


    "You''re the Elite who rushed over from the Central Metropolis. By choosing our sect, you displayed your faith in us. Please put this on," the middle-aged man smiled while taking out a tiny black jewelry box. The cover automatically snapped itself open quickly and exposed an exquisite crystal carving inside.


    People would find it surprising when they noticed that the crystal carving was actually floating in mid-air slowly and was not merely laying inside the box quietly.


    Rays of nearly scorching sunlight were shining on the surface of the crystal, causing a faint silver glow to reflect off it.


    "This is¡­?" asked Garen because he was somewhat unable to comprehend it.


    The middle-aged supervisor smiled faintly. "This is the symbol of entering our sect, the Communication Crystal. It will disintegrate into a tiny structure on its own to enter the human body. It also possesses special abilities that allow it to modify Willpower gradually."


    Garen understood now. Although he knew that this item was definitely not as simple as the man had described, he was aware that this represented a necessary procedure for entering the sect that was similar to an identity verification. This crystal would definitely possess measures to restrain the disciples as well. However, he was sure that they were necessary. Cruel sects would not be easily passed off as others as there were also sects that did not interfere with their member''s freedom.


    A thought stirred in his mind. Garen reached his hand out and used his fingers to pinch the crystal gently. Suddenly, he felt a slight chill flash past the moment his fingertips came into contact with the surface of the crystal. He then realized immediately that the crystal had quickly disappeared despite being right in front of his fingers.


    "It has disintegrated already," said the supervisor, smiling. "Alright, your room has been arranged. You''ll need to rest in the public base for some time, probably a month or so. Next, there will be internal competitions within the sect. Highly ranked competitors can choose to listen to the teachings of various Elders on their own at different bases. If you''re able to breakthrough to Level Four, you can request for the Elder examination. Once you''ve passed that, you can become an official disciple of one of the three main Elders.


    "Understood," Garen nodded.


    "Then follow me," the supervisor brought a group of One Hearted Disciples and turned around before clustering around Garen and walking towards the forest.


    A strange phenomenon appeared. When the crowd approached the lush green forest, the greenery disappeared at once and was replaced by a white fish shaped Flying Ship that was parked on the grassy lawn.


    Along the way, the supervisor explained the Scarlet Snow Sect''s situation. It was mostly similar to what Bainster had said except that it was less detailed.


    Garen nodded while sizing up the One Hearted Disciples beside the supervisor.


    There were both male and female disciples. Some of them had solemn expressions on their faces while others were gazing at him respectfully. The Forces surrounding their bodies were mostly only Level One or Level Two.


    After speaking for some time, the supervisor finally became silent. Next, he went into another room inside the Flying Ship and answered a phone call.


    His actions seemed intentional as Garen and these One Hearted Disciples now had space and time to interact. As expected, the group of disciples rushed over automatically right after the supervisor left.


    One of Garen''s junior sisters who was slim and beautiful was the first to speak.


    "Senior brother, welcome to Scarlet Snow. I was certain right away that you weren''t an ordinary person when I saw you walking out of the Flying Ship dashingly! This is a little gift from me. I hope that you remember my name in your Trusted Slip¡­"


    She smiled like a beautiful flower and quietly passed a tiny blood colored ball into Garen''s hand. It was shaped like a peach but its surface was filled with fine and closely woven lines that looked like they were tinged with blood.


    "This is¡­ Beast Root!" Garen recognized this material. He could use it on his experimental platform when he was leveling up. It was used to increase the success rate of creating experimental Energy Machinery by about ten percent and was worth a hundred crystals.


    "Dear senior brother, this is a little gift from your junior brother. I hope that you will be able to remember my name in your Trusted Slip¡­" Another person gave him a present with a respectful look on his face.


    Next, while Garen was scratching his head and trying to figure out something to do, most of the disciples in the group gave him presents.


    Bainster then explained everything to him softly.


    "Every Two Hearted Disciple has the right to be placed in an optimized radiation villa as their own dwelling. These villas can release radiation that will optimize and accelerate their computing powers while improving their vitality. It provides many benefits towards our bodies. Clusters of houses have been placed around the area as well. These houses are provided for the followers and servants of Two Hearted Disciples. As these clusters of houses are too close to the main villa, the benefits of the optimized radiation will affect them too. Therefore, the houses that were meant for the servants were rented out to the One Hearted Disciples by the Two Hearted Disciples instead. Unfortunately, there weren''t enough houses to satisfy the demand."


    "In other words, they''re coming over for the sake of those clusters of houses? So the Trusted Slip that they were talking about was merely a sort of permission slip?" responded Garen immediately.


    "You could say that," Bainster nodded. Next, he whispered beside Garen''s ear and said, "Of course, there could be a possibility that they weren''t eyeing the clusters but the main villa instead," he smiled pervertedly.


    Garen understood suddenly and glanced at a fiery golden-haired young lady who was batting her eyelashes at him not far away.


    Incidents like these were very common everywhere.


    After the disciples had given him their presents, the supervisor returned and acted as if he had an abundance of free time. He chatted with Garen leisurely and allowed him to walk around on his own and take in the Scarlet Snow Sect''s scenery.


    Through the Flying Ship''s side window, stretches of green forests and mountains passed them continuously. The whooshing sound of wind could be heard occasionally as well.


    Whoosh!


    A white Flying Ship flew past the outside of the window suddenly from the opposite side. A bald youth was sitting with his legs crossed on top of the Flying Ship. Both of his eyes were tightly shut and his arms were intertwined in front of his chest in a twisted pose that resembled a snake. He gave off a strange feeling, especially the fact that there was a faint red scar in the middle of his forehead that looked like an unopened third eye.


    Garen''s gaze fell on the youth for a moment before he felt a faint but stabbing-like pain in both of his eyes. In an instant, the other person''s Willpower Energy Field had attacked him. It passed through his Energy Field and hurt his eyes which caused him to fall into a state of shock!


    "This power¡­ Even the previous Nine-Headed Dragon Queen Nadia was not this strong!"


    Garen secretly compared these two individuals in his mind. He noticed that Nadia''s power was truly unlike the power of the man from earlier. Although he had only caught a glimpse of that man''s power but he could already detect the grade of his Willpower. He could also feel the spatial distortions that were produced from a natural flesh body that was too strong. He had seen power like this in Nadia previously but had never experienced it so intensely.


    "That''s the Third Elder of the Scarlet Snow Sect, Lord Copper Sera," Bainster explained softly.


    The moment that person flew past, everyone inside the Flying Ship lowered their voices unconsciously.


    "Lord Copper Sera?" murmured Garen softly.


    The Flying Ship flew above a lush green forest and passed it quickly.


    They could occasionally see Energy Machinists who were engaging in combat on the flat platform in the forest below. The white circular platforms were abnormally eye-catching in the middle of the forest. Some of them were empty while others were filled with numerous people that were sparring. They fought extremely intensely while people stood on the side and cheered loudly.


    Some disciples who were escorting the slaves of losing groups walked on the path below where the Flying Ship was traveling. They raised their heads and looked at the Flying Ship where Garen was located and gazed at him in admiration.


    On top of Scarlet Snow mountain on a lonely silver circular platform stood numerous people in white who were already waiting there.


    Their leader was a quivering old woman who was fully dressed in white. She raised her head and looked at the Flying Ship that was flying over from afar. A cute and charming young girl in a red skirt stood beside her. Her little mouth was fully pouted as if she was in a bad mood. Her long black hair cascaded down her vest in braids and reached her bright red miniskirt that was tight around the waist, emphasizing her girlish charm.


    "Another Two Hearted is here. Why do I have to meet him this time? I''m not happy with this. I''m not happy at all!" the girl muttered to herself quietly.


    "Both of the two other senior brothers have had their turn while you''re the only one who has yet to do it, senior sister. It''s very likely that the Two Hearted Disciple that has arrived this time is going to be one of us. As long as he passes the identity origin examination and does not have any temperament issues to be found, this is something that has already been set in stone. Teacher told you to come for a similar reason, so that you would leave a good impression on the new person," explained the old woman quietly.


    "Good impression?" the little girl continued to pout. "Are you sure that''s not just lip service? It''s a good thing that I''m naturally pretty and possess an abundance of beauty. Would I still be here to meet people if I was as ugly as an old man?"


    The old woman merely smiled bitterly and nodded without refuting her.


    A few disciples behind her had impatient looks on their faces as well. The young mistress''s bad temper was infamous throughout this branch. She had a good face but every time she opened her mouth to speak, two out of her three sentences would be self-praise. Moreover, she would only compliment herself by putting others down. She was also the most famous person within the entire sect.


    "Senior sister, please don''t speak for a while. Let me handle everything," said the old woman helplessly.


    "I know, I know. So annoying!" the young girl nodded impatiently.


    The Flying Ship floated above them slowly and stopped there before making humming noises and descending slowly.


    The ship door was opened with a ''puff'' before the One Hearted Disciples walked out from the inside. When they saw the crowd that was waiting for them, they lowered their heads and bowed respectfully before separating themselves on both sides and spreading out. Bainster was one of them.


    Next, the supervisor and Garen walked out.


    "Two Hearted Disciple Garen has arrived. Your subordinate requests to withdraw," said the supervisor softly while bowing to the old woman.


    "Yes, you may leave," the old woman nodded. She looked at Garen who was walking towards her as her gaze considered him for awhile.


    Garen''s entire body had been cleaned up inside the Flying Ship, making him extremely clean and neat. His disposition was steady and strong while his body was muscular but balanced. Both of his eyes particularly made people feel as if they were staring into a deep abyss. His shoulder-length black hair was arranged behind him neatly without a strand that was out of place.


    "Disciple Garen, I''m here to learn!"


    He walked forward and lowered his head slightly while illuminating his Energy Machinist key. They could clearly see that he was a Level Three Energy Machinist from there.


    "I''m your senior sister, Rainy and my rank is number five. She''s also your senior sister, Eva Regar and her rank is number three. You may just call us fifth senior sister and third senior sister," said the old woman quietly. Her voice was throaty and weak as if she could start panting at any moment.


    "Yes," Garen nodded.


    "This special treatment is only given to new people like you who choose to join our division. Take it," the old woman moved her hand and threw a little black ring towards Garen.


    When he picked up the ring, trembles ran through Garen''s mind slightly. This ring apparently possessed faint traces of spatial distortions.


    "Space Equipment?!"


    "Not bad. Take a look at it yourself and check it. Everything should be there already. Within a month, you can visit the speaker''s halls and the first floor of the library to read anything and listen to the talks. The other places within your field of vision that are displayed as red zones cannot be entered. You will be punished if you trespass into these places, so remember that. You may freely enter the places that are displayed as green areas," the old woman explained quickly.


    "Understood," Garen checked the ring for awhile. This was his first time using Space Equipment. Apparently, it was the size of a little bedroom. So many large materials were placed inside it and most of them were used to create Biochemical Pools and experimental platforms.


    "You should create your Biochemical Pool and experimental platform as soon as possible. However, our sect''s main principle is that self-modification is the best path to power. Don''t invert it," reminded the old woman.


    The greeting from the supervisor and the guidance and explanation of the Three Hearted Disciples showed that they had already treated Garen extremely well. Garen was also able to experience the high positions of the Scarlet Snow Sect for himself on the inside. It looked like the people who were only trying to make a fortune from the one-time selections at the Central Metropolis had a different experience. They had missed this accidental opportunity by being blinded by the prospect of the bigger sects. After receiving praises from the Inherited Level Masters, it now seemed as if this sect had been painted with a bright layer of attractive gold paint. Moreover, he had also received such exceptional treatment upon stepping into this place.


    "The Scarlet Snow Sect is the ultimate ruler within a range of ten thousand kilometers from here. Alarms will be released around you automatically when you encounter dangers so don''t panic when that happens. The nearest powerhouses will come and assist you then. Of course, if there are disciples who are facing similar risks nearby, follow the rules of the sect and help them to the best of your ability. Everyone here has a responsibility to help others when needed."


    Garen listened to the old woman as she explained the house rules while following the line of people down the side of the high platform before walking down the little mountain path.

 978 Strict Training 2

    The white buildings in the middle of the hilly forest rose and fell like faintly discernible waves. Most of them were surrounded by big tall trees while others were simply built on top of these trees. Meanwhile, Two Hearted Disciples like himself seemed to be treated very well. They were people in front who were specially assigned to the task of opening a path while the old woman and the beautiful senior sister led the way behind them and introduced everything.


    The most beautiful part of the Scarlet Snow Sect''s public base was its gigantic triangular library that was embedded in a precipice halfway up the hill. This library used the most primitive method to record their books. The largest books were as tall as a person and as wide as two people, while the smallest books were the size of a palm.


    All of these books were made of metal. They were unusually solid and could not be removed from here.


    When the line of people walked past the library on the precipice and looked afar, they could see clusters of One Hearted Disciples who were stepping on suspended flying platforms, carefully reading the contents of the books as they faced the forceful strong winds.


    "Alright, we can take a better look another day when we have more time." The old woman led Garen through a sparse forest of peach trees. Suddenly, the area in front of them turned bright as neat rows of white villas and buildings came into view. A pair of these buildings were grouped as a unit. Meanwhile, their surroundings were covered by a thin protective membrane layer.


    The two other people allowed Garen to pick a little three-story villa on his own. These villas were located in an area that was slightly lower than where the library was built. The administrative areas and the library were located on higher ground while the dwellings of One Hearted Disciples were located at the lower areas, making everything very convenient.


    Once they had helped Garen settle in properly, the old woman and the beautiful Third Senior Sister told him the ways to contact them before leaving on their own.


    "Senior Brother, I''ll return first for now. You can message me anytime if you require any assistance," said Bainster to Garen, respectfully.


    After nodding, Garen exchanged contacts with him as well before standing at the front of the villa, watching him leave quickly.


    The entire villa was snowy-white and filled with faint chills that were of low temperatures. The surrounding areas were also desolate as he could only see a few people passing by in the distance. They left right after stepping on a flying platform the moment they exited the door and did not seem to remain at all.


    Suddenly, Garen''s eyes shifted to the right. He saw that the grey curtains behind one of the windows on the second floor of a nearby villa on the right had been opened. Inside, a silver eye was staring at him right now. He could instantly feel icy chills crawling up his spine.


    "What is that?!" He was certain that it was not human. When he noticed that the eye was shifting away before it finally disappeared behind the curtains, he looked away as well.


    "Looks like the neighbor isn''t very friendly¡­" Garen furrowed his eyebrows slightly while his mind stirred as the main door of the villa closed on its own instantly.


    He turned around and returned to the main hall on the first floor. After that, he took out the Space Ring as a thought flashed through his mind.


    Boom!


    There was a dull thud before various items flew over and suddenly shot out of the floor of the main hall. Some of the things were presents from the One Hearted Disciples, whereas most of them were provided by the sect.


    Most of these large piles were made up of various materials and metal pieces.


    Two blueprints were laid aside as well.


    Garen picked the blueprints up and glanced at them. The instructions for building Biochemical Pools and experimental platforms were written there. The part of the villa that was allocated to them was written there as well.


    ''Two Hearted Villas have specialized Biochemical and experimental laboratories that can house Biochemical Pools and experimental platforms respectively. There are people who will be specially in charge of delivering your food and drink. Besides that, you will need to wear the sect''s uniform and adornments at all times when going out. Please note, when the assembly bell rings, please be sure to abandon all tasks and rush to the transmitting beam at the doorway to be sent to the center of the main plaza to gather there. -- May the honored Two Hearted Disciples receive a promotion as soon as possible (from Scarlet Snow''s logistics supervisor: Donlai Olsen)''


    Garen put the blueprint down and walked around in a circle, inside the villa for a few times. The layout of this villa was very simple. He had seen this too many times in the other world and was too lazy to look at everything properly. He merely checked whether any surveillance equipment was present here. At the same time, he went to check the locations of the other important rooms like the bedroom, toilet, and kitchen.


    Both the Biochemical and experimental lab were nearby each other on the right side of the first floor. All of the rooms had automatic lights. Therefore, the lights would turn on by themselves once he approached the room. The important part was that the main door was controlled by his mind, making it extremely advanced.


    The materials for the Biochemical Pool, experimental platform, and Nutritional Liquid were fully prepared. The other blueprint explained the fixed proportions that were allocated for each period of time. However, he would need to pay a price in exchange for enjoying these privileges. He would need to complete a task for the sect every five years that was corresponding to his current level. Fortunately, he could go to the task center and select it on his own.


    Beep beep¡­


    Suddenly, a faint trembling noise echoed from Garen''s key again. A voice that sounded slightly familiar drifted into his ears.


    ''Garen, I''ve entered successfully! The Star Cloud Sect!''


    It was Accord. Prideful and happy tones could be heard clearly in his voice. However, he also sounded exhausted.


    ''Where did you go? Why couldn''t I find you?''


    ''Congratulations, I''ve entered a little group far away called the Scarlet Snow Sect,'' Garen smiled. Although Accord was someone who he had just met on the road, both of them had gained a close relationship with each other during their journey.


    ''Why did you join a small sect?'' echoed a voice that was indicated that the other party could not comprehend the current situation. ''Someone with Appraisal like yours would not need to enter a small sect, right?''


    ''We don''t have to talk about me first. How''s Liz now?'' Garen changed the subject.


    ''She went to the Dragon Light Sect and entered it smoothly without any obstacles. Unlike you,'' Accord sounded troubled. ''Didn''t I recommend some mid-range and large-scale sects to you that were pretty good? Why did you join a small sect?''


    ''Don''t worry, I''m very certain about my choice,'' Garen smiled in response. He could sense that Accord did not have much experience with the negative feelings of others. His nature was still pure and he did not plan to abandon their friendship despite the difference between their positions.


    ''I can only wish you good luck then,'' said Accord helplessly. ''Alright, I have some things to take care of here. I''ll contact you again when I''m free.''


    ''Mmhmm, okay.''


    Both of them disconnected the call.


    Garen stood at the hall on the first floor and muttered to himself for awhile. He used the key to send a message to Celine again but he did not receive a reply. Perhaps the distance between them was too far and the key''s message transmissions could not pass through planets. He did not know whether she had received it or not.


    Since he was currently in the Scarlet Snow Sect, he would only need to wait to get past the Judge at the time when he would grant the sect''s important Inherited Secret Tactics. Only then would he become one of Scarlet Snow''s true disciples. However, he did not think that this would take a long time as this meeting was more important than the usual. Despite being individuals who had always preferred jobs that allowed them to research things on their own, these Energy Machinists had managed to dispatch so many groups to meet, explain things, and even arrange everything for him. One could well imagine that he was an outsider who had only entered this place after being introduced by someone else.


    After walking out of the villa, he could faintly see a few silvery-white Flying Ships that were continuously shuttling back and forth in circles from afar. They formed a white river that was dense and unusually magnificent.


    ''If you want to enter my Scarlet Snow Sect, you''ll need to pass through four rudimentary checkpoints and undergo strength and physique examinations, as well as a computing test. Those who are eighteen-years-old and above may not enter. Those who cheat will be killed!'' echoed a low voice from the faraway sky.


    Next, music could be heard faintly. Occasionally, it sounded like a lively child was yelling as well.


    Although he could not see the scene below the Flying Ships because he was too far away, Garen guessed that this was probably from the selection and recruitment ceremony.


    "Scarlet Snow has been dismissed by the main central city but it''s obvious in this area that they''re a powerful force. So these are the regional limits¡­" He sighed and recalled Blackboard Region where he had stayed in previously. Was that place not similar as well?


    "Rise well¡­" Everything was prepared and in order. He only needed to wait until the examination was over before he could immerse himself in training fully. Garen''s mind began to calm down.


    With the protection of the sect, he would use his spare time to dash determinedly towards higher Energy Machinist levels. The Seventh Divine Wind General was waiting for him in Blackboard Region!


    He turned around and walked into the main door slowly before the heavy white large doors sealed themselves automatically.


    ******************


    Without any obstacles, Garen passed the examination successfully half a month later. Although his true identity had been discovered, as long as it did not harm the interests of the sect or threaten it, it was not a problem at all.


    As a Two Hearted Disciple, he had successfully obtained the Scarlet Snow Sect''s most precious Core Inherited information, a training secret method that was used to counter one''s own radiation -- Scarlet Snow.


    Scarlet Snow was similar to the previous Black Wind except that it was more complicated and it was of a higher level. He could see that the Black Wind had modeled itself after Scarlet Snow''s rank faintly.


    From this Training Method, Eighteen Grade Cold Scarlet Snow, Garen could vaguely detect something that was unusually familiar. This training technique resembled Secret Techniques and felt like advanced and top Secret Techniques.


    Eighteen Grade Cold Scarlet Snow was an extremely terrifying Secret Method that was slightly similar to Living Secret Techniques. As long as he practiced this and upgraded it by one level, it would spur on all aspects of his Willpower, Vitality, Secret Method powers, and computing power. In other words, it would improve all four factors simultaneously. It would purely separate out the physical tactics and secret tactics as both of these skills would need to achieve higher levels before they could be elevated at the same time.


    These peak eighteen grades referred to the peak environments that the sect leader had achieved previously. Level Nine Energy Machinists were close to the level of the Perpetual Motioners, while the current Elders were around Level Fourteen. Most of them would stay at Level Seven because those with prodigious Vitalities could not depend on their talents to break through the limits either. In the future, they would need to rely on other things to continue advancing because the uses of their talents would disappear completely.


    Their levels would not drop once they had reached Level Fourteen of this Secret Tactic Training Method. This was extremely similar to the Living Secret Technique in which Garen was currently practicing. From this Secret Method that he had obtained, he could vaguely see a reflection of his Secret Techniques¡­ He had his suspicions that it was very likely that Secret Technique Users had come to this place previously.


    However, he could not be bothered to overthink it now. Instead, he would rather concentrate on practicing the strict training of the Scarlet Snow Sect.


    Garen discarded the thoughts of his Living Secret Technique and Mech Pilot Willpower so that he could focus wholeheartedly on improving his Energy Machinist skills.


    He focused all of his attention on practicing the Cold Scarlet Snow Secret Method. Due to the influence of his Level Three Willpower, as a Level Three Energy Machinist, he was able to reach Level Three of this Secret Method after practicing it. However, following that, his progress slowed down instantly.


    Those with average Appraisals would need at least seven to eight hours of accumulated computing from Level Three to Level Four. Garen did not even leave the area and merely spent all his time computing determinedly inside the sect. Other than contacting Accord and Liz occasionally, he would only send messages to Celine.


    He had found a way to contact Celine as there were long distance message transmission services within the sect. However, he would need to bear the expenses of sending these messages on his own.


    Only then did Garen discover that the Planet Naga and Mother Planet were in different dimensions. This was a dwelling planet that the almighty Energy Machinists had pioneered in an antimatter universe.


    Everything was well on Celine''s end. She had sent people to look after Nono''s parents, especially to keep them safe and secure. The only ones who were still lost were Baylon and the others. Clint, Baylon, and Red Moon had disappeared without any news for a long time.


    By training his computing power strictly while using the resources of the sect, he was able to build a good foundation for his Energy Machinist Willpower. As expected, Garen''s computing powers began to increase gradually and steadily.

 979 Breakthrough 1

    Five years later¡­


    By the edge of the Scarlet Snow Mountains, at the peak of an abnormal rugged mountain.


    The snow was piling up and the cold wind was brewing strongly. On top of a small snowy mountain, Garen sat by the edge of the cliff with his legs crossed and both eyes closed. Behind him, not far away, was a snow-white miniature Flying Ship with the number 15 clearly printed on the outside.


    Whiz!


    A ray of red light shone suddenly. Garen opened his mouth and a red glow shot out to encircle his body once before darting completely into his nostrils.


    "Begin!"


    He commanded in a low tone. A translucent pyramid, the height of a human then appeared before his eyes. On top of it was a dense flow of statistics and formulas.


    The strange pyramid floated slowly before Garen; the statistics on it moving non-stop while beads of sweat were forming on Garen''s forehead.


    Rushing for Level Four from Level Three Energy Machinist turned out to be an entirely different thing compared to a Pilot -- it was so much harder.


    Yet this sort of increase in his computing power was enough to keep Garen satisfied, just a mere four years to double his original strength. However, using the last one year to rush through it was not enough of a success, which made him slightly worn out. Within this one year, he had lost count of the number of times he had rushed for Level Four.


    Back when he was a Pilot, rising up was an easy task. Though now as an Energy Machinist, he did not expect the chances to be this hard. All because of this, he stayed in the sect for a short period of time before he realized that he was not the only one. Advancing to Level Four from Level Three was indeed a difficult task and there was a lot of Energy Machinists out there who were not able to pass this test. This meant that the second Energy Machine Imprint was not that simple. It was a sort of qualitative change to increase the position of the Energy Machine Imprint, and it might even be harder than securing the third imprint.


    It is because this was the stage where the Energy Machinist''s gift in computing power is put to test.


    Garen finally understood how mediocre his computing skill was. Even though he could slightly increase his computing speed, reflex speed, and computing comprehensiveness through his potential points, he was still unable to change the kind of creative thinking and critical thinking skills that only mathematics prodigies portrayed.


    This was not something one could improve just by intelligence, but more on imagination, creativity, and even a positive mindset that would relate to the world.


    So now, he was not just trying to overcome this Level Four barrier, he was also trying to break through his mental obstacle.


    After all, he was still considered a man-made prodigy. Perhaps his computing speed, depth, and complexity were nothing less of a prodigy. He was definitely lacking some other elements.


    The cold wind whistled violently. Garen crossed his legs and opened his eyes slightly. He did not know how much time had passed but the sky was gradually getting darker. He opened his mouth lightly, the sweat on his forehead was still increasing.


    Whiz!


    Another ray of red light shot out from his mouth, towards the translucent pyramid.


    Clang!


    The fierce sound rang throughout the area. Garen arched his back violently as he spurted out fresh blood. Instantly, his face darkened.


    Far away in the snowy grounds, two focused disciples in white glanced warily at the cliff Garen was at. One of them was Bainster, the one who went to meet Garen back then. The other one was a girl with maroon-colored long hair, along with bangs styled neatly on her forehands which gave her a pure and lovely look. The white women''s sect outfit hugged her curves perfectly, but the only unfortunate thing was that her actions were somewhat stiff. Even an action such as raising her arm to tidy her hair seemed a little hard.


    This person was Hillco, the one chosen by Garen among a bunch of other loyal disciples to be the master occupant of his villa''s sub-building -- the one chosen to enjoy the friendly effects of radiation.


    Hillco used to be a normal person with ridiculously low talent as an Energy Machinist. However, she was not willing to sell herself out to gain the resources and conditions she needed either. So, she made her way to the ancient ruins and after a near-death struggle, she barely opened a small part of her computing brain. With the rise of her computing power, she managed to become a mere Level One Energy Machinist.


    After that, she was accepted into the Scarlet Snow sect because of such peculiar transformation, to run experiments on how she managed to break through her brain''s computing power. In the end, the experiments were unsuccessful and abandoned. Hence, she was let alone to fend for herself.


    Among the others, Garen chose her because he saw the perseverance within her, the kind of firm belief only those who had experienced near-death experiences would only understand.


    As for her slow actions, that was an after effect of her coming back from the near-death experience the last time.


    Other than the head, for movements that people only need a second to prosecute, she needed at least ten seconds. Even if she had ten seconds, it was extremely challenging on her part. A simple gesture such as raising her arm to her forehead required at least ten seconds.


    As for her rent, as a Level One Energy Machinist, Hillco was able to waive her daily quests as she was cooperating with the lab experiments. Besides food and accommodation, she was able to earn some allowance as an Energy Machinist, but a hundred Spar Stones a week was a very low price.


    At this moment, Hillco and Bainster had their eyes glued on the snowy cliff that Garen had just attacked. As the red light escaped Garen''s mouth and towards the translucent pyramid, Bainster''s expression changed instantaneously.


    "Brother Garen is using his secret method! Once the Cold Scarlet Snow secret method is used, if he can''t breakthrough within the ten minutes, his injuries will be even more severe!!"


    "What do we do then? We have to think of something to help Brother!" Hillco frowned.


    "There''s no way! This is a critical moment. The secret method has started already. His computing power will expand immediately to 150%. These four years, Brother Garen has trained the Cold Scarlet Snow secret method to the third level already, slow and steady with each step. He has attacked multiple times just now and didn''t use the secret method, but now that he has used it, the power accumulated will be exerted all at once¡­ He''s able to succeed!" Bainster said heavily.


    By then, the both of them were joined together with Garen. Within the second, among so many disciples, they were the only ones who had Garen labeled on them. The power of Garen would affect their future. Within the five years, they had paid a price too, but how many more years would they still need to pay? They were almost twenty-five already. Once they reach the key age, their brain''s computing power would settle down and their limit would be set once and for all.


    Right then, a ray of red light shone again at the edge of the snowy cliff, shooting accurately at the center of the translucent pyramid.


    Garen roared and another ray of red light came out.


    Clang!


    The pyramid finally shook lightly and a small crack appeared in the middle.


    Garen closed his altogether. Countless dense formulas of statistics computing formulas started to flow through his mind, with every possible computing thread circling his mind.


    The cracks in the pyramid increased and became bigger.


    "I understand now¡­! This level isn''t about problem-solving, it''s the breakthrough that matters!!" Opening his eyes, Garen opened his mouth again but the ray of red light remained in there.


    The dense flow of statistics in the pyramid was gradually getting denser and more complexed.


    Time was ticking. The cold wind continuously hit Garen, converting his sweat into ice cubes, layer by layer, almost turning him into a snowman.


    Finally, with a raise of his jaw, the fourth ray of red light shot out and struck the vertex of the pyramid.


    Crack!


    Cracks instantly covered the whole surface of the entire pyramid, followed by crisp sounds of numerous silver bells chiming.


    The whole pyramid shattered!


    "He did it!!" Over here, Bainster and Hillco could not retain their excitement.


    After Garen''s hard work, he had finally managed to breakthrough successfully and achieve the Level Four Energy Machinist.


    Compared to those prodigies in bigger sects with better resources, his breakthrough was unusually difficult, but compared to smaller sects like Scarlet Snow, to be able to reach Level Four before the age of thirty was an achievement above the ordinary.


    The entire sect was pretty small. Among the disciples, there were the three of them. In addition to Garen, that would be four people. Among hundreds of people, only the four of them were able to reach Level Four before the age of thirty. The younger the person is, the more potential the person has.


    To be able to reach Level Four at an age like Garen''s, it meant that he was highly likely to be able to reach the Inherited Level. Just the thought of it made Bainster and Hillco smile in delight. Every year, approximately ten or so people are scouted and recruited from Central Metropolis to join the Scarlet Snow sect. They were all disciples, but how many of them actually managed to reach the Inherited Level? Technically speaking, although these elites had potential, each potential had its own limits too.


    The competition within sects was unusually cruel. Some other sects had inside competition that led to hundreds of disciples being ambushed while fighting for resources. The Naga planet was full of danger, the mutated creatures in the ancient ruins were extremely dangerous; if ever faced by anyone from the sect, one would be dead for sure.


    There was a high death rate for Energy Machinist competitions, which was also why Energy Machinists at the apex of the pyramid were able to put pressure into a Pilot''s head. Natural selection of life and death was known as the cold-blooded competition system, and that was why the surviving Energy Machinist would be acknowledged to have truly strong combat skills. Compared to Energy Machinists, Pilots received lesser training, especially those fighting on the void battlefields to defend their planet.


    After the pyramid broke into pieces, the second Energy Machine Imprint appeared in the back of Garen''s mind. Both prints were floating side by side. The left one had a Big Bad Wolf mosaic print, whereas the right one was still empty, waiting for him choose a print when he got back.


    Garen stood up with an overworked expression and ripped off the parts of his clothes that were stained with blood. Staring at what was left of the pyramid while it gradually disappeared into thin air, his body gave a violent shiver as he let out a breath.


    With a crack, the layer of ice on the surface of his body shattered and fell to the ground.


    "I''ve finally reached Level Four¡­ Can''t believe it took me five years¡­ But it is still shorter than an average person''s ten years, I guess it''s not bad." A hint of satisfaction filled his eyes.


    Turning around swiftly, he walked towards Hillco and Bainster. As he approached the both of them, Garen smiled and waved his hand.


    "Let''s go for a round of celebration. Now that I''ve passed this major threshold, reaching Level Five should be so much easier."


    "Congratulations Brother Garen! Once you pass this obstacle, you can easily breakthrough Level Five using the Mars Radiation Stone distributed by the sect!" Bainster said excitedly, "Once you make it through Level Five, you''d be qualified to be a third disciple and become an elder Grandmaster!"


    Hillco, who was standing by the side nodded in agreement. The smile on her face expressed a sense of heartfelt joy.


    Garen shook his head with a smile.


    "You''re thinking too much, that''s so far in the future. Just take care of yourself first, you''re still at Level One after such a long time."


    Bainster''s expression stiffened as he rubbed the back of his head embarrassingly.

 980 Breakthrough 2

    "Brother Garen, what are you going to do next?" Hillco asked in a hushed tone.


    "What I intend to do?" Garen clenched his fists, "I still need some time to get used to the jump from Level Four to Level Five. If I want to reach Level Five, the Mars Radiation Stone won''t be the only thing I need¡­"


    "Brother, our small territory has always been peaceful, relatively stable. With you as our leader, the area of the snowy peaks has always been calm. But I wouldn''t say the same for the other snowy peaks," Hillno said simply, "every second disciple will be assigned to different houses and a snowy peak to practice alone; this is the rule, in the sect, to protect the followers and first disciples in the surrounding. But I heard something recently from one of the sisters, that one of the Brothers at a snowy peak nearby wants to contact you. Even though I''m unsure of the details and who¡­"


    Before she could even finish her sentence, a soft voice broke through the air from a distance.


    "Ha ha ha ha!"


    In between the laughter, a white shadow leaped down from the sky and barged towards the three of them who were standing at the top of the snowy cliff. Followed that, a huge snow hawk circled above.


    "Let me see what kind of special ability does an elite from the central have!!"


    As the last of his voice fell, he rolled over and let out a piercing screech. Countless snowflakes were gathered, immediately forming a gigantic white dragon which darted towards Garen who was standing in the middle of the trio.


    The dragon swept up the snowflakes from the surrounding ground and formed a huge snow column which was at least meters thick. The tip of the column was a sharp edge that was pointed directly at Garen''s face.


    Garen snorted, then proceeded to activate his Level Four Cold Scarlet Snow technique and clouds of white frost emitted from his body. Holding out just one arm, he pointed his index finger at the sharp edge, as if he wanted to use his own flesh and body to fight against the solid ice thorn.


    However, his finger and the ice thorn closed in quickly. Just when they were about to touch, Garen''s finger suddenly shot out like petals of a flower. Within a second, his palm turned into a pale icy-white shade and hit the ice thorn at the side.


    Bang!


    The ice shattered into pieces. The snow column was thrown to the side by a shadow by the side, whereas Garen remained still on the spot.


    "Nice!!" The person made a flip in the air and landed on the ground steadily. His feet sank into the snow, leaving two deep footprints.


    "Indeed the elite of the central. Just achieved Level Four, yet such strong lethality. Among all the brothers, your power should be ranked top three."


    "Who are you to show up at my snowy peak without invitation and behaving so atrociously?" Garen asked icily. After the series of hand-to-hand combat and his style of speaking earlier on, Garen seemed to have a wrong impression that he was meeting a secret powerhouse.


    When all the snow debris finally dissipated, the trio was finally able to see his true face. It was a white young man with a handsome face and white short hair. He had only one arm but there was a sense of emotion in his eyes that gave others a relentless feeling.


    "I''m the owner of the twelfth snowy peak, Joyson but you can call me Joey. Garen, master of this peak, I''ve been observing your breakthrough for the past few days. What about it? Well, are you interested to join me in competing for the top ten snow peaks?" This person''s previous rage was nowhere to be seen anymore -- he was slowly warming up.


    At this moment, Bainster and Hillco were still unable to regain their composure. Bainster stepped back in shock whereas Hillco just seemed pale. Even though she felt a sense of threatening death during the ambush, she did not step back, which truly showed her strong sense of will.


    "How will I benefit from being in the top ten snow peaks?" Garen asked calmly.


    His opponent was a similar Level Four Energy Machinist. However, during the short fight just now, he noticed that the opponent was just testing the waters, that''s why the opponent did not unleash his full power. Being a second disciple meant that his qualifications were not bad, so he should be at least between the third to fifth rank among the disciples.


    "Obviously, there are plenty of benefits!" Joey laughed, "Second disciples in the top-ranked snow peaks get special treatment. Since you just recently managed to break through, you will need some sort of treasure to secure your position. Or else, you will need at least another two years to completely stabilize your position before you can try for the next level. Think about it, without the help of extra resources earlier on, you would have spent five years to break through from Level Three to Level Four. Do you know how fast the disciples from bigger sects progress after receiving resources? If you don''t fight for some things, you''ll just be long forgotten behind by others who have leverage above you!"


    Garen frowned.


    Spending five years to break through Level Four was something he did not think of.


    Speaking of disciples from bigger sects, wasn''t Accord one of them?


    In comparison to Accord who was already focusing himself on passing Level Five already, he thought that it was just their differences in talents. But come to think of it now, things seemed different.


    Joey laughed at Garen''s expression. "I''ve been searching in the snow peaks for the longest time and after selection, only you Garen, you''re the only person I can''t see through. And that is why I am here to ask for you to team up with me. You''ve relied completely on yourself to reach Level Four already. Other than the treasure to secure your rank, you still lack a suitable Energy Machine Imprint. If you''re in the top-ranked snowy peak, you''d be able to buy more powerful Energy Machine Imprints¡­ Not just the ordinary ones you see in the market, like¡­ The new batch of mutated imprints that are stronger than the ordinary ones by a couple of times -- Winter Night Wolf!"


    "Winter Night Wolf?"


    Joey stepped closer, within five meters range from Garen and the two others.


    "Seeing that you chose a wolf Energy Machine Imprint, I have the impression that you have a liking towards this sort of Energy Machine creatures. The Winter Night Wolf is a rare mutated Energy Machine Imprint. Although it isn''t much of a difference from the initial Giant Wolf Cannon Fodder, once cultivated in the right way, which is three by three from the biochemical pool, it will have strong jumping abilities and facing flying units would be no big deal. Most importantly, it''s group increment would rise according to quantity! Now that''s the scariest part!"


    Increment rises according to quantity.


    Suddenly, Garen was slightly moved. If he was to add the Distorted Seeds to these wolves¡­


    "How do I fight for the top rank?" Garen asked in a low voice.


    With the sight of Garen being moved, Joey smiled lightly. "That''s simple, kill!"


    "Kill?!" Garen was stunned.


    "Brother, he meant killing disciples of the opposing sect. The more you kill, the more evaluations you get, and the higher you would advance in rank according to your battle records," Hillco explained softly.


    "So what about it? You and I team up against the Dragon Eye Sect. I''ve been keeping an eye out for them for three days." Joey even had a target selected already.


    "How are battle records calculated?"


    "The sect imprint will automatically calculate the power extent and proportion of impact," Joey explained.


    "I should look this up." Garen nodded. If the other person was speaking the truth, then he really had to fight others for resources that he would need to shorten his time of practice so that he would not be suppressed by the others. As for the resources, conflicts were bound to happen.


    Survival of the fittest -- that was the natural selection of life. This was still a path of life, whether it was the Combat World or the Technology World.


    "I shall be waiting for your good news then. This is my communication device."


    Joyson threw a clear crystal brand towards Garen who caught it easily.


    A gust of snow rolled up. Once again, he turned into petals of snowflakes, dissipating into the cold air. Who knew what kind of supporting tool he was using that allowed him to walk on air.


    "To be able to fly away, that is something only a Legacy Master can do!" Bainster stated with envy. Only now did he dare to reveal himself from behind Garen.


    "That was just some help from a prop." Hillco cast a glance of disdain towards him, "You''re a man yet you were the first one to retreat."


    "What can I do when I have no power? If I were to have power like Brother Garen, do you think I will still be scared of him?" Bainster asked unconvincingly.


    "Come on, just you?" Hillco rolled her eyes.


    As the both of them continued to bicker, Garen fell deep into thought.


    Originally, whether he was in Combat World or Totem World, he had the potential points to provide him with resources so he did not have to be swept into this battle vortex of limited resources. However, things were different in this world. Potential points were nowhere to be found and the second Staff of Absolute Yin was yet to be found. Even after such a long time, the remaining potential points left in his Attribute Pane were not to be easily used. It was only for emergency life-saving purposes.


    To be exact, he had always been practicing alone, excluded from the world of interest.


    "Turns out I''ve never really been into the vortex of natural selection of life." He let out a breath.


    "Let''s go." He picked up his feet and walked towards his villa situated at the foot of the hill.


    The both of them followed suit behind him, though still bickering. However, as if everything was blocked out, Garen was still lingering over the sudden realization that had never occurred to him.


    It was his past all summed up.


    Because of the potential points, he need not have to fight others for the limited resources. All he had to do was practice silently and continue advancing so that he could be the best. This was his luck, not his unfortunate.


    Though the disadvantage of relying on potential points too much in this world had finally surfaced because he never had any past experiences. So, he would not take the initiative to find the resources he really needed. As for the path he took part in, he had to rely on himself to move forward and as a result of that, he kept being thrown off by others, further and further away. This was the consequence of not having resources and not trying to fight for them.


    Accord, who should have been the same as him was already trying to reach for Level Five. Yet here he was, only achieving Level Four recently.


    However, he remembered.


    "With the help of external objects, I can improve faster. If I were to rely on just myself, it will be a sort of training for myself. This path would be more simple and pure, but it will not only take a much longer time, but it is dangerous at the same time. On the other hand, my foundation will be steady throughout, and it will be easier for me to achieve a higher realm in the long run."


    He held out his hand and stared at the snowflake that was slowly melting in his palm.


    "If I want to reach a higher state, to reach the Army Level or even higher, speed is not the only thing I''m looking for."


    Horrifying images of devils destroying the world from ancient mythologies kept popping in his head.


    Garen then realized his own determination.


    "What I want is not just temporary strength, but a power that will last me in the long run. I don''t need any foreign objects that will affect my foundation. As for what Joey mentioned about the Winter Night Wolf, it''s something I should give up on. It is a trick that allows people to accelerate their progress in a short period of time by sacrificing their potential. Anyway, the power spawned out is still not as good as one''s natural capabilities."


    Although he had understood this principle since long ago, he had never truly experienced it as he did at this moment. From what he saw, the potential points he had used to advance in the past was no different from an external support tool.


    He may not be able to observe the after effect of using potential points to push himself into secret combat level, maybe because it was too high level, but there would definitely be a consequence. If he wanted to progress rapidly, would it be possible that he need not pay a price?

 981 Teamup 1

    All the way back, Garen kept thinking about the question earlier.


    With the aid of resources, he could be able to face more challenges stronger and faster. He could also progress faster if he had sufficient resources within the short period of time -- this was the advantage. However, doing so would bring rise to many enemies and dangers everywhere. More so, he would also face the danger of an unstable foundation.


    Fighting was the only way to rise rapidly in a short period of time.


    All the way down to the central mountain villas, the trio could see flying ships in the distance circling the snow peaks. Those were the hosts of other snow peaks communicating.


    A few of the flying ships were flying towards their direction. One of them especially had an extremely clear target and was flying towards the stop at the bottom of the snow peak.


    Bainster let out a sign of acknowledgment when he saw the flying ship as if he could recognize it.


    "Is it someone you know?" Garen whispered.


    "Yeah, it''s my friend''s flying ship but I don''t know what''s up." Bainster nodded, "Let me have a look first."


    "Alright, just call out for me if you need any help," Garen replied lightly.


    For the past five years, Bainster had been helping him take care of various transactions and services, collect materials, handle social matters, arrange schedules, and collect data and information. This was something him and Hillco were in charge of all the while, and it was the main reason to why Garen trusted the both of them more. With the both of them handling most of his matters, he had so much more time to practice.


    There were hundreds of snowy peaks in Scarlet Snow Sect; most of them were owned by second disciples. Such delegation, such system, were almost similar to the records seen in ancient mythologies. The behavior of powerhouses within the sect was similar to a secret combat powerhouse, and not at all an Energy Machinist from the Technology World.


    If Garen had once suspected that the secret combat powerhouses had come to the Scarlet Mountain sect before, he was now a hundred percent sure of his suspicion. Scarlet Mountain sect was basically established by a secret combat powerhouse, and there were definitely secret combat powerhouses who used to come to this world.


    Due to the fact that the Cold Scarlet Snow secret method was just a simply changed name from the Cold Scarlet Snow Technique, the eighteen levels would completely match the level of the Living Secret Technique and Dying Secret Technique. However, this was the first time Garen had witnessed the Dying Secret Technique of such a high level. After all, in general, the secret techniques he had always been practicing were considered the Dying Secret Technique.


    Back in the villa area, Garen took a glance, by habit, at the villa above where the windows were pitch black and no light could be seen. Though sure enough, a pair of eyes flickered and disappeared instantly. It did not seem humane as it gave off an eerie sense of feeling.


    Opening the doors of his villa, Garen was just about to walk out when suddenly, he heard a gust of soft wind behind. When he turned around, his eyes swept the surroundings with a trace of vigilance.


    A young lady with red hair was standing calmly behind him, watching him. Upon knowing that she was noticed, the lady shot him a gentle, sweet smile.


    "Mr Garen, so you''re back so early today?"


    Garen nodded his head and replied with a polite smile.


    "Ms Monica, you''re early too."


    Monica nodded with a smile.


    "You''re welcomed to be a guest here anytime."


    "Unfortunately I''ve been busy recently, but if there''s ever a chance I will definitely accept your offer," Garen replied casually. He had always felt that this lady was somewhat weird. He had heard from the second disciples once that some people never had the chance to set a steady foundation when they were young due to the restriction of resources. Therefore, they were unable to reach higher levels. Once they reached their limits, some would start running prohibited experiments that would cause them to lose their minds. Garen had a feeling this woman was one of those people.


    Both of them exchanged a few words before Monica retreated to her own villa.


    Her movements were swift, and in a blink of an eye, he could hear the sound of her villa''s door shut.


    Seeing that the door was shut, Garen then only walked to his own door. Hillco had already gone back to her own place. Besides the occasional workers sent by Hillco to clean the villa, she usually lived in a separate villa.


    The white hall was clean and spotless. The floor could literally be used as a mirror.


    Garen held out his hand and smacked the wall. He then walked into another big hall.


    The lights in the hall switched on automatically without a sound, and a cup of hot ginger tea appeared on the table in front of the sofa.


    This world did not have such a thing; it was all just Garen who had searched for multiple materials all over the place before settling with a plant similar to Ginger, with the same medicine property. So he decided to just use it to make tea. The taste was somewhat identical in which he considered as a form of nostalgia for his previous life.


    Sitting down and sipping his ginger tea, he flipped open his notebook on the table and began to find out more information about what the twelfth host, Joey, said.


    The insides of the Scarlet Snow Sect was slightly complicated. Most of the transactions were sales of different materials and Energy Machine Imprint objects. However, most of them were premature and the flying imprints were rare, making them extremely expensive too.


    Something as big as the ranks of the snowy peaks was of course something easy to find out more about.


    "The top ten peaks will have the opportunity to select an award corresponding to the value of the prize deserved according to the prize list published above." It did not take long for Garen to find out the description of the ranks of the snowy peaks.


    This was the information Joey gave.


    This was exactly what he had imagined. Joey was for sure a cruel one and he was ranked twelfth in the top hosts of snowy peaks. He had killed over hundreds and he was only twenty-eight years old, one of the elite powerhouses nurtured on the grounds of Scarlet Snow Sect. He still had some sort of reputation in the eyes of second disciples.


    Garen straight away stole another glance at the first displayed portrait. Similar to a lot of other cases, the first familiar face was still Carthage.


    "The prodigy who had always looked down at us among the entire Scarlet Snow Sect, Carthage." He shook his head lightly. Carthage was someone who did not need to compete for planets, yet he could be chosen straight away as a prodigy of a certain new planet. Even if he was to compete with disciples from a larger sect, they stood no chance against him. Now that he was entering the resonating phase in accepting the third disciple exam, he was a definite pass if nothing goes wrong.


    If Garen was to be asked who were the valued prodigies recruited from the central in the entire Scarlet Snow Sect, Carthage was definitely the one. He was the hope of Scarlet Snow Sect, the hope to rehabilitate the Fermium Cloud Tower.


    The Fermium Cloud Tower used to be the symbol of Scarlet Snow Sect''s peak, but now they do not even have the qualifications to enter the tower. Without a Level Nine Elite powerhouse, there was no way they could enter the Fermium Cloud Tower.


    After retrieving the information he roughly needed, including the information regarding the Winter Night Wolf, Garen cleared the history and left for this biochemical room.


    Two huge Big Wild Wolves were crouched down at the doorstep of the biochemical room. Once the door was opened, two wolves as strong as bulls wagged their tails eagerly when they saw Garen.


    "Here you go." Garen smiled and took out a few pieces of black dried meat from his pocket for the two wolves, letting them tear the meat apart and share among themselves.


    He then walked to the front of the aquamarine biochemical pool and sat in front of the control computer of the biochemical pool. As he progressed into Level Four, even the increment effect of the biochemical pool increased. Every level of the NIS training method provided the biochemical 0.5 level of defense and speed. The NIS rank within the Scarlet Snow Sect was not considered as low at all. Therefore, Garen had no need to change his training methods.


    "I''ve finally reached Level Four, which means every single one of my biochemical creatures will have a double rank increment of 0.5*4." Garen stared at the Big Wild Wolves as they gobbled down the dried meat. He then used his Mind Force to command them to go back to the biochemical pool.


    With the sound of water splashing, both the Big Wild Wolves jumped down into the biochemical without hesitation, submerging themselves into the blue nutrient solution.


    Garen started to run his fine-tune work by simply adding his Energy Machine Imprint and Willpower into the biochemical pool. With just that, everything would be strengthened naturally by the imprint over time.


    The Big Wild Wolves were rolling about in the biochemical pool, yelling in pain as their fur began to shed. Blood red muscle veins appeared on their body and started absorbing the nutrient solution.


    The scene lasted for at least ten minutes before the fur of both the Big Wild Wolves began to grow.


    They crawled out to the edge of the biochemical pool and shook off the nutrient solution from their bodies. Their bodies were slightly distorted, emitting a slight force of a Level Three Willpower Field.


    "Level Three? Not bad, not bad." Garen stood up and smiled in satisfaction.


    Cannon fodder creatures of a Level Four Energy Machinist were usually of Level One standard. Even if they were strengthened by a Distorted Seed, they would only be strengthened by three times, which would put them somewhere in between Level One and Two. That was the original standard of a Big Wild Wolf.


    However, now that he had reached Level Four and had enough nutrient solution to carry out reformations, the Big Wild Wolves produced had managed to obtain an increment and had the power of a Level Three Mech.


    "Even though they seem like they have the power of a Level Three Mech, we still need to test the effectiveness through combat." Garen was just like any other Energy Machinists, except the fact that he had the Distorted Seed which was able to cause a triple increment of his cannon fodder creatures, almost exceeding a Level One extent by far -- that was his ultimate secret. However, this was related to the Living Secret Technique. So he could not risk other people finding out or else it would be impossible to explain.


    Only the elite version of experiment objects by an ordinary Energy Machinist was able to have a battle force similar to a Mech of the same rank. Whereas ordinary cannon fodder creatures were usually at least two ranks lower than the creator itself.


    However, Garen''s cannon fodder creatures actually had the power similar to an experiment object. It would be extremely bothersome if word got out. This was only something that could possibly happen to those prodigies from bigger sects because they used more optimized materials and skills, unlike Garen who used his Distorted Seeds. Not to mention Garen''s Energy Machine Imprint was just a normally weak type used by the investigation army. To be able to strengthen the investigation army to this level, Garen was probably the only one who could do it. The prodigies from bigger sects would not even waste their time to strengthen such garbage.


    After strengthening both Big Wild Wolves, Garen left the biochemical pool and went to his own laboratory.


    Inside the laboratory, a cylindrical yellow bronze platform was floating in the air. Subtle electric arcs flashed from time to time at the smooth surface.


    This was Garen''s experimental platform that was used to create the elite version of tools. It basically consisted of all the resources Garen had been retrieving from the Scarlet Snow Sect for the past five years.


    An ice-blue gigantic wolf was crouched on the experimental platform. This wolf was so much more powerful than an ordinary Big Wild Wolf. Its entire body was poked with all kinds of tubes. Just a glance of it could ache one''s heart.


    Garen made his way towards the computer by the experimental platform, and started pulling out information and monitoring statistics.


    "My experimental platform can only strengthen a Big Wild Wolf to a Level One standard. That''s the most simple experimental platform and it has cost me so many resources already. Being an Energy Machinist really costs a lot of money¡­"


    He sighed softly. If he wanted to fight for a place, he would have to go out and kill the disciples of the Dragon Eye Sect. It seemed like he had no choice but to use his experiment subject that he had been nurturing for two years.


    Now that he had reached Level Four, his Willpower instantly enhanced the ice-blue gigantic wolf''s automatic reformation.


    The reformation only lasted about two minutes.


    ''Charging energy furnace¡­ Ice Wolf Number One, activated¡­''


    An icy woman''s voice was heard from the experimental platform which was the sound device installed by Garen later on.

 982 Teamup 2

    Hoo...


    As Ice Wolf opened its eyes, long tubes automatically withdrew from its body, retracting back into the experimental platform.


    Its gigantic, three meter length body rose slowly from the experimental platform, leapt down, and landed beside Garen.


    Underneath its layers of soft and warm coats of fluffy blue fur, the Ice Wolf was at least a Level Five in terms of combat strength.


    "I have now almost fully regained my overall strength level when I was a Pilot," Garen stroked the Ice Wolf''s head and grinned with satisfaction. "The experimental subject has no duration, so there is no need to eat as long as it recharges enough, that''s the only good thing about semi-mechanization, but unfortunately each person can only own one."


    He could feel the other two wolves'' Willpower connecting.


    "My greatest strength is in energy machine creatures, but if there is a lack of space to carry them away, there is no way I can build them in time. The building process will take a longer time, and I would not be able to fully unleash my true potential¡­seems like we will just have to find a better Space Equipment."


    If he intended to use the Big Wild Wolf and the Ice Wolf, he definitely could not let the enemy know, therefore ensuring there would be no chance to expect his power card.


    "Space Equipment that''s big enough¡­"


    In Garen''s hands now was a tiny Space Ring used to store materials. It was given to him by the sect as a prize, and it was the cheapest kind, the kind that could not be used to store objects.


    He scrolled through his computer, filtering out the top ten prizes given for the top-ranked.


    "Space Equipment¡­"


    Soon he turned to the individual division column.


    ''Valledoria Stone, one standard unit space, worth 1,000 points, cannot hold living organisms.''


    ''Al Stone, one standard unit space, worth 1,500 points, can hold living organisms.''


    ''Thunderous Stone, one standard unit space, worth 2,000 points, can hold living organisms, additional single release and group release function.''


    ''Moonlight Stone, one standard unit space, worth 3,100 points, can hold living organisms, additional release swap function, additional ten meters beam projection function.''


    There were only four of these stones in total for selection. They were all Space Stones, so all he had to do was choose and simply mount it on an earring or a necklace.


    One standard unit space can store up to at least five creatures as big as a Big Wild Wolf, or maybe three creatures the size of a Saber-Toothed Tiger.


    Garen checked his savings. A bitter smile flashed across his face as he was greeted with a mere amount of five measly points.


    "In the past five years, other than the necessary quests, I''ve only accepted one quest that rewarded me very little points, and they are even the lowest ranking points."


    "Besides getting another Space Equipment, I need to progress to the next level as soon as possible to secure my current rank. With such a stable Willpower, what I need is¡­" He searched the list of prizes once again but sadly, the prizes this time around were just external goods, Space Equipments, items that strengthen energy machines, and a few rare training method handbooks.


    Inherited secret methods were fundamental in the sect, as for training methods, nobody cared what kind of training methods the Energy Machinists chose, because no matter what training method it was, it was disguised by a scientific name of an inherited secret method. Basically, they were private and confidential secret techniques that could change an Energy Machinist''s life.


    After many inquiries, Garen had confirmed the information regarding the qualifying competition, the method of participation was fairly simple. All he had to do was integrate his results before the 30th after two months. If he qualified in top ten, he would automatically have the rights to choose a prize, the higher-ranked ones would get the priority to choose first.


    The higher the placing, the more points will be accumulated too. Being the first to choose a prize would also mean that the most valuable item would be chosen first, naturally, the reward of power was extremely high too.


    After all, there were only so few items.


    There were even specific details about the reward-punishment system at the bottom of the web page.


    Among the details was a simple method to gain points.


    With a flick of his hand, Garen scrolled down the page to read the content displayed.


    ''Integral system: Kill first disciples of the Dragon Eye Sect -- Ten points per person.


    Second disciples -- 100 points per person.


    Third disciples ¨C 1,600 points per person.


    Lufthansa ¨C 3,000 points, Ferrero ¨C 5,000 points.''


    The further he scrolled down, the bigger the gap between the second-ranked and third-ranked disciples, ranging from 100 points to 1,600 points, it was crazy. Did that not mean that 16 first disciples barely equaled to the value of one second disciple?


    Even though Garen had no clue, but from the looks of Lufthansa and Ferrero listed at the bottom, it was obvious that they were the elite third disciple powerhouses of the Dragon Eye Sect. Just like Carthage from the Scarlet Snow Sect.


    He carefully reviewed the prohibition guide once again. Those already participating in the killing zone were at the Dragon Swap region, a piece of wasted, vast land between the Dragon Eye Sect and the Scarlet Snow Sect. Most of them were jungle areas, a small area of hills, mountains, lakes and various sorts of complicated terrains. Moreover, mutated monsters were all over the place. Numerous bones were piled all over the place, who knew how many of those bones belonged to the aftermath of the killing between both sects.


    After looking through the information once more, Garen then only took out the communication device given to him earlier by Joey.


    Gently knocking on it, a tract of Willpower converted into a piece of thread and entered the small hole.


    All of a sudden, a virtual three-dimensional image of a body was projected in front. It was the white powerhouse earlier on, Joey.


    "I''m glad it didn''t take you long to get in touch, my dear friend." Joey held out his arms as if he was enveloping Garen into a hug with a large smile on his face.


    "How are we cooperating on this?" Without further ado, Garen jumped straight into the topic. He needed a good enough Space Equipment or else his power card would not be able to be used to the maximum of his advantage. He really needed the Space Stones. If he was to go onto the market now and buy from the black market at the bottom of the hill, the resources needed to trade for points would not be a small number. Besides starting on quests now, he had no other way. Not only that, quests that offer a high number of points were remarkably dangerous. If that was the case, he might as well not join the competition at all.


    It was also pretty normal for the price to be pushed up at least double in the black market. To be able to enjoy such resources without risking one''s lives and just splurge on resources that were acquired by those who put their lives into danger, setting a sky-high price was normal. Some even raise it by three-four times, maybe by five-six times and it was still nothing out of the ordinary.


    "Nice!" Joey extended his index finger and drew a mark before his eyes, immediately the face of a lady appeared in between them. It was a lady with short, green hair who looked about 20-ish years old. Her looks were charming and beautiful, and she had a hint of flirtatious aura.


    However, someone who is an Energy Machinist who was capable to reform one whole self, looks and age were not something to be trusted. Although she looked mid-twenties, she could easily be over 100 years old.


    "This is just a temporary team up, I''m the leader, Yiling," the green-haired lady spoke. "Each killing integral naturally shows how powerful your imprint is, everything is decided on the force of impact. The system is pretty fair, if the both of you have any comments please do speak up."


    "So the three of us will be teaming up?" Garen frowned. Originally he thought it was just him and Joey, he did not realize that he would be teaming up with somebody else.


    "Yes, I am in charge of the main system, Joey''s the deputy, and you just broke through so you will be responsible for investigating the situation. Garen, your group of wolves should be at least Level Two, right? How many more can you breed?"


    An ordinary Training Method Level Four Energy Machinist could generally only control three wolves, which was when a Level Two Energy Machinist just have the qualifications to earn an Energy Machine Imprint, every level allowed them to control one more cannon fodder. But most of the Energy Machinists found ways to increase this number through special training methods like scarce resources, and special secret methods.


    Garen nodded. "I have three Level Two wild wolves but I don''t have any Space Equipment, so I can only make them on the spot, their duration is about three hours." What he said was all the ordinary cannon fodder.


    "Three hours? That''s not bad. I have five Level Three Pentatonic Bats, their duration is about five hours." Joey smiled in return.


    This information was enough to quicken Garen''s heartbeat, and these were just cannon fodder creatures, nobody had even brought up the elite version of experimental subjects, and Joey already had Level Three creatures. This guy seemed like a master powerhouse. The accumulated power he had was indeed strong.


    "I have two Level Four Mountain Apes, so just let me handle frontal combat, Pentatonic Bats are white in colour and is not good for investigation, so Garen, investigating task will be all up to you." The green-haired lady spoke lightly. It was obvious from the looks of the power of her cannon fodder, this lady should have reached Level Five already, but she was still not a third disciple, he could tell that she had not entered the resonation phase.


    Level Five! That would be the peak of a second disciple, at least a powerhouse ranked top ten. Garen observed this lady carefully. He completely did not expect her to be a host ranked top ten.


    "There''s a lot of cannon fodder for investigation, why did you choose my team?" Garen asked.


    "Idiot!" Yiling could not help but cursed before vanishing into thin air.


    Garen felt a rush of anger. His face darkened as he was about to say something.


    "Don''t be mad, calm down." Joey immediately plastered an apologetic smile on his face. "Let''s go form our teams and finish our quest, now that we''ve returned late, the others are preoccupied with other matters. Among those still here, only you have the strongest power, so both of us benefit from each other. Moreover, this is your first time so you''d have a promotional discount. If your team receives a small integral point, it can also be used as 1.5 points. This is the treatment only newcomers get, just for this one time."


    "So that''s it." Garen now understood the newcomer treatment. No wonder they approached him. Besides being one of the few stronger ones among the other new recruits, the others had been dragged away.


    "Don''t hold a grudge against Yiling, although they don''t allow murders within the sec, once you get hit or injured, you might just spend the next one or two years lying alone¡­" Joey explained in a hushed tone, "Yiling has a very bad temper, now that the crucial impact resonation phase was approaching, her rival had already entered the phase before her, so it''s best if you don''t piss her off, or I wouldn''t be able to save you either if she goes cuckoo."


    "Hurmph." Garen grunted and remained silent. Approaching the critical point of Level Five, he did have true potential, a Level Four cannon fodder must have cost a lot in order to upgrade the biochemical pool, this was a powerhouse with a huge amount of accumulation, it was not worth it to create nemesis with such a powerhouse over a petty little issue.


    This was the only way to come in contact with such a social circle, he then only realized, the triple effect his Distorted Seed gave off seemed nothing next to a powerhouses'' who had other ways to achieve the same effect as he could.


    This also meant that his level was just considered average compared to the other Energy Machinists, if he was not a little more careful he would not even know what hit him when he gets killed.


    "Alright, we shall now discuss the topography of the Dragon Swamp region and some information on what the Dragon Eye Sect''s disciples'' expertise are¡­"

 983 Combat 1

    In the vast forest, a dark green flying ship flew speedily just above the trees. The strange thing was that with the ship flying at that speed, it did not bring about the slightest surge of wind and air flow, as if it was just brushing off a welcome gesture.


    The sun above shone mercilessly with its fiery gold rays. A mild trace of translucent distortive force rose in the air.


    Zoom¡­


    A giant black squid was floating mid-air, its many tentacles waving about, blocking the flying ship''s path.


    With a whiff, a five-metre thick tentacle went flying towards the flying ship. It seemed to view the flying ship as its prey and started to attack.


    At an inhuman pace and faster than a bullet, the tentacle was already in front of the ship.


    "Turn around!" A female''s voice rang out coldly from the flying ship. Suddenly, the flying ship was like a small green bug, turning sharply to the left, and thus missing the giant tentacle by just a few millimeters.


    "Recalculate! Accelerate!" The female voice shouted again.


    White flames emitted from the back of the flying ship as it accelerated and soared through the side of the squid, disappearing within the trees in seconds.


    Inside the flying ship.


    Yiling had a cold hard expression, staring intently at the scene in front of her. Garen and Joey were standing towards her right, one had his arms around his chest, the other was leaning against the wall, silently staring through the high-strength glass window as everything passed by in high speed.


    Large tracts of scenery constantly backed up from the edge of the windows, blatantly showing how terrifyingly fast the flying ship was travelling at.


    "Our target this time is a small base in the Dragon Eye Sect. There''s about 15 of them, among them there are three people that you have to look out for who are Level Three Machinists and above, one of them should be a Level Four." Joey seemed to have something in his ears as he was reporting accordingly to what he heard.


    "What rank is the Level Four one?" Garen lowered his voice and asked.


    "I''m not sure, but as long as they''re not the top ones, we don''t have to worry about the others," Joey replied with a reassuring smile.


    "How''s the situation on the mutated monsters nearby?" Yiling was concerned on other matters.


    "The mutated monsters are all below Level Two, seems like this base was probably a location where some Level Four Energy Machinist chose to bring other disciples and so to carry out their quests¡­ Haha, luck is on our side! Our first call and we''re already meeting such excellent prey!" Joey exclaimed excitedly.


    "Are you sure that there are no powerhouses?" Yiling asked.


    "Most probably no, my Pentatonic Bats surveyed the surroundings within a ten kilometer radius and they did not sense any trace of high energy." Joey''s Pentatonic Bats lent the help of the flying ship''s equipment to investigate a vast range of area.


    "We are soon approaching the high-pressure area. Garen, it is up to you then." Joey cast a glance towards Garen.


    "Leave it to me," Garen nodded.


    The three of them had already left the snow peak station for three days. Just being on this planet''s vast earth travelling for three days straight yet they just left the Scarlet Snow Mountain terrain and entered the communal area before the Dragon Eye Sect.


    This communal area was extremely huge. Its surface area was probably three times bigger than both Sects. It even had many dangerous places in between, fortunately, they had the communal map back from the sect, or else the three of them would never have been able to find the Dragon Eye Sect''s small base that easily.


    The flying ship soared through the threes into the air, soon enough they noticed a small, white circle base in front of them. The base was built on the grounds and was really conspicuous.


    "Those idiots, I wouldn''t even dare to use such a bright color, they really are seeking death!" Joey let out a laugh.


    "Let''s finish this quick." Yiling said in a low voice.


    Garen and Joey nodded in agreement.


    Whoosh!


    The flying ship''s side door opened gently and three figures leapt down from more than twenty meters above in the sky. Each of them had on a pair of gliding wings and with it, glided smoothly towards the white base skillfully.


    Inside the base, a middle-aged man with a scar on his face was explaining something to a few Energy Machinist junior brothers and sisters. All of a sudden, he sensed something was off and looked towards the sky.


    "It''s the hunters from the Scarlet Snow Sect! Red alert!!!"


    His expression changed instantaneously and he roared.


    At that very instant, an ear-piercing alarm rang through the base as a dozen of young people stood up in panic. Each of them pulled out their guns, missile launchers and other weapons, and aimed at the three people gliding down from the sky.


    However, a strong trace of Magnetic Field swept through and the alarm stopped immediately. All the metal weapons suddenly failed to work; a person who was carrying a missile launcher even got hit by the missile that suddenly exploded on his shoulder. He picked himself up and had ashes on his face; it was obvious he had suffered a severe injury from the explosion.


    "Idiot! You actually dared to use a Pilot''s weapon without the protection of an energy field. A Pilot''s long-range attack is the easiest to interfere!" Joey yelled arrogantly in the sky.


    "They are just Level One or Two Energy Machinists, you don''t need these weapons, your own energy machine is just an investigative standard, how are you going to save yourself? You''re thinking too highly of them." Garen did not have a liking towards Yiling, so naturally, he was slightly closer to Joey.


    The three of them fell from the sky and landed with a thud inside the base, each of them threw a high magnetic interference force field device to the ground which exploded within seconds.


    Such a magnetic field device could last for an hour. Every living creature covered in the range within this period of time would be carrying a strong disturbance of magnetic energy and would not be able to use any weapons consisting of metal parts.


    Suddenly, a white beam of light shot straight at Joey''s face who was taking the lead.


    "Huh? Plastic missile?" Joey smiled. As the missile was about to hit him, he swerved to the side suddenly and with his sharp nails, he instantly tore apart the external shell of the missile as if he was peeling off the skin of a banana.


    The missile components scattered onto the ground with a clatter without exploding.


    "The both of you split between yourselves, I''ll take care of here." Without another word, Yiling dashed towards the Level Four Energy Machinist.


    A few Black Panthers shot out in lightning speed, seems like they were energy machine biochemical beasts, but they were caught between Yiling''s palms, instantly turned into ice blocks and fell onto the ground, unable to move.


    Her body instantly turned into a black thread as she darted towards the middle-aged man with a scar. The moment the both of them started fighting, ice pieces and a pale yellow mist gradually dispersed from the flying ship.


    Garen and Joey rushed towards the remaining Energy Machinists, getting rid of an Energy Machinist every now and then. A Level Four Energy Machinist against a Level One or Two was basically a heartless massacre. Not using any high-tech metal weapons in addition to the huge difference in practicing secret methods, even when a crowd of energy machine baboons pounced on them, a strong surge of Frost was released from their bodies and delayed the baboons'' movements. The baboons could not even catch up with their shadows, and could only scream in excruciating pain.


    Screams were constantly ringing in the air.


    Garen crashed into the arms of an Energy Machinist, elbow hitting the man directly above his heart. Garen turned around with a kick and hit the white shadow that pounced on him from behind. Garen''s body turned swiftly several times and within seconds, another four or five Energy Machinists were frozen to death.


    Suddenly, he realized that there was nobody else in the surroundings so he glanced over to Joey''s side, broken limbs and wreckage were everywhere, blood was streaming down his right finger, it was extremely gory.


    "And we are done." Joey smiled triumphantly.


    There was about ten or so Energy Machinists, all killed by two people in just a blink of an eye. These young prodigies would not even get the chance to enjoy the luxurious life an Energy Machinist could bring, each corpse still had a look of shock and disbelief on their face.


    "You all want to die!!" With a howl, a shimmer of gold light fleeted across the Dragon Eye Sect middle-aged man''s eyes. A gold crack split open between his eyes, shooting a dazzling beam of gold light straight at Yiling.


    "Humph!" Yiling activated Scarlet Snow Technique, a strong surge of Frost exploded from her body, covering her entire body in huge mass of a sticky white snow storm. Instead of retreating, she made her way towards the gold light.


    The gold light imitated the storm and rushed forward, the instant they made contact, the gold light was straight away gobbled up by the storm soundlessly.


    The middle-aged Energy Machinist actually escaped to a few hundred meters away and threw himself at a well-hidden yellow-green flying ship as its cabin door open slowly.


    "Blizzard!" Yiling pointed at the flying ship. A white block flew out from her body towards the flying ship.


    The snow block was moving in a seemingly vicious speed, almost covering few hundred meters of distance in a blink of an eye, hitting the slightly flickering ship.


    Boom!


    The flying ship was set ablaze. Instead of freezing once hit by the snow block, it exploded. The middle-aged Energy Machinist was shot back violently, as he was drifting through the air with a shocked expression on his face, Yiling pointed a shard of Frost at him puncturing him between the eyes. He fell to the ground and shattered into countless pieces.


    "Let''s gather up all our trophy goods, we leave after ten minutes." Throwing her last sentence, Yiling made her way towards the Level Four Energy Machinist.


    Garen and Joey nodded silently and began to search the corpse''s bodies and loot the base.


    ********************


    Ten minutes later.


    Yiling, Garen and the others'' flying ship gradually rose up into the sky and soared into the distance.


    At the same time, inside the entire communal area, big and small groups of the Scarlet Snow Sect were frantically moving in the direction of the Dragon Eye Sect for the ranked fight.


    Approximately ten elite groups including Yiling and the two others were making their way towards Dragon Eye Sect''s base, the battle was getting intense.


    Clang!!


    Garen punched the palms of the beautiful woman with yellow eyes who was opposite him. Each of them took turns and laid a dozen of hard punches in a second, every punch causing a strong burst of sound. Both of them were Level Four Energy Machinists, with such a short period of time, they would not be able to make out who was the stronger one. In order to truly test out who was the winner of the both, they needed more than half an hour at least.


    There were corpses and bones lying around everywhere. Yiling led Joey and Garen to attack this small base, but they did not expect the opposing powerhouses would not be in and just came back. The opposing powerhouses were also three Level Four Energy Machinists. Three against three, a direct battle broke out straight away.


    Garen seemed as if he was giving his full strength keeping his opponent in a lock, maintaining the standard of a normal Level Four Energy Machinist, but in reality, he was just observing the fight over at Joey''s and Yiling''s.


    "Fanged Hound!"


    The woman let out a growled and a khaki colored enormous wolf pounced out from behind and bit Garen on his side.

 984 Combat 2

    Level Four Energy Machinery!


    Garen was surprised as he quickly moved backward to evade the giant wolf''s attack. While doing so, he saw a petal shaped yellow item in the girl''s hand and started smiling.


    Becareful! A huge sense of threat spread out as Garen retreated to the back, using the Instantaneous Paper Box to block an incoming attack without any hesitation.


    At Level Three, the Instantaneous Paper Box was enough to threaten the Level Four Energy Machinist geniuses who were on the verge of becoming a Level Five. Its potency was extremely threatening.


    Boom!!


    A red light as thick as a pillar shot out as it hit onto Garen.


    Boom!


    Snowflakes were everywhere as the force greater than of a Level Five hit directly onto Garen.


    Garen used his Scarlet Snow Technique and his powerful physical attributes to defend himself. He was slightly pushed back for about ten steps or more. His throat tasted sweet with the blood which he almost vomited out.


    "Still thinking of escaping after taking a direct hit from my Red Laser Cannon?" The beautiful woman started smiling. This guy was hiding his true strength as well!


    "Go!!"


    Yiling shouted from afar and one could feel a sense of anxiousness in her tone.


    Joey was entangled with a young man and couldn''t gain any upper hand against him. The frosty chill kept spreading out and he was in a draw against him.


    Garen and Joey looked at each other in the eyes and both of them sensed trouble.


    They had finally met upon a tough opponent!


    A sonic boom could be faintly heard from afar and an intense force field, which wasn''t disguised in the least, were closing onto them quickly. It was obvious that another powerhouse was approaching and it didn''t feel like they were from the Scarlet Snow Sect.


    "Retreat!"


    The three of them retreated without saying another word as they leaped up into the air, to be captured by a green Flying Ship which flew past the sky in lightning speed.


    The leader of the Dragon Eye Sect raised his head as he licked the blood mark under his chin.


    "It''s the Thousand Shades of Hand Yiling¡­ I''ve fought against her two hundred years ago¡­ I didn''t expect to be able to meet her during this return." He started to smile cunningly." This little girl who was hunted by me has finally grown up so well. Nice¡­"


    "Captain, we should go after them and kill them!"


    A few Level Four Machinists landed behind him. Although some of them had the Experimental Energy Machinery Body while some didn''t have anything in their hands, each and every of them had a very powerful aura. Although they were only a Level Four, they had the presence which far surpassed of a Level Four.


    "It''s alright. Our current objective is to obtain achievement in this war and that girl Yiling won''t help us achieve our objective. She''s incredible good in escaping. Although we may be able to kill her if we chase after her, it''s not worth the amount of time." The man said coldly. "Pass on this intel to senior Agalla. Her team is most suited to deal with them."


    "Yes."


    *************


    The green flying ship kept flying at great speed in the sky with no hint of slowing down.


    The three persons in the flying ship were trying to catch their breath.


    Both parties were fighting cautiously as none of them had activated their sophisticated Experimental Energy Machinery Body and it was fortunate that nobody was harmed. One had to realize that the Experimental Energy Machinery Body was the Energy Machinist''s root. The more advanced the Energy Machinery was, the higher the maintenance cost. This was the reason why no one would use it so casually. Energy Machinist, especially from Planet Naga''s central city would probe the situation with their real body before deciding to activate the Energy Machinery.


    "That was a special force that was created such to kill off the elite teams." Yiling''s face turned pale as one of her hands pressed onto her chest while the other wiped off the blood beside her lip. "It was fortunate that I discovered them in time and the enemy had just gathered up. Our bodies would definitely remain there if that was not the case."


    "The leader of the Level Four team was Beast, who was the fifth Powerhouse of the Dragon Eye Sect. I''ve seen him once fifty years ago." Joey was tending to his wound on his face and he seemed to be in a life threatening situation just now.


    On the other hand, Garen was sitting on his knees at one corner as he monitored his body''s condition quietly. The three of them was injured more than the eyes could see.


    While the others didn''t realize, Garen was very sure that his body kept vibrating from the light strike he took head on just now. His muscles and organs shook non-stop, greatly exhausting a lot of energy that was supposed to be used in his recovery.


    He had no choice but to keep his internal body''s condition in check to prevent any similar Willpower injury similar to the Seventh Wind General.


    The other two seemed to have suffered the same injury and it seemed to be a technique unique to the Dragon Eye Sect.


    "What do we do now?" Joey looked at Yiling as he waited for her to give a suggestion since she was the strongest among the three.


    "Let''s hidden ourselves to create some cannon fodder and exhaust some material to recover ourselves." Yiling said softly. "The Dragon Eye Sect has started to attack and we have no idea how many powerhouses they have sent. We are outnumbered so we should let the large force to clash with them first before deciding on our next move."


    "Alright."


    Joey and Garen both agreed on the plan. Since they were lacking on intel, they could only take this course of action.


    It wasn''t just Scarlet Snow Sect who was in the qualifier. Since it was the grand opportunity for the disciples of the Dragon Eye Sect to attack to obtain first place, these two sects would have to fight against sooner or later.


    The three of them flew into an underground crevice in the sea of trees. They then dug a hole on the side of the wall deep within the crevice, hid themselves while they tried to recuperate and recover their strength.


    Although Garen had hidden his true strength, his strength would only reach the level of an average Level Five even if he were to release the Cold Radiation and use his Ten Thousand True Technique. Seeing how the girl performed her skills with ease, Garen had a feeling that his opponent was also hiding her true strength. No one would know who were to win if they were to really battle it out. Afterall, an Energy Machinist had a lot of methods to achieve their means and no one would know what trump card an elite Energy Machinist had.


    Inside the cave.


    "Rumor has it that that guy Beast spent sixty years in researching the strongest killer move. I thought I could force him to use his Killer Move but I didn''t expect to not be able to handle him in his normal state¡­the Level Five is indeed something else."


    Yiling was in the Flying Ship''s driver seat and her injury seemed to have settled down and she was feeling much better.


    "The one I encountered just now was most likely a new Powerhouse. I''ve heard that they have recruited a few Powerhouses into the Central Metropolis." Joey said softly.


    "I''ve already informed Mei Tilan''s team. Those who are in the top 5 should fight among themselves. All we need to do is to attack at the right moment." Yiling said coldly. "To not take revenge is simply not my style."


    It was merely a grinding process with no bottlenecking to level up from Level Four to Level Five. One would just require to keep on grinding and accumulating and it was very normal for this process to last from decades to centuries. Although Garen was new and curious towards these Energy Machinists always speaking in the span of decades, he wasn''t really surprised at all.


    The Beast''s team was not the strongest, but only the fifth strongest during that battle and one of his team member had the prowess of a Level Five. This region was truly a battlefield for the elites.


    Garen gauged that his strength was still comparable to theirs. However, that was the result of being in the realm of martial arts which far surpassed everyone and possessing the Living Secret Technique Hellfrost Peacock Technique. Comparing to the Energy Machinists who had been accumulating for a long time, he was still too poor¡­ Wealth represented definite battle strength to an Energy Machinist.


    After the previous battle, he knew very clearly where he stood in this world. Among the many teams consisting of Energy Machinists, he was just on par to a normal elite team.


    The three of them tended their wound underground. Fortunately for them, the Scarlet Snow Technique and the Dragon Eye Technique counter each other and they were fully recovered within three days. They recovered their physical and mental strength quickly after removing the vibration within them. It was fortunate for them that they had already accumulated some point by hunting the others. However based on Garen''s estimation, they could only obtain the Space Stone if they were able to kill at least fifteen men from the Two Hearted Disciples.


    The levels of the Two Hearted Disciples consisted of at least Level Three Energy Machinists. If they were not careful, they would encounter a Level Four Powerhouse or even a Level Five Powerhouse, which was their main member such as Yiling as well.


    Given the difficulty, one could imagine how valuable the Space Stone was. If planned properly, it was an achievable feat.


    While the three of them were discussing their strategies, the great war outside were already brewing.


    *************


    Above the sea of trees, two golden and white human figures were fighting each other at high speed. A huge golden light and snowflakes were formed whenever they clashed against each other. Whenever the snowflakes or golden light fall down into the sea of trees, it would either cause a huge fire or ice spreading the entire area.


    The forest which was already on fire was put off by the freezing cold air and the whole situation was at a stalemate.


    "Hebrew and Beast, bring your men and retreat! Someone else is coming!" The golden man fighting in mid-air at high speed shouted to his back.


    Beast, who was standing at the back had blood all over his face and injuries all over his bodies. The majority of his wounds were covered in ice and he looked extremely frightening.


    He nodded as he covered his abdomen, shouting at everyone else to retreat.


    Then, another muscular man nodded as he brought the rest to retreat.


    "It has been so many years Nora, and you still have yet to improve. Not one bit. You disappoint me!" The white human figure in the sky used the Scarlet Snow Technique and hit onto the golden human figure''s shoulder. He then released a huge amount of cold air, condensing the water vapor in the air causing the whole atmosphere to start snowing. He was covered in a pure half transparent layer of Energy Field. It was the indication of a Level Five Powerhouse, who could use their Energy Field for defense.


    A loud boom was heard as the golden light and cold air spread about everywhere.


    "A pot calling the kettle black eh? You''ve been in the third position for so many years, March!" The man who was called Nora, the leader of the Dragon Eye Sect smirked as he took a few steps back. His body started glowing brightly in gold to the point where no one could open their eyes.


    "My junior Mei Tilan is arriving soon. Are you sure you don''t want to leave?" March laughed softly.


    "I''m not done fighting yet!" Nora lowered his head as he scanned at his juniors who were heavily injured. His face turned pale upon seeing the situation and scoffed. "Retreat!"


    The Dragon Eye Sect used their remaining strength to retreat and left a huge amount of corpse on the battlefield. However upon looking closer, one could see that the corpses were mainly from the Energy Machinist''s followers and Biochemical Beasts. The corpses of the Energy Machinists were mostly Level One and Level Two and there were very little corpses of Level Three Energy Machinists.


    Beast had left the battlefield with a group of men. Everyone in the team were practically injured and stricken. Beast himself was emitting chills that could be felt in the bone. It was obvious that he was hit by a Powerhouse with the Scarlet Snow Technique and the effect was still inside him.


    Given the emergency circumstances, he had no time to heal himself but to retreat first.


    Suddenly, three black figures came out from the trees from the side and intercepted the team¡­

 985 Separation 1

    Beast remained calm as he had anticipated an ambush.


    "I''ll break them off. Everyone else retreats!"


    He growled as multiple green flying snakes which spanned at least one meter long flew out from the side of his body and pounced directly towards the three figures.


    "Retreat retreat retreat!!" Someone shouted as a group of men retreated as quickly as they could.


    The leader of the three ambushers scoffed and she was surprisingly a girl. The whip that she held with just one of her hands expanded out of the blue and a faint hiss similar to a snake could be heard from the whip as it went towards green flying snakes in the air.


    The flying snakes were strangled by the whip and with a gentle motion, they immediately turned into a puddle of blood on the ground. The blood instantly froze and would roll everywhere on the ground like a pebble.


    "Energy Machinery Weapon!?" Beast''s expression turned gloomy. "It''s you! Yiling! Are you trying to stop me!!?"


    "Stop you? There''s no need for that. I just need to stall you!" Yiling smirked as she immediately went after Beast. Suddenly, a bright golden light and white frozen air appeared around them causing a shockwave around the area which pushed everyone away.


    Garen followed behind Joey as they chased after the remainders who were retreating. Before they started the ambushed, Yiling had already warned them that Beast and her were six of one and half a dozen of the other. She could only stall him and would depend on them to deal with the others.


    Joey and Garen were ranked top twenty within the Scarlet Snow Sect. As one of the three major sects in the Northern Yu Province, the Scarlet Snow Sect was one of the strongest sects. To be able to rank in the top twenty in the province was considered an elite. Hence, it should be more than enough to massacre these Level Three and Level Four people.


    As Garen rushed out, he saw Yiling and Beast fighting against each other from the edge of his vision. He shivered as he felt the residual force field as it was at least equivalent to the strength of the Grade Ten Cold Scarlet Snow. It could be even as powerful as Grade Eleven, which was equivalent to the peak of Level Five, closing to the strength of a Resonance. Furthermore, Yiling and Beast were just Scarlet Snow Sect''s Two Hearted Disciple Level. There were still stronger Energy Machinists from the Three Hearted Disciples. In comparison to a Pilot, the Energy Machinist was clearly much stronger.


    Garen moved to the side as he evaded a black bear and two strange-looking blue flying fish that pounced towards him. He immediately rushed forward and crushed a Level Two Energy Machinist''s head as he grabbed onto his head from the side, while kicking two Energy Machinists head with both of his legs, killing them instantly. He then turned around as he attempted to grab hold of the horrified young woman''s back.


    "Blink!" The woman took out a yellow flute and blew into it.


    Beep¡­ Among the deafening noise, Garen wasn''t able to grab her as the woman in front of him instantly leaped tens of meters away.


    "These things again!" He recalled seeing such an escape item back when he was a Pilot in the Blackboard Region.


    A blue electric arc then appeared behind him.


    He grabbed onto it as it exploded into countless of blue sparks and disappeared.


    "Let''s see what kind of escape items you can still use."


    The woman from the Dragon Eye Sect in front of him was a Level Four. Her Willpower was exposed the moment she used the flute. A level Four was definitely the grade of a Two Hearted Disciple, which possessed a hundred points. He could obtain resources from her body as well.


    Garen put all of his strength onto his leg as he stomped onto the ground. His body turned into a shadow as he went after the girl who was tens of meters away from him. He had finally decided to use all of his strength to pursue this woman.


    "Golden Swallow!"


    The woman turned her head around and released a stream of golden light, which turned into a golden swallow heading directly towards Garen''s forehead. As the golden swallow moved towards Garen, the air around it started burning and the surrounding ambient temperature rose drastically to at least a few hundred degrees. The ground and the trees nearby were instantly burnt black.


    "Ten Thousand True Technique," Garen''s pupil shrunk as his body twisted in such an incredible manner that he avoided the Golden Swallow. He then released the chill from his body to cancel off the high temperature released from the Golden Swallow.


    After activating the Ten Thousand True Technique, his motions were much agiler as his body turned into the shape of a shuttle, going after the girl at full speed.


    "Go to hell!" The woman then threw a black marble, which exploded in the middle of the air. It turned into a black mist, which engulfed Garen who was behind her.


    Then black mist immediately exploded as fire rumbled inside. Garen had to stop his pursue due to the explosion, which caused the distance between them to increase.


    "What a wealthy fellow!" Garen sensed that this woman was not a typical Energy Machinist. She had so many life-saving items, which far surpassed a typical Level Four Energy Machinist. If not for his current strength which was in the Level Five range, she might have escaped away from his grasp.


    "Don''t force me!" The woman turned his head around and shouted at Garen as she realized that Garen was very firm on killing her.


    Garen''s expression didn''t change at all as he ran towards the woman. The Eighth Grade Level Four Cold Scarlet Snow Technique had reached its limit. The Scarlet Snow Technique would automatically reach a minimum of Grade Eight once one reached Level Four and its strength increased drastically.


    Chills and snow went towards the girl in all direction but it was immediately melted by the high temperature.


    "Double Golden Swallow!" The girl''s eyes suddenly brightened up and released two rays of golden light, which turned into two Golden Swallows in the middle of the air as they went after Garen. Two eye-catching golden threads could be seen in the path. It resembled a pair of golden scissors as it tried to cut Garen into half.


    "If not for the people coming after me, do you really think I''m afraid of you!?" The woman smirked as she controlled the Golden Swallows towards Garen.


    Garen was currently extremely poor. If he were able to kill such an extremely rich Level Four Energy Machinist, it was a win for him in terms of wealth and points. It was worth it even if he was slightly injured!


    He pressed on as he felt the threat of the Golden Swallows.


    "Cold Radiation!"


    A blue radioactive ray immediately released to the surrounding from his body. The chill had reached Level Five as the radiation had mixed with the chill from the Scarlet Snow Technique.


    The Level Five chill instantly overwhelmed the Golden Swallow''s scissors and drastically reduced their speed.


    Garen took the opportunity to get out from her attacking range and attempted to catch the woman with his hands. The distance between them was no more than five meters.


    This distance could be covered instantaneously to an Energy Machinist. All of the Energy Machinist from Planet Naga were all martial artists. As she saw Garen approach her, she was very surprised and she attacked Garen''s shoulders with her fingers without any hesitation. While her speed wasn''t that great, her attacking speed was incredibly fast as afterimages of her hands didn''t even form in the middle of the air. In that instant, her hands reached Garen''s arm and held tightly onto him.


    "Ten Thousand True Destruction!" In that instant, Garen released the true strength of the Ten Thousand True technique. His strength and speed in changing his techniques were increased by half in an instant. The true threat of the Ten Thousand True Technique had finally surfaced, which was the ability to change his techniques consecutively.


    The most terrifying aspect of the Ten Thousand True Technique was that one could simply change one''s technique''s direction and power in any situation without restraining himself.


    After changing his techniques, Garen hit the woman''s abdomen while evading the girl''s attempt to grab onto him.


    As the difference between their martial arts was too drastic, the woman wasn''t able to comprehend the situation. Her face immediately turned pale and she wasn''t able to react in time and had no choice but to receive the attack.


    Boom!!!


    The woman''s body jolted as chills started to spread out across her body.


    "Xiao Yu!!" An angry man shouted from the side as Garen suddenly felt a high-temperature airstream approaching him from the left.


    Garen was then engulfed inside a ball of red flame.


    Garen and the woman were separated as both of them were injured at the same time.


    While Garen was under attack, he looked at where the man''s sound came from. What he saw was a man drenched in blood staring back at him. He then carried the seriously wounded woman and escaped. It seemed that he had put all of his strength into that attack as he was barely able to hold the woman firmly.


    Garen rolled on the ground and his powerful recovery was able to stabilize the wound. What made Garen terrifying was not his strength but his recovery. As long as he''s not dead, he could recovery and attack as many times as he wanted.


    However, there seemed to be a hot invisible force that was holding him in place and it even tried to pull him onto the ground.


    Garen looked down to see his legs being held tightly by two arms made from fire. The fires were clashing against the chills and radiation his body was releasing. He could feel throbbing pain in his legs due to the fire.


    As he tried to break free from it, the energy field was loosened. Garen then tried to gather energy to pull himself out of the situation once more.


    Boom!


    The heat aura immediately entered Garen''s body, causing him to vomit a mouthful of blood. His injury had worsened.


    He was so close.


    It was obvious that the Energy Machinists in front of him was not an ordinary Energy Machinists. If he were able to capture them, he would have obtained a huge sum of wealth, resources and even two hundred points. Garen wasn''t allowed to make any mistake as it was a very special opportunity for him to be able to kill these two. If it were a typical situation, these people would definitely have bodyguards around them and would not come out alone without any good reason.


    Garen would rather not fight with these wealthy Energy Machinists if they were in their prime as they were so well prepared that they had a lot of items on them. Furthermore, they even had a huge load of combat experience.


    This was especially true to that man, who was able to release an attack of such a caliber even in such a dire state. Garen wasn''t sure if he was able to win that woman in a one on one match if she was in her prime. He wouldn''t be able to have such a golden opportunity where they were seriously injured and running for their lives.


    That man and woman were running towards a Flying Ship afar clumsily while Garen was chained down. He needed just a little bit more strength to break away from it.


    "Hahaha. Let me give you a hand Garen!" Joey then flew over Garen''s head and rushed towards the two in front of him. Greed could be seen in his eyes. He had already given up with these two as they had a lot of items on them and he wasn''t confident that he could win. He didn''t expect Garen to chase after them and manage to even would chase them off while using up most of their items.


    Now that Garen was chained down and the other two was seriously wounded. It was the best opportunity to strike. Even God would have been tempted given such circumstances.


    "Joey!!" Garen shouted in anger. "They''re mine!"


    "The early bird catches the worm!" Joey ran directly towards them as the chills of the Grade Five Scarlet Snow Technique followed along.


    A clear crisp sound was heard as Garen broke away from the chain. He started growling as he ran straight towards them. However, it was too late as the distance between him and Joey were hundreds of meters apart. As an Energy Machinist, he would require at least two seconds to cover that distance. Afterall, maximum speed and acceleration were two different concepts.

 986 Separation 2

    The man who was carrying the girl turned his head around and despair could be seen in his eyes. Joey hit his head, blood spilled everywhere as his head exploded.


    The woman was instantly frozen by him at the same time as fell and rolled on the ground.


    Joey took the Space Rings from their fingers and swiftly searched their bodies. He found a few small items and kept them in his pockets before raising his head and looking at Garen who was quickly approaching him.


    "You''re too late," he smirked.


    Garen rushed towards the corpses and his face turned gloomy. He had suffered some injuries while pursuing them and didn''t expect Joey to obtain all the good items. It was partially his fault for forgetting to scan his surroundings for any Energy Machinist or else he wouldn''t have let his opponent gain all the loots.


    "Fine!" Garen stared at Joey coldly, who knew that Garen needed resources urgently and yet he still took it away from him. Garen''s eyes were filled with a murderous attempt.


    He had always been the one who was lawless and rules were nothing but restraint. Whether to abide by these rules or not depended on whether he was strong enough or not.


    "What? Are you going to kill me?" Joey noticed Garen''s gaze and started smirking. He was never afraid of killing anyone. "Are you going to blame your incompetence on me?"


    Garen scoffed as he turned around and left. He was close to Joey previously because Yiling was even more annoying than him. Frankly speaking, they were just partners for profits. He would hold onto this grudge and make him pay back in the future.


    Suddenly, a sharp whistle could be heard behind them. It was Yiling''s signal.


    Garen''s eyes gave off a cold vibe as he didn''t want to move with them any longer. His experience wasn''t as rich as them and he wasn''t sure if he would be set up by them. Hence, he rather to move alone.


    Determined to do what he wanted to do, he took out a small item from his pocket and crushed it. It was the communication and locator Yiling gave him.


    Garen then disappeared into the woods.


    At the scene, Joey was the only one left as he crouched down and continued fumbling around the bodies for more resources.


    He smiled happily after confirming Garen left the scene.


    "Hehe. It''s been a while since I''ve looted from such a wealthy person. With these resources, I can again move to the Grade Ten Level Five Cold Scarlet Snow Technique!"


    Joey and Yiling wouldn''t have cooperated with Garen if not for his average strength and the special treatment towards the newcomer. He thought that he could cooperate with Garen for a while more even after obtaining such a wealthy loot. However, he didn''t expect the final battle was just around the corner. Garen was extremely lucky that he had encountered two incredibly wealthy and injured enemies. He couldn''t help himself but to take it away from him.


    "Gone already?" He looked at where Garen was standing before. "How stupid of him to move around alone without any experience. He might just die from this action. Same goes for that woman Yiling as well. It would be an extreme advantage if she were able to stall Beast. Even if the powerhouses from the Dragon Eye Sect are all here, we should be fine as long as Lord March is around. We will definitely be able to enter the ranking list when the Spirit Mothership descended. How are you going to enter when you leave now!"


    Even if Garen left now, the newcomer special treatment was still applicable to his team so he wasn''t affected at all.


    *****************


    The Dragon Eye Sect and the Scarlet Snow Sect were fighting with all their forces in the public area. Beast, who was in the top twenty from the Dragon Eye Sect was retreating due to his heavy injury while Nora was pushed back by March. The rest of the Middle and Lower Tier Energy Machinist had perished. The Dragon Eye Sect was seriously impacted as they had lost the majority of their forces in this qualifier match.


    The news spread across the whole region, even to a cave deep within the forest.


    A few youngsters dressed in black shirts were crouching beside the bonfire as they whispered among each other. One of the tall youngsters had his eyes behind his back as he stood at the entrance of the cave looking out at the herd of birds quietly.


    These men''s collar had a silver owl emblem embedded on it.


    "Nora of the Dragon Eye Sect has sent us a message. He wants to join forces with us. What should we do brother Wade?" A black-shirted woman walked out from the cave and asked the youngster.


    "Nora? He''s ranked third in the Dragon Eye Sect. March is also ranked third in the Scarlet Snow Sect. He still hasn''t improved all these years and the Scarlet Snow Sect seems to be very strong this time around," the youngster turned his head around and one could see that he had two diamond shaped silver metal on his cheeks, giving off a strange and mysterious vibe.


    "The Scarlet Snow and Dragon Eye have been fighting for thousands of years and we the Nine Xiao Sect has no obligation to join in this mess. We should be fine as long as we remain neutral. Nothing else is more important than to be enlisted by the Spirit Mothership."


    "Wade is right. These two sects are wasting the numbers in the enlistment from the Spirit Mothership during this major war," the other muscular man laughed.


    "Although Nora is weaker, he is very intellectual and isn''t that dumb. I fear that the Dragon Eye Sect has obtained some treasure and is found out by the Scarlet Snow Sect, causing them to fight against each other," the black-shirted woman said softly as she shook her head. "Although the Dragon Eye Sect isn''t as united as us Nine Xiao, they are still much better than the Scarlet Snow. Within the three major sects in the Northern Yu Province, The Scarlet Snow Sect is the craziest and even their internal competition is insane as there is a huge amount of within them during their annual internal sparring. They are definitely at the top in terms of cruelty."


    "What should we do then? The Dragon Eye Sect is currently at a serious loss as most of their newcomers are already dead excluding their powerhouses. Should we¡­" The thin man started laughing in an evil manner.


    "There''s no need for that. Let them fight it out. Our objective is to be acknowledged by Spirit Card from the Mothership. As long as we are acknowledged, we just have to train ourselves for the next fifteen years and we''re guaranteed to be able to achieve Resonance Level. We should try and ignore these battles at the moment," Wade said coldly.


    "Yes brother," the crowd agreed.


    ****************


    Garen was moving swiftly inside the forest. It had been five days since the major battle between the Dragon Eye Sect and Scarlet Snow Sect. He kept loitering around the area hoping to find some Energy Machinist to kill. Unfortunately, other than encountering a small group of four, the rest were at least middle-sized teams of at least ten people. Among these people, there were at least one Level Three and Level Four Energy Machinists. They''re considered a formidable force considering they have the number and experience.


    Garen hadn''t attacked anyone as he knew that he might not be able to win against a few Low-Level Energy Machinists. Afterall, he had to use all of his might just to fight against a Level Four Energy Machinist.


    The people from the Dragon Eye Sect seemed to have suffered a few ambushes as each and every one of them were on high alert. He wasn''t able to ambush them at all.


    Garen''s ambush capability wasn''t that great and considered normal to an Energy Machinist. They had too many techniques in surveying their surrounding that Garen had never seen before. However, his ambushing capability was considered incredible for a normal commoner.


    He had failed numerous attempt in ambushing others and in fact he was almost ambushed back instead. Garen had given up the idea of hunting alone and decided to hide in a path while waiting for the opportunity to attack others.


    With him as the epicenter, he had placed countless of miniaturized eavesdropper a few kilometers away from him. After covering these items with his Willpower, they wouldn''t be detected by the electrical instrument easily.


    However, as waves of Energy Machinists passed by, most of his eavesdropper were destroyed. There were only a few left that survived as the Energy Machinists were too ignorant to detect them.


    Garen squatted on a tree branch as he quietly adjusted the earphone''s frequency to each of the eavesdropper frequency.


    Soon he overheard a small team''s conversation which caught his attention.


    "...Where did they go?"


    "The Mothership''s location. He wanted us to hide as much as possible and not make any rash moves."


    "We have big sister with us. As long as we follow Lord Nora, we should be fine. I wonder how much resources can Nora get hold of."


    "The three major sects have teamed up so let''s not overthink it. It''s considered a good outcome if we can secure half of it. The Spirit Mothership doesn''t care who you are. If it isn''t for the elders from the three major sects to reach a truce, we are considered lucky to come out alive, even without the resources."


    "How savage is this weird race?" Another tender voice appeared.


    "There''s nothing we can do about it. They''re merchants who are able to move all the resources and not someone we local sects can deal with. We can only comply with their requirement and do nothing about it," the former voice said helplessly.


    The team left the area as he heard thus far.


    "The Spirit Mothership?" Garen frowned. He had heard of this organization where it was created by a minority species which were not human. They had a huge ship which they used to test the strength of the disciples from all sects in return for resources.


    They had always been friendly towards the humans and would greatly nurture the most talented people. They had a very long history and were very sociable. Hence, a lot of powerful humans were blessed by them and were even protected by them.


    These species were very business minded, had a great eye for people and were very good at gathering people through networking as well. In addition to that, their origin was still a mystery.


    Garen didn''t expect the Spirit Mothership to land at this moment. No wonder the three major sects from the Northern Yu Province would organize a qualifier match at this period of time. It was just for this reason as well. The ranking list given by the Spirit Mothership would definitely be fair and the sects would use the Spirit Mothership to discover any hidden talents from their own sect as well. This might be the best plan the three major sects had come up with.


    Garen instantly connected all the dots but he didn''t even hear of such a news at all. The Spirit Mothership only stopped for a moment and the Energy Machinist who would first receive such intel would definitely be at least a Level Four. It would be natural for Bainster and his other intel collector to not receive such a news.


    However, Yiling and Joey definitely knew about it and they didn''t even bother telling him at all. It was obvious that they had no plan on working alongside with him at all. These two had incredible strength and in addition to that, the Scarlet Snow Sect''s members were all extremely cruel. The sect itself was very similar to Blackboard Region as they would use all sorts of techniques to compete with each other.


    Garen understood their action and would find it weird if they told him instead. If not for the newcomer special treatment, they wouldn''t even have brought him along. Afterall, Garen was slightly weaker than them.


    Garen felt that he had about seventy percent winning rate against Joey.


    He couldn''t find a suitable target in the wild.


    "Looks like I have no choice but to go have a look at the Spirit Mothership," Garen shivered as it was a place for one to exchange quality for resources. Rumor had it that half of the resources obtained would be given to the invigilators. However, even so it would be more than enough for everyone to breakthrough. This region was extremely fair to every Energy Machinist. As long as one had enough quality and potential, they would be invested by the Spirit Mothership.


    If Garen wanted to stabilize himself in this world and even obtain Level Five resources in this world quickly, this might be the only place for him to achieve it.

 987 Spirit Mothership 1

    A few days later


    A huge black aircraft carrier drifted slowly over the entire sea of trees.


    Groups of black dots hovered around the aircraft carrier. They were black Mechs over a dozen meters high and each Mech was wrapped in a faint defense energy field.


    Blue and white light was projected from the surface of the aircraft carrier, constantly shaking and turning. The light beam formed would light up from time to time and quickly dimmed down.


    As each beam of light shone, a small group of people would instantly disappear from the ground between the trees.


    In the dark afternoon sky, the moon and the sun were blocked out by the tens of kilometers-long mothership. In the shadow of the entire mothership, it was pitch-black.


    What was most surprising was that directly above the mothership sat a black-bearded, skinny man. His large black robe was flapping with the gale. He sat on the tip of the mothership and his eyes were overlooking everything underneath. There was a kind of lofty temperament.


    "Wade from the Nine Owl Sect of Northern Yu Province. Invigilator Acarmont, this is the nameplate."


    A sky-blue airship suddenly jumped into the air just in front of the mothership and there came a man''s clear voice.


    A group of people walked out from the airship and floated in the air with the help of a flying platform. The leader raised the identity nameplate of his sect.


    "Nine Owl Sect? You may enter," Acarmont swept across this crowd, looked at the young man and nodded.


    One side of Wade''s cheek had a diamond-shaped silver metal inlaid on it, making his overall gentle temperament appear cold and callous.


    With the permission of the invigilator, the group quickly flew toward the mothership with the flying platform. They were then bathed in a projected-beam of light and soon disappeared.


    Less than ten minutes later, another group of people also headed straight to the mothership on flying platforms.


    "Sir Invigilator!"


    A group led by a young man raised their nameplates. All of them were from Scarlet Snow Sect.


    Among this group of people were Yiling and Joey and they were all standing behind the young man. There was also a powerhouse who was not weaker than Yiling but these people were all headed by the young man.


    Acarmont eyed this young man.


    "March from Scarlet Snow. You performed well the last time. This time, I will only take thirty percent of your resources."


    "Thank you, Sir," the young man''s face showed a trace of arrogance and excitement. There was nothing abnormal about his looks except that the joints and knuckles of his entire body were unusually large. Even as he stood in the same spot, there was a strong sense of oppression which almost made people breathless. The long, shiny black hair until his waist was straggly and his whole person had a kind of overwhelming aura like that of an iron tower. It was obvious he was not an average person.


    The people of Scarlet Snow Sect rushed to the mothership and quickly disappeared in a glaring beam of light.


    At this time, in the shadow of Mothership below, people began to leap toward the mothership and would get hit mid-air by the white beam shot out from the mothership, disappearing instantly.


    Invigilator Acarmont glanced at these people. Only the top geniuses of this region would be noted by him while the rest were only ants to him and were dispensable. He did not even need to collect their resources himself as the mothership''s automatic system would do it. Only when it reached a certain amount would he see for himself.


    Underneath the mothership, a small sect in a yellow uniform leaped up toward it and then a slightly brighter beam was cast down to take the group away.


    There were more and more other smaller sects gathering behind this team. These sects were considered very small for this region. It could be said that this opportunity from the mothership would be their biggest opportunity to change their destiny. Compared with the Big Three Sects, other sects in this area had insufficient resources and lack the strength to enter Void Battlefield to hunt down resources. They could not even meet the people from the Mobile Business Alliance of the mothership. The only thing they could rely on was their own aptitude and will.


    Once they were valued by the Mobile Business Alliance, it would be a fundamental change to their fate.


    After the yellow team was a team wearing silver special combat uniforms. This group of people did not look like they were from a sect but was more like soldiers in active service.


    They were one of the two strongest mid-sized sects, Silver Hawk Sect, apart from the Big Three Sects.


    The whole group was no more than fifty years old but they looked like they were in their twenties. This was also a strong advantage the Energy Machinists of Planet Naga had on self-modification.


    "Sister, it''s our turn," a leading fat woman looked up at the mothership and said.


    A petite woman standing beside her nodded. The two were the leading disciples of the team. At this time, they took out their flying platform, which required the consumption of energy. The gravity and traction of Planet Naga was much weirder than other places. The higher the flight, the greater the consumption of energy, so only the big sects could afford high-altitude flying platforms. As for the bottom-level people, they generally could only take the air shuttle bus or use the low-altitude flying platform to get on the road. Furthermore, poorer sects would not even dare to use it often.


    At the rear of this team were some sparsely scattered Energy Machinists. Most of them were independents. Some were sect disciples who came alone but more were independent Energy Machinists without any sect. Besides attempting to test their aptitude, they had come to the mothership to exchange for advanced resources.


    Each of these people were dressed in black cloaks and had their faces completely covered. Most of them were equipped with anti-detectors to hide the characteristics of their life magnetic field.


    Beside one of the larger primitive tree stood a tall and sturdy man. He also had on him a black cloak and was looking up at Ghost Mothership, watching the shining beams of light and those entering the mothership.


    The Silver Hawk disciples in front of him all charged towards the sky and were hit by the light beam, disappearing in mid-air.


    "Yiling that group of people has gone in. Before that, the people of Nine Owl Sect had also entered. The Big Three Sects now still left Dragon Eye. After they have all gone in, it''s not too late for me to go in then," Garen stood silently under the tree and waited.


    Soon, another group of people flew to the front of the mothership. After saying a few words to the emaciated old man, they went in following the white beam.


    Because of the distance, Garen could only faintly see the group of people taking out a nameplate. They seemed to be the people of Dragon Eye Sect. Furthermore, the leader of this group seemed familiar and was probably Dragon Eye''s Nora.


    "The people of Dragon Eye have also gone in," only then was Garen at ease. Back then, when he and Yiling attacked Dragon Eye together, Joey let off some people and did not kill them all in order to snatch his pursuer. This caused the people of Dragon Eye to see his, Garen''s and Joey''s appearance. Surely, now they were in their records. Now that he was alone, if he was not careful and was noticed, then there would really be nowhere to escape.


    Garen ran forward lightly and headed toward the mothership with increasing speed. He rushed into the shadow under the mothership and mixed in with the group of Energy Machinists who had leaped up. Quickly flooded by a beam of light, there were also a lot of people around him. Those who did not leap up together used their own Experimental Energy Machinery to fly up and disappeared together in a thick beam of white light.


    Whirr¡­


    Garen only felt it was all blur in his ears as if he had thrown himself into the laundry drum and was flung about for a long time. His felt dizzy.


    He slowly opened his eyes and his vision quickly cleared.


    There was a huge white space in front with no visible boundary around. Only a giant silver sphere suspended above was clearly seen and it was eye-catching.


    The giant silver sphere was constantly turning like it was formed with a huge amount of mercury and there were faint ripples on the surface. Below the sphere was a large group of those who had just been taken in by the mothership. All of them were Energy Machinists of various sects or single independents.


    The people of the sect gathered together to form more than a dozen different sized circles, whereas the rest of the independents grouped up by themselves and were scattered around the periphery.


    Garen did not join the Scarlet Snow Sect team but mixed in with the independents'' team alone. After the incident of Joey snatching his spoils of war, he no longer had any confidence in the people of Scarlet Snow Sect. Joining them or not was the same. The passing of the assessment of Ghost Mothership was not a matter of having more number of people anyway.


    Time went by, minutes and seconds.


    There were more and more people in the white space. Another medium-sized sect and more than a dozen small sects had entered.


    "It is time now," beside the silver sphere, an old man in a black robe slowly emerged. He was that invigilator from the outside, Acarmont.


    "The access route is closed and the next batch will only be received after three days."


    He glanced at everyone below. The huge crowd of thousands of people all had their sight focused on him.


    "The Ghost Mothership Northern Yu Province test begins now. This test is a one-star test with a total of five stages. There is a reward for passing every stage. Passing the third stage will qualify you to participate in the two-star test and there will be no deductions to the resources obtained. All those below the third stage need to hand in fifty percent of the resources acquired. No one is exempted."


    His voice was as loud as thunder, rumbling in the entire space. Everyone heard it clearly.


    "After entering the test, all communication equipment are completely shielded. You have to be careful. Although it is not very dangerous, there are still deaths or injuries," Acarmont instructed plainly.


    "Sir Invigilator. Everyone here knows the rules. You can go straight into the main theme," Scarlet Snow''s March smiled and said.


    Acarmont took a look at him. This man was considered to be one of the top geniuses in this area and had the hope to enter the Inherited Level in the future. He was considered to be quite well. For such talents, his attitude was slightly better towards them.


    "Then, we will start the first-level test now, Modification."


    As soon as his voice faltered, hundreds of dense white obelisks emerged in the space below. Each had four sides that were mirror-like, allowing one to see their own reflection.


    In an instant, countless streams of information from who-knew-what channels flowed into the imprint keys of all the Energy Machinists below.


    The instructions for the first-level test were clearly explained right away.


    Garen also felt that a subtle flow of information was faintly flowing into his Energy Machinist key. He took out the key and examined it. There really was the information of the first-level test.

 988 Spirit Mothership 2

    The first stage was called the modification test.


    The main focus of the Energy Machinists of Planet Naga was on modification, primarily modifying one''s body with regard to strength, speed, resistance and regenerative power, these four areas. The score must reach a certain level in order to pass the first stage.


    The standard of passing was a thorough judgment of values. Garen used the Energy Machine Imprint to quickly calculate that when view in terms of his own physical attributes, he would need at least three points or so to make it through.


    He looked at his own physical value again. Even though he had not been able to get any potential points for a long time, but under his own cultivation and the speciality of his ability, his physical fitness had always been at the highest level.


    ''Nonosiva Lin - Strength 3.1, Agility 3.0, Vitality 4.7, Intelligence 8.1, Potential 3030%. Soul limit 40''


    The average of three points was certainly not a problem. For the general Energy Machinists, the intelligence aspect would not be more than three points. As a matter of fact, what was truly assessed was the data from their other aspects.


    "Such a high threshold is needed just for the first stage. It really is the test of the Spirit Mothership." Garen was still a little shaken.


    He approached the nearest obelisk with less people and the reward slowly appeared on the mirror-like surface.


    ''Strength/Speed/Resistance/Regenerative power Level One modification gene fluid (pick any one) - Perfect Level (Perfect Level are masterpieces, market price is 1.25 million crystals and is generally priceless. The standard of Level One is to increase one standard unit quantity). ''


    Standard unit quantity. The standard unit here on Planet Naga was different and Garen also knew about this unit conversion, which could raise his own attribute by almost two points at a time.


    As for the corresponding Level One, it meant that the level of Energy Machinist who could use it was Level One. For other high-level Energy Machinists, this thing was of little value. This was because the gene fluid could only be used once. When used the second time, the body would very strong drug resistance, and so it is almost ineffective. Hence, when attaining every level, one would do everything that was possible to acquire self-strengthening gene fluid as the basis for modification.


    Only freaks such as Garen had never taken any gene fluid. Back then in Blackboard Region, he had enough strength for his own use so there was not a need to develop this area. Manipulating the Mech was already powerful enough. But now for Garen, who had never consumed gene fluid, it was undoubtedly a very good enhancement item.


    "Sweet stuff!" Garen narrowed his eyes. There were plenty of freaks who had lived for centuries among the Energy Machinists. Even the millennium old monsters were not few in numbers. The strength level of the few worlds he had reincarnated into was weaker than this world. As such, his previous accumulated advantage was not obvious and he was only at the middle level of his peers. Furthermore, he had been having bad luck up to the sky and not even once, any good luck. That was why he was still in a poor state of affairs. This type of good thing, High-level Perfect Level gene liquid, was not something he could afford. As for the low-level one, he could not bear to waste his one and only chance as such. Now, the opportunity had finally come.


    "I have never used a gene modification. Now that I am a Level Four Energy Machinist, I can completely advance using different levels of gene fluid four times! This is a golden opportunity."


    "The initial test begins. Everyone, walk into the stele for the first phase of strength testing."


    The voice of the invigilator sounded.


    Nora glanced coldly at March and was the first to walk into the stele. After that was March, and then Wade. The three strongest people actually entered the same stele, clearly with the intention of comparing with one another.


    The rest of the second-class powerhouses, such as Yiling, Beast and the others, entered several other steles.


    In other regions, the sects each entered a sect''s stele while the independents mixed together to go in. Each stele could have one hundred people entering it.


    Garen strode into one side of a stele. The surface of the stele was like the surface of water and he walked through it easily.


    Inside was a spacious black-stone hall with a huge crystal rock in the middle. On it was the drawing of a white-bearded old man with bulky arms in a bodybuilding pose. He only wore a red briefs and his entire muscles were firm. He stood with his back facing everyone. He was wearing black sunglasses on his slightly turned face and had an imposing manner.


    There were words displayed underneath the picture of the old man,


    "Dynamometer - the highest scorer, Erstein Giant.''


    The bottom was a much humanized appearance of words.


    ''Way of measuring: strike the surface of the crystal with full body power. One person at a time. ''


    The number of people who entered this stele was about thirty. It was very few. Most of them went to the stele of the Energy Machinists from big sects to watch them and have their test.


    "I''ll go first!" A fat, muscled-body man came out. He had sharp dragon spikes on his back. No idea what kind of mammal genes he had implanted in himself. He looked like a tyrannical Spinosaurus, swaying as he walked.


    The fat man shook the two pieces of flesh in front of his chest. He actually was a woman!


    A strong smell of sweat pervaded the air and caused the surrounding Energy Machinists to cover their noses.


    "Miss Gazette of the Giant Sect. Tsk tsk. The medium-sized sect powerhouse ranked number 306 in the whole of Northern Yu Province." Faint voices sounded from the midst of the Energy Machinists. Even though their volume was small, the people present here was not weak and naturally, they could hear it clearly.


    The fat woman, who was two meters tall, stood firm on both feet. She took a few steps back and after a quick run-up, rolled over and slammed into the crystal like a flesh bomb.


    Boom!!


    A muffled loud sound.


    The crystal did not move. The fat woman was adhered to the crystal stele. Her entire back was directly attached to the surface of the crystal and the spikes behind her back jabbed into the crystal, like they had sunk in.


    She pulled out the spikes and turned around to look at the value displayed on the surface of the crystal.


    ''Round number 4.5 tons. Passed.'' The crystal showed the degree of strength.


    "Well, just barely." The fat woman proudly tottered away.


    The second person was a thin man. He walked forward with a grim face. After a moderate run-up, he slammed his shoulders fiercely at the crystal.


    After a faint sound.


    ''1.5 tons. Failed.''


    Sigh...


    The thin man sighed. This was his first time participating and without any information about the test, he did not expect this. He could only leave in dejection and walked to the losers'' area.


    The third person, a young little girl.


    0.6 tons.


    This value was considered not bad for the little girl. Looking at her outfit and the shabby Experimental Energy Machinery with her, one would know that she had a poor family background, so this result was quite good.


    The fourth, fifth, sixth...


    The testers stepped forward one after another and the value kept changing. Apart from the first fat woman, there was only one skinny-like-a-bamboo-stick person with pale white skin who hit out a five-ton terrific force and passed directly.


    Garen soon stood up.


    Facing the crystal stele, he took a deep breath. He had not used any gene modification fluids. Desiring to hit out a strong force might be a little impossible.


    However, luckily there was still a special force technique he could use. And with the three points of physical fitness, theoretically he should be able to pass the test.


    Strength and force of impact were different concepts. Even with insufficient strength, as long as there was enough speed, it might also produce sufficient strength to clear the level, and so the crystal stele was not very rigid.


    Slowly withdrawing hundreds of meters, Garen took a deep breath and burst into full speed.


    Whoosh!


    He instantly turned into a shadow and darted straight to the crystal.


    The fat woman and the skinny who was just casually watching from the side were slightly alert now.


    "This speed, it should be good. Although the strength probably won''t make it, but this speed should be able to make up for it and pass." The fat woman pinched the soft flesh under her chin and whispered.


    "Gazette, maybe this guy can hit out a stronger value than you, believe it or not?" The skinny smiled.


    "This is purely a test of strength. Do you think it''s about comprehensive ability? Others are counted in? If he can surpass me, I promise to not kill you with a punch!" Gazette smirked and her two small eyes glimmered fiercely.


    "Don''t think I''m afraid of you." The skinny sneered. "You don''t even have the guts to gamble. You''re just as timid as a mouse. It''s no wonder that Venardo has always looked down upon you."


    Both were comprehensive ability powerhouses with ranking and they had a certain fame in the entire Northern Yu Province, so naturally they could see that the Willpower fluctuation on Garen was very strong, having reached Level Four. However, this was a test on strength. Gazette of course would not be defeated.


    "I never bet with anyone." Gazette did not care about the other party''s teasing. Instead, she moved her gaze to the direction of Garen.


    Boom!


    Garen hit a punch right in the middle of the crystal. A great seismic force returned and his whole body quavered.


    ''3.2 tons. Passed.'' The value was shown above the crystal.


    Garen calmly came down. He had hit out with all his strength, but he still could not achieve a higher level. Physical fitness was once the aspect that he was proud of, but in contrast with the powerful modified bodies around him, most of these Energy Machinists who had never cultivate but only relied on gene fluids could reach such heights and even surpass him. This made Garen desire for the gene fluid in his heart.


    He had never drank the gene fluid. If he could really get this stuff, the advancement he could attain would definitely be extremely powerful. He did not gave much importance to this path before, but now that he had realized it, it was still not too late.


    "3.2 tons. Barely made it through. Still manageable, but it''s a bit weak as compared to other Level Four Energy Machinists." Gazette shook her head in disappointment.


    The skinny on her side also looked away to others.


    There was another person from the remaining people who also barely passed like Garen with just over three tons.


    According to Garen''s conversion calculation, his average quality of strength and speed had reached three points. If it can be fully played out, he should be able to produce a steady effect of three tons. Perhaps this was the meaning of the rule that an average three-point quality could pass, which means that this was the passing line.


    "It turns out that I was just passing. That''s really..." Garen shook his head and smiled bitterly.


    Dozens of people entered the stele in the first stage but only four passed, including Garen.


    Of the four people, Gazette and the skinny were both more than four tons in strength and they still seemed to have some more energy.


    Garen and the other person just barely passed the mark.


    After the test, the four people instantly disappeared from the first stage test hall. Light was shining.


    Garen suddenly found himself in another larger and wider, huge black hall. The ground was a metal that was constantly flowing with blue arcs. The top was still a black stone wall.


    The same crystal from just now seemed to have become bigger.


    The old white-bearded man in red briefs was still painted on it. He was showing his front face this time, bending his arms downwards, bulging his arm muscles and making the standard movement of a Mr. Bodybuilder. His mouth was opened slightly, his teeth shining white.


    Garen looked around and found that other than the four of them, other people had also gathered together. The number was about hundred over.


    Just now, the scale of thousands of people was now left with so little.


    Nora and the people of Dragon Eye Sect were also present. March, along with Yiling and the others were also here. Wade and the group from Nine Owl Sect were also gathered together and seemed to have passed.


    The number in these groups hardly decreased and this startled Garen. This was the quality of the high-level Big Three Sects. Although the comprehensive combat ability of some of them might not be as good as him, their physical modification had undoubtedly preceded him.


    "The second test, Speed. The modification toward one''s self should be all-rounded. The test will be conducted after ten minutes. The reward of passing the first stage will be awarded now according to the results."


    "There is a reward at this time?" Garen was stunned. Did not they say that it will only be given after passing all the first stage fitness tests?

 989 Test 1

    The so-called reward quickly reached the hands of everyone. It was a small pink test tube and in it, was a pink liquid that was constantly effervescing. Outside the test tube was marked a line of words ¨C Standard Nutritional Liquid.


    ''This is a Nutrient Liquid that is consumed to quickly restore physical energy. It can be consumed immediately or be kept for another time. ''


    The invigilator explained simply.


    The second speed test started soon.


    One after another, the obelisks rose from the ground and gradually erected in front of the crowd.


    Yiling coldly eyed Dragon Eye''s Beast. The other party''s injuries had fully healed and was showing her a provocative look.


    "Want to compete?" She lifted her eyebrows and raised her voice.


    "You think I''m afraid of you?" Beast was previously entangled and could not get even. Now was the time to collect some interest.


    The two entered an obelisk one after another and disappeared.


    After that, March and Nora walked into an obelisk together, clearly still in diametric opposition to each other. Nine Owl Sect''s Wade entered one of it alone.


    Joey, however, scanned the crowd and found Garen, who was mingling in a group from other sects.


    "This kid actually passed? How lucky." He couldn''t help smiling. "He really thought we were looking for him to cooperate?"


    "What happened, Joey?" A fair-skinned beautiful woman by his side whispered.


    "Nothing. Only an overreaching idiot." Joey was unimpressed. However, he began to secretly take note of Garen.


    The woman followed his previous sight of line and spotted Garen immediately.


    "It''s him," she said bluntly. "I heard that he was a genius originally recruited by Central, but he hasn''t performed brilliantly for so long. Those who initially paid attention to him have given up. If he had broken through in three years, he might have been taken in as a Three Hearted Disciple prep. Unfortunately, he spent five years."


    The woman''s intelligence seemed to be rather powerful as she casually revealed Garen''s details.


    "That''s already quite good. Five years to reach Level Four." Joey said lightly, "The average person needs more than a decade."


    "You have also said that that was the average person, so the standard is different. Also, he is now over twenty five years old." The woman shook her head. "The initial genius had now become an ordinary person. This is life. If you and I do not work hard, very soon we will be like him."


    "Come, let''s go and have a look." Joey took a step toward Garen''s position.


    It so happened that Garen went right into an obelisk near his side, so they both followed him with interest and entered the stele.


    The speed test was a somewhat similar space and it also had the same large piece of crystal stone wall. Green fluorescent light were glowing faintly on it, casting a pale green over the entire black stone hall.


    As the people came in, the surface of the stone wall also showed a line of instruction.


    ''The moving speed that reaches the standard can pass. From any point in this space, move one standard meter toward the crystal.'' There was no standard value for reaching the target, nor did it give a specific limit, just such a sentence.


    One standard meter was two hundred meters in length.


    Without any delay, the first person began and rushed directly to the crystal with a quick sprint.


    The crystal wall he sprinted toward clearly showed a value, 0.5m/s.


    "Failed." The man also seemed to have expected it and was not surprised. He just sighed and stood to a side to wait for his companion to continue testing.


    Garen stood amongst the crowd and watched the Energy Machinists went out one by one. Many passed. This was because most of the Energy Machinists placed an importance to their speed in order to be able to flee for their lives. This was totally different from strength.


    Only about twenty people came into this obelisk. However, only two people failed for not reaching the standard while the rest passed.


    Garen was also the same. He just managed to reach the standard of clearance with a 1.1 standard point.


    Joey and his companion also appeared, but their speed was much faster than Garen''s, attaining two standard degrees.


    Turning back from the front of the crystal wall, Joey again glanced at the expressionless Garen and shook his head.


    "I was still worried there was something remarkable about him, but now it seems to be superfluous." Thinking back to the two space rings he had previously obtained, the various resources contained in it were sufficient for him to break into the next level. Once he reached Level Five, he would once again increase the distance between him and Garen. If Garen wanted to catch up, without a seven or eight-years span he could never succeed.


    Joey immediately felt that his previous worry was a bit redundant.


    "Forget it. Let''s go. Looks like this guy is also about the same as those from Central; only doing well at the beginning but failing afterwards," he said plainly.


    The woman nodded and looked at Garen in disdain.


    Civilian Energy Machinists such as them made it through step by step by themselves. They might be worse off at the beginning compared to Energy Machinists of the likes of Garen this kind of squanderer who relied on talent, but they would outdo them at the end. Regardless of whether it was perseverance, experience, or combat awareness, et cetera, they would surpass these twee-mannered so-called geniuses.


    Garen gently wiped the sweat from his forehead with a paper. The full speed that he burst out just now only managed to make it through, as he had expected.


    His speed had only reached the critical point. The vast majority of these Energy Machinists around him were faster than him. This was also a matter of course.


    As for Joey and his companion, he had also seen them. But, it did not matter. Although he was unhappy with Joey''s previous robbery, there was no chance of revenge in this moment. Obtaining the reward first was the best gain.


    The third stage was Resistance. Almost none of the Energy Machinists failed.


    All Energy Machinists lived in an environment of coming in contact with radiation for a long time. There was no doubt that there was no problem with their bodies'' resistance. That Biochemical Pool used for testing had what seemed like a horrific bubbling corrosive fluid. But for Energy Machinists, it was just like having a bath with clothes on. That was all.


    Only the last item left, Regenerative Power.


    "On regenerative power, it seems that the winner will be determined between the three of us." March smiled and looked at the other two.


    Inside the space of the silver sphere, the people of Scarlet Snow Sect gathered in a group, and was in opposition with the people of Dragon Eye Sect and Nine Owl Sect.


    "That best essence must be mine." Nine Owl Sect''s Wade''s facial expression was the same, chilled and relaxed, except that that his tone had a trace of absolute confidence.


    "That can''t be arbitrarily determined. Perhaps whichever Energy Machinist could suddenly surpass us and get the essence?" Dragon Eye''s Nora smirked and glared at March. He knew he was unable to acquire it. But since he could not get it, March and these people should not even think about getting it. The team he led this time was attacked by Scarlet Snow and it caused a great loss. If he did not reciprocate the people of Scarlet Snow, he would feel bad about it.


    "That would be a matter of looking at each person''s own capability." March was still holding his smile. His self-confident demeanor, coupled with his handsome face and good looking physique, not only attracted the female Energy Machinist of his own sect, but the other sects and independents also had a good impression of him.


    "The last test begins, Regenerative Power." The invigilator plainly said. "The testing method is very simple. As long as you can persist in the Light of Corrosion for a long time, you can get a considerable score. The person who passed the first test can get a bottle of perfect-level gene modification fluid and the type is optional. All of them are masterpieces. The strongest person will get the gene modification fluid essence, which can raise two standard units."


    "Two standard units!!"


    "My God! Essence, if you were to take it and sell it outside, it''s at least millions of crystal stones! It truly is Spirit Mothership!"


    "I must get it!"


    The atmosphere among the Energy Machinists, which was initially tepid, was immediately ignited by these words. It instantly became the same environment as a noisy market.


    Among them, the ones most likely to get the essence were naturally the three strongest trio, Nora, March and Wade.


    These three were powerhouses of Level Five culmination and had accumulated abundantly. Their modification had reached the zenith in all aspects. It can be said that as long as they were serious, there was hardly any chance for anyone present to surpass them.


    Nora contemptuously glanced at those loud Energy Machinists and looked provocatively at March. He had made up his mind. Even if he could not pass, he would want March to fail as well. The battle between Scarlet Snow Sect and Dragon Eye Sect had intensified and they were no need to cover it up at all.


    March was not bothered. He was the first one to approach the obelisk that had just appeared. This time he did not enter but stood in front of it. The others all got ready and came before the obelisk.


    Some people who had not participated before began to feel nervous.


    The invigilator smiled and waved his hand.


    Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh...


    At that moment, hundreds of white beams fell from the sky and landed accurately on the ground, gently wrapping each of the Energy Machinists and enveloping them.


    "Don''t be nervous." The invigilator spoke softly, but the voice was naturally transmitted into the ears of every Energy Machinist. "Everyone will begin the test at the same time. The longer you persevere, the more benefits you will obtain. This is a test. It is also a replenishment. You have to seize the opportunity."


    There were only a hundred people or so left in the field. When they heard the words of the invigilator, most of them were silent. A minority of people were slightly excited. As if having some understanding of the test, some people actually even took out their Energy Machinery to go through the test together.


    The invigilator saw this and nodded slightly.


    He glanced at the best trio. Those three Energy Machinist leaders were standing in a triangle, opposing one another. Their respective force field faintly radiated out, almost pushing out the Energy Machinists around.


    The invigilator secretly nodded and presumed that it would be one of the three who would be able to get the essence this time.


    "I will count to three. One...two...three! Begin!"


    Boom!


    After a muffled tone, the white light beam suddenly turned pale red.


    Garen also stood in a beam of light. Feeling the red light descended, his body suddenly quavered a little.


    His skin suddenly felt a warm and soft sensation. But in the moment of this feeling, his Living Secret Technique Seed suddenly gave an alarm to his consciousness.


    Only then did Garen observed carefully and noticed that this warm and soft feeling was just due to the nerves being numbed. In fact, his skin was actually being corroded by a certain power.


    "I''ve never been afraid of anyone when it comes to comparing regenerative power!" Hearing that there was an essence to obtain, Garen also had some thoughts about it. His score was worse than other people in the other items. But this one, he was confident that no one would be stronger than him! Maybe he could catch up with the scores of other items and eventually get the essence.


    Some things you had to strive for it. If you did not have the ability to do so, then it did not matter. But if you had the ability and yet not strive for it, this would slow down your pace instead. That would be unacceptable.


    After making up his mind, Garen slowly adjusted his body''s regenerative power to get into the best state. The powerful regenerative ability of his Living Secret Technique and the terrifying regenerative power of 4.7 constitution was thoroughly shown by Garen.


    As time went by, the concentration of red light was slowly increasing.


    About ten minutes later.


    One Energy Machinist first stumbled out of the beam and looked back at the rest with a bitter face. He was the worst. This was a deep blow to his already poor confidence.


    With the first one, there was then a second one. Soon, the third, fourth and more and more Energy Machinists were thrown out in fifteen minutes or so.


    The corrosive power of the red light had also reached a relatively strong point. It kept corroding the human skin, and then let the self-healing ability of the living creatures to fight against this type of corrosion. This was the content of the test.


    March provocatively gave Nora a look. The latter''s face was unsightly as he saw that three of his Dragon Eye Sect''s disciples had been thrown out; whereas, Scarlet Snow Sect only had one eliminated thus far. Seeing the triumphant look in March''s eyes, his lungs were about to blow up.


    "It''s too early to be proud now!" He spoke coldly.


    At this moment, the two men looked in the direction of Nine Owl Sect, but they were stunned as they discovered that up till now, Nine Owl Sect had not had a single person out of the game.


    The first batch that could not persevere had ended and time passed in minutes and seconds. Soon, the radiation concentration of the red light had reached a new qualitative position.


    Boom! Bang, bang, bang, bang!!!


    In an instant and almost at the same moment, half of the people from Scarlet Snow Sect and Dragon Eye Sect were thrown out. Dragon Eye Sect did not have many people to begin with and this time, there was almost no one left. Nora eyed March with a surly expression. Had it not been for the previous sneak attack, killing the few who had strong recovery ability, how could they have come to such a terrible situation?


    The ones from Dragon Eye Sect who were popped out looked unsightly and bleak. However, when they looked in the direction of Scarlet Snow, they found that their faces were not looking good either. Most of Scarlet Snow''s people were staring at Nine Owl Sect that side.


    These people turned their gaze and it suddenly dawned on them that among the more than a dozen of people from Nine Owl Sect, only four were thrown out while most of them were still persevering.


    "This is dangerous! If the essence fought by both sides is acquired by Nine Owl Sect, it will be really fun."


    Scarlet Snow and Dragon Eye had the strongest capability while Nine Owl Sect was only moderate. Its strength and force was not as strong as the two. It had always been the case of Scarlet Snow and Dragon Eye taking advantage of their respective rankings. There were almost no exceptions. But looking at this time, Nine Owl Sect seemed to have come prepared. They really planned to compete for the first place this time.


    "Everyone! Full strength!" March felt that the situation was a bit troublesome. The capability of Nine Owl was not as good as they were. They had never lost to them before. If they lost this time, what a great embarrassment that would be!


    Yiling, Joey and the others were still persevering. There were two more who were second only to March and were the same level powerhouse as Yiling. Initially, they were calm, but after hearing this voice transmission, they also began to be serious and tried to minimize the exhaustion.

 990 Test 2

    Only three people on Nora''s side still persisted. He whispered to the other two, Beast and another woman through voice transmission, obviously wanting them to persevere.


    The situation suddenly became suspenseful.


    Time passed by slowly again.


    The Energy Machinists of other sects gradually withdrew and the third wave of qualitative change immediately began.


    The red light quivered fiercely.


    Boom, boom, boom, boom!!


    There were more than a dozen consecutive muffled sounds and more than a dozen Energy Machinists were thrown out. Their skins were red, as if it peeled off and it looked shocking.


    Most of these dozens of people were independents and the Energy Machinists of other sects. Some from Scarlet Snow Sect were also thrown out. There were only five people left persisting. These five were March and Yiling, Joey and two other powerhouses. All these were the Two Hearted Disciples of the top-ranked Peak Masters.


    However, they did not look relaxed.


    In addition, of those who could still persevere on the field, there were only a handful of rare powerhouses from other Energy Machinist teams. But at this time, everyone''s attention was focused on the Big Three Sects. They were the key to winning the title for sure.


    Ten minutes passed again.


    This time, the quality of the red light changed again. With a muffled sound, the red light suddenly doubled in its concentration.


    Pfff!


    Joey and another powerhouse could not stand it at the same time. They spurt out a mouthful of blood and were popped out of the beam, leaving the playing field.


    The beautiful Energy Machinist who was with Joey quickly went forward to help and support him.


    "Alright?"


    "No...it''s just that the exhaustion is too much." Joey shook his head and stood upright on his own. He pushed away the woman''s support and looked at Nine Owl Sect again. His gazed suddenly froze.


    "How could it be!!"


    He could not help but called out.


    There were actually more than half from Nine Owl Sect still remaining. Eight people were still persevering.


    "This... This..." Joey could not speak anymore. Looking at the eight people''s expressions, none showed a sense of heavy burden but instead looked serene and peaceful. The slight fluctuations emanated from their body indicated that they were actually at Level Four.


    "Nine Owl Sect, what are they planning to do this time?!" Joey suddenly felt that this low-key, neutral sect seemed to be faintly showing the edge of their knife. Come to think about it, Nine Owl had always been masking their strength. They had never joined in the battle between Scarlet Snow and Dragon Eye. Almost no one had seen their big brother Night Owl''s real hand. Those who went to Void Battlefield always went alone, so no one knew of his strength.


    "They have concealed well..." Joey breathed in a sip of cold air.


    "Now we can only look to brother March." The woman also thought of this and her face color changed slightly. "If we lose to the people from Nine Owl, we will really be in trouble when we get back this time."


    Losing to Dragon Eye was alright. But Nine Owl''s people had always been weaker than the two sects, giving people a long-standing impression of being weak. They were just a relatively larger counterpoise in the fight between Scarlet Snow and Dragon Eye. To lose to a force that was never given any attention to, if this was known by the elders in the sect who loved to save face¡­


    Wade stood in the beam casually. His face was indifferent, but the few people around him were all elated and looked at the other two sects'' sour faces with their heads held high.


    "We''ll see who can laugh til the end..." March stared coldly at Wade.


    Boom!


    As soon as the voice had just faltered, a female Energy Machinist powerhouse beside him was bashfully thrown out. This made March''s face darkened and he could no longer speak.


    "The essence is mine." Wade opened his eyes and said plainly. "The reward of the Sect''s cumulative score is also ours."


    Hum!!!


    At this time, it was the qualitative change of the red light again and the red radiation was twice as strong.


    In a flash, everyone except for the three leaders all got popped out at the same time.


    But at this moment, the instant a graceful woman from Nine Owl Sect was popped out, she gave a low roar and her entire body began to transform. Her chest bulged high and with a tear, a pair of black horns actually grew out from there, bending downwards. The entire person''s body size also suddenly grew from being one point seven meters tall to more than two meters, making her thin and tall.


    This transformation actually enabled her to re-stabilize her body and once again, stood firmly within the beam.


    March''s and Nora''s expression both changed instantly. Not only them, all the people of Dragon Eye and Scarlet Snow could not help but looked sour-faced.


    As for the Energy Machinists from other sets who were popped out, they were all stunned. Many of them had not even heard of such a transformation.


    "What kind of means is this!? One could instantly increase so greatly the regenerative power?"


    "It''s snake-demon gene! Gene implantation modifying into the snake-demon constitution! That''s actually gene modification fluid with characteristic properties. It''s amazing!"


    "Snake-demon gene should be inborn, not implanted." Someone with sharp eyes pointed out the problem directly.


    "Inborn snake-demon? This is terrific!! It''s been how many years since this kind of inborn mutated body constitution had appeared in our state! Nine Owl had been quietly nurturing it for so many years!"


    "So what is the meaning of them showing their hand now? Do they think that they don''t need to hide anymore?" Someone whispered.


    "Maybe they feel that they no longer need to hide it any longer..." Some people came to an unbelievable conclusion.


    March and Nora''s heart sank slightly.


    They were very clear about the value of the gene fluid essence. If it were taken away by the people from Nine Owl, it was not just the question of money but more of a blow to their reputation. The people from Nine Owl were using their names to climb the ranks.


    For the sects, fame and reputation was a very crucial thing. It was only through reputation that there would be a large number of talented people who would admire and want to join them. Only then would the next generation be stronger than the previous one. Without enough fame, the most talented people would naturally not choose the second sect. As such, when one came to Northern Yu Province, they would naturally not choose the two sects again. In this way, one generation would be weak and the generations after would grow weaker and be worse than the others. Of course, the end-result would not be so serious. However, they did not know what to think about the situation before their eyes. Seeing the actions of Nine Owl, this thought involuntarily popped up in their minds.


    Hum!!


    Suddenly, it was another qualitative change.


    This time, that woman from Nine Owl was hurled out and spurted a mouthful of blood. But the result was already very good in the cumulative score of the sect.


    March''s face was unsightly. Because there was not much difference between the three of them, wanting to score more sect points was extremely difficult. The other party had an additional woman who could persist until now as compared to them. Hence, the result was self-evident. They were likely to lose in this recovery round.


    If he could not increase the gap with Wade, then following the quiet style of Nine Owl, they might really be able to grab the essence.


    He gritted his teeth. The qualitative change this time is starting to make them feel difficult. But if he did not persevere, the face of the sect would be lost in his hand and that would be very shameful when he returned. The way the elders viewed him would also be greatly affected. Without a good evaluation, becoming the disciple of an elder would be a fantasy!


    At the most notable position on the stage, only three people were still persevering.


    With a hum, the red light increased in concentration once more.


    Finally, Nora was the first to unable to persist anymore. He was thrown out with a bang and slammed onto the ground of the space, impacting a long black mark. The disciples who wanted to help him were also knocked off and cried out.


    Nora got up. The energy field on him was flashing with electric arc and red light. He gritted his teeth and stared at March and Wade.


    At this point, he also had to admit that his regenerative power was indeed weaker than the two!


    "Damn!! I''ll see how long you can hold out!?"


    Before long, March was unable to persist...the veins on his face were becoming apparent and it seemed that he would be thrown out at any time.


    Wade also frowned faintly, apparently reaching his limit.


    Hum!! Finally, it was another qualitative change. The red light suddenly showed signs of blackening.


    Boom, boom!!


    After two blares, Wade and March were thrown out simultaneously. The two were actually just no more than two seconds apart!


    "We''re finished!!!"


    Seeing this scene, all the heart of the people from Dragon Eye and Scarlet Snow sank to the bottom.


    Any of the two sects obtaining it was better than letting Nine Owl acquiring it. But now, the result was that Nine Owl''s disciples persevered the longest while there was not much time difference between Wade and the other two leaders. So to calculate it, the cumulative score of the sect was completely hopeless.


    There also would not be the reward for the cumulative score!


    Bang!!!


    March punched the ground fiercely. His face was surly to the extreme. The cumulative score was lost to Nine Owl this time. When he returned, his application for the resources of advancing to Three Hearted would probably be seriously affected. Once it was affected, that would be related to his destiny! He was already more than 200 years old. If he could not break into the resonance level by the age of 00, then there would really be no other way!


    The atmosphere fell into a complete embarrassment and silent moment.


    Only the people from Nine Owl had smiles on each of their faces. They had performed well this time. Wade was also had on a slight smile, which was a rare sight.


    "Invigilator..." Nora approached the invigilator, who was sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed as if he was napping. The other party appeared to be in repose and seemed to be not bothered about the competition between the three sects. "May I ask what is the ranking of the score this time¡­"


    When this statement came out, it immediately attracted everyone''s attention.


    "This time, it seems that both Scarlet Snow and Dragon Eye will fall. Nine Owl was shockingly brilliant, exceeding everyone''s imagination!"


    "It seems that Nine Owl is going to overturn the sky this time."


    "Hehe, it will be fun to watch."


    Some people discussed quietly, but there were more who secretly kept their thoughts in their mind and watched the show silently.


    Unexpectedly, the invigilator did not open his eyes, as if he had not heard Nora''s inquiry.


    "Invigilator..." March also stood up with his face sullen to the extreme and asked. "May I ask the result this time..." He knew that he had lost, but if he did not even dare to face it, that would be even more of a failure.


    "What''s with the rush? There is still someone who isn''t done yet!" The invigilator opened his eyes and replied impatiently.


    "What?" March was stunned, as if he had heard something wrong.


    "You did not hear wrongly." The invigilator was lazy to say more. "There''s still someone who isn''t done yet!"


    "There''s still someone...not done!!!???" March was stupefied.


    Nora was stupefied.


    The Big Three Sects were all stupefied.


    Wade''s eyes widened and his smile froze in the moment. The ecstasy of the disciples and juniors beside him halted.


    "There''s still someone!!???"


    The Energy Machinists below raised hell. This was a miracle!


    At this point of time, there was still someone not done yet?! How was it possible? Was there such a possibility??


    Are you sure the invigilator was not joking?!


    The whole place fell silent. No one would suspect the invigilator had made a mistake. They wondered if they were hallucinating and had auditory hallucinations.


    "A group of nincompoops!" The invigilator waved one hand impatiently.


    Hum!!!


    On the edge of an obelisk in the distance, a beam of red light was lighted up behind everyone all this while. It was still persisting at this time and had not vanished!!


    Following this act of the invigilator, everyone immediately saw clearly that red beam behind them.


    Woah!!!


    In an instant, the entire square completely turned into a bustling ocean.

 991 Second Phase of the Test 1

    "This kid!! It''s him!"


    Behind March, Yiling''s eyes were out on stalks and she looked in disbelief.


    The same was true of Joey. No one would have thought that it would be Garen, who was still persevering.


    Nora''s face was solemn as he stared at Garen, who was in the beam. No one knew what was going through his mind. Several people behind him were also whispering amongst one another and two of them seemed to recognize Garen''s face.


    "It''s that man! He''s from Scarlet Snow Sect!" A disciple stepped forward and whispered to Nora.


    "Scarlet Snow Sect?" Nora narrowed his eyes and glanced at March. Sure enough, a faint smile appeared on March''s face. "He''s just slightly better in regenerative power! Is it worth it to be this happy?"


    When it came upon him that Scarlet Snow Sect would definitely win the cumulative score, he was in a bad mood.


    "Yeah, he''s only ''slightly'' better. There''s really nothing worth to be this happy. It''s just that I feel like curling my lips. Do you have any opinion about that?" March replied with a chuckle.


    After the previous surprise, the group of people quickly managed their emotions. After all, they were Energy Machinists who had seen much of the world and so, their ability to control themselves was very good.


    The only exception was Wade, who still looked indifferent. He was still not moved by Garen''s persistence. It was only that his expression just now hardened for an instant but had quickly returned to normal at this moment.


    Time ticked past in seconds and minutes. Garen sat in the beam of light with his eyes closed and was totally oblivious with what was happening outside.


    He only focused on observing the corrosive radiation effects on the surface of the body. Persevering until now, winning the first place was affirmative. But this referred to regenerative power and he could not be sure about the other items.


    Therefore, he must pull away his distance from other people on this item.


    The constitution of Hellfrost Peacock Technique was very powerful, especially in terms of regenerative power, which was even terrific. He could faintly absorb a small part of this external corrosive radiation and transformed it into his own energy with the devouring ability of the Hellfrost Peacock Technique.


    Seconds and minutes ticked away again. Soon, more than ten minutes went by again.


    The group of people stared at Garen and finally saw some faint signs of him unable to persevere any more. The surface of his skin was a faint reddish color and his forehead was slightly sweaty.


    March stared at Garen while listening to the disciples at the back briefing him on Garen.


    "This man is called Garen. He came in with Joey and Yiling''s team. His natural talent was quite good and he was also a talent who was bought in from the Central Main City. Back then, even the elder''s Three Hearted Disciple personally went to welcome him. But due to the speed of his breakthrough was somewhat slow recently, he was temporarily ignored. We did not expect him to suddenly emerge again."


    "Garen?" March nodded. "This time it was his one-person effort that redeemed the losing battle. After this had ended, go and ask him to come over and join us." He did not care how Yiling and the others and Garen separated, but at least Garen now brought glory to everyone and also stabilized the position of the team in the first place. Hence, it was necessary to directly draw him to their side.


    "Understood." The disciple nodded.


    Boom!!


    At this moment, Garen finally could not hold out. He was shot out of the red light and staggered on the ground. After retreating for more than a dozen steps to buffer the huge force, only then did he stabilized his body. His face was flushed red and he opened his eyes.


    "The first round of testing is over."


    The invigilator got up and spoke in a low voice this time.


    "Now, it''s time to start give out the rewards." He waved one hand and out of it suddenly shot a black ball. The ball was divided into three parts in mid-air, and then the three parts were split into hundreds more, darting toward the hands of the Energy Machinists below respectively.


    Hiss, hiss, hiss¡­


    Beams of black light dragged out a black track of line and fell into the hands of each Energy Machinists.


    Almost at the same time, everyone got their own prize.


    March, Wade and Nora, all three obtained a perfect version of gene modification fluid without knowing what attribute it would alter. The three faces were of different expressions.


    But at this time, they were not paying attention to the modification fluid in their hands. Although this thing was precious, it was not like they did not have it. They were currently more concerned with the first prize, the modification essence.


    "Sure enough...that guy got it." Nora huffed coldly. From the disciple''s remarks just now, he also knew that Garen was probably one of the murderers who had earlier killed two of the talented disciples from their sect. At this moment, seeing the enemy winning made his mood worse.


    Yiling and Joey stared at the test tube of light pink liquid in Garen''s hand. Both of them showed a trace of irrepressible desire.


    "Brother March!" Yiling stepped forward and whispered to March from behind, "The gene modification essence could not be absorbed immediately. It will take at least half a month to be slowly diluted and absorbed. And if the general constitution has not reached a certain level, there is no way to absorb it. And so, the effect on Garen is much lesser than that on senior brother. It is better that we buy it from him. With enough money, he can buy the right gene fluid. Senior brother can also get the appropriate modification essence."


    "This... doesn''t seem proper." March obviously wanted it. His face showed that he was moved but he pretended that it was difficult to do such a thing.


    "It''s okay as long as we don''t treat Garen shabbily on the price." Yiling smiled. "It is also considered as a matter of taking what one needs, which is good for both parties. If it is inconvenient for senior brother to cut the deal, we can help you do it."


    March was silent. He looked at Garen, who was observing the test tube in his hand, and did not say anything. After a while, he let out a long sigh.


    "Go ahead, and remember, don''t undercut junior brother Garen."


    "I understand." There was a smile on Yiling''s face.


    March, this scum appeared to agree, but in fact, he could not offer a definite price. Obviously he wanted Yiling to spend her own money first. On the surface, he said not to undercut Garen, but as a matter of fact, this scum was extremely stingy. If the price was enormous, this guy would never fork out any money.


    Although Yiling was scolding him on the inside, but in order to please March to help her in the crucial point of the test, she could only put up with it.


    She covertly signalled Joey with her eyes and the two walked directly from the side toward Garen.


    At this time, Garen had left the crowd alone and went to the edge of an obelisk. He was sitting there, waiting for the second phase of the test. Seeing the two coming, a flash of coldness flashed in his eyes.


    Especially at Joey, who had actually snatched his loot before. Who knew what he was coming over to do?


    "What business do the two of you have?" He spoke up without waiting for the two to come to a halt. "If there''s nothing, you can leave. I still need to rest here for the next test."


    "Don''t say like that." Joey grinned. "We are a group of companions. That sounds like an outsider. Team leader Yiling is here to do you a big favor."


    "A big favor?" Garen smiled and said noncommittally, "Just say what you have to say. Don''t waste time."


    "We''ll go straight to the point. Brother March wants to buy the gene modification essence. Just mention a price." Yiling ran out of patience and directly said. There were also some disciples of the likes of Garen in the sect. They might be viewed as elite by the average disciple, but these old disciples had seen many of such disciples. Every year, there were at least a dozen talents send over from the City of Nagadako. However, hardly any of them would really make it. Not to mention that she herself was originally one of the talents recruited from the City of Nagadoka, but up to this point, she was still stuck at Level Five without any progress.


    It was increasingly difficult for Energy Machinists to advance as they progress further, especially after Level Five. The resources needed to be consumed each step was simply an astronomical figure. Moreover, the resources consumed could not guarantee a break through. The demand for computing power was far too high. To achieve Three Hearted was simply a huge threshold of qualitative change. If one was careless, being stuck for a hundred years was also normal.


    Even if it was smooth, one could not even break through quickly without a few decades. Even though Garen had talent, with everything going smoothly, it would also take at least ten years or more to break through to Level Five, not to mention there were also a difference within Level Five itself.


    When Garen advanced up to that point, she would have already entered the resonance level.


    Generally, for Level Fives who wanted to reach the resonance stage, if there was not more than one hundred years, they better forget about it.


    Hence, she was not afraid to offend Garen at all. Level Five Energy Machinists were not the same as Level Five pilots. When Energy Machinists reached Level Five, they were equivalent to at least two Level Five pilots. The combat power of the experimental body would also bring with it a Level Five energy field and could even reach the combat power of resonance level. That was not something the pilot could fight against.


    "The modification fluid essence?" Garen raised his eyebrows slightly. "I''m sorry. I don''t intend to sell it."


    He did not always feel good about this two persons. Although it was the two who brought him out of the sect, but he was entrapped by them halfway. There was not the slightest mutual affection and there was still some resentment left in him with nowhere to vent.


    This time, they even wanted to come and buy the essence in his hand?


    "You can''t absorb this thing anyway. The concentration is too high. It will be better to choose a lower level gene fluid that will help you more. How about this? I''ll offer two million crystal stones." Yiling frowned and said.


    "Two million?" Garen laughed. The price of the essence was previously marked at tens of millions. This woman wanted to buy the essence for two million? She really expected him to be a pushover.


    "How? Too little?" Yiling''s intention was indeed to push down the price. With the price pushed down, she could benefit from the price difference. "Two million is already quite good. Once you walk out of here with this thing, do you think you can safely bring it back to base without our protection? There are so many people who are now aiming at this thing in your hand." She smirked.


    "Yeah. You have to understand that without our protection, you are now an easy target for people." Joey also laughed by the side.


    "You two can leave now. Not selling." Garen shook his head. What a joke. If he were to sell it at such a price, he would definitely be silly. Not to mention, he could actually use this thing.


    His initial choice was the speed modification fluid. As an Energy Machinist, protecting one''s own life was of utter importance. The speed modification liquid essence could raise two standard units at a time. This was simply a terrific plus point. Compared with potential points, he could totally use this type of way to improve his physical fitness.


    Unfortunately, it could only be used once in each level.


    "Brother Garen, this is brother March''s intention." Yiling''s face was beginning to look unsightly. It was not the first time she had done such a thing. Most of the time, she succeeded. For those times she had failed, it was generally due to the other party''s background. However, this guy, Garen, a newbie who had just entered the sect for a few years and did not have any strong background, actually dared to resist up front and talked back to them.


    "If you help senior brother this time, presumably brother March will also remember this favor of yours. We will also remember your act of kindness this time."

 992 Second Phase of the Test 2

    "You want to buy more than ten millions'' worth of gene essence with two million? A favor sure costs a lot with you..." Garen just decided to say it out loudly, raising his voice.


    His voice spread, and instantly more or less everyone present heard it loud and clear.


    "Trying to buy more than ten million with just two million? Nice try, haha!"


    "That''s exactly what the Scarlet Snow Sect is like, they bully the weak. If they get the good stuff but don''t have the power to keep hold of it, they''ll be liberated of it sooner or later."


    "It''s an old trick of the Scarlet Snow Sect, they oppress the newbies. I''ve seen it happen once before, but I didn''t think they would try it again this time. Looks like you gotta be careful if you join the Scarlet Snow Sect, there''s no point in joining a sect like this that bullies the weak without a shred of compassion."


    The Energy Machinists start to say sarcastically, without bothering to lower their voices. It was just a few words, and usually they did not dare say anything when the Big Three Sects oppressed them, so naturally they wanted to make full use of this opportunity to get back at them.


    "Now, we at the Nine Owl Sect are different, our disciples are the most united, unlike the Energy Machinists at Scarlet Snow who don''t have any sense of belonging to the same sect at all. If anything drastic happens, I bet they would all scatter to the winds as soon as they can," said a female Energy Machinist from Nine Owl loudly.


    Wade had no intention of stopping her.


    Standing in the line of disciples, March did not look pleased at all.


    "Those two idiots!" He began to bear a grudge towards Yiling and Joey, and Garen was pulled into his vengeful sights as well.


    The other disciples were also barely suppressing their anger. Thanks to Garen''s announcement, their Senior Brother March''s reputation would surely be dragged through the mud.


    "You can''t even do something this simple!" March''s gaze turned cold.


    "How dare you!" Yiling and Joey were also standing stone-faced in front of Garen, it had not occurred to them either that Garen would so unafraid of offending them, to the point that he would just announce it loudly like that.


    Most Energy Machinists lived for a long time, after they reached Level Four, it was very common for them to live up to several centuries. By offending a powerhouse like March over something so trivial, Garen was practically committing suicide, as though he had a death wish.


    "Don''t think I can''t hurt you just because we''re from the same sect! If Senior Brother March wants to kill you, he has at least a thousand ways to do it!" Yiling decided to just threaten him.


    "Then let him try." Garen splayed open his hands. "Don''t be shy, come at me, try to kill me however you like." His expression looked completely unconcerned.


    "You!" Yiling''s face turned from stony to red.


    "I don''t know where your confidence is coming from, so much that you aren''t afraid of offending Senior Brother March, and offending the rest of us as well," said Joey coldly beside them.


    "I have no such confidence. Senior Brother March is so powerful, I would never dare offend him. Actually, if it was anyone else asking, I might have sold it a long time ago, but since it''s the two of you¡ªHeh." Garen''s smile was cold.


    "You better make sure I don''t meet you outside!" Yiling''s chest was rising and falling hard.


    "Would you dare kill me if we meet outside? Haven''t you forgotten the rule that we can''t kill or maim members of the same sect?" said Garen contemptuously.


    Yiling did not even look at him, turning around and leaving.


    But Joey looked at Garen as though he was looking at a fool.


    "Idiot!"


    He turned around and followed Yiling back into the team.


    Garen watched the two of them leave, the cold smile on his face slowly fading back to normal.


    "It''s a matter of time before I offend the two of them, looks like I better find an escape route soon, otherwise it really would be troublesome if they caught me."


    It was true, there was a rule that said no killing or maiming was allowed within the same sect, but injuries from sparring were totally fine. They could very well injure him first, and then toss him to the opposing Dragon Eye Sect, that was the easiest way to go about it.


    Garen knew extremely well that, as he was right now, he might not even be able to beat Joey, much less Yiling. These Level Five Energy Machinists were all at least Resonance-level fighters, their Experimental Energy Machinery were all usually one level higher than his. They were equivalent to a Resonance Level pilot, and add that to their own existing power, it meant that in an actual fight, they were even stronger than Resonance Level pilots even though they were only Level Five.


    And individual Energy Machinists would never have just one Experimental Body, they might have two, even three, resulting in battle power that far surpassed regular Resonance pilots.


    In comparison, those Resonance pilots in Blackboard were far inferior to the Energy Machinists here.


    Garen was never afraid of offending people, but he would not be so uncooperative without reason. The main problem was that, to him, this essence was too valuable.


    One vial of liquid essence should be enough to raise two of his standard units, or four points of his Agility attribute, in other words. Such an increase was downright terrifying, four points of Agility was equal to consuming sixty potential points. To him right now, that was an astronomical sum.


    He picked up the test tube lightly, twisted the metal cap off, touched some of the liquid essence with his fingertip, and licked it.


    Immediately, there was an extremely spicy sensation gushing down his throat, making his whole mouth burn. The sensation was almost unbearable.


    In an instant, Garen felt as though his body had somehow grown lighter.


    "Just as I thought, it''s effective. I just tasted a tiny bit, and the effect is already so obvious!" Garen was absolutely sure now. "It''s too bad that even if my Vitality is much stronger than regular Energy Machinists, I will still need at least a week to fully absorb this. If I drank it all at once, I might even burn a hole through my stomach lining."


    He stoppered the vial regretfully, and kept it away.


    The incident where Garen was nearly coerced into a deal was just a small side-event.


    The invigilator waited for a while. More than an hour later, when everyone was fully recovered, he began the second phase of the test.


    Only thirty people or so had passed the first phase, and these were mostly the elites from the large sects. There were only two independents, indicating a huge imbalance.


    "The second phase of the test, Premonition."


    The invigilator waved his hand, and the remaining people all automatically vanished from underneath the silver sphere, as though they had been teleported out. The beams of red light vanished completely, and most of the people disappeared as well.


    The flat area underneath the silver sphere instantly became a lot emptier.


    "In this second phase of the test, you can obtain some resources and items from inside, and I will determine the proportion to be deducted from these resources based on your test results. The deducted resources will not enter my own pockets, but will instead be used to run the Spirit Mothership''s daily operations. You can be rest assured," said the invigilator evenly, while he turned to look at Nora, March, and Wade.


    "You three, your results last time were decent, so your proportion of deduction will be reduced to 40%."


    The three of them nodded slightly to indicate that they understood.


    March glanced at Garen, who was nearby, his expression unchanging as he telegraphed a message from his lips to the people beside him.


    "Watch that guy Garen, and take away his essence as soon as he leaves the Mothership, don''t let the people from Dragon Eye get a chance."


    "Yes, Senior Brother." Beside him, Yiling and the rest nodded solemnly.


    That was a sum worth more than ten million, after all!


    Even to them, that sum was astronomical. Their daily expenses only amounted to several hundreds of thousands, perhaps a million, over a year, and here was something that could give them ten million in one go. If it was not for the fact that March had called dibs on it, they themselves would have been raring to go.


    Out of everyone from Scarlet Snow, only one person frowned slightly, and wanted to stay out of it. This person was slightly dark, as though they had used something to disguise themselves, even their hair and eyebrows were all pitch black. Their body was tightly wrapped, to the point that even their gender was indiscernible. They stood inconspicuously in the line, and no one talked to them of their accord, as though that person was constantly forgotten.


    After arranging the matters that rose as a result of that little conflict, March calmed down, his gaze moving to Wade and Nora.


    This second test was the true test in actual battle, and it was the key to increasing the distance between them. The reward last time was the gene essence, and that did tempt him, but the reward this time was completely different.


    "According to the results, the second test will allow you to choose your corresponding mutated beast gene transfer surgery!" The invigilator''s voice was calm. "Each person will have their own individual space, the longer you last in there, the better the things you can obtain. Judge your own limits well, because if you''re not careful at this stage, you could die."


    "We could die!"


    Garen''s heart gave a jolt, and he turned his gaze to look at the others.


    The remaining Energy Machinists were all mentally prepared, and they were not surprised to hear that at all, or if they were surprised, maybe they would not show it on their faces.


    Only a few of them had their pupils dilate slightly, as though this was their first time here.


    "Alright, the second test, starts now!"


    As soon as the invigilator said that, a limitless darkness descended upon them all from above.


    Garen just felt his vision go black, and he could not see anything.


    It was as though he had lost his sense of sight in an instant, he could not even see the outlines of any light around him. There was nothing but darkness.


    "This is the second test?"


    Garen also felt the sounds he could hear vanishing quickly into the distance. Since he could not see anything, all he had left to rely on was his sense of hearing.


    He had undergone this kind of training back in the Secret Technique World as well, many secret techniques had training regimes like this.


    He tried to use the equipment and lighting tools he had brought with him, but it was useless. Nothing worked, as though no light could exist in this space.


    "How mysterious..."


    Garen sighed in admiration. Even the darkest place should have the faintest trace of light by which he could discern silhouettes, and lighting tools would work there too.


    Hah!


    Suddenly, a sharp object pierced towards him, coming directly in front of him.


    There was no whoosh of a breeze, nor the sound of it cutting through the wind. In fact, there was only one-thousandth of a second between its appearance and its reaching the surface of Garen''s skin.


    But as though he had predicted it in advance, Garen tumbled and turned away at the last moment. As his clothes fluttered, he dodged this pierce by the thinnest of hairs.


    The piercing object appeared abruptly, and disappeared just as abruptly.


    Garen fell to the ground with a thud. Since he had used too much power in order to dodge at the quickest possible speed, he had not been able to control his strength properly. In fact, in that second just now, his muscles and tendons had even taken some minor damage.


    "What was that just now? A test?" Confusion flashed past Garen''s heart.


    Psst-psst!!


    There was another attack.


    This time it was not one, but two.


    Garen could clearly feel two sharp objects pierce straight for his chest, coming directly for him where he lay on the ground.


    He rolled away from that place, and heard two clear clangs. Two things had crashed onto the floor where Garen had been.


    "There''s no sound of the wind, no light, and we can''t use our equipment. Is this a test of our sensitivity towards the changes in the air?" Garen got up quickly, and the hairs on his back rose suddenly. Three piercing thorns came at him in a triangular formation at a high speed, soundlessly.


    And this time they were much better hidden than before.


    If it was any other Energy Machinist here, unless they were a combat powerhouse that had undergone this kind of special training, there was no way they would be able to remain unharmed under these circumstances.


    Without all their Energy Machinery, facilities and equipment, this test forced an Energy Machinist to avoid the danger with their own power alone, and truly tested one''s talent.


    This time, even Garen was completely tense, doing all he could to keep himself in his optimum condition, before he abruptly dove towards the right and then forward.


    Psst!


    There was the sound of intense friction beneath his feet, a faint smell of something burning between the soles of his shoes and the ground.


    Garen could only sense the three sharp currents flash past his left forearm, but as soon as the currents touched his arm, he felt an intense, burning pain.

 993 Battle in the Dark 1

    "From the first one in the beginning, and then two later, and then three... It should increase gradually." The thought flashed past Garen''s mind.


    If he kept dodging like this, he would end up backed into a corner eventually, so he had to come up with a way to figure out this type of attack.


    Garen somersaulted forward, and four sharp currents of air brushed past his head, a few severed hairs falling slowly.


    Five!


    He counted them silently, and Garen carefully sensed the directions the five currents were coming from. Concentrating hard and holding his breath, he finally demonstrated just how powerful his level of martial arts understanding could be.


    His five senses reflected any movements from the outside world into his heart like a clear mirror, flawlessly.


    In an instant, five sharp currents appeared out of nowhere. They came at a high speed from behind Garen, leaving long trails of air currents behind them in the darkness.


    "Now!"


    Garen''s eyes focused, and his body tilted abruptly, his right hand chopping down hard.


    Chak!


    The sharp air current missed, but just as it brushed past Garen''s side, it was instantly hit hard by Garen''s hand chop.


    With a screech, that sharp air current actually screamed out like a living thing.


    "It''s alive?" Garen was slightly shocked, but he did not have time to think. It was as though he had poked the hornet''s'' nest, an instant later, more than ten sharp currents attacked him simultaneously from both the front and back. It was somehow one level faster than before.


    "Hmph!"


    Garen harrumphed coldly, and then his body began to spin like a top, deftly avoiding the dozen or so air currents coming from the front and back.


    But almost immediately, another dozen or so currents joined the fray, adding up to almost thirty currents altogether.


    They split into four groups, and actually began to attack Garen from four directions.


    This time, even Garen was finding it hard to cope.


    The time passed by, second by second, and Garen avoided the attacks of the four groups of air currents again and again. These currents were shockingly fast, and you got hurt from just a touch, that was how sharp they were.


    There were more than thirty currents, and even Garen could not avoid them with just his body alone.


    "Cold Radiation! On!"


    In that instant, with Garen in the center, a cold blue mist spread along a twenty-meter diameter.


    That was the cold air of the Hellfrost Peacock Technique, other than influencing all living creatures and slowing down their metabolism, it also could confuse them and mess with their minds.


    As expected, as soon as the cold air spread, the air currents naturally slowed down a notch, and he could vaguely see their movement trails slightly better.


    Garen observed them carefully and finally realized that these air currents were actually some black mudskipper-like creatures, their heads were extremely sharp, and their bodies could twist at will. When they moved, they used their potential energy to jump, as though pressing down on a spring. They would instantly shoot themselves out, using their heads as spear tips, piercing through everything before them.


    Thanks to the speed reduction effect of the cold air, he could also begin to handle the mudskippers'' attacks with relative ease.


    Whoosh!


    A black mudskipper brushed past Garen''s ear, and just then, one of Garen''s hands struck out like lightning.


    "Ten Thousand True Destruction!"


    Instantaneously, his explosive power increased by half, and Garen''s sharp fingernail pierced into the middle of the mudskipper''s body.


    Bam!


    The mudskipper''s body fell apart and scattered, and it actually turned into wisps of black air that quickly spread apart and began to twine onto the remaining mudskippers.


    After a moment, the other mudskippers actually began to move even faster.


    Garen''s heart gave a jolt, but his movements did not slow down at all.


    He kept using the Ten Thousand True Technique''s only move, Destruction, and kept killing these black mudskippers with high precision.


    Bang bang bang bang!!


    The sound of mudskippers being blown apart kept ringing, but with every such explosion, the remaining black mudskippers grew faster and faster, their movements becoming even stranger.


    They no longer wove around in straight lines, but instead began to move in strange curves.


    As a result, even Garen began to struggle with avoiding them.


    "Destruction!"


    Suddenly, Garen''s finger jab missed, causing him to pause slightly. He saw the mudskipper in front of him turn, and actually shoot towards his right eye.


    "Destruction!"


    The terrifying effect of the Ten Thousand True Technique finally manifested itself.


    In that instant, after he had used too much power in his haste, Garen could actually still change the direction of his attack, his second Destruction attack catching up to the black mudskipper again.


    But to his surprise, the black mudskipper tossed its tail and actually created a faint ripple, its speed increasing with another whoosh. It avoided Garen''s finger, and went straight for his right eye.


    "Impressive!" Garen was slightly shocked. "Well, I don''t believe it! It''s just a black mudskipper!"


    He changed his move the third time, using the Ten Thousand True Destruction again, his finger almost touching the tail of this black mudskipper.


    But suddenly, the mudskipper tossed its tail and sped up abruptly, leaving the fingertip in the dust. It had practically become a shadow of a black image, its speed rising dramatically to three times the original speed of the black mudskipper.


    "It can still change attacks and speed up!?"


    Garen could not react in time, and all he could see was the black mudskipper breaking past the cold blue mist, aiming straight for his right eye. In that one-thousandth of a second, he began to use the Cold Scarlet Snow Technique throughout his body.


    The Eighth Grade of the technique instantly melded with the Cold Radiation.


    A circle of pale blue ripples began to spread with Garen in the center. The ripples swept past the black mudskipper''s entire body, reducing its speed considerably.


    But Garen still could not kill it.


    In such a short period of time, he had changed his pure Ten Thousand True Technique killing move three times, but the black mudskipper managed to throw him off each time. If he were just a normal Energy Machinist, he would have fallen apart and gotten hit a long time ago. Even a Level Five Energy Machinist would only be able to fight it head-on with their force fields, instead of using a test of techniques like this.


    In his haste, Garen could not dodge in time, so all he could do was turn his head hard.


    Hah!


    The black mudskipper brushed past the side of his face, drawing a tiny bit of blood. Thanks to the speed reduction of the two types of cold energy, Garen managed to get some time to recover, and the black mudskipper only managed to cut a line through his skin.


    "There''s something weird about this black mudskipper!" Garen nearly got hit, so he started to observe the other black mudskippers, and he noticed that they were nowhere near as strong as that one. Clearly, that one was most likely the leader of these black mudskippers.


    "If I can finish off that one, I might be able to pass this round." Garen''s thoughts turned quickly. In his current state and physical fitness, he was perfectly capable of using the Ten Thousand True Destruction continuously without having to worry about side effects.


    It was just that the Ten Thousand True Technique''s true strength was not in its killing power or destructive power, but rather in its usability. It was not the strongest combat skill, but it was the conglomeration of many of Garen''s most basic and universal moves. According to his conjectures, unless he was in a completely different universe with wildly different rules and laws, this Ten Thousand True Technique should be able to hold together in most similar universes, and it would be fully applicable in all those different worlds.


    As a killing move, however, it was slightly too weak.


    Inside the dark space, Garen''s body turned and turned rapidly, more than ten black mudskippers cutting and slicing quickly through the vast blue mists around him like a dozen or so black threads.


    These mudskippers seemed to create faint ripples with their tails, those ripples seemed to be made out of air, but at the same time, they also seemed to be threading through the water.


    "This is a way of exerting power..." Garen''s senses were very sharp, so as he looked for an opportunity, he also noticed that the way these black mudskippers exerted power was slightly strange.


    "Interesting!"


    For now, he could still withstand the attacks from these black mudskippers, so Garen decided to just observe how these black mudskippers could use such terrifying power.


    These many ripples began to slow down in his eyes. His immense memory and powerful IQ allowed Garen''s Energy Machine Imprint to spin at high speeds, as it began to analyze the rhythms of these black mudskippers'' movements.


    Soon enough, a bunch of statistics flashed past Garen''s mind like lightning, these statistics may not carry much meaning for regular Energy Machinists, but to a martial arts master like Garen, the statistics and numbers here could already be turned into a practical way to exert force.


    "These ripples..." Garen slowly began to understand.


    **********************


    Outside the black space, the invigilator rubbed the bristles on his chin as he watched the huge spherical screen in front of him.


    There were many images there showing the situations of the participants and Energy Machinists inside the dark space.


    His gaze had always been trained on the three captains from the Big Three Sects.


    March was currently standing quietly in his space, a pale blue membrane rising around his body. More than thirty black mudskippers kept crashing into the blue membrane from all directions, and would occasionally burst into bits of blue light, looking exceptionally beautiful.


    March''s expression was natural and relaxed, as though he felt no pressure at all.


    In Wade''s dark space, he just happened to be waving his hand like a fan, and with a crash, he shot out a large amount of yellow lightning. There was a high-pitched bird-like cry, and then the last few black mudskippers were instantly vanquished.


    A black figure walked out of the shadows slowly, and stood in front of him.


    "It''s the second stage now? This one''s not bad." The invigilator nodded slightly.


    "To think that someone could enter the second stage so quickly in a small place like this. I would not be surprised if it was the Central Sects, but this is pretty decent for the Northern Yu Province," said another male voice slowly, from beside the invigilator.


    "Exactly." The invigilator nodded. "To be able to defeat the Black Thread Bugs and enter the second phase means that he would be equal to a middle-grade disciple even in a Central Sect like Star Cloud. This Wade is rather talented."


    "He is the top-level disciple of a third-level sect after all, such a result is not too out of the ordinary," the voice said again. "But the second phase is the end of it. No one can pass the second test in a small area like this. It''s not bad for them to get the Black Thread Bug Smoke, that''s a good item for increasing their calculation speed, and it works well for stabilizing the mindspace as well. For the Energy Machinists here, that''s a priceless treasure, a resource you could not buy with money."


    The invigilator nodded in agreement, moving his gaze away. He saw that some of the dark spaces were already empty, the Energy Machinists participating in there having been completely defeated and shot out of the Spirit Mothership directly. The ones who remained on the large screen were just a dozen or so, the few who were still active.


    Of these, there were six from the Nine Owl Sect, three from the Dragon Eye Sect, and five from the Scarlet Snow Sect.


    One of the spaces caught the invigilator''s eye for a bit.


    "This Energy Machinist..." His gaze fell on the space where Garen was, and he frowned slightly.


    "That''s a pretty high level of martial arts... He''s already at the Water Mirror stage, and it seems that he got there without any pointers from others. He has potential," said that voice again.


    "What''s that? What are you thinking?" The invigilator''s lips curved into a smile.


    "What am I thinking? If he can get past the second phase, maybe I can consider giving him a few tips, but it''s still too early to say," said the voice calmly. "After all, we Energy Machinists have our roots in the Energy Machine Imprints, Willpower is the foundation to our strength, and battle skills were just invented so that we could properly use all the power we had."

 994 Battle in the Dark 2

    "The Water Mirror level is already nearing the peak of everything that normal people can reach, and that''s still not enough?" retorted the invigilator.


    "It depends on his talent. The Inherited Level is a major obstacle, if he can''t cross it, then everything will be for naught."


    "That''s true, too." The invigilator nodded in agreement. "But it''s rare to see a young kid with such a high level of battle skills, especially in a place like this. Even I haven''t reached the battle realm he''s at, if this kid is lucky enough to pass the second stage, I guess I''ll give him a little bonus."


    "That''s up to you. But I''m guessing he can''t pass, based on his current abilities," replied that voice calmly.


    "Well, I think there''s a possibility." The invigilator smiled.


    "It''s impossible, he definitely can''t pass. You would need to be at least a Level Five Energy Machinist to just barely pass, your judgment is wrong."


    The fact that his judgment was rejected just like that made the invigilator feel as though he was losing face.


    "I really hate that decisive tone of yours! Anything could happen out in the world, how are you so sure that your judgment won''t be wrong?" he said angrily.


    "I might be wrong, but the chances of that are a hundred thousand to one. And when it comes to martial arts realms, it''s ten million to one."


    "If you''re wrong, then you have to call me ''Grandpa'' for a day, and if I''m wrong, I''ll call you ''Grandpa'' for a day. Do you dare take the bet!?" said the invigilator loudly, pointing to the sky.


    "...Could you be more childish?"


    "I''m asking you, do you dare to bet on it or not!?" The invigilator was known for being shameless, just a look at his mischievous smile would tell anyone that he was on to something.


    "I won''t play your games. If I lose, I can consider giving this kid some access to the special privileges section of the resource vault," that voice said calmly.


    "Coward!" The invigilator chuckled.


    "My grandson is as old as you, if I lose and have to call you ''Grandpa'', I''ll really have lost face!" said that voice, exasperatedly. "On the other hand, based on age alone, you should call me Grandpa."


    "You''re just five hundred years older than me, so what?" said the invigilator contemptuously.


    "Just five hundred years, you say? A lot of the lower-level Energy Machinists can only live for five hundred years, that tone of yours..."


    **************************


    "These trails..."


    Garen stared at the faint ripples left behind by the Black Mudskipper King''s constantly wagging tail, concentrating with all his might.


    The statistics from the Energy Machine Imprint''s large-scale calculations quickly recreated the many details of the force exertion technique in his mind.


    He had once reached the realm past that of the King of the Century back in the Totem World, and now he was finally utilizing that power again after having it lay dormant for so long. To normal Energy Machinists, these force exertion techniques were something they could only dream about, and there were many principles they just would not be able to wrap their heads around, since this technique manipulated blood qi to an astounding degree. But to a grandmaster of blood qi usage like Garen, each of these obstacles could be quickly overcome, and solutions found.


    The rhythmic whirlpools formed by those many ripples were recreated in Garen''s mind, separated all the way down to the tiniest detail, before they were reconstructed again and again, in order to try out new combinations.


    Hah!


    A scratch appeared on Garen''s shoulder, and by then he had already destroyed all the black mudskippers, with only the Black Mudskipper King left. But by then, the Black Mudskipper King''s speed had also reached a ridiculous extent, such that even Garen could barely see its shadow.


    He could just only see the many explosive ripples it left in its wake.


    And at the same time, Garen slowly attempted to adjust the vibrations in all of his muscles and internal tissues that were used to exert force, such his bones, ligaments, and tendons.


    This was a show of absolute control over his own body, the depth and level of this control showing the true essence of his martial arts realm.


    The biggest difference between a person and a martial arts grandmaster was the extent to which they could control themselves.


    Even if a normal person had the same body, they could only control their limbs and their mind. A powerful grandmaster was different, they could even surpass the external form and control their internal organs, and the even stronger ones could even control their endocrine secretions, the speed of their blood flow, their heart rate, turning their circulations on and off at will, et cetera. These tiny micro-controls allowed a martial arts master to create an unbelievable effect using the same resources.


    And Garen was one such master.


    Now that he was in this pinch, if he could not find the way to overcome the Black Mudskipper King, he might not be able to get off with just injuries.


    The high-speed battle between him and the Black Mudskipper King took up a lot of Garen''s stamina with every passing second, his chest breathing in large amounts of oxygen as though it was a set of bellows, the sound clearly audible in the dark space.


    Garen had already calculated it carefully, he would be able to last ten minutes more at the most. If the time passed and he still could not figure out a way, then he would have no choice but to be eliminated.


    The resources on the Spirit Mothership were all peak-level resources that even the sects could not get, Garen would not be able to accept being eliminated just like that.


    He was aware of his own condition, with the physical state of this body, it would take him at least ten years or more to get to Level Five. If he could not find a good way to increase his potential, the prodigies at the same level would leave him so far behind in the dust. As for the test in the City of Nagadako, the talent he showed was that of a twenty-year-old becoming a Level Three Energy Machinist. Others thought that he relied on his talent to get there, but he himself knew very well that he had used his Intelligence points, and even then, he could only be called a prodigy in the early stages. Towards the end, the growth in his Intelligence would never be able to keep up with the real peak-level talents. After all, he had forcibly raised his Intelligence using those potential points.


    And this Spirit Mothership would be a very good opportunity for him.


    As his mind kept turning, all of Garen''s muscles also began to tremor and shake uncontrollably.


    Bam!


    The Black Mudskipper King waved its tail, and created another explosion in mid-air, its speed increasing explosively as it shot straight for Garen''s head.


    Just then, in that instant, Garen''s eyes caught a glimpse of the ripples from the waving of the Black Mudskipper King''s tail. The muscles in his right hand distorted and shook into a strange state.


    "Found it!!"


    Abruptly, Garen''s right hand quickly darted up, like a poisonous snake shooting out of the grass. It instantly jabbed towards the Black Mudskipper King that was shooting towards him.


    But the speed of his right hand was evidently much slower than the Black Mudskipper King.


    "Burst!!!" Just then, Garen abruptly roared out.


    The muscles in his right forearm twisted all of a sudden, like a spring that had coiled up to its extremes, and then it was released abruptly.


    With a dull bam, the back of Garen''s forearm also created a circle of faint transparent ripples. The speed of his entire right arm instantly rose by three times!!!


    His right hand clenched into a fist and chased after the side of the Black Mudskipper King, the two of them clashing in an instant.


    Screee!!


    There was a piercing screech.


    Boom!!


    The fist and the Black Mudskipper King crashed into each other, and he turned the creature into a mist of blood that scattered into the dark space.


    "I got it..." Garen''s heart was violently relieved. "I finally got hold of this explosive technique. I can raise my speed by three times in an instant, and the impact is beyond compare."


    However, he felt the surface of his fist begin to hurt somewhat. He could probably only use this move once over a period of time for now, and could not use it consecutively.


    "Since I learned this move from these black mudskippers, and the effect is to explosively increase my speed for a short while, I might as well call it the Multiple Speed Fist for now."


    Garen named the move directly.


    He had learned the move from the movements and explosive power of the Black Mudskipper King, it could move a large amount of force precisely, gathering it up, and then releasing it in an explosive instant, creating an intense and powerful speeding-up effect.


    Of course, it had to go with a powerful defense body type. If the fist is not strong enough, even if the speed increases, there would still be no telling who gets hurt first when your fist clashes with something else.


    Garen''s Vitality was approaching five points, it was way beyond the normal standard. According to his own calculations, this would be considered normal even among Level Five Energy Machinists. As long as he did not overdo it, it should be okay for him to use the Multiple Speed Fist at this level. Plus his regeneration power was extremely formidable, so it did not matter even if he did get slightly injured.


    Psst...


    Suddenly, a soft sound came slowly from the darkness directly ahead of him.


    Garen quickly looked towards it, and vaguely saw a black figure appear there rapidly, standing straight as an arrow in front of him. It was a whole two meters tall.


    The figure was like a human wrapped up in black cloth, and he could vaguely see the outline of facial features hidden behind the black cloth.


    He opened his hands wide, and opened his mouth, but there were no teeth in there, only an endless darkness. And then an ear-piercing noise began to emerge.


    "Yaaaa--!!!"


    The sharp soundwaves came straight for Garen, from softer to louder, from weaker to stronger.


    Boom!!


    All of a sudden, the black person sprayed out a distorted ball of soundwaves from its mouth, and it crashed into Garen''s body directly, like lightning.


    The transparent ball of sound distorted the air and the light, and he could barely see it for an instant before it landed smack in the middle of Garen''s chest.


    Bam!!


    He was sent flying backward, and he vomited a mouthful of blood while he was still in mid-air. When he landed, he took a few steps back to brace himself, and nearly fell to the ground.


    "It''s another way of using a killing move?!!" Rather than being shocked, Garen was pleasantly surprised. He could clearly feel that the black person opposite him was using a powerful soundwave attack based on the explosive power of its Vitality.


    Other people might just sigh in distant admiration, but he was different, he had a powerful Vitality, and at the same time he had terrifying regenerative powers. Add that to his peak-level martial arts realm, and he was perfectly capable of finding out the secrets behind this technique quickly. He might even be able to use it for himself.


    In this dark and sealed-off space, the long-term one-on-one battles had completely given him an environment where he could deepen his understanding without distractions.


    His heart moved slightly. After Garen had been attacked by the first wave, when he saw the black person open its mouth the second time, he carefully changed his position, trying to avoid the soundwave attack.


    Boom!!


    Another Distorted Soundwave Ball shot past, the Soundwave Ball was too terrifyingly fast, and it was extremely well-hidden as well, such that Garen simply could not react in time, and was hit face-on.


    But he was prepared the second time, tensing up his muscles so that the damage he took was greatly reduced.


    After being hit twice in a row, Garen was even more careful now. He began to circle around the black person, moving slowly.


    Boom!!


    That was another Soundwave Ball coming at him.


    The third time, Garen managed to avoid half of it, but he just had to take the other half with his body.


    There was a bam, and he felt as though his forehead had been hit hard with a metal hammer. His head was all dizzy, and even a bit heavy.


    "Impressive! This isn''t just the destructive power of the impact, there also seems to be some strange transmission of the vibrations. But it''s mostly still because it''s too fast, and the power is too concentrated, so I can''t avoid it, and I just have to take it head-on."


    His powerful Vitality was showing its usefulness again, his injuries recovered quickly. He added on some potential points, and Garen was instantly back at his peak form, as he continued to walk around the black person.

 995 Reward 1

    Garen observed this special Soundwave Technique carefully. As with the previous Multiple Speed Fist, this technique also seemed to require mobilizing all of his blood qi, and then releasing it in an explosive instant through his throat to create a terrifying impact of sound.


    After he walked a few circles around the black person, Garen slowly began to understand the rhythm and range of the Soundwave Technique.


    Bam!


    He barely just avoided a Soundwave Ball in advance, and then it disappeared into the darkness behind him without a trace.


    Garen panted heavily, his face slightly pale. The Soundwave Ball was way too fast, he could only dodge it half of the time, and could not increase his success rate beyond that.


    "This technique seems to be an upgraded version of the Multiple Speed Fist just now, it looks like these two types are creatures come from the same roots.


    An idea occurred to Garen, and he started to use Multiple Speed Fist from earlier, the blood qi in his body turning slowly, beginning to flow and gather inside his body like countless streams. They all moved to his throat, gathering and condensing slowly.


    Garen held his breath, his face turning slightly red. The blood vessels and veins in his face also began to pop, one after the other.


    Just then, the black person turned towards him, opening its mouth and gathering power as it prepared to unleash a new attack of its Soundwave Technique.


    In that instant, Garen opened his mouth abruptly and released a violent wave of air and sound.


    Roar!!!


    A transparent current of air that looked like a sharp arrow shot straight for the black person together with the tremendous soundwave.


    Hah!!


    Before the black person could react, this arrow hit it straight in the head. With a bang, it shattered into countless black shards, and fell apart completely.


    Garen stopped, panting, and feeling as though he was slightly weak all over. Inside his body, however, that crazy regenerative power was also starting to kick in quickly.


    "That''s another decent killing move, the Soundwave Technique. I''m earning quite a lot from this excursion." Garen breathed in and out slowly, gradually healing his slightly damaged lungs.


    It was not as though he could not create a similar technique, but he had always been fixed on training his Willpower, so he had never even considered this angle. Besides, it was no easy feat to create such a complicated set of blood qi pathway. When he was in the Secret Technique World, all the techniques of this sort could only result in a power that was one-tenth that of these killing moves. Most of them only used soundwaves to shock and shake the enemy, while they attacked the enemy at the same time. They could not use the after-shocks to directly kill off the enemy.


    There was a huge difference between the two.


    Thankfully, however, all martial arts belonged to the same roots. Garen''s martial arts had reached an extremely high realm, so it was not too unexpected for him to be able to quickly understand and mimic a relatively simple killing move like this one. But if it was an extremely high-level and complicated technique, that would be a different story altogether. His body in this world was completely unlike those before, he could still mimic and recreate some simple blood qi pathways, but high-level ones were a no-go. Garen was completely unfamiliar with the blood qi rhythms of the body in this world, and his only choice was to slowly explore them to create a new system. He had no idea what changes might occur at each stage.


    o low-level techniques were still fine, but when it came to high-level techniques, he had to start collecting the relevant experience from scratch.


    ''You have won the second stage, so you can obtain the corresponding reward.''


    The invigilator''s voice echoed through the space.


    The darkness around him instantly retreated like a tide, and the light entered Garen''s eyes. He instantly realized that he was standing on the same silver ball plaza as before.


    The invigilator looked at him with a smile, his attitude much better than before.


    Garen nodded at him politely as a show of respect, and then he looked around him, noticing that some people had already come out of the dark space. March and Nora were both there, as was Wade, who was leaning on a sharp stone plaque by himself, resting with his eyes closed.


    Out of these people, Nora seemed to be slightly injured. This revelation caused Garen''s pupils to dilate slightly.


    "That black person''s destructive power isn''t all that impressive, so how--?" His heart gave a jolt.


    "Boy, if you had not destroyed that black person with a similar technique in one shot, I bet you would still be in there, being surrounded, hehe." The invigilator seemed to have noticed his confusion, and explained quietly with a laugh via voice transmission.


    "What do you mean by that, sir?" asked Garen directly through voice transmission, looking at the invigilator perplexedly.


    "Those Dark Creatures cannot be destroyed by normal attacks, so attacking it with other methods won''t kill it. Instead, it will absorb the power of your attacks, and then split up into more new bodies. They increase as the fight goes on, but you had killed the mother body using the same technique and at the same frequency of the shockwaves. If you had used other methods to kill it once, the second time you would face two such entities. The third time you would face four, and then eight, sixteen, all the way up to a hundred. For each one, the power of their soundwaves can stack up. Hehe, you can imagine how that might end up."


    The invigilator explained teasingly.


    "But you killed the main body, and got a good resource in return, you can check your body to see it."


    Garen was slightly stunned, but then he immediately checked his entire body.


    Instantly, he noticed that the surface of his body was covered with a layer of faint black mist. He had no idea what this mist was, it stayed there and did not scatter, covering his skin all over his body.


    He did not have time to think too much about it, though, as of those people who were recuperating nearby, March seemed to sense something, opening his eyes.


    "Hm?" He stared at Garen in the distance, surprised. "That kid got out!?"


    Garen''s direct refusal to sell to him before this had already sowed seeds of discontent in him, and now this kid, who was not even thirty, could actually get past the second stage?


    After all, those who did not pass were tossed straight out of the Mothership, and were not allowed to stay inside. That was why there were only so few of them left here.


    He had just barely managed to stay in there until he was surrounded by thirty-two clones, this was already much better than the sixteen last time. The rule just said that you had to hold your ground for three seconds when facing sixteen or more, so he should have passed it this time.


    "Maybe he''s just lucky that he can avoid well enough to beat the clock." March was not particularly bothered, as long as you did not attack and kept dodging, you would be able to drag it on for quite some time too. That way, you would be able to pass by the skin of your teeth, but you would not get any reward. He thought that Garen had probably kept hiding in there, and that was how he managed to just barely pass by dragging the time on.


    Thinking back to how strong the kid''s regenerative power was, he thought it more and more likely.


    "Hmph, he was lucky." March moved his gaze away. He had already ordered Yiling and the others to wait outside for when Garen was tossed it, they lay in wait of their prey. He managed to stay in here for now, which meant he had dodged a bullet there.


    But Garen was only a small matter to him, even more than ten billions'' worth of essence was only a minor temptation to him. The most important thing was the results of this second stage.


    March''s gaze moved to his other two old rivals.


    Wade''s face was pale. Evidently, he had also attacked the black people constantly, just like March, and ended up with too many split bodies than he could handle before he was kicked out. March did not know how many he had withstood, though.


    Nora''s power was one notch lower than him, so her result would not have been any better.


    March analyzed it inwardly, his gaze moving slowly across the two of them.


    The results of the second stage directly influenced the gene transplant, the peak-level blood vessel modification surgery, after all!


    If he could get first place, he would be able to choose a suitable gene from the Gene Vault and have it transplanted into himself. The Gene Vault on the Mothership would at least be much better than those in the Northern Yu Province, and the price of the transplant surgery plus the value of the gene itself would be calculated by hundreds of millions at the very least. Even the lowest ones required a billion!


    A billion crystals, what an astronomical number!


    That was why, historically, the only one who could get such a modification had always been the single strongest disciple at the heart of the sect. If the others wanted a transplant, their only hope was to go through the Spirit Mothership. Most minor sects could not afford that even if they poured all their finances into it, and it was not just the cost, there were other necessary skills as well.


    "The test is over."


    The time was seemingly up, and the invigilator spoke slowly.


    "The four of you have passed. I will give each of you a reward according to your placing. Of course, firstly it depends on what you yourselves have chosen."


    He waved his hand, and their placings appeared on the silver sphere slowly.


    As expected, March was first, followed by Wade in second, Nora third, and finally Garen.


    The four of them lined up from top to bottom.


    "Ten of the rewards will be distributed to you by random, and you will be allowed to choose. After choosing, you will be teleported directly out of the Mothership. That is the end of this test," said the invigilator calmly, touching his beard.


    That was the end?


    Dissatisfaction flashed through March''s eyes, and he stood up to face the invigilator.


    "Sir Invigilator? Even with my results, I can''t pass the second stage to reach the third?"


    "You are still miles away." The invigilator looked at him calmly. He had gone through many provinces, large and small, and seen almost a thousand peak-level prodigies. He did not even bother with March''s question, and just replied flippantly.


    "Then may I ask, Sir Invigilator, what standards would I need to meet to reach the third stage of the test!?" he asked loudly, taking one step forward and refusing to give up.


    "Choose." The invigilator could not be bothered with him. With a wave of his hand, a large wheel appeared in front of each of the four of them, with ten different items listed there.


    "Sir Invigilator!" March refused to give up, raising his voice and stepping forward again, he could not accept it! This was his last chance to join the Spirit Mothership, once he passed the age limit, he would never have a chance to enter here again. If he still could not earn the right to enter the third stage now, then he was basically set that way for life! He could not stand that, he was a prodigy who was destined to break past the Two Hearted limit, and reach the Three Hearted Resonance stage! He was not going to stop at the basic grade of the Inherited Level!


    But the invigilator did not even give him another look, moving his gaze away and looking at Garen on the other side instead.


    Crack...


    March gripped his fist tightly, making some dissatisfied cracks. His muscle and bones pressed and rubbed against each other, and his expression was extremely ugly as well. He had obtained the second stage reward several times, and although it was precious, it was still nothing compared to the third stage. The types of genes available for transplant were all under Inherited Level, and only the third stage had mutated genes above Inherited Level.


    "March, just admit it. Our Northern Yu Province won''t have a genius that can reach the third stage at this age, hehe, such a talent would have entered a large sect in the Central Metropolis by now, why would they stay in a tiny place like ours? You were dreaming," said Nora sarcastically beside him.


    "Shut up!"


    March stared at Nora, his gaze icy cold.


    Nora''s expression stiffened and changed. "Who do you think you are? Telling me to shut up? You''d better call your master, the Giant Region General, for that!"

 996 Reward 2

    Other peak-level Two Hearted Disciples like them among the Big Three Sects had already started to find themselves teachers in advance. They were already booked as disciples for some of the Inherited Level Three Hearted teachers in the inner circle.


    There were constant conflicts within the sect, and for a peak-level elite disciple like March who was sure to reach the Three Hearted level, he would naturally already have decided who he wanted as his teacher. And that teacher was a powerful Energy Machinist in the Scarlet Snow Sect, who was known as the Giant Region General.


    These millennia-old monsters from the past generation were all extremely powerful and secretive, and that naturally included the three Great Elders. The Three Great Elders were all at the Non-falling Level on the surface, but naturally, a true sect would not show off exactly how deep their powers ran. So for old Energy Machinists like the Giant Region General, nobody knew exactly how strong they were. One thing was for sure, they were definitely at the Inherited Level or higher.


    "I have finished choosing." By then, Wade had completed his choice, and his body instantly changed into a flash of light that shot into the sky, as he vanished from the spot.


    Only then did March and Nora back down from their conflict, and turn back to their selection wheels.


    Just then, Garen was looking at the wheel before him unblinkingly. The moment he saw the wheel, a voice appeared in his heart, telling him that his results were the worst, so he could only choose from a variety of the lowest-grade gene transplants and other items.


    He was fully aware that he had used trickery to win, the right way was probably to beat the black people constantly. The longer he lasted, and the more black people appeared, the higher his score would be. Instead, he had defeated the black person with a trick from the very start.


    After he saw the scoring rubric, he knew that he would not have many choices.


    He looked at the wheel in front of him.


    The large jade-white wheel was almost as tall as he was, and it was divided evenly into ten portions. There was a different symbol carved into each one.


    Out of the ten, only the one at the very top had a gene transplant.


    ''Red Eagle Gene: it can reach a maximum of five levels, a low-grade gene, the maximum boost would be to increase one''s speed by two levels. Stackable with secret method techniques.''


    Garen was not very tempted by this gene transplant, he knew this thing was something you could only have transplanted once in a lifetime, so it must not be taken lightly. Although most average-income Energy Machinist could not afford the transplant, those who could afford it were certainly all prodigies and rich heirs. If he ever entered those circles later, he would be at a severe disadvantage with such a low-grade gene. Not only would he not be as strong as others, this boosting effect would even be instinctually suppressed should he ever encounter a higher-level eagle-type gene.


    That was why he did not make that choice even though he knew that gene transplants were extremely rare.


    He moved his gaze away and looked at the other items. The others were all some powerful single-use items, or information about rare techniques, there was even the production method of a powerful Energy Machine Imprint. Of course, techniques were just that, they were useless without the materials, and it went without saying that these were ridiculously difficult.


    "Kid, you better think it through." Suddenly there was a voice by Garen''s ear, it was the invigilator.


    Garen looked at the invigilator, and saw that he was indeed looking this way, his gaze friendly.


    The voice continued to speak by his ear.


    "Even if the gene transplant is the lowest-grade one, it would still have an enormous effect on your body, by giving your body a one-time overall increase. Putting aside the high-grade ones, even if the low-grade ones mean that one day you might encounter a better one that would suppress you, you have to consider, what kind of people would be able to get gene transplants? You have to know, even for March and the others, their choices are not all that different from yours. They all got the lowest-grade genes."


    "They got the lowest grade?" Garen was slightly moved, he thought the others would get much better ones, but to think they all got the same lowest-grade gene transplants.


    "The gene transplant is a strengthening transplant without any side-effects, it can instantaneously increase the qualities of an Energy Machinist''s body, and at the same time, it can give the Energy Machinist a decent natural ability. You would have a huge advantage over Energy Machinists who had never had a gene transplant. At first, you shouldn''t have had this opportunity, this is a special reward to you for being able to defy expectations and pass the second stage at this age. Don''t miss it," the invigilator continued to explain to Garen.


    Garen looked at the other items and objects carefully, these included a very tempting mega-combination of gene modification liquids, some precious information regarding a low-level secret method, the production process for a high-level Energy Machine Imprint, as well as some rare materials that could modify and upgrade the biochemical pool and the experimental platform. These were all rare items that he could not even hope for, but he believed that the invigilator would not harm him without any valid reason, since they did not have any sort of conflict of interest.


    "I choose¡­" He reached out his hand, and still pointed at the Red Eagle Gene at the very top in the end.


    The instant his finger touched it, Garen''s vision blurred, and he suddenly felt weak, as though a large electric current was flowing into his body through his fingers. The current was not strong, but it brought an incomparable sense of numbness and dizziness.


    His consciousness sank suddenly, and he instantly fainted.


    *******************


    Whoosh!


    Outside the Spirit Mothership, March, Nora, and Wade had split into three groups, and were floating in the air on their flying platforms, facing off against each other.


    "You win this round, but next time, hmph!" Nora hmphed coldly, and led the remaining few people away. Of the people he had brought, there were only a few left, so he would surely be punished when he went back, and he hated March for that. They were well and truly enemies now.


    Wade had always remained impassive, and no one knew what he had chosen. Seeing as Nora had left, he also nodded at March politely, and led his complete team from the Nine Owl Sect away as well.


    Now, only Wade and the rest were left waiting beside the Mothership.


    "Where''s that kid''s gene liquid?" March was seriously annoyed, he was extremely mad that he still could not grasp that last chance he had. Thinking back about Garen, that kid who showed him no face, he asked them now.


    Yiling shook her head.


    "He still hasn''t come out."


    "Not yet? Looks like he''s chosen the gene modification, that idiot, even we only got the lowest-grade modification, he''s in last place, what kind of gene could he have to choose?" March let out a breath contemptuously. "Too bad he didn''t choose anything else¡­ Forget it, Yiling, you stay back with a few others, and sell the things afterward. We''ll take half of the profits. Everyone else, let''s go."


    He turned around and flew away.


    The only ones who stayed back were Yiling, Joey, and two other Energy Machinists, waiting for Garen to come out. Garen had made March lose face, so no matter what, they owed him a beating to get their reputation back.


    Besides, he had that gene modification liquid worth ten million there.


    Watching as March and the others disappeared into the horizon, Yiling looked at Joey, slightly wary of the other two who had stayed back. The other two paired up, standing away from them.


    "Are you sure that Garen is just a rookie? How did he pass the second test?" She was slightly spooked.


    "There must be some reason behind this mistake. Hehe, shall we do it the regular way?" Joey chuckled dastardly, lowering his voice.


    "It''s been a long time, have you tested it?" Yiling asked in a small voice, glancing at the two Energy Machinists in the distance warily.


    "No problem, I even recorded some info from Nora a few days ago, since he never activated his energy field. How else do you think Senior Brother March managed to ambush Nora''s group? If I hadn''t secretly sold that info to March, the winner would still be up in the air," said Joey with a chuckle.


    "You have to be extra, extra careful, we''re relying on this to make it big, nothing must go wrong with it!" Yiling was rather dissatisfied with the way Joey was using it flagrantly.


    "Got it, got it, relax, nothing will go wrong."


    Joey took out a small item that looked like a black button. Silver light flashed past its surface, but it was extremely inconspicuous. If you did not look carefully, you would not notice a thing.


    This was a miraculous thing he and Yiling had found in some ruins once, and they had risked their lives to obtain it -- the Memory Recording Device.


    It could record the memories of any living creature unprotected by a force field extremely inconspicuously, and even Nora, at the peak of Level Five, fell for this trick, earning Joey a decent sum. The two of them had just been regular Energy Machinists, but they relied on this to amass a large amount of resources, constantly upgrading themselves until they reached their current level.


    "When that kid comes out, shine this on him for a try. Any strange Energy Machinists who defy expectations would always have their secrets, and yet don''t have the power to protect their secrets, are the easiest resources to farm." Joey was clearly an old hand at this.


    "You be careful, just make sure those two don''t notice." Yiling nodded lightly.


    "Relax, we won''t get discovered," said Joey with a low laugh.


    *******************


    Opening his eyes slowly, Garen felt as though he had been run over by a giant truck. Every inch of his body hurt, and he felt completely weak. He could not even move if he wanted to.


    He looked up at the sky, this was still the same silver ball plaza as before, but instead of standing, he was now lying down.


    "The transplant was successful, come again next time. I won''t deduct anything from you," the invigilator''s voice said by his ear. The old man''s face appeared in the corner of Garen''s vision, and he was looking down at Garen, as though observing something.


    "Not bad, not bad, the modification was very successful. Although your body has been modified by all sorts of radiation, the two types do not interfere with each other, so don''t worry, it won''t affect your original plan. But those modifications of yours are way too low-level, other than increasing your regenerative powers, they''re completely useless," said the invigilator contemptuously.


    Garen''s heart settled, and he knew that the invigilator had not seen through how powerful his Living Secret Technique was, assuming it was just a radiation modification. Thank goodness for that.


    He opened his mouth and tried to speak, but he did not even have the strength for that.


    "Now you have the Red Eagle modification, don''t underestimate it just because it''s low-grade, it''s one of the most useful ones among the economical genes on the Mothership. If March, Nora or Wade had this option, they would have eventually chosen this for sure. Although the Red Eagle is a low-grade gene with the upper limit being five levels, it increases the best stat, speed, and by two levels too. Of course, you can''t get the two-level boost from the very start, you will still need to perfect and grow with it, and you''ll reach two levels within a hundred years or so. This boost is about the same as a middle-level gene, but a middle-level gene needs two or three hundred years before you can even think of reaching the peak. Compared to many middle-level genes, the Red Eagle is just slightly weaker in increasing your average stats, but the boost is about the same, at about one or two levels. And a middle-level gene costs at least a billion crystals, kid, you struck gold!"


    The invigilator chortled.


    It was just one or two levels, after all that, of course Garen knew that this thing was the very lowest grade, but it was still better than nothing.


    Garen could only blink in thanks, by now he naturally knew that this old man had helped him somehow. Although he did not know why the invigilator would help him, it was clear that he had no ill intentions.

 997 Duel 1

    "Your computing power was definitely self-acquired, your quality is also average. Originally, it would already be considered a miracle if you manage to enter Inherited Level within this lifetime, but now, with this gene transplant, everything will change. This gene transplant is considered uncommon even amongst those with Inherited Levels. This is because the optimal transplant period is very limited and the resources needed for it are also extremely rare. Even if an average energy machinist manages to get his hands on the resources needed, they would still lack the skill for a perfect transplant. Thus, if this transplant succeeds, it is almost certain that you''ll be able to attain Inherited Level within the next two centuries."


    The invigilator said.


    "Rest well. In about fifteen more minutes, your body will naturally regain its strength back to its normal status. We will automatically let you out when that time comes."


    He turned around and left. However, after taking a few steps, he turned around once more.


    "The gene we used on you was originally something this old man took back by force, with your results, you would''ve never been allowed to undergo this gene transplant. If it weren''t for me¡­"


    This old man started mumbling non-stop, repeatedly stating that this gene transplant wouldn''t have taken place without him.


    Other than continuously thanking him, Garen had no other choice but to patiently await his body''s full recovery. He was also carefully monitoring his body''s current status.


    The Red Eagle seemed to have only minor effects on his body. Garen could feel that his body was slightly stronger but other than that there did not seem to be any other changes.


    However, as his gaze shifted to his attribute pane, a sudden sense of amusement caused a small tremble throughout his body.


    At the upper rear corner of the attribute pane, there was now a new option that he could allocate points to.


    To Garen, his attribute skill pane was something that he knew like the back of his hand. He now had thirty remaining potential points, other than to heal his body, he could find no other use for them.


    The growth of an Energy Machinist''s Willpower could not be affected through the use of potential points, as if they were of two completely different types. On the other hand, the potential points needed to increase attribute points were too high, thirty points would not even make a slight difference if used this way. With that, it would be much wiser to use these points to heal his body.


    As for his skills, with Garen''s current intelligence and computing power, the amount of potential points required to level up is too high as his level was originally too high to begin with. Moreover, he could just learn a lot of the skills himself with minimal effort, it was completely different from the situation he was in when he first entered the Secret Technique World.


    As a Level Four Energy Machinist now, his computing power and learning abilities are extremely strong. For him to learn an average skill would be as easy as lifting a finger. He could even memorize things with just a glance. His brain has been developed to a level that cannot even be imagined by a normal human, especially since even an entry-level energy machinist skill and knowledge is already too much for the layman to handle.


    However, Garen now noticed that his attribute plane now has a new option that can be leveled up.


    ''Red Eagle Gene - Low-Level Gene, current speed increment: 0. Maximum Level is two levels of increment in movement speed. Genetic Link completion level high, can be leveled up.''


    If it was only just the fact that it could be leveled up, Garen would pay no mind to it. However, there was a weird sense of familiarity pent up in his chest.


    This familiarity resembles the first time he was leveling up his secret techniques back in the Secret Techniques World exactly.


    After mumbling for a few more moments, the invigilator finally left. Garen finally had the opportunity to start testing whether his instincts were true.


    He swiftly focussed his gaze on the Red Eagle Gene option.


    Shhh!


    The option suddenly started to blur. Depleting one potential point, the blurred out option transformed.


    ''Red Eagle Gene +1 - Low-Level Gene, current speed increment: Level 1. Maximum Level is two levels of increment in movement speed. Genetic Link completion level high, can be leveled up.''


    Garen suddenly felt his body becoming lighter and lighter as if he could shoot up into to the sky with just a flick of his arm.


    "It only used one point?" Garen looked at his potential points, there were still twenty-nine points remaining. He was overjoyed, " Again!"


    Focusing his gaze, the option started to blur again after three seconds.


    As the option slowly cleared up once more, the results did not disappoint Garen. It had gained another level.


    ''Red Eagle Gene +2 - Low-Level Gene, current speed increment: Level 2, achieved Maximum Level. Genetic Link completion level high, if continued to be strengthened, it will automatically select a stronger Gene Fragment, with a possibility of a stronger reversion into Blood Eagle.''


    "Reversion into Blood Eagle?!" Garen finally knew where his sense of familiarity came from. This was exactly the same process as leveling up his minion totem creatures with potential points back in the Totem World!!


    Potential points were most optimally used on these types of creatures and since Garen had undergone this gene transplant surgery, he was excited at the prospect of raising its levels.


    "It reached the Maximum Level only after two potential points. The Red Eagle Gene was truly one of the lowest level gene modifications. However, what about the Blood Eagle?"


    Garen got even more excited as his gaze once again fell upon the Red Eagle icon.


    He had read up on the Blood Eagle before, it was a strong ancient creature with a beak similar to a syringe. They feast on the blood of other creatures for nourishment, hence the name Blood Eagle.


    This type of creature was considered a fierce beast even back in ancient eras. Although its combat power was never specified, it is undoubtedly much stronger than the lowest level Red Eagle.


    Looking at his remaining potential points, after using two, he had twenty-eight points left.


    "Inside this Spirit Mothership, if any abnormalities are detected, it would lead to a troublesome situation. It might be better to test it out on my own once I leave this place," Garen contained his urge to experiment with his newfound skills and silently awaited his body to recover.


    His body recovered from the numbness at a fast rate, within 10 minutes, he had already been able to stand up and support his own weight.


    He felt that his entire body was flowing with a hint of power, the surface of his skin seemingly becoming tougher. However, nothing new was displayed on the Attribute Pane.


    "Time''s up. Alright, little fellow, we''ll meet again if fate allows it," the invigilator''s voice sounded from a distance away.


    Garen respectfully walked towards the voice and lowered his head in gratitude.


    Swoosh!


    The scenery surrounding him changed in an instant, he suddenly found himself in the air next to the Spirit Mothership. He felt as if he was embraced by a shapeless power, allowing him to slowly drift to the ground.


    Below him was a lush green pine forest, the sun''s rays from the west were shining brightly on his body, dyeing half his body in golden red and engulfing his entire body with a gentle warmth.


    Looking above his head, the Spirit Mothership seemed to vibrate slightly before silently and slowly accelerating, moving towards the transparent and shapeless entrance floating in the distance. Within a few seconds, the entire ship had disappeared without a trace.


    "How many years will it be until its next appearance?" Garen exclaimed. What was the intention of these people in the Spirit Mothership, going all around displaying their generosity.


    Suddenly, his soul seed in his brain shook violently, emitting a pale ring of light, completely covering his brain. From the outside of his brain, it felt like there was a thorn like object attempting to forcefully penetrate his mind.


    "Who''s there!"


    Garen, in a frenzy, shifted his attention towards the direction his soul seed''s judgment was pointing him to.


    Even before he finished his sentence, he swiftly whipped his body around, dodging away from his original position.


    In the exact moment he dodged away, a shapeless thorn violently pierced through the air beside him, disappearing into thin air. It was barely even visible for an instant.


    As the thorn pierced through the air, it left behind a mist of frosty cold air, causing even Garen''s body to become slightly numb from the cold.


    "Heh, you''re not half bad!" Joey''s voice sounded from afar. The hovering silhouettes of him and Yiling on their flying platforms appeared.


    Garen had finally landed on the ground of the pine forest. He was looking up at the two hovering in the sky.


    "It''s you guys?"


    "Hand us the goods, the gene modification liquid essence," Joey arrogantly said whilst looking down on Garen.


    "Do you think that''s even possible?" Garen laughed coldly.


    "You can try not handing it to us," Joey also started laughing coldly. "This world is based on the survival of the fittest, since you now gained an asset that you cannot protect, how dare you even have the thought of keeping it to yourself? I don''t know if your brain is not working today or if you were just born a moron."


    "Alright, stop this useless nonsense, hand us the goods and we''ll spare your life," Yiling frowned as she muttered.


    Garen frowned, he felt that something was off.


    He started to go on full alert, preparing to defend in all directions. His surroundings seemed to give him an uncomfortable feeling.


    "Since you didn''t heed our warning, I''ll take it as you have a death wish," Joey spat into the air. The two slowly descended from the sky on their flying platform.


    Crack¡­


    He cracked the joints in his knuckles, causing a crisp sound. He stretched his neck briefly and with that short action, his entire body seemed to have expanded.


    On his side, Yiling lightly slapped Joey''s back with her palm, seemingly extracting a long and thin needle-like object from his back.


    "One minute."


    Joey slyly smiled as he raised one finger.


    Boom!


    With a thunder-like roar, a white cloud exploded at joey''s original position. It was due to his extreme speeds, causing a small sonic boom in the air.


    Garen''s pupils rapidly contracted, he raised both his arms to his chest, crossed. At the same time, he moved his body to his right, using the Eighth-Grade Scarlet Snow Technique on his entire body, causing a mist of cold air mixed with cold radiation to spread around him in a twenty meter radius.


    However, he was too late because in that instant, a huge crashing force hit his crossed arms.


    Bang!!!


    One punch!


    Joey appeared right before Garen, maintaining his pose as his fist was reached out.


    Garen was flung back by this powerful punch, the muscles and bones of his arms showing a clear and visible punch dent.


    With a loud crash, Garen''s back landed on top of a huge pine tree. On impact, huge pieces of tree bark were ripped apart, flying all over the place, revealing the whitish inner bark of the stem.


    "Once more!"


    Joey laughed wickedly, once again disappearing from his location.


    Bam bam bam bam!!!


    What seemed to be an endless flurry of formless punches continuously striked at Garen from different directions. The punches connecting with Garen''s arms which he put up as a guard one after the other.


    The enormous strength was also accompanied with a fearsome cold air that was left after each punch. Even with Garen''s strong vitality, his recovery speed could not keep up with the attacks.


    At the next instant, Joey suddenly reappeared right behind of Garen, his entire back arched up with his palms together in front of his body. A shapeless energy field started to accumulate in front of him, exceeding level four within an instant, reaching the maximum point of level five, almost reaching the resonance stage.


    "Absorption Dragon!"


    His eyes suddenly flashed green. Roaring softly like an actual dragon, his palms pierced towards Garen''s back.


    The huge twisted energy field followed Joey as he lunged forwards, becoming more and more concentrated, affecting everything in the surrounding areas.


    Grass shreds, dirt, fallen tree bark, and even shreds of Yiling''s clothes from a distance away started being blown about in the air.


    "It''s the end," Yiling shook her head. Once Joey uses this move, it would almost guarantee him the victory. She was originally worried that this fellow would have some ace up his sleeves, but who would''ve thought that he would not even have been able to put up a fight.

 998 1000 对战 2

    Joey''s combat power was actually at the peak of Level Five, even an average Level Five would stand no chance against him. This was because Joey had kept a lot of other backup tricks up his sleeve.


    Absorption Dragon was one of them. This move required the user to continuously accumulate force, then finally bursting in the end, causing speed and power to be twice the original level. Twice the strength of a level five would have reached the resonance stage. If it was used against her, she would barely be able to survive, much less a random level four energy machinist.


    Not even bothering to look at the gory scene that was about to ensue, she turned around, bent down and picked up the two flying platforms on the ground.


    Bam!!!


    A loud sound could be heard behind her.


    Yiling was in shock.


    "This sound¡­ Something''s wrong¡­"


    She rapidly turned around.


    In the distance, Joey stood there with his eyes wide open, his palms had been knocked to the side by Garen''s fist. The two were standing face-to-face and he could clearly see the cold emotionless expression on Garen''s face.


    "Interesting!?" The energy fields from Joey''s Absorption Dragon whirled past Garen into an empty space, breaking through a few giant pine trees behind him, piercing through the air.


    His face revealed an amused smile as he licked his lips.


    "Seems like the recording device didn''t record your full capabilities. To think my Absorption Dragon would fail to annihilate you and to be able to even knock it off course. Garen, you sure are full of surprises¡­"


    "You aren''t Level Four¡­" Garen uttered softly.


    "Of course¡­ I''m the same as Yiling, a Level Five," before he even finished the sentence, he pulled apart his palms, slashing towards Garen''s head like two blades. A few small sonic booms could be heard in the air, but the palm blade was nowhere to be seen. Seems like it had reached the maximum speed.


    At the same time, Joey''s Tenth-Grade Scarlet Snow Technique whirled up a ferocious gust of cold air, completely covering his palm blade.


    "Die!!"


    "Multiple Speed Fist!!!" Garen roared in his heart. Although he was activating the full power of his Eighth-Grade Scarlet Snow Technique, he was still being pressured by his opponent''s cold air.


    He relied on his Multiple Speed Fist to knock away the Absorption Dragon in an instant earlier, but now the Tenth-Grade Scarlet Snow Technique could seep in with Joey''s every move and attack. There was no way he could completely counter it with only the Multiple Speed Fist.


    Using his fists and elbows to block the bursting air pressure behind him, Garen faced his opponent''s palm blades. His eyes suddenly flashed.


    Clank!!!


    The two collided head-to-head, with fresh blood splattering all over the place.


    Garen''s two fists revealed two deep cuts, blood dripping down his arms. However, Garen did not seem to care much and he started to take a deep breath, almost as if a whale inhaling air.


    "Again!!"


    He roared in a low voice, lunging towards Joey who just managed to regain his balance.


    Multiple Speed Fist suddenly burst, charging towards the target along with the strong cold air. Garen''s right fist was almost as if a sharp drill, fiercely moving towards Joey''s neck.


    "Hmph!!"


    Joey coldly spat, his eyes revealing a similar killing intent. Utilizing his Tenth-Grade Scarlet Snow, he concentrated it on his hands as he lunged towards Garen as well.


    Bang!!


    The white mist cold air was followed by blood splattering in the air.


    The two had collided with each other, arms interlocked. Garen''s bones in his arm started cracking, but he completely ignored it. He knew that if he did not force Joey to retreat, he would have no chance of leaving this place alive today.


    The energy machinists of Planet Nagadako was different from other places. Their strengths lie in the Energy Machinists themselves. Yiling and Joey''s relationship seemed to not be as simple as they made it look. They seemed to be a lot more intimate.


    Originally, Garen was only suspicious of the two, but now, he was almost fifty percent certain.


    Joey was almost definitely Yiling''s younger brother. Although their facial characteristics had no doubt undergone some form of concealment, after the activities with them these few days, he got a closer look at the two of them. The two definitely have very similar facial characteristics.


    "Multiple Speed Fist!!!"


    Garen used his third Multiple Speed Fist. He started to feel the pain from his muscles starting to tear. He knew that the excessive usage of Multiple Speed Fist within such a short time had started to affect his body.


    This move was quite amazing because it allowed the user to increase his speed by three times in a short burst, allowing him to keep up with Joey''s Level Five potential. However, the burden it puts on the user''s body is too harsh.


    "Let''s see how you block this!!" Joey blocked Garen''s Multiple Speed Fist, seeming as if he had seen though Garen''s concerns. He revealed a sly smile, leaping backward, his palms together once more.


    "Absorption Dragon!!"


    With a roar, the formless twisted energy field charged straight towards a groggy Garen.


    "This is the time!!"


    Garen''s eyes suddenly flashed, he now had something in his hands, throwing it at the Absorption Dragon.


    "That''s!!!" The originally calm Yiling suddenly burst out, "Dodge it Joey!!"


    However, it was too late.


    Joey only felt that his Absorption Dragon seemingly collided with something. In the next instant, with a huge roar, a fearsome and unimaginably powerful concussion storm whirled at his direction.


    As if getting hit by a ten thousand tonne ship, Joey''s body was flung back like a cannonball as he got struck by this silent energy field explosion. His body breaking through countless pine trees without losing any speed, his body disappeared into the pine woods. He was completely knocked out, his blood and shredded clothes leaving a trail through his crashing trajectory.


    With Garen as the center, the surrounding area more than ten meters in radius looked as if it was struck by a freak windstorm, leaving nothing behind.


    "Joey!!" Yiling''s face started to lose color. She clenched his fists, staring daggers at Garen, yet she was more concerned about the wellbeing of her brother.


    She stomped her feet and raised her hand to release a gray shadow.


    "Kill him!" After leaving that sentence behind, she turned around and rushed towards her brother''s location.


    Without even looking at the paper box that had burst to shreds, Garen leaped back rapidly. With a few backflips in the air, he dived into a nearby river.


    With a splash, his open wounds started to freeze shut, stopping the blood. He continued to swim down the river, almost looking like a fish.


    He once stayed under the sea for a few decades back in the Totem World. Naturally, he would have high affinity with water.


    Looking back, he saw the gray shadow that was still closely pursuing him. Garen just let out a sigh and ignored it.


    In his earlier confrontation with March, he already had an escape plan arranged. His duel with Joey was only to test out what level his actual combat potential could reach. The results of a test gave him an estimation, without that Instantaneous Paper Box, he might have actually lost to Joey. The killing power of a Level Five Machinist was quite fearsome. Especially for someone like Joey with so much hidden potential. The outcome this time exceeded his expectations, but next time, it would not be so easy.


    After swimming for a distance, a Giant Blue Wolf appeared in the water ahead of him.


    Without hesitation, Garen swam directly towards the wolf.


    As Garen approached it, the giant wolf started to reveal his obedience towards Garen, voluntarily moving under Garen to carry him. Then, with a shake of his fur, the Giant Blue Wolf shot through the water like a swordfish, leaving the gray shadow in the dust.


    "Grr!!" The gray shadow growled in dissatisfaction, appearing to continue its pursuit. However, within half a minute, it had completely disappeared from sight.


    This was one of Garen''s arranged escape plans.


    This Giant Blue Wolf was one of his Big Wild Wolf''s Experimental Body. After exhausting a lot of his resources and skills over the years, it had finally taken form. This time around, although he did not keep it with him as a bodyguard, he had it follow him all the way to the pine forest and had it remain hidden.


    The Giant Blue Wolf''s speed was extremely fast, it was 1.6 times the maximum speed of a flying platform in its normal state. If it used its maximum speed burst, it would be at least three times the speed of a flying platform.


    However, this amazing speed came at the cost of other sacrifices in the form of the reduction of strength, recovery ability and lifespan.


    This type of Giant Blue Wolf''s strength was only half of that of the Big Wild Wolf''s strength, it also has a limited lifespan of fifty years. For an experimental body that accompanies the Energy Machinist, that was far too short.


    If the other Energy Machinist found out about this, to exhaust so many resources just for this measly increase in speed, they would no doubt call him crazy.


    However, to sacrifice other attributes for speed was Garen''s goal all along. As long as one had enough speed, one would be able to escape from any sort of predicament, which was his ultimate goal. Purely with this, a lot of Energy Machinist would still be able to catch up. After all, energy machinists like March had a lot of savings and intrinsic foundations. However, this all changes if he added something else to the equation.


    With the addition of the Distorted Seed, the Giant Blue Wolf''s speed would skyrocket. As per Garen''s estimation, it would be impossible even for an Inherited Level Energy Machinists to reach these speeds. This speed had exceeded Inherited Level limits.


    This was the key reason why he dared to confront March. With this as a backup, he could retreat as he pleases, so he would not have to worry about being surrounded by March''s men.


    He originally planned to retreat on his Giant Blue Wolf as soon as he left the mothership, but since he met Joey and Yiling, he thought he might as well do a test to find out out the baseline of his potential.


    At the end, it was not far from his expectations.


    With Multiple Speed Fist, his combat power effectively increased by a level. This allowed him to have a temporary explosive potential, reaching approximately the peak of level five. He was able to defend against level five attacks, being a little stronger than before, but not too strong. After all, Multiple Speed Fist is a skill of a low-level mutated organism.


    Furthermore, Joey was a level five and had multiple tricks up his sleeve. Garen would lose his advantage in long battles if he could not defeat his opponent with his explosive power at the start of the bout he would have no choice but to retreat. This was the ultimate concern of such extreme battle tactics.


    He had no chance of defeating Joey in a fair fight. In addition to that, facing an old-school level five like Yiling, if the two combined their powers, besides fleeing he had no other possible option.


    Luckily the energy machinists in Planet Nagadako focuses more on their physical selves, their Energy Machines were not strong as they were mainly used as supports. Otherwise, the gray shadow pursuing him back there might have been able to catch up to him easily.


    "I still can''t guarantee my win with these extreme measures. Furthermore, if it was an Energy Machinist from another place, I would expect them to send their Energy Machines to battle and not to personally take part in the combat. Seems like there''s still a lot of risks in my gameplan¡­" Garen lied on top of the Giant Blue Wolf, lightly breathing and allowing his vitality to naturally heal his body back to its original status. He swallowed a piece of high energy content nutrition jerky he had prepared earlier in order to speed up his healing process.


    "I wonder how that fellow Joey is doing? Heh, after getting a direct hit from the Instantaneous Paper Box I kept for so long, even if he survives he would at least need to shed off his skin," Garen quickly swallowed the remaining jerky in his hands and slowed down his breathing. He felt his body had almost completely recovered within such a short time.


    Looking at the bones in his arms, the broken bones from earlier had already been fully healed, with only a couple of external wounds on his body that has not fully been healed. There were still two long red lines left on both his wrists.


    This was the fearsome power of the Hellfrost Peacock Technique along with a strong vitality level. For most wounds and injuries, as long as they were not near-fatal, they would heal almost as easy as drinking a sip of water, it gave a terrifying recovery speed.


    "Too bad I didn''t manage to test out the effects of activating the Red Eagle State," Garen seemed regretful that he did not manage to test out the Red Eagle State in the end.


    "With this incident, Joey and Yiling would basically hold a grudge on me. I better do my best in training when I get back. As long as I remain in the Sect Headquarters, they wouldn''t dare to take action," after planning everything in his head, Garen patted the Giant Blue Wolf as it increased another level in speed.


    Splash!


    One person and a wolf shot out of the water, headed straight into the sea of trees. It looked almost like a trail of blue smoke that disappeared instantly.


    With the genetic modification of essence and the Red Eagle Gene Transplant, although he did not get enough points this time, what he gained had already far exceeded his expectations.


    He had to rush back quickly, in case he got stopped by March or his men.

 999 Reappearance 1

    The materials used in his first Instantaneous Paper Box had been ripped to shreds the moment it was used. However, Garen created a similar sealing mechanism by recreating the structure of the materials in the sect, naming his creation the Instantaneous Paper Box.


    This type of thing could be continuously reproduced but the production cost for it was excessively high so he could not afford to waste it. After so many years, he had only accumulated two boxes and he did not have enough materials for more because of the extremely high production costs. Hence, he had to put the project aside.


    Moreover, it was different from the original Instantaneous Paper Box, this version of the paper box had a much lower endurance level. It only managed to critically damage a level five Energy Machinist. If it were the original version, it could have easily annihilated a peak level five Energy Machinist, even being able to critically damage someone in the resonance state and defend against inherited levels.


    "How unfortunate¡­"


    Lying on the back of the speeding Giant Blue Wolf, Garen lightly sighed.


    As the two sped towards the Scarlet Snow Sect base, in the eyes of other mutated organisms, all they could see was a blue trail flashing in front of their eyes for a brief instant, none of them were alerted by their movements.


    On his way back, Garen passed by a group of Scarlet Snow disciples who were headed out to do some groceries. These people were all praising the feats of March and his men who they just saw earlier.


    "Senior Brother March is amazing, his thousand meter voice transmission has already far exceeded the capabilities of Great Senior Brother''s hundred meter vision. Looks like as soon as Great Senior Brother reaches Three-Hearts, Senior Brother March will most likely take the first position."


    "However, amongst the Two-Hearted Peak Masters, Great Senior Brother''s foundation is still the best. No matter who challenges him, he would always come out with at most some minor injuries, unlike the others who always manage to get themselves heavily injured."


    "If only one day we could have our glory days like them," the group of young low-level energy machinists continued their discussion, displaying a face of admiration.


    They were all local talent who just got selected into the sect.


    After repeated selections and countless tests, they finally managed to gain entrance into the Scarlet Snow Sect, one of the Big Three Sects in this continent. They must have had a sense of pride and accomplishment in their hearts. They were all only twelve or thirteen years old.


    "Within the top ten ranked Peaked Masters, I heard that there were three of them who were not raised locally. One of them was Peak Master Angeal Tenor of the Chemical Snow Peak, the other is Peak Master Garen of the Black Wolf Peak, and lastly, Peak Master Yiling. I wonder how these two would compare against Great Senior Brother?"


    "I have no idea about that situation, but I heard from one of the senior sisters that the Chemical Snow Peak Master is now ranked second. He has terrifying potential and has been in the sect for more than sixty years. He should''ve reached the first position ages ago, but due to some unknown reason none of the elders wanted to accept him."


    "Other than them, all the remaining were talent taken in from central and they were at the very least at the level of Two-Hearted Disciples and many of them were even at Three-Hearts. They united together to form an organization called Star Plate, a direct opposition to our local organization Moonshine. As for Peak Master Garen, he was originally viewed as a genius with decent skill when he first got accepted. However, he took an unexpectedly long amount of time to reach level four. Although when compared to the average Two-Heart Disciple, he was still relatively faster, it was abnormal for a talented genius like him. Hence, he is ranked at the lower end of the top ten. I heard that the sect''s opinions on him are very mixed as well. As for Peak Master Yiling''s situation, it was very mysterious and there isn''t much public information on her available out there."


    One of the more well-informed young ladies spoke out in a feminine voice.


    Whoosh!


    In an instant, a blue trail flashed before their eyes and disappeared, leaving behind a trail of cold air.


    "What was that?"


    "Was there a breeze? How cold!"


    The group of disciples seemed to not have noticed a thing, only the young lady felt that something had happened but she didn''t dare to ascertain her guess.


    Garen had started eavesdropping on their conversation from a long distance away. It was his first time hearing this sort of discussion. In the past, he never knew what his image was like in the eyes of the lower leveled members.


    When he first entered the sect, they always had a serious view on things, after so many years, it seemed like nothing much had changed.


    He himself was not clear what the speed of a top-level genius was like, but he felt that he would not be that much worse off. To be able to progress from level three to level four just within five years, it probably would not disappoint the expectations of most of the people in the sect.


    "Now is not the time to be thinking about all of this, March is right ahead of us. Time to accelerate even more!"


    Stilling his mind once more, Garen patted the Giant Blue Wolf. Immediately, the wolf''s speed increased, going up by a large amount.


    ******


    The base could vaguely be seen just a distance ahead.


    March and his row of men were swiftly flying in the sky. On their respective flying platforms, they moved at a moderate speed.


    "Senior Brother March, out of the thousands of Outer-Hearted disciples, soon you''ll finally be officially in the first position. I should wish you an early congratulations."


    Next to March stood a burly bald man who was also on a flying platform. He was continuously complimenting March without a shred of concealment.


    "Seeing that Junior Brother had come over to meet me, I guess my application to Moonshine has been passed?" March remained calm, but he could not stop himself from revealing a small smile.


    "That''s only natural. Senior Brother is currently ranked third, out of the thousands of outer-hearted disciples you are still one of the strongest and entering Moonshine would not be any problem. Although I heard that out of the new members who just got accepted, some of them are quite strong."


    The burly man said, "Star Plates strength is already strong enough. If it wasn''t for the conflict with the people from Dragon Eye a few years ago that caused them to incur huge damages, we wouldn''t even stand a chance today."


    "What are the higher-up''s opinion on this?" March had his mouth shut, directly asking him using voice transmission. He vaguely had an idea of what the higher-ups of Moonshine wanted to do.


    The burly man glanced over at the people surrounding them, the group started to seal off their hearing with their Willpower and spread out away from their current location.


    Once everyone else had left, he finally started to speak.


    "After all, Star Plate is an organization made up of non-local Energy Machinists in the Northern Yu Province. They all have the desire to retake the failed Central Metropolis. The second elder is currently the leader, causing the Great Elder and the Third Elder to be dissatisfied. What we need to do is simple, we just need to remove all traces of the non-local disciples below."


    "Hmm¡­ Would doing this be a little too overboard?" March had a lot of guts but this idea still gave him a huge shock. This was a scheme of Inherited levels and if he was not cautious enough, it would no doubt cost him his life. If he participates in this plan and the sect found out about this, he would not be getting off easy with something as simple as being expelled from the sect.


    "Don''t worry, the people of Star Plate are all arrogant and prideful, they would look at our actions as a training for the lower-leveled disciples," the burly man laughed coldly. "They will not care about this, as long as it''s within the rules. Even if we kill a few of them they would just see it as their disciples being too weak. If they can''t even survive under the rules of survival of the strongest within the sect, they would no doubt be useless pieces of trash when they leave this place. They are too arrogant!"


    It was blatantly obvious that the burly man had an extreme disliking of the people from Star Plate.


    "They are arrogant!" March also couldn''t hold back his anger. After he had reached this level, no one would ever say that he wasn''t good enough.


    In his current state, his future is limitless, he also had an extremely high position, leaving the lower levels. In his current ambitious state of mind, hearing that someone sees him as nothing but a training tool, anyone would be pissed if they were put in that position.


    Not thinking that he is worse off than others, even if tests show that he had a limit, so what? Limits were meant to be broken, even if a lot of people had died in their attempts.


    "Since you put it that way, I will accept this mission," March muttered softly while nodding his head.


    "Currently there are only three non-local Peak Masters in the sect. Yiling, Angeal Tenor, and Garen who entered the sect a few years ago. You just focus on those three," the burly man explained.


    "I have already taken note of Yiling and Joey early on. The two seemed to be hiding something. To be able to survive my numerous attacks, they must be hiding some sort of secret," March said gloomily.


    "I''ll let you settle the concrete details on how to settle this, I''m only the messenger. If this escalates too much, Moonshine will take responsibility for it. You don''t have to worry about it," the burly man reassured him.


    "Mmm, I understand," March''s face reverted to his usual calm expression.


    As the two of them were speaking via voice transmission in the sky, a blue flash zoomed through the mountain pass below, heading directly towards the base''s main gates. Its speed was extremely fast, multiple times faster than the people moving about on their flying platforms above.


    The people above had focussed their attention on the conversation between March and the burly man, so much so that the blue flash had gone by unnoticed.


    ******


    At the main gates of the base on top of the mountains.


    The white main gate of the base was crackling with a strong electric current. The blue electric current forming an electric gate that looked like a water screen, blocking off the entrance of all energy machinists who attempted to enter.


    A group of newly accepted newbies headed towards the main gate, led by a group leader. The group leader held out a white name tag in his hands, projecting a white light onto the main gates.


    "What you guys are looking at right now is the main gate for the Logistic Branch Base. This gate was created by using a million volts of high-voltage electric current. After expert tweaking, if any Energy Machinist who does not have our sect''s crystal imprint approaches it, it will automatically attack the person. This is the high-security system that our sect uses."


    The group leader was a gentle and polite man, he was wearing a white shirt, cheerfully introducing the place to the newbies.


    He had the Two-Hearted Disciple symbol on his shoulder and in this base, there were numerous other Two-Hearted Disciples like him doing odd jobs all over the place to earn some resources. A lot of them accepted the various quests from the sect to earn more points to trade for more resources.


    There were not a lot of Two-Hearted Disciples, but the number was not small either. They would be ranked automatically according to their level. Those who are above level four would automatically be ranked in the top thirty, while the remaining were all below level four. These level three Two-Hearted Disciples often had very slow growth rates, often requiring a few decades just to reach level four. However, they were the backbone of the Scarlet Snow Sect''s strength. They were the true representation of the actual disciple situation in the Northern Yu Province. When compared to the geniuses who could level up within ten years, they certainly seem to be overshadowed, but it was solely their huge numbers that support the lower levels of the Scarlet Snow Sect.


    Amongst those who were leading the newbies, holding the selection tests and joining the two major organizations Moonshine and Star Plate, a lot of them were just dispersed Energy Machinists. This group had the largest numbers, they would gather at the quests counter every day, taking up quests and racking up points. Once they had enough points, they would go back and start their training, rinse and repeat. This was the main lifestyle of the average energy machinist.


    Whoosh!


    A blue flash zoomed over, landing right in front of the electric gates, forming a blue silhouette. It was in the shape of a man riding on top of a huge blue wolf.


    The giant wolf''s fur was straight like quills, looking extremely sharp. Just looking at the appearance they knew that this was no ordinary character.


    A man and a wolf appeared before the gate, attracting the attention of the group of newbies.


    The group leader looked over at Garen and his pupils immediately contracted.


    "If it isn''t Peak Master Garen, Senior Brother Garen must''ve just returned from participating in the mothership''s tests. You guys quiet down, don''t bother him! This guy is one of the most talked about inherited level geniuses in the past few years. He is ranked in the top twenty amongst the Two-Hearted Peak Masters."


    "Ranked top twenty?" A young and naive girl said arrogantly, "Why does that even matter? I will be able to reach that in no time!"


    "Stop your nonsense!" The group leader glared at her. "Being ranked in the top twenty symbolizes that they are geniuses who have the potential to reach Inherited Level. They were elites who the Three-Hearted Elders personally came to greet when they first entered. They aren''t people who you One-Hearted brats can be compared to! They are the cores that are being raised by the sect!"


    Just as he finished, Garen leaped off his wolf and walked through the electric gates.

 1000 Reappearance 2

    Garen glanced over at the group of people. Looking at the number of people, if he let them enter first, the people behind him would surely catch up to him. Due to how the electric gate works, people can only go in one-by-one. There were a total of four electric gates, he specifically chose one that usually had fewer people, but he never expected to bump into a group of newbies.


    "Move over!" He coldly shouted as he waved his hand. Suddenly, a strong gust of cold air knocked the group off balance, causing them to fall to the ground.


    He was running out of time so he could not bother over something as trivial as this.


    Arrogantly knocking away people who stood in his way, Garen, accompanied by his Giant Blue Wolf charged towards the electric gate. With a flash of white light, they finally passed through the electric scan.


    The row of people were then knocked to the ground by Garen''s rushed movements. Some had their luggage knocked open, their belongings scattered on the floor, whilst those with weak vitality started shivering in the cold.


    "Senior Brother Garen, don''t you think you''re being too unreasonable?" The young group leader could not help but to stand up against Garen, blocking his path.


    "Scram!" Garen could already sense that March and his men''s strong energy field aura rapidly approaching the area.


    With a wave of his hand, he raised the cold air from the Scarlet Snow Technique to the fifth-grade, aiming it directly at the young man. He still held back a little, if he actually used his explosive power, he would have easily taken the kid''s life.


    The white cold air concentrated into a cold mist gas body, fiercely flying towards the young man in all directions, completely engulfing him within the mist. The excess chills also knocked away most of the low-leveled energy machinist around the area.


    The young man used the full power of the sixth-grade Scarlet Snow Technique. Fiercely stomping on the ground, the rocks below broke into pieces, his body suddenly got covered with a layer of cold mist, taking Garen''s cold air head on.


    Whooo¡­


    The two colliding gas bodies dispersed each other.


    The young man''s face turned pale, he was barely able to withstand the incoming cold air. He was forced to take a few steps back after the attack, opening up the path ahead for Garen.


    Garen and his wolf charged through the electric gate. If he got caught up by March and his men it would cause a lot of trouble. March''s potential was at the epitome of the Two-Hearted Disciples, not even Joey and Yiling could defeat him. Naturally, Garen was, of course, no match for him. Only after entering the sect could he be less wary of March''s attacks.


    "Do you think you can leave without giving us an explanation?!" Unexpectedly, the young man suddenly attacked Garen, using his full power to strike Garen on his back with his palm.


    This guy was hiding his potential all along, his actual grade was a Seventh-Grade Scarlet Snow Technique, within his cold air there was a strange rotting scent, seemingly containing some form of poison.


    "I said scram!" With a backhand, Garen raised his strength to a Seventh-Grade Scarlet Snow Technique, fiercely striking his pal towards the young man.


    Bam!


    The two''s palms collided with each other. Garen immediately charged towards the electric gate. However, the young man refused to give up, rapidly chasing after him, holding out his name tag that emitted a ray of light, hitting the electric gate.


    ''Entry authorization temporarily closed, please restart the system¡­" An electric voice rang in the air.


    After closing the gates entry authorization, even if Garen wanted to enter, it would take two more seconds for him to use his imprint on his body to restart the system.


    "Senior Brother Garen, for injuring a Junior Brother for no reason, if you don''t give a proper explanation, don''t hope of leaving this place so easily!" The young man shouted out loud, seemingly still a distance away.


    "Are you looking to die!!"


    In a fit of anger, Garen activated his Eighth-Grade Scarlet Snow Technique and struck his palm towards the young man. The area surrounding his palm was suddenly filled with cold air, deposing the water vapor in the air to form snow.


    This time, despite the young man using the full power of his Scarlet Snow Technique, he was still hit directly by the huge amount of cold air surrounding him, leading to his defeat.


    Bang!


    With a loud sound, the young man got flung into the air, fresh red blood dripping out from his mouth. His body was shot down the mountain, flying into the mangrove woods below.


    "For injuring my men from the Moonshine organization, don''t think you can leave this place easily!?" At this moment, a white light shot down from the skies, landing on the ground, revealing a muscular middle-aged burly man.


    After saying that line, the man''s body seemed to boil up with white gas. In an instant he landed on the ground, a strong white cold mist shot towards Garen. As the cold mist breezed by the grass, the green grass immediately wilted with a layer of white precipitate left on the surface, the dirt turned black, leaving behind traces of a bad stench.


    Garen coldly spat, as he brought his Giant Blue Wolf and headed straight to the electrical gate. Just as he passed through the gate, the stench-filled cold air was immediately blocked by the electric gate.


    Poof!


    Coming in contact with the electric current, the stench-filled cold air immediately dispersed.


    Garen turned back to look at the burly man standing outside the gate.


    "Who the hell are you? For someone to still be a Two-Heart at your age, did you think you were counting your age in dog years?"


    "Seems like we have a trash-talker over here. If you have the guts to come out and face Werder in a head-on battle, we''ll no longer pursue this matter."


    March and his men followed closely behind the burly man.


    March was coldly glaring at Garen through the electric gates, he had ordered Yiling and Joey to stop this person. Who would''ve thought he managed to escape them and return here.


    "Why should I bother fighting him? On what grounds do I have to listen to your orders?" Garen chuckled.


    "If you still wish to leave this base in the future, you better listen to what I say," March smiled cruelly. He knew of a lot of the blind spots in the area.


    "Are you threatening me?"


    Garen let out a smile.


    To him, March was nothing more than a boulder blocking his way, it was only a matter of time until he had to get rid of him.


    "So how about it? Do you dare accept?" March raised his head and laughed.


    "In one more month, let''s meet at the Decisive Battle Platform," Garen grinned, walking away after throwing down the proposition. For some unknown reason, he started to feel an unknown aura building up around him, almost as if it was the reactionary feeling from the mix of fate and karma.


    "One month?" The burly man licked his lips, "There''s no more holding back when it comes to the Decisive Battle Platform. You''ve just sealed your death!"


    March and his men walked through the electric gate.


    As for the injured young man, only the newbie team he was leading were left caring for him, going up to him and carrying him up slowly.


    Amongst the onlookers, a white-haired young boy calmly took in what had happened before his eyes.


    "So this is Planet Nagadako? The world of survival of the fittest! It''s a completely different world from that of the Four Ring Star Alliance¡­ Cruel¡­ Arrogant! How am I supposed to continue living in this type of world?"


    He silently clenched his fist. Thinking of his cursed brother, his half-crippled sister and his entire family who were deep in hell.


    "I will definitely change my destiny!" His eyes suddenly lighted up. "The Gideon Family will not fall in my hands!"


    Ignoring the group leader who was injured, he walked towards the electric gate. After having his identity scanned by the electric gate that was temporarily opened, he directly walked through the gate.


    ******


    At the edge of the Starry Sky afar.


    A gigantic white old man was floating silently in space.


    Surrounding him were five huge black holes simultaneously whirling. Their strong gravitational forces were sucking up all the light rays in the area, there was no equipment that was able to be used to observe this scenery surrounding the black holes.


    The old man, with both of his eyes closed, reached out his right hand, lightly tapping the void in front of him.


    "The Child of Destiny has made his move¡­ Red King¡­ Everything falls on your arrangement from last time¡­" The old man slowly opened his eyes, his pupils shining with iridescent colors of the rainbow, almost as if a kaleidoscope sparkling like the stars in the sky.


    With a whoosh, three screens appeared in front of the old man.


    On the left screen, it displayed a white-haired youth on a certain planet who was biting his lips. His skin was pale, his body was completely submerged in an amber sticky substance as if he was in pain and under a lot of pressure.


    "Is the second one the second son of the Gideon household from the Four Ring Star Alliance?" The old man shifted his gaze towards the second screen.


    It was just a black screen.


    "I guess it''s time for my successor¡­" The old man reached out and tapped the screen. It immediately lit up.


    The scene of countless mountains, rivers and meadows flashed before his eyes. Within a few seconds, the display stopped on a small farming village.


    A girl who was silently reading a book under the sun appeared at the center of the screen.


    Pak.


    The girl closed the book in her hands and stood up, her pure white blouse being blown up slightly in the light breeze.


    ******


    At the same time, at the Mother Planet radiation belt, the Seventh Ruins that had been sealed up for countless years finally had some signs of movement.


    Slight ripples suddenly started to emit from the originally dark gray tattered ruins center.


    In an instant, at the center of the ripples, a pale white light flashed dimly.


    As the white light became brighter and brighter, it also became more and more glaring.


    Boom!!


    White a loud ring, the white light shot into the sky, piercing through the heavens.


    The frightening light beam was straight and thin, piercing through the clouds and the atmosphere, directly shining through the Mother Planet, shining into the depths of the universe.


    The speed of the light beam was terrifying and within a few moments, it had already moved through tens of thousands of lightyears in distance, far exceeding the speed of light, hitting the surface of a blue planet from another star system far away.


    The light beam pierced through the atmosphere and hit the ground at frightening speeds.


    Boom!!!


    The white light landed directly in an old ruin in between two yellow mountains. Without a sound, the light slowly started to disperse. After a brief moment, a crimson red meteor shot down from the sky.


    With a loud buzz, a formless concussion wave blasted toward the gigantic ruins and formed a huge crater. In the middle of the crater, a dark red humanoid mech was half squatting on the ground, surrounded by large amounts of red hot molten lava and black smoke.


    The humanoid red mech was dozens of meters tall, dragging a long and sharp tail behind him and looking very abnormal.


    Click¡­


    The mech slowly stood up. His face slowly opening, revealing mech pilot sitting inside of it. Surprisingly, it was two youths who had not even hit their twenties.


    "Where is¡­ this place?" Clint opened his eyes, groggily looking at the scenery outside of the mech.


    ''Welcome¡­ to the Four Ring Star Alliance," a stuttering electronic voice sounded from the ground.


    "Four Ring Star Alliance?" Baylon opened his eyes as he stood up from behind Clint. "Are we no longer on Mother Planet? Master Red Moon?"


    "This is the starting point of everything, and also a place that you all must experience," Red Moon''s voice had a hint of gloominess.


    "The starting point of everything?" Clint took a deep breath.

 1001 Gene 1

    Haa¡­ Whoo¡­


    Haa¡­ Whoo¡­


    The loud sounds of slow and deep breaths could be heard from inside the mansion.


    Garen''s body was completely submerged in the pale yellow solution as white mist fogged the surrounding area. A blue dot of light was floating a short distance away from his body, emitting a twinkling halo, almost as if it was the eyes of the night.


    The lights were out in the entire mansion. A Giant Blue Wolf was laying lazily beside the circular pond, occasionally letting out a yawn or two.


    "It has already been five days since my return ¡­" Garen opened his eyes suddenly, his pupils lighting up in a bright glow.


    "The wounds on my body have been completely healed, not leaving a trace of any injuries. These injuries could''ve easily been healed using potential points but since it''s hard to find them here, I better use them wisely."


    He looked at the huge screen set up a short distance away, displaying his entire body''s current status.


    "Now that my Eighth-Grade Scarlet Snow Technique is fully operational, I''d only be slightly below Werder when it comes to absolute technique power. That fellow is part of the middle-tiered cadres in Moonshine, his potential should be weaker than March, but it wouldn''t be too big a difference."


    Garen stood up slowly from the solution and walked out of the pond nude to the control system. He fiddled casually with the control system''s programming.


    "My strong point now would probably be my newly acquired Red Eagle State. With the combination of the Red Eagle State and the Instantaneous Paper Box, it should be able to create quite a strong destructive power."


    He pressed the control pad in front of him lightly.


    Suddenly, an electronic sound rang crisply.


    "Virtual target being constructed, simulation battle starting up¡­"


    Bzzt!


    Garen''s surroundings transformed suddenly. The environment went from being a sealed lab into a lush green forest.


    Approximately ten meters in front of Garen, a familiar figure appeared slowly. It was Joey who he had fought a few days earlier.


    Without saying a word, Garen stomped on the ground, cracking its'' surface as he turned into a void shadow lunging towards Joey.


    "Red Eagle State!"


    He roared in his head as his entire body started to glow slightly red. Rust red feather-like tough skin started appearing on the surface of his arms.


    In an instance, Garen''s speed doubled and was comparable to that of the Giant Blue Wolf''s, going from the original three points of speed to more than five points.


    Five points of speed were astonishing. Just as Joey on the other side raised his hands to form the Absorption Dragon stance, he had already been struck right on the forehead by Garen''s palm.


    Bam!


    Joey fell a few steps back as his head started dripping fresh, red blood. Without a sound, he fell to the ground.


    Garen shook his head.


    "Looking at the original statistics, Joey shouldn''t even be a match for me. His most powerful move, the Absorption Dragon, had a terrifying destructive power. However, its speed could never keep up with me in my Red Eagle State. No matter how strong a move is, it''s useless if it cannot hit."


    The virtual surroundings disappeared suddenly and Garen was once again back in his own laboratory.


    He slowly adjusted his body''s status, returning to its normal state from the Red Eagle State.


    "After getting used to it over these few days, I''m now completely comfortable with using the Red Eagle State. Next, I need to see if I can manage to achieve the true Blood Eagle."


    This was Garen''s ultimate goal for adjusting his body conditions to its peak. After he finished adjusting his physical condition and reached his peak condition, only then will he be in the best condition to attain evolution.


    He reached behind to grab the bottle of genetic essence; he had already formulated the liquid inside. Opening the cap, he raised his head and chugged down the entire bottle.


    The instant he drank the liquid, his skin started glowing crimson red, almost as if his entire body was being injected and swelling with blood.


    The different aspects of his body had also started to level up under the medicine''s amazing power.


    Garen had chosen the speed genetic essence. A perfect-level liquid essence can increase an attribute by two standard units in one go. Normally this type of medicine would be extremely potent, for the average energy machinist, it would take up to half a month to fully absorb it. However, once he returned to his laboratory, after adjusting his physical condition and activating the Red Eagle State, Garen had only dared to mix up a potion that increases the medicinal properties of the liquid essence and drank it all in one go.


    Two standard units would mean four points of agility, which was an astonishing increase.


    Bzzz!


    Garen''s skin all over his body started to crack open, revealing a scarlet muscle structure. Under his amazing vitality and the effects of his Peacock Technique, his body attempted to heal the cracked open wounds rapidly. However, just as the wound started to scab, the potency of the medicine caused the skin to crack open once again.


    With a splash, Garen jumped back into the Biochemical Pool, leveraging on the power of the nutritional liquid to increase his healing speed for his wounds.


    With the potency of the liquid and the healing power of the biochemical pool, along with the Peacock Technique and his strong vitality, the cracked wounds started stopped appearing and started to heal.


    Traces of blood slowly dissipated into the nutritional liquid, dyeing the pool in a light shade of red.


    Time seemed to tick by endlessly, ten minutes, or even half an hour.


    Garen flew out of the pool suddenly, his arms slicing through the air like lightning.


    Shing shing!


    Two transparent air slashes flew across the room, hitting the hard inner walls of the laboratory, leaving two thin blade marks.


    "Two standard units of speed increase, not bad. It worked!" Garen alighted lightly by the side of the pool, looking at both of his arms. Back when he was at his peak performance, he could also create air slashes with his arms, but the innate qualities of this body were different from his past bodies, so he thought he had no way of recreating it. However, now that he used the genetic essence, he finally managed to return to his original level of strength.


    Looking at his Attribute Pane, he nodded his head in satisfaction.


    ''Nonosiva Lin - Strength 3.1, Agility 7.1, Vitality 4.8, Intelligence 8.1, Potential 2730%. Soul Limit 40.''


    His agility stat increased from its original 3 points to his current 7.1 points. This genetic essence worth hundreds of billions of crystals if valued in Universal Units, the currency that mech pilots used, would be measured in trillions. It can be said that even just this bottle would be worth more than half a country.


    This type of thing could almost be considered a peerless treasure. Garen had looked it up on the web. Scouring through countless online shops, auction markets, and even the top production industries, this item had never ever been sold. There were only a handful of people within the energy machinist circles with the skills to create this type of genetic essence annually. Even then, it requires a humongous amount of resources to produce hence the annual output level is extremely low. Only top-level geniuses and wealthy princes would have the privilege of using them.


    If an average peasant wanted to obtain this type of essence, they only had two possible options -- the Spirit Mothership or the Killing Space.


    "Killing Space?" Garen looked at the provided information. Killing Space is a special organization similar to a colosseum, with elements of an underground fight club. Experts from all around the world entered and participated in lethal battles; those who maintained a winning streak for a month will be crowned the king and receive spectacular prizes, one of which was the genetic essence.


    "Better to just forget about this for now, this is not the time to be thinking of these types of things. First things first, let''s see if we can reach the Blood Eagle."


    Garen looked over at the gene pane at the bottom of the attribute pane.


    ''Red Eagle Gene +2 - Low-Level Gene, current speed increment: Level 2, achieved Maximum Level. Genetic Link completion level high, if continued to be strengthened, it will automatically select a stronger Gene Fragment, with a possibility of a stronger reversion into Blood Eagle.''


    "I wonder how many points are required for the stronger reversion." Garen frowned. "Let''s try it out."


    His gaze fell upon the gene pane. After three seconds, it started to blur and the text on the gene pane disappeared, his potential points dropped rapidly by two points.


    After a brief moment, the gene pane reappeared once more. Looking at the details of the gene pane, Garen sighed.


    "As expected, it failed." The gene pane remained exactly the same, nothing changed.


    However, due to his experience evolving creatures in the totem world, he knew that this type of gene fragment selection could have an increased success rate after repeated attempts. This was because the permutations of gene fragments were limited; after failing when selecting a certain gene fragment, he could effectively exclude that gene fragment from his next attempt. This way, the number of unknown gene fragments would decrease, hence increasing the success rate.


    "However, I have no idea how many amounts of Red Eagle gene fragments there are in total. If there are too many, looks like the success rate would be extremely low."


    That said, however, Garen is hugely tempted with genetic strengthening and once again he used his computer to look up the attributes of this Blood Eagle creature.


    ''Blood Eagle: An ancient predator that could control the blood flow of its enemies to a certain extent. It has a huge body and amazing strength. Its speed is its strong suit. It has a certain degree of capabilities in freezing the opponents'' blood flow. It prefers to live in freezing climates. It is a medium-level mutated organism.''


    If the Blood Eagle Gene strengthening succeeded, not only would he gain an increase in speed, but more importantly, he would gain the ability to manipulate blood. This type of ability is used in the form of energy fields, once combined with his Cold Radiation and his Scarlet Snow Technique, the power would increase exponentially.


    After countless simulations, Garen concluded that if he managed to combine the three, its effect would not only suppress the energy fields of other Scarlet Snow Technique Practitioners but more importantly, it could increase his ability exponentially to freeze his opponents'' blood flow.


    This kind of power was something only the Twelfth-Grade Scarlet Snow Technique could achieve. In other words, this was an ability that only inherited level energy machinists could obtain. Once he activated his energy field, any lower-leveled opponent would have their blood frozen whenever they approach him, leaving them with no means of defending.


    "Scarlet Snow Technique, when below Twelfth-Grade can be made up through other means. Physical power, defensive power, strength, speed, all of those could make up for the difference in the technique''s potency, reaching a similar level of combat power. However, after the Twelfth-Grade, the difference could no longer be made up for. Once the hundred-meter wide energy field has been activated, the opponent would not even have the ability to face the user, much less defend against his attacks."


    Garen exclaimed. Upon reaching a certain level, the gene''s strength could negate the difference in power of different secret techniques.


    By increasing one''s physical fitness, one''s defense against the Scarlet Snow Technique''s invasive nature would also increase and would be able to resist it upon reaching a certain level.


    Gene quality, secret techniques, and the energy machinist''s computing power were the three pillars that served as a foundation of combat power.


    For a secret technique like the Scarlet Snow Technique, increasing its level would also simultaneously increase the user''s computing power. On the other hand, the increase in combat power would in turn positively affect the secret technique. It was a mutually reinforcing concept.


    However, gene quality affects another aspect. It takes the path of modifying the path the user takes. It relies on a strong physical body and will, suppressing all the existing threats. This was the path of the Demon King in the Killing Space.

 1002 Gene 2

    The Demon Kings were the top-notch modifiers within the three main Energy Machinist cities. Their genetic qualities would determine their physical strength and natural abilities. Moreover, these qualities were also crucial factors that would influence their combat abilities.


    "It seems that I''m currently in a state of being half a modified human and half of an Energy Machinist," said Garen while examining himself. "As for being an Energy Machinist, the strength of my physical fitness is not the most important factor because it only affects my combat abilities. However, the vital elements are my computing powers and Secret Technique levels. These are the crucial factors that will determine whether I will be able to break through the Inherited Level."


    After letting his thoughts roam about for a while, Garen continued to be wholly absorbed in his own Genetic Pane. Once he had successfully broken through the Blood Eagle, he would undergo a huge breakthrough within his combat abilities as well. Although he would not be able to break through the environment, this occurrence would help him tremendously nonetheless. After all, it represented the combat abilities of the Inherited Level.


    "Again!"


    He gritted his teeth and continued to smash his remaining potential points towards his Genetic Pane.


    His potential points made gurgling noises as they decreased from their initial twenty points and fell quickly to more than ten points. It continued decreasing to eighteen, sixteen, fourteen, twelve, ten¡­ eight¡­ six¡­ four¡­!


    His Genetic Pane finally paused at this moment. It was no longer in a state of blurriness anymore. Instead, it transferred a series of information to Garen.


    ''Insufficient potential points.''


    "Insufficient potential points?!"


    Only then did Garen realize that he merely had single digits worth of potential points left. Meanwhile, his Genetic Pane¡­


    He took a deep breath. He had already paid such a heavy price in exchange this time but had yet to find the Staff of Absolute Yin until now. He did not know how long he would have to wait before he could absorb potential points again. In other words, excluding his slightly improved regenerative abilities, he did not have any advantages over the other prodigious Energy Machinists. Moreover, it was uncertain that he was better than the actual prodigies. After all, he relied on potential points to forcefully increase his Intelligence.


    Garen suppressed the somewhat fluctuating emotions in his mind before shifting his line of vision towards his Genetic Pane.


    ***********************


    "White Night, are you going to the gathering tomorrow? I heard that high-level senior brothers and sisters will be there to explain the key focal points of the Scarlet Snow Technique''s first three grades, as well as certain physical states that will appear and matters that we should focus on."


    Within the base, a white-haired youth who looked indifferent had his hands crossed behind his head as he looked out the window. He was looking at the shadow of a smart Flying Ship outside that was constantly transporting goods automatically. Despite the sound of his roommate''s question echoing beside him, it seemed as though he had not heard it at all.


    "Ignore him, this thing is starting to daydream again," said another one of his roommates who was acting normally despite this strange sight.


    "There''s something wrong with him! Really, we''ll just discuss it on our own then."


    The other two people chatted leisurely while minding their own business and arranged their itinerary for the next day.


    Scarlet Snow Sect was a major sect within the Northern Yu Province that had forcibly occupied one-third of its domain. It was a colossus in reality as well as in name. There were more than thirteen civilian countries that were the subordinates under its jurisdiction while its territory had an area of a few hundred square kilometers. Its headquarters were located on one of the peaks of the Northern Yu Province''s two tall mountains here. Simultaneously, it was also the central district of its territory that spanned more than a million square kilometers.


    White Night had come here through the interstellar teleportation point to seek emerging opportunities for his household. This place was a haven for Energy Machinists because the highest grades of important Energy Machinists were located in the starry region near here.


    He would only be able to learn the strongest Energy Machinist techniques.


    The principles of the Scarlet Snow Sect dictated the survival of the fittest and unconstrained competition. There was a highly intelligent production line within the sect while the various materials for daily life were constantly delivered back here by the disciples on the outside. Therefore, the Energy Machinists that joined this group did not need to rush about for their lives as they would receive sufficient food, drink, and basic practicing materials every month.


    However, the entire sect was separated into three levels which were One Hearted, Two Hearted, and Three Hearted. The three different types of disciples received different remunerations while the difference between the treatments of the disciples in the middle was the greatest. Hence, the final goal of every disciple was to constantly upgrade their remunerations.


    White Night''s emotions fluctuated constantly. Although the Scarlet Snow Technique of Scarlet Snow Sect was not the most incredible skill, it corresponded best with his own clan''s technique. Since he did not dare to draw on his clan''s technique, the Scarlet Snow Technique that corresponded with it the most was the only way for him to constantly improve while going forward.


    "I''m a top-notch prodigy that only appears once every hundred years in my clan! Despite being in a foreign land, a person like me would still be able to climb to the peak!" White Night clenched his fists slightly and took a deep breath as though he was suppressing the irritable feelings in his heart.


    As new disciples, there were a few paths they could take if they desired to receive additional income and increase their remunerations.


    First of all, they could constantly accept quests like collecting materials and medicinal herbs, serving as guards and other manual labor jobs. There were various quests that they could accept. Most of the quests that rewarded the lower ranking disciples with higher incentives were certain additional quests such as requests for workshop helpers. These quests were sent here by the other sects outside the Northern Yu Province. There would usually be huge fluctuations between the rewards but these were good channels to become famous easily.


    The Scarlet Snow Technique possessed a special type of cold air. This cold air had a certain difference compared to natural cold air. Therefore, it was typically used in the manufacturing process of various frost-type Energy Machinery.


    Upper-middle level Energy Machinists would never trouble themselves with tasks like purely releasing cold air because the remunerations were too little. However, these rewards were more than just menial remunerations to the lower ranking disciples.


    Secondly, they could also visit the other major Two Hearted Peak Masters and serve as temporary helpers to coordinate experiments and assist with computing.


    When they were lacking time, certain Peak Masters would subcontract the regular Energy Machinists to complete some of the computing processes that purely contained recurring patterns. These subcontracts would require the participation of large numbers of low-level Energy Machinists. Moreover, they were regulated to check the calculations five times. There would also be extremely severe consequences if mistakes occurred. Therefore, it would consume a large amount of one''s mental and physical efforts.


    Hence, the remunerations of these quests would naturally be much higher. The things that were freely discarded by the Two Hearted were sufficient for the One Hearted Disciples to consume for a very long time.


    Thirdly, the next quest option was maintenance work. There were various intelligent Energy Machinery devices within the interior of the base that required maintenance and replacements of new parts. This was a dirty task that only provided an average amount of remuneration but was very suitable for quiet Energy Machinists who did not like competing with each other for power.


    The fourth option was continuous self-study and research to constantly bring up new supposition and conclusions to ponder about. As long as the conclusions of their experiments were valuable, they would receive rewards that corresponded with their levels. This path was specially reserved for computing prodigies and scholars because most people would not be able to do so¡­


    White Night laid face up on his bed. Level One Energy Machinists like himself belonged to the lowest level of the sect.


    Most of the places within the base had quiet environments. Other than the people outside who were meeting the new members, there was no one else to be seen except for some Flying Ships and Airships that were constantly shuttling back and forth.


    Under the intelligent operations of the base, most of the disciples and members entered the Flying Ships and Airships to travel to different places. The residential areas were the only places that were livelier. These places were not within the base but were at the foot of the snowy peak of the major Peak Masters.


    The main factor that attracted people to the snowy peak was the various subcontracts and quests with high remunerations. The Two Hearted Peak Masters special treatment and the beneficial radiation made many Energy Machinists feel that approaching the radioactive areas would help their training greatly.


    Therefore, many One Hearted Disciples simply built their houses at the bottom of the large snowy peaks to ensure that they could snatch the subcontracted quests at the first instance.


    The popularity of this place brought along many supporting facilities.


    This caused various different markets, shops, vendors, stalls, trade fairs, and black markets to be gradually built there. There were numerous types of transaction methods as well. Moreover, the disciples of this sect were not the only ones that gathered here. On the contrary, most of them were merchants and vendors from the outside world. There were also banking institutions, various major trade alliances, and workshops among other things.


    The One Hearted Disciples powerful consumption abilities spurred on the operations of the industrial chain. As one of the major sects, the resources that were occasionally leaked by the Scarlet Snow Sect were treasures that the normal people on the outside yearned for in their dreams.


    Mech Pilots, aristocrats, and rich people all came here to buy houses. As time passed, a little town below the snowy peaks was formed.


    This caused a strange phenomenon of a vibrant little city to form at the foot of the snowy peaks despite the quietness of the interior of the base.


    "I need the White Melted Crystal to upgrade my clan''s technique. Although most of them are very cheap here, I still require a lot of Spar Stones. Since there are so many little snowy peak towns within the Scarlet Snow Sect, I need to find a place that''s the most suitable for me to earn some money," analyzed White Night mentally. "The remuneration for subcontracted quests are very high but I doubt that I can snatch these quests from those people. As a member of the Gideon clan, I don''t have to fear any low-temperature environments. I''m also the prodigy with the purest lineage within my clan throughout the last one hundred years and I should be able to rush to a higher level quickly while practicing the Scarlet Snow Technique. However, the people here don''t know about the reputation of the Gideon clan. Therefore, I don''t think anyone will pay attention to me."


    His thoughts stirred continuously. As someone who had already achieved the Level Two Energy Machinist standard within his clan''s technique, it would not be difficult for him to earn money. He would only need to decide on a method to do it.


    "I think that it would be better to go to Red Sand Peak because Peak Master Orel is currently charging towards the ninth grade of the Scarlet Snow Technique''s realm. Most of the simple information regarding the nurturing Energy Machine Imprint that he took over previously has been subcontracted now. Perhaps I''ll be able to get some of it when I look for my older brother later."


    "¡­Maybe I should go to Black Wolf Peak instead. I heard that Peak Master Garen of Black Wolf Peak has already agreed on the Decisive Battle Platform for the fight between himself and Supervisor Werder from the outside. He''ll definitely need to complete many computations. We should keep a watch there first because he might outsource quests," analyzed one of his roommates on the side.


    "Are you still going to the meeting at Falcon Peak?"


    "I won''t go if I get a subcontracted quest," answered his roommate right away. "I''m still planning to visit home for a while next month to get some money from my mother. The prices of the things here are too expensive. I only need fifty Universal Units in my hometown for a meal while one Spar Stone can last me for half a year. To think that we would need to use Spar Stones as units here. What a scam!"


    "My father spent too much money just to send me here and my family isn''t as rich as yours. I''ll go look if there are any opportunities in the little town first."


    When White Night heard this, he turned around and got out of bed instantly. He saw that his two other roommates below him were currently holding a little desk lamp while circling and drawing on the calendar on the electronic screen.


    He jumped off the bed and walked over to glance at them before discovering that various activities, gatherings, release dates of subcontracted quests, and seminars by Peak Masters were recorded on every date on the calendar.


    "White Night, you''re awake?" Short-haired Blondie''s roommate glanced at White Night in a friendly manner. He had always felt a particular aura emitting from White Night and was certain that he was not an ordinary person.


    "Which snowy peaks have a probability of outsourcing quests tomorrow?" White Night nodded in response while asking right away.


    "There are fifteen snowy peak cities that will be announcing the quests that they will be outsourcing earlier on. Take a look, they''re all here," said Short-haired Blondie as he passed the little book in his hand over to White Night.

 1003 Information 1

    White Night took it and scanned through the contents carefully.


    Densely-packed names appeared in the notebook.


    ''Grinding Peak, Elsie Peak, Snake Demon Peak, Two-Headed Snake Peak, Red Dragon Peak, Black Wolf Peak, Red Sand Peak, Icy Prison Peak.'' There were eight names in total that were listed there.


    "I arranged them according to difficulty from the easiest to the hardest to get quests. The last four are the grades that have higher rankings among the Two Hearted Peak Masters. It''s harder to get quests from them," explained Short-haired Blondie while smiling.


    "Higher rankings?" White Night suddenly recalled the short fight he had witnessed in front of the automatic doors previously. Thoughts stirred in his mind faintly before he said, "The name of the Peak Master of Black Wolf Peak¡­ is Garen?"


    "Yes, the Black Wolf Peak Master does not usually appear personally as both of his helpers will negotiate on his behalf for all matters. He''s the type of person who trains himself painstakingly with great concentration. Royal families that came to visit from certain kingdoms were even obstructed and sent back. Rumor has it that he was merely a Level Three Energy Machinist when he first joined the sect five years ago but was able to achieve Level Four now within five years. He progressed really quickly." Another one of his roommates continued and said, "White Night, are you planning to go to Black Wolf Peak to get an outsourced quest? Don''t say that I didn''t mention this but when I got this piece of intel, my older brother specifically reminded me that it was extremely difficult to get subcontracted quests from Icy Prison Peak and Black Wolf Peak. Both of those Peak Masters have very high expectations and their respective powers are ranked within the first fifty positions. Don''t overestimate your own capabilities."


    His roommate also had short white hair and came from a family with good financial circumstances. He liked dressing up and shopping and had an appearance and physique that matched that of a handsome young man. He came here to enhance his social status and was not used to indifferent individuals like White Night. Therefore, his tone was not especially friendly when he spoke to him.


    He sneered when he glanced at White Night who remained expressionless.


    "Each of these high ranking Peak Masters are individuals with extremely high expectations. If I were to say it bluntly, they''re basically unreasonably demanding. You''re in for a good time if you offend a Peak Master by being unable to complete one of their requests."


    "Don''t joke about that. Those Two Hearted Peak Masters belong to a whole different grade from us. We don''t even have the right to even think of offending them. They are the most exceptional elites in the pursuit of the Inherited Path. It would be good enough for us to merely achieve the grade of Level Four within our entire lifetime." Short-haired Blondie sighed while shaking his head.


    Within some of the smaller sects in the Northern Yu Province, Level Four Energy Machinists were the backbone of the peak elites who easily received millions in their yearly salary. They would be given the best treatment when they returned to their hometowns.


    The distance between Level Three and Level Four resembled a pit. Many people were unable to break through to the next level throughout their entire lives. Those with Appraisals like Short-haired Blondie and his other roommate were only considered to be at the grade of normal people. They would need to spend a huge amount of time, energy, and resources to upgrade themselves to the next level.


    It was already difficult enough for them to evolve to the third level because they merely belonged to the grade where their computing skills were considerably better. Although they were still considered to be first-rate in smaller areas like the Northern Yu Province, those without more than two points worth of computing powers in core places like the Scarlet Snow Sect did not even need to dream of entering Level Two or the Grade Four of the Scarlet Snow Technique.


    The natural limits of computing powers made them extremely afraid of making unreasonable demands. Therefore, they would be satisfied with yearly incomes of a few hundred thousand to a million Universal Units. At their current grades, it would be simple for those desires to become reality as long as they achieved Level Three or Level Four grades.


    "I''ll spend four full years here before returning to carry on my mother''s company. After all, I''m not planning to make it big in a place like this. Despite being strong, there will always be someone who''s stronger than you in an awful place like this," said the white-haired boy while shaking his head. "It''s a good thing that I came inside to experience it once. It has satisfied me for an entire lifetime. This is the greatest haven for Energy Machinists in the Northern Yu Province!"


    "My only dream is to break through to Level Two within these four years before graduation!" sighed Short-haired Blondie emotionally. "Whatever, it''s pointless to overthink this because it''s still early now. Where are you guys planning to go tomorrow?"


    "I''m going to Elsie Peak."


    "Going to Black Wolf Peak." White Night answered in a low voice.


    Just as he had finished speaking, the other two people glared at him silently.


    "I''m just going to try my luck." White Night deadpanned while shrugging his shoulders. "I''m going back to bed."


    He ignored the gazes of his two other companions and turned around before returning to his own bed.


    **********************


    Garen looked carefully at his own Attribute Pane after it had changed.


    Only a few potential points remained there but new and completely different contents had appeared on his Genetic Pane clearly.


    ''Blood Eagle Gene -- Middle-level gene, current amplification speed: Level Two, limit is Level Three. Natural Ability: Blood Control.


    The completion rate of the genetic chain is extremely high. Continuous enhancement will automatically select gene fragments that are currently in stronger states. There is a certain probability that it will enhance itself and revert to the Blood Eagle King.''


    "Blood control?"


    Garen clenched his fist before suddenly moving his hand towards the edge of the Biochemical Pool and raising it towards a blue colored Big Wolf there.


    An invisible force enveloped the surface of the blue wolf''s body instantly. It let out a low roar suddenly and stood up to look around itself vigilantly as if it was slightly agitated and uneasy.


    "The effects aren''t half bad." Although he was only using a small amount of force, Garen could feel that he could affect the speed of the blue wolf''s blood flow. If he were to release it fully, he could probably control its blood temporarily and make it stagnate. If he could use this temporary stagnation against his enemies, the effects during combat would be extremely amazing.


    ''Master, Hillco is requesting to communicate.'' Suddenly, a voice echoed from the villa''s central control system.


    Garen was currently trying out the state of his upgraded Blood Eagle. He exhaled slightly when he heard the noise.


    "Connect the line."


    After a brief low ring, the voice of Hillco, who was one of the two main helpers, echoed over.


    "Senior Brother Garen, there''s a guest here for you. This person is a member of the Merci Kingdom''s royal family. They said that they were here to deliver something you needed."


    "The Merci Kingdom''s royal family? I don''t think I had any contact with them, right?" Garen furrowed his eyebrows and walked to the side. He put on the clothes that were hung up and fastened the buttons properly.


    "The person who arrived is Her Royal Highness, the Royal Princess of Merci but she has come with an extremely humble attitude. Do you want to see her?" asked Hillco quietly.


    "Did they say what they had brought with them?" asked Garen somewhat impatiently.


    "They said it''s one of the ores that you announced and asked to be found previously," answered Hillco simply. This was due to her issues in being a slow learner hence she was mainly in charge of receiving and relaying important information, while the other person named Bainster was responsible on operational matters and actions going out.


    "One of the ores that I announced previously?"


    Garen''s mind stirred.


    "Let them wait in the hall. I''ll come over immediately after I''ve finished changing."


    "Yes."


    Garen''s face remained unchanged. He moved quickly and tidied his clothes. He wore the Two Hearted pauldron that was supposed to be worn by Scarlet Snow Sect members to identify them before wearing the white cloak that was used during ceremonies. Only then did he take long strides out of the biochemical lab and walk forwards through the corridor. He reached the front of an elevator quickly. Once he stood inside, the elevator moved upwards rapidly.


    Ding¡­


    Half a minute later, the elevator stopped before Garen walked out of the two silver doors that had separated and opened.


    A group of people were in the hall waiting for him.


    The leader of this group was a golden-haired young woman with a noble disposition around her. She was not old and seemed to be only twenty-something years of age. Her long golden hair was coiled up high and she was wearing a pale blue, figure-hugging long dress while a black shawl hung from her shoulders. The most prominent thing about her was the exquisite white-gold ornamental crown on her head.


    "Your Highness the Royal Princess has traveled from afar to come here. Pardon me for making Your Highness wait such a long time." Garen put on a subtle smile the moment he met them. He strode forward before lifting the Royal Princess''s hand and kissing it briefly and gently.


    "You''re too kind, Black Wolf Peak Master. You''re currently the twelfth ranking powerhouse in the snowy peaks and have a vast path ahead of you. My reputation is inferior compared to yours because I''m merely a princess. All of my friends call me Aine so you may just refer to me that way as well," smiled the Royal Princess while speaking gently.


    "Your Highness Aine, I don''t think that I''ve had any direct contact with the Merci royal family before this? I''m not sure why you are here to visit me this time?" Garen signaled the other person to sit down before he sat at the main seat.


    He gazed at Her Royal Highness carefully and sized her up. Princess Aine was rumored to be one of the famous beauties of the Merci Kingdom and it seemed that she looked just as brilliant in person now.


    Her noble disposition was tinged with hints of an easy-going personality. She also had a perfect physique that comprised of an ample bosom and slim long legs while her skin was fine and smooth like a bright pearl. When she sat down gracefully, both of her thighs were pressed together tightly. However, there was a thin slit at the side of her long skirt that made it possible to faintly glimpse the secret place between her legs.


    "I heard that the Black Wolf Peak Master is currently looking for an ore called the Red Peacock Stone?" Princess Aine smiled faintly before motioning the maids and bodyguards beside her to bring a black box forward.


    She took the box and opened the box gently, showing a red ore on a piece of black silk.


    The ore was as glittering and translucent as a crystal. It revealed a naturally pure but indescribable qi faintly.


    "According to the laboratory tests, if you did not make any mistakes or omissions in the arrangement of the ore''s compositional table, I believe that this ore might be the thing you require." Princess Aine knew very well that being concise was one of the keys to dealing with these Energy Machinists because they were research and training maniacs. Not only would she be unable to achieve her desired outcome if she ran around in circles while discussing over complicated details, she would also end up with a blunder from overreaching. Therefore, the best way to make dealings with them was to get straight to the point.


    Garen narrowed his eyes and observed the ore inside the box carefully. "Would you mind if I take a look at it?"


    "Of course not."


    The Royal Princess passed the box to Garen.


    Garen pinched the ore from the box gently. His face remained indifferent but large tides were faintly overturning in his mind.


    Not only was this a Red Peacock Stone, it was also a Red Peacock Stone ore of the highest quality!!


    This thing could only be discovered within the deepest cores of the mines. Its'' density and degree of purity were both shockingly high.


    Garen had merely touched this ore but could already feel the desire in the Strands of the Hellfrost Peacock Technique in his fingertips that wanted to devour it insanely! This desire resembled a bone-corroding, numbing itch that was difficult for the mind to endure.


    Garen forcibly suppressed the desire in his heart to devour it before raising his head and looking at the Princess.


    "It''s true that this is the ore that I need. However, how many more of these ores are there in the Kingdom?"


    "That depends on how many more you need," said Aine, smiling.


    Garen knew that the other party was preparing to negotiate.


    He lowered his head and pondered for a while.


    "Within a reasonable range, I would need at least one tonne of them. Assuming that they are the same density and purity such as the one in your hand, I could buy all of them from you at a value that is slightly higher than the current market price."


    He used a similarly vague indication to respond. Neither of them wanted to expose their own baselines now at this time.


    Princess Aine smiled.


    "Frankly, my Merci Kingdom has a total of five mineral veins like this. To us, these ores are one of the raw materials to extract high-energy fuel. It''s a vital material that is wholly controlled by the kingdom''s nobles. Since your quantities and demands are slightly higher, I can only gather the total amount that you require if you give me a certain amount of support."


    "Support? As the Royal Princess and one of the top three figures within the Merci Kingdom, why would you need the support of a lowly Peak Master like me?" Garen smiled as he replied.

 1004 Information 2

    "You''re underestimating yourself. You''re the Two Hearted Peak Master who is ranked highly at number twelve within the Scarlet Snow Sect, one of the Big Three Sects in the Northern Yu Province. Compared to an Energy Machinist like you with a promising future, are my own lowly positions even worthy of praise?"


    Both of them started to take turns rambling, secretly beginning to probe for the baseline of the other party''s price.


    One thousand tons was not a measly amount. The Merci Kingdom''s total yearly production rate stood at around ten thousand tons. Hence, if he wished to obtain a thousand tons in one transaction, the slight difference between the prices would be multiplied to a terrifying scale.


    Despite being an elite Energy Machinist who was not lacking in funds, Garen was still careful and prudent when spending such great expenses. His main source of income came from the sales of the Energy Machine Imprints he made and the fixed resources that was given to him by the sect. He received more than ten thousand Spar Stones each month, which were equivalent to a few billion Universal Units when converted. However, he needed more than a thousand Red Peacock Stones, and one ton was worth over ten thousand Universal Units. Therefore, he would need over ten billion Universal Units in one go, which made this huge expense appear extremely terrifying.


    The two of them bargained for more than half an hour before reluctantly agreeing on a price. It was slightly higher than the market rate by 10%, but it needed to be fully paid in one transaction.


    It was only after the two of them finalized the transaction did they feel relaxed.


    The Royal Princess Aine neither had the Appraisal of an Energy Machinist nor was she a Mech Pilot. She merely possessed the Willpower that she had trained in order to improve her looks and to delay aging. Moreover, she did not have any combat abilities at all. She depended fully on the two maids-cum-bodyguards beside her for her safety.


    The sun began to set now.


    After obtaining the resources and materials to practice the Hellfrost Peacock Technique, Garen was in an extremely good mood. He saw that the Royal Princess''s gaze indicated she was feeling friendlier towards him as well. The trio decided to just stay back and have a meal with Garen in his villa.


    This villa was unlike the other one within the residential area. Each of the Peak Masters here had built a residence on their own peaks independently. Meanwhile, the villa that was assigned to them by the sect was their own dwelling place inside the base. Garen would normally only return to live there for a period of time.


    He called Bainster back to discuss the specific transportation method, location, process, and other details with one of the Royal Princess''s maid-cum-bodyguards.


    After eating with Aine, Garen strolled through the sightseeing corridor on the side of the peak by himself.


    There was a floor-length glass window that was completely transparent beside the corridor. Stretches of fluffy white clouds below could be seen through the window, appearing shockingly magnificent.


    "It''s truly a spectacular design," Aine praised sincerely.


    Garen smiled.


    "I designed this based on a winding corridor in my previous place of dwelling. Is it still acceptable?"


    "It''s very beautiful," Aine nodded. Her gaze lingered on the faraway sea of clouds for a long time as she revealed an expression of yearning.


    "Compared to you, the inferior mortals like us cannot see a chance to grasp our own destinies in the future. Moreover, we don''t even have the strength to resist great momentum or oppression. When I think about it now, I feel truly pitiful¡­"


    "Being extremely powerful isn''t necessarily a good thing¡­" Garen whispered. "Those with great powers attract attention. Furthermore, stronger powers create greater effects. The effects that are caused by your every action will be amplified when your powers are greater. Various dangers and risks will also follow. Since everyone gravitates towards becoming stronger, the source of their desires and goals are merely strengthening themselves. How would you be able to find tranquility in a life like that?"


    "You''re right," Aine nodded. She reached her hand out and tidied the strands of hair on her temples gently. "No matter which stage of life you are in, you will have your own troubles and predicaments. Everyone wants to get to better places, but in order to truly get there, you will still need to face the very troubles and predicaments that exist, except for the fact that they will change based on the new circumstances."


    "Looks like you''re very aware of things," Garen smiled.


    "Aren''t you the same?" Aine smiled gently and spread out her hand. Shrouds of cold air formed in the middle of her palm slowly before condensing into an ice crystal.


    The ice crystal turned into a sculpture automatically. Within a few seconds, it turned into a palm-sized ice sculpture.


    The sculpture depicted a sharp snowy peak within the sea of clouds.


    "This is¡­?"


    "This is Black Wolf Peak," replied Aine certainly. "Other than delaying aging, the youth-preserving Willpower that I practice can also do little things like these."


    "That''s an amazing craftsmanship for a sculpture," Garen praised sincerely. It was remarkably lifelike, and its degree of fineness was extremely frightening. He could even see a man and a woman strolling on the slim walkway on the hanging cliff at the side of the peak. Those two people were actually himself and Aine.


    The ability to carve such an intricate sculpture on a palm-sized object within a few short seconds was truly amazing.


    "I heard that Peak Master Garen and Werder are about to fight on the Decisive Battle Platform?" Aine lifted the ice sculpture gently and dispersed it into snowflakes that scattered themselves in mid-air.


    "The news traveled so quickly?" Garen was somewhat surprised that even the Merci Kingdom had heard of this. Was he truly this famous now?


    "You''re too humble. You need to know that we keep track of the first twenty ranked powerhouses within the Big Three Sects. Peak Masters like yourselves cannot merely be compared to the legendary Three Hearted Disciples. They are not stationed locally within the Northern Yu Province, unlike the Two Hearted Disciples that are most likely to stay back and act as the endorsers to be in charge of the outgoing posts and take care of the matters regarding various countries. Therefore, the ones that we should actually be contacting are the Two Hearted elites like yourself," explained Aine.


    "So the incident with Werder was spread this way as well?" Garen asked again.


    "Yes," nodded Aine. "He''s the Prince Regent of the Reydan Kingdom under the Scarlet Snow Sect. He initially had a royal status, but the national power of the Reydan Kingdom is weak. Of course, this status is insignificant to both of you."


    "You shouldn''t say that. No matter how weak a kingdom may be, they will definitely still have Inherited Level powerhouses," Garen shook his head.


    "The entire Reydan Kingdom only has a few Inherited Level Elders as their backup forces. If you needed it, you just need to say so, and my entire Merci Kingdom will come around supporting you fully," said Aine, revealing a charming smile.


    The Scarlet Snow Sect had many kingdoms as their subordinates. One of them was the Merci Kingdom that was ranked at a position that was above average. This kingdom possessed a somewhat impressive national power and had a lot of inside information. If he were to use them as support or backing, it would definitely be beneficial to him.


    "Then what will I have to give in return?" asked Garen while smiling.


    "The King''s youngest daughter, Her Highness Princess Simone, has admired you for a long time. Perhaps we could take it one step further by strengthening and tightening our relations¡­" Aine smiled faintly and whispered.


    Another marriage alliance.


    Garen was helpless. The princesses in the royal families were merely tools for marriage alliances. Moreover, he did not know the total number of princesses within the royal families. However, he knew that actions like these to issue marriage alliances everywhere and entice powerful elites to strengthen the bloodline and genetics were not something uncommon.


    When she saw that Garen was speechless, a strange luster flashed in Aine''s eyes.


    "I heard that Werder had recently broken through Grade Ten of the Scarlet Snow Technique and had undergone a significant increase in power. Of course, I''m sure that Peak Master Garen has already received word about this. However, I have a piece of information here that may interest you. Take it as an additional gift for our collaboration this time."


    Aine raised her hand and turned the white jade bracelet on her wrist briefly.


    Suddenly, an invisible electric wave was transmitted into Garen''s Energy Machine Imprint.


    Garen used his Energy Machine Imprint to decipher it quickly. The Energy Machine Imprints of every Energy Machinist were equivalent to a portable high-performance computer. Hence, he was naturally unfazed by something like this.


    After deciphering it quickly following the decoding method that was provided by Aine, he received a series of information and messages regarding Werder.


    ''Prince Regent Werder: His real name is Cheswerder and he is one hundred and twenty-eight years old. Currently possesses Grade Ten of the Scarlet Snow Technique. The remaining information will be discussed briefly. Latest information: Other than practicing the Scarlet Snow Technique on his own, Werder has additionally practiced a mysterious technique known as the Ice Cicada. This technique can temporarily increase the abilities of the Scarlet Snow Technique. Its explosive powers are not known in detail.''


    The remaining information below includes a video of the combat between Werder and other individuals previously.


    Garen furrowed his eyebrows and scanned it quickly.


    Needless to say, he had merely regarded this fellow as one of the assistants or attendants at the March''s side. He had never expected to see that this person had concealed something so deeply. The frequency of his attacks during hand-to-hand combat was extremely high and he seemed to be victorious every time. Moreover, it always seemed as though he was only fighting in the beginning because the fight would be suddenly finished later in the blink of an eye.


    "According to our investigations, we''ve discovered that Werder is definitely hiding an extremely powerful and explosive ability. Of course, everyone has their own hidden abilities, depending on whether they''re strong or weak. However, we were lucky enough to find some information regarding the Ice Cicada technique that Werder is practicing." Aine continued, "The Ice Cicada Technique is modeled after a fatal move by Mech Pilot powerhouses. He can release an icy sharp flying insect-like Ice Cicada instantly. This Ice Cicada has a body that is completely solid and moves at a rapid speed. Moreover, it''s extremely sharp and can even pierce through first-rate armor instantly. The specific details depend on the degree of the Ice Cicada''s nurturing."


    "The Ice Cicada is something that is nurtured within his body?" asked Garen.


    "Yes, so you need to be careful not to approach him during battle," nodded Aine.


    Garen was speechless. He had just broken through the Blood Eagle state, but whether the Blood Eagle state or the Ice Cicada technique will prevail... It would be revealed when the right time came.


    ********************


    A month''s time had passed fleetingly.


    The date of the decisive battle between Garen and Werder finally arrived.


    The decisive battles of those in the Two Hearted grade were unlike those of the One Hearted grade. It was usually the One Hearted grades who would get on the platform and solve their disputes; it was extremely rare for Two Hearted members to be truly willing to go up and fight.


    After all, most Two Hearted Energy Machinists were either Level Three or Level Four and were considered somewhat impressive elites within the entire Energy Machinist world. Coupled with their origins from a major sect, these individuals would be treated more highly than the average Energy Machinist when they went out. Moreover, they would be able to blend in well no matter where they went. It would be enough for them to rest well in their old age for the rest of their lives after they reached a standstill. Therefore, no one was willing to go up on the platform and fight a decisive battle with others.


    On the gigantic Decisive Battle Platform here, a white, cylindrical light screen was projected downward in the center of the snow-white battle platform, forming an independent area in the center of the platform.


    At noon, many people had arrived at the previously empty audience seats in advance. There were numerous people who had come out to watch the battle at the base that had been always deserted as well.


    Throughout the years, there had only been one or two Two Hearted decisive battles, making this a rare opportunity. A good deal of One Hearted Energy Machinists arrived at the scene continuously and occupied the good places to spectate the fight.


    The seats for the audience were unusually packed. The places that could seat more than a thousand people were fully packed with Energy Machinists and their friends and relatives.


    Fortunately, the Energy Machinists, who had always preferred quietness, were not overly rowdy. Most of them were merely discussing the entire process of the decisive battle in hushed voices.


    March and his group of people walked up slowly to the seats that were exclusively reserved for them. They sat down on the seats indifferently and closed their eyes to rest.


    The Decisive Battle Platform permitted wounds, disabilities, and even fatalities. It was a good place within the sect to resolve issues.


    Werder and Yiling sat beside March respectively and scanned the entire area now. A hint of a smile appeared on Werder''s face.


    "What a coincidence that I was able to borrow this opportunity to display Moonshine''s powers and to propagate it for once. It''s unfortunate that the few Two Hearted people decided not to come."


    March shook his head.


    "It''s just a decisive battle between a few junior members... of course, they would never come. Once you''ve finished fighting in a little while, challenge Beehive directly and test his basic skills."

 1005 Combat 1

    Werder nodded.


    "No problem."


    The Decisive Battle Platform itself was his main training ground. The battles to decide between life and death were a common occurrence to him. In the Scarlet Snow Sect, decisive battles were a common way to resolve disputes as well. Many people would come here daily and spectate the lively fights. This was indeed a place for many disciples to release their inner inhibitions.


    However, decisive battles between individuals who were so highly ranked were extremely uncommon, thereby attracting a large crowd this time around.


    Whoosh!


    Suddenly, a black line flashed past above the Battle Platform. It was actually a black, sharp and slim Flying Ship. The Flying Ship stopped on the empty space on the opposite end from March and the others before a man with short hair, dressed in black, stepped out of it.


    His eyes looked somewhat strange as if they possessed a mysterious force of attraction. Meanwhile, densely-packed clusters of black bees were crawling all over his shoulder, making him appear slightly horrifying.


    "Beehive!" March''s gaze turned cold as he glared at the other person fiercely; an uninhibited murderous intent seemingly oozed out of his eyes. "You dare show yourself in front of me after killing my little sister¡­"


    "Why would I be afraid to come here?" Beehive deadpanned. "Your sister had a death wish. Someone else would''ve killed her sooner or later even if I didn''t do it."


    "You and I will fight to the death today! Since you have come here, don''t even dream of leaving this place!" said March coldly. "The agreement that was made half a year ago will be fully settled today!"


    "I was just thinking of the same thing." Beehive''s face was completely expressionless. He teased the black bees on his shoulder gently and moved them.


    When they heard the conversation between the two people, the audience members in the seats below the platform burst into an uproar immediately.


    Within the seats at the edges of the area that were reserved for the newcomers, three youths had gathered there. They were currently staring quietly at the confrontation between the two stars on the platform who were arguing over a dispute. Among the three people, one of them was blonde, while the other two had white hair, making them seem like a strange sight.


    They were actually the three roommates that lived together in White Night''s dormitory room.


    White Night wrapped crossed his arms around his chest while staring at the center of the Battle Platform, somewhat curiously. This was his first time seeing a regulated Battle Platform like this. The Energy Machinists in the first-rate major clans were the only ones who were allowed to use it within the technologically-advanced Four Ring Star Alliance. Therefore, he never expected that he would be able to see a Battle Platform this great in a random province here.


    "March and Beehive arranged today''s decisive battle a long time ago. Perhaps Werder and Garen''s decisive battle was also planned beforehand. Every single issue will be resolved here today," the short-haired blonde youth predicted.


    "I''m sure that''s it. March ranks third, but Beehive is among the younger generation of prodigies. He was able to leap from Level Four to Level Five within ten short years. I''ve heard that he''s favored by First Seat Carthage. His powers are definitely very strong," the white-haired youth said quietly but confidently. "Look, I have good feelings about Beehive. Although March is amazing and Moonshine is strong, Senior Brother Carthage is the strongest and no one could ever defeat him! With his leadership, Star Plate could never be compared to a decaying force like Moonshine."


    "I feel that the fight between Werder and Garen is a show of power which will also be used as the appetizer before the main battle. There''s one thing that I''m basing my assumptions on. Perhaps many important people will be arriving here today. Compared to the two other battles before his own, March''s goal was not to simply defeat Beehive, but also to step on someone else''s reputation to improve his social status instead," White Night uttered these words, despite being someone who rarely spoke.


    "Someone important is coming here? How could that be? Senior Brother March and Senior Brother Beehive had already considered the first-rate Two Hearted individuals one by one," retorted the white-haired youth immediately. He had not gotten used to White Night yet.


    White Night did not refute him, choosing instead to remain silent.


    The blondie could not believe it either. Although the fight between March and the others would be of a high caliber, it was unlikely that they could attract a crowd of individuals from a higher grade.


    Another group of people arrived soon after.


    The representatives of the royal families from numerous kingdoms sat beside March and Beehive. The Royal Princess Aine of Merci was one of them. A high-class woman from an unknown country was sitting beside her, as the duo chatted and laughed.


    "Welcome, Your Highness Crown Prince Gauger of the Blue Light Empire." March stood up and smiled before bowing slightly in the direction of the Prince who was sitting in the main seat for the Royals.


    Over there, a young man, who was wearing a white crown on his head, smiled back and bowed as well.


    "You''re too kind, Mr.. March."


    The Blue Light Empire was ranked above average in a similar manner as Merci. However, it was clear that this country was supporting and backing March when he mentioned them on his own.


    Once the royal seats were all filled up, the crowd noticed that there were some remaining empty seats.


    Someone quickly began to arrange a light gold nameplate that was used to represent that guest''s status.


    The light gold nameplate was used to represent the distinguished guest with the highest ranking here. Just as this nameplate was placed there, the guests were immediately somewhat stunned. Was someone of a higher class actually arriving here?


    When March saw the nameplate being placed there, the corners of his mouth faintly turned upwards suddenly.


    "Beehive''s backer is finally showing themselves¡­"


    At his side, Werder and the others paid close attention as well.


    Just as he had finished speaking, a white light pillar shot downwards from the sky above the decisive battle arena, landing in front of the seats of the distinguished guests.


    Numerous silhouettes formed within the light beam slowly. The people who had just arrived had even brought beautiful female slaves who were radioactive people with them as well. The three beauties with different postures were led along by a man in front of them who was holding the chains around their hands.


    That man''s chin was slightly raised and he looked like a normal noble young master, except that one of his ears was not a normal human ear. It was pointed like an elf''s ear and seemed to be made out of a clear crystal instead of flesh, making it abnormally eye-catching.


    "They dare bring slaves into the base?! How savage!"


    A hateful look flashed across March''s eyes quickly.


    Slaves and radioactive people were not permitted to enter the base. They were only allowed to live in the cities at the foothills, to act otherwise would be contrary to the laws.


    However, this person had the audacity to simply bring slaves into a prominent place such as the Decisive Battle Platform. Clearly, he was either shockingly confident or completely ignorant. From the looks of it, it was obvious that he was not the latter.


    Once everyone was seated, three youths, who were dressed in white, walked into the area from the outside.


    The person who was walking at the front of the group was a muscular young man, his height was about a hundred and ninety centimeters. His short black hair would occasionally be ruffled gently by the wind. It looked as if a formidable air was being emitted from his entire body faintly. His eyes looked particularly cold and keen while the corners of his mouth were slightly downturned, giving off an intensive, fierce air with just one look.


    "Garen." Werder who was seated with the other distinguished guests stood up while his voice echoed from afar. "I''ll see you on the Battle Platform," he sneered.


    "I hope that you''ll still be able to smile in a little while," responded Garen casually.


    Bainster and Hillco followed him to the side of the arena and sat in the waiting area.


    Werder got up from his seats, accompanied by his Followers beside him, and walked down before sitting in the waiting area as well.


    March stood up at the seats for the distinguished guests with a smile on his face.


    "Today, I have the privilege of standing here as a referee representative to determine the victory and defeat of the first twenty ranked Two Hearted Peak Masters. It is my honor¡­"


    Just as the words had left his mouth, a commotion occurred below suddenly.


    Garen''s pupils shrunk and his face became contorted at once.


    "He''s the referee?!" Bainster stood up with a disbelieving look on his face. "Is this a joke? He was the one who called for this decisive battle and now he''s judging it too?!"


    "Hush," said Garen calmly while interrupting him.


    "But!!" Bainster gritted his teeth and spat angrily.


    "No ''buts''. There are too many complicated circumstances in the world, nothing will always go smoothly in favor of us. There are good and bad situations, and if we don''t learn how to counterattack when the odds were against us, we will never experience great successes during our entire lifetime," said Garen while calming down gradually.


    Time passed slowly before the index numbers of the various fights on the Decisive Battle Platform were examined completely. It was only after that had the Decisive Battle truly begun.


    Werder sneered before a black python appeared behind him and coiled itself around his body. A red light flashed within the python''s eyes slowly.


    "Go!"


    His silhouette flashed before his entire body leaped upward at the side of the arena, bringing up numerous phantom images that fell on the platform and stood steadily there.


    A black Giant Wolf appeared behind Garen. He stroked the fine hair at the neck of the Giant Wolf gently before the man and the creature walked up the Decisive Battle Platform slowly.


    "Begin," March''s voice echoed over while he smiled.


    The moment he finished speaking, Garen took one step forward before his right leg stomped on the ground of the Battle Platform firmly.


    Boom!


    His entire body shot towards Werder like an arrow, while the Giant Wolf followed him closely from behind. In the blink of an eye, the man and the wolf turned into black and white lines respectively.


    "You dare make the first move?" Werder moved his right hand before a conjuring a black chainsaw that resembled a whip. He raised his hand up violently and drew it precisely at Garen.


    Crack!


    The whip that was surrounded by cold snowflakes moving towards Garen''s head.


    As an experienced and powerful individual, he was naturally able to counter various attacks smoothly.


    The whip rolled towards Garen suddenly while bringing the strength of the Grade Ten Scarlet Snow Technique. He had decided to take advantage of the distance between them to suppress Garen. Simultaneously, a slightly black protective barrier illuminated beside Werder''s body.


    "Grade Four of the Black Python Shield!" He saw that the corners of March''s mouth were slightly upturned while he stood on the platform. "This is sufficient to counter one-time explosions like his."


    Garen turned his body and dodged the cracking whip numerous times. He moved his right hand before a gust of cold air gushed out and stopped the whip in place. Next, the whip cracked suddenly before Garen took the opportunity to get up and move over while moving his right palm forward.


    "Multiple Speed Fist!!"


    An outburst of speed occurred instantly. In the blink of an eye, his right palm could move thrice as fast, catching Werder off guard before being hit in the chest with a palm violently.


    Bang!!


    The black-colored shield shook but did not shatter.


    "Your speed is fast enough but your strength is too weak," Werder sneered. A python hissed behind him and leaped towards Garen''s face.


    The python was immediately knocked down by a black wolf that pounced from the side. Both of the Biochemical Beasts fought each other violently.


    Garen stepped back quickly and his face remained unchanged. He was merely testing out his current attack potential.


    It was true that his current speed was slightly faster than Werder''s but his strength was too weak. Without attacks or abilities with sufficient destructive power, it was difficult to damage his opponent''s shield. This was where he was lacking.


    If he wanted to be victorious over the opponent, he needed to destroy his enhanced shield layer first. The protective layer that was slightly black was not merely a defensive Energy Field that was released by Level Five Energy Machinists. Instead, it was more like a special training Energy Field. Its strength greatly surpassed the defensive Energy Fields of the average Level Five Energy Machinists.


    He had only one way to break through that defensive layer.


    "What''s wrong? You can''t do anything, can you? Why did you tell me to meet you on the Decisive Battle Platform, then?! You had such an imposing manner when you spoke, so why are you so dispirited now?" A hateful smile had appeared on Werder''s face. Although he could not catch up to Garen''s speed, he was currently cracking his whip four times in quick succession to create sharp whip-like shadows while approaching Garen one step at a time.


    Garen remained silent while his body moved on the platform and evaded the shadows of the whip continuously. As much as Werder attempted to taunt him with words. He did not allow himself to be provoked at all.


    A howling noise could be heard when the Giant Wolf at the side seemed as though it could not hold on any longer. The black python had coiled around it in circles and it was good enough that the wolf was able to withstand it until now. As a Level Three cannon fodder creature, it had already exhibited the potential of surpassing its standards.


    "Again!"


    Garen''s face remained unchanged while he rushed toward Werder rapidly. There was indeed a difference between both of their speeds as Werder was completely unable to catch up to his movements. When Garen''s palm struck his rib again, Werder''s body shook faintly.

 1006 Combat 2

    w weaker than it was previously, allowing him to sigh in relief briefly. He stepped back quickly and appeared on the spot that he was initially standing on again.


    "Do you only know how to run?" A taunting look appeared on Werder''s face.


    In the arena where the distinguished guests were seated, March sneered coldly.


    "Looks like Garen is going to reach his limits soon."


    "According to the rules, he can actually forfeit now. He can get down from the platform as long as he contributes some spoils of war." On the sidelines, Yiling furrowed her eyebrows.


    "Get off the platform and admit defeat? That depends on whether I agree or not," March clapped his hands gently.


    Pop!


    A soundproof shield-like layer suddenly rose on the Decisive Battle Platform below them. It isolated the interior from the other noises directly.


    On the Battle Platform, Garen raised his head and looked at the soundproof barrier that had appeared.


    "What does this protective shield do?" he asked while furrowing his eyebrows.


    "What does it do? It cuts off the noises from the outside, of course," Werder sneered. He reached his hand out and pressed the handle of the whip.


    A whooshing noise could be heard before his entire whip separated itself into three slim black whips.


    Through the shield, he looked at Beehive who was seated at the designated area for distinguished guests.


    "Lord Beehive, I bid you a good day on behalf of Lord March." He raised his three whips and flung them gently before the three whips suddenly transformed into three black pythons mid-air. They opened their big mouths ferociously and shot toward Garen.


    While sitting with the other distinguished guests, Beehive''s face became slightly contorted.


    "Four Level Five Experimental Bodies? What aggressive assets!"


    The spectators burst with excitement now. As expected, Werder was indeed worthy of being called an experienced powerhouse; he was able to reveal four Experimental Bodies right off the bat! It was clear that he had used certain specialized methods to increase the number of Experimental Bodies that he could control.


    Regular Level Five Energy Machinists could only control two at a time, yet he was able to control up to four.


    White Night and his other two companions stared at the Decisive Battle Platform anxiously.


    "Peak Master Garen is in danger!" said the blondie worriedly. No one had gotten used to seeing Werder''s arrogant face. Naturally, he was hoping for Garen, who was much more subdued, to win instead.


    "Four Experimental Bodies. In order to increase one''s predetermined limits, the things and resources that they had contributed would not merely be a simple figure. This is truly a large-scale project¡­" sighed the white-haired youth emotionally. He had enough experience in this aspect and knew that one needed to pay a large price and make great contributions. Therefore, he was able to praise him sincerely. "Peak Master Garen will probably surrender soon."


    "Not necessarily," White Night spoke suddenly. "You guys, look at Peak Master Garen''s face."


    Both of them listened to him and focused on Garen''s face immediately. Surprisingly, they noticed that there was not a hint of fear or panic on Garen''s face now. Instead, he looked even calmer than before.


    "Look at his hand!" White Night suddenly gasped quietly. Both of his eyes widened suddenly as if he had seen something unbelievable.


    On the Decisive Battle Platform. Garen raised his hand slowly. There was a light gold ring on his pale finger that was currently illuminated.


    Numerous black-colored Giant Wolves appeared beside him slowly. There was one, then two, three, four¡­ eight, ten¡­ twenty¡­ thirty¡­


    Densely-packed herds of wolves appeared beside Garen like stars that were surrounding the moon. Each of these Giant Wolves was at least two meters long and one meter tall. Their entire bodies were strong and muscular while their sharp claws and fangs gaze off dazzling light.


    When the four pythons rushed over, they were immediately and violently pounced upon by more than ten of these Giant Wolves, suppressing them on the platform before they started fighting.


    Within what seemed like a few seconds, the entire platform was filled with Giant Wolves that were released by Garen. There were at least thirty wolves in the pack that were raising their heads towards the sky, howling madly.


    Woo¡­!!


    While the Giant Wolves howled, the surroundings of the entire Decisive Battle Platform burst into an uproar instantly as well.


    "You¡­!! How is this possible?!!" Werder stared at Garen as if he had seen a ghost. "So many¡­ So many Biochemical Beasts!! You¡­"


    Garen took one step backward calmly. The Giant Wolves beside him crept around and howled quietly.


    "Kill him!"


    Boom!!


    At almost the same time, more than ten Giant Wolves leaped towards Werder quickly. The loud stomping noises that exploded at that moment formed a deafening sound. It seemed as though the countless black shadows were pouncing on Werder, covering him.


    Each of them was a Level Three Giant Wolf. When facing the four black pythons, these Giant Wolves dashed forward bravely without worrying about their personal safety. They bit them madly while scratching and tearing the protective Energy Field immediately. They tore the pythons to shreds before eating the bones that remained.


    Werder had no time to think before he sank into the attack of the wolf pack in a frenzy.


    Garen stood quietly on the edges of the Battle Platform. Each time a black wolf died, he would quickly make up for it with another one from his ring that would rush inside. His face was frighteningly calm as he quietly watched Werder being torn to shreds while he was held up inside. It seemed as though this was not actually a decisive battle, and even less so when looking at his own opponent. Although his gaze had fallen on Werder''s body, his mind had floated away to an unknown place.


    The outside world was currently thrust into a complete mess.


    March had stood up long ago. His face was pale while his hand was suspended closely above the battle termination button in front of him. However, another hand in a black glove had tightly seized his wrist that wanted to press the button.


    The arrogant man who was holding the slaves earlier had appeared beside March suddenly. There was a smile on his face while he seized March''s wrist with one hand.


    "Why won''t you let this good performance play itself out? Shows like this aren''t something that you can see anytime¡­"


    The corners of March''s eyes turned red while he glared at the arrogant man beside him coldly.


    The both of them acted as if they were close, but their hearts and minds were filling the air with bone-piercing chills.


    Yiling, Joey, and the others were beside him, but none of them dared to move. A man and woman in white clothes with silver hems had seized both of them in similar manners.


    Many spectators had stood up in their seats while some of them had even recorded this rare scene with their video cameras. Lively gasps of surprise rose and fell. Some people had even informed their good friends as more people surged into the seats around the Decisive Battle Platform once again.


    No!!!!


    The soundproof barrier on the Decisive Battle Platform was finally removed before a shrill shriek echoed over in the end.


    Werder''s protective Energy Field was finally unable to maintain itself anymore when more than ten Giant Wolves pounced on it at once. They tore it down to pieces instantly. Blood and flesh flew around immediately, creating a scene that was too gory to witness.


    He used the silvery-white Ice Cicada in the end. However, it did not have enough strength after piercing through the bodies of four black wolves. Therefore, it was devoured in one bite after the numerous wolves pounced on it and decreased its speed.


    Werder and his four black pythons were all ripped into shreds of bloody pieces that were now unrecognizable. The Battle Platform was a mess. It was filled with torn clothes and clumps of bloodied flesh. However, the wolf pack lowered their heads and chomped continuously while enjoying the fruits of their labor, happily ravishing it. Many people who witnessed this scene felt as if they were going to vomit from the gruesomeness.


    ''Garen wins. He has obtained a total score of one thousand points after winning the decisive battle of life and death. Once the video recordings have been sealed, they will be rented out to be viewed. You may receive half of the shares of the divided costs," said a cold electronic female voice that rose through the sky.


    The light pillar that enveloped the Decisive Battle Platform finally disappeared completely.


    Garen kept the wolf pack and walked down the Decisive Battle Platform slowly. He glanced at Princess Aine who was seated in the royal seating area from afar and nodded at her.


    He had borrowed Aine''s personal Space Ring. If it were not for her, this decisive battle would have been more troublesome.


    Aine had a splendid smile on her face. She could barely maintain the refined expression on her face, but could not hide the astonishment and surprise in her eyes.


    "Congratulations, Your Royal Highness. You''ve associated yourself with a future prodigy and powerful contender," said the princess from a neighboring country, who sat beside her, in a sincere tone of admiration.


    The rankings and speaking authorities of royals like themselves would increase greatly if they had the backing of powerful prodigies like Garen. Moreover, it would not be impossible for them to fight for the position of the queen.


    After this battle, as long as Garen was fine, Royal Princess Aine''s position would be unshakeable now.


    Within the audience seats.


    White Light''s gaze glimmered while he looked on at Garen who was walking down the platform. He had merely stood upright while the numerous wolves beside him pounced forward and ripped his opponent to shreds easily.


    Battles like these¡­ No! This could not be considered a battle. It was simply a torture! A one-sided torturous murder!


    "Too strong¡­!" Blondie''s mouth was gaping open slightly. He was dumbstruck by the great reversal that he had witnessed.


    "Upper Middle-Level Energy Machinists have powerful and specialized trump cards. Sure enough, we shouldn''t have underestimated any one of them¡­" An obvious look of admiration appeared on the white-haired youth''s face.


    "No wonder¡­" said White Night softly.


    "No wonder what?" Blondie looked at his companion and remembered that he was the one who had first realized Garen''s abnormalities. It was clear now that he had an outstanding judgment.


    On the sidelines, although the white-haired youth seemed reluctant, he could not pretend that White Night''s foresight was not amazing.


    "No wonder Peak Master Garen is known as the Black Wolf of the snowy peaks. The true reason lies here. He''s the king that controls these black wolves in the pack to bite and rip. Who would be more suitable than him to be bestowed with the name of the Black Wolf Peak Master?" White Night''s heart was racing. Energy Machinists like these were the ones that he truly yearned for! They were the ones who were truly strong enough!


    Energy Machinists like this¡­ were the true Energy Machinists!


    ****************


    When the decisive battle ended, March and the arrogant man separated themselves from each other. Both of them glanced at each other coldly for a few moments before March snorted bitterly and turned around, leaving with his entourage.


    The arrogant man glanced at Garen from afar before Garen smiled and nodded at him thankfully, indicating that he owed him a debt of gratitude. Only then did the two of them leave respectively after making a secret agreement.


    Bainster and Hillco rushed forward with respectful looks on their faces.


    "Senior Brother, you were so powerful! Forty-two Black Wolves! Forty-two!! My goodness! How did you pull it off?!" Bainster was so excited that his voice was slightly shrill now.


    "I''d expect no less from Senior Brother!" Hillco only said one sentence, but the respect in her eyes was not any less apparent. Her voice was even shivering slightly now.


    From the beginning when he fell into an unfavorable position to the end where he destroyed his opponent instantly, there were too many things in between that happened too quickly, making it difficult for the both of them to react.


    "Help me find the identity of the man who stopped March. I owe him a debt now because of today." Garen removed the Space Ring on his finger as a large number of goods and resources that Werder had brought with him were now kept inside.


    Since the black wolves were controlled by him, they had especially left the things that would be useful to him without damaging them.


    "Alright," Hillco nodded.


    A racket could be heard outside. It seemed as though a crowd had gathered at the exit.


    Garen glanced at Bainster before the latter reacted immediately and explained.


    "After you won, royal representatives from various kingdoms rushed over immediately. There were even certain leaders from the chambers of commerce and some of our Senior Brothers and Sisters. However, the most important individual was the Three Hearted Senior Sister Lady Regar."


    "Is she Eva Regar?" Garen was slightly shocked and suddenly recalled the woman who met him personally when he had just entered the sect. He only had a clear impression of the old woman, Fifth Senior Sister Rainy. However, he could not recall much about this Third Senior Sister. He had never expected that she would rush over personally in the first instance.


    However, this felt normal as well.


    Although it looked as if Werder was killed easily, he was still a high-ranking official who was in charge of an outgoing post. He was also a Level Five powerhouse, and Level Five Energy Machinists were already considered as high-level individuals despite being in the Scarlet Snow Sect. Therefore, an influential person with sufficient authority to speak would come and make a statement containing specific details to stabilize the overall situation.

 1007 Agreement 1

    Moreover, they had definitely become enemies with March and the others. March was one of Moonlight''s men, so was Werder. Hence they were officially against Moonlight from now on.


    Garen was in deep thoughts when he saw Senior Sister Eva Regar who was waiting outside.


    This Third Senior Sister was still as glorious and adorable as before, looking magnificent and tall like a royal princess in her tight red dress which accentuated her waist and her long, slender legs.


    "Congratulations on your victory over an old-school chief, you are truly an elite of the planet," Third Sister Eva smiled saying.


    "Senior Sister Eva." Garen greeted her. He gestured to her to board his flying ship and leave together.


    They both boarded Garen''s Number 15 flying ship, Bainster stayed back to tend to other matters, whereas Hillco was responsible for navigating the ship to the designated location.


    Looking at the clouds zooming past, Eva retracted her vision and looked at Garen.


    "Looks like you''ve improved a lot in the past few years. You''re so much stronger now compared to when you just came from the Central Metropolis."


    "You''re flattering me," Garen replied. "So what brings you here this time?" He did not believe Eva was just here to see him, Three Hearted Disciples like her did not usually work around the base; their usual ranges were the old base and the Void Battlefields.


    "Of course something''s up." Eva put her hand up and revealed a piece of blood-red color chip card.


    "With your special abilities combined together with the wolves and your halo effect, your superimposition effect should be strengthened, right? The operational intel department''s preliminary tests determined that your powers should have reached Level-One resonance stage, so they got me to send over the qualification card for you to be a Three Hearted Disciple."


    "Three Hearted Disciple?" Garen was stunned. "That fast?"


    "It''s not really considered fast. The fastest so far was Carthage, he only used two years back then, rushing from Level Two to Level Five, his speed was honestly unimaginable," Third Senior Sister exclaimed. "He was a prodigy misjudged by the big sect and our strongest disciple representative of the Scarlet Snow Sect. Although he just recently became Three Hearted, he is already considered as one of the top elites already."


    "Two years!" Garen was surprised. Only those who truly experienced rushing through the bottlenecks of levels could understand the amount of effort and sacrifices needed in between; hence to be able to rush three levels up in a mere two years was considered legendary. And only those with legendary physiques were able to achieve that.


    "So you''re saying that his physique is actually¡­?"


    "That''s right, it''s the Accelerated Talent, and it''s the top kind of Accelerated Talent," Third Senior Sister Eva nodded in confirmation. "Among the same batch of disciples, only Six-eyed Goldfinch from the Dragon Eye Sect was regarded as being in the same category as him, but Six-eyed Goldfinch was just an exchange student between the other big sects and the Dragon Eye Sect so he couldn''t stay in the Northern Yu Province for a long period of time. In the long run, our Scarlet Snow Sect will have a stronger influence in the near future."


    "Really unbelievable¡­" Garen sighed. Upon accepting the card from Eva, it started melting into a jet of blood-red stream and shot itself directly at the Energy Machine Imprint behind him.


    "This is a teleportation transfer card and is not an actual physical entity. As long as you have sufficient energy, you''ll be able to form a virtual store within your Energy Machine Imprint. With that, you''ll be able to exchange any sorts of resources and objects within the sect wherever you are in the Northern Yu Province. The prerequisite is that you will have to spend extra on delivery fees and for those which are slightly more expensive." Eva explained.


    "Other than that, we are awarding you the Three Hearted treatment earlier because you managed to advance in the Two Hearted competition and earned the right to select your prize first. There''s something suitable for you amongst the prizes in the snow peak competition and you also have the option to choose your prize first. Since you are now a Third Heart, I''ve made the decision on your behalf and utilized the privilege first, which I am sure you will definitely be satisfied."


    Eva smiled in satisfaction.


    "Oh?" Garen had vaguely guessed what it was already.


    Eva turned her hand over. There was a similar, white token in her palm.


    "Originating from the Energy Machine Imprint of the ancient ruins, this is the Winter Night Wolf Order! Hehe, this is able to increase your combat power according to numbers! This should be the perfect match for you! Just to acquire this token, I''ve offended numerous fellow Senior Brothers¡­"


    "Thank you so much, Senior Sister, I will remember this," Garen responded solemnly. This Energy Machine Imprint was indeed suitable for him, he was now Level Four already, yet he only had one measly Energy Machine Imprint because he could not find a suitable second imprint.


    The Winter Night Wolf Pack was just the perfect representation for him as an imprint.


    "Because of ancient translation problems back in the olden days, these were known as the Winter Night Wolf Pack, some were known as Wolf Pack Heart, Night Wolf Order and etc., but let me introduce to you its comprehensive role." Eva cleared her throat as she threw the token to Garen. "Each additional wolf creature will increase your overall general value by 0.1. In other words, as long as you release all of your current 30 wolves in battle, you should be able to reach a significant increase in Inherited Level theoretically. Although it is only an increment of three levels, meaning they would have reached the final Level-Seven increment; but in reality, it is impossible to do so because the Inherited Level is a form of change and not just a mere quantitative change. As such, you shouldn''t as for nothing less than a Level-Seven effect."


    "If that was possible, this thing would definitely not have landed in our hands," Garen laughed.


    "It''s good that you understand, those kinds of high-leveled stuff are surely possessed by only the elderly," Eva nodded. "The other function is that a wolf of the Winter Night Wolf Pack has the basic Level Four powers, which means that without any sort of increment, it remains at Level Four. However, if you are able to strengthen its increment value, you''d be able to increase its power to at least the peak of a Level Five Inherited Level. In other words, you should be able to reach the resonance stage in controlling the pack of wolves; as for what level, that I''m not sure. You will have to test out the other small details yourself. Alright then, once you''ve finished this quest, remember to treat me a meal when you''re free!"


    "No problem." Garen smiled and took the token. Eva melted and disappeared from her spot.


    It was obvious she was not physically here, but just a visual projection. Even as a mere visual projection, she was able to pass along the Winter Night Wolf Pack token and the Three Hearted qualification card, that just showed how much her transmission function has improved.


    The flying ship was soon reaching the Black Wolf snowy peak. Garen tossed the token in the air and caught it in his hands again. He knew that although they were now enemies with March and Moonlight''s people, he had managed to switch to a more powerful star planet. He lost some but gained some.


    "Oh yeah, Junior Brother Garen, if any Three Hearted is giving you trouble, you can contact me directly or look for Senior Sister Belanie, we are of one faction. Also, among the Two Hearted this time around, there were also two others who had also risen to become Three Hearted ¨C they are both seniors, experienced men of Moonlight''s. One of them was March, he leveled up relying on his accumulated points. In our star planet, besides Carthage, we are only left with you, and this is what we have worked so hard for." Eva''s voice came through again.


    "I will try my best!" Garen nodded earnestly.


    He knew that it was not a big deal with him entering Level Four in five years, but he would be able to kill off the Level Five old-school Werder not long after he reached Level Four. Werder may not be one of the stronger Level Fives and was comparatively weaker than March and the others, but to be able to kill him off would have meant that his combat power has reached Level Five already.


    "Relax, in the entire Scarlet Snow Sect, only a dozen people over your side are Three Hearted. With the fall of the elder faction Sister Heng this time around, and the two brothers of the third elder faction perished in battle, three Two Hearted Disciples are required to replace the three fallen Three Hearted Disciples. This will all be chosen merely based on combat power, so don''t let me down."


    "Don''t worry," Garen replied.


    Eva''s voice faded away.


    Garen landed the flying ship swiftly and returned to his own villa at the snowy peak. He got on the internet and searched for information regarding the authority of a Three Hearted.


    In comparison to a Two Hearted, the biggest advantage of a Three Hearted was having the eligibility to listen to an actual elder''s lecture in the seminary hall and enter The Great Wall Library''s third floor and above. The library stored plenty of other sects'' exercises and trophy classics and techniques, and Garen had long wanted to visit it.


    "The Great Wall Library!" Garen''s eyes shone brightly. "Perhaps we''d be able to find something similar there¡­" His heart felt warmed; if his genes were able to increase using potential points, then perhaps he could use the potential points¡­


    "But the essential thing to do now is to check the goods taken from Werder." He tossed the Space Ring in his hand up, this was taken from Werder and he carried around with him always so it must contain extremely important items in it.


    As he reached the first-floor underground storage room, Garen flicked the Space Ring lightly.


    Clang!


    A bunch of random stuff appeared on the white ground.


    Right in the middle was a small mountain of Spar Stones, which looked like it was 10,000 in value. There were two, small gold boxes on the side with mysterious patterns carved on its surface. He had no idea what were those.


    Last of all was a clutter of plant stems and dried animal meat along with some water and clothing, there was even a bottle of liquor that seemed pretty old.


    Garen took the Spar Stones right away and kept it in the treasury using his Space Ring, then held up the two small boxes. Other than the bottle of liquor, he moved everything into the utility room so Hillco could use the computer and scan through everything else.


    "When I have no cash in hand, I suddenly get such a huge sum of sponsored funds, I even received a thousand integrals to trade objects at the battle station. Killing really is the fastest shortcut to get rich!"


    Garen exclaimed.


    It generally took a few ten years to advance from Level Four to Level Five. Unless one was born a prodigy with natural talents like Carthage, coupled with the unlimited aid of resources, one would be able to reach Level Five quickly.


    However, with his qualifications, Garen was considered an average and is considered weak compared with other prodigies hence not having the luxury to shorten the time in between levels.


    "Seemed like I have to work really hard to improve my computing skills and practice my Scarlet Snow Technique," Garen sighed.


    He wondered if both Liz and Accord had joined a bigger and better sect and how are they doing now. That was about two to three years ago, and Accord was already preparing for Level Five back then, who knew, perhaps he had already reached Level Five by now.

 1008 Agreement 2

    The City of Nagadako.


    Numerous flying ships were soaring through the sky, constantly circling between the volcanos'' craters.


    One of the silver-white flying ships had four enormous jet ports at its bottom and was constantly emitting red flames at tremendous speed, pushing the flying ship to fly at an inhuman speed.


    A white flying dragon was carved on the surface of this particular flying ship.


    Inside the flying ship, a few young people were dressed in silver uniforms with a flying dragon symbol printed on their cuffs. They were seated around a large round table, playing some sort of three-dimensional sand table game.


    "Liz, aren''t you going to join us?" A baby-faced young man was playing the table game while glancing at a beautiful girl in the corner working on the computer.


    Liz shook her head. "Remember the last time we were here, it was with two of my friends whom I just met. I wonder how they are now."


    She sighed.


    "Friend? I don''t recall you mentioning before, haven''t they enter different sects already?" The young lad responded with interest.


    "Yeah¡­they were so much stronger than me back then," Liz said softly.


    "So which sect were they recruited in? Do share." The young lad questioned.


    "I''m sure they''ve entered a strong sect, but our Dragon Light Sect isn''t bad either!" A young girl playing the game pouted.


    Liz smiled and kept quiet.


    "Why not we ask them out this time if we''re free, maybe we can meet and get to know each other?" The young man fondled his chin and suggested. "Just a day out to relax and make friends, what do you guys think?"


    "Forget it, our aim this time is to purchase materials, let''s just finish the quest before even thinking about going out to play. Furthermore, this is a great opportunity to try out for Level Four. If we miss this chance, I''m afraid it''ll be very hard for us to get another chance." Liz shook her head.


    "Alright then, it''s all up to you," The young man replied amiably.


    ********************


    Boom!


    Far away in the mountains, one of the black caves suddenly exploded from the inside, pieces of rocks and sand exploded into the air.


    Tiny silver stars were shooting outwards, forming a gigantic Nebula Vortex approximately ten meters wide in the air.


    "Hahahaha!!! I''ve finally broken through!" A dark figure laughed madly as he walked slowly out from the cave. It was Accord, who entered the Star Cloud Sect back then.


    His inborn talent was much stronger than Garen''s. Now that he had received proper training from a big sect like Star Cloud Sect, it was like letting a fish back into the water - he was in his own element.


    "Brother Accord, you only managed to break through the Half-Moon Level of resonance, is there the need to be this boastful?" A man with a feminine voice could be heard far away.


    "Hey, how long did it take for Senior Brother Quinton to break through the Half-Moon level of resonance? Why not tell me that?" Accord snorted towards the echo from the West.


    "If only you weren''t that valued by the master¡­"


    "You''ve stayed in the division for so many years yet none of the masters is willing to regard you in a different light, who can you blame for that?" Accord said bluntly. "Stop being enigmatic. I''ll be leading a team to the Ninth District Star Cloud Void Battlefields soon, you can try and make a move if you want to."


    The voice grunted coldly and died down, no longer to be heard.


    Accord''s expression gradually returned to normal.


    The Star Cloud sect had one of the cruelest competition systems and was known as the toughest one yet among all the other sects. High-leveled disciples could even bully and exploited the low-leveled disciples'' monthly income. If one was unable to seek a strong protection, one would have no hope and may even be sent out of the sect straight away.


    Under such circumstances, Accord worked very hard to climb to the top. He practically had no time and energy to rest, all his time was spent trying to breakthrough.


    He contacted Garen occasionally¡­they both had each other as the few friends back in Nagadako.


    In a sect like Star Cloud, one need not hope to have true friends. Because of that, although Garen and Liz were not as talented as him, he did not look down on them in any sort of way. All just so that he could maintain a form of non-beneficial friendship.


    Thinking about it, he opened his Energy Machine Imprint and looked at the contact panel. Both Garen and Liz had their avatars lighted up, which meant that he could contact them now.


    "Liz, Garen, you there?" He straight away contacted them through the Energy Machine Imprint''s long-distance contact call.


    "Accord? Are you out?" Liz answered first. "I heard that you retreated to cultivate sometime earlier on, that''s why I didn''t dare to disturb you. How are you now? Did you manage to break through Level Five?"


    Accord hesitated -- he had actually been hiding something from the both of them. He had long gone past Level Five and was now trying to break through the resonance stage. If he went out this time around and manage to kill that fellow, he would acquire the Thunder Liquid and move one step forward to finally reach Full-Moon Level!


    But he was worried this would widen the status gap between him and the other two, some things might eventually deteriorate because of it. Moreover, existing in such a toxic environment such as Star Cloud made him appreciate this pure friendship formed by chance.


    "Not yet, I failed¡­" Accord decided to not reveal his actual situation.


    "It''s alright, just try harder next time, we''re still young, there''s still plenty of chances to go again!" Garen''s voice sounded suddenly. "You''re the most talented one among us, Accord, don''t forget us when you''re out there mixing around next time."


    "You can forget about it, I''m stuck at the moment, you guys would probably even surpass me, I can''t say for sure," Accord laughed lightly. "Perhaps I''ll be the one relying on you guys when the time comes."


    "I''m going to the Central Metropolis auction to buy some stuff. I might be trying out for Level Four this time." Liz was moody. "Accord, you''re currently Level Four, is there anything I have to focus on?"


    Accord thought about it and shared everything he learned when he was breaking through Level Four. Garen also asked a few questions here and there which Accord answered them clearly.


    "Garen, you''re currently in Scarlet Snow Sect. If there''s anything you need, just let me know. I can help you buy some things here and send them over to you, it''s quite conveniently actually." Accord reminded thoughtfully.


    "Relax, I wouldn''t be so courteous if I need your help," Garen replied with a smile, several years of contact helped built a strong relationship between the three of them. They were people of Nagadako currently in foreign lands; the sense of recognition among them strengthened their relationship between one another.


    "Oh yeah, I actually do need something at the moment. If you do see it by chance, do let me know." Garen suddenly thought of something he actually needed help with.


    "What is it? We are very efficient in finding various resources here."


    Accord smiled and asked.


    At this moment, ten or more different sorts of flying ships appeared at the bottom of his cave''s entrance. The surface of the flying ships was shimmering with a layer of Level-Five Light Membrane, which showed that the owners were Level-Five Energy Machinist powerhouses.


    One by one, figures started flying out of the flying ships. They had silver-winged boots on their feet so they were able to fly around freely.


    One by one, these figures landed on the flat ground in front of the cave.


    "Congratulations Brother Dark Light for exiting!!!"


    Almost ten or more of them stood together and congratulated in unison.


    Accord nodded in acknowledgment, these were his men. His power was renowned in Star Cloud, passing levels and killing people were day-to-day things. He was beyond outstanding, having risen to be the top ten strongest in the sector within just an extremely short period of time. The people who exploited him in the first place were now exploited by him; some of them were old fritters who were unable to advance further due to the shortage of resources and they were now his slaves; some of them switched sides and turned to him; some of them were Energy Machinists defeated by him and forcefully accepted as his men.


    In the 81 section of Star Cloud, he was now ranked number five, the most powerful disciple among the three of them. In addition to his exceedingly unique inborn talent, he was really influential.


    Gesturing his men to back down, Accord continued his conversation with Garen and Liz.


    "What I need is called the Staff of Absolute Yin, or something along the lines of the same material will do as well." Garen sent a picture over and some detailed parameter index.


    "This thing¡­" Accord furrowed his brows, he seemed to have seen this somewhere before.


    "If you can find it, that would be of great help to me!" Garen said.


    "I''ll help look out for it over here too, with one more eye on the lookout, we might just be able to find it." Liz followed suit.


    "I shall thank you all first then."


    "Don''t fret, I''ll send you news sometime later." Accord nodded.


    "Alright then, I have some matters to attend to here, I''ll end the call now. We should all meet up one day. It''s been too long since we last met."


    "True, since we each entered our sects, we''ve never reunited even once," Liz responded instantly, sounding very excited.


    "I still have some matters to attend to. I might be making a trip to the Void Battlefields for probably about three years. How about I contact you guys once I''m back and we can meet up?" Accord suggested.


    "No problem!"


    "I''ll be there!"


    Both of them agreed.


    After agreeing to the date, time and place to meet, Accord ended the call. The hint of warmth in his eyes instantly vanished as he raised his head to look at the crowd before him.


    With a wave of his arm, a three-dimensional screen appeared before him, displaying the photo of a rotating Staff of Absolutely Yin and its related information.


    "Send out all departments to search for this item."


    The Energy Machinists recorded down the picture and features, then silently dispersed to their own flying ships and departed.


    Accord looked to the west and his expression turned cold.


    "I will be waiting for you at the Void Battlefields!"


    A dark light flashed on his wrist as he leaped away, only leaving a trace of black vortex which disappeared into thin air.


    A cave within the mountains in the west.


    A middle-aged man with a ferocious expression snorted as he punched the stone wall. With a rumble, the stones cracked and fell in huge pieces.


    "I shall let you continue your act of arrogance for a while! You little bastard!!"

 1009 Three Hearted 1

    The highest snowy peak of the Scarlet Snow Mountain in Northern Yu Province.


    The sharp snowy peak resembled a bamboo shoot poking through the ground in winter, pointing straight at the sky, standing strong in the sky full of snowflakes.


    Glancing into the distance, an enormous white Snow Eagle could be vaguely seen at the top of the snowy peak, its gigantic wings almost covering most of the surface of the peak. From a distance, the eagle seemed to be crouched on the peak, resting quietly.


    At the side of the snowy peak, a white triangular flying saucer was flickering slowly, floating among the snow.


    Inside the triangular flying saucer, several young people stood imposingly at the huge, glass window in the front.


    The leader was a young girl with beautiful, adorable features. She wore a tight-fitting, red dress and red, crystal earrings.


    "Garen, can you see it, this is Scarlet Snow Sect''s iconic building, Scarlet Snow Peak, which is also the highest mountain peak in the mountain range." She explained with a smile.


    "Senior Sister, isn''t that tower the iconic building?" Garen stood by her side. He was wearing a white suit with a fresh new Three Hearted pauldron on his shoulders. On his back was a formal, long white cape. His tall and muscular physique complimented his powerful and grandeur aura.


    "You mean the Fermium Cloud Tower?" Third Senior Sister shook her head, "You will know soon. That tower, sigh¡­"


    The flying saucer slowly approached the snowy peak, then in the heavy snow and everyone''s terrified screams and shouts in the flying saucer, they were swallowed by the Snow Eagle with a gobble.


    "Hahahaha!!!"


    Inside the flying saucer, Third Senior Sister Eva hands were holding her own stomach as she laughed out loud looking at the shocked expression on everybody''s face.


    "Senior Sister, couldn''t you had said something earlier?" Garen asked helplessly. He was still calm and collected, but Bainster and Hillco who were with him looked pale and sickly.


    "Why aren''t you scared? You are such a bore." Sister Eva looked at Garen strangely.


    "I was thinking that with Senior Sister around, you wouldn''t put us in any danger, would you?" Garen said shrugging his shoulders.


    "That''s logical. But wouldn''t you react naturally when we were being swallowed?" Eva pondered as she fondled her chin. She liked Garen more now.


    Outside the window of the flying saucer was a swirl of colors, as if they were soaring through a rainbow tunnel.


    "This is the Dimension Passageway, a tunnel that leads to a secret planet of our Scarlet Snow Sect, which is also our largest base camp and headquarters! As for those bases located at the Scarlet Snow mountain range, they are all just for show." Eva explained.


    "A secret planet?" Bainster''s mouth was wide open in shock. "Wow, if it wasn''t for Brother Garen, I would never have had the chance to experience the headquarters of Scarlet Snow."


    eated on an electronic wheelchair by the side, Hillco had her mouth wide open in shock too. After such a long time, the headquarters they thought existed was actually just a fake, and the real base camp was actually on another planet.


    Garen was slightly shocked but recovered from it immediately.


    "From the looks of it, is it safe to say that all three large sects each have their own secret planet as their base camp?"


    "Yeah, that''s right," Eva confirmed. "Not just us. Many other sects do the same thing especially those larger ones. They have man divisions and each of them may have one or two secret planets ¨C to be used as marked territories for the disciples and also to extract minerals. You''ll learn more in a bit."


    As soon as she stopped speaking, the rainbow tunnel came to an end and blasted white. Once they adjusted their sight to the bright light, they saw clear, blue sky and white clouds.


    The flying saucer soared fast through the blossoms of white, fluffy clouds.


    White, spindle-shaped flying ships were side by side everywhere, they had some sort of claws beneath them and it looked weird.


    "Those are mining ships with slaves working on top of it. Some of the ships don''t have claws beneath them but instead, they have triangle crystalline ¨C those are ships that transport the slaves. We have the biggest slave market here. You can buy all sorts of ordinary slaves with just one Crystal. Slaves with a higher level of knowledge would generally cost ten Crystals and above and there is no ceiling price. The ringleader behind the Slave Chamber of Commerce is Carthage. He seemed to almost break through into Inherited Level. Perhaps you can drop by to pay him a visit at the planet headquarters when you are free, he tends to take special care of juniors with potential. Otherwise, he wouldn''t have become my planet''s leader." Eva only had high praises for Carthage.


    Garen was curious now.


    The flying saucer accelerated, leaving the flying ships behind.


    Soaring through the dense layers of clouds, the front cleared suddenly. Mountains and rivers, forests and pastures could be seen, there was even a golden desert far away; there was a small, silver-colored building in between every different terrain acting as the core.


    Various terrains could be clearly seen already within the mere range of tens and thousands of square kilometers.


    "This is the headquarters." Eva''s expression turned solemn.


    "What happened to the terrains here?" Hillco asked in confusion.


    "That was caused by the influence force field of the elders and the three brothers from the sector." Eva''s words shocked everyone.


    "Influence force field?!" Bainster exclaimed. "This large piece of land is at least thousands of square kilometers!! So¡­"


    "Every piece of land represents the existence of someone who reached Level Six of the Inherited Level, these are our Energy Machinists. Once we''ve reached the Inherited Level, we are different from Pilots, we''ll build our stations as the city''s great wall, if anyone dares to invade our own territory, they shall experience an excruciating pain caused by the strong energy field at all times." Eva laughed lightly. "So don''t simply go around causing chaos, if you stir something up, nobody can save you."


    "... It''s so dangerous here¡­" Bainster was speechless.


    "The weak only has one fate over here," Eva added seriously. "They become slaves. So don''t ever come here alone if you are not with Garen."


    "We understand. Thank you for your reminder." The both of them immediately thanked Eva for her advice.


    Garen was also frowning slightly.


    The flying saucer twinkled for a bit and leaped once more. When it appeared the next time, snowy grounds could be seen in front.


    The flying saucer slowly came to a halt on the snow-covered ground. A white, majestic church-like building was located in front. The building towered over the snowy mountain and had a layer of thick ice covered all over it, making it looked like it was an ice-carved palace. Three spots of lights were rotating slowly on top of the building as if it had been doing so constantly for the past couple of years.


    As soon as they landed, an ancient, calm voice rang through inside the flying saucer.


    "Welcome to The Great Wall Library, only Three Hearted Disciples can enter. Each person is allowed to bring two individuals per entry."


    Garen stared at the gigantic building from afar. Judging from its size, it was at least the size of a mountain peak. He could only see the whole building clearly now that he was standing afar.


    Suddenly, a flying saucer flew out from the library. It soared through closely leaning towards the right, scattering huge pieces of snowflakes onto Eva''s flying saucer.


    "Cordo, do you wish to die!!" Eva shouted looking at her clean, flying saucer being dirtied caused by the snowflakes mess.


    "Hehe, I''m just trying to train your resilience, Senior Sister!" A young man''s voice rang through the flying saucer. His laugh had a hint of mischief in it.


    "Didn''t I lose to you the last time already?" Eva was reluctant to submit. "Wait for the next tournament, we shall do a rematch then!"


    The flying saucer had already flown far away, obviously not hearing a thing Eva just said.


    Eva was clearly unhappy that she just embarrassed herself in front of her young juniors.


    "Alright, go look for the information yourself in the library then claim your own special flying saucer. There''s a prohibited region set up above, as long as you don''t go running around places you shouldn''t be, you''ll be fine wandering on your own. By the way, we jump here, not fly. Remember that now! I''m leaving!"


    Eva hummed and with a slight wave of her hand, Garen and the two others instantly felt their body lightened and maneuvered out of the flying saucer landing on the the ice sculptured stage in front of the library.


    Eva''s voice could be vaguely heard behind them.


    "Cordo, don''t even think about running away!!!" Her voice was in the distance. It seemed that Eva had decided to seek revenge.


    "This is the Beam Projection System, which is so cool! A system like this outside would probably cost at least 10,000 Crystals!" Bainster lamented.


    "Let''s go, stop lamenting." Garen took the lead towards the library.


    Hillco and Bainster followed suit, if the two of them were not followers of Garen, they would probably never get close to anything like this in their entire lives, particularly when these kinds of things were way above their standard. If they do not follow closely, they might just endanger themselves.


    For the past ten minutes, the three of them only made it pass thousands of steps which were covered with layers of thin ice. If they were not careful, they could easily slip and fall.


    As they made their way to the top, the temperature started dropping.


    Bainster and Hillco started to feel their bodies shake from the cold.


    "Damn it! My Level Four Scarlet Snow Technique can''t resist this temperature! Boss, I can''t take it anymore!" Bainster cried for help.


    Garen rolled his eyes at him and said nothing. Hillco was also shivering, her Scarlet Snow Technique was also Level Four, but she was still persevering. The same two people, with the same skill sets in the same environment, yet their determination were so different from each other.


    He took into consideration that Bainster had been a loyal worker with him for the past few years, always helping him in and out so he could focus on practicing without having to worry about anything else.


    With a wave of his arm, Garen released his own exclusive Cold Radiation, wrapping the both of them together, he then used the power of the Cold Radiation to absorb and differentiate the low temperature in the surroundings.


    They stood in front of the lofty library wall. There was no door, just a giant, whirlpool-shaped circular symbol with a pattern that resembled an eye.


    Swish!


    A pale lady dressed in a white robe appeared suddenly in front of Garen and the others, scaring Bainster and Hillco. The lady ignored the both of them, her sight landed straight on Garen.


    "Place your hand on the whirlpool and think about the place you want to go. All followers and slaves can only visit the lowest ground to read the common books. You''re new, so you will have to make a formal visit to the sect''s 32 ancestors."


    "I understand." Senior Sister had already explained to Garen before coming. Paying respects to the ancestors was an extremely serious ceremony in the Secret Technique World, which was why he dressed in formal attire coming here.


    He tugged the white silk cape behind him, allowing it to fall on to the ground. He straightened the sharp pauldron on his right shoulder before buttoning up and smoothen the folds on his shirt.


    Under the pale lady''s observation, he placed his palm above the whirlpool.


    Swish¡­


    There was a light sound, Garen''s sight blurred and within seconds, he was standing at the entrance of a dark hall. Its front doors were wide opened, blocks of gigantic bronze statues at least hundred meters tall each was lined up side by side. Every statue was magnificent and majestic, with different energy fields sheathed over it.


    The statues seemed like real living humans, thirty-two dense rays of light shone down from above as if the ancestors seemed to be staring at the new disciple''s arrival.

 1010 Three Hearted 2

    The hall was empty and deserted, no sounds could be heard.


    The statues were seated high above in a circle, overlooking the entrance where Garen was standing. He felt as if his entire body was being cut, their horrible vision like a searchlight focused on him.


    He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.


    Hu¡­


    Snap!


    He took his first step and as his heavy step made contact with the ground, a crisp crumble could be heard.


    He made his way into the center of the hall, his wide white cape moved along with his movements, just like a cloak. At this moment, the Crystal Pauldron suddenly lit up like it was signaling his Three Hearted identity.


    As he reached the center of the hall, Garen got down on one knee. It seemed as if he was burdened by a thousand grams worth of weight on his shoulders as he fell to the ground. It was so heavy that even the ground made a sound as if it was protesting against the heavy burden.


    Traces of energy fields with various properties were jumbled up and fiercely smothered Garen until he was crushed to the point where he could hardly breathe.


    He could already feel the main subject of this sense of power letting him go easily, but this terrifying energy field still had an overwhelming effect on him. His muscles, bones and blood were trembling under the high pressure, his heart beating rapidly, pushing his bloodstream forward repeatedly to defend himself from the high external force.


    Garen could only feel his body cells quivering and an excruciating pain was spreading on his skin as if it was being torn apart or being skinned alive.


    Inside the hall, traces of white frost were slowly forming cohesion under the effect of different energy fields, forming a light swirl of white whirlwind around Garen.


    Outside the hall, an old and week elderly woman appeared at the entrance, she held a walking stick and was dressed in a white robe and she stood there, staring at Garen silently.


    "How long do you think he will be able to withstand it?"


    "Usually I''d say about ten minutes. However, his determination is quite solid, so I think he can go up to twenty," the pale woman who appeared earlier on was floating behind the elderly woman.


    "Ancestral shrine visits, baptism always comes first, then a life-changing of oppressive exercises. The more one can withstand, the more improvements in one''s Scarlet Snow Technique, setting a strong foundation for the next advance. There''s about a thousand years worth of Cold Radiation accumulated in the ancestral statues. If you have enough determination and your body is strong enough to bear, you''d be able to exceed your limits and increase your powers," the old woman spoke. "Eva chose him among all the other Two Hearted disciples, it''s not just that simple. Twenty minutes is too little."


    "It''s not little, he''d be able to raise his Scarlet Snow Technique to at least a Level Nine," the pale woman responded in a hushed tone.


    "Thinking back, I only managed to upgrade one level of technique here to enter the Half-Moon Level, but it''s easier to increase your level when you start off low. I think he is able to pass five levels, he''ll reach Level Ten!" The old woman spoke calmly.


    "Even Carthage only went up three levels, and that''s a talented prodigy you only see once in a hundred years," the pale lady cast a glance at the old woman.


    "Just see for yourself."


    Boom!!!!


    Inside the hall, the ground suddenly split open like a spider web with Garen at the center.


    A vast amount of Frost surrounded him, dancing around him rapidly, almost forming a white frost column.


    Countless frost air rushed into Garen''s body, boosting the Cold Scarlet Snow within him. These frosts were the purest Scarlet Snow Techniques without any Willpower, just that they seemed slightly agitated which meant that he needed to endure a large amount of pain to support his body.


    Snowflakes were cutting all over his entire body. These snowflakes seemed to have a form but they were actually unrealistic objects made up by an illusion and they were not causing any harm to Garen''s clothing, but they pierced through his clothes and shot through his body, causing him unbearable pain.


    "My powers¡­ They''re leveling up!!" Garen could feel something out of the ordinary. His Scarlet Snow Technique which was originally a fresh Level Eight, the standard of a Level Four Energy Machinist, was now steadily heading towards Level Nine under the support of the strong frost.


    The Cold Scarlet Snow Technique originated from the same root as this trace of frost, even though it was nothing compared to the Peacock Technique, he felt an immense force within hiding his Peacock Technique entirely.


    At this moment, Garen could feel his entire body being instilled a vast amount of Scarlet Snow Technique frost. He felt his body absorbing the frost greedily like a sponge but also felt agonizing pain at the same time.


    After traveling through different worlds, Garen had gone through numerous pains of reforming his body, he had experienced the pain of rotting in the Mother Stream for numerous months, different cruel battles, killings and the misery of mutilation. In comparison, those torments did nothing to shake his determination.


    All he needed to consider was how long his body could handle this.


    The huge amount of frost was still entering his body. From the need of accumulating skills in terms of years, right this moment with the aid of the frost instilling his body, his skills were increasing rapidly and in just a few minutes, Garen had saved up at least a couple years of hard work.


    The frost was increasing by the second and getting tyrannical, Garen could feel his body getting weaker, he felt as if his body was a balloon filled with air, already expanding to its limit and close to exploding.


    Finally, he let go the absorption of frost and turned to fight against it, a thought of retreating crossed his mind.


    Suddenly, the frosty snow cleared the sky and the second he thought of retreating, all traces of frost vanished instantly, as if everything earlier on was just an illusion.


    A beam of red glow spurted out of Garen''s mouth with a sputter and circled him once before disappearing into his mouth again.


    That was the new Scarlet Snow Technique Imprint, which meant that he managed to break through two levels of Scarlet Snow Technique and had reached the standard of a Level-Five Energy Machinist! Only a breakthrough of one level was able to form a new Scarlet Snow Technique Imprint.


    A sudden blur of sight, Garen disappeared inside the hall and reappeared at the dark hallway outside the hall.


    He still remained in the same position with one knee on the ground, but this time with a force of energy field holding him up.


    It was the old lady standing at the side, Sister Rainy, and the pale lady who guided him earlier on.


    "You managed to break through two levels of Scarlet Snow Technique, that saves you ten or more years of hard work, not bad, not bad at all! You''ve almost reached the elderly First Seat, Ron Belle, and the third elderly First Seat, Cargus. We know about the Spirit Mothership incident, your determination and your physique are your strengths, and that is why you''ll be able to benefit a lot over here, or else third sister Eva wouldn''t have pulled so many strings to let you advance to Three Hearted that early," Sister Rainy smiled at Garen.


    "I will always remember what third sister did for me," Garen said solemnly. Paying respects to the ancestors this time around helped him a lot by saving him at least ten years of hard work!


    To able to instill power directly, he had never heard of such a valuable place, so he could hardly imagine the sacrifices sister Eva had paid to make this happen.


    "Third sister did all this for the future of our sector," the pale lady explained. "Master is old and weak already and although her body is not failing, after so many years, the highest level is only the Inherited Level disciple. The new generation never succeeded in replacing the older generation. Luckily, we had Carthage and perhaps we shall be calling him Great Brother soon, once he breaks through the Inherited Level and increases his combat power, with the addition of his born talent he''d be able to skip levels and even battle those above Level Seven. By then he''d be able to share the other masters'' burden."


    Old woman Rainy continued, "But unfortunately, sister Eva never really took a liking towards Carthage and his arrogance, they just can''t get along well. She''s been putting in so much effort all these years in discovering new talents to find someone capable of going up against Carthage, so that life wouldn''t be hard when Carthage takes over a high position in the future. Just because Master adores her, she was allowed to have her friends over at the Central Metropolis look out for disciples recruited by the big sects."


    "So she found me slightly better than all the other chosen people?" Garen could feel the completely new Level-Five energy within him, the Scarlet Snow Technique was layering thick within his body like a surge of strong tide, it was even a level stronger than his Willpower back when he was a Pilot.


    After upgrading a level in his Willpower, his evolved creatures were sure to increase in power as well, especially the wolf pack, they were originally at their Peak Level Three, so now they would be able to reach Level Four, an Energy Machinist''s increment was actually joined.


    "You''re more or less her only hope left. You''re not just someone slightly better. It''s like she found something precious to save lives and she''s holding onto it tightly," the pale woman shook her head helplessly.


    "To be honest, even though Carthage is a bit too arrogant, he treats his men well, especially towards sister Eva, but sadly, she doesn''t accept his friendliness."


    "Alright, we have all the information and rules explained in the library, you can help yourself with the trophy classics collection stored on the third floor. There are other skills and techniques of other sects that you can look at too. Although they''re not as powerful as my Scarlet Snow


    Techniques, you can still have a look," the old woman said.


    Garen nodded in appreciation.


    "However, instead of doing all this, I''d like to first steady my own level, get used to my current strength and power, I''m wondering if you have the suitable facility here."


    He had already fused the Winter Night Wolf Pack that third sister gave him before he came, this Energy Machine Imprint was able to nurture Level-Four based wolves, which were also known as Black Wolves, just that they were smaller in size but stronger. Now that he had reached Level Five and was able to produce his own defensive energy field, his combat power had taken a great leap in improvement. Furthermore, the larger the number of Winter Night Wolves, the higher his comprehensive quality.


    "You want to test out your new Winter Night Wolf Pack?" A gleam of light flickered through the old woman''s eyes.


    "Yes," Garen nodded.


    "Alright, I can accompany you," the old woman let out an eerie laugh. She was also curious as to which level can Garen achieve. With the increment of Garen''s current level and his Energy Machinist biochemical pool along with his Winter Night Wolf Pack, his wolves must have reached resonance stage already, as to which stage, she was still unsure. Every level of the resonance stage differs greatly, but every increment has its own limits and restrictions, so it was impossible that they could improve continuously.


    This was a great opportunity to test out Garen''s true capabilities.

 1011 Era 1

    Inside the clean, hollow room.


    Staff in hand, Rainy was quietly standing far away from where Garen was. Changing into a suit of white practice clothing, she seemed like an ordinary harmless old woman with the peaceful look on her face.


    At the other side of the room, Garen raised his arm as five Winter Night Wolves appeared before him.


    Once he started using the Space Ring, he instantly remembered that this was still Princess Aine''s personal belonging and he was just borrowing it. But now that he was suddenly brought along by Third Senior Sister as a Three Hearted Disciple, he could only wait utill he got back to return it to her.


    "Just five?" Rainy shook her head. "This isn''t enough at all¡­" She grinned all of a sudden, exposing her sharp white teeth, making her seem like an absolutely terrifying beast.


    "Just try it," Garen did not say much, every wolf from the Winter Wolf Pack was exactly as he imagined, they reached the Level Five limits already. A light translucent membrane lingered around them, the symbol of a Level-Five energy field defense.


    For a Level-Five opponent, they would have to break through the energy field defense before being able to defeat the gigantic wolves.


    "Then¡­ Be careful¡­" Rainy laughed before casually striking her staff on the ground.


    Boom!!


    A huge terrifying shockwave of energy spread from around her towards all directions.


    "War Trample!!"


    Rainy growled. Click!


    Cracks started forming all over the ground like black snakes creeping towards Garen swiftly.


    Poof!


    A gray stone pillar shot out between the cracks, its extremely sharp peak aiming to pierce Garen''s underarm.


    Garen got caught by surprise because everything was moving too fast and he could not react in time.Within the blink of an eye, the attack was in front of him.


    Without further hesitation, he kicked behind to dodge the stone pillar''s pierce. The five Winter Night Wolves were howling and darting towards Rainy, surrounding her from three directions.


    "Idiot! Us Energy Machinists from Planet Naga only rely on ourselves, not our machines!" Rainy snorted while her body flashed. It did not seem fast at all but it was just right for her to dodge the wolves'' attack, she even led the wolves to inflict the attack on themselves.


    While dodging, Rainy was still able to rush towards Garen at an inhuman speed. She was like a sharp blade launched from a sheath.


    Right when Garen managed to avoid the pierces from the cracks on the ground and just steadied himself, he then saw Rainy who was already before his eyes.


    Whack!!


    The bottom of the black staff was like a steel thorn aimed at Garen''s eyes. With that speed power, he might just be unable to block the attack and get stabbed to death.


    "Ten Thousand True Destruction!!" Under such circumstances, Garen had no way of defending himself so naturally, he used his quickest and strongest Ten Thousand True Technique.


    The destructive power twisted his entire body which caused his body to twist all the way to the left. At the same time, Garen''s right arm drew out towards Rainy''s neck like a whip.


    His eyes flashed too. Knowing that he had no chance up against Rainy, any sense of mercy would be ridiculously stupid so he might as well release his Ten Thousand True Technique''s third transformation to the limit.


    Besides his right arm whipping out towards Rainy, he held up two fingers on his left hand and pierced towards Rainy''s vital side of her waist.


    "Now this move is something!" Rainy was still able to comment calmly even when she was moving at high speed. "Someone with combat skills of Water Mirror Level can be known as an absolute guru among the normal people, but in Planet Naga, it''s nothing!"


    She abruptly let out a low scream.


    "I shall let you see a higher level of Water Mirror! Silver Mirror!"


    Her staff suddenly vanished, whooshing downwards from her front in a strong stroke.


    Clang!


    An odd feeling washed over Garen, he felt like all his powers were gone, as if there was a strong force of power drawing along his natural attacking instinct.


    Under such situations, his well-trained combat instinct was telling him that he had already hit his target, but in reality, his five senses were telling him he missed it.


    Swish!


    Like a shadow, Rainy dashed out from the right, her staff subtly hovering above Garen''s throat. Every swift movement instantly became a complete silence. The sharp point of the staff was nearly half a centimeter near Garen''s throat.


    He felt an immense pressure pressing on him although the staff was clearly hovering above his throat, Garen had a feeling that once he got hit, he would shatter and fall into pieces within a second.


    "I didn''t even get to use my Ten Thousand True Technique''s third transformation¡­" Garen said in extreme disappointment.


    This was a mere contest to see whose combat techniques were better, both of them did not use their Scarlet Snow Technique or their other special abilities, it was just an innocent battle between different combat realms.


    Unbelievably, he lost and was undoubtedly defeated.


    The instinctive drawing force he felt just now was a skill of a higher level, it was a martial skill and not just some born ability.


    The sharply pointed staff was still close to his vital point.


    Cold sweat was dripping down Garen''s forehead as he stared at the sharp tip pointed at his throat, he did not dare to move even a little.


    "This is just too disappointing¡­ Really¡­" An odd look flashed through Rainy''s eyes. "How are you Senior Sister''s hope when you''re so weak? Instead of being killed by someone outside, I should just kill you right here right now!!!"


    Finishing her sentence, the staff pierced towards Garen.


    The sharp pointed tip of the staff pierced through Garen''s throat, it was meant to kill him.


    Blood spattered everywhere.


    Swish!


    The tip of the staff pierced right through the back of Garen''s neck, drawing out fresh red blood.


    Garen covered his throat with a look of disbelief as he backed away, then only did he realize that no matter how good his physique was or how much potential he had, it would be unable to stop the vast amount of blood gushing out...


    Was he not just in a test? How¡­ How did this happen?


    He wanted to dodge it but his life was on the line. After using his shaking transformation five times continuously, Rainy was able to see through it. The end result was still him being pierced in the throat and he was completely defenseless.


    This time around there was almost no way to fight back. Rainy''s combat power had reached a certain peak. Garen had always been proud of his Martial Arts Realm all this while yet this was the very first time he was suppressed by his opponent, and this was not what he could not believe. What he did not understand was that Rainy actually made a killing shot when they were supposedly just training together!!??


    Drip drip drip¡­ Drip drip drip¡­ Drip drip drip¡­


    His vision started to darken, the vast amount of blood loss was causing him to lose his sight. Suddenly, a short rhythmic sound rang in his ears.


    Snap!


    He felt a throbbing pain in his forehead, something icy was pressed between his brows and it was prickling him.


    "He''s awake!" Someone shouted by his side.


    Garen felt his vision go blurry for a second before his mind awoke.


    He was still standing at the same spot in the middle of the white space, Rainy remained standing far away from him staring at him with an indifferent look.


    There were no cracks between them, the ground and his throat were still intact, there was no blood and no forms of injuries.


    Instinctively, Garen reached out to his throat¡­ It was still unscathed!


    "What¡­ What is this realm?!!"


    His voice was slightly hoarse, but what surprised him was that his throat was really injured, it was not all just an illusion. It was hurting and it felt as if something actually did pierce through, just that it seemed much better than the scene he just witnessed.


    "In the killing of martial arts, there is a supreme skill known as the Mirror Realm. When you''re able to do so, it means that you''ve managed to achieve a new generation of master and you''d be able to set up your own sect and move on to bigger things," Rainy explained calmly while holding on to her staff.


    "As for your current realm, the Water Mirror Level, you are able to respond to all attacks by your natural instinct, then your body automatically generates the best reflex accordingly at the fastest speed. So this is how Water Mirror works, it''s not afraid of hidden attacks or illusions, it fights reality with reality and is also one of the combat realms. It is also a higher realm than most ordinary Master-Leveled Oneness Realms.


    "How is the Oneness Realm differentiated then?" Garen asked with his husky voice.


    "Oneness, the name implies it all already, when all paths lead to one and it reaches a certain level, a particular pattern can be seen. Applying that with martial arts, you become your own target, just mix yourself together with your skills and you''d be able to build your own realm of martial arts skills.


    This is the Furnace level, which is also the foundation of the Master Level. Once you''ve reached this level, you''re then qualified to enter the Mirror Level," Rainy explained with a smile. "At your age, you''d really be one of a kind if you were to enter the Mirror Level, a prodigy among other geniuses, you''d be scarier than Carthage. If it wasn''t for his born talent, you might just stand a chance competing against him."


    Garen was still trying to recall the feeling when his throat was pierced just now, the pain he sensed was not just a misconception.


    "Senior Sister, I''d like to ask how is it in the Mirror Realm then?"


    Rainy laughed and with a wave of her hand, the both of them instantly left the white space and reappeared in the same hallway as earlier. The hallway was empty, only a lady in white was still waiting at the same spot.


    "There''s Water Mirror in the Mirror Realm, and that is if you practice your instincts at your current level until you reach the peak of perfection. It is then followed by the Silver Mirror, which is the battle between the elite powerhouses. Do you believe that the Qi''s Dynamic crossfire between one another is extremely intense, especially among the martial arts Master-Leveled powerhouses? I actually didn''t do anything just now, all I did was release my realm and allow you to perceive it. If I delayed just even a bit, you might''ve really died from the vital blow on your throat."


    Rainy explained gently.


    "You did nothing?!" Garen was shocked, "So everything just now was just my hallucination? Or was my natural instinct misled?!"


    "That''s the Qi''s Dynamic crossfire, low-leveled fighters shouldn''t even be able to experience this kind of feelings. You actually do have Qi''s Dynamic, you just don''t use its technique, which is why your skills are all suppressed by machines and all sorts of fancy technology. You can only use it in close combat fights and not under complex circumstances. Am I right?" Rainy grinned again.


    "Exactly," Garen nodded solemnly. Ever since he came to this world, Senior Sister was right about Martial Arts Realm not being suited other than close combat fights. It was certainly not enough for him to stand against high-powered high-tech weapons.


    "That is the reason," Rainy nodded. "The Mirror Realm is extremely deep. Seeing that you don''t have a mentor, you can only explore around yourself. So being suppressed by the advanced technology is actually really normal, but the power of the Water Mirror is that it can be used in all aspects. Against high-tech weapons, you don''t even need to be close to land, you just need to train all your tricks as a natural instinct of your body. You need to add your own instincts to your body so it becomes part of your conditioned reflex. This requires Mind Core, something significant you can only acquire when you''ve reached the resonance stage."

 1012 Era 2

    "So what do you mean, sister?" Garen seemed to understand only a little bit of it.


    "If you didn''t achieve the level of Resonance, no Resonance Level Energy Machinist would train your instinct. Hence, you would never be able to utilize your Water Mirror towards this generation''s enemy. Afterall, close combat is an old art. Everything would evolve alongside as technology advances. Ultimately, martial arts is a technique that is developed during the cold weapon era and we are currently in the era of universal battles with weaponry and between these two eras, how many eras have passed? If martial arts itself doesn''t change along with the era and adapt to the environment, it will never escape from the fate of being eliminated from the world," Rainy said emotionally.


    "Are you saying that my techniques are ancient?" Garen was speechless.


    "You can say so. I don''t know where you''ve learned these techniques, but they are indeed very ancient. I''m amazed you can reach such a level," a book suddenly appeared in Rainy''s hand. It had black leather and she threw it towards Garen.


    Garen caught it gently and opened it. Inside the book were drawings of human figures of different layers of body training. In addition to that, the drawings were in a series. Garen flipped to the last page of the book and saw a word written on the drawing - Reflective Mastery.


    "This is for you. You should be able to master this within a month. This is for us pure martial adept to keep up with the generation. Countless seniors have put in all their effort to create this precious inheritance. Bear in mind that you can only master one of them and choose it as your main ability. Once you''ve fused it within your instinct, you can then release the true potential of the instinct you''ve chosen with your Water Mirror," Rainy said softly.


    "How many more grades are there above the Water Mirror? Please enlighten me, sister," as Garen flipped the book, he had finally put away the attitude that he, a transmigrator who possessed knowledge of multiple worlds, was above everyone and wanted to learn from sister with all of his sincerity.


    There was no doubt that she had surpassed him at what he was best at. Every world had its own rules, brilliant and beautiful. This world''s peak was so high that it had reached a realm that Garen had never heard of before.


    He finally put away his attitude and was willing to learn from others. This was the skill that he should have had a long time ago, the skill of respecting knowledge.


    It was only then a glimpse of satisfaction could be seen in Rainy''s gaze. She had lived for at least a millennium and it was impossible for her to not see the faint arrogance in his attitude. Within the world of martial arts, arrogance is a lethal weak point before one reached the top. One would miss out a lot of opportunities for growth because of arrogance and there were many such examples. Garen would never become too strong if he couldn''t break this obstacle.


    It was only then Garen finally changed his attitude. Ultimately, he was still just a normal youngster from Earth. Perhaps it was his experience, accumulated knowledge, the increment in strength which made him more powerful, yet it was also what shaped his extreme self-esteem which had turned into a burden. It was a demon inside him that he had never realized.


    Garen had finally thrown away his arrogance and requested his senior sister to teach him with the utmost sincerity.


    "The Water Mirror represents the peak of instinct and the Silver Mirror represents the peak of Qi''s Dynamic. The Board, which is above the Mirror is the highest height a strength can ever reach," memories seemed to have flashed passed in her eyes.


    "The Board?" Garen muttered as he repeated what she said.


    "The Silver Mirror represents one''s accumulated strength. After accumulating for a certain amount of time, one''s body would naturally harness the power of gravity, where each of his movement would induce the electromagnetic fields around him, naturally forming the Qi''s Dynamic. Hence, he alone could manipulate the power of the universe which is an astonishing feat. This is where one starts to evolve into a higher being. You can safely assume that once you''ve entered that realm, your limbs would grow back when it''s amputated, your organs would gain its health back, greatly extending your lifespan. Teeth will grow once more and these are extremely common to them. Your lifespan will extend to a thousand years when you reach that level," Rainy said proudly.


    "A thousand years!" Garen gasped. This wasn''t the result of any genetic modification but a natural evolution from mastering the martial arts. This meant that any human could reach such height regardless of their genes. This also meant that any commoner could walk on the path to the peak of strength!


    The woman in white shirt nodded her head.


    "I am in the realm after the Silver Mirror. I, Senior sister Rainy, have spent six hundred years to go from the Water Mirror to the Silver Mirror and I am considered a genius among the geniuses. It''s best for you to not be arrogant."


    "It''s fine," Rainy waved her hand. "It''s best for you to know how weak you are. The realm of Board which comes after is the beginning of Non-Falling Level becoming the Perpetual Motioners. One has to enter the Board Level in order to become a Perpetual Motioner. It''s best for you to listen to these and know the difference in skill between these monsters and you."


    Garen nodded and behaved like a junior.


    "The Board represents success and ultimatum. It is called the Board as it derives from the word chessboard. Perpetual Motioners are called so because they are always breathing and moving. It means they have a long lifespan and would never wither," Rainy''s gaze was filled with aspirations. "They, who were once chess pieces had jumped out of the board and the grasp of the chess players and created their own universe. To the Perpetual Motioners, everyone below them are like the chess pieces on the chessboard. No matter how much the chess piece struggles, they will always be on the Board and not injure the chess players. This is the difference between their strengths. If one doesn''t understand the Board, then he shall never understand how wide the difference is."


    "If that''s the case, how strong are the people at those levels?" Garen was a little aspired as the realm sounded like the mythical realm.


    "How strong are they? Only those in the same boat would understand. The worm which only lives during summer will never see winter in their life. How will they understand how cold winter is? How will they understand the changes among the four seasons?" Rainy sighed.


    "The board represents us, the Finite people and the other races. It is the highest realm for all of us. The Perpetual Motioners are the most valuable strategic class weapons in the universe. They have attributes of an immortal and their lifespan was extremely long. It is common for them to obliterate a planet on their own. People of this caliber are often conquerors of planets or Grand Marshall of a Military Planet. All of them have their own duties and they''re extremely frightening. One of them alone could oppress an entire normal planet.


    "Then what kind of strength does a Regent Level possess?" Garen recalled a legendary Regent Level that had been passed down from this world for as long as he remembered.


    "The Regent Level is the peak of everything. It has already become a legend. If we can still see a living example of a Perpetual Motioner, then we will never be able to see a Regent Level," Rainy laughed. "They are able to destroy an entire planet by just flexing their body and kill millions of lives by just exhaling. Their presence is as big as a planet. They will curl up and sleep for millions of years and we won''t notice it at all even if we are living on his body. The Regent Level is truly the pinnacle of everything. Legend has it that they could easily destroy an entire solar system in their battle. If it is a slightly more serious battle, an entire star system would suffer serious damage. The reason why we do not wish to engage war with the Finite people is because of the previous battle by the Regent Level. If they were to fight each other again, all the commoners would''ve died before the victory is determined. It is equivalent to perishing together. As to how to reach the height of the Regent Level, only they themselves know and it is definitely above the Board."


    Garen took a deep breath, closed his eyes as he understood the magnificence of this era. It had far surpassed all the civilization that he had been through. It was truly a civilization with power that stood above all. They would have conquered countless of star systems if the two major races didn''t fight among themselves and might even be on par with the Warlocks.


    "Planet Cloudstone is currently holding an interstellar wide competition and it''s the cruelest competition around. You can leap there when you''re free since we have a foreign office located on Planet Cloudstone. Hence, you don''t have to worry about food or guidance," the woman in white shirt smiled. "Don''t overthink about the situation. As long as you can enter the Inherited Level Six and reach the pinnacle, you will be able to have a place in the sect. You''ll also get to enjoy a lifespan of thousands of years and own a territory. As to those Board and Regent Level, don''t put it in your heart and just listen to it for the sake of listening."


    Garen nodded without saying a word. It''s indeed true that he didn''t dare to think of the existence of a Regent Level, whose influence was as big as a planet.


    "By the way, since you''ve become the Three Hearted Disciples, you have the duty to enter the Void Battlefields. You have a month''s time to organize your items, settle all sorts of affairs before you enter the Void Battlefields. This is the rule of an Energy Machinist. You''ll be treated based on your contribution and merits. You are not qualified to enter even the library if you don''t fulfill the mission to a certain extent," the woman in white shirt explained. "You can visit the slave market when you''re free to pick a slave to take care of your personal life. You should also find a useful and effective slave that you can bring into the Void Battlefield. You must build your own safety points inside. Remember, do not trust anyone inside the Void Battlefields as it is an extremely dangerous place. The Void Creatures are extremely powerful and hard to differentiate."


    The white-shirted woman reached out her hand and threw a white ring towards Garen.


    "This is the Space Ring for you as a Three Hearted. It is slightly better than the one you currently have. Since the ring you have is supposed to be worn by a woman, you should give it back to Princess Aine," she said as she had a faint smile on her face.


    Garen smiled awkwardly as he grabbed hold of the ring. After sensing it for a while, he found out that it was very spacious inside and was slightly better than Aine''s ring.


    "I suggest you train around the area by taking up some local missions before you head towards the Void Battlefields. You should head out once you know where you stand in terms of strength," Rainy said coldly. "We disciples will have a sparring competition once every five years. Remember to be nearby once the time has come so that you won''t be late."


    "Understood," Garen nodded.


    "Alright, you can go and do your stuff now," Rainy waved her hands as she turned around slowly. Although she looked slow when she turned around, she soon disappeared into the corridor in a matter of seconds.


    The white-shirted woman looked at Garen in admiration.


    "From now on, you''re the fifteenth Three Hearted disciples in the Scarlet Snow Sect in the whole Scarlet Snow Planet. From the very beginning of the Scarlet Snow Sect, we always have only fifteen Three Hearted Disciples. You''re extremely lucky to manage to become one."


    Only fifteen people?


    Garen was stunned.


    "Excluding the elder and the guardians, everyone is self-taught and are equally ranked. You''re now the fifteenth royal highness in the entire Scarlet Snow Sect," the white-shirted woman addressed him as if he had a royal blood.


    "Royal Highness?" Garen was shocked.


    "Of course. Why do you think everyone wants to be the Three Hearted Disciples. These fifteen people will be the Scarlet Snow Sect''s strongest men in the future. If you were to die during battle or lose to the Two Hearted Disciple thrice during the once in five years sparring, your Three Hearted title will be ripped away from you. You''ll then have to compete once more as a Two Hearted Disciple. Naturally, this shouldn''t be a problem to you."


    .

 1013 Planet Scarlet Snow 1

    As he walked out of the corridor, Garen put away his Three Hearted gears as these items were only useful during formal occasions. Otherwise, it would be ridiculously heavy and inconvenient.


    He then followed the woman in the white shirt as they entered the library.


    The walls of the spacious library were densely packed with countless shiny, white imprints. These imprints were similar in size but varied in shape. Some of them looked like a person''s face while others looked like a mysterious symbol. However, the majority of them seemed to be imprints without any meaning.


    As both of them walked in between these imprints, the footsteps could clearly be heard as it reverberated in the spacious hall.


    The white-shirted woman was leading the path. She looked rather thin and didn''t seem like she was walking with her feet. Instead, she looked like she was gently floating through the way.


    "Every marking here represents a different type of book and its information. There is a slight difference in the marking''s color. The brighter it is, the newer it is and vice versa. You''re free to look around. Just remember to not go to the fifth floor and you''re free to roam around. You don''t have to follow me."


    Garen nodded as he bowed politely to express his gratitude. He then turned around and walked to the staircase which led up to the second floor. There was a row of symbols placed at the edge of the corner of the staircase.


    ''''


    The first marking immediately revealed its information the moment Garen touched it. It was only when he got closer to these markings that he could hear a low buzzing noise coming off from them.


    Garen released the marking as he touched the other one.


    ''''


    ''''


    ''''


    "There''s nothing but traveling here. I should go and look for something related to Killing Moves," Garen had always had an interest towards libraries as this place represented the storage of knowledge and an invisibly huge wealth.


    As he glanced over all these markings, the genres changed from travel to cooking and then philosophy.


    There were a few cylindrical pillars at the center of the second floor. The giant pillars were structured similar to the Roman pillars and there were three different markings on them.


    Garen walked towards and touched the first pillar.


    '''' He casually glanced through the information inside, which he flipped the book with his Willpower. Garen finished the book rather quickly and it was rather useless to him as it was all about the combat strategy below the Water Mirror Level.


    He shut his eyes as he stood still for a while before opening them again and headed towards the other stone pillar.


    Suddenly, a person gently pressed onto the wall''s marking nearby him. Garen could see a black-shirted woman appear on his left without his realization from the corner of his vision.


    She was a woman with a veil which only revealed her blue eyes. While her face was hard to make clear of, she had a rather good body proportion and she seemed to be injured as she shivered gently while giving off a sense of courageous.


    uddenly, a man in white shirt appeared beside the woman in the black shirt as he stared coldly at her.


    "Do you think you''re safe inside this place? What a joke!" The man said coldly.


    The black-shirted woman didn''t even bother looking at him as she closed her eyes and analyzed the book in the marking.


    "Xunque, you''re still putting up a pointless struggle. You''ve killed twenty-three of my brothers and ruined one of my wife''s eyes. You''ll not escape this place no matter what, even if this is the Scarlet Snow Sect''s great library! No Three Hearted Disciples here will protect you!" The white-shirted man laughed coldly.


    "I didn''t do anything," Xunque, the black-shirted woman replied coldly.


    "It''s the same even if your sister had done it!" The man didn''t hide his killing intent at all.


    Garen glanced at them as he realized that they were not members of the Scarlet Snow Sect from their conversation. They were outsiders who were qualified to enter this area.


    He then used his privilege as an Energy Machinist to look up any information from the information system. He soon then found a set of rules.


    ''Outsiders are required to pay a fee of five hundred thousands Crystals to access the Great Wall Library for a month. However, it is limited to two floors.''


    "There''s such a rule huh," Garen was speechless as he looked at the fee of five hundred thousands Crystals. One could only access the library for a month for such a huge amount of wealth.


    The two not far away from Garen started pulling and pushing each other. The white-shirted man pulled the woman''s shirt and tore her shirt apart, revealing her black bra and naked body.


    "I guess your sister''s gene runs in the entire Household. Everyone has such a lustrous body! You''ve forgotten the most important thing here, The Great Wall Library doesn''t restrict people from attacking each other¡­" The white-shirted man started smirking in an evil manner.


    The black-shirted woman was only wearing a black bra and a pair of white tight jeans. She then took a few steps and leaned against the wall. One could even see her flustered expression through the veil.


    "My sister is the one who killed your people. You should look for her, not me!!" She immediately explained softly.


    "Your sister has incredible power. Isn''t it suicide if I were to find her? Isn''t it better to gain some benefit from you?" The man started smirking.


    Ah!


    The man used an unknown method to tear away the girl''s pants. Surprisingly, she wasn''t anything underneath her jeans and her entire lower body was exposed.


    She tried to run away but the man managed to grab her legs and pin her down to the ground.


    Her legs were spread wide open, revealing a mysterious black patch in between the legs. A glimpse of excitement could be seen in the man''s gaze as he stepped onto the woman''s leg with one of his legs while he tried to loosen his pants with his hand.


    Garen was speechless as he soon heard the sound of them having a go at each other. He was lost for words as he saw such a sight when he had just arrived the place.


    He then reached his hand out opposite to where they were. However, it was strange that the duo didn''t seem to notice him as he walked past them. They seemed to be minding their own business without a care to the rest of the world.


    He could see that both the man and woman were enjoying the session. That woman didn''t seem like she was forced into the situation but rather she was trying to push him away half-heartedly. Their lower bodies were linked together and they didn''t even realize Garen as he walked past them.


    Garen then looked up the information system and it was only then he when found out that the Three Hearted Disciple had invisibility, a natural ability when one was in the library. It was a special privilege given by the library so that they could choose not to interact with the outsiders.


    Garen then looked at each of the markings as he ignored the two.


    Soon, the man seemed to have achieved satisfaction as he left the area while holding his pants up. The black-shirted woman quickly wore her shirt and cleaned up the floor before continuing looking at the books from the marking.


    After a while, another man with golden hair in a red suit appeared beside her.


    "I''ve arrived Xunque!" This man was even more direct towards the woman in the black shirt as he naturally opened his zips and inserted it into her as he pulled up her newly worn skirt.


    Both of them started having a go at each other.


    Garen was speechless as he looked at them as he interacted with a marking that resembled a flower.


    "Ahh!!~~~"


    The mixture of high pitched voice from the male and female had broken off his reading mood.


    Garen''s mind went blank and his fingers started twitching before he continued interacting with the marking.


    "Ahh~~~ What pleasure!! Give me more!!" The black-shirted woman started screaming in pleasure.


    "What the¡­" Garen started to feel annoyed as he didn''t want to leave the area before finishing the books on this level. However, the noise coming from these two were extremely disturbing. Even if his mood was as stubborn as a mountain, he would still be slightly affected due to desire as a male.


    "Oh~~~ Faster! Faster! Faster!!" The woman moaned once more.


    They had definitely heard Garen''s voice but since they were in a heated moment, they decided to completely ignore him.


    Garen''s expression turned for the worse as the library wasn''t what he imagined as it would be at all¡­


    "You guys¡­"


    "Ah!!!"


    The man and woman moaned in unison.


    Garen was turned off as these two had enjoyed themselves to the point where they had ignored their surrounding.


    Garen waved one of his hands with a gloomy look on his face.


    Boom boom boom!!


    Within the series of explosion, a powerful Energy Field clashed onto them. The powerful momentum the two who were in the middle of their actions flew away as they rolled on the ground.


    "Get out if you want to get more action!!"


    Garen growled as he felt the atmosphere in this floor were filled with obscenity.


    The two of them were so frightened that they left the area without wearing anything.


    In the end, he had lost his interest in reading the books. Garen then left the second floor and went towards the third.


    The third floor consisted mainly of practical variants of Battle Skills, Secret Techniques and other techniques. However, reading these would require some amount of points. Garen currently had a thousand points in which he had earned from the final battle. However, these books would require thousands of points in order to be read.


    The third floor was oval in shape. There were already people in the area when Garen entered. There were two people, one male and the other a female, in an exquisite white-gold attire kissing and hugging each other passionately.


    These two seemed to have some amount of authority as they were able to see Garen entering the third floor. However, they nodded at him out of respect before they continued kissing each other.


    Speechless, Garen walked further into the library and he soon encountered another pair of lustrous couple kissing and touching each other passionately.


    "Am I in the library or in a dating sanctuary?" Garen was hopeless as he walked deeper in. While only members of the Scarlet Snow Sect were allowed to enter the third floor, Garen was not able to meet any Three Hearted ranked disciples.


    The third floor was filled with couples. Some of them were kissing passionately while the others were doing immoral activities. There even were some trying to make their partners happy.


    All Garen saw were these scenes from the beginning till the end. The quiet atmosphere of the library had completely turned into a dating sanctuary for these couples.


    Garen then stopped seeing such occurrence once he had entered the fourth floor.


    The fourth floor was also the highest floor he could access.


    There were only a few markings on this floor as there were about only a few dozens of them. There wasn''t even a single person in the spacious hall. As he entered the place, only his footsteps could be heard.


    Garen then casually picked a marking to read.


    ''Giant Dragon''s Body: Level Five Ice Series Technique. One can produce defense similar to the chilly scales of the huge dragon at the highest level. Highest defense grade that could be achieved is Level Five.''


    It caught Garen''s interest so he continued reading the content within.


    ''This technique has been obtained by killing other sect''s disciples. The upper limit is Level Five and unable to enter the Resonance Level. It is suitable to nurture slaves and followers. It is also suited to be used as a basic technique when opening a new school and be used at different levels. Six hundred points required.''


    "It requires points... " Garen shook his head as he placed it back.


    He then looked at another marking.


    ''The Frosted Heart: Level Five Ice Series Technique. At maximum level, one is able to produce five additional explosive stars which possess great power. It can be used as an explosive ice bomb to kill people within a certain area at any given time. Each star possesses the power of a New Moon Resonance Level when maxed out. 1500 points required.''


    Garen was speechless as he only had a thousand points with him right now and this would need to cost him a thousand and five hundred points.


    He moved on to the next one.


    ''Coolo''s Icicle. Requires 1500 points. Ability to summon icicles and be used to ambush enemy within a certain area.''


    ''Ice Sickle: 2000 points.''


    ''Specter''s Body: 1000 points.''


    ''Unicorn''s Blade: 1500 points.''


    ¡­.


    ¡­.


    A variety of techniques kept passing through Garen''s search. He then collected all the books that could be refunded into one spot before making his choices.


    These techniques were mostly used to strengthen the disciples who had a lot of time. It could also be used for their own followers as well.


    After all, most of the Three Hearted Disciples would go out and open branches across the Northern Yu Province or Scarlet Snow Planet.


    Although these techniques were powerful and could reach up to Level Five, it required long hours, where the shortest duration would be decades and the long duration ones would take up to centuries. It required a huge amount of resource and energy. Hence, typical disciples wouldn''t bother choosing these techniques. The real good ones had been hogged by the higher levels and the ones here were typical techniques that could be exchanged with points.


    However, what Garen was pondering about wasn''t this issue.


    What he cared about most were the abilities that he once utilized, the gifted ability that could instantly learn anything.


    If he could enhance these techniques just like how he had learned the Secret Technique, he could probably push the Scarlet Snow Technique to an extremely powerful level.


    It was unfortunate for Garen that these techniques required points that cost from the hundreds to thousands. It wasn''t something that he could afford at the moment.


    "Looks like I can only pick one out of all of these."


    He looked at his potential points and had four points left. He wasn''t sure if it was enough to enhance them at all.


    "I better take up some missions to collect more points in order to build my foundation before going to the Void Battles," he decided to go with his plans as he started glancing at the techniques in front of his eyes.

 1014 Scarlet Snow Planet 2

    He needed to choose one that suited him best and cost less than a thousand points.


    His options were limited. Since Garen tends to lean towards offensive techniques, the best defense as to not defend at all. In fact, he would just have to kill his enemies and defend would be meaningless if there were no enemies attacking him.


    This was his philosophy. As he had walked the path of Secret Techniques and Killing Moves, he had gotten used to its style and hence he had taken a liking for confronting his opponents directly. However, it was clear that his Killing Move wasn''t strong enough from the previous battle.


    It was this!


    An offensive technique appeared right in front of Garen''s eyes.


    ''Demon''s Blade: Level Five Ice Series Technique. 1,000 points required.''


    The techniques inside consisted of protecting and training one''s body on the surface. However, in reality, these training techniques were far less inferior than the Scarlet Snow Technique''s. Hence, even though it was called a technique, by definition it should be called Killing Moves. They were a set of Killing Moves.


    Techniques and skills should be separated. Killing Moves with different skills would produce different results. Similarly, a sword technique with different inner qi would produce a different effect as well.


    These Killing Moves could be used with the Scarlet Snow Technique at its foundation.


    The Demon''s Blade was a simple Killing Move used to kill people. At its strongest, it was at the level of a Resonance''s New Moon. That was the pure strength after mastering the technique. However, its uniqueness wasn''t its power but its ability to released three slashes consecutively within a short amount of time. Furthermore, the power and range would double with each slash. With three consecutive slashes, he could release thrice its power up to hundreds of meters. Naturally, its activation requirement was very restricted.


    Garen started reading the activation requirement in detail.


    It had a great strain on physical capabilities as the user would suffer an internal injury with each slash. It was the reason why those at Resonance Level didn''t dare to train this Killing Moves.


    Garen contacted the information system to inquire more about this sword technique. He then purchased it without hassle.


    The information system showed that this technique had killed three of its Resonance Level Energy Machinists practitioner. It was because they had used two slashes within one hour, causing them to die from having too little spiritual energy left. Naturally, its'' power was extremely strong.


    However, Garen was very confident in his Vitality and recovery rate hence he wasn''t too concerned about it.


    Unfortunately, as he browsed other markings, he found out that there were unique training regimes for footwork, simple techniques which stimulate potential and techniques similar to his tyrannous days. There were even techniques in changing physical appearances and improving eyesight. Each and every powerful Killing Moves was arranged here in sequence.


    "It''s time to go back. It''s unfortunate that I do not have many points¡­" Garen sighed.


    However, the Demon''s Blade Killing Moves should be a good pick up for him.


    ************


    A few days later¡­


    A shadow figure passed through the forest at great speed. It was a huge, red python as thick as an arm. The snake flicked its tongue non-stop as it stared coldly at a man in white robe not far away from it.


    Hiss¡­


    The sides of the red python''s face swelled up and after taking in a suck, spit out thick black smoke, before rushing at great speed towards the man in the white robe.


    Slash!


    A bright light flashed from the sword sheathed. Black smoke enveloped the sword as it slashed towards the red python''s black smoke.


    In a flash, the red python was slashed in half and its blood dripped into a pool of mess. The man''s invisible Energy Field shielded off the dripping blood avoiding its stain.


    Garen was satisfied as he looked at the red python being cut in half.


    "The Level Five Mutated Organism Red Python can be turned into a decent armguard for legs and shoulders. Its meat is delicious and provides huge health."


    "Senior brother Garen, are we going to choose this place?" Bainster appeared behind him along with Hillco. They both seemed to be on guard. Afterall, this place was designated as a terrifying zone with dangerous Level Five organisms. An insect could easily kill them both as they were just a Level Two Energy Machinist.


    As both of them walked out of the forest, another two fully red Humanoid Mech appeared from behind. The Cockpit was transparent and two beautiful, female twins could be seen sitting inside them.


    "We''ve searched the surrounding and this red python which had been killed by your highness was the last threat." A clear voice of a woman came from within the Mech.


    "Okay. We will train here then." Garen nodded. After returning the Space Ring back to Aine, the latter then tried to gift the ring to Garen but was declined by him. After realizing that he didn''t have any Pilots to protect him, she decided to gift the twin Pilots to Garen. The twin sisters were a standard Level Five Pilot. They looked young as if they were in their teens, but were actually in their twenties as they had used a life-lengthening medicine which anchored down their physical appearances. Due to the effect of the medicine, they still looked extremely young and petite.


    "Little One and Little Two, please go and set up an emergency camp and draw a repellent line for the creatures," Garen ordered.


    "Understood." The two Mechs headed out separately.


    On the other hand, Bainster and Hillco both released a black dragonfly and a white snake respectively, which swiftly patrolled the surrounding area.


    Garen shook his head as he looked at these two who were just Level Two Energy Machinists, they were of not much help in this area.


    "You two should head back and take care of my Snowpeak Black Wolves. It''s too dangerous here and it''s not something you two are capable of handling yet."


    "I guess there is no other way¡­" Bainster and Hillco knew that they were pulling his legs being here. Not only that, they weren''t able to increase their strength as well.


    Hillco sighed as she sat in her electronic wheelchair. Due to her retardation, she had to use her Willpower to move her body, which was a trouble placed on top of another issue.


    "What if¡­Hillco stays back? And warms the boss''s bed? Hehehe!" Bainster started laughing strangely as he saw Hillco''s disappointed expression.


    In comparison to Hillco, the twins were as beautiful as her but they did not possess her elegance. Hillco''s elegance was strong and unwavering, yet her physical appearance was a total opposite with her smooth and silky soft skin and slender body.


    While her actions may be slow due to her retardation, this actually made her attractive to people who had a fetish. She would definitely not be able to reject anyone who wanted to sleep with her as she could only be tossed about on the bed like a ragdoll by the other half.


    This type of woman was definitely the best quality in the society. Many people had tried to get their hands on Hillco back in the Snow Peak. If it wasn''t for Garen''s protection, she might have already become someone''s sex slave.


    Hillco lowered her head and didn''t refute at all after hearing what Bainster said. Her brown hair was tied up in a ponytail and slid down from the side of her neck. She may look like the sweet girl next door but she is in actually a very strong and determined lady.


    "Go back. It''s very dangerous for both of you to stay here." Garen sighed as he recalled Celine''s expression. It had been a few months since they got in touch and he was considering bringing Celine and the others over to live together once he had settled down as a Three Hearted Disciple. Rumor had it that a Three Hearted was allowed to have their own territory.


    Ultimately, he had to return to the Blackboard Region to take his revenge on the Black Flood Party after achieving Inherited Level. He was still too weak now to do so.


    "Alright¡­ Since you already have two bed warmers, Hillco will be useless here anyway since she''s not needed." Bainster started grumbling as he had already known that Hillco was already head over heels over Garen.


    Frankly speaking, Garen wasn''t that bad looking and had a good body. His social status was up high and he had a promising future as a gifted elite. He could very well grow to become an authoritative figure in the Scarlet Snow Sect with great power and Hillco would not be suitable for him as a companion. She wouldn''t be able to handle the stress and responsibilities from the higher-ups as well. If there were disputes among the higher-ups, she could have become a flaw that would kill Garen.


    Even if Garen and Hillco were interested in each other, they wouldn''t have a romantic ending or even marriage.


    Hillco''s face turned pale. She wasn''t the innocent girl who daydreamed a lot, but once her dreams and ideals were torn apart, it was indeed a painful feeling that she had not experienced for a long time.


    "Go back and have a good rest." Bainster comforted as he understood how his best friend felt. He also knew that the difference between Garen and Hillco''s social status was heaven''s apart as Garen was a very gifted man whereas Hillco had nothing but her own body.


    However, he hoped that Garen was a playboy in this situation. Even if it was just a casual fling, it would still give her a good memory and possibly even an offspring. This would then give Hillco, who had no relatives or family, a bit of hope.


    They entered the Flying Ship, preparing to leave the forest.


    Under Garen''s arrangement, Little One sent both of them to the portal and directly back to the Black Wolf Peak.


    It was still a snowy day in Planet Naga''s Black Wolf Peak.


    After leaving the Flying Ship, they bid farewell to Little One.


    "I''m leaving," Hillco spoke out of the blue. "This is my first time falling in love with someone else, it won''t be worthwhile if this feeling keeps going on and nothing comes out of it."


    Bainster felt helpless.


    "Where do you plan to go?" Since they were under Garen''s care, the resources they obtained were much better than a typical disciple. It was extremely simple for them to find a place to hide, change their names and live a simple life.


    "I don''t know. Perhaps I will leave Planet Naga and head back to my hometown." Hillco played with her hair fringe as she replied hesitatingly. "You should come and visit me whenever you''re free."


    Bainster pondered for a while before replying.


    "I will."


    He looked at Hillco, as if he had more to say to her but hesitated.


    "Just let me know if you need any help. I can deal with the small issues and I think senior brother Garen will definitely help out if it''s serious."


    Hillco sighed.


    "Say, Bainster, what do you think will happen if I insist to take the same path?"


    Bainster smiled helplessly.


    The result? They would be left behind by Garen since they couldn''t keep up with him. Perhaps one day they would become a high ranking member under him. They would lead a luxurious life but that is probably not what Hillco wanted¡­


    "Unless you do not want a social identity and only be his lover."

 1015 Disguise 1

    "Lover?" Hillco smiled, revealing a hint of stubbornness. That was not what she wanted; she had her own pursuits and dreams.


    "Everyone faces a lot of choices in life, and every choice would perhaps turn into a completely different path." Bainster exhaled sharply, and continued, "I wish you could stay. I can see that Senior Brother Garen belongs to the type of person who generally doesn''t care about anyone else, but if you could really get into his heart, he would be accountable to you no matter what."


    "Accountable?" Hillco shook her head. "I like him, but all he has is pity for me. Only pity¡­"


    "Or you could just choose me. We''re old acquaintances anyway, so let''s not hand over the advantage to an outsider¡­" Bainster chuckled.


    "You can forget it! Watch it, I''ll tell Victor''s sister!" Hillco shot back at him. "Then again, it''s not as though we won''t keep in touch anymore after I leave. Technology is so advanced now that there are still ways of staying in contact even if we travel to where the Finite people are. What''s there to be worried about?"


    "That''s true. The decision depends on you, then. I''ll help you say something to Senior Brother." Bainster shrugged.


    He managed to change the slightly melancholic atmosphere to become completely impassive now. Hillco glared at him.


    "Enough, I''ll go pack up and book the teleportation ticket."


    "Go then, leave and return early. I believe that you will come back, sooner or later." Bainster had a damn look on his face that was just asking to be beaten up.


    "Go to hell!" Hillco grunted. Completely devoid of any sadness, she left speedily on her electronic chair.


    ******************


    Planet Scarlet Snow.


    In the dense pinewood forest.


    Garen''s body was suspended slightly in midair. There was a mysterious shapeless force field surrounding him, lifting him up in suspension.


    Five beams of crimson circled continuously by his side, swimming around him ceaselessly, like fishes. They looked radiant and bright.


    A pile of Red Peacock Stones was placed next to him; these were some of the ores that Princess Aine had shipped to him previously. One by one, the essence of the Peacock Stones was being absorbed by Garen in a steady stream; at a speed that the naked eye could perceive, their glow was being dimmed continuously, like red crystals being filled slowly by various types of rust.


    "Absorbing these Red Peacock Stones, my Peacock form is finally beginning to astir¡­" Seeing that the seventh level of his Hellfrost Peacock Technique has finally progressed in percentage, Garen heaved a huge sigh of relief.


    He had now absorbed approximately a hundred or so stones. The rate, which had originally been 5%, had turned into 15%.


    "The environment here isn''t too bad either. It''s suitable for secluded practice. Too bad I can''t continue absorbing Peacock Stones here until an upgrade, otherwise there might an upgrade of a certain power." Garen''s heart was at peace.


    It had been five or six years since his arrival on Planet Scarlet Snow. Back then from being a Level Three Energy Machinist, he had now grown to become a Level Five Energy Machinist. He could even cross into the next level and battle at the New-Moon Level.


    This rate of growth was already very fast for an ordinary person, but it was normal for a genius.


    However, no matter what kind of a genius one was, progress would immediately slow down at the resonance stage and be blocked for a very long period of time. Such as in the case of Carthage, he has been stuck on this level for three years already. It was a pity that he had yet to breakthrough to the inherited level.


    He was not the only one; many geniuses were the same. Just like the Blackboard Region back then, which encountered the same plight; top-level geniuses had been blocked at the resonance level for countless of years. Some had been stuck for up to a few dozen years, even.


    To an Energy Machinist, this level was the crux for the condensation of their core. The quality of the condensation would directly affect the strength stages of the subsequent Inherited Level, and the possibility of advancement in the future.


    Right now, Garen was about to face the threshold of this crux.


    Deep in his thoughts, Garen absorbed the Red Peacock Stones around him without ceasing. One after another, the Red Peacock Stones were absorbed continuously, turning into white ash that dissipated.


    After an unknown period of time, the twins had boiled water and cooked their meal in the camp nearby. Done with their meal, they were about to duck into their respective tents to rest.


    Whoosh!


    Suddenly, a sharp whistle rang out in the distance, as though something had pierced through the air, shooting over to them directly from afar.


    The sound approached fast near to the large area of pinewood next to where Garen and the others were situated.


    All of a sudden, a beam of black light pierced through the air over their heads, drawing out a black line, before quickly disappearing into the distant sky.


    Garen opened his eyes to glance at the black light. Without any expression, he closed his eyes quietly to continue his practice.


    However, not long after the black light has passed, there came faint noises of people walking through the pinewood forest.


    "Glory, watch out behind you!" A man''s deep voice said.


    Smack! It sounded as though some insect had been smacked dead in an instant, with a faint, struggling hum. In the midst of that was the somewhat panicked but quiet exclamation of a girl, who was apparently startled.


    "Trap insects, Level Three mutated organisms, be careful." The voice of the man sounded out again.


    One of the twins, Little Two, stood up and moved forward in alert to block Garen.


    After a short while, a small team slowly walked out from the pinewood forest in front of them. They were dressed in the same black uniforms, with special communication headsets on their heads. They held a black truncheon each in their hands, seemingly to push aside things such as venomous insects and plants.


    Garen''s body descended. He opened his eyes sweeping his gaze over the troop. The leader was a strong lad with bright eyes and a tall and powerful built. His face was deep set with persistence, giving off a dependable vibe.


    Other than a physically delicate girl with her red hair tied up in a ponytail, the others all had calm faces and walked in an unusually proficient and skilled manner. It was obvious that they were veterans in traversing jungles.


    The moment the two parties met, the leader was clearly shocked, as though he had never imagined that they would encounter people so coincidentally, in such a place.


    It had to be noted that this was the habitat of the legendary Level Five mutated organisms. The dangerous living things here could be Level Five at most, and it was not impossible that there might be those of higher levels, even. It would be extremely difficult to go so deeply into this forest safely without a veteran like him to lead the team.


    He was Yannen, a mercenary who had mingled around in the nearby Hammer City. Naturally, he possessed good discernment, and so with one look, he could tell that Garen and the twins were a typical combination for a wealthy family''s young master; this was a young master who had brought with him two girls with good fighting skills who could also warm his bed for him, and had come out for a sightseeing tour. There were many like him. Only, young masters who dared to come to a Level Five danger zone were unusually rare.


    "I am Yannen from the Winter Thunder Mercenary Troop. I don''t know why the three of you have stationed yourselves here, but the insect tide is coming very soon. This place will probably become very dangerous." Yannen frowned as he advised. Seeing that Garen and the other two were rather young, and missing the sight of Garen''s floating body just now, he merely regarded them as a small team who were out for a vacation.


    Garen observed the team. There were three men and three women, and with the red-haired girl in the ponytail, who was being protected, altogether there were seven of them. Other than their charge, the rest looked very professional.


    Only, he did not know why this group of people had chosen to travel on foot instead of going through this region in a flying ship. Were they looking for something in this piece of pinewood forest?


    "As you please," he smiled, stretching his hand to point at a path to the side, where they could go through. Little Two had already shown them the direction to leave the area.


    Garen knew what the insect tide was, of course. This was merely a swarm of Level Two mutant insects which, perhaps, posed a bit of a threat to other people, but to him, all he had to do was spread his glow and radiation, and all the insects that came would die. Such low-level swarms did not even qualify to come near him.


    He was not the only one; any Level Five Energy Machinist would not be smothered to death by such low-level swarms. The Scarlet Snow Sect''s Chilled Area Attack had always been unusually famous.


    Little Two was slightly curious, watching this group of people. The protected girl looked to be somewhat worn out. She did not look too good, as though she had not taken a rest in a long while, and her eyes were red and puffy. It was clear that she had been crying for a long time.


    "Please." She pointed at the path they had made, letting the small team pass through.


    Yannen sighed again, and led his team around the camp, passing by. He had only wanted to alert them out of kindness. Right before they walked past the camp, his good guy instinct was activated again, and he turned his head to ask once more.


    "A queen insect has appeared in the insect tide this time, the threat could be greater than the average insect tide. You must be careful."


    "Let''s go, big uncle, we don''t have a lot of time to waste!" The girl being protected in the team urged hastily. "Just give them a piece of insect repelling medicine."


    "Insect repelling medicine?" Garen had not expected that this group of people encountered by accident would have such good hearts.


    Indeed, the team leader immediately stretched his hand to toss out a round, black pill, which landed right in front of Garen and was caught swiftly by Little One.


    "Young brother, you had better go soon. Once the insect tide behind us comes, even if you''re not afraid of it, you would be stuck here for at least a few days." Yannen could not help but advise them again.


    "Thank you for your concern, I will take note." Garen nodded and smiled.


    The protected girl in the team was still urging them on continuously.


    "Let them be if they don''t want to go, let''s hurry, big uncle. If they''re not scared, then what are you worried about? How many times have we done this along the way, you wanting to inform each and every one of them has caused us to cover such a short distance over five days!"


    "When we''re out and about, we should advise and help one another. You help a person today, and after some time, perhaps you would be the one helped." One of the mercenaries in the team, a young lady, replied calmly.


    "You mercenaries are a troublesome lot!" The red-haired girl with the ponytail clamored loudly in impatience.


    The team of people walked on and were soon far away, slowly disappearing into the pinewood forest.


    Garen drew his gaze away and got Little One to examine the composition of the medicine pill carefully.


    "It is entirely insect repellant. There are no problems with it." Little One put the pill down and nodded at Garen.


    "You are free to do what you want now, just don''t wander off too far from the area," Garen said lightly.


    "Alright."


    The two girls responded respectfully and continued to stay on guard by Garen''s side for another hour or two. However, being the young ladies they were, they could not stand it anymore. Placing some alarms in the area, they went their separate ways on a relaxing walk.


    After they had been assigned to Garen, they had completely detached themselves from their previous familiar lives, entering a living environment that was entirely strange to them; so much so that they had always behaved in a subservient manner, void of any personality. They were no different from robots that carried out instructions.


    Allowing them to wander off in the nearby surroundings was a way for Garen to relieve them of their boredom.

 1016 Disguise 2

    Thus, the training cycle continues day by day - practicing, eating and sleeping. To Garen, the insect tide was completely not worth mentioning at all.


    In the blink of an eye, a week had gone by.


    Garen had thoroughly fused with the Demon Blade he had just obtained. With his level of martial skills, this killing move with the blade was not difficult. The energy required was not much; the main thing that was necessary was to have a very strong physical fitness.


    It just so happened that his physique fitted the criteria perfectly, so it was not surprising that the training was successful.


    Garen casually trained the art of wielding the Demon Blade. There was no real combat, but he could still feel the explosive power in it.


    Whoosh!


    The Dual Blades in front of Garen carved out a wheel of black moon; it was the illusion caused by the reflection emitted instantly by the blade, which looked like a black full moon. In reality, however, it was made of frightening scars, stacked by the Dual Blades in a split second.


    Garen jumped up lightly, and as he moved from top to bottom, he held the Dual Blades together in his right hand and sliced them downwards through the air.


    "Dual Prison Lock!" The powerful killing move by the Demon Blade immediately erupted.


    The Dual Blades, held together, were violently smashed onto the ground. With a loud bang, the ground flew out from the entire place and left a destruction impact in the shape of a fan in front of Garen.


    The fan-shaped destruction stretched out from under Garen''s feet to the foot of a huge pine tree, about a dozen meters away. Strangely, the pine tree was not harmed in the least bit, attesting to his extraordinary power of control.


    "You''re so powerful!" Little One and Little Two clapped their hands enthusiastically from behind Garen. They had familiarized themselves with Garen during the past few days, so the two girls had slowly relaxed, no longer prudish. They would even occasionally joked a little with Garen. Having more or less felt out Garen''s disposition, they knew that as long as they did not mess up and cause delays on serious matters, Garen was actually rather laid back on normal days. He was easy to get along with, as a superior.


    Garen smiled. These two Level Five Mech Pilots could easily unleash an attack with a power like this. The applause from these two chicks were just polite compliments.


    Putting away the Dual Blades, Garen suddenly turned his sights into the pinewood forest.


    Little One and Little Two immediately walked over in front of Garen to protect him, holding up concealed sharp spikes in their hands. They might look like ordinary black haired girls, cute and naive, but in reality, they were able to burst into frightening killing moves at any time.


    They were actually powerful modifiers carefully selected by the royal family. Princess Aine had requested the elder Energy Machinists to personally modify their bodies into powerful warriors, so not only did they have the Willpower of a Level Five Mech Pilot, they also possessed strong and flexible bodies that posed as a great temptation. They even had extraordinary physical talent in pleasing the opposite sex, able to provide several more times the pleasure than the typical female.


    These were the almost-perfect tools that Aine had gifted Garen. The only weakness they had was that they could not upgrade their levels anymore; all of their potentials had been reached, and there was no longer the possibility of upgrading any powers.


    Garen was not the only one. There were actually many royal families of powerful countries that owned such modifiers. They had female bodies specially modified by Energy Machinists to be in the most powerful state, and at the same time, also modified to have special physical sensitivities that could please the opposite sex easily.


    "Don''t worry, they''re only a bunch of passers-by." Garen smiled and kept his Dual Blades away, sheathing them into the scabbard on the back of his waist.


    During the past few days, he had been examining ways to fuse the killing moves he had perceived in the Spirit Mothership and turn them into a greater power.


    The Demon Blade was strong, but there was no way to control it once it was unleashed. It was a type of explosive area ultimate skill; using it required a large amount of energy. If he could not kill the enemy then he would be dead next, so it was not suitable as a skill to be used on a daily basis.


    Furthermore, the burden of executing the Soundwave Technique and Multiple Speed Fist was not a lot. If their powers could be combined, they would not be weak at all and would at least be able to reach the Level Five killing move stage. By then, it should be enough for him.


    These two techniques were originally inspired by the Level Three mutated organisms.


    Reshifting his focus, Garen has already seen the team of figures dressed in white appearing in the pinewood forest before him.


    This team of people was not afraid of drawing attention. Clad in white, they walked unceremoniously loud in the forest, making a beeline straight towards Garen.


    These bunches of people were dressed very strangely. There was an odd and black twisted mask on their heads, so their faces were obscured, and their bodies were wrapped up neatly and tightly in white cloth. While they walked, they gave off a strong murderous vibe.


    The leader was a tall and thin man, wearing a round hat.


    "Young man, have you seen this person?" He walked close to Garen and lifted his hand in a straightforward manner, opening up an electronic roll. On it was the face of a pretty girl, with her red hair tied up in a ponytail.


    "Why are you looking for her?" Garen raised an eyebrow and asked casually.


    "Don''t ask what you shouldn''t ask, or you''ll get into trouble¡­" The person in a white mask next to the tall and thin man sneered in a sharp but low voice.


    This fellow was speaking in a rather disrespectful tone of voice¡­


    Garen frowned.


    "Get into trouble? What kind of trouble? Tell me."


    "Are youngsters nowadays so savage?"


    "Why are we exchanging nonsense with him, he''s only another rich kid. Let''s capture him and demand ransom from his family! We can earn another quick buck! Hehe!"


    A white masked suddenly stretched out his hand, with an arm that started to spin at high speed, like an electric drill. It directly shot towards the chest of Little Two, who was standing next to Garen. "Such a pretty little chick, let me enjoy her!"


    Before the last word had come out from his mouth, his arm was already near Little Two''s chest.


    "White Ghosts?" Garen narrowed his eyes. No wonder they had pounced on the idea of capturing people so quickly, he did not think that these people would be them! He had gone through some information about Planet Scarlet Snow. The White Ghosts must be the Three-Hearted Disciples of the Scarlet Snow Sect''s internal circle, only no one knew who exactly they were. All they knew was that their identities were mysterious, and every one of them was powerful and strong, full of arrogance.


    Only the people of the Scarlet Snow Sect could be this arrogant. The other sects on this planet were merely branches of the Scarlet Snow Sect -- after all, they were the main organization.


    Clang!


    The hand of the white mask hit Little Two''s spikes; she gave a cold scoff and was about to retaliate, unarmed.


    "Enough, stop it," Garen said unexpectedly.


    Little Two''s spikes instantly halted right at the throat of the white mask; just slightly more and she would have killed him. However, she was also blocked by a thin line of metal. It looked like a weak metallic string, but it was completely undamaged by the piercing of the spikes.


    The other end of the thin metal wire was behind held by the leader of the White Ghost.


    He stared coldly at Garen.


    "So she serves the fifteenth royal highness. No wonder she''s so skillful. However, even though you''re the fifteenth royal highness, aren''t you still breaking the law by hindering us from making our capture?"


    Garen had never expected that he would be able to identify him, and to dare speak in such a tone of voice, even. It seemed that his reputation in the hearts of the people beneath him, as the fifteenth royal highness, was still very limited in terms of power.


    "You''re capturing people? Whose people are you, and what kind of people are you after?"


    The tall and thin man bowed slightly to Garen, sniggering away.


    The fifteenth royal highness? Addressing him as highness was to be respectful of him, but what qualifications did a Level Four Energy Machinist have for veteran Energy Machinists like them to call him their highness?


    Scarlet Snow Sect''s leadership was not determined according to a list but was fought over, in bloodshed. Moreover, they had even besieged the seventh royal highness before, so this fifteenth royal highness was not worth mentioning, he was just¡­ hehe.


    The tall and thin man heart hardened ruthlessly; if this fifteenth royal highness knew his place, then perhaps he could still spare him a bit of dignity. If he did not...


    "It''s our superior''s orders that we capture those people, so? Does the fifteenth royal highness wish to have a hand in the matter too?" The tall and thin man''s tone of voice became cold.


    "No such thing. You may go deal with your own business." Garen smiled amiably and said nothing more. It was obvious that he did not intend to inquire further.


    The tall and thin man gave a cold snort and brought his men through the side of the camp.


    "White Ghost? All of the Great Elder''s Three Hearted Disciples are in there¡­ It''d be a really bad idea to anger them¡­" Garen sighed.


    Upon hearing those words from Garen''s mouth, Little One and Little Two both curled up their lips rather disdainfully. People beneath him had just arrogantly put on airs in front of him, and yet he could still give in so easily, not daring to say a few tough words, even.


    "Would they still dare to offend their superior?" Little Two said indignantly. "Sir, why do you have to be so scared of him? You are a highness!"


    Garen shook his head.


    "The White Ghost is not an ordinary team¡­they are really skillful¡­really skillful"


    Little One and Little Two exchanged helpless looks, feeling somewhat dejected. They had been assigned to such a cowardly master and wondered how much more they would have to put up with in the future.


    However, the two of them did not know that Garen had not been talking about their power when he said that they were skillful. It was their characteristic of never doing something that did not benefit them.


    He had done careful investigation and found that wherever the White Ghosts appeared, there would definitely be great treasures or some great advantage. In addition, the White Ghosts were Moonshine''s manpower. It would be a huge shame to not investigate things properly, now that he had had the opportunity of encountering them by coincidence. It would be as though he did not eat the piece of meat that had been put to his mouth.


    The enmity between him and Moonshine had been established anyway; clashing the first time had already made them enemies, clashing the second time would be the same, so why not just clash until the end? Even if he would not obtain anything, messing up White Ghosts'' plans would still be an acceptable result.


    A strange look flashed in Garen''s eyes.


    Black shadows passed through the pinewood forest fleetingly, quietly following the team of White Ghost that had just left.


    **************


    "You can''t run, Glory Edward."


    In the midst of the red maple trees, Yannen''s team of mercenaries had awful expressions on their faces, as they were being surrounded by the White Ghosts.


    The tall and thin man walked out from the team of White Ghosts, a sliver of ridicule in his eyes under the mask.


    "Hand over the Ice Magic Pillar. After I get Teslin''s treasure, it''s not impossible for me to spare your life and turn you into a slave, if you serve me well."


    "The Ice Magic Pillar is not with me!" Glory''s face was in a panic. She had to force herself to calm down.


    "Fifteen small teams have been destroyed, leaving only your team. It was a good plan to separate into fifteen small teams and escape. You''ve even gotten the most honorable and important Great Elder to bait us away," the tall and thin man said coldly. "Too bad, you''ve forgotten my identity now."


    "Anthony, give up, it''s not with me," Glory forcefully steadied her trembling body.


    "Great Elder Edward, who loves his daughter as though she were life itself, won''t keep that thing on you?" The tall and thin Anthony laughed softly. "Enough, stop struggling. I don''t wish to kill anyone. Once I get the Ice Magic Pillar, I still need to use the blood from your glabella to kill the Eight-Eyed Giant Lizard."


    Glory''s face was ashen white and finally took something out. It was a pallid white, round pillar, the size of a palm. A miniature giant lizard was set at the top, white in color as well. It looked exquisite and ancient, and the lizard on it seemed to be alive with a slight glint in its eyes.


    "Take it! But you must swear not to kill me!" Glory did her best to steady her voice, as she spoke loudly.


    "You are someone I''ve always been fond of since young. Kill you? I haven''t even had the chance to play with you yet, eh?" The tall and thin Anthony started to laugh.

 1017 Contend 1

    "You¡­!" Glory''s face changed, as she felt the thing in her hand suddenly disappear. In the blink of an eye, the Ice Magic Pillar emerged in the hands of Anthony, who was opposite her.


    "Tsk tsk¡­ This is indeed, something that has been an inherited magic device. It wasn''t such a waste after all, for us to spend so much effort and energy in getting rid of the Edward family."


    "Let''s go, don''t let the sixth royal highness wait long," a White Ghost beside Anthony spoke.


    "En."


    The team of White Ghosts had the mercenaries completely surrounded in a tight ring and held them hostage as they speedily rushed into the distance.


    This piece of Maplewood forest was soon left empty, but indistinctly¡­ Numerous black shadows flashed through fleetingly, like black smoke, following this group of people tightly as they moved further and further.


    "Huh?" Suddenly, one of the black shadows halted; startlingly, it was a long and slender figure and his entire body diffused with darkness. He turned around.


    Another black figure had appeared behind him out of nowhere.


    The person leaned against a tree, emitting a thick and freezing chill continuously from his body.


    "Second Brother, haven''t you gone to the Void Battlefields? Why have you appeared in a place like this?" The black shadow looked to the sound near the near, sniggering coldly.


    "Big brother, haven''t you gone to pursue and check on the smuggled consignments? Why have you appeared in a place like this? Aren''t you a germaphobe? Doesn''t a dirty place like this besmirch your shoes?" The other person sneered back in the same manner as well.


    "Do you want the Ice Magic Scroll as well?"


    "It''s a valuable object that can increase the possibility of my Scarlet Snow Technique breaking through to the Inherited Level. Big Brother, even your own henchman dared to take action by himself, how could it be that we, as your brothers, be less than one of your own men?" The shadow by the tree spoke calmly.


    "Second Brother, you have an abundance of talent, so why would you care about a silly little thing like the Ice Magic Scroll? Isn''t the Ice Dragonflame over at Carthage''s more suitable for you?" Boss said softly.


    "The Eight-Eyed Giant Lizard is a behemoth of the Inherited Level. I was just worried that your competent right-hand man might not be able to get the job done, so I came over to help," Second Brother chuckled lightly. "Also, we have another friend who can come out now."


    His gaze slowly fell on the seemingly normal grass at the bottom of the trees in another direction.


    Clap clap clap¡­


    In the midst of the crisp sound of applause, a giant black wolf, carrying a man who was also entirely dark, emerged from the side of the grass.


    "Ice Magic Pillar? A valuable object that can increase the likelihood of breakthrough to the Inherited Level? Never imagined that I would be able to come across such good fortune just by taking a casual stroll out, I really can''t keep fortune away when it comes to me," a voice that had undergone mutation rang out in the air, giving them a sharp and strange vibe.


    "Take a look at whether you are qualified to want such a thing!" Second Brother suddenly shot a beam of shapeless chill out from his hand, which quietly rushed towards the black wolf beneath the man. This beam of chill did not emit coldness in the slightest, and it did not fly through the air, but rather, moved from one place to another in a manner similar to dimension hopping.


    Windless Flying Blade. This was a powerful technique that he had trained for dozens of years before he could master it. Although it was merely a casual attack, it was enough as a probe.


    The chill suddenly appeared in front of the black wolf and was about to hit it straight in the head. If it were to hit, the entire black wolf would immediately be frozen into a block of ice by this powerful force, and subsequently, shatter into numerous pieces.


    Everything happened in that instant. At a speed faster than one could blink, the man on the black wolf suddenly drew his blade out.


    Bang!


    A black line sliced down from the top and was just about to hit the chilled flying blade.


    There was an abrupt clashing sound from the black line of the sword''s blade. Wisps of black smoke exploded around his body and covered the surface of the sword. The energy was tremendously doubled under the effects of the black smoke.


    In silence, the chilled flying blade and the blade of the sword met. Neither of them made a sound, and instantly annihilated the other, vanishing into thin air.


    "Demon Blade technique?" Second Brother scoffed, as though he had thought of someone else. "To be able to execute this swing so easily¡­"


    "Since it''s you, you''re qualified to share the secret scroll with us equally," it was only now that Boss spoke. "But aren''t you supposed to be breaking through in isolation now?"


    "Why should my business concern you?" The black wolf man''s heart stirred; this person seemed to have mistaken him for someone else. He sneered.


    "Alright, alright, alright¡­ People say you''re crazy but I didn''t believe them, now it seems like that''s the case!" Boss replied rather angrily.


    "Because it''s you, you definitely have the right to share this with us, but the secret scroll can only belong to the three of us, and no more!" Second Brother fixed his eyes somewhat fearfully on the shadow of the black wolfman. Rumor had it that this person was ridiculously strong. Even if they were to both attack him at the same time, they might still be unsuccessful in suppressing him. He would not easily give in to compromise either.


    "Up to you," the black wolfman laughed.


    "Definitely no more! The more living beings who read the secret scroll, the weaker the power!" Second Brother warned in a frosty voice.


    "And if more people come?" Boss sniggered.


    "Then they become our enemy, and we kill them together!" Second Brother said gruesomely.


    "I agree," the black wolfman replied in an off-handed manner.


    "Hmph!" Boss turned around and immediately disappeared into the darkness.


    The other two also vanished into the darkness. Their speed was astounding and exceeded the typical stages of Level Five.


    The black wolfman speedily left the scene and waited for over ten minutes before he shed his screen in a dark place, taking off the radiating black shadow that had covered him.


    "Skillful¡­ Skillful, indeed! Garen lowered his head to look at his right hand. The swing of the blade just now had already used up all of his explosive energy, but it had only been to block the chilling attack sent out by the other person so casually.


    It did not take much for him to guess the identifies of Boss and the Second Brother. They were under the Great Elder, the first Three-Hearted Ron Belle, and the second Three-Hearted Barlow Hertha respectively. These were high-level personalities of the Moonshine and were old-school masters of the resonance Two-Moons Level.


    That explosion of energy he had needed to swing the blade just now had only been to endure and resist a probing attack casually executed by the opponent. Such difference¡­


    "If they find out, I''ll be in big trouble¡­ But by how many percentage can the Ice Magic Scroll increase the breakthrough to the Inherited Level?" There was a vicious flash in Garen''s eyes. "I must not miss out on this valuable item!" It was rare for him to have such good luck and have this coincidental encounter. As for the danger, if he were afraid of danger, then why should he still be training his martial arts? He might as well roll home and feed on milk.


    Risk and profit exist mutually!


    It was a valuable item that even the resonance Two-Moons Level masters had been moved in their hearts to pursue. If he was able to share it, this stack would be extremely strong! Perhaps, he could borrow this to break through to a new level in a short period of time!


    *******************


    In the pinewood forest.


    In front of a black stone wall, the line of White Ghosts, taking hostage of Glory and the others, speedily passing through the woods, and stood before the stone wall.


    "This is it?"


    The leader of the White Ghosts, Anthony, stared dubiously at the stone wall. No matter how he looked at it, this was only a very ordinary stone wall.


    "This is it!" Glory said confidently.


    Anthony nodded and began to inspect it carefully.


    Yannen and the other mercenaries had sour looks on their faces. They were only mercenaries who had been hired at the last minute by Glory, who had said that they were to protect and bring her here in exchange for a hefty sum of payment. They had not imagined that they would encounter such a huge danger.


    The White Ghosts was a terrorist organization with a fierce reputation. Even the City Masters were more afraid of them than not; what more these ordinary mercenaries.


    "Activate it, then? Everyone remain vigilant!" Anthony seemed to be done with his inspection, and was standing back in his original spot, taking out a tiny silver needle, which he held in his hand. Cautiousness flashed in his eyes.


    Pushed forward by him, Glory gritted her teeth and walked before the stone wall. She began to slowly form strange prints on the wall with both her hands.


    Szz!


    Suddenly, a faint, white imprint lit up on her body. It was the first handprint she had formed just now, followed almost immediately by the second one, and the third one¡­


    The imprints on Glory''s body increased and became denser. Her entire body was faintly diffused into the white light.


    Szz¡­


    There was another vague sound of breath being drawn in, long and soft. At first, it was still very weak, but as time passed, the sound of air being sucked in began to grow stronger, and louder¡­


    "Big Brother, watch out!" Suddenly, a White Ghost pounced onto Anthony violently and fell.


    In that instant, where Anthony''s head had been, a blood red shadow suddenly pierced through the air, like a sharp sword. With a whoosh, it sliced across, instantly embedding itself into the head of a White Ghost.


    With a splurge, the head of the White Ghost immediately exploded into numerous splatters of blood and brain.


    "It''s the Eight-Eyed Giant Lizard! Get off!" Anthony struggled to push away the White Ghost on him, and upon crawling up, rushed towards Glory.


    His steps were very strange, as though both of his legs were being tied together and he had to jump, but his speed was astonishing.


    Suddenly, he felt as though something was dragging him back by holding onto his legs. Turning his head, he was startled to see the White Ghost that had pushed him down at first. He had reached out with his hands and was holding on tightly to his legs, stubborn and not letting go.


    "Get off!" At that moment, Anthony still did not know that the person was actually there to mess him up.


    "Lightning Heart!" Out of the blue, he gave a loud roar. His entire body lit up with blue light, and a blue imprint flashed on his glabella.


    Immediately, countless of electrical current erupted from Anthony''s body, blasting the White Ghost away violently.


    "Anthony! You killed my father! Stole our family''s secret treasure! I want you dead!" Glory''s body was completely bright with white light. Her face contorted into the look of a lizard every now and then, and her entire body was giving off an inhuman vibe. Before she had finished speaking, she had already leaped towards Anthony.


    It was then that a clump of grey mud under the trees suddenly rose up, and rushed to Anthony.


    "Die!"


    The voice of a young boy sounded out from the mud.


    Hearing this voice, Anthony''s face gradually regained composure, and even ended up with a sliver of a smile.


    "Beirut, Glory, Angel," he growled, as his entire body got charged up with electric currents. Suddenly, a pale blue electrical orchid bloomed, slowly unfurling the petals into every direction.


    "I am your uncle by blood. How could you gang up to kill me? It makes me so sad!" With a spin of his body, the electric petals suddenly crashed into the bodies of the two people who had been charging at him.


    A young and small body was blasted out from the mud and sent flying, landing far within the pinewood forest.


    Glory had also been hit by the enormous force of the electric currents, and her body was now numb. Half of the white imprints on her body had been wiped out.


    "The Lightning Heart should belong to my father! She cried out in despair, wanting to pounce out and charge towards Anthony again. However, another electric current swept through her, causing her entire body to be so numb that she almost fell to the ground.


    It was only then that the others had the opportunity to rush in and restrain Glory. The mercenaries did not even dare to move; some of them had been swept up by the residual waves of the enormous electric current, and their bodies were entirely numb, but even then, they did not dare make a sound. The leader of the mercenaries, Yannen, had roughly guessed the identities of the people at the scene. He sighed in his head, somewhat helpless.


    The Blue Ice family had always been a great and famous local clan, but in a single night, unexpected calamity had hit them. He would never have guessed that it was an inside job.


    The old lord of the family had been a resonance master of the New-Moon Level, leader of the three great forces in the city. However, he had been deceived by his own flesh and blood and had met with a violent death. The family''s important treasure had been snatched. The ones who had ganged up against Anthony just now had been the daughter of the old lord, Glory, his son Beirut, and his nephew, Angel.


    The three of them had been lucky enough to survive the catastrophe back then. It was normal for them to rush out now in vengeance.

 1018 Contend 2

    The ambush by the Eight-Eyed Giant Lizard and the simultaneous three-man attack on him had all been resisted by Anthony. With that, the chances of survival for the three of them had decreased.


    "Are you okay?" Yannen helped his team member up.


    "I''m alright, chief. What do we do next?" The team member moved his entirely numb body which was in rather bad shape. Anthony had now joined the White Ghosts. This man was cruel and relentless, and had never allowed for any leeway, so if this continued on¡­


    "In a while, the Eight-Eyed Giant Lizard will come out. When that happens, we grab the opportunity and withdraw!" Yannen said in a low voice.


    The two team members, as each other''s right-hand man, exchanged looks at that moment and nodded slightly.


    "Lightning Heart!"


    A voice growled.


    On the wall of rock not far off, Anthony''s entire body was madly shooting off electric currents, blasting his three attackers once again.


    Step by step, he walked closer to Glory and picked her entirely limp body up. She had no energy at all to get up. With the tip of his finger, he lightly pricked and drew a line of glabella blood from Glory''s glabella.


    Strangely, this line of blood did not fall according to its weight but made a beeline towards the stone wall opposite of it, as straight as a sword.


    Roar!


    There was a sudden furious roar of a wild animal from under the wall of rock which was moving.


    There was a flash of frantic enthusiasm across Anthony''s eyes as he watched the fresh blood spurt onto the rock wall. Like acid, it began to corrode the black stone quickly.


    The strange thing was that after the stone had been corroded, there were strains of whitish gold blood flowing out.


    Fuh!


    The stone wall began to shake violently and two gigantic blood-red tongues whipped out from both sides of the rock, winding towards Anthony who stood in the middle.


    It was only then that the people there could clearly see, this was not a stone wall. It was a giant lizard in disguise, crouching on the ground.


    There were eight eyes on its head and two small mouths, one on each side. The two tongues just now had been spat out from there.


    "Lightning Contract!" Anthony stretched out his hand abruptly and slapped his palm on the part of the Giant Lizard that had been corroded.


    Huge bouts of electrical current erupted from his body and flowed into the body of the Giant Lizard violently.


    Roar!


    The Eight-Eyed Giant Lizard lashed around in pain.


    "Lightning Contract! He wants to control the Giant Lizard! Quick! Quick, interrupt him!" Glory screamed. She wanted to jump over, but her entire body was still weak; after forcing herself to get up, she fell to the ground again.


    "It''s impossible for him to succeed! No one has succeeded in the family for over a hundred years! It''s impossible! Impossible!" The little boy from the mud did his best to get up. There were bloody wounds all over his body, making him look like a human made of blood.


    "Let''s attack together!" Angel shouted, shooting up from the ground. He was the White Ghost who had dragged Anthony''s steps back just now.


    "Thunder!"


    He bellowed ferociously, as he pushed out an invisible forcefield like a clap of thunder in a mad frenzy.


    Seeing this, Glory and Beirut knew that this was their last chance. If they were to wait until Anthony had a free hand, the three of them die without even knowing how.


    "Thunder!" The two of them roared at the same time.


    This was a desperate killing move, the most powerful move amongst the Ice Thunder techniques of the family, which would kill the executioner of the move as well as their target. In an instant, all the ice thunder electric fields in their bodies would explode.


    The electric fields of the three people were combined into one and suddenly condensed into a slightly black electrical current ball the size of a brain. Angel held it in his hand and ferociously pushed it towards Anthony''s back.


    Anthony turned his head and a sneer finally appeared on his face.


    "Thunder Flash!"


    With one hand, he turned around to push him back just in time to face the slightly black ball created by the forces of the three individuals.


    There was an explosion.


    Numerous electrical currents dissipated in the eruption like a water jar being blasted into pieces. There was a detonation in between the two people, sending out countless electric arc pieces. The discharge caused the mercenaries in the area who could not dodge them fast enough to be completely numb in their bodies. One of them, unable to move fast enough to avoid the harm, got electrocuted in the arm, which charred it completely.


    Ripples of electrical residue suffused and spread through the soil and plants on the ground everywhere. The blue electrical residue continued to spread out, climbing onto tree trunks and crossing over the grassy earth. However, most of it had hurtled towards the body of the Eight-Eyed Giant Lizard which was close by.


    Roar!


    With an excruciating howl, the Eight-Eyed Giant Lizard''s spider-like red eyes finally turned blue, and it suddenly crouched down. Its head curled onto the ground tightly before Anthony, in complete submission.


    "Hahahahaha!" Anthony lifted his head and began to cackle wildly.


    The plan he had to conceal for so many years had finally succeeded today!


    "With the Eight-Eyed Giant Lizard, let''s see who can stop me from getting the secret scroll!"


    There was a maniacal flash in his eyes as he watched a black stone door slowly open in the ground the Eight-Eyed Giant Lizard had moved away from. The stone door seemed to look like a shadow of an illusion, appearing and disappearing in a slight blur. However, Anthony knew that this door was indeed, enterable. This was the great fortune that the Ice Thunder family had been accumulating for hundreds of years. The Ice Thunder scroll was not the only thing in there.


    As Glory and the rest watched in despair, Anthony reached out his hand to take off the metallic pendant hanging on his necklace. It was in the shape of an icy blue lightning bolt.


    "Go, Lightning Heart. Open the great door that truly leads to the secret trove."


    He lifted the Lightning Heart gently and shook it forward.


    Crack!


    A cluster of lightning in the shape of a ball was suddenly unleashed by the pendant, hurling towards the black door on the ground.


    Bang!


    An immensely dazzling white light erupted the moment the electric ball and the black door clashed.


    "A secret kept for so many years, finally¡­ It''s finally going to be in my hands! Hahahaha, do you see, brother? I''m finally obtaining it!" Anthony watched as the black door slowly solidified in the white light. Finally unable to control the glee in his heart, he drew his head back and laughed maniacally.


    At that moment, an item that looked like a goat-skin scroll eventually rose up from the middle of the black door. There was a string of blue electric arc around the scroll, as though it was a high voltage electric current generator itself.


    Anthony stopped laughing and took a huge, rushed step forward, immediately stretching his hand to grab the scroll in the midst of the electrical white light.


    Glory and the others closed their eyes, hopeless. The moment Anthony laid his hands on the secret scroll was the moment they would be killed.


    Right then, the second Anthony''s hand was about to come into contact with the secret scroll, a horrifyingly immense power suddenly attacked him from the back.


    "Go away!"


    A great, unstoppable force field descended, hitting Anthony hard and causing him to fly off like a rubber ball and crashing into the pinewood forest with a whoosh. There was a trail of fresh blood; no one knew how far he went or how injured he was.


    "The secret scroll is mine!" A beam of black shadow immediately appeared where Anthony had been, reaching out to grab the secret scroll.


    "You wish to have it for yourself?!" Another black shadow fell from the sky, landing hard on the ground like heavy metal, causing cracks to appear in the earth. Even before he steadied himself, he had violently grasped the hand of the first person with his right arm.


    "You''re asking for it, Second Brother!" The first person roared in a fury. The horrifying force field immediately shrunk and condensed into the palm of his hand; with a backhand, he hit the second person.


    The mere residual ripple from the terrible power of these two people could already rival the explosive, fatal threat of Anthony''s full power just now.


    The moment the two immense and horrifying force fields collided, everyone in the vicinity, including the mercenaries and Glory was blasted away. They rolled and landed all over the place, unmoving. Each and every one of them were heavily injured and unable to move.


    Even the powerful Eight-Eyed Giant Lizard had been hit by the great residual ripple so badly that its entire body was injured. It laid curled up on the ground and did not dare move.


    Bang!


    The hands of the two people made direct contact, stacking onto the explosive and great power, which turned into ripples of substantive energy, gradually dissipating.


    Roar!


    The first person opened his mouth to unleash a violent lion-like roar, shaking the second person up slightly. In that split-second of hesitation, the secret scroll was snatched by the first person.


    "Leaving?"


    Right at this time, the voice of a third person suddenly sounded out in the forest nearby.


    The black edge of a sword shot out from the forest like lightning, crashing into Boss''s arm brutally, causing the secret scroll in his hand to drop out.


    At the same time, another black shadow flew out from the forest, landing next to the first two people.


    The three of them stood facing each other, in a triangular stance.


    The third person seemed slightly strange. Other than the black shadow covering his entire body, there were also slivers of dark red light flowing out vaguely from him, as though his body was emitting red light at all times.


    Garen stood still on the spot, his eyes fixed on the secret scroll diffused with an electric arc in the middle.


    He had put in all of his power into the swing of his blade just now to activate the Blood Eagle State. Only, he did not expect that it merely shook Boss''s hand open. It had not even harmed him. The difference between them was very clear. If such a blow could not even hurt them, then his most powerful skill, the Double Prison Lock, would only be able to inflict light injuries upon his opponents, at most.


    If they were really going to fight, he would have to run at the first chance. This person was indeed the First Seat of the Great Elder, a Double-Moon Level master.


    Beyond Level Five, there was the New-Moon Level, the Half-Moon Level, and then the Double-Moon Level. There were two entire thresholds in the middle.


    Garen understood it himself, that even though he had trained with the Demon Blade and his power was extremely great, enabling him to bypass battles, but with the addition of his original skills, he could only deal with the Half-Moon Level stages at most. It was still a little too early to face a Double-Moon Level.


    These people before him were not even the typical Double-Moons but had accumulated many years of a horrible existence. If he were exposed, he would be facing an extraordinary danger.


    It was not as though no one had ever fallen amongst the Three-Hearted of the Scarlet Snow Sect. There were many ways to shield the crystals of the sect, as long as he could do it in complete secrecy.


    Thinking about this, his alertness was heightened to the maximum level, maintaining the highest level of caution.


    "Let''s adhere to the original agreement," Garen''s disguised voice, sharp and shrill, spoke calmly.


    "That is mine!" A sudden electrical energy surged in madly from behind Garen; it was at least Half-Moon Level. It was the heavily injured Anthony.


    With a face full of blood, he rushed out in a craze. His entire body was like an electrical hedgehog as he pounced towards the three people.


    "Die!"


    Garen did not wait for the other two to respond. He immediately pulled out his blade and, upon turning, swung it.


    In that split second, the special transformation effect of the Ten Thousand True Technique merged in; the Demon Blade carved a black scar mid-air, twisting and turning down like a broken line drawn with a pencil. It speedily flew towards the front of Anthony''s body.


    The black line hurtled in, and, with a violent twist, swung to the back of his body and brutally cut in through where the electrical current was the weakest.


    Szz!


    Anthony''s eyes grew wide and he stood in a daze where he was. With a crash, his entire body was cut in half.


    Garen slowly drew his blade back, breathing easily as though it was just a casual swing of the sword.

 1019 Exposed 1

    "Such a state¡­ You are, indeed¡­" Boss laughed loudly, a hint of fear hidden in his tone of voice.


    Carthage had always been frightening in an explosive manner. Now that he had the ability to change his stances in the blink of an eye, if this led to a fight, it would not do¡­ Boss did some calculations in his heart. It would only be possible to contend with this fellow if he joined forces with Second Brother.


    However, as for Second Brother''s intentions¡­


    "Let us just divide it equally amongst the three of us. I''m only interested in having a look at this thing anyway," Garen said coldly.


    At that time, the eyes of Second Brother were glinting, looking at Garen with some apprehension. Although the swipe just now had been stunning and its execution required at least the Water Mirror stage, but for an unknown reason, he felt as though there was something different about the aura now compared to the Carthage of the past.


    "I have no objections," Boss shrugged.


    "Then I agree as well," Second Brother could not put his finger on it, so he let it rest for now, and nodded.


    "We shall memorize it together," Garen stretched out his hand and held the secret scroll, briskly turning to the first page.


    The electric arc curled around his hand, but could not harm his skin in the slightest. This was the natural protection of the force field.


    Dense flows of information shot out, forming a beam of a solid pillar with blue electricity in front of the three people, turning slowly. In an instant, the pillar emitted blue light and every rune flashing upon it contained a great amount of information flow.


    The three men began to memorize speedily.


    It was at this moment that Second Brother''s eyes fell on Garen once again. Just now, when the blue light had flashed, the feeling that something was wrong had struck him again. He had met Carthage once and he had been endlessly arrogant! He had also been a bigger germaphobe than Boss, unwilling to let any energy of the outside world touch his body. So how could it be that this man had let electricity fall onto the back of his hand just now?


    "This man¡­" The eyes of Second Brother glinted secretly.


    In the blink of an eye, the first page was completely memorized.


    Garen also noticed how Second Brother was paying him extra attention. There was a slight chill in his heart as he felt that something was not right.


    "The second page," he stretched out his hand to flip to the second page of the scroll.


    "It''s not right! You''re not Carthage!" Seeing his hand come into contact with electricity once more, Second Brother suddenly gave a loud roar.


    Clank!


    The black line made by the blade of the sword suddenly emerged, swinging towards Boss and Second Brother; Garen grabbed the secret scroll swiftly, before turning around to run.


    The red light emanating from his entire body was no longer concealed. At an astonishing speed, he rushed into the pinewood forest.


    Countless black swords erupted from Second Brother''s body. With a loud crash, the blades were thrown out everywhere, towards the sky and the earth.


    At the same speed, he hurried and gave pursuit.


    "Hand the secret scroll over!" It was only then that Boss came to his senses and responded. He single-handedly hit and dispersed the blades before rushing out immediately. Both his legs started to twist and change into two black wings. With a strong flap, he shot out as a flash of black shadow, chasing after the two people in front of him.


    The others, who had fallen on the ground with heavy injuries could not move. From the moment Anthony had been about to succeed until the three ridiculously strong and horrifying black shadows had rushed out and killed Anthony, the situation had quickly turned sour.


    Glory and the others did not know how to react at all. All they could do was pretend to be unconscious, afraid that the three people would be distracted by them. Anthony had been a strong contender whom they had planned to kill for a long time, and yet he had been like a piece of paper before those three men, dying instantaneously. They did not dare imagine the disparity in between them.


    The White Ghosts, especially, were lying on the ground pretending to be dead. They did not dare to get up at all and remained motionless.


    In particular, upon hearing the name of Carthage, this bunch of people had been so scared that the hairs on their bodies had stood on end. Who did not know how forceful and unrivaled Carthage was? The number of cases where he had killed people merely due to disagreements was not normal at all.


    By then, the people on the ground only sat up after hearing the three people leave.


    "Disperse!" The junior team leader amongst the White Ghosts growled, and they jumped up quickly and withdrew fast.


    The mercenaries looked at Glory and her comrades, sighing.


    "We almost lost our lives this time, Miss Glory. Let''s consider the favor we owe you settled," the other members of the team were all ashen white in the face; no one could really calm down. They had just escaped death; every heart there pounded furiously.


    After leaving some medicine for Glory and the other two, the mercenaries left as well.


    On the scene, only the heavily injured Eight-Eyed Giant Lizard was left moaning on the ground not far away.


    Glory sat on the ground in a daze, looking at all the mess in the family''s secret trove. The other treasures inside had been completely destroyed by the residual ripples of power emitted by the three just now. The door had been destroyed and the treasure trove could not be opened anymore. It meant that they would never be able to get their hands on the treasure.


    "Sister¡­" In the mud, her brother, Beirut, crawled out. Both his legs had been broken by the residual ripple just now, and blood was slowly flowing out from the joints of his legs. Some of the blood had hardened; he did not know how much blood had been lost.


    Glory hugged her little brother gently. Unable to hold her tears back, they began to flow out quickly.


    "Where¡­ Where is brother?" Beirut asked in a small and weak voice.


    Glory lifted her head to look in Angel''s direction who was already completely lifeless. One of Garen''s residual blades that had been deflected and dispersed, had accidentally slashed through his neck, immediately incapacitating him. Both his eyes stared up into the sky. It seemed that Angel had died before he could even react.


    An unspeakable grief surged up in her heart. Her entire family had perished, leaving only so little.


    "We need to go soon!" Glory gave a violent start. The three powerful men just now might come back. They had to leave immediately!


    She stood up, wanting to unleash her Energy Machinery, only to discover that her horse-shaped Energy Machinery had been broken without her noticing. It was clearly damaged.


    Crawling out from the mud, her entire body was drenched with injuries all over her limbs. She carried her big brother''s corpse and bound her little brother upon her back, before starting a difficult walk towards the other direction in the pinewood forest.


    Confusion indistinctly filled the hearts of the two people.


    Anthony had died. Not at their hands, but killed so casually by three stronger black shadows, as though they were merely stepping on a tiny ant.


    Such a high degree, such high levels.


    Angel had died as well, to an accidental residual ripple. Had their family been avenged? They did not know what was going on in their hearts. The only thing they felt was being at a loss.


    How would they walk down this path in the future? They had no idea what to do at all¡­


    ******************


    "Leave the secret scroll!"


    In the dense forest, a terrifying pillar of white light suddenly erupted, rushing out of the pinewood forest and creating a round hole amongst the leaves and branches at the top of the thick forest.


    It caused light to shine through, falling upon the three people who were in a mad run in the forest.


    Garen did a flying leap and kicked off against a tree trunk forcefully, turning his body to rush towards a small river to the side.


    Smack!


    Both his legs landed on a large piece of limestone in the middle of the river. Red light immediately spread open on his back like a pair of wings.


    "Blood Eagle!"


    He made a low sound, like the cry of an eagle and rushed into the sky.


    "Trying to run?"


    Boss, who was behind him, jumped up; his terrifying Scarlet Snow Technique rolled up a huge snowstorm, which hurtled towards Garen''s back.


    "Meditation Imprint!" At the same time, a cold, icy blue imprint shot out from the pinewood forest, heading directly towards the side of Garen''s arm.


    The white snowstorm and the blue imprint were rushing towards Garen at the same time, to stop him mid-air.


    Garen unleashed a sudden burst of energy, and the wings of red light on his back moved faster. This drastically increased his speed. Missing the two attacks by inches, he dashed into the airspace above the forest.


    "Great speed!" Boss sneered, "But do you think you can escape at such a speed?"


    His right arm suddenly changed, growing longer and darker very quickly. It turned into a claw, like that of a wild beast. Immediately, it was lifted up, before taking a vicious swipe at Garen, who was in the sky.


    "Snowstorm Palm!"


    A clear, white palmprint shot out as fast as lightning from the claw and caught up with Garen in an instant.


    Garen did not have time to turn around. He felt a chill run down his spine from behind at that moment and the hairs on his skin stood on end. Unable to think too much, he used all his might in a backhand. The Dual Blades were drawn out and put together with a clang.


    "Double Prison Lock!"


    The Demon Blade exploded at maximum power and black line was drawn from top to bottom by the black slash of the blade and crashed straight into the palmprint behind him.


    Bang!


    The white palmprint was blocked by the black slash but the horrifying and powerful Scarlet Snow Technique broke through the blockade forcefully, enabling the palmprint to continue hurtling towards Garen. The power of the Double Prison Lock had only weakened the palmprint slightly.


    "Die!"


    Boss''s claw tightened.


    Controlling the direction of the palmprint from afar, he made a grabbing motion towards Garen''s head.


    Bang!


    Huge amounts of snow flew about, falling from the air.


    Garen gave a snort, as his body flew towards the opposite direction like an arrow leaving a bow. A bit of blood was splashed into the air.


    "Skillful!"


    Borrowing the powerful momentum of the Snowstorm Palm, Garen''s wings unexpectedly flapped again, quickly propelling him to an even further distance. It looked as though he was about to escape from the attacking range of the two men.


    "Second Brother!" Boss was unable to catch up. He turned his head and bellowed.


    "Spiritual Net Imprint!"


    The moment the words came out, a vast, icy blue net suddenly appeared in front of Garen, completely blocking his way.


    The huge net was like a spider''s web, entangling Garen immediately as though it was catching a red flying insect for food.


    The entire net was pulled into a very sharp point by Garen''s momentum but bounced back into shape very quickly.


    Garen had not expected they would have such a trick to stop him. He struggled, wanting to escape the great net but he was unable to expend his energy. The Scarlet Snow Technique on his entire body had been suppressed tightly by the great net. Slivers of bone-penetrating chill began to spread through his body without ceasing.


    Turning around, those two men were already less than a hundred meters from him!


    "Cold Radiation!" A chill suddenly emanated from his whole body, stacking onto the Scarlet Snow Technique. Garen''s skill level instantly increased by a stage, reaching the eleventh stage of the Scarlet Snow Technique. This increased his chances slightly of struggling and escaping the stickiness of the net.


    However, it was still not enough.


    Garen put his two hands together, wielding the blades, and swung mightily towards the net.


    The great momentum and power were transformed into a gentle strength through his martial arts skills. The shifting from soft to hard, and vice versa was a technique and skill often used by masters of martial arts.


    Bang!


    A strand of the spider''s web finally broke. However, there were hundreds of the web''s silks stuck to Garen. There was no way to break all of them in one hit.


    "Do you still want to run?" Boss jumped into flight, "Snowstorm Palm!"


    Another snowy white palmprint hurtled towards Garen''s back.


    The terrible energy that he was utterly powerless to stop had not even gotten close to him but was already causing him to lose his breath. Boss had used all his might in delivering this hit.


    The white palmprint flew and hit Garen''s back. Everything happened within that instant.


    Whoo¡­


    Out of the blue, there was a howl of a wolf as a blue shadow rushed into the sky. Its great momentum and Garen''s full force explosion of the Scarlet Snow Technique combined, pressing down violently upon the other side of the blue net.


    Poof!


    Finally, the entire blue net was broken through.


    Second Brother, who arrived late, had moved at a slightly lower speed. Seeing this, his expression grew cold.


    "Damn it!"


    Garen had broken through the blue net and was hurling out from the other side. However, he had not yet completely evaded the horrifying speed of the Snowstorm Palm''s palmprint. The palmprint hit him on the back.


    Bang!


    Numerous snowflakes scattered into the air.


    Garen launched his wings, borrowing energy for yet another rush, instantly disappearing into the distant horizon.

 1020 Exposed 2

    "So that''s your Spiritual Net Imprint!?" Boss was furious and frantic, but he knew that they could no longer catch up, so he roared at Second Brother angrily.


    Second Brother''s gaze was dark and cold as he shook his head.


    "When it comes to head-on conflict, I''m no match for you, but when it comes to tracking someone down and killing them, that''s still my forte. Come with me!"


    He reached out his hand, and there was a white sphere in the middle of his palm, a small red dot lighting up on it slowly.


    "It''s not that easy to get away once you''ve been hit by my Spiritual Net Imprint!"


    "Oh? You can do that?" Boss instantly turned from rage to joy.


    "That way! Come!" Second Brother glanced at it, and immediately discovered Garen''s location. His body rushed out rapidly, the soles of his shoes suddenly spraying out some levitational propelling force which sent him flying into the distant sky.


    Boss followed behind him closely as well.


    "Where''s that punk gone?!" he said angrily. "If I get my hands on him, I''ll tear him into pieces and feed him to the dogs!"


    "What''s the rush?" There was a cold cruelty in Second Brother''s eyes. "That kid is too fast, we might not be able to catch up to him even if we chase him individually, and his martial arts realm is at the Water Mirror level, so we can''t stop him in terms of technique either. All we can do is watch him slowly, and wait for him to let down his guard, then we strike together and kill him for real! We can''t give him another chance to slip away!"


    "He''s just a Level Five, how dare he try to steal what''s practically already ours!" said Boss seethingly. "What are those wings on him?"


    "I think they''re a sort of gene ability, he must have gotten some sort of special gene integrated into him. If he can have the speed of Second Brother-Moons like us even though he''s only Level Five, it must be no average gene!" deduced Second Brother. "I''m not fast enough, once we get that wing gene and distill it, I''m taking it!"


    "If he can cultivate the Demon''s Blade, his Vitality must be way higher than others, which means he either has a gene strengthening liquid or some special training method. After we get his corpse and distill the strengthening liquid out of it, I call dibs on that." Boss was no pushover either, and he could deduce what abilities his opponent had even though they just clashed for an instant.


    "We''ll share the secret scroll, half each."


    "No problem!"


    The two of them had started dividing up Garen''s things before they even caught him, which showed just how confident they were.


    One after the other, the two black shadows hurriedly chased after Garen.


    *******************


    Whoosh!


    A red thread fell from the sky, and landed heavily on a small hill on the ground.


    With a large bang, Garen left a huge human-shaped crater in the ground. He crawled out of the crater with difficulty, his body covered in blood, and his lips purple. His whole body was shaking non-stop.


    "Thank goodness I didn''t bring Little One and Little Two along." He had not thought that Boss and Second Brother''s tactics would be so terrifying either, compared to the likes of March and Yiling, be it their Snowstorm Palm or the later Spiritual Net Imprint, both were particularly effective against his speed.


    The Snowstorm Palm was shockingly fast, each palm shooting out like a flash of lightning. It surpassed his multiplied speed and landed directly on his back. He could not avoid it at all, and had no choice but to take it.


    Thankfully, it seemed that Boss could not use it consecutively, and needed some time to catch his breath, or else Garen would not have ended up well.


    And the Spiritual Net Imprint was even worse, if he did not have the Giant Blue Wolf to help him create that huge wave of momentum, he would have been in real serious trouble.


    Garen looked at the Blue Wolf that darted out closely behind him. There was already a large patch of white frost on the side of the Giant Blue Wolf''s body, and the cold was so intense that even Garen could feel it in his bones.


    He reached his hand out and touched the Blue Wolf''s white frost injury.


    Woo...


    The Giant Wolf whined a few times, its expression painful.


    "If it hadn''t been modified by the Distorted Seed, making it highly resistant to cold, it probably would not have lasted long at all." Garen shook his head. The Giant Blue Wolf was beyond repair, that cold was at least Level Twelve or more, and it was corroding away at the wolf''s internal organs as well as its life force. This cold was extremely powerful, and it seemed to be slightly domineering, chasing away all of the other traces of warmth. It even spread automatically.


    No matter how strong its resistance to cold was, the Blue Wolf was still a living creature, and it required heat to move. At this rate, within ten minutes, the whole Blue Wolf would turn completely into an ice sculpture, and then the slightest touch would reduce it to shards of ice.


    "It''s too bad!"


    Garen let out a breath, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth as he began to check his body.


    He had also been gravely injured, but contrary to his expectations, he did not feel particularly unwell even as they flew, as though there was a force in his body that kept resisting the invading cold energy. Add that to his powerful Vitality, and he had actually managed to suppress the cold energy in his body, rendering it immobile.


    "I''ll check as we go!"


    Something occurred to Garen, and he used his Energy Machine Imprint to issue an order. With a wave of his hand, several black wolves instantly appeared beside him. He rode on one, and had another tow the Giant Blue Wolf, that was beginning to grow slower and slower.


    The whole entourage ran into the distant forest. They could not go straight back to the camp, or else it would be bad if those two caught up.


    Garen sent Little One and Little Two a message as he rode on the wolf''s back.


    "I need to settle some matters outside, you two go back to Headquarters and rest. I''ll call you when I need you to do anything for me." Garen''s voice was very calm, as though he was not hurt at all.


    "Yes, Master." On the other end, Little One also just assumed that Garen was going into seclusion for a bit, and he did not read any more into it. "Oh, right, do you need some of the food and drink I have here, Master?"


    "There''s no need, I have enough here, you just have to go to Planet Naga and help Bainster handle things there. I''ll be back in about a month, and even if I don''t go back, I''ll drop you a message. If it''s anything more important than that, wait for me to get back!" said Garen.


    "Understood," replied Little One decisively.


    Cutting off the connection, Garen could not help but throw up another mouthful of blood.


    Sitting on the wolf''s back, he quickly turned his gaze inward, and that was when he realized that the terrifying cold energy from the Snowstorm Palm was constantly fighting against another overbearing power inside his body.


    That power was actually the Willpower of the Seventh Divine Wind General that had been lying dormant in his body the whole time.


    Both forces were essentially half-pure forms of energy gathered and mobilized by Willpower, they were both a branch of Willpower, but with different elements and attributes.


    The Snowstorm Palm had its roots in the Scarlet Snow Technique, mobilizing and combining with a specific intense and violent energy. The resulting force was unnaturally overpowering, and had an extreme element of repulsion, forbidding any other power to stay inside its territory.


    And the Seventh Divine Wind General''s Willpower was also excessively over-domineering. After all, it was Inherited-Level power, even though there was only a little remnant left, it was still more than enough to deal with the Snowstorm Palm.


    The two of them faced off against each other, resulting in an extreme reaction of repulsion that seriously damaged Garen''s internal organs.


    Crack...


    Garen reached out his hands, and saw that they were covered with a thick layer of white frost. The power of the Snowstorm Palm had enveloped his arms, and was rapidly clashing against the power of the Divine Wind General in his torso.


    Lowering his head, Garen could see that at the place where his arms joined his shoulders, the link between his torso and his arms, there were two terrifying powers, one blue and one black, engaged in a mad struggle.


    The blue Snowstorm Palm power was rapidly being scattered, but the power of the Divine Wind General had also been consumed slightly.


    The blue Snowstorm Palm seemed reluctant to die just like that, so it gathered into a white-blue patch at the last moment. This rushed straight at the black power of the Divine Wind General.


    Hiss!!


    There was a sound like that of acid corrosion.


    All the veins in Garen''s body popped abruptly, and in that final instantaneous clash, his internal organs were given a giant jolt, causing them all to bleed profusely at the same time. His expression instantly turned extremely hard to look at, deathly pale without a single trace of blood.


    Devour!


    Garen stretched out his hand, and a blue mouth appeared on his palm. It was filled with sharp teeth, and it sprayed out many blue silk threads, biting down on the Giant Blue Wolf beside him tightly as it began to devour it.


    He slowly began to hear the hiss of chewing and devouring sounds.


    The many blue silk threads devoured all the parts of the Blue Wolf''s body that had yet to be overtaken by the Snowstorm Palm, and converted it into waves of healing energy to heal Garen''s internal injuries.


    "It''s not enough!" Garen took out the healing medicine used for repair in the case of transplants gone awry, tossed his head back, and drank it all. This was the standard medicine issued by the sects for injuries, and its effect was relatively decent.


    Only then did the internal bleeding slowly fall somewhat under control.


    "I need to deal with the excess blood!"


    He needed to handle the blood that had pooled up in his body, or else it would be a big problem if that blood solidified in his body as well. Normally, his body could remove it of its own accord, but it would be troublesome if there was too much of it.


    "Blood Control!" The Blood Eagle''s Blood Control ability began to take effect slowly. It had a sort of force field effect, and required time to react. Compared to how he could just bulldoze over lower-level opponents regardless of number, it could not do much at all when faced with powerhouses that were significantly stronger than him.


    After slowly getting rid of the excess blood, Garen took out another vial of medicine that would replenish blood quickly. The small black vial was filled to the brim, but he opened the cover and just poured it into his mouth.


    "Finally, that should do it." He heaved a fierce sigh of relief.


    The scenery on each side passed by him rapidly, he was still moving at a very high speed. He did not know where he was anymore.


    Ba-thump!


    Suddenly, there was a sound like a heartbeat from Garen''s arms.


    He was taken aback, and looked down at his arms.


    There were two faint bulges on his arm, each of them the size of an egg. The surfaces glowed, as though they could explode at any time.


    "This is--?!" Garen''s expression changed suddenly.


    Pfft!


    The two bulges exploded at the same time, spraying out a torrent of blood. The droplets of the blood had a strange power that instantly turned them into countless shards of blood ice, and these went shooting off in all directions.


    Ding ding ding...


    The blood shards shot Garen full of holes, and even the black wolf he was riding on gave a sob. The exploding blood ice shards had actually pierced straight through its body, and it abruptly fell to its knees in the middle of its high-speed run. With a bam, the wolf and its rider were both thrown forward, falling onto the ground hard.


    "This is the second stage of the Snowstorm Palm!" Garen instantly reacted, the force behind that spray of blood ice just now was precisely the part of the Snowstorm Palm that had been better hidden.


    If the Divine Wind General had not first shaved off most of the palm power in his arms, the second stage of transformation that led to the explosion would probably have triggered all of the palm power, and it would have been strong enough to completely blow him up!


    It did not matter how strong his Vitality was, no wonder even Boss could not use this power consecutively!


    It might seem at first glance that Garen was badly hurt by this explosion, but they were actually all only flesh wounds. He turned around and got up, releasing yet another black wolf, and riding it away at full speed. He did not dare to waste even a second.


    This was his first time crossing swords with a Resonance Level Energy Machinist, and a peak-level Resonance powerhouse from the Scarlet Snow Sect at that. The power of the Scarlet Snow Sect was far more significant that what he faced back in the Blackboard Region, the Black Flood Party was only a small faction in Blackboard, whereas the Scarlet Snow Sect was a sect on one of the three main e/m planets, Planet Naga. Although it was not a big or even a medium-sized sect on Naga, and could only be considered a lesser sect, it was still powerful enough to control an entire planet in other places. With the power of the Three Great Elders and the Guardian, even on the Mother Planet, it could have taken over at least a continent.


    It was incomparably stronger than the Black Flood Party.


    That was why the Resonance-level powerhouses from the Scarlet Snow Sect were also infinitely more powerful than those from Black Flood.


    Once he compared them like that, Garen could feel the clear distance between the two.


    "The secret scroll..." Garen reached for the thing in his pocket. From that fragment of a memory just now, he had already sensed that this secret scroll had the innate ability to store energy and information.


    The reason things like secret scrolls could increase one''s chance of reaching Inherited Level was because there were traces of the Inherited-level Origin Power recorded onto the scroll itself.


    Once they cultivated the secret method on the secret scroll, they could rapidly absorb some of the Inherited Level''s Origin Power.


    The Origin Power was something that Inherited-level powerhouses held at their very core, and it was more important to them than life itself. Everyone''s Origin was extremely limited, and it was even harder to place your Origin on an item so that it could be transferred to another. 90% of that power would be wasted, and only a wisp would actually stick.


    That was why secret scrolls were only ever created when an Inherited-level powerhouse was on their deathbed, and wanted to leave a glimmer of hope for their descendants to reach the same level.


    As a result, the secret scrolls were even rarer and harder to come by. And every faction treated them as a precious and crucial treasure.


    The fact that a family as small as Glory''s had one, proved that one of her ancestors had been an Inherited-level powerhouse, and they had once been glorious as well.


    "Those two I fought just now would surely be able to discover my identity, and the way back is not safe either. The best option would be to hide somewhere and absorb the secret scroll completely, I can only go back after destroying the body, hiding my tracks, and healing my wounds."


    Garen decided inwardly. Now that he was a Three-Hearted disciple, he was the Second Elder''s disciple in name, but in reality he had not even passed the test yet. He needed to past the mission test, and make a trip to the void battle before he could officially meet the Elder, and truly become a Three-Hearted Disciple.


    And it just so happened that he needed a more powerful secret method to reach the void battle.


    The contents of this secret scroll were exactly what he needed to plug the gap.


    From the instant fragment of memory back then, Garen already knew that the secret scroll contained information about a secret method known as the Magic Light Fist. It was the last secret method left behind by a dying Inherited-Level powerhouse, and it was surely that powerhouse''s most powerful technique, so its strength was surely formidable.


    If he could learn this secret method and then absorb a hint of that Inherited-Level Origin Power, he might be able to achieve an even stronger upgrade. As soon as Garen made the decision in his heart, he began to look for a place where he could hide and train.

 1021 Sunlight 1

    As he advanced quickly down the other direction, Garen slowly realized that the woods around him were slowly beginning to change. The many large trees slowly began to grow shorter, and many of the branches drooped down like willows. The leaves on them, however, grew bigger and bigger. At first they were the size of round paper fans, but they slowly grew until they were the size of face basins, and finally they were as big as wash basins, big enough to shield off the rain.


    The large and succulent green leaves grew in layers upon layers, vaguely blocking off the sunlight that was coming from above as well.


    There were wisps of a white mist rising around him. The mist was very thick, and visibility was limited to a dozen meters or so.


    Psst...


    Garen took a light breath, and smelled an intense note of sulphur.


    "Here."


    He slowed the black wolf down, and sensed that his Willpower could not stretch that far.


    His eyes twinkled slightly, and then Garen quickly got off the wolf, searching in the sachet at his waist to find the mini electronic detector that he always carried with him.


    He put the square silver detector on the floor, and a steel needle shot out from the bottom of it, embedding itself into the thick layer of fallen leaves.


    A small antenna and reception disk appeared on top of the detector, and they began to spin slowly, beeping softly as they went.


    ''Warning, warning, scanning unavailable for signals more than three meters away, please leave the high radiation zone, please leave the high radiation zone...''


    "I knew it!" Understanding flashed across Garen''s eyes. "This is a high-energy radiation zone."


    He had lived in such an environment for a very long time, so he was most familiar with these sorts of surroundings.


    "It''s hard for the detector to scan this area, and Willpower can''t reach any further, either. Isn''t this the best place for me to hide?"


    Garen climbed astride the black wolf again, and began to slowly wind his way through the white mist. Occasionally, he would pay attention to the places where the soil was looser.


    Soon enough, he found a place, where the ground was black soil and it was covered by a thick carpet of leaves. Some of the leaves had begun to rot, but others had just fallen.


    Peeling away some of the thicker and larger leaves, Garen found a natural crater in the floor.


    "This is the place!"


    He crouched down, and stretched out his hand, placing it on the surface of the ground.


    "Devour!"


    Many blue silk threads poured out of his palm like a tide, and began to devour the soil.


    The devoured soil was quickly converted into tiny specks of pure energy. However, the efficiency of this conversion was extremely low, especially compared to when he had devoured the Blue Wolf before. The energy produced from devouring a Blue Wolf was equivalent to devouring this soil for a month.


    But his main motive was not to devour energy.


    Closing his eyes, Garen controlled the blue threads using his mind, making them devour the large amounts of soil and stone beneath him without stopping. Soon, a clear open space had been created in the ground more than ten meters beneath him.


    Following the image in his mind, the blue threads kept digging and devouring, quickly forming a small cave that could three or four people, and then they also created a ventilation duct from the surface into the underground cave.


    After devouring some scorpions and bugs on the way, Garen finally opened his eyes, satisfied. With a wave of his hand, a flash of black light shot into the distance. Garen sensed the situation in the distance, and nodded with satisfaction.


    The black wolf continued on, leaving footprints that led further away. When the black wolf had completely disappeared from his sensory field, Garen pulled back his Energy Machine Imprint''s senses, walked up to the cave that was hidden by leaves, and jumped in.


    The blue threads controlled and twined the mounds of soil on either side, so that the soil covered the entrance that Garen had left behind on the surface, sealing it shut.


    Inside the soil underneath, there was not a single shred of light to be seen.


    Garen released his blue silk threads, and continued to dig and devour at the ground diagonally below him, rapidly deepening the hole even further.


    A Resonance-level Energy Machinist would have a shocking number of skills at his disposal, so if the hole was only a dozen or so meters deep, it probably would not be able to fool his opponent. He needed to make it even deeper.


    Garen kept digging down, using that small space he had created just now as the foundation so that he could continue digging downwards.


    The countless blue silk threads were like huge jaws that kept devouring the earth, stones, and even some half-rotten animal corpses or tree roots beneath him in large gulps.


    After he continued digging for some time, Garen slowly began to feel the air around him thinning. He was probably about seventy or eighty meters down now, so he finally stopped.


    There was only the blue light created by his own blue silk threads around him now.


    Garen got straight to work creating a space around him, and he could just about use the ventilation duct from before to provide air ventilation here. He also found some places where there were more stones, and used the stones to make a support pillar that kept the top layer of the soil steady. In no time at all, a small underground space with a stone structure and walls of soil was formed.


    Looking at the small square space, Garen sat on the ground, also slightly exhausted. There seemed to be a stone mine near here, the earth on his right was full of white stones.


    Part of the space Garen had dug out was in the middle of a giant stone, he had dug a crater right out of the stone.


    Sitting on the hard stone surface, Garen paid no heed to the dirt, and began to appraise the fruits of his effort. He nodded, somewhat satisfied.


    "This way, it''s not likely for them to find me. Be it the high radiation levels or the thick soil and stone, all of it weakens and blocks off signals, and it would definitely interfere with his detector. I just need to get enough time so that I can absorb the secret scroll!"


    Garen took the secret scroll out of his pocket, and was just about to open it.


    Squeak squeak squeak squeak.


    Suddenly, there was a faint squeaking from the ground in front of him.


    A little dirt-yellow mole had dug a small hole out of the ground, and poked its little head out, looking at Garen intently.


    It seemed to be wondering at the sudden lack of soil in front of it.


    The mole looked confused.


    Squeak squeak.


    It squeaked a few times, revealing its large white teeth, and then it looked at Garen again in confusion. It was probably its first time a human creature, or maybe it was just wondering why it would encounter such a creature underground.


    "A mole?" Garen frowned slightly, he was not sure whether this little guy was intelligent, it might be slightly troublesome if it was an intelligent creature.


    But this deep underground, and especially in such a high radiation zone, the chances of it being intelligent were extremely low. The biggest danger of high-energy radiation was that it was extremely destructive towards the brain.


    Not many intelligent creatures or races could last long in high-energy radiation zones, Garen had done all the research, and he knew that except for his own Distorted Seed, none of the already-established other races dared to live inside a high-energy radiation zone.


    Relaxing slightly, he glanced at the little mole. The palm-sized thing squeaked a few more times, and then turned around, darting into its hole and disappearing without a trace.


    Garen opened the secret scroll, and that pillar of light with blue electricity appeared again, standing upright on the secret scroll, and turning slowly.


    There were faint arches of electricity all over the pillar of light, crackling. The many runes kept flowing and appearing on the pillar.


    Garen quickly memorized the contents of the runes on the surface of the pillar, and slowly began to lose himself in the deep layers of calculations.


    *****************


    Above the pine forest, two black shadows flitted past quickly, rushing towards a particular direction.


    The shadow in front stopped abruptly, and stayed suspended in mid-air, lowering his head and looking at the white sphere in his hand again.


    "What''s the matter, Barlow?" asked the shadow behind him unhappily as they stopped as well.


    "Don''t say my name!" Barlow Hertha was the First Elder''s second Three-Hearted disciple, and he stared at the black shadow behind him particularly unhappily.


    "There''s no one here anyway, what are you afraid of!" said the shadow, voice full of contempt.


    "That kid went into the high-energy radiation zone, the interference is getting in the way, I need to determine his location again," said Barlow softly. "Hold on for a moment."


    "The high-energy radiation zone? Is he trying to speed up his death?!" Boss laughed coldly. "Even I don''t dare to stay in there for too long. Anything could happen in a place like that, it''d be bad if we came across a high-energy mutated creature!"


    "We know that, so wouldn''t that kid know that as well?" Barlow laughed coldly. "Ron, if you keep on underestimating your opponent like that, one day Julie will really beat you to death!"


    "Did I ask for your opinion?" Boss instantly flew into a rage.


    The Second Brother lowered his head and continued to observe the white sphere, and suddenly he frowned deeply.


    "What''s the matter? Can you still find his location?"


    "Don''t panic, the interference is more than I expected," said Second Brother, Barlow, softly.


    His finger immediately left many traces in the air, as he drew a very complicated and mysterious rune on the white sphere in an instant. The rune shone with a white light, which quickly faded and vanished.


    The red dot on the white sphere had been weakening, but now it seemed to have gotten another boost, as it lit up abruptly.


    "Found him! Let''s go!"


    The Second Brother, Barlow, shot out flying. The Boss, Ron, followed closely behind him.


    "This way!" Second Brother ran straight ahead, to his right, and soon enough, the forest in front of him began to change slowly. The trees started to grow shorter as they went, the leaves growing larger, the branches drooping down. The leaves were like wash basins, but they were layered until they looked like green skirts on the trees, with a strange yet beautiful effect.


    The white mist in the air grew thicker as well, from the faint white mist from before, until it was too thick for them to see their hands in front of their eyes.


    "This is the high-energy radiation zone," said Second Brother Barlow in a low voice. He flicked his finger, and instantly released some small black insects that looked like bees. They scattered into the air soundlessly, a veritable swarm of almost five hundred insects.


    His first Energy Machinery was something like a seal, and the second was this one. It was particularly useful for search and surveillance.


    "Are you sure he''s here!?" Boss Ron breathed in a little of the mist, and then quickly held his breath. The radiation pollution here was just too much, it was more than ten times that of normal.


    Even if he lived here, he would be infected by that very troublesome radiation disease if he stayed for too long. A Level Five Energy Machinist whose Scarlet Snow Technique probably had not even reached the eleventh grade would not stand a chance.


    "I''m sure!" Second Brother Barlow nodded with certainty. "The white sphere shows that he''s in this white mist, there''s no mistaking it!"


    "This way!"


    He suddenly flew to the left decisively, and headed straight for the ground, where he landed.


    "Do it!"


    With a low roar, Boss struck out, smashing his Snowstorm Palm into the ground.


    Boom!!

 1022 Sunlight 2

    Boom!!


    There was the sound of the palm hitting a body of flesh from inside the ground.


    A black shadow was thrown out of the ground, and crashed hard into some shrubs nearby.


    Second Brother hurriedly chased it, and some bees darted inside for a luck, but all they saw was a dead black wolf rapidly freezing into ice, its body a mess of flesh and blood.


    "It''s that kid''s Black Wolf!" Second Brother snorted coldly. "Is he trying to lead us away? He must be nearby! I''m sure of it!"


    "Didn''t you say you could find him?!" said Boss angrily as he landed. "Why is it a black wolf instead?"


    "Even I can only determine his general location over here, don''t you think I want to find as soon as possible as well?" said Second Brother coldly.


    "If you have any more tricks up your sleeve, take them out now! Otherwise that punk will secretly get away!" said Ron impatiently.


    Barlow narrowed his eyes, and then pulled out a black sphere. With the white sphere in one hand and the black one in the other, he put them both on his palms and then abruptly smashed them together.


    "I''m going all out this time, damn it!"


    He said fiercely, watching as the two spheres collided with each other. They did not crash loudly, and instead fused together rapidly.


    The red dot on them also instantly became a lot clearer.


    "Here! Found him!"


    "Let''s go!"


    The two of them leaped into the air, and flew straight toward the marker on the sphere.


    **********


    Garen slowly opened the third page of the secret scroll, and imprinted the contents on it into his brain.


    The fourth page, the fifth... The sixth!


    This was the last page, and the blue electric pillar that rose from it was not like the others. It was only as tall as a pen, intricate, with a faint blue-golden color, but without any arches of electricity. There was just a deep shade of blue that moved slowly, almost like a liquid, as though it was just a crystal pillar that was filled with a spinning blue-golden liquid.


    "This is the Inherited Power?" Garen had never seen Inherited-Level Origin Power before, so he could not be sure whether this was that legendary Inherited Origin or not.


    With a hiss, a line of words appeared underneath the delicate little blue-golden pillar.


    ''Learn the Secret Method, and thou shalt absorb the Origin.''


    The words were made of some special and strange letters, and Garen recognized them. These were Ancient Motherese, a language used in the past on the Mother Planet, and it was somewhat different from the universal language used these days. Still, there were only minor differences in the syntax and morphology, he could still interpret the general gist of the contents. It was basically the difference between simplified and traditional Chinese writing(1).


    Closing his eyes, Garen started to recall the entire secret method that he had just memorized.


    "Secret Method Magic Light Fist: Possesses unimaginably great power. Nobody knows where this power came from, and nobody knows why there was this change reminiscent of a scientific chemical reaction, but this secret method had saved me from many a tight spot and granted me victory from the jaws of defeat. My heir, if you wish to absorb my Inherited Origin, you must first learn this secret method so that you may attain a basic level of self-defense capability. Otherwise, even if you do absorb the Origin Power, and subsequently enter the Inherited Level, you will still face some problems even more troublesome than regular Inherited Levels¡ªMessage from: Karim Giles."


    There was this message at the end of the secret method. Clearly, the Inheritor had believed that once his heir learned the Magic Light Fist, they would be equipped with the basic power to defend themselves. That was how much faith they had in their secret method.


    Garen continued to read the contents from his memory.


    ''There are only three grades to the Magic Light Fist, namely Sunlight, Moonlight, and Starlight, going from the bottom to the top. Starlight is the highest level of completion, and at that point, the speed of your fists would be terrifying. They will be everywhere, cover everything, and the explosive power will also be tremendous. But at the same time, you will need more energy to reach a higher level secret method.''


    This was followed by detailed explanations of the training contents for all three grades.


    Garen flipped his hands so that his palms faced skyward, and then he opened his mouth, spitting out a scarlet glow that began to spin slowly in front of him, slowly absorbing specks of faint white light.


    The white light gathered between his palms in front of him, and slowly formed a white whirlpool.


    The whirlpool started by spinning extremely slowly, its color extremely faint, but as time passed by, it began to spin at faster speeds, faster and faster, and it also began to gradually shrink in size...


    Time flowed past, second by second. Garen''s eyes were slightly closed, as the whirlpool of white light in front of him slowly shrank from the size of a human head to that of a fist.


    "Why is the process so simple?" Garen sensed that he had already broken past several of the challenges and roadblocks detailed in the Magic Light Fist secret method. The scroll kept saying how hard it was, how he had to carefully absorb the solar energy around him carefully, and gather them into a Sun Whirlpool, how it would take at least a dozen hours to complete. And that included several other challenges of middling difficulty.


    But he had already successfully formed the Sun Whirlpool after just a couple of minutes.


    The extreme difficulties described in the secret method were as simple as eating or drinking to him.


    Garen suddenly remembered that book of Reflective Mastery that Senior Sister Rainy had given him.


    He had destroyed that book completely after memorizing it, but he could only use Reflective Mastery after he reached the Resonance Level. Only then could he properly showcase the power of his Water Mirror grade, and not now.


    "In that case, what''s the reason behind this process?" Confusion flashed past Garen''s heart.


    When he sensed it carefully, he realized that his control over his own body far surpassed that of others, and this should be the true key to grasping the Sunlight WhirlpoolÈÕ¹âäöÎÐ quickly. From the past few worlds, Garen realized that he had always been training the way to control his own body. Secret techniques were by nature a form of self-control, and that was his advantage over the Energy Machinists in this world.


    Garen had simply learned too many secret techniques, be it the peak-level Living Secret Techniques or the regular ones like the Golden Statue Technique or the Black Water True Technique, or even the Nine-Headed Dragon Queen Nadia''s Ominous Space Path. These secret techniques were all different, significantly widening Garen''s horizons, to the extent that no one in the world could compare to him. If it were not for the different laws of physics in each world, if Garen could use his power from before directly, he would have long since reached a terrifying level of power.


    But even so, Garen was absolutely powerful when it came to the level of control required by such high-difficulty challenges, when it came to the extremely precise and high level of control needed. That was because he had just experienced too much, in the field of secret techniques, his experience was nowhere near what the Energy Machinists, with their emphasis on the scientific modification of living creatures at their very core, could match.


    "Secret techniques function by primarily uncovering your own potential, and secondly by modifying your genes and blood vessels. Energy Machinists place blood vessel modification first, and training secret techniques second. The two of them have fundamentally different bases.


    By then, Garen understood.


    The Sun Whirlpool in front of him spun faster and faster, and shrank further the more it span. It had practically become a solid white sphere.


    All of a sudden, the center of the whirlpool was condensed to an extreme, and there was a faint of gold across it.


    The first rays of Sunlight had finally been formed and condensed.


    This was the key to the first grade of the Magic Light Fist, Sunlight. The power of the sun was the easiest wavelength to absorb and condense into a high-density energy that could be added to his own attacks.


    This destructive power also came with extremely high levels of high-energy radiation, more than a hundred times more concentrated than average radiation levels.


    "Next, merge this ray of sunlight into your own body, and form an extremely powerful radiation-based attack element." Garen took a deep breath, this was the last challenge. He needed to form a fixed transport pathway inside his body, and when he used it, the power of the Sunlight would instantly explode down this pathway, creating a reflexive yet destructive attack.


    This was the power of the secret scroll''s secret method.


    And only by truly learning this secret method, by slowly strengthening one pathway, would your nerves be strong enough to handle the absorption of the Inherited Origin.


    "Let''s start." Fierce determination flashed across Garen''s eyes, and he slowly absorbed a bit of the ray of condensed Sunlight. Together with the scarlet glow Origin from the Scarlet Snow Technique, he sucked them both into his mouth.


    The Scarlet Snow Technique''s scarlet glow gradually wrapped around and protected that ray of Sunlight, and they slowly went down into his throat and into his gut, where they began to seep into the other parts of his body.


    Diffusing out of the gut, the Sunlight was led by the scarlet glow as it slowly gathered in Garen''s nerve pathways. This was the first secret method in this world to involve the nerve pathways.


    As soon as the ray of Sunlight entered his nerve pathways, they very naturally headed towards his liver to gather there.


    Garen frowned slightly. He could feel a scalding heat gather rapidly around his liver, but rather than entering it, the heat just circled around it.


    "The first ray, complete."


    He opened his eyes, and looked at the whirlpool of white light in front of him again.


    Soon, the second ray of Sunlight was condensed and formed, and the process was repeated. Once more, Garen used the scarlet glow to lead it into his body, and again, the Sunlight quickly gathered in the same place upon entering.


    As time passed, the rays of Sunlight were slowly pulled into Garen''s body, and gathered in his liver.


    To others, this was an extremely difficult task that required a lot of time and energy to get the proportions of control just right. But to Garen, it was just a very normal, bordering on simple, control exercise.


    He had studied secret techniques for several hundred years, and his control power had reached the Water Mirror grade, so naturally he would not stumble at a challenge like this.


    But as he gathered more Sunlight, the Sunlight around his liver increased, and the energy he gathered grew more concentrated. Garen could even feel that burning heat from outside, emanating through his stomach.


    His liver was practically a shining beacon of gold now, and the concentration of this energy was so high, even Garen was feeling slightly shocked.


    As the hundredth ray of Sunlight entered, the intensity of the energy inside his body had already surpassed Level Five, and was approaching the New Moon Level.


    If such a collection of power were to accidentally explode inside his body, it would result in more than just a grievous injury, it would end up in instant and utter death!


    But this was still far from the requirements of the Sunlight grade, that needed a full 999 rays of Sunlight to be gathered before the Sunlight grade could be reached.


    A hundred rays of Sunlight already had the power of the New Moon Level, Garen did not even dare to imagine what kind of power 999 rays would have.


    All he knew was that this Sunlight power was enough to make even his Soul Seed feel vaguely threatened. Evidently, the fundamental change in its power had already reached extremely terrifying heights, such that it could even influence the Soul Seed with the pure soul attribute.


    As he gathered more and more Sunlight, even if controlling it was not hard for Garen, he still began to grow more careful. If this ever exploded, it would be impossible for him to survive, and even his Soul Seed might get damaged. If he died this time, reincarnating would not be that easy anymore.


    And as the gathered Sunlight grew, the Sunlight around his liver also gradually formed an unstable sphere, as though it was a real sun, dazzling and emitting a shocking heat.


    Garen also grew more cautious, this unstable sun sphere would explode in an instant if he was not careful. If it did explode, forget him, it was highly likely that everything within a hundred meter radius would just vanish into smoke.


    "Three hundred rays."


    There was a sheen of sweat on the tip of Garen''s nose, but he did not dare to wipe it. The gathering of three hundred rays of Sunlight had an explosive power equivalent to a Half-Moon Level Energy Machinist, and this was a level way beyond him. The scarlet glow was practically useless now, it was far too different in level compared to the Sunlight energy, and it could not cover the Sunlight sphere at all. Now, the Sunlight sphere was continuing to absorb and condense more energy by instinct alone. It followed a special absorption rhythm and structure in accordance with the contents recorded on the Magic Light Fist, so this structure would naturally absorb more Sunlight.


    Psst psst.


    The surface of the earth and rocks around Garen was beginning to glow slightly red. The intense high-energy radiation had evaporated the water out of the surrounding soil and stone, forming faint white fumes that made the whole cave look white and fuzzy.


    ************


    On the surface.


    Amidst the white mist, on the surface above the cave that Garen had dug, two black shadows had stopped in mid-air, and landed slowly.


    "This is the place?" Boss Ron looked around him, but could not find any traces of Garen.


    "It''s definitely here." Second Brother Barlow frowned, and began to observe the black-and-white sphere in his hand. The red dot shown on it was right here, but because of the massive interference and the signal itself that seemed to be very weak, the red dot had spread over a large range.


    "It''s here, but I can''t say exactly where about," said Second Brother Barlow softly.

 1023 Variable 1

    "You can''t say? But you can be sure he''s here, right?" Boss Ron laughed coldly, he had lived bluntly for several hundred years, and he did not survive by just messing around.


    Bluntness had its advantages.


    For example¡­


    He abruptly raised his hand, and smashed it down.


    With a rumble, a huge tremor scattered and spread from his hand into the ground.


    The surface of the ground split apart, the grass and shrubs shattering into countless pieces and green or yellow liquids, the soil turned over, some of it covering the stones and grass left on the ground.


    With Boss in the center, clouds of cold white frost spread from underneath his fist and into all directions, like extremely voracious white insects that were trying to escape from Boss'' palm, crawling away everywhere.


    "Resonance Skill! Great Frost Fist!!!"


    Boss roared, and his palm exerted even more force into the ground. A halo of ice-blue light spread with him in the center, and it flowed like water, soundlessly and tracelessly.


    But everything that the ice-blue halo covered soon became a terrifying sight, all frozen in ice like a statue.


    The blue halo covered almost a hundred meters before it gradually slowed down.


    "Ron Belle, you crazy mother*cker!" Second Brother Barlow nearly could not dodge in time, and was almost caught in the blast. Presently, he flew in the air, cursing as he looked down.


    If he had not been fast enough, this fist would probably have hurt him as well.


    "Didn''t you say he''s in this area? Why shouldn''t I force him out?" Boss Ron grinned, looking very rough and wild.


    Although black shadows concealed his face, his smile could still be vaguely seen.


    "Can''t you say something before you strike!!?" said Second Brother Barlow angrily.


    "If I say something first, what if that guy hears it? It''ll be useless then, right?" Boss chuckled. "If even you didn''t know I was going to strike, of course that guy wouldn''t either."


    Suddenly, a black bee flew out from a corner at the side, darted in front of Second Brother, and stopped there.


    "Eh?" Second Brother paused slightly, and looked at the black bee, as though he was exchanging information with the little thing.


    As the information exchange went on, his gaze slowly fell on a corner at the bottom. There were faint traces of digging there.


    "Could it be¡­.?"


    He frowned slightly.


    "What''s the matter? Did you find out anything?" Boss Ron flew up and floated not far beside him.


    "Shh!" Barlow raised his hand and said impatiently. His gaze kept wandering at the bottom, as though he wanted to look straight through the thick crust, and peer into the depths of the earth.


    All of a sudden, his gaze swiveled back in an instant, his eyes widening abruptly.


    "It''s here!! Do it!!"


    With a sharp bark, Barlow put his hands together and pressed them onto the ground.


    "Earth Blanket Mark!!"


    A huge and transparent mark smashed mercilessly into the part of the ground that had been dug up.


    "Snowstorm Palm!!" Boss followed up with a fierce hit without a shred of hesitation.


    The clean and white palm imprint gathered, and landed immediately after the previous one.


    Bam!!!


    The floor of the forest that had been split apart and frozen was hit again by this tremendous attack, and all of the trees and plants that had already become ice statues immediately shattered into countless shards of ice, with a sound as though someone had smashed countless glasses at the same time.


    In an instant, several hundred or even a thousand pieces of glass were shattered, creating a terrifyingly piercing sound.


    The clear white, transparent shards of ice scattered everywhere, and the thousands of ice shards spread out in all directions like rain.


    Looking down from mid-air, it looked as though a large chunk had been ripped out of the whole forest, as though a set of huge white jaws had taken a bit out of the center, leaving traces of white on the edges.


    After it was hit by the huge imprint and the Snowstorm Palm, one after the other, the traces of digging on the ground were revealed to be even clearer.


    "Found him!" Boss and Second Brother exchanged a glance, mercilessness flashing through both their eyes, as they flew towards the ground at the same time.


    *****************


    Pfft!


    A huge tremor smashed into Garen, who was in the middle of gathering Sunlight, and caused him to spew out a mouthful of blood.


    The inside of his body seemed to sway. Having just gathered nine hundred rays of sunlight, Garen''s body was practically an actualized bomb storage, the slightest mistake could lead to a catastrophic explosion. This power had already surpassed the Half-Moon Level, and may even have reached Full-Moon Level. He did not know what was the grade above Half-Moon, he just knew that the Sunlight energy in his body had reached unprecedented levels.


    Even his Soul Seed had been suppressed to an extent like never before, retreating slightly into the deepest depths of his mind.


    The two Energy Machine Imprints behind Garen had materialized completely, supporting his Willpower at full strength to help the Scarlet Snow Technique in adjusting the transport and gathering of the Sunlight energy.


    Yes, it was just adjusting, the Tenth Grade of the Scarlet Snow Technique could not even support the process. The fundamental difference in quality was too large, so all it could do was help with a tiny bit of the adjustments.


    Boom!!


    There was another tremor, reaching him underground.


    "I was discovered?!" A deep sense of danger rose in Garen''s heart, he had no more time to think, so he hurriedly hastened his speed. His progress with the secret method had already been advancing at a terrifying speed, but now he could only think it was too slow.


    The faster his gathering speed grew, the more familiar he became with the process.


    Garen could already hear the sounds of people digging down from above.


    *****************


    Arooo~~


    There was the strange sound of a wolf''s howl.


    Boss and Second Brother were digging down in a hurry, they had both released a pangolin Energy Machine that they were using to dig quickly. At their level, even though the pangolins were not the Energy Machinery they controlled, and they could not upgrade them, the two of them were still more prepared in terms of using chips to expand the functions of the Energy Machinery.


    Among their Space Equipment, they had things that could dig, dive underwater, or fly in the air. They had prepared all sorts of Energy Machinery with all sorts of functions. However, as long as these were not Energy Machinery that they themselves controlled, not Energy Machinery that came out of their Biochemical Pools and experimental platforms, then they would not be able to grow stronger as the user grew stronger.


    Just then, both of them had heard the wolf howls, but they ignored the sounds completely. This was the mutated radiation zone, all sorts of wild animals could appear here. A few wolves were nothing.


    But what the two of them did not expect was for the howls to increase in number and power, and decrease in distance from them!


    "They''re that kid''s Energy Machinery!"


    Second Brother Barlow hazarded a guess.


    Whoosh!


    Suddenly, several Black Wolves dashed out diagonally from the side, pouncing straight for the two pangolins.


    "You asked for it!"


    Boss Ron Belle grabbed out with one hand, and instantly huge waves of the Great Frost Fist exploded forth, as though he held two huge snowballs in his hands and smashed them at the same time.


    With two bangs, the snowballs crashed into the Black Wolves, and the gust of snow instantly tore the Black Wolves into shreds, as though the snow was made of knives.


    But within that instant, several more Black Wolves rushed at them madly.


    And they could see even more Black Wolves coming up from the back.


    Second Brother Barlow released a slightly red round imprint, and suddenly shot towards a Black Wolf like lightning.


    With a clang, the Black Wolf''s whole body burst apart, turning into a rain of blood that scattered everywhere. The blood rain landed onto the other Black Wolves around it, and constantly corroded these Black Wolves'' bodies.


    But this did not stop more Black Wolves from rushing at the two of them, and the speed of the blood rain''s corrosion was nowhere near as fast as the speed of their sprinting.


    Second Brother Barlow''s expression did not look good.


    "They''re all Level Five! How can there be so many of them!?"


    "These are Winter Night Wolves!" Boss recognized these wolves, their basic foundations were already very powerful, and then after that woman gifted them to that newbie, the Level Four Winter Night Wolves had somehow gone straight to Level Five. They had never heard of such upgrading speed!


    For every piece of Energy Machinery they wanted to upgrade, they would need to gather many materials and power-ups for the Biochemical Pool before they could cross the level boundary. And that guy was just a rookie, but he could increase the Winter Night Wolves by one level so soon after becoming a Three-Hearted disciple.


    "Leave this to me, you dig!"


    Boss instantly made the decision, and rushed out to meet the Wolf Pack.


    He lashed out with his Giant Frost Fist again and again, and with each punch, several Black Wolves would instantly collapse to the ground immediately shattering into pieces.


    Second Brother Barlow controlled the pangolins, and tried to continue digging quickly. But he did not think that the Black Wolves were so quick, they had already grievously injured the pangolins with their bite, and were now closing in for the kill.


    "Scram!"


    Second Brother hurriedly released an imprint that killed two Black Wolves with a jolt, and then he looked at the dying pangolin with frustration. In the end, he just decided to smash more and more transparent imprints into the ground.


    With every smash, large amounts of soil and stones would be sent flying up, landing at his sides.


    Sometimes there would be a few Black Wolves, not many, that would try to approach him, but the black bees around him ate them all, leaving only a pile of clean bones behind.


    Arooo~~~


    More wolf howls sounded out, one after the other.


    "Damn it, just how many Energy Machines does this kid have!!?" Boss had already consecutively killed more than thirty Black Wolves, but he could still faintly see more wolf eyes sparkling in the woods.


    Second Brother was shocked as well, an Energy Machinist beneath Inherited Level should not have more than ten Energy Machines, and the scene before his eyes was making him feel slightly cold. This guy was only Level Five, and he could already own several dozen Level Five Machines, then when he reached New-Moon Levels, wouldn''t he have several dozen New-Moon Wolves rushing at Barlow? Barlow could handle several dozen Level Fives, but what about several dozen New-Moon Levels? That was beyond what he could handle!


    He glanced at Boss'' direction, and saw that Boss'' eyes were slightly cold as well. He had evidently thought of the same thing.


    The two of them did not say anything, but the moment their gazes met, they understood what the other was planning.


    Second Brother did not say anything. After he had the bees surround and protect him, he quickly took out a small white circular board. After he tapped it a few times, the circular board lit up with a blue electronic light. With a whir, it rose from Second Brother''s hands, floating into the sky.


    And then, it fell downward abruptly.


    Ker-chak!


    The round board embedded itself into the ground.


    With a buzz, the entire board exploded into dust, and the dust scattered, landing on the two of them as well as the countless Black Wolves around them. Some of the dust even went through the soil, as though they were illusions, falling deeper into the ground.


    After using this thing, the two of them instantly began to kill the Wolves even faster, each of their movements showing a cold killing intent.


    Time passed slowly, and the Wolf Pack was diminishing at shocking speeds¡­

 1024 Variable 2

    Deep underground


    Garen had finally gathered the last of the 999 rays of Sunlight.


    He slowly sucked this last ray into his mouth, and felt it get automatically carried away by the scarlet glow, flowing toward the small sun near his liver. It was then soundlessly integrated into the dazzlingly bright and painfully hot ball of light that was the sun.


    Soundlessly.


    The last ray of Sunlight merged into the small sun, like a stream flowing into the ocean. It did not create any ripples, and just went in calmly, as though it was not the last ray of Sunlight.


    Garen slowly released a breath, and saw the white whirlpool in front of him gradually fade, his heart filled with unspeakable relief.


    He took out the Ice Magic Scroll and opened it, that same blue-golden light pillar appearing before his eyes once more.


    "So this is Inherited Power¡­ the Origin of the Inherited Level." Garen let out a breath, blowing out another scarlet glow that lightly enveloped the blue-golden light pillar.


    He had accomplished the first grade of the Magic Light Fist, Sunlight, and now, he was worthy enough to absorb this wisp of Inherited Origin.


    The tremors from above grew in magnitude, and the Wolf Pack Imprint in his Willpower grew dimmer and dimmer. In just a moment, several dozen Winter Night Wolves had died. Those two could reach him down here at any moment.


    Garen knew his situation, the Blue Wolf was gone, and the Wolf Pack had died as well, so it would be extremely difficult for him to run.


    Although he had completed the Sunlight level, he did not know how strong it was. Still, he could tell that it was not as strong as the Two-Moons Level. He was just Level Five, and had not reached the Resonance stage, so there was a large difference between him and the two Two-Moons Level fighters above him.


    Just like before, even though the Magic Light Fist was strong, the gap was still too big to be covered.


    The tremors from above grew clearer, Garen sensed that the two of them could break through the upper layer of soil any moment now.


    He felt a sharp sense of anxiety like a knife at his back, making his scalp tingle. This was killing intent! They had finally decided to kill him!


    The sense of danger that Garen felt grew stronger and stronger, he knew that if they actually found him down here, he would really be in trouble! He could not use the same tricks against Two-Moons Level Energy Machinists again, they were not stupid. After living for so long, they had many, many ways to deal with him.


    Garen narrowed his eyes, and knew that his time was running out.


    With his current methods, he had less than a twenty percent chance of escaping from the two of them alive.


    He took a deep breath. The more precarious the situation, the calmer Garen became. He watched the scarlet glow cover the blue-golden light arch slowly, pulling it quickly towards him.


    His heart was completely calm.


    He had experienced too many life-and-death situations, the more dangerous it got, the more stable and determined his heart grew.


    If the Inherited Origin really had the effect the secret scroll said it had, then he still had a chance!


    The instant the Inherited Origin entered Garen''s body, an intense heat emanated from it.


    The frost-type secret method that had been stored on the Ice Magic Scroll actually carried with it an intense and dazzling heat, this was something no one had expected.


    Sweat began to drip from all over Garen''s body.


    The frost energy from the Scarlet Snow Technique inside his body was evaporating rapidly, the vast amount of cold energy chased and neutralized by the high heat, and eventually turning into a faint warm wind that reverberated through the cave.


    But thankfully, the Inherited Origin put up no resistance, perhaps as a result of the Sunlight sphere that Garen had created. Instead, it dashed straight for the ball of light, as though meaning to fuse into it.


    Garen heaved a sigh of relief, and watched as it rushed for the ball of light, gaining speed and urgency as it went.


    It was so fast that Garen felt slightly shocked.


    "Could this be normal?"


    His heart was beginning to tremble.


    But immediately after that, the Inherited Origin''s speed continued to increase. Within a few short seconds, its speed had multiplied several times.


    Hah!


    The edges of the Origin actually lit up with a faint blue flame!


    "No, wait!!" Garen finally sensed something amiss. The Origin did not mean to fuse, it¡­


    Psst!!!


    A bolt of blue light instantly shot out of Garen''s stomach, dashing straight above him, and the layer of soil there evaporated instantly on contact with the blue light.


    Psst-psst-psst!!!


    Everything that met the light, everything that stood in its way, was instantly evaporated, nothing could stop it.


    The blue light dashed for the sky with a tremendous and terrifying air.


    "Shit!!"


    Garen''s expression changed drastically, and he dashed out quickly, rushing for that bolt of blue light that was trying to escape.


    That was right, the blue light was actually trying to escape, it had its own will.


    Vaguely, Garen saw where the blue light was through a hole in the layer of earth.


    On the tip of that pure blue-golden light, there was actually the image of an old man''s face!


    He was actually alive!!


    **************


    Hah!!!


    The blue light broke past the top layer of soil, and rushed straight for the sky.


    Barlow and Ron, who were in the midst of digging, were nearly hit straight-on by the piercing bolt of light, and they barely just avoided it. They watched the blue-golden light rush toward the sky blankly, it seemed as though it wanted to break through the clouds.


    "Could it be that kid!!?" Boss'' heart gave a jolt, and he abruptly gathered all the power of the Scarlet Snow Technique in his body, that terrifying cold aura covering everything within a radius of several dozen meters, dragging a vast amount of cold energy toward him.


    They watched as the blue-golden light approached the clouds, vanishing without a trace.


    Boss'' heart grew more and more still, and he instantly reached his highest Oneness Realm.


    "Snowstorm Palm!!!"


    Vast amounts of cold energy gathered on his palms, and with a low roar, he used the tremor of the soundwave as the key for activation.


    Boss abruptly shot his palm into the sky.


    A clear-white palm mark rushed into the sky. It caught up with the blue-golden light like lightning, and hit it hard on the tail.


    "Seal-Free!!!"


    Second Brother Barlow looked similarly stern, having evidently used all his power.


    An unprecedentedly large transparent seal rushed into the sky, large amounts of formulae and information spiralling around it, and it pressed toward the blue-golden light in the sky like a small mountain.


    Just then, something else rushed out from the earth beneath them and dashed into the sky. The black shadow shot out of the soil, taking advantage of that empty moment immediately after the two of them had used their massive techniques.


    Garen did not even look at the two of them, there was absolutely no point in ambushing them. Their energy fields alone would require him half of a day to break through, and the key was still the Inherited Origin. He had sacrificed so much for it, he could not let that thing escape!


    He shot into the sky without a word, but Second Brother Barlow was even faster than him. When he saw Garen break out of the soil, his expression changed, and he followed closely behind his Seal-Free, darting into the air and grabbing the blue-golden light directly. He had long since guessed that it might be the Inherited Origin, and now that he saw Garen rush out again, there were no more doubts left in his heart.


    "Hahahaha!! The Origin is mine!!"


    Barlow was the fastest, and he moved first, so by now he had already rushed up beside the blue-golden light, reaching out his hand to grab the Inherited Origin that had been frozen in mid-air thanks to the Sea-Free and the Snowstorm Fist.


    Seeing as the Origin was nearly in his grasp, Barlow could not help but rejoice.


    With the Origin, he had a hope of reaching Inherited Level. He did not dare to hope for the legendary Black Moon Level, he might have a chance in reaching the pilot''s Black Moon Level, or the Black Moon Level of a similar technique, but no one had reached the Black Moon Level of the Scarlet Snow Technique in a long time. He was not Carthage, but with this Inherited Origin, his chances of reaching the Inherited Level could instantly rise from fifty per cent to eighty!!


    Just the thought that he had a chance to reach Inherited Level and forcefully suppress that damned monster made his heart sing.


    His hand was just several centimetres away from the Origin.


    Just then, Garen was still a dozen meters away, and Boss Ron was more than twenty meters away, they stood no chance at all.


    But just then.


    An old man''s face appeared on the surface of the Origin, his expression fierce as he opened his mouth wide, as though he was roaring out in fury.


    Boom!!!!


    In an instant, the whole sky seemed to darken.


    The golden-blue light abruptly exploded as though it was an atomic bomb, resulting in a terrifying burst of radiation!!


    The extremely blinding light and heat instantly gathered into extreme levels, and then they exploded again in an instant, at the same time. An average person with their eyes open would have been instantly blinded by the intensity of that explosion.


    A terrifying wave of heat washed over them.


    Second Brother Barlow''s hand was instantly melted by the endless light and heat, and the joy on his face turned to intense horror. He rapidly retreated, but was still one step too late.


    The enormous waves of blue-golden light shone onto his body, melting away the power of the Scarlet Snow Technique all over him. It was just a second, but Barlow felt as though a year had passed.


    The limitless light and heat spread everywhere madly, and in an instant, it was as though a small blue sun had lit up above the trees.


    The trees quickly turned from emerald green to charcoal black, and the earth turned from moist to dry. The dried-up leaves and branches were instantly ignited, and the small flames that rose gathered together rapidly, lighting everything aflame.


    In just a few moments, the entire forest beneath them had erupted into roaring flames. The fire rose into the sky, and even the dancing red flames were already several dozen meters tall.


    Boss Ron was also hit by the immense light and heat, and he screamed as he flew backward. He was still too late, however, and smoke rose all over his body. He was pretty badly injured.


    However, somehow he did not give up even when retreating, and instead he struck again with another powerful move.


    "Snowstorm Palm!!"


    He roared wildly, and shot out a clean white palm mark, grabbing for the blue-golden Origin.


    The face on the Origin was shocked and furious, but it could no longer avoid this attack. In his despair, he used his last bit of explosive power.


    Bam!!


    A large wave of light and heat erupted, clashing with the clear white palm mark.


    The two forces, one cold and the other hot, created a terrifying heat between them.


    In mid-air, the blue-golden Origin finally caved, and was thrown far away by the explosion.


    "Blood Eagle!"


    Just then, Garen''s body naturally glowed with a faint golden sheen that enveloped his body. Not only did this block off the terrifying light and heat, it even absorbed the tremendous explosive power greedily.


    Not only did the intense explosion do no damage to him, it even provided him with an enormous amount of power and momentum. That endless heat rushed into his body, and was immediately taken apart by the ball of Sunlight, which in turn converted the energy into basic power to heal his nerves and tendons. This actually increased his speed, and he pressed forth rather than retreating!


    Just then, in that instant, a pair of illusory red wings had appeared on Garen''s back, and he flapped them hard, appearing in front of the blue-golden light as though he had teleported there. The Origin had long since lost the ability to resist.


    He opened his mouth and sprayed out a red cloud that promptly surrounded the Origin.


    Whoosh!!


    The scarlet glow wrapped around the Origin, and both shot into his mouth.

 1025 Explosion 1

    An infinite amount of heat was exploding in his body.


    Hues of blue flames and current were trying hard to break out from Garen''s body but failed due to the golden light membrane radiating on the skin of his surface.


    The golden membrane seemed thin, but was in fact as solid and firm as a wall, not budging at all no matter how the blue flames kept ramming on it.


    The old man who was the origin of the blue flames had a ferocious look on his face.


    "Trying to engulf me? I''ll gobble you up first!"


    He roared out loud, and together with the blue flames, rushed upwards towards Garen''s head.


    "Magic Light!" Garen growled deeply.


    The golden light around his body began to grow stronger. Stretching out his arm, the golden light started to diffuse from his body in large amount. He looked as though he was burning in golden flame in mid-air.


    The Magic Light Fist''s absorption ability was activated, its golden flames sweeping crazily towards the origin of the blue flame. But it was too late to stop it from heading towards his brain.


    Rushing straight up from his abdomen, the blue flame left a trail of clear, blue line as it thrust towards Garen''s eyebrows.


    Boom!!


    There was no response from Garen. The speed of the blue flame was too fast for him to react. All he saw was a dark blue color rushing face on towards him, then it was as though his consciousness took a big blow and he lost control of his body instantly.


    Hiss¡­


    Garen burnt like a golden torch in mid-air. Currents of golden and blue flames streamed out of his body in all directions, making him horrifyingly aghast.


    Below, Barrow and Ron just managed to catch their breath and returned to their senses. The explosion just now injured both of them heavily.


    "He is absorbing the origin, we cannot let him succeed! Kill him!!" Barrow roared angrily. How much time and energy have they spent on the origin!? It was his only hope to ever surpass that person. He will absolutely not lose it!! Absolutely not!!


    A deep hatred and ruthless look flashed in his eyes.


    "The origin is mine!!" Boss Ron screamed madly as he rushed up from the ground. His whole body was scorched black but was frenziedly gathering a tremendous amount of terrifying chills.


    A dazzling, bright light gathered on his right fist. Like a bird which was flapping its wings about to fly off, a double-layered Crystal Pauldron appeared on Ron''s right shoulder. A huge burst of auxiliary force arose from the armor, traces of white air currents continued to gather on his right fist speedily.


    "Great Cold Night Fist!!"


    Just like Garen, his whole body was on fire, except the flames were white in color. The burning picked up speed with greater intensity. From afar, it looked as if a white sword was rushing up to the sky.


    "Ultimate Seal-Free!!" A split appeared in between of Barrow''s eyebrows. White blood projected out from the split and merged with the imprint in his rapidly moving hands. In a crashing moment from a distance, Boss Ron''s body was covered with a layer of invisible energy force that seemed to be constantly flowing and transforming. Barrow''s face vaguely appeared on Ron''s chest.


    Pff!!


    Second Brother Barrow spat out a mouthful of blood, but it did not stop right there, he continued to spit mouthfuls of blood, which gradually made the Boss'' force field stronger!


    The Great Cold Night Fist was as terrifying as a white meteor, allowing Ron to pierce through the sky, creating a path between the vast free-flowing gold and blue hues.


    His launched his fist straight at Garen''s back.


    *****************


    "Where is this?"


    A dark blue lake with a clear bottom appeared in Garen''s sight.


    He was standing naked in the lake, surrounded by thick layers of dark fog. He could not see anything in the distance.


    The lake was clear and icy cold. He gently scooped some water in his hand and watched as the water leaked through the gap between his fingers. The cold seeped from his hands into his mind.


    The lake was very small, only about over ten meters in diameter. There was no one and it was dead silent.


    Yes, dead silent. Garen could only use this word to describe this place, as to how he felt when he first saw it.


    Hiss¡­


    A blue flame lighted up in front of him, moving from left to right, dragging out a dark blue, curved sword ¨C a scimitar.


    The scimitar sword surface was bright and sleek, with countless mysterious inscriptions engraved on it. The handle of the sword appeared last, still burning of blue flames.


    The sword was two meters in length, only its handle was burning in blue flame, forming some sort of a hand guard around it. The body of the sword was curved slightly, seemingly downwards. It looked like the Japanese Sword used on Planet Earth, with a single blade good for slash strikes.


    Hints of sharpness radiated from the sword as soon as it emerged in whole.


    "This is...?" Garen''s eyes focused on the sword and a warning sign rose in his mind.


    Chi!


    He took a step back and realized that the sword started moving on its own without him knowing when. It slashed his chest, splitting his chest muscles. Blood sputtered out of the wound, combusting into streams of black smoke.


    He single-handedly held on to the bleeding wound on his chest.


    "You are the Inherited Origin!?" Garen jumped lightly and pulled his distance away from the scorching sword.


    A pale, blue illusionary figure appeared slowly behind the burning sword''s handle. It was an old-looking man, thin with a straight stature with an insolent presence.


    He opened his mouth and seemed to be saying something to Garen, but he was not able to make a sound.


    Hiss!!


    Suddenly, the scorching sword slashed a clear blue line at where Garen was standing. However, it missed as Garen leaped up and landed on another spot not too far away on the lake.


    "Magic Light-Sun Light!!" The old man held the sword straight up and placed it in between his eyebrows. The sword handle burst into a striking, spherical blue light, it seemed as though a symbolic rune slowly lighted up.


    As the runes on the sword handle lighted up, the same happened in between the old man''s eyebrows.


    An unprecedented, horrifying aura exploded from the old man, like an erupting volcano, a collapsing mountain and a huge tsunami all in one.


    Garen''s expression changed instantly. The soul deep inside was warning him frantically, a sign that there was a great threat to it.


    He instinctively and uncontrollably retreated backward frantically and speedily.


    Retreat! Retreat! Retreat!!!


    Numerous intentions of counterattacks instantly disappeared into his mind, leaving only that single, one thought.


    Garen felt like he was facing a gigantic steel furnace and the terrifying blue light was a stove about to devour him. A death threat continuously erupted from the sword.


    "Magic Light!!"


    A soft sound suddenly appeared subtly from within him, as if it was resonating and calling from a certain direction. The golden light ball in Garen''s body suddenly lighted up.


    The mysterious, soft sound seemed human, but not really as well.


    Right at that moment, there was a horrifying crash sound.


    An overwhelming amount of blue flames surged towards him and collided with the gold light that broke out of Garen''s body. Everything was submerged infinitely in the light¡­


    **********************


    Still in mid-air, Garen suddenly burst out with an infinite amount of gold rays, drowning him in the amazingly bright light.


    Ron''s Great Cold Night Fist intensified. Along with a huge energy field, he struck Garen relentlessly with all his might.


    From afar, it was as if a white meteor rose up from the ground, ferociously hitting the tiny, gold sun in the sky.


    "The Origin is mine!!!" Ron roared, blue veins bulged out all over his body, the blood in his whole body was boiling. Even the horrifying chill from the Great Cold Night Fist was not able to neutralize his madness.


    He roared in anger, all of his Scarlet Snow Technique began to pour out of his body frenziedly and gathered on his fist. This was his strongest punch, and no one was able to compare to his Great Cold Night Fist.


    The eleventh grade of Scarlet Snow Technique exploded fully, but it was not just any ordinary eleventh grade. His resonance was strong, crazy, and turbulent; the two-moon level resonating turbulence allowed all the energy machinery that he carried with him to explode at the same time and gathered on his fist. In a blink of an eye, the strength of the Great Cold Night Fist intensified by a dozen times compared to the Scarlet Snow Technique.


    The white light at the edge of his fist seemed to have gathered an infinite amount of gravitational energy, even the air was distorted and blurred as if it was burning.


    Boom!!!!


    The punch landed accurately on the golden sun in the air.


    With his fist in a stripping motion, a white ring with a blue outer rim and gold inner rim seemed to appear in the sky.


    The ring started to spread out slowly, and a blue flower swayed and rose in the middle. Countless closely spaced petals seemed like the finest jagged gears, overlapping layers by layers as if it''s the finest work of art.


    At the flower in the middle of the ring, Garen''s back was facing Ron. His back was struck precisely and he was motionless.


    There was no sound, and the force field had not diminished.


    All the power and momentum of the Great Cold Night Fist rushed into Garen''s body through his back.


    A huge wind blew up, the trees on fire swayed non-stop as if they were a sea of red ribbons. Streams of wind circled the both of them in mid-air as if it was attracted to them.


    Buzz!!!


    In an instant, the sky was blindingly bright. A blue-gold light ray exploded out of Garen''s body.


    Ron''s figure was completely submerged in the infinite light, and he could not be seen.


    He opened his mouth widely, as though he was screaming out loud, but he was not able to make a sound. He disappeared in the light.


    "Infinite Meditation Imprint!!!" Barrow who was down below on ground had an insane look in his eyes.


    He shot out streams of blood from between his eyebrows onto the imprint on his hands. As the blood flow continuously, his face got paler. Due to the severe blood loss, his consciousness was starting to blur.


    However, the imprint in his hands was growing more powerful and horrifying. The power of the Energy Machineries started gathering and concentrated in his hands.


    This was the resonance skills!!


    A transparent, palm-sized imprint gradually appeared between his hands.


    Suddenly, his body shot up into the air, like an arrow shot from its crossbow up into the dazzling, golden-blue ball of light.

 1026 Explosion 2

    "I don''t believe that a level five Energy Machinery will be able to win us!!" The ruthless look in his eyes intensified as he neared the golden-blue ball of light...


    "The Origin is mine!!!"


    He gathered all his strength and launched it relentlessly towards the ball of light without any hesitation.


    At that moment, a clear, cold sound can be vaguely heard coming from the ball of light.


    "Magic Light-Sun Light!"


    In the light, Garen was holding up the long sword upright in between his eyebrows. A mysterious inscription rune was shining distinctly on sword''s handle and in between his eyebrows.


    Almost instantaneously, a sharp and pointed blue flame sword suddenly emerged right in front of Barrow, slashing straight at him.


    An extremely terrifying power gushed out of the sword, as though a volcano erupted.


    Boom!!!


    Between the heavens and earth, a golden-blue pillar descended from the sky, striking Barrow to the ground with great impact.


    The incredibly strong resonance power of the Infinite Meditation Imprint got defeated upon the strike, without even the slightest chance to resist.


    Barrow''s body floated in the golden-blue light pillar. His arms were wide open, as though he was a bug fossilized in amber, unable to do anything. He could only stare at the blue flame sword in Garen''s hand as it slowly struck him. He was not able to retaliate or defend.


    "It''s all over..." Garen slashed the sword right down at him.


    A clear, bloody cut appeared from the top to the bottom of Barrow''s body.


    Emotions of unwillingness to resign, pain, rage, madness flashed through in Barrow''s eyes as he glared at Garen coldly and viciously.


    With a clatter, he shattered like broken glass and disappeared into the beam of light.


    Garen watched quietly at his shattered body pieces. The golden-blue pillar of light around him faded gradually and disappeared.


    The outside world''s sky and the flames below him appeared once again, reflecting his somewhat volatile and unpredictable expression.


    "It''s your turn!" Garen''s gaze fell on Ron who was on the other side.


    Ron was floating on the other side in his tattered clothes, even his stiffest shoulder armor was broken into pieces.


    He was bruised all over, but he had a cold smirk on his face. He quickly took a piece of armor from his space equipment to replace his broken armor.


    The crystal armor automatically popped out a white cloak fluttering behind him, and the sharp shoulder plate extended outwards, as though they were the sharpest overlapping sword.


    "What a good idea to make use of the Origin''s explosive power to injure us, but I do not believe that you are able to completely master the Magic Light Fist in such a short period of time!!" He was affected and injured by the light pillar, but there were no fatal injuries as such he still had the strength to fight.


    Garen did not say a word. He raised the long sword with both of his hands, and the golden-blue rune started lighting up once again on the sword''s handle and in between his eyebrows.


    A cloak suddenly popped out from the shoulder armor and waved along with the wind, which meant that the shoulder armor was at its full strength. This state will only be activated during a life and death match.


    "You are right. I did use the explosive power of the Origin to injure you, but do you think that you are still capable of fighting me now?"


    Garen looked at the single-blade sword in his hand, although the golden-blue flame kept burning on the handle, it did not hurt him even slightly. This sword was the essence of Magic Light Fist, even though it was said to be a fist technique, but it was, in fact, a sword technique. The center of everything was in the handle of this terrifying weapon, which was hidden in the Secret Ice Magic Scroll.


    This was not a weapon with condensed energy, but a truly magnificent slaughtering weapon!!


    The condensed golden sun in his body was to protect him from being burnt by the sword when it was activated, for that sole purpose only.


    In other words, right then, he was not using his own power, but the power of this magic sword!


    Only then he understood.


    Sunlight, Moonlight, and Starlight did not represent the three-leveled realm. Instead, they represented three extremely horrifying weapons used by the peerless magic soldiers!! Only after gathering all three of these terrifying weapons, the true profound meaning and the power of Magic Light Fist can be fully expressed.


    Previously, the owner of the Ice Magic Scroll was only able to find one of the magic swords, which was the Sunlight.


    "Die!!" Ron once again launched a resonance level killer move. A large number of white chills gathered on his right fist, forming layers of faintly quivering, frozen white frost. The air around him began to distort and blurred. Streams of transparent energy emerged from the space equipment behind him and gathered on his fist.


    "Resonance technique. Great Cold Night Fist!"


    Ron instantly turned into a white meteor and launched straight at Garen. The great horrifying strength seemed to have caused the entire sky to shake. The strength of this strike had already reached its inherited level. This was Ron''s final blow, and he was not holding back at all.


    "Profound Magic Light-Sunlight!!" Garen held the sword with both of his hands and placed it in between his eyebrows.


    Clang!!


    A mysterious symbol lighted up in between his eyebrows and the handle of the sword at the same time.


    With a bang, the golden-blue light pillar suddenly reappeared, crashing directly on to Ron''s Great Cold Night Fist. Garen blended into the light pillar, his body was like an illusionary lightning bolt as he went after Ron.


    The horrifying golden-blue light pillar lighted up once again above the entire sea of ??trees as if an actual object crashed into a white meteor.


    The blue and white light collided and came into friction with one another. After a short moment, the white light was engulfed completely by the blue light, leaving nothing behind.


    Ron''s body was struck by the blue light pillar, and Garen''s figure appeared a few meters behind him. He made use of the terrifying force field to float in the air.


    "You...!!!" A trace of fear can finally be seen in Ron''s eyes. The red line of blood on his neck became more visible as beads of blood started seeping out slowly. He dared not make any moves.


    "How dare you try to kill me!!??"


    "Why can''t I kill you?" Garen said indifferently.


    "Sooner or later...one day....my actual body will find you!" The blood line around Ron''s neck gradually got thicker.


    With a crash, Ron''s whole body suddenly shattered like broken glass. His body pieces melted and disappeared into the blue light, vanishing from Garen''s sight.


    "Another energy machinery substitute?" The symbol in between Garen''s eyebrows disappeared, and he kept the magic sword, Sunlight, directly into his space ring. Suddenly, he felt an overwhelming sense of fatigue.


    Both Barrow and Ron did not actually die, only their substitutes were dead. The both of them were of the same secret method, the top class substitutes they used were made by using half biochemistry and half machinery. They did not come with their actual body.


    "But even if they are using substitutes, if they did not return to exchange information, it will be impossible for them to know of the detailed intel that I have here." Garen had heard of this secret technique. When senior energy machinists were not able to upgrade their realm for a long time, they will create a few substitutes to keep themselves safe. But of course, substitutes with such combat strength would be very expensive. Moreover, such substitutes need to exchange information with their actual body occasionally, otherwise, they will not know all the important information.


    "Even though their substitutes were killed, their actual body should not know that I killed them; even if they do, they will not likely know the details." Garen roughly analyzed the situation in his mind, and he noticed a gleam of faintly masked aura beneath him. Clearly, it was something released by the two of them beforehand, which was prepared for the actual kill.


    He landed on the ground. Flames were burning everywhere. Garen searched both of their remains but found that even their space equipment was broken and there was nothing left for him.


    Out of desperation, he had no choice but to quickly change location and rushed toward his campsite, which had a shield. Even if their actual body guessed that he was the one who killed their substitutes, but without any proof, there was nothing that they can they do to him!


    "Now we must return to the base, in case their actual body found out something, it would be troublesome if they send someone."


    Garen roughly analyzed the situation as he rushed back to his camp.


    He was somewhat fortunate that he escaped death. If it weren''t for the power of the Origin exploding during such a critical moment, he might have to flee in panic. Don''t even mention obtaining the secret scroll, it would be lucky if he was able to protect himself from being fatally injured.


    "With the Sunlight magic sword, I will definitely be able to obtain some good resources in the Void Battlefield and accumulate more points!"


    "But before that, I must first deal with the threat from the both of them!" Garen''s eyes flashed through an intention of killing. He should strike first to nip the hidden danger in the bud.


    With the magic sword, Sunlight, his strength suddenly soared to Inherited Level. No wonder the sword was kept in the secret scroll and was known as magic sword and magic soldier. Its power was simply frightening.


    **********************


    Scarlet Snow headquarters


    Rainy read through the meter-wide pale yellow book slowly in front of her. The pages were being flipped automatically, as though an invisible hand was turning it gently.


    A bird made out of ice-blue energy silk was swirling and dancing in the air happily on top of the tablecloth next to her. Then, the blue energy silk unraveled and rapidly wove itself into a pony galloping in midair.


    "Senior sister." Suddenly a circular light screen appeared beside Rainy, and Garen''s face appeared.


    "What happened?" Rainy averted her gaze from the book and looked at the light screen on her right. "Junior Brother Garen, aren''t you secretly practicing in Tiga Forest? It hasn''t even been one month, right?"


    Garen smiled faintly on the light screen.


    "Senior Sister, I encountered members of White Ghost in the forest. After having a conversation with them, I really look up to Senior Brothers Ron and Barrow from the great elder side. So I would like to visit them, can Senior Sister let me know where are they located?"


    "Ron Belle and Barrow Hertha?" Rene frowned. "You actually got into trouble with them, right? The White Ghosts are arrogant indeed, but isn''t it a bit too early for you to visit them?"


    "I really just wanted to visit them." Garen waved his hands defensively. "The two senior brothers generously shared something good with me, and I really want to thank them."


    When he was a nobleman in the Totem World, he was so used to putting up a hypocritical act that it became natural to him. Even Rainy, who was somewhat skeptical, was dazed by his innocent and sincere eyes. She could no longer tell whether there was a conflict or if he was really returning a favor.


    "If you were to really visit them, it would be great if you are able to ease the relationship between us and the great elders. If you want to go, then go for it." Rainy said skeptically. The blue energy silk automatically wrote a clearly visible sentence on the book that was floating in mid-air. It was Ron Belle and Barrow Hertha''s address.


    "Thank you, Senior Sister. I''ll go prepare some gift to visit them."


    Garen smiled and said.


    "Pay attention to your manners. You are, after all, just a three-hearted disciple ranked fifteen who have yet to meet the master." Rainy warned.


    "Rest assured, I will know how to manage it." An unknown ice-cold gaze flashed through in the deep depth of Garen''s eyes.

 1027 Turning Point 1

    &lt;p&gt;"Since they are going to kill me anyway, it will be foolish for me to wait for them to do it."&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This has always been Garen''s mentality.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;As he stood in front of Ron Belle''s base in the Scarlet Snow headquarters, he raised his head to look at the cars and people entering and leaving the area. There were also various types of flying ships taking off and landing from time to time. However, his eyes did not waver slightly.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ron''s base was one of the famous trade points in the headquarters, with the best-mutated beasts'' auction, and a variety of stolen goods for sale. This place was the top class stolen goods market for all the noble forces in Planet Scarlet Snow.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This place was known as the Black Capital.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ron Belle was a crownless king here.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The entire base was located on a snowy high ground in Planet Scarlet Snow, and the size of the base was comparable to a small city.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;From the grassland slope where Garen was standing, he saw an endless number of traders and people all over the entire Black Capital.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Moo¡­&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;A huge red carriage ship slowly appeared right in front of Garen''s eyes and flew into the air. The surface of the red carriage ship was covered with flashing electronic lights, and there were some detection machinery probes which continuously moved around on its own. It seemed like they were scanning or sensing something.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The carriage ship had a massive, flat quadrangle appearance, and was followed closely by guard ships of different sizes, which were mostly fish-shaped, but also red in color.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;A guard ship appeared about twenty meters in front of Garen. Through the glass, Garen could clearly see the driver smoking as he looked around.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Garen was standing on the sideways of the main road of the Black Capital. Since the grassland slope had not been renovated, there were only a few people around. Most of the people around Garen were either here to take their wedding photographs or tourists who were taking sightseeing pictures.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Garen was pretending to be a tourist. With his ordinary black outfit, he did not draw too much attention.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;He lowered his head and looked downwards from the edge of the slope, the distances between him and the main road below him was at least a hundred meters apart. From his view, he saw people and vehicles moving around like a stream on the main road.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"To us, each of the three hearted disciples has their own territory and city, and we can instantaneously teleport through such distance, which will only take a few seconds. But for ordinary people, it might take years for them to walk through such distance, and several days even if they were to sit on a transportation spaceship." Garen lamented. "This is the difference in social statuses..."&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;He did not startle the crowd by leaping down. Instead, he earnestly followed the tourists down the renovated path and walked slowly.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;He found that the people on Plant Scarlet Snow had a lower level of technology than Planet Naga. But after thinking about it, it was only natural as Planet Naga was one of the three major cities for all of the energy machinist, so of course, a small planet would not be able to compare to it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Bang.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Suddenly, a warm body crashed onto his back.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Ouch, that hurts!" A pleasant voice came from behind him.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Garen turned around and saw a young girl with long, white hair tied up in a ponytail. She was squatting behind him, her hand held against her forehead, her eyes brimming with tears. Her dressing was stylish, accentuating her slender figure.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Hey! You bumped into me!" The girl got up and said loudly.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;She was just an ordinary person.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Garen was able to tell the difference between the girl''s body constituent immediately. There were not many people who trained in Plant Scarlet Snow, and only very few people had willpower. Even after observing the surroundings for quite some time, he did not find any people with a high willpower in the crowd. However, quite a number of them had trained secret techniques like the Scarlet Snow Technique. Nonetheless, most of them only trained for health and wellbeing, as no trace of murderous intention was found on their bodies.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Garen looked at the girl with interest as he did not know what she was planning to do. It was actually her who bumped into him just now.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Seeing that Garen did not say a word and only looked at her, the girl suddenly felt rusty with her usual blackmailing scheme. She felt her throat getting slightly uncomfortable, and her heart fluttered in panic as Garen stared at her.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"What happened, Sister? Who bumped you!!?" A few young men seemed to be rushing over from behind, but in fact, they were hiding there earlier on and were ready to make a move at the right timing.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Garen smiled at the girl. Even though his smile seemed to be gentle, he, however, gave off a very cold aura. The girl was frightened and she took a step backward.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;She had been around for so many years. She made a living out of blackmailing since she was thirteen years old. But she had never encountered such a weird person before.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;When she came to her senses, she found out that the man in front of her turning around to leave.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Black Capital was one of the most chaotic places in Planet Scarlet Snow. It was infamous for its lack of jurisdiction. Even though it was a small area, but it was known as a paradise for being able to get away with crimes. As long as people who have committed crimes from all over the major countries or cities escape into this place, they will no longer be restricted by the laws of their country. But it also meant that once they joined this place, they will no longer be able to clear their name.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This was a city made out of frozen Black Ice. It was a paradise for crime. Those who were not fierce and ruthless will not be able to survive.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"What are you doing, Nurya! Stop him!" The leader shouted furiously from behind.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The white-haired girl immediately came back to her senses. This was the second business for today, and she must not screw it up! She quickly looked for that person, but surprisingly, she found that the guy seemed to have completely disappeared from the path downhill.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"What are you doing!?" Her companions behind her complained loudly. After they came over, they found that the man was already gone. "Why are you still standing here dazed? Go chase after him!"&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Dazed?" Nurya said, "Since when was I in a daze? When did you little bitch saw me stare blankly?" She was also in a rage and started quarreling with her companion. The other two companions got between them and quickly tried to stop the argument. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Not knowing why, as they fought, Nurya recalled the weird person from just now. Usually, when an ordinary person encountered a blackmail, they either panic, tried to escape, or argued angrily; but no one had ever reacted like that person.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;When she recalled the look in that person''s eyes, she could not help but shiver. Seeing her companions were about to chase after the man, she immediately panicked and had an indescribable feeling in her heart.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Anda, don''t go!"&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Why not!? We still have a meeting in the afternoon with the regional boss. We have already lost a business. If we don''t get this, where will we get the money!?" Anda was the man who quarreled with her. He turned around impatiently and swayed his fist. "Don''t even think that I dare not hit you because you''re my sister!"&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Recently...there has been news about aliens recently. I sensed something off with that person. Don''t go after him!" Nurya frowned and felt even more uncomfortable.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Aliens? Hah?" Anda and the two other companions were left completely speechless. "Sis, did you take too many pills? After reading novels and watching movies all day long, have you started to hallucinate? Aliens do not exist."&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Planet Scarlet Snow was a relatively close-minded planet, it was ruled by the Scarlet Snow Sect Church and the headquarters of the Scarlet Snow Sect was the definition of supreme to all the countries and the ruler of all nations. However, such information was only known by the upper-class members of each country. Ordinary citizens were not qualified to know all these. They did not even know that this planet was able to connect to other planets, and this secret was also known by people with a higher social status. Ninety-nine percent of the people were living in the illusion that the government created.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Anyway, don''t go!! Isn''t it the same in the morning! I am not allowing you to go!" Nurya bossily pulled her younger brother''s ear, causing him to call out in pain. "Follow me home!"&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Since the boss was taken away, the rest of them had no choice but to dismiss.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;******************&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Garen walked slowly to the side gates of the Black Capital, which was located right on the sidewalk. Two men dressed in black suits were guarding the gate. The formal clothing here looked a bit like the Tang Suit on Earth, but their buttons started off from right to left and extended to their left waist.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Sir, our Master has waited for a long time." One of the men had both hands in his sleeves, and the palm of his hands cannot be seen. He bowed and lowered his head to salute. He had a harmonious smile, and it was the same for the other person. In fact, both of them actually looked the same, as if they were twins. Even their standing posture was the same.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Senior Brother is waiting for me? What an honor." Garen answered with a polite smile.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Three hearted disciples were not allowed to kill each other in public. Since there was no way to completely destroy the other party, there will be no point in making a move in such a place where it was not possible to be shielded by the satellite monitors.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Moreover, he wanted to test his opponent''s strength.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Making a move blindly was not his style. The best way, of course, was to let the other party die unknowingly so that he will not be involved.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Please lead the way." He said with a faint smile.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The two of them nodded, turned around and walked forward.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;No one cleared the path or welcomed him with a big fanfare, the three of them walked among the stream of people, and he seemed like an ordinary wealthy businessman who was being treated as a guest.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Entering the city, people were everywhere. Car honks, curses, and advertisements from the flying spaceships could be heard. There were also open-air stage performances, with women dressed in sexy clothing, short skirts, black stockings, and bikinis. There were luxury cars and spaceships, all sorts of noises, blasting music, and a black man with a beautiful dog...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;With the different sounds and noises blending together, the entire city was alive chaotically and glamorously.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The ground was a little dirty, with condoms and bottles with blood stains in almost every corner. It was fair to say that this place was a mess.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Two cleaning robots were smashed and abandoned in a corner, its red warning lights flashing constantly. The robots stench of urine, someone must have urinated on them.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Garen was led to a luxurious black airship. It was large and oval, with a black horn on top with large portraits of beautiful ladies and drag queens printed on the side. Ten meters in length, it was slightly overbearing yet flashy. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Welcome to the Guerni." An electronic sound rang out.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;As he entered the spaceship, Garen saw a man in an open-chest gold suit wearing sun shades glasses seated on a white sofa. He was hugging two blondes, one on his left and one on his right. There were also two beautiful women at his feet, carefully massaging his leg.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The man had his golden hair styled into a unicorn-like horn, it was very eye-catching.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Welcome to my kingdom!" The man stood up and opened his arms. He had a very flashy and arrogant temperament. "Fifteen, as your Senior Brother, I''m very happy that you came to visit me¡­"&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The man took off his shades. Even though his features were ordinary, he had an arrogant aura and extremely strong willpower. It was enough for Garen to instantaneously recognize who he was.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Senior Brother Ron, it is a great honor for you to welcome me personally." He smiled and stepped forward. The two blondes brought him a couch and placed it right in front of Ron.&lt;/p&gt;

 1028 Turning Point 2

    &lt;p&gt;Garen observed that the eyes of these beautiful women seemed to be a little dull, giving a feeling that they were not able to focus.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Let''s be straightforward. What do you want from me? Don''t worry about them. They can''t hear, see or speak." Ron explained casually.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Garen quickly understood what he meant. These beautiful women were all deaf, mute and blind. Obviously, it was impossible for them to be born as such; they were made disabled to prevent them from leaking any secrets. Ron was so ruthless that he made all these beautiful women deaf, mute and blind.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"The main reason why I am here to visit Senior Brother Ron was because I bumped into your energy machinery substitute in Tiga Forest. It seemed like he encountered something troublesome and was badly injured. He asked me to send a message to let you know that he met a strong enemy. He also said that as long as I personally delivered this message, I will be given a reward." Garen lied to him, a story he made up earlier before coming.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"A strong enemy?" Ron casually waved one of his hands, and suddenly, a few clear crystals flashed around him, and it seemed like he was starting to get in touch with his substitutes. However, he quickly frowned, clearly, he was not able to contact his fallen substitutes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Bang!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ron kicked the beautiful women away beside him and stood up abruptly.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Junior Brother, please have a rest here. I have something urgent to attend to."&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Take your time, Senior Brother." Garen nodded.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;From what it seemed, Ron was not informed that his substitute was dead. Obviously, the connection between the both of them was not that strong.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Garen''s initial killing intention went down slowly. If that is the case, no one will find out that it was he who killed the two substitutes. It was good news that for the time being, and he need not become hostile towards the both of them.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;After all, it was not the best timing. However, everything was based on Ron''s reaction.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;After a short while, Ron returned with a stern look on his face.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"I would like to thank you. Otherwise, I would not have noticed that something went wrong over there."&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Senior Brother, you are being too modest."&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Are you willing to bring me to the place where you meet my substitute?" Ron asked lightly, but his tone was an unquestionable affirmative tone.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Sure." Garen nodded.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;********************&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tiga Forest&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This was the place where Garen fought previously with the two substitutes. The place was now burnt black, white mist surrounded the area, and the entire sea of ??trees had signs of being ravaged by a big fire.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;More than a dozen levitating airships brought a large number of inspectors and detection personnel. They were attempting to replay the scenario.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Both Ron and Barrow have arrived. They stood in front of Garen, both of their backs facing him. They walked slowly on the scorched land and investigated the situation.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Barrow had a ghastly look on his face.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"A strong radiation is interfering with everything here. All the traces of what was remained are being affected by the radiation, and we could not find anything that is of any use."&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Furthermore, the murderer also implanted a crystal configuration shield in advance, and each time a piece of crystal is broken, its endurance will once again be maximized. This guy is certainly not just any ordinary murderer, just a piece of crystal configuration is worth hundred thousands of crystals. An ordinary person will not be able to afford it!" One of the experts explained softly.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Also, there are some remains of an extremely powerful high-energy response. It seems like there is a very strong heat energy here, which was caused by an explosion. This heat energy is extremely powerful!!" Another expert said softly.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"It appears to be an attack in a form of a light pillar. I seem to have seen a halo in the sea of ??trees that day, but it happened in a flash." Garen intervened.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"You saw that!?" Ron turned around and said harshly. "Why didn''t you say anything earlier on? Tell us quickly what happened!?"&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Garen was not angry. As he told them the entire story, he purposely left out and added information. Furthermore, he had already cleared the battlefield, hence the information he shared was completely distorted.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"What if we re-simulate and restore what happened at that time? Let''s find out what kind of forces were able to defeat Senior Brothers'' substitutes and prevent them from escaping?" Garen proposed.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Right, the effect of virtual simulation is not very obvious, an on-site simulation will allow us to achieve a higher level of restoration." Another expert nodded in agreement.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"I''ve found someone to investigate the previous satellite surveillance video. Although it is shielded here, part of their previous activity should be recorded." Another expert followed.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ron and Barrow had an ashen look on their face. Their actions had always been very secretive, if their whereabouts were being monitored by the satellite, then it would be very embarrassing.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Barrow thought for a moment. He was about to go to Ron to discuss looking for another Junior Brother expert in tracking and investigation when he felt a faint buzzing noise from his surroundings. It seemed like something was broken.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"What sound is that?" He frowned.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"It sounds like... something broke?" Garen frowned and said uncertainly. Suddenly, the expression on his face changed, he looked at Ron horrifyingly and rushed over.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Senior Brother, careful! Behind you!"&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;He shouted and rushed behind Ron.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ron was startled. He was about to turn around when he felt a sudden pain in his chest.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tss!!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;A sword with its tip covered in blood slowly slid out of his chest.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;He lowered his head and turned around with great difficulty. He saw Garen''s smiling face as he pierced an elongated sword that was burning in blue flame into his chest.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"A mere... mid-level five... how¡­ is it possible!!!??" He could not believe that a young man with only a mid-level five resonance could actually break through his force field defense, bypass his genes and physical defenses and instantly pierce through his heart.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;He could not even react to the sudden change, even Barrow was dumbfounded.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The other people around them started shouting and screaming.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ron was dead?!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ron''s actual body died?! In the hands of his Junior Brother?!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Immediately afterward, it was no doubt that he will need to kill all the witnesses! Most of the people felt despair -- since most of them were close to Ron and Barrow, they naturally knew what did Ron''s death represented.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Some of them began to suppress their fear as they quietly moved towards the woods, whereas some of them hid carefully, and took out a communication device with an intention to spread the news.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tss!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dripping of fresh blood, the sword was pulled out from Ron''s body and flung on the side, leaving a streak of blood on the ground. The piece of burnt land filled with a faint scent of fresh blood once again.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ba-thump.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ron grabbed his chest and fell kneeling on to the ground, his eyes widened abnormally. The strike was swift and poisonous. The transfer of energy and traces of high heat radiation rapidly eroded Ron''s entire body from top to bottom, completely destroying his seemingly powerful two-moon level willpower.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The luster in Ron''s eyes quickly faded. He had never expected this. Being a savage all his life, how could he die in such a peaceful manner in the hands of a mid-level five Junior Brother whom he looked down on. Garen''s smile which looked as though he had everything under control seemed abnormally cold in his eyes. The smile seemed gentle, but it gave him chills all over his body.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"There are a lot of things." Garen raised the magic sword, his mouth curled up into a faint smile. "Actually, if you were to investigate carefully, you will be able to find some clues, so the safest way is to thoroughly eliminate any future threat. After killing everyone who might come investigate, then it will be absolutely fine, right?"&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Barrow was solemn. He unconsciously took a few steps back, staring vigilantly at Garen. To be precise, he was staring at the sword in Garen''s hand.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Was that a crystal configuration shield?!"&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Compared to that idiot, Ron, you''re definitely much smarter." Garen nodded. "And that''s why you were not my first target; firstly, because he was stronger, and secondly because you are more alert."&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"What a crude yet effective scheme." Barrow said dully, "But the crucial point is that we never believed that a mid-level five energy machinery could pose any threat to us. You are making use of the fact that everyone will logically think that it was impossible, which caused Ron to lower his guard and then kill him!"&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"That''s right." Garen clapped and gently waved his hands. A large number of blue flames flew out from the tip of the sword. Like tiny little fireflies, they landed accurately on the crowd who were trying to escape.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The blue flames suddenly intensified and lighted up after one another.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Thump!!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The small-sized airship above was burnt by the blue flame easily and exploded after being pierced through the furnace. The airships exploded after one another as if it was the most beautiful and expensive fireworks during the daytime.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The energy machinists'' amazingly fine calculation power was being fully utilized at this moment. Garen suddenly dispersed the blue flame into hundreds of them, instantly killed all living creatures including burning the airship above him, with the two of them an exception.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Their surroundings turned into a sea of ??fire in the blink of an eye.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;As the glow of the fire shone on them, its shadows cast on the ground was like a demon with baring its fangs and brandishing its claws.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Drops of sweats trickled slowly down Barrow''s temples. He dared not move, the power of the sword in Garen''s hands was way too terrifying. He even felt a piercing pain just by looking at it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"What are your last words?" Garen looked at him with a spurious smile.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Let''s make a deal." Barrow did not wipe away his sweat. He looked at Garen nervously, trying to find a slim chance of survival.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"A deal? What deal?" Garen said casually.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Ron''s dead, the elders will not let it go at that, you should understand this. I, I can help you cover up Ron''s death. As long as you make it through the Great Elder''s wrath, you can only safely and secretly transfer all his wealth and property through me! This offer will definitely benefit you!"&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Barrow said quickly.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"If you don''t believe me, you can use the Heart Seal on me."&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Heart Seal?" Garen raised one of his brows.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Yes, the seal of oaths." Barrow nodded. "I''m an expert in Seal of Faith. If I were to make an oath with my energy machinery, the Seal of Faith will naturally form a binding force. You should also know this."&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Yes, I''ve heard about it. Ron''s property..." Garen lowered his head and muttered. "The Great Elders? That is indeed troublesome. Why not you make an oath first."&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;He was moved by Ron''s wealth and property.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Barrow''s heart shuddered slightly. He raised his hand, and a transparent square seal slowly appeared on his palm. Threads of golden striation slowly lighted up on the top of the seal.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"In the name of Barrow Hertha, I swear that I am willing to cooperate with Junior Brother, Garen, and keep today''s affairs a secret..."&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;He continued to pledge as he watched Garen stared at him mockingly. The feeling of being humiliated washed over him like a tide. He has lived for hundreds of years, but was being put into such position by a junior!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Wait and see... he must escape and find his master. Garen must die painfully!!! And that sword...if even a mere mid-level five energy machinist was able to exert such a terrifying strength, imagine if he were to get it...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This ambitious thought spread through his mind like a wildfire.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;No one knew that the Seal of Oath that he used was not the authentic seal that was thought of in the sect, but another version that he found from other places. The key to this version was that this Seal of Oath will not have any binding force. He used this trick multiple times against unbeatable opponents to cheat death, and it was no different this time.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"...sealed." Barrow slowly lifted the seal in his hand and moved it gently towards Garen.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Suddenly, the expression on his face changed dramatically and he quickly flew backward. Transparent seals suddenly gushed out of him shooting to the front in an attempt to block the golden-blue long sword.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tss!!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The endless golden-blue flame destroyed all the seals, and Barrow was stabbed right in between his eyebrows.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Garen held the sword with both of his hands and looked at Barrow in close proximity.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Why...?"&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;"Why not, since I have already made a move, it''s only natural for me to kill all of you," Garen said rightfully.&lt;/p&gt;

 1029 Void Battlefield 1

    Life was fragile, much like the Ron and Barrow who died right in front of him. The two senior energy machinists, who lived for centuries, died like an ant by his sword.


    Garen had an indescribable feeling.


    Ron and Barrow were the top experts in Planet Scarlet Snow who would soon break through the Inherited Level. Each of their life experiences could be made into a legendary, inspirational novel, yet they died so easily by his sword.


    They were careless.


    "Yes, because of a momentary negligence, it brought about such a serious consequence." Garen pulled the sword that was pierced in between Barrow''s eyebrows out and held the sword upside-down.


    "Therefore, I need to be cautious at all times, to prevent others from doing the same to me..."


    He took it as a warning in his mind.


    "A lot of things might seem impossible, yet just like this, even an inconspicuous nobody might be able to take my life."


    He held the magical Sunlight sword in his hand.


    The golden-blue flame on the blade was still burning continuously. These flames would not harm him, as the golden sunlight within his body balanced it out.


    Garen kept the magic sword. Suddenly, he recalled that there was still another thing in his space ring, and he was slightly taken aback.


    "The flames of the Sunlight are so strong, will it burn the other stuff out!?"


    He quickly tried to retrieve the other stuff from his space ring.


    Pap!


    A black, charcoal-like item appeared in his hand.


    The look on Garen''s face changed. He retrieved another item, and a charcoal-like item appeared on his hands once again, followed by pieces of burnt items which was taken out continuously.


    "Forget it!"


    There was no helping it. He walked up to Barrow and searched his body.


    He had a space ring, a pale, golden, rhombus-shaped crystal, as well as some less valuable personal belongings.


    He threw away his other belongings, keeping only the space ring and the pale gold crystal.


    Similarly, he went to search Ron''s body. Ron had only one space necklace and a pair of levitating shoes which were still usable. The rest of his belongings were rubbish that was not worth mentioning.


    After keeping all the goods, Garen took a look at his surroundings.


    The golden-blue color had completely disappeared, and only the ignited fire was still burning.


    The air was filled with surges of black smoke, caused by the exploded airships that fell to the ground which lighted up the woods.


    The blazing heat wave almost scorched everything around it. Some of the places still had some crackling sound coming from the fire from time to time, accompanied with the helpless moans of the people who had not died yet.


    "Xiao Qin¡­ Xiao Qin...!" A woman''s painful cry was faintly coming from somewhere.


    He did not get a clear look at what happened to the survivor.


    Garen remained silent and reached for a bomb.


    With a sound, a transparent air bomb was thrown; it passed through the flames, and a crisp loud bang was heard. Then, the pleading moans stopped.


    Garen gently sighed, turned around and quickly jumped into the air. He changed into the levitating shoes which made him light-footed and flew forward. In less than ten seconds, he was completely out of sight.


    *******************


    "What? They are dead?! Ron and Barrow are dead!?"


    In the headquarters of Scarlet Snow, an old man was sitting beside a triangular, silver-white table with his eyes wide open, and the pipe in his hand trembled slightly.


    Under the pale light blue glimmer lighting, three old men, with different demeanors, sat on each side of the table.


    One of the old men had an extremely ghastly look on his face as he tightened his grip on the black crutch which he held with both of his hands. He emitted a horrifying aura around him. With his body as the center, the weather surrounding him for a radius of a meter would undergo a natural change, as snowflakes and dark clouds continued to gather and surrounded him. All those who were around him felt an odd sense of terror.


    The old man who was holding a pipe looked at the old man with the crutch. He was the second great elder of Scarlet Snow as well as a revolutionist who had always been against the first and third great elder. Although he always wanted to convince the first and third great elders to agree on his suggestion, he did not wish to see the elite disciples of his sect to be killed that easily.


    The second great elder took a puff from his pipe and exhaled a faint white ring of smoke.


    "How did he die? Did you figure that out?"


    "I don''t know," The third great elder had a gloomy look on his face. "We haven''t had a conference for 30 years. I didn''t think that our first meeting will be because of the death of our disciples." The third great elder always had a glum temper; even though something flashed through his eyes, no one knew what he was thinking about.


    "We can always recruit new disciples to replace them, but what I mean is that they died on Planet Scarlet Snow, and they were killed by a thermal attack. This is against the rules!" The first great elder said with a low yet powerful voice, and he averted his gaze to the second great elder. "Second brother, what do you think?"


    "Planet Scarlet Snow believes in the theory that the weak will stand as an easy prey to the strong. If Carthage is the one who killed them, I might consider lightening his punishment. However, if they died at the hands of spies and undercovers, or are victims of a conspiracy, then we should have a strict investigation!" The second great elder nodded in agreement. "I just hope that we do not raise any suspicion which will distract the other disciples. We are, after all, a sect, and we are as one. Our united power is the strength of our sect."


    "We have been lenient for way too long, and two of our disciples ended up dying. My second brother, your suggestion is still as useless as always." The first great elder said coldly.


    "If you want to search for the murderer, you will need to find out who was in Planet Scarlet Snow during that period of time. Then use the satellite monitoring system to find out who they were with when they were still alive. After that, you should be able to find some clues. If you find out that it wasn''t a spy, but a fight between the disciples, how are you going to deal with it?" The second great elder said as he smiled faintly.


    "The murderer will be killed! Those who broke the rules must be punished!" The boss said firmly. "Or else, what will those supervisors think?"


    The second great elder smiled and did not answer.


    The third great elder shook his head, after all, it was none of his business. It was the issue between the first and second great elders, all he needed to do was to wait and reap any benefits.


    ********************


    Many days had passed ever since Garen killed Ron and Barrow.


    The Scarlet Snow Sect sent several Inherited Level officers to take part in the thorough investigation on this matter. However, because the crime scene was being completely destroyed by the fire, there were no useful clues left. In addition to that, most of the places were being interfered by the Crystal Configuration. Under the influence of the crystals, most of the clues had already been messed up before the investigators arrived, making it even more difficult to find any clues.


    Garen returned to his own temporary base to continue his training and rest.


    He sent Little One and Little Two to help Bainster with his chores. In a blink of an eye, the time had arrived, and he needed to proceed towards the void battlefield.


    Originally, he intended to complete some mission to accumulate some experience points, however, it wasn''t within his contemplation that some things happened. With that said, Garen naturally did not need to go on a mission anymore.


    Instead, he stayed in the temporary base to carefully study the use of the magic sword, Sunlight. First, he combined multiple speed fists with the Sunlight''s sword technique.


    Besides using Sunlight''s sharp and destructive power to break through the defense of force fields, Sunlight was its one and only move.


    The explosive power of this move could instantly form a huge light pillar attack, which had an Inherited Level lethal power and its affected range was extremely horrifying. However, just by activating his move once, it used up a large amount of energy.


    If he were to use this move, he must ensure that it would be a fatal hit. If he failed to end his opponent, then the energy of the magic sword, Sunlight, would be significantly weakened. He must not use it casually, as he was only allowed to use it when he was sure he was able to kill.


    However, Garen observed carefully the golden-blue flame of the magic sword, Sunlight did not seem capable of absorbing the energy of its opponent''s life and soul. He still did not know what it was absorbing through killing.


    This was also the key to naming Sunlight as a magic sword on the secret scroll.


    Every time it was being used, someone must die. Otherwise, the power of the magic sword will decrease rapidly.


    Under normal circumstances, the power Sunlight would not need to be fully expressed to be able to bypass the defense force field of anyone below Inherited Level. However, after being fully activated, it could break through the Inherited Level. As for which specific level among the Inherited Level, Garen was also not very clear.


    Not too long afterward, due to the deaths of Ron and Barrow, the great elders moved forward those who were lower in rank to fill the first and second spots. Then, the great elders'' subordinates once again went to the Two Hearted disciple center to recruit two more members to become a three hearted member.


    Garen was also demanded to provide some information and clues regarding the homicide since someone saw him together with Ron and Barrow. However, no one would suspect that a guy who had just become a Three-Hearted disciple was capable of killing both of the Two-Moon Level experts. After all, there was a big gap between their strength, with a three-level gap between them: the new-moon level, half-moon level, and full-moon level. Even if the two of them were to stand still and allow Garen to do whatever he wanted to with them, it would take him at least half a day to break through their defenses. It was impossible for him to finish them off in such a short time.


    According to the investigation, the fight ended within five minutes. Therefore, Garen naturally could not be the suspect.


    After a round of investigation, the head of the investigation team had no choice but to let Garen go, so he returned safe and sound.


    Everything seemed to have returned to its calm state. The crisis of Ron and Barrow being killed had gradually subsided since people die in Planet Scarlet Snow every year, be it in the void battlefield, the other sect competitions, or being murdered by spies.


    Although the recruitment pace of the Three-Hearted disciples could not be considered fast, it was also not that slow, due to the fact that this time, two high-rank disciples were killed and therefore, it caused such a big havoc. However, no matter how serious the chaos was, it will eventually die down.


    Finally, it was time to leave the sect and head to the void battlefield.


    ******************


    At the peak of Planet Scarlet Snow''s headquarters, which was built on top of an abnormally tall snow peak.


    Within the white snowstorm, there was a huge, black vortex swirling slowly; it was being surrounded by a large amount of dark fog. In between the dark fog, there was an extremely deep black passage. It was as if it could lead to the depths of an unknown universe.


    Under the whirlpool, several members of the Scarlet Snow Sect were already waiting there quietly.


    Garen also sat with his legs crossed among them with his eyes closed.


    During these few days, his combat level did not increase, and he did not find anything that could strengthen him from Ron and Barrow''s space rings. They had probably used up all their useful resources, so obviously there wasn''t anything left.


    However, there was a wealth in it, especially Ron''s. There was at least ten-million worth of crystals stored in his space necklace, as they were high-quality golden crystals. Golden crystals were highly concentrated crystals, each one of them equated to one to two million crystals, which was why they were so rare.

 1030 Void Battlefield 2

    Garen counted, after adding up both of their savings, there were more than 30 golden crystals which equated to more than 30 million worth of riches. Having more than 30 million crystals was something that would make even an Inherited Level disciple become extremely excited.


    As expected from the top Three Hearted disciples of the Scarlet Snow Sect. It was indeed exceptional to obtain such wealth through their influences. Unfortunately, he was not able to get the remaining properties and riches of Ron and Barrow, which were the real deal.


    The reason why the investigations quickly died down was that they wanted to rapidly distribute their wealth. Despite being a legend when they were still alive, they were ultimately worthless after they died.


    As Garen thought about it, he could not help but stare at the man and woman below him.


    Barphil and Voss were the two individuals chosen by the elders to be nominated as Three Hearted disciple candidates, and they would be entering the void battlefield for the examination alongside Garen.


    They seemed to have noticed Garen''s field of vision, so they opened their eyes and greeted Garen amicably.


    Other than both of them, there were two more of them. They were previously promoted along with Garen, which were March and the rest. Rumors had it that March''s master was one of the more famous leaders among the energy machinists. He was nicknamed the ''Giant Territory General'', and he was his godfather.


    In addition to the three great elders, there were many strong Inherited Level seniors. They had yet to reach the Non-falling Level, but they were stronger than the general Inherited Level. These people were known as the great supervisors, and there were about 20 of them in the whole sect. They were the true key fighters of the Scarlet Snow Sect.


    March''s master was one of them. The three great elders would generally only teach their top-ranked One Hearted disciple without paying attention to the rest of them. Therefore, the remaining Three Hearted disciples would naturally be trained by all these great supervisors.


    However, ever since Garen arrived at the headquarters of Planet Scarlet Snow, he did not get to meet that many of the great supervisors because most of the energy machinists prefer to do research in seclusion.


    Garen''s gaze averted from March and fell onto another man. The man was dressed in black, thin clothing, and he had a mustache. He looked a little intense, and his name was Lonray. Garen wondered about his actual strength.


    The five of them were either standing up or sitting down, they had waited on the peak of the ice mountain for quite some time. Soon, a shadow quickly rushed upward from beneath the ice mountain. The figure had a speed of an arrow as he sped through several hundred meters swiftly. Right after they saw him, in just a few seconds, he was walking casually right in front the five of them.


    It was a middle-aged man with a serious look on his face, and he had an upright stature. Based on the way he dressed, he did not look like an energy machinist but instead looked more like an animal tamer in the circus who was holding a whip used to train lions. Everyone could clearly see the black whip hanging on his waist.


    "I am Jedi, the supervisor that will be leading the team. Since all of you are here, there is only one task for this year''s Three Hearted examinations," He paused, and his piercing gaze swept across the five of their faces. "And that is to obtain a Void Amoeba Crystal Core and five of any of the opponent disciples'' nameplate."


    He waved one of his hand, and five silver rays fell onto the five of them. In a flash, it quickly got into everyone''s clothes.


    "This is a sign for you to identify your own teammates. After entering the void battlefield, everyone will naturally be disturbed by its distortive power, and all your electronic equipment will fail to work. Therefore, the only thing that you can rely on is your own body and your biochemical energy machinery. Do you understand?"


    "Understood." The five of them responded in unison. They were no longer small kids, they had already done their research on the void battlefield, and they were very clear about it. They no longer need to be reminded by supervisor Jedi. They were prepared for it.


    "In addition to that, you may encounter void distortions. If you were to encounter one and obtain a distorted core, the elders will exchange it with a chance for you to enter the ancestral temple once again."


    The ancestral temple, the Secret Technique Library, as well as the Frost Hell, were the three most precious sites in Planet Scarlet Snow''s headquarters.


    Garen had gone into the ancestral temple once, and after entering the temple, he became so lucky that he was able to level up his Scarlet Snow Technique by two to three grades, and that was just by receiving the ancestral statues'' perfusion power. As long as he had reached his target, there was no need for him to worry about the accumulated perfusion power. It was an extremely terrible place.


    Meanwhile, the Secret Technique Library was filled with a large number of secret techniques, and it was also a place to exchange secret techniques. Garen had been before too, and it was located on the highest level of the Great Wall Library.


    He had not been to the third place, which was the Frost Hell. He heard that all kinds of ice-type power seeds could be found there. It was a place which stored the power seed samples of the top experts in Scarlet Snow Sect, to serve as an example for their descendants.


    Although the Scarlet Snow Technique was just a set of secret techniques, when combined with everyone''s different willpower and energy machinery imprint, it could produce a large number of variations.


    Rumors had it that there were more than a hundred type of seeds, and some higher level seeds of the ice-type sect in exchange for a chance to take a look at the other sees. It was of great significance to those who had understood their own paths.


    After Garen came back to his senses, Garen heard that the great supervisor, Jedi, had already begun introducing the situation after they enter the battlefield.


    It was just a general routine, their senior brothers and sisters had told them about it already, so they were naturally prepared. However, because it was related to his own safety, he listened attentively.


    "...we need to move to the edge of the void battlefield, as there aren''t many void creatures there, and their strength is below the Inheritance Level. So long as all of you pay attention to the different type of creatures, there shouldn''t be any huge problems. Just be aware of the natural disasters, void storms, and ionic lakes'' explosion. The power of either one of it had a wide range, and if you accidentally got caught in it, it would be better to just die from the explosion. If you were to rush toward the center of the void battlefield, then being dead would be better than staying alive. I''ve warned you about it."


    Jedi sneered coldly.


    "To be honest, if it isn''t because of the extra bonus for my research, I would be way too lazy to waste my researching time to lead you bunch of rookies. Are you all not convinced by what I said? Do you think that, with your level of strength, it won''t be that bad after you enter the battlefield? Hehe..."


    He kept quiet, not bothered to continue talking.


    Everyone kept quiet and waited under the black whirlpool. Soon, a sky-blue shuttle-shaped battleship unfolded its metal wings, and a swiftly appeared beside everyone.


    "Let''s go."


    Everyone flew up and entered the spaceship one after the other. They gathered at the driver''s seat area and saw the spaceship enter the black whirlpool right in front of them through the highly durable crystal glass.


    It was only after all of them had entered the spaceship did Jedi fly into the battleship and close the hatch.


    "Amy, let''s go." He said lightly.


    "Understood." The spaceship with an intellectual core responded with a female voice.


    Slowly, the entire 30-meter long and more than 10 meters wide airship flew into the black whirlpool, inch by inch. From time to time, the surface of the ship was being scratched by the black whirlpool, and pieces of finely-ground blue metal could be seen being chipped off.


    The whole ship started making an ear-piercing, swishing sound that was caused by friction.


    Suddenly, a large stream of white flame particles spurted out from the backside of the airship, thrusting the entire ship forward into the black whirlpool and disappearing into the center of the black passage.


    After they entered the vortex, Garen stood in the front chamber and looked at the dark whirlpool tunnel in front of him. He subtly felt an inexplicable change in the time and space, feeling as though it was filtering his body.


    It was a very magical feeling; it was just like his whole body was being soaked in warm water, and it was extremely comfortable.


    Boom!


    Suddenly, his sights had enlightened.


    He saw a piece of vast, black sky. The silvery stars were like gravels spreading throughout the black sky.


    The warmth of Garen''s body instantly disappeared, and he felt the entire spaceship sank. All the electronic lights suddenly extinguished, and the entire ship crashed straight down.


    "Get out!" Jedi shouted with a low voice. He was the first one to open the door of the spaceship and leap outward.


    March stared at Garen coldly, and he was the second one to jump out of the cabin door, followed by the third. Garen was the fourth one, he jumped out of the door with his limbs stretched out. A huge amount of cold air gathered around him, forming a speed reduction ice film that was akin to a parachute. The parachute continuously resisted the huge wind blowing from beneath him.


    The five of them jumped out of the cabin door, only to find themselves a thousand meters from the ground. On top of them was a black, starry sky, and they were surrounded by traces of white clouds.


    And beneath them, there were large pieces of pitch black mountains and rivers.


    The vast land had a wavy terrain as well as mountains and rivers. Even the fluid in the river was pitch black, flowing continuously.


    There were no trees around, only some fleshy, black, round pillars could be found in between the bald pile of stones. They were all living creatures. They continuously exhaled a mouthful of black smoke like chimneys, and their tumbling belly constantly bulged and shrunk.


    Each of these black, round pillars was about ten meters in height. The pillars looked spectacular, but when he looked downwards, it was as though the dark land had zits and acne, appearing rather strange.


    "This is the edge of the void battlefield?" Garen took a deep breath and had a very familiar feeling.


    He smelt the exact same smell when he met the voids creatures in the vampire world.


    At that time, he killed the void shadows, obtained the void core and absorbed it. It was the same feeling.


    "Could it be that... it was the same type of creature that he met from both worlds?" Garen had some doubts. The Ancient Endor Demon Lords had been fighting against the Void creatures all these while. However, at here, void creatures were nothing more than just something that the energy machinists trained with. They were not considered as a formidable enemy, as their actual enemy was the finite people on the edge of a distant planet.


    Among the void creatures, ever since they were discovered, their information was recorded for thousands of years. However, they did not discover any creatures that were stronger than a Non-falling Level. Therefore, the creatures can be used specifically as a training object.


    However, only Garen knew how strong the terrifying power released during the fights between the void creatures and Ancient Endor could be. It had such a formidable destructive force capable of wiping out a whole civilization; it was extremely terrifying.


    Based on the heart ranking, the rank right above the Ancient Endor Demon Lord was the True Soul Level. In Garen''s mind, that level was equivalent to this world''s top regent level.


    The True Soul Level was just a myth in the Ancient Endor, whereas, in this world, the regent level was the world''s greatest legend. Both of them should be on the same level.


    Oh!


    Jedi was the first one to land. He heavily created a hole in the ground.


    Followed by the second and third. Each of them had different landing methods.


    Garen walked gently landed on the ground with both his feet without making a sound.


    The place where the five of them landed was a slightly sunken, low valley land, and the black stones on the ground collected a tiny amount of water.


    Everything here was pitch black, there were no any other colors other than black, emitting an oddly dull atmosphere.


    Boom!


    The battleship in the sky crashed into the ground as if it pierced right into the ground. It fell inversely onto the valley not too far away from them.


    Click...


    The battleship began to automatically disassemble itself, forming pieces of machinery parts. However, the most important thing automatically reconstructing itself. It widened up and rebuilt itself. Soon after, a round-shaped, ten-meter wide tiny metal hut was formed.

 1031 Void Battlefield 3

    It was a three-story small house with sharp metal spikes around it, gleaming with a subtly chilly radiation. It looked like a toy being placed on the ground.


    "This will be our temporary base for the following week. Remember to mark the coordinates here. After one week, you can return to this place to take a rest. Remember, after you guys are done with your mission, the golden light tracker will automatically teleport you to where I am, no matter where you are." Jedi continued to explain, as long as they were still on the edge of the void battlefield, they would be able to instantly return to this place. "After that, I bring you guys back to the sect''s headquarters."


    "Leader, can we know where to find the Void Amoeba?" One of the five people finally spoke. "Which sects are considered as our enemy?"


    The one who spoke was Barphil, the new Three Hearted disciple of the great elders. The fairly pretty woman asked with a very respectful tone and a tender voice and gave people a very comfortable feeling.


    "Void Amoebas are generally invisible. They will only show themselves when they are leeching on a strong creature, or when they disguise as your companion. Hehe, you will have to look for it yourself. They like to stay in warm and humid places. As for the hostile sects? In this place, other than yourself, everyone else might be your enemy, even if someone from a huge sect were to die in this place, nobody will be looking into it. Do you understand?"


    Once Jedi finished talking, he went straight into the small house, slammed the door and no longer paid attention to them.


    Garen''s vigilantly distanced himself from the four of them, and the rest of them consciously or unconsciously formed groups. Barphil and Voss went together while March remained alone. Meanwhile, the guy with the mustache, Lonray walked towards Garen.


    "Want to form a group?" he asked with a deep voice.


    "No." Garen shook his head.


    Lonray nodded, turned around and walked towards March. March also shook his head coldly and refused.


    Previously, Jedi had already made it clear that the Void Amoeba had the ability to disguise themselves as their companion. Therefore, under such circumstances, having a companion might be burdensome. And since each of them was very confident about themselves, they simply preferred to be alone.


    Among the five of them, everyone was on Level Five, and no one reached the Resonance Level yet. They were considered the weakest Three Hearted team ever.


    In a small house not too far away, Jedi saw how the five of them did not form a team, and he had a mocking look on his face.


    "They are looking to kill themselves. With only that level of strength, they do not want to form a team? They have no one to blame even if they died! They can only blame themselves for being stupid."


    He shook his head, turned around and make himself tea. He could not care less about what they do.


    Either way, after entering the void battlefield, death or injuries were bound to happen. It would be up to them to stay alive or dead.


    It was only after they passed this test would they be eligible to become a true three-hearted.


    Garen was alone, he gave March one last look before entering the void battlefield. Since life and death did not matter in this place, it would be his best chance to kill March.


    When he was in Planet Naga, if it weren''t for March, he would not have to fight someone to death.


    "But most importantly, I need to digest the power of inheritance and go to the black market at the edge of the void battlefield... it will be the best place for me to exchange the stolen goods from Ron and Barrow''s into resources that I need!"


    Garen had it all planned out in his mind.


    If everything went well, entering the void battlefield should greatly benefit him. It would not be easy digesting the power of inheritance, and he still required some auxiliary materials. The gleam of the power of inheritance that he got from the secret scroll was being stored in his body. It only played a supporting role when he used the magic sword, Sunlight. He had not fully internalized it yet.


    During the few days that he was at the headquarters, he spent all his time researching on how to absorb the gleam of the power of inheritance that he obtained from the secret Ice magic scroll.


    After all, it was something that Ron and Barrow of the Two-moon Level were after. They disguised themselves as someone who went there for work, but they secretly made a move to steal the secret scroll. The reason for that was to prevent the news from spreading and prevent more people from fighting for it.


    The origin of the power of inheritance was the true essence of an Inherited Level expert. Once absorbed into the body, Garen believed that he should be able to instantly condense a core and get to the New-moon Resonance Level. It would also ease the process of him getting to a higher level.


    After all, this was the origin of an Inherited Level expert. The thing about origin was that, once a tiny gleam is lost, nothing could ever make up for it. It was extremely precious. It determined the level of the quantity and quality of an energy machinist''s willpower. After absorbing it, it could enhance the quantity and quality of one''s willpower.


    When Garen thought about that, he quickly turned around and walked away, ignoring the icy gaze coming from March.


    The black ground stretched forward, and tall and straight meat pillars could be seen everywhere. The meat pillars moved around subtly as if they were living creatures; they breathed in and exhaled puffs of black smoke.


    From time to time, they made a snoring sound.


    After roughly 10 minutes, Garen made sure that he had completely left the assembly point. It was only after that did he stop and curiously walk toward a meat pillar.


    He reached out his hands to hit on the surface of the meat pillar, it was rough, warm, and slightly spiky.


    Poof!


    The sound of passing motion was heard from a close distance, and instantly, a strong stench caused Garen to take a few steps back.


    Fortunately, no one saw that. Garen shook his head helplessly and quietly observed the meat pillar.


    Suddenly, he pulled out a sword and heavily sliced through the meat pillar.


    Oh!


    Instantly, a one-meter-long wound appeared on the surface of the meat pillar. Black-colored blood could be seen pouring out of the wound, and the blood and slowly dripped downward. As soon as it touched the ground, it began to make a swishing rotting sound.


    The eroded ground intensified the foul smell of the air.


    "This is a skunk with absolutely no research value. What made you want to play with a garbage pillar that excretes wastes?" A cold sneer came from behind Garen.


    Garen turned back and saw March walking toward him. He did not try to hide the homicidal intention on his face.


    "Just you?"


    March laughed and shook his head.


    "Of course it''s just me. More people will just interrupt me from killing you, right?" He stood ten meters away from Garen. There were two green wristlets on both of his hands, and the green halo appeared to be abnormally eye-catching in this pitch black land.


    "In such a short time, you have actually grown this much, if I were to let you continue growing, will I be able to hold you down in the future?" March stared at Garen, and a slight chill gathered around him, turned into smokes of white air and moved around slowly.


    Tss!


    Suddenly, March leaped rapidly like a cheetah towards Garen. A black slender dagger appeared in his hands that seemed as long as an ordinary dagger, and a pale, purple air current surrounded the dagger.


    The purple dagger with a Level Ten Scarlet Snow Technique suddenly pierced towards Garen''s neck, along with an intense killing intention mixed with cold chills. It almost made Garen''s skin tighten, and had goosebumps all over.


    With a swish sound, the attack missed and cut through the air right in front of Garen''s nose. The Scarlet Snow Technique and purple air current on the dagger were also being completely blocked by Garen''s Scarlet Snow Technique and Mid-level Five force field.


    After March missed his attack, he frowned. The purple current on the blade was like a living creature which rapidly shot at Garen, turning into a tiny purple snake.


    But, to his disappointment, the snake was once again defeated.


    "Even if I haven''t reached the Resonance Level and merged into the martial art realm, you''re still too weak in close-ranged battles..." Garen looked calm as he constantly moved around to dodge March''s dagger attacks.


    One of them was moving forward while another moved backward. Even after March moved his dagger continuously for 10 times, he did not even touch the edges of Garen''s shirt.


    March''s movements gradually became more impatient and quick. But the more he did that, the more he could not get close to Garen, and that caused sweat to trickle down the tip of his nose.


    "''All you do is hide!?" He shouted loudly and took a step back instead of moving forward. "Seal!"


    A white seal made out of ice shot out of his mouth with lightning speed, closely followed by the Scarlet Mist innate within the Scarlet Snow Technique.


    The Scarlet Mist seemed to push the white ice seal towards Garen''s chest and hit him hard.


    The sudden explosive power helped March make a breakthrough in his Scarlet Snow Technique to Level Eleven.


    "Ice Seal?" Garen instantly recognized this killing move technique. In the Scarlet Snow Sect, there were three most well-known killing moves, the Ice Seal, the Great Cold Night Fist and the Demon''s Blade.


    The Demon''s Blade was famous because of its great strength, but its training requirements were extremely stringent. If one could successfully master it, their strength could generally be increased by two to three times, which was very powerful. It was originally not that well-known, but because Carthage killed thirteen same level disciples in the void battlefield, it made this killing skills extremely famous.


    The second was the Great Cold Night Fist, which was the killing move used by Ron. It was being divided into several levels, and the final level was the Critical Great Cold Night Fist, and it could increase one''s strength by two levels.


    The third was the Ice Seal used by March this time. It was the most common Three Hearted killing move. It could increase one''s strength by one level. However, because it was very easy to learn, it was very popular among the Three Hearted disciples. Among the other sects, the Ice Seal was almost the iconic fighting technique of the Scarlet Snow Sect.


    As for the general killing moves, it would be great to be able to fully express its explosive power and not to mention the increase in strength. Usually, the killing moves that were able to increase one''s strength would be kept as a secrets technique in various sects.


    This was also why an ordinary energy machinist might be defeated by an energy machinist from another sect, even if his level was higher than the other.


    This was also the main reason why energy machinists hoped to join a sect.


    When faced with March''s Ice Seal, the look on Garen''s face did not change. He quickly threw a black, curved blade and accurately hit the center of the Ice Seal.


    "Dual prison lock!"


    Garen''s curved blade, which was giving out black smoke, heavily hit on the Ice Seal.


    With a clang, the Ice Seal shattered into countless ice pieces, falling everywhere and exploding between the both of them.


    Garen''s Dual Prison Lock was stunned for a short moment, and the remaining half of its power went straight towards March.


    Strangely, the black gas on the blade split into two slender chains and unknowingly appeared behind March like a flash of light. Suddenly, it tightly held March in place.


    This was the true power of the Dual Prison Lock. As one of the killing moves of the Demon''s Blade, not only did it have a frightening lethality, but it also increased the Scarlet Snow Technique by one level. Primarily, it was used to chain its enemy down.

 1032 Void Battlefield 4

    Garen gave a ferocious slash, smashed the Ice Seal and continued to hack at March without losing any momentum. It might seem complicated, but in actuality, it only lasted a short while.


    "How could he be so strong!? This Ice Seal took me a long time to finally materialize it! It is also the most famous powerful killing move within the sect! Ranking top three in all the collection of killing moves! How is it possible!? How is it possible!!!"


    The Ice Seal which was confident in vanquished upfront in an instance. His countenance changed dramatically. He wanted to withdraw but was caught in two thin and long strands of black mass chains.


    In desperation, he let out a roar and the power in his entire body exploded. The Scarlet Snow Technique erupted in full force. All the power of his skill that flowed in the body burst out in a flash, instantly transforming him into a mass of icy porcupine.


    Large clouds of white chill rushed out madly and resisted the on-coming machete.


    "Explode!"


    Boom!


    In the large mass of Scarlet Snow Technique, one Scarlet Mist suddenly burst forth, forcefully causing the Dual Prison Lock to recede.


    March hurriedly withdrew. The remaining four pieces of Scarlet Mist surrounded and guarded him as he planned to flee to a further place.


    He knew that the current Garen was not as weak as before, and could only be killed by him if he messed up. However, he was now a strong opponent in a very real sense. He immediately made a decision. After losing the upper hand and breaking out all the power of his skill, he was only left with the Scarlet Mist Origin to protect himself at this time. His power could not be restored in a short time so he could only retreat.


    The defensive power of Scarlet Mist Origin was better than that of Scarlet Snow Technique. It was a robust condensation of origin power that could not be easily broken.


    Garen looked sarcastically at March retreating decisively after failing in the first strike.


    "Do you think you can run after failing to kill someone? How can such a good thing happen in the world?"


    Before the sound of his last word faltered, his entire person darted forward and charged at March, light as a breeze. One moved back while another closed in. After all, backtracking would never be faster than moving forward.


    The distance between them, which was approximately ten meters, was gone in a blink of an eye.


    Two strands of white chill crashed into one another and a blaring colliding sound like huge metals clashing broke out on the black ground.


    Bang!


    It was as though March''s whole body was being struck by lightning, and his face instantly blanched. Being able to realize the first killing move of Ice Seal in a short period of time, he was also considered a genius. However, when faced with the Dual Prison Lock of Garen''s demonic blade, there was a gap between their level of killing moves. Plus, Garen was confident in combat and his Ten Thousand True Technique was powerful in terms of flexibility and could flexibly change moves.


    After just a dozen rounds, March felt that his battle skills, which had been thoroughly tempered using the computer simulation, were now showing lots of flaws.


    Hiss!


    His arm was gashed.


    "Don''t force me!!" March bellowed in anger.


    "The end."


    Garen randomly flicked his machete upwards and it brushed March''s chest lightly from a totally unexpected point of view.


    Boom!


    To his surprise, March suddenly erupted into a mass of snowball. A large amount of white snow splattered everywhere and even the edge of his blade was blocked on the outside.


    "This is a Space Jump prop?" Garen recalled in his mind the somewhat-similar-things he had seen.


    As long as this kind of prop was prepared in advance, using it at the right time could help one to immediately flee the battle area and escape successfully. There were also grading division for this things.


    The surging friction of the energy field in the battle of high-level Energy Machinists was extremely scary. The more advanced the battle level, the more difficult it was to Space Jump, so a higher grade of this sort of jumping prop was required.


    Garen also did not expect March to have such a prop. One had to know that they were both Level Five Energy Machinists and the elites in their sect, hence the break out of their strength was close to the New-Moon Level resonance Energy Machinists. Under these conditions, for the jump to be effective, the value of this kind of prop was absolutely no less than a golden crystal, which was a million crystal stones! Moreover, it was priced out of the market.


    "Who knew he''s a wealthy fellow?" Garen licked his lips and looked at March, who was now a small dot in the distance. He thrust forward and chased after him speedily.


    However, after pursuing for some time, March disappeared directly on the horizon. He actually used another jumping prop.


    "If back then, Ron and Barlow were given the opportunity to use jumping props, it would have been really troublesome." Garen admired the convenience of this prop.


    However, come to think of it, he was holding the Demonic Blade Sunlight in his hand. The level of that kind of Magic Soldier was too high, and the turbulent energy field fluctuations were not something that could be overcome by the jumping prop March had in his hands.


    It was estimated that only more advanced jumping props would work.


    Regardless, March would still return to Scarlet Snow Sect, so there would be a chance to kill him sooner or later. Garen was not worried. He turned around and continued to move in the direction of his plan.


    The black earth was deserted, dead silent. There was no daylight here, only night, hence it was called Plains of Everlasting Night.


    Garen retrieved the topographic map of the Plains of Everlasting Night, which was obtained earlier from Senior Sister Rainy, from his Energy Machine Imprint. Now and then, he corrected his direction and went straight to the nearest black market.


    *********************


    Five hours later...


    On the edge of a marshland in the Plains of Everlasting Night.


    A black swarm of poisonous insects swooped toward a black silhouette that was gradually moving forward.


    As soon as the poisonous insects fluttered their wings and approached the figure, large clouds of white coldness suddenly broke out from the man, instantly sweeping up the whole swarm of poisonous insects.


    The oval-shaped, black poisonous insects were instantaneously stiffened up. They were frozen into ice and rained down on the ground like beans.


    "Level Three poisonous black bees?" The person bent over and picked up a tiny black crystal that was naturally agglomerated in the midst of the poisonous insects. The crystal was irregularly shaped, giving him an extremely delicious and sweet feeling as if it was tempting him to swallow it directly.


    "Level Three Void Essence, worth one hundred crystals." Garen held the Void Essence between his fingers and conveniently threw it into his Space Ring. There were currently more than twenty such Level Three essences in his Space Ring.


    All of them were gathered from these poisonous bees.


    This seemed to be a gathering place of the poisonous bee colonies and these disgusting creatures were everywhere. Although these poisonous bees were rated at Level Three, Level Four Energy Machinists might not even be able to deal with their toxicity. Therefore, this was undoubtedly a very dangerous zone for Level Three and Leve Four Energy Machinists. Yet, it was considered nothing for Garen.


    Garen stood at the edge of the white marshland and looked ahead.


    "Here is where the Black Market should be. How come there''s nobody?" He was wrapped in a black robe. His entire person was shrouded in the robe, covering his looks and body. The robe also had the effect of insulating life energy field, magnetic field, as well as an electric field. It was the best-branded product on the market.


    After observing the around with uncertainty, Garen suddenly noticed that, on the other side of the marshland in a distance, there were also two figures in black robes.


    "Doong ni ada, lo lo sa?" One of the people voiced out from afar. The distance between them and Garen was more than ten meters away. Even though the voice was clearly transmitted, he did not know the language.


    Garen knitted his eyebrows.


    "Who are you guys?"


    He spoke directly using the universal language of Mother Planet.


    The opposite person also seemed to realize the language barrier and changed into another language, which was also the universal language of Mother Planet.


    "You''re also here to look for the Black Market?" The sound, having passed through the translation system, was converted into an electronic synthesizer sound without any tone. It was also indistinguishable whether it belonged to a male or female.


    "Yes. How come it is closed down here?" Garen nodded.


    "Naturally, it has migrated. Don''t you know? The location of Black Market can shift at any time. It is not easy to find it." Another black robe responded softly.


    "Can you find it?" Garen frowned and asked.


    "Hehe."


    The two seemed to have confirmed about something. Without answering, they jumped into the air and darted straight at Garen.


    Without closing the distance yet, both of their hands suddenly shot out two objects resembling black energy arrows from far. These things quickly twisted in mid-air. They were actually two strange black ropes; ropes made of pure energy!


    Garen sensed the fluctuations of the two person''s energy field. It was previously isolated by the black robes and hence, the details were not known. At this time, making their move would naturally cause it not to be concealed anymore. The both of them were Level Four Energy Machinists, and the fluctuation of their move was rather strong. They exerted almost all the power of their skill through that rope-esque object.


    The two were from the general sects.


    Garen steadied himself.


    "We have two people. Hand over your space ring and we will leave you with a living path to get lost!"


    One of them laughed.


    They saw that the black ropes were going to come in contact with Garen and bind him.


    Suddenly, a burst of white chill spread out and Garen lightly slashed out a black line under his robe.


    The edge of the blade gently tapped on each of the two ropes.


    A crackling sound like the shattering of a glass was heard.


    The two black ropes suddenly exploded into pieces, turning into countless black-colored ice pieces and dropped on the ground.


    Garen stomped his foot forcibly and leaped up, darting toward the two.


    The two were immediately frightened and changed their course of action. From flying forward, it became an emergency retreat.


    Their mouths were anxiously shouting some unintelligible words and circles of black ripples were emanating from their bodies.


    When the ripples that were just of the force of Level Four came in contact with the energy field near Garen, they were easily suppressed by Garen''s Level Five energy field and disappeared.


    The two spun around to flee but were caught up by Garen, who gave one slash each. Garen was very tactful in his move. He directly broke the four limbs of both men with his knife back, and at the same time, a severe coldness spread over them, freezing the two into two human popsicles. They fell down from the sky and into the white marshland, causing a huge splash of white lime-like powder.


    Krak, krak¡­


    Garen landed. His boots stepped on the white powdery marshland, giving off the sound of treading on the snow. When he came to the two black-robed people, they were still begging for mercy in horror and kept clamoring at Garen not to kill them.


    "I''ll ask and you will answer."


    "Yes, yes, yes¡­ Hehe, whatever that sir asks, we will absolutely not dare to hide any truth!" "Yes, whatever sir wants us to do, we will definitely not refuse!"


    The two men appeared to be terribly afraid of death. They skillfully and hastily replied. After hearing that Garen wanted to ask some questions, they let out a sigh of relief, knowing that they would not die for the time being.


    Garen frowned and tore off the black robes of the two men. Two bareheaded bald heads were immediately revealed; they were actually two brothers. Their skin was pale and it seemed to be inherent. Their eyes were pale red and they did not seem to be the likes of the people of Planet Mother. At this time, the two men were sweating furiously. Their panicked faces were still trying hard to squeeze out a humble smile, attempting to please Garen.


    "Where are you from?"


    "Planet Huaiyang! Planet Huaiyang of the Sagittarius Galaxy!" The left one rushed to answer.


    "Sagittarius Galaxy?" Garen had heard of this place before. It was extremely far away; tens of thousands of light-years away from Mother Planet. "Whatever. I''m too lazy to bother about where you are from. Do you know where the new location to which the Black Market has migrated is?"

 1033 Trading 1

    "We know, we know. We can take you there. Just don''t kill us!" The baldy on the right smiled and negotiated the conditions. "This is already the hunting range of the Five Wheel Sect. When we find their disciples, we will be able to find the Black Market."


    "Why is that?"


    "Sir, I suppose this is your first time entering the Void Battlefield. The Five Wheel Sect is the sect which has set up the Black Market; they are also a big force here. They are businessmen who do business, so as long as there''s money, hehe..." The wretched baldy ingratiated and laughed.


    "This is a melee area. What kind of sect would dare establish a hunting range here?! You''re lying to me!" Garen''s gaze sharpened, immediately causing the two baldies to perspire more as they hurriedly explain.


    The reason why the Five Wheel Sect dared to set up a hunting area was that they were a medium-sized sect in the real sense. Among the Energy Machinist sects in the Three Major Metropolis, it was also considered to be within the top thirty. All medium-level sects had a ranking position in respect of Nebula, Black Knife, and the magnetic field. Among the sects, Five Wheel Sect was ranked the thirtieth. It was necessary to know that there were no more than a hundred Medium-level sects on the planet of the Three Major Metropolis. Being able to rank thirty among this many medium-level sects was already very powerful.


    Garen himself knew that the Scarlet Snow Sect to which he belonged was only a small sect and a local force. It could only be considered as a small shrimp1 in the Central''s Three Major Metropolis, and be included in the rank of small-sized sects.


    After asking about the situation, Garen searched the two person''s belongings. Consequently, all the things on the two guys did not even add up to more than one golden crystal. They were poor to a certain extent.


    Garen was speechless. He simply finished the two off with one slash each and continued toward the direction of Five Wheel Sect which they had mentioned.


    In less than a dozen minutes, huge roars loomed from the black ground in front. It seemed like someone was fighting.


    There was more than one black robe surrounding the fighting area. At least more than a dozen black robes were watching the battle.


    In the middle of the battlefield, which was a white construction site, three people in white combat uniforms, male and female, were besieging a black-haired man with a V-shaped red print between the eyebrows.


    Blue thunderbolts were constantly shooting out between the four people and the current would fall on the edge of the ground. The current, with only the width of a strand of hair, would actually blast out different basin-sized potholes.


    The fighting moves of the four of them were extremely fast. The sounds of the thunderous explosions could be heard every time and it was terrifying. Just the force field that was emanated alone had reached Level Five and it caused a lot of the surrounding shop-like buildings to collapse. Dust and broken bricks were everywhere.


    "These are already the strongest trio. If Five Wheel Sect doesn''t dispatch any powerhouse, I''m afraid they will be overpowered by this guy!"


    The black robes were exclaiming praises while some of them were whispering.


    "Who asked them to offend the other person and have evil thoughts at the sight of the riches2? They wanted to take advantage of others, yet they failed to identify the other party''s hidden strength. Hehe. Serves them right."


    When Garen went nearer, he saw that all the people in the black robes were just looking on and watching the fun. They were not afraid of offending the people from Five Wheel Sect and were teasing out loud.


    There were also newcomers like him who had just arrived and were asking around quietly about what was going on. The meddlesome people by the side would begin explaining to them. There were few newcomers here while most of the people were veterans. It was obviously not their first time here. Some also called out to their old acquaintances when they saw one another.


    Most newcomers only dared to move around in their own sect.


    Garen did not say anything but only mingled in the crowd and watched the battle. Some of these people here did not bother to conceal their force field at all. The fluctuation of the resonance of the Half-Moon Level, Full-Moon Level, and even Two-Moons Level was not in the minority. Every one of them was powerful.


    Garen made a comparison one by one and after some time, he found out that he was actually the weakest one.


    At this moment, the red-print man flew into the sky and twitched his hand, conjuring a purple electric wheel. It crashed toward the remaining three and blasted them off. He coldly snorted and took the opportunity to catch and detain one person. He immediately turned around and flew off, leaving an extremely arrogant statement.


    "Five Wheel Sect, call your Senior Brother Carlos to retrieve your people. If you delay it, then bear the consequences yourself!"


    The figure of this person suddenly disappeared and leaped away directly.


    A slapstick-fight had come and gone by quickly.


    The group of people in black robes stood on the edge to watch the excitement. There was no one who lent out a hand. The Five Wheel Sect did not have a good reputation. It was not once or twice that people had got cheated by them when trading at the Black Market. Everyone was readily glad to see this sect suffer losses.


    The few people who were left behind looked unsightly, but their eyes reflected thankfulness; thankful that it was not them who were taken away by that man.


    Garen took it all in and knew that the sect cohesiveness of Five Wheel Sect was weak and that they were all selfish people.


    "What are you all doing here?! Break up! The Black Market Trading Center is all the way over that side. If you want to trade, then go. If you don''t want to trade, then leave!"


    One of them was in a bad mood and started chastised the circle of people who were watching around.


    "Hehe..."


    "How imposing."


    "If you can''t beat others, don''t vent on us."


    The group of people spoke unkindly and coldly as they dispersed. This actually made that person even more furious. However, he did not dare to take action as there were many people around.


    Garen shook his head and followed the largest group of people toward the yurt-like white building on the right.


    The black-robed people in front entered it one-by-one. They would come out very quickly and some would express satisfaction while some would shake their heads non-stop. Many of them remained silent and one could not figure out what they had done.


    Although Garen did not know how to trade, he had nevertheless learned a little bit about it and its processes through Senior Sister Rainy.


    Soon, all the people in front had gone in. When it was his turn, he also followed and went forward.


    The moment he entered the white yurt, a light swishing sound was heard, as if he had entered into another space. The entire interior of the yurt was white. The walls were exuding a faint white light, but it did not give people a dazzling feeling.


    In front was a pyramid-like white structure which was suspended in mid-air.


    The surface of the pyramid had a clear palm print.


    "Please place your palm." A cold electronic sound rang out.


    Garen stepped forward and reached out his hand and pressed onto the palm print.


    Instantly, waves of Willpower containing information rushed to the outside of his Energy Machine Imprint. It formed a ribbon-like shape and was slowly hovering, waiting for him to open his Energy Machine Imprint.


    Garen slightly opened up the authority for information exchange in his Energy Machine Imprint.


    ''The list of tradable items are as follow...''


    A virtual list suddenly appeared before Garen. The top was divided into several categories.


    ''Medicine''''Experiments''''Special''''Others''


    All four types of items were here. Garen used his consciousness as his hand and selected the most common one, Medicine, from the first category.


    ''Yellow light wound medicine: Restore a small amount of Vitality and Willpower.''


    ''Green light wound medicine: Restore a small amount of Vitality.''


    ''Blue light wound medicine: Restore a small amount of Willpower.''


    ''First-grade antidote: Suitable for the palliative and prevention of airborne toxins.''


    ''Second-grade antidote: Suitable for the relief of minor poisoning.''


    ''Three-grade antidote: Suitable for the relief of moderate poisoning.''


    ''Emergency Bandage: Stop bleeding quickly.''


    There were only such items in the ''Medicine'', but at the end of the items, there was a line stating that ''This kind of medicinal items have special effects in Void Battlefield. ''


    Garen was speechless. These things were of no use to him and the price of each item was very high. They were all priced at a thousand crystals.


    He then changed to the ''Experimental'' category, all of which were the kind of loot materials that were unique to Void Battlefield. For example, the essence of the poisonous bee colony was also available here. It was priced at a thousand crystals, which was simply a robbery!


    Other available items also included the Void Essence of the Black Wind Birds, Snow Dragons, and Withered Bear. The rest were some very ordinary low-level Void Essence. Obviously, they were intended to be dedicated to the disciples of certain sects to accomplish their tasks.


    Garen looked around and found that there were quite a lot of items in this category. Very soon, he found the Void Amoeba Essence which he needed.


    ''Void Amoeba Essence: Level-Five monsters, fifty thousand crystals.''


    "That''s simply a robbery!" Garen was dumbstruck. If he had not grabbed Ron and Barlow''s space ring, it was deduced that his net worth was only enough to buy a little bit of this thing.


    Clearly, the other party had accurately calculated the purchasing power of the buyer.


    "Forget it. Just buy a little." Garen''s plan of coming here was not to go look for amoeba everywhere but to complete his own arrangements, which was to absorb the Power of Inheritance. However, it was better to stabilize his current plane first before absorbing it.


    Once the Power of Inheritance was absorbed, his level would definitely advance again. However, he had just entered Level Five not long ago. Advancing in the short term might cause the foundation to be unstable.


    The shortcomings of not grinding the Energy Machine Imprint enough would affect the future development.


    Quickly buying a few Amoeba Essence, the few golden crystals Garen held in his hands disappeared right away, being instead replaced with a few black ores that were covered with a silvery starlight on its black surface.


    After examining it and confirming that this was the Amoeba Essence needed for the task, Garen was too lazy to take another look and threw them into the space ring.


    He looked through the purchasing list again.


    After finished viewing the ''Experimental'' category, he picked the ''Special'' category.


    The items in the ''Special'' category was lesser than that in ''Medicine''. There were only three kinds.


    ''Bear Bile: New-Moon Level, Earth Bear essence. It can stabilize blood, flesh, and body. It is suitable for Energy Machinists with extreme techniques. One million crystals.''


    ''Snake''s Eye: One of the thousand eyes on the back of the Void Serpent. The gene can be extracted for use. One million crystals.''


    ''Caterpillar: A red caterpillar with poisonous stings on its backs. Eating it raw can help stabilize Willpower. Suitable for Energy Machinists who have just broken through a level. Six hundred thousand crystals.''


    A lot of bids had already been made for these three items. The three current prices were the highest price levels.


    Garen gave it a thought and added another price for the caterpillar, seven hundred thousand.


    After that, he left it alone. He took out Ron and Barlow''s space equipment and put them beneath the virtual screen for valuation.


    The valuation speed of the computer was extremely fast. It didn''t take more than two seconds before the necklace and the items in the ring were finished being appraised and a price was given.


    ''A total valuation of twenty-four million crystals, convert to twenty-four golden crystals. Do you want to trade?''


    Garen''s expression remained the same and confirmed it.


    He had already reviewed each of the items in the two things. Although they were all rare items, the vast majority of these things were not applicable to him at the moment. Since they were of no use, it would be better to exchange them for golden crystals to purchase the things which he could use.


    Seeing that the more than thirty golden crystals he originally had increased to more than fifty, Garen was in a much better mood.


    Being rich really emboldens a person differently.


    He looked back at the caterpillar and, since no one bid anymore, it went directly to his hand. The caterpillar option shown on the screen had also disappeared. Clearly, there was only one of it and after it was bought, there was not any left.


    Translator''s Notes:


    1A small shrimp: A Chinese expression for minor players.


    2A Chinese idiom to indicate that the person is moved to commit crimes by the sight of wealth and wants to seize it.

 1034 Trading 2

    Soon, a small glass jar appeared in Garen''s hand. Inside of it was a yellowish, hairy caterpillar with poisonous stings all over it. There were two silver-shining tentacles on its head; it looked sluggish as if it was sleeping.


    "It''s a pleasant surprise. The Void Caterpillar looks insignificant, but it''s very useful for the stabilization of Willpower. It is actually a high-level item used by Full-Moon Level powerhouse. Being able to bid for one here is indeed a pleasant surprise."


    Garen kept the small jar and looked at the ''Others'' category.


    There were a few miscellaneous items inside. Ron and Barlow''s stolen goods that he had just traded out were also shown on it, and people had already started bidding.


    Garen smiled a little, turned around and left.


    The sky outside was still pitch black. A gust of fresh air immediately filled his lungs.


    Looking around, there would occasionally be some people who entered this yurt from the side while some exited from the back, hurrying to leave.


    The entire area was a moderate-sized temporary camp. It was destroyed by that man just now, and the remnants looked dilapidated. Some automatic robots were doing some repairing work. Blue welding lights and buzzing sounds were continuously seen and heard.


    In the open space not far away, the people from the Five Wheel Sect had assembled and gotten in order. A man with short, blond hair was speaking coldly at the assembly. Because there were soundproof devices, the sound could not be heard. However, seeing the expression of this group of peoples, it was obvious that they were going to kill the man who had previously caused trouble.


    Not only was Garen watching, some people were also taking notes about the movement of Five Wheel Sect. Nonetheless, many of them just had a view before leaving the place in a hurry.


    The same was true for Garen, who tightened his robe and quickly headed toward the exit of the camp.


    Standing outside of the exit, he raised his eyes and looked around the surrounding. Recalling his location on the map, he once again determined his position.


    This was the edge of the Plains of Everlasting Night. Dark, undulating mountains could be seen all around in the front. The sky was black and the ground was black. From afar, Flesh-Banyan trees were seen to be spurting out black smoke, like a chemical plant that was discharging air waste.


    As the Energy Machinists came out from the camp, some would make a few leaps and disappear quickly into the darkness, while others would be whispering at the exit. There was one who whistled, and a black large bat flew down from the sky. He jumped on it and the large bat carried the person and flew straight away. It was extremely chic.


    Garen went to the side of the camp''s exit. He did not block the other people as well as draw attention to himself. He recalled the map.


    "The Plains of Everlasting Night is not suitable for hiding. There are, however, lots of crypts at the honeycomb hills on the edge that is suitable for hiding and the danger is not that great. The Void Black Bees inside are only Level Two creatures and can be easily eliminated even by Level Three Energy Machinists. It should not be a big problem."


    Garen identified the place, turned around and headed toward the honeycomb hills.


    Just as his figure disappeared into the night, two dark shadows quietly moved in the darkness from the edge of the camp and followed after him.


    "It''s him." A voice whispered through the air.


    "He should be a novice based on his appearance. That is the direction of Level Two district. His strength should be weak." Another voice whispered. "Being capable of buying a Void Caterpillar, he must have a high net worth."


    "Wait ''till we reach a quiet place before making our move."


    "Alright."


    The two dark shadows were like the invisible airflow in the air, quietly following behind Garen.


    **************


    Garen continued to sweep past the black ground of mud before his view.


    The feeling underneath each step was somewhat uneven, like stepping on a damp blanket. It was soft, yet a cold breeze could be felt.


    The temperature in the air was getting lower. Different sizes of white frosts and a condensed layer of thin ice layer could be seen on the ground now and again.


    He looked around. The surrounding terrain gradually changed from flat plains to undulating hilly landforms. At a glance, he could no longer see further ahead as he had just now.


    Croak croak¡­ Croak croak¡­


    Suddenly, there came a weird frog-like croaking sound from the front.


    Garen frowned and slowed down. He gradually walked to a small hill at the front and looked down.


    A dark, oval-shaped shadow more than two meters high was seen lying in front. It was not known what that thing was; it was quivering non-stop.


    Croak croak...


    This thing made some strange croaks again.


    "Earth-Feeding Frog?" Garen seemed to have seen this thing from the data on Void Battlefield.


    The Level Two Earth-Feeding Frog might look ferocious, but it was actually harmless. It just liked eating different types of soil. Moreover, this kind of creature was actually a beneficial insect for human beings. Wherever they habituated, the harmful substances and highly toxic radiation in the surrounding soil would be eaten up by them completely. Plus, its value was not high, so the average Energy Machinist would not kill it when they encountered it.


    Only after approaching it did Garen discover that this thing was a larger version of a black frog.


    A frog that was taller than two meters, slightly over three meters long was lying in a dirt pit. Its mouth was gnawing the mud on the ground and constantly chewing. Its mouth exposed the white column of teeth and gums. A large amount of soil was grated by the gums and swallowed.


    Garen circled the frog and patted this fellow''s skin.


    Clang, clang.


    It was very hard, like steel.


    Garen''s action was completely ignored by the huge frog. This fellow was just leisurely munching the soil.


    Clang, clang. Garen knocked again. This big-fellow then took a look at him and was a little unhappy. It hopped away and switched to another place to continue munching the soil.


    "How funny." Garen smiled and turned around to leave. He began looking around for a suitable hiding spot.


    But after just taking a few steps away from the huge frog, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.


    "Come out!"


    Garen stood slightly sideways. His hands suddenly ejected a piece of ice and it shot into the darkness not far away.


    Clank!


    The piece shattered as it crashed into something in the dark.


    The state of the two invisible figures was directly broken by the ice pieces, and the two emerged from the air.


    "Interesting. You could actually notice us."


    The tall and thin person sneered.


    "The same old way!" The other person said nothing more and waved his hand right away. A red, large, fiery lizard immediately flew out beside him. It opened its mouth to spurt and a large, red flame instantly shot out madly toward Garen.


    The light from the fire illuminated the environment of the ground here. It turned suddenly from complete darkness to brightness that the retina could not adapt instantly.


    However, Garen''s hand abruptly burst forth a black knife mark, delicately passing through the center of the flame.


    The flame was divided into two and passed by his two sides. But, the knife in Garen''s hand quickly emitted black smoke. It softened and broke, falling to the ground fizzling.


    "What a strong corrosive force." Garen was slightly surprised. The corner of his eyes saw the divided-flame behind him. When the flames fell to the ground, it turned into liquid and quickly eroded the soil into two large holes.


    Two red lizards reappeared next to the two people.


    "Close combat!" Garen immediately established his tactic. Instead of falling back, he made a mighty jump forward and darted empty-handed at the position of the two individuals. "This trick again. I''m so bored of seeing it after so many times." One of them disdained and the resonance on him instantly vibrated right away.


    Hum!


    The two joined hands together and their Willpower merged into a single block, together with the Willpower of the three red lizards. They all joined together as one and formed a red wall of light in front of them.


    "This firewall defense is not just for defense. As long as your strength is not more than the Full-Moon Level, the amount of strength you used to hit it would be rebound to hurt you back! Hehe. Kid, just accept your fate!" One of them smirked and stared at Garen with his hands crossed in front of his chest.


    Both of them were of New-Moon Level, and their combined power was enough to cause many Half-Moon Levels to fear to resist, let alone this Level Five Energy Machinist rookie before them.


    This move had killed many powerful Energy Machinists who wanted to have close combat. They both coldly watched Garen darted over. In their heart, they had had already sentenced him to death.


    More than twenty meters were crossed over by Garen in one shot. When he flew down, the wall of fire was instantly formed.


    This was a trap!


    Just when the two imagined the other party being rebound by the fire and battered seriously.


    A blue line suddenly appeared in mid-air.


    Swish!!


    The long, slender, blue wire flashed once and was gone, like a blue flashlight. And the moment the blue line flashed, there came a cracking sound from the wall of fire.


    Boom!!


    The entire wall of fire crashed.


    The two people, together with the lizards, were like being struck by lightning, they could not help but staggered backward, blood could be seen spurting out of their mouths.


    "Retreat!!" The facial expression of one of them changed dramatically. He spun around and fled.


    The other person reacted slightly slower and was slashed by Garen, who had already descended halfway in the air.


    The energy field defense, the two fire-lizards that flew up to block with their bodies, and a metal block that the person threw out hastily were all cut across in one slash by this one blue line.


    The blue ray lightly sailed across the man''s neck.


    With a bang, Garen gently fell behind this person.


    Behind him, two lizards, a black-robed person who was alive, and a seemingly solid piece of black metal were all split into halves in an instant, falling to the ground with a boom.


    No blood flowed out. All the blood fluid was condensed into ice by the chill emanating from Garen''s body, blocking the wounds.


    Looking back, Garen glanced at this New-Moon-Level Energy Machinist. From the sensory point of view, that black metal block should be an Experimental Energy Machinery Body that the person had not yet fully expanded. It was probably his most powerful Energy Machinery. However, before he had the chance to fully utilize it, it was slit by the demonic blade Sunlight.


    This was the power of the demonic blade. Below the Inherited Level, it was invincible and undefeatable, sharp to the extreme.


    If Sunlight were to be in a fully stimulated state, Garen had no idea how many upper limit levels he could reach. He only knew that even the defense of the general Inherited Level would also be slit in one move with his blade.


    This level of treasure was not something that the ordinary Energy Machinists could imagine.


    Fortunately, he had only used Sunlight momentarily and had put it away before the other party could see clearly. This also minimized the exposure of the demonic blade to the greatest degree.


    Sweeping his gaze at the man who had fled, Garen launched a pair of bloody wings on his back. As it flapped, he instantly disappeared from the spot. Shortly afterward, a scream was heard in the distance. Garen descended lightly onto the ground and the bloody wings on him tucked away.


    He walked to the Energy Machinist who had fled and who had fallen on the ground. This fellow was split into two from the top of his head to his groin and yet, he was still not completely dead. His mouth on one half of his body was still struggling to say something.


    "Perpetual motion...magic device... I hate it!" He squeezed a few words and finally, breathed his last.


    Garen sighed in amazement.


    "The vitality of high-level Energy Machinist is indeed mighty. He was still able to survive for more than ten seconds even after being split into half! How terrific!"


    "Perpetual motion magic device?" He heard this person''s words. "Was he referring to the level of Sunlight in my hand?" Garen guessed, yet he was also unsure.

 1035 Offering 1

    Garen bent over to search the man. He instantly found a number of large and small information-storage devices on the fellow.


    These storage devices were labeled with different words like medicine, materials, metal, and rare creatures. The most crucial thing was actually a treasure illustration diagram.


    In addition, there was also a space bracelet on this person, and it had been unceremoniously taken by Garen.


    After searching once more, Garen did not touch some of the things that were possibly the proof of his identity, but all other valuables were taken by him.


    From an ambush action all the way to Garen''s killing of the enemy, it took mere seconds. When the battle was over, Garen quickly changed direction and accelerated.


    After more than half an hour, he changed direction again and moved at high speed between the hills. He repeated this three times and found another fresh Earth-Feeding Frog to remove the traces of the residual radiation from his body. He then again changed direction and advanced for more than an hour. Finally, he came to a deep crack in the earth.


    Seeing the crack, Garen looked down from the edge and climbed down the steep cliff. He then began to dig a hole in the wall. After about ten minutes, a cave was dug out. He wormed in right away and used stones and mud to block the hole, leaving only air vents. This would be considered a temporary seclusion spot.


    Standing in the cave surrounded by darkness, Garen took out a fluorescent device purporting to illuminate the surrounding from his space ring and placed it on a small stone platform that was set aside on the wall.


    Immediately, a faint, white light spread over the entire cave which was about a dozen square meter wide.


    Looking around the cave, it was oval-shaped and a small earthen bed was made at the innermost part. Garen walked to the edge of the earthen bed, took out from the space ring a mat that had been prepared in advance, and then the mattress and blanket.


    After laying these things out one by one, he finally pulled out a red cylinder with a faint red light on it.


    By gently tapping this thing, the entire cylinder suddenly emitted a large amount of heat. It began to drive away the coldness of the entire cave, drying every damp spot in the cave. This kind of thermal radiation also had insecticidal and bactericidal effects which could form an absolute isolation zone from the small worm pathogens.


    Garen went to the doorway and looked through the air vents for a while. He placed a small alarm in the air vent. This thing could sense any creatures approaching and alert him directly in his Energy Machine Imprint.


    It was only after settling everything did Garen take out some food and drink. He used a radiation heater to heat up the pre-prepared fresh milk and then, he took out his homemade pasta, cakes, muffins, preserved fruit and the like.


    Each one was baked using the heater.


    Garen himself sat comfortably on the bed and began looking through the information storage devices he had just obtained.


    Recalling the Perpetual Motion-Level magic device that the man mentioned just now, something crossed his mind. He first took out the treasure-related storage device and viewed it.


    The contents of the storage device were easily opened and Garen scanned the description of the treasure.


    ''For Energy Machinists, all precious items that are rare and cannot be replicated are called treasures. There are only two kinds of treasures: conventional, and Perpetual Motion-Level. The conventional ones will decay and be perish over time, while the Perpetual Motion Levels will not undergo such a process. They will constantly renew themselves, strengthening themselves and making themselves increasingly stronger as time goes on.''


    ''There are thirty-eight kinds of conventional treasures on the market. ''


    There were a few illustration diagrams densely packed below it, all of which introduced various conventional treasures.


    Garen gave a look at them. Many of them were things that could increase the Willpower of Energy Machinists or pilots. They were indeed very precious.


    However, his key emphasis was not here. What he wanted to know more was what level of treasure was his Sunlight Demonic Blade.


    He flipped across the information screen quickly and soon, the category of Perpetual Motion-Level treasure appeared before Garen. The first thing on it that entered his view was a triangular black shield.


    The surface of the shield was covered with dense bone spikes and it was surrounded by a dark blue halo. The halo was composed of a large number of pattern symbols, looking looked extremely mysterious.


    ''Perpetual motion magic device: Million Bone Shield.''


    A row of small words indicated.


    Then, there was no more. There was no more content at the back of the screen.


    The entire information storage device seemed to only have such a perpetual motion magic device.


    Garen also skimmed through the function and usage of the conventional treasures. Putting away this thing, he could roughly know the preciousness of Perpetual Motion-Level magic device.


    The conventional treasures recorded in the treasure illustration diagram were not only unique, but some of them were special products unique to some of the sects, resources that would only be possessed by them. For example, The Black Knife''s Black Silver Necklace was a mass-produced treasure exclusive to the Black Knife. Of course, even though it was mass-produced, it was still extremely expensive. The market price on the illustration diagram was two hundred thousand golden crystals for one, and it was only available to those Energy Machinists who had good relations with Black Knife or were introduced to them. Pilots and other professions who wanted it would be comparable to dreaming about it.


    There was also a specialty of a top-family from the Four Ring Star Alliance, hibernating water. It allowed the Energy Machinist to enter a special hibernation state and sleep for one year. After that, most of the illnesses and serious injury would recover and at the same time, it also had great benefits for the stabilizing of Willpower and for the assisting in breaking through the bottleneck of levels. The supply was only qualified for the top elite of the family. Others did not even need to think about it.


    Since the conventional treasures were already so rare, by comparison, perpetual motion magic devices would naturally be even rarer and more precious.


    The basic Perpetual Motion-Level magic devices were priceless. Once they were discovered, they were likely to be hunted down and snatched.


    At this thought, Garen became more vigilant deep inside.


    "It seems that it won''t matter if Sunlight Demonic Blade is not used. But once it is used, all witnesses would have to be wiped out!"


    Tucking away the treasure illustration diagram, Garen waited a little while to confirm that there were indeed fewer creatures around.


    He looked at the clock timer in his Energy Machine Imprint. It had been more than a day since he entered Void Battlefield.


    "It''s almost time," He stabilized the state of his body, heartbeat, and breath.


    Gradually closing both eyes, he slowly started to concentrate and hold his breath.


    An unknown time had passed, it could be one minute or maybe ten.


    Garen abruptly opened his eyes and raised his hand lightly. The jar containing the Void Caterpillar was suddenly thrown out and rolled out in front of him in mid-air.


    He opened his mouth and spurted a beam of Scarlet Mist, hitting the center of the jar accurately.


    Boom!


    The jar was broken to pieces and the caterpillar inside was crushed into a meat paste by the Scarlet Mist. Like a black dyestuff, it smeared a layer of black on the Scarlet Mist.


    The black layer was like paint, lustrous and emitting a faint sweetness.


    Garen opened his mouth again and sucked in the Scarlet Mist.


    Whew¡­


    He heaved out a long breath and his entire face turned from white to red, as if it was congested.


    Time passed slowly again...


    Garen''s face changed from red to blue and slowly to green.


    The color of green continued for more than half an hour before it changed back to red, and then from red slowly back to white and to the original skin color.


    Two Energy Machine Imprints gradually emerged behind him. They were rotating continuously, releasing a faint cloud-like mist to surround Garen.


    Whichever spot these clouds and white air came into contact with, whether it was the bed or the wall surface, they would slowly dry up as though they were being drained. Meanwhile, the temperature was getting lower and colder.


    About a few hours later, Garen slowly opened his eyes.


    The color of the two Energy Machine Imprints behind him gradually changed from a faint white transparent to a slightly solidified feeling. It seemed to give people a sense of substance as it condensed from an illusion into reality.


    "Entering the plane of Level Five is now considered stabilized. It indeed is a void product. The quality is really good." Garen was in a much better mood. The effect of the Void Caterpillar was better than he had expected, allowing his Energy Machine Imprint Willpower to enter the solidification period.


    In fact, each level was divided into an accumulation period and solidification period according to the words of those Energy Machinists who stayed at each level for many years.


    Accumulation period meant that after just entering a new level, one needed to accumulate and sediment to adapt to the new level of strength, combat methods, as well as the use of experience techniques with Willpower and some necessary special means. When these things were completely mastered, then the stability of the Willpower was to be looked at.


    Having just entered a new level, it was possible that there would be a temporary deterioration phenomenon in the Energy Machine Imprint. Hence, he needed time to stabilize. This would generally take months or even years.


    The effect of Void Caterpillar was to shorten this time so that this process of few months or even years would quickly stabilize.


    This stuff had the effect of nourishing and stabilizing the structure of Willpower. That was why it was sold this expensively.


    After the stabilization of the level, it was the so-called solidification period, which meant that all aspects were stable and the next advancement could be carried out.


    It was like laying the foundation in the ground. Only when the base was deep enough, stable enough, and wide enough could a higher building be built.


    After absorbing the Void Caterpillar, Garen stretched out his hand, opened his mouth softly and spurted a dark blue line of fire from his mouth again.


    The slender blue line of fire slowly levitated above the palm of his hand, rotating.


    "The Power of Inheritance..." Garen watched this blue line of fire.


    This was the strand of the Power of Inheritance that he had been hiding in his body. It had been constantly suppressing the power of the demonic blade Sunlight and at the same time, his secret tactic was absorbing it continually. However, now it seemed to not have any effect.


    "After successfully cultivating the secret tactic, Magic Light Fist from the Ice Magic Scroll, the Sunlight can then be mastered. Once the demonic blade Sunlight is mastered, that trace of Power of Inheritance can then be acquired without fear of being hurt back. One link interrelated with another. How thorough."


    Garen sighed with slight admiration.


    "But now, it is time to completely resolve this hidden danger. By remaining in the body all the time, if any day it cannot be mastered, the Power of Inheritance will instantly turn from a treasure into a curse."


    A thought arose in Garen and the Demonic Blade Sunlight slowly appeared on his side. It was held by him as he reached out his hand.


    The hilt was still burning blue flames. Scorching heat and cold chill were surging non-stop in the narrow underground space, making the entire underground cavity half-cold and half-hot.


    Huh!


    Suddenly, Garen gave a deep roar, held the knife and directly slashed onto the Power of Inheritance.


    Clang!


    The blue line of flames struck. As it was caught off guard, the Power of Inheritance was hacked into two by the demonic blade. In a flash, the two lines twisted insanely, resembling two snakes that were alive, and rushed toward Garen.


    Clang clang clang!


    Garen rapidly slashed out three slices once again.


    Each blade slashed on each of the Power of Inheritance.

 1036 Offering 2

    The sharp blade directly cut the Power of Inheritance into several small segments.


    He then opened his mouth to promptly inhale a segment of the blue line. The rest were isolated by the flames of the demonic blade and trapped in a narrow small space.


    With a hiss, the blue line, which was only the length of an index finger, was sucked in. However, after it had just entered his mouth, Garen felt an incomparably strong, odd chill surging into his brain.


    His entire mind thundered and burst into chaos as if his brain was frozen by the coldness of the blue line.


    After the blue line entered the mouth, it turned into a pure chill and moved into Garen''s body, wantonly wreaking havoc. It charged at the original chill of Scarlet Snow Technique in his body, causing it to be in a state of mess.


    Both of them were the coldness energy, but Garen''s current Scarlet Snow Technique and this surge of chill felt completely different.


    Whew.


    The demonic blade Sunlight released a burst of flame and wrapped up Garen''s entire body. The scorching heat began to burn him continuously.


    Four beams of Scarlet Mists from the Scarlet Snow Technique shot out of Garen''s nostrils and slowly circled around him, spreading coldness to resist the blazing flame. While resisting the flames, the Scarlet Mists also began to gradually melt like ice and snow.


    Following this meltdown, a large amount of coldness melted and permeated into the Garen''s body to fight against the blue line, while the remaining Scarlet Mist appeared increasingly purer and finer.


    "This is the process of smelting," Garen was enlightened. "Separating a bit of the Power of Inheritance blue line into the body. Followed by using a large amount of coldness from Scarlet Snow Technique to repeatedly refine it and improve the quality of the power of my technique."


    However, the current blue line was still raging in the body; it seemed that there was no indication that the Scarlet Snow Technique was refining it.


    Garen could only persevere. This method was discovered by him from the internal database. It was a refining method for when facing a higher level of energy than his own.


    This was also the only way, using quantity to impact it, causing it to break apart into smaller parts and integrate into the body.


    Time went by bit by bit.


    Garen''s Scarlet Snow Technique''s chill in his body continued to lash against the blue line. Garen''s internal organs were gradually damaged by the constant shocks, but they were immediately self-healed by his mighty physique.


    Occasionally, unexpected serious bruises would occur and Garen would quickly repair them with some potential points.


    A few hours passed in a blink of an eye.


    Garen''s face became increasingly pale as if there was no blood in it; it turned into a white jade.


    Surrounded by blue flames, the size of the four Scarlet Mists had been reduced to half of that of the original. They were only the length of a fingernail, but the color was getting brighter, like red cherries that were just picked, unusually fresh.


    "Almost there." Garen breathed in a sharp breath.


    Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!


    Suddenly, all four pieces of the Scarlet Mists were sucked in by him at one shot. They flowed down the throat into the body and like a sharp sword, fiercely striking the blue line within the body.


    The highly condensed and tempered Scarlet Mists were abnormally hard. Like four small daggers, they fiercely hit the same point on the blue line.


    Crack!


    With a loud boom, the blue line finally broke and shattered into countless tiny pieces.


    A large amount of the chill from the Scarlet Snow Technique rushed forward. After several hours of continuous battle, Garen was extremely exhausted. A large amount of impure power had been consumed in the entanglement with the blue line, leaving behind only the purest and toughest power of Scarlet Snow Technique.


    These power, accompanied by Scarlet Mist, rotated at a high-speed on Garen''s chest. Although they were invisible in the body, such high-speed rotations were also gradually imposing an enormous burden onto Garen''s internal organs.


    They were pulling on his internal organs and faintly turning them.


    Pooh!


    Garen finally could not help but spurt out a shot of blood and it splattered on the ground in front.


    His mighty self-healing ability and potential points were used at the same time. The self-healing ability of his constitution was far from being able to keep up with the destructive speed of the bursting pieces and Scarlet Mist at this time.


    Garen knew that he had underestimated the difficulty of absorbing the Power of Inheritance. This was how it was for him. If it were changed to another person, it would be an instant self-explosion.


    If it were not for his good body constitution, his Living Secret Technique of the Hellfrost Peacock Technique having a strengthened resistance to coldness, and the restoration from potential points, he might have completely exploded and become a rotten flesh.


    This was true especially with regards to the potential points.


    Garen viewed his inside and saw his internal organs constantly struggling to grow a vast amount of granulation tissue in an attempt to self-heal and repair itself. However, the newly healed wounds were immediately cut and destroyed by a huge rotating force. They were continuously healed, destroyed, healed and destroyed again.


    It was just this kind of repeated damage and it had actually exhausted the little potential points he had!


    It was necessary to know that these were the potential points that could regrow an amputated limb and revive a severely wounded person. One point was almost equated to one life! And to think it was being depleted as such during a cultivating and refining process!


    While Garen was astounded, he also checked his remaining potential points.


    Three points remained.


    Fortunately, in the midst of this high-speed rotation of the Scarlet Mist, those fragments of the blue line were quickly melted and absorbed into the four Scarlet Mists, making the original fingernail-length Scarlet Mist slowly grew to become longer and wider.


    Eventually, it soon became four palm-length razor-shaped and were extremely sharp.


    The four Scarlet Mists formed a red vortex in the middle of Garen''s chest. After absorbing the blue line fragments, their quality had obviously risen.


    Garen now felt relieved. After the absorption was completed, his internal organs were gradually healed. The cutting speed of the red vortex also allowed the body to gradually adapt to it.


    "No breakthrough?" He sensed his own state, and there indeed was no breakthrough. The Scarlet Snow Technique remained unchanged. It was still its original Tenth Grade.


    However, there were changes to his Skill Pane.


    ''Energy Machinist secret method ¡ª Cold Scarlet Snow Technique: The Tenth Grade. (Coldness strengthened by one level. Sharpness strengthed by one level.)''


    "So this is the strengthening effect?"


    Garen was delighted. The strengthening effect, which once appeared in the Secret Technique World, had finally reappeared. It was only then could he know his own level even more clearly.


    "Don''t know what effect does the strengthening of coldness has and what is the effect of the strengthening of sharpness." Garen''s thoughts spun, but it was better than nothing.


    The Power of Inheritance was not used to advance levels. Its biggest use was to increase and break through the bottleneck of Inherited Level. This was the key. It could strengthen the quality of Willpower and this was what countless Energy Machinists dreamt of.


    Garen wanted to understand this point in his mind. Without any hesitation, he opened his mouth and sucked the second blue line into his mouth.


    A new round of absorption began again.


    The absorption this time was no longer the same as the first time. It was not that thrilling. The strength of the red Scarlet-Mist-vortex had increased significantly, allowing him to fully support the impact and destruction of the blue line after it had entered. The both of them were slowly and firmly caused friction against each other.


    From time to time, Garen would take out some of the incense materials he had prepared to supplement his strength and replenish the great consumption of his power.


    Just like that, Garen continued absorbing and he stayed in the underground cave for two whole days. After two sleepless days, he finally absorbed all the Power of Inheritance and integrated it into his Scarlet Snow Technique.


    In the Skill Pane, Scarlet Snow Technique also showed a final change.


    ''Energy Machinist secret method ¡ª Cold Scarlet Snow Technique: The Tenth Grade. (Coldness strengthened by three levels. Sharpness strengthened by three levels.)''


    Both the coldness and the sharpness were strengthened and had reached a Level Three effect. Garen did not know how terrific the Level Three effect was. It was not clear as he had not tried it out, but he was definitely more powerful than he had been.


    The blue flame in the cave slowly extinguished. Garen put away the Demonic Blade Sunlight and let out a breath, exhausted.


    "Finally, it was all absorbed..."


    He hurriedly ate something and then fell asleep.


    Considering the two consecutive days without sleep, a high degree of concentration, the manipulation of the demonic blade Sunlight and his body state, coupled with the continued damage upfront, Garen was physically and mentally exhausted.


    He slept through one whole day.


    When Garen woke up, it was almost twenty hours later.


    He opened his eyes and looked at the quiet cave. The broken radiation lamp on the ground was releasing a white smoke. Garen exhaled deeply.


    "It''s the fourth day. Time to resolve the amoeba essence and the nameplate of the disciple from the enemy''s sect, All in one shot!"


    Garen was too lazy to clean up the cave. He tidied his robe and put on a new robe and boots that he retrieved from his space ring.


    As his energy field expanded, Garen violently crashed out of the cave.


    Boom!


    As the broken stones were sent flying, Garen threw something into the hole with a backhand.


    A large amount of flame blazed and came out of the cave with a boom, incinerating all the traces of items within.


    He stood on the edge of the crack of the abyss and looked up and down.


    The sky was still dark, full of stars. Beneath it was the dark abyss with an unfathomable depth. Subtle, weird sounds could be heard from below.


    Hiss...


    Suddenly, a dark shadow jumped out from the wall of the cliff. It was a Black Sucker with four limbs attached to the stone wall. This monster flew toward Garen on this side and shot out his black tongue which resembled a dart.


    The tongue brutally smashed on the surface of Garen''s energy field, splattering a little transparent debris.


    "Level Four lethality?!" Garen looked slightly surprised at this Black Sucker. This creature jumped back up to the cliff and glared fiercely at him.


    Its limbs resembled a gecko as it crouched on the cliff. Its entire body was black, like carbon. Only the pair of eyes was red; its body size was the same as that of a human.


    "This is a Level Two district. A Level Four creature actually appeared here?" Garen was puzzled, but he was too lazy to deal with this kind of creature. The opponent was indeed Level Four, but that was in comparison to Level Four pilots. Garen, being an Energy Machinist, was much stronger than the pilots. Moreover, he was the Energy Machinist of a sect, and so, he was even more powerful. Even if he were to stand on the spot to let the Black Sucker fight him, it would need a few hours at the very least to have his defenses broken.


    Nonetheless, the most annoying thing about the Black Sucker was that when it died, it would release a very strong odor like the smell of feces, which was very difficult to get rid of. Once it came in contact with the body, it would take a week to wash it away.


    Garen looked down at the abyss below. He suspected that the emergence of Black Sucker, a Level Four creature, should be related to this abyss beneath him.


    "I''ll just go down to have a look. Perhaps I can encounter creatures like Amoeba. According to the data, it likes to live in a dark and cold environment."


    However, he had to figure out how to go down. Garen looked at the Black Sucker that was still vigilantly watching him.


    After a few minutes...


    Garen rode on the back of the Black Sucker. The both of them climbed down quickly and descended like a gecko, heading toward the abyss below.


    On the precipice with a steep foot of hundred and eighty degrees, the Black Sucker was like moving on the ground. Its four limbs grabbed onto the rock face like suctions as Garen rode on its back. His eyes flashed fiercely from time to time, but he would immediately shiver from the chill released by Garen. The fierceness would promptly turn into submission.


    Garen sat on the back of the Black Sucker and felt the rock walls on both sides moving at a high speed. In front and beneath, he could already see a little outline.


    There seemed to be a black river, and the turbulent sound of water could be heard. As the distance closed in, the sound was getting louder and clearer.


    The rocks by the riverside had black-purple plants growing on them. Similar to spikes and thorns, they looked unusually vicious at first glance.

 1037 Key 1

    ''Roar¡­ Roar... roar¡­''


    Suddenly, a gigantic bear with two heads made a strange noise next to a nearby riverbank, slowly moving up and down the riverbank. Some parts of the Two-Headed Bear''s body were slightly rotten, while the internal organs within its abdomen could be vaguely seen twitching inside. Stale, black liquid continuously dripped over the places that the bear had passed.


    Garen went on a high alert immediately.


    Without needing him to remind them, the Black Sucker below him instinctively held their breaths immediately as well as restrained their movements in fear of disturbing the Two-Headed Bear.


    Caw caw! Caw caw!


    Within a faraway shroud of black mist, a black creature which faintly resembled a flying dragon could be seen flying around the abyss, circling the surrounding continuously. It raised its snake-like neck and continuously while making weird crow-like cries.


    Garen was enveloped by a feeling that indicated an intense threat. His instinctive bodily reactions were constantly on high alert while large patches of goosebumps throughout his entire body had flared up.


    "It''s definitely a high-level Void Creature!" He could already sense the dangerous nature of his opponent without even thinking about it.


    Garen rode the Black Sucker and moved between the Two-Headed Bear and flying dragon monster slowly. He was careful to prevent himself from appearing within the monsters'' visions.


    After traveling for a short distance along the cliff, he saw a cave within the precipice near himself suddenly. It seemed as though a stone carving-like object was placed within the cave.


    The inside of the cave was very shallow, being only a few meters deep. This allowed Garen to see the whole thing immediately while using his night vision. It was completely empty inside, without a single object within.


    While riding the Black Sucker, Garen slowly used his Energy Field to restrain his aura silently while scaling his way towards the cave.


    Finally, he burrowed into the cave without alerting the Two-Headed Bear or black flying dragon.


    He could hear that the cries outside were now muffled by a cliff that acted as a layer between them, which made the noises slightly quieter. Garen sighed in relief slowly only after realizing that he had likely left the Two-Headed Bear''s field of vision. He began to size up the cave in front of him.


    There were two burning candlesticks inside the cave. Ancient rough decorative patterns were carved on the black candlesticks that were tinged with purple. The carving techniques were coarse and simple.


    There was a dark blue, graphite-colored, human-shaped statue enshrined between the candlesticks.


    The statue resembled a woman who was dressed in gauze. Strangely enough, there were no nipples on her breasts where her chest was located. Instead, there were two blurry human faces on the peaks there.


    Moreover, the woman also had three pairs of hands that were all raised; a fierce and cruel smile could be seen on her features.


    There were even black and red traces of blood that remained below the feet of this statue. Garen walked closer and looked before noticing that there was a stone pit below the feet of the statue. Two human corpses, that had been dead for a long time, were lying inside there.


    His expression changed at once. It was clear that this cave housed a terrible murderer. In a place like this where high-level Void Creatures existed, the owner of this cave was definitely a creature of the same level.


    "I must leave quickly!" Garen was just about to turn around and ride the Black Sucker before suddenly noticing some items that were messily placed at the edges of the deep pit below the statue''s feet. There were hearts and internal organs of animals, a bright and shiny red gem, a few snow-white bones that belonged to unknown animals, as well as some flowers and grass that had wilted for a long time.


    Garen picked up the red gem quickly and turned around before riding the Black Sucker and fleeing.


    After avoiding the Two-Headed Bear and black flying dragon in a terrifying manner unscathed, Garen increased his speed gradually while constantly urging the Black Sucker to accelerate as well.


    A tumor-like flesh ball on the Black Sucker''s abdomen expanded continuously. It was a Distorted Seed that Garen had placed on its body as a parasite to increase the Black Sucker''s physical fitness by threefold. Currently, it possessed greater speed compared to its initial self while it was moving through the cliff.


    After moving for some time, an irritable roar echoed from below.


    "Ramsda!" yelled a furious voice in an indistinct and inarticulate noise that sounded like an unknown language. The sound waves vibrated inside the depths of the canyon, remaining for a long time.


    The tremendous sound waves reverberated in Garen''s ears and made his mind gloomy and uneasy before his qi and blood quaked, filling his mind with disgust.


    He was immensely shocked because there was a distance of at least a few kilometers between his current location and the ground below! He could only imagine how terrifying the roaring monster''s powers could be if they were able to trigger fear in his body despite being so far away.


    The Black Sucker was frightened to the point where it accelerated madly. It charged out of the crevice of the abyss rapidly and leaped into the air before landing on all fours at once. It stood on the ground steadily like a crouching frog.


    Pfoo¡­


    It was only then did Garen''s feeling of dread slowly subsided, he felt a horrifying emotion.


    "What kind of place was that? What was that godly statue that they worshipped? And what was that roaring creature?! Did it really possess intellectual abilities to be aware of that godly statue and worship it? How did these terrifying creatures appear at the edges of the Void Battlefield?"


    A series of questions flashed through his mind. Garen recalled the information that he knew and realized that no one had mentioned the cave of the godly statue previously.


    "It''s impossible that no one had discovered it earlier. They had probably discovered it, but the information was sealed by someone else," understood Garen.


    He took the red gem out and looked at it. This thing looked like a regular red gem, except that a white flame that could be seen burning inside its core faintly.


    Garen referred to his own databank, but there was no news about this object that was stored inside the information within his Energy Machine Imprint.


    All this while, it had been determined that the creatures on the Void Battlefields did not possess intellectual abilities. However, it seemed like that was completely inaccurate now, this was because they would be unable to worship the godly statue if they had no intellect.


    Garen hid these doubts within his heart faintly and kept the gem inside his Space Ring. He rode the Black Sucker and began rushing towards the Level Four Plains of Everlasting Night.


    "It''s important for me to complete this task first. There''ll be a chance for me to enter the Void Battlefields in the future. When that time comes, I''ll come back stronger and explore this place," said Garen while making up his mind.


    According to the displayed information, the Black Rain, which had descended two days ago, and was about to occur again now. It would be a moment where many monsters would appear when that time came, and would also be a good opportunity for Energy Machinists to hunt these Void Creatures. Moreover, it was also a chance for the Void Creatures to hunt human beings.


    While riding on the Black Sucker, Garen traveled towards the south on his journey. He passed long, continuous stretches of black hills. The Black Sucker that was now the host of a parasite ran at an extremely fast speed. Many of the monsters that Garen passed by wanted to ambush him, but were unable to catch up to the Black Sucker''s speed. Soon, many of them fell behind after chasing him for some time.


    Without having to waste time clashing with them, Garen was able to enter the region of the Plains of Everlasting Night within slightly more than an hour.


    Just as he had entered the Plains of Everlasting Night and before traveling further, he could already see three people in black robes. They were besieging a black ox that was exhaling red flames from its nostrils on the dark earth surface in front of him.


    The black ox was sturdy and large while the muscles of its entire body were taut. Its front hooves would dig up the ground occasionally as it panted coarsely.


    Meanwhile, the three figures that were surrounding the black ox were in a tight corner. One of them had suffered injuries to his shoulder and was constantly dodging the black ox''s attacks with somewhat strange postures. The little group shouted occasionally while a few invisible and transparent pieces of Energy Machinery assisted them by increasing their speed and strength.


    Garen''s vision focused on the few pieces of invisible Energy Machinery. He could seemingly tell what kinds of specialized measures were used to make them invisible. However, it seemed as though these invisibility effects had started destabilizing gradually. Thus, he was able to see the fluctuations and distortions of time and space at a glance.


    Numerous laser-like beams were constantly being released from the hands of these three people. These beams struck the body of the black ox, but they only managed to cause tiny wounds of various sizes onto its body. It was not very effective, and they managed to enrage the black ox instead.


    Moo!


    The black ox roared furiously and spat a large mouthful of wine-red flames at one of the people suddenly.


    Garen stood far away and narrowed his eyes faintly. Was this Level Three strength?


    He used his Energy Machine Imprint to judge the power of the black ox''s flames immediately.


    Boom!


    The flame struck the chest of one of the people violently and sent him flying in an explosion at once.


    "Friend, sorry to trouble you, but we need some help. Help us kill this Void Fire Ox, because we''ll need its heart later!" Two of the people panicked suddenly. One of the men then yelled at Garen loudly and asked for help.


    "The heart of the Void Fire Ox? Is the heart of the Void Fire Ox even useful?" Garen raised his eyebrows and asked them in a universal language.


    "It can be used! It''s definitely useful. We used specialized methods to observe it for a few days beforehand so there won''t be any problems at all!" The man from earlier yelled quickly before dodging the black ox''s flames immediately again.


    "Alright then!"


    Garen smiled faintly and walked over slowly. An invisible chill rushed towards the three people who were clashing with the Fire Ox suddenly.


    Suddenly, the cold attacked the Fire Ox and caused its movements to become irritable.


    Moo!


    It let out a furious roar and began to feel a tremendous threat approaching. It glared at Garen in a panic and tried to retreat backward, frenzied.


    Garen closed his eyes. When he opened them again, shrouds of faint bloodthirsty qi were released.


    He raised a finger and pointed it at the Fire Ox.


    "Explode!"


    Bang!


    The Blood Eagle''s Blood Control abilities burst out at once.


    The blood within the Fire Ox''s entire body sprayed out madly. It gushed out of its skin and all seven crevices of its body like a fountain. It lost all of its energy at once before falling on the floor. It made a crashing noise before finally becoming a corpse.


    The three people, who were covered in wounds, stared at Garen with gaping mouths.


    "Level Five¡­ A Level Five powerhouse!" The voice of one of these people sounded as if he was quaking slightly.


    This was a Level Two to Level Three district. Energy Machinists or Mech Pilots that were Level Three or higher would rarely appear here because this place lacked things that were highly valuable to them. Therefore, Level Five Energy Machinists were what these Energy Machinists without sects dreamed of becoming.


    There would only be one of them within a hundred people, making them amazing.


    Level Four Energy Machinists were already the backbone of the social stratum of the three main Energy Machinist metropolis, much less Level Fives.


    Furthermore, he was such a young Level Five!


    These three people which comprised of two men and one woman came to the Void Battlefields and took risks to find materials. They had broken through Level Three to become Level Four Energy Machinists. However, they were no longer young anymore. They were already twenty-five to twenty-six years old now and had almost exhausted their chances of developing their potential. If they had not come to the Void Battlefields to find precious materials, they would perhaps remain at Level Three for the rest of their lives.


    Now, however, a young Level Five Energy Machinist was currently standing in front of them.


    These three people exchanged glances and communicated through their gazes.


    Garen had walked over and had now taken out a little knife to cut open the side of the Fire Ox''s body before digging its heart out.


    Its heart was still beating faintly like a living creature. Moreover, since all of its blood had spurted outwards because of Garen''s Blood Control ability, the ox''s heart was extremely clean and pretty, like a crystal model that could move.


    He took the heart away and placed it into his Space Ring directly. This made the hearts of the other three Energy Machinists jump slightly as well. This Level Five Energy Machinist was definitely the powerhouse of one of the sects. Otherwise, he would not be so familiar with the usage of Space Equipment.


    It was important to note that the price of Space Equipment outside was not cheap. Therefore, most Level Four Energy Machinists would need to save up for at least a few years before having enough money to purchase these devices.

 1038 Key 2

    "What else do you need?" Garen turned his head and glanced at these three people who were still looking at him indecisively.


    "Thank you very much for saving us, my Lord. However, this heart is very important to us¡­" One of them said quietly as she came forward, a woman with a melodious voice.


    "And then?" Garen raised an eyebrow.


    "We were hoping to exchange something else with you. Would you¡­?" The woman said carefully.


    "Exchange? What were you planning to exchange it with?" The heart appeared in Garen''s hand again before he tossed it around gently. The heart had already crystallized and turned solid, making it harder to be damaged.


    The woman gritted her teeth and turned around to glance at her two other companions. They gazed back at her with affirmation and confidence. She turned back and lowered her voice before speaking.


    "Has my Lord heard of the Space-Time Print?"


    "Space-Time Print?" Garen''s heart stirred. "Are you talking about the Space-Time Print that claimed to allow people to realize everything and upgrade their powers?" He had heard of it before but knew that this item could only be seized by the major sects from the Void Battlefields. It was an exceptional item that could even arouse the desire of Resonance Level Energy Machinists.


    Among the disciples of the major sects, only a few top-notch individuals had the privileged right to obtain or merely observe it.


    "Yes, that''s it!" The woman nodded and lowered her voice even more. She glanced left and right, as if she was worried that someone had heard her.


    "Of course, we haven''t gained the qualifications to obtain a full Space-Time Print. We merely have a broken part of the Space-Time Print''s address. However, even with it, we believe that it may be able to produce the desired effect that my Lord wants."


    Garen''s gaze turned solemn. Objects like the Space-Time Print would only appear once during a fixed time and would disappear rapidly once they were discovered. Furthermore, only individuals who carried Keys could trigger Resonance to discover it.


    These Keys were actually manufactured by many peak Energy Machinists to pass down the qualifications to their descendants to enter the interiors of natural phenomena that create the Space-Time Prints. They allowed them to realize the rules and discover the mysteries of the universe to improve the levels of their powers from there.


    Now that this Key had appeared in the hands of these three Level Three Energy Machinists, it seemed completely ridiculous.


    "How did you obtain this item?" Garen asked rhetorically. "Only those who are Level Four or greater can use Space-Time Prints. I can understand your perspective of wanting to trade the Key but it''s still highly unlikely for someone of your level to have the qualifications of possessing one, right?"


    "That place¡­we can''t enter it," the woman replied helplessly. "You should know that even broken Space-Time Prints are items that people would scramble to obtain. However, with our strength, we were driven out as soon as we approached it."


    "But even if this is genuine, how would I know whether the Key you gave me was legitimate?" asked Garen casually. He could not believe that he would encounter such good fortune so easily.


    "Individuals with Keys are the only ones who can enter the Space-Time Print regions. To be frank, the only reason why three of us were even able to wander into this shallow part of the Energy Machinist realm was because of¡­" The woman said, lowering her head, crestfallen.


    "Because of me!"


    Suddenly, a voice echoed from far away.


    "Baddy, return the Key to me. If you return to my side sincerely, I will be merciful and not kill you."


    The owner of the voice was at least a few kilometers from here. However, the sound waves were able to travel here, displaying his powerful skills.


    The trio''s emotions became slightly fearful. It was clear that the person who had arrived was now burdening them with heavy stress.


    Garen raised an eyebrow and looked in the direction of the sound waves from afar.


    "My Lord!" The woman looked at Garen in a panic, as if she was hoping that he would promise to protect them.


    The other two took precautions immediately as if they were faced with a formidable foe. They turned around and glared resolutely in the direction of the noise. Their bodies were taut and abnormally stiff.


    "Yellow Cloud Ghost! She''s caught up to us again!"


    "We shall fight to the end! Worse comes to worst, we will detonate the Key so that no one will be able to get it!"


    Garen looked in the direction of the noise curiously as well. From afar, he could see a big, tall woman with messy blonde hair dressed in a tight, black singlet. She carried a silvery white, metal broadsword on her shoulder. She seemed to be moving slowly but was actually rushing towards them.


    This person had concealed her entire body''s qi so that their opponents would not know her exact level. However, it looked like she was not a weakling.


    Garen increased his alertness levels faintly.


    It seemed as though the woman had also noticed Garen from afar. She stopped from a distance of more than ten meters away.


    "Dear Sir, if you don''t mind, could you hand over the three people beside you to me so that I can take care of them?" She licked the corners of her mouth as a sudden tinge of bloodlust appeared on her previously delicate face.


    After achieving a certain level of a high degree, many Energy Machinists would modify their own features and bodies. Therefore, there were various types of handsome men and beautiful women. However, since most of these modifications were based off the standards of prime features, many of these modified faces were similar to one another. Although they were all beautiful, many of them shared familiar faces.


    Garen felt this at a glance. He did not like this feeling that made him think of the Korean plastic surgery that he had previously seen on Planet Earth¡­


    From the corner of his eye, he glanced at the woman who was staring at him in a panicked state before glancing at the masculine woman who was holding a broadsword on the opposite side of him. Although the features of the woman in the black robe over here were not as pretty, she managed to beat the other woman in terms of natural beauty at least.


    "You are here because of the Key?" Garen spoke suddenly.


    The blonde masculine woman nodded, she grinned showing her white teeth. "What about it? Give me some face!"


    "No." Garen rejected her flatly.


    The masculine woman was taken aback as she had never expected to be rejected. In comparison to the other three people, it was obvious that she was much stronger. When comparing the trouble that would occur, it should have been obvious that the other party would have chosen not to offend her instead. She opened her mouth and asked in a shocked manner.


    "Why?"


    "Because you''re too ugly," Garen smiled.


    Tch!


    Garen''s silhouette flashed suddenly. He disappeared from his initial spot quickly after taking a few steps and charged directly towards his opponent.


    A distance of more than a dozen meters was shortened into about ten meters in the blink of an eye. The horrifying speed allowed Garen to hear the whooshing noise of wind, and in his eyes, his current enemy''s movements had slowed down.


    The initially astonished look on the face of the masculine woman slowly changed into fury. She raised her hand to aim it at him accurately. Her movements at this moment were extremely fast, but in Garen''s own senses, it was greatly slow-mo.


    Garen quickly raised his own as well upon seeing the masculine woman attempting to raise her hand at him.


    "Blood Control!"


    The invisible strength burst forth suddenly and enveloped the body of the masculine woman immediately despite her being more than ten meters away.


    Hiss¡­


    Horrifying drips of water could be heard. The masculine woman staggered two steps backward. Blood began seeping out of her mouth, nose, eyes, and ears but she did not collapse instantly like the black ox from earlier.


    She screamed in aghast, as numerous long, black rope-like things exploded throughout the empty spaces in their surroundings. They interlocked with each other and twisted themselves towards Garen as if countless whips were about to strike him at the same time.


    "Sure enough, you are probably a Level Four Energy Machinist, because the abilities of the Blood Control could only affect you but not kill you directly." Garen''s mind had roughly determined the effective range of the Blood Control''s abilities.


    The Scarlet Snow Technique within his body triggered itself suddenly.


    As quick as lightning, his finger struck the numerous black ropes lightly.


    A series of crackling noises could be heard before the black ropes paused in mid-air; with a loud crashing sound, they broke into frozen pieces and crashed on the ground. Burnt powder leaked out of the cracked pieces. It was clear that if one were to be hit by the black ropes, it would explode instantly, worsening the damage.


    However, Garen''s skill surpassed his opponent''s powers greatly. Naturally, they were rendered useless and froze immediately.


    After triggering Grade Ten of the Scarlet Snow Technique, Garen''s palm made a thunderous noise before pressing it against the woman''s left shoulder.


    Bang! The power of the Scarlet Snow Technique surged outwards and suppressed his opponent''s intense resisting body strength. The woman attempted to turn around and flee but the frigid chills instantly froze her into an ice sculpture.


    She remained in her previous pose of turning around and escaping, but her body was now completely sealed in a transparent block of ice that was tinged with blue.


    Garen returned his hands to his side and looked at his creation happily. The trio behind him sighed in relief. The threat had been eliminated but they were now somewhat afraid of Garen because he was able to get rid of the powerhouse Yellow Cloud Demon who was pursuing them in one go. If powers like these were coupled with malicious intent¡­


    "A Level Four Energy Machinist froze her into an ice sculpture instantly. These powers are not bad, but we had no way of seeing the effects of strengthening them."


    Garen looked toward another faraway direction where another silhouette had suddenly appeared in the distance again.


    "Give me the Key and I''ll have mercy on you instead of killing you!" Echoed a coarse, cold voice.


    Still behind Garen, the trio''s faces changed drastically as they looked at Garen frantically.


    "My Lord!"


    Garen smiled and turned around to throw out the heart of the Fire Ox. Simultaneously, the woman threw out a black stone that was glimmering with silver dots of light.


    Both of them caught the items at the same time.


    "Let''s go!"


    The trio fled abnormally fast. Clearly, since they were able to protect the Key from so many powerhouses, their running skills were extraordinary as well.


    Garen ignored the three, escaped people and looked at the rough, burly fellow who was charging at him rapidly. Level Five Energy Fields coiled and circulated around his body, making it obvious that he was a Level Five Energy Machinist.


    "The thirty-seventh Key, give it to me." This burly fellow had thick black hair throughout his entire body. His voice was rough while his body was big and tall, giving off a fierce and powerful presence.


    Most of his face was hidden within his waist-long black hair, showing only a pair of bright, piercing eyes. He glanced at Yellow Cloud Demon, who was frozen beside Garen.


    "Scarlet Snow Technique?" He was slightly surprised.


    "You know about my Scarlet Snow Technique too?" Garen was also somewhat stunned.


    "Of course. Not only do I know about your Scarlet Snow Sect, I know about many other things as well." The burly fellow laughed. "Are you a member of Star Plate or Moonshine? Have you really never heard of the renowned Bear War Star?"


    "Bear War Star? Blue Frost Sect?!" Garen''s face stiffened when he realized that he had encountered a challenging obstacle. His opponent''s unknown strength was not an issue, but the fact that he was backed by the Blue Frost Sect made things slightly more troublesome.


    Among all of the Energy Machinist Sects, Blue Frost Sect was considered as a middle level, medium-sized sect. One of their slave planet was very close to Scarlet Snow Sect''s Planet Scarlet Snow. It was also one of the thirty-six adjoining sects.


    He had never expected to encounter one of them here.


    Bear War Star laughed loudly for a short while.


    "Alright, whether you''re a member of Moonshine or Star Plate, your Great Senior Brother Carthage came to visit my Great Senior Sister recently. I''ve never seen you among the Three-Hearted Disciples so just give me the item. I will not trouble you thanks to your Great Senior Brother''s reputation."


    Garen frowned faintly. Looking at how things are now, he realized that the Key was probably real. Therefore, since it was real, why would he let go of it easily after getting it? Impossible!


    "What''s the matter?" A malicious look appeared on Bear War Star''s face. "Not willing to?"

 1039 Space-Time 1

    Garen''s face was solemn. He knew that the situation had become somewhat troublesome now because Blue Frost Sect would never send one of their members out alone. If Bear War Star was here, the other members of his sect would not be far away because this was Blue Frost Sect''s style. There was an abundance of powerhouses among the disciples of Blue Frost Sect. Being a medium-sized sect that was much larger than Scarlet Snow Sect, Garen was most likely to be in deep trouble despite possessing a trump card.


    "Black Mountain, what''s wrong?" Sure enough, another voice echoed from behind Bear War Star. "You haven''t gotten the key yet?"


    The voice sounded extremely young and did not seem to be more than thirty years old.


    "Senior Brother, there''s a little fellow here from Scarlet Snow Sect who seems unwilling to give it to me, hehe." Bear War Star sneered and gave way to allow the shadow behind him to look at Garen.


    In the dark distance, a light blue silhouette descended gently in front of Bear War Star.


    The moment the other party''s bright gaze landed on Garen, a terrifying Energy Field exploded suddenly.


    Whoosh¡­


    Garen staggered three steps backward consecutively while the Energy Field surrounding his entire body twisted and shook violently. Two other Energy Fields in his surroundings clashed against each other and formed tremendous fluctuations in the airstream before scattering in all four directions.


    "Inherited Level?!!" Garen was shocked. Was it really the Inherited Level?! The only thing that he had yet to grasp now was the Inherited Level! It was uncertain whether he would be able to counter the Demonic Blade Sunlight. However, the crux was that his opponent was not merely a normal Inherited Level individual, but had actually achieved the Inherited Level of the medium-sized Blue Frost Sect that was stronger than Scarlet Snow Sect!


    He could not be compared to the average Inherited Level Mech Pilot from the outside or even a normal Inherited Level Energy Machinist!


    Disciples of medium-sized major sects definitely had an abundance of means and secret tactics according to their grades!


    "Second Senior Brother, you came over to collect the key right after you broke through to the Non-falling Level. Is this Space-Time Print really that effective for you?"Garen''s heart dropped into the pit of his stomach upon hearing what Bear War Star said.


    Non-falling Level!


    All the hairs on his body stood upright while his scalp tingled. A sense of extreme danger stimulated his heart and brain endlessly.


    Run! Run! Run!


    A voice urged him on frantically in the bottom of his heart.


    What was the idea behind the Non-falling Level? Did the Blue Frost Sect actually possess a disciple who had broken through to the Non-falling Level?! The Elders were the only ones who could enter that grade within Scarlet Snow Sect!


    Garen was too afraid to move. The gazes of those two eyes resembled a strong magnetic field that was violently sucking him in, making it impossible for him to move.


    It was merely a gaze but it was enough to render his entire body motionless. This was simply horrifying!


    "The things, I''ll give them to you¡­" Garen managed to squeeze out a smile.


    The youth glanced at him with disdain and laughed but could not be bothered to pay him any mind.


    "Collect it quickly and return to the base, I''m going back first." The youth patted Bear War Star''s shoulder before turning around and left, still ignoring Garen.


    "Be careful, Senior Brother," said Bear War Star respectfully.


    As he watched the youth slink into the far darkness, Garen''s entire body was already drenched in sweat. Within these few short moments, it seemed as though he had fallen gravely ill and lost a lot of vital energy.


    "Damn!" Suddenly, the bones and muscles within Bear War Star''s body sounded in unison as if they were triggering the Resonance with the hair on his body. He stomped his foot violently and charged over as if he had teleported and struck Garen''s abdomen with his fist.


    "You almost humiliated me in front of my Senior Brother!!" Bear War Star roared furiously. He increased the force in his fist as blue lights twinkled faintly there.


    Bang!!!


    Garen frantically used his palms to block the strike. Although he was able to block it, his opponent''s earth-shaking strength continued to suppress him.


    Resonance Level! Half-Moon at least!


    Was Bear War Star''s strength actually this strong? Garen''s heart was beating frantically.


    With a crack, the bones in his palms fractured slightly. He was sent more than ten meters backward, and only with that that did the tremendous strength slowed down.


    "I''ll give you the thing!"


    Garen removed the key from his Space Equipment frantically and threw it in his opponent''s direction.


    Bear War Star caught the stone key from afar before glancing at Garen''s Space Ring from the corner of his eye.


    "Bring your Space Ring over here." A hint of greed flashed in the depths of his gaze. By merely stating that he wanted to collect the keys, he had already seized the Space Equipment of many Energy Machinists and gained numerous benefits from them. Now that he had encountered a sect disciple like Garen who definitely came from a wealthy family background, it was only natural for him to not let this opportunity pass.


    Garen''s heart tightened.


    The Space Ring contained more than ten golden crystals that he had obtained after killing Ron and Barlow. It also contained his most powerful trump card, the Demonic Blade Sunlight!! That was definitely a treasure he could not lose!


    "I said, remove your Space Ring. Do you not understand?" Bear War Star furrowed his eyebrow. He was not brave enough to simply bully the disciples of other sects usually. After all, there was a probability that anyone could possess a few life-saving objects. However, since his Non-falling Level senior brother was not far away, he became unscrupulous instead. With the support of a Non-falling Level individual, how much could a mere Level Five Energy Machinist struggle?


    "Bear War Star, I have already given you the Key. It will be too much for you to want the Space Ring as well." Garen said softly while trying as much as possible to suppress his anger.


    "Too much?" Bear War Star laughed as a hint of murderous intent appeared in his gaze. His figure charged over again as his large fist attempted to strike Garen''s head brutally.


    "Die!!"


    Boom!!


    Garen tried to duck in the midst of the thundering noise when he suddenly felt an intense, uncountable deterrent suppressing his body firmly.


    That was the forceful pressure of the Energy Field of the Non-falling Level youth from earlier!


    Bang!!


    He was sent flying for more than ten meters with that punch. The ground cracked when he crashed into it and the slight bone fractures of his palm from ached faintly again.


    Despite possessing Half-Moon Level strength, Bear War Star''s powers were not as great as he had imagined. His strength was merely more violent but was far from Ron''s Great Cold Night Fist.


    Garen knew that he would be able to destroy Bear War Star instantly just by using his Demonic Blade.


    However, Garen was afraid to act rashly when the horrifying gaze was staring at him secretly. It was the gaze of the Non-falling Level powerhouse from earlier. Although the Demonic Blade was strong, he could only use it to counter normal Inherited Level individuals and not Non-falling Levels.


    "Trying to run? Trying to hide? Is a jack of all trades like yourself really thinking of hiding?!" sneered Bear War Star. "Crushing you to death is as simple as stomping on a tiny ant. Does a piece of trash like yourself who can''t even enter Resonance have the right to hide?"


    He strode over and stretched an open palm to snatch Garen''s Space Ring.


    "Give it to me!"


    Garen tried to hide again but was suppressed by that Energy Field yet again. His entire body was rendered motionless and he could only watch on stiffly while Bear War Star''s hand grabbed his ring.


    *************


    "Gabihogan." The Non-falling Level youth raised his head and looked at the night sky nearby while standing far away suddenly.


    Within the night sky, a red silhouette descended to the ground slowly, his entire body glimmered of faint, red light.


    "Blue Pole Star, you''ve finally broken through. Looks like you may have a chance of snatching the first position from your eldest Senior Sister," said the other person in a clear, loud voice.


    "Didn''t you break through as well?" sneered the youth. "What''s the matter? Did you come here this time because you wanted to fight again?"


    "You understood it rather quickly," laughed the other party. "As the Genetic Body of the Dragonbird, I would not have given up on the opportunity to kill you when you first entered the Non-falling Level¡­"


    "What do you mean?" The youth Blue Pole Star''s expression changed slightly. Suddenly, he realized that another crimson silhouette had appeared behind him. The terrifying qi from that figure swelled and dispersed continuously before enveloping the entire range around them of that spanned hundreds of meters.


    "It means what you think it means¡­" laughed the crimson silhouette. He reached out his hand and attempted to seize Blue Pole Star from afar. "Looks like Blue Frost Sect is about to lose a new prodigy today¡­move out!!"


    A violent shout could be heard suddenly.


    The two red silhouettes charged outwards, the air distorted and space began to shake.


    Tremendous gravitational forces accompanied the movements of both of these people while traces of black threads appeared as well. These threads were slivers of spatial cracks that appeared when gravitational forces underwent changes that were too great.


    Blue Pole Star felt his dander was up and his scalp was numb. Both persons who were attacking him from front and back had powers that were equivalent to his own. The situation had instantly turned into a critical moment of extreme danger!


    He couldn''t hide!! He couldn''t even hide in time!


    He summoned all of his skills and moved his hands to defend the two who were charging at him from the front and back.


    Hiss!!!


    A glimmered light reflected off the sword.


    "Die!"


    Garen roared in rage as a blue light burst out in front of him, slicing Bear War Star''s chest in the middle with a loud crash.


    The blue traces of the sword sliced through both of Bear War Star''s arms when he was to block it and tore through the single piece of armor on his body. The knife cut through his frightened face violently.


    When the sword sliced through his opponent, Garen removed the Space Ring and turned around to leave, retreating more than ten meters in the blink of an eye. Ignoring the conclusion of the battle behind him, he turned again fleeing far and away and quickly disappeared into a little dot in the distance.


    "You!!!"


    Bear War Star stood on the spot in a daze while stretching his hand out and pointing it in Garen''s direction.


    Rip.


    His entire body split into two halves, from his shoulders to his waists, before collapsing on the ground.


    With a ''plop'' sound, the top half of Bear War Star''s body slid on the ground. Till death, he still could not understand why none of his defenses had worked. His unimaginably strong limbs, his own protective Energy Field, and the strong defenses of his Night Tortoise gene were completely useless against that blue line that could cut through anything it encountered and could not be blocked.


    Both of Bear War Star''s eyes were wide open, but would not be closed again.


    Suddenly, an extremely terrifying and powerful black line charged over from afar through the empty space. The black line wrapped itself around his corpse instantly and disintegrated it into countless fragments before vanishing into thin air.


    This was the aftermath of the fight between three Non-falling Level powerhouses. The region where they were standing in turned into a stretch of darkness immediately. There were dense black lines in the empty spaces that were caused by the friction between the twisted gravitational forces. These lines covered the area completely, making it impossible to see anything.


    This was the ultimate territory that was naturally produced during a fight between Non-falling Level individuals. Those who were not even Level One would face life-threatening risks if they even approached it; don''t even mention the crowd who wanted to assist as they would not even have the rights to even observe this fight.


    Garen ran through the black plains in the distance quickly. The resources within Bear War Star''s Space Ring were more abundant than expected. It was densely packed with at least fifty golden crystals. There were many other things which were messily inside as well. These few items could not be compared to those that belonged to Ron and the others. It was obvious that these were the accumulated resources that Bear War Star had previously plundered from others. And now they belonged to Garen.


    Garen kept looking back to observe and check his surroundings as he rushed in the direction of the Plains of Everlasting Night making a big circle.


    He could occasionally feel the disciples and some powerhouses of Blue Frost Sect continuously passing by him faintly, running to Bear War Star''s location. Garen was heading towards the opposite direction. These powerhouses did not recognize him and would naturally ignore him assuming that he was merely a passerby. He noticed the panicked looks on their faces, it was clear that a recent accident had happened there.


    Garen had only killed someone violently because of the accident that occurred when the Non-falling Level powerhouse appeared suddenly. He seized the things and left.


    If he had not encountered that Non-falling Level, Garen was certain that he would have been able to escape.


    Scarlet Snow Sect may be a small sect, but its base camp has a profound background and the sects of the alliance could not be easily suppressed by a single Blue Frost Sect. It was naturally unnecessary for him to fear the other party.


    Despite being small, the guardians and lords of Scarlet Snow Sect were not fragmented, and their powers had always been an enigma.


    "I''ll go to the place with the Space-Time Print first before returning to Scarlet Snow Sect!" Garen made up his mind. From the moment he gained the key to the Space-Time Print, there was an instinctive feeling in his heart telling him that the Space-Time Print would perhaps benefit him tremendously.


    This feeling was caused by the mysterious Soul Seed in his mind. From the beginning until now, the instincts of the Soul Seed had never been wrong.


    Garen decided to take a risk for once. He was going to see the legendary Space-Time Print first.


    He ran quickly along the way and could see that the Blue Frost Sect disciples that appeared occasionally were getting lesser. Meanwhile, the sporadic and messy monsters were increasing instead.


    Numerous Void Jellyfish floated above the ground and moved about continuously as if they were in water. The bottoms of their feet were filled with densely-packed tentacles while their entire bodies were translucent and light purple. They glowed faintly under the night sky and gave off a splendid and beautiful atmosphere.


    Each of these jellyfish was over ten meters tall. They were gigantic creatures with tremendous power. Each of them had Level Five grades and the extremely powerful ones had reached Resonance Levels. They were also poisonous, ejecting polluted toxins upon death and contaminating areas of a few kilometers, making them extremely troublesome.


    Thus, most people would not provoke them.


    Nonetheless, they had extremely gentle dispositions. They would not attack people on their own unless they were provoked. These creatures ate microorganisms and tiny specs of dust in the black smoke ejected out from the Flesh-Banya trees.

 1040 Space-Time 2

    Numerous Void Jellyfish floated on the black plains like countless moving purple lamp posts illuminating long stretches of the plains.


    Garen weaved his way past the jellyfish, quickly approaching near the little house constructed by a group assigned by Scarlet Snow Sect.


    Glancing at the little house from afar, he saw that the group leader, the Energy Machinist and Great Supervisor Jedi, was currently standing on the second-floor balcony leisurely. He was holding a glass of alcohol and sipping it slowly, a woman stood beside him and both of them seemed to be whispering about something.


    Not wanting to disturb the group leader, Garen detoured around the side instead so that he would not alert them before continuing on his way hurriedly.


    However, before he could go further, he saw a corpse that was about to rot on the ground.


    "It''s Barphil!" Garen was slightly shocked. Wasn''t Barphil in the same convoy as Voss? Why did she die here alone?


    Both Garen and Barphil were new Three Hearted Disciples under the Great Elders. It was a huge blow to Scarlet Snow Sect for Barphil to die here. There was already a lack of good standard candidates to become Three Hearted Disciples. After the death of Ron and Barlow and the new recruits, March and Barphil, a large chunk of this term''s Three Hearted forces had collapsed instantly.


    Garen had merely allowed the thoughts to flash through his mind before he investigated the corpse quickly.


    It seemed as though she had been ambushed by someone with a knife to the back. Barphil''s eyes were still wide open as if she had never anticipated the thought of being stabbed to death.


    The Space Equipment that she carried with her had also disappeared while all of her valuable items were gone.


    "Could it have been Voss?"


    The thought flashed through Garen''s mind as he stood up.


    "No matter who it was, it''s more important me to get to the Space-Time Print first!"


    He took out the key and looked at the tiny silver dots of stars on it. The densely-packed stars had faintly lit up with silver light, an indication that the Space-Time Print was not far away anymore.


    He continued rushing forward on his journey.


    After passing through a dark stretch of short hills, Garen stood on the hilltop and immediately saw the gigantic Space-Time Print that was rotating slowly in the distance far away.


    It was an unimaginably huge and amazingly colorful vortex. It resembled a gigantic nebula filled with the light of countless stars, making it seem like a real galaxy.


    In the center of the nebula, there was a strange and incomparably dark black hole. The gravitational forces that seemed to be produced by the black hole were drawing the key in Garen''s hand closer to it and pulling it there continuously.


    Garen took a deep breath before compelling his gaze to shift away from the Space-Time Print to observe the surroundings instead.


    What he saw scared him immediately.


    Scarlet Snow Sect''s Lonray as well as some members of Dragon Eye Sect and Nine Owl Sect were all standing together. They had formed a group and were currently located at the left side of the Space-Time Print.


    Meanwhile, two people comprising of a man and a woman were standing by themselves on the right side. Both of them had purposely kept a safe distance from each other while staying alert.


    Both of them looked unbridled and did not have any intentions of being discreet and hiding their silhouettes.


    The man had pale skin, and he wore a set of white armor. There was a pointed, white metal ornament on his chin, resembling a beard that was hanging down the front of his chest.


    He had twisted, screw-like sharp fingernails, making him look hideously horrifying.


    The woman wore a red beret and had delicate and extremely beautiful and perfect features. You could tell from her unnatural look that she had done extensive plastic surgery.


    "Poisonous Wood Demon, why haven''t you gone in despite obtaining the key already? This Space-Time Print only has the lifespan of one year and there are only less than two months left now. Time waits for no man," said the woman in the beret seductively.


    "Would I dare to go in beforehand if your Intelligence Star had yet to enter first?" The man with the sharp fingernails smiled eerily and replied.


    The woman gave a charming giggle.


    "None of the elders from the sect are here. The Raging Eye said before it entered the vortex, that it would kill anyone who enters and disturbs its consciousness, and we should not blame it if there is bloodshed from its killing sprees. Judging from this, it seems like you''re afraid too, Wood Demon."


    "The only ones near here are Blue Frost Sect and my Cypress Sect as well as a few fellows from Nine Owl and Dragon Eye. We couldn''t even become an opponent of the monster even if we formed an alliance. Don''t tell me you''re not afraid?" Wood Demon sneered.


    "Hey, another fellow from Scarlet Snow Sect has arrived." The woman in the beret suddenly noticed Garen approaching them slowly. "The few others who arrived from Scarlet Snow weren''t that amazing this time. I''ve heard that your Carthage broke through the grade at the seclusion? That''s good. Once he enters the Inherited Level quickly and couples that with his grade-skipping killing powers, it will be even more fun then, hehe."


    Garen glanced at the both of them. His opponent''s qi was concealed deeply. He could not judge how powerful they were and could only increase his vigilance at heart.


    He did not have such strong power-concealing techniques; even if he were to manage to do so, some breath will still be emitted. However, it does not matter whether or not if conceal his breath as his means of carrying things out cannot generally be interpreted on the surface.


    He walked to an area that was nearby the Space-Time Print slowly and looked at the unimaginably huge vortex that was erected within the ground of the plains. Stretches of low hills circled its surroundings and centered it in the middle like a little dent in the ground.


    "Garen!" Within the newly formed group of Nine Owl, Dragon Eye, and Scarlet Snow, Lonray called out loudly to him before switching to use telepathy immediately.


    "Be careful, that woman is a powerhouse from Blue Frost Sect and has achieved at least Resonance or higher! A strange monster just entered, come join us so we can protect ourselves as a group!"


    "What about Voss?" asked Garen. "I saw Barphil''s corpse along the way." His eyebrows were slightly furrowed.


    "Barphil''s corpse?!" Apparently, Lonray was not aware of the situation. The expression on his face changed slightly. "I saw him and Barphil returning together earlier. I''m not sure of the situation."


    "Doesn''t Great Supervisor Jedi care?" Garen narrowed his eyes.


    "Jedi would never care! When we were being oppressed earlier, and if the senior brothers and sisters from Dragon Eye and Nine Owl had not helped¡­" Lonray''s face became crestfallen and he gritted his teeth slightly. "The Great Supervisor is a coward, he was immediately afraid when he saw the other group leader! He let them manage us as they pleased! He''s probably off drinking and having fun with the other group leader now!"


    Garen''s expression became slightly colder.


    He glanced at the members of Dragon Eye and Nine Owl again. Although the other parties did not give him any respectful looks, both man and woman who were leading the group still gave him a nod of acknowledgment.


    "Junior Brother, our group needs to stand together when resisting foreign enemies. This has been a rule all this while. Despite the gratitude, grudges, or revengeful killings our province may have experienced, we still remain as a united body here," said the woman in a light yellow outfit who resembled a Great Senior Sister.


    Garen noticed the blue butterfly in her black hair and immediately thought of Dragon Eye Sect''s strong, high ranking female powerhouse named Golden Butterfly.


    He had not noticed the other party''s real name when he was looking at the information. Therefore, he merely cupped his hands and returned the greeting to indicate his gratitude. He was about to open his mouth and speak when suddenly, a sharp whistle rang out behind him.


    An extremely familiar Energy Field surged towards him from a distance abruptly.


    Garen''s expression changed rapidly, he opened his mouth and spat out Scarlet Mist behind him to block it.


    Clang clang clang clang! Clang!


    All four shrouds of Scarlet Mist were struck and sent flying. The fifth shroud of Scarlet Mist that appeared suddenly was shot out instantly to block the invisible, violent air current behind Garen''s back.


    The last shroud suppressed and canceled out the tremendous and terrifying pressure.


    These five shrouds of Scarlet Mist meant that Garen had finally stabilized his Scarlet Snow Technique at Grade Ten. However, he had no time to celebrate now.


    He sighed dully and felt needle-like pricks within his body. Without being overly concerned, his figure leaped swiftly before charging into the vortex of the Space-Time Print directly. The space within the Space-Time Print is independent, and nobody would be able to attack him there, best to enter it first and think about it later. At least he would be completely safe inside!


    "Trying to escape?! You stay here!" A thunderous noise echoed from a distance behind him. It was the voice of Blue Pole Star who was fleeing from danger!


    "This is an order from Blue Frost Sect! I command you to stop him!!"


    The woman in the beret''s pupils shrunk slightly. When she heard the voice of her senior brother, she gritted her teeth and leaped into the air to chase after Garen, who was running away hurriedly.


    "Spirit Tactic: Freezing!"


    Both of her hands stretched out towards Garen to seize him while icy chills swept across their surroundings in an attempt to freeze him.


    Simultaneously, numerous silhouettes of Blue Frost Sect members glimmered in mid-air and lunged towards Garen. Another figure appeared with both of his hands crossed in front of his chest. He did not do anything.


    "Junior Sister, aren''t you going to do anything? This is an order from Second Senior Brother," he laughed quietly.


    "So many people are handling it at the same time. I think it should be enough by now," sounded a female voice from the void beside him.


    At this moment, a revolving red light vibrated and burst in mid-air.


    The five shrouds of Scarlet Mist in front of Garen had rapidly rotated and formed a red chain, hissing terrifyingly and whistling sharply as they sliced through the icy chills around him. He continued rushing towards the Space-Time Print without decreasing his speed at all.


    The woman in the beret appeared in front of him and blocked his path.


    "Little guy, your skills are pretty strong. It''s unfortunate that you offended¡­"


    "Get lost!!"


    The red chains beside Garen''s body turned into a ring of red light that erupted violently. They collided the woman instantly.


    Bang!!!


    "Not good! Save her!" When both of the people who had not attacked earlier saw this, their expressions changed instantly. They voiced out and tried frantically to help but it was already too late then.


    The woman in the beret let out a painful moan before the Resonating Full-Moon Level strength surrounding her body shook and was smashed into pieces at once. Her entire body resembled a cannonball that came crashing downwards suddenly. Making a crashing noise hitting the ground, a large cylindrical hole appeared on her chest.


    She was stunned, not comprehending what and why. To think that she would just¡­


    "Get him!"


    The man who had his arms crossed in front of his chest leaped into the sky and used the Spirit Tactic called ''Freezing'' as well. He reached his hand out and pointed.


    The tremendous chills were much stronger than earlier. They froze the surrounding air around Garen completely.


    "Spirit Power!" Another woman placed her palms together and lunged straight down to Garen directly. Faint shrouds of blue smoke escaped the tips of her palms.


    "Demon''s Blade!" The red ring of light beside Garen exploded violently again before solidifying into a fearsome large sword that pierced forward suddenly. "Break!!"


    The blade cut through the frozen air immediately and moved right beside the man''s head without any obstructions. It seemed as though the only thing that was blocking the blade was a block of soft butter for cakes.


    "Spirit Power: Resonance!" The man released his full force as a thin sheen of sweat covered his forehead. He gathered the skills of his entire body in a single point in his hand before pressing it in front gently.


    Tch!


    There were no obstructions at all.


    Garen burst out of the circle that was formed by both people, as he sliced through the man''s body he also simultaneously dodged the attack aimed at his head. The red ring that was formed by the Scarlet Mist seemed invincible. It spread out from the side and cut through the defensive Energy Field above the woman immediately. It sliced off one of her arms and the bloody severed limb fell on the ground.


    Plop.


    The severed arm rolled a few times before stopping in front of the members of Nine Owl and Dragon Eye.


    The group of people gulped.


    "Are you sure that''s Scarlet Snow Sect''s Scarlet Snow Technique¡­not Dragon Light Sect''s Red Dragon Breath?!" Dragon Light Senior Sister Golden Butterfly felt as if the hairs on her entire body were standing on end slightly while she stared at the broken limb on the ground.


    His damn powers were even stronger than her full force!! A Level Five fellow who had yet to enter Resonance could apparently use the Scarlet Snow Technique to this powerful degree.


    "Are you sure that this act is still part of the Scarlet Snow Technique?" Golden Butterfly was shaken to the point that she was completely speechless.


    From the moment when Garen started getting down to business, she could already feel her nerves getting stimulated endlessly. The woman in the beret with whom she had been clashing with for half a day was killed instantly before a few people who were stronger than each other appeared after that. Each of them had achieved Resonating Full-Moon Levels.


    However, Garen seemed to slice them up like vegetables.

 1041 Cause and Effect 1

    "Those who hinder me will die!!"


    Garen''s silhouette moved violently and rushed towards the Space-Time Print like an arrow that had just left the bow. Within a few moments, he was able to reach a place that was extremely close to the edges of the Space-Time Print.


    He split open a Blue Frost Sect powerhouse that appeared in front of him.


    A clanging noise could be heard throughout his whole body before the noise of the blade jolted in his surroundings as he charged forward.


    Whizz!!


    Garen''s entire body burrowed into the Space-Time Print and instantly disappeared.


    "Withdraw!" yelled Dragon Eye''s Golden Butterfly while raising her hand.


    She looked precisely at the powerhouse who was rushing from behind. He definitely had a grudge against Garen. If she did not withdraw now, he would surely let out his anger on her later and the consequences would be disastrous.


    The gazes of the disciples behind her from the three sects stared bewilderedly at the place where Garen had entered. No one had expected that Garen had such powerful strength here.


    When they started to retreat frantically, a dark blue silhouette suddenly shot over from a far away distance.


    The person who arrived was an imposing youth who had lost his sight. His face was cold and his entire body was somewhat in disarray. When he arrived, the entire sky distorted and turned blurry faintly. It was obvious that it was violently suppressed by his tremendous Energy Field. The air currents were somewhat sluggish as well.


    Before the crowd could react, this person charged into the Space-Time Print directly and disappeared in the blink of an eye.


    "Senior Brother!" Some of the remaining powerhouses of Blue Frost Sect cried out in alarm but none of them could convince that man to return.


    "What do we do now?!"


    "Retreat! This is not something we can control anymore. We need to report to the Elders immediately!"


    The members of Blue Frost Sect rapidly began to formulate countermeasures.


    Most of the members of the three sects including Dragon Eye had withdrawn completely by now. There were only some animal Energy Machinery that were left behind to monitor this territory.


    When Golden Butterfly left, she turned back and glanced at the Space-Time Print. When someone entered this thing, it was unnecessary for them to exit from the same place. Instead, they could select other Space-Time Prints freely. Garen would definitely exit from another place. The three sects of the Northern Yu Province had suffered terrible losses in the Void Battlefields this time. Dragon Eye and Nine Owl had lost one member each. This was something that was hard to imagine at the edges of the Void Battlefields.


    "Senior Sister, what do we do when we return this time?" asked an Energy Machinist with a solemn look on his face quietly during the journey back.


    "What do we do? What else can we do? We can only answer everything honestly," Golden Butterfly glanced at Lonray and felt comforted instantly. They had not suffered the most. Scarlet Snow Sect had fallen to the point where they were only left with two members. Meanwhile, their Great Supervisor was merely¡­


    "Sigh¡­ There''s still that powerhouse. I hope that he''ll be able to leave safely¡­" When she recalled the blue youth that chased them all this way, Golden Butterfly felt a slight tremble in her heart for unknown reasons. It was clear that this was a phenomenon that was caused when the other party''s strength was far beyond her own.


    "Lonray, what do you plan to do?" She asked after pondering for some time.


    Lonray smiled bitterly.


    "What else can I do? It''s fortunate that I completed my mission beforehand. I only have to wait near the Great Supervisor before returning directly after that."


    "Then what about your¡­ The powerhouse that charged into the Space-Time Print is¡­" asked Golden Butterfly quietly.


    "His name is Garen and he''s a newly arrived Three Hearted. No one had anticipated for that fellow to be so powerful. However, I''ve heard that he was recommended by Third Senior Sister Eva. It looks like he''s actually very powerful," said Lonray while praising him slightly.


    "Unfortunately, your Third Senior Sister is still participating in the Planet Supremacy War. If she were to return¡­" Golden Butterfly recalled Eva''s strength and sighed again. She had experienced too many surprises today. It was better for her to return earlier and rearrange her thoughts after visiting the Intelligence Organization. She needed to reevaluate the potential of Scarlet Snow Sect once again.


    The group rushed towards a different base quickly.


    *********************


    Space-Time Print


    On the unimaginably gigantic Space-Time Print, Garen smashed inside head first like a stone that had crashed into a wide stream. His entire body was covered it in for awhile as if he had passed through a layer of sticky liquid. The various colors in front of his eyes turned into a dark purple mess.


    Dark purple. Everywhere was dark purple. The entire range that could be seen by his eyes was fully purple.


    When Garen first opened his eyes, this was the scene he saw.


    He was currently standing on a gigantic purple field that was devoid of other people. A huge, round, pale-white stone laid directly in front of him on the purple field quietly.


    The sky above the round stone was purple while there were many patterns on the round stone that was also purple. There were motley traces on the surface of the sphere that remained from many years ago as well.


    Yeah¡­ Ah¡­ Nah¡­


    A drawn-out syllable that sounded like a song drifted over in the wind faintly. It sounded as if it was echoing from an extremely far distance.


    Hum¡­


    The earth started quaking faintly before the gigantic round stone that was a few thousand meters tall shook suddenly as well.


    There was a cracking noise before a fissure appeared from the inside of the sphere. An unimaginably huge black rat''s red emerged from within.


    Garen stared with his mouth wide open as the thousand meters long rat burrowed out of the round stone.


    Its entire body was exactly similar to that of a rat, making it look completely like a normal rodent. However, it''s body that had been enlarged by a few thousand times shocked everybody.


    Once the black rat had burrowed its way out, it started to chew the outer shell of the round stone beside itself. It seemed as though it was eating a biscuit while the scratching chewing noises filled his ears.


    Suddenly, a purple ray of lightning flashed past.


    Boom!


    The sound of thunder rolled on while the purple sky was suddenly filled with layers of clouds, making it seem like it could rain at any moment. The sky was gloomy and filled with heavy rain clouds. It seemed as though the black clouds would come crashing down at any moment as they were unimaginably heavy.


    It seemed as if the black rat had realized something. It raised its head and chirped twice. The sound of its sharp and terrifying cries made Garen feel as if his ears were pierced and injured by the noise. Both of his ears were numb from the pain.


    Boom¡­


    The sound of thunder filled the sky before the rat raised its pointed head as if it was angry.


    At this moment, numerous short red lines appeared throughout its entire body. Fresh red blood dripped out of the edges of these red lines slowly. They covered its tail as well before the densely-packed short red lines increased and became even redder.


    Rip!


    A neat but strange sound could be heard as if its flesh had been torn instantly like a piece of cloth.


    The short red lines throughout the rat''s entire body tore open suddenly. They were actually countless bloody red human eyes!!


    Garen could feel his skin tingle the moment more than ten pairs of those eyes glanced at him. An extremely terrifying sense of danger assaulted him suddenly.


    There was an explosion in front of his eyes and it immediately felt like the entire world was spinning and his body became unbalanced which caused him to fall face-up on the ground.


    Although his body had collapsed, Garen''s Soul Seeds began to spin instead. They pulled and protected his Willpower independently.


    An invisible force that resembled a stream began to flow through the side of Garen''s body slowly.


    Although he could not see, he still felt as if he was floating through an invisible river. The contents of the river were not water but a liquid that could be detected but not felt. It was not the aura of the Mother Stream but felt somewhat like it. It was slightly familiar but unfamiliar at the same time.


    "Are these the Forces of Cause and Effect?" Garen recalled the source of this power suddenly.


    The Soul Seeds spun inside his mind frantically. The Northern Trident Frost-Fire True Water Evil Technique''s seed and the Holy Phoenix Demonic Book''s Soul Seed constantly stimulated an abundance of terrifying light beams. Within both of their respective blue and black-gold colored halos, shrouds of purple mist diffused slowly and became denser while increasing.


    Garen''s eyes could suddenly see again.


    However, neither of his eyes were open. This was a mysterious sensation. His eyes were obviously still closed but he could see everything in front of himself clearly. It seemed like he was dreaming.


    "If this place is where the Forces of Cause and Effect gather, that explains the reason why those Energy Machinist prodigies were able to increase their awareness upon entering this place. The Forces of Cause and Effect represent everything that affects other things. In other words, there can only be effects if they are causes. Once they have seen the things that are necessary to cause sufficiently powerful strength clearly, it''s equivalent to seeing their own paths and directions. It''s understandable that they would be able to realize everything from there," Garen''s mind became clearer.


    "If a place like this was actually able to become a physical place that could be detected as well, I don''t know if there are others like me. Probably not!" Garen rejected his own assumption immediately.


    This was the source of this world and universe. It was also the foundation and stream of every single path and rule. Although he could not see the invisible Forces of Cause and Effect that flowed around him, this did not hinder his Soul Seeds from detecting them. He felt that he could grope for a path that he could consider his own from here.


    "Soul Seeds, go¡­" Garen''s mind stirred slightly as he allowed both of the Soul Seeds to release their powers fully. He no longer used the extremely careful mentality anymore.


    Hum!!


    Both Soul Seeds shook suddenly when it seemed as though they had received permission.


    It seemed as if Garen had seen his own location in that instance.


    He was lying face up in the center of an endless purple sea. They were countless layers of purple fog and clouds above him that seemed as though they could collapse at any moment.


    Below him was an incomparably terrifying abyss that was unimaginably deep. Countless powerful and terrifying purple eyes were blinking slowly within the abyss and emitting intense malicious intents. Those malicious intents were enough to stir terrible fear within Garen''s finely-honed Willpower Soul Seeds.


    "This place is¡­ the Sea of Cause and Effect?" Garen felt the abundance of moving seawater around him. The things that flowed past the edges of his body was not water but was instead the Forces of Cause and Effect instead.


    He was unsure if this was the initial use of the Space-Time Print. Scarlet Snow Sect was merely a small sect that did not have accounts of this aspect. Therefore, this was his first time coming into contact with everything here. He had no way of determining what was normal and what was abnormal.


    He could faintly see a person floating from afar quickly.


    That person was a man with a golden ponytail. Both of his eyes were tightly shut and he had handsome features. However, there were two thin red scars on his eyelids that looked somewhat bewitching.


    The man who was fully dressed in white clothes floated and sank in the sea as if he had been in deep sleep for a long time.


    Garen passed this man and floated unconsciously. He saw another person soon enough but his heart trembled greatly this time. The person that he saw this time was very familiar. It was Blue Pole Star!!


    "He actually chased me all the way here!"


    The big and tall youth that was blue from head to toe was floating face-up as well. Both of his eyes were tightly shut, making it difficult to tell if he was awake or asleep.


    "Looks like I wasn''t the only one who entered this place," Garen''s mind had cleared up.


    He waited until Blue Pole Star had gradually floated further away before he sighed in relief faintly. It was clear that the other person was in deep sleep. Otherwise, he could not have escaped so easily this time. The difference between both of their powers was too vast.


    Crack!


    It seemed as though Garen had heard a cracking noise coming from himself suddenly.


    He wanted to move and investigate it but was completely unable to raise his hand. He could only check his condition through all of the angles around him.


    During an unknown moment, Garen realized that a pure white mark had appeared on the center of his own forehead suddenly. The mark was shaped like a simple ''Y'' and resembled a white jade that was clearly embedded in his forehead.


    Yeah¡­ Ah¡­ Nah¡­!!


    The ancient drawn-out song slowly drifted over from afar again.


    Garen could suddenly only feel the presence of unusual changes within the talents and powers of his body that had been calm all this while. The Attribute Pane and Skill Pane at the bottom of his field of vision spun and became blurry abruptly before shrinking into a red dot rapidly.


    There was a crashing noise before the red dot exploded and occupied Garen''s entire field of vision completely without leaving a single gap.


    An extremely strange sensation traveled out of Garen''s body. He felt as if countless threads, or even tentacles, were being shot out of his body instantly. These abundant tentacles constantly spread out towards the depth of the Sea of Cause and Effect. They were limitless and extremely long.


    Thousands, ten thousands, and even millions of these root-like structures erupted from the inside of his body immediately.


    Garen felt as though he had turned into a tree. These countless tentacles had taken root within the sea and were constantly absorbing everything that he needed from extremely far away places back to him.


    At this moment, purple flashed filled his eyes and made him feel as if he had seen his destiny¡­


    Seemingly endless information surged into the depths of Garen''s mind frantically. They were spun rapidly and absorbed by both of his powerful Soul Seeds before the information was organized and arranged into contents that were related to him. Although this was not the first time that Garen was imparted with information this way, he still felt a swelling pain in his brain.


    His numerous roots constantly screened and filtered the relevant seawater from the Sea of Cause and Effect before absorbing it into his body. This was the second time they were being absorbed and arranged by the Soul Seeds before they formed dots of tiny purple light.


    He had seen, heard, and even felt most of this information.


    Garen could understand many things at that moment. He saw many things as well such as his future and the future of this world.


    This was his destiny! As well as the destiny of those around him.

 1042 Cause and Effect 2

    He was Nonosiva.


    One of the top two strongest at the Regent Level, as well as a general under the Red Moon King. He was also the older brother of Baylon, the first Royal Star, and one of the victims destined to be sacrificed in the Battle of Ice Age.


    In the Battle of Ice Age, opposing the Red King was the general of the White King sect, who captured the Red King''s relatives. Nonosiva fought hard against the army yet he was still killed on the spot.


    The entire Energy Machinist organization was long broken up before this. After Mother Planet was defeated by the strongest White King, the Three Major Metropolis were massacred, only a limited amount of resources and a few lucky ones survived. The entire Energy Machinist had yet to recover from the setback.


    Regent Levels successively began to drop and only the top two strongest at the Regent Level continued scrambling for power within the two Star Clouds. However, nobody expected the two strongest regents to be just ordinary twenty-year-old youngsters.


    The White King was a Finite youngling, both dignified and graceful, but weak.


    Meanwhile, grown-up Clint was the Red Moon King!!


    Witnessing the extremely horrific battle scenes flash before him, Garen was shocked, everyone powerful whom he once knew was fallen in the ghastly catastrophe.


    As he took a glimpse into the future of the Energy Machinists, he saw the Three Major Metropolis all ruined.


    "This¡­ and what I saw in Totem World¡­" Garen recalled the exact same images he saw back then. He vaguely understood that this was perhaps his true talent and power working. It had nothing to with attributing points or his Skill Pane, but the scariest thing was that he could see the future!


    Besides the Three Major Metropolis in the Mother Planet, Energy Machinists in other places were not equal to Pilots. After all, although they were known to have high status, besides lacking support from the elite powerhouses, there were no Regent Levels either.


    This was the most important point as there were at least five Pilot Regent Levels that appeared in the future.


    This could also seal the Energy Machinists'' fate as a tragedy.


    As Garen immersed himself in the tremendous future, staring at the unfamiliar events play out before him, he soon recovered from the shock he had earlier on and became much calmer.


    "In the future¡­ Only Pilots exist in the world¡­ Pilots will be the one who determines the direction of the world¡­" Garen saw the final results which simply could not be changed. This was the final outcome of myriads of destinies, of various cause and effects.


    In a battle between two Energy Machinists devoted to combat, Energy Machinery and other manufacture or maintenance skills, one who concentrates on something out of the battle would be doomed.


    Garen stared hard and finally saw some subtle details regarding his future.


    A hundred and sixty-three years, after the Battle of Ice Age was started, the White King conspired to engulf both entire Star Regions. Whether it was the Finite People, humans, or the other various races, they all fell into his trap.


    The Hunters sent by the White King were all men from the Royal Cavaliers of the Light of Freedom. The Light of Freedom was formed by five Royal Knights. A Royal Knight was the second-ranked general under the White King. Besides Royal Stars, Royal Knights were just right below, who also served as one of the White King''s elite troops.


    "So this is fate¡­" Garen closed his eyes as he observed scenes flashing before him silently. He soon saw himself and his family''s death which triggered Baylon to break through several levels. Baylon managed to save Clint, who was once again heavily injured, in one of the chases but died in the end. This was also one of the reasons that caused the Red King to change drastically.


    "Mortal fate¡­" Garen mumbled softly, "This was the same as back in Totem World, it''s the same future that I twisted. If I can do it back then, I''m sure I can do it here as well."


    He started to trace back his fate.


    Extremely detailed scenes started flickered through his mind rapidly and he remembered them in his heart. Garen did not pay much attention to his distinct social acquaintances but searched through the vast information for possible resources.


    In the general trend of history, the White King was always fighting against the Red Moon King for power. Their conflict unleashed forces so big that many legacies were lost in history and a huge amount of precious resources and their hiding spots were forgotten because those who knew were dead already.


    What surprised Garen was that Energy Machinists became extinct in just another ten years. After that, Nonosiva and several Energy Machinists were the lucky survivors, but those survivors were unnoticed and spared because they came from small sects.


    This battle that exterminated all races was also the reason Energy Machinists became weak and only acted as supports.


    A great number of legacies were failed to be handed down, many experts were killed, resources were plundered, knowledge was either destroyed or carved up. This was the disaster faced by Energy Machinists from the entire universe.


    "Just twelve years?"


    Garen did not expect the time to be this soon.


    On second thought, it was no mistake. Energy Machinists were so desperate they started running experiments on humans, creating things such as the radiation belt and Predators, causing anger among the people. Furthermore, they were awfully wealthy, but they had no sufficient power to protect themselves.


    This laid the foundation for his own tragedy.


    Suddenly, a buzzing sound could slowly be heard.


    Garen instantly felt his Warp Gate retract swiftly. In just seconds, a vast amount of his shapeless Warp Gate threads were withdrawn back into his body, once again forming a familiar Attribute Plane and Skill Plane.


    From the beginning up till this second, Garen had remained in this state for at least ten minutes. Even though it was merely a short time, it emboldened him to face just anything in his path.


    He remembered everything that he saw in the future - the resources, the treasure points, and the prodigies who seem abnormally weak now but were to become much stronger later on. These were the key elements that gave Garen faith that he would be able to avoid the battle that would exterminate all races and his mortal fate.


    Everything surrounding him began to shake, the dark purple sea started to gradually fade away. It was as if everything just now was just an illusion.


    The surrounding then became an endless dark space. Three lumps of purple Light Spheres appeared in front of Garen.


    Light traces of messages started transmitting into his Energy Machine Imprint and Garen immediately understood that these were the only three exits in the Space-Time Print. He had to choose one of them to exit.


    "It''d be bad if I choose the exit to Blue Pole Star," Garen hesitated before opening his eyes. "It''s all up to luck then, worst come to worst I''d just have to run for my life."


    He held out his hand towards the purple ball at the right.


    His vision blurred while multiple images flickered across his mind as if he was crossing time space.


    Garen could only sense severe pain spreading as he tried to open his eyes. Once he closed his eyes, he immediately felt much better.


    A few seconds passed before he heard the rustling sound of the wind and he felt a slight surge of airstream around him.


    Then only did Garen open his eyes to realize that he was standing on a piece of black flatland. He surveyed his surroundings.


    Black smoke was still puffing out of the large Flesh-Banyan trees. It was evident that he was at Plains of Everlasting Night, he was just unsure where exactly.


    Taking a deep breath, Garen tried to recall the message he received back in the Sea of Cause and Effect.


    "There''s not much time left, just twelve years¡­ You must make the necessary preparations as soon as possible!"


    Plains of Everlasting Night¡­ From what he saw in his memories, there was mystery hidden spot somewhere¡­


    A thought flashed through his mind and his eyes instantly sharpened.


    ********************


    Somewhere in the Plains of Everlasting Night.


    Disciples of the three main sects of the Dragon Eye Sect were walking side by side. Some heavily injured, some were gone.


    "We''ve finally defeated the people from Blue Frost Sect. All thanks to Garen, if he didn''t offend Blue Frost Sect''s Blue Pole Star, would we be this miserable now!?"


    "I knew he was no good at all. Selfish people like him who don''t care about people from other sects won''t get anywhere even if they''re strong and powerful! Wasn''t that the case for the cyclops back then?!"


    "I hope the Blue Pole Star catches up and kills him, he made me lose almost half of my avocados!" The Nine Owl people were cursing. "At least Senior Sister Golden Butterfly succeeded¡­"


    "Alright, stop it. There are people from several sects loitering around this area, everyone be careful!" Golden Butterfly turned around and reminded loudly.


    As she finished her sentence, a gigantic black bat swooped down in front of the crowd. A few people jumped off the back of the bat, each of them staring coldly at the people from the three sects.


    At this moment, Dragon Eye Sect, Nine Owl Sect, and Lonray from Scarlet Snow Sect all consciously gathered together, pausing at the edge of a low mound to stand to face the other crowd.


    "Long time no see, Golden Butterfly Sister," an androgynous figure walked out.


    It was obvious that this androgynous male with heavy makeup was the leader of this group of people. Although he was a man, he had breasts and was wearing a faded red mini-skirt; furthermore, he was least two meters height was conspicuous among the crowd.


    "We are the from Fellowship Sect. Hand out the Thunder Snake Eggs, you can''t protect such a valuable item alone¡­"


    Golden Butterfly glared at the other party. At once, a light golden oval egg carved with fine prints appeared in her palms. From the looks of it, it seemed out of the ordinary.


    "How did you know?"


    "Snatching resources then entering my three sects'' territory, aren''t you afraid of starting a war between the sects!?" One of the senior disciples from Nine Owl snorted. "Even if we give you this Thunder Snake Egg, does the Thunder Cloud Sect dare to accept it?"


    The androgynous man in the red skirt laughed.


    "I wouldn''t dare to have it, but someone else does! Carthage took the Plains of Everlasting Night from someone, so naturally, we have to snatch it back from you."


    "You can try!" Golden Butterfly''s glare was ice cold, she could guess what caused this trouble already. They were finally paying for the trouble caused by Carthage the other time.


    "This territory is under our three sects, Senior Brother Golden Swallow Liu is practicing here¡­"


    "Golden Swallow Liu? Hehe, our senior brothers from the Eastern Gate are on the same ground and they''re reaching anytime soon. In comparison to our senior brothers, our means are definitely much more gentle. So hurry up and hand us the snake egg, you might just be saving your own lives," Coco Dart let out a devilish grin.


    "Eastern Gate!" Golden Butterfly''s expression changed instantly. The Thunder Cloud Sect had gathered so many people, it was obvious that they did not want to return empty-handedly.


    "Do you really dare to lay a finger on us, aren''t you scared the Senior Brother Golden Swallow Liu will come for you?" Someone among the Nine Owl Sect yelled. After all, Golden Swallow Liu was the strongest within the Nine Owl Sect on the Void Battlefields at the moment.


    "That''s something to think about later on, all I want is the Thunder Snake Egg right now¡­ Hehehe" Coco Dart let out a demonic laugh. "As for Senior Brother Golden Swallow Liu, he''s cold and unsociable, he wouldn''t care even if all of you die at a place like this. So who are you trying to scare?"

 1043 Escape 1

    Coco Dart''s disgusting sharp laugh caused the situation to tense up.


    Backed against the crowd, Golden Butterfly''s hands slowly started to form prints. She concentrated traces of her Willpower, silently drawing the light airstream in the surroundings.


    "Alright then, have you decided? Are you handing us the item or your lives? Make your choice between those two," Coco Dart laughed femininely, his bearded face, in contrast, was completely revolting.


    "Our decision is very simple¡­ And that is¡­" Golden Butterfly smiled, "Move it!!"


    She suddenly raised her arm, multiple beams of golden light shot out, forming a golden eye midair.


    "Golden Thunder!"


    With a loud crack, the golden eye emitted at least ten or more golden thunderbolts, all aimed directly at Coco Dart.


    Coco Dart let out a snort. He waved his arm and shook out a black cloth which he placed in front of him, conveniently blocking the thunderbolt right on time. The black cloth was not just blocking the Golden Thunder, it was actually absorbing it like a sponge as if it was absorbing its nutrients.


    Both leaders started fighting as the others scrambled into action as well. Instantly, everyone was fighting together. The group of over ten people fighting caused a huge racket in the area, the ground was shaking while shrieks and shouts could be heard all over the place.


    Loray was up against an Energy Machinist with a double sword. The both of them were leading a fairly equal fight, their techniques were almost up to par with each other. Unfortunately, the others were not as lucky. Despite the fact that Coco Dart came with a small group, each and every one of them were extremely strong. The weaker ones were those above New-Moon Level resonance, who easily suppressed the men from Nine Owl and Dragon Eye Sect.


    "So weak! Are these Northern Yu Province trash really on par with our sect?"


    Someone snorted loudly as the broadsword in his hand had countless thin lightning-like blade marks. These blade marks had an incredibly terrifying power which let him easily defeat three of the Nine Owl Sect''s men.


    Ah!


    Someone from the Dragon Eye Sect fell on to the ground severely injured.


    Just like domino tiles, the chain reaction instantly started as the Dragon Eye Sect men started falling one by one.


    The crowd was almost fully surrounded in the middle whereas Coco Dart and a few of his men along with their Energy Machines were all in the surrounding.


    "I suggest you give us what we want to save trouble. You people from the Northern Yu Province are all talk and no action. Fancy words may come out from your mouths but look at your levels, you all are just embarrassing."


    Coco Dart flung the cloth whip lightly as he spoke.


    "We don''t need your opinion on how strong we from the Northern Yu Province are."


    Right at that moment, a beam of golden light flickered above the two crowds. A figure appeared high up in the air, standing straight on top of an enormous blackbird.


    The figure was not even glancing at Coco Dart and the others below, but just stared straight ahead into the empty air.


    "Come on out, Eastern Gate!"


    The instant the crowd consisting the three sects saw the figure, a pleasant surprise was written all over their expressions and they started murmuring among themselves.


    Everyone started calling out to Senior Brother Golden Swallow Liu.


    Golden Butterfly let out a long breath of relief. Although she maintained an ordinary relationship with Golden Swallow Liu, if he turned out in a situation like this, it meant that he was ready to lend a helping hand.


    "Hey," a black figure emerged from the other side of the sky. It was a fair-skinned strong man seated cross-legged on a black batoid.


    "Golden Swallow Liu, long time no see. Are you really helping these brats? Does our previous arrangement still stand?"


    "You have done this already, are you really asking whether it still stands?" Golden Swallow Liu replied in an icy tone. "You''re not the only one who knows how to hide your true powers!"


    "Oh? You want to fight with me? From what I know, you''re not one to care about whatever junior brothers or sisters, are you?" Eastern Gate grinned evilly. "It''s time to leave the Void Battlefields tomorrow, are you sure you''re up for a fight?"


    "I''ve always wanted to test your true capabilities!" Golden Swallow Liu drew out his sword with a cold stare, two unusually sharp white bones shot out from his back.


    Both of their energy fields began crashing against each other fiercely midair, causing a loud screeching noise as they brushed against each other. Small sparks sputtered all over the place.


    The large crowd below backed away instantly and observed the both of them fight.


    "The highest-leveled powerhouses also have arrangements among themselves, they won''t just easily pick a fight, but this time around, Eastern Gate is just too much. Publicly push us around and snatch our middle-leveled disciples'' resources and treasures," Golden Butterfly spoke softly. "Moreover, he shouldn''t have openly allowed his disciples to look down upon the entire Northern Yu Province. I think that''s the reason Golden Swallow Liu reached out."


    "Exactly, from what we understand about Golden Swallow Liu''s character, he wouldn''t even care if we''re all dead and I''m pretty sure most of you here had been pushed around by him in the past," the leader of Nine Owl muttered while blood sputtered out of his mouth. "But since the opposite party involved the entire Northern Yu Province, they may have irritated him."


    "We''re leaving the Void Battlefields tomorrow already? Did time pass that fast?" A soft voice spoke up among the others.


    Golden Butterfly and a few others were stunned for a bit, they had zero impression of this strangely unfamiliar voice as if someone silently slid between the crowd and spoke up.


    Everyone locked their sight right away.


    The person who spoke did not mind the attention though. His face was ordinary and his skin was slightly tanned. Just a look at his profile and everyone straight away recognized him. It was Garen who escaped into the Space-Time Print.


    "You!" Golden Butterfly was shocked, "You still dare return?!"


    "Why wouldn''t I dare to return?" Garen laughed, "Blue Frost Sect might be strong, but once we leave, nothing else will happen anymore."


    "Aren''t you afraid that we''ll surrender you?" Golden Butterfly whispered after a moment of silence.


    Nobody expected Garen to be this bold, publicly returning to the group here without the slightest cover up.


    "Afraid? Why should I be afraid? All of you should be the one afraid of me. Am I right?" Garen grinned, exposing his white teeth. As his actions and words were natural and unrestrained, his icy tone brought a chill to everyone around.


    Indeed, Garen had shown his true capabilities earlier killing a mass of people within a short period of time. Although the quantity below certain levels does indeed offset the quality, human tactics would be able to defeat a powerhouse. However, that was the case if the quantity was sufficient.


    "You want us to cover you out of this place?!" One of the Energy Machinists from Nine Owl snorted, "We have a big group over here and you want to drag all of us into this. As a senior brother of Scarlet Snow Sect, do you really have to be this selfish?"


    "Cover me? No no no¡­ This isn''t covering me, it''s me holding all of you as hostages."


    Garen laughed once again, slightly rigid this time. He stared right into Golden Butterfly as he knew she was the one who makes all decisions.


    "Right now, every single one of you is to listen to my order, if you don''t understand me¡­ You can go die!"


    In a flash, a garish red ring shot out and strike the Energy Machinist who spoke just now as swift as a sudden clap of thunder.


    Energy field, energy machinery, and noumenon, all layers of defense instantly lost its power.


    Puff!


    The top half of his body ruptured as blood gushed out all over the ground, his eyes were still wide open as if he had yet figure out what was happening. Just like that, he lied with his eyes opened wide with a grudge on the ground, his corpse laid in two halves.


    In a blink of an eye, the red ring shrunk and flew back into Garen''s mouth.


    Everyone surrounding him paled with shock. They first thought they would at least have some sort of fellowship as they were from the same origin, but who knew that Garen would just kill anyone who dared to mistime his remarks. He was way more brutal than Coco Dart.


    The chain of events thoroughly scared everyone on the spot. Earlier on, they had at least three or four manpower to holdout Coco Dart. But now with one cut in half, the remaining ones who had decent combat power besides Golden Butterfly were just Lonray, two people from the Nine Owl, and the Senior Brother leading Dragon Eye.


    "Garen!" Golden Butterfly was naturally a kind-hearted person. After entering the space, she did all she could to aid everyone. Looking at Garen who just simply killed before her eyes, she was beyond angry at his heartlessness.


    "Don''t be angry, Senior Sister Golden Butterfly. I already said as hostages, but some people just don''t understand simple instructions."


    Garen still had a slight respect towards Golden Butterfly. It was not just her goodwill in the past that formed a companionship with him because she wanted to shield his good intentions, but it was just his mere admiration for her character.


    After all, people like her were as rare as pandas, he was just valuing precious resources.


    As for the others, he could just easily let them die.


    "Alright, let''s leave while they''re still fighting," Garen''s voice was soft yet reached everyone. He cast a glance towards Lonray who managed to stay safe and good with his Level-Five powers within a mass of Resonance Levelled ones, this person intrigued him.


    A loud boom sounded.


    At this moment, Golden Swallow Liu and Eastern Gate started fighting high up in the sky.


    The both of them were the strongest here, almost at the peak of Resonance Level. Although they were just casually fighting, the after waves emitted were earth-shattering. Every blow was powerful enough to leave one''s body trembling, like bell drums like violent tremors emitting countless resonance. This was one of the features of Resonance Level, it was able to concentrate one''s entire Energy Machinery''s power as a whole. Once exploded, its lethality could be raised by a couple times instantly.


    At this stage, simple Energy Machineries were placed in the Space Equipment to be used as a source of energy for resonance and not usually let out. The more Energy Machineries one had, the more resonance power one was able to withstand, and the more impactful its explosive power after resonating.


    As Garen was holding the crowd as hostages and slowly evacuating, he could vaguely see the features of the resonating levels. This was also the path he was going to develop in the future.


    However, evacuating this area was their priority now. Whether it was Golden Swallow Liu or the Eastern Gate, they seemed to be extremely occupied. But in actual fact, they were not actually planning to kill one another. It was evident that the both of them were trying to restrain themselves, only releasing the peak of their resonance, but Garen could feel that both of them had released the power of the Inheritance Level.


    He could vaguely feel a sense of danger from Eastern Gate which meant that the opposite party was hiding some sort of ability that was a potential threat towards himself.


    At times like this, Garen did not wish to bring up unnecessary ramifications.


    Since leaving the Space-Time Print, a few days had passed and they had to leave the Void Battlefields. It was best not to stir up any more trouble to avoid attracting the people of Blue Frost Sect''s attention.


    He could now see clearly that the Void Battlefields was just a battleground for random killings., power was merely a foundation of everything. They were disciples of a pretty decent sect and they had backups from other sects. As long as they could leave this place, their safety would be guaranteed. On the other hand, Energy Machinists from other ordinary sects were in deep trouble. Even if they managed to acquire the treasure they might not be able to leave the place safely.


    He stood in the middle of the crowd with his head bent with a phony sorry figure, swiftly fleeing with the others. Everyone was afraid of him, especially after he killed someone without warning at all.


    In addition to the scary behavior he displayed earlier in the Space-Time Print and killing Resonance Level ranks as if he was killing chickens, everyone was even scared of him. They could only help each other out among themselves and listens to all his commands, returning to the station.


    "I say, where are you guys heading to?" Coco Dart''s voice suddenly sounded from the back of the small hill in front.


    A bunch of people walked out from the back of the small hill, blocking everyone''s path.


    "The Thunder Snake Egg," Coco Dart held out his hand while he let out an icy laugh.

 1044 Escape 2

    Golden Butterfly remained silent as the others cast a glance towards Garen who was standing in the middle of the group. Most of them were waiting expectantly, eagerly hoping that Coco Dart and Garen would end up defeated and wounded, along with Coco Dart''s people. With that, they would be able to disperse and escape.


    "Give it to him," unexpectedly, Garen casually blurted out.


    Golden Butterfly''s expression changed abruptly as if she wanted to speak up, but then she remembered the red ring just now. They were both Level-Five Energy Machinists, yet Garen''s techniques conjured a ring way beyond a Level Five''s actual powers!


    She had seen Lonray''s red ring but both were nothing similar in terms of levels.


    Circumstances over character.


    Golden Butterfly gritted her teeth as she held out the Thunder Snake Egg, throwing it right across.


    "There!"


    The second the Thunder Snake Egg was thrown out, a beam of red light flashed.


    Garen drew out his sword at the speed of light.


    Swish!!


    Blood spattered everywhere.


    Coco Dart was grabbed onto the Thunder Snake Egg blankly and a line of blood was visible on his neck.


    Plop.


    His head dropped to the ground.


    Garen turned around with a red afterglow still flashing in his mouth and a red ring suddenly shot from him.


    The red glow was fleeting. All around Coco Dart, everyone stood as still as sculptures, then fell uniformly onto the ground.


    Golden Butterfly and the others felt a sudden chill rising in the atmosphere. They were confused as to how Coco Dart was not able to react in time just now and how the four fearful New-Moon leveled and Half-Moon leveled all stood still as Garen killed them. Nobody could understand.


    That was because nobody could see the blue flames in between Garen''s red glow.


    "Let''s go," Garen swiftly took the Space Rings from Coco Dart and the others.


    These days he had been killing so much that he had gotten bored of it. He had different quest materials taken from Space Rings and a great number of resources. Among everything, he even had several Void Amoebas which were taken from a bunch of bandits the last time he was on the road.


    As for the enemy''s sect imprints, they were automatically imprinted on his own things whenever he killed someone. It was something Jedi, the supervisor of the Void Battlefields, marked on everyone when they first enter the Void Battlefields.


    Whiz!


    Golden Butterfly frantically caught the item as she heard the sound.


    The Thunder Snake Egg was once again in her hands.


    "Keep it carefully," Garen said lightly. These kind of things were only usable for the Dragon Eye Sect people. Since he did not need it, there was no point for him to be greedy.


    Especially since he found the hidden spot in the Plains of Everlasting Night, these things were worthless to him now.


    Golden Butterfly nodded. She could sense Garen''s kindness as relief washed over her.


    "Let''s go."


    *********************


    "Senior Brother Blue Pole Star!! How did it go? Did you manage to catch that little brat!?" A disciple dressed in white asked excitedly.


    The second Blue Pole Star emerged from the Space-Time Print exit, a bunch of Blue Frost Sect disciples swarmed up to welcome him. Blue Pole Star shook his head lightly, his face a pale white.


    Whoosh!


    He spat out a mouthful of blue blood and fell to the ground unconscious.


    Everyone was shocked.


    "Senior Brother!""Someone, report to the elderly! Get a medical office!!"


    Among the chaos, by the edge of the Space-Time Print, a white thread-like bug vanished.


    ********************


    The core region in the Void Battlefields far away.


    "Who triggered the internal tide in the Space-Time Print¡­ The Source Sea is actually shaking¡­"


    "Will this affect the final outcome?" A voice sounded in the air.


    "No. The tide will disappear soon, this should be just a mere coincidence," the lady shook her head, "I will replace another Thread of Light and everything will be fine."


    "Thank you for your hard work."


    "You''re welcome. This is all to get rid of this cancerous object, I''m happy I am able to help," the lady replied softly.


    ********************


    One of the snowy peaks in Scarlet Snow Sect.


    Amidst the snowflakes, a black whirlpool stretched open as several figures emerged from within, landing directly on the peak of the snowy peak.


    Thump thump thump!


    After continuous thuds as they landed on the ground, the black hole disappeared itself.


    Supervisor Jedi was standing on the ground, a meter wide pit right below his feet which was probably caused by the immense power of the black whirlpool when it brought him out.


    He flew up and his eyes darted in the direction the other two were at.


    Garen leaped up lightly and slowly floated from the big pit whereas Lonray was still shabbily arranging his clothes in order.


    "There were so many deaths!" Jedi''s expression was as ice stone, "Your statistics have been sent to the monitoring department right away, all the numbers of Void Amoebas and opposite sect disciples death count have been reported. That''s all for the Void Battlefield''s trial this time, do immediately see the Great Elder right after you shower and rest."


    Once finished speaking, Jedi turned around and leaped again, disappearing on the spot...


    "Got it," Garen and Lonray responded at the same time.


    They left in such a big group but only two of them came back alive.


    Garen looked at Lonray, who returned a bitter smile wordlessly.


    "Senior Brother Garen, I''ll leave first."


    "Alright, go ahead," Garen nodded. On the way back, Lonray was one of his hostages in the group and witnessed his terrifying powers first-hand. In the sect, one would be respected by one''s strength. Therefore, Lonray addressing Garen as Senior Brother was nothing out of the ordinary.


    Lonray activated his flying boots and flew downwards the hill.


    Garen was left alone on top of the hill.


    With his eyes scrunched up, he checked the dozen of Space Rings, wristbands and necklaces he had with him. There were at least ten of them, and these were the mass amount of resources in his slightly better Space Equipment after he removed most of the poor quality Space Equipment, or else he would have had more things.


    Yet these resources were not his priority, his key item was actually the hidden spot discovered at the Plains of Everlasting Night. The hidden spot was an underground hidden spot supposedly to be discovered by an Energy Machinist later on when the Energy Machinist unintentionally follows a Void Amoeba. It was also one of the only hidden spots that Garen knew which had no defensive capability at all.


    Hidden in the hidden spot was no other than the ancient gene strengthening liquid! And there were at least a few hundred units of it!


    The most peculiar thing was that these things were pure liquid without any gene purifiers and could be used as Genetic Potion for pure plans to form new gene modification liquid.


    However, what Garen valued was not this feature, but the strengthener created with ancient techniques which would be able to strengthen the genes and blood in his body, this was the main point he was interested in.


    With that thought, Garen flew downwards from the hill. After these few days, the investigation on Ron Barlow''s death should be almost done and he was curious how it had gone, but all those were not important. A dead prodigy was worth nothing, only an alive person was capable to acquire more resources.


    This was what people live by in the Scarlet Snow Sect.


    Garen was sure that even if the Elders managed to find out that he murdered someone, they would not make a move straight away. He was recommended by Third Senior Sister plus he was rising up extremely quickly, he was practically the second fastest progressor in the entire Scarlet Snow Sect, second only to Carthage. The Great Elders would not simply pick on him with these sort of qualifications.


    The most important thing was that he had to convert everything he had in his hands at the moment into resources that he could use later on. Money could not be turned into power, that would be called as waste rather than money.


    If he wanted to avoid the catastrophe ten years later and widely expand his interests, the only way was to keep strengthening himself. Power is equivalent to everything.


    ********************


    Four-Star Alliance.


    Clint and the others were trudging miserably under the hot sun, forwarding among the ruins. They had been among these abandoned ruins for over a month. There was nothing here, only the wilted remnants left by the years.


    The old high-tech base only had a few machines which were still able to operate while the others were just scraps.


    "Red Moon Boss, how are we going to get out of here?! We''ve been here for at least a month and we''re almost out of food and water!" Clint complained loudly.


    "This is a cursed land. There''s an ancient family here that inherited one of my old wings -- Pole East," Red Moon muttered. "From the looks of it, they''ve been aimed ever since I have fallen."


    "There''s no breathing creature over here, who knows how long would it take for us to get out of this remain," Baylon continued mumbling. "I tried checking but the server is completely cut off from the outside world here. In other words, we are basically trapped here with no way to get out," she said with slight disappointment. Although it was an order from Lord Red Moon, she would rather find her own family first, her brother. However, she could not do anything now, after all, she was forced to escape.


    This was the sad part of the Royal Star, their powers heighten drastically but once they leave their Mechs, they become ordinary people, completely powerless against Pilots.


    Red Moon exhaled heavily.


    "The Pole East family used to be my right-hand man. Who would''ve known people like them who used to dominate the entire planet would fall to this point. Let''s head to the underground ruins, perhaps we may find something edible. Their Pole East blood is also known as the Snow Dragon Rat blood which is similar to hamsters, which have the habit of hiding things underground."


    Clint sighed helplessly and looked up at the hot sun above again.


    "Why are we here again!"


    "To find my other wing," Red Moon replied. "If we can find my other wing, then it''ll be faster to find my other parts and slowly rebuild my body. By then, I''m sure I''d be¡­""Beaten up again,"


    Clint could not resist to butt in.


    "You little brat!!!" The Red Moon responded angrily, " If that bastard didn''t ambush us earlier, I would''ve¡­!!!"


    "Still be beaten up again."


    Clint pouted as he stared at the pendant lying on his chest sadly, "Stop it, we''ve already seen what happened back there."


    "Ah ah ah ah!!!!!" Red Moon was furious now.


    Clint dragged along Baylon out of habit as they continued on their way.


    The sky was gradually darkening so Clint started searching for a place to rest beside the mountain ruins.


    Suddenly, Baylon saw something bright far away, something blue.


    "What is that" Baylon pat on Clint''s shoulder as Clint was setting up the tent.


    "Huh?"


    Clint turned around and he, too, saw the slightest glimmer of blue light far away among the ruins.


    They were currently in a forest midway up the hill. There was a small hut which seemed to be a supply point for mechanical equipment, but it was still enough for two to rest.


    Meanwhile, the shining place originated from the black ruins below the hill.


    "Brother¡­"


    All of a sudden, a voice could be heard from afar. It sounded young and innocent, just like a little kid''s voice.


    "Is someone talking?" Clint could hear it as well, "Should we go check it out?" He looked at


    Baylon who nodded at him.


    "Who knows, we might bump into someone. Let''s go," Baylon was a kind person. "If it''s someone who lost their way here, we''d able to help out."


    "The main thing is we can get more information about this place from the person," Red Moon responded.

 1045 Resource 1

    The second main peak of Planet Scarlet Snow.


    The peak was an emerald-green empty field resembling an aircraft platform; amongst the green field were strips of white paths that seemed like white ribbons interlacing with each other. A few aircraft on the side were taking off and landing.


    White clouds drifted gently in the blue sky, golden rays of light peeped out from the skyline time to time, brushing against the edge of the clouds and shining upon the peak.


    A beige colored building stood quietly in the middle. The building was shaped as a white tree growing from the ground, the bottom part was full of metal ''branches'' while the top part was as sharp as blades, piercing into the sky.


    The building was at least a couple of meters high, with a light red halo circling it.


    "That''s the Energy Shield."


    A disciple in front of Garen said respectfully.


    "Energy Shield?" Garen walked out of the flying ship and looked up at the red halo circling above. There were fine markings that resembled rune symbols inside the halo.


    "It''s beautiful."


    He was dressed in a Third Hearted Disciple''s formal wear - a form-fitting white leather armor, a pointy Third Hearted shoulder pad on his left shoulder, and a long white cape swaying behind him. He looked powerful and mighty with his black messy hair, a majestic aura emitting from within him.


    "This is the mighty halo handcrafted by the Great Elder. It not just has its own defense mechanism, but also the ability to monitor its surroundings." The disciple in white answered as he eyed Garen with high respect.


    Garen nodded. If he had not met these incredible disciples from other sects in the Void Battlefields, especially those Non-falling Leveled powerhouses like Blue Pole Star, he might just have a heart of gratitude now. But even a disciple like Blue Pole Star could reach the non-falling level, whereas he almost got caught up by the enemy twice, thus he felt slightly comforted that he had yet achieved the Non-falling Level.


    Most importantly, it was able to see everything in the Space-Time Print.


    The world¡­is changing¡­the Energy Machinists catastrophe is coming soon, while all the Energy Machinists are still immersed in their own perfect, false reality.


    Just a couple of decades more¡­


    Garen refreshed his eyes as he made his way towards the pointy tower. His visit this time was a threshold to determine Second Great Elder''s greatest attitude. Everything would be fine if he got through, but if he did not¡­then there was only¡­


    After passing through numerous passageways, the main hall, he finally got on an elevator.


    Within seconds, under the lead of another staff, Garen reached the highest floor of the building -- a wide-spaced circular hall.


    The hall was empty. A skinny and boney old man sat in the middle of the hall, his eyes were closed as if he was resting.


    Click¡­


    The door closed as the staff who brought Garen up left.


    Garen walked over and kneeled silently on the ground with one knee, his head bent low as he faced the old man.


    "Disciple Garen presenting himself."


    There was no response. The old man seemed to be sound asleep, no movement could be observed from his body.


    Garen was in no rush, so he continued kneeling on his one knee as he waited patiently.


    Time passed quickly. Ten minutes had passed, then half an hour, then an hour¡­


    "Ga¡­Garen?" The old man finally opened his eyes slowly, asking with his dry cracked voice.


    "Yes!"


    "Since joining the sect, your movements weren''t discreet at all¡­Ron Belle and Barlow disappeared after they left with you. You all went to the Void Battlefields, and even got into trouble with the Blue Frost Sect powerhouses¡­" The old man shook his head, his yellow, muddy eyes stared at Garen silently.


    "I have always been passive, just that I have no other choices when..." Garen spoke softly but sincerely, "If they didn''t¡­"


    "How dare you!"


    Second Great Elder yelled suddenly.


    "Killing recklessly at the Scarlet Snow Planet, then stirring up trouble at the Void Battlefields, do you think the Blue Frost Sect people are those that you can easily mess with!"


    "I admit my wrongdoing." Garen trembled as he felt a strong surge of impact charging into his body. The forceful impact continued to swerve within his body, all his Willpower and Scarlet Snow Techniques were smashed into pieces as it went along. Instantly, his body''s power was locked down and he had lost his own defense mechanism.


    Second Great Elder snorted and turned to look at the other side.


    "Brother Blue Creek, tell me how should I take care of this rebellious disciple!?"


    Hearing that, Garen''s heart shuddered. He knew that things were going downhill but his powers were locked away. Even if he was able to revolt somehow, the chances of getting away were slim, so he just remained in the same posture with his head bowed down.


    At the other side of the hall, a warm man''s voice sounded.


    "Second Great Elder is indeed conscious of the righteousness of a cause and fair against disciples like this from the sect. Since they went against my Blue Frost Sect''s regulations, why don''t I bring him back personally and give him the punishment he deserves? What do you think of my suggested way to handle this?"


    Second Great Elder nodded in agreement but frowned.


    "No, that won''t do. That''ll be treating this brat too lightly."


    "Then what do you think, Great Elder?" The person responded softly.


    Second Great Elder fondled his beard.


    "He should receive a harsher punishment!"


    He was glaring at Garen fiercely.


    "Third Hearted Garen! As one of the fifteen core disciples, you dare to wantonly kill your fellow senior brothers, offend disciples of a big sect in the Void Battlefields, you deserve death for your crime! Slicing you up a thousand times would still not be enough for your crimes! Someone, come here!"


    "Here!"


    Two guards in black armor suddenly appeared out of nowhere beside the Second Great Elder, each of them held Garen by his side and dragged him up.


    "Throw him out! A ban of three years! He shall not exit the perimeters these three years! If there''s any form of violation, kill him!" Second Great Elder yelled, his loud voice rumbled against the walls of the hall.


    "Huh¡­grounded? This is a punishment?"


    Garen was stunned beyond words.


    Not just him, the gentle and soft man was shocked as well. The two guards in black armor stunned for a bit before recovering and responded in acknowledgment before dragging Garen away.


    Garen heaved a breath of relief and noticed that the strong force just now did no harm to his body, but just continuously damaging his remaining Divine Wind General Willpower.


    Just a short amount of time and it was almost able to clear out all his remaining Seventh Divine Wind General Willpower!


    "Andy Mullah, what is the meaning of this!!" The originally soft voice suddenly became relentless. With a swish, a middle-aged man dressed in a blue shirt appeared before the Second Great Elder in the hall.


    The man had a cold expression and he was glaring at Second Great Elder.


    "Are you sure you are not playing a joke on me?"


    "Khoo Wang Ling, I''ve already given you face. Garen is our second top prodigy, are you not satisfied with a serious punishment like grounding him for three years?" Second Great Elder smiled lightly with both his eyes narrowed.


    "You call this a punishment?!" Khoo Wang Ling grunted.


    "Of course!"


    "That''s good!!! Scarlet Snow Sect! That''s terrific! You wait and see!" The man in blue, Khoo Wang Ling, was getting more agitated as his voice became sharper.


    "I''m just waiting over here, come on, stop boasting already. Since when have you ever beaten me in a fight?" Second Great Elder said without even looking at him. "Get lost, you don''t even acknowledge my goodwill."


    With a wave of his hand, the man in the blue shirt blurred slightly before vanishing from the spot. Turns out he was only just a holographic image.


    "Andy Mullah! You wait and see!!"


    The voice sounded far away.


    Garen was dragged out, the powerhouse from the Blue Frost Sect was chased away as well.


    The hall returned to its silence.


    Second Great Elder, Andy Mullah, shook his head without saying a word.


    "He really thinks too much of himself, coming all the way here to deal with my elite disciple, who does he think he is? So hilarious."


    He touched his jaw once again as he fell into deep thoughts.


    "Come to think of it, if Ron and Barlow were really killed by Garen, that means this guy is really as what Third Great Elder said and has potential. No wonder Third Great Elder requested for me to take care of him."


    He pressed something in mid-air and a circular screen appeared before him. The screen displayed everything about Garen''s performance at all times, the Void Battlefields, the ancestral hall, and even his various performances when he was at Planet Naga.


    All sorts of images flashed out and Second Great Elder got more satisfied.


    "He indeed has potential that is worth to be nurtured." He nodded in satisfaction as he made a keynote.


    "Master, have you finished settling the issue regarding Garen?" A holographic image of a lady popped out in the air on his right. The beautiful slim lady dressed in red from top to bottom was Third Senior Sister, Eva Regar.


    "Of course, you concentrate on your own matters. I''m here to look after things. Blue Frost Sect would be asking for their own deaths if they dared to come over to Scarlet Snow Planet. The defensive system set by the ancestors is not a joke, plus as long as we have the Guardian Lords around, they wouldn''t dare to do anything." Second Great Elder smiled brightly.


    "Then¡­what do you think of the prodigy I recommended?" Eva beamed straight away as she asked in a coquetry manner.


    "Not bad." Second Great Elder nodded his head, "He''s developing fast, just a tad lacking compared to Carthage. Just that after he enters Inherited Level, it''s going to be a really long period of growth, so I''m not sure if he can actually catch up to Carthage¡­"


    "He''s strong enough already!" Eva was speechless. "I''m already this close from advancing to Inherited Level, and he''s almost chased up to my speed already! And you''re still not satisfied."


    "Alright stop talking nonsense, when are you coming back?" Second Great Elder asked nonchalantly. "I still have a pile of stuff for you to settle when you''re back."


    "Uh¡­ another ten days or so I believe. You understand too that the competitions are tough over here, I''m actually still waiting for my next round."


    ********************


    Garen was brought to the entrance of the white building before the guards in black armor let him go.


    "Do excuse us." One of them apologized awkwardly. "We had to do it for show just now."


    "It''s alright." Garen wriggled his arm. The surge of Willpower Second Great Elder forced into him just now had already completely defeated the remaining Seventh Divine Wind General Willpower in his system. To this point, all the hidden injuries in his body had fully recovered and he felt a sense of relief washed over him while the Great Elder''s Willpower vanished naturally.


    "Who knew the Blue Frost Sect people would actually disobey the rules. Bringing the matters of the Void Battlefields to reality, that''s just shameless." The other guard responded with disdain. "Seems like we have to be more careful if we ever meet Blue Frost Sect disciples in the future."


    "It''s alright, everything happened as I expected. I just didn''t expect Master to be so generous, letting such a huge issue go this easily." Garen lamented. He did expect Second Great Elder to try to protect him, but he did not expect Second Great Elder to be this tough on it. Perhaps Third Senior Sister Eva was in the picture as well, after all, legend says that Second Great Elder was most fond of Third Senior Sister. This was also why Third Senior Sister was constantly opposing Carthage and he could not do anything about it. Maybe it was because Carthage had a crush on Third Senior Sister, or maybe he was just more scared of the kind of doting love Second Great Elder had towards her.

 1046 Resource 2

    "Why don''t you go back and rest? Your return this time has caused many troublesome issues. We have to go take care of Third Senior Sister seeing as the Blue Frost Sect will be targeting her in the competition," said a guard. "This time they suffered a loss because of you, so they will definitely find other ways to make up for it."


    Garen was dazed for a while, then muttered in shame.


    "It''s all my fault."


    "It''s not entirely your fault, Blue Frost Sect''s style has always been like this, but we Scarlet Snow Sect are not to be messed with as well! To outsiders, it may seem like a harmonious relationship between the two but in reality¡­well, Senior Brother Carthage had to retreat this time partly because he was injured by their senior sister." Another soldier muttered coldly.


    Garen was silent, nodding his head solemnly.


    "I understand¡­"


    "Go back and practice well. You are the only hope for our faction, and your talent is only second to Carthage. If you have any questions in the future, just come to us directly. If it is within our capabilities, we will definitely try to help. As bodyguards of the elders, we can access many things easily," whispered the soldier.


    "Thank you so much, I will never forget your help." Garen smiled.


    "You''re welcome. We will inform you in advance if there is any trouble."


    The two soldiers could tell that Garen had a bright future ahead, hence why they so willingly offered to help him.


    Leaving Second Great Elder''s base, Garen returned to his assigned residential area.


    He immediately traveled back to Planet Naga through the usage of Dimensional Jump, and moved out all of his resources, preparing to auction them off in order for sufficient amount of Scarlet Snow Crystals.


    Scarlet Snow Crystals were actually the key material for the formation of the Scarlet Snow Sect''s Resonance-Leveled crystal. The Scarlet Snow Sect''s crystallization was to mainly absorb the object''s essence, then together with Willpower, form Resonance Crystals.


    The more crystals, the better. However, the absorption of each person was limited. The more you absorb, the condensation of crystals was naturally stronger. It was said that after reaching Inherited Level, most would have to constantly absorb essences of various resources and its limit of absorption would determine the power difference between every level of Willpower.


    Garen did not know what his limit was, but it would not harm to have extra Scarlet Snow Crystals.


    ********************


    The Northern Yu Province in Planet Naga


    The Black Wolf Peak''s reception hall.


    Garen sat in the highest seat and beside him was a beautiful girl dressed in a tight, white skirt, with white gloves and white stockings. On her head sat a silver crown, representing royalty. She was the one who gave Garen all her support back then, Princess Aine, who was also known as the Princess of the Merci Kingdom.


    "Congratulations Mr. Garen on your promotion to Third Hearted, Your Royal Highness. I initially saw your potential and bright future long ago already, but I never thought it would become a reality so quickly."


    Aine and Garen had a mutual agreement back then to mine the Red Peacock Stone; coupled with the gifts they gave each other occasionally, their cooperation had been a pleasure so far.


    "Princess Aine, I''ll make this quick as there isn''t much time left."


    "Please do."


    "I invited you this time to see if you are able to help me handle a batch of things which I obtained from the Void Battlefields. Do you understand me?" Garen did not tell her directly that the items were loots he acquired after killing people.


    However, Princess Aine was a smart lady and she instantly understood what he meant.


    "I won''t collect any fees for the handling. I can bid in my thirty-five big auction houses simultaneously. What would you like to exchange for? Golden crystals? You don''t seem to be lacking those though."


    Garen smiled. He opened his mouth and spat out a beam of scarlet light which formed a red ring.


    Clang!


    The princess'' eyes grew wide. The wine glass in her hand fell to the floor, shattering into pieces.


    Not only her, the void behind her fluctuated slightly. Obviously, the strong, invisible Resonance-Leveled expert behind her could not help but release a breath of shock as well.


    A Level-Five this young to be able to perform it perfectly, what more if he soon entered the Resonance Level¡­


    Princess Aine secretly rejoiced she placed her bets on the right person earlier on, but she blamed herself for not being bold enough to place a higher bet. Although they maintained a decent relationship between each other, they were still far away from being close.


    "Mr. Garen¡­you¡­in such a short period of time, and you''ve already touched the surface of Level Five¡­you are indeed one of the elites of Scarlet Snow Sect." Aine tried hard to conceal her surprise as her long slender legs shook slightly. She somehow unintentionally tilted herself towards Garen with her short skirt riding up her legs, the vague gap between her legs slightly moved according to the movement of her thighs.


    At the same time, the smile on her face became more flirtatious as she gave off a slight sexy posture in the attempt of seducing. The white skirt which was barely covering her thighs tempted one to just flip the skirt over to take in the view.


    "You flatter me." Garen waved off her compliment. "Alright, I''m sure you know what I''m here for, don''t you?"


    "Of course, my auction houses still have some remaining stocks of the Scarlet Snow Crystals. I can also easily find some stash from the Royal Family which would be enough for ten or more people to absorb and enter Resonance Level. Yeah, it should be enough." Aine steadied herself as she said lightly with a charming smile.


    "Besides that, is there anything else that you need?"


    A thought flashed through her mind as she took out the list of valuables she prepared earlier which she wanted to pass to her supervisor. With a flick of her finger, she scrolled through and adjusted the inventory list. Then only did she got up and walked towards Garen to pass him the list.


    Garen accepted the list and smiled lightly as he noted her mild, body fragrant.


    "Thank you."


    Aine''s arm brushed against the back of his hand lightly.


    However, Garen did not show any sign as he began going through the list.


    There were only three items on the list, but just a glance of the first item was enough to excite Garen. Even his breathing quickened.


    ''Black Scarlet Snow Crystal: The essence of Scarlet Snow Crystal, the best condensing material to crystallize Resonance-Leveled Crystal. 1,500 golden crystals per unit.''


    When resonance crystallized, usage level of Scarlet Snow Crystal increased; the purer the crystal, the stronger level one would reach in an instant. Ordinary Scarlet Snow Crystals would push one to reach New-Moon Level after absorption but if one were to use Black Scarlet Snow Crystal, one could straight away elevate to Half-Moon Level!


    Carthage did the same thing back then, skipping all the way to Half-Moon Level and then he made a spurt of progress, reaching Two-Moons Level right away. The most important key was that nobody had ever sold this item, so how come there was one available?


    It was evident that Aine was trying to do a good favor for him.


    Garen concealed his surprise. Every usage of the Black Scarlet Snow Crystal reduces it by one unit as such there was no actual market value for it. Although 1,500 golden crystals were indeed a huge amount, in terms of an item as such, it was basically a gift out of goodwill. After all, this valuable treasure could not simply be measured by gold.


    He steadied himself as he continued to look at the list.


    ''Cold Secret Technique -- Ice Coffin: Inherited-Levelled Snow Exercise, altogether a complete version of three levels. 300 golden crystals per unit.''


    This made Garen''s heart jumped as well.


    But the third item on the list was the one that got him excited all over again.


    ''Staff of Tree God (Staff of Absolute Yin): Handed down from the ancient civilization, an ornament that represents power and natural prestige. 100 golden crystals per unit.''


    "This one!" Garen was extremely happy. His potential points were almost used up, otherwise, his Blood Eagle genes would have been able to continue to break through to a decent standard at least good enough for him to defeat a Resonance-Leveled opponent. Speed was pointless at that point. If he was up against someone of Inherited Level, he was still able to defeat him because the Blood Eagle speed was almost at that level already. Besides that, it was nothing out of the ordinary already.


    He would not be on par with a Non-falling Level. If not for the Space-Time Print for the previous two times, Blue Pole Star would definitely catch up to him.


    Even though the Blood Eagle speed was inhuman already, it was still nothing compared to one of Non-falling Level.


    From the looks of it, the Blood Eagle +2 speed might be fast enough for a Level-Five Energy Machinist to reach the speed of Inherited Level, but for Garen, it was no big deal.


    However, if the Blood Eagle speed was able to be upgraded to another level, it would definitely increase his combat power!


    "These three items are all urgent needs of mine and Your Highness Aine is actually willing to help me out. I will remember your kind gratitude." Garen said solemnly. He knew the values of these gifts, especially the first item listed above. Even if these items were to be given to the three Great Elders, it was still an exceptional favor. He did not expect her to be so willing to place such a weighty bet.


    "As long as you like them," Aine responded with a smile. "You once brought up the third item before but unfortunately, the number is indeed limited. It was pure luck we were able to find just one."


    "That''s not bad already." Garen nodded and waved his arm. A black wolf by the side walked out slowly with a plastic bag in its mouth towards Aine and gently placed the bag in her hand.


    "These are the items for the auction."


    The bag was filled with different sizes of rings, necklaces, and wristbands. All of those were Space Equipments, some even still had blood stains on it.


    Aine and the bodyguards behind her felt a chill down their spine.


    There were so many Space Equipments, and each of it must have been once owned by a fellow disciple from a sect outside. Who knew how many people did Garen kill to obtain these items¡­


    "Will you be there for the auction?" Aine asked softly.


    "No need for that, you shall be entirely in charge of that. Also, Bainster." Garen raised his voice.


    "Senior Brother." Instantly, a young man with a small mustache ran inside through the door. It was Bainster who was handling matters at the Black Wolf Peak. "What''s the matter?"


    "How is the extraction of the Red Peacock Stones?" Garen asked mildly.


    "They''re almost done. They were all done being processed just a few days ago. We have altogether 25 pieces of the essences." Bainster was talking about the emerald essences for Garen to absorb. It was extracted when the Red Peacock Stones were melted. The essences had a higher efficiency after extraction. Absorbing one of it was equivalent to absorbing 100 pieces of the non-extracted ones, and this made things much more convenient.


    It just requires an extremely high technical requirement. After all, Red Peacock Stones were highly flammable raw materials, the melting technique could not heat it, and it cannot be heated as well.


    All this while, Garen, too, absorbed those essences.


    "Bring Princess Aine down to rest."

 1047 Unique Resonance 1

    Bainster nodded as he walked to the princess'' side.


    Aine smiled.


    "Relax. The item should be here in three days'' time."


    "Good, I''ll remember your favor." Garen nodded. "Please rest well."


    Aine curtseyed before turning around for Bainster to lead her away.


    Garen sat alone in his high chair, his fingers tapping gently on the armrest as he pondered deeply.


    The list in his hand kept flipping about in his other finger.


    "The Staff of Tree God¡­is that not called the Staff of Absolute Yin? The physical appearance looks different from the one I''ve absorbed as well¡­" Garen analyzed the list in detail before opening up the contacts via the Energy Machine Imprint.


    Only a few names lighted up.


    "Accord, are you there?"


    After a moment of silence, a helpless groan came from the other side.


    "What the hell man¡­you woke me from my sleep¡­oh right, I''ve found your items. What were you looking for actually, this item is called the Staff of God Tree and you''ve given the wrong name and description of appearance¡­I would have missed this if not for my sharp eyes!"


    Accord seemed to have just woken up.


    "Uh, I''m so sorry. Send that item to me quickly without any further delay!" Although Garen apologized, his tone didn''t seem to indicate otherwise. He was ecstatic when he heard they found another one and urged them immediately to send it over. He needed it urgently as there would be a huge crisis in 12 years'' time.


    "I probably owe it to you from my past life." Accord was speechless. "Wait a moment¡­"


    Soon a voice could be heard after a moment of silence.


    "Alright, I''ve sent it over to you. It''s rather small so you''ll just have to accept it."


    "That fast?" Garen was shocked. "Oh right, have you reached Level Five yet?"


    "Pass my ass. Alright, I can''t do this anymore because I need to rest. It''s been at least ten days since I slept properly!"


    He disconnected the call.


    Garen shook his head as he disconnected his side of the call as well.


    He didn''t have high hopes in Accord to find anything at all since he wasn''t in a high ranking position in the Sect without being a Level Five. The amount of manpower he could summon was not a lot and it could be considered as a surprise for him to be able to find one.


    "This fellow, I need to ask if he needs any of my help later¡­"


    Garen shook his head as he didn''t say another word.


    He then clicked on Liz''s head icon.


    "Liz? Are you there?"


    "I''m here. Garen, have you been released? How did it go? Did you absorb the essence?"


    "It''s alright, I guess. However, it wasn''t as natural as how you guys did it." Garen said humbly.


    "Well, that''s right. What do you say if we gather up when we''re free?" Liz was yawning as well.


    "I''m sorry for contacting you guys this late at night at your areas. My bad."Garen laughed as he apologized.


    Liz didn''t mind as she started to complain how difficult it was to enter Level Four. However, Garen wasn''t sure if he heard wrongly as he could sense a glimpse of arrogance and boasting from her tone. Her attitude seemed to have changed from the past.


    The two of them chatted casually. Garen originally planned to announce the good news of him entering Level Five so that they could celebrate this good occasion. However, he couldn''t find the right opportunity to announce the news.


    He didn''t mind as he could surprise them during the meetup. He also had an interesting thought to intentionally hide his Level achievement since Liz still thought that he was still a Level Four. This would be common sense as it would require many years for a Level Four to turn into a Level Five. Garen''s astonishing progress would put him as a very gifted Energy Machinist. To be able to turn into a Level Five from Level Four was not an everyday feat.


    After talking to Liz for some time, Garen hung up before receiving another call from Accord.


    "What''s wrong? Didn''t you go to bed?"


    "I can''t sleep after being woken up by you," Accord said without holding himself back. "Are you going to the Integrated Three Major Cities'' Sect Battle? It''s a ranking match."


    "Of course I''m going." Garen knew what he was referring to. The ranking match was what determined an Energy Machinist''s ranking, social status and his authority and influence on the planet. The competition had been segregated into three different groups, mainly big sized sect, medium-sized sect and small-sized sect. The competition''s standard would be based on the strongest strength.


    The higher they ranked, the more territories and influence in the area they would be rewarded on behalf of the Sect. They would also obtain more resources as the three major cities collectively give out rewards too.


    These rewards were very useful even towards a Non-falling level Powerhouse.


    Among the rewards was Technique Irrigation or Next Level Realm''s Inspiration. The Technique Irrigation was an item that could increase a person''s strength to a certain extent regardless of which Sect or attribute the person possessed. It was filled up by the Resonance Power from the three major cities.


    However, it was only usable by people who were below Perpetual Motion Level.


    On the other hand, the Realm''s Inspiration was an item made by a saint of a Perpetual Motion Level. It could allow people to have a taste of what he could do if he were to be in a next level. Generally speaking, whoever obtained this reward would break their mold and enter the next level within half a year.


    One would have the chance to obtain such an item if he were to be in the top thirty.


    Naturally, Garen wouldn''t miss this grand opportunity.


    "Of course I''m going. Why do you ask? What are you trying to say."


    "How about the three of us gather up when the time comes? Accord suggested. "We haven''t seen each other since we split up."


    "Sure. Five years will pass by in a blink of an eye." Garen said casually. It was indeed true that an Energy Machinist''s or a High-Level Pilot''s five years'' time was equivalent to a commoner''s fifty days. They who had reached thus far possessed a long lifespan which spanned up to hundreds of years. Five years were simply too short for time, and if they decided to shut themselves to cultivate half of the time would be gone.


    "I''ll introduce a beautiful lady to you when the time comes. Hehe." Accord smirked.


    "Give it up on the beautiful lady part. It''s still an issue whether you are able to get hold of a woman. Being a Level Four is still considered extremely weak inside a big Sect. You need to train more!" Garen was speechless.


    "Don''t worry about it. People don''t care about your strength but your heart. If you treat her well and is sincere, everything else doesn''t matter." Accord said in confidence.


    "Heart your heard, since when did you turn into such a state¡­"


    On the other side of the communication, Accord was smiling and chatting with Garen. He was laying down on a black chair with his legs crossed, his hand holding his head behind it.


    His other hand was playing with a white skull in which a faint blue flame was beating about inside it.


    "Accord, Dark Light wishes you death!!!" A sound filled with hatred came out from the skull. "I curse you! You''ll die in a miserable way. Hehehe. I will be waiting for you in hell!!"


    The power emitting from within the skull far surpassed a typical Full Moon Level Powerhouse as it had reached the limits just below the Inherited Level.


    After hanging up, Accord put his legs down and looked at the skull.


    "What''s wrong with you?"


    He glanced at the huge, pitch black hall.


    "I said I would wait for you in the Void Battle and I didn''t expect you to go in like an idiot¡­what''s the end result? You''re left with only a brain left.


    "You monster! Madman! Psycho!!" The skull scolded him.


    "I''ve already known by these nicknames. Can''t you come up with something new? I''ve reached a new level after absorbing you. When I finish absorbing you, who do you think I will be afraid of among the eighty-one departments other than Eco?" Accord shook his head as he looked at the skull with sympathy. "Do you think you''re amazing when you have a trump card? Everyone else in this age has a trump card. Hehe. Do you think being an Inherited Level is all that amazing? I really don''t know if you''re innocent or stupid."


    "I curse you¡­curse you!!!"


    The skull kept repeating the same few sentences. Soon Accord had lost interest in talking nonsense to it. He shut his eyes and thought about other stuff.


    ****************


    A few days later¡­


    Inside a secret chamber on Planet Scarlet Snow.


    Garen sat on the floor with his knees crossed. The items in front of him were what he had traded with all of his possessions.


    There was a piece of black Scarlet Snow Crystal, and about a hundred pieces of typical, red Scarlet Snow Crystals. These were resources that Aine collected hastily from the country''s vault. There also was a black covered metal book and a small bag of deep red crystals which looked very similar to the Red Peacock Stones.


    The faint light bathed on Garen''s face, giving off a lonely and solemn vibe.


    He was nurturing his spirit to enter Resonance Level if nothing came out of the left field. This phase focused mainly on the Resonance between the Pilot and his body or an Energy Machinist and his Energy Machine.


    The strength was higher when the Resonance was stronger, which meant that one would obtain more power from the increment of the Energy Machine. This meant that one was able to harness the full strength of the Body or Energy Machine and superimpose it onto one''s body. This would result in pushing one''s strength to an astonishing level.


    When an Energy Machinist had a stronger Energy Machine, his strength would naturally become more powerful. However, it might produce a lower Resonance Level, resulting in one to enter the Resonance Level harder.


    Similarly, a weak Energy Machinist could achieve Resonance easily but its strength would be very weak.


    Then, there''s Garen.


    He exhaled slowly and raised his hand. The silver-white ring on his index finger shone faintly.


    Shuffle shuffle¡­


    Black wolves started entering the secret chamber. There was a deep blue giant wolf that was nurtured anew. One by one, fifty of these wolves gathered inside the small secret chamber.


    These fifty plus wolves were the optimum Energy Machine quantity after enhancing and simplifying it with all his strength.


    At this quantity, the wolves would be able to fight at their optimum without wasting resources due to their large amount.


    The Winter Night Wolf Pack was enhanced by the Distorted Seed as its radiation was placed onto these wolves, allowing them to have the battle strength which surpassed Level Five. It might be at the Half Moon Level or Full Moon Level. Garen wasn''t too sure of its overall strength.


    "It would be quite troublesome to Resonate with all of these wolves¡­"


    However, Garen would have to proceed even if he had no confidence after reaching so far.


    If he were to succeed entering the Resonance Level with fifty of these Energy Machines, he would be the first one to have ever done such a feat -- the feat of entering Resonance Level together with so many Energy Machines!


    This meant that when Garen used his Resonance Skills, his strength would overlap with fifty of these Night Winter Giant Wolves and instantly had an overwhelming strength.


    "Let''s start from the Peacock Stones¡­"


    He reached out his hand and grabbed onto the Red Peacock Stone''s essence.


    The progress with the Living Secret Technique Hell Frost Peacock Technique on his Attribute Pane had already reached 65% of the seventh grade.


    Garen had a feeling that once it reached the eighth grade, he would have a skill that could change the world.

 1048 Unique Resonance 2

    Garen recalled the memories he saw in the Space-Time Print as he focused onto one of the people.


    It was a tall man in white armor and mask. His shoulder length hair was as white as snow and his body was as slender as a woman. His eyes, the left one was red while the right one was blue and he gave off a cold and elegant vibe.


    "Wild Mutt Chinande."


    Garen held onto the Peacock Stone''s Essence with one hand as he absorbed it. He absorbed it so quickly that one could see the essence shrink with their naked eye and it soon disappeared in his hand.


    As the first one vanished, he proceeded to pick up the second one.


    The White King''s underlying was the strongest Royal Star in this part of the Star Region. He was also the main culprit who lead the army to exterminate the entire Energy Machinist and the destruction of Planet Naga.


    His strength was endless and no one had ever seen his face before.


    "According to history, I will eventually die from this man during the Battle of Ice Age in a hundred years time," Garen recalled the memories back in the Space-Time Imprint.


    "The White King''s henchmen often hide their identities before the turmoil. If I could see through their disguise through these memories, perhaps I can find a way to survive¡­"


    As Garen kept pondering on it, he realized that he currently didn''t have the strength to fight him as the difference between their strength was too far apart. He was as helpless as a baby even when he reached Inherited Level. He currently hadn''t even reached Resonance Level yet.


    He put away his thoughts.


    Garen then picked up the last Peacock Stone''s Essence as he absorbed it swiftly into his palm.


    He finally started to break through into Resonance¡­


    He started focusing his gaze on the Black Scarlet Snow Crystal.


    He didn''t react immediately as he focused and adjusted his breathing rhythm quietly.


    Garen did nothing as time passed slowly.


    An hour¡­


    Two hours¡­


    Three hours¡­


    Buzz!!


    Garen opened his eyes out of the blue as a huge scarlet red halo shot out from his body, instantly caging the wolves around him.


    Awoo¡­


    The wolves started raising their heads as they howled. Their bodies started glowing red as Garen and the wolves shone at each other.


    "Resonate!"


    Garen roared.


    Two Energy Imprints which were on the verge of materializing appeared behind his bodies. One of them was the Winter Night Wolf whereas the other one was a normal Giant Wolf. Both wolves started trembling as they bathed in the red light.


    Garen grabbed onto the black Scarlet Snow Crystals at lightning speed and crushed them. In that instant, the normal Scarlet Snow Crystals around him exploded.


    The Scarlet Snow Crystals gathered as they formed a river of black debris levitating above the ground and rushed towards Garen''s head.


    Hiss¡­!


    Garen opened his mouth and absorbed all the debris like a whale.


    As he absorbed the debris, the Resonance around him and the wolves'' body became stronger.


    On the other hand, the two Machine Imprints behind Garen started to tremble greatly.


    Suddenly, a clear sound could be heard.


    Clang!


    Two of the Machine Imprints exploded, turning into debris that were as clear as crystals as they floated behind Garen''s body.


    Pew!


    A streak of red light came out from one of the wolve''s body.


    Pew pew¡­


    Another two giant wolves'' shot out the read beams at the Machine Imprints behind Garen.


    Then there were more of them doing the same thing. Three of them, five of them! Ten of them!


    More and more wolves started releasing the red beams at the Machine Imprints behind Garen''s with great accuracy.


    Fifty plus of these red lines focused onto the debris and they soon formed into a red sphere levitating in the middle of the room.


    ''Analysing¡­ You''ve entered Resonance Level New Moon.'' The Monitoring System inside the secret chamber said.


    ''Increasing Resonance Level¡­ 5%... 10%... 29%... 45%... 60%... Stagnation phenomenon has occurred¡­ Stopping Resonance progress¡­'' The Monitoring System reported the actual event in details just as Garen had configured.


    Garen was anxious as he kept micromanaging the huge amount of Machine Imprint to gather together.


    What looked like a random gather of the debris were actually being constructed in an orderly and unique manner.


    "60%!" He was on cloud nine when he heard the monitoring system.


    The New Moon Level was at 20%, Half Moon Level 40% and a Full Moon Level was at 60%.


    It seemed that he had jumped over two Levels and reached the Full Moon Level by using the black Scarlet Snow Crystals. A Pilot could merge with his Mech to reconstruct his body when he reached the Half Moon Level. It was the same case with the Energy Machinists as well as they could merge with their Energy Machines at the Half Moon Level to increase their strength rapidly.


    At the Full Moon Level, their Resonance had increased up to 60%! This was extremely powerful as it meant that fifty of these Energy Machines, the giant wolves could instantly lend out 60% of their strengths towards Garen.


    Garen''s current Willpower was as strong as a typical Energy Machinist, which was nothing special. Afterall, he was not a genius.


    However, He now could enter Resonance with fifty of his Energy Machines and borrowed 60% of the giant wolves'' strength. Although each of these wolves possessed the Willpower of only New Moon Level to Half Moon Level, he had enough of them. To gather fifty of these wolves'' strength all at once¡­


    This strength¡­


    As Garen was in the middle of his excitement, the wolves'' stomach started glowing blue.


    Boom!!


    Suddenly, a giant wolf exploded as blood and meats flew about everywhere, staining the whole secret chamber.


    Boom boom boom!!


    As if it was a chain reaction, the second giant wolf exploded. Then the third, the fourth¡­


    The blue light kept glowing while gathering on the Energy Imprint debris behind Garen within the midst of explosion as the wolves started exploding one by one.


    The Cold Radiation Field that Garen knew very well started emitting out from the imprints¡­


    "This is! The Distorted Seed!" Garen was stunned. He could recreate the wolves if they were destroyed but this time it was the distorted seeds that were causing the anomaly.


    He quickly glanced at the Soul Seed within his mind. He was relieved as he didn''t see it giving off warning and he assumed that these series of events should be related to the Living Secret Technique''s Distorted Seed.


    "Resonance is stagnating¡­ Irregularity has been detected! Irregularity has been detected!!"


    Suddenly the monitoring system reported hastily. ''Unknown phenomenon has occurred. Please stop Resonating immediately. Please stop Resonating immediately!!"


    Garen hesitated as he looked at his soul seed once again. He gritted his teeth and believed his own soul seed''s warning and not some artificial intelligence''s analysis.


    Soon fifty of the giant wolves exploded as all of the distorted seeds gathered behind Garen.


    A dark red halo exploded behind him without emitting any sound. It was pure dark red as it painted the entire secret chamber.


    Then, a snowflake started to fall down on top of Garen.


    The snowflake wasn''t white but red.


    These exquisite hexagonal snowflakes danced in the air as it landed on Garen''s side and the meats of the giant wolves on the secret chamber''s wall.


    ''Unknown energy is pouring in¡­ Resonance Level is increasing¡­ Resonance Level is increasing¡­'' The monitoring system started ringing.


    Garen opened his mouth as he spewed out five streams of Scarlet Mists, which was then absorbed into the red debris behind him.


    The debris finally had a slight reaction after merging with the Scarlet Mists.


    It started to shrink rapidly from the size of a fist to the size of a nail before entering Garen''s brain from the back at great speed.


    Pew!


    Garen''s body jolted as he opened his eyes.


    "Success!!"


    ''Congratulate master for achieving Two-Moons Level!'' The intelligence system voiced out in a woman''s tone.


    "I thought it was just a Full Moon Level. I didn''t expect the Distorted Seed to instantly increase the Resonance between the Energy Machines and I! I guess it''s reasonable since the Distorted Seed is supposed to change the characteristic of the Energy Imprints similar to mine. It would be weird if the Resonance isn''t high!"


    Garen soon understood the effects of the Living Secret Technique during the process.


    The host body of the Hellfrost Peacock would naturally have a high Resonance to its radiated biological weapons. Hence the result was very natural.


    Garen even believed that he would have been able to achieve Full Moon Level Resonance even if he were to not use the black Scarlet Snow Crystals. Afterall, the Resonance between the body and the Distorted Seed was high to begin with.


    Garen stood up inside the secret chamber. His shirt was filled with minced meat and blood, dyed in red.


    Finally, he picked up the Ice Series Technique Book and gently opened it. There was an item inside it.


    It was the Staff of Absolute Yin!


    This Staff of Absolute Yin was extremely small and short, spanning only half the length of the book. However, it was enough to calm Garen''s anxiety.


    Princess Aine had indeed put in a lot of effort. Hence, he had definitely owed her a huge favor.


    "I wish to have more of these kinds of favors. The more the merrier."


    ''Master, there is a new parcel. Please take note. There is a new parcel. Please Take note.'' The intelligent system rang.


    "Clean up the secret chamber," Garen ordered as he took off his shirt that had been stained with minced flesh and blood. He left it in the secret chamber as he walked out of it with his undershirt.


    He felt different after entering the Two-Moons Level.


    It was as if he had tens of visions when he focused his sight on something. This feeling was similar to him being split into ten people looking at the same item and it felt very strange.


    Garen understood that these were the visions of his Energy Machines. His Energy Machines didn''t die as they exploded. Instead, they lost their material body and had merged with his Willpower. They would then fight alongside him in a unique way.


    This was the unique characteristic of Planet Naga''s Energy Machinist. They were able to nurture their Energy Machines and absorb it to be a part of them.


    "What powerful force¡­"


    Garen gently clenched his fist and he could feel that his body was extremely energized. Energy kept flowing out from his abdomen and spread across his entire body. He then looked at his Attribute Pane.


    He was stunned as he looked at it.


    His Strength had increased by 21 points! Agility had increased by five points and his Vitality, which was very great at the foundation had increased by twenty points!


    It was an extreme change.


    His strength had soared to the twenties from the single digit!


    He then looked at the values again in case he saw it wrongly.


    ''Nonosiva Lin -- Strength 24.1, Agility 12.1, Vitality 24.8, Intelligence 8.1, Potential 230%, Soul Limit 40.''


    "The strength of Resonance¡­. Is this powerful!! No wonder they say that the Resonance Level and a typical Level Five are two worlds apart! No wonder¡­" Garen instantly understood why the Resonance Level was segregated from Level Five and had their own Levels from the New Moon to Two-Moons.


    "Indeed, the difference is too drastic and it''s basically at a different level!"

 1049 Sudden Change 1

    "I''ve spent so many potential points and all I''ve gotten was such a small increment in physical characteristics. The stats instantly increased to the twenties the moment I entered Resonance! These potential points have been spent¡­" Garen shook his head. While feeling happy, he also felt unfortunate for using the potential points wrongly.


    "The main effect of the potential points should be used on recovery and increasing the technique''s abilities instead of increasing my physical characteristics!"


    Garen pondered as he walked towards his mansion to retrieve the parcel.


    There was a specialized room for the parcel''s dimensional jump inside the Planet Naga''s mansion.


    It was fully automated and didn''t require any human intervention.


    He walked passed the white corridor, living room and entered into another corridor before taking the elevator down.


    He went straight to the 25th floor of the basement.


    After a few seconds, the elevator rang.


    The silver door opened to the sides and Garen walked out of the elevator as he moved his body about. He needed to get used to the rapid increase in strength and physical attributes in order to unleash his true potential.


    "I guess it makes sense. If the Energy Machinists from Planet Naga do not have a way to rapidly increase their physical attributes, how are they able to battle against those Pilots who are able to destroy everything? Although twenty plus points of Strength looks extremely powerful, they''re pretty much equal with the Pilots who are at the peak of Resonance Level. Hence, it''s not something over-exaggerated."


    Garen had thought everything through. It would be weird if there wasn''t such a huge increment, otherwise, how would they be able to fight toe to toe with those powerful Pilots? They fused themselves with the Pilots and turned into a cyborg state. Those who stood at the top were able to destroy the whole planet!


    As he walked out of the elevator, the first thing he saw was a silver gyroscopic-looking machine. However, it was much more complicated than a gyroscope as the machine had countless small mechanical parts with a small black sphere which kept rotating in the middle.


    It was a Miniature Transmission Point.


    Garen reached out his hand and gently touched on the black ball.


    ''Parcel has been received and there is a voice message attached.'' The Intelligent System spoke.


    In an instant, Accord''s voice rang up.


    "I''ve sent the items to you. Don''t complain that there''s very little them or that they''re extremely short. You should do with what you have."


    Shuffle!


    A black light shone as a small tree branch-liked item levitated in front of the sphere. It was the Staff of Absolute Yin.


    However, this Staff of Absolute Yin was rather short.


    Garen was speechless as he pinched at the Staff of the Absolute Yin who was thinner than a chopstick and had the length of a thumb.


    "I knew I shouldn''t have any high expectation in that kid¡­"


    He was at a loss on whether to cry or laugh as what could this puny Staff of Absolute Yin achieve? Its quality was extremely odd as Garen could only feel four or five Potential Points from the item¡­


    He turned around with the item in his hand as he walked towards the elevator. He was firm in scolding him when they met up as he seemed to be not serious about doing his work.


    Then, Garen felt a faint threat approaching him from the back. His expression changed as he tried to evade by stepping forward, but he was pulled back by a strong gravitational force.


    Garen quickly turned around as he gathered his tremendous strength, preparing to release it.


    However, Garen''s expression changed the moment he saw what was pulling him in.


    Kaboom!!!


    "Fuck!!!"


    A pile of items the size of a small mountain crashed Garen onto the floor.


    Boom!!!


    "Accord you bitch!!"


    Dust floated about in the room as Garen''s voice could be faintly heard underneath the small mountain.


    The small mountain was actually endless Staff of Absolute Yin similar to the one before!!


    They were so densely packed that no one knew how many they were in that pile!


    "Hahaha!!!" Accord''s image appeared behind the small mountain as he kept laughing.


    "Garen, you do have such a day after all!" He laughed until tears started flowing out and he couldn''t stand still. "Did you really believe what I said? You deserve to be crushed to death for believing me!"


    Only one of Garen''s hands could be seen. He immediately put away his strength as he realized that they were a pile of Staff of Absolute Yins. As he had a strong boost in strength, he wasn''t used to it and the moment he tried to put away his strength, he injured himself. To run salt into the wound, he was crushed by a small mountain as well.


    "Just you wait!!" Garen''s anger could be heard underneath the small mountain.


    "Come! Hit me if you have the guts!" Accord laughed maniacally.


    Boom¡­ Garen crawled out from the small mountain and felt extremely angry the moment he saw Accord. His dignity had been totally thrown away. However, he looked at the amount of Staff of Absolute Yin that weighed no less than a ton.


    "I promise not to kill you based on the amounts you''ve sent me!!"


    He gritted his teeth.


    "You!? Pfft!"


    Accord then gave him two middle fingers.


    Both of them could see the happiness within each other.


    "Thanks," Garen''s expression turned from anger to a cold smile. "Don''t worry, I''ll make sure you don''t die when the time comes."


    "Look who''s talking!" Accord laughed.


    As Accord''s image disappeared in front of him, the smile on Garen''s face turned into a genuine smile from deep within him.


    He looked at the tiny Staffs of Absolute Yin on the ground. Perhaps it would be more fitting to call these the Branches of Absolute Yin instead of the Staff of Absolute Yin. With so many of them, it was as if they were glowing in Potential Points from Garen''s point of view.


    "This guy. Can''t he send it over in a more normal way?"


    He shook his head as he decided to sit in front of the pile of Branches of Absolute Yin. He then quietly reached out his hand and started absorbing the Potential Points.


    No matter how these things were stored, they were no match in absorbing Potential Points inside his body.


    After two hours, Garen finally pulled away his palms and opened his eyes, staring at the Branches of Absolute Yin, he was very satisfied with the outcome.


    This was the most he had absorbed in the past two years.


    These pile of branches had given him 652 Potential Points. It was the first time that he had obtained so many points after leaving the Totem World.


    As the Branches of Absolute Yin had a dense body, Garen was rather satisfied to be able to absorb so many Potential Points from a ton of these branches.


    Without hesitation, Garen stood up and looked at his Genetic Pane.


    The Blood Eagle Gene had no other reaction since the last increment.


    "This is normal since it is hard for the gene to change once it has settled down. Fortunately, I have a pile of Ancient Gene Liquids which can be used to enhance it once."


    He immediately turned around and rushed towards his laboratory. The very thing that he wanted to do now was to continue enhancing his Blood Eagle+2 Gene and see what realm it could achieve.


    However, absorbing the Gene Strengthening Liquid was a long process and he needed to prepare a few things before doing so.


    ************


    The Scarlet Snow Planet had become peaceful once again as Garen shut himself away from the rest of the world.


    Two years later¡­


    It was winter as snow danced about in the white sky at the peak of Scarlet Snow Planet.


    The Flying Ship carrying a new batch of Three Hearted Disciples suddenly shot out from the Dimensional Tunnel. The silver light left behind after the jump of the Flying Ship had covered the entire ship as if it were covered with a layer of silver.


    A fleet of black flying ships which resembled the battle jets decreased their speed. There were many guards at the bottom guarding it as it landed at the peak.


    Inside the ship were three young disciples admiring the natural snowy beauty outside the plane through the glasses.


    "Two of my junior disciples, you''ve been selected as a unique disciple to train in the home planet. Try not to disappoint the expectations of The Elder," the oldest young man smiled as he told the two disciples who were sitting behind him.


    "I will!" Two of them replied without agreeing beforehand.


    One of the two disciples had hair as white as snow. His expression was cold, giving off a noble vibe.


    The other one had black skin, thick eyebrows and big eyes. He looked very ordinary.


    "Especially you, White Night. Your physical attributes are best suited to practice my Scarlet Snow Technique and people like you appear once in a millennium. The Elder has very high expectations of you," the young man looked at the white-haired man and said gently.


    "I understand. I will not disappoint The Elder," White Night nodded seriously.


    "It''s a coincidence that your senior brother and sisters didn''t go out recently, so you guys can visit them and learn a thing or two from them. However, you have to take care of yourselves. There are a few of them that you have to be wary of," the young man started to fill them in on the situation.


    "One of them is your Great Senior Brother Carthage. He came out from his shut in a year ago and had entered the Inherited Level, commanded all the disciples from the Scarlet Snow Sect to the Void Battle. He came back with a big victory. They fought against the Great Senior Sister of the Blue Frost Sect who was a Non-Falling Level. He is currently shutting himself away from the world to absorb in all the experience during the battle. It''s best for you guys to not disturb and visit him," the youngster warned gently. "There are others that you have to be wary of. Not doing this may put your lives in danger."


    "Oh?" White Night seemed to be interested. "I came here because I heard that Great Senior Brother Carthage is here. Is there someone else that we need to be wary of?"


    "Of course," the youngster smiled. "Among the Three Hearted Disciples, you two are considered to be the weakest. There are three people that you have to be wary of."


    "Please enlighten us, senior brother," White Night said coldly. In comparison to the other young man, he had a much colder and calmer personality.


    "The first one you need to have your eyes on is the number six senior brother Angola. This senior brother doesn''t have a good attitude. Don''t say that I didn''t warn you if he were to seriously injure you two," the youngster laughed.


    "The second one is the number nine Demonic Spirit Solomon. Half a year ago, there was an anomaly when she was learning the Great Cold Night Fist. It''s best that you two don''t look at her strangely or else don''t say that I didn''t warn you if she kills you both."


    "There is another man, who has just turned into a Three Hearted Disciples just two years ago. He''s currently number twelve Garen. He was rumored to be the one who murdered Senior Brother Ron and Senior Brother Barlow two years ago. However, it was unsure why the elder didn''t pursue further. It was fortunate that Ron and Barlow had done a lot of bad deeds and their reputations were very bad. Hence, there wasn''t much of an uproar. However, one could see that the number twelve is extremely cruel so it''s best for you to not mess with him."


    "In addition to those, your twelveth senior brother is also our second genius in the Scarlet Snow Sect. He was already a Level Five two years ago before he shut himself away from the rest of the world. I wonder how he is doing now," the youngster added.


    "What about the strength between Moonshine and Star Plate? Do we have to be wary of these two?" White Night asked softly.


    "There''s no need for that as the Moonshine is about to merge into the Star Plate¡­" The youngster smiled as his eyes glimmered.


    White Night and the other black young man''s eye glimmered as well as they pondered.


    "There haven''t been any huge incidents in the past six months so please feel free to learn without any worries. You should make use of the Great Wall Library and Ancestral Temple to further improve yourselves and earn the opportunity to enter the Frost Hell," the young man said as he smiled gently.


    "Thank your Senior Brother for your guidance," two of them said politely.


    Clank¡­ Clank¡­ Clank¡­


    Suddenly the bell rang at the peak of the snowy mountain from afar.


    "What is this? The assembly bell?" The youngster was stunned. "What issue requires the assembly bell?"

 1050 Sudden Change 2

    "What! Say that again!?"


    Within the Great Wall Library, the lady in the white shirt suddenly sprung up from her original cross-legged position. Her eyes were opened wide, two rays of snow-white light beams were shooting out from her eyes, then instantly fading away.


    All the effort she spent practicing the Gaze Strike Secret Method had been crushed.


    However, the lady did not seem to have even an ounce of regret, she was just solemnly staring at the white-shirted disciple here to make his report.


    "Your Tenth Royal Highness, Her Fifth Royal Highness Rainy has committed treason against the sect, she has been taken in for interrogation. The Elders are asking you to head over to the meeting hall and pass judgment on her actions," the white-shirted disciple answered coldly, not showing even a hint of expression.


    "Sister Rainy¡­?!! Treason? Impossible!" The lady in the white shirt had a cold expression, her chest rapidly thumping, refusing to believe what he had said.


    "It is the Elders'' order," the disciple replied coldly.


    "Two years ago, sister Rainy left to attend to some private matters and was never heard from since. Now you''re suddenly telling me that she has committed treason against the sect?!" The lady chuckled coldly. "You''re lying!!"


    He suddenly reached out her hand, her arm instantaneously elongated, grabbing the disciples head with her claw-like hand.


    Boom!!


    The white-shirted disciple''s head was instantly crushed, turning into countless metal scraps and pieces.


    "I hate liars the most!! Anyone who lies to me shall die!!"


    In the spur of the moment, the lady in the white shirt struck her palm down.


    With a small boom, the disciple''s entire body immediately exploded into countless parts flying all over the place and slowly melting away.


    Surprisingly, all of these pieces seemed to be made of sculpted ice.


    "Your Royal Highness Aloran, this is the order by the Elders," the remaining half of his head started saying slowly.


    Swiftly standing up, the lady crushed the remains of the head with a stomp, her facial expressions remained cold.


    "I refuse to believe that sister Rainy will do this sort of thing!"


    She strode out of the room. Her figure started shining, as she immediately disappeared.


    ******


    Scarlet Snow Main Peak


    Courtroom Basilica


    Numerous white humanoid sculptures that were hundreds of meters tall surrounded the basilica. The floor was made of ice, engraved with thick and ancient patterns.


    In between the white sculptures came a breeze of icy cold wind that was dozens of degrees below the freezing point, causing a low whistling sound similar to that of a ghost''s hisses.


    This was the Courtroom, the place where all the crime within the Scarlet Snow Sect was trialed against.


    A soft white light permeated through the pure white basilica, almost as if it was natural moonlight.


    At this moment, the originally quiet Courtroom had already been filled up with groups of people.


    Sitting at the very top were the three Elder, their hair was completely white and their faces were covered with wrinkles. They all had different body shapes.


    The Great Elder was extremely portly, his five-meter wide body looked almost as if a meat mountain.


    The Second Elder was seemingly always asleep. No one was sure of whether he was truly asleep or not since his eyes were always closed.


    The Third Elder was a dwarf. He looked the size of a mere child, but his face revealed his unwavering killing intent. The long white robe he was wearing was enough to completely wrap his entire body up.


    Right below the Elders stood a row of Three-Hearted Disciples all looking downwards. Almost all of the Three-Hearted disciples were present today. With the exception of those in the midst of their training or missions, almost everyone was here.


    Standing at the very front of all of them was Carthage, the strongest Scarlet Snow genius from the legends.


    Just from his looks alone, he seemed to be just an average young man. There was nothing special about him, he did not have any sort of tyrannical air to him, nor did he have any strong elite aura. He just seemed like a normal man in his twenties, young, mature, and calm, as if he did not have a care in the world. His looks were not exceptionally charming as well. In a white shirt, if he did not stand at the front of all the Three-Hearts, there probably would not even be a person who could recognize him.


    Behind him was a person who was completely wrapped in a white robe. You could barely even see her face, but from the figure, it seemed to be a girl.


    The third spot was empty, Eva was still out on a mission and was not back yet as she was still in another Star Region.


    The fourth spot was also empty while the fifth spot supposed to be Rainy.


    However, at this moment, Rainy was kneeling at the bottom of this basicula, her hair was a mess and she was covered in blood stains, facing the three Elders.


    Her pale face did not reveal even a shred of emotion, only a sense of calmness. A big scarlet red bird was wrapped around her neck, almost as if a noose, restricting all her willpower and combat abilities.


    "Rainy oh Rainy¡­ You were always so smart and mature, why in the world would you do such a thing!?" The second-ranked Three-Heart in the white robe cried in agony, her voice melodious and crisp.


    "Sister¡­ I broke the sect''s laws and passed down our Frost Secret Seed to an outsider. I am at guilty, I, Rainy, shall gladly accept my punishment," Rainy looked at the white-robed figure, then calmly replied.


    Frost Secret Seed!


    With this confession, the surrounding Scarlet Sect internal members that gathered here started chattering about.


    Rainy raised her head and surveyed the crowds.


    Most of the people were looking at her in shock, some gave looks of sympathy, whilst some glared at her in rage. After all, the Frost Secret Seed was the greatest discovery their predecessors have found back in the Frost Hell. Losing just one of them would mean that the Scarlet Snow Sect would lose one of their unique and strong skills.


    This was something that negatively affects everyone here.


    She looked over to her friends within the Three-Hearts arguing and debating with each other, occasionally throwing her a complicated look of both anger and concern.


    Woosh!


    A trail of a white shadow landed in the row of the Three-Hearts. It was the tenth-ranked Aloran, her good friend who had always been stationed at the Great Wall Library. At this moment, she had unexpectedly left her duties at the Great Wall Library to come over to the Courtroom.


    Amongst the loud chatter in the basicula, Rainy saw Aloran agitatedly talking to the Second Elder about some stuff, however, the Second Elder remained motionless, as if he was legitimately sleeping.


    All of the sounds seemed to repeatedly echo in her mind, it started to make her slightly light-headed and fatigued.


    After searching for half of her lifetime, this result might just be her karma. Everything seemed to be part of her destiny¡­ one that you cannot change.


    "Hmph! Frost Secret Seed¡­ How many years has it been? Losing this Frost Secret Seed is equivalent to losing one of my Scarlet Snow Sect''s unique types of frost legacies. I suggest that Rainy be punished with capital punishment!" The Great Elder coldly stated. His plum portly body seemed to emit a sort of mechanical metallic sound, seeming very strange.


    "There are rules to that need to be followed. As one of the strongest sects, being more powerful than numerous countries, once you join, you have to play by our rules! If we start making exceptions, then everyone would start to hope to be pardoned for their crimes! That would cause utter chaos within our entire sect!?" The Third Elder joined in, his voice as sharp as a young boy''s, but at the same time leaving a hint of icy cold cruelness, just listening to it would send shivers down one''s spine.


    He stood on top of the Elder''s seat coldly grinning, giving out a chilling atmosphere.


    "Hence, I agree with the judgment, she should face capital punishment. Not just that, everyone associated with her shall also be captured as criminals and face similar punishments! Destroying the issue from its roots! Second Elder, what are your thoughts?"


    The two''s voices completely eclipsed over the chattering of the entire hall, almost as if their voices were being completely negated. Whenever they tried to speak, they suddenly felt that they could no longer let their voices out.


    On top of the courtroom, a blurry layer of white light screen covered the sky above the hall, creating a circular light disc, slowly turning.


    After the Elders'' statements, the crowds immediately silenced. Everyone shifted their attention towards the Second Elder. The other two Elders'' stances on the issue were clear, however, the opinion of the Second Elder, who was the strongest amongst the three, still remained an important factor.


    "Carthage¡­" The Second Elder opened his eyes, his gaze falling upon the first of the Three-Hearts. "What are your thoughts?"


    Carthage looked calm, realistically speaking, Rainy was one of the best generals within his Star Plate organization, he naturally would not want to lose such a talent. The intent of asking for his opinion on the issue was obvious.


    The other two Elders'' gazes also shifted towards Carthage.


    A few of the Three-Hearted disciples have already started to split into two factions, one side for the judgment and the other against it. Whilst debating amongst themselves, they had also set their attention on Carthage.


    Everyone understood that, after his victory in the battle against the Great Senior Sister of the Blue Frost Sect, this Three-Heart''s potential had reached an immeasurable height. With his current level, becoming an Elder in the future was just a prophecy waiting to happen.


    "In my opinion, this crime does not warrant a death punishment," Carthage slowly opened his mouth, his voice calm.


    It was to be expected.


    The Great Elder let out a displeased grunt, whilst the Third Elder glared daggers at Carthage, his hands in his pockets as he ground his teeth.


    "However¡­" Carthage once again spoke. "Leaking a precious treasure of the sect, she should have her abilities nullified and face a life sentence being trapped in the Frost Hell and suffer from the Ten-Thousand Heart-Eating Worms."


    Almost instantly, the whole hall completely silenced.


    Everyone, from the three Elders to the row of Three-Hearts to the gathered disciples, was shocked from what Carthage had said.


    The Ten Thousand Heart-Eating Worms, it was a fate worse than death! Only the worst of the worst criminals in the sect were given such a torturous punishment.


    "Great Senior Brother, you bastard!" The tenth-ranked Aloran''s face revealed an insuppressible rage. She understood that Carthage was trying to gain the favor of the sect''s higher-ups, thus he had no choice but to act altruistically and strand on the side of justice, otherwise, he would lose the support of the masses.


    However, as a fellow member of the Star Plate, she could not even express her current feelings of rage and anger.


    "Sigh¡­ I firmly stand by my opinion," The Second Elder let out a long sigh.


    As he once again shut his eyes, a wave of formless energy field started being emitted from his body.


    Whoosh¡­ Almost as if a small spring breeze with the Second Elder as the center, a huge formless energy shrouded the entire basilica, engulfing everyone in it.


    "I disagree," The Great Elder spat out coldly, slamming his hands angrily at the armrests of his seat.


    Bam!!


    A similar type of formless energy field started bursting out, taking up a third of the basilica''s space.


    "So do I!" The Third Elder sharply smiled, his body starting to emit a third wave of energy fields, once again taking up a portion of space within the basilica.


    However, to everyone''s surprise, the combined energy fields of the two was barely able to match the Second Elder''s energy field, it seemed to even be ever so slightly weaker.


    Having his energy field being slightly suppressed, the Second Elder narrowed his eyes. An even stronger wave of energy fields started to burst out of his body.


    A huge pressure suddenly rushed out like a Tsunami.


    Whoosh¡­


    Everyone in the basilica could vaguely hear the sounds of a cold windstorm brewing, snowflakes fluttering in the air.


    Just purely based on his energy field coverage, the Second Elder managed to have a concrete effect on the surroundings. It was utterly terrifying!


    Some of the weaker disciples started experiencing breathing difficulties and physical stiffness, forcing them to retreat dozens of meters away, leaving the basilica to stop their suffering.


    The stronger disciples were forcefully resisting the effects. However, their faces all started to turn pale one after the other, seeming that they would not be able last much longer.

 1051 Surprise Attack 1

    First Elder and Third Elder''s countenance changed slightly. They exchanged glances and saw that both were astounded.


    "This old fellow''s strength has improved!"


    "Regarding the verdict this time, just do as I say..." Second Elder slowly opened his mouth.


    "Teacher, this time you are wrong."


    At this moment, a dull voice sounded.


    Boom!!!


    A violent gust of Level Four energy field ferociously broke out in the midst of the three great Non-Falling-Level energy fields.


    It was Carthage!


    His whole head of hair was faintly flaming as if there was a light-red flame ignited on his hair, but there was no temperature spreading out.


    His energy field was tenaciously and firmly embedded in between the two elders'' force field. Like the last weight on a scale, the original disadvantage had now tipped over to become an advantageous situation for him. It was compressing Second Elder''s energy field bit by bit.


    Second Elder''s eyes widened at once and he gazed quietly at Carthage, the disciple he himself had trained. For the first time, this was the first time he could not understand this humble and polite child.


    "Since every place has their own set of rules, Teacher, in order to not disappoint all the disciples, you should really listen to Great Senior Brother about Rainy''s punishment." A calm figure suddenly appeared in the line of Three-Hearted and stood directly in the twelfth position.


    This calm figure could actually open his mouth to speak up amidst the three Non-Falling-Level force. His voice traveled clearly into everyone''s ears.


    "Garen! You!" A white-shirted Aloran mustered up all her powers but barely managed to spread her voice. She was instantly stunned as she stared at Garen with his calm face.


    Compared to the relaxed sound transmission skill of the other party, her strenuous effort immediately contrasted the skill gap between the two.


    At this time, Garen was in the same Three-Hearted white clothes with a blue scimitar on his waist. He was looking calmly at his teacher ¨C Second Elder.


    He glanced below at the deadpan Rainy. A trace of guilt flashed through his eyes. Turning back, he and Carthage''s eyes officially met for the first time.


    Both the first genius and the second genius of Scarlet Snow Sect finally met formally for the first time. Both parties might have known each other more or less from different channels, but this was the first time they had met each other.


    Carthage''s expression was plain. He was not at all moved by Garen''s showing up.


    On the other hand, Garen was smiling slightly.


    In the basilica, energy fields were violently rubbing, counteracting and colliding against one another. At every minute and every second, the three elders and Carthage were exhausting horrific power. Moreover, there was the Qi''s Dynamic confrontation of Mirror-Level Martial Arts Realms.


    Time ticked by bit by bit...


    At last.


    Second Elder closed his eyes tiredly.


    Just when he retracted his energy field, First Elder, Third Elder, and Carthage also pulled back their own energy field, restoring calmness.


    "Take Rainy down to the Heavy Water Prison."


    The sharp voice of Third Elder sounded again. He looked admiringly at Carthage and Garen. "You are indeed Second Elder''s disciples. You know how to bear the overall situation in mind and put the general interest above all. That''s good, that''s good."


    Two white-armored guards appeared in a flash and took hold of Rainy. They immediately turned around and walked on.


    Second Elder said nothing.


    First Elder was so pleased that he laughed out loud.


    This was the first time the two had won Second Brother in a direct confrontation.


    As Rainy was taken away, some people sighed in pity, some gloated, but more were those who had nothing to do with this, whose horizon was widened by the scene of the big bosses engaging one another.


    If the entire basilica did not have a muting light curtain, it would have already become a rowdy market.


    After everything was settled, Second Elder disappeared silently from his seat.


    The remaining two elders looked at Carthage and Garen.


    "You two were very good. Hehe, hehe..." The chubby First Elder laughed, vanishing instantly.


    Third Elder also disappeared from his seat.


    Carthage nodded to Garen, turned around and flew away. He turned into a red ray of light in a trice, blazing and disappearing into the air.


    Only the line of Three-Hearted was left on the spot.


    "Garen, you ungrateful thing!!" The white-shirted Aloran darted at Garen and punched him in the abdomen.


    Boom!


    Her punch hit its target. A fist of intangible energy field broke through and emerged from Garen''s back. The intangible force smashed the tray on one of the stone pillars in the basilica into two halves.


    The chestnuts on it rolled down to the floor.


    Garen let her punch at his lower abdomen and was motionless.


    "How did Sister Rainy teach you back then?! How did Senior Sister Eva help speak kindly on your behalf! Who helped you to resolve the matter between you and Ron!" Aloran cried.


    "Even if you don''t have much gratitude, you shouldn''t have harmed her!!" She wept out loud.


    Garen took a deep breath. Blood was spilling out from the corner of his mouth.


    "Senior Sister, this is no longer a personal matter..."


    He could never stand on Rainy''s side. When Garen heard this news as soon as he finished his cultivation, his heart also struggled for a long time before making this decision. He knew that this choice was doomed to be despised. But he could never give up his development in the sect for Rainy.


    He was grateful to Rainy for guiding him and helping him to enter the sect, but this was not enough to make him give up some things and abandon his plan.


    He noticed that the gaze of the people looking at him had become scornful and disdainful. Unable to distinguish between gratefulness and hatred, if such a person could give up a friend just for justice, he could give up the second time.


    No one was willing to deal with such people.


    Sigh...


    With a sigh, Garen turned around and left slowly.


    Rainy had given him guidance on the integration of Martial Arts Realm. He had just merged into his Resonance Crystal when he received the news of Rainy was to be tried. He was immediately shocked and quickly got out from his cultivation. However, he did not expect the consequence to be this serious.


    *************************


    Night ¨C


    Heavy Water Prison


    In a single cell deep in the water dungeon-like prison, Rainy''s hair was disheveled and her lower body was soaked in a pitch-black mercury-like liquid.


    The liquid was extremely corrosive and was constantly eroding her power and body. The subtle buzzing sounds it produced gave people the creeps.


    The faint moonlight shone through the only window overhead. Rainy stood in the beam of the moonlight and looked up at the night sky motionless.


    "Senior Sister."


    A voice suddenly traveled in from the window.


    Garen''s face appeared at the window and was peering down at Rainy.


    "You have obviously broken through, why didn''t you flee? Being at the peak of Inherited Level and adding on your Silver Mirror Martial Arts Realm, if you had wanted to escape, no one but the elders and Great Senior Brother could catch you."


    Silence.


    Rainy did not answer. She just lowered her head and stood calmly in the heavy water.


    "Great Senior Brother sent people to hunt down the child to whom you gave the Frost Secret Technique to..." Garen spoke gently.


    Immediately, Rainy''s body shook slightly.


    Garen shook his head helplessly. He opened the window softly and used a rope to let down a basket of food and fruits. After retracting the rope, he looked once more at Senior Sister Rainy.


    Still motionless, without any response. The food basket was simply left to float beside her on the heavy water.


    Closing the window, Garen turned and slowly walked out of the Heavy Water Prison, following the dark underground stone tunnel back up.


    The large-stone tunnel was like the underground passage of a castle. There were torches that were lit up with a fire that could burn for a thousand years on both sides of the wall and the orange-yellow flames were constantly making a crackling sound. The yellow fire, which reflected Garen''s shadow, kept on wavering.


    The tunnel spiraled upwards and was without steps. It was an even slope for the convenient of transporting items.


    Suddenly, two tall persons dressed in white approached from the top. Of these two, the left man wore a Three-Hearted Crystal Pauldron and a thick cloak drooped straight behind him. It was eye-catching.


    Garen had already memorized all the information of Three-Hearted. He recognized who this Three-Hearted was at a glance.


    He looked up slightly.


    "For what purpose Senior Brother Mies is not at Third Elder''s place listening to his teachings but have come here at such a late hour?"


    It was the eighth-ranked Moonshine''s higher-ups, Mies.


    No one knew his surname. Everyone knew that he was called Mies. This long-faced man''s character was exactly the same as that of Third Elder, sly and suspicious.


    Mies smiled faintly.


    "Being the disciple of the same sect together with Senior Sister Rainy, I came here to see her for the last time. But I do wonder what Junior Brother Garen is here for?"


    He looked like a very thin and refined young man. But if it were not a few major events which made everyone aware of his true colors, no one would have expected him to be a cunning man. This face was the most deceiving.


    "What you have come to do, I have come to do." Garen smiled and answered calmly.


    The two passed by each other.


    Suddenly Mies stood firm and turned his head slightly.


    "I heard that a spy intruded into Scarlet Snow Sect on the night before yesterday. I wonder if Junior Brother Garen spotted any clues?"


    "I''ve been secluded in cultivation and had just come out, but I didn''t find anything," Garen answered with a faint smile.


    "If there''s any news, remember to inform me first..." Mies smiled. "As the law enforcement officer of the sect, a lot of things can be dealt with in a smooth and logical fashion. It''s much easier. Don''t you think so?"


    Garen opened his mouth, but he suddenly felt a sharp force field rushing over from behind, like some kind of high-speed-flying hidden weapon.


    Whoo!


    His energy field operated behind him. A mighty intangible force field appeared in the moment, blocking that sharp force field.


    Zzz...!


    In the sharp friction sound, the two force fields slammed together, violently turned and rubbed against each other.


    A mighty air flow broke out between Garen and Mies, abrading both sides of the wall and causing the fire of the torch to flicker non-stop as if it might be extinguished at any time.


    Both of them did not directly make their move but instantly engaged with their Qi''s Dynamic energy field from the integration of the Resonance Crystal Core and Martial Arts Realm.


    Ah-woo...


    A black, giant wolf gradually emerged beside Garen. It was not an entity but an inexplicable natural form formed by the Qi''s Dynamic.


    A black spider slowly crawled on Mies'' shoulder. The corner of his mouth turned upwards.


    The Qi''s Dynamic between the two abruptly disappeared without a trace.


    The pounding footsteps gradually went further away toward the bottom.


    Garen stood on the spot and paused for a moment. The black wolf at his feet automatically broke apart and vanished. Garen''s face was expressionless. He withdrew his smile and continued to head up.

 1052 Surprise Attack 2

    The night was unusually gloomy. Dark clouds covered the moon little by little. Only the slightest gap projected the white beam of the moon.


    The Heavy Water Prison of Planet Scarlet Snow was located just below the Central Courtroom. There was only one passage around it, coming from a Three-Hearted Royal Highness'' residence in the outskirt.


    This road from the outermost Fifteenth Palace to the innermost First Palace was along the residence assigned to the Three-Hearted Disciples and Planet Scarlet headquarters, and at the same time, to defend against foreign invasion to the headquarters as it was the only road which must be passed. There were a total of fifteen villa palaces representing fifteen different levels of a defense.


    However, the ranking of Three-Hearted was not necessarily based on strength. Some ranked low but their strength was not bad. It was just because there was no formal challenge to a higher position so they stayed in the same spot.


    The entire Scarlet Snow headquarters, with the courtroom on the highest peak of Scarlet Snow at the center of it, was shaped like a giant nail. The tip of the nail was the entrance to the Fifteenth Manor.


    The rest of the surrounding area were thousands of miles of white snow and was sparsely populated.


    The territories of the elders in different seasons, as well as the Great Wall Library, were located far on the right side of this place. Only through jump-teleportation could one arrive in an instant.


    At this time, at the entrance of the Fifteenth Palace, white snow was flying around. The entrance point to the huge white buildings was this up to 162-meters tall, gigantic door of the Fifteenth Place.


    The large snowy white ice-door was like a polar iceberg that had not melted for 10,000 years. Its bottom had almost fused with the ground and blended into one. The door had not been opened for centuries.


    Everyone either used teleportation or flew in the air. None had walked through from here.


    But this hundreds-of-meter giant door at this moment finally ushered in its first visitors in centuries.


    Three youngsters were standing in front of the giant door, looking up at the ice-covered door that was hundreds of meters in height. They were not visitors invited by Scarlet Snow Sect, so naturally, they did not have the qualification to enter by flying in the air. That would cause them to be defeated by the huge defensive system. They were also not qualified to use the teleportation device that could instantly jump-teleport them inside.


    Therefore, they could only think of ways at the entrance on the ground.


    "The old woman is locked inside here?" The blonde young boy standing in front had a solemn face on. He was dressed in simple gray and long clothing. Both his wrists showed signs of being wrapped in white bandages.


    He was not tall, but the black epee he carried on his back revealed a simple sense of sharpness to his entire person.


    "If you all want to rescue Rainy, the only way is through this giant door." A voice in the void slowly sounded. "Hong Guo, this is the first test point."


    "The first?" The blonde young boy frowned. "That is to say, there are still many more at the back? Just say it all out. There''s bound to be a way."


    "You have the information provided by Fatty, so you should know that Scarlet Snow Sect is one of the Energy Machinists sects. It is also one of the strongest entities in this galaxy." That voice sounded out again. "So, you have to first think of a way to pass through this giant door, only then you are qualified to enter it and face the fifteen defense points on the inside."


    "Fifteen of the strongest people in Scarlet Snow Sect?" The young boy, Hong Guo, spat. When the spit landed on the ground, it was immediately frozen into an ice cube with a cracking sound.


    "Isn''t this too hard..." The look on one gentle young boy among the three was reluctant. "We had only come in contact with Energy Machinery for less than a year..."


    "If you''re afraid, then turn back." The third person was a girl. Her short, blonde hair was covered with a thick layer of white snowflakes. Her face was indifferent and her expression was plain as if nothing could shake her up. Both her hands had a dagger tied on them and she was dressed in a tight-fitting T-shirt plus a pair of white slim-fit jeans, looking very capable and revealing a good body shape and slender legs.


    "Since we have reached here, should we still go back?" said Hong Guo calmly. "I don''t know how strong the Three-Hearted on the inside is, but there are always ways to solve difficulties. If you stop because of fear, then you should not have come here in the first place."


    The gentle young boy lowered his head and clenched his fist.


    "If we''re gonna die, then let''s die together," the blonde girl said indifferently.


    "Courage is worthy of commendation, but let me tell you, the reason why I brought all of you here is that if you can really make your way through this path, then Scarlet Snow Sect will give those who cleared this path an opportunity to have their wish fulfilled." The voice rang out again and it could not be distinguished whether it was a male or female.


    "Oh? Any wish is possible?!" Hong Guo''s eyes suddenly brightened up.


    "Any wish is possible."


    "Hehe..."


    Hong Guo''s sight was fixed on the hundreds-of-meters huge door before him. After a strange laugh, he slowly pulled out the black epee at his back.


    ***********************


    Inside Scarlet Snow Sect headquarters


    The chilly cold wind continued to bring down snowflakes.


    In a small courtyard. The mysterious youth who had joined the sect together with White Night was holding a lean sword and standing quietly in the courtyard of his own Fifteenth Manor.


    In each of the four directions, there was a masked white-clothed man guarding his safety so as not to have anyone disturb him.


    The snow fell alongside him, but none were accumulated on his head and shoulders. He had just been assigned to the Fifteenth Royal Highness'' Fifteenth Manor. Without any moment of tiredness, he immediately went to the Great Wall Library and acquired a secret tactic from the secret manuals to cultivate.


    "It is really not easy to mingle to get into this place." No one realized that that mysterious youth with heavy features was silently communicating with an existence on his body.


    "As long as you have succeeded in coming in, there will bound to be opportunities to enter Frost Hell. Rest assured, as long as there are no unexpected incidents, Scarlet Snow Sect will definitely focus on nurturing you and that kid from Gideon clan. There will be no slack." A bewitching voice came into his mind, sounding neither male nor female, but there were some echoes in it.


    "After all, your talent genes are the blood lineage of the legendary White Dragon. As a Fantasy Dragon species that control frost, the higher-ups of Scarlet Snow Sect cannot afford to not take you seriously. At the crucial time, once you find the right opportunity, quietly make your move... Hehe..."


    The youth smiled lightly.


    Whish!


    The lean sword in his hand suddenly stabbed forward, hitting out a shimmering white ray, straight and long-lasting like a slender beam of light.


    Crack...


    In the meantime, there seemed to be a slight cracking sound coming from afar.


    The sound was very small and very light, but it could not be ignored.


    The mysterious youth was slightly startled. He turned to look in the direction of the sound.


    "What was that sound?"


    His Level Five Willpower burst into full force, turning into a white light and lasing out. It went straight to where the sound came from.


    The straight, slender white light suddenly emitted a pure light, illuminating everything that it passed. The white light swept through a row of sparse buildings, illuminating each sect members who were alerted by the sound and walked out of the buildings. These people, who were carefully selected from the outside world, were chosen from the most brilliant human beings on Planet Scarlet Snow to work here. Through centuries, they had gradually become a self-sufficient inheritance. Generations after generations lived in this vast field and there had not been any changes.


    The sound in the night at this time was a phenomenon that had never occurred over the centuries.


    The white beam of light shot out several kilometers, directly illuminating everything that it passed.


    The mysterious youth suddenly showed an expression as if seeing something interesting.


    "It actually..."


    It was at this moment when his voice had not faltered.


    Boom bam!!!


    Accompanied by the sound of countless glass cracking, the hundreds-of-meter giant door which had never been opened before actually cracked open a huge gap in this dark night.


    Countless crushed ice sprayed out from the gap and dropped down, crushing the houses on the ground and the street.


    The people below who were nearby cried out in panic and they madly fled far away, rolling and crawling in their rush.


    Shouts, sirens, screams, and the cries from being slammed by the huge ice pieces, were all submerged in the huge roar, fading in and out.


    "Interesting...how interesting...!" The youth held the sword up-side-down. The smile on his face was a stark contrast to the protectors around who had lost some of their cool.


    ***********


    Just out of the prison, Garen looked in the direction of the distant roar. That hundreds-of-meter giant door that was said to have not been opened and had been thought abandoned by everyone was actually opened tonight?


    Standing at the prison door, Garen gently gripped the hilt of the blue scimitar and closed his eyes. They were once again opened and he quietly walked towards the Twelfth Manor he lived in.


    Behind him was the huge, majestic and sharp-edged Scarlet Snow Peak Courtroom.


    ***********


    Inside First Manor


    In the desolated snowy center of First Manor, Carthage sat cross-legged in the snow. The surrounding was empty without any buildings. There was only some building debris that was buried under the heavy snow.


    In front of him stood the second-ranked person -- that mysterious woman whose body was wrapped in a white robe was Rainy''s older sister, Alice.


    Alice was a very common and popular name. But when used on this woman, no one ever felt it was common.


    As the original first powerhouse of Scarlet Snow Sect and at the same time, also the highest chief of Moonshine, nobody knew how long had Alice been in Scarlet Snow Sect. Perhaps for hundreds of years, perhaps thousands of years. No one knew.


    She was the earliest group of disciples of the entire Scarlet Snow Sect. There had also been many geniuses emerging throughout the years. But even as those characters either left or had fallen, she still remained in the chief position of Moonshine. There was no change.


    Every time a talented junior brother rose from behind, she was always willing to give up the first place and set herself as the second. No one knew what she was thinking about, nor did anyone know what she looked like.


    At this time, Alice only exposed a pair of light blue, slender eyes and was quietly watching Carthage sitting cross-legged in the snow.


    "You hear that? The trial door has been opened." Her sweet voice came from underneath the mask.


    "What about that?" Carthage said plainly, but his eyes were not even opened.


    "What would you do if they could come to your front?" Alice asked calmly.


    "What would you like me to do?" Carthage opened his eyes and there seemed to be black vortexes swirling in them. That pair of eyes stared right at Alice.


    Strands of invisible force field were spreading out slowly and the atmosphere was faintly solidified.

 1053 Surprise Attack 3

    "Go separate ways!"


    At the bottom of the trial door, three shadows went through the door and suddenly spread out, each darting in one direction.


    "Remember to gather at Fifteenth Palace!"


    A voice transmission was instantly transmitted from Hong Guo into the other two''s ears.


    The trio seemed to be very familiar with the terrain of Scarlet Snow Sect headquarters. After a few leaps, they had disappeared into the alleys.


    Most of the residents living in Scarlet Snow headquarters had not used force for many years. In the face of such situation, only a handful of security forces were still searching around. More were those who hid in their homes to wait for things to pass.


    And so, the three people barely got any hindrance in the vast residence land and reached the entry point of Fifteenth Palace right away. The only price was to defeat a few waves of security guards whom they came across by chance. The strongest guard was only the combat strength of a Level Three Energy Machinist who was easily resolved by them.


    The trio landed at the border of Fifteenth Palace and pushed open the wooden red door. Inside was the ranked fifteenth Three-Hearted Royal Highness'' residence that guarded the headquarters.


    The snow was getting heavier. The moonlight was obscured by the thick clouds and not a bit of it was leaked through.


    "No one here? What''s going on?" Hong Guo gripped his epee tightly. The moment he walked in, he did not even see a glimpse of a figure inside.


    "Come on, let''s go. Maybe we''re lucky and the owner had so happened to go out." The gentle young boy was a little scared and suggested.


    The two did not disagree. They quickly found a teleportation leaping point and stood in it. The leaping point which should have been locked was actually unlocked and lit up at this time.


    Hiss!


    The trio disappeared instantly from the leaping platform.


    None of them noticed that in the darkness, a figure slowly walked out and quietly watched them leaped away. It did not make any sound.


    ***************


    There were no snags. They passed through Fifteenth Manor, and after a fierce battle with White Night at Fourteenth Manor, the Level Four strength was defeated.


    Thirteenth Manor was empty at this time.


    Inside Heavy Water Prison.


    "Senior Sister! I''m here to get you out!" The prison window was opened and a stream of white radiance shot in, hitting precisely and breaking the chains and cuffs on her.


    Aloran jumped in and entered the heavy water with a splash.


    Rainy looked terribly wan at this time. Her initial thin appearance was now even more emaciated as if a breeze could blow her off her feet.


    "Aloran...don''t waste your energy...I''ve made a big mistake and I deserve to be punished..."


    She spoke slowly.


    "Don''t speak anymore! I''ll bring you out!" Aloran would not allow her to talk. Her hands drew out strokes of lines like silk. A large number of white lines intertwined, growing bigger and greater in number and quickly becoming a big white bird the height of a person.


    Gently placing Rainy on the white bird''s back, a white imprint suddenly lit up between Aloran''s eyebrows.


    "Neutral Traction! Go!" She hurriedly operated her Willpower and pointed on the white bird''s head.


    Gee...


    The white bird gave out a long cry, flapped its wings and rushed to the window overhead. They dashed out of the prison instantly.


    Pap, pap, pap, pap...


    Suddenly there was a clear applause outside of the prison.


    A bloody figure walked out of the prison''s shadow, exposing the face of a malicious man with an aquiline nose.


    "It''s a good plan...using a few cannon fodder to attract everyone''s attention while you yourself guard and steal and release the criminal¡­"


    "Angola..." Aloran was stunned. Her figure which was about to leave stopped instantly. Her eyes were fixed on the other party.


    "Releasing the criminal without permission and collaborating with outsiders to attack the headquarters. Tenth Aloran, what crime should you be guilty of?" Angola showed a savage smile.


    "It''s better if I help you to catch the criminal back to reduce your sins."


    Before his voice had faltered, Angola suddenly turned into a shadow of blood and rushed straight up to the exit.


    "Don''t even think about it!" Aloran rose into the sky and burst out strands of white lines, rushing toward Angola in all directions. "Sixth Angola, come slug it out!!"


    A big white bird slowly appeared beside her. It raised its head and gave out a sharp and long cry.


    Gee¡­!


    *************


    The big white bird carried Rainy and flew toward the darkness far away. There seemed to be a layer of dark yarn around it, covering and concealing its entire white body, making it completely hidden in the darkness.


    The big bird crossed the large buildings and passed through First Manor, Second Manor, Third Manor...


    Whish!!


    A red beam of light shot up into the sky from below. It was aimed at the bird''s head, ready to burst it into pieces.


    Before the attack had arrived, the powerful force field attack had caused the big bird to fall into a state of collapse where it could disperse at any time.


    "Blizzard Fist!!"


    A raging atmosphere charged upward and took on the form a white light beam as it fiercely broke apart the red light, resolving the crisis. Red and white light fragments scattered all over and descended like shining fluorescent snowflakes. It was exceptionally beautiful.


    On the snowfield below, a tall and robust figure appeared in a flash, as if jumping out of nowhere.


    "Demonic Spirit, you have come too..." The robust figure spoke in a deep male voice and looked into the darkness not far away.


    "Didn''t you also come?" A figure wrapped in a white strip of cloth resembling a mummy walked out of the darkness. Her exposed skin was all without the slightest skin surface and the red muscle beneath it was completely visible. It was horrifying.


    "Attacking the headquarters at night and setting the criminal free, this is a big crime." The robust man spoke in a low voice and stretched out his index finger. A laser-like red beam of light lengthened and shortened continually at his fingertip, making an ear-piercing sound.


    "You know what? King Cat, I really wanted to fight with you ten years ago. I didn''t expect to wait until now to have the chance." Demonic Spirit smiled sinisterly. "I have always wanted to know what qualification you have to be ranked fourth..."


    "Qualification? It seems that you''re wishing for death..." A massive force field swelled out of King Cat and turned into a big white cat with the tail of a red viper, crouching beside him.


    ******************


    Rushing footsteps ran across the snowfield.


    The boots stepping on the snow was making a rhythmical sound.


    A dark shadow beneath was chasing the white bird above. That mysterious youth who had just joined the sect, Fifteenth Three-Hearted Royal Highness, had a trace of greed at the corner of his mouth as he looked up at Rainy in the sky.


    "The extremely weak Inherited Level peak...if I can..." The greed in his eyes was almost becoming substantial.


    However, a giant body figure made him instantly dispel this idea.


    It was a large fish in the air. Its whole body was white and full of spikes. It was chubby like a ball and the entire ball-fish was four or five meters in diameter. Its two wide-eyed big eyes were blinking non-stop as it hovered mid-air and glared at the oncoming white big bird.


    "You''ve worked hard, little fellow." The ball-fish actually opened its mouth to speak, nodding its head toward the mysterious youth below. "Through the test this time, consider yourself part of Star Plate."


    The youth smiled, darted into the darkness and rushed toward his manor.


    Rainy crouched on the back of the white bird and smiled bitterly at the ball-fish.


    "Eleventh, why are you doing this...this is my own sin. It has to be bear by me alone."


    "What are you saying? You must believe in everyone. I believe that Great Senior Brother wouldn''t really want to keep you!" The ball-fish blew a bubble with its nose and spoke.


    "But this way, everyone will get into trouble because of me..." Rainy gave a wry smile.


    "It''s okay...just sleep. All will be well after a sleep. You are too weak now and you will hurt your Origin if you hold out anymore." The ball-fish exuded another bubble through his nose. It quickly became bigger and enveloped Rainy in it right away.


    The white bird finally broke up slowly and disappeared in mid-air.


    The bubble seemed to have a hypnotic effect. Wrapping Rainy in it, it actually quickly made her closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep gradually.


    The ball-fish looked at Rainy, who quickly drifted away, and shook his head slightly.


    "Although I am also a member of Moonshine, but compared to our friendship¡­"


    "Eleventh...some things cannot be violated." Suddenly, a calm voice suddenly sounded just below him.


    The eyes of the ball-fish immediately constricted and looked downward. A seemingly ordinary man with an imposing sense of infinity was standing on the snowfield just below him.


    "Carthage..."


    He spoke with a bit of sorrow.


    In the Elders'' Manor faraway


    Second Elder slowly closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. He got up and left the front of the monitoring crystal wall.


    *****************


    The body of the huge ball-fish was frozen in the center of a gigantic ice block and erected in the middle of the snowfield.


    The ball-fish had its eyes wide opened while a complex imprint was converged between its two short fins. But he himself and the incomplete white imprint were frozen and sealed in the ice block.


    Carthage placed one hand on his sword and looked plainly at Rainy, who was gradually heading away. With a light leap, his figure actually crossed a distance of tens of meters in the blink of an eye and appeared on the snowfield directly underneath Rainy''s bubble.


    Leaping again, he appeared in the air within a distance of fewer than ten meters in the blink of an eye and reached out to grab the bubble right away.


    Clang!!!!


    His hands did not grab the bubble but a silvery white scimitar instead. It was a demonic blade with its hilt blazing a blue flame.


    A round of substantial-like terrific shock wave broke out from the contact point of the hand and the blade, instantly destroying all the surveillance facilities around.


    "You are?!" Carthage''s eyes which were without any motion all this while for the first time changed slightly.


    The response given to him was a low and light shout.


    "Sunlight."


    Immediately, endless light shrouded him. It was an endless blue light that radiated like the sun. Endless light and warmth shined fiercely upon Carthage.


    He did not dodge and could not dodge!


    In the split moment, Carthage only had time to use his right hand to block the front of him.


    *****************


    "What happened? How come I can''t see anything more?" Inside First Elder''s manor, First Elder and Third Elder sat in huge chairs and watched the monitor wall in front of them, but the sudden scene wrecked all their monitors straight away.


    "Someone deliberately damaged the monitors to get out of our surveillance." Third Elder laughed sharply. "It seems that there are still many things in the headquarters that we don''t know very well..."


    "What''s the point of saying all this? Want to go and see for ourselves?" First Elder''s hand was still clutching a large piece of shiny brown barbecued meat, which seemed to be a giant creature''s thigh meat. He bit it, tore the meat and chomped loudly.


    "We can''t make our moves, otherwise Second Brother would take action for sure. Our purpose is to stay here to stop Second Brother from breaking the rules." Third Elder shook his head.


    "Does this mean that there isn''t any more show to watch?" First Elder was speechless.


    "It doesn''t matter. Aren''t the three little fellas still there?" Third Elder tapped his finger lightly. The over ten meters of tall stone-walls immediately displayed the image of the scene on the other side.


    The three male and female youngsters who intruded into the headquarters were now in Eight Manor and battling face-to-face with the eight ranked Mies.

 1054 Surprise Attack 4

    The three people were surrounded by ice-blue light spots, pure like the elves'' blue light spots. Under the radiance of these light spots, their speed of action seemed to have increased, even the blood flow from their wounds would be instantly stopped by a layer of thin ice.


    Mies was tall and thin. There was an obvious mocking look on his face as he stood in the middle of a formation, surrounded by the three.


    "So weak..." He cocked his head to a side and spit out these simple words.


    An invisible transparent energy field emanated from him. The energy field expanded and became bigger and higher like haze. It quickly formed a huge sphere that was more than ten meters high.


    Swoosh swoosh swoosh...


    Sharp hairy spikes were suddenly projected out of the ball. The entire sphere became a giant energy-field-spider in less than half a second.


    Whish!


    One of the spider''s foreleg suddenly struck light lightning at the front of the short-haired girl.


    The latter had no time to respond and was hit. The shirt on the girl''s chest was torn apart and her bosom popped out instantly. That was not all. In the middle of her chest, a horrifying blood wound gradually became wider and bigger, almost splitting the whole chest into two halves.


    Pooh!!


    The girl''s chest involuntarily raised and a jet of viscous blood spurted out instantly. Before it had landed on the ground, it had condensed into a sharp red crystal-pillar.


    With a bang, the girl fell to the ground into a coma.


    "Canaan!!" "Sister Can!"


    Hong Guo and the gentle boy''s minds went blank. When they saw the girl fell, they rushed madly toward her side.


    Mies had no intention of stopping them, but only view them like ants, watching the two''s tears and snot gushed out and them helping the girl up with terror, guilt, anxiousness, and pain.


    He found it very interesting.


    Observing other people''s feelings and emotions had always been his most favored hobby. And so, he had the interest to be like a spider, entwining his opponents little by little, trapping them bit by bit into a state of desperation, watching the other party erupt all their power, and finally revealing despair and anger, and yet, still unable to do anything.


    That intense feeling fascinated him the most.


    "How wonderful..." Mies licked his lips greedily. It was this type of feeling that made him felt as though there was something thick and delicious slowly releasing in his heart, leaving a rich aftertaste.


    "Secret Frost Seed should be on you yea, kid." Mies laughed and stared at Hong Guo. This lad had a faint aura on him that he dreaded.


    "Although I don''t know exactly what method you used to fuse with the Secret Frost Seed, this will be your last lucky place here..." Mies slowly walked forward. The giant transparent energy-field-spider also followed him forward, making a sharp hissing sound of air flow.


    "I''ll kill you!!!" Hong Guo broke out in a frenzy, and suddenly rushed over and slashed directly at Mies with his ¨¦p¨¦e.


    He growled and fused all the power in his entire body into this move.


    Ah!!!!


    Suddenly, the night sky in the distance lit up. A piercing blue light like that of a little sun emitted scorching heat and a blazing glow in the distance, like a wheel of light hung up in the night sky.


    The blue light caused Mies to blink his eyes and so, his action slowed a little.


    When he raised his hand again to hurriedly parry, he suddenly found that the speed of the ¨¦p¨¦e had increased ten times abruptly and had already reached him in the blink of an eye.


    The last thing that entered his vision was the demonic eyes of that lad which was glowing with blue light.


    Swoosh!!


    "How careless..." This was Mies'' last thought as his consciousness sank into darkness.


    *******************


    The blue light slowly dimmed and two figures stood still opposite of each other in mid-air.


    "Who are you...?" Carthage leaped a few steps back and paused mid-air, staring at the black-robed figure who appeared out of the blue in mid-air.


    The other person''s whole body was shrouded in a black robe and the surrounding aura fluctuation seemed to be concealed and messed up using some special item. It was just a bunch of muddled and disarrayed signal.


    From the outside, it was impossible to identify which sect this person was from and what was his identity and look.


    Carthage lifted his right hand. His palm was scorched and black. It was still emitting white smoke.


    "Regenerate."


    He spoke lightly.


    The wound on the palm quickly grew to heal and the black scar fell off directly from the new, tender meat beneath in less than two seconds, restoring the ruddy skin of his palm.


    "Who am I is not important." The black-robed man answered calmly. "What''s important is that I am no threat to your plans." No one could realize that underneath the black robe, the back of the man was perspiring cold sweat.


    "What do you mean?" Carthage narrowed his eyes.


    "It is exactly as how you understood it. Do you think I would believe that a fellow who had just joined the sect for less than twenty years could be such a genius as to advance to Non-Falling Level in such a short period of time? Such a top-class talent would be willing to enter Scarlet Snow Sect at this remote area? Just because of the kindness of Second Elder from the previous generation whom you talked about?"


    The black-robed man said nonchalantly.


    "Or perhaps, you are not just a beginner disciple. Being able to advance from Level One to Non-Falling Level in twenty years'' time would be considered a top-class genius in the whole of Energy Machinist world, but unfortunately¡­it is not you." The black-robed man teased as he spoke. "Tell me, am I right? Dear Lord General Rain King..."


    "I don''t understand what you are saying."


    Carthage''s pupils constricted slightly and his left hand which was holding the hilt tightened slowly.


    "Don''t be nervous." It was pins and needles on the black-robed man''s scalp as he felt an extremely terrifying Qi''s Dynamic locked on him.


    He made a nonchalant tone and his voice was low and powerful.


    "I don''t mean to expose you. I also don''t have the ability to expose this game of chess."


    "Your purpose," Carthage asked calmly.


    "Rainy had saved me once in the outside world and I would like to return the favor." The black-robed man also answered calmly. "For this reason, I can do it at all cost..."


    Carthage did not ask stupid questions such as ''Are you not afraid of me killing you?'' Since the other party dared to come, the person must have done some preparatory work in other areas in advance.


    He just stared at the other party, wanting to penetrate the black robe to see the face of the person inside. This plan of overturning Energy Machinists was extremely secretive. It could be said that apart from the participants and the supreme commander, no one would know about this huge game plan.


    In any case, he could not figure out from where did the other party learn about this plan.


    It could not be the people of Scarlet Snow Sect. No one here could withstand my blow and be so calm unless it was the Guardian, that monster. However, that monster would not speak so much of nonsense with me over this kind of trivial matter. If it were him, an impatient slap would have gotten rid of me.


    Carthage''s mind was spinning rapidly, rejecting each speculation.


    "You can go." Carthage''s left hand which was clenching the hilt was finally relaxed.


    "Thank you. Rest assured, I will never leak the slightest news. This is the trend of the times. Nobody can stop it." After the black-robed man had finished speaking, he dragged the bubble that Rainy was in with one hand, turned around and in a flash, had crossed dozens of meter and appeared mid-air in the distance.


    Then, it was another quick flash again. Directly using another short-range space jump device, he suddenly jumped and disappeared into the dark night.


    Looking at the figure of the black-robed man who left, Carthage''s hand that was holding the hilt tightened slightly, but he never made his move.


    The hit that the opponent broke out just now was no less than the power of his arbitrary strike. Adding on his casual attitude, there was a thirty percent of possibility that the opponent was a powerhouse of the same level as he was. Once entangled, exposing the plan was not worth the candle. Once exposed, it might have little effect on the big plan but he himself would certainly die here.


    "It seems that they will need to arrive here as soon as possible..."


    Only after the glimmer of bubble had completely disappeared in the night sky did Carthage slowly turned around and threw out a black ball from his hand. The ball instantly unfolded and transformed into a dark square passage.


    As Carthage entered it, the passage suddenly disappeared. Besides the remaining traces of the two forces on site, there was no other sound.


    *********************


    Far away on the snowfield in the night


    Pooh!!


    The black-robed man slowly took off his robe. His whole body was covered with blood. His blood vessels were broken and his skin was burst open with blood hole of various sizes. His flesh and bones were wiggling continually, straining to close up the wounds, but they were confronted by some kind of powerful force.


    "How powerful...a Non-Falling Level senior powerhouse. Indeed, a well-deserved reputation...I was almost half dead!"


    Garen smiled bitterly and looked at his pitiful state.


    Physical injuries were not the most important thing. After all, with enough potential points, they could be healed. The most troublesome thing was the magic device Sunlight. This time, it seemed that it had finally erupted completely. The blue flame inside was fully exhausted. Only then did Garen knew that the blue flame inside could be depleted completely.


    At this time, Sunlight was being held in Garen''s hands. The flame on the hilt was gone. It looked like an ordinary silvery white long blade.


    Only by relying on this demonic blade could Garen erupt the power of that of a Non-Falling Level for a short time.


    With the strength of his Two-Moons Level at the resonance peak, if there was no such demonic blade, it was impossible for him to counteract Carthage''s grasp directly. With his own strength, he could only deal with Inherited-Level powerhouse at the most.


    "It can only be done this way..." Placing Rainy''s bubble on the snowfield, Garen put on his black robe again and quickly disappeared into the night.


    The bubble with Rainy enveloped in it laid alone on the snowfield. A few minutes later, a figure with a bloody odor quickly approached from the darkness.


    It was Aloran, who had just got away.


    Her whole body was stained with blood. Her original white dress was also tattered everywhere. One arm hung loosely on her side, obviously broken by an external force.


    "Rainy!"


    She saw the lethargic Rainy in the bubble and quickly rushed over. Bursting the bubble with a poke, she carried her up.


    That man''s intel was actually true!?


    She recalled the previous abrupt reception of a letter from a black-robed man. She had only rushed over here to have a look but did not expect that Sister Rainy was really here.


    Looking around, the surrounding was an empty snowfield. A dark rotating black hole was gradually opening in the air not far away. It was a black hole-jump. Obviously, everything had been well arranged.


    Aloran darted over and checked the jumping destination of the black hole with her Energy Machine Imprint. She was instantly overjoyed.


    "It''s Public Star Region!"


    Without saying anything, she jumped straight into the black hole.


    Hiss...


    In the subtle noise, the black hole slowly shrank and vanished. It finally transformed into a dotted black light and dissipated in the air with a poof.

 1055 Operation 1

    Five days later.


    The Post-Jump Reception Hall


    Garen automatically went to greet the arrivals at the entrance to the jumping airship, wearing a small smile on his face.


    Surrounded by several guards, Eva hurriedly walked down the airship bridge.


    "Senior Sister, you''re finally back."


    "What have you been doing these past few days?" asked Eva calmly, looking at Garen.


    "I was in seclusion. I just happened to come with some new ideas, so I wanted to perform some experiments to see whether they could work," replied Garen with a smile.


    Smack!


    The hall instantly fell completely silent. The guards, as well as the other higher-ups from the Scarlet Snow Sect who were here as the welcoming party, all turned their eyes to the two of them. Their gazes ranged from dazed, shocked, and confused, to secretly entertained.


    Garen stood in the center of it all, his face turned to a side, as he looked at Senior Sister Eve in front of him. His left cheek was slightly swollen from that slap, red and slightly puffy.


    "You have disappointed me." Eva''s eyes glistened with tears, and she shook her head in agony.


    Garen touched his face, the intense pain still burning and prickling his skin.


    "What you''re saying, Senior Sister, is that I should have disregarded the law, and provided help out of personal and selfish interest?" Garen actually started smiling again.


    Eva had no words for him.


    She fell silent for a moment, and then she suddenly pushed him away hard, leaving with her guards.


    "From now on, you are no longer my Junior Brother. I, Eva Regar, am not worthy of that title." Her final words came from a distance.


    Garen just felt the pain in his cheek grew more and more intense, and he was beginning to feel slightly dizzy. Ever since Carthage grievously injured his brain, there was still a lingering wisp of energy from the energy field left in there, it was not completely removed. And now, Eva''s slap had landed hard, although she did not use Willpower, the pure strength of a peak-level Resonance Level fighter was already extremely considerable. Faced with that slap, if it had been a lower-level Energy Machinist, their heads would have been immediately smashed open like a watermelon.


    He touched his left cheek, and sighed inwardly.


    He did not want to betray his principles, and he had always been clear about who treated him well and who did not, but he also could not reveal what his true plans were. In the tremendous changes that were going to occur, the only way for him to reap the most benefits was to actively stand on Carthage''s side.


    Especially considering the large division that was going to arrive at the Three Great Cities soon. That terrifying man¡­


    That was the main key to their plans, if Garen could get a share of the pie... That was his best chance to not only avoid the trouble, but also to obtain the most benefits and growth opportunities! In preparation for the future.


    "There''s just... not enough time..." mumbled Garen, as he turned around and left the reception hall.


    At first, he had come here prepared to explain some things and hint at others to his Senior Sister Eva, but now, seeing how rash her personality was¡­


    *********************


    After Rainy was successfully rescued, it seemed that the three punks who had infiltrated the place had also been automatically released by the people in the sect.


    The dust had all settled, and under the Second Elder faction''s unspoken approval, the book was quietly closed on this matter. Nobody knew how much the Second Elder had to sacrifice to suppress this matter.


    But anyone could tell that he was in an extremely good mood right now.


    Time passed slowly.


    Everyone seemed to have purposely put this incident out of their minds. Nobody mentioned it again.


    The Scarlet Snow Sect headquarters returned to its previous state of calm and peace. Those who were training returned to their training, those who were traveling returned to their travels, and those who liked to go to the Void Battlefields just decided to stay indoors and not come out anymore.


    Garen''s actions throughout this incident had also earned him the acknowledgment of the First Elder and the Third Elder, but more importantly, he earned the acknowledgment of First Senior Brother Carthage. He had successfully gotten a lot closer to him.


    Although many other Senior and Junior Brothers were unhappy with this, the First Senior Brother''s authority made them hold their tongues. Nobody dared to dissent.


    At first Garen had planned to continue training, and only emerge again at the Major Sect Battle three years later. But Carthage gave him a task, forcing him to pause his training progress and prepare instead for departure.


    ****************


    Black Wolf Lair


    A young man with short white hair strode into the Black Wolf Lair''s vast estate, and had just barely set foot in it.


    Arooo...


    Soft wolf howls gathered from all directions. Several Black Wolves, as large and strong as buffaloes, walked out of the darkness slowly, their green eyes shining like lanterns.


    There were more than ten Black Wolves altogether, directly surrounding the white-haired man.


    The man''s expression was cold and distant, but he could not stop his pupils from dilating slightly. It was not that he was scared, he was just shocked at the terrifying force surrounding these Black Wolves.


    "I am the Fourteenth, White Night. In accordance with Great Senior Brother''s orders, I am here to invite Senior Brother Black Wolf to join me in departing from here and to provide assistance together."


    There was no sound from the dark estate.


    It seemed that his voice had not reached the innermost parts. The huge wolves began to pace around him, and one of the Black Wolves even began to drool, the saliva falling thickly onto the ground. A foul smell also began to spread through the air.


    "I am the Fourteenth, White Night! Here on Great Senior Brother''s orders!"


    "I heard you." A voice interrupted his repetition. "Come in."


    Only then did White Night heave a sigh of relief.


    He had heard of this Senior Brother Black Wolf back when he was a Two-Hearted Disciple, and now it seemed that the rumors were true, this Senior Brother really was stronger than average.


    "Also, there are a few of my Junior Brothers and followers here."


    "Come in together." Garen''s voice came from the dark depths.


    Only then did White Night nod, and the giant wolves around him retreated quickly, and more than ten figures finally began to follow him soundlessly.


    "Boss, this place really is something! It''s even so much better than your White Night Garden!" said a large man, grinning.


    "Watch your manners," reminded White Night in a low voice.


    "Got it, got it." The burly man chuckled.


    The group walked inside quickly, going through a rather dilapidated garden, fake mountains, a small garden, and some empty, somewhat disused houses. Soon, they reached the inner garden in the deepest part of the mansion.


    The circular inner garden was completely dark, with only four eerie green flames burning creepily, emitting a dim light.


    A tall and powerful figure was sitting cross-legged in the flat space between the four lanterns. It looked as though there were some mysterious and unique runes carved onto the ground, and they were discomforting to look it. In fact, even the air felt slightly oppressive.


    White Night took a deep breath, and lifted his hand. He signaled for his subordinates to stop, and walked forward on his own.


    "Senior Brother Black Wolf, Great Senior Brother asked me to invite you to join us on our trip to the Four Ring Star Alliance''s Planet Gideon," he said, loud and clear.


    "I know." Garen opened his eyes, and looked at White Night somewhat strangely. "There are about a dozen of you heading off to your ancestral grounds on a treasure hunt, but was this your own suggestion, or was it Great Senior Brother''s idea?"


    White Night lowered his head, avoiding Garen''s gaze.


    "It was my suggestion. It was also Great Senior Brother''s idea."


    Garen was silent for a moment, and then he spoke again.


    "The Four Ring Star Alliance is already beyond we Energy Machinists'' area of jurisdiction, you understand that, right?"


    "I do," White Night nodded.


    "Even if you do have the Gideon body type, went to the Ancestral Hall, and reached your current level, Level Five, in one go, it would still be a bit difficult for you to leave an area not governed by the Energy Machinists just like that," said Garen calmly. He had already noticed that there was something not quite right with this White Night. It had nothing to do with his person, but it was something about his body. Similar to Garen, there was a faint, imperceptible feeling of cause and effect on him.


    This feeling was very strange, and very mysterious.


    "That''s why Great Senior Brother asked me to find you, and request aid from you," said White Night, his head lowered.


    "Planet Gideon¡­ That''s a dead star..." sighed Garen. "Go, and take one of my Black Wolves with you. If necessary, he will take action."


    He waved his hand, and a Giant Wolf with a slightly strange body shape slowly walked out from behind him, there was something odd about this Black Wolf. Unlike other Giant Wolves, it had two very obviously bulging muscles on either side of its body. They looked like half-formed wings, and very strange.


    White Night glanced at the Black Wolf, and instantly felt the hairs rise on his body. The Energy Machine Imprint in the back of his brain instantly activated its alarm automatically despite itself, and turned madly. This was a terrifying reaction he only had when he was in serious danger.


    White Night was slightly spooked, this Giant Wolf clearly already possessed the power to threaten his life, and this was just one of Senior Brother Black Wolf''s Giant Wolves!


    After the Energy Machinists on Planet Naga reached the Resonance Level, their strongest aspect was no longer the Energy Machinery, but themselves. And now, this supposedly weaker Energy Machine was already itself capable of posing such a great threat to White Night, even though he was already Level Five¡­


    "Go... When necessary, I will follow behind you secretly," said Garen softly, closing his eyes.


    White Night lowered his head, and retreated respectfully, watching that Giant Wolf instantly disappear into the darkness without a sound. A chill ran down his spine. If he had such an enemy hiding in the darkness, and he could not sense even a whiff of their presence, then such an enemy would be terrifying beyond measure...


    The group retreated up to several hundred meters, walking backward, before they dared to turn around and walk away quickly.


    The subordinates behind White Night held their breaths until they exited the mansion, and only then did they heave a sigh of relief. They looked at each other, all of them covered in cold sweat.


    "Rumor has it that ever since Senior Brother Black Wolf went into seclusion, his territory had been getting more and more deserted and desolate, without a trace of life. Even automated intelligence systems would be affected, and would mysteriously malfunction. Seeing how dead this estate is, I think the rumors are true."


    White Night took a deep breath, and said softly.


    "Fourteenth Night royal highness, what do we do now? Should we return to Planet Gideon straight away?" his trusted aide, Yuri, asked quietly beside him. This was a red-haired woman with a ponytail who had followed him ever since he left his family, she was the same age as him, and had been a girl with potential that he had saved on one of his travels.


    "Since Senior Brother Black Wolf said he would follow us, it must be so. Let us leave straight away," White Night, or as he was known now, the man named White Fourteenth Night, said softly. "After leaving home for so many years... it''s about time I went back..."


    He released a long breath, as though he could see the disastrous scene from back then, of his family being destroyed.


    *****************


    Garen sat quietly in the darkness.


    He calmly recalled that white-haired man, or maybe he should not call him a man. He was just a child fresh out of adolescence.


    White Night, also known as White Fourteenth Night, was the Fourteenth Three-Hearted Royal Highness, an extremist who would do anything in his pursuit of power. He came from the Gideon family in the Four Ring Star Alliance, and after the Gideon family was mysteriously annihilated, he managed to escape out of sheer luck, becoming the only remaining survivor.


    "He''s using the reputation of the Scarlet Snow Sect to return there now, but rather than looking for treasure, I bet his real motive is still to see if any of his relatives have survived."


    A thought flashed past Garen''s mind.


    "Most importantly, that White Night is still an irreplaceable part of the bigger picture.. On this trip to Planet Gideon, I''ll encounter Clint and the others, that''s the main thing. The Gideon body type... and they''re both rare, once-in-a-century prodigies even among those with the Gideon body type. We truly are on the brink of chaos, to think that mysterious boy just now was also such a prodigy, to think that two such people appeared at once."


    When he thought of that, he sighed softly.


    "With two prodigies appearing at the same time, does this really mean that our Scarlet Snow Sect is going to enter the spotlight?" He did not attempt to hide those words, and instead murmured them aloud.


    "With such prodigies under my lead, I''d rather there were more of them, don''t you think? Junior Brother."


    A calm voice came from the darkness behind Garen.

 1056 Operation 2

    At some point in time, Carthage''s figure had appeared behind Garen, his eyes calm as he stared at the eerie lamplight.


    "Why have you personally come here, Great Senior Brother?" Garen got up and turned around, looking at Carthage who had suddenly appeared behind him.


    "I saw ambition in your heart," said Carthage calmly. "Ambition for power. This was also why I accepted you."


    The corners of Garen''s lips curved slightly, but he did not say anything, waiting for Carthage to continue.


    "I hear that you have a Demonic Sword?" said Carthage suddenly.


    Garen''s heart gave a jolt, and knew that he was beginning to suspect. A Non-Falling Level general who could work his way into the Scarlet Snow Sect would not be a fool, and it was normal that he would be suspicious. Any Energy Machinist in this world would be hard to trick.


    "Do you mean this, sir?" Garen''s expression remained impassive as the Demonic Sword Sunlight abruptly appeared in his hands. However, the blue flames from before had become light yellow embers, and were far weaker than the aura of the original blue flames. The part that was aflame had also switched from the hilt to the tip of the blade.


    A hint of black flashed across Carthage''s eyes, and in that instant, Garen''s whole body felt as though he had been dunked into a pool of ice. It was like being stared at by a pair of wild, cold, and contradicting eyes, and his whole body froze abruptly.


    This seemed to be a sort of scanning.


    This feeling lasted for barely a second.


    Soon enough, the strangeness in Carthage''s eyes simply vanished. Even the hint of suspicion in the depths of his eyes disappeared.


    "I know all about your past. The Seventh Divine Wind General of the Blackboard Region on the Mother Planet, right? Do you need me to settle it for you?"


    "Thank you, but it''s okay, Garen is already more than satisfied to have Great Senior Brother''s support." Garen lowered his head humbly to show his respect. He did not doubt that Carthage would have found out about his past, at a height such as his, it was a small matter.


    "Come with me," said Carthage finally, as he turned around and left.


    "Okay." Garen nodded. He knew that it was time for Carthage''s test.


    His gaze landed on his attribute pane.


    After the past two years of seclusion, he had used up many of his potential points, increasing his Gene pane until it could not go any higher.


    And even the large collection of potential points he had just gotten was diminishing quickly. In one go, the number had gone down to just over five hundred again.


    The Gene aspect had also changed from Blood Eagle to a whirling mass of pitch-black fog. It seemed to be hatching something, and stayed slow, without moving for a long time. All of his Gene abilities had also vanished. This black mist was like a bottomless hole, no matter how many potential points he poured into it, it just did not react.


    After Garen wasted many potential points and failed to get any reaction, he did not dare to mess with it any longer, and just waited for it to change by itself.


    And these two years, there was another reason that his mansion had been slowly infected by the aura of death, such that even intelligence systems could not approach it for long. The red gem that he had gotten from that Abyss altar had actually fused with the golden crystal he obtained from Ron.


    Or rather, the red gem had absorbed the golden crystal.


    After absorbing the golden crystal, the red gem seemed to have transformed into an extremely tempting delicacy. Garen was tempted, more than once, to eat it, but each time, he forced himself to resist.


    And strangely, the red gem subsequently began to slowly emit an odd aura of death. It constantly ate away at everything around it, be it living or dead, without exception.


    Garen took the red gem out of his Space Ring, and put it in his sleeve quietly, gripping it tightly with his hand.


    The special aura of death from this gem could perfectly hide and disguise his own presence. Even a Non-Falling Level would not be able to sense him.


    With a flash, Garen quickly followed Carthage, dashing into the darkness.


    The two of them kept flashing through the dark night, one after the other, and all the surveillance equipment did not seem to notice them at all, completely ignoring them.


    Carthage kept leaping and dashing through the tall roofs without using his levitation skill, and this only made him even more inconspicuous. Garen jumped quickly and constantly, but could only barely keep up with him.


    Looking at the black silhouette in front of him, Garen began to understand just how terrifying the Rain King Carthage actually was. Even the Lord Guardian did not notice that this guy had infiltrated the sect in disguise.


    The two of them continued leaping, and soon they left the headquarters, entering the cold region further away.


    On the dark white snowy grounds, there was a transparent white Space Whirlpool. It was a leaping point, but Garen did not know where it led.


    Carthage landed in front of the whirlpool, and slowly walked inside.


    Garen landed as well, and walked inside.


    The scene changed before his eyes, and light shone everywhere, as though countless rainbows had flashed by. Within a few short seconds, Garen was already standing in a slightly old and dilapidated white courtyard.


    Leaves flew above his head, whooshing in the wind, and the red leaves the color of maple kept falling, floating beside him like rain.


    The whole courtyard was very small, not even twenty meters in length and width. A large tree in the middle, its trunk wide enough for two people to surround it with their arms, was the source of these red leaves.


    Carthage and Garen appeared underneath the tree as though by teleportation, and both of them looked at the room inside the courtyard at the same time.


    "Kill them." Carthage closed his eyes, and just stayed where he stood.


    Instantly, a black shadow rushed out of the room.


    "Carthage, I''ll kill you!! Aaaaahh!!!!" that person roared madly, swinging a large axe that was more than a meter long down hard at Carthage, the violent force gathering at one spot on the blade of the axe.


    The loud rumbling sounded like thunder, and as this person pounced out, it was as though the whole courtyard began to shake in his aftermath. The ground was trembling, and long trails of air currents were drawn out in the sky.


    That person rushed out fiercely like a mad bull. The giant axe spun at high speeds, chopping down hard at Carthage''s head.


    Clang!!


    When the axe was still several centimeters away from Carthage, a blue scimitar intercepted it steadily in front of him. The blade and the axe crashed into each other, but neither was even scratched.


    Green light flashed in Garen''s eyes, and shadows of wolves flashed in front of him. It looked as though there was an illusion of a Giant Black Wolf pouncing forth.


    Bam!


    That person was knocked, flying, backward. His ribs were completely shattered, and he sprayed blood of out his mouth, crashing into the wall of the house behind him. Somehow, he did not break the wall, and just rolled onto the ground.


    He had completely stopped breathing.


    "That person, was the Second Elder''s long-lost grandson."


    Carthage''s words instantly made Garen''s heart turn cold.


    He saw Carthage turn around slowly, the latter was smiling as he looked at him, and spoke slowly.


    "I''ve wanted to kill him for a long time. It''s nice to have you join me in doing it today."


    This was the first time Garen saw Carthage smile, but he did not feel any warmth from it at all.


    This guy¡­


    He gripped the hilt of the sword lightly, and pulled back his scimitar. No wonder that guy had been sent flying and died so easily, even though he did not put a lot of power into it. It was rigged from the start.


    Carthage was helping him make the decision¡­ by cutting off his only escape route.


    He did not suspect that Carthage was lying, both of them could find out the truth about something like this extremely easily. He was more worried about something else.


    "Looks like I''ve underestimated how cruel this guy can be¡­"


    "I heard that you were first a pilot, and you only switched to becoming an Energy Machinist later, right?" asked Carthage calmly, his smile fading.


    "Yes." Garen''s face twitched slightly, and he replied in a low and deep voice. It was true, so this guy had investigated everything about him after all.


    "You also have a younger brother, a lover, and some living relatives. How nice," Carthage sighed. "It''s too bad that my relatives all died a long time ago."


    Garen''s eyes went slightly cold, and he did not say anything. This guy was threatening him, and he was doing it very blatantly.


    "Are you interested in regaining your powers as a pilot?" Just then, Carthage''s words finally revealed a sliver of his true motives.


    "If I wasn''t forced out of it, I would have long been an Inherited-Level pilot by now!" Garen replied in a low voice. "That was my goal, my dream!"


    Carthage smiled mysteriously.


    "In this period of time, help me kill people."


    It was still not enough? Killing the Second Elder''s grandson was not enough to earn his trust?


    Garen knew that he was walking on a wire, and the smallest misstep would have him plunging down to his death. Carthage hid too many things, he was an ancient monster who had lived for at least a thousand years, so who knows how many more tricks he had up his sleeves.


    But in order to strengthen himself in the shortest possible time, Garen knew that he had no choice.


    "Sure."


    He replied, his voice low and determined.


    **********************


    After that, for the next month and more.


    Every day, Garen would move together with Carthage, and each time they would use the jump portal to go to different places. They killed, and killed, and killed!


    Garen felt as though his blade had been dyed with all sorts of fresh blood. Many, many people viewed Carthage as their mortal enemy, and they pounced at him madly as soon as they see him. At the same time, many looked as though they had seen a ghost, and these just turn tail and run.


    But it was all for naught. Garen would kill them anyway, one by one.


    In the end, he slowly began to know who he was killing.


    These were all some small Energy Machinist sects. That was right, they were all sects.


    These small sects had their lives reaped by Garen''s sword, while Carthage suppressed them with his Non-Falling Level power. Sometimes they would come across some slightly stronger sects, but that was fine, these sets were nowhere near the level of the Scarlet Snow Sect, and Garen alone would kill them all easily.


    It had nothing to do with good or bad, nothing to do with violence.


    Garen knew that he needed to use this time to earn Carthage''s trust, or else the consequences would be dire.


    They massacred one faraway sect after another, and left no survivors.


    Finally, one night, Carthage appeared in front of Garen once more.


    "Make your preparations, this will be a big operation."


    "Big operation?" Garen slowly opened his eyes, he noticed that the black mist in his Gene pane had slowly been dyed red as he killed more people, and finally seemed to be starting to fade.


    Now, he raised his head, and stared at Carthage.


    "What kind of an opponent is it this time?"


    "The Blue Frost Sect." Under the eerie green firelight, Carthage''s smile was as terrifying as a demon.


    In that instant.


    Garen''s heart seemed to skip a beat.

 1057 Annihilation 1

    The Blue Frost Sect?


    Impossible!


    As a middle-level sect that was even stronger than the Scarlet Snow Sect, back then when Garen got into a conflict with their Number Two Disciple, Blue Pole Star, even he knew that they had Non-Falling Level peak powerhouses.


    If even the disciples had broken through to the Non-Falling Level, just imagine how strong their Elders would be.


    And now Carthage was telling him that he wanted to annihilate the Blue Frost Sect!?


    "Are you joking, sir?" said Garen deeply.


    "I don''t have time to joke around." Carthage shook his head.


    He walked up to Garen''s side, standing beside the lamp, and reaching out his hand to play with the eerie green flames.


    "The Blue Frost Sect has a Thousand-Year Blue Jade, and it''s very useful for both of us. Consider this a reward for your performance thus far."


    "Thank you, Great Senior Brother." Garen lowered his head. "A Thousand-Year Blue Jade? What material is it, and why have I never heard of it before?"


    Carthage smiled faintly.


    "You may treat it as an upgraded version of the Ancestral Temple, even the Blue Frost Sect only has three in total, as a frost-type sect. Also, the Blue Frost Sect apparently has a reputation for owning a large collection of frost-type secret manuals, they even have two techniques that are at the same level as the Scarlet Snow Technique."


    He waved his hand lightly, and instantly extinguished the four lamps around him.


    "Let''s go, we better not keep them waiting."


    Garen got up, and the two of them instantly vanished from the spot.


    They flitted past headquarters at the same high speed, this time they followed the giant ice door that had opened up by a slit last time.


    After those three kids actually forced open the giant door last time, this door had never been closed again properly, and it just stayed slightly open like that, such that they could see the world outside through that tiny gap.


    The wind and snow floated in the gap, endlessly, accumulating in a thick layer of snow on the ground.


    Carthage and Garen flitted past, and exited the door in an instant. After running on the snow for a few minutes, a black whirlpool that was larger than any of the previous jumping points appeared before Garen''s eyes.


    With the air of an expert, the two of them jumped into it. This jump, that pilots required mechs to make, was no problem at all for Energy Machinists from Planet Naga, their physical bodies were scarily powerful.


    Again, a multicolored scene like a rainbow flashed past Garen''s eyes.


    On another blue planet extremely far away.


    In a sparsely-populated yellow desert, a black whirlpool appeared out of nowhere, and two figures shot out from it, landing steadily on the desert surface.


    The desert was a sea of golden, as wide as the eyes could see. The sandstorm continued to blow, but it brought an extremely hot draft, that was nearly thirty or forty degrees in temperature.


    As soon as the two of them appeared, they shot toward a direction of the desert at extremely high speeds.


    At a glance, Carthage was just like a rich young master out for a vacation, his pose carefree and relaxed, his expression calm, his white clothes especially eye-catching in the desert.


    On the other hand, Garen looked a lot more well-built, a blue curved sword at his waist. He had changed into all-black clothes, and covered the bottom half of his face with a mask, hiding his entire aura as well.


    The two of them dashed through the desert, and soon they came across a small group of people who seemed to be waiting for them.


    There were not many people in this group, but each of them was unnaturally powerful, even the weakest of them was at Resonance Level, while most of them were Inherited Level. At the same time, they all dressed strange and exotic, like fierce savages, and incited fear.


    "Is everyone here?" asked Carthage calmly as soon as he landed.


    "General, they''re all here." A tall and thin woman stood out, replying deeply.


    "Treefish, your job is to finish off those small-fry who''ll scatter everywhere. Especially those few prodigious Energy Machinists, you must not let any of the top three escape," Carthage gave his orders calmly.


    "Yes." The woman called Treefish replied fiercely.


    "Everyone else, act freely, but after you''re done, I want each of you to hand over three blood beads as a meeting gift for my Junior Brother."


    "Please relax, General!" replied the group in unison. Many gazes fell on Garen, who stood behind Carthage. It was pretty clear that he was the person Carthage meant by ''Junior Brother''.


    Garen''s heart was slightly moved. Although he did not know what a blood bead was, he was still a peak-level prodigy, and Carthage was clearly paying attention to his performance in the Scarlet Snow Sect. He only had value to Carthage if he was powerful, and his progress speed was in fact astonishing, so much so that Garen could probably be considered the most capable prodigy to appear in the Scarlet Snow Sect in the past few centuries. This title should be his, rather than Carthage''s, because that guy was an ancient monster that could only be found once in a millennium, a Non-Falling Level powerhouse who hiding in a sect as small as the Scarlet Snow Sect. Garen had no idea what he was planning.


    "Wait for three hours, and then activate the ambush." Carthage waved his hand, and finally settled on a time.


    The group of powerhouses that came from goodness knows where began to rest respectively, their movements well-trained and familiar. This was clearly not their first time doing this.


    Carthage sat cross-legged, closing his eyes and resting. Garen forced down his confusion, sat down, and began to practice his Scarlet Snow Technique.


    However, since he was currently in a desert where the surroundings were hot, it was not conducive for his Scarlet Snow Technique training at all. After he tried for a long while to no avail, Garen had no choice but to sort out his other thoughts.


    Suddenly, he remembered that snow-type secret manual he had obtained from the First Princess Aine ¡ª Ice Coffin. All this time, because of his missions with Carthage, he had not gotten the time to properly train himself.


    But now was one of his rare breaks, so he could use this time to see exactly how the Ice Coffin was. After all, it was also an Inherited-Level technique, so it had to have some level of standard. Besides, there were no environmental requirements to level up the Ice Coffin.


    He had nothing to do now anyway, so Garen sat on the sofa and closed his eyes, and began to recall the Ice Coffin secret manual that had been recorded into the memory of his Energy Machine Imprint.


    This secret technique was very interesting, it first required him to release his chill, creating something like a coffin of ice around him to completely surround himself, and isolate himself from the outside world. And then, he needed to constantly create yet another specially-constructed ice coffin inside, this specially-constructed ice coffin could greatly increase the quantity of his chill, all the way until he could create something called a Heart of Ice.


    Although the name was very clich¨¦d, but according to the descriptions in the secret manual, this thing was extremely over-powered. As long as he could create it, he could drastically increase his chill, and upgrade the coldness of his chill even further.


    In other words, this secret manual was completely a support-type secret technique, it was a secret manual that Aine had specially chosen to complement Garen''s Scarlet Snow Technique.


    Garen just followed a few of the steps described in the secret manual, and gathered up an ice coffin. Within ten short minutes, he had created a material layer of ice around himself, and completely sealed himself off.


    Carthage just glanced at him casually, and had no intention of asking or caring. The others just focused on their own training, and did not even look his way.


    The wind began to blow harder, howling loudly. The temperature also rose as the sun climbed above them in the sky.


    But in the large area around Garen, it was still unnaturally cold.


    Garen left a sliver of his spirit on guard, and put the rest of his attention into his cultivation of the Ice Coffin.


    His current Scarlet Snow Technique was still at the eleventh grade Resonance Two-Moons Level, and he had not reached Inherited Level. Normally, he would need to train his patience from now until the Inherited Level, until his emotions settled and he would not easily waver in the face of external factors. He would also need to gather an enormous amount of power and energy, before he would finally be able to condense it into the sixth Scarlet Mist, and reach the twelfth grade of the Scarlet Snow Technique.


    At that point, the Ancestral Temple would not be opened up easily, because the energy needed for the Inherited Level was too great. It was highly likely that after a dozen or so people went in, the energy gathered inside would be completely used up. So at that stage, they usually opened up the Frost Hell instead.


    In order to gather power, all they could do was train long and hard.


    For most Resonance Levels to reach the Inherited Level, it would take them at least a dozen years, this was the normal rate of accumulation. But if they happened to come across miracles or irregularities, the fastest could go in within four or five years. Carthage was pretending to be one such prodigy.


    But Garen knew his own condition, his heart had settled a long time ago, so he just needed to gather enough energy, and he should be able to reach the level required to break through. The psychological barrier everyone else faced was nothing to him.


    The group sat cross-legged in the desert, the sun shining high above them.


    One of them was emitting a chill, and had basically frozen himself into a block of ice. No one said anything, and barely anyone even gave him a second look, more than ten of them sitting there like statues, not budging an inch.


    Garen felt the Ice Coffin technique forming within him quickly, resulting in a moving flow. This flow quickly created a little transparent ice coffin around his Scarlet Mist technique. Every time his Scarlet Snow Technique came or went, it would naturally pass by this layer of the ice coffin, and would be filtered through. The impurities would be excreted outside his body, and although the technique would be reduced slightly, it would end up becoming purer and cleaner.


    "I''ve reached beginner-level so soon, so I guess my natural Ability is helping after all. As long as I understand the principles behind it, and practice for a bit, I can reach the beginner stage." Garen sighed inwardly, he had been reminded of his situation back in the Secret Technique world.


    Back then, once he understood the principle behind any technique he had not learned before, he could just add his potential points to it. But what about now?


    Garen felt that since that he was the embodiment of the Hellfrost Peacock Technique, and since he had trained the Scarlet Snow Technique for so long, he would have understood all the principles around it, and so he might be able to give it a try.


    As soon as that idea occurred to him, he could not suppress it any longer.


    It was not as though he had never used the potential points on his Scarlet Snow Technique these past few years, but it was no use, there was another important and crucial factor impeding his secret technique, and that was his computing power. So he could not increase his Scarlet Snow Technique, and had to wait for his computing power to slowly increase accordingly.


    But this Ice Coffin now was different. This thing was just a support technique, and its principles were not very difficult either. It mostly depended on grinding, constantly creating little specially-structured coffins inside his body. After he collected a certain number, the filtration through the different layers would finally result in a purified technique.


    The Ice Coffin was in fact not a rare technique, it was more commonly found in snow-type sects. After all, it was something that could be bought on the market. If Aine could give it to him as a present, that showed that it was not all that precious. It could only be considered a third-grade secret technique, that was purely supportive.

 1058 Annihilation 2

    "Like the Scarlet Snow Technique, according to the secret technique categorizations, it should be a first-rate special secret technique. If I trained it by itself, I would be at best a first-rate powerhouse, but if I train it together with my Willpower and computing power, absorbing a large amount of powerful resources, I''ll be able to surpass the limits of the secret technique itself in the future." Garen circulated the Ice Coffin, excreting the impurities in his body, while he considered his own techniques.


    "And according to the categorizations, Ice Coffin should be a second-grade technique in the Secret Technique World. It''s a more accessible secret technique." Thinking back carefully, Garen realized that back then, Senior Sister Rainy, Aloran, and even Carthage also seemed to have practiced this secret technique, using it to filter their own power. Because their power seemed to be purer than his, this purity could be used to nurture their own computing power, increasing their computing power at a higher rate, and raising their abilities.


    "This Ice Coffin technique is easy to learn but difficult to master, many people stop at the second grade, and just use it to filter the impurities out of their power, to decent effects." Suddenly, Carthage''s voice rang out beside Garen''s ear.


    "Looks like you just entered the beginner stage, my advice is that you shouldn''t spend too much time and effort on this. This technique is a slow grind, the first grade is still okay, since it just requires eighty years, whereas the second takes 160. The third grade actually needs up to a thousand years, you could completely master any other technique in such a long time, so who would want to practice this thing? That''s why we usually stop at the second grade."


    Carthage advised him.


    "Thank you, Senior Brother, for the advice," replied Garen from inside the Ice Coffin.


    "Aren''t my potential points best used for upgrading a grinding technique like this!?"


    When he heard that, Garen''s heart was instantly tempted.


    He still had several hundred potential points, and it would be too much of a waste for him to use all that on upgrading his physical cbilities. The key was upgrading his abilities, and techniques such as Ice Coffin gave him a stroke of inspiration.


    "If I can find a lot more of these secret techniques that require grinding, stack them up, and train them, then I can make the most of my advantage, and reduce the large difference in training time between those ancient monsters and me. I might even able to push my computing power to increase faster!"


    As soon as that train of thought occurred to him, it could not be stopped.


    "But before that, I need to see if this Ice Coffin works at all or not."


    Garen instantly closed his eyes, his gaze in the darkness landing on his attribute pane.


    ''Nonosiva Lin ¨C Strength 24.1, Agility 12.1, Vitality 24.8, Intelligence 8.1, potential power 50530%. Soul Limit 40.''


    He still had 505 potential points, that should be enough.


    Then he looked at the skill pane, and quickly found Ice Coffin from the large stack of skills.


    ''Energy Machinist secret method ¨C Ice Coffin: Beginner.


    Frost-type secret technique, may filter frost-type power, three levels in total. Legend has it that at the highest realm, it can filter out 100% of the impurities, and reach a realm of purity. Increases own aptitudes. The first grade requires eighty years of extensive training, the second grade requires 160 years, and the third requires 1600 years. To complete the whole training, you will need at least 1840 years.''


    As soon as Garen''s gaze landed on the technique for three consecutive seconds, his potential points began to change.


    With a whoosh, as Garen watched on regretfully, it reduced by¡­ two points.


    "Phew, thank goodness, thank goodness, it really is just as I thought, the rules of the Ability here in this world are the same as they were in the Secret Technique World, Ice Coffin is a second-rate secret technique, so I just needed to use two potential points to increase it by one level, the same as a middle-level secret technique."


    His Ice Coffin immediately went from beginner to the first grade.


    Garen looked inward, and could clearly see that the ice coffin inside him seemed to have become slightly more complicated, and had gotten more transparent.


    "Once more." Ever since Garen came to this world, he had always been relying on his accumulated power from the past to progress, and rarely relied on his natural ability. In other words, he suffered a lot, and had to take many a detour, before he realized that he needed to sacrifice so much in order to truly grow strong.


    Now, the potential points were properly in play again, and surprised him once more.


    He stared at Ice Coffin for three seconds, and his potential points went down by two again.


    And his Ice Coffin instantly went from the first grade to the second.


    In practically an instant, Garen saw many miniature ice coffins appear inside his body, floating in his blood densely along the flow of his blood. These coffins were extremely tiny, and could even squeeze into the capillary ends that were as thin as a hair. They constantly purified the chill in his blood, and even helped to slowly upgrade and improve the quality of this body of his.


    "It really is impressive!" Garen sighed in admiration inwardly. "No wonder so many people choose to cultivate this accessible support technique, it even has this side-effect, slowly improving my body. Right now, it doesn''t look like much, but as time goes on and it accumulates, it will be significant indeed!"


    According to his calculations, at this slow rate of modification and purification, his Vitality would be increased by one point after just two years. It was indeed worth it to use a hundred years to reach the second grade.


    "Even the weakest Energy Machinist can live for several centuries, if they just use more than a hundred years to reach the second grade, and slowly upgrade their Vitality, they would be able to benefit from the several hundred years later, and would surely be able to reach the limit of another technique."


    If the second grade already had such an effect, Garen was even more interested in the third grade now.


    As a support technique, Ice Coffin did not have many requirements in the way of Willpower or computing power, and that was its biggest advantage. That was why Garen could just use his Willpower to increase it.


    "Again!"


    His gaze gathered on the Ice Coffin again.


    There was a whoosh, but this time he lost three potential points. Evidently, the Ability had decided that at its current level, it was now a high-level secret technique.


    But to Garen right now, two or three points made no difference, they were a drop in the ocean.


    The Ice Coffin icon blurred, and in an instant, it rapidly returned to normal. This time, it seemed to have changed more drastically.


    ''Ice Coffin: third grade complete, Heart of Ice obtained. 100% filtration for frost-type power, highly resistant toward hypnosis-type attacks. Greatly increases Vitality and Intelligence (one point per year, for twenty consecutive years).''


    "One point a year!" Garen was overjoyed, trying to wrap his mind around it. A one-point increase in Vitality and Intelligence every year, that was borderline terrifying! Putting aside Vitality for now, just consider Intelligence.


    He was at 8.1 points now, and was already considered a prodigy among the Energy Machinists. If he could amp up his Intelligence by one point to go with the results of his efforts, just how high could his aptitude reach?


    "Alright, time to go." Suddenly, Carthage''s voice came from beside Garen''s ear. It pulled him out of his reverie.


    For one last time, Garen glanced at his Scarlet Snow Technique.


    As he expected, it had changed again.


    ''Scarlet Snow Technique: eleventh grade, Two-Moons level. (Coldness Strengthening third grade, Sharpness Strengthening third grade, Purity Strengthening third grade.)''


    "I got the Coldness Strengthening and Sharpness Strengthening when I absorbed that wisp of Inherited power, and I think that Purity Strengthening came from the Heart of Ice."


    Garen pulled back his thoughts, and scattered the ice coffin outside him with a crash, standing up.


    By now, many of the other people who were meditating in the desert all got up, patting the sand off their clothes. They looked at Carthage, evidently making him out as the sole leader.


    Garen also moved his gaze to Carthage.


    "Prepare the jump portal, Treefish."


    "Yes."


    Watching as the jump portal was slowly released, Carthage narrowed his eyes slightly, saying nothing, as though he was waiting for something.


    Time passed by slowly, but no one looked impatient. To Energy Machinists, their long lifespans had given them extensive patience.


    All of a sudden, a bright and piercing golden light abruptly appeared in the distant desert.


    "Let''s go!"


    When Carthage saw that golden light, the corners of his lips immediately curved.


    Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh¡­


    The many figures rapidly darted into the jump portal''s black whirlpool, and soon, only Garen and Carthage were left.


    Carthage signaled Garen with his eyes, and the two of them slowly walked into the jump portal, one after the other.


    Hiss¡­ Amidst the soft static of the jump, the two of them appeared in the sky above a giant white desert city, floating in the air as they looked down at the apocalyptic scene below.


    Inside the giant white crescent-shaped city, several giant black beasts, each twenty or thirty meters tall, were rampaging madly.


    Huge rumbling crashes and the sounds of buildings collapsing came constantly from everywhere.


    Looking down from the sky, they could see buildings falling all over the city, powder and dust rising high in the air. They could vaguely see figures dressed in blue surrounding and attacking the beasts, but it was no use. Those black gorilla-like beasts moved nimbly, and if you were accidentally hit by one, you were either instantly injured or simply dead.


    The two of them floated in the air, watching the tragedy unfold below. The people in the city were running, sobbing, screaming, their voices of despair rising and falling, with the occasional wail or mad roar. But many more of them were just crushed to death by the buildings the beasts had casually knocked over, and died without a sound.


    In the entire white crescent-shaped city, there were black dots everywhere, and they could faintly see a patch of the desert stained with red around the black dot. They looked like spots on the landscape.


    "General." Suddenly, a figure abruptly appeared beside Garen. He was a middle-aged man dressed in blue, and his face was covered with blood. One of his arms seemed to have been freshly severed, and fresh blood clots still remained.


    Most importantly, this man had the violent aura of someone fresh out of a fierce fight.


    "Another Non-Falling level¡­" Garen''s heart gave a jolt, he sensed what level this man was.


    "Where are the Elders from this place?" asked Carthage nonchalantly.


    "Three died, but we got two alive," replied the middle-aged man calmly. "We need your true form to personally finish off the guardian here, sir."


    "Relax¡­ I''m already on it¡­" Carthage smiled rather meaningfully.


    Garen was getting chills down his spine as he listened, could it be that this Carthage here with Non-Falling-Level power was not even his original form?!


    "If that truly is the case, then this guy is far too fearsome¡­" Garen''s heart was shaking slightly, if the Non-Falling Level one was just one of his clones, then just how strong was Carthage''s true form?


    The Non-Falling Level was Level Seven in power, and the guardian of the Blue Frost Sect would surely be stronger than that, it would be Level Eight at least. If he could kill off a Level Eight guardian, then Carthage''s own power¡­


    Garen almost did not dare to continue thinking. Level Nine, that was a level near the Perpetual Motioners. Such an extreme powerhouse was not something he could compare to his past experiences. Only the personal appearance of the Nine-Headed Dragon Queen''s true body could match up to that.


    "Wait here for a moment then, it''s the best chance for me to give my prodigy junior brother a little gift," laughed Carthage with a glance at Garen.


    The middle-aged man lowered his head respectfully and stood to a side without moving.


    The three of them floated in the sky, and in the city underneath, a high-level battle had already erupted, some of the self-secluded or outstation powerhouses had returned, their ice-cold frost slowly stopping the beasts'' rampaging.

 1059 Unexpected Success

    Some of the Resonance- and Inherited-Level disciples made their moves.


    Garen even saw Blue Pole Star and another pretty, fair woman leading a group of the disciples each, and soon they had killed several giant black apes, quickly calming down the chaotic situation.


    "How dare you attack our Blue Frost Sect headquarters! When the Sect Master returns, that will be the day you die!"


    That fair lady spoke, magnifying her voice, and instantly stabilizing the chaos.


    Many people rushed toward her quickly, and gathered together.


    There were more and more powerhouses from the Blue Frost Sect, all gathered in one place, and they instantly formed a huge force, killing more than ten giant black apes in an instant.


    "Dragon Pulse Freeze! Frost Descent!"


    Abruptly, a voice came from the ground beneath them.


    Under the leadership of Great Senior Sister and Blue Pole Star, everyone in the Blue Frost Sect actually formed a large circular formation, emitting a vicious blue chill.


    The enormous chill actually formed a terrifying blue dragon head, almost a hundred meters tall, in mid-air, the giant and ferocious dragon jaws chomping down hard toward Carthage and the others.


    Before the terrifying force even reached them, an intense chill had begun to rise from their feet.


    Garen felt as though that gigantic blue dragon head was staring at him, a terrifying power that far transcended Non-Falling Level locking onto him from mid-air.


    Many layers of ice began to rise from his feet, passing his calves, his groin, and freezing their way up his abdomen.


    He was extremely shocked, but right now, none of his techniques or powers could stop this terrifying freezing. As soon as any of his power touched this freezing power, it was instantly converted into nothing, as though it had never been there.


    Within a few seconds, half of his body had been encased in ice.


    "A Level-Eight Engraved Formation? That''s vaguely Interesting." Carthage was also currently in the midst of freezing, but his lips were curved in a sarcastic smile.


    Slowly, he raised one hand, and grabbed toward the sky, his arm straight as an arrow.


    "Storm!"


    Brr¡­


    In an instant, the sky turned dark.


    Countless black clouds spun and formed a giant whirlpool that was several thousand meters tall, the eye of the whirlpool looking like a tunnel of darkness that headed toward another world.


    With an explosive rumble, all of a sudden, a giant hand that was almost a thousand meters wide reached out from inside. The giant hand had fair skin, and its surface was covered with tiny silver scales. It spread open its fingers, lightly pressing down with its palm.


    The blue dragon shattered, as though it had been forcefully compressed and exploded from the pressure, instantly turning into countless shards of ice.


    There was no sound, just endless tremors.


    Garen felt as though an arm like a heavenly pillar had landed in front of him, crashing hard into the ground. All of the light before his eyes had been covered by that arm, and he could even see the palm-sized silver scales on the arm. They were dense and emitted a smell like sulfur. The whole arm was like a giant wall that had fallen down from the sky.


    The powerful current swirled around the arm, and began to spread in all directions, blowing ripples through the force field surrounding Garen.


    With a crisp crashing sound, the giant arm abruptly shattered, like glass, and was instantly blown into countless silver shards, vanishing in the air.


    The black clouds scattered, and it was a complete mess below them now.


    Garen suppressed his shock, and looked down.


    At least half of the buildings in the crescent city had been destroyed, and as a result of the destruction from that one palm, the Blue Frost Sect had also sustained severe casualties.


    A demonic smile curved Carthage''s lips, and thanks to this aura of his, his originally plain face now seemed deep and horrifying.


    "Go."


    He spoke calmly.


    Whoosh!


    Four blood-red figures abruptly appeared beside him, and Garen had no idea where they had been hiding. All four of them wore long blood-red robes, the hems of their robes flickering with shard-like shadows as they descended, but strangely, even though the ends of their robes kept shattering off, their robes never got any shorter.


    The four blood-red robes said nothing, dashing straight downward.


    Whoosh!


    Garen gripped his sword hilt tightly, he had not noticed the four figures at all.


    He stood alone, high in the sky, and watched as the four blood-red robes dashed into the crowd it was completely a one-sided massacre. The heavily-injured Great Senior Sister from the Blue Frost Sect and Blue Pole Star were holding back one blood-red robe each, but no one could match up to the remaining two. All the attacks seemed to go through them rather than landing on them, as though they were merely illusions.


    And anyone they brushed again would break out into red flames all over, instantly turning into some white skeletons that crumpled onto the ground.


    "Garen." Carthage''s voice came from beside Garen.


    Garen turned his face to look at this mysterious and powerful man.


    "Blue Pole Star is yours," said Carthage with a small smile, a red cross vaguely appearing in the middle of his brow.


    "Yes."


    Garen lowered his head.


    In that instant, a similar red cross shot into the air before him, spinning in mid-air.


    Garen reached out his hand to grab the cross, and lightly wound it over his arm using the black zip he had brought by himself as a rope. Now it''s a black circle.


    "This is our side''s symbol, don''t attack your comrades if you see this."


    "Understand."


    Garen took a deep breath, and flew rapidly downward, two long trails of white light shooting out from the Flying Boots he wore.


    Below, the Blue Frost Sect''s formation had already been utterly destroyed by the giant hand just now, and there were injuries all around. By now, the almost hundred people had more or less been killed off by the four blood-red figures. Only Blue Pole Star and that Great Senior Sister remained as some of the few blood-soaked people who were still putting up a fight.


    Smack.


    Garen landed lightly in the ruins of a building, stepping on stable rocks and miscellaneous pieces of garbage. He experienced the feeling of solid ground through the soles of his feet, and this instantly repelled some of his uncertainty from before, as though none of that was real.


    He lowered his head, and casually grabbed a handful of stones from the ground.


    The white stone shards were slightly sharp, and there was a lot of white cement on them. They were hard, and hot to the touch.


    Sighing, Garen turned around and walked towards the few remaining fighters from the Blue Frost Sect.


    The four blood-red-robed people were now surrounding the five remaining members of the Blue Frost Sect, but they did not make their move, neither did they release the enemy. Instead, they seemed to be waiting for Garen to reach them.


    Garen walked into the circle quickly, and as soon as he approached them, he could feel waves of a bone-piercing chill coming from few members of the Blue Frost Sect.


    "Garen, the master says that we should leave Blue Pole Star to you," chuckled one of the people in blood-red robes. "You better not let Master''s kindness go to waste."


    Garen''s heart stiffened, this guy actually revealed his identity! This was completely forcing him to leave the camp of the Energy Machinists, now he really had no way back!


    He glanced at the red-robed man expressionlessly, and spoke coldly. Besides, Carthage was pressuring them from up there, he would not condone any infighting.


    "I don''t need you poking your nose into my business."


    "Those are some fighting words," chuckled the red-robed person coldly, and said no more.


    On the other side, Blue Pole Star and the others reacted slightly as soon as they heard that name. Blue Pole Star''s eyes widened, and he looked slightly confused, shocked, bewildered. There was only one person who was called Garen and had a grudge against him. And no matter what, that person should have no connection to this black-robed man with an aura of death here.


    When Garen''s gaze moved to him, Blue Pole Star had not yet recovered, but he still stood between Garen and his younger sister. His only younger brother had already died on the Void Battlefields, he could not let anything happen to his sister! No matter who the enemy was!


    "Master said that if you can kill him, he might let you all go." An old voice came from another one of the blood-red robes, and his words were pointed exactly at Blue Pole Star.


    "Kill him?" The air approaching despair in Blue Pole Star''s eyes lit up with a hint of hope.


    "Brother¡­" Behind him, his younger sister grabbed his hand, and sobbed in a gentle and weak voice, "Don''t¡­ Don''t go, they''re lying."


    "Why do I need to lie to you? Under the effect of the Quadruple Weakening Fields., even if you are Non-Falling Level, you''ll only have the power of a peak Inherited-Level. Killing you would be like killing a bug, why would I need to lie?" said the old red-robed person coldly.


    "Let me!" said the Great Senior Sister loudly, taking a determine voice forth. "I''ll take his place."


    "No can do," laughed the old red-robed person coldly.


    "Have you no shame! Blue Polar Star is grievously injured and he''s lost a lot of blood, he might not even half his original power! And you''re weakening him with force fields, too!" said the Great Senior Sister harshly. "If you''re strong enough, come at me!"


    "The winner needs to put the ends over the means, and history is written by winners. Even if it''s shameless, no matter what else, you only have two choices right now. One is to fight our Junior Brother Garen one-on-one, and the second is death," said the first blood-red-robed person who spoke just now. "As expected of the Blue Frost Sect, you really are famous for your unity, you''re still sticking up for your Junior Brother at a time like this, as befitting a Great Senior Sister¡­ Tsk-tsk, you''re just my type."


    "Cowardly maggot! If it''s a one-on-one battle, I could crush you with one finger!" cursed the Great Senior Sister as she abruptly turned pale.


    "Alright, let''s get it started as soon as possible." Garen took one step forward, and the blood-red cross tied on his arm abruptly lit up with a red light. He felt as though he had walked into a viscous liquid environment, where the air around him seemed to be filled with a thick and invisible fluid that impeded the speed of his movements.


    This was clearly the so-called Quadruple Weakening Field, and Garen did not feel as though it had any effect on him, so that must be what the red cross was for.


    He gripped his sword slowly. After Demonic Blade Sunlight used up the blue flames last time, he realized that it could recharge with other flames, so he just filled it up with some normal mortal flames. That was why it looked like it did in front of Carthage, where it only had red flames and not blue. Plus, the normal flames did not seem to be sufficient in quality, so they could only burn on the tip.


    At a time like this, there was no longer any need to hide his Demonic Blade Sunlight. Since the flames disappeared, the Demonic Blade had ended up as merely a blade that was sharp enough and sturdy enough, awaiting the next recharge.


    Hiss¡­


    Sunlight was slowly pulled out of its scabbard, and Garen held it in both hands, throwing away the scabbard.


    Garen stared at Blue Pole Star opposite him, and a Two-Moons-Level force field exploded from his body.


    "It''s you¡­ so it really is you." Blue Pole Star had vaguely seen through the attributes of Garen''s techniques through his actions and force field. He laughed tragically, and then secretly transmitted his voice to Garen. "I know I won''t live for long¡­ but my sister is still young. She''s just Level Three¡­ I''m begging you."


    Garen felt melancholic. A Non-Falling Level powerhouse surely had aces left in his hand, and he might not lose even if he fought Garen in his current incapacitated state. But now¡­


    "I''ll use all my riches¡­ and my life, in exchange for a promise from you." Blue Pole Star stood there motionlessly, but his voice reached Garen''s ears. "Spare her life. I will give you my Inherited Power."


    Inherited Power!


    Garen took a deep breath. Back then, a regular Inherited Level''s Inherited Power had already helped him greatly, and if it was a Non-Falling Level''s Inherited Power, the benefits would be unimaginable.


    "Agree." Carthage''s voice appeared in Garen''s ear suddenly, making his heart stiffen.


    Without further hesitation, Garen clenched his teeth and nodded.


    "I promise."


    Baroom!!


    In the distance, the Blue Frost Sect''s most iconic building, the mid-air spinning stone wheel, was yanked down hard by more than ten giant apes. Amidst the crashing sounds, the headquarters representing the Blue Frost Sect, one of the few notable middle-sized sects among the Energy Machinists, fell once and for all.


    "Alright, come kill me." Blue Pole Star smiled tragically. He knew that whether he won or lost, he would not be allowed to live, the opponent''s power, influence, and ambition were all too overwhelming, and they were so deep that even he, as a Non-Falling Level, shivered at it. Even if he won, he would still be eliminated, without a doubt.


    But his younger sister did not know anything, so as long as her memories were wiped, she would still have a hope of surviving.


    Walking over slowly, Garen was not obstructed by any force field at all. The two of them were less than five meters away, and he could already see the will to die in Blue Pole Star''s eyes. He did not know how the other person decided he was trustworthy, but this decision right now was undeniably the best option for him.


    "Do it," chuckled one of the people in blood-red robes beside them.

 1060 Unexpected Success 2

    Garen and Blue Pole Star''s hands were simultaneously on their hilt. Blue Pole Star''s knife was a short, black, dagger-like knife.


    Shiiiing!!


    In an instant, the two men pulled out their knives at the same time. Red and black knife marks darted toward the opponent in an almost lightning-like manner. The two knives brought along a strong chill as they charged toward the other party''s body.


    The sound of knife piercing flesh.


    All of Blue Pole Star''s final energy field broke out, rolling up a vast amount of white chill and shrouded the surrounding, blocking vision and sounds and pushing away the people of Blue Frost Sect behind, especially his sister.


    In the white air, his sword pierced straight into Garen''s chest. But the blade was like illusory and without substance. The whole black knife quickly melted and permeated into Garen''s body, quickly merging into a small black ball.


    "This is all of my Power of Inheritance. Take it. I give it all to you." Blue Pole Star''s voice transmitted lightly. "Hehe...remember your promise."


    A vast amount of chill rushed out madly from his entire body and surged toward Garen''s body through the short black knife between them.


    As the short knife melted faster, this chilly cold surged increasingly quicker.


    Garen fervently absorbed this chill, but Scarlet Snow Technique had quickly absorbed until its saturation limit. The chill-Willpower of Non-Falling Level quickly condensed into a small black ball and was about to completely stop and enter into Garen''s chest.


    Just then, Hellfrost Peacock Technique from the Living Secret Technique in him erupted for the first time without any manipulation.


    Numerous blue silk threads dashed toward the small black ball from all directions and wrapped up the Power of Inheritance in the blink of an eye, forming a blue ball.


    To Garen''s surprise, his attribute pane showed that the completion of the grade seventh of Hellfrost Peacock Technique was actually rising rapidly. Starting from the original 64%, it was jumping up by almost three points per second.


    After many years of cultivation, the powerful Secret Technique that could be advanced and was almost forgotten by Garen was finally having a terrific change for the first time at this moment. The source of Non-Falling Level, Power of Inheritance, seemed to be a huge supplement force for him.


    The white air around dispersed.


    Blue Pole Star''s whole body was emaciated like a piece of wood and knelt before Garen. His entire essence, energy, and spirit had completely disappeared.


    "Brother!!!"


    The only young girl left in Blue Frost Sect screamed in pain. Both her hand covered her face and she was grieving to the extreme.


    "Senior Brother!!" The remaining Junior Brothers cried out desperately.


    "How could he be so fast!?" Elder Senior Sister looked at Garen with disbelief. She soon saw the cut in front of Garen''s chest.


    "Die! Hehe!" At the same time, two Blood Robes pounced forward while the remaining two stood still, clearly believing that there was not a need for them to take action.


    In just the blink of an eye, the last few disciples of Blue Frost Sect were all killed. Facing Non-Falling Level powerhouses, they were defenseless like babies.


    At this time, whether it was Elder Senior Sister or Garen, both had already guessed the identity of the four Blood Robes. All the Non-Falling Levels in the Star Regions around had their names registered and recorded. There would not be an appearance of four such powerful Non-Falling Level Energy Machinists for no reason. The only explanation was that they were the nearby, local elder-level figures in the first place!


    Garen was now watching his Hellfrost Peacock Technique rising wildly. After absorbing who-knew-how-many Peacock Stones, today, there was finally the hope of truly displaying his power.


    The Hellfrost Peacock Technique of Living Secret Technique would absolutely not be a purely auxiliary role as it was in the past. All along, Garen felt that the enhancement of this Secret Technique was faintly discernible and instead, it was mainly the Distortion Seed that had an extremely terrifying advancement for external creatures. It was fundamentally useless in terms of enhancing his own power and was far from matching the strong reputation of Living Secret Technique.


    The Hellfrost Peacock Technique of Living Secret Technique now had a total of eight grades. He was about to complete the seventh grade. Once he entered the eighth grade, it would be the ultimate realm. For Living Secret Technique, even Black Sethe at that time had said that the difficulty of cultivating Living Secret Technique was extremely high. This kind of Secret Technique would constantly change in accordance with the main body''s situation. It would become more suitable and more fitting with the main body to reach the level where the greatest strength could be exerted.


    There was no sound. In the silence, Garen saw the percentage of his Hellfrost Peacock Technique finally exceeded 100%.


    The status of the Hellfrost Peacock Technique was blurred momentarily before quickly becoming clear again.


    All the remaining talents were still of the same, but the effects had been strengthened. Hellfrost Peacock Technique only had one extra ability.


    ¨C Peacock Transformation.


    There was no explanation at the back, but just as Garen saw these words, he felt a chill rose from the bottom of his heart.


    At this time, one Blood Robe had moved to the front of Blue Pole Star''s sister. He stretched out his hand in lightning speed toward her head.


    Snapped.


    The girl''s eyes rolled upwards and her whole body''s Willpower was a like a deflated balloon, leaking out clean and turning her into an ordinary person. Not only did her Willpower completely leaked out, there even was not a way for her to cultivate to become a pilot. She could only be the most ordinary common person.


    The girl became unconscious and dropped down.


    The Blood Robe carried the girl and smiled at Garen. He flicked his hand and the girl was shot out like a cannonball at Garen accompanied by a mighty energy field.


    Garen caught the unconscious girl with one hand and his body swiveled one round to relieve all the impact. He glanced plainly at that man.


    Out of his expectation, that horrific Blood Robe-energy field was actually silently devoured by his Peacock Technique. It was not the kind of devouring that needed the blue silk threads to light up, but the kind that devoured invincibly and naturally. It was as natural as breathing and drinking without the slightest discomfort.


    "You really are something." That Blood Robe was slightly surprised. Originally, he intended to intimidate Garen, who had yet to reach Inherited Level. He did not expect his Inherited-Level energy field to be taken on by the other party quietly.


    "Is this the power of Secret Technique?" After Garen came to this world, it was the first time he had felt that Secret Technique could actually surpass the power of this special world of technology. This was also the first time that Living Secret Technique was no longer a purely auxiliary Secret Technique, but that it could really play a role in a battle.


    "Living Secret Technique should not have any weaknesses." Garen suddenly recalled what Black Sethe had said before.


    "Yeah, Living Secret Technique really shouldn''t have such an obvious weakness as to unable to battle up-front..." He sighed softly. Holding the girl, he walked up to the body of Blue Pole Star and picked up a silver clip on his collar. This was where all Blue Star Pole''s precious treasures were.


    The request earlier on was asked by Carthage to agree upon. Garen knew he was unqualified to give his word, so at this moment, he looked up at the hovering Carthage, who was in control.


    What he did not expect was that Carthage seemed to be talking to a woman who was clothed in blue and had all her limbs broken, ignoring him.


    The woman seemed to be from Blue Frost Sect. Both her hands and feet were chopped off, leaving only a torso.


    Their lips moved slightly, but not the slightest sound traveled over. The woman was very emotional and she seemed to be questioning about something, but Carthage was still smiling with a trace of calmness. There was not any abnormity.


    Garen looked at the two people from below and frowned slightly.


    He did not know why at this time, there was a very strange feeling. It was as if the originally terribly oppressive feeling brought forth by Carthage, who was in the sky, had turned into a gentle breeze once it reached him and did not cause any alarm. The Soul Seed was rotating slowly in the brain, no longer producing any warning.


    He could feel that he seemed to be able to inflate his entire body. It was the kind of a complete stretch, expanding like a balloon as if this body was not his real body at all.


    This feeling was present ever since he had broken through Hellfrost Peacock Technique just now. And currently, it was getting more and more intense.


    He faintly recalled that the eighth grade of Hellfrost Peacock Technique was already the highest level of Living Secret Technique and it should also have reached the legendary Army-Level stage.


    "Army Level¡­ If compared to Energy Machinists and pilots, what kind of level could it reach?" Garen suddenly had an urge to alter his body, but he rationalized and forcefully suppressed it.


    In theory, by breaking through the eighth layer of Hellfrost Peacock Technique and reaching the highest level, he was at the Army Level. However, in reality, he did not feel any significant changes to his own body. Besides the strengthening of his abilities and expanding their scope, he was still the original him.


    Army Level.


    Once, the Nine-Headed Dragon Queen Nadia was at this level. She was the top powerhouse in the Army Level and was only one step away from Demon Lord. Just the projection of her figure had almost killed Garen back then.


    In the classification level during the Ancient Endor civilization, the gap between each level was like a natural chasm. Quantity could not be used to determine the outcome, whether it was Army Level or the-one-level-lower General Level.


    No idea why, Garen suddenly looked up at Carthage, who was hovering in the sky, and his heart inexplicably gushed out a trace of desire...


    It was a kind of weird desire, not the romance kind, but the kind of desire that was purely like seeing extremely delicious food. He could feel his saliva secreting and the blood in his body flowing at an accelerated rate.


    Suddenly, Carthage''s gaze looked over here, frowning slightly as he seemed to notice something.


    Garen quickly bowed his head and made an act of checking on the girl in his arms.


    Forcefully suppressing the urging desire in his heart.


    Garen looked around. The four Blood Robes had darted into the distance to help slaughter the rest of the disciples of Blue Frost Sect.


    Elder Senior Sister of Blue Frost Sect was silently held in the hands of a Blood Robe who was flying in the air. Her face was deadpan and there was no expression in her eyes.


    "I''ll fight you to death!!"


    Garen heard the crazy roar of a young person coming from behind him all of a sudden.


    Turning back, he saw a few young disciples with their own Energy Machinery birds marching through the ruins and rushing toward him.


    To his slight surprise, these young people actually were flashing extremely huge energy reaction on them.


    Boom!


    White flames exploded abruptly. They were actually high-energy plasma bombs!


    A high temperature of thousands of degrees instantaneously melted everything around into liquid and gas, forming a horrific magma pool with Garen as the center point.


    However, the white magma that was just formed was instantly solidified and cooled.


    Garen stood still without any action. The heat discharged by the high-energy plasma bombs which could threaten Inherited Levels were in front of him as if being blocked by an invisible barrier. Its enormous heat and impact seemed to be absorbed by something at a terribly fast speed.


    In just less than two seconds, all the heat from the bombs had disappeared completely.


    "This is ....?" Garen was somewhat inexplicable. He did not even make a move. He had just gathered his Willpower and Scarlet Snow Technique in his palms. But before they had been released to counteract, the power of the bomb had disappeared right away.


    "This is Devour?!" He was suddenly shocked. He actually felt an additional mass of high-heat Energy Distorted Seed in his body. This seed was even being ironically transformed into a large amount of Cold Energy and bustled into his Scarlet Snow Technique.


    Without him doing anything, all the damage was devoured and absorbed automatically. Not even the slightest aftermath affected him.


    "This is the eighth grade of Hellfrost Peacock Technique?" Garen was astounded.


    The impulse in his heart suddenly became increasingly stronger. An extremely strong sense of hunger surged out from his stomach.


    "I really want to...eat him up..." Garen lifted up his head again and looked at Carthage in the sky.

 1061 Massacre 1

    With his head down, Garen could feel his Scarlet Snow Technique heightening unceasingly, the Plasma Bomb Energy Seed was constantly increasing his Scarlet Snow Technique in a maddening speed. It was nothing like the breakthrough he experienced with potential points when his accumulation was reduced, but instead, he felt an extremely strong force pushing within him increasingly. With the speed of his technique increasing, it was definitely out of the ordinary.


    "At this rate, it will take me just a month''s time to advance from my current eleventh level to twelfth level to reach the required standard for the Cold Energy. That''s just slightly slower than the Ancestral Temple!" Garen was shocked after doing a mental calculation using his Energy Machine Imprint.


    An ordinary Energy Machinist would take a long time to accumulate energy from the resonance stage to the Inherited Level in order to break through the required standard. If one was not born with talent, one would have to accumulate for an even longer period of time. Using years as the basic time unit, even the most talented prodigy would need around five to six years, and that was if there was no computing power threshold. However, right now, Garen could feel a distinct change in his accumulation in just a short time.


    He surveyed his surroundings and started moving around the ruins slowly, he had summoned Black Wolf and it was carrying Blue Pole Star''s sister on its back and following him closely behind.


    Carthage had not only brought the Blood Robe people and Leaping Experts, but also a lot of giant apes and groups of masked men dressed in tight, red outfits.


    The masked men were incredibly fast, their worst member was at least a Level Three whereas their Junior Captain was probably a Level Four or Five, and one could spot a Resonance-Level one occasionally.


    "Haha, this is mine! The advanced Gene Potion!"


    Suddenly, a masked man crashed through the wall on the left with another two following close behind.


    "How dare you steal from our brother, you must be sick of life!" Without saying further, both of them lunged forward and ganged up. The palm method that they were using was highly agile, seemingly airy and light just like butterflies but once struck by it, the impact would be strong enough to even demolish an entire wall as if the force had the ability to spread.


    Those people did not have any energy force field and their breaths were obscure so it was hard to guess which level they were exactly.


    Garen''s path was blocked by them as such he stopped altogether to wait for them to end their fight.


    The three of them were tangled together, going round after one another. They seem to be from the same sect as they were using the same palm method.


    Bang!


    A muffled crash sounded. Holding on to the item, the person''s hand trembled and the item flew out of his hand and rolled on the ground before it landed near Garen''s feet. It was a small, crystal bottle, undamaged.


    The three of them suddenly stopped fighting and separated from each other, and turned to look towards Garen at the same time. Seeing Garen, fear darted across their eyes.


    "So it''s you, Lord Garen. Isn''t it too much that you are concerned with items of ordinary energy machineries and not snatching secret techniques book?"


    One of them spoke. He may have addressed Garen respectfully, but his tone sure did not indicate that.


    "I am not interested in the things you stole," Garen said calmly. Carthage mentioned to him before that these external people were just employed temporarily and both parties do not have direct control over each other and call the shots.


    The three of them stopped in disbelief. Although they had no clue as to what kind of advanced Gene Potion was kept in that tiny bottle, they were sure that in a middle-class sect like Blue Frost Sect, there would only be at least ten bottles of those. A valuable item as this would cost up to thousands of golden crystals and even the Red Eagle Gene that Garen used to transplant earlier on was nothing comparable to this very item.


    Except that Garen''s Red Eagle Gene has been converted into Blood Eagle form and was still a pitch-black whirlpool, he was unsure as to when it would settle down.


    In addition to the recent series of big changes in his state of mind, he did not want to complicate issues further by snatching items.


    Seeing the evil expressions, Garen frowned and took a step back.


    "I am really not interested in it. If you guys want it, be my guest."


    The three of them slowly relaxed as they eyed Garen moving away from the crystal bottle.


    "Who knows, maybe he was waiting for the three of us to be wounded and defeated before swooping in to steal the bottle!?" One of the masked men sneered.


    After he finished his sentence, the other two looked furious again.


    Garen was growing impatient as he sneaked a glance at Carthage above in the sky. Carthage was not even looking his way.


    He walked past the crystal bottle on the right side, not wanting to speak further with these greedy bastards.


    "Stop him! He''s trying to hide and wait for us to defeat each other!" The person who spoke up earlier yelled wildly. The trio who were fighting heatedly just now instantly darted towards Garen and circled him and the crystal bottle.


    "You guys are really annoying me!"


    By then, Garen was really pissed. His right palm landed a powerful struck on one of the masked men.


    His pure Double-Moon Leveled force field shot out an immense chill that instantly distorted the air, forming the image of a large giant wolf midair which opened its mouth wide as it pounced on the person.


    "Electromagnetic Shock Palm!!"


    Though the opponent was not as swift as Garen, his reaction was quick as well. As he raised both his palms to defend himself against the upcoming attack, traces of blue electric arcs formed on his palms. Then, a burst of Level-Five energy field surged forwards and formed a translucent wall of energy field gas.


    The giant air wolf crashed onto the gas wall. With a heavy crash, the gas wall split apart as the energy field carrying Garen''s Scarlet Snow Technique met the man''s Electromagnetic Shock Palm.


    Hu¡­


    The translucent giant air wolf was shattered by the impactful force and scattered into cold energy.


    "Humph, is this the power that the chief values? So weak!" The man snickered as he withdrew his palms. But then he saw Garen walked up to the crystal bottle, picking it up and storing it into his Space Equipment.


    "You!!" The man wanted to say something but he soon realized that something was off. Lowering his head, he saw that his lower body was frozen in a huge block of ice and he could not move at all. The ice was silently creeping upwards. Worst of all, he could not feel a thing.


    Boom!


    Enraged and shocked, he focused all his energy on both his palms to smash the dense, ice block but could only chip off its surface. The ice was still creeping upwards and picking up speed.


    "Big Brother, save me!"


    He cried for help, but nobody responded. Turning his head around, he then only realized the other two were already frozen in two ice blocks.


    Crack¡­


    The ice finally covered his head completely. Everything turned dark for the masked man, and he lost all senses.


    "What a strong chill¡­" Garen was slightly shocked. After successfully mastering the Hellfrost Peacock Technique, the increment towards his Scarlet Snow Technique was way beyond his expectations. His mere strength of a Level-Five hit was powerful enough to spread out and freeze three Level-Five Energy Machinists instantly. They did not even have a chance to fight back.


    Seeing that, Garen decided to completely release Cold Chaos using his Hellfrost Peacock Technique.


    From above, a clear, white ring-like fog was spreading with Garen standing in its middle. Anything that the fog spread onto within a hundred meters range was entirely covered with a thick layer of ice. The ice gleamed as clear as crystal and was dense and solid hard comparable to high-grade metal alloy.


    Building tops, ruins, corpses laying around, masked men who were still battling for goods, and Blue Frost Sect disciples who were trying to escape.


    Within a hundred meters from Garen, everything and everyone was frozen into thick chunks of ice blocks within two seconds.


    Garen controlled the chill while he trudged forward slowly. The hundred-meter chill coated the buildings with a layer of ice and masked men who did not escape in time were frozen into ice blocks.


    Some of them who just managed to get their hands on the snatched goods were laughing wildly and were turned into huge blocks of ice in a flash.


    Some of them were even in the midst of a violent fight with the Blue Frost Sect disciples when the chill froze them straight away. Some of them noticed something amiss and tried to get away. Parts of their bodies were frozen slightly but it defrosted fast and they managed to flee from the site, terrified by what was happening.


    Seeing that Carthage ignored the fact that Garen just killed three masked men, Garen was tired of playing games already and straight up released Cold Region.


    With most of his Hellfrost Peacock Techniques'' Cold Region unleashed, those below Level Five could barely last more than a second, whereas Level Five and Resonance Leveled ones were able to hold approximately two to five seconds long. However, the Inherited Leveled ones still managed to scurry away in time.


    On the way, Garen simply caught a masked man and asked for directions, then started his journey towards Blue Frost Sect''s confidential database.


    Wherever he went with his Black Wolf, the surrounding would be covered by a thick layer of white snow which swiftly froze into ice. It was as if a cold, harsh winter was approaching. All the masked men moved away quietly and avoided his path, only daring to continue snatching outside his range with a slight tinge of fear.


    Along the way, everywhere was covered with ice and snow. Though the sun hung high up in the sky, nobody could feel the slightest hint of warmth.


    In the city center, Garen left a path of crystal clear ice. The frost was spreading non-stop. Even the Blue Frost Sect disciples were afraid of the extremely cold chill and dare not stay around the area.


    Reaching the Blue Frost Sect headquarters at the front of its rotating stone building, Garen saw two masked men standing at the gate, frozen. There was a Blue Frost Sect female disciple laying naked waist down in a pool of blood on the ground, frozen as well. All three of them were dead.


    Arriving here, Garen sighed. He suddenly looked up to the right at an abandoned, ruined building. A Blood Robe man was standing there.


    "This is a gift to you from the Master."


    The Blood Robe man said in an icy tone as if he was not affected by the chill.


    With a flick of his finger, a black-red marble shot out which Garen caught steadily in his hand.


    "What''s the use of this?" Garen frowned. He was not bothered that the other person was not affected by his Cold Chaos. After all, he could still strengthen the effect of his Cold Radiation using his Scarlet Snow Technique. He was not at his strongest state, this was just fundamental level.


    Only the Cold Radiation Region with the addition of Scarlet Snow Technique was the strongest technique. He was aware that the enemy could still defend his fundamental level Cold Chaos, but they would never be ever to resist his full blasted Cold Energy.


    "Absorb it! You will reborn," the Red Robe man laughed eerily. Leaping backward, he vanished into thin air.


    Humph!


    Garen was not too excited. Glancing at the black-red marble, he did not use it but instead stored it in his Space Ring.


    Not far away within a few hundred meters, inside a decent, small building.


    The Blood Robe man suddenly appeared in the second-floor unit.


    "What a strong chill!" He shook and a great amount of crushed ice fell from beneath his blood-red robe. Landing on the floor, the ice melted and evaporated immediately.


    "Tsk tsk, freezing air¡­ So this is the terrifying part of a Halo-type Energy Machinist!" The other Blood Robe man appeared from nowhere at the empty seat across and gloated. "No wonder Carthage values him. With that kind of wisdom and power, I wonder if his halo is as strong as Red Lotus Queen."


    "How can he be comparable to Red Lotus Queen? Are you kidding me?" The Blood Robe man from earlier on retorted. "Chilled ice has the lowest temperature limit but high temperature has none. Ice cannot contend fire, and this is something all Energy Machinists agree on. The strongest Teacher Ancestor in Scarlet Snow Sect back then practiced Scarlet Snow Technique''s Cold Region to its peak, but he was still defeated by Red Lotus Sect''s powerhouse within ten moves. This incident speaks the truth."


    "I just thought it would be interesting." The latter Blood Robe man grinned without bothering to defend himself.

 1062 Massacre 2

    Bang!


    Garen moved forward towards the gate which was obstructing him. Setting his sight on it, the gate froze and cracked before shattering into pieces under the extreme change in temperature. The gate opened.


    With Garen as the center point, all living creatures within his surroundings were frozen.


    He went through a gloriously decorated tunnel which was at least ten meters wide. It was solemnly silent, frozen corpses and masked men were all over the place. Passing through the tunnel, he entered through the already opened, enormously huge, white stone door. Inside, were rows and rows of bookshelves which had lost its'' own protection measures.


    On top of the white, stone shelves were books and books of documenting all sorts of Secret Technique Skills.


    "Who knew, with the advancement in technology today, the original published books are still being preserved with this method."


    Garen lamented.


    The area was empty and nobody responded to his words. Even if there were any lucky survivors around, they would have already been frozen into ice by his strong chill.


    Concerned that it would damage the ancient books and records, Garen withdrew his Cold Region. Only then did he step forward to check out the books.


    The entire library''s exhibition hall was white in color, only just slightly dimmer than white snow. The round-arched ceiling was a white crystal screen, shimmering lightly with a soft glow. There was also a flow of exquisite yes complex ancient-like carving designs, giving off a classic, decorous vibe.


    Garen walked into the middle of the room. Stone bookshelves as tall the Blue as a human being were on both sides; each walkway interval was an opened, gigantic book displayed on a stand for browsing purposes.


    Garen casually flipped through the book and soon realized that most of its'' contents were just a record of the library database''s history and some memoirs of historical figures.


    Glancing briefly around the room, he soon found the place where Blue Frost Sect''s secret technique skills exercises were hidden.


    "Among the middle-class sects, they are indeed the one with the most exercises kept!"


    Garen exclaimed in awe as he saw the full shelf of Frost Secret Technique skills.


    He started browsing the books and memorized its contents.


    He was, however, disappointed. The contents were slightly low-ranked, and most of it similar to Scarlet Snow Technique, perhaps weaker still. Its conception and vision were not up to par as Scarlet Snow Technique meaning they were all just average-leveled techniques.


    Garen browsed through everything swiftly. There were thirty-two books of secret technique exercises, but sadly, they were not techniques of killing moves but merely simple, specialization techniques.


    Among all the books, seventeen of them had contents overlapping with Scarlet Snow Technique; besides developing different thinking perspectives, they were not much of use. Out of the remaining fifteen books, six of them preached about practice from scratch which had a strong value of exclusivity that was incompatible as it may cause harm to one''s blood vessels due to the heavy load.


    Only nine books were left, and three of those were specially designed for females to practice, so those were out of the picture as well.


    The last six books were the only secret techniques that were able to overlay on his Scarlet Snow Technique.


    "The two, main things for restricted power increase are Intelligence Computing Power and Bottleneck Technique. If one''s computing talent is good enough, his techniques will rise along with his advance. However, it would be prohibitively difficult to affect one''s computing power with the increase of his techniques as this would require a long period of improvements and accumulation. Even though both elements simultaneously complement one another, but to drive one''s computing power using techniques would be something incredibly challenging¡­"


    Garen shook his head slightly, "Luckily I have enough potential points currently. If I am able to overlay a few of the frost techniques, something good might turn up unexpectedly."


    This was the advantage of potential points, being able to overlay with different techniques with the possibility to break through the specialization exercises. This was a form of fusion, a type of simulation. Different exercises have different strengthening standards and thinking perspectives, therefore producing a variety of outcomes.


    He used to use this way back in Secret Technique World to achieve his goals.


    He took down the six books swiftly, and scanned through its contents and registered them into his Energy Machine Imprint.


    With a rub, he destroyed the books one by one the moment he finished going through it. As the books disintegrated into shreds of papers, he ignited a sparkle of fire with his scimitar and set the papers on fire, burning them into ashes.


    "I have to use my potential points wisely. My current Hellfrost Peacock Technique can probably replace my potential points to devour my accumulation ability. In this case, even though it''s not as efficient as potential points, I''d be able to save up a vast amount of expenditure by just spending my potential points on overlaying my techniques and strengthening them!" Garen calculated mentally.


    He recalled the Hellfrost Peahen from the Ancient Endor myths, the one that consumed all things and turned them into a universe of Cold Radiation, the one who practically had regeneration ability and physique of an immortal. It was evident that his Hellfrost Peacock Technique was simulating such ability currently.


    Consume all things, and convert them into pure Cold Energy.


    An idea flickered in his mind and Garen eagerly grabbed onto one of the books of secret techniques. The threads, no longer in blue color but was translucent, gushed out from his palms. It wrapped the book and swallowed it.


    Instantaneously, Garen felt a faint trace of light yellow energy ball within his body. The energy ball was converted into pure Cold Energy which then entered his Scarlet Snow Technique''s Resonance Crystal, becoming one of the aids of his accumulation ability.


    "Sure enough¡­"


    Potential points and Hellfrost Peacock Technique, they were an incredible match!


    As it turned out, the Hellfrost Peacock Technique did not mainly practice combat power. It was to reform the person who practiced it to get accustomed to the Hellfrost Peacock''s young body, allowing him to swallow all things to use as the energy source to strengthen him. This was an absolutely unreasonable transformation.


    "Even heat, the opposing energy, can be converted into Cold Energy! This is ridiculous!" Garen shook his head, speechless. This was like turning flames into ice cubes. But then he thought about the advanced technology which was well equipped with plenty of refrigeration equipment, it was not that difficult to accept the theory after all.


    He recalled the six books attentively. They were all at least first-class graded secret techniques. Though they were slightly weaker than Scarlet Snow Technique and still feeble when combined with computing power, they were still good enough to be an inherited training method to be handed down.


    Garen did not choose to practice all of the techniques as some were totally out of his style. He just chose a few that were able to help him strengthen his techniques and the others were stored away for backup.


    "Get ready to retreat."


    All of a sudden, a calm voice rang in Garen''s ears. It was Carthage.


    "Everybody, you have ten minutes to retreat. Those who violate, you will have to fend for yourself," Carthage commanded.


    With a wave of his hand, Garen kept the whole lot of frost secret manuals and started to go through the other bookshelves swiftly to find other secret manuals.


    Battle skills, exercises on other secret techniques, other types of supports, various records of true experiences and many, many more.


    The entire library''s knowledge was consumed by him within seconds.


    Looking up, Garen held onto his scimitar at the handle.


    "Resonance."


    Amid the violent shakes, gigantic Void Shadows of black wolves started appearing beside him, each of them roaring high up into the sky.


    Thump! Thump thump thump thump thump!!!


    The wolves'' shadows crashed towards the ceiling, one following the other, to break a distinct, big hole through the eminently strong defense. The sun''s rays poured into the dust-filled room.


    As stones from the crushed ceiling fell, Garen flew up and out through the hole.


    The black wolves behind him leaped. Garen caught the girl at her waist from the wolf''s back, before the wolves turned into Void Shadows and entered his Space Ring.


    The air current reverberated around Garen''s ears as he flew higher and higher into the sky. Looking back, he saw fire burning in several areas in the white crescent-shaped city which was Blue Frost Sect''s headquarters. The bright, red flames illuminated the city a reddish color, while clear, black smokes from the flames rolled up into the sky like columns of pillars.


    Taking a deep breath, Garen could smell an obvious trace of sulfur. Who knew what could be burning¡­


    Boom!


    Something exploded down below. Yellow flames blasted high up into the air, the raging flames soon set the surrounding buildings on fire.


    Figures clad in red were flying into a black whirlpool, which was gradually opening in the sky.


    Carthage was standing high up in the sky, enjoying the birds'' eye view like he was God himself.


    Four Blood Robes darted into the air and promptly disappeared leaving no trace.


    Garen flew high up into the sky and stopped just right behind Carthage. He bowed his head in respect.


    He could not clearly estimate the true abilities of this man whom he first thought was just a General under the White King. He did not expect the man to be incredibly strong, which he found extremely horrifying.


    Garen thought that he had clearly seen Carthage''s true abilities, but as Carthage revealed his strong powers bit by bit, he was again confused.


    "Take the blood bead I gave you as soon as possible. Sacrificing over a hundred thousand people for their blood, and all we got was just this tiny thing in return." Carthage turned around slightly to look at Garen.


    Garen was stunned. Hundred thousands of people! To get something through sacrificing over hundred thousands of people for their blood clearly showed that there was nothing legitimate about this so-called essence.


    "What''s the use of the blood bead?" He asked after a moment of silence.


    "You''ll find out after taking it¡­" Carthage smiled mysteriously. "But of course, you can choose to not take it too."


    A trace of threat was slowly emitting from his body.


    Garen lowered his head. He knew he had no choice but to take the bead.


    "I understand."


    He took out the black-red bead, took a good look at it, before popping it into his mouth and swallowed it in a gulp.


    Entering his mouth, the bead melted into a trance of warm flow that seeped into his vessels directly from his mouth instead of his stomach. The warm trace of flow soon spread all over his body.


    Seeing that Garen ate the blood flesh essence and had a new sense of temperament, then only did Carthage smiled with satisfaction.


    "Let''s go."


    At that moment, everyone had already entered the black whirlpool and it was starting to shrink.


    Black smoke appeared around Carthage and encircled Garen together with him. In a whoosh, both of them entered the whirlpool and immediately after, the passageway behind them closed entirely.


    Without a word, Garen had his arms around Blue Pole Star''s sister and was using his energy field to protect the ordinary girl. At the same time, he followed closely behind Carthage.


    Just as how it was described by Carthage, the bead released a tremendous amount of blood flesh essence. The essence was indeed magical as it actually managed to strengthen his physique gradually, but also slowly covered every inch of his body with a layer of light red tint.


    "Is it possible that this is something used to control a powerhouse?"


    Garen was trying to summon his Scarlet Snow Technique to eliminate the red essence but it was pointless as his Scarlet Snow Technique power was nowhere near as strong as this bead.


    However, he soon found out that the red tint had no side effects as his Hellfrost Peacock Technique was still functioning as per normal, converting the red bead''s energy into a vast amount of Cold Energy to replenish his Scarlet Snow Technique.


    The black ball of Energy Seed which was originally used to absorb the Plasma Bomb was already accumulating at a rapid speed, but now with the red bead''s essence, it was even faster!


    Garen stared wide-eyed at the vast amount of Cold Energy swirling through the air, gushing into his Scarlet Snow Technique''s Resonance Crystal.

 1063 Fate 1

    Crack!


    All of a sudden, a crack formed on the Scarlet Snow Technique''s Crystal. In a split second, the crystal shattered into ten pieces of red diamond-shaped shards which started to spin rapidly.


    As the shards were spinning, a vast amount of Cold Energy from his Scarlet Snow Technique started flooding inside.


    Garen knew that this was the key moment, that this whirlpool was created by the crystal''s broken shards. The center of it was whirling at an extremely high speed and the small amount of Inherited Level essence energy formed was the power of the source.


    Of course, this sort of cohesion process required a tremendous amount of energy that needed to be accumulated over the year, but the amount of energy surging from his Hellfrost Peacock Technique at that very moment was formidable. Even the whirlpool was increasing by its size as seconds passed.


    Garen could barely stabilize his own breathing, but luckily, the red gem was covering his breaths. If not, he would have been sniffed out by Carthage already.


    Whiz!


    Two figures emerged from the passageway, appearing midair in the desert from before. There was another black whirlpool in front.


    Carthage dived into the second whirlpool without a word.


    Garen followed suit with a swift leap. In the blink of an eye, he arrived at a snowfield in the wilderness of Planet Scarlet Snow, which he soon realized was the snowfield he left earlier.


    It was still moments before dawn. On the snowfield was only him and Carthage standing across each other.


    "You are free to roam around. I will inform you in about a year''s time when we have our next operation."


    With these parting words, Carthage turned and walked away slowly.


    "Yes," he replied softly with Blue Pole Star''s sister in his arms.


    It was not until Carthage left only did Garen look down at Blue Pole Star''s sister who was still unconscious in his arms.


    This young girl with short blue hair was wearing a blue-black corset top with a white pleated mini skirt. Her black knee-high socks reached mid-thigh, showcasing her long slender legs. She seems to be an energetic girl but at the moment she just looked pale and lifeless, whoever saw her delicate face would immediately feel for her.


    This reminded him of his own sister back in Secret Technique World. She was just as adorable and people could not help but be fond of her. Unfortunately¡­


    "Just blame yourself for the bad luck¡­" Garen sighed and typed out an order in his Energy Machine Imprint.


    Not long after, a black flying ship with a triangular head zoomed across the dark sky. The flying ship was soundless, even its tail was not emitting any sort of gas.


    Garen jumped up and charged towards it. He then entered from the side.


    *******************


    A few hours later¡­


    A star region far, far away from Mother Planet and the Four-Star alliance, a planet which was behind time. A black hole suddenly appeared as the flying ship with a triangular head emerged.


    The black flying ship flew out from the black hole towards the light yellow planet below.


    ''Welcome to Resourceless Planet. According to Civilization Ordinance, your flying ship must leave after the planet rotates three times. Otherwise, you''d be violating the Civilization Union Act''s number three hundred and twenty...''


    Bang!


    Garen smacked the control panel before him and turned off the smart computer''s alarm.


    The Civilization Order Act were the rules arranged by the Finite people and people from races implemented by ordinary people. On the other hand, the rules meant nothing to high-ranked Energy Machinists. Even the Slaves Planet had someone to control and run the place, not just some Civilization Union Act.


    If it was not the fact that the planet was too far away from the main star regions, those greedy bastards would have already conquered it long ago. Even for Garen to travel all the way here this time around tired him too.


    With that, 20 golden crystals worth of resources was gone. Only a few people could actually jump with such high expenditure. This was actually the distance of millions of light years. After traveling to and fro space multiple times and greatly jumping around far-distanced planets, Garen finally found a planet that did not have humans who appreciate its resources.


    Looking back at the short-haired girl who was soundly asleep in the ice coffin, Garen shook his head.


    "That''s good. With such a distance, we''re far away from the war, the clamor. You''d be able to forget about everything and just live a peaceful, normal life as a normal person."


    The flying ship accelerated and flew through the atmosphere, passing through layers of clouds. Yellow mountains stretched along the horizon could be seen from above, it was like grey patches of civilization.


    "Activate stealth mode."


    A sound rang through the flying ship.


    The flying ship continued flying downwards until it finally stopped right above the city.


    Garen got dressed in his stealth clothing and descended the flying ship with the girl in his arms.


    ********************


    "Ouch¡­ My head hurts¡­"


    Inside a crisp white room, the girl finally regained consciousness. Rubbing her head as she slowly got up, her mind was completely blank just like a hard disk that had no memory at all.


    Staring at the unfamiliar scene before her, she blinked her eyes rapidly. Looking down at her blue-black blouse and short white skirt, she finally pulled herself together.


    "Oh, I just returned from the cosplay event but I fainted because I had a low blood sugar level. Who knew I''d be asleep for so long¡­"


    She picked up her credentials which were scattered around the floor. Her ID card, bank card, and a few member cards.


    She looked at her ID card and stared at the short-haired girl who had a sweet smile.


    "Tian Tian¡­" An unfamiliar feeling overwhelmed and not knowing why she had the urge to cry.


    "What''s wrong? Is it because I''ve watched too many sad TV dramas?" She slapped herself lightly, "I''m Tian Tian, a store manager of a cosplay themed cafe. My income is pretty decent and more than enough to cover my living expenses. I''m twenty-three years old this year, both my parents are dead but I have a brother who is missing...."


    As the words came out of her mouth, tears started streaming down her face.


    She was overwhelmed by her own emotions flooding all over the place.


    Looking down at her ID card, the girl did have a sweet smile plastered on her face, but it suddenly seemed unreal.


    Just right outside the garden of this residential building, a tall man wearing a black windbreaker was looking the whole time. With a sigh, he turned and walked away.


    ********************


    Garen strolled along the streets on the planet. Storekeepers were busy attending to customers, eagerly introducing their own products, backpackers were walking around with their huge backpacks behind them, a lady who was browsing through store windows with her handphone in one hand and her child on the other¡­


    Surprisingly, every planet he had been to so far had living habits and customs similar to back on Earth. They had the same civilization and hustle, yet it was still somehow calm.


    Hu¡­


    A bright blue convertible brushed by Garen''s side, sending bursts of cool wind. It then disappeared at the end of the empty road.


    Loneliness suddenly hit Garen. As he transmigrated between worlds more and more often, he used to feel the tinge of loneliness back when he just started off, but right now when he finally let reality hit him, he could not just simply brush off the heartache he felt.


    Whether it was relatives, lovers, or the different sorts of people whom he met throughout the way, it was like he had just been floating around and moving forward non-stop. There was no turning back anymore.


    He had given it a thought sometimes, that perhaps he would grow old at one place and just die there. But after he dies, he would just be reborn.


    Hu¡­


    He let out a heavy breath. He had been so crazy and worked up while chasing after power, but he was just trying to free himself from this feeling of just drifting with the tide.


    All of a sudden, another bright blue convertible drove by his side again.


    "Hey, cool uncle. Can you give us a hand?"


    The car came to a stop abruptly on the road right beside Garen. The driver was a white-skinned girl with huge sunglasses on. She screamed of extravagance and was currently eyeing Garen with an interested look.


    "Just asking, where did you get your outfit from? Which cosplay character is it?"


    Although they were just acquaintances by chance, the girl was not at all shy with strangers and was actually really open and friendly.


    Garen looked at the girl, then looked at what he was wearing. His outfit was actually just a special effect, it was Scarlet Snow Sect''s Third Hearted Pauldron''s Guise function.


    He did not think about which cosplay character was he imitating or whatever because technically speaking, there was not supposed to be such a situation.


    He eventually realized the problem as his eyes paused at the blue scimitar slung on his waist.


    No wonder people whom he passed by just now kept a safe distance away from him, something went wrong with the details. But since it happened already, he might as well keep it with him.


    "I''m not cosplaying anyone," Garen smiled and responded politely.


    "Then why do you have a knife with you?" The girl asked curiously. Based on her trendy getup, her black long hair flowing down on her shoulders, her sleeveless white blouse matched with a pink mini-skirt and black fishnet stockings, she seemed mature. But in reality, Garen knew that this girl was no older than nineteen years old.


    "That is for safety precautions," Garen replied casually.


    "You''re lying. You think just because I''m a little girl, you''d be able to cheat me?" The girl showed an offended expression.


    Garen smiled briefly but said nothing. Looking at the scimitar, there was a red hexagon print - the identification of a Scarlet Snow Sect''s Energy Machinist.


    "Wow, I couldn''t tell that an uncle like you would be so trendy, hmm wearing a ring at your age?" The girl seemed to be more interested in him now, driving her car slowly alongside Garen. Garen had accidentally exposed his Space Ring already.


    The model of this certain Space Ring was very unique. It was all black with a ferocious-looking wolf carved on the surface that symbolizes Garen''s identity representative -- the black wolf.


    "Little girl, being mature is not something you can easily pretend. It''s dangerous out here, don''t come out and loiter around. Go home¡­" Looking at the innocent girl hiding behind the mature facade, Garen shook his hand and said gently.


    "Why you old man, are you seriously acting so big just because you''re older? You look just about twenty years old, who are you trying to cheat? You''re just a little older than me!" The girl was obviously agitated.


    "Just simply making conversations with strangers is a very dangerous thing to do, little girl," Garen advised politely.


    "Humph! Something''s wrong with you, uncle!" Surprisingly, the girl retorted. "If everyone has the same mindset as you, then nobody will ever make the first move. Then, people of the world would become cold and ignorant as the distance between humans grows further and further. If you''re scared of your life, just stay at home in your little circle, you''d be able to avoid all contact with the external world. So why don''t just stay at home for the rest of your life, what are you doing roaming in the streets then? There are so many dangers you might face when you''re in the streets, like robbery, murderers, frauds¡­ You might even get hit by a meteorite falling from the sky and die from that. And don''t forget the murder cases that start with small fights, do you think that never happens?"

 1064 Fate 2

    Instantly, Garen came to a realization. He did not expect this little brat to spurt out such a sensible justification.


    "Aren''t you afraid of the embarrassment of getting rejected?"


    "Embarrassed? What''s the big deal?" The girl pouted, "I''d rather be sociable and try to make new friends than merely feeling awkward about it! I enjoy liveliness, the more people the better because the best things happen when there are more people around. So much better than just being alone."


    Garen shook his head in disappointment as he knew that there must have been something wrong with her parents for her to have such mentality, for her to be so afraid of solitary. She enjoyed making friends because she was scared of being alone. For what he knew, a person like her just needed people whom she cared about to spend more time with her, but most of the time, a little wish as such never be fulfilled.


    "Hey, what''s your name? Do you want to leave me your number? This is my very first time seeing an uncle with such a cool body!" Unexpectedly, the girl was asking for his number now.


    Garen did not expect that he would meet such a human being like this little girl while he was simply roaming the streets as he was settling Blue Pole Star''s sister on this planet.


    The young lady was making sense. After transmigrating so many times, he started from trying to blend in voluntarily. But now, he just put on this cool demeanor.


    "Who knew, I''d be lectured by a little bastard like you¡­" Garen laughed humorlessly in his head. Despite being way older than the little girl, she actually had a clearer vision than him.


    "Hey, I''m asking you something?!" The girl was still pestering.


    "I don''t have a handphone," Garen shook his head.


    "You''re lying!" The girl pouted. "Can''t you see the convertible I''m driving?! It''s a convertible, for goodness sake! I''m loaded! Are you seriously turning down a friendship offer from a sugar mummy like me? What''s wrong with you!?"


    Garen was speechless. This little girl had a weird point of perspective indeed, who would actually call themselves a sugar mummy?


    "Look, I can treat you meals, go play around with you, shop with you, buy you gifts, heck I can even find other pretty girls to come along, and you''re still showing me that sour face of yours! What''s wrong with you?" The girl finally blurted out her true intentions, she did want Garen.


    Garen knew the hidden meaning behind all these and looked at himself.


    His black windbreaker was a bit tight, exposing his obvious inhuman body. Besides his physique, he did have a certain aura. On the other hand, he had some touches done to his face so that he looked ordinary and average, there was really nothing so special about him. So why was this girl so into him?


    "Alright, just answer my previous question. What''s with the knife you''re carrying around? Since it''s not cosplay purposes, what is it for?" The girl started asking questions again.


    "I actually practice martial arts, so I use the knife," Garen simply answered.


    The girl had her who-are-you-kidding-face once again, and so he quickly added, "This time, I''m not lying."


    He was unsure why he did not just leave but decided to continue talking to this little girl. Somehow, a casual conversation like this reduced the loneliness he felt deep inside.


    It was evident that this little girl was lonely as well. Just because of loneliness, the both of them, surprisingly, were able to click. Garen continued walking along the way as the girl drove her car slowly beside, the strange combination even attracted passer-bys'' attention, but the duo was so immersed in their own bubble.


    The sky gradually dimmed and nighttime seemed to have fallen.


    Walking along the streets aimlessly, Garen has approached the suburbs without realizing it. It was the urban-rural junction where they had more stalls set up by the side of the road and people were wearing slightly tattered clothes.


    "You should go home," Garen spoke lightly.


    "I''m in no rush. Hey uncle, you still haven''t given me your number," the little girl smiled in return.


    "You''re still young, what do you know about love¡­" Garen snickered.


    "You''re just a few years older than me!" The girl was annoyed once again.


    Garen looked up into the sky. The observant girl could pick up a trace of loneliness from him, it was very mild, but there nonetheless.


    "Are you leaving already?" She could not resist but asked. She did not know why but since her first glance at this man, she already had a feeling that they were the same kind of people. They were lonely, and that cool facade they put on was just because they were afraid of being hurt. His odd but somehow cool getup was just a bonus, allowing her a reasonable excuse to strike up a conversation with him. She just did not expect the both of them to actually continue the conversation.


    This man had completely no interest in her money, he did not even care about her convertible. The unconcerned behavior he was portraying since the beginning was already clear enough for her.


    "Where are you going?" The girl asked immediately, "Is your house nearby? I actually have a friend who lives close by," she was afraid of hurting his ego as she knew that most people who live in this area were not doing well financially.


    Garen simply shook his head and stared at the equally lonely girl before him.


    "Fate destined us to meet. Here, I have something for you."


    He had an inconspicuous ring in his palm. The greyish-black ring was crude and it seemed very normal. With a light flick, the ring landed in the car and was caught by the girl. The familiar action seemed well-rehearsed by the two of them.


    The girl''s eyes were immediately wide opened.


    "I hope there won''t come the time when you have to use it¡­" As she looked down at the ring, Garen disappeared into the air.


    When she finally looked back up, the girl realized that Garen was gone already. She searched around looking in all directions, but there was no sight of him.


    She rushed down her car and walked around, but Garen was no longer in sight along the empty streets. To run into the alleys from where her car was needed at least five or six seconds, but Garen had disappeared when she had her head down for a second. It was like he vanished into thin air.


    "Hey!! Uncle!!" She could not help but panic and started shouting.


    "Uncle! Where are you?!" She did not know why she started yelling regardless of her own image. There was no reason at all, just her impulse kicking in.


    "Chen Cheng what are you doing!? Why are you making such a big racket?" A middle-aged couple rolled up from behind in a luxurious car.


    "Dad¡­ I¡­" The girl wanted to explain, but she was immediately interrupted.


    "Your uncle just gave me a call just now saying you''re driving alone and you were just talking to yourself like someone was actually talking to you. You totally scared him. What in the world are you doing?!" The middle-aged man shouted angrily.


    "There was an uncle talking to me just now!" Chen Cheng was trying to explain herself.


    "What uncle?! I think you''re hallucinating! You go ask around when you''re on the way back and see whether anyone saw you talking to some old man! You were just being crazy and talking to yourself! Come on, it''s time to go home!" The man shrieked.


    "Sigh¡­ Even I was scared and rushed back from the office, I even missed my meeting," the middle-aged lady said with a sigh. "Come on, let''s go."


    "I¡­ But I!" Chen Cheng was red all over the face already, then she thought about the ring and held it up. "Don''t believe it just have a look! The uncle gave me this thing!"


    "Gave it to you? This is clearly just some normal iron ring sold at the street stalls," the middle-aged man casted a glance towards the shabby ring and shook his head. "Alright, time to head home. Chen Cheng, I know you don''t have anyone to accompany you at home, but you can go find those nice friends of yours. You know I can just transfer any amount of money you want into your bank account, and you can go anywhere you want, but I am begging you here, please stop acting crazy."


    "But I was really talking to an uncle just now! He had this blue scimitar hung at his waist which was really cool! He was wearing this black windbreaker, and he''s so tall and strong¡­" Chen Cheng was still trying to debate.


    "Stop finding excuses to lie to us. Come on, be a good girl and go home, listen to your father," the lady said helplessly.


    "But I really¡­" Chen Cheng was so frantic to the point tears swelled up.


    "Alright alright, we believe you," the lady nodded her head and reached out to caress her daughter''s face, "Don''t cry don''t cry. Here, have your ring back."


    Chen Cheng took the ring back, she really was upset and had the urge to cry.


    "I''m not lying!"


    "You still dare to lie!!" Her dad was furious already, "Just see for yourself!"


    He took his phone out and played a recording her uncle just sent him earlier.


    Chen Cheng took a look and she was stunned for a while as well.


    In the video, she really was driving alone slowly and seemed to be laughing at times or pouting in annoyance. It was as if someone was really was walking alongside her outside the car.


    "I¡­" She was at loss for words. "I really saw an uncle¡­ He was the one who gave me this thing!" She was still trying to argue as a panic started to flood in her mind. Was the cool man just now really just a hallucination? Was she really psychotic now? Was she hallucinating things?


    "There''s no uncle or whatever, nobody was talking to you! You were just alone!" Her father''s expression softened a bit as he soon realized that his daughter was just speaking the truth. If she was really psychotic¡­ He did not even dare to think about it.


    Chen Cheng bent her head and stared at the ring in her hands silently, her eyes swollen red already.


    "Come on, let''s go home. I''ll drive the car," her mother got down of her car and walked towards Chen Cheng''s convertible.


    Right that moment, a masked man rushed forward and fiercely knocked into Chen Cheng''s mother. With a swish, a knife was stabbed into her mother''s abdomen.


    "No!!!" Eyes wide opened, Chen Cheng stared at the knife which aimed at her mother''s lower abdomen. Without a single care, she dashed forward to block her mother.


    Suddenly, she could hear a sigh.


    Clang!!!


    With a soft clang, a dark blue knife which had a lightning-like shine flashed through.


    The bandit was paralyzed while her mother was stunned, whereas her father who was halfway getting out of the car was equally stunned as well.


    Meanwhile, Chen Cheng was just staring blankly at the motionless bandit before her, still holding onto the ring in her hands.


    With a plop, the bandit fell knee first onto the ground. The bandit was not breathing anymore and the dagger in his hands fell to the ground with a crisp clang.


    People started to crowd around them but other then Chen Cheng and her parents, nobody saw the blue light that shined that instant. Loud whispers were heard as the crowd discussed what happened, some of them even called the police.


    However, at this moment, the only thing in Chen Cheng and her parents'' mind was that dark blue lightning-like flash. That momentary flash had already deeply imprinted in their hearts.


    The husband and wife finally came around and looked at their daughter who was in tears.


    "I didn''t lie to you¡­" Chen Cheng muttered, "Really¡­"

 1065 Void Battle 1

    Garen was floating in the sky looking down at Chen Cheng and her family. This was one of the rare occurrences where he met someone by chance. What he gave Chen Cheng was not just one of his dark blue knives, but also one of the most fundamental frost secret technique exercise. If she actually practiced it to its peak level, he would be able to sense it through the ring and come back to pick her up. However, if she did not practice it, perhaps they might never see each other ever again.


    Garen took one last peek below at Chen Cheng and her family who were still in shock. He then turned around and flew back into his own flying ship.


    A black whirlpool slowly appeared before the flying ship but nobody from the crowd could see what was happening. The streets were still filled with a stream of cars and the entire city was still functioning as usual.


    The flying ship slowly entered the black hole and soon disappeared into the sky.


    Garen was sitting at a dimly lit area inside the cockpit of the flying ship, staring at the blinking lights on the control panel. He stood up abruptly and searched around for a purple colored fruit wine. He then poured himself a small glass.


    After taking a tiny sip, his body shuddered involuntarily. He was frozen for a moment, the wine glass in his hands and the wine itself was instantly covered with a layer of white frost. From Garen''s palm which was in contact with the glass, a layer of thick ice frost started spreading, freezing the entire glass and wine together which then formed a purple gem-like ice block.


    He had unconsciously reached Inherited Level.


    It took Garen a long time before he finally came around. Looking inside his body, a high amount of energy from the Plasma Bomb was fully absorbed already while there were still a small traces of energy left unabsorbed from the blood red beads which were weakening by the moment.


    "Hellfrost Peacock Technique¡­ Indeed a terrifying growth," he took a deep breath. "So this is the legendary thick and thin, where it finally outbreaks after years of accumulation."


    Entering Inherited Level was a silent move. For outsiders, Garen just seemed to shudder for a moment and the wine of glass in his hands froze. That was all bystanders would see, and perhaps they would think he lost control suddenly, but nobody would ever think that he actually succeeded in advancing to Inherited Level.


    "From entering Resonance Level to Inherited Level, how long did I actually take? Not even three years," Garen exclaimed. "As a Secret Technician, the highest Living Secret Technique is indeed extraordinary. After practicing the Living Secret Technique for such a long time, I really thought I would never succeed, that I would never reach somewhere, but who knew I would experience such a drastic change."


    He recalled Nonosiva''s future that he witnessed back in the Space-Time Print.


    Under the cultivation of the lucky remaining resources of Scarlet Snow Sect, he would enter Inherited Level. But after a hundred years, he would still be killed by the White King''s men, the Royal Cavaliers of the Light of Freedom, in the Battle of Ice Age.


    This was the original fate of this body. Members of the Light of Freedom were all Perpetual Motion-leveled powerhouses and Chinande the Wild Mutt was the leader who led the Light of Freedom to destroy one of the Three Major Metropolis of the Energy Machinists -- the city of Nagadako, which was also the entire Planet Naga.


    Turning back from this tiny planet, Garen returned back to his original path.


    "I wonder what is the relationship between Carthage and the Light of Freedom? From the looks of it, this guy might possibly a projection or a clone of one of the members of the Light of Freedom," he remembered the gigantic silver arm full of scales and made a guess of his own.


    "Entering Inherited Level in such a short period of time is too sudden. It is better if I hide it first and wait for a while before announcing it. With that, I''d be valued and also hide some unusual features at the same time," Garen had come to a decision. He was in no rush since Carthage gave him a year''s time to wander around.


    The flying ship flew through the rainbow passage, then emerging in front of a huge circular silver-blue gate.


    ''Welcome to Willis Star Port, please choose your time to jump.'' An electronic female voice rang.


    "Immediately," Garen responded.


    "Entering default coordinates¡­ Begin access track¡­"


    Garen could see the silver metal track outside the windows backtracking. The flying ship was moving rapidly along two metal tracks in space and it was still accelerating, moving faster and faster.


    ''Speed has reached the preset level, will proceed to space jump. All crew please get ready.'' The smart system of the flying ship reminded.


    Garen walked toward the control panel of the flying ship and swept through the display screen, there were only a few points marked on the map in the flying ship.


    Scarlet Snow Planet, Planet Naga, Mother Planet, and the unknown Planet Number 1 that he just visited.


    There were only four planets.


    "Returning now would be meaningless. Since I''ve just broken through Inherited Level, I should do some training of my own outside. It''s time to test the true powers of my Hellfrost Peacock Technique," an idea surfaced Garen''s mind and he did not choose any of the planets as his destination.


    ''Activate scanner for star maps, search for any planets or non-planets,'' Garen commanded softly.


    ''Understood.''


    A soft blue light started blinking on the screen and a huge radar ring appeared in the middle with a white pointer rotating non-stop.


    Within seconds, the scan results were out.


    ''Three hundred and fifty light-years scan is complete, altogether two hundred and fifty thousand non-planets.'' The scanning system gave an answer that made Garen speechless.


    "Exclude the planets near the usual tracks, filter within a hundred light years," he minimized the range to avoid being found out by other flying ships passing by.


    ''Minimizing range¡­ Remaining results one hundred and sixty thousand.''


    At this moment, the space jump had already started and there were only silver threads pulled from the Milky Way outside the windows of his flying ship zooming past along with a great number of planets. It was beyond magnificent.


    Bang!


    Suddenly, the flying ship shook as if it crashed into something.


    ''Experiencing spaceship anchor interception, chances of meeting Space Pirates is eighty percent.'' The flying ship''s smart system rang immediately.


    The flying ship instantly decelerated and recovered from its space jump status.


    Garen was worried. Once interjected in the middle of a space jump and one loses his high-speed jump status, it would be highly unlikely to make a far distance jump with a miniature flying ship like his because energy source would be a huge problem.


    The distance between the flying ship and its current location was at least between ten to a few thousand light years. A distance this big was as wide as seas and deserts, maybe even further than one could imagine. Once stopped, the time needed to return to one''s destination would be a huge problem.


    This was like a normal person who boarded a plane from Asia to America and was suddenly thrown overboard onto a small island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, then asked to swim to his destination. The challenge was here. If one did not meet a large-scale flying ship, there was the possibility of dying of old age in the middle of nowhere in the universe. This was the greatest risk of long-distance space jumps.


    "A one in a thousand chance of being interjected and I had the honor of meeting it, I''m seriously lucky¡­" Garen mocked himself softly, then swiftly opened the control panel and started operating his ship.


    ''Connect Energy Machinist''s Energy Machine Imprint.''


    ''Connected. Manual operation activated.'' The smart system responded.


    The view outside the windows finally stabilized and what appeared before Garen''s eyes were at least ten humongous fleets of ships. These ships were like pieces of black mainlands with countless red and blue blinking lights on them. Occasionally there were a few Mechs that emerged from within and darted toward the space in front.


    The space on the other side was completely blocked by the humongous ship so Garen could not make out what was happening over there. However, from the vague flashes and explosion flames, he could guess that there was a war happening.


    ''Public channel signal found, do you wish to connect?''


    "Connect," Garen replied.


    A piece of surface popped out from beside the glass window of the flying ship as a display screen and it was displaying an overall radar scan.


    "This is Remora Business Alliance''s mothership, Sapphire. To all those flying ships who were interrupted while jumping, listen up. To all those flying ships who were interrupted while jumping, listen up. The ones blocking us in front are the Dragonfly People from the Interstellar Pirates of Silver Blue Starsea. I hope that everyone will send out sufficient combat power so that we can get through this together," a frantic man spoke up in the public channel.


    "Interstellar Pirates?" It was Garen''s first time meeting such an event. Although he had heard of the Interstellar Pirates through magazines and news, this was actually his very first time encountering them.


    After all, he had always been living on Mother Planet before joining Scarlet Sect so that he would have the qualifications to get in touch with the universe space sort of things because back in Mother Planet, space had been completely banned.


    On the other hand, Planet Naga was opposing space, not even truly existing in the universe space. Besides Planet Naga, a lot of the surrounding areas were just violent anti-spatial particle storms with raging material-energy. It was nearly impossible to travel around.


    It was only when he reached Scarlet Snow Planet where he acquired the Interstellar Travel License when he became a Third Hearted Disciple, or else he would have never thought about leaving Scarlet Snow Planet.


    Garen cast a glance at the radar. There were hundreds of ships held up, all squeezed together as they welcomed the fleet of yellow battleship. Both sides were releasing a vast amount of Mechs and miniature bombing planes and combat panes. There were also mant pulse airships and even torpedo ships.


    The torpedo ships were constantly releasing fish missiles that were pulled along by thin white threads which were very conspicuous in space.


    "What about Energy Machinists in space, how are we supposed to battle?" Garen has yet made contact with such information as he was progressing too fast and there were a lot of things he had not caught up with. Luckily for him, he prepared some information before he started his journey.


    "An ordinary Energy Machinist relies on his Energy Machine when engaging in a space battle, but I''m an Energy Machinist from Planet Naga so my body plays the most important role while my Energy Machines play the supporting role. This is troublesome¡­ What I really need now is combat power, but that would be a Pilot''s role¡­" Garen frowned.


    He knew that no matter how strong his Energy Machinist physique was, it was still merely a support in such an intense battle in space. Many Pilots have incredibly powerful Mechs, so in a battle like this, even as an Inherited Leveled Energy Machinist, an Energy Machinist from Planet Naga would not mean anything. If he was to wander around the battle in space alone, Inherited Level would certainly do. However, in comparison to a Mech, his abilities were nowhere near.


    The Mechs were equipped with weapons of high lethality. A hundred Level-One Pilots who had been through space battle training would be able to trap a single non-equipped Inherited-Leveled Pilot from Planet Naga.

 1066 Void Battle 2

    "The Energy Machinists of Planet Naga who focus on their own strength excessively are only suitable for landing operations, or infiltration operations. They are not quick enough for the various activities in space. After all, some of the places are restricted by the limits of the human body which cannot be compared to a mech," Garen shook his head and sighed. "During times like these, it will be much more convenient to just let the Energy Machineries get into battle."


    "Now that it is being interrupted, the only way to get back to the territory of Planet Scarlet Snow is through the help of a large spaceship, and Remora Business Alliance spaceship is a good choice."


    Garen quickly checked the data of this business alliance. It was a cosmic group engaged in the research of medical biotechnology, and they were obviously the main target of the Interstellar Pirates. Otherwise, they would not use such a costly space anchor to temporarily seal the Stargate.


    From the data, the reputation of the Remora Business Alliance was considered passable. Also, Garen had decided to find the largest spaceship and directly request for help.


    "This is an Energy Machinist with a private flying ship who wishes to board your spaceship to use the jump portal to return to Planet Scarlet Snow. Please answer."


    Soon, there was a response.


    "Dear Energy Machinist, please show some sincerity if you wish to use the jump portal."


    What he meant was very simple and obvious, and that was, he wanted something in return. What will be the best reward on the battlefield? That would be to help fight off the pirates!


    Garen understood what they meant, and after thinking for a short while, he answered quickly.


    "You will see my sincerity."


    Then, he walked to the middle of his flying ship. At that time, the flying ship was still located behind the business alliance spaceship and there was still a certain distance before they reached the pirates. Therefore, there was no need to worry about safety issues yet.


    Garen quickly found a space flying device that he had prepared before his trip as a prevention. It was something that he used to equip on his black wolf. However, Garen only had five of it, as it was very expensive, and he was reluctant to buy more of it.


    He picked up a device, summoned the black wolf and equip the device onto the back of the black wolf.


    A clashing sound was heard.


    The black device automatically snapped on to the back of the black wolf, and then he slowly stretched out his wings. It looked good, as it transformed an ordinary black giant wolf into a black wolf with wings. However, he was not clear on how it would function.


    "After all, the black wolf is only suitable for landing operations. It is time for me to choose a new Energy Machine Imprint... it will be best to choose one that can fight in space," Garen started pondering.


    "I have reached Level Six in the Inherited Level, and I can now choose a new Energy Machine Imprint. The previous two that I chose were wolves. This time, I can choose one that can adapt to various environments."


    As an Energy Mechanist, Energy Machinery was essential to him. Even though he did not have the rare types, but he would always carry a commonly used type around with him. This time in particular, after returning from the Blue Frost Sect, he prepared a whole set of basic Energy Machinery from the market beforehand.


    Of course, it was too late to train it right now.


    After he equipped the five black winter wolves with the space flying devices, Garen carefully tested it. Then, he took out five distorted seeds from his body and pressed it hard on the hidden parts of the abdomen of the five giant wolves. So that it would not be noticeable to others.


    Unexpectedly, shortly after he pushed the distorted seed into the five wolves, some sudden changes happened to the five giant wolves that was beyond Garen''s imagination.


    The giant wolves started expanding by becoming taller and larger. From a height of roughly a meter tall to more than three meters tall, they almost looked like elephants and they caused the flying ship to shake as they stepped onto the ground. A large amount of transparent stuff were being sucked into their noses and it seemed like those were the stuff that made their body look that horrifying.


    But this wasn''t the weirdest thing, what was even more surprising was that the heads of the five giant wolves began to bend slightly and a large bulge appeared on their necks.


    The sound of flesh and blood tearing apart was heard, and another similar looking hideous wolf head appeared.


    Howl¡­ howl¡­


    All five of the giant wolves were almost completely dissimilated at the same time, and they tilted their heads as they howled. The sound waves instantly shattered most of the inside of the ship into pieces.


    Garen was dumbfounded when he saw the changes.


    "Could it be that it was necessary for the final evolution of the wolves to be two-headed dogs?" He never understood how genetic mutation works. He had obviously checked the genes when they were made, and there were no genes that would cause them to be a two-headed wolf...


    As Energy Machinery that he controlled, Garen immediately knew the special ability of these mutated two-headed wolves. In addition to the unique Level Six Inherited Level force field, there were two other special abilities.


    Firstly, their high-strength qualities had exceeded the other Level Six Energy Machineries, in terms of their strength, speed, physical recovery or resistance. The Level Four distorted seed strengthen them by six times as compared to their original strength, and it was a horrifying increase in strength. Originally, it would only increase their strength by three times, but after mastering the Hellfrost Peacock Technique, the distorted seed was able to improve their physical quality by six times.


    The six-fold increase did not represent the increase in six number of heads, instead, it represented an increase in their combat strength.


    Secondly, the most crucial part was the other head of the two-headed dog, which had a preliminary level of intelligence¡­ Although their intelligence level was extremely crude, without a doubt, it could be considered a certain level of intellectual being.


    "Intelligence¡­" Garen could not believe it. Beings created purely through biotechnology were able to have their own intelligence. It was not something like an intellectually made brain, but a truly intelligent intellectual being!


    Garen had an idea. He quickly transferred the language and characters of the mechanical seal, and some basic information into each area of ??the brains of the five two-headed wolves. Then, he imported some basic logic in it.


    He suddenly thought of the Void Creatures and terrifying race during the Ancient Endor war. Could it be that they created their army using this method? The possibility of his speculation was very high. The reason why each Army Level void creatures had their own void army might be because they were using similar methods.


    Soon, the data transmission was completed.


    As he finished transferring the data, the five two-headed wolves underwent new changes once again.


    They tried to stand up, with only their two hind legs, and they actually stood up.


    ''Thank you, master for granting me life.''


    ''Thank you, master for granting me life...''


    The five two-headed wolves adjusted their vocal cords and started speaking straight out. They politely saluted to Garen with a human-like gesture.


    Only then Garen recalled that part of the basic information that he imported into their brain were stuff from the education of the nobles. As compared to the basic knowledge of this world, most of the imported information were from the peaceful aristocratic life in the totem world.


    That led to such an odd change to these two-headed wolves.


    "How do all of you feel?" Garen looked at the five two-headed wolves in a complicated way. This was after all, the first time that he had created biological beings with wisdom, and he had an indescribable feeling.


    "I am recalling my ignorant past. If it wasn''t for master, who gave me wisdom, we would continue living ignorantly by relying on our instinct to survive," the tallest two-headed wolves responded with a low voice. Their other head seemed to not have any effect, as they only used one head to answer and think.


    "Perhaps, I should now call all of you two-headed werewolves," Garen said speechlessly. He found that guy''s tone a little strange, as he looked like an art enthusiast with a sentimental pose as he had his head tilted 45 degrees towards the sky.


    "Master, please grant us names, to celebrate our new life," the strongest two-headed wolf requested respectfully with his head lowered.


    All of their strength were at inherited level, but all they got was inherited level force field, extremely brutal physical quality and vitality equivalent to Garen which was 20 points. However, their agility did not really increase much, with only five points. After all, Hellfrost Peacock was never a void creature with quick speed.


    Although they cannot be compared to the Energy Machinist in Planet Naga, or even the Resonance Level Energy Machinist, they were still much stronger than many other Energy Machinists.


    "Name?" Garen shook his head. "Get into battle... If you can make it back alive, I will grant you names."


    The five giant wolves immediately kneeled down.


    "Our victory belongs to master, and we will return with victory!!"


    The isolation hatch of the flying ship opened, and the five giant wolves walked out one after the other.


    They each grabbed a laser cannon, although the cannons were not a powerful model, they were still way more powerful than ordinary laser cannons. After all, it was better than fighting empty handed. Since there were more than a dozen of it on this flying ship, and there was no need to equip it on the flying ship since it will not be participating in the battle, so why not just give it to the werewolves.


    "Ah... for our great master! For love and justice! For the glory of God that will shine on the earth!" The strongest two-headed werewolf roared loudly at the isolation hatch. "Fight!!"


    "Oh!!!"


    The rest of the werewolves suddenly started roaring loudly, and their blood started boiling with ardor.


    Galleon was left speechless inside the ship.


    "What kind of information did I put into them? Love and justice? Do you think you are a Saint?"


    The five two-headed wolf set off quickly and flew out of the isolation hatch. As though five small battle mechs, and rushed to the front of the battlefield.


    Only then Garen had time to check his status after entering the Inherited Level.


    ''Nonosiva Lin -- Strength 34.1, Agility 22.2, Vitality 40, Intelligence 15.9, Potential 49983%. Soul limit 40.''


    His vitality was maxed out!?


    Garen was shocked and delighted.


    His vitality was originally 24.8 and it skyrocketed after he reached Resonance Level, and now that he reached Inherited Level, it suddenly increased by that much. From what he knew, after the Energy Machinists of Planet Naga reach Inherited Level, their physical fitness would be significantly stunned, and it would be very difficult to increase it. They can only rely on various types of modified and fused rare materials to enhance themselves. However, they could only rely on non-living things to strengthen their bodies, rather strengthening their bodies by themselves. This might be the key to the fact that they had not surpassed the limit of the Perpetual Motioners.


    In other words, they simply bypassed the soul limit, ignored the souls, and simply strengthened their body. This resulted in the imbalance, which might be the reason why they were not able to reach the strongest Regent Level.


    "As of now, I am afraid that with only my body, I can withstand the attacks of Inherited Level Energy Machinist and not be injured!" Garen clenched his fist, and he felt the terrifying power that felt in the totem world appearing once again.


    "The soul limit... It''s reaching soon. What path should I go next...?" Garen''s mood got a little heavy. If he were to take the mech path and merged with foreign objects, he might go on the usual path of the other Energy Machinists. However, this path was not able to break through the limit and reach the Regent Level. Whereas if he took the Ancient Endor route, it will take too long for the soul seed to concentrate. Although this path would enable him to achieve an undying true soul, the progress was way too slow.


    The last route was the simulated Void Beast path, which was the Living Secret Hellfrost Peacock Technique path. This path will eventually lead to the formation of void creatures that belonged to secret technicians, and this route might be able to bypass the soul limit.


    To form a void army which belonged to you.


    "Perhaps, by practicing the Scarlet Snow Technique, I can reach the top, and forcibly concentrate the soul seed?"


    Garen suddenly thought of this idea. As of now, he had two soul seeds, the Northern Trident Frost-Fire True Water Evil Technique (blue), and the Holy Phoenix Demonic Book (golden-black). They were both secret techniques that he had practiced until he reached the top and formed through condensation.


    But in fact, although both of the formed soul seeds were originally secret techniques, both of them were not top level techniques. The Northern Trident Frost-Fire True Water Evil Technique itself was formed by the mutation of a fusion between the Hellfrost Peacock Technique and another hot-natured Living Secret Technique. However, due to its negative mutation, its level was actually lower than the Hellfrost Peacock Technique and was almost at the same level as the Scarlet Snow Technique. Whereas the actual Holy Phoenix Demonic Book was mostly originated from the core technique of the civilization where the underground Buddha Mother was located. However, because there were only parts of it and it was not completed, it could not be considered as high level too.


    "From what it seems, even if it was not a top-level secret technique, it will still be able to form a soul seed. The key is to achieve a unique spiritual soul realm and make changes according to one''s own soul attribute. If that is really the case, then it will be easy!" Garen speculated.


    "If I guessed correctly, then as long as I practice the Scarlet Snow Technique until it reaches the top, I might be able to also condense a soul seed that belongs to the Scarlet Snow Technique!"


    Garen was speculating in his heart.


    After all, compared to the previous few worlds, his strength had greatly exceeded his previous strength, as he had reached a terrifying 40 points in his vitality, which could be considered as a non-human category. When he was in the totem world, he might be injured only if he fully activated the abilities of the nine-headed dragon, and that was just a possibility. With a horrifying 40 vitality points, and the Inherited Level force field, as compared to the past, right at this moment, Garen might be in his prime!!

 1067 Civil War 1

    Flapping the black wings on their backs, the five Werewolves flew passed the merchant ships towards the forefront of the battlefield. They looked like small, inconspicuous dots compared to the few hundreds of battle airship mechs. It was as though five drops of ink dripped into an ink bottle without any noticeable changes.


    Garen drove the flying ship and followed them closely behind. He stopped only when he caught up to the business alliance''s mothership.


    His gaze was fixed at the five Werewolves, watching how they were going to perform. Soon, they approached a small torpedo ship.


    Whoosh!!


    Five lasers were being shot out almost concurrently.


    The small torpedo ship exploded suddenly, turning into a soundless fireball. The explosion sound was not transmitted over due to the long distance.


    However, Garen still felt the momentary shock caused by the explosion of the torpedo ship.


    "Nice teamwork. As expected, they have completely changed after having wisdom..." He nodded in satisfaction.


    He continued observing as the five Werewolves approached another laser ship. But this time, two mechs had its eyes on them.


    The other party''s standard mechs were both red in color. Each of them had a number marking on the top. There was a horn on each of the mech''s head, making them look rather wild. Looking from afar, the two mechs quickly fought with the five Werewolves.


    Soon, five lasers flashed several times, and the two mechs were destroyed.


    The five Werewolves continued to advance forward, and gradually, the alliance''s mechs around them started working together with the werewolves.


    With a Level Six inherited level force field protection, ordinary laser cannons will at most stagger them slightly, and will not be able to do any harm. Therefore, the alliance''s mechs used them as a shield and rushed straight towards their enemies.


    They smashed into their opponent''s territory without any difficulties.


    Holding laser cannons in their hands, the five Werewolves went around looking for tougher opponents, and soon, the pirate organization was being messed up, and they had no choice but to retreat unwillingly.


    "It seems like no matter where he goes, Inherited Level will always be tyrannical..." Garen sighed. Both the Remora Business Alliance and the interstellar pirates only had one Inherited Level expert on their team. The rest of them who were fighting were all Resonance Level generals. Despite their wounding power were not that strong and had to rely on laser cannons, the five Werewolves appearance still made a great impact on the formation of their organization.


    Hundreds of pirate ships and mechs were easily destroyed, and they were forced to retreat.


    The entire battle was unusually easy, which made Garen realize the strength of Inherited Levels in space.


    ''Dear Inherited Level energy machinist, thank you very much for your generous help. I am Lahu, the commanding officer of Remora Business Alliance. The General Manager of the Business Alliance, Miss Sandor wishes to invite you to board the mothership and use the jump portal together. ''


    The other party immediately said through the public channel. As compared to the previous flat tone they sounded much more respectful this time.


    "The General Manager? The Inherited Level pilot that made a move just now?" Garen asked.


    "Yes, Miss Sandor is also the daughter of the president of the Business Alliance. She is changing now and she has instructed us to prepare a sumptuous dinner for you, Sir. We hope that you will attend the dinner." That man appealed in a humble tone.


    "Okay then. Please get ready to tow my flying ship." Garen''s original intention was to jump through a long distance with the mothership, as it would be difficult to get back with his small flying ship.


    Soon, the mothership was processing the towing procedure and Garen''s entry.


    After waiting for the return of the five Werewolves, the flying ships automatically made a half circle along the mothership and got into a small launcher on the side.


    After passing through a long, black tunnel, blue spots of light gradually began to appear around the surrounding metal wall.


    Flying into the innermost empty room, the isolation hatch behind lowered down. With a slam, a large amount of air flow was blown in to fill up the vacuum.


    As the white mist diffused in the air, the air pressure quickly fell to the standard value.


    Garen then only opened his flying ship''s hatch, leaving the five Werewolves in the flying ship. They have gotten too big and could no longer fit inside his Space Ring. Moreover, the environment of the Space Ring was extremely boring, and since they have become intellectual beings, Garen felt that it was not right to keep them like an object.


    After walking out of the flying ship, Garen immediately saw the people who have arrived and was waiting for him.


    The one who stood in front was a high-spirited woman with blonde hair. Her eyebrows were trimmed sharp, like two knives flying diagonally. Her eyes were sharp and cold. She was wearing a white T-shirt and washed-up jeans, which accentuated her perfect body figure. Those who stood behind her seemed to be her subordinates and senior pilots who fought in the battle. There were also a few people at the side dressed in various clothing, looking as if they also wanted to use the jump portal just like him.


    As Garen walked out of the flying ship, the blonde hair woman was attracted by his tall, muscular build and rough temperament.


    She voluntarily stepped forward to receive him.


    "Hi, I''m Sandor, the General Manager of the Business Alliance, an Inherited Level pilot." She reached out her hand.


    Garen looked at her with a sincere look on his face and reached out his hand too.


    "Garen, Inherited Level energy machinist."


    "Even though we suffered huge losses this time because of the pirates, it must be fate that brought all of us who are from different star regions and galaxy together. Please come with me, dinner is ready."


    A bald-headed man wearing glasses behind the woman said loudly.


    "Please." Sandor beckoned to Garen.


    Only two of them were Inherited Level here, the rest of them were nothing to them. It was as though they were the main characters and the rest only had supporting roles.


    Garen nodded and followed her into a tunnel leading to the inner warehouse.


    Sandor walked side by side with Garen and introduced the surroundings to him. There was two energy machinist of the business alliance mothership, but both of them were only Middle Level and they have just reached Resonance Full Moon Level. Moreover, they were not in a sect, so they obviously cannot compare to energy machinists in a sect.


    Just as Garen expected, all the energy machinists in a sect were all extremely wealthy, and they will not be willing to work for others. After Sandor finished introducing them, a man and a woman who seemed to be a couple walked out and saluted to Garen respectfully.


    Dinner was scrumptious, and there were all kinds of basic fresh meats such as chicken, duck, and fish. There were also some rare fruits and some unknown cosmic meats. Sandor and Garen sat at a table by themselves. She was very curious about energy machinists, especially Inherited Level energy machinists, and it seemed as though she was not exposed to this level of information before.


    "To be frank, the energy machinist that I came across with, hmm... how should I say this? All they were capable of were playing a supporting role or were in logistics. Their energy machinery control was dull and boring, and they do not have any fighting style which makes them very vulnerable. As such, most of those that I have met were hired for supporting roles. I hope that you are not offended by what I said. I''m a straightforward person, and I say what is on my mind and will not try to hide anything." Sandor said so.


    "No worries, I understand." Garen nodded and said, "After all, most of us energy machinists are like that as we mainly focus on research behind closed doors. Therefore, it is normal for an energy machinist to be weaker in terms of fighting. It is like comparing an energy machinist and a pilot in terms of maintenance."


    He laughed.


    "Most of the people perceived the same too, and that is they can only work in support and in auxiliary operations. But ever since I saw you that day, I have changed my perception. Moreover, the five Werewolves are absolutely not weaker than pilots. Plus, that kind of control is simply amazing," Sandor said with admiration.


    At this time, a small music band at the corner of the mothership restaurant started setting up a small stage. Soon, a melodious music was gradually played from a bagpipe, then, a harp and piano. A beautiful woman with platinum-colored hair and a good figure stood in the corner and began to sing.


    ''The world once gave us happiness, but we did not cherish it. The world once gave us hope, but we turned it into disappointment. Peoples'' will are unpredictable and it often lies on their own inability to hold on to anything. Ah¡­ listen to the sound of the wind, listen to the sound of rain falling down from the sky, intangible yet pure...''


    The woman''s voice was soft, sweet, and very pleasant to the ear.


    Garen lifted his glass and gently sipped on his amber-colored, alcoholic drink.


    "Nice lyrics."


    "How is it? I wrote it." Sandor said somewhat proudly.


    Garen smiled and nodded.


    "Remora Business Alliance is mainly engaged in the business of the human race biological techniques, so your market should be very wide, right?"


    "Of course, our business alliance ranks 43rd among the human race, and we are now in the top 50. An ordinary King of the Planet might not necessarily be richer than us." Sandor said proudly.


    "I wonder if you have heard of a man named Chinande?" Garen asked casually, his heart was racing slightly.


    The Wild Mutt Chinande, the Captain of the Light of Justice knights under the White King, who was the culprit who destroyed the entire group of energy machinist.


    "Chinande? Are you talking about that Light of Justice Knight, Sir Chinande?" Sandor reacted immediately.


    "Light of Justice?" Garen frowned slightly.


    "I have heard that his territory is at the frontier of the star region, which almost wiped out the Finite People. He is the Commander-in-Chief of the Special Operations Forces. We are unworthy to have any relations with such a high and mighty man." Sandor laughed bitterly. "Why are you asking about him?"


    "It''s nothing. A friend of mine kept mentioning about this great man, so I asked out of curiosity." Garen smiled casually.


    The Light of Justice?


    Haha...


    Garen sneered coldly in his heart. The scene in the space diagram did not show that. The guy''s actual nickname should not be called the Light of Justice, but rabies! The greatest lackey of the White King! A loyal dog!


    "I have a request here, an acquisition request. I don''t know if you can spare me some help." He came back to his senses and asked.


    "What is it? As long as I''m capable of, there is absolutely no problem!" Sandor laughed and said with alacrity.


    Garen held out his hand out and his energy machinery imprint immediately projected a light screen on both of their sides, and soon the influence of the Staff of Absolute Yin appeared on the screen.


    "Can you please help me publish a purchasing advertisement for this thing?"


    "This? Isn''t it a holy tree branch? This is not something cheap, but we''ve got some stored in the business alliance. There is no need for advertising, how many do you need? Let''s see if we have enough here, and I will gift it to you!" Sandor replied cheerily.


    "There is no need for that. The amount that I need might be a little big." Garen shook his head. "I need one thousand holy tree branches, and they need to be as big as the one in the picture."


    "A thousand of it? That is indeed quite a number, but let me check all the storage, it should be barely enough." Garen assumed that Sandor would say she did not have enough. But she only frowned and answered him casually, helping him to solve the problem which had long bothered him.


    "Really?" Garen was stunned.


    "I will not lie to you." Sandor laughed. "It''s not easy to find these things, but for us, we should still have some in storage. After all, it can be crushed and used as a lubricating powder. It can also be used in the construction of the jump portal and Stargate."


    "If you are able to provide me with this material for a long period of time, I am willing to pay ten percent higher than the market price as a favor to the business alliance," Garen replied with a low voice. Now that he had a high social status, he naturally need not have to care about money.


    "What are you talking about? Do you think you would need to pay for these things?" Sandor could not care less about money. The business alliance was huge, and there were quite a number of Inherited Level subordinates there. However, during a dispute between major sects, even if she was the daughter of the President, she will need to find forces that will support her, and the Inherited Level energy machinist right in front of her might be a good choice. In her point of view, the profit of the tree branches was only worth a few thousand golden crystals, and it was simply not worth mentioning. It was just the price of a medium-sized merchant ship.


    Garen understood what she meant and nodded.


    Their conversation gradually got more harmonious. Since each of them has their own intentions, they got closer and sealed a deal. Sandor sold half and gifted half of the Staff of Absolute Yin to Garen. And at the same time, Sandor generously gifted a more advanced spaceship to Garen as a ceremonial gift in conjunction with their first meeting.


    Garen understood what she meant. He left her his energy machinist signaling number and did a checkup service and maintenance for her personal mech. With that, their preliminary friendship was considered established.


    Soon, the business alliance prepared to jump a long distance. Amazingly huge energy concentrated at the jumping engine, and suddenly in a burst, the mothership was launched forward.


    Boom!!


    The entire business alliance ship started a ripple, quickly penetrating into the invisible water and disappearing into the space of the universe.

 1068 Civil War 2

    Planet Scarlet Snow, over north of Sahar City.


    A black submarine-like huge spaceship slowly emerged in the air. It was covered with faint silver light, an indication that it had just came back from space.


    However, the people from the city below did not notice this ship. There was an invisible barrier above the mortal''s city, as such, they are unable to see anything from the outside world.


    The spaceship turned around unwieldy and headed towards the Black Wolf Lair in Planet Scarlet Snow.


    In the spaceship''s general control office, Garen was going through the information related to the spaceship.


    The entire spaceship was 328 meters long and 189 meters wide. Considered as a small warship, it had an extraordinarily luxurious interior configuration.


    The top floor had a restaurant, the general control office, event hall, swimming pool, an area each for logistics and entertainment, a cold storage area among the storage space, and a huge spaceship level engine. It can withstand a Level-Five heavy armor pressure. The Level-Five armor was a self-recirculating armor that cannot be broken by a Level-Five pilot who was controlling a mech. As long as the energy furnace is still running, it will not be destroyed.


    This spaceship was still brand new and was extremely costly. Garen did not know exactly how much it would cost, but an ordinary small warship was worth tens of thousands of crystals, and this ship should be worth at least a few hundred thousands of crystals.


    The entire spaceship could be used as a mobile living base, which was very convenient.


    He had an urge to drive the spaceship and escape from the energy machinists'' reach and bring along his relatives to seek refuge. However, he was aware that the war between the Red King and the White King greatly affected the two huge races and countless star regions. It was impossible to avoid it. As a relative of Baylon, and the most important person to Baylon, the White King will definitely not let him go.


    The spaceship landed swiftly on the Black Wolf Lair. Its massive presence attracted the attention of Scarlet Snow disciples and causing a commotion.


    Such a big spaceship was rarely owned by anyone from the Scarlet Snow Sect. Everyone was using a miniature spaceship and only the top few disciples were using such a huge vehicle.


    When they saw Garen stepping out of it, everyone was at ease. It was not an exaggeration for a tyrannical genius who was second to Carthage to possess such spaceship.


    "Garen!"


    With a swoosh sound, a slender figure appeared at the entrance of Garen''s spaceship.


    It was Third Senior Sister, Eva, who had a furious look on her face.


    "Was it you! Was it you who injured Aloran fatally!"


    "Aloran?" Garen frowned slightly. "What are you talking about? Third Senior Sister."


    Eva was in a white dress, she had a short sword in her hand. She was trembling with rage.


    "Drop the act!"


    Swoosh!


    A glaring blue light flashed, Eva suddenly struck with the sword. A terrifying energy condensed into a bundle of chill air seemed to have made the short sword look longer, and she swept it towards Garen''s waist.


    A crashing sound was heard, but the elongated, blue light sword missed and caught onto nothing. It immediately froze the space where Garen was initially standing and instantly shattered it into innumerable pieces.


    Garen''s figure appeared behind Eva.


    "Third Senior Sister, I don''t understand what you are talking about. Aloran is fatally injured? But what does that have to do with me?"


    "The wounds on her body was caused by a horrifying heat energy. Who else other than you is capable to use that technique in the Scarlet Snow Sect!?" Eva waved her light sword and attacked once again.


    Swoosh swoosh swoosh!


    Several bright, blue lights flashed consecutively. With his current physical fitness level alone, Garen would be able to crush Eva completely. She might have reached the Inherited Level, but her physical fitness was far weaker than that of Garen.


    "Antlers! Light of Oblivion!!" Eva swerved around suddenly, and her Inherited Level force field quickly condensed into a majestic stag. As the stag lowered its head, dozens of blue light beams burst out of its antlers aiming towards Garen.


    Each of these beams was black on the inside and blue on the outside, even the air that it passed through left behind traces of space cracks.


    Eva was serious this time, as she was using an Inherited Level Strength of Origin Technique!


    Bang!


    A beam of light grazed through a withered tree on the Black Wolf Lair. Instantly, the tree exploded turning into countless pieces of crushed ice bullets.


    Boom boom boom!!


    All the places swept by the light beam exploded into a countless amount of white-blue crushed ice. All the crushed ice blasted violently with an Inherited Level force field and a bullet-like speed.


    "Come!"


    Eva shouted loudly, and there was a hint of murderous intention in her eyes.


    "Since everything started because of me, then I will be the one to end this mistake!!" She seemed desperate and she had made up her mind.


    Countless beams of light headed towards Garen, and it seemed like it all gathered around him concurrently.


    From the view above, it looked like a large number of blue light beams were lunging extremely fast towards Garen.


    Garen was about to dodge when he detected a faint, mysterious breath.


    "Dual Prison Lock!"


    He decided to not dodge the attack. Taking out the blue sword from its sheath on his waist, he drew a black circle around him with the sword''s black threads.


    Chi chi chi chi...


    Sounding like leaked air currents, all the blue light beams were destroyed and shattered in the air by Dual Prison Lock.


    Chi!


    However, a small piece of shattered ice carrying the terrifying Inherited Level force field heavily cut across Garen''s face. If he did not dodge his head in time, that piece will probably pierce through his head.


    ''She''s serious in wanting to kill me¡­''


    A trace of scarlet-colored blood flowed out of his wound. Garen reached out his hand to touch the wound, and the look in his eyes gradually got colder.


    "Senior Sister, if you do not stop, I might retaliate¡­" He smiled eerily and coldly.


    "You!!" Eva was a little stupefied. How long was he away for? He only left for a short while, and when he came back, he jumped from Resonance Level to Inherited Level! "How... how is it possible?"


    "Nothing is impossible. I can''t help it if I''m a genius, can I?" Garen smiled. He covered the wound on his cheeks with his hand for a short moment before letting go. The wound had healed completely and disappeared.


    "I don''t believe it!" Eva clenched her teeth. She felt that she had probably not used her full strength just now.


    "Light of Oblivion!!" The stag force field appeared once again, and numerous blue light beams sieged towards Garen in the sky.


    "It''s useless..." Garen held his sword by its handle.


    "Slash!"


    The Dual Prison Lock broke out momentarily, and the Black Thread Sword intertwined with the blue light beams, which looked like a mirage beside Garen. Numerous blue light beams shattered and disappeared into the air. The look on Garen''s face did not seem to change slightly, and he looked at Eva with a smile on his face.


    "Long time no see, Senior Sister¡­ it seems like you have gotten weaker..."


    The cold wind blew towards them and rolled up a subtle cyclone. But the chill in Eva''s heart was colder than the wind.


    "I don''t believe it! I don''t believe it!!!"


    "Light of Oblivion!!"


    A sky full of blue light beams appeared once again and sieged towards Garen from all directions.


    This was Eva''s most powerful technique. It was promoted by the Twelve Grade Scarlet Snow Technique, along with a trace of the Strength of Origin, and combined with all her energy machineries'' resonance. This time, she used everything that she had. She even removed the protective Inherited Level force field and used it for the attack.


    Boom!!


    Suddenly, a figure was being knocked out.


    It was not Garen, but Eva.


    She did not know when did Garen left from where he was standing to appear before her.


    "Senior Sister, do you not understand what I meant? I didn''t say that I''ll be standing still for you to attack¡­" Garen smiled and looked at Eva from above, who was thrown down leaving a long dragging indentation on the ground.


    Burgh.


    Eva spat a mouthful of blood and tried to get up, but she could barely move.


    "How can you be so rude to your Senior Sister?" Suddenly, a deadly flat voice was heard coming from beside him.


    Carthage slowly appeared on Garen and Eva''s left side. He had a sword in his hand, and nobody knew when he appeared standing there.


    "Wounding your Senior Sister is a sin, and it is disrespectful. Apologize to her quickly." Carthage said with an apologetic tone, but there was not a trace of sincerity.


    "I''m really sorry, Senior Sister Eva." Garen suddenly laughed. "I accidentally missed, and wounded you... but who can you blame when you''re so weak? I thought that..."


    He did not continue talking and walked to Carthage''s side. He originally intended to secretly send a message to Eva to explain, but then he felt a hint of Carthage''s presence and stopped doing so instantly.


    "Let''s go, it''s time to head back." Carthage glanced at Garen, and a black whirlpool from his eyes instantly appeared. A horrifying invisible presence encircled Garen immediately.


    Garen''s shook. This presence¡­ it had exceeded Inherited Level, it was Non-Falling Level!


    Although he was not affected by this presence due to his 40 vitality points, Garen quickly adjusted his body and put up an act that he was being slightly suppressed. When it came to disguising his vital energy, there was no one better than him, who had trained secret techniques for many years.


    He could not make a move now, as he still did not have any clues about Carthage''s trump card and his level of strength. As such, he absolutely cannot make a move. Even if he was able to defeat him now, Garen still would not make a move, as he intended to get more information regarding the behind-the-scenes contents of the energy machinist extinction.


    The perpetual motioners might be involved in the energy machinist extinction, and they were not something that he was able to fight against now.


    At that moment, because of the commotion caused by their fierce battle, someone rushed over from a distance.


    "It''s Senior Sister Eva''s disturbance! Quick!"


    "Hurry up! Senior Sister seems to be injured. Her energy machinery imprint is damaged!"


    There was a sound coming from afar.


    "Let''s go."


    Carthage turned and strode towards the distance. He seemed to be moving slowly, but in fact, he was walking at a very fast pace.


    Garen followed closely behind him, and the two of them came across four to five men who were walking in an opposite direction. Seeing them, the men stopped momentarily with a nervous look on their face.


    "Senior Brother, Ca¡­Carthage!" A boy wearing spectacles stood up reluctantly and greeted.


    "All you do is scare these little guys? Carthage." A woman dressed in a white robe slowly descended from the air. She was the rank number two Second Senior Sister, Alice, who was also Rainy''s sister.


    "Alice? I''m just wandering around casually, and to welcome the return of my Junior Brother. As disciples of the sect, how could you say such hurtful words?" Carthage smiled and answered calmly.


    Garen could feel how highly tensed the presence around Alice was. It was obvious that she feared Carthage a lot.


    "Rainy is dead," Alice said suddenly, Garen''s heart shivered. "I just found out about it. She was pierced by an iron baton and her blood was drained. She was hung at the entrance of Junior Brother Garen''s Black Wolf Lair."


    Garen''s heart tightened, and his highly concentrated spiritual energy was fixed on Carthage.


    He had told Aloran to let Senior Sister Rainy go...! It was him!!


    He closed his eyes slightly and slowly tightened his grip on the handle of his sword.

 1069 Fusion 1

    The wind blew passed them lightly. Carthage and Alice could vaguely feel the cyclone flowing between them. It was an obscure Qi''s Dynamic battle.


    "If there is nothing, I would like to leave now." Carthage smiled flatly.


    "As a former Senior Brother of Rainy, could it be that her death has not affected you at all?" Alice''s voice got colder.


    "With the mistakes she made, Rainy herself was a sinner. Her death was for the best." Carthage replied calmly. He ignored Alice, turned around and walked away.


    Garen followed behind him. He stopped for a short while and glanced at Alice, not saying anything. Then, he continued to follow Carthage.


    There was a growing sense of urgency in his heart. Garen knew without a doubt that Carthage killed Rainy, but he was not sure if Carthage knew that it was him who released Rainy. If Carthage guessed that he was the one who intercepted him that night, it would be troublesome...


    Garen gripped the handle of his sword tightly. He did not know what his chances of winning Carthage were. On the surface, this guy looked like he was only at Inherited Level, but his actual combat strength was at Non-Falling Level, and he might have more hidden secrets!


    But one thing for sure was that he absolutely dare not make a move here!


    Garen made up his mind and walked faster to keep up with him.


    They passed by a vast, plain grassland and entered a dense, pine forest with some scattered snow foam.


    The lush green pine forest was quiet. From time to time, some winter squirrels could be seen crouching around and the both of their movements scared the squirrels to scurry around.


    Suddenly Carthage stood still in an open space, his back facing Garen.


    "Do you know why I came suddenly to see you?" His voice was as flat as usual, as though he was just talking about something as simple as the weather today.


    "Why?" Garen stood still and asked in a low voice.


    Carthage turned around.


    "I can give you a shot, but only once."


    He knew it!


    Garen was shocked, even after Aloran had sent Rainy to somewhere as far as the Four-Star Alliance, he was still able to get her.


    No! He might just be testing! If he really knew it, he would not say it out loud, he would have just made a move straight!


    Garen immediately came back to his senses. Was he trying to cheat him?


    "I don''t understand what you are talking about?" He said, frowning with a dubious look on his face.


    Carthage did not say a word, only staring at Garen quietly.


    Garen looked at him in the eyes without fear. Many people often have the illusion that a person''s eyes will never lie. Carthage also had such a deluded logic, so when he saw Garen''s clear and dubious eyes, it made him question his speculations.


    "You should know how to handle stuff by yourself, as there are many things and situations."


    "What are you talking about? I do not understand?" Garen''s brows frowned deeper.


    Carthage also started frowning slightly, but he quickly relaxed. A black-red bead appeared in his hands. With a light flick, the beads suddenly shot outwards and accurately floated in the air right in front of Garen.


    "This is for you, eat it. This thing played a big role in you being able to break through into Inherited Level."


    This again?


    Garen knew that there was something wrong with this bead. Although he did not know what trick was hidden in it, he was confident that his Hellfrost Peacock will be able to handle any tricks. All he needed to do was swallow it directly.


    He quickly grabbed the bead and gulped it.


    Boom!!


    The energy of this bead was much stronger than the previous one!


    Garen felt as though he had swallowed a piece of searing iron and it was burning his stomach. A piercing discomfort suddenly erupted from his stomach.


    Ugh...


    He did not try to hold the pain and grasped his abdomen.


    Seeing Garen''s reaction, the doubts in Carthage''s eyes vanished.


    "This is a blood bead essence, which can stimulate your body''s maximum potential and is able to increase your overall strength without harm. One of it is equivalent to a year''s worth of hard work." He paused. "As long as your performance satisfies me, I will consider increasing the supply of the blood bead essence for you."


    Garen felt that the bead once again tried to pollute his body with that strange blood-color, but was being devoured spontaneously by the peacock technique, and in just a short while, it had completely gobbled up the red color.


    The discomfort in his stomach disappeared, but Garen continued to act as if he was still in pain.


    "When you''re stronger, go and put an end to all your previous grudges," Carthage concluded, turned around and left.


    With his eyes closed, Garen was still holding onto his abdomen as he inhaled deeply. He only straightened himself a few minutes after Carthage left.


    "Non-Falling Level¡­ he''s really powerful..."


    He recalled the time when Senior Sister Rainy mentioned the Mirror of True Techniques Realm.


    Oneness, Water Mirror, Silver Mirror, and lastly the Perpetual Motioner Level board realm. He was now at the Water Mirror Level, but he was sure that Carthage was definitely at a Water Mirror Level, or even a Silver Mirror Level.


    Among the Scarlet Snow Sect, there were only a few people who were aware of the Mirror of True Techniques, which was Alice, Rainy, Carthage, and himself. But of course, this was on the disciple level, he did not know if the elders knew about it or not. However, it was unlikely that they do not know about. After all, they have lived for so many years, and regardless of how they trained, they should be able to reach that level by now.


    Other than that, he did not have to worry about the rest of them, including Eva.


    "That said, however, the Ancient Endor Demon Lord does not have any partition for realms. They were using a pure strength route. Maybe I can try to follow this path?" He recalled some basic knowledge that Black Seth had mentioned, and it was true that the Ancient Endor did not discover this area of knowledge. They focused their energy more on souls. As for their bodies, it was just a vessel to them.


    Condense their soul seed to form a true soul! This was the path of the Ancient Endor.


    The more souls, the stronger one will be, and the closer they were to immortality. The stronger their talent abilities were, the greater their strength. By using souls to activate life force, one can make changes to all things and even rules. This was how they evolved.


    He was feeling the continuous, astonishing surge of energy seeping out of the blood bead into his body. This energy was being consumed insanely and converted into the purest cold energy to be supplied to the Scarlet Snow Technique.


    Chi...


    The blood bead dissolved completely and disappeared.


    According to Carthage''s estimate, it will take a full six months to fully absorb the blood bead, but in just a few minutes, it was being absorbed by Garen in a full energy efficient way. Moreover, as compared to the others, who can only utilize half of its energy, Garen was able to utilize twice the high amount of energy!


    He even completely devoured the manipulative blood-color tricks and transformed it into energy supplies for the Scarlet Snow Technique.


    Poof!


    A rage of cold air diffused out of Garen''s body uncontrollably and instantly froze all the pine trees around him into icicles. The white cold air spread rapidly, but it seemed to have begun to shrink.


    It was changing constantly by expanding outwards and contracting inwards as if two forces antagonizing each other.


    After a long time, Garen finally opened his eyes slowly. He instantly withdrew all the cold air around him and kept it back into his body.


    The origin crystal of the Scarlet Snow Technique in his body became reddish once again.


    "I''ve reached the thirteenth grade... that was fast!"


    He himself felt that it was unbelievable. According to records, after reaching Inherited Level with Scarlet Snow Technique, it will take graded years to advance onwards from the twelfth grade, and that was using a super quick genius as a benchmark.


    And now, how long have Garen reached the Inherited Level? And he actually improved and reached the thirteenth grade.


    However, after he sensed his the interior of his body, the blood bead that he swallowed just now was completely gone, and there was only a little residue left of the devoured energy. The sudden breakthrough used up most of his reserved energy.


    "No wonder that it takes such a long time to break through a grade, the amount of energy needed is humongous..."


    He glanced at his newly changed attribute pane. With the improvement of the Scarlet Snow Technique, his computing power was starting to not be able to keep up, and the energy machinery imprint continuously transmitted a swelling sensation. It was as though something might erupt and explode inside him.


    He knew that it was a sign that he was losing control when his computing power could no longer keep up with his power.


    At this point, changes were made to the attribute pane once again.


    ''Nonosiva Lin - Strength 39.1, Agility 27.2, Vitality 40, Intelligence 16.2, Potential 49983%. Soul limit 40.''


    His strength increased by five points, agility increased by five points, his vitality was maxed out, and his intelligence had the least increase, with only a 0.3 points increase.


    "According to the normal logic, I should look for foreign objects to be fused together and then absorb it into my body, to improve my vitality, but such a path..." Galleon exhaled slightly.


    Finally, he took a look at his soul limit. He will need to implement the condensation of a new soul seed as soon as possible.


    He left the pine forest and soon returned to his Black Wolf Lair. He released the Winter Night Wolves to patrol the territory, as he himself sat in the central office and began to pick out new secret techniques he had previously acquired from the Blue Frost sect.


    Among all the secret techniques that he got, only two of them might be able to condense into a soul seed. However, it was not a matter of ranking. The peak realm requires a special kind of acknowledgment and realm that was different from that of the previous soul seeds, which was the most critical part.


    Garen''s current intelligence had reached 16 points. Due to the rules of this world, it did not derive the Doublecast technique of the Totem World, but the amazing computing power alone was already very strong.


    Nine Layers Body Shattering Technique, and Destructive Impact Fist.


    Both of them were chosen because it perfectly fit Garen''s current fighting style. The Body Shattering Technique was used for quenching the body and the surrounding force field. After mastering it successfully, it can activate up to nine layers of terrifying powerful defense, and no matter how one''s opponent was to strike, they will not be able to break through it.


    The Destructive Impact Fist seemed to be the perfected evolutionary version of the Multiple Speed Fix that Garen once comprehended. It was twice to eighty-eight times of the horrifying fist pressure, and no one had ever trained this type of fist techniques to its highest level, because its practice requires extreme physical support. This was not the fake physique made by fusion of an energy machinist and other stuff, but a true and completely strong physique that belonged to one, which can be perfectly controlled.


    The Nine Layers Body Shattering Technique had nine levels, and the Destructive Impact Fist had a total of eight levels. Both of which were secret techniques that were sufficient to be used to create a new sect.


    But of course, this type of Secret Technique was the same level as the Scarlet Snow Technique, but because of all kinds of stringent requirements for its practice, many of the Inherited Level energy machinists were destroyed, and in the end, the secret techniques fell into his hands.


    But even so, there was no one in the Blue Frost Sect who practiced both of these unpopular secret techniques, because both of its requirements were too high.


    Whereas the reason why Garen picked both of them was that they suited him.

 1070 Fusion 2

    The requirement for the Nine Layers Body Shattering Technique was accumulation. It had a massive energy accumulation that was even more terrifying than the Scarlet Snow Technique and this secret technique had once used up all the money of a medium-sized sect. This was a case where the owner of the sect was practicing this technique on his own and he only got as far as the fifth grade. Therefore, it was only natural that no one wanted to train in this technique. No matter how rich an Energy Machinist was, they dare not simply practice such an expensive technique.


    As for Garen, it was different. The biggest difference between him and an average person was that he could consume close to 100% energy and make use of most of the energy while others could only absorb at most 50% of the energy. This saved him half of the expenses. In addition to that, his peacock technique would not reject anything and was able to eat everything! Even if it was highly toxic, as long as it had energy, it would be absorbed. Therefore, many highly radioactive energy wastes that were useless to others could be used by Garen.


    He had decided to choose both of the secret techniques as a foundation to improve his Scarlet Snow Technique and immediately began train all day and night.


    The fixed supply of food provided by the sect was way too little. He needed to swallow exactly a thousand units of energy every day. It was the kind of ore that had not been extracted and the residue of the ores that he had digested piled up into a small hill.


    Energy ores, all kinds of high-energy crystals, high-energy medicines, and other scraps. As long there was energy, Garen would eat anything with his Devourer Ability.


    However, the energy of these things were not even close to the blood bead that Carthage had given him. That blood bead alone enabled him to directly break through a stage of the Scarlet Snow Technique, and that made him miss the time when he swallowed the two blood beads.


    Since his computing power could no longer keep up, he could only forcibly promote his exercises so that it would increase his computing power and intelligence. After all, Garen had no other way.


    After an attribute reached 10 points, it required more than a 100 potential points to increase the attribute by one point, and he currently had 500 potential points. In fact, he only had 498 points, which was simply not enough to increase his attribute points. Moreover, if he used it all now, what would he do in the future? He might need much more later on.


    Therefore, using Superimposition Secret Techniques to forcibly improve his Scarlet Snow Technique was the way to go. It was also the most traditional way of practicing, and all the Energy Machinists in Planet Naga were doing the same.


    After all, intelligence was a natural gift, other than Garen, no one was able to directly promote it...


    However, just as Garen was concentrating on his training, there was a problem at the Four-Star Alliance.


    **********************


    Four-Star Alliance, Planet Gideon, night.


    On the edge of a broken bridge across the canyon, in the middle of a small piece of open space, Klaibe and Baylon were sitting by a bonfire. They were roasting two small rodents on top of the bonfire and applied oil on it from time to time. The roasted rodents were giving off a faint meaty aroma.


    Both of them were drooling as they had their eyes fixed on the roasted rodents.


    By this time, they were no longer as clean and tidy as when they first arrived. They were dirty, and many parts of their clothes were torn. Their faces had gotten gray and they looked like beggars who were asking for food.


    "This is the last bit of food left," Klaibe said as he stared at the rodents greedily and his stomach started grumbling.


    "There are a lot of rodents on this planet... it''s everywhere..." Klaibe gulped.


    "Of course," Red Moon suddenly popped out of nowhere and said. "The biggest hobby of the Gideon family is to keep rodents! They themselves are the biggest rodent nests, and it will be odd if there aren''t many rats here. That is why they are known as the Gideon Rodents."


    "Oh yeah, where did the sound that we heard previously come from?" Klaibe asked curiously.


    "I don''t know, but everything that happens on this planet should be related to the Gideon Family, since this is their planet," Red Moon explained.


    "Now that both of you can''t activate my accessory armor, you will just be killing yourself if you go to another place. All you can do now is to find me a pair of wings in this place, only then you can gain power by using my accessory mech. This is why the Royal Star is so troublesome. The both of you obviously had a mech with an Inherited Level bursting power, but now, the both of you are just two extremely weak ordinary humans. At most, you have greater strength and better imitation ability as compared to ordinary humans..."


    "There is no other way. After all, we have reached a level where many pilots cannot reach even after many years of hard work. It is normal to pay this price," Baylon smiled. "Moreover, didn''t you say that the difference between the both of us compared to ordinary pilots and Energy Machinist, was that they needed to reach Level Seven in Non-Falling Level to be able to fuse mechs, but we only need to reach Level Six, as long as we find the right mech core. Then, we can fuse it into our body and use it for the Reagent Level Resonance when the time comes. This is to enable us to detect and comprehend so that we can make up for this imperfection."


    "Indeed. During my prime, finding a few cores wasn''t a problem, but now¡­ this is my only hope," Red moon sighed.


    "Actually, if you think about it, Royal Star is really scary... All he had to do was follow the training method that Boss Red Moon gave him to continuously improve, and he quickly reached a very high level. Although there is a drawback if he took off his mech, which would dramatically decrease his strength, but after he reached the Inherited Level and fused with a mech core, he was able to make up for this weakness. After fusing his own body with a mech, it substantially increased the strength of his body. This world... is really unfair..." Klaibe sighed.


    "No, this is why the world is fair," Red Moon said calmly. "I am at the Reagent Level and I can help Royal Star grow really quickly because it is based on the level that I am at, which is the Reagent Level. In fact, when Royal Star was leveling up, he mostly depended on the accumulation of the Reagent Level. The previous generation''s hard work resulted in this difference by passing on their accumulation to their next generation. It''s that simple."


    "For example, there are two families. One of them, since their grandfather''s generation, they had worked harder than the other family, and this resulted in the gap. And after that, even their father''s generation worked harder than the other family, which resulted in a bigger gap. Therefore, the third generation naturally have a large gap compared to the other family, because of their previous two generations. This is fair. Otherwise, all the hard work of the previous two generations will go to waste and both families'' third generation will be at the same level which would be truly unfair," Red Moon explained.


    "That makes sense," Both Klaibe and Baylon nodded. "This is indeed the case. To put it simply, not that it''s unfair, just that your ancestors did not work as hard as other people''s ancestors. Therefore, there''s a gap between the accumulations."


    "And luck is also one of the factors," Baylon added.


    "Yeah, luck is¡­" Red Moon was hurt. "My luck was really bad that year..."


    Klaibe could not help but say, "Actually... to be honest, even if you were not injured that year, you would not withstand one hit¡­ So please just move on."


    "Are you trying to comfort me or start a fight!!?" Red Moon became angry from embarrassment.


    "There''s someone!!" Suddenly, the tone of Red Moon changed. "He''s quick! Let''s hide! Quick!!"


    Just when Klaibe and Baylon stood up, they heard a ghostly scream from Red Moon, and then he suddenly disappeared.


    At the same time, the fire at the bonfire started burning violently. A tall black metal mech appeared right in front of them.


    "A mech! Why is there a mech in this place!!?" Klaibe was dumbfounded. Planet Gideon was empty for a few years, and their Planet''s jump portal and wormhole were destroyed. Even their inverse space had a terrifying space storm, so no one was able to enter, and they got in using a special way. How was it possible for people to be in such a huge planet??


    However, he did not know that Planet Gideon was not completely sealed. At least the only survivor of the Gideon Family, White Night was able to enter and leave this place through a teleportation array.


    The mech that suddenly appeared was four meters tall. Although it was considered short among the five to six-meter tall standard mechs, the unique part of it was that a black huge sword was stuck in the entire body of the mech and black blood marks could be seen around the edge of the sword.


    The entire mech looked like a bloated astronaut as it had large and rounded limbs as if oval-shaped balls were being stringed together. It had a black body and a head with faint blue light.


    "Discovered humans... begin to arrest," the mech stood still for a moment, scanned through Klaibe and Baylon and said with a mechanical tone.


    "We are just interstellar adventurers that fell into this planet!" Klaibe shouted and raised his hands to show that he was harmless.


    But unfortunately, the mech ignored him. With a ''swoosh'', it instantly appeared right before Klaibe and Baylon and caught the both of them.


    The both of them were being held in their hands and they gave up on resisting.


    The both of them without their mechs were just a little stronger than an average person. While facing a speed-type mech, it would be foolish to retaliate.


    Neither Klaibe nor Baylon were fools. They immediately gave up on resisting and allowed the mech to catch them, one in each hand. Then it jumped into the air and flew towards the distant bridge.


    "Spirit number 109 found two humans. Rank determination, ordinary people; unconscious forces and harmless units."


    The black mech continuously produced a mechanical sound while flying mid-air, and it seemed to be communicating.


    "Drop them into the mining slavery group," a woman''s cold voice was heard coming from the other side.


    This surprised both Klaibe and Baylon, there was actually someone here!


    "Be careful... This is a spirit mech from the ancient times. It is extremely fast and it will nearly negate half of the damage caused by physical attacks. It is very troublesome!" Only then, Red Moon''s voice was heard. "Fortunately it is a broken version, otherwise, even I will be discovered. It seems like someone discovered the remains of a spirit mech, but do not understand how its technology works."


    "Are you all right, Boss Red Moon?" Klaibe asked softly.


    "I''m all right, but both of you need to be careful. Without your mechs, you are no different from ordinary people. Just wait for the right opportunity and do not be impatient," Red Moon warned.


    "Understood."


    "As long as you don''t reveal your identities, you are worth nothing to them."


    Garen was quietly sitting at the center of his mansion and his body was emitting a dense white cold air. The cold air was almost like tails that constantly waved around Garen.


    Looking from afar, it was as though the cold white air was a living creature which constantly moved around in the center of the mention, as if a spirit, and it was extremely odd.


    Garen was dressed in black clothing and he was sitting there with his eyes closed. A dead tree around him was being frozen into a huge icicle, and the walls of the yard around him were covered with a thick layer of ice. The ground was also completely covered by a layer of ice, and the entire mansion had completely become an ice world.


    In the sky, a flying white bird accidentally flew slightly lower, and it immediately rushed upwards due to the snow white cold air. The mansion was like a giant bird which accurately caught on the bird by lifting its head slightly and gobbled up the bird. The flying bird quickly turned into a block of ice and dropped onto the ground of the backyard.


    A ''crash'' sound was heard, as though a broken glassware, the flying bird broke into countless pieces of ice shards. But strangely, no blood was found on the ice pieces, as if all the flesh and blood had dried up and turned into a pale white.


    All of a sudden, Garen opened his eyes.


    "I''ve finally completed...."


    After combining the Hellfrost Peacock''s Cold Chaos and Devourer Force Field Ability with the Scarlet Snow Technique''s Cold Inherited Level force field, it formed an extremely strong Cold Territory.


    This type of Cold Territory can devourer any living creatures with vital energy through freezing them. At the same time, it can also freeze any foreign object and digest it completely.


    A white light flashed in Garen''s eyes, and suddenly, a large stone at the side of the ground that was covered in cold air had a stiff and firm ice layer on the surface. While it was being covered in cold air, the stone began to shrink at a speed that was visible to the naked eye.


    In less than half a minute, that piece of meter long white stone completely disintegrated from an ice cube into stone powder. The extremely little organic substances and energy in it were being absorbed by Garen.


    "Any living creature that I have frozen will fall into a mental chaos that is twice as strong as the original Cold Chaos. Then, they will be in a complete despair and will lose any will to fight," Garen himself did not know how strong this new territory was, because there was no reference. However, he knew that within this territory, those who were nearer to him would need to withstand a greater pressure, freezing pressure, chaotic despair pressure, and their vital energy being devoured.


    "It is now not appropriate to call it Cold Chaos. Let''s change it into a simpler name, Faded Creation."


    This name was very appropriate. It engulfed, froze and caused despair, which was the exact meaning of Faded Creation.

 1071 Snatch 1

    "There is a mission that I require you to head out to."


    As Garen was training on his own, the Elder''s voice traveled around the Black Wolf Mansion.


    "First Elder," Garen stood up and bowed slightly to pay his respect.


    "The Blue Frost Sect has perished¡­ I want you to investigate and search for any clues. Furthermore, I want you to kill a renegade of the Dragon Light Sect along the way as a way of lending them a hand," the first elder''s tone was rather strict and he was clearly shaken by the massacre of the Blue Frost Sect.


    Garen lowered his head slowly.


    "Understood. When should I leave?"


    "The sooner the better and it''s best if you can stay hidden. Once you''ve returned, I will reward you with a piece of Secret Frost Seed''s Inspiration."


    "A Secret Frost Seed? Alright," Garen replied as he assessed his current situation. He had been absorbing a lot of items but the gap between him and the Fourteenth Grade of Scarlet Snow Technique was still very wide apart. The Fourteenth Grade was the so-called Non-Falling Level.


    The biggest obstacle between the Inherited Level and the Non-Falling Level was to form a wheel, a Crystal Wheel. It could be formed by using the Inherited Level''s source and form the crystals in the shape of a wheel. The more crystals one collected, the stronger one''s strength became.


    This was the so-called Non-Falling Level, where the wheels kept perpetuating on its own, producing endless energy. It was completely different from the techniques and Willpower from before where it could be exhausted.


    The Secret Frost Seed item seemed to contain a very huge amount of energy. Perhaps it could¡­


    "Looks like I''ll be heading out. The supplies given by the Sect aren''t enough for me to absorb and I won''t be able to create the wheel of the Non-Falling Level," Garen cut off the first elder''s communication as he looked around his garden which was filled with powder debris. They were all useless trash which contained no energy. This was his result for the past few days.


    "Fortunately the Nine Layers Body Shattering Technique has been learned, but the skill with the fastest progress is still the Destructive Impact Fist."


    Garen reached out his right hand.


    "One Time Fist Pressure."


    Whoosh!!


    A strong wind gusted around him with him as the epicenter.


    Garen as the epicenter, the surrounding area spanned hundreds of meters away in the mansion had uniformly sunk down at least ten centimeters.


    Garen experienced the intense pressure in the area. It was the strength of the static pressure within the vicinity which increased by multiple multitudes. The items within the Pressure Fist''s area of effect would experience an extremely strong pressure. This was the Destructive Impact Fist.


    "Two Times Fist Pressure," Garen said calmly.


    Boom!! Boom boom boom!!


    In an instant, the items around him started exploding, including the big ice pillar tree which exploded into debris as they landed on the ground.


    The air whistled as it seemed to have formed into a solid glue hundreds of meters around Garen.


    Garen then quickly put away his Pressure Fist as the pressure which was double its original was almost enough to destroy his entire garden. The Destructive Impact Fist was definitely a fist technique most suited for people with high vitality. With his current physical attribute, it was as if a fish was introduced to the water as he was able to reach the tenth layer, the Ten Times Pressure Fist from the very beginning.


    "This Secret Technique is literally tailored for me. Perfect!" Garen said excitedly as he looked at the mess around him. As he was too lazy to clean it up, he walked out of the garden and headed towards the small Flying Ship since he had to go there covertly.


    The biggest obstacle to mastering the Destructive Impact Fist was to have enough Vitality. This was only the foundation as the future pieces of training were very similar to self-torture. With every increment in the Fist Pressure, the user''s body would become much denser and at the same time would suffer great injury to the point of near death. Perhaps a typical person wouldn''t dare practice this technique as they might not be able to recover from such heavy injury every time. Even if they were able to recover, there would be many hidden injuries that technology wouldn''t be able to fix. However, this was not the case for Garen.


    He had potential points, which could perfect restore his physical body. This was the reason why he stated that this Secret Technique was created for him.


    Once one reached the Tenth Grade, the Ten Times Pressure Fist would have ten times more self-destructive power. It was the pure increment of the fist''s strength to the limits. It also represented the practitioner''s strength which had been increased by tenfold.


    **************


    Garen went on to attend Senior Sister Rainy''s funeral before he departed. The corpse had already been taken off but the face and flesh were in a complete mess as it was obvious that she was tortured to death.


    The cold corpse was placed inside an ice coffin which was surrounded with decorative white flower crystals. The coffin was being slowly placed into the ice tomb just behind the Scarlet Snow Sect.


    Garen covered his face as he stood among the crowd, looking at Rainy''s coffin being buried. He was at a loss for words.


    Although Rainy didn''t give him much guidance, she was also one of the few who didn''t have any ill intention towards him. Her death and funeral made Eva hate him even more as she stared at him to the point where it seemed as if she was about to kill him.


    No one dared to go near Garen as they were not willing to interact with someone who was ungrateful. His reputation had really sunk into the abyss.


    Garen stood outside of the Ice Cemetary as he looked at Rainy''s burial from afar. He placed his hand softly on his sword without saying a word.


    "Despite her being a criminal to my Scarlet Snow Sect, she was still without a doubt who contributed a lot to my Sect when she was still alive," The Second Elder, who was Rainy''s teacher, was the only elder who attended the funeral.


    Carthage and the remaining two elders didn''t attend the funeral.


    The other Three Hearted Disciples had fully arrived.


    "Go back to the cosmo peacefully," the master of ceremony sang loudly.


    The Second Elder sighed as he turned around and left the area slowly. He patted Eva''s shoulder without saying a word before he left.


    Eva''s eyes were red and tears started flowing down as she could not hold it in anymore. Aloran then immediately walked towards her and held onto her hand tightly.


    "Why are you here! You ungrateful man! Pfft!!"


    Salivas were spat at Garen''s face but they were blocked off by an invisible field. The salivas then turned into ice cubes before landing on the ground.


    Garen looked at where the noise came from and saw a few young men and women. The one who spat saliva at him was no other than the golden-haired Hong Guo, who was standing at the front and beside him was Conan and a weak youngster.


    All three of them were younger than seventeen years old. They were all staring at him with an unfriendly expression.


    Rainy was the most important person to them.


    Garen kept quiet for a while before speaking up.


    "Are you the one who inherited the Secret Frost Seed?" He looked at Hong Guo, the youngster who didn''t intend to hide his hatred towards him.


    According to the intel, he should be Senior Sister Rainy''s grandson.


    However, he was currently very weak¡­


    Garen started laughing.


    "How can you prove that I am the one who killed Rainy? You can''t simply make up stuff kid. Be wary of what you say¡­"


    Whoom!!


    A powerful Energy Field was pressed onto them. In that instant, the sound of bones cracking could be heard from the three of them. Their faces turned red and kneeled down on the ground due to the intense pressure.


    "Damn it!! Ahh!!!" Hong Guo shouted in anger as he tried to stand up with all of his might. As he exerted a huge amount of force, his knees exploded and blood started flowing out from them.


    However, he did resist Garen''s pressure.


    Perhaps the others were inspired by his courage or they were as strong as him. The short golden-haired girl and Conan didn''t kneel down even though her bandages had broken apart and blood started to stain her entire body.


    "Interesting," Garen smiled as he started to increase the energy field.


    Pew! A white line suddenly drew across the air and went towards his face.


    Clang!!


    As the white line was approximately half a meter away from Garen, it completely lost its momentum and dropped to the ground.


    It was Garen''s Condensation Energy Field, which was a passive technique that had been greatly enhanced due to his Inherited Level Willpower. If this Defensive Energy Field could only be extended half a meter away from his body, Hong Guo and the other two might not be able to get within a hundred meter range of Garen.


    The white line was shot by Aloran from afar. Her gaze was as cold as ice as she walked in big steps and stood in front at Hong Guo and the others.


    "What are you doing bullying these kids!?"


    As Hong Guo shouted earlier, he had already attracted the attention from Eva and the others. The Second Elder''s pupils were staring at Garen as if he was an enemy.


    Garen shrugged as he put away his Energy Field.


    "I was only standing here."


    "Get lost!" Eva walked towards him and shouted.


    Garen maintained his smile as he looked at the crowd before turning around and leaving the area quietly. He didn''t care whether the others knew the truth or understood him.


    Whatever he had done had not betrayed his own conscience. The friendship between him and Eva, her effort in raising him into a Three Hearted Disciple, her care towards him. He would return all of this favor eventually.


    He was not able to save Rainy''s life but he might able to return the favor by helping these three kids.


    Although he had been isolated by everyone, had he really mixed himself with anybody from the beginning until the end?


    He had already gotten used to such a lifestyle.


    ***************


    It was time for him to leave for his mission.


    The Dimensional Tunnel was already opened and the teams assigned to this mission had already been arranged beforehand. Garen was in the Frost Hell as he attempted to be inspired by the Secret Frost Seed when he received the notification. Unfortunately, since the distance was rather far away, he was unable to touch the Secret Frost Seed. Hence, he didn''t really obtain any huge reward but instead the only thing he gained was a surface knowledge of the strength and characteristics of the Scarlet Snow Sect''s ancestors. Perhaps this knowledge would be useful to those who had not decided their path. However, this knowledge was completely useless to the current Garen.


    Hence, he left the Frost Hell and rode the Flying Ship and went towards the gathering point the moment he received the call.


    As he drove the Flying Ship to the Dimensional Tunnel, he analyzed his own body.


    Although there were no changes in his Vitality Attribute, he could feel that there were no changes in his defense, toughness and hardness as well. It seemed that his starting point, being having 40 points of Vitality was so overwhelming that he could resist the body''s increasing density caused by the Ten Times Pressure Fist.


    This also meant that he had not reached the limits of the Destructive Impact Fist and could still increase the pressure of his Pressure Fist.


    The Flying Ship soon arrived at an icy field and there was a black hole swirling slowly on it. There were a few ships of difference sizes parked beside it and at least ten people from the Scarlet Snow Sect were standing on the icy field, waiting for him as they looked at Garen''s ship.

 1072 Snatch 2

    "The Tenth Royal Highness," one of the men shouted. "We are the Special Order and we will be under your command to investigate the Blue Frost Sect''s incident," this person was tall and wore a pair of spectacles. He looked gentle and harmless. He had a snow-white longsword by his waist and was in a clean white suit.


    Garen stood at the driver''s window of the Flying Ship as he looked down at the crowd.


    "Are all of you sent by the First Elder?"


    "No, we are a group of people sent by the Second Elder and Third Elder," the man in glasses adjusted his glasses as he replied calmly. "I am the Deputy Minister of the Special Intelligence Department. You can call me Glasses."


    "Am I of the highest command for this mission?" Garen nodded.


    "Naturally."


    Garen glanced at the crowd and the male to female distribution was very equal. Although all of them were wearing the Two Hearted Pauldron, they did not seem to be in the age to be training as a Two Hearted Disciples. Hence, the only conclusion was that they had become members of the headquarters when they graduated from being Two Hearted Disciples.


    "Let''s get aboard and prepare to head out," he said calmly.


    "However, there are two other royal highness on their way!" The man in glasses shouted.


    "There are two others?" Garen squinted his eyes. "Which two?"


    As the man in glasses was about to speak, two white lines were drawn across the sky. In an instant, they landed underneath Garen''s Flying Ship at the side of the crowd. They were one male and female each dressed completely in white.


    One of them was Eva. her expression was cold as if she was another person. It was obvious that Rainy''s death had a huge impact on her as she looked rather pale.


    The other person was a muscular man with a small white cat on his shoulder.


    "King Cat?" Garen recognized this man.


    Although King Cat looked like a sincere, muscular and tall man, the small and pure white cat made his frightening appearance much softer.


    "I represent the Third Elder in this team."


    Eva stared coldly at Garen.


    "I represent the Second Elder in this team."


    "It looks like I''m the captain of this team?" Garen laughed. No one disputed it, including Eva as everyone assumed he''s in charge.


    This meant that everyone had recognized him as the strongest person around. Only the person who possessed strength had a say in everything in this Sect.


    Although the Energy Machinists of Planet Naga were very good in computing power, they had used all their computing power in increasing their strength and they rarely branch out from it. Hence, the Energy Machinists were often viewed as barbarians. One of their characteristics was that they respected people with power.


    "Since everyone has arrived, let''s move out," Garen ordered coldly.


    He was the first one who leaped into the vortex with his ship. The rest then went up to their ships and flew into it. Soon, the icy field had returned to its quiet environment.


    **************


    "According to intel, the traitor of the Dragon Light Sect is called Agathon. He has the strength of an Inherited Level on the surface but we''re unsure if this intel is reliable. The reason he had betrayed the Sect was because he had raped and murdered the Fifth Elder''s granddaughter of the Dragon Light Sect. This is the wanted assistance order we, the Intel Department had received from the Dragon Light Sect."


    Glasses sent information to Garen''s Flying Ship while the Flying Ship was in the middle of a dimensional leap.


    "Agathon?" Garen rubbed his chin. The rotating person on the monitor was a thin, tall man. He looked very normal and seemed to be a little bit handsome. He had elegant eyes and eyebrows and didn''t look like a rapist or murderer.


    "What''s the overall inside story?" He questioned.


    Glasses was slightly stunned as he replied, "Amazing Garen your Highness. You''re able to guess that there''s an inside story without much lead," he continued after flattering him. "The inside story is that this man and the granddaughter of the Elder are lovers. He was a very talented man with a very bright future but he seemed to be framed by someone. After raping and murdering his lover, his reputation was thrown down the drain and had no choice but to escape. The mastermind is indeed a cruel man."


    "Who else is assisting in this killing other than us?"


    "Hmm¡­ There are two other powerhouses from two different sects. They are the Black Dragon Sect and Sky Sword Sect which were from the same planet. There were also other Inherited Level Pilots which were hired as well," Glasses answered truthfully. "Since this planet is rather far away, our intel isn''t really reliable so we don''t know their actual strength."


    "That''s fine¡­" Garen said calmly.


    The leap soon had reached an end.


    In the sky above the gray and white mountains, a black hole appeared among the blue sky and white clouds as a few white Flying Ships suddenly flew out from the black hole.


    Although these Flying Ships had been dyed white, its side still had the Scarlet Snow Sect''s red emblem.


    "Location confirmed."


    "The Headquarter of the Blue Frost Sect''s old address is approximately one thousand six hundred fifty-three kilometers away."


    "Activating risk factors and surrounding awareness."


    The participating members didn''t even require any orders to act and formed a formation as they put Garen, Eva and King Cat in the middle of it.


    Sizzle.


    It seemed that one of the member''s scanning device was faulty as it gave off a disturbing noise.


    "I''m sorry I''m sorry!!" The young man immediately shouted among the team.


    "It''s fine. Is it your first time out for this outstation mission? Stay calm. Everyone has a first and mistakes are bound to happen," Eva comforted gently.


    It was only then when the member gave a sigh of relief and thanked her profusely.


    Garen ignored the little drama over there as he sat on his knees inside the flying ship while he kept training his Destructive Impact Fist.


    His body and skin were in a continuous vibration. The Destructive Impact Fist was destroying his organs and bones but at the same time, the Potential Points were recovering every injury at lightning speed. Both elements were balancing each other within Garen''s body.


    After they had finished scanning the surrounding, they started to check their respective Flying Ships. They set up the setting to hide the Dimensional Tunnel as they required it to go back home later on.


    After leaving behind half of the team to guard the Dimensional Tunnel, Garen and the other two brought six men along and went directly towards the ruins of the Blue Frost Sect.


    Since the wanted traitor was still on this planet and it would require a long time to track him down, they decided to head out to the Blue Frost Sect''s old address to investigate.


    Garen knew much better than anyone how the Blue Frost Sect perished as his space ring contained a pile of original techniques originated from the Blue Frost Sect. He had also obtained a lot of high-grade Gene Strengthening Liquid.


    Hence, his so-called investigation was nothing but an act.


    Garen ordered everyone to get down from the ship and walk instead when the Blue Frost Sect''s Headquarter was about ten meters away. The Blue Frost Sect was built on the planet''s huge magnetic field and going there via the Flying Ship would require energy multiple times more than normal. Hence, it was better and agiler to move on foot than to fly there.


    The group entered a vast golden desert once they left the ship. The scorching hot sand kept inducing the hot steams upwards as it twisted the air.


    The sun bathed the entire area without mercy as it released its overwhelming heat.


    However, the nine men from the Scarlet Snow Sect weren''t affected by their environment as they moved swiftly forward in the desert.


    The group of people looked like a clear white line among the golden desert as they moved towards the Blue Frost Sect''s headquarter at a great pace.


    "If I didn''t come here on my own, I would''ve never guessed that the Blue Frost Sect would have built their headquarters on the hottest desert," The King Cat stood by the Flying Ship as he said.


    "Rumor has it that they are trying to use the natural scorching heat to enhance their coolness. Imagine that you are able to release an incredible amount of chill in the hottest environment and how much chill would they have produced if they were placed under a cold environment?" Garen explained softly.


    "That makes sense," King Cat was an ally of the Third Elder. Now that he was on the same team as Garen, he wouldn''t try to disobey Garen even if their relationship wasn''t good.


    The group stood on top of the Flying Ship as they glided at great speed. Soon, they could faintly see the ruins of the Blue Frost Sect.


    "Who''s there!?" suddenly a shout could be heard at the front.


    "We are the investigation team from the Scarlet Snow Sect. This is our assistance permit," Glasses put out a white badge-like item and a white light shone out into the sky. It was complete silence after that.


    "It''s the people from the Energy Machinist Alliance," Glasses explained softly to Garen and the other two.


    "There should be a lot of people investigating, right?" Garen asked softly. "What kind of investigation is this about?"


    Glasses then adjusted his spectacles. "Your Royal Highness. The investigation involves in finding out any key traces or presences when the Blue Frost Sect was destroyed. We also plan to collect some samples to do some experiments as well. At the same time, even though the Blue Frost Sect was destroyed, there are a few items that are too heavy to be moved away within a short period of time. Hence, our mission also involves retrieving most of these heavy equipment."


    "In other words, we''re here to snatch these items?" King Cat concluded in a very straightforward manner.


    "Don''t be that straightforward¡­ Everyone needs to cover up somehow," Garen laughed.


    "With that being said, it is as King Cat His Royal Highness has stated. We''re here to snatch the items," Glasses smiled as he responded respectfully.


    "No wonder they sent me out here," Garen finally understood the situation.


    Indeed, he was the strongest in the Scarlet Snow Sect excluding Carthage after the battle with Eva. His battle strength far surpassed any typical Inherited Level and he was very close to achieving Non-Falling Level. Hence, the reason he was sent out here was to snatch these items.


    They approached the white ruins closer and closer.


    "What''s the most important item left behind by the Blue Frost Sect?"


    "It''s the Cold Night Pond. However, there will be a lot of people fighting over it."


    "Let''s go to the Cold Night Pond then," Garen smiled.


    ***********


    Within the ruins of the Blue Frost Sect, three teams of different colors were surrounding the area on top of the diamond-shaped blue crystal.


    "Dragon Armor of the Dragon Light Sect, don''t you think you''ve crossed the line that you''ve used the name of a fugitive to snatch items away from us Planet Almanac?"


    A cold woman''s voice reverberated at the top of the blue crystal.


    The one who spoke was the female leader in a tight yellow suit standing on the left together with the other women.


    "What do you mean by snatching? We''re merely here to collect this crystal sample to analyze so that we can find out who''s the murderer perishing the whole Blue Frost Sect. How can you state that this is snatching?" A soft yet villainous tone came from a man.


    Among the men in golden attire on top of the right side of the crystal, there stood a handsome man gently rubbing his golden monocle with a mild expression.


    "Everybody knows that the Dragon Light Sect is here to snatch the items away instead of retrieving it. Tsk tsk. How embarrassing. It''s definitely considered one of the wonders among the middle sized Sect," a tall and muscular man laughed out loud weirdly among the group of black men.


    "Gatengsi, looks like you''ve reached Grade Nine for your Black Dragon''s Cloud Technique? Since you dare to speak to me in such manner," the handsome man stared femininely at the muscular man.


    "Looks like I''ve been discovered. Heh. I''ll gladly comply if you wish to fight!" Gatengsi of the Black Dragon Sect laughed. "I''ll say it first. If I, Gatengsi is around, none of you will take away the Cold Night Pond away easily! Including you! Fati!"


    The two local Sect had teamed up in secret to fight against the Dragon Light Sect.


    "Speaking of which, isn''t it bad that word has gotten out that us sects from the same star clusters fight against each other instead of fighting against the people from the Four-star Alliance? I dare you to go against the Floating Light since he has obtained the best Cold Night Pond, which is unlike ours that is so small," the feminine man smiled coldly at Fati.


    "Why didn''t you go then? The Four-star Alliance! Hmpf!" The woman in the yellow shirt was frightened the moment the name Floating Light appeared.


    Ever since the Gideon Household had perished, the Four-star Alliance had put in a tremendous amount of effort in strengthening themselves. As the remaining three stars developed at lightning speed, a talented young man who possessed a talent that appeared once a thousand year had appeared. He was no other than Floating Light. Rumor had it that he would leave no one alive when he attacked.

 1073 Limit 1

    "So, this is the Cold Night Pond?"


    Suddenly, a faint voice came from afar.


    A group of people dressed in white on a Flying Ship came in swiftly and stopped nearby the crowd.


    A muscular and tall man walked down from the Flying Ship and threw the vehicle to a side.


    The man''s expression was calm, yet he was surrounded with a dense aura that no one could overlook. While the people behind him had a strong presence, he simply overshadowed the rest.


    "It''s the people from the Scarlet Snow Sect!" The Scarlet Dragon Armor, Fati of the Dragon Light smirked. It was another external sect. He already had his hands full dealing with two allied Sects. Now that another sect had arrived, one could wonder how they planned on handling the situation.


    The people from the Scarlet Snow Sect.


    The Black Dragon Sect and the Sky Sword Sect could obtain information from the Energy Machine Imprint; they started being on their guard.


    "We from the Black Dragon Sect and the Sky Sword Sect had discovered this place first. Friends of the Scarlet Snow Sect, if you wish to obtain the Cold Night Pond, please head off to somewhere else as there are still a few of Cold Night Ponds around!" The woman from the Sky Sword Sect shouted.


    Garen''s group got down from the ship and glanced at the situation in front of them.


    Two indigenous Sects united together to fight against the Dragon Light Sect. It seemed that this Cold Night Pond was simply the best and largest within the vicinity, otherwise, there wouldn''t be so many people fighting over it.


    "How stupid. They''re still fighting against each other even when the sky is about to fall upon them," Garen shook his head in his mind. It would be natural that these Energy Machinists, who were consumed by greediness, would perish.


    Perhaps, in their perspective, the death of the entire sect was the doing of an enemy and an internal conflict between the Energy Machinists. They didn''t believe that any Pilots or outsiders would dare to attack them.


    "This Cold Night Pond¡­" Garen immediately realized the giant blue crystal placed at the center. It contained a huge mass of chill that he himself couldn''t get his eyes off of it.


    "What an overwhelming chill it has¡­"It is at least equivalent to the essence of five Blood Beads that Carthage has given out¡­" Seeing how there was still dirt around the crystal, it seemed that this item had just been dug out a while ago.


    After some calculation, he would require at least three Origin Crystals to form the Crystal Wheel that would allow him to reach the Non-falling Level.


    "I''ll be taking this Cold Night Pond."


    Garen was too lazy to argue with these bunch and spoke straightforwardly, "You guys can leave now."


    As soon as he finished speaking, everyone focused their attention on him; there were about tens of red visors set onto the whole Scarlet Snow Sect team, especially on their leader Garen.


    "Who does he think he is? How dare he spew such words," There were a few people who couldn''t hold in their mockery.


    The strongest of each team, Dragon Armor Fati of the Dragon Light Sect, Gatengsi of Black Dragon and the woman in yellow shirt from the Sky Sword Sect looked at Garen as if he was an idiot.


    "What kind of joke is that? Lame," Gatengsi of the Black Dragon Sect rubbed his ears as he laughed.


    "This is Planet Almanac, something is definitely wrong with him considering he dares to threaten us in our homeland," The woman in yellow shirt laughed as well.


    Even Eva and King Cat looked at Garen in confusion as they didn''t understand why Garen would say such ridiculous words without knowing the strength of his enemies. People would look down on him for saying such big words.


    However, Garen smiled as he took a step forward.


    "Three Qi is all I need to deal with you people."


    Boom!


    An intense, invisible chill went straight toward the crowd like a tidal wave.


    The frightening chill instantly froze the scorching hot gravels on the floor, including everyone within a hundred meters in front of him.


    Crack crack¡­ Crack¡­


    The solid layer of ice swiftly froze the legs of the all the members from the two sects, propagating upward to their bodies at a great speed.


    An Energy Field that could not be seen meant that they couldn''t defend from it at all. Everything they did was in vain as they couldn''t even have the time to feel frightened or shout. In that instant, ninety percent of the crowd had been completely frozen into ice crystal pillars, standing firmly on the sand.


    The three leaders tried to use their Energy Field and Strength of Origin, but they could only slow down the propagation.


    "You!" They weren''t even able to finish a sentence before they were covered in ice pillars, fear being written all over their faces.


    With a slight trick of the hand, the scene which had a crowd had become silent. The three Inherited Level leaders were covered inside the solid ice pillars.


    "How boring," Garen sighed in disappointment. He wanted to test his limits, yet his opponents were frozen by him without putting up any defense at all.


    He could faintly hear the sound of teeth trembling from the Scarlet Snow Sect''s disciples behind him. He could also hear the increased blood circulation from Eva and King Cat''s body tensing up the moment the chill was released from his body.


    "You¡­ You killed them all?!" King Cat''s tone was rather dry.


    "Perhaps¡­" Garen smiled as he stepped forward and gently placed his hands on the surface of the Cold Night Pond.


    Sizzle...


    A sizzling noise which sent chills down people''s spine could be heard as the crowd from the Scarlet Snow Sect stared at the Night Cold Pond in front of Garen shrink at a great pace. It was similar to an ice melting as they could see it shrinking with their naked eyes.


    As for the surrounding people, he wouldn''t simply kill them off that easily as he had only released his frost Energy Field instead of Faded Creation. He had at most limited their movements and severely injured them due to the frost. Their lives would only be in danger if someone couldn''t get them out of the ice pillars within the span of ten days.


    "Your Highness Garen is definitely the number one genius after His Highness Carthage!" Glasses, who was standing behind him, immediately flattered him as soon as he was able to react. However, his tone was rather dry.


    The other five normal members could only swallow their saliva when they regained their composure from the shock. They should be proud of their own team, but all they felt was chills sending down their spine.


    "Is the Scarlet Snow Technique really this incredible?" King Cat looked at Garen''s back as he was shocked. He, too, was at the Grade Thirteen for the Scarlet Snow Technique, but he couldn''t achieve such destruction even if he went all out. It had completely exceeded the realm of pure technic and was in the realm of disaster.


    Eva gritted her teeth as she stared at Garen''s back. She was also shocked to see that Garen had improved so much. If he were to keep moving forward at such an incredible pace, she might not be able to avenge Rainy at this rate!


    As the group was still recovering from the shock, Garen had already finished absorbing the Night Cold Pond and returned to the team. However, he seemed to be disappointed and no one dared to ask him why.


    "Let''s go, to the next Night Cold Pond.


    Garen said coldly. The fight ended before it started; it was such a buzzkill to everyone who was ready to go all out.


    "Your Highness Garen is so strong!" A member behind Glasses couldn''t help but to said softly after regaining from the shock.


    "The Scarlet Snow Technique can be that strong!?" Another female member muttered.


    "Perhaps we, the Scarlet Snow Sect, are about to rise once again¡­" Another female member looked at Garen with a sense of worship in her eyes.


    Worship would naturally form when the strength between two of similar ages was too drastic. They would then draw a line between the two and categorize the other party into another realm so that they wouldn''t compare themselves to the other party. This way, they could protect their own dignity. This was the nature of human being.


    The Two Hearted members were in this exact situation.


    Eva stared at him as she held the dagger in her arms tightly.


    Garen rushed toward the next location where the Night Cold Pond was located. Glasses instructed a member to use the detecting device to locate more Night Cold Ponds.


    Although the first Night Cold Pond Crystal was huge, Garen was only able to fill up the first Origin Crystal after refining it, he couldn''t even see the second crystal sprouting.


    This made him have a firmer grasp on the difficulty of achieving the Non-Falling Level.


    The people were already fighting around the second Cold Night Pond. Golden sparks were everywhere, and herds of purple-black birds covered the entire sky. A few large Mechs were mixed among these birds in the sky As they dyed the sky in red and green. It seemed that they were of the Inherited Level as well.


    Garen couldn''t care less which Sect they were from since he had Carthage as the final line of defense. That person''s strength was endless, and he was definitely the strongest person in the Scarlet Snow Sect. The three Elders weren''t able to restrict him, and the Guardians had not shown themselves until even today. Half of the current Scarlet Snow Sect had been controlled by him and even though there were a few Three Hearted Disciples who viewed him as a threat, the majority of them were proud to have him. They didn''t care who was the owner, but they cared who could bring them glory and power.


    Carthage was able to meet those criteria.


    "Absolute Freeze."


    Garen didn''t even need to unsheathe his sword as he walked directly toward the blue Night Cold Pond Crystal, ignoring the battles surrounding him.


    The birds froze into ice and fell onto the ground wherever he walked by. The people who were fighting were instantly frozen before they could react. All of them were frozen within an ice pillar, defenseless against the attack.


    It was the same towards the Resonance Level or Inherited Level.


    It was almost as though the Scarlet Snow Sect was walking in an environment without any human presence as they walked directly toward the Night Cold Pond. Garen reached out his hand and placed tightly on the surface of the Night Cold Pond.


    The people behind him didn''t know what he was doing, neither did they dare to ask him as well. Garen''s invincibility had carved deeply in their memories. No one was able to stand against him as his enemies were instantly sealed within ice pillars in an instant. This Scarlet Snow Technique was out of everyone''s imagination!


    After a while, Garen put away his hand as he looked at the Night Cold Pond that had been greatly shrunk.


    "I''ve absorbed the Cold Energy inside it, but there are still traces of Cold Energy left that could be used for research. It seems to contain some secrets from the Blue Frost Sect. You can bring it back to the Technical Department for them to do their research. Keep it safe."


    "Yes!"


    Glasses immediately went forward and kept the Cold Night Pond Crystal, which was as tall as a human, with the Space Ring that he had prepared earlier.


    "Let''s go to the next one," Garen turned around and went towards the third one.

 1074 Limit 2

    Glasses glanced at the Energy Machinists and Mech Pilots within the icicles around him as a hint of greed flashed in his eyes.


    "If I were able to remove the items from these people¡­" He knocked the icicles briefly when he walked past them silently.


    However, the thing that shocked him was the intense and terrifying chills that suddenly spread throughout his fingers the moment he touched the icicles. He triggered the Scarlet Snow Technique and he continued to resist it desperately. Unfortunately, the chills that were only as thin as strands of hair consumed more than half of all his skills. Its purity was simply unimaginable!


    While fear continued to linger in his heart, he glanced at Garen who was strolling in front of him. As he was too afraid to overthink this, Glasses followed Garen closely behind instead.


    The third, the fourth, the fifth¡­


    Garen absorbed numerous Cold Night Ponds one after another. He froze everyone who tried to resist or fight him for it.


    The terrifying chills caused the temperature of the surrounding area to be reduced by more than ten degrees gradually. When the weather was scorchingly hot, abnormal occurrences like this would gradually attract the attention of the powerhouses from other regions.


    A few scattered Mech Pilots and Energy Machinists who came to make a profit looked at the members of Scarlet Snow Sect from afar before fleeing quickly to avoid becoming casualties.


    Therefore, Garen and his group were able to absorb the Cold Night Ponds even faster.


    There were more than twenty Cold Night Ponds and most of them were completely absorbed by Garen now. He finally began to solidify his second Origin Crystal. He could freeze Cold Energy within a range of a hundred thousand square kilometers into frozen snowscapes by absorbing all of this energy into his body. However, he had merely started to freeze the second Origin Crystal. This gave him some new insight regarding the Non-falling Level''s terrifying accumulated energy.


    The others did not possess such a convenient absorption and purification ability. From the past to this present, he was probably the only one who could enjoy the perfect purification abilities from his Ice Coffin Secret Technique. After all, he had spent more than a thousand years practicing this skill wearily in order to perfect it. This was not a price that merely anyone could accept.


    Moreover, the Heart of Ice that was produced by the perfected Ice Coffin was not just used to purify Cold Energy. It could also strengthen and amplify the efficiency of the chills that Garen released. This allowed him to have a perfect command of these chills.


    When they noticed that the crowds of frozen people had increased, Garen''s reputation grew as well.


    Some people tried to smash the solid icicles open and save those inside but their efforts were futile. The frozen layers that were attacked or smashed would restore themselves to their original states on their own as if they were alive.


    Moreover, they were afraid of hurting the people inside if they exerted too much force. Hence, it was impossible for the powerhouses, who rushed over later, to undo Garen''s frozen chills.


    They collected all of the Cold Night Ponds that were nearby quickly. The group even overturned some of the ruins to find some good things that were concealed in deeper places. They had obtained considerably great gains.


    Garen''s second crystal had successfully solidified now. He was able to fully absorb its Cold Energy to a perfect stage, allowing him to release even more terrifying chills.


    He lowered his hand and placed it on a Cold Night Pond in front of him slowly.


    Shh!


    Suddenly, a golden light pillar rose up in the distance into the sky. This gigantic light pillar was blindingly bright, resembling a gold rod that shot itself into the sky directly. Shrouds of golden air currents revolved around it.


    The enormous Energy Field pressed onto and enveloped the entire Blue Frost Sect and the ruins around it instantly.


    "So powerful! This is the Lord of Gold, the ultimate move as well as a skill that is specialized by the Gold Clan of the Four-Star Alliance!" said King Cat sincerely and subconsciously. "It''s probably Floating Light."


    Along the way, they did not have any opportunities to do anything. While feeling astonished towards Garen''s powers, he also felt extremely bored. However, once he saw the light pillar now, a hint of frustration rose in his heart suddenly. His initial fighting intentions instantly and completely disappeared. He had previously assumed that Garen was already a rare deviant, before another deviant appeared before his eyes, making him feel powerless.


    "Floating Light?" Garen raised his eyebrows. "Let''s go take a look."


    "This trip simply feels like a vacation," said another one of his group members while smiling.


    "With His Highness Garen here, we can grab the things we want freely and have a look around as we please," Another group member replied lightly. "Even if Floating Light grew stronger again, do you think he could really be stronger than His Royal Highness Garen?"


    Everyone took turns chatting casually and lightly. King Cat, who was feeling frustrated earlier, had returned to his normal state as well. He shook his head and concentrated his gaze on Garen who was in front of him. Both this fellow and Carthage had powers that were simply like endless pits. The depths of their powers were unknown, and they were frighteningly strong. Perhaps Floating Light would be able to uncover some of his exact details.


    They turned and passed through some of Blue Frost Sect''s damaged building areas that were used for experimental research before a terrifying gigantic, round hollow which was more than ten meters wide appeared in front of them quickly.


    Shrouds of green smoke were escaping from the giant pit slowly, releasing scorching hot temperatures. Red liquid lava could even be seen in the center.


    A young, handsome man was standing at the edge of the giant pit. He carried a golden rod silently while pursing his lips and looking at Garen and the others who were rushing over here.


    From afar, his gaze resembled two rays of golden light that were incomparably blinding. They made others completely fearful of looking at him directly.


    "Garen of Scarlet Snow?" Despite being ten meters away, his voice echoed across the great distance clearly. It was calm and tinged with inexperience, but it was clear that he was not an average youth.


    Garen looked at the youth on the opposite side of himself in a slightly surprised manner as well. At this age, he could not be older than thirty years old, meaning that he was just like Garen.


    However, his gaze did not linger on the other person''s body but instead shifted to the unimaginably gigantic blue crystal behind him.


    That crystal was easily almost the size of a little hill. It was glittering and translucent while a human-shaped shadow was sealed inside. It could not be seen clearly.


    Extremely terrifying chills were released throughout his entire body. They enveloped a range of more than hundreds of meters around him, completely covering his surrounding environment in layers of white frost and making it unimaginably cold.


    This crystal was more than two times larger than the previous ones that Garen had absorbed.


    "Tch... tch¡­ Such a large crystal is probably enough for me to form my third Origin Crystal¡­" A hint of desire conjured up in his heart.


    Carthage''s pressure, the destroyed destinies that would ultimately befall Energy Machinists in the future, and his determined fate that he had to die next time were three things that were constantly shrouding his mind like the shadows of death, suppressing his insane forces of pursuit.


    Silently, a chill traveled towards the bottom of Floating Light''s foot and struck it quickly. No one noticed the movements of this chill.


    Puff!


    This was the first time that his chills had collapsed.


    It collided against his Inherited Level Energy Field within a distance that was less than half a meter from Floating Light before instantly perishing together with a golden force; both of them were destroyed.


    Both parties looked at each other in a slightly shocked manner. This exploration had instantly proven that both of their strengths were of the same level.


    "No wonder there were so many people who had previously said that your chills had already reached stages that could not be countered by those who were not of the Non-falling Level. Now it seems like no one had made a mistake."


    Floating Light continued calmly and said, "Unfortunately¡­" He raised his head and looked at the sky before a little black shadow flew over faintly.


    Whoosh!


    He leaped upward and turned into a flash of golden lightning before disappearing completely. His rapid speed simply caused people to stare dumbfoundedly.


    "Your life will only remain until I come back to retrieve it next time," echoed Floating Light''s voice from afar.


    "There won''t be a next time," Garen smiled suddenly.


    Shh!


    The chills throughout his entire body condensed into a gigantic white gas Energy Field before soaring towards the black shadow in the sky.


    Chirp!


    The frightening Energy Field that shrouded a range of a few hundred meters turned into the figure of a gigantic peacock. Its sharp beak raised itself toward the sky and held the black shadow in its mouth.


    Drastic changes occurred across the face of Floating Light, who was perched on the black shadow before he turned around and suppressed it with his rod hastily and firmly. A spot of golden light lit up at the end of the rod. It was extremely blinding.


    "Sky Magnet Rod!"


    The golden light traveled directly toward the tip of the peacock''s beak. He swept all of the surrounding magnetic fields over before drawing them towards the peacock''s beak, suppressing it.


    The golden light canceled out a large portion of Garen''s Turbulent Chills. However, there were still some chills that tainted both Floating Light''s legs; the ice spread over, covering him instantly and completely freezing his legs into a single ice block.


    "Damn!"


    "Go!" A frantic voice echoed from the black shadow. The black shadow was actually a black airship. A woman who wore a golden crown appeared there while the both of them worked together to release a large golden cloud to block the peacock''s following attacks. The airship flew higher before finally leaving Garen''s attack range.


    The enormous peacock could only raise its head and whine in frustration as its speed decelerated. It grew weaker before finally shrinking back into Garen''s body.


    Garen lifted his head and looked at the airship that was merely a black dot in the sky now. Using his terrifyingly powerful eyesight, he could still see the hateful yet slightly frightened gazes of Floating Light, along with the woman with the golden crown.


    The group of people behind him, including Eva and King Cat, looked with a flabbergasted manner at the fight that had occurred moments ago. Their degrees of power had already surpassed the domains of the Inherited Level and reached the stages of the Non-falling Level instead. They looked at Garen again and noticed that his gaze had already changed completely. It had changed into the form and manner of their seniors in the Non-falling Level.


    The enormous Chill Peacock the size of few hundred meters had immediately scared those two people earlier. Most creatures that were formed by Energy Fields would not be this large, while only those in the Non-falling Level would be able to form such gigantic Energy Field figures.


    Therefore, the implications of Garen''s ability to form such gigantic Energy Field figures were still unknown.


    "He just ran away like that. How unfortunate," Garen sheathed the sword that was previously in his hands and walked directly towards the gigantic Cold Night Pond. He did not know why Floating Light fled suddenly. However, it was clear that he had some urgent matters. Moreover, he was probably seeking something other than the Cold Night Pond. It was obvious that he had succeeded already. After all, Cold Night Ponds were not as valuable compared to non-frost-type powerhouses.


    The few people behind him were unaware of the unfortunate thing he was talking about. Was it unfortunate that they were unable to fight, or was it unfortunate that¡­


    Once Floating Light had left, no one within the entire Blue Frost Sect could challenge Garen anymore. This applied to the Dragon Light Sect and the local Black Dragon Sect and Sky Sword Sect as well. If they were afraid of the likes of Floating Light, they would not even need to think of Garen.


    Garen himself was unaware of the current stage that he had achieved as well.


    A regular attack that was formed by his Energy Field had injured the peak Inherited Level powerhouse Floating Light, whose strength rivaled the Non-falling Levels. He did not even have to use a sword, the Destructive Impact Fist, Nine Layers Body Shattering Technique, or even the Faded Creation that was hidden in the most secluded areas.


    After walking toward the front of the gigantic Cold Night Pond Crystal, Garen reached his hand out and pressed it against the surface of the crystal closely.


    The Hellfrost Peacock Technique''s terrifying Devour ability launched rapidly before the essence of myriad Cold Energy was filtered out and purified by the Ice Coffin. Next, it began to condense the third crystal within Garen''s body quickly.


    It greatly exceeded the Cold Energy of every Cold Night Pond before him. All of the Cold Energy that was accumulated by Blue Frost Sect for thousands of years had been engulfed into Garen''s body. The third gem-like scarlet crystal was rapidly condensed there.


    Once the third one had appeared, the fourth one came soon after. Moments after the fourth one was successfully formed, the Cold Energy of the Cold Night Pond Crystal had finally been exhausted.


    The crystals that were previously more than twenty meters large had now shrunken into the size of half a human.


    There were four Origin Crystals.


    Garen looked inwardly at the four red crystal gems within his own body.


    "I can already solidify them into a wheel. This is truly terrifying¡­ The Hellfrost Peacock Technique and its frightening Devour ability have simply disregarded most of the rules of accumulation and plundered the energy and essence of external creatures directly! No wonder its performance has been so weak all this while. Apparently, its true powers would only be fully exhibited at the final stage."

 1075 Chance Encounter 1

    The major accomplishments of the Living Secret Technique had finally manifested during this frightening technological era.


    A terrifying progress rate like this even made Garen himself feel as if it was somewhat unreal.


    "We don''t need to rush the process of solidifying it into a wheel for now. We''ll discuss it later after solidifying a few more crystals. For Non-falling Level wheels, the more crystals we have, the stronger its explosive force and stamina will be. It will be even more terrifying during actual combat."


    "Keep this thing. We''ll keep going now." Garen threw out the last sentence before walking forward himself to other areas to continue the search for the Cold Night Pond Crystals. This thing was simply a great form of nourishment to him. It was even quicker than absorbing other high energy substances.


    Despite being major combat forces, both King Cat and Eva had been reduced to watching him passively while the remaining members worshipped and respected Garen greatly. Individuals who were absolutely powerful like himself had brought about an undeniably bright future for the rest of them.


    Next, Garen collected all of the high energy substances and Cold Night Ponds throughout the ruins of the Blue Frost Sect. He absorbed it for more than one whole day, and no one dared enter the entire Blue Frost Sect now as Garen''s terrifying chills and icicles were everywhere. When the two elders of Black Dragon Sect and Sky Sword Sect had finally rushed over, they exhausted a lot of their energy to smash the icicles and save their own disciples and members. It looked extremely difficult and when the others witnessed this scene, those who were initially prepared to enter and earn a quick buck turned silent suddenly.


    As both of the Non-falling Level elders were extremely scared of Garen, they gave strict orders to all of their members to return to their sects and train painstakingly after leaving the site of the ruins.


    Meanwhile, Garen absorbed all of the usable resources impetuously.


    The number of crystals had increased to six. At this moment, he had absorbed almost all of Blue Frost Sect''s high energy substances.


    The other Scarlet Snow Sect members might have obtained certain benefits as well, as they now carried various heavy machinery and pieces of equipment with them.


    By obtaining six of these crystals, although the total number was not full yet, Garen felt that he had reached his limit already.


    He was not referring to the limit of his own Vitality, but the limit of the Scarlet Snow Technique instead.


    Six crystals were the highest limit of the Scarlet Snow Sect''s Scarlet Snow Technique as well as the upper limit of this skill. If he increased it any further, Garen could clearly feel that his Energy Machine Imprint could probably not support it anymore.


    "Looks like this is the difference compared to the other major sects. No wonder Scarlet Snow Sect was just an average minor sect," Garen had finally understood the difference between Energy Machinist Sects. It was similar to the difference between the number of Origin Crystals when one first entered the Non-falling Level. Despite the greatness of your natural talents, your techniques would still have upper limits that would limit your development and make you weaker than those from different sects who were at the same level as you.


    "I can only solidify the wheel now," thought Garen helplessly.


    He had never considered solidification like this initially. It was unfortunate that the Scarlet Snow Technique could only solidify so few of these.


    "I''ll settle my score with that escaper later."


    He sighed and stood on the remains of the last valuable building in the ruins. His terrifying chills had frozen all of the ruins below him into a single block of ice.


    Under the sunlight, more than half of the ruins of Blue Frost Sect were frozen into a snowy, icy state. Gigantic blocks of pure white and crystal-clear ice could be seen everywhere.


    The remaining members of the Scarlet Snow Sect dispersed throughout the surroundings and examined the area for valuables respectively.


    Garen did not convene these people and allowed them to look for treasures freely. Getting rid of deserters was a simple task. There would be no problem as long as he was able to find the other party.


    While standing atop the solid ice, he took a red and round item, which resembled a pocket watch, from his bosom and glanced at the illuminated red dot that was displayed there.


    "We''ll see how your luck turns out. If I find you within half a day, that''ll be unfortunate for you."


    Whoosh.


    Garen''s figure slid down the ice quickly before leaving and flying into the faraway distance.


    *****************


    Planet Gideon of the Four-Star Alliance


    Within an enormous crater that was filled with meteorites, a large crowd was painstakingly moving various ores that were excavated from the mining cavity. Some of them specialized in mining, while others either transported or categorized them.


    The filthy people had nothing but rags on their backs. Exhaustion filled their faces as they worked while numerous black Spirit Mechs stood at the higher regions of the meteorite crater to monitor and manage this place.


    Both Clint and Baylon were carrying baskets of ores on their backs while following the stream of people to the faraway sorting area.


    "We need to think of a way to escape from here," Clint said to Baylon quietly. "We''ve already been here for two days and it''s not an option for us to go on like this!"


    "Do you have any good ideas?" asked Baylon softly.


    "According to Old Hank, this place is the Spirit King''s mining pit division. The surveillance here is probably not the most stringent. Moreover, they''re also hiding a few Mechs that have been prepared to be used for the purposes of revolting. As long as we find an opportunity and convince Old Hank, we can definitely resolve these Spirit Mechs," said Clint softly.


    "Then how are you going to gain their trust?" said Baylon in a slightly anxious tone.


    "Yes¡­ We heard this information from our boss Red Moon secretly. How are we going to convince them to let us on the Mechs¡­" Suddenly, Clint scratched his own head helplessly.


    "I have a way," Red Moon''s voice echoed suddenly.


    "What way? Tell us quickly, Boss. I don''t want to spend my days moving ores anymore!" Clint''s spirits stirred immediately.


    "Hehe, Old Hank''s son Hans is quite perverted¡­ Baylon needs to take the field this time¡­ Hehehe¡­" laughed Red Moon wickedly.


    "No¡­ No way¡­" whispered Baylon timidly. When she sensed that both Clint and Red Moon''s attention were focused on her at the same time, she cowered even more.


    "Impossible!" Clint rejected suddenly. When he thought of making Baylon seduce that filthy ugly monster, his heart was filled with uneasiness.


    "This is the best way," said Red Moon while smiling sinisterly.


    "Impossible. I''ve said it''s impossible so no can do. I, Clint, have not fallen so low as to require Lonnie to sacrifice her body to protect me!" said Clint with stern righteousness.


    "What are you saying?!" Out of a sudden, Baylon was unbearably embarrassed. She hit Clint''s head violently. She had already fallen into the bearing of a young woman completely now. Compared to most girls, she had an exterior that was even purer, prettier and closer to perfection. Thus, she gave off a delicate and charming feeling. She had black shoulder-length hair and her skin was even more tender than a star apple. Her large almond-shaped eyes were bright and watery, while her lips and cheeks were extremely tender and pink. Clint became slightly dull after looking at her for some time.


    However, the t-shirt and jeans that she still wore from her time on the Mother Planet did not match well with her delicately pure external appearance. This outfit was chosen to make moving previously convenient. After wandering desperately for a period of time, holes had formed everywhere in her trousers from the wear and tear. Her snowy white skin could be seen faintly when they were occasionally exposed inside.


    If Red Moon had not used his camouflaging illusory light to shroud both of them and disguise them as unassuming regular people, a large crowd of ravenous people would have probably pounced on Baylon the moment she entered the mining pit¡­


    When Clint thought of this terrifying possibility, his heart trembled with fear. Feelings of affliction and rejection poured out of his heart when he looked at Baylon''s perfect and pure beauty.


    Lonnie belongs to me! I will never allow anyone else to touch a single hair on her head!


    His gaze became frighteningly stern suddenly.


    He had already thought of Baylon as his own woman long ago despite clearly knowing that she was a boy who had turned into a girl. However, Clint was also a vigorous pubescent boy. Therefore, after spending a long time with her and constantly being unconsciously seduced by Baylon, his mind had long been unable to suppress this anymore. Hence, he thought of Baylon as his exclusive property.


    "How could I let my own woman protect me!" In a fit of irritation, this sentence escaped from his mouth.


    "Uhh¡­" Baylon was shocked while Red Moon laughed sinisterly within both of their minds.


    "Hehehe¡­ You''ve let the cat out of the bag. I noticed long ago that there was something weird with the way you looked at Lonnie. Looks like it''s like this now! Heeheehee¡­" sneered Red Moon.


    Baylon''s pretty face turned completely red instantly. It seemed as though smoke was about to escape from the top of her head. As she had always been a boy who had turned into a girl, she had never paid attention to the societal barriers between men and women. Therefore, she had unintentionally seduced Clint many times. Moreover, she had instinctively assumed that a girl like herself was not a pure female. With that said, she had an inferiority complex which evolved from her innermost self. She had always assumed that Clint would never look highly on her and had never thought of it from any other perspective. Now, however¡­ She was instantly subdued by Clint''s words that almost seemed like a romantic confession¡­


    "I¡­ I¡­" The redness of her entire face had reached her neck. She lowered her head, unable to complete her entire sentence as it trailed off softly.


    "Break time," Suddenly, a robotic voice echoed from a high area.


    Clint acted as if he had just been given a big break before putting the mining basket down and running away quickly.


    "I¡­ I''m going to find some water!"


    There was a puff of smoke before he fled swiftly without leaving a single trace.


    However, he didn''t see the abjected look that flashed in Baylon''s eyes again.


    "He¡­ actually can''t even look up to me¡­ I know¡­ Perhaps¡­ Perhaps he was merely joking casually¡­"


    *****************


    Beside a faraway, emerald-green amber that resembled a jade.


    Clint pushed his head into the lake firmly at once to calm himself down briefly.


    Whoosh!


    The water gurgled beside his head and flowed around.


    Clint felt as if his entire body was immediately relieved.


    He lifted his head out of the water with a splash before spitting out a mouthful of air quickly.


    "Curse you, Red Moon! You definitely manipulated my body again secretly, right?! Why would I have said such shameless things otherwise?!" he questioned Red Moon in his mind furiously.


    "I''m not interested in manipulating you. The body of my great self still needs to recuperate properly. Older people like myself are unlike youngsters like you¡­" said Red Moon slowly, in a tone that warranted a spanking.


    Whoosh¡­


    Clint was about to speak before the sound of water could be heard nearby suddenly.


    He lifted his head and saw a white-haired youth dressed in white at the edge of the lake on the opposite side, currently walking toward the center of the lake indifferently. As he walked, his body was gradually submerged by the lake water quickly. Only a few short seconds had passed before more than half of the white-haired youth''s body was submerged.


    "Don''t fret over trivial matters when you''re so young!" Clint''s mind heated up suddenly and he threw himself into the lake instantly and swam toward the youth rapidly. The strength of his Nine Mega Cannon Training Method was frightening. He had swum across a distance of more than ten meters instantly like a speedboat before rushing in front of the youth.


    "Let''s sit down and have a good talk about your troubles. Don''t belittle your own life easily!!" He yelled loudly while rushing forward and grabbing the youth firmly before running towards the shore.


    "I¡­"


    "What do you mean ''I''?! Look at how young you are. If there''s something that you can''t figure out, just remember that life is long and the world is huge. You were just captured to mine for ores, right? We can always find a way to escape. We won''t spend our lives like this," Clint placed him beside the shore in one go before he sat down and panted. He let out a few coarse breaths furiously while sitting on the ground numbly.


    "I wasn''t¡­"


    "Don''t say anything else. I''m currently troubled as well, but we have to sort out our own matters ourselves. Everyone has things that trouble them. However, if we simply regarded everything as a matter of life or death, wouldn''t every single person in the universe have died much earlier on?"


    After Clint had spent a lot of time with Red Moon, the latter''s careless and crude speech and style had gradually influenced his personality.


    The white-haired youth blinked and looked at Clint curiously.


    "Back when I was still green, I had belittled my life like you as well. Therefore, I understand these feelings¡­" Clint took in the white-haired youth briefly. His gaze lingered on his boyishly charming face before he sighed emotionally and spoke in a deep tone suddenly.


    The white-haired youth''s complexion turned green suddenly, he opened his mouth in an attempt to retort.


    "Don''t explain!" Clint raised his hands and covered his mouth.


    "Explanations are merely cover-ups¡­ It''s inevitable that we''ll face obstacles in life. Facing them bravely and spending every day in your future happily is the true meaning of happiness. Don''t abandon yourself to despair easily."


    The white-haired youth''s face turned even greener immediately.


    "I really¡­"

 1076 Chance Encounter 2

    "You really don''t need to explain!" Clint interrupted him again. "You''ve definitely suffered in the mining pit, and I really understand the pain you''ve experienced. You had to dress gorgeously every day only to interact with such frightening men¡­ Yet, the world is like this. If we can''t resist it, we can only learn to accept it. Especially fellows like you with such a boyishly charming face that even I cannot help but be aroused by¡­ Scary¡­ It''s so scary!!"


    The white-haired youth''s face had darkened already¡­


    "Although I''ve never experienced pain like yours, I still understand that some things are just a part of our destiny. Even though it''s already fated, as long as you resist it, you will definitely see results!" Clint sighed emotionally.


    "Destiny? Resist?" A ray of light flashed across the white-haired youth''s eyes.


    "Yes¡­ Resist your destiny. Doesn''t it sound pretty cool?" Clint raised his head and looked at the sky. Other than the sun, there was a dark purple planet which was quite near to them. It was also giving off a mild, purple light.


    "But how do you know that our own attempts of resistance aren''t already arranged as parts of our destinies?" The white-haired youth could finally speak a complete sentence properly. He had a melodious voice that was very clear and not the slightest bit hoarse. It made others unconsciously relate it to all of the adjectives that could describe purity. It even sounded faintly like a girl''s voice.


    "You will always see a fragment of hope in the end if you resist. However, if you don''t resist, you won''t even have this fragment of hope," said Clint while scratching his head. "I don''t know any major reasons, but I merely do the things that I want to, and this is enough. As for the other troubling matters, we''ll just talk about it later when the time comes!"


    A hint of curiosity flashed in the white-haired youth''s pupils.


    "You probably have dreams, right?"


    "Of course!" Clint rubbed his nose. "My dream is to find a place to live out my days peacefully without being disturbed by others. Of course, bringing another specific person along the way to restore their body is also another part of it," He smiled bitterly soon after that and said. "But, from the looks of it now, the realization of this dream may be too far away. What about you? Do you have any dreams?"


    A cold breeze blew past and lifted a few strands of white hair beside the youth''s cheeks lightly. He reached his hand out and tidied his hair while smiling faintly.


    "My dream¡­ is the hope that this world will be devoid of all struggles. I don''t want wars to exist."


    "Yes, that''s a really beautiful dream!" Clint raised his thumb. "Although it''s a bit too far-fetched."


    "I''ve always felt that it would be best for everyone to live together peacefully, isn''t that so? Why must we fight each other for our interests before our hatred deepens finally? In the end, neither side knows the source of the war anymore¡­" the white-haired youth uttered quietly. "However, generations of struggles continue on like that. Endlessly¡­"


    "You''ve said it perfectly!" Clint patted the youth''s shoulder firmly.


    "I did? You feel this way too?!" The white-haired youth''s eyes widened slightly while he looked at Clint whose face was filled with admiration.


    "Of course! Honestly, who in this world likes going to war? Other than deviants, war maniacs, and careerists, no one likes fighting," nodded Clint. "Hence, although your dream is very bleak, I will continue to support you!"


    "Will you?" A gentle smile appeared on the white-haired youth''s face suddenly. "That''s really wonderful. I always assumed that no one could understand me. I''d never expected to encounter someone here who could actually understand my dream. You''re actually a good person."


    Clint scratched his head and felt slightly embarrassed. This was the first time that someone had praised him like this.


    "Hehe, I''m not as great as you made me out to be¡­ You don''t know this, but the first time I laid eyes on you, I felt a familiar feeling."


    "Perhaps this is a part of destiny as well?" said the white-haired youth, smiling.


    "Yes, there''s no point thinking of destiny as something bleak, right? We can''t say for sure that destiny isn''t trying to reverse wars either. However, our strength is insufficient in the meantime," said Clint while laughing.


    Right after these words escaped Clint''s mouth, the white-haired youth''s eyes widened suddenly. He stared blankly at Clint who was smiling stupidly. Faintly, a new radiance appeared on his handsome, pale face instantly. It resembled a sacred halo.


    "Yes¡­ Perhaps my dream is merely a part of destiny that is trying to lead me on the right path. The thing that I''m moving towards is the signs of destiny!"


    "It''s great that you''ve figured it out!" Clint patted the youth''s head firmly. "Alright, go back and rest then. We need to mine more ores in a while!"


    "Thank you," said the white-haired youth while looking at Clint sincerely. "I''ll strive for my dream."


    "No more underestimating your life next time!" Clint nodded happily. After educating this fellow briefly, his mood had suddenly improved as well. He turned around and took long strides while walking towards the mining area.


    The white-haired youth watched the back of his figure leave silently while the radiance across his face brightened.


    "Yes¡­ Why wasn''t I The Child of Destiny? The signals in my vision are the places that destiny wants me to travel to¡­" He closed his eyes before a white imprint that was shaped like the ''¦¸'' omega symbol appeared on his forehead suddenly.


    "Destiny guided me, it allowed me to arrive in this universe for me to change everything, no?"


    He glanced one last time at Clint''s figure that was about to disappear.


    "Everything that I''ve done is my true destiny. A successor of the Red King, I had never expected that you would give me such a lesson¡­ Everything is determined by destiny, huh¡­"


    "For my dream¡­ I''m willing to sacrifice everything¡­ Mother, are you ready¡­?"


    He turned around and walked toward another direction of the wasteland. His body disintegrated suddenly, turning into countless shrouds of white smoke that drifted away into the sky.


    No one was aware that both of the future strongest individuals had met each other silently on Planet Gideon of the Four-Star Alliance in what was perhaps a coincidental situation.


    They were the White King, who had yet to mature, and the similarly immature Red King.


    ************************


    On Planet Scarlet Snow that was extremely far away.


    As he was unable to find the traitor of Dragon Light Sect in time, Garen could only return with his members. He had just dispersed his team and leaped back to his own territory before faintly feeling as if new changes had occurred throughout the forces of cause and effect of the major powers of the world.


    "What''s going on?"


    He furrowed his brows and felt the changes and movements in his surroundings carefully. There were no other noises, but the whooshing and whistling of wind from far away. The birds were too afraid to fly near his surroundings as well. This was an absolute zero area, and everything had been paused in a frozen state. This was the result of the terrifying power that was naturally released by Garen.


    "Could it be that the White King and Clint have finally met for the first time?" He suddenly recalled the scene that he had witnessed in the Space-Time Print.


    A short while ago all the way to the present day, the first Crown Prince of the Finite people, Sandfly, had killed his parents before ascending the throne of the Finite king within a short span of ten years. He called himself The Child of Destiny and The Emperor of Eternity. He began to unify the war between the Finites and humans.


    "If that really happened, I need to increase my speed now," Garen was very certain that the White King could see how powerful the terrifying abilities of the orbit of cause and effect were. He could also find every weakness and flaw of his opponent. No one could stand before him and challenge him directly, none except for Clint. This was because Clint was the only person whom he could barely consider as a friend and the only person who could understand him.


    Garen used the wireless linking network of his Energy Machine Imprint quickly to begin inquiring about the latest news and incidents that had occurred.


    After returning from the Blue Frost Sect, he had brought an abundance of valuables with him. He allowed the Scarlet Snow Sect to examine its details deeply. This was especially helpful to the disciples of the lower grades as a lot of these pieces of equipment were directly useful for disciples of lower grades. This increased the support and praises toward Garen within the sect greatly.


    Many people believed that Garen truly had good intentions towards Scarlet Snow Sect. As for the suspicious of him killing Rainy, they were not as certain about it anymore. Moreover, if he had really killed her, as an offender who had stolen the Secret Frost Seed, other than a few intimate disciples, no one would really regard Garen as an enemy because of this.


    More and more people had started placing their respect for Garen above righteousness. Therefore, even if he had really killed her, it would still be Rainy''s fault.


    After returning to his senses from the vast information, Garen saw that five Two-headed Werewolves had appeared behind him silently.


    "You''re back? How were the collections?" he asked quietly.


    Garen had bestowed the name Turing upon the strongest Two-headed Werewolf. In the Universal Language, the pronunciation of this name meant wolf of winter nights. As for the remaining Two-Headed Werewolves, they were named by Turing one by one. Garen did not ask about them.


    "Reporting back to our great master, there are one hundred and twenty-eight types of high-energy mineral veins in total that can help you. Among the ones with the largest reserves, they are three veins with tonnages of over two billion. They are also the ones that are closest to the nearest star region. However, they have been occupied by the stations of other sects," reported Turing respectfully. "As for the other smaller-scale mineral veins, we already have brothers who are currently extracting and refining them. When you were traveling to Planet Almanac, a portion of the refined mineral resources had already been transported to Planet Scarlet Snow."


    "You''ve done pretty well," nodded Garen happily. These life forms with disorderly intelligence that were derived from his Distorted Seeds were absolutely loyal toward him. As his life and death were linked with theirs, it was worth it for him to trust them.


    There were already more than one hundred and fifty intelligent Two-headed Wolves that he had released now. All of them were disguised as a new breed of Two-headed Wolves that had started to come into contact and engage in trade with other intelligent creatures. After all, the universe was huge, and various non-human races were not rare. Therefore, it was not strange to have another breed of the Two-Headed Wolves.


    "Has White Night returned?" Garen suddenly recalled the Gideon Body that had yet to mature now. The future older brother of Clint''s companion was currently still at his weakest stage.


    "I''ve heard that he has returned. It seems like he''s suffered some very strange injuries and is currently seeking treatment in the Frost Hall," answered Turing quietly. After obtaining Garen''s new confidence, he was given the authority to look over even more information.


    "Great master, according to your previous arrangements, weren''t you supposed to have gone to Frost Hell to realize the Secret Frost Seed already? Meanwhile, we seem to have obtained the whereabouts of the bejeweled Staff of Absolute Yin as well."


    "Is it the first staff?" asked Garen quietly.


    "Yes. Master, the staffs that you found were not embedded with gems. There were only a few that were embedded with gems. However, I''ve heard rumors that it has appeared at the faraway Finite Royal Auction House," Turing explained.


    "Royal Auction House¡­" Garen exhaled. The Staff of Absolute Yin that was embedded with gems was the only thing that could produce new potential points without requiring the grinding process. The remaining ones which, without the embedments, could only produce potential qi extremely slowly. Even if less than ten years had passed, one would not even need to dream of producing even one potential point.


    "Alright."


    Garen closed his eyes.


    "No rush, we''ll go again after awhile. There''s no need to hurry now¡­" He looked inwardly at the six Origin Crystals inside his body that had started to link with each other gradually. He gradually fell into a state of indifference.


    He had a premonition that it would probably take a long time before he could enter the Non-falling Level.


    Upon seeing this, Turing and the others retreated consciously and increased the safety of their surroundings.

 1077 Dissimilate 1

    A year passed in the blink of an eye with the ending of spring and the coming of winter.


    Above Planet Scarlet Snow, a black vortex appeared suddenly before a black-haired youth walked out of the teleporting vortex slowly. His face was dull, and a pure, icy, blue flame was burning from his right hand slowly.


    Shh shh shh!


    Three waves of crispy noises could be heard consecutively before the figures of three elders appeared in front of the youth.


    "Carthage, was the incident with the Imperial Commodity Sect your doing?!" Second Elder asked in a deep voice with an unkind expression on his face.


    Carthage''s expression remained calm, a hint of surprise could be seen on his face faintly.


    "Second Elder, what are you saying? What does the incident with the Imperial Commodity Sect have to do with me? I was determined in refining my Ice Dragonflame. I haven''t taken a step out of my territory."


    "What exactly have you been doing throughout this year? We''re all very aware already, so why do we have to stand here and hypocritically pretend that we don''t know anything?" First Elder had always supported Carthage, however, he was now glaring at him with a somber look on his face.


    "I don''t know what you''re saying," Carthage smiled. Suddenly, he turned his face and looked in another direction before a strange chill soared into the sky there.


    Howl¡­


    A clear and melodious wolf''s howl echoed from afar.


    The three great elders heard it at the same time. Grave and aghast expressions appeared on each of their faces.


    While looking in the direction of the Black Wolf Lair from afar, all four people could see a chain of white clouds that appeared there. It resembled a pearl bracelet that was constantly turning.


    "Non-falling Level¡­ This is too soon!" Third Elder''s voice was hoarse and tinged with envy and disbelief. "He just entered the sect not too long ago?!"


    "He''s worthy of being known as my Junior Brother," The smile on Carthage''s face became even more apparent. "Three Elders, please excuse my withdrawal now. Since the fourth Non-falling Level of the Scarlet Snow Sect has come into being, the sect will definitely organize a celebratory event, right?"


    None of the three elders replied. They were slightly fearful of Carthage. This supposed disciple was too unfathomable. They were unable to discover his backgrounds despite probing into him secretly a few times. Compared to Garen who had entered the Non-falling Level, they were still more afraid of Carthage.


    "You won''t even let me leave. So what''s the exact reason for the Three Elders to surround me today?" Carthage asked helplessly. "You need to know that I''m still busy with many other things¡­"


    Third Elder''s voice was sharp when he spoke.


    "Putting the incident with Garen aside first, someone actually saw huge changes occurring inside the Imperial Commodity Sect after you entered! How exactly are you going to explain this?! Imperial Commodity Sect is an ally of my Scarlet Snow Sect. Don''t tell me that you''ve actually participated in sect-destroying movements?"


    Carthage smiled faintly.


    "Elder, I''m afraid that you didn''t witness this personally. You are just making a baseless claim, correct? I wonder who told you this?"


    "It was the elder of the Hollow Inscription Sect!" said Third Elder coldly. "You thought that no one knew about your actions, but you never expected that the elder of Hollow Inscription Sect would pass by and discover it, right?"


    "Elder of Hollow Inscription Sect?" Carthage smiled suddenly. "Third Elder, just recently, Hollow Inscription Sect stopped existing¡­ The proof¡­ is gone," he whispered profoundly.


    "You!" Third Elder''s gaze trembled furiously. "Are you trying to fool me? Very well, very well! First Elder, Second Elder, I don''t believe that we cannot stop him today. Let''s move out together!"


    First Elder and Second Elder glared at Carthage solemnly now. Finally, the issue within the Scarlet Snow Sect was about to be torn away fully.


    ********************


    A ring of clouds resembling a white pearl necklace rotated above Garen''s head.


    He was sitting upright in the center of the mansion''s courtyard when the cold wind whistled naturally. Shrouds of cold air streams surrounded him, turning into layers of substantial and visible white chill. These chill resembled white streamers or ribbons that were constantly revolving and spinning around Garen speedily.


    Sparkling peacock-like patterns could be faintly seen at the top of each of these ribbons and streamers. They resembled numerous intangible Frost Peacocks that were constantly spinning and fluttering around him.


    Numerous black, giant Werewolves nearby surrounded Garen and protected his safety loyally.


    "Unparalleled supreme master of incomparable holiness, we thank our master for granting us life, intelligence, and strength. There is nothing on the earth or in the sky that does not submit itself to the rule of our master¡­" The Two-headed Giant Werewolf named Turing crouched on the ground while reciting a chant.


    These chants had been recited for a continuous year already. Ever since Garen entered and meditated here a year ago, this place had become a prohibited area for non-frost creatures. Every creature that passed by or approached this place would be surrounded and enveloped by extremely terrifying chills, no exceptions.


    The few times when Eva and King Cat came over to take a look, they discovered that it was impossible for them to get close. Therefore, they could only turn around and leave.


    After reciting his chant, Turing stood up and carefully observed the new changes throughout Garen''s body. Other than the ring of clouds, he did not notice any other new developments. He continued praying for Garen quietly in his heart before turning around and walking in the direction of the lair''s canteen.


    At this moment, Garen, who had been sitting down with his legs crossed all this while, slowly opened both of his eyes after a whole year.


    He lowered his head and looked at his own chest. A chain of red pearls was spinning there slowly. It was the Non-falling Level Wheel that had been solidified by the Scarlet Snow Technique''s Origin Crystals.


    "After one year and fifteen days, it has finally succeeded. The Hellfrost Peacock Technique¡­ is truly terrifying!" he sighed emotionally in his heart. The speed of the Devour ability was enough to simply frighten him.


    All of the substances could be used by the Hellfrost Peacock''s Devour ability. However, the difference and the issues lied in how much of it was used.


    He looked inwardly at his current body, including his bones, muscles, and internal organs. A strange layer of light that which had a faint glow of a jade glimmered across all of his body parts. This layer of light flowed across the surface of his internal organs slowly, as if it was alive.


    "This is the Non-falling Light. In comparison to the initial Inherited Level Energy Field, its strength has increased significantly. If it were to attack the average peak Inherited Levels while they were merely standing there, it would be impossible for them to find a way to destroy this halo layer."


    Garen clenched his fist happily while feeling this incomparably powerful strength surging within his body.


    He glanced at his current Attribute Pane.


    ''Nonosiva Lin -- Strength 40, Agility 40, Vitality 40, Intelligence 35, Potential 48030%. Soul Limit 40.''


    Other than his Intelligence which had yet to be fully achieved, all of his other three attributes had reached their limits fully. These limits referred to the terrifying degree of 40 points.


    Garen stood up and reached his left hand out before pointing each of his fingers.


    Shh!


    A substantial air wave shot out frantically like an arrow and pierced through a nearby enclosure of solid ice with a ''puff''. No one knew where it had flown to as there was only a clear round hole that was left behind on the wall.


    "This is the limit¡­" Garen exhaled deeply. It seemed as though all of the air in the courtyard was swept away by an enormous beast suddenly. An intense pulling force dragged the surrounding Werewolves immediately and attempted to fly towards Garen.


    Some of the broken stones and icicles around them flew around as well and shot towards Garen.


    This was the terrifying effect of his single breath.


    Pfoo¡­


    Exhale.


    The terrifying air currents surged out of Garen''s mouth suddenly, sweeping up violent hurricanes instantly. They blew at the surrounding Werewolves, whose movements were initially being dragged down, causing them to roll out towards the vicinity. It gave them an abnormally hard time.


    "This is the Non-falling Level, huh¡­ It''s truly a terrifying degree¡­ But I don''t know if the other Non-falling Levels have such powerful bodies as mine."


    Garen guessed that the answer was ''no''. The limits of the physical bodies of the humans in this world were much lower than his own. They would probably reach their limit around 20 points or so. After that, the Energy Machinists would not rely on upgrading their physical fitness, but would instead merge external matters to increase their own strengths while simultaneously strengthening their own skills greatly. They would use their skills to produce their Non-falling Light to protect themselves.


    This way, they would not rely greatly on their physical fitness. At the same time, their lengthy lives allowed them to fully make up for external substances and fuse with them slowly in order to upgrade themselves.


    "It''s fortunate that my physical fitness isn''t something that I rely on," Garen knew that this quality of his was not considered exceptional among the Energy Machinists of Planet Naga. He was considered average at best because even stronger ones existed among the Energy Machinists who were fused with external substances.


    He could feel that his current state was somewhat similar to the Totem world. Every part of him was covered by that layer of Non-falling Light, including the strong winds that had randomly blown out earlier. Everything was like this. After being covered by a layer of extremely powerful Non-falling Light, even a normal attack would become extremely terrifying.


    After examining his own situation briefly, Garen noticed suddenly that all of his attacks were covered by this Non-falling Light, making them very similar to the previous Totem world.


    At the same time, the ones that made him the happiest were Turing and the other Werewolves.


    The layer of Non-falling Light covered not only himself but also Turing and the other Werewolves.


    "Isn''t this the real meaning behind the use of ''Non-falling'' in the Non-falling Level?" Garen could sense that he was the only one who could see this Non-falling Light because Turing and the other Werewolves had not seemed to realize it at all.


    Whoosh!


    Suddenly, a slender silhouette appeared behind Garen. The person who had arrived held a sword in his hand and looked at Garen calmly while completely ignoring the Werewolves around him.


    "Garen, it''s great that you''ve broken through. There''s a ceremony that I need you to attend in my place," This person was Carthage who was clashing with the three elders earlier.


    "Ceremony?" Garen turned around while his heart trembled slightly. Despite him entering the Non-falling Level already, Carthage still had an unperturbed look on his face. Moreover, Garen had not even noticed when he had arrived. This made his heart slightly more fearful.


    "Yes, a welcoming ceremony from the Magnetic Field. They may even bring the Major Sect Battle forward," Carthage said lightly. He glanced at Garen''s chest where the Non-falling Wheel was located. "Your progress rate is too slow." A black pearl appeared in his hand suddenly before he flicked it gently.


    The pearl landed on Garen''s hand immediately.


    "It''s Bloody Sea Pearls, devour it," said Carthage calmly.


    Without any hesitation, Garen swallowed the pearl in one mouthful directly.


    Other than a large number of blood abilities, he had already guessed that the red pearl from earlier also possessed extremely potent means of activating potential. In order to enter the Non-falling Level so quickly, perhaps Carthage had previously exhibited means of overdrafting his potential earlier.


    "Since the Non-falling Level is the seventh stage, one must grasp the Board Realm in order to go any higher. This is the Timeless Board. Take it and comprehend it. I''ll come back and get it after three days. How much you can comprehend depends on you." Carthage made his hand quiver before a white jade colored board descended before Garen gently and was caught by him.


    "What''s the Timeless Board?" asked Garen while furrowing his eyebrows. He had never heard of this thing at all.


    Carthage waved his hand and released a separation Energy Field that obstructed their surroundings.


    "The seventh Non-falling Level produces the Non-falling Light while the eighth level requires you to comprehend boards. Use it to fuse your Willpower and skills into one body and grasp its energy. You can achieve the first step of controlling your Thousand Gravitational Force through this. The Timeless Board is core to solidify everything that the eighth level powerhouses require. In order to enter the ninth level, you need to create a Timeless Board first. Next, you will create the Sublime Board before finally entering the Ultimate Board."


    "In other words, the Timeless Board is the symbol of the eighth level. Timeless Board, Sublime Board, and Ultimate Board. The ultimate end refers to the tenth level of the Perpetual Motioners, right?" Garen asked quietly.


    "You don''t need to know so much. Your maximum limit is Level Nine, while Level Ten will be eternally impossible. Even for a Level Nine, your current self¡­" Carthage did not continue speaking but turned around and left slowly instead.


    Garen''s gaze followed him into the distance.


    "When will the ceremony start? To what extent must I be prepared?"


    "One month later. Everything is up to you. That''s right, the Timeless Board in your hand belonged to the Guardian of the Blue Frost Sect," Carthage''s voice echoed from afar.


    Garen''s heart trembled violently. As expected!


    Carthage''s strength was apparently enough to kill the Level Eight Guardian¡­

 1078 Dissimilate 2

    He watched as Carthage left towards the distance swiftly, before disappearing in the faraway sky.


    His heart felt indescribably heavy.


    "It still isn''t enough huh¡­" The Non-falling Level was what he looked up to previously. However, it was merely an unassuming, minor role in the eyes of others.


    He recalled the unimaginably mysterious minaret that he had seen in Scarlet Snow Sect previously. It was the Fermium Cloud Tower on Planet Naga. Scarlet Snow Sect was a faction that was established by the Secret Technique powerhouses upon arriving in this world. Meanwhile, it was rumored that the Fermium Cloud Tower was the remains that were left behind by Scarlet Snow Sect during their glory days of the past. Many mysterious things were still left behind inside.


    "Frost Hell as well. I''ll go visit Frost Hell briefly first to awaken the Secret Frost Seed. After that, I''ll go directly to the Fermium Cloud Tower before attending the ceremony!" Garen planned as such.


    Looking at the Timeless Board in his hands, Garen once again sat down with his legs crossed. His joy of breaking through to the next level was diminished by Carthage.


    The Timeless Board resembled a normal blue plate. Engraved silver lines on it reflected silver light, but he could not determine their functions. If he were to discard it at a random auction house, perhaps no one would be able to see that it was actually the core of everything within the body of a Level Eight powerhouse like himself.


    Nonetheless, an item that looked so normal could actually support every aspect of a Level Eight powerhouse.


    Garen dispersed all the Werewolves to continue protecting this area.


    Meanwhile, he fondled the Timeless Board, gently feeling the silver lines on it.


    After the Mirror of True Techniques was the Board Realm. Garen did not have any clues in his mind. He was not a true peak prodigy or a person with the highest comprehension. He was merely a powerhouse who had relied on the Hellfrost Peacock Technique''s horrifying Devour ability to improve.


    He had yet to even reach the Silver Mirror of the Mirror of True Techniques, much less the Board Realm.


    The basic ancient Endorian civilizations did not have Board Realms. Instead, their foundations were purely based off the Living and Dying Secret Techniques. The perfection of his current Hellfrost Peacock Technique already possessed the Appraisal of Army Level powerhouses. These were the strongest aspects of the ancient Endorian civilization that was only second to the True Soul and Demon King Level.


    "According to the differentiation of the realm of this world, the Mirror of True Techniques should probably fuse every part of itself to hatch and derive a new strength with qualitative changes. Meanwhile, the board uses some of the strength to fuse with the external world to achieve the effect of controlling a part of the universe''s power." Garen''s mind related all of the information that he had obtained. He began to analyze and determine what the facets were actually like.


    "Carthage said that the Timeless Board could control the Thousand Gravitational Force. Therefore, it''s clear that my assumption tallied with it very much. However, the entire situation is probably much more complicated." Garen did not even have the Silver Mirror now, much less the Board. After researching for half a day, he did not obtain any results. Instead, a somewhat strange flighty feeling stirred within him.


    This feeling stunned him slightly before he gathered his thoughts quickly and stopped focusing attentively on the Timeless Board.


    Beep beep¡­beep beep¡­


    Suddenly, a contact request appeared on his Energy Machine Imprint.


    Garen glanced at it and discovered that it was the woman whom he had met at the Remora Business Alliance during his earlier return. Her name was Sandor and Garen still remembered her gift of his Spaceship to him.


    "So it''s Miss Sandor. We have not been in contact for a while now." He turned on the communication channel.


    "Yes, it''s been more than a year." Sandor''s face appeared before Garen. She was still as spirited as ever. "Mr. Garen, we''ve found many of the holy tree branches that you needed. They''re currently being sent to your Planet Scarlet Snow. Please check and accept them!"


    "Just in time!" A smile instantly appeared on Garen''s face. "I was just thinking about it when you sent a message to say that they''ve arrived. I''ll transfer the payment right over now."


    "No rush. You can pay later after you''ve examined the goods," said Sandor while waving her hand. "This is a small matter, but I have a minor problem here that requires your assistance for a while."


    "Just tell me what is it." The other party had assisted him greatly and even gifted him a Spaceship. It was only right for Garen to repay her kindness.


    "It''s like this. My younger brother and sister wish to go to the City of Nagadako to experience the grand meeting of Energy Machinists. I don''t know if Mr. Garen could¡­" said Sandor in a slightly embarrassed manner.


    Among the merchants, those who were ranked outside the first ten of the business alliance did not even have the right to rub shoulders with the rest from afar. Meanwhile, Energy Machinists were like rich and imposing masters. A random Level-Eight or Level-Nine Energy Machinist would greatly surpass a merchant in terms of wealth. Mech Pilots who had yet to reach the Inherited Level did not have a position to brag about within the Energy Machinist world. They were unlike level five Energy Machinists. Hence, someone like her from the Remora Business Alliance was even worse off.


    If Sandor had not come into contact with a sect Energy Machinist like Garen, she would not be able to even dream about attending grand meetings like this.


    "The Three Major Metropolis will be organizing grand meetings at the same time so this won''t be a problem. I will send someone from my sect to meet them. You can just send me the information first. When the time comes, you can contact my junior brother directly." Garen responded frankly and gave Bainster''s contact to the other party immediately. He shared brief instructions to pay attention to certain matters before disconnecting the connection.


    He contacted Bainster to receive the Spaceship that was on the way delivering the goods and briefed him on the tasks and other matters ahead.


    "Why haven''t I seen Hillco for so long?" Garen recalled suddenly and asked casually.


    A resentment look appeared on Bainster''s face immediately when he heard Garen''s words.


    "My Lord, are you only recalling this now¡­? Hillco left a long time ago."


    "Left?" Garen truly did not notice it. He furrowed his eyebrows after hearing what had been said.


    "Yes. You didn''t like her the same way, My Lord. When she had lost all hope, she just left naturally," said Bainster honestly.


    "What does that have to do with anything?" Garen was speechless. "Have there been any new changes over on Planet Naga?"


    "There were indeed changes and major ones as well." Speaking of this, Bainster''s face darkened abruptly. "Numerous small and middle scale sects have been completely destroyed but we don''t know the culprit behind it. The Alliance has already called many meetings but no one has been able to take any effective measures. Another thing is that not long ago, Dragon Eye Sect was¡­annihilated as well."


    "Dragon Eye Sect was annihilated as well?" Garen''s heart sank. Such quick speed! This was definitely not Carthage''s work only. There were about ten more years between the present day and the historical Energy Machinist Extinction. So how could it begin now?!


    "Senior Brother, do you think our Scarlet Snow Sect will¡­" Bainster''s voice was trembling slightly. "There have been people within the sect who have been leaving quietly. However, they are merely the children of wealthy households who wasted money to make a quick fortune here."


    "I''m well aware of this matter. You go and complete the task that I instructed. The other matters will not affect our Scarlet Snow Sect temporarily so don''t worry," said Garen calmly.


    He recalled Carthage''s mysterious attitude all this while. He knew that Carthage had nurtured himself until now because his true identity had yet to be exposed. Moreover, his relationship with the Red King was not revealed yet either. Once these layers and relations were exposed, perhaps the first person who would want to kill Garen himself would be Carthage.


    Right now he was solely nurturing another reliable helper but everything else in the future was uncertain.


    Garen''s face was solemn as he disconnected the call. He picked up the Timeless Board again but could not feel any main threads still.


    He heaved a long sigh. He felt that he had given up completely.


    "I''m not a true prodigy after all, huh¡­I didn''t get anything despite confronting a mountainous obstacle."


    Putting down the Timeless Board, Garen stood up.


    "I''ll go to Frost Hell first then. I''ll look on briefly at the Secret Frost Seeds of my Scarlet Snow Sect seniors of the past eras. Perhaps I will be able to gain something."


    Garen leaped up and released an Energy Field out of thin air to suspend his own body in mid-air. The Energy Field canceled out gravity directly, allowing him to fly towards headquarters.


    All of the Werewolves below raised their heads and looked upwards before crouching on the ground devoutly.


    "We bid you a safe journey, respected master."


    A string of voices echoed upwards from the ground below.


    Garen glanced down and saw that Turing was ordering the Werewolves and members of the sect to dump high energy substances and crystals into a giant pit. Spending at least a few thousand golden crystals which was not a small sum, these were the items that they had extracted from other places. The sum was also equivalent to the yearly income of certain countries. However, only a small amount had been refined despite all of this.


    From afar, Garen could see Turing crouching on the ground towards his direction, while praying for him loudly and respectfully.


    He shook his head. These Werewolves had already viewed him as an almighty and unparalleled deity. After correcting them many times, he was too lazy to concern himself with this matter anymore because it was completely useless.


    He focused his mind on Frost Hell again. This was Scarlet Snow Sect''s highest temple that was much more precious when compared to the Ancestral Temple and the Great Wall Library. In order to enter this place, one would need to request permission from the three elders first.


    Without thinking further, he flew in the direction of the First Elder.


    "The First Elder has shut himself off for the purpose of studying. Please do not disturb him." Just as he had entered the First Elder''s territory, a robotic patrolling bird in the air alerted a warning.


    Garen frowned, retreated and flew in the direction of Third Elder.


    In the woods, an elderly guard captain dressed in white spoke in an embarrassed tone.


    "The Third Elder has yet to return from his expedition until now. Senior Brother, would you mind waiting?"


    "Expedition?" Garen''s eyebrows were knitted together tightly. "What about Second Elder then? Do you know what has happened?"


    "I know a bit. It seems like Second Elder left with Third Elder together for the expedition," the guard captain answered quickly.


    "What a coincidence? None of the three elders are here?" Garen felt something was amiss. "What about the Great Supervisors?"


    There were numerous Great Supervisors and Inherited Level powerhouses who lived in seclusion at the headquarters. As there were less than ten of these people, at least one of them should be around, right?


    "At least half of the Great Supervisors have left on an expedition as well. The remaining ones are still in their respective precincts."


    "I see. You can go back down now," nodded Garen. Carthage had also left on an expedition to attend some ceremony. It was obvious that his main aim was to send himself away as well.


    "Could it be that they''re about to battle the Guardian masters now?" His heart trembled when he made this assumption.


    At this moment, he felt a sudden, explosive burn spreading through the inside of his body. It resembled a bomb that was exploding at an extremely terrifying speed.


    "It was the black pearl that I ate earlier!!" Garen recalled the pearl that Carthage had given him earlier. He had never expected that it would only display its effects now.


    He stumbled a few steps backward, his face turning green and pale. His body seemed like petroleum had been ignited, burning instantly.


    "Is it starting to make an overdraft on my potential now?!" He suppressed the flames firmly and turned to fly in the direction of Frost Hell. The qi around his body seemed as though it had solidified and was scurrying upwards madly. He had just achieved Non-falling Level qi before it began to expand suddenly.


    The cries, painful screams, and yells of countless people echoed beside his ears like phonism. Garen''s vision began to blur, his ears were turning deaf.


    "It''s really not a bad human body¡­" In the midst of his daze, he seemed to hear a cold voice. "Carthage had really troubled himself to actually prepare such a good human body for me¡­"


    Boom!!


    A thunderous noise crashed through the clear sky. Garen''s body suddenly stiffened while flying through high altitude. He stopped in mid-air.


    An unknown and terrifying qi locked him in place firmly.


    A white colored dwarf that was only the size of a child appeared slowly behind Garen. The dwarf was dressed in a suit of white technological armor with purple lines; two horns that resembled those of a cow grew from the top of his head.


    The dwarf''s eyes and lips of this were dark purple in color. There was a wicked and cruel smile on its face while the strangest thing about it was that it only had three digits respectively on both of his hands and feet.


    Raising his right hand, the dwarf used his thick, three fingers to claw the back of Garen''s head gently.


    Instantly, his entire body melted into shrouds of white smoke and flew towards the back of Garen''s head burrowing inside quickly.


    "The prelude begins! Hehehehe¡­" It''s high-pitched, terrifying laughter echoed throughout the high altitude endlessly. However, no one else could hear it besides Garen.

 1079 Legacy 1

    "So this is Carthage''s secret weapon!?"


    Garen felt his heart drop, yet surprisingly, he was strangely calm.


    He expected Carthage to have some sort of ace up his sleeves, but he did not expect Carthage to build his body as a target to be possessed.


    Allowing the creepy dwarf behind him enter his body, Garen''s expression was blank. Although he could neither see nor hear, he could feel the trace of an evil intention surging into his hindbrain, the main organ that controlled an Energy Machinist''s Energy Machine Imprint.


    "Possession? That''s what I''m least afraid of!!"


    As he slowly curled his body, Garen took a deep breath.


    Hiss¡­ A huge terrifying swirl of air started spreading wildly in the air.


    Waves of white, silk-like airstreams were sucked into Garen''s lungs from all directions.


    "It''s useless¡­ There''s no point in struggling because every fiber of your being shall become a part of me¡­" The sinister voice started ringing in Garen''s body.


    Garen gave a smile and abruptly opened his mouth wide.


    Roar!


    An indescribably deafening rumble came out of his mouth.


    Black shadows of nine snake-like salamander were projected below him, looking ferocious and demonic.


    "Idiot! I haven''t even got to devour the creations outside, and you dare scramble around in my body!!" There was a trace of sarcasm of Garen''s face.


    "Wait! What is this!?" There was something off about the voice. "Why do you have something like this in your body!?"


    Golden spots started forming on Garen''s skin. They were like dragon scales, covering Garen''s entire body and gradually spreading toward his head.


    "You''re merely a Non-falling Level!" The vicious voice was getting more furious. "No! That''s not possible! There''s no way your body is not reformed!! Damn it! Carthage, how dare you fool me!"


    All of a sudden, the golden spots spread upward and covered Garen''s head entirely.


    The voice instantly let out a horrible shriek.


    "No!!"


    A wisp of smoke was urging to rush out from the back of Garen''s head, an arm slowly reaching out. Suddenly, a black shadow emerged and bit on the figure.


    Garen, who was floating in mid-air, started opening his eyes slowly, his entire body was glowing a bright golden hue. Meanwhile, bursts of beasts chewing could be heard.


    "No! How can I die at a place like this!!" The voice roared in a fit of rage as he struggled, along with the dreadful sounds of the nine salamanders.


    Bulges started forming around Garen''s body. His arms, his chest, his back, and both his legs started swelling. The swells would last just a few seconds before shrinking and disappearing. The swollen areas then returned back to normal. The body parts continued to swell and shrink simultaneously, causing an extremely disgusting scene.


    "It''s useless," Garen said calmly. "The ancient Nine-headed Dragon Soul is specifically used against souls. Therefore, if you still existed in flesh, I wouldn''t even stand a chance against you. Unfortunately¡­"


    Thick layers of frost started spreading upward from his foot.


    "Let us form into one then¡­" A cold smirk crept up Garen''s face. As he raised his arm, a huge, black dragon''s shadow emerged from his palms and encircled him above the air. The several black dragon shadows had him entirely cocooned in the middle, forming a ball of black shadow.


    "No!" I am Jeros, and I will fall in a place like this!! I have not gotten my revenge yet! Not yet¡­!" The scream stopped abruptly.


    Inside the dark shadow, Garen reappeared.


    The black shadows gradually went away, and everything went back to normal. Garen''s body was back to normal as well, leaving no trace of anything that just happened.


    Poof!


    A large cloud of smoke started spreading to all directions from Garen, forming a white ring of cloud in the sky.


    What initially seemed to be an extreme danger, was eliminated within seconds.


    Garen could feel his Cold Energy reaching its limit within his body. With his Fourteenth Level of Scarlet Snow Technique just recently being achieved, he actually managed to engulf its energy during that short period of time when his spiritual body was possessed, and he succeeded in breaking through the Fifteenth Level. The cloud of white ring just now was the sign of a breakthrough to the Fifteenth Level.


    "Level Fifteen¡­" There was no change in Garen''s expression. To Carthage, if he was not at the peak of the Eighteenth Level in the Scarlet Snow Technique, it would be tough for him to actually inflict any sort of harm.


    From Jeros'' powerful spiritual body, Garen intercepted plenty of information.


    "Oh, Jeros, a member of the Light of Justice huh?" He was swiftly rearranging all the information he was getting.


    The Hellfrost Peacock Technique and Nine-headed Dragon both had a formidable power against soul abilities. After all, the Endors were specifically against the culture of modern soul practicing. In this universe, there was probably nobody else other than Garen who knew more about the battles from a spiritual perspective. Jeros actually died in a pretty decent way.


    After the Nine-headed Dragon engulfed most of his energy, it swiftly shrunk back to its soul form, but not before spitting out some of Jeros'' memory fragments.


    "As expected¡­ Almost the same as what I''ve guessed." After briefly looking at the memory fragments, he swiftly remembered all the content recorded.


    At that moment, people started crowding around below due to the commotion in the sky. A lot of the people from the Scarlet Snow Sect thought Garen was actually practicing some sort of a special technique, hence the terrifying tremors of energy.


    Even some of the Great Supervisors, who were constantly practicing all day, were taken aback and probed into what was happening with Garen.


    Swoosh!


    Carthage appeared right before Garen.


    "Jeros wasn''t a problem, was he?"


    "Of course not," Garen responded with a familiar smile from Jeros'' memory, a sinister aura dissipating from his body.


    "That''s good, don''t get in the way of my plan."


    "It was just a minor accident," Garen mumbled. "I''m just having some spiritual connection problems with that kid, so I need some time to completely fuse with him spiritually. Fuse, mind you!"


    "Fuse? Can I help with anything?" Carthage glared at Garen, his eyes were cold and as sharp as knives.


    "Level Fifteen!" Garen''s heart missed a beat. He had finally managed to see Carthage''s level clearly! Level Fifteen Scarlet Snow Technique! Other than the giant arm''s true form he called forth the other day, the power he held within this body should be Level Fifteen!


    "No need, I can handle it myself. Just focus on managing your own things," Garen''s voice was filled with an indescribable sinisterness.


    "Are you sure?" Carthage suddenly chuckled.


    "Yes I''m sure," Garen said coldly.


    "Alright then, this body is the best there is. Try not to spoil it, it''s very hard to nurture another one," Carthage said while walking away.


    "Oh yeah, Kaos has arrived at the South Pole Planet, do you want to go fetch him?" He asked suddenly.


    Garen remained expressionless.


    "Kaos, are we even that close? Stop playing with me, Carthage."


    Carthage turned around and stared at him with a silent smile.


    "Seems like the fusion process was just nice, rest well and recover soon then."


    "I don''t need you to remind me that!" Garen snorted.


    Beads of cold sweat were actually trickling down his back. He had no idea who Kaos was, he could only sense that Carthage was suspecting him already, so he simply connected bits and pieces from his memory. He was tensed and ready to make a move already, but who knew he would actually make the right connection.


    "You shall be in charge of the Scarlet Snow Sect, I''m leaving for a period of time." With his last words, Carthage suddenly shot out into the distance, disappearing into thin air.


    "Hmph!" With a snort, Garen dived toward the Frost Hell. Perhaps the Secret Frost Seed''s Inspiration might do his Nine-Level Tempered Body Technique some good, other than the Destructive Impact Fist. These two secret techniques were well-suited for him. If he could advance to a higher level, these techniques would definitely boost his Hellfrost Peacock Technique.


    Below them, Eva and Solomon, the eighth Demonic Spirit, witnessed the whole conversation between Garen and Carthage. They just could not hear the actual conversation.


    "What are these two up to this time!" The mummy-like Demonic Spirit said in an eerie tone.


    "Someday, I shall seek revenge for Rainy one way or another!" Eva said in an icy-cold tone before flying off toward Second Elder''s place.


    *******************


    "If I really had turned against Carthage just now, what are the chances of me winning?!" Walking along a white-blue ice tunnel, Garen recalled what just happened.


    Right now, he had fully caught up to Carthage''s body power, which was a Level Fifteen. Besides that, he was sure by now that this body was not Carthage''s true form. The terrifying huge arm that he saw the other day was Carthage''s true ability.


    "Every member of the Light of Justice under Chinande is a Level-Ten Perpetual Motioner. If Carthage is one of them as well, I definitely don''t stand a chance against him. But, I''ve already been advancing to higher levels in the shortest time possible, it''d be meaningless to continue pushing myself, even with most of my Hellfrost Peacock Technique. Perhaps I shouldn''t be merely focusing on this world''s pure energy¡­"


    Once again, he focused on superimposing his secret techniques.


    There was a total of eighteen levels of the Scarlet Snow Technique, but other than the Teacher Ancestor who started up the sect, nobody else had managed to practice this certain secret technique up to its peak. It was simply unrealistic to think that one could reach the peak by relying on this secret technique. Even Garen originally wanted to practice this secret technique just to condense more of his Scarlet Snow Technique''s soul.


    At this point, if he were to refer to the process earlier before, he should be able to condense a new kind of Soul Seed already. Yet, Garen still did not feel any trace of his Soul Seed condensing.


    "Perhaps the Secret Frost Seed would inspire me."


    Passing through the blue-white ice tunnel, Garen came to a wide, arched white hall.


    The hall was densely packed with shimmering blue spheres of light, and every light had a name carved on to it.


    As he first stepped into the hall, Garen could sense a strong presence of souls that overwhelmed him.


    "This!?"


    He was shaken.


    An immense force was pushing toward him.


    "I don''t have any rights to summon, that''s why I was rejected by all the other seeds! But this¡­" Although Garen was stifled by the monstrous force pushing at him, there was a sharp, never-before-seen glint in his eyes.


    "This¡­ All these are Soul Seeds!"


    He had always wondered what was all about the Scarlet Snow Sect''s Secret Frost Seed, but he had never expected them to be beads of souls of secret techniques that were extremely concentrated and condensed!


    Click¡­


    A solid layer of dark blue was slowly creeping up Garen''s legs.


    "Freeze me? You want to freeze my Hellfrost Peacock?" Garen smirked.


    "All creatures of the world can never escape from fading¡­"


    With his arm raised, he placed his palms against the tremendous force gushing toward him.

 1080 Legacy 2

    The atmosphere started to vibrate.


    Whoosh!


    A strong gust of Cold Energy started gushing out from Garen''s body, covering the layer of frost on his legs, which was then shattered. The Cold Energy was pure and white, with seemingly no contamination whatsoever. It then continued along the mysteriously-patterned floor and spread towards all the soul seeds in the hall.


    "Faded Creation!"


    Garen stretched his arms wide, and a horrifying burst of Cold Energy started spreading to his surroundings even faster until everything was completely still, frozen in the pure-white ice blocks.


    A billow of crystals started forming in layers beneath Garen''s feet as they started spreading toward the entire hall.


    The hall was degenerating. The original layer of ice was cracking, and after being infected, its original ice-blue color turned into a shade of pure white, which was an even higher leveled pure crystal.


    "What¡­ is this Cold Energy!!??"


    Virtual shadows appeared above every Soul Seed. These shadows were somewhat tall and short, some of them resembled males and some of them resembled females. Every one of them had a formidable chill that would make people fear. For an ordinary person, just one glance would have thoroughly frozen the person''s soul to death.


    They were the dead Teacher Ancestors of multiple generations in the Scarlet Snow Sect''s history, either sacrificed in war battles or died from natural causes. They all did have a similarity: they had all practiced the Scarlet Snow Technique to its peak already.


    "These are Teacher Ancestors of the past generations!" Garen was shocked and the violent chills stilled suddenly.


    The white chill fused with the blue-white chill, turning the hall into two ice rooms, with Garen and at least Teacher Ancestors being at two completely different spectrums.


    "I did not expect there will still be disciples who can practice such a pure and ultimate chill¡­"


    A female Teacher Ancestor spoke solemnly.


    "So many years¡­ We''ve waited for so many years¡­"


    "I can''t remember already. A hundred years, a thousand years, two thousand years, or perhaps even longer."


    "But the wait was worthwhile, and we made it through the long wait, didn''t we?" Among the few figures, the black shadow with the strongest trace of chill silently appeared.


    "Just when our souls are almost drained out, destiny has sent us such a pure Body of Ice."


    Garen focused his stare on the figure who was entirely pitch black, only a pair of fluorescent blue eyes glowing could be seen. Even the figure''s face was unnoticeable.


    "The original ancestors?!"


    "An unprecedented Body of Ice¡­ So authentic, so pure¡­" The person was in awe.


    "Such a chill has far exceeded the Scarlet Snow Technique''s standards!" A tall and scrawny Teacher Ancestor said in a hushed tone.


    "Everyone, have we come to a decision?" The original Teacher Ancestor asked.


    The entire hall was quiet.


    After a good while, a handsome Teacher Ancestor finally laughed out.


    "At first, we thought we''d never see hope, that''s why we were forced to just wait. Yet, when the time has now come and opportunity has landed right in front of our faces... here we are, being anxious and mindful."


    "Yeah! Isn''t this the hope I''ve always been waiting for? Now that it''s here, I''m recoiling in fear instead," Another person among the crowd laughed as well.


    "Teacher Ancestors!" Garen wanted to say something.


    "We''re not Teacher Ancestors, we''re just their last trace of conviction condensed by their will," The black shadow in the center answered. "If it wasn''t your chill that activated us, we might have just vanished forever in history after another hundred of years, and nobody would''ve known that we actually existed before."


    Garen inhaled deeply. Leaving one''s will in a Soul Seed to last a couple thousand years was something he understood, it was one of the magic of the Endors as their knowledge regarding souls had reached great heights.


    "Due to the fact that I didn''t reach the so-called Board Realm, I never had the chance to join the Perpetual Motioners even until the day I died. I''m not reconciled to this yet!!" The original Teacher Ancestor who spoke just now said with a sour expression which clearly showed his reluctance.


    "As one of the most powerful prodigies in the Scarlet Snow Sect history, even transmigrating between worlds along the Mother Stream until here, but I still wasn''t able to break through any single Perpetual Motioner Level!"


    "So what if I don''t understand Board!? My Secret Technique is Army-Level, even the Demon King Level is nothing less than a Perpetual Motioner!" The original Teacher Ancestor spoke softly. "That''s why I didn''t accept defeat just like that. Even when I died in battle at the end, I still gathered all my essence and converted it into my very own Soul Seed, so I can wait for my next chance."


    Garen finally made out the person''s background story, he was indeed the original Teacher Ancestor, the Secret Technique powerhouse who established the Scarlet Snow Sect. Not only that, the other person was freakishly similar to Garen. Both of them traveled along the Mother Stream until they reached this current world, it was just that he was less fortunate as he did not have such an intrepid born talent. Besides that, he was not able to see through the general trend of events and he could not transmigrate through several worlds continuously. He could only drift around according to the current.


    "Now, I''ve finally seen hope." The original Teacher Ancestor was staring at Garen with eyes overflowing of hope. "Tell me, is Army Level really any lesser than a Perpetual Motioner?"


    Immediately, the hole regained peace once again while every single soul had their eyes on Garen.


    Garen looked around and saw the same expression everyone was wearing on their faces. Each of them seemed anxious and exhausted, not forgetting the hopeful looks they were aiming at Garen. They had been waiting for this answer far too long. This was the highest form of belief of Secret Techniques, a sort of devout, a kind of unbreakable faith!


    As a Secret Technician, Garen had the same faith and belief. Although his faith was once shaken, now that he had successfully broken through Level Eight of his Hellfrost Peacock Technique, all his doubts had been completely erased.


    On the other hand, these people, the ancestors, were different. Their conditions were far worse than his when they began, yet they still adhered for so many years.


    Ignoring viewpoints and personalities, just this perseverance alone that lasted a couple of thousand years, this willpower they showed, was enough for him to pay them the highest respect already.


    "To be frank, I don''t know whether Secret Techniques or Mechs are stronger." He said slowly. Looking at the stunned stares from the people around him, he changed his direction.


    "But I will personally give it a try. I might be able to see the things that you can''t see clearly."


    The hall returned to its original quiet state as the slightly-disappointed expressions lighted up once again with a glimmer of hope.


    "I shall become the strongest Frost Secret Technician in the history of this world. Not just one of them, but the strongest!" Garen held out his hand as a deadly chill hovered above his palms. Traces of the Hellfrost Peacock Technique''s pure chill started converging and slowly, a white crystal started forming bits by bits in his palms.


    "If it''s you, then perhaps¡­" The original Teacher Ancestor said softly.


    A cold wind constantly whirled around the hall, and everyone fell into silence instantly.


    Maybe it was half an hour, maybe it was an hour, or maybe it was longer than that. Finally, the original Teacher Ancestor spoke again.


    "Your presence today is just to seek inspiration from the pure Cold Realm that I''ve been waiting for, am I right?"


    He looked around.


    "Are all of you still unwilling to let it go?"


    "Not let it go? How is that possible?!" A tall and slender female Teacher Ancestor snickered, "Isn''t this the ultimate hope I''ve been waiting for all these years? Let us lend him a helping hand!"


    She suddenly turned around and transformed into a thread of blue chill. She then rushed toward Garen and encircled him before spinning around him rapidly.


    "Even Annie gave up willingly, how can we be lagging behind so much!" The second Teacher Ancestor suddenly broke down before turning into a blue thread and rushing toward Garen.


    "With all that we have, go¡­ Improve your Scarlet Snow Technique to level so great it is never-before-seen by anyone else!" The third Teacher Ancestor, too, transformed into a thread of light.


    "Our will, our faith, take it¡­ Take it all¡­ All creature of the world can never escape from fading."


    "You! You shall become the strongest of them all!! Freeze everything¡­"


    A bunch of threads starting swarming towards Garen, encircling him and spinning around him swiftly.


    The sturdy, black shadow standing in the middle then held out his hand, placing it relatively against Garen''s palms from a distance.


    "Inherit all our willpower, may you freeze anything that comes in your way. It''s too bad¡­ I can''t see it anymore¡­"


    Boom!


    With a soft crash, he transformed into a blue thread and joined the torrent of chills; it encircled Garen and started spinning as well.


    "Go¡­ Go and become the most powerful man of this generation! Bring along our will and faith!!"


    The original Teacher Ancestor spoke lastly and his words echoed in the hall.


    The blue threads were still spinning around Garen rapidly like an exquisite chiffon. It even looked like a shapeless blue cloud.


    A vast amount of pure Cold Energy was swarming around Garen. At the same time, extensive experiences of practicing the Scarlet Snow Technique from the Teacher Ancestors of multiple generations were also pouring into Garen''s mind.


    Garen understood that the wills instilled within these Soul Seeds were waiting for a perfect moment like this.


    Yet, he did not expect that he would trigger such a massive legacy. Every Scarlet Snow Technique essence of Scarlet Snow Sect''s Teacher Ancestors was fusing within his body at the moment in high speed.


    Various chills of different attributes were sinking into the faded, dead-silent peacock''s chill. Along with the strongest faith of Secret Techniques, every chill surrendered to the dead silence unconditionally, which then fused together within his body.


    A delicate layer of armor, as white as jade, slowly covered every inch of Garen''s body - his head, chest, arms, lower body and both legs. Two horns arched out of the ice armor at his waist part as if it was covering Garen''s waist like a belt.


    Buzz¡­ A white ring of halo appeared at the back of Garen''s head. That was a product converged from every Teacher Ancestor''s soul''s energy focused together, meaning that this armor was extremely powerful.


    The dead silent chill was getting stronger by the moment, while his Scarlet Snow Technique''s grades were once again increasing under the increment of the armor.


    Grade Fifteen was slowly broken through¡­ Grade Sixteen¡­ Grade Seventeen¡­ Grade Eighteen!


    The last three grades were just suddenly broke through within such a short amount of time. The last three grades were mainly to increase the texture of one''s chill. Garen''s chill itself already had a decent texture, to begin with, in addition to the priming given by the Teacher Ancestors of multiple generations and the input of past experiences through the soul armor, he had reached a whole new level of understanding toward chills.


    A breakthrough like this was nothing extraordinary.


    Grade Eighteen represented the ultimate Scarlet Snow Technique. There were altogether eighteen grades of Scarlet Snow Technique, which would be equivalent to a Level-Nine Energy Machinist.


    "Who knew there would be martyrs like them in this world!" Garen stared silently at everything shattered in front of him. With his head bent low, he solemnly paid respect as a fellow Secret Technician.


    "I will fulfill all your wishes."


    The armor on his body shone a flicker of white light which vanished within seconds, it then formed a V-shaped white pattern. His aura once again returned to the Non-Falling Level, and he finally turned away slowly.


    The Frost Hell shall no longer exist from today onwards.

 1081 Mad Increase 1

    The weather on the Scarlet Snow Planet was becoming warmer. The land initially covered in snow was now warming up, the snow was gradually melting away, turning into icy water flowing down the sides of the mountains and forming new rivers toward the city.


    The people of the Scarlet Snow Planet went out to investigate. The Great Supervisors handling the daily matters, who were usually separated from the external administrative people, also realized the changes.


    The headquarter region was where the Great Elders and the hidden powerhouses stayed. This, on the other hand, was an independent managerial department. Other than the occasional request for assistance from the inner sect, they would not usually enter the inner sect.


    However, now that the snow mountains melting was causing the rivers to converge, this anomaly had attracted the attention of the administrative people.


    Garen had just exited the Frost Hell when the guards at the entrance were investigating the changes outside, so no one realized Garen had already left the Frost Hell.


    "Senior Brother! Senior Brother Garen! I didn''t know you left!?" As he reached the front entrance of the cave, one of the guards exclaimed as he noticed Garen walking out.


    "Mm¡­ What''s happening outside?" Garen asked, confused.


    "I''m not sure, but I think the snow is melting," one of the guards whispered.


    "The snow is melting?" Garen suddenly thought of the souls disappearing from the Frost Hell. It might have been him who triggered this change because the source of the snow mountains'' cold temperature had always been the secret souls in Frost Hell.


    Now that the secret souls had fused together and formed a horrifying ice armor, it was the merged inheritance of all the ancestors. It was the condensed essence of Scarlet Snow Sect.


    Garen knew that him taking the armor meant that he was accepting the wills and wishes of Scarlet Snow Sect''s past ancestors over thousands of years.


    "Is a ceremony going on?" He remembered what Carthage said before he left. The ceremony was the so-called Major Battle to gather all the elites. In the end, they were all defeated by the Pilots, which resulted in heavy casualties among the entire population of Energy Machinists in the City of Nagadako.


    The only thing was that the Major Battle would last a long time; it was not something that could be finished quickly.


    Returning to reality, Garen started thinking once again. How was he going to answer to the Great Elders about the disappearance of the Frost Hell?


    He left the entrance of the Frost Hell, heading straight to the main peak''s courtroom where Renee was once put to trial.


    The entirety of the Scarlet Snow Sect had become chillier by the minute. Perhaps it had been chilly before, it was just that Garen was only realizing it now. Not many people were to be seen around on the way there. As the headquarter of Scarlet Snow, there were very few people around.


    The extreme cold made it difficult for normal people to enter. Only the ones who practiced Scarlet Snow Technique could survive there in the long run. Not many people left their homes during the weekday anyway, only the trained ones dared to.


    However, those trained ones were likely to retire into isolation for several years at times, hence explaining why the area was deserted.


    In the desolate sky, Garen glanced down. The rare sight of a few sporadic figures could be seen flashing quickly across the ground. It was evident that plenty of people were moving about using Teleportation Arrays.


    Soon, he reached the courtroom. From a distance, Garen could hear what sounded like a subtle roar, as though something was colliding against a heavy object.


    As the courtroom became closer and closer, two white silhouettes could be seen crashing against each other between the huge ice sculptures.


    A gigantic Ice Fox was hovering in front, constantly playing around with the small white spot on the other side.


    "This won''t work, the strength''s not enough!"


    "Speed! You''re too slow! Faster! Go faster!" An old man, who was in the middle of the Ice Foxes, yelled.


    "Ah ah ah!" On the other side, a white youngster suddenly lashed out a clean palmprint that had a strong chill; it was still increasing in size toward the Ice Foxes.


    "Too weak!"


    The low rumble sounded among the Ice Foxes once again. A tail whipped out and shattered the clean palmprint.


    "You just ruined a perfectly ruined the good old Snowstorm Palm! Yours just looks like a slow and powerless ordinary palm!" The old man''s hoarse voice continued to lecture.


    Two young, beautiful girls were standing by the side, watching quietly. It turned out they were Little One and Little Two, the two guards given to Garen by the First Princess. From the worried looks on their faces, it was evident that they were very familiar with the two people on the spot.


    Ever since Garen''s surroundings had been conquered by the Two-headed Werewolves, they were not able to receive any commands from Garen ever since. So, they roamed around Scarlet Snow Sect''s headquarter freely. Their lives were peaceful yet boring, and they somehow met people around the area.


    With just one glance, Garen recognized the two people who were in battle.


    The golden-haired teenager was Senior Sister Rainy''s grandchild of direct bloodline, Hong Guo, one who inherited a Secret Frost Seed.


    When he first ventured into the Scarlet Snow Sect''s headquarter along with his buddy, it was said that he was imprisoned. However, to everyone''s surprise, he was now safe and sound.


    The one standing against him was a Great Supervisor within the sect. He had the powers of the Inherited Level, the Ice Fox Nasata, and he was one of the Great Supervisors in charge of foreign affairs.


    "Hong Guo, huh?" Garen was floating high up in the sky to avoid being noticed by people on the ground. He was just observing how the Ice Fox was instructing Hong Guo how to unleash his powers as well as the Secret Frost Seed''s strength.


    He also noticed the mysterious teenager, the one always ranked at the bottom among the Third Hearted, was standing far away, witnessing the battle as well. He thought he had gone unnoticeable, just staring blatantly at Hong Guo with a greedy look on his face.


    Garen recalled the incident that involved Hong Guo last time.


    If this fellow had followed his original track, he would have been the leader of the lucky Energy Machinist survivors. After the Battle of Ice Age about a hundred years later, all the Upper Energy Machinists would be completely dead. Meanwhile, he would lead the leftover younger Energy Machinists away to start over a new life at a new place.


    Since Little One and Little Two were somewhat congenial with him, he should just let them protect him then¡­


    Garen did not move anything other than his lips, silently passing a message along to Little One and Little Two who were below.


    The two girls'' faces instantly lit up with shock. They searched around for Garen, but they did not see him at all. As for Garen''s original worry that the Great Supervisors and Great Elderlies would notice the disappearance of Frost Hell, there had been no sign so far. Everything was in peace in the courtroom.


    The Great Elderlies were not there, the Great Supervisors seemed to be busy with their own matters, and most of the Three Hearted Disciples of the entire Scarlet Snow Sect were still out, so they had not entered the Frost Hell and realized anything.


    Without the Great Elder, Garen was currently the strongest in Scarlet Snow Sect.


    Observing the battle below, Garen paused for a bit before leaving quietly.


    Along with Carthage''s ruling, the top reclusive powerhouse headquarter of the Scarlet Snow Sect had gradually died down, becoming extremely quiet and lonely.


    The moment he returned to his own place, Garen immediately noticed the few Great Supervisors waiting for him outside his Black Wolf Lair''s mansion.


    "Senior Brother Garen, we have something urgent that needs a decision! An urgent matter! It''s a pressing matter so we do not dare to make any unauthorized decisions!" One of the Great Supervisors, who was unusually sensitive, sensed Garen approaching and started shouting frantically.


    "What about Senior Sisters Alice and Eva, and King Cat?" Garen frowned. If foreign affairs had started coming to him for help regarding emergencies, did that mean that the people in front of him were dead?


    "Senior Brother Carthage rearranged all the rankings before he left, so you''re the second one now. You''re ranked number two!" One of the Great Supervisors quickly explained. "You have to make all the big decisions in the sect now!"


    Only then did Garen understand the true meaning of what Carthage meant with his parting words.


    He landed on the ground swiftly. He had yet landed properly when the Great Supervisors already rushed forward.


    "Senior Brother Garen, we have an urgent situation! The Medicine of Creation has finally produced the fifth secret medicine! Should we send people over!?"


    "There''s also the military situation. Our Scarlet Snow Business Alliance''s third lane was attacked by pirates and they''re in need of a powerhouse to help out!" Another voice followed.


    "I''m here to report about the Sky Capital. Star Cloud and Black Blade have officially initiated a war! The thirteen cities will be destroyed, and the battle fire will soon touch upon Planet Naga!"


    The three back-to-back information caused Garen to be taken back by surprise.


    "Started war? Star Cloud and Black Blade? The Star Cloud and Black Blade Magnetic Field was one of the strongest organization of Energy Machinists, and now they were at war? This gave Garen an uneasy feeling.


    "At the Blue Sky Capital?" He asked in a hushed tone.


    "Yes¡­ That''s right! The Blue Sky Capital already has thirteen of its major cities destroyed and completely wiped out. Their death count has reached over ten million already!"


    "What about the few Three Hearted Royal Highness?" Garen asked quickly. Since he was the person in charge now, he should just get straight to the point.


    "Some are in solitude, some are taking a break on holiday, but all of them basically have no idea what''s happening."


    "Make public the third piece of news you just gave me now. Inform the stationed personnel over at Planet Naga and reach out to families and relatives from other places to bring them back. Nobody is allowed to travel long distances from this moment on." Garen barked out commands swiftly. Nobody knew the future as well as him, he just did not expect things to disrupt this soon.


    "Also, inform everyone, including the Three Hearted Royal Highness, that I am calling together at a meeting at the courtroom! The Great Elder and Senior Brother aren''t here, we have to immediately confirm my authority as the decision maker of Scarlet Snow Sect!"


    "Yes!"


    The three Great Supervisors responded solemnly and dispersed, immediately going about to deliver the news.


    As the three of them left, Garen returned to a state of calmness. He had reached a moment of life and death, this was not the time to hesitate.


    He got up once again and ordered his Two-headed Werewolves and Turing to save up resources before he started toward the Second Great Elder''s main peak.


    *********************


    The white, cold tower stood above the mountains, rings of white halos could be seen surrounding it.


    There were no signs of any bodyguards around, a completely different situation compared to the last time Garen dropped by. There were only a few automatic robots patrolling the area.


    "Garen here to pay respect to Master," Garen called out gently as he landed in front of the tower.


    There was no response; the tower remained silent as if nobody was around.


    "Garen here to pay respect to Master, request to open the defense screen," Garen repeated himself.


    Perhaps it was the loud echoes, someone finally rushed out from inside.


    "Great Elder has said that he doesn''t want to see anyone, he''s in recluse now!"


    "He doesn''t want to see anyone?" Garen''s eyes were cold as he made his way toward the tower. A terrifying aura of chill was emitting from him, turning into wisps of white smoke spreading everywhere.


    "Stand still! How dare you enter the tower without permission!" The person shouted after Garen furiously.


    The peak of the tower instantly flickered in fluorescent white.


    A translucent screen appeared before Garen''s eyes, blocking his path.


    Rip!


    The screen was torn apart in Garen''s hands within seconds.


    Garen continued on his path. At the speed of a lightning, he appeared before the man and grabbed the man''s head, freezing the man''s entire lower body so that the man''s brain was the only system still functioning.


    "Forgive me! Have mercy on me! I''m just a messenger! It''s nothing to do with me!" The man''s reaction was strangely instantaneous. As it turned out, he was just a trash with a Level Three or Four Scarlet Snow Technique.


    Simply throwing the person aside, Garen strode into the tower. The normally-filled place was now deserted, with no sight of the daily maintenance crew.


    Remaining silent, Garen headed straight for the stairs.


    Just as he reached the second floor, his eyes landed on Second Great Elder who was walking slowly toward him in the corridor.


    "Are you rebelling, Garen?! Simply tearing the tower''s defense screen, you are just trying to ruin my hard work aren''t you!?" Second Great Elder shouted angrily, glaring cold at Garen with his hands behind his back.


    Garen studied the Second Great Elder for a while and then bowed his head after making sure there was nothing wrong.


    "As your disciple, I dare not do such a thing."


    "Dare not? You killed your Senior Brother and your Senior Sister; you disrespected your teachers and acted irrationally. Is there


    anything else you dare not do?!" Second Great Elder scolded him.


    "Seeing as you are well, teacher, I shall excuse myself¡­" Garen turned to leave, his face calm and steady. He suddenly realized that Second Great Elder''s hands were empty.


    "Teacher, why do you not have your pipe with you? That''s your favorite pipe." Garen narrowed his eyes against Second Great Elder.

 1082 Mad Increase 1

    "A pipe?" Something odd flashed past the depths of the Second Elder''s eyes. "My lungs haven''t been feeling all that good recently, so I don''t really want to smoke, that''s why I put it away. Why, do you have a problem with that? Are you trying to dictate whether I smoke or not as well?!"


    "Naturally, that is not my intention, Master." Garen''s narrowed eyes grew sharper.


    "If that is not your intention then hurry up and scram!" The Second Elder instantly lost his temper.


    "Your lungs aren''t feeling well?" Garen laughed coldly. "I''ve been getting much stronger lately, maybe I can help you check, dear Master. Let me see just what''s wrong with your lungs¡­"


    Before he finally finished speaking, Garen reached out his hand like a claw, grabbing at the Second Elder. With a tearing sound, a void-like vacuum was ripped out of the air, it was a terrifying vacuum left behind by immense speed. Before the air around it could even fill in the void, Garen''s claw had already reached the Second Elder''s chest.


    The dazzling white Non-Falling light covered Gardens palm, dying his whole hand jade-white. From afar, it did not even look like a human hand.


    The claw was just about to grab the Second Elder''s chest.


    "How dare you!!"


    A layer of black light abruptly exploded beside Garen, turning into a black whirlpool. Several black bugs the size of fists shot out of the whirlpool, rearing their jaws at Garen''s head.


    The Second Elder also looked extremely shocked, the Non-Falling light all around his body exploding mercilessly, but even then he just delayed the progress of Garen''s arm, reaching forward quickly.


    "One Time Fist Pressure."


    Garen''s right arm abruptly doubled in strength, and crashed towards the Second Elder''s chest with an even more intense and heavier pressure.


    The intense fist pressure from the surroundings instantly caused his black bugs to exploded in mid-air, reduced to several mounds of foul-smelling pus.


    An unstoppable, terrifying pressure pressed down on the Second Elder tightly, and right now, he was completely unable to fight back. He could only watch, wide-eyed, as the hand


    approached him.


    "You dare kill your master!!!?"


    He howled madly.


    Booom!!!


    Garen''s palm disappeared, and the terrifying traits of the Ten Thousand True Technique meant that he could instantly transfer that immense power somewhere else, crashing it into the chest of a person in black who had just appeared.


    Thick blood sprayed out from under the black-robed man''s hood, and he screamed, flying backward into the wall. Large cracks spread across the wall, and the layers of Non-Falling power fell off his body like layers of an onion, disappearing and shattering layer by layer.


    "I¡­ won''t yield¡­!!" His body instantly turned into a flash of black light that darted away.


    "Cowardly sneak, you dare escape!" Garen harrumphed coldly, and took one step forward.


    "Two Times Fist Pressure."


    Boom!!!


    A terrifying pressure suppressed the black light, and the black light crashed onto the floor like a mound of lead, sending out a large spray of black shards.


    The air began to coagulate slightly, like a thick liquid, and even the wind could not flow.The falling of the black light, the expression on the Second Elder''s face, the shards of the wall, everything seemed to move in slow motion.


    Every movement would consume a great cost. This was the terrifying power of Garen''s destructive abilities, the 88-times fist pressure seemed to increase completely according to the


    capabilities of the user''s own physical body. As long as the user''s body could withstand it, the number could keep on rising indefinitely.


    Right now, Garen''s Strength was at 40 points, and by doubling the power of his Destructive Impact Fist, it could reach 80 points in Strength. Even a powerhouse at the same level as him,


    at the peak of the Non-Falling Level, would not be able to fight back against such a terrifying pressure. They would be suppressed like infants. Faced with Garen''s fists, their Non-Falling power was no different from eggshells.


    To put eighty Strength points into perspective, back then Garen had dominated the Totem World with less than twenty Strength points. All the giant beasts or terrifying monsters several dozen meters tall could not do anything when faced with his fist. And a giant beast that was several dozen meters tall could destroy a skyscraper in one hit.


    And now he had eighty points of Strength, four times what he had back then. If he split up the power and used it separately, he could destroy more than ten skyscrapers in one hit, and could instantly demolish some smaller cities.


    This was all just the terrifying power of Garen''s One Time Fist Pressure. Such power was concentrated fully in this space that was less than a hundred acres large.


    "Sunshine!"


    The black light on the ground made its last desperate struggle, exploding out with a terrifying golden light and heat. This was evidently his Origin secret skill.


    "Three Times." Garen took one step forward, and the terrifying power just grew more intense. Faced with the overwhelming power of 120 Strength points, the black light''s explosion was instantly extinguished like a flame being put out.


    After a whoosh, the black light shattered and scattered, and everything returned to normal once more.


    Up until that point, this unidentified Non-Falling powerhouse had died powerlessly in the tower, and all that remained of him was the web of cracks across the high-density alloy wall. And this was after Garen controlled his power, making sure not to waste too much.


    "You¡ªY-y-you--!" The Second Elder''s pupils dilated, and as he watched Garen walk toward him slowly, a sweat broke out on his forehead. Even his teeth kept chattering, he could not fight his instincts at all.


    "Master, do you have any problem with the way I finished off that suspicious character?" Garen asked calmly.


    The Second Elder''s lips shook, all the blood drained out of his face. But he tried hard to maintain his image anyway. "No¡­ no problem¡­ You did well! You did very well!" He kept nodding his head. By now, he had lost all his poise and dignity as a teacher.


    As his power increased, the Army-level Garen already had the beginnings of an invisible, formidable aura. Since he had completed his training for the Hellfrost Peacock Technique, it was now rapidly displaying its ultimate power.


    Garen could see that his Vitality value had reached the Soul Limit, but some of his physical attributes were still increasing drastically, the most crucial one being his regenerative powers.


    The most significant aspect of the Hellfrost Peacock Technique is immortality, or regenerative powers that border on immortality.


    Garen was already feeling it.


    Before this, when he activated the triple fist pressure, his body would tear internally from the burden, but now, it was a piece of cake. That was just a few days ago¡­ and the speed of his regenerative powers was still increasing rapidly.


    Even he did not know to what extent the Hellfrost Peacock Technique''s regenerative powers could reach. At the end of it, even he did not know just how strong the highest level of a Living Secret Technique, the Army Level, could be. And Garen did not know just what heights he could reach when he merged it with the Willpower training of this world, either.


    All he knew was that he was getting stronger and stronger, stronger and stronger¡­


    Looking at the Second Elder cowering before him, Garen was now certain that this man was indeed the Scarlet Snow Sect''s Second Elder. But he was only that person in body and in strength, whereas he was no longer that person in spirit¡­


    Perhaps this was the same as what Carthage did to Garen in the past, right now, this person was just a Bodysnatcher they found from somewhere else. Thinking back to the Second Elder''s personality, Garen knew that he would never be this scared by such a small matter.


    Sadness flashed through Garen''s heart, but even more of it was killing intent toward Carthage.


    The Second Elder and Rainy were all people who had helped him, but now they were being treated like this, and he could do nothing about it.


    "The Destructive Impact Fist has reached five times¡­ this is the limit my body can take, if I go any further, I''ll need to increase my speed. When the Major Battle starts, I might not have any time or energy to upgrade myself so relaxedly anymore.


    Garen understood in his heart, and gave the Second Elder one last look, before he closed his eyes, turned around, and slowly walked away.


    "It''s time I focused on increasing my Nine-Level Tempered Body Technique. I need nine different types of precious mineral essences to temper my body. It will cost an arm and a leg, so I had best use my power in the Scarlet Snow Sect to gather and provide what I need. To face Carthage, I need all the power I can get." Garen already had a plan lined out.


    "Master, I plan to call a Courtroom Meeting, please make your way to the Courtroom, and it''s best if you''re not late," he said calmly, without even looking around.


    "I won''t, I won''t¡­" By now, the Second Elder had already been scared out of his wits, and could only say yes to everything.


    If he was not mistaken, the Second Elder had been Bodysnatched.


    Garen did not need to go see the First and Third Elders, they were probably in the same state. Perhaps the entire Scarlet Snow Sect had already changed hands. Carthage''s aims had been achieved. If it were not for Garen, an anomaly, perhaps this Energy Machinist sect would have already been reduced to existing in name only, being used solely as a base to ambush other sects.


    As for that hidden black-robed person he killed, Garen was not worried in the slightest. This had always been "Jeros''" character: bloodthirsty, evil, and a lover of destruction above all.


    He was just a Non-Falling Level, Carthage would not really mind even if he did know. Theoretically, Jeros was at the same level and position as him, so naturally he would not be controlled by his orders.


    Leaving the Second Elder''s tower, Garen went to the First and Third Elders'' places as well, barging in forcefully. Unsurprisingly, it was completely empty inside, with only a few blood stains left. Perhaps they were killed, perhaps Carthage did not think they were worthy of even the lowest-level Bodysnatching, and just killed them off cleanly.


    As for the guardian, if the Scarlet Snow guardian still had not shown up at this point, that must not be good news either.


    "Carthage¡­"


    Garen floated in mid-air, he could feel the last Will of several dozen ancestors in the armor on his brow, they were furious and roaring out in anger. That was a fury and hatred born from the imminent annihilation of the Scarlet Snow Sect.


    Some of them had lived for far too long in the Scarlet Snow Sect, some had been raised and protected by the Scarlet Snow Sect, and treated this place as their home. Yet others had poured too much of their blood, sweat, and tears into the Scarlet Snow Sect.


    "Please relax, I will return this favor to Carthage properly¡­" murmured Garen softly.


    He could feel that his powers were constantly growing madly with every passing moment, the mad dash as a result of the overnight explosion from the Army-Level, completed Hellfrost Peacock Technique was still in effect. And the tree branch of the Staff of Absolute Yin that he was getting from the Remora Business Alliance would arrive soon enough, and then he would have another new source for replenishing his potential points.


    After this, he wanted his true form to try and break the next level of the Scarlet Snow Technique. Reaching Grade Sixteen Level Eight, or even Level Nine, would not be a problem, because the ancestors'' Armor of Ice had given him the experience to level up completely. He could even reach the very top level of the Scarlet Snow Sect without a problem. All he needed was time. But after Level Nine, he would once more face the same dilemma his forefathers did, and be unable to reach the Tenth Perpetual Motioner.


    This was the Demonic Curse, a Demonic Curse that no one in the Scarlet Snow Sect could avoid.


    Unless they could reach Level Ten, they would not be able to fight Perpetual Motioners, much less the powerhouse among Perpetual Motioners, Chinande. Perhaps the final key still lay with the secret techniques¡­

 1083 Sect Visit 1

    "Maybe it''s time to make a trip back."


    Garen recalled everything that had happened since he arrived in this world, and his deepest impressions still came from his time in the Blackboard Region.


    Right now, the Scarlet Snow Sect existed in name only. The Elders were gone, the Guardian was missing, so the only ones left holding the Sect up were the Great Supervisor and the Three Hearted Disciples. But even so, the power of the Sect had not really been reduced, because of Carthage, because of Garen himself. But Carthage had not truly revealed his identity yet, so he was still a part of the Scarlet Snow Sect. As for Garen¡­


    On the surface, he was just a Non-Falling Level Five, but in truth he had the Armor of Ice, and could reach Level Nine. But he had no idea about the Level Nine fighting style, and with just the power of a Level Nine fighter, he could not understand the corresponding knowledge.


    Garen flew straight for the Courtroom.


    Clang clang clang¡­


    The heavy sound of the clock rang from the peak, spreading across the whole Scarlet Snow Sect headquarters, and many bolts of light quickly shot toward the hall at the peak of the Courtroom. Some of these lights were strong while others were subdued, and they instantly turned into figures of different heights once they entered the Courtroom, each landing quietly on their respective seats.


    When Garen flew into the Basilica, most of the people had already gathered there, only a few were absent because they were either away or in seclusion.


    Some of the Three Hearted Disciples looked impatient, these summonses had evidently interrupted something. Most of the Great Supervisors were quiet and thoughtful, betraying no emotion and taking no stances.


    And then there was the headquarters'' Head Manager, a chubby middle-aged normal person whose gaze swept across the whole area as soon as he landed.


    "The Elders aren''t here, Great Senior Brother isn''t here, so who has the right to sound the emergency summons bell?!" he asked gravely.


    "It wasn''t the Elders?" One of the Great Supervisors grew confused. He was joined by a few others around him.


    Even some of the Three Hearted Disciples began to frown. If it was not the Elders, who could it be? It could not have been the Guardian, the Lord Guardian would never make a direct order, circumventing the Elders. Could it be Great Senior Brother?


    Eva stood in the number three position, her lips pursed and her expression cold. She did not really care who rang the bell, but since they had rung the emergency summons bell, that must mean something extremely serious must have happened.


    Number Two, Alice, was still hidden in her white robes, her facial expression hidden, and giving off a similarly calm feeling.


    Beneath her, Number Four, King Cat, was playing with his little white kitten, and seemed completely unconcerned with the meaning behind the summons.


    The fifth position was empty, that used to be Rainy''s. The Sixth, Angola, was dressed in blood-red robes, his face expressionless and his thoughts unsurmisable.


    Number seven was Mandi, a strange loner of a guy. Usually, most of the Sect''s Energy Machine Imprints came from him and his disciples, so he was the master of Energy Machine Imprints within the Sect. This old man with the disheveled beard did not look particularly eye-catching, but no one would look down on him.


    The eighth was Mies, after he was carelessly knocked out by Hong Guo and the others last time, he was currently staring at Hong Guo and co as they stood behind the Great Supervisors, his expression cold and dark. Evidently, he still had a grudge over what happened last time.


    Ninth and Tenth were Demonic Spirit Solomon and Aloran. The two of them were discussing something in whispers, and Aloran''s expression did not look particularly good.


    And then there was Eleven, a member of the Ballfish race. This giant and round creature was basically a Ballfish, floating above the eleventh position. Everyone had forgotten its name, and they just called it Eleven. There were two small and short fins on the surface of its black body, and they fanned around occasionally, creating a stark contrast with its roly-poly body. It actually ended up looking rather cute.


    Twelve was empty, that was originally Garen''s position, and Thirteen was Lonray, a newbie who had just risen here together with Garen. This person had luckily managed to survive the Void Battlefields, and seeing Garen descend from the sky now, he immediately sent word via voice transmission, enquiring about the situation.


    Garen chatted with him idly, waiting for everyone to arrive.


    But his gaze swept past all the Three Hearted Disciples and the Great Supervisors.


    The last Fourteen was White Night, this guy had just returned recently, covered with wounds. Even now, there were still bandages on his arms. Clearly, his journey to unearth the treasures of his family did not go very smoothly, and he had no leads on his younger brother either. Right now his expression was cloudy, and he looked to be in a very bad mood.


    Fifteen, on the other hand, was that mysterious young man. After reaching Three Hearted, he had changed his name, and gave himself the title Prism Light. Right now he was dressed fully in white and looked average, completely outshone by the handsome and ice-cold White Night beside him. He was wholly inconspicuous.


    Garen''s gaze turned, and he looked at the Great Supervisors.


    There were not many Great Supervisors who had the right to participate in the Courtroom, only five in total. The middle-aged one who taught Hong Guo, the Ice Fox, also stood among them, whereas the other four were two men and two women respectively. They came in different shapes and sizes, but looked like very normal academics, such as teachers or professors. If it were not for the occasional flicker of Inherited Power around them that resisted against the chill of the Courtroom, no one would have guessed that these very average-looking academics were actually Inherited-Level powerhouses.


    Three of them were the Great Supervisors who had come to report to Garen back then, and right now all of their gazes considered Garen slightly, indicating respect.


    The three Elders seats at the very top remained conspicuously empty.


    Whoosh!


    There was a distortion of white light, and the Second Elder instantly appeared on the Second Elder''s seat.


    As soon as he appeared, he instinctively looked at Garen, who was standing at the Three Hearted position. The Three Hearted position did not indicate their rank, because the ranks of the Three Hearted Disciples had changed recently, and there had not been enough time to readjust them.


    Rainy had died, and her seat was emptied, so naturally the rest would take one seat forward.


    So even though Garen stood at that position, his rank was not just number twelve.


    "The other two Elders can''t make it." The Second Elder calmed himself down. "Now, I want to tell you some devastating news."


    The Basilica fell silent as soon as the Second Elder spoke, and everyone''s eyes gathered on the Elders'' seats.


    "Due to an accident, the First and Third Elders have perished in the line of duty¡­" said the Second Elder in a grave and sorrowful voice.


    The voice echoed around the Basilica, and everyone who heard that news doubted their ears. Some people blinked, and instinctively turned around to ask the people next to them, wondering if what they had just heard was simply a figment of their imagination.


    Some people frowned deeply, completely disbelieving.


    Eva lowered her head, and no one could see her expression, but they could tell from her tightly-clenched fists that she was in deep shock.


    She knew better than anyone else what state the Scarlet Snow Sect was in, Carthage and Garen have been acting all mysterious, as though they barely belong to the Scarlet Snow Sect at all. Recently, she had been secretly investigating the two of them, and the information that she gathered shocked her tremendously, so she grew more and more suspicious of the two. Especially with regard to their powers, their rate of progress had reached terrifying levels, needing only several decades to accomplish what others took hundreds or thousands of years to reach. For two such impossible prodigies to appear in the tiny Scarlet Snow Sect at the same time was a total anomaly¡­


    And during such turbulent times, the two Elders had suddenly perished¡­


    The entire Scarlet Snow Sect had reached a point of life and death!


    "I don''t believe it!"


    The Silver Fox Great Supervisor stood out and barked loudly, looking slightly panicked and dismayed.


    "Father just talked to me a week ago! How could he have died!!??" He was referring to the First Elder, since he was the First Elder''s son in the direct line.


    And beside him, another female Great Supervisor also looked disbelieving, as she too stood out and spoke.


    "That''s right, my grandfather just sent me a message three days ago, asking me to get him the newest Blue Eagle Stone! Ever since he entered Non-Falling Level, for several hundred years, he had never left the headquarters, who could just sneak into the headquarters and kill two Non-Falling Levels like that!? Second Elder, you¡­" Her grandfather was the Third Elder. After all, as Great Supervisors who could enter the Courtroom, the two of them had to have relied on their connections to the two Elders, otherwise it would not be plausible for them to get in.


    "Silence!" The Second Elder''s authoritative voice interrupted her, and his Non-Falling aura instantly pressed down on them, suppressing them mercilessly.


    "You dare doubt my words?!" The Second Elder stared at them coldly. "Guards!"


    Two white-armored guards appeared abruptly behind the two Great Supervisors.


    "Take them away, throw them in the dungeon, and have them executed tomorrow!"


    Executed?!


    Just then, not only did the two of them doubt their ears, everyone present there wondered if they had heard that right.


    Execution just for doubting what the Elder said? Executing two Inherited-Level powerhouses that had always done their job for the Scarlet Snow Sect properly?!


    Has the Second Elder gone crazy?!


    Or could it be, that the deaths of the two Elders were closely related to the Second Elder¡­?


    For an instant, Eva, Alice and the other high-ranking Three Hearted Disciples thought of this possibility, and felt that the situation was getting stranger and stranger. No one knew if the two Elders were dead or alive; after all, they were two long-established Non-Falling Level powerhouses, and it was not like people would believe that they had died just because the Second Elder said a few things. Without proper proof and evidence, no one would truly believe that they had died.


    "Is he trying to cover up his own actions?" The possibility occurred to some people.


    The two of them were instantly apprehended by Non-Falling Light, all their powers completely disabled. They were restrained by the two white-armored guards, and were about to be dragged away.


    The Basilica was completely quiet, no one dared to forcefully voice out. The Second Elder right now was very strange, and instead of being calm and low-key as he used to be, he was acting rather impulsive now.


    "Wait!"


    Suddenly a voice rang out in the hall, gentle and clear.


    It was Alice!


    She was ranked number two, the leader of Moonshine, and right now, she finally spoke.


    "What do you have to say?" The Second Elder glared at Alice coldly. Although all of the Three Hearted Disciples had hidden their abilities to some extent, this woman was the most mysterious of the lot. Back then, when Rainy had been rescued, she could actually manage to hold the Non-Falling-Level Carthage back without getting injured. That was practically unimaginable.


    "Executing some Inherited-Level powerhouses just for talking back and suspecting you a little, don''t you find that a terrible waste, Second Elder?" said Alice calmly.


    Garen watched this scene with interest, at first he had planned to step out, but Alice had actually gotten one step ahead of him.


    Even without the two Elders and the Guardian, even putting aside Garen himself for now, the power of the Scarlet Snow Sect was not all that weak.

 1084 Sect Visit 2

    Alice was mysterious, but it was highly likely that she had Non-Falling Level power. Out of the Three-Hearted Disciples, there were already eight Inherited Levels, aside from the late Rainy, Carthage, White Night, and the mysterious young man Prismatic Light.


    And of the Great Supervisors, the four of them present here were already the strongest four. Other than them, there were thirty-five other Inherited Levels who were scattered across the planets, either living in seclusion or managing the sect''s various operations, returning only once every fifty years to hand in their report. This was also a huge asset for them. Apparently, some of these Great Supervisors had even started their own branch sects, and some of their disciples were Inherited Levels too, adding up to an astronomical number.


    A rough estimate calculated that the entire Scarlet Snow Sect would have at least more than sixty Inherited Level powerhouses and two Non-Falling Levels. This would have been unimaginable to his Black Flood Party from back then, this was equivalent to all the power in the Blackboard Region. In fact, it was even stronger! Once you put it that way, it could be said that an Inherited-Level Energy Machinist could fight with at least two Inherited-Level pilots of the same level.


    "¡­" The Second Elder exchanged glares with Alice for a while, but his bark was worse than his bite, and the situation slowly calmed down.


    "Since Alice is the one pleading for them¡­ I guess I''ll spare them for now."


    The two white-armored guards finally released the two of them, and by then, the duo was already dripping with sweat. They had practically put one foot in the coffin, so they were still not over the shock, their hearts beating wildly.


    "Alright, alright." Only then did Garen step out, and speak with a smile. "Every Inherited Level is a precious asset to our Scarlet Snow Sect, how could Master execute such elites so casually? Wouldn''t that hurt the hearts of the Great Supervisors stationed outside?"


    "Stop pretending!" said Eva coldly. She could already tell that there was something wrong with the Second Elder, and it was not just her, every Energy Machinist here was an elite. After living for so long, they could deduce a lot of things from just the tiniest clues.


    But to Eva''s surprise, the Second Elder changed from his previous impulsiveness, and actually nodded very gently now, as though fully approving of Garen''s words.


    "Garen''s right, I was being too rash just now."


    "Alright, time to get to the main point." The Second Elder grew solemn. "The main reason I called this Courtroom Meeting was to hand over the rights to the Sect. From now on, all the Elders'' rights, as well as the rights to manage and mobilize the Sect, will be handed over to the Three Hearted Disciple Garen!"


    These words were like another bombshell that instantly exploded within the Courtroom, shocking everyone''s minds into a blank.


    "Put Garen in charge of all matters!? Master, are you joking!?" Eva finally lost it, yelling loudly. Her almond eyes widened, as though she had never thought that her master would give such an order.


    Surely! Surely he had been controlled by Garen! Even back then, Garen was already so terrifyingly powerful, now he must surely be working with Carthage. He must have taken Master off-guard, and then controlled him with some unknown method, that must surely be it!!


    When she thought of that, the hatred rose straight to her head, and her glare at Garen was almost burning in its intensity.


    "Why would you put Garen in charge!" yelled Aloran too, as he stepped out. "He''s ranked further than number ten! Even if you want to put some in charge of the whole Sect, that person should be Senior Sister Alice, right!?"


    "Although Junior Brother Garen is talented, I believe he has yet to reach the level where he can be in charge of everything, no?" Alice spoke too.


    A cold air blew through the Basilica. It was not just the Three Hearted Disciples, but Great Supervisor Ice Fox, Hong Guo, and the others all began to murmur softly. There were also other onlookers, the higher-ups brought by each of the Three Hearted Disciples. Even though they did not have the right to speak and join the meeting, and could only watch from the sidelines, they still began to whisper among each other in spite of themselves.


    In that instant, the Basilica became a mess, the rowdy buzz of conversation lingering around everyone''s ears like a swarm of bees.


    "Are you¡­ doubting me?" The Second Elder''s expression darkened, and instantly, the Non-Falling Light spread everywhere again. It suppressed the auras of everyone present.


    "Second Elder, are you trying to get your way by brute force!?" Alice took one step forward, emanating ice-blue Non-Falling Light from her body, with a whoosh, shot into the sky in the form of a blue pillar of light.


    It directly split the Basilica into two, one side white and the other blue.


    To everyone''s surprise, even though he was the strongest among the Elders, the Second Elder was losing ground. His Non-Falling Light no longer had that strange ability to gather into a snowstorm, and it instantly disintegrated the moment it made contact with Alice''s Non-Falling Light.


    The two powerful Non-Falling Lights suppressed everything else, those who had not reached Non-Falling Level yet could not do anything but watch. The Non-Falling Light was significantly stronger than the Inherited-Level force field, and someone who was not at the same level could not hope to join the conflict.


    "Second Senior Sister, are you trying to disobey your master?" Garen took one step forward as well.


    "You have no right to speak here!" said a voice suddenly.


    Psst!


    A white ice crystal abruptly shot at Garen''s head, but he shattered it with a flick of his finger. The ice crystal shattered in mid-air, reduced to countless twinkles of white light.


    "Is that so?" Garen smiled slightly.


    Boom!!


    A most terrifying Non-Falling Light exploded from his body, surging madly in all directions.


    Eva, who had shot out that ice crystal, turned pale. She took more than ten steps backward in a hurry, until her back was pressed against a huge ice sculpture, as she gasped for breath. There were despair and disbelief in her eyes.


    "How''s that¡­ possible!? Non-Falling Level!!?"


    King Cat and the others looked shocked as well, he was just at the peak of the Inherited Level, and now he was at the Non-Falling Level!? Even Carthage had not been this fast back then, right!?


    "M-Monster!" Aloran''s eyes were full of fear as he stared at Garen, this had gone beyond merely being a prodigy.


    The three powerful lights fought and resisted each other in the Basilica, but it was not a three-way battle. Instead, it was just Garen single-handedly suppressing the Second Elder''s and Alice''s Non-Falling Lights.


    "Before he left, the Senior Brother left everything to me. I have received Master''s trust and support, and since the two fates of the Elders are currently unknown, who is more suited to bear this responsibility than me?" Garen smiled as he looked at the Three Hearted Disciples, who were too heavily suppressed to say a word, and then at the managers and higher-ups around them.


    The cold wind howled, making his robes billow in the wind. His gentle yet ice-cold smile sent a chill down Eva''s and Aloran''s spines, and even the Second Elder looked faintly fearful.


    Boom!


    A huge power landed on Alice abruptly.


    Alice''s body was instantly sent flying, and she was embedded into the ice statue behind her with a bam, sending down a storm of crushed ice and snow.


    The air had solidified, the huge and terrifying fist pressure instantly pressing down on the surface of Alice''s body as though it were truly air pressure, rendering her unable to break free.


    "You¡­" She opened her mouth with difficulty, but an even stronger pressure attacked her suddenly, forcing her words into her throat. If it were not for the fact that just recently reached this stage¡­ A hint of furious shame flashed past her eyes.


    "Anyone else has any opinions?" Garen looked around him.


    The Basilica was completely quiet, no one dared to say anything.


    Even Second Senior Sister, who was a Non-Falling Level, was being suppressed, so who dared to say anything else?


    "Very good." The Second Elder retracted his Non-Falling Light, and smiled in satisfaction. "Looks like everyone''s perfectly fine with my suggestion. In that case, from now on, Garen is our Scarlet Snow Sect''s Highest Supervisor, after this I will propose to the Lord Guardian that we make him our Sect Master as well!"


    Sect Master!!


    The Three Hearted Disciples below all had strange expressions, Sect Master? How many years had it been since someone held that position? A Sect Master had to be agreed on by all the Elders and the Guardian before they could accept the Frost Hell''s Willpower test.


    "No need for that." Garen smiled slightly. "You don''t need to propose anything to the Guardian any longer¡­"


    As everyone watched in confusion, he walked up straight to the highest point in the Basilica.


    With every step he took, a white chill spread from his body, turning into white light that surrounded him.


    The white light grew in volume, as did the white air.


    Phew¡­


    Garen raised his arms, and a pair of sharp jade-white arm armors appeared on his arms. Pure unadulterated chill emanated from the armor.


    "That''s¡­!!" The Second Elder''s pupils diluted abruptly.


    Step by step, Garen slowly stepped up into the air, as though there were invisible stairs beneath his feet, holding him up as he walked toward the air above the highest point in the Basilica.


    With every step, another piece of clear ice armor appeared on his body.


    When he reached the very top, and stood level with the statue, he was already wearing a full suit of luxurious white armor made of ice, with a sharp horn poking out of its scabbard.


    Psst¡­


    A giant helmet that was as fearsome as a crescent moon appeared out of nowhere above Garen''s head, covering his entire face.


    Countless chills gathered in the air to form a Throne of Ice that floated in mid-air.


    Garen turned around, and slowly sat on that empty chair.


    Bzz¡­


    The Basilica began to tremble slowly, and all the ice statues, several dozen meters tall, began to shake.


    Garen, wearing his Armor of Ice, had already transcended what a normal Energy Machinist could understand, his power spreading through the whole area. To everyone here, Level Nine and Level Seven were both beyond their reach, they were both untouchable, overwhelmingly strong, and hence they were practically the same.


    Baroom!!


    The originally clear skies rumbled with thunder, and countless black clouds appeared out of nowhere, spinning and roiling in the sky right above Garen.


    Garen looked down at everything beneath him, the Three Hearted Disciples were flushed red under the pressure of his power. Eva, Aloran and the rest were still holding on, but King Cat, Demon Spirit and the rest had already succumbed without resisting, just looking at Garen with unprecedented respect in their eyes.


    The Second Elder had already stood up, his expression respectful. Clearly, he had thrown all pretenses to the wind. When faced with ultimate power, everything else was arbitrary.


    As for the remaining Great Supervisors and those who were here as witnesses, they could not even raise their heads to look at him. The difference in power was far too large, if they saw just a little bit of his white light now, they would feel a piercing and irresistible cold, and they might even be instantly frozen.


    "From today onward," Garen''s voice spread throughout the entire Scarlet Snow headquarters, "I, Garen, will officially be the Scarlet Snow Sect''s sixty-ninth Sect Master."


    Nobody dared to say anything, and no one could say anything. The chill emanating from Garen had instantly sealed everyone''s mouths.


    "While the Sect is on the brink of danger, I, Garen, will continue the battle, and bring more glory to the Sect than has been seen in the last thousand years!"


    And thus, I will prove that the highest realm of my Living Secret Technique will not lose to mechs!!


    Garen secretly added in his heart.


    "All disciples, this is an order!" The Second Elder immediately understood, and ordered loudly. "Bow!!"


    He actually took the lead, bowing first.


    The followers under his faction immediately bowed as well, showing their allegiance. Most of the people who had been shocked by Garen''s power also bowed, to them, as long as it was someone in the Sect who was strong enough, anyone could be Sect Master.


    Only Alice, Eva, and Aloran clenched their teeth and continued to hold on. However, they could no longer affect the bigger picture, everything was settled now. The Second Elder was in the lead, the other two Elders were missing, the Guardian was nowhere to be seen, so nobody in the Sect could fight against Garen.


    This is the reality, the stark truth!!

 1085 Officially in Power 1

    "Congratulations to the Sect Master, infinite glory over a thousand years!!" yelled the Second Elder very cooperatively. He spread his arms open wide, the Non-Falling Light emanating from him dazzlingly, shooting into the sky and turning into a pillar of light, as flawless as white jade.


    Psst¡­!


    The pillar of light shot up from the Courtyard and shot straight into the clouds, but it was completely engulfed by the black clouds all over the sky, and did not make so much as a ripple in them.


    "Congratulations to the Sect Master, infinite glory over a thousand years!!"


    "¡­Congratulations to the Sect Master, infinite glory over a thousand years!!"


    "¡­infinite glory over a thousand years!!"


    The echoes of the voices stacked over each other, and grew larger and larger in volume, like waves from a distance.


    Garen sat in his Throne of Ice, the thick and grotesque Armor of Ice on his body covering his entire figure, such that his face underneath could not be seen at all.


    Although he did not have long to prepare, the Second Elder did very well with the preparations. After Carthage left, the people in his faction all automatically came to Garen instead, so most people in the Scarlet Snow Sect considered him Carthage''s successor. This was originally Jeros'' privilege.


    "It''s too bad¡­ you miscalculated¡­" When Garen saw this scene, he knew that Carthage could no longer return, so he would surely change his identity. Garen had more or less gained control of the Scarlet Snow Sect, so he might infiltrate another sect instead, or perhaps he might continue managing his plan in secret.


    "Jeros, is there anything you need help with?" Suddenly, a sharp voice reached Garen''s ears. That voice was very distinct, and anyone who had heard it once would not forget it.


    It was Red Robes!


    Garen instantly remembered whose voice it was.


    "This is already my territory, if you don''t have anything to do with me, go find Carthage yourself," Garen replied mildly through voice transmission. He noticed that a few of the Three Hearted Disciples already had a mind to leave, their gazes twinkling uncertainly, and they were obviously communicating in secret. But he did not stop them, it was good if they left too. Right now, the Scarlet Snow Sect needed a large-scale clean-up operation, from the top to the bottom, so that he could grasp all the power before the danger arrived.


    Since he had already inherited his ancestors'' Will of Ice, he should naturally fulfill his promise, and do everything he can to bring glory to the Scarlet Snow Sect, in order to meet his elders'' expectations.


    It did not matter in the bigger picture whether these disloyal Three Hearted Disciples left or not, they were of no great importance. In fact, it would help to gather up the sect''s power, so that they could advance to the next step.


    "Hehe, looks like your control isn''t stable enough yet¡­" Red Robes began to laugh piercingly.


    "Don''t forget Master Carthage''s plan. You must move on cue during the Major Battle, since the Scarlet Snow Sect is one of the three central figures, you and I both understand what will happen if you don''t complete the mission." Red Robes actually started transmitting his voice to Garen boldly, even though everyone was right there and watching.


    "Do I need you to tell me what to do?!" Garen''s palm gripped the armrest it was resting on lightly.


    Bam!


    A large hail of white snow and ice exploded from a certain spot in mid-air, and countless clear white shards scattered everywhere, accompanied by the screams from a red figure. The red figure was instantly torn to pieces, turning into several shards of red cloth that floated down, and moved no more.


    "Here, I have 64 glasses of Scarlet Snow Wine, it''s a reward specifically for the elite powerhouses of the Scarlet Snow Sect. It can boost the body''s qualities significantly." Garen gave a sweep of his hand.


    64 ice-crystal wine glasses suddenly appeared, floating before him, filled with what looked like a fragrant emerald liquid that emitted an intense aroma of wine.


    The 64 ice-crystal glasses of wines just stayed floating there underneath the Throne of Ice, and with a whoosh, the glasses suddenly shot downward, some portions naturally landing in front of everyone present, floating in mid-air.


    "In order to celebrate my official ascension to the throne today, this is the Secret Scarlet Snow Wine that I have obtained from the Frost Hell. I will now share it with all of you, and I hope that we will be united as one, for the glory of the Scarlet Snow." Garen''s icy-cold and deep voice had a hint of authority, and it spread like a tremor from underneath the Armor of Ice, spreading throughout the entire Basilica.


    "This¡­" King Cat frowned, his instincts were telling him that this wine would not harm him, and instead the chill emanating from it was extremely tempting, as though that was the tastiest delicacy in the world. But his logic was telling him that Garen would never be so generous, if he was trying to hand it this wine with strengthening effects to everyone equally, he must surely have a motive behind it.


    He glanced at Alice, she was the leader of Moonshine, so not only did she have influence and power with the Scarlet Snow Sect, she also had her own financial group and power in the mortal world. She could survive independently even if she did leave the Scarlet Snow Sect, and her gaze clearly said she wanted to leave, but right now she was being suppressed by that huge aura, and could not get away from it at all. She had just escaped from the ice statue, but now the danger was this choice that might lead to poisoned wine.


    "Garen would never let a Non-Falling Level like Alice leave, this meeting is no conference at all, he''s just using this chance to take over, and control all the higher-ups at once¡­" King Cat lamented inwardly, glancing at Aloran and Eva, and seeing that they were looking at him too. He thought back to the mission he had gone on with Garen recently, as well as that terrifying, bottomless potential. Helplessly, he reached out his hand and took the glass. Instantly, a sharp cold came through the glass and pieced through his body. He could not help but shiver.


    Psst!


    In one gulp, King Cat finished all the wine without any hesitation. He did not even taste the wine, and just drank it all in one go.


    At about the same time, the Demon Spirit Solomon also drank it with a nonchalant smile. She never really had a fixed stance, she just went where the best benefits were. She did not have any fixed likes or dislikes, her personality was strange, and she did not really matter who was in charge, as long as they were strong enough.


    After two of the Three Hearted Disciples drank it, the Ballfish''s huge body frowned unhappily, glancing at Alice, and then looking at Garen''s thick, ferocious-looking Armor of Ice. He knew that he would not be able to leave this place without drinking it.


    "I''m sorry, Alice," he said inwardly, and he had no choice but to finish all the wine in one gulp.


    Everyone present actually understood that they would not be able to leave the Basilica without drinking the wine. Garen''s rampaging, terrifying chill above them was the proof, the chill had turned to a solid white smoke, and had completely surrounded the entire Basilica, making the peak of the mountain look like a divine realm.


    Once the few Three Hearted Disciples led the way and drank it first, the remaining few could only follow suit reluctantly. Only Alice, Eva, and Aloran remained steadfast.


    "It tastes good! As expected of the wine to come out of the Frost Hell! New Sect Master! Do you have any more, how about seconds?!" Of the Three Hearted Disciples, the Energy Machine Imprint master, Mandi, was all flushed and drunk, yelling at Garen without pretense.


    This guy was rather blunt in nature, although he was often isolated, that was mostly because he did not mix around enough. It was not as though he did not understand the way the world worked, he just happened to only trust his own instincts, and his instincts were telling him that this new Sect Master, Garen, had no ill intentions. That was why he decided to just not think about it, and he never did care two hoots about the battle for Moonshine and Star Plate.


    Now that the Second Elder, who was the support pillar behind Star Plate, had completely thrown his lot in with Garen, that meant that Garen had gotten the support of most of the Sect. Moonshine''s Alice could not support much on her own, the situation had practically already been decided, and there clearly was not much of a fight. That was why he decided to take the initiative and offer his allegiance.


    "I have wine, but only that glass can increase your powers, the rest can''t." Garen laughed exasperatedly, and raised his hand lightly, sending another glass of wine sliding up to Mandi, who made sure to taste it carefully. Standing there alone, he stood at the Three Hearted Position, and watched with a smile as Alice and the rest continued to hold on, trying not to surrender in the face of that terrifying pressure.


    Nothing happened to those who drank the wine, and this confused Alice and the others slightly. Perhaps this wine really was harmless, and Garen was just using it to confuse them?


    The situation here now was that Garen had the whole area suppressed, and you could not leave unless you drank that wine. Be it Alice or Eva, none of them could see where Garen''s limits were anymore. Such rapid growth could no longer be explained by saying he was a prodigy. There must be a huge secret behind this.


    Alice gritted her teeth, and glanced at Eva.


    "If we drink it, will you let us leave?" she asked icily, looking at Garen.


    Surprisingly, Garen actually raised his hand lightly.


    "You can choose to not drink, just make sure you don''t regret it later." He actually acted as though he did not care whether they drank it or not.


    "It''s up to you too if you want to leave. Of course, you are still considered a member of the Scarlet Snow Sect even if you''re away. Everything you have was given to you by the Scarlet Snow Sect, even if you don''t admit it, unless you throw away all your powers, your roots are still in the Scarlet Snow Sect in the eyes of others. This will never change," said Garen calmly.


    Just then, there was the continuous sound of people drinking, and this meant everyone, including Hong Guo. Nothing strange at all happened. On the other hand, this allowed Alice, Eva, and Aloran to relax ever so slightly.


    "Fine, I''ll drink it!" Aloran grabbed a wine glass decisively, tossed her head back, and drained it.


    Smack!


    She smashed the glass onto the ground, turned around, and left. She flew straight out of the Basilica, turning into a bolt of light and flying off.


    From the beginning to the end, Garen just watched coldly from the side, without any intention of stopping her.


    When they saw that, Eva and Alice also took their glasses decisively, draining it on one go, and they rose into the sky at the same time, leaving the Basilica.


    After the three of them left, there were only nine out of the original fifteen Three Hearted Disciples left.


    The few strongest ones had all left, and now the strongest one was King Cat. He sighed, looking around, and felt as though it was instantly a lot quieter now.


    "Second Elder, you can start to organize all the Inherited Levels in the sect now, and order all those Inherited Level and above to gather at the headquarters, Planet Scarlet Snow,within aa week. Those who disobey will be punished as traitors!"


    Garen ordered calmly.


    The armor on his body grew thicker and thicker, as though it was getting thicker, bigger, and bulkier as time went by. It had almost merged together with the Throne of Ice.


    This was activation proof that he was constantly sensing the higher realm and fundamental qualities of the Scarlet Snow Technique in the armor. He needed to understand how the ancestors could reach the ninth level without understanding the Board. Normally, anyone Level Eight and above would need to understand the Board, but the ancestors had somehow directly crossed this hurdle. This was an extremely precious bit of experience, even if he had all sorts of trump cards and immense confidence that he could make it past this challenge, he would still like to save some time wherever he could.

 1086 Officially in Power 2

    Once the Second Elder received his orders and started handing out orders, the powerhouses beneath him who had drunk the wine finally gave up for good. Even those who had not given up, those who refused to accept this, had to pretend to obey the orders. Otherwise, they might be punished to set an example for the others.


    The Energy Machinists had lived for so many years, so none of them were fools. They all saw clearly that Alice, Eva, and Aloran might have been spared because Garen still cared for their old bonds, but the remaining people might not be so lucky.


    Some of the more experienced Energy Machinists had already realized that Garen''s aura now might have already surpassed Non-Falling Level, and they quietly spread the news of this possibility, so that the atmosphere in the Basilica grew even more fearfully respectful.


    Right now, Garen was sitting on the Throne of Ice, and he was also considering how to manage the entire Scarlet Snow Sect. Other than for Alice and the other two, he had added the Distorted Seed into every other portion of wine.


    By now, his Distorted Seed was even more terrifying than ever, it could increase the parasite''s physical fitness by six times, but since there was a limit to the human body''s physical fitness, so this increase would manifest in a different form, and that was the Armor of Ice.


    When the extra power was activated, it would automatically envelop the parasite, forming an extremely powerful suit of Armor of Ice, and increase the parasite''s physical fitness by the maximum of six times that way.


    This was very similar to Garen''s current situation.


    But even then, the increase was already exceedingly frightening. Once Garen activated it, everyone''s physical fitness would be increased by six times, reaching an extreme degree.


    After all, every one of the Inherited-Level Energy Machinists here had already reached the limit of their physical fitness, they were all at twenty points. If they all had that increased by six times¡­ that would equal to 120 points, that was strong enough to force their way into the Non-Falling Level!


    "If the effect really is as good as I imagine it would be, then I would instantly have many Non-Falling-Level assets." Garen closed his eyes to rest, and it looked like he was quietly waiting for the orders to take effect, waiting for all the Inherited-Level powerhouses to meet, when in fact he was considering all the possibilities.


    He needed to take complete control of the whole Scarlet Snow Sect right now in one go, and catch all of Carthage''s spies all at one go, turning them all into his assets through the Distorted Seeds. This was the only thing he could think of.


    The time passed by. To Energy Machinists, even a few months barely counted as anything, it was equivalent to what normal people considered a few days. Nobody was impatient, and even if they were, they would not dare to show it.


    A day passed.


    Some of the Energy Machinists had completely white hair, and brought their disciples back to the headquarters. They were quickly led to the Basilica, and gifted the Distorted Seed wine, then they were sent to an area near the Basilica to rest.


    The Great Supervisors and powerhouses who had retired into secrecy all streamed back to the headquarters, and to Garen''s delighted surprise, two of the old men had been hiding their powers, and had actually already reached Non-Falling Level.


    These two were the brothers Ice-Crack and Ice-Grand who had retired to the South Pole base, they were old-time powerhouses from the same generation as the Second Elder. Back then, they had lost in the battle for the Elder positions, and had retired in their despair. No one had thought that they would unexpectedly reach Non-Falling Level.


    Although Garen did not know how they did it, regardless of the result, he just happened to be in dire need of powerful helpers right now, so Garen did not care all that much about the process. He offered them the Distorted Seed wine, and he only had to release his Level-Eight aura to get those two old geezers, as well as their four disciples'' disciples, to obediently drink the wine.


    The Scarlet Snow Sect''s secret power was extremely considerable, and contrary to Garen''s expectations, on the fifth day, even more powerhouses appeared, one after the other, from the outer planets. Many of these were capable powerhouses who had been exiled to the other planets, and one of them was even one generation older than the Second Elder. This person was truly a long-lived elder, currently aged 5602, and was also at the Non-Falling Level, but this one was at the peak, making him(1) overwhelmingly powerful.


    This person came with all his disciples and grand-disciples, carrying a fearsome momentum. He clearly planned to usurp Garen''s position, and had even brought some of his friends from other sects to buff up his forces.


    Unfortunately, he met Garen. Garen just had to release his Level-Eight aura, and the whole group deflated like balloons, each of the Inherited-Level and above powerhouses obediently accepting the Distorted Seed wine, and all turning into parasites.


    This parasitism would not take effect immediately, but it would slowly and subconsciously affect the parasite''s Will and Soul, gradually turning them into the Hellfrost Peacock''s larvae. They would then be unable to resist their inherent fear and respect for the original mother queen. Although they would not obey the queen unconditionally, they must still never have the slightest intention of disobeying the queen, and whether they were alive or dead, they would eventually merge into the queen. At the same time, their affinity for ice would increase tremendously, and naturally they would also possess the talent for the Cold Chaos ability, that was the true power of the Hellfrost Peacock. When an army of countless soldiers brought out their Cold Chaos ability and spread it everywhere, devouring everything, unless they were stopped, the whole world would truly fall apart at the seams.


    This blindly ambitious old man was forced down by Garen, and even the thirty-odd Inherited-Level powerhouses he had brought with him became the Distorted Seed''s parasites. These included not just the older members of the Scarlet Snow Sect, but even the powerhouses from other sects, and in turn, this greatly benefited Garen''s succession to the throne.


    After half a month, the main situation had settled. Every member of the Scarlet Snow Sect was under the control of the Distorted Seed, and all the powerhouses, Inherited-Level and above, were completely unaware of the parasites. Instead, they felt the wine slowly strengthening their regenerative powers, and at the same time, a layer of ice armor gradually appeared on their bodies, one that they could extend and retract at will. When they donned the armor, their fitness would also be greatly increased.


    Garen had always been sitting in the middle of the Basilica, high above the ground. A thick white pillar had naturally appeared beneath the Throne of Ice, connecting it to the Basilica underneath.


    The armor over Garen''s entire body had completely fused with the Throne of Ice, fixing him onto the seat. He had also sent the others away, so he was the only one left in the entire Basilica.


    An extremely terrifying chill was circling around the Basilica, turning this place into a true Frost Hell. As soon as any living thing entered this place, even their Wills and souls would be instantly frozen, and they would completely be paralyzed as Garen''s Faded Creation skill slowly devoured them.


    Unless they were powerhouses at Inherited Level or above who had become parasites of his Distorted Seed.


    Ever since Garen succeeded the throne, the sky in the Basilica had been covered by a whirlpool of black clouds with the occasional rumble of thunder, the pressure low and cold. The whole Basilica glowed with an eerie cold blue light, and the ice-blue cold flames flickered sometimes, burning slowly on the torches.


    Garen sat on the Throne of Ice, his eyes glowing with an eerie cold blue light, the patterns on his armor growing more and more intricate, marks like sword scratches appearing on the surface of his armor. Some sharp Wong-like thorns of ice had already started appearing on his back. These thorns were blue-black and extremely sharp, stacking on top of each other without any rhyme or reason. Seen from a distance, they looked like a random pile of bird wings, without any order or symmetry to speak of.


    But they vaguely gave of a sense of holy, majestic sharpness.


    The many wing thorns were wide and long, and had nearly become the most eye-catching symbol in the whole courtroom. Compared to Garen and his throne, which were only several meters tall, the blue-black wings on his back, more than a dozen meters tall, were even more iconic and memorable.


    From a distance, all that could be seen was the infinite chill emanating from the piled-up wings, such that anyone who even glanced at it, even from several kilometers away, would feel all cold all around their bodies.


    It had already been half a month since Garen gathered all the powerhouses. The sky was calm without even a hint of clouds, because all the clouds had gathered above the Courtroom, forming a black whirlpool there that seemed as though it would never cease. And everywhere else was as sunny as could be, without the slightest bit of chill, as though the entire headquarters had instantly gone from winter to summer.


    Psst!


    All of a sudden, from a building within headquarters, a pillar of pale blue light shot into the sky. It shot straight for a dazzling star in the sky, and the pale blue glow it emanated almost outshone even the golden light of the sun.


    "I''ve broken through! I''ve broken through! Hahaha!! Hahahaha--!!" A man''s deafening, almost mad laughter rang out, and echoed infinitely across a large area of the headquarters.


    In a small alley between the palace''s many buildings, Eva and Aloran looked at the pillar of light in the sky, shocked.


    "That''s¡­ Non-Falling Light??!"


    Eva said disbelievingly.


    "Who else in the Sect could break through to the Non-Falling Level in such a short time? Could it be King Cat?"


    "No way! That''s not King Cat''s voice!" Aloran was equally shocked, and murmured softly.


    Ever since Garen dominated the entire Scarlet Snow Sect, they had left the Courtroom, thick with conspiracy, in a rage. They wanted to leave alone, but they could not break away completely, both of them had their own relatives. They both came from large family clans, with at least a hundred members in total, their parents, their children and grandchildren. All of these people lived under the protection of the Scarlet Snow Sect, and could not escape at all.


    So all they could do was turn a blind eye to this, and secretly investigate the change in the Elder while also secretly transferring their families and assets away.


    At first, they had thought that since they did not support Garen, and the Scarlet Snow Sect had two of its Elders go missing, the Sect''s strength would be affected. But now, someone had actually broken through to Non-Falling Level!


    "If it''s not King Cat, then who is it?" Alice sighed. "I just got the news, two weeks ago Garen announced the latest situation, Star Cloud and Black Blade have started warring against each other, and the impact is felt far and wide. The battle has already spread to more than thirty planets, and our Scarlet Snow Sect has been implicated as well. The Major Battle has been delayed indefinitely now."


    "Then what do we do now?" asked Aloran dejectedly, looking at the Non-Falling Light with some envy in her eyes.


    "I heard that two Perpetual Motioner Holy Lords have joined in as well, once it''s reached such an extent, our Scarlet Snow Sect can only hide in our headquarters, keep a low profile, and wait to see how it ends." Alice was melancholic. "But even such a wish might not come true."


    "You mean¡­" Aloran suddenly thought of something.


    "That''s right. That one will probably come¡­" Alice nodded.


    Psst-psst-psst!!


    Suddenly, three more pillars of light shot into the sky. They were all Non-Falling Light!


    This time, Alice''s eyes widened, and Aloran was completely stunned.


    "Wh-what''s this?!" Her mouth fell open as she stared at the four pillars of white-blue light shooting into the sky, and she could not close it for a long time.

 1087 Chaos 1

    In the dark blue Courtroom basilica.


    "What''s the situation?" Garen''s voice fell from a height. It was grand and broad, giving people a sense of extreme prestige.


    Second Elder and the other two old men quietly stood in the center of the basilica in a shape that resembled a fan.


    The two old men were similar in their appearances. They seemed to be twin brothers and were advanced in years. They had white hair and white beards. Each of them had a black cane in their hands and their white robe was constantly puffed out by the cold stream.


    They were the Ice-Crack and Ice-Grand brothers who had returned to the headquarters from the polar base. After acquiring the Distorted Seed, the two Non-falling Levels'' strength had entered an unfathomable state. Adding to the ambiguity of their body aura, even Garen did not know what level they had reached. After all, the greater the strength of the parasite of Distorted Seed, the more terrific the increase was.


    After Second Elder acquired the Distorted Seed, from his initial stage at the bottom of the Non-falling Level, he had only risen to the peak of the Non-Falling Level. He could be considered to have only just restored the dignity of the original Second Elder. But now, he was somewhat shrinking in fear in front of Ice-Crack and Ice-Grand.


    If Garen had not checked to confirm that the real Second Elder had been completely killed off by Carthage, leaving only this flesh for this fellow to parasitize, and if it were not for him occupying the body of Second Elder, he would have gotten rid of this disgusting waste with a strike earlier on.


    "The statistics are already out," Second Elder reported with a fawn smile. "In the whole sect, there are a total of one hundred and sixty-seven Inherited Levels with more than half of them breaking through recently. Under the increase brought about by the Scarlet Snow Wine, they have acquired the Armor of Ice and their strength has greatly improved."


    "Get to the point!" Garen said coldly.


    "Yes, yes, yes..." Second Elder, or the parasite, whose real name was Dansey, quickly put it short. "The number of Non-falling Levels has been completely stabilized at about eleven people."


    "Eleven people? Is it possible to have even more?" Garen asked.


    "The possibility of having more is not big..." The Fake-Second-Elder, Dansey, quickly answered.


    "Since this is a Secret Technique Sect, we must restore the glory of Secret Technique..." A thought flashed through Garen''s mind. "From now on, discard the system of elders and put all those who entered Non-falling Level into the new position of Ice Demon General. Their authority is one-third of the original elders."


    "Sect Master, that''s eleven people. Would the number be too many?" Ice-Grand frowned from beside.


    "Many? How could it be many?" Garen shrugged it off. "I think it is too few instead. That is how it will be. In addition, change the name Armor of Ice to Ice Demonic Armor. You are all dismissed."


    "Yes."


    The trio retreated respectfully. The more powerful they were, the more they felt the horrific aura around Garen, and the more they realized the gap between Garen and them.


    After the trio had left, a white old man soon entered the basilica slowly.


    It was Osho Ice-Ocean, who had originally wanted to return and seize power. He was an over five-thousand-and-six-hundred-years-old ancient.


    At this time, he looked not much different from those old gentlemen; white slim suit and a neat white-golden short hair with a strand of it hanging from the right side corner. A small tuft of white beard was left on the chin, while the rest was shaved cleanly.


    Holding a white cane in one hand and an eyeglass, which was just taken off, in another hand, his posture was straight and tall and his expression was solemn.


    Anyone who saw him the first time would get an impression of one who was clean, elegant, calm and steady. But, in the same way, such a face would also give people an ambitious sense of power.


    "Sect Master, what have you sought this old man for?" Ice-Ocean asked with a hint of awe from the depths of his heart.


    "As the best-informed family, how is the situation now?" Garen went straight into the topic. He had asked Osho to go collect information these days and now it was time to grasp the information.


    "There is something wrong with the situation. The Major Battle has been delayed and Magnetic Field did not give any specific reply. However, there is news circulating from many small and medium sects that the Major Battle this time is likely to cause a reshuffle in three major organizations," Osho Ice-Ocean replied softly. "I am sending people to conduct a careful investigation. Because of the uncertainty of the news, it was not reported to Sect Master yet."


    "Did Alice and the others make any movements?"


    "No. They wanted to leave, but now that there are wars and disputes, the Stargates nearby have been dominated by the big Sects. It''s okay for a single person to leave, but it can be troublesome when there are more people," explained Osho.


    Garen also understood that this may be the work of the three major organizations, but it was more likely that Carthage and others had given impetus to the situation. Only by sealing off the Stargates could the Energy Machinists be completely eliminated.


    In any case, the Scarlet Snow Sect had finally survived the original storm. As one of the surviving sects, the Scarlet Snow Sect was eliminated only after more than a hundred years in the Battle of Ice Age.


    From this perspective, there was just enough time to settle his own business.


    Garen''s eyes glimmered slightly.


    "Go prepare. You will temporarily preside over the sect. I''m going out on a trip."


    "Going out!?" Osho Ice-Ocean was a little surprised. "Sect Master, the situation within the Sect has just been settled, and there are wars and chaos on the outside. At this kind of time, we need a powerful figure such as you, Sect Master, to keep watch. Going out now might cause instability in the hearts of the people!"


    He was not feigning it but was really considering it. Although he had vainly tried to seize power, during this times of war, strength and capability were the foundation of it all. With a powerful figure like Garen keeping watch, it was served as a reassurance.


    "It''s okay. I''ve got my own arrangements," Garen said lightly. "Pull back the Business Alliance completely and drop the peripheral parts of the business first. Have everyone return to the headquarters of Planet Scarlet Snow. All the powerhouses on Planet Naga are to return as well. The resources in stock are sufficient for us to use up to hundreds of years. During this time, we just need to quietly wait for the war to pass."


    "Since Sect Master has already made a decision, I will not say anything more. It''s just that, Sect Master, the present situation hasn''t reached this level yet, has it?"


    Garen was calm and collected. His knuckles gently knocked on the seat.


    Pap.


    A silver resplendent star map suddenly appeared in the air between the two people.


    The star map was a square. The map was full of twinkling stars and dots. Each star represented a planet.


    "These are the two major nebulae. The Human Race and the Finite People are divided into two sides."


    Garen lifted his finger and the square star map was immediately divided into two blocks: red and blue. On the blue parts, there appeared the logo of Human Race, while the red showed the Finite logo.


    Hiss...


    The nebula of the Human Race quickly magnified and occupied the entire square star map, making the entire star map a blue one.


    "We are¡­here." Garen raised his finger and gently pointed.


    Hum!


    On the blue star map, a small, irregular area emerged from the furthest corner, turning white with the Energy Machinist logo appearing on it.


    "Whether it is the Positive Spatial Universe or the Negative Spatial Universe, our star region is only this large, less than one-tenth of the entire Human Race area," Garen continued.


    Osho Ice-Ocean knitted his eyebrows together and was puzzled.


    "However, we have occupied one-third of the entire Human Race''s resources, and perhaps even more," The Garen''s tone changed, becoming increasingly low and deep.


    Osho Ice-Ocean was immediately startled.


    "You mean...the pilots might take action against us... That''s impossible! We Energy Machinists have the support of the Regent Level!"


    "Nothing is impossible," Garen said plainly. "By now, perhaps many of the top-level people have already seen some indication of it. This is an open secret. But as the Stargates have been sealed off, there is also no way to escape."


    "If that is the case! Then all the more you should not leave!" Osho was stunned and spoke in a low voice.


    "I have my plan and intention. You need not worry," Garen raised his hand to stop him from speaking. "In addition to that, I may bring someone to leave together. Rest assured."


    Osho frowned hard and felt that the situation was turning more complex and stranger. He was feeling more and more that this Sect Master, who had always been mysterious, was unfathomable. The Scarlet Snow Sect was a small sect and yet, he could actually know this kind of classified information. One could imagine how profound the card this new Sect Master had in his hand.


    "In that case, who are you planning to bring along?"


    "Turing," Garen whispered with a smile.


    ******************


    Mother Planet.


    Central Academy.


    The vast towers and castle of the Central Academy stood quietly on an isolated island in the middle of the ocean. The white castle had an irregularly triangular, cone-like shape with honeycomb-like black holes on it. A large number of small spaceships went in and out of the mouth of the honeycomb continually.


    From time to time, a flock of white seabirds would circle around the castle and made cawing noises.


    Blue sky, white clouds, sunshine, beaches, and white gull birds together with the white castle and minaret which stood in the middle.


    A spaceship in the sky slowly released a white projection.


    "Celebrating the three thousandth year of the establishment of the Central Academy."


    The white projection was still as it continued to surf in the sky, displaying to anyone passing by below.


    The castle was surrounded by white roads extending in all directions. Exquisite and gorgeous sedans continued to hover above. Many of these cars were driven by students and instructors. Occasionally, one could see a Mech flying out of the castle heading far away.


    In one of the cars, a tall and robust man admired the huge Central Castle.


    "It''s beautiful. One will definitely feel good to study in this environment. With the beach, pretty girls, swimsuits, tsk tsk¡­"


    The man had a V-shaped white mark between his eyebrows. It seemed to be an inlaid metal tattoo. He had short purple-black hair, and his outfit was no different compared to any other students. The white T-shirt and jeans looked very inconspicuous.


    "Nono, if you want to go back to the Blackboard Academy, you can only transfer from here. There really is no other way. Only this place has a long-distance teleportation portal. This thing is extremely expensive. It costs at least ten thousand Universal Units to teleport once. Apart from the rich people, most people are forced to either drive or to fly by spaceship."


    The driver was a student of the Central Academy, Luke, whom he encountered on the way by chance and gave him a friendly ride.


    Luke was a typical rich kid. He was only an ordinary second-year student at the Central Academy and was only here to gild himself.1


    The two men looked out of the window. On the golden beach in the distance, one could see some girls in bikinis and men walking and playing with water over there.


    "I heard that there are also many beautiful women in Blackboard. It is said that the people in Maria Region are all women. Tsk tsk, how nice. Unfortunately, my hometown is on the Western continent. Otherwise, I can go and have a look too..." Luke was a standard dandy disciple, but he was enthusiastic about making friends and liked to travel. "I also know a few friends from Blackboard who came to study at Central Academy. How about going with them together when the time comes?"


    "It doesn''t matter to me so long as I can go back," Garen smiled faintly. He was sent directly to the Mother Planet through a Star-Level teleportation portal. From Planet Scarlet Snow to the Mother Planet, he had spent two golden crystals. The expense was huge. But he did not expect the teleportation portal on the Mother Planet was in disrepair since the early years, causing an error in the teleportation positioning and sending him directly into the Radiation Zone in ??the wilderness. Furthermore, the current Mother Planet was still in the stage of an inter-region blockade, as the Predator Wave was still at its peak.


    Garen could only quietly enter the nearest region, and he did not expect it to be Central Region, which had the largest territory and was the site of Central Academy. He then simply went straight to the Central Academy to use its long-distance teleportation portal to return to Blackboard Region.


    As a result, he met Luke on the way. According to him, he saw that Garen had an extraordinary temperament and was clearly not an ordinary person. He sincerely wanted to befriend him, which was why he took the initiative to pull over and gave him a ride.

 1088 Chaos 2

    "I don''t know how it is like in the Blackboard Region recently and what has changed there. I haven''t been back there for a long time. After graduating for so many years, I really don''t know if a lot of things are still there," Garen sighed.


    "Hehe, people always miss their hometown when they are outside. It''s also human nature," Luke laughed. "Speaking of which, Black Star Diofie who came from your Blackboard Region is really awesome. He withstood the alliance between two major regions by himself and has become a pillar of the region at such a young age. My sister especially adores him and keeps viewing him as her idol, constantly telling me about him..."


    Garen shook his head. Black Star Diofie actually became the pillar of the Blackboard Region. He wondered what kind of changes had taken place in these years. His fame had even spread to Central. Presumably, the recent reputation of Blackboard Region was very great.


    "That year when the Divine Wind General rebelled, the vitality of the Blackboard Region greatly suffered. The Black Flood Party was divided into two, one part in the Blackboard Region and another in the Polar Region. If it wasn''t for the emergence of Diofie, I reckon that the Blackboard Region would have ceased to exist. Our battle-class professor regarded this reversal battle as a classic," Luke praised. When speaking to a certain kind of people, one had to find a certain common topic to talk about. Since Garen was from the Blackboard Region, he would naturally pick this area of topic.


    "I don''t know how my professor is doing now," Garen sighed.


    "Once you return, you''ll know." Luke raised his hand and pointed forward. "See that? That right there is the long-distance teleportation portal. The one on the leftmost leads directly to the Blackboard Region."


    Following the direction of his finger, Garen looked up and saw that there was a row of tall, circular arched doors at the far end. The middle of the door was flowing with a thin, membrane-like liquid that flashed with a blue light.


    The doors were more than ten meters high. They were extremely large. There were more than ten doors in a row, and each of them corresponded with the names of the different regions. Among them, the rightmost one was the Blackboard Region.


    There was also the Polar Region and other names that had not been heard of. Obviously, only when the scale reached a certain level would it be qualified to arrange a teleportation portal here.


    Chhh!


    The car drifted sideways and stopped.


    "I can only send you ''til here," Luke said with a smile. "There are soldiers in front that do not allow cars to pass."


    "It''s okay. Thanks a lot for sending me all the way here," Garen politely expressed his gratitude and looked up at the large door to the Blackboard Region. The doorway was still sparsely lined up, with about a dozen people waiting for an inspection before teleporting.


    "It''s all right! Remember to get your teleportation card. Without such a thing, you''re not allowed to be teleported," Luke kindly reminded.


    Garen smiled.


    "Don''t worry. When you have time, come to the Blackboard Region. You must remember to contact me then."


    "Hehe. Have a safe journey," Luke waved, drove his car and left after turning around the bend.


    Garen looked at the electronic inspection device on the white road ahead, smiled and walked over.


    Doo. Doo.


    After a subtle sound of inspection, Garen, who did not have any proof of identity, naturally passed it. His identity wrist-watch was already destroyed by the Blackboard Region back then. Nonetheless, what was the point of a proof for him now?


    He went along with the queue, slowly waiting for the inspection. However, with the use of Inherited Level Willpower, he easily mingled in. Garen followed the crowd flow and directly walked into the blue liquid of the huge teleportation portal, disappearing instantly.


    Just as he entered the teleportation portal, the entire portal shook violently and the surface surged with large ripples.


    "A high-energy creature had mingled in just now! Check the equipment quickly! Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!"


    "Notify the Blackboard Region and immediately send out a warning!!"


    A few senior officers in a group of soldiers stationed over there immediately panicked and issued a series of instructions loudly.


    "What''s with the panic? People were just passing by!" A white-haired old man with a goatee appeared out of nowhere in front of the teleportation portal and was hovering in the air.


    "In¡­ Inherited Level professor!"


    Most of the soldiers were ordinary people. They rarely had the chance to see an Inherited Level powerhouse in the castle. At this time, there was a sudden exclamation.


    The old man breathed out a sigh of relieved without anyone noticing.


    "Fortunately, that lad, Luke, had safely sent this old monster away..."


    Recalling the message his grandson had sent him, he said that he had encountered a horrific guy whose limit could not even be detected by the aura detector. He immediately rushed over and did not expect that from far, he could feel that this guy was definitely extraordinarily powerful. Even the Dean of the Academy was incomparable to that vast ocean-like aura. How could a powerhouse of this level appear on the Mother Planet!?


    The resources of the Mother Planet had long been scarce. There was nothing else valuable other than some ruins. Non-falling Level was almost the strongest ranks. Most of the more powerful powerhouses had left the Mother Planet to more prosperous places. It was impossible for them to come to such a barren place to hamper their own development.


    "Anyway, as long as he has left, it''s fine. It''s fine..." The old man was relieved.


    "Someone! Immediately close the Blackboard Region teleportation portal!" He ordered loudly right away. "There is something wrong with the teleportation portal and it needs to be repaired immediately."


    He himself, on the other hand, flew directly to the main castle. He must immediately report this incident. His instinct told him that there probably was going to be a major change of events in the direction of the Blackboard Region.


    **********************


    Osiris City by the border of Blackboard Region.


    Osiris was only a small city, but it was garrisoned with one of the Five Great Border Corps, the Lion King Corps. It was led by a military chief, who was a Level-Five pilot stationed here named Lion King Ryan.


    This place was also the main checkpoint to examine the incoming and outgoing of people teleporting.


    Soldiers and Mechs in black uniforms guarded the huge, long-distance teleportation portal.


    One by one, the teleporters came out from the inside, each pulling their own luggage. They quickly began to go far away to make a call.


    "Please show your wrist-watch and then leave quickly along the safe route. This is a high-radiation zone."


    "Please do not stay near the teleportation portal so as to avoid high radiation from damaging the body."


    The sweet broadcaster kept on giving out instructions. There were cars parked outside the railings in the distance. They were all vehicles that had come to pick up their loved ones and friends.


    The noisy crowd lined up. After the entire body was scanned by the Mech soldiers'' electronic scan, they quickly left one after another.


    Hum...


    Suddenly, the entire teleportation quavered, triggering a large number of ripples. It then abruptly closed off with a screech.


    Garen had just stepped out of the teleportation portal when he felt the teleportation portal closing behind him.


    He smiled lightly, not at all surprised. Luke''s appearance and the observers in the dark on the way made him aware that Luke was not so kind as to help him. Although this situation was obvious, it was also expected.


    Hiss...


    Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, he felt the familiar scent in the air.


    "Finally... I''m back here again..."


    Returning once again, he looked at the surrounding Mech soldiers that were just Level One and Two. Faraway, an estimated Level-Four aura that was rushing over here was probably the most powerful person in the vicinity. After just coming back from the busiest metropolis filled with powerhouses, he was reflecting on the barren state here where a Level Four could be considered a powerhouse.


    The huge gap made Garen shook his head slightly.


    In the Three Major Metropolis, Level Four Energy Machinists could only be considered as technicians and they were the largest group of workers. Meanwhile, over here, they could be high-level generals who guarded this kind of important teleportation portals.


    If such pilots were put on Planet Naga, they could only be the underlings of the ordinary Level One and Two sect disciples.


    Mixing in the crowd, he watched a grand spaceship fly quickly into the sky. Black standard Mechs with a black disc on their back jumped down from it.


    Professor... Seventh Divine Wind General... and also a biochemist Bamente, Ice Dragon, Fila as well as the Sixth Divine Wind General who had saved him before. One by one, their faces flashed through Garen''s mind non-stop. Finally, it was fixed on a pretty and striking girl''s face.


    "Celine..."


    Garen let out a breath lightly.


    It was time, to end everything.


    Fila, who had caused him to almost die back then, Seventh Divine Wind General, and Bamente. These three were his primary targets. As for the Professor, who had once helped him even though he gave up in the end¡­


    "Turing, what do you think I should do?" Garen''s lips were motionless, but he used Willpower to transmit his voice directly.


    Turing had always been hidden in the air around him. As Garen advanced to the Non-falling Level, they had also advanced to the degree of Non-falling Level. It was just that they had a layer of cutting-edge invisible clothing on them.


    "Mother Planet is merely a poor and underdeveloped area used by Energy Machinists as their experimental zone. With Master''s power, there is absolutely no need for any fear. Nobody will try to offend Master because of the Mother Planet," Turing answered faithfully.


    "I used to live here for many years. There are many people here whom I have once known..." Garen said plainly.


    "Master''s will is the fate of Mother Planet," Turing''s voice slowly came about.


    The wind was blowing, and the sun gave off a warm feeling as it shone on the body.


    There was silence for a long time.


    Garen slowly laughed.


    "In that case..."


    He gradually closed his eyes, and an invisible wave of power slowly spread out.


    The sky was gradually filled with dark clouds and they were getting denser. In just a few moments, the entire city was covered with darkness.


    "Is it going to rain again? Didn''t it just rain?"


    "Didn''t the weather forecast said that it will be sunny today and tomorrow?"


    "The weather forecast has never been reliable!"


    The teleporters who passed by Garen complained.


    "Blackboard Region, Polar Region... Your destinies are about to be the same as this dark sky. Will there be anyone who can break open this dark cloud... who can break through this fate..."


    Garen murmured in a whisper. His figure suddenly blurred, instantly disappearing among the crowd.


    Numerous dark clouds covered both the Blackboard Region and the Polar Region at almost the same time. Even the vast Radiation Zone in between was covered. The abundant dark clouds obscured the sunlight in the sky.


    The temperature dropped rapidly, and reports of the sudden formation of cold air were everywhere.


    The atmosphere that was supposed to be summer seemed to have returned to winter all of a sudden.


    The Capital, Blackboard City...


    "Snow! It''s snow! It''s snowing! Mommy, mommy, it''s snowing!" A child on the street was so surprised that she caught a snowflake in a glove and hopped and ran in the direction of home.


    Plentiful snowflakes descended from the sky.


    At the highest point of Blackboard City, a slender, black, pointed Mech was half-squatting on the tip of the minaret on a Blackboard battleship.


    Black Star Diofie in the cabin was no longer the handsome young man back in those years. His hair was white on both sides and there were obvious wrinkles on his face, showing signs of senility that were not supposed to be there.


    Chhh...


    The roof of the cabin opened. He sat in the Mech and looked up at the falling snowflake in the sky.


    "Snow?"


    He reached out his hand in a daze, caught a little snowflake, and watched it melt gradually in his palm.


    As soon as the snow melted, he felt an intense anxiety in the depth of his Willpower.


    "Dean."


    Suddenly, a light curtain screen appeared in front of him automatically. A young woman on it spoke solemnly.


    "It''s weird. The Intelligence Bureau sent news that the Polar Region and we have a sudden unusual gathering of clouds in the sky above. All areas, including the Radiation Zone, have begun to snow as such."


    "Notify the professors in the Inner Courtyard to organize a group of experts to conduct a research. We must make clear the source of this snow," Diofie frowned.


    "Understood."


    "I don''t know why," Diofie whispered. "I have a bad feeling."

 1089 Return 1

    Blackboard City


    The city which was once referred to as the Blackboard City had fallen more and more into desolation and disarray. The prosperous streets and alleys were full of rubbish, and broken pieces of newspapers were scattered all over the ground. Some wild dogs and cats were still looking for food residues in the trash, and whimpering sounds could be heard from time to time.


    The vagrants and wanderers who had never appeared squatted and wandered in the depths of the alley, fighting with the wild dogs for food.


    The ruined walls of the building, the dark and dirty streets on the green belt, and the occasionally-agitated curses coming from the vehicles that passed by.


    Garen walked slowly in this capital, Blackboard City. From the teleportation point, he arrived here straight away without any delay at all. Fila and the Seventh Divine Wind General from back then, as well as the biochemist Bamente, had surely left this place.


    Coming here, Garen''s only wish was merely to have a look at the current Blackboard Academy and to visit his previous professor.


    He slowly walked down the street.


    "Hehe... Kid, people from outside who pass through this place have to pay a protection fee... Do you understand the rules?" A few thugs came out of the alley and stopped in front of Garen. They wore an aura of teasing and malice on their faces.


    The few remaining passersby around hurried to flee and pretended not to have seen anything at all.


    Garen''s black, top-grade clothing looked no different from the rich young master wandering on the outside. His smile was mild, but it gave people a kind of pretentious feel.


    He recalled that once, he did not know who had told him that if he did not know how to be nice to the people around you, then just keep on smiling. By doing this, it would let those who were genuinely thinking of you know that you were doing well and there was no need to worry¡­


    "Protection fee?" Garen looked at the three bullies in front of him. "When does Blackboard City have this kind of thing there?"


    Looking at the calm and composed Garen, something seemed amiss. The few bullies started to have a bad feeling.


    "Our boss is..." Boom!


    A muffled sound was heard. The three bullies flew out at the same time, slamming into the sides of the walls. The sound of their bones being cracked burst out. Before they could even shout out in pain, it was unknown whether they were dead or alive. Blood slowly flowed down from the three people and formed a small bloody puddle on the ground.


    Garen did not even lift his hands. This was only one-hundredth of his One Time Fist Pressure. One Time Fist Pressure would not increase any power but evenly dispersed the force from the fist into the vacuum around it, instantly breaking out the same force in all directions.


    It was not merely a little power of the fist.


    "Was it still a little over?" Garen frowned slightly. He had originally intended to keep them alive, but he did not expect one-hundredth of One Time Fist Pressure to be this heavy...


    Boom.


    There was a light sound of windows closing in the upper floors.


    The surroundings suddenly became emptier. The entire street became increasingly desolate; several cars darted pass in an accelerated speed as if the drivers were fleeing for their lives.


    Garen put his hands in his pockets and looked at the city that had become even more desolate due to the war. If this place had become as such, let alone other places.


    "Go and see Celine''s residence first..."


    As soon as he thought of it, Garen went a little further to stop a taxi.


    Once in the car, he mentioned the name of the place Celine''s house was at.


    "That place... Oh, the original villa district of the Academy," The driver was a chubby, middle-aged man with a crew cut and he had a black, knife-like leather by his side. He looked at Garen from the rear-view mirror.


    "Are you a student of the Academy?" He asked as he started the car. "Your temperament does not look like the average person."


    "How is it over there now?" Garen smiled and asked.


    "Still okay. In the war these recent years, many have died. The Academy has rushed to recruit a lot of freshmen, but it has become a bit messy," The driver replied casually. "Now, even an ordinary bully will not dare to go to that place. That place is filled with powerhouses with Willpower. Ordinary people who go there are just looking for a beating. In the beginning, I have also mingled over there, but I did not expect that in the blink of an eye..."


    The driver began to talk incessantly. Although he looked fierce, no one would expect him to actually be such a long-winded person. He could not get to the point after talking for half a day, and he immediately began to talk about his brilliant years back then.


    Garen was not impatient. Instead, he sat quietly looking out the window.


    It was really regrettable that this once-prosperous city had become dilapidated to this extent in such a short period of time.


    Along the way with the driver''s babble, Garen finally arrived at the villa district near Blackboard Academy.


    He got out of the car and paid with a black card that had been prepared beforehand. This black card was previously stolen from a rich man. The order here had been chaotic to a point where even the number of soldiers was far from enough. Not to mention, the police was also lacking in quantity. The social order could only be maintained at a basic level.


    Garen knew the way well and went around the path with ease. He soon saw Celine''s villa in the middle among rows of small white villas.


    This place was vacant and there were not many people living in. It was afternoon. With the dark clouds in the sky, the snow falling and the lights dim, it was still dead silent here, seemingly deserted. Only a villa was spotted with lights on in a far distance away.


    Garen followed the road in the district. On his way, he did not see anyone else except for the broken streetlights. The entire district had almost become a dead city.


    Walking to the door of Celine''s villa, there were specks of thick dust on the ground everywhere. The self-defense guarding system of the villa had also stopped monitoring and defending for a long time. The entire villa was dark and unusually quiet.


    Reaching out his hand and with a light flicker, the door creaked open. Garen slowly entered inside.


    The huge living room was pitch-black. Only the metal armor figure of an ancient knight reflected a faint silver glimmer.


    The air was filled with strong dust particles.


    "Sure enough, there was no one..." Garen sighed. With a thought, a cold wind instantly rolled up in the villa, promptly blowing all the dust out of the house and gathering it in a corner.


    The entire villa suddenly became much cleaner.


    After wandering around the villa, Garen entered the basement again and looked at the place he had constantly trained with Celine back then. It was also dusty. He gazed at the familiar furnishing, but the people had completely left. It came upon him that he had not contacted Celine for a long time. Presumably, she had completely abandoned this house.


    Many years ago, Celine returned the news that Nonosiva''s parents and sister had been completely settled down in the most peaceful center, the Freshwater Galaxy. Celine herself had also followed the Professor to the Freshwater Galaxy, and could only send back news once in a long time because the distance was too far away. Now that the long-distance Stargate was completely sealed off, there was absolutely no way of knowing what had happened.


    "Freshwater Galaxy. Don''t know how they are doing..." Garen thought of Baylon again, who was destined to become the younger brother or sister of Royal Star. If it went according to history, she might soon be returning from Four-Star Alliance.


    Just when they returned, there would be an eruption of an enormous energy tide. This grand occasion was just as nice as a good opportunity for him to devour energy. Garen came back at this crucial time for this exact reason, not only for revenge.


    Moving about Celine''s basement, the familiar environment was still there, but the person was no longer here anymore. He himself could not escape from this vortex.


    "If there is no relationship with Red Moon, no relationship with Baylon, perhaps whitewashing1 to become a pilot is also a good evasion method. Unfortunately¡­ Life isn''t so kind as to allow so many ''if''s. The moment I am noticed by White King, I will absolutely be the target to be used for coercion."


    Garen left the villa. His heart was still unable to calm down.


    Walking along the path toward the outside of the villa district, he finally saw a few people: three men and a woman. The three men were dragging a girl toward the darker area. Their lustful laughter was mixed with the girl''s horrified crying sound. Obviously, they were not up to something good. Sure enough, the trouble that the driver mentioned was no ordinary because, among the three men, there was actually one who had Willpower fluctuation.


    "Is the impact of the war really this big?"


    Garen sighed.


    "Even this city has decayed to such a point in just a few years'' time..."


    His voice traveled from far into the ears of the four people. It was calm as if the event occurring before him was irrelevant. It was like he was watching a movie with total stillness.


    "Who''s there!?" One of the three men pulling the girl shouted loudly and glared at Garen with a warning.


    "Don''t meddle in, or else..." He did not finish his sentence, but the threatening message behind it was obvious.


    "Help! Save me!" The girl seemed to have found hope and cried out loudly for help. "As long as you save me, I can give you money, Universal Units! One hundred thousand, one million! Please! Save me... "


    Pap!


    The man who spoke gave her a hard smack across the face.


    "Bitch, back then when I pursued you, you were unwilling and humiliated me with all kinds of way. You looked down on me, eh? What about now? Hehe!"


    He grabbed the girl''s hair.


    "Aren''t you virtuous? Aren''t you a goddess? Why are you crying like this now? Didn''t you look down on me? Ah! Now you know how to seek help?"


    The man laughed sinisterly.


    "Let go of Nolan!" In the quietness, a quivering female voice suddenly rang out from the darkness not far away.


    A black-haired girl in a white tunic dress slowly walked out of the darkness. She also held a pair of high heels in her hand. Her black, clean single ponytail and her delicate, fair face gave out a simple yet elegant aura.


    It was only that the girl now looked abnormally discomposed. Her forehead was slightly sweaty and her breathing was a bit too quick. It was apparent that she ran over here. Parts of the black tights on her legs were torn.


    "Tesna!" The girl who was held was instantly overjoyed. "Save me, quickly save me! These fellows are crazy!"


    "Tesna, nothing concerns you here. You had better not butt in," The man warned fiercely.


    The response he received was the white dress girl doing a run-up to give him a ferocious elbow strike.


    The lightning-like elbow accurately struck the tall man who had come forward from behind to block her. He was the one with Willpower, clearly the man''s bodyguard.


    "Spin axis!"


    Tesna''s elbow was blocked, but her arms suddenly straightened out, changing to a knife-hand to strike the other party''s neck.


    "What?" Garen viewed from his peripherals. The girl''s moves faintly resembled his Twelve Flying Dragon Fist. When he taught Celine at the beginning, he did not restrict her from teaching others this fist technique. However, he only did not expect to encounter someone who knew this fist technique in this vicinity by chance.

 1090 Return 2

    The girl, Tesna''s fist technique was very surface-leveled. Compared to the other party''s Willpower, she was obviously a little weaker in her actions, reactions, and prejudgment. Coupled with her lack of strength, she gradually fell into a disadvantageous position. If it were not for the fact that the concept of the fist was stronger than the other party, she would not have been able to hold out long ago.


    "I''m someone who wants to pursue ultimate power! How can I lose out here?!" Celine''s roar from that time reverberated in his ears again. Seeing the girl was still struggling, Garen recalled how Celine persisted under his fist technique back then.


    These ordinary people were far from achieving the realm of flawlessness. Although flawlessness was something relative, when the strength and speed were not equal, there would be an outburst of flaws. However, to be flawless in the scope of ordinary people could be achieved through advanced computer-simulated training, just like Eagle''s Nest of the Blackboard Academy back then. Obviously, Tesna was just an ordinary person incapable of reaching that level.


    "Left knee forward."


    Garen suddenly voiced out.


    Boom!


    Tesna involuntarily gave a knee-forward hit and it strangely landed on the lower body part of the opponent, who had wanted to dodge.


    A sound was heard, and something seemed to have broken...


    The tall man clasped his lower body and howled miserably, rolling around on the ground.


    Tesna was dumbfounded on the spot. She did not expect her earlier move to be so powerful.


    Suddenly, two other men surrounded her. Their face darkened.


    Meanwhile, that girl who was held captive had already fled some time ago, leaving her alone instead.


    Both sides were going to start another fight for the second time, but Garen was somewhat impatient.


    Although the girl who had betrayed her friend brought him a little surprise and fun, this kind of drama was also very sparsely common. It was just that this girl in a white dress, Tesna, still had such a na?ve kindness within her, making him felt something.


    "Turing, get rid of them."


    Garen informed plainly.


    "Yes."


    A dark shadow suddenly lunged out of the darkness and swept past the three men in an instant. There were three muffled sounds at the moment, and all three fainted at the same time. The dark shadow quickly penetrated into the darkness and disappeared.


    Garen was too lazy to watch and turned away.


    Tesna was left standing on the spot, stupefied. She immediately knew that she had met an expert.


    "Must be a powerhouse!" Her heart suddenly thumped. The outbreak of war brought a serious loss of sense of security. As a result, there were more and more martial arts practitioners with relatively good battle skills. Some even installed a miniature Mech to strengthen themselves. This was a good way for self-defense. The government had also liberalized the restrictions on miniature Mech because of the ever-growing legal problems. Anyone with money could purchase a set. This had also led to the increasing popularity of battle skills.


    Tesna was a typical fanatic lover of combat, at the same time, she was also a typical character of one who had a serious lack of security.


    "Wait up!"


    She shouted loudly and ran after Garen right away.


    Unexpectedly, even though Garen seemed to be pacing slowly in the dark, she could not catch up no matter what.


    Tesna felt strange, but this all the more confirmed that the other party was an absolute powerhouse, and not just not any ordinary ones.


    "I will absolutely not let this opportunity pass this time! Absolutely!" Tesna gritted her teeth and ran madly. Even though her socks were worn out and her skirt was flapping due to the wind, she did not seem to notice them at all. She chased after Garen madly without any shoes on. However, the distance between them did not close in even with her accelerated speed, instead, it was getting further.


    "Why are you chasing me?" A voice sounded in her ears.


    "Whew... Whew... To be your disciple...!" Tesna was out of breath. She was sweating profusely and there was an abnormal flush on her face.


    "Be my disciple?" Garen stopped. The momentary pause caused Tesna to almost bump into him from behind. She immediately braked, and only then did she feel a burning pain in both her feet. Obviously, she had injured the skin.


    What Garen appreciated was people with a strong determination, just like Sinno from Radiation Zone; that child was untalented, yet she was constantly putting in hard work. And so, he helped her to obtain the hope of having Sixth Divine Wind General''s guidance; a hope to bail herself out of her own fate.


    And now, he seemed to see a trace of this quality again in the girl.


    "Bring my disciple is not an easy thing..." He turned around and spoke quietly as he looked at this girl, who was not quite pretty but had a good temperament.


    "I know," Tesna did not talk much, but her tone was resolute.


    Looking at this little fellow, Garen immediately remembered that, in the Totem World and Secret Technique World, he seemed to be in favor of those children with this kind of cold temperament but a firm determination. It was the same, even for now.


    "You must understand that if you want to be my disciple, you must accept my test. And the hardship of some tests is beyond your imagination."


    Tesna recalled the strange scene she had just seen. It was just the spin of a shadow and the three people totally fainted without any resistance.


    As an untalented ordinary person, even if she cultivated Willpower, it would still be like a balloon leaking. There was no way to deal with it. Perhaps this person was her only hope!


    "I''m not afraid!"


    She nodded with certainty.


    With Garen''s current status, he naturally would not simply take in disciples. As the Sect Master of Scarlet Snow Sect, the greatest genius in history, and the strongest person who had inherited dozens of ancestor''s Will, he was destined to surpass the first Sect Master and reach an unprecedented realm.


    With such a level of power, taking in disciples would have a far-reaching impact. It was not just to him alone, but a kind of adjustment to all the people under his command as well.


    "What do you want to learn from me?" Garen asked with interest.


    "Battle skills! Powerful battle skills!" Tesna said without hesitation.


    "Battle skills..." Garen immediately smiled. "I have three tests. If you can pass, I will decide to take you in as my disciple and teach you these battle skills."


    Tesna''s eyes lit up at once. The rapid breathing just now was forcefully suppressed to slow down, fearing she had misheard anything.


    "Which three? I''m sure to pass without any problem!"


    "Don''t overestimate yourself," Garen extended a finger. "First, it is now snowing heavily. Within two days, dig out a two-meter-deep pit by hand. Remember, only by hand."


    "Only by hand?" Tesna repeated.


    "Go ahead. At the unmarked burial-mounds outside of the city to the south. Remember, you can''t use other tools. You have to use your fingers to dig out the soil bit by bit," Garen added. "I will come to see you when the time comes. If you can''t do it, then don''t mention the matter about being my disciple."


    "I''ll go!"


    Tesna did not hesitate at all and flatly agreed. She did not ask how he would find her, instead just turning around and left without any disinclination.


    "Tsk tsk... Maybe she really is promising," Garen shook his head slightly. "Next up, let''s go and visit Professor."


    Looking at the figure of Tesna leaving, Garen turned around and slowly merged into the darkness, disappearing completely.


    ******************


    Passing through Inner Courtyard was only a simple use of Willpower to Garen. The computer protection capability here was basically useless for high-level Energy Machinists.


    The Energy Machine Imprint could calculate the loophole in a split second. Garen walked leisurely into the Outer Courtyard and roved around the Academy which had not changed much. He did not see any acquaintances. All of the people there were new students, so he went straight to the Inner Courtyard.


    The Inner Courtyard was underneath the ground. After getting himself the status of a student, Garen naturally entered the underground space with a few Inner Courtyard students.


    The artificial sun was still shining upon the entire Inner Courtyard.


    Like the outside world, it was also rather deserted here. Obviously, there were too few people who met the high standards of the Inner Courtyard. There was almost hardly anyone on the street, and most of the shops were closed. Only a few were open but the customers were also very few.


    Compared to the outside, there were still maintenance robots doing cleaning and maintenance work here.


    Garen checked the address in accordance with the map obtained from the internal network. There were no changes made.


    However, the Director of the Security Bureau had been changed from Fila to Red-Eyed Medero, who was a very mighty resonance powerhouse back then. He had no idea how strong her strength was now.


    Following the original route, Garen once again came to Professor Van Doe''s residence, that same small, double-storey house which was white. It looked very ordinary.


    Just when he was ready to knock on the door, the door opened automatically.


    A yellow-haired woman about two meters tall looked at Garen puzzlingly.


    "Who are you looking for?"


    Garen''s image and temperament at this time had changed dramatically. In the eyes of those with Willpower, his entire body exuded a touch of faint chill, and he was completely a different person from the original Nonosiva. Adding to the horrific transformation of the Hellfrost Peacock Technique, there was now only a faint contour of the past.


    "Senior Sister Galafil?" Garen smiled and easily called out the other person''s name.


    "Senior Sister? How do you know me? I don''t remember the Professor having you as a disciple." Galafil was one of the three among Garen''s two senior brothers and senior sister in those years.


    "Are Junior Brother Milo and Junior Sister Nehri doing well? Have you forgotten me after just a short period of time?" Garen said with a smile. "I''m Nonosiva..."


    "Nono?!" Galafil''s expression suddenly became abnormally bizarre. The Nonosiva whom the Professor announced had betrayed and left the Blackboard Region was suddenly back!?


    "Aren''t you going to invite me in?" Garen shrugged.


    Only then did Galafil react over from her stunned expression.


    "Please...come in." She hurriedly let the door open.


    Garen walked through the door, but he did not hear the voice of the smart butler.


    "How did you think of coming back suddenly? Didn''t you leave?" Galafil seemed to have only heard bits of the original news. Obviously, Professor Van Doe did not tell her everything.


    In any case, Garen was a victim of the conflict between the parties. If the truth was really announced everywhere, it would be harmful to the reputation of the Black Flood Party itself.


    "After leaving for so many years, I miss my hometown, so I came back." Garen entered the living room and sat down on his own to rest. "At that time, I was lucky enough to have escaped from the Blackboard Region. What happened after that? Senior Sister, why don''t you tell me? I heard that Fila and Seventh Divine Wind General who besieged me at that time were all declared as rebels. So, my case should have definitely be overturned?"


    There was a trace of complexity in Galafil''s eyes as she sat opposite Garen, pouring out a glass of fruit juice for them both.


    "Indeed, it has been overturned. Your matter has long been determined to have been wronged. The statement of your case was issued long ago. It''s just that, the monster that suddenly appeared when you were besieged had slaughtered many soldiers and civilians. Even though it was eventually encumbered and terminated, but..." She was not a fool. Although she did not know the truth, there were some things that could still be felt, such as Van Doe''s attitude back then, Britney''s attitude which initially supported Garen, as well as the sudden appearance of the besieging Mech forces at the hospital.


    His own disciple was beleaguered, but as the Professor, he was unmoved. Was not this attitude obvious enough?

 1091 Test 1

    "Oh, I''ll immediately ask the Professor to come back. He must be very happy that you have returned!" Even though there were some doubts in her heart, Galafil still knew that in the end, Nonosiva was naturally here for Professor Van Doe.


    Although she did not know what Nono had experienced during these years, it could be seen from the huge change in the other party that these experiences would probably be nothing good. A good experience would never make a person change so much.


    Garen took the glass of juice and gently drank it. Sitting on the sofa in the Professor''s house and drinking juice as such was something he left behind many years ago.


    This kind of peaceful and lackadaisical life was not appropriate for the present him.


    "How are you doing now? I have also tried to get hold of some news about you through my connections. Unfortunately, no one has ever seen you since your disappearance at that time. Everybody guessed that you went to the Radiation Zone. Otherwise, it was impossible not to have found you in the whole region," Galafil informed the Professor and asked Garen at the same time.


    "Still alright. I was able to manage through these years," Garen knew that the other party still thought of him as the student from that year. Perhaps he had not even entered the higher stage of resonance. Now that he was back...


    "Rest assured, the Professor will understand you for sure. Coupled with your case being overturned, you will definitely be able to live a good life in the region again. Oh right, what about your family? I went to the address of your family sometime later and found that they had already moved out," Galafil was a very kind woman. Although her appearance was wide and tall, nevertheless she took care of the junior brothers and sister without any requests. If it were not for her own kind-heartedness, no one would even think of doing such a thing if there was no payment involved in this acquisitive society.


    In the beginning, because Garen was also her junior brother, she put some effort to go around and investigate. Unfortunately, there was no result.


    "Settle down?" Garen smiled.


    "Yeah, you can rest assured. The Professor is now a lot older. In the last insurgency, your two senior brothers were..." Galafil lifted the cup and took a sip. Her expression was dejected. "Now, in retrospect, everything that had happened was just like a dream."


    "I''ll plead with the Professor. Plus, you were being wronged back then. Coming back to resettle and re-enter the party should not be a problem," Galafil showed a gentle smile.


    Garen lowered his head and the expression on his face could not be seen.


    "He''s coming! Professor is back soon!" Galafil suddenly raised her voice. "I saw his location pointer. He''s not far away and is rushing back!" There was a smile on her face, "You see, as soon as he heard you are back, he immediately came back without any delay."


    Garen held the glass of juice. The glass covered most of his face as he drank quietly.


    The two sat on the sofa. Galafil kept talking about what had happened in recent years in an unceasing flow of words while Garen listened silently, smiling from time to time.


    Boom!


    Suddenly a dull voice came in from the outside. A travel-worn black figure wearing a trench coat strode into the hall.


    Van Doe was still that wizened old man from that time. He had a crutch in his hand, his back was a little hunched and the wrinkles on the skin of his face were increasingly packed. The right side of his neck could be seen with a dark blue code-number printed on the skin. It was the same compared to that time, except the color had faded slightly.


    When he entered the door, his gaze instantly fell on Garen.


    "You still know to come back!?" A severe tone.


    Concerning this disciple whom he had given up at that time, his heart was somewhat guilty. This genius disciple had become a victim due to the conflict between the parties. It was also because he did not really support him fully. However, as a professor, having him admit his mistakes to his disciple was not something he could do! He, Van Doe, had lived for so long, and never had he apologized to anyone for his mistakes!


    Garen and Galafil stood up and turned around to face Van Doe.


    "Professor..." Garen spoke softly and looked calmly at this old man who was increasingly showing signs of senility. The death of the two disciples was a huge blow to him. Originally, there were many disciples under him. However, whether Garen was alive or not was unknown to him, and the two senior brothers died in the insurgency. Because of this, he was left with only a female disciple, his status was still considered stable. However, he no longer had the original influence he once had within Black Flood Party anymore.


    "I don''t have you as my disciple!" Van Doe said coldly. Looking at Garen''s current appearance, there was not even a sense of Willpower left in him, and his looks had changed dramatically. Eventually, his heart softened a little. With the Willpower expelled, being alone on the outside was naturally extremely difficult, not to mention the previous years were during a period of war¡­


    "Since you''re back, go to Eagle''s Nest right away! Get your Willpower back as soon as possible!"


    "Professor..." Garen was still speaking calmly. Initially, he had no resentment for Van Doe. Although he finally gave up on him, he had also helped him a lot in the beginning. "This is my last visit here as a disciple. Perhaps, it is also the last time I''m addressing you as such..."


    As soon as the words came out, Galafil was instantly dumbfounded in the hall. Van Doe''s expression was also stunned. He took a deep breath.


    "What are you talking about, Nono!?" Galafil hurriedly said out loud. "Quickly apologize to Professor! Don''t destroy your future just because of an impulsive act! The Professor was only..."


    "Shut up!" Before the words were finished, she was interrupted by Van Doe.


    Van Doe''s face flushed and his hands trembled slightly. He fixed his eyes on Garen.


    "You, what was it you just said? I didn''t hear clearly," His voice was shaking a little. This was the biggest compromise he could make. He was Van Doe, who would never admit his faults! Never!


    Ignoring Galafil''s frantic eye gestures from the side, Garen looked up and calmly faced Van Doe.


    "Professor, there are some things that can never be reverted once they have happened..."


    Some things that can never be reverted?


    It was all silence in the hall.


    Without having completely accepted the deaths of his two disciples whom he had trained wholeheartedly, no one could imagine Van Doe''s feelings at this moment. Back then, he had given up on Garen, but it was also for the reason that this disciple was too much of a troublemaker. Not only was he hostile to the branch party, there were also Fila''s forces. Not to mention, he was working with another inexplicable force.


    Now...


    He had initially put down everything in his hands and quickly came back, thinking that he had seen hope, or perhaps Nono had thought it through and therefore returned to his place. Perhaps, this was exactly the opportunity to make up for his mistake. Yet, now it seemed that...


    Van Doe looked at this genius disciple whom he once had high hopes for. Now he had completely fallen to become an ordinary people. There was not even a trace of the pilot''s Willpower left. But even in such a situation, he was still not willing to bow his head before him.


    Two of his disciples died in a battle, one of his disciples wanted to rebel, and there were two children who fell seriously ill... There was only one female disciple left, but her aptitude was insufficient, and she could possibly not break through forever...


    "...Was I...really wrong? ..."


    For the first time. Van Doe could not help but ask himself for the first time.


    "No! I am not wrong! They are! It''s them who do not understand me!" The distorted and restrained emotions erupted from his heart.


    "I just came to tell you, Professor, that I don''t blame you for the matter back then. But everything from that time is even now." Garen opened his mouth again. Looking at the clearly stubborn old man before him, he finally calmly said what he intended to.


    "Nono!" Galafil yelled anxiously from one side.


    "It''s okay," Garen smiled mildly at her.


    "It''s okay?!" Van Doe spoke up. His face was dark. A deep sense of fatigue emanated from him. "You, an ordinary person, without any Willpower. In this age of war, even if you rely on your brain, you could live well for a while. However, do you think you can live on like that for a lifetime!? Foolish! Funny! People can only rely on themselves!"


    "Yeah, people can only rely on themselves," Garen smiled. "Professor, you taught me this profound principle back then, didn''t you?"


    Van Doe moved his lips but did not speak again.


    For a time, the three people no longer spoke. There was only a deep sense of indescribable atmosphere in the hall.


    After a long time, Van Doe raised his hand and his whole person seemed to have aged even more.


    "After exiting this door, you will no longer be a disciple of my Black Flood Party. I will never give you another chance even if you beg me the next time!"


    He stared at Garen steadfastly. In his eyes were anger, despondency, sadness, and a trace of plea in the deepest part.


    Van Doe had no children in his lifetime. His disciples were his everything. But now, some of them were dead while some of them were sick. Everything he had worked hard for and had nurtured throughout his life seemed just to have just proven his mistake.


    He repeated in his heart over and over again that he was right, he was right. However, the calmer Garen''s gaze was in front of him, the sadder he was in his heart. He remembered not only his two disciples who had died but also his wife who had died because of him...


    Garen looked at the old man who was almost overwhelmed by the war. He himself did not know what he had hoped to see when he returned this time. Did he come back just to have this old man admit his mistake from that time?


    Perhaps.


    He smiled, turned around and headed outside of the hall.


    "So be it," His voice plainly echoed in the hall.


    "I tell you! Without Willpower! Do you think other people will really value you!? Don''t ever come back once you step out of this door!" The old man''s shivering voice came from behind.


    Garen did not stop but only paused. Still, his steps slowly moved toward the exit of the court.


    A mistake was still a mistake. Many things were lost because of a mistake. Yet he was still reluctant to admit it. This was also the unfortunate part about Van Doe.


    Everyone was unwilling to admit that they had done wrong.


    The moment he stepped out of the door, Garen did not hear any sound behind him. It was all quiet, a dead silence.


    He knew that Van Doe was not feeling sad for him, but he was feeling sad for own life instead. He vainly tried to prove that he himself was right by using coercion and dissuasion on him; to prove that he was without fault and that it was others who were at fault.


    "Now, everything should be cleared up," Garen looked up at the artificial sun overhead.


    "I should go and see how the progress of that little fellow digging the pit," Garen did not look back and strode to the exit, leaving the underground.


    He did not go far before he saw a tall woman in a red, leather fitting-suit standing beside him. The woman had crimson eyes, and her messy shoulder-length black hair gave off a wild aura.


    "Red-Eyed Medero?" Garen instantly recognized this person.


    "Although I do not know who brought you into Inner Courtyard, but take out your proof of identity," Medero specially made this trip for Garen.


    She received a report that someone had entered Inner Courtyard in a non-conventional way. After looking at the data, she found out that something was amiss and she quickly rushed over herself.


    Suddenly, Medero seemed to hear some sort of voice transmission, and her face instantly relaxed. She gazed deeply at Garen.


    "You can go, but don''t let me catch you again the next time!"


    Garen nodded with a smile.


    He stood sideways slightly and glanced behind, knowing that it must have been his senior sister or Van Doe who spoke up to help mediate the situation.


    In the end, he did not say anything more. He strode off and walked toward the elevator exit.

 1092 Test 2

    The unmarked common graves in the South District


    A delicate and pretty young girl in a white dress continuously dug her fingers into the earth. However, the soil on the ground was very solid. Although her hands were already covered in scabs from the digging, she did not have the slightest intention of stopping.


    The hole in front of her was already more than ten centimeters deep and half a meter wide. Blood-stained soil could be seen everywhere around the edges of the hole.


    This place was deserted except for a few people who came to visit the graves. While minding their own business, they glanced at the girl from afar. People who went mad from the death of their relatives were not a rare sight. Hence, this was not their first time witnessing actions like these.


    People came and visited the graves before leaving after that. The sky was filled with dark clouds from one end to the other. The snowfall kept increasing until the ground was covered in a thick layer of white snow. The young girl shivered from the cold and both her hands had turned a slight purple. The digging even caused her wounds to become badly frostbitten. Despite her strong body that was the product of constant training and the fact that she was currently wearing special warming underwear, long periods of going without rest and the lack of food consumption caused her physical strength to deteriorate.


    Despite her broken fingernails, the young girl did not regret her actions at all and continued to dig downwards.


    Unfortunately, the soil was extremely solid. Moreover, there were some rocks inside that were even harder than the ground. Some of the broken rocks even got embedded into her skin, causing the girl''s forehead to drip with sweat from the pain.


    "Tesna! Why did you run here?! Come back with me!" A tall and muscular man spoke in a stern voice while standing beside the young girl.


    "This is a test," Tesna glanced at the man. "Big brother, you should go back. It''s cold here."


    "Can you just give up and stop bothering yourself just because you lack Willpower? Test? Who would test you by making you dig the ground until your hands are covered in blood?! Go! Go back with me!" The man took long strides over and grabbed Tesna. His great strength and Willpower instantly made it somewhat impossible for Tesna to retaliate.


    "Let me go!!" She began to resist.


    "Your hands will become useless if you keep digging!" The man was so furious that he could not think straight. "You''re just a normal person who can''t practice Willpower! If those people hadn''t teased you, would you really think that there was someone who could change your Appraisal?!"


    "This is my decision! Let go!" yelled the girl as she bit the man''s arm.


    "Do you want to die?!" The man instantly flung her off in one go. When he saw that his own arm was bleeding from the bite, he immediately became angrier. "If our old man hadn''t asked me to take care of you before he died, do you really think I''d be willing to care about you?!"


    "I told you, you don''t have to care about me," Tesna fell and sat on the snowy ground. Her cheeks were red and tinged with purple but it was unknown whether it was from her rage or the cold.


    She and this man were not blood siblings. She had followed her father when he rebuilt his family with the man''s mother which meant that they had no blood relations. When her father was still here, she could still live a pretty good life even though she had no natural endowments. However, now that her father was gone, their family property was completely occupied by her older brother''s mother who had started to treat her coldly.


    Although her older brother spoke fiercely, he was actually constantly looking after her. On the surface, he would say that he did not care if she died but he was endlessly concerned about her.


    However, her older brother was about to get married and start his own family now. She had also grown older and did not have any reason to let him take care of her anymore.


    She had to become independent and walk on her own path.


    "You can go home. I''ll take care of my own matters," said Tesna loudly.


    Her older brother nagged her for some time here but could not change her mind. He finally gave up and went home angrily. Nonetheless, he could not help but leave a thick pair of leather gloves and a shovel before he left.


    Unfortunately, Tesna turned a blind eye to this and continued using her bare hands to dig the soil.


    It was not her first time doing something like this. Someone had lied to her before but she continued to trust them. Later on, an incident had almost occurred but she pressed on with a hint of wishful thinking that their promise would definitely become reality one day if she kept on trying. If she had given up and in the unlikely possibility that her wish actually became true, all of her past determination would be completely wasted, no?


    Far away, Garen hid in mid-air silently and watched Tesna unearth the soil. He saw that she was not wearing the gloves or even using the shovel at all. Her fingers were about to be wrecked from the digging. Garen himself was somewhat unconsciously moved by this as well.


    After all, he had merely said some words before the other party carried out his orders completely. Disciples and subordinates like her could not simply be encountered randomly.


    "I''ll observe her for a little longer before I continue¡­"


    Among the two people, one of them dug while the other watched as time passed slowly.


    Tesna''s older brother came over to look a few more times. His anxiousness grew stronger every time.


    Other than him, no one else from their household came over to show concern. Tesna was initially already sidelined from her entire household. Now, there were people who asked about the reason for her stupid actions as well. Apparently, her reasoning for this was to become an apprentice? She had coincidentally encountered a supposed battle skill powerhouse who simply told her to do this. However, no one had expected that this girl would actually believe his words.


    The young ladies in her household sneered and said that she was stupid. She actually believed that a person whom she randomly met was a powerhouse? Even if he was a powerhouse, how powerful could he actually be if he was merely one who practiced battle skills? Could he be stronger than a Mech Pilot? Of course not.


    In order to go this far to learn battle skills, the word ''stupid'' was not an adjective that could describe her accurately.


    However, this was not the only stupid thing that Tesna had done and everyone had gotten used to it. Meanwhile, the core of their clan named Dosrin was a member of their household whose Willpower had reached level three. Moreover, he was about to get married and everyone was busy planning this elegant and expensive wedding. Therefore, a normal person like Tesna without any natural endowments had been sidelined in her household long ago. Her father was incapable while her mother did not acknowledge her at all. If it was not for her older brother who took care of her, her share of the monthly allowance would have been taken away long ago.


    On the second day, Garen walked over slowly from afar and stood beside Tesna to observe her. He watched her dig until she was dripping with fresh blood. Tesna glanced at him before digging even more desperately.


    Among the two people, one of them looked on while the other dug. Neither of them opened their mouths to speak.


    At noon, the black clouds lessened slightly, allowing faint sunlight to cascade down from the middle of the cloud layers.


    A group of young girls who were gorgeously dressed walked over from afar and encircled their surroundings with some cash. They stood far away and looked at Garen and Tesna who was standing and digging respectively.


    They clearly came to amuse themselves at this strange sight.


    "Is that the combat master who told her to dig the ground? He doesn''t look too bad. It''s a shame that he''s crazy though."


    "When crazy meets insanity. Isn''t that a good thing? Two people who want to pass on the extinct battle skills. What a coincidence that it''s the most cliched scene right out of a novel. I think Tesna has definitely read too many novels."


    "Her fingers are going to be wrecked soon. Nonetheless, Tesna''s perseverance is not bad," there were some people who were sure of their opinions of her.


    "Perseverance? Can an insane person persevere?! I''m suspicious that this girl might not have pain receptors. I feel pain when I look at her so how could she endure it for so long? Previously, she practiced her battle skills desperately as if she was crazed as well. In the end, her body was almost wrecked by the training. If her older brother hadn''t discovered this, she would have died in an unknown place long ago."


    The group chatted and laughed. After observing for some time and sizing Garen up, they could not feel any Willpower from his body at all. Thus, they finally decided that this man was a conman who had tricked her. However, this conman still dared to stand here and watch her. It was highly likely that he was a conman with mental problems.


    Crowd mentality was a shared trait among everybody. When they saw that an audience had gathered here, more people joined them quickly to watch the action here.


    However, once the novelty had worn off and the weather grew colder, people gradually left when they felt that it was meaningless.


    Currently, the bones in Tesna''s fingers were already frozen and frostbitten. She was numb to the pain but continued digging downwards continuously.


    "Enough," Garen finally opened his mouth.


    "This pit is enough," he said lightly.


    "Enough?" Tesna was slightly shocked and stopped slowly. She looked at the pit in the ground that was filled with traces of blood and her own two hands that were already completely damaged. Perhaps they would need to be amputated?


    This thought stirred in her mind. Would it be worth it? For the sake of battle skills.


    However, her question was answered with unprecedented confidence. It was worth it!


    This was the only path that allowed her to strengthen herself. It was her only hope as well. Those who had Appraisals and natural endowments would never understand her suffering.


    "Now, jump inside and bury yourself there."


    Garen''s following words made her widen her eyes suddenly.


    "Of course, you''ve passed the first test. This is the second one. Remember to leave your head out."


    Tesna glanced at Garen before looking at the pit in the ground. She had never expected that the second test would require her to bury herself alive.


    Garen''s face was completely expressionless. He merely looked at her flatly.


    "Unwilling? Then consider it as if I hadn''t said anything."


    "No," Tesna jumped into the pit at once and started using her hands to bury herself in the surrounding soil endlessly.


    Moments later, coupled with the heavy snowfall that cascaded downwards continuously, she quickly buried herself until her only her two arms were exposed outside. Once she extended her arms into the pit, she stopped moving completely and allowed the heavy snow to gradually bury her.


    Soon, the members of her household realized that there were new changes once more. They ran over to observe the couple again.


    When they realized that it was a new trick, these people started becoming lively instantly. They pointed from afar as if they were looking at a performing monkey in a circus. They chatted and laughed while eating some snacks that they brought from home.


    Tesna was hungry and thirsty while her entire body was purple from the cold. The density of her blood flow had increased while both of her eyes were blinded. Her entire body was exhausted of all strength. She could only instinctively bite the snow beside her mouth and consume it. However, since the temperature of the oral cavity was too low, it took a long time for the snow to melt.


    She felt like she might die soon.


    However, Garen was still looking at her indifferently on the side while remaining above.


    "What if he''s really just tricking me?" This overpowering thought escaped from Tesna''s mind.


    "You can choose to give up anytime," echoed Garen''s voice faintly.


    Tesna opened and closed her mouth but could not make a single sound. She was silent. She would fall terribly sick even if she gave up and returned now. Whether or not she would survive was another unknown variable.


    It had reached this stage¡­


    "Will she die?" The laughter of the other young ladies who were watching from afar echoed endlessly. During this period which was also a time of war, the deaths of one or two people would not attract any attention at all.


    The war made it difficult for Blackboard Region to maintain its basic order of society. Everyone could only rely on their own strength now.

 1093 Murderous Intent 1

    Once Tesna had completely buried herself in the freezing ground, Garen raised his head and looked at the heavy snow that was gradually falling from the sky.


    "Soon¡­" His face was expressionless, making it impossible for anyone to guess what he was thinking. He merely stood on the side and quietly waited.


    The sky darkened. Once the novelty had worn off, the people who came to watch the hubbub gradually left.


    Garen slowly walked away as though he was not concerned about Tesna who was buried underground at all. A short while after he had left, Tesna''s older brother arrived and rushed over madly while trying to unearth the soil. However, his help was defiantly rejected by the weak Tesna.


    Right after being dug out, she buried herself again.


    Her older brother found it strange that someone who should have been extremely weak, actually possessed the strength to resist him now.


    Garen had stopped bothering about the situation over there. Accepting disciples depended on two things. The first criteria was his own mood whilst the second one was whether or not Tesna possessed the qualifications.


    Right now, before the Energy Tide exploded, he had to settle his old scores with the Seventh Divine Wind General from the last time.


    While walking on the desolate block, Garen''s entire body unconsciously floated. However, no one had so much as noticed his silhouette.


    His enormous Willpower had distorted the senses of everyone in his surroundings that could see him.


    Garen flew in a perfectly straight manner in the direction of the Polar Region. Below him was Blackboard Region''s prosperous city, tinged with dejectedness. Flying cars would fly past him occasionally but none of the people above him realized that there was another figure soaring in mid-air among them.


    Gazing at the enormous metropolis below him, Garen''s mind was gripped by a rush of emotions.


    When the Energy Tide arrived, this place, Polar Region, Royal Region, and Maria Region and the other surrounding areas would collapse completely because of this annihilating energy.


    This was a major historical event. The Energy Tide would appear naturally and no one could prevent it. Parts of the Red King would come into being while the components of the Forbidden Mech would become reality.


    "Perhaps the White King''s subordinates are already hiding in this place?" Garen guessed mentally. "After all, the components of the Red King who is fated to stand beside the White King would not go undiscovered by others."


    He looked down at the endless stretches of city scenery that passed him from below. Perhaps the White King''s underlings were hiding in one of the deeper parts below.


    Suddenly, an indistinct signal shot into the sky directly from the ground and was transferred to his mind. It seemed like the signal was released by someone close to him because it was tinged with veneration.


    "Oh? I almost forgot that I had this chess piece here¡­" Garen said as he smiled faintly. He pressed his figure downwards and flew towards a city below him. At the center of the city, styled with yellow and white buildings, a woman with golden shoulder-length curly hair raised her head and blankly looked at the sky.


    The woman was very pretty and had light red pupils and porcelain-smooth skin. Skincare during this era was simply too easy, which made it seemingly impossible to see ugly people. Even if their skin was not perfect, they would still be pretty.


    "What''s wrong, Commander Inari?" A woman''s voice echoed behind her faintly.


    "No¡­ An important matter has suddenly come up. Could I ask you to leave for a while?" Inari reacted instantly and urged her in a somewhat frantic tone.


    "¡­ Alright. If that''s the case, we''ll take about this collaboration again when we have the chance," The other woman left in a slightly dissatisfied manner. When the sound of the door opening and closing echoed behind her, only then did Inari exhale lightly. She then turned around to check if the other party had really left.


    Suddenly, a hand extended behind her slowly before stroking her cheek gently.


    "Long time no see, Commander Inari. Have you completed my mercenary mission?"


    A male voice that spoke in a joking tone echoed behind her.


    Inari''s body stiffened. Her Charm Mercenary Troop had disbanded long ago and she had rebuilt a new mercenary troop that was even bigger. Moreover, her current employer was not a normal person like the previous Nonosiva. Instead, he played a major role within the various territories. The source of all this was her own strength characteristics that had a sudden strange improvement. Her physical fitness had increased by three times instantly, allowing a great degree of elevation of her actual combat abilities. They were a level higher than her initial level, which was the key reason she was allowed to improve herself to the next grade so quickly.


    "Nonosiva? My lord¡­?" She decided to add on the honorific title in the end. For unknown reasons, her body was trembling faintly as if she was afraid.


    "What are you scared of?" Garen reached his hand out and pinched her face gently. This commander of the mercenary troops whom he had come into contact not long ago now looked somewhat attractive.


    "No¡­ It wasn''t my fault¡­ You can''t blame me for the things that happened in that year. I did everything I could but it was useless!" Inari''s body shivered violently. As the host of a parasite, she was the only one who could faintly feel the true extent of Garen''s power through the main body.


    The more she was able to sense his power, the stronger the fear in her heart grew.


    "It''s none of my business¡­ I tried to stop it but even Julie and the other girls died¡­ I was the only one who escaped by sheer luck¡­" Inari''s body was slightly cold as she began defending herself continuously.


    Garen felt faintly puzzled as he did not know what she was afraid of exactly.


    He listened as Inari rambled on endlessly about how this was none of her business while the suspicions that were faintly tinged with worry in his heart grew stronger. He suddenly recalled that incident¡­ Other than to absorb the Energy Tide, the main reason for his return this time, the most important reason nonetheless, was to personally confirm that incident¡­


    "Everything that happened previously, tell me all of it," he said in a low voice with a hint of Willpower suggestion and intimidation.


    "Yes¡­"


    Inari had a shocked expression on her face before her gaze instantly turned dull. Garen''s current suggestions were supported by his Non-falling Level Willpower while Inari''s grade was only of the Resonance New-Moon Level. Therefore, she could not resist him at all. She was instantly hypnotized.


    "That year, during the process of the mission, I accidentally discovered that¡­"


    Inari opened her mouth and spoke slowly. While she recounted the events slowly, Garen''s face remained expressionless but his gaze grew colder.


    The events were actually extending in the direction that he was most unwilling to see¡­


    "Who''s the person who left earlier?" Garen interrupted her before she had finished speaking.


    "That was Britney," answered Inari dully. "Let her come back."


    Inari did as she was told and began to take out her phone before alerting Britney who had left earlier.


    A short while later, the sound of knocking could be heard from the room door again.


    "Please come in," Inari returned to her senses and broke free of Garen''s control. There was an expression of defeat on her face before she determinedly steadied her emotions and answered loudly.


    Kachak.


    "Mistress Quisman, if you don''t want to complete this business deal, I can find someone else! If you merely want to embarrass and tease me, then I¡­" Before she had finished speaking, another woman with similar golden-blonde long hair that was tied in a ponytail took large strides and walked in. The words stopped coming out of her mouth instantly when she saw Garen.


    "You are?" She furrowed a delicate eyebrow.


    "Britney?" Garen turned his head and considered this important person who had helped him previously before abandoning him in the end. This important person from the previous years did not undergo any major changes now. Her clothes were still simple and she wore an inexpensive looking accessory. However, the pearl bracelet that she wore on her wrist actually cost a few hundred thousand Universal Units.


    Garen smiled. He was clearly just a minor character that year who was not worthy for Britney to remember.


    "My name is Nonosiva Lin. I don''t know if Miss Britney still remembers this name?"


    "Nonosiva Lin?" As a Willpower powerhouse, Britney''s memory was naturally powerful. "High-energy fuel powder?" She consciously recalled the business deal that she had profited from previously.


    "Yes, that''s it," Garen laughed.


    "You''re still alive?!" Britney was slightly shocked. However, she had already sized up the current Garen and realized that his entire body did not possess the slightest hint of Willpower. It was obvious and likely that he had suffered heavy injuries that year which made it completely impossible for his Willpower to be restored. Her initially somewhat surprised expression returned to its normal state instantly.


    "So you''re that student, Nono," she brushed the strands of golden hair beside her cheeks gracefully. "Regarding the incident that happened to your father and mother that year, I truly regret that."


    "Why should you feel regretful for that?" Garen shook his head. "It doesn''t matter. I''m personally responsible for most of the things that happened in the past."


    "It''s good that you understand," nodded Britney. If she had not seen Inari''s stance that indicated her intimate relationship with this person, Britney could not be bothered by a guy who had lost his Willpower completely. "Then Inari, Mistress Quisman, make a decision. This business is very important to me and you should know that."


    "The importance is relative," Inari glanced at Garen before quickly standing in an elegant stance and replying. "However, my conditions have not changed. You should already know that I''ve already made a huge concession."


    Garen stood on the side quietly and watched the two women haggle. Finally, Inari reached an agreement because she was feeling impatient due to Garen''s presence. Britney instantly revealed a victorious smile and turned around while preparing to leave.


    "That''s right, Lady Britney. You said earlier that you felt remorseful over the incident with my parents that year? I deserve the punishment for what I did but what does that have to do with my parents?" Garen opened his mouth and asked as Britney was about to leave.


    Britney had just turned around, but her footsteps stopped suddenly. She turned back and looked at Garen suspiciously. Then, she glanced at Inari whose face was filled with dread.


    "During the previous battle that caused the fall of the Black Flood Party Leader, your teacher and I were assigned to defend the battleship. However, we never expected that the abnormal energy would produce an earthquake. Issues had even occurred within the safest underground air defense facilities. This was something that we could not even begin to imagine. It was an unexpected accident," she said as she furrowed her eyebrows.


    "Therefore, I apologize for the death of your family members. However, frankly speaking, this was not our fault," said Britney while furrowing her eyebrows. "We did everything we had to do."


    Garen''s expression was completely dazed.


    Britney''s last sentence instantly and finally exposed the suspicions that were in his heart all this while. The things that Britney said after that could not be heard clearly by him anymore. That final sentence about the death of his family¡­ This simple string of words repeated endlessly in his brain like the constant violent rumble of an echo in a canyon.


    Britney''s eyebrows were knitted even closer together now. She stared quietly at Nonosiva Lin who appeared taken aback. She had always felt that something was slightly amiss with this person.


    "I remember now. When your incident caused a stir within the region last time, the previous Black Flood Party prodigy was encircled before he went missing and his whereabouts became unknown. After that, the verdict was reversed when it was proven that you were encircled and wrongly accused by an undiscovered traitor," she said indifferently. "Alright, I''ll be leaving first if that''s all."


    Britney did not wish to waste her time on an unimportant individual. The previous skills had lost their novelty long ago while the military no longer limited the high-energy fuel powder. The market was much bigger than before and high-level skills like these were everywhere now. The military had lifted the restriction for maximum productive forces. The current issue that they were facing now did not involve skills, but instead was the lack of resources.


    The sound of Britney leaving roused Garen instantly.


    His expression was calm but the strange emotion that glimmered in his eyes clearly showed that he was not as relaxed as his face might have suggested.


    "Would it have been possible for that earthquake to keep the Genetic Organization in check?" He opened his mouth suddenly and spoke in a low voice.


    Inari nodded frantically like a little bird that was pecking at rice. She was too afraid to show a hint of opposing him. She was perhaps the only person in the entire Blackboard Region who clearly knew the intimidation of the man who was before her eyes.

 1094 Murderous Intent 2

    Near Blackboard Region was another similar graveyard. A group of people dressed in luxurious black clothes was standing in front of a few burial grounds.


    Regardless if they were men or women, the entire group were dressed in clothes that were fully black. A few women in the group wore black gauze hats to indicate that they were mourning. Clearly, there had been deaths in their families.


    One of the women who had golden curly hair also had beautiful features that even the black gauze hat could not hide. She also had a seductive and curvaceous figure that would occasionally cause her surrounding subordinates to secretly cast their gazes at her.


    Garen stood in front of the graveyard and allowed his Willpower to seep underground instantly. He could immediately detect that there were three badly rotted corpses buried deep underground. Two of them were a middle-aged man and woman respectively, while the last skeleton belonged to a young girl.


    As his Willpower wrapped them, three thin strands of hair that belonged to each of these people slowly bore through the soil. The hairs were still undamaged and did not seem to have any signs of decay.


    After crouching down, Garen reached his hand out and grabbed the three strands of hair. At the same time, he plucked a strand of his own hair and passed it to the two laboratory staff in black clothes behind him.


    Various expensive testing equipment had already been set up on the ground behind him. A few specialized individuals used gloves to separate the hairs into four different containers. Next, they began the delicate gene examination procedure.


    Within ten short minutes, the results of the test were released.


    "Mistress, My Lord," said the laboratory staff quietly. "From the results of the genetic correspondence degree, the three corpses that were buried here really belonged to your late relatives. There''s no doubt about it."


    "Are you sure?"


    It seemed as if the air had suddenly become much colder.


    The laboratory staff felt slight indescribable chills in his heart. However, since he was completely unable to decipher them clearly, he merely nodded his head firmly.


    "I''m very sure. Any laboratory organization would presumably give you these results easily. There are no uncertainties at all."


    The chilly winds grew colder.


    Garen''s expression became colder. Although he was not emotionally attached to the birth parents of this physical body, he had previously promised Nonosiva that he would take care of them. However, he was unable to do it now.


    He waved his hand. "All of you can leave first."


    Inari nodded and quietly left with the other laboratory staff. It was obvious that Garen was in an extremely gloomy mood.


    Garen took a white, palm-sized computer-like thing. This was Scarlet Snow Sect''s most advanced communication device.


    He dialed a number that he had memorized from constant practice before quickly turning off the location and video functions here.


    A little while later, he received a response from the other side quickly.


    "Is it Garen? Why is your side pitch black? I can''t see anything," Celine''s voice echoed from the video. She still resembled her previous self with her short green hair and her temperament that hinted of indifference from the way the corner of her mouth was raised slightly. She was dressed in some kind of service-type clothing that was fully white and looked abnormally British-styled.


    "My place has been sealed suddenly and the signal here isn''t so good," Garen answered simply. "How have you been lately? Still good?"


    "Still alright. My strength has increased now. However, I still feel that it isn''t so smooth in certain places. Do you still have any of the ores that you gave me previously? The dark red metal ores," Celine had always been this straightforward with Garen.


    "Of course I do. Just send me and tell me how much you need," Garen laughed. On the surface, he sounded as if he was speaking gently. However, a bone-chilling coldness was seeping through the depths of his gaze. "That''s right, how are my mother and the rest? They''re still well, right? I haven''t returned to see them in so many years and now that I think about it, I haven''t been filial at all. I''m planning to return and visit them. Send me their full address."


    An indifferent look appeared on Celine''s face instantly.


    "They just moved houses recently and might not have a confirmed addressed for now. If you''re coming here, it''s best if you inform me first. The Central Star Region isn''t the best place to pass through. I can get you a pass through my teacher''s connections. However, since you''re an Energy Machinist now, this should be easily done. Can you get out of your sealed Stargate now?"


    "I can get out because I have a way," answered Garen while smiling.


    "That''s right, your mother wanted to speak to you. You should speak to her yourself. I''ll transfer you and connect you to the call," a mysterious smile appeared on Celine''s face suddenly before the screen snapped and shut off. It was quickly switched to another place with a little garden in the background.


    His mother, Amy Lamda''s warm face appeared in the center of the screen.


    "Is that Nono?"


    "Yes, it''s me, Mother. Are my younger sister and Father still alright? I''m planning to come home and visit after some time," replied Garen''s voice in a gentler tone.


    "There''s no need. You''re the backbone of our household and your career is important. We''ve been living well so you don''t have to worry about us. However, we haven''t heard from your younger brother all this while. If you hear any news about him soon, remember to inform us immediately. Just knowing that he''s still alive is enough."


    His mother spoke softly and occasionally wiped the tears from her eyes.


    Garen chatted to his mother about some of their household matters while listening to her constant compliments about Celine.


    While listening to his mother enquire about his well-being through the video, Garen''s consciousness was focused on his mother''s badly rotten corpse below his feet.


    An indescribable chill rose from the bottom of Garen''s heart suddenly.


    A person who died more than three years ago was actually still chatting and smiling at him through the screen?


    In the end, who was real¡­?


    In order to repay Celine''s for her sentiments and for taking care of his family, Garen constantly sent the available resources in his possession to her. These items had traveled to and fro and he was unsure of how many things he had sent. Every time he watched the video calls of his family members assuring him of their safety, he felt that he had treated Nonosiva properly. However, he had never gotten deeper into the matter to get any other probable answers.


    "Alright, I still have matters to attend to here. We''ll talk again soon," after conversing with his ''mother'' for a while, Garen could not suppress the murderous intent in his heart and disconnected the phone call quickly.


    "In the end, I never acknowledged them as my family from the bottom of my heart. This is how this ending has occurred," Garen knew the source of this in his heart.


    Only now did he recall that Celine had almost given up all of her femininity in her sole pursuit of power. She had created a baseline that even he could not see clearly. Despite their deep sentiments throughout the years, had she merely been helping herself without caring about anything else?


    The White King''s pawns were still hiding in this region. As the White King who could see the line of destiny and would be able to challenge the Red King in the future, would he allow the events to occur without hesitating at all? This probability could not be imagined at all.


    When the Energy Tide appeared, the secret pieces would be present as well. This was because the Red King''s Forbidden components would truly appear when the Energy Tide appeared.


    Without suppressing the murderous intent in his heart any longer, Garen turned around and glanced at Inari before his silhouette disappeared in the air instantly. Immediately, everyone could only feel a cold wind soaring into the sky before it dashed away and flew into the distance.


    ******************


    Polar Region -- Titan City


    Garen floated in the sky quietly. He looked down at the bustling white city.


    Titan City, the area with the highest concentration of nobles within Polar Region was also currently the largest and strongest force in the area where White Light was located. Although it was not a metropolis, it was still the most prosperous city in Polar Region. Especially after more than half of Black Flood Party was destroyed, the initial Polar Region surrendered after they were defeated. They were currently already assigned to the White Light Organization as their base.


    Numerous Spaceships of different sizes were floating around in the sky above the city while endless streams of cars came and left on the ground. Some Mech groups that were circulating around and patrolling the entire city could be seen occasionally.


    The entire Titan City resembled the most accurate precision instrument. It was unusually complicated and magnificent and possessed an atmosphere that was completely different from Blackboard Region''s desolate decadence.


    Garen floated in mid-air and extended his hand slowly as if his palm was about to grasp the entire city.


    "All creation cannot escape from their destined deaths in the end," he murmured as the black clouds in the sky circled faster. Countless floating clouds surged frantically while an uncountable amount of cold white gas filled the air and turned into a terrifyingly gigantic palm.


    The gigantic hand pressed down slowly towards the sky above Titan City.


    "Which senior''s esteemed arrives in my Titan City! I''m White Shark, the City Master. On behalf of Lord Divine Light of Polar Region, I ask you to kindly stop the flames of your fury." A white Mech with a shark''s head rose into the sky. An imposing Inherited Level air could be felt throughout its entire body. There was a light green crystal that was clearly embedded in the center of its chest. It was obviously of the same style as the previous White Light Mech.


    The Energy Fields throughout this Mech''s entire body was condensed in one area. It transformed into a seemingly substantial great white shark that charged into the sky towards the gigantic hand.


    "I kindly ask my senior to show mercy!!" yelled the City Master furiously.


    Terrible chaos had already appeared throughout the city below them. An abundance of Spaceships and cars were blocked up. Traffic was a mess. Numerous people began to lose their minds while panicking, causing the chaos to worsen. Large crowds of people were squeezed together in the city. Within a few short moments, situations that depicted the downfall of the area appeared within the order of the city.


    He looked at the gigantic metropolis below him quietly.


    Garen closed both of his eyes.


    "Faded¡­ Creation¡­"


    He reached his hand out and clenched it gently.


    "Freeze History."


    Bang!!


    The enormous hand that was made up of chills suddenly dispersed and turned into numerous shrouds of white gas that dived downwards.


    The abundant chills resembled raindrops that poured down directly. Everything they touched was quickly covered in a light layer of white frost before completely turning into solid ice.


    The white chills that filled the sky like rain brushed past the side of the Shark Mech''s body. It was useless no matter how much it struggled.


    Ahh!!!!


    The Shark Mech charged at Garen frantically. He used both of his hands to take out a gigantic sickle that was made by being folded. It drew a crescent-like white light in mid-air.


    Clang!


    The gigantic sickle that was over ten meters long was blocked by a single index finger that Garen held up. His terrifying momentum made it seem as if he appeared out of thin air before disappearing. It did not adhere to the laws of physics at all.


    "H¡­ How!!"


    As countless frozen layers extended towards the Shark Mech''s body from the sickle quickly, his last words escaped from his mouth after his final struggle. His entire body was completely frozen into an ice block before it fell down from the high altitude.


    "Within three days, give me the traitors of Black Flood Party. Just like this city, those who disobey orders will fall into eternal sleep," Garen''s silhouette became blurry within the high altitude. However, his low but clear voice was transmitted across the screens of the monitoring forces without any omissions.


    Crack!


    After some distortions, Garen disappeared in mid-air. The previously prosperous city did not even have a moment to reflect before it was completely frozen in ice.


    *******************


    The faraway capital of the Polar Region.


    Inside an open and spacious gloomy meeting room.


    The leaders who were seated at a round table looked at the city that was completely frozen on screen silently.


    Both eyes of the white-haired man who sat at the host''s seat were gloomy while all ten of his fingers were interlaced on the table. He wore a black suit that was rimmed with silver stripes.


    "A degree of this sort¡­" He opened his mouth slowly while his hoarse voice escaped.

 1095 Exact Information 1

    "I need all of you to give me an emergency plan," said the man who was seated at the host''s seat in a low voice. "That was a city. Titan City was one of our most important bases! We can''t let it just freeze and fall into such a situation!"


    This man was the First Elder of the previous White Light Organization and the person who destroyed Blackboard Region in revenge. He had attacked Polar Region and caused its downfall before becoming the newly appointed leader there.


    Those present were not Polar Region''s original imperial kinsmen or great nobles. Instead, they were this man''s previous underlings and a few of Black Flood Party''s subordinates that defected over.


    Those from Black Flood Party were currently the most embarrassed ones here. The other people cast their gazes towards the both of them, consciously and unconsciously.


    "Ladies and gentlemen of Black Flood Party, tell me, how did this person come after all?" said one of the imperial members of Polar Region calmly. "An individual with powers like that would already be considered as a Non-falling Level powerhouse. I wouldn''t believe it if all of you did not know how a powerhouse of this degree was provoked."


    "Indeed, even if First Elder wanted to protect you, he would first need to know the entire process clearly," said another person while smiling and narrowing his eyes. "That was a Non-falling Level, a powerhouse that was on par with the Black Flood Party Master from those days!"


    The gazes of all the elders were focused on those from Black Flood Party.


    The face of the Fourth Divine Wind General who acted as a representative turned cold and stern as he sat up straighter in his seat but did not speak. Beside him was a young woman who had long red hair.


    The silence of Black Flood Party allowed the others to rejoice in their misfortune.


    "Alright, alright. We''ll discuss this matter further. What''s going on?" The gaze of the man who was also the leader fell on the Fourth Divine Wind General.


    The Divine Wind General cleared his throat and looked at his surroundings while his face remained expressionless.


    "Respected Lord Divine Light, we''ve never seen this person before and we would never dare to lie to you about this matter," The Fourth Divine Wind General could ignore the others but would naturally not treat his own leader the same way. He stood up and answered him respectfully.


    "It would be impossible for a Non-falling Level powerhouse to just appear suddenly, right?" Divine Light was faintly annoyed.


    "As I see it, this isn''t the time to debate the origins of this person. Instead, we should be defending the reputation of our Polar Region. If a larger region was frightened into submission by a terrorist that appeared suddenly, the other regions would laugh at them as if they were a joke!" said one of the old people dejectedly.


    "We must release a letter to our allies about the terrorist attack immediately! Inform the other regions to unite with us as allies as well! Titan City was a key trade city that we used to import Star Core fragments! We will not tolerate losing it!" said someone resolutely.


    After a temporary period of shock, everyone realized that the person was actually very aggressive. He did not care about the millions of people who died within the entire city. They could simply treat him as the biggest mutated organism threat and handle him in that manner before releasing an urgent announcement to all of the powerhouses within the other regions of the alliance.


    "As a single person, even if he becomes any stronger, could he be stronger than all of us?" sneered one of the leaders.


    "Although a single Non-falling Level is not enough to scare us, I personally cannot set out easily. Looks like I can only trouble all of you now."


    Once Divine Light had gotten his great revenge against Blackboard Region, his mental state had calmed down greatly. He was rather unperturbed now.


    "I''m guessing that this person probably took the opportunity that arose because of the weather changes. He could only increase his strength when his frost abilities and powers increased. In reality, his strength is probably not this powerful. After all, if it was really strong enough, he would have emerged long ago instead of purposely waiting until now," said one of the elders calmly.


    "That''s reasonable."


    "Then move out twelve Great Light Mechs to prevent a diversion from occurring. I''ll oversee the metropolis while the rest of you can go straight to Egret together," Divine Light took a pure white disc out and passed it to one of the leaders who was standing up.


    "This disc contains half of my power within a single move. I''ll pass it to you to handle it," as the peak Non-falling Level powerhouse, Divine Light had previously attacked and killed two Non-falling Levels including the Black Flood Party Master and Blackboard Academy''s dean. As for Non-falling Levels who had yet to reach their limits, he was naturally, completely unconcerned about them.


    "At the same time, move upwards towards the headquarters and inquire about the information regarding that man," the headquarters that he was talking about referred to the information headquarters of the artificial intelligence manufacturing alliance between Maria Region and Royal Region. Various information from all aspects was collected there.


    "Don''t worry, leave it to us," the young person who had taken the disc opened his mouth and exposed his white teeth.


    ************************


    If the power of the Non-falling Level separated itself and coordinated with the snowflakes and cold air in the sky, it would form a terrifying ending that would affect people greatly.


    Titan City was frozen and the solid ice there could not be broken. If it was struck or broken, the people inside would crack completely along with the ice.


    Garen had vented briefly to slightly relieve the murderous intent in his heart. He was currently in the radiation zone between Polar Region and Blackboard Region. He was waiting on an overgrown grassy plain.


    The Seventh Ruins from earlier that were both mysterious and strange were far away in front of him. He had entered previously and was almost unable to exit.


    While looking at it from afar, the Seventh Ruins was still the same as before. They were terribly abandoned and dilapidated while the insides were filled with stage props and what seemed like factory machinery that were jumbled together. An indescribably uncomfortable feeling wafted in the air.


    Garen did not appear but was instead concealing himself in the air. He used optics to hide his body and isolation devices that were made of qi wave forces to shroud himself completely. He had specially prepared these things when he came back this time in order to wait for the moment when Clint and the others would return.


    "Master, Bamente has been found. Should I take you there immediately?" Turing''s voice echoed beside him.


    "Let''s go."


    Garen threw a little black ball out of his hand in passing and allowed it to fall on the floor freely and sink into the soil on the ground. It burrowed into the deepest part of the soil on its own.


    Only then did he turn around and leave.


    Celine had lied to him. Bamente had attempted to assassinate him previously but was inflicted with heavy injuries by the Nine-Headed Dragon''s soul that rebounded automatically. He definitely needed to get his revenge.


    It was fortunate that the matters here were preparing to be completed. The free time that he had now was coincidentally enough for him to settle all of his previous scores.


    "There''s probably some time before the explosion of the Energy Tide anyway..?"


    A faint blue light appeared in both of Garen''s eyes.


    He would not go and meet Celine for now. He needed to wait until her address was fully determined before he could deal with her. When he thought about it now, she was probably the one who had taken away all of his previous resources.


    Throughout the numerous worlds he had experienced consecutively, she was the best liar he had ever seen.


    While following Turing''s directions, Garen passed through the radiation zone quickly and silently entered the protective Light Screen to return to Blackboard Region.


    He flew towards the mountainous area in the open country with ease. A large white house that was built on the top of the mountain appeared within his field of vision quickly.


    There were many guards placed around the house. They held firearms and wore Miniature Mechs. They looked like they performed their garrison duties strictly.


    Garen attracted their attention instantly when he flew closer. It seemed like they had detected him by using certain devices. However, it was important to note that Garen was already using the most advanced devices to conceal himself.


    ************


    Within a garden in the interior of a big house, Bamente was currently following a woman from behind with an expression of flattery on his face. He was talking about something while smiling.


    The woman''s figure-hugging black dress revealed her beautiful figure. Both of her eyes were elegant and shaped like almonds. She was a rare beauty.


    "You can relax. The materials that I promised you will be sent as soon as possible. However, the medicinal liquid that you blended must be handed over on time as well."


    "Of course, of course. Milady''s personal arrival is an honor for my humble self, Bamente. To be able to guide milady and take milady sightseeing around Blackboard Region is a great opportunity that many people could not even dream of," replied Bamente while smiling happily.


    "It''s good that you''re aware of that. If you treat me well, you will reap the benefits; if you treat me badly, you already know the conclusion of that," sneered the woman.


    "Understood, understood," Bamente answered frantically. "The current Mech competition between the Alliance of the Three Territories¡­" Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly felt an abnormal shroud of qi that penetrated the defensive layer of his house before shooting directly towards the two people.


    Suddenly, he sensed a deep threat that resembled an extremely terrifying and earth-shattering murderous intent that was surging towards himself violently.


    Within his field of vision, a ray of white light appeared in the faraway sky instantly before it charged directly at him.


    Shh¡­ The white light produced sharp whistling noises that caused intense pain throughout his eardrums.


    However, he had no time to think now. He jerked his hand quickly and threw out two machine boxes before two ferocious black beasts pounced towards the white light from the inside.


    Roar!!


    The species of these two beasts could not be determined clearly. The white light penetrated them easily moments after they pounced forward. The speed of the white light did not decelerate and charged directly towards Bamente.


    Garen remained within the white light with a calm expression on his face. To his current self, killing a mere Biochemist like Bamente was as simple as breathing. His counterattacks were weaker than paper and without having to break it on his own, they collapsed naturally after being suppressed by the Energy Field around his body.


    "Save me!!" Bamente yelled loudly with a defeated look on his face.


    "How dare you!!" The sound of a woman''s voice that was tinged with anger echoed beside his body. Simultaneously, a dark red steel wheel that was one step faster than sound and had sharp saw-like edges attempted to directly slice Garen''s neck instantly.


    Garen simply extended his fingertips towards the wheel.


    Boom!!!!


    Countless rays of red light spewed around before the entire house and garden were instantly shrouded in violent red. All the flowers and plants wilted rapidly before the red light attacked and tainted the Miniature Mechs who had entered the house. It immediately flung these people out brutally before they were corroded by the red light in mid-air until not a single sound was left.


    "Eh?" Garen exclaimed softly and realized once again that he had already landed gently on the top of the enclosing wall. He looked down at the woman with the cold face below him and Bamente who was hiding behind her.


    When he extended his hand and touched the wheel, a mysterious force attempted to teleport him to another area. Fortunately, he had controlled the forces to evade this transference and float away gently to land on top of the nearby enclosing wall.


    "Somewhat interesting," his gaze stared at the red wheel in the woman''s hand while his interest towards the other party was aroused.


    "You dare attack your Princess''s servant. Bearers!! Take this fellow who forced his way in and disturbed the interest of the palace."


    Their surroundings were completely silent while Garen looked at this woman curiously.


    "Your Vitality is very interesting," he stroked his chin while his interest in her increased. "Initially, I merely came here to settle some minor matters. I never expected to gain surprise rewards as well. Not bad, not bad¡­"


    His voice was still echoing in the sky when Garen''s physical body had already turned into white light that charged towards both of them immediately.

 1096 Exact Information 2

    "Protect the princess!!"


    Numerous hoarse and exhausted voices could be heard in the dark.


    A crashing noise could be heard within the interior of the house when a figure broke the door down and exited. It produced great momentum that violently punched Garen who was in mid-air. This incident was purely produced by a strength that had reached its limit and was not mixed with other impurities.


    Clang!!


    Garen simply touched its fist before it was instantly sent flying backward as if it was hit by a bomb. It exploded into a pool of blood before he had even landed on the ground.


    "He''s an Energy Machinist!! Stop him!"


    "Red Net!!" An elderly voice echoed throughout the sky.


    Layers of complicated red Energy Barriers appeared between the woman and Garen out of thin air.


    Garen extended his hand as if he could not see the barrier at all. There was a humming noise before more than ten layers of these barriers were destroyed instantly as if they were merely bundles of paper!


    Garen''s right hand penetrated them before he clawed at the woman''s neck.


    At this moment, a red laser that descended from the sky fell down suddenly.


    Shh!!!


    The laser that was as large as a column instantly illuminated the entire night sky completely. It was a terrifying destruction beam that was shot out at the base of an enormous black Battleship. It was an energy bomb that was specially used to attack enemy Battleships!! Apparently, someone was using it as a weapon to attack human enemies now. Its degree of precision was simply astonishing!


    The light beam that connected the sky to the earth descended on the ground before everything was completely covered in crimson light.


    It happened the moment the light beam landed on the ground.


    There was a dull thunderous noise before a red laser that was an even scarier light beam rose into the sky and struck the black Battleship violently.


    It seemed as though the middle section of the Battleship was struck by a gigantic red rod firmly. It was hit lightly at first before a sudden explosion followed and turned it into countless fragments that glided before violently smashing against the ground.


    Garen discarded the ice mirror in his hand.


    "Tch tch, how dangerous. It almost hit me¡­"


    He seized the woman''s neck with one hand and simply flung her as if she was nothing more than a light item. He threw her in the opposite direction. While looking at the enormous black Battleship that was quickly falling, many people on it were jumping off and escaping frantically. They resembled parachutes that were descending from the sky.


    "Young man! Do you know the honorable position of the person whom you are holding hostage now?" An elderly man with a red beard appeared before Garen out of thin air. He stood on the ruins in his black clothes that gave off a mysterious air.


    "If you dare touch a single fine hair on my body, I will slaughter your entire family!!" cursed the woman in his hands venomously like a caught beast that was furious.


    Boom!!!


    A shroud of substantial-like chills floated beside Garen''s body. It was actually Turing, a large and fierce Two-Headed Wolf who was currently rushing one step behind him. The terrifying Non-falling Light around his entire body covered the entire courtyard. The old man was about to open his mouth and speak but was instantly suppressed by a heavy pressure that made it difficult for him to breathe. He could not make even a single sound. His face became extremely contorted instantly.


    "My Lord, these people actually dared to threaten your unparalleled holy self. You should just let your subordinates eat them so that they can be turned into nutrients for the earth," said Turing while complimenting him loudly. He stared at the woman in Garen''s hands with a gaze of unimaginable greed and desire. She seemed like an unusual delicacy that had attracted him the most.


    "We''re members of the Crimson Court! As a Non-falling Level powerhouse, Your Highness should know this name, right?!" The old man exerted all of his strength but could barely make a few noises. "Please acknowledge us on behalf of the reputation of the Red Emperor¡­"


    "Let him kill me because my father will avenge me! Let him kill me!" The woman in black roared loudly. "He actually dared to put this imperial court in such a difficult position¡­!"


    "Crimson Court?" Garen''s eyebrows were knitted together tightly. He realized the origins of the other party immediately. "All of you are Biochemists?" He recalled the identity of the other person instantly. Crimson Court was the single largest Biochemist organization. Since Bamente was a Biochemist, it was normal for him to establish connections with these people.


    He looked at Bamente who was at the side who had collapsed on the ground from fear. He had a terribly scared expression on his face while small parts of both of his legs were burnt and damaged by the red laser that descended from the sky earlier. He could not even stand properly.


    "How interesting¡­ Even Biochemists decided to join this grand meeting, huh?" A strange smile appeared on Garen''s face.


    Crimson Court was a force that would be recaptured by Clint sometime in the future. Nonetheless, he never expected to actually encounter it beforehand. The princess in his hands right now would probably become the queen next time after becoming Clint''s accidental wife in the future. However, she would become much more mature then, unlike her current self who was still not wise yet.


    "In that case, this makes it very difficult for me¡­"


    In order to avoid influencing major forces, despite being prepared to kill this woman originally, Garen realized that it was seemingly not permissible now. This was the wife of the future Red King and it would be bad if the major forces of history were affected if she was killed.


    The princess in his hands continued to curse loudly. Various unpleasant words melded with the noises. Her Vitality made her immune from the effects of all energy-type suppressions. Only substantial physical attacks could be used against her.


    Her Vitality was clearly unnatural. Instead, it was adjusted by the Biochemists on their own.


    "If I can''t kill her, then¡­"


    Bang!!


    Garen lifted the princess in his hands before smashing her against the ground violently.


    Cement cracked and sputtered about while large amounts of rocks were smashed until they were sent flying in all four directions.


    Bang bang bang!!


    Again and again, Garen dragged the princess and smashed her against the places that were especially solid in a series of frenzied collisions.


    The courtyard that was initially terribly damaged by the red light''s attacks finally collapsed after being smashed completely now.


    The enclosing wall broke and collapsed before the ground was filled with potholes.


    "I swear!! Swear¡­!" Bang!!


    "I will definitely¡­!!" Bang!!


    "Kill¡­" Bang!!


    "You¡­!" Bang!!!


    "Ahh!!!!" Boom!!!


    Countless broken stones and soil whooped down like raindrops that sprinkled around. The old man clenched his fist in pain but was suppressed by the Non-falling Light that made him unable to move at all. He could only stare at Garen who was torturing the princess mercilessly.


    The noises ceased abruptly.


    Everything became completely quiet.


    The princess''s neck was twisted towards one side and no one knew if she were still alive or not.


    Nonetheless, Garen felt as if his body and mind were truly more relaxed now. He lifted the princess in his hands like a broken rag doll and walked before Bamente who was completely dazed and paralyzed on the floor in fright.


    "You''re¡­ the one from that day?!!" Bamente finally recognized Garen. He pointed a finger at him while his voice was already stammering, making him unable to speak clearly.


    "You''ve finally recognized me," Garen smiled. "I came to settle our previous matters."


    The pupils in Bamente''s eyes shrunk.


    "That¡­ That has nothing to do with me¡­ I was merely doing a business deal with them. It had nothing to do with me!! It was Ice Dragon! It was him! It was Fila!! They were the ones who made a deal with me and told me to kill you! No¡­! No! Don''t kill me!!! Don''t!!"


    Crack!


    Garen steppes on his chest with one foot and broke it immediately. It was direct and efficient.


    "No¡­ It wasn''t my¡­ fault¡­!" Bamente widened his eyes and died with everlasting regret. His head was slanted towards one side before he was finally unable to speak anymore.


    "Thus, another one ends," Garen exhaled. He recalled his own state when this man had plotted against him in the hospital previously. Fila¡­ Seventh Divine Wind General!


    These two people were the true ringleaders.


    "Let''s go, Turing."


    He turned around and walked towards the outside. The Two-Headed Werewolf responded quietly in a somewhat unhappy tone but followed behind Garen nonetheless.


    "That''s right, I''ll return this to you," Garen suddenly remembered the person that he was still carrying in his arms. He simply threw her at the old man. "You don''t have to thank me."


    The old man caught the princess frantically before checking her briefly. Although she was not in life-threatening danger, her entire body was simply too horrible to look at. The old man was furious to the point where he nearly spat out blood when he saw Garen whose back was facing him in a completely defenseless manner. He wanted to attack him instinctively but each movement caused him to spit out fresh blood instantly.


    "I¡­" He felt as if his internal organs were being sliced by blades as the aches were difficult to endure. It was clear that he had unknowingly fallen victim to Garen''s plot during the confrontation earlier.


    "Your Highness! The misdeeds of this day will surely be avenged in the future! State your name if you dare!" he yelled loudly while exerting all of his strength.


    No one replied him. Garen had teleported away the moment he exited because he could not be bothered with this man''s nonsense. He was merely an Inherited Level.


    ******************


    The snowfall from the sky was getting heavier now.


    Some places were already covered in thick layers of snow. While walking on the ground, there were places that were deep enough to make people sink into knee-deep snow in one step.


    Garen and Turing stood on the cliff at the peak of the mountain range. They looked down at the enormous white city in depression. This city was slightly larger than Titan City. Fila and the Seventh Divine Wind General stayed here in Polar City, the capital of Polar Region after they deserted.


    "There are Non-falling Level powerhouses here¡­" Garen gasped in admiration. "It''s also the place where the Mother Planet''s highest leveled forces can be found."


    Fila and the Seventh Divine Wind General were inside this place.


    When he recalled the miserable condition he had suffered when the Willpower throughout his entire body was sealed that year, if the Sixth Divine Wind General had not saved him, he would probably have been destroyed instantly.


    "I cannot wait to return the great present that you gave me that year¡­" Garen glanced at the vast city below him. His gaze was calm but no one knew what he was thinking about.


    "My friend arrived at my Polar Region but did not inform me, the master. Is this a lack of courtesy?" Suddenly, a calm male voice echoed behind Garen.


    Garen turned his head and saw a person who was walking forward slowly. However, his figure seemed as if it had leaped across a large distance in a split second. He was able to appear a few meters in front of him quickly from a place that was a hundred meters further previously.


    Mysterious power and influence wafted throughout this person''s entire body. His Non-falling Light was as spotlessly white as jade. It felt completely different from Garen''s whiteness that seeped with hints of gloominess.


    While looking at the forces of this person''s body, he noticed that he was a Non-falling Level too. As a Non-falling Level, he could already fuse his Exclusive Mech with parts of his own body. He could even split up and match his Mech once again if he was strong enough to form something like spatial equipment that could fuse with his own body completely.


    His appearance looked similar to that of a normal person. However, he possessed terrifying power in reality.


    "Who are you?" The moment Garen turned around, he suddenly felt the energy of the blood bead that remained inside his body jumping violently.


    The moment the energy started jumping, the expression on the other party''s face changed radically while he looked at him in slight disbelief.


    "I never thought that¡­" All of the Non-falling Light throughout the man''s body shrunk suddenly before he took a non-defensive stance strangely.


    He waved his hand and sprinkled a large amount of radiance before completely sealing their entire surroundings.


    Pop.


    This Non-falling Level City Master who was also Polar Region''s current controller had actually knelt down on one knee before Garen!


    "Lord Emissary has graced us with his presence personally but I was unable to respectfully welcome him in the first moment! May you pardon my offenses!!" he said loudly and respectfully, in fear and trepidation.


    "Emissary?" Garen''s mind was slightly shocked.


    His other identity was of the Bodysnatcher Jeros. Meanwhile, in the current Polar Region, the great leader of the previous White Light terrorist organization was actually referring to him as his lord.


    Within an instant, all of the connections linked together.


    "Carthage¡­ Chinande¡­ These are truly great efforts¡­" While looking at Divine Light who was kneeling on a single knee before him, Garen smiled coldly in his heart.

 1097 Clash 1

    If Garen''s memory served him right, the White Light Organization had been swept off the Blackboard Region many years ago. He didn''t expect their leader to be part of Carthage''s future plan.


    Judging from the looks of it, the reason the White Light was looking for Forbidden Mech''s parts was clearly aimed towards Red Moon.


    "The White Light doesn''t feel like an organization that has just been formed. It''s set to target Red Moon the moment they appear. Perhaps they''ve investigated Red Moon''s part from the very beginning¡­" Garen linked the whole situation in an instant.


    He looked at Divine Light who had one knee on the ground as he pondered how long White King had been planning all of these since everything had been set up a long time ago.


    Now that he thought about it, the draughtsman who allied with the Red Moon the Red King was most likely this man in front of him¡­


    "Cut the nonsense. I want to meet the people who betrayed the Black Flood Party back in the days. Since you''ve participated in this plan, I may spare your lives if you hand all of them over to me," Garen replied calmly.


    Sweat started to appear on Divine Light''s head, who was still kneeling down with one knee.


    "The Headquarter is the one who gives me everything I have now so it''s natural that I only listen to the Lord Emissary. However¡­"


    "However?"


    Divine Light raised his head. "However, may Lord Emissary tell me your respected name? So that I can inform Lord Puppeteer with minimal issue."


    The Puppeteer?


    Garen was offended as he had become an insider by following Carthage. However, what about the Puppeteer? It is very possible that he is in charge of this mother planet or perhaps it is just Carthage of the Scarlet Snow Sect''s identity.


    "My name is Jeros and are you oppressing me by using the Puppeteer''s name?!" Before Garen could react, Turing appeared beside Garen and released the Non-falling Light onto Divine Light.


    "I do not dare¡­" Divine Light immediately lowered his head.


    Garen started to lose his patience as the amount of time wasted had exceeded his expectation.


    "I''ll give you ten minutes. You shall perish if you don''t hand over your men," he set his gaze onto the Polar Region. From where he stood, the whole city was within his view.


    "Lord, are you not afraid of ruining the Headquarter''s plan?" Divine Light gritted his teeth as he spoke with his head down.


    "Plan?"


    Garen glared at him.


    Pew!!


    A line of white gas was shot directly towards the Divine Light''s face.


    Divine Light reached out his hand as he attempted to grab it by instantly gathering a huge amount of Willpower on his palm. However, the white gas unexpectedly took a turn and winded across his palm and went directly towards the back of his head.


    Clang!!


    A big, white, metal bell shape appeared and surrounded Divine Light.


    A high-intensity noise reverberated as the white gas clashed onto the bell and cracks could be seen propagating on the surface of the white bell.


    "Lord Emissary!" He shouted anxiously. "Aren''t you scared of the Puppeteer questioning you?!" He was shocked and angry as he didn''t expect Garen to attack at all.


    He then squeezed a small capsule with his finger.


    An invisible force imploded the space dimension was connected to another region which was very far away.


    Garen didn''t seem to realize it as he stared calmly at the man in front of him.


    "Question me? I, Jeros, have no need to explain to anybody¡­"


    He reached out his hand and covered a huge distance at lightning speed as he grabbed onto Divine Light''s head.


    Ahh!!


    Divine Light struggled as their Non-falling Light Energy Field clashed and abraded against each other. As a huge amount of extremely cold white gas propagated towards Divine Light from Garen''s hand, Divine Light''s struggle reduced gradually as he started to freeze by the absolute coolness.


    Sizzle¡­


    A huge amount of chill started to engulf Divine Light''s body except for his head.


    They were both Non-Falling Level but the instantaneous strength of the Energy Field from the Scarlet Snow''s Ice Armor was Level Eight. Divine Light was completely defenseless when he faced against the absolute chill that was one level above him.


    Layers of silver and white metal sheets started to appear on his body. It was the Mech that had been fused within him trying to break through but to no avail. The chill kept invading his body and even his soul.


    Cracking sound could be heard as he froze. The layer of ice turned thicker over time and Divine Light''s consciousness started to fade away as his gaze became muddy.


    Garen mimicked Jeros'' personality according to his memories as he revealed an evil and cunning smile.


    "Those who defy me must die¡­!"


    Boom!!


    A white humanoid figure collided into Garen from the left. However, his Energy Field blocked the attack as he levitated in the middle of the air.


    The huge force kept fighting against Garen''s Defensive Field as white debris rained down to the ground.


    This person had a pair of eyes which were blue and had no pupils. It''s as if it was purely giving off a blue shine. His attire was all black and his hair was very similar to the mythical Medusa as they were all made from silver-white mechanical poisonous snakes that kept wiggling about on their own.


    "Jeros¡­ This is my territory!" The man with snakes as hairs spoke with a metallic, gender-neutral voice that was slightly echoic and deep-toned.


    "Scram back to your Planet Dragon Emperor!!"


    "Scram?!" Garen revealed an even more sinister smile. "You''re telling me to scram?!"


    In that instant, he released a punch at lightning speed as his fist was gathered with an intense Energy Field and the punch landed flat on the face of the man who had snakes as his hair.


    Kaboom!!


    The thud similar to of a thunder could be heard as a huge shockwave spread across the air in all direction. As the Snake Hair Man received the punched straight in his face, his head sunk in and an overwhelming momentum followed afterward, sending him flying away as if he was a rocket. He then crashed onto the surface of the earth far away.


    "Jeros!! Don''t you dare go across the line!!" Surprisingly, the Snake Hair Man didn''t die as he floated out from the surface crater as if nothing had happened to him. His head that had sunk in swiftly returned back to normal as he shouted at Garen with extreme anger.


    "Is that Dazzling Silver Metal? Or is it Recovery Metal? The components you have on your body are good stuff¡­" Garen was shocked before he revealed an even more excited expression. "Coincidentally, I require these metals to enhance my Nine-Level Tempered Body Technique. I''m having trouble finding them and I didn''t expect them to appear right in front of my eyes!"


    "Don''t assume that I''m afraid of you! Jeros, if you act out of line again I will report it to the Headquarter!" The Snake Hair Man shouted as he warned but it was rather outwardly strong and inwardly weak.


    He took a step back and seemed to be preparing to find an escape route¡­


    "Report? Go ahead," Garen didn''t care at all.


    If he could enhance his Nine-Level Tempered Body Technique, the technique could provide even more Vitality to his current physical attribute even though his Vitality could no longer be increased due to his Soul Limit. However, he could produce a layer of mysterious energy field around his body after learning this Tempered Body Technique. This layer of energy field was similar to being covered by a layer of crystal and it was able to provide extreme physical attributes.


    This was also a technique that used external energy to enhance one''s body.


    "Freeze!"


    Turing appeared behind the Snake Hair Man out of nowhere and instantly restrained him with the power of the Non-falling Light.


    In that instant, Garen''s chill propagated and towards him and completely froze him, locking him in a solid chunk of ice in a blink of an eye.


    Crack crack¡­


    The ice sealed up at the top, leaving no gap at all.


    "There''s a hundred and thirty-nine types of metal. This robot is definitely valuable¡­ The core is made out of the Dazzling Silver Metal and Shooting Zero''s Crystal which are just right to increase two levels to my Tempered Body Technique¡­"


    He stared at the Snake Hair Man in the ice as he smiled. Living beings who were trapped within the frozen ice were still conscious but they were unable to move. It was very clear that fear and anger could be clearly seen in the Snake Hair Man''s gaze.


    Garen''s main objective to return this time around was because of the Energy Tide and his secondary objective was to take revenge on his past grudges.


    His Scarlet Snow Technique no longer had any bottlenecking ever since his Scarlet Snow Technique was used concurrently with the Scarlet Snow''s Ice Armor. He could improve his strength in a very short amount of time as long as he had enough energy to consume. However, the troublesome part was that it required an extremely large amount of energy. He might not even be able to meet the Scarlet Snow Sect Grade Eighteen''s requirement even if absorbed all the energy from a planet.


    Furthermore, it required time for him to digest all of the energy from the Energy Ores. He would require at least ten years or more to completely absorb the Energy Ores even if his Peacock Technique had reached its peak. Even then, he would most likely not be able to accumulate the requirement as well.


    Hence, Garen had seen the general event that he set his eyes on, the Energy Tide.


    This natural tidal wave of pure energy was the easiest thing for him to absorb. It could then be converted into pure energy within the shortest time and swiftly enhance the Scarlet Snow Technique''s Grade.


    However, such tidal explosion could only be activated under some special circumstances.


    This activation was not in the hand of the humans and could only be chanced upon. Among all of the general timeline that he had seen, it had only activated once when Clint was traveling between the Four-Star Alliance and Mother Planet.


    This was Garen''s true final objective.


    He could use the energy from the tide to push his Scarlet Snow Technique to its maximum potential. At the same time, he could gather Soul Seeds and increase the upper limit of his Soul Limit.


    The Energy Tide would last for a few days once it activated. Garen had prepared himself as he had already inherited countless of experience from the ancestors. With these energies and the height of Secret Technique that he had achieved, he would be able to condense multiple Soul Seeds of different Secret Techniques without any constraints in a very amount of time. This theory would definitely work!


    In the past, he was not able to see the patterns in condensing the Soul Seeds. Practically, it would be possible for one to reach the realm of Soul Seed if he were to master the Secret Techniques, condense the experience and inspiration and merge them with the techniques. It was one of the most basic rules to condense a Secret Technique and inspire. Once it had been condensed, it would be able to guide every cell in one''s body to change according to the rule and achieve a higher physical limit.


    This was the truth of the Soul Seed increasing the Soul Limits.


    Garen gained a lot of senses as he inherited a huge amount of Secret Technique experience.


    The Living Secret Technique was not necessarily required. As long as it was a top end Secret Technique that didn''t possess incredible power, one would be able to condense a Soul Seed with enough energy and basic inspiration.


    Boom!


    The Snake Hair Man''s body broke down as it disintegrated into metal debris. The metals were many colors and were mixed together in a very messy manner.


    Garen then separated two metals out from the rest with one of his hands and started to compute at high speed via his Energy Machine Imprint as he gently inhaled with his mouth.


    Hiss¡­


    The metals, one black and the other white, turned into liquid as they flowed into his mouth like a river stream.


    "As long as the Tempered Body Technique is enhanced, my body''s resistance would enhance as well. I would be able to counter the negative effects of the Destructive Impact Fists once it has reached a higher level!" This was one of the main reasons he had chosen these two Secret Techniques back then as they could support each other.


    Garen stood at the peak of the mountain. Divine Light was completely frozen inside the ice and could not move an inch. On the other hand, the Hair Snake Man was completely disintegrated by Garen into a huge amount of rare metals. He had picked out a portion of it for collections and the remaining metals were completely devoured by his Peacock Technique which had turned into the essence of Cold Energy to supply his consumption.


    Unfortunately, not all of the metals were considered high energy materials. Although some of the metals seemed very valuable, it didn''t possess much energy. Hence, the metals and the Energy Furnace inside the Hair Snake Man''s body were not able to give Garen a lot of Cold Energy. It was only equivalent to devouring a mountain of high energy mine. Furthermore, he required some time to completely digest them.


    Garen stood at the pinnacle of the mountain and waited quietly as he finished absorbing the metals.


    He closed his eyes as black halo started to illuminate around his body.


    Soon, a layer of black film flashed across his entire body. Then, a translucent white layer flashed across his body as well.


    These two metals soon managed to push the Nine-Level Tempered Body Technique to the second level.


    Garen, who once practiced the Divine Statue Technique was very familiar with the sensation of his body being enhanced in a strange and miraculous manner. Hence, he was able to get used to it very quickly. Afterall, what the Nine-level Tempered Body Technique lacked was material and time instead of the difficulty in mastering the technique.


    It was similar to the Ice Coffin as it was a technique that required hard work and patience.


    However, Garen would only require tens of Potential Points and the problem would be completely solved.


    Garen''s Potential Points broke into the thousand as he had absorbed a huge amount of Holy Tree Branches from the Business Alliance. Hence, he no longer needed to spend them sparingly like he used to in the past.


    The second level of the Tempered Body Technique had been achieved within minutes with the help of the ingredients and potential points.


    Garen opened his eyes as he was able to feel a thin layer of film that seemed to be protecting his body and ensuring it would not come in contact with the external world. Despite that, it was very mysterious as it didn''t affect his senses in the least. His body''s defense was enhanced dramatically and this ability seemed to derive from his own Vitality.

 1098 Clash 2

    Garen''s naturally gifted Vitality was so high that no one would be able to compete with him based on his strength alone. Afterall, Potential Points were used to enhance this aspect of his body.


    One could only wonder how tough his body could be when the layer of thin film that was derived from his body was applied to his already strong body.


    He reached out his hand and covered his palm with the Non-falling Light as he shaped his palm into a hand knife. Then, he attempted to injure himself.


    Thud!!


    A deep thud could be heard as the hand knife landed on his chest.


    He was completely unharmed even without the use of his Energy Field to defend himself.


    Ecstasy could be seen in his eyes as he slowly increased his strength.


    Two times!


    Thud!!


    He hit himself onto his chest without mercy.


    Nothing happened again.


    Three times... Five times... Ten times...


    Garen managed to feel some pain only after he increased his attack by ten times. It seemed that the layer of film was not able to completely filter out the strength and allowed some energy to pass through it and injure his skin.


    "This is amazing! It has reached the realm of not injuring oneself at only level two. Despite the fact that I have an extremely high Vitality, it is still very powerful."


    Garen''s Vitality was extremely high to begin with. The Tempered Body Technique utilized the practitioner''s Vitality as its foundation to enhance his body. Hence, it was extremely beneficial towards people who possessed incredibly high innate Strength and Vitality.


    However, the limit for everyone in the world was twenty points of Vitality. It was the limit that no one could exceed. However, Garen was different. He who had forty points worth of Vitality had far surpassed the realm of a typical person and was way beyond the species'' genetic upper limit.


    Furthermore, no one would attempt to learn this Secret Technique after reaching the top. While the Nine-Level Tempered Body Technique wasn''t considered hard to practice, it would require at least ten years to reach level one. One would never be able to reach the entry level if they didn''t start at a very young age.


    Garen, too, would not be able to learn this technique if he wasn''t gifted with Potential Points as he had already passed the age of learning it.


    "The Predecessor''s wisdom is really incredible," even he was not sure of the theory towards this Secret Technique''s defense.


    "My body''s defense and toughness should be in between sixty to seventy points," Garen looked at his Status Pane.


    As expected, there were new changes towards the Nine-Level Tempered Body Technique.


    Energy Machinist''s Secret Method -- Nine-Level Tempered Body Technique: Level Two. Increases Vitality by 8 points. (Increment rate at the current Vitality 40*20%).


    At the same time, his Attribute Pane had been updated as well. However, it wasn''t as much of an improvement as he had expected.


    ''Nonosiva. Lin -- Strength 40, Agility 40, Vitality 40 (+8), Intelligence 35, Potential 113082%. Soul Limit 40.''


    He didn''t think much of it as everything was already prepared. The strongest man in Polar City had already been frozen beside him and the huge city in front of him was completely defenseless against him.


    It was only then that Garen set his sight on the entire Polar City.


    Turing had already taken off the Space Equipment from the already frozen Divine Light and presented it in front of Garen.


    "Master, there seem to be good items inside them."


    Garen took possession of the items, which were a ring and a pair of spectacles.


    He used his Willpower to look inside to find that they were filled with a lot of items. There were big chunks of Mastery Energy Ore''s Essence and a huge variety of exotic and strange looking Mech''s Parts and weapons. Furthermore, there were a lot of used Data Disks and living necessities.


    "Let''s wrap everything up. We don''t have time to waste here."


    Garen reached out his hand and black clouds started to gather in the sky similar to what had happened in the Titan City.


    A huge amount of white gas gathered on his palm to the point where it seemed like his arm was giving off smoke.


    He then virtually gripped the Polar City from afar.


    Sizzle...


    In an instant, a huge arm made out of white gas appeared out of the black whirling cloud in the sky as it moved downwards.


    "Everything shall end with the thirty-second ancestor''s ultimate technique..." Garen closed his palm gently. "Freeze History!"


    Boom!!


    The humongous arm shattered as it turned into countless of white Cold Energy. It dispersed into white raindrops as it poured.


    Toot...!


    A harsh alarm rang.


    Garen realized something strange had happened as the white gas was obstructed by a layer of white light curtain which had the pattern of a snake on it.


    A cluster of white dots swarmed out of Polar City as if Garen had disturbed a hornet''s nest. Those white dots were Pilots piloting the Shining Mech and they were flying towards him.


    "Kill the invader!!"


    An ice-cold electronic voice could be heard from the sky above the city.


    They had no intention of negotiating with him as they outright announced to kill him off.


    The cluster of white Mechs combined their Willpower as they headed towards Garen who was at the peak of the mountain.


    White laser beams and cannons reached him first before the Mech had even arrived.


    Boom!!


    There was a series of explosions as the mountain Garen stood on was completely obliterated. Snow and fire mixed together as the dirt and debris soared high up in the sky from the explosion, forming a grey dusty pillar.


    Communication via radio waves was sent and exchanged across the sky.


    "Let''s bind him first while waiting for the support from the High Energy Orbital Cannon. Battleship Cannon is charging!"


    "The opponent is a highly dangerous living being. It''s at least Level Five and above!"


    "Be wary of your perimeter and maintain your distance!"


    "Captain Great Light will soon arrive. Keep it up, everyone!"


    "Prepare the Death Cannon!"


    In an instant, a blinding black light was shot down from the sky. It was shot at Garen''s surrounding area and had completely covered the entire circular area up to hundreds of meters.


    The mountain peak had collapsed!


    The mountain''s height had been halved as it was struck by the cannon which was shot from a few thousand meters high. At the same time, the mountain peak was shattered into three large pieces as they glided down to its surrounding. The Pilots in the sky continued shooting these pieces into smaller debris as they were in the midst of breaking apart.


    The Powerhouses that were in the city had started to appear in their own Mech as they floated in the sky, looking at Garen''s general direction.


    "The city''s defense that could sustain an attack from the Non-Falling Level was broken by that attack just now! The enemy is a Non-Falling Level!" An old man said softly. He was operating a Great Light Mech and there were at least ten other operating the same Mech as him.


    On the other hand, the people from the Black Flood Party were beside them in their own Mechs. Their Mechs were of different designs but all of them had one common point. Their Mechs'' shell was reflective, like a mirror.


    It was the Mech material unique to the Divine Wind General.


    The Forth Divine Wind General, Seventh Divine Wind General and two other traitorous powerhouses were grouped together in their Mechs.


    Finally, the last crowd was a group which consisted of Ice Dragon, Fila and three other Inherited Level Mechs.


    Surprisingly, Fila managed to rise to Inherited Level in a very short amount of time. It was very obvious that he did not rely on his own strength.


    At this point in time, everyone gave all of their attention towards the ruined mountain.


    "Can anyone analyze the situation inside?"


    The highest ranked old man whispered.


    "It''s very difficult. The radiation fluctuation is too great and causes too much instrument interference," a Great Light Mech behind the old man responded softly.


    The old man frowned as he glanced at the people from the Black Flood Party.


    "The opponent has said that they''re here for you people. Don''t you guys have anything to say since you''re the root to this problem!?" He had always looked down on these characters who betrayed their own organization. Humans always had some bad habits deep-rooted in them and they would feel much less guilty compared to the first time they committed such act. In short, if they had done it once, they were more like to commit the second time or more.


    This was the reason why he had never trusted the people from the Black Flood Party.


    "White Whale, we''re victims in this matter as well. Although the opponent seems to be coming after us, I''m sure he''s also... hehe," The Forth Divine Wind General spoke as he tried to come up with an excuse. "Furthermore, there''s no use in saying all these things since we''ve already opened fire. Are you hoping that the opponent will stop attacking and call for a truce after receiving a barrage of attacks?"


    The Seventh Divine Wind General levitated silently behind him. His lifestyle in the Polar Region was worse than Blackboard Region. He already regretted early on but he could only walk down the path of darkness as he, unfortunately, could no longer turn back.


    "Why hasn''t the Chief Leader arrived yet despite the situation?" One man asked.


    "Perhaps he had gone to some other place and couldn''t get back in time," the old man frowned. "Doesn''t matter. Regardless if the opponent is a Non-Falling Level or not, he is of no threat to us since he had to spread his strength over a wide area. Each of his white gas at most has the power of a Level Four. We are fine as long as we don''t let him destroy us one by one."


    "You''re right. We should be able to last until the Chief Leader returns," one of the men agreed.


    Then, an extremely frightening aura suddenly appeared above everyone.


    Another giant arm which spanned thousands of meters wide appeared once more!!


    The giant arm which was made out of an enormous amount of white gas struck downward.


    Boom!!


    The shockwave instantly deafened each and every one of the commoner''s ears within the city as blood started to flow out from their ears.


    The snake patterned film could not last for even one second as it shattered, giving off a huge shockwave.


    A humanoid figure in white robe could be seen above the giant arm as he levitated silently. The wind fluttered his robe as it kept moving to the left.


    A bright, silver V-shaped imprint could be clearly seen on the white-robed man''s forehead. The imprint gave off an eye-catching halo as if it was the only light source among the black clouds.


    "Freeze... History!"


    Everyone could clearly hear him speaking in a very cold tone.


    The giant arm then continued striking down!


    ***************


    Underneath the Polar City.


    A humanoid shadow was sitting on his knees deep inside a dark palace.


    As the intense Ice Energy''s ripple came from above, the human figure slowly opened his eyes and they were shining in purple.


    "Jeros! You''ve crossed the line!!"


    A deep roar rang within the humanoid''s body as if there were countless bells ringing in unison.


    He then raised his right hand and moved it towards his head.


    In an instant, an endless amount of black and purple shadows gathered chaotically to his palm, as if the materials'' energy was instantly condensed into his arm.


    Kaboom!!


    The surface of the Polar City had been completely destroyed.


    The surface cracked open as a giant black metallic arm which spanned thousands of meters wide surfaced and went towards the arm in the sky.


    Countless of buildings collapsed as the huge arm appeared. Many people were crying and screaming in fear. Turbulent airflows were induced as the dust surrounded the black arm.


    Two equally huge arms collided with each other.


    In that instant, the world stopped moving.

 1099 War 1

    The black metallic giant arm shattered the white gas giant arm instantly.


    The white gas collapsed and dispersed away as it flowed around the black metallic giant arm. It tried to freeze the arm but was obstructed by a thin layer of black halo.


    Hoo... Foom!!


    The black hand kept rising up and the gigantic black body was slowly surfacing from the ground.


    The earth cracked open, a huge pitch black body which had sharp barbs all over his body as if it was wearing a hedgehog-like armor appeared.


    Roar!!!


    The giant humanoid shouted angrily at the sky. It was pitch black from head to toe and there was not a single contour on its face except for a big black mouth. Inside it was filled with countless of sharp fangs.


    An abundant amount of dirt and bricks were brought up along with the giant humanoid as it poured down on the entire city. Dust spread about everywhere around his leg.


    The giant humanoid was as big as the Polar City and the city trembled and was an inch closer to collapsing as the humanoid performed an action.


    Countless white clouds of gas started to gather in the sky, forming a vague shape of a flying bird.


    Shing!


    A huge amount of ice crystal feathers appeared behind the big white bird. From afar, one could see that these ice crystals had formed into an extremely huge peacock which spanned tens of thousands of meters apart!


    Chii!!!


    A frightening cry similar to a kid''s cry came from the sky.


    The white Icy Crystal Peacock that was as big as the black giant humanoid had materialized.


    Two humongous creatures, the peacock flew in the air whereas the giant humanoid stood on the ground. The former was white while the latter was black as the area had been divided into their respective colors.


    Many people had died in the Polar City but no one cared about it as even the Great Light Mechs could do nothing but to run away. If they were not careful, they would be frozen if they came in contact with the white gas that they were defenseless against.


    The entire Polar City had completely collapsed the moment the black giant humanoid appeared.


    A group of White Light''s best powerhouses retreated at full speed under the protection of the Bodyguard Mech around the city. The Mechs would need a few seconds of focusing their attacks to disintegrate the white gas.


    The entire sky was filled with these white gas filled with Cold Energy as they kept flying about like a living being.


    At the center of a protected area, the leaders moved about carefully as they looked around their surrounding for any incoming white gas.


    Boom!


    The Icy Crystal Peacock spanned open one of its wings as it hit against the few thousand meters tall building beside it. The wing, which was much wider than the building, froze the entire upper portion of the building in an instant the moment it came in contact with it. Those people who were still at the top and had yet escaped from the building were instantly turned into frozen corpses.


    The black humanoid entangled itself with the Ice Crystal Peacock as these two gigantic creatures tumbled crazily within the Polar City. The peacock used its sharp beak to peck countless of holes to the humanoid body with each hole spanning hundreds of meters wide.


    On the other hand, the black giant humanoid tore apart a huge amount of the peacock''s ice crystal feathers.


    The entire city and Space trembled as the two creatures battled.


    The Chief Leader was nowhere to be seen and White Whale, the temporary leader could barely evade from the incoming big Ice Crystal Feathers. The team had already successfully escaped out of the Polar City as he turned his head back to look at the city. The big city was completely thrown into chaos and at least a third of the surface was covered in an ocean of ice.


    The snow falling from the sky was getting stronger and stronger...


    "This... is more than just Non-falling Level..." White Whale''s voice was trembling.


    These monsters no longer relied on battle skills or any techniques during their battles but a primitive brawl. These two monsters were the physical manifestations of the two powerhouses'' killing intent from their deepest core.


    These creatures were not controlled by them. Instead, they were shaped and moved by their own respective auras. This manifestation represented the winning and losing situation between the two.


    Those were the scattered forces from their killing intent manifesting into a physical body outside of their bodies.


    "What is going on!!??" White Whale had managed to slightly calm down as his heart was beating furiously. He felt at ease after he believed that he was far enough from the battle.


    "Can anyone tell me what that humanoid which appeared from underneath our Polar City is?!" One of the leaders spoke with an icy breath.


    "Carmen had disappeared!"


    "He went to save his daughter."


    "To head back into the center of such situation..." That man kept quiet before he even finished his sentence. He would die in the mess if he were to be careless.


    "Is that black humanoid our Chief Leader!?" Fila spoke while levitating beside the Ice Dragon. He panted as the side of his Mech was frozen. Half of the engines behind his body was shooting off the particle beam and he seemed to be moderately injured.


    "What should we do next?!" The Fourth Divine General looked at White Whale, who was the leader of the team.


    "We can''t act hastily before confirming the identity of the black humanoid!" White Whale said confidently. "Our current forces are weak and will amount to nothing in this battle. We may even burden the black humanoid even further as well. We can only play by the ear!"


    "If we gather all of the Satellite Orbital Cannon at maximum power..." One of the men suggested.


    White Whale pondered for a moment. The Overhead Control Terminal was still functional and the hidden control point was not far away from the nearby town.


    "I hereby order everyone to make preparation. We will fire once we have a general understanding of the situation!"


    "Understood!"


    He then issued a series of commands to calm the surrounding survivors, soldiers and Mechs and regroup them.


    However, not many Mechs were willing to stay behind to fight an unbeatable monster in this chaos because their morale was instantly shattered.


    The group worked hard but could only gather a small number of Mechs.


    The Fourth Divine General brought the Seventh along as they occasionally looked at the Ice Crystal Peacock that was still wrecking havoc. All his thought was about who he had offended to the point the person would send out such a monster to threaten the Polar City to hand over them to him.


    He was not aware of the overall situation but the slightly more sensitive Seventh Divine General felt that the surrounding leaders had quietly surrounded the people from the Black Flood Party. He could sense danger approaching from their anxious gaze.


    This monster came for them. Perhaps they were able to calm the giant peacock''s anger if they handed the traitorous Black Flood Party to them.


    "Watch out!" He pushed the Fourth Divine General away from a black sharp knife ambushing from his back.


    "You!" The Fourth''s expression turned gloomy. He felt fortunate that the seventh pushed him away or he would be in deep trouble.


    Two people brought along a few traitors that were under the Divine Wind Generals closer and the Divine Wind Generals had finally realized that they were surrounded. The surrounding Mechs gave off an ill posture and seemed to about to lay their hands on them.


    White Whale was standing nearby. He, who was operating a Whale Head Mech didn''t say a word.


    "White Whale, what is the meaning of this?" The Fourth scoffed softly.


    "What do you mean?" Icy Dragon appeared beside White Whale and a rather crazy tone came from within the Mech. "It''s obvious that we are making you people as the bait to send it to that monstrous peacock. We have come up with a plan. You guys will pretend that you''ve been captured by us. We will then send you to that monster and you can probably fight back at a key moment and kill it off."


    "What kind of joke is that!" The Seventh shouted in anger. "Do you think we can still survive against that monster of such level? Why don''t you be part of your own plan!?"


    Icy Dragon smirked as he put out both of his hands and shrugged. "I can''t do anything about it. He''s not after me..."


    Shing.


    A big broadsword was unsheathed and pointed at the bottom right direction.


    "Hence, for the sake of everyone''s safety..."


    "We wish you dead..." Suddenly, a white figure appeared behind the Fourth Divine Wind General. It was a White Mech with sharp streamline. It had two spears forming an X shape behind its back. The spears gave off a white glow in an instant as it formed into a cross.


    Clank!


    The frictional noise could be heard as the metal spear pierced into the Mech.


    The Fourth Divine Wind General blocked the spears with his hands at lightning speed but he was still not able to evade the critical hit to his head.


    Both Mechs stopped moving as the Fourth Divine Wind General''s right arm broke apart. His hand was decapitated by the Double Spear Mech.


    "Light Wielder... What is the meaning of this!?" The Seventh Divine Wind General took a few steps back in fear as he stared at the Double Spear Mech without any sign of fighting back.


    "What!? Can''t you see! He''s trying to send us to the enemy!!" The Fourth Divine Wind General''s angry voice came from within the cockpit.


    "Since the Chief Leader is absent, the next in command will be White Whale," the cold female tone coming from the inside of the Double Spear Mech was showing sign of fanaticism.


    "Since you want us to die! I''ll make sure no one else lives!" One of the Divine Wind General''s underlying Mech shouted as the shells of the Mech opened up, revealing a huge amount of densely packed Highly Condensed Nuclear Bomb.


    Gasp...


    The surrounding Mechs gasped as they inhaled a breath of cold air.


    No one could defend against the explosion from so many Highly Condensed Nuclear Bomb. At least half of the people there had to die!


    "Looks like you people are well prepared..." White Whale said calmly. He would only sustain a minor injury for these bombs, hence he''s not too worried about it.


    "It was just a precaution but I never thought that... Hehe," The Fourth Divine General smirked.


    The cold wind whistled as the situation had come to a stalemate. No one dared to attack first as both parties did not wish to perish together.


    Clap... Clap... Clap...


    Suddenly a clear clap could be heard from afar.


    A tall figure which was at least two meters approached them slowly from the blizzard underneath the black clouds.


    "It''s a brilliant plan," a deep male voice could be heard. Everyone could clearly see the person''s face as the figure approached closer.


    It was a humanoid giant wolf with two heads!


    It was even wearing a white body-tight battle suit unique to the human. Its muscular contour could be clearly seen on the surface of the attire. His black long hair, which looked like a lion''s mane, was fluttering to the back as the chilly wind blew against him.


    "Unfortunately, the Supreme Leader has given his order," the dual-headed wolf said with a very stern face. "Everyone here shall return and be one with the universe..."


    He then revealed a ferocious smile. "No one is exempted from this."

 1100 War 2

    The air current flowed violently.


    In the sky on top of the Polar City Ruins.


    Garen, wearing a white robe, floated in the air, and a gigantic black Humanoid Mech was right in front of him.


    Compared to the black Mech''s huge figure, the size of Garen''s body was not even the size of the Mech''s finger, yet it seemed as though the both of them were facing each other calmly.


    The hem of the white robe started making a flapping sound as it was being blown by the wind. The robe continuously raised and fall.


    Garen squinted his eyes slightly and stared at the huge black Humanoid Mech in front of him.


    Two terrifying Qi''s Dynamics were bursting out of both of them, forming two huge monsters which were fighting with each other. There was a war between the Qi''s Dynamic of the White Ice Crystal Peacock and the Black Giant Human Figure.


    "Puppet Master... fulfill my request. Otherwise, you will fall here today," Garen said calmly.


    "Jeros, there''s no use talking big! After today, I will report to the headquarters, and your intention to interrupt with the plan will be stopped!" The huge, sharp mouth of the Black Giant Human Figure said in a deep voice. He was being pushed to the edge; if he gave in, he would no longer have a place in this Star Region.


    "The headquarters?" Garen had a sarcastic look on his face. "If that''s the case, then don''t put the blame on me!"


    Suddenly, a large number of ice crystals gathered around his body, and numerous ice crystals started overlapping. Soon, the ice crystals quickly covered his entire body. The countless amount of ice crystals caused Garen''s figure to grow bigger and larger.


    His body grew rapidly, and in less than a minute, he transformed from a tiny human figure to a giant ice crystal armor human figure like the black Humanoid Mech.


    Numerous layers of ice-crystal wings extended from Garen''s back, and he was dressed in an extremely heavy, magnificent armor. The ferocious ice helmet covered his head completely, and his facial expressions could not be seen.


    He wore the Scarlet Snow Ice Armor, which contained the greatest essence of the Scarlet Snow Sect.


    Garen''s aura instantly increased to Level Nine.


    "No¡­ It''s impossible! How can your strength be restored so quickly!" The black human figure had an unbelievable look on its face.


    "Nothing is impossible," Garen sneered coldly.


    "Spiral!"


    He held his right hand up.


    A massive White Gas Tornado was formed with his fingers as the base. It spun wildly into the sky and drove along the black clouds in the sky.


    The tornado was black at the bottom and white at the top. In addition to that, numerous ice crystal fragments were gradually being added to the center.


    "Star Core Resonance!" The black human figure spread out his arms in a frenzy, and numerous black threads were shot out of his ten sharp claw-like fingers. An overwhelming amount of black threads headed toward Garen.


    The black threads cut through space and created multiple space crevices. Some of it swept through the ground and left trails of rotting-like marks.


    "Resonance Sword!" The black human figure put its hands together. A giant black sword flew out of his hands, rushing toward Garen at a terrifying speed which was faster than the speed of light.


    The moment the sword appeared, it seemed as though a large amount of power was being drawn from all the Planets of the Mother Planet, gathering on the sword.


    "Star Core Resonance!" Garen held up the tornado. The black, white tornado was frozen into an extremely huge icicle and swung downwards heavily.


    At the same time, a Level Nine power was suddenly activated. It drew and gathered the power of the entire Star Core of the Planet.


    This was the unique power of a Level Nine powerhouse; it enabled them to draw the powers from the Planet''s Star Core for their own use.


    This was the greatest, yet the most horrifying power. Being able to create and destroy all things.


    Volcanoes, earthquakes, windstorms, tsunami, he was the root of all disasters, and also the core of all living things.


    By activating the Star Core Resonance, its greatest feature will naturally be emanated.


    The greatest feature of a Level Nine expert was their explosive ability.


    A horrifying gravity started spreading rapidly by breaking out of Garen''s and the black humanoid mech''s body. It formed an invisible corrugation on all four sides, and everything that was affected disintegrated into powder-like particles.


    This was the result of a physical structure being torn apart and at the same time being subjected to a tremendous force.


    The most natural manifestation of a Level Nine expert was the ability to control gravity at the strength of ten thousand folds. Usually, Level Nine Experts would restrain their natural gravity from releasing. However, during an all-out fight, they could no longer suppress this terrifying power. Therefore, by releasing their aura naturally, it would absolutely cause damage to the planet.


    This was the difference in the Levels.


    Those above the Non-Falling Level would naturally form a Battle Territory, and those who were not at the same level will not be allowed to enter.


    The black and white ice tornado swung down heavily. Although it seemed to be moving slowly, in the eyes of the outsiders, it happened instantly, like a lightning and a flint.


    The black sword and tornado collided. Oddly, the black sword was distorted, turned into another direction and going straight toward Garen.


    The ice pillar tornado exuded a horrifying chill, instantly turned into a huge Ice Crystal Peacock, and brutally pecked on the black sword that was about fly right beside it.


    Bang!!


    An unbelievably sharp sound wave burst out in all directions.


    The Polar City crumbled instantaneously. The earth quickly collapsed under the influence of the ten thousand folds of gravity, gradually turning into an empty black abyss.


    The two-headed monsters were still fighting in mid-air. The surrounding mountains and clouds were completely shredded.


    The dark clouds in the air dispersed off, and a gigantic empty hole could be seen. A light pillar with golden sunlight fell from the sky and shone on the two-headed monsters. On the contrary, it exuded a strong and dazzling radiance, as though a battle between Gods in mythology was taking place.


    The Ice Crystal Peacock screamed loudly and the black human figure growled furiously.


    Space was vibrating, and numerous glass-like cracks covered the surrounding space within thousands of kilometers. Cracks appeared on the space structure as it could not withstand such a huge amount of gravitational force and powerful vibration.


    The power of the Star Core was being constantly drawn by the two of them and gathered onto their respective weapons, turning into sparkling silver-colored lights. It was a thick, mercury-like energy fluid which was able to reflect a rainbow-like ray under the sun.


    The ice pillar tornado and the black sword collided with each other violently, and each collision caused a horrible space vibration.


    At this moment, all the people on the Mother Planet was aware that the earth was shaking, which was an unstable vibration caused by the power of the Star Core being excessively extracted.


    Thousands of kilometers away from the battlefield, the area above the edge of the space cracks, Turing and the White Light General of the Polar Region were fighting. A piercingly cold chill poured out frenziedly, driving the entire area into a complete World of Ice.


    However, the moment when the Star Core quivered, the people here instantly felt it.


    "This is bad! The Mother Star can no longer withstand a battle with this level of intensity!" Turing stopped suddenly, recalling the thing that Garen had mentioned to him previously, and his facial expression instantly became serious.


    The power of the two experts who had completely reached Level Nine was so terrifying that the entire Mother Planet could feel the turmoil of their battle.


    "One Time Fist Pressure!"


    At the core of the battlefield.


    The ice crystal wings on Garen''s back flapped violently and instantly rushed toward the Black Figure.


    The brief force field gathered by the punch had increased by a fold once again!


    "Destructive Siphon!" The black human figure spouted a large amount of rainbow-like destructive beams, intending to interrupt Garen.


    Boom!


    Holes appeared through the rainbow-like beams after being punched through.


    Garen had a nasty grin on his face while he rushed towards the gigantic human figure.


    "Do you want to destroy the Mother Planet?!" The black human figure growled. He did not expect Garen to be able to release such a horrifying power. Along with a trace of fear, he insanely drove all the power from his body.


    "I am the Grand Duke of Destruction of Finite! You cannot kill me!!"


    Garen ignored him. His felt his fist pressure getting a little sluggish, so he instantly mustered up all the power in his body.


    "Triple Fist Pressure!"


    He growled, and the power in his body increased by three times that of the original.


    "Ultimate Termination!" The black human figure knew that he could not beat his opponent, so he used the backup plan that he had prepared beforehand.


    A black hole suddenly appeared at the center of the huge human figure, and a large number of black tentacles appeared from the inside of the black hole. The tentacles, resembling that of an octopus, sprayed a large amount of ink-like poisonous fog towards Garen like a tide.


    "It''s useless!" The force field surrounding Garen had gotten to an unimaginably strong level. The poisonous fog and the force field were fighting against each other. Then, the fog instantly passed through Garen, falling directly behind him. This had completely destroyed the black humanoid mech''s plan to escape.


    Garen had transformed into his strongest form by having his attribute increased by three times as well as by wearing the Scarlet Snow Ice Armor. At this point, he no longer needed to wear the armor to reach Level Nine. Instead, there was no difference between him and an actual Level Nine. He was able to fully exert this level of power. A physical body with an attribute of 120 points was incredibly powerful, yet it also brought about an incomparably huge burden.


    Garen wore the Scarlet Snow Ice Armor to increase his strength. Even though he had only increased his attributes by three times, the piercing pain that he felt was beyond his imagination. Apparently, his body could not withstand it.


    This was an increase based on the strength of a Level Nine. After all, it was not the same as the Non-Falling Level. However, the black human figure was doing worse than him, as he was about to collapse.


    The power of the Grand Duke of Destruction was still slightly below that of a Level Nine, and he could temporarily only rely on secret techniques to break through this level.


    After a few collision, he could no longer withstand it. By drawing the power of the Star Core, the power itself would impose a huge burden on one''s body. It was already horrifying to be able to temporarily launch a Star Core attack. However, he did not expect Garen to be fully stable in this state, being able to fight up until this point. Even the Mother Planet could no longer withstand the battle between the two of them.


    The Planet was trembling with fear. The Star Core was the source of innumerable lives, and it also gathered the consciousness of countless lives together. Now that it was on the verge of destruction, all living things could instinctively feel an upcoming destruction from the Star Core.


    A fear that erupted from the depths of one''s heart continuously moved toward his entire heart.


    The Grand Duke of Destruction''s huge body began collapsing bit by bit.


    A human figure surrounded by a purple and black energy flow was covered in countless wounds, and white-colored blood slowly flowed out of them.


    Boom!


    The entire black human figure exploded into pieces.


    The Grand Duke of Destruction flew out along with the explosion, falling into the dark abyss below.


    "You can''t kill...me!!" he yelled painfully at the end.


    Sss.


    Garen''s figure, which was also covered in blood, appeared beside him. With a ''clap'' sound, he held the Duke''s head in his hands.


    "How dare you defy the Great Jeros?" He brought the black figure right in front of him and said with Jeros'' ferocious evil smile.


    "Are the Wraith Royalties trying to start a fight with the Finite People?! You can''t kill me!" The Grand Duke of Destruction struggled, using both of his hands to grab Garen''s hands.


    "I hate when people threaten me..." The evil look on Garen''s face got deeper.


    He did not expect Jeros to be someone from the Wraith Royalty. Therefore, he immediately raised his vigilance regarding his involvement in this matter.


    If he was able to get enough detailed information from this person''s head... he suddenly got an idea in his mind.

 1101 Captive 1

    The Wraith Royalty was one of the two most powerful races in the universe. The first was the Finite People, and the Wraith Royalty came second. They were born with extremely strong and gifted bodies. They had an invincible body and were able to reach the Inherited Level as soon as they become an adult. However, they had an extremely low fertility rate.


    Garen knew a part of the information from this area. He initially thought that Jeros only had an odd appearance, but he did not expect him to have such a huge background.


    "No! Don''t kill me!" The Grand Duke of Destruction was still screaming in Garen''s hand.


    However, it was to no avail. Simply by comparing their physical strength, all his energy combined could not even compare to one of Garen''s arms.


    Garen suddenly punched the Grand Duke of Destruction in the head.


    Bang!


    After punching the Grand Duke of Destruction with a punch that could turn an ordinary energy machinist head into a bloody mess, the Duke''s whole body was completely covered by numerous frosts. He was instantly frozen within the firm, and he could no longer move again.


    The battle was over, but the Star Core of the Planet was still trembling slightly.


    "It''s time to go see Turing..."


    Garen looked around at his surroundings; he did not find any living or intact things around.


    He saw a bottomless dark abyss underneath him. In addition to that, there were countless glacier mountains made out of frozen ice and ruins all around him.


    After flying through a long distance along the edge of the abyss, Garen vaguely saw Turing quietly standing on an empty snowfield.


    Turing was surrounded by multiple people frozen into icicles, most of them were high ranking members of the White Light Organization in the Polar region.


    Most importantly, the seventh and the fourth Divine Wind Generals were among them.


    Garen looked at Turing and nodded with satisfaction. If it were not for him, these people might have escaped.


    "Let''s go. The affected range of this battle is too wide and many people will be alerted."


    "Yes, great master," Turing bowed respectfully.


    The Non-Falling Light around both of them lighted up at the same time, and they directly flew upward along with all the human-shaped icicles. Garen took a black ball out and threw it into the air. Suddenly, the ball swelled, turning into a space jump portal.


    The two of them entered the portal one after the other, then the space portal shrunk and disappeared into thin air.


    On a satellite revolving around the Mother Planet.


    The brown-gray little satellite was like a wasteland, only mud and rocks can be seen on it. Other than that, there were also craters and bulging, densely-packed volcanoes.


    A piece of green grassland appeared abruptly among the shadows of a volcano. There was a small wooden house in the middle of the grassland. There was a gentle breeze blowing toward a beautiful woman in a white dress who was sitting in front of the wooden house.


    The woman was so cold that it was as though she was not alive. Not a trace of blood was visible on her body. It was as though she was a crystal porcelain doll, as her skin was crystal-clear.


    Her gaze was fixed at the direction of the Mother Planet.


    On the surface of the deep blue Mother Planet, a wave of transparent ripples caused by an explosion could be seen from afar. It was like a water ripple, slowly spreading toward all sides before gradually fading away. However, it still managed to cover the entire surface of the planet.


    "There..." The woman closed the book in her hands. There was a surprised look in her eyes. "It''s the place of the Grand Duke of Destruction..."


    "No. 4," She turned around and looked toward the wooden house.


    "Yes," A group of distorted shadow flew out of the wooden house and floated right in front of the woman.


    "How did the parasite of Jeros from the Wraith Family get here? Go deal with him," The woman said motionlessly. "So that it will not affect our plan."


    "Do I need to kill him?" The shadow asked.


    "No," The woman shook her head slightly. "This is not the right time for us to go against the Wraith Royalties. Isn''t Jeros'' sister looking for him? Tell her about her brother''s news, and open the jump portal for her. She will definitely come over."


    The shadows immediately understood what she meant.


    "Indeed. The Wraith Royalties are infamous for being cold towards their relatives. Moreover, they have contributed greatly to this plan. Therefore, if they know that Jeros is trying to ruin the plan, what will his sister do? I''m looking forward to it..." The shadow said in a sarcastic tone.


    "What you''re thinking will not happen. Jeros has the best relationship with his sister, just like any other siblings in the human race. They can even share their power and influences by governing the 1600 planets together. Therefore, the highest possibility is that she will bring him away," The woman answered calmly.


    "Of course, if you were to tell his father, then it might end up like what you''ve expected. However, we shouldn''t openly offend the Wraith Royalties right now."


    "Okay then, so be it," The shadow answered and rushed directly into the sky. It swiftly turned into a black slender beam, flying directly into space. In just a short while, it resembled a fish that had drilled into space and disappeared out of sight. It entered the Negative Space.


    The woman calmly put the book down and walked into the wooden house without making any sound.


    **********************


    In a distant bloody-red planet.


    Planet Dragon Emperor.


    This was the Planet Region of the Wraith Royalties. As one of the strongest races in the universe, it was located in the middle of the Finite Nebula. The Wraith Royalties had ruthlessly ruled thousands of planets.


    In fact, there was only one family in their race; it consisted of five members.


    There were only a total of five members in the entire Wraith Royalties.


    At the summit of the highest mountain of Planet Dragon Emperor, there was a magnificent, blood-colored palace that was thousands of meters wide.


    The bottom of the palace was located at the peak of the mountain, and it looked as though the entire palace was supported by the small, pointy end of the mountain.


    In the palace, a glamorous woman wearing a black tight-fitting silk dress was sitting slothfully on the highest throne. The main hall was constantly filled with traces of black blood-colored airstreams. On the heads of these airstreams were human-shaped faces with painful expressions.


    The girl was like an elegant noble princess. She gave off a flirtatious yet pure aura, which was oddly contradictory. She had a slim waist, a pair of slender legs, and skin as fair as jade. Moreover, she had a huge chest and a pair of beautiful, watery eyes.


    If it were not for the strange surrounding of the hall, just by looking at the woman alone, perhaps anyone would think that she was a noble princess from a certain country. She was elegant and pure, yet the way that she dressed gave off a glamorous feeling.


    Contrary to her temperament, the woman who was sitting on the throne changed her slothful posture slightly. She placed her hands on the armrest of her seat and an unimaginably horrifying aura exploded out of her body.


    There was a faint, bloody glow in her eyes, but the bloody-red glint disappeared in just a blink of an eye.


    "No. 4? What are you doing? What does the woman who claims to be the ruler want?"


    The girl instantly changed from a pure and flirtatious girl to a Queen with an overwhelming aura. She lifted her chin slightly as though she had the rights to look at everything in the world from above.


    A shadow slowly appeared in the center of the hall. It was No. 4 who rushed over here from the distant Mother Planet.


    He understood that the girl had the rights to be looking down at him from above.


    The Wraith Royalties were theoretically the most powerful noble race among all the known races in the universe. They were born with a Level Four willpower. Also, as soon as they reached adulthood, they would reach the Inherited Level, no exception.


    Just by working a little harder, they could easily reach the Non-Falling Level. Moreover, because of their naturally-gifted abilities, their combat strength was far beyond their peers.


    The girl standing right in front of the shadow was known as the strongest genius of the Wraith Royalties, the Fresh Blood Holy Lord.


    "Your Highness, Fresh Blood Holy Lord," No. 4''s respectful voice was heard coming out of the shadows. "Pardon me for coming here abruptly. The reason why I came here is to deliver an extremely important message."


    "An extremely important message?" The girl freshened up slightly. "Tell me about it."


    Numerous black and red airstreams with human faces in the hall began gathering around No. 4. Every one of the airstreams was craving for fresh blood, giving people a ferociously evil feeling.


    However, No. 4 did not seem tense. He knew that she would not hurt him. After all, he was the representative of the ruler, which represented the White King''s influences.


    "Your Highness has already gotten the highest throne, and the plan that he had planned 10 years ago has been initiated. However, at the most critical moment, your younger brother, Jeros, suddenly appeared where he should not be," No.4 replied calmly.


    "Jeros?" The Fresh Blood Holy Lord frowned slightly.


    "Yes," No. 4 said firmly. "Your Highness, Jeros has captured the Grand Duke of Destruction, who was part of our plan. What is his intention? The ruler sent me to inform you about it. Please take an action as soon as possible."


    The girl frowned slightly and did not respond immediately. Instead, she flicked her fingers lightly.


    Oh!


    A tiny black light suddenly exploded right in front of her, turning into a clear black mirror.


    "The annihilation of Energy Machinist is a definite plan. The Finite government, the Wraith Royalties and the Human Alliance Council play a role in it. My younger brother has always known his boundaries. But, now you are telling me that he caught the Grand Duke of Destruction and intends to sabotage the plan?"


    The tone of the Fresh Blood Holy Lord had gradually gotten serious.


    No. 4 was not afraid of the Lord''s wrath.


    "This is the will of the Ruler. I am only here to convey it."


    He reached out his fingers and suddenly, the black mirror in front of the Fresh Blood Holy Lord suddenly showed the scene when Garen was fighting the Grand Duke of Destruction.


    The Fresh Blood Holy Lord watched the scene quietly.


    "This is... the Destructive Impact Fist?" She saw through the secret fist technique that Garen was using.


    "Yes," No. 4 said firmly in a low voice.


    The atmosphere suddenly got a little tense.


    The both of them kept quiet for quite some time.


    The airstreams were flying about at a greater speed.


    "I will take a trip there in person," The Fresh Blood Holy Lord seemed to have notice wrong about it.


    No. 4 had achieved his goal. He turned into a black shadow, directly flying out of the hall without turning back.


    "We''re looking forward to the arrival of your Highness," The shadow left this sentence before completely disappearing from the hall.


    "The Destructive Impact Fist? He actually managed to three times of the original? Wasn''t he against this kind of pure power previously?" She watched the scene on the black mirror repeatedly, and a trace of blood appeared in the eyes of the Fresh Blood Holy Lord.


    "Before I challenged the White King, my stupid little brother actually gave me a pleasant surprise..." The indescribable look in the girl''s eyes grew deeper.


    *******************


    Mother Planet.


    The entire Mother Planet was in a mess at that moment.


    The Blackboard Region, the Maria Region, the Royal Region, and the rest of the Sect''s representatives from the Academies Union. After keeping a low-profile for some time after the war, everyone finally sent their experts to the Polar City Region to investigate the incident.


    Either way, they were the forces of the Mother Planet. This war was an inevitable hurdle for them, and they needed to investigate how it would affect the entire Mother Planet.


    A large number of Inherited Level and Non-Falling Level experts arrived at the Polar Region. While they were frightened by the gigantic, endless abyss, Garen and Turing had already captured the Polar City experts to the Radiation Area of ??the Mother Planet.


    Clint and the others would return soon. In other words, the energy tide will erupt soon.


    Garen had prepared for everything.


    The energy fluctuation caused by the energy tide would not only affect one Planet. Instead, it involved a large amount of energy flow in the entire universe. The moment when the energy bypassed the transmission actuator while moving across the universe, a tide of fluctuation would result. Somehow, this fluctuation just so happened nearby the Mother Planet.


    The capital of the Blackboard Region, the Blackboard City.


    Black Star Diofie sat on the Dean''s seat exhausted, and he held the staff that his master gave him on the verge of death.


    The newly-formed Three Marshals were sitting underneath him.


    Red-eyed Medero, Britney, and another bald man.


    These Three Marshals were the high-ranking members of the Blackboard Region, which was under the control of the younger generations. Each of them had accepted their Master''s origin and become the top experts in order to support the entire Blackboard Region.

 1102 Captive 2

    "The weather is gradually getting worse," Diofie said with a heavy heart. "The Weather Monitoring Directorate has verified the source of the abnormal snow. It has the same source of energy as the earthquake that erupted previously..."


    "The other regions have called. They have also detected that majority of the destructive energy that destroyed the Polar City is related to the fluctuation that started the big snow," Medero said in a low voice. "Mariana from the Maria Region wants to join forces with us. They also discovered that a huge disaster that affects the entire Planet might occur. However, they could not detect the reason behind it."


    "The Royal Region has also reached the same conclusion. Millions of people from the Titan and Polar City are gone! This kind of power should not exist within the Mother Planet! The people from the Royal Region will most likely bear the huge disaster that will affect the entire planet. The source of this calamity is a power that is beyond our limits."


    "The people from the Central Academy has arrived. There are dozens of top experts who have come along," Finally, the bald man said in a deep voice.


    "What do they want?" Diofie asked wearily.


    "Dean, we have no choice. We must eliminate the root of all this," The bald man raised his voice. "If we do not remove the source, the disaster will gobble us up! Every single one of us!"


    Diofie closed his eyes. He was physically and mentally exhausted. An overwhelming pressure was weighing down on him, and he seemed as though he was running out of breath.


    "All the evidence is pointing at him. He is the root of everything! As long as we get rid of him, I believe that everything will return to normal," The bald man said loudly.


    Bang!


    The door of the battleship conference room pushed open heavily.


    "He''s right!"


    A tall man in a white shirt walked in along with several people.


    The man looked young, but there were traces of maturity and seriousness in his eyes. Clearly, he was much older than he looked.


    "I''m Fiery Fear. Before the Central Academy arrived, they have already detected an abnormal high-energy organism entering the Blackboard Region. However, he did not raise any attention. Unfortunately, if we have paid more attention to that person since the beginning, this tragedy might not happen!"


    He said with a serious look on his face.


    "Thirty million people... were killed in the war, but that person..." He had a genuine painful expression on his face. "This can no longer be treated as a man-made disaster! We must treat him as a natural disaster!"


    "Dean Fiery Fear," Diofie stood up with a respectful look on his face.


    "The stability of the Mother Planet is fundamental to everything; it is the foundation of the people! Regardless of the upcoming disaster, or the unbearable sin and blood! The culprit must provide us a justification!" Fiery Fire said in a serious tone. "I have informed the older deans who are living in seclusion. Presumably, all the Non-Falling Levels from each the major states have started gathering... We will definitely be able to win this war!"


    Diofie nodded his head earnestly.


    *************************


    A few days later, in the Blackboard Region.


    In an unmanned mountain forest villa.


    Garen brought along Turing and forcibly occupied the holiday villa. They made the owner of the villa leave by dropping a hint. They even got rid of the robbers nearby who were about to attack the villa.


    The snow in the Blackboard Region was getting heavier.


    A thick layer of white snow had accumulated on the ground, and the land turned from a warm season to a winter.


    In the study room of the villa.


    Garen looked at the girl, Tesna, who was frozen in a block of ice. Although the girl had similar appearance and temperament as the female disciples who was under him previously, her personality was completely different.


    This girl had a straightforward and a slightly impulsive personality.


    Even after the war had triggered an earthquake, this silly girl insisted on burying herself on the ground.


    If it was not for Garen suddenly recalling that a person he was testing was still under the ground, the girl would most probably be frozen to death.


    Basically, she had a one-track mind. Describing her in a nice way, she was straightforward. However, to put it in a bad way, she was a fool...


    "One of them got away. You did not manage to complete your job..." Garen was sitting in the study room while he looked at Turing who was kneeling in front of him. The huge werewolf was as tall as him even when he was kneeling down.


    "I''m incompetent," Turing said with guilt. "At that time, I was stunned by the vibration of the Star Core. Therefore, that person used the long distance space jump to escape. I shall bear this responsibility! Please punish me, Master!"


    "I''ll pass it to you to deal with it," Garen responded with his eyes closed. He seemed to be too lazy to continue talking, so he waved his hands casually.


    He was trying to prepare his body and mind for the energy tide eruption tomorrow.


    "I will try my best to catch the last person!" Turing stood up and answered firmly. Then, he strode out of the study room.


    The door closed gently.


    In a short while, a figure once again pushed the door open. It was not Turing, but the Ice Dragon from the White Light!


    An Inherited Level expert dressed in expensive clothing walked into the room with a straight face.


    "Are you planning to imprison us here just like that?"


    He walked up to Garen, pulled out a chair and sat in front of him. Not a shred of urgency could be seen.


    "Why not?" Garen opened his eyes and smiled.


    Garen must admit that Ice Dragon was very handsome when he was calm. He also had a great temperament. Yet, why did he put up an upstart act? Clearly, he was someone with a history. Unfortunately, Garen was not interested in knowing his story.


    "White Whale and the rest of them sent me to ask you, what are you planning to do to us?" Ice dragon asked casually. He glanced at Garen, a man that he had once met for a short while. At that time, Garen was just at Resonance Level. However, Garen had now reached a terrifying level after only a few decades.


    Therefore, he still couldn''t be sure that this Garen was the Resonance Level student with whom he had once fought.


    Garen looked at the rumored lunatic who was standing in front of him strangely.


    "Do you think that I will kill all of you?"


    "Are you not going to?" Ice Dragon raised his brows. "There are 6.8 million people who lived in Titan City, and including the migrants, you have killed tens of millions of people. The tens of millions of people in the Polar City are just like ants that you step under your feet, so why would you hesitate to kill the few of us?"


    Garen smiled lightly when he heard a trace of resentment in his voice.


    "Would you believe it? An overwhelmingly huge disaster is approaching soon."


    "Isn''t that you?" Ice Dragon said affirmatively.


    Garen ignored him.


    "This disaster is bound to happen, and everyone with a willpower will be severely injured. The Mother Planet will turn into a mess, and no one will be able to generate willpower ever again. The Mother Planet will be isolated from the rest of the universe, it will become a testing ground for those who are at the top."


    Ice Dragon frowned deeply. "What do you mean by this?"


    Garen looked at him.


    "The funny thing is, everyone thinks that I''m the culprit of this calamity," He said with a funny look his face.


    "Now they are gathering and planning to execute me together for a disaster that is unrelated to me. Isn''t it funny?"


    "I don''t think it''s funny." Ice Dragon answered lightly. He had struggled through battles all year round for a breakthrough, having a close shave with death multiple times. Unfortunately, due to his limited qualifications, he was only able to reach the peak of the Inherited Level. He was the only one who was not afraid of dying among the high-ranking White Light members who were captured.


    "Aren''t you the culprit?"


    Garen shook his head without providing any explanation. He knew that explanations will only seem like a cover up to the outsiders.


    He had made preparations to absorb the energy tide by covering the three regions with dark clouds. However, he did not expect to be seen as a culprit for drawing the energy tide.


    Garen stood up. Even he himself did not know why he did not kill all of them instantly. He was just following his gut.


    Other than the Seventh Divine Wind General, Fila was the only one whose whereabouts were unknown. Garen had unfrozen the rest of the people and allowed them to move freely in the villa.


    Garen walked toward the window and looked outside through the glass panels. It was still snowing out there. Layers and layers of large snowflakes covered the ground.


    The world seemed to have suddenly turned into an icy world, and there were no signs of humans outside. Due to the bad weather and the vibration previously, only those who had a death wish would wander around the wilderness.


    "The Polar Region has been completely destroyed. The people from the Blackboard Region, the Maria Region, the Royal Region, as well as the Central Academy, and the experts from other states... All the Non-Falling Levels too, they have all gathered, heading in my direction. Do they think that this is a game? By gathering all the heroes, do they think they can fight against me?" Garen said calmly, with a hint of sarcasm on his face.


    "The Mother Planet is not only supported by local forces!" Ice Dragon said calmly.


    "Of course, I know. It is also the energy machinists'' territory," Garen smiled. "What is controlling the Mother Planet? The magnetic field? The Nebula? Or the Black Sword? It should be the Nebula. No... It should not be just a single force, it should be a testing ground which occupied the three major forces..."


    Ice Dragon''s pupil shrunk slightly. A testing ground?


    It was the first time that he had heard about this secret.


    "Okay, it''s time to go and see our beloved Seventh Divine Wind General." Garen patted the non-existing dust off his body. He wore a robe which was as white a snow, walked out of the study room and walked downstairs.


    More than a dozen people were sitting in the hall. All of them were the top high-ranking members of the White Light organization. Light Wielder was the only one who stood among the crowd, and he was the strongest among them. He was a shadow, and his whole body was wrapped around a white robe.


    Garen looked at this group of people. He saw how they were alerted and scared. They did not dare look at Garen, instead, they lowered their gazes one after the other.


    The distorted seeds that he fed them must have begun to work. After a short while, it will condense into a power that he could use for himself.


    For the time being, Garen ignored them and went straight to the basement. Ice Dragon followed behind him closely. Garen did not stop him and allowed him to follow along.


    The basement was gloomy and cold. There was a block of ice in the middle, and the Seventh Divine Wind General''s body was frozen still in it. Only his head was exposed in the air.


    "Why didn''t you just kill me!?" The Seventh Divine Wind General looked extremely pale, and there was no color in his cheeks. When he saw Garen walking down, he still had a cold look on his face.


    "Kill you?" Garen shook his head. "Previously, you punched me and almost completely cut off the relationship between me and the pilot, but you didn''t kill me. Therefore, I will not kill you for the time being."


    "I regret not killing you at that time!!" The Seventh Divine Wind General said ferociously. He knew that he will not be spared, so he had given up completely.


    "If I have known that you would have grown this strong, I would have made up my mind and go against Six and kill you. That will save us all these troubles!"


    "If you have known? If you have known, you wouldn''t have just reached the Inherited Level," Garen said sarcastically. "It''s impossible for anyone to predict the future of the people they have met. You should know that only geniuses have this ability..."


    There was a profound meaning in his words.


    "What is the point in saying all these now? Just kill me," The Seventh Divine Wind General closed his eyes. "Didn''t you come just for this?"


    "Kill you? You''re so useful to me, why should I kill you?" Garen had a strange look on his face. "It''s just that, I wanted to study the ability to retrieve an expert''s memory. Theoretically, parts of an ordinary person''s memory can be replicated. However, it is different for an expert¡­ You can also technically considered as an expert."

 1103 Tide 1

    Four-Star Alliance


    "Is it really okay for us to do this?"


    Baylon was a little worried as she watched Clint place mushroom-like explosives of various sizes on to the stone wall of the cave.


    "Don''t worry... Since White Winter said that it will be alright, then it will definitely be alright," Clint replied affirmatively.


    A boy with fair skin was standing beside them. Even though he was dressed in a gray clothing specifically made for miners, he still gave people a pretty and cute aura. No one could tell that he was a boy. Everyone who had seen him for the first time would think that he was a flat-chested girl.


    His skin was so fair that it seemed translucent, and his pair of animal-like ears could vaguely be seen beneath his long white hair. From time to time, his ears would tremble slightly. When he looked at Clint with his big watery eyes, he unconsciously revealed a timidly cute look.


    Other than that, he had a pair of perfectly-rounded, slender legs and perky buttocks. He had the ideal figure that many girls longed of, and he had a figure similar to that of Baylon''s.


    He was White Winter, a good friend that Clint and the rest of them met in the mining area. Due to this guy''s special vitality, his entire body naturally gave off chill air. Therefore, no one was willing to approach him. Clint saw how he was working extremely slowly, and he could not take it anymore. He thought that a helpless and delicate little girl was doing the same amount of work as a man. Thus, he went forward to offer assistance. He found out that he was a boy only after he had finished helping him. That was how the three of them got to know each other.


    "But what if all the mushroom explosives destroy the entire mining area?" Baylon asked helplessly. While Red Moon was taking a rest, she played the role of persuading them. However, she noticed that Clint was gradually being more like Red Moon. Instead of learning to be more cautious, he had become more impulsive and rash.


    "White Winter, say something. We won''t need that many explosives to open a path to the secret chamber above, right?" Baylon looked towards White Winter helplessly.


    "I... I..." A red flush appeared on White Winter''s cheek; he did not dare look at Clint. His two brown animal-like ears were moving constantly, and he had the look of a na?ve young girl.


    Baylon helplessly covered her face¡­ Why did it take so long for Lord Red Moon to contact his parts¡­ He needed to return quickly¡­ Clint was getting even more unreliable.


    If only her big brother was here¡­ she thought about her brother, Nono once again. Her brother was a genius who seemed to know everything. If her brother was here, then there would definitely not be a problem.


    Unfortunately, this was Planet Gideon, it was too far away from the Mother Planet...


    "Sigh¡­ Who knows how''s my brother doing now. With his talent, he would definitely be able to break through the Inherited Level..." Baylon thought absentmindedly while she leaned on the stone wall. "At least he won''t be like me, who''s as weak as an ordinary human after losing my mech¡­"


    "After opening the path to the secret chamber, Lord Red Moon will be able to use resonance to draw the parts out. We must hurry. Otherwise, it would be bad if the Spirit King finds out about it!" Finally, Clint placed the last mushroom explosive on top of the stone wall.


    After the three of them met, they unexpectedly discovered that the Spirit Mech King was the ruler of the entire mining area. Red Moon''s parts were under his control. After a session of tormenting, deep thoughts, they finally came up with this plan. This would allow Red Moon to enter the secret chamber to draw his parts. Then, everyone would make use of the explosive energy caused by combining the parts to connect to the Negative Space tunnel, which would, in turn, lead them back to the Mother Planet. In just an instant, they could directly jump back to the Mother Planet, and the Spirit King will definitely not be able to catch up.


    Without a doubt, the plan was thought out by Red Moon. The three of them did not expect White Winter to be a natural-born strategist. He added on a series of details and a loophole that Red Moon had missed. Baylon and Clint could no longer look at him the same way. With a promise, they recruited him under the category of Star General...


    The other Regent Level Star Generals were all extremely strong. However, they were trapped in an extremely distressful situation. Other than empty promises and a close-range training method, the Star Generals had nothing else¡­ they were extremely shabby.


    However, White Winter was still very happy. Ever since he was qualified to become Red Moon''s Star General, he had always secretly stared at Clint. He looked like a young girl who was in love.


    "Let''s go, we need to go a little further," Clint asked the both of them to leave the explosion area.


    As the three of them walked further away, a layer of faint, black mist suddenly appeared around the mushrooms. The mists entwined together, revealing a sense of unstable, restless movement.


    Boom!


    A fierce explosion broke out along with a growl, and soon, the entire spirit mining area fell apart. Suddenly, a commotion started among the mining workers who were still mining. A glimpse of happiness flashed through a portion of workers who participated in the plan.


    "They must succeed!" A middle-aged man prayed quietly. "You must escape! White Winter, Clint, and Baylon. We will only be rescued if all of you escaped. They must¡­ they must..."


    Suddenly, the sky of the entire mining area became darker. A huge, black mech broke out of the ground, flying into the sky and remained floating.


    "My secret chamber!! You rats, how dare you!!"


    He reached out his huge hands that were about ten meters long before grabbing at the ground tightly.


    However, a blinding white beam of light suddenly rushed into the sky, making a huge hole in his palm. The black mech took a few steps backward due to the pain and roared furiously.


    "Relic Light! Damn it!"


    Soon, a large number of black spirit mechs filled the air, they began hitting against the beam of light fearlessly with long-ranged weapons. A variety of weapons exploded in the beams of light, filling the sky with a colorful, dazzling radiance. In that instance, other than the white beams of light, nothing could be seen clearly. The light bypassed all the barriers, going straight into the sky.


    Hiss...


    The light pierced through the layers of clouds in the sky, and numerous white clouds orbited around the pillar of light. It was sacred; it seemed as though a holy light shining down from heaven.


    "My treasure! No!" The fierce, red eyes on the Spirit King''s helmet shone brightly. However, all he could do was watch as the beam of light leave through the sky. He had no way of stopping it.


    ***********************


    "Hahahaha!! We succeeded!! When I, the Lord, make a plan, there''s no way that it will fail!!" The three of them heard the sound of Red Moon''s boastful laughter ringing in their ears.


    Among the white beam of light, a scarlet, gigantic mech was formed. The mech''s head, arms, and legs were covered in ferocious-looking spikes. There was a long, barbed metal tail wagging behind the mech. The tip of the tail was oddly sharp.


    "Be careful, I can only form a 1% projection mech for half an hour. The three of you can drive this mech together, but you need to be cautious of the energy consumption. Being injured will consume energy, and using an ultimate skill will also consume energy. If you use up all the energy during a battle, then all of you will be doomed," Red Moon explained in detail.


    "I can''t be bothered with that, can we finally return to the Mother Planet? I can finally take a good rest..." Clint said wearily while he floated in the white light.


    "It''s too soon to rest. Let''s get back to the Mother Planet first. Who knows what is happening there right now. We have been out for a few years already." Baylon said softly.


    On the contrary, White Winter was rather sentimental. After all, Planet Gideon was his homeland.


    "I miss my sister..." Clint was also a little low-spirited. "I want to eat bread. I wonder if the business of the shop is as good as before..."


    "If my brother is here with me..."


    "If my brother is here with me..."


    Baylon and White Winter said the exact same thing in sync. The both of them instantly stopped and looked at each other strangely. They immediately saw the admiration for their respective elder brothers in each others'' eyes. Due to the similar look in their eyes, they could instantly relate to each other.


    The white light wrapped the three of them, and they rapidly flew toward the Negative Space. The Negative Space was different from the Positive Universe as there were bizarre, rainbow-like shadows everywhere. A large amount of light and heat were collected by the Star. Then, it would be condensed to form a huge gravitational force and trails of colorful magnetic fields.


    From time to time, nebulous meteorites could be seen exploding out of the celestial bodies.


    Instead of attractive forces, the celestial bodies here possessed repulsive forces, and they were shockingly strong. On the contrary, the stars were the smallest among them. The stars resembled light bulbs which had absorbed a large amount of light, heat, and specks of dust in the universe.


    "It''s beautiful..." Baylon saw the view through the white light; it was breathtakingly beautiful. "So this is the Negative Space..."


    "Hopefully, we can be lucky enough so that we don''t encounter any void creatures. Otherwise, it''ll be troublesome. The void creatures from the Negative Space are the most annoying ones," Red Moon said cautiously. "If I am as strong as I used to be, I can easily just eliminate them like bugs. However, it''s different now... This mech can''t even compare to 1% of my previous power. And to make it worse, it''s just a projection... and it has a limited energy. If we were to encounter void creatures, all of you will need to depend on yourself..."


    After saying that, Clint and the few of them started being vigilant. They were prepared for any sudden changes.


    As time went by, the three of them thought that nothing would happen. Just when the light beam of the mech was about to return to the Positive Universe through the Negative Space.


    Pff!


    Suddenly, a large pale arm heavily slammed onto the beam of light made by the mech.


    The arm stretched out of the void darkness with an infinite force.


    "I... smell the odor of flesh and blood..." A loud, seemingly ancient voice was heard.


    The beam of light was distorted from the heavy slam. Red Moon was beaten out of his mech, falling onto an asteroid on one side.


    The huge pale arm wanted to grab them once again as the three of them were still dizzy and confused.


    "Move quickly!" Red Moon shouted. "It''s a four-armed giant!! We''re in trouble! We need to run immediately!"


    Clint and the others had just regained their composure. Then, they quickly sat on the seats inside the mech, which were linked together by willpower, and relentlessly flew towards a direction.


    Clint controlled the movement of the main mech while Baylon coordinated the flow of energy. Meanwhile, White Winter controlled the mech''s tail and special abilities. They did quite well on their first attempt, despite some flaws in their teamwork.


    They carefully avoided the huge, pale arm the size of an asteroid. Compared to the red mech''s arm, there was a clear difference in their sizes. It was the difference between a human and a fly.


    Among the dark universe, a pale, giant with four arms slowly climbed out of the black hole. He had the same facial features as that of a human. He was bald and he wore a black, simple leather skirt. His four arms were stretched out in four different directions. He had a muscular body, looking like the Titans from the mythology.


    "Flesh and blood...! Fresh meat!!" The four-armed giant roared in the void language, which was similar to the Ancient Endor language. If Garen was here, he would definitely be able to understand what it was saying. The Ancient Endor and the void creatures had intertwined since a long time ago. Both the parties learned and studied from each other for an extended period of time. It had been so long that nobody knew which one of them had greater influences.


    "Wow¡­ what a huge head!" Clint turned around and suddenly saw the four-armed giant''s pinky heading straight toward him as he was driving Red Moon''s mech.


    Swoosh!


    Red Moon''s mech rushed forward with a bursting high speed, heading back into the white beam of light once again. They riskily escaped from the cumbersome four-armed giant.


    "That was so close, I''m scared to death," Red Moon''s voice was heard once again. "This is the silly four-armed giant. If he hadn''t missed, I''m sure that the four of us would have instantly turned into tiny pancakes."

 1104 Tide 2

    Baylon wiped the cold beads of sweat off her forehead. At that moment, she felt as though she might get hit by the four-armed giant.


    Meanwhile, White Winter was so scared that he rolled himself into a ball. Never mind controlling the mech, he could barely even open his eyes to look. All he did was sit in the cockpit motionlessly.


    "What did the giant say just now?" Clint asked after recovering from the shock.


    "I don''t know. No one understood the void creatures'' language," Red Moon replied helplessly. "As a matter of fact, living things, like void creatures, are considered wild animals in the universe, just like the wild lion and tigers that you see on your planet. There are some which belong in a protected animal category, and some in a fixed resource category. There are many types of void creatures."


    "There are even reserved void creatures?!" Clint was speechless. To think that the monster, which could destroy a Planet with a slap, needed protection.


    "There are in danger, and you should know why," Red Moon answered casually. "It is normal for the four-armed giant to be as huge as a planet. It is also normal that they are protected since they are very scarce in number."


    Suddenly he noticed something wrong.


    Huh?


    Red Moon realized that the beam of light was starting to vibrate.


    Suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind.


    "No... I can''t be that unlucky, right¡­?"


    "What happened?" Clint asked worriedly.


    "There can''t be another giant, right...?" Baylon''s heart could not take it anymore.


    "No... It might be something even worse than that giant..." Red Moon said dryly.


    Before he could even finish his sentence, a rainbow-like light ripple suddenly hit them on their side.


    Buzz!


    The three of them felt extremely dizzy. They could feel the world spin as they sat inside the mech; they fainted almost instantly.


    "The tide of energy! Damn it!" Red Moon''s final roar surged a small spark among the rainbow light before he disappeared.


    *********************


    On a distant star from the Negative Space.


    A huge mech with golden armor quietly watched the red mech being swallowed by the rainbow tide.


    "How can Red King, who is merely a low-class Regent Level, compare to your Highness? He''s standing on the wheel of fate," The golden mech''s eyes which resembled emerald gemstones emitted a faint green fluorescent.


    "I really don''t know why the King wants to keep him alive. Isn''t it better to just kill him?"


    "Kill him?" Countless flaming stars and substances started tumbling behind the mech. A huge woman''s face, which was about a few kilometers wide, was formed by combining magma and high-temperature gas.


    "Fate is a tough nut to crack. Do you think that the Lord hasn''t thought about it? Strangely, whenever the Red King appears, the Lord would lose all intentions of killing for no reason at all. No matter what choices you make, destiny will always make some kind of arrangement. Even if you killed the Red King, there might be some other King hidden somewhere else."


    The huge face behind the mech said slowly.


    "Instead of killing him and letting the what is known become an unknown, isn''t it better to keep monitoring him?" The golden mech was thinking about something. "As expected of a King. The Lord''s bold vision is not something that we can compare ourselves to. We would definitely just kill all of our enemies."


    "He could even treat his enemy righteously and fairly. The reason why we are willing to follow him is precisely that of his generosity," The flaming face said straightly.


    "That''s right," The golden mech nodded.


    "Fate is fair, some people are destined to not die. Meanwhile, some people are destined to die in some place. It requires a great price to make any changes because that will change the general thread of events..." The flaming face said lightly.


    "My Lord is the way," The golden mech said calmly.


    ********************


    Mother Planet


    Bang!


    One of the eyeballs of the Seventh Divine Wind General, who was under Garen''s control, suddenly exploded, turning into something gooey on the floor.


    "Ah!" The Divine Wind General cried and screamed, "Kill me!"


    "Did it fail again?" Garen withdrew his hand reluctantly. "This is the fifth time already. You''re really lucky that your brain hasn''t become an idiotic mess."


    "Just¡­ Kill me... I!" The Seventh Divine Wind General was covered in blood. His body was so swollen that he no longer resembled a human. He was tortured so badly that foul pus was flowing out of some parts of his body.


    "This is the last time," Garen made up a new plan. "This is really the last time." He felt himself getting impatient with the modifications toward other foreign beings. When he was in the Totem World, was it not very easy to modify himself? Why was it so difficult to retrieve his memory fluctuations this time?


    He could easily solve his own fine body structure, but as for other living beings...


    At the end of the day, he placed his hands on the Seventh Divine Wind General''s head and transferred an indescribable fluctuation into his head. Ice Dragon got terribly nervous watching them from aside. He had already stood sufficiently far away, yet he could still hear the painful screams of the Seventh Divine Wind General.


    In a short while, Garen opened his eyes.


    Bang!


    The Seventh Divine Wind General''s other eye exploded.


    "Master, I caught the people you asked for," Turing''s voice traveled through Garen''s mind.


    "Bring them in," Garen''s voice transmitted back to Turing.


    "Yes."


    Soon, three people walked into the basement. To be exact, a two-headed werewolf strode down the basement as it carried two people in his arms.


    Ice Dragon was familiar with the faces of the two of them.


    They were Fila and Remington.


    Remington was on the verge of dying. When he saw the Seventh Divine Wind General nailed onto the wall of the basement, his eyes widened instantly, as if his socket was about to tear apart.


    "Father... no... no!" He struggled to break free from Turing''s arm.


    Garen signaled Turing to release him.


    Bang.


    Remington immediately rushed over and hugged the legs of the Seventh Divine Wind General.


    "Father! How is it possible!" His tears fell and his hands trembled. He gently stroked the swelling wounds of the Divine Wind General.


    "Is it Remington?" The Seventh Divine Wind General asked weakly.


    "Yes! It''s me!" Remington answered loudly.


    He suddenly recalled something. He immediately turned around and kneeled at Garen.


    Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!!


    He continuously knocked his head on the ground towards Garen.


    "Please! I beg you, please spare my father! Please!" He pleaded while he cried. His forehead started bleeding, and the wounds in his flesh could be seen.


    "No!" The Seventh Divine Wind General struggled loudly. "Don''t beg him! Stop begging him!" He tried to grab his son by lifting his hands. However, his was too weak and was unable to do it.


    "I''ll stand still¡­ even if I have to die!" He shouted with all the strength that was left in him.


    Remington did not stop. He continued to knock his head on the ground, facing Garen.


    Garen ignored Remington and looked toward Fila, who had a gloomy look on his face.


    "Long time no see, Fila," He greeted him like an old friend.


    "Indeed, it has been a long time," Fila was very calm; it was probably because he realized that he was bound to die. Hence, he accepted everything and overcame his fear.


    "Previously, you used to pick on me and wanted me dead. I have always remembered that time at the hospital," Garen smiled. "Now I''m here to return the favor."


    "I''m willing to accept anything. It''s just death, isn''t it?" Fila smiled faintly.


    "If you kneel down and plea like him, I might consider giving you a chance," Garen laughed while gently stroking his chin.


    "Is it possible?" Fila smiled lightly. "I know experts like you have a very big ego. You held grudges from the way I treated you. If you don''t kill me, will you ever be satisfied?"


    "You know me so well!" Garen was slightly surprised.


    "No matter what I do, I''ll still die in the end. So, why not just die with a free heart?" Fila was oddly calm.


    "Unfortunately, you are not that talented. Otherwise, you might be able to develop into a higher level," Garen shook his head. He reached out his hand slowly and placed his index finger gently between Fila''s eyebrows.


    He was unable to read the memory of an Inherited Level expert, but it should not be that difficult for a Resonance Level.


    Sss...


    Numerous streams of information frantically swarmed into his mind under the arrangement of the Energy Machinist Imprint.


    From the time Fila was born all the way until he became an adult, every battle, how he constantly grew stronger¡­ Fila''s whole life flashed through Garen''s eyes like a movie.


    Suddenly, he seemed like he saw something strange.


    "Uncle, uncle! Did you bring something delicious for us today?"


    A group of children was surrounding Fila at the orphanage. Each of their tiny faces was filled with happy smiles.


    "There are gem candies and synthetic sausages, everyone has one~ Slow down!" Fila had a gentle smile on his face that Garen had never seen before as he distributed the candies and food to the orphans.


    "If you all still want candies next time, you will need to pass the teacher''s exam. Do you understand!" It was as though Fila was a different person as he warned the orphans.


    "Yes!" The children answered together loudly.


    As the scenes continued to flash through, Garen saw Fila going to one orphanage after the other without anyone noticing. Initially, Fila openly went to fund the establishments of war orphanages. However, later on, he had to wear a face mask before visiting the orphanage for various reasons.


    Gradually, the number of people who knew that he funded orphans had gotten lesser and he became more secretive.


    In the peoples'' eyes, he was a sinister, domineering and high-ranking genius of the Blackboard Region. However, when no one was watching, he secretly used a large sum of money to fund the orphans who had lost their families during the war.


    Garen withdrew his hands and looked at Fila with a complicated look. At that point, he became a little sluggish from having his memory forcibly retrieved; saliva flowed out from the corners of his mouth.


    "Humanity is really complicated..." Garen could not help but feel lamented.


    "Didn''t master say that there are yin and yang in people? Everyone will naturally seek a balance between their mind and body. It''s inevitable." Turing answered respectfully.


    "Yeah," Garen tapped on Fila''s head lightly.


    Thump!


    The bloody arrow went through the back of his head and instantly pierced into his head. It completely ended Fila''s life.


    His body fell onto the ground without making any sound.


    "Balance is the natural law of the universe. It''s just that each time I encounter such example, I can''t help but to feel emotional," Garen turned around and looked at Remington who was unconscious from banging his head on the ground.


    He was also touched by the genuine emotions of a ruthless young man from a wealthy background.


    "How unfortunate..."


    Garen reached out his hand, and a huge, ice-blue jagged mouth appeared on his palm. The mouth spewed out a countless amount of blue silk threads, and part of it headed toward another linked secret chamber.


    "One last attempt."


    He closed his eyes.


    Sss!


    The sounds of the silk threads piercing into the head of the Seventh Divine Wind General''s head as well as the sound of the Grand Duke of Destruction''s head exploding in another chamber could be heard. Both of their vital signs quickly disappeared...


    At the same time, countless pieces of colorful light began to cover the sky outside. It was as though the entire sky was filled with a large number of rainbows.


    The shadows of dozens of mechs could be seen rushing toward the villa where Garen was located.


    Diofie, Fiery Fear, and other utterly old mechs controlled by the Non-falling Level experts have gathered here.


    "He is trying to start a disaster! We must stop him immediately!" Fiery Fear''s voice transmitted to everyone that was present. "Go!"


    Without any hesitation, dozens of top experts activated their engines, and a large number of Non-falling Lights were shot towards the mountain forest villa in all directions.

 1105 Tide 3

    "Light Beam! Gather!"


    Fiery Fear''s Mech spread its four wings, with bright, red beams of light shooting out of every tip of its wings. The light beams were burning bright, bending as they were aimed toward him, forming a beautiful red Light Sphere.


    The Light Sphere kept expanding. Soon enough, everything near the red beams of light had been dyed a shade of red that resembled the searing sun.


    "Destruction Laser!"


    As though it was being pulled by an unknown force, the Light Sphere suddenly jolted downward.


    At the same time, the other Non-falling Levels were trying their best, unleashing all their powers. The bright light that exploded from the Mechs were highly concentrated, shooting different forms of colorful streams downward.


    "It''s useless."


    A white-robed man looked up at the Mechs in the sky as he walked out slowly from the villa.


    As he spoke, a layer of translucent barrier starting forming in the air, surrounding the villa.


    All the attacks that were launched disappeared the second they made contact with the invisible barrier, like pebbles sinking into the water.


    "Attack!" A furious voice growled.


    All the Mechs promptly increased the energy they released, horrifying streams of colorful, electric current-like lights continued to fall from the sky, crashing into the translucent screen before Garen.


    However, Garen took no notice of these people and continued staring at the sky which was becoming a concentrated shade of a rainbow.


    "It''s coming¡­"


    His stare was intense.


    All of a sudden, a white Light Beam shot down from the sky.


    Bang!


    The light pillar landed not far away. It was at least a thousand meters wide, as though something was hidden inside the Light Beam.


    What followed the Light Beam were actual halos the colors of a rainbow.


    The air began to stir as a transparent, vortex-like airstream appeared, while an ear-piercing horn sound rang from the sky.


    The entire forest was instantly set on fire, and black clouds swarmed above the sky. The black clouds were pushed to two sides by the white light pillar and the rainbow light, yet it did not want to join back together and cover the sky.


    White snowflakes danced across the air, spinning around the white column of light just like streams of rivulets.


    The ground shook once again.


    "It''s really coming this time!"


    Garen held his right arm out, his palms curved, as though he was grabbing on to the white light pillar.


    "Star Core Resonance¡­"


    As he mumbled in a hushed tone, streaks of red light began appearing on the ground below Garen''s feet; they quickly gathered like streams of water in Garen''s palms.


    The streaks of red light were getting more concentrated as the number of streaks increased.


    "He''s extracting the Star Core''s powers! Stop him!" Fiery Fear was considered well-experienced and knowledgeable since he knew what was happening and started panicking.


    Soon enough, all the Non-falling Levels had a great increase in their powers. However, they noticed that their attacks were harmless to the opponent''s defensive energy field which served as a barrier.


    Disappointment crept onto some of the Non-falling Levels'' faces.


    Although the Mechs were glamorous and looked magnificent, they were all useless to Garen at this point. Their powers were like absorbed by an endless hole, vanishing instantly as they made contact with the barrier.


    The snow was getting heavier and a light fog was cast upon both the sky and the earth. Everything could not be seen anymore, except the white column of light that was standing tall between heaven and earth.


    A layer of frost started creeping up Garen''s body, forming a Scarlet Snow Ice Armor while a pair of gigantic, long ice wings slowly condensed to form behind his back.


    All of a sudden, Garen took a step forward.


    "True form, reveal!"


    He suddenly extended both arms like he was embracing the sky.


    ********************


    In space


    The whole surface of the Mother Planet was suddenly covered by an abundant of black speckles.


    At this very moment, the speckles were moving about swiftly as though they were alive, being pulled toward each other and finally forming a black dot.


    In a flash, the black dot formed a huge Peacock''s eyeball. It stuck its skull out from underneath the ground, its entire body was semitransparent just like Mother Planet''s soul. Slowly, the enormous White Peacock emerged from Mother Planet, its massive body almost covering half of Mother Planet already.


    Growl!


    The White Peacock growled at somewhere deep in space where the rainbow-like lights were shining.


    It was as though there was a reaction, the space rainbow lights, which were originally drifting along the white light pillar toward Mother Planet, suddenly accelerated.


    Countless streaks of rainbow streams, that were way bigger than Mother Planet, started surging toward the white light pillar.


    Boom!


    The rainbow tide slammed against the surface of Mother Planet, completely drowning the White Peacock.


    ********************


    Among the White Lights, Clint and the others were staring wide-eyed at Mother Planet, which was getting nearer and nearer, and the massive peacock above.


    "There, there¡­ What a huge peacock! Since when did Mother Planet have such a creepy creature?" Clint gulped as he felt his body tingled.


    "How bold!" Red Moon was the first one to see right through everything, "Protecting Mother Planet by itself, isn''t it afraid that the energy tide would wipe out its Willpower?" He exclaimed.


    It should be noted that the size of an energy tide would vary from small ones to huge ones, and this time around, its scale should exceed hundreds of light years. Merely as big as a small toy ball in a big tide, the Mother Planet was completely unnoticeable. A tide like this had a power that could not be simply defended against by one simple planet.


    "Be prepared, we''ll be landing soon!" Little did Red Moon realize that this tide would not actually involve Mother Planet, but he and his men provoked this happening with their Light Beam.


    Red Moon''s red Mech was launched toward Mother Planet along with the streak of white light, stumbling among the countless rainbow streams.


    *********************


    On the Satellite


    The lady in a white skirt was staring silently at the rainbow tide that was spreading throughout the entire view of space.


    Then, she looked at the White Peacock that was peacefully settling on Mother Planet.


    "Level Nine huh?" She mumbled. "No.3."


    A black shadow appeared behind her in the wooden cabin once again and flew out before landed right behind the lady.


    "Ready for your commands, ruler."


    "Where''s Carthage? Inform him about what''s happening here, his pawn has been growing a bit too fast." The ruler spoke calmly.


    "Just inform him?" No.3 responded.


    "What are you planning to do then?" The ruler asked back again. "I''m not in charge of the region where Chinande is at."


    "Whether he''s Jeros or Nonosiva, wouldn''t it be easier if we just kill whoever gets in the way of our plan?" No.3 asked coldly. "It''s very common for accidents to happen in the Energy Tide¡­"


    The ruler was silent.


    Neither one of them spoke for a couple of minutes.


    "We''d have a lot of problems once he manages to break the holy bond and becomes a sacred body," No.3 spoke again.


    "We need to consider Carthage''s situation. After all, he''s still one of Chinande''s clones. Nobody would know whether he''s actually speaking for Chinande," The ruler said.


    "Just one of the three hundred and forty-two clones."


    "But this is different."


    No.3 let out a laugh.


    "Even if he manages to break the holy bond and become a sacred body, do you think he actually stands a chance to surpass Regent Level? Do you think he can actually rebel against His Majesty?"


    "Well, technically, he''d be on the same level already¡­ Regent Level and Perpetual Motion Level, they''re both sacred bodies theoretically, but one has the condensation concept whereas the other one doesn''t. However, in reality, the contrast between these two isn''t as big as we imagine it to be." The ruler retorted.


    "Then why don''t you agree to just kill him now?" No.3 asked curiously.


    "Because of me."


    All of a sudden, a figure that resembled fresh blood darted out from a dark corner of space far away, landing beside both the people within seconds, blowing up a mass amount of flowers and plants around the area.


    The figure crashed down like a lightning, but soundless.


    The newcomer was a fair-skinned lady all dressed in a Blood Robe. Although her gorgeous dress up was elegant and enchanting, she had countless red-black airstreams that had faces encircling her, adding a sense of intimidating power to her presence.


    She was the Wraith Royalty''s princess, also Jeros'' sister, Fresh Blood Holy Lord.


    A hint of fear flashed on the ruler''s usual cold and heartless expression while her body tensed up, her fingers clenched around the book tightly as though she was ready to move.


    "So, it''s Fresh Blood Holy Lord, your Royal Highness. We apologize for not welcoming you, please forgive us."


    Fresh Blood Holy Lord, the number one powerhouse of the Wraith Royalty, was also a highly qualified Holy Lord.


    Even though they were the same level as Perpetual Motioners and Regent Level, only a real insider would know that Regent Level was actually the strongest of them all after battling against the Holy Lords after so many years. They represented the ruling over this big piece of land, so they were addressed as the Kings by the Holy Lords.


    This was also how Regent Level originated. The concept, in fact, was the common ground that people have discovered from those Regent-Level powerhouses.


    There were no longer any specific classifications of combat levels in the Holy Lord Level, only the gap between one''s combat power. Therefore, one would have to kill his own way to gain reputation and status. The so-called Concept Level was just another term for Regent Level.


    Fresh Blood Holy Lord, who was standing right across, was one of the few Overlords from Wraith Royalty who would be qualified to enter the elite Regent Level! She challenged the Finite King of the previous generation thrice, and even though she failed, she retreated in good form. Moreover, the Wraith Royalty was able to retain its ruling area mainly because of her support and help.


    "Fresh Blood Holy Lord, your Royal Highness, you''ve come here personally, is it because you have decided to deal with your brother?" No.3, on the other hand, was not afraid of her at all. After all, he was just a mere clone over here, and he was hidden well, so the other party would have no clue as to who he really was.


    As he finished speaking, Fresh Blood Holy Lord''s appeared before him phantom-like; one arm pierced into his chest.


    Bang!


    No.3 instantly collapsed into a wisp of smoke and vanished into thin air.


    "Suspicious little bastard."


    A malicious look was written on the Fresh Blood Holy Lord''s face. She held out her finger and stared at the droplet of fresh blood on the tip of her finger, before leaning in to lick it.


    "Aren''t you going to do something about Jeros'' behavior? He''s already violated the plan. If we don''t do deal with it, the King is definitely not going to ignore the fact that the plan is being ruined¡­" Bang!


    After the blow, the ruler''s body flew backward due to the force of impact, crashing into the wooden cabin, even smashing through the wooden door. She could not be seen after the crash, just a vague view that she was trying hard to get up from the ground.


    "Are you trying to pressure me by naming the White King?!" Fresh Blood Holy Lord did not even bother to turn to look at the ruler, instead, she kept her confused gaze on the massive White Peacock resting above Mother Planet.


    "Why is Jeros'' qi so weak? He still wants to absorb the energy tide''s energy?" She was getting more confused by the second, but a spiteful crept up her face. "He''s no doubt my idiotic younger brother. Just a short period of time of not seeing him and he''s perished once again! To be so weak until this point, he is a disgrace to the Wraith Royalty!"


    She slowly stretched out her jade-like slim fingers.


    "Let me teach you what sort of attitude you should possess to exist in this universe as a Wraith Royalty!"


    A clump of metallic red blood started burning in her palm.


    Boom!


    Unexpectedly, she flung her arm at the only huge star in the solar system, Mother Planet.


    She then clutched her fist.


    Buzz!


    The entire star started shaking violently before bursting into red flames suddenly. It was like an ignited solar particle, burning with a bright blood-red shade.


    "There you go! Ha ha ha ha!" Fresh Blood Holy Lord enjoyed the immense heat of the star, her body was getting more excited, as though it was being recharged. A vast amount of fresh blood energy started surging into her body and she began laughing wildly.


    With a loud boom, a terrifying clump of bloody inflammation burst out from her body and rushed into the sky. At that instant, the entire small planet shook and moved directly out of its original trajectory, flying toward the star.


    "My stupid younger brother! Are you trying to take everything? Let me, the Holy Lord, gift you something huge!" Fresh Blood Holy Lord was laughing hysterically, "If you can''t swallow everything, you can die!"


    Inside the wooden cabin.


    "Crazy! That crazy person! She wants to destroy the entire galaxy!"


    The ruler was so overwhelmed by the gigantic amount of energy that she could not even look forward. They were both Holy Lord and Perpetual Motioner Level, yet the difference of powers between them was as different as heaven as hell!


    "The King will never forgive you!! You are the one who destroyed the plan¡­" She yelled, spitting out a mouthful of blood as she spoke.

 1106 Tide 4

    The enormous planet was approaching, the scorching heat of the Sun was getting unbearable. As the distance closed up, everyone on the Mother Planet could feel the terrifying heat that was escalating by seconds.


    Garen was the first one to sense this alarming change.


    As the Hellfrost Peacock, he had already fully converted his Scarlet Snow Ice Armor into its true form by then. Although the Hellfrost Peacock''s true form might only just be a phantom, it was devouring a vast amount of pure energy from the energy tide that moment. The surge of energy would have been considered deadly to an ordinary person. However, for the Hellfrost Peacock''s almost immortal physique, it was nothing.


    The gigantic White Peacock phantom continued devouring the crazy amount of rainbow energy.


    As for those Non-falling ones surrounding Garen, they could not even survive in the energy tide for ten minutes before all their powers were thoroughly wiped out.


    If it was not for Garen''s qi protecting these two regions, absorbing all the energy from the tide that kept rushing in, all the Willpower powerhouses of these two regions would have been completely wiped out by the deadly tide, everyone''s Willpower completely destroyed.


    His Scarlet Snow Technique continued surging as it slowly increased.


    All the veins on Garen''s body could be seen surfacing his skin and he looked absolutely terrifying.


    Black clouds swirled above him, on top of that was the Hellfrost Peacock''s massive body. However, the only thing that could be seen at the moment was the white stream of chill churning in the air, and that was actually one of the Hellfrost Peacock''s blood vessel moving. The peacock''s body could not be seen at all.


    The whole rainbow tide was basically blocked out by this white stream of chill.


    At that moment, all the Non-falling ones realized that something was wrong - the people they were attacking seemed to be the one actually protecting this region. Each of them stared speechlessly at the other, then fell to the floor in despair. They did not know what to do, other than just observe silently by the side.


    The Ice Dragon and the others, who just walked out of the villa, were also shocked at the changes in the sky. It was as if Heaven and Earth were revolving around Garen.


    As the white snow melted outside, the ground was once again covered by a new layer of white snow. The forests, which were once luscious, had now wilted, from the original emerald-green to the current shade of burnt black, and they were all covered by the white snow.


    This sort of great change in the world, such extraordinary dissipation of the world, definitely marked everyone''s heart deeply, and it would be something unforgettable forever.


    Right then, Garen''s qi swiftly broke through the Non-falling Level''s Grade Fifteen Scarlet Snow Technique, and it immediately advanced to Grade Sixteen, and it was still increasing as it continued absorbing energy from the tide. (TL Note: Author wrote ''Level Sixteen'' but this seems to be a typo, it should be ''Grade Sixteen'')


    In just a few minutes, he managed to break through Grade Sixteen, and a dazzling Frost Seed slowly appeared behind him.


    The seed seemed like an ice sculpture, round and delicate, and it was slowly planted into the void. Within seconds, it sprouted and a white, icy vine grew out, weaving something that seemed like a screen.


    "Grade Seventeen¡­" Garen closed his eyes and felt the growth of the Frost Seed. At the same time, a Soul Seed that represented the extreme Hellfrost Peacock started forming in his mind.


    This Soul Seed seemed to be different from the ordinary Soul Seeds. It was not just merely illusory, but it had a vague trace of pure Willpower that should only be possessed by Energy Machinists and Pilots.


    He should embed a trace of Willpower of Origin into the Soul Seed!


    This was the brand new path of improvement that the Scarlet Snow Sect ancestors had opened up in order to bypass the board.


    The highest achievements of the Ancient Endors, the Soul Seed and the world''s most powerful power, the Willpower of Origin, this two balanced everything.


    "Semi-Soul¡­ Who knew¡­" Little did Garen suspect that the Scarlet Snow ancestors would actually use such a method to break through the limits, to enter the Level-Nine realm of the same grade as the board.


    The tremendous amount of energy from the tide continued gushing into Garen''s peacock. At this point, he was not devouring his own will anymore, but the tide was just pushing into the peacock''s body. He did not have to devour the energy anymore, all he needed was to absorb the consumed energy.


    Right at that moment, the most horrifying fact of the Hellfrost Peacock revealed itself.


    Garen could sense it himself. As his powers continued to rise, the Hellfrost Peacock''s digestive ability increased just as well.


    The energy that was first consumed by his body was still barely able to be digested, however, it was more than adequate now.


    It was indeed the Ancient Endors'' rampant creature. That incredible digestive ability was simply the strongest point of the Hellfrost Peacock that was known for its immortality.


    Ding!


    At this moment, Garen heard a soft sound behind him that sounded like glass clinking against each other.


    The vine that grew out from the Frost Seed was slowly weaving into a delicate, huge screen, and it was almost done. Numerous ice crystals growing along the vines shimmered a fluorescent white. Looking from a distance, Garen seemed to have a gigantic piece of vine-made screen that was glinting in white on his back.


    The original ice-crystal wings were pushed aside to the back of the vine-made screen.


    Crack¡­


    The white, icy crystal vines on Garen''s back continued growing frantically toward all directions. Soon enough, almost the entire sky, which was about thousands of kilometers wide, was fully covered. Both the sky and the ground were filled with mesh vines of ice crystals.


    The black clouds were long gone from the sky. At this moment, the Sun was getting nearer and the temperature was rising.


    Without even sensing the changes to his own self, Garen raised up his head and looked at the sky.


    "This¡­ This is!?" He could actually sense that the Sun was slightly redder and it was diving toward Mother Planet!


    "The Sun is getting nearer!"


    Fiery Fear and his men also noticed that something was off.


    No instruments were able to function right then as the energy particles storm was too big of a disturbance. Only their eyes and senses remained.


    "If this continues, the entire Mother Planet will perish!!" Diofie mumbled. All of a sudden, he started panicking and became an utter mess. Under such natural disasters, he had no idea at all what to do despite being the leader of the region.


    "What in the world is this!!?" Fiery Fear roared furiously, but his voice was drowned by the endless surge of energy disruption, only to be transmitted within the range of a hundred meters beside him.


    This moment, everything came to his mind. His family, children, academy, brothers, best friend, wife¡­ Every familiar face that he knew floated through his mind.


    "Oh my goodness! God, why are you punishing me¡­" Fiery Fear was stunned by the chain of changes that was happening, it was all too overwhelming for him. As the distance between them and the Sun that was closing in, he had zero reaction despite the end of the world being imminent.


    Facing such a natural disaster, if the Sun did not return to its own position, the entire Mother Planet would be thoroughly scorched; nobody would stand a chance of surviving through it.


    Not just him, every single one of those powerhouses sent to suppress Garen was weak on the ground with their stagnant eyes wide open, not knowing what to do.


    No matter how strong they were, they had no chance going against such a powerful force.


    Unconsciously, everyone''s eyes paused on Garen.


    "It must be him! He must be the one who triggered this doomsday!"


    "If we can kill him, everything will return to normal!"


    A ferocious grin appeared on each of their faces.


    "Let''s not waste any more time! Move, everyone! Let''s get rid of this demon!"


    One of them leaped up and dashed toward Garen.


    Crack crack¡­!


    A chill started creeping up from beneath the person''s feet before rapidly spreading as it crept upward. He was soon frozen, his eyes wide opened with disbelief. As he stood in the block of ice, his body started corroding swiftly just like a candle.


    Everyone was shocked at this sight.


    Right then, Garen simply ignored those people.


    He was engrossed in devouring the heat from the approaching star.


    The terrifying thermal tide was mixed among the energy tide, but the Solar Seeds, which were tougher to be digested compared to the energy tide, was still pouring into his body.


    Most of the energy that was emitted by the Sun itself was not just pure energy. They mostly required a longer period of time for one to absorb and convert them into Cold Energy. This was why Garen did not choose to absorb the star.


    All of a sudden, a bright white light burst out of his body and he entered the Eighteenth Grade of Scarlet Snow Technique completely.


    Cough!


    However, at the same time, Garen suddenly coughed out a mouthful of fresh blood.


    That was the sign of his body was damaged by all sorts of gas substances that were mixed along the star.


    Cold Energy and Thermal Energy were battling against each other. These two entirely different energy were high up in the sky, constantly colliding with each other between Mother Planet and the Star.


    The massive gravitational force gradually diffused around. Garen could no longer hold against the control of the gravitational force. Besides the protected villa region, everything around him collapsed instantly, turning into a black abyss.


    The villa basically became an island.


    "Who is it!" Garen remembered clearly that he did not see anything about the star back then. "Who is it!?"


    He felt an excruciating pain all over his body, waves of pain were transmitted from his Hellfrost Peacock''s body.


    His Willpower was slightly blurred¡­ But the star was still getting nearer.


    The Hellfrost Peacock''s digestive system finally collapsed. After all, it was not the actual Hellfrost Peacock Queen but a mere phantom. A result like this was already way beyond Garen''s imagination.


    "It''s Sister!! It''s Gersa!! Hahahaha!!!" A sudden laughter rang through Garen''s head. To his surprise, it was Jeros, the one who was once devoured by the Nine-headed Dragon''s Soul.


    Turns out he had yet to perish, the remnants of his Will just regained consciousness, fully taking advantage of Garen''s currently-weak state.


    "You''re doomed! Doomed!" Jeros continued to laugh hysterically.


    Although his last piece of soul would soon be devoured by the Nine-headed Dragon once again, he did not seem to mind.


    Garen''s will was still blurred.


    The star was not just destroying Mother Planet at this moment, its primary target was actually him.


    The immense gravitational pull of the star had completely locked on to him. He had no way to escape or dodge, he could only keep resisting!


    Cracks could be seen on the Semi-Soul that was just condensed as it was being placed under extreme force right now.


    "I¡­ How can I die here¡­" Garen''s deepest conscious was growling relentlessly. He wanted to break through this monstrous force so badly.


    "How is this possible! How can I fall here!!" He bellowed, but still, he was unable to resist the terrifying force pushed upon him.


    "You are Scarlet Snow Sect''s last hope! It''s been a couple of thousand years already! How can you fall here!" An angry rumble thundered from the Armor of Ice that Garen was wearing.


    The human souls of the early ancestors started flowing out from the armor, spinning around Garen.


    "You are destined to be the strongest of Scarlet Snow in the past thousands of years!"


    "No! You can''t let Scarlet Snow''s hope die in a place like this!"


    "Those in our path shall die!"


    All the ancestors were beyond furious, their souls burnt with raging fire. As the souls burn within the Scarlet Snow Ice Armor, an incomparable burst of energy surged within him.


    Boom!


    The enormous gush of cold air rushed toward the sky, heading straight toward the nearing Sun.


    With a hard knock at the side, bursts of fiery lava and rocks flew out. However, it did nothing to stop the steadily-moving Sun that was still heading straight for Mother Planet.


    Boom!


    Another gush of cold air flew toward the sky, crashing into the star.


    Each and every Level Nine Elders'' strengths were showcased, all of them burnt madly as their souls started melting. Their power, combined with Garen''s, shot into the sky.


    Boom! Boom! Boom!


    Against the continuous ferocious hits, the Sun finally seemed to slow down.


    After all, the Level Nine powers had already reached a terrifying state. Plus, Garen was still continuously devouring energy from the tide to convert into Cold Energy to be used as the source of his powers. As long as his body could withstand it, he would have an endless supply of Cold Energy.


    The Mother Star, once again, started moving along with each hit.


    Finally, the Sun began to move away.


    "No¡­ The Mother Planet was the one that moved¡­" Garen''s Energy Machinist Imprint formed such a conclusion under his current blur state.


    Thump.


    He fell to the ground.


    Everywhere around him was chaos. Other than him, the villa was shattered, the others were frozen icicles, some melted, yet some remained as blocks of ice. Although this attack was not directed towards them, only some were able to survive.


    Now, Garen knelt alone at the stone pillar of what was originally the villa. There was nothing around him.


    The distance between Mother Planet and the Sun had finally returned to normal, and the Sun was back to its original shade, not the horrifying, bloody-red hue anymore.


    Right at that moment, Garen cracked. His blood was frozen by the chill within him as lines of scars started forming all over his body.


    The land was yellow, both heat and cold sizzled together, making the entire surface around the pillar and everywhere else akin to a desert.

 1107 Breakthrough 1

    On the planet.


    Fresh Blood Holy Lord spat quietly.


    "So he survived? Damn, that''s too bad for Jeros. You were lucky this time."


    Instead of taking action, she simply tugged off her red blouse and turned into a stream of blood, entering the Void.


    It was only after a moment did the ruler start crawling out slowly from the wooden cabin. She exhaled heavily, her entire body covered with injuries.


    She lied on her back and stared at the enormous, blue Mother Planet in the sky. There was a huge, black splotch on its surface that seemed like a burn mark caused by a star that got too close to it.


    "Mother Planet actually exceeded the energy tide''s range, that''s really terrifying¡­"


    A wisp of black smoke appeared beside the ruler.


    "Fresh Blood Holy Lord has already transcended the ordinary Regent Level, hasn''t she? She''s long become her own concept, Fresh Blood."


    The ruler nodded.


    "That''s right, Master said it once too. To be able to manipulate the concept of all things, that''s the true Regent Level. Gersa is already capable of controlling the stars. After all, concept-wise, stars have their own blood too."


    "Such powers are beyond the controlling category," Black Smoke mumbled.


    "Don''t worry," The ruler replied calmly. "She''s going to challenge the King soon, and nobody has ever beaten His Majesty¡­ Herself included. After the battle, if she''s not injured badly, she''s probably going to die. His Majesty has already decided to unify everything."


    "Really?" Black Smoke responded.


    *******************


    Garen kneeled on the scorching sand; his body no longer felt chilly. The Hellfrost Peacock was thoroughly charred by the star''s alarmingly high temperature, it was incapable of emitting and trace of chill at the moment.


    Hu¡­


    He let out a deep breath.


    The Scarlet Snow armor had disappeared already, all the ancestors'' souls completely thawed. In order to fight against the star, they focused the powers of all their souls and converted them into pure strength. They charged forward with no hesitation.


    This also became the key that gave Garen the strength to push through everything. Garen felt dejected, the Scarlet Snow Sect ancestors did entrust all their hopes on him after all. This was a heavy obligation that he must perform.


    Crack¡­


    The ice crystal vines on Garen''s back began to crack, shattering onto the ground.


    Crack!


    One of the shards fell before him.


    He reached out and grabbed the shard of glass fuzzily.


    Chi!


    All of a sudden, a massive, sturdy blue pillar of light burst out from the debris, piercing right through Garen''s chest.


    The light pillar penetrated into the sky as the sky rumbled non-stop, stirring up the clouds once again in the clear peaceful sky.


    Chi, chi, chi!


    At the same time, sharp rays of blue light burst out from almost all the shards, forming light pillars that all pierced into Garen''s chest from all directions.


    From afar, it looked like ten or more blue spears were securing Garen on the sand so that he could not move at all.


    Whoosh¡­


    Garen reacted surprisingly quick, immediately activating his potential points and swiftly piling them on his body so he could recover instantly.


    However, those blue lights were not doing actual damage to his energy.


    Stunned, Garen extended his arm and touched his chest. He felt no pain where the blue light just pierced through, but an indescribable comfort instead.


    "This is...?"


    He stared at his Attribute Pane, confused.


    To his surprise, what was supposed to be his original Attribute Pane was currently going through some earth-shattering changes.


    What was initially a dark mist of mystical genes were now completely crystal clear.


    The dark mist dissipated, revealing from within was a mysterious white-gold symbol.


    The symbol was extremely complex and it seemed like a merge of multiple symbols laying on top of each other.


    "What is this?"


    The instant the symbol formed completely, all the blue threads from the Hellfrost Peacock within him started swarming toward the symbol, immediately cocooning and devouring it by gulps.


    Boom¡­


    Just that moment, a ball of blue flames exploded from his body.


    A steady flow of energy that seemed to appear out of nowhere started flowing into Garen''s mind where the Soul Seed was at.


    A brand new Soul Seed was then slowly condensed deep in Garen''s mind, side by side with the other Soul Seed.


    His Attribute Pane then slowly updated a new display.


    ''Soul Seed -- Northern Trident Frost-Fire True Water Evil Technique, Holy Phoenix Demon Book. Hellfrost Peacock Soul Seed .''


    The three Soul Seeds interweaved and formed a trace of translucent current that seemed to be interchained, but nevertheless suspended on air itself.


    Blue, black-gold, and white. The three Soul Seed s formed a triangular chain altogether and started spinning slowly.


    The seemingly never-ending energy seemed to be emitting from those three Soul Seeds. It was as if the three Soul Seeds were deriving a completely new strength out of themselves.


    Within seconds, that power filled Garen''s body to the brim, and yet it was still eagerly surging into his body.


    The immense force washed upon Garen''s body wave by wave.


    The tremendous force was incomparable, far from what he felt from the oppression of the star earlier on. Garen felt as if he was back to how he was as an ordinary person, with a balloon that was expanding non-stop within him, as if he was going to explode.


    The change this time around seemed to have connected the powers of all three of the Soul Seeds'' powers, erupting a new unusual derivative energy at the same time. This derivative energy was so pure, and it was able to draw an endless supply of external energy.


    The immense force caused Garen''s entire body to crack, as fresh, scarlet-red blood started trickling down.


    A spaceship far away that was on the way to observe was slowly approaching, rays of light beams shining in his direction.


    "There seem to be people there, let''s go over and check if they''re survivors."


    "Spaceship No.2 ruling out all danger."


    "No.3 alert."


    Signals started interchanging in the air.


    "Hank, pass me the focus stick."


    "Alright, no problem. Hmm¡­ What is happening, why is it shining all of a sudden?"


    "Oh¡­ Oh, no! Oh, my goodness!! Run!"


    Without a sound, a ray of pure white light suddenly flared up, covering a radius of approximately a thousand meters. The Mechs that just exited the spaceship to check out the surroundings were not spared as well, vanishing instantly within the white light.


    Garen could not hold it in anymore and completely exploded.


    His body detonated and became pieces of white-blue flesh, bursting into all directions in the white light.


    In just mere seconds, they all spread to a couple of thousand kilometers of space.


    Instantly, numerous white light mixed with flesh quickly solidified, forming the actual White Hellfrost Peacock.


    The peacock''s form lasted for only a mere second before vanishing straight away, once again covered up by the bright white light.


    **********************


    Garen had another dream, a very long dream.


    In the dream, he was a gigantic peacock from the depths of space. The moment he was born, he swallowed a nearby star. Countless chill flowed in the air, freezing every star that it met.


    The ice-cold space was the perfect place for it to grow.


    Its natural ability to devour Celestial Bodies one by one was to replenish the energy consumption consumed by its body that was constantly expanding.


    It would meet the occasional Celestial Bodies that would explode in resistance, but that was nothing different from drinking a soda, they were just bubbles bursting in its mouth, bringing about little to no threat.


    Time was meaningless, its colossal gravitational force had distorted time already.


    Multiple years passed, even it did not know how many years.


    Strange creatures started appearing one by one. They each had a head and four legs. They looked hideous, but they did have strong powers Every one of them was comparable to a star.


    These creatures gradually increased. At first, all they did was observe quietly, and after it ate a few of them, the others soon left.


    But it was not long before they returned, and this time around they were stronger.


    They could let it fall asleep. Those kinds of sleep that were comfortable and relaxing.


    Gradually, it realized that it enjoyed sleeping.


    Soon enough, its brain slowly started to get foggy, as if it spent too much time sleeping. Too long¡­ It''s too long¡­


    Hu!


    All of sudden, Garen woke up from the dream.


    He opened his eyes to a lush, green forest before him.


    Turing was not far away roasting a huge, wild boar. Noticing that Garen has awakened, this loyal Two-Headed Big Wolf immediately rushed toward him.


    "Master, you''ve finally woken up!" Turing''s face was haggard and full of scars, some even slightly rotten, revealing his white bones. It was evident that the war was over for a long period of time already.


    He carefully helped Garen up.


    "Here, drink some water."


    Feeling thirsty, Garen gulped down a few mouthfuls of water from a metal bottle. It tasted sweet.


    "Alright, I can help myself," Slowly, Garen sat up.


    He swiftly activated his potential points. However, he noticed that his points were completely consumed.


    On the other hand, numerous conspicuous state symbols appeared on his Status Pane. With just a glance, he could sense a trace of information.


    ''Hellfrost Peacock growth: Three Army-Level Soul Seeds'' Dimensional Dream ability triggered the extreme Hellfrost Peacock ultimate body -- Hellfrost Peacock Queen''s evolution, but the evolution requires an unimaginable energy growth¡­ Progress is now 5%.''


    Garen suddenly remembered something Black Sethe mentioned once.


    ''As long as three Soul Seeds are used as fuel backup, it''s possible to push the limit of one''s secret technique to the next level.''


    "As expected, the three Soul Seeds really did cause a big change. Perhaps the mysterious gene symbol did some work as well. My Hellfrost Peacock has reached its peak already, though now it''s having a brand new breakthrough. It''s really changing into Hellfrost Peacock Queen''s form¡­"


    Garen was amazed as he glanced toward his other states, sweeping through most of the useless skills and immediately pausing his gaze when he found the key pane of his Cold Scarlet Snow Technique.


    ''Eighteenth Grade Cold Scarlet Snow complete: gestures endow the ninth level peak power of frost aura. (Frost strengthened by three levels, sharpness strengthened by three levels, purity strengthened by three levels,)''


    There was another symbol at the back that was white. Garen moved his sight and immediately sensed the message.


    ''Cold Chaos strengthened increment. Full attribute enhanced by 1''

 1108 Breakthrough 2

    The instant Garen sensed this symbol, it had already melted abruptly, rapidly merging into the Scarlet Snow Technique''s pane.


    And the Scarlet Snow Technique also changed once more.


    ''Eighteen Grade Cold Scarlet Snow: every move contains cold energy equivalent to the peak of Level Nine.


    (Coldness Strengthening Level Four, Sharpness Strengthening Level Four. Purity Strengthening Level Four.)''


    "So all the Strengthening abilities increased by one level? Not bad. After devouring so much energy, not only did it condense the Soul Seed of the Living Secret Technique, it even influenced the Scarlet Snow Technique to increase as well."


    Garen had inherited many of his forefathers'' memories, so he knew how strong the chill would be once he reached Grade Eighteen of the Scarlet Snow Technique.


    Out of all the forefathers, the strongest was the First Generation Forefather, his Eighteen Grade Scarlet Snow Technique had increased the Coldness Strengthening to Level Three. His Purity Strengthening had also reached Level Three. He did not have Sharpness Strengthening, but even so, he had already reached an extremely terrifying level.


    No one would protest if you were to call him one of the top ten users of frost among the Energy Machinists. He would certainly have a spot among the top ten strongest frost users.


    Unfortunately, although he was extremely powerful in his time, and brought an era of glory to the Scarlet Snow Sect, none of his successors ever reached his level. Some of the forefathers had reached the eighteenth grade, and condensed their Soul Seed, but no one could reach Level Three in their Strengthening levels anymore. This was especially true of the Coldness Strengthening, they found countless materials, used all sorts of techniques and technology, but could only ever strengthen themselves up to Level Two. As for Purity Strengthening, they could also only reach Level Three.


    As such, the Scarlet Snow Sect''s position started to drop from its initial status as a middle-grade sect.


    Now, Garen had once more raised his Scarlet Snow Technique to Level Three in terms of Strengthening, and had even achieved Level Four.


    This power was already unprecedented in the history of the Scarlet Snow Technique.


    The last thing was the most crucial, the Attribute Pane.


    ''Nonosiva Lin ¨C Strength 50, Agility 50, Vitality 50 (+8), Intelligence 42, potential power 0%. Soul Limit 50.''


    Other than his Intelligence, everything else had reached fifty. His Soul Limit had also reached fifty. Garen was not surprised at that, he had always planned to condense the Scarlet Snow Technique''s Soul Seed, but he had not expected that he would gather the Hellfrost Peacock Technique''s one instead. Evidently, out of the two frost-type techniques, the Scarlet Snow Technique could not be placed on the same pedestal as the Living Secret Technique. Therefore, his understanding of the frost-type ended up benefiting his Hellfrost Peacock Technique.


    Sitting up straight, Garen pulled back his attention, and only then did he realize how much he had benefited from this. It was way beyond his expectations.


    "Where is this?" Garen pulled back his gaze, and began to consider his surroundings.


    "Master, this is still the Mother Planet, I carried you out of the middle of the Battlefield. We did not go far, because I was worried we would be found by the search parties," replied Turing respectfully. "You have been unconscious for three days. All our equipment and tools have been rendered ineffective by the battle''s energy field, so we could not simply leap away, and had to temporarily wait here for you to awaken."


    "Is that so?" Garen nodded, and put down the canteen.


    He glanced at the torn-up rags on his body, and saw that his Space Equipment had also been utterly destroyed, rendered completely useless. He knew immediately that the things inside had all floated into the torrents of Space.


    "This is still the Blackboard Region, right?" he asked.


    "That''s right, we did not go too far," replied Turing honestly.


    "How would we go about returning to Planet Scarlet Snow from here?" Garen was not familiar with this aspect.


    "I''m afraid we would need to borrow a jump portal, and go to the Central Academy first, then find a decent Galactic Battleship before we can leave," Turing replied according to the usual conventions.


    "No, we don''t need to do that. The Energy Machinists still have a base in the radiation area, we can go straight to the base and use the portal there to jump to the City of Nagadako. That was how I did it last time." Garen shook his head, and reestablished another route.


    "But before we go, we should go see the situation on the Mother Planet first."


    Finally, he exhaled deeply.


    "I wonder how many of these people survived."


    The two of them ate some barbequed meat, and then rapidly flew out from the forest, enveloping themselves in Non-Falling Light. In an instant, they had become a flash of white light, disappearing into the sky.


    Fifty points of speed had already long surpassed what the average person could detect. Even some equipment would be hard-pressed to detect them.


    After they flew through the air for some time, Garen quickly caught sight of a black battleship in the distance.


    The battleship was shaped like a Torpedo Ship, and had the words ''Maria Region'' printed on it.


    He flew straight for it, approaching the battleship as fast as lightning, and reached his hand out to grab it.


    Scree!


    He basically tore a hole through the outer layer of the battleship.


    Garen and Turing walked straight inside. They stood in the white corridors of the spaceship, the red alarms above their heads blinking brightly and wailing sharply.


    "Control this ship, but don''t kill all who resist, leave some alive so they can steer the ship," Garen instructed carelessly.


    "Understood."


    Turing nodded, and immediately wrapped himself up in Non-Falling Light, crashing hard into the walls of the corridor.


    Boom.


    The alloy wall caved in, twisting and bending toward the sides, revealing their sharp metallic sides.


    Turing walked in quickly, and dashed toward the front of the ship.


    Garen strolled through the spaceship slowly, feeling the tremors coming from it.


    Soon, there were quick footsteps coming from up ahead.


    "Over here! The intruders are here."


    A woman''s voice kept saying.


    All of a sudden, Garen sensed that Turing''s presence seemed to have been suppressed.


    "Hm?" He was instantly interested. No matter what, Turing was still a Non-Falling-Level fighter, even though he was weaker than regular Non-Falling Levels, and had fewer skills or abilities, he was still not an opponent an Inherited Level could take. And now, he was actually being suppressed.


    "But we can''t afford any delays now, we need to determine where we are, and we can borrow this spaceship''s data storage and topographic map for that." Once he thought of that, he stopped his leisurely stroll, and strode instead toward the footsteps coming at him.


    He walked down the silver-white metallic corridor and turned the corner. At the crossroads, Garen saw a group of young women dressed in golden clothing, jogging toward him while holding High-Energy Destruction Guns.


    And the person at the very front, leading the pack, was actually a familiar face ¨C Zero-Gun Sue-Anna.


    Her signature crepe-like long golden hair was extremely eye-catching, add that to her gentle but strong-willed aura, and Garen instantly recognized her with just a glance.


    Of course, Garen recognized her, but she did not know Garen at all.


    Ka-chak!


    They all raised their guns in unison. Before the team members who were about to shoot managed to pull the trigger, Sue-Anna held her arms open and stood in front of the nozzle.


    "Nobody shoot!" she yelled loudly and abruptly. Her expression was abnormally nervous, her large and pretty eyes staring at Garen intently, unblinking.


    Garen also lowered his battle-ready right palm.


    "I want to borrow your topographic map, and head for the Blackboard Region''s Blackboard City. That''s okay, right?"


    "S-sure." Sue-Anna had broken out into a slight cold sweat, and replied hurriedly. "Wherever you want to go, sir, we''ll happily escort you there."


    She could now sense the terror of Garen''s power. After all, Garen was emitting a wisp of his aura, without any attempt to hide it.


    "That''s best."


    Garen nodded in satisfaction.


    Seeing that Garen was not very violent, Sue-Anna also heaved a sigh of relief. She signaled for the members behind her to retreat quickly, and ignoring her subordinates'' worried gazes, she slowly approached Garen.


    "May I invite you to move to the reception room, sir? Are you heading to Blackboard City? We happen to have some people from Blackboard City on board, and we just happen to be heading there now."


    Seeing that Sue-Anna was being considerate, Garen decided not to press her any longer, and called Turing to pull back.


    Anyone who could suppress Turing on this ship had to be a Non-Falling-Level powerhouse, and it was impossible for Maria to have that many Non-Falling Levels, so it was very likely that this ship was their main force, holding all of their elites. He just happened to bump into it.


    "Oh, yeah, how did you recognize me?" Garen knew the look in her eyes, she was clearly not unfamiliar with him.


    Sue-Anna laughed awkwardly.


    "When you were at the Polar Region¡­ we all saw your image, sir."


    "Oh." Only then did Garen completely understand.


    Nothing much happened on the airship, and soon they had reached the Blackboard Region. Along the way, other than Sue-Anna, nobody else came to disturb Garen, she was the only one who accompanied Garen with tea and idle chatter.


    Clearly, she was worried that if Garen was surrounded by too many people and angered as a result of it, things might end up badly for her. It looked like Sue-Anna harbored no ill intent toward Garen, so he just let her approach him.


    When they reached Blackboard City, Garen found a set of casual clothing on the ship, and put them on. Then he led Turing out, again quick as lightning, and instantly vanished down the vast and empty streets of Blackboard City.


    On the spaceship, Sue-Anna finally heaved a long sigh of relief.


    "At first I had thought that once that Non-Falling Level, Diofie, died, the Blackboard Region would not be able to hang in there. It never occurred to me that¡­ this person was related to Blackboard City¡­"


    "Looks like our original takeover plan needs to change, inform the Royal Region immediately. The Polar Region is over, and if we anger that esteemed man, the next one might very well be us."


    A white-haired old crone appeared from behind Sue-Anna, speaking solemnly with her hands behind her back.


    "Try to be as friendly with Blackboard as you can," sighed the old crone, before turning around and walking into the depths of the spaceship.


    ****************


    Garen first visited Blackboard Academy, and saw that his teacher Van Doe did not seem to be around. However, it looked like he had just left, the coffee on the table was still hot.


    After he blocked that terrifying tide that covered the entire Blackboard Region, the Blackboard Region, as well as the neighboring Maria and Polar Regions, all escaped safely. However, the other academies that were further away, such as the Central Academy, all incurred heavy losses. The energy tide could be considered a short one, and had not lasted as long as stated in the original history, but even so, it had severely injured the Willpower powerhouses from the many great academies.


    The practitioners of Willpower at different stages had each sustained injuries of varying degrees.


    Garen left a letter on the table. After he discovered the truth, he knew that after he and Baylon left, his teacher had been caring for Nono''s relatives. Although he had given up on Garen in the end, he had still fulfilled his basic duties as a teacher.


    This energy tide this time was Garen''s repayment to the Blackboard Region.


    There was no longer any reason for him to stay here in the Blackboard Region.


    Garen led Turing back to the inner parts of the Academy Battleship, and as expected, Diofie had died. Many people were mourning him, gathering together and remembering him in silence, so Garen joined the crowd and watched a while. He soon realized that it was not just Diofie, on the list of the dead persons, it stated that all the Non-Falling-Level powerhouses who had attacked him, including the principal of Central Academy, had perished, without a single survivor.


    "True, even I got seriously injured back there, what''s more the rest of them." As for the grievously-injured Grand Duke of Destruction, Ice Dragon, and the rest, they must surely have all died.


    It was a shame, since he had implanted so many Distorted Seeds, but in the face of that catastrophic power, all resistance was futile.


    Originally, Garen was confident that he could safely withstand this tide, but he had not taken the star that suddenly appeared at the very end into account.


    Judging from what Jeros said, it was highly likely that the previously-unseen star was the doing of Jeros'' older sister, a woman called Gersa.


    The members of the Wraith Royalty were selfish, and used whatever means to achieve their ends. Their bonds to each other were extremely shallow, so it was not surprising that Jeros'' sister would do something like that.


    But what bothered Garen was that the name Gersa seemed to have shown up before in the original history.


    She seemed to have been a main force in the last resistance within Finite borders against the conquer of the White King, and had finally died after she failed in her challenge against the White King.

 1109 Dark Prologue 1

    Emerging from the funeral, Garen was still lost in his shock over the tremendous power controlling the star.


    He believed that his Scarlet Snow Technique had already reached the very peak, and was now even stronger than that of the First Generation Forefather. And even if he put all his power into it, if he tried to influence a star, unfortunately¡­


    He could influence the Mother Planet, but that did not mean he could move a star.


    The Sun''s mass was 290,000 times that of the Mother Planet, can you imagine the difference? It was the difference between a basketball and a grain of rice!


    Garen had thought that he was strong enough already, but once he compared it like that¡­


    But in this world, he could no longer grow any stronger. The only hope he had left was on the Hellfrost Peacock Queen, he could sense that he had already reached Army Level, and with this breakthrough, he had completely attained the peak of Army Level. In terms of fighting power, perhaps he was no longer at Level Nine, perhaps he had reached Level Ten, but even he could not be sure.


    Back then, the First Generation Forefather had been at the peak of Level Nine. And now, Garen had surpassed him.


    Maybe he was even Level Ten now.


    Even in this whole universe, Level Ten fighters were a domineering force, many Perpetual Motioners were called saints, but you could not tell who was stronger because they never really fought each other.


    As with the Secret Technique World back then, their reputations allowed them to each take hold of a piece of territory. None of them dared to haphazardly attack, or to provoke other Perpetual Motioners.


    It would be fine if they could win, but it would also be troublesome if they could not. Since they were all at the same level, the loser would instantly be considered inferior to the winner.


    Plus, Perpetual Motioners were extremely hard to kill. The words Perpetual Motion represented a limit, their Timeless Boards could perpetually invoke the power of antimatter, and they could directly absorb the power of antispace. Since time flowed backward in antispace, the Perpetual Motioners basically no longer cared about time. They were immortal, and could influence time, forever maintaining their power at their peak conditions.


    When everyone had infinite power like this, the difference came from the disparities in their understanding and abilities.


    "I''m now also one of Planet Naga''s Perpetual Motioners, I just don''t know whether the Energy Machinists have a plan to deal with this threat¡­"


    Garen left Blackboard Academy, and finally flew toward the direction of the Seventh Ruins as he remembered it.


    That should be the place where Clint and the rest will arrive on the Mother Planet. Nono''s relatives were all dead, and only Baylon was left, so no matter what, he could not allow himself to break this promise as well.


    As for as the disciple he had meant to accept, Tesna, she seemed to have passed out from exhaustion, but fortunately Turing managed to carry her away and protect her in time, so she did not die. Just like that, she had also passed Garen''s last test ¨C luck.


    Looks like she was pretty lucky, to have survived that apocalyptic disaster despite being a normal human, that was nothing short of a miracle.


    "Once I go back this time, I''ll really have to consider how to deal with this incident. And Carthage¡­" A hint of coldness flashed through Garen''s eyes.


    **********************************


    Mother Planet, Seventh Ruins


    It was a complete wasteland here, and a thick pillar of white light descended onto it from the sky, turning this place into an isolated island.


    The ruins in the middle were somehow still there, but everything around it had been completely turned to desert, so from afar, it looked like an island floating in the ocean of sand.


    After so many years, Garen had finally returned to this place. Looking at it from a distance, the ruins looked just like they did back then, blurry and foggy, so that he could not quite see what was inside.


    The last time he came in here, he was nearly threatened by the terrifying time-space distortion.


    "Let''s go. Let''s see that beloved little brother of mine, how long has it been¡­?"


    Garen wore white robes, while Turing and Tesna followed behind him, also dressed in white robes.


    "Little brother? Tutor, you have a little brother?" asked Tesna in confusion, she knew next to nothing about Garen.


    "Just do whatever Master tells you to do, why are you asking so much?" Turing had also hidden himself in the enormous white robes, and looked almost like a mutated radiation person.


    "Okay¡­" Tesna was the classic airhead-type, and nodded rather embarrassedly when she heard that.


    The three of them headed toward the ruins quickly, leaving the scooter they had arrived in not far behind them. The vehicle had been rented from the Blackboard Region.


    "Are we just going to leave the scooter there!?" Tesna turned around and looked at it.


    "It will go back on its own," explained Turing exasperatedly.


    "It''s automatic? This big thing? Not bad." Tesna was instantly somewhat surprised. Ever since she woke up, she seemed to have recovered some of her girlhood innocence, and was no longer as cold or distant. Now, she was interested in everything, and curious about everything.


    "You''ve always lived in the Regions, and never ventured out into the radiation area, so naturally you would be curious about everything here," explained Garen with a smile. "Now come with me and don''t delay anymore. My brother is still waiting for us, y''know."


    "Oh¡­" Tesna instantly fell quiet, and obeyed obediently. This teacher looked all mysterious, and rather than a martial artist, he felt more like a traveller.


    She could no longer stay in that family any longer anyway, so she may as well leave the Blackboard Region with this newly-recognized master of hers. That might bring her a new life.


    It was just that she would sometimes think of her older brother, and find him hard to forget. Once she left this time, who knew how long it would be until they meet again.


    The three of them slowly walked through the desert, toward the ruins.


    Inside the ruins, it seemed as though everything unusual has vanished.


    There were only bits and pieces of the circus equipment and stage left, whereas the strange factory parts and machines had all vanished.


    The Seventh Ruins, once the most mysterious location, had now become just another set of old, regular ruins.


    They did not walk for long before catching sight of what looked like a newly-built metallic cottage. It was made of the metal structures readily found here, and looked very simple, but also seemed extremely sturdy.


    A red-haired young man was saying something loudly to a young girl with short white hair. The girl had her head lowered shyly, but the young man seemed open and brash.


    At the same time, another pretty girl in skin-tight clothes happened to walk out of the house. She wore white jeans, a figure-hugging black top, and had a wide black metallic belt tied around her waist. There were many strange tools sticking out of the belt.


    The girl who had come out had her long black hair tied into a ponytail, and her fair skin was covered in oil stains, but her unnaturally perky figure was enough to attract and keep the gaze of any male. It was a completely style from the white-haired girl''s innocent purity, she was full of vigor and strangely sexy.


    If anyone looked closer, they might notice that this handsome girl''s aura was rather similar to Garen''s.


    As though hearing the footsteps from afar, the trio in front of the metallic house glanced over, their gazes following the source of the sound.


    At first glance, all three gazes focused on Turing, who had the strongest sense of presence. Even when shrunken down, he was still two meters tall, and anyone''s gaze would find him first.


    Next was Garen.


    The instant she saw Garen, the girl with the ponytail dropped the tweezers in her hand with a loud clang.


    "Brother!!"


    Her face was instantly covered with joy, and she forgot all about the oil stains on her body, rushing toward Garen like a madwoman.


    "Big Bro Nono?!" The young man, Clint, was also instantly overjoyed. After all, he had wanted to thank Big Brother Nonosiva in person for a long time now, if it were not for Nonosiva''s interference back then, Clint would not even have been able to escape the Blackboard Region.


    Only the white-haired girl looked completely confused.


    Garen''s smile was full of relief, thank goodness Baylon was fine.


    She really was the last of Nono''s family, if something had happened to her too, then he would have nothing left but feelings of guilt toward the owner of this body that he had possessed.


    Seeing that Baylon was overcome with sincere emotions, Garen held his arms slightly open, allowing her to pounce at him.


    "Brother!! I heard that you''d gone missing, I looked for so long but I could never find you!! Where did you go!?" Baylon cried tears of happiness, the tears splashing down her face as she pounced straight into Garen''s embrace.


    "You really surprised me." Garen shook his head slightly, feeling Baylon''s soft body that had lost all traces of masculinity.


    Instantly, Baylon stiffened up somewhat.


    "Big Bro! You can''t blame her for that! There''s a reason Baylon''s like this!" said Clint loudly, hurriedly rushing up to him.


    "Of course I know that, otherwise the first thing I would do is give this punk a good beating!" Garen put on a fierce tone. Then he started to carefully observe this future Red King³àÖ®Íõ.


    This was the Red King who would eventually be able to go toe to toe against the White King, his power would be stronger than half of the galaxy, but now he just looked like a regular wimp.


    "Also, since when have I allowed you to call me Big Bro?" retorted Garen somewhat unhappily. He used Nono''s signature haughtiness and arrogant tone to look down at Clint from above.


    "Urk!..." Clint held his forehead and smiled blankly, at a loss on how to reply.


    "Oh, yeah, Brother, this is our new friend, White Winter." Baylon immediately changed the subject, left Garen and ran across to drag White Winter over.


    White Winter lowered his head shyly, and was dragged over by Baylon, looking bashful and intimidated.


    "C''mon, call him Big Bro!" Baylon pressed his head down, saying loudly.


    "B-B-Big Bro¡­"


    He felt a bit like a mob boss¡­


    Garen''s expression was exasperated, and he waved his hand.


    "Stop fooling around. How have you guys been recently? After I left the Blackboard Region, how did you guys end up in a place like this? I heard that these ruins are extremely dangerous inside."


    "Uh¡­ about that." Baylon glanced at Turing and Tesna, "It''s a long story."


    Since Red Moon had some contact with Garen, Clint and the others did not plan to hide it from him, but they were still wary of the two behind him. After all, these matters and incidents were extremely important, and the results could be disastrous if the information was leaked out.


    Garen understood that as well, and waved his hand, a signal telling Turing to take Tesna out for a walk.


    The two of them left accordingly, and the remaining few could speak more easily.


    Baylon immediately chattered about all their adventures and traumatic experiences, spilling it all out for Garen.


    The Four-Star Alliance? Planet Gideon?


    As soon as he heard it, Garen knew that this was the family planet that White Night had been on, that was once White Night''s Gideon family planet, but now it was being inhabited by some guy called the Spirit King.


    "So you''re saying that Red Moon has gotten part of his Mech back?" Garen was thoughtful.


    Seeing the trio''s strange expressions, Garen finally asked about Red Moon''s condition.


    "In order to protect us, the Lord¡­ was hit by the energy tide, and is now seriously injured. He''s still recuperating¡­" Clint said helplessly, his expression desolate.


    "Then what do you plan to do? Wait here until he wakes up?" Garen asked.


    Clint instantly scratched his head, and did not reply.


    Baylon''s gaze wandered as well, Garen had evidently hit the jackpot.


    Looking at the two of them, Garen was instantly at a loss. Look at the White King, he had been planning things for decades. On the other hand, Clint right now was just an immature child, the difference between them was like heaven and hell. Garen had no idea how he ended up becoming the Red King.

 1110 Dark Prologue 2

    "Since you''re here, Big Bro, why don''t you help us think of something!" Baylon said with a flattering smile. Compared to that shy, introverted Baylon from before, she seemed to be a lot more cheerful and extroverted now.


    "Yeah yeah yeah, if it''s Big Bro Nono, I''m sure you''ll have an idea!" Clint hurriedly nodded in agreement.


    Only White Winter was unconvinced. He had heard Baylon bring up her brother before, but no matter how he looked it, Nonosiva was just a regular prodigy from the Blackboard Region, with limited talent. He had seen plenty people just like that in the Gideon family. There was nothing special about him, so he had no idea why Clint and Baylon respected him so much.


    "If you guys really have nowhere else to go, I guess you could come with me." But Garen was already planning something. Right now, Clint had one of Red Moon''s mech parts, that was a Regent-Level part. If he could just examine it closely, he should be able to gain a great deal from it.


    "With Big Bro?" said Clint, confused.


    "That''s right, I was just on my way to do something, join a competition," said Garen calmly, with a smile. "There''s been a dramatic shift here, so I bet this place has become a focus point amongst all the factions. It''d be very troublesome for you to continue staying here, it''s best if you could temporarily leave the Mother Planet."


    He was absolutely right, and the three of them also nodded in agreement.


    "We do want to leave the Mother Planet, but we can''t find any other way¡­" said Clint helplessly. "The only way is to buy a spaceship and then fly out, but that sort of thing isn''t for sale¡­"


    Garen instantly laughed.


    "No, other than the regular route, there is another way. Don''t forget, I''m also an Energy Machinist¡­"


    "Huh? Energy Machinist!!??" Clint and Baylon instantly widened their eyes, turning around immediately to look at White Winter.


    "What are you looking at him for?" Garen was also slightly mystified now.


    White Winter, however, lowered his head awkwardly.


    "I-I''m also¡­ an Energy Machinist¡­"


    "You too?"


    Garen had not noticed it, but once it was mentioned, he realized that White Winter really was an Energy Machinist, albeit a weakest Level-One Energy Machinist. His Willpower was weak enough to be negligible, and that was why Garen had overlooked it.


    At Garen''s current realm, he could basically just ignore anyone lower than Inherited Level, because anyone weaker than that was not even worth his gaze. It was impossible for them to pose a threat.


    But he knew the general way things would go, so he knew that White Winter would also become one of the Star Generals in the future. The Red King had four Star Generals in total, and the same went for the White King. That was the tally during the final battle, and the Red King''s Star Generals changed a few times along the way, but White Winter was always consistently there. He and Baylon would keep improving up until the final battle.


    The other two, including the original Nonosiva, both changed twice. After Nono died in battle, there were two more replacements until it finally settled down.


    "Alright, I''ll admit that I might have overlooked you." Garen nodded at White Winter. "The Energy Machinists have a Teleportation Point here, we can reach one of the Energy Machinists'' three main cities, the City of Nagadako, directly from here."


    "We can do that too!?" Clint was instantly overjoyed.


    *****************


    Radiation Zone, an Energy Machinist base


    On the scarlet-golden sands, there was a floating, giant city that moved along slowly, projecting an enormous black shadow onto the ground.


    By the time Garen and company reached here, it was already three days later.


    Garen did not immediately tell them what level he was at now, in case Clint and Baylon began to rely on him. They still needed to grow, or else they would never be able to fight against the White King.


    And the way things were going, they would still accidentally stumble across this base at one point. They were supposed to have made a contact on the inside, eventually disguising themselves as Energy Machinists, and getting teleported to the City of Nagadako.


    Garen merely simplified the process.


    "This is the place¡­" Garen looked up at the floating city in the sky, and felt the emotions surging in his heart. Back then, he had left the Sixth Divine Wind General and Sinno here, but he did not know how they were getting along now.


    "Let''s go."


    He strode towards the base.


    Behind him, the other three were like sun-dried brinjals, completely weak and exhausted. Without their mechs, they were just slightly better than normal people, and so they had no resistance at all toward the intense scorching heat of the sun.


    Garen would not block the sun and rain for them, and he proceeded on ahead by himself. The only good thing is that they knew that the temperature would drop slightly if they were closer to him.


    That was the only thing they had to comfort themselves over the three days of walking.


    Tesna, on the other hand, bit her lip and followed wordlessly. She had the worst physical fitness, after all, she was a true-blue regular person. If it were not for Turing''s occasional support, she would have crashed out a long time ago, collapsing onto the ground, unable to get back up.


    Just as before, there was a line of people queuing up in front of a tall, large, black stone pillar.


    The people in the line took turns entering a small house, and they never came back, so they had clearly been teleported into the base somehow.


    There were many people in Garen''s group, so they were very eye-catching as they walked, but when many people saw that Tesna, Clint, and the rest were just regular people, they instantly pulled back their gazes and lost all interest.


    Garen led the team to the back of the line, and queued up.


    He came to the City of Nagadako, not only to visit his few long-time friends, but also to join the Major Sect Battle, and¡­ to meet Celine!


    Celine was also an Energy Machinist, and she had always been living in the Three Major Cities, so she would surely appear during this competition as well.


    Thinking of Celine, ripples rose in Garen''s heart. All these years, she had lied to him for all these years, but this was the first time his feelings toward her were so complicated.


    The team slowly moved ahead, and some more Energy Machinists joined the line behind them. Some of them frowned when they saw the normal people beside Garen.


    "Doesn''t he know that normal people can''t enter the base? Does he not know the rules?"


    Someone said softly.


    Garen turned around, but saw that the Energy Machinists were all acting as though it has nothing to do with them, as though it was not any of them who said it.


    "Hahaha! Brother, I can''t believe it''s you!!" Suddenly, a familiar face appeared in front of Garen abruptly.


    It was actually the little fatty that had lent Garen a hand last time, and that pretty girl with the bright eyes and white teeth was still with him,wearing a white face veil and a cold expression.


    The fatty approached Garen, pushing his way forward, until he actually reached Garen''s side.


    "He''s a friend, a friend, we''re here together," he said smilingly as he squeezed past the dissatisfied Energy Machinists.


    "It''s you? Little Fatty?" Garen also recognized him from before.


    "The prodigy from back then! Haha!!" the little fatty laughed, scratching his head.


    Garen also was very fond of this guy, if it weren''t for his help back then, he and the Sixth Divine Wind General may not have been able to deal with the Seventh Divine Wind General, who was chasing after them.


    "Why are you still here?"


    "Cuz I''m bored!" said the fatty, pouting helplessly. He came closer to Garen and mysteriously transmitted his voice.


    "Since we seem fated to meet, let me tell you a secret. Have you heard of the Prodigy Alliance?"


    Garen blinked. It was a signal to Turing, who was growing wary, telling him to calm down.


    "Prodigy Alliance?"


    "That''s right, it''s powerful alliance where all sorts of prodigies gather together!" praised the little fatty, sticking up his thumb. "Take this lovely lady beside me for example, she has irrepressible talent! She''s the professional liaison for the Prodigy Alliance!"


    "So?" Garen really had never heard of any Prodigy Alliance.


    "Seeing as you''re a prodigy as well, you have the right to join us. Whataya think? Do you wanna join our Prodigy Alliance? I can give you a discounted recommendation fee!" The fatty chuckled, rubbing his fingers together.


    Garen broke out laughing, the Energy Machinists were about to face the biggest crisis they had ever seen, so what good would this Prodigy Alliance be?


    "That depends on whether or not your Whatever Alliance has the right to have me join it."


    "Hmph! What are you being so arrogant for, you should be honored that we invited you to join."


    His words instantly caused the pretty girl beside him to bristle, and she snorted coldly.


    "What do you mean by snorting like that! Don''t you have any manners?" Baylon instantly lost her usual composure, and immediately said unhappily. Big Brother Nono had always been her idol, and she could not allow others to be disrespectful to him.


    "It''s my matter whether I snort or not, what''s it have to do with you?" The girl was getting riled up too.


    "You snorted at my brother, so that just shows you don''t have manners. You''re young and you look decent, but why don''t you have any sense of common courtesy at all?"


    "You''re the one without manners! Do you know who I am? Back then, I was¡­"


    The two of them actually started arguing as though there was no one else around. Clint smiled helplessly at the side, and could not get a word in edgewise.


    Garen and the fatty just ignored the two of them.


    "Let''s talk about this after we get in, it''s almost our turn now." Garen indicated for the fatty to stop mentioning it now, while he motioned for the person behind back him to stay back for now, so he could proceed into the small house alone.


    It was the same process, where he pressed his hand against the huge metallic ball.


    "An Energy Machinist can only bring two followers. Your identity card has been filled up," said the old Energy Machinist who was in charge of the two-way traffic after checking Garen''s Energy Machine Imprint.


    "Filled up? Can you check it again?" Garen took out a scarlet badge, and tossed it at the old man.


    When he saw this Imprint, the atmosphere in the room instantly changed, becoming almost bone-piercingly cold.


    "This is¡­ a Sect Imprint? And a high-level one at that!?" The old man immediately got to his feet in shock, and hurriedly lowered his head in a bow.


    "So you''re from a sect, sir, no problem, Inherited-Level Energy Machinists from sects have a twenty-person quota, please, do as you like!!"


    He added hurriedly.


    "That''s good to hear."


    Garen nodded, satisfied.


    The group entered the base under such strange circumstances, surprising all the other Energy Machinists. They were low-level members, so they did not know about Garen''s true identity, or about that special rule.


    The little fatty also followed Garen into the base.


    At the first possible moment, Garen looked for Sinno, but unfortunately, the room inside the base was somehow empty. He has no idea where Sinno and the Sixth Divine Wind General went, the house was empty, and covered with a thick layer of dust. It was clear that nobody had been in here for a while.


    Garen was slightly disappointed that he could not find Sinno and the Sixth Divine Wind General. But the most crucial thing right now was still the crisis that would befall the Energy Machinists.


    The Major Battle was back, and it would be happening very soon. Toward the end of the competition, there would be more and more unsavory participants, and they would slowly reveal what was hidden before. There would be chaos, until the entire Battle fell apart at the seams, with betrayals and casualties galore. It would be the darkest day in the history of the Energy Machinist.


    What Garen needed to do was to protect himself and the Scarlet Snow Sect, making sure that they survived the crisis.


    Before things started to get chaotic, he must never reveal his true powers, or else he would incur even stronger rivals. This was a destined catastrophe, but it would also be his first chance to test Chinande.

 1111 Gathering 1

    City of Nagadako


    Planet Naga


    In the middle of the white light shooting up from the volcano into the sky, Garen and company walked out slowly, still recovering from the long-distance teleportation.


    They could vaguely hear the soft melody of a violin coming from a distance.


    The pure music was accompanied by a heavy and majestic chorus of countless voices, ringing out through the distant sky and swirling in the air above the entire city.


    Garen raised his gaze to look into the sky above the capital, and he saw an enormous, spinning round blue stage there. There were countless audience stands suspended around the stage, and as several thousand or even ten thousand audiences watched, the gentle melody of the violin kept coming from the center of the stage.


    "May the arriving passengers please leave the teleportation point as soon as possible," said an electric voice around them.


    Garen and his friends followed the crowd out of the volcano, and just like them, the few visitors sparsely scattered around them were mostly looking up at the round board in the sky. That shining blue round stage had attracted these visitors to the City of Nagadako at the first possible moment.


    At the exiting elevator, there was a screen displaying some advertised information.


    ''The renowned Queen of Violin, Lady Annie Victoria, performs in celebration of the Energy Machinist Ranking Competition.''


    "This place is so developed."


    It was Tesna''s first time leaving the planet, so she found everything new and fascinating, looking at the restroom teleportation point beside her with an awestruck expression. "They''re using teleportation even for the restroom, how extravagant!"


    In the Blackboard Region, only the higher-ups could enjoy teleportation facilities, but here, even the toilet involved teleportation¡­


    It was Clint and the others'' first time coming here, so they were villagers who had come to the city for the first time. They understood nothing, but they wanted to get a closer look at everything, to better understand what all these things were actually meant to do.


    The people around them moved like the tide, making it rather crowded and noisy.


    Suddenly, a group of people walked out from another teleportation elevator. They were all dressed in green uniforms, the men well-built, the women devilishly attractive, and they all wore a green shield badge.


    "It''s the people from Two-Headed Snake."


    Someone mumbled softly around him.


    Garen heard it, and did not stop Clint, Baylon and White Winter, since he knew that Turing would naturally greet the newcomers for him.


    But his gaze moved toward the team of Energy Machinists dressed in green, these people had workers whose only job was to open a path for them, preventing others from bumping into them and causing conflict. They were just like celebrities, and it was not long before many young people ran out from goodness knows where, rushing up and clamoring to take a picture with them, or to get their autographs.


    Garen and crew were pushed out of the crowd by the security, just to make space for this group to walk.


    Separated from the crowd and the security, Garen quickly looked for the relevant information in his Imprint.


    Two-Headed Snake¡ªa mid-range Energy Machinist Sect, they definitely had a Level-Eight Guardian, and at least five Non-Falling-Level Elders.


    There was already a Non-Falling-Level team coach hidden among the people here, and all the disciples who were here to compete were Inherited Level, be it the men or the women.


    "As expected of a mid-range sect." Garen was silently appreciative.


    He compared this group with his own. There was nothing to be said about Clint and Baylon, they were no different from ordinary people without their Mechs, and White Winter was a novice, there was nothing a Level-One Energy Machinist could do. Garen himself and Turing were hiding their auras and energy waves, so they seemed like normal people as well.


    Suddenly Garen''s gaze sharpened, he had actually sensed a familiar presence among the group from Two-Headed Snake.


    "Hm? This presence?" He frowned abruptly.


    "What is it, Brother?" Baylon was constantly observing Garen, so when she saw that he was frowning, she hurriedly asked.


    "It''s nothing, let''s go. Do you want to go back to my place first, and settle down a bit before you consider your options?" Garen asked back. They were here now, but Garen knew that Clint and the others could very well have orders from Red Moon, and so it was highly likely that they would operate freely. Although Red Moon was seriously injured right now, he could still wake up occasionally and send them some messages. After all, he had been supplemented with one of his component parts now, and was no longer just a core like before.


    It was just as he expected. Clint scratched his head awkwardly.


    "Sorry, Bro, we still have some private matters to settle, so we''ll still need to stay here for a bit."


    "What about Lonnie?" Garen looked at Baylon.


    "Sorry¡­ Brother, this is for you!" Baylon lowered her head, her expression tortured. Suddenly, she stuffed a small item into Garen''s hands.


    "Alright, then," Garen smiled. However, his face was always on the fiercer side, and smiling made him look scarier than if he had cried. He looked at the small black ring in his hand, it was evidently a Space Ring.


    "I''ll leave Turing here to help you guys out, how does that sound?"


    "Hehe, thanks a lot, Big Bro!" Clint hurriedly smiled, his expression eager to please.


    Suddenly, they heard Red Moon''s voice.


    "Get him to help, go to the Great Bronze Hall!" The voice softened and vanished almost as soon as it rang out. Evidently, Red Moon was still incapable of maintaining long-term communication.


    "Great Bronze Hall?" Clint and Baylon were both taken aback, and they exchanged a glance. Since Garen had set aside the training method Red Moon gave him without ever practicing it, he could not hear the voice, and only the other three could.


    They hurriedly told him the place.


    When he heard it, however, Garen frowned.


    "Great Bronze Hall?" He knew the place, it was one of the Planet Naga Holy Lord''s old hideouts, an important place for storing bronze crystals. These were delicate times, and he could not show his true powers, so it would be very hard for him to accomplish that.


    "I can''t get you in directly, but I can help you guys to apply for a tourist pass." He knew that Clint and the rest would soon encounter their first greatest enemy, the Non-Falling Demon Lord, Shaunt.


    In the process of their bold attempt to retrieve one of Red Moon''s parts from the Great Bronze Hall, they might encounter many challenges and dangers, but this was a path they had to take.


    "That''d be more than enough! Thanks, Big Bro!" said Baylon immediately, full of gratitude.


    "No problem." Garen summoned Turing, and told him to pass a message to the Sect. It was still possible for him to use his connections to arrange for a pass, this was a matter he could settle with money.


    Once everything was arranged, and the contact methods sorted out, Garen finally split up with Clint and the others.


    Only his disciple Tesna was with him now. Both of them took another cab that was teleporting towards the Scarlet Snow Sect.


    "Master, where are we going?" asked Tesna in a small voice.


    "To meet two friends."


    Garen replied softly.


    "Friends?" Tesna felt as though this whole trip was a dream. She really did not understand the world of Energy Machinists and pilots, but she had something of a one-track mind. Her principle was that once she believed in someone, she would believe everything about them. Now, for example, she had absolute faith in Garen, and believed that he would not hurt her.


    The cabbie kept chatting with Garen throughout the journey, he was clearly a very talkative guy, but that was also to be expected. When there was an innocent-looking young girl like Tesna sitting in the car, most men would act talkative.


    "I heard that the competition will be held on Planet Naga this year?" Garen suddenly changed the topic, raising this important matter.


    "That''s right, there would be a Major Battle held every so often, to distribute the resources among the sects. This is the highest-level competition among Energy Machinists, just look at how many more people there are now compared to usual. Our business gets a lot better as well, tourists and Energy Machinists from all over are here to watch the action. Almost all of the elite Energy Machinists wool be here, after all, it''ll help widen their horizons if they can which the way others fight. Naturally, there won''t be much of an effect on us normal people," chuckled the cabbie.


    "Is that so?"


    "I hear that the Old Mayor will also show up and speak for the competition this year, wonder if that''s true."


    Garen nodded, and said nothing else. He knew who the Old Mayor the cabbie mentioned was, in the eyes of normal civilians, this Old Mayor was just a leader, the highest-ranking one. But as an Energy Machinist, he was the Holy Lord that maintained discipline throughout the entire Planet Naga, the man known as the Backlight Holy Lord. He was one of the three strongest Energy Machinists.


    Soon, the car stopped in front of a bar.


    Two people with slightly cold expressions were waiting outside, and they nodded slightly at Garen.


    Winding down the car window, Garen motioned for Tesna to get out of the car.


    "Follow them, they''ll send you to a place where you can settle down, and I''ll be there in a bit."


    "Okay." Tesna nodded hurriedly. She got off the car, and after those two said a few words to her in private, she followed them away.


    Garen watched as the people from Scarlet Snow led Tesna away, and got the cabbie to continue driving, telling him a location softly.


    "Before the prologue begins, I had better get all the trivial matters properly sorted out." He remembered those two friends from way back then who he had not seen for a long time, and his mood lightened slightly.


    ****************


    In another grey-brown coffee shop


    Accord leaned in front of the private room''s ceiling-to-floor window, looking out at the crowd of passersby, slightly dazed.


    Everything inside the private room was brown in color, the sofa, the table and chairs, the wallpaper, and even the projector sphere suspended above his head, spinning slowly.


    Accord was dressed just like any other relatively wealthy man, his appearance completely inconspicuous. To him, when he was meeting friends, it was best to set aside status or positions. If he still had to consider these things when meeting his true friends, then how would it be different from his regular social gatherings? Those were all about making connections for mutual benefit and social capital, but with his current status and position, he was surely not lacking in those aspects. He had attended such gatherings far, far too many times, so many times that they frustrated him.


    Beep-beep, beep-beep.


    The Energy Machine Imprint rang again.


    Accord glanced at it, it was a call from the sect, they were probably trying to ask him about annoying trivial matters again. So he just muted the sound, letting it flash and blink on its own.


    He opened the Friends tab in his Contacts, and chose Garen''s name.


    "Hey, where are you now?"


    "Outside the door."


    Ka-chak.


    The door opened.


    Garen walked in, dressed in white robes. The clothes looked a little unique, as though he was a member of the cleric.


    The two of them exchanged glances, and each could instantly tell that the other had changed tremendously.


    Garen looked even colder, and also stronger.


    And Accord no longer looked as unassuming as before, although he was not handsome by any means, he still had a mysterious aura of sharpness and confidence that made his originally messy hair and slightly dark skin all look naturally glossier.


    His glasses had also changed to a nicer model, and his overall impression was that of a gentle, scholarly man.


    "You''re as skinny as ever!" Garen smiled, and patted Accord''s shoulder forcefully.


    "You''re even buffer than before¡­" Accord was exasperated.

 1112 Gathering 2

    "Where''s Liz?"


    "She''ll be here soon."


    As soon as he said that, there was the tapping of footsteps from the door.


    A pretty little face peeked in through the door crack. She wore some light make-up, replacing some of her past innocence with an extra dose of allure.


    "I''m not late, am I?" She blinked, looking at Garen and Accord, but her gaze was more heavily focused on Accord.


    "You''re just in time," replied Accord nonchalantly, smiling.


    The door opened, and Liz evidently had not come alone. There were three others behind her, two men and a woman, and they all wore the Dragon Light Sect''s pale silver costumes. There was the logo of a flying dragon embroidered onto their sleeves. The men were handsome and the woman beautiful, but they all had traces of cosmetic surgery.


    "It just so happens that my few Senior Brothers and my Senior Sister is here with me. When they heard that we were meeting up, they wanted to join the fun. You two don''t mind, do you?" Liz said with a giggle.


    A hint of discomfort flashed past Accord''s eyes, but he did not say anything.


    "It''s fine, it''s fine," Garen interrupted hurriedly. He knew Accord''s temper well, the man was unbelievably arrogant, and he was not afraid to show it on his face at the slightest disagreement.


    But they had initially agreed on a three-person gathering, and Liz actually brought others in here, so Garen could understand where Accord was coming from.


    ""Let''s get to know each other, I''m Liz''s Senior Brother, Dios, shall we be friends?" The young man in charge held out his hand to shake Garen''s.


    "Garen. Scarlet Snow Sect."


    "Scarlet Snow Sect?" Dios seemed to be rather unfamiliar with it, but he quickly searched up the relevant information, and found out that it was just a small sect. He just smiled politely. Looking at Garen, it seemed as though there was nothing at all unusual about him, he only had regular Level Four forces. He seemed even weaker than Liz, so Dios stopped paying attention to him and turned his gaze onto Accord instead.


    "Accord from Star Cloud?" He raised an eyebrow, and held out his hand. "My older brother is very close to Senior Brother Eco from your sect, I hear that you have a powerhouse called Dark Light who''s really something."


    "You''re not from Dragon Light? Dios, I never heard of such a person in Dragon Light." Accord frowned, ignoring both his outstretched hand and his question. This blatant display of rudeness instantly caused some dissatisfaction among the other two.


    "I''m just temporarily staying in Dragon Light, I''m from Black Blade." The young man smiled slightly, but there was a hint of contempt in his gentleness.


    "Senior Brother Dios is a Three-Blades-Level Black Blade powerhouse!" the one girl could not help but introduce rather haughtily as well. "It''s equal to what you guys call the peak of Inherited Level, y''know!"


    "Is that so?" Accord was exasperated, and wanted to ignore these outsiders completely, but the other party was acting perfectly politely, so he could not find a reason to pick a fight. If he continued like this, it just showed that he lacked moral upbringing, because he could not be bothered to deal with them.


    The other two were also Liz''s Senior Brothers from Dragon Light, but they were all over Dios from Black Blade, and Dios was a proud one as well. When he saw that Accord did not respond to his kind offer, he stopped trying to press the matter.


    At first, he had only come here because he heard that Accord was an elite from Star Cloud. That was the only reason he actually bothered to come here for a look, and he had nothing better to do anywhere.


    As for what Liz was thinking, he knew it very well too. This Junior Sister of him, who he was quite fond of, was trying to give her friends more connections. Unfortunately, the other two did not seem to be trying to help themselves.


    Putting aside that Accord, even that Garen from the Scarlet Snow Sect did not seem particularly pleased.


    Garen and Accord gathered together, quietly drinking their wine in a corner of the room. The others stayed together, laughing and chatting about something. Dios'' arrival seemed to have attracted other disciples from the Dragon Light Sect to join in one after the other, and some members of other mid-range sects also approached them to socialize. There were even two Magnetic Region powerhouses, they seemed to be Dios'' friends as well, and all of them were at the same level. Instantly, the room grew crowded. Soon, they received news from outside that the whole coffee shop had been booked.


    Thank goodness the room Accord booked was big enough, or else it would really be crowded in here.


    "Won''t you go and get to know them? These are all powerhouses from the major mid-range sects," said Accord via voice transmission, his expression sarcastic.


    Garen raised his wine glass, and took a small sip.


    "What about you? Why aren''t you going? There''s a powerhouse at the same level as your Senior Brother there now."


    "Forget it, I hate this type of socializing the most." A hint of impatience flashed through Accord''s eyes. "Wanna go out for a walk?"


    "Sure."


    Garen nodded.


    The two of them seemed completely inconspicuous among the crowd, and they left the private room soundlessly. Only Liz, who had been constantly paying attention to them, noticed them through the crowd, and melancholy flashed through her heart.


    For some reason, she always felt as though there was a chasm between her and the other two.


    But this thought was soon washed away by the conversations and questions she had with the people around her. The powerhouses around her were a crucial key that she could not afford to ignore. Dios and one of the powerhouses, someone called Herring, were also talking about training tips, and she benefited a lot from that conversation.


    Maybe this was the price to pay for getting stronger¡­


    That was what she thought.


    She went through a lot before she could convince Senior Brother Dios to come here, if they could build a connection with Dios, it would be very useful for Accord and Garen. But she did not expect them to not appreciate it at all.


    Thinking back to how Accord and Garen looked, and comparing that to Senior Brother Dios'' gentle, warm, and unassuming smile, she vaguely felt her impression of her two friends deteriorating.


    "You were the ones who didn''t want to improve, if you''re weak and still don''t know how to build connections, I won''t be able to help you either."


    *************


    Outside the coffee shop, there were many lines of parked luxury cars. The crowd was slightly sparser, it was already evening.


    Garen and Accord stood beside the door, and talked about some recent developments in low voices.


    "What do you plan to do in the future? Will you continue mucking it out with Scarlet Snow?" Accord asked.


    "Maybe." Garen laughed. "Something big might happen soon, you must have noticed that many sects were annihilated, right?" No matter what, Accord was one of his few friends, and he had helped Garen out a lot back then. Garen had a duty to warn him.


    "What''s that? Do you have some insider news?" Accord seemed to be done with drinking, and he just poured the rest of the wine onto the ground, tossing the cup into a cleaning robot nearby.


    "If you sense anything wrong, just get out of there ASAP. Remember, don''t use any Teleportation Points," Garen advised him, with a hint of severity.


    Accord saw that Garen was extremely serious about this, and his expression turned solemn as well.


    "Sure, I''ll remember that."


    Putting aside that topic, the two of them started talking about some matters from the past, but neither could understand how Liz turned out this way.


    She was leeching off a powerful senior brother, but the two of them treated such an attitude with the utmost contempt.


    "Everyone makes different choices. We choose our own paths," said Garen calmly. "We can''t force a lot of things to stay unchanged. Don''t you agree?"


    Accord released a long breath.


    "True. Who knew that I wouldn''t take it as well as you could."


    Both of them hid their true powers to prevent creating a rift between them and their friends, but Liz had interpreted that to mean that they were weaklings who still refused to improve... Both of them were not particularly happy with that.


    Now, chatting in the clean night breeze, they managed to force away some of that frustration.


    But neither of them bothered to explain, so what if they explained? Some people were just naturally like that. So although they knew that Liz meant well, both of them were not as fond of her as they used to be.


    "For the Major Battle this time, I''ve done all my preparations, and I''m ready to take the next step any time. What do you have planned?" Accord asked about the Major Sect Battle.


    "Same here," Garen smiled. "The Scarlet Snow Sect is a small sect, so it''s fine as long as perform well, and try to break past our limits. I think we should be able to get some good results this time."


    "Hehe, you''re that confident? You have a Herculean task in front of you, then let''s try our best together."


    "Of course." Garen reached out his hand and got a high-five.


    "When the Major Battle starts, I''ll introduce you to a hot girl. Didn''t I say so last time?" Accord smiled craftily. "You shouldn''t be single at this age."


    Garen was exasperated. "You sure progress quickly, but we''ll see how it goes. We''ll see."


    "There are three days left, I gotta make a trip back first." He glanced at the time. "Okay, I gotta go back, you tell Liz for me, I won''t go in again."


    "No, I don''t wanna go in either. Just seeing the way those arrogant bastards look down on us just pisses me off." Accord waved him off. "We''ll just tell her through our Imprints, we''re just small-fry anyway, it doesn''t matter if we leave or not."


    He laughed self-deprecatingly.


    "True."


    The two of them exchanged glances, and both found it rather funny.


    "See ya around."


    "Yeah, see ya."


    *******************


    Without a moment''s delay.


    Garen went to the hotel Tesna was resting at, got her out, and hired a car to send them straight to the Scarlet Snow Teleportation Point.


    Not long later, a pillar of white light shot into the air, heading towards another planet in the distance.


    Accord was walking on the streets, and just happened to be standing in some shade at that moment, so he raised his head and looked at the volcanic white light headed in the direction of Scarlet Snow.


    Suddenly, a black shadow appeared behind him.


    "Yo, isn''t that our Senior Brother Eco?" said Accord sarcastically as he turned around and looked at the shadow. "Are you looking for me, your junior brother, for something?"


    "Black Light, this time Red Skeleton is here too."


    "So what?" Accord laughed cynically. "You''re in charge, I''m just the vice-captain."


    "The Elder wants you to eliminate the others from the contest first. Focus on Red Skeleton and Black Jade Dragon.


    "Sabotage them secretly?" Accord frowned.


    "Up to you. But remember, you must do it cleanly," said the black shadow darkly.


    "Are you ordering me around?" Accord stood up angrily, a hint of violence emanating from his body.


    Psst!


    A black shadow shot out from beneath him, and hit the black shadow hard. Clang!


    The black shadow took two steps back, his hand quickly darting out to grab the poisonous black snake that had soundlessly appeared on his face. The snake''s blood-red tongue had nearly touched his face.


    Hiss¡­


    The hand that he used to grab the snake was actually starting to rot away.


    "I''m warning you, if you dare to try and order me around again, I''ll kill you!" Accord laughed coldly, turned around, and left. "Also, tell the Elders that I''m aiming for a rank in the main headquarters, and not just in one of the eighty-one Planet Naga main divisions."


    The black shadow trembled slightly, and walked into the light. He turned out to be a dark-skinned man, and there was already a slight sheen of sweat over his head. He stared at the direction Accord left in, but no one knew what he was thinking.

 1113 Consolidate 1

    Planet Scarlet Snow


    Garen brought Tesna along, and they suddenly arrived in a boundless forest. The surrounding was deserted, as the slanting golden sunlight shone down from among the trees, giving off a pure and fresh feeling.


    An array of horns sounded from afar. Fermium Cloud Tower was clearly visible in the distance with layers of clouds moving around the tower. It was spectacular.


    "Teacher, where is this place?" Tesna asked with a look of discomfort on her face. Her body constitution was that of an ordinary person. Even though she had been protected by Garen, teleporting such a long distance still made her feel uncomfortable.


    "This is my place," Garen answered lightly.


    After he had left Scarlet Snow Sect, with Osho Ice-Ocean and Second Elder around, as well as the newly-appointed Three Hearted Royalties and the group of allied powerhouses, securing the entire sect was not a problem.


    The resources reserved were also sufficient for a long period of time. There was no need to worry about any shortages in this catastrophe.


    Nonetheless, just because one did not take the initiative to attack did not mean that he would not be targetted by others.


    "Let''s go."


    Garen walked in the direction of Fermium Cloud Tower. Tesna, on the other hand, was shocked when she saw the enormous tower. From the gap between the trees, she could clearly see the entire tower.


    It was only after Garen had walked out a few steps did she respond and follow.


    The two seemed to be walking aimlessly, but Garen knew that there were people of Scarlet Snow Sect approaching here speedily.


    The strongest force in Scarlet Snow Sect right now was not the Three Hearted, but the eleven Ice Demon Generals newly set up by Garen. All of them were raised to Non-falling Level through the Distorted Seed; they were extremely powerful.


    Among them, Osho Ice-Ocean was the acting Sect Master after Garen''s departure, which was equivalent to a deputy Sect Master. His strength originally was at Non-falling Level. After obtaining the Distorted Seed, even Garen did not know what level he had advanced to. The only thing he knew was that he was definitely not merely at Non-Falling Level, the seventh level.


    The current Scarlet Snow Sect, even with Garen''s temporary departure, was not inferior to the average medium-sized sect.


    It was full of talented people, and it had terrific strength.


    The two walked some distance. Soon, some figures appeared in front of them. A few Scarlet Snow white-shirt disciples came and respectfully bowed to Garen.


    "Take her to the Beginner-Level disciple area to start learning the fundamental basics."


    Garen motioned for the two to take Tesna away.


    "Alright."


    "Teacher," Tesna was somewhat dazed as she looked at Garen. She did not know what to do.


    "Go on. Learn the basic things first. I will arrange everything," Garen gently smiled at her.


    The purpose of him accepting Tesna was to test the extent his level of modifying human body was on. Using the Biochemical Pool to modify the body to form a biochemical army, this was also a kind of development direction for Energy Machinists. It belonged to the direction of modulating Demon Lord.


    Tesna saw Garen''s incontestable eyes and realized that she could not avoid this matter. She could only leave quickly with the two people.


    Only Garen was left standing alone.


    Whish, whish, whish!


    In an instance, several white lights fell around Garen. They formed a circle before transforming into four people.


    "Sect Master," One of them was notably Osho Ice-Ocean. This old gentleman with a cane in his hand was showing full of respect at the moment.


    The others were the newly-promoted Ice Demon Generals. They were looking at Garen with exceptional enthusiastic eyes. This was because if it were not for Garen, they would never be able to break through Non-falling Level.


    "Is everything ready?" Garen spoke solemnly.


    "It''s all done," Osho Ice-Ocean bowed down to respond.


    "Let''s begin then," Garen looked at Fermium Cloud Tower from afar. "This will be the time when I truly show my strength to the world."


    "Understood!"


    The four people answered simultaneously, reflecting how well-trained they were.


    "The first target, the Dual-Key Sect," Garen''s voice was deep. Before the Major Battle, it was the time for his plan to rejuvenate the entire Scarlet Snow Sect to be in full swing.


    *****************


    Dual-Key Sect


    It was a medium-sized sect in the star region nearby Planet Scarlet Snow. Their main training exercise involved wind. In other words, they primarily controlled the air flow. From the highest level to the lowest level in the sect, there were a total of one hundred and thirty thousand people. The strongest was the Guardian, a biochemical huge beast, whose strength was unknown. It was said that it was at a strength of Level Eight a thousand years ago, but no one knew how it was now.


    Planet Dual-Key was yellowish, and it looked almost like an ordinary, unmanned planet. However, the pale yellow atmosphere on the surface was its protective camouflaged color. In reality, the atmosphere inside was another component.


    Planet Dual-Key ruled this solar system, which was called the Dual-Key Galaxy. With it as its core, it was surrounded by two planets which were transformed into resources and tourist planet.


    In the dark outer space at this moment, a group of white, densely-packed spaceships slowly flew out from a nearby galaxy in the distance. Their entire body was shining with a thin silver membrane, which was the space energy left from jumping back through the inverse space.


    The tens of thousands of white spaceships were all marked with a logo ¨C the distorted text logo of Scarlet Snow.


    The spaceships darted toward Dual-Key Galaxy without any disguise. The dense blue flames emitted from the ends of the ships were spectacular. They looked like blue fireworks sparkling over the entire sky.


    "This is Dual-Key Galaxy. This is Dual-Key Galaxy. Friends of Planet Scarlet Snow, please tell us about your intention of coming here. Otherwise, it will be regarded as an intrusion and we will counterattack."


    A clear, broadcasting female voice spread out loudly, it was directed to all the Planet Scarlet Snow''s battleships.


    Garen was in a battle fortress, which was at the core, and was looking at this beautiful yellow galaxy from far.


    The battle fortress was like a hedgehog. It was filled with tens of thousands of barrels. This was a veritable battle machine, a weapon of mass destruction built with the terrific wealth of Energy Machinists.


    There were more than twenty people standing beside him, and they were divided into two groups. One of the groups were the Ice Demon Generals while the other was a group of emperors or queens from the empires and kingdoms under him.


    In this intrusive war, Garen directly issued an order to launch all the imperialist forces under him, which had an expeditionary jumping ability. He commissioned the battleships to form an army. Apart from leaving a little of manpower at the base, most of them moved out and directly charged at Planet Dual-Key, starting a war.


    Because they were hurriedly assembled, the battleships had already jumped away before the spies from other sects had the time to transmit the message.


    The stars were shining in the outer space overhead. Underneath it was an enormous fortress made of white metal alloys. There was no protection facility around it, giving people a feeling of easy access whereby one could enter the outer space with just a jump.


    The surrounding was all densely-packed with white battleships of various kinds. Some of them were not even white but were quickly painted white. The paint at some spots had not even dried up yet.


    Garen was in a white robe. Other than his head, the other parts of him were shrouded in the large white robe.


    "The Dual-Key Sect of the Dual-Key Galaxy is the main exporter of the technology used in the manufacturing of large-scale Stargates. Our operations later will be much easier if we took over here. The battle against the few small fries will have to depend on all of you."


    Garen smiled and spoke in a deep voice.


    "Rest assured, Sect Master. We, the Ice Demon Generals, will live up to your expectations. Those who dare to rebel against us, we will tear them apart!" A newly-promoted Ice Demon General wore the Ice Demonic Armor on his entire body. This was an enhanced external armor which was naturally formed by the Distorted Seed in order to break through the limits of the human beings here. Only by relying on the Ice Demonic Armor could they be promoted to Non-falling Level Ice Demon Generals.


    Some of the newly promoted Ice Demon Generals were emitting an aura of eagerness to go. Obviously, they could not help but wish to exhibit their best qualities. The older generation of Ice Demon Generals such as Osho Ice-Ocean, and Ice-Crack and Ice-Grand the two brothers, however, were all extremely calm. They knew that it was not only command and strategy that determined the outcome of a war, but also the confrontation of high-end forces.


    "We are here with a sincerity to unite, not to cause destruction. Take note to not involve too many innocent people. People are the foundation of everything," Garen reminded.


    "Understood!" The group of people responded.


    The emperors, queens and other national leaders on the other side were somewhat unsettled. In the face of using the power of the sect to start a war, the majority of them disapproved. However, due to the deterrence of Scarlet Snow Sect, they did not dare to oppose, and they could only obey. Most of them did not have strong Willpower and only cultivated the ordinary Willpower, which was mainly used for refreshing oneself and keeping fit.


    They were now gathered here to centralize the controlling of the fleet.


    In their view, this kind of seemingly insurrectional move, once unsuccessful, was equivalent to having put all the eggs in one basket. It would place the entire sect in a defeated situation. After all, they were on the offensive while the other party was the defensive side. Their headquarters would absolutely be solidly secured. So, it was extremely difficult to want to completely defeat them.


    To them, Garen''s move seemed to be more of being young and ignorant. He probably did not understand war, but he only thought that he could suppress everything with individual force.


    "Rest assured. Maybe we don''t really have to move in this time," The underling behind Garen specifically helped him put on a ferocious, golden-helmet that was patterned on the Scarlet Snow Ice Armor. His entire face was immediately covered. Only the part of the eyes was exposed, but it was still total darkness.


    Of course, he had not come to start a war. The original strength of the Energy Machinists was insufficient, and internal conflicts would make it worse. Garen''s purpose was to integrate the forces.


    After wearing the helmet, the pointed helmet extended golden horns toward the front from both sides of the neck, looking unusually majestic and mysterious. Adding on Garen''s body being shrouded in the white robe, he instantly gave off an unfathomable aura.


    Outside of the battle fortress on a battleship, Alice and Aloran had now been marginalized. Although Alice was also one of the Ice Demon Generals, she was still enlisted on the fleet.


    In the intrusive war launched through the power of a sect by the Scarlet Snow Sect, although there were only tens of thousands of battleships, they were a high-grade fleet, several times more expensive than the typical battleships. Naturally, their combat strength was much stronger.


    In addition to the hired pilots and the various types of Energy Machineries in the sect, the torrent of the army formed was much stronger than before.


    "Sure enough... Garen''s superiority brings disaster and destruction," Alice frowned, looking at the beautiful Planet Dual-Key from far.


    Beside her, Aloran was also not looking good.


    "Garen''s ambitions are too great. Was it not enough for him to destroy Frost Hell...? What exactly does he want to do? Does he want to ruin the entire Scarlet Snow Sect before giving up? Why is it that, with such an obvious and unreasonable plan, no one would actually unite to oppose him?!"


    "They''re here!" Alice looked into the distance in the direction of Dual-Key Galaxy. A large armada of pale yellow battleships soared into the air. They jumped momentarily, flashing a few times toward this side before gradually appearing right in front of Scarlet Snow Sect''s fleet.

 1114 Consolidate 2

    "Last warning! Scarlet Snow Sect, do you intend on starting a war?!" The female voice sounded again.


    There was faint, metallic luster on the few planets around. Clearly, the defense system on those planets had been fully initiated.


    It could be said that the entire Scarlet Snow''s fleet was completely within the firepower net several times that of its own. The situation was extremely critical. This was the consequence of rashly invading the headquarters of another sect. Energy Machinists had no shortage of money. Completely transforming a planet into a combative one was also a simple matter. If necessary, they would even detonate the entire planet as a countermeasure against the enemy.


    At this moment, all the battleships in the Scarlet Snow''s fleet were all tensed up. After all, most of the soldiers were unwilling to fight. It was only the higher-ups who were controlled by Garen. Although they had to obey because of their higher-ups'' orders, facing such a disparity in the battles, nothing much could be said against them, even if they were quickly defeated and had to retreat.


    On the battle fortress which resembled a vertical water droplet.


    "Sect Master, let us, your subordinates, go and wipe out the other party''s higher-ups!" An Ice Demon General named Besset loudly requested for a fight. Having become a Non-falling Level, the Ice Demonic Armor on him gave him an endless energy and confidence, which blinded him a little.


    The rest were still waiting for Garen''s decision. At the moment, once the war was started, Scarlet Snow''s fleet would definitely suffer an unimaginable net of firepower attack. They could hold out for ten minutes at most, though they would still be heavily injured and defeated.


    Only Osho, as well as the Ice-Crack and Ice-Grand brothers had absolute confidence in Garen. They did not make any move at all and remained calm.


    "I think we should focus on Sect Master''s plan. We are here not for war. The fleet is only used for deterrence," Osho Ice-Ocean said plainly.


    "Sect Master, for those who dare to aim their muzzle at us, if we do not counterattack severely, it may affect the perception of the outside world toward our Scarlet Snow Sect," Besset still advocated a war.


    "Sect Master has his own way of doing things. Does he need you to remind him?" Ice-Crack responded irritatingly. As a few of the most powerful Ice Demon General, he had his prestige. These Ice Demon Generals had also compared moves with one another privately and naturally, there was a conclusion of superiority. The brothers and Ice-Ocean Osho together formed the strongest trio. And so, the rest of the people were naturally convinced by the trio. However, although Besset''s voice had stopped, he clearly showed an impatient face.


    Garen put up his hand. His face was hidden in the golden metal helmet, so his expression could not be seen clearly.


    "We are here to spread peace and sincerity. We do not fire against our compatriots in a war. They are also Energy Machinists and one of us," After Garen''s voice passed through the gold helmet, it became deep and slow and there was a sense of echo.


    "Sect Master is so brilliant!" The monarchs and queens by the side quickly chimed in; tumultuous voices rose and faltered. They were the ones who did not want to initiate a war. Once a war was started, no matter which side won, it would cause losses to their battleships. This was not what they wanted to see.


    "I will personally go and negotiate. All of you just wait here," Garen''s voice came out from under the helmet.


    Regarding his decision, before the people reacted, Garen had darted into the sky and flickered in the outer space, disappearing immediately in the air nearby.


    The people beneath were suddenly startled.


    "What is this nonsense!?" A monarch finally could not help but shout loudly. "How can we let the Sect Master enter into danger alone!"


    "This is Sect Master''s decision. You only need to obey unconditionally!" An Ice Demon General spoke coldly. They, who were modified by the Distorted Seed, trusted Garen deeply. Each of his words had an absolute effect.


    Like him, all the Ice Demon Generals were motionless. Because of the Distorted Seed, they could already sense the mystery and power of Garen. Among them, there were also some who had sinister motives. The Distorted Seed could only keep others from harming Garen, it that did not mean that those who were parasitized would absolutely protect him. They would also not necessarily obey his orders.


    Each of them was having their own kind of thoughts while they quietly waited for Garen''s return.


    ********************


    After jumping a few times in the outer space, Garen quickly passed through the large area of ??firepower protection net. No one intercepted him. Perhaps, they thought that even if he had come in alone with any malicious intent, it would just be like walking into the lion''s den. There was no need to be bothered at all, so they allowed his entry regardless.


    Garen jumped a few times and put away the jump ball. He hovered in front of Planet Dual-Key, looking at the entire pale yellow planet.


    "Planet Dual-Key Guardian, could you come out and meet with me?"


    His voice was low and distant. It seemed to have countless echoes.


    His voice faltered. After waiting for a minute or so, a giant, pitch-black python gradually appeared not far away in front of Garen.


    The body of the python was a few thousand meters long, and it spiraled into a serpentine array. On top of the giant snake''s head were two huge eyes like red lanterns. They were scanning and staring at Garen.


    The size of a human differed vastly than that of a snake. Garen quietly hovered in front the python, like an adult and an ant, which could easily be crushed. But, there was no panic in him at all.


    "My name is Andes, the snake of Black Waters, Guardian of Dual-Key. The mighty one of the Scarlet Snow Sect, speak out your intention," The giant python produced a sharp, female-like voice. The sound wave itself was almost equivalent to a kind of sound wave attack. If it were the general Inherited Levels, it was estimated that their eardrums would be directly punctured and bled.


    Garen looked carefully at this giant snake. He did not answer immediately, and the helmet covered his facial expression at the moment.


    After a few minutes, when the giant snake was a little impatient, Garen spoke up.


    "I don''t know if Andes has felt that something is amiss, with all that has happened recently?"


    The giant snake was silent for a while and its huge eyes blinked.


    "Amiss?"


    Garen''s deep laughter came from under the helmet.


    "Do you know the Fear-Night Sect? The Life-Leaf Sect, The Nairar Sect, The Golden Light..." He kept mentioning the names of various sects one after another. These were the medium and small-sized sects that had recently been destroyed.


    The look of the giant snake gradually darkened.


    "What do you mean by this?"


    Garen reached out his hand and made a grabbing motion. Suddenly, numerous white chills in the universe were released from the dark space around, quickly converging into the palm of his right hand.


    "This is the destruction caused of us, the Energy Machinists. It is also our chance for a new life. Nirvana and rebirth!"


    The infinite chill instantly condensed into a terrific Level-Eight force field. However, the force field was still growing, quickly reaching the peak of Level Eight and actually entering into Level Nine.


    Whoosh!


    A vine-ice-crystal screen appeared behind Garen. The immense number of white vines grew wildly like roots, spreading around the surrounding space in the universe as though they were climbing on panels of transparent glass.


    In the blink of an eye, it surpassed the shape of the giant snake''s body and reached a length of tens of thousands of meters!


    Whew...


    The horrific cold wind rolled up a huge amount of chill. He spread them out in all directions, blowing on the giant snake and covering its body surface with a faint white frost.


    Hiss...


    It hurriedly drew back a few hundred meters before managing to drive away the hoarfrost on it.


    Looking at Garen from afar, whose whole body extended out white ice-crystal roots, its lantern-like large eyes clearly revealed shock and disbelief.


    "Come on," Garen reached out his hands to the giant snake. "Join me. By uniting, our strength will become stronger!"


    "Join you? I think my Dual-Key Sect should be stronger than your Scarlet Snow. Why won''t you join me?" The giant snake was immediately exasperated. "Bringing your army here and asking me to join you, I don''t think it''s a cooperation, but to have us submit to you!"


    "If you want to understand it this way, you can," Garen was equivocal. "Those who comply with me will prosper, while those who resist me will perish. All the things in the world are attributed to this principle."


    Countless ice-crystal vines swayed behind him like numerous white light tentacles. They were unusually dazzling and gorgeous.


    "If you want me to submit, even if you are Level Nine, that can only happen after a fight!" Once the voice had just sounded, the giant snake abruptly hit out.


    Endless winds gathered together. Contained within them was a vast amount of black sewage. No one knew from where the giant snake summoned it from. Human screams were faintly coming out from the wind continuously.


    "Ah!"


    The giant snake opened its huge mouth and issued a hoarse cry like that of a man.


    Countless black water and airstreams converged at its mouth, quickly fusing into a badge. The extremely sophisticated and delicate small black badge looked like a blurry shield.


    "Let me see if you are qualified to have me submit to you!"


    The serpent spewed out the airstream.


    The turbulent airstream along with the black water and badge was shot at Garen. A feeling of time and space were frozen rose in the hearts of every spectator.


    "Star Core Resonance! Explode!" The giant snake thundered.


    The badge flew to the front of Garen in the blink of an eye, exploding at the roar of the giant snake.


    Countless bright yellow, transparent energy tentacles spread out from the yellowish planet behind the giant snake, flowing into the giant snake''s body.


    Boom!


    The huge wreath of black clouds exploded, quickly covered Garen''s enormous white ice-crystal vines.


    Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!


    It was not just once, but the explosion actually continued non-nonstop for four times in a row!


    "Level Nine?" Garen''s voice came out of the dark cloud and remained calm as it was.


    The giant snake''s pupil constricted. This was the strongest hidden power it could produce at the moment. To be able to produce a Level Nine power was extremely difficult. It was not Level Nine at all, and it could only temporarily activate such a power. If it were not for the other party being so arrogant, it would not have used this kind of strength to attack right away.


    "Again!" Its gigantically long tail brought along a black light and a Level Eight Thousand Gravitational Force, lashing toward Garen''s small body. The huge tail and the tiny human was like a stick and dust. However, it was the giant snake which was the nervous party instead.


    "Attack!" At this moment, another woman''s voice sounded.


    Boom!


    In a flash, the universe brightened up!


    Innumerable giant beams of high-energetic particles crossed the outer space from all directions, gathering on Garen with a dazzling array of red lights.


    Huge particle beams with humming sounds and terrific disturbance, coupled with the giant snake''s lash and gravitational force, instantaneously condensed most of the particle beams and converged them at the small space where Garen''s body was located.


    In a flash, the whole universe became bright.


    The surrounding planets released terrifying red beams of light, most of which were from Planet Dual-Key. Hundreds of horrific particle beams shot out from the surface of the planets. They were straight and swift, converging at one point and striking the space Garen was at.

 1115 Alliance 1

    It was as though the intertwined beams of red light were weaving a giant cage. They filled up the small space less than a meter without leaving any gap.


    Roar!


    Suddenly, there was a painful cry coming from the giant snake within the beam.


    "It''s no use."


    The red light dissipated, and large, bright spots remained on everyone''s retina. The black cloud had been completely dispersed by the particle beams.


    Garen was still hovering in the air without any injuries. His whole body seemed to have an invisible barrier blocking all the attacks from the outside.


    Including the gigantic tail of the giant snake.


    "The barrier of my Faded Creation can shield against and absorb any attacks that are harmful to me," Garen calmly explained. It was indeed a little boring to bully a pathetic Level Eight snake with his Level-Ten skills. "At your level, even if the attack is twice as strong, there''s still no use."


    "Alright, the drama is over. For the sake of my future, just obediently offer me your strength..." Garen stretched out his hands. The extremely horrific Ten Thousand Gravitational Force in his palms ferociously slammed toward the giant snake, which had turned around to escape in fear.


    Hiss!


    The giant snake gave out an awful scream and was caught by an invisible gravitational energy field.


    Whish, whish, whish!


    Beams of red particles shot out again, trying to stop Garen from catching the giant snake. The people of the Dual-Key Sect were clearly on the edge.


    Very soon, there was some vague, Non-Falling-Level aura rising into the air; some of it was flowing from the spaceships which were headed this way from a distance.


    The red lights which were shot out vanished completely when they reached less than one meter in front of Garen. The Non-falling-Level powerhouses were all hindered by the Scarlet Snow Sect''s Non-falling-Level Ice Demon Generals who were unable to contain themselves any longer. The Scarlet Snow Sect did not mobilize everyone. Only seven Ice Demon Generals were dispatched, and with that, all the powerhouses of the Dual-Key Sect were stopped. The current Scarlet Snow Sect way different from the weak sect it used to be.


    "Obediently submit to our Scarlet Snow! Hahahaha!" Besset chortled and engaged a black-armored man. A huge amount of energy dissipated with white and red explosions in the outer space from time to time, much like a display of fireworks.


    "Support Lord Andes!" Someone desperately rushed toward Garen without caring about the pain and the attacks. However, before he could even get close, he was blocked on the outside by a huge energy field.


    "It''s over," Garen reached out and held the snake''s neck, lifting up its entire body.


    Whoosh!


    Numerous white vines extended wildly toward the giant snake and wrapped around it. A Distorted Seed silently shot out at the snake following the vines.


    On the battle fortress, the originally flurried monarchs and others were all taken aback by what they had seen. They had no idea how to react, but very soon, their faces became more and more ecstatic. No one had imagined that Garen would actually be this strong.


    "But... There must be a trial for rashly breaching the Alliance Treaty!" Very quickly, the monarchs and others began to worry again.


    The fact that the Sect Alliance did not allow mutual attacks was also the biggest rule. Otherwise, if it was a dog-eat-dog state, would the entire Sect Alliance not be left only with the Holy-Lord forces? Where would there be the opportunity for the Scarlet Snow to attack the Dual-Key Sect?


    However, at this moment, everyone was stunned by Garen''s sudden outburst.


    Even the trio of Osho Ice-Ocean, Ice-crack, and Ice-Grand was completely suppressed by the terrific force field just now.


    "Indeed, it is the Lord whom we pursue! I¡­ I¡­" Osho was a little excited. The supporting order earlier on was given out by him. In the absence of Garen, he was the temporary Sect Master.


    "It seems that even if there is no Guardian, Scarlet Snow will also usher in a new era of glory!" Ice-Grand slowly spoke. There was also a hint of excitement which could hardly be concealed in his tone. With strength comes wealth, power, and everything!


    No one would not be unmoved by these things. There might be such noble people, but they were definitely not here.


    The Dual-Key Sect''s powerhouses were quickly subdued. However, they were all rebellious; they clearly thought that the people of Scarlet Snow did not dare to kill them. The Alliance''s pact was not to be trifled with. Once it was contravened, it would bring about an absolute destruction. There was such a precedent. A powerful sect ignored the treaty and went to attack and invade another small sect. That sect was immediately razed by the Alliance''s powerhouses. All the elite disciples were killed, and the ordinary disciples disbanded. The heritage of the entire sect was wiped out.


    Under the brilliant radiance of a star, surrounded by various other stars in the universe, the entire battlefield was enveloped by countless ice-crystal vines. It was impossible to see what was happening on the inside.


    Inside the white space, only Garen and the giant snake, which was also the Guardian, were there.


    "I have told you everything. You can decide for yourself what you want to choose," Garen looked calmly at the giant snake before him. He directly told the other party about the catastrophe of Energy Machinists and placed the Distorted Seed in front of it.


    He believed that this level of powerhouse absolutely had their own means of judging whether the Distorted Seed was useful to it.


    Hence, all he had to do was to calmly show the pros and cons. After all, if these powerhouses of such a level were not willing to be controlled by him, even if they were successfully parasitized, they would not harm him. At most, they would not obey his commands.


    After all, the Hellfrost Peacock Queen itself did not have the ability to control the contaminated bodies. If they could be controlled, the Distorted Seed would not have such a powerful enhancing effect. There were advantages and disadvantages to everything.


    Especially now that Garen had entered Level Ten, the Peacock Technique had also been boosted and enhanced, entering the peak of a successful completion and beginning to evolve toward Hellfrost Peacock Queen. The Distorted Seed seemed to have boosted to an extreme and horrific level with the further advancement of the Hellfrost Peacock Technique ¨C twelve times.


    The horrific property of being able to enhance the powers of the average person by twelve times was the real power of the Distorted Seed.


    It could pull all the chaotic emotions in him together, turn them into a substantial energy to boost and strengthen himself, and ultimately control everything with a cold heart. This was the process of controlling the Chaotic Power using the Heart of Ice. It was also the manifestation of the true meaning of Cold Chaos.


    Therefore, all who were parasitized could release a natural Cold Chaos and further expand the scope of Hellfrost Peacock''s contamination.


    The Black Water giant snake''s pupils kept flashing and changing. At this point, it knew that even if it did not want to, it still had to eat the seed regardless. Moreover, after examining this thing several times, there was no harm in it. Instead, the giant snake felt like it would benefit itself.


    "This is the general trend. If we don''t cling together, we will all die!" Garen added one last sentence.


    "Regardless of what you say is true or false, at this point, do I have the choice to not eat it?" The giant snake mocked. Although it could destroy the Distorted Seed easily, it was just as it said, it had no choice.


    The giant snake opened its mouth and swallowed the Distorted Seed suspended in the air.


    The second its gigantic body swallowed the seed, it immediately began to emanate a glowing white light. A kind of white silky network-like light path emerged from its body and appeared on its entire scales and skin.


    Hiss...


    The surrounding vines quickly recoiled.


    Exposing the outer space on the outside world, the people of the Dual-Key Sect had all been subdued. Seeing that the giant snake was safe and unharmed at this moment, both sides appeared to be unusually at peace. With that, the pace of battle gradually slowed down.


    "Stop," Garen''s deep voice came from the helmet.


    The people of the Scarlet Snow Sect quickly withdrew and left the battling group. Without the entanglement and obstruction, the powerhouses of the Dual-Key Sect also gradually came to a halt. They were initially almost at the same levels as the Scarlet Snow''s Non-falling Levels. However, among the powerhouses in Scarlet Snow, a few of them, who were initially already at Non-falling Level, gained a great increase of power after consuming the Distorted Seed, thus suppressing them totally. Without Garen''s prior arrangements, they would have been immediately wiped out. It was necessary to know that there was still a difference between the Non-falling Levels.


    Garen looked at the giant snake.


    At this moment, the entire aura of the giant snake was swelling up more and more, becoming increasingly powerful. There seemed to be some signs of losing control. Twelve times of physical strengthening was simply a big killer move for this kind of horrific presence which utilized the advantage of its body size as a means for livelihood.


    "This... This kind of power...?!" He murmured unbelievably.


    Whoosh!


    A black gas spewed out from the mouth of the giant snake and diffused into the surroundings. The black gas warped into human figures which were holding hands and dancing, resembling the most primitive dance during offerings.


    Boom!


    Suddenly, the black gas around the giant snake exploded and dissipated, exposing its current body. From the previous gigantic snake body, it had swelled up to twice the original. It then quickly scaled down to a snake-headed person roughly similar to Garen. It had a white robe on and a golden headdress on its head.


    A moment later, the fluctuation of its aura had entered Level Nine, reaching the middle stage of Level Nine before stabilizing.


    "Thank you for making it happen!" The snake-man opened his eyes and revealed a sincere appreciation and respect. He now really believed Garen''s words. If things were not at stake, how could the other party be as generous as to hand out this kind of treasure, the Distorted Seed, for the outsiders to use?


    "We are all Energy Machinists. If we do not unite in the face of such a disaster, we will not have a way out," Garen shook his head. "So, it''s not that I intend to do this, but the situation compelled me into so doing."


    "If what you say is true, I am willing to form an alliance with the Scarlet Snow on behalf of the Dual-Key Sect. If even a powerhouse such as yourself dread it, I can''t imagine how terrible the upcoming disaster will be," The giant snake transmitted its voice. That was what it truly thought.


    Garen was not anxious. The effect of the Distorted Seed on the nature of mind was not immediate. It would take some time, and there was no need to worry. When the parasitized bodies really wanted to harm him, they would naturally eliminate this idea. The influence of the Distorted Seed would only appear during these times.


    Plus, if Garen was at risk and his life was in danger, all the Distorted Seeds would feel it and take the initiative to protect him. This was because Garen, as the initiator of the Distorted Seed, was the source of the powers required to strengthen all the Distorted Seeds.


    Once he died, all the Distorted Seeds would lose their effects, thus restoring the fortified parasitized bodies back to their original state, losing the enhanced power. This was often the most unbearable matter to any of the strengthened, parasitized bodies.


    "Alright. The Scarlet Snow''s army needs some maintenance. It all depends on you now," Garen said plainly. The reason he brought the army here to create a big parade so that the people of the Dual-Key Sect would not view them lightly and only send out some small fries.


    "If it is maintenance, there is no problem with that," The giant snake had already believed in Garen at this moment. Its own strength had entered Level Nine for real, and this made it overjoyed. It initially thought that this would be a disaster, but it did not expect it to be a blessing in disguise.


    After contemplating for a while, it finally decided.


    "My Dual-Key Sect formally joins His Highness the Sect Master of the Scarlet Snow Sect''s alliance, and we will go through thick and thin together," Its voice suddenly traveled to every Dual-Key Sect''s powerhouse.


    As the Guardian, who was the strongest in the sect, it had the supreme authority to decide on the sect affairs in Dual-Key Sect.


    As this directive spread out, all the Non-falling Levels of the Dual-Key Sect were at a loss.

 1116 Alliance 2

    "It was all a misunderstanding. Our friends from Scarlet Snow did not come to start a war but for other purposes," no one believed in the giant snake''s words. Just then, one of Scarlet Snow''s Non-Falling Levels shouted for them to come under subjection.


    However, the aura and strength of their own Guardian had greatly increased and it did not look fake.


    Could it be that it had really submitted to the other party?!


    "Return to hold an internal sect meeting!" The giant snake issued the notice straight away. It then looked at Garen. "I have to explain to the top officials first, so I will take leave now."


    "Alright, go ahead," Garen nodded.


    The snake-man turned around and made a hissing sound, saying something. The people of Dual-Key Sect then quickly gathered together and flew toward Planet Dual-Key with him, leaving only a small number of people monitoring Scarlet Snow''s army.


    Garen glanced at Osho. "Deputy Sect Master, stay here to coordinate the situation here. If Andes has any doubts, he can go to the Major Battle Arena on Planet Naga to look for me."


    "Yes, Sect Master," Osho immediately nodded respectfully. "Rest assured that the Guardian of Dual-Key Sect has been dealt with, so there will not be any problems with the others. The key to this sect is that giant snake, unlike the other sects."


    "Of course. The rest of you, follow me," Garen exclaimed loudly, "Prepare for the jump to the next destination!"


    No activity could be seen from outside of the army battleships. However, on the inside, it was already a sea of celebration and excitement. From the initial uneasiness, threats and danger, the situation had swiftly turned around. The opponent had suddenly become one of their own!


    This bizarre change made every soldier on the fleet overjoyed. At the same time, they had also begun to develop a kind of dependence and trust in Garen.


    The previous doomsday-like horrific war was visible to everyone.


    At this moment, all the monarchs'' fleet had a clear sense of belonging to this new Sect Master Garen. Everyone was vaguely entwined and gathered together.


    With Garen''s order, there was no need for the Chief of Army''s command. All the battleships of the primary force immediately opened the Jump Energy Furnace and blasted open a pitch-black temporary jump-wormhole in the universe.


    Only a few of the secondary battleships were to be left behind so that they could be serviced and modified by the people of the Dual-Key Sect.


    About half of the tens of thousands of battleships were gone in an instant, leaving only six thousands of them.


    Garen flew back to the battle fortress and was greeted by all the monarchs and Ice Demon Generals with respect and admiration.


    *******************


    Medium-sized Sect ¨C Silver Bell Stream.


    Silver Bell Stream was rather special. They did not recruit disciples on a large scale and did not have a high demand for resources. Therefore, their site was not vast and their key lied in the cultivating of the heart.


    However, in recent decades, the new Sect Master of Silver Bell Stream had become very ambitious and had gradually begun to discreetly swallow up and control the surrounding small sects.


    Silver Bell Galaxy ¨C


    There was a sudden distortion in the dark spatial universe. A huge black round hole emerged from the darkness and groups of densely packed white battleships suddenly shot out from the inside of it. These battleships were long and shuttle-shaped. Each one was the most expensive battleship of the primary force and was encircling a mightier battle fortress in the center.


    Garen stood on the fortress and looked at the second target.


    "This second target is more difficult. Bring into subjection the two of the strongest sects in the vicinity first. It will be easier to resolve the rest then," he said slowly.


    "Sect Master is brilliant. This time, however, the Sect Master of Silver Bell Stream is not someone who will easily come under the subjugation of others. We will probably have to fight a tough war?" Besset still wanted a real battle to prove himself, so he hurriedly asked for a fight.


    "How about letting me be the vanguard to go and check it out?"


    Garen looked at him. He was clear about the intention of these newly promoted Non-Falling Levels.


    "No need. I''ve heard of this person, Silver Bell Light, before. Entered resonance stage at twenty-two, Inherited Level at fifty and broke through Non-Falling at one hundred and sixty. A genius among the geniuses. If there''s no conflict, we will try not to engage."


    "Unfortunately, even though we don''t engage, they are going to..."


    Ice-Grand snorted from the side.


    Sure enough, in the distant outer space, a dark cloud shot into the sky from Planet Silver Bell and turned into a huge, fuzzy face. Its mouth spewed out large, invisible airstreams toward Scarlet Snow''s fleet.


    The ferocious airstreams rushed toward Scarlet Snow''s fleet and the target they were concentrated on was the battle fortress Garen was at.


    "Do not be dismayed as this is not an attack," Garen raised his hand and motioned for everyone to keep calm and be quiet.


    Only then did the fleet quickly calm down and the muzzles of the offensive cannons that were lighting up extinguish. The Ice Demon Generals and others also eased up and were not as nervous as before.


    At this moment, an inexplicable voice amid the invisible airstream was transmitted into Garen''s mind.


    "Jeros, why are you here at my place and not staying put at Lord Carthage''s territory? Don''t think that your sister can protect you all the time!" The old woman''s voice was clear and chilly.


    Garen was startled. This was another insider, but he did not know whether this Silver Bell Light was being controlled or was a spy all along.


    "Who are you? How do you know that I am Jeros?" He transmitted in response.


    "That''s not right! It''s impossible for Jeros to not know my identity!" That voice suddenly changed slightly.


    Garen called out ''Not good!'' in his heart, and his eyes flashed a fierce light.


    "Attack!" He bellowed.


    His entire person charged into the sky and darted toward Planet Silver Bell in a few flashes right away.


    "Stupid!" Silver Bell Light sneered. The black gaseous face gaped open her mouth to devour Garen.


    The massive inhalation sound of the terrifying human face swept in all directions, drawing large amounts of cosmic rays and particle dust to form an enormous whirlpool.


    Srraakk!


    With a loud sound, the back of Garen suddenly opened up an immense white ice-crystal vine.


    Numerous layers of ice crystals stacked to form pairs of white wings, slowly fanning and assembling behind him.


    Looking from afar, Garen was like a mythical angel who had descended to the earth. The numerous ice-crystal vines which were glimmering with white light were rapidly deriving like a silk screen and tentacles.


    Numerous ice-crystal white wings were flapped backward forcefully, creating an extremely horrifying massive thrust and blasting off toward the black gaseous human face on the surface of Planet Silver Bell.


    Boom bang!!


    Garen and the human face collided with each other. A clear wave of light exploded and turned into a disk-like halo, spreading across the surface of the planet. The pale blue atmosphere was blown open and a large hole appeared.


    Owh!!


    The black gaseous face let out a howl. More than half of the face was torn up. Only now did everyone see clearly that in the center of the human face was a robust figure, hovering in a black robe. A large amount of root-shaped black gas was naturally discharged underneath and behind the figure as the supply for the maintenance of the human face.


    Garen''s impact hit the figure on the spot. It was apparent that this person was no match for Garen at all.


    "Who the hell are you?" The figure yelled.


    "Submit to me. Otherwise, die!!" Garen did not waste any words. He flapped his numerous wings right away and dived down. There was no need for any moves. With his current state, he naturally emitted a Level Nine Ten Thousand Gravitational Force. A direct collision would cause great damage to the body of this Silver Bell Light who had not reached the peak of Level Nine.


    "Who do you think you are!!?"


    Silver Bell Light bellowed wildly.


    Roar!!


    Her entire body exploded instantaneously, turning into countless black gas. The black gas condensed to form a horrifying gigantic beast, which was like a colossal dragon. It was the size of half a planet.


    Roar!!! The dark colossal dragon raised its head and bawled. The weird thing was that unlike the traditional mythical colossal dragon, this gigantic dragon had only one eye on its face, which was a single white eye.


    "Dragon gene?" Garen snickered. He was most unafraid of a dragon!


    Nine-Headed Dragon''s Soul Will instantly emitted a pale psychedelic fluorescence from the Soul Seed Ring.


    At the same time, the single-eye of the black one-eyed dragon silently ejected a thick black light toward Garen.


    There was a feeling of absolute destruction in the black light and no one knew what the energy attribute was.


    When the black light reached Garen, it suddenly divided into two halves and burst out in high-speed toward both sides.


    Garen withdrew his knife-hand. He had only lifted his palm straight up and the destructive black light was directly cut into two. He was not hurt at all.


    "Im...impossible!!!" The black one-eyed dragon could not believe that its Destructive Light was handled by the other party without any avoidance and injuries.


    It was necessary to know that its Destructive Light was a terrific killer move which could pose a great threat to a top Level Nine. The general Level-Ten ranking Holy Lords would not dare to take the hit upfront. This skill was its greatest dependence as one with the dark colossal dragon''s gene.


    The dark colossal dragon''s gene, combined with its own Mech fused within its body, formed a horrific force which had once destroyed an entire planet.


    Although it had now transmigrated, its power had weakened a lot and it did not erupt all of its strength, the move was still not something that the general Level Nine could take on!


    "Could it be that...you''re not Level Nine?!!"


    The dark colossal dragon was anxious and doubtful as it transmitted its voice.


    "Submit to me and I will grant you more powerful strength," Garen was standing high up and overlooking the dark colossal dragon, which was half the size of a giant planet. This kind of giant creature was already an unusual and terrific kind in the dragon species. Unfortunately, Garen''s Nine-Headed Dragon''s Will had been refined and sublimated in the battle against the ancient Nine-Headed Dragon Queen.


    Even if it was simply a pure dragon gene, the ancient Nine-Headed Dragon also seemed to be stronger than the other party. This dark colossal dragon did not appear to be this powerful due to gene alone, but it because the inside of its body had absorbed lots of metal-like components. Clearly, it had fused the Mech it absorbed into its body and then utilized the superposition of the Mech and dragon gene to increase its strength.


    And so, the result was apparent and the dark colossal dragon was suppressed; easily suppressed by the ancient Nine-Headed Dragon''s Will.


    Garen did not even use the true form of his Hellfrost Peacock. Hellfrost Peacock was a giant universal creature ranked even higher than Nine-Headed Dragon. It was also rather well-known in the Endor civilization. Ranking thirty-two, it had long been extinct.


    "Submit to you? Who do you think you are?!! Even White King couldn''t make me submit to him!!" Silver Bell Light went berserk. Deep darkness appeared in the single-eye, instantly filling the white single-eye with pitch-black darkness.


    "Dark Era!!"


    He obviously went all out.


    A violent ink-like black airstream suddenly exploded and instantly crossed the distance of light-years apart, tainting the vast space around into darkness.


    A small number of Scarlet Snow''s fleet were also affected and quickly swallowed up by the darkness. They were completely submerged without any sound. The entire fleet was not able to respond in time and quickly withdrew chaotically.


    All the places that were covered by the darkness became pitch-black, almost like another space.


    An abundance of darkness surrounded Garen, wrapping many layers around his entire body and wings.


    "This is..."


    Garen reached out and touched the darkness, but found that it was only pitch-black and void, without any substance.


    In the darkness, waves of invisible and dangerous breaths slowly emerged.


    "These are actually...??!" When Garen felt these dangerous breaths, his expression suddenly froze for a moment. He did not expect this kind of thing to be hidden in this darkness! It was something that could make his Hellfrost Peacock shudder...

 1117 Unite 1

    Void Creatures!


    Those gradually approaching in the dark were all Void Creatures!


    In all of Garen''s senses, only the sense of touch was functioning. The rest of his sensory organs were directly obscured by the darkness. Each of the Void Creatures'' breath fluctuation were like ripples on the surface of water. They were spread out from a distance and came into contact with Garen''s skin.


    "Void Creatures? I didn''t expect..." Garen''s expression was a little bizarre. Others did not know but the thing which his Living Secret Technique did not fear the most was Void Creatures. This was because Secret Technique was created for the purpose of fighting against Void Creatures.


    In the darkness far away, a creature with the upper body of a human and the lower body made up of black fog was closing in. However, just as it got nearer, an extremely powerful and horrific force was emitted out of Garen.


    Hiss...


    It made a terrified cry and quickly retreated.


    These lowly Void Creatures naturally felt oppressed when they were close-by, not to mention to besiege. Initially, there should have been a surge of endless Void Creatures, but they had all disappeared suddenly without a trace.


    "Interesting," Garen tried to look around with his tactile sense, but he found that this kind of darkness had completely cut off his other senses, leaving only the sense of touch. No matter how he tried, there was no way to relieve this kind of state even when he used a greater force.


    Boom!!


    Garen suddenly released a massive violent airstream and the force field which had barely reached Level Ten and immediately shattered all the Void Creatures which did not manage to run away in time into debris.


    However, the entire dark space seemed to remain unmoved and was not affected by this Level Ten force field at all.


    "This should be a dimensional technique which has temporarily transferred me to another space and that this space is not something it can control by itself," Garen vaguely guessed the truth.


    "If that is the case¡­"


    He stretched out his right palm and aimed flatly in front of him.


    "One Time Fist Pressure."


    Hum!


    Several hundred meters of space around suddenly became a glue-like horrific liquid state.


    "Two Times Fist Pressure!!"


    A more violent energy field broke out from Garen. The Level-Ten force field of Two Times Fist Pressure rocked the surrounding space. It had reached the full force of outbreak from the general Level-Ten Perpetual Motioners, but it still was not enough. The space only shook, but there were no cracks at all.


    "Three times!"


    Garen increased again. Of the Eighty-eight Times Destructive Impact Fist, he was now able to reach Fifteen Times. After thoroughly passing through the Level-Ten threshold, he himself seemed to have a huge leap in every aspect. It seemed that this was the rule of this universe in that by entering Level Ten, he would naturally receive more endowments. In this way, a boundary to separate the lower grades was drawn. This was a qualitative difference.


    The space began to tremble and quavered violently. A strange roaring sound was faintly heard in the distant, as if there was a Void Creature that was simply screaming out of fear.


    "I''d like to see how much of my energy field this space can support. Four times!!" A transparent ball of light was already condensed on Garen''s right palm. No light was supposed be seen in the dark space, but at this moment, a ball of transparent stuff was actually emitting an astonishing light on his right palm. It was not a white light, but it also looked like a white light. The light seemed to be able to penetrate all objects including Garen''s body, turning everything into a translucent-like existence.


    "Five times!!" Garen spat, initiating the strengthening of the Destructive Impact Fist for the fifth time.


    Pooh!!!


    The dark colossal dragon on the outside world spurted a mouthful of black blood, which instantaneously evaporated into black gas and fused into the fog around it.


    There was a trace of fear in its eyes.


    "This fellow... To what extent can he increase his strength?!!" From the general strength at the beginning to the current energy field which could actually affect itself through space, this kind of strength...this kind of pure strength was powerful enough to make people shudder.


    "What a delusion to think of confining Sect Master!" On the battle fortress, Ice-Crack and Ice-Grand had seen Garen''s power before and were not worried at all. Their arms were crossed at their chest as they smirked.


    "But this kind of extent should have exceeded Level Eight. This indeed is our Sect Master! The strongest person in the whole of our Scarlet Snow in thousands of years," Besset remarked with a little fanaticism.


    "Sect Master will be victorious!"


    "My Lord is invincible," the Two-Headed Werewolves under Garen had a new fortification. After the Hellfrost Peacock Technique entered the peak of success, the Distorted Seed had a twelve-fold enhancement. At the same time, it also caused those who were parasitized to begin a new round of advancement. This kind of advancement were simultaneous. All those who had been parasitized would simultaneously increase in strength through the advancement of the Distorted Seed, regardless of distance.


    The Two-Headed Werewolves also felt an increase of horrific strength. One by one, from the general Non-Falling Level, they had advanced to the peak of it.


    Meanwhile, as Ice-Crack and others were already at this level to begin with, they had entered into Level Eight directly without any indication. This kind of improvement, which was almost like cheating, all stemmed from the advancement of Garen''s strength. This was the horrific part of Hellfrost Peacock Queen. One person could set off a turmoil and sow the Distorted Seeds continually like a plague, which would be enough to contaminate the whole earth and transform it into a chaotic cold region. This was the dangerous presence which could be ranked thirty-two among the Endor historical creatures!


    This number thirty-two placing was no ordinary feat.


    Just like the various kind of creatures on Planet Earth. From the ancient times to the present and from the time of the dinosaurs to the present, when all the creatures were put together, what would the concept of placing thirty-two be? At worst, it would also be a tyrannical dinosaur-level, not to mention that the ancient Endor Civilization belonged to a great civilization which spanned across dimensions and time and it had countless horrifying monsters. The strongest among the Void Creatures such as the ancient Nine-Headed Dragon could not even be compared to Hellfrost Peacock Queen.


    In the whole of Silver Bell Galaxy at this moment, with Planet Silver Bell as the core, numerous black cracks were gradually appearing in the surrounding space. Like large swaths of spider webs, they spread in all directions.


    "Six times!" A great voice traveled out of the void.


    Numerous cracks shattered, and the dark colossal dragon uttered a yelp. Various degrees of explosions burst out from all over its body. Each explosion would cause a blood hole of different sizes to appear on its body.


    Garen''s enormous white ice-crystal wings re-appeared before all eyes.


    He stepped directly out of the crack, and the dark space behind him crashed. Everything returned to the cosmic state where there was no black fog before.


    As the dark space was shredded, strands of various rainbow-like substances automatically emerged in the outer space.


    "This is?" Garen reached out to grab a strand, attempting to analyze its properties. However, he did not expect these strands to dissipate. They turned into countless rainbow spots and frittered away.


    "Looks like they can''t get hold of it," only then did he turn his gaze on the dark colossal dragon that was still struggling and screaming. The powerhouses of Silver Bell Stream had already rushed out of the planet''s atmosphere and charged at Garen. But then again, they were all immediately stopped by Scarlet Snow''s powerhouses. The current Scarlet Snow was already stronger than the average medium-sized sect. More than a dozen Ice Demon Generals, who were Non-Falling-Level powerhouses, moved in and completely suppressed the entire Silver Bell Stream.


    With Garen and the dark colossal dragon as the center, wave after wave of rainbow-like combat force field and ripples were constantly blooming and being destroyed.


    Garen finally stretched out his hand toward the dark colossal dragon that was at the gate of death due to the impact from just now.


    "Devour!"


    He launched his Hellfrost Peacock Technique''s Devourer Ability, which had not been used for some time.


    Numerous blue silk threads rushed out of his hand and quickly wrapped the dark colossal dragon in it.


    "No!!" The dark colossal dragon was extremely weak and unable to resist. In any case, its Dark Era move had a terribly horrific power. It could confine the general Level Ten Perpetual Motioners with its Level Nine degree so that they could not get out. If it was not for the Six Times Destructive Impact Fist Garen erupted at the end, which had exceeded the general Level-Ten force, he probably could only quietly wait inside that space for the follow-up changes in this move.


    A widespread of numerous blue silk threads sputtered from the large mouth on Garen''s palm, covering more than half of the planet instantaneously. The dark colossal dragon that was crouching on it was also completely wrapped in them.


    The numerous blue silk threads soon formed a huge white cocoon. The dark colossal dragon struggled slowly and painfully in it, but its action were getting slower and slower...


    "There was still unexpected incidents in the end..." Garen''s expression was calm. This was something he had expected way earlier. There was no way of knowing how many pilots were lurking as spies among the Energy Machinists. It was normal to encounter this kind of situation, so he had decided in the beginning that once he encountered such undercover agents, he would quickly suppress and kill the other party with the greatest speed and strength. There was no room for hesitation.


    "Kill them all," Garen ordered calmly while glancing at the rest of the people of Silver Bell Stream. The sound from the golden helmet was instantly conveyed to all Scarlet Snow''s powerhouse. He did not use voice transmission, but through the vibrating resonance of the Distorted Seed, the information was easily passed across space.


    Once the order was given, whiffs of aura belonging to Non-Falling Levels suddenly rose again from the battle fortress not far away.


    Before this, the people of Scarlet Snow were actually playing tricks with the Silver Bell Stream''s Non-Falling Levels by fighting one against two. Only now did they really get serious.


    Soon, silver-white fireworks exploded in the universe. That was Silver Bell Streams'' powerhouses blowing up themselves, wanting to perish together with Secret Snow''s powerhouses. Unfortunately, it was useless as the gap between the two parties was too great.


    Scarlet Snow''s Non-Falling Levels had now reached the peak level. Moreover, there was also Ice-Crack and Ice-Grand, who had entered Level Eight silently.


    "I have actually entered Level Eight!! Hahahaha!!" Immediately, Ice-Grand''s frantic laughter was heard. Clearly, only when he battled did he realize that he had once again advanced. The source of this advancement clearly came from Garen.


    "Thanks to Sect Master! Who knew that I, Ice-Grand, will actually have this day! Hahaha!!" He had already grasped Garen''s level at this moment. It was definitely at Level Ten Holy Lord Level!! Scarlet Snow Sect had produced a Perpetual Motioner!


    Due to Garen''s command in advance, he did not spread the word.


    "Everyone, speed up."


    Garen slowly watched the ever-shrinking dark colossal dragon-cocoon. Endless streams of pure cold energy surged into his body.


    "Who''s there?!" He suddenly flicked his finger and shot out a cool light at the dark void to the right of Planet Silver Bell.

 1118 Unite 2

    Hum!


    A dazzling white light burst forth and made a whooshing noise before a dark silhouette appeared.


    When he realized that something was amiss, a jumping wormhole opened behind the black figure instantly. He retreated swiftly while attempting to escape.


    "Roar!!!"


    Suddenly, a transparent and shapeless sound wave leaped across the distance in the middle. It sputtered out of Garen''s mouth and struck the wormhole.


    A puffing noise could be heard as the wormhole turned into fragile soap bubbles that evaporated quickly. The black figure who had just entered it screamed painfully. His body was instantly cut into two halves by the empty space before it self-detonated.


    "There are more here!"


    Ice-Crack snorted coldly and extended his hand simultaneously. He grabbed another black figure from a different area and pressed down against his head directly. He was getting ready to subdue his opponent but did not expect this person to detonate himself abruptly. He was able to quickly move backward in time but his clothes were now slightly messy. Ice-Crack''s expression remained somewhat indifferent.


    Within a few short moments, the dark colossal dragon was almost digested completely. Garen saw that the evolution and rate of progress of the Hellfrost Peacock Queen inside his body had gradually increased by one point and had reached six percent.


    The surrounding powerhouses of Silver Bell Stream were either dead or captured.


    "Ice-Crack, stay back and kill all the high-grade Silver Bell members on this planet. The others will continue to set out. We''ll converge on Planet Naga," Garen released an order before countless strands flew back into his palm cleanly and quickly. Only then did he turn around to leave.


    "Yes!" Ice-Crack''s entire body was brimming with tremendous and uncontrollable energy and gravitational forces. These were the symptoms of someone who had recently entered Level Eight but could not perfectly restrain themselves yet.


    Garen and Ice-Grand returned to the battle fortress. After a period of jumps, they disappeared in outer space quickly.


    ******************


    "Has Jeros gone mad?!"


    A voice sounded within a certain completely dark space in the universe suddenly. It was unclear whether the voice belonged to a man or a woman.


    "He actually led Scarlet Snow Sect to invade the other sects everywhere. How bold¡­ He destroyed thirteen individual sects within two days while forming coalition agreements with eight other sects. What is he trying to do?" The sound of another woman''s voice could be heard.


    "If his older sister wasn''t here¡­ Hmph!"


    "The title of Wraith Monarch has already been conferred upon his older sister. She''s currently vying with her father, the previous Wraith Monarch, for supremacy. After that, she will probably challenge His Majesty. After all, the Wraith Royalty is a declining aristocracy. They were indeed glorious previously but have already become out-of-date now."


    "The times are advancing. Therefore, those who don''t follow the changes will be eliminated."


    Numerous clamorous voices echoed continuously as if many people were trying to speak simultaneously.


    Boom!!!


    In the faraway starry sky, a star exploded suddenly and burst into dazzling and bewitching halos that illuminated the entire space.


    Everything here was instantly illuminated and completely exposed down to the smallest detail.


    There was only a single gigantic human figure here. Its upper body was human while its lower body had taken root within an enormous monster on the pitch-black planet.


    The strangest part was that it did not only have one head. Instead, it had more than ten human heads that were all attached to one body.


    There were both male and female heads that were densely packed together. All of them had long snake-like necks that were connected to the torso. These human heads were debating, discussing and speaking to each other as if they were not a single person but a large group of individuals instead.


    The monster looked like a large black tree. The tree roots were indistinct root hairs while the tree trunk was the monster''s torso and body. Meanwhile, the crown of the tree was its countless human heads.


    "Do you want to get rid of Jeros?" Within the large crowd, the head of an old man opened his mouth slowly. The surrounding human heads became silent instantly when he opened his mouth.


    "What about Nila? Let him decide."


    "I''m afraid that he won''t agree. Despite who he is, he probably isn''t the opponent of the new Wraith Monarch. Other than His Majesty and the Black King, the two major nebulae of our human race and the Finites can only depend on the Golden Thread Flower King who is the only one who can suppress the Wraith Monarch. The others are not her opponents."


    Another head of an old woman opened its mouth as well.


    "Within the twenty-five Regent Levels, unless we can find three of them who are closely ranked to the first few Regent Levels and ally ourselves with them simultaneously, we won''t be able to touch Jeros temporarily," nodded the old man.


    "But if we just look on while he plunders recklessly, what''s going to happen in the event that the plan is sabotaged?"


    "Isn''t the plan already considered as an overt plot?" said the old man indifferently. "Inform the other nine planets that they should get to work now."


    ********************


    Boom!!!


    There was an intense vibration before a dazzling yet terrifying golden light exploded in front of Garen in outer space.


    In the space between Garen and the planet on the opposite side of him, both Ice-Crack and Ice-Grand were currently working together to besiege a mummy-like Guardian whose entire body was ragged.


    It was already the third day of their expedition. They had jumped across numerous medium-sized sects. Garen had overlooked the small-sized sects directly because they were not major threats. He had leeched on to more than ten Level Eight Guardians and the one that he was currently suppressing was the nineteenth one.


    The golden light dimmed quickly. The white bandages that covered the mummified Guardian''s body completely were gradually frozen solid by the hard ice before most of them broke and cracked. He continued supporting himself while the remaining powerhouses of this sect were already completely seized by the powerhouses of Scarlet Snow and the remaining powerhouses of other sects that were being subdued midway. The slightest chance for resistance was non-existent.


    Garen did not even have to undertake the task personally. He merely stood in outer space and looked on quietly while his subordinates besieged his opponents without a trace of foul temperament.


    Shh!


    He jerked his hand before a sliver of a hidden Distorted Seed poked out. When one of its opponent''s flaws was exposed in the crossfire, the seed immediately took the opportunity to penetrate the body of the dark mummified Guardian.


    The entire mummy halted firmly before its body stiffened at once.


    Ice-Crack and Ice-Grand who were in the surroundings stopped moving simultaneously as if they had a mutual agreement with each other as well. They watched the following changes that occurred within the mummy with ease. They knew that a powerful new member was about to join them.


    This was another frightening aspect of the Hellfrost Peacock. Its powers would increase like a rolling snowball and become stronger. Even in Ancient Endor, no one dared to allow the Hellfrost Peacock to unleash its developed strength.


    Although this creature''s own powers were not the strongest, they were able to amplify the strength of others creatures who initially possessed tyrannical powers already. Moreover, they were able to make these creatures surpass themselves!


    Golden light that was even more dazzling than before burst forth from the body of the mummy instantly. Numerous golden characters formed ribbon-like things that appeared beside his body and revolved around there. They turned slowly in an extraordinary mysterious manner.


    The mummy raised its head before terrifying its Level Nine aura burst forth.


    From the lowest stage of Level Nine, the aura expanded to the middle stage of Level Nine quickly before entering Level Nine Peak immediately.


    "Oh? Another Guardian that uses his own qualities as his foundation?" Garen was somewhat surprised because the average Guardian''s increment would stop at the lower stages of Level Nine. However, this fellow was apparently different because he was able to rush to the peak of the highest stage directly.


    "Strength¡­ What powerful strength!!!" The mummy howled impatiently as if he was being absorbed into a realm that upgraded him unceasingly.


    Shh!!!


    Another ray of golden light exploded inside his body suddenly.


    Even Garen was faintly stunned this time.


    "This is¡­"


    Ice-Grand and Ice-Crack were struck by the golden light directly. Large patches of bloody blisters that resembled burn wounds formed throughout their entire bodies before they fled frantically while screaming wildly.


    The golden light condensed rapidly and synthesized into a thick golden whip that twisted and swept through outer space violently before moving towards Garen.


    "Die!! Hahahaha!!"


    The mummy laughed madly while controlling the golden whip and cracking it at Garen.


    Garen remained completely still and allowed the golden whip to move closer.


    Strangely enough, when the golden whip was about to approach Garen, it shrunk and narrowed itself quickly. From its initial thickness of a few thousand meters, it immediately shrunk to a few hundred meters before merely becoming more than ten meters and finally, only a few meters.


    When it finally reached the front of Garen''s face, a sliver that was only as thick as a strand of hair remained.


    Poof.


    Garen exhaled and blew the strand of golden hair before separating it.


    "How could you use the strength that I had bestowed upon you against me instead?" He looked at the other party calmly.


    The mummy held its own head suddenly. It seemed as though an enormous switch that was hidden inside his body to control his strength was instantly activated and exploded by Garen''s Distorted Seed. Palpitations that were usually used to pulsate human hearts suddenly spread throughout his body again.


    The Distorted Seed was affecting his consciousness. It made him clearly aware that the Distorted Seed was the source of everything. Moreover, the source of the Distorted Seed was Garen.


    He only gradually calmed down after a long time before the strength throughout his entire body weakened.


    The golden light in outer space slowly disappeared and weakened as well before everything returned to tranquility.


    The mummy finally calmed down completely. He raised his head and looked at Garen silently.


    "I had initially assumed that old age was right around the corner. I never expected that¡­" There was an indefinite expression on his face when he looked at the skin and muscles beneath his bandages that had already regained their youthfulness. His gaze was complicated.


    "I''m willing to return as your subordinate," the madly brutal nature throughout his entire body was now subjugated. He finally understood that the source of his own strength and life came from the man in front of him. Hence, he chose to submit himself to him for the sake of his life and this intoxicating strength instead.


    "Then, the next one."


    Garen turned around and flew towards the battle fortress.


    "You should come with me."


    An ominous glint glimmered in the depths of the mummy''s eyes. However, it was finally suppressed by the Distorted Seed. Once the connection to the source was made clear, he could no longer attempt to attack Garen in the end. Instead, he hurried behind him frantically.


    As for the sect behind him, he was never concerned about that thing. He had only chosen to train there secretly to quietly improve his own powers and benefit himself. Thus, he became the founder of a sect there. However, now that he had another path, there were naturally no more reasons for him to remain here anymore.


    While flying towards the battle fortress and following Garen, shock stirred in the mind of the mummy suddenly.


    Other than a few normal people on the battle fortress, the rest were Non-falling Levels and the two Level Eight powerhouses that besieged him recently.


    However, the thing that truly shocked him the most was another group of people who were the only ones standing on another side.


    There were four terrifying human figures who were completely clad in white robes that were emitting faint chills. Each one of their bodies were enveloped in distortions, making it completely impossible for people to see their bodies and appearances clearly.


    However, the similarity that all of them shared was their great power!!


    Level Nine! All of them were on Level Nine!!


    Apparently, none of these four people were lower than this grade. The two strongest ones were even Level Nine Peaks like himself. Perpetual Motioners required Ultimate Boards but this was not something that could be simply achieved by strength upgrades. Therefore, Level Nine Peak was the pinnacle of the Ultimate Board.


    "There will be five people including you," said Garen indifferently. "Be mindful of hiding yourself and don''t expose your identity. All of you must stay here and cannot leave. After a short while, a time will come when I will need you all to strike with all of your strength."


    The mummy nodded and walked beside the four people. It used its entire body to distort space in a similar manner to cover the gazes and fields of vision of the others.


    Garen nodded his head in a satisfied manner.


    Most of the Star Regions near Scarlet Snow Sect were cleared away while the many of the sect domains that were slightly further away were gotten rid of as well. The strongest Guardians of at least half of the thirty-six medium-sized sects were either openly or secretly leeched on by him. After that, the Alliance would have definitely dispatched their powerhouses to obstruct him already. However, even if the Alliance had sent people, what grades would they be? Would they be Level Nine or Level Ten?


    Although Level Ten was the pinnacle of the Energy Machinists, there were only three Level Tens among them. This meant that the Alliance could not engage them easily. Therefore, they could only dispatch Level Nines. However, they would have to be the most powerful ones in Level Nine.

 1119 Parasitism 1

    Meanwhile, within the Federation of Energy Machinists, these few people were the strongest in Level Nine. They each represented the fifteen strongest large-sized sects within the Big Three Sects. There would generally be more than a few strong individuals in the Big Three Sects who were Level Nine. Moreover, they were generally found in states of semi-seclusion and would never act rashly. All the famous powerhouses were Level Nine Peaks. Every one of them was an experienced veteran who had fought in numerous battles. Hence, they were not opponents that others would want to go up against.


    "There will probably be a tough battle after that," Garen said softly while exhaling slowly. Within a few short days, he had reached the limit of his abilities to control such a huge amount of strength. There were five Level Nine powerhouses, two of whom were Level Nine Peaks. There were eighteen of them including the Level Eight Peak Guardian who had undergone parasitism.


    During these few days, the Distorted Seed unleashed unimaginably terrifying effects. It resembled a rolling snowball that kept getting bigger.


    However, the Energy Machinists were not idiots. Instead, they were merely caught unprepared during the attack. Moreover, those at the top were already aware of the Mech Pilots'' plot. Hence, their energy was mainly focused in that area now. They had temporarily no time to attend to Garen and this allowed him to develop himself steadily for three days.


    After all, neither the lower medium-sized sects nor the small-sized sects were threats in the eyes of the higher grades. Meanwhile, when the total number of medium-sized sects were added up, how many Level Nines were there? Even if all of them joined together, they would not necessarily be able to defeat a large-sized sect, much less giants like the Big Three Sects that stood at the very top.


    However, no one could imagine that Garen could actually increase the strength of the powerhouses tremendously. He upgraded numerous Level Eight powerhouses to either Level Eight Peaks or Level Nines while upgrading the Level Nines to Level Nine Peaks. Terrifying increment like this allowed Garen to form an enormous organization of power quickly. His current power was already almost on par with most large-sized Level Nine sects.


    With Scarlet Snow as the center, he had occupied large stretches of Star Regions in his surroundings to form the Scarlet Snow Alliance.


    "Everyone, return to the base," Garen commanded briefly. Scarlet Snow''s ship convoys opened the jumping wormhole immediately and flew towards their own planet.


    The next task that he needed to undertake was to wait for the response of the Federation of Energy Machinists. However, Garen could predict that he already possessed sufficient power in the circumstance where he did not stir the interests of the large-sized sects. Thus, there was a high likelihood that the conclusion would be as he had expected¡­


    *********************


    In the cold dark universe.


    A small shroud of white gas enlarged and quickly expanded into the size of a human. A tall man who wore white earrings walked out slowly. There was a straightforward and sincere smile on his face. One of his eyes was red while the other was as blue as a crystal of the most superior purity.


    "You actually took the opportunity to annex my territories while I was facing trouble. How interesting¡­"


    He glanced in the direction of Planet Scarlet Snow from afar and licked his lips.


    Suddenly, a red meteor shot directly in his direction from afar. It brought along a gigantic mass that was generally associated with planets and pulled the gravitational force towards the man firmly when it charged at him.


    "Still not giving up?!" The white-haired man''s expression changed slightly and he cursed the other person in a furious but quiet tone. He turned around and left before turning into a shroud of white gas and disappearing from his original location.


    The red meteor did not display any signs of stopping. Instead, it rushed towards the Star Region on another side directly.


    Not long after, a burst of bewitching red light suddenly exploded in the faraway Star Region. The redness diffused throughout all four corners and dyed the numerous planets in bright scarlet shades.


    "Carthage, save me quickly!!" yelled a voice in the middle of the red light explosion.


    "No one can save you now!" said a different voice of a young girl loudly in a pleased tone. "Hehehe, you can keep screaming! No one will save you even if you scream until your throat is damaged!"


    The red light became more blinding.


    "Holy Lord Phoenix, don''t bully others!! Don''t assume that I''m afraid of you!! Ahh!!" A painful scream could be heard before the sentence trailed off.


    On the other side, a white silhouette floated in outer space quietly while glancing at the center of the glittering red light without moving at all. A long white sword hung at his waist. The plain-looking white robe that covered his entire body and the apathetic expression on his face gave off a strange cold disposition.


    While glancing at the glimmering red light, Carthage did not display the slightest intention of making a move.


    "Scarlet Snow Sect¡­ Looks like it''s time for me to return¡­"


    Whoosh!


    A white meteor shot over suddenly from afar and struck his body violently before disappearing completely in the blink of an eye.


    Another whooshing noise was heard soon after as a white meteor flew over again and crashed into his body before vanishing instantly. If someone could see the white meteor clearly, they would realize that there was actually a blurry human figure inside it.


    Whoosh whoosh whoosh¡­


    Numerous white meteors flew over from all four directions quickly and flowed into Carthage''s body. He could see these white meteors clearly and easily now.


    Shockingly, they were actually several human figures that were exactly like him. Regardless of their dressing or appearances, their icy dispositions were almost the same.


    These white meteors increased slowly and became even more densely packed. This extraordinary sight remained for a few good minutes.


    Finally, Carthage exhaled slowly when the last meteor flowed into his body. The gravitational forces around his body suddenly rose from one thousand times to ten thousand times within Level Nine before it shrunk back down again from ten thousand times instantly. In the blink of an eye, it diminished itself completely into a blurry black hole that could fit in the center of his body.


    Black holes-- they were the symbols of true Level Ten Perpetual Motioners. All Perpetual Motioners possessed a great weapon of destruction that caused them to suffer a common downfall. It was their Bodily Black Holes.


    This was not a normal little black hole. Instead, it was a gigantic inverse space hole that could swallow everything endlessly. It could instantly connect actual and inverse space fully while its tremendous gravitational distortions could tear time and space into shreds. Hence, all creation would be ripped apart by its terrifying gravitational forces instantaneously.


    The planets were not excluded.


    Therefore, this was the key reason why it was difficult to counter Perpetual Motioners. When they were offended, they would simply take everything down with them and cause everyone to perish together. The Bodily Black Holes were the greatest symbols of Level Ten Perpetual Motioners. However, their limitless energy was merely sourced from their endless absorption of inverse space''s energy that they used in actual space. That was all.


    In reality, the black holes in the universe were divided into two types. The first type was a matter black hole that was naturally formed. Once the density of its own mass reached a terrifying stage, it would form even greater traction. The traction was so strong that it was impossible for even light to escape from being absorbed into a part of its body. Therefore, humans called them black holes because they could not see these things. In reality, these matter black holes were actually high-density objects that were similar to planets that died from exhaustion. Since light could not escape due to the overly intense gravitational forces, these things appeared black and were then known as black holes.


    However, the second type of black hole was different because it was an antimatter black hole. This was the scariest thing.


    These were physically formed in the bodies of Perpetual Motioners. Since the antimatter black holes could capture light similarly, they would also appear black. They were also known as black holes because of this reason but had different matters from the first type.


    This type of black hole followed the principles of the antimatter universe. They were the boundaries between time and space of the universe. Therefore, the living matter that was sucked inside them would decompose from actual matter to antimatter. They would shrink into an unimaginable stage before turning into the most basic energy particles that would enter the inverse spatial universe. As such, their souls would also be ground up into the most basic energy particles.


    This resembled a grinder that would stir constantly and swallow everything unceasingly.


    This type of black hole would not grow bigger but could never be filled completely. Moreover, its powers were much stronger than the first type.


    The Perpetual Motioners themselves were feeble forces of balance. They walked and lived between two spatial universes and transcended time and space. They were constantly situated within unimaginably enormous gravitational forces.


    When the final white meteor surged through his body, Carthage''s entire being seemed to become even more perfect. His qualities were purely icy cold in the beginning but now felt as if they were faintly brimming with hints of strength that were so powerful that they were dissipating.


    "Chinande, it seems like something unexpected has occurred within your plans."


    Red light flashed before a young girl whose red hair was tied in two separate ponytails appeared above Carthage. She wore a pink dress and did not look older than five or six years old. She looked like an elementary schooler who had recently started schooling. Nothing was amiss but strangely enough, the little girl''s mouth was opened and a red colored little person who was the size of a fingernail was sitting on her fair and tender tongue. That was actually another little red-haired girl who was a few times smaller than her. Her appearance was exactly the same as the girl on the outside, down to the backpack that they carried, except that she was completely naked.


    The voice came from her body.


    Chinande''s gaze fell on the little girl on the tongue. His pupils dilated slightly as if they were lacking moisture while his machinery turned a few times.


    "What do you think?"


    "I would never dare have any opinions towards you, Captain. I''m merely somewhat curious that someone was actually able to escape from your plan. This is a rare occurrence," the little girl on the tongue smiled charmingly. She gave off a tempting sort of seduction.


    "You want to come along?"


    The pupils of Carthage, who should perhaps be called Chinande instead, did not move at all. He resembled a zombie who was glaring at the other person somewhat scarily.


    After retrieving all of his parts, it seemed as though he had become less natural instead. He appeared stiffer and more mechanical now.


    "Can I?"


    "It''s up to you."


    Chinande turned around simply grabbed something before a black crevice split open in the space in front of him suddenly. He flew into the crevice gently straight away while the little girl in the red dress followed behind him frantically.


    "Wait for me!!"


    The white-haired man from earlier appeared again. A straightforward and sincere smile was still hung across the corner of his mouth. However, his clean and pure body from earlier was now covered in cuts and bruises. Smoke was coming out of his hair while his face was covered in jet-black smog.


    The man followed the two others from behind closely before instantly turning into a shroud of white gas that shot into the crevice and fully disappeared cleanly.


    ******************************


    Planet Scarlet Snow


    Garen returned to the headquarters with everyone again. The surroundings of the entire Planet Scarlet Snow were densely packed with various suspended defensive cannons. Numerous defensive space station satellites guarded the entire planet like a fierce pitch-black beast that was powerful and terrifying.


    Scarlet Snow Sect had already launched surprise lightning attacks during the past few days. The military exploits of these attacks were unimaginable. Twenty sects were either destroyed or subjugated by Scarlet Snow while more than ten others had joined their alliance.


    The Scarlet Snow Alliance had finally formed a brand new structure now. It inclined the center of the entire nebula of the human race towards the north while forcibly occupying a small area of its star atlas to form a colossus that greatly surpassed the previous Scarlet Snow Sect.


    Within an extremely short period of time, Garen''s reputation had spread widely throughout various large-sized sects through instantaneous communication, allowing him to enter their field of vision.

 1120 Parasitism 2

    Scarlet Snow Headquarters, in the courtroom.


    A golden pillar of light that reached the sky and touched the earth had shot down directly from the outer space, descending upright onto the basilica right in front of the courtroom.


    Garen led all of the Scarlet Snow Sect powerhouses to stand in front of the golden light. There was a modest smile on his face when he gazed upon the light pillar.


    Shh¡­


    The light pillar scattered, revealing a group of nine people inside.


    These nine people wore peculiar golden clothes. Eight of them looked considerably normal, but the leader looked exceptionally strange.


    He was a Two-faced Person!


    He had a man''s face in front and a woman''s face on the back of his head. It seemed like these male and female faces were sliced into two halves and glued together from the back. It was extremely peculiar.


    The leader wore a golden skirt-like outfit. He had no hair, and his shiny bald head reflected some faint, silver shades. He had obviously absorbed some specialized substances into his body.


    "Scarlet Snow Sect! How daring!" The moment he descended, the leading Two-faced Person spoke in a shrill yet bewitching voice. He used a universal language to chide Garen loudly, but he spoke very strangely.


    "I''m here to pay a formal visit to the great Lord Emissary," Garen was still dressed in a white robe and golden helmet. The helmet made it impossible to see his face underneath clearly, as everything was merely pitch-black.


    He led his group of Non-falling Level powerhouses to face the Two-faced Person and the others before bowing slightly.


    "Pay a formal visit? Do you still think that it''s necessary for you to pay a formal visit after you openly and brazenly broke the rules of the Alliance?!" The Two-faced Person''s entire body was brimming with extremely terrifying distorted forces when he exposed his Level Nine Peak powers completely without bothering to conceal them at all.


    Aside from him, there were two Level Nines among the eight other people behind him, while the remainders of them were Level Eights. It was clear that only large-sized sects could receive insider information like this.


    "Despite the Major Battle being in sight, you actually dared take advantage of the void and enter before assaulting the headquarters of the other sects. According to the rules of the Alliance, a severe capital punishment in accordance with the laws may be inflicted upon those who break the rules!" said the Two-faced Person sternly in a shrill voice.


    The atmosphere became tense suddenly. The powerhouses of the Scarlet Snow became anxious instantly, as auras of mutual hostility filled the air around as if they could strike at any time.


    However, Garen raised his hand and signaled everyone to remain calm. He faced the other party head-on and opened his mouth.


    "Allow me to inform you, Lord Emissary. The small-sized sects received support from the other sects that were their close friends. The great concern regarding this matter made it impossible for us not to dispatch our troops immediately to help the other sects eliminate any future troubles¡­" Garen explained in a respectful tone. "A shocking secret was concealed within it as well. All of the powerhouses who were there can attest to this."


    Garen lowered his head immediately after that and transmitted a few voice messages.


    Although the Two-faced Person and the others were initially harboring traces of an unconcerned attitude, their gazes became more serious after this voice transmission instead.


    The voice transmission ended quickly. Garen had even transferred a series of images that were actually his memories of the battle between him and the dark colossal dragon.


    After they had finished looking at the images.


    "Everything that you mentioned was real?!" The Two-faced Person''s tone relaxed. The spies among the Energy Machinists had apparently infiltrated them to this extent. This was simply unimaginable! Since they were a large-sized sect, they were unfortunately unconcerned about the small and medium-sized sects. He recalled this now and thought about the consequences that would occur in the event that these sects suddenly revolted during the Major Battle¡­


    The aftermath would be unimaginably severe!


    The Two-faced Person himself was of a high ranking, he also knew that some Mech Pilots were against the overall arrangement of Energy Machinists. However, he had not expected that the situation had reached this stage. Moreover, he had never anticipated that his heart would suddenly suffer a great shock the moment he heard Garen mention these things.


    "I can assure you that everything I said was true!" Garen answered in a strangely confident manner. "If you don''t believe me, you can look for the other Guardians of the sects that I''ve visited and ask them yourself. It''s impossible that this matter is a lie. I do not have the powers great enough to lie about this."


    "The Major Battle will officially begin in a few days! If what you said is true, we will have to deploy even stronger forces here as well. However, we''re afraid that it''ll be very difficult to transfer forces to attend to this area!" The Two-faced Person''s tone had calmed down. "If what you said is true, you deserve great credit in this matter! I will relay your merits to the three Holy Lords properly!"


    When he saw that Garen''s powers were clearly at Level Nine Peak through the images, the Two-faced Person looked squarely at him now. Moreover, he started to humble himself when facing Garen after receiving such major news.


    "Thank you very much, Lord Emissary."


    "The pleasure is mine, Sect Master Garen," The Two-faced Person was more polite now. "I was wondering if the Guardians of any other sects in the Scarlet Snow Alliance were here. I was hoping to meet them personally and ask them briefly about the entire situation."


    "This isn''t a problem," nodded Garen. "My own sect accidentally received a mysterious and specialized treasure that can strengthen one''s own powers recently. Since we sensed that the Energy Machinists would probably encounter great difficulties, I resolved to invite a few Sect Masters with whom I have good relations to come forward and share this with me. Right now, they''re coincidentally here as well and have not left yet. Lord Emissary, you can question them freely at any time."


    He purposely emphasized the treasure and its strengthening capabilities clearly when he mentioned both of them. His intentions to bribe the other party could not be any clearer.


    The Two-faced Person''s gaze faintly stirred suddenly when he heard this. A treasure that could upgrade their powers at this grade was simply something extremely precious. These abilities were not something that could be achieved by just using anything.


    "Lord Emissary, this way please," Garen extended his hand and led the group of nine people toward a stone staircase on another side that led to a banquet hall.


    The remaining Ice Demon Generals exchanged glances secretly and dispersed naturally after taking the hint. Only the Level Eight Osho Ice-Ocean remained like an old housekeeper who began acting in a friendly manner towards the few Emissaries.


    Along the way, Garen used the Imprint to openly inform the few Guardians to come forward and pay their respects to the Lord Emissary formally.


    The few Guardians over there who had undergone his parasitic controls displayed certain vigilant responses respectively. They clearly exhibited attitudes of not wanting to share the treasure that they had received with even more outsiders.


    This made the heart of the Two-faced Person, who had assumed he was eavesdropping on the voice transmissions, even more determined.


    "Didn''t you say that we were only sharing it among these few people? Why is there another additional Emissary now?" said the mummy through the voice transmission unhappily. "Should I be worried that he won''t even be able to reach Level Nine Peak?"


    "The Lord Emissary is different. He''s unlike the previous Emissaries¡­" Garen persuaded him with kind words before the mummy reluctantly agreed and cut off the connection while huffing.


    "Was that the golden mummy? I''ve heard of this person. Wasn''t he just on Level Eight? How did he get to Level Nine suddenly?"


    Within the group of Emissaries, a blue-haired girl behind the Two-faced Person opened her mouth and asked suddenly.


    "This¡­" Garen made a face which hinted that it was difficult to explain.


    "It''s a scam!" The woman stopped asking disdainfully.


    They were all Two-faced People, but some of them were unsatisfied with the blue-haired woman. This allowed Garen and the others to see that this group was not completely united.


    The Level Nine Peaks of the large-sized sects were unlike the average Level Nines. Their trump cards could be similar to the dark colossal dragon or perhaps even stronger. Moreover, they could also use other means of resolving their issues. Naturally, Garen would not choose to use violence.


    The group was led into the banquet hall quickly.


    A few Guardians were already waiting there. Although their behaviors were secretly disdainful, they were still forced to put in sufficient effort into their appearances. After all, these Emissaries represented the entire Federation of Energy Machinists.


    When they entered the banquet hall, the group of Emissaries paid no attention to the handsome men and beautiful women who were currently serving the food while fluttering about like gorgeous butterflies. Instead, the gazes of these Emissaries were focused on the few Guardians who had stood up from their seats.


    The Energy Machine Imprints of the Energy Machinists in this grade could be used as extensive databanks. The information of these Guardians would naturally be included inside as well. Within a short span of time, the group was clearly aware of the exact details regarding the three Guardians here. They even uncovered the strength of their sects and some other detailed information.


    However, the thing that truly shocked them was that these few people''s strength and the information that was listed were severely mismatched. On average, their strength was critically underestimated by at least a full level!


    Even so, how significant would the difference of one level be if they had already reached Level Eight?


    One would only need to compare the quantities of those of Level Eight and those of Level Nine to discover the magnitude of the obstacles between those two levels.


    According to the official statistics, there were more than sixty thousand Level Eight powerhouses in the entire human race.


    On the other hand, there were only more than five thousand that reached Level Nine. This included the number of internal Mech Pilots in the entire human race. However, since it was impossible to estimate the current total human population, these were merely rough calculations from earlier.


    The human race and the Finite people ruled more than ten thousand habitable planets and over a hundred thousand inhabitable ones. There were at least seven to eight billion people on each of these planets.


    These enormous populations were spread across two gigantic nebulae.


    There were only over five thousand Level Nine powerhouses throughout these populations. The difference between them was extremely terrifying.


    After all, not every planet occupied Guardians that were Level Eight or above. Only the important planets would have Level Eight, Level Nine, or even Level Ten Perpetual Motioners defending them. Most of the remaining planets would naturally not be allocated with such an important military strength.


    Moreover, these statistics were basically stagnant for more than a thousand years without any changes. Throughout a period of over a thousand years in the other worlds, there were seemingly no groups of Level Eights that could break through to Level Nine, or at least there were not enough to affect the numbers and cause changes. The difficulty could be seen through this.


    In order for a Level Eight to enter Level Nine, other than experiencing at least a thousand years of hardships, they would also need to grasp the realm of the Sublime Board. They would experience soaring improvements if they were able to grasp these realm-like things. However, it would be a complete waste if they were unable to comprehend it throughout their entire lives no matter how much of it they accumulated.


    The Emissaries were shocked now because these three people who were only listed as Level Eights in the information a thousand years ago had apparently entered Level Nine instantly. It would not be a big deal if they had merely entered Level Nine, but now they were apparently at the Level Nine Peaks as well!


    "This¡­" The Two-faced Person suppressed the shock in his mind forcibly. He instantly understood that this was definitely the effect of the treasure that Garen had mentioned earlier.


    "Lord Emissary, you guessed it correctly," Garen transmitted his voice to him secretly. "This treasure is the reason why I went on an expedition to form an alliance. I knew that my own sect could not support first-rate resources like this at all. This is the primary reason that the Scarlet Snow Alliance was truly established. If you are willing to join us, I will naturally give you a part of this treasure, Lord Emissary. This treasure can only be used once on each person but it can increase and strengthen various aspects of one''s physical qualities by over tenfold. It''s extremely terrifying!"


    The Two-faced Person was already abnormally greedy from the start. A tinge of expectation flashed in the depths of his eyes immediately after he heard the things that were said.


    "Let me see this treasure first."


    The remaining Emissaries could not suppress their curiosity and expectations either. They were all looking at Garen.


    Garen invited everyone to sit down first.


    "Lord Emissary, you arrived at such a good time. If you, Lord Emissary, became a member of our alliance, our forces would definitely increase greatly," When he noticed that the gazes of the crowd were hopeful but somewhat impatient as well, Garen did not say too much.


    He turned his hand and faced his palm upwards. A spherical flesh ball covered in blue tentacles lay on his palm quietly.

 1121 Goodbye 1

    "This treasure resembles a type of parasite. Once it enters the body, it can use its supplementary state to form a layer of ice armor outside. Next, it will enhance the various qualities of the body. Moreover, it will also amplify them greatly!" Garen explained.


    He spoke as he passed the Distorted Seed to the Two-faced Person.


    The Two-faced Person took it with a steady expression on his face. The moment it touched his hand, he quickly began scanning and analyzing its composition with his Energy Machine Imprint. As for his task of coming here this time to punish the Scarlet Snow Sect, he had decided to pardon that minor incident some time ago. Since he was already at Level Nine Peak now, if this thing could really produce harmless increments throughout his body, Level Ten would truly exist if he could go any higher! When that time came¡­


    A trace of nervousness flashed in the depths of the eyes of the woman behind the Two-faced Person suddenly when she thought of this as well.


    Inside the banquet hall, the mummy and the two others were completely silent, save for the occasional cold sneers that escaped them. It seemed as though they were not giving the Two-faced Person any face at all. This was indeed true, considering the strength of their current alliance was already incredibly powerful. Since they did not have to yield to most of the large-sized sects, they were completely unafraid of the large-sized sects that were backed and represented by the Two-faced People Emissaries. If it was not for their positions as the Emissaries of the Alliance, these people would probably harbor intentions of striking out and getting rid of these Two-faced People.


    The confrontational atmosphere in the banquet hall was clearly intense, despite being restrained by the three Level Nines.


    "Indeed¡­ This treasure possesses extremely powerful incremental abilities!" The Two-faced Person sighed in admiration and wonder as he put the Distorted Seed down. "However, it has a deformity."


    "What deformity?" One of the male Emissaries could not help but ask.


    The Two-faced Person glanced at him and said, "Its attributes."


    "Attributes?"


    A few Emissaries reacted and understood immediately. When they felt the chills that were being emitted by the Distorted Seed, they clearly understood what he meant when he mentioned its attributes.


    "Its energy attribute is not bad," The Two-faced Person looked at Garen and smiled. "However, although this treasure can increase powers, it will turn the attributes of its parasite''s hosts into frost-types. Moreover, it can even naturally collude with others of the same species through certain channels. In other words, after using this treasure, the user will theoretically be changed into a different race with a different type of genetic composition."


    "Lord Emissary is indeed amazing!" said Garen in a tone that displayed an uninhibited admiration. "You could see its core with just one look!"


    "What about the side effects?" The blue-haired female Emissary asked softly. She was somewhat interested now as well. However, she did not have to worry about conflicts in this aspect at all, as her genes did not have any attributes.


    "The side effects are very simple," said the Two-faced Person quietly. "That depends on one''s personality. Your personality will be affected and manipulated into becoming slightly colder. It is related to this treasure''s energy transformation mechanics. Of course, in comparison to the functions, these side effects are simply negligible¡­ Tch, tch, it''s truly the epitome of a marvelous treasure¡­" He could not help but praise it.


    "Colder personalities?" None of the people who were seated here considered it as a problem. After living for too long, it was almost inevitable that their personalities had already become cold.


    "Lord Emissary, what are you trying to say then?" Garen opened his mouth and asked again.


    "Why don''t I test this treasure out first and see its effects? How about that?" The Two-faced Person smiled and looked at Garen. "After all, as a Level Nine Peak, it might be a problem whether this increment will be effective towards me. I''m unsure whether there are great quantities of these treasures either."


    "You don''t have to worry about the numbers. I only established this alliance because their quantities were too great. I was hoping to gather everyone''s powers to protect this secret that belongs to us, the Energy Machinists," Garen said in a ''calm'' manner.


    "If that''s the case, I don''t have to worry then¡­" The Two-faced Person nodded before opening his mouth and preparing to swallow the Distorted Seed directly. It was clear that he only knew that this was the best method of parasitism after analyzing it.


    "Hold on!"


    The blue-haired woman spoke suddenly the moment the Distorted Seed was placed at the side of his mouth.


    The Distorted Seed was suspended beside the Two-faced Person''s mouth before he placed it down again and looked at the blue-haired woman.


    "Trisha Yuko, what do you think?" The Two-faced Person asked softly while furrowing his eyebrows slightly.


    The gaze of the blue-haired female Emissary scanned across Garen and the few Guardians while her eyebrows were knitted together tightly.


    "To be able to obtain a treasure like this so easily, it''s almost as though they are gifted to you. Can such a wonderful thing really happen in this world?"


    None of the three Guardians made a sound. They merely minded their own business and sat in their seats without batting an eyelid.


    Meanwhile, Ice-Ocean, who stood beside Garen, smiled faintly.


    "Lady Emissary, you might have misunderstood something. In the beginning, we dared not believe that such a treasure existed either. However, after numerous tests, we only let our guard down after discovering that they were indeed no serious side effects. It was only after then were we able to take such initiatives, because of our selfish motives. If we could drag a few lords into our alliance, our forces would become even greater as well. In reality, we who have used this treasure are already essentially considered as another race. We can even use this treasure to naturally transmit messages and communicate throughout great distances without using other technologically-advanced means."


    "Is it similar to telepathy?" asked the blue-haired woman while furrowing her eyebrows.


    "You could think of it like that." Ice-Ocean maintained his gentle smile. When he stood beside Garen, neither of them looked abnormal at all.


    "Do you have any more questions? Miss Yuko!" The Two-faced Person was already somewhat unhappy now.


    "I''m worried about letting you use the treasure first. You should let me go first instead," The blue-haired woman named Yuko reached her hand out to grab the Distorted Seed from the Two-faced Person.


    The Two-faced Person''s gaze flickered. Nonetheless, he placed the seed down and allowed the other person to snatch it.


    "I''ve known long ago that Miss Yuko possesses the Blood of Disintegrating Everything. This is a good opportunity to broaden my horizons. If this treasure can affect your genes and blood vessels, it''s truly a priceless treasure then!"


    Yuko declined to comment and did not even look at him when she stuffed the Distorted Seed directly into her mouth.


    The blue Distorted Seed resembled a reel of thread that rolled directly down her throat into her esophagus. It melted and disintegrated speedily before being absorbed into the surroundings of the tube walls of her throat.


    Woo¡­


    Yuko''s expression turned slightly strange. It seemed as though her body was undergoing some unspeakable pain.


    Shrouds of faint chills began spreading across the surface of her body. This allowed Garen, who was slightly anxious earlier, to calm down now. After all, the Hellfrost Peacock was merely one of the Void Creature species. Since the universe was so vast, it was impossible for everything to pollute and invade it freely. He was suddenly worried after hearing the Two-faced Person say that Yuko''s blood was the Blood of Disintegrating Everything. The Distorted Seed might not be effective towards that.


    However, it looked like this female Emissary''s genes did not seem to determine anything here.


    Everyone waited quietly and looked at the changes that the blue-haired woman''s body experienced.


    The chills became denser and more intense¡­ The chills of the few other Guardians were also faintly aroused before the temperature of the entire banquet hall decreased by more than ten degrees. Layers of white frost froze on the bodies of a few normal people, whose entire bodies were shivering while they were standing guard outside.


    With the passing of the seconds, shrouds of faint white gas spurted out of Yuko''s mouth quickly and dispersed throughout the air in front of her. She closed her eyes slowly. She could feel that thin layers of ice were currently covering her body continuously. These ice layers felt extremely strange, as they could twist freely. Unlike solid ice, they were not firm or fragile. Instead, they were as flexible as rubber but cold nonetheless.


    "Such a strong, enhanced ice armor¡­" said Yuko while sighing in admiration slightly.


    "How is it?" asked the Two-faced Person in a somewhat expectant voice while leaning his body forward slightly.


    "Still alright. However, unlike my expectations, the effects are not as¡­ Ooh!" Yuko widened her eyes suddenly before the chills around her whole body broke out abruptly. The chair that she was sitting on froze quickly and was covered by a thick layer of solid ice.


    Whoosh!


    A jet-black disc flashed in front of her eyes suddenly. The violent and powerful aura was about to surge out before she suppressed it forcibly.


    "What¡­ What powerful strength!" Yuko could not help but cry out.


    The Energy Field around her body twisted violently. The moment she spat out a mouthful of cold air, it seemed as though the entire Planet Scarlet Snow could hear the sound of her exhaling.


    Her every move could influence the turning of the planet. This was a sign of the Level Nine Peak!


    Through her efforts within a few short moments, Yuko was apparently able to enter the peak of Level Nine from the lower stage directly! The Two-faced Person and the other Emissaries to stare at her blankly because of this.


    "This¡­ is really¡­ a priceless treasure!" The Two-faced Person''s serious greed could not be inhibited anymore. His own gaze and those of the others were all focused on Garen''s body. "Sect Master Garen, I don''t know if this treasure¡­"


    "Don''t worry, Lord Emissary. Everything has been prepared accordingly." Garen''s voice echoed from beneath the helmet respectfully.


    A few more Distorted Seeds appeared in his hand. Each of these Distorted Seeds resembled woolen balls that floated automatically. They separated themselves before flying towards the few Two-faced People.


    *********************


    On a yellow planet within a ring of planets outside Planet Scarlet Snow, three silhouettes appeared out of thin air suddenly on an ashen, stony meteorite that was a few kilometers large.


    These three people stood on the stony meteorite and glanced at the gigantic, crimson Planet Scarlet Snow quietly. A few bits of dust and debris in the outer space dodged the sides of their bodies automatically, as though they were sentient. However, upon closer observation, an invisible yet powerful Energy Field layer could be seen beside the bodies of these three people. It could ward off all the external elements on its own.


    "Looks like Jeros managed this pretty well," Said a little red-haired girl, smiling.


    "We should just get rid of him silently and consider it done," A white-haired man on the side said helplessly. "Who knows what he''ll dare do if we delay this any further? This fellow has already separated himself from control."


    "The Wraith Royalty has always been chaotic. They''d even slaughter their own family members. I''ve recently received news that the new Wraith Monarch has already killed her father, Tasean. She has also released a declaration now, and will officially challenge His Majesty next month," pouted the little red-haired girl. "From my perspective, she has a death wish. There were always some maniacs in the Wraith Royalty who were deviants that would not rest until they forced themselves to the brink of death. I heard them say that this was the fastest process to unleash their own potential."


    "Let''s go," Chinande said softly. He flew toward Planet Scarlet Snow straight away. Although it looked like he was moving slowly, he had actually leaped across a distance of more than ten thousand kilometers within a few moments. He turned into a scarlet meteor that descended from the sky quickly.


    The imprints of the Scarlet Snow Sect itself made it impossible for the sealed Crossfire Web to be rendered at all. Instead, it was coordinated to separate on its own immediately.


    Three meteors descended from the sky rapidly and shot in the direction of the Scarlet Snow Headquarters directly.


    ********************


    The Distorted Seed was completely swallowed by the remaining Emissaries respectively.


    These few people closed their eyes one after another while feeling the changes that were rapidly occurring inside their bodies now.


    "This feeling¡­" The Two-faced Person shut all four of his eyes tightly and muttered to himself as if he was slightly uncertain of the effects that the Distorted Seed had displayed. "Looks like there are still aspects that I haven''t analyzed yet."


    The energy chills of the Distorted Seed were quickly admitted into him voluntarily. He then released the chills, allowing them to surge through his own Sublime Board freely.


    The Sublime Board that lingered in the depths of his mind was completely pitch-black. It emitted hints of strange, unknown suctions that quickly sucked in all of the strength of the Distorted Seed''s chills.


    A thin layer of ice armor began to gradually cover the surface of his body.


    The Energy Force Fields of Level Nine Peak appeared involuntarily and began to progressively affect the magnetic field on the ground of the entire Planet Scarlet Snow. The ground shook and vibrated faintly.


    Inside the banquet hall, Garen and the few remaining Level Nines moved out at the same time and began releasing their own Energy Fields along with the Two-faced People''s forces.


    The earth regained its tranquility and calmed down naturally.


    Hum¡­


    Suddenly, a subtle vibrating noise echoed from the sky in the outside world.


    "Huh? This is?" Garen raised his head slightly as though he felt an indescribably enormous aura that was oppressing him in his current location now. That aura had already surpassed a powerful domain; it could only be described as something profound. It resembled a fountainhead that was spouting spring water endlessly.


    Countless violent Energy Fields gushed out of the fountainhead frantically and collided against the Scarlet Snow Headquarters forcefully.


    "Who is this?!"


    Yuko, who had recently entered Level Nine Peak, was still familiarizing herself with this strength when she felt these terrifying forces that were pressuring her mightily. It seemed as though it wanted to suppress the auras of all the powerhouses here into submission. Despite being an Emissary of the Alliance, she had never seen such a major scene before. Therefore, she could tell immediately that the person who had arrived was a Level Ten Perpetual Motioner Holy Lord!


    "It''s a Holy Lord Level powerhouse!"


    Her expression changed rapidly before she stood up suddenly and opened the roof to look toward the sky.


    One after another, the few remaining Guardians became angry and stood up as well. The few Level Eight Emissaries, who were recently elevated to Level Nine, were also firmly suppressed by this oppressive aura.

 1122 Goodbye 2

    The roof opened itself slowly, revealing the blue sky above. In the sky, three silhouettes were floating quietly, looking down at the group of people below. Among the trio, one of them emitted an extremely, terrifyingly deep aura in an unrestrained manner. This aura resembled a bottomless black hole.


    "Three Perpetual Motioners?!" The expression on Yuko''s face became extremely contorted suddenly.


    Aside from her, the faces of the remaining Emissaries of the Alliance changed immediately in succession, as if they had encountered a great enemy.


    Garen stood and looked up at Carthage who was floating in the sky.


    Perhaps it was more accurate to call him Chinande now. He had not expected that Carthage would suddenly arrive now. Garen suppressed the worries in his heart with determination, before opening his mouth and speaking calmly with a slight sneering tone in his voice.


    "It is true and extremely offensive, that I, Garen of the Scarlet Snow Sect, did not come out and greet the celebrated Light of Justice and Perpetual Motioner Holy Lord who came here personally."


    His current identity depicted him as Jeros, and he was no longer the previous Garen or Nonosiva. Traces of his remaining evil aura dissipated out suddenly.


    "Nonosiva, you broke the rules of the sect," Chinande was unusually detached; he was seemingly colder than before. His voice did not even seem to fluctuate.


    Garen''s face stiffened slightly beneath the helmet. When he raised his head, his eyes behind the helmet coincidentally met Chinande''s white pupils. Both of them stared directly at each other without flinching.


    Although his powers were unlike the other party''s, Garen did not harbor any intentions of cowering.


    After inheriting the will of all the seniors and founders of the Scarlet Snow Sect, he was destined to become the strongest person in the world! If he was too afraid to even face the Level Ten Perpetual Motioner before him, what honor would he have left to face the other higher Regent Levels?


    Boom!


    A shapeless Spiritual Light rushed into the depths of Garen''s soul through his eyes violently. An immense pressure as heavy as a hammer collided against him, blinding his eyes instantly and making everything blurry.


    However, he kept his eyes widened determinedly.


    Aside from him, everyone else that was currently here was also violently shaken by this Spiritual Light. The air stiffened and solidified. Everyone resembled insects that were stuck in an amber when they were suppressed and imprisoned by the enormous and limitless forces of the Energy Field.


    The difference between the Energy Fields was truly this brutal. If you were stronger than someone else and your Energy Field stifled them, your opponent would lose even the ability to make a move.


    "This is the Scarlet Snow Sect. As the Sect Master here, my decrees are the laws!" Garen could not see clearly anymore. He had never expected that Chinande''s powers would actually be so terrifying. His Energy Field suppression could make Garen''s Level Ten self pant for air. However, his honor as a Secret Technician made it impossible for him to have any intentions of compromising or cowering.


    Although he could not see, he used his greatest power to release a loud noise.


    He was not merely representing himself in this place now. Instead, he was doing this for the numerous Scarlet Snow founders who had sacrificed numerous things for him! If these numerous Soul Seed sacrifices yielded to submission easily under the weight of someone else now, how could he become Scarlet Snow''s strongest individual? How could he walk on the path of becoming the highest peak of the Secret Technicians!


    The sound waves echoed in the empty space and reverberated between Garen and Chinande before suddenly jolting awake the nine other people who were confined to the sides.


    Boom!


    The terrifyingly abundant pressure descended from the sky and gathered before pressing down on Garen''s body firmly.


    The white robe that covered his entire body danced and fluttered frantically while his golden helmet remained as cold and as solid as before. It blocked off the gazes of anyone who wanted to peep through it.


    The dark section that represented his face looked up at Chinande unwaveringly. However, traces of broken, porcelain-like cracks were gradually appearing throughout Garen''s entire body underneath the helmet.


    "Jeros has apparently entered Level Ten. However, there''s still a range within Level Ten, Captain!" said the little red-haired girl softly when she opened her mouth. "Otherwise, you could simply get rid of these people here and end it. Hehe, the Federation of Energy Machinists can''t even fend for themselves now anyway."


    "I think that''s fine. It''s merely the annihilation of a single small-sized sect and a few supposed Emissaries. It won''t matter if we just kill them. Since the plan has almost come to light now, do we still need to conceal it like this?" On the side, the white-haired man lifted a few strands of his hair while voicing his agreement.


    Chinande remained silent.


    ************************


    The strong wind whistled, as more people from all four corners of the earth realized that something was amiss. Most of the members of the Scarlet Snow Sect walked out of their dwellings and looked at the three figures that were floating in the sky.


    Alice and Aloran walked out of their own residences and looked up at the sky before traces of shock appeared on their faces suddenly.


    "That''s¡­ the Light of Justice?!" Alice grabbed her own long hair to prevent it from being blown and sent flying messily by the strong wind. "That face¡­ really looks like Great Senior Brother Carthage¡­"


    She noticed that Chinande''s hand was already grasping the hilt of the sword at his waist slowly.


    An indescribable fear surged through her heart suddenly. Alice looked at Aloran who was flying far away; she noticed a similar look of frightened panic on her face.


    The same look of horror was apparent on the faces of the crowd of people around them who had walked outside too.


    This was not merely their own fear, it was the fear of the entire Planet Scarlet Snow!


    "The Light of Justice¡­ wants to destroy the entire Planet Scarlet Snow?!" An unbelievable and frightening thought escaped from the depths of Alice''s heart suddenly. She felt as if it was getting slightly harder for her throat to breathe.


    The tremendous aura seemed as if it possessed an invisible magic. It was clearly surging in front of her. She felt as though she could almost not breathe any air at all.


    "This is¡­ the Planetary Imprisonment?!" An ability that she had only seen at the basic level appeared in Alice''s mind.


    Aside from her, everyone else around her was also experiencing breathing difficulties. Moreover, some creatures that did not even need to breathe could also feel this indescribably suffocating feeling.


    Everyone on the entire Planet Scarlet Snow now felt as if their breathing was being suppressed, while their bodies grew weaker.


    Shrouds of lifeless air started spreading throughout this entire planet. Some feeble insects and small animals in the forest were the first to die from suffocation. They were quickly followed by the sea creatures and fish species that were slightly larger.


    More than a million lives were dying every moment.


    "Chinande!"


    Other than Garen''s own aura, another Level Ten aura burst forth suddenly.


    The four eyes of the Two-faced Person that were tightly closed all this while opened abruptly. With him at the center, a strange and cruel aura scattered in all four directions ferociously.


    The floors turned gold wherever the aura traveled. While the Two-faced Person remained at the center, the entire area of a few thousand meters turned into a bright, golden sea instantly.


    Countless blocks of bright golden pieces melted slowly and flowed there. The banquet hall turned golden silently before it similarly melted. Everyone here was floating in mid-air. They were enveloped and protected by this golden aura that was contending with Chinande in the air.


    With the crowd at the center, all of the gold in their surroundings melted into liquid and began turning around everyone. It rotated, forming a gigantic golden spinning whirlpool.


    When looking down at it from above, the floor of the entire courtroom had turned into an enormous golden whirlpool completely. It was unusually magnificent.


    Both the male and female faces of the Two-faced Person laughed cruelly.


    "Are you thinking of obliterating the Emissaries? Would you actually do such cruel things despite being both the dignified Emissary and Light of Justice? You wanted to slaughter the entire planet?!"


    The spinning gold shook the power of the Planetary Imprisonment suddenly, causing it to disperse and relax.


    Garen stood behind the Two-faced Person but remained silent. After the pressure was eliminated, he allowed the Two-faced Person and Chinande to challenge each other head-on.


    Chinande''s hand which was grasping the hilt of the sword loosened slowly. His lifeless eyes glanced at the Two-faced Person below him quietly.


    "Holy Child?"


    "A Level Ten Holy Child¡­ This is slightly troublesome now¡­" The two people behind Chinande were faintly surprised as well.


    The Holy Child primarily referred to the descendants of the Sacred People''s bloodline. Most of them were directly related because only the second generation of the Sacred People could be known as a Holy Child. Powerhouses like these would generally surpass regular experts greatly. Once they entered Level Ten, their lineages would overlay, allowing them to become even scarier. Their combative strength did not have to be mentioned, while their survival rates were definitely first-class. There were innumerable types of Holy Lord Level escaping measures. They were extremely difficult to kill when this was coupled with their initial state of being Level Ten Perpetual Motioners.


    Although the powers of the three people greatly surpassed their opponent now, it would still be slightly troublesome if he wanted to kill a Level Ten Holy Child¡­ Even if his opponent escaped alone¡­


    The Two-faced Person below, who had already absorbed the Distorted Seed, now understood the relationship between himself and Garen clearly. Although he was slightly unhappy, he finally stood in front of Garen and blocked him while the latter stayed behind.


    Both of them confronted each other with one on top and the other below.


    The wind blew and made some whooshing noises. The Planetary Confinement was already removed, allowing the entire space to return to its original state.


    "Chinande! Are you trying to rebel?!" Yelled the Two-Faced Person with a completely strict expression on his face. "The Holy Lords can neither strike each other freely nor use abilities of planet-destroying levels simply. Don''t tell me that you''ve forgotten all these rules?!"


    Chinande''s hand stopped moving suddenly.


    No one had said anything after that. Everyone could see that Chinande was hesitating because the appearance of one Level Ten Holy Child was a variable that he had not anticipated.


    However, only the Two-faced People knew that once he made a move, everyone else except themselves would die!


    Hence, once Garen died, the powers of the Two-faced People would fall back to its initial state. They would be annihilated by Chinande and the rest then.


    In other words, everyone here would perish when he struck!


    Time moved slowly. Everyone''s gazes were focused on Chinande''s hand that was holding the hilt of the sword weakly.


    He loosened his grip slightly and finally put it down.


    Chinande''s face looked expressionless, as though he did not feel defeated with the decision he made at all.


    "Let''s go," He turned around and flew towards outer space.


    As the right-hand man of the White King, it was not time for him to reveal his identity yet.


    "Hmph, I''ll let all of you live a little longer!" The little red-haired girl twitched her lips disdainfully and left with him.


    The white-haired man sighed regretfully and followed closely behind. The trio disappeared outside the atmospheric layer in the outer space quickly, as the terrifyingly oppressive aura weakened and dispersed gradually.


    Every single trace of their forces disappeared cleanly once the trio had left completely.


    Only then did the Two-faced Person lower his head weakly; an extremely exhausted appearance could be seen throughout his body. Yuko and the other Level Nines inhaled a large breath of air violently as if they were just pardoned. They did not need air at all but did this because it was the quickest way for them to relax.


    Garen was still looking on in the direction where Chinande and the two others had flown away and fled.


    "As expected of a first-rate powerhouse that was able to nearly annihilate all of the Energy Machinists single-handedly that year! Despite having the assistance of his subordinate members, Chinande''s powers are still a bottomless abyss."


    Just you wait, we would meet again.


    A deviation had already appeared in the general trend of events. Chinande, who was originally not supposed to come back at this time, had actually returned now¡­

 1123 Plot 1

    Ever since the Scarlet Snow Sect forced Chinande and the rest to retreat, its reputation swiftly spread from neighboring star regions to further territories. The Scarlet Snow Sect went from an inconspicuous little sect to a Scarlet Snow Alliance major sect with Level Eight and Level Nine experts dominating the entirety of more than twenty neighboring solar systems, forming an enormous energy force that could not be overlooked.


    Yet, Garen''s name was suppressed by the Two-faced Person.


    As an Energy Machinist that was recently promoted to the new Holy Lord, the Two-faced Person received grand and massive congratulations the moment he returned. The experts of the three major organizations had prepared the grand ceremony in his honor. The expert elders of his sect had organized an enormous celebration.


    Within this short time frame, at the same time the competition was announced, the Two-faced Person had completely solidified his new position in the sect. He managed to secure the reins of the likes of Bone Metal Sect, eliminating dissidents immediately and resolutely, as well as promoting those who accorded absolute conformity.


    Garen, on the other hand, continued gathering the various materials sent by the guardians of all sects. He placed his focus on practicing the Tempered Body Technique.


    The big number of various materials amassed had enhanced the Nine-Level Tempered Body Technique to Level Seven. The final two materials required a high level of physical fitness. These sorts of materials were difficult to find, he could only play the waiting game. However, his vitality heightened by 28 points, bring his total vitality at 78 points. Garen wasn''t sure himself how much stronger he had become, as there was nothing around for him to test the limit. The strengthening of his body has reached to a terrifying stage where there seemed to be some sort of unique change after his vitality surpassed the 70 points mark, although it was increased by using the Tempered Body Technique to cover foreign objects.


    The movement of the Scarlet Snow Alliance seemed to have triggered friction between sects. Seeing that the Federation of Energy Machinists was unable to attend, a few of the medium and small sized sects began to jostle at one another.


    For a moment, there was a foul atmosphere surrounding the entire alliance. The Federation of Energy Machinists showed no signs of dabbing in.


    Under such peculiar circumstances, the competition of the Energy Machinists, highly anticipated by the entire world, had finally begun.


    *****


    The City of Nagadako


    On the surface of the entirely-red planet, white and blue fireworks were blasted all around. The fireworks oscillated in ripples of waves, blossoming a few layers of charm.


    Around Planet Naga was the unparalleled dark space storm of the Negative Space. Eight silvery-white metal pipelines peeked through the storm, pointing towards Planet Naga.


    The crowds in various outfits surged through each of the silvery-white pipelines. These groups of people were attended to by passing ships, headed towards Planet Naga,


    "It is currently an uncommon phase, please forgive us as Planet Naga is going through a large-scale system upgrade. Hence, the surrounding space passageways are used as leaping points, instead of directly leaping onto the soil of Planet Naga. Please bear with us for any inconvenience caused."


    A man in red, emitting a bright red glow, was suspended in the air, attracting the attention of many. His clear, crispy voice was transmitted in all of the gateways so that everyone could obtain the message.


    "To all guests and participants, please do not leave the regulated navigation range, or we shall not bear the consequences for any casualties caused."


    The man dressed in red calmly called out.


    "It''s only a competition, what''s the need for there to be a nervous wreck?" A group of women dressed in white walked out of one of the pipelines. One of the women exclaimed in disdain. "We are forces at the Imperial Star level! Even if we were to go off course, what can he do about it?"


    "Why don''t you try it then," Another woman, who appeared to be the lead, dully remarked.


    "I shall then!"


    The earlier woman immediately saw red and flicked her finger.


    With a swoosh, a dot of white light shot above the sun. The white light flew higher and higher. From afar, it resembled a white mechanic bird.


    The white bird flew out of the tunnel''s safety range, yet it did not experience any abnormality.


    "Return, White Phoenix," The woman glared at the other woman provokingly. She extended her arm to catch the landing white bird.


    Boom!


    And it was at this time that the mechanic white bird exploded, burning all mechanical parts to complete oblivion.


    "Let''s go. Stop causing a scene," The leading woman commented, taking the rest out of the pipeline and heading toward the incoming spaceship. Only the woman who released the white bird was left sulking.


    "Solomon of the Star Cloud!" She viciously glared at the man in red hanging high in the sky, "Humph!" She seemed to have placed the blame on him.


    "Welcome, all representatives of Imperial Star region leaders," A polite smile was flashed on the robotic face of the man in red suspended in midair.


    The eight pipelines immediately radiated three bursts of white light soaring upward. Each white light shrouded the entering teams. These were the representatives of the nine Imperial Star level forces of the Human Alliances. Each Imperial Star was one Regent Level. They were nine of the human race''s strongest existences and the nine biggest forces against the Finite people. They each governed vast territories and were situated quite a distance away from the Energy Machinists'' star region. To have arranged a representative to come over, it was a display of an attitude. An attitude of respect.


    Swoosh!


    In one of the passageways, one team was holding flower baskets. A beautiful team dressed in fluttering white flew out with grace. This team was made entirely of males. Their bodies were lean and tall, strutting a shoulder-length long hair and having lush-red, vertical scars between their brows. They were fashioned with celestial-resembling outfits from ancient mythology, yet it was obvious they were men, yielding a peculiar vibe.


    Still, it was their team ability that stood out. The most inferior of them was at the very least at a Non-falling Level. They were impenetrably strong. They were like a deep abyss, carrying an obscure aura.


    "Welcome all from the Horn Scale Sect," Solomon in the sky hosted the welcome. They were also an Imperial Star level force.


    "The pleasure''s mine, junior Solomon," A man who headed the team, with skin as white as jade and a face more delicate than a woman''s, gently answered. His pair of slanting eyes glistened with a light silver glow, giving out a sense of radiance and mysteriousness.


    "This time, it''s Senior Noddy personally leading the team. Please move to the spaceship," Solomon responded with a tone of respect.


    The gentleman nodded and brought his team of juniors at a seemingly slow but realistically swift pace to the receiving entrance of the spaceship.


    Their group attracted the attention of surrounding people, but the majority of them were locked on their appearance. These men had feminine looks. If one took no notice of their Adam''s apple and chest, then their gender wouldn''t be identified. instead, they would give a sense of androgyny.


    "A bunch of queer shemales!" Out came two men in large builds exiting another passage afar. One of them spat and scraped the ground with his boot in disdain.


    "The Horn Scale Sect has always been so. They transform to fight faster than anyone, get used to it," The other man was wearing sunglasses. His light bulb of a head was a socket with a few blue aerials plugged in. He seemed to have failed in his body alteration.


    "The nine major forces seems to have reached at the same time. We are all well-coordinated."


    "We just don''t see eye to eye, tsk!"


    The duo swiftly walked toward a spaceship that came individually to pick them up.


    Right behind them were a few individuals. Another group of people glistened in the white light and walked out of the passageway.


    In the lead was a person in a white robe and golden helmet. Following closely behind him were the disciples in white. There was over ten of them, with a mixture of men and women, young and old.


    "They''re from the Scarlet Snow Alliance, huh?" The moment this group of people appeared, chatters could be heard from the crowd from the front and back.


    "Experts who dare challenge the alliance rules head-on!"


    "Let''s see how the alliance is going to handle this!"


    The small sect at the front instantly stood with wariness. Under the guidance of an elder, they stepped aside to give way, letting the people from the Scarlet Snow to leave first.


    Garen lifted his head to watch the pitch-dark space. There was a red light straight far ahead. That was the shimmer released by Solomon of the Star Cloud to welcome all incoming guests. This layer of light was enough to protect all who were directly exposed to the space environment, and it forged a protective screen to isolate the invasion of the low temperatures and vacuums.


    "So this is Planet Naga? How beautiful..." In the team, the white-haired Hong Guo and White Night were filled with curiosity. They had never seen Planet Naga in its whole. No matter how mature they were, they were still at a young age; seeing such a magnificent view naturally stumped them.


    Apart from them, another who had yet to witness its beauty was Prism Light.


    Prism Light was a mysterious person. He was not old, but he was one who was difficult to read. He was listed as the fifteenth among the Three Hearted. Garen sensed that he had huge potential, so he brought him along to broaden his horizon. In order to expand the Scarlet Snow Sect to glory, it was eminent to nurture the younger generations.


    And Hong Guo, White Night and Prism Light were the geniuses selected by the Scarlet Snow Sect.


    The rest that came with were, firstly, Alice that ranked first in the Three Hearted, followed by the three Ice Demon Generals, Ice-Ocean, Ice-Grand, and Ice-Crack, and finally Mandi, the expert in creating machinery imprints. The remainders were purely regular disciples in charge of daily trivialities.


    "The Planet could be accessed directly through the leaping point at the volcano before this. Now, it seems we''re caught in a tense situation."


    Garen lowered his voice.


    "Let''s go."


    Those from the Scarlet Snow Sect quickly entered the incoming spaceship. Once they entered, the spaceship displayed the names of all various sects within, and the name of the Scarlet Snow Sect was displayed in most prominence.


    However, compared to the major sects at an Imperial Star level force that occupied an entire ship at the front, the Scarlet Snow Sect wasn''t that appealing. No matter how ravaging they were, it was not a region of an Energy Machinist. His reputation wasn''t at the stage of threatening other major forces.

 1124 Plot 2

    Garen and the rest sat in the rest area arranged. They were separated from the surrounding medium and small-sized sect. There were people specifically assigned to serve various beverages and fruits.


    Although any discussion about him was unheard of, he could tell from the glances he received from these sect personages from time to time that they were quietly transmitting, communicating on the Scarlet Snow Alliance matter.


    The Scarlet Snow Sect was considered a fierce major sect within in spaceship after all.


    To develop at such a pace within a short time frame with the sudden emergence of bountiful experts had many spies prying intel. A rumor about the Scarlet Snow Sect obtaining some sort of treasure to raise its capabilities was also leaked from their internal affairs.


    It was also unavoidable for Garen and the rest and despite his efforts to seal the news, this intel still made its way out.


    Sensing the hidden sizing stare from around, Garen and his group minded their own business. They kept to reading and drinking while most of them rested with their eyes closed.


    Hong Guo, White Night and Prism Light could not keep to themselves. They got up to engage with other sects.


    Alice saw an old friend and went forth to have a conversation.


    Truth be told, Garen was clear that the Scarlet Snow Alliance already has the resources and capability of a major sect. It was not completely exposed under the sun so everyone thought that there were only the Level 8 experts trios, Ice-Grand, Ice-Crack and Ice-Ocean as the face of the sect. Although their influences had risen, it was not too massive.


    This time, they were counting on bagging one that lacked in skill. For one thing, it was to push the Scarlet Snow Sect to a new edge; and another, it was to get to the bottom of the scheme and plot for the Energy Machinist in order to finally snatch the Energy Machinist''s best masterpiece ¡ª the Combo and that would be ideal.


    The Combo was having all Energy Machinists of the three major Energy Machinist metropolis to combine their energies. Each of them would scatter a bit of their free energy and focus them together to pour onto the champion of the competition.


    The competition wasn''t between the experts within the sect but rather between disciples so this step could potentially shrink the discrepancy of cultivation length between talents and genius disciples from various sects.


    It was the fastest accumulation to enter Level 8.


    As normally the highest level would be the Non-Failing Level in competitions, there was not once a participating disciple that reached Level 8. The Non-Failing Level was the top in the completion, any higher would require a few hundred or thousand years of accumulation and ability to grasp.


    It wasn''t just anyone that could achieve the Realm of Board after all.


    The spaceship quickly entered Planet Naga and halted at a vast expanse grassland. A white snowy mountain could be seen afar from the nearby grassland.


    The spaceship projected a light beam, transporting groups wave by wave.


    There were assigned anti-gravity vehicles beneath operating transportation.


    Once Garen and the rest gotten down, the first thing that caught their eye was the gorgeous golden anti-gravity vehicle.


    Opening the door, a few young men dressed in gold were waiting in the automobile.


    "The Sect Master has ordered me to welcome our fellow Scarlet Snow Alliance. Please!" A young lady smiled and said, carrying a tone of respect.


    "The pleasure''s mine," Garen knew that she was an expert from the Bone Metal Sect sent by the two-faced person. As one of the fifteen major sects, the Bone Metal Sect built a solid base. They have six Level 9 experts, over ten Level 8 experts but none on Level 10. Once the two-faced person marked his return and upgraded to Level 10, it gave a surge of confidence to the sect. The Bone Metal Sect finally met the requisite to battle a seat at Holy Lord level of force. They possessed hope to become the fourth Great Holy Lord level sect.


    The disciples would naturally attach great importance to the orders of the current new sect master in hopes of leaving a good impression to the friends of the sect master.


    Moreover, rumor has it that it was the treasure of the Scarlet Snow Alliance that aided the two-faced person to increase a level. If this were the case, then this Scarlet Snow Alliance really had quite a banking value!


    Thinking about this, the disciples in charge of the reception revered in deeper respect.


    The group sat in the vehicle and the door slowly shut tight under the envious glances of surrounding Energy Machinists and Mech Pilots.


    The vehicle sent by the Bone Metal Sect, resembling a large frisbee, fired towards the faraway plain.


    "We will be depending on you in this competition," Garen sat in the vehicle and in front of him were the three genius sent by the Snow Scarlet.


    Hong Guo, White Night and Prism Light.


    These three met with the participating conditions that were no more than a hundred fifty years of joining the sect. Hong Guo somehow or rather inherited a teacher ancestor''s soul and energy, erupting his potential that could match with an Inherited Level expert. White Night has a solid Gideon Body. Although he wasn''t as good as Hong Guo, he excelled at the speed of light and presently resonated the Full-Moon Level.


    As for Prism Light, Garen could not see through this little fellow. He could only sense that there was another powerful soul hidden within him. Moreover, he carried a peculiar constitution. Garen brought him to participate in this competition in order to size him up.


    Although he was already at Level 10, it was not the pure Level 10 of this world after all. He couldn''t transform into a black hole nor could he link to the inverse space for relentless endurance. It was pure explosive force for him to reach the Level 10. He had the power of destruction but not the endurance.


    No matter how terrifying the engulfing ability of his Hellfrost Peacock technique was, he could not beat the endless endurance of those Level Ten Perpetual Motioners. Garen knew that his advantage was to operate in the dark.


    Utilising the distorted seeds to create more Level Ten Holy Lords to manipulate and reel into the alliance was the crucial key to expand influence.


    Although there were only three Level Ten Holy Lords among the Energy Machinists, the number of Level 9 experts were not in the red. Those in the open and in the dark would have at least fifty in number. If he could just place a parasite in this bunch of people...


    "Please do not worry, Sect Master. I will put forth my best effort to advance and gain a good name for our sect!" White Night responded solemnly with a hint of indifference.


    "We will do our utmost. Please do not worry, Sect Master," the same words from Prism Light''s mouth came out less solemn and leaned towards listlessness in comparison.


    "Come what may. If I could I would. If I couldn''t then there''s nothing I can do," Hong Guo was honest and always at ease. He hasn''t been that attached to the Scarlet Snow Sect before due to matters concerning Rainy. It was only when he started gaining attention of many and received major changes from upgrading that he forged ties to stay and joined the Scarlet Snow. He came because he thought well of Garen. Little One and Little Two who were taking care of his sister were people of Garen yet he allowed the duo to remain by him.


    He had thought of Little One and Little Two as family from the days spent together. And for this, he would too put his best efforts to place in the competition for the Scarlet Snow Sect.


    So although he was most light-hearted amongst the trio, his determination was the highest.


    Moreover, in the inherited soul, it bore a recognition towards the Scarlet Snow Sect so if he were to compete, he would definitely put in his all.


    "It''s a shame. My position has decided that I will not be participating the competition but staying on the sidelines. I really wanted to take part myself," Garen sighed with remorse.


    "For you to get up on stage, wouldn''t that leave other sects no chance of survival?" Osho Ice-Ocean shook his head and joked for the very first time.


    "If Sect Master were to participate then it would be bullying the little ones. There really isn''t much to watch and everyone can just announce who is the winner," Ice-Grand snickered.


    "So this time the hope of our Scarlet Snow is on you three," Garen returned to seriousness. "You may be up against Non-Failing Levels and once you do, immediately surrender and do not attempt to delay."


    "Understood," White Night responded to heart. The remaining two nodded as well.


    Garen took out three items. It was the shape of three little ice cubes.


    "This is a little something I coughed up. It could erect an absolute ice wall at critical times, blocking off any fatal strikes. Do not use it unless it is critical. It exerted great effort to create this thing and it is for single use," production tools materials to sustain such powerful energy were rare. The extent of its rarity would see major sects having only one or two of these. Moreover, it deemed useless after a single use.


    It is destined that participants would not be winning the competition solely on high impact tools made by the powerful.


    Garen did not hand over his distorted seed to the trio. The use of the distorted seed was better on a more solid foundation. If he were to offer them use, the most they would upgrade to would be the Inherited Level, which meant nothing to the Scarlet Snow Sect.


    Once the trio received the item, Garen started to whisper important details to them. Having the advantage of memory, he could describe the points for attention exhaustively.


    The vehicle reached its destination in a jiffy. It was a grand hotel in the City of Nagadako.


    There was already a group of people staying there as vehicles were parked outside.


    The group from the Scarlet Snow Sect exited the vehicle and entered the hotel. They swiftly settled in.


    Garen returned to his individual room and opened up the Energy Machine Imprint, beginning his communication with the remaining alliance guardians.


    Going through over a decade of repeated encryption, a communication channel was quickly established.


    The miniature projection of over twenty people reflected in Garen''s retina, each of them occupying a tiny section.


    "Alliance Leader, have you arrived?" One of the five Level 9 guardians asked.


    "Uh huh, which of you have arrived as I am now at the Waysooner Hotel in the city of Nagadako," answered Garen.


    "Following the plan, we have already invited our fellow friends to join and organize a meetup. It''s starting to take shape at the other side," a mummy of the three Level 9 Peak lowered his voice.


    "I have received an invitation from a Level 9 Peak expert here and asking about the treasure. I am leading him on," another female Level 9 Peak smiled.


    "Be careful not to let anyone spot a flaw," the last was also a Level 9 Peak. He was a white-maned wizened old man. There were layers and layers of wrinkles on his skin that looked terrifying as though his entire skin sagged, separating completely from its muscle.


    "Relax, do you still need to remember this little detail after having lived for a few thousand years?" The woman casually remarked.


    "Dare you not call for me an emergency call? Alliance Leader, are you being a stranger?" A sharp voice suddenly cut in the conversation. The projection of the two-faced person abruptly pushed away the vast projections of Level 8 Guardians, occupying a large section.


    "I have received the invitation of three Great Holy Lords. Hehe, and another nine formal apprenticeship correspondence. These are all from various sect expert elders at Level 9 Peak."


    "All nine of them!?" Garen''s face laid hidden under the helmet with his expression not in sight but a sense of anxiousness from his tone revealed his current mood.


    "Of course. I plan to discuss the price with them," the two-faced person pulled a scratchy laugh. "This treasure comes with responsibility. It can''t be taken without any sacrifice. Anyone would be worried for anything to go wrong so a sufficiently heavy price is key!"


    "That''s true," Garen nodded. "Transport the resources directly to the Scarlet Snow headquarters. I''m not sure if you could contact the other Holy Children, it''s best if they''re Level 9 Peaks."


    "Holy Children... Doable," The two-faced person was hesitant but nodded. "But for me to proactively head up would be suspicious. I will make my own arrangements so you need not ask more."


    Although he hosted the distorted seed, his mind and body were not affected. Even though there was an increase in his energy, the distorted seed could not completely manipulate the host but could link the energy increase with the parent body, nothing more. So it wouldn''t be wrong to say that it was a harmless alternation.


    Although the host would automatically protect the parent body, it could not entirely be enslaved. Losing independence or even disobeying the instructions of the parent body was likely as long as it did not involve hurting the parent body.

 1125 Start of Competition 1

    No sooner had he finished his sentence, the two-faced person immediately vanished with a slight disrespect. It seemed that even with the obligation to protect Garen and stick with him because of the distorted seed, as a Level 10 expert, he was unwilling to fall on his knees for him.


    Once the projection disappeared, it struck an unhappy chord among a number of Level 9 Peaks.


    "How outrageous," a woman couldn''t hold her tongue.


    "So he thinks he can just take flight, huh?" The wrinkled man chuckled in a low tone.


    "Fine, let''s not bother about him and just handle our matters. Be careful not to leak the plan and do not rush to give out items," Garen reminded.


    "Understood."


    "Relax."


    They all responded. The projections immediately disappeared.


    Garen sat alone in the room and started to carefully inspect the arrangement for possible loopholes. Should the plan succeed, the possible outcome could be fairly horrifying.


    Holy Lord Level experts, especially Holy Lords of Energy Machinist has emerged in large quantities. This definitely would create an irreversible impact on Chinande''s plan. The more it was so, the more he as the parent body needed to hide in depth or if Chinande were to find that he was the source of all, he would reel in the highest animosity.


    "It''s really... hard to execute..." Garen sighed and closed his eyes, focusing himself into a quiet meditation.


    ******


    The competition went on as scheduled. There were a total of three completion arenas.


    Representatives of various sects received the qualification notifications from the alliance. Osho Ice-Ocean was solely in charge of everything for the Scarlet Snow Sect and there was one who specially took care of any problem for the Scarlet Snow Alliance.


    Garen directly received a VIP seat sent by the alliance in his room.


    The sect master, as well as deputy sect master of a few major and medium-sized sects that paid him a visit similarly received the credentials of VIP seatings.


    Talking and laughing with these bunch of people, Garen blended in within the high position crowd of medium and large-sized sects. They headed to the third competing arena together.


    While on the way, he kept an observant eye. Although it wasn''t the break of dawn yet and it was still early, there were many that crowded the entrance of the competing arena. Many of them were still making way towards the entrance.


    It was only discussions pertaining to the completion were heard while on the way. The entire city of Nagadako had transformed into a farmer''s market. If he didn''t transmit voice with his Willpower, he wouldn''t be able to make clear of the conversations.


    Spaceships after spaceships came and went, transporting incoming representatives of major sects.


    Garen and his group of higher level sect masters were also arranged transportation by spaceship in which they flew past the main gate and landed in a parking ground within.


    Walking out of the spaceship, Garen could sense a furtive scent close by. If he didn''t keep a little of Jeros'' scent from before as well as absorbing the energy essence of the blood bead, he wouldn''t be able to sense this minute difference.


    "They must know that I broke away from control and will strike during the competition," Garen came to a realization while carefully detecting any possible suspects around.


    The third competing arena was huge. The completion was on an elimination basis. It was between two competitors and the one that succeeded would move on. The winner would advance while the losers would compete again for the following winner to move on. This elimination process would continue on until a ranking was confirmed.


    It sounded simple enough but the rules were complicated as the losers would continuously be determined and between the losers there would be winners. This way, it would be defined with precision. There would also be voting by the committees and referees involved.


    Garen couldn''t care less about this rule. He was now at the twelfth section of the third competing arena. All around him were medium-sized and small-sized sects. Although the Scarlet Snow Sect had only recently made waves, they only showcased a sect of Level 8 experts so they were marked as small-sized. Being assigned to this competing arena was not out of the norm.


    Garen swept his glance past all participating sects and found there was none worth the attention.


    There was only one that was at Two-Moons Level with difficulty. He could be considered as a tough competitor.


    He was sat in the middle of the VIP seats'' row. On his left was a female sect master of a small-sized sect while on his right was an elder of a medium-sized sect.


    "I heard the Scarlet Snow Sect is recently expanding rapidly..." This elder from the medium-sized sect narrowed his eyes in laughter while twisting his mustache.


    Garen was dressed in a white robe and wearing a golden helmet. It was uncertain what expression he carried as he showed no response.


    "Your representative of the Aerial Upright Sand Sect doesn''t look too good," a female sect master of a small-sized sect on the left remarked. She had earlier argued with this elder.


    "Seeing the Scarlet Snow Sect Master like this, you must be confident in your disciples or else you wouldn''t be firmly sitting here without a finch. See, there are elders from certain sects who personally came down to boost their disciples'' morale," this elder continued without any sign of rage.


    "What is Elder Gong Neng trying to say?" Garen duly replied.


    "Nothing, nothing of concern," this elder continue to avoid eye contact and looked below at the two representatives preparing to take the stage.


    Garen maintained his composure. He knew that Chinande''s original plan was to bring home the title and then when the three Great Holy Lords poured energy into the champion as an award, he would launch a revolt and trigger a string of explosion with the property of the combo to severely wound the three Holy Lords so being the champion was imminent.


    The Energy Machinists'' higher positions must have predicted so regardless of the party, no one was going to let this competition go on with sportsmanship. There would certainly be some dirty tricks involved, and he as the troublemaker would possibly be eliminated at an early stage to prevent any variable.


    He took one glance at the crowd and instantly discovered the peculiar scent that presented earlier.


    Sitting in the grandstands were two figures in black capes within the shadows of the crowd. Many amongst the Energy Machinists that were unwilling to reveal their identities would drape all kinds of camouflage and black capes were a common choice. These two didn''t draw attention. If it weren''t for Garen''s detailed search, he probably wouldn''t trace them in the crowd.


    After internally keeping a close watch on the two, Garen averted his attention to the two participants up on stage. In this competing section, only two representatives from the medium-sized sect that could barely match up with the trio of Scarlet Snow Sect.


    And now one of them was on stage.


    "Throne Sect versus New Aurora. Participants, please be ready," a sweet female electronic voice was heard.


    Two youngsters quietly took a stand on stage.


    With a buzz, it began.


    The two released their Energy Machinery at almost the same time. A black bear up against a green fox.


    Strangely, the fox was larger than the black bear by a tad, doubling the height of its opponent. It looked like a huge monster, a giant fox.


    Upon releasing their Energy Machinery, the two individually stood apart. It was obvious they were testing the waters of the another.


    Up to a certain standard, the Energy Machinery would be able to sense the Willpower, degree of purity and endurance of their opponents.


    Both of them had a go and with the testing completed, they abandoned the preparation works and welled up their Willpower to charge at their opponent for close combat.


    One of them even opted for close combat with firearms as at times there were highly destructive laser beams discharged, impacting the protective barrier and causing ripples.


    "Both of them are at the New-Moon Level. So they''re just some representative from unknown little sects," The old man beside Garen whispered. Among those sitting here, Garen from the Scarlet Snow Sect was the only one he couldn''t read so he made attempts to probe Garen the whole time.


    "The two of them aren''t that bad. They seem to be the kind that doesn''t spend all day cultivating in the sect," the female sect master on the other side lowered her voice.


    Garen gave a slight nod in agreement.


    The competition continued on with a minute end result. Instead of triumphant between the Energy Machineries, it was a slight miscalculation from the female Energy Machinist that caused her the competition and her dreaded exit, earning New Aurora the win.


    The second round started immediately. The winners'' winning counts decided the upcoming ranking distributions. This was a way to test their ability to reserve endurance in battle.


    The contender of the second round appeared to be a disciple without any battle experience. He was nervous and despite his senior''s efforts to cheer him on on the outside, with one look, he didn''t react from being swept away by the tail of his opponent''s giant fox. He knocked onto the protective barrier and lost consciousness. He must have been mollycoddled in an overprotective environment.


    Then it was the third, the fourth, the fifth. There was quite a bit of Energy Machinists without real battle experience. There were even those with high Willpower at Two-Moons Level but no one was spared from being taken down in a jiffy.


    This sort of academic group of Energy Machinists researching theories was not a small sum. They made a large population in competitions annually.


    Everyone was not surprised and many were already yawning.


    Those up on stage at this time were only testing the waters. The actual strong representative of the sect hadn''t made their way up yet so it was the crucial moment when it came to rankings.


    Normally, sects would place their strongest disciple at the back of the line. As long as one person out of three disciples was able to snag a higher ranking, the rest didn''t matter as the names were arranged by rankings.


    It wasn''t long with a match after another, it was the turn of Scarlet Snow Sect''s White Night.


    Garen had regained some of his spirits.


    The opponent of White Night had already been through over ten rounds. Hence, her sect replaced her with another person.


    White Night first bowed towards the direction of Garen and then proceeded to size up his opponent.


    "One move! It''s all I''ll take you down with," White Night gently raised his arm and did a slicing motion complete with a face of disdain.


    His opponent was obviously enraged.


    "Anyone knows how to talk big!" Even so, facing the representative of one of the three strongest sects in this competing arena, he brought his serious face. He slightly bowed and released an equally black giant fox in front of him.


    The moment the fox was released, he felt a surge of cold air around. White Night who was earlier standing before him had vanished and the warning device he wore on him blared a sharp alarming sound.


    Left!!


    He immediately turned and saw a white shadow glided by.


    "Snowstorm Palm!"


    With the rupture of vast white snowflakes, White Night marked his palm on his opponent''s chest. Massive freezing palm force surged into his body, recklessly destroying all vessels and nerves in it.

 1126 Start of Competition 2

    The Snowstorm Palm that could be used for far range attack was altered by him for close combat. Garen came across this palm technique due to its incomparable speed that couldn''t be dodged. Now White Night has indistinctly blended his technique into this palm technique, allowing the palm technique to guide his body to lightning bolt speed.


    The Snowstorm Palm was one of the three consummate skill of the Scarlet Snow Sect. Having it displayed by White Night, the extent of its impact has reached its highest potential.


    Far range attacks would have its energy loss after all while close range battles would burst out the strongest explosive force.


    White Night played it out at a Full-Moon Level, at the opponent''s unguarded chest.


    The outcome was determined.


    Wham!!


    That person lifted his head and spewed out fresh blood. His blood hung in the air frozen, landing crushed red ice chunks on the ground.


    Stumbling a few steps back, this person went down unwilling with his head thrown back. His breathing stopped temporarily. He went through shock with one palm.


    The people from New Aurora immediately opened up the entrance of the protective barrier to get on stage and removed him.


    "Will the battle continue?" The referee asked.


    The elder from the New Aurora tensed his face and decisively shook his head.


    "No."


    "Scarlet Snow Sect wins! The next opponent, please get up on stage!" The referee immediately announced the victory.


    This was a training tactic. If they were to continue the battle, wouldn''t that be giving a chance to those competitors that needed to head up on stage to exhaust White Night''s energy? Wouldn''t that give way to other sects? So the best strategy now was to wait.


    White Night gave a contemptuous smile and turned to return to the area he occupied earlier. He nodded the direction of Garen with respect.


    Garen nodded in response.


    "He didn''t even release his Energy Machinery... Tsk tsk, what an amazing real experience fighting ability!" The elder beside Garen could be throwing sarcasm or praise.


    "No one will think you''re a mute if you don''t speak," the female sect master coldly blurted.


    "I''m just afraid that someone thinks I''m mute," the elder smiled with narrow eyes without throwing a temper. "This competition is for one thing, ranking; and another thing, is to have potential disciples see the real world and have an exchange. This blow by the representative of Scarlet Snow really shows no mercy... To vanquish that palm without the skill of a Non-Failing Level would take no less than a few days, tsk tsk..."


    "Thank you for your compliment," Garen dully responded.


    White Night ended the next few rounds with one palm. No one could fathom on how quick he pushed forth the palm. The Snowstorm Palm was an undefeatable feat. Those behind simply threw in the towel.


    It wasn''t long until the first course of the competing section ended and the Scarlet Snow Sect ranked first. The first immediate winner to complete the competing section and advancing to winners'' major arena grouping.


    "I will excuse myself now," Garen got up and left the arena with the three representatives. The value of the major area was not here but at a separate location.


    It wasn''t that all surprising on the easy win for the Scarlet Snow Sect.


    An additional effect on the Scarlet Snow Technique would happen for White Night to possess the Gideon Body. Moreover, he had a solid real battle experience so an easy win wasn''t something to be taken aback by.


    Garen was slightly worried by the lack of activity from the two men in black. They didn''t make a move to assault him so it was unsure if there was a shift in their plans for his bonus appearance.


    ******


    Within a pitch black abyss in Planet Naga.


    "And the seeds?" A clear crisp female voice was heard afar in the darkness.


    "In the competition. The three seeds are in the three competing arenas respectively. It''ll be all good as long as we win," another young boy''s voice was heard replying.


    "Be careful of the Red Skeleton, White Lion, Black Jade Dragon and Hell King Blade. These four are the eight most powerful with White Lion lurking the deepest yet the most powerful. He would be the biggest threat to the seeds."


    "Handle them first before anything."


    "And the matter concerning Jeros?"


    "Captain has observed their participants. They''re not up to the level of threat to the seeds. Heed no attention. He wouldn''t dare to pull a stunt in ruining our arrangement."


    ******


    Wham!!


    Black Jade Dragon brutally smashed his opponent onto the ground, sinking him to the point his flesh and bone were meshed beyond recognition.


    He flexed the muscles on his tough upper body.


    "I said I''ll come face on! One punch! You can''t even hold one punch. Just go home and suckle your mother! What a waste of my time!" The then Black Jade Dragon Beast has grown into a tan-skinned wild man.


    The elder of the opponent rushed to the stage to move the wounded disciple. No one dared to glare at him in rage. Black Jade Dragon represented one of the top constitutions of special talent.


    Without a body type of the similar level, no one stood a chance to face him on chance.


    "Next!" Black Jade Dragon roared in insolence and boredom.


    This was the hundred and sixth opponent he struck down. No one would take more than three punches from him. Most of them collapsed in one hit. This had Black Jade Dragon who was out seeking opponents in utmost dissatisfaction.


    Black Jade Dragon was wearing some golden accessories all over. The shadow of the once dedicate little boy could indistinctly be seen.


    The following opponent held off going on stage that Black Jade Dragon grew impatient and dug his ear.


    "I said, next! Are you deaf!?" He glared and shouted in front of him.


    A pale young man who was just prepared to head upstage fell on his posterior from this fright and couldn''t get up.


    "I... I surrender..."


    "I am surrendering too!"


    "Me too!!"


    Those lined up behind immediately raised white flags.


    The round at the competing arena ended in an instant. Black Jade Dragon was dumbfounded as he swept his glance around. The experts from other sects couldn''t help but avoid eye contact with him.


    Those that surrendered wanted him to swiftly triumph so they could reserve their ability for a better ranking.


    "Patooi!" Black Jade Dragon didn''t manage to vent, "Since Strength Kaiser and Mammoth, there really isn''t any competent opponents! How unfulfilling!"


    He may as well have left the stage.


    The first winner of the first competing arena was then determined.


    ******


    The second competing arena.


    "Paw of White Lion!"


    A gentle male voice was heard.


    With that, a rumbling acute tremble ensued.


    In the competing grounds, a black hole appeared on top of a white-clothed man and within the black hole, a terrifying large limb of a lion over ten meters thick extended out and crushed the opponent to the ground. It was an explosion of fresh blood galore, splattering onto the ground. Residues of flesh, blood, bones and intestines scattered all around.


    "White Lion wins!" A female referee''s voice was heard.


    "White Lion!!" An elder of a major sect scowled viciously at the man on stage. The beloved disciple that he took pride in was instantly murdered by him! Such enmity!!


    "You better pray you do not end up in my hands..." The cold yet heinous voice of this elder was heard.


    White Lion didn''t take it to heart.


    "Thank you for your advice," he gently replied with manners.


    "The last round is won by White Lion!"


    Ensued with constant gruesome state of each of his opponents, the reputation on the cruelty of White Lion in the second competing arena spread out.


    The reputation on the strength of Black Jade Dragon from the first competing arena circulated. That terrifying strength to immediately smash in one punch no matter the attacking Energy Machinery far exceeded the Inherited Level range but rather at the peak of the Non-Failing Level. Black Jade Dragon only revealed the tip of the iceberg of his brutal force.


    ******


    The third competing arena.


    Up on stage was a graceful young lady in red facing a blue-eyed man dressed in black with a black mask.


    The two''s whip intertwined heavily as the red and black whips lashed edgy weal. Each weal scratched the surface, leaving a deep gully.


    "Resonate Rumble!!"


    The young lady in red raised her arm.


    With a rumble, a blue lightning was released from her whip. Carrying forth a mount of quake, it leaped meters in distance and fronted the man in black in the face.


    "Resonate Sand."


    The man in black''s other vacant arm disappeared and reappeared between the thunderous lightning and his face. He erected his pointer and lightly dabbed.


    Swoosh!


    His finger penetrated the thunderous lightning and burst open an overcast of yellow sand that wrapped everything within. The yellow sand held up for half a second before disappearing after engulfing the thunderous lightning.


    "Little Red!" The young lady in red seemed to have predicted this turn of events and while her opponent was busy attending to this move, she shot a red thread at the speed of light.


    The red thread limbered out in mid-air, quickly transforming into a red-jaded skeleton as tall as a person.


    The red skeleton barged towards the opponent. Its sharp claws swishing with sounds of cutting winds. Its speed far surpassed the whip by multiple thresholds as it emerged before the opponent.


    "Leap Sand," the man turned to lash his whip as quick.


    Bam!!


    He managed to cast it on the incoming red skeleton.


    The lash burst open a vast amount of yellow sand, interweaving to a few seconds of standstill with the red blazing light on the red skeleton before separating in a loud crash.


    It was a tie!


    The long holding battle was still on the run, the two were already catching their breaths.


    ******


    On the other end, the Scarlet Snow Sect sang songs of triumphant, bagging more victories and fewer losses. It was soon when they entered the third competing arena''s final battleground. It was a zone near Red Skeleton and the man in black''s ongoing battle.


    More than half the sects had been eliminated by now. In the winner''s grouping, only twelve sects remained with three from the medium-sized sect and the rest were large-sized.


    The Scarlet Snow was a member of the three medium-sized sects. His current scale was naturally considered a medium-sized.


    When Garen led the pack to enter, he caught glimpse of Accord sitting amongst the selected participants.


    The formation of the Scarlet Snow Sect lured the attention of Accord. He motioned his sight over in search of Garen but quickly averted his eyes with slight disappointment.


    Once here, he could not transmit his voice out at his disposal. This was the arena''s final battleground. It was equipped with absolute isolating barrier.


    Garen too temporarily shut his communications channel.


    He could tell that Accord covered up his appearance and scent. Although it could not be concealed from top experts, regular people would not be able to recognize his identity nor appearance. The name he introduced himself with was Dark Light and not Accord.

 1127 Versus 1

    Both of them arranged to meet at the arena. With each of them concealing their identities and not revealing their true self, Liz was unable to contact them both. This place isolated lower wavelength of voice transmission communication.


    "Where''s Garen and Accord? Are they not coming to such a grand event?" Liz leaned her arm on Dios'' and entered into the arena with team Black Blade.


    Her gaze secretly screened through the seats of participants in the arena, in hope to find her two best friends.


    "This is the winners'' grouping. If you want to find your two friends, you should go to the competing section. This is the place for experts that are due to enter the final arena," Dios burst into laughter as he shook his head as a reminder to Liz.


    "This is the winners'' grouping? I didn''t know..." Liz stuck her tongue out in a sort of naughty yet cute way. Dios was fond of this characteristic of hers. Ditzy, beautiful, dolled up, pouty and cute. Don''t all men like their women to be pouty and act all cute?


    "You are not at the same level as them. They would probably have a hard time entering here. Only the winning representatives and elders can enter," Dios smiled. "I can only enter in light of my grandfather."


    "I see..." Liz nodded with comprehension.


    "Watch the competition. It is a not-to-be-missed real battle experience that will be an eye-opener to actual combats."


    "Alright," Liz nodded in obedience. She scanned the people around her and all of them were experts with obscure aura. Apparently she herself has unconsciously entered a new height.


    "I gave them a chance but they did not value it." She still felt down in the dumps. They were friends that originally came together. Wasn''t it normal to depend on the strong when one did not have the capabilities? It can be tiring to fight alone, and with an outcome that may not be successful, was it worth it? Couldn''t they be like her, find someone great to rely on and live a blissful life without a worry? She had intended to introduce two female Energy Machinists from a strong family background to Dark Light and Garen¡­ but it''s a shame that they did not strive for it.


    "Quick, look! The three representatives with the most consecutive wins are coming out!" Dios'' voice trembled with excitement, "Senior Brother Hell King Blade from my team Black Blade is there!"


    Liz was instantly pulled back from her thoughts and looked towards the direction he was pointing at.


    "The final winners'' grouping of the competing arena: Red Skeleton, Dark Light, Hell King Blade and Crimson Ice."


    The final verdict from the referee was out and based on the number of wins, the four strongest was tallied. These were the four strongest of the third competing arena.


    Four people with different temperament stood up and were prepared to accept challenges thrown by others in the winners'' grouping.


    Anyone who was with confidence could get up on stage to challenge them.


    This was also providing the losers one last chance. Thereafter there would a battle between them.


    At present time, there were still competitions that hadn''t ended in some competing arenas for winners to come out, so the four were also waiting for the rest of the winners to challenge them.


    Liz''s eyes swept past Dark Light but she did not recognize him. That dark aura covered up many of his characteristics.


    "We will begin the second event of our competition. The Challenge. All challengers please head up to the stage base on nickname," the referee announced.


    "It''s going to start...my senior brother Hell King Blade will surely win!" A senior sister by Dios spoke with confidence.


    "That''s right. If Senior Brother were to use his full potential, then no one can stop him!" One of the Black Blade juniors exclaimed.


    "The final champion belongs to senior!" Dios nodded in agreement. No one was clearer than them on how terrifying Senior Brother Hell King Blade could be.


    The four stood on an independently stretched platform, waiting for challengers to come up.


    It wasn''t long when one leaped up.


    The moment he stepped up, this person was immediately lashed with Red Skeleton''s whip. His clothes were stripped to rags from top to bottom. Through the sounds of teasing and laughter, this Energy Machinist was dragged down by his sect elder in embarrassment.


    "How embarrassing! Really," Liz couldn''t help but laugh. "Sister Red Skeleton is really good! She was top three in our year of assessment and she''s still that powerful now."


    "Of course. Red Skeleton is a genius that with the right nurture, how can she not end up to be one of the top experts," Dios nodded. "With the condition that she doesn''t die."


    Another one went up to challenge Hell King Blade.


    Almost sliced into half at the waist by one strike of his blade, the challenger held his wound as he was rescued down the stage in helter-skelter.


    "Gotta give it to Senior Brother! One strike and done," Dios laughed saying.


    "Who is more skilled between Sister Red Skeleton and Senior Brother Hell King Blade?" Liz asked in a seductive tone.


    "Senior Brother, of course. Red Skeleton just entered Inherited Level while Senior Brother is already at the Non-Failing Level and is the strongest in our Black Blade''s youngest generation. But I heard that there''s something uniquely dangerous on Red Skeleton''s that needs to be handled with care. I don''t know if it''s just a rumor."


    ******


    One by one, challengers went up on stage. Hell King Blade, Red Skeleton, Crimson Ice and Dark Light knocked them all down the stage.


    As the challenge continued non-stop, Red Skeleton began to show signs of exhaustion. Beating the expert with the sand earlier had consumed a large amount of her willpower and skill. Now with this back-to-back challenge and being the weakest of the four, her face started to pale.


    Dark Light remained at ease without feeling strenuous. He whacked each of his opponents with his dark gas scorpion tail. Any resistance proved futile. The difference between him and his opponents was far too wide. If they were of the same level, the opponent could put up a struggle, but his willpower was now hidden within the dark gas and could have possibly reached a higher stage. As challengers were defeated at first blow, gradually there wasn''t anyone who was willing to get up on stage as they saw no hope.


    As for Crimson Ice, it was an alias. Crimson Ice was actually Hong Guo of Scarlet Snow Sect. White Night and Prism Light did not enter the final battle of the strongest as they lost one round. Hence, only Hong Guo who went all out was still standing on the battlegrounds.


    It was as how Garen had predicted. Although Hong Guo nonchalantly responded but when it came to it, he was the one who put in the most effort.


    White Night was the type that would analyze the strength and weakness of his opponent and if he felt he could not defeat them, he would throw in the towel immediately, whilst Prism Light responded the same as completing a task. Except for Hong Guo.


    This fella was the one who would go all out!


    Garen was sitting below and upon seeing this, he was satisfied. This sort of talent was the real backbone that Scarlet Snow Sect needed! White Night was overly selfish and carried the burden of his family''s vengeance. Prism Light was overly mysterious and his real intention remained unknown. Only Hong Guo grew up proper. He was the grandson of Senior Sister Rainy and inherited Frost Hell''s soul seed secret technique. He felt indebted to the secret technique teacher ancestor and developed a sense of protectiveness to the Scarlet Snow Sect.


    With the Inherited Levels heading up one by one, Hong Guo was starting to struggle.


    Garen looked at the statistical data and the accumulation wins on the Scarlet Snow Sect was enough to enter the final competing grounds. It was only that he couldn''t be the strongest representative but that didn''t matter as it was good that they were not attracting too much attention.


    Seeing Hong Guo struggling on stage with no intentions to back down and intertwining with an Inherited Level Energy Machinist of a large bird, Garen decisively transmitted his voice over.


    "Enough, Hong Guo. You have done enough."


    Hong Guo who was on stage was flabbergasted. He looked beneath at Garen from the platform.


    "No, I can continue!" He saw the proud smiling faces of the sisters Little One and Little Two in the audience, Uncle Ice Fox shouting at everyone around while thumping his chest, a few companions as well as Conan, this young lady who has been supporting him was looking at him.


    "There''s so many that''s supporting me. To leave that early while I have not given my all, I am not fulfilled!!"


    Hong Guo casted Garen''s voice transmission aside and continued to battle his opponent.


    Garen who was below wanted to transmit his voice further but found that this little fella was ignoring him. He did not know whether to laugh or cry. Would a boss of a company complain about a diligent staff? Of course not.


    So he let him be.


    Alice and Osho Ice-Ocean that followed behind had a funny look on their faces. They had never met such a peculiar little fella. The remaining experts have moved on to another arena to prepare their duties. Only two of them were left here to compete.


    "See that?" Garen''s deep voice transmitted to the ears of them both, "This is the elite of our Scarlet Snow. The hope of our sect. Although Senior Sister Rainy has left, she did not leave behind merely memories."


    Alice silently nodded.


    "If all of our Scarlet Snow were as such, then we need not worry of the decline of our sect," Osho Ice-Ocean sighed.


    "Emphasize on protecting and nurturing him," Garen dully gave the lowdown. Once the Energy Machinist''s crisis was over, Hong Guo receiving focus in nurturing was evident.


    "Understood."


    Osho Ice-Ocean nodded.


    Witnessing everything on the side, Alice suddenly wasn''t all that resistance towards Garen''s power usurp. No matter what, they were still part of Scarlet Snow and they were all fighting for the rise of it.


    She still remembered the words said by Garen when he took office.


    "When the sect is in dire peril, I, Garen, will strive for prosperity and usher in thousands of years of outstanding hegemony!"


    ******


    Bang!


    Hong Guo took down another opponent on stage.


    All of them could tell that Hong Guo and Red Skeleton was at the end of the rope and focused on attacking them both.


    Another opponent went up on stage.


    Hong Guo''s line of vision was already starting to blur and his sweat drenched all over yet the coldness emitted from his body condensed it to ice.


    "You''re losing it. Isn''t it better that I take your place on this stage?" His opponent was a treacherous looking woman with a hook nose. Holding double blades, she teased Hong Guo.


    Hong Guo noticed the sect emblem of his opponent. It was the Melting Tool Sect, one of the fifteen major sects with a solid background. It was going to be another tough battle.


    "You can try it out yourself to see if I''m losing it or not." Hong Guo has always been intractable who responded only to reason and not force. He arched his back and gave a nonchalant attitude.


    Swoosh...Clang!


    Their two figures clashed into each other with sparks of snowflakes and flames counteracting and melting, sprinkling all over the platform.

 1128 Versus 2

    On the other hand, Red Skeleton finally gave in as she was hit off from the stage before passing out by a young man with a shamed look on his face.


    "I''m sorry that I didn''t have a glorious victory."


    The man apologized to Red Skeleton''s elder respectfully.


    "You have a sense of propriety during the fight and this is her limit by far. It''s fine." The female elder shook her head as she carried Red Skeleton tenderly out of the place. Since both of them did not manage to win the battle, they were dropped out from the throne reserved for the best.


    The remaining competition would then decide the best among the remaining three.


    Dark Light looked as relaxed as ever. He finished off his opponents quickly, beating them off the stage and injuring them seriously. He was not afraid of anybody regardless of their strength and background as the Star Cloud was the local tyrant in this area. No one was a rival to them and the Sect Elders could only stare at him in anger and were not able to do anything even when his opponents were seriously injured.


    Dark Light stood alone on the stage as his arrogance was off the chart.


    "A bunch of trash! Are you guys that afraid of coming up on stage?" He stood above everyone as he looked down at the challengers, giving a disdained look at them.


    Although all of the challengers were furious at his taunt, none of them dared to go up on stage and challenge him.


    "Weaklings. How sad..." Dark Light showed no sign of hiding his contempt.


    He then he looked to his side at the young man who had just won against Red Skeleton.


    "Do you want to have a match?"


    A sense of secrecy flashed across the young man''s eyes as he smiled gently and shook his head.


    "I do not wish to embarrass myself."


    Dark Light scoffed as he sat cross-legged and rested quietly.


    Then, a mysterious voice came from the young man''s body as it traveled to the audience sitting far away.


    "I''ve dealt with the Red Skeleton. The next one shall be Black Jade Dragon.


    "Understood."


    A black shadow figure then flashed over the audience''s seat.


    *********


    "What a boring battle."


    Hell King Blade struck once with his blade. After the black knife took a few changes in directions here and there, it then pierced into his opponent''s chest at lightning speed.


    Stab!


    Fresh blood was drawn. His opponent was unable to catch up to his speed as he could only see the blade flashed about in front of him and pierced into his chest.


    "Next."


    The fatally injured challenger was carried down the stage. He who bore the title the Strongest Black Swordsman had made the challengers lost hope in fighting him. The tactic of fighting him by taking turns seemed to be ineffective as one person fighting him didn''t seem to tire him out at all.


    "The challenger has forfeited." The referee sounded.


    The time to challenge had ended and the two who were still standing were Hell King Blade and Dark Light.


    This was within everyone''s expectation as they were the representative of the two major sects, Black Blade and Star Cloud.


    The highly ranked sects were indeed something else and the result was not out of the norm at all.


    "The battle to determine the victory shall be Hell King Blade of the Black Blade against the Dark Light of Star Cloud." The referee announced again. This would represent the wills of the Three Great Holy Lords and no one would be able to defy it. This was because the referee was a manifestation of the Three Great Holy Lord''s wills fused together.


    Then, the two tall stages shifted to merge together.


    Heh.


    Dark Light opened his eyes and stood up. He adjusted his posture before walking towards the Hell Blade King.


    With each step towards his opponent''s stage, black gas started to emerge from his body. It seemed like a fog of black gas was flowing towards the number one black swordsman, Hell King Blade.


    "Hell King Blade... hehe. I''ve heard of this name for a long time..."


    "Dark Light, the second strongest and youngest powerhouse of Star Cloud." Hell Blade King''s expression was calm as an enchanting purple-black flower patterned line appeared on his forehead, giving off a cold yet enchanting vibe.


    "Rumor has it that your Stellar Hand is very powerful. I wonder if it can break my Hell King''s Exhalation."


    "Won''t you test it to find out?" Dark Light clenched his fist as he grabbed hold of a viscous black gas which appeared out of nowhere. The black gas then turned into a puddle of sticky black glue. As the black glue dripped onto the stage, it corroded holes of various sizes on it.


    It was the Stellar Hand, which was famed to be the number one Killing Move in terms of corrosion. Since Dark Light had decided to use his Killing Move at the start of the battle, it was obvious that he was taking this match very seriously.


    Buzz!!


    Two auras in the form of black gas emerged from their bodies at the same time as it rose up into the sky, piercing through the clouds.


    In that instant, every audience stood up.


    "Non-falling Level!! They''re both Non-falling Levels!!"


    One man shouted.


    A person who was just at the disciple level was already at the Non-falling Level. This high level was simply unimaginable!


    The invigilators'' face from the VIP seats turned for the worse as a mere single division would elevate to such a level. One could only imagine what level of battle one could see after this! This competition...may exceed everyone''s expectations...


    "Looks like we will have a good show..." A middle-aged woman beside Garen squinted her eyes as she reacted.


    "Kill!!" Dark Light moved as the black gas around him gathered and formed into a giant black scorpion, which immediately pounced towards the opponent.


    Kaboom!!


    The Scorpion''s stinger stabbed into the flat surface, creating a one-meter wide crater.


    A black shadow figure then shot out from the edge of the crater at lightning speed.


    "One slash."


    Boom!!


    A black light flashed as the inconspicuous trace of the blade moved across space and instantly reached the side of Dark Light. It then silently cut the Scorpion''s shell opened and pierced its innards.


    "Wavering Light!!" Dark Light started twisting his body and rotating at high speed as if he had turned into a gyroscope. The scorpion''s stinger started to rotate quickly as well as they went towards the Hell King Blade''s attacks.


    The entire battlefield was covered in black smokes and it was hard to see the event unfolding clearly. Two black clouds of smoke fused together and no one could identify who''s who. They could only vaguely determine that they were still fighting it out from the black smoke''s heated turbulence.


    Suddenly, the black gas spread out, revealing the battle between the two men. The speed of them exchanging their blows were so quick that their hands and legs had turned into muddy shadows and one could only see the powerful shockwaves when their fists and legs came in contact.


    The black gas had dispersed away by their purely condensed Non-falling Light.


    "Extreme Slash!"


    Out of the blue, Dark Light turned his body and released a crescent-shaped attack with his black blade, cutting everything in all directions.


    "Raining Swallow!"


    Hell King Blade countered it by pulling out a black sword to attack it head-on. The sword gave off a swallow-like cry as he mysteriously evaded the Dark Light''s incoming attack with a strange maneuver. The sword then directly appeared behind the attack and slashed towards him.


    The black blade took a shift in its direction and bypassed Dark Light''s right hand which was trying to block it, piercing directly into Dark Light''s left shoulder.


    Pew!!


    Blood was drawn.


    "Extreme Slash! Ten times!!"


    As Dark Light experienced pain, he erupted as circles of black crescents appeared around his body. The crescent-shaped attack covered everywhere from top to bottom and left to right, turning him into a black sphere.


    Kaboom!!


    The black crescent covered the entire sky as it spread out in all direction.


    In that instant, the entire stage was so black that nothing could be seen clearly.


    "Eat my Dark Light Extreme Slash!!" He roared.


    A blade which spanned tens of meters tall appeared from the chaos.


    "Osprey. Hell King''s Exhalation!" Hell King Blade knew that it was not a good idea to take this attack head-on as his opponent released his full strength. He would suffer fatal injury if he were not careful with his approach. He took the conservative approach and gathered the Non-falling Light around his body and turned it into a light sword of a similar essence.


    He then threw the slash in front of him!!


    Roar! A tall muddle humanoid figure in a black armor vaguely appeared behind his body and it looked like the legendary mysterious Hell King!


    Hell King gave off a deep roar as he pounced forward along with the light sword while releasing a half transparent black gas.


    Boom!


    The two light swords clashed but Hell King Blade surprisingly collapsed in that instant. He was stunned as he didn''t expect such strength from his opponent.


    "This..." He suddenly felt something was wrong with the aura coming off from the opponent''s light sword.


    "This is!?" His pupils widened but it was already too late.


    The giant black sword slashed across his front body.


    Slash!!!


    This attack slashed across his body from his left shoulder to his right leg, opening up a large wound.


    Blood immediately spurted out from the wound like a geyser!


    The Hell King Blade''s Non-falling Light was weakened immediately.


    He lost.


    He lost in such a strange manner that no one could comprehend it!


    The Light Sword carved a deep scar into the ground and it far surpassed the residue strength from the Non-falling Light.


    "This is my strongest attack...it can absorb the opponent''s strength and increase my own attack. I called it the Dark Light''s Extreme Slash! Hell Blade King? Hehe. I would be slightly more worried if I''m fighting the Black Jade Dragon Beast."


    He then turned one round as he glanced at the crowd before he stared at the seat of the Scarlet Snow Sect.


    "Garen! Come and fight me!" His voice reverberated, and the entire stage trembled.


    With a slash, Dark Light pointed his sword at Garen who was sitting on the VIP seat. He pointed at the chairperson of the Scarlet Snow Sect!


    The crowd went wild as no one would expect him to challenge the recently infamous leader of the Scarlet Snow Alliance!


    Dark Light, who had just gotten out from a concise and tyrannical battle wished to challenge a powerhouse who was a Sect Master Level without any rest!? Has he gone crazy?!


    The people from Black Sword Sect among the crowd were still in disbelief.


    "Senior Brother Hell King Blade was defeated!!? How is that possible!" The group of junior brothers and sisters'' faces turned pale. The Hell King Blade was considered one of the strongest disciples among them. How could he lose without a clear explanation? It was entirely incomprehensible! How could the last strike give off such a phenomenon!?


    "How could he lose!?" Dios'' face paled as he muttered to himself.


    The person who was more shocked than him was not the rest but Liz, whose eyes were wide opened as she looked at the battlefield.


    "Is that...Accord!!??" Liz''s eyes widened to the point where her eyelids seemed to be tingling in pain. "How is that possible? How is that possible!!?"


    She kept looking at the man standing on the stage as she wanted to assure herself he was probably somebody similar. However, based on his attitude and even the minor characteristics, this so-called Dark Light was without a doubt Accord!


    "Isn''t Accord a normal disciple in Star Cloud? How could this be?" She tried to recall the time when Accord and Garen separated and the vague sensation of disdain in his gaze. ''One will never improve if he keeps relying on someone else. You better learn to be independent.''


    This was his final word towards himself before he left.


    Dios, too, had already recognized Accord. His eyes widened as well as he was one of the two people Liz wanted to introduce to him when they gathered.


    "Leader of the Scarlet Snow Alliance, Garen! Do you dare to come down and fight with me!!" Accord''s voice reverberated once more. Everyone could hear his words loud and clear!


    "That Garen? Perhaps!!?" Liz and Dios recalled a terrifying possibility as they looked at the VIP seats at the same time.

 1129 Temporary 1

    Garen''s face was hidden under the helmet as he looked up at the stage. His expression could not be seen and the honored guests started to whisper among themselves. He was the only one who sat straight up, not moving an inch.


    "According to the rules, the final victor is qualified to challenge one of the honored guests. Alliance Leader of the Scarlet Snow Alliance, please comply." The referee voiced out. As this was the will of the Three Great Holy Lords, not a single Energy Machinist was allowed to defy it.


    "You only get to challenge once." Garen''s calm voice could be heard from the helmet. "You don''t have to waste it on me."


    "Haven''t we both been concealing our strengths for this exact moment?" Dark Light dispersed the black gas around his face and revealed his young, common-looking face which was rather pale and strange looking.


    "Come! Let''s prove it now which one of us is the true genius!!" he unsheathed his sword as he activated his terrifying Non-falling Light, which set off a series of shockwaves trembling through the air.


    He stared at Garen fiercely as he had already suspected that this Garen might be the Garen he knew back then. He was the best friend that he couldn''t get in touch with. He had searched the Scarlet Snow Alliance thoroughly and couldn''t find a second person called Garen. The only person who was called Garen was the rumored leader of the scarlet Snow Alliance. Hence, the suspicion within him rose. His best friend, who had always revealed his strength that was weaker than the Inherited Level had suddenly become a topnotch Sect Master powerhouse. The strength between these two was too great, which was the reason why he wanted to make full use of this opportunity to challenge him and place himself in the light of the whole situation.


    He had been wanting to fight against Garen ever since he found out Garen had hidden his true strength!


    Garen remained still in his seat.


    However, the Judge''s Light Barrier could not care less how he reacted as the area he sat alone had turned into the battlefield.


    The surrounding honored guests were isolated on the outside, leaving Dark Light and Garen together within the barrier.


    The air twisted as Garen''s seat was directly sent towards the stage, forcing him to sit directly in front of Dark Light.


    As Garen realized he could no longer push the issue away, he sighed.


    "You, are no match for me." He did not stand up as he did not wish to reveal his identity so soon. However, he did not expect the situation to end up like this.


    "We will fight to see if I am no match for you!" Without saying another word, Dark Light unsheathed his sword and it immediately turned into a giant black scorpion and engulfed him. He then transformed into a black figure and lunged towards Garen.


    "Dark Light''s Extreme Slash!!! Double!"


    Two streaks of black blade''s marking in a cross shape were shot out into the air and were sent directly towards Garen''s position.


    Garen''s Non-falling Light spread out, shaking the battlefield''s protective screen greatly.


    "It''s useless." Garen sat in his original position as he looked at the blade''s markings flying towards him quietly.


    "My Absolute Energy Field, Faded Creation can absorb every external energy as nutrients. Your attacks are useless."


    The two blade markings became slower and smaller. By the time it reached Garen, what was left was two thin black lines struggling to move forward. Ultimately, they disintegrated and popped apart like burst bubbles.


    "Interesting!" Dark Light''s revealed a ferocious smile on his face but his gaze had become more serious than ever.


    "We have known each other for so long and I thought I had hidden a lot of my true strength. However, I didn''t expect you to be this terrifying and acted as someone more innocent than I am. I can finally reveal your true identity!"


    "Aren''t you the same?" Garen was speechless under his helmet. "Don''t you feel ashamed that you''ve acted as if you''re a Resonance Level even though you''re at Non-falling Level?"


    Two of them exchanged words quickly between the Non-falling light at an advanced. Hence no one could hear what they were talking about. Although a low-level communication was not allowed, an advanced one would be hard to restrict.


    "Why did you come here and challenge me all of the sudden?" Garen asked without beating around the bushes.


    "What do you mean? I suspected your identity and decided to test you out. I was still on the fence about it but I didn''t expect you to admit it."


    "Take this, Sky Shadow Slash!! Ahh!!" Accord shouted crazily as he changed his tune. "At least respect me and attack me! Won''t winning against me by just sitting there make me look bad!?"


    "Alright alright..." Garen was helpless. Accord had never understood the concept of being polite and had always reacted on impulse. Hence, Garen decided to abide by his wishes.


    Do it. Let''s Do it...he thought.


    He raised up his right hand, hesitated and switched to his left hand. He then placed his hand forward and... pointed out... with his thumb...


    As Accord approached him with his sword, envy was written all over his face.


    "Ah!!!!" His cry had become more miserable and everyone could hear his true cry.


    His swung his sword with all of his might but it came to a halt in front of Garen''s thumb.


    Boom!


    Accord''s collapsed as if he deflated like a balloon. He crawled on the stage as all of his energy had been absorbed by the Faded Creation...


    He stared at Garen weakly. "You merciless bastard!!"


    His eyes rolled as he passed out.


    No one could see Garen''s face under the golden helmet. He sighed strangely as he gently tapped on his seat. Then, he started to levitate and went back to his VIP seat without moving at all.


    He had never once stood up from the beginning until the end.


    The whole battle lasted for only tens of seconds. Those people who wished to see Garen''s true strength were disappointed. However, since Garen was a Sect Master Level powerhouse and one of the recently popular strongest people around, they understood deep down that the other powerhouses would no longer require to mingle around in this world if a Non-falling Level was able to force him to use his full strength.


    "The challenger has failed." The referee announced calmly. "The overall schedule of the competition will start now..."


    A rumbling similar to an earthquake came from underground and everyone present could feel the ground shaking.


    Garen looked around. Although everyone was notified beforehand and prepared themselves for this moment, everyone seemed to not be able to hide their excitement from such a massive migration technique.


    "This is amazing! To be able to migrate tens of thousands of people, including the crowds into a perfectly new stage for the final match. This delicate migration technique is not something a typical powerhouse can perform."


    However, Garen felt uncomfortable for some reason. He felt a strange unease around this boisterous competition.


    "Which part of this feels off?" He kept looking around but he didn''t notice any suspicious target. The most crucial thing was that he could not sense any sign of the men in black earlier on.


    "Have they completed their mission? Or are they about to create an even greater trouble?"


    Garen''s mind analyzed quickly for every possibility.


    "The divisional competition has been fully merged. Today''s competition has ended and the finals shall start at five o''clock in the morning. It will be an elimination from one Sect to the other."


    The referee spoke again.


    The competition itself was very pure and transparent. Although it was filled with people, the competition was only held once every few years. While there would be a lot of people participating in it, Energy Machinists were people who cared about efficiencies so it would not be dragged for too long.


    The merging had been completed.


    The blue sky above the arena turned red in a blink of an eye.


    Everyone participating in the competition had already been placed into a huge circular arena. Surrounding them were the audiences and there was a huge amount of camera equipment planted among the audiences, broadcasting the event live to the districts far away from this region.


    "Black Jade Dragon! Black Jade Dragon! Black Jade Dragon! Black Jade Dragon!!"


    A uniform cheer covered the entire sky. Similar to of a tidal wave, everyone chanted Black Jade Dragon''s name in unison.


    The people from the third competitive zone had finally realized that they had been moved to a huge arena. The entire zone three competition zone, including the participants and crowds, had only covered a third of the extremely huge arena. The remaining two-thirds of the arena had already been filled with people.


    The arena was a circular and tall stage. There was a tall and muscular copper brown man raising both of his hands up as he walked around the stage with a gleeful look.


    The Magnetic Field''s Black Jade Dragon.


    There were a few fanatics raising and swinging their metallic signboards with the words ''all the best'' written on it high up in the air.


    "Wilder!!" Black Jade Dragon shouted as he patted his own chest.


    "Black Jade Dragon! Black Jade Dragon! Black Jade Dragon!!!" The crowd cheered louder. Some girls screamed.


    "What''s with his attitude?!" Garen and the other honored guests were rather unhappy about it.


    "He''s the strongest man from the Magnetic Field so it''s natural for him to be arrogant." One man responded.


    "White Lion and Dark Light were not as wild as him!"


    "Young man, what''s bad about being wild?"


    "What do you make of this, leader of the Scarlet Snow Alliance?" The female elder beside Garen looked at him.


    "It''s their freedom to showcase themselves. I have no right to judge them." Garen said calmly.


    Black flying ships were densely packed in the sky above everyone''s head. The ships were moving about slowly, giving off a terrifying and oppressing Energy Field. It was obvious that there were some very powerful powerhouses sitting inside these ships.


    Among these ships, the largest one was as big as a mini city. It was hexagonal and was fully black, levitating in the sky freely.


    The emblem of one of the three major Sect, Magnetic Field, could be seen imprinted on it.


    Garen raised his head and looked at the Magnetic Field''s ship. The blackhole-liked Level Ten presence could be clearly felt and there was at least ten Level Nine presences entangled about among each other as well. The oppression from the Energy Field was very immense as it covered the entire sky.


    ***********


    Inside the Magnetic Field''s ship.


    The floor was beautifully furnished with black flower texture. There was a lady in a full body dress which spanned towards the ground, she had a black top hat on her head. Her low cut dress was pitch black and the skirt had merged with the ground, which made her seemed like a giant tree growing from the metallic floor.


    Her skin was extremely fair, her almond-shaped eyes were sharp, giving off a cold and seductive elegance.


    A few males and females sat in front of her. They seemed to have just finished reporting to her, waiting calmly waiting for her orders.


    "Magnetar Holy Lord, my household''s Saint had determined that the opponent will make their move in the finals. Do you want to attack together with us or insist on your desire? Please give us a response." A man with a stern face said softly.


    Magnetar Holy Lord shut her eyes without reacting to his question at all. She seemed to be pondering as she crossed her little snow-white hands on her abdomen.


    "We''ve come to this situation and you''re still doubting the other Holy Lords? If we don''t unite together and fight against the threats towards the Energy Machinists, we will die in the hands of those greedy people hidden in the shadows! Holy Lord your Highness, have you not make up your mind?"


    The man seemed to be the leader of these people. His presence was immense as he carried along the aura of a Level Nine. He looked extremely handsome and extravagance in his black suit.


    The atmosphere turned dull all of the sudden.

 1130 Temporary 2

    The lady in the black dress, Magnetar Holy Lord remained silent.


    "Mother, I have been your son for millenniums. Would you please let go of the past grudges?" A male voice that covered the entire ship came from the back.


    "Black Blade Holy Lord..." The woman in the black dress sighed as a sign of tiredness could be seen in her gaze.


    "It does not matter if I have become a Holy Lord. You will always be my mother." His tone was sincere.


    "Uncle Huaer is currently trapped and will not be able to break free within five days. It''s obvious that the Pilots will make their moves in these five days. If we don''t unite now, we may possibly not be able to protect our last foundation!" The voice said, slightly emotional.


    "My brother Ma Nong is currently trapped as he had unexpectedly encountered a new type of giant Space Storm and had been sucked into an Inverse Space far away from here. I believe the Backlight Holy Lord is currently in the same situation. Our opponent has started to move. They''re currently cutting away those Regent Level powerhouses who are willing to lend us a hand. We really need to kill all of them in one sweep!"


    "We have no idea how many they are inside these major Sects. They seem to be everywhere." Magnetar Holy Lord said softly.


    "The three of us are their main targets. In order to fight against us, they first have to eliminate the Modified Demon Lord Team that serves us. Hence, I believe that we can command the Modified Demon Lord Team to attack so that we can lure out some of the opponent''s strength. We will then eliminate them." Black Blade Holy Lord explained simply. "Naturally, the plan is much harder than it sounds."


    "..." Magnetar Holy Lord didn''t respond as she shut her eyes.


    "Mother, can I take your silence as an agreement?" Black Blade Holy Lord asked.


    "Do what you want...I do not wish to meet Backlight ever again no matter what." As Magnetar Holy Lord waved her hand, a terrifyingly powerful transparent Energy Field instantly repelled Black Blade Holy Lord''s Projection Energy Field.


    "The Holy Lord had already considered this." The Level Nine male leader who had reported to her earlier spoke. "He had sent an item through his subordinate and said that you are sure to change your mind after seeing it."


    "An item?" Magnetar Holy Lord asked curiously. " Show it to me?"


    "Yes." With the utmost respect, the man took out a small box from the Space Ring. It was square in shape and had a ferocious black dragon''s image imprinted on it.


    He released his hand as the box levitated and moved towards to Magnetar Holy Lord''s hand automatically.


    "This is..." Magnetar Holy Lord opened the box and boom!!


    Her eyes widened.


    Slowly, she lowered her head and looked at her abdomen.


    A black, short and extremely sharp spear had pierced into her abdomen. The short spear was pitch black and was unexplainably cold. Then, the body of the short spear started disintegrating and turned into throngs of huge, black worms drilling into her abdomen through the wound.


    These worms were like miniaturized black beetles the size of a nail. However, their quantity was simply too many.


    "Black Blade..." Magnetar Holy Lord was in disbelief as fresh blood started to flow out from the edge of her lips.


    Boom!!!


    An intense Energy Field tried to flare up but a solid and firm Spatial Barrier had unknowingly activated beforehand around her.


    The face of the man who spoke earlier changed. After a few twisting here and there, it transformed into the stiffed face of Chinande.


    "Magnetar Holy Lord, your son has submitted to the empire a long time ago. Backlight and you are the only ones left who are still delusional."


    "Chinande..." Magnetar found it difficult to speak up as her whole body started to tremble. She could not seem to tolerate the pain from the worms eating her out from the inside.


    The Energy Field changed in a complex manner as it shifted into all sorts of attributes. However, it had no effect towards the black worms.


    "As expected, the most dangerous person is the person who knows you best..." Magnetar smiled wryly as she understood that this was her son''s actual intention. He knew everything about her, from her response, reactions and hidden strength.


    "You''re the only one I fear when it comes to fighting face to face. It''s rare to encounter a powerful opponent but..." Chinande said in remorse. "Everything is done for His Highness. I have no choice but to sacrifice my personal hobby."


    Boom!!


    Magnetar exploded in an instant as a huge amount of black worms covered the entire sky and poured inside the mothership''s hall.


    As the Spatial Barrier had surrounded the area, the Level Nines outside could not sense anything happening at all.


    A humanoid appeared on Chinande''s body and shot out to where Magnetar was standing. It transformed into a new Magnetar Holy Lord, looking exactly like the original.


    "Is Magnetar dead?" A female member behind Chinande asked lazily.


    "No," Chinande replied coldly. "She was ambushed by Black Blade''s black worms and had been cut into twenty-five thousand pieces. Although her body is destroyed, her Ultimate Board has yet to be discovered."


    "She has lost her battle body that she had successfully crafted through thick and thin. What use can a soul which lies in the Ultimate Board do? Although she can find another body at will, she can no longer bring her actual strength into play anymore." The female member casually spoke. "She will never be able to get back on her feet without putting in thousands of years of effort again."


    "That is indeed true." Another member agreed as he nodded.


    "Let''s leave. We have already planted our mole." Chinande ignored their conversations as he dispelled the Spatial Barrier. He then gently bowed towards the new Magnetar Holy Lord before turning around to leave the area.


    "Send the emissary away." Magnetar Holy Lord said in a cold, female tone.


    One of the few Level Nine whose head was covered in silvery hair appeared as he glanced at Chinande.


    "Let''s go."


    He did not realize that the Holy Lord had been replaced. Furthermore, he had yet to realize that the man in front of him was the real Light of Justice Chinande, who was also a Holy Lord Level powerhouse.


    **************


    The competition had stopped temporarily.


    Black Jade Dragon slowly backed down from the main battle arena after flaunting his prowess for some time.


    On the other hand, White Lion had gone to rest a long time ago and did not bother himself with the Black Jade Dragon.


    Dark Light was beaten senseless by Garen and was currently receiving immediate treatment. The final was temporarily held off and the battle to compete for the rankings would be held on the second day. Although the top three had been finalized, there were still other rankings to be determined. Hence, there were still many days of fighting even after the main event, which was what the other candidates were aiming for excluding the three major sects.


    The three major sects, namely the Black Blade, Star Cloud and Magnetic Field were always in the top three. It was a norm for everyone and no typical Energy Machinists could hope to compete against them.


    Garen, who was at the battle arena, felt a sense of alienation for some reason.


    It was already night time as he brought along the disciples of the Scarlet Snow back to his hotel. After making the arrangements and settling down Hong Guo and his subordinates, he waited for the final results.


    As he had nothing better to do in the hotel, he decided to bring Ice-Crack and Ice-Grand out of the room for a stroll.


    As he walked out of the elevator to the main elevator hall on the first floor, he saw Dark Light leaning against the door as if he was waiting for him.


    "Let''s go for a stroll?" Dark Light glanced at Garen. Wisps of light green smoke curled gently out from the cigarette in his mouth.


    "Sure," Garen spoke through the helmet.


    "Sect Master, at this crucial moment..." Ice-Grand frowned as he reminded and tried to discourage him.


    "It''s fine." Garen raised his hand. "Both of you won''t be able to do anything if someone really tries to harm me."


    Ice-Grand and Ice-Crack exchanged glances. They knew that Garen did not compromise easily hence they lowered their heads and took a step back.


    "Sect Master, please return as soon as possible."


    "Both of you can enjoy yourselves. I''m sure there are old friends that you need to catch up with, right?" Garen said calmly.


    "Yes."


    Dark Light then led the way as Garen walked from behind.


    Liz was already waiting at the entrance of the hotel when both of them walked out of the building. Her boyfriend Dios was beside her and their expressions were rather awkward.


    "Senior Brother Dark Light!" A few disciples from the Star Cloud Sect bowed and greeted Dark Light as they saw him.


    "Alliance Leader!"


    The newly formed crowd filled with students of the Scarlet Snow Alliance bowed and greeted Garen as well.


    "No need to be so formal everyone, relax." Garen and Dark Light said as they walked out of the hotel.


    Walking in front, Dark Light turned his head around and looked at Liz.


    "Want to go together?"


    Liz was holding Dios'' arm tightly but she was urged by her boyfriend.


    "Go," Dios whispered, but he was not able to hide it from Garen and Dark Light.


    There was a loud and sonorous singing coming out from one of the music halls nearby. The woman''s sharp and powerful voice spread far away during the night as it carried a mysterious and ethereal rhythm.


    Liz gritted her teeth and followed them.


    ***********


    At a riverside near the hotel, a row of green willow trees grew arranged by the river bank.


    Dark Light stood at the top of the willow tree.


    "How much percent of actual strength have you used today? Be honest!"


    Garen took off his helmet gently, revealing his face which had not seen the sunlight for a very long time. His face was cold and valiant as there was a white V-shape imprint on his forehead, giving off an extremely intimidating and superior vibe.


    This was the presence of a Level Ten with an infinite amount of amplification. At that level, he was like a sun where his presence would not go unnoticed wherever he went. Once the Ten Thousand Gravitational Force had reached a certain extent, it would naturally attract the souls of others.


    "None..." Garen said honestly.


    Dark Light''s expression immediately turned depressed.


    "Are you saying that you stood there and let me attack you freely without fighting back?"


    "Isn''t that what you wanted?" Garen laughed. "Stop being irrational."


    "Damn it!" Dark Light punched at the willow tree. "Is our strength really that big of a difference? I will have you know that I am a genius!"


    "I can''t even hit you even if you let me..." Dark Light gnashed his teeth in frustration. "You''re really insane! People have always called me that in the past! I didn''t expect myself to say the same thing to someone else!"


    "I really do not wish to kill your self-confidence. However, this is the truth and there''s nothing I can do about it." Garen was speechless. "I promised that I would lead the Scarlet Snow Sect and revive it once more. I can''t go back on my words."


    "How do you plan on reviving it? The main competition will only test the disciples'' potential and the competition for territory repartition is not going to happen..." Dark Light asked with a bitter face.


    Then, he seemed to recall something out of the blue, and as his expression turned rather strange and surprised.


    "Are you planning to..."


    "Yes. I''m going to do that." Garen nodded his head in affirmation.


    "It''s the Sect''s Hegemony. Any sect that is not satisfied with their ranking may challenge the sect which ranks above them. It''s a final match where one fights to the death!" Liz spoke from the side.


    "They would often hold an exhibition competition after the main competition as the main competition decides the ranking of the sects. According to the rules, if anyone is unsatisfied with the result, the Sect Master or the powerhouse from the sect may represent the sect and go up the stage. However, the representative must use their sect''s technique." She added quickly.


    She and Dark Light looked at Garen with a complicated expression.


    The strength difference between them and Garen was simply too great! It was so great that the phrase ''a world''s apart'' could not be used to describe it.


    Dark Light might have been a genius, but Garen was already moving forward to become an Overlord. The term genius could only be used to describe a potential seed that had yet to sprout. Garen, on the other hand, was no longer a genius...

 1131 Great Change 1

    "Okay then... I''ll wish you good luck in advance." Dark Light said reluctantly after being quiet for a moment.


    "Believe in yourself," Garen smiled.


    The three of them strolled by the river. They chatted about their past and future plans. Most of the time, Garen was the listener and he paid attention while listening. After all, there was a huge gap between him and the two of them. The astonishing abilities of a transmigrater alone were enough to change him completely within a short amount of time.


    In fact, for most of the common topics, Garen already knew the answer and where it will lead to. However, he was patient and continued to listen quietly to what Dark Light said.


    Perhaps, it may no longer be this peaceful after a short while.


    Garen could feel his own distorted seed growing rapidly and silently. One after another expert was being polluted and became a parasite. Almost all of them were Level Nine energy machinist. Among them, two parasites of the distorted seed broke through to Level Ten. Also, there were more than ten people who broke through from Level Eight to Level Nine.


    This was an extremely brutal power and he believed that it will definitely surprise Chinande¡­


    ******************


    Boom!!


    Huge, red fireworks were being continuously set off throughout Planet Naga in the sky. It seemed like a huge, flower garden in the sky, each fireworks'' flower petals were so life-like that even the fine textures on the petals could be seen.


    As the flower fireworks scattered naturally after its explosion, it turned into countless red light sparks.


    Garen sat quietly at the honored guest seats during the finals. He was a contestant who represented the Sect Master to participate in the competition. Both Ice-Grand and Ice-Crack stood behind him.


    Similarly, those around Garen were Sect Masters of medium-sized sects and large-sized sects. Each one of them had an imposing manner and a huge aura of someone with great power. Even the waiters who served the refreshments could feel their overwhelming presence.


    It was not the pressure from a force field, but the pressure from someone with great power which gave people an oppressive impression.


    As compared to the quirky image of the other Sect Masters, Garen''s white robe and golden helmet was nothing special.


    The competition had started for some time. When Garen arrived with his people, three rounds had passed and it was now the fifth game. The two competitors could barely express the strength of an ordinary energy machinist under the 1,600 times force field pressure. They were both setting all kinds of traps since they both had a sinister characteristic. There were all kinds of tricks and schemes. Although it was not a hot-blooded scene, it was an extremely sinister and evil one.


    Garen closed his eyes, none of the Sect Masters took the initiative to talk to him. The Scarlet Snow Sect violated the rules set by the Federation of Energy Machinists. Before the Three Great Holy Lord could fully come to a conclusion on this matter, any unknown reckless actions will affect each Holy Lord unfavorably. Therefore, to avoid trouble, everyone avoided speaking to Garen.


    Garen and the both of them were quite happy about it.


    Match after match went by. Garen was no longer interested in all these normal class matches, his main focus was on the distant Nebula headquarters.


    Over there, all the distorted seeds inside each parasitic expert were being sold at a high price to friendly allies through a scheme. The Level Nine experts were being constantly engulfed one after the other.


    Buzz!


    There was a buzz in Garen''s head. Another Level Ten was born...


    The terror of the distorted seed was evident.


    This was the true fourth Level Ten among Garen''s parasites.


    "Basically, those who can be infected through contact had been infected. The others are very cautious, so we will not succeed anytime soon." The Double-Faced Man''s voice was transmitted through the distorted seed.


    Part of Garen''s focus was on the matches and part of it was on the inside of the City of Nagadako. All kinds of strong parasites had their aura densely and evenly distributed almost in the entire City of Nagadako.


    "Do you have any news about the Three Great Holy Lords? Especially the Demon Lord Team."


    The Demon Lords that he referred to were the modified humans. They were the Holy Lord Level modified humans. The biochemical pool and energy machinist platform of a Holy Lord Level cannot compare to those of an average person. Modified humans created through such technology were far more powerful than what ordinary people had imagined. Moreover, they can provide resonance and also increase their Holy Lord''s power tremendously.


    This was also the reason why people would want to get rid of the Demon Lord modified human team before dealing with the energy machinist Holy Lord.


    "There has not been any news and it is very peaceful. Strangely, the Magnetar Holy Lord seems to be way too calm about our actions. Could it be that they do not care or they are unaffected by it?" The Double-Faced Man said in a dubious tone.


    "What about the rest of them?" Garen was asking about the other Level Ten Holy Lords. The few newly promoted Level Ten did not believe when Garen talked about how serious the crisis was. However, they still did all kinds of preparative jobs just to be safe. At the same time, they went around to investigate and gather information.


    "After they understood your involvement in this, they went everywhere to investigate about it. It seems like they discovered something. They might have made a move on the other party secretly." The Double-Faced Man laughed creepily. "Since they are not cooperating, it would be great if they suffer some losses."


    "Be careful, they''ll make a move within these two days..." Garen said lightly.


    "Rest assured. I know my boundaries." The Double-Faced Man said casually. "Based on my initial estimation, they must have used the power of five Perpetual Motioners and Level Nine experts from the North Pole. They even sent the direct subordinates of the White King from the North Pole. Moreover, they also sent the Royal Star Force and Spirit Deity from the Scarlet Mourning Hall Union... it seems like they are really worried that we are not fully doomed..."


    "It''s good that you understand the situation." Garen had a calm look on his face. "We will have no choice but to abandon those who don''t listen to our commands."


    "Four of us should be more than enough. Together with the other two Holy Lords, I doubt that they can do anything about it!" The Double-Faced Man''s voice gradually got weaker and he slowly disconnected.


    Garen remained expressionless under his helmet. Even though all the parasites were not able to hurt him, including the Double-Faced Man, but they were starting to show signs of disobedience towards his commands. However, this was within Garen''s anticipation. Although the distorted seeds were able to greatly increase the power of the parasites, due to their chaotic nature, the parasites will not necessarily obey their parental orders.


    "Soon... very soon..."


    Matches passed by, and it was the finals. All the Non-Falling Levels were showing off without any reservation. The first three divisions were still on the low-profile side. Then, the aura of the Non-Falling disciples filled the air. From time to time, two Non-Falling Light Pillar will appear and draw everyone''s attention.


    The elites of the bigger sects were all at the Non-Falling level. There were also a few Non-Falling Levels from the medium-sized sect. Hong Guo and his team had just gone up and they had no choice but to throw in the towel and give up. As compared to their previous below the average ranking, they were able to increase their rank above the average by entering the finals. There were a large number of energy machinist sects and the variously sized sects summed up to about a hundred sect. It was already a huge achievement to be able to rank above average under such situation.


    After Hong Guo and his team left the stage, the entire Scarlet Snow Sect had completely become audiences. They sat quietly in their seats to observe the remaining matches.


    Dark Light, Jade Dragon, and White Lion charged in with a victorious gesture one after the other. Taking center stage, no one was able to stop them.


    There were also a few rare geniuses among the crowd who were previously unknown to the public. This time, they appeared with a skyrocketing potential. They had an endless variety of rare killing moves. Some of it was created by the disciples themselves and some were ancient secret tactics found from the ruins.


    Although the secret tactics were fairly weak, some of it was useful even to experts like Garen. Therefore, everyone paid much observation and attention in anticipation of their performance.


    Time went by gradually and soon, the day was over.


    Nothing happened overnight and the entire Planet Naga was abnormally quiet.


    The competition went on as usual the next day.


    Soon, the champion was chosen among all the players.


    Somehow, Jade Dragon was heavily injured last night and remained unconscious still. Whereas Dark Light forfeited his participating right and disappeared without a trace. There was a rumor saying people saw both of them fought due to some disagreements and they were both heavily injured.


    That rumor was oddly convincing since it was being described with great detail.


    Garen was not able to contact Dark Light even after transmitting a few voice messages to him. Gradually, a clear conspiracy theory started to form.


    White Lion, a brutal young man with a head of wild white hair was the champion of this competition.


    The mayor came forward as one of the Three Great Holy Lords, Backlight, and awarded White Lion with a trophy.


    White Lion''s magnetic field began to celebrate. The elders from the other sects represented their sects by giving a speech on the stage. All the sects seemed to be in a joyful mood. The magnetic field experts and disciples started the huge celebration by distributing invitations to all the influential experts. The sky was filled with celebratory pink petals and a cheerful music was played.


    White Lion went up the stage with a smile and was prepared himself to receive the energy instillation from the joint efforts of the Three Great Holy Lords.


    The Three Great Holy Lords appeared. From left to right, it was the Magnetar Holy Lord, the Backlight Holy Lord, and the Black Blade Holy Lord. Their faces were distorted under a white light, and only their silhouette and postures could be seen.


    Everything went on in an orderly manner.


    Layers of strong barriers continue to rise as Planet Naga began to draw one of the three greatest treasures of the city, the Union.


    No one knew where the location of the Union was. It was an extremely tyrannical equipment made by energy machinists. It can only be created by gathering countless experts, elites, geniuses, and energy in one place. Its greatest role was to forcibly raise the Level of all the energy machinists to any Level below and including Level Eight. It also had a terrifying ability which allowed their owner to instantaneously combine forces with the power of the same type which was within the range.


    This meant that as long as the treasure was still in the hands of the Three Great Holy Lords, there is no need to worry of an enemy attack. The Union will instantly link the willpower and energy of all the Level Nine, Level Eight, Non-Falling Level experts together with the Three Great Holy Lords to form a strong body of energy that was beyond compare. This body of energy was extremely strong even among the Regent Levels, and an ordinary Regent Level will not necessarily be able to beat it. Together with the other Regent Levels who had a good relationship with the Three Great Holy Lords, the status of the energy machinist can then be as stable as a mountain.


    This treasure can only be actively drawn by Backlight. Therefore, Backlight was appointed as the Mayor of Planet Naga.


    Garen had a feeling that his plans can no longer keep up with the changes when he saw how fast the situation was developing. Instead of following the usual sequence, the pilots had eliminated Dark Light and Jade Dragon out of the competition.

 1132 Great Change 2

    A terrifying sun-like aura began to spread in the direction of the Three Great Holy Lords. The Union will soon befall...


    "It seems like it''s not possible to wait for the Championship. The Union will befall soon¡­" Garen transmitted a voice message to Ice-Grand and Ice-Crack who were both standing behind him. Receiving his message, they both left quietly.


    Soon, they left the stadium slowly together with Hong Guo and the others.


    Bang!


    With a loud bang, a huge Scarlet Light Pillar appeared out of thin air and descended down from the red sky. The metal-like Light Pillar landed on the ground heavily, surrounding the White Lion and the Three Great Holy Lords in it. It was almost impossible for the others to see clearly what was happening inside.


    All the spectators were amazed at the Scarlet Light Pillar. No matter how many times they look at the Light Pillar, they could feel a strong, holy aura radiating from it.


    Gasps of admiration could be heard continuously. There was a buzz around Garen as everybody started to discuss about the Union.


    Except for Garen, whose eyes under his helmet were staring intently at the inside of the Light Pillar.


    The Energy Machinist Extinction War had finally started...


    A red light quietly lighted up on his index finger. It seemed like something was being contained in his fingertips.


    As time went by slowly, Garen''s finger slowly pressed downwards. The red light on top was showing a tendency to turn dark.


    *******************


    In the depths of the Finite Nebula.


    A huge celestial body whirlpool was in the middle of it. There was also an immensely huge white palace which looked like it was built during the ancient times. The structure and the stone pillars on the palace implicated its long, ancient history.


    The palace''s sharp edges had worn off by the traces from thousands and thousands of years ago.


    At this time, the shadow of a blood-colored flaming figure appeared on the palace''s long, white staircase.


    The figure''s silhouette was burning in a red-colored flame. Countless, thick and dense black gasses encircled the figure. Each black gas had a twisted and painful human face, screaming in grief.


    "White King." The figure''s face was revealed. It was a young woman, with a glamorous face and strong features.


    "The trajectory of fate can''t decide everything. The universe should be ruled by me, Wattana Gersa!!"


    Her figure suddenly hopped on the stone steps. With every leap, the space surrounding the entire palace shook violently.


    The women''s figure was like a dazzling red light. In a flash, she landed directly on the highest point of the stone steps in the large white square outside the palace. A white figure was already waiting there.


    Without wasting any words, the woman in red light stretched out her arms. Her five fingers instantly turned into the sharpest terrifying weapon. Her entire body turned into a dazzling red-color and she lunged forward.


    Two rays of light, one in white and one in red crashed into each other.


    Boom!!!


    Bang.


    A drop of clear water dripped down onto the wooden table underneath the delicate and beautiful red rose.


    "The Wraith Royalties finally made a move on the White King."


    A man in gold clothing at the side of the table had a serene and calm look on his face. It seemed as though he was talking about something extremely common.


    "The White King of this generation is a man with great talent and bold vision. He has the ambition to unite the two great races." An off human figure was floating in the air behind the man in gold clothing.


    The head of the human figure was distorted and transformed constantly. It was a dark mist without a fixed shape.


    "It depends on whether the Wraith Monarch will succeed in the challenge..."


    **********************


    Garen gently tapped his index finger which was glowing with a red light on to the table.


    "Do it!" A subtle voice transmission was being transmitted to somewhere extremely distant through the distorted seed.


    A slight ripple appeared on Garen''s white robe from being blown by the wind.


    With a ''swoosh'', the red light was slightly stunned. It seemed like something was happening inside it.


    Almost at the same time, Garen jumped into the air from the place where he was sitting at.


    Bang!


    The chair shattered into countless fragments. A large amount of terrifying aura and energy field gathered at where Garen was formerly sitting.


    Beneath the helmet, Garen''s face changed slightly and he quickly retreated backward. He was holding a black space jumping ball in his hands and just when he was about to smash it downwards.


    In a flash, a white shadow suddenly appeared right behind him.


    A huge energy field instantly locked Garen in place. His entire body was being forcibly held still.


    The experts around could not even react to the series of sudden changes. By the time they did so, they found that the terrifying energy field of the shadow that trapped Garen was as deep as a black hole.


    All the experts around left quickly. No one dared to stay at the scene since everyone could tell that the shadows were obviously going after Garen.


    "What are you guys doing?" Garen''s deep voice came from under the gold helmet. It sounded hollow yet deep.


    The white figure behind him laughed gently.


    "Jeros¡­ or Garen?"


    Garen turned around to look at that person, who was removing the white headgear.


    "You are...!" Garen was stunned.


    Swoosh, the headgear ripped apart. It revealed a woman''s delicate and pretty face with a hint of boyish charm. Her short green-colored hair was flipping being blown by the wind.


    "Do you still recognize me, Nono."


    The woman grinned, showing her white teeth.


    "Celine..." Garen did not expect an encounter with Celine on such occasion.


    Celine?! How did an ordinary Inherited Level appear in such a place? Moreover, she had such a tyrannical aura fluctuation. It was impossible!!


    But if it was not Celine, then who could it be...? Suddenly, the most possible explanation popped up in Garen''s mind.


    Swoosh-swoosh-swoosh-swoosh!


    Four consecutive white shadows flickered and four white human figures appeared on Garen''s four sides, encircling him in the center.


    Each figure was holding a sparkling crystal lamp in their hands. The wick of the lamp was burning with a subtle white flame. The small circular boards that slowly appeared right in front of them were the reason why the four figures were strong. It was a circular board that was as pure as a milky-white color.


    "The Sublime Board!! Oh God, all of it are top-class Sublime Boards! They are from the North Pole!!"


    A stunned honored guest suddenly stood up with a horrified look on his face.


    "Level Nine... four Level Nine experts!! This is a planned assassination!! Quick, call the police!!" Someone shouted loudly.


    That man''s voice echoed throughout the entire venue. There was a sudden chaos once everyone heard about the Level Nine experts.


    Level Nine experts! What was the concept of it? They were the horrifying beings who were two levels above the Non-Falling Level. Four of these experts actually appeared together in one place. They were the top experts who were able to move the entire planet''s foundation!! However, four of them actually appeared in one place, together at the same time!


    "We must inform the Three Great Holy Lords!"


    Clang! Suddenly, countless Destruction Lasers exploded in the crowd unknowingly.


    It was havoc as the crowd stood up and tried to escape frenziedly. Many ordinary people were trampled to death as the packed crowd rushed to escape.


    Only a small number of great personages with guards were able to forcibly open a path through the crowd and leave.


    "No¡­you are not Celine." Suddenly, Garen who was at the center of the field said. "You are... Chinande!!"


    Garen looked at his surroundings. Even he was frightened by the overwhelmed undisguised fluctuations of the several Level Nine experts around him.


    "¡­ What a... huge scene..."


    "How can you be so sure? Your sensing ability really does live up to its reputation." Celine was slightly surprised. He could sense the firmness in Garen''s tone. His face started twisting and instantly transformed into a countless number of faces. There were elderlies and youngsters. Also, there were men and women.


    Soon, his face changed and turned into a cold yet familiar face -- Carthage!


    His entire temperament instantly transformed into Carthage''s cold temperament. It seemed as though every face that he changed into will have a unique personality match. This momentary change in the temperament and traits gave people a feeling that he had split personalities.


    "I actually did not manage to fool you," Chinande said coldly and emotionlessly. "Surrender yourself. For the time being, I don''t want to kill you."


    "It''s not up to you whether you kill me or not..." Garen grinned, but no one could see his smile under the helmet.


    Swoosh!!


    Suddenly, beams of white light descended from the sky. It surrounded Chinande and the rest of them from all directions.


    One after another tyrannical aura rushed into the sky. A white circular board clearly appeared on each of their bodies. All of it was Level Nine Sublime Boards!


    "So you want to fight? No problem!" The Double-Faced man''s gold armor appeared in the white light. The aura around his body was ambiguous. He did not fully release his Level Ten aura, but it was faintly enough to suppress all the Level Nine auras.


    Chinande looked at his surroundings.


    "Pointless struggle."


    "What about us?"


    Before the sentence was completed, four black hole-like auras suddenly appeared around Chinande and the rest of them. The one leading was a tall woman with four arms.


    Four Level Ten experts?!


    Chinande''s lifeless pupil suddenly shrunk.


    *******************************


    Inside the huge, red light pillar.


    The Union was an exquisite scarlet key which was descending slowly from the sky above the light pillar. Then, it headed towards the Backlight Holy Lord who was standing in the middle among the Three Great Holy Lords.


    A faint buzzing vibration sound filled the air. The buzzing sound had a strange rhythm which gave people an extremely sacred feeling. If the most powerful Regent Level expert was present, the expert might be able to hear the thoughts of countless people hidden within it. It might be anticipation, it might be a prayer, or it could be anger. The willpower of countless energy machinists was linked and gathered on this exquisite key.


    Apart from the Three Great Holy Lords and White Lion, only the three representative examiners who witnessed the ceremonial were inside the Light Pillar. The three of them were the representatives elected by the other sects, excluding the three major sects. They were all at the peak of Level Nine and were three extremely old elderlies. The youngest one had lived for more than 4,000 years, whereas the oldest one had lived for more than 9,000 years. He had witnessed the rapid development of the technology and the war between humans and the Finite people.


    The three of them looked extremely old. They had long, braided, white beards, and were dressed in white robes with subtle blue fluorescent patterns on top.


    The Backlight Holy Lord took the Union key and gently walked towards White Lion. He looked at White Lion who was kneeling on one knee.


    "On behalf of all the energy machinists, I grant you the greatest honor."


    The Backlight Holy Lord reached out his hand and gently stroked White Lion''s head.


    Right at that moment, a sudden change occurred.

 1133 Beyond the Plan 1

    Countless blinding, white light exploded out of White Lion''s body.


    It seemed like numerous gold spear-like terrifying swords. Suddenly, it started spreading in all directions. One of it with a subtle secretive filthy aura shot towards the front of the Backlight Holy Lord''s chest.


    "You!!" Backlight''s surprised voice was heard. A transparent Space Whirlpool appeared in front of his body. Its horrifying power constantly disrupted the gold sword from exploding. The two forces refused to give in and remained still for a brief moment.


    Suddenly, a palm as fair as a white jade quietly pressed against Backlight''s back.


    Pff!!


    Backlight spat a mouthful of blood. He looked at the Magnetar Holy Lord unbelievably.


    "Magnetar... you!!"


    Boom!!


    Only then, the power of Magnetar''s hit heavily exploded. Backlight was being thrown into the air in another direction.


    "Are you okay, Backlight? Do you know what are you doing, Magnetar!!?" The Black Blade Holy Lord shouted furiously and rushed over to catch Backlight. However, he secretively thrust his wrist forward and pierced into Backlight''s back.


    Clang!!


    A crisp yet piercing sound of a collision was heard. Two white shadows suddenly grabbed his wrist.


    "Black Blade Holy Lord, we didn''t think that you would betray the energy machinist." The two old examiners suddenly appeared on Black Blade''s side, one on the left and one on the right. They brutally restrained his movement.


    "You... you guys!!" The Backlight Holy Lord instantly regained his senses and took a few steps backward. He walked painfully to a safe distance, looking extremely pale. Then, he walked towards the last examiner.


    The situation suddenly became oddly strange.


    First, White Lion made a surprise attack on him. However, Backlight blocked it. The actual sneak attack was the hit on his back from Magnetar. After injuring Backlight, Black Blade wanted to give him a final hit by pretending to save him. Nonetheless, it was being blocked by the two examiners.


    These series of changes happened as quickly as a flash of lightning and a burning flint.


    Pff!


    Backlight spat a mouthful of blood once again. The blood seemed to be dark and foul.


    "I didn''t expect... I really didn''t expect this... I almost died at the hands of my companions..." He removed the white light around his face and revealed a fair-looking middle-aged man. He looked just like an ordinary man. There was no difference between him and the ordinary people on the street. He did not have an extraordinary temperament or features. There was nothing special about him.


    "I also didn''t expect it." The Black Blade Holy Lord smiled coldly while he stared at the two old white-bearded examiners standing in front of him. "I didn''t expect three experts of Perpetual Motion Level to be hiding here... Dean Pasym, when did you surpass Level Ten?"


    His gaze turned towards the oldest white-haired old man who was standing beside Backlight.


    The old man lowered his eyes with an indifferent look on his face.


    "It''s been a couple hundreds of years already. Is that important?" The old man, Pasym, had been the Dean of the three cities'' Central Sect for thousands of years already. Almost everyone thought that he was restricted because he was nearing his end. It was absolutely impossible for him to break through to the Perpetual Motion Level. He will be stuck at the peak of Level Nine.


    He did not expect the old man to quietly break through Level Ten.


    "What do you know about our plan?" Black Blade asked coldly.


    "I know everything that you think I should know." The old man smiled, turned around and looked towards the Magnetar Holy Lord. "Sir, Light of Justice Righteousness. Since you''ve come, why are you still pretending to be someone else? Could it be that that the Light of Justice, Finite''s General, dare not reveal his true identity?"


    "The Light of Justice?" Backlight''s pupil constricted and he instantly looked towards the Magnetar Holy Lord.


    As expected, the Magnetar Holy Lord''s body melted into slime and quickly reshaped into a new human form. It was Chinande, the Light of Justice.


    However, Chinande''s eyes were no longer a withered ghostly white. One of it was red and one of it was blue in color. Both of his eyes had a mysterious and glamourous colorful rainbow glow.


    "It''s really you!" The Backlight Lord was the one who was being kept in the dark. After witnessing the series of changes and the appearance of the Light of Justice, it could only mean that the pilots had actually made a move on the energy machinists.


    They had truly started a war.


    For a moment, he was furious when he thought about how chaotic the rest of the world will be. Since the pilots had decided to make a move and make a sneaky plot against the three Great Holy Lords, the rest of the world will definitely be worse than this!


    He had finally understood the situation completely.


    Chinande had an ever-changing transformation ability. He disguised himself as the Magnetar Holy Lord to make a sneak attack on Backlight. After he had succeeded, he did not expect the three Perpetual Motion Level experts to appear.


    At that instance, both parties were in a stalemate.


    However, both parties understood that the energy machinists will be truly doomed... If Chinande was not able to solve the problem, a second Chinande will make a move. It will continue until they get rid of all the energy machinists.


    This was the overall trend of the entire pilot world and it cannot be reversed. The reason being the energy machinists had occupied way too many resources.


    "Unexpected variables... Pasym, who delivered the news to you." Chinande asked calmly. The strange shape of his right and left eye gave people a feeling that his aura was expanding continuously.


    "There are still more variables that you didn''t expect..." The old man lowered his eyebrows and said calmly. He single-handedly supported Backlight. "Backlight, are you okay?"


    "I''m okay. We can deal with the two of them together with the other two examiners. Either way, it is three against two. It won''t be that bad." Backlight answered forcibly. In fact, the hit from Magnetar was not as simple as it seemed. A highly toxic metal went into his body and he was being poisoned. At the moment, his body was decaying and festering rapidly.


    ************************


    Outside of the Light Pillar.


    Garen was surrounded by Chinande and their surroundings were filled with Level Nine experts. During such a significant moment, a large number of rarely seen Level Nine experts appeared continuously. It was as though their appearances were as common as the cabbages found on the street.


    Those below Level Nine will not even be able to stand still.


    Garen and Chinande were at the innermost area, followed by the White King''s four Level Nine experts. Whereas the Double-Faced Man and the Level Nine experts that he brought formed a circle around them. Lastly, the four newly formed Level Ten parasites were at the outermost layer.


    The scene had completely frozen still. No matter how strong Chinande was, that was just his clone. His actual power was being put into the inside of the light pillar. At that moment, the light pillar was being split into inside and outside. Therefore, the situation had reversed instantly and he became extremely fragile.


    "Do you believe that I''ll retreat because of your few, normal class Perpetual Motion Level?" Chinande said calmly with an indifferent look on his face.


    "What about your teammates? I''m afraid that they are still suppressing the Three Great Holy Lord''s Demon Lord modified team?" Garen said plainly.


    Boom!!! Right after he completed his sentence.


    The entire ground started shaking and waves of an earthquake were coming from afar. It was as if two huge forces collided with each other from afar.


    "Look, the Demon Lord modified team is not that easy to deal with..." Garen was clear at a glance.


    The look on Chinande''s face became slightly gloomy.


    "Who the hell are you?" Even Jeros would not know that much insider information.


    "It doesn''t matter who I am..." Garen said in a low voice. "What''s important is what can I do?"


    He looked at the various types of spaceships and levitating airships around fleeing in all directions. The people from the Scarlet Snow Sect had left earlier with their own people.


    Dark Light and the rest of them had also retreated in advance.


    "Say Chinande, if we were to keep you here, who knows whether the Star Emperors would be willing to lend a helping hand?" The Double-Faced Man sneered coldly.


    "The Star Emperors?" A trace of sarcastic look flashed through Chinande''s eyes. "Do you think that the people from the Star Emperors are here to help you?"


    The Double-Faced Man and the rest of the Level Ten experts were stunned.


    The contradiction between the pilots and the energy machinists had always been the same. The reason why there was an outburst was that the pilots were being suppressed for way too long. However, with such a huge move, the pilots will not give up that easily. The force of the Star Emperors might be the second move that they planned.


    So much so that they might have divided all the energy machinists'' resources.


    At that moment, both parties dare not act rashly. That was because when they reach such level, no one will be able to control affected range of damage if they start fighting. They might even cause the Planet to collapse by having a small fight.


    That was something that neither the pilots who wanted to divide the resources nor the energy machinists themselves would wish upon.


    Garen clearly knew that such a weak balance was like the nuclear chain balance of the Earth. When everyone had the power to destroy everything, nobody dared to act too rashly. If they were to make a reckless move, everyone will lose everything.


    "Just give up, your plan has failed," Garen said calmly. "As long as one of the Perpetual Motioner is not trapped, they can still easily destroy the entire energy machinist planet. In the end, everyone will lose everything."


    His words showed a slight hint that he would like to compromise. People cannot defy the overall trend, but they can make changes in somewhere small. If the energy machinists do not extinct, the contradiction will not be resolved while Garen''s aim was to protect something within his capabilities. That was it.


    The fall of energy machinist was the choice of the generation and it cannot be avoided. Therefore, he had no choice but to protect himself.


    Everyone''s gaze was fixed on Chinande. His decision at the moment will determine whether all the experts will fight or call a truce. If they were to start fighting, all the Level Nine experts present will not be able to back out from it. This battle will without a doubt destroy the entire Planet Naga.


    The destruction of Planet Naga will most likely trigger a space storm in the inverse space area.


    Not to forget that Planet Naga existed in a special environment, it was located in the Inverse Space instead of the Positive Universe. Everything will be the exact opposite compared to the Positive Universe.


    It was surrounded by violent space storms. Anyone could be in danger if they were not careful.


    The stagnant airstreams were intertwined with the force field of all the experts present. Even the smallest space particle would not be able to pass through this place. Excluding force fields, everything else will be repelled. The Level Nine experts'' tens of thousands fold of gravitational forces were intertwined together. All of them were concentrated on Chinande and the few of them. Whereas the strong qi''s dynamic of the Double-Faced Man and the remaining Level Ten experts were fixed on Chinande. They dare not lose focus for even a second.


    As a Royal Star, Chinande was far greater than any other Perpetual Motioners. If he were to start fighting recklessly, the rest of the people might not be able to win.


    However, this was a special situation.


    "Make your decision, Chinande." Garen sounded as though he had everything in control. The situation played out just as he had expected. Be it inside or outside the light pillar, it was almost the same as he expected.


    "The only thing that I can''t figure out is that you would actually gather people to make a move on me. Moreover, you actually see me as a target? I don''t understand." Garen stated his doubts.

 1134 Beyond the Plan 2

    At this moment, the ground and sky had already been completely cleared. The entire city within their sight was entirely empty and it was dead silent. Garen''s voice echoed slowly and gave people a tangible feeling.


    "Wraith Royalty, it''s just you alone now..." Chinande said lightly.


    "Wraith Royalties!!??" After he said that, it caused a commotion among the rest of the people.


    Garen was actually a Wraith Royalty!? What was that? The Wraith Royalties was the noblest race in the history of the universe. They were born with an extremely gifted power. After they become an adult, they will reach the Inherited Level and possess an Inherited Level wounding power. Before humans and the Finite People had grown stronger, they ruled a corner of the Milky!


    They were the oldest and strongest clan! They also had a magnificent glory and history!


    They were the ruler of the previous generation and they signified the ancient nobles. Most importantly, the Wraith Royalties were at the Finite People''s side! Both parties joined forces to turn against the humans!


    "Unfortunately, I have now confirmed that you are definitely not Jeros," Chinande said in a low voice. "You don''t even know that your sister, the Wraith Monarch, is challenging the White King. Do you think anyone would believe that you are a Wraith Royalty?"


    "Why does it matter if he''s a Wraith Royalty or not?" The Double-Faced Man said indifferently. "It''s fine as long as we know that he is standing on our side!"


    "Talk after you''ve solved the current problem!" The four-armed woman sneered. "Chinande, this is not even your actual body. Be sensible and leave, or I, Torona, will not have mercy!!"


    "The Forest Light Holy Child, Torona? A Level Ten Holy Child is indeed very troublesome. However, it''s solely just troublesome." Chinande reached out his hands and stretched it lightly.


    Instantly, a blinding white light ball started expanding from his palms and rapidly exploded in all directions.


    "He actually dared to make a move!!" Garen was surprised. It was just his clone, but he dared to make a move against five Level Ten experts!!


    "Chinande! Are you crazy?!" The Double-Faced Man said furiously.


    "I''m not crazy. It''s a pity that you all missed a point. I don''t need any Energy Mechanists'' resources..." Chinande smiled slightly for the first time. "Goodbye... all of you."


    Sss!!!


    The radius of the incomparably dazzling white light expanded instantly and swept through everyone. It frenziedly flew towards all directions. All the surrounding buildings were sliced in half by the white light as if it was being cut up by a big, sharp blade. The surface of where the buildings were cut in half was as smooth as a mirror.


    Everyone gradually began to resist the force field. However, the more they resisted, the larger the amount of Star Core Power was drawn. It caused the entire Planet Naga to shake violently.


    "No, stop using too much power. Otherwise, it will trigger a space storm and everyone will die!!" Torona shouted. Even though she was a woman, no one treated her like a woman because she had a rougher voice than a man.


    "We''ll die faster if we don''t resist!!" The Double-Faced Man said furiously.


    One after another terrifying force field light rushed into the sky. The massive Star Core Power was like the transparent tentacles of a jellyfish which constantly drilled out of the surface of the planet. It poured into the body of all the Level Nine and Level Ten experts present to help them resist the sharp white halo.


    But, the more they extracted, the entire Planet Naga shook even harder.


    At the moment, if someone were to look at Planet Naga from the outer space, they will see rings of thin, white ripples spreading from a center. The ripples spread directly to the entire surface of the planet and formed extremely huge white rings.


    Several colorful light pillars intertwined together in the middle of the ring and rushed into the sky. It directly shot towards the black space storms outside of Planet Naga.


    Bang!!


    A satellite which orbited around Planet Naga was shattered by this massive rainbow light pillar. It caused a large number of metal fragments to spatter. The colorful light pillar went through it and directly hit the black space storm behind!


    Bang...


    A loud gloomy sound was heard from the black storm. The space storm was like a black ink tide surrounding Planet Naga, constantly tumbling around violently. The rainbow light pillar struck it. It was as though a drop of water fell into a pot of boiling oil, instantly disrupting its fragile balance.


    A gigantic, loud rumbling sound could be heard continuously. Suddenly, a large amount of black ink-like dark clouds flooded in through the crack made by the light pillar. Dark clouds rushed into Planet Naga.


    ****************


    "Go!!" Garen roared with a low voice through voice transmission. He took the lead and rushed into the sky.


    At that moment, the faded creation force field kept him from being confined. Instead, he devoured the energy of the attack and rushed into the sky.


    The remaining Level Nine and Level Ten parasites were fighting against the people from the North Pole.


    Chinande ignored him. Since the balance was broken, the space storm will arrive soon. If they do not retreat, they will all die right there.


    All the experts present were experienced and farsighted. They rushed into the sky without needing Garen''s reminder. They went to search for a dimensional Long Distance Space Jumping Tool.


    Garen flew into the sky without caring what was happening to the Double-Faced Man and the rest of them. It was already good enough that he gave them a reminder.


    His body figure shot towards the Union light pillar like a flash of lightning. Garen had estimated the time accurately. Just as he flew towards there, he felt the light pillar getting weaker. With a slight force, the red light pillar in front of him tore apart like a cloth. It exposed an opening to the inside of the pillar.


    There was another Chinande inside. The Backlight Holy Lord and a white-haired old man were standing together. The Black Blade Holy Lord was confronting two Level Ten experts and both parties'' qi''s dynamics were intertwined together. As soon as an opening was being torn open, the horrifying pressure from the qi''s dynamic turned into actual transparent blades and shot towards all directions.


    Sss!


    The blades that flew towards Garen were being naturally devoured soundlessly.


    "It''s you!" It seemed as though the Chinande inside the pillar did not know what was happening outside. When he saw Garen, he was slightly confused.


    Without saying a word, Garen reached out his hands and grabbed the Union key. The key was currently in the hands of Backlight.


    "Give the Union to me!" It was the first time in a long time since Garen broke out with his full strength without holding back.


    "Destructive Fist!!"


    The violent force field around him was distorted and started vibrating. His horrifying force field instantly elevated into an abnormally powerful level, causing the surrounding red light pillar to spread open as though there was an explosion.


    With a loud bang, Garen flew towards Backlight. It seems as if he turned into a mountain with his oppressive unmatched enormous force field.


    "Don''t even think about it!!" Pasym who was standing beside Backlight sneered coldly and raised his hands to block Garen.


    But right at that moment, the other two examiners actually let loose of their qi''s dynamic. By doing so, Black Blade''s qi''s dynamic went straight to Backlight who was heavily injured. At the same time, the both of them made a move and directed their qi''s dynamics towards Backlight to keep him oppressed.


    "Dean, give it to him! We must retreat immediately!" One of the old men transmitted a voice message. "Planet Naga will be destroyed soon! This is the overall trend!"


    The look on Pasym''s face did not change. He continued to stretch out his hands to grab Garen.


    Boom!


    Suddenly, something on his body exploded. This explosion disrupted this power and he was rapidly weakened.


    The force field on top of Garen was weakened along with the loud bang.


    "Go!!" Garen transmitted a voice message to the two examiners. The reason why the two of them were able to reach Level Ten was due to the distribution of his Distorted Seed. The reason why the old dean appeared here was that the two of them were spreading the news. They were part of the plan that was arranged by Garen.


    The force field did not harm the elderly dean the slightest. Its speed decreased quickly and wrapped around the key in the Backlight Holy Lord''s hand. Then he flew into the air once again and left through the opening of the light pillar.


    After Garen got what he wanted, he left without any hesitation. Everything was done.


    Dark Light and the people from the Scarlet Snow Sect had left in advance using the jump portal. At that moment, they should be back in Planet Scarlet Snow already. They should begin to migrate along with the entire sect.


    They could no longer stay among the human race.


    Since energy machinists could no longer co-exist peacefully with the pilots, all they could do was retreat and wait for the right time.


    To rebuild Scarlet Snow Sect, they will not need to blindly rush into a battle. Instead, they should have the ability to protect themselves during a crisis.


    After the Energy Machinist extinction, it will be the White King''s battle of unity. The flames of war will spread all over the place and there will be changes in the overall trend that will last for hundreds of years.


    What Garen wanted to do was to avoid the limelight, rest and build up his strength. To strengthen Snow Sect and set up an empire that will last for generations was not just a lot of talk. Together with the Union key, the Scarlet Snow Sect will be able to rapidly increase the potential strength of the elite disciples. After resting and building up their strength, they will definitely surprise everyone during their next reappearance!


    By that time, it will truly be a brilliant achievement.


    As Garen flew into the sky at a high speed, he felt the sky getting darker and darker. A countless amount of ink-like clouds gradually invaded the atmosphere of the entire Planet Naga.


    Most of the people below did not know what was happening. They raised their head to look up at the odd changes in the sky.


    During an outbreak of a war, the ordinary citizens were the innocent bystanders. When the higher-ups were in a battle, they did not even have the chance to escape. All they could do was to wait for their death. When the space storm arrives, all the people will be completely killed.


    Sss!


    A black round ball suddenly expanded right in front of Garen. The intense aura of the Void Battlefield was filling the air.


    Garen turned around one last time to look at this chaotic planet. More and more black clouds gathered in the sky and the ink of the space storm frenziedly dyed the surface of the planet. It gradually pierced through the atmospheric layer and the magnetic field of the earth. It was as though devils were being released, rushing straight down onto the ground.


    "This could be the end of the world mentioned in the fairy tales¡­" Garen knew that other experts might have their own means to escape. However, those below the Non-Falling Level will be in trouble. In the end, he was not able to prevent the destruction of the planet. Nonetheless, he had achieved two of his targets. The two Holy Lords who were supposed to die in the original overall trend were still alive. Moreover, there was not supposed to have that many Perpetual Motioners. There were so many of them now and they will be able to divert the attention of the pilots. This will increase the chances of survival for Scarlet Snow Sect.


    He took one last look at this prosperous, urban planet.


    "Goodbye, Planet Naga."


    He stepped into the black round ball. After a burst of rainbow flares, Garen''s body was frozen.


    The first thing that he saw right after he regained his sight was not the deserted plains of the void battlefield. Instead, he saw a gorgeous, white towering palace. The figure of a young man dressed in white had his back facing him. He stood by the fencing around the palace while he overlooked the scenery outside.


    "Welcome, the Destiny Destroyer."


    The young man dressed in white turned around with a gentle and pure smile on his face.


    "White King..." Garen''s pupils constricted instantly.

 1135 Confinement 1

    Garen''s skin instantly tightened. An extremely great sense of threat gushed out of the soul seed inside his mind. How could it be!!? What happened!?


    He should have gone straight to the void battlefield! The people of the Scarlet Snow Sect were waiting for him there. How did he teleport to the White King''s headquarters in the North Pole!??


    He could not understand what was happening. His mind was a mess and he was caught off guard by the sudden dramatic change.


    The White King! He was the terrifying being that dominated more than half of the galaxy! He was the best of the Regent Level!


    Garen was just an ordinary Level Ten Perpetual Motioner! It would be as easy as killing an ant if the White King wanted to kill him.


    The gap between the both of them was too big. It was utterly incomparable!


    Garen tried very hard to calm himself down. However, he could not stop his heart from beating rapidly.


    "According to what you''ve gone through, all the sudden changes and climaxes, coupled with my judgment, 25 percent of your real name is Nonosiva, 6.2 percent is Jeros, and above 60 percent is Garen." The White King looked like an ordinary young lad with a very pure smile. His skin was delicate, like a good milk-flavored jelly. His serene eyes seemed to be smiling. It felt as though he was smiling constantly.


    "Am I right?"


    Garen''s heart tightened once again.


    "What¡­ do you want to do?" It was the first time that he felt his voice was so hoarse.


    Even though the White King had not reached his prime yet, he was still far from someone who Garen can compete against.


    "You''re not the only one who saw Destiny..." The White King answered in a low voice, while still smiling.


    The entire white palace was surrounded by an endless amount of nebula vortex. A large number of meteorites were revolving around the palace at a high speed. This place was like the Eye of The Storm. It was extremely violent on the outside but peaceful on the inside. He could tell that this was the center of a huge meteorite whirlpool. However, he did not know he was located in which part of space. Being isolated by an endless amount of powerful whirlpools, this place was like a different world. An average expert will not even be qualified to enter this place.


    "Everything in the world has a definite number. You and I are also involved in it. Many years later, I will be killed by the Red King, even though he will become my only bosom friend in the future. However, that is fate." The White King lifted his head to look at the rotating meteorite flow. One after another huge gray meteorite flew across the top of his head with a tremendous sense of oppression. It seemed as though it might hit on this palace any time.


    After Garen realized that the White King did not seem to have any plans on making a move, he relaxed slightly.


    "If you knew that you will die in the future, why not make a move in advance?"


    "That is my destiny..." The White King revealed a pure smile. "I was born to follow my destiny."


    Garen knew the dream of the White King. He wanted the world to be free from struggles and war.


    Since he had seen the overall trend, he would have understood that after the Red King killed him, the human race will unite. After that, there will be an unprecedented prosperity and peace which will last for a very long period of time...


    "Since I''m disobeying destiny, how are you going to deal with me?" Garen asked calmly.


    "Initially, I was going to kill you." The White King said softly. "However, after seeing you, I am hesitant."


    "You''re hesitating?" Garen secretly sighed in relief. "Why?" Nobody would want to die if they were given a chance to stay alive.


    In fact, he did not agree to the ideals of the White King. The Universe and the Milky Way were way too big. All the Finite People along with the human race only occupied two nebulae. All of them only ruled tens of thousands of habitable planets and hundreds of thousands of inhabitable planets.


    That looked like a huge number. However, compared to the size of the hundreds of billions of stars and countless nebulae in the Milky Way, it was like a small crevice at the side of a pond.


    They had already discovered hundreds of billions of galaxies about the size of the Milky Way in the Universe. Each one of them had hundreds of billions of solar systems. It was a terrifyingly huge scale, let alone those that have yet to be discovered. Moreover, there might be another Universe other than this Universe.


    In a mere human-mech civilization, a regent level expert who was able to destroy a planet was just as common as a drop of water in the vast sea.


    Either way, he still respected the White King for going as far as becoming a martyr just for his dream.


    "That is because you''re not the same as what I thought you would be¡­" The White King said gently. "I''m a rational man. You''re destined to die in the hands of Chinande, so you shouldn''t be killed by me."


    "Didn''t you choose to resist your destiny?" Garen asked. "Why did you accept it now?" He tried to start a new topic, but he involuntarily brought that up.


    After hearing what he said, the White King shook his head.


    "Since destiny is going towards the overall trend that I long for, why should I change it?" He replied with a smile.


    He stopped looking at Garen and walked towards the stone steps leading to the Palace Square and started to walk down the steps.


    Garen looked around him. It was utterly deserted and empty. There were vague traces on the ground from the aftermath of a battle. The entire place was filled with dents and openings.


    He glanced at the White King, who walked further and further away. Then, he chose to keep up with him.


    On the long stone steps of the white palace, the both of them were like two small dots which slowly moved downwards one after the other.


    After they walked to the bottom of the stone stairs, the White King walked to a blood-colored gravestone that stood on the ground obliquely. He stood still and reached out his hands to gently touch the texture of the gravestone as if he was caressing his lover.


    Stopping behind him, Garen frowned looking at him. He did not know what the White King was planning to do.


    "You know what?" The White King suddenly said.


    "?"


    Garen stared at him quietly and waited for him to continue.


    "I twisted destiny with my own hands so that it is how it is now..." The White King said calmly.


    "What are you planning to do by catching me here?!" Garen frowned and said in a low voice.


    "Have you heard of a saying?" The White King turned around and smiled. "One day in Heaven is one year on Earth..."


    He lifted his finger and sparkles of gold shimmer lighted upon his fingertips.


    As the faint light scattered, Garen found that anything below his legs was frozen on the ground.


    It was not a block of ice that froze him, but an extremely clear, dark gold crystal.


    Crack...


    The dark gold crystals grew slowly and crawled up to Garen''s legs as if they were living organism. It continued to spread out to other regions. It absorbed the cold air that released naturally from Garen''s body and became powerful rapidly.


    "This is!!?" Garen tried to move his legs, but the power of the crystals was extremely strong. "Gold Void Crystals...! The strongest confinement substances?"


    This idea flashed through his mind. Garen soon felt his body losing control. The more he struggled, the faster the dark gold crystals spread. Soon, it covered his chest and was about to trap his throat.


    Icy cold...


    Ever since Garen learned the Hellfrost Peacock Technique, it was the first time that he felt cold.


    A piercing icy cold chill constantly tried to penetrate to the deep parts of his skin and bones.


    Chi!!


    The shadow of the Hellfrost Peacock struggled and wailed behind Garen. Then, it let out a final scream. Numerous white ice crystal vines tried to spread behind Garen and form a giant ice net to assist him.


    However, nothing can act as a leverage in the void.


    "Do you know that?" The White King lifted a finger once again. "A lot of people address me as the Absolute Distortion..."


    The dark gold shimmer disappeared.


    Boom!!


    All the ice crystal vines shattered. It turned into countless white light spots and gradually fell onto the ground.


    Garen was completely sealed in the dark gold crystal. He was not able to move and all he could do was stare at the White King with his eyes wide open. The terrifying force field around his body constantly tried to condense. However, it was being disrupted by an odd distortive power. Each time his force field tried to condense, it will be broken up.


    Even the power of his soul seed was completely destroyed by his distortive power. Everything inside Garen was in a mess.


    "Distortion... this was an absolute concept! As long as you''re within this area, all the living things will only have one concept, and that is distortion..." The White King explained quietly. "Without your own concept, it will be pointless no matter how you struggle."


    As usual, he had a pure smile on his face.


    "You shall stay here and quietly wait for the arrival of your destiny..."


    He turned around and slowly walked towards the upper part of the white palace. His figure gradually went further. He slowly disappeared in the stone steps and he was nowhere to be seen.


    Garen looked at the direction where the White King left through the crystal. Only until he completely left, his distortive power weakened slightly.


    "Distortion, huh?"


    He tried to condense the Hellfrost Peacock Technique to restore its body. However, the Living Secret Technique could not absorb the void power from outside through the crystal. There was a huge devouring force that continuously absorbed the chill air from his body.


    Along with the devouring power, the massive accumulation of chill air on Garen''s body was declining rapidly.


    Pop!


    A blue silk string that was trying to reach out from his palm immediately exploded and broke.


    "This is troublesome...!" Garen''s heart sank as he felt like he might be in danger. "The devouring power is not that strong. It''s considered weak compared to mine. However, because of this distortive power, I am unable to condense my devouring power!!"


    At the moment, he had confirmed that the White King had no intention of killing him. However, because he was stronger than the White King had expected, he might change the overall trend. Therefore, he was being confined here to wait for his inevitable future.


    "If the White King did not lie to me... then this should be a place with an unlimited fold of gravitational force... the gravitational force here can even distort and change the flow of time. The so-called one day in Heaven is one year on Earth... So he was planning to do this..."


    Garen seemed to have understood the White King''s plan.


    At that moment, he looked outside through the crystal. The meteorites on the sky seemed to have moved faster and it was gradually speeding up.


    Suddenly, several streams of light descended from the sky and headed directly towards the white stone steps. Soon, it arrived at the stone steps and flew towards the surrounding meteorites.


    There were white and blue streams of light. It seemed as though there were shadows among it. However, it was impossible for Garen to see clearly with his vision.


    The stones on the ground around the crystal started cracking and gradually became smaller. Finally, it turned into sand particles and condensed into the soil under the moist water vapor.


    Boom!


    Shooting stars of various sizes fell from the sky. The larger shooting stars repeated the process once again and turned into soil.


    Gradually, Garen felt that the soil around the crystal was getting higher and greater. It rose up from the bottom of the crystal and quickly reached his waist, almost drowning half of his body.


    After seeing all these changes, Garen finally realized something.


    "As expected, he even distorted time..."


    He felt as if only a few hours had passed through the crystal. However, it seemed as though a long time had gone by outside of the crystal...

 1136 Confinement 2

    Time ticked away... Garen could feel his strength weakening.


    He was quickly drained from Level Ten and soon reached Level Nine...


    Level Nine was also rapidly absorbed and directly dropped to Level Eight...and Level Eight was rapidly weakening.


    "This is his purpose?" Garen calmly pondered the countermeasures. "If it weren''t for that distortive power which interfered with my condensing strength, how could this devouring force be compared to mine?"


    Level Eight quickly weakened and the time on the outside world flew by swiftly.


    Garen finally fell back to Level Seven.


    "Am I going to bow out this way!?" Garen was starting to get anxious. Watching one''s own strength declining rapidly, anybody would become increasingly restless too.


    He was not afraid of death, but he could not resign himself to it!! Being inexplicably confined by the White King, not accomplishing anything yet, and being deterred before he could truly unleash the powerful strength he had, this indescribable feeling of grievance and repression made Garen even more dissatisfied.


    "Stay calm¡­only by staying calm can I find a way!" Garen forced himself to calm down and carefully looked for possible ways to break through.


    Hiss...


    While in reverie, Garen suddenly realized that the dark golden crystal around him was actually slowly releasing a subtle hissing sound.


    Not knowing when did it started, traces of dark golden airstream began to flow inside the crystal.


    As time went by, the airstream in the crystal began to gradually condense, forming a fuzzy misty mass like a snake.


    "This is?" Garen was stunned.


    Hiss hiss...


    The serpentine air mass twisted its body and became clearer, swimming slowly in the dark golden crystal.


    A faintly familiar yet unfamiliar aura rose from the body of the snake and spread into Garen''s Soul Seed Ring. It immediately caused subtle waves of ripples.


    "This is...Void Creature!!" Garen suddenly recalled the essence of this aura.


    *******************


    The outside world


    One hundred and fifty years later...


    In a red desert, a white figure walked slowly and steadily on the sand, leaving a deep footprint and another shallow footprint. The figure held a long crutch in his hand. He was barefooted, exposing his dry and darkened instep skin.


    A slender curvy shadow constantly moved around his feet and slowly swam in the sand. Even though the sun in the sky was bright and hot, one could only see the fuzzy outline of the shadow. It was a rope-like thing.


    "The Energy Machinists have been extinct for more than a hundred years! Why is the environment still this bad? Didn''t they say the root cause of the environmental pollution has been resolved? This group of warmongers who only knows how to bluff!"


    The figure raised his head, revealing a dry, dark, old face.


    Some parts of his cheeks were scorched, leaving some white patches of skin as if they had been smeared with flour.


    After complaining a few sentences, he lowered his head and touched the black rope below. The rope was also very cooperative, willingly raised what was considered as the head for him to caress.


    "Such a good child. Come on, help your dad to see where to find water next!" The old man was talking to the rope like a pet.


    The rope actually seemed to understand him. It circled the ground, raised its head and began to shake it for some unknown purposes.


    Suddenly, a shadow flashed through in the sky, fleeting swiftly past the old man''s overhead.


    Whoosh!


    "Huh?" The old man lifted his head and looked puzzlingly above his head. There was nothing at all. "Looks like I''m so thirsty that I''m having auditory hallucination¡­"


    He again lowered his head and stared at the snake-like dancing movement by the rope.


    Whoosh!


    Another dark shadow flashed past him, like a big bird zooming over his head.


    The old man looked up sharply and still saw nothing.


    "What the hell!!" He muttered.


    Just when he lowered his head once more.


    Whoosh!


    Another dark shadow flashed by.


    Almost instantaneously, he immediately looked up but was still a step slower. The sky was empty as if it was ridiculing him that his movements were too slow.


    "Sh*t!"


    He cursed and bowed his head.


    Whoosh!


    This time, he looked up instantly and there was nothing at all in the sky but blueness. The hot and blazing golden sun made people unable to open their eyes.


    Lowering his head.


    "Ha!" He immediately looked up again but nothing flashed by. "Could it be that I really have an illusion?" He touched his face and gave up wasting time here. He looked down at the rope.


    Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh!!!


    In an instant, countless dark shadows flashed past overhead.


    The old man and the rope were startled and he flopped down onto the hot sand, looking up quickly. But all he saw were countless black silhouettes like that of big birds fleeting with lightning speed above him.


    "You can''t run away, Clint Beza!!" A cold woman''s voice came down from the sky.


    "No one can stop me from going anywhere in the Milky Way!!" Another arrogant man''s voice sounded throughout the sky.


    "After robbing my Scarlet Mourning Hall''s treasure, you still dare to come back to Mars. I really don''t know if you are conceited or stupid!" The woman''s voice teased. "Perhaps you really thought that Baylon would come to your aid? Just give up. The two great Spirit Officers from my Scarlet Mourning Hall had already gone ahead to intercept and finish her off. Even the Almighty Woman, Baylon, is not likely to come back alive!"


    "What a joke! Do I still need reinforcement? Is there something wrong with your brain or are you having a brain fart?! Do you speak without observing the situation?"


    The sky was suddenly clear. All the dark shadows stopped instantly. One of the dark shadows removed its hood, revealing a young man''s handsome face. Behind him was a vaguely transparent stream of transparent particles. It was this stream of particles which helped him to achieve a high-speed flight.


    Opposite the man was five women''s figures, headed by a splendid blond with blue eyes. She held a large, silver-white laser cannon in her hand, her stony face was full of murderous intention.


    "Stupid Martians!" The man opened his mouth and lambasted. His savage expression made people want to beat him up. "Put down your weapons and surrender! You have been surrounded by me!!"


    The man wrapped his arms around himself made a confident posture.


    This immediately caused the five people on the opposite to react as if they were confronted by a great enemy. They became alert and observed the surroundings, carefully watching out for the dangers which could arise around them.


    The hot wind was still ravaging. There was nothing but silence in the desert.


    The expression on the man''s face seemed to be not able to hold it out anymore. His face twitched a few times and he quickly glanced around. Still unable to see his ambushing companion, he immediately panicked.


    "Another empty threat?!" The blonde-haired blue-eyed woman glanced around and when she did not find any threats, she immediately settled down. "Did the ambush you mention referred to that good-for-nothing on the ground?"


    She moved her arm.


    Zzzz!


    A thick white laser was suddenly shot downward.


    It was aimed at the black thin old man who had slumped to the ground in fear.


    Such laser cannon caliber was enough to melt several meters of alloy steel plate in seconds with just a simple shot. How could an ordinary desert traveler resist such a large-scale sophisticated weapon?


    The old man only felt a white radiance on top of his head. In a trice, there was an intense barbecue-like heat coming down on him from the head to the toe.


    Zzzz...!


    Only then did the prolonged laser sound slowly drift over.


    "Killing the innocent indiscriminately, die!" At the same moment, a cold female voice rang out in the man''s ear.


    "Unparalleled Sword."


    The expected hot scalding did not come. Instead, it was an icy coldness which was so cold that it could cut through the heart.


    A beautiful woman dressed in white stood in front of the man. She held the sword in one hand and blocked the lasers completely. Numerous white spots of light were continuously sliced and shattered, turning into solid-like ice cubes and falling to the ground.


    "Peacock!" The woman''s voice was also cold and filled with a killing intention.


    Zzzz Zzzz Zzzz Zzzz...!


    Four consecutive slicing sounds like that of a lightning.


    The figure of the woman with a ponytail had leaped up high and landed on another spot on the sand.


    "You!!" The blond-haired blue-eyed woman in the sky shuddered as she stared at the woman on the ground. "Almighty Woman!! The two Spirit Officers couldn''t even..."


    Pooh!


    A blood hole suddenly opened up at the throat of the four figures behind her. They crashed to the ground like fluttering black butterflies, splashing broken bits of sand waves.


    "Spirit Officer?" The ponytail woman lifted her icy and pretty face and opened her hand. There were two blood-stained delicate scarlet rings in her palm. "Do you mean this?"


    Without any hesitation, the blonde spun around and fled. Her figure turned into a dark shadow and flew towards the distant with lightning speed.


    "Unparalleled Sword..." The ponytail woman once again raised her rapier. "Die!"


    A silver-white sword-light twisted and caught up with the opponent, penetrating the blonde woman''s back without any hindrance and exiting from the chest, bringing out a large bloody shower. Only then did it quickly flew back into the ponytail woman''s sword.


    "I''m becoming less than you..." Clint came to the woman''s side with a look of pain in his face.


    "Let''s go." The ponytail woman ignored him, kept her sword and was ready to leave.


    Clint looked at her back and felt helpless.


    "Since the death of Big Brother, you have been constantly like this. It''s been so many years, can''t you let it go? Energy Machinists have been extinct for more than a hundred years. We will definitely take revenge for Big Brother, but you..."


    "I''m different from you." The ponytail woman stopped in her tracks, but she did not turn around. "You do not understand."


    "Baylon."


    Clint looked at the other party''s original black hair which was already mixed with some white color. As a powerful pilot who had integrated with one''s Mech, white hair was already appearing in just a hundred or so of age. One could imagine how much pain the other party was in. How did she live through this past hundred years? Perhaps only she herself knew.


    "Sacrificing life in exchange for power, is it really worth it?"


    "I think it''s worth it." Baylon did not look back and walked away.


    With her family gone, she could still look up to her older brother. Now that her older brother was gone, there was no one else to depend on. When she first received the news, it was such a huge blow to Baylon that she went berserk.


    From the outbreak of his terrific strength in Scarlet Snow Sect to older brother changing his name to Garen, leading Scarlet Snow into the highest level and bringing the people of Scarlet Snow to flee, when she finally received the grievous news and that Scarlet Snow was mourning for him, all of Baylon''s pillars instantly collapsed.


    In this world, her last family member had also died. He had died in the conspiracy of White King. After waking up, what had left in her heart was only an endless hatred ¨Ca hatred towards White King!

 1137 Variable 1

    Nebula border, Public Galaxy R-Wasteland.


    In the dull cosmos, everything was dark. Only Public Galaxy''s sole star, Evallier, was still emitting a soft gigantic golden glow.


    Whoosh!


    Suddenly in the void, there appeared a circular ring made up of metal sheets. Each metal sheet was a few kilometers long and resembled a sharp bone spur. They were arranged together and continuously rotating, forming a huge dozens-of-kilometers ring.


    In the silence, a transparent distortion emerged in the middle of the ring.


    Hiss...


    A disk-shaped grey-black spaceship slowly emerged from the middle.


    The spaceship was like a black mushroom with a dense array of folds on its surface and had a metal statue of an old man in a robe erected on the top. At this moment, the eyes of the statue were clearly shining a white light. They were like a searchlight, illuminating the surrounding environment one by one.


    On the side of the spaceship, in a scallop-type window among the numerous folds, one could see two bald-headed man and woman standing shoulder to shoulder, quietly watching everything on the outside world.


    Both of them looked indifferent and solemn from the windows. Their heads were bare and a few pieces of silver metal were implanted on it, giving off the sense of a Modified Human and Robotic Human.


    "Is there any news from Finite that side? Evan." The bald man looked out of the window and asked solemnly.


    "What news do you want?" The bald woman Evan wrapped her arms around her chest. A silver metal antenna extended from the back of her head. The bottom of the antenna continually spread out blue electric arcs to the top.


    It seemed that her body was constantly generating electric arcs and passing them out through the antenna.


    "The General Military Department has sent two legions out. Only one legion is left behind to safeguard the entire Human Race. Prince Thunderbird from Finite''s side will definitely not let go of this opportunity easily. Once there is an accident on the eastern battlefield, the entire Human Race is likely to lose power. We must be extra careful." The man spoke in a low voice.


    "Now, it''s impossible for Thunderbird to free up his forces to deal with this side. Only three of the Twelve Golden Merit Blue Princes are guarding the headquarters. Are they not afraid of our counterattack?" Evan was perplexed.


    "Of course they are. But...do you think they will come to attack us by surprise?" The man asked in reply.


    "This...is unlikely..." Evan shook her head.


    The man suddenly laughed.


    "See? Even you don''t think so. If they act in reverse, then the risk of danger is very high..."


    "But we have Sky Fortress." Evan argued, "We can combine our strengths that are above the Non-Falling Level as one. Even if they come, they won''t be able to break through easily."


    The man shook his head.


    "How many Non-Falling Levels are there? The individual''s strength is not too important now unless the Regent Level personally move in. If I were Chinande, I will come here the first moment to get hold of the key loophole at any time. So long as once a little gap is gotten hold of, then even though we are just a minor clash by the edge, it will still have an extremely serious effect on the overall situation."


    He then looked at the outside world again.


    "Alright. When we reach the destination, call up White Winter and the others. We should go and check it out. We must be swift, make it a quick battle. We will return immediately after positioning the jump."


    "Understand." Evan gave a salute, turned about and left quickly.


    A few moments later, on the mushroom-shaped gray-black fortress, several black triangular metal spaceships flew straight to the Public Galaxy''s only star, Evallier.


    It had been more than a hundred years since the Energy Machinist Extinction. The world was not completely without any Energy Machinists, but as most of the Energy Machinists had lost their legacy due to their levels being too low, they had lost the original powerful strength and became purely auxiliary logistics units.


    The Energy Machinist Sect only existed in the legends and was called the Ancient Energizers, in order to distinguish the current occupation of Energy Machinists. One hundred plus of years was not a long time to the powerhouses. However, to the ordinary people, it was already equivalent to much of their life or a lifetime. The legend of Energy Machinist very soon faded as the years passed.


    After White King defeated the Wraith Monarch and exterminated the Wraith Royalty, it took only a few years for him to unify the entire Finite, thus aiming his spearhead at mankind, who was on the opposite side.


    The real confrontation between the Mother Planet and Finite people finally broke out.


    Among the nine great Royal Star Forces, the most powerful Thousand Pillar King led the other eight Regent-Level mankind to form a formal strategic alliance and jointly fight against Finite''s White King''s wild ambition.


    Throughout these more-than-one-hundred years, Thousand Pillar King and Mo Luo and Mo Guang the two top Regent Levels spearheaded and led the Three Armies in a direct confrontation with Finite''s Twelve Golden Merit Blue Princes. Both sides suffered casualties.


    White King had personally fought for several times but was resisted by the Star Emperors using the Sky Fortress, which was a unique Willpower joint installation. This technology was learned and invented from the data in the hands of the Energy Machinists back then.


    Mankind, whose origin was from Mother Planet, had similar Willpower features. It was like the gene. There were always many common points in the gene strand.


    Finite was different. There were the universal unified ethnic, made up of hundreds of different universal ethnics. The composition was complex. Even if this technology was available to them, they could not apply it too.


    In this way, mankind had Sky Fortress, this kind of joint installation; whereas, the overall strength of the Finite people was much stronger. After the high-level forces from both sides confronted each other in the Inverse Space for a while, no one was able to bring harm to the other party and things had to be halted temporarily.


    After the strategic level of attack and defense had stagnated, the crucial point lied in the stealth warfare which was similar to the boiling frog syndrome.


    War, to a certain extent, was the fight of resources and economy, so the great conflict between the two key communities, which was the conflict of resources, resurfaced once again and became the confrontation point of a new round of war.


    Now, the human army fleet, which had always holed up, took the initiative to attack because it discovered a brand new gaseous mineral planet. Once this planet was occupied, mankind''s increasingly stricken energy crisis would be temporarily alleviated.


    For this reason, the scientists had also named the planet as the Lord of Hope ¨C Cameron.


    And now, this mushroom-like spaceship was headed toward the Cameron Star, which was located in Public Galaxy.


    The news had not spread yet. The Finite people did not yet know that this planet was a rare gaseous mineral planet. The entire planet was full of various types of mineral dust and gas which could be utilized. This was also the key opportunity for the Human Race.


    Therefore, the two legions positioned a similar planet and pretended to occupy it, but the real team that would occupy the planet was secretly moving in.


    The mushroom spaceship slowly went forward. It released several small insect-like flying ships that flew silently toward Public Galaxy. A huge khaki-colored planet over there was spinning slowly, and a huge yellow star ring was suspended at its waist.


    "It''s here! Found it! Haha!!" One of the small flying ships spread out an ecstatic voice. "It is it! Cameron! Hahaha!!" The mad laughter continued.


    "Immediately determine its position. Prepare to extract samples!"


    "The collection knife is ready. Begin."


    Two small flying ships quickly approached the khaki-colored planet. They jumped halfway and quickly crossed a large distance, immediately appearing at the edge of the star ring. They extended their robotic arm and began to collect samples.


    At the same time, a swarm of mechanical bees was densely dispersed. They flew in all directions to detect the surrounding movement at any time.


    The khaki-colored planet rotated slowly as if it had been slowly rotating as such since numerous years ago. The enormous volume was comparable to a star not far away. It was totally unknown why it was confined by the star''s gravitational pull to revolve around it.


    As the robotic arms began collecting, a strange aura gradually diffused all over Cameron Star.


    Above the planet, endless khaki-colored storms raged wildly, and the black spots in it were like fruits hanging in the storm. They were extremely dark and were floating in the void.


    Pooh.


    Suddenly, a black spot exploded and transformed into a dark small hole. It began to devour the surrounding khaki-colored airstream.


    Very soon, a beetle full of compound eyes on its entire body climbed out of the black hole. It lifted its head to raise its ferocious mouthparts and looked into the sky, which seemed to be just in the direction of the acquisition flying ships.


    Hiss hiss...


    The subtle cry began to travel through the storm.


    It was a huge variable which no one had expected. It seemed that it was finally triggered due to an unknown reason¡­


    **********************


    White King''s Central Palace.


    Garen could not remember how long it had been.


    Since he was confined in the crystal, everything in the outside world had become extremely fast. But as time went by, the distortive power finally began to weaken.


    The distorted time was also finally beginning to return to normal again.


    Garen''s concept of time was also turned around again. However, although the distortive power no longer distorted the time, his body was still firmly confined. There was no possibility for the slightest struggle.


    His current strength had been confined and devoured, reducing to Level Seven, the Non-Falling Level. This seemed to be the limit, a point set by White King.


    Garen knew that he hoped he would die in the hands of Chinande in a way that was consistent with history. The time was coming soon. Everything was just waiting for the Battle of Ice Age to break out. That was the time when he would officially meet his death.


    Through the dark golden crystal, Garen vaguely saw that the outside world had accumulated a lot of dust and sand, almost completely burying this Void Crystal of his. Only a glimmer of light vaguely shone from the overhead.


    "Snake, come here." Garen transmitted the voice from his mind.


    Soon, a dark golden snake slowly condensed from the crystal. It wriggled its body and slowly crawled to the front of Garen. The Confining Crystal seemed to have no effect on it.


    Hiss hiss...the little snake made a slight hissing sound as if asking what was up.


    "How much dark energy have you absorbed?" Garen asked bluntly. An aura of the Void Creature, Hellfrost Peacock, was exuded from his body and stirred in the crystal. That immediately made the little snake felt warm and happily spun a few rounds in the atmosphere.


    It generously gaped open its mouth and spit.


    Hiss...


    Large plumes of ink-like dark energy quickly spread within the entire crystal. Only a small part of it came into contact with Garen and was absorbed by the Devourer Ability in his passive body. The other part was wasted and dispersed throughout the crystal, making the crystal stronger and more horrifying.

 1138 Variable 2

    Garen seemed to have accustomed to this kind of life. After absorbing the dark energy, he once again converted it to pure Cold Energy and released it as plumes of substantial white airstream.


    The little snake cheered and rushed over with hissing sounds. It absorbed in a trice all the white Cold Energy released.


    After being refined by Garen, although the Cold Energy was not the most suitable type of energy for the little snake, but compared to the dark energy which contained many impurities, this high-condensation-purity energy suited its appetite more and was more suitable for its growth.


    In its opinion, this big guy in the crystal who could not move was its own mother and friend. This kind of dependency started from a long time ago.


    More than a hundred years'' time was just three months plus at Garen''s place. Both the human and the snake had gotten along this way for two months plus.


    "You want more?" Garen was amused by the little snake''s discontented expression. "Then go and absorb more dark energy...more than seventy percent of the universe is dark energy. It''s infinite. Only you can absorb, collect and condense it into an actual substance."


    Although he knew that this fellow could not understand him, but Garen still transmitted his voice out of habit. When a person was bored, he or she would definitely find ways to kill time.


    The Cold Energy he released was actually only ten percent of the total amount. But even with this, it was enough for the snake to gladly toil for it.


    Watching the snake slowly disintegrated and disappeared into the crystal, Garen''s heart was calm.


    "White King...perhaps you did not expect it too. In the Void dark golden crystal, there actually was the existence of a Void Creature''s egg. And it was not an ordinary egg, but the egg of Dark Shadow Dragon, a void giant beast that ranked even higher than Hellfrost Peacock Queen¡­"


    Even the Dark Shadow Dragon in its infancy would reach the standard of hatching and hatch out after devouring a large amount of Garen''s body strength. It had the inherent ability to absorb dark energy.


    As the third mighty existence in the ranking of Ancient Endor Void Creatures, the Dark Shadow Dragon was also known as the Dark Spirit Dragon, the Dark Night Dragon, the Lord of the Night and so on.


    Although this Dark Shadow Dragon was still very small, if it was not for Garen''s power to incubate it, perhaps it would have died in the crystal and become a fossil after thousands of years. Even if it hatched now, this little dragon might also encounter many terrifying creatures'' attacks and dangers in the process of growing up.


    The current little dragon had little ability, but it had been a very important help to Garen.


    It could provide Garen with very little but extraordinarily precious energy from the outside.


    Garen''s power was confined by the distortive power and could not be used. The crystal had also sealed the path for him to devour and absorb energy from the outside world. He could only rely on this young little Dark Shadow Dragon by continually encouraging it to go out and absorb dark energy in exchange for a strand of the extremely little Cold Energy in his body.


    The Cold Energy released could quickly stimulate the growth of the Dark Shadow Dragon, allowing it to absorb more and darker energy.


    Whew...


    Garen let out a breath slowly. That was the pure Cold Energy converting into a trace of white mist. It moved difficultly and slowly in the crystal.


    By observing the way the Dark Shadow Dragon moved, Garen had already vaguely understood the basic principle of this crystal confinement. Letting go of the little snake''s help, he himself gave impetus to the Cold Energy to move inside the crystal. This was the little of what he had achieved thus far.


    "What is the essence of confinement actually..." Garen was immersed in his thoughts. All this time, he was constantly reflecting and observing the movement of the Dark Shadow Dragon, in order to try to comprehend the most critical hurdle between Level Ten and Regent Level.


    That is the concept of essence.


    This could not be grasped easily grasped. But as time was distorted by the distortive power, Garen could also feel that his thinking speed had become abnormally rapid and horrific. This peculiar phenomenon seemed to be caused by the acceleration of time. Each of his ideas could almost get a rapid answer. After all, every second here was equivalent to a long time on the outside world. This kind of thinking speed was also normal.


    The most crucial part was that the essence of the Void Crystal was actually the Void Creature''s Crystal Core. Moreover, the toughest dark golden crystal was, in fact, the most powerful Void Creature Crystal Core. And it just so happened that one of Garen''s own identities came in handy at this time.


    --- Void Pursuer.


    He was the inheritor of the Ancient Endor civilization and was a powerful hunter who was responsible for hunting and killing Void Creatures. The biggest advantage of this identity was that he could use the Void Crystals, which could not be used by others, to turn it into a powerful driving force for the analysis and deduction of his mind.


    Back then in the Blood Breed World, Garen used the Void Crystal Core to deduce the study of martial arts. Now that his whole body was encased in this dark golden Void Crystal Core, which was the Void Creatures'' strongest crystal core and the probably-ranked-third Dark Shadow Dragon''s crystal core, to Garen, this represented an almost endless resource for analysis.


    At this moment, there was the best concept demonstrator ¨C the young Dark Shadow Dragon. It inherently possessed the essence of the concept of confinement. This crystal was actually its best protective shell, which was equivalent to an eggshell. It was extremely rigid and capable of confining almost everything in the world.


    There was also the best energy reserve for after exhaustion ¨C Void Crystal.


    In addition to the acceleration of time with the help of the distortive power, apart from Garen''s strength dropping at such a significant rate, he really had a unique and excellent secluded environment for cultivation.


    "To get out of the confinement, I must first understand the essence of it." Garen''s mind was spinning slowly. The three Soul Seeds were constantly rotating and releasing traces of the Soul''s Strength. Although the maximum effect could not be achieved due to the distortive power, he was no longer completely immobile as before.


    Closing his eyes slowly, Garen immersed in his thoughts gradually. Every possible analysis was gradually screened out; every terrifically complex computation and inferences were negated one by one; various new possibilities were established repeatedly. New models would continue to be produced and collapsed.


    At this moment, Garen''s computing power had reached an extremely horrific level.


    Suddenly, a thought rolled out in his mind.


    "My Cold Energy has the Hellfrost Peacock''s most terrifying and pure chill, but the Dark Shadow Dragon was not afraid of it at all, and even toiled for it gladly...is it just because the Dark Shadow Dragon is ranked above the Hellfrost Peacock Queen?"


    Various new possibilities once again came into his mind.


    "If, say, a huge distortion or the most extreme distortion fluctuation could speed up the flow of time, then can complete quiescence, which is making all forces completely quiescent, produce absolute confinement?"


    "And in reverse, can absolute confinement produce absolute quiescence? Including the quiescence of time and space?" Garen''s heart skipped a beat.


    After deducing for so long and attempting to grasp all this while, the result was very minimal. But at this moment, the reversed idea which suddenly popped up caused him to faintly have an idea.


    "My Cold Energy can reduce the movement of matter, and it is infinitely close to quiescence, but it cannot really freeze the energy field. All matters are brought together and condensed due to the energy field. It is the balance between the forces of atoms which forms the structure of matter. If I can freeze the energy field, then the matter will cease to exist because of the energy field, but that it will exist due to my freezing. This¡­is no longer the scope which could be affected by temperature¡­"


    Garen continued to generate new thoughts and ideas.


    Looking at the sturdy dark crystal around him, he suddenly had an extremely crazy and bold idea.


    "For me, this crystal plays two roles at the same time. First, the essence of the Void Crystal Core is accelerating my thinking speed. Second, its conceptual essence is confining all my activities. However, this confinement did not reach the point where it affects my soul''s thinking. From this point of view, his concept of confinement is weaker than the concept of accelerated analysis. Perhaps it can be understood that his confinement cannot restrict the accelerating ability granted to me by Mother Stream due to my identity as a Void Pursuer. If all goes well, this should be the distinguishing of the level between the essences of concepts."


    "Void Pursuers use crystal cores to accelerate their thinking, which is a higher level than the Dark Shadow Dragon''s Confinement Power. Interesting...it is a little like the differentiating of the power levels in the myths."


    "If...I crazily strengthen this Confining Crystal and even cause it to reach the highest degree of confinement, will it really confine my consciousness?" A whirl of crazy thoughts sparked up in Garen''s mind.


    "Will it naturally evolve into a balance due to the different concept levels, or will it completely raise the lower-level concept to a higher level?" A brand new model emerged faintly in Garen''s mind.


    The possibility of this model was based on the speculation under his unique conditions.


    If the model was unsuccessful, he might die thoroughly, not even leaving a Soul Seed behind. He would completely perish and be no more. But, if it was successful¡­


    "So, how can we bring the crystal to the height of confining everything?" Garen turned to this question.


    There was only one answer.


    Dark Shadow Dragon...


    Even though the Dark Shadow Dragon was a young dragon, it also had the special ability to shuttle between the Shadow World and the normal world. The shadow energy was actually the so-called dark energy. This was the most extensive force in the universe. And so, compared with the normal world, the Dark World was a more enormous and extensive place.


    What maintained this shuttling capability was derived from a connecting core in the Dark Shadow Dragon itself. This core connected the Dark World and the normal Physical World both sides. As the Dark Shadow Dragon, its most fearful ability came from this core. Regardless of the infant body or mature body, they all have this ability.


    That was self-detonation.


    This was not a simple self-detonation, but it was to completely blast open the fragile balance in the connection core and to completely open the door of the Dark World to the Physical World.


    Garen had read from the inherited knowledge memory of the Ancient Endor civilization that the innumerable Dark World terrifying creatures flocking into the Physical World, and the massive horrific dark energy rushing into the entire Physical Universe was the brief connection of the areas of two different worlds. The Dark World was much bigger than the Physical World. The creatures in it do not need light as they themselves were made up of dark matter. Seeing light was like water encountering fire and a cat spotting a rat. It was even more like humans seeing something which made them fearful; that kind of fearful thing which could destroy them all including life.


    Under such fear and realizing the other party was much weaker than themselves, the end result was that they hysterically want to eliminate light forever.


    "The Dark Shadow Dragon''s self-detonation should temporarily open the door of the Dark World, allowing the entire Dark World''s energy to strengthen this crystal core at the highest speed, completely pushing it to the apex. This crystal core was originally left behind by the Dark Shadow Dragon''s mature body. There should be no problem to return to its peak."


    After finalizing his plan, the only thing left was implementation...


    There was a subtle, killing intention in Garen''s eyes.


    "Snake, come out."


    He transmitted his voice gently.

 1139 Sublimation 1

    The dark golden snake slowly drifted out and converged into a tiny body in the crystal.


    Although it was still a Dark Shadow Dragon in its infancy, it already had some fine black scales and a series of slender, long dragon whiskers on its back. The long, black dragon whiskers were like its hair and they slowly undulated in the crystal.


    The young Dark Shadow Dragon at this moment had a faint reflection of a dragon and was no longer the form of an ordinary snake.


    "Come to me..." Garen exuded a slight aura of goodwill and chill. The Cold Energy he absorbed earlier was once again released by him, covering the surface of his body.


    The young dragon was truly attracted and slithered over hurriedly. The slender body wound one round like a snake and its head leaned against Garen in an affectionate manner. It stuck out its tongue and licked the back of Garen''s hand.


    Hiss hiss.


    It began to carefully devour the Cold Energy as if eating the best grade of food.


    Garen watched it tenderly, constantly emitting his accumulated Cold Energy, letting it devour continuously.


    Apart from being able to slither in the shadows, the young Dark Shadow Dragon''s lethality was in effect not even up to that of a poisonous snake. The only harm it could bring about was the self-detonation of the demarcation point of the two worlds in its body. That was the core which was connected to the Dark World.


    Now, its most dangerous means of protection had become a real deadly threat.


    The invisible Cold Energy continued to spread into the young Dark Shadow Dragon''s body.


    A faint red light gradually appeared in Garen''s eyes and the blood-red glow in them shone onto the young dragon. An extremely sharp chill was released slowly and invaded the young dragon''s body.


    The red light transformed into a big hand and gently stroked the young dragon. The touch was extremely soothing and soft, without any malicious intentions.


    The young dragon also let out a comfortable moan, almost closing its eyes in comfort.


    Suddenly, Garen increased his strength. The strength formed by his Willpower Field instantly seized the young dragon so that it could not escape from his control.


    Hiss!!


    The young Dark Shadow Dragon was pinched by the huge force field strength, and it struggled in desperation, shrieking frantically.


    However, its weak strength simply could not resist Garen who still had the power of a Non-Falling Level. Even the little power Garen had accumulated during this period of time was enough to kill the little things that were not hidden in the shadows.


    The young dragon whined and struggled. Both its eyes were swelling and bulging. Its slender black body was pinched by the energy field in the air, which was getting increasingly tighter and stronger. Numerous black smokes discharged from its body and spread out into the surrounding.


    What Garen radiated from his eyes was not only a glaring red light but also a cold killing intention.


    He watched quietly as the young dragon struggled and pleaded for its life.


    Boom!


    The young dragon finally could no longer withstand it and exploded right away, turning into a cloud of black smoke and floated before Garen in the crystal.


    With a tear, a pale eye suddenly opened from within the black smoke, and the eyeball twitched nervously up, down, left and right.


    Garen looked at the eyeball calmly, his mouth slightly curved up.


    "Come on... All of Dark Shadow. I need your help..." He murmured.


    The white eyeball arched forward slowly. It was impressively grown on top of the head of a pitch-black bird type of creature. The second this black bird with a white eyeball on its head flew out of the black smoke, the first thing it saw was the red light radiating from Garen''s eyes.


    Caw!!


    The Dark Shadow Blackbird immediately made an ear-piercing cry of horror. It seemed to be fearful, and it also seemed to be roaring. It darted at Garen''s eyes without any regard of its own safety, as if it would do its utmost to destroy everything relating to this red light.


    But just as it was separated from the black fog, it was immediately restricted by the power of the crystal. This crystal was the strongest protective shell the Dark Shadow Dragon''s larva used to protect itself during its infancy. At the same time, it was also once the crystal core of some matured Dark Shadow Dragon. The speed and ability to absorb the dark energy were not something that could be resisted by a small Dark Shadow Bird.


    Almost immediately when it thrust forward, the blackbird exploded directly, turning into a vast black fog and was absorbed by the crystal.


    Boom bang!!


    Almost at the same time the blackbird exploded, the black fog violently surged into a large stream of black torrent and rushed toward Garen. It seemed to want to destroy the only source of the red light in the crystal ¨C Garen''s eyes.


    Garen''s mouth gaped open, allowing the massive black torrent to freely dash into his mouth. The ferocious inertial impact of the massive torrent made him trembled slightly.


    Around the torrent were countless more dissipated parts which were rapidly absorbed by the crystal.


    "Come on, come on...give me more...hahaha...!!" Garen felt the long-absent energy in his body increasing more and more. The dark energy was unceasingly being converted into Cold Energy by the Hellfrost Peacock''s devouring essence and madly filling his body which had been dried up for too long. A never-experienced-before kind of joy and satisfaction incessantly overflowed within his heart.


    His eyes widened, and numerous Cold Energy was slowly emanated.


    But what he absorbed was only a small part while a majority of it was absorbed by the crystal. As time progressed, the black torrent grew thicker and more ferocious. Occasionally, one could see some insect organism kind of strange dark shadow stuff mixed in it.


    These black impurities rushed into Garen, and a large number of various toxins also rushed into Garen''s mouth following the impact.


    He did not refuse them but madly swallowed them. The power in his body quickly grew like a dry sponge quickly absorbing all the water around it. These dark energies were second only to the purity of the energy tide he had absorbed. Although ferocious, they were of no harm to him, whose body had been transformed into the Hellfrost Peacock.


    Numerous dark energies were constantly being converted into Cold Energy and absorbed by him. The long-awaited final stage of Hellfrost Peacock Technique had started to progress again.


    Garen stared at the attribute changes within his field of sight.


    ''Secret Technique ¨C ''Hellfrost Peacock Queen is growing: The three Army-Level Soul Seed''s Dimensional Dream Ability has triggered the Hellfrost Peacock''s ultimate form ¨C Hellfrost Peacock Queen''s evolution, but the evolution requires an unimaginable energy growth...progress is now 7%.''


    Ability gained ¨C Peacock Transformation.


    Ability gained ¨C Devoured Energy Field 5.


    Ability gained ¨C Distortive Seed 5.


    Ability gained ¨C Cold Chaos 5.''


    The inexhaustible energy of the Dark World emboldened Garen to devour completely. He allowed the black torrent to gush wildly into his mouth, swallowing big mouthfuls of it. It was almost directly infused into his stomach, was quickly devoured and converted into cold energy, nourishing the growth of the Hellfrost Peacock Queen''s evolution.


    The crystal became more and more solid and countless Dark Shadow energy rushed into it. It was continually strengthening its own solidity in an extremely rapid manner. This kind of strengthening was escalating non-stop, and the Confinement Power was increasingly becoming greater.


    The constant surge of a black torrent, the increasingly solid dark golden crystal, and the blurred human form glimmering red light in both of his eyes in the crystal; all these were hidden in the depths of the ground underneath White King''s palace. No one realized it.


    Time passed slowly...unwittingly, the black fog fluctuated increasingly greater, and it seemed that as time went on, its surging speed would increase continually.


    Garen had gradually forgotten the passage of time...he was only madly devouring again and again. The surrounding crystal was also wildly absorbing the dark energy, and the Confinement Power was becoming more and more powerful.


    The great impact of the dark energy went against the Confinement Power, but it was also being absorbed by the Confining Crystal incessantly, turning into the purest essence power and transforming the disposition of the crystal itself.


    This was a kind of contradictory combination. The crystal absorbed the dark energy to strengthen the Confinement Power, and the Confinement Power gradually started to naturally block the influx of the dark energy, causing the impact of the dark energy against him to be increasingly lesser and lesser.


    When the Confinement Power of the crystal was strong to a certain extent, it would be the time when the dark energy could not rush into the crystal. That would also be the time when Garen could no longer devour the dark energy.


    He did not know how long this demarcation point could hold out. But now, he was watching the progress of the evolution of the Hellfrost Peacock Queen''s ultimate form gradually rising in his Attribute Pane¡­


    7%, 8%, 9%...


    Little by little, the distortive power did not affect time anymore. Garen sensed that his flow of time at this moment was normal. And so, he completely settled down and recklessly competed with the crystal to devour the dark energy. Even the dark matter contained in it was directly converted into Cold Energy by him.


    Unconsciously, he was gradually left with only one thought... devour...


    Without knowing how long it had been, Garen''s consciousness gradually blurred. Even the strongest consciousness would have a time of drowsiness. Unwittingly, he fell asleep...


    ******************


    Endless white space.


    Garen stood alone in a white space, surrounded by nothing. It was all white.


    He looked up. It was completely white above and the edge could not be seen.


    He then looked beneath his feet. There was only white, and it looked very pure. There was nothing around and nothing was to be seen. Apart from white, it was still white.


    "This place is...?" Garen frowned slightly. He clearly remembered that he was still madly devouring innumerable dark energy the previous moment, but he had now suddenly appeared here.


    He lowered his head and saw that he had a red rose in his hand. When he looked up again, he saw a huge, red rose the height of a person which had appeared in front of him unknowingly.


    It was the kind of single rose that was plucked out. Bright and tender, the side of the flower also had a prominent, thick lip. There seemed to be a fuzzy face as well.


    "Hey buddy," the mouth on the rose spoke up. "Do you know one plus one equals two?"


    Garen was stunned.


    "Didn''t you just say that one plus one equals two?" He did not know why he answered this question but just said out the answer naturally. He did not even think that there was anything wrong in speaking to a rose.


    "Hey buddy," the rose spoke again. "Do you know why one plus one equals two?"


    Garen thought for a moment and answered seriously.


    "This is a very complicated question."


    After finishing his words, he ignored the rose and turned about, walking aimlessly towards another direction.

 1140 Sublimation 2

    There was no direction and no distance in the endless white space. Only the voice of the rose that was gradually getting softer behind could be used as a guide so he knew he was indeed moving forward and not walking on the same spot.


    He walked and walked... Not knowing how long it had been, Garen himself almost forgot about time and was just walking unconsciously as such.


    He knew that at this moment, he should be asleep and was probably now in a dream.


    The Ancient Endor civilization and Void Creatures both had the ability to control dreams. Although he was now being distorted and confined, this kind of essence seemed to be more advanced than the two other concepts and so he was still able to control the dream.


    "Disperse."


    He said to himself.


    However, the surrounding space was still white and there was no response. Clearly, this was not a disguise, but the dream itself was white.


    He had not encountered this kind of uncontrolled dream for an extremely long time.


    Many of the things which appeared in dreams were irrational and there was no logical reason for them. However, some things suggested a certain kind of wonderful essence.


    Garen did not know why he dreamed as such, but he was slightly curious. According to logic, as a master of controlling dreams, the identity of Ancient Endor civilization and the Void Creature, Hellfrost Peacock, would not enter into a dream involuntary. There must be something which was subconsciously hinting him, causing him to enter into a dream.


    Not knowing how long he had walked, Garen suddenly saw a swan in front.


    The pure white swan had no variegated color on its body and was almost one with this space.


    What was even more bizarre was that there was only one white swan.


    He was wearing a black tuxedo and had two human legs underneath. One wing was like a palm holding a staff.


    "Young man," the swan''s black beak opened and closed, making a sharp voice. "Do you know where Balloon is?"


    "Balloon?"


    "Yes, it''s the name of a flower," the swan-gentleman turned his staff.


    "I don''t think I know," Garen replied randomly. Just as he was preparing to leave after answering, he found himself stopped by the swan-gentleman.


    "Mother says, we must be honest," Mr. Swan was very angry. His chest continued to rise and fall as his voice became more terrible.


    "I''m sorry," Garen suddenly felt that the entire dream was shaking violently.


    "Baby¡­ Baby, wake up. It''s time for lunch..." A gentle voice seemed to come from the sky and continually stirred in the entire white space.


    Garen was suddenly enlightened. This should be a child''s dream as it was such a simple dream it could only belong to a child.


    He opened his eyes and abruptly awakened. It was still the dark golden crystal before his eyes and he was still in the Void Crystal.


    "It really had been...a very, very long time since I last dreamt..." Garen sighed in his heart. "I almost forgot that I still have this ability... The natural ability as the inheritor of the Ancient Endor civilization¡­"


    "Perhaps it was the advancement of the Hellfrost Peacock Queen''s evolution which led to the dream losing control and so, inadvertently entering other people''s dream."


    "Since the confinement and distortion cannot affect my ability to enter a dream, this may be a good breakthrough point," Garen had a new plan in mind.


    Looking at his own attributes, the degree of completion of the evolution had reached 12% and the solidity of the crystal had reached an unimaginable state. Garen''s current Cold Energy could not be spread out at all, and could only slowly flow under his skin.


    This kind of confinement was still escalating madly.


    Garen continued to devour, while the crystal was constantly enhancing. Everything seemed to have no end.


    Not knowing how long had passed, perhaps a year, perhaps a decade. The surge of the dark energy had gradually lessened more and more. From the size of a person''s head at the beginning, it had reduced to the size of a fist.


    Large amounts of dark fog had just emerged and was absorbed by the crystal.


    Unconsciously, the dark energy that Garen could absorb was getting smaller and smaller but it was getting increasingly purer. The energy that could rush through the crystal was often the purest, most powerful and densely condensed high-density dark energy. This, in turn, gave him a faster advancement speed because the digestion speed was quicker.


    Finally, one day, after devouring an unknown amount of energy, the Hellfrost Peacock Queen''s evolution eventually reached 100%.


    *******************


    Ten years later, in the center of the palace, on the white jade platform which was surrounded by numerous stone columns.


    White King appeared instantaneously and sat directly on a large white stone ball. The stone ball hovered in mid-air it was full of scratches and various ancient patterns and holes.


    After more than a hundred years, White King still had the same young look. There were almost no changes in his appearance.


    Boom!!


    Suddenly, a small muffled sound came from outside of the palace, as if something inexplicable had exploded. A wonderful aura rose and slowly diffused outside the palace.


    White King''s seemingly closed eyes were immediately opened and he looked puzzlingly at the outside.


    His Willpower instantly spanned the palace and extended in the direction of the sound from the outside world. The changes in all these things were present in his spirit. No subtlety was able to be kept from his eyes.


    His Willpower immediately came to the crystal where Garen was at. Everything that was happening inside the crystal directly came into view.


    "Void Crystal..." His eyes narrowed slightly.


    With a swish, his body disappeared from the floating white stone ball right away.


    Outside the palace, the ground surrounded by meteorites was slowly shaking.


    The ground gradually bulged and a dark, irregularly-shaped golden crystal slowly rose from the earth.


    The crystal stone was the height of two people. The center of it was a black vortex rotating at a high speed. It was spewing and emitting large amount of dark fog. There seemed to be a person standing on the edge of the black vortex.


    The figure of White King in a white robe suddenly appeared in front of the crystal.


    He looked face to face with Garen through the crystal.


    He seemed to have realized the change in Garen.


    "Purposely causing a commotion, you are forcing me to kill you in advance..." White King said quietly.


    The surrounding was silent and there was no second person around. A tremendous distortive power slowly vibrated on White King, distorting all the physical laws around, whether it was space or time.


    Numerous meteorites had also slowed down their circling flying speed. The rising distortion from White King''s body turned into a huge transparent giant human outline, enveloping the island in the center of the meteor stream.


    The red light in the human eyes inside the crystal became brighter.


    "You can''t kill me," Garen''s voice transmitted through the crystal. His face was calm. "This will also be a part of fate..."


    In had been ten years. He had absorbed the dark energy for ten years. The Confinement Power of the crystal was completely absorbed and saturated, reaching its peak level. Especially with the boost brought about by Garen, this which was once the Dark Shadow Dragon''s crystal core had been combined with Garen''s Hellfrost Peacock Queen''s Cold Energy. The freezing from the extreme cold was actually a different kind of confinement attribute. When superimposed, it intensified the Confinement Power of the entire Confining Crystal.


    The current Confining Crystal had sublimated to a point close to another kind of essence, which was the most powerful essence of the Dark Shadow Dragon.


    The reason why Garen took the initiative to alarm White King was because it was time to corroborate everything.


    There was almost endless dark energy which had been absorbed by the crystal. At this moment, it was time to witness the Confinement Essence of the crystal and White King''s Distortive Essence and see which concept was the stronger in the end?!!


    "Interesting," White King''s voice softened. He seemed to be more mature than before, but there was a trace of anxiety and coldness between his eyebrows. Although his face was still smiling, it was no longer as firm and pure as it was at first. There seemed to be an additional trace of suspicion instead.


    "We''ll give it a go."


    Suddenly, he reached for the dark golden crystal. He spoke no nonsense.


    On the white slender hand, the blue veins on the back of the hand could be clearly seen.


    Garen heart''s immediately pounded. After so many years of strengthening the confinement, it was now the time to see if the Dark Shadow Dragon''s Confinement Power or the White King''s Distortive Essence was stronger.


    Pap!


    The palm lightly touched the surface of the crystal.


    *******************


    Mars, Red Desert City


    White high-rise buildings formed this huge and bustling desert city.


    The buildings were several thousand meters high and some were directly suspended in mid-air. There were countless space-cars and spaceships shuttling back and forth in between. Their sizes varied and they projected numerous shadows on the ground.


    The ground was completely empty, without any vehicles and there were only pedestrian on the streets.


    Baylon tightened her white windbreaker and walked to the right side of the pedestrian street. She crossed the street lamps one after another and from time to time, the crowded flow of people would bump into her shoulders.


    Obscured and admiring sights would constantly fall on her. They were the complimenting gaze of the men passing by.


    ''The recent outbreak of the anomalous mutated creatures'' upheaval on Cameron Star. According to the news from the latest Alliance expedition, the Science Department has preliminarily determined that there may be a hole in the void which caused the leak of Void Creatures. Such a leaking hole will usually shrink and disappear in two Mars-revolving-years. It is hoped that the people will not worry too much. The number of casualties are currently in the process of being tabulated, and it has not yet been determined...''


    Looking up at the news on the big advertising screen.


    A cold sarcasm was seen in the corner of Baylon''s mouth.


    "What bullshit."


    She tugged her hands in her pockets and quickly accelerated forward in a light and quick motion.


    No one knew the situation better than her. In the first wave of members who had come in contact with Cameron Star, her companion, White Winter, was involved.


    Since the Energy Machinist Extinction, they had all joined the only Star Emperor force ¨C Sawtooth King, who did not lay his hands on the Energy Machinists back then. They were now members of different positions in each army team.


    This round of exterminating Scarlet Mourning Hall''s secret spot on Mars was the mission completed together by Clint and herself.


    As for the rumor of their Regent-Level heritage, it was meaningless to Sawtooth King. Red King was defeated by him back then even though his power was twice as strong, and so he was not bothered at all.


    On the contrary, he had a friendship with the Red King. This matter was a big problem for the general forces but it was a simple, trivial matter for Sawtooth King, who was one of the Nine Emperors of the human beings. As for White King, hardly anyone really knew about the matter of White King targeting Red Moon.


    Baylon took a few steps forward and soon, a green coconut-like spaceship landed and hovered beside her.


    The window opened to reveal a handsome looking face on the inside.


    "Hey beauty, are you interested in going for a ride together?"

 1141 Dreamland 1

    Baylon was dressed in a white windbreaker and a pair of white jeans that outlined her muscle-toned legs. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail and her waist was dressed with a white metallic belt. A hundred over years had brought minor changes to her facial features and a cold alluring demeanor.


    She threw an indifferent glance at the man as though she has never seen this person before. She went about her own business, giving him the cold shoulder.


    "Hey, Colonel Baylon. Don''t be like this. Don''t be so cold, we are best friends, you know? Would it kill to ruin your ice princess status?" The man grinned mischievously as he navigated the vehicle to chase after Baylon.


    "Looking at you is repulsive. Scram!" Baylon remarked straightly, hastening her speed.


    The man was called Owen Lisbe. One of Baylon''s many suitors and the most prominent. He had an extraordinary background. His family connections ran all over the Human Nine Emperor Alliance. Baylon was a colleague from the same bureau.


    Ever since Baylon was transferred to this special tactical bureau, it was love at first sight for him and followed by over sixty years of courtship. Other suitors came and went but only he remained.


    He initially thought that with Baylon, a self-independent elite coming from a mediocre background would be hiding her glee being courted by him who was the second generation of the rich and official family although she looked unfazed. She would probably only be reserved in the beginning. He didn''t think that after all these years, she would never respond to it. However, Baylon''s reacting to it was the same.


    There were so many beautiful women in the sea. Sixty over years of waiting and keeping watch had Owen Lisbe unsure what it was for. His family had pressured him but he brushed it off each time so they then let him be.


    "Am I really a sadist? The more I''m tortured, the more excited I become?" Owen Lisbe grabbed his chin and put on his sunglasses. He glanced at his extremely cool and perfect reflection from the vehicle and nodded with satisfaction. He drove his vehicle to catch up.


    He was not clear on Baylon''s background but no matter what, nobody would be a stronger candidate than he was. He couldn''t be bothered to put too much thought into it. It was all to his fancy.


    "I have the latest news on the Scarlet Snow Sect, want to chat about it?" If cat-calling didn''t work, then he should use his trump card!


    And indeed, right after these words were said, Baylon stopped stepping forward.


    The lady turned around and the shroud of coldness in her eyes deepend.


    "I''ll kill you if you''re joking!"


    Owen Lisbe had cold sweats. He immediately nodded forcefully.


    "How could I? Little ol'' me would not dare kid with Your Majesty," he quickly ingratiated with a huge smile.


    Baylon''s combat efficiently has broken through the horizon. If he, a regular Inherited Level were to raise his sword at her, he could be crippled at any given moment. No joke, two of the Soul Officials of the Scarlet Mourning Hall had died in her hands. Baylon, this young lady was famous for killing without batting an eyelash.


    This was someone who once was coined Beowulf in the special bureau and could tear a large dragon with her bare hands!


    Although the uncles in his family were more powerful than her, if he could get a girl with his familial connections then he would be more than a failure. Owen Lisbe wasn''t a dumb second generation.


    Getting into the vehicle, Baylon did not say a word but stared intently at Owen Lisbe.


    "Don''t be like this... It''s pressuring me..." Owen quickly spilled everything he knew.


    "The people from the Scarlet Snow Sect are proved to be hiding out in a large underground cave in the south of Mars. The hall leader of the Scarlet Mourning Hall is already making his way there. The capabilities of both hall leader and deputy are unclear as nobody has seen them in battle as those that did, died. So it''s best you don''t act rashly!"


    Baylon frowned.


    "And?"


    "And... And nothing else..." Owen laughed awkwardly. "This is the specific map," he transferred the first-hand-obtained map over through wireless.


    Baylon received the map and projected to her retina for a careful look.


    "Thanks!" She flipped and leaped out of the vehicle and walked towards an outer lane.


    "Sigh!" Owen stretched his arm out in hopes to persuade her to stay but alas, not a shadow in sight. He could only sigh helplessly.


    "Always so mysterious, sigh..." He really didn''t know what else to say about this beautiful colleague of his. No matter well he treated her, she retained a distance from him. "Don''t tell me she''s prepared to be a spinster?" He was struck by this thought. He shook his head and navigated his flying vehicle away.


    Once the vehicle left, Baylon''s face emerged from the alley.


    Her gaze was quietly fixated at the leaving flying vehicle. A hint of guilt flickered in her eyes.


    "I''m sorry, I do not wish to trouble you..." she muttered in a low voice.


    With Chinande as a sworn enemy and White King as a foe, this kind of life has no future. They were battling with fate every moment of the day. What qualification did they possess to marry one and live a steady life?


    She wasn''t stone cold. Anyone who was treated with sincerity for sixty years wouldn''t be heartless, but...


    Baylon lowered her head to look at another intel in her hands. It was from White Winter.


    "The Scarlet Mourning Hall may have sent someone out. Double-Headed Crab is the leader. It looks like it''s to probe on the news on the Scarlet Snow Sect. What''s the plan?"


    "Are we able to get through to Scarlet Snow? How are they perceiving it?" Baylon ran a line on the paper and a row of words appeared.


    "We managed to contact but they couldn''t be bothered. They are the last Energy Machinists. It''s not just those from Scarlet Snow, they took in other Energy Machinists. Their capabilities are unknown," replied White Winter.


    "Did you mention the name of my brother?" Baylon''s brows were in a knot.


    "I did, but it didn''t change their attitude. They don''t seem to have heard of it?" White Winter was puzzled.


    Baylon frowned.


    Ever since the Scarlet Snow Sect retreated, they hid behind the scene for more than a hundred years. While they were recuperating and rebuilding. It was unknown how their development was but no matter what, it was not probable that they never heard of her brother''s name. He was, after all, one of the outstanding sect masters.


    "Let''s continue this when I''m there!" Baylon responded and put away the paper. She took large strides into the alley and disappeared.


    ******


    Too many things happened in a hundred and fifty years...


    Scarlet Snow City in the core of Mars.


    This huge city built deep in the crust of Mars was surrounded by lava torrents. The entire black city seemed to be encircled by a scarlet red ribbon. It looked exceptionally majestic.


    In an old stone house in the city.


    A middle-aged man coated with white hair was sitting with his legs crossed on a black stone bed.


    The man opened his eyes and they reeked of coldness and solemnity.


    "Cough cough cough..." He acutely barked. He extended his arm to obtain a tissue to cover his mouth. The white tissues were swiftly smeared with bloody red streaks.


    "White Night, the acting sect master has something he needs you for," an equally cold voice rang through the stone house. It was a female voice.


    "What is it?" The middle-aged man on the bed asked.


    "You would be happy to do so. Your brother, White Winter has been rescued but has been taken under Sawtooth King. The sect master wants you to take care of any possible appearance of ambush," the female voice explained.


    "White Winter is out?" White Night''s eyes widened slightly, "What Level is he?"


    "It is unclear but it should be below the Inherited Level. It is said that he became an instructor of a team and is currently training a bunch of newbies."


    "Idiot!" White Night''s eyes popped open, "He forgot the about the family animosity! He forgot all he should bear. A Gideon Body type yet make no use to it!" A sense of violence rose from his body.


    "You''re willing to devote to cultivation, doesn''t mean that others would," the female voice did not say more and faded to the background.


    Only the chilling aura of White Night''s growing rage remained within the range of a few hundred meters of the stone house and a layer of snow indistinctly condensed on the ground.


    ******


    For all these years, the Scarlet Snow Sect had been in search of Garen''s whereabouts. Due to the Distortion Seeds, they firmly believed that Garen did not pass. In over hundred years of broadcast and assassinations of Mech Pilots, the old continued to sacrifice while the new kept emerging, replenishing the vacancies. In the Scarlet Snow Sect, apart from the high management, almost no one knew the real name of Garen, the previous sect master. Most of them only knew the name of Garen but not his real name.


    On top of a bloody rock peaked on the mountaintop within the city of Scarlet Snow, was a red-clothed couple standing side by side, looking down at the city''s scenery in an arched cave.


    The man was Dark Light, Dark Light Accord. After all these years, he had less of an arrogance and more of a maturity.


    The woman leaning next to him was Alice from the Scarlet Snow Sect.


    They looked intimate. It seemed they had bound in partnership.


    "What path are you saying this Jared kid is taking again?" Dark Light narrowed his eyes. "The older he gets, the more I can''t get in his head. It was easy when he was young."


    "If you as a father can''t do it, do you think I can?" Alice rolled her eyes at him, "He''s only fooling around with Aloran''s girl all day. He''s such a baby even if he is over twenty. It''s your fault you did not educate him as a father."


    "Our Scarlet Snow as the head of the three major forces under Sawtooth King is only temporarily depending on him. I''m worried that Jared''s generation might be fused and assimilated by Sawtooth King," Dark Light was concerned. "Garen must be still alive. With that character of his, there''ll surely be trouble once he''s back."


    "It''s been over a hundred years. What''s the point of fussing over it?" Alice wasn''t the least bit worried. "The acting sect master and Ice Demon General will be on it. Us, old folks should just live day by day. After years of killing sprees, it''s time for us to just enjoy our lives.


    "That''s true, but..." Dark Light sighed, "I wonder how Liz and the rest are doing? When my father passed away last year, I only saw her once at the funeral and that was it."


    "You really think too much and complicate things. Our Scarlet Snow Alliance has extensive influence. We have thirteen just on our sect branches. We have grown more than ten folds compared to a hundred years ago. With the infusion of ninety percent energy essence from the Energy Machinists, apart from the Regent Levels, who would dare challenge us? Even if they were at Regent Level, they still have to be wary of Sawtooth King," Alice was still unconcerned. "With this connection, it is enough for Liz to live comfortably."


    "Since King Cat was heading out, I asked for his help to investigate," Dark Light was still at it. "We were friends after all."


    "I think you mean girlfriend," Alice pinched him violently. The pain instantly had Dark Light''s brows in a tight knot.

 1142 Dreamland 2

    White Royal Palace, Finite Nebula core.


    A long robe hung loosely on White King as his white hair fluttered. His right hand calmly dabbed onto the dark golden void crystal.


    Bam!!


    The glass cracked then shattered with the sound of an explosion. Countless pieces of glass scattered and disseminated into sparkling white powder, firing in all directions with the pressure of the force field.


    With a sound of a click, his palm penetrated sharply inside the crystal.


    At the same time, a pure large resistance force blocked White King''s palm which instantly decreased the penetrating speed and halting it within the crystal.


    "Mm?" White complicated line patterns emerged on the skin of White King''s right arm. On it were various symbolic characters with a scent of holiness. These white glowing symbolic lines seemed to have increased the strength of his palm.


    The Distortive Power erupted from the palm of his hand and met head-on with the Confinement Power.


    Two forces of power rules collided with no sight of an exaggerated explosion. The measure of their attribute concept was absolute and wouldn''t change based on its capacity. They didn''t have the concept of quantity but rather a form of an attribute.


    The two forces of concept diminished all together and disappeared without a trace.


    This was unpredicted whether by White King or Garen.


    The attribute concept of Shadow Dragon and White were at the same height.


    Clang!!


    The palm of White King ricocheted out of the crystal. He took a step back and cradled his right hand. He was slightly surprised as he looked at the void crystal in front of him.


    "What attribute is this?"


    He instinctively felt that the concept of this attribute was no more inferior than his distortion and Regent Level that surpassed Perpetual Motioners in the concept of attributes. Without this, it would depend on the individual actual combat strength.


    At this stage, the true telling of victory would be first to measure between attributes and second, at circumstances of equal attributes would be the actual killing power of the true form.


    Seeing White King blocked successfully, Garen''s nerves simmered down.


    "If your distortion is absolute to chaos then the confinement here is absolute to frozen stillness."


    White King frowned, extended his hand and pressed on the crystal once again.


    This time, a large white ring appeared behind him. This ring seemed to be built by white jade. It looked sacred with carvings of complicated patterns and sculpture of flora and fauna.


    "Crush space," White King''s palm imprinted on the surface of the crystal and a distortive attribute different from before wildly surged.


    This was purely the attribute of a distortive dimension without the accessorial distortion that aimed only at space. This sort of Distortive Power reached a terrifying level in a blink of an eye.


    Buzz!!!


    The contact this time burst open a slight distortive yet transparent force field between his palm and the crystal.


    The surface of the crystal was sighted with strings of cracks but these cracks quickly disappeared.


    Compared to the previous casual attempt, this was a demonstration of White King''s powers. The high density of the attribute concept did not destroy the dark golden crystal. It went without saying what this represented.


    "Who would have thought..." The White King retrieved his hand and had a complicated look on his face, "Who would have thought that you''d use the attribute of foreign objects to bypass this checkpoint and covertly protect yourself."


    However, doubt still lingered in his face.


    "But with this sort of absolute confinement, you have not grasped the attribute concept. Even if you succeed, you would lock yourself tighter in. What is the point of this?"


    To him, Garen''s series of actions did not pose too big of a threat. For Garen to seal himself in, he had to avoid fated battle to the death, but wasn''t this equivalent to suicide?


    "What do you think... Perhaps I am only begrudging...?" Garen''s voice started to shift on and off. The dark golden crystal repeated a round of extreme dark energy absorption. The confinement concept increased and even Garen''s voice could not be transmitted as it went on and off. Even if he grasped a part of the confinement attribute, he still received a severe interference.


    "Begrudging?" White King stared coldly at Garen. It was a long pause.


    The two of them exchanged glances without anyone giving in.


    It was long until White King turned and left.


    He built Garen a prison. He didn''t think that Garen would in turn, make the prison even more secure to the point that he as a creator could not even open it.


    "A meaningless struggle. You are so, so are humans," White King''s voice was heard from afar.


    Garen''s lips pursed into a smile in the crystal.


    "Is it really... meaning though?"


    He stared at White King''s receding figure and knew that he finally retained his life from this world''s strongest existence.


    The three strongest giant void beasts of the Endor civilization were the most mysterious Shadow Dragon who held the confinement attribute. Although it wasn''t him who personally yielded, it was enough to passively keep him alive.


    "So the first stage of the plan is finally executed. On to the second stage... Since history has determined the new Red King to kill White King, the only thing I should do is..."


    Garen looked at almost-collapsing Shadow Dragon boundary point. He slowly closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.


    The confinement power of the void crystal increasingly built; getting more terrifying and heavier by the minute.


    It was the third day since Garen closed his eyes.


    With a clang from the crystal, its entirety emitted plain white cold air, spreading to the outside world.


    The small half of White Royal Palace island territory was shadowed by the cold air. Although the Distortive Power was quick to vanquish, but since the ejection of cold air, the dark golden crystal had completely turned transparent. It embodied the finest of glass without a hint of impurity.


    White King didn''t seem to be bothered by Garen''s series of actions. Too many things happened in over a hundred years and each of them were beyond his control.


    The twelve Golden Merit Blue Princes each had their own ax to grind and was only suppressed by his authority and power. There seemed to be a new development in unison battle. This change brought about distance to the original general trend.


    ******


    "Lon..."


    "Lon..."


    "It''s me... Lonnie..."


    Calling after calling, a familiar voice lingered continuously by Baylon''s ear.


    She saw herself standing in an empty city. A silvery-white city. Empty, still, cold. She could not see one soul in there. It was a dead city.


    Right in front, walked a blurred figure of a man. He wore an outfit that she was familiar with. He lightly trod over, closing in and taking her hand.


    The man''s face was a blur with an obscure dark fog.


    He held her hand and made a turn, taking steps forward.


    It was most peculiar as she saw her body from the neck down travel ahead with him. Her head remained where it was as she quietly watched her body leave with the man, further and further away.


    "Lonnie..." The voice was heard again.


    Baylon heard the voice again. A familiar voice.


    She felt a pair of coarse hands wrapping around her head and then placed in one''s embrace.


    "Who...?"


    She opened her mouth to ask.


    "You can see me," a gentle voice of a man was heard.


    Baylon struggled to lift her head, in an attempt to look at the person holding her head. Who was the owner of that voice?


    Beep beep beep... Beep beep beep...


    Suddenly, the sound of an ear-pearling alarm exploded in her ear.


    Her eyes opened with a pop. Baylon got up from the bed. Her entire body was full of sweat.


    Hu... Hu...


    She gasped for air as she was short of breath. She lowered her head and held her face. That was when she realized her face was wet. She was unsure whether it was sweat or tears.


    "What is this dream?"


    She turned over and got down from bed. Her white pajamas were drenched all over. She walked to the washroom to strip off her clothes and turned on the heater valve, letting the hot water flushed over her from head to toe.


    Ring...


    Suddenly, her phone rang.


    Baylon stretched her arm on the white-tiled wall and poked a few times. Instantly, a semi-transparent screen appeared in mid-air in front of her. On it was a projection of a blonde with two ponytails.


    "Lin, where did you agree to meet with Clint?" A woman shouted without reserve.


    "Oh, Duoduo. What are you asking this for?" Baylon casually rubbed her wet long mane and brushed it to the back of her head.


    "Just tell me already. It''s fine if he doesn''t care about me, but his wife just had a newborn. Can''t he spend a little time with her?!" Duoduo was in rage. "He just runs around. He''s a grown up now yet he acts like a child!"


    Duoduo was Clint''s wife. They both had a daughter. They had been married for thirty years. Between them, Clint was married while White Winter had a relationship but was hurt and now had turned into a decadent bearded uncle. He was an instructor at a rookie educational team.


    It was only Baylon herself who kept away from the sentimental department.


    "Relax, we''ll be back soon. You know how Clint is. It''s going to be alright," she comforted. Duoduo wasn''t just Clint''s wife, she was also her best friend.


    "I''m not opposed of you handling tasks but would it hurt to let me know prior to missions! What''s with leaving behind my back!?" Duoduo was still seeing red but could comprehend that the position Clint and the rest were in. Work task should always place first.


    "The departing date is today. We''ll be back about twenty-five days later. Don''t worry, it will be as before, nothing major," Baylon softly replied.


    They were positioned at a special department and needed to be kept secret from family members as well so Duoduo was not aware of the dangers of their work. She thought that it was a gathering intel mission for some sort of safety task force. She wasn''t clear on the details.


    "That''s fine then. He''s always like this. I have to look for you to learn what''s going on," Duoduo vented. "Alright now, Ling is up. I have to take a look."


    "Alright, go ahead," Baylon nodded and cut off communications.


    With the splashing sounds of the shower, her thoughts drifted back to the earlier peculiar dream.


    "Really... How long has it been since I last dreamed?" Shaking her head, she put aside the ridiculous thoughts. Intercepting the Scarlet Mourning Hall leader''s movement was happening in the afternoon.


    The Scarlet Mourning Hall was a surly organization under Chinande. Perhaps she would be able to obtain news regarding Garen.

 1143 Plot 1

    Mars planet ring.


    The oversized red planet ring wrapped around like a belt and hung around the crimson Mars, spinning slowly.


    A large group of figures in red long robes were flying out a hidden leaping black hole on the planet ring in a tidy order.


    The figures that flew out landed on the planet ring. Large amounts of universe debris and various elements camouflaged them.


    Each leaping figures triggered force field ripples enough to tremor anyone of an Inherited Level.


    One of a red figure was the last to fly out and within this group of over a hundred, he stood in the highest position to distinguish his aristocracy.


    "Chinande, hopefully, this time your intel isn''t lacking," the red figure was heard in a low voice.


    Hiss...


    A black crack was ripped out of space and a white figure walked out of it. It was Chinande with a pair of pale emotionless of eyes.


    "You think I would lie to you?" He asked solemnly.


    "My Scarlet Mourning Hall is now out of your control. Hehe, you think that by wiping out the Energy Machinists, it will clear you of suspicion? What a joke. With your capabilities yet you allow this huge tumor of a Scarlet Snow Alliance escape really is incomprehensible," the red figure coldly smiled.


    Chinande did not say anything more but rather looked at Mars. That direction was this mission''s crucial point. At this stage, if the Scarlet Snow Lianne still was in the dark then they were idiots. The enemy was already at their doorstep.


    It could be clearly seen that shades of white and red figures burst open from Mars'' atmosphere like denser tiny meteor sparks, firing over at the Scarlet Mourning Hall.


    Leading them were the four Perpetual Motioners with Two-Faced Person as their head.


    After the war from that year, the remaining Perpetual Motioners Energy Machinist were only them four, all of which entered the Scarlet Snow Alliance and became branch sects, living in seclusion on Mars.


    "Prepare to attack," Chinande shouted. "We have to first eliminate them before Sawtooth King and the rest could react."


    Mars was a stronghold base bestowed by Sawtooth King to the Scarlet Snow sect. If it weren''t for the sudden removal of the Scarlet Mourning Hall''s stronghold above that attracted a large amount of attention, they probably wouldn''t be able to spot something amiss.


    At one side was a team of pure crimson while on the other side, a mixture of red and white. The two assembly of people swiftly closed in and stopped at a distance of a few thousand kilometers.


    "So it is the Scarlet Mourning Hall! Attack!" Not wasting a breath, the Two-Faced Person flung his arm and signaled the start of the battle. All these years, there was animosity between Scarlet Snow Sect and the Finite people of the Scarlet Mourning Hall in the North Pole. A blood feud, to say the least. Wars of bloodbaths that raged between the two parties had caused the fall of many experts of Inherited Level, Non-Failing Level, Level Eight, even Level Nine as well as Level Ten Perpetual Motioners meeting death together.


    Suddenly, a vast fluctuation of force field spread out, sending the people of the Scarlet Snow Sect to be thrown off the leaping ball of inverse space.


    With a swoosh, a large black round empty hole appeared between them, engulfing everything around in extreme.


    Both parties flew into it in tacit agreement.


    Those who could fly in space in true form were either top buffed Energy Machinists or Mech incorporated Mech Pilots who were at least the Non-Failing Level. Up to this point, these average performers were only serving side dish and would not even possess the qualification to even participate the battlefield.


    All of them soon made it into the black hole. The opening then shrunk and just as it was going to vanish, a pitch dark spaceship leaped out of nowhere, shot into the hole like a rocket and disappeared into it.


    The moment the spaceship disappeared, a ray of light blasted from afar and before the last crack of the hole could seal up, it snuck into it.


    The poor hole was prepared to shrink completely yet a boundless force field held it up.


    "Inverse space battlefield?" A man''s voice echoed in space. Whizz whizz whizz... rays of blue light fired into the hole. Once again, disappearing out of sight.


    This time, the black hole finally shut entirely.


    ******


    Inverse space universe.


    Countless planets were injecting large amounts of various attributes and rainbows rays. A large majority of the planets were different in size, a lot of them in a shade of yellow while a small quantity was in blue but mostly emerged in change shades of color such as the rainbow.


    Two-Faced Person from the Scarlet Snow Sect and those from the Scarlet Mourning Hall were caught in a fierce battle the moment they entered.


    They chose a spacious place where there weren''t any nearby planets. Within the dark space, both parties were familiar with each other''s techniques and strategies. The familiarity was to the point of a friendly match with tacit coordination.


    Chinande stood high above, levitating in mid-air. Hiding behind a white robe, he did not make a single move. From an outsider''s point of view, he was a member of the Scarlet Mourning Hall''s red-robed minions but this time, his undercover identity was the deputy hall leader of the Scarlet Mourning Hall.


    Seeing the battle between the Scarlet Mourning Hall and Scarlet Snow Sect, he was not in a rush to lend a hand.


    "Chinande, what the hell are you doing? You''re not here to be a spectator!" The hall leader of the Scarlet Mourning Hall used a quantum computer to transmit his voice in frustration.


    He was ganging up against the Two-Faced Person a few light years away. The frightening black-hole type ripples caused by the two reached up to tens of million kilometers of range but the universe was simply expanse. One light year went up to a hundred billion kilometers of range. If it weren''t for quantum technology, communication between them would be a problem.


    So from where Chinande was, he could see nothing but a blur of darkness as the battle rays had yet to reach here but in actual fact, it had already begun.


    In order to witness the situation over there, apart from perception and induction, the only way was to wait a few years for the ray to fire over.


    This was the universe with unimaginative expanse.


    This wasn''t limited to where Two-Faced Person was, it was the same for other confrontation between Non-Failing Levels. Each of them fought in pairs and could not lay eyes on other groups.


    Chinande did not respond. He remained silent as he hung in space as if waiting for something.


    Time flowed by, seconds and minutes.


    Without knowing it, it had been over ten minutes.


    Chinande maintained his original posture. A long time ago, his team of Perpetual Motioners were slain in one of the Energy Machinist battles, only he survived while most of the Perpetual Motioners of the Energy Machinists passed and only a handful escaped. Both parties had long laid a deadly grudge.


    The team of his best friends were almost completely vaporized because of White King yet he pledged his faith to White King just as a loyal dog.


    Some criticized him staying true to the nickname he was coined, Wild Mutt but he did not take this to heart. His real identity was then exposed and as the faithful lackey of White King, he seeked refuge from the camp of Finite people.


    In the darkness of the cold and serene space, a black spaceship silently streaked from the depths, flying just beneath Chinande.


    "So they''re here?" Chinande''s white eyeballs dryly twirled, "Little rat..."


    ******


    Baylon and Clint stood side by side in the cockpit, staring ahead of the three sloping glasses. The pitch black inverse space universe outside was within their sight.


    White Winter and another man with short green hair were navigating the spaceship, agilely dodging pieces of broken meteor fragments.


    "We should be united far from the battlefield. We only need to capture one Soul Official Class exports of the Scarlet Mourning Hall before heading back," White Winter grabbed the goatee on his face. He was no longer the shy little boy that was more beautiful than a woman. With one hand holding a cigarette, his other hand was swiftly operating on the navigation board with dexterity.


    "Soul Official Class expert is at least the Non-Failing Level. I will personally handle it," Baylon spoke coldly with a heavy murderous intent.


    "Be careful, I sense something amiss," Red Moon''s voice was heard amongst the people.


    "With me on board, I can take two! Don''t worry about it! I will be going with Lonnie!" Clint''s hands rested on his waist as he spoke with arrogance.


    "Is your exterior armor fixed?" Baylon glanced at him and frowned.


    "Er..." Clint has yet to reach the Non- Failing Level. He instantly rubbed his nose and lowered his head in awkwardness, "Not yet..."


    "Then you stay," Baylon said without compassion. "Without an exterior armor, you don''t even stand a chance to have Master Red Moon make an appearance. You''ll be a burden even if you go. I alone am enough."


    "How ruthless...!" Clint was crushed.


    "Is the leaping settings ready?" Baylon held the handle of her white sword on her waist and looked at White Winter.


    White Winter gestured an okay sign.


    "Be careful," the green-haired man reminded. "There''s a Soul Official alone just on the right. He must be planning on backing up the others."


    "Relax."


    Baylon took large strides to the center of the spaceship. The secede pod was there.


    Clint and the rest behind her immediately stripped away their joking expression and started to solemnly prepare for any possible unexpected event.


    Hiss...


    The hatch opened and Baylon entered the isolating cabin. The hatch behind her shut tight and the air current gradually withdrew from both sides.


    Swoosh!


    The exterior hatch finally opened, revealing the dark and endless universe in the outer world. The inverse space universe.


    A silvery-white armor was immediately released on both sides of Baylon''s face, covering the lower half of her face from the nose and providing her oxygen.


    Her clothes quickly shrunk and tightened, becoming a tight black suit and outlining her bewitching bodyline. Her body leaped forward a few times with agility, somersaulting into the darkness.


    Just out of the hatch, were two red figures that leaped and appeared here.


    It was two Soul Official dressed in red.


    "Two!?"


    Baylon''s eyes turned stern. Her body hasten in its leaping. The force field on her body crystalized a swallow.


    With a swish, her body embodying an agile swallow dashed towards the two Soul Officials with lightning speed.


    The duo immediately reacted and erected force field. The red force field simulated two crimson glow in blossom similar to two large red eggs within the universe.


    A large piece of the force field became red sparks and splattered around after a series of clang noises was heard.


    "Unparalleled Sword, Peacock!"


    Baylon released a phantom of in form of a peacock. Cold air surging from all directions wrapped the two Soul Officials.


    "50% mock!" A hint of cold ruthlessness flashed past her eyes. She drew out her white blade with speed and evoked a wave of white light in the darkness. Becoming one with the beak of the phantom peacock, she struck one of the Soul Official in the chest.


    "Fantasy Resonance!!" This Soul Official must have known that he was on the verge of death. His opponent''s lightning speed had caught them off guard and he was almost at the end of the rope with just one blow. Hence, he decided to go all out.


    A large amount of red silkworms roved out of the red force field, charging at Baylon in biting motions.


    Cling cling!


    Two crisp sounds were heard.


    Baylon gently landed on a slow-moving aerolite. She stood still.


    Fogs of blood exploded out of the two Soul Officials behind her. The force field was frozen solid and their bodies turned into ice blocks. They were knocked unconsciousness.


    Hu...


    Baylon took a deep breath. The mock earlier exhausted her a fair bit.


    Clap... Clap... Clap...


    Suddenly, clapping sounds were heard coming from above.


    "Not a bad performance," a cold emotionless voice was heard from the upper space.

 1144 Plot 2

    It struck a chord in Baylon as she lifted her head to look up.


    A figure floating above came into sight. It was a face she recalled many times in enmity.


    "Chinande!!" Baylon''s iris shrunk as unbearable fear stirred within her.


    Yet at the same time, the hatred that once lived in her memory sunk in, intertwining with fear.


    "Level Ten... Perpetual Motioner Holy Lord," Baylon tightened her grip on the white blade. The handle of the blade was almost crushed in her hands.


    Wham!!


    In a blink of an eye, Chinande''s face magnified before her.


    With no technique whatsoever and using a level ten gravitation in ten thousand folds, she was gravitationally knocked away with one punch.


    Wham!


    Vast amounts of gravitation amassed in his pale knuckle punched Baylon''s head without hesitation. Space in the universe seemed to collapse and warp around the knuckle. Even the rays of light assembled into this one punch.


    A plain murderous intent was clearly emitting from Chinande.


    Baylon watched his knuckle slam against her with eyes wide open without an ounce of strength to retaliate. Time seemed to have slowed down as the nerves in her body reacted with extreme speed but no matter how fast she was, it was powerless against the ten thousand fold gravitation.


    Watching the knuckle nearing in, Baylon could somehow hear the nervous shouts of Clint, Red Moon; raging screams of White Winter and the lot as well as the roaring of the spaceship''s laser beams.


    But it was all too late...


    No one could have predicted the unexpected appearance of Chinande who was a level ten Holy Lord, personally attacking them who were merely supporting characters.


    Yet it happened and to this point, any resistance would be futile.


    "Am I... going to die?" She watched in a daze as the distorted gravitational knuckle closed in. She was not afraid of death. She was only dissatisfied. Dissatisfied with the fact that she grew too slow. Although she developed faster than most, she was still far from talking about revenge.


    Unknowingly, she closed her eyes and waited for the arrival of her death.


    Wham!!!


    The expected pain did not come. It wasn''t just the same pain, even a tiny shred of collision wasn''t felt.


    "Even if you''re going to die, you must make your opponent pay. I have taught you this, have you forgotten?" A deep voice rung in Baylon''s ear.


    She popped open her eyes and saw a tough and large build figure in a red robe standing in front of her. He single-handedly held onto Chinande''s wielding right hand.


    Shrouds of cold, white air were confronting the extensive gravitation of extreme oblivion emitted by Chinande.


    "Bro...ther..." Baylon''s eyes widened. She stared at the figure before her in disbelief.


    ******


    Within the spaceship.


    "Lonnie!!"


    Veins were showing all over Clint''s body. The charging action of pulling open the hatch was quickly stopped.


    Phew...


    White Winter grabbed onto his pounding heart. A single fleeting moment between life and death had him over the edge.


    "I won''t be able to take a few times of this..." He took a deep puff of his cigarette but his trembling hands revealed his less-than-calm state.


    "Thank goodness someone blocked..." The green-haired man went pale white. For a moment, the entire spaceship fell dead silent and everyone had their hearts in their mouth. The swift turn of events had caught even those who were experienced off guard.


    "Who is that Holy Lord that rescued her?" Clint ran back and asked loudly.


    "Let me see," the man with green hair adjusted the portrait, magnifying it.


    The magnified portrait has everyone on board stunned...


    "This is... This...!" White Winter''s cigarette dropped onto the ground.


    "It''s that fellow, Nonosiva!!" The first to regain senses was Red Moon, "How could it be! I couldn''t even sense it!?"


    "Nonosiva?" The green-haired man was dumbfounded.


    Clint shared a complicated expression.


    "He''s Lonnie''s brother. Blood-related brother. Perhaps you''ll recognize the other name he goes by."


    "What?"


    "Holy Lord of Scarlet Snow..."


    "Holy Lord of Scarlet Snow, Garen!?" The man with green hair went sluggish. This name once shook the human race. There wasn''t one Mech Pilot that didn''t know this genius of an Energy Machinist.


    "Faded... Creation..." At the same time, a cold and ruthless voice came from the outer world.


    Crimson snowflakes appeared in space and slowly descended from above. It was no different within the spaceship.


    ******


    Countless crimson snowflakes gathered in Garen''s palm. The snowflakes twirled around, belching terrifying chills. He flung his arm to hit Chinande''s chest.


    A faded force field automatically sprung out and this level ten faded force field was absorbing the energy out of Chinande. This was an absolute force field that engulfed all creations.


    Chinande raised his arm in an attempt to block but found no strength. The majority of his power absorbed as he began to channel.


    "You!!"


    Wham!!!!


    Their palms directly met with each other.


    The snowflakes plummeted out like scarlet blood, expanding onto Chinande''s body.


    Garen''s palm broke Chinande''s arm with ease and then ruthlessly pressed onto his chest.


    The freezing force flowed onto Chinande''s body and instantly froze his entire body into a snowy ice block.


    A streak of puzzlement fleeted past Garen''s eyes as he pushed the ice block containing the frozen Chinande with one arm to move ahead with distance.


    He generated the attacking punch of destruction that he hadn''t used for a while.


    "Tenfold."


    The violent force was instantly raised by tenfold and a red ring as wide as a few meters burst open from Garen''s hand.


    The muscles on his body expanded ferociously. His muscles could be seen expanding more than double its size through his clothes. They embodied black pythons, crawling on Garen''s body.


    Kaboom!!


    He wielded his thunderous arm in the dark of the space and flung it against the flying ice block containing Chinande.


    Wham!!


    The ice block was smashed into countless pieces of red ice crystals.


    "It''s over..."


    Garen stared at crushed bits and pieces of Chinande, before turning to look at Baylon.


    The brother he had not seen in over a hundred years, or should he call her sister, seemed to have aged.


    "Brother..." Baylon''s eyes welled with tears. It was unknown whether she was happy or sad.


    "It must have been hard for you..." Garen extended his arm to pinch Baylon''s face. He gave her a gentle smile. Nonosiva had never flashed a smile at his sibling but this time, for the first time, he gave a sincere smile to Baylon.


    Puff!


    All of a sudden, a long white spear penetrated out of Garen''s abdomen from the back, striking through his body entirely.


    Blood spewed out and splattered on Baylon''s face, clothes and body. She was momentarily stunned.


    "Bro... Brother...!?"


    Garen lowered his head to look at the long spear on his abdomen in surprise. The smile on his face that blossomed froze.


    Everything fell into silence...


    A gust of wind particles swayed from the sun. The broken pieces of red ice crystals were still scatteredly floating about. The engine of the spaceship was activated.


    Time stood still at this very moment. This spear not only penetrated Garen''s body, it pierced through Baylon''s newfound glimmer of hope as well as the hope of all in the spaceship.


    Baylon stared at Garen''s penetrated body in a daze. Her eyes that were first filled with joy and hope turned into despair.


    "No!!!!"


    Her sharp voice that was filled with hysteria echoed through space.


    Her voice was heard by all witness on site but Baylon''s pain, despair, struggle and anger could never be felt by anyone.


    Black tadpoles-like characters swiftly emerged out of Baylon''s eyes and wildly coated all over her body. As her voice of despair rang faster, so did the characters.


    Garen stretched out his hand, trying to touch Baylon''s face but alas, he could not even succeed in this final little gesture.


    Wham!!!


    His body immediately exploded into a rain of blood and torn-apart limbs.


    Behind him was a white figure floating in high space. It was Chinande! He did not perish!


    Chinande''s high and above figure had transformed into a white-maned, young man dressed in pure white. Even the brows of this young man were white. He lowered his head to coldly stare at the exploded Garen.


    "I didn''t plan to kill you this soon..." He muttered in a low voice.


    "Yes, neither did I plan to kill you this soon..." A gentle voice was heard coming from behind him.


    Swoosh!!


    White King was startled. He felt a sharp pain from his abdomens. A bloody hand had pierced through his abdomens, stabbing straight from behind.


    "You!!" White King''s body was imprisoned. A force of absolute confinement power took over his strength.


    Puff!! His body became an illusion, broken apart into soapy bubbles. All that was left was a man with a tough build.


    "Distortive power? This body is a phantom of distortion?!" The man was Garen who was killed earlier. He was dressed in the long robe of Scarlet Mourning Hall. He hung in space with a shocked face.


    With a swish, a white spark drilled into him, combusting and scattering into a rain of blood as it exploded.


    White King''s figure appeared at the other end of space. His cold gaze fixated on the rain of blood.


    "Destiny will guide me to the righteous path!"


    "Has destiny ever told you that this is not the right path?"


    Another shadow of the Scarlet Morning Hall dashed out, tackling White King in close combat. Their attributes of concept clashed and rampaged in a feud.


    Wham!


    The shadow beat and ruptured into ructions of bloody rain.


    "It is meaningless no matter how many times you come at it!" White King''s voice remained icy cold.


    "Is it really meaningless?"


    Another red figure flew over.


    More and more red figures surfaced below. All of them were the people of Scarlet Mourning Hall dressed in red robes.


    In a trance, a large crowd of Scarlet Mourning Hall lifted their heads and revealed their faces. All over hundred of them were carrying Garen''s face with a fake smile.


    "!!!"


    White King wasn''t the only one bamboozled, even Baylon who was still in pain, Clint and the rest were left bewildered.

 1145 Real or Fake 1

    The Scarlet Snow Sect that followed behind were shaken on the spot.


    "It''s Sect Master!! Sect Master Garen!! Hahahaha!! We''re saved!!'' Ice-Grand roared with laughter.


    "I knew that Sect Master would be alright. He would definitely turn up! Definitely!!" Ice-Crack laughed out loud.


    Two-Faced Person and rest appeared. A row of level tens stood together to form a large red force field to block off any residue of attacks from the outer world.


    The four-armed woman stared intently at the battle between Garen and White King.


    "If I''m right, Sect Master must be using some tactic to turn those from the Scarlet Mourning Hall into his embodiment. That isn''t White King''s true form either but rather a projection. His distortive attribute is able to mask everyone''s senses. The body that Garen sneaked attack earlier is most likely an illusion of distortion."


    "I don''t quite understand..." Two-Faced Person shook his head. The woman part of the face spoke. "It is chaotic now. What tactic did the Sect Master use to occupy the body?"


    "White King first disguised as Chinande to scheme against the Sect Master. He must have predicted that Sect Master would turn up at that moment and indeed he did but he did not succeed in his goal," the four-armed woman fell deep into thought and provided an explanation closest to the truth.


    "Then where is the real Sect Master? And where is the true form of White King?" Two-Faced Person asked in return.


    The four-armed woman shook her head.


    Who schemed against who and who really won against who? No matter Garen or White King, they were plotting against one another.


    ******


    White Royal Palace.


    In front of the dark golden crystal.


    White King stood silently before the crystal rock. The crystal clearly reflected his stone-cold face.


    "I see you''re well prepared."


    "I should say the same to you too," Garen replied in the crystal. "It seems that the strength of your projection is no better than my embodiments," Garen''s eye revealed a hint of a smile.


    "Even possessing a unique attribute, you shouldn''t be able to have that many projecteory embodiments," White King pondered.


    ******


    Battlefield.


    Beams of white rays shone from another part of dark space. The string of beams turned into white rings and emerged in an airspace far from where Garen and White King were battling it out.


    Figures of vast spirits appeared in the rings. These figures each carried an identity emblem of the Human Nine Emperors. The four people that lead the pack had a larger build than most, doubling or even tripling the height of an average person.


    These were the Human Nine Emperor force tailing behind White King''s activity.


    At the other end, another group of the white crowd arrived, standing opposite of the Star Emperors. They were all affinity forces of White King. These people were the strongest forces wielded by White King. All thirty of them were Perpetual Motioner and above experts.


    These were hidden chess pieces which both parties placed in ambush but now it seemed that these chess pieces would not yield its worth as only the projection of White King made it here so destroying it would amount to little. Moreover, they were uncertain about the peculiar appearance of Scarlet Snow Holy Lord, Garen. Prior to comprehending Garen''s attitude and capabilities, the Nine Emperor force decided against acting recklessly.


    At this exact moment, White King, the Human Star Emperors and the rest were staring at the hundred over Garens floating in space. No one spoke a word. These hundred over people were valiant of the Scarlet Mourning Hall yet all sighted at such a strange scene.


    A mountain of red-robed Garen were amassed together in a red cloud, facing off White King.


    "Now... What are you planning to do? White King..." All the Garens spoke with voices strung together. Their force fields gathered to form a resonance phenomenal. Sharp yet peculiar.


    At the same time, White King''s strongest team ¡ª the Perpetual Motioners, each lifted their heads. The royal family of White King and all Perpetual Motioner''s followers were bearing the face of Garen.


    "You...!!" White King was stunned. The Perpetual Motioners were at a certain level and was one stage of a difference from him, a Saint. Yet now they were controlled by Garen''s peculiar ability. This drastically changed his original plans.


    "My King!!" Suddenly, a weak voice was heard.


    It was Linora!!


    White King spun around and saw Linora appear in space, held by Garen with one hand on the neck. She gave a struggle.


    "Garen...!!!" A never-before fiery of rage blared out White King''s eyes for the first time, "You''re seeking death!!!"


    He could ignore his parents but Linora who took care of him since he was young was his weakness.


    "My King!"


    "Your Majesty!!"


    Out of the blue, many of the Garens recovered their original identity and face. They anxiously shouted.


    "Don''t bother about us! Kill him! For Finite!!"


    "Save me! My King! Save me!!"


    "Avenge us, Your Majesty!!"


    "Long Live Finite!!!"


    A jumble of voices rang into White King''s ear.


    These chaotic voices that couldn''t be censored or dare not be censored struck chords in him, making him flighty and impetuous.


    "My King!!" The real Chinande appeared by White King, "we have to decide on the spot, either to retreat or kill! Please decide!" His stone cold face bore no expression. Perhaps he played so many personalities for a long length of time that he completely lost the ability to be expressive.


    Of all the people there, only he and a few princes of the royal family were not possessed. The remaining experts swiftly gathered by his side. Facing the large quantity of Garens encircling White King, the originally Finite squad had turned into the enemy''s base camp. He was in a dangerous situation.


    "Retreat?" A hint of struggle creept into White King''s eyes. No matter how powerful or skillful talent he possessed, he still had important people in his life. He was a regular person that hadn''t live more than a thousand years. Even if he was talented, the most talented, even if he had seen destiny''s general trend, even if he had plans to sacrifice for his ideals, White King was still a human no older than three hundred years old. He was a Finite.


    He carried with him the hope of rising and uniting the Finite people. No matter what, he must not lose. Garen''s cloning abilities had been tested and it was at the peak of Perpetual Motioner Holy Lord level but as it hoisted the attribute concept of confinement, it made his movements sluggish.


    However, this wasn''t the main point. If he were to make a move prior to getting to the bottom of Garen''s peculiar ability, his attack may cause the death of his own people!!


    This was the reason for him holding back.


    Moreover, a Regent Level wouldn''t be able to go up against him and it would be the same for two or three Regent Levels as well. He would be hot on their tails but it was unknown how many of the Human Nine Emperors arrived. It was possible that they would regroup and with Scarlet Snow Holy Lord, Garen in the mix, the outcome of this sort of battle simply could not be predicted.


    In the face of war, the Human Nine Emperors had proved their worth. If five of them were to team up, they could face White King''s distortive attribute while the remaining three who had equilateral skills with the Twelve Golden Merit Blue Princes. However, there had been a turn of events.


    "Retreat!!"


    This word made out of White King''s mouth with difficulty.


    "Retreat? That easily?" Garen''s low pitch laughter rang without fear in space.


    Phew...!


    Figures of Garen flew straight to White King and his group. Each figure bore heavy and terrifying energy of confinement attribute.


    "Retreat!!""Retreat retreat retreat!!"


    Voices echoes within the experts under White King.


    In the dark inverse space, the white troops hasten their move backward. A large distortive hole appeared behind them. It was a leaping black hole.


    The mountain of Garens charged towards the white troops, launching assaults in kamikaze mode. Streaks of red glow were fired within the low-level Finite troops.


    "Distortion! Ancient Void!!" White King suppressed his anger and extended his arm to grab a hold of amassed Garen figures.


    A large blob of transparent distortion shot from his hand and split up to little blotches, charging towards the Garens and encircling them. The blotches held the berserk Garens in captive within the distortion, sealing them up.


    There were more transparent distortion that scattered down like raindrops firing at the Garens in attempt to resolve all in one.


    "Solidify everything in existence!" Garen''s voice was heard, "Faded Creation..."


    One of the Garens flew up vertically. Pure huge crystalized wings were formed at his back. He suffused himself between the once white robes and golden helmets.


    With crackling sounds, his back emerged countless crystalized vines. These vines took root within the void and grew to all directions to form a large, white windscreen


    Red snowflakes descended at this moment in the universe, fluttering about. In a space of a few hundred light years, all was covered with the scarlet snowflakes.


    Everything that was touched by the snowflakes, regardless of foe and friend, experienced stiffness in their bodies. They lost all will to retaliate and were immediately imprisoned.


    The snowflakes counteracted against the transparent distortion, annihilating each other and resulting in a standstill.


    ******


    The Human Race legion.


    "What should we do now?!" Bull King, one of the Nine Emperors looked at the strongest Thousand Pillar King.


    "Let''s hold our horses for the moment," Thousand Pillar King calmly concluded.


    "Why!?" Now would be the best time to pursue an attack!" Bull King did not understand. "Do you think that White King could have any tactics to counterattack?"


    "No, not that," Thousand Pillar King frowned. "I am not worried but White King but rather the Scarlet Snow Holy Lord."


    "You''re saying that... the battle where the Energy Machinists were annihilated..." Bull King immediately came to his senses. The two were currently the strongest of the Human Nine Emperors. Their decision would impact the movement of the entire human race.

 1146 Real or Fake 2

    "It is nearly impossible to kill off someone of the Regent-Level. Even if we continued our pursuit, other than taking care of this projection and its base combat power, what else could we possibly do?" Thousand Pillar King looked on meticulously. "On the other hand, if the Scarlet Snow Holy Lord could use such an abnormally large-scale ability against the Finite People, he can easily do the same to my people¡­ Don''t forget, back when we just became the Nine Emperors, only Sawtooth King didn''t join the encirclement¡­"


    "Furthermore, if my instincts are right¡­" Thousand Pillar King''s gaze moved towards the direction the White King retreated in. "White King seemed to have incurred some injuries at the end of it all."


    "Injuries?!" Bull King slowly responded, his facial expressions tensed up. "You are talking about¡­ The one that managed to confront him alone the last time, right?"


    Looking at Thousand Pillar King silently nodding, the two great Regent-Levels'' huge bodies silently faded into the void, trying to hide their current emotions from each other.


    ******


    "Retreat! Retreat! Retreat!"


    The Finite''s elite army was rapidly retreating through the Jumping Black Hole in a frenzy.


    The flurry of red snowflakes formed a red snowstorm, whirling through a pitch-dark tunnel of the Jumping Black Hole, closing in on them.


    Garen relentlessly pursued them, one of his clones had already captured one of the White King''s most important men - Lanerra.


    Her entire body was engulfed in the red snowstorm. She was trying desperately to escape, showing no signs of stopping.


    At that point, this type of spine-chilling abnormal ability had stopped appearing.


    In actuality, this was not some amazingly powerful ability, he could only fully possess one body at a time and superficially apply an Imprisonment Attribute on it. This was a method that allowed him to enter his opponent''s dreamland and take control over their Willpower. It was a unique ability of the Void Creatures and something Ancient Endor was proficient at dealing with.


    The reason why there were so many Garen clones, was that out of all of these clones, only one clone could utilize its true potential at any given point, applying the Imprisonment Attributes to his targets. The remaining were just there purely to hypnotize the other targets and drag them into their respective dreamlands. This was a basic Void Creature ability.


    However, by making all his clones appear at once, it managed to leave the White King and the other experts completely shell-shocked. It gave off the impression that all of Garen''s clones were simultaneously utilizing their fullest potential.


    Naturally, their fight or flight response kicked in and they all retreated in a state of panic.


    "Linora!" The White King''s projection was glaring daggers at Garen''s clone.


    Within the Jumping Tunnel, both parties did not dare to make a move. If you made any missteps in your attacks you''d easily be tossed into a space-time distortion with no way of returning.


    The White King''s eyes started to glow with a soft white light. Looking at Linora who was in the hands of the Garen clone, he suddenly reacted.


    "Impossible! You couldn''t have captured Linora! She should''ve been accompanying Empress Dowager back in the God Palace! To capture someone from under Empress Dowager''s nose, you''re far from powerful enough to achieve that!"


    The Linora in Garen''s hands suddenly smiled slyly. With a poof of air, she turned into a ball of scarlet red gas and flew up Garen''s nose.


    "As expected, it did not manage to fool you."


    Garen clapped his hands together as if trying to brush away the nonexistent dust on his palms.


    "However, it wasn''t ever my intention to try to fool you. To be able to fight to such a degree, you''re not half bad after all."


    Garen once again clapped his hands lightly.


    Two crisp sounding claps could be heard.


    The White King''s kin who were being pursued by the snowstorm and all the ''possessed'' Perpetual Motion Level experts suddenly dissolved like soap bubbles, as if everything earlier was all an illusion.


    From the beginning up till now there were never any reinforcements that arrived from the White King''s kin or Perpetual Motion Level expert teams. There was nothing left around Garen, even the people in the Scarlet Mourning Hall had vanished.


    "As you might''ve already guessed, your kin are probably still desperately moving towards the venue of our battle just now, sending themselves to their deaths. Don''t forget that there are still four out of the Nine Emperors over there¡­ Hehe¡­" Garen revealed a cruel grin. "You, on the other hand, would not even make it in time if you rush there right now. It''s already too late."


    Hearing this, the White King''s face immediately turned green.


    He looked around at his surroundings. The group of White King''s men all had terrible expressions on their face. As it turned out, from the very start, what they thought was mercilessly pursuing them was just an unbelievably lifelike illusion. They were completely fooled by Garen''s self-directed play of illusions to the point where they had all retreated in fear, most likely causing the demise of the Perpetual Motion Level team that headed over as reinforcements, trapping them in a Regent-Level ambush.


    If word of this got out, it would be the most disgraceful incident ever in Finite People history.


    At this moment, in the Jumping Tunnel, the White King and his group of experts, including a few Prince Levels and another Regent Level had a terrible look on their faces. They all simultaneously looked over at the Chinande who was the first who suggested the idea of retreating to the White King.


    ''Chinande'' let out a sly grin. With a poof of smoke, his body turned into gas, dispersing into the void.


    Within the Jumping Tunnel, there was a clear separation of white team and red team. The illusions slowly started to get dispelled.


    Garen''s side seemed to be shrouded by a mist that resembled red smoke. He was the only one in the entire red team.


    On the other hand, the White King''s team consisted of him and a few Prince Levels. As for the people in the Scarlet Mourning Hall, they were all deep in slumber. They all had a beetle-shaped gas body placed on their faces, covering their noses and mouths, causing them to sleep soundly.


    In other words, from the very beginning, the White King''s projection and the Prince Levels were all in a state of isolated illusions.


    Garen did not even lay a finger on the White King in actuality, it was merely an illusion.


    Real or fake, which part was real and which was fake, at this point, the White King could not make out the difference. This was precisely what Garen was aiming for.


    "Well then, this time, it''s my victory¡­" Garen let out a cheeky smile.


    "Ghostly Trickery!" The White King''s face was icy cold. He furiously waved his palm towards Garen.


    A bundle of twisted power directly shot towards Garen''s body, blowing up Garen''s body into ashes with a loud boom.


    As Garen died, this body he possessed slowly revealed its original appearance. It turned out to be one of the average Non-Falling Level experts in the Scarlet Mourning Hall.


    The red mist that was shrouding Garen''s body earlier also started to fade away, slowly vanishing into thin air. The beetle-shaped gas bodies on the faces of the people in the Scarlet Mourning Hall also started to dissipate.


    "Immediately contact Latva!" The White King rapidly ordered.


    "We''ve already contacted him, but¡­" The Prince Level beside him turned pale. "According to our recon spies, Latva''s team got ambushed by the combined power of the four Star Emperors. They were completely wiped out¡­"


    Boom!!


    A huge ball of twisted energy burst from the White King''s fist, nearly causing the entire Jumping Tunnel to collapse. His gaze was cold to the extremes.


    "Garen!!"


    ******


    Original Battleground


    The four of the Nine Emperors looked at the destroyed remains of the area. The remains of the corpses of the White King''s kin and the Perpetual Motion Levels were scattered all over the place.


    With their combined strength, the four struck at the key point of the White King'' kin and Perpetual Motion Levels'' jumps with utter precision. Once again demonstrating the fearsome power of when the four Regent Level work together. In an instant, they had mustered up enough power to destroy even stars. With all this power concentrated at a certain point, the result would be the space surrounding the area to immediately collapse. A part of the Perpetual Motion Level was directly disintegrated on the spot, imploding into a black hole causing an even larger space-time collapse. Hence, before the remaining reinforcement managed to land, they had already been sent off to another galaxy countless light years away.


    The overall result was that all of the White King''s strongest kin were completely wiped out.


    The Thousand Pillar King stared at the red-shirted Garen in front of him with a complicated expression.


    "At the end of the day, how much of it was real and how much of it was fake? Even I couldn''t tell anymore."


    "Such a masterful execution. For the White King to have made such an enemy, it''s just¡­" Bull King nodded his head in agreement.


    At this moment in the Negative Spatial Universe, there were only four groups of people left.


    Thousand Pillar King and the forces of the Nine Emperors, the Scarlet Snow Sect''s Double-Faced Man and other experts, and the flying ship that Baylon, Clint, and the others were piloting.


    Lastly, there was the lone red-robed Garen who was floating in space.


    At this moment, Garen was like the most average energy machinist, facing the Thousand Pillar King in silence.


    Since the Thousand Pillar King had taken action earlier, he had revealed his actual physical body. He was the size of an entire planet, solemnly staring down at Garen, who was sesame-sized in comparison.


    The two were like David and Goliath, even if it was just based on the aura of their energy forces, there was definitely more than a whole level in difference. However, Thousand Pillar King looked very solemn at the moment. If we ignore the difference in size, he looked no different from a serious and calm middle-aged uncle.


    "This current body of yours, it''s not your actual body, right?" He softly asked.


    Garen smiled.


    "Your Majesty Thousand Pillar King, whether it is real or fake, it doesn''t really matter much, does it? What''s important is that it got the job done, is it not?"


    "What a powerful junior I have. Never would I have thought that just after slightly more than a hundred years of my slumber, an expert with such outstanding talents as this would suddenly appear," the Bull King was repeatedly praising Garen as he looked over at him, "Scarlet Snow Holy Lord, if my gut feeling is correct, the ability you used just now should be something to do with the dream world of Void Creatures and Guise-type abilities."


    "Bull King is indeed very sharp," Garen nodded while smiling, "In reality, my actual strength pales in comparison to the White King''s. It''s just that I had some unique attributes and it was his first time dealing with this type of ability. He was completely unaware of this ability that he was completely unfamiliar with, giving him a huge disadvantage. However, it seems like I won''t be as lucky the next time around."


    "Well said," Thousand Pillar King nodded in agreement. Even he could tell that Garen''s actual strength is far lower than the White King''s. He had to rely heavily on this type of abnormal ability that utilizes deception and confusion. However, once the opponent had done adequate preparation work, it would be highly improbable if he wanted to achieve a similar favorable result. The scientist of the Finite People would definitely not ignore such an abnormal ability, with their research, they are bound to come up with strategies and countermeasures against this trick in no time.


    "Then, we must show our gratitude to Scarlet Snow Holy Lord for the results of this battle," Thousand Pillar King said cheerfully.


    "The pleasure''s mine," Garen answered politely.


    Looking at the Thousand Pillar King and company leaving the scene, Garen finally turned around, gazing at the passed out Baylon, Clint and his crew in the flying ship and the group of Scarlet Snow members who were looking on anxiously by the sidelines.

 1147 Opportunity 1

    "Due to some personal reasons, I cannot physically be with you guys at the moment," his smile on his face slowly faded away. "As a matter of fact, this body is not my actual physical body. I have seen all your hard work and effort over the years."


    "Sect Master, please come back!" Ice-Ocean stood forward, "We need you, the Scarlet Snow Alliance needs your presence."


    More importantly, the potential of all the experts with the Distorted Seed parasite that were present at the location relied on Garen''s existence. Once Garen died, all of the Energy Machinists here may very well return to their former weak selves.


    This was what worried the Two-Faced Person and the other Level Ten Perpetual Motioners the most. Since Garen went missing, they all had a serious feeling of unease lingering in their hearts. In an attempt to release themselves from his shackles, they have tried to research the principles and theories behind the Distorted Seed over the years but to no avail.


    "That''s right Sect Master, after so many years of improvement, the Scarlet Snow Sect is no longer the small sect from the past. The only thing lacking now is a true blue Regent Level in our ranks. Once you''ve returned, our Scarlet Snow Sect will break through boundaries and become a real Regent Level force! The human''s Tenth Great Royal Star Force!!" The Two-Faced Person shouted out.


    Garen smiled bitterly as he shook his head.


    "It''s not that I don''t want to return, it''s just that my physical body is now at the White Royal Palace, unable to escape confinement. The White King''s physical body is constantly monitoring me. Unless there comes a day where you guys can manage to defeat the White King and break into the White Royal Palace¡­"


    "White Royal Palace!!"


    Who would have thought that Garen''s physical body was at the Finite People''s main camp. This was something that the Two-Faced Person and the other experts could have never expected.


    That place was completely surrounded by countless Finite People experts. Even for the Thousand Pillar King, the epitome of the Regent Level, it would be a suicide mission breaking into their defense, much less for the average Regent Levels.


    White King was one of the top Regent Levels, an existence that boasted itself as the unmatched peak within this universe. Furthermore, within the Finite Royalty, there was also the White King''s mysterious mother - Goddess Dowager. There were also the Twelve Golden Merit Blue Princes, twelve Regent Level experts!


    With this kind of lineup, even if we get another Regent Level with a similarly strong power as the White King, it was still an impossible mission.


    "White Royal Palace¡­" Not just the Scarlet Snow Sect members, but even Clint and company on the Flying Ship fell silent.


    "No wonder you went missing for so many years. You got yourself stuck in the White King''s home base," Red Moon sighed. "It looks like he understood a bit more about essences. For someone who understood the concept of essences, when facing others who have not, they would have an absolute suppressing power against them. This effect can be apparent with even the slightest bit of understanding."


    "You mentioned essence, but what exactly is it?" White Winter paused for a long while before asking, his gaze locked onto Garen''s eyes.


    "That''s the foundation and the basis behind all Regent Levels," Red Moon explained.


    While listening to his explanation, Clint and the others started to feel more at ease as they were no longer in imminent danger. They listened on curiously at Red Moon''s explanations.


    "In theory, the coverage area of essence could go up to an infinite distance. Currently, the furthest essence coverage is wielded by the one known as the weirdest Regent Level, Golden Thread Flower King. His essence can cover an area with the radius of up to hundreds of light years apart, affecting the people within its coverage. It can completely cover the entire Solar System and even its bordering areas."


    "That''s absurd!!?" Clint''s eyes widened. "Essence coverage of hundreds of light years! Then, what about the weakest? What''s the smallest coverage area?"


    Red Moon clicked his tongue.


    "What''s so absurd about it? Strength is similar to essence, it has a concentration level. The more concentrated it is, naturally, the coverage area would be smaller. If you want to increase the coverage area, naturally it will cause the concentration level to drop. However, once the concentration level drops below a certain extent, it would become more or less useless. You need to, at the very least ensure that there is the lowest level of effect."


    "That''s true¡­" Clint rubbed his chin, understanding what Red Moon was saying.


    "Garen''s abilities look to be similar to that of a Void Creature''s Dream Abilities. It seems to be very strong, very real, and its coverage is area is also quite large. However, he has a fatal weak point," Red Moon coldly stated.


    "What weak point!?" White Winter''s face tensed up.


    "His actual strength is too weak. Thus, he has to rely on illusions to make his opponents think they are under confinement. However, once they learn about his essence, their subconsciousness will no longer think he has the ability to put them under confinement, breaking the illusion and causing an opposite result," Red Moon calmly explained. "To put it simply, his ability is to deceive his opponent''s nervous system, making them see certain things or think that they are confined and are unable to move. In reality, he was just manipulating their nervous systems, using it to create illusions, not actually doing anything in the real world."


    "It''s like inducing a dream on the opponents!"


    "Exactly! That''s how you can look at it!" Red Moon confirmed. "With that in mind, that is why his essence coverage area is very wide. As long as there are sentient organisms in the area, it will be under his coverage. This might even exceed the Golden Thread Flower King, reaching a terrifying level. However, it''s only flaw is that once the opponents do targeted preparation on him, it would be extremely hard for his abilities to achieve the same effects. In other words, what''s fake will always remain fake. No matter how real it looks, once it gets seen through by someone, it would become useless."


    "This type of ability seems to be powerful on paper, but in actuality, it is very weak," White Winter nodded in agreement.


    "That''s right¡­ Real or fake, if only Garen''s potential was just a bit stronger, he might actually be able to use this essence of his and reach a terrifying level," Red Moon said regretfully. "However, I found out that his essence had already been completely locked in this current degree. I don''t know why that is the case."


    Although Red Moon was a Regent Level of the older generation and his experience could help him see through a lot of things, he was still clueless about the truth behind this issue.


    ******


    "My essence¡­" When Garen was asked about this, he let out a slight smile.


    "It''s confinement, freezing. It''s also illusions and dreamland," he calmly answered.


    "Between the Regent Levels, what is the deciding factor for the difference in potential?" Whilst Garen was around, the Two-Faced Person took the opportunity to ask what he wanted to know. He was now at the very peak of Perpetual Motion, with only one last step to reach Regent Level. He understood that essence was a concept, but he could not fully understand the details regarding it.


    "Regent Level¡­" Garen went deep into thought. "It''s the confrontation between concepts. Regent Levels back in the Perpetual Motion Level era gained unlimited strength. However, Regent Levels nowadays gained unlimited Willpower. When Willpower condenses to its maximum point, it would naturally become essence. Regarding this, it''s best for you to find your own essence that suits yourself the most, then only can you become a true Regent Level."


    "My own essence¡­" The Two-Faced Person and the other Level Ten Perpetual Motioners started thinking.


    Garen was also sincerely hoping that some of them would manage to attain Regent Level. Thus, he decided to pass down his wisdom that he attained to aid them as well.


    "In my opinion, the difference between Regent Levels does not lie within strength. Since everyone can freely gain unlimited strength, it was not a point of contention. The key difference should be in the difference of one''s essence, and one''s grasp and understanding of it. The confrontations between essences is dependence on one''s depth in understanding. Whoever can grasp their own essences better shall have a greater impact on the battle. In turn, they will have a greater chance to dispel their opponent''s essences, allowing their own essence to affect the opponent. However, no matter how much you try to suppress or affect your opponent, it wouldn''t be likely that you will be able to one-shot them. In other words, the difference would not be too big."


    Garen continued.


    "With that in mind, there wouldn''t be any quick deaths between two Regent Levels. Unless it''s a fight to the death or a battle of endurance, most of the time the Regent Levels would survive these battles. Unless, of course, an unexpected situation occurs."


    "In that case, would all Regent Level battles eventually turn dragged out long battles?" A girl with four arms asked. The Two-Faced Person and her were currently the ones with the strongest potential within the Scarlet Snow Alliance. She was also one of the representatives for the other Level Tens.


    "Would Regent Level battles ever not be a dragged out long battle?" Garen returned her question.


    With this question, the people at the scene came to a sudden realization. From the start of the battle between humans and the Finite People, there were not any Regent Level casualties. The last Regent Level casualty was from an unimaginably long time ago.


    Garen put out his right hand, five balls of pale red light appeared on his fingertips.


    "Go."


    He shot the red lights into the air, attaching them onto the five strongest people present.


    Almost as if a hallucination, the red light seeped into their skin without them feeling anything.


    "This is¡­" The Two-Faced Person frowned.


    "It''s a bit of my essence that can attach itself to your bodies, If you have any updates or urgent situations, you can concentrate your Willpower on it and send a message to me. I should be able to receive it," Garen explained. "My essence is not one that has high offensive power, so it''s slightly more troublesome."


    "There aren''t many essences with high offensive power, supposedly only the Fresh Blood Holy Lord, who is missing in action, had a purely offensive essence. Unfortunately, after she challenged the White King, she went missing, or she might even have died¡­" Garen thought back to his last encounter with the crazy lady of the Wraith Royalty. At first, he straight up shot a star, almost completely crushing her.


    "Alright, my time is almost up," Garen looked at his current body. This physical body he possessed belonged to a Non-Falling Level expert at the Scarlet Mourning Hall. However, this possession was not permanent, it was only available for a temporary amount of time.


    "Sect Master¡­" Ice-Ocean and company sincerely hoped for Garen''s safe return. If the Scarlet Snow Alliance was led by Garen, it would no doubt improve a lot. Instead of having to cowardly live under the protection of Sawtooth King.


    "Say no more, I will continue to watch over you guys in the White Royal Palace. Perpetual Motioners without an essence will have no way of defending against my possession, White King would not completely disregard my presence. He wouldn''t dare to take any direct action towards you guys. He knows that once I no longer have anything to linger on to, it will result in both of our mutually assured destruction," Garen seriously stated.


    To tell the truth, he did not actually fully attain Regent Level. In reality, he used a trick, utilizing Shadow Dragon''s essence to consider himself half a Regent Level.


    Thus, his possession was completely vulnerable to the White King''s projection. From the very beginning, He only used ambushes and illusions, temporarily pulling the dreamland into reality, overlapping it. Only then did he manage to create such a large effect. However, in actuality, the damage he had done was pitifully little, far incomparable to when the Thousand Pillar King completely annihilated the White King''s kin later on.


    If the White King decides to disregard him as a threat and take action, he would not be able to do anything against it.


    "Now return¡­ I will talk to Sawtooth King a bit later¡­" Garen finally started to feel that his possessed body was at its limit. Looking back at the flying ship, Clint and company were looking at him through the ship''s glass window.


    Baylon was still passed out unconscious.


    "The stimulus this time, should be able to replace the stimulus from the Battle of Ice Age?" Garen silently pondered, "Hopefully she can successfully awaken¡­"


    In the grand scheme of things, Baylon was originally affected by the death of her brother, causing her to completely awaken, rapidly becoming a top level Royal Star. On the other hand, Clint was also working hard, rapidly growing up. This is now their true turning points.


    .

 1148 Opportunity 2

    Garen had a feeling that, ever since he started using the void crystal to confine himself, the muscular structures of his body had started becoming, leaving his body in a state of a suspended animation.


    Even he himself did not know how his body is continuing to exist, neither did he understand why his body was being confined. He just understood that his willpower could still go through a Dream Weave. His hypothesis for this was that the essence for Dream Weaving is of a higher level the essence for confinement.


    The superficial confinement essence that Garen knew could at most dispel some of the other average Regent Levels'' essences or be used when conversing with the White King. Only when he was facing a non-Regent Level existence could it have any obvious effect.


    When facing an actual Regent Level, it would be extremely underwhelming.


    He had a hunch that ever since he forcefully grasped half of his essence, especially the confinement essence, all the way up until when he grasped the Dream Weaving essence, his entire worldview had been flipped upside down.


    The world consisted not only of the material world but also the Dream World where our spirits are intertwined with each other and a lot of other things that cause waves and ripples, creating a non-material world.


    The entire universe seemed to become even more vast and mysterious, completely unpredictable.


    This essentially showed the truth in the statement that "the more you know, the less you understand."


    ******


    Finite God Palace


    The blue sky was filled with white clouds slowly drifting through the air. Golden sun rays showered down from above, landing on the huge white palace below and reflecting on a pale gold surface.


    The White King was moving up along the pure white stairway. His silhouette would glow every few hundred steps, instantaneously leaping a large distance, teleporting him to the next section of the stairway.


    The white palace stood in solitude in the middle of a huge white desert, surrounded by an endless sea of white sand. Under the light of the golden sun, the entire desert seemed extremely glaring and beautiful.


    Soon, the White King arrived in front of the palace entrance in his white robes.


    As he stepped forward, the grand stone gates that were dozens of meters tall automatically opened to two sides, revealing a deep and long hall.


    The floor of the hall was tiled with thick, white bricks, with every brick being a few hundred meters in width and length. The entire palace looked big enough to house an entire city. It was purely white, wide, and completely empty.


    The White King walked into the hall, gazing at the center of the hall, looking at a white circular platform floating in the air.


    "Mother, it has been many years. Once again, I''m here to visit you," White King''s calm voice echoed through the hall.


    The Finite King and Queen had been killed by their own son. After the White King inherited the throne, he felt no remorse over his father''s death. However, he bestowed the title "Goddess Dowager" to the mother that he personally killed and had the girl that he loved the most, Linora, take care of this tomb behind him. This caused a huge commotion throughout the world back when he first decided to do it.


    "You had personally killed my physical body, all for the sake of stopping me from interfering in your grand scheme. Now, why do you still have the leisure of time to come here and visit me?" A lady''s cold voice rang from the floating stone platform.


    "Killing you was not my intention, it was all part of our destiny," The White King answered calmly. "The reason behind my visit is partially to see you. I also wish to pay Linora a visit."


    The lady coldly snorted out. She stopped speaking and remained silent.


    A moment later, a blue-shirted girl appeared from behind a tall stone pillar from the other side of the hall.


    "Your Highness."


    The girl''s face was covered with a white cloth, her body looked thin and frail, almost like a willow in the wind, as if she was gonna collapse as she walked on by.


    "Lin," The White King walked up to greet her. Looking at the girl standing in front of her, he let out a huge sigh of relief. "As long as you''re still fine."


    "What happened, Your Highness?" She asked in confusion. However, before she even finished her question, she was caught in the White King''s embrace. Removing the white cloth covering her face, he passionately kissed her.


    Surprisingly, underneath the white cloth, the girl''s face was not beautiful at all, as a matter of fact, it was completely hideous.


    Small eyes, a snub nose, big mouth, and a complexion that was barely decent. However, no matter how one looked at it, one could not see her as a beautiful person. She could not even be considered average. The only word that could describe her was "hideous".


    However, the way the White King looked at her was one of unconditional loving. He did not care about Linora''s physical appearance. In his eyes, Linora was like a gemstone that constantly emitted a bright shine. The beauty of her spirit and willpower was incomparable to anyone else in the world.


    "Your Highness¡­ You''re uncalm again¡­" Linora softly touched the White King''s hair. She was much shorter than him, so the White King bent down to compensate for their height difference, resting his head on her chest.


    "Yes¡­ Whenever I start to feel anxious, you''re the only one who can calm me down," While the White King''s head rested on her chest, they looked like a couple of lovers, but something similar to a maternal bond could also be felt.


    Linora was the absolute source of the White King''s motivation.


    "What''s the matter? Did your father''s consciousness escape again? Or did all the Finite Princes band together to start a revolution?" The Goddess Dowager''s voice coldly rang out behind him.


    "It''s only a small problem," The White King raised his head from Linora''s embrace. "I''ll resolve it soon, you don''t need to worry, Mother. You just focus on taking care of yourself in this place."


    His visit was mainly to check up to confirm that Linora was alright. Garen''s trick managed to give him quite a fright.


    Since he had achieved his goal, the White King stood up, once again kissing Linora on her cheeks.


    "Your Highness, emergency meeting. Prince Dragonrock requests that you get there immediately, it''s about what happened to your kin this time around¡­" A man''s voice could be heard from the palace entrance.


    "Understood," White King replied plainly.


    "Go¡­" Linora gently caressed his face. "I will always be here."


    "Mm."


    White King''s gaze revealed a hint of reluctance, as he held on to her hands.


    ******


    After the battle in the Negative Space, Scarlet Snow Holy Lord Garen''s name had spread throughout the two nebulae inhabited by the two races.


    The combat evaluation report had also reached the Head of the Regent Level Force''s table.


    "Scarlet Snow Holy Lord Garen: Regent Level.


    Danger Level - Extreme.


    Combat Level - Regent Level, ranking unknown.


    Combat Coverage: Over three hundred light years (Previously initiated an illusion affecting all organisms within a three hundred and twenty-one light year radius.)


    Concept Type: Confinement, Illusion. Precise details unknown.


    Special Ability - Possession, similar to Projection. Limits and requirements unknown. There is an eighty percent chance that utilizing his potential will allow him to possess only one body unit and utilizing the body''s full power.


    Positions and Authorities - Alliance Leader of the Scarlet Snow Alliance, Scarlet Snow Sec Sect Master, an existence of the Human''s Tenth Star Emperor (Regent Level)."


    After that, the report had investigated most of his growth and experiences in his life since he was young. Many academics had also started to research on the sudden exponential jumps in his growth progress as his potential had an irregular growth progress.


    In the last battle in the Negative Space, although he had the Thousand Pillar King and other Regent Levels backing him up, the trick Garen used to deceive the White King into retreating to buy time managed to intrigue a lot of tacticians'' interest. Someone had also leaked out the information that Garen''s actual body was still in the White Royal Palace, being confined by the Dark Gold Void Crystal, the strongest material known to mankind. One of the reasons he was still alive was because he had grasped the foundation of the Confinement Essence.


    For a Regent Level under confinement, he still managed to have such a big impact. This instantly made the days of most of the higher-ups.


    After the Human''s Nine Emperor forces'' research and discussion, they had also officially bestowed the title "King of Scarlet Snow" to Garen.


    However, a lot of people thought that instead of King of Scarlet Snow, Garen was more suited for the titles "Crystal King" and "King of Lies". While being confined in the crystal, he relied on illusions and lies, causing huge losses for the White King and his men. In retrospect, the King of Lies would be more appropriate, considering his essence.


    Thus, the official title only existed in name, Garen''s colloquial title became the two aforementioned. Those who were fond of him would call him the Crystal King; whilst those who were not would call him the King of Lies.


    The gossip about him also started to die down as time went on.


    The Scarlet Snow Alliance had gained independence, founding a whole new territory in another galaxy, officially becoming the Tenth Great Star Emperor Force. They were recognized by the other forces, officially joining the Human Alliance.


    However, the mysterious Garen, due to his special circumstances, could not be present for most of the Regent Level events. Naturally, Scarlet Snow''s ranking had also dropped to the last place.


    In a blink of an eye, a hundred years had passed.


    The humans and the Finite People had once again been in countless wars, but all of them ended without any definite winner. On the other hand, Garen had occasionally participated in these battles. The frequency of his appearance seemingly getting less and less.


    As for Clint and the company who joined the Scarlet Snow Alliance, they had all matured into a new generation of experts. Clint had entered Level Eight while Baylon directly attained Level Nine. She had achieved terrific results in numerous battles, once even surviving a fight with a Level Ten Perpetual Motioner in one piece. They had successfully propelled themselves up to the circles of the top ranks. In one of the reconnaissance missions, Baylon managed to use her ability to mimic one of the Finite experts, successfully deceiving the countless layers of strict security and defense, obtaining important information on the enemy, and allowing the human forces to heavily injure three of the Finite Golden Merit Blue Princes.


    With that success, she had been dubbed the "Almighty Woman" and her name spread across the two nebulae.


    ******


    White Royal Palace


    Garen was still his same old self. There was literally nothing that had changed about him. The confinement essence not just halted all activity on his body, it also stopped all time from passing on his body.


    The "him" now and the "him" from two hundred years ago had literally no differences.


    As compared to the Confinement Power in the beginning, the crystal''s current power had been raised to a terrifying level. The Confinement Power seemed to have risen ceaselessly. At the start, Garen could still use voice transmission with the White King through the crystal, utilizing his understanding of a part of the confinement essence to transmit voice exchanges. However, now, not even a whimper could be transmitted.


    Garen felt that the Shadow Dragon''s essence seemed to have already been increased to a level that he could no longer comprehend.


    Now, he could only rely on his knowledge to forcefully receive the everything from the external world unilaterally. The void crystal is continuously absorbing the external world, taking in everything he comes in contact with and subsequently confining it.


    Seemingly due to prolonged confinement of the Hellfrost Peacock Queen, the crystal started assimilating some of the Hellfrost Peacock Queen''s devourer essence.


    The current him could only observe and listen, but his own voice could not be transmitted out. Even the most basic of actions like blinking or smiling could no longer be done by his body. The confinement had already been raised to a level that no one could even comprehend.

 1149 Resolution 1

    A cold wind was whirling. On the entire island of the White Royal Palace, save for the forever unchanging meteorite flow surrounding it, it was just a wide and empty wasteland.


    The Void Crystal with a dark golden hue had already become a part of the island''s scenery.


    "I seemed to have miscalculated the outcome of this battle," The White King''s voice sounded from outside the crystal.


    Garen looked at the figure that suddenly appeared outside blurrily through the crystal. Without a care for his image, the White King sat down on the floor cross-legged.


    He had already stopped talking since dozens of years ago, even the time for outside activities was starting to get limited. It seemed like the confinement essence had already started to affect his Dream Weaving ability. Most of the time, he was stuck in the crystal, silently trying to get a deeper grasp of the confinement essence. However, his progression was getting increasingly slower, and bearing fewer and fewer results. Most of the time, the results were so minuscule that he started feeling that he was not improving at all.


    In this time, whenever the White King felt bored, he would come over to chat with him. At first, he could still barely force out a few sentences, but now, as the Confinement Power was getting stronger and stronger, he was no longer able to say a word.


    However, even if he could not reply, the White King would still come to chat. It seemed as though he was rambling to himself, but all he wanted was an audience to vent to, so he did not mind if there were not any replies.


    "The Red King has finally awakened," The White King calmly said. "I heard that he entered Level Eight. That''s fast. Although he''s an outlier from the general trend, this kind of speed is still considered astonishingly fast¡­"


    "There''s also your younger sister, she''s already Level Nine. She''s now even able to escape from the clutches of a Holy Lord unscathed. It''s truly amazing¡­ Just using that bit of information and conditions, they managed to grow to such an extent within just a couple hundred of years," The White King''s voice seemed to reveal a hint of emptiness.


    "Wasn''t this part of the original script you intended?" Garen wanted to reply with that. Unfortunately, his voice was completely sealed by the crystal.


    "I know, you''re trying to ask me that ''wasn''t this the script that I planned myself?''" The White King gazed at the orbiting meteorites from afar indifferently. "It is¡­ Didn''t I start off by pursuing unification and peace? The Red King can bring this generation an even longer-lasting peace, end all wars, and allow the two races to cohabitate in harmony¡­"


    He paused briefly, taking out some sort of snack from his hands. Putting one of them into his mouth, he started to lightly chew on it.


    "To be able to promise this type of complete equality, it''s not something I can offer."


    "So you waited for the Red King to grow up, waiting to pass on the baton to him once he was ready?" Even though Garen knew his voice could not be heard, he still asked.


    Surely enough, the White King could not hear anything. He had stopped talking. As he started eating the snacks slowly piece by piece, his gaze felt empty.


    In reality, the two knew deep inside, every time Garen weaved out, the Confinement Power would get jolted with some stimuli and strengthen its confinement against Dream Weaving. This inadvertently caused the difficulty of weaving out each time to become progressively harder.


    Perhaps, after weaving out a few more times, he would no longer even be able to return anymore¡­


    "Is this considered a ''you reap what you sow'' moment?" Garen was helpless. The strongest confinement had far exceeded his expectations. Not only did it manage to successfully block out the White King, soon it could be possible that he himself would be blocked in. He might even be sealed in here forever.


    He believed that the White King had already predicted this as well, that was why the White King decided to use Garen as an audience for his venting. He started coming over to vent with no restraint or any intention of hiding anything.


    "Maybe, I can go out two more times," Garen carefully calculated and arrived at this conclusion. Two more times, with less than a month of a grace period in between. Otherwise, since the Confinement Power continually increases, he might not be able to return anymore. Then, his consciousness and physical body would be separated, making him no different from a Fallen¡­ Oh, it might be slightly different. Once a person had fallen, their consciousness could only remain at a place or in a location, they could not freely move. He might still be able to move by his will¡­


    Once a Regent Level had fallen, this was the result. Even after their death, they still existed as a highly concentrated bundle of consciousness, allowing them to exist for a very long time. It was similar to the types at Ancient Endor, having their soul seeds remain even after their deaths.


    That was the case for Goddess Dowager and Red Moon. Just that one was sealed in a palace, while the other was sealed in his own mech''s core parts.


    "For the final time I''m weaving out, I have to find a concrete method of escaping this¡­" Garen did not want to be forever sealed in this void crystal. Living like this without any notion of time or space would eventually drive him insane.


    He had a hunch that the opportunity to leave this world was soon arriving¡­


    "It looks like you reap what you sow," The White King looked at Garen who was in the well and said. "To block me, you ended up sealing yourself inside the crystal with no way of coming out."


    He brought out a jug of alcohol and started to drink without a care in the world, directly drinking it straight out of the jug.


    "Laughable¡­ Who would have known, the human''s Tenth Regent Level, the Crystal King, the King of Liars, is now a crystal statue that had almost fallen?"


    Garen could see that he was somewhat irritated. Perhaps, he had started feeling conflicted with the pathway he had planned out in the very beginning. Maybe it was a conflict between his ideals and the reality. From what it looked like, the White King seemed to not want to die.


    He started having conflicting feelings towards his plan which he had set out to achieve back then.


    "Forget it, you''re already at your death''s door, what am I doing here still talking to you?" The White King stood up and tossed away his alcohol jug as he turned and slowly walked off.


    Looking at his silhouette slowly disappearing from his sight, Garen had a complicated, indescribable feeling in his heart.


    "For the final time I''m weaving out, I''ll need to start considering my future plans¡­" He made a decision in his heart.


    Celine, and Chinande, these were the two matters that he still had to resolve to get the peace of mind.


    Did Celine actually lie to him, or did someone kill her and disguised themselves with her appearance? Or maybe there was not a person called Celine from the very start? What if she was a pawn from one of the White King''s subordinates from the very beginning, hiding amongst the masses solely to learn about the Red Moon Star Emperor''s movements?


    Even up till now, Garen still had not found a clear answer to this. The last time Garen went out, he did discover some clues. This time, he had to clear up everything.


    "It''s time to resolve everything¡­" Garen started to concentrate his consciousness within the crystal.


    ******


    Five days later¡­


    Some Star Region of Mankind - Central Black Bottom Star.


    In a small town located on the high grounds next to a snowy mountain, a tall man covered in a black cloak was walking on a somewhat narrow street. He was wearing a black mask, only revealing two deep blue eyes. His entire body was completely covered by the cloak.


    There were a couple of kids running around the town, occasionally stopping to look at this weird and unknown visitor.


    This town was situated somewhere rural, it was also the most barren place in the whole of Black Bottom Star. Usually, there would barely even be one visitor every half a month. Thus, every time an outsider comes to visit, these children would be the first to run out to witness their arrival.


    At the houses on his two sides, an auntie carrying a steel basin out to water the plants looked over at the man just as she was heading back to her house.


    "Auntie, may I ask you a question?" The man''s voice rang out from within the cloak. "Is there a female mech pilot named Celine living around these parts? She has short green hair, was quite stalky and looked decently pretty. I think she moved here about more than thirty years ago."


    The auntie stopped in her tracks.


    "Celine? Thirty plus years ago¡­ You mean Big Sis Celine?"


    "Big Sis?"


    The cloaked man was slightly shocked.


    "Yeah, she''s even older than me. What else would I call her other than ''Big Sis''?" The auntie answered matter-of-factly. "But, what are you looking for her for?"


    "I''m her friend, I haven''t seen her in ages so I decided to visit. Since it was en route, I decided to come over to explore the area a bit," The man answered. However, judging from his voice, this man''s age was still quite young.


    The auntie instantly started to feel suspicious. However, as she thought about it more, a lot of mech pilots also had anti-aging capabilities, so she gave out Celine''s house address after a brief hesitation.


    "To get to her house, you''ll just need to follow this road. It''s the third green building up ahead. However¡­"


    "However what?"


    The auntie looked around the street and softly whispered.


    "However, Big Sis Celine had passed away almost ten years ago¡­ You¡­"


    What she said after that, the man had obviously stopped listening. He was completely in a state of shock. Lightly removing his mask, it revealed a fierce but cold face.


    "Died?"


    The man''s brow slowly lit up in a white V-shape, displaying his current emotional fluctuations. The white light will brighten or dim accordingly to his feelings.


    Whoosh!


    Just as the auntie and the children screamed due to the sudden breeze, the man had instantly disappeared into thin air, leaving no traces behind, as if he was never here to begin with.


    He leaped a few hundred meters in an instance.


    When Garen once again appeared, he was already standing in front of a green building on the other side of town.


    The building was slightly dilapidated. One side of the metal gate in front of the door was open. A young girl with green hair and a backpack was closing the gate with her back facing him.


    The girl was in a black student''s short skirt, black thigh-high socks, and small leather boots. Her body was thin and shapely, almost a carbon copy of Celine back in the day.


    Click! Right after the metal gate got locked, the girl turned around. Looking at the black-cloaked man who appeared silently behind her out of nowhere, she was obviously frightened. She leaped back slightly, her hands putting on a familiar pose.


    Garen looked at the young girl in front of him that looked almost identical to Celine from back in the day and the Twelve Flying Dragon Fist stance that she was in. It caused him to reminisce about the days of him teaching her back in the Blackboard Region.


    "Who are you?" The girls asked, alerted. "Why did you come to my house?"


    Garen started laughing. His face which originally looked fierce, suddenly turned even more frightening as he started laughing while his facial expressions remained emotionless. He was originally already a character that could easily make a young child cry just from his looks. Now, his potential and aura seemed to have increased, giving off an even more terrifying feeling. This sight caused the girl to suddenly tense up.


    "Me? I''m here to find Celine. Who are you to her?"


    The girl once again stepped back, maintaining the best distance for her to strike.


    "I''m her daughter. My mother had already passed away ten years ago."


    Garen did not know what to say. Regarding the problem with Celine, up till now, he still had to legitimate answer. However, it was certain now that she was not a familiar or clone of Chinande, but instead an actual living human. But daughter?


    "Who is your father?" Garen stopped laughing.


    "Father?" The girl frowned. "Why should I tell you? Who even are you?!"


    The atmosphere seemed stiff.


    Garen suddenly raised his right hand, his palm was covered in a thin colorless film. He lightly grabbed onto the young girl in front of him.

 1150 Resolution 2

    "Go to sleep¡­ Go to sleep¡­"


    His voice was almost like a magical chant. It seemed to have an irresistible hypnotizing effect. In an instant, the girl''s eyes closed, as she passed out onto the ground.


    At this moment, the surroundings had already been silently covered with a spherical film. The townsfolk outside did not seem to notice a thing as they continued on with their daily lives.


    Garen placed his hand on top of the girl''s head without any hesitation.


    She was an average person, there was not a trace of willpower on her body at all. There was no way she could fend against his Regent Level willpower memory search. However, it was exactly due to the fact that the difference in power between them was so huge, this kind of search was completely unresisted, and it would not do any harm to the girl as well.


    After a brief moment, images of the girl''s memories start flowing out from her brain.


    Scenes from her memory start continuously playing one-by-one in Garen''s mind. All of her memories, all the way back to when she first opened her eyes as a newborn were recorded down.


    Celine raised her with what seemed like a gentle guy. However, not long after she was born, the guy had died. A bit later, when she was six years old, Celine went out for an errand and never returned.


    After a few days, someone found Celine''s unrecognizable corpse in a ravine in the wilderness.


    What followed was suffering, despair, and depression. When the girl participated in the funeral, she was alone, without any relatives, living on with only the occasional help offered by some of the kind people in the town. Luckily, Celine had left a fortune enough for her lifetime. Every day, she would go to school in town for her classes, then return home to revise her homework and read. She desperately wanted to leave this place and find out about the truth behind Celine''s death. At the same time, she never forgot to continue on her Celine''s ideals - to keep getting stronger! Until no one can stop her!


    This was all of the contents of her memories. For a sixteen-year-old''s memories, it would only take Garen a short couple of minutes to finish viewing the entire thing.


    "Was she murdered?" Garen frowned. Using his Energy Machine Imprint, he rapidly input a command to send an order. His message was sent instantly over an immeasurable distance, reaching the Scarlet Snow Alliance headquarters.


    A huge Alliance Databank suddenly popped up. It was a collaborative effort between the huge forces network and other information networks.


    After having the rough direction and narrowing down the search with more precise details, similar information could then be easily searched up.


    Almost instantaneously, everything regarding Celine''s murder case appeared inside Garen''s imprint.


    For some unknown reason, Celine had left the Energy Machinist forces'' radar, leaving the populated and bustling regions. Posing as an average mech pilot, she continued to live in seclusion. She later found herself an average man to marry. All these made it almost as though she was hiding something. She was later violently assaulted by an outsider pilot, seemingly due to an internal dispute caused by an uneven loot distribution when they banded together to explore an ancient ruin.


    Due to her qualifications, countless coincidences, and other factors, before her death, Celine was still only a mech pilot who barely attained the Inherited Level. Her side as an Energy Machinist seemed to have less desirable results as compared to her mech pilot achievements; it seemed like she had given up on it.


    Despite the strength that she accumulated over her entire lifetime, at the very end, she died without a trace in this small town.


    To be honest, Garen had also understood, Celine was nothing more than a so-called genius only within the Blackboard Region. In the wider scope of things, she was not anything extraordinary. To be able to reach the Inherited Level was already a feat worth commending, that was the extent of growth a lot of these so-called geniuses and elites could achieve. To continue on, what they needed were not more qualifications, but rather, the appropriate temperaments, coincidences, and countless other factors.


    "Find the murderer''s location," Garen directly ordered.


    "Understood," The Scarlet Snow Alliance''s Quantum Communications replied.


    Garen regained his focus as he looked at the young girl in front of him. Reaching his hand out, he lightly pinched her cheeks. It was soft and smooth, but also slightly cold.


    "Who would''ve thought that she died¡­"


    Originally, he planned to find out the truth. However, it seemed like he had no choice but to bury the hatchet. What happened to Celine back then was a question forever left unsolved, where only the late Celine had the answer.


    In the end, did she betray Garen, was she forced to do it, was it another person disguised as her, or was it something else? Everything remained a mystery¡­


    A reply from the Scarlet Snow Alliance was received a moment later.


    Whoosh!


    Garen''s silhouette instantaneously disappeared from the girl''s location.


    As he reappeared, he was facing a strangely busy pub. It was dark and noisy, with multiple boys and girls twisting their bodies to the music. Their clothing was either very sexy or very enchanting.


    Garen looked past the crowd and saw a group of carefree-looking boys and girls. These people had their legs crossed across the table. Some were smoking, while others were drinking. They seemed to be playing some sort of game.


    There was also another person on the other side playing with his phone. With the bright screen shining on his face, he looked as pale as a ghost.


    Garen carefully identified these group of people. He also looked down at his current clothing and appearance. He was in an extremely sexy outfit, with perky breasts jiggling all about. He was even wearing a white miniskirt with a black pantyhose, his long blonde hair going over his shoulder.


    At that point, Garen did not know whether to laugh or to cry. Even for reconnaissance investigators from the Scarlet Snow Alliance, to dress up to this extent is going a bit overboard¡­


    He directly used Dream Weaving, landing in this Scarlet Snow Alliance member''s body that was currently high from an acid trip. (TL Note: The original words were ''à¾Ò©'' which meant "taking drugs" or "popping pills", and ''ÃÔÃÔºýºý'' which meant "blurry". They were changed to "tripping acid" and "getting high" as it is more localized and suitable for the context.) However, he did not expect the target to be a girl, much less someone in such an erotic outfit.


    Casually using the energy field condensation to form a makeshift black cloak, Garen walked towards the table with the people he identified earlier.


    A black shadow from underneath Garen''s feet silently shot towards the group.


    Shooop!


    The shadow suddenly split into a few strands, fading under the target group''s feet.


    After a moment, they all started to wobble about before collapsing onto the table.


    Bam!


    Suddenly, their skulls all simultaneously burst open like an exploding watermelon.


    Aaaah! Aaaah!


    Almost immediately, the entire pub burst into screams. The people nearby were startled by what had just happened, causing them to run away in panic. The people who were a distance away were completely oblivious of what had just happened, as they continue to twist the bodies to the music, enjoying themselves to the fullest.


    With the sudden frenzied movement of the people, the pub turned into a chaotic mess.


    Garen turned around and left the scene, taking off his black cloak in the process.


    Whoosh!!


    In a flash, his sight returned to outside the pub. He was now in the body of a small boy, quietly taking a nap in his mother''s embrace.


    Garen slowly opened his eyes, silently watching the chaos unfold within the pub.


    This was his Dream Weaving Possession. As long as it was within his range, anyone asleep or without a clear consciousness could not escape from having their fates controlled by Garen.


    As his distance with the pub grew larger, while still possessing the small boy, he once again closed his eyes.


    Whoosh¡­


    Countless rainbow-colored strips zoomed past his two sides. It looked like a liquid rainbow, continuously flowing past him, emitting all sorts of colors.


    This was a rainbow-like circular tunnel. It was extremely long, almost feeling as if it was endless.


    Garen''s body was weaving through the tunnel, flipping about. This tunnel seemed to be indestructible. He had attempted many times in the past, using various different methods, but he still did not manage to break this dream world tunnel.


    He could only use it as a medium, entering different individuals'' dreams.


    A light suddenly flashed in front of his eyes.


    As he opened his eyes, he was in a dense cemetery in the wilderness. No one was taking care of the place, some of the crosses on the tombstones was already started to tilt or break due to nature''s wear and tear.


    Garen''s current body was stood in front of a black tombstone, the words engraved on it had already started to fade away.


    However, he could still vaguely make out the word "Celine" written on it.


    This body that Garen possessed belonged to a Scarlet Snow Alliance member. When Garen left, the body owner would automatically move accordingly the orders given by the Scarlet Snow Alliance.


    Squatting down, Garen gently placed the bouquet of white flowers in front of the tombstone.


    Time was almost up for his current trip out¡­ He needed to quickly resolve the trouble. Garen originally planned on staying a bit longer over here. However, he could only regretfully look at Celine''s tomb as he let out a sigh.


    "Looks like, the truth behind everything will have to be left for Lonnie to eventually unravel¡­"


    Whoosh!


    With a flash in his eyes, he once again entered into the dream world.


    ******


    At a huge white waterfall, large amounts of lake water flowed down the waterfall, forming what looked like a stretching of shining white silk. The downflow of water caused a huge white splash, creating an amazingly majestic sight.


    The Great Diamond Waterfall, it was one of the Finite Central Star Region''s most famous tourist attraction.


    From a bird-eyes'' view, the entire waterfall formed a semi-circular arc shape. The waterfall had two sides; on the left was a green lake that was as flat as a mirror, while on the right was this majestic white waterfall.


    The white clouds in the sky drifted with the wind. At the center of this bright blue sky, a golden star gently showered the place in warm sunlight, warming up the coolness from the splashes of water.


    Gush¡­


    Amidst the continuous gushing of the waterfall, at the center of the waterfall, a white-shirted man sat on top of a black rock silently fishing.


    Both his hands held onto his long white fishing pole, allowing his fishing line to be pulled tight by the rushing current. His face showed no emotion.


    Sitting alone at the center of this thousand-meter-long waterfall, this place was charged with various twisted magnetic fields and radiation, not even an average Inherited Level Mech Pilot would dare to fly pass the airspace above. However, the white-shirted man seemed to show no concern at all as he continued to silently sit atop this black rock as if he was waiting to get a bite. However, at the same time, it seemed that he was also awaiting something else.


    It was at this moment, on the other side of the waterfall, a silhouette in a black cloak slowly stepped into the waterfall. Carefully treading the boundaries in between the white waterfall and the green lake, the black cloak seemed to be completely unaffected by the water currents. He was just carefreely walking through the water, casually allowing the water to flow past his shins. He slowly made his way towards the white-shirted man.


    Not far away, the large water splashes had caused a lot of water vapor to be propelled into the air, forming a rainbow under the sunrays.


    The black cloak continuously made his way toward the white-shirted man, completely unaffected by the radiation or the magnetic field, and he finally stopped when he had reached the white-shirted man.


    "After searching for you for so many years, I never would have expected that you would be in a place like this," Removing the cloak, Garen''s face was revealed. "It''s time for payback."


    Behind Garen, a brown, Middle Aged-style sailboat slowly floated up, drifting in the air towards afar. That was the tourist sightseeing boat over here. On the boat, one could vaguely see a group of people looking over at their direction, screaming in confusion. No one had thought there would still be anyone who dared to enter this place.


    The white-shirted man slowly stood up from the black rock.


    Turning over, the man had a completely cold and emotionless face. His eyes were almost like a pair of white stones, completely matt, devoid of any sense of life.


    "Your action holds no meaning," His voice was dry and coarse, as though he had not said anything for a long time.


    "Light of Justice, former Light of Freedom, the so-called strongest Star Emperor Perpetual Motioner, Chinande," Garen stared straight into his eyes. "Tell me your true identity."

 1151 Premonition and Pursuit 1

    Amidst the splashing of the water, Garen''s voice reached the other person''s ears clearly.


    "True¡­ identity¡­" Chinande repeated once.


    He was quiet for a long time, and then he crouched down again, actually deciding to ignore Garen.


    "If you want to see it, come see for yourself." Finally, he pointed at his own forehead, closing his eyes slowly. He continued to hold the fishing rod, and just like that, he sat down once more. As quiet as a statue.


    Garen frowned.


    This was not how Chinande''s original records were like. In the past, he was never like this, but it seemed that after that war with the Finite people, he had changed into the strange person he was now.


    Garen had always wondered how Chinande ended up becoming the White King''s Royal Star. That had all been a myth.


    Until now, he only had one motive for coming here, and that was revenge.


    Revenge for the Second Elder of the Scarlet Snow Sect back then, and for the time Chinande tried to control him. And now they were at this level, he was a Regent Level facing off against Chinande, a Perpetual Motioner. Therefore, no matter what, there would be no accidents for a short while. Be it the White King, or the actions of the nearest Regent-Level fighters, Garen was completely aware of them all.


    "See for myself?" Garen repeated.


    Without any hesitation, he strode forth, and lightly pressed his hand against Chinande''s forehead. The memory data connected immediately, and countless memories surged at him madly from the depths of Chinande''s mind.


    Bam!!


    In an instant, a world of light, white light, exploded from the point of contact.


    Garen was immediately drowned in the sea of light.


    The ocean''s worth of memories kept flashing past at incredible speeds, and finally stopped on a scene in space.


    It was inside a floating metallic palace, and the White King''s hand was pulling away from Chinande''s forehead.


    There was a corpse in white robes lying beside them.


    Garen looked at it closely, and discovered, to his shock, that it was another Chinande.


    "Starting from today, you are the new Light of Justice." The White King''s voice reached his ears. The child-like White King still looked like a young boy, his smile gentle and clean.


    Garen looked at Chinande''s body within his memories.


    It was just a mass of bloody red flesh, that did not even resemble a human!


    Boom!!


    Amidst the loud explosions, the memories began to recede rapidly, and everything around him became a mess of colors again.


    Garen pulled his hand away slowly, looking at Chinande in front of him. It had never occurred to him that this so-called Royal Star would be an artificial creature that the White King created with his own hands.


    "In that case, the White King knew that I would come looking for you?" asked Garen in a low voice.


    "How many more times can you come out?" Chinande asked quietly.


    Garen paused.


    True, the person who knew his condition best, except for himself, was none other than the White King.


    He instantly understood the White King''s intention.


    Chinande was no more than one of his creations, it did not matter much to give him to Garen. This way, he could prevent Garen from finally going berserk as a result of never being able to find Chinande.


    This was no more than a deal.


    Garen''s eyes turned, and he stared straight at Chinande in front of him.


    "Are you fine with this?" he asked, a question that seemed meaningless at first glance.


    Whether he was fine with it or not, Chinande could not disobey the White King''s orders.


    Chinande widened his eyes.


    "I am merely an artificial creation, His Majesty''s lapdog." His eyes were dry and completely devoid of light.


    Artificial creation?


    Garen suddenly found that slightly funny, the enemy that destroyed so many Energy Machinist Sects and troubled him for so long, turned out to be no more than one of the White King''s artificial creations. And what was worse, it seemed to have given up on living a long time ago.


    Then what about his many years of intense training to strengthen himself, what about his long search for Chinande''s whereabouts? What was the point of all that? It was completely meaningless!


    Inexplicable rage surged up within him, and Garen pressed his palm down hard.


    Bam!!


    Blood splattered everywhere.


    Chinande''s head exploded immediately, and there was nothing left above his neck. The flood of blood and brain matter was instantly condensed together, mixed with his bone and flesh, suspended above Garen''s palm.


    Chinande''s corpse slowly slanted to a side, but his breathing continued. His powerful life force showed that this body was in fact the body of a Holy Lord, Chinande''s actual body.


    Just like that, everything was over.


    Garen had a feeling as though none of this was real. Holding in his hand a bead of flesh and blood that had been condensed into the size of a fingernail, he did not even give Chinande''s corpse a second glance. Turning around, he leaped lightly, and his whole body shot into the air, the ice-crystal wings, as pure white as jade, unfolding behind him. They layered onto each other, growing larger and larger, wider and wider.


    Within a few seconds, they had almost covered the entire sky above the waterfall.


    Countless scarlet snowflakes scattered down. Within a few short seconds, the whole planet had instantly changed from summer to winter.


    The enormous waterfall gradually slowed down, gradually freezing over, until eventually it became completely motionless. It had turned into a beautiful ice sculpture.


    Chinande''s body was in there as well, frozen into the ice. The barrage of red snowflakes covered it, and soon dyed the white waterfall a pale red as well.


    With a rumble, before anyone on the entire planet could even react, the ice-crystal wings had vanished in an instant. Other than the cold red snow, there was no other trace of it.


    In the waterfall, beside Chinande''s body.


    The White King''s silhouette appeared slowly. He crouched down, putting his hand on the spot where Chinande''s body had been covered.


    "I''m sorry¡­" he spoke softly, in a voice only he could hear.


    ******************


    Garen unfurled his wings, flying in the Negative Space. He could occasionally see the cracks in the Void Battlefield around him, and starting a few years back, these cracks seemed to have increased in number.


    He was like a large white bird, flapping wings the size of half a planet as he flew at rapid speeds, the frustration in his chest pent up with nowhere to go.


    It was true, he had no reason to fight anymore.


    Chinande had waited for him on his accord, and leaped to his death without any resistance. Garen had no more reasons to harm other, innocent parties.


    The strongest Royal Star, Chinande, was just another Perpetual Motioner in the eyes of the White King, just one who was slightly stronger than usual. If his death could calm a Regent-Level extremist''s quest for revenge, how hard would it be to let Chinande kill himself?


    Hiss¡­


    From a black crack in space, a giant black snake poked its head out, its sun-red eyes staring at Garen.


    This was one of those Void Boas that had been showing up more frequently recently. Void Boas like these were mostly made of space dust and other regular materials, but they survived by constantly eating high-energy objects, so each one had at least Non-Falling-Level power.


    Recently, wild creatures such as these had been increasing in number.


    The Void Boa was just about to approach Garen, but it seemed to smell an unprecedently dangerous scent. Quickly, it pulled its head back, and soon vanished without a trace.


    With a few flashes, Garen stopped on a small planet at the edge of the Negative Space.


    Like a pair of hands, the wings on his back tore apart the void in front of him, revealing a large crack big enough for him to pass through.


    The huge wings quickly shrank, returning to Garen''s back. The white robes and golden helmet appeared on his body once more.


    Garen flew into the crack lightly.


    *********************


    Scarlet Snow Alliance, Scorching Sun Galaxy


    This day, an all-enveloping red snow fell all over the entire galaxy at the same time.


    An enormous presence with clear white ice-crystal wings had descended upon them. Every regular person in the galaxy could see the transparent white wings flapping constantly in the air above the planet, that was an extension of the Alliance Leader, the Crystal King''s true body.


    Because the Crystal King was there, the entire Scarlet Snow Alliance could remain safe and stable.


    Suspended in the middle of the galaxy, on the edge of the star, Garen did his best to showcase his strongest, most dazzling power. He was not showing off just for the heck of it, but now, just before he left, he was also telling those small-fry hiding in the woodwork that he was still here. He, the Crystal King, Garen, still lived.


    "This might be able to protect the Scarlet Snow Alliance for another few centuries. But that''s the extent of it¡­ A few centuries later, Clint and the others would have grown up." Garen looked down, at the four planets surrounding the star. He had done all that he needed to, Chinande was dead, his Will, flesh, and blood condensed into a bead that Garen now squeezed in his hand. The Scarlet Snow Alliance would become Clint''s strongest ally, until he grew up.


    Now that he was protected by the humans, it was too late even if the White King wanted to go back on his decision. The general trend was set.


    Slowly folding his wings back up, Garen shot down, and flew straight toward one of the main planets.


    Everything around him was rapidly magnified, flitting past, and the surface of the blue planet quickly expanded into a lake.


    The green lake was surrounded by a forest, and there was a tall white tower with a sharp tip beside the lake. Clint, Baylon, and the others stood on the top of the tower, along with the Two-Faced higher-ups.


    All of them looked up, at the direction Garen was approaching from.


    "Alliance Leader!""Sect Master!"


    "Big Brother!"


    Several different voices called out at the same time.


    Garen slowly reduced his speed, and landed on top of the tower. He steadied his footing, and finally looked at Baylon as she was now. It had been many years since they last met, and there were even more white hairs on Baylon''s head now. She was looking at him with concern.


    "Bro¡­" Baylon took one step forward. "I received your message, and we got here as soon as we could. Did something happen?"


    In front of outsiders, she was the cruelest, most cold-hearted murderess, but faced with the people she cared for, she was only cold on the surface, in her expression. Even that was merely a result of the muscles on her face stiffening, such that she had forgotten how to soften her features.


    "Exactly! I was eating dinner together with my daughter! You know what they say, the daughter is the father''s lover from the past life, as I thought¡­" Beside her, Clint was saying with a creepy expression of bliss.


    "Ew!" Not far away, White Winter looked at Clint with an expression full of contempt. "You won''t even spare your own daughter! You monster!"


    "Hey hey, I''m just close to my daughter, it''s not what you think!" Clint''s expression instantly blackened. "It''s been a while since I saw you, White Winter, are you itching for a fight because you haven''t been getting laid?!" He started rolling up his sleeves.


    "What, just you!" White Winter flipped him the bird. His once-gentle personality had made a complete one-eighty. "Lonnie, give him a one-arm handicap!"


    "Don''t pull me into your squabbles!" Baylon glared at them irritably, and the few of them instantly went silent. Clearly, her influence in this group was still increasing by the day.

 1152 Premonition and Pursuit 2

    Beside them, the Two-Faced person and the Four-Armed woman were not as casual and nonchalant. Right now, they were reporting the latest changes in the situation to Garen.


    After giving them simple instructions for what to do from now on, Garen told them directly that he might have to go into isolation for a long time, and might not be able to come out for a while, so he needed them to handle a lot of things on their own. Then, he taught them a few contingency plans for emergencies.


    "Alright, you guys can retreat now, I want to have a few words with Lonnie and the others in private," Garen said.


    "Yes, Alliance Leader."


    The Four-Armed woman lowered her head in a show of respect and led the other higher-ups down the tower together with the Two-Faced person. Soon, they vanished into the Teleportation Point.


    Only then did Garen look at Baylon and the others, who were still bickering.


    "Alright, stop your fighting. I have a few things I need to tell you guys."


    He spoke, so naturally Clint and the others gradually quietened down. Although they still glared at each other, they had already settled down, waiting for Garen to speak.


    Garen waved his hand, and instantly, a protective force field fell around them.


    "This tower has already been covered with countless security and protection measures. If anyone wants to enter, even the legal processes would be picked up by internal servers, so even Perpetual Motioners would not be able to enter unnoticed. Big Bro, just say whatever you want to say," said Clint nonchalantly. "There is no issue with defense at all!"


    Garen was just being extra careful, so he nodded.


    "Where''s Red Moon?"


    "I''m awake." Red Moon''s voice spoke, reaching their ears. "Looking for me for something?"


    "You need to hear what I''m going to say as well," Garen said solemnly.


    Seeing how stern he was, the rest also stopped goofing around, their relaxed expressions slowly turning serious as they waited for him to continue.


    Garen waved one hand, and a bright black Space Ring shot out, falling into Baylon''s hand.


    "This is?" Baylon pinched the ring, slightly confused, but as soon as she reached her Willpower inside, her expression changed abruptly. "S-So many things!!?"


    She was shocked, there was a veritable ocean of rare metals in there, as well as many other precious materials. She could even see some parked giant Battleships and Mechs, all of them the best of the best in terms of quality.


    "I''m leaving this all to you guys," replied Garen calmly.


    "Leaving?" Baylon''s expression immediately changed. "Big Bro, are you going somewhere?!" She was unnaturally aware of such vocabulary, so she instantly noticed something was amiss.


    Garen nodded.


    "This might be my last time coming out."


    He told them all about his relationship with the White King, and also came clean with them about his own condition.


    "A Confinement Essence that even the White King can''t do anything about?!" Red Moon was at a loss for words as well.


    Upon hearing such shocking news, the rest had completely lost their good mood from before. Instead, their hearts felt heavier and heavier.


    "Something like this¡­ Is there really no other way?" A hint of sorrow rose in Baylon''s eyes. After losing her relatives one after the other, it had not been easy for her to regain a hint of her original personality. But now, she seemed to be relapsing into her most extreme state.


    Garen shook his head.


    "Sorry."


    The snow slowly penetrated through the force field, falling onto everyone''s heads.


    The whole tower fell quiet.


    "Next time, I might not be able to come out again at all¡­ From now on, everything will be on your shoulders." Before Garen finished speaking, Baylon had turned around and strode into the Teleportation Point, vanishing without a trace.


    She had tossed away the ring, and it spun a few times in the air before Clint caught it, holding it in his hands.


    Garen''s gaze also fell on Clint.


    "I understand." Clint did not look as carefree and half-hearted as he usually did, nodding solemnly. "I will take care of Lonnie."


    "Sorry¡­" Garen said again. "I have failed in my responsibilities as an older brother." Although he did not particularly feel for Baylon, he still felt guilty for failing to uphold his promise to Nono.


    "You have taken up enough responsibilities as it is," said Clint seriously.


    Garen took a deep breath. He no longer required oxygen to live, but it was still a habit of his.


    His gaze swept past each of them.


    Clint''s determination, White Winter''s steadfastness, the green-haired man''s seriousness. These were all companions who had gone through life and death together, they were all people who could entrust their lives to each other.


    Trust could be very simple sometimes, but it could also be extremely difficult.


    In truth, Garen envied them, he envied the way they could trust each other wholeheartedly. But no matter what, he could not do that himself.


    "From now on, it will be your era¡­"


    Garen reached out his hand, and all of Chinande''s blood, flesh, and Will stayed suspended above it.


    "Clint Beza, let me help you one last time."


    Before he finished speaking, he abruptly shot out his palm, and it landed squarely in the center of Clint''s brow.


    Boom!!!


    A pillar of red light shot into the air, breaking past the clouds, the atmosphere, and shooting into space.


    Using Chinande''s remains and Will as fuel, Garen used the concept of the Confinement Essence in his own body to form a model in Clint''s mind, as best as he could.


    This was a model memory recording that could loop infinitely, so that everything about the Conceptual Essence would constantly replay in Clint''s head, until he completely understood some of the Essence encompassed within, or until he understood his own Conceptual Essence. Only then would he finally be able to completely turn off this recording.


    As the red light shot into the sky, Garen''s body also began to fade and vanish.


    Trying to pass down his Conceptual Essence as a recording went against all the laws of the world, so naturally he would have to pay a heavy price for that. This body of Garen''s was supposed to last for another few days, but now, he had instantly used up all of his power and Essence.


    The others were all forced to take a few steps back by the blinding red light. They had to shield their eyes from the dazzling red light with their hands.


    In the distance, under the tower, Baylon watched the red light over there. She seemed to have sensed something, and crouched down slowly, burying her head in her knees.


    The Two-Faced Person and the other higher-ups were in a golden, rounded hall in the distance, and they all bowed at the pillar of light through the wall.


    ********************


    The next time Garen opened his eyes, he saw the White King outside of the crystal, looking at him with a calm expression. Garen did not know when it started, but he had begun smoking, sucking slowly on a cigarette in his mouth.


    "The crystal has gotten even harder," said the White King softly. "This should be your last time coming out, huh?"


    There was no voice replying from within the crystal, and the White King had long since gotten used to that.


    He walked to the side, and picked up the jar of wine that had been placed there a long time ago, pouring himself a cup of wine. The aroma of wine permeated everywhere, and the pale green wine squirmed and squiggled like a live creature in the cup.


    The White King shook the cup slightly, and then reached out his finger to tap the side of the cup.


    Ding¡­


    There was a light sound.


    The wine in the cup actually changed colors, instantly turning from pale green to pure red. It was bright red, blood red.


    "Did you hear that?"


    Garen''s gaze fell on the cup. To his shock, he realized that it was not wine, but blood.


    Swirling the cup lightly, the White King spoke with a calm but slightly melancholic tone.


    "It really did turn red¡­ Looks like you really can''t come out anymore¡­"


    Only then did Garen understand, the White King had evidently discovered a way to test whether or not he could still reemerge. He was still able to come out one last time, but once he used up that last chance, he could never return. He was unlike the other Regent Levels, the Essence he understood was not the one that suited him best, it came from the Dark Shadow Dragon, and that was actually an Essence that did not suit him at all.


    In other words, if it were not for the Dark Shadow Dragon''s Void Crystal, he would never have reached Regent Level, at the most, he would have stayed at Perpetual Motion. The Void Crystal made him, but in the end, it also destroyed him.


    In truth, Garen had not completely comprehended the whole Essence concept, he had just used a trick, using the Essence of the Dark Shadow Dragon to confine himself, forcing his body to reach a material level where he existed purely as his Essence. He had completely merged with the Void Crystal into one entity.


    But as the Confinement Essence evolved, he had also ended up a prisoner behind its bars.


    "In a sense, I have achieved my goal," said the White King softly. "Even if you sped up the Red King''s growth, everything will still return to the general trend in the end."


    "What''s the point of saying that now?" Suddenly, Garen wanted to laugh, for no reason at all. Ever since he came to this world, he had completed the Hellfrost Peacock Queen Body, reached Army Level, and may even be a match for the Ancient Endor Demon Lords now. He had also condensed his Soul Seed Ring, that was his biggest gain in this world.


    The Soul Seed Ring could forcefully raise his main technique up a level, unconditionally, a derivation of strength in principle.


    "Do you have any other wishes?" The White King took a sip of his blood wine. "Perhaps I could help you fulfill it."


    "This guy¡­ is going crazy." Garen looked at the White King through the crystal with some pity in his eyes, but his image could not go through the crystal. The Void Crystal absorbed everything, and converted it all into confining power. Even light could not travel through it.


    The White King''s sanity seemed to have already started distorting. There was no one to share his secrets, no one to stay by his side, no one to comfort him. He was alone in everything, horribly alone.


    Outsiders would only obey him, fear and respect him. Then they would distance themselves from him. So he could only look for a crystal like Garen''s, that could not talk or reply, and treat it as his own sounding board.


    The White King was still there, chattering away. He no longer cared if Garen would reply, he was just looking for an outlet.


    Garen could not be bothered with him, and just looked at his own attribute pane.


    The attribute pane in front of him was like the most technologically-advanced quantum computer screen, it could scroll through countless skills from the top to the bottom. There were several hundred different techniques of different sizes scattered within, and an ordinary person may take days to find a skill they were looking for.


    Garen quickly found the information about his Soul Seed that he was looking for.


    ''Soul Seed -- Northern Trident Frost-Fire True Water Evil Technique (Blue), Holy Phoenix Demonic Book (Black-Gold). Hellfrost Peacock Queen Soul Seed (White)''


    He needed to consider his way out, or if this continued on, he could very well end up trapped in this crystal forever. He would be the first Ancient Endor Demon Lord to trap himself to death...

 1153 Drifting 1

    The main trait of the Demon Lords was that they had many Soul Seed Rings. Soul Seed Rings structured this way, known as Soul Rings for short, could allow Demon Lords to reach their strongest state quickly and inconspicuously within a short period of time whenever they invaded a world.


    But now Garen only had one Soul Ring, and according to his estimates, it was highly likely that powerful Demon Lords would have multiple Soul Rings. That way, once they entered a new universe with new rules, they would be able to integrate into the new power system there quickly, using the power of the Soul Rings to level up rapidly and eventually controlling the strongest power there.


    That was the true terror of the Demon Lords. They were the real pillar in the fight against the Void Creatures.


    "I don''t have a Will, so I can only rely on my soul''s special transmigration quality and the condensation power of my Soul Seed to sustain my existence. If I want to continue living for a long time, I''ll need to find a new body as soon as possible, and¡­"


    With a loud crash, Garen felt as though the whole palace gave a huge tremor.


    A tremor?!!


    He was instantly shocked. Putting aside the question about whether or not anyone in the White Royal Palace had the power to shake the whole palace, there was also the Dark Shadow Dragon''s Void Crystal that he was trapped in to consider. It had the Conceptual Essence to swallow and confine all forms of power, so a low-level power like a tremor should not be able to reach him inside.


    He looked at the White King outside the crystal, but the latter seemed completely oblivious.


    Roar!!!


    There was a monster''s howl, faraway and deep, reaching Garen''s ears from a distance. And the White King still showed no signs of hearing it, which clearly meant he did not hear these sounds at all.


    "This is¡­" Garen''s eyes grew dead serious, "... the tremors from the Soul Seed!!!"


    According to his Energy Machine Imprint''s quick calculations and derivations, as well as the innate understanding of the Void Creatures'' language that he had acquired by becoming a Hellfrost Peacock Queen, he soon understood what that roar meant.


    That roar represented danger! Greed!


    Garen quickly looked at one of the icons on his Status Pane.


    On the pane that said ''Potential Quality -- Void Pursuer'', there was a bright and blinking red light, and some Ancient Endor symbols appeared behind it.


    The translated meaning of the symbols was:


    ''Warning! A giant threat in the form of a Void Creature is approaching, Level: Army. Race: Void Thane. Twelve in number. Please evade them immediately, the best method would be to enter the Mother Stream in order to escape.


    ''Please beware, your position as a Soul-Ring-Level Void Pursuer will greatly increase your chances of being pursued by Demon-Lord-Level beings from the Void, please be constantly vigilant.''


    Garen immediately remembered the enormous Ancient Endor Creatures with countless Soul Seeds that he had encountered when he first came to this world. They swam at the edge of the Mother Stream, like fishermen out fishing, always prepared to hunt and kill any inheritors of the Ancient Endor civilization who happened to float past.


    "I lured that Army-Level Ancient Creature here?" Garen''s heart began to pound. He knew very well that only the weakest of the Void Creatures waiting beside the Mother Stream were Army Level, the normal ones were all Demon Lord Level without exception. And because they had several dozen Soul Seeds, even if these were not condensed into Soul Rings, they would still be able to squash him effortlessly.


    Even as a Void Pursuer, the one he had lured here was the weakest.


    "Looks like I really can''t stay in one place for too long¡­" Garen knew that he had no other choice.


    Giving the White King outside one last look, Garen sighed inwardly.


    He had come to this world, but he never thought that he would eventually leave like this. He had not found any more information about Ancient Endor, but instead he had collected enough technological knowledge, all sorts of the highest-end technological skills, and the Hellfrost Peacock Queen Soul Seed that he had formed at the very end.


    "It''s time to leave¡­"


    Garen had no more regrets, his body immediately leaving his body. Like shapeless mist, it flew out of the top of the crystal, and flew silently back down the direction he had once arrived from.


    This was not weaving through dreams like before, this time he was truly dying. Garen''s soul left Nonosiva''s body of its own accord, and floated toward the direction of the Mother Planet, where he had come from.


    Soon, a Void Black Hole appeared abruptly, sucking Garen''s soul inside, and jumping toward the direction of the Mother Planet.


    The White King did not stop him, as the Crystal King, Garen had the ability to weave through dreams, so even if the White King stopped him, he could instantly weave into the body of a Scarlet Snow Alliance member before breaking away. It would be meaningless to try.


    He just raised his head to look at the Jumping Black Hole, motionlessly, and Garen could not tell what he was thinking.


    The Crystal King, the King of Lies, from the beginning to the end, he only lived for a mere few centuries, as dazzling and short-lived as a firework.


    Standing in front of the crystal, the White King stayed silent for the longest time, until he sensed that the Spatial Black Hole that Garen had jumped into was completely gone. Only then did he slowly turn around and leave.


    And the Void Crystal grew stronger and stronger, constantly increasing its Confinement and Devouring Essence. This Void Crystal would one day become an unprecedentedly terrifying black hole.


    A black hole was more than just a natural phenomenon, any natural phenomena that had a powerful gravitational force, such that it could even devour light, could be called a black hole. Because there was no reflection of light, it looked completely black. But no one knew what was inside, it might be caused by the collapse of a star, or the self-detonation of a Perpetual Motioner, or it could be many other things.


    Humans just called anything that looked black and had terrifying gravitational attraction power ''black holes''.


    But be it the White King or Garen, neither of them had any interest in these things. The general trend was set, and they had each accomplished their own goals and missions. Everything else was of no more importance.


    *******************


    Edge of the Mother Planet


    The star infinitely emanated golden light, and in a patch of black space by the border, as a few meteors were pulled by the gravitational force toward the sun and swept past this area, a hint of distortion appeared in this part of space.


    Hiss!


    Suddenly, a black crack opened up in this area of the Void, and wisps of an eerie shapeless aura flew out from inside. It was a form of soul, unseen to the physical eye.


    Garen flew out of the crack, carefully calculating the spatial point of the Mother Stream that he had broken out of when he arrived here earlier.


    The Mother Stream flowed through the entirety of space, connecting countless universes, parallel ones and perpendicular ones, ones of every shape and size, they were all connected like countless branches to the entire Mother Stream. And what Garen needed to do now was find the tiny hole in space that he had created when he came here, so he could use this hole to rush back again, leaving this world.


    The Energy Machine Imprint spun at high speeds. As the person at the pinnacle of the Energy Machinists, Garen''s Energy Machine Imprint had already reached an unprecedented level, and his computing power was equal to the Human Alliance''s strongest quantum calculator. Of course, once he activated it, it consumed a shocking amount of energy and Willpower, so only a peak-level existence would be able to withstand such a heavy cost.


    Garen was beginning to understand some Essences, and he could even use his Confinement Essence to devour the dark energy directly. While the Void Crystal merged with his Devouring talent, he had also been integrated with some of the Void Crystal''s special ability to absorb dark energy with the Void attribute. He no longer needed to rely on the power of the Dark Shadow Dragon Whelp to first convert the dark energy into a material object before he could absorb it.


    ''Target found.'' Soon, the Energy Machine Imprint came up with a result, the spatial point was in the Void nearby.


    There was no research regarding the soul in this world, the closest thing to the soul was the Will, but that was only the external aspect of the soul, and the surface level of that as well. Perhaps many, many years later, the studies would finally involve the true, essential soul, and maybe they would be able to find this spatial point then, maybe they would discover the existence of the Mother Stream. But that would be a very long time from now.


    The V-shape on Garen''s brow blinked with a faint white light, his gaze locking onto that hole in the distant Void.


    He did not act, because he did not know how to activate this hole. If he applied his power wrongly, it was very likely that he could destroy the hole, and then he would be in real trouble.


    So the best way would be to open it from the inside, facing outward.


    That was why Garen was waiting.


    Waiting for the instant where the hole was opened from the inside. He could sense that the Void Creatures in his Soul Ring probably also existed on the soul plane, so normal people could not see or touch them. Only other souls would be able to sense them.


    Garen had already sensed that there was a Void Creature with an Army-Level soul here, and there would certainly be a similar one on the bank of the Mother Stream. So what he had to do now was release his scent, waiting for these Void Creatures in soul form to appear and open the hole for him.


    Time ticked by.


    Garen stayed completely motionless, in the middle of the same action and the same stance.


    One day passed, two days passed¡­ A month passed¡­


    In space, nothing much would have changed at all within a month. The only thing was that some of the nearest planets changed their position somewhat, but everything else was just as before, with nothing at all out of place.


    Roar!!!


    All of a sudden, the roar of a beast reached him faintly from a distance.


    Garen finally perked up, concentrating.


    With a tear and a yank, transparent ripples rose around that Void point, spreading in all directions. A giant black panther with ox horns slowly poked its head out of the ripples.


    Roar!!!


    He roared at Garen, and the purely soul-form soundwaves traveled past the long distances in an instant, reaching Garen''s ears.


    "It''s finally here¡­" Garen advanced instead of retreating, his soul turning into a white thread that shot at the black ox-horned panther.


    An enormous image of a peacock appeared behind him, whoomph!


    The peacock''s sharp beak pecked forward, as fast as lightning. The beak, that was only several thousand meters long at first, instantly grew until it was several tens of thousands of meters long. It bit down hard, grabbing the blank panther and tossing it out.


    Rawwr¡­


    The panther wailed, but it was only Army Level, so it could not resist Garen''s power. As a Demon Lord Level, Garen was no longer someone an Army Level could hope to face. He applied force with his Soul Seed Ring directly, emanating pure Soul Energy.


    The Hellfrost Peacock Queen''s top half pulled back, and it actually pulled the panther out of the ripples as though it was pulling out a carrot. Then, it threw its head back and swallowed it.


    The bottom half of the Peacock Queen was connected to Garen''s tiny body, so the image looked completely off-kilter, as though it was Aladdin''s genie lamp, but infinitely magnified. The panther that had been devoured also disappeared without a trace, as though it had gone into an abyss.


    In the Void, after the panther was dragged out, the ripples instantly got even faster, smaller, more hurried, as though they were about to close in on themselves.


    Garen jumped in, head-first and without hesitation.


    The peacock behind his whole body faded and vanished, and his soul body vanished into the ripples as though it had dived into the water but created no splash at all.


    Blurb-blurb¡­


    Bubbles floated out from the corners of Garen''s mouth.


    He was surrounded by a familiar green liquid, that was the water of the Mother Stream, filled to the brim with life force. This was the River of Life, the beginning and the end of all things.

 1154 Drifting 2

    Returning to the Mother Stream again after several hundred years, Garen felt that familiar corrosive power, that assimilative power. This power was unbelievably immense, and even as he was now, it was the most he could do to protect himself, as he flowed with the current.


    He turned back to look at the hole leading to the Mech Universe, the gap had shrunk until it was only as large as a fist now, and it was still shrinking.


    Around him was a limitless expanse of green. He could see nothing, and hear nothing,


    Only the endless rush of the stream water continued to reverberate beside his soul''s ears.


    Garen looked up and saw that the surface of the stream was nearby. Through the surface of the Mother Stream, he could see the colorful Spatial Barrier outside.


    Roar¡­!


    There was another fearsome roar.


    To his shock, Garen saw many cracks instantly appear in the Spatial Barrier, and then an outside power seemed to punch a hole through it by force. A long, seemingly endless arm stretched out from it.


    That was a golden-bronze arm, shining with a metallic glow as it extended toward him infinitely.


    Bam!!


    The water splashed and rose into high waves as the arm crashed into it. That arm actually reached straight for Garen. As though it could stretch forever, it descended over him with a terrifying power.


    "It''s a Void Creature!!" Garen knew he was in trouble, and hurriedly activated his Soul Ring, unleashing his pure Soul Energy to surround his soul, and diving rapidly into the Mother Stream.


    With a whoosh, he just managed to avoid being captured by the enormous hand. It just brushed past him at the side.


    But even this tiny contact caused the Soul Energy on his arm to instantly disintegrate, turning into several dozen transparent maggots that stuck onto the outer wall of Garen''s Soul Energy, devouring it in large gulps.


    A sense of dizziness overwhelmed Garen, and he instinctively knew that this was because he had used up too much Soul Energy. Something that could destroy the Barriers of the Mother Stream was not something he could afford to fight now.


    "I need to leave right now!" He made the decision, and cut off the part of his soul that was being eaten, tossing it into the distance.


    And then he swam down the Mother Stream like a fish.


    Thankfully, his Soul Ring could now generate infinite Soul Energy, unlike before when he could only use the limited power stored inside his Soul Seed. If the Mother Stream finished devouring that power, he could only surrender to imminent death. Now, things were different, Garen was perfectly capable of producing new Soul Energy infinitely, so that he could last even longer and swim even further in this Mother Stream.


    Boom!!


    The stream water shook wildly, as the Mother Stream''s powerful life force surged madly into the arm that had intruded into it.


    Garen turned around, and saw that the golden-bronze arm was being rapidly corroded by that countless green current, revealing the black material underneath as large dollops of bright red blood also dripped out, merging into the Mother Stream. A large part of the green river water around it turned dark red.


    Roar¡­!!


    That unidentified creature roared out in pain, and had no choice but to pull its arm back, the palm quickly leaving the Mother Stream while all covered in blood as it retreated back into the hole in the Spatial Barrier.


    The hole was also rapidly regenerating, and soon it was just as new. The waves slowly calmed down.


    Inside the water, Garen heaved a huge sigh of relief. He had not felt this sensation for several hundred years, of instantly falling from the pinnacle of a world to the very bottom, turning from the hunter to the hunted. Just a moment ago, he was one of the 26 people at the very peak of the Mech World, and now he was running for his life, humiliated and ashamed.


    "It''s true, space is large enough to hold all sorts of wonders¡­" Garen sighed inwardly, and calculated his losses. The Energy Machine Imprint quickly showed its usefulness, because the Imprint was constructed around Willpower, and Willpower was a small branch of Soul Energy, he managed to retain it, and activate it using his soul. But right now, as he left the Mech World, the Energy Machine Imprint also began to operate slower.


    After all, the computing laws behind its operation were mostly designed according to the laws of the Mech Universe. Once these laws changed, its auto-recovery powers should already be praised for keeping it running until now, when in fact it should have been immediately immobilized.


    To put this into perspective, it was as though the speed of light was three hundred thousand meters per second in the laws of this universe, but they were nine hundred thousand meters per second in that universe. Or if one plus one equals two in this universe, but equals three in that one.


    Of course, the latter was not that big a change, but it was enough to show you where the problem lay.


    The reason Garen''s soul could be used throughout the many universes was because its roots lay in the most basic laws, tossing aside all the other non-uniform aspects. All that remained was the general law that could be used in any universe.


    This was the true power of the Warlocks. What they controlled was the general law of power that could be used across many universes.


    In the Mother Stream, time was meaningless, and everything was mobile. Garen followed the bend of the stream slowly, going against the current as he swam back up the direction he came. Back then, he had been swept to the poorest branch of the Mother Stream, the Mech Universe, so now that he wanted to leave, he needed to go against the current.


    After transmigrating into so many worlds, he had gone from his initial curious excitement to his current state of numb acceptance.


    As for his goal, Garen had long forgotten what his original goal had been back then. Why did he choose to dive into the Mother Stream? Why did he continue to transmigrate like this? He could no longer remember the meaning and motive behind all this.


    The deluge of new memories had washed away almost every trace of his initial determination from way back when.


    As Garen swam upstream, he considered it slowly.


    Was it for the war between Ancient Endor and the Void Creatures? Or was it simply so he could experience new lives in different worlds? Or was it so he could find the original motive for transmigrating?


    Perhaps he was even looking for a way back.


    As he swam, Garen''s thoughts flew at high speeds. The turning of the Energy Machine Imprint gradually slowed, most of the functions lagging and stopping due to the lack of laws, until only a few of the most basic computing functions remained. The computing power was less than a ten-thousandth of what it used to be, but even then, it was stronger than the strongest super-calculator back on Earth.


    Occasionally, Garen would encounter Void Creatures like the one that had tried to fish him out in the Mother Stream, but he managed to evade each of them safely.


    But as Garen continued to ponder, he grew more and more lost, more and more confused. The more he searched, the harder it was for him to justify his continued existence, everything was just a repetitive cycle that would not end.


    Other than to pursue even greater strength, he could not find any better reason for living.


    "What is it that I want?" he asked himself.


    By the time he asked this question, according to estimates, three years had already passed since he entered the Mother Stream.


    He did not know where he had drifted to. There was never anything other than the endless green water around him, there were no living creatures, and only the occasional piece of flotsam floated past him. Even these items would not last much longer, dissolving rapidly in the stream water.


    Throughout his entire journey, the only living things he could encounter were the occasional Void Anglers. Every one of these creatures was enormous, and each one had at least several dozen Soul Seeds. These were not the lowest grade Soul Seeds, either. Soul Seeds could be divided into the stages, namely Multicolor (TN: lit. messy colors), Colorless, and Unicolor (TN: lit. uniform color). Garen himself was at the lowest level, Multicolor, and his Soul Seed had formed only the most simple Soul Ring, so he was at the lowest end of the Demon Lord Level spectrum. If he wanted to advance further, he would need at least five Soul Seeds, forming a large Soul Ring. Then he needed to remove all the other colors, before he could advance to the Colorless Level.


    And the Void Anglers that appeared outside the Mother Stream were all at least at the Colorless Level, they would not even show their faces if they did not have at least ten Soul Seeds. And the weaker ones, according to Garen''s guesses, probably had fewer Soul Seeds than that, so they were smart enough to stay hidden and not look for trouble. The Barriers of the Mother Stream were also stronger in some places and weaker in some, so the weaker creatures would not gain any benefits from coming here, other than getting hurt for no reason.


    These creatures were not enveloped in the power of the Mother Stream, so their movements were slower. As a result, he played them like a top, and every one of them ended up becoming Garen''s only source of replenishment.


    But in the end, his Soul Energy was still not infinite.


    Five more years passed, and Garen felt his Soul Energy begin to weaken. The production rate of the Soul Ring was losing out to the rate of consumption, and he immediately knew that he could not continue drifting aimlessly like this.


    He had a Soul Ring, and a position as a Void Pursuer. If he stayed in one place for too long, he would be the prime example of bait, luring Soul-Ring-Level Void Creatures to his doorstep.


    In order to solve this threat, Garen designed a virtual model, and counted the longest duration he could stay in one world. He could not linger for longer than two hundred years, or else he would attract the Soul-Ring-Level Void Creatures nearby.


    "The Void Creatures and the Ancient Endor civilization, they must have a place where the battle is mostly centered at! I can''t be the only inheritor around. If I can find another inheritor, then I can truly join a group, and then we can resist the Void Creatures together."


    With such an idea in mind, Garen started paying attention to the countless universes flowing outside the Mother Stream''s Barriers, trying to find a universe with the same scent of a Soul Seed.


    Such universes were very easy to find, because not every universe could have Soul Energy Aura. Garen was a Void Pursuer, and he remembered how useful his super-sensitive sense of smell could be now. Put together with the Energy Machine Imprint, he could differentiate the wisps of Soul Energy Aura out of the tiniest hints of each universe''s aura.


    Even though he knew the chances of such a search being successful were slim, Garen had finally found a new aim, so he was no longer as lost and listless as he had been.


    Time passed slowly¡­ The Soul Energy produced by Garen''s Soul Ring diminished further, and the parts of his own body that he could protect reduced further and further, as the power grew thinner.


    After goodness knew how long, the chance he was waiting for finally manifested itself.


    *****************


    Poof!


    A giant black octopus tentacle stabbed hard into the Mother Stream''s currents, pouncing at Garen. The tentacle was covered with countless little suction cups, and brought with it a powerful suction force that surged toward Garen.


    "You''re asking for it!" Garen laughed coldly, watching the tentacle unleash its suction force in the Mother Stream. "Unleashing a suction force in this thick Mother Stream water? You have a death wish."


    He taunted unabashedly. After staying alone for so long, he had developed a habit of talking to himself, otherwise, he might even forget how to talk.


    As though proving Garen''s jeers right, that black tentacle did not manage to catch him, but instead it instantly absorbed a huge amount of Mother Stream water, until the entire tentacle expanded, growing larger and thicker as it went.

 1155 Reincarnation 1

    Bzz¡­ Bzz-bzz¡­


    Countless tiny white cracks appeared on the surface of the tentacle.


    "Don''t let me see you again!!!" roared the owner of the tentacle angrily. His berserking Will was intense enough to create countless waves in the water of the Mother Stream.


    Bam!!


    The huge expanse of green water exploded from within the tentacle, turning into a rain of blood that fell onto the surface of the Mother Stream, creating even more tiny ripples. What remained of the tentacle hurriedly retreated. It instantly vanished through the hole that was created in the Barrier.


    The hole rapidly shrunk, but he could still see the colorful flowing light outside, though he did not know what that could be.


    Just as Garen thought that everything would return to being peaceful as usual, and that he would continue drifting, suddenly he sensed a faint but clear wisp of Soul Energy Aura, appearing rapidly outside the hole.


    "That''s¡­!" Garen was instantly stunned. His reflexes, far faster than light, recovered immediately.


    Without a hint of hesitation, he gathered up all the Soul Energy he had and turned it into a propelling force behind him, so that he leaped out of the water like a fish.


    Splash.


    His whole body turned into a white line that shot toward the hole in the Barrier above him.


    All skills and abilities were useless in the Mother Stream, because the laws of other universes were ineffective here, and only the General Universal Laws applied here. Garen''s Confinement Essence and the Hellfrost Peacock Queen''s natural abilities were not affected, but he needed a physical body to use those, so he could not do anything in pure soul form. Therefore, the only thing he could use in the Mother Stream was the Soul Energy generated from his Soul Ring.


    This remained true even if the strongest Void Creature came here, and that was also the crucial reason why the Mother Stream could protect the true souls of the Ancient Endor beings.


    Garen was worried that his power was insufficient, so he used all of his Soul Energy up all at once, his body almost turning into lightning as he shot through the hole in the blink of an eye.


    Poof!!


    There was dull sound in his brain, and all Garen could see was rainbow-colored flowing light. He was blind to everything else.


    The universe outside the hole was no longer the one where that giant octopus had been. Within a few short seconds, a ton of rainbow-colored light had flowed past outside, and the universe where Garen had sensed that Soul Energy Aura was a completely unfamiliar place, several universes away.


    The rainbow-colored streaming light continued to flow past him, and Garen reached out his hand, trying to grab this streaming light, yet he could not touch anything at all.


    The streaming light continued for more than ten minutes, and dark light spots began to appear slowly in front of him. Some of these light spots were grey, and others were black, all of them brushing past Garen.


    As time passed, there were more and more light spots, with less space between them.


    Psst!


    Suddenly his vision blurred, and Garen abruptly found that the everything before him had opened up. The streaming light had instantly vanished, and directly in front of him was a wide, dark, vast and limitless area of space.


    In the very center of this space, there was a giant planet with purple-red edges.


    Garen could not help but turn around to look, the space behind him was just a sea of black, and he could still vaguely see the tiny ripples in space gradually vanishing.


    "As expected¡­ The place where the Mother Stream''s currents connect must be where the habitable planets exist." Garen understood. "Things can only enter the Mother Planet when their lives end, and there they enter a new cycle. And the Mother Stream also transmits life in its endless flowing tides."


    He flew toward that single purple-red planet. The sun, a star suspended in space near it, drew his attention.


    The light emanated by this star was golden in color, and it had many black spots on its surface, so it looked like a moldy kumquat.


    "This¡­" Garen suddenly frowned. "There are such powerful laws here¡­"


    The V-shaped white mark surfaced on his brow, but it faded instantly as soon as it appeared.


    Garen closed his eyes, and carefully felt the differences in the laws of this universe as compared to the previous one. After a mere dozen or so minutes, he opened his eyes once more.


    "Impressive¡­! It is 53% similar to the laws of the Mech Universe, and most of the Energy Machine Imprint''s functions don''t work here. Other than the basic computing abilities, there were strict laws regulating any unnatural powers, as well as anything that existed purely as energy."


    He looked at the kumquat-like sun, that piercing light forcing him to narrow his eyes slightly.


    "This sort of universe¡­ is even stricter than the Vampire World, the intermaterial bonds are shockingly strong, so it''s probably not possible to use other methods in order to leverage on the pure energy here¡­"


    He allowed his body to fly toward that purple-red planet using its momentum alone. Looking at the purple-red planet from a distance, he would not have noticed that he was moving at all if it were not for the galactic debris brushing past him on both sides.


    "Without a Jumping Ball, I can''t use any powers other than my Soul Energy¡­ No, even my Soul Energy is being suppressed, no form of pure energy here can exist without material form¡­ What an extreme world." Garen frowned slightly, carefully analyzing the laws of this universe.


    "But I can still use some of the knowledge I had gained over the past few worlds, so I should be able to protect myself without any problems. I just have to pinpoint the individual power system of this universe, and then I will be able to increase my powers quickly. It might be slightly difficult to reach the same heights as before¡­ But in a world like this, I won''t be able to use unnatural powers, so naturally others can''t either, not even Void Creatures. My safety will be guaranteed!"


    In that case, however, it would probably be very hard for him to leave this world on his own. That was why Garen was starting to wonder if it was a mistake to come here.


    The vast Soul Energy around him was rapidly diminishing, it was being worn out at an even faster rate than when he was in the Mother Stream. Because this place did not allow anything that existed as pure energy to last for so long, so Garen knew that a soul such as his would not be able to last very long in here.


    "I need to find a new body as soon as possible¡­"


    He created an explosion behind him with his Soul Energy.


    Psst!


    The faint transparent light exploded, and Garen''s body immediately shot out, his speed reaching a terrifying level. Because he existed as merely a soul now, his own mass was close to zero, meaning he was practically insubstantial. The explosion of Soul Energy created a massive force that was enough to send him propelling forward at extreme speeds.


    As he continuously approached the purple-red planet, mysterious images and fragments appeared before Garen''s eyes once more.


    "These are the memories of the planets again¡­ I can only receive them while I''m in soul form¡­" Garen clenched his teeth as the information overload surged into his brain, and was completely unsurprised by this sudden barrage of memories.


    The same thing had happened in the past few worlds that he had transmigrated to.


    But this time, it seemed to be slightly different.


    The memories of this planet were scarily long, it seemed to have existed since the moment this entire universe exploded into being.


    As the information surged in, other than the general trend of this planet, there was also a lot of f information about this universe as a whole. Although these were just fragmented clips, within a mere dozen minutes or so, Garen felt as though he had experienced the entire history of the entire planet and the universe, from the moment of their conception until this current instant.


    "This universe¡­ only has one habitable planet!" Garen resisted the headache, and looked at the enormous purple-red planet in front of him in shocked admiration. "According to the survival records included in the information given, this planet is the center of this universe, and it''s the only habitable planet in this entire universe."


    All the contents about the general trend instantly flowed through Garen''s brain.


    This was a normal yet abnormal world.


    Compared to the previous few worlds, this world was a lot more realistic, and a lot simpler.


    The general trend of the entire world originated with the Four Great Cornerstones. In other words, it hinged on four people. Four users of unnatural powers who were constantly reborn and resurrected on this planet.


    They had the Sacred Sigils of the Ancient Universe, and possessed unimaginable power. The four of them represented the entire planet, and the four basic powers of this universe. Other than them, no one else could use unnatural powers, they were the origins of all the legends. At the same time, they were also the source of the Soul Energy Aura that Garen was sensing.


    "The Soul Energy Aura I sensed before this¡­ is over there!!" Garen instantly determined his target location.


    "The Four Great Cornerstones? What a strange law¡­" With a final sigh of admiration, his soul sped up further, turning into a shapeless light that fell straight toward the planet.


    ***********************


    Lily of the Valley, in the country of Slann


    In a small and slightly old yard by the suburbs, a yellow-skinned man with a tan was holding up a bespectacled boy of fifteen or sixteen with both hands, his expression solemn as he yelled urgently in a rather tongue-twisting language.


    The hot sunlight shone down on both of them, and a faint stench of sweat began to rise from them.


    The man was frowning so hard that his brows were knotted together, and he hurriedly picked up the boy, running toward a cooler, shaded part of the yard. He placed the boy gently on the slightly scalding floor, and then ran into the inner house hastily. Soon. he came out again with a basin of cold water, and there was even a white towel in the basin. The towel had been washed until it was yellowing slightly, and it looked like it had quite a few years behind it.


    Splash.


    He wrung the towel dry, and gently wiped the sweat off the boy''s face.


    The boy had slightly pretty features, but he was mostly just plain. His skin was slightly pale, as though he did not get much sun, and his lips were extremely cracked, his eyes tightly shut. It was quite clear that he had a case of heatstroke.


    Whoosh¡­


    Suddenly, there was a cool breeze.


    Faster than anyone could see, an invisible light fell directly down from the sky, stabbing directly into the area between the boy''s brows, It sank inside, vanishing without a trace.


    The man did not notice a thing, and continued to wipe the sweat off the boy''s body carefully.


    Soon, possibly because the cool wet towel had an effect, the boy''s body finally trembled a few times,


    "Water¡­ Water¡­"


    Suddenly, he awakened blearily, calling out in a hoarse voice.


    "Water? Here! Come on, drink slowly¡­ take it slow." The middle-aged man hastily took the cup of water he had prepared beforehand and brought it to the boy''s lips.


    "I told you a thousand times not to fall asleep in the yard under the sun, but you never listen!" nagged the man in a low, whining voice that was completely different from his stern appearance.


    The boy did not say anything more, and fell into a deep sleep after drinking a few sips of water.


    The middle-aged man shook his head helplessly, picking up the boy in his arms and walking into the house, placing the boy on a bed mat in the room.


    He reached out his hand again to touch the boy''s forehead, testing its temperature. When he felt that it had cooled down somewhat, he finally left, relieved. The stress of the past few moments had caused him to break out in a sweat as well, so he desperately needed a cold bath right now.


    The man''s footsteps faded into the distance, and he entered another room, closing the door with a bang.


    Only then did the boy lying on the mat slowly open his eyes.

 1156 Reincarnation 2

    "It''s a new beginning once again¡­" The boy spoke with a tone of wisdom, nostalgia, and a hint of weariness.


    "After such a long selection, this should be the perfect body according to the general trend," A white, indistinct V-shaped mark flashed between the boy''s eyes without leaving a trace.


    Everything related to the boy''s memories instantly swept through Garen''s mind.


    ''Kong Xiaofei: Seventeen years old, introvert and keeps to himself, a Year 2 Senior High School Student of Linglan City No.3 High School. Average results, bad in sports, enjoys reading comic books, drawing, sleeping¡­''


    Garen swiftly scanned through all the different flashbacks that were swarming his mind, mainly focusing on Kong Xiaofei''s family.


    Kong Xiaofei''s father, Kong Yuan, brought him and his elder sister up single-handedly. He works at an oil company with a decent pay and he was an ordinary, honest good man.


    His mother died while giving birth to him.


    The main focus was Kong Xinxue, Kong Xiaofei''s elder sister. When Garen was observing the planet''s memories, his fuzzily detected her as a major character.


    Due to the fact that the memories were too overwhelming, plus the rules of the universe being too strict, he could only vaguely see pieces of it. He was not able to see the main content clearly. However, he was sure of one thing, one of the Four Great Cornerstones would come into contact with Kong Xinxue sometime in the future. And when these four fight hand to hand, Kong Xinxue would then play a more important role.


    "It probably will not take a few years. By then, we will see whether the Four Great Cornerstones are of the same kind as me¡­" Garen was actually looking forward to it, as he started to feel this body''s state attentively.


    Garen''s face fell as he started inspecting. "No wonder this body didn''t even bother to fight me back. It''s deteriorated to this point¡­"


    He took a look at the Talent and Power data that was on display.


    ''Kong Xiaofei -- Strength 0.2, Agility 0.3, Physique 0.1, Intellect 1.1, Potential 0%. Soul Limit 50.''


    Garen took a deep breath. "Besides the Intellect stats reaching the standards of an adult, the others were so horrible that he could hardly bear to see it, it was no different from advanced cancer¡­"


    He held back the urge to cuss, instead, he focused on regulating all his remaining soul power to nourish this body.


    Ever since the Soul Ring was formed, his soul power could finally be able to shift around at ease to nourish the flesh. The flesh''s essence was able to produce a God in the form of a soul, and the God would naturally be able to replenish the body''s essence. However, the only shortcoming was that this process has a high rate of consumption.


    Especially in this sort of crazy strict world¡­


    "It''s a good thing the pure energy state within the body isn''t really restricted, which is equivalent to energy attached to the substances."


    Garen checked his soul power storage; there were about fifty-three units which were vacant. In the Mech World, every unit would be sufficient to fully nourish one adult''s body and completely heal every indiscernible damage.


    "However, there would be an eighty percent loss if one was to use his soul power to replenish his flesh. Moreover, this universe''s rules are ridiculous¡­ A 5% effect at most on the body is already not bad¡­ To hell with it!" He could not resist ranting.


    Five percent. This meant that after all his remaining soul power was exhausted, there would not be any more extra components to nourish and strengthen this body. The rules here were ridiculously strict. In the entire universe, there were only four people who had extraordinary powers, the superpowers that were supported by the entire universe. Even putting this way could not describe how exaggeratedly crazy this was.


    Frankly, Garen knew it deep in his heart. It was what he had expected.


    Furthermore, he wanted to restore and accumulate a brand new soul power. The rate of the Soul Ring recovery was indeed terrifying. In addition to its ghastly output, he would have to wait for a long period of time if he planned to use it to nourish his body.


    "Seems like I''d have to make use of whatever pharmacology and biochemistry I''ve learned from the other worlds¡­ After all, I''ve lived for so many years, I am considered as an elite biochemist," In the end, Garen still found a way out. He was going to utilize this universe''s substances to strengthen his body, and not just insist on using pure energy to nourish his body.


    At the thought of it, he immediately spread all the stored soul power in his body to every part of his body altogether.


    There were no sounds or any light effects, just the plain sight of Kong Xiaofei, the body Garen was attached to. Colors were gradually returning to his cheeks, and even his dried lips were starting to have a tinge of moisture.


    The effect was immediate.


    Garen could see with his naked eye that his body''s state was rising rapidly. As time passed, his soul power reduced and became weaker, but his body''s attributes, on the other hand, increased.


    At the end, when the last traces of his soul power was almost exhausted.


    ''Kong Xiaofei -- Strength 0.5, Agility 0.6, Physique 0.4, Intellect 1.4, Potential 0%. Soul Limit 50.''


    The attributes were just slightly improved.


    "Why are there no changes!?" Garen was shocked. He put in so much effort assembling this Soul Ring from a couple of worlds, and all the soul power produced by the Soul Ring was now wasted just like this. This was a complete tragedy.


    However, he could vaguely feel the small changes that were happening within his body, and he suddenly understood.


    In this world, the rules were as such. There would no longer be drastic changes like before, no more radical occurrences that involved processes that would nearly be neglected. Every single change here would only happen bit by bit.


    Even if he completely saved up all his soul power, it would be impossible for him to change a seriously-ill patient into an ordinary person brimming with energy. He had to recover according to his body''s restore rate in order to recover to his original state of physique.


    "In other words, if you can master the ropes of the other worlds, you can advance through several processes instantly, inciting other strengths and then on, create a miracle."


    Garen lied on the mat. Since he was not able to recover his body in an instant, he might as well lie on the ground and have a good rest.


    The good thing was that while his body was being nourished, his body would still be able to withstand for a few more days without eating or drinking. At the same time, his qualities would still continue to rise all the way until he finished up his powers.


    "Energy Machinist Imprint can still be used for basic computing powers¡­ But I''d need my soul powers to support it. I guess I won''t be able to take both into account in the future," Garen said helplessly.


    Lying on the mat feeling tired with a tinge of weakness surging within the body, he lost all desire to move his body.


    As time slowly went by, he soon heard the sound of a key unlocking the door outside.


    "Thank you for sending me back. Please, you can go now," It was a melodious voice of a girl. She seemed young, maybe about eighteen or nineteen years old.


    "Remember the concert this Saturday! You''re one of our main characters, so you have to come," An old man said.


    "I''ll try. I''m really sorry, teacher."


    "Alright, enough with the chit chat, I''ve got to go to send off the others."


    "Yeah. Take care."


    Footsteps could be heard before the sound of engines whirred up, indicating that the car was leaving.


    Bang.


    The yard''s door closed.


    "Xiaoxue, you''re back?" Kong Yuan''s voice could be heard from the living room.


    "Yeah, how''s Xiaofei doing?" The girl''s voice sounded extremely cold.


    "Doing much better, I tucked him into bed already."


    "... I''ll go see him for a bit," Kong Xinxue''s voice was getting nearer and nearer.


    Garen recalled every single detail about Kong Xinxue and the relationship between her and Kong Xiaofei.


    ''Kong Xinxue: Seventeen years old, a violin prodigy, Year 3 Senior High School Student of Linglan City No.1 High School. Participated in the region''s student classical music competition thrice and was crowned champion back-to-back for three years. Talent has already been gradually shown, and in the next two years, she''ll become a famous international classical violinist prodigy. Then, she will finally emerge as an incredible, world-renowned violinist when she reaches twenty-four years old.


    Has a cool personality, maintains an ordinary relationship with her brother, Kong Xiaofei, which may be slightly distant.''


    "What a stunning sister. No wonder the brother is such an introvert, always quiet and keeping to himself," A thought flashed through Garen''s mind.


    Soon enough, a young girl dressed in a white dress appeared by the bedroom door and peaked in.


    The girl had long red hair flowing down her shoulders and bangs across her forehead, a hint of wariness in her eyes. The white dress on her accentuated her young body perfectly, showing off every single curve just nicely. It was a plain white dress with no patterns or any lacework, just a simple black belt wrapped around her waist.


    "Are you feeling better?" Kong Xinxue asked softly. Once she saw Garen awake, the worry in her eyes was wiped away.


    "Much better," Garen responded.


    Kong Xinxue nodded, then turned and left.


    The conversation between these two siblings had always been like that, it was as if both sides were used to it already. Since they were young, since they knew how to speak, Kong Xiaofei and his sister always kept conversations short and brief.


    "So this body has red hair¡­" Then only did Garen realize that his own hair was actually a shade of fiery red.


    *********************


    Since the day of the heat stroke, Garen took a leave so that he could stay at home to rest.


    Kong Yuan goes to work every day from nine to five while Kong Xinxue was always busy preparing for her school examinations. Both of them had their hands full, unlike Kong Xiaofei who was always idling away his time at home.


    His sole purpose of coming to this world was to search for an inheritor of the same kind. Even if the inheritor was not the same kind, he should at the very least have the presence of soul power. He had everything planned. If the other person was not an inheritor of the same kind, he would take the opportunity and absorb the person''s soul power. With that, he would increase the soul power in his Soul Ring, maybe even increase his Soul Seeds.


    The reason why he attached himself to Kong Xiaofei''s body was that this person was destined to die already. In the near future when Kong Xinxue came into contact with the Four Great Cornerstones, Kong Xiaofei would die from an accidental involvement on the first night they meet.


    The one who would kill him was actually one of the Four Great Cornerstones.


    To attach himself to an identity like this, there was no longer the need to search around all corners of the world. In the entire star, the only Four Great Cornerstones would automatically come on their own, which actually saved up tons of Garen''s effort.


    The second purpose was to hide away from the Soul Ring-Leveled Void Creatures and at the same time, properly consider the path on which he was about to embark.


    However, the one thing that disappointed Garen was that the rules in this particular universe were too strict to a certain standard. The powers his body brought was far from what he initially expected. Thus, it was most definitely going to be a problem if he aimed to reach the extent good enough to face off the Four Great Cornerstones. After all, Garen was still unsure of what those four were really capable of.


    Ever since he came to this body, Garen restricted the interactions between him and Kong Xinxue along with Kong Yuan. He would only see the both of them every day in the morning and nighttime. Meanwhile, life over here was somewhat similar to back when he was in Earth, a slight combination of life in China and Japan. Rice was deemed as the main course, and everything was available, including sashimi, stir-fry vegetables, dumplings and so much more.


    One week had passed by in a blink of an eye, and there was not much communication in general. Garen''s body was starting to recover.

 1157 1159 空信雪 1

    "One, two, one two, one¡­" Garen was in the midst of doing push-ups, counting non-stop in the yard.


    It was the weekend, which marked the end of this week''s holiday. The extra corresponding courses in school meant nothing to Garen, except that he would have lesser time to train and to recover.


    After finishing ten push-ups, he got up and wiped away the beads of sweat off his forehead. Although his physique was slightly better, he still had to give Kong Yuan and Kong Xinxue some mental preparation as well. He could not just suddenly recover, that would be suspicious.


    "Up so early huh¡­ Xiaofei," Kong Yuan yawned as he walked out of the house in his black pajamas.


    The sky was not even bright yet.


    "What do you want to eat? I can go buy it for you."


    "Bread and eggs," Garen answered simply.


    Kong Yuan nodded, "Go see if your sister''s awake, and see whether she wants anything."


    "Alright, I''ll go see."


    Garen pressed on his T-shirt to ensure the black material stuck on his skin would absorb his sweat; he then marched toward Kong Xinxue''s room.


    Thump thump.


    Nobody responded to the knocks on the door.


    The door opened by itself, so perhaps it was not closed properly.


    "Makes sense. The weather''s too hot, no way she would just stuff herself in her room," Garen knocked harder.


    Thump thump thump!


    "Who is it?"


    A barely-awake voice came from the room.


    "It''s me," Garen answered.


    Not long after, Kong Xinxue opened her bedroom door. Her hair was a mess, as she stood there in her white nightdress.


    "What is it?"


    "Dad''s asking you what do you want for breakfast."


    "Same as you," With a slam, Kong Xinxue closed the door once again. She seemed mad.


    Baffled, Garen staggered back to the living room and relayed the message to Kong Yuan. He had no idea why Kong XinXue was angry, perhaps she just got up on the wrong side of the bed.


    After breakfast, Kong Yuan went out to buy some vegetables.


    Garen and Kong Xinxue were left in the yard under the cool morning sun, both of them sipping fresh tea.


    The pale green tea was rickety in the cup as Garen kept swirling his cup around. It seemed thrilling as the tea almost spilled out of the brim every single time.


    "Just drink your water, stop playing," Kong Xinxue sat upright at her place with a stern look on her face, both hands circled around her cup.


    With no other alternatives, Garen placed his teacup back down. He could not possibly tell her that he was actually training the accuracy of his body control.


    Sitting in the yard, both of them were at their wits'' ends. Garen was still wearing spectacles, and his messy long hair covered up part of his face. Moreover, his spectacles were slightly oversized. With that combination, his face was basically covered up already. His clothes were untidy as well, the sweat on his T-shirt had already dried up, emitting a rank odor.


    On the other hand, Kong Xinxue was dressed entirely in white, her hair tied into a simple ponytail behind her using a simple black silk. In addition to her delicate facial features and her proper posture, she gave off an elegant vibe.


    "Recently¡­ Do you have enough pocket money?"


    They really did not have any topics to talk about, therefore, as the elder sister, Kong Xinxue took the lead and spoke first.


    "If you don''t have enough money, I have some here."


    "It''s enough," Garen replied curtly.


    Then, it was silence.


    The sun gradually turned half of the yard into a bright shade of gold as cicada sounds could be heard from the only brown tree in the yard.


    "I''m going to take a shower," Kong Xinxue stood up and walked toward the house.


    "Okay."


    Garen responded shortly as he watched her enter the house, and only returned his gaze once he heard the sound of the bathroom door clicked shut.


    Lifting the teacup gently, Garen took a sip again as he slowly regulated his breathing and heartbeat.


    After a week of recovery, plus the nourishment of his powers, he was almost fully recovered, already reaching the normal standards of this body. Due to the fact that the body showed a heavy deficit along with plenty of damage in the congenital structures, he could only improve them in the future. At the very least, his powers were not fully exhausted yet.


    "But I can''t just fully rely on my powers. I''ve got to choose a secret technique as my foundation," Garen had been forcing himself to wait until this moment to begin thinking about this problem. He could only wait until his body was completely recovered before he could consider the training issue, otherwise not only would he be not training his physique, he would be hurting it instead.


    All the secret techniques and killing moves he once masted slowly came to mind.


    "This universe''s rules are indeed harsh, it would take an extremely long period of time if I want my own flesh to achieve the level of being able to resist heat weapons. I need about two years time and a killing move that can quickly come to form. It has to be highly destructive and capable of driving my body to train¡­"


    After searching through all the sects, a swordplay similar to the Japanese Kendo came to Garen''s mind.


    "To use the weapon''s sharpness to make up for my shortage of destructive power is indeed the shortcut for combat power. I''ll go with agility, it should not be that bad"


    At a realm like Garen''s, although he did not comprehend Boards, his martial grades were thoroughly revised, already reaching another state of a realm. Most of the principles behind swordplay and fistfighting were somewhat similar.


    Garen just simply focused all the essences from the other secret techniques on this certain swordplay, and soon, an extremely complex yet precise killing move was slowly taking shape.


    Picking up a broken branch from the ground, Garen started drawing strokes in the air.


    Up and down, then four corners. Every direction consisted up to thousands of different coping techniques to face all sorts of situations.


    This was an extraordinarily-precise swordplay, no mistakes could be made on every track. Once an error is made, a brand new swordplay would be required to rectify. The entire swordplay was basically unlocking a series of locks. After the entire chain locks were unlocked, the effect produced would be groundbreaking.


    To activate an extraordinary power as an ordinary mortal.


    Of course, this was the original effect of this swordplay, who knew to what extent it would have in this world.


    "Just try it then, let''s see to what extent can this pure technique be activated."


    Garen picked up a branch and slowly started drawing strokes in the air.


    The branch became blurry between his fingers as it slowly started getting faster. As it accelerated, the blurry appearance intensified.


    Wind!


    All of a sudden, the branch stopped.


    Crack!


    With a soft crack, the branch broke in half, and the expected extraordinary power effect did not take place at all.


    Garen sighed in disappointment.


    "Although I did expect this, I really did not expect it''d be this hard to activate the extraordinary power''s boundary¡­ This universe is indeed¡­"


    He threw the branch away.


    "Looks like I can only seek pure material attacks then."


    Ah.


    Suddenly, Kong Xinxue''s scream could be heard from the house.


    Garen''s expression changed instantly as he darted toward the house.


    The first thing that came to mind was the Four Great Cornerstones. Did they decide to come earlier!?


    "There''s no water¡­" Kong Xinxue''s urgent voice sounded.


    But there was not enough time.


    Garen had already reached the door of the bathroom and reached for the door handle.


    Click.


    The bathroom door opened with just a slit, and there was Kong Xinxue, stunned, staring back at Kong Xiaofei who was at the door. Her entire upper body was covered beneath a wet white towel, but the lower part of her body was not covered and strands of black hairs were visible.


    "There''s no water?" Garen was shocked as well. Looking at Kong Xinxue like this, he was startled as well. Being too fast can be a pretty troublesome issue sometimes¡­


    "Get out!" A red flush crept onto Kong Xinxue''s face as she yelled. "Get the hell out of here!"


    ********************


    Garen had never expected such a thing that would only happen in television dramas would actually happen to him.


    After about ten minutes or so, Kong Xinxue sat in the living room, still angry, right across where Garen was at.


    "I can understand that as a boy sprouting from the youth of his teenage years, there would be intense urges coming deep from within you, feelings you may or may not have before. But please, don''t go wild expressing your unsatisfied and lewd desires towards your own sister for no reason at all! Do you even know what your own sister means to you? Or maybe you''re suggesting that you, as a seventeen-year-old young boy, have absolutely no knowledge on moral education?"


    Bang!


    She brutely slammed the table yet again.


    "I, Kong Xinxue! The eldest daughter of the Kong family. I''ve always tried to put up an image of a proper, serious eldest daughter in front of you, Kong Xiaofei. I''ve always tried to live my life representing the positive life values! But I can''t imagine that the corrupt society we live in would put up with those toxic on the internet. Yes, toxic! Toxic that were able to poison and make my very own brother, my closest relative, to change."


    "Can you even understand how I''m feeling right now? Hmm? Kong Xiaofei! I''m talking to you!?" Kong Xinxue noticed that even now, Kong Xiaofei was distracted! Distracted!?


    She was lecturing her one and only brother and he was distracted!?


    Unforgivable!


    Bang!


    A loud noise sounded as she slammed her hands vigorously against the table, causing it to shake.


    "Every single day I return home, I''m doing all I can to restrain myself from any sort of vulgar behavior and using words of profanities, all this to provide the only boy in our Kong household a positive environment to grow, in the perspectives of human life, the world, and moral values. Yet, look at yourself now. In time you will learn how to keep yourself in check. Now, have you stooped so low to the point where you peep at me while I was in the showers!?"


    Her voice instantly raised by an octave.


    "Well, I say¡­ Can you lower down your voice¡­" Garen forced a wry smile. "I wasn''t trying to peep at you in the shower¡­"


    "You were ogling!" The urge to lecture that was buried deep within Kong Xinxue finally burst out now.


    "Although they both have the same words and there''s only one character difference, there is a vast difference between these both serious natures! (TL Note: In Chinese, the term for peep and ogling shares the same Chinese character.) Hu¡­" She exhaled heavily. "I''m still contemplating whether to tell Father straight away."


    "I think you had better not¡­" Garen was completely speechless, "I told you, I really wasn''t peeping. I just heard your scream and that''s why¡­"


    "And you''re still making up excuses for yourself." Kong Xinxue took a sip of water. "I can understand your feelings right now, always hiding in the corners sneaking your so-called reading materials that cannot bear the light of day. Even though I did give it a try, all just an attempt to understand my only brother, to understand what kind of thoughts he would have. Thinking back now, these things are really just disgusting¡­" She said as an appalled look was written all over her face.

 1158 Kong Xinxue 2

    "However," Her entire upper body suddenly leaned forward to Garen, both of them had their noses against each other, their faces almost stuck together.


    "I am pleased."


    "What?" Garen was shocked at her sudden movement. He had never seen such a temperamental person in his life. Even after transmigrating between so many worlds, this was the very first time he encountered someone who displayed such a split personality. The very second before, she was still cool and collected, but at this very moment, it was as if she changed into an entirely different person.


    "I am relieved, as you have finally grown up, you''ve become a man," Kong Xinxue grabbed on to Garen''s collar and almost lifted him up.


    Bang.


    She released her grip and Garen fell butt first back on to the chair.


    "As a man, there will always be the dark desires buried deep within your heart that will tempt you into taking actions, and you''ve finally taken the first important yet poor-natured move. I don''t know if I should be happy or upset, but there''s one thing I know for sure."


    Kong Xinxue stood up and walked toward her own room.


    "And that is, courage is the key element that makes a man."


    "Courage?"


    "Do you know the Infinite Self-defence Rights?" She threw at him a black fountain pen. The pen rotated speedily and marked a straight trajectory before landing beside Garen on the sofa. "As a man, you have to be alert at all times and be ready to step up for a lady. Furthermore, how are you going to battle if you don''t have any weapons?"


    "Weapons?"


    Garen held the fountain pen up. There was nothing different about this item, it was just an ordinary black fountain pen.


    Kong Xinxue turned back.


    "Humans only know that it is not illegal to use one''s scissors for self-defense, but they don''t know that a fountain pen actually provides a better concealment. Practice using it¡­ It''ll come in handy one day."


    She waved elegantly, then entered her room. After her door was slammed shut, no movements could be detected anymore.


    Garen stared speechlessly at Kong Xinxue as she walked into her own room, then glanced at the fountain pen held in his hand.


    "Weapon? This?"


    An undeniably appropriate image kept bouncing into his head.


    Nighttime in the streets.


    "No¡­ Please, don''t¡­ I''m begging you¡­" Eyes filled with tears, Kong Xinxue begged as she shrunk into the corner in the alley.


    Several thugs surrounded her, lustful smiles written all over their faces as they grinned at their trapped little sheep.


    "Hey, little girl¡­It''s dangerous to be out about the streets alone in the middle of the night."


    "Looks like we''ve got to educate you on what safety is about, hehehe¡­"


    "Shout all you want, nobody would come to your rescue no matter how much you scream or shout¡­"


    Chirk.


    A flick knife sprung out in the hands of one of the thugs.


    According to the Infinite Self-defence Rights, the perfect time to counterattack is when the opponent shows his weapon!


    There would only be one chance! Speed! Ruthless! Accurate! One fatal blow!


    The silver ballpoint pen swiftly fell into her hand as a cold look flashed through Kong Xinxue''s eyes.


    Ah! Ah ah!


    After a few screams, everything was silent in the alley.


    "What a terrifying lady¡­" Garen shook his head in an attempt to shake away the crazy thoughts in his mind. However, for unknown reasons, he was slightly amused.


    "She has a personality, and her actions are different from how she portrays herself to be, it''s like she has a dual personality. And she''s pretty. Such a special girl, no wonder one of the Four Great Cornerstones developed a crush on her," Garen touched his chin, finally acknowledging the fact that this world was actually quite interesting after all.


    ********************


    Monday, it was time for school.


    Hiss¡­


    Garen had his head on the table as he napped.


    The teacher''s lecture sounds in the classroom automatically played as his lullaby. The scratching sounds of students making notes around could be vaguely heard as the scratch marks echoed in the classroom, giving off a certain hollowness.


    This world was almost the same as Earth, the similar lifestyle that was a combination of Western and Eastern cultures. There were also heat weapons, missiles, tanks, and even nuclear weapons. If it were not for the different name and the geographic location, Garen would have thought that he had arrived at another parallel world to Earth.


    The basic knowledge learned in class were practically as easy as ABC to Garen. The only thing he needed to pay attention to was that he should not use other world''s more advanced formulas to calculate when he solved questions in order to avoid triggering a worldwide buzz.


    "Hey, Fei, I heard you suffered a heat stroke and almost died. Is it real?"


    His deskmate, also one of Kong Xiaofei''s few only friends, Koslan, was currently pretending to copy down notes as he squeezed Garen''s elbows.


    "It''s fake," Garen simply responded, "Would a person who almost died return beside you this fast?"


    "True, makes sense," Koslan nodded in agreement.


    "Alright, I''m going to take a nap. Don''t disturb me," With that said, Garen slipped into a deep sleep once again. In this world, nobody knew his real identity and his specialties, so naturally, there would be no threats of danger.


    The only trouble he had was that particular day two years from now where one of the Four Great Cornerstones would kill Kong Xiaofei in an accident.


    He did not need to go searching around, he just needed to wait. Until then, he would figure out whether the Four Great Stones were the same kind of inheritors, or were they perhaps just some Void Creatures.


    After a nap, classes had already finished. For someone like Kong Xiaofei who had disappointing academic results, the teachers had long given up their hopes on him already.


    The No. 3 High School was not a good school in the first place, most of the teachers just muddled along however they could.


    "Hey, Fei, Koslan," A masculine-looking girl dressed in a black-pleated dress walked toward the both of them.


    "It''s Patch. Why are you looking so feminine today? Are you experiencing your second spring (TL Note: Directly translated from Chinese, ''second spring'' is used to describe a person who experiences falling in love a second time later on in life when she''s older.)? Koslan greeted her with a bright smile.


    "Don''t call me Patch¡­ Also, what''s with this second spring? I haven''t even had my first spring!" The girl was Zong Buqin, also a close friend of Kong Xiaofei in class. Due to her over-masculine looks and how she always liked aiming for the last hit in games, she was nicknamed Patch.


    "So? Are you feeling better?" Zong Buqin looked at Kong Xiaofei with a face full of concern.


    "Much better," Garen nodded.


    "Are you up for some ice skating then? The Dream Ice Arena will be done renovating today, let''s go have a look at how is it now."


    "I''ll pass, I have something on already, you guys go ahead though." Garen declined immediately. He only had another two years, and even though he was confident that he would not lose the battle, he should definitely not look down on his opponent. He had to perform the best he could.


    "Aren''t you scared of flashing someone? Wearing a skirt to ice skate," Koslan grinned devilishly.


    "So what if I do? Are you going to look?" Zong Buqin had her arms on her waist as she retorted.


    "Yeah."


    "If you really dare, I''ll even lift my skirt up!"


    "Are you going to be responsible for it?"


    "You''d want to run once you see it!" Zong Buqin snorted.


    "Forget about it then."


    "Alright, you both continue your banter, I''ll take my leave first," Garen left the classroom, blatantly ignoring the duo who was quarreling. In Kong Xiaofei''s memories, those two had the pranking scale that not many people could actually relate to.


    He walked all the way until he reached the balcony.


    Garen pushed open the metal door and walked toward the railing, then he looked down.


    "Other than the Four Great Cornerstones, this world has no other systems of power, all they have is technology. Should I consider joining the government''s troops to sell some skills?" He thought about it as though he had returned to his peaceful and relaxing life back on Earth.


    There was no danger, even the so-called Four Great Cornerstones were not much of a threat in his eyes. Life continued to move on undisturbed, according to its timeline. There were no sudden twists or turns.


    He pulled out his handphone and used the front camera to check himself out.


    Red short hair, thick spectacles frames, and a pale, ghastly skin. His blue-white uniform shirt''s collar was folded high, covering his neck. His height was just average, and his body was neither too fat nor too thin. He was wearing a pair of unadjusted ordinary leather shoes that were coated with a layer of dust filled with wrinkles, shreds of evidence that indicated that he had been wearing them for a long period of time.


    "At first glance, you''d know he''s not any more special than any other ordinary kids."


    With a heave of sigh, Garen placed his spectacles down. To his surprise, his face was actually pretty good looking. His thin brows nicely complemented his big eyes and sharp nose, his moisturized lips and his glowy skin that had the slightest tinge of hair growing were signs that his body was actually recovering recently.


    "Forget about it, that''s all. I''ll resume training the swordplay I learned earlier.


    Garen began regulating and controlling his breathing and his internal secretion softly.


    The Energy Machinist Imprint''s computing power could provide him a detailed observational data toward his body, and at the same time, provide the most suitable adjustment plan in order to help his body achieve the desired goal in the shortest time possible.


    Every inch of his muscles started trembling as the different muscles were fighting against each other, forming a different direction of force in the body. This was an extremely high-end form of training that only powerhouses who were precise about themselves could use.


    With the aid of Garen''s Martial Art Realm and Energy Machine Imprint, he easily fulfilled the requirements.


    His finger started drawing strokes, one after another, in a coherent but cool, decisive manner.


    ********************


    A week passed by in a blink of an eye. Every day was passed with the accompaniment of Koslan and Zong Buqin''s bickering.


    Garen would go up to the balcony to train his swordplay with every free time he had. At his level, it was natural for him to master the essential points in a short period of time, and the entire swordplay only consisted of three stages.


    Firstly: Slight knowledge. Reaching mastery of ten thousand and above of different sword skills with high accuracy.


    Secondly: Proficient. The ability to use different sword skills to carry out combinations at random to deal with external changes.


    Thirdly: Thorough. Completely mastering all sword skills and turning everything into one''s own instinct, reflecting sword skill in lightning-like condition.


    Garen''s own Martial Arts Realm had long surpassed the third grade of this swordplay, so the only thing he had to do was master all the sword skills and incorporate everything into this body''s instincts.


    This required a vast amount of repetitive practices. After all, this was a new set of body, not his body from before.


    Besides that, he really had to strengthen his body. Also, he had to find a sword, a sword that was suitable for him.


    "The power would slowly nourish my body, so I can still buy some herbs and make myself some medicine. I don''t know whether the medicine in my memory is suitable or not, but I can always give it a try."


    "Meanwhile, regarding the sword problem, I can enroll in the school''s unlimited Martial Arts department."

 1159 Life’s Turning Point 1

    The world was indeed strange.


    The center of the universe was just like a planet. It was as if the entire universe only had that merely one surviving planet left.


    Garen did not know how to describe this particular feeling other that it was plain weird.


    However, with his capabilities, it was just a holiday for him to just have fun and enjoy as he waited for the general trend to begin.


    This was the attitude that he had in life.


    Time flew by fast.


    In a blink of an eye, three weeks had already passed by, marking his one month time in this world.


    On the other hand, his swordplay was slowly coming to shape already. Although he faced several limitations in this body, his improvements in all aspects had certainly been extremely alarming. Not only that, he even used his Soul Powers and other methods to raise his physical attributes.


    *********************


    After sleeping through another boring day of classes, Garen finally crawled up from his desk lazily. He did not know why just a moment of relaxation would result in him losing the urge to move forward. Sometimes, he even thought that living a simple life in this world was not a bad idea as well.


    He took a look at his current attributes.


    ''Kong Xiaofei -- Strength 1, agility 1.2, physique 1.2, intellect 1.5. Potential 0%. Soul Limit 50.''


    "So this is the final limit of my powers? It''s basically the standards of an ordinary person," Garen felt helpless. He originally thought that he could at least still slack off a little. However, from the looks of it now, he had to make a greater effort in order for this to work.


    He raised his head and checked his surroundings. There were a few students chatting in the white classroom, their chirpings no different from birds.


    Koslan and Zong Buqin were still bickering like lovebirds.


    Two students were at the back of the classroom holding their textbooks as a blackboard and using chalks to draw on them as though it was enjoyable.


    The boys were dressed in white shirts and black slacks whereas the girls wore white blouses paired with black mini skirts and long, knee-high socks. Their outfits resembled the Japanese traditional uniforms.


    "Feels like St. Oriole Academy¡­" Garen took a breath, once again reviewing the history of this world.


    The planet was divided into three continents and four oceans. The Red Nation, Slann, and the Black Federation were known as the three big kingdoms, whereas the other small countries survived along the edge. Peace was able to be maintained because of nuclear weapon chains that were similar to those back on Earth. Everything else was not any different compared to Earth. Other than the customs being slightly similar, he basically found zero connections.


    "Name-wise, there is even a sensation of combination, that''s so boring," Garen did not even want to use his brain. After all, he was on a holiday break, so what was the point of fighting flat out?


    Clap.


    The girl sitting in front of him dropped her eraser on his feet.


    Garen bent over to pick it up, then threw it back to the girl.


    "Thanks."


    The girl turned over to give him a smile. Though it was not considered pretty, it was still pure and sincere.


    "No problem."


    Garen stood up. It was time for him to go home.


    The afternoon sunlight shone in from the window not far away, the warm rays touched the back of his hand.


    Bag in hand, he walked out of the classroom alone and started his way back home.


    Behind him was the noisy school and the sights of a few random bullies asking money from kids. The students would actually try to avoid this area subconsciously.


    Garen walked to the front of a vending machine and threw in a one yuan coin dug out from his pocket.


    Suddenly, two huge figures appeared behind him and surrounded him.


    "Yo~ Someone''s pretty rich, what do you say about making friends? Shouldn''t be a problem for you to buy each of us a bottle of green yogurt huh?"


    One of them who sported long hair and a silver ear piercing grinned, "How is one bottle enough for us? Each of us should get three bottles."


    The fatty person beside beamed devilishly. Both of them were dressed in all loose, black long sleeves and slacks. One had white hair and the other silver, obviously, they were not good seeds.


    Garen exhaled heavily.


    "I''ve always thought that teaching you gangsters a lesson would be pretty boring, that''s why I''ve never done anything. However, since you guys took this upon yourselves, don''t blame me¡­"


    "What are you babbling about, punk?" When the gangsters saw that they could not get the money out of Garen, they got agitated.


    Whoosh!


    Garen spun around and his blade drew out a curve which landed on the long-haired teenage boy''s neck. Bang!


    The boy only realized it after the blow landed on him and blinked his eyes in surprise. Their eyes rolled and they lost all strength.


    Plop. One of them fell to the ground.


    The remaining fattie had his mouth wide open, his expression was shocked and speechless.


    "You¡­"


    When he finally reacted, he swiftly swung a punch at Garen. Even though the punch was quick, it was nothing.


    Garen shifted his head to the side, effortlessly avoiding the punch, before rushing forward and retaliating with his knee.


    With a plop, the fattie fell onto the vending machine. He rolled his eyes, he, too, had passed out.


    Garen bent over and searched the gangsters, picking up about ten dollars of change. As he stood up, he realized students walking by around him were sizing him up with a terrified look.


    "How boring."


    He found life like this was too boring already. It was obvious that fighting back against gangsters was a never-before-seen incident in the school, as everyone stared as if they were looking at aliens.


    He turned around and bought a can of Coke, and walked back to his home as he started drinking,


    "Well, teaching gangsters a lesson really is old stuff, but I did bump into them, no way was I going to just let it go," he thought.


    This body''s physical fitness was the same as an ordinary person''s. In addition to the terrifying effects from his practice swordplay, fighting a dozen of them would just be plain warm up, not to mention just two of them.


    As he walked toward home, Garen did not notice a short-haired girl dressed in white athletic attire standing not far away, silently watching him. Or, perhaps he did notice her, it was just that he did not bother.


    After all, high school life was indeed two different things for him.


    ********************


    "I''m back."


    Garen opened the yard''s door and closed it back.


    In the small pond located in the yard, a red Koi fish wriggled as if it was welcoming him home.


    The yard seemed to be empty.


    As Garen walked into the house, there was a strip of paper left on the table. He took it up and read it.


    ''Will be organizing some activities at my company this afternoon, you guys go ahead and order takeout or make something to eat for yourselves. -- Dad''


    The house was empty and completely silent, save for the occasional car honks from outside.


    The afternoon sunlight shone over the ground, mapping the entire living room a shade of bright red.


    Click.


    Suddenly, the yard door opened slowly once again.


    Kong Xinxue walked through the door with her violin case in hand. She was wearing a white dress, her fiery red long hair gently flowing in the wind. The natural makeup on her face was unusually refined, and she looked as if she was the most beautiful picture standing before the setting sun.


    "Wow, you''re actually home earlier than me, that''s unbelievable," Kong Xinxue turned her gaze toward Garen who was standing in the house.


    "Why so?" Garen casually replied. After living together for this period of time, he sort of understood this sister''s nature. Although she seemed cool and elegant on the outside, she was definitely a sucker for ripping others'' scars on the inside. People were usually convinced by her cold exterior, and that usually ended up them being lied to without even knowing.


    "Just unbelievable," Kong Xinxue turned around and walked straight to Garen. "Something a person cannot do or take, at least according to the dictionary."


    She actually explained the meaning of this term in detail.


    "So why is it unbelievable for me to be back first?" Garen added.


    "Well, I thought you would be back early and try to force your way into my room, rummage through my things to find the tools I used to vent my wild desires last night, then have unforgiving, disgusting illusions about your lovely, pure and precious sister who cherishes you so, so much. Don''t you feel shameless," Kong Xinxue no longer needed to put up a facade in front of Garen anymore, she just unleashed her bad nature without any hesitation.


    "Have I done that before?" Garen blinked his eyes innocently.


    "Haven''t you?" Kong Xinxue was standing right before Garen. She was almost at his height, her towering chest almost touching Garen''s chest. Her red eyes that resembled rubies stared into Garen''s eyes.


    "Look me in my eyes and tell me you''re not lying."


    Garen had his eyes fixed at her eyes.


    Both of them glared at each other until their eyes started hurting, but neither wanted to give in and blink.


    The house was entirely silent, no sound could be heard besides the sound of each other''s breathing.


    The clock on the wall slowly ticked away, and five minutes passed¡­


    Kong Xinxue raised her arm to pulled strands of her hair back before throwing a punch.


    Bang!


    The blow directly landed on Garen''s abdomen.


    Her actions were swift and skilled, it was as if she was secretly trained in martial art techniques that were not completely rigid. However, this was not the reason Garen did not dodge. The real reason was that Kong Xiaofei would not be able to dodge with that kind of speed. As for Garen, he just did not bother.


    The small fist landed on Garen''s abdomen, then retracted.


    Kong Xinxue cast a glance at Garen, then turned back to her own room as if nothing just happened.


    "Nice abs."


    With that, she opened the door and entered her room. After that, the house returned to its original silence.


    "Why is she acting crazy again¡­" Garen rubbed his abdomen. The body''s physique had definitely improved a ton, but even though this punch would not actually inflict an actual damage, it still hurt a bit. On the other hand, it was obvious that Kong Xinxue did not use all her strength, it was just a sign of punishment.


    This punch represented her place as the eldest daughter in the Kong family and the powers she held. Those who dared go against her would never end up in a good place.


    "Though she seems mature and crazy on the surface, in reality, she just can''t shake off the nature of a childish normal student," Garen thought as he walked over to the dining table and poured himself a cup of tea.


    Just another boring day.


    In the evening, the rare sight of Kong Xinxue with her apron on was preparing dinner while Garen was helping out at the side. Small exquisite of dishes were then served on the dining table.


    Tomato scrambled eggs, vegetable soup, and green pepper stir-fry meat. Although they were all just ordinary home-cooked food, they definitely looked delicious and it seemed that both color and fragrance were in place.


    "Thank you," Garen spoke.


    "Go wash your hands," Kong Xinxue gave him a commanding look.

 1160 Life’s Turning Point 2

    This was Garen''s first time staying with a neurotic patient who was suffering from personality splits. Hence, he was always constantly worried about what kind of unexpected things the patient would actually do.


    "Got it," He then stood up and went to the basin to wash his hands. Behind him, he could hear the sounds of Kong Xinxue placing down the bowls and chopsticks.


    Two of them then started eating silently.


    As time passed by, the dishes on the table slowly reduced, and soon enough, the plates were empty. Even the soup was half gone.


    "Is it delicious?" Kong Xinxue did not eat much as most of the time she was just staring at Garen eat. She seemed to find Garen''s eating gestures something new and interesting.


    "They''re okay," Garen answered honestly. Even though the dishes did look tasty, the taste was surprisingly displeasing. It was fairly confusing as to where the delicious scent was coming from. For Garen to say that it was decent was already too good of a compliment.


    "Your eating posture," Kong Xinxue leaned closer as she had her stare locked on Garen''s lips.


    "What is it?" Garen was slightly startled by her sudden closeness and backed off a little bit.


    "It''s nice," Kong Xinxue continued. "It''s like a rigid etiquette. Really, it''s unbelievable. The piece of meat under your lip actually isn''t stained by any grease. Such a precise yet elegant eating etiquette¡­ This is probably the first time I''ve seen something like this."


    "Oh, really?" Garen put on a bored face as though he did not want to respond. An ordinary person might not be able to understand his true meaning, but Kong Xinxue could see through it. Not only did she make it hard for people to predict her next moves due to her split personalities, she also had an extremely subtle observation, which Garen already figured out long ago.


    "Don''t you want to talk about it?" Kong Xinxue retracted her head. "Seems like people this age have a really wild imagination¡­ I heard students this age can easily suffer from a special illness."


    "A special illness?"


    "Basically thinking that you''re different from the others and that the world revolves around you. You think protecting and maintaining peace in the universe is all on you, just something like that," Kong Xinxue said calmly as she poured herself a cup of tea and slowly sipped on it.


    Garen noticed that the cup of tea she was drinking was not the one on the table, it was another cup of something that she prepared herself.


    "Do you want to drink?" She lifted her cup and asked.


    "What''s that? I smell something weird," Garen answered with his brows furrowed.


    "It''s soy sauce."


    "..."


    A weirdo indeed.


    Garen continued staring at Kong Xinxue who was seated right across him. With just a glance, she really was a cool and elegant beautiful lady, who knew she would be drinking soy sauce as if she was sipping coffee?


    "I''m going to shower now."


    Kong Xinxue stood up.


    "Do you want to join?"


    "..." Garen looked at her as she stared back with her head crooked. He was utterly speechless.


    "What a boring man," She pulled her long hair as she slowly walked to the bathroom. "Sexually incompetent."


    "..."


    "As expected¡­ As one of the primary characters, despite being an ordinary person, it was still not that simple at all." Garen said helplessly as he started cleaning up the cutleries.


    No matter what his response was, he would still be the final targeted victim. He was already immune to this move that Kong Xinxue always used.


    "Hey, sexual incompetence."


    "... Don''t you think it''s slightly inappropriate for you to call your only younger brother that?"


    Garen got up helplessly.


    "Help me get my underwear. They''re in the second drawer below my wardrobe in my room. I shall allow you to have a whiff at it, but you better not let me catch you," Kong Xinxue was standing naked behind the bathroom''s glass door.


    "I''m not even a pervert," Garen was completely dumbfounded and quickly went to her room to retrieve a set of underwear. He soon noticed that all of Kong Xinxue''s underwear were white, every single one of it.


    However, as he opened the drawer, a stack of letters fell out. They were all pink color with a small heart print on its top corner, with the words printed behind: To Kong Xinxue.


    "Love letters?" Garen simply pulled out one of the letters. The seal was opened and he pulled out a piece of paper which was empty. There was nothing on the paper.


    "Nothing?" Garen then swiftly flipped through all the other love letters. They were all the same, empty.


    With a precise agility, he stuffed the love letters back before carrying the conservative underwear to the front of the bathroom.


    "Just place it on top of the washing machine outside."


    "Alright."


    Garen placed the underwear down and turned around to leave.


    "Oh yeah, sister," He suddenly stopped.


    "Speak."


    "I''ve known you for so long, but how come I''ve never seen anyone try to pursue you? Is it because everyone found out your weird personality and decided to keep their distance?" Garen asked straightforwardly.


    "..." There were no responses from the bathroom.


    After a long pause, he could hear the sound of water from the showerhead.


    Garen knew that since she did not want to talk about this topic, there was no point asking anymore as he would not get any answers from her. He just had to be patient with her. She was one of those people who would definitely keep their mouth shut for a period of time once they had decided on not opening up about a certain something as she believed that talking about something before the period of time would not reveal her true thoughts about it.


    She was just such a weird person, so perhaps it was not something out of the ordinary that nobody liked her.


    With that thought, Garen left and entered his own room.


    ********************


    In a blink of an eye, another month had passed.


    Everything moved on as usual. School, practicing swordplay, eating, and squabbling with Kong Xinxue. Life was so plain to the point that Garen had forgotten what was he waiting for already.


    Until one day.


    "Father."


    Kong Xinxue sat across Kong Yuan, her blouse was as white as snow. She looked like the most elegant white plum blossoms, her face calm and indifferent.


    "This is the cash reward I won in my competition."


    With both hands, she pushed a bank card on the table toward her father.


    Kong Yuan awkwardly stared at his own daughter.


    "Save it for yourself. You''re all grown up already, you should save up some money for yourself," As a man, he still had his own dignity. He could not possibly take the money that his own daughter worked hard to earn.


    Garen was drinking tea by the side as he leisurely stared at the both of them.


    "Sister asked you to take it, so just take it. We''re family, after all, it doesn''t matter whose money belongs to who does it?" He persuaded.


    "Yeah, this is just a little something I worked hard for as a token of appreciation for this family," Kong Xinxue replied sensibly, "I''m genuinely happy that I''m able to contribute to this family."


    She could always use a strict tone to say something that was able to arouse one''s enthusiasm.


    Kong Yuan still did not accept it.


    "You know it too. Our financial situation at home is not that bad, we''re not short of your contribution."


    "This is not a contribution, I just want to be a part of the process of building this family. Also, don''t you think our house is a little too small? Although I understand that as a man, you should maintain your self-esteem and restraints. But, whenever I ''accidentally'' pass by your room and see you with your right hand and that certain rigid movement pleasuring yourself, I, as your daughter, really feel sad from the depths of my heart."


    "..." Kong Yuan was absolutely stunned.


    Garen froze as well¡­


    Being pointed out by one''s own daughter that he self-pleasured, also being caught more than once, was the most terrifying thing in the world for a middle-aged father who was almost forty years of age!


    The atmosphere in the living room froze.


    Garen could see beads of sweat slowly trickling down Kong Yuan''s forehead and temples.


    This father did somewhat understand this quality of his daughter, but he did not expect her to use such a sorrowful method of persuading him to accept this money. Even worse, it happened in front of his son.


    Gulp¡­


    A soft sound came from Kong Yuan''s throat.


    Even Garen felt sad for this father. It was perhaps the most distressing thing of all the fathers in the world to have such a neuropathic daughter.


    "So... " Kong Xinxue pushed the bank card once again, "Please, just take it."


    Her casual expression proved that she was not even bothered.


    The atmosphere was then slightly alleviated.


    Kong Yuan had his head hung low and started drinking tea like Garen. He had to relax his triggered heart someway.


    "Although this one thousand two hundred million¡­" Pu!


    Kong Yuan spat out a mouthful of tea. Even Garen who was sitting by his side choked on his tea and started coughing.


    Kong Xinxue did not finish her sentence as she used a magazine on the table to block herself with an incredible speed. The tea splashed onto the pages of the magazine, then she placed it back down as if nothing happened.


    "One thousand¡­ Two hundred¡­ Million?!"


    Kong Yuan''s expression and tone were implausible as he stared at his familiar yet unrecognizable daughter.


    "Yes, my dear father. Your hearing did not go wrong, you don''t have to suspect anything," Facing the alien stares coming from these two men, she still did not show any trace of abnormality.


    "I participated in eleven regional level competitions and I emerged as champion in eight of those, the four competitions that I won silver in did actually affect my reputation. After that, I just received twenty-one concerto lists from all over the country. The pay is pretty decent too. Oh yeah, I won about one thousand one hundred million from the lottery last month and I just claimed back the cash reward a few days ago."


    "The last point is the actual point¡­" Garen could not resist complaining.


    In other words, Garen did not care about the money much, but it was still a bit hard for Kong Yuan to accept such a huge sum of money which was almost equivalent to his income his entire life. His daughter even presented it right before his eyes and used such force in hopes that he would accept the money.


    "We''ll go check out new houses tomorrow then."


    Kong Xinxue concluded.


    This was the turning point of life that marked the start of a dramatic change.


    Garen remembered the fragments which showed that the Kong family house had impressive conditions, but little did he know this was how it all happened¡­


    And that was the end of this time''s family meeting.


    It was until then, Garen finally picked up a little interest on this world, all because of this cheap sister, Kong Xinxue.


    This sister who was constantly suffering from typical split personalities was always in and out of different mental states, she could always end up doing things he would never expect.


    This peculiar unknown feeling made him feel that maybe this world was not that boring after all.


    Therefore, he decided to follow up on Kong Xinxue. He had a new interest for such a neurotic sister and her daily life.

 1161 Joy 1

    Garen woke up bright and early the next day. Since it happened to be the weekend, he decided to follow Kong Xinxue out and see if he could discover anything interesting.


    After eating breakfast and washing the dishes, Kong Xinxue changed into a black dress, took an umbrella, and left the house.


    Meanwhile, Kong Yuan had left for work. Garen was bored because he had already grasped Saber Art instinctually and all that was left was to strengthen his body. The constant nourishment from his Soul Energy and the Internal Organ Training Method of his specialized Saber Art Secret Method fused into his Energy Machine Imprint. This allowed it to control his body with ultimate precision while achieving the most superior effects of his Internal Organ Training Method at all times.


    The presence of the Energy Machine Imprint was equivalent to Garen constantly training himself at every moment because his physical strength seemed to change daily. Nonetheless, this was merely child''s play for someone like him who already had tremendous accumulations.


    The No. 1 High School was the best senior high school in Lily of the Valley. The students there either had the best grades or were the children of the government merchants with the most powerful family backgrounds. This school greatly surpassed the others within the city in every aspect.


    Garen left the house following Kong Xinxue. When he saw her getting into a taxi after walking down a street, he followed her frantically.


    "Excuse me, please follow that car in front," Garen instructed hastily.


    "No problem." The driver sneered dubiously. There was clearly a slight misunderstanding.


    Numerous cars came and left on the roadway in the downtown area. The traffic seemed somewhat heavy during the weekends but once they had passed a few consecutive red lights, they arrived at the front of a gymnasium quickly.


    Kong Xinxue got down and was immediately greeted by several people that consisted of both men and women. They seemed very eager as they pulled her into the gymnasium hurriedly.


    Garen got down from the car behind her and raised his head up to look at the building.


    ''Performance of the Famous Symphony Orchestra''s Intelligent Paradise''


    An enormous red banner hung above fluttering in the wind, giving off distinct characteristics of socialism.


    Several security guards kept watch at gymnasium''s doorway. They were dressed in blue uniforms and were smoking and chatting happily with each other. The door closed quickly after Kong Xinxue and the group entered.


    Garen glanced at the writing that was stuck above the door which read: Passageway for internal personnel.


    "Is it a concerto performance?"


    He severely lacked in general knowledge regarding both classical music and earning money. Therefore, he was unclear about the total remunerations that could be earned through concerto performances.


    "However, attending a concerto after buying a winning lottery ticket clearly shows that an individual is planning to train their own Ability Qi Fields."


    He turned the corner around this door and walked to the gymnasium''s front, to where the tickets were currently being sold at its biggest door. More than ten people were scattered in a queue to buy tickets.


    Garen rummaged the insides of his pockets for loose change. He had about more than a hundred left before he walked forward to line up and buy a ticket.


    It was time for him to enter soon. He followed the stream of people and entered the gymnasium where it was completely pitch-dark inside. The faraway performance space in the center was the only section illuminated with lights while numerous music stands were already arranged on top. Several staff members were busy tuning the audio.


    The attentive Garen quickly soon realized that some people were already walking out from the side of the area. The group was preparing to get on stage and Kong Xinxue was one of them. However, a man with a gentle face and holding a bunch of roses in his hands was following her from behind while mumbling incoherently.


    Kong Xinxue seemed as though she was too busy to deal with him. She merely answered him occasionally instead.


    "Oh¡­ The pursuer has been discovered." Garen was tinged with excitement suddenly.


    The performance began quickly. As for classical music, Garen had previously learned how to play the violin in any case. Although his standard could only be considered as that of an above average amateur, he could still distinguish the good parts from the bad ones by hearing it.


    Kong Xinxue''s violin sound took up a significant proportion of the performance and could be clearly heard. No wonder the others looked up to her immensely.


    He listened until he was about to be lulled to sleep when the performance finally ended.


    Garen stood up and walked to the front approaching Kong Xinxue hurriedly.


    He was holding a single white rose that he bought from the flower girl beside him.


    "This is for you, beautiful Miss Violinist." Garen pushed through the crowd and reached the front before passing the white rose to her directly.


    "Thank you¡­" Kong Xinxue''s gaze stirred when she recognized Garen. However, she plastered a dignified and graceful smile on her face before accepting the rose.


    Both of them moved up near to each other quickly.


    "Dad didn''t give you an allowance for you to just waste it on simply buying flowers!" said Kong Xinxue quietly so that only the both of them could hear her.


    "What''s wrong with buying flowers for my own sister?" replied Garen innocently.


    "If you want to listen, I''ll let you listen to this every day when I''m at home so don''t come here and cause trouble," said Kong Xinxue while lowering her voice and furrowing her eyebrows.


    "I only came here to observe what my beloved older sister does exactly every weekend when she goes out." Garen continued to reply blamelessly.


    "If you don''t want your cell phone number to appear on the flyers that advertise erectile dysfunction treatments on the telephone poles, you better not let me see you a second time." A hint of maliciousness flashed across Kong Xinxue''s gaze. "Alright, your impotent self can get lost now. Don''t let me see you again."


    Garen was speechless.


    However, he did not leave but continued following Kong Xinxue instead. The mischievous intentions in his heart intensified as he looked at the jet-black long silk dress that she wore.


    He simply tore off the corner of a flyer from the side of the wall and crunched it into a ball before throwing it in front.


    Plop.


    The paper ball hit Kong Xinxue''s bottom precisely.


    Kong Xinxue felt it and turned around to glare at Garen at the first instance. The warning overtones in her gaze were extremely intense.


    It seemed as though she was being spoken to by a girl beside her. This forced Kong Xinxue who was about to react to continue maintaining the dignified smile on her face instead when she turned around to chat with the other party.


    Plop.


    Another paper ball hit her bottom accurately but discreetly once again.


    The corners of Kong Xinxue''s eyes twitched before she turned around discreetly to give Garen a brief warning.


    Garen smiled at her provocatively.


    The third paper ball shot out furiously but was single-handedly blocked by Kong Xinxue. She pinched the paper ball and glared at Garen with a look that indicated that he was dead.


    "Come and spank me, then." Garen smiled beamingly.


    "Hey."


    The figure of an imposing man clapped Garen''s shoulder from the back suddenly.


    "Is something the matter?"


    Garen turned around. Someone actually dared to disturb his entertaining, stress-relieving activity. This made his mood extremely unhappy.


    The person standing behind him was a tall man in a black t-shirt who was more than one hundred and ninety meters tall. He was a skinhead and one look was enough to tell that he was not an ordinary character. Furthermore, it was unusual that the contours of the muscles in his entire body could be seen clearly.


    The person glared at Garen while towering above.


    "You actually came here just to harass Miss Xue. It seems to me that a little guy like you is probably tired of living, huh?"


    Garen glanced at Kong Xinxue''s male pursuer who was standing behind the other man. It looked like this person had clearly only started pursuing her recently. Otherwise, it would be completely impossible for him to not know that he was Kong Xinxue''s younger brother.


    "Let''s go for a walk." The bald man grabbed Garen''s arm and walked out of the little door at the side. The male pursuer from before was following behind them.


    The three of them walked out one after another before entering a little alley beside the gymnasium. There were tall walls on both sides of the alley. The area was extremely quiet as chatters and noises from the departing audience were slightly further away.


    Garen allowed the other party to drag him while they were walking out and did not resist at all. He had coincidentally planned to teach these guys a proper lesson for disrupting his fun activity.


    "Start doing the main thing." The male pursuer behind him lit a cigarette and said softly.


    "Alright." The bald man was about to put his hand to the task. Garen raised his hand as well and prepared to teach his ''little friends''.


    "Wait!!" Kong Xinxue''s voice echoed behind the trio suddenly.


    Her heaving chest was panting. She was still dressed in the long black silk dress from the performance and did not even have time to change out of her stilettos before she ran over hurriedly. It was obvious that she had seen them dragging Garen out.


    "Lincoln! Who allowed you to come here and do this?!" There was an extremely stern expression on Kong Xinxue''s face when she admonished him coldly. "When did the time come for you to interfere with my business?"


    "Xiaoxue¡­" The man who was smoking discarded his cigarette butt hurriedly and extinguished it by stomping on it once before smiling bashfully. "But I''m just doing this to protect your safety, right? Since this little guy was already harassing you in public, he wouldn''t know that some things are off limits unless I taught him a lesson."


    "Don''t call me Xiaoxue. After giving me such a horrible-sounding nickname presumptuously, do you really think that I''m unaware of the dirty thoughts that are actually swimming in your mind?" Kong Xinxue glared at the man coldly.


    "Uhh¡­ My pursuit of you is extremely pure, really!" Lincoln laughed hollowly a few times.


    Shh!


    Kong Xinxue held a pen and stabbed it into the wall beside Lincoln''s face violently.


    "Look me in the eyes. Are you brave enough to repeat those words?"


    "Xiaoxue¡­"


    Bang!!


    A knee collided against him fiercely before Lincoln bent his waist in pain. However, a delightful expression could be seen on Garen''s face clearly while he stood on the side.


    "Ahh!" A scream of excitement that sounded more like a shriek of pain could be heard suddenly.


    "¡­" Garen looked on as Kong Xinxue continuously beat Lincoln up furiously. The bald bodyguard stood at the side indifferently but had on a pained look indicating that he could not bear to look at the other man being beaten up. It was obvious that this was not his first time witnessing this scene.


    "Sure enough¡­ The friends of an abnormal person would surely be crazy as well¡­" Garen exhaled. One of these two people was a sadist while the other was a masochist. Hence, they were simply the most perfect match in history.


    "Therefore¡­ You should stop minding my business." Kong Xinxue single-handedly grabbed Lincoln who was badly battered. "Also, you should remember that the weak, impotent, repulsive little brat there is my younger brother Kong Xiaofei. Don''t you dare trouble him again."


    Clap.


    The pen in the wall broke.


    "Younger brother?!"


    Lincoln shivered before looking at Garen with a pained look on his whole face. His entire body had been assaulted until he looked like a fool. He finally understood why he was beaten up.


    He had almost attacked his future brother-in-law. How dangerous!!


    After trying his best to apologize, Lincoln and his bodyguard left the scene hurriedly. Now that it was clearly stated that Kong Xinxue was preparing to teach her younger brother a lesson, it was really unsuitable for them to be here. If his brother-in-law harbored resentment towards him in his heart after looking at his pitiful state here¡­


    After waiting for both of them to leave, Kong Xinxue shifted her gaze towards Garen who was on the side. She became more furious immediately after seeing the beaming smile that was still apparent on Garen''s facial expression.


    "You''re done for!" She said simply.


    Garen blinked.


    "?" What did that mean?


    Whoosh.


    A square photo appeared in Kong Xinxue''s hand before she threw it at Garen gently.


    Garen caught the picture precisely. He glanced at it briefly before his face darkened immediately.


    It was actually a nude photo of him, with his important parts pixelated!!!


    In other words, it was secretly taken before Kong Xiaofei was about to shower and was unaware of the situation.


    "Don''t worry, there are more here." Kong Xinxue threw another photo out.


    Garen caught it again.


    It was even worse this time¡­


    It was a high-definition, uncensored picture of Kong Xiaofei who was masturbating with an intoxicated expression on his face¡­


    "¡­"


    Garen lifted his neck somewhat stiffly.


    "Stupid monkey." Kong Xinxue covered her mouth while a loathsome look on her face. "I anticipated your every move each day. I know every inch of your whole body, including your private parts like your d*ck and b*lls, like the back of my hand. I really couldn''t care less if a disgusting bedbug like yourself died a thousand times. However, who asked you to become my younger brother?"

 1162 Joy 2

    This was the first time, the very first time, that Garen regretted possessing the body of Kong Xiaofei who was such an important figure in the general trend timeline¡­


    It was very obvious that these pictures were not taken recently but were secretly snapped when he was caught off guard previously.


    However, in comparison to that, carrying her younger brother''s nude pictures with her was something that only an extremely perverted older sister would do, right?!


    Large-scale composing techniques had yet to appear in this world. Furthermore, when you looked at the details, it was clear that all of these photos were authentic.


    "How many more pictures like these are there?" Garen took two, full, deep breaths before looking at Kong Xinxue with a constipated look. Although he had already estimated the scariness of ''lunatics'' with mental illnesses like split personality disorders long ago, he never expected that she would actually do such perverted things.


    "There are as many as you think," said Kong Xinxue confidently. "Perhaps you''re thinking of searching for all of the photos that I have now. You probably think that your male strength can override the initiatives and superiority of others. However, I need to remind you that a price will have to be paid for being impulsive¡­"


    Garen''s emotions got more complicated.


    He knew that it was impossible that Kong Xinxue would actually take these pictures out and stick them everywhere. After all, she needed her face and would not ruin her father''s face in the outside world either. However, now that this had happened, he had truly lost all of his own prestige in front of this girl now¡­


    "I''m planning to turn your beautiful, youth-filled memories into a photo album and let our children see them when we''re older. What do you think of this idea?" The corners of Kong Xinxue''s mouth curled up into a devilish smile.


    "¡­" How vile¡­


    Garen was left speechless.


    "Alright, today''s matter ends here. I still need to return and remove my makeup." Kong Xinxue stretched. "Remember what I said."


    She turned around and walked towards the interior of the gymnasium.


    A cold breeze suddenly blew behind her.


    Pfoo¡­ Bang!!


    Unexpectedly, Kong Xiaofei pounced on her swiftly and actually pressed her against the wall tightly in one go.


    It seemed like this brat has been training recently. His current outburst was clearly powerful. The actions to gain momentum that were initially properly prepared by Kong Xinxue collapsed instantly. Instead, her entire body was plastered against the wall tightly in a humiliating pose.


    "The thing I hate the most is being threatened by others." Garen sneered coldly twice. "Where are the photos? Take them out." It was best to properly destroy embarrassing things like these as soon as possible.


    Both of them stood against the wall closely, its icy surface causing Kong Xinxue to shiver unconsciously.


    "I only have those two on me." It seemed like she was not frightened at all. "Since you want them, what are you going to give me in exchange?"


    "It would be best for you to just give them to me¡­" sneered Garen. "After all, you''re not the only one who knows how to take nude pictures¡­"


    "Oh?" The corner of Kong Xinxue''s mouth turned upwards. "When did my impotent little brother learn how to take nude pictures of girls? Come on, I''ll leave it to you. As long as you''re brave enough to take them, I have no qualms about the quantity and types of poses!"


    "¡­" Garen was speechless.


    He glanced at her long black dress that lacked a single pocket. It was clearly impossible for her to keep any photos there.


    "Come on!" Kong Xinxue puffed her bosom forward and nearly hit Garen''s chest with the tops of her breasts. "Come take pictures of me, I''m getting impatient." A victorious smile gleamed across her face.


    Apparently, testing his limits with a maniac was not one of his strong points¡­


    Garen pondered sadly before releasing Kong Xinxue in the end. After pressing this beautiful woman against the wall and standing so close to her, his youthful, male body had stiffened shamefully. He would definitely face another round of perverted teasing if the girl discovered this abnormality.


    "You''re just a little monkey that I used as a physiological research project for three days while I even studied your kinks intensively. Are you actually still brave enough to challenge me?" Kong Xinxue''s toxic words made it simply impossible for others to bear with her.


    "¡­your perverted self must be very bored for you to research your own brother''s kinks and even use a surveillance camera to take these pictures secretly?!" He really wanted to shout those words. However, when he remembered that she still had an advantage in her hands, he merely suppressed these words in his stomach.


    "Alright, alright, you''ve won." Garen lamented helplessly.


    "Now you''re being a good boy." Kong Xinxue caressed Garen''s face. "Okay, Big Sis has to go remove her makeup now. You need to be obedient, go home and sleep, understood?"


    "¡­"


    "Alright, see you at home." Kong Xinxue smiled brightly while straightening out her skirt. She entered the gym and disappeared behind the door quickly.


    Garen rubbed his chin and felt the desire to tail Kong Xinxue. Although he would only be meddling in her business, the joy of life would follow in the end.


    However, the most critical issue now was to find the original copies of these nude photos first¡­


    He strode out of the alley.


    In comparison to his previous life of endlessly seeking power, a life like this was occasionally joyful as well. This managed to indescribably improve his mood greatly.


    *********************


    A week passed.


    Garen used various measures to finally successfully solve the nude photos issue. Rather than saying it was solved, all he had to do was to pull open Kong Xinxue''s locked drawer to uncover a drawer full of densely packed, nude photos of him¡­


    Garen''s face literally turned green when he found the drawer.


    Fortunately, he managed to find the original copies of these photos. He sighed in relief resolutely after destroying all of these properly.


    Nonetheless, he still needed to keep his guard up against his crazy sister. A meticulous person like her would never put all of her eggs in one basket. She would definitely have other records. Thus, it was better for him not to provoke her if possible.


    Peace was restored in his life once again. Garen did not provoke his sister while she quietly resumed her role as the beautiful violinist.


    Receiving a large sum of money, the Kong household was able to quickly move into a larger house located in a high-end community in the central downtown area. They even bought two high-quality cars that truly resembled streamlined race cars from the outside.


    Their quality of life improved greatly as well. Their allowances were increased while their apparel was updated to the latest fashion.


    Meanwhile, Garen''s application to join the school''s Unrestricted Combat Department was successful as well. He began his safe blade-wielding plan.


    There were special rules in the Unrestricted Combat Department. They were allowed to wear the various accessories that were used for practice at most times. This was part of the special treatment that was given to them along with their credentials. This was also the main reason why No. 3 High School was weakest academically yet also the strongest sports school in Lily of the Valley. Various students with special talents and martial arts practitioners were specially invited to enroll there because what good would it be if these students merely studied? They focused most of their energy in their training while using their remaining bits of vigor to study. Those who could get good grades were geniuses.


    ******************


    Inside the bright and spacious main combat classroom, numerous rows of fluorescent lamp tubes hung tightly to each other from the white ceiling above. The nameplates of each divisional branch''s members in the Unrestricted Combat Department hung above the headquarters'' main door.


    Tables were packed tightly inside the classroom. Several members of the divisional branches within the group were busy conducting the formalities with the new students who were either specially recruited or had just applied. Others were explaining certain matters.


    Garen sat at the table at the Saber Art Dojo Department. He was bored as one of his hand was supporting his face. His lazy manner made it impossible for people to not want to beat him up in one look. He had completely relaxed after coming to this world. He was enjoying life, taking and experiencing things slowly.


    After joining the Unrestricted Combat Department''s Saber Art Dojo, he now possessed his own wooden saber as well. However, he was disappointed because there were only a few martial arts hobbyists in the Saber Art Dojo. The most skillful one was merely a showy individual who had only practiced for a few years. This person would be completely ineffective during actual combat.


    He merely had to get rid of the supposed strongest powerhouse within a few rallies before he sat properly at the seat of the top member.


    However, no one came over to apply to the Saber Art Dojo because of Garen''s lazy, sleepy state.


    Only one person joined after more than half a day. Frankly, the other cold steel branches were suffering similarly. Some of them were even forced to merge together because their membership registration was extremely low.


    Two people sat behind Garen. They consisted of a handsome young man and a beautiful girl whom Garen had picked out from the Saber Art Dojo to attract new members to join his department. However, since there were only a total of fifteen people in the Saber Art Dojo, they were merely of that caliber despite being specially selected¡­


    "We want to join the Saber Art Dojo. Please add us to the name list." Suddenly, a resounding voice roused Garen from his drowsiness.


    "Someone wants to join?" The man at the side whom Garen had named as Saber Two smiled radiantly and stood up to greet hurriedly.


    The girl who was known as Saber Three stood up to greet another female student as well.


    The boy and girl who were standing in front of the Saber Art Dojo''s table looked extremely arrogant. They were dressed trendily and their dressing was not low-grade items. They were obviously from upper-middle-class family backgrounds.


    Through the conversation, both of them quickly revealed that someone had specially introduced the Saber Art Dojo to them and asked them to join it. They had clearly rushed here for Garen''s sake.


    Through their speech, Garen managed to guess the person who had sent them quickly.


    "Lincoln."


    When he saw both of them agreeing implicitly, Garen was too lazy to concern himself with this.


    "From today onwards, you will be Saber One and you will be Saber Two. The rest of you can arrange yourselves until the end," he said while pointing at the young man and woman who had arrived recently.


    He decided to refer to them like this simply so that he could manage them easily. Moreover, he was too lazy to remember the names of these rookies.


    "¡­don''t we need to introduce ourselves?" said the new male student called Saber One helplessly. Although he had merely come here for fun with his younger sister, wasn''t it too sloppy to not even do a simple task like asking for their names?


    "Names aren''t important. It''s fine as long as they''re easy to remember," answered Garen simply. "Alright, you guys are the only recruits for this week so pack up." It would be impossible for him not to tell that the person who arrived had a foundation in combat already. Moreover, he had at least a few years'' worth of actual combat experience. These were things that could be determined through observing his every move including the way he stood or walked.


    These two people pushed the original Saber One and Saber Two down right after they arrived. However, the first two people had good temperaments and merely shrugged their shoulders to indicate that it was fine.


    The Saber Art Dojo team tidied and cleared the tables quickly before the group of five left the headquarters.


    "Now, everyone is free to proceed with their own activities now." Garen decisively let them go on a break.


    "Great Saber, what time should we assemble?" asked ex-Saber One helplessly.


    "Everyone can do as they please." Garen waved his hand. "Don''t come looking for me unless there''s a reason." He walked away, leaving an unrestrained figure behind before disappearing past the school gates.


    "¡­"


    The group could only gaze at him in silence. At this moment, everyone including the new Saber One and Saber Two regarded him as an incomparable pain in the ass.

 1163 Ambushed 1

    Garen was indifferent towards this person named Lincoln who had forced his way into the lives of the members of the Kong household unexpectedly. However, it was now apparent that there was almost no one who could stand Kong Xinxue. After spending more time with her and discovering the truth gradually, Lincoln''s pursuit of Kong Xinxue turned into fear quickly. In the end, he merely respected her from afar and became good friends with Garen instead.


    This fellow resembled a strapping, two-faced person who was also the spoiled son of a wealthy nobleman. In reality, he was merely an average university student who was still studying now. His only distinguishing feature was that his appearance seemed more mature¡­


    "Uncle, your glasses are really cool. Where did you buy them?" A twenty-something-year-old youth moved closer and asked him this question on the public bus.


    Lincoln''s face remained expressionless. Standing beside him, Garen covered his mouth and laughed wildly.


    "I bought it online¡­" He glanced at Garen and answered the youth quietly and helplessly in a deep voice.


    At this moment, an old woman stuffed herself into the bus. She seemed to have some physical disabilities. An eighty-something-year-old elder man who was standing beside Lincoln glanced at him.


    "Bro, you should give your seat to the old lady. We can stand here together."


    Bro!!!!


    An old man who was more than eighty years old had just called him ''bro''!!!


    These words were like a sudden bolt of thunder in the sky, striking Lincoln violently burning him into crisps.


    He stood up and gave his seat to the old woman with a stupefied expression. As the other party thanked him, he walked over and stood with Garen. The seat that he had previously taken was actually reserved for those with special needs.


    "Do you now know why I don''t like taking the public bus?" Lincoln exhaled deeply while speaking softly.


    "Got it¡­" Garen smiled while nodding. "Frankly, when you were pursuing my sister before this, I assumed that you were a successful, wealthy, middle-aged man who was planning to take care of her."


    "Sigh¡­ It hurts when you mention that." Lincoln let out a long, drawn-out sigh. "You can endure your sister on your own¡­ I don''t think that anyone can stand her other than you."


    Garen shook his head silently and was about to speak.


    Screech!!!


    The entire bus lurched forward suddenly as it braked violently. The vehicle rushed a few meters further because of the inertia.


    "Are you trying to kill himself! Lunatic!! Find other ways to die instead of running to the middle of the road to hitchhike!!" The driver cursed brazenly and was somewhat clearly flustered by the incident. His forehead was drenched in sweat as he was shocked.


    The sudden forward lurch and brake movement caused the bus passengers to grumble.


    The incident made Garen lost interest in the things that he was about to say. Instead, he lowered his head and looked forward through the gap between the people.


    He saw a person standing at the front of the vehicle. It was a man with a crew cut and a long scar on his face. He was also very tall and muscular. When Garen was about to look at him closely, the person left the front of the bus quickly and walked into a side alley before disappearing completely.


    Snapping out of it, Garen noticed that Lincoln''s expression seemed slightly abnormal. Lincoln''s head was lowered and he was looking at his right hand. No one knew what he was thinking about.


    "Hey." Garen reached his hand out and waved it in front of Lincoln''s eyes.


    Both of them had already decided to play pool together today but for some reason, Lincoln looked like he was breaking out in cold sweat now.


    "What''s up?" Lincoln responded finally.


    "You seemed distracted earlier," said Garen suspiciously.


    "Did I?" Lincoln laughed. "Nothing''s wrong. I merely thought of something suddenly just now. I need to return slightly earlier so I might not be able to play pool with you."


    "Your main matters are more important. We can play pool any other day," said Garen casually as he noticed that Lincoln had worries on his mind.


    "Alright, I''ll be getting off first to go back and handle some matters. You can play with the boss there instead." It was obvious that Lincoln was somewhat preoccupied now.


    "Okay, go then."


    Lincoln got off at the next stop. Garen watched as he hailed a cab and rushed back.


    "Looks like he has some urgent matters," Garen looked on pensively while sensing Lincoln''s anxiety. Unfortunately, it was impossible for him to see the external appearances of the Four Great Cornerstones because they were similarly protected by Soul Energy as well. Moreover, he could not detect the Soul Energy Auras of the four individuals after possessing this new body.


    "Could it be that the general trends have started?" An assumption flashed across Garen''s mind.


    He got off the bus quickly as well before calling a cab and rushing back.


    *********************


    A row of abandoned factory buildings in the outskirts


    Outside a grey building, a little black sedan drove over quickly from afar.


    Stopping at the factory building''s doorway, the car door opened.


    A muscular and imposing man in sunglasses got down from the car before turning around to drag a woman out.


    "Get out." The man''s voice was extremely cold and he was clearly somewhat impatient.


    Fortunately, the young woman listened obediently and did not have any intentions of resisting when she got down from the car.


    It was Kong Xinxue who was initially supposed to go to the airport to get on a plane to participate in a competition. She was dressed in a long, white dress, black silk stockings, and high-heeled shoes. It seemed like she was dragged off when she was getting ready to perform.


    "Who were you calling on the phone earlier?" asked Kong Xinxue calmly. "They didn''t sound like my family members."


    The man ignored her and pulled her towards a narrow staircase instead. The car behind him drove away quickly, leaving a long, tire tread mark in the dirt ground.


    After entering the little building, the man spread open a few pieces of newspaper that he had brought before sitting down with his legs crossed.


    "Why did you kidnap me? I don''t think you look like a pervert or someone who needs money." Kong Xinxue looked out the window. There seemed to be no other accomplices and only him instead.


    "That car was going really fast. Wouldn''t the driver worried about being fined with a traffic ticket?"


    "¡­"


    "How far is this place from the city? How are we going to get lunch?" It did not seem like Kong Xinxue had been kidnapped at all.


    "¡­"


    She glanced at the bored man who was closing his eyes and resting.


    "Do you know the five ways of writing the box-shaped Chinese character ''hui'' which means ''to return''?"


    "¡­" The man widened his eyes and glared at her grudgingly. "Keep yapping and I''ll kill you!" he said furiously.


    It seemed as if these words had frightened Kong Xinxue.


    She could actually feel this man''s murderous intent. It was bare and completely unconcealed which made her shivered slightly. Despite her crazy tendencies, she was merely a young woman who had yet to even turn twenty-one years old in the end. After being captured by this man and taken here because she was unable to fight back, she then realized that something was amiss. Now that she could clearly sense the other party''s murderous intentions, large patches of goosebumps rose throughout Kong Xinxue''s entire body suddenly.


    She bit down on her lips and swallowed her spit before sitting on the newspapers quietly.


    The small building became quiet for a while again.


    "You''re a good person." Kong Xinxue opened her mouth yet again.


    "?" The man was somewhat confused. He never expected that his victim would actually regard him as a good person.


    "After kidnapping such a beautiful girl like myself, most people would definitely force themselves on me even if it wasn''t their first thought. But you''re different." Kong Xinxue combed through her long red hair vainly.


    "¡­"


    "Do you have any brothers or sisters?"


    "They''re dead."


    "What about your parents?"


    "Dead."


    "Other relatives?"


    "All dead¡­" The man turned silent and lowered his head before taking a multi-purpose army knife out and drawing random lines on the ground with it.


    Kong Xinxue sighed dejectedly.


    "Actually¡­ I had a younger brother too but he died¡­ My father died as well¡­"


    She met the man''s gaze directly and noticed a sympathetic response in his eyes.


    "That was a joke," she added.


    Screech.


    The knife that the man was dragging across the ground stopped suddenly when he drew a deep scratch violently.


    "¡­stop babbling!" He glared at Kong Xinxue furiously. He felt like she was constantly testing and challenging his patience.


    The sound of an arriving car could be heard outside suddenly.


    "Someone''s here," said Kong Xinxue softly. "Should we hide?" She looked at the man.


    "¡­"


    The man vaguely felt as if the roles had been reversed.


    He stood up and took out a sharp, black three-edged army knife from his thigh. He strode out and went down the stairs.


    A little while later, a few painful screams could be heard from below. There were no more noises after that. The man strode back up the stairs quickly again. He took a cell phone out and made a phone call.


    Beep¡­


    The phone call was connected.


    "Hey?" It was a man''s voice. Kong Xinxue recognized it as Lincoln''s voice at the very first instance!


    "I''ll only wait for half an hour. If you don''t come after that, you will only see your girlfriend''s corpse," said the man coldly. "Remember, my name is Silver Chain."


    "Where''s Big Sister Xue?! What are you planning to do exactly?!" Before Lincoln could finish his sentence, the other man disconnected the phone call.


    "Actually¡­" said Kong Xinxue softly in a voice that was somewhat timid. "You might have kidnapped the wrong person¡­ Him and I don''t have the relationship that you''re thinking of¡­"


    Bang.


    The man named Silver Chain dodged behind her precisely and knocked Kong Xinxue on the neck with a karate chop.


    Kong Xinxue''s eyes rolled to the back of her head and passed out. The man held her and placed her down gently on the newspapers beside him. Once Silver Chain had completed everything, he returned to his original spot, using his little knife to scratch lines across the ground quietly.


    The entire little building returned to a state of complete calmness.


    *******************


    In the evening, the setting sun ducked even lower beyond the horizon.


    Lincoln''s car finally appeared on the lane in front of the little building. There was a screeching noise as the car braked frantically before he jumped out from the vehicle in his white sportswear.


    "F*ck¡­ What happened exactly?!" He could not help but curse.


    He was living his normal daily life initially before he heard someone speaking to him suddenly while he was inside the bus. The noise was clearly right beside his ear but no one around him including Xiaofei could hear it.


    The occurrence of a single spine-chilling incident like this would have been enough. He had never expected that the voice would also tell him that Kong Xinxue was kidnapped! He could only come to this place to save her on his own. He had to do it alone without informing anyone else.


    If they noticed that other people had arrived to help or the police had come, Kong Xinxue''s survival would not be certain.


    After verifying that Big Sister Xue had really been kidnapped, he rushed over in burning anxiety.


    Bang!


    Lincoln''s expression relaxed after he slammed the door close. He observed his surroundings carefully before the various lessons that were taught to him by his father who had disappeared when he was younger now floated back up in his mind.


    He strode forward towards the little building in the abandoned factory area.


    *******************


    "Challenge?"


    Garen stood inside the Saber Art Dojo''s interior classroom and looked at the muscular young woman before him who was carrying a wooden stick that was used in martial arts on her shoulder. The flesh on her body weighed at least 100 kilograms. He could tell with one look that she was the strong type.


    "Yes, I felt that there was no need for your Saber Art Dojo to continue anymore. Since there aren''t any activities planned throughout the days, I thought that you should merge with my Staff Art Society instead." This girl had introduced herself to him before but Garen had forgotten her name. Instead, he only remembered her by her nickname ''Wild Boar''.


    "You''re¡­ Wild Boar, right?" said Garen helplessly. "You called me out for a combat challenge during one of my rare off-duty weekends? Have you fought against the other members of my Saber Art Dojo?"


    Wild Boar nodded before saying, "You''re the only one left."


    "¡­"Kong Xinxue is referring to a question in ''Kong Yiji'', a novel by the Chinese author Lu Xun; links: http://guoxue.ifeng.com/a/20161210/50395689_0.shtml, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kong_Yiji1 jin = ~? kilogram. Therefore, 200 jin = ~100kg; link: https://eng.ichacha.net/m/½ï.htmlRefers to the Japanese staff technique martial art called "Bojutsu"; link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C5%8Djutsu

 1164 Ambushed 2

    From the corner of his eye, Garen glanced at the numerous Saber Art Dojo members who were grimacing in pain. Although he already knew from the start that these people were really weak, he never anticipated that they would be so bad to this extent. This was truly beyond his expectations.


    Frankly, he was initially preparing to trail Lincoln and see what was going on exactly. However, the situation over here seemed more urgent hence he decided to come here first.


    Even though this organization''s sole purpose was to allow him to practice legitimate saber skills, he would not allow anyone to simply snatch his position as the leader and force him to become their subordinate instead.


    "Then you should attack."


    He noticed that a crowd of leaders from various branches was already standing outside the doors and windows, looking as if they were about to watch a show.


    The others pulled back quickly and moved aside to leave an empty space for the two people.


    "Perhaps we should do it instead." A voice squeezed past from the other side of the door suddenly.


    Two more people walked in. They were the newly appointed Saber One and Saber Two who were also the siblings recommended by Lincoln. Neither of them was around in the department previously but once they had heard of this news, they worried that it would be difficult to explain the incident to Big Brother Lincoln if their other boss here was injured in the fight. Hence, they rushed over quickly and prepared themselves to take over the fight.


    "You guys came to do this?" Garen grasped the hilt of the saber at his waist. He had imitated the katana to smith a supposed single-edged saber. The body of a saber like this was advantageous when used for chopping because it was incomparably sharp. However, the drawback was that it was not flexible enough. Nonetheless, it was very suitable for his current Saber Art. Weapons like these that resembled sabers but were actually single-edged swords were unanimously well-received by everyone in the Saber Art Dojo quickly.


    "That''s good. Coincidentally, I have some matters to attend to now so you guys can stand in for me. No problem, right?" Garen patted the shoulders of both people.


    "This guy¡­" Saber One and Saber Two were completely speechless. By looking at his manner, they had initially assumed that he would reject them frankly and start the fight immediately. In the end¡­


    "Is he merely getting out of an embarrassing situation because he knows that his opponent has the upper hand and he can''t defeat them?" Saber One pondered silently. However, he was still forced to say the necessary formalities.


    "Great Saber, you can leave without worrying because you have us here."


    "I''ll leave this to you then," Garen nodded earnestly. He took a few long strides and rushed out of the classroom door before suddenly recalling a possibility. What if Lincoln was one of the supposed Four Great Cornerstones? This was not impossible.


    Pfoo!


    Suddenly, a little object flew towards his face quickly. Some unknown person had shushed at him intentionally. They were obviously extremely disdainful towards his actions that indicated cold feet.


    Clang!


    His wooden saber moved on its own calmly and hit the front of the little object immediately before cutting it in half like a block of tofu.


    There was a brief whooshing noise before a faint ray of light that resembled a red thread appeared when his reddish-brown wooden saber sliced through it. The people around him could only see the red light flashed faintly while Garen''s saber still remained in the sheath on his waist. It seemed as though he had not moved his saber at all. He continued rushing out of the classroom and running into the faraway distance as if nothing had happened.


    The object fell to the ground. It was actually a black eraser that was sliced cleanly into two halves by the saber.


    Oh!!!!


    A crowd of leaders from the Unrestricted Combat Department burst into an uproar suddenly.


    "Such fast sword strokes!" praised the Head Minister while standing up. "That was definitely Saber Art that was trained through actual combat. The drawing and sheathing of his saber were almost instinctual. Amazing!!"


    Every single leader that possessed proper judgment could naturally see the terrifying nature of his saber, including Saber One and Saber Two. Both of them looked at each other, before turning to gaze at Wild Boar who was on the opposite side.


    This person was also dumbfounded before she finally reacted and scratched her head.


    "We don''t need to fight anymore. Saber Art and Staff Art have the same roots. I think that it would be better if my Saber Art Society merged with your Saber Art Department," said Wild Boar readily, throwing her stick away.


    "¡­"


    In the end, all of them were merely students who did not value victory or defeat highly.


    After all, the Unrestricted Combat Department''s various branches were always either coming into being or merging with one another messily. Incidents like these were common occurrences.


    "Is there anyone else who wants to swap pointers?" Saber One stood forward and yelled.


    *******************


    Other matters were still on Garen''s mind after he exited the classroom. He had no time to pay attention to the surprised gasps behind him. He hurriedly made a phone call to inquire about Lincoln''s whereabouts. Strangely enough, no one knew where he had gone to now.


    However, he had yet to walk much further away before he heard the sound of commotion echoing from inside the Saber Art Dojo behind him. Soon after that, Saber One and Saber Two rushed out frantically.


    Once they had exited the school gates, they hailed a cab and traveled into the distance.


    Garen was standing in a slightly remote area. Moreover, the two other people were in anxious states and did not notice him when they passed by. Nonetheless, this was still very strange.


    He remembered suddenly that both of them were introduced to him by Lincoln. Hence, they would probably be aware of some news that was related to him. When he thought of this, Garen called a cab hurriedly and followed them.


    The car drove speedily towards another remote place. Garen asked the driver to follow them from behind at a reasonable distance that was neither too far nor too near. Perhaps the impatient feelings that the two people in front were experiencing had caused their anxiety to increase as well. Thus, neither of them had discovered this additional car that was tailing them.


    Once they had exited the city area, the cab quickly stopped in front of a small building in an area that was filled with abandoned factory workshops.


    Saber One and Saber Two got down from the car swiftly and rushed towards the factory workshop. Before the first cab could even turn the corner, Garen had caught up to them already.


    He looked at the small building from afar. Garen had yet to alight from the car before he saw the other two people carrying Lincoln out from the building. His older sister Kong Xinxue was next to them as well. They seemed to be fairly messed up with blood traces on them.


    "Oh¡­ Could it be that the general trends have started?" Garen rubbed his chin. It looked like he was one step too late because it seemed like the incident had ended by now. He glanced at the four people as if this was not a big deal.


    "Mister, please rush back to the city quickly. These four people don''t seem like decent individuals and I don''t want to provoke them," said Garen hurriedly.


    "You have a point." The driver turned and sped off towards the city decisively. "Really, the ways of the world have become more chaotic. It''s a good thing that you were here to remind me, bro. Otherwise, we wouldn''t be able to shake off these troubles if we had really encountered them." The driver started to share stories on a few uncommon murder cases that he had previously witnessed. He sounded perpetually sorrowful.


    Garen merely smiled but did not reply because his thoughts were still somewhere else.


    *********************


    "Four Directional Winds!"


    Ring!!


    Four rays of white light illuminated every single side around Garen''s body simultaneously. Four wooden pillars were chopped in half at the same time respectively before they slid down slowly.


    Wow¡­!


    Suddenly, the members of the Saber Art Dojo clapped vigorously with feverish looks on their faces.


    The entire main classroom of the Saber Art Dojo was bustling with excitement.


    Garen sheathed his saber slowly.


    "These are all of the contents. Your final goal is to learn this basic delicate saber move that I used earlier."


    More than two months had passed since the sudden incident previously. Unconsciously, Garen had now obtained the position of the Head Minister of the Unrestricted Combat Department despite being uninterested. The previous Minister unashamedly forced the position unto him, leaving him no other choice. Fortunately, this position allowed him to skip classes legitimately and this satisfied him greatly.


    Since he was now assigned to this position, he was naturally forced to become slightly more responsible. A large group of people would stare at him with hopeful gazes every day while the previous Head Minister had become his eagerly attentive ''little brother''.


    It would be rude if Garen had not displayed some of his skills to allow the others to learn and reach their goals.


    Up until now, his physical fitness had improved once again. He had basically achieved more than twofold of an average person''s fitness level now. Since he was always using the Energy Machine Imprint''s help to train the various aspects of his physical qualities, it was unlikely that it would not improve.


    Thus, he simply chose a few people from the group as examples for close range teaching. After that, he allowed them to guide the others.


    The people that were selected included Saber One, Saber Two, Wild Boar, and the previous Head Minister.


    "Alright. Step forward, Saber One. We''ll use the usual simulated attack routine." Garen looked at Saber One listlessly.


    "Head Minister Great Saber, could you call me by my name?" Saber One stood up helplessly.


    "You''ve already learned the basic saber skills and grasped them quickly as well. It''s time for you to continue your actual combat training now. Come, attack me."


    Garen held the hilt of the saber in one hand. After possessing this body for such a long time, his current figure was far beyond his initially average and feeble state. Instead, he became sturdier and more muscular now. He rolled up his sleeve single-handedly and exposed the contours of his muscles underneath his white shirt. His current self-was like an abnormally sharp blade.


    When he compared himself to Saber One who was standing on the opposite side of him, Garen''s body was clearly two sizes larger. When he looked at him directly, Saber One sensed a bout of pressure that was moving towards his face suddenly.


    Hup!


    His movements were skilled. He drew the saber and swung it towards the other party. He was using the most basic slaying techniques.


    Clang!


    The edge of the saber was a real blade. It was instantly blocked by the back of Garen''s saber that remained there steadily without quivering at all.


    "Left!!"


    Saber One swung his blade towards the left and made another clanging noise. However, he could not see how Garen had managed to block it at all.


    "Another few more rounds," said Garen calmly.


    Suddenly, a few more people leaped up on the side, including Saber Two and Wild Boar.


    There were five people in total who were simultaneously attacking Garen from all four directions now.


    Clang clang clang clang¡­


    All the blades fell two meters away from Garen''s body after they were blocked. Despite how hard the five people tried, none of them could advance to the next step.


    This type of Saber Art was simple enough to make people gasp in amazement.


    Garen could only see twinkling stars in the space around him that lit up occasionally. He could not see anything else.


    "Alright, sheathe your sabers!" Garen commanded.


    Everyone kept their sabers quickly and stuck them back in their sheaths at different times. All of them were panting in exhaustion. Garen stood in the center and remained indifferent.


    "His physical strength is simply insane!" Saber Two could not help but whisper softly to her older brother on the side.


    Saber One smiled bitterly. It was not a big deal for a girl like his little sister to say something like that. However, he was sure that Garen''s ear had definitely twitched earlier. Definitely! It was highly likely that he had heard that¡­


    He looked at Garen''s arms that were almost twice as broad as his own. They were almost the size of an average person''s upper thigh. Garen and the guy from earlier were both similar deviants¡­


    He unconsciously recalled that guy named Silver Chain whom he had encountered previously¡­ Despite activating a certain skill, he had almost died at the hands of that person nonetheless.


    "That''s all for today. Everyone is dismissed," said Garen indifferently. He took his clothes and water bottle before leaving at once. He was completely unconcerned because everything else was the responsibility of the previous Head Minister.


    Some people who refused to accept this ended up picking a quarrel with about a dozen other people. However, everything calmed down again after they were beaten up and bruised to the point where they were unrecognizable.


    While watching Garen leave swiftly, Saber One told his younger sister to go home with him. The sky outside was getting slightly darker now.


    "Let''s go, Xiaojie."


    "Okay."


    The house that they stayed in was not far from here. Their journey home from school only required a ten-minute walk because it was very near.


    After exiting the Unrestricted Combat Department, both of them walked side by side past the stream of scattered students. They left the school gates before passing through an intersection.


    They continued walking forward past the edges of a shopping street. This was the road that they frequently used to go home.


    The road seemed somewhat calmer today as there were only a few pedestrians. However, it seemed to be too quiet.

 1165 Attack 1

    It seemed like several electric poles on the street were malfunctioning. Some of them were blinking while the others turned dim occasionally. A few pedestrians walked past, a single car would drive by sometimes.


    Both Saber One and Saber Two wore their blue and white school uniforms like regular students and walked home carrying their backpacks.


    Saber One''s real name was Yuria. He was a fair-skinned cheerful youth with a beaming smile. Meanwhile, Saber Two''s name was Yurijie. Her hair was tied in two separate ponytails and she had features that were very similar to Saber One''s appearance. The only difference was that her skin was smoother and she was always quiet. She was inseparable from Yuria.


    Both of them walked towards a street corner. There was a bar near the corner where the sound of quiet music echoed from inside while red light radiated out from there as well. A row of characters were etched beside the door. However, they were distorted which made it impossible to distinguish the words on it.


    "How do you think the Head Minister managed to learn those skills? I found them insanely powerful. I don''t think I could necessarily beat him single-handedly." Saber One Yuria was holding his cellphone and replying a text message from his friend when he randomly asked his younger sister.


    "Who knows," Saber Two was currently using her phone to take a selfie and preparing to send it to her circle of friends. She pouted while puffing out her cheeks to look cute.


    "He was able to achieve strength of such a powerful degree despite being so young. I wonder what he''s like during actual combat?" asked Saber One listlessly.


    "Actual combat?" Yurijie put her phone down and glanced at her older brother. "Are you still thinking about the previous incident?"


    "Don''t tell me that you''ve forgotten?" Yuria asked a question in reply. "That man captured Big Sister Xue and then led Big Brother Lincoln out even though I was his true goal in the end," he tugged at his hair. "I was targeted by this deviant for no reason. Sure enough, I can feel a great pressure¡­"


    "Let''s make a police report," Yurijie suggested.


    "Would it even be useful? I''ve reported twice." Yuria rolled his eyes. "Don''t tell me that I should really tell the cops that we''re actually not normal people and for the sake of world peace, an organization called Vulture has targeted us. Moreover, they want to capture and perform experiments on us? Do you think that the police would really believe nonsense like this?"


    "That''s indeed a problem¡­" Yurijie nodded solemnly. "Then¡­ why not find someone to help you instead?"


    "Who could we look for? Please, actual combat and tournaments are two different matters. How many people out there have experienced actual combat in this day and age?" said Yuria helplessly.


    "We could pay them and hire some mercenaries or something."


    "¡­you''ve read too many novels¡­" Yuria was speechless. "Moreover, how would we get access to channels like that?"


    "Then what do you think we should do? We can''t just wait for them to ambush us again in the end, right?" Yurijie shrugged.


    "What else can we do?" Yuria rubbed his chin. "Think about it, what would happen if our uncle hadn''t anticipated this day much earlier and allowed us to train with Big Brother Lincoln ever since we were little. The hunting skills that we learned from capturing wild boars and foxes were directly used in this aspect no matter how you look at it¡­"


    "When you put it that way, it actually seems pretty accurate." Yurijie''s mind had always been duller.


    Both of them chatted while turning past a corner and walking into a byway alley. This was a shortcut that led directly to their house. They had walked through it countless times and had become completely familiar with it much earlier on.


    However, something happened when they had just turned into the alley.


    "Watch out!"


    Yuria pulled his younger sister away suddenly to avoid an object that flew at them from the sky.


    Shh!


    That dark object penetrated the wall beside them quickly and actually sank into the depths of it.


    Both of them were frightened to the point where their entire bodies were covered in cold sweat. When they looked at it closely, they noticed that it was a black lethal metal weapon that resembled an animal''s claw.


    That lethal weapon had three fingers that penetrated the cement wall directly. It hooked itself deeply inside, digging out pieces of cement and plaster.


    "Who was that?!" Yuria''s guard instantly rose to the highest level. He widened his eyes and stared closely at the dark spot in front of the alley.


    Within the darkness, a silhouette that was two meters tall walked closer towards them gradually before revealing itself.


    The figure actually belonged to a man whose entire body was wrapped in thick layers of clothes. He resembled a heavily wounded person who had just rushed out of the hospital. His entire body appeared swollen but was also enormous and sturdy at the same time. This gave off a cumbersome feeling.


    The man''s face was the only part of him that was exposed. However, it caused Yuria''s entire body to stiffen instantly.


    "Yuria, I let you escape the last time but that definitely won''t happen again this time¡­" The man''s voice was deep and rigid. It appeared that he was not human.


    He moved one of his hands in a grabbing motion before numerous silver chains came crashing down. They shook and reflected faint silver light.


    "Silver Chain¡­" Yuria''s expression turned grave immediately.


    "You need to leave first." He said to his sister softly.


    "I can''t¡­" Beads of sweat trickled down Yurijie''s sideburns faintly. "There are people guarding the front and back of this place. I can sense the reflected light from the muzzle of a gun!"


    "This is troublesome¡­" Yuria''s heart dropped.


    Silver Chain took one step forward.


    "This is merely a test¡­"


    Whoosh!


    His entire body charged forward. His imposing body was actually as agile as a wild wolf.


    ************************


    Several minutes later, Saber One and Saber Two were both lying beside the wall on separate sides of the alley. Bright red blood snaked down their bodies and flowed down to form two red lines that could be seen clearly.


    A metallic bloody scent wafted through the entire alley.


    "Is this the strength of a Savior?" Silver Chain appeared colder than the last time. Neither of his two hands resembled human palms anymore. They had fully transformed into mechanical claws that twinkled with cold pallid light in the dark.


    "Rumor has it that you can borrow the powers of others?"


    Silver Chain walked towards Yuria who was lying on the floor.


    "You''re too weak indeed. Legend has it that the strongest Savior can borrow the strength of a hundred men and achieve a terrifying, endless realm."


    Bang.


    He walked beside Yuria and kicked him brutally once. The kick made a banging noise and caused Yuria to cough up a mouthful of blood violently.


    "You, however, can only borrow the strength of less than three people, right? That''s really pitiful¡­"


    "Don''t touch my brother!!" Yelled Yurijie who was not far away. She had never expected that Silver Chain, whose hands they barely managed to chop off, would actually become so strong within a short period of time that he was simply on another level now.


    Never in her wildest dreams would she have imagined that her brother would collapse so easily after merely a few short clashes.


    Her brother was famous for his physical strength and could even borrow the strength of others. However, he was defeated so easily now!! This was unbelievable!


    "If you want to fight¡­ then fight me!" She supported her body tenaciously despite the fact that her lower abdomen was covered in blood that trickled downwards constantly.


    Silver Chain turned his head before looking at Yurijie somewhat impatiently.


    "Those who aren''t Saviors are completely worthless to us."


    He left Yuria''s side and walked towards Yurijie instead.


    "Do you want me to kill you?"


    Yurijie''s pupils constricted instantly. Despite the various types of training that she had undergone and the two deadly battles that she had experienced previously, she could still feel herself shivering when she was truly faced with death. Her heart compressed and tightened as well. She felt as if she was faintly gasping for air too.


    "Don''t touch my sister!!" Yuria''s voice echoed behind them.


    Silver Chain bared his teeth and smiled suddenly as he was about to speak.


    Suddenly, a faint noise could be heard from the electric earpiece that he wore. He stopped in his tracks as if he was listening to something.


    "Are you joking? Retreat?! Hahaha¡­" Silver Chain pinched something in one handful and smashed it abruptly before simply throwing it on the ground. "Both of my arms were broken and I almost died at the hands of these two disgusting little monsters. This is truly the best chance for me to take revenge but you''re actually asking me to retreat instead?!"


    Bang!


    A bullet hole appeared directly on the ground beside his feet suddenly.


    "Huh?" Silver Chain lifted his head and looked in the direction of the marksman who was concealed outside the alley.


    "You¡­are threatening me?"


    There was a brief whooshing noise before he fled into the darkness like a large wolf in the dusky night.


    Ahh!


    A painful cry could be heard far away suddenly. Yuria and his sister took this opportunity to try their best to crawl to each other frantically.


    "Go quickly! That guy isn''t human anymore. Half of his body has been fully modified into a machine! I couldn''t even move him at all when we were fighting!" said Yuria urgently. "Go look for Big Brother Lincoln quickly! Don''t make a police report!"


    He supported Yurijie determinedly but his sister''s body seemed completely lifeless already. She barely stood up, and the wound on her abdomen burst open and blood began flowing out quickly.


    Plop.


    Both of them collapsed on the ground again. They could not get up again no matter how much they crawled this time.


    "Eh? What are you two doing here? Having a forbidden incestous relationship between siblings?" A bored voice echoed through the entrance of the alley suddenly.


    "Leader!""Head Minister!!"


    When they saw Kong Xiaofei at the entrance of the alley, both of the people on the ground were instantly moved to the point where their eyes were brimming with tears.


    They were finally saved!!


    However, Yuria was suddenly filled with panic again when he remembered the current situation.


    "Head Minister, help me call my cousin quickly!! This place is very dangerous so you should hurry up and leave!!"


    "Saber One and Saber Two?" Garen walked into the alley with his eyebrows furrowed. He sniffed around before detecting the scent of something that was amiss.


    "This is¡­ the smell of blood¡­"


    His expression stiffened quickly. He glanced at the brother and sister on the floor with worried looks on their faces. He was about to speak before he turned his head suddenly and looked at the other deep part of the alley.


    "There''s a scoundrel who is hiding in the alley sneakily." Garen''s gaze sharpened before he glared immediately at the two meter tall Cyborg named Silver Chain who was walking out of the depths of the alley slowly.


    "Outsider¡­ Leave on your own. Otherwise, die!" Silver Chain raised the sharp black claw in his hand that made a cold, hard noise.


    The distance between them was less than three meters away. Garen''s hand grasped the hilt of the saber at his waist gently while Silver Chain''s hand tightened around the sharp black claw as if it could burst forth at any time.


    The situation would break out at any moment.


    Saber Two who was heavily injured on the ground covered the wound on her abdomen.


    "¡­ Head Minister?! How did he appear here suddenly?!" Saber Two Yurijie said softly in a faintly exhausted tone.


    "We need to warn him and get him to leave quickly! That guy¡­ is not someone that humans can withstand!" Saber One''s forehead was drenched in sweat. Three of his ribs were probably broken.


    He understood now that this was a battle of the Four Great Cornerstones. Their opponent was a member of Vulture, a large organization that was specially created to capture the Four Great Cornerstones. They were an armed force that most people could not counter at all. It would be fine if they were the only ones here because they would not kill two of their own people easily as they were part of the Four Great Cornerstones. However, the circumstances would change when outsiders were involved¡­ People like them did not take human lives seriously!


    He could not drag other people into this!


    While harboring these thoughts, Saber One grabbed his keys and flung them in Garen''s direction firmly.


    "Get out of here quickly!!" He yelled while using his last ounce of strength.


    The crashing noises of the keys echoed in the air.


    However, something happened momentarily when the keys flew across the sky.


    Clang!!


    A ray of white light lit up as Garen drew his saber.

 1166 Attack 2

    In the darkness, the saber was as bright as a silver path, reflecting the dim lights by the street.


    Silver Chain''s black claw and Garen''s saber clashed against each other.


    Clank clank clank clank clank!!


    Big white light sparked around Garen. Those sparks were the result of the clashes between the extremely fast moving saber and sharp claw. Every time they collided, a white light sparked.


    "Slash!" Holding his saber with both of his hands, Garen drew a sharp path forward at lightning speed.


    Pew!!


    Thud thud thud...


    Silver Chain retreated a few steps back as a big, deep wound opened up on his chest. Fresh blood started flowing out of the wound, dripping to the ground.


    It was only then that the keys Saber One had thrown out started to fall to the ground. It had already been cut into tiny pieces and no longer resembled its original appearance.


    He was stunned as he lowered his head and looked at the wound on his chest.


    He was injured?!!!


    He was a modified Cyborg, a top class warrior from the organization that had experienced hundreds of battles! Surprisingly, he was injured by a man who was less than twenty years old?!!


    Silver Chain was in disbelief as he moved his hand and touched the wound on his chest.


    "This..."


    Shing... Garen slowly sheathed his saber.


    "Do you want to scram on your own or do you prefer me sending you off?" He asked in a condescending tone.


    "... I''ll let you all off the hook this time!" Silver stared at Garen as he turned around decisively and leaped, disappearing into the darkness in an instant.


    Boom!!


    Suddenly, plenty of black sharp claws burst out from the darkness and headed towards Garen.


    Clang!!


    The white sparks appeared once more as the black sharp claws were blocked off with great precision. No one could even see Garen moving his saber at all.


    Garen did not pursue after him as he deflected the last black sharp claw. Garen then sheathed his saber once more, making a clunking sound as he did so. It seemed that he had created an Absolute Territory two meters around him with him as the epicenter and nothing would be able to invade this space.


    Furthermore, it was as if he was not in the battle at all from the beginning until the end as his white shirt still looked the same as previously when he was walking back home.


    The alley was in complete silence. It was as if nothing had happened here excluding the messy remnants from the battle.


    "So... So strong!!" Both Saber One and Saber Two witnessed the whole situation with a dull look in their eyes as they looked at Garen deflecting the black sharp claws.


    The strong and terrifying cyborg could not even break Garen''s defense at all! This level of Saber Art... was almost at the peak of humanity''s limit!!


    "That''s... That''s the Head Minister for you!" Saber One gulped as he now realized that Garen had been holding back more than a trick or two when he sparred with Garen back at the Combat Department. It was no wonder he kept being bullied as the difference between their strength was simply too huge!


    It was incredibly ridiculous for a typical human''s strength to reach such a level!


    "Are you okay." Garen walked towards them and helped them up. "Both of you are seriously injured and will need blood transfusion in the hospital immediately." He frowned and told them as he saw their injuries.


    "We''re lucky... that the Head Minister had coincidentally walked passed here...we will be in big trouble if not for you..." Saber Two smiled wryly.


    "It''s best for you to not represent the human next time." Garen smiled gently. "That thing is not something you can win against. You shouldn''t fight it even if you don''t represent the human race."


    Saber One was stunned momentarily, and he smiled.


    "Understood."


    He nodded repetitively.


    ********


    Half an hour later. Lincoln''s ambulance arrived to send the two to the hospital.


    Garen stood on the street as he looked at the ambulance disappearing in the distance. If it was not for him to pass by coincidentally while Saber One and Saber Two were ambushed, he might not be able to discover one of the Four Great Cornerstones was actually Lincoln''s cousin brother, Yuria.


    He was no other than Saber One, whose real name he did not bother to remember.


    In the Saber Art Dojo, Garen''s nickname was the Great Saber and beneath him was Saber One, Saber Two and so on until the Saber Tens. This crude management brought about a strong passion for competition and rivalry as the number in the nickname signified their strength.


    "I didn''t expect... the Savior, one of the Four Great Cornerstones would be Yuria... I always thought that it would be Lincoln." He held his saber by his waist tightly as he gazed at the silent street around him. As expected, someone with great influence had set up the surrounding beforehand as they wanted to keep it as an absolute secret.


    Garen then walked back slowly from where he came from.


    At the top of the building far away, a variety of surveillance equipment was set up. Several people in blue tight shirt were crawled in front of the surveillance system. Their faces twitched as they saw the situation on the other side of the monitor unfold.


    "This... This is ridiculous!"


    "Seven slashes in one second! What incredible talent in Saber Art!" A middle-aged woman in glasses said as she sweated around her forehead. "This level of Saber Art can be coined as a master in the world of blades and sabers."


    "Are you saying that this kid who''s less than eighteen years old is a Saber Master?!" The person beside her, who was responsible for the operations whispered in disbelief.


    "If everyone has this kind of talent in Battle Skills, no one would be using firearms to make up for their lack of skills." The woman smiled wryly. "It''s as you said. This young man named Kong Xiaofei has indeed reached the pinnacle as a human weapon and it would be an understatement to call him a Saber Master."


    "Legend has it that a Saber Master is able to cut down the airplane in the sky."


    "My Lord, it''s a flying bird..." The woman said helplessly.


    "Alright, alright. A flying bird. It''s incredible that he is able to stand toe to toe against our ultimate cyborg warrior without modifying his body at all!" The man in charge praised. "How are we going to deal with this talented man who appeared out of nowhere?"


    " I think..." The woman adjusted her glasses. "I think we can try and make contact with him. The purpose of humans living in this world is to obtain reputation and authority to lead a better life. Perhaps we can recruit him into our organization, Vulture."


    "Recruit him?" The person in charge started to ponder about this possibility. "Although he looks very promising, I don''t think we have a suitable position for him even if we manage to recruit him...unless he is willing to be modified."


    "While it''s true that we do not have a place for him to do what he does best, I think he is very suited to become an instructor. You have to know that there are less than five people with talent similar to his in the entire world and all of them are big shots with widespread reputation and influences. He has nothing as compared to them so he should be easily tempted by this invitation."


    The woman explained.


    "Let''s send some people to test the water." The person in charge decided.


    "Understood."


    *******


    "It seems... that there is a little bit of Soul Energy, but it isn''t as much as I expected," Garen recalled the amount of aura he sensed from Yuria. He could only sense a vague Soul Energy when their limbs came in contact with each other.


    "It seems to be in an inactive state."


    He sat in the courtyard in his new house. The golden sunlight shone through the skylight above him, bathing nothing else but him in the courtyard.


    His new house was a villa located in a high-end residential area of the city center. A villa at the heart of the Lily of the Valley, a second-tier city, did not cost much at less than half a million.


    The design of the villa is of the traditional, square double story with a courtyard. One may call it a gigantified version of siheyuan instead of a villa as it had slightly more area than the usual ones. Furthermore, it was much more beautiful as there were exquisite eagle sculptures placed at every edge of the roofs.


    There was also a small pond at the entrance with a beautiful copper mermaid sculpture in it.


    "I still can''t confirm that he is an Inheritor. I need more time to interact with him," Garen pondered.


    He then recalled that Cyborg earlier and thought that he was rather powerful.


    "I believe they will contact me on their own accord to test my attitude soon. The Vulture and The Four Great Cornerstones..." Yuria had told him everything he knew in the hospital and he had also found out that the Cyborg belonged to a large and mysterious organization, Vulture.


    "The Savior is able to borrow the strength from the people around him and become strong enough to achieve his goal. Is he able to borrow strength from the others? Interesting..." Although Garen did not know what kind of abilities the remaining Three Great Cornerstones possess, he guessed that it would be something of similar scale.


    The ability of the Savior was very subjective as it depended on how the user made use of it. If the people he borrowed the strength from were powerful, then he would be powerful as well. If he were to borrow it from many people, he would then become the Savior who bore the hope of tens of thousands of citizens. This would grant him strength so powerful to the realm where no one had seen before.


    Crack... He heard someone returned as the door to the living room far away was opened, breaking off Garen''s chain of thought.


    "I''m back." Kong Xinxue threw her high heels to one side, stepping onto the wooden floor still in her white stockings. She entered the house without even wearing any slippers.


    "I heard that you are the one who sent Yuria and the other to the hospital?" Kong Xinxue carried a chair towards Garen, placed it down in front of him and sat on it.


    The white one-piece dress was wrinkled horribly as it was used as a cushion when pressed in between the chair and her butt.


    "Yeah." Garen nodded.


    "I heard that your Saber Art is incredibly good? Where did you learn that? Why did I not see you practice before in the past?" Kong Xinxue stared at Garen suspiciously.


    "It''s because I''m a genius." Garen had no sense of shame. "I learn those things via observation." He replied calmly as he sat cross-legged on the floor.


    "A genius..." Kong Xinxue was speechless. "Alright genius. Can you tell me why there''s such a drastic change in personality before and after the fever? Don''t tell me a spirit possessed your body or something the Mysterious Old Man novel used to trick the kids."


    "Mysterious Old Man?" Garen was stunned. Transmigration novel had yet to gain its momentum in this world, right? Only people from Planet Earth would be able to mention the Mysterious Old Man novel naturally in their examples.


    He then stared at Kong Xinxue suspiciously.


    "What are you talking about?"


    "What do you mean?" Kong Xinxue seemed to have sensed something as she started to act dumb. "Regardless, I feel that there''s something off about you."


    "In what aspect?" Garen did not understand her.


    "Every aspect about you seems off." Kong Xinxue took a deep breath. "Recently, you''ve scored full marks for every exam paper. The teacher has already taken your paper as a benchmark for being the perfectly answered paper in the entire Five School Alliance. Oh right, I guess you haven''t realized that that was a mock examination for the college entrance examination. Every student in the schools including us would be participating in it. You, on the other hand, have hit a perfect score..."


    Garen wanted to say that he had solved them while he''s half-awake but he was not sure if he should...


    Regardless, he had decided to come to this world to take a rest so he was too lazy to take note of such trivial stuff.TL Note: siheyuan is a historical type of residence that was commonly found throughout China, most famously in Beijing and rural Shanxi. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siheyuan

 1167 1169 Organization 1

    "Then, someone came running towards me telling that my brother is a martial art genius who only appears once every millennium... You''ve turned from a good-for-nothing into something else entirely, so much so that your personality and attitude has changed as well. It''s as if you''ve turned into someone else."


    Kong Xinxue''s expression turned serious.


    "Be honest. Who exactly are you?"


    "I am your brother." Garen thought for a while before replying.


    "Stop acting dumb! Be honest. We have a huge circle of friends. We will eventually know who you really are even if you act dumb." Kong Xinxue smiled coldly. "Furthermore, you don''t seem to be hiding your identity at all from the very beginning. Were you not planning to hide this truth?"


    Garen blinked.


    "What are you talking about, I don''t understand what you''re saying at all."


    "Stop acting cute!!!" Kong Xinxue glared at him. "This world is a resting point for us. Spill the beans. We''ve encountered many of you outsiders who barged in without going through inspection!"


    Although Garen was slightly stunned on the outside, his heart was already sinking from the huge tidal waves.


    A Transmigrator!!??


    He did not expect that Kong Xinxue was also a Transmigrator! Furthermore, there seemed to be more than one Transmigrator in this world!!!


    "What do you mean ''this world''?" Garen continued acting oblivious.


    "Huhu..." Kong Xinxue laughed coldly.


    As they stared at each other in the eyes, they both had already known the truth.


    "Fine..." Garen nodded. "I have just arrived in this world not long ago and entered Kong Xiaofei''s body. Do you have anything else you wish to ask?"


    He decided to be honest with her as he didn''t see any signs of lying from Kong Xinxue as well. Hence, it would be fair to assume that whatever she had said was the truth.


    "Well, aren''t you pretty good in acting..." She continued smiling coldly. Now that she had confirmed that the Kong Xiaofei wasn''t the person she knew, her attitude towards him had distanced and was no longer as close as it used to be.


    "I have seen many closet perverts like you who would say things implicitly and act cold on the outside and feel sexually passionate from the inside. Each and every one of you is a hypocrite who would act innocent on the surface and has been suppressing your twisted desire inside."


    She pondered for a moment before continuing. "Do you know what I wish to do the most right now?"


    "What?"


    "I want to punch you."


    "..." Garen blinked. "You can''t win against me." He said with utmost sincerity.


    "..." Kong Xinxue was speechless. "Do you know what the phrase one needs to lose some in order to gain what one desires mean?"


    "I do." Garen didn''t understand the reason she told him that.


    "If you wish to f*ck me, you better not hit back!!" Kong Xinxue then stood up swiftly as she threw a punch towards Garen''s face.


    Hu...


    Her fist stopped right in front of Garen''s face, which was less than half a centimeter away. Her fist was single-handedly caught firmly by Garen.


    "I''ll tell." He looked hopelessly at Kong Xinxue who was well within reach. "Can''t you be a bit normal? Weren''t we having a civilized conversation? How did that unfold into this now?"


    "You killed my beloved brother. Do you expect me to be grateful and treat you as my best friend?" Kong Xinxue''s expression turned ice cold.


    "You... I shouldn''t have placed any hope on a mentally challenged person." Garen was speechless as he sighed.


    The moment he loosened his hand, Kong Xinxue turned her body around and side kicked Garen''s waist.


    Slam.


    Her leg was caught firmly by Garen once more.


    While her small leg in black stocking was in Garen''s hand, the important detail was not of this. As Kong Xinxue had her leg raised up high, Garen was able to see everything underneath the dress from his point of view...


    He could vaguely see a white triangular shape underneath the black stocking.


    "See. You''re indeed a pervert!" Kong Xinxue put her leg away as if nothing had happened. "You even dared to peak at your own biological sister!" Perhaps she had realized that she could not win against Garen, so she decided to stop trying.


    "You must be an extremely cruel and merciless man in the past."


    "Why do you say so?" Garen sat in his original position firmly, as if he did not make any move at all.


    "You didn''t even give me a chance despite how beautiful I am." Kong Xinxue calmly sat down and she did not seem to be embarrassed about showing what was underneath her dress. Her action assured Garen even more that she was a weird person.


    "To yield in and let you punch me?" Garen was speechless.


    "Alright, let''s stop talking nonsense. As a Transmigrator, I have the duty to introduce you to people like us nearby so that you can have a better understanding of our internal social network."


    "What social network? Do you have a lot of associates in this world?" Garen was interested in this topic. It was rather stressful to be with this oddball on a daily basis as one small mistake and he would be branded as a pervert.


    "A lot? It''s a handful I guess since we have dozens of people. Since this place is where everything started so a lot of people gathered here." When Kong Xinxue calmed down, she was actually rather lady-like. Her beautiful and elegant face, white dress, black stockings and long hair had made her look extremely seductive.


    "It''s been a while since everyone gathered. Perhaps I can suggest everyone to meet up."


    "Do all Transmigrators originate from the same place?" Garen asked another question after thinking for a while.


    "No. Not at all." Kong Xinxue shook her head. "Technically speaking, there is no single location. Although some may come from Earth, they are from a different parallel universe. Naturally, most of them come from Earth and the minorities come from somewhere else. I do not know the reason behind this but this is the current situation."


    "Also," she gave him a respectful look. "Don''t be conceited that you''re strong. There are many Transmigrators who are very powerful as well."


    "What''s the name?" Garen nodded. "There should be a name for this Transmigrator organization right?"


    "Of course there is." Kong Xinxue stood up. "It''s called Lighthouse."


    ******


    Garen did not expect that the members of the Lighthouse would give each other a helping hand. According to the intel from Kong Xinxue, not everyone inside had stood at the pinnacle of the world. Most of them were at the middle or above average level and a handful of them had reached the very top. However, the majority of them were at the below average and lower level.


    All of them would exchange resources and help each other so that everyone could improve together. That was the motto of the Lighthouse. Afterall, the worlds were incredibly huge and everyone had their own unique system. Hence they should be able to exchange their knowledge no matter what.


    Everyone nearby was soon told of the gathering.


    Kong Xinxue departed together with Garen ten minutes earlier to a fancy restaurant nearby. Although there was a sign stating that it was closed at the entrance of the restaurant, both of them entered without having any regard for others and locked the door. There were about seven to eight people already sitting in the transparent glass chair by the glass table. All of them seemed to be chatting about happily among each other.


    They were in a variety of uniforms such as police, white-collar worker, technician, housewife, and student.


    The moment Garen and Kong Xinxue entered, A fat middle-aged man walked up and welcomed them.


    "Welcome, welcome! Ah Xue, it''s been a long time since you invited us for a gathering." The fat man smiled, giving off a friendly and peaceful vibe.


    "I''ve brought a new person along so that everyone can get to know him. Everyone feel free as I may have to trouble you all once again ." It was rare to see Kong Xinxue being so polite and formal.


    "No problem! I''ll take care of him." The man patted his chest as he said with alacrity. "You are..."


    "Garen," Garen told him his name on his own accord.


    "Nice to meet you."


    "Nice to meet you."


    Both of them shook hand and the first impression was great. As Transmigrators, they could not determine their age based on their physical appearances. Hence everyone did not care that Garen looked like a kid.


    "Alright let''s hear it from everybody. As the Plot is just around the corner, what do you guys plan to do?" Kong Xinxue sat down as she gave off a vibe of a leader.


    Garen followed along as he sat in a chair beside her. No one felt strange seeing two similar faces sitting side by side.


    "Why don''t we transmigrate?" A technician uncle who was drinking alcoholic drink quietly suggested as he frowned. "I''ve been to two worlds, three if you include this one. The problem with facing against the Plot is that it is dangerous. The Plot is not something that could be easily changed. If it were that easy, there wouldn''t be so many predecessors dying in the middle of their journey."


    "Where do you want to transmigrate to? This world is the safest world around. The Power Level here is low and the constraint of the universe is extremely high. Isn''t it more troublesome to go somewhere else?" The policewoman curled her lips. "All I did was hiding here and there as I tried to move forward in the previous world. Ultimately, I died due to unforeseen circumstances. Just thinking of it annoys me."


    "Li Hua is right. We can still gauge which area is still safe or not if we are within the Plot. However, once we are out of the Plot, we will be placed in the dark. I think it''s best for us to play by the ear and avoid the dangerous zones of the Plot. The Slayer is one of the dangerous points among the Four Great Cornerstones and the remaining three should be relatively safe." The housewife agreed as she added on.


    "Are we not going to introduce the new member?" A woman suggested.


    Garen stood up and picked up his wine glass as he looked around. "My name is Garen. I''ve recently transmigrated into this world and I wish to be part of the team as soon as possible." He was quick to earn everyone''s friendliness with his smile and his educated manner.


    Soon, everyone present told him that he could inquire them anything if he needed help.


    Garen then obtained the means to contact everyone before sitting down and continue listening to their discussion.


    "Everyone should be aware of the Slayer of the Four Great Cornerstone''s ability. He possesses every slaying technique in this world. He can learn any assassination technique by just looking at it once and is seriously overpowered. To make things worse, we also have this world''s constraint as well. He, who is one of the Four Great Cornerstone will never die. Who would be able to fight against a killing machine that can''t be killed?" The technician uncle said hopelessly.


    "Can we request for support? The people we have here that know how to fight are mainly Li Hua and Yong He and the rest of us are just career professionals. If we are in trouble, isn''t our only option is to be reincarnated? It would be difficult to contact one another if that were to happen." The woman frowned as she explained.


    "What level of assistance can we request based on our current Contribution Points?" Kong Xinxue asked calmly.


    "I''ve just obtained a hundred points from the ultimate cake quest."


    "I''ve just finished collecting the consultation. I have about a hundred and fifty points left including the ones that I didn''t use last time."


    "I can only fork out two hundred points. I need to save some to purchase my medicine since this world does not have the medicine that could cure my illness..." The young woman said helplessly.


    "I can fork out three hundred points." Kong Xinxue said firmly. "I''ll note down the number of Contribution Points that everyone had pooled in. Let''s try and collect more Contribution Points in these coming days so that we can afford to hire a high-level helper. Although the Slayer''s ability is very troublesome, he would not be able to learn the techniques of a powerhouse that specializes in sealing and dealing heavy damage instead of killing."


    "That''s a good idea."

 1168 Organization 2

    "Alright let''s stop this pessimistic conversation. Let''s talk about our experience in the past world." Kong Xinxue clapped her hands.


    It was obvious that she was the leader of this small group as everything she said was very convincing. Naturally, everyone started to talk about their past experience in the previous worlds. This was to introduce everyone''s history to Garen.


    "My previous life can be summed up into a single word, tragic. It was a Machine Girl World and the sky was filled with missiles. I always had the impression that Machine Girls were incredibly cute from the animation back in the days but if you were to encounter them, you will soon realize that they would kill anyone without batting an eyelid. I lived alone in seclusion inside the forest for sixty years before I died at the age of eighty-two due to illness." The technician uncle said helplessly.


    "How can you call that a tragedy, when my previous life can truly be summed up with the word tragic." Li Hua the policewoman from the other side of the table butted in. "The three major races mainly Orcs, Demons, and Humans were in an all-out war. My family, the half-orc was categorized as slaves and we had been sold here and there as ornamental pets." She gave off an unbearable expression as she recalled.


    "You guys know nothing about it. I was two meters and two centimeters tall and considered to be the tallest among my family members. However, those Demons, Humans, and Orcs were all at least ten meters tall and would often squat down by the cage and play with us as if we are birds... It felt like an earthquake whenever they walked and I thought that I had arrived at the Giant World when I first reincarnated. Ultimately, it''s not us that was short but they were just too tall..."


    "That doesn''t sound tragic at all. You get to be a pet where you get to have good food and drinks. You can sleep after you eat and vice versa. My previous life was truly a tragedy. I was reincarnated as a human blood bank for the vampires. I would be awake for no more than three hours on a daily basis and I could not even move since I was placed inside a nursery chamber. Ultimately, I died after living for thirty-two years."


    "All of you have never been to my previous world. That world is defined by the word tragedy!" Another middle-aged man said with a depressed look on his face. "Have you guys heard of the show Dragon Ball? That world is approximately the same as Dragon Ball. They would fire an extremely wide area of effect planet-destroying class missiles at the drop of a hat. It''s best for you to not come out and fight if you''re less than Level Seven or Level Eight. You''d be ashamed to call yourself a powerhouse if you''re not a Level Nine and have become a Guardian of a Planet. They wouldn''t even classify a battle that cost one hundred billion lives as a war! That was classified as fooling around! Unfortunately, I was just a normal Interstellar Technician and was not qualified to learn how to operate a mech."


    "I don''t understand those level things. All I wanted is to live a quiet and peaceful life as a normal human who strives in his career, work hard and enjoy life." The fat chef said with a smile on his face as he came out from the kitchen, placing two enticing dishes onto the table.


    "Everyone has a different goal and will go after the things they deem meaningful," Garen smiled as he responded.


    "However, since we have reincarnated once and lived so many additional years, shouldn''t we lead a better life when compared to the others? Won''t it be humiliating if we keep living the same way?" A woman with short, red hair spoke arrogantly like an elderly.


    Kong Xinxue who was just beside Garen started to introduce her to Garen softly.


    "Her name is Yuan Xing. She was a boring uncle in her last life. She has now reincarnated as a rich lady from a highly influential family. Furthermore, she has a goddess-like appearance..."


    Garen maintained his smile as he nodded at the woman and the opposing party, too, politely greeted him back.


    "Isn''t the girl beside her pretty?" Kong Xinxue hinted him to look at the long black-haired woman beside the lady with red hair. The woman was whispering to another person in a ladylike manner on a certain topic. She had fair skin and her facial feature was very exquisite, giving off a natural and elegant vibe.


    "Yes."


    "She''s Xi Yuan. She raised and fed pigs for a living in her previous life. Although she has been reincarnated as a beautiful maiden, she still constantly thinks of raising and feeding the pigs. She is now a multi-billionaire who owns a business in raising pigs."


    "..."


    The smile on Garen''s face turned stiff.


    "Do you see that uncle sitting on the other side?" Kong Xinxue curled her lips. "He was an absolute beauty who mastered the art of seduction via her gaze. He carries that habit along with him even after reincarnation and would automatically move his eyebrows while making eye contact with anybody. It''s best for you to close your eyes to avoid any trouble."


    "Is there anyone normal here..." Garen was speechless.


    "There is one. She is sitting right next to you. It is no other than I, Kong Xinxue." Kong Xinxue patted her chest as she said narcissistically.


    "How many worlds have you been to?" Garen asked curiously.


    "Three." Kong Xinxue told him truthfully. "There''s nothing much to say about the first world. I kept striving forward as I thought that I could conquer the world''s economy. Unfortunately, I died in the middle of my journey. There are a few gifted people who you can''t win against even if you were reincarnated. They''re simply that amazing."


    "That''s pretty normal." Garen nodded. "What about the second world?"


    "The second world is the Bacterial World. I transmigrated and became a Bacillus inside the large intestine. I was ultimately killed along with the intestinal worms via insecticide." Kong Xinxue did not try to hide anything at all. "Frankly speaking, I always felt that I may have transmigrated into a person''s bowel, becoming a bacteria with a conscience. It was really fascinating."


    "... You''re not far off from being an oddball." Garen was speechless.


    "Nothing is impossible." Kong Xinxue shrugged.


    "That''s true." Garen nodded as he picked his cup up as he gently drank his wine. He stopped speaking as he sat quietly, listening to everyone''s chatter over a variety of topics.


    "You seem to be rather lost judging from your look. You should go and search for the Tree of Wisdom. He''s the smartest among us Transmigrators." Kong Xinxue spoke after a moment of silence.


    "Tree of Wisdom?"


    "Yep. He''s a wise man."


    "He needs fifteen minutes to do something we can do in one second. You''ll have to wait for at least half an hour for him to finish one sentence."


    "..."


    Kong Xinxue then started mimicking how the Tree of Wisdom would speak to them.


    "Life... is... extremely... cruel... we... need... to..."


    The densely packed crowd sitting in the big square under the tree started yawning here and there.


    "Which word has he reached?"


    "He''s still at the word ''to''."


    "Oh. I''ll take a short nap while I wait."


    "I''ll go buy some snacks. Do you need anything?"


    "A bucket of small steamed buns will do."


    Garen and Kong Xinxue couldn''t help but burst into laughter as she finished speaking.


    "The funniest part is his longest sentence was three hours long! At that time, one of the people thought that he had finished his speech even though he was only eighty percent through. As he stood up and was about to leave the area, he added on and said that what he did was f*cking wrong."


    "When that man found out, he raged to the point he almost vomited blood." Kong Xinxue laughed as she staggered forward and backward.


    "There really are all sorts of people." Garen sighed emotionally.


    "Indeed. We''re all Transmigrators. There''s bound to be good ones and bad ones. We''re considered very fortunate as there are some Transmigrators who encountered all kinds of unfortunate events and tragedies from the very beginning, causing them to have a huge temperament." Kong Xinxue sighed. "Although I know that it''s bad for me to speak behind someone''s back, I couldn''t help but say it out loud."


    She pondered for a moment. "Alright. That''s all from me. It''s your turn now. How many worlds have you been to?"


    Garen drank a mouthful of wine.


    "I''ve been to three worlds. Sigh... The first one is a Martial Art World. It was pretty dull and I eventually died from an atomic bomb and a volcano eruption."


    "Died without leaving any corpse behind huh."


    "The second world is a supernatural world. Although I managed to survive well there, I was eliminated by the new era." Garen was trying to explain that the supernatural power had faded and he was ultimately kicked out by the Planet''s Will.


    "That''s pretty tragic but slightly better than the first one. What about the third world?"


    The third one..." Gared sighed. "I lost a fight in the third world. I was then captured and died from old age while waiting for someone to rescue me."


    Pfft.


    A woman sitting on the other side of Garen could not hold onto her laughter as she started laughing. No one knew when she appeared beside Garen. She had on a cute, white cat ear as a hair clip, two ponytails and was wearing a long sleeve, black T-shirt paired with a black red checkered short skirt which was part of a school''s uniform. She looked very innocent and cute.


    "Sorry. I couldn''t hold in my laughter when I heard that you died from old age." The girl laughed as she covered her mouth.


    "... No wonder you always look rather sulky and lazy all the time." Kong Xinxue ignored the other girl as she sipped the milk from her cup.


    "I''ve lived as a failure in all three worlds." Garen sighed. He didn''t mention the Blood Breed World in the middle of the second and third world. In his perspective, he was just passing by in that world so it was not counted.


    "And you are?" Out of politeness, Garen looked at the girl who was laughing earlier.


    The girl tilted her head innocently. "My name is Zhao Wenzhen. I am the temporary leader of the Sky Seat''s Shooting Fragrant Sect. I heard that a newly joined member here is a Kendo master. Hence, I''ve personally come here to recruit you into my sect."


    "Kendo?" Garen shook his head. "I do not practice Kendo. What you''re referring to is the Japanese Blade Technique, right?"


    "Wrong~" Zhao Wenzhen smiled as she spoke. "Japanese Blade Technique is a Saber Art developed in Japan. What I''m referring to is the Assassination Blade Technique developed during the Spring and Autumn Warring States Period."


    "You pestering fox, can''t you see people are ignoring you? Did you come here to seduce another man again?" Kong Xinxue''s tone was rather hostile as she spoke loudly to Zhao Wenzhen.


    "You may call me Ms. Nine-Tailed Fox even though that was from my previous life. In this life, I wish to live a peaceful life as a cute and beautiful woman." Zhao Wenzhen gestured a V shape with her finger as she smiled with her eyes closed.


    "Everyone present here are most likely Transmigrators from Earth. As the other Transmigrators from another civilization were not the same kind as us, we do not communicate much. If we Transmigrators from Earth do not unite together, we can only blame ourselves if we were bullied by others." Zhao Wenzhen added on as she elaborated.


    "I can''t stand people who are extremely flirtatious towards everybody." Kong Xinxue said in a bad mood.


    "Aren''t you used to not seeing an open pervert?" Zhao Wenzhen was all smiles.


    "You!!"


    "Alright, stop fooling around." Everyone tried to smoothen things over between the two of them. "Everyone, let''s eat. It''s a classic Chinese meal!"


    Garen was speechless as he sat in between these two girls.


    "What I know is just Sword Art instead of Kendo... I know nothing of it at all. I feel that Kendo is more towards cleaving in a non-conspicuous manner."


    "What about your technique then?" Zhao Wenzhen squinted her eyes as she spoke gently. "Do you want to spar with me here?"


    "Ignore her. She is the boss of the world''s largest mafia. Her definition of competition is to kill as many people as possible." Kong Xinxue smiled coldly. "Don''t be fooled by her innocent look."


    "What''s wrong with Black Fist? Those people are only good at brawling. If I didn''t welcome them with open arms, give them a second chance and organize the Black Fist Competition in this world when they couldn''t afford to survive, the society would be much more unstable by a few hundred points." Zhao Wenzhen started to feel discontent.


    "Furthermore, how can those idiotic rash fellows be compared with our little brother Garen?" Zhao Wenzhen leaned her body closer to Garen as she, who was wearing a short skirt, placed her snow-white tender leg beside Garen''s leg.

 1169 Curtains Rising 1

    "Little brother?" Garen laughed out loud. "Do you know how old I am? And yet you dare call me little brother just like that¡­" He emphasized the word ''little''.


    "Could you possibly be older than five thousand years old?" said Nine-Tailed Fox smilingly. "I''m already 6,600 years old, you know~~"


    "You musky fox!" Beside them, Kong Xinxue''s expression was one of disgust as she held her nose and hurriedly distanced herself from them. "If I sit close to you, that foul musk of yours gets me straight in the nose!"


    "In that case, you are older than me, but this is my first time seeing a girl insist that she''s older than someone else." Garen sniffed, and did indeed smell a sweet fragrance. It came from Nine-Tailed Fox and seemed to be a perfume, but it was not particularly thick. It was true, men did enjoy a smell like this.


    "That''s why you gotta call me Big Sis¡­ Compared to that worthless Ah Xue over there, there are a lot more benefits to calling me your big sister," said Nine-Tailed Fox with a laughing, twirling a lock of her long hair around her finger.


    On the other side, Kong Xinxue was annoyed again.


    "Damn old witch, you''re still acting young at your age? Why couldn''t you have been struck dead by lightning back then!? To think you ended up reincarnating here, meeting you is the biggest stain on my life!" said Kong Xinxue expressionlessly.


    "Oh, my¡­ Look, your little brother''s hand is starting to wander, isn''t it?" Nine-Tailed Fox grabbed Garen''s hand, and placed it on her waist gently, slowly moving it downward. Her expression was taunting as she looked at Kong Xinxue. But although it looked extremely promiscuous, in truth she did not allow Garen''s hand to touch her body at all, the back of her own hand staying resolutely between his touch and her skin.


    "Pervert!" Kong Xinxue stared at Garen, and spat the words out through clenched teeth.


    "It has nothing to do with me," said Garen innocently. "I''m being forced."


    "..." Kong Xinxue was speechless, Nine-Tailed Fox giggled. Everyone else burst out laughing as well.


    They had a lot of fun with that meal, and then some of the others who had business to attend to left first.


    Since Garen had laid it out with Kong Xinxue, and no longer assumed the identity of her younger brother, the two of them were not as close as they had been before either. Kong Xinxue could not watch how Garen allowed Nine-Tailed Fox to hug him without resistance, so she angrily downed a few large cups of soy sauce, then she got up and left without a word.


    "Let''s go too." Nine-Tailed Fox had always held Garen''s hand on her bosom, and it looked extremely suggestive on the surface, but in truth he never really touched anything sensitive either.


    Now that Kong Xinxue had left, she pulled Garen''s hand away.


    "As a Territorial Administrator, that girl isn''t tolerant enough," she giggled, smoothing out her long hair.


    "Are you very close to her?" asked Garen curiously.


    "So-so, I guess¡­ We used to be very good friends, but then the guy she finally fell in love with for the first time fell in love with me instead, and I threw him away in the end. Perhaps that was too heavy a blow to her ego, and our relationship started going downhill from there." Nine-Tailed Fox sat alone with Garen, chatting idly. She drank cup after cup of plain water, but she drank it as others would drink wine. Seemed like she was no regular person either¡­


    "Sounds like a very tragic story." Garen was bored anyway, so he decided to stay back and listen to some gossip about Kong Xinxue. Unbeknownst to him, as soon as he relaxed completely, it was as though he was a completely different person. Consider how nervous he was before, and that was how relaxed he was now. He did not want to even think about things like Soul Rings or the like anymore. At first he thought he would be able to find a fellow Inheritor, but instead he found something better, fellow Transmigrators. That sense of loneliness buried deep within Garen''s heart was slowly beginning to fade.


    The existence of Lighthouse told him that he was not alone, and that there were many other Transmigrators struggling and living their lives in many of the other different worlds. He just never encountered them before. Even if he had, perhaps they simply did not recognize each other.


    "I can tell, you''ve been alone for a very long time. I know that feeling," said Nine-Tailed Fox with a sigh. "There was a period of three thousand years when I was so lonely I nearly went mad. The fact that I was a Transmigrator was a secret that only I could keep, and I was constantly terrified of revealing my true identity in my daily actions and daily life. I only managed to relieve that suffocating sensation, of having something forever stuck in my heart, when I met Ah Xue¡­"


    "When you met Ah Xue? Were you two in the same world before?" said Garen out of curiosity.


    "She was the one who saved me¡­" Nine-Tailed Fox gently picked up a lock of her black hair, twirling it around and around her fingertip. "She found me in a maze underneath some ruins, and brought me into Lighthouse¡­ In the end, she was the one who brought me here, to this world, where I settled down. It''s been 53 years now, come to think of it."


    "No wonder your relationship seems strange." Garen nodded. "Since you''ve lived for six thousand years, you''re my senior, so I''d like to ask you a question."


    "Go ahead. I can''t promise I''ll be able to answer you, but since I fancy the way you look, I''ll try my best to reply as a reward to you." Nine-Tailed Fox narrowed her eyes, sprawling onto the table and letting her long hair fan out, some of it falling onto the table like a cloth and some of it hanging down like a waterfall.


    "Do you know anything about Soul Seeds?"


    "Soul Seeds?" Nine-Tailed Fox was slightly taken aback. "Isn''t that something from the Mother Stream System? I thought only people who used the Mother Stream as their cultivation system would have something like that, but I hear that it''s extremely difficult to condense. Why? Do you want to condense that?"


    "Of course I do," replied Garen frankly. "Since you know about it, that must mean that there are other people using the Mother Stream System in Lighthouse, right?"


    "Yes, there are¡­ But the Mother Stream System is quite the unpopular system, it''s very hard to level up, and it is highly restricted by the laws of the world, so it would require a great commitment in terms of both energy and time. Very few people would take this path¡­" said Nine-Tailed Fox hesitantly. "Using my Faerie System, for example, I can reach a high level of power within a mere thousand years, and even I come to a world with very harsh restrictions like this one, my Vitality will still be extremely considerable. Then there''s the Holy Knight System, people who use it can obtain extremely powerful physical abilities within a very short time. These are all extremely effective shortcuts, but the Mother Stream System is different¡­ Their aim is something far too pure, they always discard more than 90% of their energy because it''s impure, and they only accept the tiny bits of the absolutely pure Soul Seed that''s left."


    "So they''re a bit too slow, is that it?" Garen continued.


    "Yeah, extremely slow." Nine-Tailed Fox nodded.


    Panpan was starting to bring up some candelabras, lighting them. There were three three-forked candelabras, placed on the long table to illuminate the faces of those who remained.


    By now, the attendees had been divided into three small groups, Garen and Nine-Tailed Fox in one, and the rest divided into two groups. They all kept the conversation to themselves.


    "If you have enough Contribution Points, you can apply to go to a world that specializes in cultivating Soul Seeds, I hear that you''d need a large sum of Contribution Points to reincarnate that world. If you use regular methods, it''s really easy for them to discover that you''re a foreign soul, so quite a few travelers have been destroyed by the people there."


    "That''s why I''d need to pay a large sum to conceal myself?" Garen understood now.


    "That''s right." Nine-Tailed Fox nodded. "To us Transmigrators, our souls are the root to everything that''s special about us, so if it''s destroyed, we''ll die for real. Although the Mother Stream System is very mysterious and powerful, less than a handful of people would actually choose it. In my opinion, if you haven''t gotten too deep into it yet, you can choose another type of system." Garen could tell that this advise came straight from her heart.


    "It''s okay, I''m already used to it anyway, and now I''ve even condensed a Soul Seed. I''m already halfway down this path, there''s no reason for me to squander all my past efforts," said Garen with a shrug. He had based everything he learned on the Ancient Endor Civilization, and he really would not be used to it if he changed paths now.


    "You already condensed one? Then that''s not too bad, although I don''t exactly know what Soul Seeds actually do, there should be something special about them. It''s just that the Mother Stream System takes too long, so don''t think of obtaining any decent powers for at least ten thousand years, hang in there." Nine-Tailed Fox nodded. "Sigh¡­" She stretched, revealing glimpses of her jade-white abdomen.


    "Alright, Little Brother, your Big Sis wants to go back and sleep." She waved her fingers, and conjured a black card as though by magic. "This is my name card, it''s my private number, y''know¡­ If you ever have the need, just come find Big Sis and I''ll help you get it out of your system!" she said by Garen''s ear softly, bending over.


    The card was quietly slipped into Garen''s shirt pocket.


    "Sure, don''t mind if I do." Garen had no intention of declining, this Nine-Tailed Fox in front of him was more than six thousand years old, and would have more knowledge than an encyclopedia.


    Accepting the card, he smiled at her.


    "If I encounter any problems, could I ask you for help, Big Sis? I might need your help with some things soon. I''ve been swept into this world''s Plot, and things could get very troublesome if I''m not careful."


    "No problem, as long as it''s not the Slayer, I''ll be sure to cover for you! Relax, my little brother!" Nine-Tailed Fox got up, and patted down her short skirt. "Alright, I really gotta go."


    "Thanks, Big Sis," said Garen with a smile.


    "If you''re already calling me your sister, why do you have to be so polite? You look just like me from back then, alone, constantly wary. You poor child¡­" Nine-Tailed Fox bent over, and touched Garen''s face lightly.


    "Be careful, only a very select few unnatural powers work here in this world, so if you ever see a gun, just get away from it as soon as you can."


    She got up and walked out of the restaurant, swaying her hips elegantly. After greeting a few of the remaining people, she left for real.


    Garen got up as well, bidding Panpan goodbye.


    "Wait a sec, Ah Xue left this for you." Panpan handed him a small item, it was a round silver button.


    "What''s this?" Garen turned it over in his hands, confused.


    "It''s a Lighthouse communication device, using the latest projection technology, it can connect directly to Lighthouse''s main server. You can accept Quests to earn Contribution Points there, or you could upload Quests to hire powerhouse, or you could even use it to buy items. You keep it yourself, it can only be used after verifying our unique soul attribute. Others would only think it''s a regular button," Panpan explained.


    "Got it. Thanks." Garen nodded. He recalled that Kong Xinxue had left in a huff earlier, but to think she had still remembered to arrange all this for him. In his heart, his impression of her improved somewhat.


    ******************


    Leaving the restaurant gathering, Garen soon reached home, and greeted Kong Yuan in a hurry. Kong Xinxue had already fallen asleep.


    After Garen quickly cleaned up and brushed his teeth on his own, he entered his own room, and started to investigate that Lighthouse communication device.


    Turning on the table lamp with a smack, he adjusted its brightness, and then Garen pressed down lightly on the silver button.


    Psst¡­


    A silver light flashed across the surface of the button.


    ''Soul Verification complete, system activation conditions met.'' A melodious female voice spoke in Garen''s head. The words were not spoken in any language, but seemed instead to be converted straight into brainwaves.

 1170 Curtains Rising 2

    Curtains Rising 2


    ''System verified as first-time activation, please input username vocally, and the system will automatically encrypt your soul attribute as the password, no manual settings required.''


    "That''s some high-tech stuff!" Garen clicked his tongue appreciatively. Of all the many civilizations that he had experienced, the Mech World was the most technologically advanced. But this thing before him left that world in the dust. Evidently, there would always be something out there that was better.


    "For the username, let''s go with Greatsaber," said Garen offhandedly.


    ''Username confirmed, Greatsaber is already taken, please re-enter a username.''


    "It''s already taken..." Garen touched his chin. "Then use Scarlet Snow."


    ''Scarlet Snow is already taken, please re-enter."


    "Scarlet Snow Greatsaber!"


    ''Sorry, this username is taken¡­''


    "Blood Splatter Greatsaber!"


    ''Sorry, this username is taken¡­''


    "Saber King!"


    ''Sorry, this username is taken¡­''


    "Saber God!"


    ''Sorry, this username is taken¡­''


    "Saber Saint!" Garen was getting exasperated.


    ''Sorry, this username is taken¡­''


    "Saber''s all taken, then use Sword!"


    "Saber''s All Taken, this username is available."


    "..."


    Garen was beginning to doubt this system.


    ''Confirm username, ''Saber''s All Taken''?"


    "Confirm." He could not be bothered to waste more time on this.


    Whoosh.


    The silver button in front of him immediately projected a pyramidal 3D image.


    The white image spun once, slowly, and a black lighthouse logo appeared in the middle of it.


    ''Welcome to the Lighthouse System''


    A row of words appeared in the very middle of the image, and they were actually written in the local language.


    Immediately after that, a white screen that looked like a forum popped up.


    It began with Trading Zone on the very top, followed by Quest Zone, Information Zone, and finally News Zone at the bottom. Four in total.


    At the bottom right corner, by his personal account, there was an indicator stating his Contribution Points: 0.


    Garen immediately pressed Quest Zone, and found two more options inside, Accept Quest or Submit Quest. He pressed Accept Quest, and was instantly hit by a barrage of information.


    ''Forming a team to farm Little Hell Demons, price negotiable.''


    ''Sunrise Celestial Technique World: Middle-ranking disciple from the Celestial Sect urgently requires Ultimate Yin ingredient in order to create an instrument, those in possession of any please mmm¡­''


    "A regular martial artist from the Martial Arts World is hiring powerhouses to challenge dojos, the fee is one hundred points a day.''


    ''''High altitude exploration quest: ruins discovered in this world, looking for someone to undo magical formation, price negotiable.''


    ¡­


    Garen was a little overwhelmed by the long list of various quests, it looked like there were all sorts of quests from all sorts of worlds.


    At the bottom, there were even quests asking for someone to bake a cake, ferment some wine, or plant something. There really was something for everyone.


    He pressed one, and saw that it also contained the world''s weakening degree.


    Garen tapped the explanation, and instantly understood.


    "Meaning this is how much each world reduces the visiting Transmigrator''s powers? Minus one means you''ll be one level weaker, minus two means two levels."


    He quickly entered the Four Cornerstones World into the search bar, but it came up with no results. He did, however, see the information of this world in the user bar.


    ''Weakening degree of current world: -12 (all levels reduced by 12 levels, minimum level Mortal, Level Zero.)''


    "...Tsk-tsk, twelve levels, no wonder it''s so crazy here, such an oppression is just downright nuts." Garen bet that Kong Xinxue and crew''s wish to hire a powerhouse would go up in smoke, what kind of a powerhouse could withstand that twelve-level reduction and still manage to fight that so-called indestructible Slayer?


    Even the six-thousand-year-old faerie, Nine-Tailed Fox, had been weakened so far as to become a regular person, what was more anyone else.


    Garen did not consider himself in the equation, because people from the Ancient Endor Mother Stream System had to discard their previous powers and leave with only their souls, so they were forced to start over from scratch every time. That was completely normal to him.


    But it was different for the other power systems.


    Closing the Quest tab, he pressed the News tab next.


    ''Demon World Information Exchange'', ''Xianxia World Information Exchange'', ''Martial Arts World Information Exchange'', ''Wilderness World Information Exchange'', ''Latest Updates on World Changes''


    ''Encyclopedia of Forbidden and Dangerous Areas''.


    There was a ton of information along those lines, all crammed in there.


    Garen just browsed through them briefly.


    There was also a page for asking questions and requesting help in the News tab.


    Garen pressed it, and found a chatroom space. There were people chatting in there, but they seemed to be reaching the end of their conversation.


    "Thanks for your help, Silly Bear, I feel a lot better now. No matter how hard the going gets, I''m still a Transmigrator, so I gotta still make something of myself!" -- typed the user called Carlos.


    "Just try your best! Good luck!" -- Silly Bear replied encouragingly.


    "Help requested: I''ve been reincarnated as a sprig of grass in the middle of the road, and now I get run over every day, what do I do?" -- Lil'' Grass.


    "..." -- Silly Bear.


    "You get used to it once you get run over enough times¡­ My condolences." -- Flying Divine Wings.


    "Help requested: My mom was killed! My dad''s still outstation, I have a hoe and two water buckets, and I plan to fight them to the death, anyone got any good suggestions?" -- Whole Family Died.


    "...Do you know martial arts?" -- Silly Bear


    "No, I just possessed this idiot kid''s body this morning, and in the afternoon¡­" -- Whole Family Died.


    "...It''s a low martial arts world, huh¡­ It''s okay, it''ll just hurt for a while. As long as your soul is unharmed¡­" -- Gothra Number 1.


    "....." -- Whole Family Died.


    "Excuse me, anyone here knows how to make beans sprout?" -- Beanie.


    "You wanna grow bean sprouts?" -- Silly Bear.


    "Nah, I just accepted a quest, it''s a compulsory advancement quest from the academy''s teacher, every one of us has to germinate a hundred buckets of bean sprouts within twenty days¡­ The teacher said that if a Sorcerer can''t even make bean sprouts, they might as well go die!" -- Beanie.


    "What the heck does bean sprouting have to do with sorcerers!" -- Silly Bear.


    "Yours sure is weird¡­" -- Apollo.


    "No one would come here asking if it was a regular quest that wasn''t weird... C''mon, help me out, I''m dying here!" -- Beanie.


    Garen laughed as he read, compared to these tragic Transmigrators, he suddenly felt that his own adventures were perfectly great. His mood was a lot lighter, and more importantly, he no longer felt as though he was always the only one fighting, the only one moving forward. This sort of feeling gave him a true sense of belonging, and of acknowledgment.


    Soon enough, another question popped up.


    "Help requested: I have Human-Level martial power, how do I defeat a Fire Demon unharmed?" -- Snow Mountain


    "Who do you think you are, Ximen Chuixue!? If I can do it unharmed, why would I still be here? The heart core of a Fire Demon is worth two hundred Contribution Points per pop, why wouldn''t I be out there earning it for myself?" -- Kadaj


    "My wife cheated on me, my brothers teamed up to summon a Fire Demon to off me, and they''re supported by the High-Speed Life Halo and Holy Prayer Light up there that my parents just cast. C''mon, guys, help me." -- Snow Mountain


    "...Just how bad do you have it, your wife brothers and parents are all working together to get you!" -- Kadaj


    "I can''t help it, issa long story." -- Snow Mountain


    "Hire someone." -- Silly Bear


    "Excuse me, do I add soy sauce when frying tomatoes?" -- Cooking God.


    "..." -- Kadaj


    "..." -- Snow Mountain


    Garen laughed as he continued reading, constantly refreshing the chat history and the help requests since he had nothing better to do.


    ********************


    Since he found out about Lighthouse, Garen''s mood has been getting even lighter. Whenever he had free time, he would constantly go through the news, information, and quests on the forums. Most of the quests required leaving this world and heading to another, and the transmigration process costs a fee in Contribution Points. The points needed to enter different worlds varied as well.


    So now he still did not have points to let him transmigrate to other worlds, and besides, this world might still have that Soul Energy he was interested in. That was why he had no plans to leave for now.


    But even so, he had managed to drastically widen his horizons.


    He also knew now that other than the Mother Stream System, there were actually so many more different systems. Each of these systems started from the basics and moved on to the higher level studies, but of course they all required uniform Contribution Points.


    Garen also set up a martial arts teaching course there, in which he explained some basic and common tips for martial arts. It was very useful for some rookie Transmigrators.


    And before he knew it, his physical fitness had increased as well. The nourishment of the Soul Energy and the way his Saber Art trained his internal organs meant that he was soon at this body''s current limit. Plus, his Soul Limit had long since been increased to an average of fifty thanks to his Soul Seed, so even after he achieved the physical limits of the human body in this world, Garen''s physical fitness did not stop increasing. Instead, it continued to surge upward.


    The days passed one by one, and Garen felt unprecedentedly fascinated and relaxed. His nerves, pulled taut over the past few worlds, also began to loosen up somewhat.


    In these days of meaningless rest and relaxation, he also discovered, to his surprise, that the rate of his Soul Energy production was slowly starting to increase. The Soul Energy in his Soul Ring increased in speed and volume. It was clearly a result of the holistic work-play, yin-yang balance he had achieved.


    And before he knew it, the thing that those Transmigrators called the Plot of this world, that which Garen had once called the fate of the general trend, finally started to move again.


    *******************


    In a small, dark alley in Lily of the Valley.


    Silver Chain wore a black coat, a mask, and a cap, hiding his face completely as he sat beside the trash cans all alone.


    The cries of the wild cats and dogs rose and fell in the night, and only a few passersby walked past the entrance of the alley in the distance. Other than that, there were no other noises.


    These were Lily of the Valley''s slum areas, and almost no one dared to just wander around the streets at night, because these streets were far from safe.


    "Silver Chain." A tall and slender blue-haired woman abruptly appeared at the alley entrance, staring coldly at Silver Chain, who was sitting on the floor.


    Her hair was tied into a tall ponytail, her long hair tied into a bunch that cascaded down the back of her head. She wore blue pearl earrings, her long and narrow blue eyes giving off a contemptuous, arrogant air.


    Tap.


    The woman took one step forward. She wore a skintight, dark blue pants-suit, her tall black heels stepping down hard on the cement floor, clicking loudly.


    "It''s you¡­" Silver Chain''s voice was hoarse, as he tilted his head to glance at the newcomer.


    "You disobeyed my orders," said the woman coldly. "You even killed the person sent to watch and warn you, so surely you must know what the consequences will be."


    "You wanna kill me?" Silver Chain stood up without a single hint of emotion. "I''ve been modified, do you really think you can still beat me?!"


    "Of course, I won''t be the only one." The woman''s smile was ice-cold.


    Tap¡­ tap¡­ tap...


    More footsteps came from behind Silver Chain.


    He turned around, but he saw who had arrived, his pupils dilated abruptly.TN: lit. celestial hero, a genre of novels derived from the more traditional wuxia with many elements from Buddhist and Taoist mythologyTN: a powerful swordsman character from a wuxia novel, the Lu Xiaofeng series. Known as the ''God of Blade'', he is referenced here because the last character in his name, ''xue'', matches up to the ''snow'' in Snow Mountain''s username''

 1171 Assistance 1

    The next day


    There was a large group of people surrounding the alleyway, and amidst the buzz of discussion, several police cars stopped at the entrance, pulling up the yellow police line.


    A dozen or so cops were crouching down in the alley, apparently measuring something. There was also someone dialing a number on their phone.


    Yuria was walking home with some of his classmates, chatting happily as they went. The setting sun shone down on them, turning the ground into a field of pale gold.


    "What''s up over there?" One of his classmates saw the crowd over there, and asked curiously.


    "I saw a police car, did something happen?" another student guessed.


    "Let''s go find out." Yuria was also constantly curious about everything, so he squeezed through the crowd with his two classmates, poking their heads inside.


    From a distance, Yuria could already see the body on the ground. The corpse was facing him, and it seemed that many chunks had been taken out of his body.


    But the moment he saw that face, Yuria instantly froze. It was as though he had been hit straight in the head by a bolt of lightning.


    For a moment there, he could not hear or see anything. The only thing that entered his eyes was the face of that man on the ground.


    "That''s¡­ Silver Chain!"


    That voice abruptly echoed in his head.


    "Who killed him!?" The question kept bouncing around in his brain. The first time, he had beaten Silver Chain, but could not bring himself to kill his opponent.


    The second time, he let Silver Chain go again.


    But the third time, if it were not for the fact that Head Minister Kong Xiaofei just happened to be passing by, they might seriously have been in danger.


    Everyone had clearly seen just how powerful Silver Chain was back then, so who could be strong enough to kill him?! And what faction could have sent out a strong killing machine like Silver Chain?


    Back then, why did someone order Silver Chain to obey orders and leave immediately? He had won back there, and just a second would have been enough for him to kill the two of them. At such a crucial moment, he suddenly received orders to retreat, which meant that the other party did not seriously intend to kill them.


    All these questions and suspicions took over Yuria''s brain. He could not even hear his classmates yelling his name beside him.


    "I need to tell my sister about this ASAP!!"


    He whipped out his phone, and rang his younger sister''s number.


    Just then, he felt that familiar sensation again, it was as though he was being watched. He turned around abruptly, and just managed to glimpse the corner of some black clothes.


    "So there really is someone following me?!" His scalp went numb, and he hurriedly dialed that number.


    The call went through almost instantly.


    "Hello? Brother? What''s up?" The instant Yurijie''s voice came in through the phone, Yuria released the breath he did not know he had been holding.


    "Things might be getting troublesome here on my side¡­" he said softly as he distanced himself from his two classmates, lest they heard something they were not supposed to.


    "Is it that gang again? Vulture?" His younger sister, Yurijie, immediately caught on. "Bro, where are you?!" Her voice grew frantic.


    "I''m on the way home. The guy we met last time, Silver Chain? He''s dead." As Yuria''s voice reached the other end, Yurijie''s breathing grew audibly heavier.


    "Then what should we do?!" The two of them were just normal students, their encounter with Silver Chain had already been strange and frightening to them. After that, they heard about the organization called Vulture, and the shadow of trauma in their hearts grew. If it were not for the fact that they still retained some of those mysterious skills from their childhood, the siblings probably would not have been able to stay as calm as they did. Regular people would have long since gone to the police.


    Of course, it was not as though the two of them had never reported it to the police. The result was completely predictable, in that the uncles at the police station did not believe anything they said at all, hearing out their testimony as though listening to a story. If they continued on about it, they would probably have been treated as schizophrenics.


    "What the heck do they want!?" Yuria''s expression grew anxious. "They could be watching over our every move, even now, because I feel like someone''s following me again. Damn this all!"


    "I''ll go get Cousin Lincoln!"


    "It''s no use! Cousin Lincoln doesn''t know anything, we''ll just drag him into this mess for nothing!" Yuria said quickly. "Mom''s still overseas, so she should be safe. The ones in trouble are the two of us!"


    "So what should we do?" Yurijie was starting to panic as well.


    "We need help!" Yuria quickly calmed down. "The enemy could kill off Silver Chain, which makes them way out of our league. That''s why we need to find someone who can truly help us!"


    "You mean--!?" Yurijie suddenly thought of someone.


    "Although I don''t want to do this, we have no other choice," said Yuria helplessly.


    ************************


    Nighttime--


    Kong Family Villa


    "And that''s why you two are here now?" Garen sat in his seat, picking up a cup of green tea and blowing on it gently.


    "My sincerest apologies. Head Minister!" Yuria and Yurijie hung their heads in shame. "We¡­ just could not think of anyone else who could help us¡­ We never wanted to cause you any trouble!"


    Garen shook his head and did not deny it.


    "A powerhouse, huh¡­ and one that could kill off that Cyborg, too. That would indeed be very troubling. Don''t tell me you guys blindly believed that I could take on such a terrifying peak-level powerhouse all on my own, did you?" Garen retorted. "At the end of the day, I''m just a normal person with decent training in my Saber Art. If you''re facing a psychopath or something, shouldn''t you go to the cops?"


    "A normal person¡­" The siblings'' features twisted slightly. You''re calling yourself a normal person even after you chased away Silver Chain, who could massacre a small-sized mercenary army by himself? If Garen was a normal person, then no one on this planet was normal anymore.


    "So what, do you two plan to hide out here at my place forever?" Garen sipped his tea and looked at the two in front of him, especially Yuria. This was the guy known as the Savior, but even though he was one of the Four Cornerstones, Garen could not sense any Soul Energy Aura from him at all.


    "..."


    "..."


    The two of them were rendered speechless, they could not just come out and say that they wanted him to join them in facing that powerhouse, could they? It was not right to just ask someone else to risk their lives by getting involved in something as dangerous as this case. This had nothing to do with Garen anyway, and the assistance he had given them before this was already more than enough.


    All of a sudden, an awkward silence fell over the room. The two of them were too shy to actually ask for help, while Garen was completely at peace and unwilling to talk.


    Both sides stayed quiet.


    Tick tick tick tick¡­ The clock on the wall kept ticking on. Time passed slowly.


    **********************


    On top of a distant tower, under the cover of the night, several people dressed completely in black were expertly propping a sniper rifle against the sides of the roof.


    One of them brought his eyes to the gun and looked down through the sight. Through the crosshairs, he could clearly see Garen and the siblings chatting past the glass window, absorbing every detail with unnatural ease.


    Garen was dressed in white, while the siblings wore T-shirts and jeans. There was a sharp contrast between the cleanliness of one and the sloppiness of the other.


    "Test his powers, and see if he deserves to join Vulture," said one of the people in black coldly. "Ignore the other two for now."


    "We''re not a club that any Tom, Dick, or Harry can join as they please," laughed another coldly. "If it doesn''t work out, kill him. Scum who try to join us without the powers to match should just go die."


    "Are you guys sure?" asked the person behind the rifle in a deep voice.


    "Of course." x2


    The other two replied in unison. They seemed to be twins, even their voices were the same.


    "Then I''ll be executing my orders." The person propping up the gun starting to load the ammo.


    **********************


    Garen sat in his seat, slowly drinking his tea.


    "Don''t you think that your actions will cause me and my family a lot of problems?" he said straight-facedly. "Although I don''t quite believe what you''re saying, I can''t deny that the monster from last time remains fresh in my mind, reminding me that everything might just be as you say."


    "Sorry¡­" said Yuria guiltily. "I''m guessing that the other side does not really plan to kill us, it''s more like they''re testing us. But last time Silver Chain nearly disobeyed them, that''s why he was killed this time. That''s most likely how it happened."


    "What my brother means to say is that we don''t really know what they''re after, but they don''t plan to kill anyone. Maybe they don''t have the guts to go against the laws of reality face-on¡­ I think¡­" Yurijie hazarded a guess.


    "That''s just a lie for the little kids, and you''re buying it?" Garen shook his head with a laugh. "Are you saying that the person who could kill Silver Chain would not dare to kill two regular high school students?"


    The two of them exchanged helpless glances and had nothing else to say. It was true, that was clearly illogical.


    "I think your best option would be to report it to the cops," Garen reminded them. "No matter what, since they''ve chosen to hide in the dark, that means they don''t want to be paraded around in the light. The more reluctant they are to be exposed, the more we stay in populated areas. That way, wouldn''t that stop them from making their move?"


    "You have a point!" Yuria''s eyes lit up, and he instantly perked up. Immediately, something occurred to him. "But Head Minister, why aren''t you ever scared? You even look a little bored, and very calm. Isn''t it normal for regular people to freak out in the face of something like this?" His gaze on Garen was instantly curious.


    "That''s private and confidential, unfortunately. You just need to know that I''ve experienced something similar before." Garen smiled. Suddenly, his pupils moved slightly, as though he had sensed something.


    "You guys should leave now." He made it very clear that they had outstayed their welcome.


    The siblings both sighed helplessly.


    "Thank you very much for your guidance." As the older brother, Yuria stood up and led with a bow.


    "No problem, and don''t worry. We''ll get to the bottom of this eventually, and then your life will go back to normal," Garen comforted them.


    "Sigh¡­ Hopefully." The two of them bid him farewell and left the villa.


    They walked down the nighttime streets slowly, clearly rather down in the dumps. They had anticipated that Garen might not accept them under his wing, because no one would go to such lengths only to invite trouble for themselves. This was completely natural, even if Garen did seem extremely powerful.


    "What do we do now?" asked the younger sister, Yurijie, depressed.


    "It doesn''t matter what their goal is, we''ll find out everything eventually." Yuria sighed. "All we can do now is--" Bam!!!


    All of a sudden, there was the sound of glass shattering behind them.


    The two of them exchanged a glance, and instantly realized that the sound had come from the Kong Family Villa behind them.


    "It''s the Head Minister! Something''s gone wrong!!!"


    Yuria turned around, pulled his sister''s hand, and ran back the way they had come.

 1172 Assistance 2

    There were shards of glass all over the living room.


    Garen stared coldly at the gunshot hole in the floor, and felt an inexplicable rage rise in his chest.


    "I never bothered you guys, but you''ve come knocking on my door instead¡­?" His voice was deep and low as he looked at the direction the shot had come from.


    Whoosh!


    He instantly transformed into a wisp of white smoke, floating out of the living room. He dashed out through the hole in the glass, and aimed straight for the top of the tower.


    Not long later, Yuria returned to the villa gates, his heart heavy, and was just in time to see Garen shoot out, heading toward the distance.


    "I''ll follow him, you catch up later, Sis!" Yuria was the faster one of the two, so he quickly allocated their roles and then gave chase.


    *******************


    "He''s coming." On the tower, the man who had shot off that round stood up. "He''s pretty good at dodging gunshots, you guys might be in for some trouble."


    "It''s fine, this is the best chance for us to see if he deserves to become one of us. Hehe, it''s not that easy to get into Vulture!" Someone laughed coldly.


    "Whatever. Those two kids are coming too, I''m off to complete my quest." The shooter dismantled the sniper rifle with a familiar touch, and then placed the parts into a black box. He sealed and lifted the box, walking toward the only stairway that allowed descent from the roof. Soon, he vanished into the darkness.


    Only the twins remained standing on the roof of the tower, patiently awaiting Garen''s arrival.


    Time passed slowly¡­


    But soon enough.


    Bam!!


    There was a dull thud, and the metal door at the entrance was kicked open. It flew off and spun toward the floor nearby, clanging and rolling a few times before it finally settled down.


    A white figure walked out from the stairway entrance slowly.


    It was Garen, his expression as calm as a lake.


    "Which one of you ambushed me?" His voice was very even, but there was a hint of impatience.


    "It was all of us." One of the twins smiled strangely.


    "If you got the balls for it, come at us," the other one chuckled.


    "You''re the one who said it!"


    Garen did not waste any more time talking. Pulling out his long sword with a clang, he allowed the blade to reflect a clear arc of pure white light in the dark night.


    Whoosh!!


    A line of bright light instantly lit up in the gap between Garen and the twins, the silver light so bright it was almost blinding.


    "Spider!"


    The twins stretched out their right arms at the same time, pointing at Garen.


    Whoomph!


    In the blink of an eye, their arms burst open like a bouquet of blossoming flowers. Their entire arm was dismantled, forming a forest of spider-like sharp metal blades. The black blades gathered like so many Metal Flowers, unnaturally sharp and cold.


    And just as Garen''s silver-white Saber Light lit up, the two Metal Flowers also exploded at the same time. The blades shot out in every direction.


    Psst-psst-psst¡­


    The many metal blades instantly burst forth, like an instrument that had been pressed against a coiled spring.


    Garen''s silver-white Saber Light crashed into the black Metal Flowers.


    Clang!!


    There was the sharp sound of metal against metal.


    The Saber Light took a turn and shot forward once more. It wove around the Metal Flowers and headed toward the man on the left, aiming for his waist.


    "Interesting!" The twins laughed, and gently adjusted their Metal Flowers. With a whooshing sound, a long blade appeared from within the Flowers, perfectly positioned to stand in the blade''s way.


    Garen''s Saber Light changed trajectory again, and the Metal Flowers continued to move as he did. The speed of their movement was faster than the rate Garen changed the direction of his attack. After all, Garen had to move his whole body, and they just needed to wave their arms slightly.


    "It''s useless," said one of the twins with a smile. "Our Spider Arms are the strongest form of local machinization. These are equipped with extremely powerful supermagnetism, you can tell that they''re attracting your saber even as we speak, right?"


    "That''s right," said the other twin cockily. "No matter how strong your Saber Art is, you''re still nothing without a metallic weapon, and our magnetism inhibits your metallic weapons. It''s useless¡­"


    With a whoosh, the silver Saber Light finally stopped. Garen looked at his opponents, frowning slightly.


    Every time his blade was about to reach the enemy, it would be blocked by that powerful magnetic force. That power interfered with his originally perfect blade trajectory, causing it to lose its mark. That way, his Saber Art would naturally be stopped. This was also one of his Saber Art''s flaws, it put too much importance in perfect accuracy, and that ended up becoming one of its weaknesses.


    "Since metallic weapons are useless¡­" He tossed away his steel katana, and pulled out the other weapon he always carried around with him, the wooden sword at his waist.


    "A wooden sword?!" One of the twins widened his eyes. "Are you kidding me? Is there something wrong with your head?! Or do you really think that a wooden saber can cut through the Spider''s defenses?!"


    "Hahahaha¡­!!! This is killing me! You dare use a wooden saber, the most primitive of trash weapons, to face the Spider!!" The other started roaring with laughter.


    But Garen ignored them completely. According to the Plot, everyone from Vulture was completely off their rockers. They had been modified until they were neither man nor monster, and they had lost all of their humanity, becoming instead violent, rash, mindless murderers.


    Trying to talk to people like them was merely a waste of breath.


    Earlier, he had only used his pure, basic Saber Arts in their simplest form, and it seemed as though his weapon was inhibited by the enemy''s magnetism, so he could not achieve anything with it.


    But it was fine, he just needed to change his saber. He had prepared in advance for this, too, and brought a wooden saber with him.


    Gripping the wooden weapon tightly, Garen immersed himself once more into the world of Saber Art, and strolled leisurely toward the two of them.


    "I''ll finish him." One of the twins stepped out first, his smile twisted.


    He raised his hand, a hint of cruel killing intent flashing through his eyes.


    "Spider!"


    Bam!!


    His arm burst open again, and the Metal Flower that had already been in full bloom actually expanded again, growing until it was more than a meter long. It was as though he carried a large bush of black grass on his arm, with a forest of actual blades that shot out in all directions.


    Just like that, he waved his arm, swinging it at Garen nimbly and quickly.


    "I''ll find a path in." Garen''s Saber Light flashed, and as he dodged the sharp blades, the agile wooden saber carved out a path with many twists and turns, threading through the gaps between all the blades. "An unobstructed path!"


    Psst!


    The wooden saber stabbed one of the twins right in his heart.


    The twins were both stunned, and Yuria, who had just arrived on the scene in time to see it happen, was also stunned.


    A cold breeze blew past them, making their clothes flap in the wind.


    "Ha! Hahaha!!" The twin who was stabbed suddenly started laughing madly. "It''s no use! A wooden saber is still a wooden saber! So what if you got me!?"


    He tore a chunk of his clothes off the area he was stabbed, and revealed the metal vest that he wore on his chest, directly above his heart.


    "See that! This is the latest stab-resistant armor! It doesn''t matter even if you stab me with that wooden saber until it breaks!" The twin roared with laughter.


    Garen pulled back his wooden sword, slightly frustrated.


    Whoosh!


    His figure vanished for a moment, because he had leaped backward. The Metal Flower that swept at him suddenly missed completely.


    Garen landed steadily on the floor with a thud, and glanced at the tip of his wooden sword. There was already some clear signs of wear and tear.


    "Now this is troubling¡­ I never thought I''d encounter interference like this." He knew his own condition best. Right now, his physical attributes were at an average of just over two points, meaning it was about twice that of normal adults. Although that seemed strong, the enemy was far more powerful than him in terms of physical fitness. People who have been modified were usually at least four times as strong as a regular person, and they would also have fortified many of the body''s natural weak points. He was not surprised at all to see that the wooden saber appeared to have no effect.


    Swinging his wooden saber helplessly, Garen watched as the two approached him, and released a long breath.


    "Looks like I gotta take this seriously now." He swung his saber somewhat grumpily.


    "Take this seriously? You''re quite the braggart, aren''t you!" one of the twins said loudly. "I''ve got a reinforced metal membrane covering me from head to toe, why don''t you just try to penetrate it? And with a wooden sword? What do you think you are, a Sword Master from ancient times?!!"


    Garen looked at the two men in front of him. If they didn''t ask for it, they wouldn''t get what was coming to them. So why was it so hard for them to understand that?


    Annoyed, he kept those thoughts to himself and raised his wooden saber, walking straight toward the two of them.


    "There are realms in Saber Art as well."


    "Spider!!" The two voices rang out in unison.


    Amidst the renewed explosion and expansion of the two blade bushes, a light brown line twisted and turned, weaving through the forest of blades. There were two faint pops.


    Garen had instantly swapped places with the twins, as though through teleportation.


    "It''s over." Garen turned around and looked at the two of them.


    It was as though the two of them had frozen into motionless statues.


    "You-- How did--?" one of the twins spoke. His pupils had widened, his breath speeding up, as though he was feeling an intense agony.


    Garen''s reply was a pitying gaze.


    "Sorry, this is just the most basic Penetration Force, it''s nowhere near as fancy as you think it is¡­"


    "Then you-- you just said-- that--!!" What he got in response was the twins'' glare, gone mad from their unwillingness to just let it end like that.


    "But don''t you think it looks cool to do that before unleashing an ultimate skill?" Garen walked around them, and then pushed their backs lightly.


    Bang bang!


    The two of them fell to the ground and revealed Yuria and Yurijie, standing in the stairway with absolute worship in their eyes.


    "Let''s go, we''ll let the police deal with this. These two won''t be moving for a couple of hours," Garen said offhandedly as he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. He considered it for a moment, and turned his gaze toward the siblings.


    "What are you looking at? Go on, call the cops!" He yawned. "I''m going back to sleep now."


    "Big Bro!!!" Yuria dashed at him, hugging his leg. "Please, take me in!! Cooking, cleaning, I can do it all!!!"


    "Me too!!" Yurijie also pounced onto Garen''s other leg.


    "Don''t do that, what if someone sees us? It''s not good for the mood around here," said Garen exasperatedly. He shook his leg, but could not shake them off.


    Yuria and Yurijie''s mood had also relaxed considerably compared to how tense they were before. This time, they had witnessed Garen take down two of the men in black from Vulture with their very own eyes, so they were in a good enough mood to joke around.


    After some goofing around, not one out of the three mentioned calling the police again. It was not yet time to go into open war with Vulture, so they decided to just ignore the twins on the roof and go straight home instead.


    Putting aside what Garen explained to Kong Yuan and Kong Xinxue, this incident was enough to make it so that the siblings now had absolute faith in Garen. Every day, they asked for his guidance and practiced their Saber Art seriously and diligently. They were almost religiously dedicated to it. With this, they had successfully become loyal admirers of Garen''s Saber Art, but naturally, the truth was they had become Garen''s most faithful dogs.


    The other members of the Unrestricted Combat Department were fully aware of this change, and it only served to further heighten their passion for learning. Even if Garen was not around for the daily routine training, they would not slack off in the slightest as long as Yuria and Yurijie were there. Even the previous Head Minister was impressed.TN: the ''local'' here means for a specific part of the body only, such as in local anesthesia, and not that the mechanization was done locally

 1173 Watching the Battle 1

    Kong Family Villa


    Garen sat next to Kong Xinxue on the sofa, surfing through the television channels disinterestedly. He did not turn on the sound, however, and just kept on switching channels aimlessly.


    "You jumped into it so quickly? The rhythm of the Plot, I mean?" Kong Xinxue wore white silk socks, her legs pressed together as she sat on the sofa, a dark green student dress obscuring her thighs. Although her eyes were trained on the television, her attention was clearly on Garen.


    "They were the ones who came to me first, it''s not like I could have just chased them away, right?" said Garen nonchalantly. "Besides, if we follow the Plot you guys gave me, it''s not as though you and I don''t know what Vulture''s aim is."


    "True. It''s just that this way, you have no choice but to enter their line of sight ahead of time. You sure you can deal with them?" Kong Xinxue frowned.


    "I can probably handle the first five, but I''ve never met the last two or Slayer, so I don''t know about them," said Garen simply.


    "You sure? Just so you know, I can barely protect myself, all I know are some basic martial arts. They''re fine for dealing with regular people, but they''re nothing in the face of those half-machinized monsters." Kong Xinxue sighed. "Hey." She poked Garen with her foot.


    "When the time comes, you better protect me."


    "Don''t you have Yuria and the rest?" Garen did not take that to heart at all.


    "Savior is still just a rookie, I''d be better off putting my trust in you over them. Just be honest! Will you or won''t you!?" said Kong Xinxue unhappily. "Although the Plot says that I''ll just end up kidnapped, and nothing worse than that will happen, this feeling still sucks. I don''t like placing my safety in the hands of those green-horned brats."


    "If you already know that everything will turn out nicely in the end, why did you come to me anyway?" Garen was exasperated.


    "Are you a man or not!" Kong Xinxue used every woman''s favorite killer move.


    "No." Garen averted his gaze. "I''m a boy."


    "Don''t try to be smart with me! Just tell me straight, will you or won''t you!" Kong Xinxue was annoyed now. "If you won''t, I''ll go look for Nine-Tailed Fox and the rest! Although I don''t like her, she''s still my friend, and I''m sure she''ll help me with such a trivial matter."


    "Fine, fine¡­" Garen turned his face around. "But you have to promise that you won''t stray further than twenty meters away from me, or else I can''t guarantee that you won''t be dragged away."


    "Relax." Kong Xinxue silently heaved a sigh of relief. "I''ll move into your room tonight itself!"


    "..." By now Garen had already noticed that Kong Xinxue was actually a very well-disguised brother-lover. She looked stern and distant to outsiders, but when they were at home, she was particularly fond of getting touchy-feely with her own younger brother.


    "Forget it, no matter what, this body still belongs to your younger brother, it''s related to you by blood," said Garen helplessly.


    "Even if I sleep on your bed, would you dare touch me?" challenged Kong Xinxue. "I haven''t found any other man as utterly harmless to women as you, pretty sure you''re the only one."


    "Could you stop trying to rile me up all the time?" Garen was annoyed now, what did she mean by utterly harmless to women? This was an insult to his character that was already beginning to involve his views on life and personal sense of value. No man would be able to take that lying down.


    "Although reality is cruel, you can''t deny that it''s the truth." Kong Xinxue gave him another taunting look.


    "Then what kind of man do you think is potentially harmful?" Garen gave her a sideways look. "Someone like this?"


    Whoomph.


    He suddenly reached out his hand and caught Kong Xinxue''s perky breast precisely. His fingers sank deep into the flesh, his grip exceptionally steady.


    Kong Xinxue instantly flushed red. Her body immediately tensed up. Although she had been challenging Garen this whole time, she only ever treated it as a joke, a way to release stress. Ever since she realized that Garen liked to do things by the books, she had slowly begun to lower her guard around him. That was why it never occurred to her that he might make a move like that.


    But now, she looked down at the large hand on her chest. It had almost sunk completely inside, with nothing but the dark green school uniform standing between his hand and her skin.


    His fingers were even starting to pinch and knead shamelessly. Waves of soft numbness began to surge up from her chest.


    "You-- That''s enough!!!" She raised her hand abruptly, slapping Garen''s left cheek with all her force.


    Smack!


    Garen caught her upraised hand.


    "Alright, enough with the joking." Garen pulled his other hand away from her chest, and said lazily, "Looks like you''re all big talk, when in truth you''re still a virgin."


    "What do you mean, virgin!!" Kong Xinxue was instantly enraged. "You insolent brat, you don''t know how much more experience I have compared to you! Back when I was asexually reproducing, you were still in some cranny somewhere sucking on your pacifier!"


    Garen watched Kong Xinxue throw her tantrum lazily, and just kept nodding.


    "I know, I know¡­ I get it, you''re very experienced¡­"


    As he droned on, Kong Xinxue suddenly fell silent. She was all in a tizzy just a moment ago, but now she was unnaturally quiet.


    "What''s the matter?" Garen glanced at her, confused.


    Psst!!


    A glint of cold light flashed past his eyes, stabbing straight for his throat.


    "What are you doing!!" Garen was completely shocked, and quickly shirked backward, avoiding the cold light.


    "I''ll kill you!" Kong Xinxue was expressionless, pouncing at him with a pen in hand. The sharp tip of the pen kept aiming for Garen''s vital spots.


    Although this body of Garen''s was a lot stronger in physical fitness now, it was still a mortal''s body after all. It could not yet withstand the stab of a fountain pen, and it would definitely get injured if that pen scratched him.


    The two of them decided to wrestle it out on the couch.


    The final victory was overwhelming.


    Garen pinned down her waist and arms with one hand. Her back was pressed against him as she lay face-up on his body, and she could only struggle with her legs as he had managed to suppress the rest of her body with his immense power.


    "Let go of me!"


    "Stay still, why don''t you." Garen kept Kong Xinxue locked in place with one arm, and yawned.


    "Let go!!" Kong Xinxue was still putting up a struggle, but the result was clear to see. Garen''s strength was at least twice that of a normal adult man, and she had a snowball''s chance in hell in the face of such strength.


    "Struggle all you want, I''m gonna sleep for a bit." Garen closed his eyes, his head lolling to one side as he fell fast asleep. To him, Kong Xinxue''s struggling was like the resistance of a little rabbit. Even if she jabbed him a few times with the back of her hand, she could not exert her strength properly with her back against him, so he barely felt any pain at all.


    He decided to just treat her like a pet, embracing her with his other arms as well, applying some force to pin down her legs.


    "Alright, be good now, sleep, and don''t fuss." Garen fell right asleep. Way back when he was learning his secret techniques, he could already fall asleep standing and wake up in the exact same pose. A position like this was child''s play to him.


    He heard Kong Xinxue''s struggles grow softer and softer in volume. With the smell of her hormones and the fragrance of her long hair in his nostrils, Garen slowly drifted off into sleep.


    As for Kong Xinxue, she struggled for a long time before she realized exactly who had the absolute power here. She was tired, and with a boldness befitting someone who was single, she decided to just sleep there in Garen''s embrace. Curling up slightly, she also fell asleep.


    Thankfully, Kong Yuan had gone out for overtime, or else who knows how he would have broken down had he stumbled across this scene.


    The younger brother held his older sister on his lap, and they slept, wrapped up in each other''s arms. They were even closer and more intimate than some honeymoon couples.


    After sleeping for some time, Garen slowly stirred. He felt something sticky on his chest, and a heavy weight pressing against his body.


    He opened his eyes, and the first thing he saw was Kong Xinxue''s pretty fair face, just inches away from his own. And the second thing was¡­ a veritable waterfall of drool¡­


    There was a ton of it, almost an ocean''s worth, and it was still flowing down from the corners of Kong Xinxue''s mouth. It had flooded his T-shirt at the chest, and continued downward, drenching a large part of his jeans as well, such that his trousers stuck to Kong Xinxue''s own dress and white silk socks, turning them both translucent.


    The place where their bodies touched already felt as wet as sticky from the saliva.


    "Ugh¡­" Garen had not been intimate with a woman in many years, and now that he had a beauty in his arms, his blood was beginning to race. In his endless pursuit of even greater strength, he had always considered relations with the opposite sex an indulgence of the heart, and a waste of time. In order to make sure his determination did not falter, he never actively sought out anything of the sort.


    But if the food was already at his mouth, he did not mind eating it.


    For example, right now¡­


    Just as Garen was about to make his move, Kong Xinxue woke up as well.


    The way she awakened was slightly strange. Instead of opening her eyes slowly, her eyes just flew open in an instant. Her pupils were bleary at first, but they cleared quickly.


    "Now can you let go of me?" she said coldly. Her body felt all sticky and gross, she simply could not stand it.


    "Your dress is completely drenched."


    Garen was amused.


    "It''s my own fluids, nothing to do with you!" Kong Xinxue retorted, turning bright red, but she did not notice that her choice of words made things seem even more suggestive.


    "Alright, alright." Garen finally relaxed his grip on her.


    Kong Xinxue got up. Her dress and white silk were plastered together, pressed against her skin and revealing the exact curve of her bottom. She could clearly feel the hot, hard stick between Garen''s legs pressing against her dress, and instantly her face turned even redder.


    "That''s as far as this goes!" She covered her butt with her hands, turning around to face Garen. "If you ever dare mention what happened today to Nine-Tailed Fox, I''ll kill you!!" she said fiercely, but in Garen''s eyes, she looked just like a little bunny acting all coy.


    "Yes, yes¡­" Garen laughed.


    *******************


    Yuri family home


    Inside the large brown-red house, the door to the first-floor living hall was suddenly flung open.


    "I''m back, Mom!" Yuria''s black hair was refreshingly short, and he walked inside, dressed in white gym clothes. Removing the keys from the door, he tossed his bag onto the couch.


    "Mom?!"


    He yelled again.


    There was no response from the second floor.


    "Did she go out?"


    Yuria closed the door, and poured himself a cup of water from the dispenser, chugging it down. Once his thirst was satiated, he ran up the stairs to the second floor.


    "Mom?"


    He pushed open the door to his mother''s bedroom, and his pupils dilated abruptly.


    His mother''s orange-yellow room was a complete mess.


    The clothes from the wardrobe were strewn all over the place, her cosmetics scattered on the floor and on the bed. A large chunk of the curtains had been yanked down, and there was a huge hole in the middle of her window.


    There were also some white and yellow scratch marks on the ground, but he had no idea what left them.


    Yuria walked inside, his expression solemn. Avoiding the marks, he crouched down and began to examine them.


    "It does not look like a battle¡­ or even if it was, there wasn''t much of a fight. The ransacking came later. The footprints on the floor overlap the marks from before¡­"


    He deduced calmly.


    "There were probably two different groups of people."


    Although he was crazy with worry, he knew that it was no use panicking. He had to stay calm if he wanted to get to the bottom of this and find any clues!


    Pulling out his cellphone quickly, he dialed Yurijie''s number directly.


    Beep¡­ After just one ring, the call went through.


    "Brother?"


    "Mom''s missing." Yurijie did not mince any words, going straight to the point.

 1174 Watching the Battle

    "Mother¡­!" Yurijie''s breathing became heavy. "I''ll be back right away!!" She was participating in the Unrestricted Combat Department''s training exercise.


    After hanging up the call, only then did Yuria feel that he was being a little impatient. He should not have called his sister before thoroughly verifying it.


    He immediately called his mother''s working unit to inquire about the situation. He also called up the aunties who always hung out with his mother to ask more questions.


    But no one said that they had seen his mother.


    The hint of luck in his heart wore down with each telephone call. It was not until the last call that he was absolutely certain that his mother was indeed missing.


    "Vulture.....!" He put down his phone and his eyes expressed hatred for the first time.


    Whoosh¡­ Suddenly, a cool breeze blew up the curtains.


    The curtains rose and at the bottom of the edge of the covered window was a note of similar color to the window sill attached there.


    Yuria rushed over with a stride. He seemed to see new hope again. "Hopefully, it is the clue left by Mother!!" His heart was anticipating.


    Tearing off the note by the edge and reading it.


    ''Go to Zhaotong City and look for someone named Owl. He will tell you everything.''


    Behind it was an address.


    "It''s Mother''s handwriting!" Yuria''s eyes suddenly brightened up. "So she must be fine!"


    He breathed out a sigh of relief. As long as he knew that his mother was all right, everything could be easily handled.


    Walking out of the bedroom, his eyes were dull as he stood by the fence of the second floor. Once his highly stressed spirit relaxed, he instantly felt a little tired.


    "I really don''t know what''s going on with this world!" He murmured. The people who appeared to be normal were one by one becoming abnormal. If his mother''s message was true, then it was very likely that many things were kept hidden.


    Why were he and others being trained together in various skills by his uncle from an early age? Now that he thought about it, those skills were very likely to be used against humans and were not the skills to hunt some kind of wild animal.


    Moreover, the inexplicable emergence of the Vulture and how he became one of the Four Great Cornerstones out of the blue. Everything was becoming more and more mysterious.


    He took out the phone again and dialed his cousin brother, Lincoln''s number. The only person he could think of at this time was his cousin.


    Unfortunately, there was a busy signal on the phone.


    "Whew..." He let out a long breath and felt extremely irritated in his chest. Unexplainable incidents were continuing to occur, making the doubts in his heart grow stronger.


    Suddenly, an inexplicable piercing sensation emerged in his chest.


    "This is...?" He panicked and abruptly rolled to the left.


    Boom!


    A small firecracker sound was heard. On the floor where he had originally stood, there was a small white hole which was pluming white smoke.


    "Gunman!! It''s a penetrating sniper rifle!" The knowledge of various weapons taught by his uncle immediately emerged in his mind.


    There was a sniper aiming in the distance!


    All the exhaustion in Yuria was swept away, and his whole body entered into a state of high concentration.


    He abruptly rolled to the left again and hit a vase, causing it to shatter into pieces all over the floor, but there was another clear hole at his previous position.


    "The ability to shoot through the wall. It is definitely a thermal imaging device, and the distance shouldn''t be far!"


    He recalled the Vulture gunman whom he failed to catch the last time. In the aftermath analysis, they had confirmed that it was definitely not fired by those two people. According to the traces left at that time, there should have been a third person at the scene, but only two individuals were spotted at that time.


    One rush forward and then a roll on the ground. Yuria made an L-shaped route, and there was another bullet hole in front of his path.


    The intense crisis threatened every cell in his body causing them to unleash his strongest potential.


    After dodging two consecutive shots, he finally rushed out of the building and ran an S-route, dashing toward the gunman.


    From far away, he saw that at the window of a building nearby, a man clothed in black was retracting his firearm and giving him a look from the distance.


    On the way home from not far off, Yurijie was also quickly running over here.


    "Pursue!" She had apparently heard the gunshots and was carrying a long saber on her back. She was well-prepared.


    Without saying a word, they both rushed towards the building.


    The surrounding environment was very strange. There should be many pedestrians at this time, but it was the opposite of that. Not even a figure could be seen. It seemed that someone had deliberately alienated the crowd.


    There was an unpleasant smell in the air and there was no telling what it was.


    The two gave a mad pursuit and finally intercepted the other party on the slope of the gateway of a residential road.


    "Stand still!" Yuria roared.


    The other party actually stopped in his tracks.


    Turning around, this man in a black trench coat revealed his face.


    Thick eyebrows and calm eyes which gave a feeling of calmness like water.


    "What do you want to say?" The man asked faintly.


    "Where did you take my mother to?! Speak out!" Yuria suppressed his anger and anxiously shouted.


    The man did not answer immediately but looked strangely at Yuria and his sister.


    "Looks like you two really don''t know anything..."


    "Know what?!!" Yurijie slowly pulled out the saber from the side, and her look was solemn. Obviously, she was going to make it a quick fight. Her Saber Art had soared recently, and she had very strong confidence in her own skills. After all, she was also trained as a child. Now, she was just integrating the stuff from the combat area into her Saber Art. The essence had not changed.


    "Enough with the talk, take him down first!" Yuria was disinclined to say anything more. He simply pulled out the dagger that he carried with him and lunged forward.


    ***********************


    In another window far away.


    Garen and Nine-Tailed Fox stood side by side at the window, each holding a pair of binoculars and watching the battle between Yuria and the gunman from afar.


    Nine-Tailed Fox was wearing a black blouse and a short white skirt with long black stockings. Her slim and long legs stood closely together without a gap. Coupled with the young appearance of a beautiful girl, the combination of purity, loveliness and sexiness revealed a peculiar temptation.


    "That is Hai Feng," she grinned and said. "So how is his strength?"


    Garen did not answer and watched for a little while more before putting down the binoculars in his hand.


    "What is his half-mechanized part? Why does it feel a little weird?"


    "His ability could not be noted by the general people. Those who do not know the inside story will think that he has no ability at all and did not accept any modification," Nine-Tailed Fox revealed a fox-like smile. "But in actual fact, he has the most secretive ability in the Vulture ¨C Floral Scent."


    "It''s smell?!" Garen was enlightened.


    "Yes. It''s smell," Nine-Tailed Fox nodded. "It''s neither a harmful gas, nor it is poisonous. It''s just a catalyst."


    "A catalyst?"


    "Yes," Nine-Tailed Fox turned around and leaned back against the window sill. "A special gas that can accelerate the opponent''s physical exertion. At the same time, there will also be a certain hypnotic effect. It''s very subtle."


    "It''s impossible to guard against it," Garen said as he nodded. "His own combat level is also very strong. This way, the opponent will unknowingly slip into the effect of his scent and lead to excessive physical exertion."


    "Hai Feng is a relatively cold person in the Vulture, but he is also a very special person," Nine-Tailed Fox laughed.


    "Special?"


    "You will know as you continue to watch."


    She quietly approached Garen and the thighs wrapped in black silk gently rubbed against Garen''s right leg. The same faint hint of sweetness was emitted, slowly filling the air.


    *******************


    Yuria punched Hai Feng''s abdomen, but it was avoided by the other party. Instead, he himself was almost cut at the arm by his sister''s saber.


    The three people fought together in the middle of the slope. From time to time, there would be flashes of swords, reflecting bright white lights.


    Yurjie''s saber continued to sweep across Hai Feng''s body again and again and they would be just millimeters away from him but never actually hit him.


    Yuria''s fists and legs were also synchronised as if they were acting together. He would come into contact with the other party just by a little bit more every time.


    "You only know how to dodge?! Damn!!" Yuria shouted and was rather mad. He was a person who was calm on the surface but actually rather impulsive on the inside. Otherwise, the last time his cousin brother was kidnapped, he would not have rushed to rescue him without saying anything.


    Now that he felt like being played by the other party in the combat, his anger began to rise.


    "Dodge?" Hai Feng said plainly, "I just don''t want to kill you all."


    "What purpose do you have?!" Yurjie gave a vertical slash with her saber, but it was easily avoided by him.


    "Hasn''t your teacher taught you not to use all your strength when you slash?" Hai Feng calmly said and was actually not short of breath at all.


    "No need for you to tell!" Yuri was furious, and she slashed even harder. But still, she could not hit the person.


    "Second-rate Saber Art, third-rate talent," Hai Feng evaluated coldly. "Learning this kind of Saber Art means that you will only be at this level for the rest of your life."


    ****************


    "This guy¡­ is rather annoying," Garen remarked unpleasantly.


    The Saber Art was taught by him. Although he did not put much heart into it, being rated by other people as second-rate made him somewhat less than pleased.


    "Hehe... Isn''t what the person said the truth?" Nine-Tailed Fox covered her mouth and teased. "Who asked you not to teach seriously? You didn''t even teach in accordance with the student''s aptitude."


    "They will be on their own paths sooner or later anyway. I was thinking that since there wouldn''t be much use with what I teach, it would be better to just simply give some pointers," Garen shrugged.


    "How about you go and teach him some lessons, let him know what the real Saber Art is like?" Nine-Tailed Fox probed Garen''s strength.


    Since they did not intend to escape from the development of the Plot, the Transmigrators who practiced martial arts would become the targets everyone would seek out for.


    Among them, Garen and Nine-Tailed Fox were naturally one of them. Nine-Tailed Fox seemed to have a good impression of Garen and intended to take him in to join her force. Now that there was another reason, it was all the more justifiable to come into direct contact.


    Garen also understood that it was either Kong Xinxue or Nine-Tailed Fox who were the so-called sacrificial bodies who lured him in so he could be labor for them. He would not be that stupid and swallowed the temptation. As for taking action, he decided to look at the situation before doing anything.


    He was now planning to check out what the Four Great Cornerstones'' Soul Energy Aura was all about and to see whether they could be used. The other was to complete some quests to earn some quest points and to go to the Lighthouse Headquarters to have a look. Everything else must concede to these two goals.

 1175 Naval Battle 1

    Boom!


    There suddenly came an explosion from the fierce battle over on Yuria''s side. The sound traveled far away and it immediately attracted many people to look out of their window.


    "It will be over soon," Nine-tailed Fox whispered.


    "Yeah... Vulture wouldn''t want to attract too much attention," Garen nodded. "We should also go check it out."


    "You want close contact?"


    "Why not?" Garen smiled and turned around to walk toward the door.


    ************************


    Cough cough cough...


    Yuria coughed violently with his head down. His entire body was covered with the dust from the explosion.


    His sister, Yurijie, was still fine, holding the saber and covering a side of her nose.


    Hai Feng had disappeared. He threw out a ball-like thing and instantly disappeared like a ninja. This caused the two to be completely unable to react in time.


    "How did this guy flee?!" Yuria said helplessly.


    "What do we do now, brother?" Yurijie approached him and asked feebly.


    "It''s alright. You have me," Yuria recalled the writing on the note. "Zhaotong City. If Mother is really there, let''s go find her!" He said earnestly.


    "Leave here?" Yurijie was a little saddened.


    "Yea... We have no choice now, this is the only thing that can be done," Yuria smiled wryly. "Let''s leave this place first and talk later."


    He took his sister''s hand and quickly ran in the other direction.


    Too many things had happened today. They had to find a place to collect their thoughts and think about what to do next.


    They ran a few streets, took a cab, and went home.


    Standing outside of their door house, Yuria and his sister were somewhat hesitant as they did not know if they should live there. Obviously, the other party had already found their home, so it was no longer safe.


    "Take our money and passbooks, let''s go to Zhaotong City!" Yuria spoke assertively.


    "We can go to cousin brother...." Yurijie hesitated.


    "Don''t involve other people!" Yuria shook his head. "This is our own matter."


    Yurijie bit her lip, and her cheeks slightly blanched.


    "Brother, I''m afraid..." She gently leaned on Yuria''s body.


    Holding her sister in his arms, Yuria''s face showed unprecedented steadfastness.


    ****************


    In a coffee shop in the distance, Garen and Nine-Tailed Fox sat together.


    "They want to leave," Garen frowned.


    "Rest assured, they will come back," Nine-Tailed Fox replied without any concern.


    "I''m not sure about the details behind, but since we are now involved, I am afraid that the general trend of the events will be affected and changed," Garen said frankly.


    "What can happen just by following them?" Nine-Tailed Fox curled a lock of her hair with her right finger. "In any case, you just have to stay here. He is now replacing the initial Unrestricted Combat Head Minister, Xian Tuguan''s character, who is also super strong in Sword Art and has given out many pointers to Yuria and his sister in the enlightenment of martial arts. However, it''s a pity that he went missing later on. He probably went to university after graduation and did not appear in the original Plot anymore."


    "Alright then, since you said so." Garen nodded casually.


    However, even though he replied as such, as he watched Yuria and the sister embrace each other, he kept feeling as if something was amiss.


    "The feelings of these two little fellows are a bit too much..." He rubbed his chin. "Am I too sensitive in this area?"


    "Waiter, two more pots of boiled water," Nine-Tailed Fox began to call out again.


    "Nonetheless, aren''t you the head of the biggest gang in the country? How come you appear to have nothing to do all day and just follow me everywhere?" Garen asked with a slight curiosity.


    "What do you mean by having nothing to do?" Nine-Tailed Fox''s eyes opened wide. "Without your knowledge, I have already conducted a high-level exchange of information with the waiter, who is an intelligence officer. Through the simple act of asking for two more pots of boiled water, I have briefed the way to manage thirteen tasks and given the review comments of two major resolutions! It''s just that you don''t know!"


    "Do you dare brag even more?" Garen was speechless.


    "Thank you for your compliment," Nine-Tailed Fox lifted her head like a cute little hen and laughed heartily.


    "Actually, it is not like how you think it is. I mainly have two very reliable deputies who are helping me with all the affairs. That is why I can go about this idly," she replied properly.


    "Is that so?" Garen raised the coffee and sipped it.


    Wumpth wumpth!


    Suddenly, the cafe''s door was pushed open.


    A figure that made Garen and Nine-Tailed Fox slightly startled walked in. It was actually Kong Xinxue!


    This fellow was wearing a white T-shirt and skinny jeans and dressed in a sporty look. Her long red hair was hung down loosely behind and her eyes were proudly glancing around in the caf¨¦ before finally locking in on Garen and Nine-Tailed Fox.


    Her expression was solemn and her chest was a little breathless. She seemed to have ran over here and was a little fatigued.


    "You two!" She strode over and slumped into the seat beside Garen and Nine-Tailed Fox. "When did the two of you get together? So intimate and inseparable still, for fear that others don''t know that you two are a couple. Tsk tsk, even the cups used are the same couple''s cup!"


    She picked up a cup and made an expression of disgust.


    "Such intimacy disgusts me."


    "Hey, how did you make this out to be a couple''s cup? All the cups in this place are the same, alright?" Garen held the cup and did not see any connection between his cup and Nine-Tailed Fox''s.


    "She just simply loves to be garrulous. Couldn''t speak a single word in her last lifetime and could only use the flagellum. Do you know what a flagellum is? It''s those kinds of long, thick, hard¡­" Before Nine-Tailed Fox could finish her words, her mouth was immediately clamped by Kong Xinxue''s hand.


    "Alright. I''ll cut to the chase now. I represent the other people who are looking for you guys to comprehend the situation," The most intolerable thing for Kong Xinxue was to have someone mentioning about her reincarnation as an E. coli in her last lifetime, and unfortunately, Nine-Tailed Fox loved to bring up this matter.


    "How is the situation now? From what I heard from them, you two have been following the situation." She looked at Garen and asked.


    "Still alright. It didn''t change much from the original Plot. Although there were a few differences, they were quickly corrected," Garen frankly replied. "Besides us, who else is following this closely?"


    "There is also an old uncle who lives in the suburbs of the city and is a combatant. He wants to get the mechanical modification technology from the Vulture, so he had contacted me asking for help," Kong Xinxue said as she let go of Nine-Tailed Fox. "As you know, the mechanical modification technology has a wide range of application and belongs to the low restriction technology that many worlds can use freely. So what that uncle means is that we cooperate and then put it on the forum to trade. The contribution points acquired will be divided into half."


    "He can dream on. Why half the profit? Will the forum be lacking this kind of technology?" Nine-Tailed Fox responded disdainfully. "It''s he himself that wants it but is just looking for an excuse. How did you reply him?"


    "That person''s strength is quite good. I intend to borrow his power to follow up the Plot together and pass the intelligence back at any time to prevent any sudden danger from happening," Kong Xinxue replied in a low voice.


    "That will work too. After all, with only the three of us, it''s still a few too little. With only five in total, there are really too few combatants in this area. The ones that can be really deployed are the three of us," Nine-Tailed Fox shook her head. "Sigh... This is the kind of thing I would just need order countless do. Unfortunately, that was in the past and now I can only do this by myself... Sigh¡­"


    "Zhao Wenzhen, don''t think that I don''t know that thought of yours. All of my younger brothers from their head to toes belong to me, Kong Xinxue, alone! You go back to where you came from! You are not qualified enough even if you wanted to snatch my things!" Kong Xinxue''s threat appeared weak and feeble no matter how one looked at it.


    "Yo... How mawkish?" Nine-Tailed Fox giggled. "All belong to you? Have you...done that already?"


    "None of your business!" Kong Xinxue''s face reddened.


    Garen sat by the side and watched the excitement like a spectator.


    Nine-Tailed Fox shifted her gaze. "Younger brother Garen, don''t be fooled by this pure look of Ah Xue''s. What she loves is not your heart, but your body. This fellow is a profound brother controller and will only control all your actions. When she lived with me back then, the number of rotten girl novels could be piled up into a mountain! All she reads is bromance stories!"


    "It''s alright. I don''t mind," Garen replied lavishly. "The body is fine too."


    "I mind!" Kong Xinxue smacked hard on the table. "Alright, back to the point. Zhaotong City, are you all going?"


    "Not going," Nine-Tailed Fox said calmly.


    Garen also shook his head. "It''s too far and I don''t feel like moving..." His indolent look made Kong Xinxue furious.


    Pap!


    "I''m going to go!" Kong Xinxue smacked the table fiercely.


    "You''re going?" Garen asked puzzlingly, "What can you do by going there?"


    "Overseas business! The original Plot is that she went out at this time and was taken away" Nine-Tailed Fox put in from the side. "Our younger sister, Ah Xue, is actually crying out in the depths of her heart. Come on~~ Come on~~ I beg you to quickly come and protect me!" She giggled. "She is really suggesting that you go with her. Although her mouth won''t say so, her body is very honest~~~"


    "Is that the case?" Garen immediately looked at Kong Xinxue and blinked.


    "Is your head!" Kong Xinxue''s cheeks suddenly reddened until they were like bleeding. "As soon as I think about being taken hostage by the bad guys, feelings of anxiousness take over, which indicates that I am still in the category of the normal person''s psychological state. Is there something wrong with this?"


    "Of course there''s nothing wrong with that, but the way you express it is too lovey-dovey as opposed to your initial cold and hostile stand," Nine-Tailed Fox purposefully hit the nail on the head.


    "Younger brother Garen will definitely be happy to accompany you. As he sees you in this amorous look now, he is already unable to hold it in any longer," Nine-Tailed Fox''s malignant tongue was no different. "Once I think of the both of you enjoying the world of two people alone in the vast sea, doing the ** and ** things every day, I will be so happy, it would be unbearable! Tell me, cute little Garen, is what I said true?"


    She shifted her gaze to Garen who was beside her.


    "Absolutely right!" Garen gave a thumbs-up and joined in resolutely.


    "You guys! Both of you!!" Kong Xinxue was so mad that she stood up, her face quickly flushing.

 1176 Naval Battle 2

    "Us? What''s with us?" Nine-Tailed Fox loosened her fingers around her long curly hair with a triumphant smile. "You want to fight me without letting your inner personality out? Don''t bite off more than you can chew. Well, don''t stand there like a defeated hen. Bring into play your cute little mind, let us see the situation you''re in control of."


    "The situation she''s in control of? What situation? Ah Xue has some kind of special ability?"


    "Don''t you know?" Nine-Tailed Fox stared widely. "The reason Ah Xue could become a territory leader is because she can collect a lot of special intelligence that ordinary people cannot grasp through her powerful intelligence gathering-capabilities."


    "Special intelligence?" Garen was piqued.


    "Of course, Ah Xue''s special ability is¡­ mhmm!!" Nine-Tailed Fox was once again fiercely clamped by Kong Xinxue''s hand.


    Garen shook his head speechlessly and looked at the two good sisters. Although they appeared to be in disharmony, they actually still cared and valued each other deeply on the inside.


    "If you''re talking about protection, I think you''d better not go. Wait for us to come back from Zhaotong City and go with you," he gave it some thought. "Don''t be restricted by the original Plot. You are now an independent individual, no longer the original Kong Xinxue, so your every move can affect the situation."


    "That''s settled then. Wait for us to return and then we''ll go together with you, no problem?" Nine-Tailed Fox decisively called the shots.


    "Whatever!" Kong Xinxue snorted.


    ******************


    Zhaotong City.


    The trading city by Red Nation''s seaside had a prosperous economy and more or less foreign-style buildings. It was the foreign trading city which ranked third in Red Nation.


    Every day, hundreds of thousands of huge containers were constantly being transported from here into the mainland.


    The containers here were much larger than those on the Earth, and each one was transported by a large ship.


    Yuria''s and his sister''s eyes were wide open as they stuck their head out of the car''s window. Looking at the huge container that was being lifted up on the dock, their faces were clearly filled with amazement.


    "So big..."


    "That is," the uncle driver laughed. "This kind of container is only available in Zhaotong City. There are very few such huge things that could be transported into the rest of the area." He said with pride. "Are you here for tourism or visitation? Since you''re here, you should roam about the fun places in the vicinity."


    "We¡­are here to visit our relatives," Yuria hesitated and answered softly.


    He held Yurijie''s hand tightly. The two sat together and all of Yurijie was almost stuck to his body.


    "Don''t worry," he whispered.


    The uncle driver did not notice it and was still talking loquaciously about some of the local features.


    Soon, the taxi stopped at the address left by Yuria''s mother on the note.


    No.178, Tingshan Road.


    It was an independent small bungalow with a seaside villa in front and behind it. It had a very foreign feel, but it seemed a bit quiet.


    After getting off the taxi, Yuria paid for the fare. He then took out the note and looked at it again.


    "It should be here. Let''s knock on the door."


    "Yea," Yurijie nodded, went forward, and lightly tapped the door. She also pressed the doorbell.


    Very soon, there was movement by people on the inside.


    A woman in a white maid dress walked out quickly. She reached the iron-gate and looked at the two siblings.


    "May I know...who are you looking for?" She asked with some hesitation.


    "May I know if this place is..." Yuria did not know how to ask, whether he should directly inquire if this was Owl''s house? What a joke that would be. What was written on the note was clearly the nickname instead of the person''s name.


    "We are the children of Ms. Mafelle, and we''re here to visit the owner of this place. Please pass the message," It was the sister on the side, Yurijie, who reacted quickly instead and immediately changed to another way of saying.


    "Ms. Mafelle¡­ I will go and ask the owner..." The maid nodded, turned around, and ran to the bungalow.


    **************


    "Do you think this is that Owl''s address?" Nine-Tailed Fox stood in front of Garen with her buttocks jutted out. The short black skirt and legs with white stockings were uncovered before Garen. One just needed to angle the phone correctly and would easily be able to capture the scenery at the bottom of the skirt.


    Even Garen''s hand was only one slap-width away from the white silk legs in front. He could touch Nine-Tailed Fox''s thigh and buttocks with just a slight lift of his hand, and he could even feel the faint heat of the body temperature from his partner''s legs.


    "This woman...is absolutely seducing me," Garen resisted the impulse of his body. He always had absolute vigilance for this woman, Nine-Tailed Fox. Compared with the slightly simpler Kong Xinxue, he felt that that the person with Dissociative Personality Disorder might be safer instead.


    "What did you just say?" he asked.


    "I said, do my legs look good?" Nine-Tailed Fox turned her head around and made a pure and cute expression.


    "Looks good," Garen nodded.


    "Want to touch?"


    "Yea."


    "Then why don''t you do it?" Nine-Tailed Fox cocked her head puzzlingly.


    "Because you are different," Garen smiled.


    Nine-Tailed Fox pouted her mouth and wanted to say something, but there was already someone coming out from that side.


    The two of them were hiding on the edge of a large container, sneakily sticking out their heads to watch that side. Seeing that someone had come, they stopped chattering.


    Garen watched from afar and saw a fat man coming out of the bungalow, swaying his way and opening the door to invite Yuria and the sister in.


    "Is that Owl?" he asked.


    "Yea. His nickname is Owl, but his real name is Galouro. He''s a weapon merchant," Nine-Tailed Fox straightened her back. "Oh, how exhausting!"


    "Nine-Tailed." A man''s voice suddenly came from behind the two people. It was very bright, giving people a happy and eager feel. "Finally, I have found you."


    Garen and Nine-Tailed Fox turned around and saw a man getting down from a red sports car behind them. He was tall and the sunny type. He had a crew cut, bronzed skin, and was wearing sunglasses, giving off a strong sense of a black man.


    His eyes glimmered as he stared at Nine-Tailed Fox and strode over.


    "What are you doing here? You didn''t say anything after coming to my territory!" The man walked to the front of Nine-Tailed Fox and was all smiles.


    "Is there anything? I am chatting with my friend," Nine-Tailed Fox showed a sweet smile.


    "This is?" The man looked at Garen and revealed a hint of hostility.


    He was also very young, probably in his twenties. With black earrings, a strong body, and striking and clean features, he was very handsome.


    "Garen," Garen reached out and shook hands with him. He noticed that the other person''s line of sight stayed on the two sabers worn around his waist.


    "Reid. Nice to meet you," The man had a very graceful smile.


    "Likewise." Garen also smiled. Although this body of his was only a juvenile, it had been strengthened by the Soul Energy. It was not the little muscles he originally had and he was stronger than before and not weaker than the other party. Except for his height, the rest were more oppressing. Even though he had an ordinary T-shirt and jeans on, the double sabers from his waist made his whole person emit an upright dangerous sense.


    "You speak succinctly. Serve in the army before?" Reid asked casually.


    "No."


    "We could have some exchange of communication when there''s time. I have served in the Razer Special Forces before. You look like you have been trained," Reid smiled and was somewhat hostile.


    "Sure."


    Only then did Reid impatiently turned his gaze and looked at Nine-Tailed Fox.


    "Since you''re here at my place, you should allow me to entertain you at least once? Otherwise, you''re not giving me face!"


    "I was thinking of going out to the sea alone with my friend¡­ Would it be very troublesome for you?" Nine-Tailed Fox whispered, showing an embarrassed expression.


    "No, absolutely not. With such a beauty like you by the side, no man would feel troubled. Hahaha..." Reid chortled.


    "My sister and Nero the rest are still waiting for you to have fun together. This is a good opportunity now that you''re here, we''ll all go out to the sea together! The yacht at home has not been touched for a long time, and it will rust if left unused," Reid spoke with alacrity.


    "That''s too kind of you¡­" Nine-Tailed Fox spoke affectedly. Her voice was so soft and gentle that Garen had goosebumps all over after hearing that.


    "That''s settled then," Reid waved his hand. "Brother Garen will come along. Everyone just be happy. Which part of the sea do you want to go to? I''ll be in charge of operating the yacht!"


    So, at Reid''s kind invitation, Garen and Nine-Tailed Fox got into the sports car and went to Reid''s family''s villa. They went aboard the yacht together with a group of boys and girls who were dressed up sexily and went out to the sea.


    The weather was sunny and bright. There were also a few single-person motorboats on the big yacht. Occasionally, there will be people riding the motorboats beside the yacht shouting about and laughing out loud.


    The white yacht under the direction given by Nine-Tailed Fox was covertly following the merchant, Galouro, who had just set sail ahead of them.


    Galouro the weapon merchant brought Yuria and the sister together out to the sea, or in other words, they went out to the sea first, while Nine-Tailed Fox and Garen followed behind.


    The two ships sailed directly to a tourist island in the nearby sea region ¨C Squirrel Island.


    ************************


    Whoosh... Whoosh¡­


    The blue seawater dashed against the wall of the yacht and turned into white splashes again and again. It was extremely rhythmic as if it would never stop.


    Garen was topless as he lied on a sun-lounger wearing a pair of brown sunglasses. His fair skin and his strong and well-proportioned body figure caused every pretty lady who passed by to stop their gaze on him for a few seconds.


    Nine-Tailed Fox had a pink swimwear and looked like the little sister next door. Her long hair was tied up into a bun, and her skin was more delicate and whiter than milk. Reid stayed by her side with the utmost concentration. The two talked and laughed towards the front of the yacht alone. No one knew what they were doing.


    Garen had also just found out that Reid was the local big household disciple who was collaborating with Nine-Tailed Fox. He had been one of the suitors of Nine-Tailed Fox since long ago.


    He also understood that a woman like Nine-Tailed Fox would definitely have more than one man. Compared to Kong Xinxue, although her mouth was spiteful, her private life was very pure. Feeling careful, he still preferred the kind of cleaning-living girl.


    "Sure enough, I am still a good juvenile with a pure soul," Garen could not help but sigh. He took the juice from the side and had a sip.


    "Which part of this body of yours look like a juvenile?" A smiling female voice came from the deckchair beside.


    Garen opened his closed eyes and pulled his sunglasses downward slightly.


    What appeared in his vision was a black-haired girl in a traditional conservative black swimsuit.


    The dark swimsuit was equivalent to a dress, and the skirt even covered half of the thigh. The chest was slightly raised, giving a very cute feeling.


    The girl herself had a little baby fat. She walked towards Garen and sat down by his side. Her black hair that was let down was tied up again.

 1177 T-Rex 1

    "I am a juvenile in the first place. There is no need to disguise that," Garen replied casually. He glanced at the other party''s swimsuit. "Isn''t your swimsuit too conservative? It doesn''t fit the style on this ship."


    The girl smiled. "The same goes to you. I have seen several pretty ladies giving you the eye, but you are not tempted. You''re just honestly lying down and sleeping here."


    She took a sip of the drink.


    "I just don''t like an environment that is too noisy."


    "Likewise."


    Garen replied.


    The two looked at each other and felt a little relaxed. It was only when one got along with the same kind of people would they relax a little.


    Ah!


    Someone on the ship was thrown into the sea. It was a girl. Her chest strap was removed and thrown directly into the sea. Obviously, that person could swim, and she did not resist. It seemed that someone was yelling that a bet is a bet and one must honor it.


    The girl floated in the sea and chided the other party, but she was being more coquettish. Her breasts was faintly visible in the sea, igniting the imagination of others.


    "I don''t like their lives," the girl beside Garen said, "If it weren''t for them dragging me over to make up the number, I wouldn''t have came"


    "The same goes for me. If it isn''t because I have something to take care of, I wouldn''t want to waste time here," Garen shrugged.


    "My name is Annie, what about you?"


    "Garen," Garen picked up his drink and gestured for a cheers.


    The two clinked their cups gently.


    At this time, the sound of yachts came speeding over in the distance. Several small yachts encircled from three sides.


    Garen stood up from the deckchair. He exchanged glances with Nine-Tailed Fox who was at the bow.


    "Pay attention to protect yourself," he casually said to Annie.


    Before Annie had reacted and understood what was going on, she saw Garen pulled a slightly curved sword from under the deckchair.


    Hiss...


    The sharp blade was pulled out slowly and held in both hands. Garen pointed the tip of the saber to the ground and slowly walked in the direction of the on-coming yachts.


    Sizz sizz sizz sizz...


    More than a dozen dark things were thrown at a great rotating speed at the big yacht.


    "Winds of Four Directions."


    Garen bent a little. Clank clank clank clank!


    Four consecutive white lights lit up around him in the blink of an eye. Like a white line that was erected, it was fleeting.


    More than a dozen of the dark things were cut in half as they fell onto the deck of the yacht. At this time, only did the people see clearly that they were all black grenades!


    Ah!!!!


    A burst of screams rang out.


    "!!!" Anne was so scared that she hid behind and her mouth was barely shut.


    "Hide well," Garen casually said and looked at the bow.


    Over on the other side, Nine-Tailed Fox leaped a few times and threw over a gun from the bow.


    "Catch!"


    "I''ll be at the front and you be at the back!" Garen said, catching the gun.


    "Change position!"


    The two rushed to their position with tacit understanding.


    Reid roared loudly, quickly reacted and began to command his men to counterattack. On the yacht were also bodyguards whom he had brought along. When they realized the situation they were in, each of them quickly took out their guns to fight back.


    He himself actually took out a submachine gun and started to fire across.


    "Forewind!"


    Garen rolled and leaped, thrusting forward.


    Sizz sizz sizz! Three consecutive rounds of saber sounded. Three grenades were once again split into two halves and there was no explosion. At the same time, the pistol in his hand sounded. Three people in the distance were hit in the blink of an eye.


    "Good marksmanship!" The bodyguard captain could not help but praise loudly.


    Reid''s face was slightly darkened and he swept his submachine gun across even fiercer.


    The bullets from both sides continued to rain. With Garen taking charge at the bow, he was actually able to suppress the shooting of dozens of people from the other side just by himself.


    From time to time, the rebounding and ricocheting stray bullets would be simply deflected by him with his long saber. Now and then, there would a person from those who were opening fire going down. As he calmly moved his steps, the opposite was actually misfiring in the few tens of seconds, causing the bodyguards who were watching to be in a daze.


    Boom!


    There seemed to be a grenade explosion at the stern. After all, there were still too many people and the distance was far. The other party used a grenade gun to shoot out a grenade. The range was very far. Even if Garen was powerful, he was only one person with a gun.


    One could clearly feel the yacht sinking. Obviously, there were kelpies under water chiseling the ship.


    "The ship is sinking!" Reid ran out and yelled anxiously. Immediately, he was beaten back by several bullets.


    Garen was expressionless and exchanged a look with Nine-Tailed Fox at the back. "Kill and grab their boat!"


    At this moment, the tacit understanding between the two was astonishing. Clearly, both sides were the type who would use unscrupulous means to achieve a purpose.


    In this extremely restrictive world, even Garen could only protect himself. To deal with the long-range shots, only the same long-range shooting could be used to retaliate.


    The two jumped down simultaneously and plunged into the seawater. They sped toward a yacht quickly and were as fast as they would be on the ground in the water. All who were watching were stupefied.


    "Catch Nine-Tailed Fox alive!" The enemies on the opposite were shouting.


    "No need. Just kill!" Someone roared out loud.


    Dhak dhak dhak...


    The submachine gun swept across the water and stirred up lots of splashes.


    Garen lifted the tip of his saber and prodded the wall of the yacht a few times, utilizing the force to fly up and land on the deck of the yacht.


    With a clank, the saber moved in a flash, and a full silver arc was drawn. The three men clothed in black who were guarding the deck and attacking the opposite side were directly swept at the neck by the tip of the saber. They looked up and dropped dead.


    Blood splattered all over the ground. Springs of fresh blood were gushing out of the headless bodies.


    "Get rid of him!"


    The other people on the other boats turned their muzzle around at the same time.


    With a whoosh, Garen disappeared from the spot and suddenly appeared behind a person. The tip of his saber pierced through the other party''s chest with a whish and was retracted again.


    Then there was the second, the third, the fourth...


    Undefeatable.


    Just a few seconds later, blood flowed like a river on the deck. Garen carried his saber and slowly walked toward the navigation room. In it was half-lying a frightened helmsman.


    "No you devil! Devil! Oh God! Save me...!" The man screamed, and his voice halted abruptly.


    The tip of the saber plunged in from his chest, almost like the feel of a fork plunged into a steak. It was hard at first, but with a little effort, it would be unimpeded.


    "Boring," Garen pulled out the saber and looked at another yacht. Over there, Nine-Tailed Fox swung a ribbon-like weapon and made an OK gesture to him.


    After replying with a sign, Garen slowly put the saber back into the sheath.


    The sound of police siren was faintly heard in the distance and it was apparent that the maritime patrol boat was arriving. He knew that it was time for the Plot to be played out.


    "This level of confrontation is not even enough to warm-up..." He stood sideways and looked at the police boat approaching from afar. The blue-and-white police boat was constantly playing the harsh siren. It was also spinning a colorful light, like a children''s toy, evoking a comical feel.


    The police boat quickly drew near the several yachts that exchanged fire and a large number of police motorboats scattered and rushed toward each big yacht.


    What was weird was that the attacker did not escape at all but stayed on the same spot waiting to be arrested. The exchange of fire came to a halt.


    The police officers boarded the ship and went straight to both sides of the yacht. They seemed to begin to negotiate and communicate.


    Reid''s face was stone-cold as he talked to a chubby man with glasses on.


    Garen and Nine-Tailed Fox glanced at each other and covertly hid to the side at the back of the yacht they were on.


    There was no one on the back of the yacht, and the seawater was constantly striking against the hull, making crashing noises.


    Garen leaned back against the wall of the boat and obtained a black paper clip from the inside of his pants.


    "How? Situation?" He asked at the paperclip.


    "There will be a situation right away," Nine-Tailed Fox''s sound came from within the paper clip. This was a short-distance contact device that Nine-Tailed Fox had given to him. One could communicate directly through a wireless signal, and it consumed very little power. It was the classic artifact among the covert walkie-talkies.


    "What do you want to do with Reid?" Garen smiled and asked.


    "What? Are you jealous?" Nine-Tailed Fox simpered. "Rest assured, you''re still the one whom I adore most. He is not a person of the same world as us."


    "Who you adore is none of my business. In comparison, I still like the type like Kong Xinxue," Garen frankly spoke.


    "Come on... Am I really not tempting enough?" Nine-Tailed Fox pouted. "But if Ah Xue hears this, I am afraid that she will dedicate herself to you any minute."


    Garen smiled and did not answer anymore. He pressed the paper clip and disconnected.


    A helicopter was slowly flying to this side from a distance.


    "Here they come..." He placed his saber against the side and arbitrarily played with the pistol which had no bullets in it.


    Whup whup whup whup!


    The sound of the helicopter''s propeller was getting closer and closer.


    What was surprising at this time was that the police on the several yachts actually disarmed and arrested Reid and others. They were still talking and smiling earlier on, but in the blink of an eye, all of them had taken action. Without any delay, everyone including Reid were detained.


    "Bring them back!" The team captain''s expression was cold.


    "Lieutenant Wang, what do you mean by this!?" Reid shouted as his arms were restrained at the back by someone.


    "What meaning?" The fat lieutenant sneered. "Endangering the safety of the country''s territorial waters, dare to rebel against the enforcement officers of the National Security Agency, openly killing people with guns, and ignoring the law! If I don''t arrest you and have you confess, then I''m a lieutenant for nothing!!"


    "National security enforcement officers?!" Reid''s heart was stunned. Looking at the people who had previously opened fire with them, they were actually putting on the national security uniform. Suddenly, he realized that he was probably being deceived.


    "Tell me, where is Nine-Tailed Fox? Where?" The fat lieutenant continued to snigger.


    "You guys!" Reid gritted his teeth.


    Before more words were spoken, the helicopter in the distance flew straight toward the crowd.


    "Which unit is that from?" The fat lieutenant looked up at the helicopter.


    "No idea. I don''t think we mobilized a helicopter?" One of the subordinates spoke up in doubt.


    "Didn''t mobilize?" The fat lieutenant looked at the clear and obvious police logo on the side of the helicopter. "If it was not mobilized, how can there be our logo on it? You idiot, don''t you recognize the pattern?" He yelled.


    "This..." The subordinate had not reacted in time.


    Boom boom boom!!


    Suddenly, the helicopter fired, and the sound of cannon thundered, drawing out two clear cannon bullet chains.


    Something dark was dropped off from the helicopter. It fell into the sea with a boom and seemed to have sunk directly.

 1178 T-Rex 2

    "All members, fire!!" The fat lieutenant squawked and went looking for cover.


    Whoosh, a police officer used a shoulder-held rocket launcher to blast at the helicopter.


    The rocket launcher actually exploded directly in mid-air with a boom.


    A tall black figure floated up from the sea below. It was a two-to-three-meters tall, black metal robot. One could say that it was a Cyborg. However, this Cyborg had a much larger area of modification than the kind Garen had previously encountered. With the exception of half the side of the head, his entire body parts seemed to have modified into metal bodies.


    The most conspicuous thing was that this guy had a small white flag behind his head with a word on it: Dragon.


    "Dragon?" Garen peered through the gap and looked over. When he saw this Cyborg appear, he instantly had some doubts. "Is that him? The legendary mechanical Tyrannosaurus?"


    "...What a cold sense of humor," Nine-Tailed Fox''s voice came from the paper clip. "Although I don''t want to admit it, he is the one whom we are waiting for. Vulture''s T-Rex."


    "That is to say, these police officers who were first here are actually all imposters?" Garen could not comprehend.


    "Not imposters, but they originally..." Bang!!


    Nine-Tailed Fox''s voice was submerged by the violent explosion and was not clearly heard.


    Garen made nothing of it and watched T-Rex, who was in the distance on the sea, ejecting several small missiles with wave trajectory from his chest. A yacht was directly blown into two by the missiles, slowly tilting and sinking in a huge red fire.


    Fortunately, that yacht was the one last steered over here by the police officers, not Reid''s yacht that Garen and others had set sail on.


    "Scatter Flowers," The mechanical T-Rex coldly uttered. He spread out his right hand, and on the palm there erected a disc like that of an antenna disc. The silver disc slowly opened up like a flower blossoming.


    Endless streams of bullets could be heard coming from his body. The policemen and the previously apprehended anonymous attackers were madly firing back, but only fire sparks were seen on T-Rex''s body surface. Other than that, there were not any other traces.


    The slightly larger rocket launchers and howitzers were easily evaded by T-Rex.


    Sizz!


    The antenna dish on his palm suddenly shot out a little white light from the center of it.


    The white light rose into the sky, like a rocket launcher. It burst into a mass of white light in the air over this sea region.


    Garen suddenly felt a sense of danger, pulled out his sword, and struck out in a lightning manner.


    Whoosh!


    A silver arc emerged in front of him.


    Clang clang clang¡­ A dense collision noise sounded in front of him. Numerous ox hair-like steel needles were deflected and nailed to the deck of the yacht.


    Garen''s arm was almost completely blurred. Only a little gray shadow was seen moving, while the rest was an incessant variety of cling-clang sounds.


    On another yacht in the distance, Nine-Tailed Fox''s body was spinning and it seemed that she was well-prepared. Her rotating body had a ribbon-like white cloth strip around it, directly attracting a vast amount of the steel needles to her. The cloth strip obviously had a strong magnetic force. It was more than twice as easy for her as compared to Garen.


    Farther away on a yacht, the swarm of police officers clothed in black and the so-called national security personnel all suffered. They almost fell in response. The vast number of steel needles descended from the sky and savagely pierced through most of their bodies. They were extremely accurate.


    "Watch. This is the legendary Tyrannosaurus!!" Nine-Tailed Fox''s laughter traveled over. "Rainstorm Dragon, this is the strongest masterpiece of some powerhouse in the Vulture."


    "It really is amazing," Garen was also feeling it. "I am thinking about whether to create something similar as well," he recalled the series of biochemical technology he had mastered. If he were to try it out, he might find some suitable parts in which he could apply.


    "You better forget it. How nice it is to just diligently practice your Sword Art. Sword Master? You know? This is the comprehensive evaluation given to you by the inside of Vulture," Nine-Tailed Fox seemed to have gotten the latest news.


    "What use is that?" Garen was speechless. "Can it be used against the Slayer?"


    "Far from that," Nine-Tailed Fox replied simply. "The Slayer, as the strongest individual existence of this world''s Plot, is the best masterpiece of the human being''s killing consciousness. Whatever sword techniques or saber techniques you know, he also knows. Even the gone-extinct ancient top killing skill he also knows. Even if it is the skill you have just created, he can master it completely with just a glance and could bring it into play much mightier than you!"


    "So freakish!" Garen was speechless.


    "Of course it is freakish! How else can he be called the Slayer?" Nine-Tailed Fox said helplessly. "That is why we are pushing others to collect contribution points to hire powerhouses."


    During their conversation, there were not many of those who could still move in this sea region. There seemed to be a huge magnetic force under Rainstorm Dragon''s feet. He straight away walked on the wall of the boat in a ninety-degree manner, boarded the yacht, and began to resolve the remaining recalcitrant police officers and resistors.


    The sound of gunshots and flames continued to shine from his arms.


    The blood on the yacht converged together, almost tainting the entire deck red. It was extremely gruesome.


    The fat lieutenant who wanted to jump into the sea to escape on the motorboat had a bullet accurately shot through the back of his head and died on the spot.


    In just one minute, more than half of the police officers and national security who were present were killed, leaving only Reid''s bodyguards who did not open fire and the beauties on the yacht who had no resistance.


    "Your little lover is in trouble. Aren''t you going to rescue him?" Garen teased.


    "I was just playing with him," Nine-Tailed Fox simply said. "Don''t you know that the one you can''t get is always the best?" She raised her chest from far and used one hand to knead one side of her breast.


    "You are as abominable as Kong Xinxue," Garen breathed out a puff of air and held back the incitement in his heart. "It''s just two kinds of appearance in different aspects."


    "Which is why we are good friends," Nine-Tailed Fox actually began to shed off her swimsuit. She took out black clothes she had gotten from who-knew-where and began to change her clothes right in front of Garen.


    There was no intention of concealing the body and the angle she stood at was so happen to be visible only to Garen.


    Out of courtesy, since he did not really want to touch this woman, Garen turned away and did not look at the other party. However, the wave of incitement in his heart was getting more intense.


    With the last shot over that side, T-Rex had resolved the last police officer. He walked to the front of Reid and others. The remaining people were all shocked and afraid, not knowing what he was going to do.


    "All of you..." T-Rex slowly opened his mouth.


    Clang!


    Suddenly, his right arm was raised, blocking the side of his head. A golden spark sputtered on his arm.


    "Are there still survivors?" His voice was as hoarse as air leaking, and he turned his head around in the direction of the shot. There was a small pleasure boat headed over here.


    On the bow stood a man, and it was actually Yuria!


    He was dressed in tight-fitting black clothes and looking at the tragic scene over here, which was like hell. There were police and national security corpses everywhere.


    A chubby merchant with a beard was standing next to Yuria, looking over with a smiley face.


    "It''s him!" The merchant took out a cigar and lighted it. "Vulture''s T-Rex, Rainstorm Dragon."


    Yuria fixed his eyes on T-Rex with a solemn face. He did not know why but when he saw the gruesome scene in front of him, he did not feel nauseous and afraid at all. Instead, he had quickly accustomed to it.


    "Super gravitational bomb basically does him no harm, but it can temporarily paralyze all his body''s firepower ability. You can finish this guy off with just hand-to-hand combat," The chubby merchant grinned.


    "Uncle Galouro," Yuria calmly said. "Please take care of my sister for now."


    "No problem. Don''t worry!" The chubby merchant nodded. "I''m here, and it''s not just me alone," He looked back at the bodyguards who came out from behind.


    "That''s good," Yuria jumped down and dived into the sea. A motorboat approached from the side. He grabbed it, rolled over and rode on it.


    Rainstorm Dragon turned around and looked coldly at the on-coming Yuria.


    He stretched out his arm and the machine gun loaded on it was not working anymore. It was not just the machine gun but all the fire controls on his body seemed to have failed.


    "Is it super gravitational bomb? That''s interesting."


    He strode forward, walked to the wide deck of the yacht, and stood still, waiting quietly for the other party to arrive.


    The super gravitational bomb had a limited time of only twenty minutes, and it would weaken with time. Therefore, the purpose of the other party was very clear, which was melee combat!


    He just needed to stand here and quietly wait for the other party to come.


    ******************


    "It''s going to begin..." Over this side, Garen and Nine-Tailed Fox who had changed her clothes had gathered together.


    "Why would Yuria dare to engage with Rainstorm Dragon? I am very clear about his combat strength. He shouldn''t be strong enough to beat that fellow?" Garen was puzzled.


    "Really?" Nine-Tailed Fox smirked slightly. Her arm naturally wrapped around Garen''s arms. "If you''re just thinking as such, you''re in for a great surprise."


    "Oh?" Garen did not doubt the authenticity of Nine-Tailed Fox''s words. He did faintly see something queer from Yuria''s posture movement at this moment.


    It was a little like something he had never seen before.


    "It seems to be a new kind of battle skill?" He guessed.


    Nine-Tailed Fox smiled and did not reply.


    "If it is a special weapon add on, which has the same powerful effect as that previous thing, then the odds are indeed there," Garen nodded, clearly having ascertained some clues.


    "You have a good eye," Nine-Tailed Fox laughed. "The level of Rainstorm Dragon is considered to be not-too-bad in the Plot," Her tone was very high, and there was a kind of condescending attitude.


    Among these Transmigrators, which one of them did not have their own unique accomplishments in various fields before coming to this world, except for a few special ones? This was the accumulation of the worlds, time, and energy.


    Garen understood that although he was powerful, Nine-Tailed Fox, who was once a top great monster existence, was definitely no less than him. It was just that he did not know how powerful she was and to what extent.


    Glancing at Nine-Tailed Fox, this fellow seemed to have concealed a lot of intelligence and did not tell it out. But from her concern about the Slayer, it was clear that that fellow was far trickier to be handled than imagined. He would have at least risen to the mighty level of unnatural powers.


    Garen was also beginning to worry a little whether his previous relaxing state was too optimistic.


    He had not seen the Slayer with his own eyes. Unlike these Transmigrators, he understood the general trend, which was the so-called Plot method, and was different from them. He did not see the Slayer killing with his own eyes, but he had seen a few images in the general trend scenes and was not clear about his specific strength.


    "Should I consider whether to enhance my Sword Art by one level with the Soul Seed?" Garen contemplated. Now that he saw the state of Rainstorm Dragon, he began to wonder in his heart. If Rainstorm Dragon''s kind of level could only be evaluated as not-too-bad, how powerful then would the Slayer be that Nine-Tailed Fox and others were fearful and had to be this cautious?

 1179 Becoming Stronger 1

    Yuria used the claw on his arms to climb up to the yacht and he looked extremely miserable. He was in an all-black attire and had a short knife which looked like a short fish bayonet held tightly in his hand. He looked like he had his fair share of experience in handling a knife.


    As he managed to stabilize himself just for a moment, T-rex raised his hands as two machetes were unsheathed while he ran towards him.


    Thud thud thud. The low pitched footsteps gave off an anxious vibe as its pace increased.


    He crossed his machetes as she swung at Yuria, drawing two cold light in the air.


    Yuria panicked as he rolled out as he attempted to evade the machetes.


    "Too slow!"


    Then, he relaxed his mind. Galouro had reminded him that this strange robot was the one that was ordered to capture him and his sister before he came to this place. As this robot had just caused a bloodbath, killing and leaving behind between fifty to sixty corpses in the scene, he had already viewed this killing robot in front of him as an extremely evil person.


    "Pierce!"


    The bayonet-like short knife pierced forward without mercy.


    The knife came in contact with the opponent''s abdomen and it tried to pierce into T-rex''s abdomen. It was only then Yuria realized what he had done as his body moved and executed such a cruel technique on its own. He could not help but feel shocked as he loosened his grip.


    Clank!


    Unfortunately, while the tip of the knife had indeed came in contact with T-rex''s abdomen, it was blocked by the extremely tough shell on his body and the damage was no more than a small white scratch. Instead, the huge recoil that came from the defense almost made Yuria let go of his short knife.


    "Fool!" T-rex said as he revealed half of his mocking expression on his face. Although his movement was not fast, his arms were very agile as the machetes came striking down from above.


    Boom!


    He stared at the machetes striking the yacht''s rail guard, cutting the metals in white paint into half. His enormous strength sent the debris flying about everywhere. Some of the debris landed on Yuria''s body, causing him to flinch.


    "He has such a high defense and strength!" He swiftly took a few steps back to distance himself away from him. It was fortunate that the yacht was larger than usual as it was a middle-size boat that could accommodate dozens of people. Hence he had enough space to move about freely.


    "Is this all you got?" T-rex sneered as he kept waving his machetes towards him.


    Boom!


    The rail guard on the other end was destroyed. Yuria rolled away horribly from his original position as blood started to flow down from his face which was caused by the debris'' cut.


    Boom boom!


    Two additional holes were created on the yacht''s battering wall. The steel that had been bent into the holes became as sharp as the machete.


    Yuria kept evading T-rex''s pursuit like a monkey. Everyone could not help but feel anxious and sweat profusely for him as he would be sliced in half if he were to be careless.


    ********


    "The situation looks very dire..." Garen rubbed his chin as he said. "The opponent''s weapon is not that threatening and he can not do anything but to evade all of his attacks. The battle is over the moment he is struck even once. I don''t think there is a need to fight one on one in this battle. Won''t it be better if multiple people attack him at one go?"


    "This is where T-rex''s quality shine," Nine-Tailed Fox said lazily as she placed her arm in front of her chest.


    "T-rex''s quality? What would that be?"


    "His strength is simply too overwhelming. He installed many more engines in order to gain more strength but this has caused him to be very slow in attacking. Hence, it was natural that this situation where he could not keep up with Yuria''s reaction happened," Nine-Tailed Fox explained. "However, he has one advantage in this condition. he can immediately go oof if he were to face against multiple enemies at once!"


    "Oof? What is that suppose to mean?" Garen asked curiously.


    "It''s oof~" Nine-Tailed Fox looked at him as if he was supposed to understand her.


    "What is it? Can''t you be clearer on this?" Garen felt speechless.


    "It''s that thing!"


    "Brother''s Saber Killing Move! Four Directional Winds!!" Suddenly, Yuria''s scream could be heard from afar as he used Garen''s Saber Art Technique with the fish bayonet.


    Hopelessness could be seen written all over Garen''s face.


    "This guy... Shout as much as you like, but the first sentence of the scream is unaccounted for!"


    Boom!


    There were only three slashes from the Four Directional Winds which Yuria had executed. Although all three slashes had landed on T-rex, it was unfortunately ineffective. Then, he continued evading T-rex''s ferocious attack miserably once more.


    "I''m not done yet!!" Yuria screamed. "I''m betting everything including my reputation as Saber Two in this match!!"


    "You''re not infamous at all!" Garen could not hold himself back as he shouted.


    Nine-Tailed Fox covered her mouth as she laughed at the side.


    Clunk!


    Yuria''s latest attack finally had an effect on him.


    Yuria fractured one of his arms in exchange for landing a critical attack on T-rex''s joint.


    T-rex lost his balance and kneeled on one knee as he fell.


    Then, it was at this crucial moment!


    Thud!!


    T-rex shot out a wide net which covered a wide area in all directions. It was shot out from his back and covered an area of at least ten meters square around him, completely shrouding Yuria in it.


    "Xiaojie!" Yuria started shouting loudly.


    Boom!


    A gunshot could be heard from afar as a javelin-like item carried the net which had yet to completely fall to the ground far away from them and plunged it down into the sea at high speed.


    "That''s a close one..." Yuria wiped off the sweat on his head as he got up, looking at the Cyborg T-rex who only had one leg left.


    Although this guy looks very ferocious, he''s just an idiot with big muscle after losing his power. He''s very easy to deal with."


    "Is that so?" T-rex scoffed.


    "Still acting arrogant?!" Yuria was filled with fire. "Do you realize what you have done?! You''ve killed so many people! Do people like you from Vulture not care about the innocent people''s lives?!"


    A sense of mockery could be seen in T-rex''s gaze.


    "Do you really think you''ve won against me?"


    "You can''t even move your leg anymore. What else can you do?" Yuria tensed up as he looked around so that he would not be ambushed by the others.


    "It''s over," the biological side of T-rex''s face slightly opened his mouth.


    Buzz...


    An indescribable shockwave was shot out towards Yuria''s direction as circles of ripples spread out.


    "This... This is!!?" Yuria felt his body turning soft as if he had lost all of his strength at once and he felt unease and dizzy.


    Thud. He kneeled on the ground with a very pale face.


    The silent buzzing vibration reached Garen and Nine-Tailed Fox who were far away. It managed to travel up to hundreds of meters away.


    Both of them frowned slightly as they felt a little bit uncomfortable.


    "Infrasonic wave?" Garen whispered.


    "Correct," Nine-Tailed Fox nodded. "What would you do if you''re in this situation?"


    "Me?" Garen frowned as he pondered. "I think I would give my opponent the opportunity to keep using this infrasonic technique."


    Nine-Tailed Fox smiled and she did not say a single word.


    "It''s time for Yuria to activate his true strength."


    "His true strength?" Garen was somewhat shocked. "What are you talking about?"


    "The Four Great Cornerstones are the only four with supernatural powers on this planet. You wouldn''t think they would only have one ability, right?" Nine-Tailed Fox started to curl her hair with her finger. Her black hair started moving up slowly until the end of the hair was curled up.


    "Soon... You''ll see."


    Garen nodded his head gently as he wanted to see what kind of ability Yuria would activate as well.


    Time ticked by as Yuria''s face turned even paler and started to sweat even more. He then started to curl his body up on the deck. He did not even move at all as it kept trembling. It was obvious that he was in agony.


    Boom!


    A huge gunshot was heard from afar. It was from Yurijie.


    She was holding up her gun as she stared calmly in that direction.


    "Brother! Do you remember what Brother Saber had said?!!" She shouted. Although her expression was calm, anxiety could be seen in her gaze.


    Yuria, who was curled up on the deck had awakened from his fading conscience from this gunshot.


    "Brother... Brother Blade..."


    His memories kept playing back in front of his eyes. It was the memory of Brother Blade giving him a cruel lesson. The images quickly flashing across him soon stopped at one of the frames.


    It was Garen''s gentle smile.


    "I am the Great Saberm," it was as if that gentle voice was ringing beside his ears and the background was filled with a beautiful golden light, which was made up by the brain.


    "Don''t you know that you need to retreat if you can''t win!! You''re as dumb as a pig!!!" Garen''s expression turned for the worse. "Idiots like you who would even sell your ass away need to know that staying alive is the utmost priority if you can''t win against an enemy. As the head minister, this is the first rule that you need to obey for the rest of your life!!!!!!"


    The end of that speech seemed to reverberate in his mind as Yuria could still remember his shocked expression upon hearing it.


    "This... This is... Ridiculous!!" He and his sister were stunned.


    "Saber One, Saber Two. Do you know the true essence of combat?"


    "... No ..."


    "It means that you have to create a scenario where your opponent is weaker than you," Garen looked at the sky and sighed. "Do you know what it takes to create such a situation?"


    "No..."


    Garen then turned around and showed his big and tall back.


    "The trick is to shock your enemy!!"


    "Shock??!!"


    "Shocking... If your opponent had taken off his pants to surprise you, you''ll then have to take off more clothes to counter him back!!!" Garen turned his head around and said loudly.


    "..."


    "Why do you need to use the example of taking off one''s pants..." Nine-Tailed Fox laughed loudly.


    "It felt entertaining at the time..." Garen felt innocent as he did not expect he had landed such a huge psychological impact towards Yuria and his sister. If he recalled correctly, the siblings started calling him Brother Saber after that lecture and they looked at him with respect.


    Now that he thought about it... He could not help but sneeze.


    "Could it be that this is the Sword Master''s essence! To become more b*tchy than everybody!?" Nine-Tailed Fox held onto her stomach as she laughed to the point where her spine could not stay straight.


    "Brother Saber! Ahh!!! Power! Power is flowing out from me!!!" Yurian stood up, shouting at the sky as his voice traveled to the distance.


    "F*ck. Why am I involved in this!" Garen could not help but shout out. He felt that it was pointless for Yuria to shout out his nickname in such a serious environment.


    Tear!


    Yuria''s shirt was torn apart!


    Tear!


    His pants were torn apart as well...


    Ah!


    A few screams could be heard as the women watching from the sideline turned their line of sight away embarrassingly.


    Yuria did not seem to realize it at all. His skin was purplish red and he was holding the short fish bayonet tightly with his hand. His lower body was censored with mosaic as he rushed towards his opponent. His posture had carved its way into everyone''s memory forever.


    T-rex was stunned by his impudent actions and the sound waves were instantly weakened.


    Yuria was extremely delighted as Brother Saber''s battle strategy was effective!!


    He was convinced by Brother Saber''s warning during the battle from the very bottom of his heart. He had finally placed the idea of shame behind his mind in order to achieve victory.

 1180 Becoming Stronger 2

    Everything seemed to slow down as Yurian rushed towards T-rex with a short bayonet in his arm. It was obvious that he had borrowed the strength from the others as he used Savior''s ability. However, no one knew how many people''s worth of strength he had borrowed this time around.


    He took the opportunity and stepped forward and slashed T-rex''s left shoulder when T-rex had lessened the intensity of the soundwaves.


    Thud!!


    There was a huge thud as the bayonet in Yuria''s hand gave off a unique sound.


    Yuria had activated the Savior''s ability in which strength was borrowed from the others and finally landed a critical hit on T-rex''s electrical supply''s central pivot point, which was his left shoulder.


    It was finally over.


    T-rex fell as he stared at him with dissatisfaction. The soundwave was cut off and he was nothing but a shell without an energy source.


    On the other hand, Yuria finally revealed a bright smile while his skin stayed purplish red with his buffed body.


    "Indeed¡­ The essence of combat is to see who is more shameless..." He looked at the sun as he committed Brother Saber''s sacred advice in mind even though he did not realize his life was heading towards a twisted path no one had set foot on before...


    "Idiot!!"


    A cold voice came from the helicopter above him.


    The voice put Yuria who had relaxed down back into the anxiety phase.


    He looked up to realize that the helicopter which sent T-rex here had unknowingly arrived just above him. Inside it was a silver-haired man with a black eyepatch who was slowly wearing his white gloves.


    "What a disgusting victory!" The man said coldly. "Let me show you what a real combat looks like..." He stood up as he prepared to jump down from the helicopter.


    Slap.


    Suddenly a huge hair hand grabbed onto his arm from behind.


    "Let me handle it," a middle age uncle in white shirt squeezed to the front. He had shoulder-length brown hair and the edge of his lips were arced in such a way that he seemed to be putting on a smile on his fully bearded face.


    "Yindu," White Coat said with a smile on his face. "You have more important things to do."


    The one-eyed man did not oppose him as he scoffed and sat back down.


    White Coat gently reached out one of his hands and revealed a twisted smile.


    "How dare you, toying and destroying my puppet to such extent..." He looked T-rex in a deplored manner. "I have spent a lot of time and energy to finish modifying him..."


    Puppet!!?


    Yuria, Yurijie and even Reid who had been numbed by the chains of events felt their heart sinking.


    T-rex, that monster who had almost massacred everyone in the scene was just a puppet?!


    "Do remember my name?" The middle-aged man in the white coat clenched his fist. "I am Jiatai, the Root Doctor."


    Pew pew pew pew...


    In a blink of an eye, countless of Steel Needle flew up and went straight towards Yuria. These Steel Needles were spread out previously by T-rex and they had become a controllable weapon to this weird man!?


    Pew pew pew. It headed towards Yuria as if it was a heavy rain, hitting every single spot of Yuria''s body.


    "Brother!!!" Yurijie screamed as she panicked.


    The moment his sister''s voice reached him, he had already felt pain. He knew that the moment he heard her, he had already been struck by the needles.


    Not a single spot on his body was not in pain.


    "At times like these..." He knew that this was the result of having a huge gap in strength. His opponent''s attack was too fast and he was not able to react in time at all. "What should I do?"


    Garen''s face appeared in front of him once more as he closed his eyes.


    "Brother Saber... Tell me. What should I do..."


    "I have been extremely shameless to the point where I can''t be worse than I currently am. I still couldn''t close the gap even if I try to be as shameless as possible..."


    "At times like this..." Garen spoke. "You have to play dead!"


    "That''s right! Play Dead!!!" Inspiration flashed across Yuria''s eyes as he bit the tip of his tongue and spit the blood out of his mouth.


    He then slowly fell on his back and shut his tired eyes up.


    The blood flowed all over the place...


    "I guess I have yet become the most shameless man if I didn''t immediately think of playing dead..." As Yuria closed his eyes, a thought flashed across his mind. "This is all thanks to the Head Minister!" A sense of respect filled his heart once more.


    "If you''re still this weak and boring the next time we meet," the middle-aged man uncle in white coat spoke once more. "I''ll kill you," his undoubted confidence was embedded in his tone.


    Then, the sound of the helicopter going into the distance could be heard.


    *********


    "Is he dead?" Nine-Tailed Fox covered her mouth.


    "He''s playing dead," Garen concealed his face as he seemed to have taught a normal man into a shameless man that the world had never seen before...


    "Well, you''re the one who taught him..." Nine-Tailed Fox laughed again.


    Both of them knew that it was impossible for Yuria to die. Afterall, he was one of Four Great Cornerstones. He would at most reincarnate if he lost his physical body and it is the perk of being the Four Great Cornerstones. Only the other Four Great Cornerstones could absorb their strength and ensure that they would not be revived.


    Then, they stopped their banter as they looked at Yuria who was laying on the deck from afar.


    "Something is off," Nine-Tailed Fox frowned.


    "What''s wrong?" Garen was not as informed as the Nine-Tailed Fox in terms of the Plot.


    "According to the Plot, Yuria should have released his new ability here..." Nine-Tailed Fox said softly.


    "New ability?"


    "Yes. It is a type of Hydra-based ability," Nine-Tailed Fox''s eyes were brimming with skepticism. "However, it didn''t happen."


    "What would the end result be if we were to go with the original Plot?" Garen asked.


    "He should be seriously injured by T-rex in the original Plot. Jiatai the Root Doctor shouldn''t appear this early as well."


    "Oh? Is that so? Garen then recalled those policemen who appeared out of the blue and the man who initiated the attack. Those people seemed to be working in a group and were most likely related to the Nine-Tailed Fox. However, she did not seem to plan to talk about it.


    On the other hand, the people from Vulture, regardless if it was T-rex, the Root Doctor or even Yindu who appeared at the end of the scene most likely viewed the policemen as their enemies. It would not make sense since they killed them without any hesitation.


    "Is Vulture an organization that rebels the government?" Garen whispered.


    "That''s not possible..." Nine-Tailed Fox shook her head. "Even I am not sure what is going on at the moment. Vulture is the largest military organization in the Red Nation. Why would they go against the government? They are part of the government after all."


    "If they are not a rebel, why would they kill these policemen?" Garen continued his questioning.


    "This is something I can''t make sense of as well," Nine-Tailed Fox shook her head.


    "Let''s continue observing then," Garen said softly.


    "Alright."


    Then, Yurijie and the others soon arrived the yacht and started saving Yuria''s life.


    Yuria was quickly covered in clothes and brought over to their own yacht. The weapon merchant, Galouro ignored everyone and left the area as he brought the two siblings away. Soon, they disappeared from the crowd''s line of sight.


    "Alright. It''s time for us to head over and clean up the mess," Nine-Tailed Fox dusted her shirt and walked forward.


    Garen laughed and followed her lead.


    ********


    There was no news of the siblings for a few days ever since the attack.


    Garen and Nine-Tailed Fox stayed in the Zhatong City for two days before returning back to the Lily of the Valley. He was fortunate that Kong Xinxue had covered up the entire thing up with her lies as she said that Garen had gone to participate in some sort of a last minute summer camp to experience the learning activities. Fortunately, Kong Yuan bought his exceptional and dazzling daughter''s surreal story and there was not much of a problem from this end.


    Once they had returned, they gathered once more with the rest for a meal as they discussed the issues regarding the Plot''s deviation.


    Garen then went back alone as he started to ponder on the issue of raising his own Combat Power.


    He felt that it would be too exhausting to face against Vulture purely with Saber Art. If he were to battle on a troublesome terrain such as in the sea, he would no longer have a focus point and it would be extremely disadvantageous towards his Saber Art.


    This was because his Saber Art required extreme precision. The lethality of his attack would lessen if the deviation increased.


    Furthermore, he did not have any good solutions for dealing with long-range attacks.


    "What technique should I use to deal with fighting on the sea? Which is a very disadvantageous environment," Garen sat on his knees in his room as he pondered.


    "It''s best to stick with what I''ve been doing in the past when it comes to fighting against long-range opponents. Firearms is a good choice but I won''t be having it with me all the time. The best way is to evade and reduce the distance between my opponent and I. Unfortunately..." It was indeed very troublesome when he thought of fighting in a sea and he felt that this method was very exhausting.


    "It''s rather exhausting to fight against them purely with his Saber Art. If there were ten more monsters as strong at Vulture''s T-rex going after me, I would find it too difficult to handle them as well," Garen felt that the Steel Needles Technique was too powerful as it rained upon him. He would be in great trouble if it was combined with the infrasonic waves. The infrasonic waves were strong enough to crack the walls, hence it would be worse for him who only had a small, fragile body.


    "Whatever. It''s best for me to enhance my Saber Art the hard way. Since my Saber Art has reached Full Completion in the Realm of Sword Master, it would solve the issue of fighting straight up against them if I can go above another grade."


    The next day, Garen went to class as usual as he led and trained a team of people from the Unrestricted Combat Department at noon. The group of people kept waving their wooden sabers about as they shouted like an idiot swinging their sabers wildly.


    Garen was sitting on his knees at one side alone as he pondered on something. Suddenly, a dark shadow blocked the sun away from him.


    Garen looked up and it was Yuria who had disappeared for the past few days.


    "Saber One?"


    "No Brother Saber. I am now Saber Two and my sister is Saber One," Yuria said with a stern face.


    "Alright... Saber Two," Garen analyzed Yuria''s physical condition. "You haven''t come here for training for a few days already, right?"


    "Yes," Yuria was covered with bandages from head to toe and he looked extremely wounded. The rest of the group who were training not far away from him showed their curiosity as they saw his terrible condition and they would most likely rush towards him to ask for an explanation.


    "Judging from your terrible appearance, I assume you''ve been assaulted by someone?" Garen said as he guessed. Although he knew what had happened to him, he still had to act dumb. "Why are you here when you''re supposed to rest at home?"


    "Brother Saber!"


    Yuria then bowed down. His actions were so drastic that it would make anyone surprised.


    "Please train me!! I want to become stronger!!"


    "Oh?"


    Garen squinted.

 1181 Becoming Stronger 3

    At the outskirts of the Lily of the Valley, in a deserted mountain area.


    A group of people parked their car just beside a small forest. Garen, Kong Xinxue, Nine-Tailed Fox, and the two siblings who wished to be trained, Yuria and Yurijie, a total of five people had got down from the car.


    All of them were in the dark green camouflage military uniform with all sorts of items hanging on their bodies. They were also carrying a huge backpack, which looked rather packed.


    Nine-Tailed Fox led them deep into the forest once they had gotten down from the car.


    "This is an emergency base where my subordinate would use to train. Feel free to stay as long as you like and I''ll let you use it for free," Nine-Tailed Fox said generously.


    "Thank you," Garen nodded as he looked at Yuria. "My training towards you will start from here."


    "Understood!" Yuria replied loudly. He felt that Garen was filled with mystery. He, who was just a normal secondary school student was able to come in contact with so many mysterious things. Furthermore, he seemed to strangely have a very wide network as well and his powerful Saber Art seemed to be trained out from an actual battle.


    "Let''s go..."


    Garen then followed Nine-Tailed Fox as they headed forward swiftly.


    Yuria and his sister followed tightly from behind and Kong Xinxue was the last one walking behind everyone else.


    They walked passed a few Tripod Surveillance Towers which had swivel surveillance systems with red lights coming out from it.


    "This is the scanning system installed for this base. It can scan and detect any movement in an area of up to two hundred and fifty meters," Nine-Tailed Fox explained. "I''ve spent tens of millions on this system."


    She explained as she walked further in.


    Soon a jade-green pond appeared in front of the forest. The oval-shaped pond looked rather sticky and one could even smell the faint stench coming off from it.


    "This is it," Nine-Tailed Fox pointed at the pond.


    "This is the location?"


    Garen walked towards the pond, turned around and looked at Yuria as if there was nothing wrong with it.


    "This is where you''ll train."


    "Huh?" Yuria walked towards the pond and looked into the water confusingly.


    Then, Garen revealed a mysterious smile.


    "This is the best place for your training, where you can enhance your actual strength within a short amount of time."


    "Is that so?" Yuria looked at the stinky water inside the pond and could not figure out why this place suited him at all.


    "Don''t believe me?" Garen smiled as he gave him a strong kick on the back.


    Yuria immediately plunged into the pond and a huge splash followed along.


    Yurijie and the rest were stunned but they suppressed their doubts within themselves. They knew that Garen would never harm Yujia, hence, this action was definitely part of the training.


    "Brother Saber?" Yuria surfaced his head out of the water with a confused look on his face.


    "This is your training," Garen laughed.


    "My training?"


    Yuria was confused. It was not just him as the rest were confused as well.


    Garen then hinted him on what his next action would be.


    "Try and raise up your right arm."


    Yuria then raised up his right arm confusingly as he heard the instruction.


    His entire arm that was exposed was densely filled with black leeches, These black brown leeches were attached to his arms with their tails hanging freely downwards. they swung about freely like a bunch of black ropes...


    Yuria then swung about the leeches on his hand.


    "Are these... Leeches?... Ahhh!!!!!" He started screaming madly as his face turned green and then purple before his face became distorted. "My God!!!"


    He immediately tried to swim up towards the shore.


    "Hehe. There''s at least thirty four of them. Pretty popular," Nine-Tailed Fox was impressed.


    "That''s right..." Garen nodded.


    Yurijie looked at him from the side with a worried look as she covered her mouth with her hand whereas Kong Xinxue was just crossing her arms and observed coldly as if she was looking at a circus act.


    "What are you afraid of?" Garen moved forward and tried to kick Yuria who was almost out of the pond back down into it. "Haven''t you realized?"


    "Brother Saber! I''m dying! For real, I''m about to die...! This is a murder, not a training!!" Yuria was on the verge of crying as he fell back into the pond. This time, his entire body which was exposed to the water excluding his face was covered in leeches, which could not be pulled off.


    "Looks like you have not realized it," Garen shook his head. "Enjoy yourself inside."


    The Nine-Tailed Fox took out the ropes that she had prepared beforehand with a crafty look on her face.


    Ten minutes later... Yuria was entirely tied up and thrown into the pond. What was revealed was his face so that he could breathe


    "Help!!" He cried out loudly, but Yurijie did not come and attempt to save him at all. Instead, she was pulled to one side by someone and gave up after a few moments of hesitation.


    "Enjoy your bath. We will head in and have our meal," Garen waved his hand as he brought the rest into a small house which could be faintly seen.


    ****


    Two hours later...


    Yuria was on the verge of dying...


    Three hours later...


    Yuria was on the verge of dying...


    Five hours later...


    Yuria was really about to die...


    It''s dark...


    Yuria was...


    "Eh? It''s already dark..." He opened his eyes as he realized he had fallen asleep.


    There was a person squatting beside the pond. It was Garen.


    "Are you awake?" Garen said calmly. "How''s the sleep?"


    "Pretty comfortable. Despite it being rather smelly, it was the best sleep I have had for a long time," Yuria responded truthfully.


    "Have you realized?" Garen asked calmly.


    "What?" Yuria was shocked as the horrible memories came back to him where he was still inside a leech''s pond!!


    "Ahh!!!!" He started screaming again.


    "Stop screaming!" Garen slapped his head. "If the leeches are able to suck your blood, do you think you would be still alive?"


    "Uh.... that makes sense," Yuria reacted. He raised his hands up and looked at his arms, where all the leeches were still densely attached. However, none of them were swollen and it was obvious that none of them had sucked his blood out at all.


    "What is the meaning of this?" He finally calmed down and asked.


    "What''s going on? You''ll have to answer it yourself." Garen stood up. "Feel it carefully. Your body is currently rejecting the leeches from sucking your blood and the leeches seem to see you as some sort of a host. A host that they can attach onto."


    "A host?" Yuria did not understand the situation.


    "Yes. Try and feel it. Feel your body''s abilities. This is the essence of your training," Garen walked away slowly as he ignored him. Yuria was gifted with this ability and all he had to do was to awaken it.


    The sky gradually became darker and dimmer.


    The water had become colder as well but Yuria was not able to perceive it as his entire body was covered in a thick layer of leeches.


    "Ability? I have a natural ability?"


    He muttered softly as he realized that something was off since the leeches were not sucking his blood at all. They were just hanging by his skin as if they were a bunch of short ropes.


    *********


    "Will he succeed? With this idea."


    Kong Xinxue asked softly as she and Garen stood near the pond, peeking at Yuria who was in the pond.


    "Perhaps he will. Perhaps he won''t," Garen did not have a definite answer. "He had already awakened this ability from the previous battle and all I''m doing now is to making him realize how to utilize this ability."


    "However, it sure seems very disgusting," Kong Xinxue covered her nose. "I couldn''t help but have goosebumps just by seeing him with so many leeches attached on his skin."


    "You''ll get used to it," Garen sat on the floor. "I''ll take a rest. Just give me a shout when he realizes that he could use the ropes to escape to the shore."


    "Sure," Kong Xinxue nodded.


    Garen had something planned for himself as well, where he planned to take this opportunity to use the Soul Ring to forcibly increase his Saber Art.


    From the moment he had decided to increase it until now, he had accumulated enough Soul Energy to increase his Saber Art by one grade.


    The amount of Soul Energy required for this upgrade was actually very little. However, since this world''s restriction towards this pure energy was so great, it took Garen a very long time to accumulate to this amount.


    If it were the past him, he would not even bat an eye to spend this small amount of Soul Energy as the amount of energy that could not be sensed meant that he had only spent a very minute amount of it.


    He then stared at his Skill Pane and locked his sight on the Saber Art option.


    ''Unnamed Saber Art - Third Grade. Thorough Comprehension Realm. Full Completion.''


    It was a simple introduction since it was a foundation of all the Saber Arts that he knew. Hence, it was just a simple derivative technique.


    Garen attempted to guide the Soul Energy to connect it to this skill slowly.


    The Soul Energy then slowly but surely moved towards the Skill Pane in the form of transparent threads.


    Pew!


    The vague noise started ringing inside Garen''s ears as he witnessed the Skill Pane absorbing the Soul Energy greedily and crazily.


    He was still sitting on his knees with his eyes closed on the outside. Kong Xinxue leaned against a tree as she looked at Yuria from afar and did not notice Garen''s situation at all. She could not realize, to begin with.


    There was nothing strange going on in Garen''s body.


    The Soul Energy''s Threads were soon absorbed completely by the Skill Pane and disappeared.


    Hence, there was a new modification to the Saber Art in the Skill Pane.


    "Unnamed Saber Art +1 - Unnamed Realm, effect: All Saber Art techniques would have a +1 in speed, strength, precision. Has an unknown effect.''


    Garen was looking forward to it as his body had already reached the pinnacle of this world. Only the Ancient Endor''s civilization had this unique ability to forcibly enhance his Saber Art by a grade and caused an unknown effect, forcing a mortal''s power to a realm where one had never seen before via the Soul Ring Energy.


    "It''s unfortunate that I couldn''t find any Potential Points here since it is also one of the ways to increase my skill," Garen stood up remorsefully.


    He saw that Kong Xinxue had already fallen asleep as she leaned against the tree.

 1182 Becoming Stronger 4

    He lifted his arm to look at his watch, and couldn''t believe that it has been over three hours. He did not realize or sense the flow of time.


    "How tiresome," Garen got up and walked to Kong Xinxue.


    Swoosh!


    The eye-opening movement of this woman seemed to have some sort of a sound effect.


    Her sense of alert was strong, startling Garen the moment he went near her.


    Garen understood that everyone was focused on Yuria because he was the actual, main character. He had heard Nine-Tailed Fox mentioned once before. Even though it was not mentioned in detail but he knew more or less of it. The entire plot revolved around Yuria so following up on his movements was what they had to do.


    Currently, Yuria has yet to awaken the ability that should be done so. It may be the effect brought about by them as transmigrators, hence they would have to make up for this.


    And since Yuria discovered by chance the energy that Garen was looking for to help him grow strong, Garen went with the flow and agreed to it.


    "How is it?" He asked gently in the darkness.


    "Quite alright. Seemed to have come to a realization," Kong Xinxue nodded and stretched her arm out to tidy her long hair. Her fiery red, long mane emitted a dark red glow under the moonlight. Paired with her bright eyes and alluring body figure, it boasted a sort of temptation filled with mystery and purity.


    "I heard from Nine-Tailed Fox that no matter how she tempted you, you were still adamant to choose me?" Kong Xinxue said calmly. "Is it true?"


    "What do you think?" Garen replied rhetorically and smiled.


    "I think it''s very possible so I''m here to ask you," said Kong Xinxue. She had one arm akimbo as she continued. "Honestly speaking, I was really, really satisfied with my original brother, Kong Xiaofei. Too bad I found at the end it''s been changed to you. Can you understand that contradicting feeling of dissatisfaction yet understanding?"


    "I understand. Everyone''s the same. The original Kong Xiaofei must have the same revelation of you occupying Kong Xinxue''s body," Garen nodded.


    "Yes," Kong Xinxue nodded. "That''s why I probed into your attitude. I did not think you were the gentle kind, and without realizing it myself, I have fallen deeply for you. I enjoy teasing you, watching your every smile, every gesture. Oh, right, it''s not suitable to use every smile here. Of course, you could comprehend the sort of person I am. It''s not in my nature to fall for a maniac but it is in my instinct to do so. It was when I found out about your perverted attribute, that I fell in love with you."


    "..."


    "Do you believe what I just said?"


    "I don''t..."


    "I don''t believe myself too actually. I''m only prying into your perverted side, that''s all," Kong Xinxue''s revealed her true personality again. "I thought that with the both of us alone in such a dangerous environment, all you had to do was make a move and a weak young lady like me wouldn''t be able to fend off from being pushed to the grass and forced to ** and **. I honestly thought you''ll get all riled up to take action but now it seems like you are a safe, harmless being. I am relieved, but also saddened by the defiance."


    "So, are you saying this because you want me to do it, or you don''t want me to do so?" Garen laughed. "To push you down on the grass, rip off your clothes and underwear before I ** you violently with my **, giving you absolute pain and pleasure. I feel that this is not a bad idea after all."


    "What a vile nature. See, it''s coming out..." Kong Xinxue made a tsk sound, took two steps backward and stared at Garen intently.


    "Wasn''t it you who tempted me? Xiao Xuexue..."


    Swoosh!


    Garen lurched forward suddenly and with one arm, grabbed Kong Xinxue by the waist.


    It was obvious she went back and changed into a tight, black miniskirt and black, long stockings over her long, slender legs. She was taken aback by Garen''s sudden movement and turned to run but was seized by her waist.


    Ah.


    Before her scream could make its way out, Garen covered her mouth with his other hand. Her white, t-shirt tightened with the movement, emphasizing the outline of her bountiful bosoms, making her more alluring under the moonlight.


    Sniff...


    Garen took a big whiff of her hair.


    "You smell so good¡­" After coming to this world and deciding to completely relax here, he suddenly realized many of his suppressed urges were being aroused more and more.


    "What are you up to?" Kong Xinxue was tense. She might have a foul mouth and was constantly using filthy language, but it is the first time for her to have a guy to be in such close, physical contact with her. As Garen''s muscular body hugged her, she was overpowered by the smell of his musky pheromone.


    "What do you think I''m going to do?" Garen laughed. "Weren''t you the one who told me that during the dead of night beneath the raven moon, I should push you onto the grass and do ** and ** to you? You are powerless to resist anyway," he leaned in and whispered into Kong Xinxue''s ear.


    "Shouldn''t this kind of thing...be of mutual consent?" Kong Xinxue''s body stiffened. "A pervert like you would act so common? Even before you are able to think of a more extreme and perverted act, such a common way is definitely an insult to your noble identity!" She started to give in...


    "Still acting tough?" Garen''s wormed his finger into her mouth, stirring and playing with her silky saliva, emitting a squishing sound.


    "You uh..." Kong Xinxue could not say anything anymore.


    "Relax," Garen beamed. His other arm moved up slowly, viciously grabbing her protruding bosoms made apparent by her tight shirt.


    "Aiyaya... Am I seeing something that I''m not supposed to?" Suddenly, a listless, female voice came from the side of the forest.


    It was Nine-Tailed Fox.


    She was dressed in a tight, white leather suit, walking slowly out from deep within the forest.


    Garen''s actions halted, and he released Kong Xinxue gently.


    "Did you record it?" He asked, smiling. "I displayed classic moves which I thought of earlier!"


    Nine-Tailed Fox smiled sneakily and devilishly and gave a thumbs up.


    "Nice posture!!"


    At the side, Kong Xinxue was gasping for breath. She felt sticky with her sweat. Seeing this, she knew she had been schemed by these two.


    "You¡­ You adulterous couple!!" She yelled in rage.


    "Didn''t I say before? No matter an extrovert or introvert, you can be defeated by a woman''s body facing this sort of thing," Nine-Tailed Fox laughed with delight. She was truly a fox.


    Garen walked over from the other side. Both of them took out a miniature compact camera, turning it on to view the recording while gasping with admiration.


    "What are you up to?!" The camera was playing Kong Xinxue''s voice. She looked like a poor little girl who was about to be **.


    "Alright," Garen held the camera while smirking coldly at Kong Xinxue. "Hand over the remaining negatives. As an exchange, I can hand this to you."


    Kong Xinxue had almost calmed down. She stood up.


    "Such a despicable tactic..."


    "But I am a pervert!" Garen said matter of factly, "shouldn''t I resort to despicable tactics?"


    "Yes, Garen is known to be the lowly lord. Who asked you to underestimate him? Nine-Tailed Fox exclaimed with her sweet voice.


    "..."


    "I found it..."


    "Out of the blue, Yuria''s voice came from afar.


    "Oh?"


    The trio immediately put away their joking mood and walked out of the dark forest.


    From far, they could see Yuria standing alone in the middle of the lake. Half of his body was in the waters, there were groups of black leeches surrounding him.


    "Leeches..." The leeches around Yuria suddenly plummeted down like raindrops. Each of them dried up as if something had sucked them dry.


    Seeing Yuria''s situation, Nine-Tailed Fox was dumbfounded.


    "He''s that powerful? It looks like he has gained something significant."


    "Now onto the next event," Garen strode forward and stood by the lake to watch Yuria.


    "Next event?"


    ******


    On an empty field of green grass was a base surrounded by various monitoring and interference infrastructure.


    There were two large dirt colored circles right in the center of the field, looking like two large pits.


    Sunlight shone from above as Garen stood silently in the center of one of the pits, with a hand wielding a wooden blade. Dressed plainly in white t-shirt and jeans, his soft red hair fluttered with the wind.


    "The main purpose of this training and your mission task is to use the blade in your hands to strike me," Garen looked at Yuria, who was getting into the pit slowly.


    "Strike you..." Yuria looked at the wooden blade in his hand. It was a wooden knife over a meter long with a slight curve. It was fine and long. "Does touching your sleeve count?"


    "Yes," Garen smiled. He didn''t mind him being smarty pants.


    He snapped his fingers and Kong Xinxue who was not far away appeared by the pit, gnashing her teeth. She was holding a timer.


    "Now, I will not move and stand here for two hours," Garen dully said. "You will use your sword to touch any areas of my body. It''s considered a pass even if it''s my hair."


    "Isn''t that very easy?" Yuria chuckled. He saw his sister, Yurijie, appearing by the pit. She looked worried.


    "Brother, you have not fully recovered..."


    "It''s alright," Yuria waved his hand. "I''m almost completely healed." He turned to look at Garen. "Brother Saber, shall we begin?"


    "Yes," Garen''s lips curled. "Anytime."


    Yurijie shook her head.


    "Brother Saber is underestimating Brother. He could face off such a terrifying skilled guy earlier at the ocean... I hope Brother will be careful and not hurt Brother Saber."


    "It''s you who are looking down on your Head Minister," Nine-Tailed Fox smiled saying as she stood by the side. "Although I don''t know what sort of a cruel battle you have experienced, but...you won''t be able to fathom the true greatness of Kong Xiaofei..."


    Clang!!


    Just as she finished her words, Garen maintained his posture of holding his blade in reverse in the pit as if he never moved.


    Yuria, who charged forward towards Garen earlier, was tossed high up and fell on the dirt ground not far away with a bang. His black, training tight suit was full of dirt and stained mustard yellow in color.


    Cough cough...


    He climbed up and stared at Garen who was still motionless. His earlier relaxed demeanor disappeared without a trace.

 1183 Becoming Stronger 5

    "What... was that?" Yuria replayed the earlier scene in his head.


    He dashed forward again swiftly and struck the wooden blade on Garen''s thigh.


    He felt the wooden blade struck empty air, and he was tossed up high and cast a few meters away.


    "Again," Yuria patted the dust off his body and dashed over.


    "Forewind!!" He yelled. His wooden blade drew a streak of round arch heading at full speed towards Garen''s waist. That was also the spot where the slanting wooden blade held by Garen was undefended.


    Wham!


    An odd noise was heard. Yuria saw a blur in front of his eyes, was thrown into the air and felt his world spinning. His butt hurt, and coming to his senses, he once again crashed onto the ground not far away.


    "Again!"


    He shouted before making charging forward.


    Wham!


    "Again!"


    Wham... Wham! Wham! Wham!!


    Rounds and rounds of tossing and crashing noises were heard. Without feeling weary, Yuria charged at Garen in the pit again and again yet each time he was thrown away peculiarly.


    Every time he got up, he tried to charge at different angles but unfortunately, he has not been able to get close to Garen within a two-meter range. He would only be able to stride into the area before he was hit and tossed up again.


    "What the hell... is this?!" Yuria played back the entire process of him being thrown up over and over in his head.


    He was bruised all over and was pained all over. Beads of perspiration dripped down from his forehead and temples, sliding down his face with an itchy feeling. A few drops almost seeped into his eyes.


    "Damn it!"


    He was flustered.


    "Don''t tell me I can''t even see his moves clearly?"


    Flashes of newly realized energy slowly released from his body. It was ripples of boundless soul power.


    Yuria crouched down and arched his body like a predator about to strike his prey, sharp yet calm.


    "Brother Saber... Better be careful. I''m about to get serious. I can''t really grasp this newfound power."


    Garen did not speak. He smiled, and with one hand, held the wooden blade horizontally in front of him. He looked like an unmovable mountain.


    "Hydra!"


    This word instinctively flashed before Yuria''s eye. His soul power released by his body became bug-like crawly lines, sticking onto Garen''s body. It seemed to absorb something out of him.


    Yuria felt his body becoming a lot lighter.


    It was useful!


    His heart flashed with glee.


    He charged forward and struck with his wooden blade.


    Swoosh... Clang!!!


    The wooden blade drew an arc and stabbed at a speed doubled from before. It was then pushed upwards and struck in its body by Garen''s blade tip.


    A large force flowed from the body of the blade through its handle and into Yuria''s body.


    Fu...


    He was thrown away again without any sense of control.


    Wham!


    His body crashed heavily on the ground. It was still the same area he had crashed multiple times earlier. Pressures of pain surged into his brain.


    "Why?..." Yuria''s vision became blurry.


    "Why..." He struggled to lie on the ground and stared at Garen''s direction. He could not hear anything. He has overexerted his willpower and could not handle it any longer.


    "Why... did I still fail...?"


    Hydra''s ability had allowed him to see clearly how he was tossed away.


    It was just that once the tip of his blade hit the body, he was prised and thrown away.


    "What''s going on?" Head Minister''s voice was heard. "Can''t do it anymore? It''s only been an hour."


    "Brother...!!" His sister''s voice was heard coming from far away.


    By the pit.


    Yurijie covered her mouth and looked at Yuria with worry as he struggled to get up.


    "Brother... How could it be?" He was the person who fought off the half Cyborg T-Rex!! For someone who could slaughter a cyborg, how could he end up here...?


    Nine-Tailed Fox was fixated at Garen who was in the pit. Her eyes flashed interest and seriousness.


    "I told you, you underestimated Kong Xiaofei."


    Kong Xinxue gasped in admiration but was quickly suppressed by her strong pride.


    "That''s all he can do, bullying a young child!" She snorted coldly with disdain.


    "Relax, he''s fine. Your Brother Saber knows when to stop," Nine-Tailed Fox comforted when she saw the worry in Yurijie''s eyes.


    "Mm..." Yurijie could tell that although her brother was tossed away multiple times, he did not actually suffer any wounds. Her worries eased up a little.


    ******


    In the pit.


    "Based on the opponent you described," Garen spoke, "the opponent you want to defeat trumps on speed during attacking. In other words, he''s good at instant eruption of power."


    He drew his wooden sword gently, making a light swishing sound.


    "So I will use a simple, hastened eruption of attack against you. Channel your energy well, observe my movements clearly, try to avoid them and hit me. This is what you should be doing." Garen''s voice transmitted into Yuria''s ears. He was still crouching on the ground.


    He lowered his head, no expression could be seen.


    He initially thought that after a series of combat exchange, the difference between him and Head Minister wouldn''t be that big but now it seemed as though as Head Minister''s capability was as deep as a bottomless pit.


    The figure standing there was an indestructible mountain that he couldn''t go beyond.


    Fu... Shh... Fu... Shh...


    Every deep breath he took inhaled and exhaled got longer. He rested shortly and regained his energy.


    Yuria picked himself up from the ground and placed his wooden blade vertically against him, clenching it tightly with both of his hands.


    "I''m in debt of your teaching..."


    "Go full force," Garen responded lightly. "I don''t know where these strange power of yours come from but I only see two outcomes during battle, life and death."


    "Life and death...?" Yuria knew these words were a warning to him. If this was a real combat, he would have died several times already.


    "Come forth," Garen placed his wooden blade horizontally.


    Yuria''s hands grasped tightly on his blade''s handle. Finally, the soul power was raging all over him and slight peculiar changes were appearing on his body.


    The savior''s power was finally fully activated!!


    His muscles started to expand while his skin bruised purple and red.


    Puff!


    The first step. The first step that was stomped on the ground struck tremors in Yuria.


    Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam...!!


    With the continuous footsteps, Yuria was a fearless warrior, unafraid of death. The soul power gathered in his body and was roaring!! His body and mind charged towards Garen without turning back.


    Like a hero charging at a giant.


    Watching the changes he underwent, especially his eyes, Garen finally smiled. He stood there silently, watching him approaching closer like a roaring, attacking tiger.


    "Forewind!" X2!


    The two, same yells were heard simultaneously.


    The same move was played by both their hands. Using the same technique, the wooden blades drew the same route of arc.


    Cling!!


    The wooden blades'' tips were held against each other for the very first time.


    The blades were touching tip by tip accurately and held against without slanting on either side!!


    Yurijie covered her mouth, her eyes widened to its limit.


    Nine-Tailed Fox was visibly moved. Her earlier casualness disappeared.


    Kong Xinxue clenched her fists lightly and looked at Garen with complicated feelings.


    The wind was blowing gently. It was not by Mother Nature but rather a breeze wielded by the two wooden blades.


    A saber art that seemed to be as fast as or faster than the wind. The Forewind of the Four Directional Winds was a move that proved to be of an essence of Garen''s created saber art.


    And now this move was blocked by a student of his that he had taught for no more than two months.


    He did not hold back.


    Garen was clear on this.


    "Interesting..." Garen''s lips curled wider. He looked at Yuria whose blade was locked against his. This little guy who he thought he could easily torture had surprised him time and time again.


    Should he say no wonder he was the main character of this world?


    Even he couldn''t help but feel envious.


    Although it was a saber art that he casually came up with, to face off his move of unrestrained Forewind would take at least the Thorough Comprehension Realm to achieve the Sword Master state.


    Yuria never received any formal saber art training and his Martial Arts Realm wasn''t that high yet he possessed battle instincts and intuition that far exceeded wild beasts. His inhuman instincts enabled him to instantly capture miraculous breakthrough points. And that was the only part he could catch up on, the tip of Garen''s blade.


    This was also the only flaw of the Forewind.


    There was nothing perfect in the world. No matter how perfect a thing was, perfection itself would present a flaw as perfect meant fulfillment, and fulfillment meant self-sufficient and sealing out any exchange from the outside world without able to advance any further. This was an absolute taboo in any path.


    And so Garen placed the only flaw on the tip of the blade that has the fastest speed in the Forewind. This was an area where enemies would find it hard to capture and even experts that shared similar agility as him wouldn''t be able to discover this.


    But Yuria was able to achieve it.


    Using a series of action that was far slower than his.


    Cling!!


    The two wooden blades flung away, giving out a crisp sound of colliding metals.


    Yuria took a few steps back while Garen remained where he was without moving an inch.


    Between the two of them, one of them was gasping for air in desperation and perspiring endlessly, his sweat dripping on to the dirt ground; while the other was standing there quietly like a statue as if he had never moved at all. The two extreme end of situation drew a vivid comparison.


    For a moment, the entire field fell silent that even the three spectators did not make a sound. They were afraid to disrupt the duo. Anyone could tell that Yuria was at a crucial moment. If he could grasp that strike more accurately, he would instantly diminish the gap between strength and reach directly to Sword Master state. Even though it was after he activated all his ability that added up to his in-the-moment burst of talent, it was still breathtaking enough.


    Even for Garen, he realized this realm at the end of the first world. The Sword Master was in actual fact the equivalent of the King of the Century from the Secret Technique world. Above that would be a stage that could trigger superhuman strength but this world was restrained so the highest level in this world would be the Sword Master state.

 1184 Becoming Stronger 6

    "Are you done resting?" Garen said lightly.


    Hu...


    Yuria took a deep breath and halted his body''s movements. His eyes gleamed with never-before-seen flickers of fighting spirit.


    "I''m done."


    "Come then," Garen showed a sense of seriousness.


    The first time.


    For the first time, he placed his left hand on the handle.


    It was then that everyone realized that Garen had only been using one arm at the beginning. Just one, right hand to merely push Yuria to breathlessness.


    An unyielding pressure was emitted by Garen, mounting Yuria to the point of slight asphyxiation.


    "How powerful...!"


    He gathered up his energy, no matter if it was the borrowed force from the savior or the newly realized Hydra, he turned all of it to his own.


    Puff!


    He took a step forward dramatically, before lunging towards Garen.


    In that instance, the two wooden blades collided onto one another.


    Clang!!!


    ******


    The summer''s breeze was warm and the leaves rustled from the wind. The sun rays quavered with the flow.


    Golden fragments appeared in sight as though the entire forest turned into a golden ocean with clear ripples.


    Yuria lay flat on the ground with open arms in the pit, gasping for fresh air. He couldn''t be bothered with the sweat drenching the dirt ground and staining his body. He was exhausted beyond words.


    He felt an endless weary sweeping him away.


    Yurijie hurried to him, carrying a basin of water and a water bottle. She kneeled by her brother and carefully wiped the sweat and dirt off on Yuria with a towel.


    Pat...


    Sounds of footsteps drew near and stopped by Yuria.


    It was Garen.


    With complicated feelings, he looked at Yuria on the ground. The wooden blade in his hand was broken in half and only the lower half was held.


    "I¡­ Is that considered¡­a pass?" Yuria asked breathlessly.


    Garen was silent for a moment before closing his eyes in contemplation.


    "You''re still far from that."


    He answered in a low voice.


    "Oh..."


    Yuria smiled bitterly.


    "But this time, you passed..." Garen suddenly turned and walked away. The remaining half of the wooden blade was stocked on his shoulder. He did not even notice Yuria and his sister sharing a smile of joy and excitement behind him.


    Nine-Tailed Fox jumped into the pit agilely and walked towards Garen.


    "How proud. You''re really dead set on keeping your pride."


    Nine-Tailed Fox whispered in glee as they crossed by.


    "Say whatever you want to," Garen wasn''t in the best of moods. "Your time is up next."


    "Of course," Nine-Tailed Fox nodded and treaded lightly towards Yuria.


    "See what you did, starting at such a high point. Don''t you know it''ll be hard for me to teach you?" She walked towards the siblings and looked at both their puzzled faces.


    "Alright, your Head Minister had handed you over to me. I will be guiding you on far-ranged attack training," Nine-Tailed Fox gave a sneaky smile.


    ******


    One day later...


    After resting for a whole day, Yuria and his sister were brought to an empty basement by Nine-Tailed Fox.


    The four walls of the basement were of a black metal surface. There were tiny traces of bumps and hollows all over the walls. It was unknown what was the place used for.


    There was only one entrance and the door was a three-meter thick, heavy metal conveyor.


    The sibling duo wore bullet-proof vests and stood in the center of the basement. Each of them was holding a high-power gun. They both had a dull and absent look on their faces. It seemed that they didn''t think Nine-Tailed Fox, a young lady who looked like a student, would fiddle with such a horrifying, killing weapon.


    They had labeled Garen and Nine-Tailed Fox as mysterious students and these impressions were crushed so badly by these two guns.


    Nine-Tailed Fox stood opposite them with her back against the wall. She was wearing a black, tight suit that outlined her bosom and lower half body finely. The sort of sexy, tight outfit that sent little student blushing.


    Both Garen and Kong Xinxue stood and watched by the side.


    "And now," Nine-Tailed Fox spoke gently, "I will train you on how to react to an intensive quick-range attack. Base on the opponent you described, he seems to be fitting to this style."


    "Mm," Yuria focused his mind and nodded solemnly. "Yes, large-scale magnetic pins attack. He would first lay down a large number of pins so that he could draw them to attack anytime."


    "Then it''ll be easy," Nine-Tailed Fox smiled. "What you need is how to avoid this sort of quick and mass attack, how to find out a way out from the storm."


    "So what should I do?" Yuria was earnest to learn.


    "What should you do?" Nine-Tailed Fox lifted the gun in her hands. Her smile became eerie.


    Seeing the gun in her hands, the sibling duo suddenly thought of a discouraging possibility.


    "Don''t tell me..." The duo''s faces darkened.


    Bang!!


    The gun fired.


    "As expected!!!!" They turned as pale as ghosts. No wonder they were required to wear bullet-proof vests. Firing a high-power gun in a secret lair with highly reflective metal walls was plain murder!!


    "Hehe, you guessed it right!" Nine-Tailed Fox beamed, revealing her small, canine teeth. "Too bad there are no prizes for that."


    Ding Ding... Clang!


    The bullet ricocheted in the basement. Its trajectory was too fast to be captured by the eye, only ricocheting shots could be heard and the marks of golden fiery sparks were seen scattered on the walls and ground.


    The sibling duo crouched down with their hands over their head, laying flat on the ground. They didn''t dare move an inch. Their faces were distorted with fright.


    Clang!


    A ricochet bullet landed on the floor not more than half a meter away from them.


    Ah!!!!


    The duo screamed out of fear. Their faces were pale as they hugged each other tightly.


    Standing by the side, Garden was speechless at the sight of both of them.


    "I was still envious of this young fellow. I spent quite a long time to realize the realm yet this guy caught up using some mess of an ability. But now it seems..." He shook his head helplessly as he sighed.


    Kong Xinxue also went pale. She retreated discreetly behind Garen in an attempt to use him as a shield. Ricocheting bullet has aimless targets. Whoever was hit only had bad luck to blame.


    "You maniacs, can''t you give a warning before opening fire."


    "Scared?" Garen looked at her teasingly.


    "No!"


    Kong Xinxue would never admit that. Suddenly, she saw the change in Garen''s face as he looked at the wall behind her.


    "Careful!"


    He shouted.


    Ah!!!


    Kong Xinxue rushing into Garen''s embrace as she gave a blood-curdling scream.


    "Hahaha!!" It was when she heard Garen''s guffaws that she realized she was fooled.


    "You!!" She immediately broke away, wanting to curse.


    Swoosh!!


    Out of a sudden, a flash of silver appeared between them.


    Garen nonchalantly sheathed his long blade into its scabbard.


    A black bullet was slashed in half and dropped by their feet with a clang.


    Kong Xinxue was startled. The chill in that instance and seeing the flickering silver light, she thought that Garen was raising his blade at her. She would never forget that undismissable sense of suppression.


    "What a saber technique!" Nine-Tailed Fox clapped. "But our Ah Xue seemed to be frightened off her wits," she teased.


    "You''re the one scared off your wits!!" Kong Xinxue has actually never experienced such random, dangerous combat world in the past few worlds. It has been a peaceful journey for her. Although she knew Nine-Tailed Fox back then, she knew they were different from her but she did not take it to heart. This time was different. Having witnessed first hand of that saber art, she felt fear.


    "Head Minister... Are you sure you''re human!?"


    Yuria got up in disbelief.


    Yurijie nodded with force. If it weren''t for her seeing it with her own eyes, it would be hard to imagine a human being taking down a bullet with a cold weapon. Even if the bullet ricocheted a few times, causing the speed to decrease, it was trajectory that could be caught by the naked eye.


    Garen smiled.


    "Focus your mind on it. After the first ricochet, the bullet isn''t as hard to catch anymore."


    "Yes," Nine-Tailed Fox clapped. "Now you two fire at me. Don''t worry, I have changed the bullet to a special kind. Those that are hit will not die. At most it will cause this huge of a wound," She gestured circles about the size of a knuckle.


    "This is what you call a special bullet?!! What difference is this from an explosive bullet!?" Yuria was absolutely terrified. "No... This is not considered a bullet anymore? This is a cannon..."


    "I''m sure it''s not a cannon," Nine-Tailed Fox could guess what he was trying to convey. "So, to avoid death and to protect your sister, young man, bring your strongest instinct to full play!" She gave a thumbs up, "do your best!"


    "Do your best my ass!" Yuria wanted to scream but Nine-Tailed Fox did not provide him the chance. She held her hand up to the ceiling and fired the gun again.


    Bang!


    The bullet started ricocheting.


    Bang bang bang bang bang!!


    This time it wasn''t just one bullet. Nine-Tailed Fox knew they both of them were unwilling to open fire so she blew six shots continuously, finishing a round and tossed the gun aside.


    Swoosh swoosh swoosh swoosh!


    Four of the ricocheting shots rebounded towards her.


    A white ribbon appeared in her hand. Nine-Tailed Fox agilely made a turn and dodge the bullet at ease like an acrobat dancing on the tip of a sword. The white ribbon fluttered gently as though she was presenting a beautiful dance.


    The sibling duo watched with eyes wide open.


    Garen paid close attention to Nine-Tailed Fox''s movements.


    "Awesome... Her speed has already surpassed that of human..."


    "She once said that although her demonic arts couldn''t be used, the monstrous body attribute has left behind some superhuman abilities such as this speed," Kong Xinxue said in a low voice. After that blade-slash by Garen, she has calmed herself down. Although she was still nervous, she was not as afraid as before.


    "Oh, really?" Garen fell deep into his thoughts.

 1185 Business Talk 1

    Swoosh!


    A specially made bullet swept by Nine-Tailed Fox''s ear. In that course of direction, the bullet seemed to slow down, gently brushing her hair before firing off.


    Swoosh swoosh swoosh swoosh!!


    And then in a blink of an eye, it resumed to its hastening speed. A few ricocheting bullets leaped past her without touching her body, clothes or even the ribbon on her hair.


    "Shoot me!" Nine-Tailed Fox suddenly gave a dazzling smile and yelled at the sibling duo.


    Ah!!!


    Yuria and his sister jumped in surprise. They couldn''t help but pulled their gun''s trigger.


    Bang bang bang!!


    Ah!!!! There was no safety catch!!


    With pale faces, the sibling duo was visibly shaken by the enormous counterforce. But how could the gun shoot just like that? There was no safety catch whatsoever...


    The bullet ricocheted everywhere. This time it rebounded here and there without any pattern, increasing its possibility of danger.


    Even Garen who was standing on the side grew solemn.


    "She''s really at it recklessly... This sort of specially built gun is big trouble using it on people."


    Kong Xinxue couldn''t be bothered with her pride. She hid tightly behind Garen.


    Pat.


    Suddenly, Nine-Tailed Fox snapped her fingers. Her lips curled into a peculiar smile.


    "Open."


    Buzz!


    The wall behind her trembled violently, a large magnetic force appeared out of nowhere.


    Clang!


    A bullet was sucked into it.


    But more ricocheting bullets were still drawing a winding trajectory and all heading towards the direction of Nine-Tailed Fox.


    "Nine-Tailed!"


    The white ribbons around Nine-Tailed Fox shot out in all directions. With swooshing sounds, nine, white ribbons spread out like a fox''s nine tails, fluttering and waving swiftly. The instantaneous display embodied a peacock fanning its tail.


    Reacting promptly, Nine-Tailed Fox stepped forward and dashed towards the flying bullets.


    "Watch carefully!"


    In a white flash, she bent down slightly and landed on a surface not far away. The white ribbons behind her were retrieved.


    Everything went completely silent and all that was left was her down on one knee.


    "Where are... the bullets?" Yuria hugged his sister, still frightened. Hearing the silence, he regained his composure slightly and looked at Nine-Tailed Fox. He could not bear to watch earlier. The image of such a beautiful, young lady being blown in the head was something he would never want to come by. It was simply too cruel.


    He just closed his eyes.


    Swoosh. Nine-Tailed Fox stood up with a gentle smile on her face.


    Extending her arm, there were nine bullets of various sizes in her palm. Some bullets were crushed to a few pieces but she caught them all.


    "Did you watch carefully?" Nine-Tailed Fox''s turned her palm down, letting the bullets to fall freely onto the ground.


    "...!"


    Yuria swallowed his saliva. He was totally oblivious of what happened earlier.


    Yurijie lifted her hidden head from his embrace. She was puzzled by the silence. Although she was baffled, she felt relieved. She was not clear what had happened.


    Only Garen who stood beside watched the entire process. He applause.


    The clapping was crisp, loud and clear in the space.


    "What a skillful ribbon art... more so on your dodging skill," he complimented. "Such a dodging level of ability really surpassed that of human..."


    Nine-Tailed Fox''s evading speed was far beyond any regular being. She must have used some special tactic to enhance it just like him. This sort of ability that did not belong to mortals would require a heavy price to pay.


    Garen himself has the Soul Ring Power while Nine-Tailed Fox should possess something similar. She was a thousand-year-old demon after all and who could tell for sure for those who transmigrated and experienced various worlds.


    With the flow of time, a few hours clocked in quickly.


    Nine-Tailed Fox had already drawn out more than ten guns and fired them nonstop. Shell casings were scattered on the ground.


    The sibling duo had many bullets scraped past them. Sweat drenched their frightened bodies. Their faces were pale white to the point of dehydration.


    "How is it?" Nine-Tailed Fox maintained her composure without breaking a sweat. She treaded lightly around them. She was playing with a white ribbon in her hand, like a child playing with a toy. One could not tell she was the same person who dodged multiple bullets.


    "Just how do we... dodge...?" Yuria carefully observed Nine-Tailed Fox''s figure, "I... I really have no clue!" Sweat dripped from his forehead into his eyes. He wiped it away quickly opened his eyes. Nine-Tailed Fox''s face was in close proximity, so close that the distance between their noses was only a finger''s width.


    He was startled and quivered.


    Swoosh!


    Nine-Tailed Fox leaped back a few meters, as agile as a deer.


    "Looks like there''s no realization. Let''s continue then. Ah Xue, please help to collect some bullet cartridge. It''s piled up at the passage just outside the door."


    "Alright!... Alright!" Kong Xinxue ran out to the opened passageway. Not only was there a strong smell of gunpowder, her life was at risk. It was not the place to be. She couldn''t wait to get out of there and now was the chance.


    Garen carried his blade and walked to the side of the wall, laying against it to rest. Seeing Nine-Tailed Fox''s figure, her dodging postures was on play-back in his mind.


    "Such a strange, evading ability. It is not at the level of humans. She definitely depended on some sort of special ability to enhance it. That maneuvering speed is faster than mine. My instant attack is quicker than hers but dodging and maneuver are unlike hers."


    He compared between them and felt that he and Nine-Tailed Fox has their own pros.


    In the next session, Nine-Tailed Fox held a gun and fired at Yuria without holding back. She aimed at dangerous areas such as Yuria''s clothes and hair each time.


    This frightened Yuria to the point that he dared not move at all.


    A day of training quickly came to an end. Bullet casings and bullet fragments scattered around, densely covering the entire ground.


    The night was near and the secret room was getting dark. Sunlight was fading from the bullet-proof window on the top, sinking the secret room into darkness.


    The first day of bullets-dodging training ended officially. Yuria felt he came up empty-handed except that his heart was about to fall off.


    Yurijie was a nerve-wreck. She collapsed on her bed as soon as she reached the central resting bed in the base. She didn''t even think of showering before she hit the sack.


    The base has a specific showering area but it was hogged by Nine-Tailed Fox and Kong Xinxue. Garen lay in bed, his sharp ears could clearly hear the two ladies fooling around.


    Bam bam bam.


    Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.


    "Come in," Garen didn''t need to guess who it was. "The door''s not locked."


    Hesitating for a bit, the door opened with a creak.


    Yuria walked in. His body reeked of scents of ointment and medicine. A band-aid was stuck on his nose. That was evidence of a bullet scraping the bridge of his nose during the day.


    "Brother Saber."


    "Sit," Garen did not get up. He continued lying in bed. There was only one chair in the room for Yuria to sit down.


    "I''m here to seek your advice on the matter that happened during the day," Yuria was direct.


    "Day?" Garen replied non-committally. "Didn''t you train the whole day? Still not gaining anything?"


    "You can tell," Yuria gave a bitter smile. "I really learned nothing! I have tried to use all my power to trace the trajectory but it was no use... If it weren''t for sister Nine-Tailed Fox avoiding the vital organs, I don''t know how many times I would have died."


    He sat down in the chair and took a deep breath. A sense of sorrow surrounded him.


    Garen didn''t even bother to lift a finger.


    "Whether you gain anything or not, won''t you know once you put it to test?"


    "Put to test?" Yuria was stunned. He did not know how to try it out.


    Clang!


    A silvery chill slashed towards his neck, striking a streak of arc in the dark room.


    Chills went down his spine as Yuria didn''t think twice to throw himself backward. He saw the blade hacked no more than one centimeter from his forehead, severing a fringe of his hair in half.


    "Not bad, young man." Garen sheathed his blade and returned to lie in bed.


    Yuria was in a daze. He sprawled down on the ground in an attempt to evade the stab. Now, even the cold ground could not hide his pleasant surprise.


    "I... dodged? Did you hold back, Brother Saber!?" He immediately reacted to it and got up shouting.


    "No," Garen yawned. "It was the same as when I tackled you. This is my normal attacking speed."


    "..." Yuria''s expression was strange. Surprise, joy, pain, struggle, everything was on display in his face. "... Really?"


    "Yes."


    Garen closed his eyes and replied listlessly.


    Yuria stood there flabbergasted for a moment before decisively giving a bow salute to Garen. He turned and left in a hurry. The energy released by him was entirely different now.


    If what Garen said was true and he did not hold back, that means he started from struggling to block against Garen''s strike to evading his ambush. This level of improvement was quite evident.


    Hearing Yuria running out in joy, Garen who was lying in bed, opened his eyes.


    "The fruition that I worked so long to achieve... was caught up by this young fellow in a few days... isn''t he the main character?" He had a complicated expression in his eyes.


    It would be uncomfortable for anyone whose many years of fruition be caught up in a few days. This was envy, an envy that saw his years of work and sacrifice not to be worthwhile.


    ******


    The training was the same on the second day. The difference was that Yuria went on site alone while Yurijie stayed on the sidelines. Only Yuria could tackle such high difficulty level of evading training so Yurijie who possessed no special powers was off the hook.


    Nine-Tailed Fox changed her tactic.


    The two metal walls top and bottom interchanged to release large magnetic force.


    Wham!!


    Countless bullet casings on the ground fired up into the air in extreme speed.


    Yuria stood in the center.


    "Winds of Four Directions!!" He yelled. Four white blade lights appeared around his sword. He cast away a large number of shell casings amongst clanging sounds.


    But many bullet fragments still penetrated the defense net and hit him.

 1186 Business Talk 2

    Wham!


    A pry bar that was sucked up and stuck with countless bullet shell casings on the wall suddenly dropped from above crashing towards him.


    "Upwind!!" Yuria defended with his saber art.


    Garen stood on the side watching, yawning at times. The training has been going on for a few hours. Once the defense was missed, Yuria would receive an inhuman punishment, that is to run naked...


    The bullet fragments pulled by the giant magnetic force have sharp edges. Under the high velocity, it easily tore Yuria''s clothes, especially when the bullets flew from the bottom up... sounds of his pants tearing up could be heard.


    Nine-Tailed Fox chuckled as though she was watching a comedy as she manipulated the magnetic force to open and shut. It seemed like she was playing and having fun rather than training him. Yuria really had the worst of luck to have her as an instructor.


    Finally, the training came to an end.


    Yuria improved at the speed of light. From being punished to run naked at the beginning to not being bothered about it anymore. His dodging ability also improved from being a mess to only a small amount of fragments escaping from his defense.


    "Hydra!" Yuria suddenly yelled. His skin became purplish red. His muscles expanded. His body thickened. He activated the force of Savior and Hydra at the same time.


    "Four Directional Winds!!" He held his saber with both hands and four blade sparks rose in connection by him, instantly blocking a large number of bullet fragments flying upwards from the ground.


    "Almost there," Nine-Tailed Fox clapped and stopped the magnetic force. She treaded over. "If you meet that opponent again, your current state should be able to catch up to his attacking speed as well as other large-scale dense and far range shooting."


    "I feel it too," Yuria nodded heavily. "Thank you for your guidance!" From these recent days spent together, he now knew that Nine-Tailed Fox wasn''t as young as she looked. He began to address her respectably in replacement of the earlier casualness.


    "Now, you should do what you should be doing," Garen got up and walked near.


    "Do what I should be doing..." Yuria smiled bitterly. He did not know how he should answer.


    He only meant to look for his mother but after meeting Galouro and learning about a series of events, he wasn''t that worried about his mother''s whereabouts. The only thing he was concerned was when that self-proclaimed root doctor, Jiatai, would come and seek trouble.


    The Vulture''s capabilities were too powerful, and he felt asphyxiated with the pressure and stress.


    But they didn''t let him off the hook just once. They bore no murderous intent when they had the absolute upper hand, there must be some unknown reason.


    "Brother, it''s all on you to take care of the person from the Vulture," Yurijie walked over and whispered. Witnessing the training for the past few days, she had attempted to catch up on brother''s progress but unfortunately, she possessed no special abilities. She couldn''t keep up with this explosive type of improvement. She could only back down and watch at the sidelines.


    "Relax," Yuria regained confidence. "Comparing our lower limit, he can''t possibly win!" He clenched his fist.


    "..."


    Garen, Nine-Tailed Fox and Kong Xinxue could do nothing about it. Garen''s seemingly joking combat ideology has been deeply embedded into Yuria''s heart and now it was to see if the original script would continue to roll on.


    ******


    After the special training, everything resumed to normal.


    Yuria and his sister remained in Lily of the Valley, without leaving again.


    Garen and Kong Xinxue ''traveled'' back home, reuniting with the transmigrators to discuss the plot''s current trend.


    Garen managed to pick up intel about the Four Great Cornerstone from these people.


    Savior, Mind Reader, Illusionist, Slayer.


    Four main characters forever transmigrating and rebirthing. They would naturally experience overlapping lives each time, whether against each other or as alliances. There was some sort of magnetic force between them, attacking them together.


    A group of people gathered in Nine-Tailed Fox''s seaside villa to discuss the upcoming strategy.


    "So you''re saying that the remaining three Great Cornerstones have yet to appear. The only one we can confirm is Yuria, the Savior?" The female cop, Li Hua asked. She has a quick temper and was proficient in the snatching type of close combat wushu. She could be considered an expert but compared to the Vulture... her capabilities were similar to Silver, perhaps inferior. However, combat was not her strongest but rather her marksmanship. It was said to be revered of.


    "What about Yong He? What do you think?" Uncle Technician looked at Nine-Tailed Fox.


    Garen was sitting on the side and it was the first time he heard someone calling Nine-Tailed Fox Yong He. This seemed to be her other formal name.


    "That''s easy..." Nine-Tailed Fox beamed, "Why don''t we just help Savior? We lend our powers to him and the more he''s powerful, the safer we are."


    "Getting involved in this and following the original plot, many who lent their power to Savior have died. Is it really a good idea?" The young lady with the ginger hair, Yuan Xing, frowned. She was a mature uncle in the past life. The steadiness characteristics of the uncle and the background of the beautiful young lady mixed together gave a peculiar paradox.


    "Or I''ll arrange everyone to go to other countries by sea to avoid the disaster." Her family has an abundant financial resource in this life, charting the top hundred in the world. Arranging this matter would be a cinch.


    "What about my pigs?" Xu Yuan, a brunette beauty, curled her lips, "I have just invested three hundred million in the new farm."


    "Pigs pigs pigs! Is there anything in your brain other than pigs?" Yuan Xing smacked her.


    "But..."


    "No buts! I will compensate you on your pigs," Yuan Xing was annoyed.


    "Now the problem is to first ascertain when the remaining Four Great Cornerstones are arriving. Although we, as transmigrators, are not within the control range of the Four Great Cornerstones'' ability and will not be manipulated by the Mind Reader and Illusionist but on the contrary, this sort of attribute would definitely trigger their attention and get them alerted," Nine-Tailed Fox explained calmly.


    "Everybody pitch in, how do we help?"


    "I will cover the expenses," Yuan Xing flung her arm in generosity. "A budget of fifty billion at the very least!"


    "I will take care of the firearms and provide an emergency special task force of around two hundred manpower. They are military elites discharged from various nations! They can handle a few T-Rex sorts of experts without any problems!" Nine-Tailed Fox was confident.


    "I can handle the logistics of biochemical drugs," Pan Pan said. Seeing Garen''s unwitting eyes, he smiled. "Although I am a chef, I have researched a lifetime of biochemical and medicinal my past life. I was a top academician hired by the country. After all, I have lived a few generations and can''t simply do without any capability."


    "I''ll be in charge of intel," Kong Xinxue spoke with confidence. "I will settle any possible intel turning up on the web, as well as offense and defense."


    "We will be counting on you for head-on combats, Yong He and Li Hua," Yuan Xing looked at Nine-Tailed Fox and female cop, Li Hua.


    "No problem. Leave the far range to me, and close combat to Yong He," Lu Hua answered solemnly. She then glanced over at Garen.


    "Come to think of it, Garen''s ability is quite good. He can take on the mid-range cadres of Vulture. We need a base for our logistics and when the time comes, we''ll depend on you to defend and sound the alarm."


    The way they saw it, although Garen was strong, it was only limited to ordinary people. Taking on the real experts in this world would be beyond his reach.


    This level of playing field could only be tackled by Nine-Tailed Fox and Li Hua as an aid.


    Only with Nine-Tailed Fox in all her seriousness was the strongest existence among the transmigrators.


    "Once Slayer appear, we''ll depend on you, Yong He," Li Hua solemnly told Nine-Tailed Fox.


    "Relax," Nine-Tailed Fox expression grew stern. "Once it''s that time, I will unleash that."


    "I don''t have a problem here," Garen did not push it. He wasn''t in the know on how strong Slayer would be, being the finest in this world and judging by Nine-Tailed''s tone, she still has a stronger trump card in hiding.


    The transmigrators who were present could deduce that Nine-Tailed was the strongest and holding them together. With her on the top, the others could take a seat back and relax.


    "Apart from me, if Slayer were to really appear and go against us, aren''t there still Demonic Lamp and Sea God in the front line? With two almighty blocking in the front, we can be at ease a little," Nine-Tailed Fox said in a low voice.


    "It would be great if they could take part, but I contacted friends from the other two continents a few days ago," Yuan Xing smiled bitterly. "Demonic Lamp went to another world for a mission. He won''t be able to return for another three to five years. Sea God''s whereabouts are unknown. If he went to another world, then it would be troublesome."


    "Demonic Lamp, Sea God?" It was the first time Garen heard of these two names.


    "Mm, these two elites hit it off the best in this world," Kong Xinxue whispered explaining to Garen. "Demonic Lamp is now the vice president of Slann as well as military head minister with military power over the country. If he could dispatch the troop to encircle and annihilate then Slayer may not stand a chance no matter how strong he is. He''d have no choice but to reincarnate."


    "Savage!" Garen nodded. This planet was a lot larger than the few planet worlds he had experienced. It was indeed savage to be able to make it thus far in a world with huge restrictions.


    "What about Sea God?"


    "The leading expert of the Manatee Clan. It''s not human but a large animal being and live in the oceanic trench in the deep sea. Its body is tough beyond imagination and stretch as long as a few thousand meters, about the size of an island. One sweep of its tail could overturn a million ton-class vessels.


    After it reincarnated to a manatee, it focused on cultivating martial arts. Moreover, he had once reincarnated into the world of heroes and now he has become an overlord of the entire ocean," Kong Xinxue introduced briefly.


    "Not human huh... Tsk tsk," Garen''s competitiveness died. With the existence of such a huge being, he in his current, tiny state could be killed with just a sneeze. He thought that he had developed fast in this lifetime but he did not think that there would be someone crazier. Those who trained to such level in this world were really true maniacs.

 1187 Duel 1

    "I''m just going to focus following up on Yuria then. After all, the Savior''s friendship must be continued," Garen said.


    "That''s not a bad point. You and Yuria have a natural, master and disciple relationship, just take advantage of this," Nine-Tailed Fox agreed. "However¡­ I still feel that something is wrong. Ever since the plot has changed, I''ve already felt this."


    "You too?" Li Hua frowned. "Same here. When we were tracking down Vulture''s deployment staff and we fought hand in hand with the two long-range gunmen, I''ve already sensed that the situation seems to have derailed from the original plot. Shouldn''t Vulture''s main focus be on the Saviors at the moment?"


    "We should look into this." Right now, Nine-Tailed Fox really seemed like a big shot and not that common, mischievous and adorable little girl.


    Garen sat in the corner looking at everyone discussing every possibility. His mind, on the other hand, had drifted far away.


    "I''m going to go wash up a bit." He was a bit bored and whispered to Kong Xinxue. She was currently in the midst of a discussion with Yuan Xing regarding staff placement issues and nodded her head in acknowledgment.


    Garen got up and left the room, closing the door softly behind him.


    The door was definitely soundproof. Not far away, two stalwart bodyguards decked in black uniform glanced over, then retracted their stares swiftly.


    Walking on the thick black carpet, Garen soon came to the washroom. He stood in front of the golden-rimmed mirror and sized himself up.


    Staring back in the mirror was Kong Xiaofei''s figure. His short, red hair, his features firm and delicate, his strong physique, his stocky and imposing build, and his solid muscles bulging beneath his white shirt.


    He turned on the faucet, hot water streamed out and washed into the sink beneath it.


    Garen splashed water on his face a few times, and took deep breaths, feeling much better and relieved.


    He could still hear the vague engine and honk sounds from the boats out in the sea. There were people messing and playing around with each other, which made quite a bustling scene.


    "Staying on in this world is not an idea, I should go on some missions and earn some Contribution Points. I guess I''ll drop by the Lighthouse Headquarters and have a look." Garen had this sudden thought in his mind. This world had already confirmed the battle among the Four Great Cornerstones and with huge organizations like Vulture involved in it, the safest choice would be keeping his distance from the hub.


    As for Li Hua and the others, perhaps they were the only ones who knew the real purpose they forcefully included themselves in the plot. Contribution points would be one thing, and the second purpose would be gaining benefits from it.


    After all, the Four Great Cornerstones were the most mysterious beings in this world, possessing such extraordinary powers in a world with such strict restrictions. If Garen was able to gain a clear idea of this cause and master the principle, he would then be able to achieve this world''s lowest grade of martial powers if he transmigrated to other worlds.


    "Perhaps some of the people here were also pulled into this and so they had to take the initiative, like Yuan Xing, Kong Xinxue, and even Pan Pan; whereas some others might be here merely for beneficial purposes, like Li Hua and Nine-Tailed Fox."


    After having a rough understanding of the current situation, Garen decided to put himself in earlier on due to the Soul Energy Forces. Fully adapting to this identity was probably one of the centers of the whirlpool. Later on, Kong Xinxue would basically become Athena who would be constantly kidnapped in the plot. The part where the mind reader fell in love with Kong Xinxue was the most crucial part of the original plot.


    "But now, I''m afraid I can''t just join out of boredom anymore¡­" Garen forced a smile as he turned the faucet off. Lifting his head, he analyzed his face in the mirror.


    All of a sudden, a black figure walked by the corridor outside behind him.


    "?"


    Garen frowned slightly. The reflection he saw from the mirror was a short silhouette and it seemed like a girl. Due to her speed and he was not paying attention, he missed it.


    Turning around, the empty corridor stared back at him.


    "My hearing shouldn''t have degenerated to this point, should it?"


    Other than his sense of sight, he was slightly doubtful about his two other senses. With his Sword Master grade of sense, there was definitely no way he would miss anyone nearby.


    He recalled the black figure from just now. It seemed to be a little girl dressed poorly in tattered clothes, she had long hair, but aside from that, the rest was sort of a blur to him.


    "Perhaps there are other transmigrators? There are guards stationed everywhere here and people standing guard front back left right, there''s no way anyone can just casually enter and leave," Garen''s inner intuition was ringing.


    He walked out and stood at the golden corridor, he noted the attentive guards on duty at both ends of the corridor.


    Frowning as he made no discovery, Garen returned to the washroom to dry his hands with the hand dryer. Then only did he go back to the room where everyone was discussing the problem.


    *********************


    Sweeping across the blue sea, the seagulls screeched loudly and together with the sounds from the waves, it gave off a refreshing feeling.


    The sun shone on the sea''s surface, standing on the beach one could see sparkles of gold on the sea''s surface.


    "How wealthy¡­!" Yuria was strolling on the beach with his sister. Passing by the beach umbrellas, he could not help but gawk at the beautiful ladies under the umbrella sunbathing with their bare naked chests.


    "Brother¡­ Can you not embarrass me?" Yurijie could not help but pinched him hard. Both of them were wearing orange colored swimsuits, just that hers was a bikini. However, her figure was obviously overshadowed by most of the beauties on the beach. As she observed Yuria''s gaze constantly fleeting toward the ladies, her heart was full of jealousy.


    "Why is it embarrassing!" Yuria was like a legendary who had no clue on how to conduct himself with dignity, he did not even feel guilty for stealing a few more glimpses. "Aren''t I just fulfilling their original intention of dressing up by staring? Think about it, these gorgeous ladies spent so much effort to doll up, but if nobody even enjoys or appreciate their effort then what''s the use of it."


    "Well, you could at least be a little more discreet! Such an embarrassment!" Yurijie complained as her face turned a bright shade of scarlet red.


    "Why is it embarrassing?" Yuria shook his finger, "Xiaojie, seems like you have yet to truly realize Brother Saber''s essence!"


    "Essence?" Once the topic related to Garen was brought up, Yurijie''s face instantly turned solemn. "What essence?"


    "I remember Brother Saber once said, if you want to achieve victory, you have to use some sort of secret technique or an unexpected attack to catch your enemy by surprise. Shock them so much that they can''t react on time, and then you''ll be able to succeed." Yuria was getting slightly proud as he spoke about his feelings. "So I came to a new realization of this principle."


    "What principle?"


    "That is¡­" As Yuria was about to talk about the true meaning of Sword Master, his eyes suddenly stared at a lone pleasure boat out at sea.


    The white pleasure boat was straight towards the both of them swiftly. Two figures could be seen standing at the bow of the boat from afar.


    One of them had his arms crossed around his chest. He was tall and muscular with a doctor''s white coat draped over his suit that was being blown by the sea breeze, which made him neither fish nor fowl.


    "That''s very fast¡­" Yuria''s expression panicked.


    "What?"


    Turning around, Yurijie saw the two people on the pleasure boat.


    The other person was selectively ignored by the sibling duo as their focus was entirely upon the Root Doctor, Jiatai.


    Faraway, Root Doctor greeted them with a wave of his hand, smiling.


    "No, not here! There are too many people here! The innocent will be hurt!" Yuria looked around. The horrible sight of police''s corpses lying everywhere came to mind and his heart fell. The unscrupulous behavior of Vulture''s men definitely left an impression on him.


    "Xiaojie, go find Brother Saber. Give Galouro a call too and tell him the situation over here, I''ll handle the Root Doctor!" Yuria said firmly.


    "No!" Yurijie was alarmed, "I want to be with you¡­""Listen to me!" She was straight away cut off mid-sentence, and Yuria had never looked so serious before.


    "Don''t worry, I''ve been through so many miserable trainings just to be ready for this day!"


    "Brother¡­!" Yurijie exclaimed with concern.


    "Go quickly!"


    Yuria pushed his sister and started marching towards the part of the beach in the distant where there were lesser people.


    Yurijie gritted her teeth, this had already happened, all she could do was to find Garen and the others as soon as possible to save her brother on time.


    Getting up, she swiftly ran in the direction of Nine-Tailed Fox''s villa by the sea.


    ********************


    "What! The Root Doctor is here?!" Garen stood up, blurting out in shock. He stared at Yurijie who was panting in front of him. Nine-Tailed Fox and the others were still in the room discussing details as he leaned against the doorframe outside to take a breather. Just when he was starting to feel bored, he saw Yurijie, who was invited along, running towards him. The moment she approached him, she blurted out the distressing news.


    "Yuria went alone?" He pulled out two of his long sabers and asked solemnly.


    "Yeah, Brother says he''ll be fine himself, but I''m still worried¡­" Yurijie''s face was full of concern.


    "Lead the way."


    Garen was silent. It was still uncertain whether the Savior really did grow up. In the event they were unexpectedly messed by Vulture''s men, all their previous hard work would be wasted. One of the reincarnation characteristics of the Four Great Cornerstones was that once one dies, one would have his or her memories wiped out and would not remember one''s identity.


    Therefore, the only way to maintain his relationship with the Savior was to ensure that Yuria did not die.


    Both of them left the villa quickly. On the way, Garen used his mobile phone to contact Nine-Tailed Fox and the others. They, too, soon caught up.


    Not long after, sounds of metal clashing from a distance could be heard.


    Without hesitation, both of them darted straight in the direction of the sound''s source. They were getting nearer to the place where the battle was going on.


    Whoosh!


    All of a sudden, waves of sand blew up in front of Garen, nicely blocking his and Yurijie''s path.


    They instantly paused in their tracks and raised their hands to block the sand from getting into their eyes.


    After the sand fell to the ground, a one-eyed man dressed in a blue, military uniform appeared before the two of them.


    The man was expressionless and had silver, short hair, the white gloves he was wearing was illuminating under the midday sun.


    "Vulture No.7, Yindu."


    He bowed his head slightly, it was a sort of etiquette, a courtesy to an opponent.


    "Get out of the way or die!" Sword in hand, Garen''s face darkened.


    "Die?" The corners of Yindu''s mouth raised slightly into a smirk. "You can try."


    Hiss¡­


    In a flash, Garen lunged forward, dragging a long print on the sand with his feet. In a blink of an eye, the saber appeared in his hands and lashed out.


    Swoosh!!


    The silver arc instantly struck Yindu''s neck.


    The breeze from the blade blew the short hair on Yindu''s temples. He raised his arm suddenly and grabbed the saber''s blade.

 1188 Duel 2

    Clang!!!


    Yuria held up a gold stool and grudgingly deflected the silver needle flying towards him. He was rolling around and jumping about on the beach like a monkey.


    The Root Doctor, on the other hand, stood firm as he twitched his fingers. He seemed quite relaxed.


    "Looks like you are more agile than before." He yawned and continued saying, "but you are still extremely weak."


    "That''s just because I haven''t shown you what I''m capable of yet!" Yuria shouted while dodging the almost invisible steel needles. "What are you conspiring?! I haven''t done anything wrong, so why are you purposely¡­ Hu¡­ Coming after me?!"


    "Conspiring?" Root Doctor Jiatai lit up a cigarette casually, took a puff, and exhaled smoke rings. Under the scalding sun, it was almost impossible to see traces of the white smoke rings.


    "I have no interest in explaining to someone who''s about to die. Instead of using this time to talk, why don''t we settle this quickly so I can go back to drink my milk? Apparently, milk strengthens chest muscles, recently I''ve been feeling that my pectoral muscles seemed to be drooping¡­"


    (Pectoral muscles? Aren''t you sure they were not breast enhancements?)


    Yuria was at a loss whether to cry or to laugh. As he was about to speak, he did a backflip just in time to avoid another attack of a row of steel needles.


    The entire row of steel needles flew towards where he stood, causing a racket as it came into contact with the sand.


    "Alright," Jiatai looked around. "That''s about it, time to pack things up."


    Just like before, he reached out his right arm slowly, aiming it in the direction of where Yuria was at.


    "This move again!!" Yuria''s whole body began to shake.


    "Brother! Catch!" Suddenly, a voice sounded from afar.


    Yuria turned around, just in time to see a long item spinning towards him. It was his sister! She had managed to make it on time and even brought along his saber!


    It was as if he was on an emotional rollercoaster. He was so close to giving up all hope, but now the hope had returned.


    With a leap, he dove toward the saber.


    "Grab." At this moment, Jiatai''s hand tightened up slowly.


    Buzz...


    The sand on the ground began to vibrate from deep within.


    Boom!!!


    In that instant, countless sand particles flew up. A mass amount of needles rushed upwards, all aimed at Yuria in the middle.


    "It''s over."


    Jiatai said lightly.


    "Winds of Four Directions!"


    Almost at the same time, four rays of gold light appeared midair.


    In an instant, the countless needles as fine as an ox''s hair were blocked by the golden lights, bent, broke and smashed out into all directions.


    Whoosh!


    One of the broken needles brushed Jiatai''s cheek, drawing blood.


    He was stunned. Absolutely stunned¡­


    His frame of mind now was probably as perplexed as Garen back then. Not everyone could relate to this feeling of seeing a bastard who took only ten or more days to crack a technique one had been pouring all of his heart on for the past several years. The mixed emotions of jealousy and grief aroused a deep, concealed feeling.


    When the person first told him, he did not believe the person at all. That was why he decided to personally make a move, all to prove that the person was wrong.


    "But now¡­" Jiatai reached out and caress the wound on his face, his fingers dabbing on the blood that was trickling down. "It really is¡­blood."


    One by one, droplets of blood continued dripping on to the sand, dyeing the sand blood red from its original golden.


    Garen held his saber with one hand as he stared silently at the figure standing a couple of meters away.


    "Still not giving way?"


    Yindu had on gloves that seemed to be made of gold or iron, his hands were still intact. However, the gloves that supposed to block weapons were currently covering his mouth.


    Droplets of blood continued to drip down from between his fingers.


    Cough cough¡­


    He coughed a few times.


    Slowly, he tried to recall the scene that just took place.


    He did manage to grab the blade, there was no hidden surprise. The saber did not get through his gloves, and neither did it touch any other parts of him. So why? Why!


    "Why¡­!" Yindu did not expect himself to be fatally injured as the battle had just started. After all, he was Vulture No.7, ranked number seven among the tens and thousands of elite troops of human armed forces!


    "Do you think I''m as silly and stupid as the others and explain to you the profound mystery of my ultimate move? Save it." Garen said impatiently. "Alright, listen up, let me pass through, I''m in a rush."


    "Are you humiliating me?!" Yindu struggled to stand and keep his body straight, "Or are you saying that you''re definitely going to win!?"


    "Well, is that not it?" Garen asked, pointing his saber towards the ground.


    Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of his opponent smirking. It was not a good sign.


    Boom!!!


    A ball of flames suddenly exploded where Garen was at. It was a bomb!


    The bomb ignited a ball of scarlet red flames on the sand, its massive impact exploding in all directions, sweeping up scorching hot air.


    Among the flames, the burning smog suddenly started to spread.


    A loud slam sounded.


    A golden spark of saber divided the flames into two, like a golden crescent, which was orientated at Yindu.


    Boom!!!


    Another violent explosion broke between the saber and Yindu. The gravel rushed up into the sky along with the massive impact of the explosion turned the small grains of sand into countless hidden deadly weapons, landing on the saber smashing the tracks all over.


    "Hmmph!"


    Garen grunted. His body was still midair in the midst of a somersault, his saber a total miss as it was shaken by the explosion''s gigantic force of impact.


    Hu hu hu hu¡­!


    Together with his saber, he started spinning like a wheel, slowly forming a huge golden wheel saber and crashed towards Yindu.


    Yindu''s expression changed swiftly and started backing down fast. After a match like this the first time, he already knew close-ranged battles with someone like Garen, a Sword Master-Level person, would be the most idiotic thing for him to do, hence why he was badly injured before he could even exert his best advantage.


    However, he would not repeat the same mistake again!


    "Super-miniature."


    He casually dug through his shirt pocket and scattered the items outward.


    Numerous spores-like tiny bomb particles rushed over to Garen. In a flash, hundreds of super-miniature bombs formed a hemispherical shape and rushed towards Garen to cover him.


    Whoosh!


    Right at that moment, Garen''s figure darted to the side in midair, slanted his saber and spearing it into the beach nearby.


    Boom boom boom boom!!


    Countless sparks of flames blocked Yindu''s sight as continuous sounds of the super-miniature bombs exploded. He had an extremely bad feeling all of a sudden.


    Just as he was turning around to leave, he saw a silver-white saber directed straight at his neck.


    "What a pity." Garen peeped out from behind the saber. "You lost."


    From the beginning to the end, he only had one hand on his saber, even right this moment.


    Yindu raised his head slightly, beads of perspiration seeped down his forehead but he dare not wipe them away. As an agile sort of powerhouse, he was still tricked by the opponent and being played around like a monkey. Even his strongest point could not be exerted to try to get a hold of his enemy, and that was no doubt the biggest irony to him.


    "How did you do it?" He asked dryly.


    "How did I do it?" Garen was speechless. "You''re someone who uses explosives, yet here you are in a close-range battle with me competing for our speed. Wouldn''t it be ironic if I, a Sword Master, was to lose to you? Do you even know what are the main cores for Sword Techniques and Saber Techniques? Speed! Ruthless! Accuracy!"


    "I can make seven shots in one second, there''s no way you can be faster than me!" Yindu was slowly losing his calm.


    "I can do sixteen in one second," Garen said lightly.


    "..."


    ********************


    On the empty beach.


    Yuria both hands were on his saber, facing the Root Doctor Jiatai.


    His whole body''s center of gravity was slightly sinking. He seemed like a cheetah, arching its back searching for its prey, his sharp eyes dead fixed on Jiatai, his hands continuously adjusting the silver saber to its position and angle.


    Both men took small steps as they walked around in a circle, trying to find out their opponent''s flaws or loopholes.


    Both parties were high-killing powerhouses, so one measly loophole that they discover would instantly determine one''s win or loss.


    The scorching sun shone unrelentingly on the both of them. Whether it was Jiatai or Yuria, they sweating more and more. Jiatai was sweating so much so that his clothes were thoroughly wet.


    As for Yuria, his sunburnt skin was starting to peel off. He could feel a burning sensation when his sweat trickled over the wounds.


    On the other hand, Yurijie was standing far away watching the battle. She was totally hung up on Yuria, her eyes wide opened and only blinking it when they were really dry.


    "Good boy¡­ Long time no see¡­ So¡­ It''s actually¡­" Jiatai''s physical exertion was almost breaking the scale. He could not even remember how many years had he not been in such a high-intensity battle. His chest was beating so fast it seemed to be on fire. Turns out, the suit that was pretentiously used as a bragging tool had now become the heaviest burden and it was consuming his energy by the second.


    Sweat continued to flow into his eyes along the strands of his hair, but still, he did not dare to wipe them away.


    This highly concentrated standoff crushed people''s energy the most.


    "You''re the one, last time you had me¡­ Poorly beaten up, you don''t know anything about respecting the elders and loving the younger ones¡­" Yuria heaved heavily as he glared at the other person.


    Suddenly, he saw a loophole and rushed forward.


    Whoosh!


    His golden saber lit up and almost sliced Jiatai by his side, scaring the latter to near death.


    Clang clang clang!!


    Three continuous needles darted out, forcing Yuria to react in defense and to not continue his attack.


    Their standoff had been going on for some time already.


    Once Jiatai used his large-area steel needles to break out, Yuria activated his Hydras and Savior ability, the perfect block of Winds of Four Directions, directly switching both ultimate moves into consumption.


    "Well, I say¡­ Can''t you just¡­ Respect an elderly?" Jiatai could no longer hold himself.


    With such a never-ending consumption, there was no way he could compare with this young lad. After all, he was already sixty-four years old.


    "Why can''t you respect my youthful fifteen-year-old mind then!" Yuria could feel the skin on his back hurting more and more. His head was getting a little dizzy as well, a sign that he was close to falling into a heat stroke coma.


    At this moment, Jiatai''s heart ached. If he had known earlier that this would happen, he would not have accepted this mission voluntarily and saved himself from all these embarrassments.


    "The person behind¡­ She''s your sister, isn''t she?" He suddenly asked, trying to divert the attention of the other party. "Seems like I''d have to be a little more despicable then¡­"

 1189 Plot 1

    Crack¡­


    Garen''s leather boots sank into the sand as he stood in the distance, staring at Yuria and the Root Doctor Jiatai in the midst of battle. Both of them have already reached the point of exhaustion.


    "Now as soon as I join in, the battle will end immediately."


    Garen spoke casually. Sensing there were people behind him, he could tell it was Nine-Tailed Fox and the other''s footsteps.


    "Then why don''t you?" Nine-Tailed Fox and a group of her men dressed in black swiftly walked toward Garen''s side and stood still, also staring at the battle that was happening on the beach far away.


    "Why should I? From the beginning to the end, Vulture had never shown malice s any of us, no?" Garen asked in return, slowly keeping his saber into its sheath. "I''ve already let the rascal go, I just wanted to probe them."


    "So now they know our capabilities then, right?" Nine-Tailed Fox stood beside him with her arms crossed around her chest, she seemed to agree with his method.


    Garen was unsure of her thoughts. Her active participation this time around probably had something to do with other intentions.


    He already knew now, even if it was among the transmigrators, nobody had the same talent attributes as him in terms of abilities, so the only thing in each world that could make himself stronger was to grasp the familiar plot and obtain benefits that he needed from it.


    Garen did not know what the others want, if it was the same as what he wanted, something related to Soul Seeds or Soul Powers, perhaps the final hostile list would be even longer¡­


    At this moment, it was clear who was the winner and loser of the battle on the beach. After Jiatai continuously threatened Yuria verbally, he decided to retreat.


    A submarine emerged from the sea, bringing him away from the beach and disappeared quickly into the waters.


    It was only then Garen and the others walked over slowly. Nine-Tailed Fox quickly brought people over to treat the wounded. This was the best opportunity to build relationships. After all, a savior''s friendship would be one of the greatest advantages of the plot.


    Garen stood far away as Nine-Tailed Fox brought people over. Li Hua and the other transmigrators were still nowhere to be seen, even Kong Xinxue had disappeared.


    "I don''t know why, martial power grades in this world clearly exceeded my expectations, but I still don''t get any sense of crisis at all. What is this?" He fondled his chin, thinking that he must have been too relaxed and slacking too much recently.


    *******************


    Nine-Tailed Fox looked on as Yuria and his sister were taken away when Li Hua suddenly appeared beside her.


    "How was it? What''s the situation?" Li Hua whispered.


    "Something is not right," Nine-Tailed Fox frowned slightly. "The plot is a bit out of control, I feel that something is really wrong!"


    "Does it have anything to do with Yuria? Or is it that newbie, Garen?" Li Hua frowned too. She knew Nine-Tailed Fox''s hunch had always been extremely accurate.


    "It seems that¡­ No." Nine-Tailed Fox walked further away to prevent eavesdropping, the sea breeze ruffled up her hair but she was not bothered at all.


    "I just feel that something''s wrong and it''s not the way as it is before, yet I can''t tell what exactly."


    "Perhaps it''s a misconception?" Li Hua asked.


    "No¡­" Nine-Tailed Fox shook her head. "Nevermind, I''m not going to think about it anymore. We will take one step at a time for now. All we need to do is stay close to Yuria, the Savior will naturally lead the main line. Right or wrong, there will be clues sooner or later, we just need to be more prepared, that''s all."


    "Yeah."


    ********************


    Garen, overcome with boredom, tended to Yuria''s injury. Determined that Yuria was just asleep due to over-exhaustion, he too went back to sleep. He was currently in his state of relaxation as he knew that the threats in this world were not exactly a lot. With his Sword Master-Level powers, he was basically invincible on land, not to mention if he used his Soul Ring to rank up his Saber Art realm. Soul Energy nourished his body all the time.


    Yuria and his sister, Kong Xinxue, Nine-Tailed Fox, the transmigrators¡­ These people seemed to be evolving along with the plot all the time, whereas he was the only one at leisure.


    Ever since the battle at the beach, Yuria seemed to be somewhat triggered and started to train every day to strengthen himself.


    On the other hand, Nine-Tailed Fox and Kong Xinxue got together every day for discussion.


    As for Garen, he just did not bother with any of those things. He would go to the restaurant every day and ordered some small dishes, enjoyed the hot springs, do saunas, and occasionally show up for classes to reminiscence the memorable, high school era.


    Life was unrestrained.


    As for money? There was no need to worry about it. With his capabilities, it was nothing for him to earn a little cash. There was this one night when the National Security Agency came visiting him and they spoke all night long. After that, Garen received money that an average person could never get in a lifetime. It was more than enough for his casuals spendings.


    All he had to do was to lend a hand in urgent times. He became the so-called Chief Instructor of some Special Forces Team, or maybe it was some military coach or some other title.


    As for what team exactly, he himself had forgotten already. It was enough for him to lead a better life anyway.


    Of course, news of the other party''s identity soon came to Nine-Tailed Fox. It turned out to be Vulture''s men. Seemed like Vulture and homeland security have always come hand in hand.


    This, however, was confusing for Garen and the others. Why did Vulture''s men kill a large number of maritime police at the sea then? It made no sense.


    But Garen was too lazy to think about all these things.


    Anyway, his only mission on-hand was to stay behind for garrison duty and just wait for news from Nine-Tailed Fox and the others.


    This kind of boring yet comfortable life lasted for more than two months when there was finally new updates.


    ********************


    Lying in the huge bathtub by the French windows, Garen soaked in the milk bath scattered with rose petals. With a towel over his neck, he relaxed lazily with his eyes half shut.


    The city night was extraordinarily fascinating. Helicopters occasionally flew across the sky, the city''s traffic and sweeping lights set off against the night background.


    "Is there a new situation?" Garen looked at Kong Xinxue idly. She was sitting not far away watching the television. "Otherwise, how would you be so free to drop by my place?"


    Kong Xinxue had the remote control in her hands and rolled her eyes at him. After switching channels a few times, she finally muted the television.


    "Look at you, which part of you actually look like a student? How long have you not return home? Father almost believed that you''re missing."


    "It doesn''t matter anymore." Garen shrugged. "We''re all just passersby of this world, too much nostalgia wouldn''t be good for everyone."


    Speechless, Kong Xinxue stood up and walked over.


    "The situation has changed. Yuria received news that the Vulture''s strongest man will be showing up soon."


    "So what?" Garen did not move at all.


    "What do you think?" Kong Xinxue retorted, "I came all the way here, anxious to tell you this news, why do you think I''m doing this?"


    She combed her hair.


    "Root Doctor from the previous time, Jiatai, is ranked sixth in Vulture, there are five stronger ones above him. Earlier on when Yuria knew about this, he decided to leave to find his mother, a formal top bounty hunter. Do you want to tag along?"


    "What? You are all preparing to go out to sea?" Garen reluctantly opened an eye and glanced at her.


    "At least you know that. We don''t have much manpower up for combat. So, are you up for it?" Kong Xinxue was getting impatient.


    Garen did not respond immediately, he just turned and leaned into the tub.


    "Why don''t you all just go straight into the main subject? Go after Slayer, get rid of him or maybe initiate a good relationship with the opponent and warm up a bit? Why must we only follow Savior?"


    Kong Xinxue frowned slightly. "What are you thinking? Why did you ask such a question? Isn''t Savior the plot''s mainline? Why do we follow if not him? Or perhaps you think you are capable of defeating Slayer? Why not you go off alone and take care of him, that would save us a whole lot of trouble. We''ll just do what we''re doing and what we want to do."


    "No, I''m just living my own life. I don''t want anything to do with this kind of hard work. The Four Great Cornerstones cannot be killed, they''ll resurrect after a year, so what''s the point of killing them in the first place?" Garen said in a serious tone. "What I care is, what are your true motives in all this? Perhaps you guys are able to take advantage of the Four Great Cornerstones and obtain some benefits out of them?"


    He added with a yawn.


    "I just don''t want to waste my efforts."


    Kong Xinxue did not reply immediately but started to ponder. It looked like she was contemplating whether to tell Garen the truth.


    Garen was not in a hurry. After all, searching for the Soul Energy Force Field was his secondary objective when he came to this world. He mainly wanted to fix his own state of mind, his rigid mind was incompatible with the art of relaxation. Even if he did not find any clues that directed him to Soul Energy, it did not matter to him. Instead, his interest toward the Lighthouse further increased.


    In the fifty-story high-rise hotel, both of them did not speak for some time. One was pondering while the other was waiting.


    "You do know the original plot, don''t you?" Kong Xinxue asked suddenly.


    "I know a bit but I''m not exactly familiar." Garen nodded in response.


    Kong Xinxue turned around a few times with her hands behind her. She sorted out her mind carefully before speaking once again.


    "In the original plot, the main focus was the story of how Vulture helps Savior, supports him and fight against Slayer. Everything revolves around the grievances between the three generations of Slayer and Yuria. The first generation of Slayer was killed by Yuria alone. That was the first generation. After the second generation of Slayer resurrected, he started to seek revenge but he was killed by Yuria and Vulture together. That was the second generation. As for the third generation, Slayer came to life once again and killed Yurijie. By this time, Vulture had fallen apart and there were numerous internal contradictions so they were unable to help Yuria, leaving Yuria alone in the battle. This time, there will be two endings, one is Yuria will be killed along with everyone who is with him, and the other ending would be him perishing together with Slayer."


    Kong Xinxue explained briefly.


    "In the entire plot, the constant focus is always the battle between three generations of Slayer and Yuria. The two other Cornerstones would appear somewhere in the middle, Mind Reader and Illusionist. They will also deal with Slayer in different positions."


    "Well then, which generation are we at now?" Garen asked.


    "The first generation, which is also the first time Savior and Slayer came into contact. Vulture is just by the side helping Yuria but did not officially join in the battlefield. In this generation, Yuria basically dealt with Slayer alone. This is also the most peaceful generation," Kong Xinxue lamented. "That''s why we dare to follow Yuria''s whereabouts everywhere. If it''s the second or third generation, the age of bloody chaos, we wouldn''t have dared to do it so obviously."


    "So what is your main intention?" Garen pestered. "If you all had no benefits from this, you wouldn''t have done everything so out in the air already."

 1190 Plot 2

    "Of course it''s all for benefits," Kong Xinxue nodded. "Let me tell you this, many people may know about this secret, but they just choose not to expose it."


    "What secret?" Garen was getting curious as well. "To be able to attract so many transmigrators'' and even the Nine-Tailed Fox''s attention, that shouldn''t be just some ordinary thing."


    Kong Xinxue was not ashamed at all as she sat in the tub, her back facing Garen.


    "Four Great Cornerstones are known as they are all due to one main thing which is the Sacred Sigil."


    "Sacred Sigil?"


    "That''s right." Kong Xinxue nodded. "The reason the Four Great Cornerstones can outstand other people plainly is because the four of them possess extraordinary powers and this is where the Sacred Sigil works its magic."


    "So you guys want to obtain the Sacred Sigil?" Garen asked out of curiosity, "If it''s that easy to claim it, can you guys can get it?"


    "Obviously it''s not easy to get it," Kong Xinxue rolled her eyes at him, "but there are many parallel worlds out there and some of the older generations of some worlds have been researching for a long period of time and they''ve concluded that a certain amount of energy can be drawn out from the Sacred Sigil by undergoing some special transplant, not seizing, but just absorbing a little. This is actually pretty impressive already. Once one gets a hold of this and leaves this world, they are free to use the powers of the Sacred Sigil. Although it won''t be as phenomenal as it originally was, it won''t be subjected to the world''s regulations and restrictions. This is the advantage of receiving powers of a low martial arts world. It''s the same as how you get powers from the Mother Stream System which is applicable for most worlds'' regulations."


    Garen nodded as a sign of understanding.


    "Then what''s the main purpose of the Sacred Sigil''s powers?"


    "There are four kinds corresponding to the Four Great Cornerstones." Kong Xinxue simply broke everything into detail. "First on the list would be Slayer''s Sacred Sigil, then Mind Reader''s Sacred Sigil, Illusionist''s Sacred Sigil, and last of all, Savior''s Sacred Sigil. A Sacred Sigil would allow us to possess a portion of the Four Great Cornerstones'' powers, but just a weaker version of it. The good thing is that it''s usable in any world out there, the bad thing is that it''s not much of a use in an upper martial arts world."


    "That''s why some people want it, some people are not bothered by it. Just like those of Sea God Grades, why would they care?" Garen seemed to understand.


    "That''s right."


    "I guess I understand the basics of it." Garen touched his chin. "For us transmigrators, the Slayer''s and Mind Reader''s Sacred Sigil would be our top picks, followed by the Illusionist''s and Savior''s. The Savior''s Sacred Sigil has very rigid restrictions, that''s why it is not as popular as the others."


    "Yeah." Kong Xinxue returned a smile. "It''s great that you understand. I want the Mind Reader''s Sacred Sigil, Nine-Tailed Fox wants the Slayer''s, I guess everyone wants different things. Due to the fact that this is a weakened version, there''s plenty of copies out there. One Sacred Sigil is sufficient to be given to ten or more people, but the conditions to acquire those are extremely tough, which is why everyone is working so hard."


    "Yeah, everyone''s putting in a lot of effort." Garen nodded in agreement. "If that''s the case, that thing won''t be much big of a use for me then¡­What time am I able to go to the Lighthouse Headquarter? Compared to this, I''m more interested in going there."


    "They''re still under lockdown, you will have to wait for this plot to end and for the powers of the Sacred Sigils to slowly die down in order to prevent the activation transmission of rules in the world. I''d say you won''t be able to go over any time soon," Kong Xinxue explained. "You''d have to at least wait for the first generation to end."


    "How long would that be?"


    "Probably a few years time."


    "That''s long¡­"


    Garen was speechless Ever since he found out the existence of the Lighthouse, he had always been eager to check it out. He would not have to just walk his own wild path or swim in Mother Stream anymore, a more convenient way was always better.


    "Alright then¡­ I''ll just wait for a couple more years."


    After Kong Xinxue left, Garen started to think about the possible situations that might occur. A few years time was not exactly a long period of time in his opinion, it would pass like a breeze as it was back in the Mech World. There were plenty of ways to pass time too, but it was what Kong Xinxue revealed about the powers of the Sacred Sigils that caught his attention.


    If he guessed it right, the Sacred Sigil''s powers could be a variant of Soul Energy. Since the Four Great Cornerstones were able to use such a vast amount of Soul Energy, why was he not allowed to do so?


    With that thought, inspiration started seeping into his head. He started researching everything that was related to the usage of Soul Energy.


    After staying at a high-class hotel in Slann for a long period of time, the occasional trip back home to see Kong Yuan was something arranged by the government, even reporting to the university in advance. Sometimes, the security department would contact him and assign him to difficult tasks. Though they were not much, Garen would always complete the tasks successfully.


    Unconsciously, a year had passed.


    Garen had also gained a certain reputation in the international market, living up to a success rate of 80%, which was an impressive score in a high martial powered country like Slann. As for the in-between tasks that were unsuccessful, they were basically troublesome things like searching for wanted people, which Garen simply gave up on.


    In the National Security department, the nickname given to him was Sword Master.


    While he was enjoying his leisure life, Yuria was already holding meetings with Vulture''s high graded powerhouses. The forth powerhouse had been defeated by Yuria, the third one resigned voluntarily, while the second one tied with Yuria. The situation only subsided one night after a year''s time when the first ranked powerhouse trashed him completely.


    Within the year''s time, Yuria traveled around in hopes of finding his mother, Light Path. He brought his sister along as they wandered around the world. Naturally, the experiences he gained had surpassed many adults that were older than him. In the beginning, he would occasionally return to the hotel and ask for Garen''s help regarding problems with his Saber Art. However, later on, he only dropped by for the occasional visits, a form of etiquette as a disciple toward his master. As for Saber Art pointers, there was not much that Garen could teach anymore due to the rules of this world. Techniques of higher levels were not usable and all the techniques available were already taught.


    Easier said, Yuria had already finished his apprenticeship.


    Yuria was now just slightly weaker than Garen. Other than Garen''s power card of raising his realm grades, if they were to fight against each other, the ratio would be a four to six.


    Due to problems with expenses, Yuria would accept some of Garen''s government missions. In fact, those tasks were assigned to Garen but he outsourced them to his disciple and the reward money would be split into half.


    If not for Yuria''s unwillingness to join the government, he would not have to make this choice in the first place.


    *********************


    Thud.


    The teacup was placed gently on the glass table.


    Yuria slowly exhaled a breath of hot air, the scent of tea calming his nerves. Raising his head, he looked at Garen sitting in front of him.


    "Minister, how many unrestricted combat people did you recruit? Why are the people contacted this time around all our old friends?" He frowned and asked.


    "There''s no other way, welfare is pretty good," Garen answered lazily. "Unrestricted combat has now basically separated from school and has set up its own organization. The small fraction of people who stayed voluntarily will occasionally pick up the subcontracting tasks that I have outsourced. The pay is good, the risk is low, so naturally, everyone is willing to do. What''s not good about it?"


    "Although you''d take care of problems personally, that isn''t a big problem. However, do you really not care about these things?" Yuria rolled his eyes. "You''re basically using the public funds to raise your own private soldiers."


    "Private soldiers your ass." Garen could not control his laughter as he scolded Yuria. "Look at that bunch. The moment something happens, the ones who will back out and run away will definitely be them!"


    "Alright then¡­ I''m used to it anyway." Yuria leaned on the sofa, shifting into a more comfortable position. He was dressed in a white windbreaker and long fitted jeans. His beard had not been shaved for a long time, making him look unnaturally mature. He did not look like a sixteen or seventeen-year-old. A year of running around in search of his mother had brought him experience and maturity.


    "So tell me, why are you here? I know you wouldn''t look for me unless you wanted something," Garen held his teacup, sitting lazily in his white pajamas.


    "Heh... I knew I couldn''t hide it from you," Yuria smiled begrudgingly. It was a little disgusting coming from a grown-up looking man doing that expression¡­


    "Hurry up, stop dilly-dallying," Garen was slightly irritated.


    Yuria''s expression became dead serious.


    "So here it goes, although I couldn''t find my mother this time around, I sort of have this feeling that she''s avoiding me somehow."


    "Avoiding you? Why?"


    "I don''t know." Yuria''s brows tightened in a know. "That''s what I''m frustrated about, what more¡­"


    "What more what?" Garen took a sip of his tea.


    "This time out on my trip, I met a weird guy. He seems to know me and he came over to me all secretive telling me that my target had died and asking me not to waste my efforts and hurry back to converge," Yuria spoke with a bewildered expression.


    "Converge?" Garen was confused as well. "He said your target is already dead? Does he mean¡­"


    "No¡­ Not that meaning," Yuria shook his head, "he seems to think that I belong to some organization or something. Converge. Who do I converge with? He didn''t say anything about all this. He disappeared right after I turned around. It''s just all very strange."


    "And after that when I was on my way back, I inadvertently received a small note which warned me that I''m in danger. It also had instructions on it asking me to burn it right away and not let anyone else other than me see it," Yuria just could not figure it out.


    "So you burnt it then?"


    "Burnt it? I didn''t tell anyone about this, only you right now. I suspect that I''m somehow dragged into something."


    Garen sorted out all the information he just heard. Yuria''s situation was not mentioned at all in the plot, whereas Nine-Tailed Fox and the others were still in other countries trying to pave the way for Yuria. The news was not unusual. The only odd thing was that Slayer and the others who were supposed to appear by now were still nowhere to be seen. According to the plot, they should have appeared long ago, but there was still currently zero news of them.


    "Well done, don''t tell anyone about this, your sister included. This matter won''t be much of use other than worry everyone else, everything will be clearer when there are more clues." Garen explained, "I''ll pull some strings and try to find out whatever I can for you and see what kind of people are trying to get into contact with you or to influence you or whatever¡­"

 1191 Combat 1

    "Alright, I''ll be waiting for your news then, Master," Yuria smiled.


    Garen was speechless. The fellow had been getting too sleek in the past year. Compared to the simple-minded teenager he used to be, he was now no different than a normal uncle.


    "Well, if there''s nothing else, you should go back now. Don''t stay here for too long."


    "Got it, Master."


    He stared as Yuria left with a giddy smile on his face, Garen then closed the door and returned to his sofa.


    "Nine-Tails and the others went to some other continent to investigate the situation with Slayer. I wonder how are they doing now. Yuria over here just met some weirdo, and it''s a weirdo not mentioned in the original plot," Garen touched his chin. "Why does this feel like a gaming world? The first generation of Slayer, second generation, third generation? It''s a bit interesting."


    "Forget about it, these things are too much trouble to manage. I should just continue living my ordinary life, and take good care of my body and mind¡­"


    He was too lazy to bother about all these messy things. After all, his main purpose in this world was to just enjoy anything interesting. This kind of serious investigation tasks were not suited for him. He would rather stay at home and watch movies or television shows, play some games, or go out and stroll. Those leisure activities were so much better.


    He lifted his wrist and checked the time, it was a quarter past eight nighttime.


    "I''ll go for a walk around and get some food back for dinner," Garen remembered that the snacks in his hotel room were almost finished, so he had to go to the supermarket to replenish his stock.


    Grabbing his jacket, he headed out.


    Walking out of his room, he turned around and closed the door. He then walked along the carpet until he reached the elevator.


    The elevator was empty and nobody could be seen.


    "Everyone should be resting or getting ready for bed at this hour," Garen mumbled as he pressed the elevator button.


    Ding.


    Among the four other elevators, one just happened to stop at this floor. The door slowly opened.


    Garen walked in quickly and stood in the middle. There was a stylish office lady in the elevator as well. White blonde hair drooped over her frame like a waterfall, white skin as delicate as porcelain, tall and slender, and she was wearing a black professional skirt with nude stockings matched with a small black bag in her hands.


    Seeing that Garen entered, his over-bulky physique made her feel oppressive. His burly figure occupied a large part of the elevator.


    The lady reluctantly inched closer to the wall with a helpless expression.


    Garen drew out his room card and brushed it on the elevator panel, he then pressed the third-floor button. There was a huge supermarket chain there. To his surprise, his room card seemed to be not working and it was still no good even after he pressed the button multiple times.


    "Which floor are you going?" The lady could not stand it anymore, she was flustered by Garen''s arm that kept flinging in front of her.


    "Third floor, thank you," Garen smiled embarrassedly.


    "No problem." The lady took out her own room card and brushed it, then pressed the third-floor button.


    After brushing the card, the lady took out her phone and dialed a number. After a short wait, the call was connected. She then began to speak in another language.


    Garen could not understand anything as he stood by her side.


    Besides the main line of the Four Great Cornerstones of this world, ordinary people in other parts of the world still led their ordinary life. The knowledge of the Four Great Cornerstones was only limited to a small area of people, the rest of the places only consisted of plain ordinary lives. This was the reason he could slack.


    Ding...


    From the forth-something floor to the ninth floor, the elevator stopped again. The doors opened and a handsome young man dressed in a suit and leather shoes walked in.


    When he caught sight of Garen in his white pajamas, he was shocked for a bit, but he returned quickly. To be able to stay at this hotel, one would not be just a typical customer. However, to dare to walk out of one''s room dressed like that, one was surely not just an ordinary person.


    He flashed a friendly smile toward Garen.


    Garen ignored him entirely. Ever since he joined the security department, so many people wanted to get closer to him that they could probably form a line all the way to the ocean.


    Soon enough, he reached the third floor. Garen walked into the empty supermarket. The things sold here were not generally cheap, so naturally, not many people came to shop here.


    After quickly picking a few boxes of snacks that he liked, Garen checked out and returned to the elevator with his arms full of snacks. The supermarket staff helped to press the elevator button for him.


    He then waited quietly for the elevator.


    Ding¡­


    The elevator doors opened.


    The lady was still inside. At the sight of Garen once again, she was obviously surprised for a bit. She, too, flashed a friendly smile toward him.


    Garen thought that a foolish smile would lose his Sword Master style, so he ignored her. Although she was indeed beautiful, she was still not his cup of tea. Hugging his boxes of snacks, he walked in and once again, occupied most of the space in the elevator.


    The lady seemed to be slightly embarrassed as she had her head bent low, both hands clutching onto her handbag.


    The elevator soon reached the forty-something floor which was the floor Garen was staying at.


    Holding onto his things, Garen walked out and swiftly headed to his own room. Garen straight away divided the snacks into different categories and poured himself a glass of strawberry wine. He added some milk, a few ice cubes, sprinkled some pepper, and lastly, a few slices of sausages to give it a flavor. He then took a sip.


    "Wow¡­ Nice!"


    He plopped onto the couch and turned on his projection television.


    Suddenly, he remembered he seem to have forgotten something. He had something to eat, but he was short of something to drink, a mere wine was clearly not enough. He went to his cabinet and had a look, the milk was almost finished. Garen started to contemplate whether to get more milk.


    Once again, he took his room card and headed out. He stopped before the elevator and pressed the button once more.


    It did not take long before the elevator doors opened.


    The girl with long white blonde hair was still inside. The both of them stared at each other for a moment across the elevator.


    Wacko.


    Garen carefully sized the girl. Was she addicted to taking the elevator?


    The lady looked embarrassed as an awkward smile crept onto her face, her fingers tightened their grip around her handbag strap.


    "Excuse me¡­" She started. "Does Mr. Byron Corey stay here?"


    "Byron Corey?" Garen did not seem to understand what was she saying. "Who is that? I don''t know him." He continued measuring her with his eyes. "Are you sick? Delusional?"


    "Hmm?" The lady could not react on time as it seemed that Garen was speaking too fast and she was straining to catch up on his words. "What are¡­ Talking about?"


    "I said, are you sick?" Garen repeated his question.


    The lady still had a blank expression. "Sorry, my foreign language isn''t very good, what are you asking?"


    "I said, you''re sick." Garen was already almost speechless.


    "You said, I''m pretty?" The lady pointed at herself as she blurt out word by word.


    "Yes, you''re sick, very sick¡­" Garen had his arms around himself as he looked more and more helpless by the moment.


    "Thank you for your kind words." The lady showed a shy yet grateful smile. "Actually, my makeup wasn''t done very nicely."


    "I didn''t say that your makeup is nice¡­" Garen could feel a little pain in his balls.


    "Then what do you mean?" Apparently pretty and sick sounded similar in Slann language, hence why the lady was confused once again.


    "You''re not even good with language, why are you here all alone? Aren''t you tired?" Garen did not want to waste any more time talking nonsense to her.


    "Yes, I''m very tired." This time around, she finally understood what he meant and nodded her head eagerly.


    "Go back to your country if you''re tired. This is Mars, it''s not suitable for humans from Earth to stray around," Garen simply responded. Just then, the elevator doors opened as it stopped at the third floor, and so he walked out.


    The lady still had a dazed look on her face, she did not even understand what was Earth.


    Staring at the back of Garen''s figure, she smiled as she repeated the two terms ''Earth'' and ''Mars'' multiple times in a hushed tone.


    "I think he was probably complimenting me¡­" She too was unsure herself.


    **********************


    Garen was resting at the hotel, alone and bored.


    On the other hand, Nine-Tailed Fox had sent over the news on some new developments over on her side. They had initially found out the whereabouts of Slayer but they dared not rush into contact, so they continued observing from afar.


    As for the strange man Garen had asked the security department to investigate on, there was still no news.


    He gave the feedback to Yuria. Garen was actually slightly interested in Slayer, though it had nothing to do with whatsoever Sacred Sigil, but how strong was Slayer who was also known as the pinnacle of the world.


    Therefore, with such curiosity, Garen left the hotel and started his journey. After learning about the location of Slayer that was sent out by Nine-Tailed Fox and the others, he quietly left the agreed guarding point alone and went straight in the direction of the Slayer.


    ********************


    As far as the eye could see, a giant cruise ship was slowly headed into the sea''s horizon. Sunlight, seagulls, waves, plus the lapping wave sounds and the frequent dolphins leaping side to side.


    Everything painted a beautiful picture altogether.


    "Where''s Slayer?" Leaning on the ship''s rail, Garen asked quietly as he stared at the leaping dolphins.


    "Should be somewhere here." An intelligent female officer from the security department who was dressed as a wealthy lady was standing beside Garen, sipping the light green glass of wine in her hand.


    "Are Nine-Tailed Fox and the others nearby?"


    "Yes."


    "Order your people not to stray too far away from here. If they''re really at the bottom of the sea, they have to be ready to aid me at all times," Garen instructed.


    "Understood, Sir. Are you not going to wait for the assisting manpower?" The wealthy lady asked softly.


    "No need." Garen shook his head.


    "Nine-Tailed Fox and the others are still not close enough to Slayer as of now, they''re afraid of being discovered by the other party so they chose an island further away. There is only a half an hour gap of monitoring in between, and this is the time when Slayer will be more alert. This is the time when I go over."


    Garen did not intend to let the others witness his battle against Slayer, turning the fight into a combat show. It just happened that Slayer dived into the water and was currently somewhere near the seafloor. He seemed to be searching for something, so Garen still had some time to attempt to get near him.


    "Get the wetsuit ready."


    "Already ready."


    Garen held onto the handrail as he turned around and walked toward a secret door in the cabin.


    The door slowly opened and a gorgeous lady dressed in a black suit by the door bowed. She also had two black sabers by her side.


    *******************


    At the bottom of the sea, everything was pitch black in the trench.


    A black figure was swimming around, moving about in the water. Behind it were dozens of groups of people dressed in silver diving suits.


    This group of people continued to swim along the trench as their flashlights shone, constantly illuminating the surroundings.


    Oh!!


    A massive great white shark swam from a distance, but before it got close, a long black spear pike pierced through its eye. A long black chain necklace was attached to the entire spear pike and the chain was held by the black figure.


    "Clear."


    The hoarse voice of the black figure rang in the small region of the sea.


    All the silver figures quickly swam in all directions, dispersing immediately. They started clearing any other threatening creatures nearby. As for the great white shark, strangely enough, there was not a trace of blood. It just started sinking slowly as if there was something heavy added into its body.


    Slowly, the eyes of the black figure lit up like rubies, a glowing bright red.


    He slowly raised his head as if he sensed something, and looked up.

 1192 Combat 2

    "Who do you think will win?"


    On another ship, a tall man wearing a white military uniform softly asked. Beside him stood an old lady with white hair. She was holding a walking stick and her expression was very serious.


    "I don''t know¡­ Sword Master''s potential was something we have never completely seen. He usually acts arrogantly and there has not been an opponent that he has had trouble with before. However, Slayer is the strongest individual existence that has been around since ancient times. I''m predicting that Slayer would win by a bit," the old granny answered.


    "Sword Master is the number one Kendo genius in my country, Slann. There probably will not be anyone able to surpass him within the past and the next ten centuries. Especially since he could reach such a level at his age." The man in the white military uniform shook his head. "I feel that Sword Master is more likely to win. This time around, all the higher-ups from Vulture had also come. Regarding Sword Masters casual decision to initiate a duel, it seemed to have caught the attention of a lot of people."


    "Both of our number ones and number twos have already personally taken action. Although we have no contact, the experts from the other two countries will also surely monitor this duel in secret," the old granny calmly stated. "If Sword Master wins, our country Slann would become the strongest existence within the Three Great Nations. This is a matter of national security, so of course, they will be paying attention."


    There were also a group of people in white military uniforms standing behind the two, filled by men and women of all ages. All of them looked very serious. These people were the elites sent in by the National Security Bureau. It was the best team they could prepare with such short notice, all in case Sword Master gets defeated. They would be able to provide aid and bring him away as fast as possible.


    "Then who do you want to win?" The man in the military uniform asked once more.


    This time, the old granny did not answer immediately, she just narrowed her eyes.


    ******


    At another location of the sea, a few black submarines were slowly moving towards Slayer''s location, almost as if a school of black sharks.


    "The number one genius of Slann, Sword Master Garen and Slayer''s duel. This is going to be interesting. However, no matter how strong they are, they will never compare to Lord Battle Flag from our Black Federation," a male in a black military uniform laced with gold said cheerfully.


    "Lord Military Flag is also surely watching this duel in secret," the female officer next to him replied.


    "That''s natural. Lord Military Flag is the one behind this entire plan. Other than Lord Battle Flag, all of the tactical level powers are all under his control as he has the highest commanding authority right now." The officer laughed coldly. "We''ll leave everything to Lord Battle Flag when both parties are both critically injured. Heh."


    "The only thing we don''t know now is where the Red Nation people are. Those cowardly and fake bastards are useless other than for annoying others with talks of their god. If only they could be destroyed along with those two," the female officer coldly said.


    ******


    Garen slowly changed into a white charming diving suit. There was a huge crescent moon drawn on his back, looking as arrogant as ever. This was Slann''s strongest and most high-tech micro-type defensive gear. There were not more than four of these suits available in the entire nation, and one of them was currently used for Garen''s battle against Slayer.


    After changing, Garen wielded two black sabers and headed to the side of the ship. Two female special agents handed him an oxygen tank and a gas mask.


    "We wish you success."


    "Of course," Garen smiled. Putting on his mask, he leaped into the sea.


    Splash!


    Leaving a white splash on the sea''s surface, he disappeared out of sight.


    Seawater continuously flowed pass Garen''s ear, air bubbles slowly rising up. A patch of dark blue was all he could see.


    As time went on, he dived deeper and deeper. He slowly turned on the weight loader on his body, increasing his weight.


    Looking down below, he saw a black figure standing on the sandy floor at the bottom of the ocean a distance away.


    That person''s eyes were emitting an ominous red light, looking like two drops of fresh blood.


    The two were dozens of meters apart but they could clearly see each.


    "Are you Slayer?" Garen directly asked him.


    "What are you trying to say?" Slayer''s voice was very unique. It was very coarse, almost like an old man with a hoarse voice. "You''re blocking my advance, looks like another one who came to challenge me to their death."


    The tone of his voice displayed his absolute confidence. This was the absolute confidence of someone who had murdered a lot of self-proclaimed experts.


    Garen did not say anything. He was honestly quite curious about this person who was one of the Four Great Cornerstones. His visit this time around was to test the waters and verify how strong Slayer truly was.


    Woosh!


    Suddenly, a black line shot towards his waist from the side.


    Dink!


    Garen''s saber hilt blocked the black line, causing it to ricochet.


    "You''re an impatient one," Garen lightly laughed, once again looking at the Slayer''s position. He was gone.


    Rapidly turning to his right, a pair of glowing red eyes was crashing towards him.


    Bam!!


    The two collided with each other. Almost as if two balls of glue intertwining together, they started rolling off, shooting towards the distance.


    The black gun and dual sabers intensely vibrated from the collision, hitting each other dozens of times in that small area within that instant. The black gun''s speed was obviously faster than the dual sabers. This gave Garen a shock.


    "What fast speed! Even my speed is already near the human''s limit, my physical attributes have already reached the terrifying level of a five-point average, comparable to that of a beast. To think his power and speed could even match and exceed mine!"


    "Four Directional Winds!"


    With a clank, four rays of silver light started flashing and flying out in all directions from Garen''s body.


    Slayer shook his hand and the black gun suddenly formed dozens of gun clones. It''s immense strength and speed caused whirlpools to appear in the water. These whirlpools attacked Garen like a snake, almost as if more opponents had appeared and Garen needed to simultaneously attack them.


    Ching ching ching ching!


    With four clashes, the Four Directional Winds had successfully blocked off the black gun whirlpool snake.


    "Crouching Tiger Light!"


    Slayer coldly shouted, his entire body started furiously spinning, whipping around large amounts of seawater. Under the tremendous amount of seawater pressure, it started to emit a whistling sound from the water flow.


    Roar!!


    That felt almost like a tiger''s roar. The water flow gathered together forming a huge transparent tiger, crashing down towards Garen.


    "Thunder Shock!"


    The black gun did not stop for even a moment, once again shooting out a triangle.


    With a buzz, the seawater in the area started violently vibrating, its temperature rapidly rising. He seemed to use some sort of power to make all the seawater in a ten-meter radius rapidly boil. Ignoring his other attack flying towards Garen from all directions, he created a second wave of attacks.


    "Scorpio''s Gun!!"


    With his last attack, the black gun in Slayer''s hand looked like an enraged black dragon, ferociously lunging towards Garen. Along with the bright red light glowing in Slayer''s eyes, the black gun''s barrel shot out like a burst of lightning, it''s power increasing more than three times the original.


    Within that short second, Slayer managed to unleash three strong abilities, creating one overwhelmingly terrifying attack.


    Garen finally understood what was a slayer, and also why he was given the nickname Slayer.


    At this moment, he was at the center of all of these finishing moves. He felt that he was not battling a single person, but rather an entire army! Within the time he could unleash one move, his opponent managed to unleash three. He could even feel that within each of Slayer''s move it had more than a couple of different types of abilities being activated at the same time.


    Among the incoming undercurrent attacks, some were fake and some were real, some were strong and some were weak. They had different intensities and even different orientations. Due to the variation in this attack, any normal person would find it completely impossible to react in time.


    Every one of these undercurrents had various types of changes and follow-ups hidden within them.


    "This is a completely different level¡­" He looked a bit helpless. "Looks like I can''t afford to hold back¡­"


    An idea suddenly flashed in his mind. Garen instantly wielded his dual sabers tightly in a reverse grip, holding them out in front of his chest.


    Forcefully, he slashed outwards with the sabers.


    Splitting Sea!


    Whoosh!!


    The sabers flashed, the entire seawater was somehow split into two. Garen was stood in the middle with his two sides being two seawater walls that were more than ten meters high. He stood at the center, holding on to his sabers as he started running, looking like a God of the sea, arrogant. This formed a white line that shot towards Slayer below.


    The seawater was instantly slashed into a vacuum, destroying all the earlier attacks. The black gun was moving up from below, whilst Garen was moving down from above.


    The two seemed to have given up on their fancy tricks and decided to have a head-on clash.


    Boom!


    The vacuum under the seawater was only maintained for a short instance before immediately collapsing.


    Twonk!!!


    A huge sound wave rippled from in between the black gun and the dual sabers, causing the sand floor at the bottom of the sea that the two were standing on to instantly crumble away. A clear ring of the ripple with the two as a center point started spreading out.


    This caused the coral, mud and rocks to completely be shocked into pieces. Even the crabs and prawns in the area directly died from the shock.


    Slayer coldy sighed, releasing the gun barrel from his grip. With a whip of the chain at the end, he threw it at Garen like an actual whip. His gun technique immediately transforming into a whipping technique.


    However, at this time, a red bloodstain had appeared on his chest, blood dissipating out from his chest into the seawater.


    Garen rapidly stepped back, dodging the whip and started to create distance between them as he looked at Slayer.


    "Sorry, it seems like my power is slightly stronger." He wielded his dual sabers in a reverse grip behind his back.


    "Is that so?" Slayer touched the wound on his chest. Understandably, although his abilities and moves were complicated, varied and abnormally strong, his physical fitness was still a level lower than his opponent. Although the difference was not huge, it was still something that he could not believe. His strength was obviously weaker than his opponent, that''s why he sustained this light injury during the battle.


    However, even if Garen was strong, Garen''s speed was still no match for him.


    "Interesting." The red lights in Slayers eyes faded away. "Originally I only planned to play around a bit¡­"


    He reached his hand out and threw his gun forward.


    Click.


    The gun somehow broke into dozens of pieces and started floating around him.


    "My muscles can simultaneously muster up energy for fifty-three moves," Slayer slowly explained. "In other words, I can activate a move similar to the attack just now a total of fifty-three times within an instant."


    He slowly grabbed two of the gun pieces. With a wave of his hand, the water started rippling from the dozens of guns moving together, almost as if there were dozens of attackers, each holding a gun. This looked extremely weird.


    "What gave you enough confidence to come and challenge me?"


    "..." Garen''s face turned pale.


    Fifty-three times simultaneously¡­ If what his opponent said was true, then...

 1193 Surprise Attack 1

    Before he even realized it, Garen suddenly stepped back. A black line flashed through where he was originally standing.


    It was a surprise attack that came in the form of a silenced gunshot.


    Garen''s narrowed his eyes even more.


    "Again!"


    He sharply leaped forward.


    "Wind Ahead."


    With a whooshing sound, a bright light shot out from the saber forming a white pillar crashing into the opponent. This saber was actually two sabers combined as one. Hence, its strength was twice as strong as the one in front of him.


    Slayer had also started to take this a bit more seriously.


    The dozens of guns floating around him all started to vibrate, gathering together to form one gigantic black metal shield.


    Bam!


    With a loud thud, the gun shield and the dual sabers crashed against each other.


    Garen twisted his body, rapidly moving away like a swimming fish.


    As a result, the two Undercurrent Attacks that Slayer used at the same instantly missed their target, leaving him frowning in his position as he looked at Garen''s silhouette leaving the place.


    "What is this supposed to be? Some test?"


    He had already caught wind of Garen''s challenge earlier on, so he had been waiting for him here. However, since his opponent had already retreated before they reached a resolution, this was obviously just a test and Garen had no intention to fight till the end.


    Both parties knew that they both still had their strongest cards concealed up their sleeves. Thus, if the fight would have continued on, there would be no way of predetermining a clear winner.


    "Sir?" A sliver diver swam over. "Do we pursue him?"


    "No need, there are too many pieces of trash surveilling the area," Slayer raised his hand. "We didn''t find what we were looking for, so let''s just retreat for now."


    "Understood."


    After his subordinates left the scene, the red light in Slayer''s eyes started to light up once more. He turned around and glared at the black submarines slowly closing in underwater, his face revealed a slight mocking expression.


    ******


    Garen climbed up onto the ship, helped up by two special service personnel onto the deck. Water naturally dripping off the surface of his completely drenched diving suit.


    "Your Excellency, you''re hurt!" One of the special service personnel said, covering her mouth in shock. She saw that Garen had a huge bloodstain on his back.


    "I''m fine." Garen pulled off his headgear, swiftly shaking off the water in his hair. "Start making the preparations to go back, we are leaving as soon as possible. This small wound isn''t a big deal."


    "Al¡­ Alright." The female personnel saw that Garen''s wound had already started to visibly heal. She was so shocked that her eyeballs were about to pop out. After stutteringly answering Garen, she swiftly ran off.


    Garen started thinking back to the battle he had with Slayer just now.


    "How interesting." A smile appeared at the corners of his mouth.


    Originally, he planned to just take it easy as he thought that there would not be anything that could threaten him in this world. However, he never would have imagined that there would be someone like the unknown and mysterious Sea God and that Slayer''s potential would exceed his expectations by so much.


    "Should I just kill Slayer?" Garen thought to himself as he rubbed his chin. He had basically already grasped the foundation of his opponent''s potential. Furthermore, he had yet to display his true powers as well. He could still use his Soul Energy Acceleration to forcibly increase his potential by another level. Once he used his full power, he could reach the levels of unnatural powers, having his potential countless times stronger than it was currently. It was definitely enough to annihilate Slayer in an instant.


    "However, it seems like that guy still has some sort of trump card. The threshold of unnatural powers in this world was too high so it would still not make much of a difference. How troublesome."


    Back in the Mech World, Garen was at the level where he could annihilate an entire planet with an arm tied behind his back. He was a true Demon King Level and if not for the world''s overly complicated rules, he might have already destroyed this planet out of impatience. After all, for a Demon King Level Soul Ring, just the Soul Energy itself would be strong enough to condense into a physical form. His potential growth rate could even be considered the most overpowered amongst the most overpowered. In addition to that, as his Soul Power increases, the speed of growth would also increase, and so would the intensity.


    Although he was still being suppressed by this world''s rules, Garen''s average physical fitness had still reached the terrifying degree of an average five points.


    The Mother Stream System''s most terrifying part was demonstrated here.


    They had extremely high adaptability no matter which world they were in. As shown in this situation, it could almost flawlessly fit into the new universe''s rules and find the strength at the strongest level. Then, using that scale as a basis, it uses soul rings to forcibly increase levels, achieving even more.


    That was the strongest part about the Mother Stream System.


    Garen finally fully understood what it meant.


    After changing his clothes, he went into one of the restaurants in the cabins to rest. In the cabin, food and beverages had already been prepared for him. The entire cruise ship started turning back because of special ''malfunctions''. Originally, this cruise ship was specifically allocated to Garen.


    "You went to challenge Slayer?" A voice rang from the restaurant''s entrance area.


    Nine-Tailed Fox and Li Hua walked into the restaurant, glaring daggers straight at Garen.


    "Didn''t I tell you to keep watch back at the base and protect everyone? Do you know how much danger and risk your absence could have caused everyone!?" Nine-Tailed Fox walked up to Garen, angrily slamming the table.


    "Nothing happened anyways, right?" Garen lazily replied.


    "What if Slayer decided not to accept your challenge and went directly to our comrades back at the base? Who would take responsibility if something happened?!" Nine-Tailed Fox looked extremely angry. "Ah Xue and the gang were all still back at the base. If something happened to them, can you even take the responsibility for it!?"


    "No worries, it''s fine. Didn''t I already allocate people to protect them before I left?" Garen spoke carefreely. "Slayer''s target isn''t us, his attention won''t be focussed on us at all."


    He casually picked up a piece of cake, putting it into his mouth.


    "You still dare to continue eating!?"


    With a slap, Nine-Tailed Fox smacked the piece of cake Garen was holding onto the floor.


    Her chest intensely puffing in and out, making it seem like it was not just the average anger.


    "No organization! No discipline! Can''t even take care of such a trivial task! Why are we still keeping someone like you!? What are you even good for other than wasting our resources!?"


    "Hey¡­ Calm down." Li Hua pulled lightly on her sleeve, but Nine-Tailed Fox jerked her arm away immediately. "Stay out of this!"


    Garen looked over at the cake on the floor. He seemed unperturbed by it as he picked up another piece.


    "I''m wasting your resources?"


    He felt that Nine-Tailed Fox was venting out his frustrations as if he had encountered some stressful situation. This was just a channel for him to vent.


    "The cruise ship you are currently sitting in, the food you are currently eating, the utensils you are currently using, are all these not a waste of our resources!?" Nine-Tailed Fox coldly laughed.


    "This looks more like the National Security Agency''s power though," Garen slowly replied.


    "Why do you think they value you so much? If it wasn''t for us helping you behind the scenes, why would they bother with a side character like you who is still in their teens? At the end of the day, most of the resources you used belong to everyone!"


    "Enough, enough, stop arguing!" Li Hua could no longer help herself, she had to hold her back.


    "You guys helping me behind the scenes?" Garen laughed. "Looks like you really don''t understand the actual situation here¡­" He picked up an apple and moved it to his nose to get a whiff.


    "Do you want to¡­ Have a bout?"


    The restaurant''s air suddenly turned icy cold, as if it regressed from the warmth of spring back to the cold of winter.


    An icy cold killing intent emitted out of Garen''s body, permeating to every corner of the restaurant.


    Nine-Tailed Fox and Li Hua could not help but shiver due to the cold. They suddenly remembered this was the man that just retreated in one piece after challenging Slayer.


    He was now sitting here, no injury in sight. He was even able to give off such an intense killing intent.


    A chill was sent down Nine-Tailed Fox''s spine. The fervor and rage from what happened earlier were instantly cooled down, almost as if someone had poured a bucket of ice water over her head.


    She took a deep breath, holding up her arm to have a good look. Her skin was completely covered in dense goosebumps. This amount of goosebumps was something that would only appear when she was facing an extremely dangerous threat.


    Streams of cold air gushed into her brain, reminding her that the man seated in front of her was an immense threat to her.


    She looked over at Li Hua, this comrade of hers, who had a similarly terrifying strength, currently had her pupils contracted. Although she still remained in the same stance, her entire body had tensed up, as if she was ready to make her move any moment.


    At this moment, Nine-Tailed Fox suddenly remembered. Ever since they first met, Garen had never ever revealed his actual trump card.


    "Have you calmed down a bit?" Garen raised his wine glass and had a sip of red wine, lightly tossing the apple over.


    "..." Nine-Tailed Fox had no idea what tone to answer with as all her intense emotions earlier had been instantly cooled down by this sudden surge of cold air.


    "Let''s just talk it out." Li Hua was advising at the side. "We''re all comrades here." She motioned for the other staff to leave the area, leaving the three of them alone in the restaurant.


    Dragging Nine-Tailed Fox over and seating her down, she sat right across Garen.


    "Ah Xue went missing."


    "..."


    Garen''s immediate reaction to the news was shock, but he instantly calmed down.


    "I was still talking to her on the phone yesterday¡­"


    "She just went missing yesterday night," Li Hua interrupted him.


    "Sorry, that was why Wenzhen was so agitated earlier." Li Hua closed her eyes and recounted her memories. "Wenzhen and I spent the entire night looking for her. In the midst of our search, we heard that you challenged Slayer. That was why she lost her temper just now. I hope you can understand."


    Garen did not reply her. Instead, he pulled out his phone and called Kong Xinxue directly.


    The phone rang over and over. After four times, eight times, and even over ten times, no one picked up the call.


    Seeing that no one was picking up, Garen''s face suddenly turned pale.


    Li Hua pulled out her own Lighthouse communication device and initiated a formless signal interceptor shield, gently placing the Lighthouse communication device on the table.


    "Maybe you did not know this. Although the souls of us Transmigraters have the special trait for unlimited transmigrations, after you transmigrate too many times, it will start to have a bleaching effect."


    "Bleaching?" This was the first time Garen heard of the term. "What does that mean?" His hands did not stop, he was still making calls, this time to Kong Yuan.


    "Although our souls cannot die, due to being forcibly distorted by the interference of space-time and various other forms of radiation energy, we will start to lose our memories, and eventually, our own souls. At the very end, when we have lost everything, we will become an empty soul, starting over from a blank slate¡­ The more times you transmigrate, the more intense the effects of this phenomenon," Li Hua lowly explained.


    "However, Ah Xue did not just transmigrate three or four times like she said. She had transmigrated more than eight times¡­"


    "Eight times is the limit." Nine-Tailed Fox opened his mouth, speaking softly at the side. "She was with me since the very start. She cannot die another time! She already had half of her memories from the past worlds bleached away, if she dies again¡­ She might not even remember who am I anymore."

 1194 Surprise Attack 2

    "Eight times¡­" Garen took a deep breath. To think that an average looking person like Kong Xinxue would have transmigrated more than eight times before.


    The coldness lingering in the restaurant slowly started to fade away. This was considered an oversight on his part, he did not expect that there would be someone other than Slayer who had the strength and ability to target Kong Xinxue.


    "The most important thing now is to find Ah Xue," Li Hua said urgently.


    At this point, Garen put down his phone. Kong Yuan did not pick up his phone as well.


    This gave him an uneasy feeling in his heart.


    "We have searched all the places we could, before finally coming to you at sea," Li Hua sighed. "I hope you understand why Wenzhen lost control of her emotions earlier."


    "I was careless this time," Garen calmly admitted his oversight. After talking with the Transmigraters and understanding their situation, he understood that no matter his Natural Attribute Points or the path he chose in the Mother Stream System, it was almost completely unique. The amount of Mother Stream Practitioners were too low, there was almost no one who was known for it. On the other hand, the Natural Attribute Points was even more overpowered, it could help an average person breeze their weakest period in the beginning at their fastest rate.


    This was the reason Nine-Tailed Fox and the others had already been stagnating at their peak for the longest time, whilst Garen could improve to this ridiculous level due to his higher Soul Limit and continuous nourishment of the Soul Ring.


    With an average Attribute Point of more than five, he would be able to knock down a Mammoth with ease, he was equivalent to a Humanoid T-Rex. For him, handling normal materials was like handing flour, crumbling to dust with just the slightest of pressure.


    Seated down, Garen''s entire body also looked exponentially stronger as compared to a year ago. His body was easily twice as large as Nine-Tailed Fox. In his white suit that he changed into earlier, it gave of an excessively strong and massive stature.


    "Is there any information on where Ah Xue was last seen?"


    "Of course there is. I have already hired the best pursuit specialist to investigate and record the situation at the scene," Nine-Tailed Fox had also completely calmed down. Although her tone was still cold, it was no longer like when she lost control earlier.


    "Send me the information," Garen said with an unquestionable tone.


    "Slayer is just outside. I''ll go ask him myself."


    Nine-Tailed Fox was slightly shocked.


    "I have fought the Slayer before, the difference between our strength is too high, I''m definitely no match for him. Even if we combine our strengths¡­"


    "It''s fine," Garen smiled, a weird air of confidence leaked from him. Instantly, Nine-Tailed Fox and Li Hua who seemed like she had something to say were completely silenced.


    ******


    Slann Country Border, Yhann Forest Area.


    Within the luscious greenery of the large mangrove forest lied a winding and rugged road.


    Vroom!!


    Yuria was riding on a black heavyweight motorcycle, his body leaning forward as he sped down the road. He was in a skintight leather suit and a pair of brown sunglasses, completely focussed on the road.


    His sister Yurijie was seated behind him, her arms holding on to his waist tightly.


    As the motorcycle zoomed past the large mangrove forest, the sound of its engine echoed in the distance. Their speed whipped up the wilted leaves on the road, blowing them up into the sky.


    The gloomy sky was covered in clouds, making the entire skyscape a whitish-gray patch. Occasionally, sounds of roaring thunder could be heard.


    The motorcycle sped straight towards a sharp turn. The road ahead somehow had a huge log in the middle of it, completely blocking their path.


    The motorcycle started to slow down, stopping right before they hit the log.


    Yuria signaled for his sister to wait at the side. Without saying a word, he alertly surveyed their surroundings, pulling out the long saber from the scabbard attached to the side of his waist.


    Yurijie silently nodded at him, similarly pulling out her saber from her back. The two stood back-to-back as they slowly inched towards the two sides of the forest respectively.


    Bang!!


    Suddenly, there was a loud explosion right below Yuria''s feet.


    An intense flare shot up to the sky, breaking through the ground. A large ball of scarlet red flames and smoke burst out, knocking Yuria away, lying straight into a thick tree branch nearby.


    "High explosives!!" Yuria felt a sharp pain surging throughout his body, his vision completely blurred up.


    The saber in his hand had also been broken in half from the impact of the explosion.


    "They really seem to think highly of me, don''t they¡­ This power¡­ It''s enough to kill an elephant with just the impact¡­" Even if his Saber Arts were unparalleled, against these types of surprise attacks, he would still have incurred heavy damages despite the Savior''s vitality enhancements.


    Yuria tried his hardest to scan the area with his blurred vision. He dropped down from the branch and slowly tried to regain his stability. Under the dark lighting, he vaguely saw a large silhouette slowly moving towards him.


    Thump¡­ Thump¡­ Thump¡­


    It was the sound of heavy footsteps.


    "Humans¡­ How could they have such heavy footsteps?" Yuria was lying flat on his belly, desperately attempting to push himself up. However, he could not stand up for some reason. He tried mustering up all his might but somehow felt his entire body being completely powerless. The power of the Savior he used to have absolute control over had completely disappeared.


    "Bro¡­" He could vaguely hear someone call out to him.


    "Xiaojie¡­" He reached out at the direction of the voice, seemingly grabbing on to something but his grip immediately loosened.


    After a moment, the large silhouette finally walked up to Yuria. Looking at it up close, he was shocked to see that it was a giant robot standing at more than two meters in height.


    He had a triangular head and his body looking as sturdy as a tank. The robot lifted up one of its legs, before furiously stomping down on Yuria''s back.


    Bam.


    A sudden intense pain.


    Yuria''s vision turned red as he completely passed out.


    ******


    Pitter Patter¡­


    The rain slowly splattered onto the ground. The icy cold water dripped down along Yuria''s cheeks.


    It was already night time. A tiny figure walked up to him and squatted down. She slowly turned Yuria''s body over before lightly slapping his face.


    "Hey, wake up!"


    Yuria remained motionless, his blood being washed off by the raindrops on his face. The mixture of blood and rain slowly flowed down his still unconscious body onto the ground, dying the grass below him a pale red.


    The tiny figure did not have an umbrella, her body had already been completely drenched by the heavy rain. Looking at the situation, she rapidly applied pressure on to Yuria''s chest, placing her ear on it to check for his heartbeat. He was still alive.


    This person then stood up and looked around, but there was no one in sight who could lend a helping hand. Seeing no other option, she once again squatted down. With some difficulty, she carried Yuria''s body on her shoulders, slowly moving out of the forest onto the road ahead.


    ******


    "What? Yuria is also missing?!"


    Garen stood in the restaurant, frustratedly talking on the phone with one of the special agents from the National Security Bureau giving him a report.


    "When did this happen?"


    "Just a few moments ago. Our contact with the Yuria siblings suddenly got cut off. At the same time, all the communication devices on his body had also been disconnected. Our satellite monitors found the vehicle they were riding abandoned in the middle of the road. The area had traces of an explosion." This female special agent was someone the National Security Bureau specifically tasked to give these reports and updates to Garen. Her speech was short and concise, not wasting any time when conveying the messages.


    "Yuria''s movements was something that only the National Security Bureau and us would know about. Do we have a spy in our midst!?" Li Hua stood up and said in a low voice.


    "This is bad," Garen nodded, his expression starting to pale, "Yuria is a key figure in our plan. This type of incident wasn''t accounted for in our original plan. Furthermore, Ah Xue is also missing."


    "Could it be the work of the same people?" Nine-Tailed Fox stood up and said. Her current emotions had completely calmed down.


    "Vulture would never attempt this stunt on their own. Maybe it''s one of the other two countries'' forces," Garen guessed, "Red Nation and Black Federation. It should be one of them?"


    "The possibility of it being the Black Federation is much higher," Nine-Tailed Fox replied. "They are an ambitious bunch, always trying to start wars and challenges. Yuria is one of the Four Cornerstones, this is something that most of the higher-ups all over the world acknowledged. Their intentions and goals are very obvious, but why would Ah Xue also be targeted?"


    "Let''s continue this when we get back."


    Garen walked out of the restaurant and arrived at the deck. Both hands holding on to the railings at the sides of the ship. He felt the waves of the blue sea violently crashing about causing the cruise ship to rock. He could also see a few ships moving in the distance.

 1195 Mystery 1

    Bam!


    Garen threw his fist at the speedboat coming up next to him, knocking off the people on it. Jumping onto the new speedboat, he sped directly towards another group of speedboats.


    Weaving in between two enemy speedboats, Garen drew his blades.


    With a swift slash, four white-shirted enemies fell into the sea whilst grabbing on to their necks.


    "Too weak!"


    Garen rapidly sheathed his knife. Suddenly, Garen''s eyes opened wide, he moved his scabbard to block something.


    Twank!


    A bullet the size of his index finger ricocheted off, creating a small dent on his scabbard.


    "Armor-piercing rounds?!" Garen was not shocked, but rather, he was delighted. Looking back at the enemy who fired at him from afar, it was one of the three robots he saw earlier. "Now that''s more like it. There''s no meaning if all of you are so weak!"


    With a maneuver of the speedboat, he headed directly towards his target.


    The dozens of gun barrels behind the robot shot all at once, causing a loud boom similar to a huge clap of thunder. Spitting out a large flames, it emitted a deafening roar, which caused the seawater to start ripple uncontrollably.


    Large amounts of armor-piercing rounds were shot towards Garen. The intense amount of recoil had caused even the robot and the speedboat it was on to be pushed back.


    The bullet speed was extremely fast, especially since the gun barrels were all custom-made. At the same time, it also had a high explosive and penetrative power. It was something that a small handgun could never replicate.


    Nine-Tailed Fox and the others were looking at this scene in the distance, their heart rate immediately peaked. This level of attack was absurd. It would still be fine if it was average bullets, but there were also armor-piercing rounds and explosive rounds mixed amongst the normal rounds, even Nine-Tailed Fox would not have the ability to survive that attack. The only option was to find cover. However, Garen was on a speedboat in the middle of the sea. If he went to find cover, he would lose his current position, putting him at a disadvantageous situation and at risk of being surrounded.


    "Save him!" Almost simultaneously, Nine-Tailed Fox and Li Hua thought out loud. Garen was neither a Savior nor one of the Four Great Cornerstones. He had no unnatural power or special ability. Even if his Sword Arts and Saber Arts were top class, he would still be helpless against this type of absolute firepower. This was not even a power that a human could ever hope to wield.


    Garen just stood on the speedboat. In an instant, he felt that everything around him started to slow down. The bullets flying straight towards him, the gunshots from afar, the screaming, the waves splashing, the firefight and shouting on the cruise ship, and even the fearful screeching of a lot of visitors on the average tourist boats, all of them suddenly played on in slow motion.


    The firepower this time was at least two times more intense that his confrontation with Yuria. When he first fought Yuria, it was only against one machine gun, but now, he was up against countless explosive rounds, armor-piercing rounds, and custom-made rounds. Furthermore, the firing speed had obviously been enhanced, so the power of the rounds are definitely more than twice as strong. It looks like his opponent had already done some research on him, specifically using a weapon of this level to attack.


    If the difficulty level when he was fighting Yuria was 1, then the situation Garen was currently facing would no doubt be classified with a difficulty level of 10.


    They seem to be trying to defeat him as if he was a Main Battle Tank¡­


    "How troublesome¡­" An idea suddenly flashed into Garen''s mind. He no longer had any time to hesitate about it.


    Finally, at this moment, he used his Soul Power to forcibly increase his level. This was the trump card that he did not even use when he faced Slayer earlier.


    Right at the instant before the explosive round hit Garen, his entire body seemed to glow with a pale white light.


    Shing!


    The dual sabers were crossed in front of him, a type of flame-like Soul Power Aura started burning around Garen''s body. If there was an existence that could see Soul Power spectating this battle, they would surely notice that his body currently seemed to be engulfed in a layer of pale white flames. This floating white flames looked like countless white ribbons floating in the air.


    "Wind Reversal."


    Before he even finished, the speedboat under Garen suddenly broke into multiple pieces, while Garen instantly shot up into the air, his trajectory aiming towards the robot not far away.


    His speed was extremely fast, to the point where even the bullets could not keep up with him.


    Merging his two sabers as one, Garen sliced down from above like a high-speed circular saw.


    Kaboom!!!


    The robot exploded.


    At the instant the saber sliced through the robot''s armor, the entire robot exploded into a ball of flames, bursting out in all directions. Large amounts of heat and light had completely engulfed Garen.


    The fireball had a diameter of almost six meters, its intensity even causing the surface of the ocean to be pushed down by more than a meter.


    The flames completely stunned Nine-Tailed Fox and the others, but the other attackers did not show any signs of hesitation. They continued their high-intensity attacks. Due to the distraction, Li Hua had injured her shoulder. On the other side, Nine-Tailed Fox was also ambushed by the two remaining robots. Luckily her speed was slightly faster, so she managed to get behind some cover. In addition to that, it seemed like the robot that attacked Garen was the strongest of the three, the explosive rounds fired by these two seemed lackluster compared to the other one. This gave her a sigh of relief, but at the same time, she also started to worry about Garen''s safety even more.


    As the flames slowly dissipated, , the remains of the destroyed speedboat were still burning on the ocean''s surface, emitting a crackling sound.


    A soot black figure suddenly pooped his head out from underwater. It was Garen.


    His entire body had been burnt completely black and his clothes were in tatters. The two sabers in his hands were only left with the two hilts. He looked as if he had been rolling in a pile of charcoal.


    "How sly!" Garen wiped his face, rubbing off the black parts, revealing his original appearance. Looking at his awful appearance, he could not help but feel slightly embarrassed.


    His opponent was too ruthless! Who would have thought that it would use this type of move? If not for his current physical fitness averaging more than five points, that self-destruction would almost definitely be the end of him.


    His opponent was definitely someone who knew him very well, otherwise, they could not have seen through his favorite closed-combat style to this extent. They didn''t even give him an opportunity for close combat.


    "This proves that the enemy definitely knows that close combat is ineffective against me. Even when using an alloyed robot with an extremely hard exterior, they were completely sure that closed-combat would have absolutely no effect on me. This opponent seems to understand my combat power quite clearly¡­"


    With a splash, Garen leaped out of the water, landing on the remains of the speedboat near him. Using all his might, he propelled himself into the air like a rocket.


    Swoosh!


    What remained of his sabers suddenly flashed white.


    One of the men on another speedboat was flung straight into the sea. The other man voluntarily jumped into the sea, diving down for his life, fearing that he could not escape in time.


    "This monster!!" One of the attackers yelled out in fear.


    All of the attackers rapidly started retreating, leaving behind dozens of corpses without a second word. Within a brief moment, all of them had retreated at least ten meters away from Garen, desperately praying that he was not pursuing them from behind. They just kept on moving and running for their lives.


    ******


    "Even High Explosives couldn''t harm him¡­"


    Inside a submarine under the sea.


    In the darkness, a figure said lowly whilst facing at the surveillance screen. He looked at Garen who was standing on top of a speedboat without so much as a scratch on him.


    "Any counter-strategies?" Another person in the darkness asked softly.


    "This guy seems to be like the Four Great Cornerstones, maybe a new Cornerstone?" The man facing the screen asked suspiciously. "At the beginning, Slayer was the same. High Explosives basically had no effect on him."


    "Impossible. Cornerstones would have specific Sacred Sigils, but he doesn''t have any," the person in the darkness replied.


    "So what''s the plan?"


    "Let''s go with number three," the person in the darkness answered, "No matter how strong his individual potential, there will eventually come a time where he''s powerless."


    "That''s true."


    ******


    "Are you fine?" Nine-Tailed Fox, Li Hua and Garen gathered together back at the cruise ship. At that moment, the cruise ship surprisingly did not have any major damages, it only had a few scratches and burns here and there. The surviving members of the special agents were rapidly putting out the fires along with the crew members. The battle was over. There were even some passengers who dared to peek out to check on the situation.


    "It''s fine. I didn''t get hit that much, it''s only a scratch," Garen shook his head as a gesture signaling that he was fine, at the same time, his gaze moved towards a point afar.


    This caused Nine-Tailed Fox and Li Hua to also shift their gaze in the same direction.


    "What are you looking at?" Just as Li Hua finished asking her question, she was immediately silenced.


    Honk¡­


    At this moment.


    A small warship appeared in the distance. It was in the shape of a fish, completely white, with a silver-white crab logo on its sides.


    On the side of the warship, a white robot with a metal exterior was stationed. Its three-meter tall body lifted up a person with a single hand in a chokehold. It was a beautiful girl with a nice figure and long hair.


    The girl was being choked at her neck, her body struggling mid-air. She was desperately hitting the robot''s arms with her fists, but to no avail.


    "Ah Xue¡­"


    Nine-Tailed Fox''s voice suddenly turned icy cold.


    Garen and Li Hua had also recognized who the struggling girl was. It was definitely Ah Xue. Although they had already prepared for Kong Xinxue to be captured as part of their original plan, the problem was that the one who captured her was not Slayer and his men, like the plan intended, but rather another completely unknown force.


    What were their goals? Why did they know their situation so well? All of these factors remained unknown to them. At this point, all three of them were quite sure that there was definitely a spy in their midst.


    At this time, the escaped attackers on speedboats were rapidly getting onto the small warship, climbing in from behind the ship.


    "Do you want to save her?"


    A husky male''s voice rang out loudly from afar.


    "Then come and meet me¡­ Sword Master, you must come alone. Or else¡­"


    Rip!


    The robot just ripped of the white one-piece blouse Kong Xinxue was wearing, revealing her stark nude body that was going commando.


    Her snow-white body looked almost as if it was glowing in the distance. Garen could even here the passengers behind him exclaiming and gulping.


    "Heh¡­ This is getting interesting," he carelessly tossed his two broken sabers away, they were no longer of any use anymore. "You guys head back."


    Without even looking back, he ordered, "I will deal with him by myself."


    "They obviously know us very well. Be careful," Nine-Tailed Fox lowly warned.


    "Do you have confidence?" Li Hua asked softly.


    "No clue," Garen chuckled. With a light leap, he dived into the water causing a splash, almost like a pelican diving into the sea. Then he started swimming towards the warship, his movements as natural as a fish. His speed was almost comparable to the speedboats earlier, leaving a white trail behind him as he zoomed towards the warship.

 1196 Mystery 2

    They stood there looking at Garen''s silhouette.


    "It was the Black Federation after all!" Li Hua furiously said. "Their target is Slann. If they manage to kill off either Slayer or Garen, it would be considered a strategic victory for them! Bastards!!"


    With a loud bam, she angrily hit the railings out of frustration


    "Let''s head back," Nine-Tailed Fox calmly said as if she was completely unworried about Garen.


    "What!? Are we supposed to just leave Garen here and not care about his well-being?!" Li Hua could not believe what she had just heard.


    "Just listen to me," without an explanation, Nine-Tailed Fox turned around and walked into the interior of the cruise ship, leaving behind a shocked Li Hua.


    ******


    Yuria slowly opened her eyes.


    He noticed that he was currently lying in a log cabin made of mangrove wood. His body was resting on a wooden bed at the center of the cabin. He was even covered with a thick white blanket that was emitting a nice fragrance.


    Looking at the window at the side, there were a few rays of bright sunlight shining in from the outside. They seemed to be sunrays that passed through the gaps of the trees. They were small and scattered, moving occasionally.


    The cabin seemed to even have a heater as it was quite warm. On the table at his side, there was an electric kettle that was boiling some water, sounding like it was almost done.


    "You''re awake?"


    A charming voice came from the door.


    Yuria had a splitting headache, his entire body was off-balance. When attempting to push his body up, he noticed that he could not even muster up that little bit of strength.


    Cough¡­


    He wanted to say something but discovered that he had no voice and could only hear the coarse sound of him exhaling air from his throat. Air was definitely flowing out of his throat, but there was not even a hint of audible vibrations or sound.


    "Your body is under the effect of severe heavy metal poisoning," the voice moved from the door to the front of the bed. Placing down a glass of water, a beautiful and youthful girl with a black ponytail appeared in front of Yuria.


    "When I found you, your body was severely dehydrated to the point where your skin had started to dry up and wrinkle. You looked like a little old man. If it wasn''t for the medication I used on you, you would''ve probably died back there," said the girl. She was not wearing anything fancy, the only accessory she wore was a white hair clip that gave her hair a side parting. She looked gentle and charming, giving off the vibe of a daughter from a humble family.


    "Hah¡­ Hehah¡­" Yuria tried to speak, but to his dismay, he found out that not only could he not move, he could not even speak. The only thing he could do was to occasionally shake his head slowly in disappointment.


    "Looks like your injuries this time are quite serious¡­"


    "Your spine had been broken into five pieces, it would take at least ten or more days for you to recover," the girl dragged a chair over next to the bed, softly explaining. She seemed to be able to speak Slann''s language but occasionally dropped in a couple of terms from the Red Nation. Looks like she wasn''t local.


    "In addition to all that, your spirit has been heavily damaged as well. Taking that and your physical injuries into account, you need to rest well. You''ll need at least one month to recover."


    Pulling off the blanket, she started closely examining the injuries on Yuria''s body.


    Yuria noticed that the clothes he was wearing had been changed into a pair of brand new white pajamas. It was special pajamas with grey stripes, resembling the clothes worn by patients in hospitals.


    What surprised him even more, was that this young girl was masterfully undoing the buttons on his pajamas. Her icy cold hands started applying pressure on his chest as if she was checking something.


    "I know you have a lot of questions," the girl softly said. "I know you aren''t a normal person. I also know there are a lot of people looking for you, searching for you, but what I have to tell you is that, out of all the people looking of you, some of them are trying to harm you."


    She reached out her arm and pulled down Yuria''s pants.


    "The poison this time should be the work of those people on the inside. Otherwise, you wouldn''t lose your strength at the key moment."


    "Hehe¡­ Hahahahaha!""Hey hey, what are you doing!? Where is your hand reaching!!??"


    Yuria glared at the girl''s hand, refusing to even blink. He desperately wanted to stop her, but he was obviously completely helpless. At this point, his focus had completely shifted off what she was saying. He was more focused on protecting his virginity status that he had kept for more than ten years¡­


    Woosh.


    Yuria suddenly felt a cool breeze. His pants had been completely pulled off, Feeling his lower half completely in the nude, not even wearing any underwear, the complicated feelings he had were at volcanic levels, bursting out uncontrollably as he squealed out.


    He started to feel a sense of sourness, sadness, and helplessness, all mixed in with a hint of excitement.


    "It''s not like I haven''t seen this before. Why are you so shy?" The girl openly said as she started checking the injuries of his lower body. His thigh had a fracture and some internal bleeding. There were also a couple of places that obviously had chunks of his flesh missing, but everything had been patched up and bandaged nicely by her.


    Luckily, his manhood seemed to have incurred no damages.


    "I had already closely examined every inch of your body countless times when you were passed out for the past few days. What''s there to be shy about?" The girl calmly said.


    After she finished her check-up, she pulled Yuria''s pants.


    "Alright, looks like you''re recovering quite nicely."


    "Haheha¡­ Heha¡­" Yuria opened his mouth trying to say something.


    "I guess you''re trying to ask who I am," the girl laughed. "Don''t worry, I''m not going to harm you. Otherwise, I wouldn''t have saved you back then," she paused briefly. "As for my name, there''s no meaning in revealing it, so I''ll just leave it at that."


    After she finished speaking, she turned around and left the log cabin. After closing the door, her footsteps slowly faded away as she walked through what seemed like a thick layer of dry leaves.


    "Hahah¡­What the heck!" Yuria could not suppress the memory of the scene that just happened. He was uncontrollably replaying the scene of the girl pulling off his pants and touching him in different parts of his lower body.


    Then, rather embarrassingly, he became hard¡­


    No, but rather, he was never flaccid from the start¡­


    "Hahe¡­" Yuria suddenly thought of Xiaojie. "Xiaojie, I hope you''re fine¡­"


    At the time, various questions popped up in his head. Who poisoned him? Why did they poison him? How did he fall for the explosive trap? Seems like there was definitely a planted sensor, otherwise the enemy would not have known about his movements so accurately. Furthermore, where did Xiaojie go? This young girl who saved him seemed to have a lot of knowledge about what was going on behind the scenes, what is her actual identity?


    A series of different questions and thoughts started jumbling up inside his mind, giving him a migraine. His originally weak body suddenly felt a surge in fatigue as a natural defense mechanism. After a while, he fell asleep again.


    ******


    Splash!


    On a deserted island in the Slann Sea.


    There were a few seals on the beach lazily resting under the sun. Suddenly, they were startled by a loud splash from the water. They looked towards the direction of the splash where a black head suddenly emerged from the water, followed by an entire human body as it slowly walked up to the shore. Standing up straight, the figure walked onto the beach, leaving behind wet footprints on the golden sand.


    Garen looked up at the hot sun above him, then at the seals that were once again lazily enjoying the sun. These greyish-black furred fellows were obviously enjoying their time under the sun.


    "What the heck?" Garen mumbled. Why would a seal that could originally be found in the colder sea regions be in this sort of tropical region enjoying the sun? Were they not afraid of being burned to death by the heat?


    Looking at these seals who treated him like a harmless creature, Garen decided to ignore them. He walked straight up the beach, surveying his surroundings.


    This was not a big island. There was a luscious forest that comprised of coconut trees and various large-leafed trees. In the middle of it all was an extremely simple-looking golden beach.


    Garen saw that the warship had stopped at this island when he was a distance away, following it all the way to this island. However, now that he looked at it, this was most likely not a deserted island. Due to how the seals reacted, he knew that they were already used to the presence of humans as they had completely lost their natural alertness against humans.


    "How interesting¡­" He glanced over at into the depths of the island.


    Shaking off the water on his body, the water immediately turned into a white mist, clearly visible under the sunlight.


    ******


    "All units on guard! All units on guard!! The enemy has entered the border of the base! All battle units ready yourselves at your stations! Alert level, Red!"


    Inside an underground base in the island, a husky male voice rang out,


    The entire huge base functioned like a huge beehive. Countless white-shirted combatants were running out from different departments. They were armed with a large number of guns and equipment and a lot of them even had cyborg bodies.


    At the center of the base, within a red three-meter tall artificial crystal tube, Kong Xinxue had her eyes closed shut, floating at the center of the tube. Her white blouse was completely undamaged.


    The naked girl in the hands of the huge three-meter tall robot, though visibly similar to Kong Xinxue in their appearance had some minor differences in their detailed features. If one were to look closely, they would easily notice that the two were not the same people.


    "Let''s move¡­ We must finish off the strongest Sword Master of Slann!! We cannot let Slann develop the second!!" The robot''s icy cold voice continuously echoed throughout the huge hall.


    Clank!!


    Two large and sharp crescent blades popped out from the robots two arms.


    "I felt a force¡­ A very strong force¡­" The naked girl closed her eyes, her face turned towards a direction outside of the base.


    "Yes¡­ I could feel it too¡­" The robot turned around, now facing the same direction as her.


    On the beach, Garen''s entire body was surging with Soul Energy, almost as if his entire body was engulfed in countless white flames.


    The strong Soul Energy Force started burning even more intensely, slowly forming the illusion of a gigantic abstract peacock behind him.


    At this point, there was no longer a reason to hold back. This was because he had already felt it, another existence with Soul Energy Force¡­


    Countless autocannons slowly rose up from in between the forests of the island. Large amounts of combatants in white military uniforms also slowly appeared out of the forest.


    There were also chariots, helicopters and infantry scooters.


    Garen tilted his head, slyly grinning.


    He raised up his right palm.


    "How unfortunate¡­ I don''t have my sabers¡­"


    Whoosh!


    He disappeared into thin air in an instant.


    Kaboom!


    Countless cannons started firing simultaneously. Large amounts of explosive rounds, armor-piercing rounds, and radiation rounds hit the area Garen was standing on just now, causing the beach to explode, whipping the sand and dust into the air. Flames, acid, and metal shreds were flying about in the air.


    Amongst all the cannon''s fire, a shadow flew straight into the crowd in the forest. Large amounts of people were knocked off their feet like a bunch of wheat being cut by a sickle. The autocannons started to break and the chariots had a clear fist mark. Some of the equipment started to fall apart from the hits, some even straight up exploded


    No one could stop Garen''s advance, this could not even be considered a battle, it was a massacre!

 1197 White Crab Army 1

    Garen kept flashing and jumping without even a moment''s pause, such that the guns could not pin down his location at all. Upon activating his Soul Ring and increasing his level, his speed had gotten even faster than before. Still, his true formidability lay in the way he moved, almost as though he could predict the enemy''s nex attacks.


    They clearly thought they had him completely covered, but he would still manage to break his way through when they least expect it, and miraculously find an escape path where they thought there was none. And his powerful physical fitness allowed him to completely ignore any long-range aftershocks generated from the explosions.


    That was why, just a few minutes after the beginning of the battle, Garen was strolling leisurely through the battle squads, completely unaffected.


    His Combat Strength was incomparable to how he had been one year ago.


    "Is he still human?!!" A soldier driving a tank in the distance had broken into a cold sweat.


    "He''s literally a monster," said another soldier coldly. "Just fight him as though he''s an inhuman monster. Don''t get distracted, ready the cannons!"


    "Yes, sir!"


    Boom!


    The insides of the tank instantly caved in, as a clear fist-print sunk into the tank from outside.


    Brrr!!!


    An intense tremor immediately traveled through the whole tank. The two soldiers did not even have time to scream before their bodies crumpled to the ground, spasming as they foamed at the mouth. They were clearly not going to last long.


    Outside the tank, Garen leaped backward, his palm tapping the heads of two half-machinized soldiers lightly. After he killed them with one hit, he landed more than ten meters away and stood steady.


    By then, the dust had more or less settled over all the battlefields around the island. Fire and smoke, corpses, and battered remains were scattered everywhere, and the few helicopters that remained airborne decided to just leave.


    Garen ignored them. Unlike in the Mech World, he did not have long-range attack options here, so he could not do anything to those helicopters. Of course, he could also use these soldiers'' guns, but it did not really matter. After all, even if he caught up with them, destroying these choppers would not be easy. They were all equipped with heavy armor, so not only would normal guns have no effect, he would even need some specially-made weapons for this.


    Garen did not intend to go to all that trouble.


    Stepping on a piece of the tank''s broken metal remains, he looked around him. Only a dozen or so soldiers were left from the previously hundred-man-strong battle squad, and these were rapidly retreating. Of the ones left behind, some were lying on the ground, and others were already on fire, catching the flames ignited as a result of the explosions. They sizzled as they burned, emanating the fragrant aroma of cooking flesh as well as the odor of something charring.


    "They''re all small fry." Garen felt slightly bored. With his current powers, bullying minnows like these was completely meaningless.


    He kind of wanted to go to Lighthouse as soon as possible now. According to Nine-Tails Fox and the others, the basic rules in this universe and other nearby universes accessible by Lighthouse were the same, and many of the laws were quite similar, such as the Physical Gene Law. However, these restricted the extent of supernatural powers, also known as unnatural powers. That was why many Transmigrators could bring a part of their powers into other worlds, unlike the worlds he had reincarnated into before this.


    Garen could clearly remember how he suffered, always starting from scratch, constantly adapting to the vastly different universe laws, going through so much trouble and hard work before he could reach an extremely high realm.


    "Sigh¡­ Why didn''t I ever think of exploring the universes nearby?" he complained to himself for a bit, and then rapidly took one step back.


    Clang!


    A pitch-black bullet hole had instantly appeared in the spot he had just been standing on.


    "Oh, a super long-range shooter?" Garen recovered with some interest. "There are probably three kilometers between us, how impressive."


    The bullet had evidently come from the other edge of the island, and the shooter was clearly an exceptional marksman.


    Beep¡­ Beep¡­


    Suddenly, there was an anxious police siren coming from the sky.


    Garen''s expression changed, he had suddenly remembered something. He began to move at even faster speeds, dashing straight ahead.


    Boom boom boom!! ¡­!


    In that instant, a series of gunshots chased his tracks closely. Every spot he had just flitted path was instantly obliterated by the artillery fire, until all that remained were deep craters.


    "Bombard with long-range wide-area artillery fire," said a deep man''s voice from the sky above the island.


    Boom!!!


    Countless shots instantly descended upon him from up in the air and swept through the entire area within several hundred meters of Garen.


    Instantly, the entire island shook intensely, as though the very ground of the island was about to fall apart. Dust, flames, tree branches, as well as shrapnel that could either be metal scraps or debris from the bombs, all of it flew everywhere.


    Half of the entire island shook violently, and these tremors lasted for several minutes before the bombardment finally died down.


    "Concentrated air bombs," said that man''s voice again.


    Bam!


    A transparent air current bomb exploded ruthlessly, blowing up even more earth from the battlefield that had already been reduced to a crater in the ground. All the air there was forced down and pressurized, turning into waves of wind that spread in all directions.


    Immediately after that, more air bombs were dropped one after the other.


    These air bombs were extremely powerful. They could instantly condense the air and form extremely forceful shockwaves, which made them extremely deadly when paired with their wide area of effect. Forget humans, even tanks could be disfigured by the shockwaves should they get hit.


    Inside the base.


    "Even the Sword Master would not be able to survive a ÎÞ²î±ðµØ̺ʽ´óÃæ»ýºäÕ¨," said the robot coldly. "Not as long as he''s human, with a body of flesh and blood."


    "What''s wrong with a body of flesh and blood?" said the naked woman beside him angrily. "We''re not like you metal racks, if you can''t even enjoy the greatest pleasures of the human life, what''s the point of living? How boring."


    "It''s all over." The robot ignored the woman.


    ******************


    Since the restrictions on supernatural powers were too harsh in this world and universe, there were no effective ways to counter artillery fire.


    That remained true for Garen as well. If he could use his supernatural powers, he would be able to demolish such a low-tech squadron in one go. Unfortunately, he could not use them.


    And since he could not, he had no choice but to take the enemy''s indiscriminate gunfire head-on.


    Right now, he was hiding in a deep cave, holding what seemed to be a black metal plate from the remnants of a tank. The black metal plate was as thick as half his palm, which made it more like a metal brick, but he still managed to twist it by force, turning it into a giant metal club more than a meter long. The giant club was wider than his own body and looked more like a shield than a weapon.


    He was standing in a crater that was more than a meter away from the surface of the ground. As he had taken a direct hit from the gunfire, his face was looking slightly pale.


    The gunfire outside finally seemed to have stopped.


    Only then did Garen release the breath of impure air that he had been holding.


    "Looks like I can''t handle concentrated fire head-on just yet¡­" He had taken one hit directly, and his whole body had been stuffed into the deep crater behind him, instantly sustaining internal injuries.


    The gunfire in this universe seemed to be even more powerful than those on Earth or from the Secret Technique World, or rather, the gunpowder here was more potent. He had misjudged them.


    On the bright side, however, he had used the momentum from that direct hit to evade all the other shots aimed at him.


    "It''s finally stopped¡­ Next time I can''t try to go head-on against mechanized squadrons anymore, this isn''t a universe where I can use supernatural powers." Garen listened carefully for the noises outside. Once he was absolutely sure that they had stopped, he reduced his body temperature and heartbeat, slowly crawling out of the crater.


    Whoosh!


    As soon as he left the crater, he turned into a shadow that flitted straight for the other end of the island.


    The enemy evidently could not react in time, nobody could have imagined how Garen survived that unavoidable large-area bombing. They had no time to react at all before they watched that wisp of a shadow instantly disappear toward the direction of the base on their surveillance cameras.


    They had no time to start up their large-area fire, those weapons also required locking on and a cooling period, so they could not be instantly fired.


    Garen leaped and jumped among the forest of coconut trees, dashing forward like a bolt of lightning. The surveillance cameras and automatic guns around him could not keep up with his speed at all, and before the cameras could even swivel around to see him, he had already vanished.


    The trees retreated rapidly before Garen''s eyes, and he heard the clacking of autocannons turning on both sides.


    Bang bang bang bang!!


    The autocannons began to fire indiscriminately, since they clearly could not catch hold of his tracks, they began to simply fire everywhere. All they needed was for one hit to land, or to make Garen wary of the fire, so that they could reduce his speed and locate him once again.


    Whoosh!


    The edge of the black metal plate where it had broken off was unnaturally sharp. Garen held it in one hand and sliced mercilessly, immediately cutting down three of the coconut trees to his right. At the same time, he had also destroyed one of the automatic cannons positioned between the trees.


    He turned his hand around and used the metal plate to block his left, immediately intercepting several cannon shots. The bullets sank into his metal plate, the tremor forcing a slight shudder out of Garen.


    "What impactful force! Looks the enemy''s desperate!"


    He understood and increased his speed further.


    The forest sped past beside him, and soon enough, the few helicopters that had escaped before appeared in front of his eyes once more.


    Bang bang bang bang bang!!!


    The two autocannons underneath the heavy-duty helicopters began to wail, countless bullets sweeping toward Garen. They formed several clear chains of bullets.


    But the trajectory of their aim was far too obvious, Garen just had to deduce it slightly and then he could continue forward amidst the chainfire with ease, completely unaffected.


    The helicopter''s autocannons could not aim anywhere near fast enough to follow his movement paths.


    "Rattlesnake!"


    Someone roared from the ground. They seemed to be yelling at the helicopters.


    Even Garen could hear that roar.


    Boom boom¡­


    All of a sudden, several lines of fire shot out from underneath the choppers, they were homing missiles!


    But they were too close to him, their aim too obvious, so all Garen had to do was somersault, using the momentum to leap up, to avoid getting caught in the gunfire.


    Bang bang bang!!


    The forest began to burn. Garen circled around it, and after he evaded the homing missile, he darted straight into a small cottage made of silver-white metal, beneath the helicopters.


    Clang!


    Garen kicked the metal door and sent it flying, crashing hard inward and plastering itself onto the wall inside the room.


    Inside, it seemed to be a reception room used for rest, and obviously, there was also an extremely thick black metal door on the floor. Beside the door, there was a high-tech electronic scanner, probably meant to scan the identity of any guests.


    Other than that, there were also two cyborgs in the room, their whole bodies trembling as they pointed their guns at Garen. They cursed at him loudly, and he had no idea what they were saying. Still, he could see that they were completely petrified.


    "I can tell that you''re very scared." Garen grinned. This room had clearly been fortified with the best defenses, and regular autocannons would not be able to break through. Just now, he had put all his strength into that kick, otherwise he would not have been able to send the door flying.

 1198 White Crab Army 2

    "Die!" One of the half-machinized goons finally gave in and started firing.


    Boom boom boom boom!!!


    The light-duty submachine gun made very little noise, but still could not hit even Garen''s shadow.


    Compared to their response times and action speed, Garen moved as though he teleported. With such short distances, he just needed to leap forward, and before they could even blink, he had already jumped across several meters of space. He held in his hand the thick metal plate, more than a meter long, and casually bent over, slicing the two men''s waists.


    Their guns were still firing, but the two men slid to the ground in two halves each, their mouth still screaming for a full two seconds before the noise died down.


    The bullets continued to rebound all around the room, but Garen just waved the exceptionally thick metal plate casually, and all the bullets embedded themselves into the plate effortlessly.


    He looked down and observed the underground facility.


    "Why do these guys always like to build their bases underground?" Garen rubbed his chin. "Should I go down or not?"


    He did not have his powerful supernatural powers right now, so if he went down and some of the people inside ignited a grenade or something powerful like that, trying to pull him down with them, within that sealed room, its power would be¡­ Tsk-tsk¡­


    As he was right now, there was no doubt about it, he would definitely die.


    The hot weapons in this world were clearly much stronger here, and the restrictions on supernatural powers were too considerable. And after he forced himself up a level, the increased supernatural powers mostly manifested in his speed and reactions. After he strengthened himself, his Saber Art could be executed at twice the speed of before, at the least. That was the true power of it.


    In Saber Art, when he was waving his blade, he would naturally follow the air current that gave him the most speed, slicing down the path of the gravitational field, such that everything was almost completely perfect.


    But none of these power-ups could help him face non-discriminatory fire head-on. The only way to handle attacks like those were to hide or take them face-on.


    "This is slightly hard¡­" Garen did not want to put himself in harm''s way.


    Ever since he found out that this universe was connected to the other Lighthouse universes, all he wanted to do was simply kill time in this universe, holding in there until his physical fitness reached its most terrifying peak limits, and then he could destroy any opponent he wanted easily.


    There was no need at all to fight the enemy to the death right now.


    But clearly, there was a chance that the enemy held Kong Xinxue hostage. To Garen, that was a problem.


    However, he did not have long to agonize over it, because the other party showed up just like that.


    Brr...


    Amidst the low hum of the earthquake, some drastic changes appear to have occurred outside.


    Garen quickly retreated out of the metal house and saw a gigantic platinum-colored metal platform, more than several hundred meters long, rise slowly from the beach at the front of the island ahead of him.


    There was a huge cylindrical crystal bottle on the platform, with a pale yellow liquid inside. An unconscious woman floated inside; it was the missing Kong Xinxue.


    Two figures stood in front of Kong Xinxue, one tall and one short. The former was the tall robot that had appeared before, with a triangular head and the symbol of a white crab on its chest. Two scythe-like scimitars jutted out of its arms, making it look like a small-sized elephant. It had considerable tonnage as well, which clearly meant that it was the power-type.


    The other shorter figure was the stark naked woman who had impersonated Kong Xinxue. She held a long, sharp spear in her hand, the kind of riding spears people only used on horseback in the past. It made a stark contrast against her demure figure, merely 160 centimeters tall.


    "Force Fielder¡­" The robot spoke first. "You are emitting similar forces¡­ Looks like we are the same."


    "?"


    Garen had no idea what the robot was saying.


    "Wanna fight? If not, just hand her over, I''m in a rush," he said nonchalantly. Other than large-area bomb attacks like before, nothing else worked on him. Even the bombings from earlier did not cause as much damage to him as one would expect, all he sustained were some light injuries.


    "Hand over your Sacred Sigil, and I can let you leave here in one piece," said the robot in a deep voice, waving the scimitars in its hands.


    "Do I look like an idiot to you?" Garen was speechless. "Please don''t ask such r*tarded questions, it feels like you''re insulting my intelligence." And a Sacred Sigil? He never had one of those, so he could not hand it over even if he wanted to.


    "Or else, I kill her." The robot tilted its body to one side, aiming one of its scimitars at Kong Xinxue, who was behind it. "She''s your older sister, yes? Are you going to disregard your relative''s life?"


    It had not occurred to Garen that they would do that, or rather, he had practically forgotten that he still inhabited Kong Xiaofei''s identity. Now Kong Yuan had gone missing, and Kong Xinxue had fallen into enemy hands as well. Indeed, if it were him, a face-to-face threat would be the best course of action.


    "Go ahead, kill her," Garen rubbed his chin and replied after some thought. Threats were the last thing he was afraid of, practically nobody had been able to threaten him throughout his journey, since he started from the Secret Technique World until now.


    The robot and the woman had not expected Garen to reply so decisively and were clearly taken by surprise as they paused there for a moment.


    Whoosh!


    At that moment, Garen moved instantly. He tossed the black metal plate he held in his hand ruthlessly, and it sliced through the air, spinning at high speeds and crashing toward the two with a terrifying momentum. Even Kong Xinxue behind them was caught in the crossfire.


    "Is he crazy!?" The same thought flashed through the robot''s and the woman''s minds. It seemed as though Garen planned to kill Kong Xinxue as well, he showed no signs of holding back.


    And all of this happened too quickly. The woman still managed to leap away by the tiniest margins, but the robot was by nature heavier and clumsier, so it could not dodge at all and had to resort to holding up its blades to block.


    Bam!!!


    The black metal plate, spinning like a shuriken, crashed mercilessly into the robot''s twin blades, emitting a loud and piercing sound upon impact.


    The vibrations of the sound made the woman next to it go numb, and before she could react, she saw something flash before her eyes. There was an intense pain around her neck, and then she felt nothing more.


    The very last image she saw was Garen instantly pulling his hand out of her neck.


    Since she was frozen still for an instant, Garen managed to kill her off before she could even activate her true powers, and she sank into the darkness unwillingly. This may have been something that she and the robot never expected.


    On the other side, the robot was hit by the black metal plate at high speeds. It pulled its arms apart, and fiercely tore the metal plate in half. This was a demonstration of its considerable strength. It was almost equal to Garen''s.


    "How dare you kill Carice, how dare you kill my daughter!! I''ll bury you with her!!" roared the robot furiously, swinging its blades as it pounced at Garen.


    Large gusts of high-temperature steam gushed out of his shoulders and permeated the air, carrying with it a clear and pungent odor. It obviously contained some special poison.


    Garen held his breath, at his current level of physical fitness, he could fight continuously for ten minutes without breathing. He had nothing to fear against poisonous gas attacks like this one.


    The two of them dashed straight at each other, without trying any fancy moves.


    Hah!!!


    Garen bent his waist and gathered his qi, then he smashed his fist straight at the robot!


    The robot also slashed at him with both blades at the same time. Putting all his effort into it.


    "Only an idiot would go head-to-head with you!" Suddenly, the corners of Garen''s lips curved, and he disappeared with a whoosh, reappearing directly behind the robot. He crashed his elbow into the middle of the robot''s back.


    Bam!


    There was a dull sound. The robot fell straight to his knees, but there was only a slight dent in his back.


    That exasperated Garen slightly. This metal was rather overpowered, to think it could withstand his attack with more than five points in his Strength stat. Back in the Secret Technique World, two or three Strength points were already extremely terrifying, allowing him to treat regular steel plate or iron armor like they were nothing, tearing through them with ease. In addition, he also had his Body Hardening Technique, such that even bullets could not penetrate his eyelids. It was only natural that he would be nearly invincible like that.


    And now, although he did not have his powerful Hardening Technique, his Saber Art was still his strongest and sharpest weapon.


    "Wind Reversal."


    Garen held his hand up like a blade, and as the robot turned around, he chopped his neck hard.


    Hiss!


    A slight pain spread from his palm, giving Garen a shock and making him pull back his hand into a hasty retreat.


    It just so happened that two of them had swapped positions, and he landed beside Kong Xinxue, looking at the robot, who had shot more than ten meters out, from a distance.


    Garen raised his hand and looked at the edge of his palm, where there was a small and slow trickle of blood. His expression instantly turned solemn.


    "What is this?" He thought back to that moment, it seemed as though there was something invisible and sharp protruding out of the back of the robot''s neck. His own strength had made him collide mercilessly with the sharp edge, and that was why even his powerful defenses could be broken and blood drawn.


    It was like how people could easily tear a piece of paper, but when the edge of a paper was abnormally sharp, a brush along that edge would result in a papercut. It was the same principle.


    The smaller the surface area affected was, the stronger the pressure exerted on it would be. Garen''s instantaneous explosive power was already unimaginably fearsome, and it had all been concentrated on that tiny, thin little sharp edge. It would be a miracle if he had not gotten hurt.


    Of course, that item on the robot''s neck also seemed to fall to pieces. That was the result of both of them exerting their power.


    "It''s the latest gadget, the Invisible Metal Blade¡­" To Garen''s surprise, the robot actually responded. "Alright, time to send you off."


    "?" Garen was taken aback. "What''s that mean?"


    The robot laughed coldly.


    "The medicine should be taking effect right about now," he said proudly. "Your wound will slowly begin to rot and split even further, while your muscle tissues and blood cells are rapidly infected and infested. The parasitic bacteria will worm into your body''s internal organs and tissues, causing you unbearable pain¡­"


    "Medicine?" Garen looked at the wound on his palm. "You mean this? It''s closing up already."


    Seeing the edge of his palm where not even a scar remained, the robot''s voice ended with a duck-like squawk.


    "No way!"


    He stared at Garen''s hand in disbelief.


    "This is the newest cutting-edge high-powered corrosive poison! How could it be!? How could it be!?" He repeated ''how could it be'' twice, showing just how shocked he was right now.


    Garen could not be bothered with him and sank a backhanded fist into the bottle that held Kong Xinxue.


    With a splash, the entire bottle shattered, and Garen caught Kong Xinxue''s body in his arms.


    Garen could already tell that this robot was merely a researcher who had never really fought with his own hands, placing all his hopes in his poison. Unfortunately, his poison was child''s play to Garen, whose fearsome physical fitness was at an average of more than five points.


    Carrying Kong Xinxue by the waist with one arm, Garen walked up to the robot.


    "Spill it, where''s Kong Yuan?"first example of masculine third-person pronoun referring to the robot, perhaps to reveal that the robot was Carice''s fathe

 1199 Behind the Scenes 1

    "Kong Yuan? What are you talking about?" The robot took two steps back. Garen had guessed right, he was just a simple researcher, and as such he did not have much fighting power at all. Or rather, he had obtained a part of the Slayer''s fake Sacred Sigil, a counterfeit, and yet he did not have the courage to use what little power he possessed.


    It was just like with a weak average person, no matter how weak they were, they would still have some power. If they just trained a little and had the guts for it, they would easily be able to kill the person they used to be. But this person in front of Garen now evidently did not even have the courage for it, he relied on his thick armor for defense, hoping first to render himself invincible. Then, he used his poison to fight the enemy.


    Faced with a minnow like this, Garen did not even feel like killing him.


    "You guys weren''t the ones who caught Kong Yuan?" said Garen impatiently.


    The robot kept retreating, his expression unnaturally frantic.


    "I have no idea what you''re talking about! What Kong Yuan, I don''t know anything at all!"


    "You piece of trash!" Garen had completely lost his patience, it seemed like the robot had no clue.


    He held up his hand like a blade and dashed forward ruthlessly.


    With a slight hiss, the hand blade pierced straight into the robot''s chest, as though it was a real sword. It vibrated intensely at a high speed, and he swung it downward.


    Instantly, a clear white line appeared directly in the middle of the robot''s body.


    Garen carried Kong Xinxue with one arm, leaping aside and quickly retreating to about a dozen meters away. Accompanied by a rumbling sound, there was a wail and tremor behind him.


    Boom!!


    The robot exploded.


    The flames burned for quite some time, but practically no one appeared around him anymore. Garen could now be certain that the enemies here had probably issued a hasty retreat, and as he watched the flames rise higher and higher, he gave up on his initial plans to search for any spoils of war.


    "The problem now is where do I find a ship to leave with¡­" Garen looked around him, but could not find any sailing equipment at all. "The people should have departing ships, right? Or else a plane would work too."


    He lifted the unconscious Kong Xinxue and began to wander aimlessly around the island.


    Soon enough, a white helicopter rose slowly from the center of the island. The pilot was a black man, and Garen had threatened him into flying the helicopter away from here and into the distance. In no time at all, the helicopter had disappeared across the horizon, leaving the large blaze to grow stronger and stronger on the island. The thick smoke roiled, rising into the sky as a black-grey pillar.


    No one noticed that, on one end of the island, a crystal-clear white gem was sparkling in the gradually dying flames, at the center of the place where the robot had exploded. The gem was hexagonal in shape, as though it had been carved before, and it was completely transparent. It also emanated a Soul Energy Aura that regular people could not discern.


    If Garen were here, he would be able to recognize it instantly. This was a lost Soul Energy Crystal, a component part of the Soul Ring that he placed so much importance on. It was also a part of the Soul Seed.


    A Soul Crystal could only be condensed with a variety of precious experiences and inspiration, as well as power. Although it was not as high quality as a Soul Seed, a few Soul Crystals were already enough to condense and distill a Soul Seed.


    If Garen had obtained it and converted it into Soul Energy for him to absorb, he might have been able to condense a new Soul Seed, turning his Soul Ring into a Four-Soul-Seeded Soul Ring. It would also greatly reduce the time needed for him to reach the next grade of the Demon Lord Class, as well as increase his Soul Limit. Once he entered the Five-Soul-Seeded Soul Ring Phase, he just needed another breakthrough to reach the Seven Colors Phase, which meant he would need to condense seven Soul Rings of different colors -- red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet -- once more. Finally, he would reach the True Soul Level.


    After all, there were levels within the Demon Lord Class as well.


    Another option would be to use it as simply pure Soul Energy, so he could strengthen his own physical fitness. It would speed up his journey of growth further.


    Unfortunately, he never put any stock in such a small fry, and since he had Kong Xinxue with him, he did not have any spare time to check, so he left just like that.


    Leaving a Soul Crystal lying right there, sparkling away.


    The Soul Crystal lay on the black metal that had been charred and was still smoking, when suddenly it was picked up gently by a large hand and lifted up.


    "Slayer''s Soul Crystal¡­ A Forged Soul Sigil," said a deep masculine voice. It was a man in black, completely wrapped up in a black cloak. His face was obscured, and all one could hear was his deep voice.


    He kept the Soul Crystal away carefully, hiding it inside his cloak. Then he looked into the distance, in the direction Garen had left toward.


    "I just need to collect two more, then I can condense the Sacred Sigil Seed¡­"


    He murmured, turning around to look at the sky. There was a helicopter there, slowly flying toward him at a low altitude, and someone tossed a ladder down from it.


    *********************


    The helicopter flew slowly, surrounded on all sounds by the endless ocean.


    Garen sat aboard the aircraft, continuously dialing numbers on his phone. Unfortunately, this place was dead-smack in the middle of nowhere, and his was not a satellite phone either, so he could not get any reception whatsoever.


    "Do you have communications?" He looked at the pilot impatiently.


    "Yes! Of course!" replied the black pilot hastily, fearing for his life should Garen fly off the handle. He had been terrified throughout the whole journey, after all, Garen had demonstrated that he could fly this chopper with just one hand almost as soon as he came onboard. It seemed that the only reason the pilot survived until now was that this person appeared to be somewhat lazy.


    "Dial a number for me," said Garen.


    The black pilot immediately turned around and glanced at the phone screen. Then he quickly dialed the number exactly.


    Unfortunately, the call still did not go through.


    Garen was at a loss now, it was extremely scary to lose communications on a flight. He would not mind so much if it was just him alone, but now he had someone with him. If he tried to swim his way back like before, that would truly be troublesome.


    "Do you have an emergency channel?" he asked the pilot with his final ray of hope.


    "N-no¡­" The pilot was even more panicked now. "But I''m bringing up the naval map now, there should be some decently-sized supply islands nearby, we always go there to replenish our everyday supplies!"


    "Then let''s head there!" Garen decided.


    Beside him, Kong Xinxue also began to stir right about then.


    Mmgh¡­


    "Where is this?" She massaged her head, opening her eyes slowly.


    "Over the sea." Garen turned around to glance at her.


    "I remember¡­ being kidnapped, I think," Kong Xinxue said hesitantly. "How long was I out?" Her words began to flow better.


    "How would I know how long you were out? All I know is that it was quite a while," said Garen, annoyed. "You''re the reason I came vacationing all the way out here in the ocean."


    "Well, it was your fault for neglecting your guard duty and leaving your post, otherwise I wouldn''t have been kidnapped, would I?"


    "Yeah, yeah, it was my fault. I shouldn''t have left my position like that." He did promise to watch everyone''s backs, and Garen was not an irresponsible guy, so he decided not to argue.


    This was indeed his fault.


    "What should we do now?" Kong Xinxue frowned, looking at the black man flying the aircraft in front of them.


    "We need to find a way to contact the outside world, and then wait for help to arrive," replied Garen, cutting to the chase. "It would be best if we could reach Nine-Tailed and the others. Still, the most important thing now is to first figure out exactly which faction attacked us."


    His gaze fell on the pilot in front of him.


    "I''ll talk! I''ll talk! According to international law, you can''t torture prisoners of war!" yelled the black pilot hastily.


    "First off, tell me, who are you guys!?" asked Garen directly.


    "White Crab, I''m just a regular aircraft pilot under the White Crab Army!" replied the black man immediately. He did not dare to pause for breath, lest his slow response ended his life. He had just watched Garen kill off more than a hundred elites without batting an eyelid, and most of those elites were terrifying killers who had been half-machinized and modified, usually they were the ones who killed indiscriminately.


    But Garen had destroyed and obliterated each of them as though he was merely slicing through watermelons. The survivors had mostly gone into hiding, the killing had scared them away.


    "White Crab?"


    "That''s right!" The black man nodded his head like a chick pecking at feed. "The White Crab Army is an independent mercenary troop, we don''t know what faction we actually belong to, but most of our missions are passed down from the Commander-in-Chief above us, our small island base is only one of the twenty-or-so such islands under the Commander-in-Chief''s control. Our codename is the Biochemical Army. There are a lot more armies besides us."


    "Who''s the White Crab Army''s Commander-in-Chief?" asked Kong Xinxue coldly. This question was crucial, this White Crab Army could very well be related to the traitor among their midst, or else the enemy would not be able to follow their tracks so easily, capturing Kong Xinxue as soon as Garen left.


    "What about Kong Yuan? He''s fine, right?" Garen asked Kong Xinxue in a low voice.


    "About time you remembered!" Kong Xinxue rolled her eyes at him. "He''s fine, he''s just under temporary protection for now. He has no idea what happened, so we told him that he was aiding the investigations of a murder case, and he''s at the police station now."


    "That''s good." Garen nodded. Then he began to listen to the black man''s explanation.


    "I''m just a regular soldier, how would I know the Commander-in-Chief!?" the black man yelled. "I''m just a low-ranking soldier, a low-ranking one!!" he kept repeating.


    "Fine, fine, I know you''re just a low-ranking soldier." Garen was exasperated. "Tell me everything you know."


    "Got it! Got it!!" The black man heaved a long sigh of relief.


    ********************


    On the cruise


    Nine-Tailed Fox and Li Hua stared down the heavy-duty robot opposite them, as though readying for war.


    On the surface, this robot looked just like a normal person, the only difference being it had a high-speed spinning metal sphere connected to its arm, and every inch of the sphere was covered in sharp thorns.


    The robot was about 180 centimeters tall and appeared to be slightly thin, looking more like a man in armor rather than a robot.


    But there was an evident gap in its neck, formed by a cluster of metal strips. From the outside, anyone could see that there was no flesh or blood in its neck, only metal strips and wires.


    The waves were growing stronger, and there were corpses scattered all over the cruise ship. The cause of death was clearly the caving in of their chest cavities, as though something heavy had crashed ruthlessly into their chests, shattering it and killing them through their internal injuries.


    There were crew members among the dead, and some special service personnel, but most of them were passengers.


    That robot had suddenly dashed out from among the passengers, staying hidden and motionless when Garen, Nine-Tailed and the rest were fighting hard outside, only to suddenly attack and ambush Nine-Tailed Fox as soon as Garen left.


    Although Nine-Tailed Fox noticed something amiss in time and managed to dodge, she still stabbed in the waist by that extremely quick poisonous needle. There was a great force behind that steel needle, so even putting aside the poison on it, merely the impact of it was enough to penetrate the muscles in her waist.


    By now, the blood was slowly dripping down the right side of her waist.

 1200 Behind the Scenes 2

    Nine-Tailed Fox tried to withstand the intense pain, forcing herself to stay on her feet and face the robot. Beside her, Li Hua held up her gun, but her complexion was pale.


    Her shooting skills were extremely formidable, but in comparison, the gun''s firepower was sorely lacking, and would not be able to penetrate the robot''s outer shell at all. Under these circumstances, she did not pose a threat. Right now, Nine-Tailed Fox was the only one holding up their side of the battle.


    "White Crab again." Nine-Tailed Fox glared at the white crab logo on the robot''s chest with a hint of anger. "Just who the heck are you guys!!? Why did you ambush us!"


    The robot slowly stopped the spinning of the steel ball on its arm and cackled with a strange laughter.


    "Against you? I''m just following orders, as to why we''re going against you, I don''t know either.


    "With your wound as well as the intense corrosive poison, no matter how strong your physical fitness is, you will definitely fall unconscious and go into shock within ten minutes. I just have to wait to achieve an easy victory, why, I won''t need to waste any energy at all." It spoke, word by word, demonstrating its obvious intellect.


    "You''re shameless!!" Li Hua could not help but curse at it loudly.


    "Shameless?" The robot laughed again. "Even if I didn''t ambush you, you still wouldn''t be able to leave this ship. My Speed is 1.4 times that of yours, Nine-Tailed Fox, and my Strength is 2.3 times of yours. Plus, I''m covered with the most recently developed corrosive poison, touch me and you''re instantly incapacitated. Do you two really think you can win? What a joke!"


    "You''re not a robot!?" Nine-Tailed Fox was slightly surprised.


    "Of course not!" replied the robot with a laugh. "I''m just remote controlling this robot''s body. Unfortunately for you two¡­" Before he could continue, his voice was abruptly cut off. He seemed to be listening to some other information.


    "Hm? That idiot Begal is dead!?" he said, his voice shocked and confused, but it sounded more like he was talking to himself. "Looks like it''s about time I finished you guys off."


    The metal sphere in his arm started to turn again, spinning into an illusory wheel that wailed as it cut through the air.


    "I''ve investigated your trump cards a long time ago, now die!"


    He stomped down hard with one foot, and a part of the deck caved in with a rumbling noise as the entire robot shot toward the two women like a bolt of lightning.


    "Retreat!" Nine-Tailed Fox whipped out her ribbon, her body spinning rapidly so that the countless white ribbons circled around her, forming a soft defensive wall. But at the same time, this further aggravated the wound on her waist, her blood slowly splattering everywhere. It dyed almost every part of the silk ribbons. The white mixed with red possessed its own bright beauty.


    At the same time, Li Hua was swept by Nine-Tailed Fox''s ribbon and sent flying high up over the clouds, until she finally landed in the ocean beyond the deck.


    To her surprise, there was someone steering a Speedboat and waiting at the spot on the sea where she was about to fall. It was a muscular man who opened his arms and caught Li Hua with all his might.


    Bam!!


    The two of them crashed into each other on the Speedboat, and the large man''s arm made a cracking sound. Still, his expression did not change at all, he just immediately turned around and started up the Speedboat, heading into the distance hastily.


    "What about Nine-Tailed!?" said Li Hua urgently. It was not easy, but she finally managed to get on her feet and steady her footing on the Speedboat.


    "Someone else will fetch the Boss!" replied the large man quickly. "Relax, right now we''re the ones holding her back!"


    "Alright!" Li Hua calmed her heart.


    Just then, there was a huge explosion from the cruise.


    Boom!!


    The deafening explosion spread to the Speedboat Li Hua was wondering, and the tremors made both their scalps go numb, their ears buzzing. Their vision was a blur, and they could barely see anything at all.


    Amidst the flames, a slender figure leaped into the air and landed on another Speedboat not far away on the surface of the sea. That Speedboat just happened to be speeding toward the side of the cruise, and managed to catch Nine-Tailed.


    "Go!" Nine-Tailed yelled loudly, her body all covered in blood.


    The two Speedboats did not hesitate in the slightest, rushing toward the horizon at the same time.


    On the deck, the steel sphere robot dashed out of the flames and saw the two Speedboats that had already gotten some distance away. He snorted coldly.


    Suddenly he looked up at the direction the Speedboats had left in, and saw a giant white army ship headed toward him at a high speed.


    "Vulture No.1, huh? Consider yourselves lucky!" He leaped straight into the ocean and soon disappeared into its depths.


    Even though it was an ambush, but in truth both Nine-Tailed and the robot knew that even if it was not an ambush, even if they had gone face-to-face, Nine-Tailed would still be no match for the robot. After all, that would be pitting the human body against a cutting-edge peak-level product made entirely of technology. There was no competition at all.


    And Nine-Tailed Fox''s true abilities were actually more along the lines of Vulture''s No.4 or No.5.


    *******************


    Bam!!


    Countless bullets and guided missiles left long trails of white smoke behind as they shot toward Garen.


    They were currently on another island, but the same scene was repeating here as well.


    After the black driver landed here, Garen was once again surrounded. And this time, the enemy was even better prepared. Their firepower was a lot stronger than before, and this time, they even used electromagnetic bombs and poisonous gas grenades without hesitation. They had clearly prepared in advance for this.


    Garen had the black man take Kong Xinxue away from here, while he stayed behind on his own to face down the White Crab Army members on this island.


    He held in his hand a long military saber that he had picked up somewhere, and the soil under Garen''s feet exploded, again and again, the immense rebound force allowing him to quickly dodge the vast amounts of gunfire that kept raining down on him.


    Whoosh!


    There was a flash of blood. Even if the soldiers holding submachine guns were armed to teeth, Garen still flitted past them easily, penetrating their necks and killing them instantly.


    Garen''s figure did not stop for even a moment. Compared to the previous conflict, this fight had stronger firepower, but he also had more experience now. As a result, he could deal with the attacks more freely, facing the continuous and widespread fire from more than two hundred enemy soldiers.


    He ignored the bullets completely, swinging his military saber as he moved at high speeds. Most bullets could not even reach him, he could easily block stray bullets with one hand, and ricocheting bullets could not even break his skin.


    As for explosive and missiles, he might take one blow occasionally, but aside from that there was no problem at all.


    Amidst the forest of coconut trees, Garen wielded his military saber and flitted past like a ghost. Wherever he passed, the soldiers there would simply crumple to the ground.


    "Retreat, retreat, retreat!!!"


    Someone yelled, and the soldiers at the back instantly abandoned their comrades at the vanguard, retreating without hesitation.


    A fighter jet dived down, emitting a sharp wail as it unleashed its guided missiles.


    Boom boom boom¡­!!


    Consecutive explosions and fires burst to life not far away from Garen, but it was as though he had predicted the missiles'' trajectories in advance each time, allowing him to dodge aside.


    Suddenly, a guided missile came flying at him and actually made a turn in mid-air. Garen was originally sure that he had evaded it, and was taken slightly by surprise.


    "Heat-seeking missiles?"


    He kicked up a large patch of stones and soil, forming a black flying dart that preemptively hit the heat-seeking missile with extreme precision.


    Barroom!!


    This missile was exceptionally powerful.


    An intense wave of heat and flames exploded in mid-air, the resulting tremor making all the nearby explosions feel small in comparison.


    Garen raised his hand to block the incoming high temperature and heat wave, then he quickly changed his location. Hurriedly, he dashed forward.


    These were the perks of being a small and fast target, plus his physical fitness was strong enough. Only direct hits would have any effect at all on him, so the legend of one man destroying one small-sized army was repeated again on this world as well.


    Whoosh-whoosh!


    There were two clear sounds, and a bunker that Garen flitted past instantly misfired. Garen had stabbed his saber straight through the embrasure, instantly and decisively killing the person inside.


    He had immense strength and the shock techniques to match, so with an enclosed space like that, everyone inside was simply shocked to death, no exceptions.


    More than ten bunkers and several tanks, Garen annihilated them all with his ghost-like attacks.


    Finally, he picked up a submachine gun and opened fire loudly at the armored helicopters circling the airspace above him.


    The bullets hit the bottom of the chopper, clanging as they went, and somehow hit some crucial spot, causing the entire helicopter to sway and circle. Soon enough, each of the helicopters crash-landed onto the ground.


    There was yet another string of unending explosions, causing this relatively larger island to shake continuously.


    If someone could look down on them from the sky, they would be able to see that on this B-shaped island, the white earth was all covered in flames, human remains, burning trees, corpses, and fresh blood.


    And one person stood alone in the middle of all this.


    That person was Garen.


    His clothes had been destroyed a long time ago, and he was currently wearing a full suit of the White Army uniform that he had pulled off someone somewhere. The only difference was he had torn off the logo of the White Crab at the chest area.


    Holding his military saber upside down, Garen glanced at the rapidly-retreating naval ship and felt extremely bored.


    "That wasn''t a challenge at all, how uninteresting."


    "Then allow me to be your opponent!"


    Garen turned around and saw a young blonde woman dressed in white skin-tight clothes. She had all the curves in all the right places, and the zip at her collar was pulled down, revealing her deep cleavage. The only pity was that her face was covered with a silver-white metal mask.


    And just like the robot from before, this woman also emanated a faint hint of Soul Energy Aura.


    "A higher-up from the White Crab Army?" Garen raised an eyebrow.


    Clang!!


    The woman appeared behind him as though he had teleported there, and stabbed a dagger mercilessly at his waist. Garen stopped her.


    "You''re not very polite, are you?" Garen chuckled once, turning the military blade back around and stabbing it toward his right. At the same time, his other hand formed a blade, swinging in a circle before coming down on the woman''s shoulder.


    Even if he rounded off his Strength stat right now, he could still easily hurt the enemy''s bones and grievously injure her.


    That was the benefit of being strong enough, you just had to hit them once and things will be settled once and for all.


    Contrary to Garen''s expectations, however, the woman was extremely fast. She leaped backward and did several nimble backflips, heading toward the distance.


    "Tailwind." Garen''s saber gave a small jolt, and he also vanished from the spot. When he next appeared, it was directly under the place where the woman had done her mid-air somersaults.


    Their eyes met, one pair above and one below.


    A hint of a smile appeared on the corners of Garen''s mouth. His blade sliced upward without hesitation!!


    Psst¡­!


    The woman was still flipping in mid-air, and it never occurred to her that Garen would be so much faster than her. Frantically, she activated her ability. Her body became instantly faster, and a faint wind began to encircle her.


    The air current caused by the wind picking up seemed to block off any interference from Garen''s blade, and at the same time, the woman''s body turned. She was forcing herself to twist and turn in mid-air, and just barely managed to evade Garen''s attack.


    "Are you challenging me at move transformations?" Garen instantly laughed, and the woman''s pupils dilated abruptly.


    She actually saw the military saber coming straight at her head once more. Despair shone in her eyes, and she closed them abruptly.


    Psst!!


    Barroom!!!!


    Yet another terrifying explosion.


    Garen looked at the intense explosions about a dozen meters away, his heart still pounding. Thank goodness he retreated backward as soon as he stabbed her, because it seemed as though the people from the White Crab Army had a thing for self-destruction. He abandoned the military saber and took off in a run.


    Thankfully he managed to evade it too, or else he would surely be injured again if he took that blow at such a short distance.


    Even now, he had yet to completely heal from the light injury he sustained before, so he must not get injured again.

 1201 Capture 1

    The flames turned into what looked like countless pieces of confetti, floating about everywhere.


    Garen avoided the embers and looked at the huge blaze that just would not die down, frowning deeply.


    The Soul Energy Aura was just in there, but he could not go in and deal with it. These flames burned at several thousand degrees, at least, and as he was right now, it was not quite possible for him to walk into the fire head-on to look for something.


    "How troublesome."


    He turned around and glanced at the distant sky, the helicopter Kong Xinxue rode on was flying toward him slowly. Clearly, it was here to pick him up.


    "Well, the Soul Energy is so miniscule, so I bet nothing much will remain." Garen turned around and left quickly.


    Soon, the helicopter left this little island once more.


    Sitting in the helicopter, Garen lowered his head, looking at the island beneath him.


    "How many more such islands are there?" he asked the black person.


    "I only know how to navigate to one more," replied the black pilot in a panic. He was terrified of ticking Garen off, after all, he had watched Garen massacre so many members of the White Crab Army with his own eyes. Right now, he both admired and feared Garen to the extreme, and was treating him just like he would the Commander.


    "Take me there," said Garen nonchalantly, narrowing his eyes. "I might as well get it all done at once. You''ve refueled the tank?"


    "Yes, sir!"


    "Then let''s go!"


    Beside him, Kong Xinxue looked at Garen as though he was a monster.


    "You-- Since when have you become so overpowered¡­" She could not hide the shock in her heart at all, this guy went head-to-head against so many elites and killed them all! In her perspective, Nine-Tailed Fox was the strongest, but even she could not do that¡­


    Garen smiled but did not say anything. He just sat in his seat, closing his eyes and resting his mind. The military saber leaned on the side of his seat, and he placed his hands on his knees, falling into a deep sleep.


    Kong Xinxue sat right beside him, but she felt an ice-cold aura, the kind that warned all living creatures to stay away. It was as though she could sense a slight chill coming from Garen. She thought she knew this guy very well, but right now the image of him in her eyes was beginning to seem more unfocused and mysterious.


    "What kind of a person was he in the past! How could he have possibly reached such heights in such a short time!?" In spite of herself, she was slowly growing curious about Garen.


    **********************


    Smack.


    The large blaze was slowly dying down, and a piece of charcoal exploded in it, splitting in half. Immediately, a black leather boot trampled down hard on it, shattering it.


    The man in the black windbreaker slowly walked up to the place where the woman Garen had killed was.


    He bent down and slowly reached around the ground, finally retrieving a transparent crystal-like hexagonal gem from the ashes.


    "Soul Crystal¡­ number two."


    He murmured in a deep and low voice. Keeping the Soul Crystal into his coat.


    "How lucky, I just need to gather three of these, then I''d be able to condense a Soul Seed, and if I absorb it then¡­ Even the Slayer wouldn''t be able to stop me!! Hmph hmph hmph¡­" He began to chuckle coldly and deeply.


    "I just have to be a bit more careful, and no one will know that I was the one who took away the Forged Sacred Sigil¡­ All the blame will be pinned on Garen. Not bad."


    The figure retreated slowly, taking the Soul Crystal with him, and got onto a submarine at the beach. Soon enough, he had vanished into the depths of the ocean.


    *******************


    Garen strode forth slowly, picking up speed as he went, going faster and faster.


    All of a sudden, he did a forward flip. Psst psst psst!!


    There were three consecutive hisses, and three robots on the island beneath him, each three meters tall, simply fell sideways, rendered completely useless. A large burst of sparks rose from each of them.


    Boom boom boom!!


    Three explosions.


    Garen landed and continue to walk forward, military saber in hand.


    There were corpses and remains all around him, shards and debris from tanks or even fighter jets littering the landscape. Flames, black smoke, and all sorts of vitrified craters had turned this new island into an utter and complete mess.


    "White Crab Army. Don''t you have any stronger opponents for me to face?!" Dissatisfied, Garen yanked up the last remaining bald man. The latter was the leader here and also the person in charge of the entire island. He was dressed in a white suit, and his bald head was almost shiny, so all in all, he would have usually looked like quite the strongman. Now that Garen was holding him up by the collar, however, he just looked weak and small, like a newborn chick.


    "D-Don''t kill me!!" the baldy pleaded, his face covered with tears and snot. The terror in his eyes spread uncontrollably to the rest of his face, leaving a strange and distorted impression on any onlookers.


    "You''re too weak¡­" Garen tossed him aside. When it came to people like this, he could not even be bothered to kill them.


    Barroom!!!


    To his surprise, however, the baldy only managed to fly several meters away before he abruptly exploded.


    Horrifying green flames, accompanied with some spots of white light, exploded from that spot, instantly covering everything within a dozen meters of the center.


    Garen''s reaction was instant, and he immediately retreated, but it was still too late. The impact hit him head-on.


    Pff!


    He could not help but spit out a mouthful of blood and was sent flying backward.


    "Damn, what is this!!" It never occurred to him that these self-destruct explosions were not controlled by the agents themselves, and in fact appeared to have nothing at all to do with their own intentions. They just exploded randomly, completely out of the blue.


    He was hit head-on by this blast and was thrown back, flipping head over heels until he finally landed on the ground more than ten meters away. He rubbed the blood from the corner of his mouth angrily. After sustaining several injuries like that, even his powerful Vitality could not save him from vomiting blood.


    "Why is it that the weaker guys have the stronger bombs!?"


    Getting up from the ground, Garen looked around him. There was not a single thing left alive on the entire island, everything else had either escaped or died.


    "Consider this a lesson for you all."


    He turned around and left, walking toward the helicopter in the distance that was slowly landing from its low flight altitude.


    Although Kong Xinxue did not have any particularly strong powers, she was still perfectly capable of threatening a black pilot by pointing a gun at him.


    Not long after he left, the figure in the black windbreaker appeared beside the flames once more.


    This time, the person had a fire extinguisher in his hand, and he sprayed it at the flames fiercely.


    The fire died down immediately, and the black figure walked into it, his leather boots sizzling on the black ashes, emanating the foul odor of burning leather.


    He bent over, using a piece of metal to rummage around the soil for a while before he once again found a crystal-clear hexagonal gem from amidst the ashes.


    "The third one¡­"


    He took a cell phone out of his pocket, and lightly dialed a number.


    "What are your orders, Your Excellency?" A crisp and cold voice spoke from within the phone.


    "There are five more bases on the White Crab Arny''s side, settle them all at once," said the windbreaker-man softly.


    "Understood, everything is prepared and ready, awaiting your orders."


    "Yeah, settle everything within half an hour."


    "As you wish."


    The call was disconnected, and the windbreaker-man chuckled softly.


    "This is quite a decent haul¡­"


    He turned around and walked toward the beach.


    *******************


    In a certain submarine at the bottom of the ocean.


    "This is the ninth base to be destroyed." Two black silhouettes stood side by side in front of a white screen, as they looked upon the sorry state of the battle-ravaged island.


    "Garen annihilated three armies all by himself. This is unbelievable. He''s just one man!" said another man in a low voice. "Also, we couldn''t find the crystals, so Garen must have taken them. The attackers on the other islands must be his collaborators, working together with him in this operation. If I''m not mistaken, I think they''re collecting all of the crystals and handing them over to Garen."


    "We must get them back, the Soul Crystals are the foundation to our deal with Slayer. Since Garen has the guts to take the Soul Crystals from us, that must mean he is fully prepared to declare open war against us."


    "This time, are you going or should I?" asked the other person.


    "I''ll go. As the Head Commander, you have too many things on your plate, and I might as well go out for a warm-up. I haven''t moved these bones for a long time, wonder how much of my old power is left."


    "As long as the people from Vulture don''t interfere, everything will go smoothly on my side. After you finish off Garen, came back immediately and rendezvous with me."


    "Got it."


    "Let''s show him that there are some things he should never have touched¡­"


    ******************


    Aboard the helicopter, Garen sat in his seat, quietly waiting for Kong Xinxue to react.


    "How''s it going?"


    "I found it." Kong Xinxue widened her eyes. "Don''t doubt my abilities, even if I''m not as strong as you guys, this field is my specialty!" she said in frustration.


    "Approximate location."


    "It''s in the sea right beneath you!"


    Garen picked up his military saber, opened the cabin door, and just jumped down.


    Splash!


    He sank straight into the sea beneath them.


    In the ocean, everything was a dim, dark blue, but he could very clearly see the pitch-black roe-shaped submarine appearing right in front of him.


    The fish roe submarine was somehow transparent, and a person, wrapped from head to toe in a windbreaker, raised his head suddenly.


    He was holding in his hand what looked like an oval-shaped crystal-clear gem, and then he popped it into his mouth. Seeing Garen rush at him, he instantly sped up. A hint of a smile played on his lips.


    "You''re too late, you." He projected this message to Garen from a distance.


    Garen had long since sensed that something was amiss, it was not just about how the Soul Energy behind him kept disappearing, but it was more about how someone seemed to have helped by loosening the security measures of the White Crab Army. It appeared as though word of him destroying the bases never reached the other areas, and he managed to take the White Crab Army by surprise three times in a row. There was obviously someone helping him to keep the information secret, only an idiot would think otherwise.


    This was not like ancient times, where they required flaming torches to relay messages. Now, they just needed a number to pass their call and information to a very distant place. There was only one reason something like this could happen in such a technologically-advanced era-- someone must be secretly helping him suppress the information. Garen was no greenhorn either, and his several hundred years of experience came in handy. If he could not even smell such an obvious rat, he would have wasted so many years'' worth of effort.


    "Too late?" Garen''s lips curved, and suddenly the saber in his hand gave a jolt. It began to burn all over with white flames, as his powerful Soul Energy Forces were triggered and burst forth from his body.


    The Soul Energy penetrated the submarine, and landed hard onto that gem.


    With a buzz, the gem actually paused for a while, suspended beside the windbreaker-man''s lips, as though it was controlled by some invisible power for an instant there.


    "Forewind." Garen swung his military saber gently.


    The blade burned with white flames and cut a strange path through the air before it landed mercilessly.


    Clang!


    The submarine was instantly slashed in half, and the seawater began to surge in frenziedly. The submarine gave a heavy jolt, and its movements slowed down considerably.

 1202 Capture 2

    The black figure of the windbreaker inside instantly panicked a little.


    He obviously had a diving suit on him all the time. Shedding the black windbreaker on the outside, he directly opened the other cabin door and swam away. At the same time, a large amount of airflow sprayed out behind him, significantly increasing his speed. It seemed to be some kind of acceleration equipment.


    Garen pulled out his saber and swam straight toward that person. This person had been following behind him and waiting idly to reap the benefit, treating him as a fool and taking him as an uninformed person who knew nothing.


    The speed of the two was not a lot different. Although that person was using an accelerator, he still could not shake off Garen. He was instantly alarmed; when he looked back, he was immediately in shock.


    Garen was clearly just making a few simple strokes, but his body was as flexible and as natural as a fish, and his speed was even faster than himself.


    "I am not from the White Crab Army!" He hurriedly opened his mouth and shouted. "I have been assisting you along the way. Haven''t you noticed?"


    Garen grinned and continued giving chase.


    "I am here to help you get rid of the White Crab Army! The enemy''s enemy is a friend! Why are you chasing me!?" The windbreaker person was feeling nervous at once.


    Whoosh!


    The saber light flashed, and the clothes behind his butt were missing a patch, scaring the fellow into quickly increasing the output of the propeller behind him in order to widen the distance again.


    "I''m your friend! Friend! Bloody hell, can''t you understand!?" The windbreaker-man was frustrated.


    Whish!


    The boot on his leg was directly missing the sole, and the right leg was almost cut off.


    Garen chuckled and continued catching up with his saber. This scared the hell out of the windbreaker-man. He promptly accelerated again, but the acceleration could only increase the speed for a short time, and there was no way of maintaining it. After all, the accelerator also had its durability and capacity factor. A short-term acceleration was equivalent to a short-term overclocking, and so it would not last.


    "I haven''t harmed you at all!" The windbreaker person, whose heart was initially filled with glee from having taken advantage, was now having a brain dysfunction and shouting non-stop. "Isn''t it just a few pieces of your Soul Crystal? I''ll give them back to you!" He quickly threw out the Soul Seed that had just merged together in his hand.


    Garen grabbed it, his face revealing a strange expression.


    "What is this?"


    "The Soul Seed! Didn''t you come looking for me for this?!" The windbreaker-man was exasperated.


    "For this?" Garen immediately showed a baffled face. "No? I didn''t even know you have this stuff."


    "Then why are you chasing me?!" The windbreaker person was about to have a breakdown.


    Garen quickly put away the Soul Seed, "You look powerful, and you definitely can have a good fight with me!" Stashing away the Soul Seed, Garen exposed his teeth and smiled again. "I didn''t expect to reap a new benefit just like that. Not bad, not bad!"


    "Don''t play tricks!"


    Before the windbreaker person''s voice had come out, he could feel a chill at the back of his ass.


    Whoosh!


    A saber light swept past, and the surface of the diving suit on his butt was precisely sliced off as though a scalpel was used, revealing the white buttocks.


    "I''ll kill you!" The windbreaker person finally broke down and turned around to charge at Garen. He did not conceal himself anymore, instead revealing a girl''s voice. With an incomparable anger and humiliation, she rushed at Garen.


    As a girl whose pants were actually lopped off at the butt, showing her embarrassing part in front of a man, this was simply a great humiliation!


    "Um!" Garen was originally only trying to tease this fellow. He did not expect him to be a female, and it sounded like she was not of age yet. His heart panicked.


    Boom.


    The girl rushed to the front of Garen, and she madly slammed her fist into Garen''s face with full force. And then, her neck was caught by a big hand.


    Removing the outer clothes, her body was extraordinarily petite. Because her arms were not long enough, she could only fling them about in front of Garen''s eyes.


    "Let me go!"


    Garen grabbed this fellow''s neck and swam upward.


    The girl was only now revealing her true appearance amid the struggle. She had a long, bright purple hair until the waist and hip, but her body was no different from a child''s. Her chest was flat, though she did have long legs. However, the aura of a girl was completely absent.


    Nonetheless, what made Garen felt familiar was that her body also exuded a similar aura as his.


    That was the Soul Energy.


    "Mother Stream System?"


    He casually asked.


    "Ah! You too!?" The girl suddenly was instantly stunned.


    Pooh!


    The two emerged from the sea, and the girl pulled the mask off her head, revealing a beautiful face. She looked like she was about the age of eighteen. She began to breathe in mouthfuls of fresh air.


    Garen''s vital capacity was exceptional to an anomalous state. In the few minutes from going underwater to the present, there was no need for a change of air.


    The helicopter dropped down the ladder, and Garen carried the girl in one hand while grabbing the ladder with another hand, quickly climbing up. He returned to the helicopter.


    "You freak!" The purple-haired girl was thrown onto the spacious floor of the helicopter by Garen. The space of a military helicopter was relatively large. After all, it was a heavy-typed, and it could generally carry more than a dozen soldiers at one time.


    "Taking off a girl''s pants! If it''s not for the kind of perverted and filthy thoughts, the general perverts would not even do this kind of shameless act! I''m going to go to the headquarters to sue you! Just you wait!" The girl shouted. However, at this moment, she could only lay on the ground and did not dare to get up as the pants on her butt had been cut by Garen. Once she got up, anyone could see her white tender buttocks clearly.


    "Who is she?" Kong Xinxue was speechless that Garen caught such a little girl as he went down.


    "I don''t know." Garen shrugged. His body felt very uncomfortable as he was soaking wet. He quivered his body, and a vast amount of water vapor immediately dissipated into a mist and began to rise.


    Kong Xinxue and the little girl watched with their eyes affixed.


    "Fr... Freak! With such a great law restriction...you can actually achieve this level of control!" The little girl was obviously a person who was savvy in the art, and she clearly knew how difficult this kind of technique was. Seeing this scene at the moment, her face blanched a little.


    Garen''s clothes quickly dried up, and he sat back in his seat, casually propping his saber against the seat.


    "Alright. We''ll talk once we get back."


    There were black pilots on the plane, so it was inconvenient to talk. However, this little girl was definitely one of the Transmigrators of Lighthouse. This was beyond doubt. She was also from the Mother Stream System and even knew about Soul Seed, which was the name known only in Mother Stream. It seemed that there could be some valuable information to be dug out.


    Garen''s eyes on the little girl suddenly became somewhat satisfying.


    The little girl was scared by his blatant gaze.


    "Bloody hell... Could this fellow be already at the Demon Lord Level!? He can even do kind of freaky act in this kind of world. If it were at other systems, it might still be comprehensible. If he was also from the Mother Stream System..." She did not dare to think about it anymore. "It can''t be that unfortunate..." She began to be nervous and anxious.


    Even in the entire Lighthouse, there were less than a handful of those who were at the level of Demon Lords, not to mention in the most difficult Mother Stream System.


    She was frightened at one side, while Garen began reaching one of his hand into his bosom and pressed onto the Soul Seed to start absorbing it.


    A large amount of Soul Energy began surging incessantly into the Soul Ring. A lot of the basic killing experiences and sentiments were mixed in it. The protagonist was Slayer.


    This was obviously some of the Soul Energy Crystals that Slayer had voluntarily split out to for the purpose of trading with others. He just did not expect those heads to merely have the experience and sentiment. Without a matching courage, everything was useless.


    Since the beginning, Garen at the Secret Technique World understood that if the heart was timid, one could be crushed even by the opponents of the same level.


    Timidity would give rise to indecisiveness, and indecisiveness would produce hesitancy. Hesitancy would cause one to be unable to take action with resolve and to react decisively. When one step was slowed down, every step that followed would be delayed. The entire strength in the body could not be played out at the moment when it was pushed to the peak and could only be interrupted by the opponent when the strength had not been accumulated to the vertex. Therefore, it would be considered quite good if one was able to bring into play sixty percent of one''s capability.


    When the strength and speed were not as good as the opponent''s, there would only be one result ¨C defeat.


    On the battlefield, that would be death!


    So, even if those people obtained the Soul Crystal, it was just a waste. It was simply impossible for them to exert its effects.


    That was probably why Slayer did not mind giving out the Soul Crystal.


    "Well, what''s your name?" Garen looked at the little girl lying on the floor.


    "Night Water," The girl''s heart skipped a beat and hurriedly replied.


    ****************


    "You''re awake?" Yuria had just woken up when he heard the girl''s voice ringing in his ear.


    "The injuries are much better. Just need a few more days to be healed. What an enviable body." The girl gently pulled up Yuria''s pants.


    "..."


    Yuria was already feeling numb. Being body-checked by a girl every day, anyone would feel numb.


    "Who are you actually? How ''bout my sis? Where is she now?" He could not help but ask.


    He was still lying on the bed in the log cabin, while the girl would take care of him once a day. The rest of the time, she would complete chores such as chopping wood for cooking and starting a fire. The girl would always say nothing. Apart from the times when she took care of him, she would always be silent. No matter what Yuria asked, she would not reply, as if she was deaf and mute.


    "Didn''t you want to find your mother?" The girl answered softly. "She should be at the Forest Capital."


    "The Forest Capital?" Yuria repeated.


    "Yes, I only know that," The girl stopped talking.


    Yuria felt that his body had recovered a lot, and he seemed to be able to move.


    He slowly tried to raise his hand, and his right arm was instantly lifted up.


    "I can move!" He was overjoyed.


    "Congratulations." The girl nodded and showed a smile.


    "I should thank you instead for saving me." Yuria was in a good mood. "But can you tell me your true identity? Why do you know so many things?"


    The girl shook her head.


    "Sorry, I can''t tell you."


    She brought a bowl of oatmeal with some oil and salt in it, which smelled aromatic.


    "There are many people looking for you on the outside. Once your injuries are healed, you won''t have to worry about the spy. This is your contact number." The girl returned the phone to Yuria.


    When their fingers touched each other, Yuria shivered slightly. His feeling toward this mysterious girl was very complicated. His entire body had been seen by the other party. As this kind of care had lasted for so long, it caused him to involuntarily have some different feelings.


    "Don''t think too much." The girl smiled slightly. "You will meet a lot of girls who are better in the future, I''m¡­not worthy of you." There was no other expression on her face other than her smile, but her eyes revealed a trace of hopelessness and deathly stillness.


    Yuria opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but when he saw this deathly stillness, he was suddenly stunned, unable to say anything more.

 1203 Trail 1

    "Speak up. What''re you after?" Garen sat in the chair with his arms crossed and looked at the little girl, Night Water, in front of him. This fellow disguised as a person clothed in black to follow him around quietly and had a relatively nice submarine. It seemed that the intelligence of her side was also unimpeded and obviously, she was not in action alone. There certainly would be other companions.


    "After? Nothing? Just following behind you to pick up some crumbs? Why put it in such a sinister way?" Night Water blinked and smiled back. She did not answer Garen directly.


    The two had left the sea at this time and had returned to the Lily of the Valley at which Garen was originally located. This was the Slann''s site, which was protected by the Vulture and the Ministry of National Security. It was absolutely safe.


    This was now Garen''s base camp.


    "Alright, stop spouting nonsense. Just cut to the chase. My patience is limited," Garen casually said, "I suppose, you''re following me for the Forged Sacred Sigil?" He took out the condensed Soul Seed, which had shrunk by nearly half. Most of the Soul Energy had been absorbed into the Soul Ring by him.


    In the Soul Ring, the three Soul Seeds were at this time rotating around a new kind of virtual and transparent Soul Seed. This new virtual and transparent Soul Seed was in the early stages of formation, evidently deriving from the Soul Energy of the new Soul Seed in Garen''s hand. However, it was noticeably much weaker than the other three Soul Seeds.


    The Soul Seeds were also divided into strong and weak. Among Garen''s three major Soul Seeds were the Northern Trident Frost-Fire True Water Evil Technique (Blue), the Holy Phoenix Demonic Book (Black-Gold), and the Hellfrost Peacock Queen Soul Seed (White).


    Among the three major Soul Seeds, Hellfrost Peacock Queen Soul Seed was the most powerful, and its radiance almost dyed the two other Soul Seeds into the same white.


    On the other hand, the power of this newly emerged Soul Seed was not even one-thousandth of the other two Soul Seeds; it could be called the weakest in history.


    "I was indeed after the Soul Seed," now that there were only the two of them here, Night Water spoke frankly, "this Soul Seed came from Slayer and has a strong value of actual combat experience. The sentiments inside can save me from many unnecessary twists and turns. It is also medium-grade in the division of Soul Seeds. So, the way I acted was also considered reasonable?"


    "Medium-grade?" Garen did not expect such a Soul Seed, which was so many times weaker than his three major Souls Seeds, to be actually worth noting in the eyes of the other party.


    "Of course! Although the Soul Energy in Slayer''s Soul Seed is not much, it is very suitable for the basic development in various worlds, and it is almost unlimited. The strength developed in this world is hardly restricted extensively by other worlds. It''s just that because the laws restrict the bottleneck, the growth in this world is much slower." Night Water had a stand-to-reason expression on.


    "Well, I''ve said what I got to say. You should be letting me go?" She decided to simply be forthright. "I just happened to saw you fighting with the White Crab Army by chance. It was then did I go over to take advantage of the situation."


    "You..." Garen pondered for a while. "¡­have a way of returning to the Lighthouse?"


    "How do you even know that?" Night Water was suddenly shocked, and she stared at Garen with a preposterous look.


    "There really is?" Garen instantly laughed.


    "You tricked me!" Night Water was speechless. "It''s actually nothing. I do have the way of returning to the Lighthouse now, but it had cost me a great price to obtain that information. I will not give it to you freely!"


    Garen had now learned that the Lighthouse''s Transmigrators actually had a subtle difference compared to him.


    They were equivalent to the flowers grown in a greenhouse. Due to having the Lighthouse''s guidance, coupled with the world''s environment which was less cruel than they were, they had not been developing fast.


    However, he himself was different. Whether it was a coincidence or the direction and path that he chose, Garen had come all this way through conquests. There was no fluke.


    "Tell me. I will let you go," Garen said idly.


    "You wish!" Night Water replied unwillingly, "You can just kill me! I will not tell you even if I have to die!" She had acquired the method after almost dissipating all her fortune and borrowing money everywhere from her friends. How could she give it to Garen freely?


    "Have you forgotten what our Mother Stream System is really good at?" Garen smiled sinisterly.


    Night Water was taken aback, and her body immediately shuddered.


    "Don''t... Don''t you think of scaring me!"


    The Mother Stream System specialized in the soul. There were diverse means of targeting the soul. There were some among them which were likely to be related to memory searching.


    "As soon as I bring you out of this world, I will not be restricted by the laws then. At that time, hehe..." Garen sneered.


    "...."


    Night Water stared at the evil smile on Garen''s face with great trepidation.


    "I''ll tell!"


    She decisively gave up withholding and persisting.


    "The Space-Time Hole can only have one person going in and out at a time! There were only three of us in total who came in! It also requires very precise calculations, time and opportunities."


    Garen began to carefully inquire about the so-called Space-Time Hole. Indeed, just as he expected, Night Water did find an unknown Space-Time Hole that could escape this extremely-restrictive world, but the price to pay was that every time, one had to clean off the power of this world that had not yet been formed in one''s body. This meant that one had to leave with nothing. Apart from the Soul Energy, she could not take anything with her, which was why they were trying their best to find this world''s Soul Energy, which was the force field of the Sacred Sigil.


    By a stroke of luck, she discovered the battle between Garen and the White Crab Army and felt that she could take advantage of it, so she rushed over.


    Unfortunately, she did not succeed but was captured by Garen instead.


    "So what is it with the White Crab Army?" Garen intended to quickly understand this world. Since he could acquire the Soul Seed from Slayer, it would mean that there should be more things that he could gain from him. He turned his thoughts around and began asking about the White Crab Army.


    "The White Crab Army? They are Illusionist''s army! Don''t you know?" Night Water was surprised.


    "Illusionist''s army?" Garen was slightly stunned. "Not Slayer''s?!"


    "Of course not. They are only collaborating with Slayer. The real mastermind is Illusionist!" Night Water immediately explained, "You didn''t even realize it?" She felt a little unbelievable.


    "How do you determine that they are Illusionist''s army?" Garen frowned. How did an Illusionist suddenly emerge?


    "I''ll tell you the truth. You have to let me go!" Night Water began making a deal.


    "Fine," Garen decisively agreed.


    Night Water did not react right away, as if she did not expect Garen to promise so fast. However, she quickly recovered from the shock.


    "I don''t know the identity of Illusionist, but I have personally heard the conversation between Slayer and the White Crab Army. I have the best cyber-espionage expert on my team. There is absolutely no mistake. In the battle between you and the White Crab Army this time, it was also us who helped you to block the White Crab Army''s communication!"


    Seeing that Garen nodded, she continued.


    "The White Crab Army seems to be an independent mercenary organization. It is huge, and it has a lot of mechanized technology. They have been doing some unintelligible actions, and it does not appear to be purely for profit. In any case, it is a very weird organization. The Commander-in-Chief seems to be a very mysterious and very powerful person."


    "Very powerful? As powerful as me?" Garen was piqued.


    "I don''t know. Maybe stronger than you!" Night Water answered with a serious face.


    Garen rubbed his chin.


    "So how did the Soul Seed come about? Can Slayer simply create a Soul Seed? Isn''t that too unrealistic?"


    "He is able to split the Soul Crystal, which is only a part of the mere experiential sentiments and Soul Energy. After I have condensed and refined it, coupled with my own sentiments, I am able to condense a good medium-grade Soul Seed. This can lessen a lot of the troublesome steps of accumulation," Night Water explained, "of course, the people from other professional systems prefer to refer this kind of Soul Seeds as the Forged Sacred Sigil. They can solidify it on their bodies, naturally gaining the Slayer''s experiential sentiments and strengthening their combat. It''s just different uses and a different name."


    "When can you take me to the Lighthouse? You know that now that the Plot is starting, we can''t go back through the regular passage for the time being," Garen enquired.


    "Any time." Night Water nodded assertively. "It''s just that, compared to the regular passage, my way is much more dangerous."


    Garen fell silent and pondered a bit. This world had a lot of restrictions, especially for the unnatural powers. Whereas, the Lighthouse was used as a transit point connecting many similar worlds. His strength had not recovered to its peak, if he were to head there right now, it would not be worth it. After all, the strength gained in this world could be used in most of the worlds, so it was better to stay here for a little while. It would not be too late to leave only after getting more of the Forged Sacred Sigils and increasing his Soul Limit.


    After knowing that Slayer could create Soul Seeds, Garen was not eager to leave anymore. One Soul Seed could increase his Soul Limit, which was an average of ten points of fitness. If he could get more Soul Seeds and Soul Energy from Slayer, it would be a great advantage for him at the present.


    At least for a certain period of time, he would not need to switch bodies anymore, as the laws of these worlds did not differ much from one another. Being able to acquire a Soul Seed without switching bodies was naturally a good thing.


    He was not a masochist. Every time he transmigrated, he had to re-cultivate. If he could avoid that, then that would be the best.


    "You will temporarily follow me on my actions in the future." Garen also intended to quickly investigate the matter over Yuria''s side. He felt that there was something fishy about the whole matter, and the internal spy must be caught. Otherwise, his side would fall to absolute passivity. At this time, since Night Water had just said that she had a complete intelligence ability, it would be really stupid to not utilize such a great aid.


    "But!" Night Water was going to protest, but she was directly ignored by Garen.


    "I did promise to let you go, but I haven''t found the Space-Time Hole yet, haven''t I? Before that, the deal between you and I does not count, so..." Garen revealed a menacing smile.


    Night Water was so frightened that she instantly shuddered.


    The present Garen was almost standing at the top of this world. He was one of the strongest players alongside Slayer and the others.


    *****************


    "Are you alright?" Yuria took the phone and heard the inquiries from the phone.


    "I''m fine. Help me to inform the minister. He must be worried. I''m alright, and I''m going to go to the Forest Capital to look for my mother," Yuria quickly answered.


    "I don''t mean to tell you off. This time you have really scared everyone. You are the Savior, one of the Four Great Cornerstones. If something happens accidentally, none of us can get away with it," The man on the phone said snappily. He was also from the same Combat Department with Yuria back then, which was why there was much more propinquity in his tone. "How ''bout Xiaojie? How is she?"


    Upon hearing the mentioning of Xiaojie, Yuria''s face suddenly darkened. He recalled the image of that tall robot, and there instantly was a trace of gloom in his heart.


    "Xiaojie, she...was caught..."


    "What!?" There was a sudden exclamation from the phone. And then, chaotic noises were continually heard as though all hell had broken loose; there were a lot of people asking about the situation. The people were talking all at once, and the voices were indistinct.


    "Don''t ask. I myself don''t know what is going on." Yuria''s face did not look good.

 1204 Trail 2

    "I will have Bat head over there immediately. Egret will also hurry over to help you! Without initiating the unnatural powers, even you are not their opponent. In addition, Egret is very skilled in the area of digging out and gathering information, which would certainly be a great use to you."


    "Thank you." Yuria felt much better. These people were the branch ministers under Garen. They were scattered all over the country and occupied a post in each place. During critical times, they could servttttte as powerful special agents to assist in the necessary tasks. Of course, only the minister and the deputy minister had the rights to mobilize them. The person at the other end of the phone was the deputy minister of the Unrestricted Combat Department and was also an old acquaintance who volunteered to resign from the Vulture to help out here¡­ Root Doctor Jiatai. This fellow''s rear service was like no other, while his combat ability was second to that. What he was most powerful at was not in combat but medical practice. There were a multitude of cases of reattaching cut-off limbs, bringing people back to life from the brink of death and whatnots that had been performed by him.


    "What''s there to thank? You little brat, what really happened that even cause Xiaojie to be lost!? The satellite records showed that you guys did not encounter any problem at all. It was just like you had a car accident. Someone must be blocking the signal."


    Yuria felt warm and that he was not alone in the fight. He instantly felt much more at ease.


    "A robot, which was extremely powerful. I was ambushed and suffered serious injuries from the explosion. It seemed that I was poisoned as well. I suspect that there is a spy on the inside who intentionally poisoned me. I could not use my special ability at all at that time."


    "A spy... poison?!" Jiatai''s tone sank. "Are you sure you were poisoned?"


    "Definitely. The person who saved me said so and treated me in accordance with that. It should be so," Yuria nodded in certainty and spoke in a low volume as he laid on the bed.


    The other side of the phone was silent.


    "Alright. We had initially concluded that there was a spy. Otherwise, it would not be this easy to grasp your course of action and set an ambush of explosives in advance. Now, we are a hundred percent certain. Did you eat anything before you depart?" Jiatai asked attentively.


    "No. All that I ate were the food and snacks you could randomly buy on the way. It was impossible to poison the food because it wasn''t only me who ate them! There were other people in the supermarket as well, and Xiaojie ate them as well." Yuria replied in a low voice.


    "I will report this to the Head Minister. You be careful, and the one who saved you..."


    "She''s reluctant to reveal her identity." Yuria recalled that mysterious girl, and there was a slight surge of emotions in his heart.


    "Be careful," Jiatai did not say anything more but just that, "your position has been determined. It''s best to wait in the same place as our people will be arriving soon."


    "Understood. If nothing unexpected happens, I will." Yuria nodded.


    The two then disconnected the call.


    "The call has ended?" A voice suddenly sounded from the back of Yuria. He was terrifically startled.


    The voice was very close to him, almost as if it was less than a meter behind him.


    Yuria abruptly looked back and saw that mysterious girl standing behind him at the other end of the bed, smiling at him. With his sense of alertness, he actually did not notice anything.


    His heart was slightly wary. Yuria suppressed the shock in his heart and nodded slightly.


    "Yeah, I''ve got in touch with my friends, and they will come and pick me up soon."


    "That''s good." The girl nodded. "I have to go too. Take care of yourself."


    "You''re leaving too? Don''t you want to meet my friends?" Yuria was surprised.


    "No..." The girl shook her head. "I also have something to attend to."


    "Is that so?" Yuria felt that the deathly stillness on the girl was even more intense. He thought for a moment and asked again, "Can you tell me your name?"


    "Sorry." The girl shook her head slightly.


    "Alright..." Yuria did not know what to say for a while.


    "When are you leaving?" The girl asked.


    "I''ll leave once my friends arrive. It is estimated that they will arrive tomorrow," Yuria replied in a low voice.


    The two fell into silence again.


    Suddenly, Yuria smelled a faint trace of fragrance, which seemed to be some kind of a special aroma. It was very light but very refreshing. He faintly felt that his blood was flowing quicker.


    "What aroma is that?" His mind was slightly wary. The Qi and blood in his body began to slowly accelerate, and his eyes began to involuntarily concentrate on the towering breast and the petite body of the girl in front of him.


    Suddenly, he felt that the girl before his eyes seemed to be more seductive and sexier than he had seen before. Her white dress was slightly translucent, revealing the white underwear beneath it.


    The slender legs and flat lower abdomen continued to attract Yuria''s attention.


    His breathing started to become heavier, and his entire skin began reddening slightly, but he did not notice it at all. Instead, all his attention was focused on the girl.


    "Leave me with the best memory..." The girl gently knelt on the bed and slowly embraced Yuria. Her tender eyes began to close.


    The two slowly fell onto the bed, and pieces of clothing were torn open...


    **************************


    Sitting in the hotel room, Jiatai was wearing a white coat as he stood in front of Garen''s desk. Using one hand to support himself by the table, he had on a serious face.


    It was nighttime. Behind the chair that Garen was sitting on, one could clearly see the dark night sky and the huge light beams that were sweeping pass occasionally through the floor-to-ceiling windows. If one were to look down from the floor-to-ceiling windows, one could see countless yellow-white lights and traffic flowing slowly like liquid mercury. A large number of light beams were sweeping everywhere, and huge billboards and various lights were shining inconspicuously. The entire bustling night view of the ??Lily of the Valley could be seen.


    "...The entire situation is as such. I have asked Egret and Bat to head over there. They should be able to be of help." Jiatai frowned.


    "About the spy... What do you think?" Garen asked as he sat on his seat with one leg crossed over the other, seemingly indifferent.


    "I suspect that the spy is very likely to have been by Yuria''s side all along. Otherwise, the spy would not have been so concealed and could timely grasp his whereabouts." Since the transfer from the Vulture to becoming one of Garen''s men, Jiatai had shed off the previous decadence and had quickly mastered the power of the entire new department. At the same time, he had also recruited some of his good friends and some unfamiliar powerhouses from the Vulture and other places. Coupled with the recruitment of a few powerhouses due to Garen''s fame, this had formed the current Unrestricted Combat Department which was under Garen''s command. It was called the Unrestricted Department in short. On the surface, Garen was a minister in one of the Vulture''s branch. But, as a matter of fact, he had actually been placed in the Vulture rankings. Since the battle with Slayer, his position had directly entered the top three and was now ranked third. In fact, he was already the strongest No. 1 in combat strength. Although the first two were outstanding, their roles were mostly reflected in their background and other abilities.


    Therefore, Garen''s current title of Sword Master was equivalent to an independent hallmark. He was also the golden fighter in ranked first in the Vulture.


    "Bat can still make do. Regarding Egret, I have personally taught him throughout this year, and his ranking has risen to No. 15. His left eye is the latest multi-function detector, and so he should be able to detect who administered the poison and prevent the next possible poisoning threat from the other party. You did well." Garen agreed.


    "That''s for sure." Jiatai laughed. "I have also equipped him with an internal linear laser, which can be also used for precise surgery at critical moments."


    "During my trip this time, I met an organization called the White Crab Army." Garen changed the subject. "I suspect that Yurijie''s kidnapping, Kong Xinxue''s problem, and the spy could be masterminded by this organization. Did the Chief find any clue?"


    "I will go and ask. The Chief is still at the Holy Capital. You''re also aware of the funding problem this year. The Chief had already argued with the Prime Minister and the ministers for who knows how many times." Jiatai made a helpless expression.


    Such a large organization as the Vulture would naturally require a very large amount of money, and the Chief was responsible for tackling these troublesome matters.


    "That is really frustrating. What about No. 2?" Garen asked casually.


    "Second Sister went for an exchange visit to the Red Nation. You also know that her identity on the surface is the Minister of Education. This visit is a trip dictated by the higher-ups, and so it can''t be avoided." Jiatai was feeling even more impatient. "So now you''re the sole principal of the entire Vulture for the time being."


    "Then, I am really honored." Garen was speechless. Although one might say so, this year around it was still No. 1 who was giving the order through teleconference.


    He retold his encounter once again and did not mention the things related to the Soul Seed, instead only focused on the White Crab Army''s over-powerful technology.


    "White Crab Army. I have come in contact with this organization before, but it is only an upper-middle-class mercenary. They actually have such a strong technological modification ability... It is indeed suspicious." Jiatai frowned.


    "Could they be Slayer''s force?"


    "It is possible, but how does Slayer come to replenish this army with such a large amount of money?" Jiatai slightly opposed.


    "We''ll wait and see. Since Yuria could meet the White Crab Army''s robot for the first time, he will be able to meet it for the second time. The other party is definitely paying attention to him. I even have a feeling that they value Yuria the Savior even more than us!" Jiatai frowned.


    "Maybe..." Garen nodded.


    Very soon, the phone on Garen''s table rang again. He looked at the caller ID. It was Nine-Tailed Fox.


    After motioning at Jiatai, Garen waited until he went out before picking up the call.


    "Hello?"


    "Garen, are there any news? About the White Crab Army and Yurijie''s matter, how does the Vulture plan on handling them? What is the stand of the Unrestricted Department?" Nine-Tailed Fox poured out her questions in one go.


    Garen was now in a high position, and so Nine-Tailed Fox and the others were far less than him, be it strength or intelligence. This kind of rate of circumstances changing was neither expected by him nor Nine-Tailed Fox and the rest.


    "I can''t answer these questions for the time being, because everything is undecided. However, the one thing I can promise you is that I will inform you as soon as there is news," Garen calmly answered.


    "Li Hua has some matter on her side and needs to make a trip to the Black Federation. She will probably need to your help for protection," Nine-Tailed Fox paused for a bit and continued.


    "No problem. I will send someone over and arrange everything. Have her directly contact Kingfisher will do. I will inform in advance," Garen promised. He did not ask what the matter was. Everyone had their own private affairs, and so there was no need to ask questions and get to the bottom of it.


    "This time, we encountered White Crab Army''s ambush shortly after you left. I was seriously injured and am now recuperating, whereas Li Hua and others were alright and only sustained some light injuries. How''s Ah Xue?"


    "She''s been rescued. Should be back soon. She had nothing on her, be it a mobile phone and whatnot. I can only wait for her to come back before knowing more. At that time, you can ask her yourself. The Royal Princess Cruise. She''s coming back by ship and will be arriving at the Lily of the Valley tomorrow morning."


    "I understand." Nine-Tailed Fox was silent for a while. "Regarding the matter the last time, I''m sorry. I was too emotional..."


    "It''s nothing."


    Hanging up the phone, Garen was lost in thoughts.

 1205 Suspicion 1

    A few days later...


    Garen rinsed off the sweat on his body. He had just come back from the gym and was covered in sweat. Standing in the bathroom, he recalled the matters over these few days. There was a hint of uncertainty in his heart.


    Night Water was still under his supervision at the headquarters of the Unrestricted Department. The Unrestricted Department was also known as the Saber Art Department, and there was a small number of men who were once his subordinates from his previous school''s department. Although their strengths were not exceptional, keeping guard of Night Water should not be a problem.


    That person''s Soul Energy and strength had been temporarily obliterated by his Quake technique.


    Coming out of the bathroom.


    He flipped through the few documents that were placed on the table. All that had happened in the last few days were recorded in them.


    Yuria had already met with the people he sent over and went to the Forest Capital together to look for his mother, Light Path. At the same time, it was also because he had learned that there was her sister, Yurijie''s trail over there.


    ''Kong Xiaofei ¡ª¡ª Strength 6.2, Agility 6.2, Vitality 6.1, Intelligence 6.5, Potential 0%. Soul Limit 55.''


    ''Potential Quality ¨C Void Pursuer''


    ''Soul Ring ¡ª The Northern Trident Frost-Fire True Water Evil Technique (Blue), the Holy Phoenix Demonic Book (Black-Gold), the Hellfrost Peacock Mother Queen Soul Seed (White), Unknown (transparent)''


    ''Unknown Saber Art +1 ¨C Unnamed realm. Effect: all Saber Art moves +1 speed, strength, precision. Produces unknown changes.''


    The new Soul Seed had basically been integrated into the Soul Ring, and it had also affected the Soul Limit, successfully improving the ultimate physical fitness by five points.


    "It''s no wonder Slayer''s physical fitness is as strong as mine. It is probably because the Soul Limit is extremely terrific. Added with the constant nourishment of Soul Energy, the advancement could be this quick. So, how many are there who are like him? Do all of the Four Great Cornerstones have such a strong physical fitness?"


    Garen could not tell. He casually flipped through the documents on the table. Among them were the interrogation reports of Night Water by the Transmigrators, which had been decrypted and could only be understood by him.


    The document he picked up clearly recorded the details of the situation of the upper-level in this world.


    ''Sacred Sigil Kings ¨C Slayer, Sea God, Sword Master.''


    The three were listed in the top three in the document. Among the Four Great Cornerstones, only Slayer could make it to the top three in the combat ability in the entire world.


    According to the calculation of the data, the document mentioned that in this world, even the Four Great Cornerstones had to live for a long time to nourish the Soul Energy in order for their physical fitness to reach a very high level. By estimation, Slayer''s physical fitness should have reached the General-level of the Mother Stream System. It was the middle stage of the five levels of Guardian, Division, General, Army, and Demon Lord.


    However, taking into consideration that he possessed the Soul Ring, it would equip him with an extremely terrifying development potential. The overall rating was S.


    For Sea God, due to his enormous strength and body as well as the cultivation of the Sea-Mirage Breathing Technique, his body''s hardness and strength had reached an incredible level. However, the Soul Energy and the level of the Soul were not high, so one part was strong and another weak. The overall rating was also S-level.


    Meanwhile, the Sword Master, who emerged as a powerful genius in less than a year, was of the Mother Stream System. The initial appraisal was that the physical fitness had reached the General-level, and in the battle with Slayer, his strength was even stronger than the other. The overall rating was S-level.


    In the document, these three were said to be the top three strongest individuals in combat ability in this world, and an advice was given whereby if a person encountered anyone of them, one should choose to flee the first moment. They belonged to the level of unmatchable.


    The second was the Black Federation''s Military Flag, Battle Flag, and the Vulture''s No. 1, No. 2 and so on. Their overall ranking was A-level.


    "That''s interesting." Garen had long accustomed to being in a high position. Regardless of whichever world he had transmigrated to and experienced, he was familiar with this kind of state of being in a high position.


    "If I were to judge according to this data document, the ones who can be a threat to me would be Slayer and Sea God. Then, could Sea God be the backer of the White Crab Army?" He rubbed his chin and contemplated.


    Putting down the document, he flipped through another one.


    This was a detailed survey of the world''s high-level combat power. He himself was included in it. The techniques and Saber Art he had used before were recorded in it with extreme details. Even some subtle little habits he himself did not notice were also recorded in it.


    Sea God''s and Slayer''s unique skills were recorded in it as well.


    Garen looked through with appreciation. He did not read about Sea God first, focusing instead on Slayer. There was actually a record of him defeating a three-thousand-person mechanized army by himself. It was tremendously savage.


    Three thousand people! Even if they were to stand side by side and not resist being slain, one would have to kill until both his arms were feeble. Slayer actually succeeded and was therefore named by each nation''s government as Slayer, becoming the anti-human''s wanted criminal.


    The intelligence showed.


    The last time Slayer was beleaguered by the three nations, he was injured and had gone missing. There was no news at all until now.


    Garen''s mood, which had been relaxed for so long, was again revived with the discovery of the Soul Energy and Soul Seed. Since there were Soul Seeds to be absorbed, this meant that he also had the possibility of progressing even in this world of low-level combat, and so he could not be careless.


    Settling down.


    He pulled the drawer open. There was a white panel inside with a hundred names densely arranged on it. Some names were glowing, white while some were dark.


    However, most of them were bright. In front were tiny ranking numbers.


    Garen''s gaze fell straight on the top thirty ranking and was quickly fixed on a name.


    He reached out and pressed the name.


    "Double-Tailed Scorpion reports to you!" The voice of a woman suddenly traveled out from the name.


    "For those who are ranked No. 80 and above, you''re free to choose any five to form a small team to investigate the whereabouts of Illusionist and Mind Reader. Remember to be secretive and try not to be discovered by the other agents from the other two nations. If it is inevitable, try to delay from being discovered as long as possible."


    Garen instructed.


    As a Vulture''s higher-up, he had the right to mobilize any person ranked below No. 20 in the Vulture at any time, while there was a certain limit for those above No. 20. For those ranked within No. 10, there would be a need to request from the No. 1 Chief. However, now that No. 1 and No. 2 were not around, naturally he was the one in command.


    "Understood. What are the execution time and the final goal?" The woman said decisively.


    "One year. You''re required to locate at least the approximate area. Of course, you can choose not to accept this task," Garen said in a low voice.


    There was no immediate reply but a moment of silence. After that, there came the voice again.


    "The task reward is?"


    "Aren''t you always thinking of retiring? I will make a request to No. 1 and do my best to get you the approval. Of course, this depends on your performance in the task. In addition, another ten million liquidity as the task reward. Is it enough?"


    "It is! I accept the task," Double-Tailed Scorpion replied assertively. In fact, although her identity appeared to be a housewife, she was in effect a beautiful spy with exceptionally strong concealing and disguising ability who had once caused many major incidents one after another in the international arena. Although, no one realized that they were her doings. Her martial power was tremendously powerful. Her right arm, which had been mechanically modified, was nicknamed Kylin Arm. Coupled with the habit of smearing a self-made secret poison on the right arm, she was publicly recognized as the Double-Tailed Scorpion terrorist killer.


    Regarding the ability of disguising and assassination, Garen could not beat her no matter how hard he strived to and how strong he was upfront. After all, each person was a master in their own specialized field.


    "I''ll be counting on you then," Garen officially said. His voice was low and filled with a sense of purpose.


    Double-Tailed Scorpion instantly had a surge of emotions, and there was a kind of sentiment to serve the country and die for the country without any hesitation.


    "I will do my best!"


    The communication broke off.


    Garen quietly closed the drawer. Yuria the Savior was the key to the Plot and could not be touched. If Slayer''s martial power went off the chart, even if he personally went into battle, it would still be a fifty-fifty chance. Furthermore, Slayer obviously did not exert his full effort that day, so the outcome would still be unknown.


    However, the other two Great Cornerstones, who had always been low-key and mysterious, should also have Soul Rings. They could not blame him.


    Garen had basically deduced that since Slayer could split the Soul Crystal and Soul Seed this generously, his Soul Energy was clearly far beyond the Soul Crystal. Even if he could not get the Soul Ring, at least it could be a huge replenishment for his Soul Energy, and perhaps he could even enter a higher level of Soul Seed-stage.


    "Time to concentrate on more serious things...after playing for so long." The ease on Garen''s face gradually disappeared, replacing it was a touch of calmness and soberness.


    He thought for a moment and directly sent a general geographical scope to Double-Tailed Scorpion. That was the only place which was mentioned in the original Plot where Mind Reader lived. Some of the information regarding Mind Reader''s name, appearances, and features, and so on, were passed to Double-Tailed Scorpion.


    *******************


    In the midst of the sound of a purling brook, a black stream flowed slowly along the watercourse surrounded by trees and extended toward the distant jungle.


    The river was not black, but the mud at the bottom of the river made the river appear to be black when one looked down from the top. The black surface also rippled with the reflection of the surrounding trees. There were a few large trees with their roots deep into the river, surrounded by some sashaying water plants.


    The sunset cast its rays down upon the grayish yellow soil by the river.


    Crunch.


    A small cluster of green grass by the riverside was stamped upon by black leather boots. Yuria squatted down, scooped the river water with both hands and took a mouthful.


    "Refreshing!" He shouted.


    Two people came from behind. They were wearing tight-fitting white leather clothes, which was very conspicuous in the woods. Moreover, it was a pair of a man and a woman, not over the age of thirty.


    "The water here is not polluted. It is absolutely pure mountain spring water, but drink less. Be mindful of stomachaches." The man wore a white metal sleeve on one ear and had one eye covered with a black eye mask. He was a cyclops.


    "I was supposed to go on a holiday to the Basara Island. If it wasn''t for an emergency mobilization order, no one would be willing to come over to assist a rookie like you." The woman also squatted down and washed her hands with the water.


    "Then I really should thank you all," Yuria said with a glee and was not angry. The current him was no longer the youngster back then. The rich experiences he had garnered led him to understand what kind of attitude was needed under what circumstances and with whom.


    Regarding the white man and woman, the male was Egret, while the female was Bat. Both had similarly strengthened the eye, but each had a different division of labor.


    "After a day''s journey, how far is it to the destination of Forest Capital?" Egret asked.


    Bat looked at the watch.


    "About six thousand and four hundred kilometers. Even if our speed reaches the limit, it will still take at least three days to arrive."


    "Why don''t we go by plane?" asked Yuria.


    "It''s useless. The route of the plane could be found out too easily, and it will simply expose your whereabouts. The first priority now is to protect you and ensure your safety. This is the task we received. Finding Yurijie is second to that."

 1206 Suspicion 2

    "Xiaojie..." Yuria was feeling down, yet strangely, he did not seem to be worried. Instead, he had a somewhat eccentric look. After the inexplicable intercourse with that girl, the other party disappeared the next day. No clues were left behind; no name, identity, background and address. Nothing.


    However, Yuria kept feeling an abstruse sense of familiarity that caused him to have an indescribable feeling.


    "What''s wrong?" Bat''s voice interrupted his thoughts.


    "No... Nothing." Yuria''s mind came back. Recalling the madness of that night, he was still feeling somewhat intoxicated.


    The three continued on their way.


    Riding their respective heavy-duty motorcycles, the days passed quickly in their stop-and-go journey.


    The Forest Capital finally appeared before them.


    The vehicles on the roadside were increasing in numbers, passing by them. As they journeyed on, the traffic was getting heavier, the road was getting more spacious, and the trees on both sides were getting taller and taller, changing from originally-curved, mid-short trees to tall and huge ones.


    Standing in the woods, one could only see trees that were as straight as a bamboo planted into the ground.


    The name of the Forest Capital was pleasant to the ear, but it was actually an ordinary small town built in a sea of ??trees. It was a famous tourist destination in Slann, so there were a lot of tourists.


    The three left their motorcycles with a car dealer, paid some money, and began strolling on the street of the Forest Capital.


    The street was spacious and bright, paved with white slates. The black, old small houses on both sides were shops that were open. There were also rows of simple stalls outside of the shops selling all kinds of messy specialties.


    Bat took the lead and walked straight to the Vulture''s intelligence contact point here, whereas Egret followed from behind. His primary mission was to protect Yuria.


    Yuria was looking around absentmindedly and seeking who-knows-what.


    Boom.


    Suddenly, a man clothed in black collided with his shoulder.


    "I''m sorry." Yuria''s mind quickly came back into focus and saw the other party holding the shoulder and frowning.


    "Got no eyes to see where you''re going?!" The man vented under his breath. However, when he saw Egret approaching from the side, his expression suddenly changed, and he quickly left.


    Yuria still wanted to apologize, yet he found that the other party had gone far off and mingled into the crowd. He smiled wryly and shook his head.


    He reached into the pocket of his trousers, and his face changed slightly all of a sudden. He looked down, and his face returned to normal. It so happened that Egret had turned his head around and was staring at the man in black, so he did not notice his oddness.


    "What''s wrong? Being dreamy on the street."


    "Nothing..." Yuria shook his head with a smile.


    "That''s good then." Egret turned around and walked in front to open the way. The crowd was getting more packed.


    Taking advantage of the moment where Egret''s back was facing him and not paying attention to him.


    Yuria lowered his head and took out a small slip of paper from his trouser pocket and unfolded it. There was a small line of words on it.


    ''Be careful of the people around you. ''


    He quickly stuffed the slip of paper into his trouser pocket and looked around, not finding the trail of the man from just now. This matter came to an end, but it caused Yuria to keep a watchful eye.


    In the evening, after the people from Vulture had arranged their accommodation, the three each went to bed while they waited for the intelligence personnel here to respond with the news about Yurijie and his mother, Light Path.


    The intelligence personnel here would only deliver the news to the points at a fixed time.


    Soon, the intelligence personnel had specific information.


    Someone found some clues near the Forest Capital.


    The three rushed over.


    *********************


    In the jungle, the grayish-black ground was covered with a white cloth. There seemed to be a human corpse lying underneath it. There was a stench in the surrounding area. No one knew how long the body had died.


    The fresh air from the morning was completely contaminated by the smell of the corpse.


    The trio of Yuria, Bat, and Egret knelt beside the corpse, opened up the white cloth, and carefully examined the condition of the body. The surrounding was cordoned off with warning lines. More than a dozen policemen gathered around the periphery to wait for the result.


    "It''s a male, between the age of thirty and forty-five, bald, dressed in black, without any identification on his body. The muscle fiber tissue indicates that he always trains, and it is not a simple strength training exercise, but more like mixed combat..." Bat explained in a small voice. She was an expert in this area.


    Egret listened carefully, but Yuria''s pupils constricted the moment he saw the face of this corpse. The corpse was the man in black who had given him the note when he first arrived here.


    He recalled this scene which had also happened back then. It was also someone stuffing him a note, asking him not to waste his effort and to quickly return and assemble.


    Return and assemble? Assemble what? Why asked him not to waste his effort?


    And now, this person told him that there was someone suspicious around him. ''Be careful of the people around you''. This sentence could have two meanings. One could refer to the people who were around him, and the other would be the people who were close to him.


    He did not know which one the other party was referring to. Thinking of this, he unconsciously tightened his grip on the saber in his hand.


    And now, the other party had died just like that.


    Yuria remembered very clearly that this person was definitely the man in black who had stuffed him the note.


    "There''s a discovery!" Bat suddenly made a slight exclamation of surprise. She used a tweezer to retrieve a small electronic chip underneath the skin of the man in black''s arm. It was black and seemed to be made of some kind of alloy.


    "Check it out and analyze the structure. This kind of standard chip is one of the common formats." Bat handed it over to Egret, who was an expert in this area.


    Egret quickly took out a special watch-like instrument, wiped the chip clean, and inserted it in. Very soon, the information was known.


    "This is a position-tracking chip!" He exclaimed in surprise.


    "What position?"


    Bang!


    Suddenly, the police officers in the vicinity were swallowed up by a violent explosion of flames. Small missiles were fired from the distance, and the police car and police officers were swept off the ground due to the explosion as they were caught off guard.


    Red and golden-yellow fire ignited the nearby meadows and bushes, and the blaze suddenly spread out, emitting billows of white smoke.


    The trio was jerked by the impact of the explosion, and they crouched down to avoid the shock waves.


    Some of the police officers who reacted slower were directly blown into the air by the shockwave and thrown out far away. Dead or alive, no one knew.


    Boom boom boom boom!


    In the continuous explosions, not a single missile was fired at the position of the trio, but the surrounding positions were all blown up. Obviously, this was done deliberately by the attacker.


    Some of the police officers died while some were unconscious. The entire site was completely cleared out.


    In the blaze, a figure up to three meters tall was treading heavily step by step toward the trio, totally not afraid of the surrounding flames at all.


    "It''s you again!" Yuria''s face turned savage the moment he could see the figure clearly. "Where''s Xiaojie!? What did you do to Xiaojie!?"


    He bellowed.


    The figure came out of the fire and gradually became clear.


    It was a black robot with a height of three meters. Its head was triangular, and its chest was engraved with a strange pattern of a white crab. The whole body was like a stone pillar supporting a house, thick and strong. The entire skin was covered with a dull kind of pattern, and at first glance, one knew that it was extremely heavy and tough.


    It had a round firing port on each of its arms. At this moment, they were still slowly releasing white smoke. The edges were slightly red, and the temperature was terribly high. Obviously, the missiles earlier on were fired by it.


    "If you want to see your sister, then come with me... Savior." The robot had a deep and thick voice.


    "Don''t listen to him!" Egret shouted loudly. One of his hand suddenly stretched out and turned into an exceptionally sharp double-edged triangular knife with a brilliant red fire. "This fellow is from the White Crab Army. They have just attacked your friends, Nine-Tailed and others!"


    "Heh." The robot''s actions immediately became faster. Its arm aimed downward as it opened fire and shot out a missile. It was only when it almost reached Egret did he hurriedly react.


    Boom!


    Egret awkwardly rolled to one side and barely dodged the attack. His legs stomped the ground, and he blasted off, charging straight at the robot from another angle.


    Meanwhile, Bat rolled aside and opened her mouth to make a silent angry roar at the robot.


    A burst of invisible interference sound waves instantly caused the robot to sway a little.


    The two were the powerhouses ranked high up in the Vulture. Naturally, they would not be defeated that easily.


    Yuria quickly separated from the two''s position and avoided the flames. Pulling out his long saber, he sneaked to the back of the robot. Regardless of whether the robot was telling the truth or not, defeat the other party first before saying anything else.


    The robot sneered.


    "Even if you are the strongest players in the Vulture, or even if the Sword Master is present, it won''t matter to me at all. Not to mention the crap that are you guys, who are not even in the top ten!"


    Boom!


    A clear shockwave erupted from its body and spread out violently into the surrounding, immediately dissolving Bat''s sound wave and hampering Egret''s sprint. In contrast, Yuria was slightly stronger as his Savior''s special ability was engaged. His entire skin turned red, and his speed and explosive force were a level greater.


    "Forewind!"


    Whoosh!


    A silver light shone, and the distance between the robot and Yuria was promptly shortened.


    **********************


    Red Nation


    The Protestant Headquarters in the province of Aix, on the street of a village on the outskirts.


    Black cars slowly entered this remote small village.


    These black cars gradually stopped in front of a little wooden, brown-red house. A white street lamp was erected in front of the house, giving out a faint white light in the night. Coupled with the white floor lamps inlaid between the slates on the nearby ground, they constituted the only light source in the vicinity.


    A woman got down from the black car at the front.


    "It''s here." She had a high ponytail, and the silver hair was swaying slightly to the left with the wind. She was tall and had a wheat-colored complexion. Wearing a green tube top and denim shorts, she gave off a kind of vigorous, graceful and explosive sensation.


    "As the Four Great Cornerstones, he actually attempts to live the life of an ordinary person. How foolish." Another androgynous man with a heavy makeup exited the car, making an orchid finger gesture (TN: a Chinese term referring to a hand gesture where the middle-finger touches the thumb. It is considered a feminine sign; https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Ìm»¨Ö¸) and fixing his gaze on the wooden house in front.


    "The rest of the people, get off," The woman spoke in a low voice.


    All the car doors were opened at once, and waves of well-trained personnel dressed in black uniforms began evacuating the onlookers nearby. They quickly pulled the security department''s warning line across and completely cordoned off the few hundred meters area around into a restricted area.


    "Here is Red Nation. Resolve it within ten minutes." The woman strode to the wooden house and kicked aside the fence outside the wooden house.


    If the intelligence was correct, Mind Reader should not be fully awakened at this time, which would make the capture absolutely easy.

 1207 Change 1

    The room door was kicked open violently with a bang.


    There was a drowsy man inside the room dressed in pajamas. He was carrying a hammer for reasons unknown while a little boy, who could not be older than seven or eight years old, hid behind him.


    "Who are you?!" When the man saw the staff members dressed in neat, standardized black uniforms charging in, a frightened look appeared on his face suddenly.


    "Take him away." The woman waved her hand before several ferocious-looking burly fellows seized the man and the boy.


    Bang!


    A gunshot noise rang out suddenly before the two men who rushed over earlier fell to the ground at the sound of it. The man swayed slightly when they collided against him while an obvious sign of mortal danger flashed across his head instantly.


    "There''s a sniper! Hide!" Fear instilled the woman''s mind immediately. She yelled and pulled out a gun before somersaulting away as two more bullet holes instantly appeared on the initial spot where she stood. They penetrated the wooden planks on the floor deeply.


    Bang bang bang! A series of frenzied gunshot noises echoed in succession from the outside, as the Vulture members in black uniforms counterattacked quickly.


    "My Lord had actually anticipated this!" Double-Tailed Scorpion''s face turned cold before a bullet made a hissing noise and hit the Mind Reader''s right thigh.


    Blood splattered instantly.


    "Stop immediately! Otherwise, I''ll kill him!!" Double-tailed Scorpion roared suddenly.


    Suddenly, the gunshot noises and the blood-curdling screams of the people in black uniforms outside ceased rapidly. It was obvious that the other party was extremely anxious as well because she was afraid that she would also kill Mind Reader during this deadly situation. Although any one of the Four Great Cornerstones could revive themselves within a year, it would be extremely difficult to even dream of grasping their whereabouts so easily again.


    Double-Tailed Scorpion straightened her body slowly and looked at the man and boy who were both trembling from head to toe. Her expression turned colder as she leaned closely against the wall, moving slowly while walking towards the doorway and glancing outside slightly.


    More than ten people were brought over this time, standing on the empty space outside.


    "Damn!"


    She could not help but curse.


    She had brought over twenty members with her this time, but more than half of them had been slaughtered immediately.


    "Come with me!" She walked beside Mind Reader speedily before reaching her hand out to clutch his neck suddenly.


    Shh!


    A shroud of cold air surged out of her vest suddenly. Double-Tailed Scorpion had no time to think before her body crouched downwards violently. She released her grip on Mind Reader before turning her hand over and shooting.


    Bang!


    A woman''s low groan echoed behind her instantly. Double-Tailed Scorpion rolled away to dodge the cold current before turning back and noticing that a short, glittering silver dagger had accurately penetrated the spot that she was just standing on.


    "Go!" The woman''s cold voice rang out before Mind Reader carried his son away. His speed increased rapidly as he charged out of the room instantly.


    Bang!


    The sniper rifle sounded again.


    Double-Tailed Scorpion was just getting ready to stand up and chase after them before her body slanted suddenly while her arm ached in a fiery pain. She was almost fatally shot. A large chunk of flesh was directly removed from her right arm.


    "Shit! If only the Elites hadn''t scattered themselves to search everywhere!" The higher-ranked powerhouses of her main elite force were dispersed throughout the outskirts to search the entire area. If her manpower was focused in one place, the sniper would not have a chance to act so brazenly at all.


    Double-Tailed Scorpion stared blankly as Mind Reader escaped. Meanwhile, her right leg stopped moving slightly when she stepped on the ground lightly.


    Bang bang bang!


    Three consecutive gunshot noises could be heard when she fired three shots towards her right instantly. All three shots struck the same area and formed one bullet hole. The bullets flew upwards toward a slant. The sniper''s rifle turned silent suddenly.


    Several years worth of instincts told Double-Tailed Scorpion that her opponent had been shot.


    Currently, Mind Reader had already run across a great distance and disappeared at a street corner after making a turn. Meanwhile, Double-Tailed Scorpion''s subordinates who were hiding earlier had yet to respond, they were now looking on as she charged out of the house.


    "Go! We can''t let them escape!" Double-Tailed Scorpion had a fierce expression on her face. This was a key factor that was related to whether she could retire successfully! She would not tolerate failure at all!


    During the instantaneous battle earlier, she could sense that, if she was aware of the sniper earlier, she could have used her modified detection abilities to locate them and kill her opponent easily even if the other party was hidden while she was exposed. Unfortunately, it was too sudden!


    Several of the people in black clothes separated themselves from the group immediately to pursue Mind Reader, while two of them stayed behind to get rid of the corpses.


    ********************


    "Someone rescued him?"


    Garen furrowed his eyebrows while standing on top of the skyscraper. The cool night breeze blew his hair and lifted it slightly, giving him a free and relaxed feeling. However, his current mood was far from being relaxed or happy.


    "Someone who could seize another person from your hands must have been pretty skillful. Do you know where they were from?" He clutched the railing behind him that fenced the top of the building while leaning against it closely.


    Double-Tailed Scorpion stood there and gritted her teeth while speaking.


    "Don''t worry, I''ve already sent my brothers to seize them. We won''t let anyone escape. White Hound has followed me out this time as well."


    "I''m not worried about his tracking abilities. However, what are the opponent''s powers like?" Garen asked in a muffled voice.


    "Other than the sniper who was more experienced, the other female talent was only average. As long as we find an opportunity to stop them, the sniper won''t have any chance to escape!" Double-Tailed Scorpion felt that this was the most humiliating experience in her life!


    "My Lord, if I may put it bluntly, there are definitely spies within the team. Otherwise, they couldn''t have determined our location beforehand and ambushed us even though I had already dispersed the teams to search everywhere! This is unrealistic!" Double-Tailed Scorpion said coldly.


    "I''ve requested for the assistance of the Lan Hai, the psychologist."


    "Lan Hai?" Garen''s eyebrows were slightly furrowed. Lan Hai was ranked at number twenty-six in Vulture. Neither his close nor distant combat abilities were extraordinarily powerful. However, his greatest weapon was not his combat skills but instead, his mind and strategies. He would consider his enemies while strengthening his own side simultaneously.


    "Are you sure that you don''t need any other support?" He repeated.


    "I don''t need it! As long as Lan Hai comes along, there won''t be any problems at all! I was attacked to the point where I could not react promptly this time. Moreover, since the Elites were not by my side, it would be impossible that accidents would not occur," said Double-Tailed Scorpion firmly.


    The results of her quest assessment would determine whether she could retire this time. According to the rules, once an individual had requested for the support of more than two ranked powerhouses, the quest would not be considered as an individual quest anymore. Even if it was completed, the quest reward would be decreased by 80%.


    "I''ll give you five days," said Garen indifferently.


    "Five days¡­ Understood! I will definitely complete this quest!" Double-Tailed Scorpion replied resolutely.


    Garen ended the call before gazing out at the night-time scenery of the faraway Lily of the Valley. His emotions were somewhat complicated.


    "Spies? Ha¡­ It seems the Transmigrator organization Lighthouse has various selfish motives as well¡­"


    Other than the Transmigrators, it was highly unlikely that anyone else could find Mind Reader before his identity was revealed.


    He placed the incident aside for now as he was probably waiting for the right moment. Once Mind Reader was fully aware of his abilities, he would undertake the task resolutely to reproduce the Sacred Sigil. However, no one had expected Garen to openly dispatch troops and seize him forcibly.


    "If another Transmigrator the combat abilities of the Nine-tailed Fox arrives, everything would definitely become more troublesome."


    Garen pondered for some time.


    He descended the stairs hastily and returned to his office. He opened a drawer and looked at several rows of names there that were illuminated with white light.


    There were fifteen people among the top twenty ranks that were illuminated with the white light. This indicated that they were unoccupied.


    Garen glanced through a circle of names before pausing on one person''s name quickly.


    Butcher Angelo. Rank eleven.


    Those who were ranked in the top ten were ultimate combat forces who could defend a large province because they were extremely fierce and tough. Despite the standard of their danger level that was given to them by Night Water, Garen guessed that those who were ranked within the top ten had achieved A-Class levels. The only difference between them was their relative superiority or inferiority within the A-Class.


    The subordinates of powerhouses like these could form powerful Elite groups of various sizes. Nonetheless, there were also rebellious but influential forces throughout the entire Slann.


    However, Butcher was an exception. He was the only one whose actual strength could reach the top ten. However, since his influence was not strong enough, he could not become one of the top ten powerhouses.


    Eighty percent of his entire body was modified into machinery installations, making him comparable to the Terminator in the movies on Earth. Moreover, his personality was violent and bloodthirsty and he had an affinity for the strongest defenses and armor. His own defensive ability was considered to be among the top ten while there were only two others who could compare to him.


    He pressed the name lightly.


    Garen straightened out his emotions briefly.


    "Angelo, do you want to accept this quest?"


    "It''s No. 3, huh?" A rude male voice echoed from the other side. "If you have something to say, say it quickly. I''m planning to go fishing right now." He was not talking about literally going fishing but was referring to a deadly underground battle arena instead.


    Butcher was not very respectful toward Garen. In his eyes, having a little worm like him, who was not even ranked among the top twenty yet had the audacity to crawl on his head, was equivalent to the greatest insult to him.


    However, after being easily defeated by Garen during several challenges, he could at least remain respectful towards Garen on the surface despite still being unconvinced. After all, the other party had cut one of his legs off cleanly. Subsequently, he could only substitute it with a prosthetic limb. Crushing defeats like this would be etched in his memory for a lifetime.


    "Double-Tailed Scorpion was obstructed by someone else when she was hunting an important figure. Her opponent is an extremely troublesome individual who might possess a more familiar understanding of you and Double-Tailed Scorpion''s abilities. Moreover, they are already very familiar with Vulture. Hence, I thought of hiring you this time¡­"


    "Enough with this nonsense! What''s the reward?!" said Butcher impatiently.


    Garen smiled faintly.


    "The reward will definitely satisfy you." He paused on purpose before continuing. "Weren''t you thinking of purchasing one of Casla''s hydropower stations? I can help you."


    "¡­" Butcher did not reply immediately but his breathing had clearly become much heavier.


    "Are you serious?!" He lowered his voice instantly.


    The price of that hydropower station was secondary while the primary factor was that its background relations were very intricate. They were related to one of Butcher''s previous great enemies and his own revenge plan as well. Therefore, he could not help himself from being perturbed.


    This was because, once Garen made a move, his identity and status as No. 3 would perhaps end up helping Butcher''s enemy, despite his potential influence not being exceptionally great.


    "I''m serious," Garen said flatly, although his actions would cause him to suffer some losses in his social connections. However, it did not matter. The heart of this matter was the strengthening of the Soul Ring while everything else could be put aside.


    If he was not too busy to attend to anything else because he had to control the overall situation now, he had actually planned to take charge of this matter personally.


    "Alright then! I''ll accept this quest!" said Butcher decisively. He began to inquire about the specific objectives, relevant information, and other news immediately.


    Despite being a loner, he had his own circle of social connections. Thus, he quickly arranged everything properly before Garen turned off the communication connection.


    "The only thing that I have to do now is to wait." He sat on the chair while the corner of his mouth curled upwards slightly.


    Butcher moved out and so did Double-Tailed Scorpion. Unless Nine-tailed Fox or another powerhouse of the same level went up against them, it would be unlikely that anyone else could resist them.


    Moreover, since Nine-tailed Fox''s current whereabouts were within his grasp, it would be impossible for her to rush over.


    He was only worried about the other Transmigrators. However, how many other powerhouses, who were of the same level as Nine-tailed Fox, were there?

 1208 Change 2

    Clang!


    Yuria held a long saber and struck the robot''s arm in one go. Among the two of them, one was larger while the other was smaller. Their forces pressed against one another and collided violently. Despite only being slightly inferior to the robot, Yuria was sent flying for several meters before he landed on the ground lightly.


    Within the forest, both of them resumed their confrontation once again, as sweat trickled down from Yuria''s sideburns endlessly.


    His current strength could already be compared to Garen''s in his regular condition. However, the fellow on the opposite side of him had actually almost rendered him helpless.


    When the robot was defending itself, Yuria''s saber could neither cut it nor pierce inwards. Meanwhile, every time the robot simply waved its hand when it attacked, Yuria needed to block its explosive force with all of his strength. Moreover, it was possible that he would suffer a fracture directly if he was even slightly distracted.


    Just like the two other people who were lying on the side.


    Bat and Egret were leaning closely against the bottom of a tree on the side. Both of them had suffered broken limbs that made it difficult for them to move. They could only stare blankly while Yuria and the robot fought directly.


    Three days had passed since they encountered the robot. Within these three days, it seemed as though their opponent was murderously pursuing them unceasingly without any intention of showing mercy. Moreover, he did not have any worries about his own safety or mortality like normal people, instead, it acted unscrupulously.


    "We''ve already requested for backup! Hold on!" Egret said while gritting his teeth. He was using both of his hands to assemble a thin, skateboard-like thing in an experienced manner. It seemed like some sort of transportation tool. They relied on these playthings to escape the robot''s murderous pursuit during these past few days.


    Yuria did not reply. He pounced on the robot again and fought messily with it instead. The body of his saber struck various parts of the robot''s body continuously. It even left cracks on certain parts of its body but they were unfortunately ineffective. Even the connected parts inside the cracks remained unusually solid as there was an internal protective layer.


    Hydra!


    He suddenly released this ability quietly before the robot''s speed decreased instantly while his own speed increased abruptly.


    Clang clang clang clang!


    Four consecutive noises could be heard when his blade hit the same part of the robot''s nape suddenly.


    Shh!


    A thin crack appeared on the robot''s neck. The great impact force shook his body and forced him to take two steps backward.


    "Fine!" It was apparently completely unconcerned about its own injuries. It joined both of its arms in the middle and attempted to grab Yuria''s waist firmly when Yuria was striking it rapidly. The robot tried to hold him tightly the same way a man would embrace a woman around her waist.


    However, the Hydra''s abilities had absorbed the robot''s speed to strengthen Yuria instead, allowing his current speed to greatly surpassed his expectations. He recoiled his body and evaded capture immediately after he finished striking before his blade pierced the robot''s abdomen again. He used all of the strength in his body when he stabbed it. His skin reddened when he used all of the strength that he had borrowed from everyone else through the Savior''s special ability.


    "Single Person''s Strength."


    Yuria turned around and spun rapidly while his blade rotated speedily like a deadly tornado.


    Shh shh shh shh!


    Endless cutting noises rang out from the robot''s body.


    "Dragon Spine Leap." The robot''s right arm pressed downwards firmly before a vaporous shroud of driving force exploded from its right shoulder suddenly. The robot increased the speed of its arm''s movements quickly while moving it downwards. The speed of its entire robotic arm instantly shot up several times while it came right in Yuria''s face to oppress him.


    "Upwards!"


    Yuria''s spinning sword move condensed into one movement suddenly before moving upwards.


    Clank!


    The blade and the robotic arm clashed violently. There was a brief clashing noise before the blade broke immediately and bounced away quickly.


    Yuria''s expression changed and he retreated quickly. However, he had failed to react in time now. The explosion of the vapor increased the speed of the robot''s arm and allowed it to crash forward violently.


    Bang!


    He suffered a direct hit to his chest. A series of bone-breaking noises could be heard while Yuria was sent flying far away.


    "Go!" Egret had finished making the skateboard some time ago. He brought Bat with him to pick Yuria up from afar before escaping into the distance speedily without even turning back.


    Along the way, light traces of blood that were left behind on the grass could be seen faintly.


    Bat could see the robot catching up to them quickly. "Its long-range attack measures have been exhausted, so there should be no problem as long as it doesn''t close the distance between us. Are you alright, Yuria?"


    "I''m fine!" Yuria answered while his complexion turned paler. He spat out a mouthful of blood just as he finished speaking.


    "This thing has the same strength as those in the top ten, at the very least! Although my injuries have healed perfectly, I couldn''t unleash the Savior''s power to its full potential, instead, I could only use the Single Person''s Strength. It was so strong that my body couldn''t take it."


    "Don''t worry, I''ve already requested for backup so the powerhouses will be arriving soon. We just need to stall for some time and we''ll be fine," said Egret hastily.


    "Here! Here!" A series of frantic shouts echoed from the front suddenly.


    Joyful looks appeared on Egret and Bat''s faces instantly. "They''re here!"


    The trio rode the skateboard forward quickly and weaved through the forest. Soon, they saw a group of people in black clothes in front of them who were getting down from black motorcycles. One of them, who was leading the group, wore half of a golden mask that covered the left side of their face.


    This person was actually a woman. There were several people behind her who were assembling a certain weapon for her now. That weapon looked like a longer and thicker version of a super sniper rifle.


    The body of the entire rifle was silvery white; it almost resembled a small-scale cannon.


    "Duck!"


    The woman took the weapon and carried it on her shoulder before aiming it at Yuria and the other two people accurately.


    The three of them immediately lowered their heads as much as they could.


    Boom!


    They merely heard a dull, thunderclap-like roar above their heads before the trio''s ears were completely muffled at once. They could not hear anything and could only feel their entire bodies turn numb while their ears were filled with a series of chaotic humming noises.


    Boom!


    They felt intense light and heat behind them instantly. Another violent shock wave shook the trio vigorously, making them fall off the skateboard. Fortunately, they were carefully caught by the soft net that was prepared by the people in black earlier.


    The woman in black put the gigantic gun down and looked at the depths of the forest from afar where flames were soaring into the sky.


    "We''ll use carpet bombing. Dispatch the Falcons."


    "Understood."


    "Request for Falcon Bombing."


    The person behind her relayed the command quickly.


    The shrill noise of bombers echoed above the heads of the crowd instantly. Numerous white lines whizzed through the sky before exploding in the center of the large fire. The violent explosions piled up on each other vigorously before the flames and smoke dispersed. The surroundings of the forest were almost completely covered in flames, making it difficult for anything to be seen clearly.


    "Is it dead?" The woman asked quietly.


    "Its ideal radioactive energy level has decreased by more than forty percent. It''s currently retreating and has probably fled temporarily," answered one of the subordinates behind her quietly while he was looking at a scanning device on his arm.


    "Pursue and kill it with another round of carpet bombing! Destroy it." The woman dangled a cigarette in her mouth gently before lighting it and taking a puff. Next, she held it with her fingers and removed it before shifting her attention towards Yuria and the other two people.


    "Egret, long time no see. You look like you''re in a sorry state, huh." The woman''s laughter echoed behind the mask.


    "Big Sister!" Egret was standing up while being supported by someone else. He was too weak to stand because of his fractured leg. Thus, he could only lean on his other leg to support himself while standing on the ground. "It''s a good thing that you came over this time. Otherwise, we would be in deep trouble a little while longer."


    "Your opponent is one of White Whale''s people. Our superiors allowed us to wait for you nearby earlier. I didn''t expect to actually be sent to the battlefield." The masked woman was ranked eighth in Vulture and she was an expert in long distance indiscriminate firing. The previous explosions were not simply normal serial bombings. In reality, each target was controlled by the masked woman. She could even determine each of the bombing targets and make sure that continuous strikes were aimed at the same target while her opponent was sent flying and bouncing off due to the explosion. That one specific target was the crack in the robot''s nape that was carved out by Yuria''s saber earlier.


    "We''ve already reached the first steps of determining the identity of the opponent," said the woman calmly, "the business alliance has already released the official command to arrest the White Crab Army."


    "White Crab Army?!" Yuria stood up despite the pain throughout his entire body. When he was violently hit earlier, his internal organs were shaken up and would not heal in less than one and a half hours.


    "How did you manage to hear about them prior to this?" The woman asked while looking at him.


    "Be careful!" Yuria pounced forward suddenly and collided against the masked woman violently.


    Simultaneously, a spot of silver light hissed and passed through the initial position of the masked woman''s head while releasing an ear-piercing screech.


    The silver light hit the head of one of the subordinates behind the woman directly. There was a popping noise before that person''s brain exploded and bits of red and white splattered everywhere.


    Without having to wait for any shouts or orders, everyone returned fire immediately because they were ultimately the Elites. More than ten grenades flew out and fell in the direction where the silver light was being shot.


    Bang bang bang bang!


    Exploding noises echoed unceasingly while bullets made clanging noises, striking the metallic ground as if they were being defiantly blocked by something.


    Yuria supported the woman slowly and helped her crawl back up.


    "Thanks!" The woman''s face was solemn. "I owe you my life."


    "That won''t be necessary! You came here to support us anyway." Yuria turned around and looked in the direction from which the silver light was being fired.


    Within the raging fire and smoke, a gigantic body that was three meters tall walked out of the burning flames slowly. It was the robot from earlier!


    Its body was larger and heavier now as if it was twice as broad as its initial size. A gash that resembled an eye had split open in the center of the robot''s body. This opening was filled with little eyes that were blinking with specks of green light.


    There was previously a large hole in the area where the robot was injured. However, only a thin white scar remained there after the robot had healed itself speedily now.


    "It''s useless. Unless you''re one of the top five powerhouses, the rest of you don''t even have the right to stand before me." The robot''s deep voice echoed through the forest. It was tinged with the intense, static-like noises of everything that was burning.


    "Threefold Super Electromagnetism." The masked woman''s face turned colder while she carried the gun.


    Bang!


    A white light pillar lit up suddenly and hit the center of the robot''s chest at a speed that was faster than lightning.


    Unexpectedly, the robot managed to grab the light pillar single-handedly. It held it in its palm tightly. The light beam remained in the robot''s palm for a few good seconds before it disappeared.


    Shrouds of white smoke were escaping from the robot''s palm now. It was also slightly red and appeared to be at a very high, burning temperature.


    "It ends now." The robot smiled viciously before its large and heavy body exploded from the back suddenly, turning it into a great driving force that rushed violently toward Yuria and the two others who were gravely injured.


    Whoosh!


    The silver light flashed. At that moment, Yuria removed the body of a gleaming, slender silver saber from behind himself.


    It was merely a normal saber, yet he used it to strike the robot''s body.


    Boom!


    There was a thunderclap-like noise before intense metallic fireworks exploded violently when the blade clashed against the metallic outer shell of the robot''s body.


    It seemed as though the robot had suffered a lightning strike throughout its entire body. The robot flew backward like a cannonball while humming noises echoed from the inside of its body. The noises resembled a large clanging bell with sound waves that reverberated and surged through the insides of its body endlessly.


    Ahh!


    The robot let out an anguished scream while its body flipped over in the sky quickly. Flames spluttered from the boost motor on its back as it fled into the distance.

 1209 Gather 1

    A silhouette made a brief whooshing noise as it brushed the ears of Yuria and the other two people. It was faster than a supersonic fighter plane. It caught up to the robot in the blink of an eye before striking it with another normal slaying assault.


    Boom!


    The robot moved directly downward when it was smashed into the ground violently. The vibrations caused the surrounding flames and smoke to travel out of the large hole on the ground immediately before the fiery blaze was instantly extinguished by the intense tremors. Endless clouds of smoke exploded everywhere as if another new explosion had burst forth.


    A black silhouette was standing beside the large pit where the robot was lying. It was carrying a long saber that was more than two meters long backward while gazing into the bottom of the pit quietly.


    Shh!


    The robot burst out of the depths of the pit suddenly. It charged towards the silhouette vigorously with its weight and tremendous impact force.


    Clang!


    The silhouette simply moved its saber once.


    A crashing noise could be heard. That saber did not merely resemble a saber anymore. Instead, it was practically a Super Iron Hammer. It struck the robot''s body firmly and sent it flying suddenly. The robot flew sideways and hit more than ten large trees, felling them down in the process. It was barely able to bump against the front of one tree trunk and turn around before crouching on the ground.


    "Ahh¡­ Ahh!" the robot yelled furiously.


    It suddenly realized that another silhouette had appeared before itself now.


    "You!" It raised its head and was about to speak.


    Bang!


    The long saber struck the robot violently like a whip and sent it flying before it somersaulted more than ten meters away. The robot''s entire body was clearly badly damaged now. There were large wounds everywhere that were dripping with silver liquid while eighty percent of its outer shell was covered in various scars.


    "Ga¡­ Garen!" The robot seemed weaker now. It seemed like its vocal chord was damaged in the fight as well because it was making strange overlapping noises. "Weren''t you supposed to be in¡­ the Red Nation?! How is this¡­ possible?!!"


    The silhouette appeared before the robot again but did not dash toward its opponent this time.


    "The Red Nation? It looks like someone''s been tipping you off." Garen''s expression was calm. Numerous shrouds of Soul Energy Aura were leaking from the robot in front of him, making it obvious that it possessed Slayer''s Forged Sacred Sigil as well.


    Clap!


    He reached out and grabbed the robot''s neck immediately. He lifted it straight upwards and raised it in mid-air.


    Now that he had absorbed the Soul Seed''s Soul Energy, his qualities had equally broken through the six-point mark recently. This allowed him to achieve an average standard of seven points. He was already upgraded into a terrifying realm now. Even though the robot weighed over a thousand kilograms, it did not affect him at all.


    "Who is the mastermind behind the White Crab Army? Tell me." Garen suspended the long saber before the robot''s chest directly. The tip of the blade was aimed precisely at the robot''s chest. If Garen willed it, he could turn the robot into a barbecued skewer instantly.


    "Hahaha¡­" sneered the robot. "You won''t find out¡­ You''ll never find out¡­ Oh!"


    He stabbed the saber straight into the robot''s chest.


    The robot''s body lit up in red quickly as if he could explode at any moment. However, it jolted after being extinguished by a strange liquid immediately. It seemed like cold water had been poured on fiery red charcoal before the robot''s entire body cooled down rapidly.


    Both of the robot''s eyes became dimmer instantly.


    Not far away, Yuria stared blankly at Garen. This was an unprecedented incident and the very first time he had truly seen Garen attack at full throttle. He had initially assumed that the disparity between them was not that far anymore. However, when he looked at it now, that guy was simply a frightening existence that could rip dinosaurs apart bare-handedly!


    He did not require any martial arts moves. Instead, a mere hit from his saber allowed him to pound a person to death with nothing but brute force. Wasn''t that how he killed the robot earlier?!


    "It''s truly¡­ too insane!" said Yuria softly, unable to suppress a surge of emotion.


    Egret and Bat were frantically dripping with cold sweat on the sidelines. They nodded in agreement continuously. They could not distinguish whether the sweat was caused by the pain of their injuries or being shocked by Garen.


    The woman in the silver mask was much calmer. She took long strides and walked over.


    "Minister, it''s fortunate that you arrived in time. This robot''s strength is equivalent to the top five levels. If you had not rushed here in time, we were afraid that we could only withdraw much earlier."


    Garen sheathed his saber and nodded to indicate his response.


    "The White Crab Army''s technology has surpassed our expectations. Yuria, you must be careful. I merely attacked them while they were caught unaware this time. A robot like this would definitely cost a lot and I''m sure that the loss of one robot would be an extremely serious matter to them. Thus, you pay more attention to your safety when you confront them again next time."


    Yuria let out a deep breath.


    "Don''t tell me you''re saying that they have more than one of these deviants?!" When he thought of the overpowered state of the previous robot, his heart trembled faintly. No matter how he hit or cut it, his saber was useless to the point that it broke.


    "Of course," Garen said certainly, "I have another matter to attend to so I won''t be able to be by your side as I wish. Therefore, you can only depend on yourself for everything else. Judging from your opponent''s intentions, your sister is probably safe. Moreover, they don''t seem to harbor any murderous intentions towards you, so you don''t have to worry about that either."


    "Is that so?" Yuria recalled the scenes that had occurred previously. Indeed, even though he had fainted because of his serious injuries, the robot did not take the opportunity to kill him at that time.


    Garen looked at this important figure in the Plot while his hand started searching for something on the robot''s body again. He took something out from the injury in its chest.


    It was actually a glittering and translucent hexagonal crystal jewel.


    "One Soul Crystal has been obtained."


    Garen began to absorb its Soul Energy swiftly.


    The Soul Energy of one Soul Crystal was equivalent to one-third of the lowest-valued Soul Seed. Absorbing three of these crystals would allow the average qualities of his body to be upgraded by one point quickly. This was the best type of nourishment or growth-enhancing substance for Garen. Moreover, it would produce excellent replenishing effects for his Soul Ring as well.


    As long as he upgraded himself and achieved the Five-Soul-Seeded Soul Ring Phase, he would enter the next stage and obtain new increments of his Soul Energy. Garen had deduced a specific situation that would occur at that time. His Soul Energy would probably become even purer while his own upgrades would happen quicker as well. Simultaneously, the Soul Seed''s special abilities would progressively begin to appear too.


    ***********************


    Two months later¡­


    "We''ve lost control of the Plot."


    Nine-Tailed Fox had recovered from her injuries. The first sentence that came out of her mouth when she arrived at Garen''s office was a serious question.


    "What do you mean?" Garen was currently pouring tea for two people. When he heard this, his movements unconsciously slowed down faintly. "Wasn''t Yuria just fine?"


    "It''s not him. Rather, Mind Reader who was supposed to appear did not appear according to the Plot," said Nine-Tailed Fox sternly, "I''ve just received this news. You sent people to find Mind Reader too, right? Is that correct?" Both of her palms were pressed firmly against the table surface while her eyes glared directly at Garen''s as if she was trying to determine whether he would lie.


    "How would that be possible?" Garen furrowed his eyebrows and denied it immediately. "Why would I send people to look for him? Mind Reader is meaningless to anyone if he has yet to become fully aware."


    Nine-tailed Fox stared at Garen while she remained silent.


    Meanwhile, Garen had finished pouring the tea. He pushed one cup towards the other party while lifting another cup and sipping from it slowly.


    "Why are you looking at me like that? It''s true that I sent some people to investigate Mind Reader before this, but they could only return and call it a day when they were unable to find his whereabouts," Garen explained. He could tell that something was amiss with Nine-tailed Fox''s gaze and smiled immediately because of that.


    "Don''t tell me that you suspect that I''ve started working on Mind Reader already?"


    "You have those motives," said Nine-tailed Fox indifferently, "Night Water once revealed that your exact intentions are too profound¡­ I had initially assumed that you were a normal Mother Stream System powerhouse, yet the truth has proven me wrong."


    "But it''s true that I''m merely a normal Mother Stream System powerhouse. Which part of that is wrong?" asked Garen doubtfully.


    "Are you really that normal?" A mocking look appeared on Nine-tailed Fox''s face. "In less than two years, you''ve managed to secure the seat of the No. 3 position in Vulture. Your moves are experienced and you managed to clean up the internal members to the point where everyone was won over. Is that what you call ''normal''?"


    She sat down on the chair gently.


    "If that''s considered normal, the other truly normal Transmigrators like us should not even be alive. The rest of us should just buy a block of tofu to smash our brains in and kill ourselves.


    "Are you doubting me?" Garen shook his head. "I don''t have any reason to mess up the Plot."


    "Of course. Thus, the only thing we can do is to doubt you," said Nine-tailed Fox calmly, "The passage to Lighthouse has been opened so you can return anytime. The main reason why I came here this time was to inform you about this."


    "Understood." Garen nodded.


    "That''s right, I have something to tell you." Nine-tailed Fox stood up and walked toward the exit. "Mind Reader is fully aware now. He''s become friends with Yuria just like in the original Plot. However, unlike the original Plot, the realization of his powers have made them much stronger than before which caused great changes throughout the Plot. I''m warning you not to provoke him anymore. Otherwise, your relations with Yuria will not be able to protect you either. Many people have already expressed dissatisfaction with this."


    Garen sat in his seat and did not move or speak. He merely looked on quietly while Nine-tailed Fox opened the door and left.


    Double-tailed Scorpion walked out of the side door. She was dressed in a tight black office wear skirt suit over black stockings that made her look gorgeous and sexy. Her silver hair was tied back in a high ponytail and it swayed gently when she moved. After the failure of her previous quest, she had requested for Butcher''s support. However, Mind Reader managed to escape anyway, and both of them suffered defeat at the last hurdle despite killing many of Mind Reader''s mysterious protectors.


    As the punishment for failing the quest, Double-tailed Scorpion applied to be Garen''s personal secretary on her own. Her initial retirement plans had become an illusion which caused her to fully detest Mind Reader''s mysterious companion who hindered her quest. She swore to take revenge for this initial grudge.


    "There''s a new situation. You should take a look." Double-tailed Scorpion placed the document in her hands in front of Garen. "Aside from that, hasn''t Nine-tailed Fox become too reckless recently? Should I discipline her?" She asked probingly.


    She could not retire and had already divorced her husband as well. Therefore, her inability to retire meant that it was completely impossible for her to break away from the underworld. Furthermore, it meant that she could not resume her life as a normal person either. She decided to simply remove herself from her normal life and focus wholeheartedly on finishing her opponent off instead.


    "That won''t be necessary." Garen shook his head. "Just attend to your own matters and that''ll be fine."


    "Yes."


    Nine-tailed Fox left. Although Double-tailed Scorpion did not know the exact things that she had said, the actions that Nine-tailed Fox had done in private during the countless times when she had come over had rather disrespectful motives toward Garen. This made her extremely displeased.


    "Butcher, come over and see me. This is about the previous quest," Garen lifted the phone and said.


    "You have news about Mind Reader?! I''ll come right over!" One of Butcher''s arms was accidentally broken off previously but he managed to survive and return despite being on the brink of death. He had been waiting for revenge for a long time.


    Someone had hindered Mind Reader''s movements the last time, but Garen could not assist him because he had gone to the Forest Capital to find Yuria personally. However, he planned to dispatch more manpower this time. If it was necessary, he would take the field personally.


    His current self was becoming stronger at every moment. His strength, speed, vitality, and intelligence were becoming more terrifying at all times because of the Soul Energy''s nourishment.


    "I''ll try and see if I can snatch the Sacred Sigil Soul Ring directly. If I can''t do that, I''ll absorb as much Soul Energy as possible and go to Lighthouse after that." Garen had decided already. He could not stay in this world any longer. He needed to gather enough resources as soon as possible and left after that.Nine-tailed Fox is referring to a Chinese saying that implies that one is so useless that they can be killed with a block of tofu; link: https://zhidao.google.com/question/122658821.html

 1210 Gather 2

    "It''s actually him!"


    Nine-tailed Fox looked with a solemn expression on her face as Kong Xinxue put down the little device that she was holding earlier.


    "I''m afraid that Garen himself has yet to think of this. Ah Xue, you have the powerful ability of eavesdropping on information within a radius of more than a thousand meters in your surroundings at any time! It''s fortunate that you didn''t inform him directly in the beginning," said Nine-tailed Fox gladly.


    "He will probably take drastic measures soon. However, it won''t be a serious issue as long as it doesn''t affect Yuria," Kong Xinxue said sincerely.


    "I couldn''t see through Garen all this while. I sensed a hazy fog around his body before this, but it feels like the fog has thickened now," Nine-tailed Fox said softly.


    "Then what are you planning to do?" Kong Xinxue looked at her helplessly. "I think that you might be worrying too much?"


    "Everyone has their own plans and so do we, right?"


    "Of course, I know that. It just seems like he''s broken away from everyone and is acting independently now."


    "He was never close to us, no?" Kong Xinxue was unconcerned.


    "I''m afraid that the exact details regarding him are too terrifyingly powerful. He''s clearly gathering the Forged Sacred Sigil. If he manages to snatch it first, our chances will decrease significantly. Aren''t you worried that we won''t be able to obtain the Sacred Sigil in the end?" Nine-tailed Fox was somewhat angry.


    "What is there to be worried about? After being rescued by him recently, it seems that I owe him a favor now. Helping you gather this information is somewhat disloyal." Kong Xinxue was somewhat dull towards this matter.


    "You!" Nine-tailed was helpless. "Whatever, I''ll do it myself if you''re not going to take this seriously!" She got up and rushed off to find someone else to contact.


    Kong Xinxue was not as inclined as her. She merely wanted to live through this world leisurely and did not want to destroy her own life for things that solely resembled power.


    *********************


    Forest Capital


    Yuria rode a motorcycle alone and sped through a vast forest of trees. He traveled along a little winding road and diverged off the path occasionally before riding toward another area.


    He simply decided to set off on the journey alone because of the issue with the spy. Nonetheless, it would be fine as long as he maintained contact with Vulture at all times.


    He met the Mind Reader again after being saved by Garen in the nick of time previously. As the second of the Four Great Cornerstones, that mature man who resembled an older uncle had even brought his own young son along. This man had formed a connection between them by contacting Yuria in the first instance. The Mind Reader''s ability allowed him to read the surface memories of anyone within a hundred meter range from himself. Thus, he was thoroughly familiar with the information which stated that Yuria was the Savior. Moreover, he also possessed a certain amount of understanding of Yuria''s personality and his past achievements.


    Yuria was rushing off in the direction of the Ocean Capital this time. It was also a large-scale port in Slann.


    Over there, the Mind Reader told him that he had information regarding Yurijie and Light Path. He would give him this information on the condition that he protected him this one time.


    Yuria agreed resolutely and made a beeline for the Ocean Capital on his motorcycle.


    Vroom¡­


    The motorcycle''s thick tires rubbed against the ground at full speed while releasing thunderous throttling noises.


    Both sides of the forest sped behind his head when he passed them speedily. Everything was going extremely smoothly for Yuria this time because there was no any sort of ambush at all. He left the Forest Capital area without a hitch before gradually entering another province.


    His motorcycle braked abruptly before Yuria turned the vehicle around, stopping sideways on the road. His gaze shifted towards a little box on the ground.


    "It''s mother''s box!" He sounded slightly emotional. He got off the motorcycle quickly and picked up the box before opening it.


    The box was a standard wooden box that was made of mahogany wood. There were numerous delicate patterns on the surface. The box sprung open after making a brief clapping noise.


    A rectangular slip of solid white paper lay flat inside the box.


    A row of words was written there.


    ''Ocean Capital, Sky Cinema, 1500 hours ''Yakuza Race''. Child, be careful of the people around you¡­"


    It was written in his mother''s handwriting!


    Yuria''s heart was filled with joy before he suppressed the expression on his face and kept the piece of paper carefully.


    "What are you looking at?" An unexpected voice echoed behind him suddenly. It was a female voice.


    "It''s you!" Yuria turned around suddenly and saw that a girl in a white dress was actually standing behind him. It was the nameless girl who had saved him earlier.


    The memories of that night flashed across his mind suddenly before he unconsciously grabbed the other party''s arm immediately.


    "I won''t let you escape again this time!" he said firmly.


    "Don''t believe what is on that piece of paper." The girl looked vaguely haggard while her eyes were swollen, puffy, and lightly rimmed with red circles.


    "Why?" Yuria was faintly shocked. "This is my mother''s handwriting. There''s definitely no mistake!"


    "Don''t believe what is on that piece of paper," repeated the girl.


    "Why?!" Yuria furrowed his eyebrows. "What happened to your eyes?" He reached his hand out and tried to touch the girl''s eyes.


    Hum!


    When Yuria opened his eyes suddenly, he realized that he was still riding his motorcycle.


    He had unconsciously fallen asleep earlier. The strong wind blew over from the front and pulled the skin of his face back until it hurt slightly. His motorcycle sped forward quickly and traveled straight through the road before him. Apparently, he had fallen asleep during such a short amount of time.


    Yuria decreased his speed before stopping the vehicle beside the road slowly. He did not turn the engine off, instead, he merely sat on the motorcycle and recalled his previous dream carefully.


    "That''s strange!"


    He reached his hand out and touched his pocket before realizing that the piece of white paper was actually inside. His heart trembled slightly before he took it out and looked at it.


    The words that were exactly like the ones he had seen in his dream were actually written there. He got down from the motorcycle quickly before hurriedly searching the trunk of his bike to find the wooden makeup box that his mother had always used.


    "It looks like I actually found the box, but the part where I saw her was a dream." Yuria exhaled softly.


    "Don''t believe what is on that piece of paper." A voice rang out beside his ear suddenly.


    Yuria felt as if that was merely an illusion. He immediately scanned his surroundings briefly but did not see the girl''s figure at all.


    "Did I actually hallucinate and hear that?" He shook his head. He felt that the long period of traveling without rest had probably caused him to hallucinate.


    He got on the motorcycle quickly and started the engine. A thunderous noise could be heard as he sped off into the distance suddenly before disappearing at the end of the road quickly.


    A few moments after he left, a little girl in a white dress walked out from behind a tree slowly; she stared blankly in the direction toward which Yuria had gone.


    "Are you trying to hinder our Lord''s plans?" A lofty, Triangular-Headed Robot walked out of the forest on the other side slowly while its light green electronic eyes glared at the girl coldly.


    "I wasn''t¡­" Bang!


    The robot appeared in front of the girl instantly. It punched her abdomen violently and hit her until she bent forward at the waist, spitting out a mouthful of blood out of her mouth vigorously.


    Suddenly, both of the girl''s hands disappeared in succession as if she was a phantom before she tapped the front of robot''s chest more than ten consecutive times.


    Shh shh shh! A series of noises that sounded like balloons that were continuously leaking air could be heard before a large amount of blue electric arcs crackled out throughout the robot''s entire body.


    "You couldn''t even retaliate the previous sudden attack despite its speed," said the robot indifferently. It seemed completely unconcerned although it was about to be destroyed. "How long can you persevere?"


    "That doesn''t concern you!" The girl ripped it apart with both hands.


    Shh!


    She actually tore the entire robot into two halves and sent both parts flying in different directions before they crashed into the soil heavily.


    Barf.


    The girl held her stomach. Blood flowed out of the corners of her mouth continuously when she was unable to suppress it.


    "The Special Motorized Squad really thinks highly of me." The girl''s gaze sharpened when she looked around her surroundings and discovered that three more similar Triangular-Headed Robots were walking out of the forest slowly.


    "Resistance is meaningless," the three robots said at the same time as if they were a single person.


    The sound of a helicopter''s propellers echoed in the sky slowly while the noise of a large crowd moving nearby could be heard as well. It was clear that the nearby areas were surrounded by her opponent.


    "You insisted on trying to betray us in vain, instead of just behaving yourself and becoming a tool for His Highness the Slayer to vent his frustrations," said one of the robots coldly.


    "It looks like we have great gains to reap." No one had expected that Nine-tailed Fox and Li Hua would lead ten people out of the forest to surround the three robots on all sides.


    "One robot for each person. No problem, right?" Nine-tailed Fox glanced at the girl. She had followed Yuria for a lengthy period of time to track down this unexpectedly mysterious girl. It was likely that she would gain a great deal of information if she could seize her now.


    The girl nodded.


    Other than the Special Operation Forces which comprised more than ten members, the other two helicopters had also appeared above their heads slowly while the nozzles of their machine guns were aimed directly at the robots.


    "Members of the White Crab Army, I''m giving you one final chance to leave immediately." Nine-tailed Fox sneered while looking on at the three robots. Although she was indebted to the White Crab Army for their protection, she would not be so kind this time after being heavily injured by the overpowered robots previously.


    Once the robots had retreated, she would release an order to fire and take the opportunity to inflict heavy damage on these three robots. As these Triangular-Headed Robots were exorbitantly priced, it was unlikely that the White Crab Army would have a large quantity of them.


    *********************


    Inside a narrow office.


    The five people here that consisted of Vulture No. 1, No. 2, Garen, No. 4, and No. 5 were all seated around the meeting table. They were looking at the three robots on the monitor screen at the side quietly.


    The incident that Yuria encountered was also being monitored by them.


    "This woman is Nine-tailed Fox?" Vulture No. 1 asked while knitting his eyebrows together. The eyebrows of this imposing man who was dressed in a white military uniform were slightly furrowed when he looked at Nine-tailed Fox''s self-confident and calm expression.


    "Yes," replied Garen, "Chief, do you have any suggestions?"


    "My suggestions aren''t worth mentioning. Nonetheless, it''s quite shocking to see her taking advantage of us openly like this," said No. 1 Chief flatly.


    "This figure is an important individual. As long as we grasp her in our hands, we might be able to gain more insight into the White Crab Army," said the old woman called No. 2 in a muffled voice. "In order to counter the White Crab Army''s intentions toward the Savior and the appearance of the Forged Sacred Sigil, I suggest that we move the specialized forces to focus on eliminating the White Crab Army."


    "We can invite the other two nations to undergo a war exercise with us to solve the issue simultaneously," said the man called No. 4 in a lazy tone.


    "Release a command to order the arrest of the terrorist organizations. The White Crab Army''s official confrontation towards the National Organizations can be used to determine the Inhuman Organizations," said the newly-appointed female No.5 quietly.


    "Since Nine-tailed Fox has hindered public affairs and obstructed governmental work, we might as well put her in the same boat as the terrorists and get rid of them all in one ago," No. 4 continued.


    "I think that''s inappropriate," Garen opened his mouth and glanced at No. 4. "Although Nine-Tailed Fox is considered as the leader of an underground sect who cannot appear publicly, she''s still somewhat useful towards the safety and stability of Slann. I suggest that we just keep our guards up without having to waste too much effort."


    "I''ve heard that you and Nine-tailed Fox have some kind of relationship, No. 3. Is that correct?" No. 4 sounded as if he was targeting Garen slightly.A Movie title

 1211 Group Battle 1

    "Alright, I have two more minutes. If you have anything else to discuss, please do it as soon as possible for I need to chair the intercontinental forum meeting soon," said No. 1 quietly.


    "There''s an issue regarding the mining rights of the Red Nation who are engaging in oil-drilling activities at sea. We''ve basically reached a universal agreement but we need to take an action and warn the surrounding pirates to put them in order," said No. 5 immediately.


    "Garen, I''ll leave this matter to you, alright?" No. 1 looked at Garen.


    "No problem." Naturally, Garen did not simply waste his few hundred years of living, he had a solid grasp on various rights and influences. Although he was not as influential as the others in terms of his large-scale forces, his rate of expansion was still abnormally shocking.


    "Aside from that, I have a minor request," Garen resumed speaking.


    "Speak." No. 1 nodded.


    "I was recently hoping to purchase a batch of specialized metal nets, perhaps a quantity of more or less twelve tonnes. I don''t have any qualms with the price," resumed Garen. These were his preparations to finish a product for a quest that was given to him during a forum with Lighthouse. The other side had mentioned that they wanted twelve tonnes of this specialized net. In most of the other worlds, this specialized net was a precious and rare metal. Fortunately, there was no shortage of it in this world. The only downside was that it was monopolized by the military and only the government had the right to use it, while other private forces were not allowed to possess it.


    "Why are you going to use it for?" The old woman called No. 2 asked while furrowing her eyebrows.


    "I have my reasons, of course." Garen did not explain further.


    Both of them stopped speaking after that. After coming into contact with them for more than a year, despite being a purely individual armed force when he joined Vulture initially, Garen later developed a powerful influence and grasped a certain sharpness. This was particularly apparent after the battle with the Slayer, where he escaped unscathed and was instantly highly praised as the strongest individual who existed in Slann. He was also depicted as the banner of Vulture''s military force which they held up high.


    His speaking power had also increased significantly.


    "That''s fine." After considering for some time, No. 1 agreed swiftly while standing up. "Alright, today''s matters will end here. That woman must be grasped within our palms. Assemble the troops and capture her immediately. We can compensate Nine-tailed Fox to a certain degree."


    "Understood." The others got up gradually and looked on while No. 1 left.


    The old woman called No. 2 only left the room slowly after that.


    Both of them came from powerful backgrounds and received the backing of numerous forces and high-ranking officials. They were actually the powerful foundations that were truly supporting the existence of Vulture.


    Meanwhile, Garen was the people''s international banner of assurance and the foundation of their military strength as well.


    "I''ll be taking my leave first, then." Garen smiled and became the third person to walk out of the room. His secretary Double-tailed Scorpion and two other bodyguards followed him closely as he walked across the corridor which was covered in white carpet and exited the room.


    After leaving the meeting building, Garen walked straight toward a luxurious black limousine while Double-tailed Scorpion walked up toward him and whispered next to his ear at the same time.


    "The plane has been arranged properly already and can take off at any time."


    Garen nodded and turned back to glance at the lofty building. No. 4 and No. 5 had currently pulled open the curtains of the meeting room and were looking at him.


    No. 4 and No. 5''s authorities had been significantly reduced ever since he joined the meeting between the five people. Hence, the newly-appointed No. 5 did not have a favorable impression of Garen either.


    "Is there a conclusion of the investigation of the skeleton of the White Crab Army''s robot that was sent to Lawrence University?" he asked casually.


    "There''s one report already. They can improve the energy consumption issues that occurred when we modified our robots. The investigation report also showed that they could save us from another two years worth of scientific research and progress," Double-tailed Scorpion replied quickly, "I also think that the No. 1 Chief had considered this aspect before he agreed to your request so quickly."


    "That''s good." Garen took a long stride before entering the limousine. The front and back of this vehicle were flanked by convoys that were guarding it while the secretary Double-tailed Scorpion sat in the front row next to the driver.


    "The exact whereabouts of Mind Reader has been determined at the Ocean Capital. We''ve already established good relations with Chief Executive Bob Crest there beforehand," continued Double-tailed Scorpion.


    "If I''m not mistaken, that girl in the white dress probably possesses the strength of the Illusionist. Therefore, it''s better to achieve the goals one at a time. We''ll discuss this again after we''ve seized Mind Reader," Garen replied indifferently.


    He did not want to waste any more time in this world. Since he had taken sufficient rest, it was probably time for him to keep moving forward now.


    He had used the influence that he had acquired to complete a significant amount of quests during this past year. Thus, he had accumulated a good amount of Contribution Points. Once he entered Lighthouse, he could simply be compared to a veteran Transmigrator who had accumulated many years of experience.


    ***********************


    After the brief meeting, Garen spent the following week making preparations to capture Mind Reader.


    There were other people from Vulture who were paying close attention to Yuria over there. Meanwhile, Garen focused on hunting Mind Reader down. The best time to surround and seize Mind Reader would be the moment when he met Yuria.


    Garen was not concerned about the strength of the Sacred Sigil. In fact, he did not care about any Forged Sacred Sigils either because he was only concerned about whether he could absorb its Soul Energy and obtain it.


    Within the span of a week, Yuria had rushed to the Ocean Capital. Meanwhile, Nine-tailed Fox and the others saved that mysterious girl but were later encircled by Vulture which took the girl away to be examined. Nine-tailed Fox and the rest were unimaginably furious because of that.


    Garen made a phone call to explain that he was powerless, for this was what the No. 1 Chief meant earlier.


    However, Nine-tailed Fox, Li Hua, and the others had somewhat rejected Garen as an outsider after this recent incident. They did not regard him as a companion anymore.


    Garen was not the slightest bit concerned. He secretly ordered several people to disguise themselves as members of the White Crab Army to ambush Mind Reader. However, his continuous efforts to dispatch numerous powerhouses was of no help. Although Mind Reader did not have the protection of a designated armed force, he could conceal himself within the vast sea of people in the Ocean Capital fully without being captured at all.


    Transmigrators were indeed the best candidates to hunt Mind Reader down since Transmigrators were not affected by Mind Reader''s abilities that could capture their surface memories. Therefore, they would not accidentally reveal their own intentions to seize them. Unfortunately, Garen had completely fallen out with Nine-tailed Fox and the others.


    After a period of consideration, he decided to enter the field personally.


    The Soul Energy''s nourishment allowed Garen''s qualities to nearly reach an average of eight points quickly to achieve a minor stage where his limit was increased. His current physical form did not seem to resemble that of a human anymore. As there were no unnatural powers in the laws of both this universe and world, the definitions of the basic rules here were very strict. According to the innate laws of things, since Garen had the strength and vitality to dodge bullets, he would naturally possess a larger mass to accommodate such powerful strength and vitality.


    Within less than two short years, he was now over two meters tall and weighed more than one hundred and eighty kilograms. He had basically turned into an abnormally exaggerated giant.


    His saber that was initially fine and slender had been smithed again into a longer and wider blade. It was over three meters long and as wide as a palm, making it look sharper and fiercer.


    No one else could fully comprehend powers of this grade except Garen himself who currently could not seem to find an opponent in this world. A possible threat toward himself could only be produced if the Slayer used his trump card. Otherwise, he did not have to take anything else into account.


    After making arrangements for a special plane, Garen flew straight to the Ocean Capital. He dismissed all of his other subordinates simultaneously and proceeded to look for Mind Reader on his own.


    Meanwhile, the military exercises at sea between the Alliance of the Three Nations had started at the same time. They were military exercises on the surface. However, they were actually movements to counter the White Crab Army''s terrorist acts in reality.


    *******************


    Ocean Capital


    The sky was an azure colored sea that enhanced the beauty of the sky-blue ocean.


    Gigantic buildings that resembled minarets stood beside the sea. They were connected to each other and were all completely white. They formed a continuous stretch of buildings that spanned more than ten kilometers.


    A colossal stone pillar that resembled a flat tray stood upright near the ocean in the very center of the area. Rows of white castles with blue army flags that fluttered in the sky were built on top of the tray. Most of these castles were shaped like three-pronged forks, while a few of them were detached units. Their doorways were all accessed from the bottom and were extended to the sea by a long suspended bridge.


    The sunlight accompanied the whistling sea breeze. It would instantly feel very hot if the breeze was not blowing. White seabirds flew about in the sky, forming a flock. They were occasionally scattered everywhere when they were shaken by planes that flew past them.


    Garen got down from the boat. The scenery of the distant sea from the port looked like a painting.


    He inhaled a deep breath of fresh air.


    "It''s truly a great place."


    "Of course. The Ocean Capital is the most popular scenic vacation destination among the Four Great Capitals. It attracts more tourists from more than thirty different countries every year," a man with a white beard behind him said while smiling.


    "Just like me," said Garen happily.


    "Yes, just like you." The bearded man laughed. "We have the thing that you desire here, as long as you have enough of ''this''." He reached his hand out and made a pinching motion to hint that Garen was rich.


    "I''m just a tourist who merely came here to go sightseeing. Uncle, please don''t lead me astray," Garen laughed quietly.


    "Although you''re a tourist, you''re a man first and foremost, and only a tourist after that." The bearded man laughed nonchalantly.


    A few other male tourists beside him laughed as well. Even though Garen was not interested, they gathered around him quickly to chat with the bearded man and ask him about the more private fun sites around here.


    Garen stood on the deck of the boat and gazed at the Ocean Capital from afar. He did not bring his saber along this time. In fact, he did not bring anything aside from the essentials such as his identification card and bank card. He disguised himself as a normal vacationing tourist to avoid spooking Mind Reader and being discovered by him.


    Garen did not know Mind Reader''s exact identity as he could even be a Transmigrator or someone else. Nonetheless, Garen had basically determined Mind Reader''s intentions. As long as he still wanted to meet Yuria, he would definitely not leave the Ocean Capital. He could surely grasp his aims as long as he seized this opportunity.


    His next task was to determine whether Mind Reader was still in this city.


    Perhaps this would be a great difficulty for other people. However, for Garen who had obtained the Soul Ring, detecting the forces of his Soul Energy was enough to determine whether Mind Reader was here or not.


    He was looking far into the distance clearly now. He could see two intense shrouds of Soul Energy forces that were faintly dispersing from the inside of the Ocean Capital now. One of them was permeating slowly and gently. They were the Soul Energy forces of Yuria the Savior.


    Meanwhile, the other one was icy cold and tinged with fear. It was obvious that this belonged to Mind Reader who was feeling afraid after being surrounded and attacked.


    "The range of the Soul Energy forces is a bit too wide, so it''s slightly difficult to determine the location of a single person." Garen stroked his chin and thought of the countermeasures.


    "Mind Reader''s abilities are really troublesome. It''s best that I avoid scaring anyone and hunt him down alone. I''ve already memorized his outer appearance, height, and other characteristics. But, I''m just worried that he uses certain means to use makeup or change his looks. The current Plot has become chaotic as well. This is really difficult to handle."


    The information regarding Mind Reader swirled in Garen''s mind slowly.


    As the boat moved closer towards the Ocean Capital, his mind tentatively decided on a feasible plan.


    Hum¡­


    The boat made a loud blowing noise and approached the shore slowly before starting to put the disembarkation plank down.


    The tourists got down from the boat using the railing-lined disembarkation plank before walking on the pure white, squeaky clean pier.


    Garen held onto the railing while walking down. He allowed a pretty golden-haired, blue-eyed little girl to go down before him while her mother smiled at Garen in a friendly manner to express her gratitude. Only then did he tread on the disembarkation plank slowly before walking towards the pier.


    He took his cell phone out and made a reservation to stay in a hotel quickly. Next, he began to look for shop fronts that looked like they served delicious food in preparation to settle his dinner plans.


    The time was 1600 hours now. It would be time for him to eat dinner soon.

 1212 Group Battle 2

    After he disembarked, he wandered around the harbor for half a day. Garen couldn''t find a stall that sold food. Under such circumstances, he could only head deeper in and take a turn to the streets leading into the city.


    There were food bars all around the street. The crowd that was coming and going was beyond massive. Couples were holding hands while many young children were held by their family members walking in and out.


    Garen picked one of them and headed in. He found a place to sit and ordered a few dishes. He waited for the dishes to be served.


    The person in charge of greeting the customers in the shop was a seventeen to eighteen years old young girl. She was wearing a pair of pale blue skin-tight jeans, revealing her figure in all the right places. The little white bunnies under her yellow T-shirt that were doing the hoppity hop, in addition to her pretty face, attracted quite a fair amount of male customers into the shop.


    Ring ring.


    Garen''s mobile phone rang. He took it out to have a look. It was a message from Double-tailed Scorpion. The position of Mind Reader had most probably been determined, and the regional location could be narrowed down to the range of neighborhood. Any more accurate than that couldn''t be achieved.


    "The neighborhood range is good enough," Garen was quite satisfied as he deleted the message.


    Just as he sat down, a few young girls dressed as university students entered the shop. One of the girls was puzzled as she swept a glance at Garen.


    "What''s wrong, Cammy?" Another girl patted her shoulder.


    "Nothing, I think I saw someone I know." The girl, Cammy shook her head and smiled.


    The three young girls sat at the table not far from Garen and ordered a few dishes.


    Cammy turned her head and seemed to recall something. She turned her head to look at Garen once again.


    "Kong Xiaofei?" She called in a soft voice.


    "Mm?" Garen was momentarily stunned. He didn''t think there was anyone here who would recognize him.


    He followed the voice and looked over. He instantly recognized the girl.


    "Cammy Ning?"


    It was his classmate back in high school at Lily of the Valley. Who would have thought they would meet at such a place.


    When he left the school, he announced that he was recommended another location for university and ended communication with the classmates at high school. He was, after all, not the real Kong Xiaofei.


    "Why are you here?" Cammy Ning was overjoyed. She did not expect to meet an old acquaintance here.


    "What about you, how did you end up here?" Garen politely exchanged the topic.


    "I go to the university here. Where else, if not here?" Cammy Ning replied with a smile.


    Her two besties immediately giggled as they moved closer.


    "Who is he? Your old boyfriend?"


    "No way! Do you think of anything else other than that kinda stuff?" Cammy Ning rebutted with a laugh.


    "Then he must be your current boyfriend, haha. It''s no wonder you''re giving the cold shoulder to the Filt brothers. It''s because your man is here!" Another bestie chuckled.


    "Nonsense. We''re just normal classmates." Cammy Ning had a good impression of Garen. He was an honest lean boy, but now he had grown tough in such a short time.


    The two tables were naturally combined together.


    Garen sat by the three girls.


    "What are you doing here? Holiday?"


    "Yes, I heard that Ocean Capital is a world-renowned tourist spot, so came to check it out," Garen smiled as he responded. "You''re attending Ocean University of Lance Royal Family, right?"


    "How do you know?" Cammy Ning was baffled.


    "Isn''t she wearing the school emblem?" Garen pointed at one of the girl''s chest. There was a delicately-made, silvery white mermaid emblem pinned there.


    "What about you? Where are you studying?"


    "I''m no longer attending," Garen casually replied.


    "Not attending?" Cammy Ning was stupefied. It should be true, as it wasn''t a semester break yet Kong Xiaofei had the time to travel. There must have been some issue.


    Hearing these words, the other two girls were struck. Although they did not immediately put on the display, their faces became slightly dull.


    Initially, when they heard that Garen was here to travel for leisure, he must be well off to be able to travel alone with ease. However, now that he was a dropout, their enthusiasm had dampened.


    "Did you drop out?" One of them asked in a low voice.


    Garen nodded. How could an old fart that lived a few hundred years not see the change in the attitude of the two girls? He wasn''t the least bit bothered. He was way past the stage of flaunting.


    The dishes that they ordered were quickly served. They ate together. Garen kept his head down as he swiftly pigged out, clearing the dishes in a few gulps. The dishes'' load was quite small, so he swept them clean without leaving any scrap.


    This made the two girls look down on him even more.


    Cammy Ning was speechless. However, judging by Garen''s large build, she could understand his huge appetite.


    ******


    "I have a bad feeling," In a coffee shop not far away, a man dressed in a black windbreaker whispered to a lady beside him.


    The woman was also dressed in the same black windbreaker. Wearing windbreakers on a hot day was definitely something eye-catching. The woman had purple hair while her purple iris and pale white skin set her apart from the crowd.


    "Your ability of premonition can''t be wrong. I suspect we are being watched," The woman calmly mentioned, "it could be those dregs from Vulture. They didn''t dare go after Slayer, yet they came to play the bully and look for us instead." She gave a scornful look.


    "No... This time, the feeling is stronger than previous times," Mind Reader spoke in a low voice. "I suspect it may be someone more troublesome on the go."


    "It could be from Lighthouse. Only they can avoid your mind reading to get close to us!" The woman knew of Lighthouse and told Minder Reader frankly.


    "Why would Lighthouse seek me out! Why won''t you tell me in full?" Mind Reader frowned.


    "You only need to know that there''s a really really bad organization and they''re after your Sacred Sigil," The woman took a sip of coffee.


    "Then what do you say we do?" Mind Reader asked in a low voice.


    "Now, there are the three forces, Black Federation, Vulture and White Crab, which are after us. We will remain here for a few weeks to lure these three forces over. Now, as long as we play our cards right..."


    "I know what you mean." Mind Reader nodded.


    "Don''t worry, everything will be alright. You can take your son to a place where nobody knows who you are and live. Relax." The woman patted Mind Reader on the shoulder.


    "I hope so..." Mind Reader forced himself to nod. He was about to take a sip off the coffee in his hands before his face stiffened, "They''re here!"


    Pretending to act normal, he stood up and walked toward the washroom.


    The woman took out her mobile phone to have a look. It was getting late. She placed some money on the table to settle the payment and got up to walk out with her handbag.


    The two cooperated tacitly without attracting any attention and left through two exits respectively.


    Those at the coffee shop did not find them out of the norm.


    Not even a minute after they had departed, the door was swung open. A group of men and women wearing white hats walked in. Their sharp gaze swept around the scene. After an exchange of whispers, they found they were not around. The group scanned and checked from table to table.


    Outside the streets by a lamp post, the two gathered and looked at the coffee shop from afar.


    "It''s White Crab," the woman whispered. She took out a lighter to light herself a cigarette.


    "Can you sense their thoughts?"


    "They''re here to capture me just as before. This time, they''re doing a blanket search. I wouldn''t know more details than that. They''re preventing their minds from being read by me." The man was in a dilemma.


    "Do you still have any premonition after avoiding them?" The woman casually asked.


    "It''s stronger now!"


    "Direction."


    "Behind us."


    The woman turned back and looked but did not find anything. She only saw crowds going and coming on the streets.


    "Let''s go," She led him to walk at the side, onward to a little alley.


    The two halted once they entered the alley.


    "Have you forgotten our dreams?" A young man stood in the alley with his back facing them. "Seasnake?"


    The man shifted his head back; his dark brown eyes struck a dead stare at the woman.


    A sharp white card appeared between his fingers.


    "King of Hearts!" The woman''s body tensed up.


    Mind Reader could see the man''s other distinct features.


    "Black Federation..." His pupils shrunk and his body sunk backward. He couldn''t detect the person''s thoughts before. He was from the Lighthouse!


    "Come with me, Seasnake and Mind Reader. Big brother has awaited you for a long time now," King of Hearts smiled.


    "If they were to follow, you then wouldn''t that make us come for nothing?" A cold voice was heard coming from behind Mind Reader and Seasnake.


    ******


    "Soul Energy Force?" Garen was having his after-meal tea when he suddenly felt a tremble. He sensed that there was a slight chaotic Soul Energy Force oscillating over not far away.


    Cammy Ning and her friends were whispering about the interesting news here when they saw him on his mobile phone.


    "What''s wrong? Got something you need to do? Go take care of it if you do," It was rare for Cammy Ning to bump into her classmate, so she was in quite a mood and opened up more.


    "Just a small matter," Garen smiled. "I have to go now. Continue with your meal," He got up as he spoke and came to face a person standing by the shop''s entrance.


    That person was two meters tall and was wearing a white western suit. He was wearing a pair of sophisticated, golden metal spectacles. His blond hair reflected a soft bright glow under the sunlight. He was standing by the shop''s entrance and smiled as he gazed at Garen.


    "Sword Master Garen?" The man was brazen and calmly revealed Garen''s identity.


    Garen''s smile slowly wiped off. he threw a glance at Cammy Ning and her friends behind him.


    "You plan to make a move here?"


    "I have long wanted to meet the number one Kendo genius of Slann, named the strongest saber art in three thousand years. Now that I''ve encountered you by chance, wouldn''t I be wasting off my good luck if I don''t seek your advice?" The smile of the man''s face deepened.


    "They, are acting, right? Exchanging lines?" Someone couldn''t help but laugh out loud, "What a show."


    Cammy Ning and her two friends turned to look at the duo, feeling rather strange


    Wham!


    A troop of solider in black military wear kicked open the entrance of the shop. Over ten armed soldiers charged in, encircling Garen.


    They unlocked the guns'' safety with a click. All firearms were aimed at Garen.


    "It''s a show, right? There''s no need to be... Bang," One of the customer was about to open his mouth when a shot was fired on his chest. Blood drenched his back as he collapsed to the ground.


    All customers in the shop fell silent.


    The serving waitress dropped and broke a plate. Someone was covering their mouth tightly.


    Ah!


    A woman screamed out of fear and wanted to make a dash out.


    Boom.


    Another shot was fired.


    She immediately crashed onto the ground next to Garen. Blood from her back oozed out. Her body slowly collided on the ground, trembling it a bit. She rumbled over and settled over Garen''s foot.


    Clang!


    Garen''s palms clapped and made an ear-piercing thunderous sound. He lurched forward with his bent lower body and his palms arching straight ahead.

 1213 Attainment 1

    Wham!!


    The blond man crossed his arms over his chest to defend but Garen was just too fast. Before he could react or even bulge his muscles, Garen was already in front of him striking him with his palms.


    "This speed!!?" His pupils shrunk. Bam bam bam bam!!!


    The surrounding soldiers opened fire but hit a blank. Bullets shot at where Garen originally stood, but it all hit a blank spot and fell on to the ground. Some of them ricocheted, hitting the soldiers, clanging as it echoed metal sounds. It was obvious that the soldiers were wearing bulletproof armors made from steel, metal plates.


    The shop was in total chaos with bullets ricocheting everywhere. People were screaming as they crouched down with their heads in their hands, some cried out loud from fear.


    Garen and the blond man exchanged blows at close combat. Like a phantom apparition, their four arms rammed against each other as they fought, giving out loud, crashing sounds.


    The ramming sounds were like dull thunders, detonating at every strike. Each time their arms interlocked, the blond man''s face would pale a shade further and sounds of bones fracturing could be heard faintly from his arms.


    He retreated in succession out of the shop.


    Kaboom!


    With a loud crash, the blond man was blown up into mid-air, smashing into a bronze statue in the town square and causing the scatter of white debris as he fell to the ground.


    "It''s been a while since I met an expert who can face me off." Garen relaxed his arm and walked out of the shop, watching the blond man struggling to get up. His current physical fitness was more than a monster. It was hard to imagine that there would be someone who could hold up a fight with him without collapsing in an instance.


    "You!..." The blond man''s face was full of disbelief. He tried to get up using his arms as support, but they were badly contorted to the point of not being able to support his body.


    Seeing the soldiers crumbling down in the shop in a blink of an eye, the man felt chills. He could not believe that this current state was real.


    As Military Flag, he was the second strongest in the Black Federation yet he could not survive for more than half a minute with this man. It was only over ten moves when those specially enhanced, high-intensity arms fractured his bones.


    If one were to tell him a day before that someone in this world would be able to face him off and defeat him in half a minute with brute body techniques, he would have thought that the person was joking.


    And now, he had to believe it as the truth was laid before his eyes.


    "Everyone... underestimated you..." Military Flag spurted blood. His skeletal bones seemed to have fallen apart as he could not even get up.


    Garen strolled out of the shop, leaving behind him a sea of corpses with their blood flowing like a river.


    Miraculously, only a few customers in the shop suffered paper-cut wounds from the stray bullets while the rest were unharmed.


    Seeing Military Flag, the blond man lying on the ground, and the soldiers in their outfits, he could guess who this party was. Vulture''s intelligence has detailed records on the Black Federation.


    He walked towards Military Flag.


    Bam!!


    Suddenly, a bullet fired at his foot. It was half a meter distance of the step he was going to take but for some reason, Garen shortened the length of this particular step by three quarters, as though he coordinated with the sniper which evidently enabled him to avoid being shot.


    White smoke and debris emitted from the pit on the ground struck by the bullet.


    Garen''s placed his right foot gently on the ground. The tip of his foot flipped up and a stone took flight, gliding into the air before him.


    He flicked his right index finger.


    Swoosh!


    The stone shot through the sky, making a screeching, sharp howl.


    A faint sound of a stone hitting on metal and a person shouting in pain came from afar.


    Military Flag stared at Garen as though he had seen a ghost. This was way beyond any human limit. Just a stone to take care of a sniper hidden far away with such accuracy and strength was too skillful beyond the boundary.


    Even Slayer couldn''t do so!


    The crowd on the streets now realized that what happened in the shop was not a film shooting but it was a real deal. Screams were everywhere as people ran for their lives, hiding in places which they thought would be safe though most were escaping as far as they could.


    There were a few who were bold beyond death, hiding and recording the scene with their mobiles phones.


    In mere minutes, the densely packed streets were emptied. Passing vehicles sped off for their lives and cars from afar detoured away.


    The area where Garen and Military Flag occupied was now deserted. The surroundings were empty without a single person in sight.


    Majority of the people in the shop took the opportunity to escape. At first, there was one who took flight courageously, and when the remaining people saw him leaving unscathed, they followed suit and rushed out of the shop. Cammy Ning and her two best friends were amongst the crowd and were being tugged and pulled by the escaping, scattered crowd.


    While running for their lives, they turned back to look at the direction of Garen and Military Flag.


    Cammy Ning and her friends felt their brains were still in a mush. They had yet to gather what was going on. How did a high school classmate become a killer and terrorist in a blink of an eye?


    Recalling the fallen armed soldiers, Cammy Ning could not help but shiver.


    "Just how many people did the Black Federation send?" Garen and Military Flag were just a meter apart when he questioned. Garen had jarred his opponent''s bones out of its place to the point that he would not be able to move, thus he was not worried of any sudden counter-attacks.


    "You can join our Black Federation. We have the best technology to help you enhance your body. We have the best in service, finances, authority, beautiful ladies, whatever you want we have it! As long as you join us, coupled with the support from me and Battle Flag, you will definitely be the strongest Sword Master in history!!" Military Flag tried to convince Garen in turn.


    His eyes flickered with a bright glow.


    "What can you obtain from Slann? Even if you''re number three at Vulture''s, you wouldn''t hold much authority in quota, right? But it''s different in our Black Federation. You can have your private troops, private island, under the law of Slann, it is forbidden to traffic human but our Black Federation''s unspoken rules, you can have up to four slaves of your own!"


    Military Flag tempted.


    "Think about it. We are the unrestrained, social world where the strongest survive!! You are best suited in Black Federation! Join us and you will get all that you imagined!"


    He was soliciting Garen!


    Garen smiled as he looked at him.


    "Everything? If I want the Sacred Sigil, will you give it to me?"


    "Sacred Sigil?" Military Flag was stunned. "As long as you want it, we will do our best for you! As long as you join us, your power will grow stronger and even if you''re not up to it, we will not take away the resources for your power gaining! Just say the word and you will be the Black Federation''s number three and not just a measly number three in Vulture organization! Think about it, riches, power, beautiful women, as long as you want it, anything is possible!!"


    Garen must admit, that Military Flag''s offer and bargain was extremely tempting and he himself was starting to be moved by it.


    Compared to Slann, Black Federation was all about the strength. The environment of survival of the fittest suited him. If it weren''t because he has decided to leave this world to head to Lighthouse, he might even agree to it.


    But it was a shame that...


    "Unfortunately," Garen shook his head, "although it''s very tempting, I... have no interest."


    He lurched forward and stomped onto Military Flag''s forehead. Boom.


    Red blood seeped through Military Flag''s forehead, spewing out red and white liquid that looked like oil.


    Without turning back, Garen strode to the direction of the Soul Energy Force. It was obvious that Black Federation was trying to delay time by sending a general like Military Flag. His last speech was probably a tactic in an attempt to save his life and delay time too.


    These major characters have plenty up their sleeves with various trump cards emerging one after another. If not because Garen was prepared to leave this world, he may be convinced by Military Flag to rebel.


    Glancing at the surrounding empty streets, Garen went forward in the direction of the Soul Energy Force.


    As he made his way, sounds of windows closing came from both sides of the street. As Garen speed up passing several streets, crowds gradually emerged. Many did not know who he was. Some were discussing with passersby about the noise heard earlier while others were describing the happenings vividly.


    Garen blended into the crowd and walked swiftly towards an alley by the street.


    The moment he stepped in, sounds of swooshing laser beams could be heard.


    Looking disheveled, Mind Reader was being chased by a man holding a laser welding machine. He skimmed out the exit opposite the alley.


    Without wasting another second, Garen dashed out of the alley into another narrow lane. He saw that Mind Reader and his pursuer were reaching the end of the lane and about to make a turn.


    Garen was about to chase after them when suddenly heavy footsteps came from behind him. A team of armed personnel caught up to him from the back alley.


    Seeing Garen standing there, the men in black aimed their guns on him


    "Don''t move!!"


    The words had not barely complete when Garen stomped his right foot on the ground.


    Kaboom!!!


    With a loud crash, the surface of the small lane turned and crumbled. A ripple of quake with Garen''s right foot in the center had overturned front and back.


    The soldiers shook from side to side in the continuous loud rumbles. The tremendous quake swept them off their feet and collided with one another. Majority of the soldiers with weaker vitality lost consciousness in a blink of an eye while a stronger minority held on from fainting.


    Garen couldn''t be bothered with these people and continued his chase.


    "It''s Sword Master Garen! Surround him!!"


    A voice shouted from the side.


    Swoosh swoosh swoosh!!


    Muffled gun shots fired at Garen''s side. Some of the bullets hit the wall beside him, leaving hole marks. Some hit him but were blocked effectively by his tough muscles.


    Garen snorted coldly. He was not in his best mood given that he was ambushed the moment he charged out of the lane. He waved his arm on the wall and gripped ahold a large block of cement from it, before flinging it onto the soldiers who were lunging to him from the right side of the crossway.


    The cement block flew at a high velocity, swooshing through countless people and hitting on the last wall surface. Instantaneously, more than ten people in the small alley lane were penetrated at the chest, no one life was spared.


    The lane had fresh blood splattered all over, and smelled sweet and pungent as blood flow like a river from the bodies.


    Garen did not bother to stay back and look and headed straight for Mind Reader.


    More and more people were getting in his way. In the beginning, it was the men in black from Black Federation, thereafter were some local police and law enforcers. The police were quickly replaced by armed police and finally, soldiers in white appeared. Many of the soldiers had a pattern of a white crab imprinted on their chest.

 1214 Attainment 2

    No one was able to stop Garen from going forth.


    As they were in a city, high explosive bombs could not be used while small explosives were no better than snipers against Garen.


    Charging ahead, Mind Reader who was in front finally stopped at a field in a small area.


    Garen caught up with the man holding the laser welding machine from behind. He stared at Garen with caution.


    "Don''t come over!" The man holding the laser welding machine was dressed in a formal suit. Sweating profusely, he was holding Mind Reader as hostage and looking at Garen in panic.


    "Come any closer and I''ll kill him!" He tried to mean business and dangled the laser welding machine at Mind Reader''s neck, scaring the latter to paleness.


    Garen left behind bloody footprints. It was unknown how many he killed on the way. He killed anyone on sight and anyone who blocked his path, no matter young, old, male or female, was taken care of.


    No matter the forces behind, nobody was spared.


    Immediately, an army of white soldiers came crashing onto the field through another entrance with their weapons all aimed at Garen. Their leader wore a silver, metal helmet. Gender unknown, this person had long, silver hair and was gazing intensely at Garen.


    "Military Flag of the Black Federation was killed by him!" The long, silver hair person said in a dreaded voice.


    Two persons walked out from the alleyway behind Garen. They stared at Garen, and shared the same, dreaded fear in their eyes.


    "Where''s the woman? Mr. Garen, we have no intention to be enemies. Our aim is that woman!" The two were from a different organization unlike Black Federation nor White Crab, nor any other countries'' forces for that matter. They were the transmigrators'' forces, an organization with the woman who protected Mind Reader as well as the snipers. The plan was that whoever protected Mind Reader would gain the most benefit. With Garen stepping into the picture, they got Military Flag to restrain and delay Garen but nobody expected that Military Flag and his soldiers were taken down in less than ten minutes.


    Military Flag and Garen should be experts at the same level. They were elite fighters that once challenged Slayer yet it hasn''t been ten minutes that the defeat was imminent. It was like a dream.


    Garen''s combat power severely caused the imbalance between forces.


    Hence the remaining parties started discussions to get rid of Garen, the variable element that was a threat to all.


    But unfortunately, efforts to encircle and annihilate Garen on the way ended up with the slaughtering of over a hundred elites. There weren''t any more subordinates who were willing to try as it will be suicide.


    Under such circumstance, the two could only come out to talk to Garen in the hope he would give up the fight for Mind Reader.


    "I don''t really care about your matters," Garen couldn''t be bothered with these people. "I only want Mind Reader. The rest is up to you."


    He killed everybody who was in his path, regardless if they were from White Crab, Black Federation or even this secret organization. Mind Reader was a key element for him to absorb the Soul Seed Soul Power. Even if Vulture number one was to arrive, it would not pose any difference. No one could stop him from getting Mind Reader.


    But now Mind Reader was being held hostage. If he was killed, then all his efforts would be in vain. He would have to head to another venue to seek the reborn Mind Reader. It would be a massive pain in the ass.


    "That''s easy, hehe." The man holding Mind Reader hostage smirked. "Honorable Sword Master, as long as you vanquish these people from White Crab and the two over there, I will release Mind Reader to you. I promise you!!"


    The silver-haired person from White Crab was shaken. The person holding Mind Reader was from Black Federation. His fear was realized.


    The Sword Master in this city was undefeatable unless he could get Lord Slayer over for help or else no one would be able to stop Garen.


    Nobody knew where the two mysterious forces were from, but they were definitely understaffed. Now that they were being threatened, their faces changed, looking nervous.


    "Kill two parties of different forces, do you think I''m stupid?" Garen smirked.


    "Too bad then. If you don''t follow suit, I will kill Mind Reader," the man smiled coldly.


    "How dare you threaten me?" Garen''s last ''me'' word dropped sharply.


    With a boom, a short sound wave sent a quake. The man holding Mind Reader was hit. The massive sound wave in the shape of a stick struck his head. He instantly saw stars and became sluggish.


    In that split second that the man was distracted, Garen stomped his foot, exploding a pit in the cement surface. The counter force saw Garen being pushed to an extreme speed.


    Bam!


    Garen swept past the hostage-holder and stopped short behind Mind Reader.


    Rip!!...


    The hostage-holder''s body was torn apart. A large amount of blood flowed endless, dying his clothes red.


    "You...!" The hostage-holder did not manage to finish his sentence as he collapsed on his back slowly.


    Garen extended his arm and dabbed gently on Minder Reader who was trying to escape.


    Mind Reader lost energy in his whole body, Garen carried and tucked him under his armpit and walked out.


    Garen chose to leave through the same lane which he came from.


    The two persons from unknown forces could only watch Garen leave with eyes wide open. They dared not make any sudden movements.


    "Let''s go!" One shouted at the other. The two consciously made way for Garen to walk through before retreating swiftly.


    White Crab tactfully chose to retreat at the very beginning. They were different from the rest. White Crab shared a conflict with Garen. If it was not for Garen focusing on capturing Mind Reader, they may not see the light of day again.


    Garen''s combat power was far from what they had predicted, beyond anyone''s imagination.


    "Lord Slayer will remember your grace," the silver-haired person from White Crab marked his words before leaving.


    "If he is displeased, he can look for me anytime." Garen did not bother to turn back. He headed straight to where he came from. He needed to depart from here as soon as possible. He has caused quite a negative impact from his killing spree in the city, those from Vulture were already rushing over to receive him.


    There was even a high official of the enemy in the local Ocean Capital that could instruct the armed police to stop him. This was Slann, not any other place and the Vulture''s influence should be the largest and strongest here.


    Carrying Mind Reader, Garen took large strides leaving the field.


    He was quickly met with the incoming troops of special-uniformed army. A team of ten or more people charged over and encircled Garen.


    Two mechanized vicious figure dashed over. Their faces changed at the first sight of Garen.


    "Sir Sword Master! Please forgive us for coming late to support!!" The two got down on one knee. Both of them started knocking their heads on the ground, causing a string of banging noises and making people jump with it.


    The encircling army that wanted to lock and load had now realized that the person before them was the country''s symbol of highest force, Sword Master!


    They all took down their weapons.


    "Late support?" Garen smiled, "No, it hasn''t been ten minutes from when it happened until now. For you to have such speed and assembly is very good. I am satisfied."


    It was true, he was telling the truth. He did not inform anyone of his trip to Ocean Capital. He quietly joined in the fight and for the local forces in Ocean Capital to react quickly under such circumstance was quite impressive.


    "Thank you, sir!" Both of them gut-wrenchingly got up. The Sword Master''s reputation was quite positive among the public but quite the opposite amongst the internal personnel. Those who knew the inside story would know of Garen''s cruelty. In a short time frame of a year, Garen and his subordinates had slaughtered people by the hundreds to strengthen his position and name. Anyone who dared go against him would be wiped off by him, including the local nobles who grew to ranks in a hundred years but destroyed by Garen in three days.


    "From now on, all the armed forces of the city are under my instruction." Garen gently knocked Mind Reader out cold as he said calmly to the duo on their knees.


    "Yes!"


    The duo answered together.


    Garen nodded in satisfaction.


    "Ocean Capital is still Vulture''s territory. You can''t just come and go as you please. Don''t you think you should leave something behind?"


    He turned to look behind him.


    "All troops to take down all soldiers hired by White Crab. Take heed of my instructions! Seal every entrance and exit of the sea and inform the navy to look out and halt any suspicious looking vessel!"


    "Yes!!" The two generals responded loudly. They swiftly mobilized to another direction, taking out their mobile phones to communicate the order.


    Garen took out his mobile phone to dial Double-Tailed Scorpion''s number.


    "It''s time for action."


    He only said one sentence.


    "Understood," Double-Tailed Scorpion had already arranged everything.


    Far away, a few black vessels were floating on the ocean surface. The fish-shaped black vessels had a white symbol on them. It was a savage-looking white skeleton.


    Slann''s strongest fleet ¡ª Skeleton Sea.


    Six Skeleton Sea submarines emerged. Their tops broke open and pilotless fighter jets over ten meters long each were lifted up one by one.


    Titter titter! Swoosh swoosh swoosh!!


    With sounds of taking off, the pilotless fighter jets took flight towards the direction of Ocean Capital. White shuttle-shaped missiles hung below the jets.


    In a hidden shipyard somewhere in Ocean Capital, a ship disguised as a merchant ship slowly navigated out of the harbor, blowing its horn loudly.


    White Crab''s people were disguised as regular tourists, staring at Ocean Capital from afar. They suffered a major loss this time but Lord Slayer would definitely avenge them!


    But this was unrelated to Garen now. Carrying Mind reader, he got in a car prepared earlier to head to Vulture''s branch. Mind Reader was emitting an aura of massive Soul Power. This had Garen finally understanding the core attribute of the Four Great Cornerstones.


    It was a Soul Ring that was the same as his!!

 1215 Soul Ring 1

    Not bothered with the continuing slaughter, the fighting submarine battleships took off. These were now unrelated to Garen. What he needed to do now was to bring Mind Reader to a safe place for use.


    "..." Garen felt this statement was weird but it didn''t matter. His goal was achieved.


    The car he was in drove towards Ocean Capital''s airport.


    Looking outside the car window, he could see crowds of people gathering to see what the fuss was all about. The people seemed to be oblivious of the danger, thinking that it was far and not exercising any awareness of it. They gathered around to have fun, and it was so packed that there was no end to it. His ears were filled with noises of discussion.


    "How unafraid of death," Garen sighed.


    "The people of Ocean Capital have lived in peace for too long plus being one of the vital cities of Slann, they wouldn''t think they will meet with any danger," the driver smiled as he commented. "Who would have thought that there''d be a killing spree less than a thousand meters away?"


    While the driver was talking, he looked through the rear mirror at Garen with respect. Thanks to Garen, Slann''s reputation has grown internationally in recent years.


    Slann''s national policy was focused on defense. They would not respond when provoked by other countries but with the birth of a Sword Master, with a support on combat power on the right matters, Vulture could be more forceful.


    Almost any event involving the Sword Master would have the enemy at a major loss. The completion of tasks was more than eighty percent. His vicious name was spread far and wide merely in a year.


    Garen shook his head and said no more. Beside him lay the unconscious Mind Reader.


    He shifted his head to look out the window. The car was moving through the streets at a steady speed. Although crowds were densely packed on both sides of the street, no one was actually pushed out onto the roads as everybody displayed good citizen virtue.


    As the car moved forth and was about to leave the jam-packed path, Garen saw the shop which he was having a meal earlier. At the shop''s entrance, a group of youngsters was being questioned by over ten police officers and amongst them were Cammy Ning and her two friends.


    Still in a state of shock and with emotions still running high, the trio was describing to the police officers of what happened.


    The driver noticed Garen''s line of gaze and followed through.


    "Sir, is there a need for an arrangement?"


    Garen did not say a word.


    ******


    "I really do not know anything!" Cammy Ning argued. "Please, let us go. We need to go to class. We are students of Ocean University!" She tried to convince the police officer to let them off in advance.


    Nobody would want to be dragged into a troublesome matter like this. This sort of event usually meant trouble for there would be endless questioning, harassment from the media and continuous requests for media interviews. Their studies were held up, her personal plans were held up, she had not even recovered from the pant-wetting emotions when she was stressed beyond exhaustion by the judgmental interrogations.


    Cammy Ning really wanted to return and rest. It was not only her. Her three best friends were equally exhausted and in fear of the police officers'' constant interrogation. They were unable to leave this place until they were cleared of being suspects of soliciting conspiracy.


    "... Alright, inform your family and friends to come over. There are a few items to verify."


    In the midst of full on interrogation, Cammy Ning only seemed to register this last sentence.


    Inform family and friends!!??


    Hearing this, Cammy Ning and her friends froze.


    Once matters reached this level, what difference did it make with those who broke the law and were told to inform their family members to bail them out?


    If this were to spread to school, even if they were victims, gossip was a fearful thing. In the course of gossip spreading, they may as well end up as suspects and there may be a record on her file.


    "Couldn''t you bend the rules?" Feeling fragile, Cammy Ning hadn''t finished her request when the police officer cut her off.


    "I''m sorry, as your involvement concerned national security so you cannot leave police surveillance before you are cleared of any suspicions." The police officer was apologetic. "But don''t worry, once we confirm that you have no involvement, we will then¡­"


    Cammy Ning and her friends couldn''t bring themselves to listen to what he had to say. They felt their ears buzzing a blur and felt only chill in their hearts.


    The only thing that came to mind: They were doomed.


    It was then a police supervisor in black walked over. Sizing up the three ladies from top to bottom, he frowned slightly and spoke reluctantly.


    "Alright, let them go."


    The police officer was stunned while the three girls thought they heard wrong. They stared at the police supervisor in surprise.


    "I do not wish to repeat myself," the police supervisor blurted coldly with a straight face. He sized the three girls from top to bottom again before striding away with his hands crossed behind his back.


    The investigating police officer was dumbfounded but obeyed the instruction and started to process the release procedure.


    Cammy Ning was stumped by the sudden change of events.


    "Quick, look over there!" Her female companion''s sudden shriek had her returned to senses. She looked towards her bestie''s direction of gaze and saw a black, fancy sedan slowly driving away.


    The window was half opened and in it sat a man. He was smiling at her direction, bidding a farewell gesture to her.


    "It''s Kong Xiaofei!?" Cammy Ning stared blankly at the man inside the car, feeling the drama of life. At first, she thought that he was a young jobless vagrant and now he was an important person, a personnel of high ranking.


    The three girls stopped talking. For a moment, she felt down in the dumps but the other two became ecstatic.


    "See that? That Kong Xiaofei is a hidden big shot!"


    "We initially thought that he was... These big shots like to act weak? Must they give others a scare?"


    "I think he probably is into Cammy, they are high school classmates after all, maybe..."


    Her two besties started to discuss enthusiastically. They tossed aside their earlier decadent and worry and started to guess Garen''s identity and background.


    The sedan was quick to drive out of sight. Cammy Ning slowly watched the car leave without saying a word. She felt an indescribable odd feeling as if life was a dream, a peculiar yet absurd dream.


    "Ai ya!" One of her besties suddenly exclaimed.


    "What''s wrong?"


    "We forgot to ask Kong Xiaofei for his contact number!"


    Cammy Ning suddenly felt that her two best friends were of poor taste yet she could not help feeling a tinge of regret.


    She stared at the exaggerated car plate number at the rear of the sedan from afar.


    "Perhaps we will never see each other again." She suddenly had this feeling.


    ******


    Vulture Headquarters.


    In a specially sealed secret room.


    Throwing Mind Reader into the secret room, Garen entered the room himself and started to undress.


    "What is this odd feeling?" He felt chills on his back.


    He turned his head and saw his secretary, Double-Tailed Scorpion, staring at him with an odd expression.


    "I... I did not see anything!" Double-Tailed Scorpion quickly turned his head and muttered under his breath.


    "..." Garen''s face grew black.


    He thought about it.


    "Bring the low-temperature cooler box over."


    "Understood," Double-Tailed Scorpion immediately left and ordered his subordinates.


    The low-temperature cooler box was moved in and connected to power supply. He dismantled the surveillance camera in the secret room at the same time.


    The heavy metal door to the secret room was shut. Garen threw his top away and looked at Mind Reader who was unconscious on the ground.


    "Soul Ring..." Soul Power poured into his eyes and he could clearly see the revolving structure of Soul Ring on Mind Reader.


    It was a complete Soul Ring structure of five Soul Seeds! Much stronger than his current Soul Ring by a large margin.


    "Such an envious sight. I struggled so long to only obtain four Soul Seeds and here the Four Great Cornerstones naturally has a Soul Ring of five Soul Seeds!" Garen shook his head.


    Through thorough observation, he realized that Mind Reader''s Soul Ring was not his to control. The Soul Power that emitted was scarce. Mind Reader''s Soul Ring of five Soul Seeds on many levels was structured naturally. The nature of the Soul Power did not share one bit of Mind Reader''s soul characteristics.


    "In other words, the supposed Four Great Cornerstones was the house of the Soul Ring. They are like a vessel that housed a terrifying Soul Power that could impact an entire planet. Just by the little Soul Power emitted naturally by the Soul Ring, produced many extraordinary phenomena. From that, one could see how horrifyingly scary this sort of natural Soul Ring could be."


    Garen came to a conclusion.


    The Soul Ring of the Four Great Cornerstones could not be controlled as liberally as his but it was far more powerful and terrifying than his Soul Ring. Just the reserves of the Soul Power were five times his Soul Ring. It really was a huge monster!


    "No wonder the Four Great Cornerstones is the core of this world. They bear the weight of four different origins of this world," Garen quickly established the most likely model mechanism of the Four Great Cornerstones.


    "Then how could the Soul Power be absorbed?" Obtaining an outline of the situation, Garen started to venture into ways to absorb the Soul Ring within Mind Reader.


    "If it''s just slowly absorbing the wandering Soul Power, then over a hundred years wouldn''t be enough to finish it up," Garen struggled to analyze. "There are a few ways. One is to stimulate the Soul Ring so that a large amount of Soul Power would be released for me to absorb. This way has its certain risk. If the degree of strength is not pre-determined and its force was overstimulated, then it may possibly cause Minder Reader to die and reborn elsewhere, losing the chance to absorb."


    Garen was quick to deny this method.


    "Then the second type, pollute," he walked one round around Mind Reader. "My Soul Power is mixed with traits of the Hellfrost Peacock Mother and could pollute the Cold Chaos. Moreover, the Hellfrost Peacock Mother and Nine-Headed Dragon shared an engulfing characteristic. It could, at a certain level, pollute the other Soul Power to one with a characteristic closer to its own and at the same time, lessen the digestive burden of engulfing and absorbing. This may take around half a year."

 1216 Soul Ring 2

    This fella was a ticking time bomb. If the Soul Ring exploded by any chance, not only would he end up with nothing, his own Soul Ring may be damaged too.


    So Garen knew that he must play it cautious.


    "There is another way, that is to engulf between the Soul Rings as a whole. This would be the fastest but also most dangerous method. The natural Soul Ring has no awareness control but my Soul Ring has awareness and could execute engulfment. It''s just like two troops of armies, one is a wandering ten thousand men without a leader while the other has only two thousand men but a strong leader. With the right strategy, it should be possible to engulf. There must not be any disruption in between otherwise the two Soul Rings will erupt together. My generations of effort would come to waste."


    Garen used the Energy Machine Imprint to roughly estimate the time needed. It would be around forty-five days.


    "So to say, this is the risk that I have to take¡­"


    Looking at Mind Reader before him, Garen''s eyes were decisive.


    "If that''s the case, then I should nip all trouble in the bud and absorb the Soul Ring."


    The only thing that could threaten him in this world would be Slayer. As he wasn''t going to absorb the Soul Ring right away, Garen sat beside Mind Reader with his legs crossed, absorbing part of the Soul Power spread by him.


    Even with such minimal absorption, Garen could sense his body strengthening obviously.


    Boundless energy was surging and tiding in his body. Garen slowly closed his eyes to feel the comfortable sensation from the Soul Power surging into his body.


    Even in an unconscious state, Mind Reader''s face became pale.


    ******


    "Negotiate with Garen now and have him release Mind Reader. The Four Great Cornerstones are not for a country or a party to monopolize. He simply can''t! Nobody can!!"


    Black Federation''s highest administrative office ¡ª Rock Colossus Building.


    In the top levels of the black building sculptured as a giant, a few speakers were in a heated debate.


    "Lord Military Flag is murdered and now we''re left with Battle Flag as our strongest. The Black Federation has lost a world-class general and cannot sustain a bigger loss! Otherwise, our national security will face a threat," one of the speakers representing the north region solemnly spoke.


    "But if we don''t avenge this, it''s a national humiliation!" Another coldly blurted.


    "Out of all people, we would very much want Sword Master Garen to give him up but what do we have to pressure him to do so? This is the key." Black Federation''s highest leader was a black man with tanned skin. He had his hands crossed behind his back and had shoulder-length black hair. His strong body physique gave a sense of tough and no-nonsense feeling.


    "We can use the import policy to restrict Slann''s export, aiming their commerce."


    "We can deploy security forces in the region and establish a base to enforce military clamp down."


    "What do you think, Battle Flag?" The highest leader looked at Battle Flag who remained silent.


    Battle Flag pondered for a while to tidy his train of thoughts before opening up.


    "Slann isn''t monolithic. Capturing Mind Reader doesn''t bring them any actual benefits. I think issuing threats should be enough to force Garen to give him up."


    "Indeed. Vulture is only a subsidiary organization of Slann''s national security department. Compared to our special operations team, they don''t hold much say. This is possible to realize," the highest leader nodded.


    "Then who will be putting this plan into effect?"


    "I will," Battle Flag said with a low voice. "This matter began with our special operations team and should end with us."


    "Has the new Military Flag been elected?"


    "Mm, King Thunderclap is in charge of Military Flag''s position," Battle Flag answered.


    "King Thunderclap...? Alright," the highest leader and the other speakers fell silent at the mention of this name.


    ******


    "What! Mind Reader''s been captured!? And it''s the doing of Minister Garen?!!" Yuria burst out.


    Looking at the mysterious woman in front of him, he encountered her a few times so he knew that she has been on the move with Mind Reader but he didn''t think that this encounter meant major news.


    He had met with Mind Reader earlier during the day and was now hearing this nightmare in the evening.


    He traveled miles to Ocean Capital because he could not trace the whereabouts of his sister and mother and wanted to borrow Mind Reader''s abilities to seek them. Mind Reader agreed readily and though both parties were not in touch for long, he could feel his sincerity.


    He could sense that brother Mind Reader was not a bad person. He was just an ordinary person whose fate disrupted his life.


    "I''m here in hope that you could contact Sword Master. What is his aim? You were once his disciple and should be familiar with his character," the woman solemnly responded.


    "Minister..." Yuria couldn''t put his finger on Garen''s personality. Now that he remembered, he felt that he was always buried behind layers and layers of fog that could not be interpreted.


    The first genius for over three thousand years? The strongest existence in sword mastery and martial arts? The first expert of Slann?


    Names after names were coined on him and taking apart these appealing names and glorified battle achievements, he suddenly realized that he actually never knew who Garen was.


    "He... is always calm as though nothing could bother him. There''s always a certainty to him when executing matters and would not resort to meaningless issues," Yuria sensed the situation was getting out of hand. "Minister must have his reason for capturing Mind Reader. No one could ever change or stop whatever he''s doing."


    "Any chance on finding out Sword Master''s goal?" The woman was worried.


    Yuria had come in contact with Mind Reader a few times and felt that he was a pitiful man tied down by fate. Both of them could be considered friends and now his friend was captured by his teacher. His emotion was running heavy.


    "I''ll try but I can''t promise anything," he thought about it before agreeing.


    ******


    "Lord Slayer! Only you can settle this matter."


    In a submarine in the deep ocean.


    A blurry portrait with sounds was reflected on a transparent glass screen.


    There was only one person in the submarine. Slayer was sitting alone in front of the screen, holding a long black sickle. This was the latest weapon technology that he had gotten ahold of. It could wield his ability by eighty percent.


    "The Sword Master is strong," Slayer was unmoved. "The remuneration you''re offering is not enough."


    "I know it''s not enough," the person on the screen replied in a soft voice. "But this is an order from Qin."


    "Qin?" Slayer''s face changed. His originally listless stature was replaced with erecting his body straight, "are you sure?"


    "The written confirmation will soon reach you. Latest by tonight," The portrait answered.


    "When do I depart?" Slayer was clear-cut.


    "One week later, Wednesday noon. You''ll need to disguise yourself to get close to Sword Master. Be careful, he''s always on high alert."


    "I know," Slayer nodded.


    "Compared to a year ago, Sword Master is stronger!"


    Slayer was silent. His eyes were shut as he started to rest.


    ******


    Five days later...


    "What brings you back to see me?" Garen looked at Yuria gently, who was in front of him. "Any news on Xiaojie and Light Path yet?"


    Both of them were sitting in a room by a coffee table. Someone served them tea.


    Yuria had an awkward look on his face.


    "No, not yet.


    "I heard that you have captured Mind Reader, so I was..."


    "Mind Reader is well," Garen smiled. "He has good food and good drinks. Apart from going out, he has access to the whole base and everything provided to him. Why? You wish to borrow Mind Reader''s ability?"


    Yuria couldn''t bring himself to say it out loud. He lowered his head and pretended to take a sip of tea. The borrow was an excuse. The real motive was to see if Mind Reader was okay. They were friends, after all.


    "I suppose you could," Garen did not reject. Now that Mind Reader was under house arrest, he himself was under a lot of pressure. At least he knew now why other countries, organizations, and forces would rather monitor than arrest.


    "Mind Reader seemed to know a lot of inside stories. A lot of valuable information could be obtained from him. It''s just that..."


    "Just that what?"


    "It''s just that, your matter could be a little complicated," Garen said, weighing his words slowly.


    "Complicated?" Yuria became slightly emotional. He knew that Garen must have found some new leads which led him to say as such.


    Garen indeed knew some new information, some intel which had him shocked as well. He looked at Yuria before him. He did not know where to begin.


    "This information was what I obtained from Mind Reader. I didn''t think the truth would turn out so I hadn''t told you..."


    "Lord, Nine-Tailed Fox and the rest have arrived," Double-Tailed Scorpion''s voice was heard from Garen''s hidden earpiece.


    Garen paused what he was about to say to Yuria, "hang on, your teacher Nine-Tailed has arrived."


    Yuria calmed himself down and nodded in comprehension. His Adam''s apple wavered as he suppressed his emotions and stood up.


    "I''ll excuse myself."


    "Mm."


    Garen nodded.


    He knew why Nine-Tailed Fox was visiting him.


    Mind Reader possessed the original Four Great Cornerstones'' Sacred Sigil and at the same time, it was one that was most wanted by many transmigrators, the ability to read minds. This included Kong Xinxue. So their purpose here must be to replicate Mind Reader''s Sacred Sigil.


    "The replication of the Sacred Sigil should be a Sacred Sigil stripping technique. If I could master it, perhaps I could separate the natural Soul Ring and achieve complete absorption," Garen guessed.


    Recalling the few Soul Crystals he absorbed earlier, he indistinctly felt this guesswork may be correct.


    Shortly, the waiter took away the tea and served coffee.


    Nine-Tailed Fox, Kong Xinxue, Li Hua and another two transmigrators strode into the room. Each of them gave a complicated look at Garen.


    "Welcome."


    Garen smiled as he got up.

 1217 Absorb 1

    "What are you planning?" Nine-Tailed Fox asked softly the moment she sat down after entering the room.


    "What are you talking about?" Garen acted dumb.


    "Stop playing dumb. We all know the Mind Reader is in your hand." The red-haired lady Yuan Xing was obviously impatient as she did not beat around the bush. "Why don''t you open a price? What do you want in exchange for us to duplicate him?"


    Yuan Xing was a boring uncle in her last life and she was used to speaking without beating around the bushes. Her greatest feature in this life was having a good-natured appearance but her personality was out of the bag the moment she opened her mouth. The Qi Household owned an extremely huge organization across the Red Nation and Slann and they had an incredibly huge amount of wealth.


    "Tell us. How much do you need in exchange for us to duplicate the Mind Reader''s Sacred Sigil." She, again, did not beat around the bush and went straight into the main topic.


    "What is your offer?" Garen questioned back. While he did not mind letting these people duplicate the Sacred Sigil, it was not to be done without any incurring cost. They had to pay a price for it.


    "Money is not something you lack with your current social standing and we pale in comparison against you in terms of authority and power. However, there is one thing that you''ll definitely want." Yuan Xing, who was from a business household knew how to capture her opponent''s desire.


    "What item?" It was Garen''s first time dealing with Yuan Xing. He had only been interacting with Kong Xinxue and Nine-Tailed Fox all these while. He stared curiously at this red-haired girl in a black goth-themed tunic dress. What else could be effective against him who had already achieved so much? Furthermore, it sounded very important from her tone too.


    "Contribution Points." Yuan Xing stated the obvious.


    "Unfortunately, I''ve already accumulated one year worth of Contribution Points with my current position. Are you sure you have enough Contribution Points to buy the Sacred Sigil?" Garen smiled.


    "This thing is extremely useful and you''ll never think that you have too many of them. Furthermore, the Lighthouse has information related to the Origin of the Mother Stream and you can only view them if you have enough Contribution Points. The Mother Stream, which is one of the Thirteen Ultimate Origins, is one of the largest strongest existence in this limitless universe. Lighthouse is very fortunate that it had one senior recording down the related information. If you truly wish to reach the True Soul Level or beyond it, then it is a must-read." Yuan Xing was confident.


    "One of the Thirteen Ultimate Origin?" It was the first time Garen had heard of such a theory. "Are you saying that excluding the Mother Stream, there are still thirteen existences that are just as strong?!"


    "It''s what we have observed thus far. These thirteen existences are categorized in a level where its true strength could not be measured and nobody knows how many of them with similar caliber are out there," Yuan Xing explained.


    "Yuan Xing is one of the hobbyists who often visit the Lighthouse''s information vault so there is no need to doubt the accuracy of her intel. You can always confirm the legitimacy of the Intel anytime." Nine-Tailed Fox vouched for her calmly on the side.


    "How many points do I need to read the record?" Garen''s interest swelled up.


    "One million points."


    Garen''s heart skipped a beat.


    "From the very beginning until now, you have accumulated some ten thousands Contribution Points at best. Having a glimpse of such a record would cost you a million points!"


    "We are willing to pay you a hundred thousand to duplicate the Sacred Sigil once." Yuan Xing said confidently. "This amount is more than enough to hire a powerhouse to snatch the person away from you. However, we will give you an opportunity since we are on good terms and get along rather well. We are willing to pay you to duplicate the Sacred Sigil."


    "How many of you want to duplicate it?" Garen did not mind her slightly arrogant tone and started asking the number of people wanting to duplicate it.


    "Two." Yuan Xing sat up straight as she gave a sneaky nailed-it expression towards Nine-Tailed Fox and Kong Xinxue. "Ah Xue and I."


    "I will only charge Ah Xue''s duplication for fifty thousand points, but I want your Sacred Sigil''s duplication method." Garen started bargaining.


    "Deal." Kong Xinxue nodded in conclusion. Since she was the main person who decided the overall situation, she would naturally have the authority to decide for the team.


    "Do you want to duplicate it now or?" Garen stood up vigorously and effectively.


    "It would be best if we can to avoid any unforeseen circumstances." Yuan Xing smiled.


    "Follow me then." Garen, too, wanted to obtain the method as soon as he could to duplicate the Sacred Sigil. As he brought them out of the guest room, he whispered to one of the soldiers to inform Yuria to return home and come back some other time in the future.


    The lot then walked through a white corridor before reaching an open-air corridor, walking deeper near the edge of the small garden.


    They soon reached a spacious indoor movie theatre and saw Mind Reader watching a movie alone.


    The large movie theatre which could fit up to hundreds of people only had Mind Reader in it and the rest of the seats were vacant.


    The light from the movie shone on Mind Reader''s face as he was seated down with a bag of popcorn in his hand. Despite staring at the screen quietly, one could see his mind was drifted elsewhere from his gaze. At that moment, this middle-aged man gave off a lifeless vibe.


    "Still worried about your son?" Garen walked in as he spoke loudly. "Don''t worry about it. I have already found some hints that would lead me to him."


    The Mind Reader looked at Garen from afar.


    "Why have you come again?"


    "To help you," Garen responded with a smile on his face.


    "Help me?"


    "Of course. These people are here to help you," Garen explained.


    "Are they here to have an orgy with me?" Mind Reader mocked as he curled his lips.


    "Go to hell!" "Filth!"


    Yuan Xing, Nine-Tailed Fox, and the rests put up an atrocious expression on their face.


    Perhaps it was coincidental as all of them were truly female. Nine-Tailed Fox, Kong Xinxue, Yuan Xing, Li Hua and finally Xi Yuan. They were not just any women, they were all above average as each of them had their own qualities in which those fake women whose beauty were created via makeup could hope to compare.


    Garen was not affected by Mind Reader as he had already gotten used to Mind Reader''s rejection.


    "They can help you to weaken and rid the Sacred Sigil out of your body."


    Skepticism could be seen in Mind Reader''s gaze after hearing those words.


    "I understand that you don''t believe me at all but it will be proven to you."


    Garen leaped at least ten meters to the front and appeared beside Mind Reader before he finished speaking. He then gently tapped his head with his palm.


    The latter then rolled his eyes and passed out.


    "What should we do next?"


    Garen looked at Nine-Tailed Fox and the rest to realize that each of them had white, long, thin needles in their hands.


    "We need a quiet room." Nine-Tailed Fox said solemnly.


    **************


    Inside the secret chamber.


    Garen stood at one corner as he looked at these ladies undressing Mind Reader, leaving nothing behind except for a short underwear.


    Then, the five ladies changed into an extremely thin, black, full body dress without wearing anything inside. These five ladies were surprisingly calm as if everything was in the norm despite Garen observing them.


    However, upon closer observation, Nine-Tailed Fox was the only one among them that was not embarrassed. The remaining four were having goosebumps everywhere.


    "I''ll only demonstrate it twice. It''s your problem whether you understood it or not." Nine-Tailed Fox told Garen calmly.


    "Fine." Garen nodded as he activated the recording ability via his Energy Machine Imprint to the maximum. The Energy Machine Imprint was kept close most of the time to conserve his Soul Energy as the energy source of this item is the Soul Energy. However, it could record down Nine-Tailed Fox''s every single movement, including the change in Soul Energy''s frequency and amplitude once it was activated.


    Without further ado, Nine-Tailed Fox bent over and gently aimed at Mind Reader''s forehead with the near a half a meter long white, thin needle. Then, she stabbed him without any mercy.


    Pew.


    A soft noise rang as Yuan Xing and Xi Yuan could not help but look away as they did not wish to witness the scene.


    The thin needle instantly pierced through Mind Reader''s brain from the forehead and out from the back of his head before making another soft noise as it hit the ground.


    Without any change in expression, Nine-Tailed Fox then took out another white thin needle as she calmly aimed at one of the Mind Reader''s eyes. She then pressed it down with her palm after the precise aim.


    The thin needle pierced his eyeball and came out from the back of his head once more. This sent the chill down the spines for the four of them.


    Xi Yuan who did not have any experience in killing could not help but to give off a cold yelp.


    "The third one." Nine-Tailed Fox took out another thin needle and aimed at the other eye.


    It pierced through the other eye in a similar fashion.


    A thin stream of white red blood started oozing out from the edge of the needles.


    Then, Nine-Tailed Fox took out a brush and a small bottle of blood color liquid. She then opened the bottle, revealing a faint smell of plasma.


    "This is a special blood plasma made from a hundred and seventy-two types of blood and you can only buy it from the Lighthouse Trades. If you wish to duplicate the Sacred Sigil as well, you''ll have to buy it yourself. I estimate that I will have a lot of leftovers, probably about five to six bottles with me after I''m done. You would exhaust one bottle with every use and you''ll probably fail at least ten times before succeeding once. Hence, despite the fact that one bottle of blood can be used a lot of times, one can typically only achieve success once per bottle. It''s very common to fail as well if luck is not on your side."


    She then took the brush and dyed it with blood as she started to draw an image on the Mind Reader''s chest.


    In no time, a realistic lotus was drawn on the Mind Reader''s chest.


    "I''ll start now." Nine-Tailed Fox signaled Yuan Xing, and Xi Yuan stepped forward and step on one of Mind Reader''s hand.


    Yuan Xing then stepped on the other hand while Nine-Tailed Fox and Li Hua both stepped on Mind Reader''s legs.


    "Let''s start." the five women started exchanging glances among each other.


    At the same time, Nine-Tailed Fox shouted a one-word syllable.


    "Li (Strength)!"


    Buzz!!


    In an instant, the Blood Sigil on Mind Reader''s chest started evaporating into a blood mist between Kong Xinxue''s legs.


    As Mind Reader''s skin returned to its original skin tone, the black striation appeared once more in the form of a sun.


    The black sun striation then popped out from the skin and glowed as it plunged into the blood mist, merging together into one.


    Buzz!!


    Another sun shaped striation jumped out from the Sacred Sigil and flew into the blood mist.


    What followed along was the third sun, the fourth, the fifth!!


    A series of striations kept entering the blood mist, which started to twist about. It then started to form into the sun-shaped striation similar to the Sacred Sigil as it levitated in the middle of the air.


    Kong Xinxue then turned her back towards Garen as she pulled the zip down on her shirt, revealing her skin which was covered by a thin layer of black silk-like tight shirt.


    Pew!!


    The Sun-like striation which was formed from the blood mist flew into her chest and intensively imprinted on her body.


    Ah!!!


    Kong Xinxue screamed. She raised her head as she tried to resist the intense agony.


    "Ah Xue!! Hold it together!" Nine-Tailed Fox screamed with a stern look on her face.Strength in Chinese is pronounced as Li

 1218 Absorb 2

    Mind Reader who was lying on the ground started twitching and jerking greatly at the same time.


    The four women seemed to have a hard time trying to restrain Mind Reader''s struggle.


    On the other hand, it was a completely different experience for Garen standing by the side.


    A huge amount of Mind Reader''s Soul Energy gushed into Kong Xinxue''s body like a flash flood. Even Garen would be slightly frightened by the impact of such a huge amount of Soul Energy as it had almost reached the limit of how much pain he could endure. This might even cause him to be unable to digest them properly and it would be worse for Kong Xinxue who was just a commoner.


    "It''s obvious that the cause of the extreme pain is not from the physical body but the direct alteration towards the soul when new energy is added in." Garen understood fully well how intense the pain was as he had experienced it before in the past. If one were to say the pain from a physical body had an upper limit, then the pain cast upon the soul will never have an upper limit.


    Time passed by as the five girls were in the situation for more than ten minutes before things gradually calmed down.


    The blood mist had fully entered Kong Xinxue''s body.


    Thud.


    Kong Xinxue fell to the ground as her knees gave in whereas the other four were drenched in sweat as if their physical strength had been robbed away from their bodies.


    "A portion of the stress cast upon Kong Xinxue from the Soul Energy has been given towards the rest of them during the extraction process." Garen could see everything clearly. Garen, unlike the rest who could not see what actually transpired during the process, had his eyes nourished by the Soul Energy. In addition to him achieving the realm of Soul Rings, he could clearly see the changes in the Soul Energy.


    The whole ritual ended swiftly.


    Nine-Tailed Fox and the rest held Kong Xinxue up. She was fully drenched in sweat from head to toe. Her body''s contour was vaguely shown through her drenched shirt.


    "This is your reward." Nine-Tailed Fox took out her communication device.


    Garen, too, took out his communication device. Both of them then connected their devices together, validated their passwords and Soul''s Core. Nine-Tailed Fox then transferred a hundred thousand contribution points over upon validation.


    "This is the ink I have brought along. I still have two bottles left. The original plan was to duplicate two Sacred Sigil at one go but I didn''t expect the duplication process to be so exhausting." Nine-Tailed Fox said tiredly. She then took out another two bottles of blood red ink and passed it to Garen.


    "Is Ah Xue going to be fine?" Garen was worried. Despite the fact that they had distanced themselves lately, they were still siblings in this world.


    "She''s fine. Don''t worry about it. Everything went along smoothly as planned." Nine-Tailed Fox smiled. "Alright. We have to go now. I''ll come back and duplicate the Sacred Sigil another time."


    "Anytime." Garen smiled as he looked at the five of them being led out by Double-Tailed Scorpion to change their clothes.


    He then walked towards Mind Reader as he stared quietly at the Sacred Sigil on his chest.


    The original Sacred Sigil was a black sun.


    "The process may be complicated towards a commoner but it''s child''s play for me." Garen grabbed hold of MInd Reader''s neck with just one hand. His hand was big enough to grab hold of Mind Reader''s neck as he held it up in mid-air without any effort.


    Upon closer inspection towards the Sacred Sigil, Garen realized that this item seemed to be rooted into his skin as there were many weird black lines which spanned towards his shoulders around the black circle.


    He reached out his hand to touch it and found out that there was no protrusion at all. It was not something that had grown out of his skin but something which had fused itself with his body instead.


    Nine-Tailed Fox''s every action had been recorded down by the Energy Machine Imprint and Garen was able to fully replicate each and every step. However, what he wanted was not purely duplication but the theory and analysis behind it.


    Garen stood there for a full thirty minutes, holding up Mind Reader by his neck. He came to his senses after Nine-Tailed Fox and the rest left.


    "I''ve understood the basic theory behind it. It''s impossible to achieve it without this blood ink. Truly amazing!" Garen could not help but to praise the powerhouse who thought of this solution.


    Lighthouse did have many hidden talents.


    The structure of Soul Ring was similar to that of a tall building. It was similar to having an additional floor when a Soul Seed was added. The building would be more stable and massive if it had more levels.


    However, the key towards the Sacred Sigil''s duplication was to make use of the blood ink''s quality as an incredibly sharp giant sword to cut off the building''s highest level while causing minimal injury towards the Sacred Sigil.


    The original Sacred Sigils which the Four Great Cornerstones possessed naturally had their Soul Ring supplied endlessly by the universe. The external source would immediately heal the damage done towards it and they were basically no threat towards any injury.


    They would revert back to normal by just reincarnating once if they were fully destroyed.


    As he pondered, Garen was very tempted. If he were to able to safely absorb the Soul Energy from the Soul Ring, it would be the best plan for him to obtain a huge amount of Soul Energy within a short amount of time.


    He decided to act immediately.


    He single-handedly opened up a bottle of blood ink and pressed it on Mind Reader''s chest as he started moving it along the black sun''s striation. His precision far surpassed that of Nine-Tailed Fox''s. Similar to the most precise computer, there was not a single error and even the thickness was completely identical.


    The blood ink striation was finished in seconds.


    Garen recalled Nine-Tailed Fox shouting to shake the Soul Energy. He did not do so as he was able to control the Soul Energy as well. He used his Energy Machine Imprint to mimic the pulsation of the Soul Energy as he started to shake Mind Reader''s natural Soul Ring.


    Boom!


    In that instant, the blood mist flowed out of the Mind Reader''s chest and stopped between Garen and the former''s chest.


    Kaboom!! Garen was the only one able to hear the Soul Energy flowing out tremendously within the intense trembling as it hit against his chest.


    The blood mist kept changing its form, a series of Sun-like Sacred Sigil kept flying out, entering the blood mist. The one at the back kept pushing forward even the sun at the front had yet to disappear into the blood mist.


    Hundreds of sun-like striations stacked together in a line, connecting the blood mist and Mind Reader together.


    "Lin!" A superimposed and muddy voice rang inside the secret chamber. The voice consisted of countless of people stacking together. The voices of the young, old, male and female gave off the same note.


    However, Garen did not open his mouth at all. In fact, he did not even make any noise. It was from the intense fluctuations from the air caused by the overwhelmingly powerful Soul Energy.


    Pew!!


    In a blink of an eye, the blood mist entered Garen''s chest.


    Whoosh!! A strong air current spread about everywhere with Garen as the epicenter. The air current kept moving about within the secret chamber, blowing Garen''s hair messily.


    His face was expressionless as he tried to feel the large amount of Soul Energy entering his body like a flash flood.


    There was not a single trace of Mind Reader''s Soul Ring being extracted at all. This made Garen even more impressed with the transmigrator who invented this technique. One would not be able to perform such a precise surgery-like procedure without having a deep understanding and confidence towards the Soul.


    Strength... An endless amount of strength...


    Garen could not help but raise his head as he felt the fifth Soul Seed forming inside his Soul Ring so quickly that he could see it with his naked eyes. Although it was the weakest transparent Soul Seed, this embryonic Soul Seed was absorbing all of the Soul Energy pouring into his body. It then grew from the size of a yellow pea into the size of an egg as it solidified quickly.


    He closed his eyes, ignoring the time as he appreciated the huge amount of Soul Energy entering his body which would become the fifth Soul Seed.


    The fifth Soul Seed was quickly filled up to the point where it could not absorb any additional Soul Energy as it turned into a spherically transparent crystal. The additional Soul Energy then started to pour into the other Soul Seeds that had yet to be filled up.


    The first Soul Seed - Northern Trident Frost-Fire True Water Evil Technique (Blue). The Soul Seed was spinning as it gave off a faint blue glow. After absorbing a huge amount of Soul Energy, the blue glow started fading away as it turned into a transparent crystal.


    The second Soul Seed - Holy Phoenix Demonic Book (Black Gold). Soul Seed with black gold color was one of the weakest Soul Seed. After absorbing a huge amount of Soul Energy, its volume increased as it became transparent.


    The Third Soul Seed - Hellfrost Peacock Soul Seed (White). This was Garen''s strongest Soul Seed as it contained the inspiration and knowledge to threaten the entire planet. If a commoner were able to get his hands on this Soul Seed and entirely erased Garen''s imprint, he would instantly become a Planet Level powerhouse equivalent to the King of Crystal! He would become one of the strongest powerhouses in many other worlds even if he were not in the Mech World! He would be able to reach the allowable limits of the universe.


    This Soul Seed was not absorbing the Soul Energy at all. In fact, it kept releasing a huge amount of white Soul Energy as it tried to corrupt the original Sacred Sigil''s Soul Energy.


    Chirp!!


    The sharp chirp of the Peacock could be heard all of the sudden in Garen''s conscience.


    The white peacock queen came out from the Soul Seed as it bit onto the colorless Soul Energy. The white chill behind it then started to form into layers of wings made from ice crystals.


    "Stop." Garen manually controlled the peacock. In a sense, the peacock represented himself as its nature was to absorb all external energy coming into the body. Naturally, it would be possible to directly control such ability as well.


    Hiss... the Peacock was dispersed forcibly as it turned into white gas and diluted by the colorless Soul Energy that kept pouring in.


    Garen stared at the whole event indifferently.


    The Soul Ring was filled up and the Soul Energy flowing out from the Soul Ring started to become more and more powerful.


    His body started to obtain a huge amount of nutrient. His body which was originally lacking in Soul Energy started to obtain so much that a new Soul Seed started to form as it attempted to form a second Soul Ring!


    Slap.


    Suddenly, Garen forcefully cut off the Soul Energy''s channel.


    He looked at the Mind Reader in his hand tiredly. He could not simply absorb everything since Nine-Tailed Fox and the others would still come and duplicate the Sacred Sigil Once more. He thought that it would be best for him to not let the others knew that he had the natural ability to absorb the Sacred Sigil before he obtained all the loot in one fell swoop.


    He looked at the Sacred Sigil on the Mind Reader''s chest and he could see that it had been slightly faded.


    Garen could not stop himself from smiling as he looked at his own Attribute Pane.


    "It''s so much better to rob the wealth from others than rightfully collecting the inspiration on my own..." He lamented from his heart.

 1219 Lurk 1

    A few days had passed since.


    Nine-Tailed Fox and the others had come to the base for the second time. They had brought along a girl who Garen was familiar with as well - Night Water.


    It was the girl he had caught sneaking around his back looking for Soul Crystals.


    Night Water''s jaw dropped the moment she saw Garen. The Soul Energy released from Garen''s body was similar to the chill released when an extremely cool refrigerator was opened as it kept flowing freely from both sides.


    "You... You monster!? In such a short amount of time..." Garen gave her a warning gaze before she finished speaking. It was the kind of sly smile that one would make before killing someone else.


    Night Water shut her mouth the moment she realized it.


    Despite being an expert in the Mother Stream System, she was technically only a Guardian Level. These five classes, the Guard, Division, General Army, and Demon Lord was the Ancient Endor''s general categorization towards the Void Creature.


    Each Level would require a tremendous amount of time to train and master to achieve. If Garen did not have the Natural Attribute Ability and were to train in the traditional way, he would require at least thousands of years to train before achieving such a level.


    "What''s wrong?" Nine-Tailed Fox and the others asked while they were preparing the duplication procedure.


    "Nothing..." Night Water barely put on a smile. "I was just thinking how much Garen had changed. Hahaha!!" She started laughing stupidly as she found an excuse that was barely believable.


    "Alright, follow me, everyone." Garen continued giving Night Water the hypocritical smile as he brought them to the secret chamber where Mind Read was kept in.


    It was the same procedure as before. However, the duplication was for Nine-Tailed Fox instead.


    One could say that she had given up on the Slayer''s Sacred Sigil as the probability of obtaining it was very low. Furthermore, Mind Reader was literally in front of her and was very well within reach. There was no need to risk her life to obtain Slayer''s Sacred Sigil.


    The procedure was very successful as it went much smoother than last time.


    Similar to Kong Xinxue, Nine-Tailed Fox was very weak after the procedure was completed. However, she was better than Kong Xinxue as she did not faint. It seemed that she had a much stronger soul than her. Li Hua picked her up and sent her home.


    The ordeal ended and the deal between Garen and Nine-Tailed Fox was considered complete. Everyone went on their way, leaving Night Water alone.


    "Do you still need anything?" Garen sat down as he drank the coffee that was sent to him earlier.


    Night Water gritted her teeth. "How much are you willing to pay for me to study the Mind Reader''s Sacred Sigil? You know what I''m talking about. The Soul Energy releasing naturally from the Mind Reader possesses a very powerful enhancement towards us Soul Energy Practitioners."


    "The price?" Garen had already guessed that she would come for this. "Unfortunately, I need to keep Mind Reader up as a supply so I won''t be sharing his Soul Energy with you."


    "Fifty thousand Contribution Points!" Night Water gritted her teeth.


    Garen shook his head. "It''s not about the Contribution Point."


    "A hundred thousand!" Night Water gritted her teeth even more.


    "It''s really not about the Contribution Point."


    "Two hundred thousand points!" She was literally speaking through her teeth.


    "No!" Garen cut her off. "I told you it''s not about the Contribution Points." He had decided to completely swallow up Mind Reader so that there would be no problems surfacing in the future. He had already absorbed a sixth of Mind Reader''s natural Soul Ring earlier. If he were able to absorb everything, his Soul Ring Power would achieve a whole new level.


    "Two hundred and fifty thousand points!! This is all that I have accumulated! Don''t be too greedy!" Night Water had had enough.


    "..." Garen frowned as he stared at her quietly.


    "You... What are you staring at!?" Night Water had goosebumps as she was being stared at. "Are you being tempted? Tell me if you are!"


    "I''m thinking if I should rob you! What a rich girl," Garen joked as he stood up. "Alright. It''s late and you should leave."


    "It''s two hundred and fifty thousand points!! Are you not tempted at all?!" Night Water stood up and shouted in disbelief.


    "You won''t be leaving if you don''t leave now." Garen snapped his fingers and Double-Tailed Scorpion entered the room to send the guest off.


    "This way." Double-Tailed Scorpion smiled as he sent the guest away.


    Night Water was then sent away in dissatisfaction.


    Garen stood alone for a while before ordering his underlings to lock down the entrance so that no one could simply enter or leave the area. Then he turned around and walked into the secret chamber.


    It was not that he was not tempted by the Contribution Points. It was because the longer Night Water stayed by Mind Reader''s side, it would be easier for her to realize Mind Reader''s irregularity. Furthermore, he could not wait any longer as it would only be considered safe after he had achieved his plan.


    Mind Reader was still unconscious inside the secret chamber and the black sun striation on his chest had yet to completely vanish.


    Garen pulled him up single-handedly.


    Then, a slam could be heard.


    The secret chamber''s door was automatically shut off.


    The Soul Energy was startled as the air current started to flow about wildly, recirculating inside the secret chamber.


    A mysterious faint, white light started glowing around both Mind Reader and Garen from head to toe, gradually plating them into white color.


    The air inside started to tremble, giving off a noise similar to as if there were countless of people meditating. Garen stared at the Sacred Sigil on Mind Reader''s chest while he used one of his hands to take out the blood ink and repeated the procedure.


    Pew!


    The black mist was formed and turned into a Blood Ball levitating in Garen''s palm.


    "Lin!" As the faint noise reverberated in the background, Garen gently pressed the Blood Ball on his own chest. The Blood Ball gave off a sizzling sound before it entered into his body.


    This was the first ball.


    He repeated the same action once more. Unlike Nine-Tailed Fox, whose actions possessed the probability of failure, Garen did not waste a single drop of blood ink as he drew the Sacred Sigil. Two bottles of blood ink were more than enough for him to completely absorb the power of the Sacred Sigil!


    The second blood ball was quickly extracted and the black sun on the Mind Reader''s chest became much more diluted than before.


    He woke up, groaning as if his body was being torn apart.


    "You..." Mind Reader looked at Garen with a muddy gaze as he felt the sensation of something constantly leaving his body. He did not know why but he felt rather depressed.


    "Do you want... this power of mine?" Mind Reader gave a wry smile. "Take it... Take everything. This is a tragic and disgusting ability!"


    Without any change in his expression, Garen started to extract the third Blood Ball. His actions were getting much more efficient over time as he aimed at Mind Reader''s chest with one hand and stabbed into it.


    Thud.


    The blood mist gathering by his palm turned into a Blood Ball. It looked like Garen had taken out a bloody heart out from Mind Reader''s chest from afar.


    "This is the source of all nightmares...!" Mind Reader smiled. "Am I going to... die?"


    "No," Garen responded calmly. "Your Soul Ring will be extracted by me but you won''t die. I''ll leave enough soul for you to function as a normal person. It''s more than enough for you to live."


    "Is that so?" Mind Reader, who was slightly anxious was instantly relieved. "In other words, my ability will be robbed away from me, right?"


    "You can see it that way."


    Garen extracted the fourth Blood Ball as he gently pressed it into his chest.


    A huge amount of Soul Energy gushed into his body.


    His first Soul Ring could no longer absorb any of it as the second Soul Ring started to form. Furthermore, the third Soul Seed was already forming inside the second Soul Ring. As he was extracting Mind Reader''s Soul Ring, he was also under the process of absorbing the Natural Soul Energy''s huge amount of outflow. This outflow of Soul Energy was not something a commoner could absorb as the process was incredibly fast, resulting in a ridiculously powerful impact. However, Garen was different. Technically, he was already considered a Demon Lord Level powerhouse in the Mother Stream System. Hence his soul was a few hundred times stronger than of the commoners.


    Despite Nine-Tailed Fox was also a transmigrator who had transmigrated to multiple worlds, her soul was still not superior compared to his. It would still be considered modest for him to say that his soul was hundred times stronger than hers.


    Garen looked at the dark space inside his soul.


    Inside the pitch black space, there was a second halo on top of the first Soul Ring. The halo seemed to be made of a white gold material as it had empty slots for the Soul Seed, which seemed to be a projection from the first Soul Ring below.


    The first three slots already had colorless Soul Seeds in it. Furthermore, it had already been fully filled up. The enormous amount of Soul Energy was filling up the fourth empty slot, which was like an endless abyss as it kept absorbing it.


    The endless amount of Soul Energy was surging inside Garen''s body as it nourished both his soul and body. Regardless of how restrictive this universe was, he was like an unstoppable force that could not be contained as he kept pushing towards the upper limits.


    Garen then looked at his status and there was a huge development.


    ''Kong Xiaofei - Strength 11, Agility 12, Vitality 14, Intelligence 11. Potential 0%, Soul Limit 80''


    His limit had already reached eighty points while the rest of his physical attributes had skyrocketed to an unrealistic level within a short amount of time. Physical attributes in the tens might not be something impressive in the other world. However, it had already reached the level that would flabbergast anyone in this very restrictive world.


    This status was borderline cheating as Garen would not be required to exhaust a huge amount of Soul Energy every second or else he would not be able to sustain such a powerful structure. Analogically, the number of nutrients and water between a giant tree and a little sapling were drastically different. A tree that reached the clouds could only do so due to the huge amount of nutrients provided from the ground. Hence, the tree would wilt if there was not enough supply of nutrients.


    A pool would not be able to sustain a sea serpent and only the sea could house an endless amount of gigantic creature. It was a universal law that was applied to every world.


    The fifth ball!


    Garen gently retracted his hand away from Mind Reader''s chest. A huge sun striation started to appear on his chest. The black sun striation seemed to have formed onto his body naturally. Its tone was much different than of Mind Reader''s as it was much blacker. Furthermore, it had much more surface area as it not only covered Garen''s chest, it had also covered his back as well.


    **********


    "Isn''t it a little bit discourteous for Lord Third to let us wait here?" There were a few black cars stopping in front of Garen''s base. An upright silver triangle emblem could be seen in front of the cars which represented the identity of the highest ranking members in Vulture.


    "I''m very sorry. The minister has ordered that no one is allowed to enter this base without his permission. Please be patient." Double-Tailed Scorpion blocked the fleet of cars with a calm expression.


    Vulture No. 4 frowned as he smoked his cigarette. He was standing at the very front as he led his group. Behind him were a few mercenaries in weird looking attires consisting of males and females.


    Among the crowds of men and women, a young man in a white windbreaker crossed his arms as he stared into the tall building in front of him before looking at Number Four talking towards the guard at the entrance of the building.


    "I sense the Soul Energy is fluctuating." He whispered to Number Four from behind. "We have to be quick. I''m afraid that Garen is doing something with the Mind Reader."


    "Are you confident? The Sword Master is known as the strongest martial artist in the entire history!" Number Four talked to the man behind him, while at the same time was also talking to Double-Tailed Scorpion who was standing at the entrance of the building.


    "Don''t worry about it. We are professionals." The man in white windbreaker smiled.


    "I hope so. Don''t blame me if I abandon you guys if anything goes sour." Number Four said bluntly. "After all, we are only cooperating together."


    "As you wish." The man in the windbreaker was not surprised at all.


    "Please step aside or else we will have to be rough towards you." He took a step forward and threatened Double-Tailed Scorpion loudly.


    "I want to see how rough you guys can be." A man in a white coat appeared behind Double-Tailed Scorpion. It was the Root Doctor, Jiatai.


    He had just returned from an outstation mission. He was catching up on his sleep as he was woken up by the rackets outside. Then, he heard such a rage-inducing word the moment he stepped out. This building was the Unrestricted Department''s territory, its headquarters, and a portion of Vulture''s headquarters resided here as well. How dare someone threatened to break into this place?


    This was similar to someone banging your doors furiously, threatening for you to open it or else they would kill you! Anyone would have been angry after hearing such words.

 1220 Lurk 2

    "Jiatai the Root Doctor," The man in the white windbreaker glanced at Jiatai, immediately acknowledging his name. "People might be afraid of your Thousand Magnetic Needles, but it''s useless against me," he snorted.


    Suddenly, a fuzzy Soul Energy Force started escaping from the base, forming a translucent ring of ripples that started spreading.


    "He really is absorbing Soul Energy!" A lady behind the white shirt man snorted. "Even a powerhouse of the Mother Stream System couldn''t resist the temptation of a natural Soul Ring. A more troublesome powerhouse wouldn''t be able to resist it either."


    "Something''s not right, this Soul Energy Force seems to be a little too big¡­" The man in white shirt frowned slightly. "Absorbing and releasing Soul Energy shouldn''t cause such a big movement, should it?"


    "But it''s fine." The lady smiled as she pulled out something that seemed to be a small humanoid toy. "No matter how mysterious Soul Energy is, it is still a form of energy. There are plenty of ways to trigger it."


    She tugged on the white doll''s head lightly.


    Crack.


    A light surge of Soul Energy rushed out, entering the Soul Energy ripples in the air. In an instant, all the Soul Energy that was contaminated by this surge of energy started to boil and became distorted.


    Just like ice-cold water that suddenly became boiling hot water! Countless Soul Energy stirred up and rushed into the core of the ripples.


    ********************


    "This!?" With one hand, Garen grabbed the sixth Blood Ball. He could feel that something was off as if some special force was transmitting into him. His own Soul Energy was still alright, but the massive Soul Energy escaping Mind Reader was like an aphrodisiac potion and it started to distort badly.


    At this moment, his Soul Energy was still linked to the Mind Reader''s natural Soul Ring. The force instantly transmitted into his inner Soul Ring, a trace of evil tyrannical will slowly sink into his Soul Ring.


    Roar!


    It was a dog-like black creature with no eyes, just a white mouth with serrated edged teeth split open on the left side of its body. All of a sudden, it darted right into Garen''s inner soul ring and started howling.


    "This is Sin''s Authority!!" Garen had never seen such a creature before in his life. However, not only did he heard Black Claw of Sethe brought it up more than once that this was no other than the real natural enemy of a Soul Energy creature, the strongest monster that was developed by the Void Creatures in the Mother Stream System contrary to the Ancient Endor''s Soul Ring -- Sin''s Authority!


    All forms of attack that consisted of Soul Energy were nutrients to it that enabled it to grow rapidly.


    "Damn it!" Garen had no idea at all how he was going to deal with this Sin''s Authority that came out of nowhere.


    In addition of being Soul Energy''s nemesis, it was practically vulnerable against all physical attacks. But he could not leave right now while the linking ceremony between Soul Rings was still happening. If he was to leave suddenly, he would most likely trigger a major disturbance in the natural Soul Ring, even his newly formed Soul Ring would crumble and explode as well. By then, not only would he suffer from heavy injuries, he would even lose his life!! Moreover, Soul Rings and Soul Seeds accumulated from a couple of worlds would straight away fall apart and explode along too.


    Even if someone was to touch him from the outside, it could even cause the entire situation to lose control.


    Sin''s Authority, the black dog, was in the black space. It simply pounced on the two massive Soul Rings that were constantly turning, biting onto Garen''s Soul Ring.


    *********************


    "I said it already, all of you can''t enter." Jiatai glared at the people crowded by the door.


    "As Vulture No.4, I have the rights to enter any area in the headquarters, including here!" Vulture No.4 snorted loudly, "If you really want to stop me, then don''t blame me for executing my high law enforcement power!"


    The so-called high law enforcement power was just that high-ranked Vultures had the powers to carry out law enforcement punishments against other high-ranked Vultures without the verification of No.1 Vulture. This power was only possessed by the Vultures ranked top five.


    "High law enforcement power?" A Steel Needle suddenly appeared in Jiatai''s hands. Instead of getting mad, he smiled. "Well then, let''s see whether you''re the stronger one. I''ve never liked you and No.5. Today shall be the perfect day for this Lord over here to show you how to conduct oneself."


    "Such big, shameless words!"


    No.4 was slightly agitated too, a silver-white short dagger appearing in his hands. His eyes started glowing in a bright red shade and the electronic chip that was planted into his eyeballs started working.


    Soon enough, the atmosphere between both people started to become tense. Groups of people began swarming out of the Unrestricted Department, encircling No.4 and the others. A few snipers had their aims directed at No.4 and the others, the red spots directly falling on them.


    In Vulture, every high-ranked person had their own designated forces, and these forces would only listen to the commands of their Direct Supervisors. Even if they were to aim their guns at a leader of another force, there would be zero hesitation.


    "Are all of you rebelling?!" No.4''s face fell as he shrieked.


    "Just forcing our way!" The white shirt man smiled. Speaking softly behind No.4, he could feel that something had gone wrong inside.


    A black gleam flashed beneath his eyes. It did not seem humane.


    "We''ll hold responsibility, don''t worry about it." He straight away put No.4''s mind at rest.


    No.4 instantly calmed down and swept his gaze around the large group of soldiers around him. There were nearly hundreds of them.


    "Who dares to stand in my way! Let''s move! Enter!!!" He roared as he made his way toward the entrance. Little did he believed that Jiatai would actually dare to kill him.


    "Block him!" Double-Tailed Scorpion yelled.


    These people were obviously here to mess around, and if Garen was still not out by this moment, something must have definitely gone wrong inside, there was no way they could allow their minister to be disturbed!


    *********************


    Crack!


    The Hellfrost Peacock''s Soul Seed was bitten by Sin''s Authority. After the black dog swallowed a mouthful, it went forward and bit on the other few Soul Seeds.


    As the cracking continued sounded, the originally Soul Seed that was extremely strong and powerful was easily bitten into bits and pieces, nearly falling apart.


    Somewhere deep inside Garen''s soul was aching, but that ache was nothing at this moment. Staring at his own Soul Seed being destroyed, he panicked. These were the Soul Seeds and Inspiration he had spent so much effort and hard work accumulating. A bite as such was not just only a loss of Soul Energy, but more of his own inspiration of different rules and his own understandings of the universe!


    The black dog simply biting him here and there was killing him!


    "Die!!" He thundered as he triggered his Nine-Headed Dragon Will.


    Just when the golden Nine-Headed Dragon popped its head out, the black dog immediately pounced forward and bit its neck. The black dog then swallowed the nine heads and in less than a few seconds, the golden Nine-Headed Dragon Will was completely swallowed up.


    Garen did not expect this kind of change would happen so suddenly. He watched it destroy the Nine-Headed Dragon Will as he felt a painful tear in the depths of his soul.


    "Ha ha ha!! Void Hunter! Aren''t you struggling? Resist it! It''s useless!" A rumble of laughter sounded from the black dog''s body. "It''s been a long time since I''ve been lurking around you from the last world, and finally, I''ve waited for this opportunity!"


    Garen''s heart sank and suddenly understood who his opponent was. The foundation of the Soul Seed was still there and his memory still existed. As long as he had the sufficient Soul Energy and as long as he was not completely swallowed, the damage to the Soul Ring would not be too bad. Now that he understood clearly who his opponent was, he was really panicking.


    "Nine-Headed Dragon Queen Nadia?"


    "Nadia?" The black dog blanked out for a second before laughing again, "This idiot, and they actually let you continue to transmigrate and develop and did not personally come to kill you. A huge threat you are! I''ve been given such a gift. Come to think of it, I still have to thank her¡­ But rest assured, after eating you, I''ll go back and kill her! I won''t let you be alone."


    It sprang forward an took a bite of a Soul Seed among the first Soul Ring, intending to destroy all the completed Soul Seeds, then wait for the Soul Energy to simmer off and devour once his powers have reduced.


    Crack!


    Just happened that it bit on the Holy Phoenix Demon Book''s Soul Seed.


    Gold!


    Infinite gold gleams broke out suddenly. Perhaps it was not pure gold, but definitely something that was like black flames wrapped in gold.


    Boom!


    A giant, golden phoenix rushed out from the Soul Seed and surrounded the Soul Seed. With a sinister arrogance, it rushed toward the black dog.


    "Holy Phoenix! Holy Phoenix!!" Voices of countless people began to sing. Numerous gold scriptures flew out of the phoenix''s body and formed chains that seized the black dog.


    "What is this!?" The black dog was horrified and tried to flee, but it was useless.


    Bang!


    Wrapped in the countless golden light, black flames were spreading all over the chains, lighting the black dog on fire.


    "No!!!" The black dog mourned with pain. "This¡­ This is domineering!!! How is this possible!!? How can such a thing like this be allowed to exist!!"


    "No!!! No!!!" Screaming, the black dog swiftly burned into ashes.


    The golden phoenix''s eyes were a sleek darkness as if there were numerous black flames burning within. It stared quietly as the black dog burned completely, then it opened its wings.


    The black dog turned into an overflowing black gas that rolled around. These countless gases were like nutrients, absorbed by its golden wings as if the countless black rays were trickling into its wings.


    A blurry three-headed six-limbed phantom appeared beside the golden phoenix. It was the once fallen Buddha Mother.


    The six different limbs were holding on to different weapons each while Buddha Mother looked down upon the golden phoenix.


    At that moment, scriptures and symbols turned into a mass of golden light jades that started to circulate in the air.


    Garen could feel the pain in his soul started to fade and gradually recovered. The golden phoenix danced around the Soul Seed and eventually entered the Soul Seed once again, disappearing into thin air.


    In the gap where Garen''s soul was ripped out, a surge of golden Soul Energy rushed inward. The mysterious energy was gold on the outside, but black within.


    But in his consciousness, this energy seemed to still be dissipating quickly. While it was restoring its own injuries, the Holy Phoenix Demon Book''s Soul Energy still seemed to be dissipating rapidly as well.


    "There is no room for the existence of the universe¡­" Garen finally understood. The Holy Phoenix Demon Book was too extreme, it paid attention to both heaven and earth, but it was self-conceited, so even if it was considered a type of Soul Energy, it was beyond what Sin''s Authority could ever withstand. However, Sin''s Authority''s nature energy was also extreme, so both sides could finally cancel off each other. Just that the Holy Phoenix Demon Book had a higher amount of Soul Energy, it was able to sustain until this moment.

 1221 Kill 1

    "Thank goodness the Holy Phoenix Spirit Book''s Soul Energy has an extremely short overbearing nature, or this would''ve been really dangerous," Garen looked at the temporary yet overbearing Soul Energy that was dissipating from the Holy Phoenix Spirit Book. He was completely overwhelmed.


    The unexpected change in enemy caught him unprepared, causing him to finally wake up in the world he once thought he was unbeatable.


    "Void Creature is still set on me. I should''ve thought about this earlier, Void Pursuers and Void Creature attract each other like magnets. Because of the vow, I have to kill Void Creature if we ever cross paths, and it seems like the Void Creature have the similar constraints. However, where in the world did that Sin''s Authority come from?!"


    Garen recounted the baffling force he felt earlier on and made some speculations.


    A huge amount of Soul Energy constantly poured out of the Mind Reader and into his body, replenishing the injuries from the bites he received from the black dog earlier on. At the same time, the Holy Phoenix Demon book was recovering from the injury as well.


    Bang bang bang!!


    Faint gunshots could be heard from the outside and the entire Secret Chamber shook.


    "Hmm?" Garen opened his eyes. "Is that¡­ A bomb?"


    Using a bomb at the Vulture Headquarter? Who would dare to break into his base?


    The Holy Phoenix Demon Book''s golden energy rapidly compensated for the tormented Soul Seed and soul of Garen''s. Then, the remaining energy assimilated into his entire Soul Ring. Right then, all of the Holy Phoenix Demon''s Book golden energy disappeared completely.


    "If it wasn''t for the Holy Phoenix that erupted, I''m afraid I might''ve had temporarily broken the Soul Ring already, but everything''s okay now." The black sun pattern on Garen''s chest had completely solidified and the black lines on the Mind Reader''s chest were slowly disappearing.


    Thump.


    Mind Reader fell directly from Garen''s hands and fell to the ground. Though his face was pale, the fall woke him up.


    Garen looked at his current situation.


    His first Soul Ring had recovered and it was back to normal with just a few scars here and there on the Soul Seed but they wouldn''t make much of a difference and will go away completely after some nourishment.


    The second Soul Ring had already condensed the fourth Soul Seed, all of which was colorless and transparent, not to mention full and plump. As for the fifth Soul Seed, it was already condensed for an hour an half so it was obvious that it was lacking Soul Energy.


    But that was it. According to his current Status Pane, his Soul Limit had reached ninety points!!


    ''Kong Xiaofei -- Strength 14, agility 14, physique 16, intelligence 11. Potential 0%. Soul Limit 90.''


    His average qualities had once again improved a ton.


    Moreover, the two Soul Rings continued to spurt out pure Soul Energy that was at least three times stronger than the original, nourishing his entire body.


    "Just one Mind Reader and I''ve gotten such huge improvements¡­" Garen felt good.


    Boom!


    A violent explosion sounded from outside once again, leaving slight tremors through the Secret Chamber.


    "Harrumph!" Garen strode to the outside of the Secret Chamber.


    Opening the door, the sound outside was suddenly clearer and fiercer.


    Hiss!!


    A sharp armor-piercing round instantly hit the space between his eyebrows from the front.


    "How dare you!"


    Using just one arm, Garen''s right arm moved out in an indeed horrifying speed with the afterimage held in front of the opponent''s face. His palm missed and some of the bullet fragments immediately scattered into his palms.


    ********************


    "How is this possible!!?" The leader, the man in the white windbreaker, stood far away and stared at Garen, who just walked out of the Secret Chamber and broke the armor-piercing round into pieces with his bare hands.


    "How can Sin''s Authority fail?!!" He kept his eyes glued on Garen unbelievably. There was a window in the middle of the Secret Chamber which was made of high-strength glass. At this moment, the both of them were staring at each other from afar, finally recognizing both sides'' true identity.


    "Void Creature!" Garen''s voice traveled through the glass and reached the man in the white windbreaker.


    The man''s black eyes immediately widened.


    "Retreat!!!" He shrieked. No.4 ignored the others who already rushed inside and instead turned around and started running!


    In the humongous base, the entire building was round in shape. However, Vulture No.4 and the others were like a sharp saber that pierced into the center of the circle, almost entering the main building.


    Although many people around could aim Vulture No.4, nobody actually dared to take a shot. After all, he was still a high-ranked person in Vulture. Those ranked above fifth had the authority and speaking rights that were extremely intimidating. So all they did was release bombs in an attempt to use the aftershock waves to form Vulture No.4 and signal Garen who was in the Secret Chamber at the same time.


    At this moment, shouts of retreats could be heard from the man in the white windbreaker and Vulture No.4 immediately blanked out.


    "Retreat? Are you joking me?! We''ve reached this point already and you want us to retreat?!" Ignoring the shouts, he continued to stride toward the main building.


    The white main building reflected a metallic texture under the sun.


    Boom!!


    The door suddenly crashed open and flew out from the inside, slamming into No.4 and the others.


    The dark-eyed lady stepped forward and sneered as she held out her hand to block No.4.


    "What are you afraid of? Garen was definitely tortured by that thing till¡­"


    Bang!!


    Without even finishing her sentence, the lady was knocked down by something like a locomotive. Four jet tubes opened behind her and started emitting white gas but it did not help the matter at all. The massive force continued pushing her backward.


    Along the way, she knocked dozens of people onto the ground and they all started howling in pain as they injured themselves.


    "This is!?!!" No.4''s expression changed as he backed away swiftly.


    But it was too late.


    A strong figure rushed out the door like a railway train, crashing into the front of his body.


    Bang!


    "You dare kill me!!?" No.4 felt as if he was just crushed by an elephant as he got hit by the massive force, not being able to resist. As his body suspended in the air, he screamed furiously before he was grabbed by the neck and pulled back by a gigantic hand.


    Looking from above, the entire No.4 army could only see that he was hit by a white figure. With a boom, they were utterly routed and thrown off their feet. The strongest No.4 and the dark-eyed lady were knocked away directly, thrown away and rolled around like wooden blocks before being caught once again.


    Garen was dressed in all white as he grabbed Vulture No.4 by one hand.


    "Too weak!"


    He shook his head lightly.


    Hiss!


    No.4 turned red and could not speak, but all of a sudden, uncountable Steel Balls exploded out from his body. It was as if a large number of Steel Balls were installed in his body beforehand.


    With a boom, the huge amount of Steel Balls turned into a grey shadow that shrouded Garen.


    Buzz buzz, all the Steel Balls seemed to connect and started a light blue arc.


    "Ten Million Volts!!" No.4 started laughing wildly. "You dare to humiliate me, die!!!"


    To be grabbed by the neck in front of so many people, it was an insult simply worse than a lifelong vengeance! If he did not get his face back, he would have no more face to continue staying in Vulture!


    "What a boring show off," Garen''s empty left hand disappeared as fast as lightning.


    Swoosh!


    The front of his body opened up like a peacock spreading its feathers. In an instant, hundreds of limbs appeared in the air and swiftly merged into one single palm.


    Crack.


    He then squeezed all the Steel Balls together, twisting them into a clot of steel waste before dropping it on the ground.


    No.4 was stunned as his teeth began to tremble.


    This sort of critical ability using just his flesh was no longer humane. This was practically the same mythical powers as the Four Great Cornerstones.


    "No!! I was forced¡­"


    Crack!


    Garen straight away broke his neck, causing mists of blood to explode from his hand. He did not even care that spatters of blood sprayed onto him.


    Like a duck that broke its neck, No.4''s head and body were separated right away, both pieces fell to the ground. The gleaming white tube still had a constant stream of air.


    "He really killed No.4!?"


    "I don''t want to die!!"


    "Retreat! Retreat!" The subordinates behind No.4 had yet to react and Garen had already broken No.4''s neck alive. Disregarding No.4 or anything else, he had directly killed a high-ranked Vulture. The crowd immediately backed away frantically.


    Even Garen''s direct subordinates in the base were silent and did not know what to do.


    As a top-five Vulture, he killed a same high-ranked person without the approval of No.1. Was Garen trying to start a rebellion?!


    Regardless of any rules or ethics, No.1 had to immediately execute Garen. Otherwise, without the application of rules, the entire organization would be a mess.


    Did Garen not know about such consequence?


    Of course, he knew. However, he had reached such a level, what could possibly threaten him? Even if Sea God nourished under both of his big Soul Rings, it was still not enough to surpass him.


    Garen himself was already enraged by the sneak attack earlier. At this moment, he could still hear No.4''s screams. He might have used too much force accidentally, then¡­ There was no more.


    No.4 died right away. So unexpectedly fragile.


    The dark-eyed lady backed away with fright, then turned around and started running.


    From Garen''s appearance all the way to him killing him, everything lasted less than five seconds. The situation reversed instantly. She had suspected Garen to fail, so she must now face her anger. A Demon Lord Class Void Pursuer! The victory and loss scale was completely balanced!


    "You want to leave?'' Garen turned his attention to the lady and the man in the white windbreaker.


    The latter was already a distance away whereas the lady was still right before him. It was evident that she was possessed by Void Creature. As a Master-level powerhouse of controlling dreams, it was effortless for Void Creature to hypnotize a person through dreams and achieve his purpose of manipulating the person at the same time.


    Stepping on his foot, he dashed forward. He was twice as fast than the lady and soon enough, appeared in front of the lady as if he had teleported.


    With a stretch of his arm, he grabbed the lady''s neck directly.


    "Stop!!" A loud rumble thundered in the distance. It was the voice of an old woman.


    Garen''s arm shuddered slightly before reaching forward for a grab.


    He suddenly saw a trace of rejoice in the lady''s eyes. Obviously, she still had someone to rely on. Just that things had reached this point already so who knew what kind of wildcard did the other person had.


    "You can''t kill me!" The lady recovered slightly from the terror, allowing Garen to grab her neck. She was soon lifted into the air.


    "Can''t kill you?" Garen tilted his head and looked at the brigade that just rushed in from the gate far away.


    No.2, the elderly woman with her walking stick in her hand, rushed in with a brigade. They crowded around the soldiers of the base. As No.2, she was basically the absolute Ruler of the entire Vulture. At times when No.1 did not show up, she had the final say.


    "I say, stop it!" No.2 shouted. "Garen, she''s not an ordinary lady! Are.."


    Garen''s other hand went straight into the lady''s chest, blood spattered all over him.


    He turned his head and looked at the elderly woman.


    "What did you just say?" Garen responded with a slight smile on his face. It did not seem like he just killed someone, but instead, he was just watering plants.


    No.2 paused with a stagnant look, her face instantly paled. The following words were suddenly cramped inside her, unable to be spoken.

 1222 Kill 2

    With a tear, Garen extracted his hand from the lady''s chest, drawing out a large amount of blood. At the same time, he actually dug out a heart that was still beating.


    "You¡­!" The lady who seemed to be parasitized by Void Creature struggled as she cried out. "Someone¡­ Will help me get my revenge¡­!" A mass amount of Soul Energy that could be seen even by the naked eye started emitting from her body. Garen straight away breathed in all the Soul Energy, not wasting a bit of it.


    "I''ll be waiting," Garen replied curtly.


    Bang.


    The lady soon stopped breathing and fell to the ground, causing a loud that that immediately woke No.2 up.


    Her face was pale as she raised her arm and pointed at Garen. However, she could not speak at all, she only trembled.


    Garen did not care though, his eyes glued at the lad wearing the white windbreaker who was already far away.


    Whoosh.


    He instantly disappeared. His moves were so swift that nobody around him could notice his movements as their eyes were not able to capture his speed. All they could see was a blur flash and Garen was already a hundred meters away, just a short distance away from the man.


    With another flash, he was catching up already.


    Garen could even see the frantic expression of the man in the white windbreaker. His black pupils were missing, even his eyeballs were non-existent. It was evident that Void Creature had parasitized already.


    In this world, there seemed to be records of being parasitized. They were known as being possessed by demons. After being possessed, one''s eyes would turn dark and empty, which represented a bottomless abyss.


    Ah!!!


    Seeing that he was almost in an arm''s reach, the man started screaming.


    A bat-like invisible sound wave spread wildly, forming swiftly like a tsunami and rushed towards Garen who was charging behind.


    "Soul Shock?" Garen''s body trembled, suddenly realizing that he was about to catch the big fish. He was hit by the impact, flying over ten meters backward. However, instead of being furious, he started laughing.


    "This is actually Soul Shock? It seems to be a General-Level above Void Creature! Perhaps it''s even Demon King Level!" In this universe, even Void Creature''s Demon King Level was extremely suppressed so it was not even that abnormal.


    But after such Void Creature was killed, it definitely helped Garen a ton in raising his Void Pursuer. He even acquired a Void Crystal Core that was comparable to absorbing the Mind Reader''s Soul Ring!


    "Good stuff!" Garen laughed out loud. The person before his eyes was no longer a human, but a living ginseng that was able to run!


    With a look as if he was staring at food, Garen set out once again.


    The man was startled. He was at the same level as Sin''s Authority, they were both Demon Lord Class, but just an elementary Demon King. Furthermore, they coincidentally lost great powers after being injured heavily. The original scheme was to successfully kill Garen after the sneak attack. Then they would not only acquire Garen''s Soul Ring but also the Mind Reader''s Soul Ring, killing two birds with one stone. Who knew the situation would change so drastically. Now, not only was Sin''s Authority dead, he even had to face Garen''s vengeance in return!


    With a bit, the white-shirt lad suddenly instigated the little Demon King power that remained within him. He instantly accelerated and quickly shot into the distance.


    Unwilling to be outdone, Garen upped his speed and followed suit.


    Both of them seemed to just disappear from everyone''s sight in a blink of an eye.


    "So what do we do now?" A field officer asked Vulture No.2.


    "What to do?" From the series of accidents that just happened, No.2 had noticed something. It was obvious that the white-shirt youngster colluded with the idiotic woman along with No.4 to cook up something against Garen, but they failed. Some died while some were injured.


    However, the identity of the lady who just died could not be overlooked. It was nothing if she was just an ordinary person, but she was really¡­


    A hint of concern flashed through No.2''s eyes. She recalled Garen''s almost inhuman powers and her heart sank to the bottom.


    Once the conflict between both sides broke up, it would not just be the resentment between both people anymore, but the entire Slann would lose its peace. It would still be alright if they could just kill Garen off. If he was to escape, Red Nation and Black Federation would be pleased to accept a strong leveled powerhouse like Garen.


    "Investigate the identity of the man in the white windbreaker right away! Also, collect the body of¡­ Mistress Song." No.2''s voice lowered down. "I''ll inform No.1 immediately, and President Song Lingshan¡­"


    The people around felt their heart go cold. The lady who was lying on the ground right now was actually Slann''s supreme leader, President Song Lingshan''s wife?!!


    "But isn''t President Song''s wife Zhao Guomu?" Root Doctor Jiatai asked coldly.


    They only caught up right this moment, but everything happened too fast nobody was able to react to it before everything folded out before them.


    "This is his second wife¡­" No.2 seemed to age a few years just within seconds. Once a conflict erupted between both sides, they would have to choose to give up on Garen. Regardless of public or private, the could only give up on him. One was the supreme leader of the nation while the other, no matter how strong he was, he was just a person. Making a choice was simply a simple matter.


    "Still too young and vigorous¡­" With a long sigh, No.2 turned and walked away.


    "Release a wanted order."


    No.1''s deputy had also arrived, just getting out of the car. With an icy steel look, he opened his mouth and spoke to the No.2 in an unceremonious tone.


    Jiatai and the others were already losing their minds. Everything was happening too fast and nobody could catch up at all. Everything was a foregone conclusion.


    ********************


    At the tank maintenance site.


    Two white shadows suddenly emerged at the enormous maintenance site. Some of the old veterans who were still in maintenance seemed to hear sounds and popped their heads out of the tank to have a look.


    Boom!!!


    A white shadow slammed into the side of a black tank and the tank was sunken immediately. A lot of the metal parts were smashed and flew out, scattering like broken glass shards.


    Another white shadow rushed forward from behind and threw a punch!


    Bang!!


    The tank was completely smashed. It was completely mashed in like paper paste, the metal plates on both sides were crushed in and pressed together. It then collapsed over like broken chopsticks.


    There was not even time for it to roll back to reduce the impact.


    The person''s speed was incredibly fast that people could hardly see the punches, they thought a bomb had landed.


    "You can''t kill me!" The white shadow zoomed out from the wreckage. He shrieked as he was covered in blood all over and anyone could hear the deep fear hidden in his tone.


    Without a word, Garen retrieved his right fist before rushing up.


    Bang, his fist had missed, hammering the ground ruthlessly. The man managed to dodge it.


    Not even bothered, Garen spun around his right arm before sweeping both legs over.


    Swoosh!


    A round silver-white saber light appeared in the air.


    A sharp scar immediately surfaced on the man''s shirt right on his chest.


    "This is!!?" He looked ferocious and suspicious as he turned around and continued running.


    The most terrifying thing was that any part of the body was able to bring out a blade-like lethality. This level may not be a problem in other universes, but in this place with such limited rules, it was truly remarkable to have such an achievement!


    In addition to being faster than Garen, he barely had any glimmer of hope he could escape from this.


    "West Valle is above! I won''t die! I definitely won''t!!" He kept praying and began to run around in a Z-shape.


    At the same time, using his hands, a large number of small black particles were sprinkled all over, scattering the ground behind.


    Boom boom boom boom!!!!


    The continuous explosions skyrocketed. Those little things turned out to be different kinds of bombs.


    Among the flames, Garen walked out unscathed.


    "Little Ginseng~ Where are you planning to run to?" A grim smile appeared on his face. "Excessive consumption will affect the pharmacodynamic effect."


    All of sudden, Garen''s body was suddenly burning with a light, white flame. It was the shapeless Fire of Realm. Only one who reached a high altitude, one who surpassed the limits of the world''s existence, would have such flames.


    "Game over." As he finished he sentence, he suddenly disappeared and reappeared right in front of the white-shirt man.


    He lowered the saber in his hand and chopped.


    "Demon Soul!!" The man screamed wildly as his speed increased at the same time. However, his body consumed too much of Soul Energy in a short period of time so his entire body nudged slightly toward the left.


    Boom!!!!


    The saber fell through and went straight to the ground.


    Hiss¡­


    A crack as long as ten meters or more appeared on the ground below.


    Garen''s arm repeatedly flashed in a faint red shade which was caused by the intense heat, the tremendous force, and the terrifying speed that was generated by the acute friction. It was a huge impulse that was almost abnormal.


    The man seemed to only see the saber lightly brush by his nose. He did not even dare to move, it was just so close! Just so close!!


    And he was cut into two pieces.


    Hu¡­ Hu¡­ Hu¡­


    Hot air poured out of his chest and the man was afraid to move anymore, but just stared at Garen in front of him. Garen lifted at least hundreds of his limbs and blew at the faint smoke on top. The speed of both sides instantly reversed. Apparently, the other side was still able to continue moving, but he could only explode in that very one instant. The outcome of the match was already obvious.


    "I really didn''t expect this. Even at this place, you guys are still able to catch up." Garen held his arm out and grabbed the man''s head.


    Countless Soul Energy that was invisible to an ordinary person''s naked eye started to spread from Garen''s arms and entered the man''s ears, nose, and mouth.


    Hiss!


    The clothes on both men instantly tore apart, the massive force exploded just like a heart, tearing off the tops both men had on.


    Differently patterned scars slowly surfaced both men''s chests.


    Garen''s chest had a black sun pattern that represented the primal Sacred Sigil, which also represented the extraordinary of this universe.


    On the other hand, the man''s chest had a dark black gigantic eyeball. A huge amount of Soul Energy continued flowing out of the eyeball and was swiftly absorbed by Garen''s black sun pattern.


    The terrifying force directly cut off over ten meters of all the space around both people.


    "You¡­ Sooner or later¡­ Will be like me!!!" The man yelled furiously as he struggled out his last words.

 1223 Prelude 1

    "The same?" With a look of disgust, Garen quickened up his absorption of the Soul Ring.


    The powerful devouring characteristic of the Hellfrost Peacock Queen brought an excellent devouring effect to his Soul Energy. Although his Soul Energy qualities were still not the Demon King leveled extremes like Black Sethe, it was still nevertheless a skillful devouring ability. Of course, there was also the basic nourishing ability.


    The true opportunity to incarnate such true capabilities was this moment so that he could absorb others'' Soul Energy exceptionally smoothly.


    The black eyeball on the man''s chest soon disappeared. The entire process lasted less than thirty seconds.


    In the distance, dense footsteps could be heard. Crowds were swarming over from other places. Clearly, the sound of astir over here had attracted the attention of the other soldiers at the base.


    Bang.


    Garen released the dead body, the man had already stopped breathing. As a parasitic body of the Void Creature, his soul had long been devoured by the Void Creature and all that remained was just a shell. When the Void Creature was devoured as a representative soul, its entire body naturally dies and becomes a dead body.


    Garen stood still and looked below at the changes to his Attributes Pane as he felt his body change as he became stronger and stronger. His heart felt unusually carefree.


    All the while, he had always been concerned. It was odd that the Void Creature did not come to him for trouble in such a long time, but now, he could finally stop worrying.


    After the Soul Ring finished absorbing the Void Creature, it started glowing an abnormally dark red shade when it was not even done digesting it. The second Soul Ring was experiencing an overflow situation whereas the fifth Soul Ring was basically condensed all of a sudden and a vast amount of Soul Energy was surging toward the structure of the third Soul Ring.


    His Soul Limit suddenly broke through 100, reaching an unprecedented height.


    His average physique was even at least a little above the minimum average.


    ''Kong Xiaofei -- Strength 15, agility 15, physique 17, intelligence 13. Potential 0%. Soul Limit 90.''


    Garen immersed himself in his skyrocketing powers.


    "Return and get the communication device, then straight away search for Slayer!" Garen decided on his plan. There was no point in staying in this world anymore. He had already understood the workings of the Lighthouse, he did not need Nine-Tailed Fox and the others anymore. Hell, he might even know the workings of the Lighthouse more than Nine-Tailed Fox and the others. He could even use his own Energy Machine Imprint.


    The members of the Lighthouse did not bother about the damage they had caused to the universe of the worlds. Even if it was some sinful convicts, as long as they do not involve or persecute other transmigrators, the Lighthouse would not confine over the case. In other words, they view residents of other worlds as something like an NPC. They themselves were high above and not even considered as a race.


    Such remarks could be seen in the forum, but there were also some people who strongly disagreed, though it was just a small number of them. The highest institution of the Lighthouse was the Dimensional Watchers, the organization that managed the entire universe, collecting various regular laws. Every once in a while, they would announce the latest news about prominent transmigrators. Their main purpose was to maintain the common interests of all transmigrators because opposed to the people of the universe, the numbers and powers of the transmigrators were too small in comparison.


    Therefore, Garen knew that no matter what he did in this world, as long as he did not directly endanger the safety of other transmigrators, there would be no problem. Of course, if there were any unknown problems or direct dangers, even vendettas could happen between transmigrators.


    "Absorb Slayer and set off to the Lighthouse," Garen set the destination. Before the footsteps in the distance approached, he had already swooshed out towards the entrance of the base. His speed was almost phantom-like in the eyes of ordinary people, not visible at all.


    As he traveled within the base, Garen who was already familiar with the roads quickly arrived at the entrance. Looking far away from there, he could see a huge army of black soldiers lined up. Every elite powerhouse was already mobilized here. Obviously, No.2 had already known that he would leave the base as open as the day.


    Standing behind the crowd of the army, No.2 had her walking stick with her as she stared at Garen. A glimmer of helplessness and pity fleet through her eyes.


    "Submit yourself to arrest, Garen.''''


    "I''ve never thought about it." Garen took a step forward. "That someone would dare to ask me to submit myself to arrest?" He had a hint of a smile in his expression as if he was greeting a fellow friend.


    But at this moment, both sides were not at all friends, but instead, a dense array of hundreds of elite soldiers were in a ring surrounding them.


    The top twenty Vulture powerhouses, except for No.1 and several other ones who were out stationed, had all arrived on the spot. Each and every one of them had started up their own modified half-machinized armor as they stared at Garen carefully.


    Most of them had their red dots aimed at Garen, it was the laser device.


    "Don''t be crazy." No.5 stood out snorting, "You''re not the only tough guy in this world. Furthermore, even if you are so strong and powerful, we have so many powerhouses here, why would we be scared of you?"


    No.5 had always been dissatisfied with Garen, a cheeky young rookie, who had always pushed him around, and now he had just found his opportunity. He never thought that even though he was never able to find any flaws in Garen, Garen himself would make such a huge mistake. This made him extremely ecstatic. The same thing, after he heard about the whole process of Garen''s uprising, he was a little upset over No.4''s death. Therefore, in order to let the plan run smoothly, he gathered up a massive amount of elites nominally to encircle Garen, but in reality, it was just to protect himself and important people like No.2.


    Garen was too lazy to even bother with this blockhead, they were not even at the same level at all. His gaze immediately landed on No.2, the true authority of the entire Vulture.


    "Do you have anything to say?"


    "Things have already reached this extent, what else can I say? No.1 and I had always thought highly of you," No.2 sighed.


    "If that''s the case, step aside then." Garen looked at the crowd before him blocking the entrance. Almost half of these elites were personally trained by him, some of them even learned so many things from him that they took him as their master. Even Double-Tailed Scorpion and Butcher included, who had their heads low, not even daring to look at him in his eyes.


    Both of them were different from the others. It was not out of respect or any feelings, but they knew the true hidden powers of Garen. They knew that this entire army was not enough to hold him down, that was why they were so afraid.


    "No way we''ll step aside," No.2 said resolutely. Once they get out of the way, the entire prestige of Vulture would be completely destroyed.


    "Seems like I''ll have to make a move then," Garen strode toward the entrance, ignoring the crowd that was blocking the entrance.


    "Stand still!" One of the top-ranked Vulture powerhouse said. Perhaps it was the urge to perform in front of other high ranks, or perhaps he was looking down on Garen. He leaped out with two sickle-like weapons and darted toward Garen. Both sides of the weapons were glowing with red electricity as if it was some advanced propulsion device.


    Nobody moved as an extremely bright Light Beam struck Garen''s eyes, completely dazzling his vision.


    Bang!


    The double-sickle landed on Garen''s right arm and broke like a piece of paper, sending millions of shards flying all over the place, whirling as they nailed into the nearby walls and ground.


    Meanwhile, Garen had the powerhouse jostled up with an arm high in the sky.


    For a top-notch powerhouse like Garen, not to mention such an incredible physique, even the slightly weaker body under his powerful workings would produce a miraculous effect. It was pretty normal for one slight force to have its effect multiplied by ten times.


    It was definitely not a waste of extra power and the efficiency was terrifying.


    "Forewind," Garen said softly as he grabbed onto the person''s chest.


    Hiss!


    The man''s body instantly ripped apart and flew to two sides, his blood splattering all over the ground. Flesh, bones, and even the internal organs and half-machinized armor were all neatly torn into halves.


    The ultra-close ranged forewind Saber Art had instantly ripped the person into half without any resistance at all.


    Starting from Garen, the white ground before him turned into a fan-shaped red piece of ground. It was all splattered by the blood of the powerhouse after his body was mangled.


    In an instant, everyone on the spot was shocked, even the ones who were preparing to aid.


    "We can''t fight him close-ranged!" No.2''s face fell. She had always been unsure of how strong Garen actually was, only hearing from enemies who reflected about Garen''s terrifying combat power. She was not exactly sure to what extent were his terrifying powers.


    Right in front of her eyes, a top twenty powerhouse could not even last through one round against Garen. She immediately shuddered.


    "Long-ranged take aim, attack!" No.5 suddenly yelled.


    Before No.2 could stop, No.5 already commanded. Once all shootings start, it might cause both sides to have faces completely torn off. He too had the firepower authority in the base.


    Boom.


    Overwhelming power broke out at the same time, all concentrated on Garen.


    Bullets, snipers, bombs, grenades, electromagnetic bombs, lasers, poison gas grenades, poison needles, all sorts of high-risk weapons started bombarding toward Garen at the same moment. The sky seemed to lit up for a second, caused by the flash of light when all shots were fired.


    In the loud noise, Garen raised his arm and his lips moved. Nobody knew what he said, but he instantly submerged in the gunfire and nothing could be seen anymore.


    A blinding light appeared as the location where he was standing before suddenly exploded. As light and fire both intertwined, everything was blurry.


    "Who''s the one who released so much poisonous smoke? Do you want to die?!" No.5 shrieked furiously. There were so many people here, in addition to the bomb explosions that would spread out the airflow, releasing poisonous gas at this very moment would simply kill everyone!


    The disadvantage of Vulture that had never had a coordinated operation was immediately shown.


    But nobody noticed Double-Tailed Scorpion and Root Doctor Jiatai who were secretly hiding the poisonous gas launcher in their hands, blending into the crowd behind. Both of them were the one who released the poisonous gas. They were particularly clear of Garen''s true powers and that this bunch of people was not capable of holding down Garen at all. Back at the Ocean Capital, Garen was able to deal with such a strong battle array already, this little bunch of people was nothing. At their levels, they were not even true elite powerhouses, they held no threat towards Garen at all.


    "Instead for digging our own graves, it''s better to seek opportunities and let him go." This was what Root Doctor and Double-Tailed Scorpion concluded in their conversation earlier on through the earpiece. Opposing the Vulture, they had more faith in Garen''s powers.


    Exiting the crowd, Jiatai looked at the flashes of explosion far away. He remained silent.


    "Who knows where''s Garen headed next? Do you think we can go along with him?"


    "Well, I was just thinking the same thing." Double-Tailed Scorpion laughed. Garen treated his subordinates and his own men pretty good and he was quite generous. If anything was to happen, as long as it would not oppose his own morals, he would definitely lend a hand and cover for them. On a daily basis, he would not control much either. He was practically the epitome of a true boss.


    "Too bad, Vulture." Jiatai shook his head. "Listen up, there''s going to be screams soon."

 1224 Prelude 2

    Garen single-handedly grabbed onto No.5''s neck, it was the same posture as No.4 before. He let the various blade weapons cut his arms but it was no harm to him at all.


    No.5''s elephant-like strength was currently nothing as he could not bring out any strength to even fight back.


    Nobody knew how Garen broke into the crowd. All they could see was a massive pit at where he was standing earlier on and he just suddenly popped up in the middle of the crowd, grabbing onto No.5 who was hidden among them.


    Everyone else backed away right away with fear. The people of Vulture were originally elite powerhouses gathered from all over the place, brought together by a similar employment method. There was no loyalty at all. At the sight of this scene, everyone was dumbfounded. Some of them knew the abnormality of Garen, and some of them who participated in the Ocean Capital operation backed away sneakily.


    No.2''s face fell, she had not expected Garen to be powerful to this extent. So much firepower and it did not seem to bother him at all as he directly broke through the defense line.


    "Garen!" No.2 yelled, "Don''t repeat your mistakes!!"


    At this moment, she saw through it all. It seemed that all the powerful powerhouses were concealing their true abilities, they were indeed slacking. Garen had only joined the organization for a year or so, it was impossible for him to do such a thing and the only reason was that everyone here was merely afraid of him!


    They were scared!


    No.2 came up with such a conclusion that she herself did not believe much.


    So many powerhouses and such a huge organization, and they were all terrified of a young man who was barely twenty years old!?


    This was hilarious!


    It would have been possible if it was Slayer''s case, he was the true enemy!


    Wait! ~Slayer!


    No.2 stunned for a second as she suddenly remembered the last time Garen fought against Slayer and retreated.


    Looking up at Garen at the moment, she thought of a possibility.


    "If Garen''s true strength is actually at Slayer''s level¡­ Then the little people we have now¡­ Not only are they not able to hold him down! There''s even going to many serious deaths and injuries!" At the thought of it, a chill sent down her spine.


    "Let go of No.5 and we''ll let you go!" No.2 decisively shouted.


    The corner of Garen''s mouth arched slightly. Truth be told, he did not want to completely tear off faces with Vulture. After all, after he leaves, Kong Xinxue and the others would still be here. They were still once companions, Nine-Tailed Fox and the others really did help him a ton. So if it was really necessary, he did not want to cut a clean slate with Vulture.


    Grabbing onto No.5 right now and not killing him immediately was because No.5''s identity was slightly different. He was considered a true high-rank, and the other reason was that he was still waiting for No.2 to make a decision.


    It seemed that No.2 had just made her decision.


    As for the other person who had the authority to decide, No.5, was currently tugged on the chest by Garen. Under the extreme pressure, he was unable to even speak a word. Basically, he was just a waste man.


    Garen turned his gaze to the crowd that was blocking his exit.


    "Get out of the way!" No.2 bellowed.


    Right away, the Vulture people left eagerly, all of them backing away. They were all just mercenary soldiers, not slayers. If the firepower just now did no harm to Garen, they would just be sending themselves to death.


    Now that they had orders, they righteously separated and allowed Garen to leave.


    "Thank you then." Holding on to No.5, Garen strode toward the entrance of the base before simply throwing No.5 aside.


    "Goodbye then," Garen turned and smiled.


    Swoosh!


    He then vanished into thin air. Nobody caught sight of which direction was he headed, they could only feel a gust of wind blowing gently, and everything was back to normal, calm and peaceful.


    All that remained were the giant pits caused by the fires earlier on and the burning sounds of the flames that were still combusting along the side.


    Vulture Sword Master, Garen revolted.


    ********************


    News spread throughout all continents overnight, Red Nation and especially Black Federation which once suffered all because of Garen were the first ones who received the news.


    Wanted orders were issued straight away. Of course, it was a wanted order on the surface. Both nations had secretly decided that if Garen was willing to join their armed forces, they would immediately reserve a seat for him with the highest military powers.


    Especially Black Federation, which straight away announced an unprecedented hundred million annual salary!


    There were no more than three powerhouses in the world who were able to face Slayer alone and not fail, and Garen was one of them. In addition to his young age, he had endless potential ahead of him.


    This was the sole reason all nations regarded highly of him.


    Sometime later in the annual operation of Slayer''s massacre formed by the three nations, people of Black Federation even publicly sneered at people of Slan, mocking how they were not able to retain talents and that they were a sign of the nation''s decay. Both sides started fighting but everything ended with Slann''s people showing tolerance. They had become accustomed to tolerance, from the beginning to now, it had become a habit. At first, they still had Garen, but now they had lost their strongest power and everyone never felt more defeated.


    After the routine joint search for Slayer ended with no results, the elite forces of the three nations each returned to their countries. The international situation returned to its original phase, Slann contracted completely while Black Federation continued expanding, whereas Red Nation was still experiencing a civil strife. Everyone went back to their own business.


    As for Mind Reader, he had already been quietly rescued by Yuria when he went forward to check in on Slann. Although they lost the power of the Sacred Sigil, living the rest of his life as an ordinary person might not be a bad thing after all. However, the thing that Yuria was most concerned of was that the idea of relying on Mind Reader to seek his sister and mother was now over.


    Nine-Tailed Fox and the others were not able to contact Garen in any way at all as he did not respond to any of the messages sent from their communication device and he ignored all their calls. All contact was cut off completely.


    After plenty of tries, they decided to give up. After all, the Mind Reader''s Sacred Sigil was in their hands already.


    ********************


    Whoosh¡­!


    On the surface of the blue sea, a white speedboat was rushing into the distance quickly, leaving long white waves from its tail at the back.


    Garen stood above the speedboat with a whole new appearance. He had golden hair and a pair of colorful sunglasses, topless with a pair of fancy beach shorts matched with a pair of white flip-flops. Even his height was slightly shorter than his original height.


    He looked exactly like a playboy.


    The speedboat was headed straight towards the horizon that was not visible. It was already a deep-sea region, but Garen was not worried about losing his way and he was just leisurely enjoying the sea breeze.


    Unconsciously, an hour or so passed. Garen crouched on the speedboat as he continued looking straight ahead.


    At the sea level in the distance, an equally similar small, white speedboat gradually emerged. Standing on the deck was a tall slender man who was dark all over. He was covered in the shadows, only a pair of eyes exposed on the outside with a hint of red fluorescence.


    The man had a red wooden umbrella in his hands, blocking the water that was splashing around. His red eyes were glued at the direction of Garen far away.


    He gently removed his black mask, revealing a pale face that was even more beautiful than a lady. It gave off a weak and delicate feeling that begged for pity.


    "Slayer." Garen stood up, drawing out a three-meter-long narrow blade from behind. "So this is your true appearance?"


    Far away, his voice traveled through the waves directly to Slayer''s ears.


    "You and I are the strongest people in the world," Slayer''s flat voice also traveled all the way to Garen''s ears. "This is my respect for you."


    "Strongest?" Garen laughed, "What about Sea God?"


    "I used ten sabers and decapitated a wing."


    Stunned, Garen went silent.


    He knew the ins and outs of Sea God as well, and the fact that Slayer could chop off a wing proved that he had underestimated Slayer''s powers.


    "After this battle, one of us shall become the one and only in the world," Slayer gently placed down his pink wooden umbrella with a calm look on his face.


    Garen smiled and remained silent. He then leaped up and the speedboat beneath him exploded with a boom. He fell straight into the waters and started running swiftly as if the water was just a flat surface. He darted straight towards Slayer!


    Thump! Thump! Thump!


    As his footsteps landed on the surface of the water, drum-like sounds of impact could be heard.


    The distance between both of them closed in.


    Swoosh!


    Garen suddenly drew his saber out of the sheath and held it tightly in his hands.


    ********************


    The gigantic silver-white cylindrical metal instrument rotated slowly.


    The machine was located in a huge underground space in the base and there was a clean snow-white bed right in front of it.


    A naked girl had a quilt in one hand covering most of her skin, her hair as white as snow cascading down her shoulders and all over the quilt.


    The girl was sitting on the big bed with her eyes closed as the cylindrical machine behind her slowly started up. It was slowly opening toward the girl''s position, revealing an oval-shaped screen that clearly displayed a man''s figure.


    "Yuria¡­ Brother." The girl turned to her side and opened her eyes, staring at the man on the screen.


    "The world is going to change. Are you ready, Zhi Jinqin?"


    An old and voice sounded from the machine.


    "You''re not dead?" The girl stared blankly at the metal instrument above her. The gentleness in her eyes was completely different when she looked at Yuria.


    "Dead?" The voice started laughing.


    "If I haven''t witnessed your death, how can I myself die!?"


    Swish!!


    A long spiky, silver-white metal suddenly extended from the top of the instrument and pierced into the girl''s body.


    Puff.


    Zhi Jinqin''s weak body was pierced right at her right chest but the strange thing was that there was not even a trickle of blood at the wound.


    "How sad! Even blood can''t flow out anymore? You''re just an empty shell," the old voice sneered.


    Zhi Jinqin was expressionless. She could not feel anything from the spike that pierced through her body as if it was not even stabbed into her body.


    "Since that year, hasn''t my blood drained long ago?" She whispered.


    "Immortal Body! Why can''t you die? Why would you rather be tortured yet still want to suppress me!?" The old voice felt unwilling as his mood seemed to change. "Let everything go, and go keep your brother company, isn''t that better? For so many years, you have weaved such a wonderful dream for your brother, parents, relatives, family, peace, serenity! You have all the pleasant things already, so what more do you want!?"


    Zhi Jinqin did not answer. Instead, she lowered her head and quietly closed her eyes.

 1225 Battle to the Death 1

    Bang!


    Garen''s long saber slashed down hard on Slayer''s umbrella, and the red paint was jolted off by the impact, revealing the black metal underneath.


    With a whoosh, Slayer''s arm spun, and the umbrella began to spin at high speeds. Just like that, it parried Garen''s blade.


    "You''ve grown stronger again¡­" He leaped backward lightly and retracted his round umbrella, using the movement to reduce the impact of Garen''s vicious force.


    The two of them were equal in speed. Slayer used to be faster, but thanks to his average attribute points, Garen''s speed was now equal to Slayer''s.


    Without an ounce of hesitation, Garen dashed forward, his blade transforming into a circular whirl of silver that aimed straight at the enemy. At the same time, he lifted his leg, kicking up a wave of seawater that crashed at his enemy like a solid attack.


    Considering how powerful his Strength was, even simple old seawater could be converted into a terrifying murderous weapon under its influence.


    "Lunar Eclipse."


    Slayer''s eyes flashed with a red light, and his umbrella began to spin madly at high speeds, just in time to fend off the silver whirling blade. At the same time, he sliced downward with the edge of the umbrella, and perfectly cut through the wave of seawater pouncing at him.


    Psst psst psst!!


    Instantly, more than ten invisible air current blades shot out of the umbrella, attacking Garen from the left. All the air current blades gathered together, leaving clear white traces on the surface of the ocean. Although they were obvious, they were also very fast. Slayer also took advantage of the moment when Garen was most vulnerable. Since he had just made his move and used up all his power, he was completely helpless and unable to fight back.


    "Are you trying to beat me in move transformation?" Garen''s blade turned slightly and shot out a blast of saber wind that crashed directly into the air current blade. The saber wind cut straight through the air current blade, and made sure the air currents had completely scattered before it faded away naturally. This was a demonstration of Garen''s surgical precision in the way he applied his strength; not a single ounce of power went to waste.


    "Explode!"


    Slayer closed the distance between them in an instant. The red umbrella began to spin crazily, crashing into Garen like a large screen. The muscles in his left arm had abruptly expanded to almost twice their original size, so thick they barely looked human.


    Before the surface of the umbrella reached him, Garen could already feel an intense pressure descending upon him. Somehow, in complete contrast with Mind Reader or Yuria, Slayer was already a peak-level expert in his utilization of the Soul Ring. Garen had no idea how long he had to live in order to accumulate such vast experience.


    This explosive power was rooted in the instantaneous expansion of his muscles, causing the power behind the move to at least double in magnitude. At the same time, there was a powerful spinning force behind it. The slightest mistake would mean that Garen''s defenses would be easily broken through.


    Garen had just completed his move and had yet to recover his strength, so the only thing he could do was tilt his body slightly to evade this attack.


    "Eroded Moon Shadow!" Slayer''s umbrella gave a jolt, and with an abrupt tearing sound, the surface of the umbrella immediately split into more than ten pieces. These pieces turned into more than ten flitting shadows that darted into the ocean, surrounding Garen from all sides like swimming fish.


    "Four Directional Winds." Garen''s blade spun, and at the same time, silver light rose all around his body, blocking off the black shadows. The silver light and the black shadows collided and canceled each other out.


    Boom!!!


    On the surface of the ocean, a giant tidal wave, more than ten meters tall, exploded over the area where the two crashed into each other.


    The tall wave fell down as a spray of rain, each droplet splashing into the ocean around them.


    Whoosh, whoosh. There were two clear sounds, and more waves rose around both Garen and Slayer as they dashed at each other. The blade left trails of intense light as it crashed into the red-black umbrella handle, unleashing golden sparks of different sizes.


    The long saber immediately became an afterimage, each slash brought with it strong winds and new waves.


    The tip of the umbrella handle was sharp, so Slayer used it as both a spear and a staff.


    "Dragon Steed." Slayer''s spear jolted and quickly spun around him once, swimming nimbly on the water around him like a living snake. At the same time, he himself constantly dodged Garen''s barrage of blade slashes with great agility.


    Swoosh!


    A gigantic circle appeared on the ocean around Garen and Slayer, and an oval-shaped hole opened up slowly in its center, biting at Garen like a deep black abyss. It was a giant whirlpool!!!


    "Hmph!"


    Garen was completely fearless, and did not shrink away in his assault. He and Slayer fell into the eye of the giant whirlpool at the same time.


    In the deep blue whirlpool, they were surrounded by the deep-blue, almost-black walls of water. At the very center of it, the two of them were falling straight downward. It was like falling into a bottomless abyss.


    Strangely, the giant whirlpool was actually still expanding, growing larger and deeper. The enormous hole in the center continued to deepen, as though it was an abyss that led straight to the ocean floor.


    There was immense pressure everywhere, and the walls of dark-blue, almost-black seawater were all that could be seen. Other than the tiny pricks of white light above their heads, there was no other source of illumination.


    Garen could clearly feel that, under these circumstances, Slayer''s strength and speed were both increased to almost 1.5 times their original value. He could instantly sense the pressure on him piling on.


    "So you''re creating an advantageous terrain for yourself, huh?" Garen''s expression was cold, his attacks gradually slowing down.


    Swoosh!


    The long spear narrowly swept past his throat, missing by mere millimeters. Garen''s feet trod down hard on the water wall, and with an audible ''bam'', he borrowed the momentum from the high-speed spinning. Instantly, man and blade turned into a saber wheel. He quickly landed behind Slayer, and spun toward the latter''s back.


    Clang!


    The umbrella handle and saber crashed into each other. Slayer did not turn around, blocking Garen''s attack backhandedly. His entire body was sent out flying, straight into the wall of water.


    "Garrotte," Slayer murmured softly. The sound waves seemed to come with an accompaniment, some tremors of power.


    Barroom. White snake-like waves instantly darted out of the countless water walls, rushing at Garen as though by magic!


    Garen''s attack was blocked, and he leaped back lightly, landing on the whirlpool water wall behind him. The soles of his feet vibrated at high speeds, neutralizing the immense spinning force of the whirlpool''s walls of water. As a result, he stood as steady as he would on flat land.


    "Now that you''re all warmed up, isn''t it time to bust out the big guns?" His spear immediately vanished, leaving an afterimage, and his whole person lit up with white flames.


    Swoosh swoosh swoosh. All the waves were easily slashed apart, vanishing. The spear appeared again instantly, and Garen held it in his hand, pointing it diagonally downward.


    Slayer''s eyes darkened. He stood on another wall of water, completely motionless. The two of them stood off against each other, with more than ten meters between them.


    "As expected, you truly have gotten considerably stronger." He threw away the umbrella handle off-handedly.


    "Looks like I can''t hold back any longer¡­ If you die, I hope she¡­ won''t blame me for it."


    "?" Garen frowned. Evidently, Slayer had yet to use his true power until now.


    "I once killed a strange creature." Slayer lifted his right hand, his palm facing upward, as though he was holding something up. "His eyes were pitch black and gave me a very strange feeling."


    Garen''s heart gave a jolt, and he immediately knew that Slayer was talking about a Void Creature.


    "And then?"


    Slayer''s palm began to expand slowly.


    "I sense that your scent is very similar to theirs¡­"


    Psh-sha!


    His right arm began to swell up, from the shoulder up to the palm. A sharp white bone jutted out of his shoulder.


    At the same time, Slayer''s whole body began to change in shape. He grew from 180 centimeters to more than two meters, and all the muscles on his body grew tougher and stronger. Even his head began to swell quickly. The muscle on the back of his head grew into a strange triangular shape, as though he had a flesh-colored triangle hanging from his nape.


    His chest sunk inward, revealing a neat circular hole.


    Psst!


    The circular hole actually went completely through Slayer''s chest, revealing the dark blue wall of seawater behind him. It formed a hole that penetrated his chest completely.


    Things like fins appeared on Slayer''s palms, connected to the backs of his hands. His toes all grew sharper, and these came with long, black, dagger-like nails.


    Within a few short seconds, Slayer had changed from a pretty boy into a powerful monster that barely looked human.


    "The First Original Sin." He abruptly gathered immense Soul Energy into the middle of his palm, condensing them into a ball, a small red ball. Its center was distorted and jutted out slightly, as though there was an insect or something trying to worm its way out of the red ball.


    Garen narrowed his eyes. This strange situation was beginning to reach beyond his understanding.


    To think that this World could contain such a high level of distortion and mutation. Slayer''s Soul Energy Forces were already dense enough to shock Garen. Although he clearly only had one Soul Ring, Slayer had clearly already honed his utilization of it to the extreme. This level of power activation had even surpassed Demon Lords who were two Soul Ring Levels higher than him,


    They were both Demon Lords, but Garen knew he could reach such an extent of power! As expected of the main character of this universe! And the leader of the Four Cornerstones.


    Wisps of dangerous aura began to emanate from Slayer, circling around Garen like ice-cold poisonous snakes.


    Evidently, the Slayer right now was already strong enough to pose a threat to his life. This was no longer a simple battle that did not involve the soul, this was a battle to the death between Demon Lords. If they were to fall here, even their Soul Rings and the will of their Souls would be completely destroyed.


    Chack.


    Garen held the saber in front of him, his eyes narrowing and the white flames on his body growing more intense.


    "Thunder."


    There was a soft sound, and Garen suddenly felt his vision blur. The previously dark center of the whirlpool lit up abruptly, and countless bolts of blue lightning filled his field of vision.


    All he could feel was countless bolts of lightning crashing toward him. It was as though the whole whirlpool had instantly turned into Slayer''s electricity-conducting tool.


    There was nowhere to hide!!


    He was completely surrounded by the walls of water and the whirlpool, so Garen had nowhere to hide. All he could do was hunker down and take it on.


    Boom!!


    Torrents of electricity crashed into his body, and Garen''s hair began to rise from the tips. As soon as the electricity made his hair stand up, his own Soul Energy would fix it again, so the two forces remained at a delicate balance.


    But his Soul Energy was now being consumed at twice the rate.


    "Era." Slayer''s iguana-like blood-red eyes opened abruptly, and he disappeared from the spot.


    The next time he reappeared, he stood behind Garen. Soundlessly but viciously, he pressed the red ball in his hand into Garen''s back. There was a difference in their speeds again!


    Garen just managed to turn around and only had time to hold his blade in front of him.


    Ka-chak!


    There was a sound of metal breaking. In a world invisible to outsiders, the Soul Energy Ball in Slayer''s hand crashed into the blade. The temperature fluctuated from high to low, and the amplitude of the electric currents changed several dozen times in the same instant. Even if the blade was made of a special metal, it still could not handle such rapid changes. One last palm hit, applying more strength to it.


    The saber snapped.


    That powerful palm hit struck Garen straight in the chest.


    Barroom!!!


    There was a terribly loud sound, and the enormous whirlpool collapsed completely. Garen was sent out flying backward like a rocket, breaking straight through the entire whirlpool.


    But he did not fly out fast enough to surpass the speed of Slayer''s continued chase. Instead, he was blocked by the vast volume of seawater, which kept reducing his speed.

 1226 Battle to the Death 2

    Slayer appeared in the air above Garen quickly, his sharp fingers attempting to gauge out Garen''s eyes.


    "It''s over."


    His expression was emotionless.


    His fingers stabbed downward like knives.


    The strength and speed behind that attack were enough to instantly make Garen''s eyeballs explode, and he could even shatter Garen''s brain at the same time too.


    Smack!


    All of a sudden, Garen grabbed his palm tightly. Slayer''s finger was suspended just a hair away from his face, but it could not move even a millimeter more.


    The immense impact brought both of them crashing down, making them sink into the bottomless ocean.


    Blood spread slowly from Garen''s chest, the blood-red water accompanied by hints of pain. As a result, Garen''s previously calm expression finally turned serious.


    "How many years has it been¡­ since I got hurt?"


    His murmur penetrated Slayer''s eardrums.


    In that instant, he abruptly felt a chilling wave of immense threat.


    He did not think twice. Even though his average physical fitness levels had doubled, he still retreated instantly, without an ounce of hesitation.


    Smack!


    But even so, his arms still fell prey to Garen''s tight grip. He looked down to see an eerie smile on Garen''s heart. An ominous premonition crossed his heart.


    "Goodbye," Garen spoke softly.


    In that instant, an extremely vast wave of Soul Energy Forces abruptly burst forth from Garen''s body, the invisible Soul Energy instantly forming an enormous sphere that surrounded them both.


    This was purely a clashing of Soul Rings, but they could only truly collide when their limbs came into contact, so that their bodies acted as a medium. Garen''s two Soul Rings rushed madly at Slayer''s single Soul Ring.


    The clash between the three was like a collision of three spheres. Large torrents of blood gushed out of Slayer''s eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and nose, dying all the seawater around him red.


    "You¡­!!" He stared at Garen disbelievingly. It had never occurred to him that Garen would have two Soul Rings. One of them even had a lingering wisp of Mind Reader''s aura.


    At that moment, he finally understood why Garen would choose to take him on, one-on-one, and even why he chose to conduct the battle in these uncharted and unclaimed waters. He offered the condition that the loser would have to obey the victor as bait, but everything, all of it was just a trick to hide the truth from the others. His real aim was to absorb Slayer''s Soul Ring!


    In terms of simply excavating Soul Rings, he had already reached the highest pinnacle. Even those who had reached the peak of the Demon Lord One-Ringed Level could not do much better once they got this far. The only way to know that would be to fight them yourself.


    But right now, Garen grabbed the opportunity and used their bodily contact to start a battle of Soul Rings. It was no longer a test of power utilization. It was the same as in a regular fight, once the two fighters become embroiled in a close-quarters wrestling match, fighting skills such as throwing punches or evading hits become pointless. It would come down directly to a test of stamina and strength.


    "This is truly the end." There was an eerie smile on Garen''s face.


    "No!!!" Slayer''s eyes shone brightly with red light. "Nobody can defeat me! Nobody!!!"


    It was the first time he lost his cool. He howled loudly, the muscles all over his body twisting and rippling madly. Many mysterious symbols and words appeared on the surface of his body, spreading from the black hole in his chest and moving all over his body like countless black tadpoles.


    "This is?!!!" Garen instantly felt something was wrong, so he quickly released his grip and attempted to retreat.


    "Above the Clouds! Thunder Field! Wind Jade!!!" Slayer roared, ferociously and madly.


    A large number of high-pressure white electric arches appeared all around him suddenly, and most of these electric arches wove into a white net of electricity that trapped Garen within it.


    A torrent of seawater gathered in Slayer''s hands, compressing and condensing, becoming a giant white bow and arrow that was as tall as two people and more than a meter thick.


    An enormous ice-crystal arrow, crackling with white electricity, aimed straight at Garen who was retreating backward rapidly.


    Boom-boom¡­


    There was the sound of real thunder in the distant sky.


    Barroom!!!


    A pillar of electricity, several dozen meters thick, descended from the sky and shrunk instantly. It landed on the tip of Slayer''s nocked arrow, turning into a blinding ball of white light.


    "Are you trying to pull me down with you!?" Garen''s scalp had gone numb. Even he could not take this amount of power in this Universe, and the same went without saying for Slayer, whose body type was the same as his! Did he have a death wish?!


    "Pull you down with me?" The red light in Slayer''s eyes grew brighter and brighter. His voice sounded androgynous, eerily high-pitched, as though the mutation had changed his voice as well. "No, I will reincarnate. You, on the other hand, will fall to the depths of this bottomless oceanic abyss, and become fertilizer for this entire World¡­"


    Garen could already feel his body temperature start to rise rapidly, white smoke was rising from his skin even though it was underwater.


    But Garen was no weakling either, he had experienced countless life-or-death battles. The panic from before was instantly suppressed. If he did not fight for his life now, he would surely never have a chance again.


    Right now, his Soul Energy Sphere had completely sealed Slayer within it, and Slayer was directly invoking an explosion of lightning. Although he could not break out of the Soul Energy seal, he could still drag Garen into the afterlife with him before the Soul Energy Sphere finished him off!


    "Well, I''d like to see who dies first, you or me!!" Brutality rose in Garen''s heart, and he used his palms like knives, abruptly carving out a circle beside him.


    "Sky Sword, Four Directional Stars!!!" All the strength in his body surged into his palm blades, and he jumped up fiercely, pouncing downward as he fell. All of the immense Soul Energy was resonating at the same time.


    The infinite seawater before him was slashed apart as though cut by a gigantic knife, creating a huge vacuum and isolating the two of them completely. Garen''s twin sabers beckoned forth a huge torrent of seawater and waves, forming the image of a peacock that screeched piercingly. It pounced downward madly, like a gigantic bird on the hunt.


    Slayer raised his bow and gathered his Soul Energy together with the lightning, the red light in his eyes sparkling like the sun. The tip of the arrow was absorbing the white water currents around it madly, as though they were countless white strings gathering at the tip of his arrow.


    Bloody cracks were forming on the muscles all over his body. His muscle sinews began to snap one after the other, like steel cables that could not take the pressure.


    All of a sudden, he relaxed his arm, and the giant white bow and arrow vanished abruptly. The bow fell apart and shattered, whereas the arrow just disappeared from the spot, rushing instead at Garen with unimaginably terrifying speed and strength.


    Barroom!!!!!


    The entire blue ocean gave a jolt, and then a round blue image made of lightning actually began to appear on the surface of the water. After a mere two seconds, all the seawater had vanished from the several hundred meters taken up by the electric image, and a giant black abyss had appeared on the surface of the ocean.


    Strangely, the water around it did not cascade into the black hole. Instead, it just turned straight to ice.


    The storm of lightning and the layer of ice spread across the walls of water, engaged in a tug-of-war battle. One half had turned to ice, and the other half was lightning.


    The white and the blue fought evenly against each other, dividing and splitting.


    Boom!!!


    Endless white vapor surged out of the black hole and shot into the air. The white steam became a white pillar of air, shooting straight into the sky.


    The infinite pillar of air currents rushed madly into the sky, turning into many white clouds. The white clouds grew thicker as time passed, and the sky grew dimmer. The endlessly clear and sunny sky above the ocean slowly began to darken.


    Ker-chak!


    A bolt of lightning flashed by, illuminating the gradually darkening ocean.


    Whoosh¡­


    There was a sudden and heavy downpour of rain.


    The white air current pillar also gradually shrank, becoming thinner and longer. The original white hue slowly turned grey, until it finally became a sea tornado. The giant tornado was connected to the sky and the earth, like a grey-black funnel.


    As the hurricane blew at the heavy downpour, rather than falling straight down, the rain formed many disorderly slanted lines in the air.


    On an abandoned island nearby.


    On a yellow beach, Garen and Slayer both lay face-up at the line where the sand met the sea, all the strength drained from their bodies.


    The two of them were covered in pale wounds. Both of Garen''s arms were broken, his chest had sunk in, and one of his ears had been ripped off.


    And Slayer had returned to his original form, having broken both legs and lost one arm completely. He had also gone blind in one eye.


    It was a draw with injuries on both sides. Neither of them expected that outcome.


    Lying on their backs on the beach, both of them had no extra strength left.


    "Hah¡­ Haha¡­ I won in the end, after all¡­" Garen forced a smile. He had lost a lot of blood together with his grievous injuries, and other than his external injuries, he had also sustained massive internal damage. He had a concussion too, which was why his senses were a bit blurry even now.


    "You¡­ won?" Slayer smiled with great difficulty. "Or do you think you won?"


    "All of your Soul Energy will be mine eventually." Garen panted heavily and began to turn over, crawling toward Slayer''s direction slowly.


    He could no longer remember how long it had been since he got injured like this. But that just showed how high the quality of Slayer''s Soul Ring was, it was far better than the other three Cornerstones.


    Slayer''s physical fitness had only been temporarily increased, unlike Garen, who was already usually this powerful. There was still a difference there, which was why he was basically unable to move now, and could not do anything but to watch Garen approach him slowly.


    Watching Garen''s slowly crawling body, the red light in his eyes died down, and they gradually lost their glow, returning to their original state that was no different from a normal person.


    After the red light faded, confusion and dazedness flashed through Slayer''s eyes.


    "I think¡­ I remembered something¡­ something I had once forgotten."


    He murmured dazedly.


    Garen dragged himself there step by step. The remaining distance between them was the distance of death.


    Strangely, however, Slayer was not scared at all. After the red light vanished from his eyes, he seemed to have forgotten fear, and instead, he only continued to search his own memories, growing more lost as he went.


    "I once¡­ forgot some very important things, I think¡­ Very important¡­" His brain was completely blank, but some familiar yet unfamiliar memories were slowly appearing there.


    Finally, Garen moved up to him, reached out a hand slowly, and pressed his forehead.


    "It''s over." He heaved a long sigh.


    "That''s right¡­ It''s over," Slayer replied mysteriously. His gaze had instantly become oddly clear, without a hint of red light. "I remember now¡­"


    Before he knew it, a mist began to rise slowly in his eyes.


    "Many, many years ago¡­ I wasn''t like this."


    Garen looked at his clear eyes and paused slightly. He seemed to have understood something as well.


    Slayer was never any Slayer to begin with, he was being controlled. That red light from before was the source of that control, and now that he was on the brink of death, he could finally obtain release, returning to the person he used to be.


    No wonder Garen sensed that he had two different types of forces in his Soul Energy during their earlier battle.


    All this time, Garen had sensed that something was wrong with Slayer.


    "I don''t have a future life, and I don''t have many attachments at all." Slayer''s eyes were strangely peaceful. As though he did not see Garen''s hand suspended above him at all.


    Garen was quiet for a moment. His hand grabbed downward abruptly.


    Pff.

 1227 Truth 1

    At a small unnamed port somewhere in Slann.


    Yuria was wearing a black windbreaker, and he leaped lightly onto a little black boat that rocked constantly on the surface of the sea. Looking at the woman in black who stood before him, his expression was heavy.


    "Who on earth are you? What are you planning by calling me here?"


    Several days had passed since he rescued Mind Reader, and they had been on the run ever since. After he realized that the latter had lost his mind-reading ability, he decided to see this kind deed of his to the end. He had gone to many lengths to get Mind Reader out of Slann, but just as he was about to leave, he received a mysterious message that told him to wait here for someone at this small port at this very time. They wanted to tell him something extremely important, it said.


    He was not surprised to see that the one who invited him out was a woman dressed in black. She wore a veil over her face so he could not see her features properly, but Yuria found that there was something vaguely familiar about her figure and posture.


    "You''ve probably noticed it, right?" The woman stood alone on a dilapidated little yacht. There were no signs of anyone else around her. A hint of faint red sunlight shone on the line between the sky and the sea, the lingering rays of a reluctant sun that had completely sunk beneath the horizon.


    The sea breeze blew constantly at the duo''s hair and clothes, causing them to flap softly in the wind.


    "Noticed what?" Yuria was perplexed, but he already had a gut feeling about it.


    The woman laughed. "You''re no fool. A lot of things happen right next to you, and yet you pretend to see them. Or rather, you just look right past them," said the woman calmly. "My name is Parakeet, you may address me as such."


    "Parakeet?" Yuria frowned. "What are you trying to say? You''re also the one who gave me those messages earlier, yes? Am I right?"


    "Yeah¡­ That was me." Parakeet nodded slightly. She reached out her hand and pulled back some of her black hair. "Do you want to know the truth? If you do, come with me."


    She turned around and walked into the interior of the boat, letting down the boat''s drapes to block his view of what it was like inside.


    Yuria hesitated. In truth, he already knew who she was with certainty. It was the mysterious girl who had rescued him once, the one who appeared suddenly and disappeared just as suddenly.


    If she wanted to kill me, she''s already had countless chances to kill me. There''s no need for her to do it now¡­


    He steadied his heart and strode onto the boat, ducking past the drapes and entering.


    As soon as he went in, he felt a soft warm body fall into his embrace. It was Parakeet, and she wore not even one shred of clothing, her hand reaching for his crotch expertly.


    The two of them tumbled into the already-made bed inside.


    ********************


    The seawater surged up and retreated, over and over again.


    Garen looked at Slayer, who had sunk deep into the ocean. He was expressionless, feeling neither the joy of victory nor the pity that should be there.


    He had assumed that Slayer was the ultimate boss, and Slayer was the strongest boss in the plot as well, but over here, Garen had discovered a few puzzling problems with that theory.


    "If he was being controlled, then who is the true mastermind behind everything?"


    Garen looked at his current Soul Rings. The third Soul Ring was complete, and the fourth was halfway done. Still, his most precious takeaway was not these Rings, it was the nearly endless rush of knowledge and experience regarding martial arts and killing that surged at Garen the moment Slayer''s Soul Seed fell apart. The reason he could use a single Soul Ring to such overwhelming effect was not only because his own Realm was high enough, more importantly, it was because his knowledge of the laws of this World and Universe far surpassed Garen''s.


    Compared to an outsider like Garen, Slayer was a powerful being born and bred here, so naturally, his understanding of this World''s laws went far beyond what an outsider could emulate.


    Now that he had this experience and inspiration, Garen finally noticed that his power usage rate, especially when it came to the usage of his Soul Rings, had only risen from what was about half previously to about 80% now. That meant that his power had more than doubled, right!?


    "Slayer was so overpowered, and someone was still capable of controlling him¡­ This thing behind him sure is deep¡­" Garen''s heart was slightly heavy.


    He took out his Lighthouse communication device. At this point, there was no longer any more reason for him to continue staying here.


    He activated the communication device with a smack, and as soon as he opened it, he received an influx of many messages from Nine-Tailed Fox and the others.


    "Where are you? Garen! If you need help, just say it!" Nine-Tailed Fox''s message was very sincere.


    "You dead yet? If not, gimme a beep!" Kong Xinxue seemed cold and distant, but there was a hint of concern.


    And then there were the messages from his cell phone that had been transferred to the communication device.


    "Minister, the east side is safer, and the search team probably won''t actively search for you. I''ll be waiting for you at the little green port, come here if you need any assistance or support." Yuria sent a message.


    "They''re such small fry, and still they dare to block your path, Minister? They have a death wish! Hahaha! Remember to call me if you have any new missions!" Butcher was as brash as ever.


    "Sorry, Minister, we couldn''t do anything when you needed us." Double-Tailed Scorpion''s message.


    There was a long list of messages just like those.


    Garen read them all, one by one, and then replied to a select few, like Nine-Tailed Fox''s and Yuria''s.


    After that, he turned on the communication device''s projector.


    Swoosh.


    A three-dimensional transparent screen was immediately projected onto the sandy beach before him, and there were several options printed clearly on it, one of which was the option to leave this world. Others included forums, inter-World communication, item transfers, and so on.


    Garen stretched out his hand to the ''Leave World'' option and found that it required a certain number of contribution points.


    Beep beep. Suddenly the communication device rang again, and this time it was Yuria.


    "Minister, I might have discovered Illusionist''s whereabouts."


    Garen''s finger paused slightly.


    "Illusionist¡­" As his disciple, Yuria had learned many of his skills directly from Garen. In a sense, their relationship was much stronger than expected. To Yuria, who respected his teachers greatly, Garen was like a teacher, but also like an older brother. If he had secrets that he would not tell anyone else, he still would not hide anything from Garen.


    That was precisely why Garen vaguely saw of Yuria as something of a legacy or footprint that he was leaving in this World. Garen treated him like a descendant and never even thought of absorbing his Cornerstone ability.


    "Where are you now?" he replied directly.


    A reply came from the other end quickly.


    "At a small port, I''m sending you the coordinates now. Master, I might really need you to do this personally this time. The situation is extremely dire and very troublesome." Yuria''s words were particularly grave.


    Garen mused over it. Yuria was a very honest guy, and he would never simply say anything he was not confident about. If he said it was bad, it must extremely bad.


    Now that he had absorbed Slayer, this World no longer posed any threat to him. With his current level of Soul Energy, even if he were tossed into the center of a nuclear explosion, only his body would be destroyed at the most. His Soul Rings and Soul Will could easily find another body and be reborn once more, completely unaffected.


    In that case, he might as well help his disciple once before leaving. It would be better if he could find Illusionist as well, an extra Soul Ring never hurt. And, from the depths of his heart, Garen had an inkling that the mastermind behind Slayer could very well be Illusionist. Illusionist had never appeared before, and no one knew his true identity. At the same time, he was the only one who could have controlled the terrifying Slayer, one of the Four Great Cornerstones.


    After all, from what he had seen of Slayer''s combat power earlier, try as he may, Garen simply could not think of anyone else who could have mentally controlled Slayer.


    "I''ll finish this last thing, and then I''ll leave." Garen put away his communication device and walked toward the sea lightly. His legs rapidly left a long white line on the surface of the ocean, as though he was walking on dry land, and he headed into the distance, moving faster than a high-speed yacht.


    *************************


    Yuria embraced Parakeet gently, but his hand wandered all over her body slowly. It was not because he desired her, but because he wanted to feel the many scars littered all over her body. It was a dense swarm of millipede-like scars that looked unnaturally ugly.


    Bu Parakeet''s superior skill in that aspect had shown Yuria an intense euphoria that rivaled drugs. That was enough to have him hooked.


    "They''re real ugly, huh."


    Parakeet lay naked in Yuria''s arms.


    The two of them held each other in the cabin of the boat as the boat slowly sailed into the distance, wandering further and further away on the calm ocean surface.


    "No, that doesn''t matter," replied Yuria honestly. "Is everything you just said true?"


    "I''ve no reason to lie to you," said Parakeet calmly. "The real reason I dared to come look for you here is because Slayer is dead."


    "!!!" Yuria was stunned. "That''s impossible!!" He had seen how terrifyingly strong Slayer was with his own eyes, armies from the three countries surrounded him, and most of the powerhouses joined the fray as well, but they could not even grievously injure him, much less kill him.


    "There''s nothing impossible about it." A gentle smile of release rose over Parakeet''s pretty features. "Slayer and I have Sight Sharing, so when he died, I was the first to know."


    Yuria paused.


    "Sight Sharing?" He was slightly confused about the true nature of the relationship between this mysterious girl, Parakeet, and Slayer.


    Parakeet did not answer immediately, but instead, she buried her head deep into Yuria''s chest. Savoring the warmth of Yuria''s body like a cat. Her own body was so cold, it barely had any warmth at all.


    "You¡­?" As soon as Yuria spoke, she pressed her finger to his lips lightly.


    "Did you know?" Parakeet opened her eyes wide, looking up and into Yuria''s eyes.


    "I''m not actually as pure as you think I am¡­"


    Yuria did not say anything and just looked at her confusedly. He liked this girl, even though she was mysterious, even though he knew far too little about her, he still liked her. And she had saved him before. That was reason enough.


    "I¡­ am the tool Slayer used for releasing himself," Parakeet said with a smile. "Do you understand? Releasing."


    She moved her body lightly.


    "Just like this."


    She instantly used her body to completely envelop a part of Yuria''s. The two of them merged deeply once more.


    "Why¡­!" No matter how generous a man was, he would still be unable to accept that the girl he liked was actually another man''s¡­


    Yuria was the same. He immediately felt as though the girl in front of him was unfamiliar and did not belong to him anymore. That feeling of destroyed innocence and the ecstasy coming from his lower body left him with extremely complicated and conflicting feelings.

 1228 Truth 2

    "Sexual release is the only way to balance out Slayer''s violence." Parakeet spoke as though this had nothing to do with her, wearing a faint smile on her face. "Hence, I was chosen. This body had been patched up, repaired, and used for a long time, and it''s also picked up many extremely useful skills to help him achieve release." She moved her body rhythmically. "See, isn''t this skill helpful? Don''t you feel great?"


    Yuria suddenly felt a surge of displeasure and distorted emotions coming from his heart. All of a sudden, he felt as though the girl on top of him was so unbelievably dirty. So much so that he almost wanted to puke, but his body continued to produce that unceasing sense of euphoria.


    On one hand, he wanted to escape from here, but on the other, he could not help but continue to meet her advances, thrusting unstoppably.


    "Did you know?" Parakeet''s smile faded. "The truth is, my employer is Illusionist. You can send this information to your teacher. I think he would be very happy to know that."


    "What!?" Yuria''s heart grew unbearably pained. "The reason you approached me this time was so that you could reach my teacher?!"


    "That''s right¡­ If I could just sleep with him, I''d be willing to do anything. Tsk-tsk¡­ What a powerful man." A pure smile of adoration appeared on Parakeet''s face. "Did you know? He was the one who killed the practically invincible Slayer with his own hands. Even Sea God had to retreat when faced with Slayer''s final form¡­"


    Smack!!


    Yuria slapped her fiercely. He got up and quickly put on his clothes, then he rushed out of the boat cabin, panting heavily.


    Parakeet''s left cheek swelled up quickly, and as she dazedly watched Yuria run outside, she suddenly began to laugh maniacally.


    ***********


    Huff¡­ huff¡­


    Yuria panted heavily, his head a complete mess. He tried to find a reason that would justify Parakeet lying, but no matter how he analyzed it, no matter how much he wanted to lie to himself, Parakeet''s expert and exceptional skills in bed, as well as the wounds on all the crucial parts of her body, all proved that everything she said was true.


    Ah!!!!


    Out of nowhere, Yuria began to roar madly, as though trying to viciously vent the heaviness in his chest. By strangely, his roar shook the fish in the surrounding sea and made them float to the surface, belly up. Large schools of fish had all been knocked unconscious.


    The sound waves formed many ripples that spread out wide and crashed into the distance.


    The power behind this simple sound wave seemed to be a bit overpowered.


    Yuria himself was shocked by this sudden change. He abruptly silenced his voice and looked down. There was a web of tiny cracks on the deck of the boat beneath his feet as well, and the cracks spread outward from the center. They were clearly also formed by the sound waves from his angry venting shout.


    "Have you noticed it?" Parakeet''s voice came from behind him. She walked out slowly, wearing white night-robes to cover her heavily scarred body.


    "Your power and your body are growing stronger and stronger, and sturdier as well."


    Yuria''s brain was a mess. He did not dare to turn around and look, just the sound of her voice already awakened the unstoppable impulse to kill in his heart. His disappointment and depression kept piling up in his chest, growing taller and stronger.


    "Do you want to know why?" Parakeet laughed. "It''s all for one thing. Yuri''s Kiss."


    "Then why did you come after me?" Yuria turned around. He was no longer a young, naive child, he was just emotionally vulnerable. He steadied his emotions and said, "What''s Yuri''s Kiss?"


    Parakeet walked up to him, and they stood at the jetty together.


    "Illusionist caught them so that they could invent something for you."


    "For me?" The answer in Yuria''s heart was growing clearer.


    "That''s right, for you." Parakeet''s smile grew even more bewitching. "Could it be that you still can''t believe that Illusionist, the leader of White Crab, is actually your younger sister, Yurijue?"


    Yuria''s brain was even more confused now.


    "Xiaojie¡­ Illusionist¡­ Mother¡­" He lowered his head and wiped his face forcefully.


    "Mother?" Parakeet shook her head. "Your mother died several dozen years ago. Light Path is not your mother, all of it was a dream your little sister made for you. Mother, relatives, friends, family¡­ Do you believe me? I''ve followed you for more than eighty years, and we''ve slept together at least several thousand times, do you believe that? Hehehe¡­" She began to laugh manically again.


    "No way!!" Yuria''s expression sank. "Don''t you try to trick me!" He shoved Parakeet away and walked toward the cabin again.


    Parakeet stood alone at the helm, smiling. She looked at Yuria''s back when he walked away as though she was looking at a child throwing a tantrum.


    "Tell your teacher that Illusionist is at White Crab Island."


    When he heard the voice from outside, Yuria tried his best to calm down his emotions, taking out his phone quickly and sending a message to his teacher, Garen. But his brain was still a whirling mess of confusion.


    "No, she might be lying to me, she''s just saying it to get to me, I shouldn''t believe her so easily. I have to find Xiaojie, and ask her myself! And Mother¡­ Mother¡­" He remembered that Mother knew perfectly well that he was looking for her and still refused to appear, disappearing without a trace even until now. And his younger sister had suddenly vanished mysteriously too, while others could easily get a hold of his location whenever they wanted, leading to the attacks by White Crab. That included Teacher Garen, Big Sister Nine-Tailed Fox and the rest, everyone had been ambushed.


    White Crab''s motives had always been unknown. They defeated him many times, but they never had any intention of killing him.


    "I have to get to the bottom of this!" Yuria gripped his fist tightly.


    ***********************


    Under the cover of night, Garen slowly entered the nearest port. There were several large white yachts stopped in the bay within the marina, and one ship was slowly sailing out of it.


    The place where Garen alighted onto the port was also the darkest part of it.


    He looked into the distance directly in front of him and saw a horizontal road ahead. A car just happened to drive past a streetlamp as he watched, and there was a young man with his earphones on, holding his phone as he strolled past leisurely.


    At night, this port seemed quiet and orderly.


    "This is the port Yuria mentioned."


    He had changed out of his torn-up rags into a clean white suit, provided by a flashy middle-aged man who had passed by him on a cruise ship. It looked costly and was clearly used for formal dinners.


    "Excuse me, are you Mr. Garen?" Suddenly, a woman''s voice came from the darkness on Garen''s right.


    "You are?" Garen had noticed this woman hiding behind the crates a long time ago, he simply did not point her out. Now that she had spoken, it clearly showed that she was the person sent here to receive him, waiting for him here in advance.


    "I am the person Mr Yuria arranged to greet you, please come with me." The woman walked out naturally. She wore a black office lady skirt and looked just like a regular white-collar worker. Her looks were very average as well, she was the type that did not catch any attention at all.


    Garen naturally followed her to the roadside nearby. There was a white car parked there, and the two of them got in, one in the front seat and one in the back.


    At this point, Garen did not worry about traps or anything like that, his abilities allowed him to be completely fearless of whatever the woman might be planning.


    "Where are we going?" he asked nonchalantly.


    "Lady Light Path has wanted to meet you for the longest time, but she can''t make an appearance right now, so we borrowed Yuria''s name to receive you. I hope you''ll understand," the woman said in a low voice, finally revealing the truth.


    "Light Path?" Garen remembered who that was now, it was Yuria''s mother, the woman who used to be the top bounty hunter in this world. He was wondering why Yuria did not come to meet him in person. It was slightly illogical considering Yuria''s personality.


    "You guys sure are something, making me go to her," Garen said off-handedly.


    "No¡­ Please don''t take it that way," said the woman hurriedly. "We''re very, very sorry, but we have no choice, the lady, she¡­ Sigh, you''ll know when you get there, sir."


    Garen was not particularly bothered, and just nodded.


    "Get driving then."


    In the night, the car accelerated slowly, driving toward the main road.


    Just then, near the port, Yuria just got out of a cab. He dialed Garen''s number hurriedly, but no one picked up. Glancing at his phone, he saw that there was no signal.


    "Damned stupid phone! What the hell is this!"


    Ever since he separated from Parakeet on the ocean, he had been in a vicious mood and decided to get to the truth behind all of this no matter what.


    It just so happened that he was to meet Teacher Garen here, but he never thought that there would be no phone signal here.


    "There''s probably a signal jammer here," he hazarded a guess inwardly. "Parakeet invited Teacher over here using my name, but she won''t let me receive him. What on earth is her goal?" He was frustrated, but he did not worry about Garen''s safety at all. Considering how strong the Minister was, and how he had even killed Slayer, what were the chances of a terrible situation like the Three Nations'' allied raid happening in a small place like this?


    Since the wanted order came down from the Three Nations, the truth was they would be grateful if Garen never picked a fight with them. They would never anger him on purpose first.


    Yuria flagged down another cab quickly and drove toward the distance. In the car, he asked the driver.


    "Cabbie, does your phone have a signal?"


    The driver gave him a strange look and waved his phone slightly.


    "That is weird, it looks like there isn''t much of a signal here. Strange, I just noticed it too."


    Yuria instantly felt helpless.


    The signal only returned after the car went on for quite some distance.


    *****************


    "Hello? Yuria?" Garen took out the communication device''s earphone and stuffed it into his ear. "I''m fine, you don''t have to come meet me anymore. Something came up on my side, I''m going to meet someone, don''t worry."


    Garen sat in a bright, wide reception hall. The whole floor of the hall was made of black marble, such that he could almost see his reflection in it.


    And right now, there was a young woman sitting opposite him. She wore pearl earrings and a long black lace dress, looking dignified and majestic, beautiful and graceful. The only flaw within this beauty was that the woman was blind in both eyes. She could not see anything at all.


    Hanging up the call, Garen sat on the chair with his back held straight. He casually pressed a few buttons on the table, adjusting the brightness of the wall light beside him slightly and turning it dimmer.


    "Alright, Lady Light Path, let us now talk about what happened between you and the siblings, Yuria and Yurijie. You said just now that those two aren''t actually your children at all, what does that mean?"


    The woman sat properly on her seat and sipped at her tea lightly. If someone could look at the hem of her skirt underneath the table, they would notice that she did not actually have legs. They seemed to have been amputated by someone.


    "It''s just as you understand it, it''s exactly what I just said," she replied, gently and deeply.

 1229 Truth 3

    Garen watched Light Path pick up her teacup slowly and sip from it. The aroma of tea wafted around the living hall.


    "It looks like you have been trying to avoid meeting Yuria on purpose."


    Light Path nodded.


    "You are absolutely right, I have been avoiding him on purpose. Or rather, I''ve been avoiding them."


    Garen had also collected a significant amount of information in his Energy Machine Imprint, so when he heard that, he could also guess what she meant.


    But he still needed Light Path to unveil all of the mysteries. He turned his gaze to the woman seated across from him.


    Light Path was a very elegant woman with fair skin and looked like the slightly voluptuous wife from a rich family, rather than a powerful bounty-hunting mercenary.


    "I don''t know if you''ve heard the name Zhi Jinqin," she said in a low voice.


    "Zhi Jinqin?" Garen searched through his memories. "Never heard of it." He shook his head, the name was completely foreign to him.


    "Then you must be familiar with her other name," Light Path smiled slightly, "Yurijie."


    Garen frowned.


    "What do you mean? What does it matter if Yurijie has another name?"


    "Of course it doesn''t matter," Light Path continued. "But what if that name was also the Commander-in-Chief of the White Crab Army? Would you still say it doesn''t matter?"


    "The Commander-in-Chief of the White Crab Army? Are you joking?" Garen instantly laughed. He knew Yurijie, that weak little girl, and she had studied under him as well, so she could also be considered his disciple, like Yuria. However, Yuria had too much potential, so Garen neglected Yurijie most of the time. She was not very conspicuous, and now Light Path was suddenly telling him that this little girl was the Commander-in-Chief of an international mercenary army like White Crab? It was as absurd as someone randomly running up to you and saying that Old Wang next door was the military commander of some country.


    "I''m starting to wonder if you really are Light Path. How can you prove your identity to me?" said Garen casually, leaning into his chair.


    "That would be easy to prove." Light Path clapped her hands, as though she had long since expected this.


    The woman who had driven Garen here earlier appeared again and placed a box in front of Garen.


    "Please look at this."


    The woman retreated, and Light Path extended her hand slightly, signaling Garen to open the box and check.


    "There are pictures of the siblings and me inside, all the photos starting from when they were fifteen, as well as all of my identification documents, and most crucially, my occupational papers. As a mercenary and a bounty hunter, I have my own security code with the National Security Agencies of many large countries, you can feel free to check my information through your connections."


    Garen opened the box and flipped through its contents.


    "I can understand that there''s no reason for you to lie to me, but I still find it extremely hard to believe that Yurijie is the White Crab Commander-in-Chief." He remembered how Yurijie acted around him, she had always been obedient and inconspicuous. No, she could barely even be called inconspicuous, she was practically non-existent.


    Suddenly he felt something amiss. He had always been an extremely alert man, but until now, he still did not have a constant, deep impression of the person he had stayed with, day in and day out, while he was teaching her his skills.


    Garen instantly felt something was wrong.


    Light Path, who had been paying close attention to his expression, smiled slightly.


    "It seems like you''ve noticed something wrong as well."


    Garen frowned and pulled up all of his memories regarding Yurijie, checking them carefully. But he noticed that no matter how he checked them, his information on Yurijie seemed to constantly covered in a veil of fog, so everything was blurry and unclear.


    His frown relaxed. "That''s somewhat interesting."


    Light Path smiled and took out a phone. The screen was illuminated and showing several pictures of a girl''s life.


    "Look at this."


    Garen took it and saw that the phone screen was slowly showing pictures of a girl who looked a lot like Yurijie.


    "These are the pictures from the life of a girl called Zhi Jinqin from more than seventy years ago. I pulled them out from a country''s Security Databank. You can check the Databank any time," Light Path said with a straight face. "Yurijie and Zhi Jinqin are essentially the same person."


    "Then how would you explain her sending the White Crab Army to assault us?" Garen asked, putting down the phone.


    "Zhi Jinqin is a psychopath." Light Path smiled wryly. "If I said that she cut off my legs and blinded my eyes, would you believe me?"


    Garen raised an eyebrow. "Just what is happening here? Please explain it to me in detail." He knew the summarized Plot, but he never knew that there were so many details hidden so deep.


    Light Path nodded. She picked up her cup slowly and sipped from it.


    "In that case, I''ll need to start from more than eighty years ago¡­"


    ********************


    International Center of Disease Control.


    In the clean large white hall, many medical workers were running past each other, and several emergency stretchers were constantly being sent to the many different research labs. Some of the workers had gone to get samples and reports regarding all sorts of different data, and they walked hurriedly, going in and out of the many large labs.


    "How is the situation! Right now!" Inside the Central Information Hub.


    Several people dressed in white uniforms were gathered together, discussing how to deal with the disease emergency.


    "It''s not looking good! The range of the virus contagion has expanded by fifteen times over one night! Initial evaluations have confirmed that it is an airborne contagion!" said a white-haired old man nervously.


    "It feels like we''ve gone back to that Carpo Virus incident back then¡­" Another old professor sighed. "Immediately the highest Code Red alarm, and inform the National Health Ministries. We have to control the spread of the Yuri''s Kiss virus as soon as possible. Announce the symptoms."


    "What about quarantine methods? And disinfection measures?" someone else asked urgently.


    "High-temperature disinfection, the aerial quarantine area must not be smaller than one kilometer!" replied an old professor urgently.


    "This virus is too terrifying! The mortality rate is actually higher 99%!"


    Beep!!!


    All of a sudden, the piercing wail of a siren rang out through the entire center, and a screen instantly appeared on the left of the old professors.


    It was a map of the world.


    The map started off completely blue, but right now, on the three main continents, a red dot was spreading at a speed fast enough to be seen by the naked eye.


    "This is¡­!!"


    Everyone was shocked by the sudden turn of events. Thr live broadcast showed that the spread of the virus, indicated by the red area, was moving faster than anyone could have imagined.


    "At this rate¡­ within twenty hours¡­ the whole world will have been utterly infected!!" Someone began to panic.


    "Is... Is this the end of humanity?!" The old professor''s voice started to tremble.


    **********************


    In the busy capital city


    The compact crowds squeezed against each other, flowing endlessly along the pedestrian street.


    Bang.


    A cola bottle fell from the hands of a little girl carrying a doll.


    "Yangyang? What''s the matter?" Beside her, her mother seemed to have noticed something was wrong with the little girl, so she bent down and frowned, asking.


    "Mommy... My head hurts¡­" The girl raised her head, her face white and crumpled.


    "Did you catch a cold?" The mother crouched down and touched her daughter''s forehead.


    But a terrifying thing occurred, the little girl''s eyes began to bleed with bright red blood that flowed down her cheeks like two bloody streams.


    The mother was completely stunned.


    Just a moment later.


    Ahhhh!!!!


    The screams seemed to explode from different parts of the city at the same time. Men and women, old and young.


    The crowd had been thrown into an uproar. Many people covered their eyes, but the blood kept flowing down their cheeks, dripping onto the floor.


    Countless viruses multiplied quickly and without stopping in the air, and flowed with the air currents, reaching further and further out. Humans, animals, even plants, everything became a target for their infection.


    ****************


    Ka-chak.


    The picture was set into film just like that.


    "Not bad, let''s have one more." A pair of newlyweds was taking wedding photos on top of the skyscraper.


    The photographer smiled wide, telling the two of them to lean closer to each other.


    Smiling, the groom pulled the bride into his arms gently, then closed his eyes and leaned over to kiss her.


    "Kellen¡­" Before he touched his girlfriend''s soft and sexy lips, he heard her panicked and terrified voice. "Kellen, your eyes¡­ they''re bleeding!"


    "What?" The groom felt moisture on his face, so he reached out his hand and wiped it. The blood all over his hand pierced his eyes.


    "Wha¡­ what is this!?"


    "Send him to the hospital, now!! Quick, quick, quick!!" The photographer was the first to respond.


    ****************


    "Yuri''s Kiss."


    "Up until now, infected patients have appeared in 50% of the Red Nation''s territory, and according to the report from the International Center of Disease Control, this virus must be controlled immediately, or else it could very well spread to the rest of the world within twenty hours!"


    The International Union started an emergency long-distance conference.


    "Time is short, I''ve already summoned Special Forces, the special division whose members were modified specially for disease prevention are taking the necessary measures for quarantine and the like."


    The President of the Red Nation looked solemn.


    "All factories will stop production and do everything in their power to aid the disease control!" the President of Slann said sternly.


    "Seal off all the relevant ports and prevent exit or entry, quarantine the Red Nation for now, and remind all the citizens to wear the emergency-distributed gas masks." The President of the Black Federation suggested an effective strategy.


    "I''ve sent the general proposal to the two of you, do execute it as soon as you finish reading through it. We don''t have much time."


    "We''re putting all our efforts into creating a vaccine for the virus."


    "Don''t we at least have a way to slow down the spread of the virus?"


    "No. My team of experts told me that this virus primarily destroys the human brain and nerves, and since it''s too fast-acting and too powerful, the immune system doesn''t even have time to react. Rather than calling it a virus, it''s more like a weapon of war, a biological weapon specially designed to kill people!" said the Red Nation President in a deep, low voice.


    "I got some news from my information network, apparently the source of this Yuri''s Kiss came from the inventions of an organization called White Crab Island. The experts told me that the place is now constantly broadcasting a special wave that can use the magnetic field of the planet to spread all over the planet. At the same time, it''s constantly providing this Yuri''s Kiss virus with the best living conditions and even the energy for it to grow!"


    "It''s like a wireless charger?" The Black Federation President''s face darkened.


    "That''s right."


    "Summon the elite troops right now. Within three hours, I want to see the White Crab Island completely sunk into the ocean," said the Slann President coldly.


    "Why don''t we just sink it with bombs?"


    "We need the relevant information to save the citizens who have already been infected."


    "Then it''s decided."


    "Agreed."

 1230 Truth 4

    "You mean, Zhi Jinqin and Yuria have been alive for more than eighty years? And because of an accident which caused Yuria to lose his memory, Zhi Jinqin used her identity as Illusionist to weave the dream of a good life consisting of loved ones, family, and friends for her brother?" Garen could not believe it.


    Light Path calmly sat in her seat and drank her tea.


    "It''s roughly like that. You comprehend it very accurately."


    Garen knitted his brows together.


    "If it is as you say so, there are a lot of things which would actually make sense."


    There was a glint of sadness in Light Path''s eyes.


    "It is as how you comprehend it."


    "Illusionist, Zhi Jinqin who loved her elder brother very much, was born from pain. She was taken by her father as a experimental subject who killed her beloved playmates her favorite pet. Every day, she could only bear an endless variety of modifications and was regarded as a monster by her mother. She was beaten, abused, and disfigured. She was the most special individual among the Four Great Cornerstones as she possesses the Immortal Body. She could not be killed nor die, but only only live on in suffering. The only warmth she has was her brother, Yuria," Light Path quietly stated.


    "Yuria was a genius and could quickly master any skill and ability he learns, almost like a veteran who has been immersed in them for many years. He was enthusiastic and advocates for justice. Upon discovering that his sister had been abused as an experimental subject, he tried to stop it many times but to no avail and was beaten viciously. Finally, he left out of anger and tried to seek an external aid to rescue his sister but he was accidentally killed by his father. This led to the huge change in Zhi Jinqin''s temperament. She seriously injured and killed her father and after controlling a large group of people, she set up White Crab." Light Path poured out the story in one go.


    "This was how White Crab came about in the beginning."


    "There was a blaze in Red Nation more than eighty years ago. It razed to the ground a huge bio-pharmaceutical base which was worth tens of thousands of investments. It happens to be exactly the same as the starting point of the incident you mentioned," Garen had also found relevant information.


    "You are right. It was that fire, which was only a destruction to cover up all the sinful research," Light Path spoke in a deep voice.


    "So what about their mother?" Garen asked.


    "No idea. Maybe she died or maybe she escaped. But that''s not important anymore." Light Path shook her head. "The most important thing now is that Zhi Jinqin has gone mad."


    "Mad?" Garen had a bad premonition. "What do you mean?!"


    Light Path closed her eyes slowly and breathed deeply.


    "The truth from decades ago, the tragic fate, and the end of the experiment. All of these had brought tremendous pain to Zhi Jinqin. Besides pain, everything that the outside world had brought her was despair. Being able to hold out and going crazy only now, honestly speaking, I am a little surprised."


    Garen did not say anything but continued to listen to her.


    "The most powerful person in the world is actually not Slayer, but Illusionist, who controls Slayer. That is, Zhi Jinqin," Light Path paused, and her breathing became a little rapid, seemingly recalling some bad memories.


    "She modified my memory for decades. Of course, I am still considered lucky as compared to the strongest killer, Situ Ci, whose memory was also modified. Because his will was too firm, and he awakened in advance, he was killed by Zhi Jinqin halfway. At that time, I had felt that something was amiss."


    "Situ Ci? Is that the person who disguised as the father of the Yuria siblings?" Garen asked.


    "Yes." Light Path nodded. "It is him."


    "I didn''t know him at all. I originally had my own lover, my own family... But because of Zhi Jinqin, who thinks that we are very similar to their parents, so everything had changed..." She showed a tragic smile. "Everything is ruined and destroyed."


    "If everything you say is true," Garen calmly said, "then what is the purpose of you specifically inviting me over here and telling me the truth?"


    "You''re indeed the rumored Sword Master. Your words are as clear-cut and prompt as your sword," Light Path complimented slightly in a sentence. "I just want to have a request, a small request.


    "Presumably... There are already elite troops heading to White Crab Island at this moment?" She was being a little mysterious.


    "What do you mean?"


    Garen had just popped the question when his communication device immediately rang out wildly. It was not a call request but a large number of text messages.


    He quickly took it out and scanned through the vast messages. His expression changed instantly.


    "Yuri''s Kiss?!! Zhi Jinqin??" There were Nine-Tailed Fox''s text message, as well as Night Water''s, the never-met-before Sea God''s, his original subordinates, Kong Xinxue''s, and etc... They were the text messages from all those who were related.


    The most prominent of these was Yuria''s. Nearly all the causes and consequences of the matter were stated in the text message.


    In the end, he still regarded Garen as his teacher.


    "If this is the end of the world, then maybe I will become the final protagonist." There was a big smile in Yuria''s final text message.


    "This bastard!!" Garen was enraged. Zhi Jinqin''s identity had been proven without a doubt. If the cure for Yuri''s Kiss was not discovered, and the source was not resolved in twenty hours'' time, the whole planet would turn into a dead zone.


    Although Garen did not care about the life and death of the people on the planet, at least there were friends such as Kong Xinxue, Yuria and others whom he cared for a little. Sitting idly and being indifferent was not his style.


    "Only causing trouble," Garen was speechless and stood up. "It feels like I''m watching a movie, even more so the big scene in a sci-fi movie. I''ll ask for the last time. Are you sure everything you said is true?"


    He looked at Light Path solemnly. With his close-range sensing ability, he could observe all of Light Path''s physiological activity indexes. Sensing whether a person was lying was not the only thing he could do. He could even tell when someone would want to go to the toilet, or when would someone completely digest their food, or when someone would burp. All these small details was clearly grasped by him.


    Garen''s gaze slightly radiated a powerful sense of pressure. Through this, he was finally confirming whether the information from Light Path was true.


    "I dare to guarantee with my life and glory," Light Path answered affirmatively.


    "About Yuri''s Kiss, speak out your request," Garen felt that time was running out. He did not want such a beautiful planet to become a dead zone. That would be too boring. And without people, there would no one to produce products for eating, drinking, and entertainment. It was also unknown whether he, as a Transmigrator, was immune to this kind of virus. He had already planned to head to White Crab Island to personally check whether the situation was true.


    "My request." Light Path paused a little. She looked up and revealed her bright forehead. "You must kill Zhi Jinqin. This is my only wish and prayer."


    Garen knitted his brows slightly together. He saw that Light Path was gently pressing her forehead onto the table. Her expression was full of sincerity and determination.


    "There''s no need for you to say that. If she is really a scoundrel like what you''ve said and has created all these deceptions, I will kill her."


    He turned around and walked out.


    When he was about to reach the door, Light Path''s voice came again.


    "Zhi Jinqin has completely gone crazy."


    Creak. Garen turned the doorknob and walked out slowly. His figure disappeared into the night on the outside world like a wind.


    His mind was still playing back the previous text message from Sea God.


    "Zhi Jinqin wants to destroy all human beings and annihilate all life except for hers and her brother Yuria''s. I am asking you in the name of the Lighthouse Alliance in the hope of getting your help."


    "She wants to become the first Eve and create a new world. She thinks that everything is out of control, so she has decided to simply turn the table. This time it all depends on you! The strongest Sword Master Garen, you are now saving the world on behalf of all mankind. By the way, I have been infected along with Kong Xinxue and Li Hua. If you don''t succeed, then..." Night Water''s purposely relaxed tone was filled with an irrepressible panic.


    "Also, before we can get rid of the infection, we cannot leave this world. Lighthouse has issued a directive for the prevention of the epidemic, completely cordoning off this area we''re in. Only after the epidemic is resolved then can we leave."


    "Giving me another reason," Garen murmured. He never thought that he would lose. Be it Slayer or Zhi Jinqin, they were just a small stepping stone he had encountered by chance in this world.


    *********************


    A huge tornado-shaped silvery-white mountain stood on a vast blue sea.


    The sea crashed against this several kilometers-tall giant tornado-mountain from the side. On the vast blue sea under the night sky, the moonlight shone onto the sea surface, reflecting a large armada of ships and warships on the surrounding sea waters.


    The combat helicopters and drones that took off from the distant aircraft carrier were as dense as a swarm of bees as they circled around the tornado-mountain, shooting down bright and clear white light beams.


    There were Red Nation''s fleet, Slann''s fleet, and the furthest Black Federation''s fleet of aircraft carriers.


    Yuria half-squatted on the bow of a white warship. Unlike the bustling marines on the deck far behind him, he was holding a cigarette in his mouth and the red cigarette smoke was slightly shining in the darkness. The sea breeze was blowing the collar of his windbreaker upwards.


    With the inexplicable advancement of his strength, his previous memories were also restored.


    "Qin..." Looking at the several kilometer-tall giant tornado-mountain in the distance, his memory returned to the time that was decades ago.


    Who was always looking out of the window at the distant world? The blurred shadow of that figure, from young until now, slowly emerged from the depths of his memory.


    "I once said I would give you a surprise and a miracle," Yuria whispered. "Forgive me for not accomplishing it."


    The more than eighty years of memoryies was chaotic, but he did not blame Qin. If there was anyone in the world who really understood her, perhaps there was only him who was left.


    Pain, despair, darkness, and endless gloom.


    Being unable to see, hear or smell, and only being able to feel the world by depending on other people''s body; to others, immortality was a wealth, but it was only an abyss to her.


    Yuria stood up, and a silvery-white light flashed in his hand in a trice. It was a short, sharp silver dagger.


    "Brother, are you here too?" A familiar voice suddenly broke into his ear as if it had directly sounded in his mind.


    "Qin?!" Yuria was stunned. "Is it you? Qin!?"


    The night gradually brightened, and on the horizon behind the tornado-mountain, a dazzling touch of gold gradually lit up.


    The sun slowly descended from the horizon, and a head emerged, slowly releasing an infinite vast light and heat.

 1231 Ending 1

    "Brother, have you come to save me? Qin is so happy..." The voice was soft and warm as if directly permeating from the air.


    Yuria was silent and unable to speak.


    Smack.


    A big hand landed hard on the back of his shoulder.


    "What''s wrong? Standing here daydreaming all alone?"


    The Commodore of the ship was also one of those who had been infected. One could say that everyone here came with an intention to die. They were deployed as they were discovered to be infected with Yuri''s Kiss.


    If this mission could not be completed, then they would also be dead anyway. So there was no need to worry about boosting the troops'' morale because everyone understood that if they did not fight, they would die.


    The Commodore was a northerner, tall and strong, cheerful and bold, and clicked with Yuria, who was on-board.


    "No. Nothing," Yuria smiled. His emotions were somewhat down. When he thought of everything in the past about Yurijie, or Zhi Jinqin, there was always a kind of unspeakable blockage in his heart.


    "Don''t worry! This time, there''s a large number of powerhouses. No matter how powerful she is, all the three nations'' elites are all here. There will be no mistakes!" The Commodore was very confident.


    "Maybe..." Yuria barely managed a smile.


    "Black Federation''s strongest King Thunderclap has also come. With Red Nation''s Prince Huang Gu, our Vulture No.1, and adding on each of their respective elite guardian powerhouses, dealing with White Crab is definitely a piece of cake. If it wasn''t for the rush for time, a few long-range missiles blowing up the place would directly settle the matter," the Commodore said dismissively.


    Yuria responded with a smile at the side, but his mind was still recalling the sister''s voice he had heard just now.


    "Look! Someone went on the island!" Suddenly, the Commodore pointed to the distant sea.


    Yuria followed his gaze and just happened to see a small group of people wearing stealth suits sneaking onto White Crab Island. This kind of stealth suit did not really cloak the body, but it was an optical camouflage suit that could automatically change color. The luster of the color would continuously change accordingly with the environment, causing the human body to integrate into the environment as one.


    The small team of people could hardly be seen moving from afar.


    "That is the Special Operations Team from Black Federation. They should be going to test the water first. The radio notice has been sent over ten minutes ago, but there is no reply at all. Could it be that these White Crab Army have fled?" A few people came from behind the Commodore and sneered loudly. "Damn, making us come all the way to specifically fix the position. Is this rubbish virus really so terrific?!"


    "What do you think?"


    "Yuria, is this stuff really produced by your sister?" Some people did not believe it.


    Yuria could only smile bitterly with silence and apologies.


    Not only their ship, but many other fleets were also watching and waiting for the small team of elite powerhouses who entered the island to send back news.


    There was still communication at the beginning. However, after that, it had been silent. Suddenly there were a few screams on the radio, and then everything was calm.


    **************************


    "Still resisting stubbornly!"


    On another black ship, a tall and thick-haired man in a military uniform took on an unsightly expression. As the highest commander of Black Federation''s current operation, he had actually lost more than a dozen of the powerhouses whom he sent out, and no accurate intelligence was transmitted back at all.


    "Prepare the fleet. Indiscriminate bombing for ten minutes!" He waved his hand, and the adjutant behind quickly began to convey the command.


    Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!!


    The continuous booming of the bombardment instantly thundered rhythmically. The shells landed on the tornado-shaped silvery-white mountain and blasted innumerable holes of different sizes on its surface. Smoke and dust suffused, and gravel scattered. There were tall splashes of sand waves everywhere on White Crab Island, and the sea surface shook slightly. More than a dozen warships from Black Federation launched the attack simultaneously, coupled with aircraft bombing, in which countless incendiary bombs were dropped. White Crab Island was completely caught in a sea of flames.


    "King Thunderclap, what are you doing!? We need the data inside. Who asked you to directly order indiscriminate bombing and use the incendiary bomb?" Dissatisfied voices came from the other three forces through wireless communication.


    However, Black Federation could not be bothered and was still bombing away.


    "Don''t mind them! Continue!" King Thunderclap was arrogant and never listened to other people''s opinions. He felt that since his strength and capability were far more powerful than the others, even if the strategy was wrong, he could still correct it with his own strength.


    ****************


    "This scumbag of Black Federation!!" On a Red Nation fleet, a handsome man in a red coat flashed a stern look.


    "Failing to see the larger issue and disregarding the overall situation. I will surely storm the Federation Capital one day." The man held a scarlet wide-blade sword in one hand. There were some delicate and complicated patterns engraved on the hilt which looked quite extraordinary.


    "Your Royal Highness will surely reinvigorate the situation in the country and re-establish the true centralization of monarch power." A person behind him in a black robe was acutely flattering.


    "Pass down the command. Prepare to charge onto the island. Time is running out." Prince swept a glance across Black Federation''s fleet coldly. "If such a virus data can be obtained, and the virus was released in Black Federation, I''m sure Father will be very pleased to see that spectacular scene."


    "What if the people of Black Federation are still shelling non-stop?"


    "Then just kill them first."


    The black-robed man instantly chuckled menacingly.


    The three forces were each the primary force, and the Black Federation''s fleet had to stop the bombardment. Vulture No.1 led a few Vulture powerhouses and entered the island from the right side on foot.


    Two people from Red Nation''s Prince''s side went onto the island by themselves from the left.


    On Black Federation''s side, King Thunderclap personally brought along two big fellows who were wearing silver-like armor and looked like robots and approached the island from the front with heavy treads.


    After the three forces took the lead to enter the island, they were quickly followed by several small reconnaissance units in order to quickly grasp the situation on the island.


    Yuria mingled in the second wave of the teams entering the island and quickly moved in from the periphery to the inside.


    He believed that his strength was good, but it was not the top of the list, so he let the strongest powerhouses of the three forces test the waters first.


    Moreover, he could not believe that Zhi Jinqin was the mastermind of the entire deception. There was still a trace of luck in the depths of his heart.


    **********************


    On the surface of the sea, the sun had just radiated a trace of golden color, shining a vast golden light over the horizon.


    A clear white line flew straight into the distance. It was an extremely fast-moving ship, which seemed to be a military ship. There was half a logo on the side that was not completely covered with paint as if it was hurriedly launched before the cover-up procedure had finished.


    Garen stood at the bow and looked at the boundless sea.


    "How long more until we reach?" He frowned and asked. It was night time when they departed and it was already dawning here.


    "An hour more and we should be able to catch up. Don''t worry." Nine-Tailed Fox was operating the boat. She and Kong Xinxue accompanied Garen to hurry over. Previously, she had coordinated with Yuria to leave one of the fastest ship models for Garen to ensure that he could get on board right away as soon as he flew over so that there would not be any delay at all.


    Although Nine-Tailed Fox was operating the ship, her face was very pale, almost colorless. There were still traces of blood in the corners of her eyes. It had just flowed out and was not completely wiped clean.


    Blood flowing out of the corners of both eyes was the most prominent feature of those infected by the virus, Yuri''s Kiss.


    The room where they were operating the ship was quarantined, and Garen could not enter without violent destruction. This was to prevent Garen from being infected. Although it was only a delay, it was impossible to completely isolate this kind of airborne virus no matter what measures one took. Even the little time that could be dragged counted.


    There were also some infected crew members on board, all of whom joined with a resolute determination.


    Garen lifted the new mechanical technology sword which was full of fine mechanical gears on its body. It looked like a layer of metal wrapping around the complex parts on the inside. It was very delicate but it gave people an assumption of not being very practical like it could be broken with just a simple strike.


    "Is this knife really hard and tough?" Garen asked casually.


    Nine-Tailed Fox had no choice but to explain through the pager.


    "This is the technology of a place where I have been to. I assure you that the technology is definitely far beyond this era. Using ordinary materials and substance to make the hardness and indicators far beyond that of the material itself was the characteristic of that place. Even if you have the power of Sea God, this sword is enough for you!"


    "I hope so," Garen was uncertain.


    *******************


    White Crab Island


    In the central area, there were only empty buildings on the entire island. Some of them were high towers, some were round research rooms, some were hanging the technology incubators signboards, and some were public leisure facilities. If there were not the various kinds of signboards and titles, this would not look like a biochemical research base at all but more like an unknown style of amusement park.


    Yuria followed a small team and found no White Crab soldiers obstructing them.


    After encountering several traps, these scattered teams of more than a dozen people managed to pass through without any harm.


    "Come in, come in. Unit No. 2 has successfully passed the checkpoint, reaching the predetermined location. Please advise on the next step." The captain kept speaking into the walkie-talkie.


    However, the screen on the walkie-talkie showed that there was no signal. There was clearly some kind of large shielding installation.


    "Hell! I can''t hear anything." The captain was agitated and hammered the walkie-talkies a few times, but it still did not work, and he could only put it away.


    "Lord Yuria, what do you think we should do now?" He looked at Yuria, who had the most right to speak. When they departed this time, the Commodore had passed the command power to Yuria alone. In the case of losing the highest level of instruction, everything will be based on his goals.


    "Can you find the other reconnaissance units around on the island?" Yuria felt that something was amiss. There were no more than one thousand if not eight hundred people on the island and it was impossible for one not to meet another. After all, the area of this White Crab Island was only wide to a certain extent. Even if there were buildings blocking their line of sight, it could not be that not even a little sound was heard.


    "Since we have reached here, there''s no point in retreating," Yuria spoke directly. "Continue moving forward."


    "Alright." The captain was also a decisive person. Since he was now at this place, he had also put his own life and death behind his mind.


    The group continued to move between the white buildings. Their surroundings were silent, and there was not any sound from other teams, not even a gunshot. It was very bizarre.


    They continued for another few kilometers, marching toward the tornado-mountain, and soon there was a very tall white icicle in front. There seemed to be a person frozen inside the icicle.


    The group had already felt that something was amiss. The island should not be this huge! The length and width were only a few thousand kilometers. How could it be that they had not arrived at the tornado-mountain after so long?

 1232 Ending 2

    Yuria raised his hand to stop the group. Looking at the icicle from afar, he realized that it was only an illusion as the icicle swiftly disappeared.


    A very light, white mist gradually began to hover over the entire island, but he felt as if there was something wrong with the fog.


    "How come I can''t see anything?" A soldier suddenly said.


    "Me too."


    "Captain! Aix!" Someone called out.


    Yuria turned back and was about to look at what was going on when he found that the voices behind him suddenly disappeared. It was all empty in the white mist. There was nothing. No unit, no soldiers. It was as if the previous voices were also just an illusion.


    "We have convened." A familiar voice came from in front of him.


    "Parakeet!?" Yuria once again saw the Parakeet. She was wearing a white dress and slowly emerged from the white mist.


    "This is the Hallucination White Mist. It can confuse the five senses people have and randomly create illusions," Parakeet said indifferently. "Come on. They have already started to fight. Follow me."


    Yuria watched her turn around and walked towards the depths of the white mist. After hesitating for a moment, he immediately followed closely. Under these circumstances, the soldiers around him had already completely disappeared. They had either gone far away or gotten lost. In the case that the radio could not be used, it would not be a bad thing to follow Parakeet, who had no malicious intent towards him.


    He gave a final attempt to wave his hand around and called the names of his teammates, but there was no response. He could only follow Parakeet who was in front of him.


    ********************


    The underground White Crab central stone pillar


    In front of a huge silvery-white metal funnel, a petite girl sat quietly on a big white bed. She was staring into the distance and there were no pupils in her eyes as if she was looking at something but at the same time, being in a trans.


    "Hahaha!! It seems like I''m the first one here!" King Thunderclap wore a blue metal tight-fitting combat uniform and held a black metal rod in his hand. The top of the rod flashed a blue electric light from time to time.


    He walked out of a cave mouth with two assistant adjutants. His sight was locked on the naked petite girl sitting on the big bed. Although there was a white blanket obscuring, one was still able to see that the other party in the wanted posters was Yurijie, who was also Zhi Jinqin.


    Rated as the most dangerous among the Four Great Cornerstones, she had the absolute Immortal Body. This had been heard of in the sharing of intelligence, which was also one of the reasons why King Thunderclap was so aggressive. Even though he was not infected, he still quickly rushed over as soon as possible.


    Immortal Body! What a wonderful term. The moment he heard it, he decided to make acquiring the Immortal Body his biggest goal of this lifetime!


    "Illusionist!" King Thunderclap pressed a button on the right side of his thigh.


    Snap! Hiss...


    Suddenly, his back opened up and pieces of black metal modules which looked like black bricks started coming out. More and more black cubes surged out from King Thunderclap''s back. These cubes had a metallic luster on their surface, and as they came in contact with the air, they expanded rapidly.


    In less than a few seconds, his body was covered with a thick layer of black cubes, which had assembled into a black robot three times larger than his original body. There were densely packed honeycomb-like cannon ports on his chest and shoulders. The vilest thing was that the critical part between King Thunderclap''s legs was actually inlaid with a blue gem. The gemstone was slightly fluorescent, and it seemed to be able to launch a powerful laser beam at any time.


    "Hehe! Looks like I get to be the first to seize the opportunity!" King Thunderclap was now more than four meters tall. He took a step out and the ground shook a little. His black metal block-armor swayed like a wave. Rubbing against one another, vast amounts of large blue arcs appeared across the entire body''s surface.


    "Go to hell!!" He stomped the ground, and the rocket thrusters which were mounted on his back ejected right away. In the fiery yellow flame, King Thunderclap swung his fist with the blue electric light and slammed it at the little girl on the big bed.


    "Every one of these modules can withstand heavy bombardment for at least ten minutes. With so many modules combined, I am now undefeatable!!!" King Thunderclap laughed hysterically, and his fist struck the side of the little girl''s head.


    Pooh!


    A splatter of blood plasma splashed directly onto the facial part outside his armor.


    King Thunderclap''s complexion changed.


    The person he struck was not the little girl Zhi Jinqin at all, but instead, it was one of the adjutants behind him!


    "Sir..." The adjutant''s eyes widened, his face was full of disbelief and his chest was punched through in the middle. He fell to the ground with a thump.


    Not only him, but the other adjutants had also fallen to the ground at this moment. It was unknown whether he was dead or alive. There were obvious traces of electric burns on his body.


    "This... This is hallucinogenic!" King Thunderclap''s face darkened. Only then did he realize that he had attacked in the wrong direction. He looked back and saw that Zhi Jinqin who was still behind him and still maintained the original dull and absent-minded look.


    "You... This fellow!!!" An incomparable anger surged out from the bottom of his heart. One of the two adjutants was actually his nephew!


    "Tsk tsk tsk... King Thunderclap, bungled and killed his own nephew. What rare news." A handsome pale man came out from the other side. Behind him was a shorty in a black robe whose face could not be seen clearly.


    Unlike King Thunderclap and others who arrived here smoothly, these two men were covered in blood. It was apparent that they had gone through many battles before reaching this place.


    "Red Nation''s Prince?" King Thunderclap turned his head coldly. "Say another word, and I will kill you!"


    "Oh, I''m so scared~~~" Prince mocked and put on an act. "The honorable King Thunderclap, you actually didn''t figure out what an Illusionist''s basic ability is before bringing along two subordinates who didn''t have any resistance. I really don''t know if you are recklessly confident or arrogant."


    Boom!!!


    King Thunderclap''s right arm punched into the air, and the hugely distorted airwave hit out a clear sunken fist print on the wall beside Prince''s head.


    Large amounts of broken earth and gravel fell, and the entire cave trembled violently as if it was about to collapse.


    "How oafish." The black robed person behind Prince sneered. "Does King Thunderclap think that Illusionist, the most powerful of the Four Great Cornerstones, could be dealt with so easily? Moreover, having the strength to swing your fist at the allies."


    "The most important thing now is to get rid of Illusionist first." Vulture No. 1 and others walked out of another cave mouth. He held a dark green gem-like device in his hand, and it was constantly emitting a circle of light green glow, protecting more than a dozen people behind him.


    Vulture No. 1 was wearing a large trench coat and a military cap. His face was cold and solemn. His strength was actually not comparable to that of Red Nation''s Prince and King Thunderclap. Slann was initially the weakest in the highest individual martial power. After Garen came along, it became the strongest player on par with Black Federation. But now with the Sword Master''s betrayal and departure, Slann had lost its highest martial power and was once again restored to its original weak position.


    "Slann''s scumbag." King Thunderclap''s mouth attracted hatred the moment it was opened.


    There was a glint of anger in Vulture No. 1''s eyes, but he still suppressed it to ensure there would not be a dispute between them. However, the rest of the people behind him could not hold it in and opened their mouths to mock and ridicule.


    King Thunderclap could not be bothered to reply. He raised his fist and punched to the side, instantly stopping the voices.


    With a boom, there was a half-a-meter deep fist print on the ground beside Vulture No. 1 and the group.


    More and more people started arriving but the numbers seemed to be much lesser than when they first set out.


    Gradually, everyone formed a circle around Zhi Jinqin and the big bed at the center. The danger of bombs and various kinds of traps had been ruled out.


    The funnel-shaped silvery-white metal attracted more attention straight away.


    Suddenly, the metal surface slowly extended soft silvery-white tentacles at the empty space above the big bed. The tentacles were as if they were not made of metal. They were liquifying and condensing into human lips.


    "Welcome to my paradise..." A weird, overlapping voice rang out slowly. It was as though an old man and a youthful girl were talking at the same time.


    "Hand over the data, Illusionist. You have no chance," Vulture No. 1 spoke confidently on the surface, but there was a hint of vigilance in the depths of his eyes, ready to retreat and escape any moment.


    "Let''s play a game first..." The voice did not take note of him. This made Vulture No. 1 a little embarrassed. However, at this time, no one noticed his embarrassment.


    Everyone''s attention was on Zhi Jinqin, who was on the big bed.


    This was the first time anyone saw her move after coming into the cave.


    Zhi Jinqin gently lifted her left hand and opened her small white palm.


    She opened her mouth and began to say something softly, but there was no sound coming out.


    At that moment, the crowd made a depressing swallowing sound.


    One could only see Zhi Jinqin''s entire left palm melt like a candle, turning into drops of wax and dripping onto the floor next to the bed. What was uncanny was that each drop of wax gradually expanded and became larger.


    "Kill her now!!" Someone shouted. "She must be brewing something! Open fire!"


    Bang bang bang bang!!


    Some people actually brought heavy autocannons in. Booming sounds were heard as the huge autocannons fired directly at Zhi Jinqin.


    But there was no point as the numerous bullets were blocked by a layer of air in front of Zhi Jinqin, and they all fell to the ground.


    Whoosh!


    A circle of red flame blazed up on the floor around her bed. The flame was half a meter high, and self-ignited without any material.


    "The unclean world... The sinful world..." That weird voice sounded again.


    Zhin Jinqin was expressionless in the flame but was eerily giving people a kind of feeling that she was happy.


    "Attack!!" King Thunderclap roared. Feeling something was not right, he bumped both his fists together and hammered them down fiercely.


    Krak!!


    Numerous violet-blue currents flowed from the ground to Zhi Jinqin, directly fanning out to cover the entire silvery-white metal funnel.


    Red Nation''s Prince carried a scarlet ruined sword, reduced a few steps to a leap, turned over, and struck out his sword!


    Clang!


    "Annihilation Ring!" The sword in Prince''s hand turned into a red ring, and the surrounding area of the high-speed rotation had a faint black line. No one knew what formed it.


    Vulture No. 1 took out a pistol with a large barrel. The muzzle was illuminated with a faint white light, and he solemnly aimed it at Zhi Jinqin.


    At this moment, the wax liquid dripping beside Zhi Jinqin quickly grew big and tall to form a slightly black triangle-headed humanoid monster. The monster held a double saber and its body was densely covered with hard metal scales.


    Every drop of wax had turned into a monster, and instantly, at least tens of hundreds of monsters darted towards everyone around.

 1233 Ending 3

    A large amount of triangle-headed monsters with double sabers lunged at everyone. The sabers in their hands could instantly block the high-speed bullets that were shot at them. Guns were fired and bombs were thrown out as both parties engaged with each other in the huge cave.


    From time to time, some monsters and outsiders would be chopped and killed.


    King Thunderclap and Red Nation''s Prince rushed towards Zhi Jinqin straight from the left. All the monsters in between were like pieces of paper. They were no match for the two at all and could not last for even one round of fight.


    The crowded monsters were like a light gray torrent, madly rushing at everyone. The two lighted up a grand-blue light each and darted at Zhi Jinqin as if going upstream. In the process of sprinting, the two exchanged glances as they leaped into the air.


    "Thunderbolt Eye!" The rod which was previously brought out was now in King Thunderclap''s hand. It automatically extended to a sleeve-length spear and a dark blue electrical eye emerged from the spearhead.


    "Go!"


    He hurled it forward.


    Whish!!


    The spear drew out a horrific dark blue trail, arousing the surrounding air and creating a vast spider web-like white mist silk thread. It flashed past and hit the position where Zhi Jinqin was at.


    Boom!!!


    Countless smoke flares exploded with the booming sound, and some of the monsters near Zhi Jinqin were swept off the ground and blown up into pieces.


    King Thunderclap panted heavily as he descended. Before he could be at ease, vast red lights suddenly lit up before his eyes.


    Whish whish whish!


    Several red steel needles shot out from the white mist, which was produced by the explosion of the thunderbolt, and headed straight towards his face.


    Ding ding ding!


    In the continuous sound of impact, King Thunderclap''s facial armor had several white dots right away.


    He was also hit by the huge impact force and was forced to retreat. He abruptly halted his steps and moved his body slightly sideways, avoiding a red arrow that broke out from behind him.


    Red Nation''s Prince slowly put away his longbow. He was wearing a red electronic eye mask for aiming which he had put it on who-knows-when. The mask was a half-faced mask, but it looked exquisite and gorgeous, giving people a strange temperament.


    The arrow he shot out suddenly exploded in mid-air, transforming into countless red spots and darted towards Zhi Jinqin from all sides in a densely packed formation.


    A large number of monsters flew up and desperately blocked these numerous red dots. But even so, there was still one-third of the light spots plummeting down on the big bed where Zhi Jinqin was at.


    Pooh, pooh¡­ In the light sound, all the red dots were blocked by a transparent barrier.


    Zhi Jinqin lifted her small face and her glassy eyes looked straight at Red Nation''s Prince.


    "Huh..." There was a subtle noise from her mouth, which seemed to be a special kind of electric sound and was not human-like at all.


    King Thunderclap sneered.


    "If you don''t hand over the virus data, you and this place will be wrecked."


    He strode forward and landed a single fist fiercely on the waist of a monster that was blocking the path in front. He stormed forward like a tank and headed straight towards Zhi Jinqin.


    Whish!


    A red arrow aimed at his hindbrain was shot out from behind.


    Boom! King Thunderclap was caught off guard and was hit. The armor at the back of his brain immediately melted and a small piece of it was broken off. His head jerked forward a little.


    "Who!?" He turned his head around furiously and saw Red Nation''s Prince with his electronic eye that was flashing a red light getting increasingly closer.


    "Are you crazy?!!!"


    King Thunderclap and Prince slammed together with a boom, and the dagger and metal arms between the two interlocked, bursting out ear-piercing sounds and innumerable fine golden sparks.


    Prince revealed one dull eye, and the attack from his hand was exceptionally fast. There were sharp blades on both sides of the tip of the longbow and invisible circles were drawn out as he madly swung the longbow, slashing at King Thunderclap.


    "He''s being controlled!" Someone exclaimed from the rear.


    However, King Thunderclap''s position was too deep inside the cave, and no one but he and Prince could go this far.


    King Thunderclap was about reply when all of a sudden, he spotted a strange curl on the Prince''s lips. He instantly felt a chill.


    "Illusionist''s control can stimulate one''s strongest potential. You deliberately let yourself be controlled to trigger all of your strength!!"


    He suddenly understood.


    Illusionist''s control was like the highest level of hypnosis, which could maximize the full potential of the human body and make a mediocre person become a genius in a very short time, even though the cost was the exhaustion of one''s life and vitality.


    "You are all having an infighting so soon? Tsk tsk..." The voice sounded again.


    "Infighting?" Vulture No. 1''s voice spread out. "This is not infighting." He was carrying a huge and complex shoulder cannon that was more than one meter thick and over four meters long.


    The position of the muzzle was aimed directly to where King Thunderclap was at.


    "What are you all doing!!?" King Thunderclap slightly panicked. Even if Prince and Vulture No. 1 were the scums he did not care about, it was impossible to not have any qualms even for someone as strong as him when being hemmed in by the two from behind in this kind of environment.


    Boom!


    What replied him was the action of Vulture No. 1 firing a shot.


    "We must kill him as quickly as possible! Otherwise, we will suffer even greater losses!" Vulture No. 1 calmly said.


    One side of King Thunderclap''s body was hit by the shot in a flash, and the whole person was shrouded in a golden fireball that was of a person''s height.


    Ah!!!!


    He screamed desperately in pain and the tearing of his body continuously twisted his will, causing his eyes to suddenly become clear for a moment in the bundled flames.


    At that moment, he noticed that the scene in front of him had changed abruptly.


    He was not cooperating with Red Nation''s Prince to kill Zhi Jinqin at all, instead, he was rushing into the crowd by himself and massacring the troops who had come to besiege Illusionist!


    "What exactly is going on!?"


    His mind was chaotic.


    The image before his eyes changed one moment and blurred another moment.


    **********************


    "Black Federation sending King Thunderclap here is just to have him die."


    Vulture No. 1 lowered the shoulder cannon and shook his head slightly.


    "King Thunderclap belongs to the type of monster that only focuses on the robustness of the physical body and so it is normal for him to be constrained by Illusionist." The black-robed person behind Red Nation''s Prince was now standing together with the Vulture.


    "He was controlled from the beginning and thought that he was killing the monsters, but in actual fact, he was killing our own people. Since the people of Black Federation hopes that he dies, then what reason do we have to keep him alive?" No. 1 calmly said.


    "Most of what he saw and heard should be true. Illusionist actually only did one thing, which was switching the identity of the monsters and the people who were besieging." The black-robed person shook his head.


    No. 1 nodded, and soon after, someone quietly came forward from the cave entrance behind and whispered something to him.


    "Almost here?" No. 1 frowned slightly. "Then we better pick up speed. We don''t have much time."


    "What''s almost here?" Asked the black-robed person.


    "Our biggest reliance this time." A hint of confidence rose in Vulture No. 1. "Even if Garen is here, he will still not be as strong as him."


    "Oh?" The black-robed person made a doubtful sound.


    "Alright. Prince, this way, please. We have found the real virus database." No. 1 took a final look at the people who were still fighting the monsters, turned around, and walked toward the exit behind.


    The black-robed person was the real Red Nation''s Prince. He faced the other Prince who was still fighting with King Thunderclap in the crowd of monsters and lightly pressed some kind of remote control device in his sleeve.


    That ''Prince'' instantly leaped into the air and flew directly toward him.


    "Retreat!! Retreat!!" The people from the Vulture began to convey the order. As for the rest of the forces, mercenaries, and those who had come to snap up some gain, they were discreetly placed to fight at the front line where it was closest to the monsters, while their own people silently withdrew toward the periphery.


    "Looks like someone wants to leave early..." The strange voice sounded again.


    Vulture No. 1 and Red Nation''s Prince instantly quickened their pace and swiftly entered the exit.


    However, they suddenly found their field of vision changed in an instant. Their direction of running towards the outside had now changed to rushing toward Zhi Jinqin at the center.


    "This!!?" The green gem in Vulture No. 1''s hands was covered with cracks. There was no green light at all.


    Just then, King Thunderclaps'' fist fiercely slammed into his face and his eyes widened.


    Which one was the illusion and which was the real one!!?


    ************************


    "If the real Zhi Jinqin can''t be found, then there''s no need to talk about killing her," Parakeet spoke softly as she led Yuria forward in the thick mist.


    "She is your biological sister. But now, she has almost integrated with your father into one body. They are influencing each other and suppressing each other. Perhaps only you can help her. "


    Yuria followed her and looked at the empty white buildings they passed by on both sides. He seemed to be walking on a spacious street.


    "What is your actual purpose?" He returned his gaze to Parakeet.


    "That depends on what purpose you actually have." Parakeet did not turn her head around but replied in a low voice. "Do you want to save your sister, or do you want to save the whole world?"


    "What does this have to do with the whole world?" Yuria frowned.


    "What does this have to do?" The Parakeet sneered and turned back. "Because your sister wants to wipe out the whole world right now! Tell me, is it not related?"


    Yuria was silent.


    "Qin is not that kind of person. It must be Father''s will polluting her! We just need to kill and erase Father''s part, then we will definitely save her!"


    "Huh..." Parakeet could not help but snicker. "You don''t even know how many people she has killed... Or do you still think that she is still the Zhi Jinqin who held the doll and asked for your help back then? Ridiculous!"


    The two kept moving forward and neither of them spoke again.


    Yuria''s heart was preoccupied. He did not know how to face this sister of his from decades ago.


    Parakeet was just silent and thinking of who-knows-what.


    Krakk.


    Suddenly, Yuria''s step forward produced a clear crack on the ground in front. The hard surface of the rock actually cracked under his effortless step.


    Yuria was slightly stunned and did not expect to encounter such a circumstance.


    Parakeet turned back abruptly and looked at him with a weird gaze.


    "Your strength has increased again..."


    Yuria was shocked. He quickly waved his hand against the space on the right side and his palm made a knife-hand strike.


    Whish!


    A clear and transparent distorted wave shot out and hit something in the mist with a bong creating a chain reaction of countless sounds of metal colliding.


    "This!"


    Yuria was stupefied. His original physical strength was far less powerful than this.


    "How much has it increased?" Parakeet asked quietly.


    "... At least six times," Yuria was silent for a moment before replying in a low voice.


    "The advancement of your strength and Zhi Jinqin''s are enjoyed together, which means that someone very powerful has died." Parakeet suddenly smiled. "And it''s more than one. Their power has been apportioned to both of you."


    Yuria gritted his teeth. He had confirmed the source of the increment of his strength from Parakeet and others, and so there was no longer any hesitation in him.


    "Must find Qin as soon as possible!"


    He said decisively.


    "After finding her?" Parakeet asked in reply.


    Yuria trembled and did not answer right away.

 1234 Ending 4

    Snapped.


    Garen''s feet landed lightly on the sand of an island.


    "Wrong. This is not White Crab Island." He frowned.


    Nine-Tailed Fox and Kong Xinxue''s expression was unsightly as they followed behind him. They had also gotten off the ship and were looking around.


    "We were misled!" Nine-Tailed Fox''s face turned blue as she spoke. She took out a positioning device and had a look. The words of White Crab Island were clearly displayed.


    "It''s the same with my device." Kong Xinxue also inspected her device on one side.


    "Looks like some people don''t want me to arrive at White Crab Island in advance..." Garen remarked. "Is there still a way to position the coordinates?"


    "All electronic devices look the same. They are either being interfered or the other party has directly tampered with a large number of the satellites, causing everyone to be unable to locate it. My communication device is not working as well. Clearly, there are Transmigrators on the inside causing trouble too." Nine-Tailed Fox looked at Kong Xinxue. "Ah Xue, it''s up to you now."


    Kong Xinxue nodded. She turned over her hand and took out a small calculator, not the ordinary small calculator but a real multi-function complex calculator. She then took out a nautical chart.


    "Looks like we can only use the most primitive positioning method."


    She looked up and began to study the sky. Just a few moments later.


    Whoosh!


    Kong Xinxue picked up the calculator and unfolded the nautical chart simultaneously, her fingers quickly moving across the keys with lightning speed. Her fingers on the calculator were not performing continuous calculations at all, but it was more like she was using the calculator to assist her own algorithm.


    Garen frowned. As he felt her body temperature rising rapidly and her heartbeat speeding immensely, he understood Kong Xinxue''s calculation.


    She was forming a circle through a large number of multi-sites global positioning, surrounding the location of White Crab Island and positioning the location of this island at the same time. She was using the astronomical phenomenon, magnetic field and some well-known island locations to calculate the relative position. However, since the specific coordinates of White Crab Island were wrong, what algorithm could she used to calculate?


    Garen could not figure it out.


    However, after a few minutes, White Crab Island was instantly marked by Kong Xinxue at a certain point on the nautical chart.


    "It''s here. The error will not exceed fifty nautical miles."


    "Let''s go." Nine-Tailed Fox did not say anything else and turned around to board the ship.


    Garen followed closely behind.


    At the last moment right before going on board, Garen turned around and looked at this island.


    "Looks like I have to give some people a lesson."


    He smiled slightly, raised his right hand, and a cloud of white mist slowly gathered around his palm. That was the air vapor atomizing naturally due to the high-speed vibration of his hand.


    Whoosh!!


    He struck out his palm.


    The Palm Cut was incomparably sharp, and it exploded in the air directly, splattering a glaring gold light.


    There was no loud noise and the golden light was only the size of a fist. His back was facing the others on the boat so no one realized it.


    The golden light went out, and nothing happened.


    The palm was drawn back as if nothing had happened. Garen turned around and followed Nine-Tailed Fox onto the ship again. The ship was steered into the distance and was speeding up. Soon, the ship disappeared on the horizon.


    Hum...


    Just then, the small island, which was hundreds of meters wide, vibrated violently.


    Krakk!!


    A straight fissure appeared in the center of the island, like a cake being cut into two halves right at the center with a knife.


    A huge amount of sea water rushed into the fissure, and the whole island was actually divided into two!!


    On the other side of the island, a black submarine floated to the water surface. The knife mark separating the island directly spread to the submarine, and a clear crack appeared in the center of the entire submarine. The crack was getting brighter and brighter, and there was a faint yellow glow coming out of it.


    Boom!!


    Suddenly, the entire submarine exploded, and tons of flames and smoke skyrocketed. Splashing several meters high, some machine parts and the like fell into the sea again with a burning flame.


    Behind the submarine, another small boat fled away into the distance, fleeing for their lives. Panicked faces could be seen on the boat from afar.


    *******************


    The blood wound along the ground of the cave, creating a river of blood in the entire cave which had had all its exit sealed off.


    King Thunderclap laid on the ground and it was unknown whether he was dead or alive. Red Nation''s Prince manipulated the handsome fake prince to madly kill the numerous oncoming monsters.


    Vulture No. 1''s hands were covered in blood, and most of the subordinates behind him were already dead.


    As for the rest of the people who came in, only a dozen or so powerhouses were still left and barely holding out.


    They had tried countless methods but no matter how they attacked, they could not penetrate the barrier in front of Zhi Jinqin. That transparent barrier was like the strongest defense in the world and no one could break it.


    "The first game is over." The strange voice sounded again.


    All the monsters retreated. A majority of them were dead, and there were only about ten of them left. If the combat were to continue, they would all be wiped out.


    It was apparent that Zhi Jinqin''s hand had melted earlier on, but now it had grown back and was intact.


    "Alright?" Vulture No. 1 went to the Prince.


    "Still alright. Looks like this Illusionist is very troublesome. Why not we move in together since the data has been obtained?" Prince was also a little fatigued, which caused his voice to sound low.


    "If that doesn''t work?" Vulture No. 1 frowned.


    "If that fails, we''ll retreat together and demolish this place another time!" Prince sneered.


    "Then let''s do it. Try one last time. If can''t, we''ll retreat!" Vulture No. 1 had also made up his mind.


    The two each took out a green jade-like crescent and pieced them together. The two crescents fitted together perfectly.


    A number gradually emerged on the joint crescent. It was 3.


    The air around the crescent suddenly puffed up and was filled with a cloud of mist. The mist condensed into water, and the water then turned into ice. Pieces of ice crystals gradually appeared around the crescent.


    A large number of ice crystals gradually covered the ground around the crescent, and pieces of white crystals were formed.


    In the corner where everyone was not paying attention to, the crescent quickly grew from the size of a fist into an ice-crystal humanoid with the height of a person in only a few dozen seconds.


    "Self-propelled Ice Fission Bomb." Vulture No. 1 and Red Nation''s Prince quickly retreated. The power of this ice-crystal humanoid was like the general nuclear bomb. Even though its range was far from a nuclear bomb, its power was awfully horrifying. The ice crystal on the outer layer was just to provide it with the ability to move about by itself as well as to lower the temperature to prevent an explosion. Once the ice crystal was removed¡­


    This was beyond half the scope of technology and was closer to myth.


    At this time, Zhi Jinqin abruptly stood up from the bed.


    Her naked body which was originally covered by a blanket, now exposed part of her lower legs. However, what was unexpected was that the lower half of her body was not human legs at all!


    Instead, they were innumerable densely packed grayish black octopus-like tentacles, and there was mucus and white liquid between the tentacles.


    Zhi Jinqin suddenly bellowed and her skin arched from the inside as if she was an inflatable doll. Her skin suddenly puffed up and became swollen. From a petite body of less than one point six meters, she actually expanded to more than two meters.


    Her white skin turned grayish black and her head transformed into a triangular shape as if the head was pressing against a hard triangular disk.


    White bone spurs extended from both her shoulders and the most disgusting part was that there was a big mouth opening and closing non-stop at her abdomen. The mouth was filled with lots of blisters in it. Some of them were punctured and stinky thick yellow pus was flowing out of it, while some were like densely packed yellow grapes.


    "Huh..." Zhi Jinqin roared loudly as if wanting to make a sound but there were no specific decent words.


    "This is the second form!! Not good!" Vulture No. 1 seemed to know quite a lot. He promptly turned about and threw himself onto the ground. Layers of metal armor automatically covered his back.


    Red Nation''s Prince was also not slow in reacting. He fell prostrate on the floor, his face complexion changing slightly and an anti-virus mask automatically extended from his mouth. He had prepared well for this battle.


    Pooh pooh pooh!!


    In an instant, a large amount of yellow pus was directly spewed out from the big mouth at Zhi Jinqin''s abdomen and the foul-smelling liquid filled the entire space and fell like raindrops on everyone present.


    Some people did not respond in time and the pus directly hit their bodies. Those body parts soon began to rot and maturate, and the whole body also began to grow a vast amount of blisters. It was exceptionally disgusting.


    The crowd was screaming. Firearms were wildly sweeping across, killing a few of those who were caught off guard and not defending.


    As each person was killed, the size of the monster that Zhi Jinqin transformed into expanded a little.


    Vulture No. 1 and Red Nation''s Prince blocked the blister droplets and flew directly to the exit, using their whole body''s strength to slam against it.


    Whish whish. A gap was created in the high-strength metal door at the sealed off the exit. The two were about to charge through it when all of a sudden, their waist was firmly entangled by a large grayish black tentacle.


    The strength of the tentacle was so astounding that the armor at the waist of the two men were crushed and became out of shape.


    "No!!!" Vulture No. 1 screamed in pain.


    Red Nation''s Prince used some kind of technique to chop off the tentacle at the waist and continued to rush out


    Boom!!!


    Just then, a glaring white light exploded from the inside of the cave. The ice-man that the crescent had turned into had finally closed in and detonated.


    Similarly, in that instance, the white light was immediately frozen by some inexplicable force, and everything was still.


    The falling human body, exploding bombs, flying bullets, even the blood river that was flowing, and the stones that had fallen half-way and was suspended in the air.


    It was as if time stood still. That inexplicable power seemed to have felt a threat and stopped the white light instantly.


    The huge monster that Zhi Jinqin had transformed into had risen to over four meters tall.


    A red glow was spinning in the abdomen and a beautiful fair-skinned little girl in a red dress was hovering in it.


    "Brother..." The little girl opened her eyes and looked delightfully at the person coming out of an opening of the cave mouth.

 1235 Wind Up 1

    @@


    "What time is it?"


    "My Lord, it is nine o''clock in the morning," a medic in the hospital carefully answered.


    Vulture No. 2 stood in thought in the hospital''s main conference room. She lowered her head to looked at the mobile phone in his hand. She was still holding on to a walking stick but her thoughts were somewhere on White Crab Island.


    "Based on the rough estimate of our data, the entire East side of Slann has been infected by over two million people. It''s still unknown on the range it has spread out but we are trying our best to transfer everyone into quarantine."


    The Sanitary Minister sitting beside him drew large breaths on his cigarette. He was pale white as he hadn''t slept all night. A man who was only sixty-five years old had a face full of wrinkles and was overwhelmed with fatigue. He looked like he was over eighty.


    "And all that could head up are dispatched?" No. 2 asked in low voice.


    "What more can we do?


    "We have done whatever @@

 1236 Wind Up 2

    @@


    As they were both in conversation, the dagger in Prince''s palm appeared to have a silvery-white square glow. It seemed to be some sort of jewel emitting a gentle yet blinding shimmer.


    As for Zhi Jinqin, the earlier self-denoting ice person had caused the majority of the cave to be frozen. A peculiar transparent radiation had suppressed the movement of the monster Zhi Jinqin became.


    However, this wouldn''t last very long.


    The ice surface on Zhi Jinqin was cracking and melting with lightning speed and her body was once again expanding.


    "Last bet!" Prince''s eyes redeemed as he saw the development of Zhi Jinqin, it could not be delayed any longer. Once Illusionist''s powers were activated and broken free from the boundaries of the earlier blast, only death would await this limited group of manpower!


    The lines of whatever international citizen were blurred and the fear brought upon by Zhi Jinqin''s disease had forced them to the edge!


    "Go!!" Prince let ou@@

 1237 Wind Up 3

    @@


    A white ray of light burst to full bloom above White Crab Island.


    It was a white light that not everybody could see. It was a huge ripple triggered by the Soul Energy Force.


    With White Crab Island as the median point and at a range of tens nautical miles was a hazy view as if a white mist had spread out.


    Snap!!


    In the vast clear skies, a lightning struck by.


    Sea God crashed its head onto White Crab Island. However, its massive collision force was stopped by an unsighted resistance several hundred meters from the island.


    The large force counteracted against a boundless barrier before Sea God. They were in a standstill.


    "How??!!"


    Sea God roared violently. Its giant black tail was wagging so ferociously that it swept up ripples of waves towards both sides behind it.


    Many of the warships were rocking from the man-made tidal waves. They rushed to distance themselves.


    "Idiot." Right in the center of White Crab Island, the white m@@

 1238 Wind Up 4

    @@


    Swoosh!!


    Large amounts of black roots in the ball shot in all directions. With a click, the black roots exploded out and grew to ends of the air.


    At the same time, a shadow just beneath the monster towered to the sky, knocking the back of it.


    Bang!!!


    The airspace where the monster hung erupted in a mist of yellow fog.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    "Four Directional Winds!!" A hysterical scream of coldness, anger, viciousness with a tinkling of silvery-white glow blazed within the yellow fog.


    Clang clang clang clang!!


    With four flashes of the silvery-white light, the yellow fog dispersed.


    Yuria held a dagger as he hung in midair. A vast forcefield was lugging him straight into the air.


    A few meters opposite him was the monster with clear dagger scars. Yellow blood was seeping from the wounds.


    "You!!" The monster staggered backward and stared at Yuria with disbelief. "How could you be this strong!!??"


    Yuria raised his arm where the back of his right@@

 1239 Departure 1

    @@


    Bang!!


    A white flame detonated above White Crab Island.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    The flames slowly subsided, revealing Zhi Jinqin''s monstrous body without a scratch.


    "It''s useless." She glared at Yuria opposite her. "Brother, have you forgotten about my special attribute? This sort of attack can''t even let me suffer a slight pain..."


    The many black tentacles underneath her white skirt were dancing furiously. One of them whipped out vigorously, smacking Yuria.


    Wham!


    Yuria was beaten down from the sky, crashing into the surface of White Crab Island in flying dirt and rubble.


    However, immediately, Yuria erected back in the air, fusing himself into the blade and forming a silver light shooting towards Zhi Jinqin.


    "If the high temperature doesn''t work then I shall attack with pure physics!"


    That earlier blast on Yuria was by creating a high-temperature explosive bomb with current technology but this was useless towards Zhi Jinqin.


    Having been treated as@@

 1240 Departure 2

    @@


    "Why can''t you stay on the same page as me?" Zhi Jinqin''s tone calmed down. "Perhaps there are a few screws loose in your head. Let me do a quick check for you again..."


    Yuria mustered his very last strength as he raised his head, looking at the great number of hands coming down from the sky.


    "Alternating my memories again?" He smiled wryly as he pressed his hand onto his forehead. "I do not wish to live an ignorant life anymore."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    "Do you have a choice?"


    Zhi Jinqin smirked as she swiftly grabbed his hand which was raised up. Without a moment''s delay, the defenseless Yuria was lifted up into the air.


    The sunlight pierced through the clouds and shone between them. The golden sunlight was extremely pure as Zhi Jinqin''s insanity and ugliness was clear as day under the sunlight.


    She saw her own reflection from her brother''s calm eyes.


    She suspended her finger gently in front of Yuria''s forehead. The tip of her finger gradually became thin as it s@@

 1241 Volatility 1

    Garen moved sideways as he illusively evaded the attack from the giant face. Perhaps it would be effective going against a typical powerhouse with such speed, but it was completely ineffective against him who stood at the pinnacle among the powerhouses. Despite all of these, he was still unsure of Zhi Jinqin''s ultimate goal.


    "Perhaps this is her defense is at its peak in this form?"


    Garen recalled the effect of his slash a moment ago. It did not seem to be effective against the monster in front of him at all.


    He leaped to the right side of the face monster as he threw his sword to pierce through it.


    Pew!


    The trace of the saber pierced through the face as if it were air and there was no effect on it.


    "I see." Garen had somewhat understood the situation as the Energy Machine Imprint instantly analyze the basic reasoning of this giant face. "The source of immortality should be that Energy Field Ring on her back."


    He then laid his sight on that giant Ring of Energy Field behind the monster''s back.


    In just a single step, Garen leaped hundreds of meters and appeared behind it. He was now less than ten meters away from the Ring of Energy Field.


    Garen raised his saber high up as his Soul Energy started to boil. The effect of the Soul Ring was to raise one''s martial prowess. He would be able to increase it by one level with one Soul Ring. Garen, who had three, completed Soul Rings had only been using one of his Soul Ring to increase his strength.


    He now planned to activate the strength of the second Soul Ring.


    "Burn."


    He reached out his hand and a red fiery fire started to ignite on his left hand. It was not white but pure red similar to blood.


    His left hand''s strength, speed, toughness and everything else was greatly increased to the point they were doubled up in an instant.


    Everything happened in an instant, which the face monster had yet to react and turned around.


    Without any expression on his face, Garen reached out his left hand. Although he was still ten meters away from the Ring of Energy Field, he reached out his hand to grab hold of the Ring of Energy Field as if there was an invisible and huge hand.


    In an instant, Garen felt that he had touched a circle of cold, hard metallic item.


    He was not physically touching it but instead, his Soul Energy''s fluctuation had sensed a certain cold object as his Soul Energy was being utilized.


    "Burn."


    Garen thought.


    The bloody red fire then propagated from his hand to the Ring of Energy Field.


    Kaboom!!


    The entire Ring of Energy Field was on fire as it lighted up the entire sky.


    Psst!!


    The face monster started to become flat like a deflating balloon as the air inside was ejected out turning into gales. He no longer needed to continue attacking.


    Garen levitated behind its back, unaffected by the current by the slightest. He was staring at the Ring of Energy Field that was in front of him.


    The Ring of Energy Field started slowing down as a black crude oil-like viscous fluid started flowing out from within.


    Gush!!


    A terrifying Soul Energy Aura had turned into the wind as it blew towards Garen, fluttering his shirt and hair to the back.


    He remained unmoved as he squinted at the Ring of Energy Field in front of him. An extremely familiar aura was slowly emitting out from the Ring of Energy Field.


    The sky had turned red without him realizing, blood red bubbles started appearing around Garen in the sky. These bubbles seemed to be made from blood and each of them ranged from ten meters to hundreds of meter in diameter.


    These bubbles would pop and resurface over and over again as if the surrounding had instantly turned into a Dream World.


    The black crude oil-like liquid propagated around the entire surface of the Ring of Energy Field, turning the Ring into a black mirror.


    Hehehe...


    A sharp and playful laugh traveled out from the black mirror.


    "What a rare occurrence." A deep-tone and majestic voice rang within the sharp laugh. "To be able to meet someone of the same level here. How fortunate."


    "The Void Language..." Garen was slightly startled. The language Void Creatures used was actually similar to Ancient Endor''s language. As both of them had battled against each other for a very long time, both parties had learned their respective languages. Naturally, as a Void Pursuer, it was necessary for him to be able to communicate with them.


    "Who are you?" He was lazy to figure out the origin of his opponent and asked straightforwardly via the Void Language.


    "My ancient name is too long, so you can call me Canster."


    "Canster? Holy Voice?" The word Canster was the pronunciation of the word Holy Voice in Void Language. Garen frowned. "What''s the purpose of you appearing before me on your own accord? You''re exhausting a huge amount of energy to talk to me from such a far distance. Please don''t tell me you did so because you''re bored."


    "Bored?" Canster laughed. "You''re right. I was really bored to the point I wanted to see what kind of a person is able to kill two of my generals. I wouldn''t have believed it''s someone of the same level and existence as me without witnessing you with my very own eyes. Tell me your name."


    Garen did not feel any ill intention from the opposing party. It was obvious that the distance was too far apart and the opponent could only transmit his voice as this action alone required a lot of energy from him.


    This distance could not be measured via light years as it was the distance between universes. Garen did not know how many universes he and Canster were between and the amount of energy required for them to communicate for every second was astronomical.


    "I have too many nicknames and you won''t be able to remember them anyway. You can just call me Garen." He said calmly. "Your purpose of coming to this universe is because of the Soul Ring as well, right?"


    He did not care if anyone could understand him as the Ancient Endor Language and Void Language sounded like a meaningless howl towards humans and they would not be able to understand anything. If it was not for Black Sethe and his incredibly powerful attribute abilities, he would not even be able to learn these two languages.


    "It''s unfortunate that you were one step ahead of me." The opponent laughed. "However, the Illusionist is mine."


    "Since the result has been decided, what''s the purpose of you coming out?" Garen asked calmly.


    "There''s no purpose and it was a whim to meet the person who took all the goods away from me." Canster paused for a moment. "By the way, there are too little amount of people who are of the same level as I. The two sides of the Mother Stream, the Void, and Ancient Endor will soon become a relic of the past. Compared to the current generation, we are just ancient relics who refuse to step down from the stage... I forgot to mention to you that I have another identity as well. I''m a Warlock Pursuer."


    "Oh?" Garen recalled his identity as a Void Pursuer and realized that both of their identities were relatively similar. However, it was strange that there was no reaction from the oath towards the Mother Stream when he was facing a Void Demon Lord.


    "Do you feel it?" Canster laughed. "The strength of the Mother Stream is weakening. Hence the constraint towards me is wearing off as well. The True Soul... The True Soul within the Mother Stream has started to perish."


    "Impossible!" Garen was shocked. "The True Soul is eternal. How could it perish!?" Regardless if it were the Ancient Endor or the Void Creatures, those who pursued to reach the pinnacle of the world were actually pursuing to reach the True Soul Level. The difference between them was that the Void Creatures had found their own path to the True Soul after learning from the Warlocks. One could say that Warlocks and Void Creatures were enemies and tutors towards each other simultaneously. The Warlocks learned Inherited Secret Technique from the Void Creatures and paved their paths forward, expanding their civilization''s vision and height. On the other hand, the Void Creatures had learned the truth and knowledge towards reaching the pinnacles of existence from the Warlocks - True Soul.


    One could say that the True Soul was no longer just the pinnacle of the Ancient Endor''s civilization, it had become the pinnacle for both civilizations.


    "I''ve seen two Eternal True Souls perished with my very own eyes." A sense of sadness could be heard from Canster''s tone. "Their bodies had disintegrated into countless of galaxies and had turned into the blood of the universe, supplying nutrients towards thousands of beings."


    Garen was stunned by this news.


    It was his ultimate goal to reach the True Soul, which was the pinnacle of this world. But now, somebody was telling him that the realm that he had been pursuing was collapsing out of the blue.


    "Are you saying that our path..." Garen held his saber tightly as the bottom of his eyes were filled with an additional layer of sorrow. He had never felt so emotional throughout his travel in so many worlds.


    "Our path has been cut off." Although Canster seemed calm, he was similar to Garen, a volcano that was about to burst at any moment. "I have chosen three representatives out of eighty million citizens in the Dark Void to try to get in touch with the Ancient Endor''s civilization. Now that the Mother Stream''s Oath is unable to restrain everyone, you should come up with a plan as well. As an opponent of the same level, the war between our civilizations has been ongoing for far too long. Both you and I are tired of it."


    "We have been watching you ever since the Nine-Headed Dragon Queen reported your situation to the higher up. We will give you this world as our sincerity in hope that you could select three representatives from your side as well so that we can form a parliament. The Mother Stream is depleting. It is your direct lifeline and our indirect lifeline. With the True Souls perishing before us, a great threat will fall upon us." Canster explained calmly. "Since we are unable to reach the high-ranking Demon Lord from your side, we have no choice but to request you to inform them."


    Garen bit his lips slightly.


    He could not tell them that he was not in touch with the higher ups from Ancient Endor. Other than the ancient secrets that Black Sethe had once told him, he was no better than a typical Ancient Endor''s Inheritor.


    "I will notify the upper levels of this news." He could not reveal that he had no one backing him up here since his opponent was clearly a representative from the highest level. Once they realized that he was alone, it would spawn trouble that he could not handle on his own. The Demon Lord Class was not something he, a Demon Lord Class novice, could handle. He could not simply reveal his background without knowing the exact situation.


    "Time is running out. Quickly..." Canster''s voice started toning down slowly. Then, a small black cube item came out from the black mirror. It looked like a Rubik''s Cube as it was made out of many more small black cubes.


    Garen grabbed hold of the item.


    "A communication device?" His Soul Energy immediately understood the purpose of this item.


    Perhaps it was not his Soul Energy that sensed it but the item transmitted a huge amount of information to him the moment he grabbed hold of it.


    "We represent the ancient and the highest level of order among the Mother Stream System. Among the countless of life born from the Mother Stream from all universes, our civilizations can only be considered the best. If you can get in touch with the True Soul Level from your side within a thousand years, please inform us as soon as possible. We need to think of a way to stop the Mother Stream from depleting!"


    Casnter''s tone became weaker and lower as a faint hissing noise started to appear, disrupting their communication.The Chinese text used »ÃÓ°Ò»°ãÉÁ¿ª, »ÃÓ°means phantom-like/illusion: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/chinese-english/%E5%B9%BB%E5%BD%B1

 1242 Volatility 2

    As the voice vanished completely, Garen only then felt that his surrounding had finally cleared up. The bloody bubbles had vanished and the sky had returned to its original, clear blue shade. It was as if the environmental change was nothing but an illusion.


    "The high ranking Demon Lord is truly impressive. He was able to pull me into the Dream World in an instant." Garen looked at the black cube in his hand. It was obvious that the enemy had mistaken him for an Ancient Endor Inheritor with a strong background due to his rapid improvement.


    "Unfortunately, I am just a normal Inheritor who has no existing background."


    As he transmigrated so many worlds, he had the suspicion that the Ancient Endor''s Demon Lords had all perished. Excluding the remnant soul, Black Sethe, that he had met earlier, he had yet to meet another Demon Lord Class being. On the other hand, he had met quite a few Void Creatures instead.


    Sizzle... Clang!


    The Ring of Energy Field''s black mirror shattered into countless of black debris which disintegrated into thinner and smaller pieces. Soon, it diffused into the air and had fused together with the world.


    Although he was not able to absorb the Illusionist''s Soul Ring, he had unexpectedly obtained a piece of news from the Void Creature. He was not sure whether the news regarding the depletion of the Mother Stream was legitimate hence he had to validate it. However, Garen believed that this news was very likely as there was no need for the Void Creature to lie about it at all.


    "I didn''t expect to receive such news instead of absorbing the Soul Ring." Garen slowly lowered the saber in his hand and the rocky water was instantly calmed down by his intense Energy Field.


    With him as the epicenter, all of the waves on the surface of the blue sea within ten kilometers calmed down so quickly that one could see it with the naked eye.


    Holding his saber, Garen gently landed on the boat that was approaching him. Nine-Tailed Fox and Kong Xinxue were on the deck. They looked rather miserable as they were drenched from head to toe from the waves. But they did not care how they looked as they stared at Garen with an unacquainted gaze as he came down.


    "How did it go?" Nine-Tailed Fox stepped forward and whispered. "We''ve seen your battle. You''re very powerful. I''ve seen a battle between the Suppressors before in the Lighthouse and they were about as strong as you are." She tried to retain her arrogant tone but she felt rather helpless as she talked face to face with Garen.


    Her gaze was locked onto Garen''s saber that was in his hand.


    She was once an incredibly powerful monster who once ruled over a world before and believed that she was strong enough. However, she was only slightly stronger than an average human in this world where the restriction was incredibly tight. Only she knew the difference in strength between her and Garen, who was able to become so ridiculously powerful in this world.


    She felt extremely unease as she stared at Garen. She felt that she was a commoner who was standing in front of a murderer who had just killed a person with a gun. Her life would be threatened if the opponent was slightly unhappy with her.


    The feeling of her life not being within her grasp made her felt extremely threatened. She, who was already an extremely insecure person, felt even more unease as she stood in front of Garen at such a close distance.


    "It''s good because everything has been resolved. Since the host of the virus has been taken care of, it should lose its sustainability and would no longer be a threat. I''m heading towards Lighthouse immediately and would not stay long in this world. Are you guys coming along with me or do you prefer to follow up later on?" Garen casually asked.


    "We will catch up with you later on." Kong Xinxue spoke up as she noticed Nine-Tailed Fox was feeling uneasy. She, on the other hand, was fine with it. Garen had always been rather secretive and people who practiced the Mother Stream System always did things differently from the rest.


    Since she herself had not much power, she was used to facing against people much stronger than her.


    "You really concealed a lot of your strength. Hehe." Kong Xinxue walked around Garen once. "I will definitely look for you if I were to be in trouble. You better not reject my request! It may be a life or death situation to us but child''s play to you."


    "No problem." Garen smiled. He knew that it was all just lip service. Their self-esteem would not allow them to ask for help unless it was an actual life or death situation. In fact, Garen suspected that these two might not even look for him for help if they really were in a tight spot.


    "Is there anything else that needs to be resolved?" Kong Xinxue looked behind Garen. "Look, your disciple is coming for you."


    Garen turned around and saw Yuria gliding towards him. He had already gathered all of the survivors at one location when Garen and the Demon Lord who puppeteered Zhi Jinqin were having a conversation. He was currently gliding towards him with a panicked look on his face.


    "Run!! This place is going to be completely destroyed!! They are going to use nuclear bombs!!!" He shouted as he was still a dozen meters away from them.


    Garen, Nine-Tailed Fox and Kong Xinxue''s face turned pale as they heard what he had said.


    Since this world''s restriction was too great, Garen himself could not guarantee that he would be able to defend against a nuclear bomb''s explosion.


    "Let''s go!"


    He turned his head around to look at the marines on the ships but he did not see anyone on the ship. It seemed that the marines on the ship had hidden themselves up.


    "I''ll go and inform them!" Nine-Tailed Fox reacted.


    The trio then started to move swiftly.


    Yuria started to move the survivors nearby to Garen''s ship.


    Since the Lighthouse''s seal had yet to be undone, Garen could only wait with everyone else in the ship.


    The shocked and mentally fatigued marines who had holed up were forced back into their delegated posts. They then started to turn their ships around and left the area swiftly.


    Vulture No. 1 and Red Nation''s Prince were paralyzed as they were rescued by Yuria as well. Both of them had given a lot of strength to Yuria as they had lent their strengths to him when the Savior''s ability was activated.


    Both of them faced each other while they laid on the deck.


    "I have never expected that things would end like this." Vulture No.1 was speechless.


    "I didn''t expect this as well." The Prince gave out a long sigh. The clumsy Yuria had just torn his wound on his leg by another two centimeters and this made him felt extremely painful to the point he started to sweat profusely.


    "All I know is that when I have healed, I need to skin this kid off or I am not..."


    "Hey hey hey!" Yuria was carried over and placed beside them. He was fully covered in white bandages and only his eyes could be seen. "I risked my life to save you two. Can you treat me like a person who had just saved your lives?"


    "We would survive even if you didn''t save us. Those who looked down on me, The Prince, are already dead!" The Red Nation''s Prince said with a deep tone.


    "You?" Yuria scoffed.


    "I hate people scoffing right at my face the most. You''re so dead! You''re dead the moment I can start moving again!" Red Nation''s Prince was furious.


    "DIdn''t you say those that look down on you are already dead? Well, I am still very much alive." Yuria put on a sloppy look on his face.


    "Just you wait!" The Prince was obviously pissed as he stared at Yuria with killing intent.


    "Alright, alright. Keep those thoughts to yourself." Vulture No.1, who has always been a good man, tried to dissolve the situation. He was rather speechless towards The Prince. "You''re an old man now. What''s the point of verbally cussing at others?"


    "I!" the prince still had more to say but he saw Vulture''s gaze. He looked at where he was looking to see Yuria had his face up, with two streams of clear, crystal-like liquid flowing down his cheeks.


    "This kid''s family has completely perished. What''s the point of arguing with him?" Vulture No. 1 whispered. "He killed his father with his own hands and his sister has been killed by his master. Then, he found out that his mother is actually not his mother. He wouldn''t have left the house if his father killed his mother and even planned to murder his sister and him. All in all, it''s a complete mess."


    "What? Such a mess." Red Nation''s Prince was speechless as well.


    "That''s right. It''s a mess." Vulture No.1 lamented. "What was just a family''s issue had turned into an international mess. Many outsiders had suffered death and injuries." He sighed and stopped speaking.


    After going through a life and death battle side by side, both of them did not put up on a mask between each other as they were both abandoned by their own respective countries. They managed to get along well as they sympathized with each other.


    The ships were moving away from the White Crab Island at an increasing speed to the point where it was on the verge of flying away from the sea.


    Garen would occasionally release a gust of wind with his palm at the back of the boat as he tried to push the boat forward.


    He stared at the White Crab Island from afar.


    Suddenly, a pitch black torpedo-like object appeared in the sky. It had a golden-white tail on its back as it quietly dropped into the crevice of the White Crab Island.


    Boom!!


    An eye-blinding dazzle flashed across the sky, seemingly turning the sky into a pure white paper. It was so bright that everything was dyed white in color.


    Garen shut his eyes, but he could still feel the blinding light piercing through his eyelid and into his retina.


    He then tried to cover his eyes with his hands but to no avail, since his hands were dyed completely white as well.


    Ahh!!


    He heard cries of agony behind him as their eyes were excited by the blinding light. They would eventually lose their sight if their eyes were to continue being excited by such blinding light at such a close distance.


    "My eyes...!" Garen heard Kong Xinxue''s painful cry.


    Garen sighed, and raised up his three-meter long saber and sliced it to the front.


    Cling!


    A ten-meter tall silver curtain was erected, blocking the crowd from the light.


    The majority intensity of the light was reflected back and the deck of the ship was much dimmer than before. Although it was still bright, it was very much better.


    "Be careful of the waves!!"


    One man shouted loudly but no one could hear him as the explosion''s shockwave had already reached them.


    Garen was the only one who could hear him through the vibrations.


    He then looked at the White Crab Island and saw a few hundred meters tall tsunami about ten knots away from them. It was fast approaching the ship as it kept folding the sea repeatedly.


    The blinding light pierced through the tsunami, dying it completely white. It was as if it was glowing uniformly as it turned into a huge giant water wall which spanned hundreds of meters tall.


    Behind the huge tsunami was the mushroom cloud that ascended into the sky. The fiery red fire and smoke fused together as the light dimmed down. What came next was an intensive trembling and roar.


    The entire ship started to tremble and shake thoroughly.


    "The distance is too close." Garen frowned.


    He held his saber up and gently flicked at it.


    Buzz!


    The metallic saber started to vibrate as it released an ear-deafening buzzing sound.


    Boom!


    The saber did not even break as he fought with Zhi Jinqin earlier. However, it had turned into a chunk of debris as it was shot towards the back of the sea. What followed along this debris were those high buzzing noises.


    The sound waves canceled out the huge sound created from the nuclear bomb as Garen was able to cancel out the noise with great precision instead of creating a superpositioned wave via his Energy Machine Imprint.


    "It''s all over!" He casually threw away the saber in his hand. Everything in this world had come to a closure. The next thing he wanted to do was to deal with the Lighthouse incident.

 1243 Lighthouse 1

    After the great battle with Zhi Jinqin, the pandemic, worldwide spread of the virus finally returned to normal. Without the support of the parental host body, most of the virus lost their strong infection rates instantly and were speedily eradicated as if roots without water.


    Most of the humans, animals, and plants that were infected had produced antibodies on their own. Without the parental Yuri''s Kiss, it was actually just a normal flu virus.


    Garen brought the boat full of people back safely. Unlike the expectations of all the forces, they were not destroyed by the impact of the nuclear bomb at the final juncture. It was evident that this matter was beyond the consciousness of the various high-level major forces. However, Red Nation''s Prince and Vulture No. 1 were slightly discouraged. After returning home once again, they seized control of their influences to eliminate a group of buffoons from the forces who emerged to seize their authority before retiring behind the scenes. As both of them harbored gratitude towards Garen, they would occasionally meet up for a drink with him. They discovered that an old soul was concealed beneath Garen''s youthful appearance. They gradually formed a teacher-student relationship with him that resembled Garen''s relationship with Yuria. Additionally, they discovered that Garen could answer and explain many things to them.


    Through Garen''s assistance, the internal situation between Slann and the Red Nation stabilized quickly. Both countries then formed an alliance to counter the Black Federation that possessed powerful forces.


    While he was waiting for Lighthouse to open their seal, Garen focused on fully digesting the large amount of Slaughtering Techniques that Slayer had given him. Meanwhile, his physical fitness rapidly increased and broke through to twenty points because of the Soul Ring''s nourishment. This turned him into an actual Humanoid Universal Beast. As the rules of this universe were unusually strict, all kinds of physical strength would certainly correspond to terrifying depletion because of their physical composition.


    This caused Garen to encounter situations that he had never experienced in the previous universe.


    ****************


    Boom boom¡­ Hoo¡­


    Boom boom¡­ Shh¡­


    Inside a gigantic soundproofed building somewhere in Slann, the sound of loud surging air currents that resembled thunder echoed occasionally. It entered and exited the space over and over again like a continuous stream of water that flowed steadily.


    The colossal white building was built within a military base on the outskirts of the capital. Over a thousand guards were positioned in the surrounding area to defend it. However, the guards were not there to prevent the people inside from exiting but were there to stop outsiders from accidentally trespassing.


    Garen sat with his legs crossed inside the building. Black alloy boards covered the long broad stretches of empty space fully. He sat upright on the center of the ground, densely-packed interchanging air holes were above his head.


    Garen merely possessed the form of a muscular but normal human who was over two meters tall. However, the gentle sound of his breathing was currently accompanied by the sound of surging air currents that were as terrifyingly loud as thunder.


    When most of the air and airstreams were sucked into his lungs through his nostrils, they would spurt out rapidly like cannon balls after being compressed before colliding chaotically inside the building.


    The clothes on Garen''s back were constantly blown and upturned by the intense surging air currents as well.


    Click.


    The building''s main door was opened slowly before Vulture No. 1 who was dressed in a white suit took long strides and walked inside. Meanwhile, Red Nation''s Prince who wore a black, tight suit and a black coat followed him and entered as well.


    "Brother Saber, you''ve become even more excessive¡­" Red Nation''s Prince covered his ears immediately after entering because he felt that his eardrums were numb from the vibrations of the rumbles of Garen''s breathing.


    Both of them withstood the air currents to walk to Garen''s front before sitting down with some difficulty and steadying their figures.


    The wind stopped immediately when Garen held his breath. Once his body had achieved this grade, holding his breath for a few hours was merely child''s play.


    "Why have you come here? Haven''t you been very busy recently?" Garen asked casually.


    He had been here for two months already. He had been waiting for the permission on Lighthouse''s part all this time to undo the limits of the virus. However, his physical fitness had undergone frightening increments that allowed him to reach an excessive degree whereby a mere breath was strong enough to send a person flying if he blew them.


    On a random day when he accidentally used his nostrils to blow Nine-Tailed Fox away, he could not help but voluntarily seek Vulture No. 1''s help to find a large, specialized soundproofed house for him to stay. This prevented him from accidentally using his body that was constantly getting stronger to kill the people around him as if he was merely stomping on ants.


    "How could we not come? We made a special trip to visit you once we finished our hectic task. Didn''t you say that you wanted to go? How is it? Have you finished preparing?" asked Vulture No. 1 directly. They had gotten along for two months without any conflicts of interest. The matters of life and death also allowed him to see many things in a clearer view. Moreover, he grew increasingly open-minded as well. Recently, he had successfully ended the matter with the previous leader with Garen''s support. He was moving towards the position of the first and leading figure in Slann now. If everything went as planned, he could establish a dynasty fully within these few months.


    "It''s still alright." Garen tried to speak as softly as possible but his voice still resembled thunder while the strong air currents that he exhaled caused both Vulture No. 1 and Red Nation''s Prince''s clothes to overturn towards the back frenziedly. Large pools of his saliva pitter-pattered and sprayed everywhere.


    "This is exaggerating¡­" said Prince dumbfoundedly. He wiped off the spit on his face. "Rumor has it that you can even spit and cover a person''s entire face in drops of saliva¡­"


    "I can''t do anything about it¡­" said Garen helplessly. He was too strong and a lot of salivae would splatter and fly out whenever he was not careful. It simply resembled rain whenever he was speaking to someone else.


    "What about Yuria? How is his situation?" Garen asked casually.


    "That fellow has gone to the Black Federation and contacted his former subordinates. When he ran away from home in the beginning, he joined an organization that specialized in countering his father before it disbanded later. Hence, he''s gone to find his old friends now. Now that his sister''s gone while Garen is nothing to him and Light Path''s whereabouts are unknown, I won''t be willing to forgive him again even if I find him. He''s all alone now," said Vulture No. 1 frankly. "As his master, you should hurry up and keep an eye on him."


    "Keep an eye on him? Everyone needs to experience these things. Isn''t growth only experienced through endurance?" Garen lifted his teacup and sipped it gently.


    Shh!


    The tea moved and disappeared instantly before the teacup shifted directly into his mouth.


    This was due to the fact that his suction was too strong. It caused the tea to move too quickly as if it had teleported and could not be distinguished by the naked eye.


    "I don''t think I can hang around here for more than a few days." Once he had finished drinking his tea, Garen placed the cup down and slowly said, "Once I leave, please take care of Li Hua and the others. This is one of my requests."


    "No problem." Vulture No. 1 lifted his own teacup and drank from it calmly despite being drenched from head to toe in Garen''s splattered spit. "Can you reveal where you''re planning to go?"


    "You wouldn''t even know the place even if I told you," Garen smiled. "You could say that it''s the depths of the universe."


    "Indeed, a freak like you would simply destroy the balance by living on this planet. I suspect that the current nuclear bombs would not be able to kill you in the explosion either," said Red Nation''s Prince bluntly.


    "Nonetheless, if you ever need some help, don''t forget that there are still two old fellows here who are indebted to your kindness."


    "I won''t forget that, of course."


    Garen briefly inquired about the most recent situation regarding the management of the virus as well as the other circumstances regarding the White Crab Organization. Everything had stabilized now.


    Both nations had taken confrontational stances towards the Black Federation and would not lose to them. This allowed him to be at ease completely.


    Everything in this world revolved around the rotations of the Four Great Cornerstones. The heavy curtains around the stage were fully opened for Yuria who was the first generation of the Four Great Cornerstones. Perhaps in another ten years or so when the second generation of the Four Great Cornerstones reappeared and walked on the international stage, everything would begin once again.


    Nonetheless, that was not a problem that Garen needed to consider anymore.


    He had absorbed two of the Soul Rings that belonged to the Four Great Cornerstones of this generation. If possible, he would probably return and absorb even more Soul Rings when the time came. However, these matters would only occur more than ten years later.


    The Soul Rings were symbols that the energy of this universe would condense endlessly. After it was lost, the universe''s inexhaustible strength would replenish and condense it again. It was equivalent to the constant bearing of abundant fruits.


    Since the Void Demon Lord Canster had already given him this world, Garen did not hold back and prepared to come and reap it once after a certain period of time. Nonetheless, before he did this, he would still want to go to Lighthouse first because he was already looking forward to visiting for a long time. He was not looking forward to Lighthouse itself but rather, the records inside Lighthouse that could provide him with Paramount Sources.


    Some people referred to them as Paramount Sources while others called them Supreme Laws. However, the highest leveled powerhouses within Lighthouse purely recorded the things that they had seen and heard initially. That was the source of the Mother Stream and the spring of all life. More people referred to it as the Origin of the Mother Stream.


    The Mother Stream was the strongest of the Thirteen Major Existences in the entire Countless Space-Time Universe. According to the sources of the records where it was stored, the Origin of the Mother Stream was a treasure that was sought after by innumerable Ancient Endorian systems.


    Of course, reading the Origin of the Mother Stream required one million Contribution Points but Garen had a sufficient amount of them this time. To thank Garen for saving this world, Sea God and another person named Demonic Lamp had each transferred one million Contribution Points to him as compensation when they returned. They did this to show their gratitude when they heard that he wanted to see the Origin of the Mother Stream. After all, this world would truly be in danger if Garen had not been present.


    Everything was ready and he only needed to wait for Lighthouse to finally lift the restriction order before he could leave.


    He strengthened the bonds between himself, Vulture No. 1 and Red Nation''s Prince and set the tone properly to reap his future gains. Once both of them had left, another new group of visitors soon arrived.


    It was not anybody but Nine-Tailed Fox and Kong Xinxue who were planning to travel to Lighthouse with Garen.


    Garen had attended the other Transmigrator''s appreciation banquet last month. He received odds and ends tens of thousands of Contribution Points which was better than nothing. He had already agreed to travel to Lighthouse with the other two people then.


    However, when they came over this time, it was obvious that an additional person was hiding behind them.


    "Night Water?" Garen looked at the little girl in black clothes who was hiding behind Nine-Tailed Fox.


    "It''s me!" Night Water stood forward openly despite feeling slightly embarrassed. "As compensation for imprisoning me for such a long time, what do you think of taking me to Lighthouse with you?" she bargained with him.


    "Weren''t you part of an organization?" Garen looked at the three people who had walked over and were now sitting on the opposite side of him, a few meters away.


    "I left."


    "You mean you got kicked out," said Kong Xinxue meanly. "Tsk tsk, poor child. You said you left when you were actually kicked out just for the sake of your pitiful self-esteem. Did you really think that your thoughts could be concealed so easily?"


    "Is that any of your business?!" Night Water was slightly furious because of the embarrassment.


    "Then why do you want to go with us?" Garen was not concerned about the minor incident that was related to Night Water''s previous group but merely asked the question randomly.


    "Just tell me if you agree or not? After all, you''ve imprisoned me for such a long time and I''ve even helped you perform so many unspeakable tasks¡­" It was clear that Night Water planned to blame him.

 1244 Lighthouse 2

    "Hey, isn''t this different from what we had decided on before we arrived?" asked Nine-Tailed Fox unhappily. "I know that you''re thinking of using Garen''s position of strength and rank to improve your own social status but you should still behave with a bit of integrity, right?"


    "Integrity? Are you actually saying that I don''t have any integrity?!" Night Water yelled. "Do you know who frantically went back and forth to take care the both of you when the after-effects occurred after you fell into a coma suddenly? Do you know who was supporting the rear steadily when both of you left for White Crab Island and were risking your lives there? Do you know who had to risk being discovered to sneakily place the monitoring device in¡­ Mmm!!"


    Before Night Water could finish speaking, Nine-Tailed Fox covered her mouth without batting an eyelid, making it impossible for her to make any noises except mumble.


    "Aren''t you guys annoying?! You have been yapping all day long just because of some trivial matters! Do you know how to empathize with other people''s feelings?! You were yapping yesterday and today! Don''t forget that I still have nude photos of both of you¡­ Ahh!" Night Water lunged towards Kong Xinxue, causing her to fall down before Nine-Tailed Fox rushed over to help as well. The three of them wrestled into a chaotic and messy catfight.


    "Enough!"


    Garen raised his voice slightly.


    Whoosh!!!


    A gust of strong wind was accompanied by a torrent of rain submerged the trio completely.


    The trio was soaked to the bones instantly as Garen''s saliva sprayed across their heads and faces.


    Splash.


    Nine-Tailed Fox wiped a handful of saliva off her face before using both hands to comb her damp sticky hair backward.


    "Isn''t it comfortable now¡­"


    "I know! Ptui ptui ptui!" Kong Xinxue jumped up from the ground. Her entire body was covered in Garen''s saliva.


    Speaking of which, ever since Garen''s physical fitness became excessively powerful, his saliva secretions were also sufficiently strengthened. A random drop or sprinkle of his saliva could soak an entire person.


    This was not the first time that this trio had experienced this situation.


    "Hehehe¡­ Luckily, I came prepared!" Night Water crawled up from the ground. The black tight-fitting clothing that covered her whole body seemed to be waterproof as large amounts of spit trickled down her body from the top. She became spotless once again. However, she had clearly overlooked the fact that her face and hair were still dripping.


    The trio sat before Garen again. They were sitting upright despite their entire bodies being in a state of disorder. Moreover, the rising scent of the vaporizing saliva made them seem in an even worse off position.


    "We came over this time with Night Water to proceed to Lighthouse together. That''s fine, right?" asked Nine-Tailed Fox formally. After all, it was obvious that Night Water and themselves wanted to go to Lighthouse together this time because they wanted to take advantage of Garen. Thus, they needed to seek his permission.


    "It''s fine. Tell me the main matters."


    "From the information that I''ve received, Lighthouse should''ve lifted the restriction order long ago. However, there''s a huge difference on how to treat you," said Nine-Tailed Fox quietly.


    "Differences? What do you mean?" Garen was startled.


    "Your powers have already reached the Suppressor''s level even though it''s merely human strength like ours. Thus, the forces of the three main clans in Lighthouse are consulting each other on how to arrange a position for you," replied Nine-Tailed Fox.


    "There are a total of three main clans in Lighthouse. Of course, these three clans are the most important. While there is obviously an abundance of other Transmigrator clans, their powers can be overlooked in comparison to these three main clans."


    "Who are the three main clans?"


    Kong Xinxue took over the conversation and explained.


    "The first one is the Many-Limbed Clan. Any races that have more than three limbs will be classified as part of the Many-Limbed Clan. The second one is the Many-Eyed Clan. It follows the same principle whereby those with three or more eyes will be determined as part of the Many-Eyed Clan. Our human race is next. All beings that possess human figures or forms will be classified as part of the human race. However, careful and strict classification has determined that our human race mainly consists of human earthlings, merpeople, and winged people that form three groups. As a newly discovered earthling who belongs to the same level as a Suppressor powerhouse, they need to discuss the actual position, attitude, and treatment that they''re willing to give you first. Next up are the attitude, position, and reply within the human race. Indeed, many years have passed without the appearance of a Suppressor level powerhouse."


    "Many years? How many years?" Garen was not interested in these struggles for influence but was focusing on other aspects instead.


    "Perhaps about two to three thousand years. Lighthouse wasn''t established for a long time either and has only been around for about over ten thousand years. Only three Suppressors have appeared so far and they are the three highest-ranking individuals within the members association. They are Evil Shadow King, Strengthening Superhuman, and Pure Jade Clan King."


    "What about the other three?"


    "The other three''s combat powers aren''t that great. However, they''re very useful and effective in other aspects such as the Worldly Tree of Knowledge Jules. He can give you the answer to almost any piece of knowledge you desire. He''s a superhuman old man who has lived for more than ten thousand years. He will hold classes spontaneously when he''s in the mood. Occasionally, he will sleep or doze off as five or six years pass," explained Kong Xinxue.


    "The inside of Lighthouse has been further divided into Wind Tower, Water Tower, and Spirit Tower. We''re in the territory of Water Tower. This is because the specialty of our race is water as more than fifty percent of our bodies are made up of water."


    "Are the others similar in that sense? Are half of the insides of their bodies made up of wind? Or spirits?" Garen continued asking.


    "Yes, the Three Main Tower Territories are each used as the living areas of the Three Main Forces. However, powerful beings like yourself must usually be sealed up first before they are allowed to come out and meet others," answered Nine-Tailed Fox while smiling.


    "I understand¡­" nodded Garen knowingly. He currently felt that the difference between their grades had grown too far. Moreover, this situation had produced various inconveniences. He could not help blowing a person away if the tone of his voice was slightly too loud.


    "So the three of you came together because the restriction order was lifted?" Garen asked casually.


    "Yes, it has probably been lifted now after so much time has passed. However, regardless of the forces, at least your strength is powerful in comparison to the entire Transmigrator community. This is extremely good news because it means that they won''t neglect you but will spend to win you over instead," replied Nine-Tailed Fox, smiling. "When the time comes, everything will be fine as long as there are no accidents."


    "When do we leave?" Garen took the communication device out. No one knew what this object was made of but its quality was unusually solid. The device had experienced numerous battles alongside Garen but was able to persevere without being damaged or breaking down at all. It was truly rare.


    "Anytime." Nine-Tailed Fox stood up.


    "We''ll leave now then." Garen got up before the two remaining people followed suit and stood up as well.


    Nine-Tailed Fox nodded and took out her own communication device before tossing it in front gently.


    "Open the Teleportation Point," she said softly. "The largest scale."


    "The largest-scale requires the consumption of the highest level of Contribution Points, are you sure that you want to open it?" A melodious female voice echoed from the communication device.


    "I''m sure," answered Nine-Tailed Fox certainly.


    Whoosh!


    It moved at a rapid speed. Within the blink of an eye, a white Light Beam that resembled a line was projected from the bottom of the communication device directly.


    The white Light Beam pulled itself open from both sides slowly like a folding door that was pulled into a semicircular white light door.


    "You can go in now." Nine-Tailed Fox nodded towards Garen. She finished speaking and took a long stride towards the light door.


    A brief hissing noise could be heard when Nine-Tailed Fox''s entire body had just touched the light door before she disappeared completely.


    Kong Xinxue took a step forward and caught up to her. She disappeared at the same time at the moment when she touched the light door.


    Night Water cast her gaze towards Garen instead.


    Garen smiled and walked towards the front of the light door.


    He was finally about to leave this world and enter a larger universe and dimension.


    His heart grew faintly exited. He was not merely going with the flow and rushing into a world and universe chaotically by trying his luck. Instead, he had chosen his own path to the greatest of his capabilities.


    "I''ll go first then?" He looked at Night Water before she nodded.


    Garen did not waste time and took a big step forward. However, the moment before he was about to touch the white light, he suddenly felt Night Water''s hand grabbing his arm.


    Shh!!


    The white light burst open before his eyes and made it impossible for him to see anything clearly at that moment.


    **************************


    Within the boundless, pitch-black spatial universe, a long stretch of the galaxy was flowing slowly. The countless celestial bodies resembled the most insignificant grains of river sand in the galaxy.


    These hundred billion celestial bodies finally formed this entire vast beautiful blue galaxy.


    The galaxy moved slowly like the most magnificent whirlpool of flowing water while an imposing white lighthouse stood upright in the center.


    The cylindrical white lighthouse stood tall in the center of the galaxy coincidentally while three blinding golden light pillars were projected from the top of the lighthouse. These light pillars penetrated the entire galaxy and illuminated the exterior of the boundless jet-black universe.


    It seemed as though these three light pillars were completely motionless. However, if someone could measure the speed of the light pillar extremely accurately, they would discover that these light pillars would occasionally move towards other directions at a slow pace.


    Nonetheless, throughout the distance of this vast galaxy that spanned across countless light-years, the speed of the light pillar''s movements appeared to be abnormally slow.


    The interior of this white lighthouse was divided into a total of five floors. The highest floor was the control floor that controlled the operations throughout the entire lighthouse while the bottom included two floors of halls which were the High Hall and an observation hall.


    The bottom of this lighthouse consisted of the important dwelling areas. The two other layers included the circular plaza and the library area.


    The circular plaza was currently bordering the examination area. Within the largest Teleportation Linking Point, Garen appeared at the linking point suddenly with Night Water still holding on to his arm. Faint halos of white light were being released by the side of their bodies slowly.


    The white shades before Garen''s eyes faded slowly as he regained his sight quickly. More than ten smiling white-robed people entered his line of sight and welcomed him.


    "Welcome to Lighthouse, my dear clan member!" said the leading white-haired man loudly while stretching his arms open. "Sword Master Garen, we''ve heard about your great strength all the way from our headquarters. We''re ready to welcome you to formally join us any time."


    He walked over and extended his hand.


    Garen reached his hand out as well before the both of them shook hands gently.


    "I''m very glad to be able to come to Lighthouse formally as well."


    Garen surveyed his surroundings. He was currently standing inside a white cylindrical pavilion. There were rows of various white stone pillars beside him that were each larger than the previous one when you approached them from afar. Each of these stone pillars surrounded pavilions of various sizes. It appeared that they were used to teleport and transport Transmigrators of different physical sizes.


    The vast blue galaxy was above his head while the white jade colored solid stone floor was below his feet.


    "My name is Pera and I''m the main person in charge of the humans here. Our leader Pure Jade Clan King has already given orders regarding your matters beforehand. He will definitely entertain you properly and will meet you personally immediately after returning. The old man is currently handling the sect''s important matters in the local world and is too busy to attend to you for now," explained Pera while glancing obviously at Night Water, Nine-Tailed Fox, and Kong Xinxue who were standing beside Garen.


    There were all beautiful women. His heart knew exactly what it wanted immediately.


    As the headquarters of the Transmigrators, Lighthouse naturally possessed beneficial relationships on the inside as well. Places with intelligent creatures would have clashes of interest and could never be that pure. Moreover, the division of profit would naturally be related to the closeness between the strengths and forces.


    "I''ll take you to the resting area that has been arranged already. After that, what would you say if I brought you to visit the various areas briefly?" said Pera while smiling. The other people behind him had friendly smiles on their faces as well. However, they were not forced smiles but were smiles that evolved from the heart instead. It was obvious that Garen''s arrival could produce real benefits and advantages to them.


    "There''s no need. We''ll take Garen to visit around the area." Without waiting for Garen to answer, Kong Xinxue stepped forward voluntarily and spoke. She was not an idiot. When she saw Pera coming forward to receive him personally despite being someone whose face she had never even seen once on a normal day, she immediately understood that Garen''s position of strength was perhaps higher than her expectations.


    She was not an idiot. If she acted as if she was slightly closer to Garen now and borrowed some of his influence, her life would become much better in a place like Lighthouse where everything depended on power.onomatopoeia of spitting

 1245 Origin of the Mother Stream 1

    "That''s fine as well." Pera glanced at Garen knowingly. "Cocosher."


    A blonde girl with a tall slender body and charming features who was dressed in a black, tight-fitting silk mini skirt walked out behind him immediately.


    "Inform the rest to place the portraits of His Excellency the Sword Master in the various departments with the permission to pass through."


    "Understood."


    The golden-haired woman nodded in response.


    "So would you like to have a meal now first?"


    Pera smiled while looking at Garen.


    "That won''t be necessary. However, I only have two wishes." Garen lifted two of his fingers.


    "Firstly, I''d like to examine and inquire about the situation on Earth before we transmigrate. Is there any way to find out about the whole situation regarding the status of Earth?


    "Secondly, in regards to viewing the records of the Origin of the Mother Stream, my Contribution Points are most probably sufficient."


    "Regarding these two questions," Pera smiled, "I think that it''d be better for us to talk while we walk."


    Pera and ten other people clustered around Garen and the three other girls who were in the center. The group walked towards the interior of Lighthouse slowly along the Starry Sky Sword Bridge.


    This was a long strip-like sword bridge that appeared outdoors in the star-studded sky. It resembled a sharp blade that poked straight out of the side of the lighthouse. The top of the bridge was filled with densely-packed Teleportation Linking Point. This place was directly connected to the circular plaza area on the third floor.


    As Garen was clustered to walk in the middle, he could occasionally see rays of white light behind him that came from the new people who were being teleported back.


    Meanwhile, Pera introduced the fundamentals of the area to him.


    "There aren''t many people who are living in the Lighthouse headquarters here because the Transmigrators only occupy one percent of the population. The majority are personnel who stayed back to manage the place while most of the others would rather live in the Plots of worlds that were slightly more peaceful. You understand as well that in many worlds excluding the places in where the Plot is occurring, the other areas are actually very safe because the locations that are involved are not vast."


    "I can understand that." Garen nodded. "So how are these worlds classified?"


    "Classified? No, that''s not quite right. Every world belongs to a universe that contains a myriad of planetary worlds. We don''t have any way of fully probing or determining the true situation of the universe through elimination. The only thing that we can do is contact our companions that have transmigrated and incarnated in different worlds or universes. We can all contact each other to form an organization that provides services that led to mutual benefits. Simultaneously, we can also engage in the trade and optimization of resources."


    Pera smiled and continued. "For instance, Dark Colored Gold isn''t valuable in worlds where they are present because they can be found anywhere and you can obtain a large amount just by grabbing it randomly. However, Dark Colored Gold possesses unimaginably terrifying magic in the worlds where it is present. Hence, they''re a first-rate resource that everyone yearns for even in their dreams. Therefore, we transfer between worlds to conduct reasonable allocation of these resources. This allows us to promote everyone''s development further to obtain an even greater influence throughout the various worlds."


    "I understand what you mean." Garen nodded. "What about Earth? Since we have so many Transmigrators from Earth, even if everyone''s homes were in different dimensions on Earth that were in parallel spaces, someone would''ve surely engaged in the exploration of this aspect, right? What was the conclusion?"


    Pera furrowed his eyebrows slightly when this matter was brought up.


    "We''ve always been working hard in this aspect but so far, it seems like we can''t even touch the edges because the distance between us and earth is too far. On the other hand, we''ve discovered numerous similar planets in other universes. These were the additional benefits as some of these planets are very unique. You should visit these places if you have the chance in the future."


    "In other words, you still don''t have any clues regarding Earth?" asked Garen directly.


    "You could say that," Pera exhaled then sighed. "Many of our companions who yearn to return are truly looking for a possible way to go back. However, we currently don''t see any rays of hope from the looks of it. This doesn''t apply to the human earthlings like us only. Many people in the other two clans have the same sentiments but none of them have discovered a path to return yet."


    The group walked through the entrance of the circular plaza and entered it.


    They stood on a suspended silver platform that resembled a parallelogram. The platform that was made of metal silently pulled more than ten people through a purple round-arched tunnel.


    Pfoo¡­


    A few rainbow-like Airstreams that were overflowing with vibrant colors gradually appeared in their surroundings. These fine, continuous thread-like things revolved and flew around everyone.


    "These are Rainbow Elves. We discovered them in a unique universe. They''re considered as a species of microorganism that can purify the air while constantly emitting beneficial magnetic fields that are healthy for us humans. Moreover, they also serve as landscaping ornaments in the city," explained Pera.


    "It''s very beautiful."


    Garen lifted his head and glanced at the translucent, multi-colored Elves that resembled flowing water in the tunnel. They did not look physical but presented a faint illusory impression instead.


    Garen reached his hand out and caught the Rainbow Elves beside him gently but could not feel anything substantial.


    Pera smiled at this sight.


    "Speaking of these increment creatures, the Origin of the Mother Stream, which is also your main goal of coming here this time, had recorded the existence of a being that is of an even higher level than the Rainbow Elves. They seem like pure energy bodies so we''ve named them the Elementals. Perhaps you will gain some things when viewing through the records."


    "I hope so." Garen smiled and nodded.


    "The Origin of the Mother Stream that is a part of the Mother Stream System belongs to a section of the first-rate records that require middle-ranking viewing rights. Regarding the viewing rights, I don''t know whether you''re acquainted in this aspect?" asked Cocosher quietly while standing beside Pera.


    "Cocosher''s other identity is of a service person who manages the High Hall. Therefore, she''s more qualified in that aspect than me," Pera explained while smiling.


    Garen shifted his gaze towards the beautiful blonde woman who was dressed in black silk.


    "Viewing rights?"


    "You still need viewing rights to just look at something?" asked Kong Xinxue, puzzled.


    "Don''t tell me that the quantity of the information here is so great that everything has become jumbled, causing most people to be unable to accept the effects of the information overload at one go?" This assumption made it more obvious that Nine-Tailed Fox was more experienced and knowledgeable.


    "This is one aspect," said Cocosher, nodding. "The main issue is that the Origin of the Mother Stream is constantly releasing powerful radioactive rays. We only have one thing to filter these unique radioactive rays to turn them into protective shields that allow people to view them head-on. Otherwise, when we''re unable to proceed with sheltering it, regardless of the greatness of your own power, there''s a probability that you will instantly suffer Soul Beckoning and be drawn into the Origin of the Mother Stream directly."


    "Soul Beckoning?!" yelled Night Water in a slightly shocked manner. As she was also a powerhouse of the Mother Stream System, she was naturally clearly aware of the number of evil ways that existed within these playthings. "The Mother Stream is the source of all life. Therefore, anything that possesses a soul cannot withstand her Soul Beckoning at all! Isn''t this just asking for death? No wonder it''s so expensive!"


    Garen knew about this Soul Beckoning as well.


    It was as if the Mother Stream was the positive pole of a gigantic magnet while the Soul Beckoning seemed to be the opposite side that also resembled the tiny weak negative pole of a magnet. In other words, viewing the Origin of the Mother Stream was like drawing the distance between these two magnets closer to achieve a stage where it could be felt that they were both pulling each other.


    He had heard Black Sethe mentioned this before. It was a first-rate True Soul killing move that existed in Ancient Endor. It had previously instantly destroyed two large armies of Void Creatures and three Demon Lord level powerhouses. It was worthy of being called invincible!


    The position of this Soul Beckoning move in the Ancient Endorian civilizations was simply equivalent to super strategic weapons in the civilizations on Earth such as nuclear bombs and hydrogen bombs. They were considered as first-rate mass weapons of destruction.


    "Lighthouse actually possesses the materials and resources to counter the Soul Beckoning? That''s truly unimaginable!" Garen sighed with sincere emotion.


    "This is another benefit of converging with many other worlds and being entrusted with their resources," Pera explained. "There''s a world that''s purely a soul world that is abundant with materials that are specially used to counter the traction of souls. We''ve also exhausted a great deal of effort to merely create a tiny amount of it that is only sufficient to be seen once by a single person. Moreover, it can only be seen for ten minutes. Otherwise, even if the resistance of these materials are weakened, that power will still cause living creatures to lose their minds and throw themselves into it voluntarily."


    The group had just entered a gigantic white plaza. The surroundings of this plaza were round while the ceiling above their heads was not the white sky that they had imagined. Instead, it was a cerulean sky filled with white clouds and an additional little golden sun that was hanging there quietly. It seemed as though they had truly entered a whole new world.


    "We''ve entered the initial part of the plaza here. If you walk forward from here, there''s a large stretch of land below with an area that is almost equivalent to half the size of the planet that you arrived from earlier, except that its surface area is measured by spreading it out completely. The entire circular plaza refers to this whole area of land," said Pera while smiling. "Welcome to the third level of Lighthouse."


    He snapped his fingers before the silver platform that was supporting the group accelerated suddenly. It flew quickly and passed this small-scale plaza before arriving at the edges of the said plaza.


    The borders of this entire plaza were actually suspended in mid-air while this place was situated in high altitude skies. When they looked down, they could see the terrain of a long stretch of rugged uneven mountainous grounds, lush green forests, and a silver flowing river that resembled a ribbon. There were also flocks of wild geese that flew below them frequently. This was basically another living world.


    Garen walked towards the edge and looked down. They were currently situated in the utmost point of high altitude. They were at a height of at least a few thousand meters while the ground below them resembled an exquisite and fine site model.


    He looked towards the faraway distance on his front-right side. There was a long stretch of white area that seemed to be a cluster of many buildings there.


    "The trade section of the plaza is located there where a myriad of items are sold inside. Transmigrators aren''t allowed to kill each other but other than that, this place permits any meaningful fights as long as no lives are taken," said Pera while standing next to Garen.


    Nine-Tailed Fox and Kong Xinxue stopped Cocosher who was trying to catch up to Garen on the other side. They asked her random questions and found conversation topics even when there were none. They were obviously trying to prevent her from getting too close to Garen.


    Garen had no time to pay attention to their insignificant thoughts now. He was observing the white trading section below from afar.


    "So where should I go if I want to view the Origin of the Mother Stream?" The trade section was not that important to him. Other than those with the Transmigrator status, the other people here did not share any similarities with him or provide him with a sense of belonging. As for the rare and strange energy systems, they were insanely suppressed when they arrived in the communal universe here. Although they were not as overpowered as the Four Great Cornerstones, they were considered to be extremely vicious in comparison to most of the other worlds.


    Garen''s current power grade had already barely restored itself to the Planetary Level now. He could influence the grades that were on the levels that could balance planets. It was stronger than the world of the Four Great Cornerstones but much weaker than the Mech World.


    "The Origin of the Mother Stream is one of the thirteen main sources of records. Since you must go to the High Hall which isn''t on this floor, we''ll take you to your dwelling place first. You can proceed to the High Hall anytime by either teleportation or fly there on your own," answered Pera.


    The group simply used the silver platform as support before flying off the plaza and soaring speedily to the bottom. Along the way, Garen constantly asked about the various situations here before he gained a certain understanding towards almost the entire layout and distribution of Lighthouse. This place no longer gave off the atmosphere of good friends helping each other. Instead, it was a place that was flooded with disputes and the bartering of benefits. No wonder Kong Xinxue and Nine-Tailed Fox were unwilling to return here and settle down. It was not surprising that many other people were more willing to hide in different worlds to live their own lives.


    While he spoke to Pera along the way about certain major events and situations that occurred on Earth previously, Garen was certain that the other party did not originate from the same Earth as himself at all. It seemed as though Nine-Tailed Fox and Kong Xinxue did not transmigrate from the same Earth as him either. Instead, it seemed like they came from certain parallel spaces that were branched out in history.


    This declined his interest slightly.


    After flying to a silver palace-like place among the mountains, Pera gave Garen a key. The entire territory that spanned a few hundred square kilometers was now Garen''s domain.

 1246 Origin of the Mother Stream 2

    "Although our surroundings are all wild mountainous areas, I believe that as long as you live here, there will be people who follow suit quickly," Pera smiled while speaking. "The powerhouses who belong to the level of the Suppressors can befriend others easily even if they have minor flaws. Whether you''re looking at the aspect of exchanging resources or close protection, as long as you have the support of a mainstay powerhouse, you can''t be more secure than that." He gazed at Nine-Tailed Fox and the other two women profoundly when he said this.


    "What are you looking at? We''re indeed planning to stay near Garen but it''s not for that reason!" Nine-Tailed Fox remained silent but Kong Xinxue piped up arrogantly instead.


    Pera paid her no mind. However, he was not the only one gazing at the three women as the members of the accompanying entourage around him were looking on in a faintly dubious manner as well.


    "Your Excellency the Sword Master, do you require any slaves? There are members of the local Kachusha clan who have reproduced here, and their physical appearance and features are similar to us humans. Although their IQ is slightly lower, they naturally possess loyal personalities and can be considered as a pretty good breeding race."


    "It doesn''t matter, I don''t think that I''ll be staying here for long." Garen shook his head and declined. The threat of the Depletion of the Mother Stream made him feel an unprecedented sense of urgency. Perhaps viewing the Origin of the Mother Stream would help him. However, he had to know everything fairly well before he could discover what type of path he would thread on in the future.


    "Is that so? That''s truly a shame," said Pera sympathetically. The silver platform descended slowly before Garen and the others walked off and stood before the doorway of a silver palace that was shaped like the top of an onion. He turned back to look at Pera and the others.


    "Thank you very much for arranging everything. Please thank Pure Jade Clan King for me. We''ll definitely have a drink together in his free-time when he returns," said Garen in a casual but polite manner. The other party''s alias clearly indicated that he came from the Immortal Hero World. Therefore, it was traditionally not seen as a taboo for them to drink alcohol together to display gratitude.


    "I will surely relay this message." Pera cupped his hands in salute. "Cocosher will live near you as well so you can seek for her directly if you have any questions or require anything. I''ll take my leave now."


    The platform soared into the sky, taking Pera and the others away before leaving into the distance.


    Garen glanced around his surroundings. There were vast stretches of pine trees, and pine needles and nuts covered the ground in thick layers. A few squirrels scurried around, unafraid of people at all. Occasionally, a squirrel that was holding a pine nut would crouch on the ground and stare at Garen and the others blankly.


    "Your Excellency?"


    Cocosher walked beside Garen and whispered, "There are more than a thousand rooms in the palace. Would you permit the three others and me to live here with you?"


    Garen returned to his senses.


    "I''ll allow it. You can arrange everything on your own because I might not be staying here for long."


    After experiencing the manner of Lighthouse, his mood was not as excited as he had imagined before.


    The Depletion of the Mother Stream would not only result in the discontinuation of his future. Additionally, other related phenomena would probably appear as well. The thing that he was most concerned about now was not his dwelling place in Lighthouse but the issue of finding his own goal and way out instead.


    As Transmigrators, they would constantly encounter endless rebirths and reincarnations. This was a type of passive process. If they were unable to grasp this process smoothly or extend each of their lives to the best of their abilities to improve their own souls, the Transmigrators would gradually lose their previous memories as time passed and the number of their reincarnations increased. Moreover, they would also gradually lose more of their Soul Energy to the point where it would be rinsed out completely and transformed into countless nutrients in the universe that would disappear in time and space.


    "What methods must I use to achieve eternity? Those who are powerful enough to reach the True Soul level aren''t spared from the threat of encountering depletion." Garen pondered deeply.


    It was because of him feeling insecure initially that got him to thread on the path of martial arts. However, these feelings weakened and disappeared after a period of time. Unfortunately, now with the news of the Depletion of the Mother Stream, these insecure feelings resurfaced once again.


    He did not know why he wanted to proceed forward continuously. However, he felt that constantly strengthening his own body would temporarily fill the hole in the depths of his heart that was left by these uneasy feelings.


    This normal-looking palace named Sword Master Palace was finally established near the third level of the circular plaza''s trade section.


    There were only a few people who knew about this. The news agencies sent beautiful women to try and interview Garen. Unfortunately, they discovered that the main door was tightly sealed and no one responded even when they tried to announce themselves to gain entry. Hence, they were forced to leave with nothing.


    Information on Garen''s origins was trending within Lighthouse for a few days before it was immediately brushed aside by other gossip news regarding the other Suppressors.


    As time passed, the number of guests who came to visit Garen increased greatly.


    Nine-Tailed Fox and Kong Xinxue kept to their words. After staying here for a few days, they went to the fourth level where the library section was located before they found jobs as managers there.


    Garen had visited the fourth level once as well. The library section kept books of various power systems that were all very rudimentary. They were nothing but the most basic methods of operation for the various laws of the universe. As a first-rate martial artist, he already possessed a realm of his personal experiences that also stemmed from the Slayer''s diverse killing moves and close combat techniques. His great comprehension of a good deal of strength experiences allowed him to easily abandon a few paths that were connected to the books in the library.


    After all, they merely served as popular items that were used to satisfy and guide many people who had recently transmigrated. The library section mostly sold various functional objects that could only be used once. Meanwhile, the information in the library was mainly used by the people who used communication devices to engage in long-range remote-controlling between various worlds.


    Garen glanced through the information but was ultimately uninterested. His grade was too high now while these things were overly shallow. They were of no help to him at all.


    They served no purpose except for increasing his reading experiences somewhat.


    Kong Xinxue and Nine-Tailed Fox left quickly because they were merely here to take advantage of him. Nonetheless, they could contact Garen anytime because they had already exchanged their contact details with him.


    Meanwhile, Night Water obtained mid-level authority after taking advantage of Garen''s position and using her powerful connections to intimidate others in the library section. Since she could view mid-level information regarding strength systems now, she moved out happily after vowing solemnly to Garen that they were both even now because the debts between them were reasonably paid off. Not long after, she found herself a boyfriend with wings on his back.


    Only Cocosher stayed. It was clear that this woman had impure motives because she took care of Garen every day as if she was his wife. She was clearly planning to keep a tight grip on such a good catch.


    She managed most of the tasks inside the palace.


    Meanwhile, Garen had a constant stream of visitors. He attempted to find a companion that came from the same Earth as himself among these Transmigrators. Unfortunately, he could not find one as none of the Transmigrators had even heard of a scenario where two of them originated from the same place.


    The parallel space was too vast. As numerous Transmigrators from earth had converged here, the probability of finding one who coincidentally came from the same place as he was as likely as getting smashed by a meteor when he was walking on the street.


    Other than humans, there were also other races among the visitors. The powerhouses from the Many-Eyed Clan and Many-Limbed Clan who came to visit him where also from the same Mother Stream System as Garen.


    Garen put on a welcoming face when he was visited by guests of the same race as himself. After the initial contact, he understood the powerhouses of the Mother Stream System within Lighthouse even more.


    None of them were of the Demon Lord Level.


    There were two people who belonged to the Army Level. After that, most of them were in the General Level followed by the Division Level and Guardian Level. Although there were only a few of the last two in Lighthouse, their base numbers in the various worlds were very high. It was also impossible to calculate the specific quantity. However, since many people had embellished their Mother Stream Systems, it was difficult to make a distinction.


    These powerhouses came forward to ask for guidance humbly when they discovered that Garen belonged to the Demon Lord Level of the Mother Stream System. Those in the General Level asked him to teach them how to break through to the Army Level, while those in the Army Level sought guidance on how to break through to the Demon Lord Level.


    The path of the Mother Stream System was actually very simple. Those who had achieved the Demon Lord Level and obtained the foundation of their own Soul Rings could upgrade their Soul Ring through plundering. Previously, they would only be at that stage where they could solidify their foundations. As their foundations grew stronger, it would become more likely for them to absorb and plunder the Soul Rings of others in the Demon Lord Level. However, Garen was different. As the properties of his own Soul Ring carried devouring abilities, the probability of his absorption was many times higher than the others in the Demon Lord Level. Unfortunately, his other abilities were unlike many of the other Demon Lords.


    He was reflecting on the Army-Level individual in the Many-Eyed Clan.


    There were many Demon Lords who possessed extremely powerful annihilation-type destruction abilities. Some of them were special abilities such as super long-range attacks like Black Sethe''s previous near-death effect that could dull all creatures. However, Garen''s abilities were unusually normal. The only Devour ability that he possessed did not include increment effects. Hence, his actual combat was truly weaker than some of the other Demon Lords in the same situation.


    Garen had discovered this point on his own.


    In the world of the Four Great Cornerstones, he had always been suppressing his opponents with his Soul Ring Energy and standing on the advantageous side.


    However, when he was really about to encounter the Slayer, he would discover that his opponent''s abilities were extremely overpowered and one of his Soul Rings could be countered with many of his enemy''s own. This was the true difference in strength between them.


    Garen decided to proceed with viewing the Origin of the Mother Stream after experiencing the initial stages of Lighthouse and understanding them fully.


    Other than the Thirteen Ultimate Origins, there was nothing else here that could help him.


    *******************


    "The Origin of the Mother Stream, huh¡­ Those are the supreme and paramount sources of recorded information. I had previously accumulated a lot of Contribution Points over a long period of them to view that information once," discussed Hawthorn of the Many-Eyed Clan who was sitting on the opposite side of Garen. "It''s unfortunate that I could not remember anything other than a stretch of light. I could only feel as if something was constantly beckoning me kindly. It was asking if I wanted to stop concerning myself with anything else and break through all of my restraints to cast myself there."


    Hawthorn''s name was not actually Hawthorn. Garen had merely given him this nickname because the pronunciation of his name was very similar to the Chinese hawthorn fruit. As an Army Level powerhouse of the Mother Stream, Hawthorn and Garen could be considered as kindred spirits. He came over frequently to discuss the news of Ancient Endor and Void Creatures with Garen. He had taken great pains to establish a large army of thirteen General Levels, fifty-two Division Levels, and a few thousand Guardian Levels. They were all clan members who had followed him each step of the way and grown together as a family. Therefore, he was much better than Garen in terms of gathering information.


    "What happened after that?" Garen was playing a game of chess on his own. He used both his left and right hands to play while listening carefully.


    "I woke up after that. I wasted one million Contribution Points without gaining a single thing." The six eyes on Hawthorn''s head blinked helplessly in synchronization. His eyes were formed in a particular manner. There were two straight lines on both sides of his face with three eyes on each side that descended in size from the top to the bottom. They blinked of pale green light.


    "Later, I inferred that it was very likely that my Soul Seed wasn''t strong enough. Thus, it was overly affected by the Soul Beckoning which made it fully impossible for it to be free enough to detect other things. Hence, you should probably be much stronger than us before you proceed to view the records."


    "Have you understood the situation with the Void Creatures slightly better?" asked Garen while changing the subject.


    "A little bit. We''re currently worried about the Depletion of the Mother Stream. However, there are probably at least over ten thousand years between now and the Depletion of the Mother Stream. It is completely unnecessary for us to worry about these things so early on because the True Souls would never just sit and wait for death. When the time comes, the things that are completely impossible will be transformed into things that can be done." Hawthorn disapproved of Garen''s worries. "Rumor has it that they''ve established six associates. One of my friends came looking for me a while ago in hopes that I could contact a few of the Ancient Endorian important figures. I told him frankly that after being mixed up in this for so many years, you are the only Demon Lord Level Warlock that I''ve encountered, Brother Saber. I haven''t seen any others. Ancient Endor has declined for far too long."


    "It has been impossible for the Mother Stream''s Oath to restrain us as well. You can see that it''s already very likely the Depletion of the Mother Stream is right in front of us. After a span of more than ten thousand years, I''m also suspicious that the mist that is being released at the Void Creatures'' area shows that there isn''t much time left," said Garen while furrowing his eyebrows.


    "If you look at it that way, it''s true that this is very likely¡­" Hawthorn nodded in agreement.


    Both of them were speechless for a while as the current situation had changed.


    The Void Empire had found three Demon Lords of higher grades to act as their associated representatives. However, the Ancient Endorian side could not even find one because their civilization had dulled long ago. Hawthorn had said that they could rebuild themselves but once the Ancient Endorian souls had formed Soul Seeds, there would be no leeway to backtrack anymore. This was because the Soul Seeds were the condensed bodies of all life forms and their Soul Wills. Once they were abandoned, they could only release Soul Seeds. Therefore, the best possibility was to lose all of their reincarnated memories. If they were slightly unfortunate, their bodies and souls would decay fully before they were turned into nourishment for the universe.


    "I don''t know the exact implications of the Origins of the Mother Stream''s Soul Beckoning. However, my instincts from the Kabida Clan that I come from is telling me that the biggest secret regarding the soul of the Mother Stream is probably hidden there," sighed Hawthorn.


    "Is that why you exhausted all your efforts and put yourself and your family on the line initially?" laughed Garen.


    "Yes, I owed a huge amount of debts in the end and didn''t even gain anything. I walked out while my mind was still entirely blank," said Hawthorn helplessly.


    "I''m going to the High Hall tomorrow. I''ve already submitted a request today in advance so that I can go there later. A certain amount of time is required beforehand for the preparatory work there," Garen said indifferently.


    "I can only wish you good luck then." It was clear that Hawthorn did not think highly of Garen.

 1247 Black Hole 1

    "Good luck?" Garen laughed. "Good luck won''t be enough¡­"


    Since all of the powerhouses of the Mother Stream System were the most direct influences of the Depletion of the Mother Stream, their life forces would gradually become exhausted as well. If they could not find a way to change it before the Depletion began, every single creature in the Mother Stream and the powerhouses who directly or indirectly depended on the Mother Stream to survive would face the threat of their life forces being severed.


    "A Soul Seed forms a Soul Ring, the Soul Ring produces Soul Energy and the cycle begins again. These processes are actually supported by the laws of the Mother Stream. Therefore, once these laws disappear, all of the Soul Rings will collapse completely while the components of the Soul Seed will be destroyed as well. When that happens, none of the Soul Seeds will exist anymore. In other words, the rest of us including me will be completely reduced to normal people," said Garen softly.


    "Perhaps this is still a good thing." Hawthorn of the Many-Eyed Clan lifted the cup of tea before him and drank a mouthful of it. "Great risks also bring great rewards. If we can make ourselves aware of the process that is released and produced by the Origin when the Mother Stream collapses, we''ll have a chance to realize the core rules of Space-Time."


    "So what? Even if we do realize it, it won''t be very useful once the Mother Stream and the greatest aggregate of rules collapse." Garen shook his head.


    Hawthorn chuckled.


    "That''s uncertain. Don''t forget that there are thirteen Space-Time Origins and the Mother Stream is only one of them. We can blend in pretty well in other places by becoming aware of a few core laws."


    "You have a point." Garen was speechless.


    "I was merely just throwing thoughts around from the beginning." Hawthorn shrugged. Suddenly, a little object that he wore on his ear made a brief beeping noise.


    "Alright, my time is up. I still have a bunch of things to sort out. I wish you all the best and hope that everything goes well tomorrow."


    He stood up.


    "Don''t worry." Garen nodded while smiling.


    He watched on as Hawthorn left.


    Garen placed a chess piece down, his right hand finally checkmate his left.


    He laughed quietly and shook his head lightly.


    Ever since he had reincarnated from Earth, it seemed as though he was traveling forward without stopping. He had formed four Soul Ring Demon Lords and belonged to the middle grade of the Demon Lord Level.


    These four Soul Rings could forcibly upgrade themselves by four grades when they were situated in the peak levels of strength in the world. This was an incomparably terrifying increment. It also represented the overly frightening powers of the middle-grade Demon Lords.


    Meanwhile, the high-grade Demon Lords were naturally more amazing. The colors of their Soul Rings ranged from being colorless to the rainbow''s seven colors of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. All of the Soul Rings had to be achieved and condensed according to the arrangement of these seven colors. An individual could only be bestowed the title of the high-grade Demon Lord once they had obtained a total of eight Soul Rings that consisted of the aforementioned seven colors and the colorless one.


    It was rumored that people who had obtained at least seven colors would have achieved the True Soul grade. Currently, although Garen could clearly feel that he had four Soul Rings of his own, they were still extremely unstable. After all, the first Soul Seed was the only one that had come to realization painstakingly while the rest were forcibly snatched and devoured by him.


    "In other words, I''m merely a middle-grade Demon Lord on the surface now. In reality, my explosive powers are probably only at the lower grades of the Demon Lord Level." Garen shook his head.


    "My Soul Rings aren''t stable enough yet and I had barely achieved the Colorless grade. I shouldn''t even think of obtaining the colors after the Colorless grade because I don''t know how long it will take to achieve these stages," sighed Garen. He closed his eyes, adjusting his state of mind with great concentration to prepare to view the Origin of the Mother Stream tomorrow.


    ********************


    Garen''s arrival did not cause any great changes because he merely lived quietly in seclusion. Despite being a Planetary Level source of combat strength, he did not seem to care about extravagance or servants.


    The forces of the three main clans noticed his lack of participation and attitude that seemed to be ignorant of everything else. Hence, they naturally and discreetly acted as if he was nonexistent because he did not participate in matters that involved scrambling for benefits.


    Although powerhouses were not lacking in places like Lighthouse, Garen was still the strongest one among them. He went to view the Origin of the Mother Stream within a few days of being released. When all of the influential emissaries gained knowledge of this external information at the same time, these forces temporarily gave up on drawing Garen over to their side.


    Garen woke up extremely early the next day. The color of the simulated sky was operating according to the natural patterns completely and it happened to be seven o''clock in the morning. He had prepared everything properly before proceeding towards the linking area in the circular plaza.


    Cocosher had made arrangements for one of the specialized transportation boards for him here. It was the same flying board that they had used when they came here directly.


    Garen allowed Cocosher to remain in the house while he rode the flying board to the linking area alone. The little pavilion began to transport him there directly.


    Large amounts of white snowflake-like objects swayed before his eyes constantly. This teleportation process lasted for more than ten minutes.


    Garen finally felt both of his feet sink.


    "You''ve arrived."


    A deep male voice echoed beside his ears.


    Garen''s eyes brightened before him.


    When he opened his eyes, he realized that he was standing inside a white, round hall. He was currently standing on the centermost area. A bald black man who wore a gold stud earring was standing before him.


    "I''ve received the notifications, Lord Sword Master. Everything has been arranged for you so please come with me." The bald black man wore a pure white, long robe and spoke to Garen softly politely.


    "Thank you for your trouble," Garen replied briefly in an equally polite manner.


    "You''re welcome. These are our daily tasks." The black man smiled, revealing his snowy-white teeth.


    However, Garen was currently not in the mood to observe him now. Instead, he observed his surrounding environment carefully.


    He walked out of the Teleportation Point with the black man and pushed open a little door on the left. They passed through a narrow and dark corridor before arriving in a little white stone pavilion that was neither big nor small.


    It seemed as though one side of the little pavilion was see-through. A transparent glass was placed over it in one direction. The bright, starry sky that was moving slowly outside could be seen through the glass.


    "This is where the Mother Stream is positioned in the High Hall. One of our powerful seniors had previously experienced life-and-death situations to record the information regarding the Origin of the Mother Stream here. The glass here is actually used to ward off the negative side effects that were brought on by the vast information. However, please don''t worry because there will definitely be no hindrances towards your realization process," explained the black man softly.


    "Once I close the door, the records will begin to be released in about ten minutes. Please prepare yourself. The total sustained time is calculated based on your own achievements. Although we don''t know the principles behind the mechanisms of the calculations, we''ve noticed that important figures with greater power tend to have longer sustained viewing times. They can even last up to three days at times."


    "How long does it usually last?" asked Garen.


    "About ten minutes. This is the usual continuous state," explained the black man patiently. "The handle inside this other room can be used to turn on the alarm. You can notify us immediately if you encounter any dangerous situations. We will turn off the transmission at that first instance and proceed to rescue you. This button is used when you require food or drinks while this button is used when you require particular items. Meanwhile, this is used when you require a particular person with special talents to coordinate with¡­"


    He began talking nonstop while introducing each of the functions inside the room in the small pavilion.


    Garen listened casually but his thoughts had somewhat shifted towards the walls of the room. Faint shrouds of Soul Energy Aura were constantly permeating throughout the room in the white pavilion.


    "No¡­ It''s not pure Soul Energy. Instead, it''s a type of fused Soul Energy that is closer to an actual Aura. The water in the Mother Stream is made up of countless substantial Auras that were liquefied. Could it be that Soul Energy that is fused with Auras will finally turn into a power source of an even higher grade?"


    This assumption drifted in his mind secretly.


    "¡­ So that is it, we will take one million points from your account as the viewing expenses if you have no other requests. May I ask if you would like to view it immediately?" The black man''s voice echoed, pulling Garen back out from his thoughts.


    He scanned his surroundings. There were faint scratches on the walls. There were even a few tiny holes that seemed as if they were created when a person went mad and scratched the walls crazily. It was clear that viewing the Origin of the Mother Stream could produce some unimaginable phenomenon.


    "You can start now." He nodded to indicate that he was ready.


    "If that''s the case, please wait for a while." The black man withdrew from the room and closed the door of the room in the small pavilion gently.


    Click. A locking noise echoed from the outside before multiple layers of strength and energy forces drifted over and adhered on the room door fully.


    "Are you worried that I''ll become mad and destroy this place after I lose my mind?" Garen had heard that most of the people who had seen the Origin of the Mother Stream would fall into a state of mental confusion and damage the room because of their chaotic madness.


    He walked in front of the glass and glanced outside at the boundless starry sky through the transparent icy glass. This place was the High Hall in the interior of Lighthouse. It was completely unlikely that it led outside to the galaxy in the external world directly. Most of the scenery here was simulated.


    Time passed slowly before changes appeared in the galaxy on the other side of the glass quickly.


    The dark blue then pitch-black starry sky gradually accelerated, moving faster and more frantically.


    Garen could only feel that his eyes were now filled with the light of countless blue stars that were moving rapidly. Next, a long slim mark that resembled a line was pulled out.


    The entire galaxy instantly turned into a tornado-like funnel that was larger on the top and narrower at the base.


    Shh!!


    At that moment, the entire galaxy shrunk downwards and condensed into a ball completely. It was actually a little silvery-white button.


    Inside the little button that was only the size of a fist was a galaxy that was turning slowly. It looked unusually magnificent.


    "Has it started?" Garen concentrated and held his breath while staring at the button carefully.


    A thunderous noise could be heard from the button suddenly before an abundance of white light burst forth at that moment. The white light was significantly brighter than the rays of a nuclear bomb. Garen''s eyes could only feel a bout of piercing pain instantly before his eyes closed due to the conditioned reflex.


    Hiss!


    There was a faint noise.


    The white light disappeared.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    Garen opened both of his eyes quickly. The scene before him had completely undergone great changes now.


    He was not standing inside the room of the little white pavilion anymore. Instead, he was currently floating within an infinite, faint yellow colored space.


    Little ball-like objects that resembled liquid and air bubbles floated up beside him before fluttering above.


    He could only see an endless stretch of yellow when he raised his head. It seemed as though the bubbles could not float to the end when they drifted above. Instead, they only turned smaller.


    "This place is¡­"


    Gurgle¡­


    Another air bubble floated up beside him.


    He suddenly saw that there were countless galaxies that were rotating and flowing inside these bubbles. The bubbles that were only the size of an eyeball could actually map out gigantic and uncountable sights.


    He could not help but reach his forefinger out to touch one of the air bubbles gently.


    Boom!!!


    Suddenly, countless terrifyingly vast oceans of information from the bubbles surged towards his brain madly.


    His Energy Machinist Imprint instantly turned rapidly. A large amount of Soul Energy was being exhausted. Garen felt as if he was a dried-up sponge that was thirstily absorbing the massive amount of information that was surging over with the bubbles.


    Although the contents of the information were extremely vast, some of it was insignificant. That type of information included the history that was formed by countless planets and destinies. Even though it seemed magnificent, it was actually meaningless to him. Each planet had records that were either long or short. Some of them spanned over billions of years while others lasted as long as more than a hundred billion years.


    As the information surged into his brain madly, Garen slowly and gradually realized that something was amiss. All of this information was faintly interspersed with a certain strange Aura. It resembled the Aura that was fused with Soul Energy that he had discovered earlier.

 1248 Black Hole 2

    Every trace of Information Stream that was enough to instantly cause the brains of ordinary people to collapse was constantly surging and condensing in Garen''s mind, gradually forming golden symbols with a splendid aura.


    These were meaningless symbols, yet incomparably complex. Though they seemed unusually concise, if seen in detail, each and every line contained countless terrifying changes and Information Streams.


    "The predecessors who were able to record these were definitely powerful to a certain realm already." Garen sincerely admired the predecessor who established these records of Information.


    As the Information Stream gradually increased, every flow contained the history of the Milky Way Universe''s development. Gradually, these new symbols began to stick together slowly and formed a stream of golden symbols, flowing slowly in Garen''s mind.


    Instead of water, only a myriad of golden symbols was in the creek.


    Garen could feel the inexplicable aura intensified as it got stronger and stronger. As soon as the stream of golden symbols was formed, the aura immediately increased.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    The symbols flowing into the stream were getting denser.


    The small stream gradually grew to become a river, and still continued growing bigger and wider.


    Steadily, the heavy parts of the river descended rapidly, sinking to the riverbed as the clear parts gradually rose. The clearest and lightest part was on the surface, attached with a faint unreal layer of aura. That was the vast aura formed by the golden symbols.


    The aura flowed along the huge river, gradually forming a river that was lighter and thinner. It was no longer golden, but translucent and almost colorless.


    As the aura increased and thickened as time passed, it began to fade into a pale green shade as it rushed rapidly.


    The entire river was gradually divided into two layers. The inner layer was the golden inland river wrapped in the aura as it continued flowing slowly, whereas the outermost layer was just a myriad of aura flowing around.


    Due to the different flow rates of both layers, a slight friction was formed. This force had an incredible penetration, and that was a new time. It constantly brushed against all the foreign objects, wearing them out until they slowly declined. From complete to deformity. From their peak until they fall to decline. Thus the creation of a brand new history, a new form of Information Stream. The Information Stream continued to condense into golden symbols and then formed a new Mother Stream.


    "What is the origin of Mother Stream then? Where did she originate from? What kind of pull forms such a scale?" Garen still could not see the whole picture. Even though he understood the concept of Mother Stream''s existence, he still could not find the fundamental origin of Mother Stream. Only by finding it would he be able to truly figure out the real reason behind Mother Stream''s exhaustion.


    He continued looking patiently. As if responding to his inquiries, the pictures changed once again.


    The picture changed from the pale green aura rushing upward. The river surface grew wider as its shade darkened, the flow rate of the gushing water increased as well.


    The friction against the inland river was also increasing at the same time. The flow of time had reached an exceedingly terrifying extent, almost thousands of years have passed by. Perhaps another ten thousand years would pass by if he took a nap.


    The pictures started to shake.


    "I''m afraid I can only get here¡­" A low, loud voice rumbled from the picture. "My limit, my life, is not able to support itself any longer if I continue moving forward."


    The voice spoke in Endor. Clearly, this snippet of picture was not recorded down by a random transmigrator, but a certain supreme True Soul from Mother Stream.


    Garen also knew that he had reached a crucial point, all his attention fixed on the image before him.


    The picture swayed more and more but the recorder seemed to be unwilling. It hesitated for a bit before the picture started swaying even more violently than before.


    It seemed to have thrown the recorded item to the front.


    Garen could feel his head swim for a while, not knowing how far it flew.


    With a puff, the picture paused for a moment, completely settling down on a huge bunch of giant dark green balls.


    Around the balls were green wired tentacles that were densely grown together, and among the mass of dark green was a small black opening. The Black Hole was so conspicuous that the eye-catching greens around it were not even able to cover up its existence.


    Darkness, indescribable darkness. Broad, grand, and vast.


    As soon as Garen set eyes on the black hole, the Soul Rings in his mind suddenly started swaying, his Soul Energy was boiling like hot water.


    He felt that the darkness was so gentle, so peaceful, and so inclusive as if it could accommodate and tolerate everything.


    A sense of security that he never felt before poured into his heart.


    It was as if he was back home. His physical body and mental mind were completely relaxed after a grueling exercise, he was sleeping on his bed after a shower and resting face up on his bed. The sort of unspeakable comfort almost made him let his guard down, and so his body moved toward the front involuntarily.


    It seemed that a voice was calling out to him softly.


    Come on¡­ Come on¡­ Darkness is the source of everything. Darkness embraces everything, derives everything, and it is the mother of all things, the mother of darkness. Before light, before the universe, before dimensional space, everything was in chaos¡­ It was one of the beginnings¡­


    Garen continued staring at the black hole blankly as surges of information flowed into his mind. From that moment onwards, the amount of information that entered his brain increased tenfold, then a hundredfold. His Energy Machine Imprint had completely collapsed as it was unable to deal with the immense information data. Blood started trickling down Garen''s nostrils but he did not notice anything at all.


    Instead, he walked toward the glass slowly as if he was a complete, lost soul.


    Bang.


    He was blocked by the glass. Realizing he was blocked, Garen got angry instinctively. He started to punch the glass that was blocking his path.


    The immense force echoed in the entire pavilion room.


    The amount of information was getting more as it increased in size. Without noticing, four days had passed already. Within these four days, Garen never stopped his action of punching the glass. His nostrils were still bleeding and his face was getting paler by the day.


    Perhaps nobody had ever been able to receive the Information Stream to this extent, but Garen did it.


    This was the first Demon Lord Level powerhouse to enter and view this record whereas the previous highest rank was only just an Army-Level.


    Garen persisted until the very last minute.


    The black hole was constantly emitting an aura that was a combination of highly concentrated aura and Soul Energy. The combination of these formed a substance that was unknown toward Garen. When the substance reached a certain high point of concentration, it naturally produced a huge sense of security, as if everything was one. It was that sort of inclusive feeling.


    Not only that, he had also found out something big. This substance seemed to be the main root of Mother Stream''s formation, separating into Aura Outer River and Golden Inland River. The river continued branching out as the different rates of water flow produced a different effect to the flow of time which would then affect the space universe that it flows through, hence generating a different rate of time flow.


    Such a terrifyingly enormous river that could not possibly be surpassed connected an infinite universe of time and space and this cosmic time was divided into a different flow of time according to their different flow rates, forming various worlds.


    Poof.


    The picture disappeared suddenly.


    Garen suddenly snapped awake from the recording and he found himself back in the pavilion.


    He felt the region below is nose was moist and he reached out to touch it. Immediately, he could see his hands full of blood, most of them already dried into gores, all stuck below his nose and right above his jaw. He felt extremely uncomfortable.


    "How long have I been standing?" He was a bit stunned and cast a glance toward the timer on the wall in the room. The clock-like timer displayed the count of fifteen days, twelve hours and six minutes.


    "If we open it this way, Mother Stream seems to be a massive Information Stream formed by countless space information substance, but simply because of the innumerable information substance that was not likely to produce entities, the aura flowed from the black hole should be more important. That seems to be the real actual thing that gives Mother Stream substance."


    Garen''s brain was still very clear, though it was slightly aching as it had been a long time since he used his brain.


    "Darkness embraces everything, it breeds everything, because it contains everything, it contains an infinite variety of substances. That is why we are able to find all sorts of entities that can match the Information Stream carried by Mother Stream. These entities are the substantial form of the massive Information Stream. They are the materialization of the universe galaxy''s history of development, the history of countless worlds. After they are all loaded, everything will come into place and form the stream."


    Garen calmed his nerves.


    "From the looks of it, perhaps Mother Stream can be called the Long River of History, a substantialized version of the River of History, but it was higher than history itself. She did not just record about humans, but more of everything. But now, Mother Stream is almost depleting. If that''s real, that means¡­ The recorded history is about to be destroyed."


    "Mother Stream''s water represented the records of the past. She does not represent the past, just the information records of past history, just like words on a slate. But it is such words that brought out a new meaning of its own, just like how recordings of books have affected time, space, and even life. This process is not normal at all," Garen''s train of thoughts was clear by now.


    "Then, the root of everything should be the Black Hole." He recalled the mysterious Black Hole he saw in the images earlier on, that was what gave Mother Stream the ability to influence the entire universe.


    Surprisingly, the pictures had completely disappeared right at this moment. But when Garen recalled the Black Hole, he suddenly felt that it was still constantly emitting an indescribable surge of aura right in his mind, right in his memory.


    He was shocked.


    Once the Black Hole was pictured in his mind, he could suddenly sense an inexplicable aura pouring out from the Black Hole into his mind.


    Darkness and affability, embracing all things.


    "This¡­!!!" Garen sucked in a deep breath. The aura emitting from the Black Hole in his memory had merged into his Soul Ring. It really did seem real as it slowly absorbed the Soul Energy constantly generated in the Soul Ring.


    After he finished going through the Origin of Mother Stream, Garen had a deeper understanding of Mother Stream now.


    Mother Stream''s water was not the root of life, but it was the huge amount of different information contained within it, those were the information of the evolutionary history of the natural universe. It allowed life to be closer to the natural universe and integrate with time to gain greater adaptability and many powerful forces.


    The waters of Mother Stream were a condensation of numerous information. In other words, the aura condensed by Secret Technicians were actually a vast amount of information from their souls and also their own perceptions, combined with individual natural substances that carry information, finally forming the similar products.


    With that, as long as there was a system of means that fit the rules of Mother Stream, even if it was no Secret Technique, other methods would still be able to produce such similar aura energy.


    "Mother Stream is indeed huge and complex, but if I''m able to figure out the root of the Black Hole, perhaps I''ll be able to find out the truth behind the Depletion of Mother Stream."


    He was not reconciled at all. With his current soul, a Middle Demon Lord Class, perhaps an average creature would have a soul lifetime that could reach tens of thousands of years. Four Soul Rings represented forty thousand years of Soul Limit life. This was undoubtedly a great success for Garen, who was an evolved ordinary human. An average human''s soul, even a transmigrator, would collapse entirely after three or four times of reincarnation. Three or four times. If it was an average human who did not practice, the longest lifespan was approximately hundreds of years, and the soul would completely collapse after a total of three-four hundred years.


    If it were the old men from Mech World who were fully cultivated, they would try to aim to extend their lives up to thousands of years, but Garen was far beyond that. As a transformed soul of Mother Stream System, his soul lifespan was no longer comparable to the general system.


    After reincarnating into so many worlds, he was indeed bored of reincarnating already, having to live his reincarnated life repeatedly.


    However, if it meant that he would lose his long life, he was not going to accept that as well.


    The Depletion of Mother Stream meant all beings of Mother Stream System would lose their support and shelter. If the Mother Stream regulations were to collapse, the existence of Soul Energy of spirits would be fundamentally corrected by the cosmic force. The depletion was not just the cutoff of water, it was the extinction of the fundamental way of existence.


    Just like a towering tree which had always been supporting the cave. Once the big tree withered, the cave would lose its support and there would be a huge mechanical gap. The cave would then naturally create a new structure and collapse to fill up the gap that was originally the tree. The force used would eventually crush the big tree entirely and re-establish a new mechanical balance of its own. A new, natural balance.


    This was the case for Mother Stream.


    In order to fill such a gigantic loophole that appeared all of a sudden, several universes would re-adjust their balance structure. Perhaps at the moment when the cave collapsed, all the small saplings and flowers under the big tree would instantly be crushed to death. All because the universe had adjusted its environment so that there was no more room or space for time to continue surviving.

 1249 Reincarnation 1

    "I¡­ How should I go from here?"


    Garen held the intense pain in his head as he stumbled toward the door. He gently pushed a button.


    It was a button that reminded the people outside that he had finished watching.


    There was no sound at first, but soon, soft footsteps could be heard outside.


    Crack.


    The door opened.


    "Your Excellency, are you alright?" A young silver-haired lady in a white robe stared at Garen with a slightly stunned expression. The instant she opened the door, she was shocked by Garen''s appearance. Blood trickled down his nostrils and had splattered everywhere. He looked extremely miserable.


    "I''m alright, I just need a rest and I''ll be fine," Garen waved her off.


    What he was most concerned with now was what kind of substance that was flowing out of the moving black hole in his brain.


    Instinctively, he had a feeling that those black hole ÆøÏ¢ were of no harm to him.


    The lady hurried forward and helped Garen up. The brushes of her arm released a few pale blue ripples that covered Garen''s body.


    Immediately, a cool and comfortable feeling emerged within Garen, but in exchange, the lady''s complexion instantly paled.


    "Sorry¡­ My abilities are only barely able to treat you¡­" She whispered.


    "Thank you, I''m already feeling much better." Garen forced a smile. This was obviously a treatment approach but he knew his own body best. With his strong physique, unless he recovered himself, the external force required to affect his body would have to pay a price that not any ordinary living creature could afford.


    Exiting the room, Garen came to the side of High Hall with the help of the lady. They found a chair for him to sit and take a breath.


    This time around, Garen had used up so much energy inside out even his Energy Machine Imprint had collapsed. He could now only rely on his brain to deal with the large amount of data that he collected.


    He had once encountered the same situation in Mech World, but it was not as troublesome as this time.


    Especially that mysterious black hole, he had only watched the records of Information once but Garen already felt something had gotten into his mind.


    He quietly closed his eyes and leaned against the chair. He heard faint noises of someone calling out his name softly but he was too exhausted to care about it, and so he fell into a deep sleep. High Hall had the same restrictions as the entire Lighthouse; that no living creatures were allowed to use force at the area, hence he could take a rest without worries.


    As his consciousness gradually blurred, Garen faintly felt as if he was wrapped in a never-ending darkness ÆøÏ¢, as if something was holding onto him and moving in a certain direction.


    He himself was classified as an Endor Demon Lord, possessing the terrifying powers of the Four Great Soul Rings. Such a level of dream control was practically a natural ability and basically, dreams would not be affected by any external forces. However, such an abnormal situation was currently happening.


    With a slight shift of attention, Garen instantly woke up, his consciousness completely waking up from the dream.


    The black mist around him dissipated all of a sudden, revealing a misty view of the outside world.


    What surprised Garen was that the outside world was not an endless black region of dreams, but the large expanse of green waters of Mother Stream.


    The roaring rumble constantly trembled in his ear.


    He found himself swimming toward the upstream of Mother Stream. There were numerous ÆøÆÇ waters that were getting denser and greener.


    "Come on¡­ Embrace the darkness of everything¡­ Turn it into the energy of the universe¡­" A faint voice that sounded like a summons constantly rang from ahead.


    All of a sudden, Garen saw a familiar Black Hole that swiftly emerged before him.


    "Black Hole!?"


    His heart shook.


    (What in the world is happening!? How did I suddenly get so close to Black Hole from my dreams? What in the world is this?!)


    Garen thought of retreating. Facing something that he had completely no knowledge of, he was unwilling to simply rush into it. When he was prepared for the next time, with all the complete information he needed, it would still be not too late for him to have a go again.


    "Retreat!" He commanded. As Demon Lord, the dream should still be completely under his control.


    Boom!Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    With a loud crash, the surrounding rivers ÆøÆÇ was stilled immediately. The immense powers of the Demon Lord started spreading and he was once again in full control of his dream.


    Garen felt his position gradually falling back as he began to move away from the mysterious, strange Black Hole.


    But it was right at that moment! An extremely massive force rushed out of the Black Hole.


    "Darkness¡­ Darkness¡­ Supreme darkness¡­!"


    It seemed as if there were crowds of people praising, praising and singing songs, when an intense silk thread-like power started spreading and entangled Garen, pulling him by force into the pitch-black Black Hole.


    "This is!!?" Garen''s heart tightened as his Soul Ring turned violently in an attempt to regain control.


    But to no avail, the terrifying Black Hole''s power was like gigantic tentacles of multiple octopuses, and even more like innumerable invisible hairs, wrapping around him all over. In comparison with Garen''s own strength, the force that it had was like a giant''s compared to a baby''s. It was simply incomparable.


    "Damn it!"


    Everything was out of Garen''s control already. If the power of this Black Hole was really the source of Mother Stream, it was basically impossible for him to compete with his ant-like strength in comparison. After all, it was just a tiny recording image.


    "Wake up!!" Stirring up the energy of his whole body, he tried to wake himself up from the dream, but unfortunately, his agitation just seemed to aggravate the Black Hole''s pulling force. An even stronger surge of pulling force spread from its tentacles.


    Although Garen wanted to explore the secrets of Mother Steam''s source, he had never thought that it would be under such violent situation.


    Suddenly, the Black Hole inflated and with a boom, it covered his entire sight.


    In an instant, it was as if Garen dived into a pool of black ink. He could not see anything around him, only the thick, oil-like dark liquid slowly moving about as his body moved slowly like a vortex in water.


    With such slow movements, a subtle trace of Information gradually penetrated Garen''s brain.


    He vaguely understood what this place was¡­


    "High-Dimensional Universe? The High-Dimensional Space that exists high above myriads of dimensional universes?" Garen identified the content of this Information. These records of Information were clearly arranged and seemed as they have been specially organized to form a method of storage similar to the Endor''s form of textual speech. It was also evident that the content was later on processed once again.


    But then, Garen soon felt that his strength was constantly clustered just like a Celestial Body.


    All his energy, including his powers, were all shrinking in the depths of his soul.


    His surrounding was getting darker as it got denser, moving around was getting even more difficult. The pulling force stopped after pulling Garen in and disappeared completely.


    "High-Dimensional Space¡­ Inevitably requires an immense low-dimensional force as the base for evolutionary improvement. I don''t know if it''s enough for my level though." Garen understood that after the process of improving his dimensional evolution, he would no longer have to worry anymore. However, he was currently worried whether his powers were sufficient to cope with him entering the High-Dimensional Space this time around.


    Just like a character eager to break through the frames of a painting, entering the dimensional-space was no different. The price to be paid was absolutely unimaginable.


    Since he was already pulled in, he was forced to begin this dimension improvement. Garen could no longer hesitate, and since there was no room for retreat, he could only move forward.


    From the Endor Information left from the dark space, those residuals of Information seemed to contain a ton that wanted to forcefully increase their dimensions but failed. Among them were some Army Level ones, some were ordinary people who had acquired powerful treasures, some were the same as him; in the presence of Demon Lord Level when they encountered the existence of the Black Hole by coincidence. After irresistible circumstances, they were pulled in by force and forcefully carried out their dimensional development. Those who succeeded were able to enter the new High-Dimensional Universe whereas those who failed were turned into cosmic fertilizer, nourishing all beings.


    Garen stirred up his Soul Ring which released an immense force. This intense force was the ultimate strength of a Middle Level-Demon Lord and it was even able to resist the Black Hole''s pull, even for just a second.


    Perhaps a True Soul-Level would be able to completely break away from the pulling force, but Garen did not have the slightest resistance at this moment.


    In the dark, the power of the whirlpool was getting weaker and weaker by the moment. Garen was almost in a sluggish state. From the looks of the Information memory that remained in the space, it was nearly impossible for one to rely on one''s energy to recover from a sluggish state. Once Garen''s mind was thoroughly stagnated, awaiting him would just be a moment where he gets swarmed by the huge flow of time as he rots to death.


    The rotation of the whirlpool was actually able to largely offset the time flow over here at the source of Mother Stream. Once stopped, it would only need one or two hours to completely erase Garen''s life for ten thousand years.


    Along the road, transmigrating through a number of different worlds, Garen had never feared to face death, and he stayed the same as the matter of life or death was right before him.


    Being pulled into this Black Hole under odd circumstances, he would just be waiting for death if he did not advance. The only thing he could do was to fight hard.


    Deep in Garen''s soul, he had decided that he would not hesitate anymore if he had to fight.


    The Four Great Soul Rings started to spin and an immense power combined with his violent physique began a self-destructive nature.


    The self-destructive nature would be able to produce a huge amount of aggressive force, but it would cause a permanent and irreversible damage to his Soul Ring. However, a Soul Ring could be devoured and absorbed again, whereas he only had one life.


    Garen whipped up all his strength and prepared to release it all behind him.


    At that moment, the Natural Attributes Pane below his gaze suddenly burst out a striking red flare.


    The endless red light instantly penetrated his eyes, his bodies, and even the darkness around him. It was as if a light bulb suddenly lit up in the dark night.


    Magnificent yet crystal clear.


    The red crystal-like radiance instantly froze Garen like a bug caught in amber. He was unable to move at all, even the self-destructive Soul Ring energy that he prepared within his body condensed in a blink of an eye.


    "This is!?" Garen was shocked. He had investigated the origins of his talents and powers for a long time, but no matter how much he investigated, he had never discovered a specific source. This sort of extreme, abnormal talent and power was just a formidable strength that was discovered by accidental luck.


    But in reality, he knew deep inside that just relying on chemical mutation was actually sufficient to activate such a complex ability naturally.


    To be able to modularize all the skills and abilities of beings in the world, and to generalize all of that so that they would never be chaotic and develop in a negative direction, every ability was well organized. Furthermore, it solidified his body so his physique would not degrade even if he slowed his training.


    Such a strange and powerful talent was still never before seen even now that Garen had arrived at the Lighthouse.


    Solidify everything and accommodate everything. These were practically the highest conceptual power.

 1250 Reincarnation 2

    Once an ordinary person possessed the ability to solidify, if he were to train for two hours today, his strength would gain an adaptive improvement. Even if he stopped training for the next one year, the increase in his strength would remain permanently. In other words, as long as an ordinary person trained consistently every day, the person''s body would sooner or later reach its limit that the universe could only tolerate. After that, the solidifying ability would then exist at its peak and it would never degenerate.


    This was the most terrifying part of talents and powers. The more Garen understood its power, the more he was afraid of it. Later on, he even tried to not depend on his talents and powers as much as possible as he was still unable to figure out its specific source.


    And now there was finally a clue to the origin of his powers.


    "Absolutely." Garen''s entire body was wrapped in the red light as he began to move forward swiftly.


    "It''s definitely from the High-Dimensional Space, otherwise it would''ve been impossible to trigger the Black Hole that easily!"


    Garen made a few guesses in his mind.


    The sudden outburst of Garen''s talents and powers prevented him from using ×Ô±¬»ê»·, and also temporarily halted the threat and danger imposed by the Black Hole, but the situation was still not optimistic from his side.


    As the force of advancing increased, the speed increased as well. Garen felt as if he was drowned in earth, as if he was moving among layers of rocks in the soil. The resistance was stronger as well as the red light started shaking. It seemed that some of the powers were not caught.


    Garen started to panic. Once the red light disappears, he would not even have the chance to struggle anymore as he would be instantly turned into cosmic fertilizer by the horrifying flow of time around him.


    Fortunately, a glimmer of light seemed to emerge in the darkness.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    At the forefront, there was a faint white light and the red light became dinner. As it gradually weakened, Garen took the opportunity and rushed forward immediately.


    Boom!!


    A scarlet blood-red whip lashed over all of a sudden.


    Garen was only able to have a good look when it got closer and he realized that it was not a whip, but a gigantic stream of lava. Floating across the stream were numerous living creatures that were moaning in pain. Some human, some non-human. They were all naked, their bodies scorching black as they drowned in misery in the corrosive waters.


    The scarlet red river close to Garen was emitting a ghastly attractive force, but as the red streak of light suddenly accelerated, the force merely rushed over instead, leaving the river far behind.


    Soon, an enormous white-golden disc followed suit, zooming by the top of Garen''s head. The white-golden disk, too, had a powerful and alarming attractive force. It was also filled with numerous dignified castles, flying giant beasts, a large majestic army, and a choir that was singing praise.


    The red light along with Garen accelerated once more, darting forward.


    The white light in front was getting closer and closer. Garen could even see that the white shade actually just seemed to be a thick layer of plastic-like light membrane.


    "Ladia¡­ Ladia¡­" Soon enough, a bunch of galaxy-like vortexes slowly emerged at the left side, sending out subtle ear-piercing hums that emitted an even more horrifying attractive force, attempting to draw Garen over from the red light. However, the red light accelerated one last time, leaving it far behind.


    At this moment, the red light has weakened to its limit, only a thin layer remained.


    Garen was worried that it could no longer sustain itself and just explode straight away.


    He then only noticed that his body had completely melted for some time already, and all that was left was his soul. The four Soul Rings rotated slowly around him, overlapping each other as they let out a bright, colorless fluorescent light.


    And compared to before, his Soul Ring was slightly more condensed as if it just went through the previous process. The structure of his Soul Ring was now more stable and the original Middle Level-Demon Lord''s rickety base situation was now solved.


    As soon as the white light membrane got closer and closer, Garen felt that his Soul Ring began to shrink rapidly. It became smaller and smaller until it was pocket-sized, becoming one full size smaller than its original size.


    Finally, the red light wrapped around him crashed into the thin white membrane.


    Boom!!


    The crash seemed to explode in his ear.


    White light flashed before his eyes and nothing could be seen at all. Garen had completely lost all means of perception.


    The white light faded rapidly in front of his eyes and Garen felt as if he had broken a layer of membrane. He then straight away rushed into a brand new space that was more viscous and stronger.


    The time flow here was a hundred times faster than the original one. He could clearly sense that the time flying by was tearing up his soul. Right this moment, the red light had completely lost its function of protecting him, hence why he could sense the time flow in the external world.


    "So this is the High-Dimensional Universe?" With a slight hint of curiosity and in inexplicable awe, Garen extended his perception and looked outside.


    In the dark endless space, appearing right before Garen''s eyes was a bunch of colorful substances that resembled seaweed, floating in the black space.


    There was light moving about above the bunch of substances. Some spots were dark, some spots were blue, and some spots were an eye-catching red, but most of the spots were the yellow earth and the blue sea water.


    It seemed to be a hefty Sand Table Projection of a world.


    Garen found plenty of small disc-like pieces on the top. The pieces were slowly rotating like the gears of a machine, precise yet heavy. They were also all of different sizes and shades of color.


    Around the discs were a lot of silk-like tattered colored materials, and some were even fluttering.


    Whereas at this moment, he was moving ahead at high speed with the help of the red light''s final inertia, heading straight toward the seaweed-like world.


    The bunch of substances itself already had a strong attractive force and as he gradually closed in, the world''s attractive force seemed to become bigger and stronger.


    Swoosh!


    Garen lost all his senses instantly and he fell into complete darkness. It was as if his speed accelerated to its limits, entering a state similar to teleportation. Suddenly, he entered an unpredictable situation.


    *******************


    Lighthouse


    "Is Sword Master His Excellency still resting?" In the High Hall, a tall man dressed in a white robe walked out of the Teleportation Point slowly as he asked a lady who was also dressed in a white robe.


    "Yes, Your Excellency." The lady responded respectfully and stepped aside, revealing Garen who was sitting still behind her, leaning against the wall with his eyes closed.


    Garen still appeared to be asleep. His eyes were shut tight, his complexion ruddy, as usual, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary.


    The man in the white robe''s face was shrouded in a clear light. He cast a glance toward and snorted as if he noticed something.


    "No."


    He strode forward.


    "Garen, Your Excellency." He reached out and pressed on Garen''s shoulder.


    Hiss...


    In an instant, Garen''s entire body toppled over like a sandstorm, turning into countless beads of sand scattering all over the ground.


    The lady was stunned and the man in white robe blanked out.


    He quickly retracted his arm and went silent for a moment. After a while, he slowly spoke.


    "Garen, His Excellency, I can''t feel the presence of his soul at all. His body has been completely withered and turned to sand, even all his life energy has been completely drained."


    The lady covered her mouth as she stared at him in disbelief.


    "How is that possible!? He¡­ He''s only seen the Mother Stream source once¡­!"


    "Although I''m not willing to believe this, but it is what it is." The man sighed in a low tone. "Garen has fallen. Notify the control team of Lighthouse to lower the flag¡­"


    He showed an expression of sympathy.


    "How unfortunate, a prodigy powerhouse¡­ Perhaps this was an accident¡­ As for the calling of the true source, maybe Garen was a bit too overconfident."


    *******************


    Darkness¡­


    Darkness remained and nothing could be seen.


    When Garen woke up from his coma, he did not know how long he had been unconscious. He could feel that his Soul Ring seemed to be slightly cracked, but fortunately, it was still much better than before so there was no major loss.


    The feedback from the surrounding powers indicated that he seemed to have stabilized, and the surrounding universe space rules were unusually stable to the point where people could boil in anger. If the rules of the Four Great Cornerstones world were said to be abnormal already, then the stability of the rules here was basically ten times stronger.


    Nothing was in sight in the surroundings but Garen could feel that he seemed to be in an oval-shaped space. The space was small enough just for him to stay alone, but the troublesome thing was that there was a small meaty object that was snuggled up beside him. Unsure as to what was it, Garen slightly wriggled his body according to its movements.


    This small little thing clearly occupied Garen''s activity space.


    Garen could feel his actual body. He tried to hold his hand out but due to the complete darkness, he was unable to see both his hands. However, he could still sense the slow movements of his hands.


    "I guess I''ve reincarnated again¡­" He came to a conclusion. According to his sense of touch, his hands did not feel like the palms of a human being, but something like a bird''s. There were three fingers in the front and one at the back, the tips of his fingers were sharp yet soft, obviously not fully grown yet.


    In the darkness, Garen stretched out his claws and squeezed the small meaty object toward the corner. When he finally occupied the large space, he began to explore his current body shape carefully with his small claws.


    He touched his legs, which seemed to be in the same position as his hands, his muscle lines were evident. He had no human toes, but the same four toes that were sharp at the tip yet still soft.


    Touching his back, he could feel that something seemed to be moving on his back.


    As he reached out with his claws, he indeed felt two fan-like things curled up clinging to his back. As his claws felt it, it was just like the feeling of touching his back ribs.


    Besides that, Garen felt that his neck seemed a little too long.


    His entire neck was one-third of his entire body length. There even something moving behind his butt.


    This made him shudder for a bit.


    "Is this a deformity!?"


    No, it could not be. He quickly calmed himself down. In his four Soul Rings state, even if he was in the High-Dimensional Universe, the meaty object at the side would be a good enough contrast, no? That little guy was obviously a Soul Level-Soul Seed. In other words, even if it was not for the gap in their qualities, his powers were practically twenty times of this little thing beside him. Not to mention that his Soul Ring had a huge different qualitative change in powers in comparison to general Soul Seeds. Even if the wisps of powers were compiled together, there would still be a vast difference in terms of quality.


    Garen felt a chill in his heart. He tried to release his Soul Energy to explore the situation outside the space but the oval-shaped hard wall was very strong and his Soul Energy was unable to penetrate through them. After multiple attempts, he gave up.


    Moreover, he even found out that once his powers separated from his body, it would be exceedingly tough to unleash it.

 1251 Clan 1

    "This space¡­" After multiple attempts, Garen had completely given up on the idea of using his Soul Energy to explore the area.


    At the same time, he noticed that there was a cord-like object attached to the inner wall of the eggshell and a soft liquid was flowing into his body from the umbilical cord.


    "So these are nutrients?" He tugged at the umbilical cord and it was indeed very firm.


    It was pretty obvious that he was in an embryo inside an eggshell, and such eggshell embryos often only appear with special creatures.


    Garen searched through his memories and knowledge for almost half a day and instantly listed dozens of potentially similar species, but further verification was needed.


    Time passed slowly.


    The exterior of the eggshell gradually heated up as an unbearable heart was transmitted from the outside as if someone was toasting it with fire.


    Garen started to feel hot, but the heat just got worse and worse he was almost unable to bear with it any longer. A subtle whining sound came from the small meaty object by the side that sounded like grains of sands, pitiful indeed.


    Hu¡­


    Suddenly, a breeze blew by and the temperature of the eggshell dropped instantly.


    Inside the eggshell, Garen wriggled his body as he changed his position. Kicking the meaty object aside, he enjoyed the rapid decrease of the temperature.


    "Esgula¡­ Mildi¡­" Suddenly, a loud yet solemn voice rang outside the eggshell.


    Garen was startled for a bit. After all, this was the very first time he heard something obvious outside that belonged to a creature, and it was a rhythmic voice, though it was an unknown language.


    Hiss¡­


    Soon enough, he was aware that something was not right.


    The umbilical cord on his stomach began to glow, giving off a faint white shimmer like a lamp. Not only did it illuminated the inside of the eggshell, it shone on his current weak body.


    White¡­!


    Everything was white. Whether it was the inner wall of the eggshell or his body at that moment, everything was completely white.


    By the light, Garen lifted his claw and noticed that it was a beast-like claw and there was no sign of humanity at all. The skin of his beast-like claw was covered with tiny scales, reflecting the white light faintly like a mirror. It was unusually beautiful.


    "This body seems really weak," Garen thought. Looking at his Attribute Pane below, there was nothing on display. Who knew when would his attributes restore. However, there was no doubt that his talent and power originated from this world. If he wanted to clear this up, the only chance he had was to be incubated and break out of the eggshell.


    Garen tried out his body''s strength and surprisingly, his body''s strength far exceeded what he had imagined.


    "Seems like my soul is too strong already, I guess most human bodies aren''t able to accommodate me without modification, and that''s why I''ve entered such a tyrannical creature''s body," speculated Garen.


    As he made various speculations in his mind, a soft and warm liquid suddenly oozed out of the umbilical cord on his stomach. There seemed to be a special unknown Information Stream in the liquid. Just like a trickling creek, the Information Stream poured into his mind along with the liquid, entering the surrounding air of his Soul Rings as if it was engraved, turning into many interesting patterns.


    Garen''s immense Soul Energy system quickly rotated, consuming a large supply of Soul Energy. It soon found the language system of the Information Stream and differentiated them properly into his brain''s language region.


    Once he was done with all the work, ten minutes had barely passed.


    Garen cast a glance toward the meaty object by the side and realized that it was also receiving the Information Stream through the umbilical cord as well. Obviously, it was not all meant for him alone.


    "Legend says that certain powerful creatures have an innate inheritance even before they are born, might this be the so-called innate inheritance?" Garen made a wild guess. He believed that his soul was strong enough to a certain extent that the type of body he chose was definitely not any weak types, so it would not be surprising at all if he was to receive innate inheritance.


    After the language system passed in by the umbilical cord was completed, he began to use it as a tool to view other information.


    With a look, he immediately fully understood what kind of being he was.


    ''I''m one of The Great Colorful Dragon Clan, I was born to be incomparably noble, being the apex predator at the top of plenty of food chains. We, the dragon race are born honorable, growing into Level Five creatures. We have brutal close fighting abilities and of course, talent and spells of great lethality¡­''


    An unknown voice swayed in the depths of Garen''s heart, repeatedly narrating the various powers, glories, and honors of the dragon race.


    The voice kept repeating over and over again until Garen was annoyed, but the mass of meat by the side was enjoying it. Lying there motionless, slight Soul Energy emitted from it showed that it was extremely concentrated at the moment.


    "Dragon race?" From the Information he had, Garen quickly read about the specimen he belonged to, White Dragon.


    The voice continued steadily, reading out the information accordingly. It barely reached one-third of its contents before Garen finished all the content sent in from the Information Stream.


    He also understood his current identity.


    A White Dragon!


    To be precise, he was a young dragon belonging to the White Dragon Clan.


    "Interesting!" This was Garen''s first time reincarnating into a non-human race. The transmitted Information obviously had personal emotional characteristics, it was evident that the previous generation of White Dragons had amended the contents with their own emotions. In the beginning, it was an explanation of the lofty status of the dragons'' superior position. After that, it was just some basic knowledge of common sense. Then, regardless whether the young dragons were able to stand it, huge and complex knowledge of customs, taboos and other information all swarmed inward. It was obvious that the information were all prepared to store within the minds of the young dragons and as they slowly grow up, the information would all open up. This was the normal growth of a young dragon.


    But clearly, Garen did not fit into this normal category. With a few glances, he had already finished reading through the information. This Information Stream in comparison to the Black Hole was practically the difference between an ant and the Sun, even filling a tooth gap was not enough.


    However, soon enough, the transmission of the Information Stream came to a halt.


    The inheritance had ended.


    The outside quietened down once again as time passed by slowly and Garen started to feel bored all over again. The inheritance had allowed him to understand what kind of place he was at.


    Main Substance Plane.


    His inherited memories called this place as such.


    The place was very, very huge. It was so vast to the point that even if White Dragons fly at their highest speed, three hundred kilometers per second, for nineteen years, they would still be unable to see the plane''s edge. Plenty of ethnicities stayed here as well, but humans were the largest ethnic group that occupied the land. They were powerful, greedy, and they were like grass that could not be burned out by a prairie fire. Another group appears in a blink of an eye after one group dies and they had innumerable strong people.


    Since the disappearance of the dragon race from twenty thousand years ago, they had completely fallen into a state of decline. Although the inherited memories praised the greatness and glories of the dragon race, Garen''s sensitivity could sense the hatred against humans and dwarves, especially humans. They hunted the dragon race using special crafts to keep the bodies, and they even made all kinds of powerful equipment for the dwarves.


    They were more disgusting and greedy than the devils from Hell and demons from the abyss.


    Those detailed yet boring contents were quickly swept through by Garen, just so he could instill the hatred and loathing of the young dragons toward human beings.


    The main concern of Garen was the environment here.


    Clearly, the environment of this world was pretty similar to plenty of Western myths he had once seen on Earth.


    What shocked him the most was that there was a God here!


    Some Gods descended on gospels or miracles and there was a large number of believers who established organizations and built the country. Some Gods blended into daily lives such the God of Poetry, the God of Wealth, the God of Water, the God of Forests etc¡­. All sorts of Gods who were powerful and promising. Not only they had ordinary high-ranked warriors as their subordinates, but they had demigods who ignited the sacred fire, Holy Spirits that were pure and innocent. Various religions divided ninety percent of the entire Main Substance Plane.


    "Gods¡­ The Gods here, what way of existence do they have?" Garen continued to analyze the inherited Information in the eggshell.


    There were no firearms here, no powerful weapons like nuclear bombs and guided missiles, at least. That was because gunpowder was extremely unstable! Furthermore, the powerful force here was way beyond a technological world like Earth.


    The more powerful ones here were the wizards.


    There were two round moons in the sky. One was the Goddess of Wizards, founder of Weave, and also the Goddess of Magic, Mystra. The purple moon represented the core of the Weave, and was not just any ordinary planet.


    On the other hand, the other moon was black in color. Only necromancers and believers who held control over dark shadow energy could see it. That was the Black Moon, and it represented another Weave -- Shadow Weave. It originated from the Dark Goddess Shar and it was created to fight against Mystra.


    These two Weaves were this world, or perhaps, the main transmission system of this plane.


    Garen did not quite understand the concept of this plane.


    The planets he was familiar with were the galaxy and the nebula. However, there were no specific forms here, and replacing them instead was the plane, various sizes of plans that constantly changed.


    A plane was a sphere that resembled a planet that constantly rotates. From the inherited information, this was the only point he could understand. The others were understandings of Hell, the abyss, and the human world.


    Among them, the Information had knowledge of the human world and Hell the most.


    Part of the reason was perhaps human beings were their biggest enemy, whereas Hell was an evil plane adjacent to the Main Substance Plane. The White Dragon Clan once recruited young dragons to enter Hell to run training sessions for a period of time as hunting creatures of Hell was a sign of adulthood.


    But now, everything seemed different¡­


    Garen could see the end of the inherited information.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    Decadency was no longer inevitable for the Dragon Clan. Even though they still existed at the top of the food chain, they could simply no longer live alone because once they were left alone, they were highly likely to be attacked by countless, greedy dragon slayers. Their bodies, their treasures, and all their wealth were completely sucked clean by those greedy maggots.


    Even when faced with such evil people, some of the Dragon Race even turned and joined them, which was simply unforgivable!!!


    The anger in the inherited information was just like a virus, even Garen was almost infected by it as hatred toward humans grew within him. A burst of Soul Energy exploded from his Soul Ring all of a sudden, canceling out the intense negative emotion he felt.


    He then continued watching.

 1252 Clan 2

    ''Those traitors, those fallen ones who have abandoned their vengeance and race, will soon be turned into Soul Basins by the Great Dragon Goddess Tiamat and burn for all eternity in the abyss!'' That was the loud cry of hatred inscribed in the White Dragon''s inherited memory.


    "Alright then¡­ Clearly, White Dragon''s ancestors were badly slaughtered by humans." At this sight, Garen had basically finished reading all the content.


    Throwing aside the parts his subjective emotions got involved, he did get plenty of information about this world.


    Priests, wizards, warlocks, and other professions that involved the ability of casting spells were part of the high-ranked combat forces of this world. The cavalry, swordsmen, assassins, thieves and other occupations formed the abnormal yet complete society system of various armed forces.


    Compared to the strong human races and the equally powerful dwarves and elves, the current dragon race had already vanished completely. On the other hand, the White Dragon Clan were located in the northern parts of the plane, building their nests deep in the cold northern ice mountains. While this nest Has not even lasted for a hundred years, the White Dragon Clan would move every once in a while to other regions so they could avoid humans who might find them.


    The powerful and evil Dragon Goddess Tiamat did not protect her own kind whereas the White Dragon Clan constantly moved around. But as the Main Substance Plane was gradually occupied by more and more human beings, the places they were able to hide reduced dramatically. As part of the evil Colorful Dragon Clan, they were different from Metallic Dragons. The White Dragon Clan had long expected that sooner or later, they would have to battle the humans.


    No¡­ Perhaps it would not be a war, but a massacre.


    There was already too many inherited members of White Dragon who weakened so much they were not even able to leave the plane. A large part of White Dragons was even just slightly stronger than white lizards. Besides their mighty dragon bodies that were still able to handle close combat, they would just be beasts that were slightly bigger in size.


    Their intelligence slumped due to the lack of food.


    Knowing this, Garen was completely speechless.


    "Such a large dragon race, but even if White Dragons were the weakest among the Colorful Dragons, it''s indeed incredible that they could fall to this point."


    Time slowly passed by as he poured himself into his boring research of the inherited information.


    The dragon egg seemed to become fragile over time and inexplicable surges of energy were transported into Garen''s body and the body of the meaty object by the side all of a sudden through the umbilical cord.


    Garen could feel his body getting stronger and stronger, his scales and nails getting harder and harder.


    Crack.


    Suddenly one day, as Garen accidentally scratched the eggshell the inner wall of the eggshell actually broke into pieces.


    He glanced at the side, the meaty object had also developed into a Dragon Whelp and it was slamming its four tiny claws at the inner wall of the eggshell with all its might. After that, it started biting bits and pieces of the eggshells as it shattered while showing a look of intoxication.


    Staring at the falling pieces that still had white slime here and there, it did look a bit disgusting. Instantly, his appetite went away.


    Garen smashed the eggshells for a couple more times before he stumbled out.


    Everything was white outside. Meeting his gaze was a piece of white-bluish ice. He was at a huge arched cave.


    There was nothing in his surroundings, just a soft grey-white fur padding placed below the white gigantic egg.


    After Garen got his entire body out, he heard chewing sounds of the cracking eggshells coming from behind him.


    He turned around and have a look.


    There were four other white dragon eggs laying in the grey-white fur-padded nest. Among the four eggs, two of them managed to climb out and both eggs were broken. The white Dragon Whelps that crawled out, including him, made a total of four heads, being a two-headed dragon crawled out of one of the eggs.


    Garen observed the Dragon Whelps carefully. They do not seem much different from a small lizard that grew out its wings, perhaps slightly bigger in size. They were almost the size of a human''s head. For a wine barrel-big dragon egg that was grey-white in color to have two Dragon Whelps was just nice.


    He looked at the Dragon Whelp that came out from his same egg. Its scales all over its body was just like a mirror, reflecting the layers of ice and the cave''s inner walls in its surroundings.


    Hiss¡­ Hiss hiss¡­


    Garen''s brother called out to him several times. Though he was unsure what language was it, Garen actually understood his words!


    "Still not eating? This is really good and it''s nutritious for us!" The sentence translated like this.


    Garen was speechless. He wanted to speak but he soon realized that his breaths were naturally spurted out.


    Whoosh.


    White gas came out of his mouth, hitting the ground before him. A condensed layer of white frost appeared on the ground and the original ice surface was covered by a whole new layer of white frost.


    "You can eat it, I''m not hungry." Garen only managed to say this finally, relying on the language in his inherited memory to respond.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    Garen was a bit embarrassed as he had forcibly seized most of the nutrients of the eggshells, and so he stopped snatching the scrap bits of nutrients left now.


    Both brothers stared at the snow on the ground enviously. This was a phenomenon of overnutrition¡­ They could only have enough energy to hold their chilled breaths when they had the sufficient nutrients.


    Garen looked at the other two Dragon Whelps. No wisdom or rationality could be seen from their eyes as they fought with each other, snatching the eggshell fragments. Obviously, they were specimens of low-intellect.


    Due to the sole nutrients and lack of food, the White Dragon Clan had plenty of multiple births, and multiple births were the cause that brought out weaker and deformed White Dragons that were more adaptable to the environment.


    These malformed White Dragons did not have the best mental development and their bodies were weaker by half, but they were more adaptable to less food and a single source of food. They could even thrive in harsh conditions.


    Their small sizes also lead to a reduction in their usual energy consumption.


    These deformed White Dragons did not even have the rights to fly as their wings were degraded, so they were no different from Earth Dragons. Most of the time, deformed White Dragons were just straight away called Earth Dragons.


    "The other two are Earth Dragons, that''s unfortunate," Garen''s brother sighed, "Why can''t they be the same as us?"


    "I don''t know." Garen shook his head, "Maybe it''s congenital." They all had inherited memories. That was why they could speak and they were knowledgeable right when they were born, it is just that their minds were not fully mature.


    Crack¡­


    The two other eggs seemed to be disturbed by them as they cracked open suddenly. Small Dragon Whelp heads popped out from inside.


    Three of them had wise eyes while the other, sadly, was another Earth Dragon.


    "Four siblings altogether," The Dragon Whelp biggest in size spoke up.


    "Them too!" Garen''s brother said loudly as he pointed to the other three Earth Dragons.


    "No, no! They''re just waste!" The biggest Dragon Whelp was even bigger than Garen, almost as tall as two basketballs stacked together. In comparison to the weak body of Garen''s brother, he was almost twice his size.


    "They''re not waste!" Garen''s brother responded unconvincingly.


    The two Dragon Whelps at the side stood on both sides as they started their first quarrel since birth.


    Garen ignored the group of little brats who were fighting, walked to the side alone and sat on the warm ice.


    The surface of the ice was warm, perhaps this was the first time he felt this. The White Dragon''s body temperature was actually much lower than a normal creature''s. Their optimum temperature was below freezing point as White Dragon''s blood were never above zero degrees.


    At this moment, Garen started feeling a little troubled.


    He had just realized an extremely serious problem.


    "My Soul Energy, it can''t leave my body anymore!" Garen felt the seriousness of the problem. If his Soul Energy was unable to separate from his body, his Soul Seed would not be able to as well because Soul Energy was much thinner than Soul Seeds. If this thin energy could not escape his body, let alone Soul Seed which was high-density and not to mention Soul Ring which was even denser.


    "This means that in a few years'' time, my soul will completely form as one together with this body! If this body dies, then I''ll die too. My soul will collapse, and even the chance of reincarnation will be completely lost."


    Garen swiftly concluded.


    "So this is the trouble with High-Dimensional Space?" He began to analyze and thought thoroughly where the root of all his problems was. The greatest reliance of the Endor Demon Lords was the ability to reincarnate and reborn endlessly. They did not have the innate talents of transmigrators and they would suffer a huge loss if their souls were to transmigrate even just once, but they could strengthen their souls through training and solidifying their souls. With that, they would be able to reduce the amplitude of damage caused when they transmigrate.


    The average creature would not be involved in the soul level and they had no way around it all because the Demon Lords'' Soul Rings were able to separate from their bodies, so the death of their bodies would only harm a small part of their Soul Energy. After that, they were able to quickly reincarnate and bounce back.


    But now, Garen could sort of feel that he had lost his reincarnation ability, and it was probably related to the exhaustion of Mother Stream. Or perhaps it was also related to the rules of this world.


    He quickly scanned the attributes below. Fortunately, his talent and powers had reappeared. He vaguely figured out a little bit of the origin of this ability of his, and he was ready to use this thing once again.


    Talent and powers were able to increase various physical qualities of his own body in the midst of developing.


    Now that he was reborn as a White Dragon, his foundation was already alarmingly powerful. If he was to add some attribute points to this foundation, the future development would be absolutely unimaginable.


    "For the time being, just don''t worry too much. I still have the protection of White Dragon Clan, so my youth days shouldn''t be too big of a problem."


    Garen suppressed the doubts in his mind. Even if it was the Demon Lord, it would for sure take some time to grow after reincarnation. Now that his Soul Energy was unable to get out, he had lost the method of using his Soul Energy to influence the outside world in combat. It also meant that he could only count on this weak body of his to fight now.


    The body of a newborn baby White Dragon was approximately the size of a basketball and they would crawl around on their round bellies. At this level, even two ordinary human soldiers could kill them with just a few shots. According to the legendary powerful Dragon Race, even newborn babies had the defense mechanism of a Level Two soldier and they were even able to kill leopards. Their speed was indeed astounding.


    But the White Dragon Clad was after all declining.


    Garen heaved a sigh. The only thing he could rely on now was this small body. Since his Soul Energy was unable to penetrate through his body, it could only be converted to strengthen his body now.


    Originally, his Middle Demon Lord Level Soul Energy could directly Dream Weave and manipulate creatures easily. According to the inherited memory, although the rules of this space were very advanced, creatures could still be born with strong souls, but creatures below Level Four could not avoid having their souls be manipulated by him. But now¡­


    Soon enough, an enormous White Dragon slowed down its wings as it flew in the cave.


    A snake''s neck, bat-like wings, a massive body that resembled a lizard, and a white chill slowly spreading from the mouth.


    This gigantic creature was almost three meters high and nearly the size of an elephant.

 1253 Threat 1

    Although the scale of three meters was nothing in the eyes of Garen, it was different here. This was High Dimensional Universe and the rules here were abnormally limited. A member of the White Dragon Clan could simply grow up to three meters in size, so how powerful would the beings of higher levels be?


    It should be known that as the rules tightened, more energy would be consumed to maintain an extremely rigorous internal body structure if one wanted to develop such an enormous body.


    "Children. I am your mother, Cocoreila. It is time to accept God''s baptism." White Dragon fell onto the ice like an elephant and with heavy steps, it took a few steps forward before bending its head and spurt out big breaths of Chill.


    However, this Chill that was blown at the Dragon Whelps did not feel cold at all, but warm instead.


    As soon as they saw White Dragon, all the Dragon Whelps, including Garen, felt a natural sense of envy from the bottom of their hearts.


    "Cocoreila." Garen remembered the name. If nothing went wrong, this White Dragon would become a protector and relative of his for many years in the future.


    "Recently, several Alien Souls have fallen into our region. By accepting the baptism of the Dragon God, we''ll be able to identify these alien creatures. Pastor Pasola has already requested for the Gods so all of you have to go through baptism. Although I don''t think anyone can actually break through our clan''s strong enchantment silently. But the process has to be done."


    White Dragon Mother Cocoreila whispered as she explained.


    "Alien Souls?" Garen''s heart skipped a beat. He himself was a typical alien right now since his Soul Ring have yet integrated with his current body. The Soul Ring was his true soul as the Demon Lord and it could be clearly seen from the content of his inherited memories. Once the Gods here found out about the problem, then...


    The Gods here could simply destroy the plane or create a whole new plane, their existence was extremely powerful. It should be known that a plane was a lot bigger than a planet, even possibly the size of a galaxy.


    He already knew that the creatures he encountered that wanted to gobble him up when he transmigrated through this space were likely to be powerful Gods of the outer domain!


    Those powers were so powerful that even talent would hide away as well.


    He compared the powers to his own Soul Ring''s strength. The powers of the Gods could almost be compared with Mother Stream''s tributaries, and even one of Mother Stream''s tributaries was way beyond an average True Soul.


    "This world is too dangerous!!" A strong sense of vigilance immediately surged through his mind. In the inherited memories, the Wizards and Arcanists of this High-Dimensional Universe often created different weird and powerful creatures of various time and space universes through all sorts of dimensional summoning. From there, the creatures were either enslaved or slaughtered to be used as materials.


    This kind of horrible behavior was completely no different from the most prosperous period of the Warlocks, perhaps even tyrannical.


    In other words, this world that he had arrived at was probably the most brilliant civilization of the ancient Warlocks, maybe even stronger than the Warlocks.


    Garen immediately raised his guard.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    God''s baptism, he had no idea whether he would be noticed. But once discovered, even if his Demon Lord Level did recover, he did not think there was a way he could escape from all sorts of Alien Souls and the greedy eyes of the Wizards and Gods with his current strength.


    This place was unlike other places. The studies of souls here were far comparable to the other worlds.


    "This is troublesome¡­" Looking at the White Dragon''s intense stare directed at them Dragon Whelps, Garen''s heart sank.


    "I must think of a way!" The idea quickly swam around Garen''s mind. He was not sure of what kind of God''s Baptism was it, but if the Gods were to notice something wrong, the consequence was definitely not something he could bear.


    "This place is not something I have experienced from the previous worlds¡­ This is a place that can really endanger my soul!" Garen''s mind began to set to work, all sorts of plans popped into his mind. His Soul Rings violently collided against each other, producing colorless sparks of friction that broke out combined with his Soul Energy.


    However, without fully understanding the nature of God''s spells, there was no way for him to deal with it.


    "Come on children, let''s go." White Dragon Cocoreila said in a hushed tone. She carried the three Earth Dragons in her mouth as the other Young Whelps fluttered their wings as they flew up shakily.


    No matter how much dragons deteriorate, they were still able to fly as long as they were not Earth Dragons.


    Garen was no exception. He also flew up shakily as he fluttered his wings. With that, a group of Young Whelps followed behind White Dragon as they flew out of the cave.


    Hu¡­


    A gust of chilly wind blew on them.


    Garen blinked a little as he looked into the distance, the outside world was wide and open. Numerous ice field of greys and whites were spread all the way to the horizon before his eyes.


    Grey clouds loomed, and right below it was White Dragons flapping their wings, flying around the snow mountain they were at.


    Garen kept a distance between Cocoreila. Almost all the Dragon Whelps were captivated by the magnificent scenery, except Garen, who kept looking back at the nest that he flew out from.


    The sharp white snowy peak was already just a short distance away. Almost dozens of White Dragons swarmed around the sharp mountain peak. Some of them were big, some of them were small, but even the smallest in size was at least six meters long and three meters high whereas the stronger ones were seven or eight meters long.


    Mou~~~!


    White Dragon''s roar sounded extremely weird. It was long and it seemed that they did not have to change their breath, easy roar lasting a solid twenty to thirty seconds, indeed strong and powerful.


    Since Garen had lost his Soul Energy detection ability to explore around, he could only observe these huge creatures visually.


    He suddenly thought of a problem.


    There was an insurmountable relationship between the High-Dimensional Universe and the Low-Dimensional Universe. Just like characters of a comic, they had completely incomparable differences. However, the red light of talent and power could bring him directly from a low dimension to a high dimension. He could not imagine what kind of being that existed could have such an ability. It was no longer just controlling the rules of time and space, but the direct promotion of the essence of life beyond the level of a Low-Dimension Universe. Such means were much more terrifying than an ordinary person turning into a God.


    But after a simulation played in Garen''s mind, he seemed to have another more absurd guess.


    According to the formation of Mother Stream, he could simulate a possibility of the origin of the Black Hole.


    "Could it be that I myself am a creature from the High-Dimensional Universe and the red light is just something that takes me to Low-Dimensional Universe and experiences transmigrating, so that''s why creatures there don''t kill me. If I die, I''ll just continue to reincarnate endlessly. But now that I''ve entered another High-Dimensional Universe, naturally, I''ve completely lost the ability to do so."


    Garen was more and more aware that his assumption might be true.


    "If I''m a creature of the High-Dimensional Universe, that explains why I''ve never met anyone from the same world as myself at Lighthouse. At the same time, it explains a lot of unexplainable things. The red light is just obviously something that helps me cross the barrier, nothing else about it. I''m just entirely adapting to the rules of this world all by myself."


    "It''s time. Get ready to land." White Dragon Cocoreila''s voice pulled him back to reality.


    A row of White Dragons had already flown to a huge circular flat surface. It was the top of a mountain peak, just as if someone had used a knife to cut the peak of the mountain to create such a huge platform.


    In the middle of the circular platform was a sharp black metal needle that looked like a sundial timer.


    There were dozens of White Dragons who were on the platform already, along with their dragon whelps. Cocoreila had also brought Garen and the other Dragon Whelps down, then searched for a place before kneeling down. After that, there were still several White Dragons that came swooping down, standing or kneeling down silently on the platform.


    Garen was getting surer of his own assumption, but his current crisis was not whether he was a High-Dimensional Creature, because of no matter what his origin was. Facing this world, he still had only one identity -- Alien Soul.


    As more and more White Dragons landed, Cocoreila placed her Earth Dragon Whelps on the platform which she carried in her mouth and waited quietly.


    "Don''t move around. If you get too close to the other White Dragons, they will kill you," she warned.


    Only then did Garen remembered that even if the White Dragon Clan lived together in groups for survival, their cruel and selfish nature could never be covered up. After all, they were still the evil Colorful Dragon Clan and they were extremely vigilant about everything.


    Mou¡­!


    At this time, almost all of the White Dragons have arrived already. The circular platform was densely packed with over twenty adult dragons and hundreds of Dragon Whelps. All the adult dragons had their long necks bent downward, bowing down on the ground as they let off gentle humming sound.


    An enormous White Dragon that was over ten meters in size descended slowly, landing at the center of the circular platform, right beside the long needle.


    It had a white staff in one of its claws that was above his head and gently settled on the ground, standing with its two hind legs just like a human.


    "May the great Tiamat bless us." This White Dragon was obviously not young anymore. He raised the white staff into the air and a white mist appeared on the top of the staff. Whistling sounds of winds could be heard as if there were white snowflakes floating about in the mist.


    A text-like symbol emerged, suspending right above the mist as it shimmered a white fluorescent shade. From far away, the symbol resembled a five-headed flying dragon. It was just an outline of it with extremely simple lines.


    Thump.


    A shimmering ripple that was like a heartbeat started spreading from the symbol and instantly diffused into the entire white circular surface area.


    Garen''s heart almost jumped out of his chest. He felt an intense pressure that suddenly fell onto the top of his head as if some horrifying creature was watching them as if a giant was watching them like ants on the ground.


    But he could clearly feel that no surge of energy was passing through their bodies, the elder White Dragon''s action just now was just merely calling for the attention of God.


    "Danger!" Garen felt extremely uneasy.


    He seemed to have a sort of illusion as if his deepest darkest secrets were looked into by a great existence.


    The feeling was making him very uncomfortable. It was like being stripped naked in front of a crowd and standing on stage with countless spotlights shining on his little junior¡­


    Although the metaphor was completely ridiculous, it was nevertheless extremely appropriate as to Garen''s current feelings.


    "No!! No!! Roar!!"


    Right at that moment, a loud voice thundered as a Dragon Whelp soared into the sky. Flapping its wings as it flew into the distance, its body emitted a strong Soul Energy Force.


    Garen''s heart skipped a beat. That level of Soul Energy Force was a Void Creature!! They even came to this world!? How was this possible!?


    Even though his Soul Energy was unable to escape his body, he could still feel the level of the Void Creature parasitized in the Dragon Whelp''s body.


    "That''s at least three Soul Rings!" He swiftly registered the level of the Void Creature that just escaped. His intuition was telling him that this fellow had probably followed the void that he entered when he came to this world.


    All of a sudden, the elder White Dragon''s staff in the center moved and a white Light Beam shot out, striking accurately at the Void Creature that was trying to escape.


    Hiss¡­


    A subtle sizzling sound of burning meat could be head. The White Dragon that was parasitized by a Void Creature was instantly bound by the shot of white Light Beam, tied together as if bounded by ropes and thrown into midair.


    With a swing, it directly pierced into the sharp metal needle in the middle of the circular board, instantly becoming a skewer.


    Roar!!


    "No!! How can I die here!?"


    The Void Creature roared loudly in Void Language, but to no avail, the metal needle had penetrated his chest and blood was trickling down the needle. At the same time, the majestic gaze on top showed a look of satisfaction.


    Frightened, Garen listened to the Void Creature howling as it struggled, becoming weaker and weaker. The Soul Rings of the Void Creature began to explode one by one, but the tremendous force generated was all completely suppressed by the gaze above their heads. Just like the hold of a feather, it seemed effortless.


    Three Soul Rings!!!


    If it was well utilized, that horrifying existence was not much different from him. Even in the Endor Civilization, it was still considered the Middle Demon Lord Level! The tyrannical existence that was able to rule several planets was actually here, skewered like a prey that was hunted down.


    "Next family." A loud rumble rang once again in Draconic Language.


    Garen then only realized that the Void Creature was discovered through the one-to-one inspection as something abnormal was noticed.


    He wandered around and peeped out from the gap by the side of Cocoreila''s body. He saw the other corner of the circular board, and there stood a white arched stone door. White Dragons were carrying along their Dragon Whelps through the stone door. Clearly, that was the tool used to detect Alien Souls.

 1254 Threat 2

    "That thing is able to detect Void Creatures, it''s highly likely to be able to detect me! What should I do?!" Garen thought frantically. As a Demon Lord based on Soul Rings, even the Void Creature with three Soul Rings was completely vulnerable under the attack, so there was no way he could make it through! Even if he resisted it, it was just the equivalent of a mixture of cheese and eggs. It would be meaningless!


    On the circular board, families of White Dragons began to pass through the white door along with the Dragon Whelps. Waiting further behind the dragons, Garen watched the line in front of him get shorter and shorter. As the circular board began to turn, the white door was getting closer to him already.


    "Pass."


    An Elder White Dragon that was guarded by the white door casted a glance toward the few White Dragon families that were behind.


    "Hurry up," he urged impatiently.


    A White Dragon family walked toward the white door.


    Whoosh!


    Suddenly, a figure shot out from this family and fled in the distance. Even if Garen was not a practitioner of Soul Energy, he could still clearly feel the Soul Energy that broke out this time around.


    This was also a Three-Soul-Ring-Void-Creature and three of his Soul Rings instantly exploded at the same time. The force that blasted out was so immense, his speed surpassed the Elder White Dragon''s in a blink of an eye, reaching a point that no creature could ever keep pace with.


    "Idiot." The Elder Dragon that had a staff in his hand barely raised his eyes. Not even moving, he just watched as the Dragon Whelp flee.


    Chi!


    The symbol at the top of his staff once again shot out a beam of white light. Same as the last time, it tied the Void Creature together and pulled it back in an instant. Soon enough, the black needle on the circular board pierced right through it.


    "In the eyes of the great Tiamat, all guises and lurkings shall be exposed," the Elder Dragon spoke loudly in a Draconic Language that sounded close to singing.


    All the other White Dragons piously bowed their heads to show respect. Even though some of them were of selfish dragon races who would not actually fully believe in Tiamat, they still showed respect on the surface as it was as effortless as lifting a finger for them White Dragons. After all, the only one who was truly protecting them all was still Tiamat.


    The group continued to move forward.


    Garen watched as the white door got closer and closer. His heart was almost at the edge of his throat already.


    "What should I do!?" His brain had never worked this fast as he tried to find a way to deal with the current situation.


    One by one, the White Dragon families walked into the white stone door and exit from the other side, quietly waiting at the other side of the circular board.


    "It''s your turn, hurry up," the White Dragon who was guarding the door cast a cold glance at Cocoreila.


    "Yes, respected Dragon Guard," Cocoreila responded reverently, then led the way into the white door and stepped out from the other end with her Dragon Whelps bouncing along behind her.


    Garen gritted his teeth and jumped in.


    Chi!!


    A bright white Light Beam instantly lit up the sky.


    With a bang, the entire circular board shook slightly. Garen''s sight was blinded by the white light before him.


    "It''s over!" A chill washed over his head as the Soul Rings in his entire body began to shake violently. As a Demon Lord, his dignity as a whole did not allow him to be killed without the slightest resistance!


    "You dare to run!" Before his sight faded, he could vaguely hear the roars of the Elder Dragon.


    The white light passed far in front before his eyes over ten meters from him and landed on one of the White Dragon Whelps that was attempting to sneak out the circular board.


    All of a sudden, the white flame ignited and the Dragon Whelp howled in pain. It was just a blink of an eye before it burned into white ash and was blown away by the wind, disappearing into the snow.


    Garen was sweating all over as he stood in the middle of the white stone door.


    "Stupid, what are you still doing here? Scram!" The Dragon gave him a tail, causing Garen to almost flip over.


    Instead of being angry, he was happy.


    He was actually fine!!!?


    "Sure enough, it worked!" Garen let out a sigh of relief from the bottom of his heart as he looked at the Soul Ring deep in his soul.


    On the other hand, he would turn into a native of this world completely.


    In order to escape the crisis earlier on, he simply combined his Soul Ring with his body thoroughly. A combination as such was equivalent to the Demon Lord giving up his ability of reincarnation, merging himself completely within the shell of this creature.


    If creatures die and Demon Lords die, Demon Lords would no longer have the right to simply transmigrate between worlds anymore.


    This method was not something all Demon Lords knew, but an imprisonment law that Garen had learned from Shadow Dragon some time ago. It was said that such an imprisonment would imprison himself into this current body.


    This was also the point he was confused about.


    If the rules of the Shadow Dragon could be used, perhaps the other upper laws would be usable as well?


    Garen had gotten through the crisis. Looking at the Dragon Guard that just pulled his tail, he climbed back to Cocoreila''s side quietly and waited as he began to simulate the other things he had just realized.


    But unfortunately, body simulation practiced a lot of other things. Except for a couple of Living Secret Techniques, the others had to be modified before using due to the different laws.


    "But this means that everything I''ve learned can be used, they''re all actually significant. They just require some slight modifications," Garen''s crisis had passed, and so he felt brighter now.


    "So it is very likely that this High-Dimensional Universe is able to accommodate all the laws of the Low-Dimensional Universe, but just because the laws here are more comprehensive and upper-leveled, creatures of a Low-Dimensional Universe may be incomplete. With that, this means that all the knowledge I''ve gained is not useless. I just need to perfect everything according to the rules here!"


    Garen felt comfortable.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    Between High-Dimensional and Low-Dimensional Universes, he originally guessed that there was just one difference in dimension. But now, the difference in gap did not seem that high anymore, perhaps only just half a dimension.


    The Gods of this world represented the highest powers. They may be able to use High-Dimensional enslaved creatures, but they could not simply adjust space-time. According to his inherited memories, there were also come Gods who were able to travel through different space-time.


    "This type of connection seems a bit like advanced space-time, but more powerful than an advanced universe," Garen began to analyze indiscriminately.


    After all, he really was almost caught and nearly became a skewer. This experience was something he never wanted have again. If he was to die in a frontal battle on a battlefield, he was just afraid of this powerless feeling that he could not understand.


    "Alright, all families inspection has ended. You can all return now." The Elder Dragon standing at the center ordered.


    Then only did all the White Dragons heaved a sigh of relief. Fluttering their wings, they began to fly back to their nests along with their little ones.


    Cocoreila was the same as well. Once again, she carried the three small Earth Dragons in her mouth as Garen and the other five Dragon Whelps followed behind. However, she was not heading back to the original nest, but she flew away from the snowy peak and toward the other white mountains in the distance.


    "Mother, where are we going?" A Dragon Whelp asked innocently. It was the most courageous one who asked, the Dragon Whelp who was born the strongest. This fellow wanted to fight the second he was born, clearly, he had an active personality.


    "We''re going to our original home. This is the Elder''s Peak, it''s not our home." Cocoreila answered in a gentle tone. As she had three small Earth Dragons in her mouth, her speech was not clear at all.


    "What about our father?" Another Dragon Whelp asked.


    "I don''t know. We White Dragons have too many fathers already, I didn''t find out who my father was either. Lavido and I just broke up last year so perhaps you can call him Father," Cocoreila answered quite hesitantly.


    Garen rolled his eyes.


    White Dragons'' marriages and relationships were not just complicated in general. Due to low fertility, one mother dragon may simultaneously mate with more than ten male dragons until she gets pregnant. Therefore, these White Dragons that were born would not usually know who their father is.


    "Can I have milk?" A Dragon Whelp asked aloud.


    "Go back and eat," Cocoreila roared in response, "We''re still flying."


    She was flying slowly as she still had to take care of the Dragon Whelps.


    But soon, she heard a groan. A Dragon Whelp, regardless of her consent, had rushed to her abdomen and started to suck on her teat.


    White Dragons actually needed milk.


    Garen learned a new point of view toward the world once again.


    The group of Dragon Whelps instantly began to compete for the teats as there were only three of them so they had to take turns.


    As for Garen, he was just rolling his eyes by the side. To ask him to compete for a teat with the group of brats, you could just forget about it. According to his inherited memories, although one could choose to drink one''s mother''s milk, a Dragon Whelp could always opt for meat directly.


    The white snowy peaks moved underneath them slowly. No birds dated to invade this area as it was the dragon''s territory. A dragon''s prestige was enough to scare away any creature below Level Four, even weaker ones would be scared to the point they degrade.


    Therefore, a large number of social creatures did not dare to invade the dragon race''s place of residence.


    After Garen got through his crisis, he had begun to consider using his talent and powers to quickly improve his strength. This world was too dangerous.


    He just used the laws of imprisonment to fuse himself into this body, but his soul was still too powerful for the body. If he was to encounter a soul-wise grandmaster, not to mention a God, just a human Necromancer or a high-ranked Wizard who was involved with the studies of souls, they would easily notice his abnormality or that something was off about him.


    It was obvious that the Elder Dragon earlier on merely relied on the staff to use magic. As for why the Gods did not notice his abnormality, it was perhaps just a rough alarm system.


    Garen suspected that the scan might have just been a mechanism of intimidation. It seemed that the Will of the Gods were watching over them but in reality, the Gods were probably not leisurely watching the White Dragon Clan''s baptism one by one. Although Tiamat was not loved by many of the good dragons, she was still respected by many dragon races. Her believers were broad. There were White Dragon Clans not only at the main plane but countless planes as well, it was practically impossible to actually attract the attention of the Gods.


    "The strong incompatibility of my soul and flesh has to be solved as soon as possible! I''m still a hidden ticking time bomb staying here! I might be discovered any time!" Garen''s heart quickened at the thought of it. Unlike other places, the powerhouses who were experts in the studies of souls were too many over here. There was even a Soul God!


    Once discovered as an Alien Soul, he may face a situation that was worse than death. Even possibly becoming experimental material to be dissected was considered a light case.


    Moreover, the White Dragons still had to go through another baptism when they grow up. By that time, he may face such troubles. What if the Gods really did look around occasionally¡­


    This time he got away because of pure luck, but not necessarily next time.


    Garen quickly made up his mind.


    In his inherited memories, the custom of the White Dragon Clan was to accept the newborn baptism of Tiamat when they reach the age of ten. This adult baptism was most likely to involve souls, so the chances of being discovered then would be much greater!


    If this incompatibility problem was not solved, he would be discovered sooner or later!


    "In ten years, this problem must be solved!"

 1255 Trouble 1

    The hideout was located on a faraway snowy peak at Elder''s Peak.


    The snowy peak was not too high, probably just half length of Elder''s Peak at most. Large green forests surrounded them and occasionally, a few yellow trees could be seen. Huge flocks of Earth Dragons were roaming nearby. Some of these Earth Dragons were the deformed White Dragons whereas some were hybrids of Earth Dragons and other creatures. More or less, they still had the blood of a dragon.


    Cocoreila brought Garen and the other Dragon Whelps to start a life here. She had thrown the three Earth Dragons off the mountain peak, leaving them to fend for themselves.


    She brought the remaining five little guys into a dragon den and settled down, surrounded by the ice.


    A dragon den was just like a bee''s hive. There were many huge hollows, and each of them was enough for a Dragon Whelp to live inside quietly. It acted just like a single room.


    Life inside a dragon den was boring and tedious. Every ten days, Cocoreila would bring back a prey she had hunted down. Sometimes it was a giant creature which was enough for everyone to eat for a few days, sometimes it was tiny animals. Sometimes, there were still distant families of Earth Dragons.


    There was no fire, so a White Dragon''s way of eating was to freeze the meat with chilled air and then chew it up. It was just like eating biscuits, crunchy and a bit fishy, but still very fresh. As for the Dragon Whelps, they have been eating such things besides the first few days when they still had milk.


    Soon enough, Garen started to like this way of eating.


    He lived in a small hole on the left side. All he had to do every day was just eat and sleep, move his body around after waking up, and just continue eating.


    On the other hand, the other Dragon Whelps were different from him. They enjoyed messing around and fighting each other.


    Furthermore, it was not just the playful kind, but real actual fights. White Dragon Mother Cocoreila, however, did not pay much attention to the Dragon Whelps'' fights. From her perspective, it was a method of training for them to hunt prey. The inherited memories clearly stated it already.


    As for Garen who never participated in any of the fights, he was being antisocial in the eyes of the others. After all, there was no other dragon who was willing to get in contact with him as well.


    And so, time passed day in and day out. Garen constantly searched for things and treasure that were able to improve his body''s qualities. The physique of the White Dragons in this world was too strong already.


    As a Dragon Whelp, his body qualities had increased an average of ten points in just less than two months'' time!


    Strength, agility, physique. This three aspects had had an average steady growth from the original one point to an average of over ten points. It was simply horrifying.


    Garen still had not used his Soul Energy to nourish his body as he had already found a better use for it.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    ********************


    Boom!


    "Saone, you''ve lost! You must give your portion of meat today to me!" In the dragon den, two Dragon Whelps panted as they loosened their grip on each other. Both of them were bruised and scarred everywhere, apparently the aftermath of a fight.


    On the side, two other Dragon Whelps observed silently whereas Cocoreila had gone out to hunt again. Since the Dragon Whelps were still growing, they required a huge amount of meat, hence why she had to keep hunting in order to meet the needs of the five Dragon Whelps.


    "Alright, alright. I''ve let you go easy today, I wasn''t in the best condition!" Saone was the Dragon Whelp with the biggest head, but surprisingly, he could not fight against Satwo. As for Sathree and Safour, and Garen who was named as Safive, nobody could beat him, except for Garen who had never fought against him.


    "Not the best condition again, how many times have you not been in your best state already? Haha¡­" Satwo laughed, his blue draconic eyes settling on Sathree and Safour who were standing by the side. The two little guys were immediately scared and shrunk back.


    Satwo smiled in satisfaction. Apparently, he was extremely satisfied with his intimidation effect. He had finally established the first step as the leading authority among his brothers and sisters.


    "After the newborn baptism, we shall begin our lives independently. Mother will no longer take care of us, and we shall have to do our own hunting by then. I propose that all five of us, brothers and sisters, should live together before we grow up."


    He said loudly, "When we are weak, we have to live in groups! This is knowledge engraved in our blood!"


    "I agree." Sathree was the first to reconcile. He was already scared of being beaten up by Satwo. It was alright if everyone''s physique was almost the same but Satwo''s muscles were too solid, and so he had a larger explosive power. If they fought one on one, even Saone with such a gigantic head could be easily flipped over. This added to the fear they had of Satwo.


    "I think we should conquer the Earth Dragon creature," suggested Saone.


    "We can''t beat them." Satwo shook his head, "I''ve sneaked down the day before and tried already, even the weakest dragon is still stronger than me."


    They were still Dragon Whelps, and even Saone who was the biggest in size was just almost as big as a wolf. It was practically impossible for them to beat those strong Earth Dragons.


    As for Cocoreila, besides providing them with food, she had nothing else to do with them. Feelings in a White Dragon family was very indifferent. After a longer period of time, they would even drive others of the same kind out as they were competitors.


    White Dragons were generally selfish, and Cocoreila was particularly prominent in this area. She was currently completely exhausted by the serious burden of raising five Dragon Whelps, and so she was gradually disliking these little things who get everything without working for it.


    This kind of situation was not uncommon at all. A White Dragon''s fertility was not weak at all, being able to give birth after another decade to a considerable number of Dragon Whelps. That was why many Dragon Whelps were likely to be driven out of the dragon den and forced to survive alone.


    Because of such dangers, Saone and the other dragons also began to think about their future lives carefully.


    However, they were still two months old after all. Even if they had inherited knowledge, their minds were still not mature enough.


    The four little dragons gathered together and began to discuss the arrangements for the future.


    At the entrance of his small hole, Garen squatted down as he stared at his brothers and sisters below. He had been observing these Dragon Whelps for the past couple of days already and their average physique was estimated to be approximately ten points. Saone was the strongest one among all, reaching twelve points whereas Satwo was the fastest, reaching thirteen points.


    The level was about there already. The world of dragon race was still indeed powerful, and they were now just ordinary whelps, which was almost equivalent to ten times of an ordinary human''s strength.


    However, Garen was still using the basic human standard unit data of the previous worlds as he was still unclear of the human qualities of this world.


    He crouched before the entrance of his hole and yawned.


    He had a look at his current physical attributes.


    ''Safive - Strength 13, agility 13, physique 11, intelligence 17. Potential 0%. Soul Limit 170.''


    Safive was a name simply given by Cocorerila. The White Dragon Clan was declining more and more and if there were not a matter of a threat of survival, perhaps an organizational system like a clan would not even appear at all.


    It did not matter to Garen anyway. His sole purpose of coming to this world was no any other reason than investigating the source of Mother Stream''s exhaustion. At the same time, if he could find a better road of change, he would straight away transfer as well. This world was clearly brand new and full of vitality for him.


    Although dangerous, benefits also existed at the same time.


    "So this is the results after two months of training." Garen shook his head silently, "Just a little stronger than they are. Seems like the human form of training methods are not really effective for the dragon race¡­"


    For the past two months, he had been exercising according to the way of practicing Secret Techniques. However, perhaps it was the incomplete rules, the results were not much, just slightly better than these Dragon Whelps who used the traditional way.


    "Well, it''s still better than nothing. Let''s look at talent then¡­"


    Garen settled his gaze on his own accumulated Soul Energy. The four Soul Rings, to be exact, were actually three complete perfect Soul Rings and a half Soul Ring, which generated two months'' worth of Soul Energy, all of which were accumulated by him. But not all were used directly on his body.


    That was because he had discovered that after entering this world, his talents and powers seemed to have some subtle changes. They were now able to absorb his own Soul Energy to strengthen his body.


    "Since when did this start?" Garen tried to recall and it seemed to have started since he completely fused his Soul Ring into his body.


    "Since I can absorb Soul Energy now, I''ll have a look at the conversion efficiency of my Soul Energy into potential points."


    Garen squatted down and looked at the four Dragon Whelps below who were in the middle of a discussion as he slowly started to maneuver his accumulated Soul Energy, moving them toward the position of his talent and powers.


    His talent and powers were located right in his eyes, or perhaps where his eyes were.


    A tremendous surge of Soul Energy poured into his eyes rapidly.


    Without blinking, Garen kept his gaze at his potential points.


    Swoosh!


    Sure enough, his potential points began to rise quickly, 20%... 50%... 110%... 150%...


    The numbers jumped sharply.


    His Soul Energy consumption was also alarmingly big.


    After ten minutes, all his accumulated Soul Energy had completely entered the position of his talent, and fully converted into potential points.


    "521%. That''s still okay." Garen looked at his own data, a five-point attribute point could be used. It had only been two months'' time so it was pretty good already.


    "Although the stronger the body, the more difficult it is to upgrade later, but at least I can still pass through my weak youth stage quickly."


    Garen looked at the Dragon Whelps below and added the five-point attribute point fairly to his strength and speed with zero hesitation. Cocoreila had become increasingly impatient with raising them so they were likely to be chased out of the dragon den to live independently at any time. Maybe they might be even eaten by dangerous creatures before they even live to their newborn baptism. For now, he should prioritize his own survival skills to protect himself.


    Hunting was the only way to protect one''s growth and development.


    After the addition, Garen looked at his attributes.


    ''Safive -- Strength 16, agility 15, physique 11, intelligence 17. Potential 21%. Soul Limit 170''


    Swoosh!


    Garen waved his claw, making a sharp whistling sound.


    The laws of this world were extremely abnormal. Such physical qualities were not as strong as it was in other worlds but it was already suppressed here. Even Air Slash could not be used at all.


    Garen continued crouching reluctantly as he waited for Cocoreila to return with food.


    The sky gradually darkened and soon, it was nighttime. The sky turned dark already.


    The dragon den was empty, only a few pieces of gem equipment that were collected by the White Dragon shimmered faintly.


    Garen had heard Cocoreila introduce it once. This luminous equipment was a solidified Level-0 trickery lighting system. Trickery was a sort of spellcraft that intrigued him, that urged him to want to understand this power system. But obviously, the Adult White Dragon was not concern about this aspect. The Dragon Race was naturally immune to all spellcraft below Level Four, so far apart from the Level-Five Great Wizards. The other low-ranked Wizards were not even able to break them at all.


    So that was not worth paying attention whatsoever.


    Even the scales of the Young Whelps now were immune to Level-One spellcraft.


    "Why isn''t Mother back yet?" Saone asked in a hushed tone, "Usually she''s back by this time already."


    "Maybe she was caught in the middle of something," Satwo guessed.


    "There are no creatures around that can actually threaten Mother though," Safour did not like to talk much, but it seemed that his intelligence in analysis was better."


    "Just wait for a minute, maybe she''ll come back in a moment," Saone suggested.


    And so, the other Dragon Whelps continued waiting.


    According to his inherited memories, family relationship between White Dragons as it is gave off serious insecurity.


    Time passed quickly and a few of the Dragon Whelps took a nap and woke up once again. By the time they realized it, the sky was already bright again...


    But mother dragon was still not back.


    "Mother''s still not back," Satwo said in disappointment.


    "Maybe there''s too much food from this hunt and she''s trying to figure out how to get them back," Sathree responded in a hushed tone.


    "Yes, it happened the last time too," Saone regained his confidence. "Satwo, let''s go play wrestling!"


    Satwo agreed happily and the two Dragon Whelps began to mess around.


    As for Safour, who was more intelligent, got somewhat worried. He stood at the side of the cave and looked out from time to time, hoping to see their mother''s huge figure.


    Garen was still crouched in his own cave. He had already realized that something was wrong and that Cocoreila had probably abandoned them.


    This was not uncommon at all in the Colorful Dragon Clans. Among Colorful Dragons, White Dragons were the weakest, but their fertility was the strongest. In addition to their extremely selfish nature, many mothers of White Dragons would abandon their whelps at the dragon eggs stage. There were also those who only abandon their whelps after the eggs were hatched, it was nothing unusual at all.


    Hu¡­


    He sighed.


    From the treasures that were decreasing day by day in the dragon den, he had already been aware of it. Cocoreila obviously planned this earlier on already, transferring the treasures out bit by bit from the dragon den. Now she may have completely abandoned this few Dragon Whelps of hers.


    Relative to the Earth Dragon creatures and other dangerous beasts in the outside world, including humans, Dragon Whelps were fragile. Once they were discovered, especially by human beings, getting caught to become a contracted beast was considered a good case as so often would they be slaughtered and broken down into various materials to be made into spellcraft objects.


    That was because besides special groups of creatures, human beings rarely domesticated dragons of Colorful Dragon Clans, especially the most selfish White Dragons.


    Fortunately, this place was not far away from the White Dragon Clan. They were still under the protection of the White Dragon Clan so they would not be in much danger. They could survive by hunting for themselves.


    "Let''s wait for a while more," Saone''s voice was heard again from below.


    Garen got up and returned to his hole to rest.


    In a blink of an eye, two days passed already and Cocoreila had yet to return.


    Even Sathree who had always believed in their Mother was shaken by now.


    "We''ve been abandoned," Safour was almost sure of his own speculation.


    The other three Dragon Whelps remained silent.

 1256 Trouble 2

    Garen had just finished training and was just about to lie down and take a break.


    He had temporarily reformed a set of common combat techniques that was suitable for Dragon Whelps. There was no specific name to it, just a simple exercise that trained different body combat skills.


    At his level, even if he had a different body, his melee ability of the same stage would still be the strongest. He was confident that even if the four Dragons Whelps outside combined forces, he could easily deal with them without even using his abnormal physical qualities.


    Although they had simple fighting techniques in their inherited memories, but knowledge was still knowledge. After all, one must put in the effort to train in order to convert it into one''s instinct.


    Just as he sat down, he saw Saone and the other Dragon Whelps were squeezing their way into his hole.


    "Safive, we''re going out to hunt, do you want to come along?" Satwo had clearly established his position as the leader, standing at the forefront as he yelled.


    "Hunt?" Garen stood up, "What are you planning to kill?"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    "I don''t know, but we have to go out and search for something to eat," Satwo answered with a look of confusion. Clearly, he did not know what to kill as well.


    None of the creatures that Mother had hunted were ones they could realistically deal with.


    "If we don''t go out, we''ll starve to death here." Safour seemed to be more sensible, "Either way, we can only go out."


    Garen certainly understood this. Now that Cocoreila''s Draconic Aura was still here, no ferocious Earth Dragon creatures or any other powerful creatures would dare to invade the surroundings. They were still safe, but they still had to leave this place as soon as possible.


    It was just the matter of where to go and how. These were the things that should be carefully considered.


    They just did not dare to live in mountain caves as this anymore. These places were often visited by fierce birds, they could not possibly take care of themselves.


    After slight contemplation, Garen then agreed to go out altogether.


    The group of Dragon Whelps fluttered their wings and flew out of the dragon den swiftly. They knew that it was unlikely of them would return anymore.


    Under Garen''s directions, the five Dragon Whelps flew into the layers of clouds, using the clouds to cover their bodies. The nearby region was the White Dragon''s domain so it was unlikely that they would encounter other ferocious birds, hence it was safe for them.


    For Garen, it did not matter to him where he goes. Either way, he just needed time so that he could use his Soul Energy to constantly transform his attribute points to strengthen his body. The efficiency of converting Soul Energy was not bad at all, requiring not much of consumption. Furthermore, it was different from before. His Soul Energy used to be evenly spread throughout his body, but after being converted into attribute points, Garen could control his preferred attributes.


    As for the leadership authority of the several Dragon Whelps, he was too lazy to bother. It was just nothing in his eyes.


    Large green forests loomed beneath the clouds and without realization, the group of Dragon Whelps had flown in the direction of a colder region. Garen remembered that this was the direction of the White Dragon Clan Elder''s Peak.


    Roar!!


    All of a sudden, a loud roar of a dragon sounded from below.


    A white shadow rushed into the sky, crashing right into the Dragon Whelps, causing them to fall apart from each other.


    "Get out of my domain." This was an Adult White Dragon. Rising from the snowy peak below, he was now hovering in the air, bellowing right in front of the group of Dragon Whelps that were broken apart.


    The five Dragon Whelps, including Garen, was knocked senseless by the immense airstreams.


    Garen kept his mind calm and collected. As he stabilized his body, he tried to figure out the value of this Adult White Dragon.


    "Strength and speed should be at least thirty points and above! Below forty points!" He quickly came up with a slightly accurate data.


    Too strong¡­!


    Garen then looked at his own value. His strongest attribute was only seventeen points of intelligence. Just a mere struck of the airstream and he had lost balance already.


    His eyelids twitched for a bit. Garen and the other four Dragon Whelps could only turn around and leave, they could no longer stay her any bit longer. The Adult White Dragon behind them roared loudly once more before flying back to his snowy peak. Garen clearly sensed the death glare shot behind them. He knew that if they met an Adult White Dragon in the wild, they would all become slaves of the dragon or perhaps food.


    If it was not because of the fact that White Dragons liked killing each other, with their fertility, they could have long dominated the Colorful Dragon Clan.


    Returning along the same path was basically impossible.


    "What should we do now?" Saone asked.


    "We are going to hunt," Satwo answered firmly.


    "But what can we hunt?" Safour also issued a question. "What can we possibly hunt?"


    "We''re too weak," Sathree felt helpless and disheartened once again.


    "No, we can go and have a look in the forest, perhaps we can find something to eat," Garen spoke up. He did not want to mess around with these brats anymore. The appearance of the White Dragon had made him realize that this world was no less dangerous than any other places, and perhaps even more dangerous.


    "Forest?" Satwo looked at Garen, "Safive, have you been to the forest? There are Elves there, and giant bears. We''re not their opponents at all."


    "You don''t just casually encounter giant bears and Elves in all forests¡­" Garen was completely speechless. The dragon race inherited memories only shown dangerous attempts into the mind, but not much of the specific details. They mentioned the forest, but they only let the dragons be aware of the dangerous creatures in it.


    Therefore, Dragon Whelps would not know that there were weak creatures as well in the forest.


    "I''ve realized that Safive is more certain of his own judgment," Safour seemed to observe Garen''s difference.


    "So what? I''m the boss!" Satwo waved his claws.


    "Alright, alright. You''re the boss. But we''re heading to the forest now," Garen nodded casually.


    "Yes, we''re going to the forest," Satwo repeated. This was their only choice. In the case that all dragons had no plans or ideas, this was the only path they could choose.


    As they flew in an unfamiliar direction, the surrounding temperature was getting warmer and warmer.


    Large hawks and birds gradually began to appear below them.


    "We have to go down, there will be a lot of powerful birds here that we can''t deal with," Garen suggested. He had noticed a giant eagle earlier on that had wings about ten meters big and its strength and speed were estimated to be twenty points and above. It was terrible.


    "Alright, let''s go down," Satwo immediately accepted Garen''s suggestion.


    The group of Dragon Whelps descended quickly, finding a gap in the dark green forest below.


    Several deer that were drinking water quickly ran away.


    "Food!" At the side of the deer, Satwo yelled and pounced forward. However, he immediately tripped over a branch of a tree at the side and fell to the ground.


    The other Dragon Whelps by the side broke into laughter.


    Garen, however, walked aside alone and observed the woods around him.


    He immediately saw footprints at the edge of the creek. The footprints have yet disappeared and from the looks of it, it was a human footprint.


    "Human¡­" His vigilance was immediately heightened. He was a human being himself. From his inherited memories, he knew the how precious dragon skin was for human beings to be used as materials. From there, he also knew that if he ever encountered a group of human beings, he would surely become a moving treasure in the eyes of the other party. Once the news spread out, it would definitely attract more humans.


    "This is troublesome. There seem to be human activities around here¡­ So close to White Dragon Clan," An idea popped into Garen''s mind.


    Howl!


    A leopard who was drinking at the creek looked up and snarled at the Dragon Whelps, obviously unhappy that the Dragon Whelps were interrupting him drinking water.


    "But we are the great dragon race!" Saone was furious that a mere small leopard actually dared to provoke its dignity.


    It fluttered its wings and flew toward the leopard, squirting out a mouthful of Chill.


    With a pounce, the leopard easily dodged the white Chill, but Saone was quicker than him. Innate qualities of the dragon race were basically impossible for this ordinary leopard to overcome. After a while, Saone threw himself forward and pressed onto its head as it struggled on the ground.


    "That''s too easy, haha!" Saone laughed. Its strength was way stronger than this grownup leopard, pinning it down effortlessly. "How should we eat this?"


    "Let''s freeze it first!" The Dragon Whelps rushed forward. If it was not because of their young age and still did not have a Draconic Aura, the leopard would not have probably bumped into them and had straight away fled.


    After the first prey, there would be the second one, and soon enough, a wild boar appeared in their field of vision.


    The wild boar was decked in a thick yellow rock armor. Almost as tall as a human, it looked mighty powerful.


    Facing the wild boar head on, the Dragon Whelps were unable to cope with its strength at all. After breaking multiple huge trees, the Dragon Whelps joined forces to fly around the wild boar in an attempt of making it dizzy. The wild boar indeed lost its balance and Satwo sped up immediately, crushing the head of the wild boar with its claws.


    And that was another meal. The Dragon Whelps divided the food together and Satwo was awarded the huge head.


    However, apart from Garen who was on his toes the entire time, nobody else noticed that in the woods not far behind, a group of humans wearing light armor were silently moving in their direction.


    "It''s Dragon Whelps¡­" An old man dressed in a close-fitting long robe squatted down and examined the remaining bones of the leopard. "This leopard was a Level Three Lightning Leopard and its speed is already extremely fast, but it was still killed."


    He paused, "From speed, strength and the claw marks, it should be the works of Dragon Whelps. The White Dragon Clan''s just nearby, Adult White Dragons wouldn''t simply eat their prey on the spot. Moreover, there should be more than one Dragon Whelp, and they would make a bunch of good materials."


    "Your Excellency, should we search for the dragon den first, or kill these Dragon Whelps first?" A man in green armor with Greatswords in both his hands whispered.


    "Our priority is to kill an Adult White Dragon, and the rest shall be discussed later on. But then again, it is rare to encounter Dragon Whelps that are so far away from their group¡­" The elder Wizard sank into deep thought, "How about this, Karel."


    "Here, Your Excellency Sara." A scrawny old man in a black robe walked out from the troop. His hand held a cypress staff that had a skill on its top that looked eerie and terrifying.


    "You can bring this two White Silvers over and get rid of this nest of Dragon Whelps. You can take sixty percent of the materials," the elder Wizard commanded.


    "As you wish, Your Excellency." the creepy old man smiled.


    "Be careful of the appearance of Adult White Dragons. These Dragon Whelps are just Level Four, be careful of their ice spits, they''re actually just slightly stronger than Level-Four beasts," the elder Wizard said.


    "I''m already a Level-Five Great Wizard, Your Excellency," the creepy old man said confidently.


    "Go then."

 1257 Stable 1

    "We must leave this place."


    Garen got up and said to the Dragon Whelps who were drinking water. He did not want to leave alone. He was still too weak by himself and needed these Dragon Whelps to move around with him, not just for power, but as a cover for his identity. Once his abnormality was discovered, problems were likely to arise and he would be easily noticed.


    "Why do we have to leave?" Satwo asked.


    "There are humans here," Garen whispered. "If they''re moving around this area, they obviously have some sort of purpose."


    "Humans? We can kill them straight away. They''re just food," Saone thought otherwise.


    "We may be able to kill them in the future, but not right now." Garen shook his head. "Are you guys moving?"


    "No, there is water source here. Where there''s water, animals are bound to come by. Therefore, if we stay here, we''ll be able to find good food," Safour said with a witty tone.


    "As long as there''s endless food, we will continue to advance!" Sathree exclaimed loudly.


    "As long as we advance, we''ll be able to go find Mother!" Saone continued.


    "And as long as we''re able to find Mother, we''ll all be safe!" Satwo waved his claws.


    Bang!


    A huge claw that was clenched into a fist landed on his eyes.


    Instantly, Satwo stumbled backward. Before he could figure out what was going on, he saw Garen flinging another punch towards him.


    "No! You¡­"


    Bang!


    Both of his eyes were completely bruised.


    Saone was furious that he actually dared to hit the boss! He rushed forward and tried to entangle Garen into close combat but it was pointless.


    Garen took a step back and simply kicked his leg causing his knee to land right on Saone''s abdomen.


    Oh!


    Both Saone and Satwo fell on their butts. Their heads were spinning and they were completely stunned.


    "Now I''m the boss," Garen walked to the front of both dragons and waved his claws.


    "Alright¡­ Alright, you''re the boss," Saone was convinced right away.


    There was still a look of dissatisfaction in Satwo''s eyes, but from the strength and speed of Garen''s movements, he was obviously no match for Garen. With a huff, he gave in reluctantly.


    "Now, we''re leaving this place," Garen confirmed his authority as the leader and proposed decisively to leave.


    Sathree and Safour were shocked by Garen''s sudden burst of powers.


    The group of Dragon Whelps sorted out the leopard meat cubes and brought them one by one, tied them up with large leaf vines from the trees before flying away wobbly into the distance.


    Roar!


    Suddenly, a low rumble was heard from the forest below.


    Something dark darted out from the woods. It seemed to be a gigantic, black wild boar.


    The wild boar was covered with a black iron armor, rushing straight towards the group of Dragon Whelps. It had blood-red eyes and it reeked badly.


    "Rise!" Garen shouted.


    The wild boar was at least twice their size, rushing over like a car. He did not want to fight against this fellow.


    All the Dragon Whelps immediately increased their heights but a beam of grey-white light shot out from the back of the wild boar, hitting Saone''s hind legs.


    "Ahhh!" Saone howled in pain.


    The ray was actually able to break through the dragon skin''s magic defense. Although they were only Dragon Whelps now, their epidermis was still able to immunize Level-One magic and even a certain resistance towards some Level-Two spellcraft. However, looking at Saone right now, the ray was clearly far more than just a Level-Two spellcraft.


    After struggling for a while, Saone completely lost the ability to flap his wings and fell from the sky.


    The other Dragon Whelps were shocked. At this moment, the selfish nature of White Dragons was truly manifested. All the Dragon Whelps ignored Saone who had fallen and flew away frantically.


    Garen cast a glance towards Saone who was below him. The gigantic wild boar had its head up waiting for it to fall and there was a creepy old guy in a grey robe wandering beside the wild boar.


    "Human¡­" Garen''s heart shook. His strength and speed were incomparable to Saone. Moreover, Saone''s body was temporarily frozen as he continued falling. Before he touched the ground, Garen once again fluttered his wings and fiercely squirted a mouthful of Chill towards the old fellow.


    When the white Chill rushed to the old man, it seemed to be blocked by a transparent barrier.


    The old man smiled and extended his right hand. A Void Shadow of a white skeletal hand could be seen around his entire palm, wrapping his palm within it. Looking from afar, it seemed as if his entire arm was just skeletal.


    The skeletal arm pierced through the screen and grabbed onto Saone who was trying to escape.


    Garen who was in the sky immediately felt the intense threat and darkness from the white skeletal arm. It felt as if he was standing at the cliff of an abyss, the cold feeling surged straight into his mind.


    Garen could feel his hair standing on end and his Soul Ring instinctively judged his reaction. This old man was indeed very strong! Definitely not something he could deal with right now!


    Without hesitation, Garen turned around and fled. Soon enough, Garen caught up with Satwo and Sathree who were in front of him and they quickly left the place. As for Saone, the odds were against him.


    The old man below hesitated as he looked at the fleeing White Dragon Whelps.


    "There''s actually more than one. That''s unfortunate, they''d make such good material."


    Grabbing Saone in his hand, his sharp but bent fingertips pierced through the Dragon Whelp''s skin.


    Saone screamed in pain, wailing loudly as he felt the excruciating pain. White blood flowed from the wound and dripped on the ground, covering the small meadow with a white layer of frost.


    After being caught by this old Wizard, he could not fight back at all.


    ********************


    Garen followed the Dragon Whelps as they flew and soon enough, everyone was back together except Saone who was nowhere to be seen.


    The group of dragons flew along their original path, staying silent the entire time.


    "Saone¡­ is he going to die?" Satwo whispered. No creatures could actually stay calm the first time they faced death.


    "The outside world is too dangerous¡­" With his head bent, Safour spoke as his body trembled.


    This was also the first time Garen felt that this world was not just generally dangerous. Before that, there was a God''s inspection, and now he had just encountered an old man who looked strong and abnormal. Besides knowing some human combat techniques himself, his other strengths could only be used after the completion of the laws. However, it would take too much time to complete the laws and he could not even guarantee his own safety right now.


    "There are only two options," Garen said in a low tone.


    "What two options?" Satwo asked quickly. He found that among them, Garen was the most assertive and most knowledgeable.


    Sathree and Safour immediately looked at him as well.


    "Humans have appeared in our surroundings and obviously they''re not here to just hang around leisurely. Look at the man''s strength just now, there''s no way he was here just to deal with us Dragon Whelps. If we want to be safe, we have to get far away from this place. We should find the White Dragon Clan Elder''s Peak and tell them about our findings. There''s a specialized Dragon Whelp Breeding Institute in the clan, we can go in and learn to fight."


    Garen carefully explained his plan.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    "I''m planning to go to the clan''s breeding institute, what about you guys?"


    The other Dragon Whelps were as clueless as headless flies. Saone had just died right before their eyes and they were frightened to the point where they had lost their definite views. They simply listened to Garen and set off in the direction of the clan.


    ******************


    After they safely arrived at the White Dragon Clan, Garen explained their situation to the White Dragon guard and they obtained the entry permit.


    It was evident that the White Dragons had long known that humans were nearing by and did not refuse the Dragon Whelps who came into hiding. Besides Garen and his group of Dragon Whelps, there were other White Dragons who had brought along their Dragon Whelps to seek shelter nearby the clan''s Elder''s Peak.


    Due to the disappearance of their mother, Cocoreila, Garen and the other Dragon Whelps had arranged to enter the breeding institute, as he wished for.


    The White Dragon Clan''s Dragon Whelp Breeding Institute was an organization set up for Dragon Whelps who had lost their parents or families because they did not bother about their Dragon Whelps. There were over fifty Elder White Dragons in the entire race and five of them were in charge of looking after the Dragon Whelps. There were also many dragon beasts and Earth Dragons around who were managed by the White Dragons as a safety precaution.


    Inside the institution, the Dragon Whelps were taught how to fight, how to hunt, and what creatures to look out for that were threats to them. They were also taught about the environment needed to advance, the conditions, and the storage of miscellaneous food.


    What attracted Garen''s interest was the practice of spellcraft.


    When they were selecting their classes, Garen chose the Arcane Art Course without hesitation instead of the Actual Combat Course that most White Dragons would choose.


    For White Dragons, as long as they stepped into adulthood, they would have dragon scales that would immunize all spellcraft below Level Four and their powerful Draconic Aura would be equivalent to a no-loss Level-Three spellcraft energy field that was able to control large groups of Earth Dragons as well as dragons. Moreover, they would have several Ice-type spellcraft of Level-Six Ice Mirror Art and two kinds of Frost Breath.


    Every Wizard that faced an Elder White Dragon with such strong constitution and terrifying powers had the ability to reduce or even exempt the effects of the spells that were Level Four and above. With the swipe of a tail, the force could actually go up to a Level Six creature''s top strength. No spellcraft screen or Wizard''s armor could possibly resist such a strong force. The instantaneous burst of power would be as much as a Level Five lethal spell.


    This kind of horrific talent was why the White Dragons, even some of the dragon race, rarely focused on learning Spellcraft. Only those Elder Dragon whose lives were too long would choose to practice Spellcraft because they were too bored.


    "Are you really sure that you''re choosing Spellcraft Course? Don''t blame me for not reminding you that the most suitable path for us dragon race is to first improve our melee ability and only choose Spellcraft when we can protect ourselves because by that time, we''ll have sufficient time to practice Accumulation," the young dragon that was in charge of registration reminded. "Also, we won''t be responsible for your meals. In the process of learning, all of you will learn to hunt stronger preys and through this process, elementary Spellcraft is completely useless for dragons."


    Garen nodded as a sign that he understood.


    "I understand."


    "No¡­ You don''t." The young dragon shook her head, her long slender snake-like neck made her as beautiful as a white swan. Clearly, this was a female dragon.


    "Even though we are from the dragon race and we have a vast amount of spirit power, this doesn''t mean that we can advance quickly. Like humans, we need at least ten years or so to reach the standards of Level Four, and this is if you''re talented. If you don''t have talent, it''ll take at least sixty or seventy years. As for Level Four Spellcraft, it''ll only cause a small damage to Adult Dragons. It''s very weak!" She emphasized once more.


    "I understand." Garen had known about this already. "That''s why I''ve also signed up for Combat Course."


    Stunned, the young dragon stared at Garen carefully.


    "Alright then, since you''ve already made your decision." With a few strokes, she wrote down Garen''s name on the paper. Not Safive, but Garen.


    Ever since they got away from Cocoreila, Garen had changed back to his original name.


    "We''ll conduct recruitment applications every once in a while to enter different environments to train Actual Combat. If you die, don''t blame me for not informing you," the young dragon said in a low tone.


    Garen smiled.


    "May I have your name?" This was the first time he had encountered such a kind-hearted fellow in the White Dragon Race.

 1258 Stable 2

    "Ola. The name''s Ola. We don''t have many dragons inside the spellcrafting course as we have only about a dozen Dragon Whelps. While our classes are flexible, our examinations are held on a timely basis. You''ll be informed on a monthly basis on the stone inside the Elder''s Peak," Ola explained. "We need to receive something in return for passing down our knowledge and techniques to you guys. In this world, knowledge, and techniques are not to be passed down for free. Hence, you''ll need to work for the clan in exchange for them."


    "What''s the job about?" Garen understood the concept behind. The selfish White Dragon Clan would not give them anything without a reason.


    "Battle." Ola''s explanation was clear and simple. "With the humans or other living beings. This is to expand our territories. If you accept the terms, please press your claw here." He placed a leather paper in front of Garen.


    Garen then went through the contract written in Draconic Language.


    Then, he pressed his claw onto it. Henceforth, his life was bound by the clan until he turned into an adult.


    This was unavoidable. Despite being much stronger than typical living creatures, the hatred he could attract was far more than the typical living creatures. Without the clan''s protection, he would not be able to go anywhere more than ten kilometers.


    Rumor had it that the humans had decided to build a colony nearby the clan''s location and they seemed to be planning a fight with the clan to the death.


    Garen flew out of the registration office after dismissing himself from Ola. He went directly towards the combat course for registration. He then returned to the emergency assembly point where he noticed Satwo and the other two dragons already there waiting for him. Since they had only registered for one course, they were much faster than Garen.


    "The instructor is Instructor Dragon. There will be an inquiry day every three days and we can go and inquire about anything related to combat. However, we only have half a day to ask the questions. Then, we will have a monthly examination." Safour''s question was extremely concise and clear.


    "Rumor has it that those humans that had killed Saone had decided to stay and not leave the area. This is too dangerous. They''re not even scared of the clan!" Satwo shouted.


    A group of Dragon Whelps was chattering noisily between a stone crevice in the snowy peak.


    Adult White Dragons and many Dragon Whelps could occasionally be seen flying past the gap of the snowy peak. They were just a group of inconspicuous members.


    "We must work hard," Safour said. "Let''s ignore the humans. I''ve already asked and I found out that less than five out of a hundred Dragon Whelps can reach adulthood safely. Most of them would either be caught and slaughtered, not strong enough or careless before reaching adulthood. We don''t have a guardian since our mother is no longer around."


    What he said was the truth. Garen and the rest were a group of fragile beings without the protection from their kin. The Elder''s Peak would not protect them unless they were nearby the Elder''s Peak. This was impossible as they were required to finish their missions in exchange for knowledge. However, they had to leave the proximity to complete their mission. It was an infinite cycle.


    Garen understood the situation best as he had even inquired regarding the overall situation of the humans stationed outside. They were a group of powerful Wizards from the nearby Deladia Empire. Their leader was a Level Seven Great Wizard named Gushan. Since his arrival, he had already gotten into a conflict with a White Dragon''s family and he almost killed an adult White Dragon without going all out.


    Despite this incident, the White Dragon Clan did not dare to wage war against him as Gushan was being backed by the enormous Deidala Empire. Rumor had it that this human race empire had quite a few Level Seven Great Wizards in their arsenal, dozens of them. They even had an even higher ranked Eternal Blazer. Only the top Wizards who were Level Eight and above could be crowned as the Eternal Blazer. Only the Ancient Dragons from the Dragon Clan could face against such existence, which strength was better than the Level Seven Great Wizards by leaps and bounds.


    Hence, the clan could only hold their grudge even when one of the Adult White Dragons was almost killed. The innate selfish personality of the White Dragons did not allow them to put their lives on the line unless they benefited from it. In addition, the Deidala Empire was simply an existence that they could not fight against.


    This clan was not under the care of an Ancient Dragon and what they had were just a few old Dragon Priests. The Evil Dragon Goddess Tiamat would never show herself when they fought against the humans as she once had her wings both wounded by the human''s God of War.


    *************


    Time flew as spring passed in a blink of an eye and the scorching hot summer arrived.


    Garen had started gaining knowledge and techniques from both of the courses that he attended.


    The combat course syllables were very easy and hardly consumed his energy. His main focus was the arcane art course as he had placed all of his attention it.


    There were at least ten other Dragon Whelps that were as obsessed as him towards Spellcraft as they sat together in a valley somewhere in the snowy peak.


    Garen was sitting on the right as he listened to the teenage dragon''s lecture quietly.


    It was out of his expectation that Safour had enrolled in the same arcane art course as him. However, Safour had to give up on the combat course as he was not as energetic as Garen. The former was sitting on a stool carved from ice behind the latter as he listened intently to the lecture.


    Despite the blizzard howling outside, it did not affect the teenage dragon''s boisterous voice.


    "Level 0 Spellcraft is also known as Level 0 Trickery. Its application is very narrow. Other than performances, its general use is to determine the quality of a Wizard''s Spirit Power. However, it is the very foundation of every Spellcraft, hence, it is a step that we have to take," the teenage dragon said loudly.


    "While there are a total of fifty-six types of traditional Level 0 Trickery, we only need to be able to use ten types to fully master the basic energy manipulation for all types. These would be your foundation after selecting the sect in the future."


    The teenage dragon reached out its claw as a small ball of light lit up above it.


    "This is an Illumination Spell." He started wavering its arm but the ball of light remained stationary as it was grasped within the latter''s palm. "I used the snowball I have condensed as an illuminating object. Then, I cast the Illumination Spell on it and this is the end result."


    The Dragon Whelps had witnessed many objects that had been cast with Illumination Spell by their own family members. They were very calm and quiet as it was a given that they were not surprised by such a small trick.


    Then, the teenage dragon started explaining the means to regulate the Spirit Power as he cast a simple Illumination Spell.


    Garen soon understood the concept of Spellcraft as he listened attentively to the explanation.


    In essence, Spellcraft used the basis of Spirit Power to draw the subtle energy from the universe. The latter could be categorized into different types which would result in a variety of simple and complex derivative alterations. Hence, this would naturally form Spellcraft Systems of different types and levels.


    It was equivalent to a chemical chain reaction. When a Wizard wished for a specific chemical reaction, he would then required to follow the sequence as they put it the specified material.


    The same could be said about Spellcraft. The final form of the Spellcraft was an end result of reactions. In order to create the desired end result, one would need to focus on their Spirit Power to balance and guide different types of energies to collide, fuse and react together. A complicated reaction would occur, achieving the final effect of Spellcraft.


    The variety of energies in the air would be equivalent to the different ingredients required for a chemical reaction. The role of the Spirit Power was to control how the ingredients were introduced, such as the number of ingredients required, the methods of mixing and leading them together.


    "... Hence, we need to focus once we release a spell. As it is a channeling process, it will be hard to continue channeling once the process is interrupted or you''ve missed the time to react," the teenage dragon explained the theory behind Spellcraft.


    "What is Spirit Power?" A Dragon Whelp stood up and asked loudly.


    "Spirit Power is the amount of your concentration." The teenage dragon smiled, revealing his white sharp fangs. "You''re placing all of your Spirit Power onto me as you''re paying full attention to my lecture. Since you''re paying attention to me with all of your senses, the moment I released an enhanced Illimunation Spell..."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    Pew!


    Suddenly, a blinding ball of light exploded from the teenage dragon''s hand.


    Wow!~


    An alarming cry was hard.


    It seemed that the enhanced Illuminating Spell had considered the Dragon Whelps'' endurance. Despite the consideration, the group of Dragon Whelps was blinded by it as they screamed.


    Garen managed to evade the ambushing attack.


    "Alright let''s take a rest. Everyone is free to do their own things and we will continue when the hourglass is two thirds through." The teenage dragon then took out a golden hourglass and placed it on the snowy floor. Then, the black fine sands started to flow from the top to the bottom.


    Garen and the other Dragon Whelps rubbed their eyes as the blinding flash was very impressive.


    Garen sat alone on the stool and started to recall the situation around here recently since he was bored.


    The clan and the Deidala Empire had seemed to come to an agreement as the adult dragons were no longer being attacked. The people from the Deidala Empire had, in fact, stopped their attacks on the Dragon Whelps as well. Instead, they had started building something deep inside the forest.


    According to Ola, There were wars occurring at the border of Deidala Empire as two major empires decided to invade the Deidala Empire at the same time. It was very likely that they might come to an agreement with the high ranking elder dragons of the Elder''s Peak, where the White Dragon Clan might assist the Deidala Empire by participating in the war while they received protection from the Empire in return.


    He pondered as he glanced at the Dragon Whelps around him. He wondered how many Dragon Whelps would survive from this war.


    The Dragon Whelps from the White Dragon Clan was never valuable as the White Dragons were too good at breeding once they were matured. In addition to that, it would require many years for the Dragon Whelps to mature and the price was simply too much.


    "How troublesome... To improve and reach equilibrium with the soul within ten years is too difficult. I need to think of a plan or else this world''s mystery is the only path I can take."


    Garen started frowning unconsciously.


    "Garen! Garen!" Safour, who was behind Garen, patted on the latter''s wings.


    "What''s wrong?"


    "Satwo has delivered our food to us," Safour whispered.


    Garen suddenly understood the situation.


    He did not have enough time to go out and hunt for his own food lately as the two courses had consumed most of his time. At times like this, Satwo, who was already impressed with Garen had decided to share a portion of his food with Garen. It was the same case for Sathree as well.


    These two Dragon Whelps felt Garen had his own definite views of his own. He was extremely calm even when they encountered a powerful Wizard back then. Their impressions towards him had changed since then.


    Garen and Safour stood up as they walked to the entrance of the valley. There, they saw frozen food on the ground which was placed by Satwo and Sathree. They stared at Garen and Safour from afar before turning around and flying away into the distance.


    Both of them walked towards the food and started to gobble them up quickly. Safour, on the other hand, basked under Garen''s glory as he ate along.


    Garen had become the leader of this group of Dragon Whelps as he had gained both mental and physical recognition of the other Dragon Whelps.


    Although the White Dragons were selfish, they would still listen to the stronger ones as such was the law of nature.


    "Let''s eat up," Garen took huge bites after bites as he munched on the raw meat as he quietly thought about other stuff.

 1259 Mission 1

    He had been in the clan for some time. However, he could not find a better way to increase his attribute points at a faster pace other than the most primitive way which was to nourish it with his Soul Energy.


    Garen quickly finished the meats before going back to the class. The content of the Arcane Art Courses was not much as it required the dragon whelps to train on their own most of the time.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    Hence, the class was dismissed rather quickly.


    After Garen bade goodbye to Safour, he went towards the Combat Course. Coincidentally, both courses did not clash against one another as one was in the morning whereas the other was during the afternoon.


    The Combat Courses was much more lively than Arcane Art Course. Although it was one of more than ten Combat Courses, it already had at least twenty dragon whelps.


    Similarly, the class was held inside a cold and windy ice valley. There was a huge disc-shaped platform at the center. The platform was also known as the Battle Arena and it was surrounded by many stools that could be used for resting. There were also a few dragon caves which had unknown purposes. These caves had many icy blue stalagmites by the entrances and they had been used as decorations by the White Dragons as they gave off blue illumination. These stalagmites were very valuable towards the humans as they contained nourishment that could enhance their bodies. This was because it had fused with the dragon''s aura for a long period of time.


    Garen mixed himself among a few Dragon Whelps as he flew into the ice valley in low profile. He looked around and realized that the teacher had yet to arrive. However, there were quite a number of Dragon Whelps who had already arrived. Some of them were flying and fooling around in a corner while some were sitting quietly as they ate with their heads down. There were also some chattering among themselves in groups.


    "Hey Garen!" A light blue-scaled Dragon Whelp flew over and greeted him.


    "Leona? Is there anything you need?" Garen gave her a cold shoulder.


    "Can''t I find you to play together if nothing is going on?" Dragon Whelp Leona said unhappily. "Come and see the Snow Dragon I''ve built!"


    She then happily pointed at the Snow Dragon nearby. However, Garen viewed it as a carrot no matter how he looked at it.


    "Ugly..." He commented on it casually.


    "What do you mean ugly!?" Leona was unsatisfied with his comment.


    "It is ugly. I never argue with other dragons," Garen said casually as he went to his seat.


    There were three Dragon Whelps pushing and yelling at a weak and small Dragon Whelp near his seat.


    Garen ignored them as he sat down. The stools and tables here were mimicked from the humans. Although the designs were simple, it was solidly built.


    It was not the first time he saw Dragon Whelps bullying other Dragon Whelps. However, as long as he was not involved in it, he would not bother speaking to these kids. These Dragon Whelps did not dare mess with him because of his firm muscles and lustrous scales. It was the reason why he had a peaceful life thus far.


    Leona flew towards him and sat in front of him as he sat down. They had been designated as partners in the Combat Course as Garen was obviously the best in terms of physical attributes during the Combat Course''s trial. It was the higher up''s intention to train Leona together with Garen as Leona was, in fact, the daughter of the clan''s Elder Dragon. Hence, it was normal for her to have special privileges.


    Despite Garen wanting to ignore this little girl, he had to put up a perfunctory act with her as he did not dare be hostile towards her.


    "Garen, do you know? Sister Ola is about to have sex with Uncle Cartel," Leona came over and whispered to Garen.


    "..." Garen stared at her speechlessly. "What are you trying to say?"


    It was a given that a little female Dragon Whelp did not know what embarrassment was as this was a concept applicable only towards the humans. It was nothing out of the norm for the White Dragon Clan which encourages breeding.


    "I plan to go and peek on them. Do you want to join me?" She said furtively.


    "No." Garen rejected her immediately. "I have a lot of things to do. There''s also work and practices from the Arcane Art Courses."


    "Aren''t you curious?" Leona whispered.


    "Not even the slightest," Garen urged Leona to turned her head back to the front as the teenage dragon teacher was about to start his lecture. The instructors here were all part-timers hired at the last second. They were all young dragons that had experienced fighting against powerful foes as each of them had records of killing Level Seven creatures.


    The lecture had commenced. There were not a lot of theories and explanation as many of the White Dragon''s battle techniques were inherited. As long as the Dragon Whelps were able to tap into it and practice the techniques, they would soon be able to use them naturally.


    The Dragon Clan was born with a powerful body. When matured, their strength and speed would be equivalent to the human''s Level Seven Great Knight. One would be known as the White Silver at that level. Rumor had it that the White Silver Knights in the human tribe possessed a high prestige, where they would able to perform guardian duties to an Earl in his territories.


    Hence, what the dragon whelps required to learn was how to utilize their already powerful physical characteristics. Furthermore, one of the main things the Dragon Whelps needed to master was a technique called Draconic Aura.


    The Draconic Aura was a natural skill of the Dragon Clan where it could oppress the others. Its potency would naturally increase as the dragons aged. However, the Dragon Clan had invented a training method for the Draconic Aura to further enhance its effectiveness. It was similar to a human training their body and techniques in order to achieve the life force of a Knight.


    The class started quickly and similarly to the Arcane Art Class where they were only teaching the foundation, the courses here were all basic foundation syllables.


    However, there was an old White Dragon in silver armor on the platform. Although its wing looked rather relaxed, the dragon''s gaze gave off a powerful coercion. That was a Draconic Aura which was much stronger than the average adult dragon.


    As the Dragon Whelps sat down and turned down their volume, he started speaking.


    "I am Baesman. I believe everyone here knows me since you''ve been here for some time. However, today is different as I will officially pass down the techniques of master Draconic Aura. I will also officially announce the overall job description, the dates, and the details of your missions."


    His mighty voice in Draconic Language kept reverberating within the ice valley.


    "The Draconic Aura Techniques!" Garen was excited as he could finally get in touch with the world''s skill system. Despite the Arcane Arts Courses teaching them the basics and knowledge of Spellcraft, Arcane Technique, and the effects of different types of Spellcraft, they had not taught him the training methods. On the other hand, the Combat Courses was earlier in this aspect.


    He was not the only one that was excited as the other Dragon Whelps felt the same as well.


    Leona was the only one that had uninterest written all over her face. It seemed that she had known of such a thing and had learned it a long time ago.


    Garen stared at her and found out the reason why this person had such tremendous strength during basic training. He was nowhere near this female Dragon Whelp''s strength even though he had added points into his strength attribute.


    The Dragon Whelps in the course started buzzing among themselves.


    Roar!!


    Baesman, who was on the platform roared loudly. The intense dragon roar''s reverberation turned into shockwaves as it shocked the Dragon Whelps to the point where they utterly routed. Some of them were so scared that their heads were tilted on the ground and they lost all the strength in their limbs.


    "I, Baesman Raghasa Rossavizi... hate living beings making a ruckus in front of me!" The instructor started to move its wings aggressively as he screeched. A frightening sensation of coercion was released from his body. It was similar to being pressured by the atmosphere as the Dragon Whelps did not dare to speak due to the coercion.


    Garen was shocked that he was under its effect as he could not breathe properly. He was ecstatic as the skill system was completely new to him.


    However, he realized that Leona, who was sitting in front of him had given off a faint pressure to neutralize the majority of the Draconic Aura''s pressure.


    There were a few other Dragon Whelps among the rest who gave off the same Draconic Aura similar to Leona''s. The only difference was its strength.


    Garen held himself together with brute force to prevent himself from falling down to the snowy ground.


    The surrounding became quiet.


    Then, the dragon instructor continued its lecture.


    "The theory behind the Draconic Aura practice is very simple. What we need to do is simply feel the Draconic Aura that we release naturally. Then, we will try to grasp it and ultimately control it so that we can use it freely as a weapon whenever we want."


    The dragon instructor moved its heavy body around as it walked, giving off a thumping noise with each step he took.


    "This weapon will follow you forever! It will remain within your skeletons even after death. Your skeletons will carry along the Draconic Aura so that low-level beings will not be able to get close to you! This is the nobility that we dragons are born with!" The dragon instructor said excitedly as he raised his heads up like a snake.


    "You can use the Draconic Aura for other reasons rather than just being a weapon. We can keep it within us and use it as a tool to enhance our physical bodies. It will make us stronger and tougher! Our scales will become more solid and we will have sharper claws."


    "Now, I will introduce you to the discovery of Draconic Aura."


    Baesman then started to explain the existence of the Draconic Aura.


    The Dragon Clan was indeed a powerful tribe.


    This was the first impression Garen had after listening to the lecture.


    The Draconic Aura was actually a natural and powerful Energy Field produced by the Dragon Clan. The dragons were able to produce an external Energy Field that could mentally oppress living beings at all times.


    All of this originated from the Dragon Heart''s heartbeat. The Dragon''s Heart was extremely powerful as its rhythm required the movement of numerous myocardium. These muscular heart tissues contained many little beings that gave off electric excitation. They gathered together to form a powerful electricity which ultimately caused electric excitation from the remaining body''s muscles. This energy would naturally spread out and influence the natural surrounding. This was the basic theory behind the Draconic Aura.


    Naturally, there were other complicated processes involved, but the most important thing was the electricity within the Dragon''s Heart as it was the leading source of energy.


    Instead of having a brain, dragons had Dragon Crystals. The Dragon Crystal and Dragon''s Heart were located in the brain and body respectively. These two were the basic organs that maintained a huge dragon''s physiological activities. Naturally, the electricity produced from a Dragon''s Heart would be extremely powerful as it was the powerhouse of the dragon''s huge body.


    Learning the basic of Draconic Aura was not the only main focus of the Combat Course. They also had to learn the anatomy of a dragon and the methods to quickly kill a giant dragon. Furthermore, they had to learn how to kill off a powerful human as well as normal humans who were the main enemies of the White Dragon Clan.


    Although the syllables of the anatomy lessons were just scratching the surface, it was detailed enough that there was mention about the dragon''s muscles and fibers.


    Garen managed to learn in detail without using his powerful Soul Ring. He was able to quickly understand the contents with his body''s high intelligence. He had seventeen intelligent points the moment he was born. The source of this development was his powerful soul and the nourishment he obtained while he was inside the egg.


    The discovery of Draconic Aura was simpler than the rest as instructor Baesman taught a simple technique.


    All one required to do was to push the snowflakes away and avoid them from landing on one''s body.


    In order to achieve this, all he required to do was to follow the prescribed imagination process. When the mind produced a ripple, he then had to focus and imagine that there was nothing above his head. In other words, it was basically imagination and concentration. All he had to do was to discover and activate it through a special process as the Draconic Aura was an innate skill to all dragons.

 1260 Mission 2

    Garen tried a few times. Initially, it was ineffective. However, his soul was simply too powerful and he was able to vaguely sense the minute trajectory of the snowflakes above his head after a few trials.


    The change was so minute that if Garen would not have been able to detect it if he were not paying a close attention. His Draconic Aura was currently not strong enough to influence the external objects. This was the only effect he was able to produce as of now after he gathered all of his Draconic Aura.


    "Alright. It''s time to hand out your missions." Baesman, who had just finished explaining the basics started speaking up once more.


    "You''ll have to give in order to receive. Your mission is to head to the ice forest in the south and hunt for the Giant Frost Iguanas. The heart and eyeballs from the Giant Frost Iguanas are very valuable in breeding the Black Teeth Wolves as they could greatly increase their fertility rate."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    The Black Teeth Wolves were the White Dragon Clan''s livestock similar to how humans raising pigs.


    "The Giant Frost Iguana typically ranges from Level Three to Five and they''re best for you to train yourselves. Naturally, you''ll have to retreat when you encounter the Elder Giant Iguana. Since we treat them as a source of food, they would definitely view us as a threat. The Elder Giant Iguana is a Level Six living being. You''ll die if you don''t run away from it."


    He then started to point out the Giant Frost Iguana''s weakness, behavior, and its abilities.


    As Garen listened attentively, the lecture soon reached to an end.


    All of them returned back to their quarters to sleep to get some rest before continuing the lecture the next day.


    Garen''s dwelled together with Satwo and the others in a cave located at the foot of the snowy peak. It was originally a bear cave. However, it had been deserted for a long time and it seemed to have been scared off as the White Dragon Clan arrived. As the foot of the mountain had a high temperature of twenty plus degree Celsius, it was rather uncomfortable to the White Dragons which preferred a cool environment. It was also not safe enough, which was the reason why no dragons came to this area. Only Garen and the other orphaned dragons would come here as they had no other place to go.


    He kept alternating attending classes and resting, leading a peaceful life as a month passed in a blink of an eye.


    Garen then had accumulated a few Attribute Points.


    Garen decided to put in all of his accumulated Attribute Points before it was time for him to start his mission.


    The dragon was laying down deep inside the cave. Garen started to observe his own Attributes and found that he had grasped the basics of Draconic Aura. While he could use his Attribute Points to increase the Draconic Aura''s level, he did not wish to rush it as this skill required a long time to master. It would catch a lot of attention if he were to improve too much within a short period of time. He would be easily discovered by those with powerful spellcraft capabilities. Everything would be over if they found out that their soul was abnormal.


    Since he was not able to add the points to his skills, he could only add them to his physical attributes. It was very cost effective for him to add them to his Physical Attributes in the early stages.


    Coincidentally, Safour had gone to the Arcane Art Courses to discuss the content of the missions with a few other Dragon Whelps and found out that they had to go together.


    Satwo and Sathree had gone out to hunt earlier and were already on their way.


    Garen was the only one left inside the cave and would participate in hunting the Giant Frost Iguana the next day.


    "I can be immune towards diseases and even a lot of Spellcraft if I have a strong Vitality and Strength. Furthermore, I will have the ability to evade fast and dangerous spells as well. I might even be able to avoid being locked by the Caster as well. The latter would not be able to injure me even if he had a high-level spell. I will be able to increase the Arcane Art''s learning pace if I were to increase my intelligence. Although I have yet to officially learn Meditation, it is still very useful."


    Garen decided to increase his physical attributes instead of intelligence after hesitating for a while. One would not be able to learn Spellcraft in a short amount of time. This was especially true for the Dragon Clan, which possessed a powerful physical body.


    "I''ll enhance my speed, strength, and agility equally. I had the high-speed development similar to every other Dragon Whelp when I was born. However, it only lasted for about two months and the situation wouldn''t reappear now that everything has calmed down. I have accumulated about five points worth of Attribute Points for the past two months. Since I have a mission to fulfill and since the Giant Frost Iguana is not fast but powerful, I will just add them into Strength for now."


    It would be better for him to finish the hunting missions earlier as this meant that he would obtain more rewards. Garen had also planned to breed a few Black Teeth Wolves so that he would not rely entirely on hunting nearby the area around it was too dangerous. Satwo and the others might be captured and killed off by the humans if they were not careful.


    He could breed them within a certain area inside his own cave. He would have to wait it out and see the circumstance in terms of breeding the wolves'' offspring. If it was not feasible, he could use them to exchange for other items such as books related to Arcane Arts.


    Garen''s learning pace far surpassed any other Dragon Whelp and since he had to follow the other Dragon Whelps'' pace in class, he felt that he had wasted a lot of time and talent.


    Garen looked at his own Status Pane after decided the path he wanted to take.


    ''Safive - Strength 16, Agility 15, Vitality 11, Intelligence 17. Potential 527%. Soul Limit 170''


    He had placed all of his Attribute Points into Strength without any hesitation.


    His Strength instantly rose from 16 to 21.


    He could clearly hear the sound of his muscles tightening up. It sounded like a spring and even more like a reinforced bar being tightened.


    He felt his limbs becoming firmer and heavier as the muscle density had increased.


    He then whipped out his claws and attacked the ground inside the cave. A clear dragon claw mark could be seen as it was at least ten centimeters deep.


    This was an end result of Garen''s casual strike.


    "A fully grown White Dragon''s Strength is approximately between 30 to 40 points. I still have a long way to go..." Garen sighed softly as he eased his tightened muscles.


    Although he was able to produce such power with 21 points of Strength, the adult dragons would be even more powerful since they had at least 20 more points than him. According to Garen''s analysis, it was not just Strength as the remaining three Attributes of an adult dragon were between 30 to 40 points.


    They were incredibly powerful as Garen might not be able to break an adult dragon''s defense even if he had 30 points of Strength. This had yet to account for their incredible regenerative abilities.


    This was under the assumption that his opponent decided to let him attack him without fighting back using any high-level spells. It might cost him his life if his Vitality was not high enough when he was hit by the spells.


    After a detailed comparison, Garen understood that the difference in strength between him and the matured White Dragon was still incredibly far apart.


    "However, it requires a Dragon Whelp at least fifty years to mature. This means that I will have an additional enhancement from my Attribute Points other than growing strong naturally. This means I will most likely be able to surpass a matured white dragon in less than fifty years," Garen estimated in his heart.


    After adding his Attribute Points, he stood up and walked out of the cave.


    The area outside the cave was covered in a layer of white frost, coincidentally forming the shape of a fan as it froze the cave''s surrounding area. Since it was a cave inhabited by the White Dragons, the temperature was naturally lowered.


    The forest surrounding it was still filled with greeneries. As there was a faint Draconic Aura and the White Dragon Clan''s coercion, one would not be able to see any dangerous living being nearby. However, there were only a few harmless and small beings hiding about here and there.


    "Hey~!" A Dragon Whelp flew towards Garen from afar as she shouted at him. "Garen. It''s time to move out."


    It was Leona. She was slim, graceful and even her scales were much more lustrous and purer than a typical White Dragon. She looked like a White Crystal Dragon and was extremely beautiful.


    However, as Leona flew, two Dragon Whelps appeared behind her and both were clearly male dragons.


    Leona landed in front of Garen as she put her wings away.


    "It''s time to go hunting. It''s my first time going out for a hunt. Are you scared!?" She screamed out of excitement.


    "What''s there to be afraid of?" Garen did not like speaking to her. However, the more he acted so, Leona would try to speak to him even more. She had said that being cool and cruel is a necessary trait for a White Dragon! She had very strong intuition and seemed to have inherited a portion of the elder''s Classification talent. She could probably vaguely sense that Garen was much stronger than the rest of the Dragon Whelps.


    The strong ones would often receive a different opinion from the rest.


    "Are you really not afraid? The Giant Frost Iguanas has an innate spell called Ice Armor!" Leona said loudly. "They are much stronger than us and it would be dangerous if we were hit by them."


    "Can they fly?" Garen turned around as he walked towards the cave.


    "Uh, no..."


    "Then there''s nothing to worry about. We can fly," Garen said casually.


    "However, we won''t be able to achieve anything right? How are we supposed to hunt?" Leona was puzzled.


    "He''s just a coward." The two Dragon Whelps flying behind her landed as the muscular one shouted. "Listen to me Leona. If it were me, I would blow the Giant Frost Iguana up into the sky with my breath!"


    He patted his chest.


    "You? Forget about it. It''s still possible if it were Boris." Leona looked at the other Dragon Whelp who was slightly more well proportioned.


    Boris the Dragon Whelp looked at Garen calmly and it was obvious that he was rather unhappy with Garen''s impoliteness.


    "Is he really the one you must team up with? Although I don''t know if he knows how to fight, no one will like his attitude."


    "Garen is born with this cold personality. He''s not as unfriendly as you think he is," Leona defended him.


    "If we form into a small team of three, we will definitely be able to kill the Giant Frost Iguana if we strictly follow the battle strategy. I have already thought about the procedures and it doesn''t matter if he''s required," Boris said coldly. He was also a direct descendant of an Elder Dragon. He was slightly unhappy that there were still a few Dragon Whelps who dared disrespect him.


    He had feelings towards Leona even though the latter''s elder was slightly weaker. However, he would be able to produce excellent offspring if she were to become his partner purely for reproduction.


    "Leona, I don''t like you getting along closely with that Garen guy," Boris said softly.


    "Boris, Garen is my partner and my friend!" Leona was discontented.


    Although Boris was discontented as well, he did not show it.


    "How about this. He can join us but his loot will depend on how well he performs. If he performs badly, don''t blame me that I decided to give him nothing."


    "Great!" Leona was instantly happy upon hearing it.


    Garen was speechless as he stayed inside the cave. He had heard of the name Boris before, who was a few years older than him. He should be at the age to use his Draconic Aura to train his body and he seemed to have taken a liking towards Leona.


    The Dragon Whelp Nurturing Center did not nurture Dragon Whelps that had just hatched and Garen was considered to be the youngest of them all. On the other hand, Boris was the earliest batch and had been around a few years longer than Garen.


    He wanted to ignore these kids but he would have attracted a lot of attention if he were to hunt too many of them alone. It was not a bad idea for him to take cover in this small team. Since Leona was naive and the higher up definitely had their intentions when they decided to place her together with him.

 1261 Giant Iguana 1

    His body''s equally strong qualities were noticed when they were testing his standard level. Garen was revealing these things vaguely so that he would be taken seriously by the others despite not having the most valuable assets.


    "They probably want me to focus on protecting Leona," he pondered.


    A series of chaotic noises echoed from the outside of the cave.


    Garen prostrated himself on the ground and began practicing his Draconic Aura and Condensation skills alone.


    This was a lengthy process but the one thing that the Dragon Clan did not lack was time.


    The current strength of the average Dragon Whelp was about eighteen points. Garen was not worried about being unable to finish this Quest at all because his strength had already greatly surpassed the average Dragon Whelp.


    After waiting for a while inside the cave, it appeared that Leona and the others had finished their discussion outside.


    Only then did they enter the cave.


    "Garen Garen!" Leona yelled while flying into the cave. "We''ve finished discussing. You''ll be one of the two main attackers. What do you think? Do you agree or not?"


    "Main attacker?" Garen stood up. "I don''t mind but what''ll you guys be doing?"


    Boris opened his mouth immediately.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    "Leona and I both have specially made Enchanted Necklaces that can release Long-range Attack Spells. Don''t worry, we won''t disappoint you." Although he was furious at Garen for ignoring him and returning to the cave alone, he remained courteous to him on the surface because he needed to assure Leona of his demeanor.


    "What Attack Spells?" Garen revealed a surprised expression faintly.


    Boris instantly raised his claws and pointed at the necklace in front of his chest in a somewhat proud manner. It was a chain of white pearls that had been strung into a necklace with a rare cerulean gem that hung below. It was extraordinarily dazzling and crystal-clear.


    "Can you see it, Sleepyhead? My father prepared this outstanding item for me. It can release Level Five Dragonfire Spells three times a day."


    "Wow, that''s so cool?! My ring can only use Dragonheal Spells three times daily." Garen did not react but Leona who stood on the sidelines was unusually excited now.


    Level Five Spellcrafting. Although they could only use it three times a day, it was enough to guarantee their safety. Moreover, it was very likely that they had other similar Spellcrafting Equipment.


    These were types of Enchanted Equipment that could only be specially made by Casters and Wizards. They required Enchantment and would consume costly materials as well as a large amount of Spirit Power and energy before they could contact Weave to release and enchant a spell. It was pretty good that both of these Dragon Whelps had obtained two pieces of Level Five Enchanted Equipment. These items could only be specially created by Level Six Wizards and Casters that could afford to consume a lot of energy. A single Enchantment could cause a Wizard to consume at least one of their Casting levels. In other words, a Level Six Caster who was on the borderline of having their rank promoted would drop immediately instead if they tried to Enchant a piece of equipment like this. Moreover, they would deteriorate and return to their previous state when they had just entered Level Six. This was a waste of Spirit Power.


    "They''ve really spent a huge sum of money," Garen pondered. The White Dragon Clan had declined terribly. There were merely five or six Elder Dragons who were Casters that were Level Five or above. However, they instantly brought out two pieces of Enchanted Equipment. It was very likely that these items were collected articles that were seized from the humans.


    "We don''t have to fear anything now that we have these two pieces of equipment." Boris was a Dragon Whelp to the core. There was still a limit to his maturity in the end. Hence, being unable to stop himself from taking his strongest trump card out and flaunting it was a very normal thing for him to do.


    After confirming that they had their own defensive forces, only then did Garen truly decide to join this unit. Perhaps it was the other way around. After all, he and Leona were already partners in the same group that had to move together while Boris and the other dragon had rushed over to join them voluntarily.


    The group of dragons prepared to check the items that they had brought respectively. There were no Space Dimensional Pockets. Items like that were seized from the humans by the White Dragon Clan. However, they could not use it because they did not possess human Spirit Powers. The Space Equipment would collapse and lose its effectiveness completely if they opened it forcibly. Moreover, the White Dragons like themselves did not have the craftsmen to create these playthings.


    They finished checking the map and the various tools and items that they would use in their daily lives. The four Dragon Whelps formed a team and flew towards the mountain valley where according to the map was where the Giant Ice Iguana was located.


    They chose to go there during the night to take advantage of the night sky that would make it unlikely for the other creatures to discover them. The distance between the Giant Ice Iguana and the White Dragon Clan was somewhat far. They needed to thread across an even longer distance. Even though there were roads that were cleaned up by White Dragons that frequently came and left, there were still certain Earth Dragons that were scattered everywhere because they were too used to Draconic Auras. Most of these Earth Dragons had low intellect and were very likely to attack Dragon Whelps that were just passing by.


    When night came and the purple moonlight was covered by the black night sky, Leona and the group flew straight towards the location that was indicated on the map. There was a long continuous stretch of black forests in a rising and falling mountain range below them. The deep sound of large beasts that were fast asleep could be occasionally heard. There were multiple continuous bursts over a period of time.


    Garen flew in the middle of the team. Meanwhile, a young fellow named Saszt flew in front. He was the muscular Dragon Whelp who had followed Boris. This boy''s boastful tone was very apparent but he loved following Boris''s orders. Meanwhile, Leona flew at the back beside Boris. However, her gaze was always swaying across Garen''s body.


    Garen had impeccable physical fitness. Moreover, he was more well-proportioned and muscular compared to the average Dragon Whelp. This was a strong but also beautiful combination. It was no wonder Leona was gazing at him so fervently.


    Boris and Leona who were beside him had spoken a few times. However, it seemed completely ineffective because it could not prevent her unabashed gaze. He was forced to give up helplessly. Meanwhile, his own gaze that was lingering on Garen became even more unsatisfied.


    Garen could not be bothered with these bratty childish matters. He was currently lowering his head and looking down at the vast terrain below.


    The pitch-black mountain range rose and fell from higher to lower altitudes continuously. Spots of bright white light that were swaying here and there could be seen occasionally. They floated around endlessly but no one knew what they were.


    Drawn-out wolf howls could also be heard now and then from afar.


    The group of dragons flew forward for over half an hour. Soon, they could see faint vortex-like phosphorescence that was blinking on one of the higher mountain peaks in front of them. The green phosphorescence formed a gigantic vortex that was spinning on the side of the mountain peak slowly. Under the illumination of the purple moon, it gave off a dreamlike sense of beauty.


    "What''s that?" asked Saszt softly while flying in front.


    "That''s the Thunder Snake Clan," answered Boris instantly.


    "The Thunder Snake Clan, huh? I''ve heard my grandfather mention it before," Leona nodded as well. "They''re a rare race of living creatures that depend on us for shelter to live. There were Manticores last time as well but it''s unfortunate that they''ve all fled. Currently, there''s only one Thunder Snake left."


    "It won''t be troublesome if we fly over there, right?" Garen was concerned about the others.


    "No, although the dependent relationship has lightened recently during these past few years, it''s unlikely for them to attack us spontaneously," said Boris logically. He was clearly emulating the attitude of a certain Adult Dragon.


    They flew past the Thunder Snake Clan from above. Garen observed the light green phosphorescent vortex. There were numerous moth-like insects inside the vortex that were blinking with light. Light green fluorescence was spreading all over their entire bodies faintly. This phosphorescent vortex was clearly created by these light green moths.


    "Come and look quickly. It''s Beyber and the others!" Leona suddenly yelled while pointing towards the distant sky.


    "Beyber? Where? I''ll definitely give him a good show after coming out this time!" The moment he heard this name, Boris who was pretending to be calm all this while flared up. He glanced over fiercely in the direction where Leona was pointing before actually seeing a little team of Dragon Whelps that were similarly flying past the borders of the Thunder Snake mountain now.


    The fellow that was leading these few Dragon Whelps was named Beyber and he was always fighting with Boris. Neither of them was afraid of the other because they both belonged to the Elder''s bloodline. However, Boris was still slightly weaker in the end because he was beaten up more frequently.


    There was a congenital black birthmark patch on Beyber''s right wing. Hence, he was very easily recognizable. He also had an extremely muscular physique.


    He had obviously noticed Boris and the others here. He grinned while charging over from afar while faintly harboring some malicious intentions.


    "That guy! He''s provoking me!!" Boris burned with rage and positioned himself as if he was about to rush over. However, he was immediately held back tightly by Saszt.


    "Don''t, Boris! The swelling on your backside had just subsided so you can''t get hurt again! Our quest will be delayed if you get injured again now!" Saszt clearly did not know what to say to save Boris''s face.


    "Saszt!! When have I been unable to defeat that bastard?!"


    Boris''s flushed suddenly. This was the first time Garen discovered the states of White Dragons when they blushed.


    "It was the day before. You were single-handedly beaten up by Beyber. I saw it with my own eyes. I''m doing this for your own good!!" There was a loyal expression on Saszt''s face while he hugged him closely without loosening his claws at all.


    Oh!


    When he saw Leona''s surprised gaze that was tinged with faint disdain, Boris was itching to find a crack to burrow through. Saszt''s strength was indeed great. Otherwise, there would have been nothing that he could have said to get this idiot to cooperate with him!


    However, it was too late to regret it now.


    "Don''t go and suffer another beating! Boris!!" Saszt yelled. Boris and the other dragons who were far away heard him as well. They could not help but roar with laughter.


    "Pfft¡­" Leona could not stop herself from laughing either.


    Garen shook his head silently when he saw the face of Boris the dragon that was flushed to the point where it turned purple. Boris knew that the image of himself in Leona''s heart was already completely damaged.


    However, he had searched for this partner and encountered him on his own.


    Boris raised his head and let out a drawn-out cry. He watched Beyber and the other dragons fly away into the distance while guffawing. As his own strength was insufficient to break free from Saszt, he could only roar madly in grief.


    "Let''s go. Stop roaring," urged Garen.


    "That''s right. If there''s something wrong, we''ll go to the Hunting Area and settle it with them there!" Leona could not help but cheer Boris up.


    The group of dragons experienced a lot of difficulty in calming down Boris'' emotions after encountering this minor incident. Boris scolded Saszt angrily before continuing to fly towards the Hunting Area listlessly.


    Along the way, they passed through a little grey human campsite that was below them. Numerous human warriors walked in and out of the tents at times and they could even occasionally see a Wizard walking out of the tents.


    "Those are the powerhouses of the Deladia Empire''s alliance. They''ve already united with our White Dragon Clan to form an alliance of Wizards."


    Boris was the one who explained. Since Garen did not laugh at him earlier, he had revised his impression of him and viewed him in a much better light now.


    "Powerhouses of the alliance? How was the alliance act formed?" asked Garen.


    "Rumor has it that it was formed through the dragon race''s Alliance Oath Spell. They pay us compensation so we respond when they summon us and come forward to support them. These Summoning Spells are unique. However, they''re only suitable for Adult White Dragons. We are currently not qualified yet," Boris shook his head.


    "Are these summon-type spells? I''ve heard that summon-type spells can be used to summon doors to other worlds where we can hunt down powerful creatures from different space-time dimensions to either enslave or engage in combat with them, is that so?" Garen did not have the information from the relevant books. Instead, he could faintly remember these contents from his inherited memories.


    "Yes, it''s like that. Spells like these are listed in the stack of books that my grandfather collected. However, certain editions are incomplete. Since they weren''t very useful towards us White Dragons, no one really valued them highly. Many of these books were accidentally ruined because they weren''t preserved or taken care of properly," said Leona regretfully. "Why? Do you want to learn Summoning Spells, Garen? If you wanted to do that, we might as well enslave the subordinate Earth Dragons and Dragon Beasts. We''d probably need at least Level Five or Level Six Summoning Spells to summon creatures like Dragon Beasts. It wouldn''t be that useful."


    "That''s true as well," Garen nodded understandably. Actually, he was merely planning to try and see if he could open his initial main door to the Space-Time Universe. However, when he thought about the terrifyingly powerful beings that existed when he Transmigrated to this world, he knew in his heart that this was highly unlikely. The desire for mere advanced level Spellcrafting to achieve such a high degree was a wild fantasy indeed.


    "My grandfather has dispatched two Dragon Guards to assist Deladia with defending the Wizard Tower. He can probably obtain complete Spellcrafting information in exchange. However, it will probably be very expensive. If you want it, you can go and contact those two ''big brother'' Dragon Guards," said Leona quietly.


    "Yes, I know. Thank you very much," Garen made a mental note.

 1262 Giant Iguana 2

    When the group of Dragons passed through the human campsite below them from above, there were people on the ground who raised their heads and stared. However, they did not display any frightened looks because they were clearly used to this.


    The Dragon Whelps'' hunting period was limited to one month. Therefore, numerous Dragon Whelps had obviously passed through this area already within the past few days.


    They continued flying forward before a vast white snowy peak appeared in the distance. The top was covered in white snow while the bottom part was a long stretch of the light green and yellow mountain body. The entire snowy peak was unusually pure which gave off a simple and clean atmosphere.


    The sun had currently exposed its head in the east slowly. It illuminated a large part of the sky while the halo of the purple moon was gradually covered by it.


    Leona and the group of Dragon Whelps arranged themselves in a square formation while flying straight towards the snowy peak. The morning sunlight reflected across their bodies and illuminated faint golden-red glows.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    A flock of gigantic wild geese swept past them from below at high speed. These wild geese were Level Two creatures that seemed as though they had sensed the auras of the Dragon Whelps. Hence, they accelerated suddenly and fled speedily.


    In the wild, other than Earth Dragons, Dragon Beasts, and a few other advanced level creatures, most of the other creatures were not rivals of the Dragon Whelps.


    "This is the Hunting Area. We''ve already arrived at the Fiery Blaze Mountain Range. Be careful, everyone. We''re not the only ones here. We may also encounter some advanced level Demonic Beasts nearby who came to hunt as well," Boris reminded them loudly.


    Garen flew in the middle of the team. He lowered his head and looked downwards. He could see a few little people who were moving slowly in the forest from afar. They seemed as if they were stumbling terribly.


    As flying creatures, White Dragons naturally possessed extremely powerful sight. He narrowed his pupils quickly and stared below before noticing that the sparse black dots in the dark parts of the forest were actually humans that were walking slowly.


    They wore tattered clothes and their faces were dull while their skin was dark purple. They were clearly not living people but they shared one characteristic with them.


    That similar quality was their abdomens. All of their internal organs were clearly displayed in a manner that allowed people to see the black intestines and other organs that were coiled up inside. Their organs were wrapped up by a transparent membrane layer.


    "Those are Walking Corpses. They''re monsters that were naturally produced by the poisonous gas here and their remaining energy before they died," explained Boris in a quiet voice while approaching Garen.


    "Walking Corpses?" Garen glanced at him briefly. This fellow''s posture seemed to indicate that he wanted to get closer to Garen.


    "That''s right, they can''t be fully killed and they can revive themselves quickly after dying. Too many of the corpses in this forest were preserved in these zombified states because of the poisonous gas. Therefore, they couldn''t rot at all," Boris nodded. He turned around and glanced at Leona once he had finished speaking. "It seems like you dislike Leona, huh?" he asked in a very quiet voice.


    "Why would I want to like her?" asked Garen in response. Despite being rather smart, this fellow could only tell that he did not like Leona now¡­ Weren''t his actions obvious enough?


    Boris''s mood improved instantly. He patted Garen''s shoulder.


    "If there''s anything that you need help with, you can come and look for either me or Saszt."


    "Just don''t come and bother me," replied Garen indifferently.


    Boris''s next words were suddenly caught in his mouth before his face began to turn red again at once¡­


    Garen could not be bothered to save Boris''s face.


    All the Adult Dragons of the White Dragon Clan were selfish. Within a short while, Dragon Whelps would be chased out of the nest and forced to become independent on their own. The affections between them were very apathetic and they only respected and paid attention to power. Adult White Dragons could not interfere in the matters regarding the nurturing of Dragon Whelps. Those who did would be naturally eliminated.


    Therefore, acting in a perfunctory manner towards Boris was unimportant to him.


    "Alright¡­ Alright¡­" Boris tried his best to swallow his anger. "The Hunting Area is at the snowy peak in front. As the main attackers, you and Saszt will move forward and fight in a little while. No problem, right? Leona and I will perform long-range attacks."


    "Okay." Garen had no qualms about this. He wanted to briefly observe the Ice Iguana first anyway.


    The group of Dragon Whelps flew into the mountain range where the snowy peak was located quickly. Numerous shrouds of strong and weak densely-packed auras were constantly permeating and spreading throughout the inside of this area. Some of them soared into the sky as they were unimaginably powerful.


    When they looked over from afar, they could easily see more than ten Giant Ice Iguanas of various sizes that were moving and strolling around in the snow. These creatures had low intelligence but possessed powerful physical bodies and Spirit Power. Their flesh also possessed extremely strong fertility increment functions.


    Giant Ice Iguanas possessed four muscular legs. Their entire bodies were greyish-black but were wrapped in a layer of powdery snowy white dust on the outside. They looked like enlarged versions of lizards that were dragging long tails.


    The only difference between them and the lizards was the dark blue notch in the middle of their foreheads.


    The smallest of these Giant Ice Iguanas was as tall as an adult human. It was normal for the length of its body to be anywhere from five to eight meters long. At a glance, Garen could see that the largest one was a "super" Giant Iguana that was at least fifteen meters long. These Giant Iguanas had bodies that were fully dark green and covered in coarse scales. Their heads were surrounded by a circle of black-green fins. The shrouds of tyrannical auras were released by them.


    The Dragon Whelps'' vision greatly surpassed that of the Giant Ice Iguanas. Therefore, they could see the other party while the Giant Ice Iguanas were unable to see them.


    "The visions of Giant Ice Iguanas can only reach more than ten meters. Moreover, it''s very blurry as well. They use smells to detect their enemies. Thus, we have to be careful." Boris was well-prepared with all kinds of information.


    "I''ll go down and check it out first!" Saszt charged downwards alone before waiting for his instructions. He was aiming precisely at the smallest Giant Iguana.


    He had just approached a range of fewer than twenty meters away. However, the Giant Iguana was already prepared. It swung its grey-black tail violently and drew it towards Saszt to counter him.


    Saszt did not withdraw at all either. Since his strength was his advantage, he did not dodge at all but lowered his head firmly and struck it instead.


    Bang!


    The powdery snow on the snow-covered ground flew upwards before being scattered everywhere. Meanwhile, Saszt actually resisted the Giant Iguana''s swinging tail determinedly.


    This was a smaller-sized Giant Iguana that was only five meters long but as tall as a human. Nonetheless, they were already considered as big guys to these Dragon Whelps. Although the intelligence levels of Giant Ice Iguanas were not impressive, they were indeed large and would not simply yield to the Dragon Race.


    Saszt''s mind relaxed immediately after he had probed and discovered the upper limit of his opponent''s strength. Then, he fought and grappled with the Giant Iguana. He used his claws to attempt to scratch the Giant Iguana''s neck with all his might. Meanwhile, the Giant Iguana had wound its tongue around Saszt''s neck desperately which made it impossible for him to move forward at all.


    Both of them rolled around on the snowy ground.


    Leona and Boris who were watching covered their faces unconsciously and remained silent.


    "He''s forgotten everything that we learned in the Combat Course¡­" said Boris helplessly.


    Garen stood on the side and watched for a while. It did not seem like Saszt was in any danger because this little Giant Iguana had clearly come out to hunt alone which made it less risky for Saszt. Its strength was almost on par with Saszt at about nineteen points, more or less.


    "Garen, go forward and help him!" Boris yelled.


    Garen had no choice but to step forward. He aimed precisely for the Giant Iguana''s neck and prepared to hurt it before using his claw.


    There was a banging noise.


    The bone of the Giant Iguana''s neck broke off precisely when it was struck. Garen did not even have to waste a sliver of additional strength before the creature was instantly killed by him.


    When the same strength was used by a person who had undergone training and one who had yet to experience those same exercises, the difference between the combat powers of those two individuals was actually very great.


    Garen and Saszt were both Level Four Dragon Whelps. They possessed the same types of various Dragon Whelp abilities but Garen''s were stronger than Saszt''s in more ways than one.


    Boris and Leona also felt that Garen''s previous clawing motion was very beautiful. However, they were unable to see the entire situation earlier. Therefore, they merely felt that Garen was able to solve this battle instantly because Saszt was already coiled around the Giant Iguana. They did not think that it was significantly amazing because they could have definitely done it themselves as well.


    Saszt only crawled out from under the Giant Iguana''s belly while panting after the creature was finished off.


    "You should''ve came earlier. That scared me. That fellow''s tongue was harder than the scales of the Elders, even to me. If any other dragon had been in my place, they would have been strangled and killed by him at the very first instance!!" Saszt could not help but start boasting after only saying a few words.


    Garen shrugged because he could not be bothered with saying much.


    "Alright, stop wasting time. Dig out its eyes and Crystal Core quickly because the smell of its blood will attract other creatures over," Boris had a learned look on his face. As an old scholar of the Nurturing Center, this was naturally not his first hunt.


    The four dragons gouged out the items and left quickly. Not long after, they could hear a weird croaking noise echoing behind them faintly. It seemed as though a strange creature had discovered the corpse.


    Leona placed the eyeballs and Crystal Core into a little oval shaped can that she had brought.


    "This is a preservation bottle that ensures that it won''t go bad for a short period of time. It can maintain its freshness for a period of two months and is excellent to be used during quests."


    After that, they encountered another Giant Iguana. It was slightly bigger than the previous one but not to a large extent. It had yet to break through to Level Four.


    Compared to the previous Giant Iguana, this one was clearly more vigilant. It released its protective Ice Armor and covered its body immediately after seeing them. It formed a large sparkling white translucent armor instantly that protected the front half of its body. However, the back half of its body was not shielded. Nonetheless, since the Giant Iguana''s turning speed was very fast, there was clearly not a possibility that it would give Garen and the other dragons a chance to attack its tail.


    Without wasting any time, Saszt charged forward and continued attacking. Since he had already said so earlier, Garen rushed forward as well.


    This time, this Giant Iguana''s strength was much greater than the previous one. The Giant Iguana moved its head forward and attempted to collide it against the two dragons violently.


    Garen moved aside but Saszt was unable to dodge it at all. His wing was scratched before an additional cut appeared in his scales suddenly.


    "We''ll lift it together," said Garen loudly. He had yet to display his 21 points of strength but had merely exhibited 19 points of strength which were at the same level as Saszt. He did this to avoid bringing attention to himself.


    "Alright."


    Both dragons had just agreed before the Giant Iguana retracted its tail and swung it at them again.


    The dull whooshing noise of wind could be heard when its tail fanned out a clearly twisted airstream that whipped towards the two dragons.


    Saszt used all his strength to arch forward while Garen lifted both of his claws forward.


    Bang!


    They blocked it steadily!


    The combined strength of both dragons was greater than the Giant Iguana''s strength. The Giant Iguana roared. It lowered its head and opened its mouth before its red tongue wound itself around Saszt while its tail swung itself towards Garen for the third time.


    "Dragonfire Spell!"


    At the moment, Leona roared loudly behind them.


    Flames that were shaped like a single dragon exploded from her claws. They were accompanied by countless red stars that flew down and struck the Giant Iguana''s tail rapidly.


    It appeared that both Leona and Boris had circled the Giant Iguana and arrived behind at its backside suddenly.


    This was the combat tactic that they were referring to earlier.


    The Giant Iguana''s Ice Armor could only protect the top half of its body while its lower half was at a loss. Hence, it was much easier for the dragons when they used one of their stronger members to attract the Giant Iguana''s attention while the others attacked it from behind.

 1263 Hunt 1

    The red Dragonfire Spell crashed against the bottom half of the Giant Iguana''s tail violently. The surrounding icy snow-covered ground melted while water vapor rose and turned into shrouds of white mist that diffused everywhere.


    Garen and Saszt stepped backward frantically before hearing a pained yell immediately. The Giant Iguana in front of them finally burst forth in a frantic struggle. It released all of its strength and rolled on the snowy ground with all of its might.


    However, the Dragonfire Spell was a Level Five Spell and could not be easily extinguished. The spell stuck to the bottom half of the Giant Iguana''s tail determinedly like a maggot in a skeleton. It burned endlessly before the scent of flesh could be faintly smelled in the air where it was wafting.


    Garen and Saszt took a few more steps backward hurriedly.


    They could gradually see that the Giant Iguana''s endless struggles had slowed down more and more. Finally, there was a brief banging noise when it crashed on the ground. Its entire body was burnt black which made it somewhat impossible to see its initial state.


    "Tch tch, what great power! This is truly Level Five Spellcraft!" Saszt praised. He stepped forward and shifted it slowly while trying to see its entire burnt state.


    "Don''t burn the Crystal Core and eyeballs." He was slightly worried.


    "The eyeballs certainly can''t be used anymore," answered Boris helplessly. "Fortunately, it''s less likely that the Crystal Core will be so easily burnt and destroyed. The Crystal Core won''t be damaged so easily because it''s located in the hardest part of the Demonic Beast''s body."


    Garen followed him and walked over as well. He suddenly felt a large shroud of burning air currents surging towards his face in a slightly scorching manner. Luckily, the Dragonfire Spell would extinguish once the Giant Iguana had died.


    He turned the Giant Iguana''s corpse over gently before quickly finding the Crystal Core in the Giant Iguana''s forehead that was about to be burned soon.


    "Such high temperatures." His own body temperature would maintain itself at around less than negative twenty degrees at all times. Hence, a shroud of white gas drifted out faintly when he touched the Crystal Core.


    "How''s the Crystal Core? Garen?" asked Leona and Boris loudly when they rushed over from behind him.


    "Yes, how''s the Crystal Core? Since this Giant Iguana was so fierce, I''m sure that the Crystal Core would be better."


    They walked closer towards Garen but saw that he was standing before the Giant Iguana alone and looking somewhat dazed.


    "Garen?" Leona reached her claw out and shook it in front of his face.


    "Uhh, I''m fine. I was just spacing out." Garen returned to his senses. A hint of a sincere smile that came from his heart appeared on his face.


    "Spacing out? You were spacing out even when you were collecting your spoils of war?" Leona could not understand him.


    However, when she saw the Crystal Core, that round pale blue crystal that was already slightly blackened from the smoke in Garen''s hand, her attention was immediately shifted over there.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    "Haha, we got another one. It''s actually much better than the previous one that we got in front too."


    The three Dragon Whelps gathered together and began celebrating joyfully.


    After Garen had given them the Crystal Core, he walked towards the side and continued pondering on his own as if he had encountered an issue.


    The issue that he had just discovered was actually an unexpected pleasant surprise.


    The Crystal Core that was obtained from the Giant Iguana actually gave him a few slivers of potential aura.


    It was not Soul Energy but merely potential energy that was similar to what he had experienced in the Totem World previously. The Giant Iguana''s Crystal Core clearly possessed the ability to increase his potential value.


    His potential value had already increased by 1% when he was absorbing it previously within a short span of time. If he had finished absorbing the Crystal Core fully and obtained another three of these Crystal Cores of the same level, he would receive an additional Attribute Point.


    "This is an unexpected surprise. I initially assumed that I could only accumulate it slowly throughout a long period of time, but now I see that I can walk on another path."


    However, this was considered normal when he thought about it. After all, the laws of this world were far more entirely comprehensive in comparison to the previous worlds that he had experienced. The presence of sightings from the Totem World that appeared here were normal as well.


    "The Crystal Core and eyeballs are the two most important parts of a Giant Iguana. I don''t think that they would agree if I wanted to divide the Crystal Core on my own. The best method would be to go at it alone." An idea formed in Garen''s mind. He was uncertain of his own position now. However, Level Four Giant Iguanas would probably not be an issue.


    In the Fiery Blaze Mountain Range, Level Four Giant Iguanas were simply as abundant as ants in an anthill. There were everywhere and as long as you did not go to the densest areas, you would usually not encounter Level Five Giant Iguanas or even Level Six Elder Giant Iguanas.


    Once the group of Dragon Whelps had kept their belongings, they continued on their journey and found another Level Four Giant Iguana. They used the same attack method and killed another one easily.


    Since Boris''s Dragonfire Spell was the only one that could quickly injure and kill Giant Iguanas while Leona''s Enchantment was not the killing or wounding type but the healing kind instead, the group was forced to stop here temporarily. As the Dragonfire Spell could only be used three times a day, they decided to leave the last use in case they needed to defend themselves at any time.


    Fiery Blaze Mountain Range was a long continuous mountain range that resembled a centipede. They were currently at the "tail" part of the "centipede". If they walked forward, they would easily encounter many more Giant Iguanas. The Giant Ice Iguanas that could be seriously handled by the White Dragon Clan''s hunting formations were naturally not lacking in strength. The lowest leveled Giant Iguanas were Level Four at least. It was rumored that there were also beings that possessed higher intelligence among the Elder Giant Iguanas. The powers of these existences were unknown but their higher intelligence levels meant that they could find various other practice methods to improve themselves.


    Once the group of Dragon Whelps had finished their work, they began looking for a place where to could set up camp and hide.


    They had already entered the deeper part of the mountain range to hunt. As they would probably require a longer period of time if they were to leave and go outside again now, it was better for them to find a good cave to rest temporarily. In order to complete their quest this time, each Dragon Whelp needed to hunt five Level Four Giant Iguanas and obtain either their Crystal Cores or eyeballs. They could also acquire the Crystal Cores of two Level Five Giant Iguanas instead.


    Since they had currently obtained the Crystal Cores of three Level Four Giant Iguanas upon entering this area, they had already completed the quest of one Dragon Whelp.


    Moreover, they were fortunate to not have encountered the disturbances of any other Giant Iguanas when they were hunting.


    They found a random place in a corner before the four Dragon Whelps dug a hole and burrowed inside it quickly. Next, they sealed the cave to prevent their auras from leaking out and attracting other high leveled Giant Iguanas. It was important to note that if they were hunting Giant Iguanas, the Giant Iguanas themselves would hunt them as well if they encountered them.


    Inside the hole, Garen sat in one place alone while quietly eating the Giant Iguana''s flesh that was roasted and cooked-through. This was a better piece of breast meat that they had randomly sliced off earlier. They had kept it as food supplies.


    "This location is not bad. It''s more secluded because it''s at the bottom of a snowy cliff. Moreover, this place can be our temporary base because it''s below a wind gap." Boris was relatively more experienced than the others.


    The Dragon Whelps'' mutual body temperatures caused the temperature of the entire cave to stabilize at around negative twenty degrees.


    Leona stood on one side and continuously flipped the Crystal Core and eyeballs that they had obtained in her hand while not worrying that they were dirty. Instead, there was a greedy look on her face.


    Meanwhile, Saszt was constantly replaying the events of the daytime battle in his head. He appeared more confident once he had fused these memories with the Giant Iguana''s weaknesses that his tutor had mentioned previously.


    It was currently already night-time outside now. The wind and snow mingled while the sound of violent whistling could be heard outside through the cave''s ventilation hole.


    "I''m going out for a while," Garen got up and walked towards the outside of the cave.


    "Where are you going to go when it''s already so late, Garen?" asked Leona frantically. During the daytime, Garen''s performance was merely strictly according to the rules and not as excellent as she had imagined. Meanwhile, the Dragonfire Spell in Boris''s hand was excessively powerful. He could kill one Giant Iguana with each attack, rendering them completely helpless. This caused her attention to be mainly focused on Boris now.


    "I''m going to make a few rounds in our surroundings. Don''t worry, all of you should rest first. I''m just going to take a walk because I can''t sleep," Garen answered flatly.


    "It''s very dangerous at night," said Boris in a concerned manner.


    "It''s fine." Garen had already started to push open the camouflaged snow wall as he spoke. He burrowed out of the hole in the snow that he had spread open. Next, he quickly resealed and restuffed the stone wall that was used as a door.


    During the night, the natural purple moon had cast a hazy purple halo that penetrated through the snowstorm.


    An abundance of snowflakes that were only the size of fingernails cascaded down sideways when they were blown by the wind. They fell on Garen''s body and face and allowed him to clearly feel their fine striking strength.


    He turned around his surroundings. He was currently standing at the foot of one of the cliffs. There was nothing but a stretch of pure whiteness before him. He could only see a distance of more than ten meters. Despite the illumination of the purple moon''s halo and the natural Darkvision that White Dragons possessed, he could only see darkness any further than that.


    He had merely stood at the cave entrance for less than half a minute but he could already feel both of his legs sinking downwards slightly. A part of his legs was already submerged in the falling snowflakes.


    "Weather like this is advantageous to Giant Iguanas. No wonder they''ve lived here permanently throughout the years. It''s fine when there aren''t any snowstorms during the day. Nonetheless, the current night-time period is probably the time when they''re most active."


    Garen lifted his legs and walked forward gently one step at a time. He walked towards the flat area within the Fiery Blaze Mountain Range according to the directions in his memory.


    Under this heavy snow, every single trace of battle such as the corpses and skeletons that remained would quickly be buried in the whirling snowstorm.


    Garen did not dare to fly at all. Flying in this sort of weather where he could not see his way clearly would cause him to lose his sense of direction. It was the same everywhere. In the event that he fell headfirst into a herd of Giant Iguanas¡­


    He could only inch his way forward while stepping in both deep and shallow areas. He orientated himself in one precise direction. He was too afraid to change his direction rashly because it was likely that he would lose his way back.


    An enormous silhouette appeared in the whistling snowstorm quickly.


    A Giant Iguana!


    Garen focused and held his breath suddenly before lightening his footsteps.


    He had never attempted to challenge a Level Four Giant Iguana on his own. Coincidentally, it was time for him to try it now.


    The Giant Iguana had clearly noticed him earlier. The surface of its entire body was already covered in the Ice Armor in advance. This was a Level Four Innate Spell that possessed above-average defensive abilities.


    Pfoo, pfoo, pfoo!


    The Giant Iguana charged towards Garen directly in a somewhat annoyed manner.


    The most common attack moves of these creatures included swaying their tails, headbutts, and biting or tearing. Coupled with their extremely thick armored skin and Innate Spells, these three moves were enough to render most middle-level creatures helpless.


    Garen stared at the Giant Iguana carefully. His experience during the daytime battle had already allowed him to understand the Level Four Giant Iguana''s data more thoroughly.


    "Since its speed is around fourteen points, I can dodge it easily. Its strength should be somewhere between nineteen to twenty-five points."


    He watched the Giant Iguana charge directly at himself. He could not block the impulse of this charging approach even if their strength was the same.


    He shook his wings rapidly and swerved towards the right.


    However, the Giant Iguana''s tail twisted towards him head-on immediately. The combo moves that this creature was accustomed to using was occurring again.


    Garen lowered his body. Since he was as agile as a human, he could easily evade the violent tail that was whipping towards him.


    This Giant Iguana''s body was almost seven meters long and it was not lacking in strength. From the sound of the whistling wind that blew past his face, Garen guessed that his opponent''s strength was at least twenty-two points.


    "It''s unfortunate that its speed is too slow." Garen rushed forwards once he had evaded its tail. Coincidentally, there was a gap in the Giant Iguana''s defenses at that moment when it was unable to turn around and attack in time. Garen clawed the Giant Iguana''s backside then.


    The strength of his claw and the Giant Iguana''s own power were not much different but his own speed was much quicker. As the average Dragon Whelp could surpass the speed of this Giant Iguana, there was no way for it to hide at all.


    Garen stabbed his claw into the Giant Iguana''s backside violently.


    An intense earth-shattering pained roar erupted.


    Garen could only hear a thunderous noise in his ears instantly when he tried to remove his claw determinedly.


    The tail swished back and forth and thrashed towards him at this moment.


    It would simply be a joke if Garen were to be hit by this straightforward attack method.


    He shook his wings gently and flew upwards before evading the creature''s tail easily once again. Once he had reached this level, unless the difference between the attributes of both parties was far too great, opponents that did not possess close combat grades or realms that were strong enough could never defeat Garen directly.


    The Giant Iguana''s body was seven to eight meters long while Garen''s current Dragon Whelp self had only matured to a petite body of more than a meter long. Since he could not endure too many strikes, he had to be extra careful.

 1264 Hunt 2

    Shh!


    Garen struck the Giant Iguana''s backside with his claw again.


    As the top half of this Giant Iguana''s body was covered by an Ice Armor, Garen would need to attack one area at least two to three times continuously before he could break its defenses. However, this was not the case for its buttocks and the areas behind.


    The Giant Iguana''s cumbersome body made it more troublesome for him to turn towards Garen. Garen managed to successfully strike him multiple times continuously as he attacked its backside.


    Red blood flowed out of its buttocks continuously and trickled on the snow-covered ground before it froze into ice speedily.


    The Giant Iguana''s pained roars became quieter while the movements of its entire body began slowing down gradually as well.


    Finally, after over ten minutes, the Level Four Giant Iguana lowered its head and smashed it against the ground when it was completely exhausted. It could only sigh while crawling on the ground. The Ice Armor on its body scattered.


    Garen walked over and smashed his claw against the creature''s forehead. Since it did not break open completely the first time, he replenished his energy briefly before scratching and cracking the surface armor and sticking his claw inside to dig out the Crystal Core. Next, he used both of his claws to gouge out its eyeballs quickly.


    The eyeballs froze into balls quickly once they had left the Giant Iguana''s body. Moreover, these eyeballs would only last for a maximum duration of ten days without a specialized storage method.


    "This wasn''t as simple as when we had Boris'' Dragonfire Spell." Garen only felt the true power of the Dragonfire Spell now because it could destroy a Giant Iguana instantly.


    He took the Crystal Core and felt it carefully. Indeed, he could actually feel the subtle potential aura that was constantly seeping out of the Crystal Core and burrowing into his skin. The potential value at the bottom of his field of vision was also beginning to increase slowly.


    "I need to carry this with me at all times." He rubbed the Crystal Core against the powdery snow and got rid of the traces of blood. However, he became dispirited instantly when he remembered that White Dragons were not accustomed to wearing clothes and had no way of carrying many items. The important items that they carried with them this time were placed in the large leather sack that Leona wore on her body.


    "This is somewhat troublesome¡­" He pondered and simply threw it into his mouth. There was a cracking noise when his teeth clenched down firmly on the Crystal Core and broke it into pieces. Moreover, he had almost damaged his teeth instead as well.


    "So hard!" Level Four Crystal Cores were already so hard. If this were a Level Five Crystal Core, he would not have been able to bite it at all.


    "It''s truly troublesome." Garen could feel the broken pieces of the Crystal Core that he had bitten. The potential value inside was currently surging into his body rapidly while his mind was slightly consoled.


    However, he could feel his teeth faintly cracking. He would certainly not do this again next time.


    He thought that this would not be an issue because he had assumed that a dragon''s teeth were the strongest parts of their bodies. He had never expected that they would break into pieces instead. Therefore, these were not minor losses.


    He swallowed the Crystal Core in one mouthful. Garen glanced at the corpse on the ground before continuing to move forward.


    Another black silhouette appeared in front of him quickly. One more Giant Iguana had appeared. However, this Giant Iguana was clearly much larger than the previous one. It was over ten meters long. A disdainful look flowed out of the Giant Iguana''s eyes when it saw that Garen was tiny in comparison.


    Garen''s heart tightened before he retreated hurriedly.


    "This excellent fellow¡­ is definitely Level Five!" Its body was incomparable to a mere Level Four.


    However, this Giant Iguana was clearly not prepared to let him go. Its body that was twelve meters long could apparently run at a speed that was faster than the previous Giant Iguana. The trampling of its four heavy limbs kicked up large amounts of snow.


    By looking at its strength, Garen knew that his opponent was definitely more powerful than himself.


    "I can''t fight recklessly!" He shook his wings and dodged towards the left.


    Whoosh!


    Suddenly, a grey shadow swept over violently. The speed of this fellow''s tail was at least three times faster than the previous Giant Iguana.


    Garen was terribly shocked and hit until he could not react in time. The Giant Iguanas that he had encountered in the daytime could hardly move their tails this quickly.


    Bang!


    His inaccurate estimation of his enemy''s speed caused him to be violently struck by its swaying tail.


    Garen could only feel as if his entire body was painfully hit by the front of a train before his whole dragon body flew backward instantly like a rubber ball. Cracking noises echoed from his body immediately, indicating an unknown number of broken bones.


    Its possessed at least twenty-three points of strength! Moreover, its speed was terribly fast!


    Garen''s mind was in a state of shock. How would he fight it?


    He endured the pain and flapped his wings while flying towards his right swiftly.


    He recalled all of the various skills that he possessed. Most of them were unusable because they were restricted by certain laws while the few types that were usable were mostly used by human bodies. Therefore, it was impossible for him to use them with his current White Dragon body. The only one that he could employ was a set of attack and one-hit kill moves that he had reformed with much difficulty during the past duration of time.


    "I haven''t tried out its effects yet so this is a good opportunity to test it out." When he was hit this time, Garen exhausted a lot of his energy in order to use the appropriate defenses. However, since his own strength was great as well, he did not lose any mobility.


    Any other Dragon Whelp that had been in his place would probably be useless at this moment.


    After flying more than ten meters away, Garen relied on flapping his wings to buffer the unloaded strength. When he descended once again, he could see that the Giant Iguana was continuing to charge towards him.


    The speed of this fellow''s tail was faster than usual. Moreover, it had currently surpassed him terribly. As he could not see clearly at all, Garen was constantly vigilant about the whipping tail.


    Ice Pressure Blade.


    Garen crouched down suddenly while raising both of his claws upwards. His body coincidentally burrowed into the uncovered space near the Giant Iguana''s abdomen while his sharp claws scratched precisely and dangerously across the Giant Iguana''s abdomen firmly.


    The Giant Iguana could not swing its tail towards this area no matter how hard it tried.


    Garen''s claws vibrated at top speed endlessly. He used a strange frequency to adjust his fine arc before slicing the grain of the Giant Iguana''s abdominal armored skin.


    Shh!


    The slicing motion made a single noise.


    The Giant Iguana let out a frenzied, pained roar. It accelerated and charged forward but ended up helping Garen increase his friction and cutting strength.


    A crashing noise erupted before a large cut appeared at the back of its abdomen when it was sliced open immediately. The areas that were covered by the Ice Armor were only inflicted with damage on the armor itself. However, a huge wound that was over three meters long had appeared white-grey in his white-grey stomach near its abdomen that was not covered by the Ice Armor.


    Garen rolled away from the side of the Giant Iguana''s body. Since the Giant Iguana was chaotically whipping its tail around in pain this time, there was no way for it to determine the direction that Garen had rolled towards.


    Garen had just rolled away and had yet to get up from the snow-covered ground when he heard a fierce quake that was spreading out furiously in the direction of the Giant Iguana.


    Bang!!


    Large amounts of powdery snow were formed into a substantial shock wave that was sent flying because of the vibrations. This affected Garen as well who flew away when he was mixed in the snow.


    He could not help but spit out a mouthful of blood in mid-air.


    The four limbs of the Level Five Giant Iguana stomped on the ground violently and formed intense shock waves. These ripples were not force field ripples but were closer to elemental attacks.


    "Level Five''s Earthquake¡­" Garen recalled the Giant Iguana''s skill. He had never expected that its power would be so great. However, it was useless now. Even if he had known about this skill earlier, he would still have to resist it firmly now. Regardless of how he dodged it, the only way that he could fully counter this Earthquake skill was to immediately fill the space around the skill user within a ten-meter radius with this type of low-frequency violent vibration waves.


    Garen was badly injured now.


    He had never expected that one Level Five Giant Iguana would be so difficult to handle.


    However, the other party had belittled him as well. If his opponent had attacked at full throttle from the start and whipped its tail to increase its Earthquake skill directly, Garen would not have stood a single chance. He could have only fled with critical injuries then.


    Hence, it was different now.


    Garen flapped his wings determinedly and stayed far away from the Giant Iguana. Although he was badly injured, he exerted his legs and wings simultaneously. The Giant Iguana could not catch up to his speed.


    Moreover, the key point was that the Giant Iguana''s belly was sliced open while its intestines had spilled on the ground. Since its intelligence was somewhat lower and it was provoked to the point of blind fury, it simply murderously pursued Garen with all of its might. Meanwhile, it trampled all over its own intestines on the ground and smashed them into a pulp. More of its blood flowed out before the surrounding snowy ground was completely dyed red by its blood.


    The dragon and Giant Iguana chased each other for several minutes before the Giant Iguana finally collapsed on the ground and stopped moving completely.


    Its gigantic body lurched forward because of the drive before it dragged out a clear mark behind it.


    Garen''s entire body was covered in wounds while an unknown number of bones in his body were broken.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    His vitality was only slightly stronger than the average Dragon Whelps but his upgraded strength was more significant than that. However, even if this was the case, he could barely break through the Giant Iguana''s skin when he fused his strength with the Ice Pressure Blade skill. Hence, the difference between their power was far too great.


    If this Giant Iguana had not been careless, it would probably be impossible for Garen to kill it even if he wanted to do so.


    When he saw the Giant Iguana collapse, he dragged his own heavily injured body over and rushed there frantically.


    He could already faintly hear the sound of the movements of other Giant Iguanas that indicated that they were approaching despite the surrounding snowstorm.


    "I must hurry or else the spoils of battle may not necessarily be mine." Garen ran over quickly before digging his claw into the Giant Iguana''s forehead firmly.


    There was a puffing noise when his claw was apparently unable to break through its defenses but was only able to inflict a small wound instead.


    The sound of footsteps around him indicated that they were closer now. Garen became slightly more panicked and clawed at it firmly again.


    The little wound instantly expanded slightly before the white skull underneath was revealed.


    However, the Giant Iguana was not completely dead yet. It let out a pained roar again but it was much weaker this time.


    Roar!


    Suddenly, within a distance that was very near, another similar Giant Iguana''s roar echoed in response. The sound of footsteps that were coming from many others that were approaching around it stopped suddenly. They were clearly deterred by this low roar.


    By listening to the noise that indicated the weight of the creature, Garen could immediately determine that the approaching Giant Iguana that had roared earlier would definitely not be weaker than the fellow that he had just gotten rid of painstakingly.


    There would be no time left if he did not leave now!


    He clawed at it furiously one last time before smashing its skull open. He dug the Crystal Core out with the smashed bones as well.


    He turned around and fled before he could even take the eyeballs in time. He flapped his wings and flew off immediately.


    At this moment, a tail that was as quick as lightning whipped behind him hurriedly. Despite clearly being unable to reach him because of the distance, the gigantic tail actually managed to sweep up a large patch of snow.


    The snow crashed towards Garen in an earth-shattering manner as if it was a steel whip when it was acted upon by the tremendous force.


    The Ice Pressure Blade that Garen had only recently learned was supposed to increase the attack abilities of his claws. However, it was useless in the defensive aspects.


    He could only resist firmly.


    Pfoo¡­


    A large amount of snow fell on his body violently.


    Garen could only feel as if his entire body was being pierced by needles before his whole dragon body was sent flying backward brutally. He did not know how far he rolled. He rolled and flew dizzily in the snowstorm in mid-air for more than ten seconds before dropping on the ground quickly.


    It seemed as though he was directly flung on to the top of a cliff by the tail. The end of the cliff was in front of him while a boundless dark snowstorm was on the other side.


    Garen held the Crystal Core determinedly before looking at his own state briefly. He laughed bitterly at once.


    The situation was somewhat tragic now.


    ''Safive -- Strength 21(5), Agility 15(4), Vitality 11(4), Intelligence 17. Potential 48%. Soul Limit 170''


    Level 1 Draconic Aura. Level 1 Arcane Art Basics.


    All of his attributes had deteriorated to these temporary states and were almost weaker by one level.


    "Now I''ll just have to see if this Level Five Crystal Core was worth this risk or not." Garen only felt the dangers of the Fiery Blaze Mountain Range now. No wonder the Adult White Dragons gave Leona and Boris Level Five Enchanted Equipment and were very uneasy this whole time. They also made it compulsory for them to form groups.


    When he looked at it now, if he had formed a group and made sure that all of the other Dragon Whelps were of the same standard as himself, he might have been able to barely challenge the Level Five Giant Iguana. However, the movements of battle would bring numerous uncertain dangers. Just like earlier¡­

 1265 Opportunity 1

    He had attracted a similar Level Five Giant Iguana immediately. If he had left slightly later, he would probably lose all hope of seeing the sun tomorrow.


    Garen laid his back on the icy floor. The pain was coursing throughout his entire body. These injuries would probably take a few days to heal.


    He pinched the Level Five Crystal Core and placed it in front of himself to take a look.


    The subtle potential aura was currently surging outwards continuously and burrowing into his skin.


    "According to this speed, I probably need three days before I can absorb the potential aura inside completely. The total amount is probably equivalent to one attribute point or a potential value of 100%." Garen made these calculations mentally.


    Since his Energy Machine Imprint had collapsed, he could only perform calculations on his own. Reconstructing the Energy Machine would require a rebuilding period which made it very troublesome. It was fortunate that this world could contain a type of strength such as Willpower.


    Aside from Willpower, there were other types of Secret Technique strength that could be contained as well. However, the strength of most Secret Techniques was indeed slightly weaker in comparison to the grades of the forces in this world. Moreover, he did not come here this time to reconstruct his Secret Technique but to discover the reason behind the Depletion of the Mother Stream. If it was possible, he did not want to die with the Mother Stream. On the contrary, he wanted to alter the other systems instead.


    He rested on the ice for a few minutes. Garen felt his body somewhat heal slightly. Only then did he crawl up slowly. He rubbed the Crystal Core against the snow-covered ground and cleaned it before placing it in his mouth in one go and swallowing it directly into his belly.


    This Crystal Core was merely the size of a walnut. It was insignificant to a Dragon Whelp that possessed stronger devouring abilities.


    Garen felt slightly safer once he had swallowed the Crystal Core. However, his stomach felt somewhat uncomfortable now.


    "It looks like I can''t swallow it directly next time¡­ I need to think of another way."


    He scanned his surroundings and vaguely estimated the direction he had flown. Next, there was a snapping noise as he flapped his wings and flew down towards the snowy cliff to return to his original path.


    The snowstorm whooshed and whistled. Garen hid in the snowy night. Currently, he could not afford to provoke even one Level Four Giant Iguana because his speed had decreased too much. His strength and vitality had also deteriorated terribly. He was completely at wit''s end now and could only turn circles and make a detour.


    It was fortunate that his intelligence was very high. Although his memory was not as good as usual, his brain''s sense of direction was also pretty amazing. He could find his way around in the snowy night while hiding as well as locate the place where his little group had hidden once again.


    The snowstorm had lessened slightly. When Garen was standing at the entrance of the cave that was used as their hiding spot, the sky had already turned brighter.


    He rolled on the snowy ground a few times to cover the traces of blood and wounds on his body in a layer of ice. Next, he smelled himself carefully to ensure that the scent of blood did not linger on his body. He also found some delicate white fern-like plants that were growing beside the cracks in the rocks. These non-poisonous plants produced strong sweet scents. After crushing it, Garen rubbed it all over his body multiple times.


    Only then did he push the snow wall open before walking into the cave.


    The three remaining Dragon Whelps were still snoring and sleeping soundly inside. Other than Boris who had sensed him entering and opened his eyes to glance at him blurrily, the other two did not respond at all. Saszt had even drooled all over the floor. His saliva had frozen into ice on both sides and fixed his large mouth on the floor, making him look very silly.


    Garen resealed the hole in the snow properly while feeling as if this expedition had been truly somewhat risky.


    He crouched down once again and crawled into an empty corner before falling asleep gradually. He felt the coldness that was constantly emitted from the potential aura before dozing off into dreamland slowly.


    On the second day, after sleeping for twelve full hours, the four Dragon Whelps crawled up slowly and yawned continuously.


    Boris pushed the snow wall open firmly before a gust of cold wind blew in from the outside. The four Dragon Whelps crawled out one after another. The layers of snow on the outside had almost buried the cave entrance.


    They climbed a few steps upwards along the layers of snow. Garen yawned while his entire body ached. His entire body was terribly weak. Yesterday''s critical injuries had finally displayed their formidable effects.


    He glanced at the state of his current attributes.


    ''Safive -- Strength 21(7), Agility 15(7), Vitality 11(6), Intelligence 12. Potential 68%. Soul Limit 170''


    Level 1 Draconic Aura. Level 1 Arcane Art Basics.


    "They''ve been restored slightly. However, I don''t think that I can catch up to the values of average Dragon Whelps." Garen was helpless. It looked like he needed to hold back today.


    "Garen, why do you look so dispirited?" Leona slapped Garen firmly from behind and almost knocked him down.


    The area that she had hit was now aching with a fiery pain.


    Garen was helpless.


    "No reason. I encountered a Giant Iguana when I went out for a stroll last night. I ran in circles everywhere for a long distance before finally returning. I''ve exhausted a lot of energy."


    "You encountered a Giant Iguana? Oh my god, you''re so brave," Leona sighed in shock.


    Garen chatted with Leona while thinking about what he would do today. It was fortunate that although he was injured, the sharpness of his claws was not affected. Basic coordination would probably not be an issue.


    During the second day of hunting, they encountered another new Level Four Giant Iguana quickly.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    This fellow was taking large chomps out of a White Dragon Whelp''s corpse on the ground and chewing it.


    When Garen and the group of dragons saw this scene, Saszt could not stop himself from charging over immediately. The battle began at once.


    Naturally, the Level Four Giant Iguana was not their opponent when the Four Dragon Whelps could coordinate with each other skillfully. Saszt became the main supporting strength body while Garen followed from behind and used the Ice Pressure Blade to increase the strength of his claws and killing power. They managed to injure the Giant Iguana''s skin and although they could not kill it because of its Ice Armor, they could enrage it effectively.


    Garen had clearly grasped the way the Level Four Giant Iguana moved. Although their speed was slower and their strength was much weaker, Garen was not afraid because Saszt was here to support him significantly. When he noticed that the pieces of the Giant Iguana''s muscles were moving, he could determine its attack direction. Hence, his own speed had decelerated greatly. Nonetheless, they could still dodge many of the Giant Iguana''s oncoming attacks easily as Saszt was there to keep things in check and ward it off.


    Therefore, the distribution of work here was very obvious. Saszt was mainly responsible for moving forward and providing the bulk of strength while Garen would spare some time to take revenge on the Giant Iguana. Meanwhile, Boris and Leona executed the Dragonfire Spells behind them.


    They cooperated skillfully to take one Giant Iguana down. Saszt had suffered some light injuries while his muscles were faintly exhausted. After all, this was the first time that he had acted as the main attacking dragon. As Garen was fighting alongside him previously, the pressure this time was naturally greater.


    Garen allowed the Giant Iguana to scratch and hurt his shoulder on purpose as well so that he could look as beaten up as Saszt.


    Boris came forward to dig the Crystal Core out before giving it to Leona and placing it with the rest so that she could keep track.


    "Come come come, I''ll heal your wounds."


    Leona could only watch from the sidelines all this while. Now that both Saszt and Garen were hurt, she instantly felt as if she could use her abilities now. She rushed forward happily.


    This was the result that Garen wanted. He stood next to Saszt.


    Leona raised her hand before them while a pure white water flowed out and gathered there. The fluid floated in the air before quickly condensing into a ball of water that looked as if it was milk that had gathered in one place.


    Bleurgh.


    A large mouth spread open in the surface of the milk ball before it exerted all of its strength and vomited some translucent light white sticky liquid. This sticky liquid dispersed into numerous little water droplets that flew towards Garen and Saszt continuously.


    "It looks so gross¡­" Saszt''s entire body felt uneasy.


    "Don''t worry, don''t worry. This is merely a fixed process of this spell. It''s not as if a real creature is vomiting this out¡­" Leona whispered as if she was slightly out of breath.


    Garen felt a psychological block as well. However, he could only endure it to heal his wounds as soon as possible.


    Among the sticky water droplets that flew out, almost one-third of them flew towards Saszt quickly while the remaining majority flew on to Garen''s body.


    Most of these water droplets covered the surface of his body before burrowing inside through the cracks of his dragon scales and penetrating into his skin.


    Garen instantly felt as if his entire body had cooled down, making him extremely comfortable. The aching areas received some effective relief.


    This sensation lasted for several minutes before disappearing quickly.


    "How miraculous! My injuries are actually healed!" yelled Saszt beside him in a happily surprised tone.


    Meanwhile, Garen glanced at his statistics.


    ''Safive -- Strength 21(11), Agility 15(12), Vitality 11(11), Intelligence 17. Potential 69%. Soul Limit 170


    Level 1 Draconic Aura. Level 1 Arcane Art Basics.''


    "Its effects are pretty good. It restored an average of four points throughout my attributes during this one time. It can probably restore everything fully if I use it another few times." However, Garen knew that it was better not to reveal the fact that he had left to hunt alone without informing the others. Anyway, Leona had the Dragonheal Spell that could be used thrice in a day. Since he was always getting injured, he could heal himself quickly as long as he used it in the future. Meanwhile, he had also gained a deeper understanding of Level Four Giant Iguanas. Hence, it would not be a major issue because Saszt would be there to support him as well.


    This group of Dragon Whelps would not provoke Level Five Giant Iguanas anymore.


    "Come over and look, you guys. This Dragon Whelp''s corpse really looks like Burdock from the third class." Boris was investigating a Dragon Whelp''s corpse on the side. Only half of its corpse remained because the rest had been chewed up.


    The other Dragon Whelps gathered over there. They looked at the corpse of the Dragon Whelp that was gnawed beyond recognition.


    Leona was slightly afraid while Saszt was burning with fury as his fighting spirit increased. Only Boris and Garen remained calm.


    "It was probably killed by a Level Five Giant Iguana. We need to be careful after this because there may be Level Five Giant Iguanas nearby. Don''t act rashly," Boris whispered.


    The three remaining dragons nodded.


    After that, the group of Dragon Whelps continued hunting. They did not venture any deeper into the mountain range but wandered around the nearby area instead. They were looking for Level Four Giant Iguanas in particular to practice their skills. However, it seemed like they were not as lucky on the second day because they had only encountered one lone Level Four Giant Iguana. The others that they encountered were either in packs of three or four or were Level Five Giant Iguanas instead.


    If it was not for the White Dragon Whelps excellent vision, the situation would have truly become tragic once they approached the Giant Iguanas.


    They had merely hunted one Level Four Giant Iguana before the daytime scenery turned dimmed. Boris continued leading the other three dragons in search of a hiding spot. He had hunted here before so he knew the location of the safest hiding spots.


    This time, they found a precipice in the middle of a cliff before they dug out a cave with all their might and burrowed inside. It would definitely be impossible for Giant Iguanas to discover them in terrains like this because they could not fly.


    Garen did not dare to sneak out and hunt alone this time anymore. Instead, he was waiting for the Crystal Core inside his stomach to be absorbed completely. He would obtain one new attribute point because of this. Moreover, when he added it to his vitality, it would speed up the healing process of his bodily wounds.


    ********************


    Inside a deep cave in the depths of the icy snow


    Darkness, coldness, and chills that were as sharp as knife edges spun slowly in the depths of the cave endlessly like an enormous twisting whirlpool.


    On both sides of the cave, numerous sets of imposing knight''s armor were positioned upright in a crouching stance with one knee on the ground. These sets of black knight''s armor were empty on the inside while they held broad and heavy knight''s swords with both of their hands. The edges of their swords pierced into the ground deeply. Seemingly countless strange symbols were engraved into their sheets of armor in a densely-packed manner. These symbols resembled tadpoles that were constantly swimming around. They were unimaginably strange and were all releasing faint auras of death.


    "It''s like¡­ there''s a kind of smell¡­" Suddenly, a gloomy voice echoed from the depths of the cave. It sounded like an old man that was about the die as the voice was hinted with an air of exhaustion and decay.


    After a short period of silence, the voice sounded again.


    "It''s a powerful soul¡­ A powerful Aberrated Soul. It smells good¡­ Smells so good¡­" Greed and longing were indirectly revealed in the voice.


    "Baschin."


    Pfoo¡­


    Among the sets of knight''s armor that were kneeling on one knee on both sides of the cave, moss green flames were ignited in the eyes of the helmet''s one of these armors.


    He stood up and drew his giant sword out of the ground before taking long strides towards the path in the center of the cave. He faced the interior of the cave as if he was waiting for orders.


    "Master, I await your instructions."

 1266 Opportunity 2

    "Go bring that soul back here," The voice spoke.


    All of a sudden, a black thread shot forth inside the cave. This black thread quickly wove itself into a round ring in mid-air, and then the center of the ring slowly split apart, forming a mirror inside.


    The surface of the mirror was as bright as new, and it slowly began to reflect a line of white Dragon Whelps. There were four of them, hiding inside a cave and chatting idly.


    The green flames in the Knight''s eyes flickered for a moment, and then they instantly locked onto one of the Dragon Whelps.


    This white dragon was well-proportioned, with strong muscles and scales that seemed brighter and cleaner than the other white dragons.


    It bowed toward the depths of the cave and then turned around and walked out of the cave, clattering as it went. There was an extremely complex golden screen turning slowly at the mouth of the cave, blocking off all the threats that might walk out of the cave.


    But the Knight seemed to be completely oblivious to it, walking straight toward the golden screen at the mouth of the cave.


    As soon as the Knight walked into it, the translucent screen lit up with a whoosh, and a large cloud of black smoke was absorbed out of its armor.


    The Black Knight walked out determinedly and managed to get past this golden screen eventually. Its foot stomped hard into the deep layer of snow outside.


    Once it walked out, however, half of the many tadpole-like glyphs on its armor vanished, leaving only a small portion, and even those gave off an impression of aged fragility, as though it could fall apart at any time.


    The Knight paid that no heed at all and just stood at the cave entrance, figuring out the direction. Then, it strode boldly in one direction. After a few steps, it actually began to fly.


    Roar!!


    A Giant Frost Iguana Elder rushed straight at it, racing at the Knight from underneath the snow. It was probably because the Knight had intruded into its territory. But when it saw the glyphs all over the Knight''s body, the Elder Giant Iguana''s pupils dilated abruptly.


    "An Undead! Agony Knight!! Forgive me!!" It screeched in terror, an armor of ice instantly enveloping its entire body. This was Level Six Ice Armor, but at the same time it actually turned around and ran outward, showing no intention to resist whatsoever.


    But before it got very far, a bolt of black light shot down from the sky. It was a spinning black Greatsword, the terrifying weapon three whole meters long, emanating large clouds of black smoke from all over its body as it spun rapidly downward.


    Psst.


    As easily as slicing through tofu, the black smoke Greatsword cut through the Elder Giant Iguana''s neck. And then it spun once above the snowy ground, before returning to the Knight''s hand in mid-air.


    The Giant Iguana Elder''s large head rolled onto the floor, the thick Level Six armor had put up no resistance whatsoever. Without any chance of fighting back, a Level Six Giant Iguana Elder was killed by the Black Knight, just like that.


    "A boring, insignificant soul¡­" The Knight gripped the Greatsword, and the black smoke from the blade seemed to pull something out from the Elder Giant Iguana''s body. The black smoke was a lot thicker than when it first came out and was currently flowing ceaselessly into the cracks in the Knight''s armor.


    After killing the Giant Iguana, the Knight did not even look at the corpse beneath it. It just flew in the direction it had decided on.


    It did not move very quickly, but wherever it went, all the Giant Iguanas avoided it in terror. No living creature dared to stand in its way.


    In fact, some Giant Iguanas actually got onto their knees and began to kowtow at it.


    *********************


    On the third day, Garen finally finished absorbing that Level Five Crystal Core before leaving.


    As he expected, the Crystal Core he had risked his life to obtain gave him one Attribute Point.


    And after a night''s rest, his injuries had healed slightly and his average fitness returned to half its original value. Add that to his killing move, Ice Pressure Blade, and his combat power was about equivalent to Saszt''s now.


    After departing on the third day, the four Dragon Whelps moved at a significantly faster speed. They were pretty lucky this time, since they met two Level Four Giant Iguanas consecutively, both of which had gone astray from the pack. They were easily finished off with a few Dragonfire Spells.


    Boris also tried to attack some Level Four Giant Iguanas head-on, but unfortunately, once it was weakened by the Level Four Ice Armor, the power of the Dragonfire Spell was not strong enough to harm the Giant Iguana''s tough hide. Under these snowy conditions, the Level Four Ice Armor demonstrated its full power, whereas the Dragonfire Spell was drastically weakened. The increase on one side and decrease on the other meant that head-on Dragonfire Spells were practically useless.


    The Giant Iguana soon released its Ice Armor again.


    They could release their Ice Armor five times a day. It was a spell they were born with, so it did not consume too much of their power.


    The group of Dragon Whelps kept moving from one location to another. Going through a long and narrow tunnel in the icy valley, they finally encountered another team of Dragon Whelps for the first time.


    "Leona? Boris!" Outside the tunnel, the four Dragon Whelps stood together, discussing something. When they saw another group of Dragon Whelps walk out of the tunnel, the sturdiest-looking Dragon Whelp instantly started yelling.


    "Toni!? How lucky, to think we''d meet you first!" Boris was instantly overjoyed, and he ran up to meet them.


    "Toni, what are you guys doing here?" Leona asked as well. Clearly, she knew this Dragon Whelp.


    "The way ahead is blocked," said Toni, depressed. "I''m waiting for other teams to catch up, maybe we can gather together and eat these few Giant Iguanas."


    She looked left and right, and then approached Leona, whispering into her ear.


    "There are two more Dragon Whelp teams around, but they''re all hiding now."


    "If there are so many Dragon Whelps here, we don''t necessarily have to take this path, do we? Are you waiting for something in there?" Garen asked in a soft voice.


    Toni instantly looked at Garen, surprised. This one reacted really quickly, he could guess the truth even with so little to go on. He was almost on par with the cunning humans!


    "Impressive!" She expressed admiration at Garen''s reaction. "There''s an Ice Stalagmite in there¡­"


    "Whoa!" Boris and Leona gasped in unison.


    The Ice Stalagmite was one of the rare and precious resources to come from this land of ice and snow. To Frost-type Creatures, that was a true treasure of the earth. A complete Ice Stalagmite could provide enough Frost Power to increase one''s power by one whole level. It worked on all Frost-type Creatures that were Level Six or below.


    This was also the second reason the white dragons let their Dragon Whelps come here to hunt. They wanted the young ones to fight among each other, until only the strongest were left standing in their fight for the Ice Stalagmite. Only then could they truly become passable warriors.


    "Looks like those Giant Iguanas are here to fight for the Ice Stalagmite as well," said Garen softly.


    "Yep. Two Level Fives, Four Level Fours. They''re split into two groups and standing off against each other now, but it''ll be any time now. There are at least Dragon Whelp Teams, including us, and we''re no match for them in a head-on fight. If both sides are left weakened after the fight, though, things might be different." Clearly, it was not Toni''s first hunt either, her tone was very experienced and assured.


    Garen had also noticed that the aura coming from Toni was stronger than Boris''. Looking at the shape of her muscles, he guessed that she was at least equivalent to Saszt in level. If she also had equipment fixed with Level Five Spells, she would truly be formidable.


    Toni led the other dragons, including Leona and Boris, into the circle they had decided on before, and everyone banded into a temporary team. All of them were quietly awaiting any changes from up ahead.


    It seemed as though Garen''s team was the last one, no more Dragon Whelps came after them.


    The other two Dragon Whelp Teams never showed up, nobody knew what they were planning.


    Bam!!


    All of a sudden, there was a large explosion of snow from up ahead, sending the snow flying everywhere.


    Roar!


    There was a tremendous, explosive roar from a Giant Iguana. This was followed by several more consecutive roars.


    There were a bang and a dull thud. The Giant Iguanas on each side had evidently started fighting.


    Garen hid in the circle of Dragon Whelps, listening to the sounds from up ahead. Since he had fought a Level Five Giant Iguana hands-on, he could tell almost immediately. The first roar had probably come from a Level Five Giant Iguana.


    Not only did Level Five Giant Iguanas have Level Five Ice Armor, they also had a powerful non-discriminatory attack, Earthquake. They were also much faster and stronger than regular Giant Iguanas. That made them extremely powerful.


    There were so many Giant Iguanas in front of them, killing each other. There were two Level Five Giant Iguana Crystal Cores right there, if he could get his hands on them, it would help him greatly!


    "I just have to be careful."


    He glanced at Leona and the other dragons. She was discussing something softly with Boris and Toni.


    He knew how powerful Level Five Giant Iguanas were, so he understood how improbable it would be to kill Level Five Giant Iguanas with this group of Dragon Whelps. The only way would be to exhaust themselves using Level Five Spells, putting their own lives on the line.


    But the Dragon Whelps would never be so coordinated, nobody would be willing to go there and be grievously injured from the swipe of a tail. It would be very dangerous to sustain serious injuries in a place like this.


    Even Leona''s Dragonheal Spell could only heal three Dragon Whelps at once, and it could only heal light injuries at that. After all, the Dragon Race''s Magic Defense was too high, even Dragon Whelps would have their spell efficiency reduced by one level. This reduction applied to both positive and negative spells.


    "But if I want to get those two Level Five Crystal Cores, it''d be a bit troublesome with so many Dragon Whelps around¡­" Garen added the recently-obtained Attribute Point to his Vitality without hesitation.


    Instantly, he felt a cool comforting sensation flow out of his brain and spread to the rest of his body. He watched his status go from injured to barely injured, on the brink of recovery.


    Looks like even if it was a whole potential point, it still was not as easy to completely heal a body as powerful as a dragon''s as compared to when he was a human. Once the foundations were strong enough, the power needed to recover would naturally increase as well.


    Well, at least he had regained his combat power. Garen bent down.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    Boom!


    All of a sudden, there was an intense jolt from up ahead. Garen could immediately tell that it was probably the Level Five Giant Iguana''s Earthquake. And it was not just one either, both Giant Iguanas had used it at the same time.


    As the Giant Iguanas wailed out, a Dragon Whelp from a hidden Dragon Whelp Team nearby could not help but fly up to see the situation. The Giant Iguanas could not see far anyway, so they were not worried at all.


    "They broke the Ice Stalagmite!?" the Dragon Whelp roared loudly as soon as it glanced over.


    The Ice Stalagmite was broken?!


    Just then, Garen abruptly felt an immense potential aura surge out of the snowy area ahead of him.


    "This potential aura!!!" His heart pounded madly. This potential aura was more than ten times that of a Level Five Crystal Core, if he could just get his hands on it!


    Green light rose in his eyes. No matter what, he needed to get that Ice Stalagmite!!

 1267 Agony Knight 1

    "As for these little ones, as long as I''m a little more careful, they shouldn''t be too much of a problem."


    Garen''s heart was decided, and he left the team quietly, walking toward another corner. All the Dragon Whelps were distracted by the forces coming from the intense battle, so no dragon actually noticed his departure.


    Following the wall of snow, Garen slowly walked to a crevice and listened to the commotion outside.


    If he wanted to get the Ice Stalagmite, his current abilities were not quite enough, so he needed to use some other methods as well.


    Garen walked around the site of the battle once. There was a team with a few Dragon Whelps hiding nearby, and he could feel their gazes burning into his back when he moved to certain areas. Some of those gazes clearly carried a warning.


    He was unperturbed, continuing to search and remember the lay of the land around here.


    A simple but somewhat brutal plan formed in his mind.


    "Whatever, I just have to make sure Leona and the rest dodge it."


    Garen considered this simple plan over and over again, and finally decided to make his move.


    *******************


    Deep within the snowstorm.


    Outside the tunnel, it looked as though two circles, one large and the other one small, were huddled against each other.


    In the first circle, there were several Giant Iguanas killing each other around a sharp and broken stone. In the second circle behind it, there were many Dragon Whelps lying in wait.


    The whole thing looked like a skewer of candied haws.


    One Dragon Whelp, on the other hand, flew out of the tunnel, upward and outward. Bracing against the wind and the snow, it landed on top of the candied haws'' circular mountain.


    The snowstorm was extremely dense here, so he could not see anything clearly at all. But Garen relied on his powerful memory and computational power to quickly find a spot above one of the hiding teams.


    He carefully imprinted this spot into his memory, and then went in search of other spots.


    *****************


    "Eh? Where did Garen go?" Leona noticed someone was missing from his team and was instantly confused.


    "I saw him go out by himself, but I don''t know what he went to do," replied Saszt honestly.


    "I keep feeling as though Garen''s a little mysterious. I don''t know if it''s just me, but he seems to like being a lone dragon," said Boris unhappily.


    "I think so too, a little." Leona nodded in agreement.


    "He''s just one Dragon Whelp, ignore him for now," said Toni nonchalantly. "It''s fine for us to work together like this, right? If there are no problems, shall we just settle with this?"


    "Sure. Once the battle starts, clear off the other Dragon Whelps first," agreed Boris.


    "Then it''s decided."


    The two sides formed a temporary alliance.


    The other Dragon Whelps did not have Enchantments, so they had no speaking rights here. They could not leave these leaders and operate on their own as Garen could. Without a Level Five offensive spell, they could not kill a Level Four Giant Iguana. Instead, they would be hunted down and killed.


    ******************


    "Hmph, it seems that Toni got some support, whad''we do?" Inside another dug-out cave, several Dragon Whelps gathered together and discussed in whispers.


    "It''s fine, we just stay in here no matter what, and only go out once they''ve more or less settled their fight with the Giant Iguanas. They can have those few Crystal Cores, our true aim is the Ice Stalagmite!"


    A Dragon Whelp with slightly red skin said softly.


    "Can we really do that?"


    "Of course, with my Magic Equipment, there won''t be any problems whatsoever!" said the reddish Dragon Whelp confidently. "Then we''ll catch them all in one fell swoop! Heh heh heh¡­ If they''re seriously injured, we can demand that they hand over all the Crystal Cores."


    "Deth, you''re a genius!" The other Dragon Whelps began to gasp in admiration.


    "Good, as long as you guys get it. You won''t regret following me!" Deth was extremely pleased with himself.


    *********************


    Garen lay sprawled on a very high cliff. Looking down, he saw that everything was completely white. He could not see or hear anything, the wails of the snowstorm drowning out the sounds from the Giant Iguana battle below.


    He could not see or hear anything from up here.


    But it was fine, Garen had already determined his location using his own sense of direction and memory. The Giant Iguana battlefield was directly beneath him.


    Unlike the other Dragon Whelps, his intelligence far surpassed theirs.


    The development of a White Dragon''s brain was not particularly advanced, and so it was naturally no match for his seventeen points.


    He calculated the process slightly.


    Garen began to use his claws to cut through the hard ground with his Ice Pressure Blade.


    He smashed and stabbed at the ground, and with each cut he carved out deep slashes. He had already memorized the lay and path of the land here.


    Soon enough, he had dug a gaping hole out of this elephant-sized snowy cliff, such that it could fall at any minute.


    He could only accomplish this because he had the Ice Pressure Blade, an extremely high-sharpness claw technique.


    Without hesitation, Garen flew upward and then smashed his body down hard.


    Ka-chak.


    The entire snowy cliff emitted a crisp sound, and whatever remained of the final link snapped instantly.


    Amidst the howling of the snowstorm, that little cracking was not particularly ear-piercing or clear; instead, it was completely drowned out. Garen saw the entire elephant-sized snowy cliff roll down, rumbling as it went.


    Not long later, barroom!


    There was an enormous rumble, and he abruptly heard loud howls of agony coming from below. It seemed like he had managed to hit a Giant Iguana!


    Garen tried to distinguish them carefully, but he could not tell which Iguana had been hit. Well, as long as he managed to hit one and break the stalemate, he considered it a success.


    A battle must have erupted down there.


    Garen quickly moved to where the other Dragon Whelps were hiding.


    Using the same moves as before, he began to cut up other large chunks of ice. Sometimes he would meet rock, and then he would cut through that easily as well. Dragon claws had always been sharp and deadly. Add that to his special technique, and the degree of sharpness increased exponentially.


    There was another rumble, and yet another chunk of ice went rolling down.


    This time, he did not hear any sounds from the Dragon Whelps, probably because the snowstorm was too intense. Regardless, Garen knew with certainty that he had caught the Iguanas'' attention.


    This Dragon Whelp hiding spot was the closest one, so once a Dragon Whelp was injured, the smell of blood would be as clear as a lighthouse in the dark of the night to the Giant Iguanas and their acute sense of smell.


    And then, once they discover that there was an ambush lying in wait, they would definitely finish off the hiding ones first.


    He had carefully calculated it all, this spot just happened to be the nearest to the Giant Iguanas, so even if there was no smell of blood, it would still give the Giant Iguanas a sense of threat, forcing them to speed up the battle.


    Garen did not linger and continued walking to the third position he had marked.


    Only he could wander around like this in such a heavy snowstorm. The other Dragon Whelps did not have such a sense of direction and memory, and would easily get lost in the storm if they were not careful.


    The third chunk went down as well.


    Watching the broken cliff roll down, Garen noticed that this one seemed to be off-target. The storm had suddenly intensified, blowing it off-course.


    "But it''s fine, I can grab the Iguana''s attention too by creating a commotion."


    He was not bothered at all. He did not touch the fourth chunk, however, because that was where Leona and the others were hiding.


    Walking back the way he came, Garen patted down his claws, and all the traces he left behind were completely buried by the snowstorm.


    ******************Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    Roar!


    A Level Five Giant Iguana was hit in the back by a giant broken cliff. As a result, it was pressed onto the ground and could only roar out furiously as it stayed there, completely sprawled.


    The other Level Five Giant Iguana was being surrounded by the four remaining Level Four ones. Hide, blood, and flesh was sent flying on both sides as they wrestled with and tore away at each other.


    Two of the Level Four Giant Iguanas had large gashes clawed out of their sides, and the blood froze as soon as it began to flow, forming red ice crystals. Meanwhile, the only Level Five Giant Iguana had been blinded in one eye, and there was a deep scratch on one side of its neck. One of its back legs had also gone limp, so all in all, it made a pitiful sight.


    Bam!


    It made one last effort and used its final Earthquake, jolting away the four Level Four Giant Iguanas around it, but also finishing up the last of its power.


    The four Level Four Giant Iguanas were also completely exhausted by this point and riddled with wounds. If it were not for the chunk of a snowy cliff that fell down suddenly from above, taking out one of the Level Five Giant Iguanas, the weaker ones probably would have no other choice than to turn tail and run.


    Looking at the broken Ice Stalagmite a little off the center of the area, the remaining Giant Iguanas roared happily, as though chasing away the Level Five Giant Iguanas.


    Battles between Giant Iguanas did not usually end in death.


    Helplessly, the Level Five Giant Iguana helped its companion push away the broken cliff, and the two of them prepared to leave, one after the other, heads lowered dejectedly. Their Ice Armor had also been used up during the fight, so if they did not leave now, they might attract the unwanted attention of other Giant Iguanas.


    Just then, a wave of huge tremors came from the direction of the only exit.


    The few Giant Iguanas were instantly alert.


    "Goooo!!" Immediately after that, they saw a group of white Dragon Whelps rush out. They were only as tall as half a man each, but greed sparkled in their eyes.


    There were more than ten Dragon Whelps in total, and they all made a mad rush for the Ice Stalagmite in the middle.


    The Dragon Whelps went to the injury-riddled Level Five Giant Iguanas, the rings and necklaces on their arms twinkling with a rainbow-colored light. These were clearly Enchanted items, affixed with high-level spells.


    "If a large boulder hadn''t suddenly fallen from above, we could''ve totally waited a bit longer before making our move!" said Boris exasperatedly. He looked at the Giant Iguana ahead of him and shuddered slightly in his heart. That was still a Level Five Giant Iguana, after all!


    "What are you scared of, it doesn''t have any more Natural Spells left! Right now is precisely when it''s weakest," said another Dragon Whelp on the other side loudly. It was Deth, who had originally planned to lie in wait and scavenge the final spoils. Now, however, he was a complete mess, having clearly been wounded by the broken cliff as well. As such, he had a stomach full of pent-up anger.


    He was already chased out here by that cliff, so if he still refused to fight along with everyone else, the other Dragon Whelps would not be foolish enough to wait. Instead, they would make the first move. That was why he had to abandon his plan and make his own move ahead of schedule.


    Even so, anyone would be slightly intimidated when facing a Level Five Giant Iguana like that.


    "I''ll hold ''em up!" A powerfully-built Dragon Whelp rushed out abruptly. Aiming its claws at the Giant Iguana''s eyes fearlessly.


    Whoosh!


    A giant tail swiped at him mercilessly with lightning speed, as though hitting a rubber ball, and sent the Dragon Whelp flying. White blood sprayed instantly. They did not need to see it to know that this Dragon Whelp was seriously injured.


    It did not have as strong a Will as Garen, and fainted before it even hit the ground. It could not even reduce its speed, and so it crashed hard into a rock-solid wall of ice nearby, leaving cracks all over the surface. Many of its bones broke, and it seemed that this Dragon Whelp would not survive.


    If it had reduced its momentum in mid-air, it might have been able to reduce the damage from the crash. But it had immediately fallen unconscious, so not only could it not mitigate the damage, it could not even tense up its muscles to resist the impact. Hence, the damage it received was much worse than it would have been usually.


    "Don''t go up to it! Use Spellcraft!" Having witnessed that, Boris knew that a head-on attack would not work, so they could only use Enchantments.


    If they attacked from the front, they would be killed instantly. The other Dragon Whelps knew that without him having to say it.

 1268 Suffering Knight 2

    Garen tiptoed back to the place where Leona and the others were, but realized that all the Dragon Whelps had gone out to grab a share of the spoils.


    He was in no hurry, either. It would be even better if he could just pick up his share after they had finished fighting.


    He hid alone in the corner and listened to the endless barrage of loud wails and explosions inside, knowing that this was the Spellcraft explosions from the Enchanted Equipment.


    Time ticked by, and soon enough, more than ten minutes had passed.


    The sounds from up ahead were much softer now.


    Only then did he get up. Having sufficiently rested, he walked slowly toward the battlefield up ahead.


    As he moved forward, he saw red and white blood all over the snowy ground, and he accidentally stepped on something. It was the front limb of a Dragon Whelp that had already frozen into ice.


    "How terrible¡­" Garen shook his head.


    He continued to walk forward, and everything he saw was a chaotic mess. After he entered the large circular area, there were countless dents, holes, and scratches on the icy floor and walls.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    Next to the giant Ice Stalagmite in the center, all four Level Four Giant Iguanas had been killed. There were charred marks and pale green acid trails on the ground, clearly the result of Enchantments.


    Lastly, there were a few remaining unharmed Dragon Whelps surrounding the last Level Five Giant Iguana.


    The Level Five Giant Iguana was now blind in both eyes, and its body was covered in black and green burn marks. It stood on the spot without moving, whereas the three Dragon Whelps around it had clearly finished up their Enchantments. They could only fly around it, occasionally smacking it, but evidently, their claws barely had any effect on the Level Five Giant Iguana. They could not even break its hide.


    Looking at the injuries of the seriously wounded Dragon Whelps that littered the floor, they all seemed to have been hurt by the swiping of the Giant Iguana''s tail.


    Garen himself knew just how powerful the Level Five Giant Iguana''s Tail Swipe was. It was not very strong, but it was far too fast. It did not have much of an effect on the muscly, thick-skinned Level Four Giant Iguanas, but it was just enough for Dragon Whelps, with their weaker bodies and lower strength.


    The remaining few Dragon Whelps clearly had no other plans. Their claws could not break past the Giant Iguana''s defense, so they decided to wore it out, until they wore this Level Five Giant Iguana to death.


    Garen walked over to them as stealthily as he could, but he was still immediately noticed by the Dragon Whelps lying on the ground.


    "Garen!" It was Boris, lying down in a small crater and being treated by Leona.


    "You''re just in time, go grab the thing!"


    The three Dragon Whelps surrounding the Giant Iguana happened to be Toni, Deth, and another stocky Dragon Whelp whose name Garen did not know. When they heard Boris'' voice, all three turned around to look at Garen.


    That unnamed Dragon Whelp''s eyes shone fiercely, and he actually ignored the Giant Iguana, lunging straight for the Ice Stalagmite in the center.


    "Reyman, you!!" Toni instantly panicked.


    That Dragon Whelp ignored her completely, dashing straight at the Ice Stalagmite.


    He was very confident in his speed. Even if he was injured, he would still be the champion who obtained the Ice Stalagmite first.


    The other Dragon Whelps also gave up on the attack and gave chase.


    Garen smiled and chased after them as well. At the same time, he picked up a few pieces of ice from the ground.


    The Ice Stalagmite in the center of these circle-shaped grounds was more than twice as tall as a Dragon Whelp, and looked like a pale blue, crystal-clear pillar of ice. Its tip was rather sharp, and the top half had already been knocked off, while the bottom half was still embedded into the ice layer.


    The Dragon Whelps were chasing after the top half that had been knocked away. That was the true essence of the Ice Stalagmite.


    Reyman quickly flew until he was above the Ice Stalagmite, and then he pounced down. A ball of purple light instantly appeared in his claws, and he tossed it backward.


    Bam!


    The ball of light exploded, turning into a fog of purple smoke that enveloped the two Dragon Whelps, Toni and Deth, behind him.


    Only then did Reyman stand on the Ice Stalagmite, turning around to stare at Garen, who was walking up to him slowly. The last Dragon Whelp that had just shown up did not chase behind him stupidly, which was how he had managed to avoid the purple smoke.


    "You sure are a vigilant one." There was a black scar above Reyman''s left eye, the injury had nearly blinded that eye. As a result, the scar made him look slightly more brutal.


    As a Dragon Whelp, he clearly already possessed the despicable and selfish ways of his elders.


    "I bet you don''t have any more Enchantments now, do you." Although it was phrased as a question, Garen''s tone was certain. "In that case, the Ice Stalagmite belongs to me. Hand over the Crystal Cores too, the four Level Four ones and the one Level Five from before."


    "What an appetite you have there¡­" Violence twinkled in Reyman''s eyes, and he tensed up all his muscles. His small body was only as tall as half a man, but it gave off a strange sense of power and muscle.


    Whoosh¡­


    A faint Draconic Aura spread from his body.


    This Draconic Aura was clearly far beyond what Dragon Whelps like Garen who had just experienced it could do.


    Garen felt a strong wind blow into his face, and his body actually began to turn heavy, as though he was suddenly carrying an immense burden.


    Was this the Draconic Aura''s effect?


    His heart jolted in surprise. This was his first time encountering the usage of Draconic Aura in actual battle. This Reyman was definitely no ordinary Dragon Whelp, for him to have such capabilities at this age, he must clearly be a high-level descendant from his clan.


    "Interesting¡­" Garen only knew that Draconic Aura could strengthen a fighter''s physical fitness. However, he had not known that this thing could actually be used to oppress an enemy in battle.


    His muscles tensed and relaxed, and he instantly eased up a part of the pressure from the Draconic Aura. A little bit of oppression pressure was nothing to Garen with his 21 Strength points.


    He glanced at his status.


    ''Safive -- Strength 21-1, Agility 15(14)-1, Vitality 12-1, Intelligence 17-1, Potential 19%. Soul Limit 170.


    Level 1 Draconic Aura, Level 1 Arcane Art Basics.''


    All of his attributes had actually been reduced by an average of one point.


    But even if he was being oppressed, he could still 20 Strength points. That made him stronger than regular Dragon Whelps.


    Still, the reason he had not leaped into battle at the first chance was that he was slightly worried that the opponent might have saved up some Enchantments. If he got too close and was locked on by the enemy''s spirit power, he would not be able to dodge any Enchantments that easily. Instead, he would be forced to take it head-on, and that would really get dangerous.


    Reyman looked at Garen, who remained calm, and had an ominous feeling.


    He did not know where this little punk popped out from, but he somehow seemed to be unfazed by the Draconic Aura.


    Whoosh!


    All of a sudden, a white light crashed toward Reyman, aimed straight for his nose.


    Reyman was caught by surprise and lowered his head hurriedly. Thankfully, he had trained his combat skills sufficiently and so he could react extremely quickly, just in time to dodge this attack. As soon as he bent over, though, he saw something white come flying at him.


    Pff!


    Reyman roared in pain and ran straight at Garen. His frustration and embarrassment had turned to fury.


    Meanwhile, Garen was now certain that he had no Enchantments left. Putting aside his fear, he went straight at Reyman.


    Lowering his head to avoid Reyman''s claws, aimed at his neck, Garen lashed out with his elbow, his tail slicing through the wind as he whipped it out. It swiped Reyman''s neck with a bang.


    Bam!


    He pounced forward immediately as well, stomping down on Reyman''s stomach. His claws carved out several long and deep wounds on Reyman''s stomach. He could almost see the bones in the abdomen.


    With merely this little greeting, Reyman -- an expert in close combat wrestling among the Dragon Whelps -- was instantly defeated. He could not put up a fight at all.


    Reyman slid out quite a distance, lying motionlessly in the snow. It was as though an electric current had passed through his entire body, and everything was trembling slightly. This shaking dispersed all of his power, until he could not even get back up.


    He looked at Garen in the distance, and saw that Garen had no intention of giving chase. Instead, he landed on an Ice Stalagmite.


    Garen flapped his wings, standing lightly on the edge of the Ice Stalagmite. Defeating Reyman was as easy as breathing to Garen. As long as the opponent was not in the same Realm as him, all close-combat battles would only result in instant annihilation, as seen in his eyes. The only reason Reyman could survive was because Garen had been merciful.


    "The Ice Stalagmite¡­ is mine now¡­" He crouched down with a smile, his claws pressing onto the half-pale-blue, semi-transparent Ice Stalagmite. Instantly, a tidal wave of potential aura surged into his claws.


    Hiss¡­ Garen could not help but exhale, feeling good. Within such a short time, he had already absorbed 10% of the potential aura.


    "Good stuff!"


    *********************


    Ka-chak.


    The black metallic boots stepped down hard on the snow and sank deep.


    A suit of black knight''s armor, green flames burning in its eyes, slowly landed at the entrance of the tunnel outside the Ice Stalagmite.


    "Is this where you ran to..." Its deep voice came from underneath the facial armor, and it strode into the tunnel, taking large steps.


    ********************


    Garen felt slightly bothered.


    He did not know why. Looking around him, he did not find any Dragon Whelps that might pose a threat.


    The Ice Stalagmite was just by his feet, so he thought about for a while, and then lifted the entire Ice Stalagmite in his arms. But that shudder in his heart made him impatient and uneasy.


    His Soul Ring kept vibrating, as though it could fall apart at any time.


    "Danger!"


    Garen had come across this kind of situation many times now. The Ancient Endor Demon Lords all had overwhelmingly powerful souls, and their bodies fit the laws perfectly as well, so they were extremely sensitive about predicting danger.


    A situation like this was surely no coincidence.


    Although he did not know why he felt a sense of danger, Garen rapidly calmed himself down and quickly made some decisions. Carrying the Ice Stalagmite in his arms, he decided to just abandon the Level Five crystal cores, flying straight into the distant sky.


    He had tremendous strength, and he flapped his wings, diving quickly into the snowstorm.


    "Garen!!" Boris yelled from below. But all he saw was Garen vanishing into the sky, without once looking back.


    His heart fell. Together with Leona, the one with the lightest injuries, the two of them helped Saszt up.


    "Why did he run?" Leona was heartbroken. "Does he plan to keep the Ice Stalagmite all to himself?"


    "Forget it, he obtained it by himself, after all. We didn''t do much either." On the other hand, Boris recovered quickly.


    Just then, he vaguely felt a black light flash before his eyes, as though something had flitted past quickly.


    "Did something just fly past just now?" he asked, shocked.


    "No¡­" Leona shook her head. "You must be seeing things."


    For some reason, Boris frowned.


    "I keep getting the feeling that Garen isn''t that kind of a dragon¡­"


    Not far away, Reyman was still lying on the ground, and his eyes showed just how deeply lost he felt.


    He was the one destined to become Dragon King. Ever since he was born, he had had immense expectations piled on him. They poured all sorts of training regimes and resources into him, because he had unbelievable natural talent that allowed him to raise his Draconic Aura to Level Three even when he was only two years old. His average physical fitness could defeat even a Three-Headed Dragon Whelp as long as they fought alone.


    But in front of that Dragon Whelp just now, he felt as weak as a baby.


    "Am I too weak¡­ or is he too strong?" Reyman sank into the depths of confusion.

 1269 Pursuit 1

    Garen flew at lightning speeds. The snowstorm ahead of and around him grew denser and thicker, but he felt as though there was an immense danger that he could not shake off approaching him.


    "The Soul Rings don''t lie, looks like serious trouble is brewing!" Garen had long since expected that the disharmony between his soul and his body would invite trouble, but he never thought that it would come so soon.


    Panic began to rise in his heart.


    But since he was carrying the Ice Stalagmite, he just could not increase his speed to its maximum limit. The only comfort he had was the massive amount of potential aura surging endlessly into his body from the Ice Stalagmite.


    It had only been a short while, but he had another Attribute Point now.


    Garen quickly added it to his Speed, and he instantly felt himself speed up. The anxiety in his heart eased up slightly.


    Everything before him was a flurry of white snow, and he could not see anything at all, so he did not even know where he was flying toward. What he did know, however, was that if he did not fly and the danger behind him caught up, the results would not be as pleasant as he imagined.


    The power level of this world was too high, and their research into the workings of the soul was too advanced. He could not hide himself well at all.


    Whoosh¡­


    Suddenly, Garen seemed to hear something ring out behind him.


    He concentrated and listened carefully. Suddenly, his expression changed, and he sank downward fiercely, leaving his original position.


    Psst!


    Just as he sank down, a black light shot past the place in the sky where he had been just a moment ago, leaving a long trail of afterimages in its wake. After it broke past the snowstorm ahead, it vanished without a trace.


    Garen''s forehead began to sweat. He lifted his left claw and saw that the back of the claw -- the hardest part -- had a deep gash carved out of it. It had been sliced open by the snow scattered as a result of the black light bullet that he had just avoided.


    "Well¡­ This really is serious trouble¡­" He flapped his wings even faster.


    Soon, he floated upward again, avoiding the bolt of black light as it came back.


    Hugging the Ice Stalagmite carefully, Garen used all of his power to fly forward madly as fast as he could, unwilling to linger for even a moment. If he still had some doubts earlier, they had all been put to rest by now. That guy behind him was terrifyingly strong, and completely beyond his current capabilities to resist.


    Thankfully, Garen''s combat realm was too high, giving him a complete understanding and comprehension of the environment around him within a certain range. Otherwise, he never would have avoided that bolt of black light in time.


    The unknown enemy behind him also seemed to have noticed that this attack was ineffective, so they stopped using it. Instead, they fell quiet.


    However, Garen was not naive enough to think that they had given up.


    Soon enough, the Ice Stalagmite gave him yet another Attribute Point. He quickly added it to his Speed as well. His speed was bumped up another notch.


    The enemy behind him seemed to be slightly surprised and confused about how he kept increasing his speed.


    ***************


    In the middle of the snowstorm, the pitch-black Suffering Knight shone with black light as it flew, weaving through the storm. It had vaguely locked onto a small thing flying in front of him. The snowstorm was too heavy, though, and it was quite far away. The first time the Suffering Knight attacked, he had missed, and as a result, the little thing was wary now. It had gotten even faster.


    "This is no longer the speed of a regular Dragon Whelp¡­" The Suffering Knight was slightly surprised.


    But since its master had ordered it, it gave chase determinedly, even though it could not match up to the target''s speed.


    Any living creature would eventually grow tired, but it was different¡­


    It looked down at the red symbols on the Greatsword, hesitated for a moment, and still chose not to activate it yet.


    That was an Undead Imprint. When it had hit the little Dragon Whelp''s claw just now, it had already placed the imprint on the Dragon Whelp. Once it was activated, the Dragon Whelp would be instantly dragged into the Blinding Hell, forcing the Dragon Whelp into a one-on-one fight to the death with the Suffering Knight.


    But this was the Suffering Knight''s strongest ability. If it activated that now, it would take at least two or three hundred years to recover. The target was a mutated soul, so it would not activate that ability unless it had no other choice.


    ****************


    The time ticked by slowly, and soon enough, a day had passed.


    Garen had already absorbed all of the potential in the Ice Stalagmite and gained thirteen whole Attribute Points, but he did not add them all to his Speed. He was already fast enough to leave the enemy behind him in the dust, and Attribute Points were precious, so he could not use them up so carelessly. Besides, he had a feeling that even if he added them to his Speed, he might still be unable to shake off that enemy behind him.


    There was no reasoning behind this feeling, but Garen subconsciously trusted this sort of premonition.


    He had flown at high speeds for a full day, so Garen was already completely worn out. He desperately needed to rest.


    Even though he was being nurtured by the Soul Energy, his body was still that of a normal Dragon Whelp. It was already quite impressive that he could stay on the run for so long.


    The enemy behind him would occasionally take advantage of his weariness. When his speed decreased, the enemy would close the distance again, scaring Garen into picking up his speed again.


    But as a result, he had also glimpsed the enemy pursuing him.


    It was a suit of empty knight''s armor, with a pair of green flames burning where its eyes should be. It was very similar to the Undead Knight in his Inherited Memories.


    "I knew it! Dammit!" Garen had guessed that his soul''s uniqueness would be discovered by a master researching the soul, but he did not predict that they would come for him so quickly.


    It was just a simple trip out, and he was already being chased down by an Undead Creature.


    He just could not shake off the thing behind him, and for a moment there, Garen was stumped as well. He had completely lost his way around here, flying around everywhere in this snowstorm meant that he could not find any location markers whatsoever. Luckily, he had not encountered any high-level Elder Giant Iguanas even after flying around for so long, otherwise he would be just as dead.


    Rawrr¡­!


    Suddenly, there was a violent woman''s scream from behind him.


    A green wave instantly scattered the snowstorm all around him, completely revealing the distance between the Knight and Garen.


    The wave hit Garen''s body directly without any obstruction whatsoever.


    Garen''s whole body stiffened, and he paused in mid-air for just an instant.


    Pff!


    Tiny wounds opened up all over his body, and white blood sprayed out of the gashes.


    A pain that came from the depths of his soul jolted through Garen, rendering him so dizzy he nearly fell directly down.


    His chest tightened abruptly. At first, he had thought that he could just keep running like this, but he had not expected the guy behind him to suddenly use such a terrifying attack.


    He knew this Spell.


    Inferno Horn¡­ a Level Seven Spell that was created as a failed attempt to mimic a Level Nine Banshee''s Wail. Even so, it also had a terrifying destructive effect on the soul.


    This was a special technique that only the strongest Undead Creature, the Suffering Knight, possessed!


    "A Suffering Knight¡­ This is bad!" Garen felt as though he was experiencing enough bad luck to last eight lifetimes. He bumped into a Level Seven Creature so soon after coming out, and he was just a regular Level Four Creature. Even so, he was already being hunted down by a Level Seven Creature.


    Withstanding the pain out of habit, Garen glanced at his status pane.


    That glance and the condition of his status pane made his heart thump heavily.


    ''Safive -- Strength 21 (19), Agility 17 (15), Vitality 12 (10), Intelligence 17 (15), Potential 89%. Soul Limit 170.


    Level 1 Draconic Aura. Level 1 Arcane Art Basics.


    Currently under influence of Inferno Curse: All attributes reduced by two points every hour, requires positive energy to dispel, or else it will only automatically wear off after three days of rest and waiting. If not dispelled with positive energy, the target will permanently lose an average of five points. Warning, this curse is stackable.''


    It actually reduced all of his attributes by two points!


    And that was not all. An unprecedented sense of weakness permeated through Garen''s body ceaselessly. He felt as though his body was a bucket that kept leaking water, his power was constantly dripping out of it.


    He noticed the Inferno Curse icon at the very bottom, and swore inwardly.


    An average reduction of two points every hour, and if he did not use positive energy to dispel it, he would actually lose five Attribute Points per attribute forever!


    That was ridiculous!


    If he could not manage to dispel it and it was disabled automatically in the end.


    Four Attributes would result in a total loss of twenty points! That would take up all of the Attribute Points he just earned on this trip out, wouldn''t it?


    Garen also noticed that his four Soul Rings, stacked on top of each other, were starting to crack slightly after that roar just now.


    Evidently, this type of attack from the enemy was too powerful, and it was aimed straight at the soul. It was extremely strong.


    No wonder the powerhouses of this world could even casually catch a creature from another dimension for their experiments.


    "What now?" He was starting to grow anxious. If at first he had tried to wear out the enemy behind him, he had now completely given up on the plan after finding out that the enemy was a member of the Undead. Undead Creatures did not tire.


    And he also noticed the last bit of information about the curse-- the Inferno Curse was stackable.


    "Dammit! This damned thing stacks!?" For the first time, he had the urge to insult someone''s mother.


    Once was enough to crack his Soul Rings and potentially cause him to lose twenty potential points forever. How could he take one more hit!


    He guessed that this might be because his level was too low and his Vitality was not enough, so he just was not strong enough. After all, that was a Level Seven Spell, and he had managed to endure it without dying despite being only Level Four. This was already extremely remarkable, in any other situation, it would practically be a miracle. Even if the Inferno Curse''s main effect was to weaken, and not to kill off the enemy, it was still very impressive for a Dragon Whelp.


    There was a three-level difference right there.


    Although he was panicked inside, Garen''s many years of experience allowed him to instantly calm down, suppressing any unnecessary emotions.


    Under these circumstances, where he did not know how the enemy locked onto his tracks, the chances of hiding being ineffective were too high, so all he could do was run.


    But if he just kept running like this, he would still end up dying eventually.


    The Soul Energy in Garen''s heart slowly began to tremble. He started to carefully sense the presences of all the creatures around him. Although he could not let his Soul Energy leave his body to explore, he still had the Demon Lords'' Natural Ability, Dream Control.


    As one of Ancient Endor''s Demon Lords, the most troublesome thing he could encounter was an enemy discovering his uniqueness when he was in his smallest and weakest state. Before Demon Lords came of age, it was also catastrophic for them to be discovered.


    Even though they matured extremely quickly, if they were discovered at such a time, they would still only be one or two levels higher in terms of survival power compared to other creatures at the same level.


    It was already very remarkable for Garen to withstand a Spell three levels higher than himself.


    Put into perspective, it was like fighting a steel knife with a balloon, and the balloon actually managed to take a hit without exploding. It was practically a miracle!


    His Soul Rings trembled slowly. Under these dangerous circumstances, he pinpointed the locations of all the creatures around him, and they all appeared in Garen''s mind, rapidly using up a large amount of his Soul Energy. He could not care less, however. If he was going to be stingy about little things like that at a time like this, he would truly be done for.


    "Bottom left!"


    He rapidly decided on a direction. The Soul Rings had given him the safest guide in this difficult situation, and although this direction seemed to be extremely perilous as well, it was already much better than the other few directions.


    Garen never thought for a moment that he would die in this snowstorm without knowing anything. Since the enemy did not kill him off at the first opportunity, this clearly meant that it had other considerations. As long as Garen still had space to maneuver, he would surely have a chance to turn things around.


    Garen also firmly believed in that.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    "It seems that after living peacefully for so long, I''ve also started to let myself go¡­" Garen began to reprimand himself. Perhaps it was because his days so far had been too easy and carefree, maybe that was why he had ended up in such a dangerous state without even knowing it.


    The snowstorm was growing stronger.


    He flapped his wings and sped up, diving toward the bottom left.


    *****************


    "Sure is running fast¡­ Is that its final struggle?" The Suffering Knight sensed the Dragon Whelp ahead of it from far away, and had already noticed that the target''s speed was dropping. The second Inferno Curse that it was about to unleash faded slowly.


    "Looks like it''s just a matter of time before I catch it. There''s no need to use up too much energy¡­"


    It glanced at the glyphs on its Greatsword and decided not to activate it, after all.


    Speeding up, it rapidly gave chase.


    A vacuum layer separated the all-encompassing snowstorm around, and not even one snowflake actually touched his armor.

 1270 Pursuit 2

    In an unknown snowy mountain range, the sharp and straight peaks of the mountains were reflected in the lake water.


    The surface of the lake was as clear as a mirror, free of even the slightest ripple. It was just a sea of deep blue. Other than the reflection of the snowy mountains, all that remained was the blue sky.


    The lake was oval in shape and not very large, bordered completely by the broken edges of the white ice. The water was so clear that it was almost transparent.


    On one side of the lake, there was a large and quiet white snowy mountain, grey-brown in the parts that were not covered in snow.


    On the other side, there was a layer of snowstorm clouds.


    Looking at it from afar, the cloud layer was forced into the distance, enveloping the ground there completely within a flurry of snow. It looked like a completely different world from the quiet cleanliness over here.


    The sunlight faintly fell onto the surface of the lake and the left side of the snowy mountain. It projected a faint golden light, but also some miniscule dark shadows on the other side of the mountain.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    Boom¡­!


    Just then, two figures abruptly shot out from the white snowstorm cloud layer.


    The one in front was a smaller white Dragon Whelp that looked to be in bad shape, and seemed to pretty badly injured.


    The one chasing behind it, on the other hand, was a pitch-black humanoid in black knight armor.


    On after the other, the two of them shot out toward the snowy mountain like bullets, leaving a long white trail in the sky.


    "Here?" Garen vaguely sensed that something was amiss with this place, but he did not have the luxury to dwell on it.


    He felt weak all over. His attributes had been reduced twice consecutively, and his Agility had already dropped by four points. The Knight behind him was faster than him now, and the distance between them had been reduced from more than a thousand meters before to just several dozen meters now. Thank goodness he had added four points to his Agility in time, and he still had eleven points to be used, but he still managed to put a distance between them in time.


    This was the place his Soul Rings predicted would be able to help him.


    He had no other choice now.


    The quiet snowy mountains, the mirror-like lake. This was a place nearing perfection, but there was no sign of life whatsoever. Even an idiot would have noticed that something was wrong with this place.


    But this something wrong was precisely what Garen wanted right now!


    He dashed straight for the snowy mountain fearlessly.


    That place was the center of everything without a doubt. If there was something unnatural here, it would surely be concentrated there.


    ***************


    "This place!?"


    Soon after the Suffering Knight entered this area, it sensed that its connection to its master had been instantly severed.


    Shocked, it slowed down slightly and began to observe the snowy mountain ahead of it hesitantly.


    Its surroundings were completely clean, without even a single living creature. The atmosphere here was heavy and dead, completely devoid of life.


    A feeling that sent shivers down its spine rose from this place faintly.


    "Should I continue to give chase?" The idea had barely occurred to it before it was immediately squashed down.


    "The master''s orders are absolute, no degree of danger should stand in the way of my mission."


    It instantly tossed everything to the winds and quickly gave chase, showing no intention of leaving whatsoever.


    "But I have to finish off that guy ahead as soon as possible¡­ I can''t drag it on any longer."


    He looked down at the red glyphs on the sharp Greatsword as they lit up slowly. They glowed with a blood-like red light.


    ****************


    Garen could feel the strength draining out of his body and hurriedly added another point to his Vitality. He only had ten attribute points left, so if he could not dispel the curse this time, he would incur heavy losses even if he used up all of the attribute points.


    His body felt slightly better now, and he flew toward a crevice in the snowy mountain, swaying as he went.


    It was ice-cold in the crevice. Even though he was a White Dragon, he could still that piercing cold permeate through his entire body.


    Resisting the discomfort, Garen sped up and flew into the crevice. The crevice had many twists and turns, curving around and around as it stretched on downward.


    He could not see the bottom of the crevice below him. All he could see was a sea of pitch-black darkness, as though it was a bottomless abyss.


    Psst!


    Suddenly, he felt as though something brushed past his face.


    Garen was stunned. That thing was extraordinarily fast. On the other hand, he was completely exhausted right now, his spirit stretched to its tolerance limit. Two days of non-stop flying without daring to take even a moment''s rest had pushed him, a mere Dragon Whelp, to his limit. That was why he had no idea what the thing that flew past him was.


    "It does not have the aura of a living creature¡­ Whatever! No matter what, it beats falling into the hands of a Soul Master!" He continued to dive head-first into the crevice.


    The crevice grew wider and wider as he went, becoming larger and also colder, bone-chillingly cold.


    Garen felt as though he was flying toward the center of the world. It was a very eerie feeling.


    Ahead of him, there was only darkness without the slightest hint of light. Even if he had a natural talent for night vision as a White Dragon, he still could not find even a fleck of light. He had to rely on the flow of the current to sense the area around him.


    The Suffering Knight behind him was growing closer and closer, as though it had gotten somewhat hurried.


    Psst!


    Psst-psst-psst!


    All of a sudden, several black things shot past Garen abruptly.


    His body stiffened abruptly, his body had somehow become completely frozen. He could barely even move his wings. His body began to fell straight down, toward the bottom of the crevice.


    This time, they were too close together, so Garen could finally clearly see what the thing beside him was.


    They were basically wisps of black smoke with human faces.


    The black smoke swam quickly through the crevice like fish in water. It was thick and concentrated, and more currents of black smoke kept whooshing past Garen''s body.


    One hundred, two hundred? One thousand, ten thousand, a hundred thousand? A million?" Garen counted these wisps of black smoke until he lost count, and only then did he see that there was light here now!


    His whole body stiffened, and he allowed gravity to drag him toward, into the depth of the crevice abyss.


    In his night-vision dragon eyes, he could vaguely see a ball of transparent light, lighting up slowly at the bottom of the abyss. It looked like white light, but its source was that foggy transparent sphere.


    That light source was still at least several kilometers away, and from a distance, he could see that there were countless black smoke faces surrounding that light source.


    This all-encompassing black smoke seemed to have a life of its own, and it flew around the light source, staring with distorted hatred in its eyes.


    The countless black smoke surrounded the light source, forming a giant tidal-like whirlpool. That colorless light source sat at the bottom of the whirlpool.


    And Garen felt as though he was falling toward the bottom of the whirlpool. He was completely helpless, and it was like he was falling into hell.


    "This place¡­ what is it!!?" He heard the roar of a Suffering Knight behind him.


    "Dosima, angelier¡­ Silent flames of hell, eye of suffering, open up your arms, face the solidification of eternity¡­" He heard a deep voice singing a chant behind him.


    Garen instantly felt a spine-chilling sense of threat surge forth from behind him.


    His Soul Rings began to shake uncontrollably, as though it was encountering an unprecedented danger of the highest level. Many cracks appeared, one after the other, on the Soul Rings.


    That illogical chant that also seemed to contain an unnatural magic power transcended the long distance and went straight into Garen''s ears.


    "...Final Battle to the Death!" When the last note ended, Garen saw light.


    It was not the faint white light from beneath him. Instead, it was a blinding red light that blossomed from behind him, blood-like viscous red light!


    That blood-like red color washed over him like countless waves, faster than he could imagine. Garen just felt as though the red light had appeared behind him in an instant, and was just about to touch his skin. A sense of weakness and helplessness, accompanied by suffering and despair, spread throughout his entire body.


    "No!!"


    He roared madly! The danger had come so quickly, and even if he had already mentally prepared himself a long time ago, when he felt that weakness all over his body, a deep-set terror still surged up from the bottom of his heart.


    All his Soul Rings were trembling madly, many countless and tiny cracks appearing all over them. Even if he had to detonate all of his Soul Rings, he still refused to allow himself to fail without putting up a fight!


    Garen''s eyes began to shine with terrifying Soul Energy. If he lost his Soul Rings, he could still condense them again, but if he lost his soul, it was all over!


    His eyes revealed an unprecedented brutal determination.


    Ka-chak!


    One of his Soul Rings exploded abruptly, turning into an immense wave of powerful Soul Energy that rushed about madly in his brain.


    Each Demon-Lord-Level existence had, without exception, experienced countless challenges and growth before they reached the level they were at. Garen was no different.


    In the history of Ancient Endor, there had never been an instance where a Demon Lord was abducted! Never!!


    The first Soul Ring exploded, and Garen''s strength, as well as his physical fitness, was forcefully doubled.


    The second and third Soul Rings also abruptly exploded at the same time!


    Countless soul shards scattered everywhere, and Garen''s body expanded rapidly like a balloon being inflated. And he was still growing larger and vaster! He had grown into a mature White Dragon''s body in almost an instant.


    Finally, a small wound underneath his scales split apart.


    Barroom!!!


    At the bottom of the abyss, an unimaginable wave of heat sprayed out suddenly.


    It was as though heaven and earth had frozen in an instant. Everything, all of it, seemed to freeze in time, held in place by the faint white light from the abyss below.


    Inside the light source, a huge and terrifying golden eye opened slowly. A woman dressed in a black dress that was tight around her waist stood in the middle of the eye.


    The woman opened her eyes slowly. Her skin was whiter than snow, her hair darker than the night, and her figure seemed to have been forged according to the most perfect golden proportions. She was completely flawless.


    Although she had opened her eyes, there was no light or consciousness in them at all. As though she was still deeply asleep, she raised her left hand slowly, like a sleepwalker.


    Her palm was aimed directly at Garen and the Suffering Knight.


    Barroom!!!


    There was another immense tremor.


    A giant, unimaginable pressure traveled across several kilometers and instantly landed on Garen and the Suffering Knight.


    Garen felt as though an entire giant mountain had fallen on top of him in an instant. That feeling was just like how he had felt when he flew toward the sun of the Mother Planet for the first time in the Mech World.


    Heavy, immense, irresistible.


    "...Draconic Aura!!" An agonized voice came from behind him. It was the Suffering Knight''s voice.


    That was the last thing Garen heard.


    Time seemed to be flowing backward¡­ His body shrunk rapidly, and he soon returned to his original Dragon Whelp body. The Soul Rings inside his body had also somehow naturally returned to their original Soul Ring state, even though they had already been blown to pieces. They looked almost completely undamaged.

 1271 Existence 1

    It was as though everything returned to the state when he first entered here.


    Garen completely lost consciousness.


    As for the Suffering Knight behind him, his entire body armor exploded like an expensive crystal glass shattering into millions of pieces. Countless black characters and symbols attempted to escape like tadpoles but were frozen by a vast Draconic Aura. Bam!


    All the characters once again exploded into finer pieces. This time, they disappeared into the most basic negative energy flow into the air.


    "Lord...!" The Suffering Knight''s last voice echoed into the abyss before nothing could be heard again.


    Everything returned to peace. The Draconic Aura subsided and as just it was in the beginning, as though it never appeared.


    A school of black smoke with human faces encircled Garen. They attempted to creep into Garen''s skin and ears. Every one of them wanted to occupy Garen, this young dragon''s body.


    However, there was a thin layer of light over Garen''s body that prevented him from any harm.


    As time slowly passed, it was a permanent darkness into the abyss without being able to tell between the night and day.


    An unknown time had passed until Garen slowly regained consciousness.


    His compact surroundings of black smoke with human faces dispersed like scared little fishes. At the time same, Garen, who was levitating as a result of being cupped by them, took a sharp fall.


    He immediately fluttered his wings, struggling to stay afloat.


    Seeing the darkness everywhere, Garen recalled the earlier situation.


    "What just happened?" He felt a splitting headache.


    The Suffering Knight who pursued after him was gone. He suddenly remembered.


    "Could he be killed by the earlier Draconic Aura?"


    He was most pleasantly surprised by the Soul Rings that he detonated remaining intact. It was a miracle.


    He clearly remembered that at the final crucial moment, he blew up all his Soul Ring to obtain the upper limit of the strength. Who would have thought that all his Soul Rings remained in one piece?


    "How funny!" Garen muttered in his heart. Although he didn''t understand what happened, it was obvious someone had saved him.


    He drifted in the darkness and stared beneath him. He saw a colorless light source not near away from him.


    He flew downwards. It seemed that this unknown existence saved him. As he has been rescued, he should head down to thank it face to face.


    As he flew down and closed in, Garen landed at the edge of this huge light source.


    The light source was small, only at a diameter of over ten meters. It was pale white within that light source; the insides could be seen indistinctly.


    He circled around this light. The bottom of the abyss was flat, as though someone had polished a smooth surface as there was no staggering when on foot.


    This wasn''t a small palace.


    Garen went around the place and sensed indistinctly.


    He found a stone tablet in the surrounding.


    The pitch black stone tablet was half-rooted on the ground with the other half on the surface. There were words engraved on the side. It was the Draconic language with which he was familiar, yet the semantics were somewhat ancient.


    Garen carefully read the words with the little light.


    "Guilty of heinous crime... All-Devouring Dragon... Earth''s Core Capital..."


    The content after that was muffled, as though it had been scratched all over.


    Garen couldn''t restore it despite carefully studying it long. He tried to claw at the stone tablet.


    Shhh.


    His claws instead were ground into a layer of powder.


    The durability of the stone tablet was so hard that even his sharp dragon claw left no mark. This left Garen in surprise.


    He spun around the light source again in the darkness and found the same stone tablet at another two areas. There were similar handwritings engraved on them respectively.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    One of the stone tablets read "Forbidden Zone."


    While the other stone tablet was "Slumber, Do Not Disturb, Disaster."


    The remaining writings were too blurred. Many of the sentences in the middle could not be made out.


    Garen looked through the stone tablets and investigated around once more.


    The odd thing was that this was the center of the abyss, yet none of these black smoke with human faces dared approach it. They seemed to be afraid of something.


    Garen gave it a thought before walking to the outer area.


    Walking along the surface of the abyss, he went about and around.


    He finally got a hold of the structure here.


    The entire abyss was the size of several soccer fields. It was circular in shape. The light source protecting the stone tablets was just located just right in the middle.


    It was soon when Garen found a sticky black thing in an empty area. He felt the presence of this thing to be similar to the Suffering Knight who had gone after him. So he captured it.


    This thing was soft like a sticky rubber ball. There was a large symbol beaming in dark red. It looked like the letter Y, but with a twist.


    The moment he held it in his hands, he felt a breeze of Soul Power aura leaking from within the rubber ball.


    "Soul Power!" Garen was delighted and swiftly retrieved the ball and held within his claws.


    Strangely, looking at the light source from afar, Garen could clearly see what was within it.


    It was a golden round object of a dragon''s eye. In a dim light glow, it wasn''t clear. However, it could be distinguished that it was a dragon''s eye with a golden vertical iris.


    Garen was shocked.


    If this was in some other world of the large beasts, it would be understandable. However, for this world of dragons to have birthed such a large eyeball, its body must have been quite the size.


    In this world, such a large dragon definitely wouldn''t be a nobody.


    Staring from afar, he could somewhat make out a woman in a black dress standing afloat within the dragon''s eye.


    "If this was a seal that could seal the person inside, that must be one hell of a power." He was struck by this idea.


    Looking at the dragon''s eye, he thought about it before shouting out loud.


    "Thank you, Lord, for rescuing me. I am Garen, a warming of White Dragon Clan."


    His voice echoed in the darkness, but it received no response.


    It was silent. The woman inside the round light source remained still as though she didn''t hear his screams.


    "Thank you, Lord, for saving me!" Garen shouted out once more. This time, even louder.


    Yet, there was still no response. It was still silent at the bottom of the abyss.


    Garen was hesitant but remembered the content on the stone tablets. Could the woman within be in deep slumber? Could it be that she rescued him unconsciously? Impossible!


    Even with an unconscious defense, he himself wouldn''t be about to leave unscathed at this rate unless the other party specifically protected him.


    "This is not a place that you should come to. You should leave." Suddenly, a cold male voice was heard from the light source.


    The moment Garen heard this voice, he felt the Soul Power quaver and resonate. It was as though the other person''s faint noise was enough to break his Soul Rings.


    His blood rushed as his heartbeat raced. He only calmed down moments later and that was when he realized that the curse on him was lifted.


    Taking a few deep breaths, he gave one last stare at the woman in the center of the light source.


    Garen fluttered his wings and flew upward, exiting the abyss.


    It was as though he had the will of the woman in the light source this time, as the black clouds with human faces gathered beneath him in tides, swiftly holding him up and tossing him out to the outer world.


    Garen took one last look below as the light source reached further and further out of sight, dimmer and dimmer until it disappeared from plain view.


    "Once out, do not mention to anybody about here. Remember!" That clear male voice shot through the distance and snuck into his head.


    Garen wasn''t puzzled that although the person was a woman, she carried a male voice. These major existences had various peculiarities, so this was not something out of the norm.


    He only felt odd that the person rescued him for no reason at all. A Level Seven Suffering Knight was easily crushed like an ant by her, let alone Garen who was weaker.


    With such a doubt hanging over him, Garen was fired by the black smoke out of the rift of the Snow Mountain. It wasn''t long before he was flying back to the blizzard on the other side of a lake of ravaging snowstorm.


    Within the abyss.


    The woman within the light source made a motion, stretching her arms slightly.


    "White Dragons have always been selfish. Their souls are as dirty as black dirt. Who would have thought there''d be an odd one out here. His soul is as clear as crystal..." The male voice echoed within the light source.


    "Odd one... Hehe... Striving huh... Such an interesting little white dragon."


    It reminded her of herself in the beginning. An oddball within the dragon race, going against the nature of their race all the same.


    A sense of fatigue crept within her as she fell back into slumber, or perhaps delved back into practice.


    ******


    Once Garen was about to find his way back to the clan in a struggle, over a month has passed.


    After he returned to the family, all the dragon whelps thought he was dead and didn''t think he would actually return. The dragon whelps of the nurturing center, especially the dragon whelps that lived from snatching ice stalagmites, stared at Garen in a displeased manner. He snatched away the trophy, the largest ice stalagmites after all. It was a good thing there were several Level Five and Level Four Crystal Cores shared by all. Otherwise, their hatred towards Garen would have deepened.


    Upon returning, Garen explained what happened to Satwo, Sathree, and Safour, saying he lost his way in the blizzard and lost the ice stalagmite with no hope of bringing it back. He finally made it home with much difficulty.


    Originally, the few siblings did not believe it, but seeing the wounds on Garen''s body as well as his lack of strengths, they took his word for it.


    Garen had yet to attend any classes during his return when Saszt, Boris and the lot arrived at his residence to ask about the situation.


    "What! You lost the ice stalagmite!?" Boris''s mouth was wide open in disbelief.


    Saszt, who was beside, was clearly distressed.


    "How did you lose it? If I knew you were going to lose it, I would have gone ahead and given a few bites!"


    Leona was more concerned about Garen''s body.


    "What''s the news on your injury? Why are there this many wounds?"


    "Wounded by Giant Iguanas..." Garen helplessly replied, "I lost my way halfway and encountered a few Giant Iguanas of high levels. I could only scatter about but was caught by a Level Five Giant Iguana. After a round of being beaten up, good luck allowed me to find my way home."


    "Blame your greediness!" Leona said with contempt.


    "I was prepared to snatch it away and bring it back to share within us secretly. Who would have thought..." Garen made an aggrieved face.


    "Really?" Leona was dubious. It was easy to win over little girls.


    "Of course it''s true. We are a team!" Garen said out loud. Of course, he wouldn''t dare mention that he planned to pocket it at a time like this.

 1272 Existence 2

    "I believe in Garen!" Boris exclaimed with a face of sincerity.


    "Me too," Saszt added. However, before speaking he stared at Boris. He had always followed Boris'' lead.


    The few dragon whelps started to get active in Garen''s cave as they conversed about recent events.


    "Oh, right, Garen." Boris became serious. "That''s one thing you need to be careful about."


    "What?"


    "Reyman, our White Dragon Clan''s most talented dragon whelp, has been coming often to ask about you.


    "He seemed to have harbored ill intent after losing to you." Boris was worried.


    "Reyman, huh...?" Garen recalled this dragon whelp which he killed within seconds. He was the only one that left an impression with that nice Draconic Aura.


    "You need to be careful.


    "The elders are nurturing him as the future White Dragon King." Leona was concerned.


    "Don''t worry, I''ll take care of it."


    Garen nodded in a gesture that implied he understood.


    "Don''t lower your guard," Boris ultimately urged. "And another thing, the completion of your task has most likely fallen through..."


    "..."


    ******


    Elder''s Peak of the White Dragon Clan.


    Deep into the cold cave, four old White Dragons bearing staffs were quivering as they shook on four large icy pillars. Around the icy pillars stood with many sharp icicles that wrapped their bodies in the middle.


    On top of the four staffs, a dull white glow was released, shining over the entire cave.


    "The West clan has come in contact with us again.


    "How should we respond this time, Great Elder?" One of the old dragons asked in a low voice.


    On the highest icy pillar was an old White Dragon with wrinkles all over and a pair of droopy eyes. He didn''t seem focused.


    "Our collaboration with the King of the Deladia Empire has just begun, yet they kept announcing a ban on dragons, Do they think that we are still that small clan that split up? Ignore them."


    "Great Elder, can the Deladia Empire really lead us to glory? The expedition this time had caused a loss of ten summoned adult dragons. Not to mention, the Clock of Fate is unhappy with us lifting the ban on the participation in the war of the Deladia Empire. They could send out wizards to join the battlefield," another Elder whispered, "I am worried that the loss will outweigh the gain."


    "But we are left with no choice," Great Elder dully replied, "take advantage of Dragon Beasts and Earth Dragons."


    "We suffered much loss on Dragon Beasts and Earth Dragons at more than a hundred of them!" The last elder shrieked with a withered female voice. We have a total of over a hundred twenty adult White Dragons in our clan, and this counts the new members that had sought refuge recently. The next maturity would take at least fifty years. We can''t wait any longer. It hasn''t been a year and we already lost ten clan members..."


    "Your Excellency Hurricane Erger has given me his words that the intensity of the war will lessen.


    "Unless it was out of absolute necessity, they will not seek our help," Great Elder cut her off. "So do not worry, Tasha."


    "The nobles of the Snow City should never be trusted," Tasha rebutted.


    "But we found no better snow mountains to inhabit. All the human nations cast us away and only this place... Only this place was willing to take us in and provide us with a level of protection. Shouldn''t we offer them a little return?" Great Elder asked.


    For a moment, the few elders were silent.


    "The next batch of young dragons will be fifty-two years later. Hopefully, we can make it until then..." Tasha uttered in a low voice and flew away, leaving the ice pillar.


    Thus, the meeting of the elders ended.


    ******


    The classroom valley at the Elder''s Peak.


    Garen was crouching lazily in a corner, looking at the remaining dragon whelps grapple and wrestle with each other with enthusiasm. After the hunt, the members of dragon whelp lessened by a third. Now that with some new additions to the class, there were about fifteen to sixteen whelps.


    Garen swept a glance around in boredom. He realized that no dragon whelps dared look him in the eye. Those he swept a glance at quickly turned away and lowered their heads.


    It seemed that his performance when he sped killed Reyman was over the top and these dragon whelps were no idiots. Who would willingly be tortured with such a discrepancy of strength between them?


    So basically no one was willing to be in the team as him on this one on one combat. Leona, who originally teamed up with him, immediately sought another to practice with.


    In a bored stiff state, Garen started to reflect upon dividing his remaining attribute points.


    There were still ten points left that he did not add on account of fleeing, mainly because of the fact that adding or not made no differences. Rather than using them all, it was better to leave it for recovery in order to sustain longer in battle.


    Now, he could deliberate on how he could divide them.


    The best thing was that he obtained the core of that Suffering Knight. It should be a core as that was what he guessed. This item could endlessly nourish his Soul Power. It was equivalent to a few Soul Rings.


    This way, the accumulation of his potential aura could hasten from five points in two months to five points in a month. It was a terrifying speed.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    He got to give it to a Core of a Level Five being. Garen knew that if Lady Luck was not on his side, he probably would not have come across such a treasure.


    Adding this to the mix, he now had sixteen attribute points to distribute.


    After returning, he did not hesitate to distribute them evenly on his strength, agility, and vitality.


    He realized that all three of these attributes could not be ignored in this world. The dragon race naturally had stronger physical dispositions. By wielding this nature to its fullest extent and with his safety ensured, he could then focus on spellcrafting.


    Strength should be targeted on destroying defenses. If he didn''t have enough power to tear the skin of his enemy, then killing them would pose a problem.


    Agility would be useful for fleeing. It could be of great use when snatching resources and treasures.


    Vitality was crucial as this attribute could exempt many types of spellcraft. The higher the vitality, the higher the level of the types of spellcraft that could be exempted. Even those that could not be exempted would be weakened to the lowest limit. It would be very useful.


    After careful consideration, these three attributes could not be disregarded.


    Garen then distributed evenly on the three.


    He immediately felt a major change.


    "Safive ¡ª Strength 26(26), Agility 26(26), Vitality 19(19), Intelligence 17 with potential 19%.


    Soul limit 170, Level 1 Draconic Aura, Level 1 Arcane Art Basics."


    "Strength has increased from 21 to 26, the same could be said about Agility, from 21 to 26. Vitality went from 13 to 19."


    He felt his body expanding tougher.


    "Let''s start the combat practice assessment!" The White Dragon instructor yelled.


    "Scramble over!


    "Follow my line up and start to fight one-by-one!


    "Stop when I say stop!" The instructor was a new adult dragon. His little eyes reeked of viciousness, as though he had harbored ill intentions.


    It was said that he was originally teaching the youths. However, after violently abusing over ten young female dragons and causing a public outrage, he was transferred to the dragon whelp''s combat class.


    More than ten dragon whelps obediently stood together. Garen, too, stood up with them.


    "The top three of the assessment will obtain one Kavan Gold. You should know the use of Kavan Gold. I do not need to reiterate its importance. So work hard, you little bastards!" The instructor roared.


    The dragon whelps numbered one and two flew up onto the ice block ring in the middle of the valley.


    It was a dull combat and the winner continued to fight the next one. This competition was weighed on the highest number of wins and the lowest number of losses.


    With no exception, it was Garen''s turn on stage.


    He stood on the ring and looked down.


    "I guess no dragon would dare come up." He looked at the instructor. "Just announce it a win then."


    The instructor glared at him. Dare there be a dragon more arrogant than him. This left him a little displeased. He looked down at the group of dragon whelps. Indeed, each one of them was intimidated.


    "What a bunch of losers!" He cursed under his breath.


    "Garen! I will fight you!" Suddenly, a high pitched voice was heard coming from the valley entrance.


    A physically-tough dragon whelp plunged over, fluttering his white wings and landing on the ring. His eyes were fixated at Garen.


    "Reyman?" Garen recognized this dragon whelp. No, he didn''t look much like a dragon whelp any longer. Reyman''s body resembled more of a youth''s, about the height of a human adult at four meters high. He was a towering being.


    Garen looked at his size. He wasn''t far off compared to him.


    They were considered the genius of the dragon race so their growth was faster than any regular dragons.


    However, Garen knew that his current strength and agility was at 26 points, well above the standards amongst the young dragons.


    Based on his observations, a regular dragon whelp would average below nineteen points. They would first grow in strength then equip the remaining attributes with the growth until their youth where their strength, agility, and vitality would average around 20 to 30 points. Naturally, it would increase the level of their magic resistance and spellcrafting. Adulthood would raise them to an average of between 20 to 40 points. If spellcrafting endowment was added, then they would be considered the top amongst the Level Six Beings and could combat against some weaker Level Seven Beings.


    Garen did a comparison upon returning and found out that if the Suffering Knight were to meet with two adult White Dragons, then the one taking flight would be him. This was the true ferociousness of the dragon race, considering the White Dragon Clan was one of the weaker types.


    "You sure you can beat me?" Garen stared at Reyman with interest.


    "You are fated to be the strongest general under me!" Reyman was full of confidence as he shouted, "Come! Come under my wing, we will lead our clan to utmost glory!"


    "Under your wing?" Garen smiled, "I will only go under an existence stronger than me." Saying this, he recalled that woman at the bottom of the abyss rift. He could confirm that that woman definitely of a dragon race. Even if she wasn''t the strongest among the dragon race, she was at least an ancient one.


    "Then I will defeat you!" Reyman was overconfident. It could be seen that there were scars and wounds that were freshly healed on his scales all over. He must have gone through some tough training from returning.

 1273 Youth 1

    Roar!


    Reyman did not waste any breath and charged ahead. He swiped his tail and clawed at Garen''s waist.


    However, Garen''s claw had already blocked in front of him.


    With a parry, the two claws smashed onto each other.


    Garen did not move while Reyman flew away from the impact. He fluttered more than ten times to counter the force.


    He hung in midair and started to chant incantations.


    "This guy actually cultivated spellcrafting as well?" Garen was stunned as he saw a green bracelet on Reyman''s wrist beamed in a dim light. He charged forward to elbow him.


    Wham!


    It was blocked, but Garen''s tail managed to whip at Reyman''s mouth.


    Ow...!


    The whelps beneath saw that Reyman took a hit on his mouth and couldn''t help but yelp. This was equivalent of having a human stomped on the mouth by a foot, an utter disgrace!


    Reyman''s incantation was cut short as he was blown away by the lash.


    He knocked onto an ice wall with a bam and the impact left a mark resembling a spider web.


    Such a powerful display of strength had the instructor''s eyes twitching.


    Garen stood on the ring, swiping his tail as he casually looked at Reyman who was attacked far away.


    Another speedy kill...


    "You''re too weak.


    "You should return and train for a longer period," He threw these words and then stared at the instructor.


    "Can I get down the stage now?"


    The instructor looked at him three times before slowly nodding.


    "Yes."


    This fellow''s strength was similar to a young dragon. How ferocious! He was considered a genius amongst the dragon race.


    However, it was mainly his fighting instinct that allowed him to strategize appropriate attacks at the right time. He was naturally born to be a fighter.


    "Wait! I wish to challenge you!" Suddenly, a dragon whelp flew high and landed on stage.


    It was a young whelp that followed Reyman from behind. He garnered no attention in the beginning but now that he suddenly made his appearance, he attracted everyone''s attention. After Reyman was killed so quickly, he dared to challenge. He must have something up his sleeve.


    Garen carefully looked at this dragon whelp. He was smaller than Reyman. Although he wasn''t as tough-looking as him, he was still bigger than any regular whelps.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    "Who are you?" He asked directly.


    "Cuboshaw, brother of Reyman." The dragon whelp''s ears were special, being long like an elf. His eyes were bright as they gleamed in unknown confidence.


    "Then, come." Garen didn''t mind who would come at him. They were all a bunch of little children anyway.


    He had just said these words when Cuboshaw swooshed to his right, clawing at his waist. His speed was faster than Reyman more than a tad. He was similar to Garen''s speed.


    Garen was struck by this. The growth of his body wasn''t extraordinary. If it weren''t for the nourishment of the Soul Power and the increase on his attributes, he would be a regular little White Dragon and Cuboshaw''s speed could have caught up to his agility at 26 points. It seemed that there was no lack of innate and acquired training, he must have gone through some brutal training.


    "So it seems I can''t underestimate the dragon race training in this world..." He pushed his elbow to block his opponent''s claw. At the same time, he tilted his head to spew a mouth of white dragon breath that formed into a white sword stabbing at Cuboshaw''s face.


    "Roar!" Cuboshaw released a compressed vigorious pressure. It was the Draconic Aura!


    This Draconic Aura was explosive and had Garen''s speed and reaction slowed down by half a beat. This gave him a chance.


    He didn''t care that his face that was frozen with a dragon breath. He lowered his head to ram into Garen''s back.


    Bam! Cuboshaw''s tail lashed onto the back of Garen''s right limb, causing a dull collision. The area at which he was whipped seemed to bring about an attributable attack as Garen''s white scales was dyed to pale blue. It seemed to be some sort of poison as Garen''s back leg grew stiff.


    Stomp stomp stomp!


    After the attack, Cuboshaw retreated three steps and landed on the other side of the ring.


    A cloud of green poisonous gas spurted from a ring he wore on his right claw, engulfing Garen within.


    "Garen! How sneaky you are to use tools!" Leona, who was beneath, couldn''t bear to watch any longer as she yelled out with concern.


    "That''s right! It''s not fair to use spellcrafting tools on the ring!" Boris and the rest hollered.


    "What''s not fair? Whether it''s winning, losing, life or death, the human will not give you any fairness on the battlefield! They have always bullied others with numbers!" Cuboshaw smiled coldly. "If I were to kill him here, then it can only be blamed that on his lack of skill and no one else."


    "Instructor!" Leona looked at the instructor with disdain.


    The instructor who was the only one who could stop this did not make a move. He stared coldly at all the dragons.


    "What he said is true. We should stop at nothing to win. This is the practice taught to us by the humans. Many dragons die in the hands of the humans for standing firm with the old stance."


    Cuboshaw continued to smile coldly. He disregarded the dragon whelps that were stirring below.


    "So you''re saying that I can also carry with me a spellcrafting tool in a competition!?" Boris coldly rebutted. He could tell that the poisonous gas was a Level Five spellcraft. No matter how strong a dragon whelp, they would sustain a major injury. Although Garen''s body seemed tougher than any regular whelps, he was still worried that he would be unable to bear it. Looking at the section where the green fog enveloped, he started to grow anxious.


    "If you dare, you can come up on stage to try it out," Cuboshaw was confident.


    "What''s there to be scared!?" Boris was agitated as he fluttered his wing to fly up there. However, quickly he was pulled back by Saszt from behind.


    "Boss, no! Cuboshaw has at least three enchanted equipment and he himself is a genius in spellcrafting. He could blast at least five times the spellcraft. There''s no point for you to go up there!"


    "Then tell me, what can we do?!" Boris was enraged.


    "I''ll go!" Leona charged forward and got up the ring.


    "Isn''t this Great Elder''s seventh granddaughter?" Cuboshaw recognized Leona. "What? You''re up here to avenge your little boyfriend?"


    "Shut your mouth!" A white glow overcame Leona and gathered into a white light blade before her. She shot it at Cuboshaw with a swoosh.


    However, the light blade contorted by an unknown force when flying midway that it exploded into a spark of light.


    "It''s Counter Current Disturbance!" Leona recognized the spell craft. It turned out to be one of the


    With a swoosh, Cuboshaw''s figure appeared in front of Leona. His claw mercilessly struck at Leona''s face.


    "A lesson for you to know that with impulsiveness, comes punishment..."


    Cuboshaw flashed a malignant smile. With this move, Leona''s face would surely suffer a large scar that would permanently disfigure her.


    "Interesting," out of the blue, Garen''s voice was heard from the poisonous gas.


    Immediately, a white figure blazed out and knocked to the side of Cuboshaw.


    Wham!


    A weight similar to a mad elephant rammed onto Cuboshaw. He wailed out loud as he was knocked away.


    Swish!


    It was not known when Garen dashed out of the poisonous gas. He was unscathed. He followed up with a vicious claw on Cuboshaw''s waist.


    Wham!


    Another loud crash was heard as Cuboshaw crashed onto the ground being seized by the waist. The pain almost had him unconscious. He must have broken a few bones around his waist.


    "Cuboshaw!" Reyman watched with anxiousness. It was really a fight to the death for Garen! If this were to continue with another two strikes, Cuboshaw would lose his life!


    The instructor beside was watching with eyes twitching. He was gasping in awe within on the viciousness of Garen.


    The last claw that Garen raised was aimed at Cuboshaw''s head.


    "Help!" Cuboshaw finally lost his cool as he screamed out.


    "It''s over," Garen violently whipped his claw downwards.


    Wham!


    His claw could not make it all the down. The instructor had somehow made his way before him with his claw locked against Garen''s.


    "Instructor, what is the meaning of this?" Garen curled his lips into a smile as he looked at the instructor was who was no more than half a meter away from him. This adult White Dragon body as similar to an elephant and taller than him by a tad. His physique was much tougher.


    "Do not overdo it. It is not allowed to stir trouble in the Nurturing Center," The instructor coldly answered.


    "But earlier, he intended to bully my friend." Garen smiled.


    "I said, do not overdo it." The instructor frowned.


    "I said, earlier he intended to bully my friend." Garen returned with the same words. The smile on his face was slowly fading away.


    "I don''t care. This is a ring and whatever I say, goes!" The instructor grew impatient.


    "Whatever you say, goes? Then go to hell! Roar!" Garen howled and knocked onto the instructor. His claws repeatedly struck over ten times like lightning. His tail was a stake stabbing at the instructor''s face. He exploded with a full blown cold killing intent.


    The instructor felt chills as he immediately camouflaged in full body ice armor. He lowered his head and drew in Dragon Breath while at the same time, clawing both claws at Garen.


    Kaboom!!


    Two White Dragons, big and small, collided with each other, exploding a white layer of ice fog.


    A white figure flew out and landed with his claw on the ground. It pulled a long hissing scratch before stopping.


    The white figure was Garen. He bent over with his head down without moving. The muscles on his body were in baling knots that it gave off a unified solid feeling. A stretch of slight white chill lingered around his body and faded. Drops of dragon blood slowly dripped onto the ring from his right claw.


    And on the other end, the instructor''s figure emerged from the white fog. He was clenching onto his abdomen. It looked as though he was suddenly startled and suffered no wounds.


    He stared at Garen coldly for long before uttering one sentence.


    "No exceptions the next time!"


    "Thank you for your understanding." Garen smiled and got up as a human would with two back limbs erected. His white tail was gently swiping behind him like a python.


    The instructor howled before turning and fluttering his wings to fly out of the valley. It wasn''t long when he disappeared out of sight.


    "Class dismissed," A voice was heard from afar.


    Woah!


    The dragon whelps below burst into an uproar. Garen dared defy an instructor! And an adult White Dragon, too!

 1274 Youth 2

    Cuboshaw lay on the ring but no one knew whether he was dead or alive. In the earlier chaos, Garen slashed a claw in the face, disfiguring him. He was now being picked up by Reyman.


    "You need to be careful, Garen. Cuboshaw is very vengeful..." He looked and whispered at Garen."


    "You should be more worried about him," Garen didn''t mind. He was happy, but it was not about this. Instead, during his encounter in the Level Five poisonous gas attack, he made a pleasant discovery.


    His soul and body were freed of his disharmonious state without any reason. Now, even if an Undead Master or a Soul Master was to stand before him, they would not discover the odd state of his soul and body.


    That poisonous gas itself brought about soul temptation and corroding effect.


    However, as a principal attack toward the soul, Garen had a strong fitting soul so he wasn''t afraid of this sort of attacks. So, this level five spellcraft was less harmful than a pure corrosion.


    Moreover, Garen''s vitality had reached the higher standard of a young dragon that could weaken spellcraft by a level. Hence, he was immune to the majority of corroding spellcraft. The remaining harm was nothing to him.


    It was then that he broke free from the encirclement and rescue Leona.


    "Garen!" He turned and was welcomed by Leona''s passionate embrace, "You''re just so cool!"


    Leona''s entire body was hanging on Garen.


    The White Dragons respected those who were powerful. As long as one displayed a strong enough strength, he would earn respect and receive attention.


    As he had resolved the harmonious issue of his body and soul, he didn''t have to keep a low profile. Receiving attention would gain him more resources and obtaining the fastest growth was the matter at hand.


    That was why Garen took the opportunity to go full force in the end, letting the instructor experience his current ability.


    If everything were to go well, the instructor should be on his way to the Elder''s residence. Discovering one with a great promise was a great phenomenon for the future of the White Dragon Clan. He would receive great rewards from this.


    "Garen, you really scared the shit out of us..." Boris and Saszt got up the ring together with the three siblings, Satwo, Sathree, and Safour who rushed over from the news and gathered around Garen.


    "I really thought you were done for!" Saszt patted his chest and gasped.


    "Five is the strongest!"


    "Yes, Garen is the strongest." Sathree, Safour and the rest had full confidence with Garen.


    "But it''s better not to go against the instructor the next time." Satwo was still feeling a little uneasy. He recalled Garen''s earlier arrogance to challenge an adult White Dragon. If this was the wilderness, he would have been eaten up without questions asked.


    The last move pulled by Garen scared him to a full-blown sweat. His body was now still trailing with icy bits from condensing the sweat.


    "The next time I''ll see who would dare to bully me in class!" Sathree was beaming with pride.


    Garen was hemmed in the middle but was lost in his thought on how he resolved the harmony issue. However, no matter how he tried to recall, the only possible lead was that encounter down in the abyss.


    His Soul Rings had all exploded yet in the end, miraculously resumed to normal.


    Without a doubt, that powerful existence at the bottom of the abyss saved him.


    "I really need to find a chance to return for a look," Garen did not like the idea of owing anyone, moreover this was a life-saving debt. He needed to find an opportunity to return the debt. Although he was now weak, as a Demon Lord the speed of his growth surpassed any regular being. He would seek an opportunity in the future.


    ******


    The instructor fluttered his wings and glided a half round from the side of Elder''s Peak into a pitch black cave. An old White Dragon crouched at the entrance of the cave. He opened his eyes to give a glance but did not move as though he was still asleep.


    The instructor flew another few hundred meters inside the cave and quickly arrived a large hemispherical grotto. A deep blue cold lake was right in the middle of the grotto.


    An old White Dragon twice the size of the instructor mounted in the waters. This old White Dragon was flipping through a huge human reference book with interest. A pair of large-sized presbyopic spectacles were framed on his nose.


    "What is it again?" He did not bother to lift his head as he threw the question. He seemed to know the arrival of the instructor.


    "I found a budding dragon that I think can enter the Gifted Camp," The instructor respectably answered in a low voice.


    "What kind of budding dragon?" The elder dragon yawned, "Hand-to-hand combat or spellcrafting?"


    "Hand-to-hand," The instructor quickly replied. "He is highly skilled in combat." He added on in fear the elder dragon might pay no attention.


    And of course, the moment the elder dragon heard it was hand-to-hand combat, a streak of disappointment flashed by his eyes.


    "You should know that our White Dragon Clan only has three slots in the Gifted Camp and only the geniuses of the Spellcrafting department can draw the attention of those old farts.


    "Fine fine, what''s the level of his Draconic Aura?"


    He casually threw another question.


    "Er... Level one... He just grasped the fundamentals." The instructor was hesitant.


    "Just a newbie with Level One Draconic Aura yet you want to waste one recommending slot?" The elder dragon finally lifted his head and fixated his gaze at the instructor on the opposite end of the lake. "Are you sure you''re not kidding?"


    "No, not kidding." The instructor solemnly nodded. "He''s not even one year old but his body has reached the standard of a young dragon! He''s really outstanding!"


    "No matter how strong his build is, although the bodies of the dragon race are tough, there is a limit to it." The elder dragon sighed. "The Arcane Technique is able to exhaust the Time-Space Mysteries.


    "And this is limitless. You need to understand this."


    "However, if supplied with one of one Ice Stalagmites every month at the Gifted Camp, he would definitely become the strongest warrior at earliest!" The instructor wasn''t willing to give up.


    "Return. Warriors can only achieve immortality with Draconic Aura. If his Draconic Aura is no good, then he''s not good enough and too young at the present. Let''s have a look after a period of time." The elder dragon waved his arm and a large force caged the instructor up. This was an arm of a wizard that instantly tossed him a few hundred meters out of the cave.


    Landing outside the cave, the instructor still could not reconcile. He found one with great promise with difficulty to turn around from his awkward situation yet Great Elder did not approve of it.


    "I can only observe for now." He fluttered his wing and flew away.


    ******


    Deep within the Fiery Blaze Mountain Range.


    In a dark cave beneath a snow peak.


    "Baschin''s destroyed... Even his Soul Imprint did not make it back."


    A hoarse voice was coming from deep within the cave.


    Green flames lit up in the eyes of knights in armor packed on two sides of the cave. The dark cave beamed a path of dull green.


    "Only by destroying all imprints entirely in an instant or sealed in an isolated space would he be unable to escape the Soul Imprint," A knight in armor glowing in silver pattern responded in a low voice.


    "Is there such an existence close by?" The hoarse voice asked.


    "No findings," The silver-patterned knight answered in a low voice.


    "Then it must be due to that abnormal soul. An abnormal soul inhabiting in a White Dragon whelp... Perhaps it''s a lure."


    "The White Dragon Mountain wouldn''t feud against us out of the blue. It could be a misunderstanding. I heard that a little White Dragon clan moved around here. It could be their doing."


    "Should I send troops to crush them?" Another silver-patterned knight opened up.


    "No... The clan must have an ancient dragon on watch.


    "Master''s wounds have not healed completely.


    "I can''t attack an ancient dragon." The earlier silver-patterned knight rebutted.


    "But Baschin can''t just die in vain," the withered voice continued, "The lead should be on that abnormal soul.


    "Use the Soul Detector to monitor the soul.


    "Strike him once he leaves the White Dragon territory."


    "Understood," The two silver-patterned knights answered in unison.


    ******


    The life in the Nurturing Center on Elder''s Peak was disinteresting.


    At least, to Garen. It was training every day, study, training, study, and repeat. They were taught a few basic techniques which were valuable to regular dragon whelps. However, for a combat expert like Garen, it was meaningless.


    So he started to nap in class.


    It was odd as the instructor treated him with leniency and the other whelps dared not say anything as Garen''s ability surpassed them all.


    Even though it was Garen was sleeping, the truth was, he was slowly training his Draconic Aura.


    The Draconic Aura was also an application of the spirit power so even ancient dragons and elder dragons proficient in Arcane Technique who did not bother with the Draconic Aura would still have a forceful suppression of the Draconic Aura. It was the reason.


    Garen''s soul power was naturally powerful but his spirit power was different from the will power of the Mech World. He hadn''t grasped fully the relation between spirit power and soul power.


    His body build naturally grew bigger. With the round core sacrificed by the Suffering Knight, he gained five attribute points in his pocket every month.


    In a blink of an eye, a year of peacefulness has passed.


    Garen was over a year old and graduated early from the dragon whelp''s Nurturing Center. He did not participate the second hunt and following the words of the instructor, his participation in the whelp''s hunt would be an act of bullying. That would be truly unfair.


    So Garen officially joined the youth class.


    There were many classes for dragon whelps but only one in the youth class. There were over forty dragons in it. The difference between ages varied widely, There were some forty over years old while some over more than ten. However, Garen was the only one year old there.


    Even Reyman who was coined the future White Dragon King did not possess the qualification to join the youth class that early.


    However, Garen wasn''t the least bit concerned about this. The reason he left the idling whelp class and joined the youth class was for the chance to go hunting in order to obtain more Crystal Cores to speed up his growth.


    The youth class could participate in the summon system of the Deladia empire''s human wizards.


    Following the Dragon Alliance Treaty of the end of year 445, the young dragons could forge a deed with wizards by paying a certain fee as a price to summon young dragons into battle from a far away distance.


    This was one of the contents of the agreement signed by the elders and Deladia Empire''s King.


    This was why Garen wasn''t that opposed to joining the youth class that early in order to integrate sooner into human society in this world.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting.


    The instructor had witness Garen''s combat strategies with a seasoned hand. Only the battlegrounds of young dragons could provide Garen a better chance to grow.


    He had, after all, patted his chest before the elder.


    To allow a dragon whelp to join the youth class was rarely seen in history...

 1275 Summon 1

    Kevin Rother was a regular noble wizard. His declining aristocracy had regained a little incline thanks to his qualification as a wizard.


    However, all this faced tremendous change as he was struggling to revitalize the household.


    He was selected amongst the wizards to become one of the chosen ones who could forge a pledge with a dragon.


    This was of the utmost glory and in the entire Deladia Empire; only wizards at Level Five could be called Great Wizards and be at an equal social class as nobles. Level Four wizards were at an awkward phase where they would be neither here nor there.


    Kevin thought that being thirty over years old, his wizardry potential had reached its maximum and he could improve no further. Yet, who would have thought he would be struck with such a good luck.


    "Perhaps it could bring about a turn for the better for my daughter and family." He was holding this thought as he went ahead to the empire''s assessment point.


    In the circular building of the assessment point, he found out that he wasn''t the chosen minority.


    Those chosen for the pledge constituted about more than ten wizards in just their town. Amongst them were Level Three and Level Two wizards. God knows how these Level Two wizards made their way in as the Dragon Alliance Treaty required a large payment to sustain just one time summon.


    "Your turn." Kevin was pushed in the line from behind. He returned to his senses and walked ahead to sign his name on a book.


    "If you are selected by the dragons, this badge will become your summoning tool to communicate coordinates.


    "Don''t lose it," The official in charge of general affairs gave a reminder. He was also a Level Five Great Wizard and he said so coldly, carrying an aura of a commanding authority.


    "Understood, sir." Kevin took the badge and left the pack in a hurry. He shifted his head to look at the line behind him. There were still seven eight of them. He felt a little perplexed.


    Walking out of the assessment point, he turned back to look behind him with worry. Wizards from far and wide were still rushing into the white, circular, bread-like assessment point, getting up and down the horse carriages and walking in.


    These wizards had one thing in common: wealth.


    Kevin felt a little down in the dumps. Upon receiving news that he had been selected, he thought he had lucked out. However, he didn''t think that there were this many who were selected as well.


    "Wizard Kevin."


    A crisp voice was heard coming from the side.


    Kevin turned to the voice. It was a young lady with green skin. He recognized her. It was Selena, the only Druid around town.


    "Tree Crust Spell?


    "Master Selena, have you encountered some trouble?" He asked in shock. The Tree Crust Spell was only cast on self during battle. This was a Level Five spellcraft and could last for a long time. It could last up to a day.


    "No, I just came across a berserk wild boar," Selena did not explain further. Druids had always remained neutral and cold. They rarely spoke to outsiders on their private matters.


    "But as for you," She looked at the badge in Kevin''s hand. "An advice for you. If it were me, I would never accept this badge. Once you summoned a dragon, you''ll know what''s bound to happen."


    Selena and Kevin were on good terms. Both of them often traded potions and materials with each other. For her to offer an advice, it was already going out of her way.


    "You mean...?" Kevin wasn''t an idiot, he quickly connected the dots with recent activities in the empire.


    "The higher-ups of the empire have signed the Dragon Alliance Treaty with Red Dragon, Black Dragon, White Dragon, Green Dragon, a total of thirteen clans.


    "There''s over a hundred adult dragons and a few hundred young dragons that joined the treaty.


    "Why is all this happening?"


    Selena dully said this and glanced at the badge in Kevin''s hand. "Don''t let the people around you be sad."


    Saying this, she left following the dirt yellow streets to the direction where she stayed without paying attention to Kevin anymore.


    Kevin stood in front of his horse carriage, his mind was blank for a few seconds. He wasn''t like Selena who was a Level Five professional. For a professional at a Great Wizard level, even a Druid could be referred to as a Great Druid. It was a qualitative change from a Level Four and the channel of intel would be different. It was obvious that the input from Selena was a gesture arising out of goodwill.


    "Master?" The coachman whispered at the side, "Do you want to leave?"


    Kevin lowered his head and looked at the badge in his hand.


    "Kevin?" A gorgeous female wizard saw him from afar and called in a tender voice, "You''re able to get a badge? Tsk tsk, really just about anyone can get their hands on the badge now, huh?"


    The female wizard was accompanied by an old man in a Great Wizard robe. He was approximately over fifty and had a tough build. He dully glided his glance at Kevin.


    "I hadn''t seen you for over ten years.


    "You''re still making no progress, Kevin."


    "Great Wizard Chandela, Alice." Kevin forced a smile and responded politely.


    "The Grey Robes of Grey Shadow Society really is random. They just give such an important badge to just anyone," Alice said in a sour attitude, "giving a badge to a low-level wizard who has no hope of leveling up. One summon would cost him his entire inheritance, what''s the point?"


    Other wizards and passerby looked over. Kevin felt those surrounding them were looking at him as their gazes were scorchingly stabbing at him.


    "What was it you said to me before?" Alice wasn''t going to let him off the hook. "There will be a day that I will stand before you as a Great Wizard! I''ll let you taste the feeling of regret!" She imitated an impassioned tone. She then stared at Kevin who has his head down with sarcasm."


    And now? I still hadn''t tasted the feeling of regret..."


    "Can I go now?" Kevin felt miserable. He acted out in a sudden impulse and made a bold statement. He thought that he would be able to triumph over nature, surpass the endowment restriction and become a Level Five Great Wizard. Yet, more than ten years had passed, and he still remained a Level Four without any hope of breaking through.


    Level Five was a stage where any professionals would admire with envy. To be able to reach this stage, they would uncover a specialty that was uniquely theirs.


    And a Level Five Great Wizard could be more powerful than any regular wizard by a large margin. The key was the technique to cast instant spells.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    To be able to grasp the instant casting technique on Level Zero and above spellcraft. Although this would exhaust double the everyday spell slot, such a technique would give the wizards an upper hand in battle without chanting.


    This was a qualitative change.


    "Just go then. You respond with the same line all the time, it''s so boring!" Alice was obviously trying to put him down. As a matter of fact, although wizards weren''t as ingenuine with etiquette as nobles, they wouldn''t go too far in public. Alice did this as the conflict they had had was overwhelming.


    When she broke up with Kevin and found the present Great Wizard partner, she once felt guilty and planned to offer Kevin a hefty amount of compensation, but Kevin chased her out of the door in public, tossing all of them out. He even threw in a promise boldly saying that he would one day make a breakthrough to Great Wizardry and stand before her, making her feel the taste of regret.


    Yet, more than ten years had passed. Their daughter was now over ten years old yet Kevin remained in Level Four like the majority of low-level wizards who could almost never see the day they would make a breakthrough into Level Five.


    Only one in a hundred wizards could make a breakthrough into Level Five. It was considered a high ratio. This was as cruel as an apprentice at a threshold to formally become a wizard.


    Kevin got up the horse carriage. Even the coachman felt his face burning. He hit the horse''s rear hard, rushing to leave the scene.


    The houses and shops on both sides swept past one by one. The outsiders started to gather more and more on surrounding roads but Kevin did not have the mind to observe this.


    He was bottling up with rage and wanted to release it, but he didn''t know how to.


    He dared not take action. The Great Wizard that Alice found had his own wizard tower. There were high and low ranks between Great Wizards. Great Wizards that has the support of nobles to build their own wizard towers were different amongst the common Level Fives.


    A Level Five Great Wizard within the range of the wizard tower could fight against a Level Six professional.


    Hence, that old man that was named Great Wizard Chandela wasn''t someone he could just go against or defy.


    Now he just wanted to return him to see his daughter. As long as his daughter was able to have a better development and future, everything else did not matter.


    His daughter now was his everything.


    He placed all hope onto Maria.


    The town wasn''t large. The horse carriage exited the town and passed Forest Cathedral to his household residence. A little estate that wasn''t that bad.


    A large pinwheel lay erected between a few areas of infertile land. A black stone house was deep within with its own front garden. Looking from afar, one could see a figure caring for the plants in the garden.


    Kevin looked at the figure in the faraway garden. It was a young graceful teenager more than ten years old. She was similarly dressed in a wizard''s robe, but there was a special white robe with a moon crescent symbol embedded in the chest.


    That crescent moon represented an elite group under the Grey Shadow Society - Moon Trace Watchers. Those who were chosen to join the Moon Trace Watchers were absolute geniuses who were elite and had the chance to venture immediately into Great Wizardry.


    The Grey Shadow Society was a large wizard organization that stretched across the Deladia Empire. If the Snow City of Deladia Empire was the highest assembly point for imperial wizards, then the Grey Shadow Society was the entire region, including all the wizards'' gigantic alliances in all five major empires. They represented the glory and ultimate achievement of battle wizards in the north. It was not something that could be compared with the Snow City. It was worthy of the strongest existence of the highest order.


    Every time he changed upon this crescent moon symbol in his daughter, Kevin would overcome with deep comfort. Although he couldn''t make it, his daughter could.


    The horse carriage galloped along the pathway between the fields and reached the front of the house.


    Kevin got down the carriage and instructed the coachman to park the carriage. He took large strides to his daughter.


    "Maria." He wasn''t close but his loud voice was heard first. "Weren''t you in Casweya? How did you find the time to visit me?"

 1276 Summon 2

    Maria shifted her head over. She had an oval face and white skin. It was just that her eyes were a little small; this was caused by nearsightedness from reading and studying. Her small eyes ruined her overall appearance, channeling an aura of reservedness.


    "I''m back for a matter. Father, why did you head out? I made my way back to inform you of an important matter!" She spoke with seriousness and let go of the watering can in her hands. Kevin noticed that watering pot had run out of water for a long time, yet she did not realize this. It was obvious the matter for which she returned was important.


    "What is it, you say?" His mutter hid a few syllables and released a still boundary around to prevent any leakage of sound.


    The half transparent membrane slowly spread out, enveloping over the both of them. The noise from the outside world was completely isolated while the voices inside wouldn''t be able to make their way out.


    Maria looked at Kevin gravely.


    "Father, do not accept the badge from the Dragon Alliance Treaty of the empire! Do not ever!"


    Dragon Alliance Treaty? Badge? Kevin was stunned. First, he received an advice from Selena and his daughter came from afar to warn him.


    Even a silly person like Kevin would know something was wrong.


    He was about to surprise his daughter with the badge he clenched behind his back. Hearing this, he simply couldn''t whip it out.


    "Why?" He struggled to calm down and asked in a low tone.


    "Those who held the badges distributed this time have the obligation to participate in war and required to go into battle!" Maria answered in solemnity, "These badges could definitely summon the drags, but they too are obligated to join the battle."


    "Battle? Against the Black Streak Empire?" Kevin felt his throat going dry. He had some prediction that he had to pay a price as every want needed to be obtained by sacrifice. He just didn''t think that this badge would require him to pay such a high price.


    "Yes, the moment of your acceptance of the badge and signing your own name would automatically count as signing an agreement to participate the war against Black Streak Empire. Our Deladia Empire is located at the juncture between the North and South. We must first take care of the Black Streak Empire separated in the middle in order to seize the rich soil of the South. This is a war that could destroy an empire; it not a child''s play!" His daughter, Maria solemnly declared.


    "This is news gathered from mother. She specifically came to warn me from receiving that badge. Only those wizards who have no more hope would gamble by accepting the badge."


    Looking at Maria''s concerned face, Kevin felt lumps up his throat. He didn''t know how to tell his daughter that everything was too late.


    He knew what he was made of. He was only a wizard who thrived through wizardry potions. If he could depend on his accumulated savings on selling potions to summon dragons a couple of times, then if he were to stand in battle his death would almost be inevitable.


    He had never actually battled anyone before. He was a purely academic wizard.


    The badge was already in his hands. This meant that the deed was sealed.


    Kevin tightened his grip on the badge. He felt helpless and depressed.


    Compared to the resources on his mother''s side, he was only a regular little Level Four wizard. He possessed no strong connections and could not provide his daughter with enough assistance.


    As for her mother, she would often bring her to gatherings of those young nobles, receive advice from other Great Wizards, and travel abroad to other wizard organizations for study exchanges.


    This was how his daughter came about to be a Level Four wizard at a young age, entering the Moon Trace Watchers and becoming a genius elite that was nurtured with importance.


    Seeing her father''s expression, Maria sensed something amiss. She immediately became nervous.


    "Don''t tell me, father, you...!"


    Kevin took a deep breath in and looked into his daughter''s worried eyes. In the end, he nodded.


    "I have already accepted the badge..."


    These words had Maria''s heart sink deep but more so was sorrow. As a wizard, she had already considered the worst case scenario before her arrival.


    "It... It''s okay. Don''t you still have me? Don''t worry, father. I have arranged everything."


    "Arranged? What arrangement?" Kevin was stumped. He didn''t think that his daughter could be this calm.


    Wars against the Black Streak Empire had been known to always lead to major losses. Joining the battle, even if he was a wizard, the chances of him returning was only estimated at one in four.


    Maria drew a deep breath in and regained her composure.


    "Don''t worry, I have upgraded to a Level Four battle wizard!" She extended her arm to grab Kevin''s hand. "This time, I will protect you!!"


    Gazing at Kevin''s hesitation, he quickly took out a small round black rock.


    "Look, this is the proof of my drop out. I have discontinued my studies. You need not worry about my studies. I have taken care of everything..."


    Smack!


    A clear and crisp sound was heard.


    Kevin''s hand was raised up high. He gazed at his daughter in sorrow, pain, and disappointment.


    "Did I say I need your help?! Who told you to drop out! Who told you to drop out! Huh!?"


    Kevin couldn''t help it as his tears gushed out of his eyes. He would never have thought that not only could he not help his daughter, he even became her burden.


    What was the battlefield of the Black Streak? It has a death poll as high as one in four! If anything were to happen to his daughter joining him in battle...


    "It''s okay," Maria''s right cheek was swollen but a smile still beamed through. "I have already dropped out and your badge may not be able to summon a dragon. We don''t need to worry too much. Maybe we''ll be able to summon the strongest black dragon?"


    Kevin looked at his daughter with torrenting pain creeping up wave by wave.


    Finally, the father-daughter duo couldn''t help but embrace each other and whimpered.


    They did not resemble one bit the honorable wizards.


    ******


    At night.


    All the wizards in town and wizards who accepted the badges gathered in the town center. A huge canopy was built there. All the citizens around were moved out to leave this town.


    Accepting the badge was equivalent to signing an agreement. The empire would be in charge of the aftermath. Those who survived the battlefield and established a certain meritorious service would regain freedom and the dragon in pact would naturally be the wizard''s personal pledged partner.


    This was the so-called high risk, high reward.


    To be pledged partners with a dragon, even a low-level wizard would pose a huge threat to high-level wizards. After all, even the weakest White Dragon and green dragon clan was a level six standard in adulthood.


    So under such conditions, naturally there would be many wizards willing to take the risk.


    Kevin, together with his daughter who was dead set on following him, participated in this Summoning Affair at night.


    He brought along his large amount of summoning materials based on the requirement. A mountain of gemstones, heptachromic gemstones and a small bottle of sulfur. It was said that it could increase the chances of summoning a black dragon and a red dragon.


    This time they could choose the strongest black dragon or the second, red dragon. They were really fond of volcanos.


    Carrying hope with them, they were dressed in long robes and standing in the midst of the crowd. Tens of wizards formed a circle and listened to a Great Wizard of the empire in the center speak nonsense in the center. Most of their thoughts were running through the kind of dragons they would be able to summon in a moment.


    "The empire has sacrificed a lot to be able to sign the Dragon Alliance Treaty with the dragon clans. I hope everyone would appreciate this opportunity and chance upon the benefits from the risk. Think about it. Once you return from the battlefield, you can have a dragon partner of your own. Your social standing in this empire will be equivalent to that of a Great Wizard."


    The Imperial Great Wizard shouted with a tone of instigation.


    "Tonight will be when you summon your pledged partner. Once you have summoned, you can not go back on your word. The successful wizards will heed the enlistment and onward to the border for mopping-up operations to battle with warlocks and wizards of Black Streak Empire. The process isn''t as dangerous as you''ve imagined. There will be hunting troops and assassination troops that will be assisting you. As long as you''re careful enough, completing the mission is a cinch..."


    Hearing the Great Wizard''s nonsense, Maria tightened her grip on Kevin''s hand. She could feel the nervousness of her father.


    "Don''t worry, father. I am here with you. It will be okay."


    "I''m alright, I''m alright. It will be fine." Kevin nodded but felt sorrow creeping in. As a father and a senior, to think needed his daughter to comfort him in turn.


    "I have participated in assassination and hunting talks in the academy. Don''t worry, it will be alright." Maria was calm. It didn''t look like she was faking it.


    Kevin felt his palms seating but gave his daughter a gentle smile, although even he felt his smile was stiff.


    The success and failure would be known tonight. If he could summon a black or red dragon, then his safety would be ensured by a whole lot.


    ******


    Garen had recently distributed the majority of his attribute points evenly between attributes. He only left a bit on his Draconic Aura.


    Within the span of more than a year, he had accumulated 62 potential points. Adding these potential points onto the attributes wasn''t the same as other worlds that require many points to increase just one attribute. There were no restrictions here as one potential point was equivalent to one attribute point.


    However, Garen suspected that it might be due to the fact that this body had risen to an essential change stage.


    Once this body achieved a qualitative change, to rise it would require an amass of more potential points to a tad of attribute increase. This was the process of forcefully increasing a qualitative change. Truth be told, heaving the body would require a huge supply of energy and couldn''t be done just by mere potential points.


    Yet Garen had yet to meet with this circumstance. He suspected that either the potential points here were embedded with enough energy, or that the body of this White Dragon had yet to reach to the qualitative change level.


    Overall, he took sixty points out of these sixty-two potential points to be evenly distributed among these attributes which were strength, agility, and vitality, each attribute by twenty points.


    The remaining two points was appointed the Draconic Aura.


    Muscles defined everything.


    Garen had always believed in this.


    Strength was everything. He was most proficient in this strategy. The majority of his combat strategy hovered around the sportsmanship of strength above all so increasing strength and mass was the fastest way to effectively combat and ensure survival. The remaining free time after could then be used to research on the wizardry system.


    The required potential points for Draconic Aura was two points. Adding these, his Draconic Aura was now level three.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.

 1277 Communicate 1

    Initially, he did not plan on adding to this as increasing muscle masses to their optimum was his goal. However, after joining the youth class, to participate in the Dragon Alliance Treaty and hunt at the battlefield, the lowest condition was a Level Three Draconic Aura.


    Garen wasn''t interested in the Draconic Aura. He only went to Level Two in a matter of a year. He used these two potential points to increase it to Level Three in order to reach the minimum requirements.


    The White Dragons gathered around the stone platform that resembled a sundial that they had performed a divine assessment at Elder''s Peak.


    More than fifty young dragons quietly observed the white elder dragon holding a staff in the middle, listening to his speech. (TN: Raw dictates elder dragon as ''it'' but previously mentioned the gender as male)


    "The Deladia Empire did not reach an agreement with just us.


    "There''s the black dragons, red dragons, green dragons and the most powerful wizardry dragon, the purple dragons, that signed the war agreement. Once you as pledged summoning targets are summoned, you must remember not to cause any conflict with other dragon clans. Exercise self-control as there''s no clan to protect you on the outside. Once you stir up trouble, no one will save you. Only you can save yourself or perhaps your wizard companions. To the other respective clans, we, the White Dragon Clan''s vitality is not as black dragon nor red dragon, our venom couldn''t be compared to those of the green dragons, our wizardry couldn''t match the purple dragons, but we have our advantages. The Frost Dragon Breath isn''t much here, but it is a huge threat to other races and species, so pay attention to this and be careful not to spew the dragon breath just anywhere."


    "Basically, don''t spit at random places," a White Dragon whispered beside Garen. He was Reyman (TN: Author referred Reyman as ''It'' here). This fellow was spiteful of Garen joining the youth class, so he acquired special privileges to enter himself.


    "I hope my companion is a Great Wizard," One female dragon muttered at the side. It was Mehsa, Leona''s older sister. Because of Leona, she became close to Garen. In the beginning, she took extra care of Garen, but now the relationship between them was mutual.


    "Ditto," Reyman whispered.


    Garen wasn''t bothered by it. He had now increased 21 points evenly on three attributes in just a little over a year. An average of twenty points was brought about by the increase of attribute points. This was an abnormally terrifying average increase within one year compared to the natural growth of this White Dragon body.


    In other words, if he had not had the increase in attribute points, this White Dragon physique could not slowly grow strong with a slight average each year. It would be impossible to join the youth class or compare to these young dragons.


    Now, Garen''s main three attributes had reached a horrifying 46 points. His entire body seemed smaller than an average young dragon, but no one could tell that the power hidden in his body surpassed that of an adult White Dragon.


    Having his strength at 47 points was above the average of the adult White Dragons. If it weren''t for Garen being wary of causing a scene and keeping it concealed, he would have reigned over the youth class.


    If time allowed, he could achieve the power limit of the soul. His limit wasn''t referring to the restriction of the White Dragons here. Instead, it referred to the attribute limit accumulated from reincarnating over and over.


    "When will the summoning begin?" Garen did not ask about anything else but this.


    "I don''t know. Now we are sending out the token positioning. Once the wizards begin to summon, they will automatically communicate via consciousness to reach a deal before opening the teleportation portal," Mehsa explained, "the profit of the teleportation is out of the wizard''s pocket. Although it seems to be our pay, after subtracting the materials to open the teleportation portal here, whatever left that''s ours isn''t much."


    "Another thing, this is also our only best bet of obtaining other resources. The nearby hunting activity does not provide a hunting ground for us young dragons to set out," Mehsa added on. "I heard that we will be battling it out with those from the Black Streak Empire. I wonder who will be our enemies?"


    "There seems to be all kind of living beings, mainly the Demon Warlocks and various other demons."


    A few of the young dragons were murmuring softly beside.


    Garen had on an indifferent face as he stood amongst the group of dragons. He was full of brawn but wasn''t outstanding in stature. The young dragons around him dared not come close to him. Only a few familiar dragons stood at close range.


    The elder dragon in the middle raised his staff and chanted out loud. He then scattered some powdery substance. The glittery substance fluttered into the hands of all the White Dragons, becoming a frozen flower.


    "Bring this back with you. These are the coordinates. There will be the first summoning tonight, you can take whatever item from the summoning wizard as fixed coordinates of a summoning portal. You won''t be needing this item then," The elder dragon raised his voice.


    "As for the gain of your compensation, it would depend on yourself. Seize the opportunity well."


    The elder dragon then cast a teleportation spell and opened up a glowing portal. He walked into it and disappeared in an instant.


    The white glowing portal swiftly diminished into dimness.


    The surrounding White Dragons then dispersed. Each of them carried a frozen flower with them. Some of them were discussing in low voices, some of them wrestling about without a care in the world. It seemed that the attitude of the White Dragons was different toward this battle.


    Garen, together with Mehsa and Reyman, flew toward their new residence.


    The location that was once a cave was completely abandoned. Garen depended on special privileges to reside in a cave of a peak nearby the training site.


    Bringing along Safour and the rest in, the clan has started starting to secure the source of their meals.


    They flew in the direction they came from.


    Mehsa was chattering casually about the latest gossip while Reyman was analyzing the frozen flower in his claws. The three dragons were flying side-by-side.


    Beneath them was the starry glow of lamps in the night. Within the thick forest were the many soldiers of the Deladia Empire. They were holding a torch or carrying a spear walking around a tower.


    "These matters will be accompanied by the Deladia Empire''s Level Five Great Knights. The territory near this place is divided into five Great Knights, all of whom are Level Five," Mehsa was well-informed. "Of course, to us dragons, Level Five is nothing.


    "We''ll at the peak of level six once we''re grownups."


    "But, to be adults we need at least another few decades," Reyman suddenly added.


    "That''s why many humans just can''t wait. They are a species with a short lifespan. Life''s too short that they hope that they''re able to summon adult dragons to be their pledged partners. We are only secondary." Mehsa laughed at herself.


    Garen did not speak, instead, he lowered his head to look at the soldiers in the forest. These soldiers looked like the whites of Earth from afar. Their skins were pale, with tall and sturdy builds. One look was enough to tell that they lacked sunlight. The armor on their bodies was mostly large silver pieces of chest plates. It seemed that these soldiers were carefully selected to be able to be stationed here.


    Suddenly, he felt something buzzing in his head. The frozen flower in his claw was emitting a man''s voice.


    "I, Kevin Madgerski Raydra, once again call upon our alliances outside the summoning portal in the space-time borders to face battle together on account of this reward."


    A short Draconic language incantation was shouted out in chant.


    Garen felt bees buzzing about in his head. This was his first summon, and quickly the summoning rewards were listed out one by one. Each of them was explained about their functions and values, all of which was introduced by this person named Kevin.


    "It''s starting! It''s starting! My summoner is talking to me." Mehsa suddenly stopped her nonsense and cried out loud.


    "Me too." Reyman nodded. He took a glance at Garen. This White Dragon that he made a resolution to defeat had his eyes closed all the same. It seemed he has too, received a summoning.


    "I received over ten," Reyman whispered.


    Garen popped open his eyes and gazed at him in amazement. He then continued to tidy up the various voices in his head.


    It wasn''t just Kevin. A pile of different voices was jumbled in his head. Different summoners were reciting Draconic language in different accents.


    Large amounts of material rewards were displayed.


    This summoning was basically a seller-seller selection process.


    The White Dragons were selecting a buyer and spoils that came with it, while the summoners were selecting base on the dragon''s strength.


    The crucial point was that the reward of the first summoning was only the most basic compensation. If they were fronted with a strong enemy in later days, then they must increase from this basic compensation.


    Garen was now selecting his summoner. He could see the amount of the summoner''s material rewards. At the same time, the other party would be able to observe his appearance.


    Just as he had expected, the tens of buzzing voices that were echoing in his head at first slowly reduced to only five to six after the exchange of image projectors. A few master summoners with rich rewards had obviously given up.


    The remaining five to six voices consisted of two humans and three dark elves. Garen did not know how the dark elves made their way into the Deladia Empire. These beings that lived underground and loved spiders were not very welcome, but it wasn''t something he needed to consider now.


    He should be making a decision now.


    "So many humans. Over ten of them. Not bad." Mehsa started to stir. "And fifty over dark elves!"


    "Me too, with over twenty humans and three dark elves. But never mind these dark things, they''re way too ugly!" Reyman muttered.


    Level Five Draconic Aura really commanded the market...


    Garen sighed. He was a little regretful not upgrading his Draconic Aura to high levels. He didn''t think that the selection process in the summoning would be executed this way. The others wouldn''t be able to see his ability and could only pass judgment base on appearance and Draconic Aura.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    His current Draconic Aura was only increased to Level Three after a year. It was considered quite high amongst dragon whelps. Yet, within a group of young dragons, it was nothing much as they were more at level four, five and even six.


    "Heed my call and Reederdarisha''s call, oh great dragon race..."


    "Oh warrior from the sky who overlook and look upon everything, your flesh and blood will be with me, I will forever battle..."


    "...The Large Axe Tribe will be your most faithful and dependable companion! Come, all my cash in here!"


    Among these few summoners, only three materials were sizeable. Of course, this was in comparison with other summoners. The first was a dark elf named Zoel. Who would have thought this dark race was rich as although she took out peculiar items, the majority of them were rare shiny Crystal Cores.


    Garen chose her without any second thought.


    However...


    When he pushed his awareness over for an exchange, that Zoel carefully sized him up before revealing a face of disappointment.


    "Damn! It''s a dragon whelp! Deenisha! Deenisha! Get over here!..." The voice traveled far and the communication was cut off. It was obvious the summoner was not satisfied with Garen.


    Indeed, no matter how much of a genius Garen was, they were going up to a war. The wizards required immediate combat effectiveness and not future potential. A dragon''s potential served no purpose to them as that would only prove at least a few decades away.

 1278 Communicate 2

    Garen was speechless about having his communication cut off like this. He could only turn to the person with the second highest Crystal Core reward. It was a soldier dressed in full armor and helmet. It seemed to be a man who was serious and solemn.


    He quickly pushed his awareness over.


    The soldier first was stunned then proceeded to communicate with Garen.


    "Your Draconic Aura isn''t much."


    "My Draconic Aura may be a little weak, but it reached the standard," Garen argued.


    "You''re still a dragon whelp?" A frown covered the face of the soldier under the helmet. "I have no objection on smaller beings but I need to ask this beforehand, can you breathe fire?"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "... I''m sorry, I''m a White Dragon... I can only breath ice..." Garen was helpless.


    "White Dragons can only breath ice? I thought all dragons breathed fire... Erm..." The soldier was dumbfounded and quickly regained composure, "Then I apologize. I need a fire-breathing dragon. This has been a dream of mine since little," He apologized endlessly, "sorry, sorry."


    "It''s alright..."


    Garen did not know how this person could initiate a summoning ceremony. He didn''t look like a wizard.


    The third.


    It was a tall muscular bald man. He wore gold earrings, two bronze wristbands and had a chest full of hair. Beside him was the carcass of an unknown large beast.


    "Quickly now, I pay a handsome reward. The Large Axe Tribe never discriminates against companions. Even though you''re very little, even though you''re only a White Dragon and not the black dragon I want, it''s okay. Leave the war to me. You just need to stand behind and breath fire!" The bald man said crudely.


    Garen looked at the carcass beside him. Although it was camouflaged, that was a dragon, right? A young dragon that hadn''t died for long.


    Did this person think he was an idiot? Only an idiot wouldn''t be able to see through this obvious summoning trap.


    Garen was speechless. The supposed summoning trap was to bait dragons through rewards then proceed to kill the dragon for materials, treasure, and resource.


    These tactics were normally done by evil wizards. It must be some disturbance by the Black Streak Empire.


    He decisively ended the conversation.


    It was empty and vast in his mind.


    The remaining summoners were simply too wretched.


    There wasn''t any Demon Core and Garen only needed them. The majority of these summoners were weak. The weakest was a Level Two. Seeing her pale state at the verge of spewing blood, bringing this companion to war would be inviting death with open arms.


    Ignored.


    He looked at another one. A tall skinny pole, wearing an impoverished wizard robe. The reward was a few old-looking antiques. Yet, there were no wizardry elements to them. How silly of him to summon a dragon with these things.


    Ignored again.


    The last one was this Kevin''s voice that first jumped into his mind. Although he hadn''t yet responded to him, he did not give up.


    Garen was a little surprised. He offered to push his awareness over to be in touch with him.


    "Do you have Demon Cores?"


    "Yes, I have two, two Level Fours!" Kevin seemed frightened and immediately replied. He released out a summoning request and any dragons with a slight compatibility would heed this request. However, up to now, the summoning ceremony was almost over, yet only a little White Dragon responded to him. He had already made up his mind to give up and thought that there would not be any dragon that would take to him.


    The things that he could take out to attract the dragons were too little after all, apart from some jewels. The dragons loved collecting these jewel, but the main attraction was the tools or scrolls that were useful to battles.


    He heard nothing from the black dragons and red dragons that he was the most hopeful for. The purple dragons cut off communications from him at the first second.


    As communications broke off one by one, Kevin fell into a deep slum.


    But at the very last moment, he didn''t think the last contact transferred over his awareness.


    "It seems that you don''t have any other dragon choices," said Garen in a low voice.


    Kevin was in awe as he lowered his head without saying a word. He hadn''t always been a confident person even as a Level Four wizard. Furthermore, he was facing a White Dragon that was the weakest of all dragons, but a dragon whelp was still a valuable kind of level four beings. His unrealistic hope was lost and he should be lucky to have a dragon that was willing to choose him.


    Garen still has plenty of other choices such as the underground black ghosts but he really didn''t like these dirty-looking coals. Not just their appearance but the spider goddess that these black coals worshipped. That fellow was known for teasing souls, and if an abnormal soul such as his were to go over...


    "Right, him then. I don''t have any other choices." Garen helplessly stared at Kevin.


    Kevin could see in Garen''s eyes that misery loved company. Both of them were leftovers from the selection and could only depend on each other.


    "I''ll say... Could the rewards be replaced by Demonic Cores from now on?" Garen started bargaining, "I don''t oppose to jewels."


    "Sure, no problem," Kevin answered swiftly.


    "It''s best not to look for me if it''s a battle with no Demonic Cores. It''s not worth it," Garen continued to demand, "if it''s a Level Five being and the risk of danger is heightened, then you need to increase the reward to at least one Level Four Crystal Core."


    "This... Isn''t it a little expensive?" It was hard on Kevin as his income wasn''t that expandable, and taking out two Level Four Crystal Core at a time was already much. Yet, now Garen requested for three Level Four Crystal Cores for every summon.


    Three! That was a lot as it would be enough to buy the most expensive villa in town and hire over ten beautiful maids for a month of hedonism.


    "This is already really cheap," Garen casually added. "Just see how you manage it. Don''t tell me you can''t even take out these small number?"


    He seemed casual and indifferent during negotiations, but he was, in fact, serious within. This person was his only way and best bet to swiftly gather the Demon Cores.


    Ever since he got in trouble with that Level Seven Suffering Knight, Garen felt that something dangerous was waiting for him in the outer world mountain range so he dared not hunt for Demon Cores himself and stayed within reach of the Elder''s Peak.


    Now this summoner here would be the main source of Demon Cores for a long time. He mustn''t take this lightly.


    "And, the summoning should not be less than once in a month," Garen continued. If he were to summon him once in a blue moon, what would he gain then?


    "Your requests are... too high. I can''t bear the expenses..." Kevin was silent for a long time before answering in difficulty.


    Garen was also speechless.


    The two stared at each other. For a moment, nobody said anything.


    After a while, Garen helplessly asked.


    "How much can you take on?"


    No matter how horribly he fared, he was still a dragon. A White Dragon whelp that was a level being. Even if a Level Four wizard was employed, it wouldn''t be this cheap, right? If one Level Four Crystal Core was used to open the summoning portal, wouldn''t that mean Garen could only earn that little profit only?


    "I... I only have these two Level Four Crystal Cores..." Kevin''s face was flushed red as he answered with his head lowered. "If I sold my house then I can push in one Level Three Crystal Core..." This was all his inheritance.


    All these years in order to provide for his daughter''s studies, he devoted himself to making potions and the profits were mostly for his daughter''s spending. Wizardry was the most expensive profession as just the wasted materials on experiments each year was enough to cause bankruptcy to a village noble. A small part of those failed experiments could be used to exchange some resources while the remains could only be destroyed and wasted. There was just so much money burned off in a year.


    For most regular people, Kevin was financially doing well. However, to the dragon race, he was poverty-stricken and poor to the point that he couldn''t afford an underwear.


    "These can be the cost for a one-time summoning..." Garen had no words but he has lost all other contacts. He has to choose this person. If he knew this would happen, he would have chosen... Sigh... He suddenly recalled that nobody chose him, apart from this Kevin.


    In other words, he himself was left with no other choice.


    "So, I can only depend on myself?" Garen thought to himself. He first had some certain expectations that perhaps he could earn higher level Demon Cores through summoning to increase his growth. It looked like now it was just wild wishes.


    This person named Kevin was not only a poor man. He didn''t seem like a combat wizard. He was the academic type. There would be no hope for him in war. There was no telling how long he could survive.


    "Okay okay, don''t come bother me if there''s no matter then." Garen forcefully sighed and cut off his dream of earning Demon Cores.


    "Now give me something from your side. And that''s it."


    "Oh... I''m sorry. I''m just too poor... This is the deposit for the first summoning," Kevin helplessly placed his Level Four Crystal Core up the summoning ceremony.


    With a swoosh, the Crystal Core disappeared and appeared before Garen. Garen''s awareness has also left a mark on Kevin.


    The human and the dragon had instantly sworn in a partnership through the exchange.


    "That''s it then. I like to sleep so don''t look for me if you don''t have any matters. Let''s talk when you have collected enough Demon Cores," Garen left these words in a depressed mood and cut off the communications.


    On the other side.


    Kevin walked down from the dimmed lit summoning formation. His daughter went up to hold onto him with concern.


    "How was it, father? Did you manage to pledge a dragon?"


    Looking at his daughter''s eyes of expectation, Kevin wanted to deny as pledging and not pledging made no difference considering Garen''s attitude. Yet, he didn''t want to see his daughter''s disappointed face, so he nodded and forced a smile.


    "I was lucky to meet a White Dragon. Although White Dragons are the weakest dragons, but the fella I met is very strong. I was surprised at first. That head, that body, couldn''t be compared to a regular White Dragon. He was basically equivalent to a black dragon. He''s really strong!" He was unexpectedly proficient in spinning lies. But the request for rewards is simply too much... He needed at least three Level Four Crystal Cores. I convinced him to lower to two level four and one level three Crystal Cores." Kevin pretended to put on a satisfied but pocket-burned face.


    "This is still very expensive. But at the very least, father, you have a dragon companion. You have at least a trump card at the battlefield." His daughter was genuinely happy for him.


    "So it''s best we do not summon him frequently but only at crucial times," Kevin quickly added. Although he didn''t want to lie to his daughter, he really did not want her disappointed.

 1279 Outing 1

    After settling on the summoning contract, Garen retreated back to the cave. A Level Four Demon Core wasn''t even the least bit enough.


    Safour was carefully drawing something in the cave. It seemed to be some learning task in the spellcrafting course.


    Sathree and Satwo were off somewhere. They were recently seen out and about.


    "Hey, four," Garen pushed aside his restlessness and casually asked. "Do you know where did Satwo and Sathree go?"


    "I''m not sure... I think I heard Satwo mentioned about going to some underground palace to hunt. I heard that it''s an accompanied combat with those from the Deladia Empire," Safour turned to answer.


    "The Deladia Empire?" Garen was stunned. This Deladia Empire seemed to be everywhere. Its relation with the White Dragon clan seemed to be closer.


    "Yes, now all the dragon whelps are to participle in this teamwork to nurture combat compatibility." Safour glanced at Garen and found that he was a little agitated.


    "I''m heading out to buy some materials." He found an excuse to leave promptly. He really didn''t want to be the receiving end of Garen''s foul mood.


    "Buy materials?" Garen was stunned again.


    He flew out and followed Safour from behind. They quickly flew to the bottom of the Snow Peak to a block built by humans. It was bustling there. There were five or six tradespeople bawling with a dragon guard at the side, protecting the peace.


    The trades here must receive the permission of the elders.


    "I really don''t know how these people obtained the White Dragon''s elders'' approval." Garen flew down and followed behind a few dragon whelps. He retrieved his wings and left Safour alone as he walked to a stall to have a look.


    The tradesperson was shouting a language he did not comprehend. However, this did not hinder them from communicating as the tradesperson immediately flashed a smile and proceed to raise a sign in Draconic language saying, "One Level Three Frost Type Crystal Core to exchange with two items."


    Garen was speechless as he looked at the items in the stall. There were all shiny, manmade items that could blind one''s eyes. Apart from them being pleasing to the eye, they had no function.


    What caught him speechless was the dragon whelps that bought them. A dragon whelp beside him was forthright to whip up a Level Three Demon Core to trade for two glass items at another stall. It was obvious that the items were glass-made ones that did not worth anything.


    "What a ripoff!"


    Garen was speechless and went around other places. Some of them were selling man-made oil painting, some were selling high-quality imitation antiques, but most of them were selling various book reference.


    These book references were extremely expensive and were sold by the number of Demon Cores. Moreover, they weren''t useful. They were all literature like novels and poems. They were mostly not even in Draconic language. Garen only recognized headings in the banners the tradespeople raised.


    Leaving the trading street, Garen gave it a thought that if he wanted more Demon Cores to enhance himself, heading out to hunt was still the way to go.


    He was still in debt of that mysterious woman''s help, it stood within reason that he should go and thank her.


    Although he felt that the outside harbored great danger, if he wouldn''t head out due to danger and hold himself back just because of danger, then he wouldn''t call himself Garen.


    He thought about it before flying off.


    The current him was no longer the person from a year ago. Perhaps that danger wouldn''t pose that big of a threat.


    ******


    Fiery Blaze Mountain Range.


    Beneath an area of overly white snow, the ground started to rumble.


    The noon sunlight was just beaming down, reflecting a white glow on the snow.


    Clang!


    Suddenly, the snow area was pulled open. A large amount of snow splattered about. A human-like life form in black armor was held in there.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Hiss...


    The snow on the surface of the human-like life form''s armor melted and vaporized, giving others the feeling that it was at a boiling level. In truth, the armor almost bore no warmth, it even possessed an even lower temperature than the snow around.


    "It''s here..." This human form was the Suffering Knight that attacked Garen earlier. His body was covered with layer and layer of something similar to black oil. That black oil started to melt and drip onto the ground, but the droplets strangely disappeared.


    "It''s here... Have you informed master?"


    At the other side, about a few thousand meters away, a black Suffering Knight erected from the snow the same way. The surface of his body was covered with a thick layer of something in oil form.


    "Master can see it earlier than we can. Let''s first capture this abnormal soul. We should be able to find out what we want to know from it." The two Suffering Knights were a few thousand meters apart yet they were conversing as though they were face to face. Their voices weren''t loud but could transmit to each other''s ears.


    Swoosh!


    The two Suffering Knights soared to the sky and headed in the direction of Garen.


    ******


    The white snow mountain had a sharp peak as a volcano.


    Looking from afar, the snow mountain was blue all around. Flying toward the snow mountain, Garen felt the air was cleaner. Compared to the era of technology, the cleanliness of air was far beyond imagination.


    Leaving the White Dragon Clan''s territory, he dashed toward the Fiery Blaze Mountain Range.


    The last time he was shuttling back and forth within Fiery Blaze Mountain Range and was pursued unintentionally and arrived at the place.


    Now, to find that area again would be difficult as he was sought after during that time and had the snowstorm affecting his vision.


    Flying above the mountain range, Garen gazed down.


    With shrouds of white clouds lingering, the dark mountain figure appeared indistinctly under the camouflage of snow.


    He could sometimes see Giant Frost Iguanas moving around the mountain.


    These Giant Iguanas had poor visions. They were only able to sniff their enemy at close range. The mountain was bustling with activity as he could see more than ten Giant Iguanas scattered around.


    "This sort of place is what we call a good place to hunt." Garen sighed deeply as he charged down toward a Giant Iguana.


    He planned to hunt while looking for that woman that saved him.


    The Fiery Blaze Mountain Range had Giant Iguanas that were at least Level Four. The remaining were either Level Five or level Six. Of course, it was still the outer range here, so although these level four Giant Iguanas were at the same level as him, it was only a representation of their spellcrafting and ability. On strength and vitality, Level Four Giant Iguanas were still considered powerful.


    As a safety precaution, Garen followed the wind''s current down and slowly flapped his wings to a pass near the Giant Iguana to prevent it from smelling his scent.


    His current strength and agility were beyond the past. His strength at 47 points had him similar to an adult White Dragon. An Agility at 47 points enabled him to zip pass tens of meters in a second without acceleration. A Vitality at 40 points would have him collide with a Giant Iguana unscathed.


    The present Garen was an adult White Dragon in the clothing of a whelp.


    The Giant Iguana afar was lowering its head chomping on a snow deer''s carcass. Red blood was splattered everywhere. There were some areas where it was frozen to red icicles.


    Garen gently landed on the ground. His strong limbs deeply scratched into the snow. He crouched his body and paced himself towards the Giant Iguana.


    The Giant Iguana took no notice as its white sharp fangs were feasting the snow deer''s carcass in large bites, making crackling noises.


    Swish!


    Garen leaped forward and took a tiger bite.


    Similar to a white snowstorm, he pressed onto the Giant Iguana and took a bite, tearing its throat apart. The decades of meters in distance went by in a flash.


    Blood sprinkled out and splashed on Garen''s face, but he wasn''t bothered.


    He stood up and got up from the Giant Iguana. His claw grasped mercilessly on the collapsing Iguana. He looked on as it whimpered and struggled in pain but was tightly clasped by his claw.


    With a swish, Garen clawed and drugged out the crystal core in the Giant Iguana, waving it around in his claw.


    "Level Four Crystal Core, as simple as that." He had given up on obtaining and hunting Crystal Core through summoning. That pest of a wizard was perhaps on the battlefield and have died in some corner.


    "Next up."


    He left the Giant Iguana''s carcass and fluttered his wings in the air.


    He quickly targeted a Level Four Giant Iguana.


    Using the same sneak attack tactic, the Giant Iguana did not even lay eyes on Garen''s shadow and activate its frozen armor when it was bit in the throat in a blink of an eye, breathing its last.


    The tactic was similar to assassination and succeeded at any turn.


    Using the same way, Garen continuously gained two Crystal Cores. He started to aim at the Level Five Giant Iguana he wounded the last time.


    The Level Five Giant Iguanas were larger than the Level Fours, especially that long large streamlined tail that actively whipped around like a python.


    If someone was fooled by the Level Five Giant Iguanas'' heavy build and appearance, they would be met with extremely swift tail-whipping once they were close.


    Garen had shared that fate the last time.


    This time, he planned to make an attempt.


    Without any disguise, Garen landed on the snowy ground and took large strides toward the Giant Iguana.


    The back of this large Iguana has a burned scar. It seemed that it once battled with an enemy proficient with flames and left a mark. Its skin was tough and a layer of thick frozen armor covered its entire body. Different from Level Four, the frozen armors of Level Five Giant Iguanas could cover their entire body.


    Sensing danger nearing, the Level Five became alert as it lowered its head at Garen. Arching its body, he was in a position to charge ahead.


    "It looks like it has a certain level of intelligence." Garen burst into laughter. A Level Five Giant Iguana wouldn''t normally use its head to attack. Yet, for this Giant Iguana to pose in such a position, it was obviously trying to confuse the enemy so those who thought it would approach with the head would let their guard down about its tail.


    However, Garen wanted a face-on attack, so whatever the Giant Iguana was planning on, he wasn''t that much bothered.


    Walking over, Garen started to accelerate towards the Giant Iguana when the distance between them was about fifty meters apart.


    The Giant Iguana tensed up its muscles.


    Roar!


    It howled out loud, causing the ground to tremble. This Level Five technique burst out as a trembling splattered some snow around the area. A large wave of tremor mixed with snowflakes was going to collide onto Garen who was charging over.


    Garen did not avoid and used his elbow to block head-on, banging violently onto it.

 1280 Outing 2

    Wham!


    With a large slam, the Giant Iguana took a few steps back. The ice armor on its frontal head had a huge crack. Its quake was destroyed and his Level Five ice armor was almost broken apart.


    The powerful effects of Garen''s 47 points of Strength had finally made an appearance.


    This was the strength of an adult dragon and an adult dragon was the peak of a Level Six being.


    Hence, Garen relied on this advantage to combat against a Level Five Giant Iguana. A Strength of 47 points entered the range of Level Six, meaning collision was equivalent to an adult dragon ramming into the Giant Iguana. The result went without saying.


    The Giant Iguana was knocked out of senses and shook its head violently. Its eyes reeked of hesitation and fear.


    Garen was done testing the levels of his strength. He was without reserve as he took large strides forward to claw the back of the Giant Iguana.


    Crackle!


    The ice armor cracked open, so did its skin. In the end, the crackle was the breaking of its bones.


    The Giant Iguana was on its knees by Garen''s claw. Its limbs were torn apart neatly.


    Roar!


    The Giant Iguana cried out in pain.


    Garen could quickly hear footsteps of surrounding Giant Iguanas rushing over.


    "It was the same the last time. It seems Level Five Giant Iguanas travel in groups. Now that it''s happening again, it''s not a coincidence."


    He did not leave. He wanted to see the extent his combat abilities had reached.


    At a similar disposition, he was confident no one could take him face on.


    ******


    Two dark figures were shooting past the snowy mountain range like two black swords, sharp and conspicuous. All the Giant Iguana Elders bowed down in respect when they saw them from below.


    They were the God from deep within the snow mountain. The subordinates of the mysterious existence of the Fiery Blaze Mountain Range.


    It wasn''t just an Undead Wizard behind these Suffering Knights. If it was just a Suffering Knight or an indeed master, the ultimate Giant Iguana Elders would show no fear. They were great in numbers after all.


    However, behind the undead master, stood that existence that they dared not offend.


    The Undead Wizard was also the last straw in the dark, protecting the Fiery Blaze Mountain Range from outsiders, plundering and killing at will.


    As long as they did not proactively offend the Suffering Knights, everybody was safe.


    The two Suffering Knights soared high and headed towards outside the mountain range.


    Swoosh!


    One of the Suffering Knights landed on the ground and looked at the messy blood stains and the carcass of a Level Four Giant Iguana that had been killed not a long time ago.


    "He isn''t far."


    The other Suffering Knight landed and nodded at him.


    "His powers have grown fast. He''s grown a lot in a year."


    "You said so yourself. It''s only a year. How much can he grow?" The other didn''t take it to heart. "The person we need to take precautions of is not him, but the existence that may appear behind him."


    "You''re right."


    Both of them investigated the scene. Its Demon Core was dug out, but it was the same for its eyes. There was nothing that could be salvaged.


    They carefully inspected the possible direction to which Garen had left.


    The two Suffering Knights soared into the sky and flew towards the direction of Garen.


    ******


    Wham!


    Four Level Five Giant Iguanas gnashed their fangs at Garen but they were shook off by Garen at the same time. They scattered away.


    He was surrounded by four Giant Iguanas. All of them were Level Five Giant Iguanas. Instantly, the Level Five Giant Iguanas coordinated well with each other to encircle him and set off an earthquake.


    Yet they were flipped over by Garen, a dragon.


    The four Giant Iguanas somersaulted in the air like bowling pins, rolling far off and crashing onto the ground heavily, whimpering out with pain.


    Garen stood in the middle unscathed.


    If these Giant Iguanas were to come forth one by one, it may perhaps exhaust him out. However, all of them coming out at once gave him enough leverage and opportunity to spot their weak point. Moreover, his strength matched up with his speed to immediately erupt in action, creating a sort of explosive effect.


    Four Level Five Giant Iguanas were all pushed away to the sky.


    "Too weak!" Garen stood in the center without a scratch. With a minute difference in disposition, he was well-seasoned in combat skill which completely made up the difference in disposition. He burst out an ability that was well past his actual data and this created this over-exaggerated phenomenon.


    The four Giant Iguanas fell onto the ground everywhere. Two of them knocked onto a nearby cliff and rock, rolling a few rounds. For a moment, they still didn''t even get up.


    They were shaken by Garen''s strength mixed with a high-level skill. The shock was enough to injure their insides.


    Garen slow paced toward one of the Giant Iguanas. He was prepared to dig out his Demon Core.


    Suddenly, he lifted his head and stared at the faraway sky.


    Two enormously strong sources of aura were shooting toward him at a high speed.


    "That again?" Garen was familiar with this aura because he still carried with him the core that that being that hunted him.


    The black figures flashed before him like the descending of two flashes of lightning. Two Suffering Knights dripping in black oil instantly appeared in front of Garen.


    "You guys..." Garen narrowed his eyes and asked.


    Swish!


    He quickly left the place. The snow beneath his feet now had two snow pits.


    The party wasted no time as they made a move. One knight took out a black knight''s spear in shape of an umbrella and swiftly maneuvered at him with sturdy yet accurate precision. It was as though he had predicted all of Garen''s evading position.


    The other knight appeared at the side like a bat and drew a peculiar semicircle arc. A long black sword appeared in his hands. The exquisite long blade was as fine as a finger. He could flick five six blade lights in a matter of a second. At the same time, he flew to the side of Garen''s waist.


    The two were so well-coordination with each other. One of them took the front while the other at the side, as though they had done so many times.


    Roar!


    Garen opened his mouth and spewed a mouth of cold dragon breath but stronger, was the sound waves of the huge dragon howl.


    He unleashed a terrifying dragon howl. With a 47 point Strength and 40 point Vitality, this formed a powerful sound wave weapon and exploding to the front and his sides.


    The humongous sound wave compressed the air and violently rammed face-on onto the two knights.


    Buzz!


    The actions of the duo paused. They didn''t think that Garen''s explosive roar was this powerful. They must have miscalculated that they lacked in energy, causing their movement to slow down for a moment.


    Taking the delay of this very moment, Garen did not retreat. Instead, he plunged on and pounced forward.


    His claw viciously grabbed onto the knight''s spear of the Suffering Knight, adding his high-level skill shock as well as the Ice Pressure Blade he was proficient with into the mix. His claw snarled at the weakest point at the side of the knight''s spear.


    The Suffering Knight didn''t think he was this quick and was abruptly raised up that his knight''s spear slanted away and stabbed to the top of Garen''s head.


    However, the strength of a Level Five professional was revering. The Suffering Knight was also an expert in hand-to-hand combat, so this Suffering Knight followed the flow to stab upwards. A sharp knife jumped out of the handle of the spear and cut towards Garen.


    Garen''s tail whipped the side of the knife, knocking away the direction of the attack.


    Yet, at that moment came the attack of the other.


    The black fine blade pricked at Garen''s waist like needles, drawing five six sharp blade lights as if they were sufficient to penetrate anything, as they made contact on the scales by Garen''s waist.


    At the slightest distance, Garen contorted the muscles of his waist and pierced through an impossible space between the blade lights.


    "Suffering Eye!"


    The Suffering Knight at the side shouted out. His black fine sword fired a black light, sinking into Garen''s scales.


    Roar!


    Energy from Garen''s entire body fired up, taking the Suffering Knight by the spear and ferociously smashing at it.


    The combustion of his energy was so vast that the two Suffering Knights thought they were battling with an adult White Dragon.


    Not only did he appear to be like an adult White Dragon, Garen''s disposition was similar to an adult White Dragon. If his actual battle experience was factored in, perhaps only the most experienced Dragon Guards could face him.


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    He couldn''t retrieve his spear fast enough that it hit violently onto the Suffering Knight''s helmet.


    The heavy sturdy knight''s spear had a huge indent from the shock of Garen''s terrifying power.


    The Suffering Knight flew backward and a large amount of black oil and black smoke from his body splattered out.


    "You have a death wish!"


    The Suffering Knight in front of him was furious as his knight''s spear lit up a red symbol.


    Once Garen saw the symbol lit up in red light, alarms were blazing in him. He quickly retreated and flew away without hesitation. His speed was faster from the time he attacked.


    Out of the sudden, the red symbol on the spear of the Suffering Knight instantly dimmed without a locked-in target. The speed of his opponent was simply too fast.


    With a joint attack of two Level Seven professionals, he could still continuously tried many attack and defense.


    If this fight of Garen''s was to be spread, it would definitely create a great stir in the White Dragon Clan.


    "It''s that thing again from the last time? Too bad, without locking in, it is meaningless." Garen smiled as he flapped both wings and erected to the sky, flying far.


    In a short time frame of close combat, he managed to catch them by surprise. However, if he were to stall, then the red symbol locking technique was something scary. Immediately getting away was the best choice.


    "He''s trying to escape! Seize him!!" The wounded Suffering Knight got up in embarrassment. He had been smashed tens of meters away that his helmet sunk in. This was the most humiliating moment in the history of his countless battles.


    His helmet was crushed in by a little White Dragon that was only a few years old. If words were to travel, then he would be a laughingstock in presence of their master!


    He didn''t need to stay more as the Suffering Knight with the knight''s spear soared into the sky and sought after Garen.


    The two Suffering Knights could not halt a White Dragon whelp. This was a definite blot in their fame as knights.


    Two black lights, one on the front and one at the back, pursued closely behind Garen.

 1281 Talent 1

    Garen flew at a high speed up above in the white snowy mountain as he was moving toward the perimeter outside of the snowy mountain. He recalled his feelings and sensation back in the day when he flew about casually as he tried to find the magical place once more.


    Both the Suffering Knights were in tight pursuit from behind and they were clearly enraged by him. They had tried countless of time to corner him by splitting up so that Garen would move to a certain direction. However, Garen had completely ignored them since his speed was faster than theirs. Hence he would fly about in his own path.


    As he was flying around, he vaguely noticed that some of the Elder Giant Iguanas that he passed by were very respectful toward the Suffering Knights. Since they seemed to be allies, Garen did not dare to fly deeper in. Instead, he decided to fly toward the outskirts.


    The sky gradually turned dark as the night approached. The three of them were still flying in the sky at high speed. The mountain ranged below them seemed to be endless as they flew into an unknown area.


    Garen soon gradually realized that the snowflakes started appearing more and more as they danced chaotically with the strong gale.


    A tornado-like blizzard had started forming.


    Garen flew into the tornado blizzard that had yet to fully form and felt a familiar sensation welcoming him.


    "This is it!" He was slightly delighted. He was extremely familiar with the blizzard which lasted for days as he was chased by a Suffering Knight in the same condition for a few days last time.


    He was able to hold up against a Suffering Knight for a long period of time. It was way easier than before now that he was twice as fast. However, Garen did not wish to simply get rid of the Suffering Knights'' pursuit, so he would occasionally reduce his speed to kite them along to prevent them from losing sight of him.


    "Damn it! Where is this guy trying to escape to!? We''re in a blizzard! We''ll be taken to a place that isn''t worthwhile at all!" The Suffering Knight who was holding a Knight''s Spear could not help but curse out.


    "I feel that he is kiting us." The Suffering Knight with the sword pondered as he spoke softly. "We have to find a way to inform the higher up. Perhaps he''s planning to lure us to a stronger being that is backing him. Didn''t he... do that the last time?"


    "Be careful."


    "Don''t worry... I will use what the superior gave me when it''s necessary."


    ************


    The more Garen flew, the more familiar it became. It was the same circumstances as before, where he could not see anything in front but a pure white blizzard. Garen could not have differentiated up and down if not for the gravity pulling him down.


    However, he was familiar with this sensation.


    "This feels really strange..." Garen''s Soul Ring felt a very slight vibration that he had not experienced before. It felt like the air around him was trembling.


    He tried to fly straight on, fighting against the blizzard''s resistance and paying close attention toward two of the Suffering Knights tailing behind him.


    Two days had passed in a blink of an eye.


    Garen had no idea how long he had been flying and estimated that he had been doing so for the past two days and nights. However, the blizzard did not seem to have an end, as it kept blowing strong at him.


    However, he felt that he was approaching closer towards the eye of the blizzard.


    At last, the blizzard''s pull became stronger as Garen flew towards where its strength was at its peak.


    Pew!


    In a blink of an eye, everything was clear in front of him.


    He had, once again, flown out of the blizzard.


    What appeared before his eyes was a pure and serene azure lake. The calm lake water mirrored the huge snowy mountain in front of him. The sky was completely blue; it did not feel like he was at the Fiery Blaze Mountain Range at all.


    The air was so clean to the point where bacteria were seemingly unable to sustain in such a condition.


    Garen once again felt the strange ubiquitous presence.


    He turned around to look at the humongous blizzard cyclone which connected the sky and earth as two Suffering Knights clumsily flew out from it. However, they did not seem to be tired at all as they recovered the moment the got out from it.


    "The Undead live up to their name. They really don''t know what exhaustion means." Garen laughed coldly. He then turned his head around and ignored them as he flew directly towards the snowy mountain.


    He started searching for the crevice that he found last time.


    Soon, he found the crevice that he found on the side of the snowy mountain and went inside it.


    "It''s too dangerous here!" The Suffering Knight holding the Knight''s Spear said softly as he flew to the entrance of the crevice Garen had entered.


    "We have lost contact with our superior. It seems that he uses this method to kill our comrade." The Suffering Knight with the sword said sternly. "Should we pursue?"


    "Can we catch up?" The Suffering Knight with Knight''s Spear questioned back. "I feel like he''s kiting us."


    "Should we start setting up here? The superior will solve this incident if he arrives."


    "No. It''s unwise to do so without knowing our opponent''s background. It will bring a lot of trouble to our superior."


    "They can''t do anything to us as long as we don''t enter it." The analysis of the Suffering Knight with the sword was very spot on.


    "Very well."


    Both of them were once warriors who had survived hundreds of battles. Although a portion of their soul and mind had degraded after turning into an Undead, they were still equipped with a very high awareness and trait.


    They did not follow Garen into the crevice. Instead, they started flying around slowly as they analyzed the surrounding.


    **************


    Garen followed the path as he kept flying downwards.


    He did not care if the other two were tailing him as he kept flying downward with his curiosity fully filled up in his heart.


    The crevice became larger and darker as the end of the abyss was too dark to be seen.


    The crevice gradually turned into an abyss in which darkness swallowed everything, be it living or the other.


    Garen dismissed it as he flew straight down to the very bottom.


    He did not know how long he had been flying, as the concept of time did not seem to be applicable inside. Ultimately, he could see a faint white light at the bottom of the abyss.


    "This is it!" He was excited as he hastened up and flew towards the white light.


    Black smokes with countless human faces started appearing again as they surrounded him. They were sighing in such a manner that it felt like they were either crying or chuckling at the same time.


    Garen ignored the black smoke. Although they were rather terrifying, he had nothing to fear as they were unable to harm any living beings.


    He flew directly toward the light source, and soon the transparent sphere appeared before his eyes once again.


    "I''ve come to repay you, the one who saved my life!" Garen floated in the air as he shouted loudly in Draconic Language.


    His voice traveled towards the ball, scaring the black smoke faces away like terrified fishes.


    The light source did not respond. It was completely quiet as if there were no living creatures within it at all.


    Garen did not panic as he waited patiently.


    After ten minutes or so...


    A movement started to appear at the bottom.


    The light ball became half transparent, revealing a woman in a black tunic skirt.


    She widened her eyes, but it gave off a sensation that she was not focusing her sight at all.


    "Why have you returned?" Her lips did not move but her deep and hoarse voice had transmitted into Garen''s ears through a special method. Although she was speaking in Draconic Language as well, she had an ancient accent when she spoke.


    "I''ve saved you last time, but that doesn''t mean I am in the same mood to do so again..." The woman''s voice sounded like a man''s. It did not fit along with her physical beauty at all.


    "I come to this place because I want to know how my life savior looks like. My name is Garen and I am from the White Dragon Clan. I''ll definitely repay you in the future when the opportunity arises!"


    Garen said with a serious look on his face.


    "I don''t need you to repay me back." The woman responded. "You can''t repay me, to begin with."


    "Whether you accept my gratitude is your concern, and it''s my decision to repay you, whether you like it or not!" Garen said straightforwardly. "I just want to do what I believe is needed!"


    His words were so decisive that it seemed to have caught the woman''s interest as she looked at him with her senseless gaze. Her eyes were like a torchlight as a blinding light instantly beamed out from it, causing Garen''s eyes to turn red. He was on the verge of tearing up even though he was hundreds of meters away from her. He felt that It was as if he was shot by a laser beam.


    "Interesting..." The woman''s deep tone had a hint of laughter. "A little kid from another plane... Your soul... is quite special."


    Garen was shocked but he immediately calmed down. It was very normal of her to be able to see through him since she was able to casually fix his Soul Ring when it exploded.


    "Special?" He lowered his head in an attempt to avoid directly into her eyes as he said sincerely. "I know my soul is special, but I don''t know which part of it is special at all."


    "Anguru Byron, the God of Pharmacy, once created a multi-dimensional medicine and released a total amount of sixteen million five hundred and fourteen hundred thousands of them... I didn''t expect to be able to see a successful sample here." The information which the woman gave out in a deep tone had greatly shocked Garen.


    "The God of Pharmacy?!" He was astonished.


    "You''re in a very interesting situation and possess a very high research value." The woman revealed a smile on her perfectly calmed face.


    "What you''re saying is that the reason my soul is special is due to the multi-dimensional medicine created by the God of Pharmacy?!" This was the very first time that someone was able to determine the origin of his soul''s deepest and darkest secret.


    If she was not lying to Garen, then her existence is way much higher than Garen''s...


    A lot of thought went pass his mind in an instant, but he managed to suppress all of these thoughts in an instant as well. All of his thoughts could be under strict surveillance as he faced against such a powerful existence. Any of his ill thoughts would be observed just like a bacteria under a microscope.


    "The quality of your soul has reached to a certain strength as you trained on your own. I am interested in your process of enhancing your soul as it may be beneficial to my own training," The woman continued speaking with a weird male''s voice.


    "What you''re suggesting is...?" Garen trembled.


    "I will make a deal with you." The woman said in a deep tone.


    "A deal?"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "You have two choices." The woman said softly. "First, you''ll cooperate with me with my experiments until I fully understand the reasoning behind the change in your soul''s quality. As a reward, I will give you a prized item you wanted, which will be able to strengthen your soul. Its effect will be ten times more compared to the one you currently have on you."


    "Ten times more..." Garen understood that she was referring to the Suffering Core he had picked up. The core was able to increase his potential points twice as fast as before.


    If he were to obtain a treasure that was ten times stronger...

 1282 Talent 2

    Now, Garen wrapped the Suffering Core with a leaf and hanged it at the back of his hind leg so that he could enhance his Soul Energy whenever he wished.


    He would be able to obtain thirty Potential Points in a month if it was ten times stronger. This would greatly reduce the time required for his progression!


    He only required a maximum of ten years! He would then be able to recover back to his strongest form where he would be able to destroy an entire planet!


    It was an incredible temptation as he did not have to search for resources high and low in the future and potentially put himself at risk. All he had to do was to cooperate with her in her experiments.


    "Second. You''ll cooperate with me to finish my experiment and I shall adjust your soul and give you a similarly-powerful ability."


    The woman explained calmly.


    "You. Which one will you choose?"


    The abyss fell into silence as a subtle matter had subtly seeped into Garen''s conscious to tempt and shake his ideals. These matters seemed to be released from the woman''s body. They were colorless, odorless and shapeless, similar to a worm.


    Garen did not respond instantly. It was as though the woman did not have any concept of time at all as she remained still, waiting for his response.


    Perhaps time was counted in terms of years to these beings and a year would be equivalent to an afternoon nap for them.


    "I..." Garen finally spoke up. Half an hour had passed before he finally opened his mouth.


    "I don''t want anything." He blurted as it ached his heart. He felt rather unfortunate as it was an ultimate temptation to him, regardless of the first or second option. The temptation was similar to putting a scrumptious meal in front of you when you were hungry or placing a clear water in front of you when you were thirsty.


    "To repay you for saving my life, I don''t want anything and will cooperate with your experiments unconditionally!"


    Garen suppressed the temptation and the dilemma in his heart as he felt that his Soul Ring had become purer than before. He withstood the temptation in his mind and made a decision which resonated with his desire without being influenced by external factors. This was considered a training to him as well.


    "You don''t want anything?" The woman was shocked.


    She pondered for a moment before revealing her understanding gaze.


    "I see..." She seemed to have noticed the small change in Garen''s soul and finally revealed an expression on her face for the very first time.


    "You were able to withstand the temptation and make a decision based on your belief. Impressive. Since you''ve already decided, how about you come to this place every year on this day to help me with my experiment? Are you fine with that?"


    Garen nodded.


    "I understand!"


    "You have to understand that this is your own decision. I will not give you any reward," the woman repeated.


    The woman looked at him in silence for a while before the surface of the light shook.


    The black smoke resembling countless of faces gathered swiftly and fused together on Garen''s neck, condensing themselves into a long, thin and exquisite black gemstone necklace.


    "This is the pass for you to enter here so that you don''t have to spend so much energy rushing in. No living being can enter this place without my permission," the woman said calmly.


    "Understood." Garen lowered his head and touched the necklace. It was cold and had an unexplainable clear sensation; it was as though he was touching some extremely clear water. The sensation was extremely weird as he was clearly touching an actual item.


    "My name is Garen. You are..."


    "You can call me Ann." The woman shut her eyes as the light membrane returned to its muddy state where no one could see clearly what''s inside.


    "Ann...?" Garen repeated.


    Ann did not respond; it was obvious that she no longer wished to converse with him.


    Garen pondered for a moment before flying out of the abyss as he flew towards the crevice.


    What surprised him was that these black smoke faces did not dare to fly around him after the black gemstone necklace was placed on him. Instead, they avoided him out of fear.


    Ann had given him the most important piece of information. If she did not lie to him, then Garen finally knew that his gifted ability was one of the accidental successful products from the medicine that was created by Anguru Byron, the God of Pharmacy who produced tens of millions of them.


    Garen believed that Ann had no reason to lie to him, so her words were very believable.


    He kept pondering as he flew his way back to the outside world.


    If the abnormality of his soul was really caused by this world''s medicine, that meant that this world''s God was able to communicate with his original world where Earth was located.


    His heart was brimming with excitement as he thought of this. It had been so many years. It was his deepest desire to return back to Earth and live the day before he transmigrated. His exhaustion grew each day as he wandered outside again and again as he transmigrated.


    He had been trying to go back all these while but he could not find any information related to his world.


    As Garen flew out of the crevice, the first thing he saw floating outside were the two Suffering Knights waiting for him.


    "You''ve finally come out. I thought you''d already died inside," the Suffering Knight holding the Knight''s Spear sneered.


    "I thought I could have taken you down in an instant but we almost messed up instead. Let''s see how you''re going to escape from us this time," the opponent spoke in an extremely confident tone.


    Garen tried to sense behind him to realize that Ann wasn''t responding at all. It seemed she had decided not to meddle in. She was definitely in the better mood last time when she assisted him.


    He could no longer hope that Ann would help him once more.


    Two Level Seven Suffering Knights... Tsk tsk. Their existences were considered a high-level undead even among the undead beings, second only to the strongest Level Nine Horrifying Knights. They were considered as the upper-class beings among the knights. If they were to be placed in the human civilization, a Level Seven being could become the lord of a remote country and be awarded by the title of Earl.


    On the other hand, the Deladia Empire which was located in the north was an empire with an incredible strength. Two beings of this level could simply appear in the wild and Garen only had himself to thank for his incredible luck.


    "Although Ann will not help me, I have promised her that I will assist her in completing her experiment. If I were to be in a life-threatening situation, doesn''t that mean her experiments will never see its end? That means..." Garen had made up his mind. Although it was rather impudent of him, it was necessary for him to achieve victory so he was willing to look past this shamelessness.


    He sneered in his mind as he looked at both of the Level Seven Suffering Knights with malicious intent. He decided to use them to test Ann''s attitude towards the experiment.


    "Both of you." Garen reached out his dragon claw. "Come at me at once."


    He gave them a scornful look.


    As expected, both the Suffering Knights were not easily irritated by his gesture and decided to attack him at once.


    The steam of black light rushed toward him as red symbols appeared on both the sword and spear at the same time. The symbol''s light which resembled the color of a fire suddenly exploded and instantly sucked the three of them inside, disappearing instantly in mid-air.


    "The Final Death Match!" Both Suffering Knights and Garen appeared inside a narrow red dimension at the same time. They seemed to be trapped inside a spherical dimension.


    Both Suffering Knights yelled as they rushed towards Garen at the same time. He was not able to avoid in such a narrow space and there seemed to be a law that prevented him from evading at all. The only thing he could do was to face them head on!


    The two Suffering Knights had managed to create a dimensional rule which completely favored them. The dimensional rule was based on the real world and stood above the real world at the same time. It was the first time Garen witnessed such a strength.


    However, Garen had never feared to fight against others head on! It was a good opportunity to test his limits as well.


    Garen mustered all of his strength and as he was about to release them, an excruciating pain could be felt by his waist! This pain took him by surprise and he had lost all of the strength that he mustered a while ago. With this instant delay, he had no choice but to stare at both of the Suffering Knights'' weapons that were quickly approaching him.


    The scales on his body stood up as he felt an intense danger fast approaching him.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Draconic Aura!


    Boom!


    Garen instantly gathered a Level Three Draconic Aura and exploded it in front of his chest instead of the fast approaching weapon in front of him.


    Boom!


    His body was instantly pushed back by a small distance due to the explosion, allowing him to avoid both of the incoming weapons.


    As Garen avoided the crisis, he diverted the flow of his entire body''s strength and crawled up into a white ball.


    Pew!


    Then, he widened his body and attacked with his dragon claws while using his Ice Pressure Blade and Vibration Technique. At the same time, the wings on his back started vibrating at a high frequency. The 47 points of his Agility was instantly pushed to its limits as he focused all of his strength onto his dragon claws.


    This was the absolutely invincible Unrivaled Dragon Claw! It focused on attacking the chest areas of its opponents!


    Garen did not know why he recalled the line of a certain movie he had seen in the past. However, his current posture could be considered as an extremely authentic dragon claw attack, right?


    As he recalled this strange idea, what was considered an extremely mighty posture had become a dreadful posture.


    His claws were heading directly toward the Suffering Knights'' chest...


    "How dare you!" What surprised him was that the Suffering Knight with the Knight''s Spear was actually a female. She was embarrassed and angry at the same time. She, who already had pushed her strength to its very limits, had decided to even squeeze every ounce of her strength out as her anger engulfed her.


    The dragon claws, knight''s spear, and black swords clashed against each other within the red dimension.


    The incredibly tough dragon claws cracked before it shattered into millions of pieces. Both of his hands were almost amputated as well. His claws were not amputated because of his incredibly high defense and 40 points of Vitality. Even so, he had suffered tremendously.


    The white dragon blood spilled everywhere as he was pushed to the inner wall of the red spherical dimension.


    Ultimately, he was only a Level Six. His strength would have been shocking to everyone since he was not instantly killed when faced with two Level Seven beings.


    However, he was surprised as both the Suffering Knights in front of him had suddenly lost their defenses as they did not pursue after him immediately. They stood still as they took out a small yellow scroll each from their pauldron''s crevice. The scroll, which was tied with a red thread, had its thread pulled open as both of them were about to open up the scroll.


    "How dare you!"


    Suddenly, the entire red dimensional space started trembling.


    The space shattered, revealing the snowy mountain and blue lake outside of the red dimension.


    Ann''s voice traveled instantly from an unknown location as an invisible power and landed on both Suffering Knights.


    Boom!


    Both the Suffering Knights were instantly lighted with a black fire. The fire did not possess a high temperature, and it gave off an extremely shrilling aura.


    "Have mercy!" Both Suffering Knights cried out.


    Creak!


    The black light flashed in front of Garen and blinded him in the process. Both the Suffering Knights who were on fire vanished instantly as if they had never existed.


    He looked at the sky in front of him shockingly...


    "It ended just like that?"

 1283 Mishap 1

    "You still aren''t leaving yet?" Ann''s voice instantly appeared in Garen''s mind.


    Garen was speechless as he levitated in the air. He stared at the crevice pitifully as he hoped that Ann would throw out the Suffering Cores. Since she might not see them as valuable items, he would gladly take them away.


    It would be a waste for him to not take these cores.


    However, it seemed that Ann did not intend to throw them out.


    Garen shamelessly waited for a while longer and reluctantly left after realizing that it was hopeless.


    He turned his head around and looked at the snowy peak before flying back into the blizzard.


    He was unsure of Ann''s identity, but he knew that she was way above him, especially when he first witnessed the ridiculous power where time seemed to have been reversed. Garen had never encountered such a ridiculous power, even when he was in the Mech World where the laws were the most lenient.


    To be able to instantly recover what had already been destroyed. Something this ridiculous could only be referred to as a miracle...


    Garen then flew into the white blizzard which connected the sky and the earth, carrying the remnants of his doubts along with him.


    It was different from the previous experience as the necklace on his neck vanished as if it had never existed. At first, Garen could not see anything in front of him, and the next thing he realized was that he had already arrived at the entrance of the Fiery Blaze Mountain Range, which was directly in front of him.


    The sky was already dark, and the purple crescent moon showered everything underneath it with a silver moonlight.


    Garen was certain that he was inside the blizzard a moment ago; there was no longer a single indication of a blizzard around him.


    "The blizzard appears at one second and disappears at the next. This is indeed mysterious... Perhaps it is a secondary plane independent of the primary plane?"


    He did not put much thought into it; it would be pointless even if he had done so.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    He increased his speed as he started flying toward the White Dragon Clan.


    *************


    Deep within the Fiery Blaze Mountain Range.


    A faint green fire was burning inside the cave.


    "It happened again... They couldn''t even release the Projection Scroll in time." A pale, old voice came from the depths of the cave.


    "We have already lost three knights. We have never encountered such a loss since the past few thousand years," the silver-striped Knight said softly.


    He and another silver-striped Knight were kneeling down in front of the green fire.


    "I''ve done enough preparation this time but they couldn''t even open up the scroll in time... My tracker had disappeared as well." The old and pale voice sounded confused. "Perhaps there exists a secondary plane nearby, since leaving the primary plane is the only way to disconnect the tracker that I created."


    "Master, do you wish to negotiate with the White Dragon Clan?" A beautiful female voice came from one of the dark corners.


    "What''s the point of looking for them? Even the White Dragon Clan does not wish to provoke the being behind that abnormal soul. That being is, at the very least, a Level Nine since it was able to eliminate two Level Seven instantly," The old and pale voice responded.


    "What do you mean?" The female voice sounded puzzled.


    "We shall wait and see. Soon, something will happen to that small clan... And we will act when they''re too busy with their own affairs. The movement of the Snow City... is soon..."


    "I understand..." The female voice stopped speaking. She seemed to have recalled something as she understood what he was referring to.


    **************


    Four months had passed in a blink of an eye.


    Garen had holed up inside the clan ever since his return for several reasons. Firstly, he was waiting to be summoned to collect Demon Cores. Secondly, it was obvious that the opponent had an incredibly-powerful organization backing two of the Suffering Knights whom he encountered back then. It was an organization so powerful that he currently could not fight against. Hence he decided to stay within the Elder''s Peak to continue his training.


    The rest of the teenage dragons from the teenage class had been summoned to participate in the war and only a few dragons had yet to be summoned. Garen was one of them. He even suspected that the summoner had accidentally died somewhere in the battlefield.


    Since there were no updates, he decided to wander around within the White Dragon Clan.


    Ever since he was reincarnated into this world, he did not dare to wreak havoc everywhere because his soul was unique. There was supervision being done by the God, not to mention the old White Dragon God lived in the area too. However, he felt that he had almost solved the issue in which his soul and body were not coordinated with each other.


    Hence, he finally had enough courage to start understanding the overall situation around him.


    He would set out every morning and start moving around the residential area. He would slowly fly around the Elder''s Peak and avoid places protected by the Dragon Guards as well as private properties that had obviously been spread with the Draconic Aura.


    It took Garen four full days to finish checking out the entire White Dragon Clan''s area.


    The Elder''s Peak was not just a single peak. With the main peak as the epicenter, there were thirty-two other secondary peaks surrounding it, all of which housed the strongest and highest authoritative White Dragons.


    Further out from the main peak was the residential area of the weaker White Dragon families. The outermost regions were the forests and breeding grounds. There were humans from the Deladia Empire living in the forest, together with the Thunder Snake of the Vassal Clan. There were also Dog-headed Humans as the minority. They knew how to speak in the Draconic Language even though they had just migrated here for less than a year. The Sacrificial Scroll unique to the Dog-headed Humans were the popular currency among the humans. They relied on the White Dragon Clan to protect them from the wild creatures and the small market that the humans had created had started to develop. The items that could be bought had expanded, and the variety had increased as well. Naturally, the prices had become more reasonable.


    Occasionally, living beings from the other clans would bring their specialties along to make a trade as well.


    They had been breeding dragon beasts species in groups in the breeding ground. They were the main cannon fodders in the war and would often be sold to the humans as pets or carriers. The material required to create the Dragon Leather Scroll which the Wizards required originated from them as well. The Dragon Leather Scroll and the Dragon Blood Ink actually did not derive from the bodies of the authentic dragon clan. In fact, they were products obtained from these dragon species.


    In these aspects, the White Dragon Clan seemed to have reached a long-term agreement with the nobles from the Deladia Empire.


    Garen realized that the humans within the clan had steadily increased over time and the Elder''s Peak had enacted an Act preventing any conflict between the human and dragons. The majority of the White Dragons were willing to obey the law after several severe punishments toward a few Adult White Dragons. After all, conflicts were not the only thing humans was able to bring upon them. They could also bring upon all kinds of food, resources and shiny objects which they adored.


    As the White Dragon Clan worked alongside with the Deladia Empire, their food and drink were greatly assured for the past year or so. All they had to do was to give up some items that did not matter to them. These items included the dragon scales that had been shed off from their body, dragon claws that had to be cut off due to overgrowth, or previous collections which they were bored with or no longer benefited them. In return, they would obtain a luxurious life and no longer be required to go out to risk their lives as they hunted for their own food.


    Garen returned to his cave at the mountainside as he took a turn around the entire Elder''s Peak. He had a slight gist of what the humans were trying to do.


    They planned to domesticate the White Dragon Clan to the point where they could not live without them. Then they would form an alliance or even enslave them!


    However, these were none of his concern. Perhaps it would be better this way as it would be a win-win situation compared to the wandering lifestyle.


    He returned to his cave as he continued to accumulate his Potential Points. Three months had passed in a blink of an eye, and a new batch of dragon whelps had been born.


    The day was the sixteenth day of the seventh month.


    A new batch of dragon whelps had hatched in the clan and had enrolled in the Nurturing Course. The Soul Inspection was being held on the Elder''s Peak. It was a major event as the soul inspection ceremony was still held by the Great Elder.


    Garen did not head out to see the ceremony. Instead, he decided to stay inside in his cave alone to rest. He had started to value the Draconic Aura after he realizing its effect during the battle with the Suffering Knights.


    However, something seemed to have occurred during the Soul Inspection ceremony. Sathree and Safour, who had attended the event, rushed back to the cave.


    "Something terrible has happened!"


    Sathree shouted as he rushed towards Garen impatiently.


    "Something terrible has happened in the clan. Garen, how could you have the mood to stay inside here. Let''s go have a look!"


    "Something terrible?" Garen widened his eyes as he looked at the hysterical Sathree and Safour.


    "What''s going on? Isn''t the major Soul Inspection ceremony being held right now?"


    "It''s the Soul Inspection. Boris'' grandfather is in trouble!"


    "It''s not just them, Leona''s grandfather is in trouble as well! The three elders had allied with the humans and betrayed the clan!"


    "They''d imprisoned the Great Elder and said that he''s a rebel!"


    Both dragon whelps took turns to inform Garen as to what had transpired as they rushed toward him, trying to pull him to the scene.


    "Boris and Leona are currently being isolated and questioned! Saszt tried to save them but he was taken away by his parents. We couldn''t think of any idea and had no choice but to come to you to solve this issue!"


    "Garen, you always have a solution to a problem. Please think of a way to help them!"


    Although the dragon whelps are naturally selfish, they had befriended Boris and Leona after getting along with them for a long time. They came rushing back and reporting everything because they were friends.


    Garen was pulled out of the cave by two dragon whelps and they flew directly towards the Elder''s Peak.


    He had obtained thirty-five Potential Points since his return seven months ago. Thirty out of the thirty-five points were all added to his Strength, Agility, and Vitality, pushing his Attributes to an unprecedented state. The remaining five points had been used to increase the effect of Draconic Aura.


    Both of his Strength and Agility had reached 57 points and his Vitality had reached 50 points.


    Garen''s body size was technically no different compared to a typical teenage dragon, which was the size of a horse. Still, his fighting ability had technically reached the level of the strongest matured White Dragons.


    His powerful Vitality had given him a stronger Spell Immunity and an even higher physical defense.


    Garen brought two of the dragon whelps along and rushed directly toward the sundial-like interrogation platform which was located at the side of the Elder''s Peak.


    A lot of White Dragons and humans could be seen gathering over there from afar through the white mist.


    The sundial was a complete mess as the sharp long needle was broken; a battle seemed to have occurred there.


    Boris had been restrained by two teenage dragons as he was pressed onto the ground, unable to move at all. All he could do was to give off an agonizing roar.


    The entire situation was divided into three parties. The first one was the humans in a gorgeous silver gold attire. They were in a group, and aura kept oozing out from the strongest humans among them. Two of the warriors in golden armor had caught Garen''s attention as the weapons they were holding were releasing a terrifyingly powerful threat; it seemed to be weapons that had been stained with the Dragon Blood.


    One did not even need to look to know that these two Warriors were incredibly powerful.


    On the other hand, the White Dragons were separated into two groups where one was a bigger group than the other.


    The third elder was smiling with a staff in his hand as he represented the majority of the dragons. He had two White Dragon Guards in a silver heavy armor by his side as he spoke to the minority of the White Dragons. There were a huge group of powerful Adult White Dragons hovering in the air behind him as they kept growled at them.


    Most of the White Dragons in the minority were all adults; all of them were in disdain, annoyed and angry.


    "The second elder will never betray us!"


    "You can''t simply judge the second elder with your evidence!"


    "This is a conspiracy!"


    "Third elder, are you trying to let the Great Tiamat see through your evil soul?!" The strongest Adult White Dragon among the minority group walked out and shouted.

 1284 Mishap 2

    "See through me? I can see through your despicable souls!" Third Elder''s slender dragon face smiled. "Right now, before the First Prince of Deladia and with His Highness the Prince as our witness, we''ve just put the faction in order and completely eliminated the tumors that were hiding within the clan all along. This should be a great and glorious occasion! Phosphorus, as the strongest warrior of the clan, you shouldn''t obstruct me!"


    "This isn''t just an obstruction, you''re destroying the clan!" The Adult White Dragon named Phosphorus spoke in a deep voice and took one step forward, while several shrouds of intense Draconic Aura was released from his body slowly.


    This Draconic Aura was so enormous and powerful that the air around him had distorted naturally, while numerous fine black lines would appear occasionally. These lines were cracks that had split open when the surrounding space could not help but tremble.


    Third Elder smiled and lifted his staff. The end of the staff was releasing a dim, white light to block off the Draconic Aura. This was a divine strength with the characteristics that greatly surpassed Draconic Auras; it could nullify its Coercion.


    There was a pale-skinned man with handsome features on the side where the humans were clustered. He smiled and looked at the rod within the White Dragon Clan before him while being protected by two Golden Knights.


    "Our Deladia Empire has reasons to believe that your honorable clan can definitely obtain even more glorious developments than before under Third Elder''s leadership. As long as your honorable clan agrees to engage in deeper levels of relations with us, both of our parties will receive extremely exceptional mutual benefits respectively."


    While these important figures were having a discussion, Garen took this opportunity to squeeze into of the group from the White Dragon faction from the back quietly.


    His Young Dragon physique appeared insignificant among the herd of Adult White Dragons that were the size of elephants. He squeezed past them before being pushed in front of Boris quickly.


    Although Boris''s entire body was wounded, he did not give up on struggling at all and resisted with determination. However, the White Dragon that was restraining him turned around and slapped him immediately when he was tired of Boris''s struggling. He was beaten until blood flowed unceasingly from his head. The other dragon was completely unconcerned that he was on the brink of death.


    Leona was slightly better-behaved. She merely remained on the side and cried terribly while being immobilized by fear.


    All of the other Dragon Whelps, who were usually on good terms with them, were currently nowhere to be seen.


    Without the protection of their grandfathers, Leona and Boris were merely Dragon Whelps that were slightly stronger than the rest. There was not much of a difference between them and the other dragons.


    Third Elder''s oldest grandson Wylow was currently showing off his strength before the two dragons.


    "Look here, look here. little Boris who was so unimaginably arrogant a while ago has now been obediently restrained below me. He can''t even turn his body around to get up! Leona, I''d already told you earlier that you wouldn''t have a future with Boris. Do you regret it now?" Wylow sneered cynically.


    "I''ve already signed an Eternal Contract with His Highness the Second Prince. The entire Deladia Empire that has sworn to this is currently behind me! Do you really think that depending on the Great Elder, that single old man, is equivalent to resisting a whole, powerful empire? Idiot!"


    Wylow was already a five-year-old Dragon Whelp, but he had taken a liking to Leona who was always playing with Boris. He was clearly humiliated because of the conflict that happened between Leona and Boris previously.


    He was currently beside himself with joy now that he had gained the upper hand suddenly.


    "Fight me if you have the skills!!" roared Boris while panting gruffly.


    Wylow seemed to pay no mind. He cast his gaze towards Leona who was on the side instead.


    "What do you think? Can you see my current powers now?" He sneered. "You''ll only have to listen to me obediently if you want to save your granddad. I''ll go to the place where he''s located and ask my grandfather to show him mercy. Since you adore me so much, you''re probably really happy that I can release your granddad, right?"


    Leona''s tears trickled down her face terribly. She had initially assumed that today would only be a day for her to watch the show. It was supposed to be a day of great joy; she would have never imagined that such a horrible mishap would happen.


    She was merely a normal little Dragon Whelp who was completely powerless, unable to resist this situation that she was encountering.


    Wylow was surrounded and protected by Adult White Dragons, leaving her with no way to revolt at all.


    The Dragon Whelps and Young Dragon bystanders around them did not dare to make a sound. Too many White Dragons had received favors from the humans now. Moreover, the White Dragons possessed selfish natures and would not concern themselves with unrelated matters. Hence, numerous cold gazes were the only things that were cast their way.


    Leona merely felt extremely exhausted. She truly missed the time when her grandfather protected her previously. That sense of security and relief¡­


    Plop.


    She felt an external force pushing her back suddenly. It was a great force that caused her to fall in front of Wylow immediately.


    She struggled to get up, but she was instantly and violently restrained by a large amount of strength behind her.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Release me!" she cried loudly.


    "Oh no, stop crying. I won''t mistreat you the next time we''re together!" laughed Wylow loudly while walking behind Leona.


    "Let me see how this little female dragon has developed? It looks like you''ve matured pretty well!"


    The surrounding White Dragons laughed in a slightly lewd manner.


    Wylow became even more pleased and proceeded to reach his hand out and grab Leona''s tail. Apparently, he was planning to lift her tail to look at her reproductive organs below.


    Even though the White Dragons were considered to have slightly less polite than humans, actions like these were unfathomable in public in front of a large audience. He was actually thinking of looking at a female dragon''s reproductive organs while a crowd of so many White Dragons looked on around him.


    Aside from insulting her, he did not even view Leona as a dragon at all!


    He was going to display her most private areas and show them to everyone around him. These actions were considered obscene in any civilized groups.


    "That''s enough! Stop!"


    A voice interrupted Wylow''s laughter suddenly. He felt his dragon claw drop suddenly before a Young Dragon appeared before him instantly, holding one claw above his own.


    "What''s your status? How dare you speak to me like this?" Wylow''s face darkened. His grandfather was currently the most powerful individual in the entire clan. Thus, he could simply act as he pleased unscrupulously. A burning fury ignited in his heart when this dragon actually dared to step forward and stop him.


    The White Dragon who had rushed out was naturally Garen. His Young Dragon physique stood in the middle of the White Dragons around him without the slightest hint of awkwardness or fear.


    "This matter ends here." He glanced at Wylow indifferently. "If this matter passes the point of no return now, you may not have anywhere to go when you encounter difficulties in the future."


    Although his relationships with Boris and Leona were nothing special, they were still his friends in the end. When they were in trouble, it would be impossible for him not to appear personally and check up on them regardless of his feelings or rationale.


    However, he was unwilling to terribly offend Third Elder who was currently in power.


    "Garen¡­ You''re Garen?!" Wylow had actually recognized him unexpectedly. A hint of fear flashed in his eyes suddenly.


    He remembered the other party. He had initially assumed that it would be unlikely for Garen to come forward for Boris and Leona, as he thought that Garen''s personality had always been cold. However, it looked like this assumption was inaccurate now. Nonetheless, judging from Garen''s state, it seemed as though he had only come forward because Wylow had gone too far.


    When Garen defeated Reyman in the beginning, the Elders in the clan, including Wylow''s grandfather, had unanimously agreed to use Garen as the breeding focal point when they were cultivating a mate for him. After the observation period had passed, they had basically already determined that Garen was currently the most talented White Dragon in the clan now, while even Reyman merely ranked behind him.


    Wylow''s grandfather valued him appropriately as well.


    Hence, the White Dragons did not want to fight with Garen to the point where things were strained.


    "So this is Garen, huh." A trace of a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth immediately before a hint of a triumphant look flashed in his eyes when he looked at Leona on the ground.


    "Since you''ve appeared personally and made this request, I''ll grant it! I won''t shame you this time." He would get another chance to settle his scores with both of them anyway.


    The last sentence that he had added earlier came from his heart.


    Garen nodded and that was considered as his response. He would not have bothered with an insignificant figure like this fellow if his backer was not Third Elder.


    "I''ll certainly need to invite Brother Garen over to my cave to spend time with me when I''m free. Grandfather and Father have admired you for a long time." Wylow walked forward at the last minute before throwing these sentences out.


    "We should definitely do that if the opportunity arises," Garen simply said that as a form of courtesy.


    Only then did Wylow happily take his few White Dragon Guards away before they turned and left.


    Garen watched them left into the distance before they returned to Third Elder''s side. He could see Third Elder smiling and nodding at him from afar among the flock of dragons to indicate his approval.


    Garen returned the smile to show respect.


    As an Elder and an Oracle, Third Elder had Level Nine powers at least. Moreover, his strength would probably reach Level Ten as Tiamat''s staff could arouse Divine Power simultaneously.


    Generally speaking, all Professionals who had surpassed Level Nine were already known as Pinnacles.


    The highest-leveled Professionals were usually ranked at Level Nine. From Level Six onward, there would be an extremely huge difference between each level. Many accumulated years would be needed to charge forward and achieve the rank above. They could not make an impact and upgrade themselves easily unlike Level Six and below.


    Level Ten beings had already obtained the authority to impact the demigod realm. Obviously, there were very few individuals who knew how to become demigods in the end. The Secret Book of Becoming Demigods had always been the most prized secret in the clan because it was a scarce resource that the Gods controlled strictly. Only those who had chosen to join the Gods, passed the faithfulness assessment, and signed a contract with an extremely powerful binding force that resembled the Underworld River Oath could obtain this type of knowledge.


    Level Nine was actually the highest position within the entire mortal realm already. This was the summit of relying on one''s own body to train and practice. Moreover, it was also the apex of what all beings could achieve by depending on their own determination and talents.


    The supernatural realm that was considered as the inhuman layer came after that. Obtaining or realizing divinity and conviction before igniting a sacred fire was not something that normal beings could achieve without inheriting it. Its degree of complexity greatly surpassed the fantasies of any life forms. They would have to experience extremely brutal murders and struggles as well.


    Therefore, Garen understood that he currently did not have the right to clash with beings like this no matter what.


    Moreover, there was no need for him to provoke the issue now that Boris and Leona were safe.


    "Are you okay?" He turned around and looked at Leona. This girl was lying on the ground and crying pitifully before she clambered up and pressed herself against Garen''s chest tightly when she heard his voice.


    "Oh¡­" Everything that happened to her today was extremely cruel indeed.


    Boris crawled up beside them. His body was covered in blood while both of his arms were fractured. When he saw that Leona had flung herself into Garen''s embrace, his complexion turned white while his entire dragon''s body seemed like a suppressed but active volcano that could erupt anytime.


    Garen glanced at him.


    "You should go home. These matters are already out of your control," he sighed.


    Some of the onlooking Dragon Whelps in their surroundings wanted to approach and comfort them. However, they did not walk forward in the end and merely watched the three Dragon Whelps.


    Safour, Sathree, and Satwo were among the flock of Dragon Whelps, but Garen instructed them not to come out.


    "Thanks for the things you did today." It seemed like Boris was squeezing the words out through the spaces between his teeth. He clenched both of his claws tightly while his entire body trembled slightly.


    The Enchanted Equipment that he wore on his body originally had now gone missing. It was clearly snatched by someone else.


    "It''s fine. Both of you need to be careful next time," Garen reminded. "It doesn''t look like that brat will let you off so easily."


    "Yes." Boris nodded vigorously. He scanned the four corners and looked through his entire surroundings seriously as if he was trying to engrave everything in his mind deeply.


    Everything that happened today would perhaps remain in his memory forever!

 1285 Contract 1

    The incident that happened during the ceremony had greatly provoked Boris and Leona. From that day on, they were unusually determined to practice their Draconic Auras. They would often ask Garen for help regarding various problems as well at the same time.


    Garen did not hold back from teaching them. His knowledge was excessively plentiful to the point where these two little fellows had the misconception that he was an Elder Dragon with an abundance of experience.


    It seemed like none of the difficulties that they had encountered were too hard for Garen.


    More than a month gradually passed like that.


    Third Elder stabilized the overall situation and imprisoned both Great Elder and Second Elder while announcing that they had officially formed an alliance with the Deladia Empire. The princes and princesses of the Empire would come and select partners from the clan to form Eternal Contracts.


    Eternal Contracts were unlike ordinary Soul Contracts. Lives would need to be linked in exchange for these contracts to be signed. These were formidable commitments that every creature could only sign once in their lives.


    They did not have any other functions except for their only purpose, which was to share lives.


    In other words, the lives of the dragon race and humans that signed these Eternal Contracts would be treated as one before they were split into two equal parts after that. The dragon race whose lifespans greatly surpassed the humans would undeniably find this extremely unfair.


    The dragon race''s lifespan would be reduced by at least half due to this. Moreover, human lifespans were usually insignificant in comparison to that of the dragon race.


    The weaker members of the dragon race would live to at least a thousand years old.


    This rule had caused dissatisfaction among numerous White Dragons, especially the members of the dragon race who had set themselves high above the masses. No dragon would be willing to make an agreement with a Contractor unless they were of the standards of specialized Level Six Professionals or above.


    However, the side of the Deladia Empire had taken the initiative to explain that only princes and princesses who had potential would sign these Eternal Contracts on their behalf. It was not difficult for promising geniuses with aristocratic statuses to become Level Six Professionals in the future.


    Moreover, the Deladia Empire truly possessed an abundance of princes and princesses on their side. There were a few hundred of them at least. The geniuses that were selected from this group of people did not fall too short. However, realistically they would not be valued highly in their own country despite their aristocratic statuses because there was a surplus of them.


    Hence, their positions would be greatly secured if they could find a powerful White Dragon to sign a contract with them.


    Thus, this activity was quickly launched in the Dragon Clan. However, it was only limited to Adult White Dragons because they were currently the ones that could form into the greatest powers and forces within the shortest amount of time. Humans could not spare a few decades waiting for Young Dragons to become adults. As for Dragon Whelps, that was simply impossible.


    Therefore, this transformation would not affect Garen greatly.


    He continued training in his own cave. His Draconic Aura had finally reached Level Five after being upgraded by his Potential Points. After training himself painstakingly and consuming all of his last ten Potential Points that he had accumulated, it was beyond his expectations that he only reach the Level Five stage.


    Draconic Auras that were only at Level Five or below had to be stimulated by certain specialized realms before they could be upgraded. That was only one of its fundamental changes. It was similar to all the other professions as there seemed to be only one dividing line before Level Six could be achieved.


    Another change that he had discovered was that his body''s attributes had finally exhibited certain phenomena which meant that his Potential Points needed to be increased.


    He would previously require one Potential Point every time he wanted to increase one attribute. However, it had directly jumped to needing three points now. Now that his body had undergone a single change, it seemed that his previous Potential Points were not as effective anymore.


    After all, Garen''s current Attributes had already surpassed fifteen points on average by now. He belonged to the standard domain of Level Seven creatures.


    Since the standard of a regular Adult White Dragon was between thirty to forty points, he had already greatly surpassed the normal standard now.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    According to Garen''s secret observations, the strongest Warrior named Phosphorus and the five Ice Dragon Guards who were his subordinates were perhaps the only ones who possessed characteristics that were stronger than Garen among the entire White Dragon Clan. He could not seem to see the limits of Phosphorus'' power, but he knew that he had achieved the Level Nine standard at least. It was naturally impossible for him to lack great power as a Warrior who dared to directly confront Third Elder who was a Level Ten existence.


    If the Elder was considered as the strongest source of combat power within the entire clan with the presence of the Divine Staff, Phosphorus and his Ice Dragon Guards were the strongest forms of support and strength in the clan. Phosphorus grasped the military power in the palm of his hand completely while all of the Dragon Guards and the training of the Teenage Class were arranged by him.


    Garen received an invitation after training in the cave for a short while. It was an invitation from Third Elder.


    Third Elder''s grandson had given him some face and released Boris and Leona the last time. Therefore, he needed to pay a return visit no matter what this time as an indication of gratitude.


    After all, this was an extremely brutal political struggle. It was highly likely that Garen would not eliminate someone completely as he did not want to ruin his attachments towards the clan.


    Garen tidied up briefly and brought a few little gifts which were the Crystal Cores of the Giant Frost Iguanas that he had brought back when he left to hunt. He had yet to finish absorbing them completely and left a few for future use. It was a good time to use them now.


    It was a good opportunity for him to give them out as little presents now.


    Garen left the cave immediately and followed the Dragon Guards that had arrived before flying towards the highest point of the Elder''s Peak.


    A white ice palace was being built there now without him knowing. Numerous human and dwarf craftsmen were currently hard at work up there. White Dragons would fly around the area occasionally to protect it.


    These people were not surprised when they saw Garen and the two other dragons flying over. They had clearly arrived here some time ago and had already gotten used to it much earlier.


    They flew along the side of the palace toward the back before quickly descending in front of the entrance of a large cave where numerous frozen water stalagmites had formed. These sharp frozen water stalagmites enveloped the main door that led to the cave. All of these pointed stalagmites were as dangerous as sharp thorns that were aimed precisely at the entrance of the cave. They seemed like sharp swords that were suspended above the head of every creature that entered in order to deter them.


    "Please enter. The Elder is waiting for you inside," said The Dragon Guard to Garen softly.


    Garen nodded and drew his wings before taking long strides toward the inside of the cave and walking there.


    Bang, bang, bang.


    The deep noise of his footsteps could be heard when he stomped on the cave floor, yet he left no traces behind. Since numerous White Dragons had already threaded on this ground countless times, it was already extremely solid to a terrifying degree.


    There were two Dragon Guards who were keeping watch on both sides within every hundred meters. When they saw Garen entering, these Dragon Guards awakened from their dazed states and merely glanced at him indifferently before collecting their thoughts and resuming their rest. They were clearly here to rest while keeping guard.


    Powerful billowing Draconic Auras permeated throughout the interior of this entire cave endlessly.


    Garen encountered five consecutive Dragon Guards along the way. Their Draconic Auras were ranked at Level Six at least. The thing that secretly shocked him was that the powers of Third Elder''s subordinates were clearly not weakened simply because the strength of the other two Elders had diminished.


    The pure white cave that was tinged with light blue extended all the way towards a distance of a few kilometers. Garen only saw Third Elder who was currently talking to a human in a section within the cave where a skylight was located.


    Sunlight cascaded through the skylight and formed a light pillar that coincidentally fell on Third Elder''s aged dragon scales. It gave him a few additional white halos, making him appear slightly younger.


    Meanwhile, the person to whom he was currently speaking was around one hundred and eighty centimeters tall and considered to be average among the humans. However, the gold cloak on his body was draped over a dark gold full-body armor that he wore underneath, while a powerful sword that was embedded with colorless crystals hung at his waist. The circular crown on his head that was embedded with gold gemstones was the most eye-catching aspect of him.


    The gazes of that man and Third Elder shifted over simultaneously and fell on Garen just as he had entered.


    Whoosh whoosh!


    It seemed like two consecutive fiery lasers had landed on his skin. Garen could only feel his entire body tremble violently before his ears were fully deafened instantly. His ears were then filled with a humming noise that sounded like the buzzing after thunder. Subtle internal wounds appeared within his body immediately.


    The Draconic Aura throughout his entire body was released hurriedly. He covered his body in a defensive force field while his Draconic Aura increased from Level Three to Level Four to barely nullify the terrifyingly intense pressure that was brought on by the gazes of those two individuals.


    His mind understood suddenly that he had chosen an inappropriate time to enter. Third Elder and this king were clearly exerting pressure on each other as a more convenient way to exhibit their powers as bargaining chips for negotiations. The frightening strength of these two Level Nine powerhouses had instantly landed on his body the moment he entered. Thus, this was the main reason why he had nearly vomited blood.


    "Is that Garen?" Third Elder withdrew his pressure first.


    Meanwhile, the other man smiled faintly and withdrew his Coercion as well. It seemed as though he had transformed from a prehistoric beast back into a regular middle-aged man.


    There was a little black goatee below his chin while his short black hair made him seem experienced and tidy. He looked grave and strict from head to toe. Moreover, he gave off a dignified, lofty, and unapproachable air even when he smiled.


    "So, what do you think about reaching a deal now about the matters that we were discussing, King Thunderclap?" Third Elder glanced at the king.


    "Were you referring to this little White Dragon before me?" The King asked in a slightly pondering manner.


    "Of course," said Third Elder in a faintly proud voice, "as the most talented White Dragon in my clan, Garen will surely meet your requirements."


    "Requirements?" Garen''s eyes narrowed when he vaguely felt that the discussion between these two individuals was regarding him. "May I ask what you were going to tell me when you called me here, Elder?"


    His mind felt somewhat uneasy when he thought of the news of the Eternal Contracts that were spreading like wildfire recently.


    "I''ll need a period of time to observe," said the King quietly. "You know that my choices include the Black Dragons and Red Dragons as well."


    "Your Majesty the honorable King Gus, Garen will definitely not disappoint you if you choose him. I believe that there are but a few prodigies in the other Dragon Clans that can rival Garen."


    "However, you must understand that Black Dragons are naturally immune to all spells below Level Seven while their hand-to-hand combat skills are stronger than White Dragon Whelps of the same age. Meanwhile, the magic abilities of Adult Purple Dragons are equivalent to Level Seven Great Wizards. These are better choices in my opinion," said Gus while smiling.


    "But will the other Dragon Clans promise to sign Eternal Contracts with you?" Third Elder smiled.


    Indeed, both of them understood that if the White Dragon Clan was not helplessly forced into a corner with seemingly nowhere to go, they would not choose to sign Eternal Contracts with humans with short lives and become the dependents of the Deladia Empire.


    The entire White Dragon Clan had turned into the shame of the White Dragon Mountain merely because of this. After becoming the shame of the entire dragon race, they abandoned themselves and gave up their nobility and pride as creatures with longevity. They would be spurned by the rest of the dragon race in the future.


    This was a heavy price to pay.


    Therefore, Great Elder and Second Elder had objected to it all along. However, they had never expected that Third Elder would secretly collude with the top-rate human powerhouses to take action immediately and imprison the both of them under house arrest. Had they not possessed excessively strong powers and loyal troops, Third Elder would have probably killed them long ago.


    The King smiled and shook his head while looking at Garen.


    "There''s no rush now." He needed to find someone who would be useful to him before he could sign this Eternal Contract. After all, they would live and die together. Hence, if the White Dragon here was too weak and was killed by someone else, wouldn''t he instantly die as well?


    "You may continue your deliberation, then. As a Pinnacle, you should have a three-hundred-year lifespan at least. Moreover, members of the dragon race with stronger talents have longer lifespans. Therefore, they will be even more beneficial to you," said Third Elder while continuing to recommend Garen.

 1286 Contract 2

    "I''ll consider it." Gus nodded faintly. There was a brief whooshing noise before he actually disappeared.


    The body that contained enormous strength forces earlier was actually just a projection!


    Garen''s heart trembled slightly. He had already understood why these two individuals were talking about him.


    A hint of dissatisfaction stirred in his heart immediately. He was not fully against the idea of being able to sign an Eternal Contract with a peak powerhouse. However, aside from merely rejecting it, he would become the peak existence sooner or later. Therefore, he was completely unconcerned with how this Eternal Contract could help upgrade him.


    Moreover, this contract would require him to reduce his lifespan by half and give it to another person for no apparent reason!


    Unhappiness arose in his heart faintly because Third Elder was deciding on his behalf.


    "Garen, come here." When Third Elder''s voice drifted over, Garen raised his head and saw that the Elder was looking at him attentively with a gentle gaze.


    He lifted his legs and walked toward the front of the Elder slowly before standing on the spot where the other man was standing earlier.


    "I have been summoned by the Elder. What are my instructions?" He asked in a slightly respectful tone.


    Third Elder sized Garen up from head to toe. It seemed as though his powerful gaze could see through Garen.


    "I''m sure that you must''ve overheard our conversation earlier?"


    Garen hesitated for a moment before nodding his head soon after that.


    "Yes, is it about the Eternal Contract?"


    "It''s fine if you understand." Third Elder turned around before taking a black, leather-covered book out of the enormous bookshelf behind him. These books were the size of bathtubs when they were opened by humans, but they were merely little books to the dragon race.


    The whooshing noises of turning pages could be heard when he flipped the book open before the book skipped to a certain page in the middle automatically.


    "King Gus is the strongest existence in the Deladia Empire. He''s also King Thunderclap who has grasped the Thunderclap ability. He''ll become a demigod if he advances to the next step. He''s wildly ambitious and hopes to find a member of the dragon race who will sign an Eternal Contract with him to extend his lifespan to its maximum limit. Since his selection choices span across all the dragon races, we''ve recommended you from our clan."


    Garen was silent.


    "You must understand that King Thunderclap is truly the most supreme being. There are people who have surmised that his powers have already reached the peak of this physical world as he had achieved the Level Fifteen grade in theory. Once he has chosen you, your social status and powers will receive explosive increments," said Third Elder in a tempting manner.


    "Level Fifteen?" Garen was slightly shocked. "Didn''t you say that Level Nine was the highest peak?"


    "Level Nine is the peak of the Professionals and that''s the end of the road for them. Only those who have finished walking on the path that is considered their own can continue moving forward. In theory, one only needs to break through Level Fifteen and achieve Level Sixteen before becoming a demigod. King Gus has almost reached the final step. However, his lifespan is nearly insufficient¡­" said Third Elder while smiling.


    "Then what is the difference between Level Nine Professionals and the beings that have surpassed Level Nine?" Garen did not reply or state whether he agreed or not, instead another question was asked.


    "Difference?" Third Elder pondered before answering properly, "There''s no great difference. The dividing line between Level Nine focuses on Spellcrafting. In reality, the difference between the corresponding levels spans across an extremely vast divide. Moreover, Level Nine Professionals have already reached the peak of all creatures. If their levels are upgraded again after that, their greatest power will be their Level Nine Spellcrafting grade. However, there are great differences between their usage limits, endurance, quantity, types, and strengthening abilities among other things."


    He flipped to another page of the book before he continued speaking.


    "Take, for instance, a Level Nine individual who still needs to chant and can only use Level Nine Spellcrafting. Compare this with another person who has five Level Nine Spell Slots daily and can also exist promptly. Who do you think is stronger?"


    "Understood¡­" Garen had roughly understood the difference. He continued staying silent.


    "So what are your aspirations regarding the Eternal Contract?" asked Third Elder gently.


    Garen furrowed his eyebrows. He was careful not to expose his emotions when he replied.


    "If King Thunderclap is willing, I''m naturally indifferent. Good opportunities like these are hard to come by." His opinion did not actually count because this plan was clearly something that Third Elder had seized determinedly. If he was not grateful for this, it would mean that he had failed to appreciate his kindness. When he was faced with a terrifying being that was comparable to a Level Ten individual, Garen did not even have the confidence that he could even succeed in escaping from his soul.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    This was easily not just a grade.


    After Level Six, there would be an enormous division every time one passed a level. It was equivalent to the differences between Spellcrafting powers.


    "That''s good." Third Elder smiled. The traces of the faintly menacing atmosphere lightened as well. "Study properly. I''ll inform you once we have more information about this matter."


    "Thank you very much, Elder." Garen lowered his head. Third Elder was an Elder Dragon who had lived for at least thousands of years or even ten thousand years. He had a vast amount of experience and would certainly not be easily tricked by Garen. Therefore, he could not expose even the slightest bit of unwillingness.


    "Good. You may return first, I''ll summon you if any matters arise. Also, please remember to prepare yourself. The battle on the border had started immediately, and you will be summoned soon. They''ve been preparing themselves all this time for this battle throughout the last ten years."


    "Understood."


    Garen put his presents down and turned to leave politely. Only then did he go down before proceeding to walk out of the cave.


    "That''s right. Regarding the matter with Boris and the other dragon, if you were really displeased, I''ll tell Wylow to be mindful of himself," said the Elder simply.


    "Thank you very much, Elder!" Garen turned around and bowed again. He had received a satisfactory answer in the end.


    Clearly, Third Elder was saying these things to him directly because he was giving Garen face by using his status and position to pay attention to such insignificant matters. He was making sure that Garen would be grateful.


    Otherwise, he would never have minded these trivialities because of his honor as the Elder.


    After retreating from the Elder''s cave, Garen passed through the corridor that was being protected by the Dragon Guards and discovered that these guards were Level Seven beings at least. As Adult White Dragons were usually Level Six beings, the Level Seven White Dragons here were clearly meticulously strengthened through cultivation.


    After leaving the cave, he flapped his wings and flew from the entrance of the cave before charging downward along the edges of the snowy peak outside.


    The Dragon Whelp Training Institute that he had previously attended was located at the middle level of this snowy peak. He heard a series of cold sneers just as he flew past this area.


    "Beat him! Beat him up! I''ll take care of everything as long as you don''t beat him to death!" It was Wylow''s voice.


    Garen looked over in the direction of the voice. He instantly saw that a few Dragon Whelps had currently surrounded another Dragon Whelp. They were punching and kicking him in the canyon where the Dragon Whelp combat training class was located. They would occasionally lash at him with their tails by using numerous merciless whipping-motions.


    Wylow stood outside the circle and yelled insults.


    Garen furrowed his eyebrows slightly and looked carefully at the Dragon Whelp that was being bullied before realizing that it was actually Boris.


    The banging noises that came from the kicking and punching echoed over continuously, while the Dragon Whelps sneered and hit Boris violently.


    Garen charged downwards immediately.


    Bang!


    He landed behind the group of Dragon Whelps firmly. He fell on the ground heavily, causing the snow to fly and scatter everywhere when it quaked.


    His movements gained the attention of Wylow and the other Dragon Whelps instantly.


    "It''s Garen, huh?" he said while forcing a smile. He felt slightly apprehensive when he saw that Garen was clearly taller and more muscular than him. However, his confidence was immediately restored when he quickly remembered his new status as a White Dragon who had already signed an Eternal Contract with a prince.


    "What''s wrong? You thought of coming back to see everyone in the Dragon Whelp class suddenly?" he said while trying to stall.


    "What are you doing?" said Garen coldly, "have you forgotten the things that I said previously?" After being repressed over at Third Elder''s place earlier, Wylow was a complete eyesore to him now.


    "But we''re not doing anything? Haha, we''re just teaching Boris some combat techniques." Wylow squinted his eyes and looked at Garen sideways. "Garen, there''s nothing here that concerns you. I''ve given you Leona, already so don''t be ungrateful."


    "Ungrateful?" sneered Garen. "For the Elder''s sake, I''ll give you three seconds to leave."


    Wylow was dumbfounded and felt as if he had misheard him. Did Garen actually dare to speak to him like this?


    "Did you just¡­ say that? Three seconds?"


    "One."


    "Garen, do you really think that I''m afraid of you?"


    Wylow''s expression darkened immediately. Numerous muscular Dragon Whelps moved towards Garen and surrounded him after being signaled by Wylow. The Dragon Guards who were patrolling the surrounding area flew over here when they noticed that something was amiss. They were clearly focused on guarding Wylow''s safety at all times. It looked like Third Elder was extremely favorable towards Wylow indeed.


    "Two."


    However, none of this was enough to scare Garen. As Garen was someone who would probably sign a contract with King Thunderclap, even Third Elder would have to consider Garen''s attitude towards himself in the event that the contract was successful in the future. When that time came, he would probably become a key existence that could influence King Thunderclap''s attitude.


    Wylow was unaware of this, but he was already certain that since he had signed an Eternal Contract with a prince from the Deladia Empire, Garen would surely not be brave enough to do anything to him!


    Moreover, since there were numerous protectors in his surroundings, what was the worse that Garen could do besides hitting him?


    "Garen, mind your own business!" Boris roared stubbornly despite being assaulted. "Who told you to worry about me?! Go away! Go!" One of his eyes was almost swollen to the point where he could not open it. There was a faint hint of worry in his gaze when he looked at Garen.


    Bang bang!


    Both of the patrolling Adult White Dragons landed behind Garen and encircled him.


    "Garen, don''t act rashly. After all, Wylow is Third Elder''s closest grandson," said a White Dragon softly.


    Garen turned around and glanced at the two White Dragons. Next, he looked at Boris whose entire body was covered in wounds, almost crippled from the beatings. A hint of impatience flashed in his eyes.


    "I''m warning you not to concern yourself with the matters here."


    His words that were tinged with menace instantly angered the two Adult White Dragons faintly. They had never expected that this prodigious White Dragon with a reputation that had spread far and wide would actually be so wild!


    Despite being a prodigy, he was merely a Dragon Whelp. Nonetheless, he was apparently daring enough to threaten Adult White Dragons. This simply meant that he was unaware of the complexity of things!


    The commotion here had attracted the attention of many other Dragon Whelps who were attending classes inside. A few Dragon Whelps ran out in succession, while one instructor who was among them walked out as well. It was actually a teacher who had taught Garen previously. He was about to stop this incident when he saw it but it was too late now.


    "Garen, I gave you face last time," said Wylow coldly. "I''ve heard that you have three more brothers and sisters, right? It looks like I have to take good care of them¡­"


    "Three." Garen spat out the final word.


    The entire place turned silent at once.


    The entire bodies of the two White Dragons stiffened while they glared closely at Garen. Two shrouds of Level Six Draconic Auras pressed down on Garen''s body instantly.


    Garen circled his surroundings and scanned them.


    Boom!


    He exploded a large pile of snow suddenly before the length of his entire dragon body increased by several meters dramatically. The muscles throughout his whole body condensed frantically like surging water. Level Six Draconic Auras could not suppress him at all! Garen''s entire physique had instantly expanded by one whole degree.


    Those two Adult White Dragons pounced at him fiercely and attempted to press Garen down. However, Garen pushed them away violently towards his left and right sides respectively the moment they touched him.


    Bang! Bang! Both of the Adult White Dragons were instantly sent flying by him with just two movements as though they were just pieces of trash before crashing against the frozen wall on the side painfully.


    Bang!


    Garen used one claw to grab Wylow who was dazed with fear. He grabbed at his neck and suspended him in mid-air.


    He was almost as enormous as a full Adult White Dragon after his entire body had expanded, while the scales that covered his body were twinkling with a cold pale sheen.


    Shh!


    A scorching hot ray was shot out from the hands of one of the Dragon Guards on the side. It was clear that another Dragon Guard who had rushed over was taking action now.


    "Put him down! Garen!"

 1287 Underground City 1

    The Dragon Guards'' rays were released at astonishing high temperatures, rapidly melting the ice and snow nearby within a radius of several meters. However, upon landing on the side of Garen''s waist, the rays were quietly absorbed by his white scales.


    Shh!!


    All the Dragon Whelps and onlookers gasped in shock.


    This was Level Seven immunity!!


    The Dragon Guard had immediately used a Level Seven Spell - Scorching Ray. It was a Level Seven Spell strengthened and derived from Level Four Scorching Radiation. Although it was initially a Level Four Spell, once its composition was revised and intensified, it could stir up the powers that were released by Weave, and as such was truly a Level Seven flaming ray!!


    However, Garen seemed to be immune to it?!


    He was actually immune to Level Seven Spells at this age??!!


    It was really¡­


    None of the Dragons knew how to assess Garen''s talents anymore.


    Particularly the instructor who had recommended him in the beginning. Gaping with his mouth wide open, he was speechless as he was in a complete state of shock. His only thought was, oh man I''m so gonna get rich!...


    The two Adult White Dragons that were whipped away crawled up slowly. Upon witnessing this scene, they broke out in cold sweat, too afraid to step forward.


    When they saw Garen''s current physique and recalled the frightening strength that he had used to strike them, they realized that he had surpassed the normal White Dragons and they were not able to challenge him anymore.


    Gradually, the red ray dimmed. Garen''s dragon scales only had bits of faint, black burn marks; the rest were not affected.


    The Dragon Guard who was holding that scroll which was released earlier looked embarrassed. He looked at Garen dumbfoundedly, not knowing how to react as Garen grabbed Wylow by the neck. This may not be his strongest spell, but the powers of the other spells were not anymore greater than this. If this spell was not able to hurt Garen at all, the other spells could only hurt him to a limited degree as well.


    "You''re really irritating." Garen lifted little Wylow to his front, lowering his head to look at him closer.


    "Kill me if you can!!" Wylow''s face was green from anger and fear. He was angry because he had been badly humiliated, and afraid because he did not expect Garen to be so fierce.


    "Kill you?" Garen''s ferocious dragon mouth curled slightly at its corners, exposing his sharp, pearly white teeth.


    His body''s Level Five Draconic Aura erupted fully. He had managed to offset a large part of the Draconic Auras weakening effects towards himself so that the value of his attributes would only decrease by one point on average.


    Even so, his age was a concern to the surrounding members of the dragon race as they regarded him as a challenge that was hard to surpass despite everything.


    "I won''t kill you, of course." Garen drew back the corners of his mouth and grinned, "however, I can let you experience what is pain."


    He grabbed one of Wylow''s arms with his other claw while smiling menacingly.


    "You¡­"


    Shh!!


    Ahh!!!


    Amidst the violent, tearing noise, Wylow could be heard screaming in pain. He could only stare blankly at his right arm, which was literally ripped off. His flesh and muscle membranes were torn ragged, a large amount of white dragon blood spurted out.


    Seeing this, the surrounding dragons felt intense chills surging from their tailbones up to their heads. Garen dared, he actually dared to rip off an arm of the Elder''s grandson?!


    This was simply too brutal!! It was simply unimaginable! He was extremely audacious!!


    "Enough!!"


    A dragon''s ferocious roar echoed in the distance suddenly.


    It was Third Elder!


    His enormous, white body glided over swiftly, bringing with him a powerful and fearless Draconic Aura and using most of it to pressure Garen.


    Garen turned around and flung Wylow away in passing. Wylow rolled on the ground a few times before he stopped, fainting from the pain.


    He looked at Third Elder, who was flying towards him.


    "Do you have any instructions? Elder?" His expression remained unchanged. Noticing that Garen could still remain calm despite causing such great ruckus, the surrounding members of the dragon race could not help but secretly admired him.


    Third Elder was holding the Divine Staff, which emitted a ray of white light that shrouded Wylow who fainted on the side.


    He only looked at Garen after that. Surprisingly, he merely furrowed his eyebrows gently and glanced at Boris, who was almost crippled by the beatings, and the other dragons surrounding Garen.


    He remained quiet and did not say a word. He looked over at the other dragons around him numerous times before an Adult White Dragon approached him and explained the situation to him quietly.


    Third Elder remained silent for ten whole minutes, the atmosphere was oppressively quiet.


    His last gaze finally landed on Garen. The corners of his mouth drew back as Third Elder actually squeezed out an extremely natural-looking and gentle smile.


    "It looks like I didn''t explain everything in time beforehand. Regarding my promise, it remains unchanged. But Garen, don''t you think that you''ve gone too far?"


    "Elder, I was momentarily furious and could not help but acted rashly¡­" Garen suddenly understood that the Elder had already decided between him and Wylow. He immediately put on a helpless face tinged with some grievance.


    He sensed that Third Elder''s gaze was scanning his body continuously. Third Elder was clearly extremely satisfied with the potential that Garen had displayed today.


    "That''s true as well. Wylow had never experienced great obstacles since young. It was also beneficial for him to have you demonstrate to him the true definition of a powerhouse. Perhaps it will influence his future development positively."


    The Elder nodded casually.


    "Alright, this incident ends here. Garen, regarding your matters, I''ll contact the other side as soon as possible. You can standby for more information. Don''t worry, you have a very great chance!"


    Finishing his words, his gaze scanned Garen''s entire body from head to toe as if he was admiring an exceptional treasure. The longer he looked, the more satisfied he was.


    "Thank you very much, Elder!" Garen replied with respect immediately.


    Witnessing the conversation between the Elder and Garen, the other dragons looked as if they had seen aliens. They could not understand what had happened between the both of them that made the Elder ignored his favorite grandson''s critical injuries while openly favoring Garen instead!?


    Boris hovered and stayed behind. Despite being the one who knew Third Elder''s personality the best, he was completely stupefied now. Third Elder, who had an extremely selfish and cold personality, had actually handled Garen so magnanimously even though the latter had challenged his dignity. This was more unbelievable than if White Dragon Mountain had instantly transformed into Black Dragon Mountain!!


    Nonetheless, he could not deny it because the truth had happened right before his eyes.


    However, none of the dragons knew that while Garen had breathed a sigh of relief, he was also secretly vigilant of Third Elder''s selfishness.


    The true nature of White Dragons was that they were naturally selfish and cold, which could be vividly seen in Third Elder. If his own grandson was merely a bargaining chip that he could discard at any moment, outsiders would be worth even less.


    He had already prepared in advance to display his powers in the clan. As long as he displayed his elite grade as an Adult White Dragon and leveraged on his age and talents, Wylow would be insignificant. In a clan where powerhouses were revered, no one would even dare to say anything if he killed Wylow.


    However, it would be slightly risky depending on how much Third Elder valued familial attachments.


    Therefore, Garen did not go to the extremes and merely tore off one of Wylow''s arms because broken limbs could be perfectly reattached within a short period of time by using Divine Art. His actions may seem brutal, but in reality, Wylow''s injuries would not be critical with the Elder''s help.


    This was also a subtle action that he used to probe Third Elder.


    The results, however, made him bitterly disappointed. Third Elder was indeed a ruthless character!


    "These matters shall end here then." Third Elder released white light from his staff while dragging Wylow up from the ground. He scanned through the area one last time before his gaze paused on the Adult Dragon Guard on the side, who was still holding the Level Seven scroll in his hand.


    "You, come with me."


    That White Dragon''s body trembled before he frantically lowered his head respectfully.


    "Yes."


    "Don''t disappoint me¡­ Garen." Third Elder looked at Garen one final time before turning around and flew away


    Garen looked on while they left.


    He stood at the same spot silently, his physique shrunk back to its original state again. He did not look any different from a normal Young Dragon. No one could have imagined that the tough atmosphere had actually burst forth from him.


    He waited until the silhouettes of Third Elder and the other dragons had disappeared completely before he turned around and walked towards Boris.


    "Are you alright?" He reached his hand out to support him.


    "Still okay¡­" Boris struggled and tried to stand on his own but could not raise his body. "You shouldn''t have worried about me. Although Third Elder was smiling happily, he''s definitely harboring a grudge in his heart. Despite whatever methods you''re using to temporarily suppress his internal fury now, you will definitely face his worse retaliation the moment you make the slightest error."


    "Since doing this, I''d naturally know that these are the consequences of my actions. Don''t worry." In his mind, Garen had a definite idea of what he was doing. "I''ll send you back to your cave first."


    "Thanks."


    "We were friends since the beginning, so you don''t have to say such things."


    Garen ignored the stares of the other dragons around him. He grabbed Boris and flapped both of his own wings before flying towards the snowy peak in the distance.


    *******************


    Shhh¡­


    "That really hurts!!"


    Inside a narrow little cave, Saszt was applying medicine on Boris'' wounds carefully. Leona, who was beside them, rushed over with the medicine from home.


    This pitiful little girl was looking at Boris, worried.


    Garen sat at the side and looked at Boris who was lying on the ground groaning.


    "What are you guys planning to do now?"


    "Plans? What other plans could we have?" It seemed as though Boris had matured greatly after experiencing the things that happened during this period of his life. "It''s impossible for us to leave this place because Third Elder would never release us. Thus, we can only live in the snowy peak. Due to this, we don''t stand a single chance of breaking free from his grasp."


    "I¡­ I miss Grandfather¡­" Leona could not help but started crying again. Her delicate narrow dragon eyes were recently always slightly swollen. She was clearly crying often every day. The dragon scales that covered her body which was initially clean and beautiful now appeared somewhat dirty. There were obviously no specialists to help her clean them anymore.


    Bang!


    Saszt punched the cave wall.


    "Wait for me to grow up! Wait for me to grow up! I''ll definitely put on a good show for that bastard!!" He gritted his teeth.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Garen looked at these three Dragon Whelps helplessly.


    "Frankly, you cannot leave this snowy peak nor can you escape from the Elder''s supervision. If this persists, it will be completely meaningless even if you grow up. If you don''t leave the snowy peak and experience other things, you''ll never be able to grow and achieve the same Level Nine grade as the Elder."


    "Level Nine¡­ Haha, the regular dragon race like ourselves could never even dream of reaching Level Nine in the beginning without seven or eight thousand years of intensive studying. However, there are only a few members of the dragon race who can live over seven or eight thousand years. There are the rarest beings in the dragon race." Boris was realistic and calm. He glanced at Garen and said, "it might be possible for you but the rest of us aren''t prodigies. If we can''t break through to Level Seven by the time we reach five hundred years of age and are unable to extend our lifespans, it will be eternally impossible for us to even hope of achieving Level Nine."


    "Perhaps there''s a way that will allow us to break free from Elder''s control," said Garen quietly.


    "What way?!" Boris was suddenly shocked. His gaze was closely fixed on Garen.


    Saszt and Leona were also surprised. They looked at Garen immediately. They were at a complete loss now and could not even see a sliver of hope.


    "Eternal Contract," said Garen lightly.


    "Are you talking about the Eternal Contracts that are signed with the princes and princesses of the Deladia Empire?" Boris responded immediately.


    "Once you''ve gained the protected statuses of the royal Contractors, you won''t merely be members of the White Dragon Clan as you''ll gain half of the status of the royalty of the Deladia Empire. Even Third Elder wouldn''t be brave enough to suppress your growth openly," Garen explained briefly.


    "But¡­ our lifespans will be reduced by half!" Saszt was slightly hesitant.


    "You can consider it, but this is the only way. Only by borrowing the strength of the Deladia Empire will you stand a chance of obtaining normal space for growth." Garen stood up, "I''ll be leaving first. You can look for Safour and the rest and tell them to inform me if any matters arise. I might have to leave for a period of time so you need to be careful during this period."


    "Leave?"


    "Yes, there''s a Summoned Battle¡­" Garen sensed the Summoner''s request in his mind. According to the contract, as long as the other party had provided sufficient remuneration, he could never reject their requests.


    Garen''s heart stirred as he flew out of the cave. Translucent wavy ripples had suddenly extended in mid-air outside the cave at an unknown moment. Garen''s slender body charged through the ripples directly before he vanished without a trace.


    This was his first Summoned Battle and he hoped that Kevin would not disappoint him.

 1288 Underground City 2

    In the lush green, white pine forest on the border of Deladia.


    The scorching, crackling flames of a great fire were currently burning in an explosive blaze. The red light soared into the sky while numerous red Giant Hawks hovered around.


    Several black-skinned elves with pointed ears rode on the backs of these Giant Hawks. They held bows and arrows, and lances that were used for throwing while glaring menacingly at the area where the large fires were burning below. Dozens of red hawks circled and formed an enormous red whirlpool.


    There was apparently a faint green semicircular shield that was currently being supported in the center of the great fire. Five or six people were standing scattered under the shield, they were dressed in Deladia Empire''s military uniforms. Three of them were Wizards. There were either three or four stars on their black wizard robes which indicated their ranks as either Level Three or Level Four Wizards.


    Kevin and his daughter Maria huddled together closely. The shield was released by him.


    "Never would I have expected that we would be captured by the Giant Hawk Elf Forces after we had just encountered our third battle¡­" There was a slightly pained look on Kevin''s face.


    There were two Warriors and an Archer in this group. There was a total of six people here including the father and daughter duo who were both Level Four Wizards. They formed a standard match.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    This was a battle group that was formed by the dragon race Contractor Kevin to obtain the Core. When they came out to proceed with their border hunt this time, they had never anticipated finishing their luck from the two previous times. They had encountered a large contingent of Giant Hawk Elf Forces this round. With the ability to fly at high altitudes and throw burning or exploding-type weapons and arrows, these Black Elves were the nightmares of all Wizards that were Level Five and below.


    "Father, the captain of the group of Black Elves in the sky seems like he has silver stripes. He''s definitely a high leveled existence. If we kill him and take him back as proof, we''ll meet our quest quota for the next two months." Unlike Kevin''s currently pained state of mind, his daughter Maria was brimming with confidence.


    "My lord and lady, I have terrible news! Another two groups that are being led by Contractors have arrived. They''ve surely noticed the commotion here!" reported the only archer who was concurrently holding another post as a scout loudly.


    "We must get to work immediately, or they''ll definitely steal the credit!" Maria urged her father.


    "Don''t worry, we''re just slightly inexperienced." Kevin exhaled firmly. The arrival of friendly forces would be the best-case scenario. Otherwise, it was uncertain whether he could get rid of the Giant Hawk Forces in the sky if he could not accurately grasp the little White Dragon that he had summoned.


    "But¡­"


    Roar!!


    Suddenly, a long and muscular Young Blue Dragon flew over from the faraway sky. The cerulean Blue Dragon had smooth dragon scales while the length of its body was five to six whole meters long.


    "Haha, the captain of the Black Elves with Silver-Striped one as well. My luck is actually pretty good today."


    "Houston, I discovered him first so don''t even dare of stealing my credit!"


    Another Red Dragon with an even bigger physique flew over in the sky. Shrouds of red halos were lingering around this Red Dragon''s whole body. It was apparently a prodigious Red Dragon that naturally possessed scorching radiation.


    "Mark, do you really think that your Contractor can win a fight against us?" It seemed that the Blue Dragon was unexpectedly not afraid of the other party. "Although I can''t beat you, I can still stall you temporarily. However, you Contractor is another story¡­ haha."


    Both members of the dragon race surrounded the Black Elves in mid-air. However, they were not rushing to put their hands to the task but were arguing with each other instead.


    Maria and the others below paced in circles frantically, unaware that Kevin had mentally sighed in relief vigorously.


    They saw that another Young White Dragon was about to appear in the sky quickly before Kevin secretly cut off the connection of his contract passage while the faint light of his Contract Matrix extinguished itself on the ground naturally.


    "Let''s go. There''s none of our business here anymore," said Kevin softly.


    "Father, you''ve acted too slowly. Otherwise, this credit would have been ours definitely," grumbled Maria.


    "It''s fine, we''ll find another place¡­"


    Hum!


    Suddenly, a deep distinct voice echoed throughout the minds of all the dragon race Contractors here.


    "All Contractors, head towards the message transmission site immediately and gather there. All Contractors, head towards the message transmission site immediately and gather there. The location of the unique Underground City has been discovered, and the Pearl of the Hall may be hidden there. You must definitely fight to obtain it."


    The voice repeated itself in their heads three consecutive times.


    "Pearl of the Hall¡­" Kevin''s mind stirred. The revolving core of the Black Streak Empire''s Underground City -- Pearl of the Hall had numerous mystical effects.


    Its most renown effect was its ability to improve aptitudes and forcibly modify souls to increase the probability of breakthroughs for numerous Professionals who were unable to break through their limits.


    The Pearl of the Hall''s most valuable aspect was that it was a first-rate treasure that could sufficiently increase the probability of breaking through to Level Eight when it was used.


    Furthermore, the Underground City was also the predecessor of the Black Streak Empire and the remains of the Black Elf Empire, hence there would definitely be an abundance of rare treasures inside it. Moreover, the Black Elf Empire was an infamously greedy empire that possessed a myriad of treasure and wealth.


    "Must we go?" Kevin knew in his heart that he had no other choice. This question was undoubtedly insignificant. Military orders could not be defied and his misdemeanors would definitely be recorded if he did not go. Since he was currently wearing his badge now, there was no leeway for him to struggle at all. He was worried that the little White Dragon that he had contracted was not even at Level Five¡­ if he rushed in like this, would it really be alright?


    Unlike his fearful and dispirited self, Maria and the few other Warriors were enthusiastic now after Kevin had relayed this information to them.


    "Underground City, huh. Although we certainly won''t be able to obtain the Pearl of the Temple, there is an abundance of treasures there. As long as we can get a few random antiques or good items, we will definitely earn a lot of money if we sell them!"


    Maria was very knowledgeable and knew many rumors regarding the Underground City.


    Wizards belonged to a profession that included huge expenditures. They only had the right to upgrade their own levels without having to consider about wastages or depletion once they had a sufficient amount of money.


    "Let''s go then¡­" Kevin glanced at the few members of the dragon race in the sky one last time. The few dragons that arrived after that had already started to slaughter the large contingents of Black Elves that were escaping in the sky. Seeing the power and ferocity of these dragons that belonged to other people, he lost even more confidence in his own contracted dragon.


    His dragon was already a member of the weakest White Dragon Clan. Moreover, he was also a Dragon Whelp¡­ The average Dragon Whelps were mostly only at Level Four.


    The surrounding flames weakened when Maria used her staff to release a Hydropower Spell. This Level Three Spell induced a small amount of rainwater that fully drenched the surrounding areas that were covered in flames earlier before the high temperatures were lowered by the water vapor immediately.


    Kevin chanted a few sentences quietly and waved his hand to release a Level One Squall Spell that blew the water vapor away.


    The group then rushed speedily towards the direction that Kevin was pointing at.


    ******************


    White Dragon Clan Elder''s Peak


    A shroud of ripples had instantly appeared in mid-air in the cave where Garen stayed. Garen charged out of the ripples in one go and appeared disorderly from head to toe.


    "Damn Kevin!!" he cursed loudly and furiously. His expression was extremely contorted.


    He was passing through space when the summoning of his contract was abruptly severed on the other side. This caused him to frenziedly crash head-first into the Spatial Barrier that had closed in front of him. Next, he rolled around and was dragged back like a tractor while being inflicted with vertigo along the way.


    The inexperienced, useless Wizard over there was actually unaware that one-sidedly ending a contract without prior information would cause the Contractor on the other side to be seriously injured at any time because they could not react promptly?!!


    If he had neither possessed exceptionally agile reflexes or qualities that were incomparable and far beyond that of the average Young Dragon, he would probably be completely and heavily wounded because of this. Regardless of one''s level, the slightest problem when passing through a space portal would surely be a major issue.


    When he landed in his own clean ice cave, Garen panted hoarsely in an extremely indignant manner. He saw that his entire body was covered in dark blue bruises. These injuries were formed when he crashed around in the space passage. He was extremely furious.


    "Don''t even think that I''ll put in any effort for you the next time you summon me!" Garen was furious. He was initially already impatient with that penniless good-for-nothing Summoner. He had never expected that the other party would actually still dare to pull this move.


    He already had thoughts of instantly severing contact with him if he did not have to wait for the contract time to arrive as he could only be relieved after the battle ended.


    *******************


    Several days later¡­


    At the edge of an enormous underground abyss on the border of Deladia.


    More than ten battle units had gathered in a temporary campsite at the border.


    The campsite was arranged in a circle while transparent floating Sentinel Eyes were installed in its surroundings. These were guarding devices that were created by the Wizards which could be repeatedly used for ten times.


    More than ten units had their own large tents in the campsite. Hints of black patterns that were deeply engraved could be faintly seen on the edges of the largest tent.


    Every single person at the campsite was currently standing outside their tents, while more than ten units of dragon race Contractors were all looking at a man in blue armor who was standing at a high place.


    The man''s features were as beautiful as a woman while his short blue hair was raised up high like a blaze of fire. His body was slender and tall, and he wore exquisite dark gold crescent-shaped studded earrings on both of his ears.


    The man crossed his arms at his chest and looked down from above at all of the other dragon race Contractors below him. He gave off an agile and brave but arrogant attitude.


    "I''m Blue Void Reisman. I''ve temporarily gathered all of the nearby Contractors here. In the name of the royal family, I shall be the highest in command here. Honorable lords and ladies, are there any objections?" He said in a low and deep voice.


    "No objections. If Master Blue Void is leading the group, I think that we won''t have to worry about any danger," said a white and grey-haired elderly Wizard softly as he stepped forward. Although he had spoken quietly, his voice was amplified by his spells to the extent that it resounded through their surroundings.


    "I don''t think that there''ll be any issues if we''re led by Master Blue Void of the White Knights who has been renowned for a long period of time," agreed another voice.


    "Rumor has it that Master Blue Void is about to advance to Level Seven. Being able to reach this stage at twenty-six years of age is worthy of¡­" the voice trailed off.


    A middle-aged female Wizard stood forward.


    "I was wondering if Master had a deeper understanding of the Underground City? Our sixteen Contractors here have gathered the strength of sixteen members of the dragon race. It''s unlikely that it will be dangerous in there. However, obtaining the greatest benefits and snatching them from those Black Ghosts will depend on the leadership strategies."


    Blue Void''s expression remained unchanged.


    "I have a map relevant to the Underground City, and I''ve also prepared some methods to counter and get rid of some sections of certain organizations. I only need the assistance of your honorable selves in certain places to help me conserve strength in those areas."


    Kevin and his daughter were standing in their own unit while looking at Blue Void who was on the platform far away.


    "Level Seven at twenty-six years old¡­ Truly amazing."


    "It doesn''t matter because I won''t lose to him!" said Maria softly.


    However, Kevin knew the difficulty of wanting to break through Level Four. For humans, breaking through Level Four meant crossing a threshold of qualitative changes. Even though numerous people had advanced to Level Four when they were only ten years of age or older, there are also those who were delayed at Level Five for over an entire decade and were still around. Moreover, they would need to exhaust even more resources, time, and energy when they reached Level Six after that, and almost a few times worth as well. Results such as achieving Level Seven at twenty-six years of age was an impossible stage to accomplish for the average Professional and even prodigy who did not possess the great forces, resources, and priceless support that the royals received.

 1289 Knowledge 1

    "If nobody has any other objections, we can leave now," Blue Void said loudly from the front.


    There were no sounds from below, indicating that everyone was pleased and satisfied with his arrangements. Blue Void then started dividing everyone into several groups and the respective tasks each group would be in charge with.


    As protected ones, all the Contractors were surrounded in the middle. After all, their safety was directly linked to the existence of the summoned dragon race.


    As a Wizard, even if it was a Level Nine Great Wizard, without any special physical attributes or equipment or casting a spell shield upon oneself, even a Level One Warrior could easily kill him. However, once the Wizards were well prepared, the power they could erupt would be way horrifying than an entire troop of Warriors.


    Therefore, the safety of the Wizards was at the top of their list.


    After everything was settled, the groups slowly walked out of the camp site. Warriors were scattered everywhere whereas Archers were at the inner layer with the Wizards and Contractors right in the middle.


    Kevin was the one who stayed in the innermost, grouped together with a Contractor and a Level-Four Wizard whereas his daughter, due to special relationships, was arranged to be by his side.


    The team slowly descended along a small stone ladder at the edge of the abyss, and soon disappeared into the darkness of the abyss.


    *******************


    The mysterious snow mountain.


    The pure white snow mountain and the azure lake were calm and peaceful, yet seemed remorselessly dead without any living creatures.


    There was no sun over the blue lake, only white clouds that floated slowly but there was still a white light that was shining upon the surface below.


    Whoosh!


    A gigantic White Dragon glided across the lake, causing large ripples and waves.


    The White Dragon had a slender snake neck and strong and powerful limbs, its slightly blue-ish wings on its back fluttered gently as if it had a weird yet natural frequency. It was well coordinated and natural.


    Roar¡­


    The White Dragon growled slowly as it darted in the direction of the snow mountain.


    The instant it closed in the snow mountain, the White Dragon once again rushed and entered a translucent whirlpool, vanishing into thin air.


    "You''re here?"


    Everything went black, Garen suddenly felt that he had fallen directly into the bottom of the abyss.


    The translucent light source was right in front of him, shimmering in a faint white light as Ann''s voice could be heard from inside.


    "I came to fulfill the agreement." Garen realized that he was standing in front of the light source, his mind calmed down.


    "It seems that you''re still trustworthy, and punctual," Ann spoke lightly, "my experiments are divided into two categories. The first one is the Soul Toxic Test. Please come with me."


    "?"


    Garen did not understand how he was supposed to follow her. Ann''s presence was clearly locked within the light source.


    But very quickly, he soon understood what Ann meant.


    Poof.


    A beautiful lady wearing a black tunic skirt walked out slowly from the light source. Her hair was silky smooth and her skin even delicate than the best jade.


    This was a perfect lady.


    This was Garen''s first thought when he saw Ann for the very first time. She was so perfect she did not even seem humane.


    This kind of perfection was not just the perfection of Heaven and Earth, but the kind of perfection that no flaws could be found. Whether it was her temperament or her body, she was completely flawless in all aspects.


    "Come with me," the clear manly voice that came out from Ann''s mouth instantly destroyed her perfect temperament.


    Seeing that she just made a turn into the side of the mountain wall, Garen quickly followed.


    As the both of them walked towards the mountain wall slowly, Ann explained in a hushed tone.


    "Don''t be surprised by my abnormality," she glanced at Garen''s confused face. "Every hundred years, I''ll switch genders and voices. For this coming hundred years, I''ll have the body of a woman and the voice of a man. Then the next hundred years, the body of a man and the voice of a woman."


    "Uh¡­" Garen was a little speechless. It was still alright if Ann had the body of a woman and the voice of a man. If he just happened to meet Ann in the body of a man with the voice of a woman¡­ that would be extremely hard for him to adjust to¡­


    "Also, I''m not as what you think, sealed in this place." Ann turned back and walked towards the stone wall. She reached out her hand and pressed on it lightly.


    An arch door slowly and silently appeared on the stone wall, in the middle of the black door were two scarlet red bloodshot eyes.


    Click.


    The door opened, and Ann walked in.


    Garen quickly followed.


    Inside was a pitch black hollow space without a trace of light. But with the body of a White Dragon, Garen was born with the talent of Darkvision. Coupled with the faint, white light that was coming from the outside, he could vaguely make clear of his surroundings here.


    A laboratory.


    This was no doubt a laboratory.


    Some unknown blood-stained creatures were bound onto the white experimental platform and in the corner were some wheat-like rings with blue, electric current flashing from time to time.


    There were a lot of small grooves on one side of the wall with red candles placed in it. There were probably more than hundreds of them.


    Swoosh.


    All the hundred over red candles suddenly lit up and a bright yellow flame instantly illuminated the entire cave.


    Ann walked to a corner where a lot of garbage and utensils were placed and searched around, finding a very sophisticated looking silver-white metal machine.


    "Come here."


    She waved at Garen.


    Garen hurried over. Although he did not know what she was up to actually, he did agree to cooperate with her experiment and so naturally, he had to keep his promise.


    "Drink it." Ann opened the silver-white metal machine. Inside the elliptical machine was a Light Ball full of tentacles. She held it up and passed it to Garen.


    "Drink?"


    Garen accepted the Light Ball, how do I drink this? He was stunned.


    "Try to imagine, and use your Soul to touch it," Ann explained.


    Garen composed himself and looked at it. It did not seem harmful and his Soul Ring was not sending out any warning or whatsoever, so it should be alright¡­


    He thought so in his mind.


    His Soul Energy reached out and touched the object.


    Swoosh!


    The white ball of light vanished instantly as it seemed to have disappeared underneath the skin of Garen''s arm.


    Before Garen could even react, he felt a cold and intense aura that emerged in his soul rushing straight for his Soul Ring.


    Before it could reach his Soul Ring, boom!


    The white ball of light exploded and a mass of green paste splattered all over the place, even the Soul Ring.


    Garen suddenly felt a strong sense of nausea stirring up in his stomach. He had a strong urge to puke.


    "This is¡­?"


    "Do you feel anything?" Ann looked at him curiously, "This is my latest Soul Explosive Potion. It''s able to separate the parts on Alien Soul that is not pure enough."


    "I¡­" Garen felt more and more uncomfortable. His stomach felt as if there were a thousand roundworms wriggling around and the discomfort was unimaginable.


    His body tensed up and he fell onto the ground. Wriggling on the ground, he bit his mouth shut. He had a feeling that once he gave in the urge to puke, his Soul might suffer an unimaginable harm.


    "This potion lasts for two days so, in these two days, I''ll give you a lesson on the basic general knowledge of this world. Oh¡­ It''s not that kind of general knowledge, but the more high-end part," Ann said casually. "This shall serve as my reward to you for cooperating with this experiment."


    Garen was not able to speak anymore, he could only listen. He resisted the immense urge to vomit and listened to Ann''s words quietly.


    Ann led Garen to a room''s door. The room appeared abruptly on the mountain wall as if she just used a chalk to draw out a door. With a push, one could enter the room.


    Garen was then placed inside the room by Ann. The room was filled with books, bookshelves, and piles of books.


    In the middle of the large heap of books was a gray-yellow translucent map that was floating in the air.


    "This is the Main Plane. I don''t know where did you come from but," Ann paused as she sat down before the translucent map that was floating.


    "No matter what time or space it is in the Main Substance Plane, this will always be the core."


    At this moment, Garen felt slightly better and less nauseous.


    "Core? So, it is the center of everything?" He asked reluctantly.


    "Almost¡­ every year, tens of thousands of creatures from different worlds wander into the Main Substance Plane and they''re always caught by researchers to be used for various experiments. These researchers, some are Great Arcanists, some are Holy Spirits. Some are scholars of the Abyss, but most of them are Gods."


    "Human Gods, Elf Gods, Dwarf Gods etc., there are many Gods in the Main Substance Plane and just an average God''s power is able to build up a small God so there were plenty branches of Gods, small and big. For example, the Great Human God, the symbiont of Light and Fire, the Almighty Fehra."


    "So we can call for the Gods here?" Garen was somewhat surprised. It was known that Fehra was the strongest God of the Human Gods and the most powerful God. Even calling out for a God in the isolated face was very likely to be discovered so after a period of time, Fehra could pay close attention to the situation here straight away without disguise.


    "Yes," Ann nodded. "I''ve made some preventive measures so no matter which God you call out to, it won''t be a problem."


    Garen understood and did not ask anymore but in his mind, he was starting to guess Ann''s identity.


    Ann pointed to the floating transparent map.


    "I''ve already helped you solve your body and soul coordination, but your soul is still far stronger than your body. This is unusual itself so no matter how you coordinate, you can''t cover this up. A strong soul that is formed naturally is always recorded down by the Gods hence," Ann cast a glance towards Garen, "you still have to pay attention to some creatures, they can still see through your essence."


    "Oh?" Garen looked as if he was listening carefully.


    "First of all, all the demigods, or other higher existences." Ann came before a bookshelf where a book flew out automatically, floating right before her. It then began flipping the pages itself.


    Soon enough, another book flew out automatically and floated beside her as it started flipping through the pages itself as well.


    "Second, the Holy Spirits. They have a sense of divinity and most of the powerful Holy Spirits are even stronger than demigods," Ann''s delicate index finger pressed onto a page in the book.


    "And thirdly, the scholars and thanes of the Abyss. As long as they have divinity or they''re so powerful to a certain level of existence, they can notice your problem."


    "Then¡­ when can I settle this once and for all?" Garen asked in a low voice.


    "It''s very simple. Once your body is strong enough to be worthy of your soul, by then, you''ll have a perfectly coordinated existence," Ann smiled. "Your talent seems to be extremely powerful but in reality, your body has a limit in the plane. The soul does not affect the limits of the body, that''s the iron law, that''s why no matter how strong a warrior is, he must truly understand divinity in order to break through the limits of his strength. But Wizards are different, they can choose to understand divinity or continue to study Arcane Techniques."


    Garen did not refute. The most special aspect of the Mother Stream System was that a soul could influence as well as determine the limits of the physical body. But for Ann, perhaps she had already taken that into consideration.


    In his heart, Ann had become an omnipotent know-it-all.


    "Some of the stronger existences of the Main Substance Plane lived on land, the Heavens, the Chaos Sea, the stars, the great kingdoms, the bottomless abyss and the purgatory. These are all places you have to pay close attention to. Once your soul enters these places, those existences that have a strong sense of smell toward souls would instantly find you. And once you''re captured, you''ll be destroyed."


    Ann explained slowly. From time to time, she would look at Garen with a weird stare. Her eyes glimmered with gold, silver, and even a little like a crystal-like Milky Way vortex. Her gaze upon Garen was as cold as the tip of a knife, cutting Garen to the point his scales ached.


    But this was obviously part of the experiment, and so he could only bear with it.


    "Really strange though, there are parts of your soul that I can''t understand," Ann fondled her chin as she muttered, "It seems that the potion''s effect is running out... continue to drink."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Just like performing magic, she pulled out another white mass of light that was full of tentacles.

 1290 Knowledge 2

    Garen received it conscientiously and continued absorbing it. Once again, the immense nauseous feeling re-emerged.


    He could barely hold the urge to bend over and vomit but immediately resisted it again.


    "Such strong willpower. Very persistent," Ann nodded with satisfaction. "You are now qualified to become a Holy Spirit. If you are pious enough, that is."


    "Thank you¡­ for the compliment¡­" Garen squeezed out the words. His entire body was shivering and coated with cold sweat as he crouched on the ground, too afraid to move as he feared he would vomit. He felt an excruciating pain in his abdomen as strong surges to puke washed over him.


    Ann stared at Garen in awe.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Your soul''s strength has dropped slightly. Seems like this soul toxin really does have a debilitating effect. Maybe it''s because your resistance is relatively high, that''s why I thought it wasn''t working at first¡­"


    She bent her head seemingly in deep thought.


    At the same time, the floating books around her would flip its pages occasionally. Text and symbols would appear from thin air, so obviously, she was recording notes.


    As time passed by slowly, Garen finally got through the potion''s effect. He was so exhausted that he almost fell asleep.


    Right then, Ann''s raitensed her head once more.


    "Cooperate with me and do a set of movements. Your spirit should be coordinated." Upon finishing her words, she began a set of dance-like movements that almost seemed like an awkward social dance, but there were also some weirdly difficult postures.


    Garen did not know how he was supposed to keep up with her. He had the body of a dragon. But since Ann said so already, he used his four limbs as arms and legs and started moving slowly.


    With just one move, he instantly heard a cracking sound from his Soul Ring followed by the sight of crack lines, causing his heart to jump.


    "Don''t worry."


    Ann waved her arm and everything around them suddenly stopped.


    Swoosh¡­


    Garen''s movements began to move around in a rigid and automatic way as if time was moving in reverse. He repeated the movements in reverse, from the last part to the first part, until he fell back to the ground just as if he had never started.


    Garen stared and the cracks on his Soul Ring instantly disappeared!


    "This¡­ is the power of time¡­!" This was not the first time he had encountered such a power. The last time his Soul Ring ruptured, it was this surge of energy that rescued him, and this time, again.


    Everything was back to normal.


    Garen was able to move once again.


    "You must constantly practice this set of movements with this toxin. After one year, I''ll be back to see your results. Understand?" Ann asked calmly.


    "Understand," Garen replied conscientiously.


    Seeing that he was so cooperative, Ann seemed to realize that her trading principles were not really met.


    She pondered for a while.


    "Why not this, I''ll mark a set of maps of the plane for you, indicating all the places that you shouldn''t get close to and I''ll send you a set of books. You can choose freely here."


    "Thank you very much," Garen responded eagerly. What a joke. Being able to control time, an existence like Ann should have reached a certain terrifying extent. The knowledge accumulated by such a powerful existence was no doubt hard to find in the majority of other places!


    What Garen yearned most was the overall understanding of this entire universe. He just simply had no clue what he should pay attention to in this world.


    This was naturally the time not to be courteous.


    He braced the nauseous feeling and quickly scanned the bookshelves around him.


    Spellcraft books were all written in different languages that could not be understood at all. Moreover, they were clearly locked by mana and it would be impossible to read them if one was not a certain level or did not understand the decryption method.


    Potion books, he was not fond of using potions so this was a book he was unfamiliar with.


    Garen''s gaze soon landed on the History books.


    The History of the Main Plane.


    This book was just perfect for him.


    "Are you done selecting?" Ann could sense that he had come to a decision. The book automatically flew out of the shelf and landed right before Garen.


    "Thank you."


    "This book is really suitable for you, so you can adapt more easily," Ann nodded in agreement with his selection. "Go now."


    She waved her hand and Garen could feel everything spinning. His whole field of vision turned upside down and together with the books, they disappeared from the study room immediately.


    Ann fondled her chin. All the books around her closed together slowly and flew back to the shelves automatically.


    "There''s actually something I can''t resolve. God of Potions is indeed worthy of praise," she mumbled to herself.


    She held out her index finger and drew a stroke in the air. In a flash, a crack appeared in front of her and Ann stepped inside it.


    It was unsure what was on the other side of the crack, only white rolling hills could be seen below. The sky was blue and golden sunshine shimmered as Ann floated midair. Suddenly, her body expanded tremendously and rushed forward.


    Roar!


    Her body expanded and she transformed into a gigantic, ferocious black dragon.


    The black dragon was almost a few hundred meters long and she looked just like a black battleship. She had three horns on the top of her head which had colorless current arcs flashing around them.


    Hu¡­!


    The Black Dragon''s enormous body suddenly disappeared on the spot and when it reappeared, it was already a couple of kilometers away.


    The huge Black Dragon flew over the mountains, across the ocean, through a gold desert, and in just half an hour, she finally arrived at a black plain.


    "Pasala." Ann''s loud voice spread toward below, causing large groups of animals that looked like ants from above to panic and flee in fright. Some of the weaker ones were even scared to the point they peed or paralyzed on the ground, not even dare to move.


    "Ann?"


    A thick female voice rumbled from below, young yet majestic.


    "Aren''t you still in meditation? Showing up so casually like that, the Shadow of Ampsey will not let you off that easily."


    Ann''s huge black dragon face showed a look of disdain.


    "I''m meditating, not escaping. Do you really think that I''m afraid of him?"


    "Alright, I believe that you don''t fear him. So why are you here?" Pasala''s female voice asked.


    "I''ve discovered a way to improve my physique''s existence through talent," Ann said shortly.


    "So what? No matter how strong a body gets, when it faces the distortion of time-space, a Level-Nine spell can throw it right into the abyss of the sea of worms and you''d be completely devoured to death by the endless worms. Not understanding the laws, a stronger body doesn''t mean anything at all," Pasala said truthfully.


    "Of course I know that, but I''m just only interested in this kind of abilities. He was created by the God of Potion''s first accident," Ann responded mindlessly.


    "The God of Potions?" Pasala hesitated, "now this is something worth studying. So what do you want coming over here?"


    "Give me a Death Crystal," Ann said bluntly.


    "No. I have only secreted this much over a hundred years, what''d I do if you take all of it away?" Pasala rejected immediately.


    "Let''s trade then," Ann said with a low tone. Pieces of her black dragon scales started falling off her gigantic body automatically and flew downward.


    The dragon scales that were a meter long spun quickly and just like a falling meteor with flames, it crashed into the plains.


    Boom!!!


    A deep crater appeared on the ground. However, the ground surrounding it started wriggling like a living creature around the crater, and soon filled the hole up.


    At this sight, a smile crept upon Ann''s face.


    *******************


    In the cave.


    Garen quietly lingered in his own cave and right in front of him was the book about the history of the Main Plane.


    Pages and pages of the book flipped slowly. The pages were not just symbols and text that he could not understand anymore, but in a twisted unexplainable way, the Information Stream could still be conveyed into Garen''s brain in distinct symbols.


    This was quite similar to a Wizard''s reading technique, but slightly more advanced than that because this type of Information Stream was all automatically converted into Draconic Language and Garen only understood Draconic Language.


    "Ninety-five thousand and three hundred years ago, three Supreme Gods suddenly rose up in the Main Plane and they were Fehra the God of Light and Fire, Ellafy the Mother of Nature, and Avon the Dragon of Eternity. After the invasion of the abyss, the Purgatory and Main Plane overlapped and war broke out¡­ Demons and Inferno creatures trampled over the land of the Main Plane, the sky was shrouded in flames and poisonous gas, evil spirits bewitched the people and killing desires swept upon all beings."


    The content of the book flowed through Garen''s mind slowly.


    "Human and all intelligent races were faced with a major crisis and so the three Supreme Gods each chose the heroes of the war and gave them divinity to become Gods. However, some of those who accidentally acquire the lives of the evil from the abyss had confused the boundaries of the war. The abyss has been raging for thousands of years and has finally been driven off¡­"


    Garen read the pieces of history carefully.


    "After the Battle of the Abyss, this book recorded the Battle of the Gods. The Dragon of Eternity and the two other Gods had a conflict and after being defeated by the two Supreme Gods, he disappeared. As for the God of Elves'' Mother of Nature, after helping Fehra the God of Light and Fire, they turned against each other. The Elves lost but Fehra suffered an immense loss as well. With that, they signed the Republican Treaty."


    He skimmed through most of the parts of the praise and proud descriptions of the Gods and skipped to the important parts straight away. But then, he found something strange.


    After the Battle of the Abyss and the Battle of the Gods, there were still new Gods, demigods, and heroes that popped out constantly. According to his dragon race''s inherited memories, Garen realized that with those many Gods who had fallen in battle, the Main Plane was still showing faint signs of prosperity.


    He suppressed this doubt but he failed to find any answers in the book. Theoretically, even if the war was victorious, there would usually be ''ten thousands deaths of the enemy and eight thousand deaths of one own'' but there was no sign of this here.


    With a general understanding of the Main Plane''s history, Garen analyzed the entire world''s geographical environment through the book.


    Numerous planes rose and fell, surrounded by a cosmic ocean called the Chaos Sea. Among all the planes, there were the main three that stood absolutely upon the Main Plane.


    The positions of those three planes from the top to bottom were:


    The highest one on top was the Heavens, which was the main land of peace for the kingdom started by the all the Gods. Most of the kingdoms were connected, creating network branches between the Gods in order to cooperate and defeat the loss of the Chaos Sea. It was heard that the three Supreme Gods were the founder fathers.


    The middle one was the Main Substance Plane, which was where humans lived.


    Right below at the bottom was the endless abyss.


    As for the Purgatory Plane, the Shadow Plane, the Main Elements Plane, the Ether Plane, and so on, were all attached in between three of the Main Planes. There were also many other strong Planes that were privately established and those were attached to the edges, and those other planes that were chaotic and messy were too many to enumerate like fishes in the sea. Nobody would ever know how many planes were there exactly.


    But Garen only roughly knew as much, he would have to find a more detailed geographical plan to analyze carefully next time.Chinese proverb from Sun Tzu Art of War, meaning both parties suffer internecine with a similar loss

 1291 Survival 1

    To be able to obtain such detailed information from Ann had already exceeded his expectations.


    There was a lot of content recorded, even the dragon race inherited memory was not as detailed as this. Garen planned to bring back more goodies the next time he goes over.


    Heavens, the Main Plane, and the Abyss.


    The names of the three places flashed into his mind. This was the most fundamental core of this universe.


    It was unknown how big exactly was the Main Substance Plane, it was like a gigantic sphere. He recalled the scene he saw when he just arrived, everything on the plane was yellow-brown. It was unclear what those cotton wool-like objects were, just that they were attached to the surface of the Main Substance Plane.


    "Too bad this book''s not about the plane''s geography¡­" He shook his head and closed the book completely.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    The main purpose of him coming here was to find the root of the Depletion of Mother Stream, but until now, he still had no clue.


    Instead, he witnessed the absolute power of the strong ones here. The laws and restrictions here were at least able to suppress their strength by several levels.


    His peak strength, while he was in Mech World, was on Planetary Level which was able to destroy planets, but here, Planetary Level was so suppressed to a completely horrifying extent. From what was mightily recorded in the books, it was approximately equivalent to a demigod level here. Even if he restored his various abilities at his peak, it was still impossible for him to destroy an entire planet, but destructing the plane was still possible.


    Garen squatted inside the cave. The small range of White Dragon Clan no longer limited his vision, and so he projected his sight to other places far away.


    After reviewing his current situation, Garen was extremely satisfied with the progress of his body growth.


    Although the improvement of attributes has been raised to the requirement of three potential points in order to improve a little bit, he still managed to reach a whopping sixty points. This level of flesh was almost the highest level even for an Adult Dragon, and almost close to the apex of a White Dragon.


    The most powerful warrior of the White Dragon race, the Adult Dragon Phosphorus, if other external forces were not included, was probably not able to surpass this level. Only his other aspects were above him, causing his flesh to exceed this certain level.


    There was no doubt that Phosphorus'' Draconic Aura was definitely a Level Nine.


    Garen then remembered the King Gus incident. He did not want to just simply conclude an Eternal Contract with King Gus just like that. It would be hard to determine whether this kind of relationship built on without trust would be a good thing or a bad thing in the future.


    "Garen! Garen!!" Suddenly, Safour''s voice came from outside.


    "What is it?"


    Garen stood up and Safour came running in.


    "Leona, Leona they just signed the Eternal Contract with the Deladia royals!!" Safour exclaimed frantically, "hurry, let''s go see! Many dragons have left already." He was not aware of the discussion between Garen and Leona and rushed over with a look of incomprehensible shock.


    It should be known that an Eternal Contract meant that one would give up half of his life to an ordinary mortal!


    For example, if an ordinary person was to live up to eighty years old, let him give half of his life away to another dead person, he would then only live up to forty years old. To pass away at a time of one''s prime was no doubt a big deal for any White Dragons.


    "Let''s go."


    Garen was not surprised, he just did not expect them to act so quickly.


    He followed Safour and flew out the cave. They crossed a small snowy peak and they could see the snowy ground below, ten or so White Dragons were gathered together. Some were Adult Dragons, some were Young Dragons, but most of them were Young Whelps and a few young people dressed in royal assembles.


    Garen and Safour landed and spotted Leona and Boris among the crowd. Both dragons had a look of determination, clearly, they had already thought through this beforehand.


    Upon seeing Garen''s arrival, both dragons nodded slightly to him and continued standing beside two young people. One of the young people was a male and the other, a female. Their looks seemed beautifully crafted and they looked extremely tender and cute, but the guards around them were merely Level-Three ordinary elites. It was obvious that they were not the most valued ones in the royal family.


    Several Adult Dragons had their mouths closed, but there was a subtle soundwave transmission in the air. Evidently, they were using a spell similar to ventriloquism and were currently communicating with Boris and Leona.


    Garen recognized one of the Adult Dragons to be Leona''s father who was a weak White Dragon. When his daughter was bullied, he shrank into the crowd and did not dare to come out. Facing his strong and determined daughter now, he still had a sad look on his face.


    Leona''s sister, Mehsa, was present as well. Standing on one side quietly, her expression was down and upset.


    As for Boris, his uncle, an ordinary White Dragon, was there with a cool expression.


    "Seems like you''re already sure about this no matter what I say."


    "Yes."


    Boris nodded.


    "Alright then," His uncle said indifferently. Back then when Boris was bullied, he did not step out and help either. The dragons who really cared about Boris and Leona were already arrested along with the Great Elders.


    The rest of them were not exactly close to them and their relationship was weak.


    Garen stood by the side and looked for a while. He did not squeeze in and greet the both of them. This was their own decision. Third Elder could only rely on such means to temporarily resist it.


    "Come on, let''s go back," Garen shook his head. Knowing that the situation had been set, Leona and Boris might soon leave them and who knew if they would ever meet each other again. They had to follow the Contractors back to the Deladia Empire to live. For them, this was just a place of sorrow, perhaps one day when they return with sufficient powers, they would be able to avenge their ancestors and save them from being arrested. But that day was too far away.


    "But¡­!?" Safour wanted to say something but then realized that Garen had already flown off.


    Garen was not worried that those two guys would get into trouble, even Third Elder did not see that those two tots would create problems or whatsoever. Level Nine was not just easily achieved by any dragon, what more, a wasted one that had lost half of its life.


    Sure enough, not long after returning to the cave, Garen heard the news of Boris and Leona leaving with the group back to the Deladia Empire. A total of five White Dragons of the entire White Dragon Clan had signed an Eternal Contract, two of which were them.


    With two fewer acquaintances, Garen''s life was even duller.


    Safour, Sathree, and Satwo were always nowhere to be seen. If they were not participating in hunting activities, they were playing around with the Young Whelps. Soon, they forgot about the separation and the feeling of sadness that came with it. After all, they were still kids.


    Garen sat still in the cave and meditated.


    He had plenty of experience in martial arts but he had not been able to make full use of it. In addition to the understanding of the various laws of several worlds, after transmigrating between so many worlds, he had his own understanding of the laws of the world.


    He gradually understood some limitations and unknowns clearly, he began to recall all the systems he had been in contact with so far.


    Secret Technique system, Totem Light, Witches and the power of Blood Breed, Holy Phoenix Scriptures, and the strongest of all, Mech World''s Willpower system and Energy Machinist''s system.


    "Even though this world is extremely repressive, its degree of inclusiveness is very strong. All these systems are usable, but some of the powerful forces are suppressed several levels below the original level. This way, the only things that can be used in all ways are the Secret Technique system and the Energy Machinist system."


    "Willpower requires a variety of techniques of a Mech, and this will not work. Many of the materials here are different from those there and to rebuild the study of materials would be very troublesome and it''d take too much time. The Totem Light mainly has the power of evolving and degrading and finding the most powerful part of a creature''s gene fragment. But this is considered as a knowledge system, and it''s very likely that once leaked, it''ll attract plenty of attention. If possible, it just shouldn''t be used. So, what remains is the Witches and the power of Blood Breed which is mainly a technique used for Dream Weaving through dimensional worlds. I''m still not very clear about this and it feels very vast, perhaps I can try using it some other time."


    Garen sorted out all the powers he had witnessed and listened to them one by one to see which ones were helpful to him now.


    Now that his body had reached a certain level of change, it needed to be upgraded. That would take a lot of time and his strength was probably unable to be greatly enhanced in just a short period of time. Therefore, he had to think of another way.


    "My Energy Machinist Willpower needs to be practiced again and it''s not urgent at the moment but my Void Confinement Essence can be activated by the power of dreams. Let''s see if I can make use of it here."


    Void Creatures and Warlocks were all masters of controlling dreams. Garen had never understood that, but now that his Soul Ring had really reached the Middle Demon Lord Level, he could faintly sense that the concept of dreams had slightly surpassed the essence of time-space. It was just a very weird yet mysterious existence.


    Even though the restrictions here were wide, a weak trace of Soul Energy was not even able to escape the body. His understanding of the Void Confinement Essence was probably not applicable to foreign objects right away. However, it may be different if he was in a dream.


    Garen pondered for a moment and looked at his accumulate potential points.


    ''Safive -- Strength 57, agility 57, physique 50, intelligence 19. Potential points 723%. Soul Limit 170, Level Five Draconic Aura. Level One Arcane Art Basics.''


    His intelligence had only improved a little all this time whereas his potential points were only left with seven points. His Draconic Aura had reached Level Five, meanwhile, his Arcane Art Basics was still a mere Level One as he did not put much effort in it and he just did not have the interest of improving it at the moment. This combat force was taking too much time.


    "Seven points attributes¡­ it should be enough. To quickly recover to your peak strength, it''s worth the try," Garen remembered the Wizard''s way of practice. Slowly crouching down on the ground with his eyes closed, Garen slowly drifted to sleep.


    If Void Creatures were born with the ability to control dreams, then Warlocks and Witches were post-natal and they had to practice to acquire this ability.


    Garen''s soul belonged to the Demon Lord so naturally, controlling dreams was as simple as drinking water.


    He quickly fell asleep in a minute.


    Ever since he came to this world, this was the very first time he had a dream, the others were just simply a rest.


    After his brain blurred for a bit, Garen suddenly found himself floating in the sky above a barren land. He no longer had the body of a White Dragon and Garen''s human face and body was floating in the sky.


    Above him, gray clouds loomed the sky and besides that, nothing could be seen anymore except the gray-brownish piece of wasted land with centipede-like tracks scattered all over the ground. There were no trees, there were no lives, just dead silence.


    "This is strange, why would I dream about a place like this?" Garen muttered and began to look for something weird about the dream.


    A dream was divided into several levels. The first level of dreams was the retrospective and illusion influenced by the biological instinct memory but most often, dreams of this level had some hidden meanings.


    When the living body was in a state of sleep, they were able to receive clearer information and capabilities than in the awake state. Under normal circumstances, they were able to discover other worlds that ordinary creatures could not perceive.


    Dark Energy and the Dark Substance World were just a part of it. Under such circumstances, the creatures could only come into contact with beings that were inaccessible under a blur state and they would able to sense different mysterious symbols as well.


    As for those signals, they would all turn into stimuli and be reflected in the dream. Due to the brain''s lack of ability to think, they would turn into illogical parts of a dream.

 1292 Survival 2

    Dreams could reflect all stimulation of an organism, both spiritually and physically. This was a special state amplified by an organism''s Sensing Ability.


    Therefore, dreams often reflect reality. For example, if one''s stomach was pressed in an uncomfortable way, one would dream of being kicked at the stomach. Even dreaming about finding a toilet to pee or something along the lines was the stimulation of one''s body presented in a dream.


    There were big dream stimulations, and naturally, there were the small ones.


    Garen soon found what was wrong with this dream.


    He held his finger in the air.


    "How can there be paper scraps flying at such a high altitude?" A white piece of scrap gently dropped on his finger.


    He smiled softly, and the paper scrap instantly enlarged into an endless white slate that wrapped him up.


    Everything around him turned white straight away, it was a blank white space. Opposite Garen stood a white swan dressed in a gentleman''s costume. Standing upright like a human, it was wearing a black high-top hat and was motionless just like a sculpture. A wind from God-knows-where was blowing gently, ruffling its white feathers.


    Garen frowned slightly.


    He had been on this layer once when he was back in Mech World.


    "This should be the second level," he muttered.


    Mr. White Swan did not move at all as if it did not notice him.


    Garen made his way over and circled the white swan that was still like a statue.


    His purpose of entering the dream was to test out whether his Confinement Essence was usable. Other than that, he wanted to check out the differences between this world''s dream and the previous worlds''.


    But from the looks of it now, this world''s dream was not much different from the other worlds.


    Gurgle gurgle¡­


    Suddenly, a rumbling sound of wheels could be heard from a distance.


    Garen turned around and saw a brown snail that was almost a meter tall slowly moving toward himself.


    The snail''s shell slowly moved to his front and stopped. The sorrowful face of a man peeped out from the shell''s mouth.


    "It''s been a long time since I''ve seen a new buddy."


    Garen raised his eyebrow.


    "You are?"


    "I''m His Majesty, Indo Demon Lord''s Thirteenth Demon General," the man said. "Seems like you have also discovered this world here."


    "What do you mean?" Garen was stunned for a bit as his brows scrunched up even tighter.


    "This is the second level. There are plenty of gaps between time-space and dimensional conscience. It''s not very quiet here so we need a safer place," the snail man whispered.


    "Follow me." Garen turned and looked at the swan gentleman behind him. He reached out and lifted the hat and suddenly, he shrunk and entered from the bottom of the hat.


    The snail man followed suit and swiftly entered as well. The hat was then once again held up by the swan gentleman as he proceeded to place it back on his head. Then, he resumed his original posture.


    The third level of dreams.


    Viscous liquid-like colored lights were flowing all around them.


    Garen and the snail man floated right in the middle.


    "Alright, there''s definitely no interference here. This is a temporary space that I just built. Speak, since I''ve already entered by accident, I''m sure the other beings have realized this, no?"


    He did not expect himself to encounter an existence who was also from Mother Stream system during the very first time he entered a dream, and it was still a general too.


    He could faintly sense a thick conspiratorial aura.


    The snail man squirmed as he settled into another posture and face Garen up front.


    "Most respected Demon Lord Master, you''ve guessed it. We have indeed discovered this world for a long time."


    "Discovered this place for a long time?" Garen frowned.


    "Yes¡­" The snail man''s already sorrowful expression got worse. "Because of Mother Stream''s depletion, we have been looking for the cause everywhere. In an accidental situation, a Demon Lord Master came to this world and unexpectedly survived. When we found this place, the timing was just chaotic."


    "What do you mean by chaotic?" Garen felt that something was wrong. Clearly, he had just received the news regarding the Depletion of Mother Stream.


    "It means that the two Demon Generals that we''ve sent out later on did arrive safely, but then we found out that the two Demon Generals were seven hundred years apart!"


    "Seven hundred years? You mean, both of them who came in at the same time actually landed at different times?" Garen understood this time.


    "It''s like this. The time we enter this world is not fixed. I don''t know if it''s our problem or the world''s problem itself. We won''t know. May I ask you when did you enter this place?" The snail man looked at Garen with sincerity in his eyes.


    "Me?" He was uncertain himself either. If time had changed randomly, who knew when did he actually reach this place.


    "Talk about the situation when you just came," he had some reservations towards the snail man.


    "Yes, master." The snail man began to talk about the series of happenings before he actually came.


    The more Garen listened, the more stunned he got. He had already expected that the flow rate of time he encountered when he entered the Black Hole may have been abnormal, but he did not expect it to reach this extent of abnormality!!


    Mother Stream was about to be completely depleted, all the branches were reducing rapidly. Many of the Void Creatures and the Warlock Powerhouses had nowhere to rely on and they could not see their paths ahead. True Souls finally appeared and together with the Void Demon Masters, they lifted the Mother Stream''s Oath, eliminate the enemy''s camp, and worked together to find out the root of Mother Stream''s Depletion.


    Garen carefully asked about the situation that he knew of and the current status, and after comparing both stories, he discovered that two hundred years have passed since he left.


    In other words, in the process of entering this world, he had wasted a total of two hundred years!


    "... Mother Stream is withering more and more, lots of tyrannical beings are already getting ready to enter this world. But so far, only a dozen was able to stand firm here," the snail man whispered. "The Gods of this world also noticed something was not right and began a wide screening."


    "Why? Why such a big move and enter this world?" Garen was still curious. "Did you guys discover something?"


    "The source of Mother Stream is directly connected to this world." The snail man forced a smile. "All the True Souls and Void Demon Masters had carefully observed that our world is positive, which means this world is negative. If we''re negative, then they''re positive. We''re two endless dimensions, like two ends of an hourglass. When one side has more sand, the other side would have lesser sand."


    "You''re saying that the Depletion of Mother Stream is caused by the absorption of this world over here?" Garen was shocked.


    "The specific time is more than ninety thousand years ago. I don''t know what happened back in that era that started causing Mother Stream to slowly deplete. Up until we found out about it, most of the hourglass had leaked to this side already¡­ we suspect that perhaps it''s because this other world is absorbing."


    Garen suddenly remembered something he had previously come across as he was reading up the history. Ninety thousand years ago, three Supreme Gods appeared in this world, and those three Gods were the three top powerhouses who just suddenly rose without warning.


    If they saw it that way¡­


    "The Supreme Void Demon Master once said that this is the Battle of Survival. There is no compromise and we have no choice," the snail man revealed a face of sadness.


    "The Battle of Survival¡­" Garen''s heart sank. This war was not like before, how he was able to transmigrate to another universe if he died. This was an actual Battle of Survival that life and death actually mattered.


    "Only if the number of strong enough powerhouses who die here was enough and we grab them and convert them into nutrients, then only can we turn the hourglass around. Mother Stream will be able to rejuvenate¡­"


    "No wonder¡­ no wonder those Gods would die without hesitation even when they haven''t started fighting, all Alien Souls weren''t exempted¡­" Garen recalled the scene some time ago in which he was almost killed.


    The Void Creatures and Warlocks actually united¡­ this was something he did not expect at all, but this also really proved that the entire Mother Stream was facing a moment of life and death.


    "Then why did you come and look for me?!" From that moment, Garen''s stare toward the snail man immediately became fierce. In the third layer of dreams, one could only rely on the nature of one''s soul to communicate. No holding back, no lies, and no deception. That was because beings below the Demon Lord Level could only rely on their core subconscious to communicate, and the subconscious would never deceive.


    "It seems like you''ve already established a foothold here, I hope you can start a massacre as soon as possible. The more True Souls that die in our hands, the more likely we''re able to save Mother Stream."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    The snail man said in a hushed tone.


    "Also, is it alright for me to disclose your location?"


    "You''re still able to keep contact with other existences?" Garen raised his brow.


    "Yes¡­ I''ve given up on all my powers and strength, only being able to survive in a dream. My only role is acting as the messenger to convey messages," the snail man explained.


    "How many beings were there the last time they entered and of what mechanism?" After pondering for a while, Garen asked.


    "Fifteen Middle Demon Lords, twenty one Lower Demon Lords, seven thousand and above Demon Generals, a large number of Willpower Void Creatures and even the lowest leveled ones were in the group as well. The number''s probably at least tens of millions," the snail man answered softly. "But they were scattered around so they landed at different planes of this world, not really many planes either. Although the Willpower Void Creatures were strong, being wisdomless was only put in as a cover to enter. As for the Main Substance Plane, I know there were two of them who survived, and you are the third one. The others are all in different planes."


    "So what''s intercepting us?" After hearing such a huge number but only so much survived, Garen''s heart skipped a beat. There were fifteen Middle Demon Lords, which meant that there were fifteen beings who were at his same level.


    "Gods¡­ all of the Gods!"


    Garen went silent. He remembered the ceremony he had seen earlier and the few beings who were detected, perhaps they were also forced to land.


    Unfortunately, to the Demon Lords, they had a long period of growth ahead of them after they arrive. Although short, it was still the period where they were the weakest. Once discovered by any of the Gods, they would face death.


    So what about Ann? Garen suddenly thought of Ann. She knew he was an Alien Soul, so why did she still save him?

 1293 Probe and Patrol 1

    The white stairs, the tall and sharp cathedral exuded a soft, gentle white light. From far away, it looked just like an ordinary cathedral. Apart from being slightly more magnificent, there was nothing peculiar about it. But if compared to the surrounding objects, then only was the horror of the cathedral revealed.


    Nearby, a huge white airship that was carrying at least a few hundred people was slowly flying towards the cathedral. This airship that was almost a thousand meters big was just like a small fish, slowly coming in through a small hole above the cathedral and soon disappeared.


    From far, small spots that resembled specks of dust under the sun could still be vaguely seen walking out of the cathedral door. They were actually Divine Officers dressed in white robes!


    Small gray dots were densely packed on the stairs and they squirmed like water tides as they moved upwards.


    Dressed in gray robes, these people took one step and one bow as part of their prayers. Slowly but surely, they gradually made their way toward the cathedral on the mountain peak that was shimmering in prayer light.


    Blood splatters were scattered all over the stairs, but it all slowly absorbed into the white-jade material and disappeared, restoring the stairs to its original white innocent texture.


    From time to time, two bright angels with long swords appeared by the sides of the stairs. On the left were angels with white wings, while on the right were angels with black wings. Together, they maintained the order of the crowd.


    "This is the Main Plane''s center empire. This is Fehra''s Cathedral, which is also known as the Temple of Light and Fire. It is ten thousand meters tall, standing like a huge mountain right in the middle of the entire empire."


    Far away in midair, a large white airship was slowly flying towards Fehra''s Cathedral.


    Visitors that seemed to be there for the first time gathered together in the airship as they listened to the tour guide introducing the place.


    "Fehra''s Cathedral is surrounded by dozens of urban villages of different sizes and they all form the safety region sheltered by the Light and Fire Church. It is said that Fehra''s Cathedral was once built on a gigantic crater, and that is why this place is also known as Meteor City." The tour guide had five, white tentacle-like limbs that were dangling about like soft noodles. The other features were no different from a human other than its arm.


    "Praise Gloria, this is really a cathedral?!" A mermaid exclaimed, her hand covering her small mouth as her lower body was soaked in water-like mist.


    "It''s even bigger than the average mountain¡­ really, it''s so straight and tall!!"


    "The power of Fehra''s Light and Fire is infinite, and this is only one of such miracles," a traveler exclaimed. "I''m been here once thirty years ago, also for a trip. At that time, there were still many Sky Temple Knights patrolling around the sky. But now, even the Sky Knights are no longer wanted anymore."


    "Nobody dares to challenge Fehra''s authority, even light and fire burns and ignites in the endless abyss," a devoted traveler said softly.


    "Even the most powerful army formed by the entire Holy Spirit group, Sky Knights, who are stronger than the group known as the strongest, Golden Knights, are only just a little something compared to Fehra''s authority," the tour guide praised.


    "Praise Fehra," all of them suddenly bent their heads and pressed their right palm on their heart. Calling the name of the Gods would actually attract the Gods so nobody dared to be disrespectful.


    "Such a magnificent cathedral¡­ really amazing¡­" Suddenly, a woman''s voice rose lightly from the back of the crowd. "Unfortunately¡­today, such a great miracle will be completely destroyed¡­"


    "You¡­!" The tour guide and the group of tourists, as well as the passengers around, were stunned as they stared open-mouthed at the lady who just spoke. At a place where Fehra''s Holy Aura was shrouded, someone actually dared to say this!! Did she want to die!?? No, this was already not a question of life. Committing blasphemy at such a sacred place, that would cause one''s soul to burn for a thousand years by the Holy Fire!!


    "Catch this psychopath!" A priest on the airship shouted.


    "Up! Left, right, together!" The Church Soldiers stationed around quickly reacted and rushed toward the woman as they pulled out their swords.


    The one who spoke was a lady dressed in a black shirt and skirt. Her face was beautiful and she had delicate skin. From the looks of it, she resembled more of a rich lady.


    But what was most eye-catching was the little boy who was holding on to her left hand. The boy had one finger in his mouth, and he was sucking on the finger hard. Both of them looked like an ordinary lady and child, traveling and dressed wealthily.


    The lady smiled gently and suddenly, a black mist started spreading everywhere and instantly covered the soldiers.


    "A blasphemer!!" The surrounding Church Soldiers immediately pounced on both of them. As they shouted the Holy name of Fehra, white flames ignited on their bodies and all of them attacked the two from all directions.


    The woman''s bright blond hair floated in the wind and she suddenly smiled.


    "Agale, go¡­ go destroy everything that you see¡­"


    She let go of the little boy gently and pushed him forward.


    "Can I eat everything, mommy?" The little boy took two steps forward and turned around with a vile smile.


    "Of course¡­" the woman grinned. Her small cherry-like mouth seemed to be torn apart all of a sudden, both corners of her lips reached her ears. A scarlet red tongue popped out between her blood-red lips.


    Suddenly, the little boy rushed forward.


    Oh¡­!!!


    His body expanded in an instant and his clothes were ripped apart exposing the black skin underneath. His whole body expanded as if it was a balloon being blown as it grew bigger and wider!!


    In a blink of an eye, the body had already flown out into the air and transformed into a terrifying giant with had over thousands of arms.


    Roar!!


    He growled. The size of this giant was almost several times bigger than the whole Fehra''s Cathedral. His skin was a dark shade of black and the most conspicuous part was his abdomen where there was a gigantic black door engraved with many symbols and patterns.


    If someone could identify the meaning of those words, they would know the creature''s true identity and origin.


    On the airship, all the creatures exploded from the roar. Mists of blood slowly dissipated in the air. Traces of translucent thread-like objects flew out from where the creatures died and entered the mouth of the lady who was the only one left standing.


    She once again showed a faint smile.


    "Thousand-Armed Giant Agale, unleash all your powers completely¡­"


    Roar!!!


    Agale waved his thousand arms and grabbed the top of Fehra''s Cathedral.


    Immediately, the entire cathedral reacted.


    White light glinted and flames rose as the cathedral began to shake violently. Sings and praises of countless people rang at the same time, buzzing like the bees as they shook heavens and earth.


    "Eternal Fehra! You are the judge of life and death, you are the one who shines light and warmth, you are the master of justice and ignition!!..."


    Chants sounded and endless praises transformed into more white flower petals that descended from the sky, slowly falling onto Thousand-Armed Giant.


    What was even more bizarre was that the worshippers on the stairs seemed to be completely unaffected. They were protected by the white light. Although they were frantic, they gave their all and sang, more devout than ever. There was no sign of them escaping in fright.


    Roar!!


    Agale screamed and flung out his thousand arms, both his feet trampled on thousands of worshippers.


    But more white flower petals fluttered down. Suddenly, black-winged angels and white-winged angels flashed beside him and started attacking him with all their might.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    But it was useless. Whether it was the petals or their attacks, nothing harmed the Thousand-Armed Giant. Even the angels were polluted by the dark splotches on the giant''s body and fell like dumplings.


    "Combustion is eternal." Suddenly, a man in a white robe with three eyes rose up from the cathedral. He only said one sentence.


    Boom.


    The multiple layers of clouds instantly spread out in the sky. The golden sun brightened countless times, and an immense golden light descended from the sky instantly weaving into a golden figure which darted in the direction of the man''s body.


    He was suddenly lit up and his entire body was ignited with golden flames.


    "It''s you again, you petty Alien Soul!!" Though there was no sight of him opening his mouth, a mighty voice sounded which rumbled the surroundings.


    "Eat! Eat it all!" Agale did not understand what he meant. It was one of the strongest soul of Mother Stream, with a bottomless stomach and was the guardian of the Door of Dimensions. There was nothing it could not eat in the world!


    At the sight of the golden flames, his face revealed an even more greedy expression. Both his arms grabbed the black doors on his abdomen at the same time and pulled it open.


    Bang!


    The doors opened roughly.


    Whoosh!


    Black magma-like substance spurted out from the doors and surged towards the cathedral and the figure burning in golden flames.


    The black magma actually suppressed the projection of Fehra''s transformation that was arriving and wrapped the golden flames tightly.


    In the midst of the buzzing sound, a large number of different creatures swarmed out of the doors like flood waters. Some were face-less black monsters, some had figures like squids, some were deformed grotesque creatures that were like demons. Pure elements that formed flames of life, water flow of life, and elements of the earth. Gigantic monsters like headless bodies swarmed out, almost a hundred thousands of them. They exploded in the air and scattered all over Fehra''s Cathedral like raindrops, dropping all over the ground.


    The massacre had begun.


    A mass number of angels also swarmed out of the cathedral, but their speed was far comparable to the speed of those swarming out of the black gates.


    The monsters and angels fought against each other. These angels were the most loyal and powerful heroes turned from mortal elite warriors. Under the attack of these monsters, their supposedly undefeatable bodies actually showed symptoms of pain, weakness, and powerlessness. Their vitality no longer maintained at an eternal state but was rapidly consumed by those monsters.


    A large number of worshippers were also slaughtered by the monsters. Some were able to resist but their number was too small, it did nothing to help.


    "Heavenly Fire."


    All of a sudden, a troop of golden knights arrived from a distant in the air. They rode on white Unicorn Creatures and every member had a burning phantom floating behind them. That was a virtual silhouette that burnt in white flames.


    All the knights yelled at the same time and golden flames suddenly flared up from their backs. All the virtual silhouettes suddenly boiled and formed an enormous golden figure in the air. The figure had no face, only a white whirlpool that constantly moved on its face. It had a pair of wings, one was black and the other white. It was only slightly smaller than the Thousand-Armed Giant. It then leaped forward and slammed a punch right into Thousand-Armed Giant.


    Bang!!


    The fist was blocked by one of Thousand-Armed Giant''s arm. Both behemoths shook at the same time.


    Right then, Agale made a jaw-dropping move.


    In the midst of everyone''s angry roars, he bowed his head and bit the peak of Fehra''s Cathedral -- the statue of Fehra!

 1294 Probe and Patrol 2

    Ka-chak!


    Countless cracks appeared and spread across the statue.


    Boom!!


    Rays of golden light pierced through the black mud and the hoard of monsters, and a golden figure shot into the air from the black tide.


    Countless divine runes surrounded him like silk ribbons, floating around him. Many fresh flowers carvings, mountains and oceans, precious stones and metals-- all of these scenes flashed past him at high speeds, as though he was being wrapped up in an endless translucent screen.


    "Blasphemer!!"


    There was a stern roar of fury.


    Psst!! Roar!!


    Golden flames seemed to envelop the person, and like a sword, both pierced into the Thousand-Armed Giant''s forehead at lightning speed.


    Agare roared out in pain.


    The golden flames on the surface of the silhouette abruptly formed a human face.


    A white pillar of light fell from the sky abruptly, and amidst the ceaseless golden sunlight, the white pillar looked particularly conspicuous, just nicely covering the face made of golden flames.


    All of a sudden, the human face turned around and faced the airship levitating in mid-air. This airship was very close to it, and yet it had, quite eerily, taken no damage whatsoever.


    "Fehra¡­ So this is the authority of the Three Great Major Gods? It''s truly impressive¡­" On the airship, a woman grinned and looked at the face of golden flames from afar.


    "Then we''ll end it here for now¡­"


    Swoosh.


    She instantly vanished from the spot, as though she had never been there.


    There was a barroom, and the airship simply exploded. Within a few blinks of the eye, it had turned into white ash that scattered and rain down.


    ***************************


    On the lush green plains, there stood many giant white-grey stones that looked like Ganoderma* (TN: a precious and expensive fungus shaped like an upside-down umbrella known in traditional Chinese medicine for its powerful medicinal properties).


    These stones were narrow at the bottom and thick at the top, and looked like so many grey-white ganodermic staffs* (TN: lingzhi ruyi, an ornament originating from a fancy backscratcher shaped like a Ganoderma herb), growing up from the ground.


    The blurry grey rain continued to fall endlessly over the sky and the earth.


    On one of these giant Ganoderma, several Young White Dragons flew down abreast and landed on the stone surface. Pulling back their wings, they all looked at the White Dragon at the front of the line in unison.


    "We''ve arrived at the Jumo Plains." The Young White Dragon at the helm looked at his surroundings through the curtain of rain. Since he was standing on a grey-white rock almost a thousand meters tall, he could clearly see into the far distance across the plains.


    "Garen, this is our first time on a quest, so if we get caught in a battle, you have to be careful." The young dragon leader turned around and looked at a white dragon in the team whose scales were much cleaner and brighter than the rest.


    This wd seemed to be about the same size as the Young Dragons, but his dragon horns were just some very short stubble, so he was clearly still a Dragon Whelp. Yet, here he was, out on a quest with the Young Dragons. There was only one Dragon Whelp that powerful among the entire Deladia White Dragon Clan, and that was Garen.


    Garen nodded calmly.


    "Don''t worry, Gamu, I''m here to train, not to make mischief."


    It had been more than five years since the last time he received news from the Mother Stream.


    To the dragons, a mere five years was equivalent to one human year, and they passed in the blink of an eye.


    But to Garen, he had changed rather considerably in these past five years.


    Five years. His growth rate had already been obviously abnormal, to the point that he could be resistant to Level Seven Spellcraft even though he was just a Dragon Whelp. Such a terrifying physical body was so much stronger than even Black Dragons of the same age and level. That was why, in order to attract less attention from the gods, he chose to temporarily store his Potential Points, and grew only according to what was natural of his body in the past five years. At the same time, he would occasionally use some of the Potential Points on his Draconic Aura and Arcane Art.


    He had as many as three hundred Potential Points, and only used about a hundred on his Draconic Aura and Arcane Art, until he had reached the upgrade limit for his Draconic Aura and Arcane Art.


    After Garen found an extremely hot place, he had quickly increased his Draconic Aura up to Level Seven, and then it refused to go any higher. The Potential Points needed to progress from Level Six to Level Seven also greatly exceeded the total number of points he had spent on the prior levels, causing Garen considerable heartache. And it seemed that Level Eight required even more Potential Points. Garen had yet to encounter any bottlenecks in his understanding of this power, so maybe he needed to fulfill another special condition to progress.


    Since no dragon was guiding Garen, he also did not dare to ask what special conditions Level Eight might need, lest he created too many shockwaves within the community.


    His physical fitness could be attributed to unnatural talent, but that would not be able to explain away his Draconic Aura and Arcane Art. For example, to reach Level Six Draconic Aura, one would need to have truly experienced the aura of a battlefield. Garen understood it without ever stepping into a battlefield, wouldn''t that be proof enough to the other creatures that he was a soul from another world?


    As for Ann, he tried asking once, but Ann ignored him completely, saying that he would reach it when he reached it.


    So Garen resisted. He left two hundred more points available and threw the rest onto the Arcane Art. Or rather, onto Intelligence and Arcane Art.


    Arcane Art required a lot from one''s Intelligence, and the actual progressing of one''s Arcane Art can be accomplished through the accumulative training of one''s meditation and spirit power to increase one''s Intelligence. Simultaneously, the increase in Intelligence would play a crucial part in affecting the most critical areas of the Arcane Art. Out of these, the most prominent was Spell Slots.


    Garen had increased his Arcane Art to Level Five, and even that took up a hundred points from what he had left. He had also consecutively borrowed a few standardized Weave archives about Necromancy Spells from Ann.


    The fact that he could reach Level Five Arcane Art only proved to show that he could use his hand gestures, chants, and materials to unleash all of the Spells they had learned in Level Five.


    Of course, the precondition was that he knew them, meaning that he had learned them before.


    Once you reached Level Five and above, however, some crucial level-ups would require a special environment and some special research.


    After Garen familiarized himself with the Spellcraft information, he ended up rather disinterested in further research. All he was interested in was the research Undead Masters had done into the soul. As for those Spells?


    Those skeletons, zombies, or vampires that they summoned? One dragon''s breath could wipe off so many of them. As for those so-called negative state Spells, he would simply use a Level Seven Immunity Spell. Only Level Eight fighters would be able to cause him some damage, so to him, these Spells were not particularly useful.


    The only exception would be if he reached Level Eight and managed to learn the most critical Spell in Necromancy, Deathfinger. Although the chances of an instant death move like that working on him were extremely minuscule, that still depended on what level the powerhouse who unleashed it.


    That was why he had only learned a handful of Spells in case of any emergencies. Everything else, he poured into the structure of his power system.


    Although he did not take the weakness of the low-level Necromancy Spells seriously, Garen placed great importance in the research of the soul and the body.


    It would also be extremely helpful to the usage and training of his training wheels as well.


    At the very least, he had discovered a way for him to absorb the core of the Suffering Knight into his Soul Rings.


    This was what he had been doing all this time, and the remaining two hundred points were to be put aside for now.


    Be it his Arcane Art or his Draconic Aura, both had reached a bottleneck, and his physical fitness could not be too powerful either, so he chose to go out on quests in order to understand the general situation of this world better. At first, he wanted to go out through a summon quest, but something seemed to up with the Wizard over there. After he summoned Garen last time, he never called him again, almost as though he had forgotten about Garen. If it were not for the fact that the Wizard would still contact him occasionally through long-distance communication with their wills, Garen would have assumed that this guy had already died in battle.


    After some applications, Garen received a patrol quest.


    Led by the captain of the Young Dragon Team, Gamu, they patrolled the borders of the Deladia Empire''s southern plains, vigilant of the Central Empire''s movements.


    The rain seemed to be growing heavier.


    Gamu looked around.


    "There is a patrol supply point nearby, let''s go rest there for now and stock up on some food before we get going again."


    "Captain, this is already a border city very close to the Central Empire, so there will probably be many priests from the Church. How should we deal with that?" asked one White Dragon softly.


    Outside of the Deladia Empire, the White Dragon Clan was not welcome in any other territory by the races there. Part of this was because the reputation of White Dragon Mountain was too bad, and part of it was due to the White Dragons'' selfish nature, so there were always rumors about them betraying their other comrades in battle. They even tended to attack human trader convoys in order to steal their riches.


    Another point was their disgustingly powerful breeding powers. To the other Dragon Clans, the White Dragons bred exceptionally easily, but at the same time, this put a large burden on the clan. Each of them took up a lot of supplies, and once there were too many of them, without a self-sustained source of food, all they could do was migrate after a certain amount of time. When they moved, all they left behind in their wake were patches of destroyed natural habitats and ecosystems. So it was not surprising that they were known as the representatives of Evil Dragons.


    "The churches of both Mother Nature and Lord of Light and Fire have ordered our exile, but right now, we have a different identity now, we are the Deladia Empire''s patrol warrior. Now that we have this identity, they probably would not be so quick to attack¡­"


    Gamu said softly.


    "If they dare challenge us, we''ll kill them!" said a White Dragon angrily.


    "They''re just a bunch of ants. As long we don''t meet a Silver-Striped Knight or higher, seeing how strong this team is, what else is there to fear?" The White Dragons clearly were not worried.


    Garen stood among them, slowly resting and readjusting his breath. He now had Level Seven Draconic Aura and Level Seven physical fitness, so he was already a proper Level Seven apex creature. Even if they did encounter a Silver-Striped Knight, he was not afraid.


    Closing his eyes slowly, he began to gradually bring out some of the Soul Energy from the Suffering Knight''s core.


    He had already absorbed more than half of the core and only needed to absorb another third or so before he would have drained it completely. But even so, Garen could already clearly see that his Soul Ring had fully perfected the fourth Soul Seed and was beginning to condense the fifth.


    The Soul Rings had five levels and leveled up once with every five Seeds.


    According to Garen''s estimates, once he finished absorbing the Suffering Core, he would be able to enter the Second Color Phase.


    The levels of a Demon Lord were divided into seven color phases, and entering the Second Color meant that he was truly making his way toward becoming an upper-grade Demon Lord.


    When he reached the peak of the Seven Color Levels, that would be when he achieved True Soul status.


    And the way he saw it, judging by how he had progressed so far in this world, Garen felt that it was quite likely he could achieve True Soul. This world had far too many resources¡­


    After resting for some time, the White Dragons began to fly toward supply point Gamu had mentioned as well.


    As he flew, Garen organized his corresponding level boundaries.


    Not long later, two groups of humans, fighting against each other, suddenly appeared in the distance ahead of them.


    One side was dressed in an array of colors and came from an unknown faction, whereas the other was dressed completely in white robes embroidered with a detailed red fire emblem. Some of these even wore silver helmets and shoulder armor that were carved with complicated divine runes. It was the Priests and Holy Warriors of the Light and Fire Church raiding another unknown group.


    "We sure are lucky¡­" Gamu said helplessly. "We just said that we might encounter Priests, and then we bump into them straight away."


    The five dragons stopped advancing, flying slowly in the air as they watched the battle from afar.


    "Just let me eat them!" said a Young Dragon nonchalantly. "They''re just a group of Level Two and Three ants."


    "It''ll be easy to eat them, but the trouble we''d attract later won''t be so simple." Gamu shook his head. "Let''s just fly over them, ignore them."


    "I''m really hungry now." That Young Dragon was not very pleased.


    "Gedd, now''s not the time to be stubborn," warned Gamu. His expression grew stern, and the Young Dragon named Gedd quickly hid away his displeasure.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    He looked around at the other dragons as well and noticed that another White Dragon was staring wide-eyed at the bright, sparkling things those humans had.


    "O Dragon Goddess above, my eyes aren''t deceiving me, right? Those are Soul Gems! How could they be Soul Gems??" This White Dragon kept muttering. As though he realized Gedd was staring at him, he lowered his head quickly, but his expression grew greedier and greedier.


    The two dragons exchanged a glance, and read the same intention in each other''s eyes.


    This was in the middle of nowhere, so if they acted fast enough, even if they killed these Priests and took away their stuff, those weaklings would not be able to contact the Church in time at their level, so no one would be any the wiser as long as they got rid of the evidence.


    Only those who are Level Nine and above would be able to use a Time Reversal Spell, but who would use such a resource-intensive Level Nine Spell on a couple of Level Two and Three Priests?


    Garen watched all of this unfold before him.

 1295 Comrade 1

    The group of White Dragons flew quickly past the sky on the right side of the battleground.


    Gedd and the greedy White Dragon''s eyes casually landed on a Priest wearing a silver helmet who was fighting below them. The glow and aura of the Soul Gem came from him.


    "White Dragons?!" There was a gasp from below and the fighting slowed on both sides. There were five Dragons in total, and every one of them was a Level Five Young Dragon. If even one of them descended here, it would be able to decimate everyone present.


    After all, Level Five among the dragons and Level Five for regular occupations were not the same. To the humans, Level Five meant that they could use skills with Level Five power, whereas to the dragons, Level Five meant that they could be immune to Level Five Spells and other attacks of the same magnitude. That was the most terrifying part.


    In other words, if any one of these Young Dragons landed among them, it could just stand there and nobody there would be able to harm it.


    Everyone held their breaths, terrified that one of the White Dragons up there would decide that it was in a bad mood and so swoop down to eat every single one of them.


    "The Evil Dragon Clan!" said the leader of the Priests, the one who wore that silver helmet, in a deep voice as he looked up at the sky. Hidden underneath the gem, his eyes shone with a deep-set hatred.


    "Orelei!" warned an old Priest next to him sternly.


    Silver Helmet harrumphed coldly, and said no more.


    "The quest is more important," said the old Priest.


    "If we weren''t here to exterminate these heretics..." said another Priest in a low and contemptuous voice. However, he was immediately hushed.


    Soon enough, the group of White Dragons flew past them.


    Everyone heaved a sigh of relief.


    The Priests turned their gaze back to the group they had surrounded.


    "Kill!" Silver Helmet roared in his deep voice.


    The people who were surrounded instantly wore expressions of despair, tightening their grip on their weapons and preparing for battle.


    All of a sudden, Silver Helmet abruptly noticed that a gigantic shadow was flashing over the top of his head.


    He raised his head hurriedly and saw a White Dragon with the body of a horse pounce down on him mercilessly.


    "Protect the lord!!"


    Two Warriors beside him drew their swords and dashed forward, standing in front of him.


    Two Priests began to sing hymns in praise of their god, their hands lighting up with damage-inflicting white rays.


    "Gedd!!"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    At the same time, yet another dragon pounced down from the side.


    The two White Dragons surrounded the most important member of the Priests'' party.


    Psst psst psst! Many weak debuffing spells landed on their bodies, but they were completely ineffective. The dragons were fully immune to any spells lower than Level Five.


    Bam!


    Gedd smashed his head into Silver Helmet, and there was an explosion of bright light between the two of them, white light! The white light exploded between him and Silver Helmet like a sphere of light.


    "Dammit!!" Gedd yelled loudly. He seemed to have been injured by something, and was crying out in pain.


    The sudden attack and change in the situation had messed up the Priests'' and Warriors'' plan to surround and attack the group. Everyone was trying desperately to retreat, attempting to stop the White Dragons'' attacks.


    The Evil Dragons and most of the human Priests had always stood on two ends of a divide, so attacks like these were not rare. The unexpected part, however, was that Priests were usually the ones to initiate a battle. This time, there were actually White Dragons who dared to initiate an attack on the Priests of god, so this was a challenge against the dignity of their god.


    The two White Dragons stood among the Priests and Warriors, knocking away a few Warriors easily with a swipe of their claw or a shake of their head. Low-level spells were ineffective against them, but the Priests switched to using holy spells to buff up their Warriors. Rays of green and red light lit up on the Warrior''s bodies. They instantly rose the Warriors'' abilities by one level, and the strongest one even reached Level Four.


    "Give us the Soul Gem! And we''ll go immediately!" After Gedd knocked away Silver Helmet, he stood on the spot and roared loudly.


    "Two Evil Dragons! How dare you attack¡­!" Before the voice could complete the sentence, there was a tremor, and the whole earth seemed to sink abruptly.


    Bam! An even larger and stronger White Dragon descended upon them from the sky, landing behind Gedd and the other dragon. This one had even cleaner, brighter scales, and its body was more evenly and gracefully proportioned. It was Garen, who had already noticed that something was fishy about the two dragons.


    He had noticed it, and the captain Gamu even more so. The captain just happened to silently permit it, because the Priests from the Church of Fehra had killed White Dragons more than once or twice, so it was normal to get revenge once.


    On the other hand, Garen had followed the two White Dragons who had slipped away during break time in order to earn some side income.


    He had heard every word of their conversation just now using his peak-level physical abilities, and so he knew about the Soul Gem. As long as it had anything to do with the soul, he would be extremely interested in it.


    "You two! What are you planning to do, sneaking back here?" Garen''s movements made both White Dragons jolt, but when they realized it was him, both of them heaved a sigh of relief. Anything was fine as long as it was not the captain.


    "Don''t tell Captain, and we''ll give you a share!" said Gedd hurriedly.


    Garen grinned.


    "Sure!"


    The Priests and the people they were surrounding gathered together. When they were being chased by dragons on plains like these, trying to escape was futile. Their only sliver of hope was to put up a fight.


    "We''re from the Holy Tribunal! We''re currently representing the Church on a heretic extermination mission, are you sure the White Dragon Clan wants to get involved in this?" Just as the Priests were beginning to despair, an old Priest stepped up and said loudly.


    "Heretic? I don''t care about any heretics, just hand over anything valuable! Or else you don''t even have to think about leaving here!" Relieved, Gedd and the other White Dragon looked at these Priests with a cold smile, as well as the other group who was being surrounded.


    "You dare get in the way of Fehra''s all-encompassing light!?" Silver Helmet crawled up from the ground, blood seeping out through his priest''s robes at the chest.


    "Sadly, the only got we believe in is Tiamat." Gedd flew and pounced at the two guardians again, knocking them away harshly and then pressing the leader underneath his claw. He then began to search his body.


    On the other side, Garen was slightly confused as he noticed something about the group of people who were being surrounded.


    He sensed that within this group, there seemed to be something with a Soul Aura rather similar to his.


    His gaze terrified these Warriors who were only at Level Two, and all they could think of was what if this Evil Dragon just accidentally ate them up. It was not unheard of for White Dragons to eat humans.


    While the other two were in the midst of looting, Garen paid attention to their side while he walked over to question the other group.


    "You guys are the heretics pursued by the Church?"


    In his eyes, these people were just a random assortment of normal Warriors, and they did not even have the basic combat training to stand in a defensive formation. They were clearly just a group of ragtag soldiers.


    "No! We''re not heretics!"


    "We don''t really know what''s happening here either, Lord White Dragon. The Church suddenly rushed into our houses and just started killing us without even giving us a chance to explain."


    "They stole our possessions and defiled our wives and daughters! The great Fehra would never condone their violent existence!"


    But Garen did not care about what they were saying about all, his gaze was trained on one of the members among them.


    "Gerbera here, pleased to meet you, Your Majesty." A voice resounded directly in his head.


    "You are¡­?" Garen immediately recognized that he was using a method unique to Void Creatures to communicate information through the Dream Space. But this was extremely difficult to accomplish in real life.


    Garen glanced at the White Dragons who were looting the other side, and waved his claw.


    "Tell me, why are you guys suddenly heretics now? Wasn''t the Central Empire perfectly fine before?" The information he received when he started patrolling was that the Central Empire was still as peaceful and calm as before, and there were no signs of any heretic extermination operations at all.


    "No, the Empire''s Meteor City has been attacked by an unknown entity! The Church is furious, so they''ve started searching for heretics. We were just caught in the crossfire."


    The member who had been possessed by a Void Creature stepped out and said loudly.


    "Meteor City?" Garen was slightly stunned. Meteor City was the home base of the God of Light and Fire, Fehra, and now someone actually dared to attack that place?


    "Do you know who or what it is?"


    He transmitted a question through the Void Creatures'' special method.


    "Sir, it''s a Thousand-Armed Giant. Other than the Void Demon Masters already known to our alliance, the Mother Stream is simply too big, and it has spawned innumerable powerful existences too. This attack was not factored into our plan at all, it was probably a stray Demon Master who participated in the probe."


    "How could it be? Isn''t there a fixed number of True Souls and Demon Masters?" Garen frowned.


    "No, we don''t really know just how many powerful beings there are in the Mother Stream either, we just know that there are extremely many, more than you could imagine. Our alliance only represents one part of this power," the being called Gerbera replied quietly.


    "The Mother Stream is like an ocean, and the power that we know of is just a tiny bay. We just happen to be more united, there are many other stronger creatures who are simply unable to work together. They don''t give a damn about the alliance, and instead they have all sorts of mysterious and strange abilities. We don''t know just how many they have either.


    "A Thousand-Armed Giant¡­" Garen had heard of this type of creature. In this Ancient Endor legends, this creature came from a race called the Hundred-Armed Giants and was the strongest among them. It was a terrifying creature capable of destroying entire civilizations.


    "What happened in the end?" he continued asking.


    "The Thousand-Armed Giant was ripped to shreds, and the God of Light and Fire''s Incarnation was projected into the mortal realm as well. The Projection was killed, but the Incarnation was doing okay, and was only slightly injured in the end. I believe the attacking Demon Master knows just how strong Fehra is now." Gerbera said somewhat regrettably, "What a waste, they abandoned such a powerful Thousand-Armed Giant just like that, just to probe their powers. That''s a powerful existence that can rival an upper-level Demon Lord!"


    "The Projection only has a few one-thousandths of Fehra''s strength, but the Incarnation would have at least one per cent. As a Major God, one percent of Fehra''s power could already kill off an upper-level Demon Lord and only sustain some light injuries¡­"


    Garen was inwardly impressed.


    "Then how did they break through the Barrier and maintain their original powers without having to reincarnate?"


    "We''re not really sure about that¡­ But I heard that on the other end of the Mother Stream, there''s an even larger Chaotic Territory. The Void Races there have something called a Distortion Door. It can distort everything and penetrate Barriers. They are parasites, so as long as the host allows them to stay, they can travel through worlds uninhibited while also maintaining their original powers. It''s just we haven''t seen it before."


    Gerbera explained softly.


    Garen asked a few more questions. Gerbera answered them all, one by one, so Garen decided to just have him stay back, releasing everyone else.


    On the other side, the Priests had also been completely wiped out by the two White Dragons. These White Dragons did not care about Fehra''s Church at all, and killed them just like they said they would. They had obtained five whole Soul Gems and an assortment of enchanted equipment, as well as two high-quality Holy Spell Scrolls. Everything was Level Five.


    "I want all the gems!" Garen walked over and glanced at the Soul Gems, his heart giving a heavy jolt. These things were just like the Soul Crystals from the previous world, he could condense them into a Soul Seed once he got enough of them!


    "No! The gems are mine! You can choose something else! Seeing as you don''t plan to spill the beans on us¡­"


    Bam!!


    Before he finished talking, Garen swiped his tail at Gedd, who wanted to continue speaking, without any hesitation whatsoever.


    Gedd''s body was sent rolling away by the tail swipe, and he left a long clear mark on the ground. There were drops of white blood seeping out from underneath his scales.


    "Do you have any other opinion?" Garen looked at the other White Dragon.


    This White Dragon gave a shudder and hastily nodded, then he realized something was wrong and started shaking his head instead.


    "No! I have no other opinion!"

 1296 Comrade 2

    Garen nodded, satisfied, and walked up to the White Dragon, Gedd. He grabbed a Space Ring that belonged to that Silver Helmet from the ground in front of Gedd, and used the ring to keep away the five Soul Gems.


    These things were called gems, but in truth they looked just like sweet potatoes, dusty grey on the outside, but a lot harder. If it was not for the fact that Garen could clearly feel how different the forces were, he would not have known that these were the so-called Soul Gems.


    "Five Soul Gems? That''s a pretty impressive deal. Looks like these Priests have already imprisoned five heretic souls, each of them at least Level Three." The only function Soul Gems had was to imprison souls, a gem without a soul inside was not called a Soul Gem. In other words, these five Soul Gems each had a soul trapped inside.


    These souls had had their memories wiped clean, until all that remained were their most basic combat understanding and knowledge. These were maintained in order to become materials for the creation of more Holy Angels in the future.


    On the other side, Gedd was crawling up, a hint of resentment and fury in his eyes as he looked at Garen. Then he hurriedly lowered his head and did not dare say anything else.


    Garen''s power had reached Level Seven a long time ago, and Gedd had heard before that, as the strongest prodigy in the clan, the Third Elder had many hopes of Garen. Apparently, he might even sign an Eternal Contract with King Gus. A being like this was not something Gedd could offend easily.


    "Alright, let''s go. We''ve been out for a tad too long," Garen said casually.


    The two White Dragons hastily packed up the treasures.


    Garen turned around and glanced at Gerbera. His appearance looked just like a normal young teenage Warrior. He had wounds and blood on his face as a result of battle, and so he looked somewhat worse for the wear.


    Gerbera blinked.


    "Um, Your Majesty, this area is under the governance of the Black Fish King, so if you wish to obtain more information about our fellows here, you can contact him."


    "Black Fish King?" Garen was slightly stunned. "There are different territories under different managers?"


    "Yeah, we''ve secretly infiltrated many places, and there are different beings in charge of managing each different place so that they can report large amounts of data back at any time. The one in charge here is the Black Fish King, and if he knew that there was a Demon Lord Level here, he would be extremely happy," Gerbera replied hurriedly.


    "Alright, I''ll go meet him." Garen nodded. "You get going, it''s not safe here."


    "Yes."


    Garen left Gerbera alone, and brought the two White Dragons back toward the direction of the captain, flapping their wings and flying there. Soon enough, they caught up to Captain Gamu, who was pretending to rest.


    Garen glanced at Gedd behind him and gave him a look.


    Looking depressed, Gedd handed a part of the treasures he had obtained to the captain, passing it over to him quietly.


    Gamu received it inconspicuously. The other White Dragons pretended not to see it.


    "Alright, let''s continue on. We need to finish patrolling the entire border within a month, and then we''ll return to the clan as soon as we complete our quest."


    "Yes."


    All the White Dragons replied in their low voices.


    "First, let''s find a supply point."


    The row of White Dragons flew into the sky again slowly, shooting away into the distance.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    *******************


    They soon completed their patrol quest, though that was putting aside the many dragons who also began to rob any creatures they met on the way, having seen how Gedd and the others struck it rich.


    Garen waited for the dragons to go their separate ways, heading back in the direction of the clan. Along the way, he had found a location that was closest to the Central Empire, and used Dream Communication to meet the Black Fish King that Gerbera had mentioned.


    In the limitless black ocean, there was no end in sight, the seawater rising and falling.


    The sky was completely dark, but there was actually a white fog floating between the sky and the sea.


    Garen stood on the seawater and saw precisely such a scene.


    He had already reached the third grade of Dreamland and met the person in charge of this area, Black Fish King, directly. It was the owner of this pair of dead-fish eyes.


    If they were in the real world, each of these eyes would be as big as a house and unnaturally terrifying.


    "A new comrade?" The Black Fish King spoke in the Void language, his words reaching Garen.


    "Black Fish King?" Garen asked.


    "Are you here to ask me about the Thousand-Armed Giant?" The Black Fish King seemed to have been asked about this a lot already. "Agare, the Thousand-Armed Giant Agare. That was the name I heard from afar. He bit off the statue on top of the Church of Fehra, it was a statue of Fehra, so the Lord of Light and Fire lost his temper."


    He laughed, contemptuously and proudly.


    "He deserves it. He actually oppressed me for a thousand years, and this time, even his incarnation was injured."


    This guy¡­


    Wordlessly, Garen listened to the Black Fish King roar in laughter.


    "Alright, I also want to know, has the Mother Stream taken any new actions recently?"


    By ''Mother Stream'', he meant the Mother Stream Alliance, an immense faction that put aside their previous differences in order to survive, thus achieving unprecedented unity.


    "Actions? What actions would we need to take??" The Black Fish King continued to laugh. "The Mother Stream is beginning to retaliate instinctively, hahaha! Countless Void creatures and Ancient Endor beings have already been released into this universe. Into the deep Abyss, the Inferno, the Mortal World, the Heavenly World, and countless other dimensions. We are just pushing the waves along from behind the scenes."


    "You don''t seem to be worried at all?" Garen frowned.


    "Worried? The Underworld River of this world is no match for the Mother Stream either. Be it the Will of the Abyss, or the many gods in the Heavenly World, this war cannot be decided by any one party. What''s the point of worrying?" The Black Fish King was completely unconcerned.


    "Tell me, how many other Demon Lord Level existences are there around here?" Garen continued to ask.


    "How many?" The Black Fish King looked at him strangely.


    "Most of the Lord Levels have gone to the Abyss, those''re the best soul hunting grounds. In Blood Wars, the demons in the tower don''t care if you come from another world or not. They just want to win the wars. Nothing else matters!"


    "Blood Wars, huh?" Garen was thoughtful.


    "If you want to go, you can go through the Soaring Wing King, he''s a Level Twelve Great Arcanist hiding in that Snow City near your side. If you can''t find him there, you can go look for the Snake Princess in the Green Oak Forest. She''ll give you a Blood War Stone for free, and all you have to do is transmit your power into the Abyss. The demons there will help you pay the transmission price needed for battle," suggested the Black Fish King. "On the precondition that you don''t mind dying for nothing, of course."


    "I got it, many thanks." Garen nodded. He knew about the location of the Abyss'' Blood Wars. The place was called the Ten Thousand Abyss Plains, and had a poisonous dark red sun scorching down on many fortresses of steel. Even the greatest river of this world, the Underworld River, flowed from there.


    The Ten Thousand Abyss Plains were the highest level of the Abyss, and had many bottomless abysses there. These abysses could reach each of the different levels of the Abyss at any time.


    The conversation ended just like that.


    Garen bid farewell to the Black Fish King and the two of them exchanged Dream Communication methods. To the Demon Lords, as long as they had a marker, it would not be difficult for them to directly project communication. It was the same principle as Nadia''s long-distance projected attack back then.


    By now, Garen could freely use his Confinement Essence in the Dream World. Although his middle-level Demon Lord Soul Rings were weaker than the Black Fish King''s, his understanding of this Essence made up for the difference in ability. Even if he could not defeat the Black Fish King, he would not be confined and trapped in the latter''s Dream World.


    That was why, in truth, he was not very afraid of upper-level Demon Lords either. If it were not for the fact that the restrictions in this world were too strong, and the pure power of his soul had been weakened too much to the point that it could not leave his physical body and could only affect it, he would have already returned to the peak of his powers from the previous life by now.


    He did not encounter any more accidents after the patrol quest. After flying eventlessly in the sky for a few days, Garen returned safely to the clan. Where he continued to train.


    Every year, he went to Ann and underwent the experiment.


    Just like Ann said, not only did her experiments not weaken him, they even vaguely strengthened him.


    Garen would also occasionally go out for a stroll. After understanding that there were fellow Demon Lords scattered around managing different territories, he visited the Snake Princess Demon Lord in Green Oak Forest and the Soaring Wing King nearby, in another direction.


    Snake Princess was a small silver snake as long as an arm, and she looked very weak, but she belied extremely terrifying power. She was definitely Level Ten or higher.


    On the other hand, the Soaring Wing King was slightly weaker. He only had a Level Nine physical body, but he actually held in his hand a Semi-Divine Weapon that directly increased his power to an unfathomable level.


    Garen created a communication channel with the Back Fish King and these other two, allowing them to exchange intel.


    Garen''s advantage in intel was in the Deladia Empire. King Gus was a Level Fifteen peak existence, and there were plenty of powerhouses within the Empire. There were eighteen whole beings who were Level Ten and above, so they dominated this area, keeping all the other powers here silent.


    And the Black Fish King was a powerful noble inside the Central Empire, so he had an advantage in gathering intel about the Church of Fehra.


    The area around here was almost completely taken by Mother Nature''s and Fehra''s churches, so naturally, any intelligence about these two Major Gods was extremely valuable.


    Meanwhile, the Soaring Wing King was a Great Arcanist, acting as a member of the Snow City''s Arcane Organization Grey Shadow Parliament. It was independent and stood against the Deladia Empire. However, he asked Garen for information more often than the other way around. His intelligence channels seemed to more obstructed than the others.


    Snake Princess was a Great Druid who believed in Mother Nature, and she also had the most variety of random resources and materials. She seemed to have many connections, and could obtain all sorts of materials.


    The Black Fish King and the Soaring Wing King also bought materials from her quite often, and now there was Garen as well.


    They called Garen the White Dragon King. Although this was the title of the White Dragon Mountain''s Dragon King, no one cared.


    As time passed, the situation grew more chaotic.


    More and more Interdimensional Passages opened up mysteriously, and there was clearly an instability in space. A space-time crevice even opened up near the White Dragon Clan, swallowing up two Adult White Dragons that had gone out hunting and scaring the Third Elder into hurriedly sending his elites to draw out boundaries in case any other dragons wandered in.


    A few more years passed in the blink of an eye.


    Garen gathered two hundred more Potential Points. Add that to the two hundred from before, and he had four hundred now. He had always resisted from using them for fear of growing too overpowered and attracting the attention of the gods.


    And he finally received news from King Gus, who signed an Eternal Contract with a princess from the Red Dragon Clan.


    Only then did Garen heave a sigh of relief. He had it all planned out, if he were to be chosen as a contractor, he would go straight to the Abyss for the Blood Wars.


    Right now, there were no outside eyes paying particular attention to him, so he finally started to secretly use all the Potential Points on his own attributes.


    But he did not add them evenly. Instead...

 1297 Conclusion 1

    He did not add them evenly.


    Instead, he firstly increased one aspect to an extreme.


    When it came to increasing his attributes, Garen had always been used to directly increasing them to extremes. Now that he had collected so many Potential Points, he prepared to do the same thing.


    Since King Gus'' contract had been canceled, he did not have so much attention trained on him anymore. That way, there would not be too many variables and concerns even if he drastically increases his powers.


    Inside the White Dragon Clan, Garen lay in his cave, surrounded by many books he borrowed from the other White Dragons, as well as the ones he got from Ann.


    He had generally calculated the general situation within the Clan, and once he added that to some of Ann''s top-secret information, he obtained the truest of real-world statistics. Statistics about the physical fitness of the dragons.


    Converted into the Attribute System that he used, it meant that as a member of the dragon race, the limit of his power in this world would be about ninety points on average. Theoretically, this was the limit that the bodies of those Ancient Dragons could reach. Any beings with these statistics would basically be demigods that were almost a thousand meters long and understood divinity. Once they reached this limit, the dragons would also slowly weaken due to the lengths of their lives.


    This was the necessary rhythm of things.


    The White Dragons were among the weaker members of the dragon race, so their limit was at eighty attribute points or so. However, they could use their Draconic Aura, Arcane Art, and other abilities to increase their actual power.


    "Eighty points is the limit for all White Dragons, and I''m already at sixty points¡­" Over the years, Garen''s natural growth and development had already broken past the sixty-point mark. His Strength was at 61, Agility 62, and his Vitality was slightly weaker, but even that was at 53. Because he put too much into it, his Intelligence had increased directly to 49.


    And he could still add four hundred whole Potential Points to this.


    "Let me increase them to their limits first." Although Garen was confident in his Soul Limit, he was still slightly worried. The restrictions of this world were a tad too strong.


    Right now, he needed three Potential Points to raise his attributes by one point.


    Garen stared at his Strength attribute, and his Potential Points instantly took a nosedive plunge.


    61¡­ 62¡­ 65¡­ 70¡­ 80¡­ When it reached the eighty, the increase stopped abruptly.


    Garen frowned slightly.


    He could still feel some space for improvement, but it seemed to be slightly harder to increase Strength just by itself. It felt as though something was restricting the increase of his Strength attribute.


    He moved his body slightly and felt as though it was unbalanced¡­


    By increasing his Strength to eighty points, he had used up as many as 57 Potential Points. He still had 343 remaining.


    "It''s probably a result of the imbalance from the other attributes. Perhaps I should increase them evenly. As expected, extremism won''t work¡­"


    When his thoughts reached that, Garen began to increase his Agility and Vitality as well.


    His Agility had been at 62 points, and he increased it by 18 points, using up 54 Potential Points. And his Vitality was at 53 points, and he used five points to increase it to 58 before it started requiring three Potential Points for one attribute point. He used another 66 Potential Points before he could reach 80.


    The last was Intelligence. All in all, Garen used up 257 whole Potential Points before he could have all attributes reach 80 points.


    Lying down in his cave, Garen''s body was completely curled up. His body had already expanded rapidly until it was as large as an Adult White Dragon''s, and it was still slowly growing. Large amounts of transparent energy flowed under his scales, it was the energy from his Potential Points.


    At the end of the day, Potential Points were actually a source of pure energy that could be freely distributed to the different parts and functions of his body.


    This energy was now rapidly strengthening Garen''s body to an incomprehensible extent.


    Garen''s scales were growing whiter and whiter, becoming more crystalline, glowing with neon light. His body was approaching the standards of utmost perfection. Small stabs of pain surged up endlessly from all over his body, and Garen resisted that pain, an indescribable feeling in his heart.


    As though his body was a rubber ball, and the constant release of Potential Point energy was inflating his body quickly.


    "Looks like this is a compulsory process when powering up. The stronger the laws, the more natural adaptation and adjustment time would be needed for attribute changes." Garen glanced at his current status.


    ''Garen -- Strength 80, Agility 80, Vitality 80, Intelligence 80. Potential 14363%. Soul Limit 170.


    ''Level 7 Draconic Aura. Level 5 Arcane Art.''


    "I still have some Potential Points left." He tried to continue increasing his attributes, but it seemed as though they could not be increased anymore for the time being, because his body had already reached its limit. This was already the limit for a single adjustment session.


    Garen sensed that if he continued to increase his attributes, his body might be in danger of exploding, so he instantly squashed down that notion. Instead, he placed his attention on the thing that he had been researching for some time now.


    The fusion of the knowledge and systems from the many major universes.


    He had once used created the Ten Thousand True Technique while in a human body, and this could be used in most universe systems. Although he was in a dragon body now, the Ten Thousand True Technique was still usable, he just needed to adjust the basic training paths slightly.


    And after joining the Young Dragons these past few years, Garen still used most of his efforts to figure out how he could incorporate what he had learned previously into the power system of this world.


    No, that was not the best way to phrase. More precisely, he was trying to connect his understanding of the power system in this world with those of all the other universes, in order to form a system that could be used in all the worlds.


    Garen had traveled through so many universes, and, especially in the Transmigators'' Lighthouse, he had encountered so many different civilizations and systems. He had learned and seen so much, far more than even Ann.


    In these past few years, he had mostly been focusing his attention on this.


    In the Mech World, he had once obtained two extremely overpowered martial arts techniques, namely the Nine-Level Tempered Body Technique and the Destructive Impact Fist.


    He had once reached an extremely high realm in the former, but as for the latter, even Garen himself never reached the limit of the Destructive Impact Fist.


    "In the end, I relied on the Crystal Confinement and understood the Shadow Dragon''s Void Confinement Essence, only then could I reach the pinnacle. This was a stroke of luck, but since I could not reach the limit in the previous world, maybe I can try walking this sort of straightforward path for once in this world."


    He had always sensed that the true essence of the Destructive Impact was extremely terrifying, and at the very end, it seemed to be able to understand a Conceptual Essence that went beyond Confinement.


    The restrictions of this world were very powerful, so he could not use the Destructive Impact Fist. But since White Dragons were part of the dragon race, their natural fitness far surpassed that of humans.


    Hence, Garen''s foundations were very powerful as well, and it would not be impossible for him to try fusing this brutally powerful martial arts completely.


    He organized the different system and finally came up with a set that contained the essence of everything he had learned.


    He used the Ten Thousand True Technique as the main body, the Destructive Impact Fist as the skeleton, and all the other system contents as the blood and flesh to fill it up.


    A powerful form of martial arts that belonged fully to him slowly began to take shape.


    This conclusive system no longer originated from the Mother Stream. Instead, it was usable in all the universes, or at the very least, it could be used unrestrictedly in all the universes Garen had experienced up until now. It was practically adapted to all of the universes'' original systems.


    Hence, he gave this power system a simple name -- Void Original Opus. Because be it the Mother Stream or anything else, everything originated in the endless universal void. That was also the origin of that name.


    The Void Original Opus that he first arranged contained next to everything. All of the martial arts he had ever learned, the secret techniques, skills, and even the essences, he could use all of them through the Original Opus.


    Be it secret techniques, or Willpower, or any other system.


    The difference between this and other systems was that the Void Original Opus'' roots did not lie in any form of power. Instead, it used the practitioner''s body and soul directly.


    The energy produced was something Garen called Original Energy. This Original Energy was unnaturally pure and clean and could be used in any universe.


    Right now, his physical fitness had been increased to its limit, and Garen had also checked his Void Original Opus once more to make sure there were no loopholes. This Original Opus even included this world''s Arcane Art system and Draconic Aura system. It could naturally tap into the strongest genes in the deepest part of the body, and this Original Energy came from his research in the Totem World.


    Once he was sure there were no problems with the Original Opus, Garen finally became to practice this personalized system that he had created.


    In truth, he had already sensed that the Void Original Opus was vaguely similar to the Living Secret Techniques he used to practice, and was a terrifying weapon that could truly last through the ages.


    If he randomly created a Living Secret Technique Seed and released it, perhaps another shocking battle to snatch it would occur again in some ruins ten thousand years later.


    The days passed, one by one, and Garen continued to stay in his cave training. Satwo, Sathree and the others brought him food and water. He practically ignored everything else happening in the world outside.


    As time passed, his body grew larger and larger, rapidly expanding from the size of a normal Adult Dragon until it was more than twenty meters long and ten meters tall. He had directly become an enormous giant, comparable to some Ancient Dragons, but immediately afterward, he began to shrink quickly as well, returning to the size of a Dragon Whelp within three days. And then he grew again and shrank again.


    This cycle ended and began once more, for several dozen times consecutively.


    The aura around Garen grew more and more fearsome. It was not Draconic Aura, but a special type of suppressed aura.


    In the blink of an eye, more than several dozen days had passed.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    *******************


    "I wonder what Garen is doing recently? He hasn''t come out to eat for more than ten days now."


    Satwo had grown slightly as well. Although he still looked like a Dragon Whelp, he was one size larger than a regular Dragon Whelp. This was also a result of Garen''s influence, since he obtained a larger share of the resources, it allowed him to grow faster than others as well.


    "Perhaps he''s cultivating his Draconic Aura, so that he can prepare to break through to the next level?" said Sathree softly. "What about Safour?"


    "Out on a quest."


    "To the Black Horn Mountain Range again?"


    "We''re Dragon Whelps, not Young Dragons. The last time we went to the Fiery Blaze Mountain Range, we sustained heavy casualties, so the higher-ups lowered the standard and changed the location. It''s only natural." Satwo pouted. "What, did you think that anyone could do like Garen did, and just join the Young Dragons on patrol like that?"


    Inside the ice cave, the two Dragon Whelps chatted idly in low voices. With Garen''s protection, they did not have to worry about being sent off to any quests that were too dangerous. In fact, if any of the dragons in the clan were even slightly impolite to them, they would be dragged off by the Third Elder''s Dragon Guards for a talk.


    Now that the Third Elder had separated on bad terms with the leader of the Dragon Guards, Phosphorus, he was placing all of his expectations on Garen. He was raising and helping Garen however he could, hoping that Garen could replace Phosphorus and become the new strongest Dragon Guard leader that was also on the Third Elder''s side.


    That was why Garen and the dragons around him got the biggest slice of the pie for many matters within the clan.


    Ever since Leona and Boris left, Garen no longer wanted to raise any conflicts against the Third Elder. Since he no longer had to worry about King Gus'' Eternal Contract, he was also more than happy to enjoy the power and position given to him by the Third Elder.


    Boom!!


    Suddenly, there was the sound of a huge explosion coming from the cave Garen was in.


    Sathree and Satwo were jolted and nearly felt onto the surface of the ice.


    "What sound was that!?"


    "It came from Garen''s cave, let''s go look!!"


    The two Dragon Whelps reacted immediately and rushed straight to the cave Garen was in.


    After a few turns and dashes, going through a long and narrow ice tunnel, the two Dragon Whelps quickly rushed into Garen''s cave.


    There was a mist of white steam inside, so they could not see anything inside at all.


    "Garen?! Are you okay!?" Satwo yelled loudly.

 1298 Conclusion 2

    Sathree was a female dragon, and she followed behind him carefully, blowing out her breath and flapping her wings hard so that she could scatter the large clouds of white fog.


    "Garen??" Sathree started yelling as well.


    The fog spun slowly in a clockwise rotation, like a whirlwind, with the most central area of the cave acting as the eye of the storm.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    At the center of the fog, Garen was looking at a wall of ice in front of him, calmly. The mirror-like wall reflected his current appearance clearly.


    On the surface, he clearly looked just like a normal Adult White Dragon. But there was a vague overlapping image in the mirror, and that image showed a completely different Garen.


    In the overlapping image, his right claw was ablaze with golden flames, and the cries of a phoenix emanated from those flames. His left claw emitted a pale blue chill that vaguely rang out with the deep calls of a phoenix.


    His left wing sparkled with seven black dead stars, and a creepy ice-cold trident appeared in front of his right wing.


    His long and slender dragon tail waved slowly, and he could actually see the illusion of nine fearsome dragon heads at the tip.


    And in front of his chest, in the very center of his torso, there was a shapeless black whirlpool. Specks of starlight twinkled in the whirlpool, blinking in and out of sight.


    Phew¡­


    He opened his mouth and blew out a breath. It was a faint cloud-like Dragon Breath, but he did not blow it out of his own accord. Instead, every breath he exhaled naturally had that special power.


    This was a result of the Divine Statue Technique and Hellfrost Scarlet Snow Technique that he used to practice.


    The truth was that every power Garen carefully cultivated to a certain point had left an indelible mark deep within his soul. And these marks had fully manifested now that he had successfully invented his Void Original Opus.


    Everything he had ever learned had naturally manifested on his dragon body.


    "The Void Original Opus is a conclusion of everything I had ever learned over time, and it also perfectly embodies the imprints on my soul from the beginning until now."


    Garen raised his claws. The left claw had an illusion of golden flames, representing the Holy Phoenix Demonic Book. The right claw had a pale blue chill, symbolizing the Hellfrost Peacock Mother.


    And each of the other parts represented another part of his life''s conclusions and experiences.


    "This is that so-called True Body that only forms at the peak of the Demon Lord level, right?" He had heard of this form before, when some upper-level Demon Lords wanted to reach the True Soul form, they needed to condense everything they had into one, and fuse that into one body. This would then force the body to evolve to its highest level, and from there, it would advance to the True Soul.


    "This is an early form of the True Soul¡­?" Lastly, Garen glanced at himself in the mirror, pulling back the Soul Rings all around this body and storing away all of the illusions, keeping them inside his body.


    At the same time, his body shrunk rapidly as well, returning to his original Young Dragon form.


    This was a secret technique similar to the Bone Shrinking Technique that he used to hide himself.


    The Void Original Opus did not have grades, only a percentage. Garen had tossed all of his remaining Potential Points into it, hence resulting in his current progress in change. His Original Opus had risen from 0% to 14%, in other words, more than 140 Potential Points could only raise his power by 14%.


    The truth was, if it were not for the fact that Garen tried increasing his attributes again and found that they still would not increase, he would not have put all his Potential Points into the Void Original Opus like that so decisively, no matter how useless the Potential Points were.


    The invention of the Void Original Opus gave him plenty of inspiration, and he vaguely knew that the reason his attributes could no longer increase was not because they had reached their limit. His Soul Limit was far beyond that of a normal dragon, so there was no way he could have been blocked. And the way his body was now meant that he had to evolve to a higher level, only then would he fulfill the rules of this world, and only then would he be able to continue accepting more energy and materials. According to the laws, this was practically a required evolution process.


    There were no abnormal changes or increases in his physical attributes, but because of that, he had a feeling that his body could still evolve further.


    Waving his hand and scattering the fog, Garen looked at Satwo and Sathree, who were walking in.


    "I''m fine, there''s no need to worry. I was just practicing my Draconic Aura and created some force waves because I got careless."


    "Are you sure you''re really fine?" Satwo asked carefully.


    "I''m fine. You guys can leave now, I still plan to continue training," Garen replied with a smile.


    "Alright, then¡­" Satwo and Sathree did not dare to say too much either, and they left in a hurry. If at first they still considered Garen their brother, the Garen they saw right now had long since left their reach. They already thought of Garen as their protector, someone like an older brother or a father.


    Garen waited for the siblings to leave the cave before he started considering his current level.


    "I must be at least Level Eight, perhaps Level Nine. But until I cross swords with a true Level Nine existence from this world, I won''t know their level either." Garen was confident that he had already reached the highest level of physical fitness that the body of a White Dragon could achieve, only powerful Ancient Dragons who have lived for several thousand years could match up to him.


    Eighty attribute points on average were enough to go against a giant warship in the Mech World, but the restrictions here were too harsh, so there was no telling how much power it could result in here.


    Garen sensed that his body was still evolving and changing slowly, and this required time. He had a feeling that once he finished evolving, he could still continue increasing his body''s attributes and elements.


    As for Level Nine, he was not particularly afraid of it. With just his body alone, he might already be immune to regular Level Nine spells. This was a privilege only enjoyed by the very highest-level Black Dragons.


    He suddenly remembered the Suffering Knight core he had devoured earlier. Before he knew it, he had subconsciously finished digesting it. That thing had probably contributed to his evolution earlier as well.


    He looked at his current Soul Rings.


    Five Soul Seeds were fully complete and had already been raised to the Pale Red Color. It had risen from its original Colorless Level to Pale Red.


    All five Soul Rings sank, leaving their initial position open. The silhouette of a new Soul Ring appeared where they used to be, and this glowed with a faint orange light.


    "The second level, the second level of the Seven Colors Phase, needs me to find five more Soul Seeds and condense them into orange Soul Seeds. If I was still very young and weak, this would probably be harder than walking in air, but right now, well¡­ After all, the Soul Seeds for the second level should require Soul Seeds of a higher quality than the first level. And more Soul Energy as well."


    He remembered the Suffering Knight core that he had devoured earlier. The Soul Energy contained inside that thing was definitely enough. Perhaps it could become a second level Soul Seed after purification.


    There was also the grudge from before when he was hunted down. It was about time to cash in that debt.


    "Perfect, I can test my abilities and see where I stand now."


    Garen grinned.


    ******************


    Fiery Blaze Mountain Range


    Whoosh!


    A white shadow instantly shot past the sky and flashed across the snowy peaks, leaving a long white line of air.


    It was a long and slender White Dragon.


    The White Dragon flew straight toward the depths of the Fiery Blaze Mountain Range. He did not linger for even a second.


    The cold clean sunlight shone down on his body, glowing with a light that was as bright as a mirror.


    There were only a few Hellfrost Giant Iguanas hunting around for food in the mountain range during the daytime. Some of the Elder Giant Iguanas sent their auras shooting into the air, drawing the boundaries of their own territory.


    Garen swept past at a high speed and descended from the sky abruptly, pouncing mercilessly at an Elder Giant Iguana.


    Bam!


    The white shadow landed, and the Elder Giant Iguana roared madly as it covered its entire body with ice armor. At the same time, a gigantic rolling ice ball appeared, floating above its head.


    But the white shadow crashed straight down at it, and the ball of ice shattered. The Elder Giant Iguana was smashed hard into the snowy ground, and its entire large body actually sank into the ground. The impact instantly knocked it unconscious.


    Garen lifted the Elder Giant Iguana. This Giant Iguana was already at Level Six, but to him as he was right now, it was basically a massacre.


    Garen dug the Demon Core out of the Elder Giant Iguana''s head and wiped it on the snowy ground. Once he made sure it was clean, he tossed it straight into his mouth. There was a cracking sound, and he actually managed to chew and swallow the sturdiest Demon Core in one go, just like that. The pieces of the Demon Core, as sharp as glass shards, were actually unable to scratch or pierce the membranes and skin inside his mouth.


    "Its Soul Energy is so weak¡­" Garen frowned slightly. A Level Six Demon Core like this only gave him two Potential Points.


    What was the difference between this and the Level Five Demon Core he risked his life to obtain back then?


    But this was also the disadvantage of having unnaturally exceptional talent. The longer he trained and the higher he reached, the harder it would be to simply rely on this to power up. That was because the energy requirements were too high, so the regular Potential Point sources naturally appeared insignificant when it came to higher level upgrades.


    It was just like how a drop of water was more than what an ant could drink in an entire lifetime, but at the same time, it could barely wet the lips of a person.


    "It''s better than nothing."


    Garen looked around him. Everything was covered in white snow, black stone and yellow earth revealed in some places.


    "This should be the heart of the Fiery Blaze Mountain Range."


    He walked around the area casually. Since he did not know just where the Suffering Knight came from, he planned to reveal himself in advance and lure them out.


    On the snowy ground, his heavy body meant that every step he took made crunching noises in the snow.


    He emitted his powerful Draconic Aura. Although it was only Level Seven, it was already an extremely horrifying presence to the strongest creature here, the Level Six Elder Giant Iguanas.


    All the Elder Giant Iguanas ran and hid.


    Garen wandered around for half a day, and still did not encounter a second Elder Giant Iguana.


    However, it seemed that there were many ruins in the Fiery Blaze Mountain Range. Slightly interested, he wandered around inside, but he did not discover anything interesting. Evidently, they had already been cleared out by others who came before.


    The flying snow began to come down again, slowly.


    Garen walked toward the area where the snowstorm was at its strongest.


    Before he knew it, he had walked up to the front of an abandoned white palace that looked like a garden.


    The palace was constructed out of large white stone bricks, and it was also being supported by tall and large stone pillars, each so wide they required several people to hug it completely. It was almost a hundred meters tall, so it looked imposing and majestic, but it was damaged in all sorts of places.


    The ceilings had caved in on the internal structures, and the previously closed-up building had turned into something that looked rather like an open-air garden.


    Garen flapped his wings and took flight, turning one circle in the air above the palace area.


    The palace stood all alone in a valley, and he could barely see it at all from the sky.


    There were many white stairs, concentrated in one area at the door to the hall, but many of the steps had been damaged. The two fire pillars guarding either side of the door had been snapped in half and fallen to the ground, while some of the beautiful and intricate carvings had been defaced beyond recognition.


    Garen did not notice anything of value and was just about to leave this area.


    Suddenly, his eyes glimpsed a strange statue outside the palace.


    It was a grey-white statue standing in the midst of the snowstorm, and it looked just like a large hand with three fingers sticking out of the ground, reaching toward the sky.


    There was nothing at all between the three fingers.


    But Garen frowned slightly, because he knew this statue. He had always gotten his information from an assortment of sources, so he had practically forgotten which world he had gotten that information from. But one thing was for certain, this information did not come from this world.


    A Projection Summoning Ritual?" The functions of this statue flashed past Garen''s heart.


    "It''s clearly an object from another world, but it''s somehow here as well?" He landed down there curiously and stopped right in front of the statue.

 1299 Power 1

    Reaching out his claw and touching the statue, Garen felt a hairy, fleshy sensation on his claws.


    The area in the middle of the sculpture seemed to have some type of strong electromagnetic field. It was a powerful energy field, separating the area in the middle into an isolated zone.


    "More than 700 years ago, Caswell created the Universal Codex, which opened up the passage between the Void and this world."


    Suddenly, an aged, low voice sounded from behind Garen.


    Garen turned around and saw a tall silhouette in a green robe standing in the snowy plains a distance away. The voice came from him.


    The silhouette was in a cloak with a hood, concealing his face.


    "Then, all of you Alien Souls also came here through the passage." The silhouette raised his head slowly, revealing a fleshless skull beneath the cloak.


    Two green flames burned in the place of the skull''s eyes, and a dark, red blood colored symbol was carved on his brow area, giving a strong religious aura.


    More than a dozen black Suffering Knights were coming out slowly from the snow plains around. They were all wielding various types of weapons, some of them were armed with swords, some with long spears, and some even had a combination of sword and shield.


    Two of the Suffering Knights had silver striation etched faintly on the edges of their armor.


    "Silver-Striped Knights?" Garen raised his eyebrows.


    Silver-Striped Knights were at the very least at Level Seven, and if an Undead Silver-Striped Knight was well nourished, it could easily turn into a Level-Eight creature.


    "This time, for you to come over on your own accord, what''s your goal?" The skull asked in a low voice. "After killing three of my Suffering Knights, your soul is something that I will definitely capture and keep in a gem."


    It seems that this was a very cautious lich. Garen recognizes the identity of the skull figure standing in front of him, it was the Great Undead Wizard. It looked like he had transformed himself into a lich, an immortal existence.


    He did not attack immediately just because Garen came here alone. He would also definitely have his other reinforcements around this area. To think that his opponent would still be so vigilant against him.


    "If that''s the case, what else is there left to say?" Garen grinned. "There can only be one reason I came."


    "What?" The Lich started to be even more alert.


    Garen sighed, releasing a puff of white air.


    "To negotiate of course."


    He originally thought Garen was about to make his move, but he did not expect it to be this. The lich was obviously a little stunned by his proposal.


    Boom!!


    Suddenly, the white silhouette flashed in front of him. In just a blink of an eye, the body of the White Dragon expanded, reaching the size of a mature White Dragon as it charged straight towards him. At the next instant, Garen had already appeared right in front of him. It was almost like a teleport!Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Roar!!!


    In a burst, the Level Seven Dragonic Aura instantly condensed onto the Lich''s body.


    The white dragon claws slammed on the Lich with tremendous force.


    There was no sound. A transparent barrier had blocked Garen''s claws, with large amounts of transparent sparks spilling out at the point of contact.


    The barrier blocked his attack for a full second, but that was already enough for the Lich to react.


    He raised his hand, revealing a black bracelet on his wrist embedded with five different colored gems, one of it started glowing red.


    "Loss of Reason."


    The sorcerer raised his voice to a high pitch.


    A large, red net suddenly appeared in the air, it shrunk and wrapped Garen tightly with it.


    This was a Level Eight spell, a unique spell formed by combining several different Psychic-type Manipulation spells. Although it was only Level Eight, the practical effect was comparable to a Level Nine. It had been fixed onto the Lich''s bracelet and was released instantly.


    To other powerful people, the Psychic influence might have required a bit more time for them to react to it. However, it was useless against Garen with his thoroughly trained will. Even Ann had praised that his willpower was comparable to Holy Spirits.


    The red net disappeared without any reaction on Garen''s scales. There was absolutely no effect at all.


    The green flames in the eye sockets of the Lich started burning more intensely as his bracelet released another spell once more. It was a shroud, black mist, engulfing Garen and his surroundings.


    Its form changed so fast that even the surrounding Suffering Knights barely reacted in time. Two Silver-Striped Knights leaped a few meters in a blink of an eye, their two giant swords striking powerfully on the roots of Garen''s dragon wings.


    "Death Spirit Energy?" Garen was shrouded in the black fog. He felt that this black fog was not some simple spell, but one that added some sort of unique potion. The potion could rapidly erode his scales'' resistance, minimizing his ability to resist magic.


    He increased his alertness.


    His wings flapped furiously as the two Silver-Striped Knights rushed over. In two flaps with a frightful eighty points of strength, the two Suffering Knights were flung away like a couple of chicks,


    Although an undead Silver-Striped Knight was equivalent to a Level Eight, even when they were the same level they all had different specializations, some leaned towards strength and some leaned towards speed. In addition, at the same level, no one could compare against The Dragon Clan''s power when it came to direct confrontations. This was the law of the world!


    The Level Eights of human and humanoid races are more dependent on techniques and special abilities, such as special equipment and so on.


    Just as Garen smacked away the two Silver-Striped Knights, he heard the rest of the Suffering Knights roaring in unison.


    "Final Death Match!!"


    Bang!!


    The red area instantly covered the entire space around him and Garen had once again found himself in a strange special space like last time.


    The surrounding Suffering Knights all pulled out scrolls at the same time. They were ancient, yellow scrolls just like the last time, each of them tied with a red string.


    "In the name of death!"


    Their chants rippled through space.


    The scrolls started to open up one by one. Amidst the black mist, various types of creatures slowly revealed itself.


    Roar!!


    There were actually gigantic-sized beasts hidden within the scrolls!


    Amongst them were Level Eight Earth Dragon Beasts and even Level Nine Bone Dragons! There were also some weird and powerful species that he did not recognize.


    In an instant, his enemies had nearly doubled their force.


    Garen also felt a special threat could erupt at any moment, giving him a chilling and numb sensation.


    He was no longer clueless about spells now, thus he immediately identified the origin of this feeling.


    "Deathfinger!"


    The Lich''s voice rang out suddenly.


    Whoosh!


    A light green ray suddenly pierced through the red space from some part within the inner wall, targeting Garen directly at his chest.


    Garen instantly fell a chill shooting down his spine.


    I have the body of the strongest white dragon at its peak performance level, I don''t believe that you can kill me just with one shot of that Deathfinger!!


    Whoa!


    Amidst a loud roar, Garen spread his wings out and released a terrifying ripple of energy waves from throughout his body. It is not an effect of a spell, but the energy ripples that was purely a result of him just exerting his power.


    The muscles on his whole body started tensing up to its limit.


    Galleon lunged up into the air. Without any intentions of retreating, he headed straight towards the light green ray.


    The body of an Ancient Dragon-level creature was definitely enough to directly confront any Level Nine existences without any disadvantage.


    The light green ray hit Garen''s body, turning his entire dragon body in a shade of green for a brief moment. Then, nothing happened, as if the attack had never happened at all.


    "Level Nine!! Within such a short time, you!!" The Lich''s furious voice came from outside the red space.


    At that moment, Garrn''s dragon body started to expand. His huge body that was comparable to an elephant crashed straight onto the inner wall of the red space.


    The rest of the Suffering Knights behind him were trying to keep up with his speed, attacking him from the back when they finally did so. The Bone Dragons, the Earth Dragons, and the different weapons of the knights all slashed from different angles towards Garen''s dragon wings on his back.


    Clank clank clank!!


    Sounds of successive explosions were like clashing metal. Garen''s scales on his skin started to emit a white-gold glow.


    Not only his wings but his entire body''s scales were pale white-gold.


    Divine Statue Technique!!


    This was the strongest Body Hardening Technique that Garen had learned back in the first world. Now, this technique had automatically activated as a self-defense mechanism.


    Using the Divine Statue Technique with the body of a Colossal Dragon as a foundation, it had reached a terrifyingly extreme level. His level of defense had reached an absurdly overpowered level.


    Initially, Garen''s average attribute points were not even close to ten points, but with the Divine Statue Technique, he was able to block bullets even with just his eyelids. It was the epitome of Body Hardening Techniques! It was invincible!


    Now the Void Original Opus had been raised to 14%. The first restoration that was revealed turned out to this amazing secret technique from his first world.


    The greatest use of the Void Original Opus was to be able to use all the worlds that Garen had experienced and all the abilities that he attained as a foundation, and then, fuse them together, ultimately forming the body of the True Soul!


    Despite the countless weapons slashing on the Garen''s back, it had only left some faint white marks. It could not pierce through the skin even the slightest.


    On the other hand, a few Bone Dragons used their huge body mass to try and knock Garen down but instead, he only moved forward slightly and the knocks served to add on to his momentum.


    Garen concentrated his entire body''s strength and with a loud crash, slammed into the inner wall of the red space.


    With a crack, the inner wall of the red space broke into pieces.


    As the pieces came crumbling down, it revealed the Lich with a look of disbelief plastered all over his face.


    The dragon claw lunged to grab the head of the Lich with an exploding force. It was so fast that even the afterimages could barely be seen, crashing onto the countless barrier spells in front of the Lich.


    The black runes flowing in the air tried to block Garen''s claw but was instantly disintegrated. Immediately after that, a black locust-like smoke started flowing out, only to be dissipated even before coming into contact with Garen due to the immense shockwave from his claw.


    The dragon''s claws were closing on to the Lich''s head. The threat of imminent death alarmed him.


    The blood-colored symbols on his brow suddenly brightened up.


    Ahh!!!


    A huge and ferocious green succubus''s face appeared behind him. As the Lich''s mouth opened, a violent and sharp screech erupted in front of Garen.


    "Succubus'' Wail!?" Garen''s heart tightened, "and it''s a full appearance of a succubus!!"


    If the previous Deathfinger was a Level Seven spell upgraded into a Level Nine, then this Succubus'' Wail was definitely a real Level Nine spell. That would mean that the Lich in front of him right now had the gene of a banshee in his body before he turned into an Undead. Otherwise, it would be impossible to visualize the Void Shadow of a real banshee, and the Void Shadow would at least half the power of that skill!


    The sound waves turned into a violent ripple of shockwaves, scraping through Garen''s body. Even his white-gold Divine Statue Technique started to show faint signs of damage.


    The huge body shrunk. Garen shrunk from being an elephant size to that of an average human, in an attempt to minimize the ripples'' contact from the Succubus'' Wail.In previous arcs, ÐÄÁé has often been translated as "Spiritual". In this current arc, since the recurring theme is taken from Dungeons & Dragons, "Psychic" seemed to be more appropriate, as ÐÄÁé·¨Êõ is officially translated as "Psychic Spells".

 1300 Power 2

    It was not only affecting him, but even the Suffering Knights and summoned creatures behind him were injured heavily from the Level Nine spell. The Succubus'' Wail is basically a large-scale area-of-effect spell with friendly fire. If the Lich had not been forced into a corner, he would have never used this spell welded on his brow as the last resort.


    "The Touch of Despair!"


    Taking advantage while Garen was still under the effects of the Succubus'' Wail, the Lich''s body fluttered upwards, his hands started making a lot of complicated gestures at lightning speeds, sprinkling large amounts of mixed and messy powder of an unknown material.


    A purple matrix emerged from below on the huge snowy plains.


    The snow was quickly dyed dark purple, and huge purple tentacles that were a few meters in diameter sprouted out from the purple ground, wiggling straight towards Garen.


    These tentacles were like an octopus'' tentacles. At the tip of the tentacles, it was densely packed with countless tiny suckers, whilst the suckers were covered with fine, sharp teeth.


    A large number of tentacles tangled itself onto Garen, quickly weaving him into a giant purple meatball held high up in midair.


    "I originally wanted to turn you into one of my undead! Unfortunately, you no longer have this opportunity! Now die for me!!" The green flames in the Lich''s eye sockets burned intensely. Just an instant earlier, he felt that he was about to be killed. That strong, intense feeling of a lethal threat was something he had not experienced for many years.


    Just a genius of the White Dragon Clan? That was enough to damage him?


    His hand, still holding up a gesture, moved down.


    The purple meatball began to sink down swiftly. The snowy plains were no longer covered in snow. Everywhere the purple light touches had already connected to a different dimension. Once something was pulled in, it would directly enter the torrential dimension storm that was the habitat of countless monsters. The countless powerful and terrifying high-leveled monsters aside, even if one were to survive the monsters'' pursuits, without any specific landmarks or coordinates, he would only be left there to starve to death.


    This was a spell that the Lich created himself. There were no other existences that could imitate it, and no existences could manage to find a countermeasure to it in such a short period of time. The only option for anyone caught in this was to keep on resisting and dodging.


    Unfortunately, Garen''s spell power was far from reaching this level.


    "How unfortunate, such a powerful Alien Soul..." The Lich looked at the purple meatball as it was slowly pulled down towards the purple ground. He had calmed down, albeit feeling sorry that he had to resort to this solution.


    "These purple tentacles are from a huge creature called the Ruins Monster. Even the Dragon Clan''s Level Nine powerhouses won''t be able to escape. No matter how much of a genius you are, you''re still just a White Dragon!" The Lich grinned.


    At this moment, the huge meatball began to slowly expand, getting bigger and bigger, and then contracting rapidly.


    The green flames in the Lich''s eye sockets flickered wildly.


    "No, it''s impossible to escape!"


    However, the power of this spell completely repels any other external forces. He could only watch anxiously as the purple meatball stopped in mid-air, contracting big and small swiftly.


    The green flames in the Lich''s eyes flickered faster. This spell was already his most powerful one. If his opponent managed to break free even under his most powerful spell, and he had already exhausted his arsenal of spells and half of his spell slots for the last two continuous Quicken effects, he had no way of fighting anymore again.


    The white, bone finger gently touched the last black jewel on his bracelet. After a slight hesitation, the Lich still could not decide.


    "Retreat!!"


    He finally made up his mind, barking out loud.


    Swiftly, all the Suffering Knights, summoned creatures and two Silver-Striped Knights who were still moving instantly grouped to protect the Lich. A cloud of dark smoke suddenly enveloped everyone. As the dark smoke dissipated, the Lich and all the Suffering Knights had disappeared completely.


    Poof!!


    The purple meatball burst from the inside, and Garen was covered all over with fine, small wounds. The white-gold scales cracking into what looked like countless glass shards.


    Streaks of white blood dripped down slowly through the scales.


    He burst out of the meatball and shot up into the sky. The enormous force ripped off the purple tentacles pulling onto him from underneath.


    Roar!!!


    He howled loudly as his wounds healed itself under the naked eye. This is the powerful effect of having an 80 point vitality attribute.


    The power of this spell was horrifying. It was impossible for any other White Dragon to escape even at their peak performance. If not for the Divine Statue Technique, Garen knew he would not have been able to escape with only these light injuries.


    The spell was strong enough to trap even the strongest Black Dragon at its peak!


    "Lich...!" Just within this short fight, Garen had already understood the Lich''s power.


    The Lich was definitely above him in terms of powers, he was no mere Level Nine. To be able to utilize and show the full Void Shadow potency of the Succubus'' Wail, he was very likely to be a Level Ten.


    "If it was a formal fight, I wouldn''t even have stood a chance against him, but his insistence on wanting to kill me caused him to pay a hefty price. No wonder he retreated voluntarily." Garen understood what was going on in his opponent''s mind after pondering about it.


    If he could not kill a creature like a Lich from the roots of his soul, it would just cause him even more trouble in the future. As long as the Lich''s Phylactery was still there, the Lich will continuously reborn.


    The purple matrix on the ground dimmed gradually. The huge monster roared to show its unwillingness to be defeated as its tentacles sank slowly back into the matrix.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Unwilling to admit defeat?" Garon sneered as he looked down at the monster that is now only revealing its tentacles.


    He took a deep breath.


    Roar!!!


    Roaring furiously downwards, the terrifyingly strong shockwaves slammed onto the tentacles. The entire matrix trembled slightly, and the rate of subsidence slowed down.


    However, this was not the most crucial thing, but rather the fact that Garen''s body had once again started to grow. It went from the size of a horse to the size of two elephants in an instant. He was now twice as big as the average fully-matured White Dragon! Thick tubes of his Meridian system could be seen clearly, his muscles were twitching like running water.


    "Die!"


    Bam!


    He stretched out a huge dragon claw, grabbed hardly onto a large clump of large purple tentacles, and pulled it up with all his might.


    A shriek of pain screamed from within the matrix, which sounded like a combination of a lion and a tiger but also mixed with the cries of a mountain goat.


    The serrated teeth on the tentacles sawed onto Garen''s dragon scales in a mad frenzy, but it could not hurt him except to barely leave a thin white mark on them.


    Roar!!


    Garen roared into the sky menacingly once more, shattering the layers of cloud. He grabbed madly on to the tentacles and pulled it upwards.


    It was a competition of strength between these two huge forces. Garen''s strength was not as powerful as this monster, but he had effectively delayed the tentacles sinking down into the matrix. However, the purple light of the matrix was fading away at a higher speed than the sinking.


    That was what Garen had hoped to achieve.


    "Silibala, guyiee¡­" Suddenly a string of gibberish accompanied with the cries of an angry mountain goat rang out from the matrix.


    It seemed to be a language, but it was not one that Garen understood. He ignored it and continued to pull on the tentacles so that they could not sink down instantly.


    The voice suddenly changed to a different language, and in a span of tens of seconds, alternated into a dozen more languages.


    Quickly, it managed to change to the Dragon language.


    "You''re an Ancient Dragon!! Bloody hell, only an Ancient Dragon at its absolute peak could have such tremendous strength!! Let me go and I will compensate you!!" The sound of the mountain goat rang out in urgency.


    Garen''s strength had far exceeded his expectations, and Garen was not afraid of his all-devouring sucker teeth. This was an outright miracle. He was just an ordinary White Dragon, but he had the strongest defense that only the Black Dragon Ancient Dragon at its peak could attain. If he knew this, he would have sent out his main tentacles to respond to the summon. That damned summoner Lich. Screw the dimensional agreement. If he could not retrieve his tentacles this time, his actual body''s will would directly be severed at the root of the dimensional link due to the Spacetime Dimensional Fissure. That would injure him fatally.


    The Ruins Monster even wanted to devour the Lich''s heart at this point.


    "Compensation?"


    Garen laughed coldly. Suddenly, he realized something, the Ruins Monster''s strength had already become incapable of stopping him, seems like he was no longer an ordinary existence.


    "So, you''re actually an intelligent species. Alright, I want you to sign a summoning agreement!! When I require aid, I can summon you for help!"


    "The power required for the summoning agreement is not something you can afford," the Ruins Monster said hurriedly. "You need 50 grams of Level Eight Soul Crystal powder, a power crystal of a creature that is at least Level Eleven! You can summon only my tentacles like the Lich. That way only Level Seven materials are needed."


    "No! I just want the summoning agreement! You deal with the materials!" Garen''s tone was firm. As the purple light of the matrix below started to fade away more and more, the Ruins Monster also started to panic more.


    "Okay okay okay!! But only once! I have to pay a hundred times more materials than you and I can only afford it once! Any more than that and I''ll rather sacrifice this part of my will!" The Ruins Monster was pissed.


    "Deal!"


    Garen rapidly concussed his soul as a preparation to sign the agreement. A summoning agreement was no stranger to him as a Level Five Arcane Level. After a few lines of simple chants, he exchanged coordinate information with the Ruins Monster.


    From the matrix, a black and purple bracelet flew out and automatically attached to Garen''s right claw.


    The agreement was established, and the bracelet was the tool to summon the Ruins Monster.


    This time, Garen was slightly wounded to the point where he spilled blood. If he did not get something out of it, he would have felt that it was not worth it.


    Finally, he released the tentacles. With a whoosh, all the tentacles retreated swiftly into the matrix, and the purple light disappeared completely a moment later. The ground returned to its the original, snowy state.


    Although he now had a one-time summoning agreement with the Ruins Monster, Garen did not intend to pursue the Lich to continue their bout.


    Now, unless he wasted his one-time Ruins Monster summon, otherwise in a direct confrontation against the Lich, the two sides will be quite evenly matched. Furthermore, if he could not find the other''s Phylactery, even if he managed to critically damage or kill the Lich, his opponent can still reborn again in the future hence making no difference.


    Speaking of which, the Lich may be stronger, but he also did not want to sacrifice too much as it was not worth the candle. Garen''s power was not as strong as the opponent. The two have reached a stalemate.


    Staying in the snowy plains for a little longer, Garen rested until his body was completely recovered before flapping his wings and flying away.


    With this attempt of testing the waters, he had also managed to preliminarily gauge his power. He had definitely surpassed the peak of Level Nine. With the Divine Statue Technique enhancing his dragon body, he was not even fazed by the confrontation of a Level Ten Lich.


    Even within the clan, he no longer had to fear the Third Elders. With Garen''s current power, he could easily inflict critical damage to the Third Elders at any moment. After all, he was not a real Level Ten, but rather, he relied on the Divine Staff to reach this level, which was equivalent to the pseudo-Level-Ten.


    Since he finally gained the power of self-protection, Garen had to start planning his next move.


    In this war between the Mother River and this world, only by becoming a True Soul as soon as possible could he have the greatest chance of survival.


    Thus, the first thing to do to reach a True Soul is to raise the Void Original Opus, and in turn, gain more Potential Points.This was written in English and was meant to be unintelligible.

 1301 Leaving 1

    The only two ways to gain Potential Points were to either hunt for Demon Cores, or to absorb souls.


    Garen took the previously obtained Soul Crystal out from the Space Ring he wore on his nail. After deliberating briefly, he did not absorb the crystal directly. Even if he absorbed a few of these crystals, he would only get more than a dozen Potential Points. Compared with this small amount, he had better use for them.


    Unlike the Demon Cores, this type of Soul Crystals had actual souls imprisoned within them.


    He quickly checked through the fatally injured Suffering Knights and summoned creatures sent by the Lich.


    "These guys, even though they were in such a rush, they still didn''t forget to take back the cores. How stingy!" Garen silently checked though once more and found that these Suffering Knights and summoned creatures'' cores were ripped away, only leaving its empty, body shells.


    He dragged the two corpses of the Suffering Knights away and looted the most expensive and valuable parts of the other summoned creatures.


    In this fierce battle, the Space Ring on his body was already on the verge of breaking. Although the Space Equipment was hailed as the toughest item discovered, it still could not withstand the strength of such a Level Nine or Ten battle. To be able to survive through the entire fight was already an astounding feat.


    Carrying a pile of loot, Garen spread his wings and flew towards the direction of the whereabouts of the clan.


    ******


    Within the endless Void, there was a huge floating distorted palace.


    The black color palace was constantly twisting around in shapes. Sometimes it seemed to be circular, sometimes square, and sometimes an extremely complex shape.


    A white ring was slowly rotating around the palace. It was made up of countless white ants with wings. They all had human faces and sang while they orbited the palace.


    The song they sang did not have any hint of rhythm, but it gave off a sense of mesmerizing illusory.


    Inside the palace, on the edge of a green vortex, there were three tall stone pillars. Each of the pillars had one wide open eye, a bloodshot yet pale white eye.


    They were staring at the center of the green vortex in front of them.


    "Distortion Demon Master, our mission has been completed, now it''s all up to you guys." A calm, male voice said from one of the eyes of the three stone pillars.


    "Our Void Army is not something free for you to sacrifice without any reason." The green whirlpool let out a plain, female voice. They were using the standard Void Language.


    "You people are in the Mother River, so you can manipulate and control more creatures near the Mother River. Thus, you should be the one in charge. Furthermore, I had already sent an Upper-Level Demon King to test out the waters."


    "This is not the time for bargaining, if we don''t go all-out, our entire existence will soon be annihilated." Another stone pillar urged on. The stone pillar''s eye was shining in a hazy light.


    "The Demon Masters we know is barely a fraction out of the Void. The Void is an endless abyss. There are still a lot of terrifying Demon Masters that we can''t even hope to make contact. There are more of them than there is sand in the sea. We''ll just have to deal with it as it comes." The voice of another man sounded from the vortex.


    "No matter how good your True Souls or our Demon Masters are, we''re still actually not the real main force. When the time comes to take action, it is not up to us but the Void and the Mother River." A child''s voice rang out from the vortex.


    "The Dimensional Crevice had already passed through the Crystal Wall System. A large number of the vanguard squad had already entered the Primary Plane and other planes."


    "The best channel of infiltration should be in the Ten Thousand Abyss Plains. That place is already chaotic enough with all the Demon Essence so they wouldn''t care if we enter."


    "I think we should go for Purgatory, the creatures there are sly and cunning. Perhaps we can persuade them to join us. The Void and the Mother River are incomparably great, that universe can never beat us."


    "How to deal with the Gods? That is the key."


    "Gods?"


    One of the True Souls sank down.


    "I checked it out once. They are almost omnipotent and invincible in the Divine Kingdom. It''s still doable if we were up against a Lower God, but a Middle God and the Upper God are going to be really difficult to handle."


    "The foundations of the Gods lies in the power of faith. We can initiate a war of faith to weaken them."


    "That''s too slow. We can''t afford to wait that long. The best solution is to lure out their Incarnations and Projections to exhaust their Divine Power."


    "How can we lure them out?"


    "There are a few ways¡­ The simplest one is to get a blasphemous Divine Soul with power that can overwhelm even the strongest of mortal existences."


    "To find an existence like that, I might have a good idea."


    For a moment, everyone fell silent.


    ******


    Heavens


    God of Light and Fire''s Divine Kingdom.


    The Central Divine Kingdom was situated at the peak of the Mountain of Heavens. The whole Divine Kingdom was simply just a huge burning white flame on the top of the mountain.


    The flames were eternal, constantly releasing a fearsome amount of light and heat. It was nearly half as large as the entire Primary Plane.


    At the core of the flame, a huge crystal ball wobbled up and down slowly in the air.


    There were rivers and hills within the crystal ball, countless creatures laboring in farms, angels with white and black wings patrolling in the sky, and even various Elemental lifeforms residing there.


    Inside the crystal ball, at the center of it all was a huge and luxurious, pure white temple.


    In the temple, all the Gods of Light and Gods of Fire were gathered there at this time.


    The Major God Fehra sat on a golden-white throne at the top of the room, overlooking the projections of dozens of different Gods below.


    "Welcome to the Throne of the Gods."


    A huge and majestic voice resoundingly rang out from Fehra.


    His current attire was a White-Gold armor set. Wielding a sword and shield on each arm, he wore a green garland symbolizing peace in front of his chest.


    This attire represented both offense and defense, signaling a desire to maintain peace.


    Fehra''s face shined with a white light, concealing his face. The perennial imagination of idealistic perfection by his countless believers made his Godhead to have a fixed appearance. In different people''s minds, he will appear in the perfect, aesthetic form conforming the ideals of a person''s heart.


    Hence, Fehra had another God name, and that is the Thousand-Faced God.


    Below the temple, the two sides were filled with seats of different sizes, some looked fancy, some plain, some horribly complicated, some simple and elegant.


    The Gods with concealed or exposed faces were all seated on the seats. Some of them were surrounded by faint colored halos, some were wearing flowing snake-like sashes, and the God of Knowledge had countless books behind him fading in and out of existence. There was also Shar who looked like an enchanting woman shrouded in darkness, and so on.


    Fehra looked down at the gods.


    The Goddess of Darkness and Shadow Weaves Shar, the Goddess of Magic and Weaves Mystra. There was also the War God, the Thunder God, the God of the Storm, and the Lord of Darkness and Death.


    These six Gods were all Higher Gods, each with their own independent Divine System and huge forces. They allied with Fehra and were of near equal standing.


    The rest of the gods were Middle or Lower Gods, and could only be dismissed as side characters.


    "Major God Fehra, why have you called upon us?" Mystra was the youngest of all the Upper Gods. Her appointment was due to an excessively ignorant Arcanist that got demoted into a Lower God. Thus, she only had a mere few thousand years of experience as the Goddess of Magic and Weave.


    "Goddess Mystra, in the areas you are involved in, have you noticed that there are more and more dimensional crevices recently? The alien creatures entering the space of our universe getting denser and denser?" Fehra asked in a low voice.


    "Naturally I''ve noticed," Mystra replied in affirmation. "This is a very strange phenomenon. In the last Centennial Conference, we found that the universe is starting to show very serious signs of rapid growth. This is not a good sign, despite the growth is very strong."


    "That''s right, we are pursuing absolute stability and balance. If we grow too fast, it will inevitably bring about a very rapid decline. It''s a law that what goes up must come down." The God of Knowledge who was an old man with white hair and a beard answered calmly.


    "The Weaves I manage are getting more and more energy. After checking the statistics, I''ve noticed that the source of these energies originated from the alien creatures that entered our universe," Mystra continued. "I presume Miss Shadow feels the same?"


    Shar was standing directly opposite her. She nodded slightly but did not make a sound. She was a charming woman in a black skirt and black veil. Similar to the Lord of Light and Fire, no one could see her face as it was only a black blur.


    "Rumor has it that the Divine Statue of the Major Gods in the Primary Plane was vandalized by alien creatures some time ago?" The War God asked. Clad in golden armor, this Divine Soul with his eyes under the helmet constantly emitted golden light. He was blunt and straight to the point.


    "This was also the other reason I have summoned you to this Conference of the Gods," Fehra nodded. "Mother Nature had refused to meet with me. There might still be some trauma and suffering that she still feels from the last Holy War. The Dragon of Eternity had disappeared, his whereabouts have yet to be found. The Dragon Gods are all fighting each other, splitting into different factions. Now, the only ones who can deal with this the situation are just us."


    "What do you mean?" The mustached Thunder God asked, lightning surging throughout his body at all times. "Even when we''re at our strongest, there are alien creatures who dared to actively provoke us and destroy the Divine statues? This... was not an accident?"


    "Perhaps it''s a warning," Fehra nodded. "Let us tally up the amount of Dimensional Crevices for now. As for large crevices, it is still best to send some God-Favored to observe and monitor them."


    "We''ll act according to your will."


    The Gods responded in unison.


    ******


    Deladia Empire.


    White Dragon Clan


    "You want to apply leave?" The Third Elder frowned, looked at Garen in front of him. He was a talented genius and the best hope the clan had. Now he wanted to apply for a long-term leave for an external mission, hoping to leave the clan to go elsewhere.


    "Yes," Garen responded softly in the cave.


    "The clan can no longer satisfy my desire to improve, I want to go to the outside world to train myself."


    This clan is indeed too barren. The White Dragons have little access to general knowledge and lacked anyone to interact with. If it were not for Ann''s books, he might not have any understanding about the entire plane now.


    Without support from the Deladia Empire, it is estimated that the clan would have to start controlling their population.


    Holding his staff, The Third Elder turned around and took a few steps. He seemed to be very hesitant.


    "Regarding your request, I can understand where you''re coming from¡­ So, where are you planning to go?" He was actually very reluctant to let Garen leave, but he also knew that Garen was the only remaining hope in the clan with a chance to become the White Dragon King. All hopes of returning to White Dragon Mountain and regain power laid on him.


    This was also the key reason for his tolerance of Garen to the point of ignoring even his own flesh and blood.


    "Within the Four Great Territories of the Primary Plane, except for the neutral domain, all of them are the territories of various Gods. Even the largest Neutral Domain, it is still split up into territories of the various Gods of the Mother Nature Divine System. What the Gods are pursuing is peace, but I hope to kill to prove my courage and strength." Garen had long decided on where to go, but he still had to explain his reasoning.


    "If that''s the case, that narrows down your choices," The Third Elder now understood his intent.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "I will first go to Snow City and participate in the war," Garen succinctly said.


    "Snow City¡­ That''s a gathering ground for the Arcanists. The Arcanists don''t even care about Mystra and Shar. They brag about being the true center of the universe. It is too dangerous for you to go there," The Third Elder warned.


    "Wait till you''ve reached Level Eight, then at least you''d be safer."

 1302 Leaving 2

    Garen''s actual combat power was already at Level Ten, but naturally, he had no way of knowing that. But no matter what, the Third Elder''s words right now was sincere with care, he was truly worried for Garen. There was not even a hint of self-interest in his intentions. That was because he was the clan''s only hope right now.


    When Garen said Snow City, he was actually referring to the Ten Thousand Abyss Plains and participating in the Blood Wars there. At the same time, he could also absorb more souls to improve himself. He was much more efficient than the demons. If he can quickly gain a foothold in the Blood Wars, then he would be able to acquire a large number of souls in a very short time, then transform them into Potential Points, rapidly upgrading the Void Original Opus.


    Moreover, there was another reason he wanted to go to Snow City, which is to build a Wizard Tower.


    Garen needed a Wizard Tower to conduct his own spell research. Only the Arcanists who did not rely on Weaves could complete the construction of a Wizard Tower fitting a dragon. There were too many complicated issues that he can never resolve on his own. There was the issue of a large number of materials needed, various matrices of runes, spells and enchantments, Tower Souls and etc.


    The Wizard Tower that he wanted must be able to block out the power of Divine Souls completely, creating a safe place just for himself. These things require at least a hundred years of academic research, and before that, you would have to have something to research on. There were countless mysteries and knowledge accumulated by countless wizards and scholars in the past. The average wizard had no way of learning or even coming into contact with all these.


    Regrettably, Ann did not have knowledge in this area. Therefore, Garen could only set his eyes on the Snow City.


    If he had his own Wizard Tower, his spell level will quickly break through the bottleneck and break through the limits of the plane. Even if he enters the abyss, he would be able to deal with it. This way, he would be able to resist the effects of space-time spells. After all, in this world, no matter how strong a body was, it still could not withstand space-time distortion. Even if you were unparalleled in strength, a direct Teleportation Spell would just send you into a very distant place, or a Banishment Spell would just expel you into the Astral Space. That was essentially the dumping grounds for the Eternal Gods. There was no food or drinks, just a hunting ground for Astral Space Monsters.


    These may still be considered as good outcomes, but the most troublesome outcome was forced into some layers of the Abyss. The endless Abyss had certain layers that one could only enter but never exit, it had an even stronger gravitational pull than a black hole. Once one was sent inside, one can only remain in there forever, with no hopes of escaping.


    Therefore, for any dragon, the early physical training was only for self-protection. After ensuring their ability of self-protection, they will start plundering wealth and knowledge, then eventually starting to pursue arcane and wisdom.


    That was the reason why the White Dragon Clan would always send their geniuses to participate in the Dragon Clan''s Gifted Camp, where any dragon would be able to attain a large amount of knowledge.


    Unfortunately, due to a series of radical moves such as the alliance with the Deladia Empire, the White Dragon Clan had lost the right to send a participant. They were completely isolated by White Dragon Mountain and the other Dragon Clans.


    "Since you''ve already decided, then maybe I can give you some help for your journey." The Third Elder sighed as he said reluctantly.


    With a wave of his staff, a book with a thick, amber cover appeared in the air. The book was very heavy, looking no different from a piece of brick.


    "This is the spell book I used when I was young. There are some useful spells recorded inside, but it''s all simple low-level spells, but you may be able to use it at a critical time."


    Garen accepted the book and opened it. Scanning through it, there were a lot of identification spells, enchanting spells, memory falsifications, human charming, and invisibility spells.


    The spells were all non-lethal, but they were surely very practical in real life.


    Furthermore, Garen noticed that the material of this spellbook was of a high quality.


    "This book can record up to Level Nine spells, it should be enough for you to use for many years. When you pass Level Nine, you would naturally have enough time and strength to make an even better spellbook yourself." The Third Elder said quietly.


    "Thank you, Elder." Garen thanked, and bowed slightly as a sign of gratitude.


    "This is a space earring, you can store items you don''t need in there." The Third Elder continued to give him stuff.


    After a bunch of different things was given to Garen, he gave his final advice.


    "As for your brothers and sisters, the clan will take care of them. In addition, we have news that your mother - your birth mother, Iris, is currently somewhere near Snow City. If you want, you can go find her. I heard that she had settled down with a Red Dragon over there."


    "Iris¡­" Garen frowned without saying anything.


    He had no lasting memories of that dragon mother he had in this lifetime. Not long after he was born, she had already abandoned him.


    "Lastly," The Third Elder had an expression of sincerity. "For the clan, I hope you can promise me one thing before you leave."


    Garen had never seen this side of him and was lightly shocked by it.


    "Please, tell me."


    " for visiting.


    Garen agreed to do it, his original intention was to use a spell to charm some of them and get it over with. However, he did not expect all these female dragons to be wearing the Immunity Necklace distributed by the Third Elder. It was able to block spells including all charm spells that were below Level Eight.


    Fifteen young dragons were chosen from the clan. Just like the emperor selecting his concubine, they were all available for Garen to pick from to mate with. Of course, it was called an interaction session on the surface¡­


    "I feel that I''m still not mentally prepared yet¡­" Garen looked at the row of young female dragons standing side by side in his cave. Some were slender, some voluptuous, some muscular, some thin, there were even some that were long or petite. There were all kinds of body types.


    A larger amount of dragon whelps had grown to become young dragons in the past few years, and this has given the Third Elder more selection options.


    "Never mind, the elder said you can have us any time you want, as long as you want it," A female dragon grinned seductively.


    "Yeah yeah, we''re all ready for you. We''ll stay here for ten days. The Elder already said you can''t afford to rest these ten days." Another small female dragon urged on.


    "Ten days¡­" Garen had mixed feelings as he glanced at Satwo and the other dragons standing at the side looking at him in envy. That''s the thing with different tastes and preferences.


    If only they could use the Ultimate Transforming Spell and turn into humans.


    He thought helplessly, but he knew that was impossible. If an average dragon could turn into humans like Ann, there would not even be any need for him to pick. However, that kind of powerhouse would be at least Level Nine or Ten.


    "Above Level Nine or Ten?" Thinking of this, Garen was even more motivated to increase his Arcane level. Once he reaches Level Nine or even Level Ten, he would be able to use the Ultimate Transformation Technique to take a human form. Then, he could use his dragon form purely as a battle form and transform as necessary.


    The Ultimate Transformation Spell was a powerful Level Nine spell. To turn someone from the Dragon Clan to take a human form, it would at least require the power of the Level Nine peak. Furthermore, in the transformation process, the one being transformed will have everything about them exposed to the spellcaster''s eyes. There would be nothing they could hide so there might not be any creatures who would want someone else to help them use the Ultimate Transformation Spell.


    "Lord Garen, are you going to pick one of use, or are we just gonna have an orgy?" A female dragon with weirdly white scales openly said.


    "Since you''re so strong, I wonder if I would be able to take it?"


    "Yeah yeah, when I think about how massive your **** is and how ****, my heart can''t stop thumping."


    "I''m scared, but I want it so bad¡­"


    These bunch of female dragons was shameless enough to say anything. Even Satwo and the other dragon whelps at the side could not take it anymore, escaping the cave with blushed faces.


    "Alright alright! Everyone shut up!!" Garen was in a daze from the commotion and roared.


    He strode towards his own cave. With a bang, a huge boulder blocked the cave''s entrance.


    "One by one! Enter one by one! All of you, queue up!"


    His impatient voice rang out from the cave.


    Being forced into a corner, he could only use that move¡­


    The group of female dragons looked at each other.


    Everyone was silent for a brief moment.


    "Me first! Me first!!"


    "Me!"


    "No, I''m first!!"


    The female dragons all started to sign up.


    "How open¡­" The Third Elder let out a sigh outside the cave. There was a hint of envy in his eyes as he looked at the group of young female dragons all signing up voluntarily.


    "I''m getting old¡­ Old¡­"


    He turned around and spread his wings, flying back to his own cave.


    ******


    Ten days later¡­


    Garen flew away from the Clan, leaving behind a completely limp young female dragon. Forcefully resisting his uncomfortableness, he used a method that was the best of both worlds.


    Waiting after the elder had left, he knocked out one of the White Dragon Guards and picked one of the female dragons. He then enjoyed himself for ten days, telling the remaining young female dragons that he liked that young female dragon and that the rest can leave.


    Under Garen''s manipulation, the two unconscious dragons enjoyed ten days of purely hedonistic life. Every day, they ate while unconscious, slept while unconscious, and fucked while unconscious¡­


    Without a hitch, the young female dragon got pregnant.


    Garen put up an exhausted expression as he left the cave. The young female dragon he coincidentally picked was quite a beautiful one, but she was also obviously the type with a shady private life.


    This way, even if it was not his seed that impregnated her, everyone would just chalk it up to bad luck. After all, this young female dragon had had too many partners, so given the circumstances, it was still understandable.


    After resolving this issue, he hurriedly escaped from the clan and headed towards Snow City.


    He was not alone, there were also two Dragon Guards assigned as his bodyguards.


    The two Dragon Guards were assigned to Garen by Phosphorus in good faith. Both of the dragon guards were Phosphorus'' children and were full-fledged Level Eight White Dragons who were abnormally strong.


    However, with that, Garen had no way of bidding farewell to Ann. He could only just continue on towards Snow City.It''s a common thing in Chinese culture to ask for families to ask their younger generation to "leave a bloodline", which means to have a child to carry on the legacy of the family.This was also censored in the original

 1303 Underground 1

    Along the way, there were no accidents, let alone bandits and other obstacles. Facing a line of three White Dragons, the creature from the legends, even Golden Knights would not dare to stop them. Currently, in the Deladia Empire, White Dragons were equivalent to royalty because the Eternal Contract was largely reached due to the White Dragons. The Red Dragons and the other Dragon Clans were only there in name, only the White Dragons were the ones who fully supported it.


    The clan was a long distance from the Snow City. After flying for more than ten days with a few pitstops in between, Garen finally saw the border of the Snow City. The border towers were lit up with lights, serving both as a guiding light and a warning. It illuminated the passing roads at night like a lighthouse.


    The three White Dragons landed slowly on the edge of the tower, and the soldiers there had already run out to give warnings.


    The border tower in the sea of forests was obviously just there as a warning. The ones that came out were just average Level Two elite warriors. It was most likely because this place was facing the dragon clan''s habitat that they only had stationed a Level Two elite at this place.


    "Three lords, what are you planning to go to Snow City for?" The stationed soldier at the tower shouted loudly.


    The distance between the two sides was more than ten meters, hence he had to raise his voice.


    "Yes, please report the situation." Garen knew the rules. One of the Dragon Guards around him flashed a white-gold shield-shaped badge. That was a special symbol issued by the Deladia Empire to the clan.


    The border tower immediately emitted a force. Almost as if a magic spell, the force immediately transmitted far and faded away. The speed was amazing.


    Soon, Garen sensed faintly that they were being spied on.


    "Who''s there spying on me!" Garen narrowed his eyes. His dragon eyes instantly looking up towards the sky above him. There seemed to be a patch of dark clouds that made the area look like nighttime. Instantly, a transparent distortion flashed up.


    "Sorry sorry, it might have been the Snow City Wizard Guard Lords coming over to check on things. Please calm your anger, Lord White Dragons!" The warrior at the border tower urgently explained.


    Garen nodded, seemingly relieved. Both the Dragon Guards were a little shocked. They had felt something was slightly off earlier, but they did not expect it to be a wizard snooping on them.


    "It was a Prophecy-type Wizard, they specialize in such spells. I''ve encountered them on the battlefield before," one of the Dragon Guards said with a disgusted face.


    "These damned Prophecy Wizards. The stronger ones could even investigate the exact time that you went to the toilet."


    Garon chuckled and said nothing.


    Very soon, the wizards'' check was completed. Another force was transmitted back from a distance away.


    "Three lords, you may enter the borders now." The border tower warriors respectfully saluted.


    Finally, Garen and company spread their wings and flew off. As White Dragons, they are considered very well-tempered out of the Dragon Clans. They calmly awaited the human''s border check to get permission to enter. They fully complied with the visiting procedure without a complaint.


    If you go to other countries, these actions were considered very rare. However, in the face of Snow City, the Arcane Center of the Northlands, this was the gathering grounds of the top Arcanists of the entire Northlands. Even if it were the Dragon Clans, they would still have to have at least some etiquette.


    The three dragons glided through the sky, effortlessly moving with the wind.


    "Speaking of which, why are you guys, Dragon Guards, willing to stay in the clan to work? Why not go out and live alone?"


    Feeling excessively bored, Garen asked the two Dragons Guards.


    The two Dragon Guards were called Ken and Annie. One was male and the other female.


    "Living alone? You mean those stupid dragons who sneaked out, then got cut up by humans and other races and have its entire body made into materials?" Ken laughed. "We, as White Dragons, have a bad reputation. We would probably get ganged up on in most places we go to. Even in the current region where everywhere is filled with chaos, Dimensional Cracks can still swallow even the strongest Dragon Clans whole. There are even a bunch of them who got captured and turned into pets for others to ride on!"


    "That''s right, Lord Garen, you need to be very careful of one person when you get to Snow City," Annie was calmer in her warnings.


    "Who''s that?"


    "Dragon Wizard Asilia," Annie said a name that Garen seemed to have heard of.


    "Dragon Wizard? The guy who specializes in capturing the dragons and forcing them to sign master-servant contracts?" Garen recalled of this character now. He was one of the figures that the Third Elder warned him about before he left.


    "Yes, Dragon Wizard likes to force all the special and powerful dragons to sign contracts with her, and it''s always master-servant contracts. She has an irregular passion towards talented dragons. You should be careful not to be targeted by her," Annie warned.


    Garen smiled, not paying much heed to their warnings. With his hidden strength, as long as the Level Ten Great Arcanists of the Snow City Joint Council did not take action, the rest of the existences, even at their peak, would have no chance against him. No one would be able to do anything about him. Moreover, his growth rate had already far exceeded the imagination of these people. It would not take long before he would leave them in the dust.


    "My goal is to build a Wizard Tower, break through my own bottleneck. I''ll try to stay low-key as much as possible." That was the plan he decided on.


    "I heard that there are five Dragon Clans under the Dragon Wizard:for visiting.


    At the halfway point of a cliff of a mountain, the three White Dragons entered an abandoned cave and started to rest.


    His consciousness sank into the depths.


    In a black villa covered with bright concave windows, one could see the white but overcast sky through the glass.


    When Garen woke up, this was the scene he saw.


    He stood up in the room with a human body. The room only had a set of white sofas and nothing else. They were old and worn out leather sofas. The walls around the room were a gloomy gray.


    Whoosh!


    A huge black shadow flashed by the window. It seemed to be a huge black crow, flying around the villa. Other than the sound of its wings flapping, nothing else could be heard.


    The shadows continue to flash by the windows, over and over, seemingly with a rhythm.


    Every 13.56 seconds, it would pass by the window very punctually.


    As Garen observed the black shadow outside the window, unbeknownst to him, an old man in a white robe was already seated on the sofa.


    "I just received the news that you''re about to arrive." The old man looked kind and gentle. He had a bit of a widow''s peak, and his hair and beard were pure white.


    "You really never give up on your tendency of flying freely at all times," Garen replied cheekily.


    The old man laughed.


    "That''s why I''m called the Soaring Wing King."


    "Alright, let''s skip the talk of your life motto. The reason I came to your territory this time is that I want to build a Wizard Tower. A Wizard Tower appropriate for a dragon. At the same time, I hope you can send me out to the Blood War," Garen said bluntly. Looking at the old man''s stunned expression, he continued, "I know that a Wizard Tower for a dragon requires far more resources as compared to an average human, but name a price, I''ll find a way."


    "Price? It needs to be something of equal value to your request." Soaring Wing King shook his head as he frowned. "What Level do you want it to be, and where do you want it built? What about the Level of the Tower Souls? To block out Divine Power you''ll need enchantment and reinforcement by at least a Level Nine Wizard. Furthermore, the cost of using it would also be high, your spiritual energy may also be downgraded. Are you sure you can afford it?"


    Garen had already readied himself for this.


    "Of course I know that, but I will still need an estimated quotation, then only will I be able to prepare what''s required. I want the best Upper-Level Wizard Tower. It needs to have an Elemental Pond, a Dimensional Anchor, and all the essential facilities."


    Soaring Wing King glanced at him oddly. "Why don''t you wait till you get a human body, then build an even better Wizard Tower? A dragon''s body is too big, the number of resources you''re going to need would be more than fifty times of what an average Wizard Tower of the same level would require."


    "Hmm¡­ That''s actually not a bad idea." Garen already knew that the expenses would be very high. "Unfortunately, I can''t afford to find a stranger to cast the Ultimate Transformation Spell on me. Well, just give me an estimated quotation for the time being, the location doesn''t matter."


    "The expenses for the highest level Wizard Tower with all standard facilities will roughly be above one billion gold coins, and that''s not including all the rare materials you need to prepare yourself. For you, the standard would be around five to ten times higher so you can estimate the costs for yourself. As for a permanent enchantment to block off Divine Power, the cost of that Level Nine spell would at least require you to give up some rare and precious treasure in exchange for it¡­"Author only listed four even though it said five.

 1304 Underground 2

    Although Garen was mentally prepared for it, he was still shocked by this figure. On one hand, gold coins were not worth very much at all in Snow City. Given the high cost of living, the buying power of one gold coin was equivalent to ten dollars back on Earth. But even if it was only ten dollars, more than one billion gold coins would still amount to more than ten billion in cost, and this was excluding the many rare materials that he needed to prepare himself. He also needed to exchange a treasure for that Eternal Divine Power Insulation Enchantment.


    "What do I say? As expected of peak-level Wizard Tower equipment¡­" Garen sighed.


    "As long as you get it." The Soaring Wing King laughed. "I''ll give you a list of the materials you need to prepare on your own. I can help you with the basic construction fees, but my hands are tied with the materials. Many of those things are extinct now, the highest-level Wizard Towers now were all constructed thousands of years ago. That''s why you need to prepare them yourself."


    He was a higher-up in Snow City, and a billion gold coins were nothing to him, seeing as his current net worth was at least several tens of billions. Still, he naturally would not fork out that sum for nothing.


    "What do you want in return?" Of course, Garen knew that there was no such thing as a free lunch.


    The Soaring Wing King smiled mysteriously.


    "Do me a big favor¡­"


    *******************


    Once he retreated from the Dream World, Garen sank into deep thought. The requirement the Soaring Wing King wanted in return was slightly too high up the danger scale.


    But he had no other choice than to borrow the Soaring Wing King''s power in order to build the Wizard Tower. That was why he had to consider the pros and cons on both sides.


    The shadow of the Mother Stream Alliance was peeking out slightly from behind the Soaring Wing King''s back.


    The Soaring Wing King seemed to be a direct subordinate of the Mother Stream Alliance. In fact, Garen had received an invitation from the Mother Stream Alliance back then as well, but sadly he did not manage to reply to it before he was accidentally swept into this World.


    "I still don''t have enough information, and there''s only so much I can do on my own¡­" Garen sighed. If he had a strong enough influence, he would be able to save a great deal of energy in terms of collecting money and materials, and then he would not have to ask such a big favor of the Soaring Wing King. And without enough information, he might accidentally be dragged by the Mother Stream Alliance into becoming cannon fodder at the front lines. Now, that would be a tragedy.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Even an upper-level Demon Lord Level Thousand-Armed Giant could be tossed out as cannon fodder, what was more a middle-level Demon Lord like him.


    Although the dragons were rich, several billion gold coins¡­ was still a staggering sum to give away¡­ Most Adult Colossal Dragons had about ten million gold coins, and that was already rather considerable. Those who had a hundred million were impressive indeed.


    He fretted over it overnight and continued on his way the next day. When he was just about to reach Snow City, for some reason, the summoning forces that he had not seen for a while suddenly rang out again in Garen''s brain.


    He had almost forgotten that he still had an impromptu Summoning Contract.


    This was a mandatory contract, so he had no choice but to go. Helpless, he ordered the two Dragon Guards to find a crevice and stay there for now, awaiting his return. The duration of the summon was very short, a few days at most, so he could return quickly after he solved the problem.


    *******************


    In the dark Underground City


    It had been a very, very long time since Kevin entered the ruins.


    The tunnel had been sealed off, and Blue Void led everyone further into the depths, as though he wanted to reach the core of the earth. They encountered too many troubles along the way, and the Contractors even summoned almost a half of their dragons. Even so, they just managed to hang in there, losing a great many of their team members on the way.


    But after he exchanged information with the Empire for the last time, Blue Void continued to lead everyone into the deepest parts of the Underground City without a hint of hesitation.


    The entire Underground City was filled with abandoned houses, empty and dim grey-black abandoned buildings. There were no living creatures, no movement whatsoever, and the dust was piled up on the ground and inside the house. If they knocked down a door by accident, they would send dust flying up in the air for a very long time.


    Thankfully, they had all brought more than enough food and water, so all of them managed to hang in there and could continue to hang in there for several years. They encountered many traps as they went, but Blue Void''s men dismantled every single one of them.


    There was no sun nor light in the Underground City, only the undead.


    There were zombies, skeletons, corpses, and ghosts, each without wills, wandering around aimlessly.


    Kevin sat in his own tent, looking at the pitch-black arc above the Underground City. Other than the tiny bit of light from their own campsite, there was no sign of light at all outside, and they could not see anything.


    His tent was surrounded by the many tents of the other Contractors, and outside the rings of Contractors, there were more than ten dragons curled up on the ground, resting. Most of them were Red, Blue, Green, and White Dragons. There was only one Black Dragon.


    Even beyond that, there was the campsite''s campfire.


    There was nothing else any further than that, at the very outside. There was only a sea of dark, dusty abandoned buildings.


    "If only we could live inside those abandoned buildings," said his daughter Maria softly as she walked to the entrance of her recently-illuminated tent.


    "How long are we going to stay here?" said Ice Orchid, a friend she had just made along the way, helplessly. This female Wizard, dressed in blue robes, was not a Contractor, but she had become good friends with Maria, so they lived in Kevin''s tent together. These tents looked quite small, but in truth they could be divided into several rooms inside, so they were actually quite large. There were many items and furniture in there. The Wizards could use spells to produce water, and although it was not much, it was still enough to drink. On the other hand, it was unfortunate but the water was not enough for them to bathe.


    That was also the problem that troubled everyone the most.


    "It should be soon," Kevin replied in a low voice. "Master Blue Void is already picking up the pace, apparently the scouts at the front discovered something big."


    "Yeah, I noticed it too. All of the Wizards specializing in Necromancy have been summoned over for a discussion, so clearly the next obstacle ahead of us is a result of Necromancy again." Ice Orchid clearly had her own plans throughout the journey. This pretty female Wizard had a very clear goal, and that was to find and stick to a Contractor, so that she could rely on the power of the dragons to obtain better treatment while also keeping herself safe.


    Maria was a simple-minded person, so she did not notice, but Kevin realized it a long time ago. However, he thought that perhaps another Wizard would keep them that much safer, so he tolerated her.


    Kevin walked out of the tent. Half of the Contractors around him had already summoned their dragon companion, but he still refused to. The excuse he gave his daughter was that the price was too high.


    "At such a critical moment, should you summon your companion, Master Kevin? If you can''t contribute when the time comes, we won''t get a share of the goods," Ice Orchid suggested softly, walking up to Ice Orchid.


    She did not attempt to hide her voice at all, and some curious gazes instantly peeped out of the few tents around theirs. Along the way, Kevin had also had his share of conflicts with the other Wizards. Even though he tried to tolerate whatever he could, there was still no avoiding the voices of dissent at how he was always at the center of protection even though he did not contribute all this time. There was even a Level Six Great Wizard who publicly said that he wanted Kevin''s daughter, Maria, to become his Subordinate Wizard, serving him. The man clearly had his eye on his daughter''s talent, as well as Maria''s beauty.


    Although Maria was not as pretty as Ice Orchid, she was better in that she had a pure and innocent aura, plus she was extremely talented. More than one Great Wizard had already expressed such a notion.


    These greedy people wanted to use him to force his daughter to obey. They wanted to corner the two of them, making their situation even harder, so that Kevin and Maria had to beg for their help of their own accord. Faced with such people, Kevin tried his best to maintain his image as a powerful Contractor.


    Even though this image was fading and seeming more unlikely by the day, his excuse was that the Colossal Dragon he had a contract with was too powerful, so the price of summoning was too high, making him reluctant to pay it. Such an excuse could only be used once or twice, and if he used it too many times, the Contractors with plenty of inside knowledge would start to suspect him.


    "Relax, when I need to summon it, I will." Kevin tried to act steady and confident, using this impression to stay the hands of those restless onlookers.


    Ice Orchid seemed to have been become suspicious as well. She smiled and did not say anything else before she walked away.


    "When the time comes, we can use your Contract Colossal Dragon as one of our trump cards at the very end. If you put in an application like that, Master Blue Void might even agree. Hahaha¡­" The voice of Gergenfor, a Contractor, came faintly from a tent nearby.


    Out of all the observers, this guy was the one who put the least effort into hiding his intentions. He was practically drooling for Maria, and had wanted her to become his Subordinate Wizard many times, offering generous pay and conditions.


    But Maria had rejected him each time.


    On the surface, Kevin''s expression did not change at all, as though he never heard this voice.


    "Father¡­" Maria walked up to him.


    "Don''t worry, it''s fine." Kevin gripped his daughter''s hand tightly. He wanted desperately to give her a sense of security, but clearly, he seemed even more helpless right now than he ever had.


    Seeing Maria''s expression of worry, Kevin was even more determined to protect her. He must never summon that thing casually, or else if they saw through him¡­ Maria would be in danger!


    It was not fun, being targeted by these Contractors. These Contractors were all either extremely powerful and confident in themselves, or else they were extremely reckless and had thrown all caution to the winds. There were more of the latter than the former. Most of these people could no longer continue levelling up, that was why they decided to make one last insane gamble. Such people were greedy and selfish, and at crucial moments, legal restrictions meant nothing to them. There was only power; power was the only weapon that could protect them.


    "Father, please tell me, your Contract Dragon¡­" Maria transmitted her voice to him using a spell.


    "It''s fine, it''s fine¡­" Maria was too innocent, so Kevin did not dare to tell her the truth. It would truly be troublesome if she accidentally let it slip to someone.


    "Who knows? Maybe it''ll be over before we even have to summon it." Kevin comforted his daughter with words that even he did not believe.


    The night grew darker.


    Kevin was one of the very few Contract Wizards who had never summoned his Contract Dragon, so he was also one of the main targets for all the rumors and slander.


    The team continued forward and spent several more days before they finally arrived at what seemed to be the very center of the entire Underground City -- a huge plaza of darkness.


    There was a tall and large black statue in the plaza, depicting a plus-sized butcher armed with a giant worn cleaver. He wore clothes that were barely better than rags, and there was a brutal, cruel smile on his face as he stood motionlessly in the plaza. It seemed as though he had been there for a very, very long time.


    Blue Void ordered the team to stop.


    "I sense the aura of death¡­"


    "You are right, Master Blue Void, there is indeed a very powerful whirlpool of negative energy here. It is highly likely that there are many Undead Creatures here," added the old Wizard who was his vice captain.


    "Let''s make camp here first. We need to set up our defense system if we want to deal with a hoard of the Undead."


    Blue Void nodded.


    A large pitch-black Demon Core appeared in his hands. It was a Level Six Demon Core, and its function was to summon his Contract Demon, a Dual-Headed Hell Black Dragon.

 1305 Pearl of the Temple 1

    "Everyone, prepare for battle."


    Blue Void''s was magnified through the Sound Amplification Spell, so that everyone could hear it.


    The Warriors all put on their armor and helmets, picking up their weapons. The Wizards started giving them temporary Enchantments, the magic light from the many spells lighting up on their armor and weapons, temporarily increasing their power by one level.


    With the Contractors standing in a ring at the center, they rapidly began to build a temporary fence around the campsite. The circles of white bone fencing were the masterpiece created by the Necromancer Wizards. Since there was so much negative energy here, it was very easy to unleash a spell like the White Bone Fence, and the sharp spikes on the fence were even tipped with poison. Even if regular Undead Zombies got pricked by these, their bodies would also rot away.


    Spheres of illuminating light were released and made to float above the campsite.


    Soon enough, a circular campsite with a hundred-meter radius constructed, taking up a large area on the plaza.


    In the darkness, the wisps of black smoke and fog wafted over from the unseen shadows around them, and they could vaguely hear low roars coming faintly from within the dark fog.


    The campsite was illuminated, making it an extremely obvious target in the dark plaza.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Blue Void and a few Great Wizards under his lead flew in the air, their expressions solemn, and they constantly held scrolls in their hands.


    At times like these, it was best to use up the scrolls first, conserving their own spirit power lest they used up all their power and could not escape later.


    As powerful nobles and royalty, it was only natural that they had a great many scrolls at their disposal.


    Several scouts treaded lightly as they darted into the darkness nearby, and soon they heard the fine sounds of blades clashing, then the scouts rushed back out, hastily and hurriedly.


    "The Undead!! So many Undead!!"


    A scout cried out in panic.


    Ever since they entered the ruins, he had gone out scouting many times, all over the place. But he had never been this panicked.


    "There''s an Advanced Undead as well!" reported the other scout loudly as well.


    "Ready!" said Blue Void in a loud voice, telling the scouts to return to the squad.


    The slightly over ten Warriors remaining stood at the very front of the team, followed by the team''s Wizards who were starting to prepare their spells.


    "Those who can use Holy Light Rays, please do use that. Those who can''t, please use Light of Lunia."


    Holy Light Rays and Light of Lunia were both Level One spells, but both were spells that used pure positive energy, so they were extremely effective in suppressing the Undead. The difference was that Holy Light Rays had a key condition that needed to be fulfilled, otherwise the Wizard would not be able to use it. The condition was that they needed to abstain from sex for at least three months.


    If you wanted to use the pure positive energy from the Heavenly Mountain, this key condition was mandatory.


    That was why Blue Void told those who could not use it to use the Light of Lunia instead.


    The Light of Lunia was a type of Grade One wandering energy from the God of Light and Fire''s Divine Kingdom, the Heavenly Mountain. It had a special liveliness, so it could also suppress the Undead to a certain extent.


    Brr¡­


    A Wizard unleashed a ring of pale white forces. This was an Undead Detection Spell, and instantly, every place that the forces swept past began to glow with a dense concentration of many red dots.


    Hiss¡­


    When they saw how many red dots there were, the Wizards all began to take a sharp intake of breath.


    "So many!!" Kevin had also seen the effect of the Undead Detection. This was a representation of the enemy proportional to the surrounding area, and the red dots indicated there were all the Undead surrounding the campsite.


    At a glance, there were no fewer than several tens of thousands!


    According to the two scouts just now, there seemed to be Advanced Undead among them as well. Now that would truly be troublesome.


    Kevin stood with the team of Contractors. Although he was temporarily safe, his heart would still tremble whenever he thought about those countless red dots.


    "Would all the Master Contractors please be prepared to summon your companions at any moment. If the situation turns dire, please summon the dragons as quickly as possible, in order to deal with the situation." Blue Void''s order came from the frontlines.


    The dozen or so Contractors all stepped out and stood in a line, abreast, each of them preparing materials for their spells in their hands.


    Kevin stood without moving. He was damned in moved, and damned if he did not.


    "Let''s get going, shall we? Master Kevin?" Gergenfor gave him a hard push from behind. Although he only pushed the Energy Field Rings on Kevin''s Wizard, Kevin still felt a force that made him take several steps forward.


    "Father¡­ Are you okay?" Maria leaned on him, almost unable to hide the concern on her face. She was no fool, and as a rare genius Wizard, there was no way she would not have noticed how strange her father was acting. She merely chose not to mention it.


    "What''s with the push! I know that myself!" Kevin barked at Gergenfor in a deep voice. This bastard acted like he was watching a show, and he had always been looking at Maria so greedily throughout the whole journey.


    "We''re both Contractors, I''m just worried that you''ll accidentally forget to summon your companion. The situation isn''t looking very good right now, and if we don''t have your very valuable contribution, that''ll just be too bad," said Gergenfor with a creepy smile.


    Kevin saw two Contractor Wizards who stood further away whispering to each other, their taunting gazes glancing over at him occasionally as they spoke.


    His heart grew calmer. Now that it had come to this, the more he panicked, the more he would reveal himself.


    Right now, they were just suspicious, but they could not be certain. With so many preparations in place, perhaps this really might end before he had to summon his dragon, just like before.


    Only the unknown could represent uncertainty and continue to instill a certain sense of fear in the other Contractors.


    He held Maria''s hand tightly, and Ice Orchid stood next to him as well. However, compared to the other female Wizards or Warriors who were following the other Contractors, she was regretting it deeply in her heart as well. She scolded herself for choosing such a Contractor to follow, but unfortunately, it had already been decided.


    On the bright side, this Contractor did not ask her to pay with her body.


    She had been prepared to do it, to use her body as a commodity. That was what she did to earn her right to learn in the past, it was what she did to obtain the tuition fees for the Arcane Art Academy and her research funding. Most impoverished female Wizards had such an experience or made such a decision. It was nothing special.


    But to her surprise, Kevin never showed any such intention. That was her sole solace right now.


    Boom!


    All of a sudden, amidst a huge tide-like impact, the expressions of all the Wizards and Warriors, including Blue Void, changed.


    From the darkness directly ahead of them, there were large hordes of Skeleton Soldiers surging into the plaza. Their numbers would not have been fewer than several thousands.


    "They''re coming!"


    Blue Void tore open a scroll.


    There was a soft tearing sound, and then a blinding ball of golden light blossomed in the air. The ball of light grew a pair of golden wings, and then it swung slightly, flying straight downward. It crashed into the area with the highest concentration of Skeletons.


    Bam!!


    Amidst the periodic explosions, the golden light scattered everywhere, and at least a hundred rays of golden light twisted and shot out like threads of silk. Every ray of golden light landed on a Skeleton Soldier and burned a huge hole through it.


    This one attack wiped off many Skeleton Soldiers, at least a hundred at once.


    The Wizards, who had been slightly shocked, received an instant psychological boost.


    They all began to unleash the Holy Light Rays and Light of Lunia that they had been preparing. The Light of Lunia was like an ocean of pure silver, lighting up and shooting into the sky. It was accompanied with a few golden rays of the Light of Lunia, utilizing an energy element that was exactly the same as that golden ball of light that Blue Void just unleashed.


    "A compound Level Five spell made from merging the Level Four Heavenly Kingdom Light with the Glittering Web, as expected of Master Blue Void. This scroll was surely the hard work and intricate masterpiece of a Level Seven Royal Great Wizard, wasn''t it?" Two other Great Wizards levitating in the air sighed in sincere admiration.


    Boom!


    As soon as they spoke, the Skeleton Soldiers were completely obliterated by the sea of silver Holy Light, but they were followed by an even larger tide of pitch-black Zombies that rushed toward the campsite, staggering and tottering.


    The area around these Zombies'' bodies was filled with black smoke and the plague. If they were approached, it could lead to the spread of terrible diseases.


    "Long-range wide-area attacks," roared Blue Void loudly.


    The second wave of silver light rose into the sky, and all the Wizards aside from the Contractors began to unleash the Light of Lunia once more. The wave of silver light was like a silver liquid being splashed out and falling over the Zombies'' heads mercilessly.


    There was the endless hiss of corrosion as the negative energy, the aura of death, and the plague constantly fought against the silver light. The two extreme types of energy canceled each other out and emitted a huge neutralized force. This began to disrupt the speed and strength of the Wizards'' spellcasting.


    A horde of black Zombies crashed to the ground, and only a few several dozens were left walking toward the campsite. By now, however, they were no longer a threat.


    The battle was over without the Warriors even having to fight at close range. Everyone''s hearts grew lighter, and they began to watch the Wizards as they easily cleaned up the remaining Undead.


    "Just in case, would the Contractors please give the Warriors an Anti-Undead Energy Field?" Blue Void continued to lead. He was the only peak Level Six Warrior here, and he had just unleashed an advanced-level spell scroll, so it already took a great deal out of him. Right now, he seemed rather tired.


    As soon as he spoke, another wave of deathly-pale Vampires dressed in grey clothes made of sackcloth actually appeared once more from the darkness before them. These all had deathly-pale skin and sharp fangs at the corners of their mouth. They leaped up, transforming into bats the size of human heads, and flew toward the campsite.


    "The third round! There really are Advanced Undead!" said the Great Wizard beside Blue Void in a deep voice. "This is bad, Advanced Undead can constantly summon more cannon fodder from the Undead World, and wear us down endlessly!"


    "We need to rush over there! I saw where these Undead are coming out from, it seems to be that one, the tallest statue in the plaza!" said another Great Wizard, panicked and hurried.


    "Ae you sure, sir?" said Blue Void solemnly.


    "Certain! For five consecutive tries, my Probing Spells have shown that that place is the core source of these Undead!" This Great Wizard waved his hand, unleashing golden rays that landed among the Vampires beneath him. The rays instantly hit two Vampires who were stacked on top of each other, and turned them into flying ash.


    But almost a hundred Vampires flew and pounced at the campsite, even more and even faster.


    Some Wizards hit them with the Light of Lunia, but it only made the skin of these large transformed bats rot, causing them to scream. It was not enough to kill them, so they continued to fly toward the campsite and high speeds.


    Instantly, some of the Wizards started using the Fireball Spell.


    The rumble of explosions and the firelight rushed into the sky. But they were rapidly extinguished by even more negative energy and could not sustain the combustion at all.


    Broom!


    Just then, the giant butcher statue in the middle of the plaza actually began to move slowly.


    It gripped its giant broken-up cleaver, striding toward the campsite.


    "Oh god! It''s a Level Seven Advanced Undead!!" The old Wizard in the air was the first to notice what had happened, and he yelled out loudly in disbelief.


    Before the crowd beneath him began to panic, Blue Void flew out, completely calm. The boots on his feet twinkled with Magical Flying Light, preventing him from falling.


    "Leave it to me!"


    He was as cool as a cucumber, raising the Level Six Demon Core in his hand high into the air.


    "Andihilna!! Come! I need your assistance!!!" he yelled loudly, using the Ancient Draconic language. There were even a few words from the language of the Abyss mixed within.

 1306 Pearl of the Temple 2

    Bam!!


    The Demon Core in his hand exploded instantly, turning into a storm of powder that scattered in the air.


    In the Void directly underneath Blue Void, several transparent rings of forces appeared, and from the middle of the forces, a large Dual-Headed Black Dragon, the size of an elephant, flew out.


    One of the Dual-Headed Black Dragon''s two mouths glowed with black-red firelight, and while the other had a blue-black chill emanating from the corners of its mouth.


    Roar!!!


    The gigantic Dual-Headed Black Dragon pounced straight at the statue of the butcher beneath it.


    "Haha! An Advanced Undead, you sure know how to get me opponents, Blue Void!!" it responded loudly, pouncing fearlessly.


    Bam!!! There was an enormous tremor produced from the clash between the two giants.


    Black-red flames shot out of the Black Dragon''s mouth, burning the Butcher''s body mercilessly, but they did not leave a single trace. Similarly, the blue-black chill from the other side was completely ineffective as well.


    "Damnit! It''s the type I hate the most, a Reinforced Undead that''s immune to both ice and fire! I demand more compensation this time, Blue Void!!"


    "No problem!" Blue Void replied loudly, standing on the Dual-Headed Black Dragon''s back.


    "I like a generous employer, haha!!" The Dual-Headed Black Dragon instantly laughed, satisfied.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    The Butcher waved his cleaver, slashing down hard at the Black Dragon''s scales and leaving a tiny mark. The Black Dragon immediately lost it. Since both of the elements he was good at would not work, he decided to simply go head-to-head against the Butcher, fighting power with brute power, without using any fancy tricks whatsoever.


    While these two giants were having a fierce go at each other on one hand, on the other side, the many Corpses and Vampires had also pounced out of hiding. The Corpses were an evolution of the Zombies, and they had the ghosts'' ability to dematerialize as well as travel through shadows. When they materialized, they also had the powerful defensive ability of Advanced Zombies.


    There was a potent poison on their claws, one that was extremely destructive. With it, a serious injury would lead straight to death, and most Corpses were also partly immune to material attacks. Only weapons equipped with spells and effects that contained positive energy could deal them great damage.


    The Warriors rushed at them, roaring loudly, and fought against the Vampires and Corpses that had flown into the campsite. The brutal beasts summoned by the Wizards also pounced on them, fighting against the horde of the Undead.


    Skeleton Wizards and Zombie Wizards began to appear in the Undead Army opposite them. They unleashed negative energy spells and began to neutralize the human Wizards'' positive energy spells. The only silver lining was that the White Bone Fence could temporarily halt the advance of the Skeletons and Zombies. They tried their best to break the White Bone Fence, but could not fly in for now. Hence, the Warriors only needed to battle against a few Vampires and Corpses.


    "Things''re looking bad! All Contractors, get ready!" The old Wizard in mid-air temporarily assumed command.


    The Contractors at the core noticed something amiss as well. The Wizards at the outer ring had already given themselves many layers of defense, such as Wizard Armor, Shield Spells, Elemental Resistance Increase, Poison Barrier, Stoneskin Spells, and Lignified Skin. They just put spell after defensive spell, both high-level and low-level, over their bodies.


    Boom!


    A Contractor could not resist it and summoned his dragon first. The Green Dragon was the size of a horse, and it flew up, lowering its head and spraying out a mouthful of corrosive Dragon''s Breath. It half-melted away the heads of two Vampires, and then it reached out wildly with its Dragon Claws. Grabbing two Corpses, it threw its head back and tossed them straight into its mouth, swallowing them whole.


    Green Dragons were known for liking poison and negative energy, but to think his Green Dragon would even devour corpses, now that was a dragon with a rare, extreme taste¡­


    The appearance of the Colossal Dragon directly prevented the situation from falling apart.


    The Wizards divided themselves into small teams and split up, destroying the Corpses and Vampires that were surging in. Thankfully, they had the protection of all those defensive spells, so only a very few Wizards sustained injuries. The rest retreated from the attacks of the Undead, completely unharmed.


    But just then, more Undead appeared in the distance once more. Those were Advanced Undead, armed with all sorts of equipment and weapons. The Advanced Zombies, who clearly had a certain level of intelligence, all rushed toward the campsite, and they actually displayed well-rehearsed martial arts and combat techniques. These were that close to becoming Dark Knights!!


    "Advanced Undead!! This is bad!"


    A female Contractor Wizard gasped in terror.


    The Demon Core in her hand disappeared instantly, and a Red Dragon appeared by her side soundlessly.


    Like her, most of the Contractors began to silently summon their dragon companions.


    More than ten Colossal Dragons all appeared within the camp, and their enormous Draconic Aura wove together. Rather than resisting each other, they gathered together and shot toward the outside as one.


    The Draconic Aura directly suppressed all the Undead nearby, forcing them to slow down by two beats, their power dropping by at least one level. As for the weaker ones, the Soul Flames in their eyes actually began to jump intensely, and they began to sway even as they walked.


    "Let''s destroy these filthy things!" The largest Black Dragon pounced out and caught an Advanced Zombie wildly with his claws, tearing it directly with his hands.


    And then there were the remaining Green Dragons, Blue Dragons, White Dragons, and Red Dragons. There was even a rare Purple Dragon.


    All of the summoned dragons joined the battle.


    "Why aren''t you fighting? As a Contractor, you''re one of our most precious fighting forces. You should know that if you and your dragon companion fight for us, you might be able to save a few Warriors'' lives!!" Gergenfor''s voice instantly attracted the gazes of all the Contractors.


    When they saw that there was still a Contractor who had not summoned his Colossal Dragon, the Contractors were all slightly unhappy with him.


    "Are you still trying to conserve your energy at a crucial moment like this? There really are all sorts of selfish types!" said a Wizard icily.


    "Conserving energy?" Gergenfor laughed coldly. "Kevin, didn''t you say that your companion was too strong, and that''s why you''re reluctant to summon it?"


    Kevin acted calm, gripping his daughter''s hand.


    "I did say that. I''m poor, so I can only summon my companion once. I''m not as rich as you are, that''s why I have to leave it until the most important moment."


    "Poor? Haha. This isn''t the time to be stingy with your expenses, every bit of fighting power will save lives. Here, I''ll give you this Level Six Demon Core, is that enough to summon your ''powerful companion''?" Just then, one of the Wizards in mid-air descended from the sky and tossed Kevin a Demon Core impatiently. He truly believed that Kevin did not summon his companion because he lacked summoning materials. He would never have thought that there was another secret behind the scenes.


    Kevin accepted it hurriedly.


    "This is the summoning resource Master Blue Void gave me. My companion has already gone on ahead, so I''ll give you this Demon Core, hurry up and summon yours. For all we know, one more pair of fighting hands may be able to turn the tides," said the old Wizard sincerely.


    Kevin''s face turned slightly pale as he gripped the Demon Core. This was the first Level Six Demon Core he had ever seen, an Advanced Demon Core. The treasure he had always dreamed of was now in his hands, but he felt as though the Demon Core was scalding his skin, so much so that he could barely hold it.


    "What are you waiting for?!" the old Wizard said, hurrying him. On the other side, the Advanced Undead were already approaching. If they arrived and the situation fell apart completely, then it would truly be over.


    "I¡­" Kevin clenched his teeth. All the Contractors had summoned their companions.


    Looking at the taunting gazes around him, Kevin finally decided to activate the Summoning Matrix. He tossed out his summoning materials, the powdered Demon Core''s tiny particles floating in the air.


    Some transparent distorted waves appeared in mid-air.


    Under these circumstances, where all the Contractors were required to fight, he no longer had any excuse to conserve his true power. Along the way here, others had sacrificed far too much to protect them, so if he still did not contribute at a time like this, the first ones to be dealt with and removed would be them. As all the Wizards around him watched glaringly, no matter how reluctant Kevin was, he had no choice but to summon his companion together with the other Contractors. He gripped that Level Six Demon Core tightly in his hand. The sharp edges nearly sliced his palm open.


    Whoosh!


    A petite White Dragon Whelp appeared before him, in stark contrast with the large, stout, horse-sized Young Blue and Red Dragons summoned by the other Contracts around them.


    Among all the dragons, this little White Dragon was the smallest in size and had the weakest aura. It was even looking around curiously, as though it still was not very sure what was happening.


    "A White Dragon? Haha, it''s a little White Dragon? How fascinating, so this is that oh-too-powerful Contract Dragon? Doth my eyes deceive me?" Gergenfor immediately started roaring with creepy laughter.


    "And this is what you call a powerful dragon that can only be summoned with a Level Six Demon Core? Haha, that''s the biggest joke I''ve ever heard in my life." Extreme displeasure twinkled in the eyes of one of the old Wizards.


    "The Warriors and scouts who sacrificed themselves along the way have practically died for nothing. They died to protect a false Wizard who only knows how to lie, to protect a regular White Dragon that''s merely Level Four, and a trash Level Four Wizard. Both are only Level Four, and yet they enjoyed such high-class treatment for so long. What a combination."


    "Liar! You''re a disgrace to the noble character of the Wizards!"


    "Chase him out, get him out of here! Make him fight at the frontlines with those Warriors!"


    Several different voices rang out around them. Most of the Wizards just watched coldly, but their icy gazes showed just how ticked off they were.


    As for the old Wizard who gave him the Demon Core, the disappointment that flashed through his eyes was even more indescribable. Shaking his head, he glanced at Kevin, then he turned around and walked away.


    Kevin looked at the dazed little White Dragon and closed his eyes in despair.


    He knew that everything was over. The furious Wizards would never let a liar and pretender like him go without punishment, and Blue Void would never pass up on a way to vent the frustration he had pent up along the way. This was a crucial moment right now, too. Once the battle ended, he and his daughter Maria would surely be dealt the harshest punishment!


    Above them, the battle between the Dual-Headed Hell Black Dragon and the Undead Butcher was heating up. Blue Void stood on the Dual-Headed Hell Black Dragon''s back, loudly reciting a long and mysterious chant. In his hand, he actually held a shortsword that twinkled with golden light. But it was not golden light, because a close look would reveal that they were actually countless golden glyphs, flowing across the blade. And the chant seemed to be the musical notes activating the shortsword.


    Roar!!


    The many dragons roared and flapped their wings, taking to the air and pouncing toward the Undead Army behind the Undead Butcher. They began to tear each other apart brutally, the light of the spells from the Zombie, Skeleton, and human Wizards sparkling across the battlefield, lighting up here and extinguishing there.


    Fireballs, Acid, the platinum silver light of positive energy-- all of them constantly blinked and twinkled. Some of them were immediately extinguished as soon as they appeared, neutralized by the dark fog of negative energy. Many Arcane Art Projectiles leaped into the air in dense waves, there were no fewer than a hundred Projectiles in the storm of them, and they all pounced downward at the same time. Evidently, someone had activated an Advanced Scroll.

 1307 Treasure 1

    With this many Undead here, this place was clearly the center of the Underground City. In other words, it was extremely likely that the Pearl of the Hall was just ahead. The more one contributed at a crucial moment like this, the larger their share of the profits would be.


    All of the Wizards did their best to coordinate with their Contract companions, killing many of the Undead, but there were just too many Undead. They surged out of the darkness endlessly.


    More than ten of the Contractors'' dragons had leaped into the air and joined the battle. Only Kevin''s little White Dragon was just staring wide-eyed at the two giant monsters fighting in the air above its head, the Dual-Headed Hell Black Dragon and the Undead Butcher.


    "Has it been scared out of its mind?" Gergenfor''s mean-spirited voice reached their ears.


    Maria''s expression twisted, and she gripped her father''s hand tightly, glaring angrily at Gergenfor. Although she was extremely disappointed as well, she knew that her father was doing this to protect her.


    Kevin tried his best to keep his expression calm, but his ice-cold palm could not deceive the daughter who knew him best.


    "Pearl of the Hall!!" someone roared suddenly.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Grab it!!"


    The Wizards and Contractors all looked up at a dark red pearl that had leaped into the air. There seemed to be the vague image of a giant palace in the pearl. More than ten Colossal Dragons all pounced at the pearl. They did not need the Wizards'' encouragement and pounced at it greedily without being told to. That was an Advanced Treasure that even Level Eight powerhouses could use! This opportunity may not even come once in a hundred years. There was no way they could let it pass.


    "Campas! Meradona, if you guys get that thing for me, I''ll give you a piece of a Level Seven Holy Spirit!" roared one of the Red Dragons.


    "All the treasures belong to me, Black Giantfang!!" The only Black Dragon roared violently. "For all those who help me, I''ll give them each a drop of Black Dragon Heartblood!!"


    The Red Dragon, Betty, and the Black Dragon, Black Giantfang-- both of them were the strongest among the Contractors'' Dragons. In an instant, with the two of them as the boundary, the dragons divided themselves into two opposing camps. Desperately, they rushed at the pearl.


    When Garen witnessed this scene, he decided to just act stupid. Kevin was actually telling him to fight over a mere Pearl of the Hall, and he still remembered how the last time he had been sent crashing back, all beaten up and dusty. This time, he decided that he was not going to do Kevin any favors anymore. That was why he simply used the Shrinking Bone Technique to return to the size of a Dragon Whelp, and continued to play dumb.


    Seeing Kevin''s and Maria''s expression of sorrowful despair, he felt his mood lighten considerably.


    Garen glanced at the Pearl of the Hall floating in mid-air and recognized it nonchalantly.


    "It''s just a Level Red Pearl of the Hall, only these Level Five and Six minnows would be willing to fight so hard over it. If I wasn''t bound by the terms of the summon¡­" Before he even finished those thoughts, Garen''s eyes widened suddenly.


    That Pearl of the Hall actually began to change its color slowly, starting from dark red and gradually becoming darker and darker, deeper and deeper in color. The hall within it gradually disappeared as well.


    "This¡­ Thi-this¡­! This isn''t a Hall¡­ It''s a Pearl of the Temple!!!" Garen stared, wide-eyed and slack-jawed, as the pearl turned black. Only a Pearl of the Temple, created by a demigod, would change like that.


    A wave of ecstasy instantly washed over him. Garen had never thought that he would encounter such a huge opportunity the very first time he responded to a Summon.


    How could the value of a Pearl of the Temple be compared to a Pearl of the Hall? Even a thousand or ten thousand of the latter would not match up to the terror of a Pearl of the Temple!!


    It was not only him, Blue Void and some of the knowledgeable old Wizards in mid-air had all recognized the Pearl of the Temple for what it was. Their expressions all expressed their wild joy.


    "It''s mine! I must get it!" Blue Void''s expression changed, and the golden shortsword in his hand instantly shone with a dark golden light. He shot into the air, flying straight toward the pearl.


    All of the Colossal Dragons pounced at it as well, and some old Wizards even brought out the scrolls that they had been saving for last, tearing them open harshly.


    There was a huge gathering of thunderclouds and storms, the element of fire spun madly, and the Weave here fell apart in an instant. It finally gave way in the face of such concentrated and large-scale elemental forces.


    "This is the too-powerful dragon you were talking about? Haha, Kevin, if your daughter comes to my tent tonight and begs me to help you, I might still consider putting in a good word for you with Master Blue Void¡­" Gergenfor was standing beside Kevin conceitedly, threatening him.


    Barroom!!


    There was a buzz, and the ground shook violently.


    A piercing dragon''s roar that made their eardrums tremble rose into the air from right under their noses, and clear circular sound ripples were brutally created on the surface of the ground.


    Before he could even finish speaking, he saw Garen, who was a little White Dragon just a moment ago, suddenly dart forward. His body expanded, growing rapidly from its initial form as a Dragon Whelp, and instantly turning into an Adult Dragon the size of an elephant. And it did not stop there. His body actually continued to grow, and soon become a giant that was twice the size of a regular Colossal Dragon.


    A pair of terrifying white wings covered the sky above the three of them.


    "The Pearl of the Temple is mine! It''s all mine!!!" Garen''s wild and violent dragon''s roar brought with it was both immensely intimidating and greedy. His Level Seven Draconic Aura burst forth, but even more terrifying was his speed despite his giant size, so fast that it was completely unimaginable for a regular Adult Dragon. The ground split apart, and the momentum sent Garen shooting up at the Pearl of the Temple in the air.


    Along the way, he forcefully pushed past four or five Colossal Dragons that blocked his path.


    Bam bam bam!!


    Amidst the series of dull thuds as a result of the collisions, there was also the intense sound of bones breaking.


    All of the Wizards and Colossal Dragons stared blankly as Garen''s enormous body rushed up to the Pearl of the Temple, quick as lightning. His claw reached for the Pearl.


    Compared to him, all the other dragons around him were practically like children. They were sent flying far away by just a light touch, as though they were toys.


    All the humans and dragons who had witnessed Garen''s transformation were completely speechless. This change was just far too shocking.


    Garen did not only send regular dragons flying, he also knocked away Black Giantfang, the Black Dragon who was the strongest physically. Even he had his bones instantly broken, falling from the sky and crushing a wave of Skeleton Undead.


    The Double-Headed Hell Black Dragon and the Undead Butcher were trying to catch up to Garen at first, but they hurriedly stopped when they saw that scene.


    Blue Void''s eyelid twitched madly as he watched Garen reach his claw toward the Pearl of the Temple. The enormous wind pressure had actually sent him flying, making him somersault in mid-air a few times. There was no need to describe just how furious he was.


    "Level Nine!! This guy is definitely a Level Nine Colossal Dragon!!" he roared in agony. At a time like this, once anyone got the Pearl of the Temple, there was no way to force it out of them!


    Swoosh!


    The Pearl of the Temple was in his hands, and with one movement of Garen''s enormous body, he had instantly kept it into his Space Earring.


    "How lucky, hahaha!!" he laughed wildly. "I''m taking this Pearl now, no one got any objections, right?" He looked around him, only the Double-Headed Hell Black Dragon, Black Giantfang, and the Red Dragon were the strongest ones here. They were all Level Six, but faced with his intimidating aura, all three chose to lower their heads and hold their tongues.


    "O Great White Dragon, in order to obtain this treasure, I spent a great deal of manpower and material resources, as well as my precious treasures, sacrificing valiant Warrio¡­" Before Blue Void could complete his sentence, Garen shut him up with a glare.


    "You should be honored that I''m taking your things!" Garen''s deep voice and unreasonable words echoed. "Are you saying I''m taking too much advantage of you?"


    "No¡­ No no no, that is not my intention at all¡­" Blue Void was terrified. The glare from the enormous Colossal Dragon was making his heart shudder like mad.


    If the dragon were to fly off the handle here and kill them all, destroying their bodies and all the evidence, no one would even know that there had been a Pearl of the Temple here. They would definitely be in trouble then.


    "As long as you get it!" Garen nodded, satisfied. He finally glanced at the last Undead Butcher and saw that thing actually had a certain degree of intelligence. It was currently creeping back into the darkness behind it carefully.


    Are you kidding me? That was a Level Nine Colossal Dragon, even if it was one of the weaker White Dragons, it was still a Level Nine!


    Wherever you went, a Level Nine would be a higher-up equivalent to an Elder, even in Snow City and the Grey Shadow Parliament, they would still be honored at the very top. It was this powerful, and a Dragon to boot! The only thing they could achieve by staying behind was suicide, nothing else.


    "Trying to run, are we?!" Garen grinned.


    Although this Undead Butcher did not have any special abilities, its Ice and Fire Reinforcement, as well as its powerful regeneration abilities, were already great assets, and it might work well as a subordinate. It just so happened that Garen also specialized in Necromancy spells. Even though no one knew it, he was already a Level Five Wizard.


    With one flap of his wings, Garen pounced directly at the Undead Butcher.


    This creature at the peak of Level Six, who had just fought against the Double-Headed Hell Black Dragon, was instantly spooked into turning tail and running away. But Garen pounced on it from behind like an eagle pouncing at a chick, and pressed it directly to the ground, standing on its back so that it could not move.


    The so-called Ice and Fire Reinforcement was nothing more than a joke in the face of Garen''s pure strength and speed. It was true, he could not really do anything against advanced space spells, but he could deal with creatures like these, who were vulnerable to brute force, quite easily.


    "Let me go¡­!! I''ll give you a huge treasure!!" roared the Undead Butcher loudly, struggling desperately. But the two dragon claws had it pinned tightly against the ground, and it could not move at all.


    "Treasure?" Garen needed cash right now, so he was instantly tempted by that word.


    "Hand over your Soul Core. I can choose to believe you."


    "No, you can''t do that¡­!" yelled the Undead Butcher loudly. "I can give you the treasure in exchange for my freedom."


    "No way! I don''t like having someone haggle with me." Garen rejected it point-blank.


    The Undead Butcher still tried to struggle, but Garen immediately crashed one claw into it lightly.


    There was an enormous rumble, and the Young Dragons nearby who had rushed over immediately felt their eyelids twitch at the sight.


    A deep and huge crater had formed on the impenetrable skin on the Undead Butcher''s back, like metal sinking down in the center. Add that to the unbelievably loud cracking sound, and they all knew its bones had been broken¡­


    It was fine for the Undead Butcher to take that hit, but if that blow had landed on the body of any dragon, including Black Giantfang who had just crawled back onto his feet, they could not guarantee that they would be able to survive the one swipe of that claw.


    "White Dragon¡­ Do you know who I am? Lowly White Dragon!!" Suddenly, a rough voice reached their ears.


    The Double-Headed Hell Black Dragon flapped his wings, flying over to them.


    "You, a mere White Dragon, dare rob me of the item I have set my sights on? Looks like the White Dragon Mountain has been peaceful for too long, so long that you have forgotten under whose wing you are protected!!" roared the Double-Headed Hell Black Dragon in considerable frustration and anger as he flew over to them.


    Garen was discussing conditions with the Undead Butcher and had yet to come to a decision when they heard the whining from behind him.


    "A Double-Headed Hell Black Dragon?" He remembered now, the White Mountain Dragon was unlike the other dragons'', its base was in Hell, or the place the Wizards called Purgatory. It was all thanks to the Black Dragons that they could find their standing in Purgatory and obtain a large enough space to live.

 1308 Treasure 2

    "White Dragon Mountain? What does that have to do with me?" Garen grinned. "Sadly, I don''t have any relation with White Dragon Mountain¡­ so I won''t be troubled in any way. You, on the other hand, may be in big trouble very soon¡­" His gaze turned cold, staring straight at the Double-Headed Hell Black Dragon that was flying toward him.


    His gaze made the latter shudder and stop in his tracks, afraid to continue further.


    "Dare you kill me? My father is the leader of the Hell Dragons! If he finds out about this, he definitely won''t let you go!!" The other guy was feeling slightly nervous now.


    "Let''s gang up on him! He''s just a Level Nine, if we all jump on him, we could even crush him to death!!" Not far away, Black Giantfang yelled out encouragements.


    Right now, the Undead Butcher was being suppressed, and the large Undead Army was retreating slowly as well. It showed that the control of this army had a very direct correlation to the Undead Butcher.


    Without the pressure from the Undead, everyone''s confidence and spirits had returned now.


    Garen continued to apply pressure on the Undead Butcher, smiling coldly as he stared at the Young Dragons and Wizards who were slowly surrounding him. In the distance, a Purple Dragon was already preparing to unleash a powerful spell, at least Level Seven according to the forces. Evidently, it was using every ounce of power it had.


    These little runts actually dare to defy him?


    This was making Garen slightly impatient. Right.now, he was already completely immune to Level Nine direct damage spells, and the effects of any status ailments were also drastically weakened, such that they were practically useless. His own actual combat power was already equal to the strongest physical Warrior in the history of the White Dragon Clan.


    Only Space-Time Spells that were Level Eight or above could prove some disruption to him. Other than that, the only way left was to fight him with brute physical strength.


    IAs for fighting with brute strength¡­ With his eighty-point peak-level stats, forget these Young Dragons who were merely at Levels Five or Six, even their Adult Dragon elders could only act as cannon fodder in front of Garen.


    "Looks like I''ll have to kill everyone who knows about this, huh¡­" Garen''s malicious gaze made most of the dragons shudder in fear. Their instincts told them that if they continued to offend him, they and the other dragons would probably die before they even reached their summon time limit.


    In the distance, Blue Void stood on the Double-Headed Hell Black Dragon''s back. The dark golden shortsword in his hand was still emitting a faint golden light, but he had clearly lost his confidence. This sword was a pinnacle Level Nine Enchanted Weapon, but unless it was wielded by a Level Nine fighter, to try and fight a Level Nine Colossal Dragon with it¡­ would be equivalent to the difficulty faced by those mortals challenging the gods in the legends of old.


    "Milord, perhaps we can borrow this Colossal Dragon''s power to investigate the entire Underground City thoroughly," said an old Wizard softly, his voice transmitted into Blue Void''s ears. "We probably can''t get the Pearl of the Temple back, but if we want to cut our losses as much as possible and reduce the risks, we can just ask him to help us explore the Underground City. It''s the Underground City where we found the Pearl of the Temple, after all, so I believe that he would be more than willing to help us. After all, he''s also one of the dragon companions summoned by our Contractors."


    "We can threaten him with his Contractor companion," said Blue Void softly, his voice cold. He was still sore about it, that was a Pearl of the Temple! If he could get his hands on it, he could definitely rise to Level Eight immediately, and his soul might also benefit greatly from it. It would be extremely helpful in his quest for Level Nine in the future. To just watch it fall into the hands of this White Dragon that randomly showed up from nowhere¡­


    "Please, don''t!" the old Wizard advised him hurriedly. "If the Contractor does, this Colossal Dragon can just use the power of the Contract to return to where he came from, leaving this place. He can''t harm his Contractor himself, but if we were to get provoked and kill his Contractor, he''ll be free of all inhibitions, and will become even harder to deal with! To us, his Contactor is a positive asset!"


    Blue Void lowered his head reluctantly. The truth was he understood all that in theory, but no matter what, he could not calm his heart down. His biggest target for this trip into the Underground City was that Pearl of the Temple, but to think this would be the final result!


    On his side, after Garen used his Intimidation Aura to pressure all the dragons into staying quiet, he accepted the Soul Core that the Undead Butcher finally handed up. He left his Soul Energy Aura on it and instantly felt much better. He had made the right decision in coming here, because not only did he get a Pearl of the Temple, he even obtained a decent Undead lackey.


    Glancing at the dragons and humans who had gathered together at the plaza nearby, Garen mused for a moment and then turned his gaze to Kevin and his daughter. After all, he was the dragon companion that Kevin summoned here, so as long as Kevin was here, at times like these he had no choice but to fulfill his Contractor''s requests and conditions.


    "Can you make yourself smaller?" he asked, releasing the Undead Butcher.


    "No¡­ I''m naturally this size," replied the Undead Butcher honestly. He was, by nature, bloodthirsty, fond of rotting meat, and honest.


    Crawling up from the ground, he felt that the bones broken by the attack from Garen''s claw earlier had not heard yet, so his whole body felt lopsided, and it was not a very good feeling at all. Grumbling, he began to capture the Undead that had been killed, lying on the floor, and tossed them into his mouth, chewing them roughly. As he devoured more Undead materials, his injuries began to heal quickly as well.


    "Then you just stay away and get me more valuable things, treasures or gems and the like. I want them, the more the better," Garen instructed him. Now that he had a local leader under his command, it was only natural that he would try to make as much of it as he could.


    "Oh¡­ What counts as valuable? Edible things?" asked the Undead Butcher in a quiet voice.


    "Didn''t you mention a huge treasure just now?" Garen was speechless.


    "Yeah, there are all sorts of precious and delicious ingredients and food in there. They''re all very high in level, and I want to eat them all the time, but I''m too scared to get too close¡­" replied the Butcher honestly.


    "Even you''re too scared to get too close?" Garen was slightly shocked. "What''s guarding it? Tell me with your soul."


    The Butcher hurriedly shut his mouth and used his soul to communicate instead. The Wizards and other dragons nearby sighed at the waste, since this was clearly the key information. To think that there was still information about a possible lode of wealth, it definitely was worth coming to this Underground City.


    Garen and the Undead Butcher quickly exchanged some information.


    Luckily, the two of them were communicating with their souls, so it was very fast. Instantly, a large amount of information regarding that treasure appeared in Garen''s brain.


    "An Underground Thane? A Level Eight creature?" Garen found that slightly difficult to handle.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    An Underground Thane is the title of a giant beetle-type creature. Legend had it that it migrated here from the Earth Element Plane, and it naturally had the ability to drill through the earth quickly, as well as to control the element of earth. Although its destructive power was only Level Eight, its ability to escape was much stronger than many Level Nine powerhouses, so it was known as the strongest survivalist.


    If it could not win a battle, it would just drill into the ground. Be it granite or marble, nothing posed an obstacle to it. As long as it was something like stone or metal, the Underground Thane could instantly escape through it.


    But at the same time, this creature was also the best and most precious scout when it came to searching for all sorts of mineral ores.


    A treasure that would keep an Underground Thane there without leaving would surely be worth quite a bit.


    Garen''s thoughts whirred in his head, and he instructed the Undead Butcher to leave this place, so the latter retreated into the darkness and vanished. As for Garen himself, he flew back to the rest of the crowd and blew away the Warriors standing in his path with one flap of his wings. Finally, he walked up to Kevin.


    Gradually, his enormous body began to shrink rapidly. From its initial size, twice that of an elephant, his body quickly shrank until it was the size and length of a regular Young White Dragon. He did not return to his Dragon Whelp from, as this regular body size was his most stable and energy-efficient state.


    As he walked up to Kevin, he saw that Kevin was keeping his expression calm, but there was an irrepressible glee in his eyes.


    "Contractor, the compensation you gave isn''t even enough for me to clean my teeth with," said Garen, annoyed. "The last time, you canceled the summon halfway and nearly caused me serious injury. If this ever happens again, I''ll eat you!"


    Only then did Kevin understand why the White Dragon refused to fight in the beginning. If it were not for the appearance of the treasure, the Pearl of the Temple, this guy would probably still be acting dumb. All Kevin could do was smile wryly.


    "That''s my fault¡­ Please accept my sincerest apologies, O Powerful Garen. But haven''t you already obtained the biggest prize this time?"


    "That''s why I have generously decided to forgive you this time," said Garen with a cold harrumph. "But next time you''ll need at least a Level Six Demon Core to summon me!"


    He had seen that Level Six Demon Core in Kevin''s hands.


    He had reaped some great rewards this time, and that put him in a very good mood. With one Pearl of the Temple in hand, he would have earned a killing even if he did not continue on. By initial estimates, the Pearl of the Temple could give him at least a hundred potential points. If he absorbed it slowly, he could even obtain a new Soul Ring just for once! This was the product of a Demigod powerhouse condensing all their divinity at their deathbed, so naturally, it was not that simple an item. It would be even better if Garen could understand that wisp of divinity hidden within, it might rapidly speed up his path to the Demigod level.


    "Alright, I need to rest. If I''m free, you can summon me." Garen tossed Kevin those parting words and flew straight into the darkness.


    In his wake, Blue Void and the others just exchanged glances wordlessly.


    The Double-Headed Hell Black Dragon roared once in deep dissatisfaction.


    "I wanna go back and tell Father!! That damned White Dragon!" he yelled out angrily through their contract''s spiritual connection.


    Blue Void was extremely unwilling to give up too.


    "Since that guy has the guts to do something like this, that must prove that he''s not afraid of the consequences! I bet your actions won''t have much of an effect."


    "Right now, I get frustrated just looking at a White Dragon!" The Double-Headed Hell Black Dragon''s gaze swept past the other dragons, and the few White Dragons among them trembled under his glare.


    "Perhaps we can find out some information about that White Dragon from before through these White Dragons. I heard that Contractor mention his name just now, it''s Garen." Blue Void''s eyes twinkled.


    "Garen? I''ll go ask."


    This idea had occurred to the Hell Black Dragon and the other Dragons, so Black Giantfang and the Red Dragon Betty both dragged their bodies along the ground until they had surrounded the few White Dragons among their midst.


    All of them stared at the White Dragons maliciously.


    "Garen¡­ I know him, we all do." One of the White Dragons smiled bitterly. "He''s the strongest prodigy in our clan, and he''s already this strong even though he''s not even five years old yet. It''s practically unbelievable."


    "The strongest prodigy? Are you saying that he''s a Dragon Whelp who''s not even five years old?!!" Black Giantfang exclaimed in disbelief.


    "That''s right¡­" said the stockiest of those White Dragons helplessly.


    When they saw that scene, all of the dragons and humans took a sharp intake of breath.


    What did that mean!? If he was already this strong and had already reached Level Nine at five years old, then wouldn''t he be a definite shoo-in for a Demigod powerhouse in the future??


    "Could he be Tiamat''s God-Favored?!" said the old Great Wizard in disbelief.


    "No¡­ As far as I know, Garen is not God-Favored, he has never been baptized by the Dragon God," explained a White Dragon.


    "He will be soon," sighed the old Wizard.


    Instantly, everyone understood what he meant.


    Just how impressive was the talent Garen just revealed? The moment someone from the race of their followers displayed such peak-level genius, no god would be stupid enough to let this go. They would all make sure to tighten their grip on such a powerhouse.


    This was the best candidate for them to groom as a Subordinate God!! For all they knew, this would signal the rise of another Lower God in the future!


    Some of the more open-minded Wizards could not help but think of that.


    "We can''t offend him¡­" Blue Void''s voice was extremely dry¡­ A future Demigod, and a definite God-Favored¡­ If anything happened to such a being, Tiamat''s God-Favoreds would instantly and desperately rain hell on Dragon Mountain!

 1309 Gain 1

    In the underground city, the battle in the square ended as the team had temporarily halted to treat wounded members while the wizards resumed their meditation.


    But there was an odd, peculiar ambiance clouding the team.


    All of this originated from the tent where Kevin and his daughter resided. Blue Void and a few Great Wizards would throw their glances to Kevin''s tent from time to time


    The largest piece of treasure was grabbed by that evil, white dragon. The remaining people did not obtain even the least bit of share hence one could understand their sore disappointment, but they dared not breathe a word given Garen''s overly brutal abilities.


    Inside the tent.


    Garen sat in the middle with his legs crossed. Kevin and his daughter, Maria, sat on the side preparing his meal.


    "So, you''re saying that after being here for a few years, apart from some undead materials, you only encountered the Pearl of the Temple as some sort of treasure?" Garen asked, feeling a loss of words.


    "Indeed," Kevin smiled bitterly.


    "This underground city is simply too huge," Maria muttered begrudgingly.


    "It''s true that it''s huge..." Garen could also sense the underground city''s complexity that it even possessed a Pearl of the Temple of Demigods. Still waters do run deep¡­


    He was actually considering to stop meddling now.


    However, he thought of the wizard tower that was still not within reach due to limited finances. The Wizard Tower was needed to break through to level five Arcane Technique for isolated research, as well as using its powers to execute research on the dimensional leap. That would require a large number of expenses, perhaps the underground city before him was an opportunity.


    "I want you to accompany me to a place," Garen said suddenly.


    The moment he spoke, Kevin and his daughter instantly knew which place he was referring to. They had overheard a little of the conversation between Garen and that Undead Butcher.


    "Are we, a little weak?" Kevin was helpless.


    "Yes, you''re too weak but with protection from this team, it wouldn''t pose much of a problem," Garen dully replied. "I believe the team would be glad to venture into a place with great treasure."


    He needed to get to the bottom of the situation regarding the treasure, otherwise, he might be sent back once the summon time limit is up. It was unknown whether the team would summon him back again.


    "That should not be a problem," Kevin believed that nobody would reject at the mention of treasure.


    As the decision has been made, Kevin on behalf of Garen stepped out to discuss the plan with Blue Void and the rest. Blue Void shared the same views and reached a mutual agreement with Kevin without wasting any words.


    After resting for a while more, the team headed towards the direction pointed by Garen with the Undead Butcher in the lead. The Undead Butcher actually has a good ability in controlling a few advanced vampires. The advanced vampires, in turn, controlled a large number of mid to low-level undead creatures. These were the same creatures that attacked the campsite earlier but were now the team''s main forces to sweep off enemies.


    With a large group of undead high on alert, any small-scale battle was settled without needing help from the campsite team. Any wounded and death could be replenished through summoning and this resulted in the campsite advancing at more than doubled the speed.


    Without much hindrance, they hustled to the destination mentioned by the Undead Butcher.


    It was the second day''s mid-noon, and not a ray of light shone in the underground city. The wizards themselves only had a pocket watch to tell the time.


    Blue Void and the rest finally arrived before a large, black water lake. Reaching the lakeside, the Undead Butcher ceased his footsteps, hesitating to move forward.


    "Master, it''s just up front," he transmitted his voice to Garen through soul telepathy.


    The dirt around the black lake was black and soft. There were a number of various sizes pit holes around similar to an ant''s nest as if some bugs dug the dirt out.


    Garen flew out of the campsite and landed beside the Undead Butcher. He looked towards the lake.


    "What a heavy scent of death..." His heart sank, and he could indistinctly feel the energy turbulence from deep within the lake.


    His dragon eye looked far towards the distance, and at the furthest depth of the lake, a white light soared into the sky. That light source traveled in light years that even Garen could feel his skin scorching just standing by the lake.


    "What a powerful energy!" He was solemn. This energy turbulence was definitely a level nine.


    "You guys stay here. I''ll go take a look!" He said to the team. It should not be a problem for a dragon to temporarily leave the contractor for not more than a day.


    He spread his wings and flew. His body expanded in size and swooshed in lightning speed towards the exploding light source.


    Before Blue Void, Kevin and rest could respond, he disappeared out of sight.


    The black lake was as vast as the ocean.


    A flutter of Garen''s wings brought him several kilometers in front yet he was still unable to see the end of the lake. The lake water beneath him was smelly and as thick as mud,


    As the distance grew closer, he could clearly see the source of the turbulence.


    It was a large, four-tailed scorpion, wielding its sharp tails. A young man with dark hair and purple eyes was standing beside it.


    The four-tailed scorpion was longer than a hundred meters. Its four tails swung overwhelmingly and made a deep pit wherever it hit.


    The man was holding a large sword, and his other hand was burning a purple flame.


    Both parties were not moving fast. The man looked tired, it was obvious that the battle had gone on for a while now.


    The large sword could automatically expand and stab, while the purple flame could interchange between a large net, spear or javelin, disrupting the scorpion from far range.


    Beside them laid a huge beetle the size of an elephant that had died long ago. This must be the thane mentioned by the Undead Butcher¡­


    The sound of Garen''s fluttering winds attracted the attention of both parties.


    The four-tailed scorpion swiftly retreated by a few steps and attempted to escape into the lake.


    Wham!


    Garen pounced over, one of his wings struck the four-tailed scorpion. The thunderous collision rumbled and fumbled the scorpion, making it rolled on the ground a few rounds before getting up in a daze as if it was knocked out of its senses.


    "Where''s the treasure? My treasure!" Garen''s dragon eyes stared at the two fellows. They were obviously at level nine but as they were battling for a while now, it was the best time to reap the bargain.


    "Treasure?" The man gazed back in bafflement. "White Dragon, you''re here in time. Help me to finish this thing off and I will reward you with a level eight demon core!"


    His purple flame blazed, and a clear purple holy emblem emerged in the air.


    Garen''s hair raised when he saw this holy emblem.


    This guy was a God-Favored!


    He dreaded anything God related.


    God-Favored may not be very strong but they have a special ability which was called Clone of God... in other words, they could summon a God''s clone into their bodies. Their abilities would temporarily arch the peak of the mortal world.


    Therefore, nobody would offend a God-Favored, no matter how low of a level they were. This person was at least a level nine God-Favored. No one would dare offend such a being.


    Garen was left with no choice with the calling from the God-Favored. As he dared not offend him, he could only lend a hand. He was about to go after the four-tailed scorpion when a familiar sound wave came to ear.


    "Help me! We are the same kind! You can''t leave me to die!!" The four-tailed scorpion''s screeching voice stabbed into his mind.


    This fella!!


    Garen was in for a headache.


    The four-tailed scorpion was a Void being and a Void Demon Lord with high intelligence! He would have never thought that he would come across a battle between a void existence and a God-Favored in an underground city.


    "How dare you kill an underground guard placed by my master, unforgivable!" The God-Favored man declared solemnly.


    He was referring to the thane beetle that was dead on the ground. This thing had a master. Garen was fortunate that he was not the first to take care of this thing himself.


    Now the problem was how to attend to the matters concerning these two.


    The four-tailed scorpion was stronger than the God-Favored, but it must be wary of his final trump card which was Clone of God hence its only thought was to flee.


    Garen thought quickly and made a call. Its large dragon body lunged towards the four-tailed scorpion.


    "Die, blasphemer! Die!"


    He dived over threateningly, his fangs and his claws spread open. His large, dragon tail whipped out heavily¡­


    Wham!!


    The God-Favored was caught by surprise, flying away as he was struck hard by the tail and was briefly knocked out of consciousness. Garen spun around swiftly and opened his mouth and bit the man on his waist. Crack!!


    It was all over¡­


    "You...!!" The God-Favored''s face of disbelief vanished in Garen''s white dragon breath. He did not think that Garen would attack him.


    "Hahaha! He must have stayed below the surface for too long that he''s not even wary about his surroundings!!" The four-tailed scorpion burst out laughing in delight.


    "If it were a God-Favored just a level below god then you''d be in big trouble. It''s a shame that this fellow was only a regular Holy Knight. He even dared to forge a holy emblem."


    Garen chewed the guy into pieces and spit him out. He did not want to eat him. He might have killed him, but the God behind him would not put this to rest. There sure would be trouble in the future, but this has nothing to do with him. Only a God-Favored could transmit the scene to God prior to his death, while a regular Holy Knight could only do so with a special technique. When that happened though, they would be after the four-tailed scorpion that killed the thane.


    "What''s next? I saved you, so how should you repay this debt of gratitude?" Garden looked at the four-tailed scorpion.


    As a level nine giant dragon, he could crush any beings at the same level. Garen was confident he could take down any non-dragon species of the same level. It was not him only, any giant dragons would have the same confidence.


    "My name is Manfey, and I have been reproducing here for over a thousand years. I have a large group under me. What sort of repayment are you looking at?" The four-tailed scorpion started to bargain, "You and I are beings of the Mother Stream Void, hence you must have heard about the God-Lure Operations, right? I can recommend you to my monarch to have you participate in the operations."


    "God-Lure Operations?" Garen frowned.


    "You didn''t know?" The four-tailed scorpion cried out loud in exaggeration. This person was so strong, yet he was not aware of such an important operation.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Why don''t you tell me about it?" Garen swept his glance over the God-Favored''s corpse. He retained his composure after he confirmed that nothing was out of the ordinary.


    He was bound to go against God sooner or later, so killing now or later would not make much of a difference. He was just a God-Favored after all.


    "Our alliance has teamed up with this world''s Dragon of Disaster. Using the strongest existence in the mortal world as a threat, we lure the Clones of Gods to descend and kill them off to gradually weaken them," the four-tailed scorpion explained briefly. "The divinity obtained from killing the clones will be made into a Bottle of Holy Blood. I''m here to create a special trap using the treasure here."


    "I have not been in contact with the Alliance for a long time now," Garen explained. "So, you''re saying that you intentionally lure this fellow down?"


    "No way!?" The four-tailed scorpion blurted with two of its clamps kicking about in high emotions, "I am a noncombatant!"


    "Dragon of Disaster?" Garen paid attention to this phrase.


    "Yes... a group led by the three Dragons of Disasters, Ann, Jessyca, and Lucy. Right, if you were to participate, you get a share of the Bottle of Holy Blood. Participate or not, that is still a Bottle of Holy Blood that could strengthen the soul!"

 1310 Gain 2

    "Ann?..." Garen''s heart skipped a beat, "you''re saying that one of the leaders of the Dragons of Disaster group is called Ann?"


    "Yes, is there a problem?" The four-tailed scorpion was puzzled, "You know this Dragon of Disaster?"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Garen did not reply.


    "Can you talk about this situation related to Ann?"


    "Situation? You should really exchange information with the alliance," the four-scorpion said helplessly, "alright, alright, but I don''t know much."


    A pile of information then flowed into Garen''s mind. It was all about Ann''s situation and information as well as contents of the recent God-Lure Operations.


    The operations were successful in some ways as many clones just a level beneath God were lured down and taken care of. This angered many of the churches, bringing the feud between the two parties to a next level.


    Ann, a dragon that has engulfed over a hundred billion lives, Dragon of Disaster, Master of Time and Dark Shadow that died 4,600 years ago. There were rumors that she had not died but was hiding in an abyss. Ever since she lost the battle between God of Shadow and Time, she purposely lurked in the dark, concealing her existence from all beings. As the strongest existence amongst the Dark Shadow Dragons, she was once the most beneficiary contender for the divinity of time and shadow but she failed and transformed into a Dragon of Disaster, the energy source of destruction and massacre.


    "Dark Shadow Dragon..." Garen suddenly understood why Ann helped him in the first place...


    "You have an aura of Pearl of the Temple on you, you must have gotten it then? How lucky. I will not give you such a treasure then. I will instead, reward you with this." The four-tailed scorpion tossed an item and something black rolled over to Garen.


    Garen grabbed the item with his claw. It was a black metal bracelet the size of a human. He could only use it as a ring.


    "This is?"


    "A God-Favored Detector. It also has a dimensional communicating function. It could penetrate dimensions and communication with the alliance. There''s also some information on how to kill the beings of this world and absorb their energy. Killing beings between our two worlds enable us to obtain their energy. This is the most basic energy source. In simpler terms, the more you kill, the stronger you get!" The four-tailed scorpion concluded, "alright now, more is in there. Take your time to analyze it, I''ll make a move first!"


    He quickly shrunk and snuck into the black lake before vanishing.


    Garen kept the bracelet and searched around the corpse pieces on the ground, finding two rings with demonic attributes. He then looked around the surroundings and flew off when there was nothing more to be found.


    "The more I kill, the stronger I will become?" Garen flipped through the contents in the bracelet while on flying on his way back. This thing was similar to a mini computer, there were all sorts of information in it.


    The main thing was how to crystallize an Enneahedron crystal core.


    An Enneahedron was the source for Mother Stream Void beings in obtaining this world''s energy.


    The way to crystallizing was simple. Just killing a level two being and using its soul as material, could create an Enneahedron. It was naturally evolutional which it could continue to strengthen the main body''s ability as it grew.


    He could not be bothered with questions by Blue Void and the rest and went into the tent directly to analyze it carefully, leaving the nitty-gritty to Kevin and his daughter to manage.


    He happened to have a Soul Crystal which fulfilled the requirement of creating an Enneahedron.


    Following instructions, he extracted the soul and compressed the Soul Power, laying down a simple yet profound course of dimensional formation.


    It wasn''t long when an Enneahedron crystal core appeared in his hand.


    Garen looked at the Enneahedron in his hand.


    It looked similar to a normal Enneahedron crystal. It was colorless and transparent, looking insignificant.


    He pressed the Enneahedron on his chest.


    Hiss... the Enneahedron automatically mounted into the scales on his chest, becoming a natural ornament. Garen clicked his tongue in wonder.


    He could not yet tell what this thing was used for.


    Garen pondered for a while, and let the thing absorbed the remaining Soul Crystal. There were no changes.


    The Enneahedron had a few stages. There would be a new change once it achieved qualitative changes. Garen was not in a hurry. He took out the Pearl of the Temple, which was the real highlight.


    He did not plan to consume it as a single-use item, but rather absorb it gradually.


    This gradual absorption was enough for him to add another Soul Ring. A Soul Ring was born through five Soul Seeds. Although it was not as solid as a Soul Ring from a foundation built step by step, this speed was faster than him realizing himself.


    He was already at the red Soul Ring stage. Another Soul Ring could perhaps elevate him to the third stage of Heptachromic, at the level of yellow Soul Ring.


    Storing the Pearl of the Temple, he swallowed it into his tummy to slowly absorb it in. Garen could feel his surroundings contorting. He was still in the tent moments ago and he suddenly appeared on a deserted, bleak grassland.


    Two pure White Dragon Guards were crouching not far off for a rest. Hearing the noise, they got up.


    "You''re back?" The Dragon Guard exclaimed with joy.


    "Uh huh, how long has it been?" Garen nodded.


    "It''s been three days. We are currently at the north grassland near to Snow City. Passing a few more villages and we''ll see Snow City''s territory," Ken answered.


    Adjusting his mood, Garen gazed in the direction of Snow City. It was afternoon.


    "Let''s go and continue the journey. Perhaps we''d be able to spend the night at Snow City."


    "Yes," Annie and Ken did not have any objections.


    The three White Dragons soared high up in the sky and flew away.


    ******


    Among the nestled hills and countless mountains, a grand city stood on the highest peak, overlooking the mountain range.


    A sea of clouds drifted beneath the city.


    The afternoon sunlight painted the pure white city in red. Various flying dragons hovered around the city. Ear piercing howls and roars rattled eardrums from time to time.


    The sun resided on the left of the city and was descending slowly.


    The three White Dragons including Garen flew to this city. Viewing down from above the sea of clouds, they felt a wonderous feeling looking at the glowing, majestic city. They felt as though as they were flying towards a legendary, ancient city.


    On the right of the city, was a high tower carved with a huge golden dragon head. Countless workers were hanging over the dragon head by ropes tied to themselves while they were in labor.


    A silver airship measuring over a few hundred meters long swept past beneath Garen and the two White Dragons, sneaking into the clouds and heading towards the city. The passengers on the airship looked up to observe the three White Dragons at close distance.


    The side of the vessel was hung with air-dried, white furs. A sculpture of a seductive woman was at the front of the ship.


    Whizz!!


    Out of a sudden, the space on Garen''s left side began to contort. A large amount of air compressed into the core of a circular area, surging wildly into it before rumbling.


    Puff!


    Countless air currents spewed out.


    As the spurting air current dispersed, a metallic huge ball in a dusty color emerged in the air. It rotated slowly like a terrestrial globe, structured on top of it were densely complicated mechanics. A white halo orbited it like a planetary ring.


    The ball was a product of Alchemy, at over a thousand meter in diameter, heading straight to Snow City.


    A few figures flew out from the Snow City to welcome and receive it.


    "What a wondrous and grand city," Annie who was beside Garen gasped in admiration.


    "I''m seriously considering living here," Ken smiled.


    "It''s a shame that we''d probably not be welcomed," Garen shook his head. "Let''s go, faster now."


    The three White Dragons hastened their flight to the city.


    Without any examination process, they penetrated a thin layer of transparent film without any hindrance when entering the city within a thousand-meter range. Garen passed through the city''s towering walls and descended on a landing spot by the city.


    Further up was the attacking range of the center towers. Regardless if it was courtesy or by warning, they were not permitted to fly in the city and could only travel on foot.


    Snow City was famous for its crowd of Wizard Towers in the city center. Over a hundred Wizard Towers were built in the city center, concealed by five, six thousand-meter high city walls. Outsiders would not be able to peek in.


    The only tower that the city walls could not conceal was the Silver Tower.


    It was also the same tower with the sculpture of a dragon head in progress. The ten thousand meters-high tower peaked the clouds. It was eye-catching being the only, standing tower in the whole of Snow City.


    It was empty all around when they descended. A few wizard apprentices at the landing spot came up to welcome them.


    "This is the descending spot for the dragon races. We have received permission of your descending. Please rest at Dragon Urban Area number 187. Someone has already reserved a room for three of you."


    The apprentice that spoke was a beautiful and innocent-looking young girl. She looked to be cultured, catering to their taste. Apparently, it was not a rumor that giant dragons favor innocent princesses.


    "Noted. How do we get to the Dragon Urban Area?"


    Garen asked casually.


    "This is a guide. Upon activating it, you need not worry about getting lost in the city," the female apprentice handed over a small round button in pale gold. The button was magnetic as upon contact, it immediately attached to Garen''s scales.


    A pale blue cursor appeared before his sight. The striking cursor was in a shape of a guiding arrow.


    "How convenient," Garen sighed in admiration.


    "Who helped us to book a room?" Annie was curious, "since we''ve never been here before?"


    Garen smiled without saying a word. Apart from Soaring Wing King, he could not think of anyone else who would reserve a room for them. He was sure that Soaring Wing King would be in contact with him very soon after they settled down.


    He really needed to establish a Wizard Tower as soon as possible or else he would not dare to investigate the divinity. Once the divinity was dissected for research, it was possible that God would detect his location and punished him from above.


    Without a screen to isolate the Divine Power, this high-level research could not be done.

 1311 Dragon Master 1

    Dragon Urban Area Hotel.


    Different from the Human Urban Area, the hotels and residences in the Dragon Zone varied in height and entrance level, some were high some were low. Some of them hung off a cliff, some of them were underground, while some had poisonous mist lingering around it, making it suitable for poisonous dragons to stay.


    The magnitude of the building scale in this zone was huge and eye-catching, at least three to five times bigger than a regular human building. Dragons and Dragon Beasts of various sizes roamed the streets. The Dragon Beasts were horrifyingly powerful beings.


    Walking from town area, one could observe that the surrounding buildings were pure white in color, while some shimmered in pale gold.


    Garen and the two followed the guide''s direction and arrived at a frozen, snow-covered pyramid-shaped building.


    "Welcome, three honorable White Dragons." Two Dragon Lizards with seductive figures greeted them at the door. These lizards carried the dragon bloodline, and they were a mini version of the dragons. From a dragon aesthetic concept, their figures were considered sexy and suited their taste.


    It was a shame that Garen did not respond to the winks thrown by these two Dragon Lizards.


    "It''s here," he lifted his head to look at the hotel''s name, Blood of Moon Gaze.


    "You must be Lord Garen?" As the two Dragon Lizards were lost in sorrow, out came another Dragon Lizard smiling saying, "Welcome to Blood of Moon Gaze, a reservation has been made for the three of you. Feel free to ask us if you require anything. Please follow me and I will show you to your room."


    Garen nodded, and together with the other two, followed this slightly bigger Dragon Lizard into the pyramid. It was how he had imagined it to be, the place was compressed by space but the actual space was much more than it looked to be.


    The hotel was specially designed for frozen Snow Dragons as cold, white air spurted out in funnels similar to air-conditioning, spraying down like wonderland.


    There was a huge pond by the side, a few Snow Class Blue Dragons gathered closely with an old White Dragon, conversing softly.


    Other than them, no other Dragon Clans could be seen.


    Garen and the two entered and took a look around casually. Hive-like empty holes were everywhere.


    Following the Dragon Lizard into a cave, the space within it changed and converted into a new, white frozen cave.


    "This will be your room. You can knock on the door if you require anything and a waiter will come forth to serve you," the big Dragon Lizard explained in a low voice.


    "Thank you," Garen looked around the cave. There were three independent caves divided in there. There were even special tools placed in the rooms, large-scale tools that provided dragons entertainment, such as... a huge hammock...


    "If you want to play some interesting games, I can also provide some convenient services," the Dragon Lizard chuckled.


    Garen and the rest were speechless.


    But seeing how Annie was implicated and stealing glances at him, she must be aroused...


    Although dragons were lascivious, Garen still found it hard to comprehend their hardcore taste.


    After gesturing for the Dragon Lizard to leave, the three retreated into their caves respectively. Garen had just entered his cave to rest when low moans and groans were heard coming from Annie''s cave on the right.


    Needless to say, Annie and Ken must be doing each other.


    A human scholar once researched that apart from spending half their lives on sleeping or resting, dragons used the remaining seventy percent of their time to mate.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Looks like there is some truth to that..." Garen was speechless.


    Sleeping in a coiled-up position on the ice bed, he grabbed a bunch of frozen grapes. Tossing it into his mouth, he chewed and swallowed the sweet and sour grapes.


    He began to rest and entered dreamland.


    He charged to the third level with familiarity.


    It was the same sealed room in a villa with a giant crow flying around it.


    Garen opened his eyes and found himself sitting in the middle of the sofa.


    Black ashes drizzled down lightly from the air, disappearing as soon as it landed on him.


    "I have been waiting for you for a long time," Soaring Wing King''s voice was heard coming from his back.


    "Soaring Wing King, it was you who arranged the room?" Garen turned and stood up. He saw Soaring Wing King standing by the window, holding a staff. His back was resting on the window lattice with his eyes closed.


    "Yes, are you satisfied? That''s one of the popular hotels that most dragons want to visit. Blood of Moon Gaze has the blessing from the Reproduction God that could increase fertility to a certain stage," Soaring Wing King opened his eyes and gave him a naughty wink.


    "Yeah, right... I don''t have such a hardcore taste," Garen was speechless. "Alright now, let''s talk about the plan you mentioned before."


    "And your answer?"


    "Answer... I can agree to it but I need some time," Garen frowned. "The time frame you confirmed is a little long."


    "That''s out of my hands. Other than you, I have another two candidates but they''re no better than you," Soaring Wing King shook his head. "Getting in contact with that race is not just dangerous, it''s troublesome."


    "The God Damnator race is an enemy of God. It''s the doing of the Gods that they''re sealed in that dimension. Why is it your turn to suppress them now?" Garen asked.


    "There''re many reasons to it which you can''t imagine. Moreover, this branch of God Damnators managed to escape the eyes of God using some special tactics. If it weren''t because we noticed something amiss, and took it as one of the weapons to retaliate against the Gods, they probably would have broken out from the seal. These God Damnators are quite valiant, the consequences would be severe if they were to escape," Soaring Wing King explained in brief.


    "So apart from guarding and reinforcing the seal, what else do I have to do?" Garen asked in detail.


    "If you are able to obtain complete control at the crucial moment, and release them when we need them to be released, the Alliance would be happy. You have Enneahedron on you, you must have found a way to absorb Souls?" Soaring Wing King smiled.


    "Yes."


    "I need to remind you that the Enneahedron is basically snatching the Souls of this world and is the same nature as those Gods, so it is easy to be discovered by them. Once they''re onto you, you will be taken care of the first minute so do not execute a massacre until necessary."


    "How long do I need to defend?"


    "Fifty years. During the fifty years, if you''re willing, I will build a Wizard Tower in the Defending Zone. If you are alright to have the tower where the seal is, I will apply for an exemption for a majority of the materials. If you are not willing, then you would have to foot the bill yourself."


    "Fifty years..." It has only been a few years since Garen arrived in this world. A price of fifty years seemed quite hefty.


    The God Damnator race was a powerful existence, possessing great resistance against the existence of God and going against it.


    Normally, the birth of one God Damnator would trigger fear in a country or even a dimension so the release of an entire God Damnator race would be disastrous.


    It was also one of the bargaining chips that allowed the Arcanists to be able to maintain independence amongst the Gods. They held in hand with them thirteen God Damnator sealing venues and guarded the security of these seals.


    Soaring Wing King wanted Garen to secure one of the locations and his goal was to have Garen grasp control of it for fifty years to cooperate with the Alliance to destroy this dimension.


    "You''re not the only one in this. The Alliance has sent forth another two powerful existences. It may be not successful, and the chances of success are low. We are trying our luck hence it would be best if we succeed but it''s also quite alright if we don''t."


    "Fifty years is too long. I would need some form of compensation," Garen thought about it before continuing to bargain. Truth be told, he was already moved by it.


    "If it''s compensation, what do you want then?" Soaring Wing King pondered for a while. He thought highly of Garen. Even as a high-ranking Demon Lord, a development speed such as Garen''s was still rare.


    "I would need a large number of Demon Cores or Soul Crystals. The higher the level, the better," said Garen solemnly.


    "Demon Cores? Sure, what specific level do you need?" Soaring Wing King''s frown loosened up.


    It might be difficult if he requested for other things, but Snow City had plenty of this Demon Cores.


    "What''s the most you can offer?" Garen asked.


    "One level nine Demon Core, ten level eights and a hundred level sevens. What do you think?"


    "It might be better if I hunt it myself then!" Garen exclaimed in disdain. "Hunting a few level nine beings in the ocean of another dimension is a lot more than what you''re offering."


    "It seems you''re akin to things related to the Soul. Perhaps there''s a thing you may like," Soaring Wing King smiled. "The Despair Head of Annas."


    He gestured an arch with his finger and a floating silhouette instantly appeared midair. It was a gleaming skull.


    As soon as this thing appeared, Garen felt a vast potential aura surging over but disappeared almost immediately as though it was all in his head.


    "This is an unprecedented, semi-divine weapon left behind by a powerful godly being upon passing. It used to be a part of a death staff divine weapon. It was then disassembled so it''s a semi-divine weapon," Soaring Wing King noticed that Garen was visibly moved.


    "This semi-divine weapon can falsify and steal the power of belief. In it harbor the torrenting will of a great god. It could restrain any existence lower than your own level and decrease their reaction by two levels."


    Garen gazed at this semi-divine weapon intensely, unable to turn his sight away. He was lacking a multitude of Potential Points in the original void and this semi-divine weapon harbored at least a few thousand Potential Points. It was the greatest reservoir he had ever seen.


    After putting many thoughts to it, Garen lifted his head.


    "It''s a deal then."


    "Great," Soaring Wing King was satisfied. "And if you would like to join the Blood War, it will not be a problem. I can send you directly to Ten Thousand Abyss Plains. The condition is that you must return alive or else everything will be wasted."


    "Of course," answered Garen.


    ******


    Waking up from his dream, it was already the morning of the next day.


    Garen recalled the matters he agreed with Soaring Wing King, about the semi-divine weapon and guarding the sealing venue. These were two important matters.


    He touched his right leg. A huge tumor grew at the back of it. It was obvious in red and seemed to be growing bigger.


    "I need more Potential Points, more Souls... I will need to go to Blood Wars. The real battle fifty years later will kill me if I''m not strong enough..."


    "Master Garen, someone''s is here asking for you, saying that you''re an old acquaintance who came all the way to visit you," Annie whispered from outside.

 1312 Dragon Master 2

    "Old acquaintance?" Garden could not recall of anybody from Snow City who was an old acquaintance.


    "Male or female?"


    "A female. She seemed elegant and strong," Annie answered honestly.


    "I''ll go take a look," Garen really could not think of anybody knowing him here. Soaring Wing King would definitely not contact him out of the blue, otherwise, communications with Void beings would be exposed and he would be dragged into it too.


    Stepping out of his cave, Garen only saw Annie present. Ken was out of sight but he was not bothered. Dragon Guards too have their own personal time and space.


    Approaching the frozen cave''s door and experiencing a dimensional distortion, Garen appeared at the pyramid hotel''s entrance.


    A petite girl stood out among the large beasts which were bustling around the busy streets.


    Standing outside the hotel waiting for him was a cute, little girl dressed in a white blouse and black-laced skirt. She had light brown, wavy bangs and two, long ponytails tied up which tailed all the way down to her waist. Her skin was fair and delicate, giving an impression of a next-door sweetheart.


    In her hands were a bouquet of white roses. Standing at the entrance of the hotel circled by large beasts, she seemed fragile and timid, and others could not help feeling the want to protect her.


    This was the Dragon Urban Area, the residence and activity zone of large beasts. It was incomprehensible for a human to come over.


    Garen and Annie caught sight of the girl as soon as they came out. She was hard to miss.


    She was just too cute. Her pouted tender pink lips and puffy cheeks indicated that she was a little unhappy from waiting long.


    But the second she saw Garen walking out, the little girl beamed with joy.


    "It''s Garen! I finally see you! My beloved Lord Garen!!" She darted forward towards Garen, opening her arms. Her voluptuous breasts were undisguisedly facing Garen''s direction.


    The Dragons around cast envious looks. This was typical, throwing oneself into somebody''s arm gesture. If Dragons knew of the Ultimate Transformation Spell, they could enjoy a long sexual lifestyle. No Dragon would let go of such a cute worshiper that even if one could not transform, any form of sexual activity would be considered a fortunate event.


    Garen had not even gathered what was happening when he saw the girl darting over.


    Dragons have natural urges, and the little girl''s heavy aura could not help but instigated hot-blooded impulses.


    Garen could not help but opened his arms wide, fearing that the little girl would stumble on to the ground. Very quickly though, he realized something was not right. How could there be such a circumstance when his willpower was normally strong.


    It was then that the little girl''s expression in her eyes changed. With a swish, the bouquet of roses in her hands turned into an exceptionally large, heavy metal hammer. It was engraved with countless dark golden characters, and the aura flowing on it surpassed that of level nine. It was a semi-divine weapon!


    "Hahaha!! Another genius dragon is mine!!! Hahaha!!!" The little girl laughed maniacally, an extreme contrast with the earlier, cute appearance.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "A Dragon Master!!" Garen''s heart skipped a beat, startled. The metal hammer in the seemingly cute little girl''s was a heavy, unavoidable threat to Garen.


    Given the extremely close distance, he would not be able to dodge in time. He decisively charged forward in full force.


    Wham!!!


    The huge collision burst open a wave of faint ripples around him.


    The little girl''s face changed. She knew it was not good. Even if she was able to restrain Garen during this impact, she would suffer fatal injuries. The loss outweighed the gain.


    "Damn you! To be my personal slave is your luck, yet you dare retaliate!!?" She shouted out loud. She immediately retrieved the contracted glow on the hammer and turned her focus on defending her body.


    Wham!!!


    The entire street rumbled from the impactful collision. The street surface between Garen and the little girl cracked open a rift. Snow City''s automated repair machinery went to work immediately, and the rift was repaired at visible velocity.


    Garen rammed mercilessly onto the little girl. Strangely enough, the little girl''s physique looked light but she was in fact as heavy as a mountain. He only managed to knock her over, flipping three to four rounds before she stabilized herself.


    "Don''t you dare escape!!"


    The little girl screamed, as she stood firmly and wielded her little arm in the air. Three Red Dragons instantly charged out from her back towards Garen.


    The three Red Dragons were in adult form. As they charged towards Garen, the dynamic air current pressed on both sides, high heat radiation spread out causing the temperature to increase rapidly.


    "Let me!" Annie dashed ahead towards a Red Dragon. Ken too seemed to charge out of nowhere towards another Red Dragon.


    The remaining Red Dragon pounced at Garen ferociously. There was no killing intent, but a bitter smile flashed across its eyes.


    "Don''t fight it, it will save everybody''s time."


    Garen did not even look at him as his body suddenly expanded. His tail whipped out, leaving behind a trail of shadow.


    With a loud wham, the Red Dragon was struck away, tumbling into the opposite building, creating ripples on the building''s protective film surface.


    Beep!!


    The alarm sounded in the Urban Area. Sounds of giant dragons'' fluttering wings could be heard from a distance. The security was on their way.


    "Rola!" The Dragon Master girl screeched in a sharp voice.


    Swish!


    A shackle glowing in light yellow burst out from her chest, trespassing space and appeared in front of Garen''s chest before binding itself tightly around Garen.


    Garen was shocked. The chain was abnormally sturdy that even his eighty point strength could not break him free.


    The Dragon Master laughed in delight. With a gesture of her little hand, space tore open. She jumped into it, and Garen disappeared together with her.


    The Red Dragons turned into shadows and disappeared completely in a puff.


    ******


    "Contract, I swear with my Soul that you will forever submit to me, never resisting. What''s yours is mine, what''s mine is mine, not yours. You and I are one body yet separated. I swear to love you wholeheartedly, and willing to be lifetime partners with you. Together we rise, together we fall. We''ll spend when we have money, drink when we have water..."


    A mess of chants rung in Garen''s ear.


    He woke up leisurely from his momentary unconsciousness from the space-time teleportation, finding that he was still tied up. The little girl in black skirt was in front of him, muttering some weird incantation.


    Wham!


    Instinctively, his tail lashed out. The little girl flew at the sound and knocked only something violently before crying out loud.


    "Damn you, Garen, don''t you know I hate it the most when someone hits my face!! You''re dead! You''re so dead!! Ah!!! Let me go, I want to kill him!!!"


    At a wall of the cave not far away, the little girl was screaming, flipped, as she was held back by a Black Dragon helplessly.


    One side of the little girl''s face was swollen from the tail''s whip.


    Garen then realized that he was inside some cave. It was dark everywhere, except for a few spots lit up by some candles.


    Eight giant dragons gathered around. There were Black Dragons, Red Dragons, Purple Dragons and Blue Dragons. He was the only White Dragon.


    "I say, young lady, this fellow is only a White Dragon. Do you really want us all to concentrate our powers to restrain him?"


    "Duh!!" Dragon Master Asilia screeched. "He is the strongest White Dragon in history, how can you all idiots compare to him!!?"


    "Young lady, it''s not nice to hear that," a Black Dragon replied listlessly. "It''s just a slightly stronger White Dragon, he could not be stronger than any of us Black Dragons?"


    "Even my powers weren''t able to restrain him! You guys wait till he terrorizes you all!" Asilia continued to cuss out loud.


    "If you can''t restrain him, all you will be scrubbing the toilet! Scrub! Toilet! Ahhhhhh!!" Asilia seemed to lose her mind a lot, as she started to shriek again while pulling her hair.


    Seeing the expressions on the surrounding giant dragons, it was obvious that they were quite used to it.


    Garen stood up, flipping his huge dragon tail.


    "Dragon Master Asilia? You look like a kid who hasn''t grown up."


    "What!? How dare you say I''m a kid!!?? You''re dead! You''re sooo dead! Wait till we are bounded by contract and I''ll have you scrub the toilet for three hundred days! Three hundred days!!!" Asilia obviously believed that scrubbing toilets were the ultimate punishment.


    "Alright, let''s begin," the Black Dragon listlessly said. "I want to continue enjoying my life after this, I don''t have time to waste here."


    "Alright, little Asilia, stand further away. We are gathering our powers, don''t let us hurt you," a female Red Dragon smiled.


    "I''m joining in too!!" Asilia jumped in.


    "No, there''s no need. Although you share one-third of our powers, your body can''t fully use this tremendous power. It''s better for you to sit on the side and observe," a Blue Dragon reminded gently.


    Garen looked at the eight dragons encircling him. Dragon Master Asilia seemed to be on good terms with these contracted giant dragons. These giant dragons did not seem unwilling. What an odd contracted relationship.


    "Four adult dragons, four young dragons. You''re willing to be this little girl''s contracted giant dragon? How strange," Garen muttered.


    If this was the only case, then it was fine but these dragons were not any regular dragons. They all had a special, rippling aura on them. Asilia must have her eye on their individual strengths.


    "There''s nothing strange. Once you sign the contract, you''ll understand why," a Blue Dragon said lightly. "Although I don''t know why Asilia took a fancy to you, a White Dragon, she must have her reasons with her decision."


    Once the master-slave contract was formalized, there would be no secret. Garen did not want his biggest secret exposed but these eight dragons had some special formation that could combine their powers together. He was now tied up by that light yellow shackles that weakened his body by a tad.


    "On behalf of Snow city, if you let me go now, I can still forgive you," Garen said solemnly. Asilia was the daughter of the Silver Tower Master in Snow City. Unless pushed to the extreme, he really did not want to offend this ability which peaked in the mortal world. As the President of Snow City, that monstrous old man held in hand a terrifying authority that was similar to King Gus. He was also at the range of the Silver Tower powers.

 1313 Blood Wars 1

    "How arrogant," a Purple Dragon answered listlessly. "Let''s do it so this little one will learn to respect his stronger elders."


    "Hehehe..." The Black Dragon rubbed his claws and snickered.


    This group of fellows seemed to be quite the oddballs.


    Garen had already made his point so he was not going to waste any more breath and got up. A layer of white golden color started to spread out over his scales.


    "This little guy is about to make a big one, restrain him!!" The Purple Dragon shouted out loud.


    The group of giant dragons bolted over. With Garen in the middle, the surrounding eight giant dragons stuck themselves onto the transparent barrier beside Garen, unleashing rays in varying tones of color.


    Their movements paused for a moment before a powerful, large force burst out.


    "Dragon Force Formation! This is the Dragon Force Formation I devoted myself to creating, you can''t escape now, hahaha!!!" Asilia had her hands on her waist as she laughed hysterically.


    "You little pipsqueak better be prepared to lick my ass! Ha! Ha! Ha!"


    This fellow was getting out of hand.


    It was at this moment when the large multitude of colors clicked, and a horrifying white golden glow broke out from the chained shackles. Garen''s body expanded rapidly into multiplying folds of his original size to twice the size of an adult giant dragon.


    He gently swiped his massive tail.


    Wham!!


    The assembled Dragon Force Formation by the eight giant dragons crushed. The eight dragons flew out from the impact, whizzing in high-velocity wind.


    "What!!??" Asilia was stunned and wham, she was knocked right in the face by one of the flying Red Dragons.


    Wham!


    She crashed violently onto the wall before tumbling down together with the Red Dragon. A human and a dragon laid on the ground whimpering, not being able to get up.


    Bam, bam.


    In just two steps, Garen came before her. He extended his large claw to dangle her up, as his tail made another sweep on a giant dragon which was trying to get up.


    "Little girl, there''s a price to pay for being so arrogant," he dangled Asilia by the collar like a pendulum.


    "Let... me... go!!" Asilia shouted weakly. She was alright from that dreadful bang onto the wall. She must share much of the Dragon Force that her vitality was similar to a dragon''s.


    Roar!!


    A Black Dragon bit Garen''s wings from behind.


    Garen swung his body casually, and the Black Dragon was tossed into the wall by Garen''s wings. Runes appeared on the wall, but the wall did not crumble. The Black Dragon instead was smashed to the point that he was incognizant, with blood bleeding out of his seven apertures.


    Wham! Wham! Wham!!


    With three consecutive knocks, the claw on Garen''s wing let go of the Black Dragon and left him to free fall. He had lost his strength to retaliate.


    "You''re next," Garen looked at Asilia. His malicious eyes gave this little girl the chills.


    "No, you can''t do this to me!" She shrieked.


    "You can ambush me, yet I can''t return the favor?" Garen curled his lips into a smile, "or maybe, you have another choice."


    "What... what other choices?"


    "Let me eat you," Garen made out an evil face.


    "Ah!!!!" Asilia cried out loud. "You''re dead!! Dead!! How dare you bully me!! My father will not let you go!!"


    Garen''s ears were ringing, his eardrums hurt from her sharp screeching.


    "Stop crying!! Stop crying!!!" He roared.


    But her voice got louder and louder, crispier and crispier, stabbing hard into his brain.


    "Wa...! I''m going to die!!!" Asilia continued to wail.


    Garen felt something sticky leaking out of his ears. He touched it. It was White Dragon blood!


    He immediately tossed Asilia away.


    But a terrifying force froze her in midair. Asilia''s cries continued but her eyes flashed a white silvery glow.


    Garen felt his body weakened. He scanned his status. This voice depressed an average of ten attribute points.


    He dared not stay on further and made a dash to the cave''s entrance. This Dragon Master was too weird. He glanced at the eight giant dragons on the ground. These fellows were conversing while lying on the ground, only the Black Dragon was wiping off blood from his body with a long face.


    "I say, that fellow must not be able to withstand, right?" The purple dragon said while lying down.


    "Once Asilia''s ultimate technique is out, it is without parallel! She is the direct bloodline of that lord after all."


    "There will be another companion joining us soon."


    "Isn''t that great? This time, this fellow is not just your regular valiant. We are easily shaken off."


    "You, a Purple Dragon, come talking to us about strength?"


    "Let''s see how long he''ll last?"


    "I''m betting ten seconds."


    "I bet one minute. He must be immune from level nine spellcraft. Tsk tsk, no wonder the young lady was so hung up on it. Already immune to level nine spellcraft at such a young age, you can just imagine how strong he will be in the future."


    "It can be a little troublesome. Such a young talent, if Tiamat were to get word of it..."


    "It''s okay. It''s Snow City here, the territory of Ola. Tiamat can only rot in purgatory and abyss."


    The giant dragons were unharmed from the soundwave due to the contract, so they were in the mood to do small talks.


    But Garen was not in the most pleasant mood. He felt the scales on his body loosening up. This sound wave of an energy seemed to be equivalent to a level nine Succubus'' Wail, perhaps even more powerful and could last forever. He might be immune to level nine spellcraft, but this sort of long-term damage would loiter.


    Wham!


    Garen hammered himself heavily onto the transparent barrier in the cave, creating clear ripples.


    The massive force quaked the entire cave.


    The eight giant dragons looked over with their jaws dropped. They didn''t think that Garen possessed such powerful strength.


    Asilia was startled as well, and she stopped shrieking. The white silvery color in her eyes finally faded away.


    Garen glanced at her in pain. He finally understood the reason why the three elders warned him to stay away from Dragon Masters. This little one... was just so strange.


    The earlier powers... did not seem it could be wielded by just anybody. It was obvious Asilia harbored with her a deep secret. This secret must be related to the upper levels amongst Arcanists. He really did not want to be tied down to anything prestigious this early.


    He gave another hard ram.


    With a bang, the walls of the cave crumbled. The entire cave contorted and the scenery around changed. Garen suddenly found himself back in the streets of the hotel.


    The guards and patrolling flying dragons had tightened their security around. His sudden appearance did not cause a panic but quickly, a lean elegant Blue Dragon walked up.


    "You look fine?" The Blue Dragon was surprised. "Don''t worry, Asilia has been taken away by the Tower Master to be taught a lesson. This time, she was too irrational. The Tower Master will be giving all dragons a satisfactory answer and compensation."


    There were large groups of level two and three elites patrolling around here with a few veiled powerful auras that could be felt.


    It looked as though that the attack had triggered a negative impact in Snow City.


    The Blue Dragon blocked the mess on Garen. He was slightly surprised and felt pitiful. If Asilia and Garen had succeeded in binding a contract, things would be easier to take care of. The contract binding failed so Silver Tower would need to pacify the dragons with a satisfactory answer, otherwise, any dragon with the slightest talent would be forced to sign a contract and no Dragon Clan would ever want to cooperate with Snow City and that could be troublesome.


    A few old dragons wielding white staffs flew over from a distance and landed gently by Garen.


    "Thank Tiamat that Master Garen you''re all okay. We are already in serious negotiations with Silver Tower. Don''t you worry, this time we will definitely uphold justice for you!" They held with them a White Dragon Mountain emblem. They must be representatives of White Dragon Mountain. They reeked of heavy divine powers of Dragon God. They were Tiamat''s dragon pastors.


    Rushing over at the very first moment, they were here to brown nose.


    Garen responded with a smile and exchanged greetings in gesture of graciousness. Soon, the group of dragons sent Garen off to the hotel to rest. Of course, it was not the same hotel but another. Ken and Annie rushed over, with a strong adult Black Dragon following behind them. Another exchange of politeness, this Black Dragon was a level ten in charge of coordination between humans and dragons in Snow City. Ken and Annie had apparently gone off to seek help.


    A few of the White Dragons with contracts with Snow City nobles came over to express support. Garen responded all with open arms. The representative of Silver Tower, a level eight old wizard came over, showing concern and apologized on behalf. He also offered plenty of options in compensation.


    The situation caused by the Dragon Master was then laid to rest but Garen was now wary of Asilia.


    That white silvery eyes really stunk of godliness.


    ******


    A shop in Dragon Urban Area.


    Garen and his two Dragon Guards were hanging around in a department store swamped with various large beasts. There was no sight of any human. They were all large beasts with huge body types. Dragons were the main customers while the rests were oddly shaped dragon beasts or highly intelligent large beasts.


    The boss was a large octopus ten of meters in height. Each of its tentacles has eyes, a natural surveillance camera.


    The store sold many unique sparkly items. Some were enchanted while others were natural treasure, jewels or crystals. There were even unknown mysterious items. The lowest price was set at over a million gold coins, definitely not your regular rip off.


    Garen stood behind two large-headed monsters, looking at a transparent crystal ball on the counter.


    "Boss, how much is this?"


    He squeezed in and grabbed the crystal ball, asking.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    The octopus monster reached out a tentacle and sized Garen up.


    "Twenty million, non-negotiable."


    "Void Crystal. It can imprison a soul from another world level eight above but below level ten. A must-have to build a Wizard Tower."

 1314 Blood Wars 2

    Garen nodded.


    It was a must-have item to build an Advanced Wizard Tower and this item alone cost twenty million gold coins. Although its price was rather exaggerated, he would have already guessed that the materials required to build an Advanced Wizard Tower would be incredibly expensive.


    He had obtained a batch of unique and shiny treasures that was adored by the Dragon Clan from the Silver Tower as compensation since his encounter with Asilia.


    Then, he brought this wealth along with him and started to inquire about relevant materials required to building a Wizard Tower to estimate the total cost required.


    He managed to estimate the total cost needed within a few days and the total expenditure was no lower than what Soaring Wing King had said.


    He also gained a valuable piece of information in the past few days. He finally had a full understanding of Snow City and its circumstances.


    This city was saturated with idle mercenaries and travelers ranging from Level Two to Level Five. The Battle Wizards, Mercenary Warriors, the Berserk Barbarians and the Dwarves formed the majority and next in line was the humans. Most of the pure humans here were high levels and the follow-ups were hybrids related to the humans such as Hybrid Half-Elf, Barbarians, and Human Hybrids. There were a lot of hybrids between humans and succubus such as the Wizard Disciple, who greeted Garen, had the rare Succubus blood flowing through his body.


    The pure humans who had the courage to visit here were typically at least Great Wizard Level and above as this place was termed as the Wizard City. Great Wizards were often spotted in the streets as they were not considered valuable here.


    Garen could sense one or two hidden presences that threatened him as he looked down the street.


    "No wonder the Snow City is often said to be as strong as an empire."


    After having a clear overall picture of the items'' prices, Garen went straight to the bookstore to buy a complete set of Basic Arcane Spellcraft books. He spent at least a hundred thousand on the books and ordered Ken to purchase the basic ingredients for the types of Spellcraft for research purposes.


    He himself brought Annie along to the Wizard Tower located in the inner city where the Soaring Wing King lived.


    It was the Dwarf Urban Area the moment he got out of the Dragon Urban Area. As Garen was not allowed to stop moving, he went passed through the Dwarf Urban Area directly towards the entrance of the Transportation Formation so that he could head directly to the address which Soaring Wing King had given him.


    The transportation was incredibly fast as Garen immediately arrived at the Soaring Wing King''s Wizard Tower - Black Crow Tower.


    ***********


    "Please wait for a moment. The Tower Master is currently giving his honorable guest his daily treatment."


    The Wizard Apprentice was a young and busty girl. She explained to Garen softly as she served him hot, concentrated tea.


    Garen''s body had shrunk to the size of a dragon whelp so it was not a problem for him to sit on a slightly larger chair. On the other hand, it was not possible for Annie so she could only lay on the ground, resting while observing the surroundings cautiously with her dragon eyes.


    The Black Crow Tower was one of the tallest towers out of the few hundreds of Wizard Towers. This was related to the social standing of the Soaring Wing King as he was a member of the Snow City and Grey Shadow Society at the same time. He was one of the highest members that could decide the fate of the Snow City.


    Afterall, one would not be able to spot a Level Twelve anywhere. Hence, it was only natural for him to reach such a social standing with his strength.


    Garen waited for a while and the Soaring Wing King soon appeared in this floor with a crutch.


    He looked rather tired and he seemed to have exhausted a lot of his strength.


    Garen stood up.


    "Good day, your honorable Soaring Wing King."


    "The powerful White Dragon genius. I''ve heard of your reputation the moment I reached the city. Hehe. How can I treat you?" He was one of the renowned, best therapists in the Snow City as well.


    Both of them acted as if they do not know each other.


    "Of course not. The reason I''m here is because of this." Garen flicked his finger and shot out a pile of white mist which automatically formed into a clear image in mid-air, revealing his advanced technique in controlling the chilled air.


    The image only appeared for a second. It was actually a pointless symbol and a signal of the promise between them.


    It meant that Garen had finished his preparation and had come to fulfill the contract.


    The Soaring Wing King smiled faintly.


    "I understand. When do you plan to depart?" He was asking when he was going to participate in the Blood Wars at the Ten Thousand Abyss Plains located in the Abyss.


    "I can go whenever I want since I can prepare myself at any given moment," Garen replied confidently. He had to strengthen himself within fifty years and the Blood Wars was the fastest and best option for him to hunt for Souls. Naturally, this was the assumption that he could survive.


    "You should go and get prepared. You''ll need all of the essentials, otherwise, you''ll only know how valuable they are when you need them most." The Soaring Wing King reminded him in a friendly manner.


    Garen nodded.


    He wished to purchase some above average medicine from the Soaring Wing King as well since the Abyss'' Blood Wars was filled with terrifying wars ranging from low levels to high levels. Despite him being a Level Nine being, it was of his best interest to not underestimate the harsh environment there.


    Garen did not wish to stay in Snow City any longer as he had a feeling that the Dragon Master Asilia would not give up that easily. Hence, he decided to participate in the Blood Wars as soon as possible.


    Entering a room together, Soaring Wing King sprinkled a huge amount of Isolation Powder, enacting an absolute divine barrier which ensured that the environment was safe to talk freely.


    "Okay, I''ve prepared all of the items you required. The High-Grade Transporation Scroll, Positioning Stone, High-Grade Recovery Ointment and the Emergency Guard. Since you''re immune to Level Nine Spells, most of the Gain Scrolls are ineffective against you as well." The Soaring Wing King reminded again, "You have to be careful out there. It is the eternal battlefield between Demon Batz and Tanar''ri. Try not to reveal your full strength as much as possible. Regardless if it''s the Abyss or the Nine Layers of Hell, there exist beings comparable to the Demigods and even the Evil Gods live in one of the layers as well. I don''t wish for you to die there this early and your corpse turning into materials. That would mean that our contract is ruined for good. I''ll ask you one last time, are you sure you want to go into the Blood Wars?"


    He asked him in all seriousness.


    "I''m very sure," Garen nodded. Although Garen knew of the dangers of the Blood Wars, it was the only place that he could grow quickly. In this material plane, he would require a huge amount of Demon Cores in order to achieve his desired strength.


    Recently, he felt that his body is undergoing a strange evolution. Thorns started to grow on his back and it seemed that he would be entering a new evolution soon.


    Furthermore, he wanted to see for himself the horrifying war between the legendary Demon Tanar''ri and Devil Batz.


    Regardless if it was the Potential Points or Enneahedron, both of these would require a huge amount of stolen Souls. This was a huge taboo in the material plane and would be easily detected by the God. However, it was entirely different in the Abyss.


    "It''s not an easy task to find a more suitable person than you. I wish you good luck." The Soaring Wing King said regrettably. "However, I believe that we Demon Kings are beings who experienced and survived countless battles and we will not simply die in this world."


    "That''s but of course," Garen smiled as he curled his lips.


    "These are your items." Soaring Wing King passed a small ring to Garen, he took it and glanced at the contents inside. The Semi-Divine Weapon that was promised was included in it as well. Food, drinks, medicine and so on were all well prepared.


    "Do you need armor and weapon?"


    "What kind of armor is tougher than my scales? Weapon? My claw is much more powerful than any weapon existed," Garen said without a care in the world.


    "That''s true." Soaring Wing King nodded. "When do you plan to leave? I''ll make preparations as well."


    "Let''s do it today." Although he had only stayed in a small corner of the Snow City for a few days, he had yet to immerse himself in the city''s atmosphere, but given his concerns from being targeted by the Dragon Master, he did not wish to stay any longer.


    "You can tell two of my guards the truth when I leave. I don''t wish to be dragged by them both."


    "How pitiful to call two Level Eight beings a burden," Soaring Wing King shook his head. "By the way, you have to be cautious when you''re using the Despair Head of Annas. Most of the demons and devils in the Abyss are very sensitive towards souls and beliefs and you''ll be easily spotted."


    "I understand." Garen nodded. Other than having an enormous amount of Potential Aura, this item is very useful in gathering Soul Energy. He could collect the Souls that had died in the war on the battlefield. However, he had to be discreet about it as collecting Souls would be equivalent to snatching the goods away from the Abyss.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Do you have the overall intel of the Abyss?"


    "I only have the intel for Ten Thousand Abyss Plains. There are a lot of steel fortresses built by the Devils. Since their management is very strict, you can only participate in the war alongside with the demons," Soaring Wing King explained.


    "What about those Demon Kings that had departed before me?"


    "We lost contact with them. The chaos in the Abyss would cut off all communication from the material plane. Hence we are unable to keep in touch with them at all times."


    Garen then compared the intel he had obtained from Ann as he inquired about the Abyss''s intel and information.


    There were two lowest and most basic life forms in the Abyss. The first one was the Demonic Worms, which was also known as the Abyss Maggots. They were the initial form of all demons and would slowly evolve via the trial of survival of the fittest.


    The second life form was the Prayer.


    When the Soul had been corrupted by the Abyss, the Soul would become distorted. They were at the very bottom of the hierarchy and were the workers and slaves. Some of them were even turned into materials for battleships.


    Next in line were the demons in varieties of shapes and sizes. Among all of the demons, the Tanar''ri''s clan was the strongest and was the main force that fought against the Devils in the Blood Wars.


    After having a clearer understanding of the situation, Garen found a portion of the Abyss'' most recent map. Since the geography of the Abyss often changed, it was not necessary to keep them for the long term.


    He had also obtained another information from the Soaring Wing King. The largest Spacetime Dimension Fissure had been opened somewhere in the south and there were a huge amount of Void Creatures of different types gushing out from it. The priests from the major Gods and even the Divine Officers and Bishops had already gone to the scene


    The Void Lords and the True Souls had engaged in a large scale war as they tried to secure the lands as their base.


    As all of the Gods were paying attention on this end, the Demon Lords who had hidden hoped that they could grow quickly so that they could be on the field in fifty years time.


    After making everything clear, Garen sent the two Dragon Guards back as he stayed behind to learn a thing or two related to the requirement to increase his Arcane Techniques from the Soaring Wing King. Naturally, he had to pay for it. Finally, he went back to the hotel with the Despair Skull, Semi-Divine weapon, and the signed contract.


    There was one thing that he had to do before he went to the Blood Wars. He had to absorb the huge amount of potential aura from the Despair Skull. He would be able to reach a new height before participating in the Blood Wars if he were successful.

 1315 Disturbance 1

    Evening hours.


    Inside the Black Crow Tower.


    After Garen and his underling dragons left the area, a small human figure came rushing in noisily through the Black Crow Tower''s main entrance.


    "Hahaha! I, the young miss, have returned! Garen! Get your ass out here! You''re so dead this time!!" The small Dragon Master placed her arms on her hips as she laughed maniacally. Behind her was a sincere and honest looking tall man in black armor holding a two-meter-long hammer in his hand.


    "Where''s Garen?! Where''s Garen!! I''ve received intel that he came to this place!!" Asilia shouted.


    The waiters serving on that floor of the Black Crow Tower stared at her calmly as the Wizard leader of a class came up and greeted her respectfully.


    "Your honorable Miss Dragon Master, Master Garen left just a while ago."


    "Left?! What about Sir Black Crow?" Asilia''s eyes widened.


    "He left as well. He headed out to look for some materials." The female Wizard responded softly.


    "That freaking immortal!" Asilia muttered softly. "He left? Fine. Considered myself unlucky! Did that brat Garen mention where he''s going when he left?"


    "Uhm... no." The female Wizard was shocked. How big of a hatred did one require to chase after a person in a residential area?


    The female Wizard then stared curiously at the man behind Asilia. She unintentionally spotted the green black tattoo on the man''s body, chills went down her spine as she was stunned.


    "Law Enforcer!?"


    She was shocked as this Dragon Master had even called out a Law Enforcer, who was a main elite from the Silver Tower! They were the legendary elites who stood at the pinnacle of the Level Nine and they could face against a Level Ten for a long period of time with the top of the line equipment they had on them. Furthermore, the Law Enforcer was able to summon the shapeless and transparent Law Enforcers for assistance. These Law Enforcers were all Level Eight and all of them were the standard terrifyingly powerful killing machines.


    "Whatever, he should consider himself very lucky!" Asilia was extremely unhappy since she was not able to obtain any intel on Garen. She then turned around and stomped her way out through the main entrance.


    The stupid looking big guy followed her out as well.


    Those who had visited the Black Crow Tower were high-level characters that were feared by many. Those people who were Level Seven and above had trained themselves for decades, so it would only be natural for them to have the basic experience and knowledge required. As a Wizard City, it was virtually impossible to encounter a powerful single unit Warrior. However, extremely smart Wizards could be seen all over the streets.


    Although some Wizards acted on impulse, there was a common trait that all Wizards would have. It was that they were all not idiots.


    The Law Enforcer was one of the violent individuals that should not be messed with the most in Snow City. This was something that could be clearly observed by the people who had visited the Snow City.


    Hence there was not a single verbal conflict as Asilia walked out of the area with her man like a God of Plague.


    After she had left for ten minutes or so.


    Phew...


    A sigh of relief could be heard at the very top of the Black Crow Tower.


    ***********


    Spiral Hotel.


    "The special envoys from the White Dragon Mountain had been waiting for you for many hours." The Dragon Lizard from the hotel told Garen softly.


    A Level One Sound Transmission Spell was enchanted on a button as the noise was sent directly into Garen''s ears.


    He was bringing Annie and Ken along and the moment they reached the hotel, he heard of such news relating to the special envoys.


    "Special envoys from the White Dragon Mountain?" Garen instantly knew the objective of the opposing party.


    "How many dragons are there?"


    "A total of two and they''re all in their human forms." The Dragon Lizard hostess replied softly.


    "In their human forms huh?" Garen was slightly startled as he knew that the big shots had arrived. Those who were able to freely use the Ultimate Transformation Spell were at least a Level Nine Arcane Technique Masters. Furthermore, all of the key members of the White Dragon Mountain were of this level. This meant that they valued Garen a lot in order for them to send two members to see him.


    "Be careful Master Garen. The White Dragon Mountain has been unfriendly towards us from the very beginning," Ken reminded him softly from the side.


    "I know," Garen gently nodded as he signaled Annie with his gaze.


    The three of them walked towards the Teleportation Points in their own respective caves. Number plates were erected on dozens of the Teleportation Points and Garen stepped into it as he found his number.


    Colorful lights flashed across his eyes for a few moments and everything instantly brightened up instantly after.


    He then found himself appearing in the center of a wide beehive-like cave.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    The cave was white as it was completely covered with snow. Blue and White Dragons could be seen flying in and out of it and a few human-looking dragons could be seen standing beside the wine cooler at one corner. They were unexpectedly dressed in simple, summer wear.


    Garen knew that as long as they were powerhouses without any special physical characteristic, they would require to enhance their temperature energy field in order to sustain in this central cave, which was an environment that was negative ten degrees Celsius cold. These humans who were chatting freely in front of him had no apparent spells activated. It was obvious that they were not human since they were able to stay in this environment naturally.


    "The White Dragon Mountain''s Emblem." Annie''s eyes sharpened as she was able to immediately spot the White Dragon shaped emblem pinned onto the two male and female''s chest. It was a simple outline of the White Dragon''s body and it looked clean and vivid.


    Garen took the first move and walked towards them.


    The two special envoys from the White Dragon Mountain spotted Garen coming towards them and the people around them started to leave respectfully. These people were friendly allies of the White Dragon Mountain and all of them were powerhouses who could use the Ultimate Transformation Spell. The weakest one was a Level Nine and there was also a Level Ten female lady walking towards Garen with a friendly smile.


    Garen smiled back politely in response as well.


    Level Nine and Level Ten was a very crucial gap as it would be extremely difficult to go across this wall. There were at least dozens of Level Nine beings that were unable to advance further. However, those who were able to reach Level Ten were basically able to become a member of the Snow City.


    Since this woman was not a member, it was obvious that she was a powerhouse from other places. Afterall, it would be normal to assume that the Level Ten members would have their own social circles.


    However, the most important crux was not this but a Level Ten would definitely have a powerful force backing them.


    After sending this powerhouse off with his gaze, Garen then turned his head around and greeted the two special envoys from the White Dragon Mountain politely.


    "I heard that you, two special envoys, have come to seek for me the moment I return. If I recall correctly, our clan and the White Dragon Mountain doesn''t see eye to eye, right...?"


    His words were very respectful and straightforward.


    The male envoy from White Dragon Mountain frowned for a moment before loosening up.


    "That is indeed true. However," he glanced at the two White Dragons behind Garen.


    "The demarcation line for a clan should not be this obvious for a true White Dragon genius. Regardless, we White Dragons are a clan, am I wrong?" He gave a smile to show his friendly gesture.


    "Okay, there''s no doubt about it. So what brings the both of you to seek for me?" Garen asked without beating around the bush.


    "Obviously, we want you to return to our main clan, the White Dragon Clan." The female envoy smiled gently as she said happily.


    "Return?" Garen was not surprised since his reputation obviously had spread from the Underground City and the Dragon Master''s incident here in Snow City. His reputation would eventually spread towards the White Dragon Mountain. Only an idiot would not recruit a genius White Dragon that appeared out of the blue.


    "The main clan has the best Legendary Crystals. Furthermore, we also have a large amount of inheritance, Semi-Divine Weapon, and Divine Weapons left behind by the Ancient Dragons. You may even obtain a personal guidance from Tiamat''s embodiment. As long as you have enough talent, accumulating everything should not be a problem for you."


    "The most crucial thing is that you''ll be under the protection of the White Dragon Mountain as long as you hand over the Pearl of the Temple." The male special envoy smiled gently as they finally state their visit''s main purpose.


    "Do you know? The Dragon Master has already mobilized a Law Enforcer to capture you." As long as you hand over the Pearl of the Temple, we can protect you under the name of the White Dragon Mountain since even the Silver Tower is not able to ignore the White Dragon Mountain''s social standing." The female special envoy said rather arrogantly.


    Garen and Annie thought that they had heard wrongly as their expressions suggested that they did not hear what they had said clearly.


    Did the White Dragon Mountain come all the way here to crack a joke? That was the first thing Garen thought. Did they decide to get their hands on the Pearl of the Temple?


    Rumors had it that the White Dragon Mountain had become more and more arrogant and domineering as of late. Garen thought that it was just a rumor but he felt that the rumor was real when he came in contact with them...


    "The Pearl of the Temple is an extremely valuable treasure. Even the Demigod would be tempted if they know that a person of a caliber such as you are wielding it. You won''t have enough strength to protect it. It''s better for you to trade it in for the White Dragon Mountain''s friendship instead of leaving it as a seed of misfortunes. You can also be recruited into us along the way to obtain an even greater protection." The female envoy said in a proud tone.


    "Protection?" Garen was on the verge of laughter instead of being angry. "Do you think I, Garen, requires protection from anyone?"


    "The Law Enforcer who stands at the pinnacle of Level Nine is able to fight toe to toe against a Level Ten with their equipment. Are you sure you can escape from them?" The male envoy seemed to be threatening him as he spoke.


    "Protect me? You guys?" Garen smirked. What kind of joke was that? The Soaring Wing King was situated in the Snow City. Although he was not able to negate the Space-Time Spell that was Level Eight and above, he would definitely act. A Level Twelve Arcanist and the Black Crow Tower that monitored the entire city at every moment was nothing to be messed with.


    "The White Dragon Mountain is a second to none sacred heaven to the White Dragons. Countless of White Dragon geniuses had attempted to join us. It seems like you have yet understood the situation." The male envoy''s tone turned cold. "We''re not here to beg you to join us, we''re letting you in because of the Pearl of the Temple. It''s impossible for you to reach Level Ten without the top secret knowledge!"


    "Whether I will be able to breakthrough is not for you to decide. I don''t believe that no White Dragon that did not join the White Dragon Mountain is not able to break through." Garen said is a disdain tone.


    "You''re right. None of them has broken through yet." The female envoy started scoffing.


    "Then I shall be the first one." Garen was frightened but he still gave her a cold stare. "Let''s go."


    Annie and Ken followed along as they stared with hostile intent at the two envoys.


    "How reckless!" Garen could hear the envoys behind him scolding loudly.


    He had guessed that the opponent would most likely not spread the news regarding the Pearl of the Temple since this would mean that the amount of ill-intent people would increase if many people knew about it.


    He was extremely unhappy with the White Dragon Mountain''s arrogant attitude in this conflict. They dared to treat their same kind with such an attitude since they were the only White Dragon Sacred Heaven who had a White Ancient Dragon among them. No wonder the clan did not see eye to eye with the White Dragon Mountain.


    "Did the Dragon Master really summoned a Law Enforcer? If this is true, you might be in some serious trouble, Master Garen." Annie spoke softly behind Garen.


    "The Law Enforcer..." Garen''s gaze turned cold. That Dragon Master was truly a troublemaker since she was able to find a borderline Level Ten powerhouse for assistance. It had now become necessary for him to depart from Snow City as soon as possible.


    He needed to return and absorb the Potential Points from the Semi-Divine Weapon as soon as possible.


    Boom!


    A loud bang reverberated the entire hotel at this moment as the explosion seemed to originate from the main entrance.


    "Hahahaha!! Let''s see where you''ll run to this time! Garen, get your ass out of here!!" Asilia''s voice reverberated the entire hotel and the sound waves had even transmitted to the underground.

 1316 Disturbance 2

    Garen froze in his tracks.


    "It''s the Dragon Master!" Ken said angrily. "Master, what should we do?"


    "Let''s run! We don''t stand a chance against them when they have the Law Enforcer on their side!" Annie was feeling scared.


    "Don''t panic," Garen said calmly. "Let''s head out together."


    *********


    At the hotel''s entrance, Asilia was laughing like a maniac, her hands akimbo on her waist. She was dressed in a gothic black silk dress, two big black silk bows were tied on her head, which made her looked extremely cute.


    "Get your ass out here! I want to take my revenge!" She shouted.


    The entire hotel''s guest hall was filled with her buzzing and ear-deafening scream as it reverberated the entire hall. The Dragon Lizards which were responsible to greet the guests huddled in a corner hopelessly. The boss had even arrived at the scene. It was a sturdy big Black Dragon but he could not do anything against Asilia. The people from the Silver Tower would eventually come and make compensation for the losses but...


    The surrounding was filled with dragons of different clans. There even was a series of half transparent Eyes of Clairvoyance, which were cast by the Wizards from far away to observe the situation.


    The Dragon Urban Area had not been this bustling with noise and excitement for a long time.


    The majority of the Wizards hated loud noises and it was the main reason why none of them would scream. However, Asilia was one of those exceptions.


    "The Dragon Master is going all out again..." Someone started laughing discreetly. "Let''s see who''s the unlucky one."


    "I wonder if it''s Garen. I heard that there was a talented dragon called Garen who was called the future White Dragon King. I''ve heard that Garen and the Dragon Master had a quarrel on the street a few days ago and she must have come to take her revenge today."


    "I''ve just finished regulating the tranquilizer and I''m here to watch a free drama show."


    "You''re really into this."


    The crowd gradually grew as the hustling discussions became louder as well.


    Three White Dragons ultimately appeared in the hotel as Asilia was on the verge of losing her patience.


    It was Garen and the other two. Then, a group of dragons appeared as well and the two special envoys from the White Dragon Mountain was among them. They wanted to see, in a bantering manner, how Garen would handle the situation.


    The Law Enforcer did not lack an equipment that could deal with the Dragon Clan on him. One could have guessed that he would have used an Advanced Enchanted Equipment as a grenade with the wealth of the Silver Tower at his disposal.


    "I''m curious how this kid is going to go against the Law Enforcer," the male envoy mocked.


    "Make sure he doesn''t escape. Be prepared to make your move when he does so as well. We must obtain the Pearl of the Temple at all cost!" The female envoy stressed.


    Both of them secretly took out a pair of black and white rings each and tapped on them with their fingers.


    Garen and the other two dragons walked out of the Teleportation Point. Since Garen''s body size was still of a Dragon Whelp, he looked extremely miniature and very similar to a Dragon Whelp. This made the other two Adult Dragon Guards looked extremely threatening.


    "Garen?" Asilia was confused and shocked at first seeing Garen in the form of a Dragon Whelp.


    Garen ignored her and stared intently at the big, stupid looking man behind her.


    He was also a being who stood at the pinnacle of the Level Nine that could threaten a Level Ten. This made Garen extremely wary of his unique aura on his body.


    This aura could only be found in a person who often experienced battles.


    "Capture him!" Asilia shouted.


    The big doofus in black armor was activated as if he was a tank as his armors gave off a faint gold halo in an instant. It looked like the gold was glowing at the edge of the black armor. He leaped and went straight towards Garen.


    "Critical Realm!" The Law Enforcer shouted as transparent and aqueous-looking Warriors with heavy shields appeared beside him. Their bodies were half transparent and they surrounded Garen from all directions. They stomped the ground with their powerful strength, emitting a thunder-like tremble.


    Boom!!


    The Law Enforcer used his hammer and slammed it into Garen''s head mercilessly. His murderous killing intent filled up the entire air as it materialized into a blood red aura, tangling around Garen.


    Roar!!


    Garen roared. His body instantly grew to become the size of two Adult Dragons as he pounced on his opponent.


    His scales gave off a blinding, bright white gold luster.


    Two powerful beings clashed against each other fiercely.


    Boom! Kaboom!!!


    A shockwave spread across the room and pushed the Dragon by-standers off their feet.


    Garen roared up into the sky as he pushed the Law Enforcer back. He spread his wings and blocked off the Warriors with heavy shields with the sharp claws on his wings. However, there were still a few transparent Warrior hitting his body.


    Huh!!...


    An immensely powerful Draconic Aura had been dispersed. Similarly, the blood-red halo spread out from the Law Enforcer''s body as well. It was the Massacre Halo unique to them and it had nullified the Draconic Aura.


    The hammer was swung to the top from the bottom, clashing directly against Garen''s claw. Gold sparks danced about as colorful energy dispersed. Dozens of negative effects on the heavy hammer that were automatically activated was mostly negated by Garen. There was only one black poison type effect which had stained Garen''s claw, knocking him to take two steps back. Although the opponent was not as strong as him, his attacked contained a powerful knock-back effect.


    "Law Enforce Summoning!" The big doofus shouted angrily as he tossed his big hammer up in the air.


    Crack!


    A stream of white thunder which was as thick as a water bucket struck Garen''s head from above.


    At the same time, Garen used his tails to attack the Law Enforcer who had just finished casting his spells by his waist.


    Blood spattered as a loud thud could be heard. A huge amount of blood started to flow out from the Law Enforcer''s waist and the thunder had completely engulfed Garen.


    "It''s useless." Garen''s voice came from within the thunder.


    "My body is able to negate the effects of even Level Nine Spells."


    The Law Enforcer stood up quietly without saying a word. He seemed to have suffered a grave injury. His waist seemed to have been broken by the tail attack as blood started to seep through the crevice of his armor.


    "Although you''re stronger than me," The Law Enforcer said calmly. "I''ve won."


    In that instant, a warhammer which was ten of meters wide came crashing down from above. It was the hammer that he had tossed up in the air moments ago! It had unexpectedly gigantified by at least ten times as it fell from above.


    Garen raised his head up. Although the electricity around him was not able to hurt him, it brought upon a temporarily physical shackling effect. This caused him to not be able to move away from his current position.


    His opponent was also a Warrior who had experienced hundreds of battle. Hence, the advantages he could gain from his flaw was very little. The best way to fight against a rough and straightforward fighting style was to clash head-on with them. The opponent would gain the higher ground and oppress him further on if he did not choose to do so.


    He looked up at the incoming warhammer and gave off a deep roar as he tried to capture it with one of his claws.


    He realized that something was amiss the moment he came in contact with it. The strength coming from the warhammer above him had far surpassed his limits. It was not something a living being was able to pull off. He must have used a special method and spell to increase the power and speed of the warhammer!


    The horrifying strength within the warhammer had erupted out from it.


    This strength was able to annihilate a small mountain in the External World. However, it was materialized into only a blinding white light here.


    As Garen was covered within the blinding light, he rushed in front of Asilia as he tried to grab her with his claw.


    Asilia mouth was wide open, preparing to scream as she stared hatefully at Garen.


    As she was about to scream at the top of her lungs.


    "Enough!!" An authoritative tone came from the sky above.


    A spell effect similar to of a commanding spell was cast onto all living beings at the scene. This included Garen and Asilia who was about to scream. All of them were restricted.


    Garen gave a sigh of relief. He originally planned to agitate Asilia to unleash her powerful scream to break the deadlock. Since there were many bystanders, the casualties would greatly increase if she were to scream.


    This would force the powerhouses who were watching from the sideline to step in.


    Garen stood still as he looked at this broken claws. It was the price he paid going against the warhammer. He broke his nails so that he could divert the impact and convert it into vibration, sending it to his feet and finally to the ground. He, who stood at the pinnacle of martial arts, would naturally know of such technique.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Although his opponent had experienced hundreds of battle, he was dwarfed compared to Garen the Demon Lord.


    The tremble started to dissipate.


    Asilia stared at Garen frustratingly even when she was shackled to the point where her cheeks were as big as a small bun.


    Pew! A stream of white light flashed across her body as she and the Law Enforcer was sent away, disappearing from the scene without a trace.


    It was only then the shackling effect was slowly deactivated.


    Garen tried moving his body and whipped his huge tail around. He was obviously much more intimidating compared to the Dragons around him as he was much bigger in size.


    "Finally, that little pesky plague is gone!" He gave off a sigh of relief. The fight was tiring and he was not able to kill them off as well. He could not hide away from them and yet it was in his best interest to not anger them as well. It felt like going to the Blood Wars immediately was the best option for him.


    Turning around, he felt a slight pain in his tail. He instantly felt something was off since it was not possible for him to feel any pain with his high defense.


    Ah!


    A painful cry could be heard from behind him. He turned his head around to see the two envoys from the White Dragon Mountain were holding off a black spike with their hands as their physical movement was restrained by a black aura.


    Garen then only realized that the black necklace around his neck had appeared. It was the key to enter the labyrinth given to him by Ann.


    As he was stunned.


    "It''s the Dragon of Disaster!!!" A sharp voice filled the entire area. It was filled with fear, anger, hatred and killing intent!


    A huge thundercloud started to gather up in the sky. The countless purple thundercloud gathered together, forming a huge face as it stared at Garen.


    The shackling power appeared once more as it restrained him in all directions.


    The sky roared as it shot out an incredible sharp dragon spear. The strength which surpassed even the Level Ten automatically gathered the surrounding air and elements around the spear, forming circles of mysterious patterns on the dragon spear.


    "It''s the Snow City''s automated attacking formation!!" A Wizard shouted in shock.


    "Run!!"


    Garen was dazed. He could only stand absentmindedly on the ground as he was not able to react at all as he was affected by a mysterious Mental Energy Field.

 1317 Enter 1

    "I object!" Inside a colorful space that was encircled by numerous yellowish-brown spheres at the top of Silver Tower, Soaring Wing King and the other members were gathered in the center here.


    If Garen looked over from here, he would discover that the yellowish-brown spheres were actually exactly the same as the various forms of large planes of existences that he saw when he shuttled here initially.


    "I object."


    After Soaring Wing King had spoken, another member who was in agreement with him all along now opened his mouth slowly instead.


    A different member said, "I retain my opinion."


    A white-robed Elder who wore a monocle with golden threads on one side was standing on the highest point as he held on to an extremely short, white oak staff. It looked like a little hammer when he held it in his hand, and he was using it to hit the palm of his other hand continuously.


    "The Automatic Defense Mechanism has been activated. The matters regarding the White Dragon Garen''s location, or should I say, whether or not we''ll hand Garen over to White Dragon Mountain, depends on the respective attitudes of White Dragon Mountain and the White Dragon Clan that are seeking refuge with the other clans in the Deladia Empire. Although your honorable selves may feel that voting appears overly severe or formal, these choices are actually sufficient for us to proceed with casting our votes," said the old man in a sluggish tone.


    "A mere little White Dragon may seem insignificant but the key points are the attitudes of both major forces. Although White Dragon Mountain is stronger than the clan by a large extent, it''s uncertain whether they can become a part of our strength. Hence, I''m in favor of supporting the clan," said a female member in a red robe softly.


    The fifth and final member wore a round hat that was embedded with diamonds. It seemed as though his squinted, smiling face was completely stiff.


    "I, however, feel that it''ll be considered as a great reward if White Dragon Mountain will be inclined towards us because of this. Although our Deladia has obtained the support of many of the dragon races, this is merely on the surface. In reality, everyone is well aware that the various colored dragon races are simply using our empire as a place to train their new soldiers. Even though the White Dragon Clan is seeking refuge with us, their forces are way too weak. Their strongest elder is a pseudo-Level Ten individual while White Dragon Mountain is a place where Ancient Dragons exist."


    "However, the arrangements will affect the attitudes of the various major dragon races towards us this time, especially because the present trouble was caused by Little Asilia," said Soaring Wing King while furrowing his eyebrows. "I maintain my doubts towards Diamond King''s opinion. White Dragon Mountain has been arrogant towards everyone else all this while. It would be an issue if they did not look highly upon our Deladia as well."


    "It seems like Soaring Wing King is in great support of the clan, huh¡­" Diamond King narrowed his eyes at him. "So, are you brave enough to make a bet with me for once?"


    "What are we betting on?" Soaring Wind King was unwilling to display any sign of weakness.


    "We''ll use the Blade of Kanbera that you won from me to bet on whether Garen can become the pivotal point that influences the standpoint between White Dragon Mountain and the clan. If White Dragon Mountain agrees to side with us because of this, you''ll give me that Kanbera Divine Weapon; if they don''t, I''ll help you enchant an item instead."


    Soaring Wing King immersed himself in deep thoughts. He was hesitating whether he should persevere and continue his support for Garen.


    Diamond King continued, "I''m in favor of handing Garen over to White Dragon Mountain in exchange for their inclination towards us."


    "But what if this angers the clan and they break away from us because of that?" said an opposing member softly.


    "Alright, alright. This issue ends here." Since they had already voted, they would reach a resolution through the number of votes.


    The Central President raised his short staff and shook it lightly before the image of Garen in the urban area appeared in the middle of the five people.


    "Three votes against handing Garen over to White Dragon Mountain, one neutral vote, and one vote in favor."


    "But how will we deal with the Dragons of Disaster''s Imprint on Garen''s body?" Diamond King continued speaking.


    "Dragons of Disaster¡­" The President shut his eyes and pondered momentarily.


    Suddenly, new changes appeared throughout Garen''s image in the center.


    **************


    The Thunderbolt Spear was suspended above the top of Garen''s head before it descended rapidly. It missed piercing into Garen''s head violently by a hair. However, it seemed as though Garen did not move or resist at all.


    A black chain-like necklace appeared around his neck indistinctly. It was the Teleportation Necklace that Ann had given him.


    Garen''s entire body was numb while countless hallucinations were filling the space before his eyes simultaneously. These effects were caused by the hypertoxic poison that was spreading throughout his whole body rapidly after his tail was stabbed.


    These toxins were extremely potent. His terrifying Vitality was completely paralyzed now.


    However, he was unaware that the two White Dragon Mountain Emissaries behind him were gasping in shock because of these obstructions.


    "This is a poison that can even cause Semi-Divine Colossal Dragons to fall into a coma while their tongues become numb after being briefly injected! This fellow¡­ actually didn''t faint at all! This is simply unbelievable!!"


    "Aside from that, what is this black string necklace-like thing? I can''t find a way to undo it!"


    Both the emissaries struggled with all their might. However, it was still impossible for them to break free from the rope on their bodies despite their various peak Level Nine spells and abilities that burst forth continuously.


    The black rope extended out from the necklace on Garen''s neck.


    "After the Shadow Dragon, where is Ann, one of the three main monarchs of the Dragons of Disaster?!" roared the Matrix Spirit throughout the entire Snow City. A face that was made of thunderbolts appeared indistinctly throughout the storm clouds in the sky. It contained an incomparable amount of fury.


    Garen recovered from the poison slowly. His overpowered Vitality that had reached its limits was already immune to the toxins. The poison was so terrifying that it could paralyze him for some time but that was the extent of its abilities.


    The strength that was brimming on the top of his head made his whole body trembled slightly. This Matrix Spirit was a terrifying being that had existed for an unknown number of years. Unleashing its powers now, it was almost equivalent to half of Silver Tower Master''s strength.


    Silver Tower Master''s strength was the pinnacle of the mortal world. Half of his strength would already be ranked at Level Thirteen at least. Pressure like this made Garen''s breathing somewhat sluggish as well because he was terribly constricted.


    The Draconic Aura throughout his entire body was firmly compressed into a ball that pressed up against his skin closely and could not escape at all. His physical fitness was also repressed until it deteriorated to twenty points on average, leaving him with an average of sixty points which weakened him to a huge extent.


    "I don''t know what you''re talking about?!" Obviously, he could not reveal Ann''s existence, regardless of whether he was doing it out of kindness or for his own safety. Once he had exposed Ann''s whereabouts, not only would he lose the assurance of his safety, he would be rightfully charged with collaborating with the Dragons of Disaster. There was a possibility that he would be killed as a means of venting pent-up anger.


    "Since you have the aura of that monster on your body, I won''t admit that I''m mistaken!" the Matrix Spirit roared angrily.


    "Alright, Matrix Spirit. We''ll take care of this matter from here onwards so you can go back and rest," The President''s voice rang out again.


    A tremendous bout of intimidating strength forcibly suppressed the Matrix Spirit before the storm clouds vanished and the Thunderbolt Spear dispersed.


    "Since you''re not one of the Dragons of Disaster and may have merely been unaware that Ann was one of the three monarchs of the Dragons of Disaster when you came into contact with her, this is excusable. Nonetheless, you need to be punished for the Dragons of Disaster regardless." The President''s voice projected downwards from the sky as he said, "Soaring Wing King will have the sovereign rights to handle your punishment."


    There was a whooshing noise and Soaring Wing King appeared before Garen in the sky immediately. He was floating in mid-air, while he looked squarely at Garen.


    Garen''s mind stirred frantically. "I humbly apologize for my ignorance and rashness. Perhaps I was completely unaware that she was one of the Dragons of Disaster indeed." He lowered his head.


    "So, are you willing to accept your punishment?" Soaring Wing King cast another glance at him instantly. The sovereign rights to handle this matter were something that he had struggled painstakingly to obtain.


    "Yes, I''m willing," Garen said hurriedly.


    It seemed like Ken and Annie who were behind him could not interrupt at all. They were anxious and felt helpless because they were imprisoned by the Energy Field. As Garen was the greatest hope of their clan, they would be completely unable to return and explain to Third Elder if there were any severe tragedies.


    "That''s good. Since the Dragons of Disaster had previously swallowed countless living beings, I will send you away to the Abyss to serve your sentence and accept the Blood Wars in order to exempt you from the responsibility of your offenses. If you survive, all of your offenses will be written off." Not waiting for the other members to speak, Soaring Wing King waved his staff. A red crack that resembled an eye opened up before Garen instantly.


    Sent off to the Abyss to serve his sentence?!


    When they heard about this punishment, the President was slightly dazed as well. This was not just a form of punishment anymore but a way to covertly send Garen to his death instead!Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    The Abyssal Blood Wars was not merely a place. He would be forced to battle endlessly there until he died of exhaustion because it was completely impossible for him to escape at all. Those without specialized regenerative abilities would only linger in the Abyss eternally until they assimilated and were contaminated into becoming a part of it.


    This punishment was too severe!


    Even Diamond King felt the same. At this moment, he felt that it was merciful for him supporting to hand Garen over to White Dragon Mountain. When he looked at the depiction of Soaring Wing King before him, he felt that he needed to reevaluate this person''s character now.


    Garen cooperated and plastered an astonished expression on his face as if he could not believe what he had just heard.


    Without waiting for him to respond, Soaring Wing King pointed his staff before his Level Twelve Arcanist strength released a massive Energy Field that seized Garen immediately, flinging him into the crack.


    Shh!


    The scene before his eyes turned into a sea of red instantly as he felt his entire body spinning.


    "He''s a member of my White Dragon Mountain! You actually dared to deal with him arbitrarily?!!" The voice of the emissary of White Dragon Mountain could be heard indistinctly behind him. It trailed off further before Garen was soon unable to hear any more.


    The blood-red tunnel flew before his eyes. It seemed as though he was in a long portal that resembled a winding, intestinal tract.


    After an unknown period of time, a ray of light gradually appeared in front of him.


    Boom!


    He felt like a fish that had leaped out of the water''s surface. The first things that he saw were the grey sky and the blood-red sun.


    There were boundless black plains in his surroundings. The ground of these plains was completely empty except for large, exposed white rocks. He could not see any other creatures.


    "The most important thing to do once you''ve arrived in the Abyss is to conceal yourself first," Garen recalled Soaring Wing King''s advice.


    He scanned his surroundings hurriedly and was fortunate not to discover any unusual creatures. He dug his tail into the ground below him quickly and excavated a hole rapidly in a back and forth motion before digging an extremely large pit quickly. Placing himself into the hole before releasing a circle of temporary guards to investigate the area and prevent any creatures from possibly approaching him, only then did Garen let his guard down slightly.


    "I''m quite fortunate that no battles occurred to attract the attention of the demons and devils. I can set my mind at ease and absorb the Despair Head first before going any further."


    Without saying another word, he began to set up a protective screen to isolate auras. He had no issues with low-level negative energy protective screens but it was impossible for the auras of Semi-Divine Weapons not to dissipate at all. Therefore, he needed to absorb all of the auras cleanly before they were vaporized.


    Inside the pitch-black hole, Garen allowed the Semi-Divine Weapon called the Despair Skull to float in front of him. This skull did not look very different from an average human skull except for the golden flames that were burning in both of its eye sockets, the faint golden symbols in the space between its eyebrows, and the large mouthfuls of purple mist that were surging out of its mouth and nostrils before they were absorbed by Garen in similarly large gulps.


    He could clearly see that his Potential Points were rapidly rising at a speed visible to the naked eye.


    "According to this speed, I can absorb all of these auras completely within five days." Garen estimated the duration. If he had not been unexpectedly forced here at an earlier time, he would not have to be so afraid at all.


    However, since the incident had already occurred, it would be useless for him to act any more grudgingly. The most important thing was to face reality.


    He calmed his heart down before concealing himself inside the cave slowly and absorbing the potential aura.


    ***************


    A colossal creature was crawling leisurely towards Garen from a certain place in the black plains that was several kilometers away from him.


    This enormous beast had the upper body of a Colossal Dragon and the lower half of a spider''s body. Yellow flames would burn across its back incessantly. It also had a pair of perpendicular gold-yellow pupils in its eyes that were incomparably fierce.


    Numerous yellow insects that resembled ground beetles encircled the surroundings of this enormous beast. Several large colonies of these insects crawled up and down the body of the enormous beast as if they were cleaning its body.


    "There''s a strange aura¡­ near me¡­" (Abyssal)


    The enormous beast opened its mouth to speak suddenly.


    "It''s a dragon''s aura¡­" It used its nose to sniff. It moved the lower half of its gigantic body. Its body was over ten meters long and more than eight meters tall at least. Aside from its back, everywhere else was covered in a soil armor that resembled thick layers of scales.


    "Should we take a look?" The numerous beetles converged beside it and condensed into a humanoid state that resembled a woman.


    "No, there''s no need. Even if it''s a Colossal Dragon, it can''t escape the Ice Ant Tide that will engulf it in the evening." The enormous beast was crawling again.


    "If it can endure the Ice Ant Tide, only then it qualifies for me to go and look at it personally."


    It had established the rules.

 1318 Enter 2

    The sun dimmed gradually before it descended below the horizon.


    Icy auras gradually filled the air as well.


    On the black plains, a long stretch of white "tides" surged out from the furthest point, sweeping across while charging toward the area at which Garen and the enormous beast were located.


    Strangely, it spread open and uncoiled automatically in the area where the enormous beast was located. It continued moving forward as if it did not see the beast at all before it approached Garen''s position quickly.


    Inside the cave, Garen could faintly detect the sound of certain movements. However, when the defenses that had been set up to stand guard outside did not have any responses, he suppressed the anxiety in his mind and continued absorbing the auras.


    Hiss¡­


    Suddenly, the faint sound of an insect that was tearing and biting something echoed into the cave from the outside.


    Beep¡­


    The invisible temporary defenses let out a sharp alert immediately.


    Garen''s heart trembled before he paused his absorption frantically and kept his Semi-Divine Weapon back into his Space Ring.


    He turned around and looked at the entrance of the cave where seemingly countless, tiny, densely-packed white ants had surged inside there at an unknown time.


    The ant colony that poured in was accompanied by a terrifyingly-low temperature that was as cold as negative seventy to eighty degrees, rushing inside frantically.


    "An Ice Ant Tide?" Garen was obviously aware of this natural disaster. Although every single one of these Ice Ants looked tiny and were only the size of a human palm, they were genuine Level Two creatures. Their bodies were feeble, but their teeth were invincible and even dragon scales for no match for the tough bones that they could gnaw.


    When he saw that so many of these Ice Ants were charging towards him, he sighed in relief instead. He would have been slightly worried if they were Fire Ants. However, since they were Ice Ants, and since he was, fortunately, an ice-type Colossal Dragon, it would be easier to handle them in this aspect.


    He sprayed out a mouthful of Dragon Breath. Garen''s current Dragon Breath already possessed the power and momentum of an Adult Colossal Dragon. His Frost Aura instantly made the Ice Ants livelier. Aside from their hard teeth, their most threatening ability was actually their naturally intense low temperature. Low temperatures of negative seventy to eighty degrees would accompany them as they moved and advance endlessly. Other than actual ice-type creatures, most other creatures could not handle these effects at all. Moreover, these low temperatures also harbored certain types of ice-type toxins. However, Garen''s Vitality was immune to it. Nonetheless, if another Peak Level Nine Wizard of the same level was here instead of him, the situation would probably be very troublesome, because when their magic spells would inevitably be exhausted; they would truly only be at the creatures'' mercy when the ice-type toxins entered their body. Fortunately, Garen''s physique was stronger and unlike theirs.


    The movements of these large colonies of Ice Ants were slowed down when they were blown by Garen''s Dragon Breath. When they increased their icy auras simultaneously, this made Garen feel as if the creatures on the other side were of a slightly similar species to himself.


    The main characteristic of this Ice Ant Tide was that they would only gnaw at creatures that did not have low temperatures. Since the blood of White Dragons was at temperatures of zero degrees and below, they were naturally a typical example of low-temperature creatures.


    Therefore, the seas of Ice Ants that poured in were pushed out easily.


    It was merely a false alarm.


    Garen exhaled but the feeling of unremovable chills that kept springing up remained in his mind. He scanned his surroundings, yet he was still unable to find any abnormalities.


    He sighed in relief and was about to continue his absorption before a black shadow of a human-shaped smoke passed through directly in front of him suddenly.


    Garen was about to hide but was unable to do it in time. However, he noticed immediately that the other party merely passed through his body directly. It seemed as though it was not substantial at all.


    He felt his body weakening slightly at the same time.


    Shh¡­


    The humanoid creature condensed behind him and floated in the darkness of the cave. It was basically a shroud of black smoke that had formed into a human silhouette. He could not see its face at all, only its blurry limbs.


    "Void Shadow?" Garen was slightly shocked before he said, "Isn''t this a creature from the Undead World?"


    Creatures like Void Shadows were very troublesome. It was disastrous every time they appeared on the surface of the Main Substance World.


    They were immune to the innate laws of things and even had a fifty percent dodging rate towards enchantments and spell attacks. Moreover, they would weaken the powers of the other party every time they touched other creatures.


    The debilitation of their abilities was everlasting and extremely despicable. Unless you could kill the Void Shadow that had absorbed your powers, you would eternally lose the part of your strength that they had absorbed.


    Garen furrowed his eyebrows faintly while looking at the Void Shadow before him. The most troublesome aspect of Void Shadows was not this, but the fact that most of them usually appeared in groups.


    Every time they killed a creature, they would develop it as a part of themselves to form the next Void Shadow. Thus, these Void Shadows would appear in groups under normal circumstances. As a peak powerhouse in the aspect of physical attacks, Garen was the most annoyed at creatures like these that were immune to these types of physical attacks.


    His Spellcrafting strength was only at Level Five, and he did not have any Enchanted Equipment either.


    Garen had just thought of this before more than ten densely-packed Void Shadows appeared inside the cave. His scalp tingled immediately.


    "This is troublesome¡­"


    The previous Void Shadow had taken away half of his strength when it pounced on him once. If so many Void Shadows were to set on him together, wouldn''t his strength which exceeded eighty points vanish completely within a few moments?


    He felt as if his Vitality was strong while he was still standing on the Main Substance Plane previously. Aside from being immune to spells, he was also not very concerned with Spellcrafting and Arcane Techniques as he felt that there were no forces besides Level Eight Space-Time Spells that could challenge him. However, after he had experienced using spells in Snow City to strengthen his physical attacks such as Warhammer, and witnessed the supernatural powers that were brought on by the Void Shadows now, did he understand that purely walking on the path of physics was not the true path of this world.


    "No wonder peak level Warriors also require the assistance of Enchanted Equipment and Divine Weapons."


    While he was surrounded by a group of Void Shadows, Garen''s mind stirred rapidly as he thought of a way to escape.


    These were the effects of being restrained. A Level Eight Great Wizard here would have an easier time handling this than him. Thus, Garen was having a hard time now.


    Whoosh!


    More than ten Void Shadows pounced on him suddenly. Garen could not dodge them in this narrow space in time. Moreover, despite his great speed, the Void Shadows possessed pretty good speed as well. The distance between them was closed in a moment. These Void Shadows were clearly high-level characters.


    The leading Void Shadow appeared first. It released a loud and sharp chirping noise that instructed the others to pounce over.


    Garen opened his mouth and spat out a large mouthful of Dragon Breath that struck two Void Shadows precisely. Although his Dragon Breath was not a harmful spell, it was still considered harmful towards supernatural powers; it had certain effects towards Void Shadows.


    The effects of the deceleration that was caused by the cold suddenly appeared throughout the bodies of both of the Void Shadows that were sprayed, but none of them were harmed. Since they were Undead Creatures, the cold could only decrease their speeds, not kill them.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Garen moved toward the right side suddenly. While he was surrounded by more than ten Void Shadows, his body shrunk suddenly. His physique decreased into the size of an extremely tiny Dragon Whelp before he barely rushed out of a crack in the encirclement.


    It was pointless to strictly view these types of Advanced Undead according to their levels and divisions. They could only be destroyed using focused tactics. Thus, if the tactics were not focused, even first-rate Warriors would only be worn down to death by them while they were still alive.


    Garen dodged inside the cave from left to right. Every time, he was only able to evade the Void Shadows'' attacks by a hair''s breadth. This made the leading Void Shadow abnormally irritated.


    Chirp chirp chirp chirp!


    It began yelling again.


    The movements of all the other Void Shadows became more speedy immediately.


    Garen timed this opportunity properly and rushed out of the cave at once before reaching the ground.


    He remembered that his Semi-Divine Weapon, Despair Head, probably possessed supplementary soul attributes. Perhaps it would be effective towards the Undead.


    When he thought of this, he took the Despair Head out of his Space Ring suddenly and grasped it in his claw before he targeted a Void Shadow and approached it.


    The Despair Head looked like a normal white human skull that seemed unassuming.


    Moreover, when Garen extended his arms and legs after exiting, his 80-point speed was instantly given full control as well. Hence, when he extended his claws, he instantly struck the Void Shadow that pounced towards him at the same time.


    Chirp!


    A pained cry rang out. This Void Shadow released a miserable howl before it retreated and returned frantically as if it was burned.


    "Was that effective?!" Garen''s heart was delighted.


    He continued to follow the same pattern. His speed had peaked at 80-points while his body had naturally become agiler once it shrunk. The Void Shadows were thrown and spun around by him. He had only encountered them a few times before five Void Shadows were struck by his Despair Head. By looking at their physiques, it was obvious that they had lost a lot of the black smoke that made up their bodies.


    The leading Void Shadow was slightly fearful now. It began to make chirping noises as if it wanted to retreat.


    However, Garen made a surprising discovery; he noticed that the potential aura of his Despair Head had actually increased slightly again.


    Although they were merely traces of increments, his subtle responses were extremely accurate in this aspect. Moreover, since he was holding it in his own hands all this while, he could feel the differences throughout his Semi-Divine Weapon in the first instance.


    "Was I strengthened by absorbing the soul auras of these Undead creatures?" An assumption formed in Garen''s mind.


    He tried doing it a few more times while pursuing the Void Shadow that had already started to flee while continuing to press down against it and strike it.


    He continued to hit another Void Shadow five times before this fellow finally collapsed with a thud. It actually exploded into pieces immediately, turning into a puff of black smoke that dispersed slowly before it died completely.


    Garen could clearly feel that the potential aura of the Despair Head had strengthened once again. His heart was extremely delighted. If this method was feasible, he could simply use the Despair Head to hunt souls and would not have to follow the rules of the Blood Wars that would only grant him souls according to the battles that he had won. Instead, he could freely hunt souls and turn them into potential aura!


    Bang!


    Another Void Shadow exploded and scattered when it was violently smashed by Garen. After that, Garen instantly felt that his strength which was previously sucked away had not returned. Meanwhile, the potential aura of the Despair Skull had increased slightly. It had probably undergone an increment of five or six points in comparison to the time when he had just brought it out earlier. This was not a minor increment. He had smashed two Void Shadows into pieces while the remaining ones dispersed and fled. The rewards that he had gained this time were already enough to satisfy Garen greatly.


    "This is equivalent to more than half a month''s worth of my natural earnings, haha!" Garen turned around and returned to his cave happily. He noticed that the sharp points had become longer and were more pointy. Hence, their growth speed had obviously started to increase. He believed that he could evolve into another state soon and continue increasing his attributes.


    "I''ve heard that evolved states can randomly obtain a type of natural ability from the Original Energy Sea. Some obtain elemental abilities while others get supernatural abilities. They weren''t all beneficial, and there were detrimental ones as well. However, great advantages could also be obtained from the bad ones as long as they''re used properly."


    Garen was very hopeful toward the natural abilities that he would gain through his evolved state.


    Legitimate White Dragons would naturally gain natural abilities such as spells like Ice Mirror Art, Frost Swallowing, and Spewing (in a large area) during adulthood. However, he was different as he had already accomplished certain stages during his childhood that none of the other White Dragons had achieved since the beginning.

 1319 Cooperate 1

    Time flew as the days passed¡­


    A week had passed in the blink of an eye while Garen was hiding in the cave.


    He had never imagined that the potential aura of the Despair Head would actually require a longer absorption time than anticipated. Nonetheless, he managed to fully absorb more than two thousand points of its potential aura as he had expected.


    This was an extremely large number.


    Moreover, the evolution of his body had reached a crucial moment. The forces of his body''s aura became unusually unstable.


    He curled his body up inside the cave. His entire dragon''s body was wrapped in a thick Ice Armor which made him resemble a perfect, snowy-white ice sculpture that did not move at all.


    Pfoo¡­


    A gust of white mist sprayed out of his nostrils slowly after a long time.


    Bang¡­


    Bang¡­ Bang¡­ Bang...


    A series of heavy footsteps echoed from afar gradually.


    The walls inside the cave started to tremble slightly, as the faint, powdery soil fell from the cave walls.


    The sound of the footsteps moving toward the entrance outside the cave slowed down before stopping after that.


    "Outsider¡­" A deep Abyssal voice echoed from the outside. "Are you not planning to come out and meet me?"


    Garen opened his eyes slowly. Hints of grey-black membranes were already covering his eyes now, as though an additional layer of something was stuck to the surface of his eyeballs.


    An unknown powerful being had come to visit him during this important evolution period now. It was extremely obvious that the other party had purposely chosen this time to arrive, right when he was in a vulnerable state. He was clearly harboring evil intentions.


    "Who?" he opened his mouth and asked calmly.


    "I was merely teleported here randomly. Please forgive me if I''ve offended you. I''ll leave this place quickly¡­"


    The outside of the cave was silent for some time as if he was determining and considering whether to make a move or not.


    Garen waited for a confirmation from the other side as well. Whether he was a friend or a foe depended on the other party''s intentions. His own attitude was revealed in its entirety already.


    After some time had passed, more noises echoed into the cave from the outside again.


    "I''m Kratos, the master of this domain. Ignorant dragon, it would be best if you left my territory immediately."


    "Forgive me, but I''m currently undergoing an important period," Garen answered indifferently.


    "That''s truly regrettable¡­" The outside of the cave turned silent instantly.


    Boom!!


    There was a thunderous noise before a gigantic dragon head that was burning with flames entered forcefully, trying to use its mouth to bite Garen''s body.


    The size of this dragon''s head was almost similar to Garen''s entire physical state when he was enlarged. It was also extraordinarily ferocious. Intense flames poured into the cave and melted the frost that was covering it before large amounts of white mist rose.


    Garen''s entire body turned sideways while his tail whipped over violently.


    His tail coincidentally collided against the tip of the nose of the other dragon''s head.


    Bang!!


    After a dull noise rang out, the dragon''s head and Garen were apparently fine. Both of them merely fell backward because of the reacting force. They continued charging toward each other again.


    "Level Nine!" Garen''s heart trembled. For some reason, he would always encounter such powerful opponents wherever he went.


    When he collided against the enormous beast the second time, he took the opportunity to push himself upward. He sprang his entire body out of the cave and broke through the surface of the ground before flying into mid-air.


    The sky was currently blood-red while it seemed like the surroundings of the sun were tied with a black chain; the earth was completely grey-black.


    Garen could only see a full view of the entire enormous beast clearly when he flew up.


    This was truly a colossal monster with the upper body of a dragon and a lower half of a spider. Intense red flames were even burning on the back of this enormous beast, resembling an abnormally-magnificent mane.


    The enormous beast raised his head before a ball of orange light lit up in his mouth when he saw Garen flying.


    Shh!


    An intense ray of red light rushed toward Garen immediately.


    A popping noise could be heard when the red light beam struck his scales, yet only a faint white dot was left behind. Level Nine immunity against spells was not a joke.


    Garen was completely unconcerned because his body had expanded back into its full state and he had instantly become a few times more muscular. Next, he flew up high before rushing downward ferociously.


    Whizz.


    His intense dive created ear-piercing, whistling noises while his tail whipped up dense white blasts.


    On the ground below, numerous imposing Rock Giants stood up on the ground. They followed the enormous beast''s will and charged toward Garen to seize him.


    The enormous beast moved speedily on its eight limbs while an abundance of intense, fiery whips shot out from its back. More than ten red whips covered the sky and earth while moving toward Garen to bind him.


    Garen dodged from left to right. He went as far as to pass through the crack before colliding brutally against the enormous beast again.


    A layer of multicolored light exploded in front of the enormous beast''s body suddenly, blinding Garen''s vision. This was a high-level, multicolored spurt. Aside from causing blindness, it also had vertigo-like effects. However, Garen was naturally immune to these effects that caused dizziness because they were considered as Spellcrafting effects.


    He charged forward directly without the slightest worry.


    Boom!Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    It seemed as though he had crashed against the enormous beast''s head through the rainbow light.


    Both of these gigantic creatures rolled around on the ground before flying far away. They left a deep scratch in the ground.


    Garen''s strength was apparently much stronger than that of this enormous beast. He did not release it in the cave previously. However, now that they were clashing together fully outside, the difference between the both of them could be seen clearly.


    The enormous beast was clearly a monster that was inclined toward its own familial laws. It had not adapted t to facing a monster like Garen that purely conformed to the innate laws of things.


    "Stop! Stop this!" He roared. "We don''t have to engage in this meaningless killing!"


    Garen stopped in a timely manner after whipping his tail brutally against the waist of the enormous beast one last time. The enormous beast fell on the ground and rolled there a few times, causing earth-shattering, crashing noises and sending dust flying.


    "What else did you want to say?" He looked at the other party in an engrossed manner.


    "You¡­ You have such powerful strength. You''ll definitely achieve great successes in the Blood Wars! As long as I create a Sawtooth Shield for you, you''ll surely become a slaughterhouse on the battlefield!" The enormous beast named Kratos explained loudly. "I''m a master of Alchemy and weaponsmithing so I can help you forge these items! What would you say about helping me in return?!"


    This enormous beast had currently broken one of its spider legs. Its body was filled with injuries and it faintly looked like it was in a sorry state. However, it came prepared with healing spells that were speedily treating its wounds now.


    "Help me forge a weapon and shield?" This thought had entered Garen''s mind long ago, but he had never anticipated to actually encounter a monstrous beast here that knew how to forge weapons and equipment. He glanced at the intense flames on his opponent''s back while his mind could not help but be slightly hesitant.


    When he noticed faintly that Garen was slightly suspicious, Kratos spoke hurriedly.


    "I have a pretty good relationship with one of the Vice Chiefs of the Wanku Fortress'' army because I''ve always been their head ironsmith. You may not be confident in my combat abilities but I''m definitely a specialist in the equipment-forging aspect! I''d also recommend you to go to the Wanku Fortress to participate in the Blood Wars."


    "The Wanku Fortress?"


    "Yes, it''s a great fortress nearby. You don''t have to worry about this because their Chief of Army is the Level Thirteen elder demon named Eyeless Nada. This place will be organizing a major decisive battle during this period of time. You can take a look around and ask the other creatures if you don''t believe me," said Kratos loudly.


    Garen felt that his back was becoming itchier and harder to endure. His mood was also affected, and that made him very uncomfortable.


    "I''ll take a look around before we go any further." Once he had finished speaking, he flapped his wings immediately and flew into the distance before the enormous beast could answer.


    After coming to the Abyss, he had spent the last few days withdrawing himself in the cave all along. He had yet to really tour the sights here.


    While flying at high-speed, Garen quickly left the cave area in which he was initially located and entered a dark green forest and swamp.


    He could vaguely see several old women with long, cascading green hair and long robes who were floating around above the swamp. These were Demon-Hags who went around scamming tourists, mercenaries, and even demons. Obviously, if your strength was great enough, they would simultaneously be the most cunning businesspeople who mainly specialized in selling information, intelligence, and souls.


    When the Demon-Hags appeared, several little demons that were dragging black scorpion tails could be vaguely seen haunting the surroundings as well. Signs of living creatures had increased.


    Garen continued flying towards the depths of the swamp forest. He could slowly see some gigantic, light green, sludge-type monsters. These monsters that were in a liquid state had bodies that were entirely green and sticky. They hid in the swamp and would suddenly appear to grab the tourists, dragging them into their bellies while they were still alive before digesting them.


    However, the sludge monsters here did not seem to show any indication of hiding at all. Web-like blood vessels glistened throughout their green bodies. These blood vessels appeared to be giving off white light faintly, making them extremely eye-catching.


    He saw a gigantic hundred-meter wide sludge monster talking to several Centaur Warriors now.


    "This is the trader Gusca''s domain. Dragon race outsider, you are not permitted to fly here." Suddenly, a voice echoed from below. Immediately, Garen could feel an intense strength suppressing him toward the swamp below, forcing him to descend there.


    He did not resist but landed there instead. He stood on a part of the swamp that seemed steadier before freezing ice into a flat area below his feet immediately so that he could stand there.


    "White Dragon? ...Is he from White Dragon Mountain?"


    "Probably not. He doesn''t have the badge of White Dragon Mountain on his body."


    "This is a valuable moving treasure chest¡­ If we could kill one Colossal Dragon¡­" the voice trailed off.


    Garen''s terrorizing eyes scanned the area.


    That noise rang out again.


    "Using force and fighting at close quarters are prohibited here. Only fair trading is allowed."


    "Traders?" Garen sneered several times. There were a few scattered tourists in his surroundings who were currently standing around and making deals with the Demon-Hags. Among them were humans, Orcs, and a rarely seen Earth Elemental.


    There were so many traders in such a small area. One could well imagine that this domain seemed to be very famous here.


    Garen walked around in the swamp while his heavy footsteps made banging noises wherever he stomped. He felt somewhat eye-catching and quickly shrunk his body into the size of a Dragon Whelp before flying around slowly.


    These actions seemed very effective because a Demon-Hag, who was holding a walking stick, floated in front of him quickly.


    "Outsider, is there any way that I can be of service to you?" Her shrill voice made people''s scalps tingle and was enough to scare little children and make them cry on their own.


    "I want to purchase a sufficient number of souls. Do you have them?" Garen grinned but managed to smile warmly.


    "Souls?" cackled the Demon-Hag sharply. "This will depend on the grade of the souls you desire¡­ If they''re low-grade souls, I can give you more than ten thousand of them. However, if you''re looking for the high-grade souls that are Level Five and above, I only have a few in my hands¡­"


    "I can really buy them?" Garen was slightly shocked. "What if I want the souls of Level Ten powerhouses?"


    The Demon-Hag''s shrill laughter stopped abruptly.


    "This¡­ If you can give me a reasonable price that arouses the desire of the honorable Chief of Army, otherwise it would be impossible¡­ You''re also aware that we Demon-Hags work for the Fortress Master in reality¡­"


    Garen pondered for a while and responded with some other rare materials that he needed for his Wizard Tower. He had never expected that all four of them would actually be available here.


    "What do you use as the trading currency here?"


    "Currency? No, no, no¡­ We don''t have such things here. We merely use soul-cocoons as the standard to measure values occasionally," explained the Demon-Hag.


    "How about it? I have the best enslaved souls, architects, craftsmen, and alchemists over here to help you establish a domain. I also have beautiful and cute elf slaves, and even little princesses with the bloodline of the Elf King, hee hee hee¡­"

 1320 Cooperate 2

    "I won''t be needing them for now," Garen declined.


    Garen got rid of these Demon-Hags who babbled on endlessly before flying toward the deeper parts of the swamp.


    The ground of the swamp soon turned red gradually before a lofty black palace appeared in the distance. Numerous black War Puppets that were more than ten meters tall were patrolling the enclosing walls around the palace. These humanoid puppets with ox horns possessed extremely powerful shock forces. Since they were sturdy and durable, they were one of the best items that could be refined for guarding. One normal soul was all that was required to drive it for numerous years, making them extremely worthwhile.


    Garen was obstructed by the War Puppets who refused to let him proceed any further. The level of the master here was unknown, and it was possible for various types of monsters to appear in the Abyss. There were no living creatures who dared to clash with an enemy for no reason. Hence, Garen did not force his way forward but withdrew and left instead.


    He walked along another side before leaving this green swamp quickly.


    However, he soon felt as if someone was watching him. After he had left the swamp, several little human silhouettes trailed him faintly.


    Garen remained in his Dragon Whelp form. This physique looked extremely delicate and weak. Since it seemed like he was only at Level Four, it was not surprising that close-minded people were staring at him.


    He found a hillock and flew there before descending in the shadows behind it. He turned around and waited for the pursuers behind him.


    Shuffle shuffle¡­


    Several faint noises could be heard before three translucent human silhouettes that were slightly distorted appeared at the top of the hillock. They were looking downward.


    "Have we actually been discovered?" One of the people asked in a surprised tone.


    Since they were already discovered, they did not bother to continue hiding. The Translucent Spell on their bodies vanished immediately. Three figures who were dressed in a silver armor were revealed. They were actually three knights.


    A faint red Spirit Light was twinkling below their bodies. This faint red light was constantly centered around them. They radiated circles of blinding rays outward, representing their statuses as Blasphemy Knights.


    The Blasphemy Knights were sentenced to be knights of the blasphemers by the Church of the Gods for various reasons. Most of them had entered the Abyss through special channels. This was the only way to prevent their lives and souls from being captured by the Gods and tortured forever.


    After all, the Gods would punish the blasphemers extremely severely. Nonetheless, although the Abyss was a cruel place, it was still an opportunity for them to live.


    Two of these three Blasphemy Knights were women while one of them was a man. They were not old and the armors that they wore on their bodies seemed to be of the same style.


    "I want the skin and eyes of this Dragon Whelp, but you can divide the rest among yourselves," said one of the female knights directly.


    "I could tell that its eyes seemed strange with one look. It may be some type of treasure. It wouldn''t be good for us to divide everything up so early on, right?" said the other female knight unhappily.


    "The way I see it, it wouldn''t be too late to discuss this again after getting rid of our opponent¡­" It seemed like the sole male knight had already detected that Garen was aware that something was amiss. His gaze was glaring closely at Garen.


    "Were you three the only ones that followed?" Garen glanced behind himself unhappily. He focused carefully and realized that these three idiots had really trailed him. It looked like most of the other traders were much smarter in comparison¡­


    He considered these three knights carefully. By looking at the forces of their Spirit Light, he could tell that they were at Level Four. Were these three Level Four individuals actually daring enough to hunt a Level Four Dragon Whelp in the Abyss? Perhaps they had special hidden moves. Was it possible that they were unaware that the creatures in the Abyss that looked weak were the one you should provoke the least?


    In a place like the Abyss, everyone was afraid that their strength was not powerful enough to be displayed fully. Nonetheless, they had to exhibit their strength to prevent themselves from being bullied or oppressed. Only the most powerful beings would intentionally show signs of weakness to purposely entice the hunters and prey on them instead¡­ Meanwhile, it was possible that true weaklings did exist among the local demonic creatures. However, none of the outsiders were abnormally weak.


    "Go!"


    The male knight drew his Greatsword first. The blade was dyed with a faint red Spirit Light, while his Level Four forces increased to Level Five immediately. By looking at the taut muscles throughout his entire body that was now enlarged, it appeared that he had used certain temporary means of strengthening his powers.


    Ahh!


    He charged towards Garen fiercely and swung his sword!


    Bang!


    His Level Five Greatsword struck Garen''s head violently. Garen remained on his initial spot and did not move at all. There was not even a hint of white that remained on his scales.


    However, a large crack had burst throughout the Greatsword.


    The male knight''s face turned pale instantly. Garen had initially assumed that he would discard his Greatsword before turning around and running away. However, an unwavering look appeared on his face instead as he roared and said, "Rena, Irene! Run quickly!"


    However, he did not retreat. Instead, he moved forward, continuing to charge toward Garen without surrendering.


    The two female knights behind him reacted immediately when they were aware of the situation that had occurred. One of them ran off at once while the other was momentarily dazed. Next, she actually drew her sword and charged towards Garen. She clearly wanted to save her companion.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Interesting." Garen extended his claws and gently blocked the cleaving motion of the Greatsword. He exerted a small amount of strength before the force throughout the male knight''s entire body was instantly exhausted when he was shaken by an intense vibration. He fell on the side after being paralyzed.


    "I''ll fight you to the end!" The eyes of the female knight that charged forward were red now. She assumed that her companion had died and proceeded to use full force to explode a ray of red light towards Garen. She had apparently managed to leap to a Level Six force instantly!


    As expected, those who were able to teleport themselves here from other planes were not weaklings¡­ Garen sighed mentally. It was not a big deal for the dragon race to randomly encounter Level Five or Level Six powerhouses. However, among the humans, these powerhouses were a level that could only appear once in several thousand people.


    He extended his claws and gently blocked the Greatsword that the female knight was slicing toward him. However, Garen instantly felt that something was amiss because the Spirit Light of the female knight''s Greatsword had actually transformed into countless tiny red vines that tangled themselves around his claws firmly. Although the binding strength was negligible to him, this twining would be sufficient to cause most Level Five and Level Six powerhouses to tremble slightly. If their reactions were one beat slower, it was likely that this delay would mean the difference between life and death.


    "How loyal. I was planning to devour you initially, but when I look at it now, perhaps you may be slightly useful." Garen released a tremor in passing and transmitted it to settle the trouble with this female knight by numbing her and causing her to collapse on the ground limply.


    The Secret Technique called Quake that he had transferred to himself was simply always successful in countering the close-combat and material-type Warriors here. Extremely fine skills like these could almost be considered as godly techniques to the people here.


    Thus, although the effects of Garen''s other Secret Techniques could not be used anymore, he was still able to peak among the material Warriors because of this skill and his own powerful characteristics.


    "Kill me, then!" The female knight was still strong-willed.


    "Who said you could come over, Irene?!" said the male knight furiously. "Even Rena knew how to escape, yet you returned to save me despite having the chance to flee! Why didn''t you escape?"


    "If you''re going to die, we''ll die together!" the female knight answered stubbornly.


    The male knight was angered to the point where he was speechless.


    Garen flapped his wings and flew in the direction of the female knight who had escaped earlier. Less than a moment had passed before he saw that woman''s fleeing shadow.


    She had covered her entire body in disgustingly smelly swamp sludge. It was almost impossible to distinguish the style of the armor that she wore on her body. Her actions and movements were also slightly hurried. When she blended in with the scattered humanoid creatures in her surroundings, it was truly difficult to find her.


    However, Garen had never judged people based on their appearances, but by detecting their soul''s aura instead.


    When he pinpointed this woman, he dived downward and transmitted a tremor. He eliminated all of her resistances immediately before carrying her back easily.


    Since his strength was already at 80 points, as long as his opponent''s vitality was not resilient enough and had yet to achieve 50 points or more, his Quake skill would always be successful and could cause them to fall with a single touch.


    When he flew back to his original position, Garen was shocked to discover that there were two Demon-Hags who were actually sneakily collecting the two captive prisoner''s souls that had fallen weak on the ground. The souls of those two Blasphemy Knights were being extracted from their bodies quickly as half of them were already drawn out.


    "You dare touch my spoils of war? You''re really asking to die!" Garen''s mind was upset. He discarded the female knight in his claws and rushed directly towards the Demon-Hags instead.


    "Block him!" screamed one of the Demon-Hags.


    A black, gigantic beetle that was seven to eight meters tall with sharp pincers moved towards Garen, attempting to pinch him.


    Garen moved his claws from left to right in a ripping motion before an enormous force that was accompanied by vibrations transferred directly into the beetle''s body. This bastard turned weak immediately, making it obvious that his vitality was lower than fifty points.


    Its head was instantly smashed by Garen''s claw. Its red and green brain matter oozed out at once after the collision, and it lay on the floor, unmoving.


    Neither of the two Demon-Hags had expected that the battle would end so soon. They were instantly scared to the point where their souls had almost left their bodies. They turned on their heels and ran while abandoning the souls they were collecting earlier.


    However, Garen''s 80-point speed allowed him to catch up to them instantly. He caught each of them in one claw as if he was grabbing balloons that punctured immediately. Both of the Demon-Hags flattened out with a whoosh and turned into two pieces of green human skin that fell on the ground. They were collected by Garen before he turned around and went back.


    The green poison that leaked out tried to attach itself to Garen''s body. However, it was completely ineffective as it could only hold on for two seconds before Garen''s powerful vitality became immune to it.


    The three Blasphemy Knights were thrown together by Garen. He used a few random vines that he had found on the ground to bind the trio together before grabbing them with one claw. Garen was planning to look for some subordinates to help him gather information because working on his own was truly too slow-paced. As he did not have an Ultimate Transformation Spell yet, his movements in his dragon race physique were too conspicuous. Frankly, it was better for him to find some substitutes.


    While clutching these three Blasphemy Knights, Garen flew and briefly asked along the way in passing if the situation that the Fiery Beast was talking about was true. Indeed, he was not lying.


    Garen returned to the location of his original cave quickly. If everything that the beast said was true, the matters regarding the forging of his weapons and equipment really rested on his shoulders.


    He would probably need to add more than two thousand potential points into his Void Original Opus.


    While flying along the way, he began adding his potential points there. It had only increased to 14% after he had added over 140 points previously. This time, he added 500 points in one go before seeing that his Void Original Opus had suddenly surged to a large extent.


    It leaped directly to 64% from 14%. He could clearly feel that changes had occurred throughout his body. They were several subtle but extremely thorough changes. However, he did not have the chance to investigate it for now.


    He threw the three Blasphemy Knights into his own cave first before Garen went to look for the Fiery Beast whose aura was not far from there. He released a small-scale barrier from Negative Energy Spells. These three fellows were already fully exhausted by him while their muscles and bones were injured from the quakes. Since they were too tired to move, he did not have to worry about them escaping.


    "What do you say?"


    The enormous beast raised its head and looked at Garen who was flying over while lying on its own building ruins.


    "Have you decided to let me help you forge your weapons and equipment?"


    "What are your conditions?" Garen knew that nothing ever came for free.


    "I want you to provide me with High-quality Souls. Don''t reject me frantically because I can sense the special Soul Divine Weapon that you have. I''ve recently been researching a Matrix that allows me to attempt to condense High-quality Souls. However, I''m lacking a Soul Divine Weapon. If the both of us cooperate, perhaps we can obtain even greater benefits!"


    The enormous beast spoke sincerely. He was initially planning to snatch it forcefully, but it was unfortunate that he could not defeat his opponent¡­


    "High-quality Soul¡­" Garen was aroused. If the quality of a soul was too low, it would be ineffective for him to absorb it as potential points anyway. This was similar to his current situation whereby if he absorbed the soul of a normal person to be used as his potential point aura, it would probably be ineffective. It would be useless even if he tried to absorb it anymore. Only the souls that were Level Three or above and had a certain density to produce qualitative changes were the ones that could provide him with some potential points to be absorbed.

 1321 Evolution 1

    If he had a High-quality Soul, perhaps he could gather a large amount of low leveled souls to obtain potential points. Moreover, he could gain the greatest benefits on a battlefield like this.


    Once his train of thought had cleared up, Garen discussed everything in detail with the enormous beast Kratos, such as the exact particulars and theories of the Matrix. Both of them were fellows who did not adhere to the principles of good and evil. Finally, Garen became clearly aware of the origins of the enormous beast''s Matrix, although he was secretive about it. He relied on absorbing the souls and Prayers who had died in battle during the Blood Wars. Although there were not many, he did not dare to snatch souls from the Abyss. However, a mere 0.01% of that amount was enough for those two fellows to sneakily eat until they were full.


    After discussing this matter for some time, Garen naturally did not dare to simply believe the other party. However, when Kratos vowed solemnly to find an Underworld River Oath for them to sign this contract, Garen then waited for this Underworld River Oath.


    Meanwhile, he continued spending time in his cave instead while interrogating the three new captives that he had acquired.


    ******************


    After watching Garen''s silhouette left, Kratos arranged a Flame Isolation Boundary in a circle carefully.


    Next, numerous beetles burrowed out of the ground behind him and formed themselves into a seductive female body.


    "How did it go? How did it go with Maffey and Bakiloa that you contacted?" Kratos'' expression appeared solemn now after he had changed from his previously cautious attitude.


    "I''ve informed them already. Bakiloa is extremely impatient. He was testing out a large-scale Blood Formation before I interrupted him. You will need to bear the cost," answered the beetle-woman softly.


    Kratos'' face was slightly contorted while a pained look appeared there faintly.


    "Is Bakiloa willing to come?"


    "Yes, but he''s extremely furious. He said that if you can''t give him a satisfactory reply, even the Wanku Fortress will not be able to stop him from devouring you." The beetle-woman shivered. "I lost one-third of my torso just to meet him once."


    "He''s a Level Thirteen being indeed. He plays a part in the Soul Matrix this time as well. Anyways, our success rate will increase greatly as long as we obtain a Soul Divine Weapon." Kratos'' gaze turned gloomy. "I really don''t believe that a mere little White Dragon can pass through three of our encirclements."


    "What if he really succeeds?" The beetle-woman asked anxiously.


    "Then it won''t make any difference if we give him a share or not. I''m the only one who can activate the Soul Matrix. There''s nothing to be afraid of because I won''t be harmed no matter what happens," said Kratos with a darkened expression. "There''s me, Level Eleven Maffey, and Level Thirteen Bakiloa, unless the Thane of Wanku¡­ Hahaha."


    *******************


    When Garen returned to his cave, the three Blasphemy Knights still remained unmoving there even though they were already awake and aware. Their pupils and face were the only parts that could move while the rest of their bodies were still numb.


    The trio''s faces turned pale from fright when they saw Garen walking into the cave. Their gazes stared at Garen''s large mouth closely. They clearly thought that Garen was probably going to eat them.


    Garen''s pure white body passed through the black Negative Energy Barrier. The inside of the cave was completely empty. There was nothing inside because Garen''s food and water were stored inside the Space Ring that Soaring Wing King had given him.


    He walked toward one of the female knights and approached her one step at a time. Next, Garen grinned and exposed his mouth full of pure white and straight teeth.


    Shh!


    He bit the female knight''s head in one go.


    Ahh!


    A sharp pained cry rang out before Garen loosened his mouth. He looked at the female knight who had fainted and shook his head wordlessly.


    "What are you afraid of? I was just scaring you for fun." He was only joking around like this because he was extremely bored.


    "Irene has always been cowardly," said the male knight roughly. "If you want to kill someone, kill me first!"


    "Still so strong-willed." Garen shifted his gaze to look at this fellow instead.


    He walked over and kicked this bastard away with one foot. Now was not the time to control these few people yet. He would wait until his Void Original Opus had finished simulating its original abilities. It would be perfect if he could condense an Aberrated Soul Seed like the one that he had in the Vampire World or perhaps the Hellfrost Peacock Queen''s Distorted Seed.


    Garen twisted his body once he had walked to the center of the cave. He had recently increased his Void Original Opus to 64%. Thus, he could already feel that numerous changes were occurring throughout his body.


    The Void Original Opus was originally a key factor in gathering every single trace of his strength to advance his True Soul.


    This 64% value had already consecutively activated several Secret Techniques that he had practiced previously.


    The Northern Trident Frost-Fire True Water Evil Technique, which was one of the more crucial ones, was already activated perfectly. The following one was the Seven Star Life''s Secret Point that he had practiced previously. These two sets of skills that were worth being called as terrifying Demonic Techniques were finally refined and launched.


    This instantly made up for more than half of Garen''s martial power system within his entire body. It also replenished his supernatural powers greatly. If he encountered another Void Shadow, at least it would not be so troublesome anymore, since he could use his Semi-Divine Weapon to torture it slowly to death.


    He looked at his remainder of more than 1600 Potential Points. Once he had removed 500 points, these were his only leftovers.


    "I''ll try again and see if I can use these leftover percentages to rush upward." Garen could vaguely sense that the Void Original Opus would require more Potential Points towards the back.


    When he had added five hundred points previously, he could already faintly tell that the percentage would increase very quickly when he had first started but had become more strenuous towards the end.


    "I''ll try again."


    He continued focusing his gaze on the Void Original Opus. His Potential Points continued to decrease greatly while the increments of the Void Original Opus rose once again.


    Garen did not seem to notice that seven blood-red black stars had already started to gleam faintly on the wings on his back. These black stars were completely pitch-black, save for the faint red light that was dispersing around it. A still, strange and deathly aura permeated slowly and dispersed throughout the surroundings of the cave.


    64%... 65%... 67%... 70%... After that, it got stuck.


    After reaching 70%, the Void Original Opus got stuck immediately while his Potential Points continued decreasing wildly.


    Garen had spent more than 60% of his Potential Value to increase it by 6%. However, even though it had stopped suddenly towards the end, his Potential Value continued to decrease while his Void Original Opus remained static.


    His Potential Points that previously stood at over 1600 points quickly decreased to only 1400 points. After that, since his Void Original Opus was indeed unable to absorb the Potential Value anymore, his Potential Points stopped decreasing.


    Garen could clearly feel that his body was somewhat bloated. It seemed like a large amount of gas had surged into his body as if he was a balloon.


    "I can''t increase it anymore, huh?" He moved his body. "My current physical fitness has probably restricted my increments. The few powers towards the back of the Void Original Opus are too strong. It has fully revealed that this body is incapable of loading it completely."


    After all, the Hellfrost Peacock Queen Secret Technique that he had gained during the later period was already considered an extremely powerful and terrifying Demonic Technique. The Void Original Opus would simulate and fully restore and repair it to its original state.


    In other words, all of the Secret Techniques and Demonic Techniques that he had practiced previously would fully reappear and converge in this body.


    When he opened his eyes, Garen could clearly feel that his right foot was slightly swollen. He lowered his head to looked at it before noticing that a strange, dark blue sphere that resembled an ice ball had apparently grown on his right hind claw.


    His heart trembled slightly when this blue sphere separated itself from his body suddenly while his right hind leg disappeared at the same time as well.


    This blue sphere fell on the ground and cracked on its own before an imposing, faceless man arched out from the middle, holding a halberd.


    The muscles throughout the man''s entire body were extremely taut, and his height was over two meters. His skin was pale while his long, dark blue hair flew in the wind. A silent evil energy permeated around this man''s entire body.


    Aside from the halberd that he was holding in his hand, there were numerous translucent halberds behind him that were naturally slowly frozen by the frost.


    "You''re my right foot?" Garen''s mind stirred faintly suddenly before he opened his mouth and asked this question.


    The three knights inside the cave were currently staring dumbfoundedly after they had witnessed this scene. Intense chills that were tinged with evil energy poured into their bodies silently. They did not seem to notice that strange faint shades of blue had appeared throughout their bodies while their temperatures had started to decrease automatically.


    The man with long blue hair nodded faintly. His body was naturally covered in a layer of magnificent and exquisite light blue Ice Armor.


    "I obey you, my master."


    He seemed to have his own intelligence, but his awareness was interlinked with Garen''s own, making it seem as though Garen was conversing with himself or perhaps if he was talking to his reflection in a mirror.


    Garen felt as if both his wings had shown signs of breaking away from his body at the same time. He complied with the stirring in his heart and allowed both of his wings to separate themselves from his body naturally.


    Both wings fell on the ground and naturally transformed into an imposing muscular man with a black colored body. Both of his arms were spread open as if they were two gigantic wings.


    Seven black-red, closely-packed cavities appeared on his back slowly. This man did not have a face as well, but his stern, short black hair and exaggeratedly burly muscles gave off an extremely terrifying sense of forcefulness.


    This was Garen when he was the Overlords of the Blood Breed World and the pinnacle of the world''s martial arts.


    He relied on the Seven Star Life''s Secret Point to dominate the entire world at that time. He was peerless and if it was not for Nadia''s appearance in the end, perhaps he could have ruled over the martial arts of that world for more than hundreds of years.


    "You''re my pair of wings." Garen looked at the other person calmly.


    "Of course," answered the man in a similar low tone.


    Garen looked at these two body parts that had separated themselves from his body naturally. These were clearly the works of the Void Original Opus. Originally, they were neither fully unified nor had they converged in one specific body. On the contrary, they were separated into different individuals to match each other and combine together. When these individuals finally gathered, it was time for the strongest body to appear.


    "The final one." Garen could feel his long tail disappearing, before an elegant man, whose entire body was wholly black, reappeared while holding a violin.


    The most unique part of him was his eyes. He had no other features on his face other than two eyes. His left eye was red while his right eye was golden.


    "In my heart, everything is possible," said the man calmly. "My master, I''m very glad to meet you."


    Garen noticed that a golden lotus was engraved on his violin.


    This was the manifestation of the Holy Phoenix Scriptures, or perhaps the Holy Phoenix Demonic Book.


    "Is this the path to domination?" This impression appeared in his heart faintly when Garen looked attentively at these individuals.


    Achieving seventy percent of his Void Original Opus had revealed three of his previous states. The only ones that were missing were the Crystal King of the previous Mech World and the Hellfrost Peacock Queen.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Regarding these three individuals, Garen named them Evil Soldier, Demonic Book, and Seven Lives respectively.


    When he looked at his dragon body that was already incomplete and imperfect, Garen''s will stirred before these three individuals returned to his body and transformed back into his right leg, two wings, and tail.


    Two of the three knights had already fainted when Seven Lives appeared. When Seven Lives had just manifested, they were already contaminated by Evil Soldier''s ominous Spirit Energy that froze their bodies stiffly. Their entire consciousness and even their souls were inflicted with a temporary shock.


    When he saw that his body was complete now, Garen faintly sighed in relief.


    His right leg, both wings, and tail were the three parts that were flowing with powers. They were completely different from the strength within his own body.

 1322 Evolution 2

    With the tail being the most powerful part, the Holy Phoenix Demonic Book had a strong, overbearing power. When the long tail swayed gently, Garen could sense the horrifying urge to destroy everything locking its path. This sort of motive, or perhaps willpower, caused the Demonic Book energy which flowed in the long tail to rotate according to a mysterious track, which then produced a stronger power.


    "It''s like¡­ It''s still cultivating!" Garen suddenly understood the principle, a sense of absurdity arose within his mind.


    A part of his body was actually cultivating a constantly powerful force according to his independent Willpower.


    He tried maneuvering this kind of power, and it could actually be used regardless of each other.


    "If so, with the tail added, there are still two other places. Together with myself, isn''t that equivalent to having four individuals practicing and strengthening one body at the same time?!" He was surprised and happy.


    At this moment, he still did not know the extent to which his powers had reached. The variable was too big, and until then, it was still unknown how powerful a role the Void Original Opus played.


    "What I need to do now is to test my true strength." Garen glanced at the three knights on the ground as he stood up and walked out of the cave.


    *********************


    On the plains far away from Garen''s cave, a gigantic black Hound was slowly moving toward the ruins of the Fiery Beast.


    This huge Hound was black in color. It might seem just like an ordinary hound from a distance. However, upon closer inspection, its body was actually composed of countless corpses and human bones.


    This was an enormous Corpse-Hound. He was at least ten meters tall or so, and his massive body was twenty meters long. His eyes were made of two dark hollows, and blood-red mucus trickled down at the corner of its mouth occasionally. Its sharp teeth slightly exposed at the edge of its mouth.


    Far away, all creatures around could already sense the deadly aura emitted from him, they would flee just from far away.


    The Corpse-Hound was generally one of the favorite Undead Guards of Necromancers and Great Liches, but this Corpse-Hound was evidently out of control.


    It had a clear row of black spikes on its back, which was a sign of that it had no ruler.


    "Maffey, oh! My dear Maffey, you''re finally back!!" Kratos the Fiery Beast quickly rushed out of his ruins as the Corpse-Hound rushed in his direction from far away.


    His eight legs were spider-like, moving steadily. However, with the dragon''s head above his body, it looked a bit strange.


    "Hiss¡­ His¡­ Just nice, I haven''t eaten. You promised me a thousand high-quality corpses. That''s really generous, Kratos. Hiss¡­" the Corpse-Hound said loudly as he exhaled.


    Kratos squeezed out a smile as he resisted the stench of the Corpse-Hound. "Come to my site first, and we''ll see. I''m sure you must be clear about my request, then?"


    "Of course¡­ Hiss¡­" Corpse-Hound grinned. "Bakiloa is already nearby, and his Teleportation spells are the best."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Bakiloa¡­ So fast¡­" There was clearly a stunned look on the Fiery Beast''s face as a trace of fear flashed in his eyes.


    "If you''re unable to satisfy him, hiss¡­ You''ll really be in trouble this time," Maffey snickered.


    A loud bang sounded suddenly, and the two gigantic creatures looked up into the distant sky.


    An evident expression of sneer and anticipation appeared on the Hound Maffey''s face, while Bakiloa''s face remained serious and cautious.


    Soon, blood-red clouds floated across the sky from a distance.


    These clouds were like living creatures, squirming at the edges. Their cores constantly twisted and converged as a huge human face emerged. It was the face of a man with a beard and hair.


    It was almost the same as the Matrix Spirit Garen had seen in Snow City. However, those were Thunder Clouds, and these were Blood Clouds. Furthermore, the size of them this time was almost twice as large.


    The Blood Clouds turned over and almost covered the plains. The sun in the sky was also blocked as well as it turned reddish and grayish.


    "Kratos, if you even dare to deceive me, this time I''m really going to swallow you up!" The huge Blood Cloud rumbled furiously. It was an Abyssal that sounded like the screams of squally winds and the screams of humans.


    "Bakiloa, have I ever not fulfilled something that I''ve promised you?" Kratos gave a slight apple-polish smile. "Even if you don''t believe me, do you not believe in the Wanku Fortress behind me? After all, I am the Blacksmith''s First Seat."


    Bakiloa was a mass of cloud that had no fixed form, and this had become his trait as the climate life. He was born in the intersection between the Abyss Underworld River and the Heavens. The Void Universe there would intertwine with the immense evil powers of the Abyss and the pure spirit energy, gradually forming large clumps of clouds. One of them produced the weird but special life of Bakiloa.


    He had two extreme personalities, and his personality changed every Abyss Month. This personality was a mixture of the pure and devout spirit energy of the Heavens, and the evil selfish powers of the Abyss. His personality was generated by random according to different proportions, even he was unable to determine his own character for the next Abyss Month.


    Once when he met up with his old friend Kratos, he just turned into an indifferent, hopeless character that was ignorant toward all matters. The extremity of this personality was self-destructive as he was just about to devour every life that was in his sight before blowing himself up.


    The result was that Kratos was almost swallowed alive. If it was not for the Chief of Army of the Wanku Fortress, which was also the thane, who pulled him out, he would have probably turned into nutrients for Bakiloa already.


    "My most respected Bakiloa, I hope you are in a good mood during our meeting this time," Kratos said cautiously.


    Maffey, however, was not really afraid of Bakiloa. He had escaped under the mouth of this fellow once and he was best at escaping. His confidence for this area was extremely strong.


    "I''m in a bad mood, really. Your Emissary interrupted one of my important experiments at the most critical time, If you can''t pay a price that satisfies me, then I''ll consider killing you right now." Bakiloa was in a furious mood. He continued howling and the storms whistled. The airstream was increasing rapidly and the surrounding temperature was rising tremendously. The temperature at the plains had risen by more than ten degrees and it was still heating up.


    "Please rest assured, this time I''m letting you make a move just for a Soul Semi-Divine Weapon!" Kratos made sure he emphasized the term when he said the word ''soul''.


    "Soul Divine Weapon?" As expected, Bakiloa had slightly calmed down.


    "There''s also another heterogeneous White Dragon with a very good talent. He has a powerful body and the energy contained in his flesh can definitely satisfy you." Kratos grinned. His heart was slightly relaxed now as Bakiloa''s mood seemed to be traceable. This was the best time to negotiate with him.


    "Where is this thing?! Bring me there immediately!!" Bakiloa was getting irritable.


    "Hold your horses, I shall bring the both of you there right now¡­" Kratos replied softly, pleased.


    ********************


    "An abnormal Force Field?" Garen felt a bit fretful.


    "Could it be that there''s a problem over at Kratos''?" The Abyss was full of frauds and scams, so he had every reason to be worried about Kratos'' ulterior motives. That fellow seemed to be a scoundrel, so it was natural to meet some helpers to get some help.


    "Seems like I still have to be more careful." Garen thought about it and felt that the Force Fields that came from the distance suddenly was unusual. Just as a precaution, he grabbed the three Knights and left the cave.


    Somehow, sometime, a big clump of red clouds had appeared in the distance, slowly moving towards his side.


    "It seems that the abnormal Force Fields are caused by these red clouds? Perhaps it''s related to the strange messy weather at the Abyss." Garen frowned. He thought about it and decided not to care, then returned to his cave and soon disappeared within.


    The red clouds in the distance moved in quickly the moment he returned to the cave.


    Below the red clouds, Kratos and Corpse-Hound were running swiftly as they followed the pace of the red clouds.


    Kratos kept pulling out pieces of metal elliptical rune paper. The yellow rolls of paper were constantly burned into black ashes that disappeared into the wind. The black ashes were all scattered everywhere and was then naturally swept up by the strong winds of the red clouds blowing toward the open space around Garen''s cave.


    Rows of black ash were automatically arranged into a series of complex yet detailed symbols and words, forming a huge circle of Abyssal and Rune powers.


    The entire circle surrounded Garen''s cave, placing him right in the center. It was at least kilometers in diameter when the last speck of ash completed the circle.


    Buzz!


    The entire circle suddenly began buzzing and shaking. Black threads floated from the ashes and were interwoven into a net spreading toward the sky. It grew longer and bigger as if they were black vines.


    "Devour everything!" A human face emerged among the red clouds and watched Garen''s cave below greedily.


    His massive body made of clouds was pressing down entirely.


    Boom!


    The cave collapsed immediately, but there was nothing in it.


    Kratos'' face froze while delight shone in Maffey''s eyes.


    As for Bakiloa, he was stunned. The stare he had at Kratos was so cold it could possibly freeze everything.


    "This is what you call a heterogeneous White Dragon and Soul Divine Weapon!? If you want to die, you can just say it. I''ll gladly grant that wish of yours!"


    "No, no, no! Bakiloa, please listen to me, the situation is certainly not like this!" Kratos shook his head frantically, a trace of fear flashed through his eyes. "The White Dragon has been living here all along! It''s true, and I swear under the oath of Soul and Underworld River!"


    "You still want to lie to me!?" Bakiloa was completely furious. He swooped down as immense red clouds shrouded Kratos. An oppression of such a colossal Soul naturally had a certain Decree Spell effect. Moreover, it was the power of the Decree Spell of a Level-Nine peak, it would be a steady flow of power unlike those released only once by the average creature. Bakiloa seemed to be releasing this terrifying, endless surge of oppression, immobilizing Kratos.


    "No! Master Bakiloa! You must listen to me! It''s not what you think it is!" Kratos shouted. Watching the red clouds that were almost reaching his head, he finally sensed the true shadow of death. It was not that he did not want to fight back, he did resist it, but nothing happened; it would only irritate the other person.


    The gap between Level Thirteen and Level Nine was that different from the gap between Level Five and Level Nine.

 1323 Blood Wars 1

    "Wait!" the Corpse-Hound Maffey yelled by the side, "Kratos is right. Technically, there''s still a White Dragon out there and three humans. There seems to be the scent of Blasphemy Knights."


    He sniffed with his sensitive nose and revealed a look of greed. "Such perfectly strong flesh, if I''m able to eat it, perhaps I can safely pass the next Bottleneck."


    The movements of the red clouds that were swooping downward immediately stopped.


    Bakiloa turned and looked at Maffey.


    "Are you sure?"


    "Of course!" Maffey glanced at him with dissatisfaction. "Are you doubting my sense of smell?"


    Bakiloa did not respond, instead, he set his steely gaze on Kratos, withdrawing the big clumps of clouds that retracted back to the sky.


    "From what you''ve said, he probably hasn''t gotten far, maybe nearby here that we can catch up. Can you confirm which direction he headed off to?"


    Maffey continued sniffling.


    "Should be that direction¡­" He raised his head and suddenly began running in a direction.


    Bakiloa and Kratos then followed behind hurriedly.


    *******************


    Garen continued flying, the frequency of his wings flapping had reached an astonishing speed.


    A large area of the Abyss'' ground swept under him. A steel fortress at his right side shot out a large number of black smoke pillars that were surrounded by large blood-red runes. It was clearly a sort of spell.


    Garen could vaguely recognize the style of this fortress. The Devil and Demon''s Fortress were different. The Devil''s Fortress was extremely orderly and beautiful with a hint of grimness.


    As for the Demon''s, it was just messy. Moreover, they were too lazy to even bother with all the repairs to the insignificant places. Because of the brutal fights and battles that often damaged the internal structures of the building and the surrounding walls of the fortress, they never bothered maintaining it anymore.


    "It''s the Demon''s Fortress." Garen simply identified the soldiers below.


    Somewhere beneath the fortress and the big gate on the ground, a ruthless battle was happening right at that moment. Devil Soldiers that had horns on their heads were battling against chaotic strong Demons. Green, blue, and red blood scattered everywhere.


    Several tall Balor Demons were entangled among the troops, fighting the giant beasts and giant squids.


    Garen swept across the sky and attracted the attention of some of the creatures below. However, the war was getting heated up, nobody could turn their attention away.


    As for Garen, he sensed a strong aura that was closing in on him.


    "He actually caught up." It bothered him that after drilling a hole underground and escaping from another place, not long after he was away, he could see the place in where he originally lived being surrounded by a large array of spells. He could also sense Kratos'' indistinct aura.


    He instantly knew that Kratos had definitely brought trouble upon him.


    Fortunately, he escaped right on time.


    "This is Kaqiu Plains, we can''t fly anymore. There are flight restrictions here, time can''t stop over two Magic Points on the battlefield. Otherwise, the Thane of Fortress will kill us!"


    The male Knight that was clutched in Garen''s claws started shouting.


    "Thane of Fortress? What level of a powerhouse is the general Thane of Fortress?" Garen asked casually.


    "Generally it''s the peak level, Level Fourteen," the Knight answered honestly, "We can''t fight against the Thane of Fortress'' prestige. They still have many men of below Level Nine. If they work together on a spell, they can easily imprison or even kill a being of Level Ten and above," Irene, the female Knight, continued.


    "Level Fourteen¡­" Garen shivered. He once witnessed the power of a Level Fourteen, the speaker back in Snow City, who was also the father of Dragon Master. By just casting a spell far away, he was already able to suppress all the Wizards that were present in the area. If he was to cast a spell close-ranged, perhaps the power would be more than doubled. He was not an existence he could fight against at the moment.


    "Let''s go down first and we''ll see." He then flew lower toward the battlefield.


    Behind him, he could vaguely see the large clumps of red clouds almost chasing up.


    Kratos'' aura was getting closer and closer already, there was also a mixture of two inexplicable, unfamiliar force fields.


    "He indeed found people to help." Garen sneered and looked back at the red clouds behind him.


    "We can''t actually help you with anything, so can you let us go?" Irene was the most naive one among the three Knights. After noticing the people chasing behind them, her face paled and she began pleading Garen.


    "Let all of you go?" Garen smiled and glanced at the trio. "You guys were the ones who wanted to kill me in the first place, it''s not going to be that easy for me to just let all of you off the hook. Come on, let''s join this Blood War. We can avoid those three fellows behind too.


    The bloody atmosphere and extremely broad battlefield was just the right place for him to hide his trail.


    Garen rushed straight toward the battlefield, where a mess of massacre was all over the place.


    A Gnoll in black armor swung a hammer toward Garen''s back.


    With a swipe of Garen''s tail, he immediately smashed the spell barrier that was emitted from the Gnoll with a bang. The Gnoll flew on impact and was broken into half by the waist mid-air, both halves of its corpse fell onto the two Devils who were battling.


    The Fiery Devils lingered in the flames and smoke. They wore blood-red robes and held long barbed whips. One of them slashed the whip toward Garen''s head.


    "Die!"


    With a smack, Garen caught the whip in his claws and pulled hard, pulling the Fiery Devil over and exhaled a breath of Dragon Breath.


    The icy Dragon Breath was mixed with a cold toxin, and the Fiery Devil instantly froze into a block of ice.


    There were all just creatures that were no higher than Level Six, they stood no chance against Garen at all. He could simply wipe out the entire space with just a mere swipe of his tail, or just a simple stretch of his claws.


    He was basically a war machine in this sort of low-level battlefield.


    His claws were already covered with flesh and armor fragments after just a few minutes.


    Roar!


    All of a sudden, a green fat Bullhorn Devil stared at him.


    This fellow was carrying an enormous mace that was at least five meters wide. It had a long tail much like that of a Tyrannosaurus Rex''s. The tail resembled his third leg, supporting his bulky body as he walked towards Garen shakily.


    The monster was almost two heads taller than Garen, looking down at Garen from his height.


    The monster suddenly opened its mouth and spat, spewing out large black worms that flew toward Garen''s body. At the same time, the mace on his shoulder slammed down like a phantom.


    Bang!


    As Garen''s wings blocked before him, seven black-red stars flashed on his wings. It was hard, and the strength was unusually terrifying. The seven stars suddenly grew brighter. Garen immediately felt a steady stream of strength surged through his wings, increasing his strength by more than half.


    With this strength, he gently moved his wings and firmly blocked the monster''s wings.


    He was originally as powerful as this guy already. However, after this enhancement, he surpassed the other person. The fat devil had a great fall and soon, fearless Demons swarmed forward and started biting crazily.


    Garen did not care much but just went forward and lashed his tail ferociously.


    With a loud rumble, the fat Devil exploded straight away and turned into black bugs that flew around.


    The surrounding Demons cheered.


    "You''ve crossed the border! Dragon Race Mercenaries!" A Devil leader shrieked.


    "So what if I''ve crossed the border?" Garen was too lazy to even bother. He was surrounded by Demons and Devils. Most of the Demons here were Gnolls, Fiery Devils and fat Devils like the one just now.


    The Devil Leader screamed as he drove the large crowd of Fiery Devils toward Garen. As for he himself, he retreated back. The Devils that were being driven away had reddish eyes, they were clearly under some sort of stimulation.


    The atmosphere everywhere was hectic.


    Demons screamed in an insane manner as they darted out from Garen''s side, heading toward the Devils.


    They then exploded to death, row by row, by the group of Warlocks'' spells. Yet, there was no sign of retreat.


    Flames, strong acid, huge rolling stones, and magma bombs fell from the sky one by one onto the groups of Demons and Devils. Blood and the shattering sounds of Souls could be heard among the screams.


    Garen stood on the battlefield with three of the Blasphemy Knights. In this battlefield, Garen could just open his wings and he was able to block and flames, rolling stones, and even strong acid. If he simply exerted a little bit more strength, he would be able to smash the crowded Devils into death.


    His body scent was perfectly hidden in the bloodshed of this battlefield.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Gnolls were constantly torn into pieces by him and at the same time, he vaguely felt that a surge of evil yet distorted strength slowly seeping into his body in the process of killing.


    This strength then proceeded in nourishing his body, accelerating the evolution of his body.


    "So this is the Power of Abyss huh?" Garen immediately understood. The creatures that were involved in the Blood Wars would cause the increase of creatures killed, which would then gain the reward of the Abyss'' Will, thus gaining more powerful strength. This strength consisted a natural effect of creating chaos in one''s mind and if it was not stably digested, if this chaotic essence was not suppressed, one would eventually become extremely chaotic, turning into a war machine that could only kill. One could ultimately die on the battlefield.


    Hiss!


    With just one claw, Garen beat the Fiery Devil into ashes and he instantly felt his back loosen up. It was as if his back finally broke through something that was bound around him, piercing through his scales and releasing them all out.


    He heard the exclamation of the three Knights behind him and turned around to look at his back.


    Only then did he realize, at right that moment, his back was covered with rows of black venomous snakes.


    His back that was originally like a Stegosaurus, full of spikes, was now full of soft venomous snakes. These venomous snakes looked ferocious with black spikes all over their heads. They looked just like sharp whips.


    "Is the evolution finally over?"


    Garen quickly glanced at his Status Pane. (TL Note: The author''s original script wrote something along the lines of "his IDE Status Pane", this is probably a typo.)


    As expected, there had been new changes in his status. Just right below his Attribute Pane, there was a new row of status.


    ''Status: White Dragon Level 2 Evolutionary Body -- Snakeback White Dragon. Spellcraft talent, Poisonous Eye.''


    Garen then only discovered that his eyes seemed to be filled with a new kind of power. This power was like the liquid compressed within the eyelids; it was flowing around, yet it did not affect his vision. He felt that he could just use this strength and unleash it out at any time.


    So he found a Devil that rushed before him, a slightly icy Devil, a white-skinned man that was wrapped in a white chilly fog.


    With two subtle slurps, two rays of white-blue Light Beams shot out from Garen''s eyes and hit the icy Devil as quickly as a sudden clap of thunder.


    Ah!


    The Devil suddenly let out a scream and melted like a candle, turning into a gooey solution in less than two seconds flat.

 1324 Blood Wars 2

    Garen instantly felt that both his eyes were starting to accumulate the power again. Yet, from the looks of it, it was going to take some time.


    He had a look at his status.


    ''Poisonous Eye -- Consists of the Natural Ability to use three gazes a day to poison the enemy. Vision +5, the eyeball will not be eroded by most toxins.''


    "The recovery time should be within five minutes," Garen calculated.


    Soon enough, some high-leveled Devils finally fixed their gaze on Garen after charging about on the battlefield.


    Two Level-Nine Chained Demons approached Garen. Their chains were entwined with black flames. It was the unique Sin Flames of Barto''s Hell. If a creature was ignited by it, the remorse and regrets from the deepest part of their heart would grow rapidly and from there, resulting in a hopeless tendency to self-destruct. They would seize the opportunity to kill the creature swiftly.


    The two Level-Nine Chained Demons looked like tall and strong men with sharp, gray iron helmets.


    They were bare-chested, they had green-grayish skin and solid muscles. They had a black belt that was gray by the edges with a skull around their waist, but their legs were just bizarre black goat hooves that looked furry.


    "Surround him!" The two Chained-Demons had long noticed Garen. This White Dragon''s physique was unusually strong so they could capture him as their slave. If he was seriously injured, they could still get a good price by selling him off.


    They flung their chains, and a huge amount of black words and symbols came flying out of the chains, surrounding Garen wholly.


    "Hell Trial!" One of the Chained-Demon roared in Devil Language.


    Numerous black words surrounded Garen and instantly formed a gigantic black funnel, positioning Garen right at the bottom of the funnel.


    There was an extremely disgusting sticky substance hidden in the immense Attractive Force. It was blocking all of Garen''s nose, mouth, and other parts that could be used to breathe.


    The severe suffocation was making Garen physically uncomfortable.


    He bellowed, and his entire body began to shake in a high frequency, attempting to get rid of the sticky substance on his body. However, it was useless. The sticky substance was neither a spell effect nor a supernatural force, but a special physical attack created by spells. It was not fighting toughness with toughness. Instead, it was disguised in a different form, directly causing the creature to suffocate and lose consciousness.


    Garen used up several ways, but he was still unable to get rid of the sticky substance completely. Suddenly, the contempt he had when he killed the small Devil earlier on completely disappeared. In such a short moment, two Level-Nine peak Devils had surrounded him. He could imagine the most important key here was not the sufficient power, but to be able to learn a powerful life-saving way.


    You could be strong, but there were those stronger than you here.


    Garen used every trick, the Dragon Breath as well as all other physical means, yet they were all useless. The suffocation kept up with him. If it was not for him being able to hold his breath for a long time, he would have probably lost consciousness due to the lack of air.


    "Try it one last time."


    "Garen focused his gaze and stared into the black funnel right in front of him.


    Swoosh swoosh! Two rays of white-blue Light Beams shot out. They were not eye-catching, looking just like normal ice rays.


    However, the power it generated left everyone staring dumbfoundedly.


    Two Level Nine Peak merged together and released a spell that was close to Level Ten, but it just melted. Within less than half a minute, they turned into a puddle of pale blue viscous liquid on the ground.


    The suffocation that Garen''s body felt instantly faded.


    The body after evolution was indeed extremely different.


    The power of this Innate Spell had actually reached the standards of a Level Ten, making Garen particularly happy.


    Level Nine to Level Ten was a key threshold. Clearly, the biggest indication of his evolution was that he managed to break through this threshold.


    With 50 years worth of preparation for the great war, he could once again make great use of his Potential Points to improve his attributes.


    "Soul! A lot of Souls¡­" An evil soft voice suddenly swooped across the top of Garen''s head.


    It was a massive, white Entropy Ship that was made up of a myriad of naked human bodies that were still squirming. This was the gigantic Warship that the Demons used to weave through planes. Making an appearance here clearly meant that there was a special task here. This sort of Entropy Ship had a Soul Will itself. It was not a dead ship, but a gigantic monster.


    The huge skull in front of the Entropy Ship howled loudly, as two bottom planks opened up and scattered a huge amount of Demon Seeds.


    These Demon Seeds were like black Dandelion seeds, but once they get into contact with a Devil''s body, they would grow and parasitize on its body. Soon, it would take over the Devil''s body and turn it into a complete new demon.


    "Parasitic Demons," Garen recognize this type of Demons. He cautiously dodged the seeds that were sprinkled all over. Once contact was made, this sort of thing would not joke around regardless of who you were.


    They had a crazy desire for flesh and blood, friend or foe alike.


    Therefore, although the Entropy Ship mainly scattered the seeds in the direction of the Devil''s camp, Demons that were unable to dodge in time were also sucked to death by the Parasitic Demons.


    "The counterattack of the Demons is finally about to begin."


    Garen saw a large group of tall gigantic Demons rushing out behind him from the Fortress gate all the way to the depths of the Devil''s army. Each of these Demons was at almost the same state as Garen, some even much taller than him. They had all sorts of strange forms, even Garen''s Snakeback White Dragon appearance was seemingly insignificant among them.


    He mixed himself in the crowd as they rushed toward the Devil''s army. Among the giant Demons, most of them were Level Eight, whereas the stronger Gods were at least Level Ten or Eleven. It was extremely terrifying.


    Only Demons would hire external mercenaries to participate in battles, whereas Devils were more dependent on their own troops to kill.


    Cthulhu''s Hell and Thanes had something like a Reincarnation Pool. Dead Devils only needed to consume just a little energy and they would be reborn again, it was just that they would not have their original memory. That was why they were not worried about the number of Devils decreasing.


    While Garen followed the troop rushing forward, he began to try increasing his Potential Points sneakily.


    He still had more than a thousand four hundred potential points untouched. Now that he had finished his evolution, it was the right time to use them.


    As soon as his gaze strayed for a while, his Potential Points immediately dropped whereas his Attribute Points increased rapidly.


    The first thing that Garen improved on was his physique. With a strong enough physique, he could then be immune to higher leveled spells and negative states. Also, his self-healing ability would be even better. In the Blood War of the Abyss, strength was not a priority, survival was.


    So physique was his first choice.


    His physique was initially 80 points, which was already the maximum limit. However, now it was still rising quickly.


    81¡­ 82¡­ 83...


    Soon, Garen realized that something was wrong.


    Despite his Potential Points being consumed a little bit too quickly, his attributes were increasing slowly.


    He paused for a while and began calculating.


    "It''s actually changed to ten points to raise one point of an attribute?!" He was shocked, but it was understandable. Now that he had reached eighty points, which was basically an unprecedented degree, it was normal to have a higher requirement of potential points.


    "Thankfully, this is the Abyss Blood War, it''s still pretty easy to collect Souls and replenish my Potential Points."


    As he went along with the crowd of rowdy Demons, Garen continued improving his physique.


    This time around, there seemed to be no limits.


    One thousand four hundred potential points were soon consumed until there was not much left.


    As for his physique, it actually reached an unprecedented level. 180 points!


    He only had a mere four hundred-ish potential points remaining.


    Garen''s body did not seem to have changed much. However, the color of the scales all over his body darkened, and there was a faint shimmer of a natural white-gold. There were some special textures that could make people feel dizzy without even using the Divine Statue Technique. Those were the powerful natural symbols.


    180 points, this was Garen''s current Soul Limit''s peak. Even though he had absorbed Soul Rings later, his Soul Limit was increasing slower and slower. The Soul Seed condensed after absorbing the Soul Energy later was completely different from the quality of his original inspiration. Therefore, the improvement of his Soul Limit was still extremely limited. Even after absorbing so much, he only managed to increase ten points of his limits from 170 to 180.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    However, Garen was still very satisfied nevertheless.


    180 points of physique, even Garen himself was not very clear about this concept. He looked around, and Cliffon Demons with gigantic horns surrounded him. These Demons had a huge head, a furless gray-black body, and four extremely thick elephant legs. A sort of green mucus constantly dripped from their abdomen. Hence, when they passed by, they naturally left a trail of venom. That was why they were also known as Ecological Destroyers, the most hated Demons of Elves and living creatures of nature.


    "What are you looking at!?" Garen''s arrogance and ignorance caused a dissatisfaction among the group of Cliffon Demons. These demons that were also known as Demonic Behemoths were much bigger in size than Garen. At ten meters high, they turned around and bellowed impatiently.


    Garen was just about anxious over not finding an opportunity, and this Demonic Behemoth''s powers seemed to be around Level Ten. This was exactly the kind of opponent he could provoke at the moment.


    He confirmed that his Poisonous Eye had finished accumulating, and he looked at this Demonic Behemoth in an even more impatient manner.


    "What are you yelling for! Yell more and I''ll kill you!"


    "What!?" The Demonic Behemoth''s eyes were wide open, as though it could not imagine a Level-Nine creature would actually dare to challenge it. After acquiring the Power of Abyss in the Blood War, there was the possibility of mental confusion and impulsiveness. The originally bloodthirsty and impulsive Demonic Behemoths were now even more barbarous; they could not stand being provoked.


    With a bang, they rushed toward Garen.


    A small hill over ten meters in size was coming right at Garen, and the immense Attractive Force had naturally locked onto Garen, making it impossible for him to dodge.


    "You dare to challenge me!" Garen was furious, he looked as if his dignity was just insulted. He then directly charged toward the fellow without a care.


    By this time, he had already used up the remaining four hundred potential points and piled them up on his strength.


    Four hundred points were equivalent to forty points of strength. His original eighty points of strength straight away rose to 120 points, which had far exceeded the limits of the general biological body. Even an Ancient Dragon could never reach Garen''s current level. Purely physical wise, he had reached a peak.


    Bang!


    The two giants crashed into each other, sending out a clear shockwave.

 1325 A Chance Encounter 1

    The Demonic Behemoth stumbled four steps backward, fell with a thump onto the ground and could not get up anymore.


    Garen also felt a tremendous force crashing into him, as if he had slammed against a wall.


    "It truly is the Demonic Behemoth. Its strength comes from the dark vortex in the depths of the Abyss. With the support of the dark vortex that swirls all the time, it doesn''t just merely aid the outburst of the body''s strength."


    Garen had an epiphany. His 120-points of Strength was already on par with the Demonic Behemoth''s. Even exceeded it.


    After all, the Demonic Behemoths were one of the demons with the highest strength in the Abyss, not to mention the Dragon Clan; even the slightly weaker demigods would not choose to wrestle with them when encountering them.


    The Demonic Behemoth that fell collided with two elder demons that were moving forward. These elder demons with sharp blades in their hands and long horns on their heads were about to rage, but they quickly fell silent and dared not speak a word when they saw that it was a Demonic Behemoth. They hurried away immediately.


    A Level Ten-Demonic Behemoth was one of the top strengths ranked in this team. The one who could knock out this fellow would naturally not be a simple existence.


    The Demonic Behemoth shook its head and got up. It was not injured at all. "That''s rather strong?" It could not believe that it was knocked down by someone from the Dragon Clan. The Dragon Clan, this kind of reptile, had always been skinny and weak, and only the higher-level Dragon Clan could scare him. A little Level Nine-White Dragon that could actually knock it over was absolutely unthinkable!


    "I must have seen wrongly as my head feels a little dizzy." He shook his head and charged at Garen again.


    Boom!!


    There was another thundering sound. The Demonic Behemoth fell back at the same spot and stared vacantly at Garen.


    There was not even a mark on Garen at the spot where he had caught him with his claws.


    "Get lost!" Garen roared impatiently.


    The Demonic Behemoth seemed to have finally recognized the reality. Panting heavily, he silently lumbered away from Garen.


    Garen rampaged among the gigantic demons. Wherever he passed, no one dared to cross him.


    A few Level Ten-demons were knocked over to the ground by him.


    Charging through all the way, the team very quickly reached the Devil''s Army.


    Both parties fought and killed at close quarters, and nothing could be distinguished.


    ****************


    "He has joined the Blood War!" Maffey said, displeased. "I hate the Blood War the most. There''re so many delicious corpses swaying about in front, and yet I don''t dare to go devour them. This is simply the cruelest torment in the world."


    Corpse-Hound brought Bakiloa and Kratos along and stood by the edge of the Blood War battlefield to watch from afar. They did not dare to go any closer as they could be forcefully dragged into the battlefield by the Will of the Abyss.


    Bakiloa had completely retracted the cloud on his entire body and landed on the ground. He had transformed into an elemental life form that was formed completely through the condensation of red clouds. He was not clothed at all; even the skin and muscles were just masses of slowly drifting bloody clouds. On his head were two curved horns, while his face was that of an old man''s.


    "Can we still catch up?" He asked impatiently.


    "I don''t think so." Maffey shook his head. "The smell inside is too mixed up. Even I have no way."


    Kratos had a stiff expression on one side. If he could not find Garen, he would be in deep trouble.


    "I know the vanguard of this fortress. Maybe we can go inside to search. A White Dragon is also rather eye-catching here. After all, this is not the Dragon Clan''s battlefield."


    "I hope it turns out as what you have said..." Bakiloa said coldly.


    Kratos did not dare to answer back. He quickly led the two behemoths toward the Blood War.


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    Garen was killing wantonly. One after another, the devils were smashed into pieces under his claws. As he spewed out a Dragon Stream with his mouth, a vast number of devils would be frozen into ice sculptures, dying completely.


    Little demons flew up from behind and pounced onto the back of his wings, trying to pierce his wings with their steel forks, but to no avail. They were directly thrown off with the spreading of both his wings. His wings could now use the exertion of force as the basis. With the Seven Star Life''s Secret Point as the foundation, he could break out an even stronger force. Because his own basic strength was too great, and the enhancement of the Seven Star Life''s Secret Point was not developed for the Dragon Clan, so the increase was limited. However, it could also bring about a 150% enhancement to its original strength, which was a one-half improvement, reaching a terrific 180 points!!


    Garen was a horrifying meat grinder on the battlefield. The surrounding devils and demons were slaughtered wantonly by him. With a swing of his tail, and wherever the platinum trail swept across, all the creatures would be cleared off. Some even directly exploded and turned into blood mist.


    The Will of the Abyss continued to strengthen his body. The more creatures one killed, the greater the reward the Will of the Abyss would grant that being. It did not care whether you were the existence of other worlds.


    Garen felt that he was growing non-stop, and every creature that died under his claws brought him a huge influx of soul power.


    After filtering this strength through the Semi-Divine Weapon, the Despair Skull, and removing the messy memories and all kinds of chaotic emotions in it, it transformed into the purest soul power, which was absorbed by Garen and turned into Potential Points.


    He watched his Potential Points begin to rise again.


    A Level Five-little demon could benefit him, while a Level Seven and Eight-monster could grant him with more than ten points.


    And now he had killed at least dozens of little demons and more than ten Level Seven and Eight-monsters. The potential aura rushed madly into his body like a waterfall.


    Garen could not be bothered to look at the others and directly added the Potential Points to the attribute points. He watched his attributes climb continually.


    A huge black scorpion darted at him, raising its stinger to strike Garen''s head.


    The black scorpion was almost as tall as Garen, and it was also considered a big guy on the battlefield.


    The tip of the poison sting shone with a faint white light.


    Whish!


    Garen''s claws caught the poisonous sting in an instant, and he wrestled with the scorpion.


    He suddenly jerked hard. Roar!!!


    With an angry bellow, Garen actually lifted the entire scorpion straight up and hurled it sideways. Boom, boom, boom, boom! All the devils and demons around were swept away.


    "Tyrant! Kill him!!" A thunderous voice sounded in the devil''s language from the opposite side.


    Boom!!


    A bloody red foot similar to Garen''s size descended from the sky and stepped onto the demons in front of Garen. Even a Demonic Behemoth was directly squashed, fleeing awkwardly with half of the body left.


    The owner of the foot was a huge humanoid devil with bright red skin. It had three eyes, but they were not on the face. They were at the crotch instead... The place that should have been the head and the face was just a shroud of huge mass of dark clouds. The rest of its parts were almost the same as a normal human being.


    "It''s the Devil Warlord!!" Some demons were fleeing in horror toward all directions.


    The Warlord of the Devil''s Army ¨C a powerful existence that could command millions of demons, and their power was often incomparably savage. They were not necessarily the most powerful race, and they could have also grown from a variety of weak races.


    Just like the humongous Warlord in front, he revealed the power that was not lower than that of Level Eleven or Twelve the moment it appeared. It was unknown how long his gigantic body had been evolving.


    "Nagolas!" The Devil Warlord leaned down and grabbed at Garen with its huge hand.


    Garen looked up at the bloody red palm that was almost of his own size. He did not avoid it but wanted to test his current strength. He stomped his hind leg, and the earth behind him collapsed directly, causing dust and smoke to diffuse into the sky.


    Leveraging the tremendous strength, Garen rushed directly toward the huge hand.


    Apart from him, there was no other demon around who dared to face the Warlord. All of them had shunned away.


    Garen''s wings illuminated seven black stars, and the entire dragon''s torso muscles constricted, like an arrow released from the string.


    Boom!!


    Garen''s body collided fiercely with the huge hand and directly penetrated it, forming a blood-hole. One could see the view at the back through the center of the palm.


    "Nagolas!!" The Warlord once again roared, this time with great anger. The blood-hole in his huge hand healed quickly, as if he had never been hurt.


    Two giant hands grabbed at Garen with lightning speed. He bent over his height of a hundred meters, and his three eyes shot out rope-like black lights, attempting to capture Garen.


    In theory, this Warlord was at Level Twelve!


    This was the comprehensive calculated fitness according to Strength, Agility and et cetera. But the battle was not just a matter of numbers. The most important things were strategy, tactics, and practical skills.


    Although Garen was only at Level Ten at the moment, his combat experience was not ordinary, and he was not inferior to the top warriors in the Blood War. Furthermore, the crucial point was that his physical fitness was also extremely scary, almost the same as the Warlord''s, except that the height of his body was far less cumbersome than the other party.


    The two engaged each other, and Garen did not expect that the Devil Warlord''s skill was actually not inferior to his!


    After fighting for a few moments, although the Warlord was cumbersome, its battle techniques were very skilled. It could be said that there were no flaws, and they did not seem to be inflexible.


    Moreover, every attack the Warlord made was accompanied by a huge explosion, which exploded as soon as it came into contact with anything. This was the part that annoyed Garen greatly.


    His attack, on the other hand, would cause penetration damage once it made contact, which was to destroy the opponent through vibration.


    However, the Warlord''s skin was too thick, and the penetration strength showed no response at all.


    The two monsters were entangled and created a battlefield by themselves. No devils nor demons wanted to be involved, and they all fled away.


    Looking from afar, one could only see a red giant surrounded by a flying white dragon. Both went on the offensive and the defensive, and from time to time, one would get hurt or the other would be knocked over.


    This was the first time Garen had encountered a high-level opponent who was on par with him in terms of skill, and this astounded him.


    This Warlord was already the equivalent of the upper Demon Lord level, and his battle techniques were very skillful. Being a veteran in battles, Garen had repeatedly used various ways to try to lure him into advancing, but they were all seen through, and he himself was nearly deceived instead. The other party''s abundant battle experience exceeded that of any individual he had come across. Even Slayer from back then was a far cry from the other party.


    "Nagolas!!" The Warlord once again yelled.


    Garen did not know what he meant by this, but both sides had been fighting for a long time and had the notion of retreating. He looked at the Warlord''s three small eyes and quickly drew back, pouncing toward other low-level devils.


    The Warlord had long been irritated and directly shifted his target, lunging at other demons.


    Blood Wars; the biggest meaning of it was not battle, nor the elimination of grudges and hatred.


    Instead, it was to deplete the ever-growing huge fecundity of the Abyss and Hell... So slaughter was the basis of the Blood Wars.


    For the Abyss''s and Hell''s Monarchs, this was actually a circulation process of the internal energy. Because there were too many devils and low-level demons in the Abyss, so every once in a while they would set a time to lessen the population together¡­


    Garen charged into the group of low-level devils, and the red Devil''s Army was like having a drop of white milk dripping into a bloody sea, which erupted in an instant.


    The platinum shadow flitted around, and Garen''s claws, wings, and Dragon Breath all became a terrific weapon that would kill with just a touch.


    There were devils all around. Garen did not know how long he had been slaughtering. He was tirelessly killing, and the continuous supply of energy was expended after being besieged by several dozens of Level Nine-existences. Even with his 180-points of Vitality, he was struggling a little. Feeling slightly depleted, he then slowly pulled back.

 1326 A Chance Encounter 2

    When Garen came to, there was a mixture of countless skeletons, flesh and blood everywhere. Crackling sounds were heard as they were ignited by the corrosive air, releasing a green smoke.


    There were demons constantly rushing past him to the frontline. They were Tanar''ri''s little demons and elder demons. They were had long pointed tails, black bat wings on their backs, and horns on their heads. Their form was extremely distinct, which was the standard demonic form that humans had in mind.


    Others were some oddly-shaped war machines; huge black turtles with sharp teeth, and giant cyclops with black scales all over their face.


    There were also devil rays floating in midair, their whole body covered with huge stingers. Each one looked like a balloon, and they could burst out numerous stingers like arrows raining down.


    In addition to the various kinds of demons, there were the mercenaries from each major Planes.


    Humans and Humanoids had the most in numbers. Garen saw that most of those who rushed past him were Dog-Headed Humans. They were shouting an inflected Draconic Language and waving a chain or a hammer, while some of them had gleams of spells in their hands as the Will of the Abyss fanatically drove them to charge on.


    The Blood War was about to come to an end, and the devil''s offense was further repelled. But overall, they still maintained their advantage. If it were not for the Demon Fortress releasing the last batch of huge demons into the battlefield, they probably would have directly stormed through the fortress gate.


    "Respected Powerhouse, take out your military merit token. It''s time to reward you according to your accomplishments." A Demon-Hag floated before Garen and spoke in a sharp voice.


    "Lead the way." Garen smugly glanced at her. Each different Demon Fortress was an independent kingdom. Any powerhouse could become the Thane of Fortress, regardless of race or standpoint. The general Fortress Master was the top powerhouse, at least Level Fourteen.


    Level Fourteen and Fifteen were already the culmination of the mortal world, but they could only be the Thane of a small fortress here. This was the Abyss ¨C a bloody land where the sun that was chained up shone upon.


    There were even a few hidden demigods here, and there were some Evil Gods and Thanes of Abyss who lived in certain layers of the Abyss. These were the true Gods, not something the mortal existence could compete against.


    One must be careful here.


    Garen generally knew his own limitations. In the battle with the Devil Warlord, he had already understood that his overall strength should be at about Level Twelve. With the Soul Divine Weapon, Poisonous Eye and et cetera as his trump card, and as long as he was not caught off guard by the Space-Time Spell, he could rely on the fluctuation of spells to forcibly distort and interfere. In this way, he could still manage to reach an unbeaten level.


    "Even if I raise both Agility and Intelligence to 180, it probably would be at about Level Thirteen. There''s a massive difference in strength for every level after Level Ten. It would be best to advance myself here and hunt for more devils as Potential Points." Thoughts were running through Garen''s head.


    He had shown his strength, and presumably the Thane of the Demon Fortress here would attach great importance to him.


    Led by the Demon-Hag, Garen stepped out of the battlefield and stalked in from the fortress gate that was surrounded by spikes of white bones. Teams of crawling Abyss monsters were transporting the corpses from the battlefield into the fortress to fill up the damaged walls and the gaps in the building.


    These giant demons'' form were like the enlarged version of the Skeleton Warriors, except that their bones were much thicker and their body was also five or six meters high. They were full of might.


    The corpses were transported by black rays. They fanned their wide wings and dumped the piles of corpses, whether they were devil or demon.


    Some black rays began to greedily chew on the corpses before they had finished dumping them.


    Teams of well-equipped warriors with two sharp spurs on their backs patrolled inside the fortress. The spurs on their back formed a perfect ring behind their heads, and they looked well-disciplined.


    The Demon-Hag took Garen all the way to the highest point of the Fortress.


    They passed through an equipment production zone, and in it was full of dwarves, human blacksmiths. There were also many slaves who were cursed and forced to labor there.


    They passed through a trade zone and a battle zone.


    Very soon, they came to an enormous palace made up of white bones.


    The guards were two white-silver statues of more than ten meters high. Leaning over, they studied Garen carefully. After that, they silently moved and let open the entrance.


    A little demon with purple skin flew out and took over the task of leading the way for Garen.


    "Please come with me, respected Powerhouse." The Little Demon was a female with a beautiful face. Except for the wings on her back and a long spur-tail, all the other parts had grown into a human woman form.


    As soon as he entered the palace, his heart panicked a little.


    The Fortress Master at the highest place in the palace was a Skeleton Lich in a red robe. Her eyes flashed red and her hand held her chin to reveal a thoughtful look.


    A few guests were seated below, and Kratos was actually among them!


    "Welcome, our powerful White Dragon warrior." Clap, clap, clap¡­


    The Skeleton Lich clapped lightly and had the voice of a dignified and graceful lady.


    "As a mercenary who joined the battle out of the blue, Master White Dragon, what kind of reward do you want to compensate your military merits this time?"


    Garen glanced at Kratos, who glared at him fiercely from the left, and the two other weird creatures.


    One was a black Dog-Headed Human who was discharging black gas all over, while the other had the skin of red clouds and looked like an elemental life form composed of red magma.


    Both of these fellows showed a lot of hostility, greed, and bloodthirstiness.


    Garen now had some faint understanding on what those above Level Ten centered on.


    "Reward?" He withdrew his gaze and looked at the Fortress Master. Before the presence of a powerful Level Fourteen, these fellows should not dare to mess around.


    "I want enough souls! High quality souls!"


    Kratos'' pupils constricted from the side. The human form he had turned into was a miniature version of a giant beast, and the outer appearance was basically unchanged.


    "This fellow is taking advantage of the fact that he has a Soul Divine Weapon that can purify the soul of its impurities. But he can''t directly absorb the soul, so what''s the use of wanting those souls?"


    "In any case, capture this fellow first!" Bakiloa transmitted his voice coldly.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "High-quality soul?" The Fortress Master gently locked her white bone-hands together and gave it a thought.


    "With your battle achievements, I can give you ten Level Ten-souls, mmm, complete Level-Ten souls, without any damage. In addition, your Level Ten-core was just formed right... It seems to be based on poisons. I will give you a White Bone Giant Pit, which can produce two White Bone Giant Demons every week. If you are willing to join me, I can endow you with your very own personal territory. How''s that? Slaves, wealth, treasure¡­ Whatever is that that you want, you can have it all! I can also supply you with a vast army and let you return to the Primary Plane to take revenge against those enemies who once drove you into the Abyss!"


    Garen instantly understood that the other party was recruiting himself.


    Glancing at Bakiloa the trio''s surprised expression, his mind suddenly became clear. Obviously, the Fortress Master was using them as a threat and adding on other benefits to tempt him to join her.


    He came here to kill and to upgrade himself anyway. It did not matter to him whether he joined the Blood Wars or not.


    "Okay, I''m in."


    The Fortress Master giggled.


    "How pleasant!" She rubbed her bony hands and began to look at the three fellows on the side with a malicious intent. Kratos'' face immediately turned white. Maffey was slightly nervous, and only Bakiloa was not bothered at all. He was confident that even if his Level-Thirteen strength could not resist the Fortress Master upfront, at most, he would only be seriously injured and could still escape.


    But presumably, the Fortress Master would not kill them off just because of that.


    It rolled its eyes and hit upon an idea, and it began to snigger too.


    "Lady Vengeance, what if we join your Fortress together? Can you meet our conditions?"


    "You guys?" Skeleton Lich seemed to feel funny and laughed out loud.


    "Bakiloa, I have heard of your reputation long before. You''re capricious. Contract and terms are inherently meaningless to you. Even the Underworld River Contract couldn''t restrain you. Your character changes every Abyss month, who would dare to use you?


    "And you, Maffey. Just your enemies alone are enough to give me a headache. Your strength is ordinary, but your fleeing skills are exceptional. Still, you just love to create trouble everywhere."


    She looked at Kratos.


    "There''s still you, Kratos, The Thane of Wanku Fortress has already contacted me to send you back quickly. Having you stay here is impossible."


    She spread out her two hands.


    "You see, in this way, what good do you guys still have for me? Master Garen, on the other hand, has actually killed numerous devils for me and has played a big role on the battlefield.


    "In addition, not to mention the other relationship between him and me¡­"


    Skeleton Lich remarked with some other implication.


    "If that''s the case, then we won''t bother anymore." Bakiloa saw that things could not work out and did not want to speak any nonsense. He was not strong enough to beat the other party, so he could only leave. His body exploded with a boom and disappeared from the same spot.


    Maffey snickered and disappeared next. It was just their projection that was present. Which individual in the Abyss was not cunning and cautious?


    Kratos gave a hateful look at Garen as he knew that there was no other way now. Having also feuded and made an enemy for no reason, he was feeling unusually frustrated and chose to leave as well.


    Only the Skeleton Lich and Garen were left in the White Bone Grand Hall.


    "Garen, is Ann doing well?" The Skeleton Lich suddenly opened her mouth and mentioned a name that somewhat stunned Garen.


    "You! ¡­?" He cautiously narrowed his eyes. "How do you know that I am associated with Ann?"


    The Skeleton Lich suddenly laughed.


    "How do I know? When I was studying the Arcane Technique with Ann, I''m afraid even your mother wasn''t born yet!"


    This fellow''s aura suddenly changed and the entire body actually emitted a horrific aura as profound as that of a black hole.


    This force enveloped the entire grand hall. It was even vaster than the ocean and more magnificent than the sky, and there were countless black smoky human-faces flying in it, which were exactly the same black smoky human-faces as those in Ann''s Abyss.


    Seeing this, Garen believed immediately. This kind of black smoky human faces could only have come from Ann.


    "Dragon of Disaster..." he murmured.


    "Yes¡­ This is just one of my incarnations." The Skeleton Lich answered with a smile. "My real body is hidden in a certain dark layer of the Abyss, while I usually just use this identity to move around on the outside."

 1327 Anti-Summons 1

    Dragons of Disaster was a code name for a group.


    Most of them were at least demigods, because demigods could take advantage of people''s fears and draw strength from them to strengthen themselves.


    Dragons of Disaster, as the name suggested, was to create disasters so that all lives would fear them, enabling them to gain more Fear-Power.


    Ann was one of the three Monarchs, and now it seemed that this Fortress Master Lady Vengeance should be one of Ann''s students.


    Garen slightly tested the other party''s understanding of Ann, and soon he began to relax. She was even clear about the place where Ann was now at.


    Since it was completely confirmed, Garen felt at home with the other party. He told of the reason he was banished as there was nothing to hide about it.


    "You''re really unlucky." Lady Vengeance shook her head, and the red light in her eyes showed a trace of sympathy.


    "I think so too," Garen said helplessly. "Had it not been the necklace of the Dragons of Disaster trying to protect me, it wouldn''t have been exposed. If it were exposed anywhere else outside the city, it will not stimulate the Matrix Spirit of Snow City. That is to say, this series of chain reactions led me to this state that I''m currently in."


    "So what plans do you have? Is it just to stay here and be a general at my place, or...?" Lady Vengeance said, "To be honest, I personally hope that you''ll stay. I have just recently seized this fortress and haven''t gained a firm foothold yet. So as you''ve seen, even the Devil''s Army almost broke through to my door."


    "Sure. Anyway, I was just thinking of participating in the Blood Wars for a longer period of time and obtaining more souls." Garen nodded.


    "Alright then. I''ll just appoint you as the Deputy Fortress Master. You can form an army by yourself. Whether it''s made up of mercenaries or demons, it''s all up to you. You can freely obtain the materials from the warehouse." Lady Vengeance was very trusting of Garen.


    "Aren''t you afraid that I will take the things and leave?" Garen felt slightly strange.


    "There''s nothing to be afraid of. The necklace on your body will enable Ann and us to find you at any time." Lady Vengeance revealed a cunning smile.


    Even though Garen did not know how he read this kind of emotion off a skeleton''s face.


    "Ok..."


    Garen had not expected things to have taken a new turn.


    However, his current strength that was comparable to Level Twelve and was not considered too low to be a Deputy Fortress Master.


    "It''s just that we''re now like generals without an army, so you have to go recruit more manpower." Lady Vengeance scattered a vast amount of white luminous powder with a whoosh. The powder fell on the ground, turned into a round arch door, and a tall red skin demon with horns walked out of it.


    This fellow was like a tall blacksmith, and his muscles were all bulky, like a magnified version of a male human. Its chest muscles were inlaid with a black round gemstone, and a faint roar like that of a bear could be heard coming out of it.


    "Miss. What have you summoned me for?" The bullhorn-demon asked presumptuously.


    "Bilu, this is Lord Garen, the deputy commander who has just joined us. Since you are also a deputy commander, you should get acquainted with him in the future." Lady Vengeance pointed to Garen.


    The demon named Bilu glanced at Garen his eyes and studied him seriously.


    The strength that emanated from Garen''s muscles immediately caught his senses.


    "Welcome aboard." He stepped forward, walked over to Garen and extended out his hands.


    Garen stretched out his claw and held his hand.


    Sizz!!


    The two thick arms exerted a great force, and Bilu''s entire body''s strength was activated. The blood vessels on his whole body was bulging. Looking up, he saw that there was no change in Garen''s complexion, who was still carrying the same faint smile.


    "Terrific!" He took the initiative to let go of his strength.


    Garen also followed suit.


    "There''s still much to learn from you. Please teach and guide me in the future," he said modestly.


    "Rest assured!"


    "Alright. Now that you two have met each other, our Vengeance Fortress will have to rely on your support. I normally will only come out to assume personal command when it''s the crucial Great Blood Wars period. The usual times will have to rely on you all."


    Garen understood the Great Blood Wars she mentioned. It was not all large-scale investment in the Blood War every time but usually just small-scale killing. After a while, a great company would be dispatched for the decisive battle. At this time, there would even be the presence of those above Level Ten.


    Generally, there were only Level Eight or Nine at most.


    After that, Garen stayed in the Vengeance Fortress. With his relationship with Ann, Lady Vengeance seemed to trust him very much, and almost all the affairs were handed over to him and Bilu.


    Bilu was a Level Thirteen forged elder demon, which was a branch of the Balor Demons. There was a large number of Tanar''ri little demons and Demonic Behemoths under his command, and they were also his assault elites. There were also some mercenaries who had just recently joined him.


    After Garen came aboard, he acquired the control of a group of miscellaneous army and the control of three Dimensional Random Teleportation Portals.


    The purpose of the Dimensional Random Teleportation Portal was to randomly recruit mercenaries who could potentially appear on the Outer Plane.


    Sometimes, it was some hapless fellow who accidentally entered the Abyss when the teleportation failed; while some other times, it was some idiot who was framed by others and was teleported here.


    Most of those in the army were practitioners who took the initiative to participate in the Blood Wars. Their strength level was uneven, but the lowest was Level Four. Nonetheless, Level Four in the Abyss was equivalent to a little demon, which belonged to the vulnerable group and was only slightly stronger than the Demon Maggots.


    The Dimensional Random Teleportation Portal was the first source of conscription.


    The second was that the demons would gather at each layers to help out and participate in the Blood Wars. This was the strategy decided by the masters of each abyssal layers. The Abyssal Layer Masters were the famous Thanes of Abyss from all of the Planes, and they were not someone the Thanes of Fortress could not compare with. Most of them were the lower Divine Power Level, and the stronger ones could even compare with the powerful Gods. The span was enormous. Moreover, their status and authority had been acknowledged by the Will of the Abyss, and they had a lot of mysterious and unknown abilities.


    This part was not managed by the Fortress Masters, but they could fight for these armies'' battlefields to join with their Fortress.


    Garen''s second source of conscription was to fight for the cantonment of these armies.


    The third was the edge of the Underworld River.


    That was where the famous Demon Larvae were. During the seasons, both sides of the Underworld River would have a vast number of foolish creatures and souls that died from pursuing evil.


    Under the development of the Underworld River and the Power of Abyss, these souls would gradually turn into cocoons and then break out from it, becoming the demons'' favorite food ¨C larvae.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Larvae were usually born not even reaching Level One. Apart from their sharp teeth and tone, even an ordinary human soldier could kill them.


    However, as they devoured and killed each other to evolve, their level of strength would gradually increase. At the same time, they would evolve into different kinds of demons according to geographical factors and other conditions.


    This was the largest and most important source of conscription. Vengeance Fortress occupied thousands of square kilometers of the Underworld River Plain, and half the area was also divided to Garen.


    These were the basis of the three major sources of troops, and one could recruit high-level generals and cannon fodder. After learning about the situation, Garen roamed about the Vengeance Fortress.


    The Forging Department was managed by an old gray dwarf man, who was a slave to Lady Vengeance. In addition to working hard to survive, he could not escape due to the power of the contract.


    For the Logistics Department, a Six-Armed Snake-Demon was in charge of it. This fellow was greedy and lascivious. He was also responsible for the distribution of the slaves captured from the war. Before Garen had made any moves, this fellow was sensible enough to take the initiative to curry favor with him.


    The rest of the little generals on patrol were a mess, often killing each other and switching. Garen could not be bothered to pay any attention to them at all, but familiarized himself with the main characters.


    After that, he went directly to the Cultivation Room assigned to him. It was a large floating building, just behind the right side of the Fortress. On the edge was the Fortress'' Pillar of Fire that was never out.


    The Pillar of Fire rose to the sky, like a plume penetrating the clouds, and it was surrounded by a large number of protective runes. There were also many wizard slaves working hard to repair and maintain the Rune Matrix.


    Garen''s house was a white, cold villa that looked like a birthday cake.


    He shrunk his body size and flew in from the main door. There were already two Succubus with a long tails kneeling on the ground to pay their respects.


    "Welcome back, Master!" Except for the tail, the two Succubus looked almost similar to the pretty ladies of a human beings. Their skin was tanned, their figures were smoking hot, their long hair were loose, and their hips were slightly raised, giving off an infinite temptation of sexiness. Coupled with their natural charm, which was a kind of spell, theirs were radiating their magnetism all the time. That was why this kind of creature was a kind of resource goods in the Abyss.


    It was noted that these two Succubus were above Level Five. As a biological tool for seduction, this level was very high. Obviously, they were carefully selected by the Six-Armed Snake-Demon from logistics.


    However, Garen did not really appreciate this kind of creature very much. Due to his former identity, he preferred purebred humans.


    Shrinking his size, he flew in from the main door. A large number of dark blue crystal lights automatically lit up on the inside.


    A variety of furniture were available, and the most prominent of which was a large collection of jewels and gemstones of various colors placed at the center.


    When Garen saw this, even though he knew that the value of these things were not that great, but because of his Dragon Clan''s nature, his mood was still quickly brightened up.


    What surprised him was that there were three familiar figures tied up in a corner and could not move.


    They were actually the three Blasphemy Knights who were previously captured by him.


    "It''s you again!!" The male knight glared at Garen.


    "Master, this is the contract of the three slaves." From the side, a Succubus wiggled its waist and gently leaned on Garen, handing a black leather paper roll.


    Garen took it and skimmed through the contents. It was a Soul Contract which was written in the Demonic Language, and it was nothing more than a stipulation that these three guys could never betray him.


    "Then again, I''m a male. What do I want males for?" Garen also felt that the male Blasphemy Knight was an eyesore.


    With a wave of his hand, the male knight''s contract was thrown to the Succubus. "Take it to the logistics and sell this fellow. I don''t need any species other than female humans and elves."


    "You!!"


    "Don''t!!" The female knight, Irene, begged. "I beg you, don''t sell off big brother!"


    "Irene, don''t beg. Isn''t it just re-selling again? At this point, what else is there to be afraid of!?" The male knight was strong-willed.


    The other female knight simpered however.


    "I''d be very happy to serve such a strong powerhouse like Lord White Dragon."


    "Shameless!"


    "What is there to be shameless about? It''s just to live a better life."


    "Even if we fall, we would not be called a knight if we break the Cavaliers'' principle!!" Irene argued.


    "Rena! I can''t believe you are such a person!" The male knight showed a disdainful look.


    "Alright, alright. At this point, everything is up to me." Garen walked over, grabbed Irene and looked whimsically at her.


    Although she was wearing a dirty knight armor, it still could not stop Garen''s savage sight.


    She felt that her entire body was seen clearly as though she was not wearing any clothes.


    "Aptitude is good. You can be a seed."

 1328 Anti-Summons 2

    Garen advanced toward Rena. He also picked her up and sized her up; breasts, buttocks, waist, body figure, muscle tone, and face.


    "Your aptitude is not bad too, and even better still. It''s amazing..." At first, Garen thought that Irene, with such an upright and pure personality, might have a better aptitude, but he did not expect Rena, who was so afraid of death, to be better.


    The male knight on the side had been dragged out by a Succubus to the Logistics Department.


    Garen did not care whether the two knights were loyal to him. He just wanted to have some subordinates whom he could temporarily dispatch for errands.


    What was more, Dragons were salacious creatures. It should be time for him to release his long suppressed instinct.


    The problem now was that the Wizard Tower must be built as soon as possible. Unfortunately, his plans could not keep up with the changes as he was suddenly banished. It would be very risky if he were to return to the Main Plane to build the Wizard Tower.


    "I''ll just build it here then since there''s Lady Vengeance''s support, and she''s also partly considered as my senior sister. There''re also a lot of materials in the Abyss. As long as I have power, I can just wantonly plunder."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Garen''s mind was made up.


    Although he had a way to deal with the Space-Time Spell, the Ultimate Transformation Spell still made him feel very excited. After all, he had long been used to being a human, and changing back to that form would be much more convenient.


    Settling down at the residence, there were various slave-chefs who made different dishes from different Planes. Garen had eaten frozen meat for so long, and finally, he could refine his diet. He chose two human chefs to bake cakes and cook meals for him.


    The interior of the house was consolidated with Space Spell, and so although it did not look big, the interior was large enough to accommodate several football fields, which was very spacious.


    The Logistics Department sent the chefs, servants and other manpower responsible for chores.


    After Garen organized all the work in the Fortress, he decided to go and visit the ground of his three major sources of conscription.


    He first headed to the Dimensional Random Teleportation Portal.


    This was the place to recruit advanced warriors and generals. According to the demons'' style, they would disregard whether it was a wizard warrior or monster that was teleported over and have a fight first. If they could beat the other party, the latter would become their slave. Otherwise, they would grant them the right for a dialogue at an equal level.


    Unlike the devils who liked to trade with the creatures, demons primarily used force.


    Garen flew for a while, spent more than ten minutes flitting through most parts of the Fortress, and soon descended beside three round luminous spheres like that of white marshmallows.


    At the edge of the luminous spheres, there were three Level-Five Wizards releasing a steady fluctuation of Arcane Technique. A large number of elder demon guards were patrolling and staying alert on the outer layer.


    When the three Level-Five Wizards saw Garen flying over, they retracted their hands that were releasing a purple arc and bowed to Garen.


    "We pay tribute to Third Commander."


    Garen was the third-ranking commander, and the news of his appointment had directly spread throughout the Fortress.


    "Resume your work. I''m here to see my three portals." Garen gently landed on the ground and circled around the three luminous spheres.


    "Third Commander, the creatures that teleported through these three portals are inconsistent. Sometimes it''s a one-time group, while sometimes there''s not even one creature in more than a month. This depends on luck." An old Wizard reported nervously.


    If it were not for their knowledge of stabling the Dimensional Matrix, they, who were merely Level Five, would become targets that were preyed on and could be eaten up unknowingly.


    "Are there any ways to be more proactive?" Garen asked.


    "Of course," the old Wizard replied. "We can send out demons that are powerful enough through the portal to respond to those demons'' Summoning Spell. Generally, if the Summoner''s contract has a loophole, or the cost isn''t enough, the demon can seize the opportunity to break out of the Matrix''s restraint and capture the Summoner to the Abyss instead to become a slave.


    "This is one method. Another one is to have someone with great ability to directly enter the Void to capture the randomly teleporting wanderers. Many travelers from various Planes will encounter a variety of crises, and thus get lost in the Void and cannot find the right direction, so..."


    "Understood..." Garen nodded. He was currently in urgent need of a few men at his disposal. "I''m going to try the second method, responding to the summons and capturing the Summoner."


    He was aware of the schemes in this regard.


    In the Main Substance Plane, such legends were often circulated.


    In order to retaliate or for some cruel reasons, an aristocrat who did not have any foundation in Spellcrafting would use their own blood to engrave the Demon Summoning Matrix to actually summon an extremely powerful horrific demon to massacre a whole territory. He himself would also gain a mighty evil power.


    This was actually the second way to summon.


    It was not the Summoner who was having the initiative, but the demons in the Abyss who was responding on their own accord. Some of them were eyeing the well-to-do aristocrat''s resources in their territory, while some were targeting the huge negative energy of hatred they bore on them, and some were there for other reasons. Anyway, each had their own plans.


    Garen intended to learn from these seniors.


    He went around a few rounds and carefully observed the three teleportation portals. As he was about to leave and enter the portal, he felt a slight jump in his body all of a sudden.


    The Enneahedron that was almost forgotten by him was actually beating at this time.


    He looked at the Enneahedron, only to find that this thing was actually beginning to swim under his skin, and the inside seemed to have absorbed a lot of bloody red mist.


    He suddenly remembered the large number of devils that he had just slaughtered in the Blood War. He originally thought that those low-level devils were useless to him, but he did not expect that the Enneahedron would snatch those souls.


    "I wonder how much help this thing can be to me." Garen had some anticipation and let it do its own activities.


    Before responding to the summons, he decide to go obtain the reward he was entitled to first.


    He went straight to the Logistics Department.


    The Six-Armed Snake-Demon had long prepared the souls.


    He brought out a team of ten complete human souls from a grayish white tent.


    Each of these ten souls was almost like a living person, and there was not any sign at all that they were souls. Indeed, as Lady Vengeance had said, they were extremely whole.


    Moreover, the soul fluctuations they released were indeed Level Ten.


    "The ten souls are warriors, assassins, wizards and warlocks. There are the races of White Elves, Half-Elves, humans, which were all personally chosen by you. But to be honest, the human souls are not the best-selling ones."


    The Six-Armed Snake-Demon waved its six arms, indicating a few little demons on the side to bring out another group of slave-souls.


    That was a group of standard Drows. Each Drows had a chain locked around their neck like a dog. They were all female, and some kind of saliva-like mucus was dripping from the edge of their mouth, looking as if they were tamed until they had lost their mind. However, seeing their curvy body figure, delicate skin and seductive posture, even Garen could not help but be slightly tempted.


    These Drows were exceptionally beautiful, and there were innocent-looking ones, charming ones, peaceful ones, and sexy ones. Various styles were available.


    "How do they look? They''re also Level Ten-souls, and their bodies can be reconstructed once they''re thrown into the Blood Pool." The Six-Armed Snake-Demon snickered sinisterly. "The most important thing is that these Level Ten-Drows here are all well-taught and tamed. They can comply with you to do all kinds of tricks. Their physiques are good, so they won''t be easily battered, and they will loyally protect you and guard your safety, just like dogs! Hehehe."


    "Forget it, I still want the original team." Garen resisted the temptation in his heart and stuck to his choice. What he wanted was efficiency, to have the talents that could really help him get things done, not bodyguards and playthings.


    "Well, if Commander wants them, you can come to me at any time. The slaves here are the property of Lady Vengeance, so you only need to pay a hundred soul-cocoons in exchange for a Drow-slave. The price is cheap, absolutely reasonable!"


    Garen shook his head. Naturally, he would not believe a word the Six-Armed Snake-Demon said.


    Taking with him the new team of Level Ten-souls, Garen went to the Blood Pool at the Logistics Department. After spending some cost and almost using up all his valuable possessions, only then did the bodies of the ten Level Ten-souls were reconstructed. It was nothing more than a simple reconstruction of a low-level body this time, and they would still need to re-enhance themselves step by step again. But since they were originally a Level Ten-soul, and their soul energy, knowledge and memory were still present, the process of re-enhancing would be relatively fast.


    The expressions of the ten souls were all indifferent as if there was nothing to live for, and every part of their body was inlaid with a special rune that would make them obey Garen completely. Being subjected to someone as such, no one would be able to see any hope no matter how powerful one could become. Naturally, they would have little to none motivation to continue strive on.


    What Garen did not expect was that the load of controlling such ten souls actually occupied half of his soul''s Spirit Power. Even he, the Void Demon Lord who was the most powerful and the expert in regards to the soul, was at this kind of state, not to mention the other demons.


    It was no wonder that no one in the Fortress used this kind of method to control a large number of powerhouses.


    The load required for this was too great.


    Temporarily leaving the souls in his residence, Garen once again flew back to the Dimensional Random Teleportation Portal.


    After offering a greeting, he officially flew directly into one of the portals.


    Countless Summoning Wills pounced on him like a spider web. In the endless white light, Garen carefully chose. Because his fame had not spread to other Planes, so the ones he received were those with no specific targets, which was the summoning of Abyss Demons using the extensive Summoning Matrix.


    Only when he had become famous could he teleport to other Planes, and that there would be people specifically summoning him with his name. At that time, he would not be suppressed by the strength of the Plane. At the same time, there would be an additional summoning-protection ability, which meant that in the process of summoning, his power would be transmitted, and the Power of Abyss would also help him to form a protection against the Matrix, so as to avoid the interruption of the summoning process. When he became even more powerful, he could also enchant and summon the surrounding creatures faraway to protect the Matrix from interference.


    Of course this was much later.


    What he needed to do now was to first find the one he wanted to choose from the countless Summoning Wills.


    "The strength must not be too weak, and the scope has to be more active. Can''t be too rigid, and there shouldn''t be a too strong suppression force around..." Garen carefully deliberated.


    After all, some of the top Wizards would also use the demon''s kind of Anti-Summons during their experiment to deceive and seduce the demons to go forward, and then immediately use the Restraint Matrix to capture them for experiments. This was also extremely dangerous. Once the wrong choice was made, he would not even know where he would die at.

 1329 Layout 1

    Boom!


    Garen grabbed a white spider-silk and tugged at it fiercely.


    The extremely-slender silk was actually much tougher than a steel wire, as it did not snap with such a violent pull.


    Garen followed the stretch of this spider-silk quickly, and the entire dragon-body moved like a flowing liquid.


    Soon, he saw a large circular hole suspended in the white space. The big hole led to a room that was like an aristocrat''s study room.


    A deathly pale young man with blood all over him was lying on the floor. It seemed that he was losing too much blood. An unparalleled resentment was rising from his body, and this resentment was even almost condensing into a tangible black gas.


    "I... Andrew Gordra, vowed here... even if I have to give my soul, will never ever let the Malone Household acquire Gordra!!!"


    The young aristocrat''s resentment had reached an extremely horrific point. Garen did not know what hatred had brought him to this state, but this did not prevent him from responding to the summons.


    If such a soul could be transformed into an Undead, it might be a good helping hand to him.


    This fellow, with his strength around Level Seven, was a standard Silver-Striped Knight. He was poisoned with some incurable poison so the body was of no value, but the soul was still at Level Seven.


    Garen shook his body and moved in through the hole.


    His body slowly formed in the study and quickly condensed from the platinum liquid into a ferocious White Dragon that was slightly taller than a person.


    "I heard your summon and your appeal from the Vengeance Fortress. In accordance with the ancient contract, I will fulfil your desire. In return, your soul shall belong to me forever."


    Garen loudly chanted the standard Divine Power Notes of the Contract Matrix.


    The young aristocrat in front finally showed some pain and delight from the revenge he was about to get out of hatred.


    "Kill... Kill everyone...! This is my only wish..."


    Garen leaned down and stared into the other party''s eyes.


    "Your wish is my command."


    His voice had just faltered.


    A bloody red three-dimensional rune suddenly emerged between the man and the dragon. The rune was like a token, and it rotated several times before instantly blasting into bloody red luminous spots and dissipating.


    Garen waved his wings and took out a Soul Crystal. The young man''s soul floated out of his body, turned into a cloud of white smoke, and wormed into the crystal.


    After this, only then did he scan around the room.


    Although the study was full of aristocratic furnishings, they were extremely shabby and ancient. It was apparent that there were only a few books on the shelf, and the desk had accumulated a thick layer of dust.


    "Poor little fellow." Garen looked at the young man. If the Level Seven-soul were to be assimilated into the Abyss, coupled with this huge resentment, perhaps after being transformed into an Undead, his strength could increase to Level Eight. Entering Level Eight as such a young age, the potential was beyond measure.


    "I''ll just treat it as doing you a favor."


    "Damn it! Who snatched my pawn!!" Suddenly, there was a scream of anger from the hole behind him.


    There obviously was another Abyss existence that wanted to seize this soul.


    "Get lost!" Garen impatiently flapped his wings, and a horrific Level Twelve-strength instantly slammed at the hole, pushing back the fluctuations of the strength that was about to spurt out.


    The Level Ten-existence over that side immediately quite down and did not dare to speak a word. But for sure, there would be full of resentment. A Level Twelve-existence actually came over to fight with him, a Level Ten, for a Level Seven-soul. This was simply shameless, alright!?


    Garen ignored all these.


    He beat his wings and flew off.


    Boom!!


    The ceiling above was smashed by him, and a dark ice barrier formed by a mixture of frost and negative energy floated around his entire body. This barrier blocked all the dust and dirt on the outside.


    Garen charged upward, slammed through the first floor, and darted out of the two-story building. His surrounding was finally an open space.


    He had rushed into a vast area from a small space in a flash.


    Surrounded by a vast expanse of forest, he was at the top of an ancient blue-grey castle. The fort tip of the ancient castle was shattered by him, and it slowly slanted toward the left and fell.


    Horrifying human screams were heard coming from the castle beneath.


    "It''s a giant dragon!! The evil White Dragon Clan!!"


    "No! That''s not an ordinary White Dragon. It''s an Abyss White Dragon!!"


    An old Wizard looked up at Garen in despair from the inside of the castle.


    Soldiers gathered, longbows and giant crossbows were set up, and giant arrows with special enchanting luster were fixed on them.


    Several Silver-Striped Knights had silver armor on them, and they clustered around a tall knight in a platinum armor, as they rode their battle-horses and galloped over from a distance.


    "Dare to destroy the Grand Duke of Gordra''s castle, even if you''re the Dragon Clan, you still have to pay the price with your life!!" The leading platinum-knight roared. The giant sword on his back slowly glowed a faint golden light, as was he as he pulled it out and held it in his hand, he was like a god descending to the world.


    Garen flew in the air above the castle and overlooked the bottom, as if watching countless small ants gathering and using a variety of weapons to challenge him.


    "The grand duke of a remote little country?" He immediately spotted the specificity of the situation here.


    The desire of the Summoner was to kill everyone, and the scope should be within the territory.


    "Resolve it quickly." Garen was now a truly powerful existence in the Abyss. The combat power of Level Twelve could be counted as a massive disaster in any place.


    "How to resolve it?" Garen was slightly bemused. All his combat power was focused on melee combat, and it was not very useful for this kind of extensive destruction.


    However, the contract still had to be fulfilled, otherwise he could not get the soul of that Summoner which had a great potential.


    Scratching his head a little, Garen suddenly felt his wings were touched by many furry things.


    He looked down and saw that the giant crossbows and giant bows had shot out numerous sharp arrows and bolts at his wings. The little itchiness he felt from just now was caused by these things.


    "How about this."


    With a thought, his hind foot slowly fell off and automatically transformed into a sturdy and tall man with long dark blue hair.


    "I''m willing to serve you." The man had no face, and a vast dark blue chill spread around him.


    "I leave it to you... Destroy the entire territory," Garen said plainly.


    The man nodded and flew up high into the air.


    Whish!!


    Suddenly, he released an enormous dark blue light, and his whole body completely turned into a gigantic blue light ball, releasing stunning blue lights in all directions.


    Garen looked up at this fellow and had no idea how he planned to do it. But, he was transformed from his own right hind leg and had the highest peak strength of the Northern Trident Frost-Fire True Water Evil Technique. His strength was only a little weaker than his own Level Twelve-combat power and was equivalent to Level Eleven.


    With such strength, the destruction of a grand duke''s territory in a remote country should not be difficult.


    Looking at the massive blue ball that broke out overhead, Garen watched quietly to see what this fellow planned to do.


    Whish whish whish...


    In the gigantic light ball, countless densely packed ferocious blue frost halberds of various shapes suddenly shot out.


    Each of these halberds flew out in high speed, like a cannonball firing into the distance, and slammed into the ground.


    The area that was smashed directly erupted huge clouds of hemispherical blue bubbles. The places covered with the bubble halo were all condensing a thick tough ice.


    "Meteorology Manipulation?" Garen recalled that at the great completion of the Northern Trident Frost-Fire True Water Evil Technique, there would be a supernatural ability, which was Meteorology Manipulation.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    He looked up at the sky, and it was all black clouds. The temperature suddenly took a dive from more than twenty degrees Celsius, and pale blue snow fluttered down.


    Fierce shouting were heard coming from the little people and horses below.


    When the snowflakes landed on them, they could immediately feel an intense chill from the depths of their hearts.


    The halberds were still bursting out of the light ball. Dozens of halberds were flying out every second, turning a regional forest into a world of ice and snow.


    "Gordra!" Suddenly, a golden figure shot up from below, roaring the name of the territory and rushing to Garen''s chest, who was circling at the top of the castle.


    The golden sword clenched in his hand was stabbed at Garen''s heart like a golden lightning.


    "Stupid." Garen did not make any move, but let him lunge upward to fiercely stab him with the sword at the dragon scale at his heart.


    Clang!!


    In the tremendously dull crashing sound, the figure convulsed, and the enormous reaction force caused blood trails to emerge all over his body. All his skin erupted, and a vast amount of blood sprayed out and spattered down.


    There was not a trace left on Garen''s dragon scale on the other hand.


    "Merely a Level Eight-knight..." Garen''s complexion did not change. With his current physique, even if his internal organs were severely damaged, they could also recover by themselves in a very short time.


    His 180-point of physique brought him an absolutely unparalleled terrific recovery strength and defense.


    Even the Ancient Dragon''s body was far from his current body. Perhaps only the legendary Three-Headed Golden Dragon Kings was likely to have the physical strong that could match him.


    This golden figure was obviously the thane here. His attack failed and was seriously injured instead. This instantly caused the morale of the entire castle that was just mustered up to suddenly collapse.


    Large groups of soldiers fled and dispersed.


    "It''s basically a massacre." Garen had no interest in this kind of dull matters. He dully flew down to the castle, where there was a pathway connecting to the Abyss Plane.


    "Looks like I can just leave this kind of boring matters to them in the future." Garen felt that he should use all three of his incarnations.


    An immense blue chill blanketed the territory. Wherever it reached, all the escaping soldiers gradually slowed down, and their whole body would be covered with a faint blue.


    Soon their blood was frozen, and each of them frozen in their original postures and trapped on the same spot.


    The blue chill was like a life form as the cold wind whizzed past with an eerie low pitch. The entire castle was completely frozen into an ice sculpture by the tremendous chill in less than a few minutes.


    Inside the castle, Garen''s gigantic dragon body slowly descended in front of the hole. He turned his head and spit out a Dragon Breath.


    Whoosh...


    The huge Dragon Breath was like a white smoke-cloud. It instantly rushed out of the study, turned into countless white stars and scattered around, adding a layer of frozen chill to the entire castle. At the same time, it also brought along Garen''s very own Abyss imprint.


    This was to mark this place as his handiwork and territory. Since he was related to Ann the Dragon of Disaster, Garen also decided to simply do something associated with the Dragons of Disaster.


    After doing all this, Garen then turned around and wormed into the hole, quickly disappearing.

 1330 Layout 2

    The Death Sigh, or as some places called it, the Winter Sigh, and the name of Snake Dorsum White Dragon quickly spread in a remote small country in the southwest.


    The fame of the Death White Dragon''s Winter Sigh spread extremely fast, and for this reason, the Central Empire Wizards'' Guild officially issued a statement ¨C to designate the Deputy Commander of the Vengeance Fortress, Snake Dorsum White Dragon Garen as a Catastrophic Level-Dragon of Disaster.


    Having the ability to freeze the entire tens of thousands of square kilometers of the duke''s territory within half an hour, Garen''s strength had reached an extensive strategic level.


    The Central Wizards'' Guild together with the Northern Snow City confirmed that this Garen was the White Dragon Garen whom they originally banished.


    The disaster this time caused more than sixteen thousand deaths and over two hundred thousand injuries, so it was classified as the ''Deep Blue Freeze'' incident.


    Garen''s calamity title, Winter Sigh, was completely set, and was listed on the Dragons of Disaster''s official list.


    ************************


    Snow City


    Soaring Wing King stood at the observation deck at the top of the lofty Wizard Tower and gazed at the panoramic view of the entire Snow City in the distance. Snow descended slowly and glided past his beard and hair.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    He was dressed in a white robe and behind him stood a young man in a black cloak.


    The chimes of the giant clock at noon slowly sounded from the distance. Several huge Airships gradually rose from Snow City and turned about to fly away.


    "He actually survived the Blood War," Soaring Wing King remarked.


    "Yes, Teacher, and the so-called General Guild has officially classified Deep Blue Sigh as a Dragon of Disaster. You might be criticized for sending him into the Blood Wars back then." The young man was a little worried.


    "It''s just a so-called General Guild." Soaring Wing King was not bothered. "Submitting to the Gods, away from the real path of Arcane Technique. Don''t worry. I have my own plans."


    "Then Victor will retire." The young man bowed his head and said respectfully.


    "Go, everything will be done according to the original arrangement."


    "Yes."


    After waiting for the young man to leave, Soaring Wing King retracted his gaze from the distance and extended his right hand. A transparent crystal ball slowly emerged from his palm.


    "It seems that I really didn''t misjudge you." He sighed in a low voice, turned around and slowly walked into the Wizard Tower, looking like an ordinary and debilitated old man.


    A few years passed in a trice.


    Garen had participated five times in the Blood Wars in the Abyss, killing and acquiring numerous souls every time.


    The only regret was that his Potential Points had been completely depleted and could only be supplemented by various Demon Cores and high-concentration compounds, which did not have a very high efficiency. During these five years, he would also convert the Soul Energy that was produced in him every month into Potential Points.


    He had gotten almost 1100 Potential Points.


    The Enneahedron was also enhanced to the point where its color of red was almost black. It seemed to be close to saturation, and Garen did not know what would reaction it would have next.


    His current focus was to replenish all the other two attributes. The first to be completed was Agility. Although Intelligence was becoming insufficient, it did not interfere with the development of his overall strength.


    Agility was promoted to the limit of 180, while Intelligence was only up to 90 points due to the deficiency of Potential Points.


    At this point, all of Garen''s strength had almost reached the limit of a Middle-level Demon Lord, completely restoring his original peak power, except for the Void Original Opus that was still stuck at 70%. There was almost no room for improvement for the rest.


    After reincarnating for so many times, all the accumulation of past experiences were almost completely transformed into strength, which was now reflected in this world.


    The enhancement of Agility to the limit of 180 did not just bring Garen an increase in speed. The speed limit of this world was 100 points, and upon reaching it, Garen naturally acquired a special ability ¨C Flash. This ability did not consume any Spells, Spirit Power, nor Soul Energy, but only the exhaustion of physical strength. Just like sprinting all the way, although it was merely a physical movement, yet he could reach the point of short-distance space penetration.


    The simple increase in speed naturally evolved into this ability. Garen had also discovered that there were natural weird symbols faintly appearing on his scales.


    Obviously, this was something that was naturally derived after reaching the limit of the law of the Plane.


    Every time he flashed, he could span a distance of a hundred meters, which was the maximum degree after Agility reached 180 points.


    Upon reaching Level Ten, the cores that were present would form a type of special spell or special ability or strength that was completely unique to one''s self.


    Taking Soaring Wing King as example, his core ability was related to his nickname.


    There was also Lady Vengeance, of whom her core strength was to wreak vengeance. As long as the target of hatred was identified, the Vengeance Imprint would be in effect, so that once the target appeared in front of her, any disguise would be of no use. And if the other party''s level was lower than hers, they would then be weakened by the imprint''s oppression, and all their attributes and level would be reduced. It was extremely terrifying.


    Meanwhile, some of the powerhouses above Level Ten also each had their own nicknames. For instance, the Storm Judge, the Earth Chant, the Radiance of God, and so on.


    These nicknames were actually the embodiment of their core strengths, which was unique to them.


    Many of the strengths were derived from the strengthening of the original spells and abilities, and Garen also intended to strengthen himself from this aspect.


    He now had Flash and the Poisonous Eye as his ability and talent.


    Especially the Poisonous Eye; upon its release after the completion of its charge, the power could almost threaten the existence of a Level Thirteen, which was particularly terrifying.


    When Garen exchanged moves with the other deputy commander, this ability almost stripped off a layer of the opponent''s skin. If the other party had not reacted fast enough and instantly shed its skin, that party probably would have taken the hit and would have badly injured its vitality.


    At the same time, this also reflected the horrific force of this ability of Garen''s.


    A near-perfect horror, coupled with the special talents, Flash and the Poisonous Eye, Garen''s strength was getting closer to that of Lady Vengeance and truly matching the position of being the Vengeance Fortress'' third hand.


    **********************


    "This year''s Underworld River Wind is about to develop." Garen settled in his own Fortress and mentioned with his eyes half-opened.


    In the vast white cold space, there was nothing around, not even any furnishings. Only a huge knight in a dark blue armor half-knelt in front of Garen.


    The knight was covered in thick ferocious armor, and on the shoulders, head, elbows and other joints were sharp and vicious barbed thorns everywhere. A twisted dragon pattern was vaguely seen illuminating gradually with a light blue shimmer on its chest.


    "Yes, Master. It is time to collect the soul-cocoons, and perhaps there''ll be some Demon Seeds with excellent qualifications." The knight answered in a deep voice.


    "Andrew." Garen''s gaze fell on the knight. "In just five years, your strength has improved from your initial Level Seven to Level Nine. Regarding your talent, even I can''t help but to marvel at it. But¡­"


    His tone shifted.


    "You''ve now been stuck at this level for two years. Not only there was no improvement in your strength, there''s even some regression."


    "I''m sorry¡­" Andrew''s head bowed even lower, feeling ashamed.


    "Back then, I was satisfied with your hatred and completely destroyed the Gordra Household. This had cut off all your encumbrance, but it has also made you lose the opportunity to perceive more positive things," Garen said lightly.


    "I don''t understand." Andrew''s eyebrows knitted together slightly under his helmet.


    "You''ll understand sooner or later," Garen replied with a deeper implication to it. "Now, I have a new task to hand over to you."


    He looked at this capable aide of his for these past few years, and his heart was gratified. With the presence of the few capable aides he had trained in the past few years, he was able to have more time for his own cultivation.


    Andrew was one of them, and there were also the two Blasphemy Knights who were captured back then. Among them, Rena the female knight had also advanced to Level Seven. Being able to reach this point from the initial low level, she was also considered a very terrific talent. On the other hand, Irene was only Level Six. Even with the large supply of resources, she had not been able to advance quicker, and this showed that her aptitude was indeed worse.


    Garen and the three had signed the highest level Underground River Oath, so he was not at all worried about them betraying him.


    Only Andrew''s strength was considered the finest among the three assets. The rest were just using their brains to deal with trivial things, while Andrew could be put in an important position.


    So this time, as Garen himself had to leave for an important matter, he decided to hand over the task of recruiting to Andrew. In these past few years, through the three major sources of conscription, Garen had recruited more than a dozen generals, all of which were above Level Seven and below Level Nine. There was no stronger existence.


    Meanwhile, there were quite a number of cannon fodders. Level Four and Five demons and mercenaries were a dime a dozen with more than ten thousand of them, so Garen was not lacking any of these at all.


    "In addition, you can also recommend candidates from the underlings. Those with outstanding military merits can be taken in." Garen gave a little command. "My trip this time will probably take a while for me to return."


    "Understood."


    "If there''s anything that you can''t handle, you can go find Sean."


    Sean was the chieftain of the Demonic Behemoth squadron in the Fortress, commanding the mighty Demonic Behemoth elites, which was the most powerful deterrent force in the entire Fortress.


    After being defeated by Garen, it tried to get payback for the next few years, but to no avail every time. In the end, it was finally convinced and became good friends with Garen instead. Although it did not have much authority, it was a force directly under Lady Vengeance and was not subjected to the two deputy commanders.


    "Yes."


    Andrew honestly heeded the command.


    Garen was then relieved and allowed him to leave.


    Andrew, this fellow really followed him with sincerity and with no other intention. As for the other two female knights, they were still resisting at first. But later on, they went with the flow. Since Garen did not force them anyhow, they directly accepted their fate.


    This time, Garen''s true purpose of arranging all kinds of affairs was to further enhance his own strength.


    As his body had almost reached the limit, advancing further would require him to upgrade the Soul Ring layers and increase the Soul Limit. This however required a tremendous amount of Soul Energy. Now that he was at the limit of a Middle Level Demon Lord, entering the Upper Level would only need the prolonging of time and a large amount of sentiments.


    There were forty years left until the initiation of the Grand Plan, and a mere forty-years was not enough to enter the Upper Level at all. Hence, the only way was to find other routes. Only by hunting a large number of high-quality souls, absorbing them after treating them, and condensing them into Soul Seeds would work.


    This kind of high-quality souls did not necessarily have to be of high level; those great scholars and artists with special sentiments also had the potential to be absorbed.


    Besides, there might be an overlap in the sentiments of the many high-level powerhouses, and that would not help Garen to condense Soul Seeds.


    Just when he was scratching his head, there came an invitation from the Dragons of Disaster.


    To organize an extensive raid in a certain layer of the Abyss. Led by Gerdmos, one of the three Monarchs, to plunder the positive energy Plane ¨C the Light World.


    That was where the people of Light lived.


    These fellows with no necks had always been abhorrent. As one of the main fighters summoned by the Wizards from various positive energy camp, they had a very malicious attitude towards the evil Colored Dragon Clan.


    Initially, the Dragons of Disaster mainly spread fear to gain greater abilities and beliefs; this time, they went with the purpose of revenge.


    The chief of a certain clan among the people of Light was planning a grand action against the evil Dragons of Disaster. It collaborated with many ethnic groups in the Light World, as well as some ethnic groups from the Heavens and the Light Elves of the kind under Mother Nature.


    Prior to this, they had killed a Level Thirteen Dragon of Disaster named Storm Warlock and had actually gotten a Divine Stone unexpectedly.


    Gerdmos, one of the three Monarchs, was heading there for this Divine Stone.


    Garen still had the Pearl of the Temple he acquired back then in his hands as he had not been willing to eat it. He had been trying to perceive the divinity in it but still had no clue for a long time. If he had the Divine Stone, with the help of the Divine Power in it, he might just be able to understand the divinity.


    He somewhat felt that the understanding of the divinity might be good for the Void Original Opus and Soul Limit.

 1331 Invasion 1

    Central Territory ¨C the Primary Plane.


    The sacred Azerland Empire was a kingdom within the Central Empire and also the core area of the Fehra Cathedral.


    Every year, there would be tens of thousands of pilgrims from all over the world who would piously kneel with every step they took as they made their pilgrimage. The cathedral here spread all over the country. The priests of the Fehra Cathedral would walk around in white robes to spread the glory and doctrines of God. Even the farmers here had a deeper understanding of the doctrine of God.


    At this time, at the border of Azerland Empire, a young man in white clothes walked through the door of a pointed small white cathedral on the edge of a farm.


    The white clothes on his body had grayed out, and tears and patches were faintly visible at the edges and corners.


    The young man had a sallow complexion and was emaciated, yet his hair was still neatly groomed.


    Approaching the church, he bowed slightly to the priest at the door, entered the cathedral, and sat on the bench with other people who had come to worship.


    He lowered his head and lightly recited along with the choir''s singing.


    There were new people coming in. Combined with the more than a dozen people who had entered before, none of them were as pious as he was.


    The priest stood at the door and looked at him tenderly, revealing a gentle smile.


    He knew this man. His name was Mousse, and he had been living in the nearby town for more than ten years. He was originally a vagrant, but he found a new home here, set up his own family, and had his own children.


    Most importantly, Mousse''s piety for Fehra was unmatched by everyone here. Ten years plus past like a day as he constantly came here every day. He even influenced the neighbors around and his own family to believe in Fehra, and he also had a deep understanding of the doctrines of God, not as superficial as those ordinary believers.


    "Maybe it''s time to give him more responsibilities..." The priest thought so. He was about to be transferred to a larger parish because of his merits, and he had to find a new person to take over here. Since the last major incident at the Central''s Meteor City, the elite priests and Divine Officers were transferred to the more important areas in Central, and so the defense forces in the areas with fewer supernatural forces here were naturally reduced.


    Apart from being pious, Mousse had also worked as a mercenary and a bard. He knew a little Spellcraft, and his Spirit Power might be good. In accordance with his level of piety, he might easily become a Level One priest if he were to change his occupation to becoming a priest.


    Thinking of this, the priest took the initiative to walk to Mousse''s side and patted his shoulder gently.


    "Mousse... About the matter I brought up to you the last time, how have you thought about it?" The pastor asked mildly. His age was enough to be the father of the other party, so it was normal to use this kind of tone.


    Mousse hurriedly lowered his head in fear and trepidation.


    "Lord Jacqueffey, can I really serve as a missionary here? As a priest, a real priest. I feel that I still have a lot of shortcomings!"


    "No, no, no..." the priest smiled and said. "Your ability, your piety, your concentration, Fehra sees it all in his eyes. All life forms who sincerely commit and truly believe in Fehra will get a bright and warmth return. This is the reward for your persistence all this while after such a long time. Moreover, there''re more people who need you to redeem them and help them."


    Mousse bowed his head and lightly recited the Fehra''s Creed.


    "I understand. But can a loser like me really take on such a heavy responsibility?" He was still not that confident.


    "Rest assured. With your ability, you can do even better..." The priest patted him in a understanding manner.


    Mousse lowered his head and a black line faintly flashed across his white eyes.


    *******************


    The Aqilean Snowy Mountain


    In a certain layer in the Abyss, there was a large snowy mountain in the center surrounded by magma flames.


    In an Abyssal level filled with magma, fire, and poisonous smoke everywhere, there actually stood a gigantic, mighty snowy mountain in the center area which had been releasing an incomparable cold air for countless years.


    The cold air here condensed into a deep blue triangular ice-cone, which slowly rotated clockwise over the top of the mountain.


    At this time, a tall man in black armor was standing on the edge of the snowy mountain. He had long hair, half golden and half silver, and it looked very strange.


    A bat-like badge was worn on the chest.


    The most bizarre thing was that his feet were not on the ground, but were hovering in the air. Black circuit-like fluorescent lines flashed occasionally from below his foot.


    "Gerdmos, it''s up to you." A voice came faintly from the air behind him.


    "How is the gathering of the forces?" The black-armored man asked plainly.


    "There''re already one hundred and twenty-three Dragons of Disaster who are in the record who have promised to come and assist. Coupled with the Chaotic Creatures, we just need to be in charge of opening the passage, and it will naturally trigger the friction between the forces of Abyss and the Light World," the voice replied.


    "Then let''s get started." Gerdmos nodded, reached out his fingers, and gently pressed the air in front. A string of black pearl-like spots suddenly flew out of his fingertips and rushed into the sky.


    Pooh!


    After a dull explosion, the black pearls exploded one after another like fireworks, and the black fireworks-halo slowly blasted out a black whirling hole in the air.


    Hee hee hee...


    There was a strange laughter in the air, and large amount of flames and poisonous smoke around were madly sucked into the black hole like an underwater whirlpool, entering in big gushes.


    Countless Fire Creatures and demons in the Abyss fluttered their wings, and like a large group of worms, regardless of red ones or black ones, they all swarmed toward the big hole.


    "Fresh flesh and blood, flesh and blood! Hahaha!!" Some simple-minded Fire Trolls roared, dripping magma-like sweat all over their body as they flapped their fiery wings toward the black hole.


    "It''s the smell of the creatures of Light World! Kill!! Kill them all!" Sturdy Dual-Headed Red Fire Giants treaded their heavy steps, rolling up the magma flowing on their entire skin into magma balls and shooting them into the sky.


    Like a densely packed stream of meteors, they rushed into the black hole of the Light World.


    They and the Fire Trolls were the majority groups.


    Underneath, Gerdmos looked up at the countless black and red meteors flying from all directions into the black hole he had opened up. His face revealed a slight smile.


    "We have to act as soon as possible. Our action must not be found out by Fehra."


    "That''s for sure. All the Dragons of Disaster are in place. At your command, we''ll all charge into the Light World." The hollow voice spoke in a deep tone.


    Gerdmos smiled, looking like the most ordinary young man.


    "Then... Let the massacre officially begin..."


    He thrusted forward, and the entire person exploded and turned into countless red flames. After a large number of flames erupted, his original enormous body was revealed.


    It was an incomparably huge Red Dragon.


    He had the same three horns, and red flames enveloped the horn in the middle.


    His body was hundreds of meters long, and with a flap of his wing, all the snow substances and other demons around him were swayed by the huge air force.


    The most striking thing was that the three red luminous balls gliding around him were like Elves flying around him automatically.


    Whoosh!


    A gust of wild wind blew by, and Gerdmos disappeared instantly on the spot, and circles of obvious ripples appeared at the black hole, as if something huge had suddenly entered it.


    Just after he entered the black hole.


    The red sky around the black hole pooled together, and large flights of dragons of various colors flew over from a distance.


    Among them were the huge-sized Black Dragons, Red Dragons, and the smaller Purple Dragons, Blue Dragons, White Dragons, some Yellow-Brown Poisonous Dragons, Green Dragons; even Three-Headed Chimeras appeared here.


    But no matter which dragon, they were all emitting a similar atmosphere.


    It was a faint black gas.


    Among the large flights of dragons, the weakest ones even exuded the power fluctuation of Level Ten.


    The White Dragon Garen incarnated into was also among them. The poisonous snake on his back was extremely conspicuous. Flapping his wings and flying in the sky, his eyes were focused on the black hole in the sky.


    "The demons that went before us will attract most of the attention. The Light World will think that it''s just a simple invasion of the Abyss'' forces, and so the forces sent out to suppress us will not be too great. As long as we are fast enough, everyone can quickly reach their designated location to quickly complete the mission assigned to them." The Dragon of Disaster leading the team was the Dragon of Disaster of the Water Element Plane named Jane, nicknamed the Wrath of Ocean.


    The mission this time was assigned by one of the three Monarchs, Gerdmos. If the mission was completed, one could acquire a thread of the true divinity. There was a lot of divinity in a Divine Stone, while the true divinity referred to the divinity that had been disintegrated. Although it might not have much content, it had a very important role in guidance. Just one thread of it could help Garen to perceive the Pearl of the Temple, and what he needed was the method to analyze the divinity.


    Other Dragons of Disaster were obviously thinking so.


    Jane spoke in a low voice.


    "There are thirteen peaks in the Light World, and on each of the peaks are thirteen cities, all of which are made of lights and glass. The glass there is very tough and sharp, unlike the Main Substance Plane. Some of them even know how to use powerful defensive and offensive matrixes that are made of special crystals. All of you need to be careful. We can ignore most of the people of Light. The only ones we need to watch out for are the Keepers of Light. Each of the Keepers of Light were at least at Level Nine, and they are the ultimate powerhouse group among the Light People.


    "We are responsible for handling all the Keepers of Light in the Eleventh City of the Eighth peak. In any case, just kill whoever you see," Jane simply said.


    "The four of us are all above Level Twelve. There won''t be any difficulty in dealing with a mere Eleventh City." An arrogant Blue Dragon said disdainfully. He was the legendary Blue Dragon with the Holy Dragon''s Blood. It was rumored that when the Blue Dragons were in their most powerful period, their ancestors were called Holy Dragons, and they had far more terrific powers and talents than other dragon clans. They had an inborn horrific aura that suppressed the other dragon clans, and at the same time, they were innately immunized to all spells, living in the cold crystal peaks. But unfortunately, after who knew how many thousands of years later, their bloodline had weakened.


    "Don''t be careless. King Light can teleport to any peak with the speed of light. Once he appears, we must retreat immediately," Jane reminded.


    "Rest assured. With me around, leaving is not a problem," the Purple Dragon in the small team said confidently. "I have specialized in Space Spell for hundreds of years, so I''m confident in this aspect."


    "We''ll be counting on you then."


    Garen followed at the rear and did not speak but just flew silently. As long as he could get a thread of divinity, that would be enough. The biggest issue was how to ensure his own safety and get the most benefit at the same time while protecting himself.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    The Light World, the Plane were the people of Light were at, was well-known for gems and crystals. Returning empty-handed was not his style.


    The black hole in front was getting closer and closer, and soon the four dragons rushed in with all the surrounding dragons together.


    In a cloud of black mist, Garen could only feel countless cold air lingering around him. This coldness was different from the cold he was familiar with; it was a kind of poisonous chill with a paralysis effect.


    The darkness did not last long. As the dragons continued to flap their wings, a spot of white light soon lit up before them.


    With a bang, Garen felt as if he had crashed into a transparent barrier. Violently breaking through, he wormed into it.


    The sight before him was suddenly clear and bright, filled with a bright white light.

 1332 Invasion 2

    Countless white clouds layered to form an ocean of clouds. Above it, stood thirteen enormous white mountain peaks, each of them in the shape of a pyramid and aligned in an orderly manner.


    Circular cities floated like meteorites, rotating around the peaks.


    These cities formed a circle, rotating slowly around the mountain peaks as if they had been doing so for eternity.


    Roar!!!


    Suddenly, a gigantic Red Dragon emerged in the air above the thirteen mountain peaks. Its body was so long that it was able to encircle the thirteen peaks within it''s the center or its body.


    A blazing red fire engulfed the Red Dragon''s body, naturally emitting a high-temperature force field. Garen could see with his own eyes that the corners of the cities above the peaks were melting faintly.


    The Red Dragon had three straight horns on its head, the center horn had connecting red lines formed by the fire.


    "King Light... Fehra can''t protect you anymore..." The Red Dragon''s thunderous voice echoed throughout the entire sky and ocean of clouds.


    Hum...


    A white, jade-like shroud of light raised slowly from the thirteen peaks encircled.


    The Red Dragon swayed his tail gently, and the light shroud was instantly smashed and shattered into numerous pieces of crystal glass, scattering everywhere.


    Large groups of Fire Creatures suddenly emerged from the surrounding air. It was evident that they had used a certain method to conceal themselves before that.


    Appearing now, the Fire Creatures charged into the light shroud, as large groups of white-armored warriors and demons also flew out from the light shroud to engage in battle.


    These warriors were very special. They were separated from the head and the body; the head was suspended above the body, and the middle part, which should have been the position of the neck, was just a mass of air.


    Each of them held a white lightsaber and a shield, and beneath their feet were white light paths as they fought hard with the demons in the air.


    The giant black hole also loomed out of the air slowly, endless demons continuously to pour out from the black hole.


    Meanwhile, the Dragons of Disaster including Garen dashed to the light shroud towards the Red Dragon.


    Boom!!


    Just then, an enormous white hand appeared from the ocean clouds below and grabbed towards the Red Dragon.


    "Gerdmos, how dare you enter the Light World?! Today your body will remain here forever to become the nourishment of the earth!!" A solemn voice sounded from the ocean of clouds.


    The Red Dragon smiled slightly, swooped down flying towards the direction of the big hand.


    Garen retracted his gaze and looked front back left right around his surroundings. There were huge dragons and demons everywhere. At the front, the demons and some of the Dragons of Disaster had already begun to fight with the Light Warriors.


    Every Dragon of Disaster was equivalent to a Catastrophic Level-existence. Even though every move made would be limited by the pure positive energy of the Light World and they could not display their very own catastrophic range-attack, but just the horrifying quality and strength of the body alone was not something the ordinary people of Light could resist.


    "Follow me!" Jane puffed out a Dragon Breath, turning a few Light Warriors flying towards him into ashes. Fluttering his wings, he flew towards one of the mountain peaks.


    "Our target is not here."


    The four giant dragons streaked through the battlefield like sharp swords. Following the light shroud, they charged into one of the cities above the peaks.


    From far, these cities were no different from the small meteorites that flew around. It was only when they approached it did they realize that the city grew increasingly bigger and humongous. As the distance closed in, the surrounding airflow passed by swiftly.


    Garen watched as the city quickly grew from the size of a fist into a grinding disc, and then bigger to occupy his entire field of vision.


    "You have an hour to kill all living creatures within your sight. The mission is to completely destroy the city and those who succeed will be rewarded the assigned divinity from Gerdmos," Jane reminded briefly of the mission that every dragon should know by now.


    "So, if our team wants to get the divinity, we''ll have to depend on everyone."


    "Leave it to me."


    Still thousands of kilometers above away from the city, the Blue Dragon took a deep breath, bulging his chest up high like an inflated balloon before fiercely spewing out a Dragon Breath.


    Boom!!!


    The overwhelming Black Frost Dragon Breath gushed out, instantly covering the space of several kilometers square below. Some of the Warriors and Wizards who had just pounced at him were affected by the Dragon Breath. Instead of turning into ice sculptures, they melted completely in the Dragon Breath.


    On the other hand, the Purple Dragon was fanning its wings. Every time they were flapped, a huge Summoning Matrix of a hundred meters in diameter would form below. Groups of violent Abyss creatures would appear from the Matrix. Consisting mainly of Berserk Tigers and Berserk Behemoths that were extremely bloodthirsty, they would kill anyone they saw.


    In less than a minute, the Purple Dragon had summoned hundreds of Berserk Creatures, each reaching the degree of Level Five.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    He raised his snake-neck high again, and his eyes suddenly released two purple light columns, which fell straight down like two laser cutting-lines.


    Sizz...


    The transparent glass buildings below collapsed under his purple shooting light, and some were cut into two sections before collapsing after a brief moment.


    Jane was different from them. He hovered in midair with both his claws raised. The center of his claws was flashing a light like that of a blue seawater as if he was brewing something big.


    Garen retracted his gaze from observing his teammates. Looking at the humongous city below, he thought about the skills his own skills. He did now know how powerful the Northern Trident Frost-Fire True Water Evil Technique could be exerted considering the suppression effect here was too great. It would be considered quite well even if only one-half of it could be produced.


    "What should I use?" He gave a thought to it, and his wings slowly lit up seven black-red Death Stars.


    In a flash of black light, a man that was covered in black appeared before him. He had seven black-red death points on his back.


    "Seven Lives, I''m counting on you," Garen ordered lightly.


    "Understood." The man''s muscles were unreasonably sturdy like no one else''s.


    His power at this moment was roughly similar to that of Garen''s at about 120 points. Although it was not comparable to Garen''s own body, it was considered very scary.


    But Seven Lives was unlike Garen. There was a major difference between them¡­


    "First Star!"


    Pap!


    Seven Lives stretched out his hands and abruptly tapped at dozens of acupuncture points on his chest. His movements were so fast that both his hands were like the Thousand-Hands Guanyin as they brought out countless afterimages.


    Squeak...


    It was only the First Star, and his muscles could be seen swelling up madly like they were being inflated.


    Garen, who was at the back, felt his eyelids jumping non-stop. He was connected to Seven Lives in body and in mind, so he had a complete understanding of all his attributes.


    With just the activation of the First Star, Seven Lives'' Strength had risen to the limit of 180 points, which was similar to his.


    "Second Star!"


    Yet Seven Lives was still not satisfied, he reached out to tap on the second acupuncture point again.


    Numerous afterimages merged on his chest and finally turned into a triangular gesture with both palms joined together.


    A vast amount of muscles seemed to be deforming as they twisted and floated behind Seven Lives. He was no longer flying with Garen''s strength, but the muscles at his back had actually condensed into a pair of flesh-wings. The whole body''s muscles were no longer like muscles, and he looked more like a heavy-duty robot wearing an armor.


    With the Strength reaching the limit, Seven Lives did not break through this point. However, a layer of transparent cuticle-like matter gradually appeared around his body.


    He gently made a grip.


    Boom!


    A cloud of gas directly blasted out from Seven Lives'' fist. His strength at this Plane had even reached the horrific effect compared to when he was at a weaker Plane back then.


    Landing quickly on the ground and under Garen''s watch, Seven Lives grabbed hold of a huge building that was tilting toward him, turning it and flinging it out fiercely.


    Boom boom!!!


    The several tens-of-meters wide building was cast out by him as if it were an artillery shell, landing at a speed comparable to bullets at an area where it was mostly populated with the people of Light.


    A massive mushroom cloud slowly rose, and a large number of people of Light were completely wiped out by the explosion which was comparable to a small nuclear bomb. Even the bodies'' limbs were not necessarily found.


    Seven Lives decided to simply pace slowly in the city. Eyeing the buildings at random, he would use a special technique to grab and hurl them out. Spacious paths were formed around him as a result of all the flinging he was doing, and the people of Light madly pounced on him. But no matter what spells and attacks were produced every time, not a trace of any of it was left on him. That layer of cuticle would completely block off all the attacks.


    When the three Dragons of Disaster in the team saw this kind of force, even they were slightly stupefied. This was the horrific effect of the strength reaching an extreme point.


    Garen hovered at a high altitude. Even without wings, he could float in the air with the power of his own Spellcraft.


    Seven Lives'' destructive power was even stronger than his, whose strength was restrained. In this kind of situation, having him carrying out pure destruction was sufficient.


    From afar, he saw a group of Level Nine-Keepers of Light was finally dispatched. They were divided into three batches, and the first batch charged right away at Seven Lives. However, Garen was not concerned at all.


    Seven Lives did not just merely have this ability as he had also inherited some of the ancient Nine-Headed Dragon''s ability. The reason he was called Seven Lives was that he actually does have seven lives...


    If he could not be killed seven times, then no matter how many opponents there were and how strong they were, all their attacks would be meaningless.


    "Looks like your incarnation is being surrounded, Garen. Are you not worried at all?" Jane asked with a smile on the side.


    "It''s just a bunch of ants," Garen responded faintly. The Soul Divine Weapon, the Despair Skull, was in his hand without anyone knowing when.


    After a vast number of weak souls died, they floated into the sky in a way that was invisible to the naked eye. However, they were intercepted and absorbed by the Soul Divine Weapon on their way to the Heavens.


    At the same time, the mysterious Enneahedron in Garen''s body was also absorbing them.


    Garen felt the potential aura of the Soul Divine Weapon growing continually, and his mood was becoming increasingly cheerful.


    The felt extremely delighted by the screams made by the countless lives below.


    "Such wonderful sounds..."


    "Is it?" Jane glanced at him. "Be careful, I''m about to start releasing..."


    As soon as his voice fell, Garen felt a huge dazzling blue explosion in his hand.


    Seawater!


    It was endless seawater!!


    The dark blue endless seawater continued to expand and transform as it suspended in the sky, quickly turning into an unparalleled giant.


    The giant was composed of seawater and was dark blue and translucent. He only had a sturdy upper body, and he was raising his two huge fists.


    Roar!!!


    Garen was also dumbfounded at the sight of this fellow. This was not an ordinary Water Element Giant.


    This was¡­the King of Water Element...!! A Level Fifteen-top existence!!!

 1333 Trouble 1

    The King of Water Element was blue in color, and it opened its mouth to spew downward.


    With a bang, countless water bombs flew down and densely rained onto the city below, turning into a tall Level Five Water Elemental Elder, directly engaging in battle with the people of Light.


    Garen hovered on one side and did not intervene. He just quietly observed the battle around.


    He was not being idle but was paying attention to the dangers that might arise.


    The Light World was not a stable place, and there were not only these low-level people of Light.


    Of course, it was also likely that there was a lot of wealth here at the same time.


    Garen closed his dragon eyes and maximized his awareness. Numerous Spirit Power like that of silk screens were released and spread around toward the surrounding voids.


    "The most precious place... in this city¡­"


    The gradual increase of the Potential Points of the Soul Divine Weapon alone could not satisfy him.


    "This side!" Suddenly, Garen''s body moved, and his whole body flew straight towards the city''s west side.


    Jane hesitated before deciding to follow suit.


    Garen was not worried about Seven Lives at all. Even if he was killed seven times, at most, it would need a little longer time for his own body to recover and to re-grow it. As for Jane, who was following behind, there would be a way to shake him off.


    The two giant dragons quickly flew to the front of a tall glass tower. The figure of an elderly man sitting in a lotus position slowly emerged from the air in front of the tower.


    This old person of Light had an amiable complexion, and his eyes were shut slightly, like a corpse without any breathing and energy fluctuations.


    "This site is off-limits." The old man spoke in a low voice.


    Garen''s Spirit Power penetrated the tower. He could see a mass of white light that was beating like a heart shining in the inside of the tower.


    "Move in!"


    Garen suddenly charged forward and lashed his golden tail like a whip at the old man.


    "Crystal."


    A crystal-like round shield appeared before the old man and steadily bore Garen''s dragon tail slam, while he sat in the air unshaken.


    Jane did not listen to Garen but flew in an arc line from the side toward that mass of halo. His slender green body abruptly stretched out to become thinner, and the head was strangely thin and long like a noodle. He instantly dashed to the tower.


    "Whoever grabs the treasure first, owns it!" He roared in a deep voice.


    Garen only smiled slightly, and looked cautiously at the old man, and turned around to retreat.


    The old man did not even look at him but extended his right hand to form a big hand in the air and fought with Jane.


    The two entangled in battle and were equally matched.


    Garen took the opportunity to retreat. His body shook, and suddenly the black seven-star wings automatically flew back to his body. At the same time, it brought back a vast horrifying potential aura. Clearly, Seven Lives did not just kill one or two high-level Keepers of Light during the massacre.


    Some small Space Equipment appeared in the hands of Garen, and he threw all of these objects into his own Space Ring.


    The city quickly fell back under his wings. Garen carefully searched for the places that could be plundered.


    Boom!!


    A tall and huge building like that of a palace was plunged through by Garen from a high altitude. After smashing through the roof and stirring up a commotion on the inside for a while, he shot out of it along with the raging bellows of the people of Light, as he snatched something from the inside.


    "Kill him!!"


    A few Keepers of Light gave chase. Even though their speed was not as fast as Garen, but they used a pure white disc-like flying tool to repeatedly teleport in the city, tailing him closely behind.


    These Keepers of Light were surrounded by a strong Light aura. Some parts of their bodies even had a photochemical reaction and were completely like glass, emitting white light.


    Each of their back had countless pure white light-filaments, and they were waving gently like white feather wings.


    Each of these light-filaments was a high-concentration agglomeration of the Light Element, which could burn and vaporize any substance in an instant due to the exceptionally high temperature. There was also the conceptualization of some matters into essence involved, not just a simple increase of temperature anymore.


    Garen was not bothered by all these. After plundering a palace, he continued to charge at a museum. Some of the people of Light on the street who were not skilled in attacking fled everywhere, while those who could not escape in time were directly crushed to death by his huge body as he landed.


    The Keepers of Light yelled in rage from behind and tried to stop him, but their speed was lagging by one step every time.


    After Garen''s wings were restored, he could cause chaos and confusion within a hundred meters with a slight vibration of his wings, totally preventing them from identifying the direction of pursuit and could only keep up after his bum.


    "We can''t let him simply fly like this anymore!" A Keeper of Light made up his mind.


    "Rest assured. Lord Henary has already set out. The other two Lords have already teleported over here and are suppressing a few Dragons of Disaster on the other side."


    The whispers of the Keepers of Light fell into Garen''s ears.


    He frowned slightly and sped up.


    He was feeling a faint, inexplicable uneasiness. The Light World had always been Fehra''s most loyal group of supporters, and so it was impossible for Fehra not to have any contingency plan.


    "Must be quick!"


    He quickly sensed the area that he ran his eyes over.


    The mission was to destroy the city sufficiently and it would be enough. At the moment, the Dragons of Disaster, together with a vast group of demons and Summoned Creatures, had caused enormous chaos, destruction, and casualties in the city, hence, the mission could be said to have been completed.


    Almost none of the buildings in the entire city was complete. Most of them were ruined, some were blazing fire, black smokes were rolling into the sky, forming a column of smoke.


    Regardless of how strong the forces of the Dragons of Disaster were, it still was not possible to surpass the forces of the entire Light World gathered together. Hence, fighting a quick battle and finishing it quickly was the core tactic.


    Estimating the time, Garen once again rushed out from a huge and magnificent mansion. With a spurt of the Dragon Breath, he exterminated dozens of crystal arrows that were in pursuit from behind.


    Suddenly, the whole world shook.


    "Gerdmos...!! How dare you!!" A voice that was filled with infinite light rang through the entire city from the sky.


    Pure white flowers descended from the sky, the countless lotus-like flowers rotated and slowly fell.


    Lots of white-winged Elves appeared in the air and were intermittently visible. Their emergence was also accompanied by a faint sacred song.


    Garen promptly looked up and saw a gigantic human figure in a golden armor, radiating a terrifying white light all around him, and on the back was a halo like that of a sun.


    He held a sword with both hands and ferociously slashed downward.


    A gigantic Red Dragon appeared in front of his giant sword out of thin air, and the horn on the head directly went up against it.


    Then, there was a dazzling light.


    Garen''s line of sight was directly submerged by the infinite white light, and nothing could be seen at all.


    The endless amount of light energy wrapped around his body like a tide.


    An intense burning sensation traveled through the scales of the skin, shocking him immediately.


    "Must leave now!"


    It was impossible for Fehra''s true form to appear, and so the one that appeared here must be his incarnation that was temporarily stationed here. Since his incarnation had appeared, the battle had clearly reached the end.


    "Leave behind the Divine Stone!!" The incarnation roared, and the voice slammed into Garen like a ferocious wave.


    His entire body was in a terrible pain, and he spurted out a mouthful of blood. He was instantly greatly appalled.


    Just the voice alone could cause him fatal injuries!


    "Must leave now!" He forcefully fluttered his wings, and his body flew away in the direction from where he came from.


    Although it was all but white light before him, it was obviously a kind of blindness effect and would not persist for long. Garen had already memorized the topography of this place.


    The mission he came for this time was just to be an onlooker and mingle about to obtain a thread of divinity. It was never his plan to be the main force against the enemy.


    The other Dragons of Disaster were obviously thinking the same.


    Garen heard a painful dragon roar from afar, and then felt the fluctuations of the Dimensional Jump from the Space-Time Spell. Clearly, someone had started to run away.


    It was chaos all around as if countless life auras were closing in quickly.


    Boom!!


    A heavy thing aggressively stuck itself to his tail, pulling down his body that was rushing upward.


    Garen shook his faint golden tail right away, and that unknown object was directly flung away. He continued to fly high up into the sky.


    Amid the blindness effect, he could only see white and nothing else in front of him. He could only return the original way he came from based from his memory instincts and senses.


    The screams of demons and Summoned Creatures continued to ring out below.


    Ow!!


    A sudden screech of pain sounded, shocking Garen.


    The screech belonged to Gerdmos! He was obviously injured in the battle by the incarnation.


    In the air over the city that Garen could not see.


    A clump of dark red ball suddenly burst out of Gerdmos and landed on Fehra''s big hand.


    At that moment, the ball suddenly exploded and instantly turned into countless red flames, blotting out the sky and covering the earth as they gushed down at Fehra.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "You dare to detonate the Divine...!" Fehra''s voice was submerged in the endless rumbles of the explosion.


    His entire body was completely surrounded by flames, and a large amount of formless divinity turned into red lines like that of spider threads.


    Garen''s sight was almost back to normal. He too saw the countless red silk threads that drifted down and felt the divinity in it.


    "The divinity of the Divine Stone! This is troublesome!!"


    He ignored these divinities and flew directly out of the city and the mountain, rushing to the huge Abyss black hole not far away.


    This was not the time for looting but to escape to save yourself.


    Boom!!


    A thunderous noise came from behind Garen. Gerdmos and Fehra''s incarnation seemed to be fighting each other in the endless flame.


    "Ha ha ha!! The mission is completely over. Dear all, this is the reward for all of you!"


    Gerdmos seemed to be in an exceptionally pleasant mood. A vast amount of deep red silk threads suddenly shot out from the flames, and each thread automatically chased after the Dragons of Disaster that was flying to the black hole.


    Garen was also caught up by one of the threads. The speed of these lines was strangely fast as if they had no mass. Just a flash in the space and a few kilometers was crossed.


    The silk thread wormed into his claws. Garen tightened his grip and gently stashed it away. With a flapping of both wings, his whole body instantly disappeared on the spot and directly appeared in the black hole.


    Blitzkrieg!


    There was no doubt that Gerdmos'' attack tactic had been successful. In the short period of raid time, he mounted a sneak attack on King Light, seized the Divine Stone, and then retreated when Fehra''s incarnation had just come out. Although he was injured, the reward he reaped was far beyond such an injury.


    "Still trying to escape!!"


    Entering the black hole, Garen was about to return to the Abyss when he felt a distortion behind him, and a white light penetrated through it, aiming at his back.


    Hiss!!


    The beam hit him on the back, scorching him all over the body as his scales smoked.


    Not only him, all the surrounding demons and giant dragons who had fled back were also struck by the beams.


    Numerous demons were spontaneously ignited and turned into white ash, while the Dragons of Disaster could hold out for a longer time. Even so, several of them were still torched by the beams. They screamed in the flames, which had a sacred aura in it, and burnt into a large pile of ashes swiftly.


    Resisting the pain on his back, Garen accelerated his escape toward the Abyss.


    Pooh!


    After passing through a layer of film once more, the familiar and chaotic power of the Abyss came over him, quickly entangling with and offsetting the power of the beam at Garen''s back.

 1334 Trouble 2

    The power of Abyss had an extremely mighty devour and repulsive nature.


    In the face of external forces, if it could not devour the other party, it would then completely eliminate it.


    Garen flew out of the black hole, and by the time he returned to the Abyssal layer with berserk fires, he was already half-dead, which was still considered quite good. The other Dragons of Disaster did not even have the strength to fly and were free-falling, crashing into the sea of magma below falling into a deep sleep.


    Fortunately, no matter how weak a Dragon of Disaster was, its dragon scales, which had a natural strong defense, and force field would protect it from being harmed by the mere magma on the surface.


    Mustering his strength to fly out of the midst of the dragons that were like dumplings entering a wok, Garen gathered his wings and slowly descended on a dark solid volcanic rock.


    He looked up at the bloody red sky and saw that the black hole was slowly contracting. However, he did not see the figure of Gerdmos, one of the three Monarchs. Presumably, he should be fine.


    Garen glanced at the thread of divinity lying quietly in his Space Equipment. This was a true divinity, which had been disintegrated and analyzed by Gerdmos. Judging from the explosive nature of the Divine Stone, this divinity should be of fire attribute. Although it was not much of a right match with him, it still had its research value.


    Even though he did not actually face a strong opponent in this blitzkrieg, the risk was indeed not small, especially the last move Fehra made out of rage. That beam was evidently a long-lasting kind of attack; if one could not return to the Abyss as soon as possible, then just that light beam alone would directly kill a Dragon of Disaster.


    All the Dragons of Disaster, including Garen, were critically injured by it.


    Standing on the rock, Garen turned around to inspect the wound on his body. In the middle of the wings on his back, the scales were directly burned... and something like a large piece of white crystal was formed at that spot. These crystals also exuded a pure light energy fluctuation that disgusted him.


    "With such an obvious fluctuation, if I''m not in the Abyss but the other Planes, I''ll definitely be discovered by the people of the Fehra Cathedral in the first place."


    He looked up for a while until he saw no more Dragons of Disaster coming out, only then did the black hole finally shrunk and disappeared. Everything was completely over.


    "It''s time to go back..."


    Garen flapped his wings and headed toward the exit of this layer.


    It was a huge underground cave. The cave might seem to head underground but in fact, as long as one entered through it with a special method, one could return to the Ten Thousand Abyss Plain at the topmost Abyssal layer.


    Sweeping his sight around the tired and weak Dragons of Disaster, it was not that Garen did not have the idea of snatching the divinity. But for such a thing as the true divinity, one would only need a thread of it to learn the method of disintegration and analyzing. Once it was grasped, everything else would be much better. Having more threads was of no effect to him. After a brief consideration, Garen decided not to do it as it was unnecessary.


    After searching around, he did not find the temporary team of dragon clans he was in.


    "Hey, the White Dragon over there. If you can escort me back to the Natural Plane, I will use the Prickle Gem to repay you!"


    A Natural Plane-Green Dragon was about to be submerged by the magma. Large pieces of white crystals coagulated all over its body, most parts of his body were obviously hit by the beam from just now.


    This fellow''s aura, which should have been at Level Eleven, was now rapidly debilitating. His situation seemed very bad.


    Garen was the more normal one compared to the others he saw nearby, as he could actually still move about freely even after taking a hit of the white light. Among all the Dragons of Disaster, only a dozen of them was able to do this.


    "Me?" Garen looked around and could not spot any other White Dragon. Obviously, the other person was referring to him.


    "Sorry, I''m not interested." He lightly declined. The Green Dragon was instantly disappointed and wanted to say something more, but Garen had already fluttered away from his sight.


    Continue flying forward, Garen soon met a few Dragons of Disaster who asked for help, all of them looking extremely weak.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    This Plane was not the Plane that Gerdmos permanently remained at. He himself probably had the thought of plundering these Dragons of Disaster. In any case, the Dragons of Disasters were never a united group, and it was just a name for the group.


    But since he was present, Gerdmos would absolutely not allow any existence to destroy his rules. And so, Garen could only suppress this tempting idea.


    Feeling the divinity in the Space Equipment, Garen faintly felt that this time, he might be able to use this thing to analyze the divinity in his Pearl of Temple.


    For the other Dragons of Disaster, a thread of true divinity probably could only speed up their progress or chances of becoming a demigod; but for Garen, he could totally build the Energy Machinist''s Willpower Neuroprocessor and use the astonishing computing speed that was far beyond that of the quantum computer in the technology era to analyze the essence of divinity.


    The divinity itself was a kind of sentiment, a sublimation of one''s understanding of the self and the foundation of one''s existence. At the same time, it also contained a kind of enlightenment and understanding of certain laws of the universe.


    Once the understanding reached an incredibly high level and was incomparably compatible with the law of the universe, the creatures would naturally be able to resonate with the power of the universe due to this kind of compatibility, thereby improving the evolution one''s self and turning into a Divine Creature, close to the status of a demigod.


    Hence, divinity was actually a kind of knowledge, an extremely complicated and profound information. It was an interpretation of the laws of the universe.


    Garen only knew this from Ann''s books, so although he had not completely condensed his own divinity, he could sum up all the knowledge and information through the analysis of the divinity of other creatures.


    In theory, his original soul was equivalent to a demigod level. The Demon Lords were not inferior to the demigods in the understanding of the laws of the world. It was only because they were not compatible with the laws of this world that they could not be a Divine Creature right away.


    What Garen needed only was to understand the compatibility principle of this world, and it would be enough.


    Soon, a huge black cave appeared in front of him. A few powerful Dragons of Disaster had just flown in and left an extremely intense aura of Light. They were obviously fatally injured by Fehra''s incarnation. Being able to be faster than Garen, the weakest aura of these fellows were of Level Thirteen, while there was even a Level Fifteen being the strongest one!


    Garen had just tucked his wings away and landed at the mouth of the cave when he felt a black shadow appearing behind him and disappearing in a flash. A Level Fourteen Black Dragon with bloodshot eyes darted straight into the cave above his head, giving the impression that it was just a flickering shadow.


    "How swift and fierce! Going through the Abyssal layers also requires physical strength... this fellow actually dared to fly at full speed."


    Garen felt that he need a good rest.


    He glanced at his own status.


    ''Garen ¨C Strength 180 (100), Agility 180 (100), Vitality 180 (100), Intelligence 90. Potential 963%. Soul limit 180.


    Status: Overall attributes declined, under the suppression and the curse of the Light... (All elemental resistance declined by half, easily found by Light attribute creatures, whereabouts could not be concealed)


    "Damn it!" Garen could not help but cursed at the sight of the state of the attributes.


    The three major attributes had all dropped by nearly half, and the elemental resistance had declined by half, especially the latter. This meant that he was initially immune to Level Nine-spells, but now, he might only be immune to Level Five-Spells and could only forcefully resist those of higher levels.


    And if resisting forcefully, with his current 100-points of Vitality and weak state, he could only resist the frontal attack of a Level Nine-Spell...


    "This is troublesome..." He rested for a while, trying hard to conceal the fluctuation of his aura, and began to fly along a special trajectory inside the cave.


    The cave was not long, but each meter of flight was extremely difficult. One would need to resist the traction of this Abyssal layer, which was as great as the gravity of a planet.


    Garen flew out a fixed trajectory pattern like a bee in the dark, and finally rose and rushed up to the sky.


    Not knowing how long he had been flying, the darkness in front was finally faintly brightening up.


    ****************


    Boom!!


    The corpse of a huge Black Dragon crashed to the ground, splattering a large amount of blood and dust.


    On the yellow plain with a huge black hole, everywhere was covered with incapacitated Dragons of Disaster. This was the path one must take when coming out of the Abyssal fire layer as it was the exit of the Ten Thousand Abyss Plains. All the Dragons of Disaster that had flown out before did not die in the raid but instead fell at this exit, which was almost a safety point.


    Two tall men in red robes hovered in mid-air, and one was gently wiping the bloody sword in his hand.


    The other person was the one who had previously gathered all the Dragons of Disaster to assault the Light World ¨C Gerdmos.


    He was smiling as he looked at the Black Dragon that was on the brink of death below.


    "Noas, although I''m very sorry, I have a reason to do so." Gerdmos seemed to have not been injured at all. His whole body was intact, and he was toying with a blood-red round stone in his hand.


    "You... actually dared... betray the Disaster Scroll..." The Black Dragon''s eyes were filled with madness and rage.


    "Betray?" Gerdmos did not have the slightest fear but just laughed lightly. "I never intended to betray the Disaster Scroll..."


    There was a faint glint of contempt in his eyes.


    "The Dragons of Disaster''s pitiful state like stray dogs should be reversed by me, Gerdmos."


    He opened his arms wide.


    "Can''t you see? This endless Abyss has given me an unparalleled special talent. Can you still not see the current situation? Whether it''s the Void Creatures or each major Pantheons, between these two giants, we''re only an insignificant weak force, surviving in the cracks...


    "Only by gathering the power of all the Dragons of Disaster, converging them into one and into my body... can we then have a glimmer of hope..." Gerdmos'' tone was monotonous, but his words were absolutely crazy.


    His back was vaguely beginning to distort a horrifying shadow. A mighty power surpassing Level Fifteen and exceeding even that of the demigod was violently fluctuating around him.


    "Come on... merge with me as one... to create a new future that belongs to us Dragons of Disaster¡­!" He slowly paced toward the Black Dragon on the ground.


    "Ann... will not let you go!" The Black Dragon weakly gave a final roar of anger.


    Boom!!


    His entire body suddenly exploded. His soul together with his body completely turned into a huge bomb and disintegrated completely.

 1335 Eve 2

    All the flesh and blood was devoured by Gerdmos in the explosion. A ferocious mouth split open from half of his body, swallowing all the flesh that shot toward him from the explosion.


    "A pointless choice."


    Gerdmos straightened up, the mouth on his body disappeared naturally as if it had never appeared before.


    Next, he slowly made his way towards the Dragons of Disaster who were on the verge of death. Unlike Black Dragon Noas, most of these Dragons of Disaster were no longer strong enough to fight back, they did not even have the strength to struggle or self-destruct. They could only watch as Gerdmos devour them.


    The other man dress in red robe stood behind watching without making a sound.


    *********************


    Garen flew through the dark cave slowly, there was only silence in front of him.


    Bang!


    He vaguely heard a huge explosion that suddenly rang from the front.


    "Explosion?"


    Garen paused for a little.


    "How can there be an explosion here?" His vigilance heightened. This was the exit of the Dragons of Disaster, so if there was an explosion, perhaps it meant that there was a conflict.


    Who would be guarding the exit when the Dragons of Disaster were critically injured? At such a coincidental timing too!?


    Garen raised his guard.


    The exit was in front of him, shimmering in white but he stopped and no longer moved forward.


    A black Salamander with toxic all over its black body slowly fell behind his steps. He was clearly as suspicious as Garen was.


    Neither of them spoke, but they exchanged glances as both felt that the situation was quite odd.


    Garen stopped and did not move forward. He glanced at the Salamander, waiting for him to go ahead first so he could see the results.


    The Salamander seemed to be toying with the same idea as well as his eyes fell on Garen.


    Both of them looked at each other.


    "Seems like something might have happened¡­" The Salamander spoke first.


    "Seems like it," Garen nodded. "Are there any other exits here?"


    "No, this is the only exit," the Salamander shook his head. "To be able to grasp our departing time so accurately means that there must be a spy. Without a mole, how could anybody knew in such a short period of time of our secret gathering and raid, and our almost immediate departure as all of these happened in less than an hour."


    "Maybe we can find Gerdmos," Garen said in a hushed tone.


    "Hehe¡­" The Salamander chuckled, "if you are willing to go, I have no objections."


    Garen could sense his doubts toward Gerdmos'' intention and stopped saying further.


    After a while.


    "Then let''s wait for more dragons first and we''ll all rush forward together," Garen spoke again.


    "Alright."


    The two Dragons of Disaster waited quietly in the dark.


    Soon enough, several huge Dragons of Disaster came from behind.


    The Salamander explained the situation briefly. A few of the dragons who still had contact with those outside tried to contact them but there was no response.


    Still pausing to move forward, the Dragons of Disaster''s looks changed.


    Nobody dared to just go out like this.


    Minutes and seconds passed by and soon, more than twenty Dragons of Disasters had gathered together.


    Garen stood among the crowd of dragons without making a sound. There were those who were stronger than him in the crowd so naturally, he had no place to speak up.


    Among the colossal dragons on the spot, the most powerful one was a gigantic Bass Dragon that went with the nickname of Plague. Plague was surrounded in the middle by a group of dragons, his two long yellow brows hung down his old face.


    There was no trace of force field from his body as if he was not much better than the average Dragon Whelp, but no dragon dared to look down on him.


    He was publicly acknowledged as the highest Level Fifteen peak.


    Moreover, he was the standard Wizard Dragon. This kind of Elder Dragon could live over five thousand years, and each of them was extremely clever with countless trump cards in their hands. No matter what situation they encounter, they would not panic at all.


    "It seems that we have a traitor amongst us. Since this is our only exit and it has been blocked, our companions who have gone out beforehand would have most probably perished."


    Bass Dragon said in a low tone, "I''ve tested with a Prophecy Spell and the highest wheel of fate shows that we are now in an extremely critical moment. I am unable to predict much details as the one who cast this danger is too powerful. But there is one thing I understood, and that is¡­"


    His huge dragon head turned and looked around.


    "Only by uniting that all of us would stand a chance!"


    "That dangerous?" A rare Red Crystal Dragon frowned. Crystal Dragons were extremely rare and they were immune to all sorts of spells. They had an incredible yet terrifying melee talent, but they did not have Dragon Breath nor supernatural powers so they could only rely on equipment.


    This Crystal Dragon was wearing a golden crown on its head, looking wild and badass.


    "Just speak up whatever idea you have. The longer we stay here, the more danger we''re in."


    Bass Dragon''s eyes swept through every single dragon in the crowd.


    "I''ve heard that Your Excellency, King of Fantasy, has an extremely powerful Divine Weapon called the Infinite Fantasy. It''s able to create several ultimate phantoms that are close to an entity. Not sure if it''s true though?"


    He looked at a petite little Purple Dragon. This Purple Dragon was a small female dragon with a calm expression on her face.


    "So, are you saying that we could create illusions to confuse the other party? What if matrix sort of encirclements are formed?" The King of Fantasy asked.


    "Even if it''s matrix, I will have a way to consume a large amount of energy," Bass Dragon shot a mysterious smile.


    "Your Excellency Moon, Your Excellency Green Hurricane, Your Excellency Fordoo, your strengths can be our backup¡­"


    Bass Dragon was no doubt the most knowledgeable old guy on the spot. At a moment like this, he was so familiar with the techniques of each Dragon of Disaster as if he was enumerating his family''s valuables. He was even able to arrange each of them in the most appropriate position so that they could put their abilities to good use.


    But the arrangements only included beings that were Level Thirteen and above. For the rest of them, they only played supporting roles as covers.


    Garen was also one of them.


    His biggest lethal effect was the Poisonous Eye that could kill Thirteen-Level existences in a flash. Other than having an unparalleled speed of shooting and the sudden flash it possessed, beings that were one of two levels above him could be caught suddenly even if it may be unintentional.


    After Bass Dragon was done arranging everything, a group of Dragons of Disaster approached the exit slowly.


    The light source exit was a distorted natural Teleportation Point. Upon entering, one would automatically be transmitted out of this Abyss layer. Not only that, it could accommodate up to tens of thousands of creatures at the same time.


    The twenty over Dragons of Disaster walked over slowly, each of them conserving their energy. Some of them had their muscles tensed up so tight that their scales showed the same color, some of them had a layer of various protection spells upon themselves, some of them turned their bodies invisible that even a trace of force could not be noticed.


    Some of them even cloned themselves into several avatars so that others were unable to distinguish between the real one and the clones.


    Garen even saw a Dragon of Disaster''s body that straight away melted into a pile of sand, approaching the light source exit in a fluid-like manner.


    He stood in the middle of the queue, looking at the line of Dragons of Disaster that slowly approached the light source.


    "Charge!!" Suddenly, Bass Dragon roared.


    All the Dragons of Disaster accelerated simultaneously and rushed toward the light source at full speed.


    ********************


    Boom!!


    A huge explosion rose from the exit of the cave.


    Gerdmos was slightly stunned but his expression quickly returned to his original, indifferent expression.


    Looking at the twenty over dragons that suddenly stormed out from the cave, he smirked.


    "You old Plague, I knew that would be a little trouble over here with you¡­"


    He turned around and looked at the other person dressed in a red robe.


    "It''s all on you."


    "Leave it to me."


    The red-robed person smiled.


    They shook hands with each other.


    Whoosh whoosh whoosh!!


    All around the plain, red lights burst out from the ground heading towards the sky.


    The blinding red lights beamed upwards to the sky straight like pencils, encircling all the fleeing Dragons of Disaster.


    "Separate," the red-robed man whispered softly. Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    With a huge buzz, the entire encircled area where all the Dragons of Disaster were at disappeared together. Even the red lights that broke out from the ground moments ago also vanished together.


    Just as the red lights disappeared, dozens of Dragons of Disaster flew out of the cave once again.


    "Phantoms, huh?" The red-robed man''s expression was unchanged. With another point of his finger, several beams of red lights continued rising and once again, enveloped all the new Dragons of Disaster and they completely disappeared again.


    "It''s useless. No matter how many times you use a trick like this, it''s useless," he said calmly.


    Boom!!


    Suddenly, his face changed slightly. There seemed to be something that caused a huge explosion and shock waves that managed to injure his internal system.


    He raised his arm and a golden wound slit open at the back of his right hand. Drips of golden blood trickled down from the wound.


    "What a good move! Divine Weapon Self Destruction!!"


    Gerdmos who was by the side had a slight change of expression as well. Divine Weapon Self Destruction also depended on the Divine Weapon itself. The Divine Weapon Self Destruction did not have a great impact generally in the hands of humans. They were irrelevant to those who were already below the Divine Power, but for Dragons of Disaster, the worst Divine Weapons in their hands were at least created by Middle Divine Souls. Once these Divine Weapons self-destruct, the tremors caused would be extremely terrible.


    "Nevermind, they have no more than three Divine Weapons in their hands!" Gerdmos said in a hushed tone.


    As soon as his voice fell, he could see dozens of Divine Weapons shot out from the cave, exploding in all directions. It seemed to be radiating to all the areas around.


    "They''re all fake!" Another red-robe man yelled.


    Of course, Gerdmos knew they were all fake, but so what if he knew? What if there was a real one mixed among the fake ones?


    He could not help but retreat quickly. The other red-robed man seemed to have the same thinking as him and retreated as well.


    Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh!


    To his surprise, all the Divine Weapons had a powerful surge force that broke through the blockade of the surrounding spells, going in all directions.


    "Could they be real?" Gerdmos waved his hand and a large cloud of fire rushed toward the Divine Weapons.


    Roar!!


    One of the Divine Weapons could not withstand the scorch and straight away turned into a huge Green Dragon screaming in pain.


    "It''s them! They''re trying to escape!?" Gerdmos'' expression changed. His body flickered as he instantly moved to the front of the Divine Weapon with the strongest force and reached out to grab it.


    Boom!!!

 1335 Eve 1

    All the flesh and blood was devoured by Gerdmos in the explosion. A ferocious mouth split open from half of his body, swallowing all the flesh that shot toward him from the explosion.


    "A pointless choice."


    Gerdmos straightened up, the mouth on his body disappeared naturally as if it had never appeared before.


    Next, he slowly made his way towards the Dragons of Disaster who were on the verge of death. Unlike Black Dragon Noas, most of these Dragons of Disaster were no longer strong enough to fight back, they did not even have the strength to struggle or self-destruct. They could only watch as Gerdmos devour them.


    The other man dress in red robe stood behind watching without making a sound.


    *********************


    Garen flew through the dark cave slowly, there was only silence in front of him.


    Bang!


    He vaguely heard a huge explosion that suddenly rang from the front.


    "Explosion?"


    Garen paused for a little.


    "How can there be an explosion here?" His vigilance heightened. This was the exit of the Dragons of Disaster, so if there was an explosion, perhaps it meant that there was a conflict.


    Who would be guarding the exit when the Dragons of Disaster were critically injured? At such a coincidental timing too!?


    Garen raised his guard.


    The exit was in front of him, shimmering in white but he stopped and no longer moved forward.


    A black Salamander with toxic all over its black body slowly fell behind his steps. He was clearly as suspicious as Garen was.


    Neither of them spoke, but they exchanged glances as both felt that the situation was quite odd.


    Garen stopped and did not move forward. He glanced at the Salamander, waiting for him to go ahead first so he could see the results.


    The Salamander seemed to be toying with the same idea as well as his eyes fell on Garen.


    Both of them looked at each other.


    "Seems like something might have happened¡­" The Salamander spoke first.


    "Seems like it," Garen nodded. "Are there any other exits here?"


    "No, this is the only exit," the Salamander shook his head. "To be able to grasp our departing time so accurately means that there must be a spy. Without a mole, how could anybody knew in such a short period of time of our secret gathering and raid, and our almost immediate departure as all of these happened in less than an hour."


    "Maybe we can find Gerdmos," Garen said in a hushed tone.


    "Hehe¡­" The Salamander chuckled, "if you are willing to go, I have no objections."


    Garen could sense his doubts toward Gerdmos'' intention and stopped saying further.


    After a while.


    "Then let''s wait for more dragons first and we''ll all rush forward together," Garen spoke again.


    "Alright."


    The two Dragons of Disaster waited quietly in the dark.


    Soon enough, several huge Dragons of Disaster came from behind.


    The Salamander explained the situation briefly. A few of the dragons who still had contact with those outside tried to contact them but there was no response.


    Still pausing to move forward, the Dragons of Disaster''s looks changed.


    Nobody dared to just go out like this.


    Minutes and seconds passed by and soon, more than twenty Dragons of Disasters had gathered together.


    Garen stood among the crowd of dragons without making a sound. There were those who were stronger than him in the crowd so naturally, he had no place to speak up.


    Among the colossal dragons on the spot, the most powerful one was a gigantic Bass Dragon that went with the nickname of Plague. Plague was surrounded in the middle by a group of dragons, his two long yellow brows hung down his old face.


    There was no trace of force field from his body as if he was not much better than the average Dragon Whelp, but no dragon dared to look down on him.


    He was publicly acknowledged as the highest Level Fifteen peak.


    Moreover, he was the standard Wizard Dragon. This kind of Elder Dragon could live over five thousand years, and each of them was extremely clever with countless trump cards in their hands. No matter what situation they encounter, they would not panic at all.


    "It seems that we have a traitor amongst us. Since this is our only exit and it has been blocked, our companions who have gone out beforehand would have most probably perished." Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Bass Dragon said in a low tone, "I''ve tested with a Prophecy Spell and the highest wheel of fate shows that we are now in an extremely critical moment. I am unable to predict much details as the one who cast this danger is too powerful. But there is one thing I understood, and that is¡­"


    His huge dragon head turned and looked around.


    "Only by uniting that all of us would stand a chance!"


    "That dangerous?" A rare Red Crystal Dragon frowned. Crystal Dragons were extremely rare and they were immune to all sorts of spells. They had an incredible yet terrifying melee talent, but they did not have Dragon Breath nor supernatural powers so they could only rely on equipment.


    This Crystal Dragon was wearing a golden crown on its head, looking wild and badass.


    "Just speak up whatever idea you have. The longer we stay here, the more danger we''re in."


    Bass Dragon''s eyes swept through every single dragon in the crowd.


    "I''ve heard that Your Excellency, King of Fantasy, has an extremely powerful Divine Weapon called the Infinite Fantasy. It''s able to create several ultimate phantoms that are close to an entity. Not sure if it''s true though?"


    He looked at a petite little Purple Dragon. This Purple Dragon was a small female dragon with a calm expression on her face.


    "So, are you saying that we could create illusions to confuse the other party? What if matrix sort of encirclements are formed?" The King of Fantasy asked.


    "Even if it''s matrix, I will have a way to consume a large amount of energy," Bass Dragon shot a mysterious smile.


    "Your Excellency Moon, Your Excellency Green Hurricane, Your Excellency Fordoo, your strengths can be our backup¡­"


    Bass Dragon was no doubt the most knowledgeable old guy on the spot. At a moment like this, he was so familiar with the techniques of each Dragon of Disaster as if he was enumerating his family''s valuables. He was even able to arrange each of them in the most appropriate position so that they could put their abilities to good use.


    But the arrangements only included beings that were Level Thirteen and above. For the rest of them, they only played supporting roles as covers.


    Garen was also one of them.


    His biggest lethal effect was the Poisonous Eye that could kill Thirteen-Level existences in a flash. Other than having an unparalleled speed of shooting and the sudden flash it possessed, beings that were one of two levels above him could be caught suddenly even if it may be unintentional.


    After Bass Dragon was done arranging everything, a group of Dragons of Disaster approached the exit slowly.


    The light source exit was a distorted natural Teleportation Point. Upon entering, one would automatically be transmitted out of this Abyss layer. Not only that, it could accommodate up to tens of thousands of creatures at the same time.


    The twenty over Dragons of Disaster walked over slowly, each of them conserving their energy. Some of them had their muscles tensed up so tight that their scales showed the same color, some of them had a layer of various protection spells upon themselves, some of them turned their bodies invisible that even a trace of force could not be noticed.


    Some of them even cloned themselves into several avatars so that others were unable to distinguish between the real one and the clones.


    Garen even saw a Dragon of Disaster''s body that straight away melted into a pile of sand, approaching the light source exit in a fluid-like manner.


    He stood in the middle of the queue, looking at the line of Dragons of Disaster that slowly approached the light source.


    "Charge!!" Suddenly, Bass Dragon roared.


    All the Dragons of Disaster accelerated simultaneously and rushed toward the light source at full speed.


    ********************


    Boom!!


    A huge explosion rose from the exit of the cave.


    Gerdmos was slightly stunned but his expression quickly returned to his original, indifferent expression.


    Looking at the twenty over dragons that suddenly stormed out from the cave, he smirked.


    "You old Plague, I knew that would be a little trouble over here with you¡­"


    He turned around and looked at the other person dressed in a red robe.


    "It''s all on you."


    "Leave it to me."


    The red-robed person smiled.


    They shook hands with each other.


    Whoosh whoosh whoosh!!


    All around the plain, red lights burst out from the ground heading towards the sky.


    The blinding red lights beamed upwards to the sky straight like pencils, encircling all the fleeing Dragons of Disaster.


    "Separate," the red-robed man whispered softly.


    With a huge buzz, the entire encircled area where all the Dragons of Disaster were at disappeared together. Even the red lights that broke out from the ground moments ago also vanished together.


    Just as the red lights disappeared, dozens of Dragons of Disaster flew out of the cave once again.


    "Phantoms, huh?" The red-robed man''s expression was unchanged. With another point of his finger, several beams of red lights continued rising and once again, enveloped all the new Dragons of Disaster and they completely disappeared again.


    "It''s useless. No matter how many times you use a trick like this, it''s useless," he said calmly.


    Boom!!


    Suddenly, his face changed slightly. There seemed to be something that caused a huge explosion and shock waves that managed to injure his internal system.


    He raised his arm and a golden wound slit open at the back of his right hand. Drips of golden blood trickled down from the wound.


    "What a good move! Divine Weapon Self Destruction!!"


    Gerdmos who was by the side had a slight change of expression as well. Divine Weapon Self Destruction also depended on the Divine Weapon itself. The Divine Weapon Self Destruction did not have a great impact generally in the hands of humans. They were irrelevant to those who were already below the Divine Power, but for Dragons of Disaster, the worst Divine Weapons in their hands were at least created by Middle Divine Souls. Once these Divine Weapons self-destruct, the tremors caused would be extremely terrible.


    "Nevermind, they have no more than three Divine Weapons in their hands!" Gerdmos said in a hushed tone.


    As soon as his voice fell, he could see dozens of Divine Weapons shot out from the cave, exploding in all directions. It seemed to be radiating to all the areas around.


    "They''re all fake!" Another red-robe man yelled.


    Of course, Gerdmos knew they were all fake, but so what if he knew? What if there was a real one mixed among the fake ones?


    He could not help but retreat quickly. The other red-robed man seemed to have the same thinking as him and retreated as well.


    Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh!


    To his surprise, all the Divine Weapons had a powerful surge force that broke through the blockade of the surrounding spells, going in all directions.


    "Could they be real?" Gerdmos waved his hand and a large cloud of fire rushed toward the Divine Weapons.


    Roar!!


    One of the Divine Weapons could not withstand the scorch and straight away turned into a huge Green Dragon screaming in pain.


    "It''s them! They''re trying to escape!?" Gerdmos'' expression changed. His body flickered as he instantly moved to the front of the Divine Weapon with the strongest force and reached out to grab it.


    Boom!!!

 1336 Eve 2

    The tremendous explosion instantly spread around the entire cave. Huge mushroom clouds accompanied the terrifying red shock waves as they spread out to the surroundings.


    Gerdmos paled, completely stunned by the self-destruction of the most powerful Divine Weapon.


    "Plague!" He bellowed. He was already heavily injured from the battle with Fehra''s Incarnation and so he was unable to use half of his strength anymore. Now after being hit by such a powerful Divine Weapon, his injuries immediately increased from the original fifty percent to an eighty percent of damage. Even the sacred fire was severely impacted and lost half of its strength.


    This was an extremely powerful Divine Weapon. Even if he was one of the three Monarchs, he would not have been able to withstand the impact from the immense shock waves of the Divine Power and was fatally injured.


    After being duped and looking at the ''Divine Weapons'' shooting across the sky, he dared not approach and could only wave his arms to use fire clouds to block them.


    "Doomsday Rain of Fury!" From the other side, a red-robed man opened his arms, the light of Divinity radiated from him, turning into red lights that shot into the sky.


    The sky rumbled and clumps of dense, red clouds appeared quickly...


    Boom!


    A red meteorite fell from the sky and crashed onto the ground.


    A second one followed, then a third¡­ Countless meteors and meteorites fell from the sky and blasted as they crashed onto the gray-black plains.


    The plains that were already rugged before became even bumpier with more pits.


    Under the bombardment of the meteor and meteorites, some of the Divine Weapons that were scattered around straight away disappeared into phantoms, and some revealed their real true forms. They were all fleeing dragons, while some others were indeed Semi-Divine Weapons or Divine Weapons.


    Garen was amongst them as well. An enormous meteorite fell right in front of him and with a bang, the huge shockwave made his body receded at least a few meters backward.


    Whoosh!


    Suddenly, a red-robed figure appeared before him. Gerdmos was holding a shrunken Dragon of Disaster by its neck, blocking his path with a ferocious look.


    The intense blood breath and scorching Energy Field immediately fell on Garen.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Boom!


    He suddenly felt his body sink, his body value that was already weakened by half dropped once again.


    "The sixth one." Gerdmos had a calm expression as he reached out to grab his neck.


    An invisible pressure locked onto Garen''s neck, making him breathless and weak.


    "It''s Soul Coercion!!" He was shocked. Such a situation could only occur when the gap between souls was too large. The power of Gods, the power of Divine Souls, he never knew what kind of nature they were.


    Now that he was truly facing it for the very first time, he immediately understood that this was simply an ultimate sublimate soul. However, what made it different from a True Soul was the state of the sacred fire of the soul that had the power of pure faith. They used that faith as a mean to strengthen themselves, unlike True Soul who just absorbed all the power of a soul.


    Faith was only a pure part of the strength of a soul.


    Gerdmos grabbed onto Garen with a surge of an inexplicable aura of death.


    Garen had a hunch that the second he touched this hand, his entire body including his Soul and Fighting Soul would be instantly taken away by the other person.


    But he could watch as the arm inched closer and closer, unable to defend himself.


    The difference between a Level-Twelve and a true God was indeed too big. Even after Gerdmos was heavily injured and he could not even unleash twenty percent of his powers, the changes of the nature of the strength was far beyond Garen, even as a Middle Demon Lord, could handle.


    As the huge hand got closer and was about to touch the scales at Garen''s throat.


    "Ah!!!"


    Right at this moment, Garen suddenly shrieked.


    A black necklace around his neck exploded by itself, black smoke immediately broke out of it and wrapped Gerdmos'' right arm.


    "Ann!" Gerdmos'' expression changed and he immediately retreated.


    But it was too late.


    An exceedingly gigantic dragon arm shot out from the black smoke and grabbed onto his right arm.


    "Gus¡­"


    Ann''s seemingly perfect figure loomed behind the black smoke, but the voice that sounded from him was clearly a man''s.


    "No! No no no!!! Ann, that''s not me!!!" Gerdmos'' face twisted more with fear.


    He yelled as he started running towards the back.


    Drained, Garen looked at him escaping. The black smoke that turned into a dragon arm held him tight and soon disappeared from sight.


    Not long after, gigantic transparent distortions blasted on the distant plain and the sphere-shaped distortion lasted for more than ten seconds before slowly dissipating.


    "Go!" Suddenly, a brass-colored dragon claw grabbed him and lifted him up before flying away swiftly into the distance.


    It was Plague the Brass Dragon!


    With a solemn expression, it held onto Garen as it flew, turning back every now and then to check behind.


    "That was just a projection of Ann, it won''t hold him back much longer. We have to leave immediately!"


    Garen felt weak to the point that he could barely open his eyelids.


    The struggle just now seemed to consume much of his strength.


    "Why¡­ did you save me?" He asked softly.


    "Why? That necklace of yours represents the subordinates approved by Ann. Saving you is equivalent to giving him face. Among the three Monarchs, Ann is known as the most brutal dragon of killing. Once when he was furious, he swallowed up billions of creatures in just one breath. But because he comprehended the space-time laws too well, Fehra and the other Gods could only suppress him, not kill him, because if they kill him now, he would be able to reverse history and return from the past."


    Garen''s eyes opened wide. This was the first time he had heard of such a strong description of Ann from another dragon race.


    Brass Dragon said in a hushed tone.


    "Even plenty of powerful existences don''t even know how many Ann truly exists. He''s able to pull all three of his figures to the same space-time. He''s the most powerful Dragon of Disaster in history, and the most legendary dragon of the Dragons of Shadows. Your nature has a trace of a Shadow Dragon which can break free under the imprisonment of Divine Power because the Divine Imprisonment is just a kind of imprisonment and you Shadow Dragons are best at imprisonments."


    He cast a glance at Garen.


    "Seems like you don''t know anything at all."


    Garen just recovered a little bit of strength.


    "He didn''t tell me much." He could see that Plague the Brass Dragon was really trying to save him.


    There was a change in Brass Dragon''s eyes. "They''re catching up!"


    Garen sensed a threat rapidly approaching him from behind.


    Looking back at the sky behind him, a gigantic Red Dragon was flying towards them. There was a trace of bloodlust in the dragon''s eyes.


    "There are a few powerful disciples of Ann in the Abyss, let''s pray that we can survive till their arrival." Brass Dragon finally spoke the truth. He rescued Garen due to his relationship with Ann, which was a good enough reason for Ann''s disciples from the Abyss to come to the rescue. What he had been looking for all along was this unknown rescue.


    Garen understood and no longer spoke so he tried to restore his strength.


    His current body attributes had been weakened mainly because of a ray of Fehra''s Divine Power that broke his Level-Nine spell immunity.


    Facing these Divine Power natured attacks, he almost had no strength of resistance at all. Even with a stronger physique or if the other party weakened, his attributes were weakened by half so it was completely meaningless.


    "Seems like I must study divinity and establish the Wizard Tower¡­" Garen had made up his mind. Facing the suppression of Divine Power this time around, his powerful physical strength did not do him justice at all.


    Turning back to see, Gerdmos was chasing behind.


    "We can''t let this guy catch up with us."


    As Brass Dragon flew, he threw something behind.


    Boom!


    The object exploded and turned into a giant made of elemental gas. Right when the Elemental Giant raised his fists preparing to smash downwards, Gerdmos'' mouthful of Dragon Breath pierced through the giant''s stomach, and his entire body started burning and slowly dissipated.


    Brass Dragon started throwing all sorts of treasures messily behind. They had the most extreme self-destructive power that made those treasures unleash its great powers, but this kind of explosion could only be used once as it would self-destruct.


    It was only a mere dozen seconds of effort and Gerdmos was getting closer and closer, and each time Brass Dragon threw out a treasure, it was just to block him.


    Within the dozen seconds, he had already thrown out various high-leveled treasure, all of which were top-notch treasures that could make any non-Divine creature envious.


    But Brass Dragon still threw everything out freely.


    "If you have any tricks up your sleeves you better use it quickly! If we continue like this, we''re going to die!" Brass Dragon rushed Garen in the midst of pressing affairs.


    Garen closed his eyes for a moment, turned his back and opened his eyes suddenly.


    Whoosh whoosh!


    Two white-blue rays burst out and shot towards Gerdmos.


    It was the Poisonous Eye, which was also currently Garen''s most powerful attack.


    He only tried its effect but unfortunately, when the two rays landed on Gerdmos'' body, they did not even leave a single mark on the scales.


    He did not even need to defend an attack that could actually hurt a Level-Thirteen.


    "Only Divine Power natured attacks can hurt him!" Brass Dragon explained impatiently. "Whatever Ann gave you in the past, just take it out quickly and use it! If he catches up with us, we''ll all die!"


    Whoosh!


    Just then, a huge fiery wing swooped by him. Although Brass Dragon dodge in time, half of his body was burnt black.


    Garen did not possess anything that Ann gave him, he had not seen Ann for a very long time already.


    "I''m the only hope of the Dragons of Disaster!!" Gerdmos yelled from behind. "If all of us merged as one, then we can truly become the greatest Dragon of Abyss!! All of you can''t escape! You can''t escape!!!"


    He seemed to have gone absolutely crazy.


    *******************


    In the endless, pitch dark canyon.


    At the center of the ancient matrix, under the hazy halo, Ann''s eyes that were closed tightly slowly opened.


    "Gus¡­ why did you force me¡­ I didn''t mean to, I really don''t¡­"


    She mumbled repeatedly, helplessness and sorrow all over her expression.


    Slowly, a black obscure black ring appeared before her that displayed Gerdmos who was chasing after Garen and Brass Dragon.


    The sadness in her eyes deepened.


    "Gus¡­ why did you forget everything I said back then?"


    As she muttered, she held out her hand and scoffed.


    Her slender hand went straight into the Light Screen image and grabbed Gerdmos.


    "No!!! No!! Ann! It''s not my fault!! Let go of me!!" Gerdmos was only as big as a worm in Ann''s palm.


    "We used to be so in love with each other¡­" Ann spoke sadly, "I loved you so much¡­"


    She closed her eyes and popped Gerdmos in her mouth.


    Chomp chomp...


    The crisp chewing accompanied by the screams of Gerdmos and the faint forces of Divine Power disappeared in Ann''s mouth.


    She chewed slowly as if she was tasting the last taste of her once good friend.


    "No!!!" Gerdmos turned out to be not completely dead yet, his sacred fire let out a heartbreaking scream till the very last moment.


    Gulp.


    But everything disappeared along Ann''s gentle swallow.


    The Light Screen vanished, and Ann sighed. However, it did not give off the feeling of falsehood, but it was like he really lost a true friend, a former lover.


    "It''s you again¡­ hooligans¡­" Ann''s half-closed eyes opened wide. "If it weren''t for you guys, Gus wouldn''t have to die. Everything is your fault. Seems like I will have to have a good chat with all of you ¡­"

 1337 Development 1

    There was a soft swoosh.


    Gerdmos'' entire dragon body disappeared from behind suddenly.


    As Garen and Brass Dragon were flying, they watched as Gerdmos, somehow, was suddenly swallowed up by a gigantic black hole, and there was no more sound at all.


    "What happened!" Brass Dragon was shocked but still did not dare to stop and continued to fly forward, only coming to a stop gradually after flying out tens of thousands of meters away.


    Garen broke out from his dragon claws and was finally able to fly independently. Only he could sort of guessed what had just happened.


    Without a word, his eyes were fixated on the direction in which Gerdmos disappeared from.


    "Thank you very much, Plague."


    "It''s really a great loss this time," The old Bass Dragon responded with a wry smile as if he had guessed something right. He looked around the surroundings.


    The two dragons had somehow arrived at a large golden desert.


    "This is the Desert of Dead Souls. We seem to have flown over hundreds of thousands of miles," the Bass Dragon sensed the area. There were no creatures at all. Clearly, they were all frightened away by their Draconic Aura.


    "What are your plans next?" Garen glanced at the burned area on his back. The Divine Crystals were like maggots that clung onto him obstinately, it was indeed troublesome.


    "I live in the Maggots Abyss, you can come to visit me if you''re free. The pressing matter now is to get rid of the Divine Power of your body. Getting rid of these things is not as easy as it seems," Brass Dragon said helplessly.


    "Is there a time limit for this state of weakness?" Garen was slightly shocked.


    "It''d be nice if there was," Bass Dragon sighed. "If your confrontation awareness isn''t strong enough, then he won''t be able to eat away your strength on a daily basis and convert all energy into Divine Power and strengthen himself. Fehra''s power is just that overbearing and disgusting!"


    In the Abyss, he was not afraid at all to mention the God name, Fehra, who was far away at the Mountain of Heavens.


    "Even I would need at least five years to get rid of it completely. Alright then, I''ll go back first. The other two Monarchs will definitely punish Gerdmos for destroying the order regarding this matter. Whatever happens after, we have nothing to do with each other anymore. Just a pity of my Divine Weapon though¡­"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    He had a pained look on his face.


    "The Upper Divine Weapon¡­" Garen''s face pained as well. The only thing that managed to injure Gerdmos severely was the only Upper Divine Weapon that the elder dragon took out.


    He was no doubt a Level-Fifteen elite existence, his ample collection was indeed terrifying.


    One Divine Weapon was already very powerful, but every single Divine Weapon was well-established and the owners could be traced. One destroyed was just one less weapon, but the elder yellow dragon was actually willing to use an Upper Divine Weapon to self-destruct.


    Seems like the water behind him ran pretty deep too...


    Garen reminded himself to stay vigilant.


    Both dragons were somewhat restraint with each other. After exchanging contact information, they flew in the direction of their own nest.


    Garen had somewhat gained a little benefit from the raid this time around. The analyzed true divinity was a huge help for him to build an analysis system of true divinity.


    The whole void was now constantly trying to invade this world and the Gods of this world were actively responding against the invasion of the void.


    Every creature was vigorously accumulating all their strength under this huge crisis, even Gerdmos, a Colossal Dragon that was comparable to Divine Soul.


    The main force of the battlefield was still in those three places.


    The Main Plane, Mountain of Heavens, and the endless Abyss.


    From the information that Garen received from the snail man, it showed that there were already tens of millions of Void Creatures that had passed through the raid of the Gods'' and churches'' powerhouses and were scattered into the major empire regions of the Main Plane.


    They straight away entered dreams of all creatures, almost impossible to be identified or found.


    The church''s powerhouses were trying to distinguish them by various means.


    As for the Abyss, there seemed to be no movement. In reality, nobody knew exactly how many Void Creatures had entered this place, they were just not exposed.


    Without any further sign of danger, he returned to the Vengeance Fortress safely.


    The first thing Garen did was return to his own place to rest in the attempt to get rid of the Divine Crystals that were negatively affecting his state.


    *******************


    In the dark Secret Chamber.


    Dense blue ice crystals were condensed all over the black metal walls.


    The ground was covered by a thick layer of white-blue snowflakes as well.


    Garen squatted in the middle of the Secret Chamber, a faint white gas was constantly squirting out from his mouth and nose that kept the room temperature stabilized at a constantly low level.


    Under the erosion of this white gas, the Divine Crystals on his back were slowly melting at an incredibly slow speed. If it was not for extreme fine observation, it would be completely impossible to see the Divine Crystals melt.


    "Your Excellency Garen."


    Suddenly, a black mist appeared in front of Garen that quickly condensed into an enormous Wild Boar.


    The Wild Bear weirdly stood on two legs and was dressed like a gentleman. A hoof was even slowly reaching up to the black tophat on the top of his head.


    "It''s you, Gru." Garen recognized him. This guy was just like the snail man. They had entirely given up on entering Dream World with their bodies and became a messenger between the great Demon Lords.


    "What''s the matter?"


    Garen shrouded in the white gas. The Wild Boar could barely see his situation but only sensed a huge surge of Chill that came rushing towards him. He shuddered and spoke hurriedly.


    "Your Excellency Garen''s strength is getting stronger and stronger and no doubt worthy of being the Deputy Commander of Vengeance Fortress. Uh¡­ I''m here because I have two news."


    "Speak."


    Garen responded calmly, too lazy to even open his eyes. As the white gas shrouded around him, he could sense nothing although the Wild Boar was standing face to face across him.


    "The first news, after the information that you sent reached Mother Stream Alliance, two beings came forward claiming that they are your old acquaintances and they hope to see you," Wild Boar said as he was weighing his words.


    "Old acquaintances?" Garen opened his eyes, "What kind of old acquaintances?"


    "One female and one male. From their looks, they seemed a bit broken down," Wild Boar answered hurriedly.


    "Let them come, we''ll know when we meet. What about the other message?" Garen closed his eyes again.


    "The other news is that a Demon Lord nearby hopes that you''re able to share some of the tasks. The Alliance''s plan has reached the point where fortified points have to be opened up in the Abyss. However, in order to not attract the conscious of the Abyss to resist, the required manpower has to enter slowly. The three other Demon Lords nearby have already shared out some of the manpower. After knowing that you have a firm hold here, they hope that you can also join in."


    "Aiding the manpower¡­" Garen sank into deep thoughts and did not reply immediately. This was a big risk. Once discovered, even Lady Vengeance would be the first to kill him.


    "A certain date a year later, Deception Demon Master Sandola will come to the Abyss. We are now just preparing for Her Excellency, Lady Deception," Wild Boar whispered.


    "Is there any benefit?" Garen was not a master of free labor. Moreover, he was not even aiding his own Endor''s people. Naturally, he had to be remunerated.


    "Of course," Wild Boar responded quickly. "Her Excellency, Lady Deception promised that whoever lends a hand in this matter, every single one will be rewarded a Ten Million Level Incantation Stone."


    Ten Million Level!


    Garen was slightly moved. An Incantation Stone was something used to store Souls. It being Ten Million Level meant that it had at least tens of millions of Average Souls. Even during the Blood Wars, after he had been secretly snatching so many Souls from the Abyss for so long, he could still not get hundreds of thousands of souls. If he was to be able to get a Ten Million Level soul, perhaps he could use a Semi-Divine Weapon to filter and absorb through and think of the best way to increase his Soul Limit.


    Moreover, if he studied divinity thoroughly, the number of souls needed would be greater.


    However, the time span of one year was too short. He was still not finished with analyzing the divinity on his hands. With the information all undigested, he would be biting off more than he could chew.


    He thought about it carefully.


    "I''m in no rush, I don''t need too many things at the moment. But still," Garen paused, "even though I may not be able to assist, I can provide supplies and safe hiding spots for those coming to aid and hunt."


    The Wild Boar smiled with joy hearing Garen''s words.


    "Even if it''s just that, we are extremely grateful to you. All the while, the Abyss never had many supply points. Therefore, if you can guarantee that you can provide the supply points here, it''ll be of great help in our development."


    "No problem, we belong to the same camp anyway, helping each other is what we should do." Garen nodded, "alright, you can go now."


    "Alright, thank you for your generosity." The Wild Boar then slowly turned into black mist and disappeared.


    Garen once again closed his eyes and started to get rid of the Divine Crystals on his back.


    *******************


    In the following two months, Garen never stepped out of his residence. The three Blasphemy Knights, Irene and the other two, were responsible for all the miscellaneous affairs whereas Andrew was in charge of leading the Winter Army to join the Blood Wars.


    Garen gave all of his war trophies to him for distribution.


    There was no denying that Andrew was talented in leadership. After signing a contract with Garen, his strength was piled up under a large number of resources and soon reached the breakthrough point. He had been stuck at the peak of Level Nine for now.


    After getting Garen''s guidance, he also understood the real gap between Level Nine and Level Ten and above, and so he began to form his own unique ability.


    During killing, this guy formed an incredible energy field which he termed Demon Halo, which was purely based on Garen''s powerful frost energy field. He broke into Level Ten successfully.


    This was good news.


    Garen finally had a subordinate who was a powerhouse good enough as a line-up.


    As for him, he was totally ignorant of the outside world, devoting himself to cleanse out the Divine Crystals even though the process of removing it was extremely slow and boring.


    Hence he began to rebuild the device that Energy Machinists mostly rely on, the Willpower computing brain.


    During his time as an Energy Machinist, the computing speed of a Willpower brain was even more powerful than the most advanced brain of the Mech era.


    To analyze divinity, the brain of Willpower had to be the best method to analyze.


    Every time during a Blood War, he would hand his Semi-Divine Weapon to Andrew to allow it to continue absorbing a large number of souls. Then, he would absorb the souls from the Semi-Divine Weapon and convert them into potential points.


    As more and more potential points accumulate to the point that they were impossible to use, Garen would slowly turn it towards his intelligence.


    In the time of accumulating the establishment of his Willpower brain, Garen set his place as a receiving point, welcoming the first batch of Void visitors at the same time.

 1338 Development 2

    "So this is the Vengeance Fortress?" Five men and women dressed in various clothes, looking as though they came from the circus, walked out of the Teleportation Light Portal slowly.


    The Light Portal was the fixed-point teleportation portal that Garen had ordered some Wizards to make. It led straight to a place called the Green Oakstone Plane.


    Similar to the Primary Plane, most of the inhabitants living here were humans.


    "Looks like it," replied a man who looked like he might be the leader in a low voice. "This is the territory of Winter Sigh, and according to the information, this place should be relatively safe. We can choose to join the Blood Wars under the name of Winter Sigh, and we can also use this place as a base for exploring the surroundings."


    "Let''s rest here for a few days before we make our preparations," said a voluptuous woman softly.


    There were only a few elder demons, more than two meters tall, standing guard around this teleportation portal. They did not even look at the situation over here and isolated this small area completely.


    There was a newly-opened shop in this area, with all sorts of potions, scrolls, and magical items displayed on the counter within. The shop owner was a drowsy little Succubus. It was the relative Garen''s two Succubi Subordinates had brought over.


    The visitors from the Void took a stroll around the area and only found one hotel, one restaurant, and that one shop.


    Every other part of that huge space was empty. They were clearly the first batch of visitors to arrive here.


    Garen had put the few Level Ten powerhouses he had signed contracts with in charge of ensuring these shops'' safety. They were scattered across a few spots around the area, and they seemed to be doing their own thing, but in truth, they were keeping an eye on everything that was happening in this area.


    The visitors from the Void bought some scrolls and potions from the shop, and then looked for a Level Ten powerhouse, receiving the Winter Sigh''s dragon-shaped insignia that allowed them to participate in the Blood War. After that, they left the city hastily, clearly in a hurry to join the slaughter in order to obtain more power and progress.


    Lady Vengeance barely governed any matters here at all. That was why nobody really interfered with what Garen was doing in his own territory, and no one batted an eyelid even when he carved out an area and turned it into a temporary supply point for Void Creatures.


    Anyone who could set up a supply point in the Abyss had to be either extremely crafty or extremely powerful.


    If Garen had not used his connections with Ann, there was no way he could have gotten such immense authority from the start either. At the most, he would have had to work his way up the ranks from his initial position as an advanced thug, racking up contributions slowly.


    But thanks to his relationship with Ann, he could leap all the way to the top because of the fact that he once studied under the same teacher as Lady Vengeance. He became Deputy Commander of the Vengeance Fortress, wielding awe-inspiring authority. That was also a stroke of luck.


    Once the first batch of visitors arrived here, they realized that this place was relatively stable and decided to set up base here, beginning their Blood Wars to accumulate slaughters. Soon enough, word got out. There was a second batch, a third, a fourth¡­


    Now, there were more and more visitors from the Void seeping into the major planes. They disguised themselves as various races and came to the Abyss one after the other, arriving at the supply point Garen had set up. Using the Vengeance Fortress as their base and Garen''s name, they began to spread massacres everywhere.


    Within a mere five or six months, the name of Winter Sigh began to spread rapidly.


    And after an attack by a powerful Level Thirteen Thunder Elemental, the name instantly reached the pinnacle of popularity.


    This Void Creature whose host was a Thunder Elemental had stirred an uproar by killing three of the opposing Hell Army Warlord-general''s four sons. As a result, it was pursued for more than ten thousand miles and somehow managed to return to the Vengeance Fortress, barely avoiding death.


    It wore the insignia of Winter Sigh, Garen''s symbol, so with that, Garen instantly became famous.


    At the same time, the Vengeance Fortress'' reputation as a supply point was also beginning to spread through the ranks of the Void Creatures, with more and more Void Creatures arriving here. They carried Garen''s insignia and symbol, hunting and slaughtering things all over the place. His influence grew, further and stronger.


    Out of the several hundred fortresses that already existed in the Ten Thousand Abyss Plains, the Vengeance Fortress was originally just another new fortress, and the weakest one to boot. But these Void Creatures surged in by the dozens, massacring many devils around the area and even some of the more unruly demons.


    The influence of the Vengeance Fortress also began to increase rapidly.


    The businesses, such as shops and hotels, that Garen set up in the supply point area also began to gradually increase in number, and the rate at which he earned soul-cocoons sped up as well. His wealth snowballed, and the Void Creatures from all those different planes also brought plenty of rare materials that could be used for trade, greatly reducing the time Garen needed to construct his Wizard Tower.


    Once he became aware of this beneficial cycle, Garen gave a share of the materials he had obtained as taxes to Lady Vengeance and the other Deputy Commander, instantly earning the approval of the Lady and the support of his colleague.


    With the support of Lady Vengeance, Garen could easily suppress even some advanced-level disturbances that appeared at the supply point. His powers were drastically reduced right now, but with Lady Vengeance''s support, even the strongest disturbance could be suppressed in the shortest possible time.


    And the army under his control had also begun to search around for the materials required to build a Wizard Tower.


    Large amounts of resources flowed ceaselessly into Garen''s private space.


    As his injury healed, he also bought many Wizard Slaves who were Level Five and above to help him construct the Wizard Tower.


    Everything seemed to be on the right track.


    In the blink of an eye, a year had almost passed.


    *******************


    In the sky above the Vengeance Tower, Garen flapped his wings slowly as he flew. He looked down on the half of the fortress that was under his jurisdiction, patrolling it.


    The Winter Army already had about five hundred thousand soldiers on reserve, comprised fully demons of different types. At the same time, Andrew had also built up a special elite assault squadron called White Feather. There were only ten members in this team, and they were all pinnacle powerhouse Wizards from everywhere, from all the different planes. The highest-leveled one was Level Twelve, and the lowest was Level Ten. They all had vast resources as well as considerable authority. Some were even the heirs of some powerful factions that had come here to gather experience. They came from all walks of life and signed temporary short-term contracts, stating that they would only fight on behalf of the Vengeance Fortress for a short while. They could form a powerful Three-Dimensional Rune Matrix, and at their highest power, they could even temporarily confine a pinnacle powerhouse for some time. It was very impressive.


    The army reserve and White Feather.


    These two comprised Garen''s greatest asset. His own powers were shocking, but that also meant he naturally needed to use many more resources. Thankfully Garen could make use of the Void Creatures'' hunting and spreading out, and he also grabbed half of yet another large piece of land by the shores of the Underground River. That way, he could harvest many soul-cocoons every year to make up for his losses. Like this, he was more or less breaking even.


    Garen looked down from his vantage point in the sky and saw many hunting teams come and go through the fortress'' side door. They all wore the insignia of Winter Sigh. Some of the returning teams had suffered heavy losses, while others had a full bounty. And the exiting teams were all fully armed.


    With such intense slaughtering going on, the area also spawned houses of desire opened specifically by Succubi, functioning as a place for the powerhouses in the middle of their slaughters to vent their desires and frustrations.


    The place had a large collection of humans, Elves, and Succubi as entertainment tools.


    Garen''s two Succubi subordinates came up with this idea, and this also brought him a significant amount of profit every month.


    There was even an auction house built in the small area. One of the Level Ten powerhouses Garen had signed a Soul Contract with in charge of hosting and running the auction house. Occasionally, when a small team obtained a treasure or item that was not easy to deal with, the auction house would simply buy it at a low price and auction it off at a higher price.


    More and more people were gathering at the auction house nowadays, and even the powerful beings from the fortresses nearby would occasionally send their Projections over for a look.


    The area, less than half the size of the fortress, was actually developing rapidly.


    Every second of every day, Garen was earning a tremendous amount of wealth and resources. At the same time, he could also mobilize many various combat forces.


    By the time he glided across the sky above the auction house, satisfied, Garen''s injuries were already half-healed, and his power had also returned to Level Eleven.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Since he was flying lower now, he carried a treasure with him that hid his aura in order to maintain his dignity and authority as a Deputy Commander.


    Soon enough, Garen flew to the most central part of the area. There was a spot there that was left empty, and about a hundred Wizards were busily casting spells there, building a tall cylindrical tower. There were also many Engineering Puppets floating outside the tower, laboring away constantly, looking busy as a swarm of bees.


    The Advanced Wizard in charge of this place saw Garen land and hurriedly walked up to greet him.


    "Deputy Commander, progress has reached up to 80%, and all the Magical Formations are more or less complete. All that''s left is the Tower Soul. You just have to find one last Tower Soul, sir, and complete the Enchantment, then everything will be complete," explained the Wizard calmly.


    "Very good." Satisfied, Garen raised his head and looked at the giant Wizard Tower, almost a thousand meters tall. For the sake of this tower, he had later expanded the area, until it covered a large piece of land outside the fortress as well. In order to expand the territory of the fortress, he had worked several tens of thousands of little demons and other slaves to death.


    The entire Wizard Tower was like a slender, long white staff. There was a ball of pure white ice suspended above its peak, and a transparent ring of pale silver power circled around its middle.


    There were four dragon statues depicting Garen himself in different poses built around the base of the Tower. The backs of these statues were all connected to the Tower, so they helped to secure the base while also functioning as decorations and defense matrixes.


    The Advanced Wizard explained to Garen.


    "If we can completely finish building it, the whole tower will have a flowing barrier of white electricity. In our initial test designs of this electric barrier, we found that it can reach Level Thirteen and can withstand twelve Level Thirteen attacks. If we have enough energy in the Energy Pools, and if the attacks come at a frequency of no more than one attack every five seconds, theoretically, the electric barrier could even defend the attacks infinitely."


    "Not bad¡­" Garen nodded, satisfied. His dragon eyes slowly lit up with pale blue lights.


    The Energy Machinist Willpower Neuroprocessor was complete. He had a large number of potential points as back-up, and besides, he had done all this before, so he did not encounter any bottlenecks.


    That was why he could reach the pinnacle that he had once accomplished within a mere month. Now, he was already beginning to rebuild the Biochemical Pool and the experimental platform.


    With the large number of resources he earned from the Blood Wars and his businesses, Garen probably only needed a few months to create the best models of the Biochemical Pool and the experimental platform.


    When that happened, it would no longer be just a dream to recreate the Energy Machinists'' Biochemical Army. This type of army would truly be a powerful military force that was loyal to him and him alone. The Biochemical Pool could create regular armies and soldiers, whereas the experimental platform produced absolute peak-level elites. The two complemented each other.


    But all this was secondary, because the Abyss never had a shortage of cannon fodder and soldiers.


    What Garen truly had his eye on was still the Willpower Neuroprocessor''s immense computing power.


    The Energy Machinist training method he was recultivating was the most standard NIS training method from back then, because this training method was the most original. It may not result in the best creatures or effects, but the increase in computing power was excellent and evenly distributed.


    And right now, Garen''s eyes stared straight at the Wizard Tower. Instantly, his computing power spread out rapidly, and soon he obtained a series of matrices and structural data, proving that the Advanced Wizard was not lying.


    "I hear that a lot of the materials you guys bought recently came from the dragons?"


    Garen asked suddenly.


    The Advanced Wizard paused and then reacted.


    "Yes, the teams that returned recently seemed to have sustained significant casualties, but the materials they brought back all had a different degree of increase in quality, and most of them came from White Dragons. We''re guessing that they might have come into conflict with White Dragon Mountain."


    "White Dragon Mountain¡­" Garen mused.

 1339 Construction 1

    "We suspect that the most recent hunting teams may have come into conflict with the dragons of White Dragon Mountain," said the Advanced Wizard worriedly. "The White Dragon Mountain''s in the sixteenth level of the Abyss, it''s the territory of the Abyssal Demon Dragons. I''m just afraid that they might come here and demand answers."


    Garen thought about it for a while.


    "Don''t worry about it too much, the White Dragon Mountain is still far away from the Ten Thousand Abyss Plains. I have Lady Vengeance behind me, and no matter what, even if they come here, this is still my territory. Even a pinnacle powerhouse would not be able to do much. You guys just do your own thing."


    The Advanced Wizard still wanted to say something, but Garen stopped him.


    "Alright, carry on."


    "...Okay." The Advanced Wizard heaved a long breath. After he signed that contract, he had basically thrown his lot in with Garen, so he could not help but worry about these other troublesome possibilities.


    Leaving the Wizard Tower slowly, Garen headed toward the right to continue his patrol. This was Andrew''s base.


    Recently, he had opened a new large-scale fluorite mine nearby and was currently gathering people to go down and excavate it. At the same time, he was using these fluorites to construct a military base nearby, specifically there to defend the mine.


    Garen casually waved his hand through the air, and instantly a half-moon screen appeared before him, displaying Andrew in his suit of armor sitting on a high seat as he discussed something with a bunch of people who looked like merchants.


    "Looks like these are merchants from other planes. The development of the fluorite mine was on the right track as well¡­"


    Garen did not disturb them. Turning off the screen, he checked on the progress of Irene and her two companions.


    After he sold off that male knight once, the man had gone through a round of torture before Garen bought him back again, and this time he was a lot more obedient. He worked quietly and properly with his two companions, having clearly experienced the brutality of the Abyss'' slave market.


    All three of them experienced changes in their personality, growing colder and more extreme. Garen transferred them, putting them in charge of punishments and other miscellaneous jobs.


    That put them to good use.


    The other vacancies were filled by the remaining Level Ten powerhouses.


    "Sir, Kratos is requesting a meeting."


    Suddenly, the Succubus'' voice came from Garen''s bracelet.


    "Kratos¡­? Why is he here?" Garen was slightly shocked. Back then, Kratos nearly killed him, and now he still dared to come to Garen''s territory. Before this, there was no trace of him at all, not even a glimpse of his shadow.


    "I don''t know, but he did not come alone¡­" replied the Succubus in a small voice.


    "Bring them back to my mansion, I''ll be back there in a moment."


    Garen thought about it for a moment and gave the orders.


    His mansion was the safest place. Many powerhouses had placed many matrixes there, and Lady Vengeance had also personally installed a single-use secret mechanism that could be activated at any time to devastating effects. Even if the attacker was a pinnacle powerhouse, he would still have the time to escape and ensure his own safety.


    Turning around and flying back toward his mansion, Garen quickly drew a rune in the air with his claw.


    Instantly, the rune in the Void exploded apart and vanished.


    "White Feather, awaiting your orders."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    A gentle woman''s voice rang out slowly in the air.


    "Target location, my mansion, set up a Collaborative Matrix. The guests this time might not be that easy to deal with," Garen said determinedly.


    "Understood."


    ***********************


    In the giant white mansion floating in mid-air.


    After he shrank himself, Kratos'' body was only two meters tall. He was shaking his dragon head and looked left and right, considering the decor in this mansion.


    Nearby, there were two other white-robed elders seated with him. Compared to properly he was sitting, these two elders were both closing their eyes slightly, sitting quietly in place, completely motionless. They seemed to be pretending to sleep.


    Vaguely, several powerful auras gradually appeared outside the mansion. Kratos was not particularly strong, but his senses were unnaturally sharp, so he could sense that several auras, each at least Level Ten, were slowly surrounding this place. His expression also grew slightly solemn.


    But when he turned around and glanced at the two elders subtly, his heart instantly settled again.


    "For our clan to produce a new generation descendent like this, not bad." One elder opened his eyes, his expression actually comforted.


    "Yes." The other elder spoke concisely, responding with only one word.


    "Please have some tea." A Succubus waved her seductive waist, dressed only in a thin translucent veil, as she came up and served them three cups of blood-like tea.


    "Has your master not returned yet?" Kratos ran his hand down the Succubus'' thigh, his eyes narrowed pervertedly, as he asked in a low voice. "It doesn''t really matter if he keeps me waiting here, but if he wastes the time of these two lords from the White Dragon Mountain, isn''t Garen thinking just a little too much of himself?" He purposely raised his voice as he said this.


    One of the two elders frowned slightly, but did not respond.


    "I see, so it''s the Elders from the White Dragon Mountain who have come visiting. It''s Garen''s fault for not greeting you in time." Just as the Succubus was about to explain, a clear voice came instantly from outside the door.


    The doors were thrown wide open, and Garen''s shrunken body flew in slowly, landing on the ground. He was just about as tall as a man.


    "Since you know that we''re from the White Dragon Mountain, I believe you must also know the reason we''re here, yes?" One of the elders stood up, looking at Garen with an admiring gaze.


    "The reason you two are here¡­" Garen paused slightly. "I truly don''t know. May I know why the two of you have come to our Vengeance Fortress? Pardon my bluntness, but my relationship with the White Dragon Mountain isn''t that good, is it¡­?"


    "You''re being modest, Deputy Commander." One of the elders laughed. "Although it is true that we''re not on the best of terms, no matter what you''re still a member of our White Dragon Mountain. The blood of the White Dragons flows through your veins. I believe even you cannot deny this, no?"


    "That is indeed¡­" Garen did not know what these two were planning by coming here, but faced with two Level Fifteen pinnacle Ancient Dragons, even he had to be cautious.


    "Then that makes things easier." The elder continued to smile. "There have been indeed many misunderstandings between us in the past, but seeing that we''re connected by blood, none of that is a problem. Our Ancient Parliament has unanimously decided to allow you back into the Main Clan, back under the Main Clan''s protection. The Vengeance Fortress can also act as a base for our Main Clan in this area, what a happy coincidence."


    Garen looked at the smile on his face and felt his heart sink.


    He did not know how his reputation reached that place, but seeing as the White Dragon Mountain had already sent someone here, that clearly meant they were planning to get serious.


    The reason he had to escape to the Abyss in a hurry was that of two emissaries from White Dragon Mountain, and now that he had finally steadied his footing and begun to develop his influence here, that damned place still had the nerve to send someone here and try to take over his territory?


    Could things really go that well for them?


    He smiled coldly in his heart. Well, if you want to play pretend, two can play at that game.


    "Although I desperately want to return to the great White Dragon Mountain Main Clan, unfortunately I''m also facing some challenging problems over here¡­" Garen''s expression was full of deep regret.


    "Problems?" The other elder raised his eyebrow. "The two of us are here to solve your problems for you."


    The two Level Fifteen pinnacle powerhouses would be the strongest people here, aside from the Fortress Master. They did indeed have the right to say something like that.


    "Oh?" Garen''s heart sank. What they were saying was becoming slightly obvious now.


    But if two Level Fifteen powerhouses really wanted to make things difficult for him, all he could do was run away in an instant. However, without Lady Vengeance here right now, it was practically impossible to keep the two of them here.


    In truth, by coming here, the White Dragon Mountain was already making their intentions quite clear.


    They did not really care about him when he had not really developed yet in the past, but now that he was making ground and had such a vast enterprise under his belt, some of the for-profit organizations within the White Dragon Mountain was trying to devour him whole under the name of the Main Clan. White Dragons were selfish and self-centered by nature, so it was understandable.


    But understanding it was one thing, for Garen to just submit to the White Mountain¡­ That was bordering on a daydream.


    "Whatever problems you have, just state them all and we''ll solve them for you," said the other elder concisely. Anyone could tell at a glance that he was the straightforward and cold type.


    "My biggest problem now is that I can''t steady my footing here in the Fortress¡­ I lack truly high-level powerhouses here to help me hold the fort. That''s why many of the mercenaries from the outside planes don''t listen to my authority at all." Garen''s expression was helpless.


    "Although I really want to return to the Main Clan as well, I''m still facing someone who''s trying to challenge my position as Commander right now."


    He came up with a random excuse.


    "Oh? Who dares to challenge your position?" The old man raised an eyebrow. "Tell me who it is, and I''ll eat ''em!"


    "It''s a guy called Nylirica." Garen looked troubled as well. "I still haven''t recovered from the injuries I sustained from the last time I agreed to his challenge for a duel, and now I have no choice but to accept yet another challenge. After all, this concerns the position of Commander. These are the laws of the Fortress, and also the laws of the Abyss."


    "Nylirica?" The two old men exchanged a glance, indicating that they had never heard this name.


    "That''s fine, we''ll deal with this person for you," the slightly colder old man replied in a low voice.


    Garen could tell that the two old men had stayed in their nest for too long and were not so aware of the ways of the world. Although they were powerful, they seemed slightly stiff when it came to these matters. They bought Garen''s story, hook, line, and sinker.


    Garen''s heart was decided. As long as they went off in search of this Nyrilica, everything else could be easily dealt with¡­ Once he thought of that, he began to approach the two old men passionately.


    "This isn''t just an excuse of yours, is it?"


    Suddenly, Kratos'' words instantly cooled down the atmosphere that had just begun to warm up.


    The two old men looked at Garen suspiciously once more.


    Garen hurriedly explained, "An excuse? Kratos, I know I offended you before, and we have some bad blood between us, but how could I possibly dare to simply lie to these two Ancient Dragon Masters? You just have to ask some questions around the Fortress to know whether or not this Nyrilica is the troublesome problem I said he is, so there''s just no way for me to lie, now, is there?"


    "That''s true. If he''s strong enough for you to find him troublesome, this guy must be no ordinary fellow. Such a being can''t possibly be unknown around the Fortress. We''ll just have to ask any passerby and we''ll immediately know the truth," said the slightly friendlier elder, nodding his head in agreement.


    The atmosphere instantly calmed down again.


    "But who knows, maybe you found an outsider to be your accomplice, trying to¡­" Kratos did not complete his sentence and instead began to laugh evilly.


    Garen saw the two elders turn their suspicious gazes upon him once more.


    He cursed inwardly. These two geezers were pretty easy to fool to start with, but this Kratos was getting in the way. It looked like Garen needed to find a chance to kill off this guy as soon as possible.


    The intent to kill rose in his heart.


    But on the surface, he continued to perpetuate his lie.


    "If I could find such a powerful outsider to collude with me, haha, do you really think I would still only be a Deputy Commander?"


    Kratos was merely at the pinnacle of Level Nine, and yet he dared to act so bold in front of Garen.


    Garen''s gaze on him instantly turned vicious.


    Ans Kratos actually met his gaze, completely unafraid.


    "I hear that Commander Garen was initially ambushed by the emissaries from the White Dragon Mountain, and that was how your essence as one of the Dragons of Disaster was revealed. In the end, the Snow City from the Primary Plane chased you here into the Abyss. It wouldn''t be surprising if you harbored a grudge against White Dragon Mountain¡­" Kratos had even investigated the intel about this matter thoroughly. Right now, he was staring at Garen with a malicious gaze.


    "This guy¡­!" Garen''s heart sank, and as expected, he saw that the two elders had grown suspicious.

 1340 Construction 2

    "The White Dragon Mountain is by no means a single entity, there are many factions within it as well. Yes, I do hate those two emissaries to the core, but that has nothing to do with these two powerhouses before me. Besides, they''ve come here especially to help me solve my problems," Garen retorted. "I have no interest in pushing away my own helpers."


    He looked at Kratos.


    "However, you, Kratos, made an enemy of me in the past. You knew that these two masters are here especially to meet me, and yet you came along with them. Add that to your words from earlier, and are you sure you''re not here just to raise suspicions between us?!"


    As soon as he said that, the two geezers'' gazes on Kratos changed slightly as well.


    Kratos was completely flushed red as he stared at Garen with eyes full of hatred, but he did not know what to say just then either. His antagonizing attitude aimed at creating a rift between them was too evident earlier, which made it hard for him to deny right now.


    "Alright, both of you, take a step back. After all, Kratos is here on behalf of Wanku Fortress. He''s here on business matters this time." The friendly elder hurriedly tried to smooth things over.


    "Hmph." The other elder harrumphed coldly, and his gaze on Kratos had become slightly unfriendly as well.


    Kratos knew that he could not stay here any longer, so he decided to just leave. Before he left, he gave Garen one fierce glare.


    Garen hesitated but still did not make a move.


    Kratos was here on behalf of the Wanku Fortress, which meant that if Garen attacked him now, he would be attacking the Wanku Fortress. That would definitely greatly anger the Wanku Fortress Master, and then it just would not be worth it.


    Besides, since Kratos dared to come here alone, that must mean he had done all the necessary preparations. If Garen attacked and still could not keep him here, things would get very troublesome.


    Garen persuaded the two elders properly and then sent someone to follow Kratos. As expected, the guy still had another bodyguard, another mysterious character with an obscure aura who followed closely behind him.


    After he settled those two old geezers, giving them all sorts of tasty food, delicious drinks, and fun distractions, Garen turned around and left the mansion. Bringing two members of the White Feather Guard with him, he headed straight for an underground cave outside the city.


    *******************


    Upon entering the underground cave, taking many twists and turns in the dark tunnel, he walked on for goodness knew how long, and finally saw the wall at the end of the cave appear before him.


    Garen gestured at the two White Feathers behind him to stop, and he walked forward alone.


    He knocked the wall lightly. The stone wall immediately began to fade on its own, like an illusion, and Garen instantly walked into another dark black ancient temple.


    There was a faint illusion-like fog permeating through the temple. If you were not paying attention, you would feel as though this fog was everywhere, but when you looked at the fog carefully, you would notice that they did not seem to exist at all, and it was the distortion and refraction of light.


    By now, a few figures had already gathered in the temple.


    When they saw Garen enter, the figures all turned around.


    "Commander, why did you summon us here so urgently?" said one voice drily.


    "An important event is approaching, and this is the crucial moment right now. We should avoid meeting as much as possible, just in case anything goes wrong," someone else said softly.


    "I have an extremely troublesome problem that I need your help with," said Garen seriously.


    The group before him was a small group called Proof of Deception. They were an underground organization, and even the weakest of these members were at Level Twelve. One of them even vaguely had the aura of a Demigod.


    A Demigod! That was a being as powerful as Lady Vengeance''s true body, that was more than enough to become the Fortress Master of a fortress in the Ten Thousand Abyss Plains.


    Such a being had actually appeared in this small group, and that was also the main reason Garen treated this group so solemnly.


    If it were not for the fact that he was backed up by the almighty Ann, he probably would not even have the right to sit here and talk to these beings on equal terms.


    Although Proof of Deception treated him relatively respectfully, they were not his subordinates. When they heard that he needed help, they instantly fell silent.


    "This matter could even provide you more souls in preparation for the important event around the corner." Garen smiled faintly. "I believe all of you are still fretting over a source of Advanced Souls, no?"


    "Oh? You have a way?" said the leader of the Proof of Deception, the one that almost seemed to be a Demigod.


    Garen smiled.


    "I wouldn''t say I have a way, but I happen to have two ready-made souls¡­"


    "If we can have two more pinnacle souls among the offerings to the Deception Demon Master, perhaps we might be able to speed up milord''s rate of regeneration?"


    "But what about the chaos that may cause?" said Proof of Deception''s leader, frowning. "Every Level Fifteen peak powerhouse has deep roots and foundations. When they''ve reached that level, even if they die, their souls will be retrieved by the God they revere. If we steal such a soul, our troubles will be endless."


    "I''m not afraid of trouble." Garen''s expression darkened. "Besides, didn''t we come to this world in order to create trouble?"


    He was stuck at a bottleneck, and there were only two ways someone with enough power could break through to Level Twelve. One was in divinity research, but that required a Wizard Tower to block out the Gods'' detection.


    The second was the method he had newly discovered, utilizing the Enneahedron and the evolution of his Void Original Opus.


    Throughout just the past year, he had seen some Void Creatures use the Enneahedron with his own eyes. They slaughtered indiscriminately within a few short months, and went from lower than Level Eight all the way up to Level Thirteen, advancing so quickly that even Garen could barely believe it.


    These Void Creatures only stopped when they reached Level Thirteen, having apparently reached a bottleneck. But such a speed of progression had already surpassed how Garen''s pace from back then.


    According to his secret observations, those Void Creatures also seemed to be the souls of middle-level Demon Lords. Just like him, they had all sorts of special abilities, with a great variety of methods and incredible survival power.


    If it were not for his relationship with Ann, Garen would have been in danger of losing his position as Deputy Commander a long time ago.


    He exchanged communication methods with the people from the Proof of Deception.


    Only then did Garen leave the Deception Hall, bringing the two guards who knew nothing and were only in charge of his safety back to the fortress.


    The Blood Wars were going to start very soon. This also happened to prove an opportunity¡­


    Garen''s Wizard Tower was still missing the last Tower Soul, but this problem was easy to solve. He would not trust any other creature''s soul to become his Tower Soul, so Garen simply decided that he would not have one. Instead, he would connect the Wizard Tower to his Willpower Neuroprocessor, using his own Energy Machinist computing core to control the Wizard Tower directly.


    After all, the computing power of a Willpower Neuroprocessor was immensely terrifying, and controlling a mere Wizard Tower was nothing to it.


    Finally, now that the matter of the Tower Soul had been settled, the construction of the Wizard Tower was finally approaching completion.


    *****************


    The tall, white and slender Wizard Tower began to spin slowly.


    Several floating construction platforms circled around it, carrying the many Wizards and Demons in charge of inspection.


    The team of Wizards in charge of construction was also there, carefully overseeing all the data and changes.


    A giant crystal displaying complicated colorful lines was floating beside the Wizard Tower, constantly displaying the balance and changes of the many elements within it.


    Several hundred Wizards and familiars circled around it. Surrounded by people, Garen stood not two hundred meters away from the Wizard Tower, raising his head and looking up at the tall tower that pierced through the clouds.


    Most of the staff in the area around it had already been dispersed temporarily, to prevent any accidents and subsequent casualties.


    But even so, there were still many onlookers here for a piece of the action. Some of them were Demons, others were travelers from other planes, and there were even Void Creatures, all watching the happenings over there from a great distance away.


    The whole Wizard Tower was situated in the lower left corner of the Fortress, close to where the city wall used to be. However, Garen had expanded the area of the Fortress, turning this place into a large oval. As a result, the Wizard Tower was now the center of this oval."


    "The last Divinity Barrier Enchantment." The Advanced Wizard in charge of construction clapped his hands.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    An old and frail Level Nine Peak Wizard walked up to the tower slowly and began to levitate.


    The Divinity Barrier was just a classic spell that had been standardized as a formality. It was a Level Nine spell, so any Level Nine Wizard could do it. The only problem was that to enchant something with this spell required the caster to pay a heavy cost.


    Usually, to enchant something with a spell of the same level, the spellcaster''s spellcasting level would immediately drop from the peak to the same level as the spell. That was an entire level''s worth of cost. And since it was a Level Nine spell, the enchantment of such a high-level spell would also take up some of the enchanter''s lifespan.


    The old Wizard was using this enchantment as a cost in exchange for Garen''s protection over his son, a Level Five Wizard.


    And for such a giant Wizard Tower, the lifespan and Spirit Power required would also be astonishing indeed.


    After this enchantment, the dozen or so years left in his lifespan would also be completely exhausted, and he would die for real. Although there were a great many powerhouses in the Abyss, there were still many things a Level Nine Wizard could do. They were still considered above average in power.


    To have one die for merely an Enchantment would be a huge loss to any faction.


    Looking at the old Wizard''s back as he walked up to the Tower, Garen lowered his head slightly in a show of respect.


    When he lowered his head, all the other powerhouses also lowered their heads respectfully.


    The old Wizard''s robes were slightly worn. Reaching out his thin and scraggly arm, he slowly pointed at the giant Wizard Tower.


    A pure white ring of light blossomed from his arm.


    The rings came one after the other, growing in number, gathering densely and forming a pure white board around the old man''s arm.


    There were countless circular marks all over the board, almost material in their essence.


    The old man looked at the round board in his hand attentively, and his face was rapidly deteriorating away. His already thin muscles also shriveled up rapidly, what little blood that was left in his face gradually turning pale. It was as though all the life in his body had gathered into white board of light around his hand.


    He began to recite a chant in a soft voice, and many tiny tadpole-like runes also began to appear on the board of light.


    As the runes he sang increased in speed and number, the runes on the board increased as well.


    All of a sudden, he swung his arm.


    The board of light shot out explosively, crashing straight toward the Wizard Tower ahead.


    Vroom!!!


    Like a stone crashing into the water, countless transparent space ripples appeared on the surface of the Wizard Tower.


    The sky instantly turned dark, and a pillar of pure white light descended from the sky, landing over the Wizard Tower. Even the blood-red sun of the Abyss could not hide it.


    This was an instant of brilliance, obtained in exchange for ten years of life and all of his life force.


    The old Wizard''s body slowly transformed into specks of light, fading away.


    Garen could vaguely hear the sobs of a young man, and he sighed slightly.


    "As of today, the Cold Winter Tower is officially completed!"


    His voice was magically magnified, trembling and spreading into the ears of all the creatures around him.


    Far away, the two Ancient Dragons from the White Dragon Mountain also heard his voice, turning their gaze toward his direction in the distance.

 1341 Deception Demon Master 1

    The construction of the Cold Winter Tower also signified that Garen could now officially increase his own Arcane Art abilities. It took him quite some time to reach that stage.


    It did not matter how many other eyes he had caught with this move.


    A Level Twelve being building a Wizard Tower was not really that big a deal, but the only thing that caught their attention was the scale of this Wizard Tower. It was just slightly too big.


    But considering Garen''s position, all the observers decided to put it aside.


    Upon completion, the Wizard Tower was surrounded by a circle of white electricity, and the white sphere of ice floating above the tower slowly shone with a colorful light. That was the aurora-like effect of the Elemental Ponds absorbing a great amount of elemental power from the Void dimension.


    Garen asked the Wizard in charge of the design to step up and burn all the design blueprints for the entire Wizard Tower in front of the crowd, while also transferring the key and password that allowed entry.


    Only then Garen did walk up to the entrance of the tower alone, slowly.


    As everyone watched attentively, he spoke the password.


    "True knowing is everything."


    Whoosh.


    The door to the Wizard Tower opened slowly.


    Garen walked inside, and the door closed again behind him.


    Everything went back to the same calm silence it started with, all of the onlookers and builders carefully watching every movement within the Wizard Tower as they held their breaths.


    About half an hour later.


    Vroom!!


    The entire Tower instantly lit up, and a silver veil of flowing light slowly began to envelop the statues of Garen''s dragon body, placed around the tower.


    "We did it!" The Advanced Wizard in charge heaved a vicious sigh of relief.


    All the Wizards and Demons who had participated in the construction process also heaved a sigh of relief. This proved that Garen had taken complete control of the tower, and it also showed that there was nothing unusual at all with the operations of the tower.


    The Cold Winter Tower officially marked its presence in the Fortress, on the ground of the Ten Thousand Abyss Plains.


    Although it was still a very small tower right now and could not be compared to those peak-level Wizard Tower that had stood for several thousand, or even ten thousand years, Garen still believed that one day it would truly grow into a symbol of incomparably immense power.


    **********************


    The formation of the Cold Winter Tower meant that Garen''s Arcane Art Level could finally have a chance of breaking through.


    He dived head-first into the Wizard Tower''s Elemental Pond and simply decided not to come out. The six Main Elements -- earth, water, wind, fire, light, and dark -- would naturally form a force field that was elementally-balanced in the middle of the Elemental Pond, so Garen stayed right here, sensing the different flows and principles of the different, almost material elements.


    His Wizard Level instantly increased.


    In a few short days, he had broken through his initial Level Five and reached Level Six.


    After he successfully entered Level Six, Garen began to simultaneously construct the Biochemical Pool and experimental platform, while also performing his research experiments in order to escape the Weave spell. The Willpower Neuroprocessor''s computing power was extremely immense, and while he controlled the operation of the Wizard Tower, he could also simultaneously perform two other high-difficulty missions. And because he had the energy provided by the Elemental Pond, these analysis quests of that level only required several months now, as opposed to the several years at least that Garen would have needed to take initially.


    This level of efficiency was not something that could have been emulated normally.


    As for regular Wizards, they would need at least several dozen years if they wanted to escape the Weave.


    But the importance of all this would only come into play after the upcoming important event.


    The Deception Demon Lord who originated from the Void, that terrifying being at the True Soul Level, was finally about to descend here.


    ***************


    The blood-red moon shone with viscous red light, and as a result, the Ten Thousand Abyss Plains did not look that different from how they did in the daytime. Here, the only difference between night and day was the level of brightness.


    Garen kept the two Ancient Dragons occupied with the best food, drink, and activities until they were so engrossed in the enjoyment that they had nearly forgotten their initial motives. Over the past few days, their space equipment had been stuffed to the brim with all sorts of resources and treasures. At first, they had come here specifically to have Garen return to the Main Clan, but now they would rather Garen delay his return to the clan however long he could, so that they could play here for longer, earning more things in the process.


    Garen did not know what Kratos was doing here, however, since all he did was accompany the two geezers with their feasting and festivities. Of course, he had to pay his own way through this, since Garen naturally would not foot the bill for him.


    Under the glow of the moonlight, the Vengeance Fortress was colored with a faint hue of peacefulness.


    The pillar of red rune smoke rising into the sky from the top of the Fortress also seemed to have dimmed somewhat. Lady Vengeance had gone to another Fortress, and aside during from the Blood Wars, she was not here most of the remaining time. Everything within the Fortress was completely managed by Garen and the other Deputy Commander.


    "Something seems to be wrong with the energy forces," said Kratos, frowning, as he hugged a beautiful lizardwoman. He was used to being cautious, and now he was in his rival, Garen''s territory. He had no choice but to be careful and cautious.


    "Wrong? What could be wrong? We''re inside the Fortress now, and even if some Demons or Ghosts attack the city, can''t you see all those Demons patrolling outside? Garen''s patrol guards and checkpoint Wizards aren''t there for decoration purposes only. If anything happens, they will also raise the alarm immediately."


    One of the old Dragons was examining a treasure before him with a magical tool that resembled a magnifying glass, his face filled with intense excitement.


    "To think we''d find something as good as this here as well, hahaha, we were so right to come out on this trip!"


    Beside him, the other Ancient Dragon was slowly sipping away at a cup of thick, pale-green wine, his expression completely intoxicated.


    At first, the two of them had been slightly wary, but by now, they were completely engrossed in enjoying the material pleasures.


    A few sexily-dressed beautiful ladies from different races performed a provocative and seductive dance routine in the middle of the Hall. The music permeated through the hall, and there were even little Demons who were specifically there to unleash fantasy-like smoke and light effects for decoration purposes.


    "Speaking of which, we''ve been here for so many days now, why hasn''t Garen indicated anything? He just keeps telling us that he''s busy, and refuses to follow the two of you back to the Main Clan to report. The way I see it, it''s highly likely that he has some other plans in mind," said Kratos in a low voice.


    "Other plans? Hehe, with the two of us here, what other plans would he dare have? In the Abyss, aside from the Abyssal Demon Dragons, the White Dragon Mountain is the strongest dragon clan around. As a White Dragon, no matter how you look at it, he wouldn''t possibly dare to completely offend the Main Clan," said the Ancient Dragon with the magnifying glass nonchalantly.


    "But you can''t not be wary," advised Kratos.


    "We don''t need you to remind us of that," said the Ancient Dragon with the wine in displeasure.


    "Sigh¡­" Kratos kept getting the feeling that something might happen.


    Vroom!


    A wave of imperceptible energy suddenly reached them from afar.


    It was very much like the calm before an energy storm, and the three of them paid it no heed.


    But what they had not noticed at all was that a faint red fog was gradually seeping in with the air from outside. It entered their nostrils, soundless and traceless, odorless and tasteless.


    Slowly, several black figures gradually appeared within the shadows in the corners of the hall, walking toward the three of them. The strange thing was that the two Ancient Dragons, Kratos, and all the Demons and creatures around them were all oblivious to the approach of these shadows. They were right in front of them, but it was as though the dragons and the rest could not see them at all.


    The black shadows grew closer and closer, closer and closer.


    "These two are the sacrifices, Master Garen has indeed chosen us a decent gift¡­"


    One of the black shadows spoke in a low and deep voice.


    He reached out his hand and abruptly grabbed the neck of the Ancient Dragon before him.


    Bam!!


    There was an instant, enormous explosion between his hand and the Ancient Dragon, the surge of chill and ice bursting and splattering everywhere.


    The two old dragons instantly jolted awake, countless layers of defensive spells lighting up with various colors all over their bodies, covering every inch of skin. It was the automatically-triggered defense from the many spells and items they carried and wore on their bodies.


    But the defensive layers, at least a hundred in all, did nothing to make them feel safe.


    The large black hand pierced through the wall of defensive spells as easily as one would poke through paper, grabbing straight for the old dragon''s neck.


    "Descend, Thunder!!!" The eyes of the dragon who was caught shone with terror, but pinnacle powerhouses were naturally incomparable to regular creatures. All of his power instantly gathered at his brow, and a rune there immediately began to emit an unbelievably blinding blue light.


    That was his very own unique Core Spell that he had condensed and formed ever since he entered Level Ten, an instant-activation rune that he had been working on all this time. In it, he stored the terrifying energy he had been accumulating for several hundred years.


    The rune emitted a crisp ''ka-chak'' and exploded directly, turning into a cloud of blue mist that shot toward the black shadow.


    At the very instant that this tremendous explosive power was about to burst, destroying everything around it in the process, the black shadow figure actually grabbed it with one hand and condensed all of the power into becoming an even smaller blue pearl.


    "Meaningless struggle," said the black shadow calmly, reaching for the old dragon''s head with a whoosh.


    But to his surprise, the old dragon''s body instantly flashed once. Somehow, it was an Instant Teleportation Spell. The teleportation power of this spell was very impressive, and it activated at lightning-speed as well. That also meant that it took a lot of time to prepare, so the old dragon had clearly used a single-use magical item to keep it on him beforehand.


    The flashing returned to normal in a moment, and the old dragon returned to his original position, his expression slightly panicked.


    "A Demigod!!?? Who are you¡­ I''m the White Dragon Mountain''s¡­" Poof!


    The large hand squeezed his head until it burst, and the impenetrable dragon scales put up no resistance whatsoever. A faint wisp of a translucent soul was pulled out by that large hand and stuffed into the black shadow''s mouth.


    "If it weren''t for the Confusion Dew that Garen provided, these two guys might really have eluded us," said the black shadow thoughtfully.


    The black shadows around him exploded apart instantly, and all the remaining creatures that were still alive nearby abruptly died and melted like wax. In the large hall, the other old dragon was also finished off by two more shadows working together.


    After the shadows dissipated from the three of them, they raised their hands and saw that a large portion of their palms had completely shriveled up. The initially healthy skin and flesh had instantly become as thin and dry as sticks.


    "Cough cough¡­ one Kratos got away." One of the black shadows seemed to have taken a final blow from the Ancient Dragon before he died and was grievously injured as a result.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "He didn''t get away, that guy was just an illusion, a projection to start with. His true body was never here to start with," said another black shadow in a deep voice.


    The Demigod black shadow wiped the blood from the corners of his mouth. His forceful suppression of the Ancient Dragon''s explosion just before he died had also cost the Demigod a high price.


    "It doesn''t matter, what can a Level Nine brat like that do, even if he does have a protector? Prepare to receive the Demon Master''s arrival immediately."


    Although the three of them noticed that one had escaped, they had no intention whatsoever of chasing after him, with the clear intention of causing trouble for Garen. Otherwise, there was no way a Level Nine could have escaped this easily from the clutches of two Level Fifteen Peaks and a Demigod, no matter how strong that Level Nine was.


    More shadows began to slowly appear behind the three of them, and then all of the shadows began to set up a great many red candles and white human bones, while also using a black oil-like liquid to paint complicated matrices on the ground.


    *******************


    Far away, Garen stood on the middle level of the Cold Winter Tower, looking into the distance through the crystal glass.


    The radiation surveillance area of the Cold Winter Tower spanned half the Fortress, so he knew every detail about everything within this half of the Fortress. Naturally, he was also very clear about the assassination over there. The powerhouses from Proof of Deception''s attack on the White Dragon Mountain emissaries took place directly under his watch.


    He could even clearly see that Kratos was escaping from the Fortress desperately under the protection of a mysterious person.


    "A Level Fourteen guardian¡­" Through the senses enhanced by the Wizard Tower, Garen could easily tell just how strong the powerhouse protecting Kratos was. "Too bad, if they were surrounded by many matrices, we should be able to keep them from leaving. Looks like those people from Proof of Deception sincerely intend to cause me some trouble¡­ They want me to take a share of the burden."


    Naturally, Garen understood their intention. But that was fine, he was already a member of the Dragons of Disaster, after all, and he was also a Void Demon Lord to boot. It was not quite possible for him to mix with the White Dragon Mountain. Might as well make his stand clear as soon as possible.


    He raised his head and looked at the sky, where the blood-colored moon was growing an even more vicious shade of red.

 1342 Deception Demon Master 2

    In terms of the dream power that only Void Creatures could sense, there was an incomparably immense storm of dream power gathering slowly at the place where the attack just happened.


    Garen had long since sent away any related personnel in that area. That was why he was not worried about any accidental casualties.


    "Commander, a strange assault took place just now¡­" Andrew''s hurried projection appeared behind Garen, kneeling on one knee as he spoke hastily. "The two Master Ancient Dragons were attacked by unknown powerhouses, and are currently¡­"


    "Don''t mind that too much," Garen interrupted him. "I''ve already arranged for this matter properly, just go around that area and settle everything else."


    Andrew fell silent immediately. Looking at Garen''s expression, it was obvious that this was all within his plan. Andrew''s heart gave a jolt, and he did not say any more.


    "Yes. Allow me to take my leave."


    After his projection vanished, soon enough Irene''s projection also appeared behind Garen. Garen had given all four Generals a projection communication device that they could use for emergency communications.


    "Milord, how should we handle the assault incident? The commotion this time was too obvious, the other lords are already hurrying on their way here," said Irene with a serious expression.


    By the other lords, she meant the higher-ups within the Fortress, such as the other Deputy Commander and the Demonic Behemoth leader.


    The White Dragon Mountain was attacked by Level Fifteen powerhouses. It was highly likely that something like that would cause a huge riot, so it was a big deal for the entire Vengeance Fortress as well. That was why they had no choice but to be spurred into action.


    "It''s fine, I''ve made the necessary arrangements for this, just tell them that they don''t have to worry."


    Garen said offhandedly.


    Irene frowned, but seeing Garen''s calm demeanor, she chose not to say anything as well. With a bow, she vanished from the spot.


    Garen looked at the site of the assault quietly.


    Over there, a large amount of dream power was gathering into a giant funnel-shaped tornado, the energy forces so terrifying that even regular Demons could vaguely sense it.


    Very soon, as time passed, several lights of different colors flew toward the center of the energy tornado. That was the other powerful presences, gone forward to see what was going on. Among them, Garen even saw the Demonic leader and the other Deputy Commander.


    Meanwhile, Garen himself watched that enormous tornado quietly.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Soon, a request came from his Willpower Neuroprocessor.


    "A powerful guest is requesting entry."


    "Approved." Garen quickly allowed entry.


    Immediately, he saw a wisp of black smoke fly into the Wizard Tower instantly, and in no time at all, it had darted to the eighth floor, where he was. It condensed into a humanoid figure of black smoke behind him.


    The figure emitted a faint aura of divinity. It was the Demigod from Proof of Deception who had assaulted and killed the Ancient Dragon earlier.


    In his arms, he carried a white and flawless baby girl. The baby girl was wrapped in only a ring of white cloth, and she did not cry. Instead, she looked at Garen with deep and ancient eyes.


    "I''ll be relying on you for a period of time, Master Garen," said the baby girl in a deep voice, speaking in the most standard form of the Void Language.


    "It is my honor to be of service to the Deception Demon Master." Garen smiled slightly, turning around and bowing at her.


    As soon as the baby girl was born, her aura had already reached Level Six, as expected of a terrifying being at True Soul Level, who had accepted the sacrifice of two peak Level Fifteen souls.


    "Don''t worry, Kunder will protect me at all times within this period of time until I regain my powers to a certain extent. Within this period, I will need you to start Blood Wars and create a large amount of slaughtering so that I may absorb many souls in order to regenerate myself," said the Deception Demon Master calmly.


    "But Lady Vengeance''s side¡­ and the White Dragon Mountain won''t take this lying down," said Garen, somewhat troubled. "I would suggest that we lay low for now."


    "It''s fine." The baby girl waved her hand. "The White Dragon Mountain have their own things to worry about, I opened up two Void Crevices there, that''ll keep them busy for a while. Considering your relationship with Lady Vengeance, you should be able to deal with that, right? As long as you don''t fail, so what if you overstep your authority and start some Blood Wars?"


    "Since Your Excellency, Lady Deception has considered everything so carefully, I''ve no choice but to agree." Garen put away his troubled expression. Of course, he knew that she would have everything arranged properly, after all, a Demon Master was not invincible as soon as they descended here either. She needed time to grow, and this growth period would be the time when she was at her weakest. It was only right that she would make all the necessary arrangements.


    "As a reward for your help this time, I can help you solve the bottleneck you''ve found yourself at regarding the condensation of your True Soul," said the Deception Demon Master calmly.


    Garen was stunned for a moment and then overjoyed. His Void Original Opus had been stuck at 70% for a long time now, and even potential points could not increase it. If he had the guidance of a true Demon Master at True Soul Level, he would naturally be able to progress much more efficiently.


    At first, he was not too pleased about a Demon Master Level descending near him, but right now, he felt as though it was more than worth it.


    Over the past period of time, he had been using the Willpower Neuroprocessor to analyze it for quite a while, but he still had no clue, and leveling up felt like it was a long way away. Now, he could finally see some hope.


    "In truth, the problem is very simple." The Deception Demon Master gave a cunning smile. "Your Soul Rings are too weak¡­ In other words, you need a great deal of soul inspiration to condense into Soul Seeds and Soul Rings. It just so happens that I have a method here that can collect the essence of soul inspirations, thereby speeding up your condensation of the Soul Seeds and Soul Rings."


    "Oh? Please enlighten me, Demon Master," Garen hurriedly asked respectfully.


    "Actually, in every soul, there will be some degree of inspiration according to the contract rules, it''s just that some have more than others. Usually, if this inspiration is not accumulated to a certain extent until it undergoes a fundamental change, it won''t be successfully activated, so no one will pay any more attention to it. The ones that people notice are the inspirations of the successful, no one really pays any heed to the failures or those who don''t have the halo of success. But this is an error¡­ My method is able to gather up the countless inspirations and form a complete Soul Seed or Soul Ring, speeding up your level increase progress," said the Deception Demon Master with a smile.


    "A method like this surely comes with a heavy price, right?" asked Garen carefully.


    The Demon Master nodded.


    "You guessed right, this method needs you to condense soul divinity until your soul reaches the Demigod level at the very least, only then would you be able to prevent the amalgam of soul inspirations from mixing up your own purity level. If you don''t have soul divinity, it would be very easy for the large amounts of impurities to pollute your own Soul Ring, and your gains would be outweighed by your losses. You might even cause your own level to drop."


    "So it still comes back to divinity in the end?" Garen was thoughtful.


    "divinity is a very mysterious thing that exists in this world, it is an evolution and fundamental change of the soul, but it''s high and almighty. It has the ability to command all the souls, just like a king, and can even activate the power of a world''s most fundamental laws." The Deception Demon Master''s words were clearly meant to goad Garen into creating slaughters of his own accord. He needed to condense more Soul Rings, after all, and that would require him to instigate more slaughters. It just happened to coincide with her needs, resulting in a straightforward and honest ploy that Garen had no choice but to follow.


    "I understand." Garen''s way going forward from now on gradually became clear to him.


    If he wanted to achieve the True Soul, perhaps it was truly as the Deception Demon Master said.


    He needed to first achieve divinity and the Demigod level, then he had to collect a large amount of soul inspiration essence to form even more Soul Seeds and Soul Rings. Only then would he be able to achieve a breakthrough in the Void Original Opus, and eventually reach the True Soul.


    "In the very beginning, since the inspiration won''t repeat, it''ll be very easy to condense the Soul Seed. But as it goes on, there will be more repeated inspiration, until finally you reach a day when most of the inspirations you get are only reruns. It will become harder and harder to condense new Soul Seeds and Soul Rings, and that''s when the Demon Lords have to continuously explore new frontiers, accumulating lots of different inspirations, regardless of how long it will take," the Deception Demon Master continued.


    "And right now, you guys have an unprecedented opportunity. This world has many different inspirations from our world, and barely any repetition at all. divinity is also a shortcut to condensing Soul Seeds and Soul Rings. divinity, plus a large amount of soul energy, is actually already equivalent to a high-level Soul Ring. That''s why the more divinity you obtain, if you can complete them, you''d actually also be able to turn them into Soul Rings and Soul Seeds."


    "In other words, I can use divinity to condense Soul Rings, and I can also find soul divinity. Once I''ve reached soul Demigod level, I can slaughter souls at a large-scale and may be able to gain inspiration from it," Garen concluded.


    "That''s right, the former is stealing divinity, it''s a lot more dangerous than you''d think. There are already a lot of powerhouses fighting for divinity, and even some Gods. The latter is much safer, you just have to steal one type of soul divinity. As for the remaining slaughter, perhaps even normal people would be able to provide you with enough inspiration to condense your Soul Seed." The Deception Demon Master gave him two options, but both also required slaughtering and stealing.


    Still, Garen had no other choice right now.


    ******************


    In the blink of an eye, more than two months have passed.


    The Deception Demon Master simply took up residence in the Cold Winter Tower, absorbing many souls and soul cocoons every day. Sometimes, she would even go to the area around the Underworld River, killing and plundering indiscriminately. Thankfully, she did not attract the attention of any powerful beings. After all, she only slaughtered relatively weaker creatures.


    Under her constant ushering, Garen also started some small-scale attacks against the Demon Fortress opposite them.


    He had five hundred thousand soldiers in his reserve army, and their average was level was above Level Two. There was also the elite team of Wizards, the White Feather. That was enough for him to start a small-scale Blood War in his own.


    And within the Wizard Tower, because Garen had his Divine Power Barrier, he officially began analyzing the divinity ahead of schedule.


    Firstly, he gathered all the divinity together and merged them into the Pearl of the Temple. Then he isolated the true divinity that he had obtained, researching it with his Willpower Neuroprocessor.


    The largest benefit of the Willpower Neuroprocessor was that it could automatically utilize the large amount of information and inspiration from the storage of Garen''s memories, computing and analyzing them.


    Garen just needed to input the command and could leave the rest to it. It would automatically carry out the command and analysis.


    The divinity he got from Gerdmos was a wisp of divinity regarding decay. It was full of all sorts of inspirations and understanding regarding decay. Even though it was only as large as a strand of hair, it actually managed to contain several tens of thousands of pb worth of information. Even the Willpower Neuroprocessor could not completely finish analyzing the information in it within a short period of time. After all, it was not a mess of nonsense inside, it was all advanced inspirations, such as words and diagrams regarding decay, and even things like personal first-hand experiences.


    Since there was so much information there, it was no wonder that becoming a Demigod required centuries at the very least. Some even took up to a thousand years.


    Garen put it on his quest list in his mind and glanced at the estimated completion time.


    ''Fifty-eight years - sixty years.''


    Such a period of time was already god-like to most advanced existences, but Garen was still unsatisfied with it.


    And after he added the divinity analysis mission, the energy consumption of his Elemental Pond instantly reached a new level. And this was the true divinity that Gerdmos had analyzed before. If it was a completely disorganized divinity, it would probably take even longer.


    Thankfully, the computing speed of the Willpower Neuroprocessor was actually based on the strength of one''s Willpower, and the strength of one''s Willpower had its fundamental roots in the strength of one''s soul.


    Since he had no other way, Garen had to choose this method, the slowest way to strengthen his Soul Seed.


    That was to hunt for high-energy crystals, such as Soul Cores¡­


    He had also tried ready-made Soul Cores, but they had barely any effect on him anymore. A Level Nine Soul Core could only give Garen one-third of a Soul Seed. Clearly, this was just as the Deception Demon Master said, most of the inspiration inside had repeated and was gradually becoming unable to condense into more Soul Seeds.


    But he had obtained a large Soul Seed upgrade from the Suffering Knight back then, so he might still be able to do that now. Maybe if the quantity increased, there might be a slight change in quality.


    Besides, those that could condense Soul Cores all tended to be Necromancy creatures. As a result, Garen soon began to make his plans around an Undead settlement nearby.

 1343 Trade 1

    The area nearby Vengeance Fortress was a mysterious place flagged with white mist. Almost all creatures that enter would be lost and returned to their starting points. Apart from higher level existences that could enter and leave at ease, the rest could not.


    This land was a white zone wrapped around by the lingering clouds.


    There were white towering trees and bushes everywhere. The plants here were all in withering states. There were no leaves, only dry branches. Even the bushes were mostly shrubbery without sheds of leaves, only thorny vines winding in threatening gestures.


    A group of living beings in black were slowly heading for this mist.


    This group of creatures was led by a tall tough man followed by a mix match of demons, humans and elves. There were even a few Air Elemental Beings.


    The lead was a man with cold features. The shape of his muscles was obvious from his clothes.


    "It''s here.


    "All the soul crystals that the lord needs are here.


    "Pay attention and don''t wreak too much havoc."


    "And we, White Feathers, need your advice?" An Air Elemental Being with white fabric shrouded around him coldly smiled.


    "My only wish is that you don''t ruin the matter," The leading man coldly blurted.


    And it was at this moment.


    Wham!!


    With the dull crash, a puff of white air current exploded within the white forest. These air currents whooshed open like broken strings, spreading out to all direction, howling an ear-piercing screech.


    "Quick! They''re getting away!"


    An Air Elemental Being shouted out.


    Those on the team immediately took action. The casters put out a large electrical web and rays of positive energy.


    There was also a huge explosion that scattered the white air currents apart, creating a powerful murderous soundwave.


    "Disastrous Rain of Fury!"


    A demon in black robes wedged open his cape and tore apart a scroll.


    Rip!


    Bright yellow flames gushed out of his eyes as a large fiery three-dimensional sorcery formation appeared on the air.


    "Boundless Electrical Web!"


    An eye-catching electrical current rune beamed up in the palms of another Air Elemental Being.


    Two large level eleven ripples spread out from the two an overlapped between one another.


    "Uniquely level eleven spellcraft!!"A terrified voice was heard from the woods.


    "Compound spell, go!!"


    Bounteous air currents surged to one direction, toward the team in a distance.


    But it was all too late.


    An enormous red light beamed from the sky and over a hundred fireballs the size of a knuckle dropped down like raindrops.


    Each fireball exploded before it touched the ground like a red firework on a slow release.


    The forest was ignited and crackled in flames. The sound of collapsing and crackling kept buzzing on.


    The great fire distributed quickly.


    With the descent of the rain of fury, the entire vicinity within several kilometers was engaged in this massive level eleven spellcraft.


    Apart from this rain of fury, a few of the cracks and nooks of the space was stretching out in shapeless transparent and invisible electrical web.


    These electric current unseen by the naked eye were as thick as a baby''s limb. Countless streaks of electric web conjoined together to form an even large electrical current web, locking the surface tightly that no living being could escape from such fate.


    The demons and Air Elemental Beings were masters of the same White Feather team were well coordinated to the point of flawlessness.


    "The combination of two level eleven spells is basically the same effect of a level thirteen spell... How powerful!" The lead gasped lowly in admiration.


    Everywhere in sigh was burning in red flames. The glaring light scorched and scattered the entire white mist. Screams and wails could be indistinctly heard.


    "These Souls of Mist race aren''t strong in combat but they have a way with soul powers.


    "Perhaps we could collect some valuable data for commander," The man in the lead said in a low voice.


    "We will pay attention," The casting demon of the White Feather demon lightly nodded. "The lead force is about to come out, everyone be on alert.


    "Do not let even one escape."


    "Understood," The White Feather comrades answered.


    Swish!!


    A white vapor soared for the sky and flew to a distance.


    "I''ll go!" An Air Elemental Being shot like a sprung arrow, chasing after the white vapor.


    The two parties could be seen intertwining from afar, with an occasional blast of energy source rippling.


    Nearby, steams of white vapor gathered to be a large white cloud, plunging towards everyone.


    A female elf of White Feather calmly raised her arm, an emerald ring in her hand lit up in green.


    "Divine weapon!!?? No!!!" The white bat whimpered in pain. Green vines and branches grew out of his insides and almost in an instant, the large white bat was completely covered by these green vines.


    The female elf smiled and took a step back.


    "Helena, you have already broke through level twelve yet you use a divine weapon on a level ten undead, that''s too much, isn''t it...?" Someone from the team laughed.


    White Feather was masters of various paths paid handsomely by Garen. Most of them has a mysterious past but he wasn''t bothered by their history. As long as they had the ability, he couldn''t care less about anything else.


    The majority of these fellas came from mysterious and powerful backgrounds as a handful of them possessed semi-divine and divine weapons. Garen himself only possessed a semi-divine weapon that was gifted by Soaring Wong King.


    Divine weapons were hard to come by as it couldn''t be purchased in the market. Only those family and forces that cultivated deeply would have access to them.


    This elf was only level twelve yet she dared show her divine weapon off. It could be due to either overconfidence and arrogance or not fearing of any accidents that may occur.


    Those who entered White Feather would naturally would not be the latter.


    "As it is a request from lord commander, how could I let him down," The female elf smiled in response.


    "The earlier leader here is only a clone.


    "Be careful everyone.


    "Although only a Level Ten Non-Failing, we still must be wary," The leading man warned in a loud voice.


    "Everyone here is an important edit of our Vengeance Fortress so it''s best not to have any fatality from a tiny mishap."


    "You really are as naggy as grandma!" A Dirt Elemental Rock Monster impatiently commented.


    The man smiled awkwardly. He was one of the generals under Andrew. He was in charge of the team here because Master Andrew himself couldn''t stand the arrogance of these people.


    But up until now, everything has been going on smoothly.


    Seeing the earlier killed white bat dispersed, a white sharp rock fall from within. The man sighed within. He recognized it. This was the soul core which was the target of the task. Although a part of this clan leader''s soul core, but at least it was a start.


    There were flames and electrical current everywhere and only the area where everyone stood and moved about at, the flames and current would spontaneously avoid.


    A level ten clan, was swept away in one go by the elites of White Feather.


    ******


    Peak of Cold Winter Tower.


    Six oval-shaped swirls of various color floated in the air, forming a large circle. It consisted of yellow direct elemental look, blue water elemental pool. Green wind elemental pool, red fire elemental pool as well as black and white negative and positive energy pool.


    Within the six main elemental pools was a silver elevator in the tower. It was solidified with a layer of semi-transparent hazy film.


    Whirl...


    A soft whizzing of elevator sound was heard.


    Garen was slowly raised from the center. He was wearing a black armor with high defense.


    This was full body armor specifically for a deputy commander of the fortress.


    It was heavy and large, weighing more than a ton in weight. A regular living being wouldn''t be able to wear it, much less hold it up.


    But to Garen, he could shrink his dragon body to fit into it yet still maneuver with ease and as carefree as could be.


    Behind the armor were decades of pitch black whips braided with metal silks. It could also said to be tentacles that could be controlled by spirit power. Garen used them as extra hands.


    This set of armor was built with a special bone attribute. It could not be influenced by arcane energy flow or transmission. It could also prevent any injury that results from possible explosion towards the body due to experimental spellcraft so Garen put it on.


    His motive this time was to adequately mobilize the elemental pools.


    The six main elemental pools were respectively connected to six elemental plane rich with various elements which in turn, connected to the violent energy windstorm plane. They used an enormous force field to cluster the violent energy elements so that they were tamed and gentrified into complete energy source for the system.


    Garen''s mission up here to was to use the torrenting energy current to execute an Energy Machinery creation familiar to an Energy Machinist.


    He walked out of the elevator platform and first went to the most gentle blue water elemental pool to look at the whirling blue swirl. He slowly extended his claw to dab lightly of the blue elemental fluid.


    The highly concentrated elemental fluid was gasifying on his claw.


    Garen brought it to his mouth for a taste.


    "Not bad, concentrated enough," He nodded, satisfied.


    He swept a glance over to the screen in the mind of his willpower. The remaining quota on the usage of the water elemental pool appeared there.


    "Idle energy source - 32%"


    Garen left the elemental pool and found two empty nests specially vacated in a corner of the tower. He left them out as space for biochemical pool and experiments.


    He gently sprinkled out a bronze metal ball.


    This was a biochemical pool seed that Garen created. He was, after all a top Energy Machinist in the Mech world and had collected various research information. He created a biochemical pool seed easily, utilizing the abundant materials from the abyss.


    Of course, this would only work if it were him as he stood above the civilization of the Mech World, having countless amassed formulas and theorem at his disposal. After an execution of a complicated calculation, a biochemical pool seed that was most up to standard and pure came to light.


    The establishment of a biochemical pool signified that an Energy Machinist could officially nurture his own Energy Machinery and bio-soldiers.


    Garen quietly watched as the biochemical pool seed dropped to the bottom of the empty hole. It rumbled and tumbled a bit before ripping out a black fluid.


    The fluid was thickening and amassing and quickly occupied the entire space in the hole.


    It hasn''t been ten minutes when the biochemical pool was completed.


    This was a large pool that was oval in shape and filled with green glowing liquid. The condensed liquid was bubbling like the wriggling of creepy crawlies. It emitted a dull green glow.


    Around its edges was a startling black protection ring that formed a layer of isolation that separated the air within the space of the biochemical pool and the outside world.


    "Biochemical pool established... Connecting command control..."


    An instruction order was heard from his willpower mind in Garen''s brain.


    "Connection succeeded.


    "Name defaulted to Pool No. 1.


    "Testing Nutrition composition... Test succeeded, composition complete.


    "Please insert cultivating Energy Machinery seed."


    Garen was not in a rush to carry out. For starters, an Energy Machinery template was not easy to come by and another thing was that an Energy Machinery required a smart chip to be controlled with. He was lacking in the methods of controlling. It would be fine in a technology world to use a simple method of electrical energy source as the driving force of the smart chip but it was easy for elemental wizards to cause interference here. So although he could easily create a smart chip, preventing interference was the main difficulty.


    Moreover, once his biochemical pool was built, it has another function.


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 1344 Trade 2

    Garen flashed a faint smile.


    Clap clap clap.


    He gently clapped.


    With a rip, a boundless distorted black hole appeared before him. A string of bloody rune characters and symbols flashed in the black hole. A female snake face appeared in the middle.


    "Snake Princess, have you found the person I want?" Garen said to the woman in the black hole. He was conversing in the standard void language."


    Snake Princess was one of the few Demon Lords in the main plane who contacted Garen. Her powers were astonishing. She was the level thirteen Great Druid and a merchant of treasures and materials in Green Oak Forest.


    "I''ve only found one of what you want. After explaining the situation, those who would willingly accept your request isn''t much unless they''re left with no other choice," Snake Princess gently answered.


    "It''s alright, as long as you can find it," Garen was not bothered.


    "This person''s descended body took a fatal blow. Apart from his soul being able to communicate, he isn''t much different from a living corpse. He has tried many ways, even consulting the Church''s pastors but to no avail. Now it''s up to you," Snake Princess reminded. "But, I need to warn you that this person has quite the background. If you''re not certain then it''s best to reject this task. Although you''re at the abyss, the lesser the feud the better."


    Garen''s brow raised.


    "How would we know if it works without trying?"


    Snake Princess nodded in display that she understood.


    "And the other thing that I need, have you found it?"


    "Of course, I have plenty of resources. As long as it isn''t a divine weapon or top level soul, everything else is inexhaustible!" Garen opened his arm and sighed, "It''s Heaven for the powerful and hell for the weak."


    Indeed, the abyss connected to multiple planes. The Underworld River absorbed large amounts of sinners'' souls and fashioned a trade of soul for other resources.


    Sometimes clones of gods would conceal their identity to seek what they wanted here.


    "It looks like the abyss is a great place but I really don''t have a background like yours." Snake Princess shook her head. "Alright, I''ll teleport the person. You place the stuff up there."


    Garen nodded and retrieved a dilapidated black helmet from his space equipment. This was a Holy Light Helmet from ancient dynasty. Although it was decrepit, the formation on it has great research value. It found favor amongst positive energy professionals. Moreover, it has quite the historical value and was priceless in the nobles'' clique from the main plane.


    Behind the black helmet was a white line that released a dull white glow.


    Garen swiftly placed the helmet on the right edge of the black hole and gave it a push.


    With a swoosh, the helmet was swallowed into the darkness and another item came out of the left terminal of the black hole.


    Garen extended his claw to press on this thing, then pull outwards.


    Badum, it was a long black coffin.


    Hiss...


    Abyss aura from within the wizard tower quickly eroded towards within the coffin.


    Any creatures that came to the abyss would naturally become a living state of the abyss template through the abyss aura. Their capabilities and vitality would rise with overall strengthening in resistance.


    Of course, this was if the living being stayed in the abyss for a long term but for the earlier event where it was eroded by the abyss aura the moment of entry was a first for Garen to witness.


    He cut off communications with Snake Princess and placed the coffin aside. He changed the black hole.


    A large fish head appeared in the black hole. A black fish head.


    "White Dragon King, this really isn''t the time." There was flesh and blood at the edge of his mouth as if he was in the middle of a meal. He did look dissatisfied with the interruption.


    "Black Fish King, I''m here on official business." Garen smiled without being offended. "Have you found the person I want?"


    "I found two, but their levels'' a little low. Do you want them?" Black Fish King asked.


    "What level?"


    "Level three," Black Fish King answered.


    "Only level three huh..." Garen frowned.


    Level three void parasite creatures. How could such a weak void being enter this world? Struck by incomprehension, Garen gave it a thought.


    "Never mind then. Don''t you need back up there? How many do you need?"


    The moment he heard it was something he needed, Black Fish King immediately wiped his mouth and was in full spirit.


    "I''m here at Central Empire, the strongest territory of that god. My alias as a Great Duke requires a few talents on the assassination part. I don''t need your men to come straight over but I''m thinking of sending some over to you for some secret training. How about that?"


    "Condition?" Garen frowned.


    "They''re void parasites. One person to participate in blood wars each month, no question on life or death. I''m giving you combat power for free and you''re asking for conditions?" Black Fish King widened his eyes.


    "I don''t have that much time to teleport them back and forth for you." Garen was impatient.


    Black Fish King hesitated.


    "Then how about this? Aren''t you lacking in divine weapons? I can''t do divine weapons but semi-divine weapons, I can gather a few. Do you want them?"


    "You should mention that earlier! Of course I want them!" Garen immediately flashed a bright smile.


    "One semi-divine weapon as compensation. Let''s set it to a year, how about it?" Black Fish King immediately bargained.


    "Deal." Garen locked in on the deal.


    "One week later I will set up the teleportation formation. Confirm the coordinates and I will send people over," Black Fish King briefed and cut off the connection.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    The black hole slowly dispersed.


    Garen turned his attention to the coffin that he dragged out.


    Walking over to open the coffin, a beautiful female elf wearing a feathered headband lay quietly in it.


    "Honorable White Dragon King, I am Lola, the main party of this trade.


    "My parasitic body is damaged quite severely but I do not wish to abandon this body.


    "I hope you will be able to assist in repair."


    A voice transmitted into Garen''s ear via soul power.


    "I''ll try but dare not guarantee." Garen could tell the crucial damage of this body.


    The body of the elf harbored a massive amount of positive energy fluid up to level fifteen. This fluid at a certain stage replaced her blood and maintained the body''s circulation that this top class Demon Lord was trapped in this body, unable to grasp control.


    This sort of trouble... No matter countless methods were deemed useless...


    Garen felt the pinch. It was taking apart a ticking time bomb and he did not know which part could trigger it.


    This level fifteen energy was enough to tear apart half of his newly built wizard tower.


    He dragged the coffin into the biochemical pool.


    Opening the isolation chamber, he carried the female elf and placed into the biochemical pool.


    The clothes on the female elf was naturally disintegrated to nothingness by the high level corroding liquid, leaving her completely naked.


    Hence, it was led to the abnormal scene, the female elf was covered from head to toe in white scribble lines. That was the skin''s inability to sustain the flow of positive energy within that the surface burst into thick cracks.


    Through these cracks, it could be seen that white glowing position energy fluid were slowly moving.


    "Sample has entered the biochemical pool."


    "Warning, warning!"


    "Energy of sample is overly concentrated, immediate neutralization required!!"


    His willpower mind immediate issued an alert.


    It was fortunate that the biochemical pool has the function to secrete so as long as there was sufficient energy, it would secrete corroding biochemical limitlessly.


    Garen wielded his claw and a streak of blue line flew out of the water elemental pool not far away, pouring into the edge of the biochemical pool.


    Large amount of biochemical liquid was swiftly poured into the pool. The corroding nature of the biochemical liquid and the positive energy within the elf counteracted, causing a hissing sound.


    It could be seen that there were still other large few major energy source in the elf and they began to circulate.


    Garen watched as his heart skipped a beat. If these energies were to explode, the entire Cold Winter Tower could be completely destroyed! The level of the energy was close to a Demigod level. No wonder Snake Princess gave a word of advice to refrain him from taking the job.


    He paid his full attention, devotion and spirit onto this female elf.


    All the calculation ability in his willpower mind was left to keep the energy balanced between the biochemical pool and within the elf.


    But strangely, the positive energy in her body seemed to take growth itself as even though the corrosion was counteracted for a long time, there was no sign of weakening.


    This gave Garen a pain in the neck.


    "I have tried many methods of different civilization. Other Demon Lords have engaged technology in attempt to solve my problem, but shame..." The elf''s voice was heard with a hint of regret, "If you''re able to solve my problem, I will gift you a Soul Ring as a reward."


    Soul Ring!


    Garen caught himself breathing heavily. He got to give it to this top level Demon Lord who was liberal with money. He could guarantee she was any regular top level Demon Lord or else talking about gifting a Soul Ring wouldn''t be this at easy.


    Other Demon Lords did not have Garen''s kind of talent. He could gather many top science and technology. The knowledge they accumulated would be as complete as Garen''s.


    Over ten strategies scanned past his mind and Garen immediately locked his focus on one.


    "I may have a way that is able to solve your problem," he said.


    He suddenly thought of a great idea.


    If he could heal his person and get his name out there, perhaps it would open up a big business among the void creatures.


    Since he could not find command controls of a smart chip for the biochemical pool, he might as well forego it and use biochemical pool to create and nurture bodies!


    He could specially provide satisfying bodies for descending void creatures! He could shorten the time for void creatures to strengthen themselves. He could guarantee their safety while they were nourishing and strengthening themselves.


    He could use this method to ask for Soul Seeds in return.


    Garen was hit with a revelation. The various biochemical knowledge accumulated over several worlds finally came to play.


    Perhaps other Demon Lords would have his accrued knowledge but to reach the height he was at would take many, many years. Moreover, they may not have the strong calculation ability his willpower mind has. He was backed by the abyss and Ann who has his back. The environment was definitely secured and blood wards could be first as the void being''s first testing field.


    He has great resources and influence combined. This secured and safe advantage wasn''t something the other Demon Lords could compare to.

 1345 Absorb 1

    He has such an advantage.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    This way, he could completely establish the most well-equipped logistics and trial base for void creatures. It would be uniquely irreplaceable.


    He was struck with a series of thoughts yet Garen''s hands did not stop.


    He started to walk to the side of the biochemical pool. His claw swiftly drew up tiny tadpole-like symbol at the side of the pool.


    His claws were huge but the symbols he crafted were fine and intricate, giving an illusion of delicate beauty.


    "I''ll leave it to you." The female elf may have seen too many promises so she casually answered without much expectation. She then slowly closed her eyes. This was the only body part she could be in control of.


    Garen did not bother with her. He was now completely focused on the new symbols he engraved.


    "Establishing structure scan on bio-sample."


    Instruction from his willpower mind echoed in his head.


    A layer of dull white glow permeated over the elf.


    "External cells in collection... Cultivating beginning..."


    Garen watched with his eyes wide open at another elf body born of the biochemical pool through combination of cell nucleuses from the elf''s hair cells. It started from a loaf of meat into a complete body that was exactly the same as the female elf.


    Both bodies were almost identical. The only difference was that the duplicated body did not have the vast positive energy and assembly of other few energy sources the original has.


    The duplication process took no more than ten minutes, completed under the watchful eyes of Garen.


    The duplication was actually the simplest process. The next step to come was the hardest.


    The concern to solve was to have the female elf able to take control of her own body as well as take off the load of overfull positive energy in her body.


    "Only precise transfer can be used..." Garen frowned. In the biochemical technique known to him, only this method could nail down this situation.


    Precise transfer, was a process to transfer blood and bodily fluid, combining both in one body. He could use such foundation to balance out the strenuous burden in the body.


    A duplicate could sustain half the burden. If that an additional body to balance it out, it should be able to dissolve the problem in the original body.


    "But the precision requirement for the precise transfer is overly high... There may be a lot of Demon Lord class masters who are well versed in technology and civilization in this world, but they don''t have my strong willpower mind. This technique perhaps could only be done by name..." Garen guessed in his head. The Mech World that he went to was a mother stream in a faraway place.


    He arrived at that place by chance, an existence without a hint of life source.


    "Please be careful, I will be performing an energy transfer on you."


    "Please try your best to keep your soul ripples calm."


    "It''s best to refrain your body from any changes,"


    Garen reminded.


    "No problem," answered the female elf in a low voice.


    Garen nodded.


    He extended his claw and aimed accurately at the female elf.


    Swoosh!


    Large amounts of white silk threads shot out from the edge of the biochemical pool, wrapping the two bodies nice and tight.


    ******


    An area of void darkness, in a faraway astral space borders.


    If the internal plane, primary substance plane as well as upper plane formed a top-to-bottom unified structure,


    Then the astral would be the space they discharged amounts of impurities, useless garbage and corpses.


    It would be at the bottom of this humongous structure. It discharged massive quantities of rubbish, floating into the astral.


    Thus engulfed by the astral creatures that resided within. The astral creatures that grew stronger from the engulfment would invade other major planes and be crushed by powerful existence in them.


    This formed a standard cycle of substance source.


    Astral, just as its name suggested, seemed like a world of countless stars. It was multi-colored with heaps of rubbish and energy compounds. They glimmered various shades of danger as they floated around, harboring massive astral energy and air of deadness in them.


    It was said the place where the gods had fallen was hidden within the astral space.


    Even for gods upon their passing, would be pulled into the boundless astral space by force, becoming a part of death.


    This was a place that the God of Death could not manage.


    This was the borders of astral space, in endless void darkness.


    An enormous space as huge as the silvery white moon was rotating, tumbling, closer and closer to the astral space.


    Within the space was vast green plains, river streams, high mountains, a sun that looked real, forest, hills, flora and fauna as well as creatures of various races. Anything and everything could be found there.


    It was as though a silvery white moon was a complete little plane.


    "Ravenwer! You think you could escape from me by running here?"


    A loud and sharp sound cut through the void. Just the tremor of the sound brought about mammoth energy and law. The surface of the silvery white moon appeared in severe billow and distortion.


    "The dignity of god permits not blasphemy!!" A stern voice came from within the moon. It sounded like a man and a woman.


    Swoosh!


    A silvery figure appeared on the moon surface. Separated by a white protective layer as he watched the void on the outside.


    The figure was glowing in silver. He wore an elaborated and grand silver armor. He was handsome. His pale blue hair was fluttered slightly to the back.


    He held in his hands two shields. A tower shield and a little round shield. On them were carved a lion and a unicorn respectively.


    "God of Spring Water and New Moon, this is your Divine Kingdom?" A large white eye ball stretching over thousand meters appeared in the void.


    It was rotating, its blood-shot eyes reeked of greed and bloodshed.


    "In my Divine Kingdom, my power will increase by a fold.


    "If you have guts, then follow me in." Ravenwer tightened his grip on the shields as he exclaimed.


    He has already informed the gods that he was well acquainted with. They were in the midst of rushing over but whether or not he could hold on until their arrival would depend on now.


    "Divine Kingdom? It''s just that small little plane wearing a weak armor..." The large eyeball regarded as beneath it, "Go, my children."


    The iris beamed in red.


    Wham!!!


    The loop of red in the center of the eyeball surged out tides of void creatures.


    They were black creatures in appearance of bats but they were different from your regular bats. Their speed and strength were off the charts. Their claw and fangs glimmered in dull red. Black fogs in shape of eyes hung over the top of their backs.


    These bats varied in size. The larges one were as big as football fields while the small ones were the size of face basins. When they swarmed out the eyeball, they were still in compact sizes. They quickly expanded as they flew out in a short distance. The swarm raced towards the silvery white moon.


    The large eye ball swiftly rammed onto Divine Kingdom moon.


    "Destroying a plane, isn''t as though I''ve never done it before! Die!!"


    A screeching voice in the void made a dash to the moon and quickly faded away.


    It could be indistinctly seen that creatures, souls, holy spirits were fighting at close quarters with the void bat army in the moon.


    That large eyeball was in intense battle with the owner of Divine Kingdom, Ravenwer.


    Numerous silver runes shackles appeared around the silvery white moon. Arcanic and divine runes were covered all over that its impact would be unimaginable.


    The shackles sealed off the situation internally. No one could see clearly what was happening inside.


    More than ten minutes later.


    Crackle!


    With a crisp noise, the entire silvery white moon cracked open a huge rift.


    Wham!


    The moon broke apart from the middle, scattering heaps of an awful mess, pulling over by the astral space''s gravity.


    A white eyeball the volume of over ten thousand meters leaped up from within.


    "You will be the first sacrificial offering of my coming to this world, hahahaha!!!!" The large eyeball laughed arrogantly in a sharp tone.


    With a swipe, it disappeared out of sight.


    All that was left was a two-section silvery white moon mimicking two large piece of land falling towards the astral space...


    ******


    God of Spring Water and New Moon, Ravenwer has fallen.


    The primary plane was shook. There were many water elemental clans within the elemental plane that worshiped the God of Spring Water and New Moon. A moderate Divine-Power level god has fallen?


    But the truth was, the divine images that many water elemental clans worshiped lost its divine glow. Divine names and literature in the divine temple cracked open.


    This meant that Ravenwer did not just abandoned his divine duties, he has completely passed.


    Various Churches of North, East, South and West as well as the center of the primary plane immediately called for an emergency notice.


    What they had thought was a small concern of a void rift invasion, played an important element in the oracle to the fall of Ravenwer.


    This shook the churches.


    The thirteen empires of the East combined their statement to clear as well as keep watch the borders of all void rifts to prevent any possible intrusion of dangerous creates into the primary substance plane.


    This was a colossal project as out of the thirteen empires, each empire''s territory surpassed over a hundred million square kilometers. They could only depend on far distance wizard towers to communicate and disseminate tasks. To monitor such a huge territory would require manpower and resources far beyond anything in comparison.


    The union of west ocean also halted their internal battle and small-scale divine war as in the oracle. They teamed up together to clear and administer all void creatures.


    The area of the ocean was much larger than land. There was still the boundless sea waters that was equivalent to several plates of land. This project was on a larger scale.


    The gods of human, elf and dragon divine system from the center and remaining two directions released an oracle all together, targeted towards any void creatures to summarily execute. Their souls would also perish.


    The impact brought about by the fall of a moderate Divine-Power level god in his own Divine Kingdom to the world was unparalleled.


    Before all this, even an invasion of void creatures to Meteor only caused a slight reaction. They didn''t think that there would be a strong existence amongst the void creatures. And because of this, no one thought that they would be a threat to the almighty supreme organization that was high above.


    And now, this threat truly existed.


    The upper plane with Fehra as the leader of many gods became wary. They move in numbers and no one dared to move individually.


    ******


    Outer layer of black hole, void.


    A huge floating black crown was slowly headed to another world in the black hole.


    The crown''s diameter expanded in ten thousand light years. Its volume was beyond huge and in it were revolving planets and meteors.


    Right in the middle of the crown, within a black palace that was surrounded by distortion, rock pillars of various sizes erected on the ground. Each pillars bore a bloody eye that was wide open. The eye shimmered dully of different patterns and designed. This represented different communication signals.


    A total of eight rock pillars in a circle, forming a standard round formation.

 1346 Absorb 2

    "Hahaha!!! Indeed, Banishing Eye of Massacre to that world is really a smart choice!!" A red Stone Pillar laughed proudly yet savagely.


    "Eye of Massacre doesn''t have the restraint of our Mother Stream Alliance and Void Temple there.


    "He can eat whatever he want and I''m afraid this may be a big problem," Another blue Stone Pillar voiced in a female voice.


    "Our Alliance now has newly additions of Lords and True Spirits."


    "Even if Eye of Massacre develops to its peak, we can still team up to suppress him."


    "There''s nothing to be afraid of," The red Stone Pillar impatiently rebutted.


    "They would definitely lay siege on Eye of Massacre there."


    "It''s a great opportunity for us to probe their ability," said the black Stone Pillar in a low voice.


    "Eye of Massacre''s ability is equivalent to our powerful True Spirit."


    "If they are of no cause of concern to us then we can just take them by force."


    "If they could easily encircle and suppress then we should head to Void Temple and there to discuss..."


    "I think it''d probably be unsettled..." Another green Stone Pillar gently laughed, "Eye of Massacre''s most terrifying ability is to self clone. Just give him time and he could clone multiple young selves in a short time. These young bodies are revered for their same ability as him to limitlessly engulf as nature."


    "Let''s play by ear... We''ll just prepare everything we can..." The black Stone Pillar gently summarized.


    ******


    Garen spent over ten days at Cold Winter Tower before his first body precision operation was completed.


    He has the massive calculation ability of his willpower mind to thank for, he successfully had the duplicated body sustain half the original body''s energy.


    This greatly eased the pressure of the positive energy in the elf''s body onto the soul.


    After reducing the pressure by half, the female elf''s own strong top level Demon Lord''s soul was enough to regain control over the body.


    In order to thank Garen, she immediately left a dull red Soul Ring as compensation for this treatment.


    And through this female elf with a mysterious background, Garen''s reputation took off. Many Demon Lord therapists that couldn''t treat elves before made way to the abyss in attempt to learn from his experience and techniques but could only retreat once they realized that it was from Garen''s own willpower mind that this method worked.


    The practice of willpower was development crystallization of another civilization system. If it was without Garen''s teachings, it would be impossible to master. Moreover, even if the way of cultivation was obtained, it required at least many many years of fumbling about before it took shape. In such a rushed environment, there weren''t any time for them to take their time in learning.


    Hence the reputation that a White Dragon commander of Vengeance Fortress was a powerful therapist swiftly spread out within Void Creatures.


    Many of the severely wounded Void Creatures taken in by over hundred fortress of the abyss came to look for Garen for treatment.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    But soon when his rates were published out, even more Void Creatures became intimidated.


    This was because Garen''s rate started from one Soul Seed and went up to a Soul Ring.


    Such an expensive price to pay was not something a regular Demon Lord could afford.


    But Garen wasn''t bothered by this. If they came to him for every little sickness or wound, then he would be taking business away from a lot of therapists and offending those from the same trade. It would also take up a lot of his time. The loss outweighed the gain.


    He wasn''t lacking in materials neither in manpower.


    Every small-scale blood wars every few days, Garen would gain substantial spoils, not just souls but riches in space equipment of dead fighters that would go into his and a few other coordinators'' pockets.


    Furthermore, he received taxes from endless stream of trades by Void Creatures that made him well-heeled in no time.


    But after obtaining the Soul Ring, and dull red Soul Ring at it, Garen went into seclusion. He needed to digest this prize given by that top level Demon Lord.


    ******


    The Soul Ring was determined by color, with the lowest being colorless, then red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple color stages. This meant the increase in terms of density.


    The dull red Soul Ring was the second stage, red. Its concentration was more powerful that of a colorless Soul Ring. The higher he went, the concentration required and difficulty of density would increase.


    The Demon Lord elf was generous. It would be easy to imagine what kind of stage Soul Rings she herself possessed.


    So compared to Deception Demon Master''s massacre suggestion, Garen felt that this way was safer and much more secure.


    He has reached the point of his sixth Soul Ring. The first five Soul Rings were the lowest, most basic colorless Soul Rings.


    And the highest he has was a dull red Soul Ring. This was his wealth accrued for a period of time arriving in this world.


    There was also the Pearl of the Temple. If he was greedy at that time and absorbed it to be used as Potential Points, then he would be able to advance further anymore.


    After Garen has deciphered a decadent divinity, he realized that he didn''t have the ability to continue analyzing the divinity of the Pearl of the Temple. Just that streak of decadent divinity require decades to completely analyse. So he extracted the divinity and poured it into the Pearl of the Temple that he could use it like a Soul Ring to absorb.


    If the Pearl of the Temple was used as a Soul Ring to absorb, it could provide him great Soul Power of one complete Soul Ring.


    Upon learning that the stage of his Soul Rings was lacking, Garen prepared to focus on increasing the level of his Soul Rings.


    ******


    Clang... Clang... Clang...


    A lingering bell and heinous laughter rung above Vengeance Fortress.


    The small-scale blood wars has begun.


    There were tight shouts, screams and howls heard indistinctly outside. Abyssal Demons from every layer started to gather.


    The blood wars was not fought solely on military force of the fortress itself. The leading players were the abundant demons from many layers of the abyss. They were set by various layers of Thanes of Abyss to join the killings in order to delight the will of the abyss while chipping away the quick-growing population.


    Garen entrenched himself in his wizard tower. Large crystal screens in ocular form were erected around him, displaying a bird''s eye view of the entire scene on Vengeance Fortress.


    Staring from above, extensive amount of Abyssal Demons and mercenary groups from different worlds surged out endlessly from within the fortress. Amongst them were small demons, large demons, Sawtooth Tail Demons, Chained Hammer Demons and Elephant Demons as the main force.


    There were some never-before-seen Corpse Cannibal Monster, Corpse Ghoul, Decayed Zombie, Zombie, and so on and so forth. A few rare Chaotic Abominable Snowmen appeared in the army. They were all silver and white, lugging a huge rock and ring and rings of drifting ice hung beside them. Their bodies were even taller than the tallest demon.


    Bartoyen Demons teleported by a few fortresses locked in confrontation with them afar. These were two monsters of completely different nature. Each of them having level ten and above abilities.


    There were large amount of troops amassing over from the outer world as well as Aboleths1. These smiling fish persons were covered with dull blue poisonous thorns. They wielded extended limbs that was tied to their limbs. Each of their attacks brought about frozen effects. Their body''s defense was as tough as steel. They were at least at level three in combat power.


    "Even Aboleths are here... Could it be that Salt Water Marsh noticed the development at my side?" A sense of alert struck Garen.


    Salt Water Marsh was one of the strongest demon prince of the bottomless abyss, residence of Demogorgon2but this strong Demon Thane rarely participated in Blood Wars. It should not be much of a problem...


    "It could be the intention of a few clan commanders." Garen was too lazy to think further. He has Ann to back him. Ann was one of the three Dragons of Disaster and was at moderate Divine Power level. She was also the fiercest Dragon of Time and Shadow. Her fierceness was far from being compared to gods or Demon Thanes. He believed Demogorgon would not be willing to be sucked into this...


    "Upgrading my ability is main priority." He closed his dragon eyes and scanned through his stats.


    "Garen ¡ª Strength 180(140), Agility 180(140), Vitality 180(140), Intelligence 172 with potential 1123%. Soul limit 180.


    Six Soul Rings - Five colorless, one red.


    Level 8 Draconic Aura. Level 6 Arcanic Art.


    Void Original Opus ¡ª 70%. Back Limbs ¡ª Evil Soldier. Wings ¡ª Seven Lives. Tail ¡ª Demonic Book.


    State ¡ªAll Attribute Points decreased, Light suppressing curse... (All elemental resistance dropped by a third and easily spotted by Light attribute creatures. Inability to cover tracks)


    Overall evaluation ¡ª Level twelve. Title ¡ª Winter Sigh."


    "The attribute has recovered a lot."


    "The recent Potential Points will all be spent on Intelligence with one more point before it''s full."


    "Now the priority is levelling the Soul Rings."


    Garen reined in his focus and took out the little white bud that the female elf gave him.


    Gentling dabbing on it, the bud slowly bloomed.


    A slight sound of music lingered from the core, together with a faint floral scent.


    Swoosh!


    A bleak of white light shot out and hit Garen between the brows.


    A heavy clash rammed his head forcefully back.


    A dull red ring plunged towards his Soul Ring system in his willpower.


    The five Soul Rings circulated in slow motion beneath while the red Soul Ring remained still and afloat above. This was Garen''s current Soul Ring system.


    Upon the assault of the red ring, the six Soul Rings trembled, releasing strands of transparent threads, covering the incoming ring from all directions.


    The threads snapped one by one by the powerful velocity but as the threads snapped, the speed of the shooting ring swiftly decreased.


    Garen expanded his Soul Power to probe within the Soul Ring. He was pleasantly surprised.


    "She even helped me wipe out the will imprint." That female elf must really be thankful for his treatment or else she wouldn''t come to wipe out the will imprint as it would exhaust much Soul Power. If it were Garen, it would require at least a few years of Soul Power to wipe out and assimilate the Soul Ring but now he didn''t need go through the trouble.


    He could just merge it.


    His Soul Power attracted this new Soul Ring to fly towards his six Soul Rings structure. He was in precision command of the velocity while leaving out a structure space that could be added in his Soul Ring structure.


    Click.


    A soft noise was heard.


    This Soul Ring steadily landed at the top of his entire structure.


    "Such a shame. This one Soul Ring isn''t enough to become Orange."


    "I originally thought that with these two Soul Rings, I''ll enter the yellow layer and become top level Demon Lord."


    "I can''t believe what a distance this leap would be..." Garen frowned and immediately felt that for this seventh Soul Ring to become orange, he would require at least another two Soul Rings.


    "No wonder that person was generous."


    "In their eyes, even if they lost this red Soul Ring, it wouldn''t hurt them one bit..."


    He thought about it before taking out a black and red little pearl.


    "Pearl of the Temple..." This pearl with divinity could gift him another Soul Ring but the absorption process was not without its twists and turns.


    "I''ll give it a try!"


    Garen gritted his teeth and tossed the pearl into his mouth. He then closed his eyes.Fictional character is a fish-like amphibian from the fantasy game, Dungeon and Dragons. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AbolethUnderworld Demon https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demogorgon

 1347 Confidence 1

    The Pearl of the Temple entered his throat like a scalding glass ball. Garen crushed it with his fangs and it shot out large amounts of thick liquid.


    A sort of fishy liquid in oil form flowed in Garen''s mouth. He did not taste it and gulped it down whole.


    Within his Spiritual Soul Space, a pitch black ring slowly took shape in the dark shadows. The ring slowly rotated and headed for Garen''s Soul Rings core structure.


    Different from the Soul Ring before, the insides of this Soul Ring lingered with streaks of fiery black aura. That was one of the special divinity harbored within. Garen could differentiate with difficulty that this divinity was of the Undead attribute.


    In order to completely absorb this Soul Ring, he must first overcome the effect of this divinity.


    The divinity at this moment was equivalent to the will of the Soul Ring. Hence, it has to be banished before it could be absorb in full.


    Garen shot large amount of transparent threads from the core structure, in attempt to cocoon the black Soul Ring.


    But massive amount of corroding gas was released from the Soul Ring and melted away the threads.


    "It''s not working." Garen frowned. If this kept up, he would only exhaust the Pearl of the Temple and the Soul Power of his Soul Rings for nothing.


    He thought about it before taking the semi-divine weapon, Despair Skull out.


    This gloomy human head-looking skull''s chin was bobbing up and down by itself. Its black eye sockets was burning with hollow blue light.


    A faint white thread from the forces of the divine weapons crept in from Garen''s claw into his Soul Space, making a dash towards that Pearl of the Temple Soul Ring.


    Unlike from Garen''s earlier thread, this strand easily plunged inside the Pearl of the Temple Soul Ring. The divinity in the Soul Ring and divinity of the divine weapon reached a certain stage of merging.


    "Looks like this works." Garen was relieved from seeing a result from the method he had earlier decided for the Pearl of the Temple.


    He started to cautiously control the thread of the divine weapon, tugging the divinity out of the Pearl of the Temple.


    This was a painstaking effort as each time the thread would break without reeling in much of a distance. But Garen showed no signs of impatience. He slowly pulled with perseverance.


    "Level Seven Arcane Art course analysis complete."


    His willpower mind prompted.


    The majority of resources and calculation of Garen''s willpower mind was used to calculate and analyze divinity while the remaining deciphered the next levelling method of Arcane Art. This sort of levelling didn''t just depend on Weave to level but rather ancient knowledge of the non-Weave casting.


    The advantage lay on the ability to dispatch elemental energy at will without the restriction of the regulated upper limit for Weave but the disadvantage was the long and delayed release time of a spell. It was far from the Weave spell that was swift and quick.


    He was already a level six wizard and after building the wizard tower, his wizardry level was increasing swiftly each day.


    Various spell matrix and various Spirit Power construction structure was just child''s play to Garen. It was his basic instinct to him as a secret warrior, as an Endor Demon Lord towards power, any power or energy control.


    As for the total capacity of knowledge and Spirit Power, he has quite an abundance of nourishing Soul Power. He just needed to add on Potential Points and his velocity would be multiple fold over a regular Demon Lord. It would be multiple way ahead over a genius wizard.


    "Level seven Arcane Art''s done?" Garen was surprised. He had imagined it would have take longer.


    His gaze was fixed on his attribute stats. His eyes halted at the column on his Arcane Art level. There was no control nor comprehension difficulty. He knew the next step to increase it.


    Such a development to him who has Potential Points, was simply easy.


    It was just using a little bit of Potential Points to cut short the accumulation time, that was all.


    His sight lingered a few extra seconds and swoosh, the data on his Arcane Art level changed.


    The Arcane Art went from level six to level seven and he only used up five Potential Points.


    "Establish level eight analysis." Garen assigned the task and have his willpower mind to work.


    He himself continued to close his eyes to the tugging war of his Pearl of the Temple.


    "Leave this to me."


    Suddenly, his back limbs transmitted his thoughts. It was Evil Soldier. He who similarly mastered secret techniques, was also the most qualified to replace Garen in executing this job.


    "Alright then, you can handle it." Garen''s body made way of his awareness and allowed Evil Soldier to take over.


    They were actually one body. They were only one person with different faces. It was similar to handling multiple tasks at the same time, but it wasn''t harder than handling multiple tasks at the same time though.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "This tugging war would need around ten days. I possibly wouldn''t be able to help you within these ten days," Evil Soldier said these words before beginning his management task.


    "I will be in charge of the training of Draconic Aura." Demonic Book in form of his tail transmitted his will. He was the embodiment of Holy Phoenix Demonic Book and similar to Evil Soldier, he was of one body with Garen.


    "Then I will take over learning the Arcane Art, hastening the research. With the wizard tower, perhaps I could comprehend the relation between space-time plane and elements in no time and seek a faster breakthrough. As for Seven Lives, you should go participate in the Blood Wars and play your potential to the fullest, to snatch us Potential Points and Soul Power the soonest. I''ll leave Despair Skill with you," Garen''s true form ordered.


    "No problem." Seven Lives walked out and Garen''s pair of wings naturally disappeared.


    With the highest rate of survival but one without wits, combat most suited him.


    A few of his incarnations and true form has their own assignments.


    Once Seven Lives'' identity has been taken care of so that everyone knew he was his incarnation, Garen started to move to a Plane Laboratory one layer beneath the highest layer.


    Plane Laboratory.


    With the distribution of assignments, there was a huge consumption of Potential Points.


    Seven Lives has taken the semi-divine weapon to go out hunting while Garen''s true form took a break and saw the decrease of Potential Points slowing down.


    It seemed that Seven Lives has started his highly effective killing spree and has the semi-divine weapon absorbing and converting into potential aura at the same time.


    The research on Draconic Aura and Arcane Arts would require the consumption of Potential Points.


    Garen did a mock calculation of the required time and progress, hanging the progress of Draconic Aura in the stats column.


    "Level 8 Draconic Aura ¡ª In midst of upgrading to level nine..." Demonic Book that formed his tail has left the wizard tower to elsewhere to seek for rare environment to upgrade the Draconic Aura. Level nine Draconic Aura was at a critical juncture that required harsh environmental conditions. As a Frost-type giant dragon, Demonic Book needed to find at least an extremely low temperature area.


    Regaining his spirits, Garen focused his true form''s attention on the matter at hand.


    The Plane Laboratory has numerous rooms used to summon and hold in custody, special creatures of other planes, worlds or dimensions. All the surface on the walls and ground was engraved with rune characters and symbols. Various different space restraining jewels were inlaid in them.


    Just the consumption of a layer has occupied half of Cold Winter Tower''s spending. What a terrifying rate.


    Garen walked to the summoning formation in a corner. Around the back was a gloomy and empty dimensional prison. Not one creature was captured.


    "Research a variety of different plane forces'' effects and changes on creatures and solidify these forces at the same time that a transformation and evolution common law be grasped."


    "This is the crucial point to enter level nine Arcane Art."


    "I specialize in necromancy and I should carry on my level nine Core Spell selection..."


    Every level ten powerhouse has to choose their own core abilities, the same for Arcanists as well. Garen too needed to consider the selection of his core spell entering into level nine. It was quite late for him to do so as many wizards would start to strengthen one or a genre of spell by level five or six. Garen upgraded at a rapid speed due to Potential Points and so he hadn''t had the time or energy to think about these things.


    He took out a spell book from his space equipment where it was recorded all the basic spell models that he knew. Any deviation or variant would come from basic spells so selecting the core would start from there.


    There was not much level nine spell for basic spell models but all represented a different direction in terms of research.


    The Succubus'' Wail on pure attack, Energy Draining Spell on negative state or Ultimate Rotting Capsule Spell on biochemical research attack as well as Life Concealing Spell on biochemical research defense, etc.


    There were also Undead Disaster on summoning control and Soul Binding Spell on toying with souls.


    Garen wasn''t lacking any subordinates, what he needed was the genre he could raise his abilities on.


    He originally chosen his core ability to be his Poisonous Eye. He wanted to combine the elevation of Arcane Art with his Poisonous Eye that this ability would be strengthened and elevated too.


    As a basic model of a level nine spellcraft, the one that could merge with his Poisonous Eye was Energy Draining Spell.


    Energy Draining Spell was a level nine spellcraft that could weaken the enemy by decreasing their levels by two to four levels.


    Of course, at the prerequisite that the enemy wasn''t immunized to magic defense.


    Once this terrifying level nine spellcraft took effect, if the enemy wasn''t immunized then even at level ten and above, they would be weakened by at least two levels. How terrifying.


    But as a wizard, this genre of spellcraft would require to penetrate countless protective forcefields before it could make it to the enemy.


    So in actual fact, its function wouldn''t come to full play unless it was against a defenseless enemy.


    But if it were blended together with his Poisonous Eye, perhaps he could use the penetrating corrosion of Poisonous Eye to bypass this and then bring Energy Draining Spell to its use. This way, even if the energy was in no state against Poisonous Eye, Energy Draining Spell could also weaken their state at maximum limit.


    Garen weighed in his options and mocked an analysis of possible success rate.


    Once arcanists reached level nine, they could compress their selected core spell onto themselves or onto an item. Of course, this would require utmost patience and concentration of the spirit, as well as total grasp over this spellcraft.


    "Analyze energy Draining Spell, conclude completion time," Garen ordered.


    The remaining willpower mind and calculation ability could manage one task with difficulty. Although the velocity would lessen, but it was still faster than any regular wizard by multiple folds.


    "Assignment established, analysis begin. Level nine Energy Draining Spell..."


    Responding a feedback, Garen pressed on a summon binding formation button on the wall.


    Hiss!


    A layer of protective barrier erected onto a formation in the corner.


    "Summon selection, Heavenly creature."


    "Summon selection, level five. Random summon."


    The command voice of the wizard tower was heard.


    Garen moved his claw and gently poured in a thick and powerful Spirit Power to initiate the positive energy pool stockpile on the peak of the wizard tower.


    The formation was like a caged prison and its internal and ground immediately let out a dull white ray of light.


    Swoosh!


    A grey-feathered angel in white battle armor appeared in the formation. This angel wasn''t a pure form of human appearance. The head was of a roc. The neck was covered up to the upper half of the body with grey feathers.


    "Roc-feathered Angel, huh?"


    Garen narrowed his eyes and could tell immediately the race of this summoned fella.

 1348 Confidence 2

    The Roc-feathered Angel was one of the most famous Summoned Creatures in the Heavens. It was known for its power and gentle nature but another key factor of its reputation was its extremely close-knit relationship with upright Wizards. One of the famous spells in low-level Spellcrafting that was called the Roc-feathered Angel''s Eye was researched collaboratively by the Wizards and these creatures.


    "Damn Abyss aura! I''ve fallen for it!!"


    This Roc-feathered Angel appeared irritated immediately after being summoned out. Although the Abyss aura here was isolated by a Matrix, it could still be detected by his keen senses.


    This fellow was holding a silvery white flail in his hands. The wings on his back flapped a few times and made popping noises while he glared ferociously at the White Dragon that had properly released a Matrix already.


    "Evil White Dragon¡­"


    Garen ignored his words. He wanted to thoroughly research Energy Draining Spells but its main difficulty was to clarify the concepts of the supposed levels towards living creatures. He needed to know the types of beings that were used as indicators to differentiate between them.


    The first part of the Energy Draining Spell''s effects was to decrease its opponent''s level for 24 hours. The toughness of their Vitality would be evaluated once again during the next part before the Energy Draining Spell would erupt in a one-time erosion. If the opponent could not endure it, their level would decrease by one grade permanently.


    This was the most terrifying part.


    Powerful pursuing and killing abilities were the best match for Energy Draining Spells because it would not spare one''s opponent any time to stop for their wounds to recuperate.


    Thus, even if their opponents did not die, their skin would still molt extremely disgustingly.


    Garen curled and uncurled his claws while looking at the Roc-feathered Angel inside the Matrix that did not seem afraid of him at all.


    "I should dissect it first¡­" He felt somewhat nostalgic towards his old self from the previous Totem World. This feeling was slightly similar to his past.


    He walked towards the Matrix slowly while harboring a tinge of reminiscence.


    **********************


    Time passed little by little.


    More than a decade had passed in the blink of an eye¡­ Major changes had also occurred throughout the entire situation.


    The Void Crevices had also increased. It seemed as though the normal masses on the Primary Plane had also discovered their presence and the existence of Void Creatures.


    Meanwhile, since the church of the Gods could not be concealed either, they simply proceeded to make it public in an attempt to encourage everyone to participate in the Void Creature hunting movement.


    Certain violent Void Creatures engaged in massacres wantonly and slaughtered the regular masses while causing extreme fear among the populace.


    However, massacres brought about power throughout both sides. This applied to everyone regardless of whether they were Void Creatures or the common people of this world. This was an internal strife between these two great worlds that left to leeway for compromise.


    Several normal Warriors suddenly felt as if various aspects of their bodily strength and physical fitness had rapidly increased after they had killed a Void Creature by a fluke. They were instantly pleasantly surprised.


    It would not have been a big deal if these instances had only occurred once. However, it caused a great stir suddenly when this phenomenon happened numerous times.


    Large-scale spontaneous Void Creature encircling and suppressing movements were launched.


    Both sides were engaged in a mutual massacre where there were no rights or wrongs but only their yearning and greed for power.


    As more than a decade of slaughtering and conflict passed, certain forces and beings with powerful abilities gradually became well-known during the battles.


    Among the Gods, more than ten Gods died consecutively as if they were meteors that fell from the sky after the first Middle God passed away. These Gods were quickly replaced by powerful and terrifying beings from the Void.


    There were three representatives that could move forward in this world and live as comfortably as the Void Creatures as well.


    Eye of the Slaughter had divided himself to spread all over the major planes. After the terrifying Demon Master Level creatures that were encircled all along had devoured four Gods consecutively, their powers then swelled to seemingly unstoppable levels. When they had finally personally fought Mother of Nature in a major battle, they were later injured terribly by Fehra. After escaping by the skin of their teeth, they decided to lie low. Nonetheless, they had successfully accomplished extremely terrifying military exploits.


    Mother of Nature was also badly injured before she fell into a state of deep slumber. This was simply a situation where both sides suffered!!


    This incident greatly shocked all of the Gods in this world. They became even more anxious and cautious while encountering Void Creatures.


    Distortion Demon Master.


    After leading her pets to cause havoc throughout Meteor City and destroying Fehra''s Divine Statue, she could still escape unscathed. Next, she devoured all of the lives within an entire great empire in the east. The numerous Demon Masters among her subordinates became the nominal leaders of the Mother Stream Alliance. They occupied the domain of that empire directly before repelling the Pantheon''s Holy War army many times. They were currently embroiled in a fierce fight.


    This throne had foreshadowed a conclusion that involved a seemingly infinite number of corpses and souls.


    There was also the Fallen True Soul in the end. The body of this individual who was the strongest True Soul among the Ancient Endorian True Souls had stretched over several planes. Moreover, there were numerous True Soul powerhouses among her subordinates whose powers were at strong Divine Power grades at least. After ambushing one of the vast mountain ranges in the south with lightning speed, they occupied it as their territory. Their organization was called Void Temple. The formation of their members was extremely complicated but their overall forces were much stronger than that of the Mother Stream Alliance. However, their social order was chaotic and there were no restrictions. Thus, the True Souls started wars unscrupulously on their own.


    These three powerhouses were terrifying mainstays that rapidly emerged prominently within a decade of the war. They had opened up numerous Void Crevices and led in an almost inexhaustible amount of Void Creatures that were currently embroiled in a fierce battle with the local original inhabitants of this world.


    The powerful beings that had accumulated in the Void after numerous years were seemingly uncountable. Moreover, the strength that was accumulated from their massacres had achieved the peak level of the mortal world whereby they could not advance anymore. They required a greater amount of various types of Inspirations and breakthroughs.


    Thus, the high-ranking forces such as the Primary Plane of this local world and the Mountain of Heavens of the Upper Plane had gradually fallen into a declining state.


    Their territory gradually fell into their enemy''s hands step by step. The Pantheon forces that were led by Fehra shrunk back at every step.


    The situation was momentarily unusually far from good.


    Meanwhile, Garen sheltered himself in Vengeance Fortress during this ten-year duration to improve his accumulation slowly but steadily.


    His Poisonous Eye had already successfully fused with the Energy Draining Spell while his power had upgraded itself to the next level to reach Level Fourteen.


    Meanwhile, Garen had successfully extracted a drop of the Purgatory power''s essence while researching the forces in the Planes. This was a huge advancement in the aspect of biological modifications.


    His body had also healed to a completely healthy state as well because Fehra''s previous curse had disappeared fully. Moreover, the Pearl of the Temple''s Soul Ring had also fused into his body''s composition completely too. This allowed Garen''s seventh Soul Ring to turn orange successfully. He had entered the second phase of the Seven Colors Phase. He could advance to the Upper Demon King Level as long as he entered the next stage.


    Once his Arcane Technique was upgraded to Level Nine, Garen used his Potential Points, to accumulate an abundance of knowledge and techniques in an extremely short span of time. He made rapid progress in the Space-Time and Plane aspects.


    Additionally, his Draconic Aura had achieved Level Ten even quicker due to the Demonic Book''s practices, Level Nine Arcane Technique, and his own powerful Poisonous Eye and terrifying physical fitness.


    Without the Space-Time Spell''s restriction shortcomings, Garen integrated powers had already entered Level Fourteen successfully now.


    However, he did not reveal them inside Vengeance Fortress. Meanwhile, Seven Lives moving about outside all along during these years. He took the Semi-Divine Weapon Despair Skull and absorbed Potential Points everywhere.


    Most of these Potential Points were used to upgrade his Arcane Technique research and Draconic Aura.


    The average beings including Upper Level Demon Kings that wanted to increase their Draconic Aura, Arcane Techniques, and physical fitness to this level needed at least a few hundred or even a thousand years to be able to do so if they did not have the help of Potential Points. However, Garen was different¡­ This was his advantage.


    Thus, no one knew even until now that Garen had actually successfully entered the level of peak powerhouses in the mortal world already.


    Aside from him, the other beings did not seem to be making any progress. It was almost impossible to even dream of obtaining any obvious improvements within such a short time of merely a decade or slightly more.


    Andrew was the only one who could barely upgrade to Level Eleven. However, it was obvious that he had become increasingly exhausted as it continued.


    Garen gave him another Semi-Divine that he had obtained from trading. Since that Semi-Divine Weapon was basically used for attacking, Garen was not interested in it at all. His strongest asset was his own body and he did not need the support of a Divine Weapon in any way.


    After he had achieved Level Fourteen overall, Garen began to set about preparing for his Void Original Opus to be upgraded.


    However, several surprises finally appeared in his smooth sailing life at this time.


    *********************


    "Someone has been spreading rumors that there are Void Creatures among my subordinates?" Garen narrowed his dragon eyes while looking at the other core members below him with a somewhat pondering gaze.


    Andrew, the Level Eleven Undead Knight had only been transferred to the position of an Undead recently. This fellow''s pursuit of strength had already reached an insane degree. The Semi-Divine Weapon called Sword of Nuhas that he carried on his back was an overpowered Greatsword that possessed Soul Intimidation abilities. This was also the present that the Black Fish King had given Garen while trading with him.


    The General that was successfully promoted by the White Feather Squadron was called Mander but his last name was unknown. Perhaps he had another identity but Garen was unconcerned. This man whose face could not be seen clearly because he was constantly shrouded in a black robe was so mysterious that some people even feared him.


    He was currently the captain of the White Feather Squadron.


    Next up were the president and vice president of the small-scale association called Cold Winter Claw. This association was established by the two Abominable Snowman ringleaders that had arrived at the fortress initially. Through Garen''s support, these two Level Twelve Abominable Snowmen managed to quickly draw in a large crowd of upscale mercenaries and Abyss Demons including their enemies the Bartoyen Demons. These beings who were their members had one similarity which was their love for slaughtering and their bloodthirsty nature.


    Finally, there were the three Chiefs of White Dragon Mountain, the Demon-Hag tribe, and the Corpse Monster Party organizations who were all powerful beings between Level Eleven to Level Fourteen.


    These were half of Vengeance Fortress'' forces that Garen was currently controlling.


    Aside from Garen, no one knew that the Demon-Hag tribe, Corpse Monster Party, and one of the Abominable Snowmen among the group of powerhouses in front of him were actually Void Creature parasitic bodies.


    Despite being a Level Fourteen being, Garen outward manifestations were only at Level Twelve all this while. Although he had the help of the Wizard Tower, his Arcane Technique level was not considered high. Moreover, since he had never revealed his great Spellcrafting powers, he had gradually faded from everyone''s memories.


    Cold Winter Tower looked more like an ornamental building instead of a Wizard Tower that was high above the masses.


    "There are no Void Creatures among my subordinates. As the head, I would naturally know this matter best¡­" said Garen flatly. "It''s obvious that someone is trying to give me additional trouble by spreading these rumors at a crucial time like this when Void Creatures are our main enemies¡­"


    "However, people have been spreading information and saying that an extremely powerful Void Creature is hiding inside your Wizard Tower, Commander. Someone personally witnessed her flying inside before disappearing completely¡­"


    The White Dragon Mountain Emissary had an unfriendly look on his face when he spoke. The Void Crevice had caused a large number of deaths in White Dragon Mountain while two of the Elders that they had sent were assassinated at the same time. Moreover, their souls were even offered as sacrifices. Tiamat was so furious that she sent an oracle so that Garen would cooperate with all his might and investigate. However, Garen had declined.


    Everyone could see that there was something wrong with Garen because of this as he had the audacity to refuse the Dragon Goddess'' oracle. Any other White Dragon who was in his place would have probably been divinely punished instantly. However, Ann who was behind Garen caused Tiamat to be too afraid to charge into the fortress directly.


    Lady Vengeance was overseeing that place. The high-level beings were actually already aware of the relationship between her and Ann.


    Almost everyone assumed that Garen was only so confident because he was relying on Ann. However, no one knew that he was actually relying on Deception Demon Master who was hiding in his Wizard Tower.


    This woman''s powers were completely indeterminate now. Was she a Demigod? Perhaps a Lower God? Garen could not tell either. He merely knew that another day that Deception Demon Master existed was another day that he could borrow her power.


    He was confident enough to face any force as long as he had this relationship.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Moreover, it looked like Deception Demon Master was planning to use him as a form of protection so that she could develop herself in the Abyss for a longer period¡­

 1349 Evolution 1

    "It doesn''t necessarily mean anything just because someone witnessed it." An unenthusiastic expression remained on Garen''s face.


    "Are you saying that you aren''t planning to admit it, Commander?" said the White Dragon Mountain Emissary angrily. He had already viewed this mere Level Twelve commander in a bad light long ago. His insignificant forces depended on the strong beings behind him while he used his powerful connections to intimidate others and lead powerhouses that possessed strength that was far greater than his own. This was simply an insult to the honor of strong individuals like himself.


    He was a Level Fourteen White Dragon in White Dragon Mountain who knew exactly what was going on!


    "What is he not admitting? You can''t just make false accusations like this, Lord Cavenly." Andrew remained on the side and interrupted fearlessly.


    "Andrew you brat, do you have the right to speak when I''m talking to the Commander?" Cavenly of White Dragon Mountain glared at Andrew fiercely.


    "Alright, alright, stop fighting. These Void Creatures or whatever are fine on the Primary Plane, so when they''re in our Abyss, who would care about these things?" screeched the representative Elder of the Demon-Hag tribe slowly. "Even if there were Void Creatures, why would it matter? We''ve never concerned ourselves with the origins of any creatures. As long as they''re in the Abyss, they''re one of us."


    "Blasphemer!" Cavenly of White Dragon Mountain''s eyes widened before he glared fiercely at the Demon-Hag Elder.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Tiamat may be your goddess but she is not ours. You should be more careful when you speak, Cavenly." The Demon-Hag Elder did not seem afraid of him at all.


    "Silence!"


    When Garen saw that the people below him were about to quarrel, he simply clapped his hands and made some noise.


    "Don''t concern yourselves with the rumors that other people are spreading. Right now, I need you to launch a surprise attack," instructed Garen.


    "Surprise attack?" said the Abominable Snowman Sara. "I''d like that! What kind of opponent are we facing this time, Commander?" He hit both of his fists against each other firmly while itching for a fight.


    "Our goal this time¡­" Garen smiled faintly before continuing, "Is Wanku Fortress¡­"


    "Oh?" The Abominable Snowman was slightly shocked.


    Although the relationship between fortresses was not amicable now, they were still in the same alliance nonetheless. If they were to ambush another fortress, this would probably cause the other fortresses to unite and attack him instead.


    No one objected. Everyone was considering Garen''s real intentions of bringing up this goal to ambush them.


    "Does anyone object?" Garen spoke before them instead.


    This plan was not formulated by him. On the contrary, it was simply Deception Demon Master''s demand.


    This woman was not very content with only controlling half of the fortress because the laws in the Abyss were not treated as rules anyway. Although they were part of the same clan and alliance in name, no one had ruled that he could not ambush other fortresses. On the other hand, the Abyss would become more joyful because of this. The only issue was that they would have to bear a slightly greater pressure.


    Since it happened to be time for them to proceed with an expansion anyway, Garen might as well aim his first goal on Wanku Fortress.


    "I object," said Mander, the Captain of the White Feather Squadron in a low voice. "With our current forces, our probability of successfully ambushing Wanku Fortress would be too low. The success rate of the plan is not great."


    "It doesn''t matter." Garen raised his hand. "Two of Wanku Fortresses'' Deputy Commanders will dispatch people to be in charge of solving that. Moreover, I believe that their Chief Commander and Fortress Master will have a favorable final destination." He did not state it clearly even though it appeared that he had other arrangements already.


    Fortress Masters needed to be at least Level Fifteen powerhouses while simultaneously having solid backgrounds. It was also possible that they were the incarnations of certain powerful beings. However, Garen actually dared to say these words lightly.


    This caused the hearts of everyone on site to tremble slightly at once.


    "Since it looks like the Commander has decided already, we should just leave it at that," said the party leader of the Corpse Monster Party quietly. "We can''t do anything that is out of our abilities but we can still do everything that''s in our power."


    "The massacre will bring even more resources and souls. Moreover, I need all these things," said Garen, smiling.


    The main point was determined then. Another round of war had erupted due to Garen''s few sentences.


    Numerous Demon armies and large crowds of mercenaries and slaves charged towards Wanku Fortress that was adjoining to them. While being led by various leaders, more than a million powerful armies rushed rapidly towards Wanku Fortress that was shaped like a human ribcage.


    The news traveled throughout the surrounding domains and the other fortresses quickly and immediately provoked the resentment of the Demons. Meanwhile, the Devils did the opposite. They did not actually go and attack the Void''s Vengeance Fortress. On the contrary, they converged with Vengeance Fortress'' army and attacked Wanku from the side.


    Hell Army''s fourteenth division commanded over a million Devils and brought thousands of Floating Hell Battleships and various battle fortresses that covered the sky and earth as they rushed towards Wanku and launched their general offensive.


    Wanku''s Commander was left with no alternative but to personally put his hand to the task out of fury. Together with his two subordinate Deputy Commanders and three first-rate powerhouses, he brought the Divine Weapon Bow of Extermination officially out to war. He was going to face a powerful opponent who was about to arrive.


    Hell Army''s Commander Black Jade Horn brought his Hell Divine Weapon as well to undertake the task and fight Wanku''s Commander directly.


    ********************


    The sky was split into red and blue halves respectively that dyed the Abyss'' dark red deathly still sky into two different colored domains.


    Numerous flames were suspended in the red sky while an abundance of blue ice crystals were floating in the blue part of the sky.


    Two silhouettes of which one was red while the other was blue were colliding against each other violently now on the boundary in the middle of the two parts of the sky. They were like comets that constantly shot towards each other before turning around. They dragged their long comet tails out behind them again and again while they clashed against each other and released thunderous quaking noises.


    The red figure was a Demon in flaming armor who held a double sword in his hand. He was a standard Bartoyen Demon that had a cow''s head, a bear''s body, and the legs of an elephant. Great high-temperature flames would also burn throughout his entire body constantly. He held a flaming Greatsword in one hand and a pitch-black crystal Greatsword in the other. An Energy Field that was made of terrifying temperatures that reached more than ten thousand degrees twisted in his surroundings endlessly and scorched the air until it was completely blurry.


    He was the Commander of Wanku Fortress, the Level Fifteen peak Bartoyen Demon-- Ron.


    The blue figure on the other side wore an armor that was made of ice and a silver crown on his head. He was a muscular Warrior whose lower body was vaporized while his upper body had the same appearance as a human male except that both of his eyes were profoundly dark blue while his hair was burning with fluttering blue flames.


    He was the Hell Army''s Commander Behemoth Dark, a peak Level Fifteen existence. He held a gigantic ice hammer in his hand tightly. This was his specialized Divine Weapon, the Ice Warhammer.


    The changes that were occurring in both parts of the sky were caused by the terrifying energy radiation that burst forth when the black crystal sword and blue warhammer clashed against each other constantly.


    The mere repercussions that erupted from the radiation made the Abyss'' adverse circumstances even more frightening.


    There were not many soldiers below who dared to approach this place.


    On the other side, numerous Demons and Devils were engaged in a mad slaughter. The light from their energy and their Spells that blasted forth occurred endlessly in waves while arrows, rolling stones, kerosene, corroding poisonous gas bombs, Exploding Corpses, and other various war weapons crisscrossed continuously.


    A few of them had rushed too deeply into battle while their eyes were red with bloodlust. They had just chopped off a Devil''s head before they were immediately crushed into minced meat by the other Devils.


    The Thorn Archers and Skeleton Archers shot their arrows and caused them to come down in torrents as Magic Arrows that carried various symbols rained down like a storm and caused numerous deaths on the battlefield.


    Various large-scale Battle Spells like Meteor Fire Shower and Cold Winter Hail covered the sky and earth while enveloping numerous battle areas.


    The entire battlefield was filled with chaos, massacres, and wails.


    The Demons attacked the side where Vengeance Fortress'' military base camp was located.


    A smaller-sized White Dragon was sitting on a specially-made metal seat while numerous elite first-rate powerhouses were following it from behind and gazing from afar at the Energy Tide that was flaring up in the sky on the faraway battlefield.


    The White Dragon was Garen who was currently leading an army forward from Vengeance Fortress.


    "The moment has almost arrived now and it''s time to prepare for the great battle that is about to begin," he said in a low voice. "Your Excellency, are you prepared?"


    "Prepared? No no no¡­" The woman in the black robe behind Garen laughed quietly. She looked like a normal elite woman who was merely standing behind Garen but everyone on site knew that she was the one who had truly initiated the war. She was the supreme and unparalleled being that came from the Void-- Deception Demon Master.


    "There''s nothing to prepare," smiled Demon Master while answering.


    "My powers can be restored at a rapid pace. As long as I devour most of the souls during this war again, more than half of my powers can probably be restored. Meanwhile, you¡­"


    She looked at Garen who was in front of her.


    "The only thing that you need now is the guidance of some qualitative changes¡­ Level Fifteen qualitative changes¡­"


    "Qualitative changes?" Garen''s powers could naturally not be hidden from Deception Demon Master. The disguise on his body was also arranged by Deception Demon Master. As a Demon Master who was named after lies, this individual''s disguises and tricking abilities were second to none among the Demon Masters. The Gods could not even dream of seeing through Garen''s true powers even if they came here.


    However, he still remained as a Level Twelve White Dragon in the eyes of the outsiders.


    "Yes, qualitative changes¡­ I''ll give you the Wanku Fortress Master''s core as a gift to repay you." Deception Demon Master spread her hands out before the shrunken Void Shadows of the two Head Commanders who were engaged in battle in the faraway sky appeared on her palm slowly.


    The shrunken versions of them seemed to be clashing on her palm endlessly as if they did not realize that anything was wrong.


    "Qualitative changes¡­" Garen had a vague idea in his heart. The core that he had decided on was the Poisonous Eye. However, as its rate of progress increased recently, changes finally appeared throughout the Enneahedron that had not stirred all along. The Enneahedron was the most effective key core that used the accumulated power from slaughtering when Void Creatures entered this world.


    Even though Garen had killed so many creatures, he had not seemed to realize the functions of this plaything towards himself.


    However, he could suddenly sense on this battlefield now that the faint vibrations had finally appeared throughout the Enneahedron that had blackened already.


    Crack¡­


    Subtle, brittle cracking noises echoed from the Enneahedron slowly. Garen focused on it mentally before quickly discovering that an unending stream of various faint split marks had appeared throughout the inside of the Enneahedron.


    As the cracks increased, Garen gradually sensed that faint changes were slowly surging upwards from the lowest root level of life. It rushed towards his head steadily after flowing throughout his entire body.


    Deception Demon Master glanced at him and smiled but remained silent.


    "He''s started evolving. Since the Enneahedron apparently needed to accumulate for such a long time before it could erupt, it looks like his body''s evolution needs even more sources," said another Void parasitic body powerhouse quietly.


    "That''s normal. I''ve never seen the Snakeback White Dragon branch of the White Dragon Race before," giggled another female Demon charmingly.


    More changes occurred throughout Garen''s body as the Enneahedron collapsed.


    He regained his initial gigantic physique suddenly and broke the chair instantly. He was about to soar into the sky but Deception Demon Master waved her hand gently before he returned to his previous state immediately.


    From an outsider''s view, Garen was still sitting on the chair and speaking to his subordinates happily. However, Garen''s body was already flying in the sky in reality. Large, contoured pieces of muscle appeared throughout his entire body while layers of molted skin began to show up on his skin as well.


    Hiss!!


    Garen raised his head and roared suddenly. There was a tearing noise before two pairs of fleshy wings that resembled cicada''s wings appeared on his back suddenly. His original dragon wings shrunk gradually and turned into slender fleshy wings that were exactly like the two other pairs. All three pairs of these body parts that totaled into six wings flapped on Garen''s back slowly. These wings did not have scales on the surface and were fully dripping in blood from top to bottom. They looked like wings after they were flayed as damp mucus flowed across their surface.


    Shh!


    Suddenly, a seemingly infinite and countless amount of densely-packed light green eyes burst open on Garen''s six wings instantly. These little eyes resembled fully-formed blisters that blinked on his wings slowly and looked on with purely evil and greedy gazes.


    Hiss!!!


    Garen lifted his slender snakelike neck and released an ear-piercing, sharp whistle fiercely.

 1350 Evolution 2

    He finally discovered the true function of the Enneahedron now.


    It was used to accumulate killing energy to allow one''s body to fully evolve and advance to a higher grade from its foundation after that.


    The White Dragon''s initial evolved level was clearly unlike Garen''s own as it would gradually develop by enlarging their physique and hardening their skin. On the contrary, perhaps it was due to Garen''s own exercises or because of certain factors that caused his evolution to fully break away from the initial and normal domain.


    He currently had three pairs of wings on his back that flapped slowly and were completely covered in numerous light green eyes. Meanwhile, the numerous poisonous and unimaginably fierce snakes that were initially on his back had currently crowded together closely and were releasing soft hissing noises continuously.


    Meanwhile, both of his eyes on the front of his body had enlarged while two slightly smaller eyeballs had apparently grown in the middle of his original ones. It seemed like they were embedded in the center of his pupils. These two smaller eyeballs could even turn and blink on their own in an unimaginably strange manner.


    Garen''s entire body felt warm and incomparably comfortable.


    Once the evolution was fully completed, Garen glanced at his current state. He saw that various major changes had occurred indeed. It would have been fine if the Enneahedron''s functions did not react at all as the changes that occurred the moment it activated were truly terrifying.


    ''Garen¡ª Strength 210, Agility 210, Vitality 210, Intelligence 210. Potential 2829%. Soul Limit 210.


    Seven Soul Rings: Five Colorless, Red, Orange.


    Level 10 Draconic Aura. Level 9 Arcane Arts.'' 10 Potential Points in one month. 10 Potential Points to upgrade one attribute.


    Void Original Opus-- 70%. Hind Legs-- Evil Soldier, Wings-- Seven Lives, Tail-- Demonic Book.


    Comprehensive evaluation-- Level Twelve. Title-- Winter Sigh.


    These were still considered normal but there were tremendous changes in the sections below.


    Core abilities--


    Poisonous Eye (Energy Draining Spell effect): Level Fifteen.


    Natural Poison Region: Those with Vitalities below 50 will automatically fall into a comatose state and lose their lives while there is a probability that those with Vitalities below 100 will appear weaker (and be demoted by 1 to 4 levels), but those with Vitalities above 130 will be immune to the effects.


    Spiritual Poison: There is a certain probability that psychological disorders, weakened curses, amplified negative emotions, and other unfavorable effects will appear in beings that are below Level Fifteen after they are watched attentively by Garen''s Eye of Evil. Positive energy cannot get rid of this but those with Intelligence levels of 100 and above will be automatically immune to these effects.


    These were the special abilities that he had obtained. They were simply normal skills that could be activated without needing to consume energy. Thus, they were as easy as eating and drinking to Garen. The Natural Poison Region was basically a toxic Energy Field that was naturally released by his body. It was equivalent to the biological fields that radiated out of human bodies naturally. As long as he was alive, it would release itself endlessly.


    Meanwhile, the Spiritual Poison came on its own. Unless Garen suppressed it willingly, any beings that looked at him face to face would not be exempted from receiving the Spiritual Poison''s appraisal.


    On the contrary, the other one was truly a great surprise to Garen.


    ''Talent of a member of the Dragon Race that has evolved to the Ultimate State-- Dragon''s Heart.''


    When this ability appeared abruptly, Garen had yet to understand its functions clearly. However, the explanation that appeared after his gaze fell on the top immediately improved his mood tremendously at once.


    ''Dragon''s Heart: An evolved ability that naturally appears when an Ultimate State member of the Dragon Race evolves to the peak level. It can only be used once. Those in the Ultimate State can choose to use the Dragon''s Heart to increase one of their body''s abilities such as Vitality, Strength, Speed, or effects of Innate Spells. (Increment effect + 2 Level)''


    "An upgrade of two levels¡­ Tch tch." Garen naturally understood that the two levels that were being referred to here were not as simple as adding two points to his attributes.


    If these two levels were differentiated according to the laws of this world instead, that would be terrifying¡­


    His current comprehensive abilities were around Level Fifteen but these were upgraded by relying on his strongest ability, the Poisonous Eye. The Poisonous Eye could be extremely threatening towards Level Fifteen beings and could even affect them by decreasing their levels. This was the factor which had truly allowed Garen''s comprehensive evaluation to reach Level Fifteen.


    He was clearly aware that his powers would only peak at Level Twelve or Thirteen if he did not have this Natural Ability.


    In comparison to the upgrades of the Dragon''s Heart, the other minor increments towards his average attributes and Soul Limit were insignificant.


    Garen did not hesitate at all and immediately drew the faint warm currents of the Dragon''s Heart that was entrenched in his own heart towards the position of his two eyes directly.


    Several changes appeared throughout the abilities of both of his eyes quickly.


    It changed into a new state immediately from ''Poisonous Eye (Energy Draining Spell effect): Level Fifteen''.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    ''Death Glare (Energy Draining effect): Terrifying poisonous attacks that are slightly bound by laws. It disregards levels but those with 2 or more Divine Personas are immune to the effects.''


    "Divine Personas, huh?" Garen knew that the Great Arcanists in this world used Divine Souls to differentiate between levels. There was feeble Divine Power, weak Divine Power, average Divine Power, powerful Divine Power, and supernatural Divine Power. These five stages used minute Divine Persona digits respectively to differentiate them into ranges.


    "According to the information in Ann''s book, weak Divine Power requires at least 10 Divine Persona or more while feeble Divine Power only needs 10 of that or below, which refers to the range of anything above 0. In other words, my Innate Core Spell is already sufficient to threaten Gods with feeble Divine Power?"


    Garen had a vague idea in his mind.


    Demigods did not have Divine Personas but only had Divinity instead. They had to complete their Divinity to form a Divine Domain before they could accumulate a large amount of Worship Power and ignite the Sacred Fire. Only then could they truly fuse their Divinity, Divine Domain, and Divine Power with their own bodies as one to form Divine Personas. They would only truly be considered as Gods then.


    Thus, Garen had already obtained powerful abilities that could threaten Demigods now.


    Once his evolution was complete, Garen shrunk his body and descended slowly.


    It appeared that the gazes of Deception Demon Master and Garen''s two other Demigod subordinates had become exceptionally sensitive at this moment. Initially, Garen could not sense the powerful extents of these three individuals but now that his strength was upgraded to its limit, he could really sense the exact details of the trio''s powers. He met the trio''s gazes before instantly feeling that his scales and skin were scorching hot and aching as if they were being pierced by needles and sliced by knives.


    "Your Excellency, thanks to you, I''ve finished evolving successfully," Garen respectfully thanked Deception Demon Master for her protection. If it was not for her, his exact identity would probably have been fully exposed instantly.


    Revealing all of one''s powers in the Abyss was an extremely and undeniably stupid thing to do.


    "The Enneahedron can help evolve and upgrade the essence of living creatures. From the looks of it, the various genes and Soul Imprints that you accumulated from the very beginning are very complicated. Their current state has been influenced by your soul and your body''s breakthroughs to a certain degree. Moreover, have you still been analyzing Divinity recently? It should probably be related to the poisonous or corrosive types."


    Deception Demon Master could see through Garen''s current state with one look.


    "Your Excellency''s insight is very perceptive," Garen admitted calmly.


    "Your powers are currently already equivalent to a Demigod''s," said the Demigod Kunder softly.


    Garen''s eyebrows knitted together briefly before he said, "But I haven''t analyzed Divinity completely yet?"


    "But your essence has already been affected by Divinity¡­" Kunder was the Demigod who had protected Deception Demon Master in the very beginning and was also Proof of Deception''s Chief Leader. "Otherwise, you wouldn''t have transformed into this state."


    Garen was suddenly speechless. He lowered his head and looked at his own body.


    Indeed, the effects of Divinity had silently seeped into every cell of his body already. From the moment when his Poisonous Eye was strengthened, it seemed as though there was a consciousness in his body that developed in the direction towards corrosion and poison.


    "Your eye makes me feel threatened. Once you finish analyzing Divinity successfully and fuse it into your body completely, that''ll be the time when you become a Demigod," explained Kunder.


    These people were extremely friendly towards Garen because he had initially helped them shield Deception Demon Master.


    "Do you still remember the method that I told you about previously?" Deception Demon Master smiled suddenly.


    "I remember." A faint glimmer flashed across Garen''s eyes.


    Deception Demon Master had previously mentioned a way for him to absorb a large number of Fragments of the Inspired Soul during battle so that he could upgrade his Soul Ring.


    "Despite being a Deputy Commander, it''s simply embarrassing that you actually only have one Semi-Divine Weapon. I''m giving you this." Deception Demon Master threw over a jet-black ring that was engraved with countless decorative patterns.


    "I''m leaving immediately after this war. This is a reward for that period of time when you protected me," said Deception Demon Master quietly.


    Garen could feel that this black ring contained powerful distorted energy the moment he touched it.


    "Divine Weapon!" He could not stop himself from making a noise.


    "You may face tremendous trouble once I''m gone so I''d suggest that you shift to another place immediately and leave the Abyss," advised Deception Demon Master. "I''ve recently encountered numerous fellows that possess great powers in our surroundings. From the looks of it, they came from the Dragons of Disaster that were chasing you from behind. Thus, you should be careful."


    "Is it Ann?" Garen narrowed his eyes. "I understand." His opponent would clearly be at the God Level at least if Deception Demon Master thought that they had great power. If they were not the Gods of Heavenly Mountain, they would be the Evil Gods from the Abyss itself that were living in other levels instead. However, he did not know why they were troubling Ann.


    "Alright, go then. This ring can absorb the resentment, hatred, and other negative energy of the souls within a distance of over ten thousand kilometers around you. It will also transform these things into the purest Soul Fragments simultaneously. You can find the fragments that you require from it. However, it''s slightly troublesome in the end. I seized this thing from the hands of God of Death. Although I''ve changed its appearance slightly, it''s best if you conceal it somewhat when you use it. Don''t let anyone discover your specific location."


    "Understood." Garen nodded gravely.


    Boom!!!


    Suddenly, a gigantic shroud of smoke exploded in the faraway sky where the victory and defeat had finally been determined in the battle between the two Head Commanders.


    The Fortress Master of Wanku Fortress suffered a painful pounding against the side of his waist by the blue Warhammer Divine Weapon. He raised his head and yelled before swinging his double sword madly towards his opponent and attempting to slice him. However, the Divine Weapon''s tremendous vibration caused him to drop his own weapon immediately.


    Hell Army''s Commander sneered fiercely before numerous cold Hell Chills extended towards the Demons'' bodies madly as if they were living creatures.


    "If I wasn''t being held back by two other Deputy Commanders, would you really still assume that you were my opponent?" he guffawed loudly in his Hell Language.


    "No!!!" Wanku Fortress Master''s entire body exploded violently.


    A gigantic terrifying red cloud that extended throughout several kilometers exploded before a delicate Demon Core shot in the direction of Garen''s group.


    A popping noise could be heard when Garen caught the Demon Core precisely. He could feel the frightening soul and fiery abilities that were surging inside. It was really Wanku Fortress Master''s Origin Demon Core.


    "Keep it." Deception Demon Master seemed unconcerned. "Moving on, if you want to continue upgrading your Soul Ring through the most primitive route of accumulating True Souls, you won''t need a huge amount of Inspired Fragments. Perhaps you''ll improve faster when you''ve just started but your speed will decrease after that. Meanwhile, another method of this world allows you to thread on the path of condensing your Divine Persona. Recruiting followers will be an extremely slow process in the beginning but will become faster later, especially in a chaotic time period like this when all life forms desire more peaceful lives. It''s most suitable for recruiting disciples."


    "Understood¡­" Garen nodded. It appeared that the Commander of the Hell Army was one of Deception Demon Master''s people as well. It was no wonder she was so certain.


    In the dark, he could sense that more of the Power of Abyss seemed to be converging in his body. His body had also started to receive subtle increments throughout his characteristics.


    The Will of the Abyss was clearly proceeding by instinctually rewarding them for their chaotic essence.


    Aside from slaughtering his enemies, he had even turned around and gotten rid of a Fortress Master who was actually an ally of his side. These chaotic actions had increased the Abyss'' admiration.


    Garen immediately felt that the Power of Abyss in his surroundings had increased by a few times instantly.

 1351 Entrust 1

    He did not refuse the Power of Abyss at all but absorbed it fully into his body instead. Since he had already spent so many years in the Abyss, his body had been corroded by the Abyss long ago until it possessed the Vitality of an Abyss Creature. Thus, the Power of Abyss was undeniably the greatest tonic for him.


    Garen sniffed lightly and noticed that the smell of sulfur in the air around him had seemed to become much more intense.


    The battlefield became clearer. The Demons had retreated once again in defeat. Without the support of their leader, the effectiveness of the high-ranking Professionals massacre was even greater than the cannon balls of earth.


    Nonetheless, the Corpse Witches'' Exploding Corpse Spells could cause the deaths of more than ten people each time.


    Garen looked over from afar and saw that a seemingly countless amount of densely-packed light green Exploding Corpses were centralized on the battlefield and were bursting forth in a completely soundless manner. There were only light green shrouds of smoke that were permeating outwards and dispersing slowly.


    A feeling stirred in his heart suddenly before he noticed that Deception Demon Master and the others had disappeared completely at an unknown moment when he turned his head to look.


    "They''ve left, huh?" Garen exhaled.


    They had left while Ann''s enemies had found him. It looked like it was necessary for him to find Ann and talk to her now. He could not resist her enemies on his own in the Abyss.


    Without a single trace of hesitation, Garen raised his hand and snapped his fingers before a shroud of black smoke that was shaped like a dragon shot out. The black smoke soared into the sky and burst into a gigantic and complicated-looking flower in the air.


    Bang!


    The flowers released a dull exploding noise that echoed throughout the entire battlefield.


    All of the Demons and mercenaries that belonged to Vengeance Fortress retreated suddenly one after another. There were only a few maniacs that continued slaughtering and stabbing insanely because they were blinded by bloodlust and their brains were dominated by the Will of the Abyss.


    Large crowds of Demons withdrew rapidly while Battleships, Succubi, Little Demons, and Elder Demons in the sky gradually gathered together in the direction of the base camp in an orderly manner.


    "I can''t stay in the Abyss any longer¡­" Garen looked at his numerous Demon subordinates before him and knew that he did not have much time left in the Abyss.


    "The real battlefields are the Primary Plane, Astral Space, and the Heavens. This is not the first battlefield that is vital for us to invade¡­"


    He glanced at the black ring on his hand that had already become slightly translucent without him knowing. These were the traces that were left behind after the Divine Weapon had finished silently absorbing the Soul Fragments in its surroundings.


    Garen turned around and did not even turn his head before he walked towards the direction that he came from.


    *************


    Meanwhile, when Wanku Fortresses was breached by the Devils, Kratos led a group of Demons out and fled through the side door.


    "Damn! This damned Garen should be executed and burned at the stake! He actually dared and was apparently brave enough to attack the encampment of another fortress that was part of the same alliance as himself!! Is he mad? Does he not want to get along with the rest of the Abyss or what?!!" Kratos cursed exasperatedly.


    However, the expression on his face stiffened immediately.


    Two imposing Half Elves with white cloaks draped over their bodies were currently in front of him and blocking his escape path.


    "Lord Garen has been waiting for you for a long time, Kratos." One of the Half Elves was playing with a short dagger that was glimmering with a dim light in his hand. The dagger resembled a fan that was spinning at high-speed while constantly flashing extremely difficult and magnificent slicing patterns.


    "Get rid of them!" Kratos roared. His body enlarged suddenly from its shrunken state before he soared into the sky and shot himself into the distance to escape.


    However, his subordinate Demons were smart enough to raise their hands and surrender.


    They were merely Demons and were not any kind of loyal Slayers. None of them were willing to sacrifice their lives for a person who was doomed to die.


    "Cherlyn." The leading male Half Elf glanced at his companion.


    The other one shook her head and took one step forward before taking down the longbow on her back.


    She placed the arrow on the bow and pulled the bowstring.


    Shh¡­


    The bowstring tightened tautly immediately. It formed a full moon shape before delicate rings of green brilliant ripples were released from the body of the bow.


    Hiss!


    The arrow disappeared on the longbow instantly before collapsed in the faraway sky and fell downwards right at the sound of it as if it happened simultaneously.


    "Let''s go. Take him back." A look of admiration appeared on the male Half Elf''s face. "You''re becoming more proficient in Soul Intimidation."


    "I have a premonition that the refining in the Abyss this time is about to reach its goal already¡­" Cherlyn replied quietly.


    "Are you going to break through already? Tch tch, you''re worthy of being a first-rate prodigy of the clan. You''re about to enter my realm within a short span of merely two hundred years¡­ Level Thirteen¡­" The male Half Elf shook his head. "I don''t have anything good to say or to teach you anymore."


    Both of them led a crowd of surrendered Demons and walked towards the fallen Kratos immediately.


    ************************


    Main Substance Plane


    Northlands, Ten Thousand Woodlands.


    Seemingly countless amounts of various wild animals and natural creatures were hidden all year long in the vast sea of trees in the woods that was located on the left side of Fiery Blaze Mountain Range. These gigantic woods that stretched over a continuous span of over ten thousand kilometers also concealed Half Elves, dwarfs, Dog-Headed Humans, Werewolves, and various other major tribes and races.


    When the world''s first ray of sunlight streamed into the woods at daybreak, a gigantic tower that seemed to appear out of thin air was reflected there.


    Sunlight cascaded on one side of the tower and reflected blue-gold shades off its blue material. Meanwhile, the other side looked peaceful and tranquil in the shadow of the sunlight.


    It seemed that this tower had been standing upright in these woods for an unknown period of time.


    A little rabbit with red eyes crawled out of its nest before suddenly sensing that something was blocking its daily warm sunlight.


    It raised its head and glanced at the shadowy object before it seemed to turn dull abruptly.


    The enormous tower before its eyes had clearly not been here yesterday.


    It hopped around a few times and circled here and there while attempting to observe the tower from various angles. However, this colossal object did not change at all despite where the rabbit moved.


    Chirp!!


    The clear cry of an eagle echoed from the sky.


    A little black dot flew towards the top of the tower from afar. It was a Roland Shadow Piercer, a legendary and extremely fast eagle species that could kill shadows.


    It moved extremely quickly as if it wanted to fly towards the top of the tower and rest there for some time.


    However, it seemed like some slight changes had occurred throughout the tower instantly.


    A white ice ball that was suspended at the top of the tower was spinning there slowly.


    Crack!!


    It seemed like a white flash of lightning had streaked across.


    The black eagle fell down at the sound of it.


    It seemed as though nothing had happened. The tower was peaceful once again while the black eagle had not flown over at all.


    The rabbit shivered fearfully before fleeing frantically.


    A blurry large arched door appeared slowly at the bottom of the tower. Next, a young handsome white-haired youth walked out of the large door slowly before the same blurry door disappeared behind him instantly.


    The youth was dressed in a white robe that seemed plain and simple while he held a short staff that was embedded with blue gemstones in his hand. A white-gold money bag was attached to his waist. From the looks of it, he did not seem much different from those traveling Wizards except that he was more aristocratic than them.


    "The air in the Main Substance Plane¡­" The youth inhaled deeply before an infatuated look appeared on his face. "It''s truly fresher than the air in the Abyss¡­"


    This youth was actually Garen who had recently grasped the Ultimate Transformation Spell. Many years had passed since he had arrived in this world and transformed into a dragon''s body. This was the first time that he was truly able to change over freely in the presence of any dragons.


    After recently achieving Level Nine Arcane Arts, he was immediately able to grasp the spell that he had most desired to comprehend all along. He could perform various activities more freely when he was in his human form. After all, his dragon form was far too eye-catching.


    His Wizard Tower had teleported with him and shifted to the Main Substance Plane. A large number of resources needed to be consumed for him to stabilize the space freely but Garen had accumulated a lot of it during these few years. Moreover, Lady Vengeance had also supported him with some strength that allowed him to be teleported back to the Northlands in the Main Substance Plane from the Abyss that was located at a faraway distance.


    "Fiery Blaze Mountain Range, huh? It just so happens that I can go and see Snow City. Although they banished me to the Abyss previously, I received a helping hand from them nonetheless¡­" Thoughts stirred in Garen''s mind as he reconsidered. "However, White Dragon Mountain has been troublesome so I might as well get rid of them together."


    White Dragon Mountain''s headquarters were located on a certain level in the Abyss. They had received the protection of the Abyssal Demon Dragons race while the Evil Gods were overseeing that place. He did not have the skills to proceed with vengeance temporarily but he still possessed the strength to take revenge on the branches in the Main Substance Plane.


    "I don''t know what has happened to the Deladia Empire, White Dragon Mountain, and Snow City after all these years." Garen did not hear about the situation in the Deladia Empire all this while. Now that he had the strength to protect himself when he returned this time, he was gradually not going to restrain himself anymore.


    "It just so happens to be near Ann''s location. It''s time for me to see her as well¡­"


    Garen did not bring any of the Abyss'' troops out with him as Vengeance Fortress was the base camp that he was managing. Andrew was temporarily replacing him in power there while holding the position of Deputy Commander. After all, that place was richly endowed in advantages. Thus, merely abandoning it would not be in line with Garen''s interests.


    Since Cold Winter Tower had already become Garen''s Wizard Tower fully, it could be used as an armed vehicle to envelop him when he proceeded with shuttling through the Plane. The energy for that was mainly provided by the Elemental Pond.


    Garen scanned his surroundings briefly before walking slowly in the direction of the right side of Fiery Blaze Mountain Range.


    Within the woods, all of the creatures and animals along the way were dodging his aura automatically. Garen''s special Draconic Aura would release itself naturally and cause all of the wild creatures to evade his oncoming path unconsciously.


    Despite the deceptive cover-up on his body that was specially added by Deception Demon Master which made it appear as if he only possessed a Level Twelve standard, he was still considered as an ultimate powerhouse in these woods because of this high degree.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Garen found it slightly strange at first before he suddenly recalled that this place was not like the Abyss that was filled with powerhouses. He shook his head and laughed in spite of himself suddenly when he remembered that it was the Main Substance Plane.


    Garen hastened his speed. He stopped dragging his feet and charged fearlessly in the direction of Fiery Blaze Mountain Range directly.


    Along the way, he encountered a few animals that did not dodge in time such as sika deer, little squirrels, spiders that were the size of washbasins, and white bears that were only as small as little chickens.


    The strongest one was a gigantic squirrel with a white bone armor that grew over its entire body. This creature looked extremely fierce. Garen was unsure of this creature''s level but it was suppressed by his Draconic Aura to the point where it did not even dare to move.


    Garen passed through a vast expanse of the woods quickly in less than half an hour before he approached the central region of the entire Ten Thousand Woodlands.


    "My clan''s station is in front. Stranger, state your intentions for coming here!"


    Suddenly, a loud male voice echoed from the front.


    Garen''s footsteps stopped suddenly before he stood in the middle of the woods firmly.


    Two Elves who wore light green leaf wreaths on their heads walked out of the shrubs in front of him slowly. It seemed as though the shrubs had spread open automatically as if it was a living creature to avoid stabbing or wounding the two Elves that looked unusually harmonious.


    Garen''s gaze scanned across both of the Elves'' bodies briefly before he noticed that they were both female Elves. It was a normal phenomenon for there to be more females than males in the Elven race.


    "Respected powerhouse, do you have an entry invitation upon coming to our tribe?" one of the Elves asked Garen quietly in a fearful and respectful tone.


    They were clearly two interrogators that were sent by the powerhouses of the Elven tribe when they discovered the direction that Garen was traveling in beforehand.


    Garen smiled faintly.


    "I was just passing through. I had never expected that there would be an Elf tribe here as I was only traveling towards Fiery Blaze Mountain Range."


    "Fiery Blaze Mountain Range¡­ Our tribe''s headquarters are in front and a powerful boundary was arranged there. How did you charge through directly¡­" said the other Elf softly while an embarrassed expression appeared on her face.


    Garen''s nose twitched slightly suddenly before a trace of surprise appeared in his eyes.


    "Do you have any connections with the nearby White Dragon Clan?"


    "Yes, we have a business relationship with the clan over there. Their Elder often comes to our place here to purchase goods," answered the Elf frantically.


    "Is that so¡­" Garen''s expression turned milder. "I was also born there as part of the White Dragon Clan. Please help me notify them. I''m sure that you have a Teleportation Array here, right? Since I''ve already encountered them, I might as well return for a visit."


    "Do you have any proof of your identity?" asked the female Elf who did not lower her guard.


    "You just need to go back and inform your Elder that I, Garen, have returned." Garen was confident that the clan had not forgotten him completely in a short duration of a few decades.


    This name was unexpectedly effective.


    Within less than half a minute, a group of Advanced Elves that looked like Elites rushed out immediately and invited Garen inside.


    The inside of the elven village was filled with houses and buildings that were harmoniously built with vines and enormous trees. There were buildings that were over ten stories tall which were supported by giant trees and also little houses that resembled cages which were solely formed by vines that grew naturally. He could not seem to see any signs of anything that was unnatural when he walked inside.


    Garen was led into a remote bamboo house where an enormous old man whose hair and beard were completely light green was already waiting for him there.

 1352 Entrust 2

    The old man''s body was extremely enormous and he was over five full meters tall. He seemed like a normal old man who was enlarged. He wore a light green long Druid''s robe with the symbols of a golden moon and a silver star on top. He also had a white looped ear of wheat that represented his over Level Ten Great Druid status.


    This Druid''s aura was concealed fairly well as Garen could not sense his exact level despite detecting it carefully.


    He was at the very least a Level Ten being.


    After both of them had sat down facing each other, the old man sized Garen up once before opening his mouth slowly.


    "You don''t have to detect it anymore. I''m currently located in the village and all of my strength has fused with the village''s Protection Matrix as one. Thus, I''m the entire Matrix. This Matrix has Level Fifteen peak powers. Although my Spirit Power is insufficient to control such great forces, it can achieve roughly Level Fourteen when I bring it into play."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    He smiled.


    "Moreover, are there any mere level differentiations that can clearly describe everything that happens in this world?"


    "You have a point." Garen nodded in admiration. He lifted the cup of dark green tea that was prepared before him and tipped it into his mouth gently before a sweetness and fragrance that resembled honey filled his mouth instantly. It was tinged with the scent of various flowers that made it impossible for people not to relax their bodies completely and be drunk in it.


    "This is a rare honey that was made by collecting more than three thousand different types of flowers and pollen. The cup that you drank requires a year to be made," explained the old Elf. "It just so happened that we could get rid of the intense Abyss aura on your body."


    Garen''s heart trembled.


    "You''ve managed to tell."


    Indeed as the other party had said, it was completely impossible to fully distinguish between power levels simply by relying on level partitions. Situations where great reversals occurred at times among opponents with a few levels between them were not nonexistent. After all, forces were merely a form of strength but schemes, strategies, military tactics, pitfalls, and other things were also parts of strength.


    "I''ve been good friends with the Third Elder of your clan for many years. Although that fellow is obsessed with ambition and desires to truly become independent and leave White Dragon Mountain so that the White Dragon Clan can develop greatly, your clan has steadily deteriorated these few years, especially after you were banished," said the Elven Elder quietly.


    "Was it due to a type of pressure or an enemy?" asked Garen quietly while raising his eyebrow.


    "An enemy." The Elder shook his head. "That''s right, you can call me Green Beard."


    "You can also simply address me as Garen," said Garen politely.


    "Alright, Garen." Green Beard continued speaking, "During the Ten Thousand Dragon War five years ago when the Great Decisive Battle between the Deladia Empire and the Black Elves was ongoing, both sides threw in almost all of their own military forces. Numerous young adults who were in the prime of their lives were also thrown in by the White Dragon Clan naturally. The final outcome was¡­"


    "They were defeated?" Garen furrowed his eyebrows.


    "Yes, badly defeated." Green Beard nodded while a hint of melancholy appeared on his face.


    "Badly defeated¡­ From what I know, the Empire''s forces should greatly surpass that of the Black Elves right?" said Garen in a puzzled manner.


    "That''s a given. Emperor Gus has achieved up to Level Fifteen critical unnatural powers in more than one lifetime. He also brought the Divine Weapon called Reversed Misfortune Dragon Spear that was basically unstoppable," Green Beard exhaled. "However, an unexpected variable has occurred."


    "Variable?"


    "Void Crevices. Numerous Void Crevices have surged out from the rear before an abundance of Void Creatures charged out. The Empire''s troops were caught in the middle of a converging attack on both sides that resulted in a crushing defeat. One of the powerful creatures was even well-versed in our language. He called himself the Enchanted Hunting Demon Master. He was simply not an opponent that Emperor Gus could challenge. During the Ten Thousand Dragon War, he captured numerous members of the dragon race that had taken part in the war and slaughtered, devoured, and even enslaved them. Although it is unknown why he let off the part of the White Dragon Clan, the White Dragons fought fatally against the Black Elves because of the previous Ten Thousand Dragon War and suffered terrible casualties."


    "Demon Master?" Garen laughed bitterly. He had never expected that the White Dragon would be let off after he ran around in circles and returned to his own world. It appeared that this Enchanted Hunting Demon Master was aware of some inside information. Perhaps it was because he knew Deception Demon Master or that Garen''s Therapist reputation had spread far and wide. There could be other reasons behind this but in short, the other party had given him some face.


    "It looks like you know some things." Green Beard could keenly notice Garen''s differences.


    "It''s fine. It would be better for me to return personally for a visit and witness it with my own eyes." Garen stood up.


    "That''s good as well. My Teleportation Array here leads directly to your clan. It''ll be good for you to return for a visit and ask them questions personally. Actually¡­" Green Beard was about to speak but he hesitated and did not open his mouth in the end.


    Garen glanced at him.


    "Thank you very much."


    "Don''t mention it. I hope that you can unify the current clan properly." Green Beard shook his head.


    Garen left the bamboo house and walked in the direction of the Teleportation Array while being led there by a male Elf.


    Along the way, there were numerous Elves around him that ran over to look at him. There were old and young men and women who watched him with friendly gazes. It appeared that the White Dragon Clan had previously left a pretty good impression on them.


    Garen had even encountered a little group of human adventurers who were invited inside to drink tea. These people were strictly monitored as if they were prisoners. When they saw that Garen was receiving special treatment that was worlds apart from their own, this group of people clearly thought that it was unfair.


    Garen stood on the Teleportation Array before a hazy layer of green light flashed and covered every part of his entire body.


    The vast stretch of green flowed before his eyes before the green shades dispersed after sustaining for a few short seconds. A pure white ice wall now appeared before his eyes. He was currently located inside a crevasse that was not very big while an Elder White Dragon that seemed crippled was guarding it on the side. He opened his dragon eyes that were dim-sighted from old age and looked at Garen carefully.


    "You are?" Since only the creatures that were approved by the Elven Elder could arrive here through the Teleportation Array, he did not display any malicious intentions.


    "The clan has already reached this extent?" Garen did not answer his question but looked at him in a stunned manner instead.


    They had actually sent a crippled Elder White Dragon to guard such an important Teleportation Array.


    He released a hint of Draconic Aura lightly before that specialized Draconic Aura made the Elder White Dragon''s entire body tremble suddenly.


    "I''m Garen."


    Garen''s voice echoed slowly.


    The Elder White Dragon had yet to react before he saw Garen disappear instantly. Only a fragmented shadow that vanished slowly remained on the original spot.


    ****************


    The whooshing sound of wind swept past the side of Garen''s ear and reverberated there.


    He had transformed into his dragon body already and was looking down at the original White Dragon Clan below him. Numerous weak White Dragons had formed patrol groups that were flying around the snowy peaks while the Dragon Whelps were currently wailing while being trained by their instructors in the middle of the snowy peak.


    Several slightly muscular Adult Dragons were about to fly out now. When it seemed as though they had noticed this White Dragon that they had never seen before, they turned around and flew towards him immediately.


    "You are¡­" One White Dragon could vaguely see a blurry but familiar appearance.


    "Garen??!!" he yelled suddenly. "You''re Garen?!!"


    His voice reverberated throughout the entire White Dragon Snow Peak suddenly before numerous drawn-out echoes surged out.


    White Dragon Snow Peak was completely silent at first before it flared up instantly soon after that. A mere duration of a few short decades was not a long time to the White Dragons. Hence, it seemed as though Garen had only left for a short while.


    Numerous White Dragons that were still here flew out one after another before encircling Garen''s body in the air.


    While he was suspended in mid-air, only ten Adult White Dragons remained among the White Dragons that were circling around him while the rest were all Elder Dragons and Dragon Whelps. Moreover, these Adult Dragons had only recently matured not long ago.


    The entire clan had truly weakened to this extent.


    "Garen, you''ve finally returned! There''s hope for the clan now!"


    "You''re the clan''s last hope! The Elders, all the Elders have¡­" wept one of the Young Dragons softly who was a Dragon Whelp previously.


    After all, the Dragons who had grown up in the clan were still very sentimental towards the clan.


    Meanwhile, most of the Adult White Dragons who had formed at the last moment had already died in battle.


    Garen scanned his surroundings but did not see many familiar faces unexpectedly.


    "Where are Satwo, Sathree, and Safour?" he asked quietly.


    "Big Brother Garen!"


    Several Dragon Whelps flew over while the surrounding White Dragon left some space for them. It was really Satwo and the others.


    They had grown bigger and looked more mature. Perhaps they would become Young Dragons after more time had passed.


    "You''ve finally returned." A feeble voice echoed out of the exterior of the dragon herd suddenly.


    The White Dragons become silent suddenly and made way for a passage.


    An Elder Dragon whose entire body was wrinkled because of age flew inside slowly.


    Although he was so old, Garen was still able to vaguely recognize his identity.


    "Third Elder¡­" He had never thought that this Level Nine powerhouse would age like this within a short span of twenty to thirty years. He could see that Third Elder was not far from death anymore¡­ His lifespan was almost exhausted and he was already walking towards the end.


    Third Elder was still holding Tiamat''s staff in his hands. It represented the dignity of the Gods but it was currently dim and lusterless now.


    "It''s good that you''ve returned¡­" Third Elder looked at Garen. He used his gaze to entrust something complicated to him but there was also a deep gladness tinged there.


    "My only aspiration, dream, and desire was to establish a clan where White Dragons could live peacefully¡­ They objected in the beginning and imprisoned me but now that my energy is almost exhausted, it''s unfortunate that I may not be able to see this dream anymore¡­" said Third Elder in a quivering voice. "Since Reyman has defected, our only hope is you¡­"


    He reached his claw out and passed the staff to Garen.


    "I was waiting for you all along¡­ The prophecy told me that you would surely return."


    Garen did not take the staff but stared at Third Elder instead. He had already started to release a deathly aura from his soul now. That was the disastrous effect that was caused by exhausting his soul excessively. It appeared that he had released a certain type of great energy that was enough to wreck his soul during the previous war.


    Despite everything, he actually had a faint feeling when he was previously in the clan that Reyman was perhaps the Child of the General Trends and the center that all fate revolved around.


    He would inevitably leave the clan. However, he did not show any intentions of returning even when the clan was so weak.


    "Are you¡­ unwilling?" Third Elder laughed bitterly. "That''s true, it''ll be easy for me once I leave but you''ll be forced to take over this awful mess¡­ I''m asking for too much¡­ I¡­"


    "I''m declining the Divine Staff only to represent that I''m not accepting Tiamat''s faith," said Garen in a low voice.


    He reached his hand out suddenly and grabbed the staff.


    Pop!


    He squeezed the crystal ball on the top of the staff that represented Tiamat and crushed it.


    "I am me and Tiamat is Tiamat." Garen glanced at Third Elder''s shocked expression and the surrounding crowd of White Dragons that were absolutely silent.


    Garen lifted the staff suddenly within the White Dragon Clan that had nowhere to go at this moment.


    "From this day onwards, I''m the Leader of the clan. Does anyone have any objections?"


    No one made any noise. The White Dragons who were slightly stronger had left and abandoned this clan already.


    The sound of the snowstorm was the only thing that could be heard at this time.


    **********


    In the underground part of a certain abandoned church in the center of a faraway empire at the same time.


    A deep black silhouette burrowed out from underground and seeped into Reyman''s mouth, eyes, ears, and nose slowly.


    Reyman''s dragon body shook violently while contorted, pained, and resigned looks flashed across his eyes. Nonetheless, he persevered determinedly from beginning to the end.


    "Only by complying with the ancient will¡­ can your final wish come true¡­" Numerous noises narrated in his mind in various languages.


    Reyman''s dragon body was currently turning black quickly at a speed that could be seen with the naked eye. It was not the black shade of Black Dragons but another kind of black that did not have a single trace of luster.


    The fate of the world gradually induced different trustees.


    Meanwhile, several black figures were madly invading the bodies of various beings in more than ten other places.


    Similarly, several True Soul Demon Masters were stepping out gradually in various Void Crevices in the world before invisible and transparent Forces of Cause and Effect entangled and gathered around their bodies slowly.

 1353 Reunion 1

    Reyman''s eyes lost both of its pupils, leaving behind two distant eyes looking like black holes.


    A chaotic aura of rage, scheming and bloodlust burst from his body.


    In this small underground space, countless blurry spots of black light suddenly appeared, rotating around him like flying insects.


    "I¡­ I''m Reyman¡­ Reyman¡­!!" The White Dragon struggled, trying to bellow out loud.


    However, the blurry and distorted silhouette within his consciousness started laughing maniacally.


    "No¡­ I am Nimitras¡­ The Child of Hell¡­ Hahaha!!!" Another low voice suddenly burst out from his mouth.


    Reyman''s entire dragon body started to exude a strong and evil red halo. His body suddenly expanded a lot as black whips and ropes slowly emerged behind him. These long strip-like items kept fading in and out of existence, almost as if they were snakes weaving and climbing around, burrowing into the darkness, and coming out of the shadows.


    "Let''s go, let us punish those invaders of the Void¡­" Reyman seemed to have finally calmed down, grinning with a sly smile.


    Rip.


    He tore open a black crevice directly in front of him, revealing a scene from the Shadow Plane. The grayish plane had many Shadow Creatures and alien creatures fighting with each other.


    The portal that Reyman opened seemed to coincidentally be in the center of a small battlefield.


    He rushed in without any hesitation. Very quickly, screams of pain and sufferings could be heard.


    ******


    It has been five days since he returned to the clan.


    Garen was perched atop the new Dragon King Peak. This snowy peak was officially named by him to be Dragon King Peak, blatantly implying that he has no intention of giving in to the White Dragon Mountain.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Garen reviewed the whole situation with the White Dragon Clan.


    Fifteen Mature Dragons, more than eighty Dragon Whelps, and more than twenty Elder Dragons, whereas all the Young Dragons fell in battle. Only a handful of them who were living abroad under a Symbiotic Contract managed to survive.


    This was the current situation of the clan. As for the Third Elder and the other higher-ups, almost all of them had already exhausted their Life Soul. They had completely used up all they had after transferring all their powers to Garen, naturally dying in their own caves.


    The Deladia Empire had already lost. The once glorious and powerful empire had rapidly fallen as Emperor Gus went missing in action in the Ten Thousand Dragon War.


    Even the chances of their own survival had come into question, they could not spare any effort taking care of this weak White Dragon Clan.


    Snow City had also lost two of their council powerhouses. The remaining wizards also incurred fatal injuries. In this destructive war, the biggest winners were no doubt the Void Creatures. No matter the Black Elf Empire or the Deladia Empire, they had both suffered an unprecedented amount of losses.


    Garen did not make any extra arrangements. The clan''s food supply was already running out, he had to transport some of the food over from the Cold Winter Tower. The Cold Winter Tower had food reserves sufficient for the clan to survive for more than ten years, all stored in the space equipment''s vacuum.


    Garen initially planned to use the ration in dire situations as emergencies, such as if the Wizard Tower got trapped in a space storm. Little did he expect that he would have to use it now.


    No matter what, the Clan did help him back then when he was still weak and small.


    Swiftly, he gathered all the White Dragons who could still participate in combat. The Void Original Opus had once again gotten new upgrades. Using the Despair Skull and the Death Bracelet, he absorbed potential aura and souls to further upgrade the Original Opus.


    The key to it all, the strongest epitome of all Secret Techniques, had finally returned to him.


    Hellfrost Peacock Queen!


    It was Garen''s strongest state back when he was in the Mech World.


    He had already reached an even stronger degree than the original Hellfrost Peacock Queen.


    Furthermore, with the Void Original Opus fully upgraded to 100%, this absurdly strong Secret Technique had finally returned to its original power.


    Disregarding the series of frost abilities it gave, the Hellfrost Peacock Queen''s Low-Temperature Winter ability had a lot of overlaps with the White Dragon''s traits, so its power was near equal. Thus, it did not increase Garen''s power by a lot, it at most added the Cold Chaos skill, allowing him to cause mental confusion.


    However, the Hellfrost Peacock Queen''s most important ability was the key factor for Garen''s strength.


    Distorted Seed!


    Distorted Seed 5 (Creating chaos was one of the Hellfrost Peacock Queen''s favorite past times. Stat increment raised to 12 times. Aberrations produced a pollution effect, objects that are polluted will automatically aberrate into a next-level distorted object, its stats increasing by 12 times. If the increment reached the upper limit, it would automatically stop.)


    This was the key effect Garen would be relying on.


    Garen managed to collect a large amount of food and Demon Cores without a hitch. Directly using the Hellfrost Peacock Queen''s Devourer ability, he condensed all of it into tiny Distorted Seeds, planting them on the fifteen White Dragons over here.


    The effect of the Distorted Seeds had a huge effect on the humans, but that was because a human''s body foundations were too weak. For the White Dragons who were from the Dragon Clan, their actual foundation was very strong, the strengthening effect most likely would not be able to reach a 12-times multiplier.


    This was not out of Garen''s calculations, the White Dragons'' with the seeds planted on them had only doubled their overall attributes. However, just with that, it was already absurdly terrifying.


    An average mature White Dragon''s attributes would usually range between forty points to thirty points and were classified as a Level Six Creature, However, after the seed was planted, their attributes just skyrocketed, reaching sixty to eighty points.


    At the end of the day, the strengthening of the Distorted Seed also had its limit. Otherwise, if it could strengthen beings like deities by over 12 times, then they would be able to easily increase a level of their Divine Persona.


    The upper limit of the Distorted Seed used the Hellfrost Peacock Queen as a benchmark, the upper limit of the Hellfrost Peacock Queen''s strongest physical body would be equivalent to the maximum point the Distorted Seed''s Strengthening could reach. Furthermore, this type of pure strengthening was also limited by the restraints of certain rules. A White Dragon''s blood vessels cannot be upgraded too much before its body evolved, otherwise, their body might not be able to withstand the burden.


    That said, however, these fifteen White Dragons were already upgraded to Level Nine creatures. With the entire clan in mind, this was already absurd.


    They went from Level Six to Level Nine in just one day.


    Garen''s prestige shot up instantly.


    There were now fifteen Level Nine White Dragons patrolling the area. Although they were mostly melee-type warriors, with Garen''s personal Arcane Art Protection, Dimensional Confinement and other measures, no matter if it''s a teleportation spell, projection spell, or even a real-life attack, nothing could bother him.


    In addition, he was trying his best to use the Divine Weapon of Absorption, the Death Bracelet to absorb the shards of souls.


    On the battlefield, there were too many shards that he managed to collect. Even if Garen had the willpower of his mind to help, he could only slowly digest all of it.


    However, this peaceful life could not be maintained much longer. In such a chaotic era, Garen still made time to visit the Fiery Blaze Mountain Range. He had to meet Ann one more time.


    ******


    At the bottom of a dark abyss


    An average-sized White Dragon slowly headed to the bottom of the abyss. His movements slow but sharp. He was completely surrounded by countless, smoky black, human-faces in the abyss, all rotating around him, but none dared to approach him. It was almost as if this dragon''s body had something that they had feared.


    It had been a long time since he was last at this place. But because the necklace that Ann gave him had been destroyed, Garen spent a lot of effort to find that weird snow typhoon and to once again return to this place.


    As he nosedived into complete darkness, Garen could soon see a blurry seal at the bottom of the abyss.


    Ann was seated at the side of the light ball seal, conversing with a creature completely engulfed in flames.


    As if sensing Garen''s, the flame creature looked up at him.


    A chill went down Garen''s spine. He felt tremendous stress with just a gaze from the creature.


    "Demigod?" He guessed in his head.


    "Garen, come down here," Ann turned her head and waved at Garen.


    Suddenly, a huge distorted space enveloped Garen, then immediately teleporting him to Ann''s side and the flame creature.


    Ann was still very beautiful. Her black skirt seemed to have a lot of new patterns, he was not sure if it was her old one or did she get a new one. It was still mysterious and flawless.


    "He''s the Demigod Lich Gawain. The two of you had some misunderstandings in the past, but it''s still not too late to bury the hatchet," Ann said briefly.


    Demigod Lich?!


    Garen immediately became cautious of this fellow. Even an average Lich was troublesome enough to deal with, if you could not find their Phylacteries, they could never be killed.


    To make things worse, this was a Demigod Lich. That means that this fellow could easily summon a million-strong undead army at any moment. These types of fearsome fellows were existences that could eradicate an entire nation with a flick of a finger.


    Looks like the Void invasion had even caused all the powerhouses in hiding all over the world to come out and take action.


    Suddenly a thought crossed his mind. Garen gave a friendly smile to the Lich and turned into his human form.


    "His Highness Garen and my student had a scuffle previously due to a misunderstanding. However, since Ann came forward as a mediator between us, I hope we can let bygones be by bygones and create a friendly relationship." The Lich''s body was still engulfed in flames, his attitude towards Garen seemed very friendly.


    "Your student?" Garen said with a slightly confused look.


    "Yes, he was living in seclusion back at the Fiery Blaze Mountain Range and had a few Suffering Knights as his underlings," the Demigod Lich Gawain answered softly.


    "Oh, it was him!" Garen suddenly remembered. The Suffering Knights that Garen killed at the beginning was the underling of this fellow''s student.


    Seemed like this fellow was convinced by his student to take revenge personally. But after barging in and noticing that Ann was a powerful existence with a Middle-Level Divine Soul, he naturally decided to obediently make peace with Garen.


    "A few years ago, I have officially pledged my loyalty to Her Excellency Ann, so I''m on the same side as you now." The Demigod Lich laughed as he answered. Through the flames, Garen could vaguely make out the appearance of a handsome young man.


    "Garen, the timing of your return is perfect. I''m going to need you to help me send a letter." Ann said softly by the side.


    "What letter?"


    "How many Demon Lords and True Souls are you able to contact?" Ann bluntly revealed Garen''s background without hesitation.


    However, Garen was already at the stage where he did not mind. As long as Ann was still around, he would not have to be afraid of any of the remaining Gods looking for him.


    He thought for a while.


    "I should be able to contact the three Demon Lords nearby."


    "Alright. I need to settle some slightly troublesome stuff, so the more helpers I can get the better. Of course, you can also participate. I see that your body has been through some sort of unknown change, maybe that might be of help to me," Ann said solemnly. "You can tell those Demon Lords and True Souls that I''m willing to pay them any reward they deem appropriate, as long as they help me with one task."


    "What task? Count me in if you need my help," Garen answered seriously. What type of task would require Demon Lord and True Soul Level participants? Demon Lords were already Divine Soul Level, it''s only the difference in strength.


    Ann smiled gently. She knew that she was right about Garen back then. For an existence with this type of personality, she was right when she decided to help him back then. To an existence like Garen, as long as someone helped him in the past, he would always remember the gratitude they showed to him. From then on, he would not hesitate when they need his help.


    She slowly raised her hands. A blurry black mist suddenly enveloped the three.


    "Have you heard of the God of Time and Shadows?"

 1354 Reunion 2

    Garen''s expression tensed.


    The God of Time and Shadow. This fellow was an Ancient God. He was not one of the members of the many Pantheons who currently appeared in the eyes of mortals.


    This was an existence who could control time, he was one of the most ancient Divine Souls in existence. Even the oldest Earth Mother could only at most level with him.


    He was also the most secretive, rarely showing himself. Even when Miss Shar took over the Shadows, a part of his Divine Domain, he did not express any dissatisfaction, freely allowing his followers and priest to slip away.


    "The Grey Shadow Society up north is actually the actual location of his church." Ann continued, "the main goal of him creating the Shadow Council was actually to find my whereabouts."


    "If that''s the case, the rumor is true?" The Demigod Lich Gawain frowned.


    "Yes, even though I''m sealed but they still could not find a way to effectively finish me off. Not even the pulling force of the Astral Space could harm me," Ann explained calmly. "After so many years, The God of Time and Shadow Flame Elemental Thane has been searching for a way to kill me but to no avail. Five hundred years ago, I found an opportunity to directly strip off this entire sealing ground into the crevice with unlimited plane movement, allowing me to flow through the space tunnel. This would completely make them lose my tracks. After so many years of being sealed, it''s time for some payback¡­"


    Gawain''s mouth felt dry. He was engulfed in flames, but he started to feel a slight sense of unease.


    "Your goal, it can''t be to¡­"


    "Your guess is correct¡­" Ann smiled slyly. "It''s time to take back what''s mine¡­ all the Gods now are all in a mess, there''s no better time to strike."


    Garen shivered, Ann''s intentions were clear.


    Slaying the Gods!


    Slaying Divine Souls with the same Divine Domain as her.


    Shadow and Time, Ann''s abilities were also in this aspect. Looks like the other Gods had specifically found a specialist Divine Soul to monitor the seal.


    The God of Time and Shadow was someone with an Upper-Middle Level Divine Power. Although Ann had Middle-Level Divine Power, the two operated based on different concepts. After all, Ann had been sealed for so many years, she was excessively weak right now, otherwise, she would not have asked for the aid of the Demon Lords and True Souls.


    "I''ll go back and try to get into contact with even more Demon Lords and True Souls," Garen said after thinking briefly. "Of course, you don''t have to worry, I won''t just leak this plan out to anyone."


    "That''s fine," Ann nodded satisfactorily. "Garen, you truly have great potential. Within such a short time, your growth rate is so fast that it had even far surpassed that of the Void Creatures. You already have enough power to threaten a Demigod, maybe in a bit more, I wouldn''t even be able to see-through you anymore."


    What she meant by see-through was that if Garen truly entered the Demigod Territory and formed his own territory, although Demigods were still far from achieving the Middle-Level Divine Power, they were still beings on the same level. Thus, she would no longer be able to see-through Garen completely with her natural inspection ability.


    After hearing this evaluation, the Demigod Lich at the side looked at Garen intently, reevaluating him again. He was initially friendly to Garen because Ann told him to.


    Garen did not care much. If Ann wanted to slay the Gods, this was quite frightening news. He was still a long way from reaching the Divine Soul. Being able to threaten a Demigod does not mean that he could threaten the Divine Souls at the Divine Kingdom. An analogy for this would be that you might be able to stab a person in front of you to death with a knife, but it would not be that easy if your target was a country''s President, even though a President was still an average human¡­


    "Alright, you can leave first." Ann noticed that Garen looked like he had something to say to her. Hence, she decided to shoo off Gawain for now.


    As soon as Gawain''s ball of fire teleported away, Garen heaved a long sigh of relief.


    He started to talk about his developments in the Abyss and the problems he faced.


    Ann listened to his rants attentively.


    "An Evil God?" After Garen finished, she pondered for a moment. "I don''t have a lot of enemies within the Abyss, but Big Mistress is considered one of them. Looks like she''s taking action¡­well, there''s no rush now after I succeed in my plans, I will personally go talk to her¡­" Her eyes suddenly filled with a sense of bloodlust.


    Casting a glance at Garen, she casually asked.


    "You''re also considered one of my pseudo-disciples. The Divine Weapon on hand is something someone else gave you, right? Don''t you need stronger souls? What''s the strongest soul you can absorb right now?"


    Garen was at first surprised by her words but then felt delighted. According to his calculations, there was no limit on the number of strongest souls he could absorb right now, but if there were no new inspirations, it would not be able to condense the Soul Seeds and Soul Rings, only turning them into backup Potential Points. He currently already had a lot of Potential Points, there was basically no way for him to use up all of it. What he was lacking right now were Soul Rings that could raise his Soul Limit. No matter if it''s condensing True Souls or increasing the attributes, what he lacked was Soul Rings.


    "As long as it''s not a Demigod, I should be able to absorb it!" Garen answered directly. "However, the best-case scenario would be to absorb the soul of a territorial master with special inspirations. The level of power is not that important."


    Excluding Divine Souls, there was no one who could compare to Ann''s kill count.


    "Master-level souls with special inspirations?" Ann frowned slightly. "I don''t have too many of these types of souls, Major Gods, and the other Magic Gods and Evil Gosa all like these kinds of souls. These types of souls are Holy Souls and can be transformed into incarnations of Gods, it''s far different from other souls."


    She hesitated briefly before waving her hand.


    Suddenly, a puff a grey mist appeared in front of Garen.


    "These are two souls from masters of construction. They''re the only ones I''ve preserved, the others I had already used as bartering resources."


    Garen was in joy. He directly accepted the two souls with his Death Bracelet.


    "Thank you, teacher!" He was once again reassured of his relationship with Ann.


    Truly, without Ann''s help in the beginning, he would have been completely annihilated by the Suffering Knights back when he first set foot here. He also learned countless things from her later on, hence having this sort of relationship with her was nothing much.


    Ann also did not reject this sort of relationship. She only casually nodded her head and waved her hand again. Garen immediately disappeared from the bottom of this abyss.


    When he reappeared, he was already in the sky of the Fiery Blaze Mountain Range.


    "Oh right, I accidentally caught a Void Creature earlier. Her body seemed to somehow have an aura related to you. So, I decided not to eat her. I''ll let you investigate more for now."


    As Garen was preparing to set the transport spell back to the Dragon King Mountain, Ann''s voice suddenly transmitted over.


    Without any time for him to react, he saw a black hole appear in the sky. Then, suddenly a small black cage was flung out of the black hole and fell into his hands.


    The cage had a few small silhouettes in them.


    One of them was a young girl in an earth-style mini-skirt. This girl had a head of waist-length black hair. She wore a super short pleated skirt, her face looked as delicate as a doll. She was sleeping soundly inside the cage.


    The other two were a male with blood-red hair, down to even his eyebrows and beard; and a girl with long blue hair, and non-human eyes like embedded gems.


    "Na¡­ Nadia?!" Garen involuntarily reminisced of the Nine-Headed Dragon King he encountered back in the Blood Breed World.


    After a few more looks at the beautiful young girl in the cage, he confirmed that she gave off the same impression as when he first saw Nadia. If not for him acquiring the Holy Phoenix Scriptures at the end, he most likely would not be able to deal with Nadia''s projection back then.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "Is that a Demon King? A Demon King Level Existence?" The other two were still awake as they seemingly made out Garen''s identity.


    "Your Respected Excellency, although we were once pursuers, now that the Void has been unified, there are no longer any factions. We will pledge our lives to serve you, Your Excellency!"


    The man loudly begged. He seemed to sense Garen''s identity as a Void Pursuer, his face suddenly revealing a joyous expression.


    "Are you guys Void Pursuers?" Garen asked softly in the Ancient Endor language.


    "Yes, my name is Rosta, she is my companion Elphis. This one here is one of our targets in the past the Nine-Headed Dragon King Nadia. However, now¡­" The man Rosta laughed bitterly. This former great enemy was nothing more than an ant in the hands of the powerful creatures of this world.


    They were the last remnants of the Ancient Endorian Civilization. They had always fought at the frontlines to secure and protect Ancient Endor''s legacy. They had almost ended the Warlock''s legacy completely, but they did not expect the Mother Stream''s power to suddenly increase and pulled out a large number of True Soul Imprints that were almost fading away and ejected them with power. Within a brief moment, countless True Souls surged into the Mother Stream, the Warlock''s Civilizations seemed to have returned to its golden era. Their mission had then came to an end.


    Originally, they thought that Ancient Endor and the Void would once again have a massive war, but no one expected that both parties united and formed the two organizations, Void Temple and Mother Stream Alliance, joining forces to invade an extremely huge world.


    After being captured by a Void Demon King, they were forced to be shot into this world as a test shot, without any hopes of returning alive but miraculously they survived.


    "Nadia¡­ She''s actually the Nine-Headed Dragon King, huh?" Garen smiled. After coming to this world for such a long time, he had finally seen someone who had fallen as much as him from the start.


    In the beginning, the Nine-Headed Dragon King Nadia did bully him a lot.


    Now, looking at the Nadia inside the cage, Garen could not help but let out a grin filled with bad intentions.


    From his point of view, although Nadia''s power was excessively strong, with his current physique she was nothing more than an ant. It was like the difference between an Army Level with a Demon King Level, especially in terms of resistance. A Demon King would be able to resist most special abilities an Army Level threw at him, but an Army Level would not be able to defend against the various special abilities of a Demon King Level. The two also had ordered soul suppression. When facing off, their attributes would be suppressed to a certain level.


    With Garen''s current Demon King Level, to defeat Nadia, just the ordered suppression would be enough to suppress most of her abilities to the original degree of the most basic Army Level.


    In other words, the Garen now just had to purely rely on the attack based on the natural law of physics to completely crush her like an ant.


    "Understood, I didn''t think I would get a bonus reward this time around." Garen kept the cage and with a slash with both of his arms, he ripped open the space in front of him. Walking in, he arrived inside his Cold Winter Tower.


    The Cold Winter Tower had already been transported over to the Dragon King Mountain. This type of top-level Wizard Tower was almost like a battleship fortress, it could move freely through space. However, the number of resources needed was slightly high. But to Garen, there was nothing money could not solve!

 1355 Tiamat 1

    After Garen became the Clan Leader of the White Dragon Clan, they officially renamed themselves the Cold Winter Dragon Clan, escaping from the White Dragon Mountain.


    The main substance plane of the White Dragon Mountain was enraged as he sent out teams to capture them back. However, Garen was perched within his own territory, easily absorbing the two Master-Level souls. Unsurprisingly, the two Master-Level souls had been turned to shards and eaten as oatmeal by Garen. After absorbing a majority of the memories, within two days, he had condensed two new Soul Seeds.


    The eighth Soul Ring had also officially started to condense together.


    The more the Soul Ring progressed, its progress rate became increasingly slower. The Despair Skull and the Death Bracelet worked very well together, one absorbing the Potential Points whilst the other managed the discoveries from the shards. Garen started to ponder, should he take the initiative and search for the souls he needed¡­


    After all, he was a Dragon of Disaster and not just a simple White Dragon King.


    After hearing that the White Dragon Mountain sent a team, Garen was suddenly more interested.


    ******


    "What? Clan Leader, you''re personally entering the fray?" The newly appointed White Dragon guard leader Annie screamed out loud.


    "Why are you so shocked?" Garen lazed on top of the Ice Sculpture throne, looking down at Annie and the group of White Dragons with shocked expressions.


    "White Dragon Mountain sent a team here specifically targeting me, so I won''t bother showing them any mercy."


    "But¡­" Annie wanted to say something, but Garen raised his arm stopping her.


    Ever since Garen was able to transform into a human form, he had always stayed as such. Now he sat on top of the throne, surveying the scene below him.


    "I''ll leave the clan matters to you guys to deal with. If there are any emergencies, you can break the crystal rock outside my cave, I''ll get notified immediately." Garen was not one to be tied down in one place by a clan. It was a chaotic period right now, with Void Creatures and various major planes waging war against each other. Just as the world order descended to its most chaotic era, this was the perfect opportunity for him to hunt for more soul shards.


    Since he confirmed that souls with high inspiration could help him condense Soul Seeds and Soul Rings, then it looked like the Deception Demon Master''s method was definitely very useful.


    Garen shifted his thoughts. He suddenly understood why so many Demon Masters and True Souls started to massacre everyone as soon as they arrived. As it turned out, the Enneahedron was not the sole factor behind it. Since he was already so far behind the other Demon Lords and Demon Masters, it just was not right for him to continue slacking off like this.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    "The coverage from the Cold Winter Tower can protect the entire Dragon King Mountain. I had already set up the appropriate spells, temporarily casting Maze on the surrounding areas." Garen waved his hand and tossed out a few silver-white seeds, dropping them into each one of the present White Dragons'' hands.


    "This is my specially made Increment Seeds, you guys can decide whether you want to use it or not. After using it, you will be able to raise your overall physical fitness, but in turn, you''ll never be able to disobey me. The choice is yours."


    Garen looked at the few White Dragons who opened their mouth seemingly wanting to say something. Not wanting to be bothered with it, he used a teleportation spell and immediately disappeared from the throne.


    He had already given out more than a hundred of these Distortion Seeds. The first batch was mainly used on the strongest White Dragon Annie and the other demons in the fortress that came from the Abyss. This type of Distorted Seed cannot control their will, but it was enough to force them to never have any ill-intent towards their Parental Garen. It also ensured that their lives were linked to Garen, so if Garen were to die, they would die as well.


    After spreading the Distorted Seeds, Garen teleported straight back to the Cold Winter Tower.


    Nadia was still unconscious in the tower. On the other hand, Rosta and Elphis had already been released by Garen, but they were restrained within the confines of the tower, not able to leave.


    Garen teleported straight to the floor they were at.


    The two were eating their lunch. Seeing Garen''s silhouette appearing from the teleportation spell, they immediately stood up.


    "Lord Garen," Rosta was the first to speak.


    "What are your plans? Are you two going to leave this place, or stay?" Garen asked casually, sitting down beside the two.


    His interest toward these two Void Pursuers was not that big. Their levels were around Level Eight or Nine at best in this world''s standards. He already had a lot of underlings that were at that level.


    "We''ve already pledged our allegiance to you, sir, we will not go back on our words," Rosta answered hurriedly. "Furthermore, since we just came to this world, there is no place we could safely call home, it''s only a matter of time before something happens to us if we leave," he laughed bitterly.


    Elphis who was standing beside him nodded in agreement.


    "Originally, we were pursuing the Nine-Headed Dragon King Nadia, but now¡­ her strength is barely comparable to that of a baby''s, then what''s the meaning behind in pursuing her?" Elphis said calmly, seemingly already seeing past that. "Ancient Endor''s descendants no longer require our protection. With the reappearance of True Souls, our presence is no longer necessary."


    Garen sighed as he tossed out two Distorted Seeds.


    "Eat these, it''ll increase your strength. After that, go check out the library on the second floor, it has books on general knowledge. I''ll remove your restraints. As for what comes after, you guys can fight on in this world to grow and evolve. Go ask the snail for more specific details."


    With a wave of his hands, some pen and paper floated over from a short distance away. He picked up the pen and wrote down an address. It was not just any address, but rather a special Dream World address that only Void Creatures and the Ancient Endorians could understand.


    "You can contact him through the Dream World, he will tell you guys all about this world and what you need to take note of."


    "Thank you, Lord!"


    The two immediately bowed down in gratitude. Garen then vanished, leaving the two in the room looking at the Distorted Seed in their hands, smiling bitterly at each other.


    This was obviously something he was using to prevent them from betraying him.


    When Garen reappeared, he was now in the isolation room on the fifth floor.


    This floor was mainly used for medical purposes. There were countless medical facilities, spells, books, and facilities, neatly placed inside this entire room.


    Nadia was sleeping in one of the wards. She seemed to have woken up, staring blankly at the sunlight outside the window.


    Click.


    Garen opened the door and walked in.


    "How''s your recovery going?" Garen grinned from ear to ear as he walked in, looking at the beautiful girl on the ward bed. She had glossy black, waist-length hair and porcelain white fair skin. Nadia was silently leaning back on the ward bed. The moment she turned around and saw Garen, her eyes widened.


    "It''s you!!"


    She shouted out in shock.


    "That''s right, it''s me," Garen walked over and sat next to her, still grinning.


    "Looks like you''re doing well¡­" He raised his hand and gently caressed Nadia''s cheek.


    "What are you doing?!" Nadia suddenly shouted angrily. "Don''t think just because you saved me you can¡­" She could not think of a word to describe Garen''s action in the heat of the moment.


    "Can what?" Garen dodged her slap, his hand almost as if it had not even moved an inch, once again appearing at the same place. He lightly pinched Nadia''s soft cheeks.


    "You are now my captive, so how about it? Do you want to beg me to set you free?!" He chuckled haughtily.


    "In your dreams!!" Nadia wanted to create a weapon, but she noticed that her entire body was sore and she could barely move a muscle. Her face paled.


    "Garen!!!" Her jet black eyes looked as if it was ready to spit fire. "To think that I had admired you a bit back in the day!!"


    "Admired?" Garen forcefully pulled her into his arms, the two were now literally inches away from each others'' faces. "You once beat me up multiple times!!"


    His burning aura seemed to be hitting Nadia''s face, causing her to turn her head away unnaturally.


    "If it was not for that thing, do you think you can manage to suppress me?!!" She shouted loudly, seemingly very flustered. "Then kill me if you can!!"


    "Kill you?" Garen seldom had the chance to meet with such a fun old friend, how would he even dream of letting her off so easily. "Why should I kill you? We''re both old companions, I would gain nothing from killing you." He let go of Nadia, letting her fall back onto the bed.


    "You bullied me so much back then, now the tides have turned, so now it''s my turn to bully you," Garen joked, obviously in a great mood.


    "Wait till I recover, then you''ll definitely be dead!!" Nadia''s rage was at her limit. She was grasping the pure white ward bed blanket tightly as she glared at Garen. The aura behind her even started to condense into the black silhouette of the Nine-Headed Dragon, but this type of void aura suppression was nothing but child''s play to Garen''s current physique.


    "Alright alright, stop being naughty. Rest your body properly, you can use this entire floor as you please." Garen came over to tease Nadia to relax his mood. Just as he expected, his mood turned better, and Nadia''s turned worse.


    He was building his joy upon other''s sufferings.


    Garen suddenly realized how evil he was.


    Fondling his chin, he noticed that no matter how he looked at it, Nadia did not seem antagonized in his eyes anymore. Maybe it was because it was such a rare situation for him to meet a familiar enemy in a foreign new world. Although the two had a complicated relationship, where it was hard to even differentiate between friend and foe, at the end of the day, the sense of familiarity still existed.


    After leaving the Cold Winter Tower, the plan that he had specifically crafted in the beginning will finally be initiated. Ever since he heard of the Deception Demon Master''s methods, Garen started to have an insane plan. Within the next ten or so years, if he did not manage to get enough power to defend himself in this short period of time, once a huge war broke out, in the war between True Souls and Demon Masters, and Gods, in the midst of all the chaos in the Holy War, those who were not at the level of a God would be no different than ants.


    Garen was not overly ambitious and only hoped that he would be able to make it through that huge war in one piece.


    However, this was also quite an ambitious dream. Up till now, he had only been in one fatal battle.


    After carefully packing up his stuff, Garen pulled out a map of the entire Northern region of the Primary Substance Plane. After looking at it briefly, he left the Dragon King Mountain.


    ******


    On a huge snowy plane, pure white snow continued to rain down from the sky.


    In the middle of the sky, a gigantic globe-like sphere was moving at high speed underneath the pale white sun. It had a ring of satellites orbiting it. The entire sphere was completely white, and one could barely see it on a snowy day like this.


    The sphere was more than a thousand meters wide, there were multiple intricately carved out ring-shaped spaces. Each space had a person in a white garb with a White Dragon symbol on its chest. These people came in all shapes and sizes, slowly patrolling their respective spaces.


    At the upper peak of the structure, the sphere had a small floating platform. A sentinel guard was standing on top of the platform lazily, involuntarily yawning.


    "Really, to think they''re sending an entire battle fortress. For a short distance like this, we could''ve just teleported over. Why do we have to fly over so slowly on this thing? I don''t know what''s going on in those Elders'' minds," the sentinel ranted. Blue sparks flickered from his fingertips, displaying his terrifying spell power. For an average sentinel, to think he had at least a Level Five in Arcane Arts.


    "Stop whining, we should almost be there. We don''t get a lot of chances to use the battle fortress anyway. This time, we''re mainly using it to intimidate our opponents, realistically speaking we might not even have to use it in the end." The sentinel who was taking the next shift walked over while laughing heartily.


    "Recently, there''s been a lot more Void Creatures, it might be our turn to head into the battlefield soon, so I guess this can serve as a practice run," the first sentinel shook his head, saying.


    "You sure have set your sights far, but I feel¡­" Just as the second sentinel was finishing his sentence, a voice cut him off, "there''s a situation!" He immediately tensed up, looking at the snowy skies afar.


    Beep beep¡­


    Suddenly, the fortress let out a sharp alarm tone.


    "High energy creatures approaching at high speeds!" The supervisor''s Tower Soul sent out an alert, "please report to your stations and await further orders!"


    At the center of the fortress, inside a wide control room.


    Two Elders with white hair and beards were seated on two armchairs, frowning as they looked at the situation outside the crystal glass.


    "What a fast speed!"


    "Bordo, it might be someone like you from the Dragon Clan, should we take action?" The other Elder asked the Elder seated right across of him.

 1356 Tiamat 2

    The Elder named Bordo did not reply, his eyes fixated on the crystal glass window.


    "It''s a White Dragon''s aura¡­ this timing¡­"


    He was the high-leveled Elder who was sent by the White Dragon Mountain to intimidate Garen of the White Dragon Clan. He was also a member of the Dragon Clan Council. His powers were unfathomable.


    "The target this time is to intimidate Garen and subsequently capture him. The advantages of the Cold Winter Tower''s representative cannot fall into the wrong hands. It''s the foundation that belongs to our White Dragon Clan," the thought flashed in his mind.


    "Continue on forward. The Full Moon Fortress does not need to fear anyone from the Dragon Clan. If he''s non-hostile, he will naturally stop. If not, then it''s his suicide," he sent out the orders.


    "True, the White Dragons around this area should all be Garen''s minions. Oh, he''s starting to slow down. Maybe he''s here to surrender?" The other Elder looked out with slight curiosity.


    Outside the fortress, a white figure zipped through leaving behind a white line, lunging directly towards the white sphere fortress. His speed was slowly decreasing, and his Dragonic Aura was slowly kept away.


    However, just as he was about one kilometer away from the white sphere fortress.


    Boom!!


    The white line suddenly accelerated, its speed instantly increasing multiple times from its original speed. This White Dragon hidden amidst the snowy skies seemed to have torn open a vacuum-like trail, leaving behind a snowless path in his tracks.


    Using this terrifying speed that was unimaginable to a White Dragon, he violently crashed onto the white sphere fortress.


    "What is he doing!!"


    "Damn it! Is he crazy!?"


    "It''s gonna hit!! Brace yourselves!!"


    The White Dragons in the fortress were all shell-shocked. They did not expect that there were still creatures who would dare to use their physical bodies to directly slam into a battle fortress!?


    He was an absolute madman!


    The white line zipped through the air, leaving behind visible transparent ripples. At first, it almost looked as if it stopped in its tracks, but the next instance, it had already collided head-on with the fortress!


    Boom!!!


    With a huge crash, the fortress shook violently as it collided with the white line in mid-air. Its huge kinetic force was immediately dissipated with the huge collision.


    Looking at the scene from below, the white sphere fortress building seemed to be chipped off in a huge area. Large amounts of white debris rained down from the sky.


    Sparks of electricity and blue light started enveloping the surface of the white sphere.


    After being hit, the white sphere started falling down from the sky at an angle.


    "Anti-Magic Energy Fields!! This bastard!!"


    The White Dragons on the surface of the fortress immediately transformed and flew out. All the White Dragons here were elites of the elites, every one of them was at the very least a Level Seven in Power. A Level Nine Great Wizard had once used the Ultimate Transformation Spell on them.


    The fortress continued to nosedive.


    Below, a large number of animal critters on the snow plains were running off in panic.


    Boom!


    The fortress crashed onto the snow plains below like a gigantic snowball. Powdered snow splashed everywhere like a huge ocean wave. Rings of wave-like snow flung in all directions due to the shock wave. Some of the arctic foxes and polar bears who did not get away in time were instantly decimated into meat paste.


    After rolling for a bit, the fortress crashed into a small white pine forest and stopped moving.


    Inside the fortress.


    In the control room where the two Elders were in, a young man dressed in white was floating silently in mid-air, he was looking at the two Elders who were also floating in the air.


    The three''s Cold Regions seemed to be intertwined together, naturally emitting a terrifying energy field, causing the entire control room to be an icy cold space. It was almost as if the air itself has been frozen as well.


    "Elder Bordo¡­ I heard that you were coming over, so I just had to personally come to greet you as soon as possible¡­" The floating young man was Garen who had just left the Dragon King Mountain. After he received the report, he immediately set out to stop the team sent by the White Dragon Mountain.


    He neither had his army nor his underlings with him. It was just him alone, a single dragon, directly confronting the team head on.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.


    Bordo''s face was green, standing beside the other Elder.


    They completely did not expect Garen to have the guts to directly confront the White Dragon Mountain''s team. After all, they had official positions as the representative of the White Dragons and even had the backing of the great Tiamat.


    "Garen!!" He was grinding his teeth as he glared at his opponent. "You are committing a blasphemous sin against the Gods!!"


    "Blasphemy?" Garen laughed. "The great Tiamat does not think that way. Why don''t you try asking Lady Evil Dragon Goddess once more and see what they really think of me?"


    As he spoke, his face started to transform him a human''s face into a dragon''s head. A pair of evil, powerful, strange but deep mutated dragon eyes appeared in front of the two Elders.


    Among the pupils of those dragon eyes, there was even a pair of weird eyeballs.


    Just from looking at it, the two Level Nine Elders had chills sent through their entire body.


    "You!! ¡­" Bordo''s entire body was shivering. He was pointing his finger at Garen trying to say something, but he noticed that he did not even have the power to open his mouth. His entire body''s power was slowly draining away.


    Bzzt bzzt bzzt!


    A rune with a high-level protective energy field started flashing up on his body, but it had no effect. That gaze was so evil that even the Semi-Divine Weapon, the Light of Luiz, was destroyed immediately. Bordo''s body started to melt like a lighted candle. His skin, hair, muscles all started to melt dripping in a gooey liquid.


    The other Elder was in the same predicament. The two Level Nine Elder Dragons did not even have the basic strength to return to their original forms, all they could do was stare blankly as they melt away, disappearing from this world.


    "How weak," Garen said in a mocking tone. "White Dragon Mountain had long forgotten its former glory. The White Dragon Mountain now is completely rotten¡­ don''t you think so, Your Excellency, the Great Tiamat."


    He turned around and looked at the figure to his left.


    A thin plain-looking White Dragon Guard had been standing there since an unknown period of time ago. Hearing the query, this Dragon Guard let out a sharp and ghastly laugh.


    "How interesting¡­ from the start, I had already expected that, if it was not that King''s incarnation confronting us, then it would be those invaders from the Void. Looking at this scene now, I guessed I was right¡­"


    "Too bad you came too late," Garen narrowed his eyes, his tone remained casual.


    "Late? No, no, no¡­ it''s not too late," the Dragon Guard raised his head. He had a human''s body but its face somehow had five different shrunken human faces of different colors on it. With so many tiny faces embedded on his head, it gave off an eerie but holy feeling.


    "Even if this is just a temporary projection, if I wanted to defeat a Level Twelve small fry I would still be able to do it."


    "Is that so?" Garen let out a weird grin.


    A ring of formless distortion started being emitted from his body naturally, completely enveloping Tiamat within it.


    Garen only stared silently at his opponent. His latent ability of Spiritual Poison naturally followed his gaze and slowly moved towards its target.


    Whoosh!!


    The ten eyes on Tiamat all blinked at once, both their gaze instantly locked onto each other. It seemed like a blurry energy field burst open in the air, a large number of items and rubbish in the middle started being blown in all directions.


    The Spiritual Poison and Tiamat''s Evil Eye attack collided with each other. Garen dodged slightly, his latent ability was pushed back. His Spiritual Poison had been canceled, and at the same time, Tiamat''s Evil Eye attack landed on the metal wall behind Garen, burning dozens of small holes onto it.


    Tiamat let out an evil laugh, his body lunging towards Garen but briefly staggered.


    "Poison?" He was stunned.


    His natural Poison Region took effect.


    Garen laughed loudly as he charged forward.


    ''Natural Poison Territory: Anyone with Vitality Points below 50 will automatically enter an unconscious state, below 100 have a chance to be weakened (Lowered 1 to 4 Levels), Vitality Points above 130 will be immune to this effect."


    Obviously, the projection that Tiamat placed onto a mere Dragon Guard''s body did not have 100 Vitality Points.


    His opponent''s aura rapidly fell.


    Hmph!


    Tiamat tensed his body up, a golden halo started to emit from his body.


    ''Warning! Warning! You have entered a Holy Aura Territory. Vitality levels being calibrated¡­ Immunity chance 34%. If you fail to achieve immunity, the negative effects will be that your level is lowered by two levels. Holy Aura Territory is already in effect."


    Garen had not sensed it, but his brain''s willpower had already sent out an alert rapidly.


    "Holy Aura?" He suddenly felt his entire body turn heavy, almost as if he was chained with unimaginably heavy shackles. The Draconic Aura and the Arcane Art energy in this body both lowered by two levels and his overall attributes lowered by thirty points on average.


    Getting shivers down his spine, Garen could no longer afford to underestimate his opponent.


    The heavy Hoy Aura was restraining him, causing his speed to be lowered by a whole lot.


    The two did not transform back into their dragon forms but instead charged directly at each other.


    Once Garen made contact, he immediately started using all his close-quarter combat moves, various Secret Technique moves, and killing moves. With the support of an immense power, a tremendous might burst out from his body.


    As a Five-Headed Dragon, even if Tiamat was using an incarnation, he would still have nearly five times the Stat Points of a dragon of the same level. With the increased power of Garen''s moves, the two clashed head-on.


    After a brief exchange, the two got blown back. Garen''s chest seemed to have signs of blood. His Strength Stat seemed to be far behind Tiamat''s projection. His opponent''s Strength seemed to be already near two hundred points!!


    After calming down, Garen lenedt power from the fortress walls and kicked hard. With a loud boom, the impact created a huge hole. His entire body started to twist around, the surrounding air immediately had its temperature lowered.


    His mouth opened wide.


    Whooo! A huge Frost Dragon Breath took shape as a cone and sprayed towards Tiamat.


    "Fool!" Before Tiamat even finished, he felt his entire body tensing up. An excessively intense feeling of danger rushed through his body.


    Immediately, he leaped away from where he was standing.


    Boom!!


    A huge metal beam from the fortress was raised up by a figure and violently slammed down onto the position he was standing just moments ago. The fortress behind had a huge hole broken through it, revealing the snowy scenery outside. The metal beam that was dozens of meters long got flung out like a brick, disappearing afar after a moment.


    A huge burly man with unmeasurable strength appeared in front of Tiamat.


    "Kill him!"


    Garen''s voice sounded from nearby.


    With a slight smile, the muscles throughout the man''s body started to expand. On his back, seven black-red Death Start Nodes slowly lit up.

 1357 Release 1

    Almost as if he sensed something was wrong, all of Tiamat''s eyes narrowed as he slowly jumped backwards.


    When compared to the man in front of him, his current body was definitely worse off when it comes to pure Stats. His opponent seemed to have some special Secret Method to enhance his body. His brute force was not as strong as his opponent, and all his other abilities had been temporarily suppressed by Garen. This caused his originally confident self to start wanting to retreat from his hunting mission.


    Boom!!


    Not even giving him any time to think, the size of the man in front of him had already expanded three times. He went from a normal human''s size to that of half a fully matured White Dragon.


    Roar!! The man let out an explosive battle cry as he shoved all ten of his fingers into the ground. Then, with a strong tug, the entire metal flooring had been bent and broken, being tossed straight towards Tamat.


    "Evil Dragon''s Sight." Tiamat''s ten eyes focused onto the metal board at the same time. Suddenly, a strong energy field was unleashed, stopping the metal board.


    However, the energy field that was still sufficient last time barely lasted two seconds this time. With the energy field collapsed, the metal board continued to hurl towards him.


    Bam!!


    Tiamat instantly turned around and left his original position. Looking back, he saw that the position he was standing in had a huge hole in it.


    Furthermore, the impact has caused the spherical fortress to roll slightly towards the same direction.


    "Meteorology!"


    Whoosh¡­ With a strange cold breeze, more than ten translucent ice-crystal spears appeared behind him, silently flying towards his back at high speeds and agility, almost as if they were wielded by invisible creatures.


    "Rainbow Jets." Tiamat''s entire body suddenly emitted an intense and blinding rainbow light. Within the blinding lights, there were five rainbow colored dragon heads created from Divine Power mixed in. They furiously knocked off the spears behind him like a whip.


    "Roar!" Out of nowhere, Tiamat opened his mouth and roared in Garen''s direction.


    Boom!!


    A five-colored Draconic Aura burst out from his mouth. Lightning, flames, cold air, acidity and poison, five fearsomely powerful Draconic Auras mixed together, creating a typhoon-like attack flying towards Garen.


    Seven Lives jumped up high and attempted to punch through the Draconic Aura but to no avail. The terrifying Draconic Aura instantly decimated the muscles in his body, Even if he had twice the strength and fitness of Garen''s original body, but when facing an attack infused with Divine Souls, he would still be instantly destroyed.


    The only thing Seven Lives could manage to do was to delay the speed of the Draconic Aura ever so slightly, and at the same time mildly weakening the Draconic Aura''s power.


    Garen had already sensed it the instance the Draconic Aura was fired. He rapidly changed his position, only to find that this Draconic Aura typhoon seemed to have homing capabilities. At that point, he was completely shocked.


    Not having enough time to hide, Garen opened his eyes wide. Two white light rays shot out from his eyes like a streak of lightning, directly flying towards the Draconic Aura Typhoon.


    "Elemental Protection!" Using his very short buffer time, he started chanting a high-leveled spell chant.


    A rainbow-colored barrier immediately erected in front of him, then a second one, and a third one. This type of adapted Level Nine Spell, Elemental Protection, was something that Garen memorized just to counter Tiamat. With the high calculation and processing power of his brain''s willpower, along with his high level of intelligence, these Level Nine spells would only take him a few days to completely analyze.


    Ever since the day he broke Tiamat''s Divine Art crystal, Garen already started making preparations against every probable Divine Soul assaults and attacks. Even if Tiamat was only a God with a weaker Divine Power, even if he''s highly unlikely to personally attack him.


    Out of the attacks he prepared for, the most famous of it was precisely the five different Draconic Auras that Tiamat shoots out with his five-colored dragon head.


    Now his efforts had finally paid off!


    Garen continuously erected five layers of elemental barriers, almost like a stack of rainbow colored glass blocking his front.


    Furthermore, once the Poisonous Eye was unleashed, it instantly hit the center of the five-colored Draconic Aura, silently piercing it, shooting towards Tiamat''s projection with absolute precision.


    It was an instant counterattack on his part.


    The Draconic Aura typhoon finally struck. The five layers of Level Nine protection rapidly got shattered. However, the Draconic Aura also started to weaken, its speed also decreasing.


    Taking the opportunity, Garen stomped down. His near two hundred points of agility instantly causing a terrifying explosive effect.


    Even if he was being suppressed by the Holy Aura, at that moment he still disappeared like a ray of light, making it seem impossible for anyone to ever catch him.


    This was a supernatural phenomenon that occurs when one''s agility reaches a certain degree, Instantaneous Movement.


    Garen''s silhouette immediately appeared next to Tiamat, violently grabbing on to his opponents arm. In that instance, he casted a spell.


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    A transparent energy wave rippled through Tiamat''s body, making him unable to move.


    Bam!


    "You!!! ¡­" Tiamat was in shock. He did not expect Garen''s speed to be able to get past his senses, instantaneously moving over.


    With a raise of his hand, a bunch of black rays burst out from his hand.


    These rays were all Level Nine Wither Rays. These type of rays was strengthened from a medium-level Weakening Ray. Every one of these rays dealt direct damage to the soul. As compared to Disintegrate which focuses on the material decomposition, this focuses directly on one''s soul.


    For an average Level Nine Spell, even a top Level Fifteen Wizard could only unleash them one by one. At best, they would implement some unique improvements, and through strong spiritual power and careful magical energy manipulation, to increase the power of their spells slightly.


    However, it still could not release a whole bunch like this.


    It looks like Tiamat had also made specific countermeasures to defeat Garen.


    The bunch of black rays twisted around turning into the shape of a tilde and surrounding Garen from all angles. Due to the short distance and the fact that these rays travel at light speed, there was no way of dodging it.


    At the same time, Garen''s hand was also holding Tiamat down in place, not letting him dodge. The rays of the Poisonous Eye pierced through the five-colored Draconic Aura and landed on his body.


    Hiss¡­


    A strong sound of corrosion could be heard.


    All of Tiamat''s eyes suddenly opened wide.


    "This is!! Corrosive Divinity??" A golden Divine Power armor appeared over his body, but the gold color of it was rapidly fading away.


    After all, this was only a projection, to be able to bring so much Divine Power with him was already a miracle. He had already exhausted most of it. However, what Tiamat did not expect was Garen''s stellar performance in every aspect. From Supernatural Instantaneous Movement to Poisonous Eye, a powerful incarnation that suddenly appeared, and even his natural latent Poison Region and Spiritual Poison. With all of these abilities added together, he was completely unlike any other Level Twelve existence Tiamat has ever seen. To say that he was a Level Fifteen would even be an underestimation!!!


    "Just you wait!!!" He opened his mouth to say one last sentence, before instantly melting away, turning into a grey-white pus.


    A golden dot of light flew up from the pus and flew towards the broken area of the fortress.


    However, it was immediately caught between Garen''s hands before it could fly off.


    His face was in an abnormal shade of red. Although this battle was quite short, he still used up almost all of his trump cards.


    The explosive combination of Supernatural Instantaneous Movement and Poisonous Eye was so powerful that even he himself was shocked. However, in order to prevent Tiamat from dodging the Poisonous Eye, he paid a hefty price.


    At least more than twenty Withering Rays all landed on him


    Even if his vitality was over two hundred, when facing against these types of top Level Nine rays imbued with Divine Power, at that point he felt as if his entire body was dehydrated. His skin, muscles and bones could visibly be seen to be rapidly weakening and withering away.


    Quickly stuffing the golden light into his mouth, Garen directly flew off from the hole and disappearing into the snowy sky, completely ignoring the White Dragon Guards who came over to check on the situation.


    ******


    The Divinity was flying around within Garen''s dark soul space.


    Within this tiny crystal ball-like golden sphere, a small dragon with five colored dragon heads could be seen. That was Tiamat''s original body''s image. This Evil Dragon Goddess with five dragon heads was repeatedly letting out loud roars.


    "It''s useless."


    At the center of the soul space, a huge tower-like pillar transmitted Garen''s voice.


    The pillar was made of layers and layers of Soul Rings, at the bottom of it was five colorless transparent Soul Rings, and then above it was red, orange, then red again.


    "If it was your incarnation, maybe I would be left with no other choice but to escape. However, that was only a mere projection." Garen''s fae appeared on the surface of the Soul Ring Pillar.


    Countless colorless and transparent tentacles dangled out from the Soul Ring Pillar, furiously grabbing the Divinity with no place to hide. With a tug, the golden sphere Divinity directly flew into the Soul Ring Pillar and immediately got swallowed.


    Although Garen was had already used his maximum concentration, but he still underestimated the tremendous amount of messages taken from a Divine Soul''s projections. It was not only just the messages from the Divinity''s original body, but it also carried a lot of information and knowledge that Tiamat had transmitted over to this projection.


    This was not just a simple destruction, but Garen was using the Hellfrost Peacock Queen''s strong Devourer ability, directly attempting to devour his opponent.


    The tremendous amount of messages started to turn into countless golden light spots in Garen''s Soul Ring Pillar. They gather together and scatter about, sometimes exploding like golden fireworks, and other times looking thin as if they were fading away.


    A Void Shadow of a small dragon with five colored dragon heads and a fierce white peacock were fighting inside the Soul Ring Pillar


    When they first started, it seemed to be a tie. However, as time passed on, the five-colored dragon did not have any means of replenishing its strength, whereas the Hellfrost Peacock had an unlimited supply of Soul Power. Suddenly, the gap between the two had widened.


    After an unknown amount of time, the white peacock finally bit down on the five-colored dragon''s main dragon head''s neck, knocking him to the ground.


    Bam!!


    Garen slowly opened his eyes, he was lying on an icy white plains.


    A thick layer of snow had already gathered on top of his body, almost completely burying him.


    He struggled slightly as he stood up. There were no creatures in the surrounding area. When he was groggily flying about just now, he did not pick a direction, but rather he was just headed towards where he felt was the safest.


    He did not even remember how far he flew.


    His entire body''s skin and muscles felt like a dried up corpse, there was no signs of water. His human form self had already started to turn black all over. With a flick of his finger, he created a water mirror and looked at his appearance.


    He literally looked like skin and bones, it was a pitiful sight.


    "Looks no different from a mummy¡­" Garen dispersed the water mirror.


    He immediately checked his own status via the Status Pane.


    ''Garen - Strength 210(34), Agility 210(22), Vitality 210(57), Intelligence 210(101). Potential 2829%. Soul Limit 210.


    Seven Soul Rings: Five colorless, red, orange.


    Level 10 Draconic Aura. Level 10 Arcane Arts.


    Void Original Opus - 100%. Hind legs - Evil Soldier, Wings - Seven Lives, Tail - Demonic Book.


    Combined evaluation - Near Demigod. Title - Winter Sigh.


    Status - Extremely weak, Tiamat''s Toxic Woven Flames (Damaged by Tiamat Draconic Goddess'' Divine Power. You will receive a weakened version of the Five-Colored Elemental Draconic Aura Damage once every noon.)''


    "How terrible¡­" Garen self-deprecated, but the next line did change his mood for the better.


    On the Skill Pane, a completely new item had emerged.


    Right at his original Identity Pane, in front of the "Void Pursuer", a golden icon appeared.


    ''Potential Quality - Divinity Creature, Void Pursuer.''


    Garen gazed onto the "Divinity Creature" icon. Suddenly a gigantic flow of messages directly surged into his brain.


    ''Devouring Tiamat''s Divinity success, attained special Divinity Creature typing.''


    Below it, a list of special traits Divinity Creatures have was shown. All of them were icons for various activated abilities.


    Listed first was ''Frost Immunity'', ''Enhance Breath'', ''Elemental Resistance'', and ''Enhanced Defense''. These four new abilities were the main ones. The remaining abilities were just some simple and practical spells like, summoning an Ice Element every day (Level equivalent to own level minus 2), using Cold Winter Weather three times every day (adapted Meteorology spell), Ice and Snow Hardening, Hail Spell, Eye of Frost, etc.

 Chapter 1358 - Release 2

    Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation


    However, these types of spells were not as useful as the first four passive abilities.


    Frost Immunity: Garen would be immune to all frost type attacks, including a part of Divine Power¡¯s damage.


    Enhanced Breath: Breath which was originally peaked at Level Nine, had been enhanced to Level Thirteen due to the Divinity¡¯s modification.


    Elemental Resistance: An increase of 10% resistance towards the four elemental attacks, namely Earth, Water, Wind and Fire type. In addition to Garen¡¯s 10% resistance since he was a Dragon, he now had a very impressive twenty percent resistance.


    Lastly, the Enhanced Defense was his core skill.


    Enhanced Defense: Divine Creatures shall gain 20 points of defense (currently 50). Negate Divine Power damage by 10%.


    This was an overpowered effect as it meant that any normal physical attack which had the strength less than fifty points would be nullified by Garen. He, who already had a powerful physical characteristic that could nullify all attacks from low-level weapons had this ability further enhanced.


    Warriors with fifty points of strength were equivalent to the human¡¯s high-ranking Knights. This meant that no one would be able to damage Garen¡¯s scale without a weapon with a unique attribute, regardless if it was the sharpest weapon in the world. This had yet to consider injuring the dragon body under its scales.


    In simple terms, Garen was completely immune towards a forefront attack.


    Furthermore, with Divine Power being nullified by 10%, it meant that Garen would be able to reduce an incoming Divine Power attack by 10%.


    This was the power and special characteristic of being a Divine Creature.


    Garen had officially entered the realm of Demigod.


    The key difference between a Demigod and a typical living being was the immunity, resistance and the level of defense they possessed.


    In overall comparison to a Human Warrior, he who was in a Demigod state would obtain a bunch of spells, a variety of resistances and unique enhancement in his attacks at the same time.


    Although there was not much of an improvement in terms of his attributes and Life Force, his lifespan had increased tremendously.


    Garen stood on the snowy ground as he reached out his hand. He felt that he could freely control the flow of the heavy snowstorm as if he had total control of the weather with this spell.


    This spell would not exhaust his Spell Slot. He did not use a lot of his Spell Slots to begin with as he relied on his melee attacks to kill his enemies.


    It was very important for weak beings to save up these Spell Slots but it did not matter to Garen at all as he was a powerful Dragon.


    Perhaps he would be able to escape from the grasp of the Spider Web Spell by just wiggling his toenail. The Lower to Middle-Level Spell Slot was meaningless to him other than making his life a little bit more convenient.


    ¡°I need to recover my physical condition quickly¡­¡± Garen frowned. It was extremely dangerous for a Dragon to not have the power to protect itself in this chaotic era. Furthermore, Tiamat would be able to locate him at any given moment via the Prophecy Spell.


    Garen guessed that the reason he was able to devour the Divinity this fast was not because he was decrypting the Divinity but to devour it completely with his Devour Ability. Naturally, the efficiency of the process was much better. Analogically speaking, it was just like using a handphone or taking it apart and researching it thoroughly. There was a difference between the two.


    Most of the creatures were the user who used the phone directly whereas Garen was the other type. It played the main role as he had finished analyzing it thoroughly, he would be able to determine more similar Divinity characteristics from a Divinity. As long as he had enough computing power and storage space, he would eventually have the full picture of the Divinity Persona¡¯s structure.


    In other words, if Garen were to study the Corrosive Divinity, he would be able to branch out and discover the Death Corrosive Divine Persona and even the Decaying Divine Persona. If he were to analyze the Time Divinity, he would be able to structure the Aging Divine Persona and so on.


    The nature of Divinity was ultimately the realization of the universal law from a living creature. It was the natural evolution of the living flesh and the cells¡¯ will to understand the law of nature.


    ¡°The fastest way to recover my body is obviously devouring more stuff¡­¡± Garen looked around. In theory, the Devouring Ability from the Hellfrost Peacock Queen could convert anything into energy resources. However, items such as snowy water and normal stones would not be able to recover one percent of his body strength even if he were to devour a hundred million tons of them. After all, their characteristics were different and it would require a long time to digest them as well. Furthermore, these substances required less energy to devour as well.


    Naturally, the best way to replenish his life force was to devour things which had a Life Force as well.


    Garen set his sight onto a snowy hill nearby.


    He then walked towards the snowy hill.


    He soon arrived in a forest and a few Snow Wolves ran far away as they sensed his presence.


    Garen ignored them as he reached out his hand and placed them onto a huge tree.


    The tree which was covered in the white snow could be seen wilting with the naked eye. The snow started dropping down to the ground as the big tree which was as thick as a human¡¯s hug quickly arched down. Like an old human, it turned pale as its bark which was rich in water instantly turned rough and wilted as it became a black old tree bark.


    On the other hand, Garen¡¯s complexion seemed to have improved slightly.


    ¡°It¡¯s unfortunate that I¡¯ve only devoured a small amount of pure Divinity. Perhaps the effect will be much better if it were the Divinity with quality.¡±


    Garen quickly continued to the next tree as he finished absorbing the first tree.


    As time passed, Garen soon finished absorbing the entire snowy forest. The skin and muscles on his body started to fill up and he at least did not look wilted anymore.


    Garen moved both of his hands.


    ¡°This is too slow¡­ Demonic Book!¡±


    The space behind him distorted slightly as a fully black demon with a small violin in his hand appeared.


    The man looked cold and handsome as his eyes gave off a faint gold luster.


    ¡°Master, what¡¯s your order?¡±


    He bowed down elegantly.


    ¡°I want to recover as fast as possible and I need to at least devour a huge amount of living beings. Since my strength is not up to par yet, I¡¯ll let you handle this,¡± said Garen with a stern face.


    ¡°No problem¡­¡± The Demonic Book smiled as he gently picked up the small violin in his hand and placed the bow onto the string.


    He slowly shut his eyes as if he was engrossed into the environment.


    Sizzle¡­!


    Suddenly, a huge and sharp soundwave spread across the snowy land with him as the epicenter.


    A powerful and seductive melody spread across the land along with the snowy wind. There were distorted faces flowing together with the wind as they spread in all directions.


    The Holy Phoenix Demonic Book¡¯s expertise was not in killing but an unparalleled seduction and hypnotism.


    Soon, the living beings around the snowy land which heard the melody had their eyes turned red. They then walked towards the source of the melody as if their consciousness were completely buried.


    As they walked slowly towards the source of the melody, Garen could feel hundreds of Life Force approaching him which were linked like a spider web. There were even dozens of humans, elves and dwarfs among them.


    It felt incredibly intriguing as if he was at the center of all lives. These Life Forces kept approaching him without any sign of stopping soon.


    Garen could not help but to give off an ecstatic cry.


    **********


    Far away at the east of the Primary Plane.


    At the sky above the mountain range filled with yellow rocks.


    Two golden doors slowly appeared. The doors opened up and two Majestic Gods glowing in bright gold came out from them. One of them had a pair of wings, clad in armor and had a long sword in his hand whereas the other had a Crystal Crown on his head and white fiery fire burning at the bottom of his feet.


    During the evening hours, the blood red sun gradually set below the horizon as the yellow mountain range started to tremble.


    ¡°Fire of the Elves? You dare to come again even though I didn¡¯t eat you up last time?¡± A humongous snake head slowly appeared between the mountain range. It spitted out the rocks out of its mouth as it stared ill-intently at the God who had fires at the bottom of his feet.


    ¡°Leaving the Heavens shall be your greatest remorse.¡± The Huge Rock Snake started smiling like a villain.


    ¡°Greatest remorse?¡± The Fire of the Elves rubbed the crack on the Crystal Crown as his gaze was filled with killing intent.


    ¡°King of the Rocks, today is the day you die!¡±


    A white gold wave-shaped dagger appeared in his hand out of the blue as he gently threw the dagger to the front. Suddenly, the sky turned dimmed as the sun was distorted, releasing a minute amount of gold fire from its center as it flew towards their direction at incredible speed.


    ¡°The Sun God¡¯s Light!!¡± The Huge Rock Snake¡¯s expression turned for the worse as it tried to dig beneath the ground to escape. However, it was too late.


    A thin layer of Golden Light had blocked his path, preventing him from drilling further in. It was a Divine Power Barrier unique only to the Higher God, God of the Sun. The Fire of the Elves had even taken out the God of the Sun¡¯s Divine Weapon. Was not he just a Middle God!!?


    ¡°To cause chaos upon the True Soul. Today is the day the war among the Gods starts!!¡± The Fire of the Elves looked like a savage as he nodded towards another God before both of them flew down.


    In an instant, the golden light crashed onto the rocks, turning them into dusts. The dusts had covered the entire sky within tens of kilometers in diameter around the area.


    **********


    In the Void Temple.


    ¡°The King of the Rocks has fallen?!!¡±


    The Void Temple was a huge metal vortex and was located at the center of a galaxy. There were countless of metallic rings structured similar to of a galaxy as it rotated slowly. Among them were hundreds of billions of metallic planets rotating slowly, forming into solar system of different sizes.


    There was a pond the size of a planet at the core of the metallic galaxy and the source of the voice was the pond.


    The pond was filled with silver liquid and ripples were constantly generated due to its viscosity.


    ¡°The opponent has started to make their moves¡­ It¡¯s the God of the Sun that had attacked but that¡¯s fine.¡± Another female voice could be heard. ¡°This will happen sooner or later.¡±


    ¡°Although the beings who had entered the region would improve greatly within a short amount of time, it bears a very huge risk as well. The risks and gains balance up very well.¡± A voice of an old man chimed in.


    ¡°We can¡¯t just do nothing since they¡¯ve already initiated,¡± said the man who started the conversation coldly.


    ¡°The Mother Stream Alliance had already sent their Eye of the Slaughter. We should officially make our move as well¡­¡±


    A man that was covered in silver metal slowly came out from the silver pond. His body was stabbed with dozens of weapons. These weapons were either rusted or glowing with silver and gold light. There was also a white, slanted bone dagger pierced through the top of his skull. As the sharp dagger was pulled out from his head, the white brain plasma solidified onto the sharp dagger.


    This man was already considered dead and yet it flew out of the pond as if he was alive.


    He opened up his hand as a small solar system started rotating on his palm.


    ¡°Lost. Are you trying to release that thing?!¡± The woman¡¯s tone from one side sounded rather uncomfortable.


    ¡°In this destructive war without compromise where there is no right or wrong. Is there anything more terrifying than this?¡± The Fallen True Soul started smiling gently.


    The remaining True Souls and Demon Lords remained silent.


    ¡°God Fehra is nothing. The real trouble right now is the Abyss. That place is hell,¡± said the Fallen True Soul calmly. ¡°The Child of Hell has appeared. Soon he shall incarnate into a being that could eliminate all beings. I¡¯ve attempted to get in touch with the Abyss but I was rejected. This made me feel extremely uneasy.¡±


    ¡°The Abyss is trying to consume our souls. He¡¯s trying to understand the secret rules of our world. I wasn¡¯t able to stop it but nothing will not come out without paying a price for messing me around¡­!¡± The Fallen True Soul¡¯s eyes turned black as he stared at the solar system in his hand.

 Chapter 1359 - Massacre and Divinity 1

    Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation


    At the northern region of the Deladia Empire, Corolla City.


    Ding Dang Ding Ding Dang Dang~


    The Red Horse Carriage rang its bell as it moved forward on the main street at the city center. The driver was an old man with a white beard and had a black captain¡¯s hat on his head. He dressed up like a like a pirate and laughed like one as he looked at the excited crowd of kids on both sides of his carriage.


    He received a lot of hustles and bustles from both sides as there were people shouting out to buy their snacks, cheering from the people and even the music playing from the poets. The crowds squirmed among themselves on the busy street, hence his carriage had no choice but to slow down to prevent himself from crashing into the passersby.


    Boom boom boom!


    Colorful streamers were shot up into the sky. Among the streamers, colorful powders were mixed among them and they dyed the whole area in colors as it rained down.


    The mistresses were holding their children by their hand as they stood beside the clown who was selling candies.


    The magicians and acrobatic gnomes stood high up at both sides of the street as they performed their beautiful arts. The youngsters who were out shopping by the streets applauded as they watched their performance.


    The morning sunlight showered the entire city, painting it with a layer of faint gold.


    The Guardians would occasionally patrol on the streets and one could vaguely see the Wizard from the northern region in their cloaks among them. These people were wearing a full body grey robe. They were either seen lowering their heads and kept quiet most of the time or speaking to their acquaintances softly, giving off a rather quiet and mysterious vibe.


    The people around them would stare them in awe whenever they passed by them.


    ¡°There has been an increased amount of Void Creatures lately¡­¡± The Wizard in the patrolling team sighed.


    ¡°Right. I¡¯ve received three reports just two days ago and all of them were reports of Void Creatures. None of them has yet to be solved and the unease within the city has started to spread.¡± The captain of the guardian¡¯s expression was helpless. ¡°The head captain has received an order from his superior that we need to fortify our defenses. However, how are we supposed to do that with the amount of manpower we have right now? It¡¯s the Usha Festival right now. It¡¯s an annual carnival festival enjoyed by all and we¡¯re lacking the manpower to begin with.¡±


    ¡°Afterall, we don¡¯t really belong to the authentic Deladia Empire where the higher management belongs to the White Dragon Mountain. The issues regarding the Void Creatures have been reported to them but we have yet to receive a response from them. It¡¯s obvious that they are lacking manpower,¡± responded the Wizard softly.


    ¡°Hey, there¡¯s someone performing a violin solo over there.¡± The female guardian seemed interested as she rushed towards the tall stage nearby.


    The remaining patrol members had no choice but to follow along as well.


    Far away above the stage, they could vaguely see a poet in a black cloak with a small violin. He was just about to place his bow onto the string and seemed to have just about to start his performance.


    ¡°For thousands of years, Corolla has been the border city under the direct order of the White Dragon Mountain. We have all of the White Dragon¡¯s history as they developed until this very day. This city is the city of culture and art of Deladia,¡± narrated the man in black cloak softly with a metallic voice.


    ¡°It¡¯s very fortunate for me to arrive here as I am able to see the peace and prosperity in this city. I wish to give you a melody, my own piece of melody with my utmost sincerity¡­¡±


    ¡°Dream¡­ This melody¡¯s name is called dream¡­¡± The black cloak started to pull his bow slowly.


    The beautiful, slender, silk-like melody from the violin spread across the busy street. The melody was not overwhelmed by the other noise as it was extremely clear.


    There was not much of a crowd below the stage before he started. However once he did, people started to gather to listen to and enjoy his performance.


    As time slowly passed, the melody became clearer and louder. The crowd started to flood in and even a few patrols were firmly mesmerized by the beautiful and peaceful melody.


    Then, the Wizard jolted as he came back to his senses.


    ¡°What happened? Did I just get pulled in by the melody?¡± He did not even like music and yet he became cold and quiet as if the melody had used the most beautiful moonlight and bathed him equally on his body, causing him to quietly calm down.


    He looked around and realized that something was off. It was not just him as even the team captain, Aswan who was a Level Three had turned quiet as well. He was a rough man who hated music and he had become quiet because of this melody.


    ¡°That¡¯s not right! There¡¯s something off about this music!¡± The Wizard was alerted as he pinched his members who were beside him. However, there was no reaction at all. What was supposed to cause a hugely painful and screaming reaction did not occur at this very moment. They did not even frown when they were pinched.


    The melody spread further and wider¡­


    The black cloak on the stage started to levitate. He flew higher and higher as he gently landed on the highest bell tower nearby.


    He remained quiet as he played his violin, as if nothing could disrupt his performance in any way.


    The Wizard tried to scream at the top of his lungs to disrupt this performance but he quickly realized that he could not emit any sound at all.


    He then adjusted his throat in an attempt to fix it but to no avail.


    He was not able to make a single sound at all. In fact, he realized that the background noises that could disrupt the melody had gradually toned down to the point where it could not be heard.


    Then, the performer in black cloak¡¯s eyes gave off a red glow as he started to speed up the rhythm of his melody.


    However, there was not a single sign of spell being activated at all.


    It was just a normal melody and pure music.


    Cling!


    Suddenly, a soft and gentle voice could be heard among the densely packed crowd. A bald middle-aged man had used the cake knife in his hand and stabbed it into his own throat. He looked at the sky, revealing a mournful expression.


    The blood flowed along his palm down to his arms as it dripped to the floor. However, the people around him did not seem to realize what had happened at all. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that none of them cared.


    The melody started to turn sorrowful.


    Cling cling!


    Another two gentle noises could be heard as two people in the crowd used their fruit knives and stabbed it into their throats. They cried as they laid onto their own puddle of blood and yet no one cared.


    The number of people committing suicide gradually increased as they picked up all sorts of sharp objects and stabbed them into their throats. None of them made even a cry before their deaths as they laid quietly on the streets.


    Ten people¡­ Twenty¡­ Fifty¡­ A hundred¡­


    More and more people started to spill their blood as they ended their lves. The streets were then dyed completely in red.


    The Wizard stood among the crowd as he tried his best to not listen to the strange melody. He was born with a lack of concentration, which meant that it was extremely hard for him to focus when he performed a specific task. This was also the reason why he was still a Level Two Wizard. However, this lack of concentration had become the reason why he was still alive.


    Chills were sent down his spine as he looked at his own team captain Aswan unsheathing his sword and cut his own throat. He was still smiling as tears filled up his eyes even as he laid on the ground.


    He tried to stop it but he could not control his body, as if his body was not under his control.


    ¡°What is going on!!??¡± He screamed within himself and yet he could still not change the current situation where his body was paralyzed.


    The number of people committing suicide increased as the blood on the ground merged into a river. A flock of pigeons and other unknown small birds and insects started to revolve around the black cloak performers. Occasionally, they would crash onto the walls and buildings nearby and die from the impact. However, they were not awakened when their own kind passed away as they remained dancing around the performer at high speed.


    ¡°This is the music of death¡­¡± The Wizard could only think of such a sorrowful thought. It was also his last and only thought before he blacked out and became unconscious as he fell onto the ground.


    Within half an hour, the busy Corolla City had turned into a dead city. Fresh blood had covered every corner of the city. All lives, regardless if it was an animal or human had ended their lives by this strange melody.


    Those Void Creatures that had hidden among the crowds did not survive through this disaster as well.


    Cling!


    Finally, the Level Seven City Master took up his own blade and ended his life inside the main office.


    Then, the melody from the Black Cloak had slowly reached to an end.


    He gently played the final note as he put down his small violin. He then looked at the city with ten thousands of population turning into a lifeless city filled with fresh blood.


    ¡°What a beautiful melody¡­¡± A lively young man with his crystal gem-like skin appeared behind the performer.


    He was in a white cloak and his eyes were mysteriously black. The white pupil could be seen in his black pupil and it looked extremely strange.


    ¡°Master, are you satisfied with your meal?¡± The Demonic Book turned around elegantly as he bowed.


    ¡°I¡¯ve fully recovered.¡± Garen nodded satisfactorily. ¡°Fifteen thousand people¡¯s worth of life force. Fifteen thousand souls¡­ The Despair Skull has been fully filled as well.¡±


    He raised his left hand and a few colorful jewels had appeared on the black bracelet on his wrist. They were yellow and red in color and there were a total of five of them.


    ¡°I guess it is faster if we perform a massacre¡­¡± Garen was extremely satisfied as a jewel on the Death Bracelet represented a Soul Seed. Since he had five of these jewels, it meant that these tens of thousands of people¡¯s souls had provided him a total of five Soul Seeds. This was completely different from secretly absorbing the souls in the Abyss.


    He slightly opened his mouth and the five jewels on the bracelet instantly turned into five streams of light as they were absorbed into his mouth.


    Garen then shut his mouth satisfactorily and closed his eyes as he enjoyed his gains.


    Inside the dark Soul Space, he had finally filled up the eight Soul Ring. As he fused in the five Soul Seeds, the Soul Ring was instantly upgraded into a faint red Soul Ring. Then, all there¡¯s left was to increase it to orange color and finally yellow color before he arrived at the Upper-Level Demon Lord Class.


    An Upper-Level Demon Lord at its peak would be able to fight against a Lower God. It was not just an embodiment but an actual God descending to the mortal world.


    Garen gathered the remaining transparent energy in his body on his chest inside of the Enneahedron. A bloodbath worth tens of thousands of lives had allowed Garen to form a grey-black Enneahedron.


    Roar!!!


    An angry dragon roar could be heard far away in the sky.


    ¡°Oh¡­ It¡¯s Tiamat¡¯s power.¡± Garen raised his head and looked up as he revealed a smile. ¡°Unfortunately, she¡¯s one step behind¡­¡±


    Pew!


    Garen and Demonic Book disappeared at the top of the bell tower.


    ******


    The Corolla City, the ancient city under the direct command of the White Dragon Mountain had been massacred. The life of fifteen thousand people including their souls had vanished. They did not enter the Abyss nor hell and not even the Styx or Tiamat Divine Kingdom. All of them had mysteriously vanished.


    As Tiamat did not have any church but a few worshippers and evil priests, practically no one was able to obtain any more clues from her side.


    There were only a few lucky survivors that could describe what had happened then.


    An evil and mysterious performer had hypnotized the entire city. He did not kill any of them. Instead, all of them had committed suicide! Corpses filled all the streets, small and big. Even the Level Seven City master had committed suicide in his own room.


    However, this was a news that was worth paying attention to. The White Dragon Mountain was angered as they sent a huge amount of members to capture a genius White Dragon named Garen. However, all of them were killed by Garen when they engaged in a battle.


    Within half a month, Garen had killed at least thirty Adult White Dragons, Elder Dragons, and Ancient Dragons combined.


    For the next half month, it was not just Corolla City that had suffered as the Rosan City which was seven hundred kilometers away had suffered the same fate.


    This city was not a city under the direct command of the White Dragon Mountain. It was a city belonging to the Black Streak Empire and at the border of the Black Elf Empire. The majority of the city consisted of soldiers and there were twenty-five thousand people died in this massacre.


    The Music of Death had spread across the entire northern region.


    As two big cities were massacred in a row, a huge amount of members from the church gathered together in an attempt to investigate the situation. However, all evidence had without a doubt pointed towards the new Dragon of Disaster, the White Dragon Garen.

 Chapter 1360 - Massacre and Divinity 2

    Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation


    The White Dragon Mountain had requested a hunting order towards the Dragon Clan Alliance as the major churches had sent out their elite forces to work together.


    There was evidence stating that Garen had achieved the peak of mortals, which was Level Fifteen. In fact, Tiamat¡¯s oracle might have suggested that Garen had already obtained the Demigod¡¯s Divinity.


    A Level Fifteen Demigod Powerhouse would be impossible to be chained or killed without a Clone of God or three similarly powerful powerhouses surrounding him.


    However, as the Gods were being suppressed by the Void in the overall situation, the Pantheons were still facing the constant destruction imposed by the three major Void beings. The Eye of the Slaughter seemed to have been revived as he was spreading the Evil Eye Church within the inner region of the Element Plane and he had also swallowed the Big Mistress¡¯ Church in the Abyss.


    The Fallen True Soul seemed to have acted on his own as well as he started to spread something across the Primary Plane.


    The Distortion Demon Master who was the only who knew his place had even started to gather and invading the lands. He had already occupied more than half of the lands in the eastern empires.


    The Pantheons had formed an alliance and sent out a united group of incarnated armies to retaliate against the Distortion Demon Master. Ultimately, the battle reached a stalemate and they had barely stopped the Demon Master¡¯s Void Armies from advancing their invasion.


    Under these circumstances, the Church Pantheon basically did not have the power to deal with Garen. They had no choice but to let the Dragon Clan Alliance to handle the situation.


    The death from the war spread across the world as it covered the sky.


    The True Souls and Demon Masters started to come out from the Distorted Void Crevice. The majority of the True Souls and Demon Masters did not belong to any organization. They were merely here to kill and increase their own strengths.


    These monsters were even more terrifying than the Disaster of Dragons. They killed everything wherever they went as they did not want any witnesses to tell the tale. These massacres were similar to swallowing everything up as even their souls were not spared during the massacres.


    Hence, these had caused a huge discontent from the Abyss and Hell.


    The rumors of the Child of Hell has started to spread across the globe as a solid line of defense that spanned hundreds of kilometers was swiftly formed. This divine defensive line was very effective in preventing the advancement of the Void Creatures. As the Gods joined forces to cast an extremely huge Void Detection Spell and an actual Higher Divine Soul had descended into the mortal realm.


    The God of the Sun, Osiris had brought his Blazing Legion from the Heavens. His Divine Kingdom could be seen through a portal which appeared just behind the divine defensive line. A swarm of Blazing Angels flew out of the entrance as they joined in the intense battle against the Void Creatures.


    Garen, on the other hand, was currently in a district just outside of the divine defensive line, which was located within the swarm of Void Creatures.


    The battle became more chaotic as death and blood spread about. The majority of the people in many cities started to flee. The number of people fleeing from the city grew further as the size of the city increased.


    Many Teleportation Portals appeared on the Primary Plane as the Gods opened up the channels connecting the Upper Inner Plane to the Primary Plane. Countless of Elemental Armies, a variety of legions from different factions, Heavenly Creatures, Hell Creatures, Abyss Armies, and so on gushed out from the portals.


    All of them had joined in the battle against the Void Creatures.


    As Garen was wreaking havoc and searching for the Fragments of the Inspired Soul, the local forces had gained a slight advantage in the battlefield. However, a huge number of lower level citizens were massacred by the Void Creatures, causing a reduction in production as many cultivated lands were left unmanned. Hence, this had caused the gradual disappearance in logistics as well.


    The number of humans was drastically reduced in this chaos and what had replaced them were the main clans from the higher plane. One of them that had become the majority was the armies of different layers from the Abyss and Hell.


    The reincarnation of the Gods, Demon Masters, True Souls, Thane of Hell, and the Thane of Abyss. All of them whose existence only seen in the form of names in the ancient records had started appearing. They appeared in the Primary Plane as they killed each other in the sky, throwing the entire Primary Plane into blood and fire.


    *************


    An incredible huge grey snake¡¯s corpse was floating in the evening sky.


    The snake covered half of the sky. Two bloody sockets were left behind as the eyes had been taken out. Its body was filled with densely packed white thorns and some of these thorns had already snapped in half.


    It was still oozing out black gas around its body and this had frightened other living beings from getting near to its corpse.


    Garen lowered his head as he looked away.


    He quietly avoided the forces that way after him as he arrived at an inconspicuous area.


    It was a coastline by the south.


    A huge battle had just occurred here recently and that huge snake corpse which had covered half of the entire sky was the corpse of the True Soul which had fallen here. Its corpse was still oozing out a horrifying deadly aura even though it was dead for dozens of days. Any living being which had been infected by it would immediately grow old and die.


    Garen strolled about alone by the port of the completely silent Crystal City.


    This city was already dead as it was covered by the auras of True Souls and Gods during their battles here. All beings of Level Eight and below were instantly killed.


    ¡°Two Demon Masters and one True Soul had fallen here. Naturally, our battle result is glorious as well since we¡¯ve managed to kill five Divine Souls and one of them was a Middle God.¡± A voice of a young woman appeared beside Garen¡¯s ears. ¡°We¡¯re responsible in cleaning up the aftermath. The Soul Fragments you¡¯re searching fall does not lie here and even if it does, it has already been taken as well. However, this is the best place to obtain the inspiration of the Death and Decaying Divinity as the Divine Souls, True Souls, and Demon Masters who had fallen here are related to the two Divinities.¡±


    ¡°Thanks.¡± Garen nodded. The one who spoke to him was one of the Demon Masters of the Mother Stream Alliance responsible in this region. He found out about this place and purposely came here in hope to obtain some gains as he had received intel from the Snake Princess.


    He had massacred over fifty thousand lives. Garen¡¯s reputation had spread across the entire northern region as he became one of the strongest Demon Masters. Although he was still not the strongest, he was the most discreet when it came to killing. His melody of massacre did not contain any signs of spell as he would be able to force countless of people to commit suicide purely by sound hypnosis.


    This was the main reason he became notorious.


    ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll mind my own business and you should as well,¡± Garen replied softly.


    ¡°It¡¯s nothing. I should be thanking you for giving me more work.¡± The woman started to laugh softly as her voice gradually faded.


    At the port of the Crystal City, the most famous landmark building was the gigantic glass tower located at the center of the port.


    It was the Wizard Tower that controlled the entire city¡¯s central region, the Crystal Tower. It was managed by the City Master who was a Level Fifteen Great Arcanist.


    Garen looked over at the Crystal Tower which looked like a broken wooden stick as the top half had already fallen onto the abandoned buildings beside it.


    It looked like it was broken beyond repair.


    It was also the place where the presence of Divinity was the strongest.


    He blinked his eyes.


    ¡°Let¡¯s do it.¡±


    ¡®Beginning to scan for traces of Divine Power¡­¡± His consciousness had finally able to create an effect towards the external surrounding.


    Its sensation surpassed Garen¡¯s by dozens of magnitude as it utilized Garen¡¯s current sensation and response towards the traces of spells.


    It was able to quickly find any clues no matter how subtle it was.


    Garen walked slowly towards the Crystal Tower in this ruins.


    Both sides were filled with the lifeless white buildings which the majority of them had spired at the very top. The body of the buildings was filled with dome-shaped windows and the streets beside them were filled with the wilted corpses, shirts, broken stone or copper sculptures and so on.


    As he walked past a pond, he could see it was polluted with black and rancid fluid. The birds which had died and floated in the pond did not have any maggots or flies feasting on their carcasses.


    ¡®Traces of Death Divinity has been detected¡­ Divinity Radiation Level 11%¡­ 15%¡­¡¯


    Garen stopped moving as he pondered for a while before moving on.


    ¡®Radiation is increasing¡­ 21%¡­ 27%¡­ 30%.¡±


    Garen halted once more. He raised his hands and he could see traces of his skin wilting. What was originally a well-stacked skin had started to wrinkle.


    ¡°What powerful energy¡­ To be able to affect me in such a huge manner even when the battle has ended long ago. It is truly a battle of the True Soul Level.¡± Garen gasped.


    ¡°This place should be able to increase my deconstruction of the Decaying Divinity.¡± Garen sat on his knees.


    He sat quietly as he felt the remaining residue of the energy and its aura.


    His brain then started to compute at high speed.


    Garen¡¯s Soul Limit had already reached two hundred and sixty points. The Despair Skull had given him Potential Points as it absorbed the souls whereas the Death Bracelet had absorbed the fragments while providing him Soul Seeds and Soul Energy.


    Both were able to bring out the best in each other.


    The first thing Garen increased was his Intelligence as it was the key in his brain¡¯s computing power. Two hundred and sixty points worth of Intelligence would provide him an incredible fast computing power.


    The deconstruction of the Decaying Divinity had reached the critical stage. If he were to succeed, he would be able to fully understand the root of decomposition and construct a Divine Persona based on the decomposition.


    ¡°Perhaps the other Demon Masters have their ways in dissecting this issue, they definitely don¡¯t have the computing ability that is as advanced as mine. My computing power is countless times faster than theirs and even I need such a long time to barely able to deconstruct a rather reclusive Divinity. If it were them¡­¡± Garen¡¯s method was completely unique and inimitable.


    He loosened up and emptied his mind as he focused his energy on his computing power.


    ¡°What a chaotic era¡­¡±


    Garen gave off a gentle sigh as the Enneahedron in front of his chest shattered, forming into pure energy that had entered his brain.


    It was one of the ways to use the Enneahedron. This pure energy could be used to evolve or increase any aspect of his body, including computing power.


    The energy of fifty thousand living beings that were massacred instantly nourished Garen¡¯s brain to the point where veins started popping up on his face.


    Buzz!


    A black halo slowly appeared behind Garen¡¯s head. The halo contained countless algorithms that were densely packed together as it started to spin slowly.


    ¡®Obtained an unknown source of energy, computing power is now greatly enhanced¡­¡± A message appeared in his mind and it was immediately dismissed.


    The black halo behind Garen¡¯s head started to spin faster over time.


    Pew pew pew!!


    Suddenly, the halo gave off a big amount of black rays as they spread across all directions. These streaks of light were like iron as it penetrated through the grounds and Voids.


    It then started to absorb the surrounding nutrients like a giant tree¡¯s root.


    As Garen saw this, his slightly surprised and pondering expressions were written all over his face.


    He then shut his eyes and immersed himself into computing once more.


    As he took his posture, he had sat down for ten days.

 Chapter 1361 - Collaboration 1

    Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation


    In the pitch-black Abyss


    ¡°Ann, everything¡¯s been properly arranged,¡± said a blonde-haired woman dressed in red softly, floating in front of Ann.


    ¡°Are all the fifteen nodes we set up in the north complete?¡± Ann¡¯s back was facing the woman as she played with a dagger with a black handle that glowed with a faint silver light. An indiscernible red light flashed across the dagger occasionally.


    ¡°It¡¯s complete. Each of the fifteen nodes will be guarded by a Demigod,¡± the woman replied hurriedly.


    Ann turned around, frowning.


    ¡°It¡¯s too bad that you¡¯re the only one under my wing that I can use, Mura and the others left too soon¡­ They couldn¡¯t even wait for my reappearance.¡±


    ¡°Even with your mighty abilities, milady, there¡¯s no way you could have saved them. That¡¯s the inevitability of time¡­¡± The woman¡¯s expression had a hint of melancholy as well.


    Ann was the leader of the strongest Dragons of Disaster, the Three Monarchs, so she would naturally have extremely powerful forces under her command. At first, she had five Dragons of Disaster with the power of Lower Gods as her generals, but now this woman was the only one left. The incomparably powerful and glorious sect from back then was now reduced to slightly over twenty Demigod-level powerhouses. As for those below Demigod-level, they were practically negligible.


    ¡°I¡¯ve contacted some people, it all depends on how the general situation goes. Even if I don¡¯t have many people, I still need to make my move. This is the best time right now,¡± said Ann calmly.


    ¡°The time?¡±


    ¡°One week from now¡­¡± Ann raised her head and looked at a certain direction. Her gaze seemed to penetrate countless barriers, finding a powerful being hiding in the darkness. ¡°He can¡¯t escape¡­¡±


    ******************


    Garen woke from his immersion.


    He glanced at the time, and the timekeeper in his Willpower Neuroprocessor told him that it had been more than ten days since he began his immersion.


    Without knowing it, he had noticed that black circle of light that grew ever more complicated and sophisticated at the back of his mind. It was something like a ring of light, and inside it, there was a large amount of data and many runes, flowing, moving, and computing. The carving of most of the patterns and runes around the ring of light had been completed, but there was still a small section that had yet to be done.


    ¡°A Decay Divine Persona, is it?¡± Garen reached his senses toward the thing his Willpower Neuroprocessor had created using that wisp of Divinity. He had never seen a Divine Persona before, but that did not mean he could not find out what ring of light actually was.


    He used more than twenty years and most of the computing power in his Neuroprocessor, and now that he had finally gotten this thing as a result, it had to be related to a Divine Persona somehow.


    ¡°A Divine Persona is the final product of Divinity lit up with sacred fire, and it can use the Divine Domain to convert Divine Power. It requires the input of everything, the soul and the Willpower. Right now, I¡¯m still a single independent unit, so I clearly don¡¯t count as a Divine Persona. In that case, what is this thing?¡± Garen observed the black circle of light behind him, somewhat confused.


    This thing was emitting many black silk threads, absorbing a special something that felt like Soul Energy from the Void surrounding him, as though they were so many tree roots.


    The thing that was being absorbed came with hints of terror, fear, hatred, antagonism and other similar emotions. Clearly, this was the power of fear and respect unique to Dragons of Disaster.


    ¡°What do I represent?¡±


    Garen frowned slightly.


    ¡°What do those who treat me as their enemy see me as?¡±


    As soon as that question rose from his heart, it was as though he could instantly hear a great many different voices.


    ¡°Cold Winter Dragon, I curse you! May you be confined and tortured forever in the bottomless Abyss.¡±


    ¡°The Lord of Hell will someday tear off your skin and flesh, drying them out the gates of hell!!¡±


    ¡°I will get my revenge! Someday, I¡¯ll kill you!!¡±


    ¡°Cold Winter Dragon, I want your life in exchange for my son¡¯s!!!¡±


    Countless voices surged up from the bottom of his heart.


    Garen watched these voices quietly. It was strange, to be hated by so many survivors. It was his first time feeling something like this.


    Other than that, there was also the power of worship from those who feared him. These beliefs were much simpler, mostly they just involved praying that he would not appear and spread the Wintry Death.


    ¡°Looks like this thing truly is a semi-completed product. It¡¯s just that I¡¯ve yet to properly decide what I represent.¡± Garen understood now.


    Ann represented time and shadow, so her Divine Persona will convert all the power of fear and worship into Divine Power of time and shadow, or rather, the power of Disaster.


    ¡°The Divinity and Divine Persona I have constructed are based mainly on Decay, so I¡¯ll temporarily set my position as Decay for now.¡± Garen mused over it for a while, and directly decided on this rarer Divine Doman.


    ¡®Confirming the Divine Domain¡­ Initial determination ¡ª Decay. Includes rotting, wasting away, and can extend to aging and death as a result of the passage of time.¡¯


    The Willpower Neuroprocessor instantly gave him a response.


    The instant he decided on his Divine Domain, Garen abruptly felt his body shudder. The ring of black light behind his back began to tremor abruptly, rapidly finishing up the remaining incomplete patterns and runes. Within a few dozen seconds, the whole circle was utterly complete.


    Once the ring was complete, it looked just like a wheel of burning flames wrapped around a large ring. Many dots of black light spread and scattered from the edges of the ring. It looked eerie and creepy.


    Mysteriously, Garen could vaguely feel a powerful gaze staring at him from across the endless distance.


    That gaze was icy cold and emotionless, and carried with it the aura of death. Even the faraway distance could not hinder its penetrating stare.


    ¡°The God of Death¡­ Did the overlap in our Divine Domains result in a conflict over the worship power?¡± Garen¡¯s heart gave a jolt. He knew that the Divine Domain he had settled on probably overlapped with that of the God of Death, and in that case, there would surely be a divine battle to fight over that Divine Domain.


    ¡°I just only determined my Divine Domain and I haven¡¯t accumulated enough Divine Power yet. Looks like I¡¯d better stay out of the way for now¡­¡± An intense wariness rose in Garen¡¯s heart.


    The God of Death was a true Higher God, in name and in power, and was one of the more formidable presences even among the Divine Systems. Going head-on against him would not end well at all.


    When that thought occurred to him, the ring of black flames behind him automatically hid itself, but he could still feel those many root-like black threads connecting him to those lives and souls that feared or hated him. They were still providing him with an endless supply of that immense worship power.


    And this power of worship was also flowing like a stream into his Divine Persona, before it was converted into wisps of energy like black threads, merging into his Soul Ring structure.


    ¡®Now condensing tragedy power, please select: One, store and increase your Divine Persona. Two: use immediately to power up yourself.¡¯ A message came from the Willpower Neuroprocessor.


    Garen glanced at his current level.


    ¡®Divine Persona: 1.¡¯ It was standard, weak Divine Power.


    ¡°I can even use it to strengthen myself directly?¡± He had not expected it to have this ability. Usually, Divine Power was mainly used for consumption, as well as to accumulate and increase the level of one¡¯s Divine Persona. The stronger the Divine Persona level, the more Divine Arts one would be able to use to respond to one¡¯s worshippers, and the more power and authority one would have.


    Garen carefully looked through his current status.


    ¡®Garen ¡ª Strength 260, Agility 260, Vitality 260, Intelligence 260. Potential 12829%. Soul Limit 000.


    8 Soul Rings: Five Colorless, Red, Orange, Red.


    Level 10 Draconic Aura. Level 10 Arcane Art.


    ¡®Potential Quality ¡ª Divine Creature, Void Pursuer¡¯


    Void Original Opus ¡ª 70%. Hind leg ¡ª Evil Soldier, wings ¡ª Seven Lives, tail ¡ª Demonic Book.


    Overall comments ¡ª God of Decay: Divine Persona 1. Title ¡ª Winter Sigh.¡¯


    ¡°My Soul Limit has turned to 0?¡± Garen was slightly taken aback and then overjoyed.


    He sensed his current condition carefully, and felt as though the converted Decay Divine Power had directly turned into a thin membrane that covered the surface of his body. This membrane was even growing ever stronger as more Divine Power was converted.


    ¡°This should be the so-called Divine Power Shield, looks like most Gods rely on their Divine Power as a protective force field. To them, Divine Power was more like a layer of natural armor, armor that could withstand attack. It only needed to consume a certain amount of their Divine Power.


    Garen quickly came to a mental conclusion.


    ¡°As for the strengthening and leveling up of the Gods¡¯ own true bodies, almost no books mention it at all. I couldn¡¯t even find any mention of Gods powering up their own bodies and ÉñÌå Divine Bodies in Ann¡¯s books. Mostly, they just assimilated and evolved gradually alongside their Divine Power, until they finally become one with their Divine Power, their bodies turning into the incarnation of their ocean of Divine Power.¡±


    ¡°On the other hand, True Soul Demon Masters simply use all their power to strengthen their own bodies. Looks like the two options the Willpower Neuroprocessor gave me act as the boundary line between True Souls and Gods¡­¡±


    Garen¡¯s heart instantly became clear.


    ¡°If I choose to accumulate, the Divine Power will automatically turn into a Divine Power Shield, that¡¯s the God Route. If I choose to strengthen, then that¡¯s the True Soul Route.¡±


    Naturally, there was no hesitation at all here.


    Garen went straight for strengthening. Although the Gods were strong, they were also extremely limited by their own worship power. It was fine when they had plenty of worship power, but if ever that was reduced, their Divine Persona¡¯s level would drop, and they would be affected instead. On the other hand, the True Souls just used all their power to strengthen their own Elements. There was no chance of outside interference.


    It was clear at a glance, which one was better.


    This was also the crucial reason why the Gods in this world grew weaker as they fought more wars, because the regular civilians and worshippers were being massacred in large numbers. This was the source of their Divine Power.


    ¡®Select Strengthening.¡¯


    As soon as Garen decided on an answer.


    Instantly, that thin layer of Divine Power began to be slowly absorbed by Garen¡¯s Instinct.


    Garen¡¯s current body had the terrifying Devouring Instinct of the Hellfrost Peacock Queen, so unless he purposely held back from devouring something, any energy that got too close to him would all be absorbed and devoured by that Instinct.


    ¡°The Gods don¡¯t have a Soul Limit, probably as a result of the unique nature of their souls. I have the characteristics of both a God and a True Soul, so I might probably be an extreme minority in this world¡­¡± Garen guessed.


    From now on, he was also a God with a little Divine Power, albeit an extremely weak one.


    But without the restriction of a Soul Limit, he could practically increase his own attributes endlessly.


    He gave his Semi-Divine Weapon, the Despair Skull, a quick glance and made some rough calculations. He still had a couple thousand Potential Points left.


    Without a shred of hesitation, he activated the Devouring Instinct directly, beginning to absorb the Potential Points inside freely. At the same time, his Willpower Neuroprocessor automatically converted them into Intelligence.


    That was right, he did not increase any other attribute first, but went straight for Intelligence, the one that he had increased first earlier.


    Without the attribute limit, he immediately increased his Intelligence first, as it was the most crucial to his Willpower Neuroprocessor.


    His Intelligence decided how fast his Willpower Neuroprocessor could analyze divinity, and it also decided the speed of his Divine Power conversion via his Divine Persona.


    Divine Power had to be accumulated across time, from the creatures who worshipped him, so it could only be gathered through plundering. Soon enough, he was going to join Ann¡¯s raid operation, so Garen was already planning to make the biggest preparation in anticipation of this operation.


    ¡°Now, it¡¯s about time I got started on Ann¡¯s matters.¡± Garen organized the information he had about the True Soul Demon Masters.


    He got up and instantly vanished from the spot.


    *******************


    ¡°A raid?¡± The Deception Demon Master looked at Garen in the Water Mirror lazily. She was lying on her side in a black palace, surrounded by pools of blood, corpses, and skeletons everywhere. It was clear that she was slaughtering some God¡¯s temple.


    ¡°The God of Time and Shadow, that fellow¡¯s not easy to deal with¡­¡± The Deception Demon Master frowned. ¡°The point is, what do I get in return?¡±


    ¡°Ann just wants the Time Divine Persona, and we can split the remaining Divine Personas, according to how much power we contribute,¡± Garen explained. The first one he went to was the Deception Demon Master, because she was the closest to him, after all.


    ¡°You just entered the God level and already you dare to participate in a raid of this level? Casavon¡¯s Divine Kingdom is no joke, y¡¯know? After that Divine Kingdom was increased, a ton of Holy Spirits reached Demigod Level, they could crush you just by piling on top of you,¡± said the Deception Demon Master, confused.

 Chapter 1362 - Collaboration 2

    Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation


    ¡°Naturally, I have my own plans.¡± Garen did not explain. The truth was he never wanted most of the Divine Persona, he just wanted to obtain a wisp of the Death divinity. Just a wisp of divinity, and his Willpower Processor would be able to make that into a complete Divine Persona. That was why his needs did not conflict with Ann and the others, who were fighting, at all.


    At the most, he would ask for a few Divine Crystals. Those were made by condensing pure Divine Power, and that just happened to be what he needed right now.


    ¡°Okay, it just so happens that we need an overwhelming victory to settle the score over here as well. The way the Sun God killed the King of Enzo gave us quite the blow¡­¡± said the Deception Demon Master with a cold laugh. ¡°I hear that they¡¯re raising some Child of Radiance, hehe. They¡¯re gathering all of their divine authority and power into one Incarnation in the hopes of fighting against our rapid approach.¡±


    ¡°The Child of Radiance, the Child of Hell, they¡¯re all just their means of fighting back,¡± said Garen offhandedly. ¡°Alright, then, I¡¯ll go contact the other Demon Masters and True Souls. Of course, if you could contact some other helpers as well, it would be better if we had more assurance of safety.¡±


    ¡°Mm.¡± The Deception Demon Master¡¯s attitude toward Garen had changed as well. Although Garen was still very weak, he was already a God in every way and form. He was, in essence, the same as level as her, so her manner of speed was much more equal now.


    The Water Mirror vanished, and the Deception Demon Master touched her chin.


    ¡°I wonder how this guy leveled up. It¡¯s not been that long since we last met, and he¡¯s already on his way to becoming a God?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve been a Demigod for so many years, and yet I still lack that most crucial step,¡± said Kunder with a sigh, walking out of the darkness. ¡°After deciding on a Divine Domain, you¡¯d still need to accumulate worship power, gathering it up to light up the sacred fire before you can build your own Divine Kingdom. He¡¯s already halfway through that¡­¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­ Although it¡¯s not complete by any means, he already has worship power. Now all he has to do is withstand the killer pursuit of any Gods whose Divine Domain overlaps with his, and he¡¯ll be able to light up his sacred fire steadily, forming his very own Divine God. He has to use the energy provided by the illumination of the sacred fire to support the operations of his Divine Kingdom. This¡¯s an inevitable process.¡±


    The Deception Demon Master¡¯s expression was one of admiration.


    ¡°The Divine Soul System of this world is just a shortcut that speeds up the strengthening speed by gathering the power of all creatures. It¡¯s much, much faster than how we had to bust our backs and gather every ounce of power ourselves from the bottom up. In just a moment, he¡¯s finished walking the path we took several millennia to cross.¡±


    ¡°But there¡¯s a huge flaw as well, taking a shortcut means paying a price.¡± Kunder shook his head.


    ¡°That¡¯s right¡­¡± The Deception Demon Master did not say any more. ¡°A price¡­¡±


    ***********************


    The Earth Demon Palace


    There were countless black smoke figures floating everywhere, crowding in every inch of the ancient and evil grand hall. They danced, baring their fangs and claws like evil ghosts and demons, some notes of an eerie and cruel music slowly spreading from the Void in accompaniment with the dance of the black smoke figures.


    Above the grand hall, a man with a strong body and a scorpion head sat crookedly on a tall and large throne. He tapped the armrest lightly in time with the music, seemingly rather engrossed in it.


    After Garen powered up, this was the nearest Demon Master¡¯s Demon Palace ¡ª the Earth Demon Palace.


    Its owner was a powerful Demon Master from the Void, the Scorpion-Headed Human, Jirhas. He was in charge of the cleanliness and security of this area, and operated under the name of the Distortion Demon Master.


    ¡°What an impressive song and dance.¡± Garen clapped his hands lightly, sitting at the VIP seat on Jirhas¡¯ right. Although he had no idea what was so attractive about this ghostly song and dance number, he still knew how to say a few praises to fulfill the most basic manners.


    ¡°Does Her Highness Ann have such performances at her place as well?¡± Jirhas asked with a laugh, looking at Garen sideways.


    ¡°Naturally, my master has no such thing. Perhaps only your place would have such a unique song and dance, Demon Master Jir,¡± said Garen respectfully.


    ¡°Of course.¡± Jir nodded. ¡°I understand what you mean, we have always communicated and cared about Her Highness Ann to a certain degree. Since she¡¯s one of the few powerful existences in this world with the same needs and interests as us, we¡¯ve always placed much importance in Her Highness Ann¡¯s potential.¡±


    He stretched out his hand, and a black wine glass appeared, floating above his palm. He sipped some wine from it lightly.


    ¡°Regarding this matter, it¡¯s a rare moment when we all share a common goal and interest, so cooperation would not be a problem. However¡­¡±


    He paused.


    ¡°However, what?¡± Garen¡¯s expression did not change as he waited for Jirhas to continue.


    ¡°However, Her Highness Ann still belongs to a different camp, after all. My master¡¯s always wary of outsiders to a certain extent.¡± The Scorpion-Headed Man gave an eerie smile. ¡°If the one we¡¯re working with is you, however, perhaps that will put our hearts at more ease¡­¡±


    They had done their research on Garen¡¯s roots, he was a textbook example of a Void being with a proper background and a bright future ahead. Each trace of the Secret Techniques on his body was an extremely pure example of a Void Demon Lord¡¯s foundations. Besides, his progress speed was much faster than most Demon Lords, he had only taken a few years to go from a middle-level Demon Lord to almost becoming a God. After all, the God level was a peak-level existence, just like Demon Masters and True Souls. At this point, he was basically at the pinnacle of two worlds now.


    The only difference in strength now was the comparison within the same level.


    Garen frowned slightly and did not continue that thought.


    The Scorpion-Headed Man, Jir, did not seem particularly bothered.


    ¡°As long as you¡¯re willing, we can make all the proper arrangements. You just have to coordinate with us from the inside, and it won¡¯t be that hard at all to take down the entire Dragons of Disaster party.¡±


    Garen understood what he was getting at now. They were actually dissatisfied with Ann and were looking for another being that they could support as her replacement.


    ¡°Sorry, I¡­¡±


    ¡°There¡¯s no rush. Take your time and think it over. Her Highness just rendezvoused with us recently, but we were very disappointed in her performance. She¡¯s already lost the necessary will to push forward. Instead, she actually said that she wanted to retire to another plane once she was free of the seal¡­¡± Jir shook his head, his expression slightly taunting.


    ¡°She actually wants to retire in the middle of an era as great as this?¡±


    Garen¡¯s heart gave a jolt. Clearly, the situation right now was that the Void Creatures were unhappy with Ann¡¯s pacifist attitude. For all he knew, they were already secretly supporting another existence, hoping to replace her.


    Now, they wanted him to cooperate with them, probably to increase their chances of success and reduce the degree of uncertainty.


    He did not doubt the power of the Void at all. The Distortion Demon Master was a peak-level Demon Master that could fight even Fehra head-on, so in this world, the Demon Master was considered as powerful as the strongest powerhouses among those with the truly powerful Divine Power.


    ¡°No need to worry, our Mother Stream Alliance has a few Gods as well, their Divine Personas were all formed by killing and devouring middle-level Divine Souls in the middle of the wars. They¡¯re powerful enough, but without a Dragon of Disaster, there¡¯s no way to lead this group. Her Highness Ann can mobilize many Dragons of Disaster and have them fight in a group, so she¡¯s a partner that we really need to work with,¡± consoled Jir.


    ¡°No matter what, this raid is a compulsory chance for our camp to fight back, so we hope you can participate in it.¡± Garen stayed silent for a while and then stood up.


    ¡°As for my Master¡¯s matters, I hope you guys can continue observing for a while longer. Perhaps you will notice some other changes.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll join the raid, but as for changes¡­ Here¡¯s to hoping.¡± Jir waved his hand nonchalantly. ¡°In that case, goodbye.¡±


    ¡°Goodbye.¡± Garen¡¯s figure disappeared abruptly.


    Jir was not worried that Garen would tell Ann at all. From what he could see, Garen and Ann were not all that close, and besides, Ann probably had an idea about what they were thinking to some extent. It did not matter whether she knew or not, now that Ann was being repelled by the Gods, even if she wanted to hide and avoid them, where could she run to?


    **************


    Garen¡¯s figure appeared on some black plains. There was not a blade of grass growing anywhere around him, but instead, there were black stone shards everywhere, evenly spread out on the ground.


    This was the teleportation point marker he had left here in advance. It was less a thousand kilometers away from the clan he was returning to.


    The sky was covered in dark clouds, as though it was going to rain soon. Occasionally, he could hear the rumbling of thunder coming from the clouds.


    After he received that information from the Demon Master Jir, Garen¡¯s feelings were rather complicated as well. It seemed that there was a huge rift and conflict between Ann and the Void.


    He was stuck in the middle and it made things very awkward for him.


    He wanted to reduce and resolve this problem, but it was slightly frustrating. He could not change Ann¡¯s decisions, and the will of the representative from the Mother Stream Alliance was also unacceptably strong.


    ¡°In the end, my power still isn¡¯t enough!¡± Garen frowned slightly. Ann saved his life before, so no matter what, he could not let the Mother Stream Alliance use him to take her down. On the other hand, he would definitely offend the incomparably powerful Mother Stream Alliance. In that case, be it himself or Ann, they would probably face an even more troublesome ending if they went against the Demon Masters from the Mother Stream Alliance, resulting in the Demon Masters¡¯ embarrassment turning to fury.


    ¡°How do I find a middle point¡­¡± For a moment, Garen was frustrated as well.


    Whoosh¡­


    Suddenly, a mysterious cold breeze blew past him. Garen vaguely sensed something strange.


    All of a sudden, the alarm bells in his heart went off, and he immediately moved, disappearing from the spot and reappearing somewhere nearby, several hundred meters away.


    Barroom!!


    The place he was just standing at had abruptly turned into a sea of ice crystals. The surface of the plains within several dozen meters had completely frozen over.


    A large White Dragon, more than twenty meters long, rose gradually from the surface of the ice. It was as though he had crawled out of a deep well, his claws digging into the ground and forcefully pulling out the lower half of his body.


    The dragon scales all over this White Dragon¡¯s body glowed with a hint of platinum, and he had a crystal-clear diamond-shaped crystal embedded into his brow. On his head, he wore a platinum crown, and it was as though the stars and the clouds were constantly reflected, rippling in his gaze. It was a scene as beautiful as the Milky Way.


    Roar!!


    The White Dragon roared madly at Garen¡¯s direction, an immense and powerful energy force spreading around.


    ¡°Garen! You killed the Elders, resisted against Her Highness Tiamat¡¯s Incarnation, and killed your innocent relatives from the White Dragon Mountain. Today, all of your crimes will be completely judged and concluded right here!!¡±


    ¡°White Dragon King, rather than staying in the Abyss, you actually dare to run out here in pursuit of me?¡± Garen¡¯s expression was dark. ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid of dying outside, resulting in the White Dragon Mountain losing even a land for them to rest?¡±


    ¡°With your powers?¡± The White Dragon King laughed wildly. ¡°Upon mine body, God descends!!¡±


    He spread open his wings, and his entire body abruptly emitted an intense white light.


    ¡®Warning, warning, you have entered the vicinity of a Holy Aura. Beginning identification of Tiamat¡¯s Holy Aura, Divine Creatures cannot be identified, identification failed¡­ Vitality Identification passed, removes effect of the Holy Aura.¡¯


    A large amount of information instantly came from his Willpower Neuroprocessor.


    Garen frowned. This time, Tiamat had clearly descended here using her own Incarnation. Even with his divinity and Divine Persona, his Divine Power was still weak, and it actually could not make him immune to the effects. Thankfully his Vitality was too powerful, the slaughtering over the past period of time had accumulated and resulted in up to 260 points in his terrifying Vitality stat. Almost no creature in this world could surpass him now. It was the perfect chance to see how much more powerful he was after condensing his Divine Persona!


    ¡°The last time I was completely suppressed by you, but let¡¯s see who suppresses whom this time.¡± Garen¡¯s expression did not change as he pounced forward, his entire body instantly ballooning into a giant White Dragon.


    The three pairs of wings on his back unfurled slowly, the countless green eyes covering every inch of his six wings opening with an aura of unbelievable evil. As though to accompany those eerie compound eyes, an overwhelming and decaying aura began to permeate through the air.


    Boom!!


    The White Dragon King abruptly sprayed five-colored Dragon Breath out of his mouth, crashing hard into Garen¡¯s body as the latter was shooting through the air toward him.

 Chapter 1363 - Incarnation 1

    Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation


    Burning heat, chilling cold, powerful poison, numbing itchiness, and lightning. Different types of Dragon Breath energy crashed into Garen¡¯s body hard with a huge momentum.


    Along with the Dragon Breath, the White Dragon King, Tiamat¡¯s Incarnation, pounced mercilessly, pressing down on Garen and trying to use his immense power to suppress him.


    The dragon scales all over Garen¡¯s body began to melt, but he paid them no heed. He rushed straight through the Dragon Breath, taking it head-on, and all the powerful Five-colored Dragon Breath could do was force him to close his eyes, lest they were burned.


    He also had a Divine Persona now, so his resistance to Divine Power attacks had risen again. Besides, his Vitality was also much stronger now than it had been before, and the stacking of these effects had finally triggered a fundamental change. The damage the Five-colored Dragon Breath did to him was almost negligible.


    ¡°Imprisonment Spell.¡± Tiamat¡¯s voice gave a screech, and suddenly a pitch-black cage enveloped Garen, who was still rushing forward. It became a black square cage.


    He opened his mouth wide and bit at the cage.


    Bam!!


    The cage instantly shattered, and a giant dragon¡¯s tail from within whipped Tiamat¡¯s face hard. It sounded like a bolt of dull thunder, the giant impact creating faint space ripples in the air.


    ¡°Dragon Race Control!¡± Tiamat was forced to stagger by that whip, and there was instantly a large flash of golden light from his body. The Level Nine Holy Spell was cast almost instantaneously and released directly.


    At his level, all Holy Spells were practically as fast as a change of his will. The only thing was that there was a limit to how many casts he had daily.


    Unfortunately, while the Level Nine Dragon Race Control was a Holy Spell unique to him as the Dragon God, it still had barely any effect on Garen, whose Vitality was terrifyingly high.


    He had been immune to Level Nine Spells a long time ago. It went without saying that they would not work on him now.


    The misty glow formed by that golden light landed on Garen¡¯s body and then vanished without a trace, having no effect whatsoever.


    ¡°Pollution Meteor¡­¡± Before Tiamat could finish saying the name of the spell, Garen instantly appeared before him, crashing his claws into his chest with a bam.


    Bong!


    Tiamat took several steps back, and his spell was also interrupted. He shook his head but was not injured at all.


    A thin golden membrane had blocked off Garen¡¯s attack, rendering Tiamat completely unharmed.


    ¡°The Divine Power Shield?¡± Garen raised an eyebrow and activated all of his 260-point Speed.


    Swoosh!


    He instantly appeared behind Tiamat¡¯s back and whipped down hard with his tail.


    The attributes of Tiamat¡¯s Incarnation were also clearly over two hundred. He turned around immediately with decent reflexes, and four other dragon heads appeared beside his, all biting at Garen harshly.


    Psst!


    Garen suddenly felt an intense pain in his tail, and he moved aside, instantly and hurriedly.


    Only then did he realize that his opponent had taken a small bite out of his tail. His heart turned cold, but before he could react, Tiamat moved instantaneously beside him as well, biting down hard once more.


    ¡°Since the Holy Spells don¡¯t work on you, I¡¯ll just use my sharpest teeth to swallow you directly!¡± Tiamat said, screeching with laughter.


    The two giant White Dragons had practically become two balls of shadows, moving and wrestling at high speeds on the plains. Occasionally they would fly into the air, or crash down hard into the ground. Anything that would touch them now and then would instantly explode into dust, just like an illusion.


    Garen could move instantaneously because of his high speed and agility, and Tiamat could perform instantaneous movements too, but he was one step faster than Garen in terms of reflexes. This was the difference in their Agility attribute.


    As an Incarnation of God, only then did Garen get a deep understanding of why only Incarnations could fight Incarnations most of the time. The strength of the True Soul and God Levels lay in their bodies that had been powered up to the limit over an infinitely long period of time. Just this one Incarnation had more than two hundred points in Speed and Strength. Add that to the solid Divine Power Shield that was extremely hard to pierce through, and this was practically a fearsome, indestructible war fortress.


    But the difference between them and the True Souls was that the Gods¡¯ own increases in attributes were based on the Divine Power enveloping their bodies, whereas the True Soul Demon Lords simply relied on their own bodies.


    ¡°As I expected, you really are a Void Creature!¡± Tiamat sped up, chasing after Garen and laughing coldly.


    ¡°Saber of Domination!!¡±


    Suddenly, an expanding ball of darkness exploded before him and enveloped Garen in an instant.


    The giant black saber within the ball slashed at Garen soundlessly, its blade carrying a faint layer of a purple glow.


    It was as though the giant saber instantly became enormous before Garen¡¯s eyes, smashing down on him like a mountain range. It was so powerful that even Garen, with more than 260 points in Strength, felt suffocated and unable to fight back.


    ¡°Divine Persona Evolution!¡± Garen was shocked. Tiamat¡¯s Persona had domination in its definition, and this ability was clearly his using the Divine Persona to mobilize the most Divine Power he could.


    When he was going through Ann¡¯s books, he had read somewhere that the Divine Persona represented Authority, and this Authority was the embodiment of the rules. Going against the Authority was going against the rules, and this was not something normal power could resist. Only Authority could resist Authority.


    ¡°Corrode!!¡± he roared deeply, his entire body emanating with large clouds of purple-black fog. That wheel of black light appeared behind his head directly.


    The purple-black fog came into contact with the black saber head-on, and instantly, the black fog fell apart and scattered. It was because the difference between their Authorities was too large.


    Disregarding the Black Fog completely, the black saber slashed onto Garen¡¯s body mercilessly.


    Rawr!!!


    Amidst the howl of pain, a deep cut appeared on Garen¡¯s body. The black saber disintegrated, and the black fog enveloping him dissipated completely as well.


    ¡°What a powerful body you have, to think you went straight up against my authority and still managed to survive!!¡± Smiling evilly, Tiamat began to condense the black ball of Authority once more. ¡°How about another go, then?¡±


    ¡°Poisonous Eye!¡±


    Suddenly, two dark-green rays smashed into Tiamat¡¯s dragon head.


    The speed of these rays was so fast that even he could not dodge them, despite his two hundred points in Agility. They hit him straight between his brows.


    The rays actually carried the faint Authority of the Decay Divine Persona. Although Garen¡¯s Divine Power was very weak, and the destructive power he obtained from activating his Authority was not quite enough, it was still far stronger than the previous Poisonous Eye, that had only been Level Fifteen.


    As a grandmaster-level powerhouse in terms of combat and killing, Garen just had to see the way Tiamat used his power once with his Willpower Neuroprocessor, and he already understood the best way to use Divine Power to the strongest effects.


    Divine Power Authority, and the Divine Power Shield, these were the Gods¡¯ strongest spear and shield!


    Tiamat was the Evil Dragon God in charge of Domination and Evil Dragons, so if the one fighting here was simply a pure-breed Evil Dragon, his power would naturally be suppressed by four or five levels. Since Garen was actually a Void Creature, he managed to avoid this form of suppression.


    So the only thing that had an effect on him was the Domination aspect.


    Tiamat had been just slightly careless. He did not expect Garen to learn so quickly, so he was instantly hit by the Poisonous Eye with the Decay Authority. A large hole was formed in the Divine Power Shield around the middle of his brows as a result of the corrosion, and the golden Divine Power all over his body instantly reached over to fill the gap, quickly mending the hole.


    If Garen could not instantly break through the Divine Power Shield and kill the one inside, an attack of this extent on a God would only produce one result.


    As long as they still had Divine Power, Gods would not fall.


    ¡°The difference in the Divine Power we¡¯ve accumulated is too large!¡± Garen was shocked, and he rapidly retreated backward.


    He barely avoided the Authority that fell down like a blanket. Half of his upper body was still flowing with platinum-colored blood. That terrifying cut stretched from his neck all the way to his chest, and had nearly cut a third of his body off.


    ¡°Retreat!¡± The idea flashed past Garen¡¯s heart. The power of Tiamat¡¯s Incarnation was not something he could hope to fight against right now.


    Without a shred of hesitation, he turned around and teleported again, appearing immediately in the sky several hundred meters away.


    ¡°Tryna run, huh!!¡± Tiamat smiled sinisterly, and gave chase with his entire dragon body. To his surprise, however, Garen¡¯s speed was actually a notch faster than his.


    He could not really sense it when they were fighting in close quarters, but as soon as there was a distance between them and Garen started running, the minute difference in this attribute of theirs instantly became clear.


    The two Colossal White Dragons began a high-speed chase, flashing across the sky above the black plains more than ten times within an instant, traversing several kilometers in distance.


    ¡°Poisonous Eye!¡±


    There were two hisses through the air. Garen turned around suddenly and shot out two rays of green light from his eyes, the rays landing on Tiamat¡¯s body as he was caught unprepared.


    His Divine Power Shield gave a jolt, and another large hole was instantly torn through it, but it quickly recovered again.


    Tiamat was quite shocked at first, and he paused. Immediately after, he realized that he was uninjured, and he continued to go after Garen in a rage.


    The two White Dragons ran away and gave chase respectively, all the way from day to night. Time passed by slowly, and this lasted a whole six days.


    They crossed the black plains, flew across vast golden deserts, and entered the sky above the massively wide ocean.


    Every time his Poisonous Eyes healed, Garen would turn around and hit Tiamat with them without fail. At first, Tiamat did not even intend to chase him any longer, but Garen¡¯s actions provoked him into continuing with the chase relentlessly and furiously.


    Throughout these six days, Garen continuously used the Poisonous Eye countless times. Tiamat was just an Incarnation, after all, and he was possessing the White Dragon King¡¯s body. Although the White Dragon King¡¯s body was powerful, it still could not take the long-term invasion of a Divine Power that was not his own, and he finally buckled under the pressure.


    **************


    Above the bright blue ocean and the roiling waves, two Colossal Dragons shining with a white glow flew past the ocean at high speeds.


    Psst.


    Suddenly, a large crack opened up in Tiamat¡¯s chest, spewing out white dragon blood.


    ¡°What¡¯s this? The Incarnation of the Dragon God can¡¯t even apprehend me, a normal White Dragon?¡± On cue, Garen turned around and taunted him.


    ¡°You¡¯re asking for it!!¡± Tiamat raged and continued to give chase once more.


    Psst psst psst!!


    In an instant, several arrows of blood exploded from his body and fell into the seawater beneath him. The water instantly turned platinum in color, as did the seawater around that spot.


    In front of him, Garen turned around instantly, the countless green eyes on his six wings winking deviously.


    ¡°After being chased for so long, it¡¯s my turn now¡­¡±


    He flapped his wings abruptly and actually stopped dodging, rushing straight toward Tiamat.


    ¡°Saber of Domination!!¡± Tiamat condensed the power from all over his body and created another black ball that enveloped Garen.


    The black ball scattered, and Garen continued to rush at him, his body all covered in blood.


    ¡°Saber of¡­!!¡± Tiamat attempted to gather his Authority again, but suddenly he spewed out a mouthful of platinum-colored dragon blood.


    ¡°You¡¯re done for!!¡± Garen laughed heartily as he teleported to Tiamat, his dragon claws turning into two shadows that smashed into Tiamat¡¯s body mercilessly.


    At the same time, Tiamat¡¯s body had stiffened as a result of the backlash from the way his Authority had been interrupted, and he could not move, so this hit landed squarely on his body.


    Boom!!!


    A cloud of white smoke burst in the sky over the ocean, and the golden Divine Power Shield appeared once more, blocking Garen¡¯s dragon claw.


    But the immense power also caused the Shield to ripple distortedly.

 Chapter 1364 - Incarnation 2

    Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation


    Garen used all four of his limbs, all the joints all over his body instantly turning into a storm of attacks. That formidable power and speed burst forth, and he used the shock technique from the Secret Technique users to continuously emit bursts of penetration power in an attempt to destroy the insides of Tiamat¡¯s body.


    The Divine Power Shield grew gradually fainter and more distorted. Clear cracks began to appear on it.


    Tiamat had been forced back several times now, and when all was said and done, this was still merely an Incarnation of his, so it was incomparable to the strength of his own true Godhead. The White Dragon King¡¯s body was slowly growing unable to keep up, such that he did not even have the power to whip his tail in self-defense. All he could do was take one hit after another, as Garen continuously sent him flying backward over and over again.


    ¡°Poisonous Eye!!¡±


    Two more green rays hit the front of Tiamat¡¯s body.


    Bam!!


    There was an enormous sound, like glass shattering. Tiamat¡¯s body finally collapsed under the pressure, falling apart and exploded instantly.


    The limitless golden Divine Power gathered up once more, forming a golden illusion of a dragon.


    ¡°Cunning fellow! Don¡¯t think you can get away so easily!!¡± Tiamat roared furiously.


    ¡°Escape?¡± Garen laughed coldly. ¡°I didn¡¯t keep you busy for so long just to escape in the end!¡±


    Before he even finished speaking, he rushed forward, opening his dragon jaws wide.


    Hiss!!


    Amidst the loud devouring sounds, he swallowed all that golden Divine Power, completely unafraid of Tiamat¡¯s possible retaliation.


    ¡°Without a body as a vessel, even Divine Power can be interrupted by the lowest level Blasphemy Priest.¡± Garen¡¯s gaze grew colder. His mouth kept on swallowing the large amounts of golden Divine Power.


    Tiamat knew that he was at a disadvantage now, and he struggled in frustration and anger, but it was useless. Without a body as a vessel, his Divine Power was as floaty as a lily pad without roots, unable to produce any powerful effects. It just kept being absorbed by Garen at high speeds.


    As the devouring continued, his voice became smaller and dimmer.


    Garen could sense limitless power coming from the devouring. His body kept expanding and growing like a balloon being inflated, and there was even a faint layer of gold forming on the surface of his body.


    ¡®Devouring Divine Power¡­ Devouring Divine Power¡­ Beginning the strengthening¡­¡¯


    Waves of golden Divine Power were rapidly converted into pure Soul Energy, sinking into Garen¡¯s Soul Ring structure. None of the Divine Power was stored up in order to increase his Divine Persona. Instead, Garen just used all of it to strengthen himself directly.


    The texture of the Divine Power was unexpectedly strong, one wisp of the Divine Power, equal in volume, could somehow be converted into two wisps of Soul Energy.


    Garen took one last merciless gulp and swallowed the illusory golden dragon before him completely. Without a hint of hesitation, he teleported away from the area, afraid to linger for even a second.


    He had devoured all the Divine Power from an entire Incarnation, but Divine Power was not the only thing included in there, there was also something extremely troublesome¡ªa part of the God¡¯s divinity!


    Tiamat¡¯s divinity of Domination and Evil Dragons!!


    It was only when Garen took that last bite and swallowed the entire Incarnation that he knew just how much he had lucked out this time. This divinity was as complete as roughly one-third of the true divinity, so he just to derive some things slightly and complete it, then he would able to form a complete Divine Persona of Evil Dragons and Domination in no time at all!


    *****************


    In the battlefields of the Eastern Empire


    Countless flaming meteors fell from the sky, dying the sky a shade of blood-red.


    Eerily, the earth beneath the flaming meteors was a sea of frozen ice. Countless blocks of ice rapidly formed Ice Elemental Giants that stood up from the ground and roared angrily into the sky.


    Waves chock full of countless Void Creatures kept surging out of the many distorted purple Void Crevices. From a distance, it looked like a chute channeling rubbish as Void Creatures of all colors, creatures that could not be named, surged madly into the battlefield. They were completely unafraid of death, and under the leadership of the Demon Kings, they rushed towards the Ice Element as well as the landing spot of the flaming meteors.


    On one end of the battlefield, there was a tower covered with white bone spikes. At the top of this tower, a rich-looking wife dressed in a pitch-black long dress and wearing crescent-shaped dangling earrings was looking down calmly at the battlefield where almost a million lives were killing each other.


    Three large and strange monsters floated in the air behind her.


    The first was a giant Three-Headed Wild Boar, the second was a white sphere that looked like a circle, but also had a clear human face on its surface.


    The third was a platinum-colored metallic spraying machine, but its top half was a cow whereas its bottom half was styled after a robot. It seemed to be a powerful existence from a technological civilization.


    These three powerful presences floated behind her back, watching the enormous battlefield below as well.


    ¡°Have you found him?¡± asked the rich lady, frowning.


    ¡°No,¡± said the Three-Headed Wild Boar in a deep and low voice, shaking his head. ¡°There were no traces of the Child of Hell¡¯s aura, it looks like he¡¯s pretty darn good at hiding¡­¡±


    ¡°You must look beyond the surface,¡± said the Balloon Man with a smile.


    ¡°Do you mean you got a lead?¡± said the Wild Boar unhappily.


    ¡°Of course I don¡¯t, but we have Kar, don¡¯t we?¡± The White Balloon looked at the last member, the Bull-Headed Robot.


    ¡°I¡¯ve scanned the whole area and found 132 suspicious points. Three of them may be searched,¡± said the Bull-Headed Robot in a low voice.


    ¡°Do it.¡± The rich lady glanced at him. ¡°You¡¯re the expert at this.¡±


    ¡°Understood.¡± The Bull-Headed Robot nodded and took one step forward.


    Psst!


    His arm actually pierced right through the space in front of him, wriggling into a crevice that had opened up vertically. There was a hissing sound as he pulled a blood-red figure from within, with one yank.


    ¡°The first.¡± The Bull-Headed Robot stuffed the blood-red figure straight into his mouth, chewing roughly a few times and swallowing.


    ¡°It¡¯s not¡­¡±


    He repeated this process a few more times. They saw him pull out a pale-red snake shadow from the Crevice and stuff it into his mouth once more.


    ¡°This isn¡¯t the one either.¡±


    ¡°The third one.¡±


    He reached out his hand again, tearing apart the Void and sticking his claw inside.


    Ahhh!!!!


    An abrupt, piercing, and terrifying scream came from inside, and a red figure dashed past at lightning speed, trying to escape by flying outside.


    The Bull-Headed Man gave it a glance and opened his mouth slightly.


    Barroom!


    There was a huge sound, and it was as though his mouth had expanded several times in an instant, covering this entire piece of space completely.


    That darting red figure also finally screamed out before it was swallowed up.


    ¡°This is the one¡­¡± The Bull-Headed Man began to chew roughly. ¡°The Child of Hell¡­¡±


    ¡°How¡¯s the taste?¡± asked the Balloon Man, fascinated.


    ¡°Not very good. Tastes like Purgatory, so the taste of sulfur is very strong. It¡¯s not nice at all¡­¡± replied the Bull-Headed Man honestly.


    ¡°How disappointing¡­¡±


    The Three-Headed Wild Boar let out a sharp breath.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± The rich lady turned around and vanished instantly. The three Demon Lords also made their figures fade and vanish, as though they had never been there.


    Nobody noticed that in a certain corner of the battlefield, a dragon shaped like a black shadow was emerging from the dark shadows.


    It was quietly devouring the corpses nearby, and the aura it emitted also continued to increase slowly without stopping as it devoured more.


    A flaming meteor fell from the sky and landed nearby, just enough to illuminate this small area for an instant.


    The black dragon figure raised its head slightly, revealing a face Garen had once been familiar with ¨C Reyman.


    ****************


    Astral Space


    In the Astral Space with its glorious colors that went around emanating terrifying radiation everywhere, many spheres formed from countless pieces of trash, bodies, and other miscellaneous items.


    The powerful attraction and radiation filled this entire space that was in danger.


    A silver-white line gradually appeared in an empty corner of the Astral Space.


    The silver thread flowed down slowly, and almost seemed to print out the eerie body shape of a man. He was covered from head to toe with wounds that looked as though he had been pierced through with weapons, and some of the weapons still linger on his body. He just looked like a corpse that could not be any more dead.


    The man opened his eyes and held open his palm. In the middle of his palm, there was a condensed item made from countless pitch-black mosquitos and insects. It was as though all the countless insects had gathered together to form a sphere made of insects.


    ¡°It¡¯s about time you came in handy¡­¡± he sighed softly, lightly tossing the insect ball in his hand toward the front.


    The insect ball exploded tracelessly, and now it turned into countless insects flying all over the place and scattering everywhere. It seemed that the radiation and gravity here were practically ineffective on them.


    The man watched this scene quietly, until all of the bugs had flown away from the corner he was occupying.


    ******************


    Dragon King Peak


    Garen was all curled up his own dragon cave. All this golden Divine Power just kept beating, the Divine Power that had come from Tiamat was still struggling inside his body. But he had already converted most of it into Soul Energy.


    Since he had the Divine Persona now, he no longer had a Soul Limit. That was why he just decided to use all the Divine Power he had just obtained from the fight against the Incarnation in order to increase his stats.


    The wisps of divinity were converted into Soul Energy and then turned into Potential Points. Garen kept adding them onto his dragon body.


    Right now his Soul Ring structure could not level up because he lacked inspiration, and it just so happened that out of Tiamat¡¯s divinity that Garen had obtained that day, one part was unneeded.


    He did not need the Evil Dragon divinity at all, so he just converted it into his Soul Ring.


    The divinity in an Incarnation was more than he had found in the Pearl of the Temple back then. According to Garen¡¯s initial estimates, a completed divinity could be converted into four red Soul Rings. That was quite the haul!


    However, completing the divinity required some time¡­


    ¡°The operation has begun.¡±


    Suddenly, Ann¡¯s voice echoed around his dragon¡¯s cave.


    Garen opened his eerie dragon eyes with double pupils. ¡°Understood. I¡¯ll be there immediately.¡±


    There was an instant flash of bright yellow across his pupils.


    After he absorbed three Red Soul Rings that were converted from the completed divinity, he finally managed to condense a Level Yellow Soul Ring as well.


    There was another Red Soul Ring on top of his Yellow Ring, too. That made nine Soul Rings in total, standing in the Soul Space like a tall tower.


    Garen could clearly feel changes happening in his body, but he could not tell exactly what these changes were. It was a strange, imperceptible feeling.


    Even so, it was obvious that he had an instinct. He felt as though he could enter Dream Space directly with his body, as though his body could shift and weave through the semi-dreams and semi-reality.


    This was a very strange ability.


    He did not know what this ability was actually useful for, but clearly its most basic function was to avoid attacks.


    He could use his actual body to leap into the Dreamland and then instantly jump out again. With this method, he could avoid any would-be fatal hits. He also vaguely sensed that this ability seemed to have something to do with the rules of conversion between the material and the spiritual. After all, the Dreamland was purely a Spiritual Space.


    As he got up from the ground, the golden Divine Power all over Garen¡¯s body retreated rapidly, as though he had gone back to being the normal White Dragon he used to be.


    When he walked out of the dragon cave, two Adult White Dragon guards who were standing at the entrance bowed at him slightly.


    ¡°I¡¯m going out for a bit. If anything happens, get Annie to solve it.¡± Annie was the White Dragon who had protected him way back when he headed for the Snow City. Although her personal life was a mess, she was very powerful.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°If anyone comes from the White Dragon Mountain, tell them to wait for me to come back.¡± Garen left those last words and then flapped his wings, instantly vanishing from the spot.

 Chapter 1365 - Hunt 1

    Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation


    Standing at the peak of the snowy mountain, Garen pulled back his wings and looked at the lake on top of an extinct volcano in the distance. Over there, he could vaguely see three figures standing there, all of different colors.


    The woman surrounded in black was Ann, the woman in purple was the Deception Demon Master, and there was a Scorpion-Headed Man there as well, the Earth Demon Master.


    All three of them were surrounded by a naturally-occurring yet terrifying glow of energy. That was the Radiance of God that they made absolutely no effort to hide, a phenomenon naturally derived from their essence as a result of their bodies reaching the True Soul Level.


    This was a battle between True Souls. As of right now, Garen did not yet have the right to participate in a battle of this level.


    After all, even Tiamat was just a Lower God, and this time, he might very likely have to face multiple Gods with Middle-Level Divine Power. Although it was only a one-level difference, such a distance still meant that even two Lower Gods may not be able to defeat one Middle God. Gods such as the God of Time and Shadow were also particularly adept at battle, so there was an extra multiplier there as well.


    That was why Garen had been arranged to watch from the distant sidelines, and placed in charge of sweeping other Demigods or Holy Spirits.


    That suited Garen just well, since he was not particularly interested in a complete divinity. He just needed one wisp of divinity, and then he could perfect himself, eventually absorbing it and converting it into his Soul Ring. If he had enough Divine Power, then all he needed was to determine his Divine Domain, and he would be able to condense a Divine Persona. To Garen as he was now, that was not particularly difficult.


    ¡°Still not here yet?¡± Garen frowned slightly. They had been waiting in this state for three days now, but Casavon, the God of Time and Shadow whom they were expecting had yet to make an appearance.


    Garen came here in order to steal many different types of divinities. As long as he had enough divinity, he just had to use a little more time and he would soon have even more Soul Rings.


    Garen waited patiently and glanced at the color of the sky.


    The sky was slightly grey and dreary, the heavy layer of clouds threatening to pour at any moment.


    Occasionally, a herd of black migratory birds would fly here from the distance, flitting past volcano the lake. They did not notice the three terrifying presences beneath them at all.


    ¡°He¡¯s here.¡±


    Suddenly, Ann¡¯s voice spoke by his ear.


    Garen¡¯s entire body stiffened, and he hurriedly pulled back his aura.


    He looked into the distant sky beside him. A Three-Eyed Grey Dragon with golden wings had appeared there. It had a large stomach, and like a snake, its tongue was extremely long and red. However, its skin was stone-grey.


    ¡°Golden-Winged Dragon Mother, get ready.¡± Garen recognized her, this grey-colored three-eyed Colossal Dragon was Ann¡¯s other student, so she was Garen¡¯s senior sister in a sense. She had been following Ann for a long, long time before Garen was.


    ¡°I¡¯ll take left and you go right. There are others in charge of the other two sides.¡±


    The Golden-Winged Dragon Mother spoke in a quiet voice.


    ¡°Understood.¡±


    Garen nodded and instantly flashed a few times with her, until both appeared in the sky above the volcano lake, taking left and right respectively.


    At the same time, two others appeared in front of and behind the volcano lake, dressed in black clothes, their faces hidden.


    The four of them promptly formed a square formation, surrounding the volcano lake.


    Red light glowed from all four of their bodies at the same time.


    The red light grew more and more intense, shining wider and wider, until they rapidly spread and wove together, forming a large and dense red net in the sky above the volcano lake.


    The large net was several dozen kilometers in width, enveloping all the space around them completely and resulting in a blood-colored web ball.


    ¡°Maintain for ten minutes,¡± said the Deception Demon Master¡¯s voice.


    Barroom!


    The corner of the blood-colored web that Garen grabbed with both claws abruptly gave a huge jolt, as though something had happened inside. He applied some force mercilessly, steadying the net he held in his claws.


    The other three probably did the same as well.


    The ball of net shook for a while and then rapidly fell silent as well.


    But Garen was astute enough to notice that large flocks of Colossal Fire Birds were slowly appearing behind him.


    These Colossal Birds were burning completely from head to toe. Their eyes were like emeralds as they all rushed toward his back.


    Caw caw caw¡­!!


    Amidst the sharp cries of the birds, Garen flapped his wings once. An invisible circular territory of intense poison spread out wide. His unique Natural Poison Region was like a membrane of transparent fog that could not be seen with the naked eye, slowly reaching out.


    The fog of the Poison Region enveloped the flocks of Fire Birds, and instantly, the flames burning all over bodies of the many Fire Birds became fainter and smaller.


    Their cries became hoarse, their flames growing smaller and dimmer, until finally they fell from the sky like so many dumplings.


    ¡°Ann!! How dare you¡­¡± Suddenly, a menacing man¡¯s voice came from within the ball of net, sounding blurry and hoarse, as though it came from an extremely long distance away.


    The ball of net began to shake violently, as though there was something inside trying to fight its way out.


    Garen grabbed the corner of the ball of net even harder, turning aside slightly. Behind him, the countless Fire Birds gathered together, forming a figure of fire.


    It wore black armor, and the body inside the armor basically had the same dark-red texture of lava. It was basically an Elemental.


    Garen narrowed his eyes. Casavon had three powerful Gods under his command, and one of them seemed to match this person before him perfectly in terms of their physical appearance.


    ¡°The Elemental Thane¡­ Aer.¡± If the one he faced before was an Incarnation of Tiamat, the one he was about to face this time was the true Godhead of a Lower God.


    ¡°A mere Dragon of Disaster..¡± Scorching hot flames erupted from underneath this Fire Elemental Thane¡¯s helmet, and his body kept emitting large gusts of black smoke and high-temperature heat waves from all over his body.


    ¡°How dare you offend His Highness Casavon!¡±


    He raised his scimitar and pointed it at Garen.


    ¡°To thy soul, I shall¡­¡± Bam!!


    All of a sudden, a giant black beast pounced at him from the side.


    The beast grabbed him tightly in mid-air, and the two of them wrestled and rolled. In mid-air, the beast suddenly sprouted a pair of large black bat wings.


    Rainbow-colored circles of light burst forth as a result of the clash between the waves of energy and Divine Power, exploding between the two of them.


    Garen watched this scene quietly. Since Ann had arranged so many things, it was only natural that she would not have forgotten to consider the manpower Casavon had under his command.


    The two Lower-God-Level Thanes fought each other madly. One was the Earth Elemental Thane, the beast arranged by Ann, and the other was the Flame Thane.


    The mountains and river beneath them rose, and crevices appeared between the giant boulders, revealing the lava that flowed beneath.


    The powers of the Earth and the Flames tangled and wrestled with each other. It was a natural phenomenon as a result of a leakage of the two Thanes¡¯ power.


    Amidst the loud rumbling, several black shadows began to appear slowly on the ground beneath them. The black shadows contracted abruptly, turning into several purple-black metallic giants that were each more than ten meters tall.


    These Giants wore sharp triangular masks, and they held long black swords in their hands, their entire bodies covered in many mysterious carvings.


    They leaped, their movements nimble, and all pounced toward the four people holding up the net in mid-air.


    ¡°Shadow Masks. They¡¯re from the Grey Shadow Parliament.¡± Golden-Winged Dragon Mother snorted coldly. ¡°Careful, each of these Giants is a Level Fifteen Sword Master from the Giant Clan.¡±


    ¡°Leave this to me!¡±


    A woman in black slowly appeared in mid-air beside them. The woman had dark golden curved horns on top of her head, and she wore a black suit of armor that covered her entire body. In her hands, she held two long and thin swords. Her long purple-red hair flew in the wind.


    ¡°Chaotic Space-Time!¡±


    She abruptly raised her swords high, and a piercing sound immediately echoed through the entire vicinity.


    Psst!!


    A ray of purple-red light abruptly shot out of her blade, shooting straight into the air where it turned into a long thin line of purple-red, piercing through the clouds.


    ¡°Come, my most loyal clansmen!!¡± The woman screeched with strange and eerie laughter.


    Buzz¡­ Suddenly, a large current of purple-red clouds swirled in mid-air, turning into an enormous tornado that spun slowly in the sky.


    With a crackle, a bolt of purple lightning shot past, and the entire sky dimmed.


    Immediately, countless purple-red moth-like insects flew out of the tornado. These insects seemed to be several dozen times the regular moths, and each of them had eyes that glowed with a faint neon red light. Their vicious-looking mouthparts opened and closed constantly, as though they were trying to chew something greedily.


    The insects pounced down from the sky like raindrops, flitting past the woman and leaping downward.


    Roar!!


    A Giant roared furiously, waving its Greatsword rapidly until it looked like a wheel as it moved into a sword dance. But even so, it was blocked by the many purple-red moths.


    The moths¡¯ bodies were extremely hard. Even if they took a hit from the Greatsword, they would only sustain a tiny bit of damage. Then, they would shake their heads slightly and go charging forth once more.


    Beneath them, the several dozen Giant were instantly surrounded by the countless moths, intercepted in mid-air.


    On the ground, a Giant Sword Master wearing a black cape with golden trimmings looked up at the woman who had summoned the moths.


    Without wasting any breath on small talk, the Giant Sword Master created an Excalibur in his hand, condensing it out of blue electricity. He took a few quick steps forth, borrowed that momentum, and stomped down hard.


    Boom!!


    The blue light shot into the air, the Giant Sword Master and the woman crashing into each other in mid-air. Black and blue Holy Aura Territories rose around the two of them, cutting off all the gazes from the outside world completely.


    Garen pulled back his gaze.


    The battle between the two sides was growing larger.


    A few grey-robed old Wizards gradually appeared in the distant sky. There were still the faint vestiges of the forces from when they leaped through space, so it was clear that they had leaped here using a matrix.


    As soon as these people appeared, they lowered their heads and began to chant a spell quickly, their hands scattering countless crystalline powders into the air.


    ¡°The leaders of the Grey Shadow Parliament!¡± Garen recognized these five old Wizards, they were all peak-level Great Arcanists from the Northlands. Even the weakest one was at Level Eleven. The highest-leveled one, on the other hand, was a Level Fourteen Great Arcanist.


    Each of them had the faint image of a tall tower floating behind them, symbolizing the fact that they each had a huge Wizard Tower and Elemental Pond supporting them.


    Garen glanced at Golden-Winged Dragon Mother¡¯s direction. She was already exchanging blows with a yellow shadow, and bolts of gold-colored Divine Power sprayed out of their battle. Clearly, her opponent was also a Lower God.


    ¡°Looks like I¡¯ll have to handle this on my own.¡± Garen did not think that this was the extent of the Grey Shadow Parliament¡¯s firepower this time.


    Just then, the chanting stopped abruptly.


    The bodies of the five old Wizards suddenly gathered together, and actually molded into one clump like mud. Then, they quickly turned into a Warrior dressed in a huge white suit of armor and wielding two sabers.


    ¡°Emperor!!¡± the Warrior roared in a low voice. A white star suddenly lit up in the sky, and the white starlight pierced through the clouds and the tornado, shining down directly on his body.


    In an instant, countless magnificent and holy patterns continuously appeared all over the Warrior¡¯s body.


    He took one step forward, and his body disappeared abruptly, reappearing behind Garen.


    He swung his saber!!


    A diamond-shaped crystal appeared in front of the saber and was instantly shattered by the blade.


    Bam! The countless crystal shards shot toward the back of Garen¡¯s head, hiding the trajectory of the saber¡¯s tip.


    ¡°Decay,¡± said Garen in a low voice.


    A cloud of black fog erupted from his body, covering everything within a several-dozen-meter radius. It covered the Warrior as well.


    This was his Divine Persona¡¯s Authority. He could use his Divine Power to activate a powerful ability, as an embodiment of the laws. Everything trapped in the fog was limited by the laws of this place, and so began to decay slowly.


    Be it their stamina, strength, speed, or essence, these would all fade quickly with the passage of time.


    Pfft pfft pfft!


    Countless crystal shards all landed on Garen¡¯s body.


    However, it was as though they were crashing into wood. They left no trace whatsoever.


    The tip of the blade also pierced into Garen¡¯s scales mercilessly, and the thin golden layer of the Divine Membrane was instantly broken through. The tip of the blade tapped directly against the dragon scale, emitting a piercing screech of friction.


    ¡°Dragon Light Slash!!¡± The Warrior used all the power in his body once more, and an arc of golden electricity burst forth from his hand, extending along the blade and instantly reaching the top. It became a huge force that propelled the blade forward viciously.


    Pfft!


    The arc of lightning shot out of the blade tip and struck into Garen¡¯s scales.


    The Warrior¡¯s other hand abruptly turned into a blood-red tentacle of pure energy which wound itself around one of Garen¡¯s wings fiercely, with a smack.


    ¡°A Divine Weapon?¡± Garen raised an eyebrow. That blood-red energy tentacle meant that the opponent was clearly using a Divine Weapon to temporarily block of his Decay Authority.


    This was also because he had too little Divine Power. If his Divine Persona was not limited to such weak Divine Power, if he had the Divine Power of a Lower God, then unless it was a Middle- or Upper-Level Divine Weapon, it would have been impossible to go against the power of Divine Authority.


    But Garen was not surprised in the very least. If the opponent did not have at least this much power, how would they dare to participate in a battle of this level?


    ¡°Saber of Domination!¡± With a shake of his hand, he emitted a pitch-black ball that instantly enveloped the Warrior before him. It also swallowed up the red tentacles.


    This was Tiamat¡¯s ultimate move, but since it was part of the Domination Divine Persona¡¯s Authority, Garen managed to absorb it into his Authority as well after a period of analysis.


    This was the benefit of concentrating all his potential into his increasing his Intelligence. Within a few short days, he had completely digested Tiamat¡¯s Authority.


    ¡°Unfortunately, since it¡¯s the natural ability of the Divine Persona, I can only use the Lower-Level Authority once without a cost. If I wanted to use it a second time, I¡¯ll have to add on some extra Divine Power as a starter. Garen calculated how much Divine Power he had saved. He left just a wisp to allow the Divine Shield¡¯s protective mechanism to run and operate automatically, and converted all the remaining Divine Power into Potential so that he could strengthen himself.


    The Divine Power he obtained from devouring Tiamat pushed his Intelligence all the way up to 400 points. Unlike before, he now needed twenty Potential Points to increase his attributes by one point, so it was quite the cost.


    400 points in Intelligence caused the computing speeds of the Willpower Neuroprocessor to increase to an unbelievable level. The computing tasks that required several days, and took Gods several months, now only took him several hours.

 Chapter 1366 - Hunt 2

    Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation


    The black ball slowly dissipated, and on the body of the white-armored soldier who reappeared, was a horrific saber mark. The saber mark had almost slashed his body into two pieces, and a great number of red blood vessels wormed out from the gap of the wounds, waving madly like a dancing snake.


    At this moment, a faint feeling of pain was spreading at the body part where Garen had used to forcefully resist the opponent¡¯s attack.


    His brows knitted together, but such an attack could only make him feel pain. Some of the scales¡¯ surfaces were ruined, nothing more.


    Boom!


    His tail twined round the Warrior in front of him and entangled him tightly.


    Sizz¡­


    The powerful might was not something even the Incarnation of a Lower God could compare with. Garen¡¯s 260-points of Strength was fierce, tightening the Warrior more and more¡­


    He raised the other party up high over his head. Lifting his face, Garen opened his dragon mouth, and a large amount of blood was squeezed out, dripping into his mouth.


    His snake-like tongue flickered continuously, licking the blood that spilled over his mouth.


    ¡°Sure enough, it¡¯s the Incarnation condensed from Faith¡­ hahahaha, such a pure blood of worship¡­ what a free delivery of Divine Power!!¡±


    Garen¡¯s eyes gleamed ferociously as he laughed out loud. He casually flung away the Warrior at his tail, and the gigantic bloody colored ball of net behind him finally began to fade.


    At this moment, three golden lights shot up into the sky and fled in three different directions.


    ¡°The Wheel of Time!¡±


    Ann¡¯s voice echoed throughout the space around.


    In that instance, everything stood still.


    Only the three flying golden lights were still flitting away, but their speed had slowed down by a great deal. It was only then that Garen could clearly see that the three golden lights were actually three panicking golden Gods.


    ¡°Turn.¡±


    The Deception Demon Master¡¯s sound rang out.


    In a trice, the heads of the three golden Gods fell right away, as if they were sliced off by a sharp weapon.


    ¡°Go!¡± Ann said nothing more, raised her hands to release four golden lights, which fell onto Garen and the Golden-Winged Dragon Mother, the four net-weavers.


    In a cloud of distortion, all the combatants on the scene who were from Ann¡¯s side disappeared at the same time.


    Just at this moment.


    Bang!!


    An incomparably enormous golden beam descended from the sky.


    A golden angel flew out from the golden light. She had six pairs of wings, her entire body was like a gold sculpture. Holding a short-handled flail, her eyes coldly scanned below.


    ¡°Shadow Dragon King¡­¡±


    ************************


    When Garen opened his eyes again, he was already in the Abyss at the place where Ann was sealed at.


    Ann was exhausted, her entire body was constantly swallowing and spitting out a large amount of golden Divine Power, which was a sign that the Divine Power had not been completely digested.


    ¡°Casavon is dead. I didn¡¯t expect another two Middle Gods to be there. This time we almost failed!¡±


    ¡°The God of Knowledge and the God of Raging Wind. Both were of middle Divine Power and had vanished without a trace a long time ago. No one expected them to be hiding in that place, waiting for us.¡± The black-armored woman spoke in a low voice.


    ¡°I¡¯ll take my remuneration with me. The impact this time is too great. Fortunately, we moved quickly.¡± The Deception Demon Master came out of the darkness from one side.


    ¡°What I want is the God of Raging Wind¡¯s Divine Persona. The Divine Crystal doesn¡¯t matter to me.¡± No one knew where the Earth Demon Master Scorpion-Headed Human was hiding, and they could only hear the voice.


    ¡°The one that came later was the Higher Divine Power Lord of the Golden Angel, Fehra¡¯s strongest right-hand man; also a pure God with a holy nature who is in charge of purification! Fortunately, we left fast. This fellow is not much inferior to Fehra¡¯s Incarnation!¡± He said gladly.


    ¡°The three Divine Personas will be equally divided, while the divinity will be given to the other existences who had given assistance. More than two thousand Divine Crystals were extracted, and it can raise 20 points of Divine Persona. Are you sure you don¡¯t want it?¡± Ann looked at the Earth Demon Master.


    ¡°No,¡± the Scorpion-Headed Human said casually, ¡°what we lack isn¡¯t the Divine Crystals¡­ to convert the Divine Power into the energy that could enhance ourselves takes too long. What we lack is divinity. Complete divinity. Unfortunately, they¡¯re all too fragmentized by you in the battle.¡±


    ¡°Divinity?¡± Ann pondered.


    Garen and the Golden-Winged Dragon Mother quietly listened to the distribution of spoils at the side.


    Hearing the words of the Earth Demon Master, he also instantly understood.


    Other Demon Masters could not perfect the divinity as fast as him. His horrific computing power could even extend the perfected divinity into the existence of a Divine Persona.


    It seemed that although other Demon Masters could also perfect the divinity and convert it into a Soul Ring, obviously it would cost a lot of time and effort, so they were not interested in the over-fragmented divinities.


    ¡°Fragmented divinities? I¡¯d like to be allocated some of each. I don¡¯t need too many in quantity, just want more types. Is that feasible?¡± Garen thought about it and took the initiative to go forward to speak.


    ¡°Some of each?¡± The Earth Demon Master frowned slightly and thought of something. ¡°Are you¡­?¡±


    ¡°I want to try perfecting the divinities,¡± Garen nodded and frankly admitted.


    ¡°Alright. Divine Power isn¡¯t of much use to us unless you want to focus on the path of the Gods. Otherwise, the Divine Power could only be used as a consumable item for the means of attacking.¡± The Deception Demon Master nodded on the side.


    ¡°The Divine Crystals¡­ since you guys don¡¯t need it, I wonder if you could sell some of them to me?¡± Ann suddenly said.


    ¡°How many do you want?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll talk outside,¡± Ann said lowly.


    The three Middle-God powerhouses disappeared at the bottom of the Abyss.


    Some sundries-like objects were instantly scattered from mid-air and divided into four parts as they flew into the hands of Garen and the net-weavers.


    There were still two combatants who were empty-handed. But no dissatisfaction was shown on their faces. Obviously, there had been other arrangements beforehand.


    Garen collected his own share. It was more than a dozen little balls that looked like lustrious balls of yarn.


    He had now transformed into a human figure, and he reached out his index finger to gently touch a small red ball.


    ¡®Divinity discovered, category: storm. 1% completeness.¡¯


    Then he touched another silver one.


    ¡®Divinity discovered, category: literature.¡¯


    ¡®Divinity discovered, category: poetry.¡¯


    Garen touched all the divinities one by one.


    These dozens of divinities came from the God of Time and Shadow, the God of Knowledge, and the God of Raging Wind respectively. They were threads of divinity from the different Divine Domains that the three Middle Gods were in charge of.


    ¡°If I can perfect these divinities¡­¡± Garen¡¯s heart was slightly looking forward to it. Some of the Divine Domain divinities could enhance the computing power of his Willpower Neuroprocessor.


    For example, one of the God of Knowledge¡¯s divinity that was called Logic could completely enhance the computing speed of his Willpower Neuroprocessor.


    ¡°Well, we can now leave. Be careful, I smell the aura of the God of Death on you,¡± the Golden-Winged Dragon Mother on the side reminded gently. ¡°Maybe it won¡¯t take for the God of Death to pay close attention to you. Once you utilize the divinity that overlaps with his to form the Divine Domain and attempt to condense the Divine Persona, it will trigger a Holy War.¡±


    Garen was astounded.


    ¡°Understood. That is to say, he¡¯s just taking note of me now, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes, just taking note. He pays attention to all the existence who have grasped the divinity of Death.¡±


    Garen nodded silently.


    But being amid the whirlpool of the war between two big Worlds, he had no reason to give up the capital that was in his hands to enhance his strength.


    ¡°If nothing unexpected happens, Ann should be able to reap a major gain this time. Forming an alliance with you guys, the Void, can help her to ascend to a new level.¡± The Golden-Winged Dragon Mother sighed slightly.


    ¡°Ann is already at the peak of the Middle Divine Power. A new level¡­ is it¡­¡± The black-armored woman¡¯s voice faltered, but she still could not suppress her shock. ¡°She had just broken out, and already she had accumulated such a foundation?¡±


    ¡°She did not just break out¡­¡± The Golden-Winged Dragon Mother spoke with another deeper meaning to it.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t this better? Hehehe¡­¡± The black beast fanned his wings and laughed deeply. It was him who had helped Garen to block the first wave of enemies.


    ¡°Only in this way can we protect ourselves in this chaotic era¡­¡± the black-armored woman said solemnly.


    Garen stood by the side and did not speak.


    Just for¡­ self-protection?


    He suddenly recalled what the Earth Demon Master had said to him.


    No one was a fool. Regarding his ability in which he could quietly perfect the divinity into a Soul Ring, perhaps the Deception Demon Master had been aware of it. After all, she had been together with him for so many years.


    Perhaps this was also the reason why the Distortion Demon Master thought that he had the most potential.


    Although it was still too early for him to replace Ann, it had not been a long time until now, and already he had reached the combat power of a Lower Divine Power. Becoming a Middle God soon would not be difficult.


    He recalled the Earth Demon Master¡¯s last meaningful gaze, and there was a hunch in his heart.


    ¡°Alright then, I¡¯m heading back first,¡± he said plainly. ¡°This is the way to contact my Tower. You are all welcome to come and visit.¡±


    He shot out a white cold light, which separated and landed before the other three.


    ¡°If there¡¯s a chance, I¡¯ll certainly come to visit. This is the coordinates of my deep pool.¡±


    The other three tyrannical existence also exchanged information with one another. In this chaotic era, more friendships represented more security. No one would reject befriending a Lower God powerhouse.


    Garen nodded and vanished instantly.


    The remaining three were silent for a moment.


    ¡°Garen, there shouldn¡¯t be anyone else who¡¯s more talented than him in the White Dragon Clan¡­¡± The Golden-Winged Dragon Mother sighed.


    ¡°How many years did it take for him to reach this level? I feel that his bone age is too young¡­¡± the black beast remarked in a low voice.


    ¡°Less than fifty years,¡± the Golden-Winged Dragon Mother answered.


    There was a moment of silence.


    The other two clearly showed an astounded expression.


    ¡°That¡¯s really¡­ indescribable.¡± The black-armored woman smiled bitterly. ¡°Compared with him, what have we been really doing all these years¡­¡±


    ¡°No¡­ it¡¯s different.¡± The Golden-Winged Dragon Mother shook her head. ¡°Ann once told me that Garen had the inheritance of the God of Pharmacy of the previous generation. He¡¯s different.¡±


    ¡°No wonder.¡±


    The God of Pharmacy was the most mysterious God in this big world, and it had created countless mysteries and weirdness. Even the most powerful major Gods could not tell what his true form was. In the end, it was due to the rise of another God of Pharmacy that the Divine Domain was discovered to not have been occupied. Only then it was known that the God of Pharmacy had fallen.


    That was to say, until the fall, no one was still able to know what his true identity was, and who the Godhead was.

 Chapter 1367 - The Onset of Doomsday 1

    Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation


    Cold Winter Tower


    Garen¡¯s figure instantly appeared on the Transportation Formation at the bottom floor.


    He looked around, and a metal Golem came over and bowed slightly at him.


    ¡°Where¡¯s Nadia?¡±


    ¡°At the third floor. Seems to be reading a book?¡± The Golem replied in a low voice. These Golems had a certain intelligence. They were high-performance Golems created by Garen using the technology of the Mech World, which could be considered the integration of Arcane Technique and technology, and they were extremely horrific, as they already had a standard capability of Level Six once they came out of the experimental platform. Moreover, they could even continue to grow.


    Garen had built a total of three of them; one to manage the Cold Winter Tower, one in the Abyss, and one in the production logistics.


    ¡°What about Koala?¡± Garen asked. ¡°How¡¯s the progress? Ask him to come see me.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    The gigantic body of the Golem bowed his head in reply.


    Garen strolled to the Transportation Formation that led to the third floor. The Cold Winter Tower did not have stairs for each level. Instead, they were each an independent space and could only rely on the Formation to travel to and fro.


    After a burst of white light, the second floor of the Cold Winter Tower was a place like a strategic research room, and at the center was a large universe Plane simulation scene.


    On the khaki colored Main Substance Plane ball, the space of the upper-level Heavenly Mountain and other Upper Planes was a huge white disc, while the bottom also had a large disc, but it was black, which was the space of the Lower Planes; some were also named the Inner-Level Planes. On the side of it was a large cloud of colorful misty things floating over there; it was the Astral Space.


    The Astral Space extended numerous tentacles, linking the Upper, Middle, and Lower Planes. Some blood-like objects could be clearly seen flowing from the Planes into the Astral Space, and from the Astral Space, they would flow back into the Planes along the tentacles, forming a large cycle.


    Around the whole model was a vast Dark Void, and there were huge colorful plates faraway in the Void. They were the Divine Kingdom of each major Higher Gods. There was also a huge black hole in the middle, which was the node connecting the Void and this World.


    Garen walked up to the simulation scene and swept his eyes across the situation shown on it.


    ¡®According to the latest data collected, the scene authenticity is estimated at 67%.¡¯ The Tower Soul, which was also Garen¡¯s Willpower Neuroprocessor, gave a feedback.


    ¡°67%? That¡¯s not low¡­¡± Garen nodded with satisfaction. ¡°What is the general situation at the moment?¡±


    ¡®The Void has completely suppressed the local Pantheons and has dominated nearly 50% of the local territories. Besides the big seas and the ocean, there had been major massacres at many places at the Main Substance Plane. The situation is very good. However, there are some tricky characters that can¡¯t be detected even by the levels of the Distortion Demon Master; for example, the Child of Hell and the Child of Radiance.¡¯


    ¡®The Child of Hell. It¡¯s estimated that there are dozens of them, each of whom is of different race, and their form is uncertain. The Child of Radiance is one person, and his identity is unknown. Their location is uncertain.¡¯ The computing power of the Willpower Neuroprocessor was now far beyond than that of the average top-level Energy Machinists. In the Mech World, the Gods would also be considered an incomparable existence.


    ¡°How¡¯s the Biochemical Pool?¡± Garen turned around, and a semi-transparent micro-black, thin little Golem suddenly appeared behind him. This Golem was only the height of a person, and the figure was slender and thin, looking like it could be easily fractured. However, there were sharp and pointed protrusions and spiked blades everywhere on it, giving a feeling of fragility and danger at the same time.


    ¡°Reporting to Master. The embryos bred in the Biochemical Pool has reached a thousand in numbers. All are placed in the soil under the Cold Winter Tower, and the Protection Matrix has been activated to safeguard them. We can stimulate their hatching at any time to join the battle.¡± Koala the Golem answered sharply.


    ¡°Types?¡±


    ¡°There are ten Razor Wolves Type 1, and they¡¯re estimated to be at this world¡¯s Level Five. The remaining basic units are Berserk Werewolves, which have flying and drilling functions, and their strength is evaluated at Level Three. The stock of Abyss resources that were recently shipped here have been exhausted,¡± Koala replied quickly.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± Garen was not very satisfied. ¡°Release all the Razor Wolves and collect the needed data in time to prepare for Type 2.¡±


    ¡°Understood,¡± Koala hesitated. ¡°Master, do we need a Willpower Connection?¡± he asked cautiously.


    Although it was hatched and produced from Garen¡¯s Biochemical Pool, without the execution of the Soul Connection, these bio-weapons could not enjoy a mighty augmentation from Garen¡¯s Willpower. In addition, because Garen was a Demon Lord, there would also be a natural strengthening to his subordinates.


    This Demon Lord¡¯s strengthening ability was acquired when one reached the Army Level. All the soldiers would be strengthened following the enhancement of the Demon Lord at the same time.


    ¡°No rush¡­¡± Garen blinked. ¡°I¡¯m going to have a big enhancement soon. The enhancement needs a better Type 2.¡±


    ¡°Understood¡­¡± Koala nodded and instantly faded into the darkness. He was basically an assassin-type Golem.


    Garen had a final look at the simulation scene. The black representing the Void and the white representing the locals were constantly twisting and slaughtering at each major Planes. Through the information from the Abyss, he was able to gather a lot of information from the innumerable Planes that were linked to the Abyss. He then in turn simulated this huge scene.


    After watching the simulation scene for a while, Garen turned around and walked to the darkness on the side. A black crystal stone pillar automatically raised from the ground, and a large amount of information from the Vengeance Fortress was displayed on it like it was a screen.


    After he had left the Abyss, the powerful Evil Gods around the Vengeance Fortress did not have any other targets, so they ceased all activities and left. Instead, the forces of the White Dragon Mountain had entered the fortress, changed their previous rampant behavior, and quietly waited for his return.


    ¡°The White Dragon King is dead. Looks like the White Dragon Clan will have to find a new reliance,¡± Garen snickered. He had a terrible intuition for the White Dragon Mountain. The representing Elder from the White Dragon Mountain now appeared in the frame and was exhibiting a peaceful and submission deportment, clearly being oppressed by the other forces so that they had no choice but to seek other assistance from the outside.


    ¡°Andrew.¡± Garen gently tapped the picture.


    ¡°Master.¡± A commander in black armor appeared on the crystal stone screen. ¡°What are your orders?¡±


    ¡°How¡¯s the current situation at White Dragon Mountain?¡±


    Andrew had unwittingly broken through to Level Twelve, but his aura was close to saturation. Obviously, his soul had reached the upper limit. Many creatures had their own limits, whether it was the soul or the flesh, and only very few powerful inheritance could help the creatures to break through this limit. This World had a lot of top-level life energy cultivation methods, while the Worlds Garen had previously transmigrated to mainly focus on the Void¡¯s various Secret Technique inheritance.


    What Andrew had been practicing was the powerful inherited secret method of his own household, which was the Knight¡¯s Technique that many knights studied. However, he could only reach Level Twelve in the end, and that was already considered very terrific. After all, he was only from a duke family of a small empire; how strong could the inheritance of a duke household from a remote small empire be?


    ¡°White Dragon Mountain is under the coercion of the Abyssal Demon Dragon Clan, so they¡¯re now stuck in a difficult position and are seeking foreign aid everywhere,¡± Andrew quickly replied. ¡°There was a time when they sent someone to try to bribe me, but I refused.¡±


    ¡°How ¡¯bout Tiamat? How come she didn¡¯t care for them?¡± Garen sneered.


    ¡°Tiamat seems to have disappeared without a trace. Even the Evil Dragon Priests had also vanished. The White Dragon Clan have lost their refuge and are faced with the duress of being swallowed up by the Abyssal Demon Dragons. That¡¯s probably the key reason why they come to ask for your help,¡± Andrew said plainly.


    ¡°Disappeared?¡± Garen gave it a thought. ¡°How much accumulated resources are left?¡±


    ¡°The consumption was not huge. Recently, we organized another Blood War and have reaped abundantly. There¡¯re a hundred units of Abyssal supplies that could be given out.¡± Andrew simply summed it up. The Abyssal supplies was a unit determined by the internal department of the Cold Winter Tower. One unit of Abyssal supply could support the functioning of the Cold Winter Tower for a month. It could also produce a hundred Berserk Wolves, so it was a very large unit.


    ¡°Sent them all over. I need to open up a new territory here,¡± Garen ordered.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    Switching off the communication, Garen went directly to the Transportation Formation and entered the third floor.


    The third floor was temporarily refurbished into a medical and reading floor, and a lot of data were placed here on the rows of bookshelves at a side.


    Nadia was wearing a black blouse, a mini-skirt from Earth period, and long black socks. Her slender and symmetrical figure leaned against the seat, as her dark long hair draped down the back of the chair, straight and smooth.


    Rosta and Elphis, the two Void Pursuers, also sat opposite her, quietly reading their books and counting something with a pen.


    Seeing Garen appeared, all three tensed up slightly


    ¡°His strength is stronger¡­¡± Rosta was stunned as he felt an endless horrific aura spread over. Glancing at Elphis, both of them saw from each other¡¯s eyes a sense of impotence as they smiled bitterly.


    Nadia also felt the enhancement of this aura, and there was another layer of coldness on her face.


    The human-form Garen was dressed in a white aristocratic outfit with a silver edge. He had white gloves on, and his figure was slender, giving others a cultured and elegant temperament.


    ¡°How¡¯s things? I¡¯m sure you three are doing fine in the Cold Winter Tower?¡±


    He went to the table.


    ¡°Come and sit. I¡¯m here to tell you all something.¡±


    He swept his eyes across Rosta and Elphis. Both their aura was obviously enhanced a great deal due to the Distorted Seed, probably reaching the standard of Level Ten. Although they were still fragile like a child in front of him, but they could already manage to gain a foothold in this world. This was the power of the Distorted Seed.


    ¡°The two of you, what¡¯s holding you back from advancing is that you have to find a point of convergence that you want, condense all your strength, purify it, and focus on that point as the core. Only then can you further enhance.¡± Garen gave some pointers to the two subordinates. Elphis and Rosta were also Void Pursuers, so he naturally had some sense of identity with them.


    Then there was Nadia.


    He turned his head around and looked at this old acquaintance.


    ¡°What about you? Almost comprehend it all? Regarding the situation of this World.¡±


    Nadia closed her eyes and was silent for a moment. She then opened her eyes, and her pupils were filled with an unruly luster.


    ¡°What about that? What do you want to say?! Want me to succumb to you?¡± She taunted. ¡°Even though I¡¯m very grateful to you for saving me, but don¡¯t think that I will succumb to any existence!¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t intend to oppress you,¡± Garen smiled. ¡°I just feel that by leaving you here, any time when I¡¯m in a bad mood, I can come to you to vent it all out. And after that, my mood will be fine,¡± he joked.


    ¡°You!¡± Nadia was ignited, and her eyes began to blaze with fury.


    ¡°Forget it. Master Garen is just joking with you¡­¡± Rosta, who was a kind old man, quickly began to soothe and smooth things over. Judging by his proficiency, this was clearly not his first time doing this.


    Garen shook his head and stopped teasing her.


    ¡°Alright, back to business. Nadia, I can let you go, but with your current strength of less than Level Nine, and now is the time of great war between the Void and the Pantheons, if you don¡¯t group together but choose to act alone, I suppose you won¡¯t even make it for a week. Do you believe me?¡±


    He did not lie to her anymore. This was the truth.


    Now, whether it was the Void or the Pantheon, even the Lower Gods were afraid to act alone, for fear of being pursued and assassinated by the other powerhouse group. Not to mention her, a mere Level Eight-existence.


    Nadia was silent, biting her lower lip slowly. She wanted to find a reason to refute, but she was not one with a silver tongue, and she herself was well-aware of the facts.


    ¡°So, seeing that you are an old friend, I¡¯ll give you two choices,¡± Garen extended two fingers.


    ¡°One, join me. I¡¯ll give you a Distorted Seed so that you can advance to around Level Ten, which will be sufficient for you to protect yourself. At the same time, like Rosta, you¡¯ll be a small commander in my Cold Winter Tower.¡±


    ¡°I refuse! I don¡¯t like to command whatsoever!¡± Nadia refused flatly.


    ¡°Then it¡¯s the second one,¡± Garen smiled. ¡°Be my personal bodyguard. I¡¯ll grant you the Soul Connection. As long as I advance, you can also benefit and advance. I¡¯ll be having a major leap soon, you can also seize this opportunity. But as an Army Level, you should be aware of the disadvantages and advantages in this respect.¡±


    Nadia did not say anything.


    The Soul Connection was actually the means by which the Army Level or Demon Lord-Level established its own army. After the establishment of the connection was successful, whenever the Demon Lord or Army Level advanced their strength, they would also simultaneously spur their subordinates to advance together.


    The advantage of this was that one could progress quickly with a genius. The downside was that you must absolutely obey the Demon Lord or Army Level regardless of any order; even if they want you to go take your life.


    Such a connection was almost impossible to be rid of, and no one had ever heard of anyone who could be released from it. It was said that only when the strength of the subordinates exceeded that of the Chief of Army or the Demon Lord by a great deal that it was possible to break off the connection at that time.


    However, such a result had never appeared.


    ¡°Do you still actually want to enslave me?!¡± Nadia fixed her gaze coldly on Garen.

 Chapter 1368 - The Onset of Doomsday 2

    Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation


    ¡°I don¡¯t have such a thought,¡± Garen smiled. ¡°I have countless powerful subordinates in the Abyss. To be honest, I don¡¯t lack you guys. But since our relationship is rather different, as Rosta and Elphis are the only Void Pursuers left, while you¡¯re my old friend, naturally it¡¯s necessary to take care of my acquaintances first. Am I right?¡±


    Nadia bit her lips, and her eyes revealed a mixed feeling. She also remembered the tragic experience of just entering the world and being simply caught like a chick or rubbish.


    ¡°Let me consider it.¡±


    She originally wanted to immediately refuse in rage, but when the words reached the tip of her tongue, they unconsciously came out with another meaning.


    ¡°Give it a good thought.¡± Garen was not in a hurry. His plan would not be delayed due to Nadia.


    ¡°Rosta, you guys come with me.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡± Rosta and Elphis instantly responded.


    The two stood up and followed Garen to the Transportation Formation. With a whoosh and a flash of light, they disappeared directly from this floor.


    Nadia quietly watched the few people left, and her heart was wavering more and more.


    She had already reached the upper limit of strength enhancement, and she could not advance anymore as she was at the Army Level. Although she could advance herself in this World through slaughtering, but just like what Garen had said, it was too dangerous.


    ¡°Perhaps¡­ I should really consider it.¡±


    *****************


    Garen the trio appeared directly in the center of the Elemental Pond at the top floor.


    The six Elemental Ponds around were still emitting horrific energy fluctuations. Upon just entering here, Rosta and Elphis were entirely stiff and were directly impacted by the violent elements. They could only freeze on the spot and could not move at all. The enormous energy pressure made them, the Gods, felt sore and painful in their skin.


    Snap.


    Garen made a bright snapping sound, only then did the energy concentration around the two returned to normal.


    ¡°This is the core of the Cold Winter Tower, the source of all power. I¡¯ll cultivate here, while you¡¯ll connect with my soul first. After the imprint is marked, you¡¯ll be able to advance along with me.¡±


    ¡°Thank you for going through the trouble for us, Master.¡± The two quickly thanked.


    ¡°In the future, you guys will be responsible for the troops that manage the Cold Winter Tower at the Main Substance Plane together with Koala and the rest,¡± Garen casually said. ¡°I have other things to deal with. The lesser the Soul Connection of the army, the greater the enhancement that will be equally shared. I plan to look for only ten existence to be enhanced.¡±


    Rosta and Elphis were stupefied. With an army of only ten people, this meant that so as long as Garen advanced, the help for them would be a terrifying qualitative change. This would be almost like a skyrocketing leap in strength.


    Garen was not bothered, because what he needed now were powerhouses; enough powerhouses to assist him; not cannon fodders, since he already had lots of those. Whether it was the Abyss or the Biochemical Pool, he could create sufficient powerful cannon fodders. However, he was lacking those who could really become his right-hand man.


    ¡°If there¡¯s no other opinion, then let¡¯s get started,¡± Garen said plainly.


    ¡°Yes.¡± X2.


    As soon as the voices fell, Garen flicked his fingers and shot out two reddish translucent rays, precisely piercing the center of the two persons¡¯ eyebrows.


    The impact hit them hard to the point their heads were raised, and instantly fell into a coma.


    The reddish light continued slowly, and Garen stopped looking at the two but walked to the Biochemical Pool to observe the latest changes. What was needed next was just the passing of time.


    Initially, he had determined the places for Andrew and the other senior subordinates, coupled with Rosta the trio from this side as well as the few whom he had selected from the White Dragon Clan, Satwo and so on. There were only ten places in total. All of them were to command the enormous army under him.


    After streamlining the Abyss¡¯ army, now it was close to eight hundred thousand, all of which the lowest level were Level Three-cannon fodders, while the highest was Leve Six junior captains.


    Garen planned to have this force stay in the Abyss and strengthen them.


    He intended to build another large army at the Main Substance Plane and to mainly construct with the Biochemical Pool and experimental platform.


    ¡°Next, it¡¯s time to study the divinities¡­¡± Garen looked at the more than a dozen little divinity balls in his Soul Space. ¡°I wonder, how much will I achieve after I have completely constructed and absorbed them? I really look forward to it¡­¡±


    He simply chose to sit on the edge of the Biochemical Pool and quietly closed his eyes.


    ******************


    Behind the Alliance of the Gods.


    Holy Light City.


    This was the famous city Fehra was born in, and it was rumored that here was the origin of all light.


    At the center of the city, a long string of bell chimes continued to ring out.


    Numerous airships floated in the air and scattered down countless white petals as countless believers and people prayed piously.


    Because of the Void Creatures¡¯ wanton slaughter, the population had been greatly reduced, but at the same time, it had also led the existing people¡¯s belief in the Divine Souls to reach an extremely pious level. This was because only the Divine Souls could kill the Void Creatures to eliminate all disasters and persecution.


    Inside a huge cathedral in the center of the city.


    The Holy Light Cathedral was the miraculous cathedral that was the core of the entire Holy Light City. It was where the Divine Souls had personally demonstrated their Divine Power.


    Dozens of Gods had appeared before, of whom the most number of times was naturally Fehra the Major God.


    At this time, all the top Cathedral leaders were gathered here on the inside, and Demigod-level powerhouses were seen everywhere. Even some former Popes who had reached the Lower God-level but still stayed in the mortal world and had not established the Divine Kingdom had appeared here.


    ¡°Praise the Gods!!¡± The current pope, Pope Chius, hailed loudly.


    ¡°Praise the Gods.¡±


    Everyone called out in response at the same time.


    ¡°Evil stirs up the World, but Light will come,¡± The holy chief judge came forward and exhorted loudly. ¡°Heroes will naturally emerge in troubled times. The oracle has been revealed, and I will now confer Bishop Anselon Kyrgyz with the position of the Chief Knight of the highest order, commanding one thousand and twenty-eight Knights of the highest order.¡±


    A handsome young man with a faint golden light all over him and a gentle smile on his face slowly walked up to the center of the Cathedral, escorted by a group of Golden Knights.


    He had on him a dark golden armor, was carrying a helmet in one hand, and his long blond hair wavered as his paced forward.


    The sacred and grand music began to sound, and as the young Knight continued to advance, golden holy lights were ignited on the bodies of the Cathedral leaders on both sides, showing their respect.


    Rays of holy light illuminated continually from both sides consecutively, turning into golden beams of light.


    Everyone began to pray in a low voice.


    The Pope got up and personally handed him a platinum long sword, which represented the command of the Knights, with both hands.


    ¡°Anselon, the Lord has been watching you all the time.¡± The Pope smiled mildly at him.


    ¡°His subordinate understands.¡± Anselon bowed his head and respectfully reached for the sword.


    Just when his hand touched the sword.


    Whish whish whish!!


    Countless white golden rays burst out from the long sword.


    Boom!!!


    The Divine Statues of Fehra and the other dozen of Gods in the Cathedral all lit up at the same time, and countless white golden rays descended from the Divine Statues and converged on the Pope.


    ¡°It¡¯s an Incarnation!!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s the Incarnation of the great Fehra!!¡±


    ¡°Oh my God! The Major God actually chose to come down!¡±


    The surrounding Cathedral leaders were surprised. At the power transfer conferring ceremony of the highest armed forces, the new commander actually received the glory of the Major God¡¯s personal arrival!


    This was simply a miracle of all miracles and a glory that had never been seen before!


    The countless holy light converged on the Pope, transforming him into a Light-man.


    His body seemed to have gotten taller, and twelve pairs of white wings spread out from his back. An intense and mighty-to-the-extreme Holy Aura pressure naturally spread out.


    ¡°Anselon, I will personally grant you a completely new authority and identity,¡± Fehra¡¯s majestic voice sounded from the light.


    Anselon could not resist the shock, and he quickly bowed his head even more respectfully, facing Fehra¡¯s Incarnation.


    ¡°Praise my Lord! The Light of my Lord shines through thousands of Planes,¡± his voice was quivering.


    ¡°Your feats will be turned into a Holy Sword; your kindness will be turned into the Holy Light Shield; your justice will be integrated into the countless hearts of justice; your anger will be turned into a boundless iron!¡± Fehra the Incarnation sang loudly in a poetic tone.


    He made a grabbing action with one hand, and countless golden light gathered into a delicate and gorgeous armlet. It flew to Anselon¡¯s right arm and was automatically attached there.


    ¡°I will confer on you the highest title, the Light of the World. Your mandate: Anti-Void¡¯s Crusader! May your feats be worthy of our trust toward you.¡±


    Anselon¡¯s face was clearly excited.


    ¡°The body and the soul of your subordinate will perish together! I vow to give everything for the annihilation of the Void!¡±


    Fehra¡¯s Incarnation nodded with satisfaction and gently passed over the sword in his hand.


    Anselon caught it gently and kept it, a deep piety and sacredness on his face.


    Numerous rays and flames erupted on him as if he had turned into a white golden humanoid torch for a moment.


    Clang!


    He pulled out the long sword and lifted it high. A horrific force like that of a Holy Aura spread out all of a sudden.


    ¡°I, who am also the Child of Radiance¡­¡± Fehra¡¯s Incarnation slowly spoke.


    ¡°Child of Radiance¡­¡±


    The hearts of the leaders and powerhouses around who were watching the ceremony instantly trembled. The long-circulated Child of Radiance had finally officially appeared today. It was rumored that he was the powerhouse with an infinite potential who could confront the Child of Hell and the existence of the Voids upfront. It was just that no one knew who he was.


    Now everything was finally clear.


    ¡°The Child of Radiance¡­¡± Anselon¡¯s eyes had completely turned white.


    He raised his sword high as if it was the most precious treasure in the world.


    At this moment, everything of him was sublimated, whether it was the soul or the flesh.


    Fehra¡¯s Incarnation opened his mouth again.


    ¡°This is the Holy Glory Sword, blessed by the Gods, and it will be your¡­¡±


    Whish!!!


    In an instant, everything stood still¡­


    The white golden sword had unexpectedly penetrated between the eyebrows of Fehra¡¯s Incarnation.


    Anselon¡¯s face was calm as he held the sword and fiercely exerted extra force forward.


    Whish.


    The blade once again stabbed deeper.


    ¡°You¡­!!¡± Fehra¡¯s Incarnation was completely stunned. Even he did not expect that the person he chose to be the Light of the World would actually do this to him¡­


    The leaders and the crowd around were also stunned.


    Everyone¡¯s mind went blank.


    This was the Holy Light Cathedral, the most central part where countless powerhouses gathered together. The holy arrival of Fehra¡¯s Incarnation actually had his head pierced through by a sword at the conferring ceremony?


    ¡°Is¡­ is this just a joke¡­?¡± A Demigod¡¯s face was slightly blanched.


    ¡°Is this some kind of a special ceremony?¡± The chief judge and others did not dare to think in the direction of profaning the God.


    ¡°Yeah, maybe it¡¯s a special ritual which requires Fehra the Major God to use his Incarnation as an offering to the sword?¡± Some people looked for a reason to justify.


    Pop¡­


    A drop of holy blood dripped from the edge of the blade to the ground.


    A very deep black began to diffuse from the center of Anselon¡¯s pupils.


    There was a savage and strange smile on his face.


    ¡°What a pity¡­ the blessings of the Gods, countless glory in one body, fame and fortune, prestige, and credibility; you have it all. Even I myself, a king, am a little enticed¡­¡± His voice suddenly became like that of a woman, sharp and demonic.


    ¡°You¡­ who are you!!??¡± Fehra wanted to break free, but he discovered that a very horrific and powerful black field had wrapped around him tightly so that he could not move at all.


    Hiss¡­


    The Excalibur was slowly pulled out, and it brought out a slick of white golden blood.


    ¡°I¡¯m the Star Region Demon Master, Tinn Yinger¡­¡±


    The blade was pulled out.


    Only then did all the Cathedral leaders were completely awakened and realized what had actually happened.


    However, everything was already too late. Just when countless holy lights were about to erupt, a bloody red light ball with a mixture of black suddenly exploded, completely shrouding the entire Holy Light Cathedral. The horrifying and intense evil force caused even the countless holy lights to be eclipsed.

 Chapter 1369 - General Trend 1

    Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation


    Tinn Yinger, was a peculiar Demon Master from the Void who was proficient in disguise and scam. He orchestrated the bloody massacre at Holy Light Cathedral, causing the downfall of thirteen high-level church members and the death of Pope Chius who was known as the Holy Light.


    Just as the Void rejoiced, the strengths of the native world could feel the past prime sense of a decline. The culprit, Star Region Demon Master, Tinn Yinger managed to escape from God as well as obtaining light and fire divinity and divine powers, emerging as the ultimate winner.


    When news traveled to other three major forces, it has been more than half a month already.


    Tinn Yinger was originally an equivalent to a regular Demon Master but killing Fehra¡¯s incarnation with the Excalibur in disguise, he absorbed and engulfed Fehra¡¯s divinity, part of his Divine Persona and divine powers, instantly elevating to be one of the few strongest Demon Master, matching powerful existences the likes of Eye of the Slaughter and Distortion Demon Master.


    A Demon Lord categorized the top four strongest into one independent layer, calling it Elona, meaning ¡®the strongest¡¯ in the Void Language.


    The strengths of Elona level were four from the Void Mother Stream, that is Distortion Demon Master, Eye of the Slaughter, Star Region Demon Master, and the final and strongest True Spirit ¡ª Fallen True Soul.


    And three from the native world were Fehra, Mother Nature, and God of Purification Twelve Wings Golden Angel. Beneath them were other high-level gods.


    No matter how great of an ability, it was way behind the Void. This was the crucial key in the native¡¯s steady retreat.


    In the continuous battle, both Eye of the Slaughter and Mother Nature were the first to sustain severe injuries, then Fehra¡¯s incarnation suffered a sneak attack by Star Region Demon Master and his Godhead was damaged extensively.


    The strongest two were not in a complete state.


    Under such circumstance, the Void finally began its full force attack.


    Fallen True Soul was the first to wage war. The Void Temple invaded the Upper Plane under his command and many positive energy planes erupted war. Decades of high-level Demon Lords were bred from this war. They upgraded themselves through slaughter whether adapting tactics through Enneahedron or snatching divinity and Divine Personas.


    Distortion Demon Master initiated the war to unify the East and started to kill all believers, sparing only abiding citizens for production activities.


    The entire East was drenched in seas of blood. In just mere ten days, it was completely overtaken.


    This world would fall in just decades¡­


    The stars representing the Gods in the sky were shaken, dimming into darkness. At times, it could be seen that the stars fell into the mortal world, one by one¡­


    ******


    Cold Winter Tower.


    Garen¡¯s huge dragon body sat with his legs crossed in the biochemical pool. A monster soldier with a head of a wolf and body of a human was tossing all sorts of nutrition and chemicals into the biochemical pool but mostly, it was all kinds of energy crystal cores.


    A lot of demon cores and crystal cores from the deep abyss were tossed into the biochemical pool and swiftly melted in it.


    In half a month, upon completion of all Soul Connections, Garen continued to delve deep into his practice. Currently, many little crystal balls of various colors were hanging over his head.


    This was Divine Personas obtained upon crystallization. Although these were singled-out divinity, the Divine Person derived from it was individualistic, but upon refinement, Garen received up to fifteen single Divine Personas.


    This was a terrifying power. This meant that he could create a Demigod with fifteen individual Divine Personas in a short amount of time!


    Of course, it would be such a waste to use this stuff to create a Demigod¡­


    Garen naturally had a plan.


    ¡°The essence of divinity is the realization of intel. This means that it could be duplicated,¡± he opened his dragon eyes wide. His iris was gleaming with wisdom.


    ¡°And to upgrade my Soul Rings, repetitive realization will be useless. Since there is only a single effect, I could first duplicate a copy of these Divine Personas and store within my Willpower mind. Once these Divine Personas become Soul Rings, I can reconstruct the Divine Personas and even though by then these Divine Personas are useless to me but may be effective to others¡­¡±


    Garen has a machine-heavy calculating and storing ability that could not be compared with any other existence. Even the most powerful computer of the Mech World was unmatched by his Willpower mind. It was at an unparallel height of wisdom, reaching a limit no Energy Machinists could imagine.


    ¡°Logical Divine Persona can help heighten my calculating ability.¡± Garen swallowed a silver crystal.


    After a brief silence, a black ring with silver lights around it appeared behind his head.


    His Willpower mind¡¯s calculation speed increased by a large margin.


    ¡°Unknown calculation law discovered, absorbing complete data¡­ optimizing calculation structure¡­¡±


    ¡°Capability upgraded. Overall evaluation, increase of 31% in calculation speed.


    His Willpower mind continuously provided feedback.


    Garen carefully brought his senses to play. It seemed that Logical Divine Persona, Decaying Divine Persona as well as his Willpower mind blended into the black glowing ring behind his head. The complicated patterns and symbols on it and massive distorted energy in it were spewing columns of many different structures. These structures harbored unimaginable law and reasons.


    The black glowing ring was spreading tentacular threads invisible to the naked eye, endlessly absorbing fear and power of faith from the Void.


    Garen reached his awareness out into one of the tentacles and a disarrayed wooden cabin in the scorching heat appeared before his eyes. A malnourished skinny boy sat in a corner in fear. He was muttering and praying his name. He was hot all over with a high fever. He seemed to be on his deathbed. It was not limited to Garen, there were also other frost-type gods, evil gods, malicious gods¡¯ names uttered in repetition.


    ¡°Andrew¡¯s former territory, huh¡­¡± Garen fell into deep thoughts. When he reduced Andrew to submission, that dukedom created a disastrous cold winter that froze several hundred thousand to death.


    Now the weather was scorching hot there and these people in turn desperately prayed for his appearance.


    ¡°Idiotic Faith. How disinteresting like bundled up threads. Once Faith has fallen, the Gods gradually lose their strong cornerstone,¡± he did not even have the slightest intention to respond.


    The Thread of Faith was the source of energy that could possibly pull the Gods into the astral base. This was not the motive that he was going after.


    He turned up to look at the Divine Personas on top of his head. Without hesitating any further, he started to swallow each and every one of these Divine Personas to form Soul Rings.


    He held back up copies of these Divine Personas in his Willpower mind. As long as he duplicated from his copies, established his Divine Powers and positioned Divine Domain, he could quickly structure Semi-Divine Personas.


    As long as the sacred fire was not lighted or the Divine Kingdom was not built, then he would not be meddling into the Holy War of Faith and he would not be in any trouble.


    As he was swallowing, the entire Cold Winter Tower began to tremble and howl loudly, like a living being that was greedy and huge.


    The Cold Winter Tower was erected at the highest point of Dragon King Peak. In a range several hundred kilometers, all residing White Dragons, Dragon Beasts, and generals from the abyss who came for the handover, gazed at the direction of the high tower.


    They could feel the energy from the Cold Winter Tower gradually surging, sensing its velocity. In a mere hour, there was a 20% increase of the original.


    ******


    Bop.


    The mug in Nadia¡¯s hand almost fell onto the ground from the huge tremor. Her face tensed up and she lifted her head to look up.


    ¡°It¡¯s Garen¡­¡± She had a complicated look on her face, a streak of disappointment flashed past her eyes. ¡°He¡¯s upgrading¡­¡± She suddenly knew that she may have missed the best opportunity to level up her ability.


    Roar!!


    Somewhere at Dragon King Peak, Satwo roared into the sky. His body was growing at a rapid speed visible under the naked eye. His back started to grow thick manes and tentacles like poisonous snakes, a White Dragon with Snakes on his back.


    He was obviously under the effect of Garen.


    Satwo was originally a Level Six when suddenly under an unknown aura, he felt like he was a sponge absorbing water non-stop and his body¡¯s energy rose to an extreme level.


    Level Seven¡­ Level Eight¡­ Level Nine¡­!!


    It was not just him, a few of those with Connected Souls were also rising to great heights.


    The rest were Satwo, Rosta, Elphis, Andrew, and Chaotic Abominable Snowman, each of their individual energies rising.


    These energies directly rose their levels by one to three levels.


    Satwo had the worst foundation of all, hence was raised three levels to reach Level Nine.


    As for Andrew and Chaotic Abominable Snowman, as their levels were already high, they only got up one level to reach Level Thirteen.


    Even so, it was already horrifying enough.


    They were passively triggered by Garen to level up, especially Rosta and Elphis who were pressed to choose an ability that they were proficient at as a core and upgraded straight to Level Ten.


    Garen¡¯s engulfment went on for a week.


    His aura, too heightened over a week before it ended.


    Cold Winter Tower¡¯s ripple level could not be differentiated. With a thick layer of distorted dream power surrounded Cold Winter Tower, no one would know for sure to what stage Garen has reached.


    But everyone, every dragon, knew that Garen must have far surpassed Demigod and reached an unknown realm.


    ******


    In the Seventeenth Layer of the Abyss. Barren land.


    A shade of yellow mist shadowed the sky, reeling in a heavy and suppressed feeling.


    This were the dwellings of the Abyssal Demon Dragons and White Dragon Mountain. As the layer of the Abyss with the biggest changes in temperature, the territories could reach up to several thousand in temperature degree, yet there were also some areas with temperatures so terrifyingly low that everything froze there.


    Red, dark red, blood red, golden red, a sea of magma occupied half the region of this plane.


    Ice blue, purple-blue, pale blue, black blue, endless glacier snow mountains occupied the other half of this plane.


    White Dragon Mountain was at the highest peak at the mid-point of this entire Abyss plane.


    In a cavity of a huge snow mountain.


    Thousands of White Dragons gathered to attend the frequently-held Elder¡¯s Meeting in the huge square. Standing at the highest point, the evil eyes of ancient dragons and elders glimmered.


    They were staring together at a space in a cavity, seemingly waiting for something.


    White Dragons here were quite different from Dragon King Peak. The dragons here mostly balanced out the levels of their spellcraft and Draconic Aura. Their entire disposition was far higher than Dragon King Peak.


    No one made a sound. Only ripples from voice transmitting spells were ricocheting in the air.


    It was dead silence in the cavity.


    The leading dragon was the remaining White Dragon¡¯s Great Elder, Gaelain. She was clenching the Frozen Spell Beads tightly in her hands. The beads were Imprint Divine Weapon that represented Royal Chief of the White Dragons.


    Hiss¡­


    Finally, a black rift in the shape of an eye ripped open in space. From it, soldiers in white armor marched out with a strong Void aura.


    Over ten strong existences were top notch experts far higher than Level Ten.


    ¡°White Feather Squadron¡­¡± Great Elder Gaelain said in a low voice. She exchanged glances with the other two elders on the side. As one of the few high-level dragons that could transform into human form, she naturally sensed the capability of these existences the first second. The other party did not show any intention to conceal and arrogantly put their individual strong forcefield on full blast.


    Following them, was a powerful swordsman dressed in a black heavy armory. It was Andrew, the terrifying general that commanded tens of legion in the Abyss.

 Chapter 1370 - General Trend 2

    Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation


    ¡°I represent my Master to take over the forces of White Dragon Mountain. I am Andrew Gordra. Please hand over the authority,¡± the powerful swordsman removed his helmet, revealing his handsome, fair face. His eyes were burning in purple flames, representing the core ability of him advancing to Level Ten.


    ¡°I wonder if Lord Garen¡­¡±


    ¡°Master is extremely busy and has no time to attend to this little matter,¡± Andrew cut off the Great Elder¡¯s speech.


    ¡°Little matter!!?¡± The Great Elder expression fell.


    The entire White Dragon Clan switching allegiance was a little matter?! She forced down her heart of dissatisfaction and piled up a smile.


    ¡°Our main clan is facing the pressure of the Abyssal Demon Dragons and is in imminent peril. I wonder if Lord Garen is¡­?¡±


    ¡°Master has his own arrangements,¡± Andrew dully replied. The forcefield of his aura was distorting and tumbling about from the recent upgrade to Level Thirteen. It was difficult for him to control.


    Currently, in the entire White Dragon Clan, only the Great Elder and Second Elder were at Level Thirteen. The rest were beneath that. The strongest Level Fifteen chief perished during the battle with Garen and since then the clan has been in an awkward state. It was only when the incarnation of Tiamat fell in the hands of Garen that the White Dragon Clan panicked.


    It was during then when the Abyssal Demon Dragons launched their attack, in an attempt to gobble up this piece of fat meat when White Dragon Clan was at their weakest.


    Under such ill conditions, everyone underestimated the White Dragon Clan¡¯s limit to their lack of integrity. They begged Garen for mercy. They would have Garen take the place as King of White Dragons and worship Garen as the White Dragon Clan¡¯s new Dragon God.


    In exchange for Garen¡¯s assistance to the main clan.


    But who would have thought that Garen would only send over one subordinate and only a Level Thirteen one at it!?


    Such an ability was not enough to retaliate against the terrifying Abyssal Demon Dragons with Demigod capabilities!


    ¡°Master has already personally gone to take care of the Abyssal Demon Dragons. You don¡¯t have to worry about it.¡±


    Andrew¡¯s response was simple. Personally took care of it? To what extent? Was it retreat or defend? There was no further information on it.


    ¡°Alright, hand over the Chief¡¯s Divine Weapon,¡± Andrew looked at the Great Elder, the purple flame in his eyes flickered.


    Having reached this stage, Gaelain did not have any more choices, neither did the White Dragon Clan. If they did not want to be diminished to smithereens then this was the only path to take.


    Garen played a decisive role between the forces of the Void and Dragons of Disasters and his importance surpassed that of the White Dragon Clan. It did not matter whether White Dragon Clan existed or not.


    Gaelain gritted her teeth, flew up gently and landed toward Andrew.


    Garen was formally announced as the new King of White Dragons, replacing the White Dragon King as well as Tiamat to be the strongest existence among the White Dragon Clan.


    Once the Abyssal Demon Dragons got a hold of this news, they remotely negotiated with Garen and tacitly approved of Garen¡¯s action to merge the White Dragon main clan.


    Both parties initiated some small-scale probing and the final verdict was that the Abyssal Demon Dragons acknowledged and honored Garen as the Double-Pupiled White Dragon King.


    Meanwhile, a lava sea region turned to become a poisonously dead region in the polar region of the Abyssal plane, that even the strongest Demon Dragon King would not survive there.


    ******


    Time flew by quickly and it was ten years later.


    The rumors of Child of Hell spread far and wide that almost all war survivors claimed they saw his existence.


    While the Void and native land were at war, it allowed the Child of Hell to accelerate his growth.


    Eye of the Slaughter launched a new battlefield with various major elemental planes in the Inner Plane. Distortion Demon Master took the entire East by force, wiping out the forces of the Church again and again.


    The Void Temple of Fallen True Soul wantonly launched full attacks with forces of all Gods in the main plane. The attacks did not allow any chance for the Gods to gasp for air or give them to recuperate.


    Divine Powers was severely exhausted and the Gods were weakening quickly.


    Preying Demon Masters and True Spirits were like hunters on the side observing their hunted¡¯s last struggle, awaiting the Gods to exhaust to death.


    No one was willing to sustain the prey¡¯s deathly blow.


    The native world was becoming dead that with void rifts appearing in the Abyss and Hell, the multitude of Void Creatures was surprising the Demons and Devils of the two major regions.


    The Blood Wars seemed to have transformed into a chaotic battle between Demons, Devils, and Void Creatures.


    In these ten years, Garen continued to hunt. The five Generals under him reigned slaughter everywhere. Out of the five, Elfie and Satwo died in war while the remaining three Generals overcame the test of blood and fire, rising to the top.


    The divine inventory and creatures that were hunted were transported to Cold Winter Tower.


    At the same time, Garen was purchasing various Divinity from Void Creatures.


    He had collected all the Divinities that he could in these years, only those that were remote or complicated Divinities were left.


    Such as Light and Fire Purifying Divinity, War Divinity, and Lady Shar¡¯s Demon Web Wizardry Divinity.


    These belonged to the Upper Compound Divinity. Its complexity was beyond any simple individual Divinity. Its calculation was massive and challenging.


    But even so, Garen absorbed more than a hundred different Divinities and Divine Personas through collecting and structuring of Divine Personas.


    His Soul Ring structure went from yellow level, stepping into Upper-Level Demon Lord stage, to leaping into unknown boundaries.


    Even he did not know if he was considered a True Spirit.


    The Soul Rings themselves reached their highest hue, all seven colors were achieved. The accumulation of Soul Rings and even the absorbing of created Divine Personas had his Soul Rings producing a special and different glow from the other Demon Lords.


    It was although the entire Soul Ring structure emitted an all-knowing special glow.


    The Divinities were easily obtained. The various battlefield brought about the fall of Demigods. Many of the Demigods had more than one Divinity. Garen paid a minimum price in exchange for many Divinities. Through resources and trade, he purchased Divine Power Crystals. He consumed Divine Powers to transform into Divine Personas to be absorbed.


    The pile of Divinities represented the complete perception of rules. With the clash of two worlds, these rules became common basic rules in the universe.


    Very soon, as he absorbed too much, almost all Divinities started to be immune to him. Many of the Divinities were repetitive and ineffective.


    The path that Garen could go forth, was already at its peak¡­


    ******


    ¡°True Spirit¡­ As its name suggests, is finding the true you. The actual core within your heart,¡± Deception Demon Master and Garen were strolling on a vast blue ocean.


    The sea waters did not fluctuate under their feet. It was as peaceful as the surface of a lake while outside the range of a thousand meter, waves were rumbling and tumbling with chaotic traces of windstorms and tornadoes.


    Both of them seemed to be in a blissful heaven.


    Deception Demon Master was dressed in a purple-red long robe. She looked like a beautiful and young regular teenager. Purple sparks intertwined between her fingers.


    Tall and sturdy, Garen looked like elegant royalty strolling his territory. His shoulders were draped with a wide, white fox-skin cape.


    ¡°Divinity can have you upgraded to the highest stage. Now you¡¯re facing the last test of entering True Spirit,¡± Deception Demon Master smiled. ¡°You¡¯re very close to True Spirit now.¡±


    ¡°But I¡¯m not there yet,¡± Garen frowned. In recent years, his reputation as the Double-Pupiled White Dragon King was getting popular, especially after his success in escaping the wrath of God of Death. There were people who assumed his abilities has reached Middle-God level.


    But no one could prove this.


    Higher God was basically being a named Demon Master at a True Spirit level. Up till now, all the current Demon Masters and True Spirits in this world were at a position to face Higher Gods.


    ¡°Well, isn¡¯t your Void Original Opus able to merge and comprise everything to discover your heart¡¯s true code?¡±


    Deception Demon Master smiled.


    ¡°True Spirit, isn¡¯t that the truest soul? The real nature of souls? Then what is considered true and real?¡± Garen still had not grasped it. Just this explanation and definition was too ambiguous.


    Now that Divinities were ineffective to him, his Soul Rings has crystalized almost every perception of information that was obtainable. Perhaps in all of Demon Masters, he was considered the most complete.


    So much so that his Soul Ring structure began emerging in a special glow that he himself could not comprehend.


    Word that he could perfect Divinities has long gotten out and many other Demon Masters swiftly did the same and a lot of Divinities and Divine Personas were imitated. Although these other Demon Masters did not have Garen¡¯s powerful calculation ability, there were many of them and everybody was working toward the same goal.


    Some of them even sought after Garen to buy the Divinities and Divine Personas required to complete their own Soul Ring structure.


    This was a prosperous time for the Void!


    Deception Demon Master was the closest to Garen and traded many Divinities and Divine Personas with him. She, too, entered uncharted realms.


    ¡°Your accumulation is too much that a regular Demon Lord couldn¡¯t possibly be as well-equipped as you are. Your current structure is basically equivalent to us old folks who have lived tens of thousands of years, maybe even more. With such a collection, you should find one that could comprise all nature with perception. Once you enter True Spirit, your powers will erupt to an unimaginable height.¡±


    ¡°This is an era of achievements. It will be soon when other Demon Lords imitate me,¡± Garen was not bothered. He took the path of Divinities and Divine Personas and now there were already many Demon Lords imitating him.


    ¡°But you¡¯re different,¡± Deception Demon Master smiled. ¡°Your physique, your dragon body is overwhelmingly powerful¡­¡±


    Garen was struck in the heart.


    His Soul Ring structure could provide him over a thousand Potential Points every day. These Potential Points, together with the endless massacre by his three Generals, provided him with many high-level energy crystal cores and soul energies absorbed from divine weapons. All these added up to five thousand Potential Points each day.


    Such a state had been going on for over a year. During this period, he leveled up the most here. All his Potential Points were added to his attributes.


    If other Master Demon and True Spirits could imitate, then the surge of Potential Attribute Points was something that no other beings would be able to imitate or learn.


    ¡°You¡¯re actually not a true True Spirit anymore. At the very least, the growing rate after becoming a True Spirit wouldn¡¯t reach the strength of your body,¡± Deception Demon Master casually commented. ¡°After all this time, your Divine Personas are still at the lowest level, then where did the Divine Power crystals that you purchased go?¡± She smiled mysteriously.


    Naturally, they became Potential Points.


    Garen did not answer but looked at his overall attributes.


    ¡®Garen ¡ª Strength 1120, Agility 1160, Vitality 1160, Intelligence 2400 with potential ???, Soul Limit ???.


    12 Soul Rings: Five colorless, red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple.


    Level 15 Draconic Aura. Level 15 Arcane Art.


    Void Original Opus ¡ª 100%. Hind Limbs ¡ª Evil Soldier, Wings ¡ª Seven Lives, Tail ¡ª Demonic Book, Front Limbs ¡ª Hellfrost Peacock Queen.


    Comprehensive evaluation ¡ª All-Knowing God: Divinity 1. Title ¡ª Double-Pupiled White Dragon King, Evil Eye Dragon King.


    Potential qualities ¡ª Divine Creature, Void Hunter.¡¯

 Chapter 1371 - Decisive Battle 1

    Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation


    His attributes had reached an absurd stage.


    Garen himself did not know how much destruction he would cause if he were to go full force maximum.


    He only knew from facing God of Death the last time, it only caused a little harm. He recovered completely after half a day.


    ¡°Are you coming with us to the Decisive Battle?¡± Deception Demon Master invited in a low voice.


    ¡°This is the final battle?¡±


    ¡°The last one,¡± Deception Demon Master nodded. ¡°Your ability has reached its limit. Perhaps the battlefield will bring you realization.¡±


    Garen slowly nodded.


    The only thing he could do now was to stir up his attributes so it would level up gradually.


    With many of his Potential Points becoming Attribute Points, the calculation of his Willpower mind saw no bottom line. He has not once wielded his powers completely in battle.


    With his attributes breaking through a thousand points, he additionally obtained a qualitative change of special supernatural abilities.


    His Strength could naturally erupt huge quakes while his Agility produced instant mobility to extremely far distance. He was also immune to all time genre spells.


    In terms of Vitality, he has super-fast regeneration ability. He could use his super-fast regeneration ability once a day. As long as his body was at least 50% complete, he could recover entirely. The only thing exhausted would be his Potential Points.


    His Intelligence has a double-whammy effect. One hit would instantly combust into double the impact.


    Truth be told, even Garen knew that he surpassed that of a regular True Spirit. Just his attributes were terrifying enough and could suppress many existences.


    How powerful were a thousand points of Strength? Apart from himself, no one knew. Even Deception Demon Master has not seen him in action for a long time.


    ******


    The seventh battlefield.


    Distortion Demon Master opened up the middle section of the Primary Substance Plane, an area of energy distortion between the Alliance of the Gods and Mother Stream Alliance.


    The battle between True Spirit Demon Master and the Gods had this region converting into a dead region. The passing of God of Moon and Love even allowed this region to turn into an immeasurable mysterious area.


    The dark night camouflaged the entire region. From the outside, it was an ordinary landscape of mountain range, but entering a certain range, one would be taken away from a distorted time-space energy into a different dimensional world.


    With no additional cannon fodder army, even high-level generals were not brought along.


    The Alliance of the Gods were trapped within a defense ball here, giving their last as trapped beasts.


    Garen followed Deception Demon Master to participate with the Void Temple and Mother Stream Alliance team heading to this region. This was the last battle that would decide the fate of this world. In actual reality, anybody would know that there was not any suspense as the fate had been sealed when The Void first invaded.


    Mother Stream Alliance was a vast uncountable universe. Each universe bred groups of creatures that was similar to this world. For such a large group to invade such a tiny world, this was the great disparity of strength between the major world.


    At war, Void Creatures and True Spirits were tempered to the strongest on record. The power of the Gods was weakened to the extreme as their believers were slaughtered.


    It was imaginable that the last battle would be the last in the native world and perhaps then, there would not be any trace of it left behind.


    ******


    Amidst the grey fog, Garen and a team were walking down a path in the forest.


    On the side was a cliff erected with wooden railings. The fog extended forward to an unknown distance.


    The chirping of birds could be heard indistinctly. It could be an owl or some other creature.


    The team was draped in black cape, covering their entire body that their faces could not be seen. Not a spot of their skin was exposed.


    Garen was the same. Lifting his head up, he could only see the back of the person walking in front. Just like him, the person was wrapped in a black tattered cape. He could hear sounds of light but hurried footsteps.


    He shifted his head over to glance to his right. Deception Demon Master¡¯s somewhat familiar face was hidden beneath the cape. He could only see a little of her silhouette from the side.


    ¡°This is the Lost Path. Fallen True Soul teamed up with all True Spirits to use Moon Goddess¡¯s Divine Persona and the Divine Kingdom to overshadow their dream powers and turned this place to a huge world, in other words, a small universe.¡±


    A whisper was heard coming from the front of the team. It was a woman.


    Garen was struck, he could hear it was the voice of Distortion Demon Master.


    ¡°The Lost Path. Only by following this Black Cape Team that one could enter the real fog or else even a God could not leave this pale blue fog,¡± Distortion Demon Master said in a low voice.


    The Black Cape Team rustled forward, making a turn and heading out further.


    A woman in black outfit carrying an umbrella appeared on the path ahead. Covered by the black umbrella, her face could not be seen but her entire person stood firmly in the middle of the road, facing the incoming Black Cape Team without saying a word.


    ¡°Don¡¯t look at her!¡± Garen was about to look in detail when suddenly, Deception Demon Master slapped the back of his hand.


    ¡°That is a chaotic symbol that represents confusion!¡±


    ¡°Chaotic symbol?¡±


    ¡°Yes, any existence that glances or sees her face would be completely lost in confusion in this fog. The crystallization of this symbol has entrapped three Middle Gods and one Higher God of this native world,¡± Deception Demon Master transmitted her voice. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s not talk.¡±


    Garen immediately halted his urge to ask.


    Following the team, he slowly walked past the woman with the black umbrella. That woman quietly stood in the middle of the road, letting the Black Cape Team through.


    Garen only saw her pair of legs.


    That was a pair of female human¡¯s legs. It was pale and fine and wore a pair of red shoes but on them were black dot marks, giving a sense of bad omen.


    Passing the woman with the black umbrella, the team walked on a distance before letting out a sigh of relief.


    ¡°Everyone, please be careful and do not leave the Black Cape Team. Please also do not come in contact the Black Capes that are not of our members. They are this small world¡¯s natural phenomenon, not substantial and after contact, it is not a matter that I can be in control of.¡± Distortion Demon Master reminded.


    ¡°Now the Gods seemed to have released something that causes the entire little dream world to escape the control of Lord Fallen True Soul. It is flooded with many things that we can¡¯t comprehend.¡±


    Garen was shocked.


    Initially, he thought that this Black Cape Team consisted of Demon Masters or True Spirits but now it looked as though that most of them were not.


    Becoming wary, he continued with the team to go forth in the fog. On the left was a black forest, wavering with the wind. On the right was a train of black railings and beyond it was a cliff shadowed by fog.


    It was unknown how long more did they have to go forward like this.


    Finally, about more than half an hour later, the fog surrounding the team grew faint.


    Swish!


    Garen felt his head sunk. His sight became blurry and he suddenly found himself leaving the originally fog-covered region.


    Standing under the dark starry sky, the black forest encircled them. They were still standing on a winding path.


    The only difference was, the left of the path was woods while the right was barren trees. The treetops looked like plates holding up the golden red moon.


    It was as though the moon in the sky had fallen down and landed on the top of these trees.


    ¡°Fallen Divine Region,¡± Garen heard Deception Demon Master¡¯s voice.


    ¡°Garen, be careful. It is the Time-Space Chaos Region here, do not break away from this path. Once you leave, you will be tossed into a deranged time-space rift that you can¡¯t return from.¡±


    ¡°Each one of us can¡¯t see anybody else now. We can only make our choice to head forward. From now on, you may encounter any trapped God on this path. The battle has officially begun. Do not worry about attacking or destroying anything. Even the true form of Fallen True Soul is unable to destroy anything here,¡± Distortion Demon Master warned.


    ¡°Each moon on the big tree represents a fallen Demon Master or God here.¡±


    Garen was on the alert.


    This peculiar world that seemed like a dream or rather, Fallen True Soul has moved dreamland into the world of this universe and used a completely different set of dream rules to limit the native advantages of the Gods.


    He glanced to his left and right but did not see anybody.


    As he paced forward slowly, Garen removed his black cape on it and carefully sensed his surroundings.


    As a Higher Demon Lord, even a True Spirit who was not a True Spirit, he was far familiar with the dreamland than any regular Demon Lord and Gods.


    After walking a distance, Garen saw two chairs displayed by the roadside at the forest.


    The black wooden chairs were facing each other on the grass as though somebody was sitting on them a while ago.


    It was eerily quiet. A sense of suppression slowly crept in.


    ¡°A chair by the road meant a brief halt and rest.¡± Garen¡¯s face changed and took large strides towards the chairs.


    Cling.


    Suddenly, everything before him broke. His vision blurred and he was now in a sea of clouds.


    A large whale made of white cloud leaped out from the sea of cloud from afar and jumping back into it.


    Blood red balls hung like cocoons in the sky.


    ¡°Power of dream¡­¡± Garen recognized the nature of these huge balls. This was a commonly used locking tremor of battle tactic by Demon Masters. Each bloody cocoon represented a battlefield. In it was at least one Demon Master or True Spirit at a battle to the death.


    More than ten giant balls levitated quietly above the cloud ocean without moving. There was not a sound.


    ¡°It¡¯s about time to end everything.¡± Suddenly a screeching voice was heard behind Garen.


    He immediately turned around and saw two golden glowing balls charging from below the cloud ocean, aiming at him.


    ¡°Tiamat? And, God of Death?¡± Garen narrowed his eyes and watched as the two golden glowing balls shot over.


    The glowing balls transformed into a white and red figure. One was a weirdo with five heads while another was in a black robe, the face bore a pair blood-shot gleaming eyes.


    Two divine auras intertwined and wrapped around Garen.


    ¡®Divine aura territory under coverage¡­ Divine Personas has not reached the minimum standard, Vitality to immunize¡­¡¯


    His Willpower mind provided feedback and the two divine auras were repelled by Garen.


    His above thousand points Vitality has reached a never-before stage. As long as it was not from a Higher God, he could immediately repel the majority of divine auras in this world.


    ¡°Despicable Void Creature! Even if we are banished together, I will not allow you to obtain this world!!¡± God of Death bellowed in anger.


    ¡°Despicable?¡± Garen¡¯s brow raised. He watched as the two Gods raised their arms, and five-colored Dragon Breath and black and red colored Ray of Death erupted. Garen¡¯s sight was drowned in multi-colors.


    Wham!!


    One punch.


    Garen only punched out gently.


    The Divine Powers-structured attack dispersed like bubbles.


    The massive energy overpowered everything until space was smashed into cracking like black spider cobwebs headed towards the two Gods.


    Like black twigs, the black spider web crazily spread and surrounded a huge fan area before Garen.


    Pow pow!


    With two crisp noise, the two Gods swiftly dodged and just about evaded the edge of the spider web.


    ¡°Dodge?¡± Garen¡¯s expression remained unchanged.


    He aimed another punch at the both of them.


    Wham!!


    His punch released a huge tremor. The two swiftly evaded. Just from the quake of his strength ripples, they could tell that Garen¡¯s strength far exceeded a logical range. If God Damnators and Giant Beasts has the power and blaspheming Divinities ability revered by the Gods, then Garen¡¯s powers must have reached its maximum and could destroy every rule.


    That tremendous quake was a naturally derived attack.

 Chapter 1372 - Decisive Battle 2

    Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation


    The Godhead and Gods merely had stronger attributes on average, a higher resistance towards Spells, sharper perception and fields of vision, and a plethora of powerful regulated Divine Power types of spells in comparison to normal creatures.


    However, when they were facing Garen¡¯s regulated strength that was pure to its maximum limit, all of their abilities were simply jokes. Garen¡¯s regulated strength had already reached the Higher God stage. Moreover, since he did not have to consume Divine Power, he could simply squander it freely. The Higher Gods that faced him would only be exhausted to death while they were still alive.


    Meanwhile, their Spellcrafting-type of spell control would scatter from the quakes of the intense power vibrations before they could even approach it. Furthermore, Garen¡¯s powerful Vitality and Agility would be directly immune to Space-Time Spells and Negative Spell states.


    All attack-type spells had become useless jokes.


    The only thing effective would be direct hand-to-hand fights!!


    ¡°Damn! This monster!!¡± God of Death dodged the quake of another punch-like attack. The protective Divine Power shield on his body actually almost collapsed when the attack merely brushed against its edges.


    ¡°He¡¯s a great deal stronger than before!¡±


    Tiamat was even worse off. She was scratched twice continuously and half of her body was dripping in Holy Blood, she was near to being critically injured.


    ¡°We must definitely buy some time for the Major God Fehra!¡± Both of the Gods could see the determination in each other¡¯s eyes when their gazes met.


    Roar!!


    Tiamat transformed into her dragon body immediately. She turned into an enormous dragon with five heads that was over hundreds of meters large and rushed towards Garen fiercely.


    God of Death transformed into his original body as well. He was a colossal black monster that resembled a rhino. Strangely, he had rhino heads on both his front and back which made it difficult to distinguish its foremost part from its rear.


    The rhino which possessed a body that was over thousands of meters long was charging directly towards Garen.


    ¡°Meaningless struggle.¡± Garen¡¯s expression remained indifferent when he was looking at the two enormous creatures that were charging towards him. He brazenly rushed towards them frontally.


    Boom!!


    An incomparably violent thunderstorm exploded behind the trio at this moment.


    The biggest bloody cocoon in the sky had burst.


    Numerous thunderstorms detonated the other bloody cocoons in their surroundings before several continuous explosions rang out.


    Boom boom boom boom!


    While the numerous explosions rang out, various bouts of bloody Dream Power that was mixed with an abundance of Divine Power storms swept over before a gigantic hole exploded directly through the sea of clouds.


    Garen pulled back from the colorful energy storm suddenly and raised his hands to cover his face. He steadied his body as much as he could. However, he was still blown to the point where he was slanted from shaking slightly.


    Meanwhile, Tiamat and God of Death were simply sent flying to an unknown place after they were blown away.


    These skills that were merely displayed in the blink of an eye had erupted the sea of clouds in the faraway sky into a huge explosion.


    Boom!!


    There was a golden glossy mushroom-like cloud that rose slowly like a nuclear bomb. There was even a circular blood colored halo beside the floating clouds.


    ¡°Fehra, Mother Nature, everything has ended. This world is destined to die out and we¡¯ll turn into nutrients for the Void¡­¡± roared an irritable voice.


    The assault of the mushroom cloud¡¯s explosion lashed against Garen¡¯s body that was in mid-air.


    Whoosh!!!


    Numerous energy winds that resembled knives ripped Garen¡¯s clothes and skin. However, there was a light distortive energy field layer on his entire body. It was a special defense that evolved naturally when his Vitality and Strength had reached excessively high levels.


    ¡°That¡¯s the battlefield of the Higher Gods which is also the battlefront of the peak True Souls and Demon Masters.¡± Garen measured his current strength carefully. If he counted backward and recalled the previous energy storm, the energy level of the battle there probably did not surpass his expectations too greatly.


    ¡°Fehra and Mother Nature resisted but lose their True Souls and Distortion Demon Master. From the looks of it, I can probably participate in the battles of this level. However, I can only protect myself at best. Moreover, this doesn¡¯t benefit me. I should find a place where the advantages are most abundant.¡±


    He pondered briefly before looking down at the large hole that exploded through the sea of clouds.


    There was really an unimaginably enormous battlefield below. Numerous Abyss Hell Demons, Devils, various other elemental creatures, and the Warriors that united this great Plane were currently fighting fiercely and slaughtering the inexhaustible Void Creatures.


    Blood and Soul Fragments sputtered around endlessly.


    The battlefield resembled a chaotic rubbish dump that was on fire when one looked down at it from a higher place. Gaudy colors and shades of red, white, and black mixed and made it difficult to distinguish the factions clearly.


    On the continuous stretch of a white mountain range, the fierce fight between the Demon Lords and Lower Gods had broken the mountaintop directly while several deep ravines and holes were smashed in the ground.


    Long stretches of cloudy white explosions could be seen spreading around occasionally. They were either infinite shrouds of red clouds that had exploded after condensing into photospheres or intense thunderstorms.


    These were the results of the collapsed energy that was naturally triggered when the various Divine Power Spells mixed with the unnatural powers of the Void.


    ¡°Weave is broken¡­¡± Garen could sense that holes that were getting bigger and bigger had instantly appeared in Weave which was initially everywhere in space. These tremendous and terrifying energy attacks now made it resembled a torn fishing net.


    Space-time had even collapsed, let alone Weave that was established in space.


    Ahh!!!


    A sharp, blood-curdling shriek of a woman echoed in the distance suddenly.


    Numerous bouts of energy that resembled purple electric currents exploded frenziedly and shot towards all four corners in waves like a snake that was extending quickly.


    ¡°Another Higher God has fallen.¡± Garen did not look at the situation over there but merely flew straight towards the great battlefield below.


    Every world had its own pivotal points.


    Garen had already realized this law. Thus, he was actually seeking the pivotal point of this world.


    The legendary Child of Hell.


    When he was flying towards the lower part of the sky, he suddenly felt a faint form of loneliness rising in his heart.


    After transmigrating through so many worlds and living through various experiences, these transmigrations that happened time and time again were actually a type of weary, repetition.


    ¡°Maybe¡­ I should find a place to have a good rest for some time¡­¡± Garen suddenly recalled the Earth that he had left in the beginning.


    When he was still a normal person, he was merely rushing about and working for the sake of trivial mortality. However, the satisfaction that he received at that time seemed to be much greater than what he was getting now.


    The battlefield before his eyes grew closer and clearer while a thought formed in Garen¡¯s mind suddenly.


    Once everything had ended, perhaps he should find something that he desired¡­


    Now that he had reached this level, the eternity that he was previously pursuing was already achieved in this realm of Demon Masters and True Souls. His lifespan seemed to resemble the Mother Stream¡¯s own in the sense that it was infinite.


    However, what about after eternity?


    Large amounts of Soul Fragments rose on the battlefield continuously. They were endlessly swallowed and absorbed into Garen as most of the Demon Lords around him could not challenge him at all.


    He resembled an enormous black hole that was flying above in the sky. All of the local creatures and powerhouses that were shrouded by his shadow stood motionless like wax figures instantly before melting and perished.


    The impressive abilities of his Natural Poison Region had achieved unimaginable extents and could diffuse out within intervals of several thousand meters.


    Numerous souls were transformed into Potential Points by his Divine Weapon. They upgraded Garen¡¯s attributes continuously.


    ******************


    Within a remote ravine on the border of the battlefield.


    Bumpy and fragmented ground that was filled with bumps was everywhere inside the white ravine. Rocks were scattered messily and had fallen all around. Corpses, burning poisonous fire, and leftover blue phosphorescence lit the entire ravine somewhat dimly.


    This area was the aftermath of collapsed energy. Regardless of whether they were Void Creatures or local creatures, they were all exhausted or dead from their injuries.


    Only a few of the strongest survivors were still hiding in the corners while struggling at death¡¯s door. These were either several individuals with feeble Divine Power or Demon Masters that did not have any strength left to fight respectively. Strangely, the two groups who were initially supposed to be hostile factions were apparently standing together side by side now to face the dark shadow in front.


    ¡°Child of Hell¡­ you actually¡­ actually wanted to devour us together as well!!¡± A feeble Divine Power God rebuked the shadow angrily.


    Within the brief moment of that explosion, the shadow instantly appeared again. After it had swallowed both of the similar Children of Hell simultaneously, it began pursuing and hunting for their survivors everywhere.


    Only five or six survivors out of more than ten of them remained from the factions on both sides now.


    The rest of them were all engulfed inside this fellow.


    ¡°We are the only hope in this world. Since all you pieces of trash are so useless, wouldn¡¯t it be much better for me to contribute some nourishment?¡± The shadow materialized slowly and turned into a purely pitch-black Colossal Dragon.


    Whoosh!


    Two Void Shadows shot over from the sky suddenly. One of them was a woman with long billowing blue hair and rays of blue light flashing across her entire body.


    The other one was dressed in a white suit of armor. He wore boxing gloves on both hands and emitted terrifying chills. He was an impressive-looking man.


    ¡°Elphis!!¡± Yelled one of the long black-haired women among the survivors below suddenly.


    The blue long-haired woman in the sky paused briefly and looked down before she happened to see the black-haired woman in the group.


    ¡°Nadia?¡±


    She shot over and flew there while the man rushed over flying downward frantically as well.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t you leave Cold Winter Tower to travel alone?¡± asked Elphis in a surprised tone.


    After considering it previously, Nadia finally decided that she was unwilling to be forced to accept a position from someone else. Since she had obtained an opportunity to improve herself again, she chose to take risks and travel alone to hunt the creatures of this world so that she could upgrade herself.


    The current Nadia looked like she had already obtained Level Thirteen powers. It appeared that this past decade was not merely wasted.


    However, Nadia instantly felt a faintly unpleasant feeling when Elphis landed.


    Elphis and Rosta who were previously under her had apparently already reached the levels of Upper Demon Masters now. Their bodies were naturally emitting Energy Field domains that were similar to the Holy Auras of Lower Gods.


    When she associated it with her own challenging and laborious hardships during the past decade and the dangers that she experienced with great difficulty before she could upgrade herself to Level Thirteen, Nadia¡¯s mind was indescribably muddled.


    They simply did not have to ask why she had appeared on the battlefield of the Great Decisive Battle. After the Great Decisive Battle, the chance to upgrade rapidly again would disappear completely because the local world would suffer destructive attacks. Next, it would weaken quickly.


    Once she had missed this opportunity, it would be highly unlikely that she could even dream of upgrading or evolving again. She would have to waste a lot of time and energy even if it was possible.


    ¡°Be careful!¡± Nadia¡¯s heart trembled suddenly when the shadowy Black Dragon pounced on Elphis from the back abruptly after she had landed.


    ¡°Child of Hell?!¡± Elphis had also noticed the severity as her enemies were apparently the infamous Child of Hell!


    This group was extremely troublesome because they could not seem to be killed. They could separate their bodies into numerous individuals that could leap across space as they pleased before they chose a random individual to resuscitate their own bodies. In other words, if all of their bodies were not found completely, it would be impossible to kill them until the end of time.

 Chapter 1373 - Collapse 1

    Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation


    Shield!


    A round and transparent shield appeared behind Elphis suddenly before it blocked off Simon¡¯s attack firmly.


    However, it was only a second before the round shield broke. A crashing noise rang out as the Dark Colossal Dragon charged at Elphis.


    ¡°Lower God¡¯s aura¡­ Die!!¡± Simon¡¯s black claw suddenly morphed into a black shadow that shot over as if his body did not have a fixed state at all.


    Wind Shield!


    Elphis stepped backward while her Divine Power stirred her Divine Domain hurriedly as it burst forth.


    An enormous crystal shield that was over ten meters tall appeared before her.


    Her Divine Domain consisted of defensive and peaceful Divine Power as well as weakened Divine Power. She had yet to establish a Divine Country just like Garen. Furthermore, she was only using her Divine Domain to execute an explosion that could only be used once. Although its sustained combat abilities were greatly weakened by this, she could prevent it from being dragged down by the Thread of Faith.


    Pop!


    The black shadow claw collided against the crystal shield before numerous black specs of light sputtered. Strangely, these black specs of light condensed back into a black claw behind the shield again before continuing towards Elphis in a grabbing motion.


    Shh!


    Elphis could not react in time, the claw scratched her arm violently. Her body vanished instantly before it flickered and appeared more than ten meters away from the side of Rosta¡¯s body.


    ¡°Freeze!¡±


    Rosta had just happened to release his Divine Authority Ability.


    White chills swept over like mist and shrouded every single area around him completely. A form of deathly stillness and absolute silence seeped through the mist. He could vaguely hear a snakelike hissing noise.


    ¡°Blasphemy!¡±


    Simon opened his mouth and spat out a similar gust of black gas. It met the surging white mist directly.


    Both gusts of mist surged instantly. Rosta¡¯s face stoned for a while before he charged inside the mist on his own.


    Simon sneered while his figure turned into a shroud of black smoke that burrowed inside the mist as well.


    A series of violent vibrating noises scattered from the mist immediately.


    A dull hum rang out before Rosta flew out backward while white-gold Holy Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth vaguely.


    Since he was an expert in close combat, he had never expected that victory and defeat would be determined within such a short span of time. It seemed as though the power of his opponent¡¯s strength had reached an outrageous extent.


    How did he actually achieve such a high degree when he was merely a Demigod Level Child of Hell not long ago?!


    Numerous shrouds of black smoke drifted out of the mist and rapidly turned into an enormous pitch-black Colossal Dragon that was over ten meters long. The dragon roared, shaking and dissipating all of the surrounding white mist.


    The tremendous sound waves even quaked this ravine until it shook and swayed endlessly.


    Both Rosta and Elphis¡¯ faces paled before they pounced on Nadia simultaneously, seized her and ran!


    ¡°Thinking of escaping?!¡± Simon sneered and leaped towards them quickly. Numerous tentacles that resembled black smoke shot out from his wings suddenly and pierced through the empty space. It burrowed out of the space beside the three people instantly and tied the trio up in a bundle tightly.


    ¡°Simon.¡±


    A white silhouette appeared in the space between the black Colossal Dragon and the trio suddenly.


    The expression on Simon¡¯s face turned serious immediately while his forehead twinkled and all of his movements halted instantly.


    Rosta and the others took this opportunity to struggle free from being bound before they flew away. However, they did not escape but instead floated behind the person who had arrived with respectful looks on their faces.


    ¡°Garen¡­¡±


    Although Simon had devoured numerous Children of Hell and his consciousness was already controlled by Hell¡¯s Will, he still possessed Simon¡¯s original memories.


    ¡°You should be calling me ¡®Dragon King¡¯.¡± Garen glanced indifferently at the formerly strongest prodigy of the White Dragon Clan before him who had now changed beyond recognition. He had transformed from a White Dragon to a Shapeless Dragon whose body was occupied by Hell¡¯s Will. An abundance of pain, hatred, discontent, and fury coagulated inside his body and lingered there. He had clearly experienced numerous accounts of unimaginable pain and hardship before he was occupied.


    ¡°Why did you come out now?¡± asked Simon in a somber tone.


    ¡°No reason. I just made a special trip to see you in hopes that you would return to my White Dragon Clan once again.¡± Garen spoke in a calm tone while the overlapping pupils of his dragon eyes stared indifferently at the other party¡¯s eyes. A shapeless tremendous pressure condensed and spiraled beside the two people¡¯s bodies slowly before turning into gusts of wind that became more frenzied¡­


    ¡°Return?¡± Simon suspected that he had misheard. ¡°You¡¯re asking me to return now even though I¡¯m a Child of Hell? Garen, are you joking or what? You were never so innocent even when you were a Dragon Whelp in the beginning.¡±


    ¡°You walked out of my White Dragon Clan and no one can deny that fact, right?¡± Garen asked instead.


    ¡°Even if that¡¯s the case, so what?¡± Simon spoke disdainfully. As the strongest White Dragon King since the dawn of history, Garen¡¯s reputation had already spread to the peak extent. Even the Abyssal Demon Dragon race could not retreat from his imposing state. The other Colorful Dragons and Metallic Dragons also acknowledged the supreme authority of the White Dragons¡¯ domination. During these few years, certain Evil Dragon Clans that sought refuge in the Void had even continuously nominated him as the Evil Dragon King to lead the entire Evil and Colorful Dragon Clans towards glory.


    Red Dragon Queen and the other major dragon clans did not utter a sound. One could see that the Double-Pupiled White Dragon King¡¯s influence had already reached an immeasurable extent.


    ¡°It¡¯s truly because of this that I was hoping that you¡¯d return to the clan,¡± said Garen softly. ¡°Regardless of whatever state you¡¯ve turned into, the clan is still your home in the end and your birthplace. It¡¯s also a place that you can depend on.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me that you¡¯ve forgotten our White Dragon instincts? That¡¯s truly ridiculous, Garen. This isn¡¯t the first time that I¡¯ve seen a White Dragon King like you. You were actually delusional enough to use emotions to move the Child of Hell. Should I call you stupid or innocent?¡± taunted Simon.


    Garen stared at him for a moment before exhaling slowly.


    ¡°Are you saying that you¡¯re unwilling?¡±


    ¡°You want me to rely on the Void? Keep dreaming!!¡± sneered Simon.


    ¡°Is there no room for discussion at all?¡± Garen attempted to redeem the situation.


    ¡°That¡¯s enough nonsense from you!¡± sneered Simon.


    Garen¡¯s face turned cold gradually.


    ¡°Unfortunately¡­¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s unfortunate?!¡±


    ¡°Unfortunately¡­ you didn¡¯t have to die initially!¡±


    Boom!!


    An unimaginably enormous White Dragon¡¯s claw descended from the sky suddenly and pressed Simon down firmly.


    The speed of the dragon¡¯s claw seemed to be faster than lightning. It smashed down with a crash like a flashing white shadow in an instant when everyone had not reacted at all.


    The survivors on site could feel themselves being blinded before an enormous White Dragon¡¯s claw that reached the sky from the ground appeared in front of them.


    Crack!


    The dragon¡¯s claw pressed down on a long stretch of soil before grabbing Simon with it and gripping him in his hand.


    The dragon¡¯s entire claw was at least thousands of meters wide on its own while its length had extended towards the borderless sky.


    An enormous gaping dragon¡¯s mouth that was over a thousand meters in size appeared behind Garen¡¯s body suddenly. The dragon¡¯s claw stuffed Simon and the soil into its enormous mouth directly before chewing them up intensely.


    Pop!


    A large amount of light black gas sputtered out of the dragon¡¯s mouth as if it had bitten a balloon and burst it. The gas condensed into a black dragon¡¯s body that was greatly shrunken in mid-air far away.


    It was Simon!


    He fled into the distance immediately without even turning around.


    He had never expected that Garen actually meant it when he said that he would take action. Moreover, the strength that explosion in that split second nearly suffocated him completely, just nearly! Any more and he would have been completely engulfed and eaten by the dragon¡¯s mouth. He had an instinct that once he was devoured by that enormous mouth, he would lose all the strength of this incarnation despite being the Child of Hell. It was important to note that he had invested almost all of his power for the sake of obtaining the greatest victory during this battle. If he was destroyed, everything that he had accumulated during these numerous years would be completely wasted!!


    Garen did not chase him but simply looked on silently at Simon who was escaping as fast as he could. Although he did not destroy his opponent¡¯s reincarnation at that moment, he had injured him heavily nonetheless.


    His opponent was one of the main characters in this world. Hence, the general trends had decided that if any beings who wanted to kill him would encounter numerous obstructions and trouble.


    Garen actually did not have any plans of fully burying his opponent in a grave.


    Turning around, the group of survivors behind him was all gazing at each other helplessly. They did not know how to face Garen.


    Several Void Creatures reacted instantly and undertook the task to immediately restrict the local powerhouses of this world who were beside them.


    The few people did not dare to object and could only laugh bitterly while being captured helplessly as their powers were shackled.


    Only then did Garen¡¯s gaze fell on Nadia.


    ¡°This isn¡¯t a place that you should¡¯ve come.¡± He furrowed his eyebrows.


    She was simply looking for death when she came here alone with the forces of her Level Thirteen aura.


    He did not even permit Andrew to enter despite being a Demigod. The great war this time had seemed to gather the strongest powers of two of this world¡¯s peak existences.


    Any accidents that occurred in an arrangement like this would result in earth-shattering and terrifying disasters.


    ¡°Why shouldn¡¯t I have come?¡± said Nadia in a dissatisfied tone. She broke free of Elphis¡¯ protection and floated in mid-air alone.


    ¡°Since you managed to rise from the lowest level that year, so can I!!¡±


    She looked at Garen on an equal level determinedly. However, his shapeless Coercion and the Spiritual Poison of his Poisonous Eye caused panic and fear to fill her mind unconsciously.


    The Garen who still required her protection previously had already achieved an unimaginable stage now.


    ¡®Actually, I was merely unresigned¡­¡¯ Painful emotions filled her mind. Her belittlement of Garen in the beginning had now turned to praise. Ultimately, in the end, she was very glad to have met him in this strange world. She was merely unable to let go of her initial pride all along.


    Frankly, she really wanted to have a good rest for some time. Depending on her previous friend Garen was not a bad decision but for some unknown reason, she could not open her mouth and request that of him every time they met.


    ¡°I will¡­ never yield to anyone! It¡¯d be better for you to give up!¡± She emphasized strongly again.


    ¡°I understand that you¡¯ve made your decision.¡± Garen nodded faintly.


    Bang!


    Elphis¡¯ fist collided against Nadia¡¯s abdomen suddenly. The tremendous pain and the cold air that was coordinated by Rosta on the side caused her to faint instantly.


    Garen appeared beside Nadia¡¯s body immediately before he lifted her with one hand.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±


    Rosta smiled helplessly.


    ¡°Was she really unaware that if the difference was too great, any spiritual activities in front of a Higher God would be easily caught by the other party¡­¡±


    When Elphis saw how she had fallen out with her previous arch-rival as if they were children, a faintly weird feeling lingered in her heart for unknown reasons.


    ¡°Perhaps she was truly unaware¡­¡± she added quietly.


    The three people teleported immediately and vanished from their original spots.


    ***************


    Main Substance Plane


    Vast stretches of the earth were dried up and cracked. Numerous cracks and split marks extended throughout the ground and gradually grew longer and wider before finally turning into deep crevices.


    Scorching auras of destruction flared up from these crevices.


    The sky was a vast expanse of blood red shades. Long stretches of the corpses of True Soul Gods floated into the sky. Some of them had rotted already and transformed into numerous empty islands while there were other evil beings that had already turned into God Damnators.


    The cities and moats of the Primary Plane had collapsed already.


    When the Great Decisive Battle started, Star Region Demon Master and Eye of Massacre led numerous armies respectively and began their great slaughter throughout the entire Main Substance Plane simultaneously.


    All living creatures including animals, plants, and sea creatures were killed.


    The entire Plane was deathly still as even the Undead had no way to live because the Souls were also devoured by the Void Creatures.


    Numerous black Spaceships with golden halos in front would fly past occasionally in the sky. They were Void Battleships. These Battleships that had beetle-like exteriors could use their golden halos like pincers to cut off any solid substances or Divine Bodies. They were responsible for managing the various harmful evolved creatures after the war.


    This world was on the verge of collapsing.

 Chapter 1374 - Collapse 2

    Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation


    Dragon King Peak


    Several red flashes of lightning would streak across the blood-red sky occasionally.


    One after another, the White Dragons formed a defensive forbidding protective circle on the ground and in the sky around Dragon King Peak. Faint halos were being emitted from the very top of Cold Winter Tower. It shrouded the entire area within a vicinity of several thousand kilometers and protected this area from various disasters and threats.


    Ultimate strength was the only true safeguard during the periods of calamity.


    Inside a hole in the middle level of Dragon King Peak.


    Several busts and portraits of Garen when he was in his human form were engraved on the walls that were covered in ice. They seemed like countless pairs of eyes that were staring at the group of guests who were seated in the middle.


    Snow City Master brought his daughter Asilia and sat upright on the cushions. Soaring Wing King was in front of him while a few representatives from Snow City had followed him from behind as well as Boris and Leona who had not returned for a long time.


    This Level Fifteen Great Arcanist Urvac Dragon had personally brought his daughter here to Dragon King Peak to apologize for his wrongdoings.


    He was here to apologize for the previous incident regarding Garen¡¯s banishment. Since White Dragon Mountain had even admitted defeat, on what basis could he refuse to yield?


    After White Dragon Mountain had submitted and pledged their allegiance, Andrew made up an excuse to get rid of a large number of high-level individuals and powerhouses who were suspected of targeting Garen in the beginning. The massacre resulted in more than hundreds of White Dragon Corpses. This was an undeniable catastrophe to the entire clan that only had a total population of several thousand.


    Great Elder was apparently unable to bear it anymore due to this. They could well imagine the extent that Garen¡¯s current forces and influence had already reached.


    Urvac Dragon hurriedly brought his daughter Asilia here to apologize as soon as he had received this information.


    Obviously, he was not solely here to apologize for his wrongdoings. He also had plans to request for support and resolve the threats against Snow City when he came forward. Due to this, he had specially invited Leona and Boris, the two White Dragons who had previously left the clan. He had previously heard that they had a pretty good relationship with Garen. They were only forced to leave the clan later to evade Third Elder after they had signed Eternal Contracts.


    As Snow City still fell under the jurisdiction of the Empire after all, when the Grey Shadow Society dispersed indescribably not long ago, it caused the Empire¡¯s forces to decrease tremendously. Meanwhile, Void Creatures invaded them extensively and Snow City was incapable of guaranteeing their own safety. The forces on the highest layer were also suppressed.


    Particularly when Star Region Demon Master¡¯s large contingents engulfed them, Urvac Dragon had no choice but to yield and compromise by coming forward to Dragon King Peak to seek support. The only person nearby who could help him was Garen, whose powers were an immeasurable abyss.


    ¡°His Majesty the Dragon King is currently on an excursion. You came at an unfavorable time,¡± explained Annie with furrowed eyebrows when she walked into the cave. She was in charge of receiving the guests.


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter, we can wait,¡± said Urvac Dragon sincerely. ¡°I brought Snow City¡¯s highest sincerity with me and I was only hoping that His Highness the Double-Pupiled White Dragon King could undertake this task once and help Snow City tide over a difficulty.¡±


    Asilia was seated elegantly on the side. The once innocent and adorable little girl of had already turned into a beautiful and noble lady now.


    ¡°We came to apologize for the past. These are means of compensation and even if His Majesty the Dragon King is unwilling to accept it, he should at least look at these presents that represent our apology. Perhaps he may really need these things.¡±


    She spoke unflinchingly but calmly in a tone that was neither haughty nor humble.


    Annie looked at her earnestly.


    ¡°I¡¯ll relay your intentions.¡± Next, she exchanged voice transmissions and said something to Leona and Boris who had come forward as well but were now seated behind. They withdrew after that.


    There were only two Werewolves with flashes of blue light in their eyes who were guarding the doorway of the cave. The interior of the entire cave returned to a state of complete silence.


    Now that they had reached this key moment, the defeat and destruction of the local world were already set in stone. Since they lacked the strength to reverse this desperate situation, it was also excusable that these major forces wanted to find a large tree-like support that they could cling on to evade trouble. It only depended on whether Garen was willing to accept this or not.


    It was not necessary for them to exterminate the local creatures fully. After receiving various modifications, these creatures could be turned into Semi-Void Creatures that could be similarly used to transform the strength of the local world and accelerate the destruction methods.


    Garen¡¯s Distorted Seeds and Biochemical Pools were modified using this method as well.


    Northlands was merely a small area while phenomena like these were constantly appearing in most of the other areas now. Most of the local forces had given up on resisting and sought help from the Void forces instead. The situation was becoming clearer now¡­


    Seconds and minutes passed.


    Finally, a group of people entered the cave opening.


    The leaders of the group were indeed Garen, Rosta and the others who had escaped from the battlefield of the Decisive Battle recently.


    Garen who was dressed in a long white cloak took long strides and walked until he was facing the standing Urvac Dragon before he sat down slowly.


    ¡°I don¡¯t have time to listen to your idle gossip. However, I have one condition,¡± Garen extended his index finger before continuing, ¡°that every single one of you Level Ten beings must accept the modifications of my Distorted Seed.¡±


    Snow City Master became faintly angry. He had inquired clearly about the functions of the Distorted Seed during these past years. It seemed as though his life and death would be completely tied to Garen.


    However, he did not have much of a choice since things had reached this stage.


    ¡°Alright, I agree!¡±


    ¡°Frankly, Snow City is meaningless towards me now. Its only function is to increase the number of my subordinates slightly. Aside from that, it¡¯s completely useless. Your sincerity probably lies with that Matrix Spirit, right? Bring it over.¡±


    Garen reached his hand out.


    The Matrix Spirit that had almost caused him to fall previously was naturally the token of sincerity that the other party had brought forward this time.


    As a Higher God Level individual now, his spontaneous spiritual reactions allowed him to directly and instantly understand the psychological behaviors of every single being here. Naturally, no secrets would exist in his eyes anymore.


    Snow City Master did not seem surprised at all, he looked at his daughter Asilia. She stood up hurriedly, walked toward Garen slowly and knelt down before him.


    ¡°This is the Matrix Spirit.¡± She offered the black eggplant-like thing in her hands before Garen. ¡°This is an apology for the incident that happened that year and a part of our sincerity. I, too¡­ I am also a gift that is presented to Your Majesty. You may deal with me as you please.¡±


    She lowered her head and bit her lip. Although she had prepared herself mentally for this numerous times long ago, she still had a feeling of despair as if she had finally abandoned everything when uttered this humiliating sentence face to face.


    ¡°You are¡­¡± Garen could not recognize her at the first moment as he could only discern her slightly. ¡°Asilia? Dragon Wizard?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°What would I need you for?¡± Garen glanced at the eggplant in the hands before looking back at Asilia who resembled a feast for the eyes.


    Pfft.


    Uncontrollable guffaws echoed from the side. Rosta and his other male subordinates had dubious looks on their faces while the women blushed.


    The atmosphere inside the cave became much warmer suddenly.


    ¡°That¡¯s enough. Leave the Spirit Matrix, I¡¯ve understood your sincerity. According to my wishes, all of the high-level individuals who are Level Ten and above must come over and accept the Distorted Seeds within three days. You will resolve everything on your own after that.¡± He waved his hand and stood up. ¡°Where¡¯s Andrew?¡±


    ¡°I am here.¡±


    Andrew who has been waiting outside the cave for a while now walked in.


    ¡°Where¡¯s Mander?¡±


    ¡°Captain Mander is with Her Highness Ann. It seems like the situation has developed slightly,¡± answered Andrew concisely.


    ¡°Is that so? I¡¯ll go and take a look personally.¡±


    The Great Decisive Battle had seemed to reach an inevitable outcome. Ann would be a peak Higher God Level military force. Although she was unlike Distortion Demon Master and the rest, her survival strength was second to none. After absorbing the God of Time and Shadow¡¯s Divine Persona, she had reached an unprecedented peak in the survival aspect.


    Thus, she had accidentally discovered another key aspect despite not participating in the Great Decisive Battle.


    Garen¡¯s current powers had already approached Ann¡¯s immeasurably. Their relationship was also redetermined as Ann now treated Garen as a cooperative partner.


    ¡°Garen, aren¡¯t you planning to greet your old friends since they¡¯re already here?¡±


    Annie opened her mouth suddenly to remind him. As a Dragon Guard who had been following Garen all along since the beginning, she was the only one who could speak to Garen more casually.


    ¡°You are¡­ Boris, Leona?!¡±


    ¡°Long time no see¡­¡± Boris had no alternative but to stand up while Leona smiled and got up as well. Both of them were basically still shrunken versions of White Dragons. They clearly did not achieve Level Nine Arcane Art grades.


    ¡°You guys didn¡¯t even inform me that you were here.¡± Garen¡¯s expression softened immediately.


    ¡°We wanted to inform you but the problem was how do we do it?¡± Boris pursed his lips silently. ¡°We were dragged here this time to come and beg for leniency for Snow City.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re both at Snow City now?¡± Garen was surprised.


    ¡°Yes, we were initially in the Empire¡¯s kingdom. However, when the Empire was breached three days ago, a large fire burned all of the buildings. The fire has yet to be extinguished even now.¡± Leona sounded slightly gloomy.


    ¡°Your contractors are fine, right?¡± said Garen while furrowing his eyebrows.


    ¡°They¡¯re fine.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good. Since you¡¯re already here, you should stay with me. Don¡¯t leave.¡± Garen made the decision immediately and prohibited the other two from refusing.


    When he saw the hesitation on their faces, he continued, ¡°You can bring in those who have good relationships with you. As long as they are less than a hundred, I¡¯ll accept all of them.¡±


    Only then did Leona and Boris sighed in relief.


    ¡°We were waiting for you to say that,¡± said Boris unabashedly.


    ¡°It¡¯s better to be frank. There was no reason to wait.¡± Garen was speechless. ¡°Alright, I still have matters to attend to. You can settle down nearby. Arrange their accommodation for them, Annie.¡±


    ¡°Understood.¡±


    Garen led Andrew towards the outside of the cave. Although the Great Decisive Battle was still ongoing, Garen¡¯s current state of mind was not there anymore. The situation was clear but he was worried about something else.


    The local world would not fully collapse so easily¡­


    This was not referring to the creatures here but the others¡­


    ************


    Bang! Bang! Bang¡­


    Inside the white city that resembled ruins, an enormous black humanoid monster that was made up of numerous skeletons and weapons walked with heavy footsteps. It hunted all the living creatures that had a possibility of existing in this local world.


    Whoosh!


    Two white silhouettes descended from the sky and landed on the top of one of the ash-covered buildings before they transformed into Garen and Andrew.


    The enormous monster walked past these two people but did not even seem to bat an eyelid at them.


    ¡°Destruction Corpse Giant, it¡¯s a monster that is born from Void Energy that has been fused with the auras of death and curses of the local world. Monsters like this can be seen everywhere now,¡± explained Andrew while glancing at the monster.


    ¡°Where¡¯s Ann?¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s underground here.¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±


    Both of them walked towards a deep hole-like crevice speedily.


    The giant monster on the ground had happened to find a hidden living being. It grabbed it and shoved it directly into its mouth. The living creature was a male human. Both of his legs were struggling outside his mouth. There was a cracking, biting sound before the man stopped moving and blood flowed out of the corners of the monster¡¯s mouth. It seemed as though the entire world was shrouded in a hopeless aura.

 Chapter 1375 (END) - Endless Reincarnation

    Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation


    Garen and Andrew flew along the path of the underground crevice and they soon saw a glimpse of light purple ray.


    The corpse of a frightening Eye Demon that was thousands of meters long was stuck in between the crevice silently as his huge body was obstructed by the protrusions from both sides of the walls.


    The body of the Eye Demon was entirely covered with blood-streak-filled eyeballs and its tentacles were hanging freely everywhere around it.


    The blood capillaries were structured similarly to of a spider web on the sclera as a viscous fluid oozed out from it.


    ¡°This is the reincarnation of the Big Mistress¡­¡± Garen squinted as he recognized the origin of this corpse.


    ¡°Looks like Master has been busy while I¡¯m away.¡±


    ¡°Do you really think you¡¯re the only one working hard?¡± Ann¡¯s bad-tempered tone came out from the corpse¡¯s core. ¡°Come in quickly.¡± His tone turned feminine once more. It seemed that his tone-changing phase had arrived.


    A huge hole appeared at the side of the Eye Demon¡¯s corpse, revealing a path leading to the inside.


    Garen and Andrew went inside together. It was pitch black. They found themselves in a spacious cavity after going through a thin layer of soap-like membrane.


    The cavity was dyed completely in red as the walls were densely covered with blood capillaries. Ann and Golden-Winged Dragon Mother were staring together at a tall red crystal monitor.


    Ann turned around and looked at Garen as she heard his movement.


    ¡°I¡¯ve discovered something and your team captain Mander has been sent out by me to collect some samples. Have a seat.¡± He pointed down on the ground as stools made from meat and blood appeared.


    Garen frowned as he walked towards it and sat down.


    ¡°What¡¯s going on? This is the first time I¡¯ve seen Master looking so serious.¡±


    Ann took a deep breath.


    ¡°It¡¯s not that I¡¯m being serious, it¡¯s just that the problem is extremely troublesome. Golden-Winged, please explain it to him.¡±


    Golden-Winged Dragon Mother who was standing by the side walked towards them.


    ¡°We¡¯ve discovered something. It¡¯s man-made and seems to be something that is naturally spread out by the Child of Hell. It¡¯s very dangerous and troublesome as if it¡¯s some sort of a curse.¡±


    Her face was extremely somber.


    ¡°A curse?¡± Garen repeated.


    ¡°Yes. A curse that is specifically targeted at Time.¡± Golden-Winged Dragon Mother said softly. ¡°The Gods have their own methods in dispelling the curse. It seems to be a powerful contagion invented by them to use it against us Void Creatures.¡±


    ¡°So what? Since we¡¯ve discovered it, we should have found a solution by now, right?¡± Garen did not believe a curse would be able to defeat the unrivaled Ann and this Demon Master True Soul.


    ¡°If only it¡¯s that simple. It¡¯s not hard to dispel it.¡± Ann continued the story. ¡°The key thing is that when I¡¯ve entered the Big Mistress¡¯ reincarnated Eye Demon¡¯s body after killing her to search for the crystals, I¡¯ve accidentally discovered the distortion in space when I¡¯ve connected her corpse¡¯s unique visionary senses. There is also a blight spreading among the distortion! It¡¯s specifically targeted at space itself.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re saying¡­¡± Garen¡¯s expression became serious as well as he listened.


    ¡°Yes.¡± Ann nodded. ¡°These two things are no longer the same and have mutated after fusing together.¡± He sat down and rubbed his forehead, showing a sign of fatigue.


    ¡°Master, what happens once they¡¯ve combined together?¡± Andrew, who was standing by the side could not help but ask.


    ¡°The result¡­ I¡¯ve no idea as well.¡± Ann shook his head. ¡°The best course of action is that we find a solution to this problem before it explodes. If not¡­¡±


    ¡°Problem is that from the clues that we¡¯ve gathered, we have found out that the time curse is something emitted by the Child of Hell. On the other hand, the root that blights the space comes from no other than the Fallen True Soul!¡± Golden-Winged Dragon Mother sighed as her helplessness expression was written all over her face.


    ¡°The Fallen True Soul¡­¡± Garen frowned.


    Thud!


    Doo doo doo doo¡­


    Out of the blue, an alarming noise came from the red crystal monitor.


    Ann and Golden-Winged Dragon Mother turned around and saw blue lights sparking at the center of the revolving black vortices on the screen. It was similar to someone had sprayed paint onto it as they appeared one by one.


    ¡°The curse has exploded in some places!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s the fusion type!¡± Golden-Winged Dragon Mother quickly explained.


    Ann turned around and she looked very serious.


    ¡°It looks like we¡¯ll know what the result is¡­¡±


    Garen stood up and looked at the monitor.


    ¡°Go to the scene immediately!¡±


    *******************


    Red thunders could be seen constantly spreading across the red sky.


    Thunders rumbled in the clouds as it spread from a distance to somewhere nearby. The world had started to turn hazy as the scene looked just like someone viewing the world in a blurry telescope.


    The earth, sky, objects such as the bones on the ground, dirt, stones and the wilted and distorted tree were all becoming cloudy.


    A minute and strange buzzing sound kept buzzing in the area. The whole place trembled as the scene started to distort and became large and small alternatively.


    Woosh!


    Ann, Garen, and the others appeared at the edge of this district as they witnessed the scene.


    ¡°This is it,¡± Ann said softly.


    Garen stared at the place but he felt that he could not see anything clearly at all. It was as if everything was constantly trembling and transforming.


    ¡°Is it the light or something else entirely?¡± He frowned.


    ¡°It¡¯s not the light, it¡¯s space,¡± Ann explained with a serious look. ¡°Space here can no longer bear the curse and blight and it is falling apart.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s going to happen?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Ann shook her head. ¡°We¡¯ll soon see the outcome of the curse and blight when they¡¯re merged together. Let¡¯s observe it quietly¡­¡± He stared at this district of a few kilometers wide attentively.


    Garen did not inquire further as he waited silently as well.


    The trembling noise gradually became larger and stronger.


    Buzz¡­


    It felt like countless bees were flying around one¡¯s ear and it was irresistibly annoying.


    Pew!


    Suddenly, a black snake-like shadow appeared on the scene for a very brief moment before it vanished completely.


    ¡°What is that?¡± Garen frowned. ¡°It looked like a snake with a pair of long wings.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s La,¡± Ann explained. ¡°I¡¯ve named them as La. It looks very similar to the shadows of the crack but only I know that it is something else entirely!¡±


    He was an Upper God who controlled the Shadow Gods and Time Gods. Naturally, he would have the confidence to declare so.


    Boom!!


    Suddenly, there was a huge explosion.


    The entire place shattered into countless pieces just like how a piece of glass would. These fragments were of different scenes which gave off different colors as they danced about chaotically in front of them.


    The fragments dimmed as they became smaller. Then, the entire area had turned into a huge black hole!


    The all-powerful gravity started to pull everything in around it.


    Dirt, rubbles, wilted trees, bones and even the air. Everything was pulled in by the intense gravity as the black hole turned into a huge black sphere.


    ¡°The spacetime has collapsed¡­¡± Ann shouted. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±


    He waved his hand as he released a layer of black light, covering all four of them. In that instant, the gravitational pull was nullified.


    ***********


    The four of them appeared at another edge of the scene where it was also distorted and blurry. They had managed to escape from the gravitational pull without much danger.


    The area was also a deserted plain. The four of them pulled some distance away from this place the moment they arrived.


    ¡°The spacetime has collapsed¡­ we¡¯re seriously in trouble!¡± Garen understood this phenomenon well. When the spacetime collapsed, time and space would be completely distorted, no one could predict or know what would happen next.


    The Void Demon Masters, True Souls, and even Gods would not dare to be involved in it either.


    Philosophers once theorized that when the spacetime collapsed, it meant there was a chance for one to leave this restricted universe and arrive at a more spacious and bigger universe.


    They believed that the current universe was just a small corner of an even larger universe. One could temporarily leave this universe and enter an even larger and more spacious universe where the laws were more complete and with even more endless spacetime.


    However, no one could prove it and man could only theorize.


    ¡°Spacetime had collapsed once before, but it was just a small area when an Upper God died. It¡¯s nowhere near as big as the current one!¡± Ann looked extremely imposing. ¡°I¡¯ve seen the God of War fallen with my very own eyes. He was one of the strongest among the Upper God. When he died, the collapse of spacetime was less than half a meter wide. In that instant, all universal laws were nullified and there was only gravity that sucked everything in endlessly to fill in the empty space.¡±


    ¡°How long will the sucking last?¡± Garen had realized the seriousness of the situation.


    ¡°At least ten years¡­¡± Ann said. ¡°And this kind of collapse is everywhere!!¡±


    Howl¡­


    A cold wind blew suddenly, carrying along with it the small amount of shadow energy.


    Garen was slightly shocked as he quickly exchanged glances with Ann.


    He reached out his hand and gently grabbed onto the black wind, which gathered around his nails just like thin threads that were tangling among themselves.


    ¡°The Shadow Weave has also collapsed¡­¡±


    ¡°Has Shar fallen as well? Looks like the war between the Gods is much more intense than we imagined!¡± Ann nodded.


    ¡°Everything is a mess. A complete mess.¡± Garen stared at the district where its distortion was getting worse.


    Boom!


    It was the same explosion and shatter as a new black hole appeared in front of them which greedily sucked in everything around it.


    Woosh!


    Four of them disappeared once more and appeared at another place. The moment they arrived, they instantly teleported once more as they saw a huge area shattered not far away from them. It took them a few teleportations before they arrived at a safe location.


    The strong gravity induced a powerful airflow which had turned into a raging wind, blowing four of their cloaks.


    ¡°The collapse is getting faster by the minute!¡± Ann said in a deep tone.


    ¡°Should we inform the others?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s too late!¡± Ann was firm. ¡°I¡¯m preparing to leave this universe! To distance away from this battlefield.¡±


    ¡°Leave?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a gamble! Perhaps this is how the God of Pharmacy left when the spacetime was collapsing.¡± Ann laughed maniacally suddenly.


    Garen stared at him.


    ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s better for you to follow me to the Void Universe.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s pointless. If I¡¯m not wrong, the same phenomenon is happening in your Void as well¡­¡± Ann revealed a mocking expression. ¡°This is basically the God¡¯s last resort to perish together.¡±


    He pondered for a moment.


    ¡°The only way right now is to find a more stable collapse and enter it by force. No one knows what the end result will be. The only option we have is to find a spacetime collapse that we can enter with a higher chance of survivability.¡±


    ¡°This is also the reason why I¡¯ve been not willing to participate in the war.¡± He started smiling. ¡°The universe, space and time has a lifespan and can fall sick as well. What else is there to say about the Gods? Back when I was still active, I occasionally saw a few examples of spacetime collapsing. Hence I¡¯m quite well informed on this topic. As long as we can find a collapse that is almost filled up and had yet to disappear, then that should pull the safety factor to the highest. I will set up a stable one-time Teleportation Portal.¡±


    Garen looked at the surrounding area where it had started to distort.


    ¡°Perhaps we should observe a while more. It might be possible that the Universe will fix the spacetime collapse on its own.¡±


    ¡°Regardless if it will be fixed, the end result will be dire,¡± Ann said calmly. ¡°Based on the scale of this progress, We¡¯ll all perish if it fails to fix it. If the universe were to fix the issue successfully, it would require a huge amount of energy and material to fill in the hole. As the strongest existence which the universal law allows, we will be the first one to fill up these holes.¡±


    Garen frowned and did not respond.


    He did not have many things to yearn for in this world. However, he was not sure of Ann¡¯s statement before proving his method was ineffective.


    Ann did not say further as he seemed to have noticed his hesitation.


    ¡°I¡¯ll find and set up a suitable collapse point in two months time. Bring your people along if you wish to leave.¡±


    Woosh!


    He and Golden-Winged Dragon Mother turned into shadows and vanished instantly.


    Garen and Andrew were still in the area as they looked at the increasingly distorted area.


    ¡°Andrew, what are your thought on this?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡± Andrew was quiet. He did not know what to say. Unlike Garen, his shackle towards this world is not like that of Garen¡¯s.


    Garen sighed as he turned into a shadow figure and disappeared in the air.


    **********


    The Gods were still at war for the next few days. The huge Sphere of Dream was still shrouded with an endless amount of dream power, isolating all senses from the External World.


    The world¡¯s weather started turning strange as if the war had broken the laws too much to the point where the spacetime blight had started spreading chaotically.


    Garen went back to the Blackhole District where he first arrived in this world.


    He could see Heaven¡¯s fragments during his flying journey. The Void was a complete silence as almost all beings of from all clans had gone to the area where the final battle was ensuing. It was the best place to bring themselves to a whole new level.


    As Ann predicted, the black hole was still around. However, when Garen was about to teleport there, he found out that the spacetime on another side of the Void World was much more unstable.


    When the spacetime is unstable, it might cause him to teleport to an unknown location deep in the universe.


    Garen did not dare to enter recklessly, only observing from the External World for a few days before returning.


    He could see black spheres that were caused by the spacetime collapse everywhere. These black spheres were like a black hole that could never be filled up as they kept swallowing all matters and energy around them.


    Garen witnessed with his very own eyes, an Astral Space traveler who had just left the Astral Space coincidentally encountered a black sphere. He was sucked in alive and was stretched like a noodle, from a meter plus human to a thin line which spanned hundreds of meters long. Within half an hour, he was completely absorbed by the black sphere and nothing was left behind, including his soul.


    The districts that were not being distorted became even more deserted and lifeless. The air became thinner and energy had become less to the point where a lot of living being¡¯s spells had started to degenerate.


    He rushed to seek for the Deception Demon Master who had avoided the battle as well.


    She, too, noticed the strange phenomenon but she did not notice that it was the sign of the universe collapsing. They believed that it was the result of the war among the Gods. She had collaborated with the Star Region Demon Master to seize all of the territories.


    Garen was determined to bring his people along to leave this place after observing for a few more days.


    To him, it was just another transmigration regardless if it were true or not. This experience was completely common to a Demon Master and True Soul.


    He then quickly gathered his most elite subordinates and close friends.


    Garen went straight towards a safe district. Unlike the time he first discovered the collapse of spacetime, he was determined to leave this place.


    **************


    The sky was painted in dark yellow similar to the sunset. The sun was dimmed as if it had lost its light and the moon could be barely seen and one could only notice its contour.


    The earth was dried up and shattered, there was not a single living being. There were only black spheres that were hundreds of meters wide on the surface which kept sucking all matters around it.


    A group of people in a protective black-grey half-ball stood at the side of one of the black holes.


    Garen brought along Rosta, Andrew, and his remaining subordinates as they stared at the gigantic black sphere in front of them together with Ann, Golden-Winged Dragon Mother, and Lady Vengeance.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure this is the one.¡± Ann stared at the black sphere in front of him as he said earnestly. ¡°We¡¯ll need to enter it in a month to a month and a half. It will enter its unstable phase once this period has passed. I have no way to resist this thing¡¯s distortion. When it comes to these things, all methods that are based on the laws will be ineffective and the only thing you can do is to rely on your physical strength to tank it.¡±


    ¡°Tank? I¡¯m good at that.¡± Garen nodded to show his comprehension.


    ¡°Has everything been settled?¡± Ann looked at him.


    ¡°Of course.¡± Garen laughed. ¡°I merely arrived at this world looking for a path because of the Mother Stream¡¯s call. It¡¯s only natural for me to leave at this point in time.¡±


    ¡°Good.¡± Ann went towards him and passed him a ring. It was a black metallic ring with a mosaic round amethyst on it. The side of the ring was covered with a cylindrical metal which had eight different weird symbols on it.


    ¡°This is the Ring of the Black Water Crystal. It is made from a mysterious material that can¡¯t be destroyed even if the spacetime has collapsed. It has an effect where it would wake you up once you¡¯ve lost the sense of time¡­ If we¡¯re lucky, we may still meet each other one day.¡±


    ¡°Wake me up?¡± Garen did not understand what he meant.


    However, Ann had stopped explaining as he walked towards the black sphere together with Golden-Winged Dragon Mother and his subordinates. They did not show any sign of reluctance to stay in this world at all.


    Garen sent them off, watching their bodies stretching into a noodle-like shape. Soon, they completely disappeared inside the black sphere.


    ¡°Are we really leaving?¡± Andrew spoke suddenly.


    ¡°Do you wish to stay?¡± Garen looked at him. ¡°If so, you can stay behind. We may not be able to see each other forever again.¡±


    Andrew fell into silence.


    ¡°Why are you staying back? I plan to see the upcoming world¡¯s progress!¡± Annie, who was also a native to this world, said without a care in the world.


    ¡°Unfortunately, it¡¯s hard for us to arrive at the same place with Lord Dragon King. The complication of transmigrating to other worlds is something you two can¡¯t comprehend.¡± Nadia mocked since she was very experienced in this matter.


    Garen waved his hand.


    ¡°You may stay back if you wish to. I won¡¯t force anyone.¡±


    After that, half of the people within the protection walked to the other side hesitantly. Their expressions were complicated as they did not wish to leave this familiar world.


    Perhaps it would be better to say that they were hopeful towards the future of this collapsing world. After all, this was their native world where they were very familiar with.


    ¡°I respect your decision.¡± Garen nodded to show his understanding. He then looked at them one last time as everything that had happened in this world flashed across his eyes.


    He who had reincarnated into a White Dragon, meeting Ann, entering Snow City, setting his foot in the Abyss. Although it was only a few decades, this world had left a very strong impression on him.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± He waved his hand, turned around and walked into the black sphere.


    This black sphere was in still its stable stage, hence its gravitational force was not that powerful. Garen, Rosta, Elfie, Nadia and Soaring Wing King started walking towards the black sphere.


    None of them turned their head around and looked at the people who decided to stay back.


    They walked until the black sphere covered their entire vision.


    ***************


    Splash¡­


    The faint sound of water could be heard.


    Garen woke up slowly from his dream.


    He found it hard to breathe from the water running about freely on his face.


    Cough cough cough¡­


    He coughed intensely for a few times as he got up from the floor.


    He was inside a small and bright bathroom. The bathroom infrared heater light was switched on and the floor was drenched wet. The heaty steam evaporated from the hot bathing water had condensed into a layer of white mist on the mirror by the side.


    The sound of water gushing was extremely jarring.


    ¡°I¡­¡± Garen was at a loss. His pupil shrunk, he reached out his hand and caressed his neck. He felt that his throat was swollen and it felt hot.


    ¡°Wasn¡¯t I bathing?¡±


    He walked towards the mirror and wiped off the layer of mist that was on the mirror.


    The mirror reflected a young and yet pale face of a man. The sensation of familiarity and yet unfamiliarity swelled inside him.


    ¡°Is this¡­ me?¡±


    He closed his eyes as he recalled the moment when he entered the black sphere.


    ¡°Wasn¡¯t I transmigrating to another world?¡±


    However, what transpired in front of him was his starting point. The starting point of his transmigration when he was electrocuted. He was back on Earth.


    ¡°Perhaps, everything was just¡­ a dream?¡±


    He hesitantly reached out his hand as he looked at his palm. It was empty and there was not a single trace of the amethyst ring.


    ¡°Dream?¡± He suddenly felt that everything he had experienced were extremely unreal and everything was just a strange dream.


    ¡°Perhaps it really was just a dream¡­¡± He still had to go to work tomorrow. It was his first day earlier today for the job he had just found and he still had to leave a good impression towards his colleagues and superiors.


    He then wiped off the water in his hair.


    ¡°Hmm¡­ I need to clean up quickly before I catch a cold¡­¡±


    He who had become Garen in his dream had experienced a series of journeys. The realism made him feel extremely surprised.


    ¡°Perhaps I should turn it into a book. Who knows, maybe it will become a bestseller. Hahaha!¡± He could not help but chuckle.


    He swiftly cleaned the dirt off his body, wiped himself dry with a towel and got dressed.


    Click.


    Luo Jing switched off the bathroom¡¯s light. As he opened the bathroom door and walked out, he did not notice a purple light flashed on his finger.


    A quaint and exquisite sparkling amethyst ring appeared in the mirror that was opposite the door.


    Luo Jing seemed to have noticed it. He raised his hand up but did not see anything.


    ¡°Why does it feel like there was something flashing just now?¡± He muttered.


    The moment he put down his hand, the amethyst ring gradually appeared, giving off a mysterious and strange light.


    An unclear image of a ferocious White Dragon appeared inside the mirror that was facing Luo Jing¡¯s back. It was rotating slowly just like a Totem.


    Everything was still very far from ending¡­